Chicago teachers have a tentative deal and may be headed back to work on Monday. But the schools they teach in still have a lot of problems, and there are still a lot of powerful people determined to blame teachers for those problems. That makes it important to keep listening to teachers and students and parents when they talk about the problems they see and the solutions they want.
(Continue reading below the fold.)
A fair day's wage
The War on Education
- If you read an article headlined "Fab 5 Star's Charter a Beacon of Hope," would you expect the following to be true of that "beacon of hope" charter school?
Problems the Academy wrestled with in its first year were a classic mix of start-up mistakes and a focus on glitz over substance. They ran out of money because they set a 10-student class size limit. There were costly monthly field trips (including one to Olympic basketball camp in Las Vegas). No science labs (students left fetal pig detritus in restroom sinks), no locker rooms, showers or air-conditioning in summer heat. Fights, expulsions and a security guard who had to be fired. A teacher using his own media equipment for instruction took his technological tools and skills with him when he left mid-year. A heavily promoted on-line curriculum couldn't be accessed, due to broken laptops. Test scores started and remained in the basement.
Here's the most telling fact, however: there was 100% turnover in teaching staff--not a single teacher returned--and as the school's second year opens, they're on their third principal.
- A former New York schoolteacher writes that teachers aren't islands unto themselves:
I taught in three different public schools in New York City. Where I was able to be my best depended as much on the class sizes, the conditions, the financing, the materials available to me, the support staff for teachers, the support for students and the climate created by administration, as it did on my own efforts and abilities.
- So much important stuff has been written on the Chicago teachers strike, not just on the immediate issues in Chicago but on the broader picture: Mike Konczal looks at the view from the streets. David Dayen explains more about how this is a national fight. Valerie Strauss explains the real problems with Rahm's reforms. Rick Perlstein calls this the next chapter in the fight against plutocracy.
State and local lawmaking
- Remember the Georgia Senate bill that would have criminalized picketing? Republican Sen. Don Balfour was the driving force behind that, so, while it's unrelated to the picketing bill, it's nice to hear that he's currently under investigation by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation for filing false expense reports. He was already fined $5,000 by the Georgia Senate Ethics Committee.
Miscellaneous