Obama, Romney Spar Over Private Sector's Role In Education

By Stephanie Simon

WASHINGTON, Aug 26 (Reuters) - On the campaign trail during the past week, President Barack Obama talked a lot about education.

Making a bid for young voters and their parents, Obama accused Republican rival Mitt Romney of planning to slash aid to college students. Romney hit back by noting that Obama, a Democrat, has not been able to rein in the soaring cost of tuition.

But the differences between the two candidates on education policy extend far deeper than a war of sound bites over college costs. In an echo of their broader philosophical divide, Romney and Obama split sharply over what role the private sector should play in the U.S. education system.

"There are very, very meaningful differences in philosophy," said Phillip Handy, a businessman who was chairman of the Florida Board of Education for six years and now advises Romney on the subject.

Romney seeks to encourage - with federal subsidies, when necessary - robust participation from the private sector in teaching American kids and training workers. He would use public dollars to enroll more children in private schools; keep federal aid flowing to private, for-profit colleges; and pay private banks to take over part of the federal student loan program.

Obama, by contrast, has sought to expand government's role in education.
He has directed billions of dollars in federal funds to states that adopted his vision of a revamped kindergarten through 12th grade curriculum, with more emphasis on standardized testing. He has secured billions more in public funding to help states avert teacher layoffs.

And in higher education, Obama has expanded federal student aid and cracked down on for-profit colleges that he says leave students with too much debt and too few job prospects. Here is a look at a few key disputes over education policy:


CHARTERS AND VOUCHERS

In K-12 education, Obama has gone much further than his allies in the teachers unions would like in embracing charter schools, which are publicly funded but privately managed, in some cases by for-profit companies.

Obama has pushed states to allow more charter schools to open a nd has directed federal funds to some of the most successful, including a five-year, $50 million grant to the KIPP network of charter schools.

But Romney, the presumptive Republican nominee, would go further.

He has called for redirecting up to $25 billion in federal aid to help schools serve disabled and impoverished children.

Under his plan, up to 12 million needy students nationwide could use the funds to pay tuition at private or religious schools or to enroll in charter schools that might not otherwise have the resources to serve them. Romney would press states to lift all caps restricting the number of charter and online schools. And he would expand federal funding for charter management companies, with the aim of helping the best grow rapidly.

Romney also has cited as a model the aggressive education overhaul in Louisiana. Under Republican Governor Bobby Jindal, the state has laid out a plan to shift tax dollars from public schools to private-sector entrepreneurs and industry trade groups that design courses for K-12 students.

Romney argues that the public school system is broken and in desperate need of new ideas and new energy from the private sector. He is clear about whom he believes is to blame: A campaign policy paper calls public education "an antiquated system controlled to a disturbing degree by the unions representing teachers."

Teachers unions, predictably, have rallied to the Democratic president. They dislike some of his policies, such as his push to rate teachers largely by their students' progress on standardized tests. Still, they are expected to spend millions supporting his campaign.

"Do we believe that this administration has put too much of a focus on testing and competition? Yes," Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, told a recent union convention.

But Weingarten also credited the president's stimulus bill with saving the jobs of 300,000 school employees across the nation. More recently, Obama requested - but failed to get - $55 billion from Congress to prevent some 320,000 teacher layoffs and repair crumbling schools.


FOR-PROFIT COLLEGES

In higher education, the candidates are sharply divided over the value of private, for-profit colleges that offer career training and degree programs in everything from dental hygiene to wind turbine repair to video game art.

Romney has touted for-profit colleges as vital players in higher education. Their very presence, he argues, spurs competition, keeps costs down and expands access to higher education for millions of young adults and mid-career workers looking to shift to a new field.

Obama, however, has accused the industry of promising too much and delivering too little. Too often, he says, recruiters enroll students who do not have a realistic chance of getting a degree or landing a job in their chosen field - and who gain little from the programs except mountains of debt.

In a speech to veterans this spring, Obama accused private, for-profit colleges of trying to "hoodwink" and "swindle" military families eligible for financial aid under the G.I. Bill.

The administration has sought to crack down on abuses by pulling federal aid from colleges that fail to produce enough graduates who find "gainful employment." A federal judge last month invalidated part of that regulation; the administration is still considering its response.

Romney has said he would repeal the regulation altogether.

Romney advisers say he also would push for repeal of a federal law that aims to ensure that for-profit colleges do not get all their revenue from federal student loans, but attract at least some students willing to pay the tuition out of pocket.

Calling for-profit colleges a good deal for students, Romney has campaigned several times on their campuses. Industry leaders have contributed heavily to his campaign. Bill Heavener, the CEO of Full Sail University, a for-profit college in Florida, is a top Romney fundraiser and donor.

The industry's trepidation about Obama comes through in a recent poll of influential players in the education world conducted by Whiteboard Advisors, a consulting firm.

