Education reform question

[hendo]

There has been a lot of bashing of both Waiting for Superman, and Obama's attempts at education reform. So, I am posing a few questions for those of you here in the Education forum.

How would you like to see the public education system be reformed?

How do we make our children among the smartest in the world again?

If the Cradle to College method is incorrect, what alternatives are you proposing?

It is not productive to bash all ideas out there without having an alternative to them. Perhaps you can tell me what your proposed alternatives are.

[YvonneCa]

1. Start here...

...
http://journals.democraticunderground.com/YvonneCa (Sorry, it's not all education topics.)

Read madflo's journal. Got to ED.gov and read Arne Duncan's blog from last year's 'Listening Tour Online'. Read Diane Ravitch's latest book. Check out her tweets on Twitter. If you feel REALLY ambitious, call up NBC and ask for the teacher posts transcript from the Teacher Town Hall during Education Nation (good luck on that one).

Teachers are SCREAMING solutions...but no one is listening.

[LWolf]

2. .

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=219&topic_id=26493

[YvonneCa]

3. Isn't it amazing how little research some people...

...do? :) Anyway, I always like seeing your EXCELLENT list of solutions re-posted. :7

[Hannah Bell]

4. and they never acknowledge that indeed, alternatives *have* been proposed. for decades.

just again & again with the disingenuous "so, what is *your* solution?"

it's like when you have a cut on your toe & someone proposes to chop off your head to "solve the problem."

and when you complain -- "well, for god's sake, what is *your* solution?"

as if the idiocy of the proposed "solution" wasn't enough reason not to implement it.

let's increase testing & fire all the teachers! yay! that's make everyone ivy league material!

[LWolf]

5. I could add a bunch more to that list.

I wrote that one, and bookmarked it so I could find it again, one day when someone, for the umpteenth time, asked some version of, "Well, if you don't like _______________, what are YOUR solutions?"

The suggestion that we don't have them, and/or don't share them, simply indicates that the general population is not listening, and that our voices are not valued.

It's frustrating how many times I've linked to that post to answer the same question, over and over and over, from those who only listen to what their corporate and political "leaders" tell them.

[LWolf]

6. And more places to find the answers to your question:

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/answer-sheet/school-turnaroundsreform/a-different-view-from-a-differ.html

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=166176941518#!/group.php?gid=166176941518&v=wall

http://www.fairtest.org/

http://forumforeducation.org/

http://education.stateuniversity.com/pages/1840/Coalition-Essential-Schools-Common-Principles.html

http://www.alfiekohn.org/books.htm

http://www.amazon.com/Gerald-W.-Bracey/e/B001IOFFL6

http://www.marionbrady.com/

http://www.rochestercitynewspaper.com/news/opinion/2010/05/Bill-Calas-vision-for-Rochester/

http://www.pureparents.org/

http://www.schoolvoices.org/