Dan M says:
[Is] there a country on earth with a successful education system that has ever operated the way [Michelle] Rhee insists this country’s education system should be run? Does Finland, the model for the world, have any of the following: Teach for Finland? KIPP Finland? the Finnish Parent Trigger? the Finnish merit pay system based on student test scores? union-busting organizations like Students First / Finland? No, it has none of this. No. The country that has a system closest to the one pushed by Rhee, Broad, Gates, Walton and others… is Chile… which has, thanks to a CIA coup and decades of ZERO democracy, instituted all of Rhee’s beloved practices. The result? The education system there is an unmitigated, free market disaster… with stratification, low academic achievement, zero democratic oversight of the privatized system… with the only folks benefiting being the “bosses” of these Walmart-ized chains of schools. Every other subgroup – students, parents, teachers, citizens – are worse off, and thus, the protests in that country are ramping up every year.
Seriously, IS THAT WHAT WE WANT FOR OUR STUDENTS AND FOR OUR SCHOOLS HERE?
via http://garyrubinstein.teachforus.org/2013/10/04/super-rhee-go/#comment-640518
Scott, you’re reading my mind. What to do?
BTW, I’m going to have to take a college course on how to navigate your site… 😀
Guess I’ve been living in the “way back zone,” eh?
Hugh aka Repairman
I can sympathize with this issue. In many respects, it has been documented that countries with a larger focus on standardized tests, business-based schools, teacher evaluations based on student test scores, and merit pay have learned their students are good at tests and not much else. Eastern schools have increasingly described their schools as a failure and long for more creativity. There certainly needs to be a certain level of accountability and reform – but teachers are calling for that anyway. The question is how can administrators successfully navigate federal and state demands while acting on what they know is right for our teachers and students – let teachers be the professionals they are and teach our students.