Asked how concerned for-profit colleges should be about a second Obama term, 38 percent expressed strong concern - and another 21 percent checked the box labeled "Panic!"


UNDER ROMNEY, PELL CUTS LIKELY

Romney's selection of Ryan as his running mate has added a wrinkle to the debate over education policy.

The sweeping budget plan that Ryan has laid out - and that Romney has endorsed in principle - would make deep cuts in discretionary domestic spending, including education.

Ryan has not spelled out exactly how his budget axe would fall, but he has said he would cut the number of students eligible for Pell Grants, which help pay college tuition.

In a new ad, Obama accuses the Republican ticket of planning to cut college aid for millions. Another ad, produced by the Democratic National Committee, ridicules Romney for telling young voters that his best advice on affording college is to "shop around" for a good deal and borrow from their parents if necessary.

Romney and Ryan say that the easy availability of federal grants and loans drives up the cost of college for everyone - and has turned into a de facto entitlement. "America needs a new normal," Romney declares in his education policy paper.

Political pundits say they expect education policy disputes to pop up before the Nov. 6 election because the topic encapsulates the candidates' divergent views on the role of government.

As Fredrick Hess, a political scientist at the conservative American Enterprise Institute, put it: "Education may well end up being used as Exhibit A."

How to Kill Student Curiosity in 12 Easy Steps

by Terry Heick

Want to stamp out the curiosity in even the most eager of learners? Here's how.

August 27, 2012  |  

 

Photo Credit: Zoroyan via Shutterstock.com

 

Each year, it seems, our school systems commit themselves ever more profoundly to the corrosive idea that test scores and “instruction” – not learning” – must be prized above all. Amongst incredible pressure from government and district agencies, a drive to keep up with rapid technology change, and the need to bridge cultural chasms in the classroom, many teachers are finding themselves stuck between a rock and a hard place: their own understanding that personalized (rather than standardized) learning is what a great education should be about, and the reality that such an approach would often lead them into “dangerous” waters, where students might begin to think for themselves and ask difficult questions – rather than simply be able to check the right box on an all-important test.

The folks over at TeachThought recognize this conundrum and have come up with 12 easy steps to help your children’s teachers avoid such nasty conflicts. The secret, they figure, is to stifle student curiosity, right from the moment the kids walk through those classroom doors. 
 Killing a learner’s natural curiosity doesn’t happen overnight. It can take as long as twelve years, and in rare cases even that isn’t long enough.

Public school learning environments focused on standards, assessment, and compliance allow for the implementation of research-based teaching strategies in pursuit of streams of data to prove that learning is happening.

Curiosity is nice, but it’s a monumental challenge to measure.

And who has ever been accepted to college or qualified for a job by demonstrating how strong their curiosity is, anyway?

Below are twelve tips to help stifle learner curiosity and keep the learning nice and tidy in the classroom this school year. And please share any we missed in the comments below or on the  TeachThought facebook page.

1. Dictate the learning domains.

Whether physical or digital, individual or group, you’re the teacher (or “district curriculum coordinator”). You decide what is to be learned when and how, and on whose grounds. Make the schedule, the curriculum, the tests, the grading system, the feedback loops–all of it. That’s what you’re paid to do.

2. Limit learner choice.

Voice and choice sound great in theory, but who knows better what a learner needs than the teacher? They’ll appreciate you when they get older and can read and write.

3. Think in black and white.

Right is right. And if they’re wrong, it does no good to coddle them. Binary thinking is how we got to Mars.

4. Focus on answers, not questions.

Again, see #3. No matter how they perform in your open-ended, hippie-style project-based learning that seeks out personalization and community, the Common Core standards-based exams, university expectations, and “real world” aren’t like that. The process of arriving at an “answer”–thinking–pales in priority to accuracy.

5. Only use technology when it’s tidy.

Learning simulations, Prezis, iPads, Android Nexus tablets, and blogging are great when they don’t cross lines, invite rule-breaking, or make assessment a challenge. Just make sure you check state, district, and school policy before you send a student to YouTube to “learn.”

6. Force awkward collaboration.

Collaboration is the stuff of legend. Whenever you can cram a partner or group-activity in where individual thought and reflection used to be, do it. Collaboration makes miracles even if the learning objective doesn’t seem to suggest it.

7. Use very little music, art, or physical movement.

The real world might be filled with color, sound, and physical movement, but in the classroom it’s messy, distracting, and difficult to manage. Nip it in the bud.

There is color on the walls, sound coming from the teacher, and physical movement on the way to the cafeteria. (And in neat lines, too.)

8. Reject inquiry-based, project-based, or place-based learning as not “research-based.”

Research and data are the real engines to education reform. Give a test. Chart the data. Refine the teaching based on the data, and bask in the glow of your success.

