“The study suggests that people who say we know how to make failing schools into successful ones but merely lack the will to do so are selling snake oil. In fact, successful turnaround stories are marked by idiosyncratic circumstances. The science of turnarounds is weak and devoid of practical, effective strategies for educators to employ. Examples of largescale, system-wide turnarounds are nonexistent. A lot of work needs to be done before the odds of turning around failing schools begin to tip in a favorable direction.”
Intro to The 2009 Brown Center Report on American Education: How Well Are American Students Learning?
So much of the discussion of a “lack of will” devolves into blaming teachers, unions and “the Education Establishment” and is characterized by false promises of “the market” or unspecified “innovation” that reminders of the reality like those found in the Brown Report are drowned out in the blather. The vast majority of public schools serve their communities well; the vast majority of those employed in education want students to be successful and do their best to make that happen.
Related and timely:
Leigh Dingerson, “”The Proving Grounds: School “Rheeform” in Washington, D.C..”
Rick Ayers, “An Inconvenient Superman: Davis Guggenheim’s New Film Hijacks School Reform.”
Diane Ravitch, “Why Civil Rights Groups Oppose the Obama Agenda.”
Thomas J. Mertz
AMPS 