Anonymous wrote:
"new topic:
http://www.sacbee.com/news/nation-world/article180085876.html
So now Gates and company decides that they arent putting their ed bucks into teacher evaluation-- well duh! How about correcting the disaster you made in schools and start to push for safe environments with plenty of opportunities (which by the way his "small high schools" did NOT do) How about looking at.... what works? "
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4 comments:
It always seemed strange when philanthropists and "reformers" would roll out huge expensive initiatives without at least first testing them on a small scale to see if they worked.
Good point, Questioner. Back in the old days (before Mark Roosevelt), Pittsburgh would always test something new in just a few schools at first. That was done for major things, like when setting up the English curriculum. And it was even done for minor things, like when choosing a new science lab book.
A few volunteer teachers would form a committee, and they would try things out. This committee would meet regularly during the school year to discuss the program. If the program worked, it would be adopted throughout the city.
This is rarely done anywhere anymore. I suspect that's because today's policy makers are smug. They are sure that they are right. They rely not on teachers, but on "research" papers written by university "experts". Most of these "experts" never taught in a city school. But they know everything. So why waste time with a pilot program? Full speed ahead!
No, they rely on salespeople from massive textbook and testing companies. Those companies do just enough research to call themselves "research-based." In many ways, it's analogous to the big Pharma companies. They have lots of needed products, but look out for the ones they are really selling hard. Those are the ones that will take your money and leave you worse off than you started.
Remember the statement from Lippert, "We are building the plane as we fly it." Utter nonsense!
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