After all, Socrates, Shakespeare, Kant, Newton, and Einstein were all educated with researched-based, data-driven pedagogy. If there’s no data showing it works, reject it. (And whatever you do, don’t build better data collection tools to attempt to measure the effectiveness of progressive learning tools yourself. Leave that work to education experts like Robert Marzano, John Hattie, and Rick Stiggins.)

9. Keep it academic.

Learning is in schools, laboratories, and formal field work for a reason. “Authenticity” is an antonym for rigor. Keep it formal, sterile, and academic. Leave the children’s lives, their family traditions, cultural legacy, and individual gifts out of it.

10. Fail to consider the role of play and informal learning.

If it can’t be measured or directed as a learning outcome in a backwards-planning format, it’s dangerous, and could  disrupt the learning process  entirely. If it’s not planned, it’s play—and if it’s play, it’s not learning.

11. Focus on standards blindly. 

Learning standards are the best way to ensure an even learning experience for all students. Work backwards not from habits of mind,  evolving learning currencies, or the way students seek out and use information, but rather the standards. And do so with brutal efficiency.

12. Be sure not to model curiosity.

Spend very little time authentically modeling how to ask great questions, seek out information yourself, or react playfully but swiftly when you realize your own knowledge is insufficient. They need to see a teacher as a model of knowledge and expertise, and most of all, ultimate authority.

Terry Heick is the Director of Curriculum at TeachThought.com.

What If We Brought Education Reform to the Military?

By Lawrence Baines

It is in vogue to compare preparation programs for teachers to preparation programs for doctors. Interns in medicine observe surgeons using a scalpel before trying it themselves; interns in education observe seasoned teachers instructing children before trying it themselves. Recently, the accrediting agency for teacher preparation, the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education, or NCATE, released a "Blue Ribbon Panel Report on Clinical Preparation," thick with analogies between medicine and education. By associating with doctors, perhaps the hope is that the stature of teachers will rise.

In truth, however, the teacher-doctor analogy does not hold, as many beginning teachers today "learn while they earn," meaning they jump into teaching with little or no preparation. No medical school allows first-year interns to perform surgery on real, human subjects. Prospective doctors must have four to seven years of intensive training beyond the bachelor's degree. But no training is expected of prospective teachers beyond the bachelor's degree. In fact, the current trend is to deny pay increases to teachers who earn a master's or doctoral degree, thereby eliminating the possibility that they'll pursue either.

"To be honest, teaching has more in common with the military than with medicine."

At the same time, school districts across the nation have started counting "local service activities" as professional development, effectively giving lunchroom duty the same weight as enrollment in a graduate program. In many states, districts have the power to decide what constitutes professional development and what doesn't. In Florida, a teacher can simply retake a certification test in lieu of university coursework. Doctors cannot undertake cafeteria work or retake old exams for their professional development. They must attend conferences and learn about the latest developments in medicine.

To be honest, teaching has more in common with the military than with medicine. Like a soldier, a teacher who fails to perform assigned tasks can be removed. Union representation doesn't exist for soldiers; soon it won't exist for teachers, either.

Like a soldier, a teacher must secure the area, actively monitor the welfare of the locals, and constantly assess potential threats. Both soldier and teacher must follow orders devised by superiors of higher rank who work far from the action. Both teacher and soldier are expected to subvert personal needs for the sake of the mission. The soldier does not relish defusing an improvised explosive device, or IED, in the middle of a war zone, but neutralizes the bomb to save lives. The teacher does not relish subduing a violent student in a high-poverty school with an "unacceptable" rating, but pacifies the out-of-control student to protect other children.

Of course, the jobs of teacher and soldier are not exactly alike. Currently, soldiers carry weapons and teachers do not, but savvy legislators in many states are working to resolve this discrepancy through the radical easing of gun laws that will help arm students and teachers on campuses everywhere. Forty-nine states allow concealed weapons; 25 states allow the open carrying of handguns. Legislation such as Georgia's House Bill 981, which expressly endorsed the open carrying of handguns on K-12 campuses and in churches, was narrowly defeated this year.

In 2011, the federal government expended 20 percent of its budget on the military, but only 2 percent on education; perhaps this is a reflection of the fact that Americans tend to value soldiers more than teachers. As if to reinforce the point, the 2012 edition of the Gallup Confidence in Institutions poll found that the military had a 75 percent approval rating, while public schools had a 29 percent approval rating, the lowest rating since 1973, when Gallup first began polling for confidence in the public schools.

—iStockphoto.com/Akindo and Vanessa Solis/Education Week

Nevertheless, the military could learn much from America's education reformers, particularly in the areas of recruiting and accountability. Rather than burden new recruits with the humdrum drill of boot camp or the tedium of officer candidates' school, the U.S. Army should consider "alternative entry" for soldiers who want to "make a difference" right away. These recruits should be allowed to skip all military training and head straight to the front lines of battle.

