Bad Omen

Kitzhaber's appointment of Ron Saxton to lead the primary and secondary education transition teams for his administration is a bad omen. Sure Saxton once served on the Portland School Board, but what other bona fides qualify him to lead these transition teams? I voted for Kitzhaber, but he wasn't my first choice. I supported Bradbury in the primary race. There will be no "reform" of public education Oregon during Kitzhaber's term. There isn't the money available for real reform. Belt-tightening and reallocation of money will not suffice. Real reform requires real money

Wall Street Journal Continues Union Bashing

The December 7, 2010 Wall Street Journal editorial "California's Parent Revolution" proclaims that, "The biggest obstacle to education reform has long been overcoming the inertial forces of unionized bureaucracy." Wrong. Unions are rightfully the biggest obstacle to movements that speak of innovation and reform, but that camouflage approaches to education that are based on bullying, manipulation, and demagoguery.

The inspiration for the article was the action of parents of students at a California elementary school who were rightfully distressed about the education that their children have been receiving. They took advantage of a California law that provides for a "parent trigger" to petition to install a charter school operated by Celerity Educational Group. I wish the parents well, but here are some questions that I have: Is Celerity Educational Group a "for profit" business? What influence did Celerity have on the parents as the petition was drafted and circulated? Under what conditions do Celerity instructional staff work? Will Superman save the day in Compton? (Sorry. It's been another long day. Report cards are due to go home on Friday. I shouldn't be writing this at this hour.)

Union strong. Union proud.

Oregon Education Summit: Blah, Blah, Blah

Four Oregon state legislators wrote an "In My Opinion" piece for The Oregonian (December 6, 2010). They previewed an education summit to be convened by them on Tuesday, December 7. They, "invited education experts from around the country and from throughout Oregon," including, "school superintendents, education researchers, principals who've led school turnaround efforts and people who run Head Start programs for preschoolers." Who are these "experts"? And why is there no reference to parents, teachers, and students being invited other than through a day-before-the-summit newspaper opinion piece that relatively few will read and fewer still will be able to respond to.

The real experts will be deeply engaged on Tuesday in the daily work of educating students who don't have the time for the nonsense of summits that will have no impact on anything that will improve education in Oregon. The expert practitioners know what is required. They require adequate resources including: 1. Sufficient time to plan, prepare, and assess. 2. Greater autonomy to design, develop, and implement curriculum. 3. Competent administrative leadership. These require not only a redistribution of funds, but an increase in funding.

If you want quality, then you have to pay for it. So long as the state legislature is unwilling to fund education at a minimally adequate level (Quality Education Model) then there will be no way to meet the goal of the four legislators, "to ensure that the schools that educate the state's children are on a solid foundation and on a path to get better."

This is what I propose the legislators do if they want to hear from real experts. Don't waste money convening meaningless talk fests in Salem. Instead, go to at least one elementary school, one middle school, and one senior high school in their legislative districts. Spend an entire day in each. Arrive with the morning custodian and stay until the last teacher leaves. Observe, ask questions of licensed staff, classified staff, students, parents, and volunteers. Learn from the experts.

Response to Steve Duin's

This is the text of my email to The Oregonian columnist Steve Duin in response to his December 5, 2010 column "Is Kitzhaber any smarter on education?

"I agree that teacher quality is, "the single most important factor in motivating children in the classroom." The great majority of teachers with whom I have worked and interacted with as a teacher, board member, and parent volunteer are competent and dedicated -quality- teachers. They are not as successful as they might be, though, for a litany of reasons.

The one reason that I hear very little about is the quality of school administrators. If teachers should be recruited from the ranks of the best and the brightest, then administrators should be recruited from the best and the brightest among these. Overall the administrators with whom I have worked and interacted have not been as impressive as the teachers.

If you think that teacher quality needs improvement, may I suggest also that you take a closer look at administrator quality?"