Arne Duncan's Race to the Top is "The Carrot That Feels Like a Stick.”

madfloridian

(1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore

Sun Jan-03-10 11:33 PM
Original message

Arne Duncan's Race to the Top is "The Carrot That Feels Like a Stick.”

Educator Diane Ravitch worked in the Bush Department of Education. She has completely turned against the current approach to education, and has been having much to say.

Ravitch on NCLB failures and the dangers of privatization.

I find myself agreeing with Mike Petrilli of the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, who wrote on Gadfly that this “Race to the Top” program should be called “NCLB 2: The Carrot That Feels Like a Stick.” As a former Bush administration official, he knows what he’s talking about. He likes the Duncan plans, but can’t resist shedding a tear for the death of federalism. Now, says Petrilli, we have entered fully into the age of “Washington Knows Best at its worst.” He writes: “If you found No Child Left Behind prescriptive, just wait till you take a look at this baby.”

To me, the problem here is obvious: What if Washington doesn’t know best? What if the “reform” ideas are wrong?

"What if" is right. At the pace the movement to close public schools and open charter schools is progressing....it will be too late to fix this mistake.

Ravitch further believes that Bush would have tried to impose this agenda, but he did not have as much money....and the Democrats in Congress would have opposed it. So it was left to a Democratic president and a Democratic congress to get the privatization agenda through.

Diane Ravitch answers a blogger

Hi, Fred,

I think that Bush wishes he could have imposed the agenda laid out in Race to the Top, but he would have had to fight against the Democrats in Congress. They would never have supported a plan that bribed states to lift the caps on charter schools–far too intrusive, and many would have seen this as privatization. Nor would they have supported a federal requirement that states remove any legal restriction on linking teacher evaluations to student test scores–not only because it is offensive to teachers, who know that they are not solely responsible for their students’ scores, but because the research does not support this idea.

So, do I think that Duncan is carrying forward Bush’s agenda? Yes, beyond the dreams of Margaret Spellings, and without the opposition of the Democrats in Congress.
But please, tell me, do you think I am wrong? Do you like the fact that a Democratic administration is promoting charters, private management, merit pay, and high-stakes testing for teachers?

Diane Ravitch

She points out one reason that Obama will be more successful than Bush in getting this agenda through. There is far more money to give the schools that comply.

Question: Recently the Obama administration announced the regulations for its $5 billion “Race to the Top” fund. That’s an unprecedented amount of discretionary money. How much was available when you worked in the first Bush Administration?

Ravitch: When I worked at the Department of Education in 1991, we had $10 million in discretionary funds, not $4.3 billion.

That is a whole lot of money.

Here is a quote from her article The Race to Nowhere

In the past few days, Chancellor Joel Klein has announced that he is closing nearly two dozen public schools. Some of these schools are the anchor in their communities; some have long histories as gateways for immigrant children. In recent years, the Department of Education decided that it does not like large high schools, so it has been closing them down and sending their lowest-performing students to other large high schools, which then have lower scores and more disciplinary incidents. Some of the large high schools were beyond saving, but most could have been improved by a thoughtful plan of action, including smaller classes, better supervision, and the kinds of resources that hedge-fund managers pour into "their" charter schools. Unfortunately the data-driven MBAs at central headquarters know nothing about instruction and curriculum or about any strategies that might improve a school. They have no school-improvement strategy. What they know best is how to shut down schools, and in this they will find funding and encouragement from the Obama administration.

And from her book Bridging Differences...a quote I found at the blog of educator Susan Ohanian

"As soon as the central administration decides to close a school, it is a fait accompli. New York City has a rubber-stamp 'board' of 13, with a majority appointed by the mayor, serving at his pleasure; it approves every executive decision, with only a single dissenting vote (the heroic Patrick Sullivan, a public school parent). Public hearings are pro forma; no decision is ever reversed. Parents and teachers may protest 'til the cows come home, and they can't change a thing. Their school will be closed, the low-performing students will be dispersed, and either new small schools or charter schools will take over their building. Some of the schools that will close are, funnily enough, small schools that were opened by Bloomberg and Klein only a few years ago. Does anyone believe that this sorry game of musical chairs will improve education? Does anyone in Washington or at central headquarters grasp the pointlessness of the disruption needlessly inflicted on students, families, teachers, principals, and communities in the name of 'reform'? Do these people have no shame?"

—Diane Ravitch, Bridging Differences blog, Dec. 15, 2009

The Broad, Gates, and Walmart corporations have unlimited money to wage the battle against public schools. They form and fund parent groups which work strongly against public education. They pay for advertising, a luxury not afforded the public schools.

I believe Diane Ravitch is right. The privatization of public schools is a fait accompli.

And that is truly a shame.