Similarly, the Army's antiquated accountability system, still focused on quality training, must change. Although a comprehensive accountability system would be expensive, the best performers need to be identified and rewarded. An infantryman in Afghanistan, outnumbered by well-armed terrorists, who fails to accomplish the mission should receive a deduction in pay. An accountant stationed in Honolulu, who balances the payroll, thereby accomplishing his mission, should get a raise. In a strict accountability system, environment and assignment are irrelevant. There are no excuses.

Entire platoons should be graded on a scale of A to F, depending upon relative effectiveness. A platoon that experiences catastrophic casualties would not make adequate yearly progress and should be given a grade of F. A platoon that experiences success should be given a grade of A. Soldiers in an A-rated platoon should be offered opportunities for advancement; soldiers in an F-rated platoon should be court-martialed and publicly humiliated by posting their names with their performance scores in newspapers and on websites.

This outcomes-based, pay-for-performance system would allow soldiers the chance to be all that they can be and would transform the military into a different kind of institution. To be competitive in an increasingly global society, the American military must implement policies that allow anyone to be a soldier, including those who want to join over the Internet, on their own time. The military should require no training, and should immediately halt the antiquated practices of tenure and promotion, professional development, and postbaccalaureate study. After all, these innovative reforms have made the teaching profession what it is today.

Lawrence Baines chairs the department of instructional leadership and academic curriculum at the University of Oklahoma in Norman. He is a former secondary school teacher and the author of eight books, including The Teachers We Need vs. the Teachers We Have: The Realities and the Possibilities (R&L Education, 2010).

No Child Left Behind Worsened Education

Huffington Post Blog

More Americans think No Child Left Behind has made education in the U.S. worse rather than better, according to results from a Gallup poll released Monday.

Of those surveyed, 29 percent believe the Bush-era education law has worsened education in America, compared with just 16 percent who said it has improved the system. Another 38 percent said NCLB hasn't made much of a difference, while 17 percent are not familiar enough with the policy to rate its effectiveness. Of those who say they are "very familiar" with the law, 28 percent say it has made education better and 48 percent worse.

The Gallup report points out the lack of "meaningful difference" in the public's view of NCLB by political party, as Democrats and Republicans rated the law similarly across categories of effectiveness, "perhaps reflecting the broad bipartisan support" for the law when it passed through Congress in 2002.

Still, those very party lines have shaped Congress' failure to rewrite the law. No Child Left Behind, which reauthorized the 1965 Elementary and Secondary Education Act, has been due for another reauthorization since 2007. The law is a signature initiative of the George W. Bush administration, requiring standardized testing of students and a system of school penalties for low test scores. The law also called for making all students proficient in math and reading by 2014.

But the rewrite has stalled in Congress as Democratic and Republican bills have failed to pass following a months-long series of partisan pyrotechnics. Senators Tom Harkin's (D-Iowa) and Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.) unveiled a bill of "compromise" last October that would pull back the federal government's role in school accountability, preserve President Obama's Race to the Top grant competition and would not require rigorous teacher evaluations.

After that proposal stalled, Rep. John Kline (R-Minn.) came out with his version in January, heavily rolling back federal sanctions against poor performing schools and offering states flexibility in funding distribution. His plan also pushes a number of accountability and reform points down to the responsibility of schools and localities, no longer requires student testing in science and mandates test-score-based teacher evaluations.

Meanwhile, Obama has held to his 2008 campaign promise of releasing states from No Child Left Behind, having waived 32 states and Washington, D.C. from the sweeping law. Eight of the waivers granted are, however, conditional as part of their plans are under review.

The Gallup poll also found that lower-income Americans show the most support for the law, as 22 percent of adults in households earning less than $30,000 annually believe the law has improved public education, compared with 15 percent of those in higher-income households.

The results from this survey are in line with a January Gallup poll, which found that Americans tended to favor either eliminating the law or keeping it with heavy revisions. Just 21 percent of those surveyed said the law should be kept in its original form.

15 Books That Take American Education to Task

By Linda Ross and the OnlineUniversity.com Staff

Education in America has received a lot of attention in recent years, from educators, reformers, and politicians alike, all looking to improve test scores, reduce dropout rates, and help American students achieve at the same level as their international peers. While some reforms seem to be making a difference, by and large the education system in America is still floundering, and schools at all levels, from kindergarten to graduate school, are facing some serious criticism. Some haven’t been afraid to voice their concerns and have penned books over the past decade that have exposed some of the biggest problems with education in America, taking the entire system to task in the process. Here we share just a few of these sometimes scathing takes on the American education system, which can be eye-opening reads for anyone working in or studying education today.

