David Sirota: What Real Education Reform Looks Like

[marmar]

from truthdig:




What Real Education Reform Looks Like

Posted on Dec 8, 2011
By David Sirota


As 2011 draws to a close, we can confidently declare that one of the biggest debates over education is—mercifully—resolved. We may not have addressed all of the huge challenges facing our schools, but we finally have empirical data ruling out apocryphal theories and exposing the fundamental problems.

We’ve learned, for instance, that our entire education system is not “in crisis,” as so many executives in the for-profit education industry insist when pushing to privatize public schools. On the contrary, results from Program for International Student Assessment exams show that American students in low-poverty schools are among the highest-achieving students in the world.

We’ve also learned that no matter how much self-styled education “reformers” claim otherwise, the always-demonized teachers’ unions are not holding our education system back. As The New York Times recently noted: “If unions are the primary cause of bad schools, why isn’t labor’s pernicious effect” felt in the very unionized schools that so consistently graduate top students?

Now, at year-end, we’ve learned from two studies just how powerful economics are in education outcomes—and how disadvantaged kids are being unduly punished by government policy. ............(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/what_real_education_reform_looks_like_20111208/

[xchrom]

1. recommend