1. The Death and Life of the Great American School System: How Testing and Choice Are Undermining Education by Diane Ravitch:
   Diane Ravitch served as the Assistant Secretary of Education under George W. Bush, but during her tenure she became disillusioned with many of the methods being used to reform the American school system, including No Child Left Behind and replacing public schools with charter schools. In this best-selling book, Ravitch addresses those very methods, critiquing them as ineffective and potentially disastrous ways to change American education for the better. Ravitch also offers her own ideas on how to reform school, from how to pay teachers to who should make education policy decisions.
2. Savage Inequalities: Children in America’s Schools by Jonathan Kozol:
   While many criticize America’s education system from the sidelines, Kozol has been in the trenches, an experience which has left him deeply concerned about the problem of equality in public education. In this book, Kozol documents the conditions in six of America’s poorest and most desperate school districts, contrasting the third world conditions, poor teachers, and lack of resources schools serving low-income students receive with those serving wealthier citizens just a few miles away. The book is eye-opening and heartbreaking, as Kozol exposes some of the worst injustices that face the neediest American schoolchildren.
3. So Much Reform, So Little Change: The Persistence of Failure in Urban Schools by Charles M. Payne:
   A professor in the School of Social Service Administration at the University of Chicago, Charles M. Payne is widely regarded as a key voice on issues like civil rights, social justice, and education. In this book, Payne exposes the ineffectiveness of nearly thirty years of school reform, leaving many urban schools in much of the country just as bad as, or in some cases even worse, than they were decades before. Yet Payne offers some hope for readers, too, exploring what does work and how effective reforms can change the lives of young students whose only way out of poverty may be a good education.
4. Dumbing Down Our Kids: Why American Children Feel Good About Themselves But Can’t Read, Write, or Add by Charles J. Sykes:
   Sykes has some serious complaints about the quality of education available in school systems today and voices them quite passionately in this indictment of American education. Sykes points to the watered-down requirements, grade inflation, and ineffectual reading materials as contributing to the decline of academic rigor in American schools. While many may agree with this assessment, his solution is perhaps much more controversial, calling for the dissolution of the federal Department of Education, undergraduate education, and merit-based raises for teachers.
5. Academically Adrift: Limited Learning on College Campuses by Richard Arum and Josipa Roksa:
   Even with ever-higher tuition, more students are heading to college than ever before, but are they really getting the education they’re paying for? Sociology professors Richard Arum and Josipa Roska don’t think so. They have research that points to some disturbing trends in higher ed, including a study which found that 45% of students showed no improvement in key skills, including critical thinking and writing, between their first semester and the end of their second year. They believe that the current culture at most colleges doesn’t adequately value education, preferring to focus on raising their rankings rather than putting out a smart, capable batch of graduates each year.
6. The Homework Myth: Why Our Kids Get Too Much of a Bad Thing by Alfie Kohn:
   The more homework students get, the more they’re learning, right? Not quite. As Alfie Kohn explains, there are no studies proving the learning benefits of heavy loads of homework, yet teachers across America continue to load students up with hours of it every night. Busywork and a competitive environment, he argues, only turn kids off of school and are counterproductive to producing well-educated, thoughtful young adults. Most revealingly, he lays out six of the reasons heavy homework loads are so accepted, with arguments against each that may just change your views on homework.
7. Tearing Down the Gates: Confronting the Class Divide in American Education by Peter Sacks:
   One of the most disturbing facts about education in America is just how different the educational experience is for students of different classes. As more and more Americans speak out about the growing divide between the wealthy and the rest of us, the issue of a class divide in American education has never been more relevant. Sacks takes to task the fallacy of equal opportunity in America by showing how schools in America at all levels shut out and disenfranchise poor students while catering to students who are more economically advantaged.
8. The Shame of the Nation: The Restoration of Apartheid Schooling in America by Jonathan Kozol:
   One of Kozol’s most well-known books, this book exposes the segregation that is still found in many American schools, with the divide between races reverting to its highest level since Brown v. Board of Education banned segregation in 1968. Teachers, students, principles, and education leaders all share their thoughts on the issue in this informative and moving book, which encourages all Americans to fight for civil liberties for students in urban districts where basics like up-to-date textbooks and clean classrooms are often in short supply.
9. Inside American Education: The Decline, the Deception, the Dogmas by Thomas Sowell:
   This book by Thomas Sowell is aging (it was published in 1992), but sadly many of the problems he points to in it still exist in education today, 20 years later. Sowell posits that the American education system, from kindergarten through grad school is full of incompetency, alienation, and moral bankruptcy, railing especially hard on athletic scholarships, the publish-or-perish syndrome, and academic brainwashing. Readers should note that Sowell can be a bit extreme (and sometimes downright wrong), but that doesn’t make his primary criticisms of the education system any less scathing or true.
10. Dumbing Us Down: The Hidden Curriculum of Compulsory Schooling by John Gatto:
    John Gatto was the recipient of the New York State Teacher of the Year Award, but that doesn’t mean he loves the way the current education system works. In fact, quite the opposite, as readers of this book will quickly learn. Gatto believes that the American education system only teaches children how to follow orders and conform to social norms, not to think independently and critically. Most damning are the seven lessons Gatto says he must convey to students including: confusion, class positions, indifference, emotional dependency, intellectual dependency, provisional self-esteem, and denial of privacy.
11. Our Underachieving Colleges: A Candid Look at How Much Students Learn and Why They Should Be Learning More by Derek Bok:
    This book is another hard look at the American higher education system, this time from former Harvard president Derek Bok. As in the work of Arum and Roska, Bok showcases just how little many students learn during their college educations, lacking key skills in writing, reasoning, mathematics, and critical thinking. In fact, despite high tuition that supports new technology, more professors, and greater resources for students, there is little evidence to suggest that students are learning more and may in fact be taking away less from their college years (despite a much higher price tag).
12. Below C Level: How American Education Encourages Mediocrity – and What We Can Do about It by John Merrow:
    PBS and NPR reporter John Merrow believes that American educational reforms can’t really be effective until they change one key element: the encouragement of mediocrity in American students. In this book, he turns a critical eye to the failings of American schools through a series of essays that touch on a wide range of teaching and learning topics. At the core of Merrow’s work is that assertion that in order to begin to change, schools must admit their problems, be willing to change, and use teaching methods that have proven results, things many just aren’t willing to do.
13. Class Warfare: Inside the Fight to Fix America’s Schools by Steven Brill:
    Journalist Steven Brill takes an uncompromising look at education in this book, exposing the multifaceted battle over reforming the system that Brill argues neglects the interests of children in favor of the interests of unions, politicians, and those in power. While Brill’s commentary may not be entirely unbiased, he takes shots at nearly all sides in the school reform debate, exposing inequities, problems, and shortsighted policies that are keeping American schools in the dark ages.
14. Left Back: A Century of Failed School Reforms by Diane Ravitch:
    Think misguided education reforms are a modern invention? Ravitch shows in this revealing book that they’re really nothing new; Americans have been worrying about the quality of their education system for over a century. There are few better equipped to write a history of education reform than Ravitch, a historian of education and research professor at NYU, and she does not disappoint. While engaging, the book is also discouraging as it exposes the long, slow march towards the poor quality of many of America’s schools today. Ravitch does offer a source of hope, however, by highlighting some of the courageous voices throughout history that spoke out in favor of equal access to high-quality education for all American students.
15. The End of Education: Redefining the Value of School by Neil Postman:
    Postman takes on the purpose of the educational system itself in this critical read. Instead of imparting students with a strong work ethic, an appreciation for diversity, a love of country, and an understanding of the larger purpose of the arts and language, Postman argues that schools now simply teach students how to be consumers and encourage the exclusion of those who are different from the norm. Instead of focusing on the means of education, as many reformers do today, Postman offers a critical look at the crux of the educational experience: the content.

5 Tips for Presenting to Executives

by GUEST AUTHOR on AUGUST 14, 2012

Presenting to your peers is (relatively) easy. The stakes aren’t high. If you screw up, they’ll usually let it slip.

But executives are different. Executives get things done through delegating to other people. So, they are always looking for who they can trust – and who they can’t. Make a good impression and the exec is likely to give you more responsibility in the future. Make a bad impression and you earn a place on their “do-not-trust” list. Either way, it affects your career.

Executives are a special audience for presentations. And the stakes are high. Here are FIVE TIPS to keep in mind to ace your next executive presentation.

1. Get to the point in one minute
Executives exist in high-pressure environments. With 80 hour weeks, emergencies cropping up, high stress loads and demanding bosses and shareholders. TIME is one of their most precious commodities.

So don’t waste it by arriving late, fumbling with the projector (“why won’t it connect?”), making long rambling introductions and so on. Get to the point as quickly as you can. Within the first minute, if at all possible. There’s a good chance the exec is itching to interrupt you and barrage you with questions so get to your main point before the presentation is derailed.

2. Talk about problems winning in the marketplace
Executives don’t care about today’s problems. That’s someone else’s job. Executives have their minds focused on the next three years and what it will take to beat competitors, reach new customers, hold onto existing customers and increase margins. So, talk to them about the problems they will have winning in the marketplace, and how your ideas will help them. If you can’t talk to them about that, you’ll get bumped down to some department head – and well you should.

3. Sell a vision before discussing the details
This is especially true for sales people. Don’t walk into a meeting with an executive and start talking about your super-wonderful fully-guaranteed remote-controlled electronic bobbin. Execs will immediately focus on cost and product features, often ending the meeting with “We’ll get back to you” so they can have someone research prices.

Instead, focus on painting a vision of a better future – hopefully one that maps onto their three-year goals. Once they’re nodding at the vision – and ONLY after they’re nodding at the vision – should you talk about your product’s details. Cost is likely to be less of a concern now.

4. Lead with stories, not data
Executives respect data and making data-driven decisions. But they are also realistic about what data can – and cannot – tell you. They’ve seen many projects fail despite the glowing research results. And they’ve seen boot-strap projects succeed despite the lack of any data to back it up.

Executives often trust their guts more than they trust data. They consider customer stories, quotes from their largest channel partners and competitor moves just as valid as data. So use that. Come to executive presentations armed with lots of stories and introduce stories first, then the data to back it up.

5. Don’t be afraid of executives; be afraid FOR them
Because the stakes are high, and executives often shoot presenters for sport, people are naturally nervous presenting to executives. But this fear will only work against you and broadcast your lack of confidence. So, adopt a different mindset: be afraid FOR executives.

5 Tips for Presenting to Executives from speakingppt

Remember that executives have more power, but also more responsibility and more things that can go wrong: an employee leaks confidential information, a critical project misses a milestone, an indiscriminate comment derails their career. So, don’t be afraid of executives. Be afraid for them and think about how your proposal could help to allay their biggest fears.

There’s a lot more to presenting to executives but these five things will get you grounded. Now go nail your next executive presentation.

About the author: Bruce Gabrielle author of Speaking PowerPoint: the New Language of Business. He teaches PowerPoint presentation workshops for Fortune 500 companies, technology firms, consulting firms and business schools. You can contact him atwww.speakingppt.com or @speakingppt.

Charter school group's chief blamed for 2010 cheating scandal

Educators say John Allen asked Crescendo principals to show teachers the state standardized test. L.A. Unified was going to suspend him, but the board voted to fire him and close the campuses

Two separate investigations into the cheating scandal blamed Crescendo founder and chief executive John Allen, who was driven, as one official said, by a desire to be “better, better, better, best." (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times/ March 4, 2011)

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By Howard Blume, Los Angeles Times

August 17, 2012, 5:34 p.m.

The meeting at Crescendo Preparatory South was progressing as usual when the acting principal dropped a bombshell: She had been given copies of the upcoming standardized tests. The teachers were to study them, take notes — and make sure the kids got it.

Some of the eight instructors were troubled by what seemed to be an order to cheat. One burst into tears.

So began one of the most brazen cheating scandals in the nation. Ultimately, all of Crescendo's schools in South Los Angeles, Gardena and Hawthorne were shut down, its teachers let go and 1,400 students forced to find new schools.

Only the rough outlines of the 2010 scandal were made public, but dozens of interviews with former Crescendo employees and officials — as well as a review of previously unreleased documents — portray an environment so poisoned by demands to excel on state proficiency tests that many submitted to a plan to boost the scores of schools that were already doing well.

Two separate investigations blamed Crescendo's founder and chief executive, John Allen, who was driven, as one official said, by a desire to be "better, better, better, best." Allen has declined all interview requests and maintained his innocence in court documents.

Former Crescendo principals are still grappling with how they were drawn into violating a fundamental tenet of their profession, and teachers are left questioning their own actions and an educational mission in which they believed so deeply.

"Here I had been going around bragging about how awesome our school is, and now I wonder: Are we cheaters?" former Crescendo teacher Lisa Sims said.

The first Crescendo schools opened in 2005, part of a burgeoning charter movement spurred by overcrowding, shrinking resources at traditional public schools and parents' fears over safety.

The Crescendo network, which combined strict academics with arts and music enrichment, attracted black families in particular; African Americans made up at least 80% of the enrollment, compared with less than 10% districtwide.

The schools were the brainchild of Allen, an imposing figure who started teaching in L.A. Unified in 1988 and became a principal in the Capistrano Unified School District in Orange County eight years later. He then headed the well-regarded Watts Learning Center, a publicly funded, independently run charter.

"John worked 24/7," said a former Crescendo board member who, like some others interviewed, cited legal or employment ramifications in requesting anonymity. Much, if not most, of Crescendo's success could "be attributed to John."

Allen provided a strong vision to his largely young and inexperienced teachers.

Sandra Kim, 24, had been waiting tables for six months before she got a job teaching at Crescendo.

"John Allen seemed sincere and nice, wanting to know about my school, my teaching philosophy, my background. He seemed like he really cared about the kids and how the school was being operated," Kim said. "I was ecstatic."

Allen's ideas on how schools should be run included enforcing his notions of professional attire.

Teacher Patricia Hardison said that when Allen would arrive on campus unannounced, the first teacher to notice would send a student to other classes with the message: "Do you have a red pen?"

That was the signal for teachers to pull out their uncomfortable high heels.

But Allen's biggest fixation was test scores.

Nationwide, schools' reputations and educators' jobs increasingly depend on student test scores. At Crescendo, Allen seemed to push harder each year. In 2009, he had classroom results posted for all to see, teachers said. He also told them flat out: "You better score a 900 this year," one recalled.

There are a possible 1,000 points on the state's Academic Performance Index. California's goal for its schools is 800. In 2009, Crescendo's scores ranged from 768 to 827, well surpassing most neighborhood schools.

"The students know the standards very well because we drill them, and they learn how to take the test," said Kim, whose classroom was in rented church property on Western Avenue. "It's sad that 8-year-olds are drilled on the test rather than doing projects.... By April and May, they're just burned out."

By 2010, the pressure to excel had increased.

At an April 22 meeting, Allen asked principals to "show the teachers the test to see if they have prepared students" well enough, according to one principal. "He said anyone who doesn't get with the program, this will be their last day at Crescendo," recalled the administrator, who did not want to be identified.

Most principals complied with Allen's orders to varying degrees, according to an internal Crescendo report that was never released.

At Crescendo Preparatory South, Sims, the wife and daughter of a teacher, was immediately distressed by the order to review the tests. "Don't we sign something that says we're not supposed to look at testing materials?" she asked.

The teacher sitting across from her shrugged uncomfortably. Sims turned to Principal Sheryl Lee: "Do you know?"

Lee, who had been an assistant principal in L.A. Unified, responded that she'd never read the test affidavit, according to Sims and Hardison. Lee left the room, they said. Lee declined to be interviewed.

"I took it as her saying: 'Shut up and do this,' " said Sims, who began to cry in front of her colleagues.

Her husband told her she had to report what happened. But she was worried about getting fired and unsure whom to contact.

On a Crescendo campus three miles away, Kim and other teachers walked into their break room to find the state tests laid out.

Principal Anne Rinaldi asked them to take notes and left the room.

The exercise was reassuring at one level. "We kind of looked over the booklets and said, 'We got this. Our students know this material,' " Kim said.

"I was very naive about things," Kim said. "I didn't know if it was wrong or right" to look at the tests. "I thought it must be OK."

Rinaldi returned after about 30 minutes and said, " 'Got all the notes?' We said, 'We got it,' and she collected the booklets," Kim said.

Rinaldi also declined to be interviewed.

It is uncertain how seeing the tests affected scores. No teachers admitted using the illicit materials; others said they refused. Still, just looking at the tests violated the rules.

The scheme came to light May 3, 2010, when an unidentified teacher reported the matter to L.A. Unified, which launched an investigation.

Sims said Allen came by to talk with her at that time. She thought she was about to get fired because she had challenged his order to look at the tests.

Instead, Allen assured her that she would have a job the next fall. And if anyone came around from L.A. Unified, Sims said she was told, she should say she'd never seen the test.

Kim only learned something was wrong during a Saturday tutoring session. Her principal, Rinaldi, was "frantic and crying." Rinaldi said teachers had reported what happened to L.A. Unified.

Within days, several teachers, including Sims, Kim and Hardison, had also called the school district.

One Crescendo board member later asked principals why not one of them questioned Allen's directive. They said that "people had been fired for less," according to the report on Crescendo's investigation.

The state tests still took place, but Crescendo was in crisis.

L.A. Unified threatened to shut down the charter schools and demanded that anyone involved in cheating be fired, especially Allen. His actions, the district said in a June letter to Crescendo's board, constituted "a fatal error in judgment."

Crescendo's board called an emergency meeting — during which there was an unscheduled visit from Marguerite Poindexter LaMotte, a member of the L.A. Board of Education.

LaMotte's message was clear, two Crescendo trustees said: You don't need to fire Allen, and the cheating was not serious enough to warrant closing the schools.

LaMotte had often railed against charter schools, but she was friends with Allen, who was the choir director at her church.

The Crescendo board, according to one member, was "somewhat in awe" of LaMotte's presence. The board member said her appearance was a "crucial factor" in the board's 4-3 vote to retain Allen.

Within the L.A. Unified upper hierarchy, LaMotte "talked to anyone who would listen" on Allen's behalf, said a senior staffer who did not want to be identified because he was not authorized to speak. LaMotte also appealed to then-L.A. schools Supt. Ramon C. Cortines.

Cortines had known LaMotte for years. And he relied on her, as a teachers union ally, to support aggressive reforms that had angered the union. "She said to me, 'He's my friend. He made a mistake. How do we help him?' " Cortines said.

The superintendent concluded that closing Crescendo would unfairly punish students — and alienate a key ally. "You can't take this issue unto itself," Cortines said. "I was attempting to keep a school board together, attempting to have a board that operated in the best interests of all the schools."

LaMotte declined interview requests and, through a spokesperson, said she had no comment on what happened.

L.A. Unified officials eventually agreed that Allen would serve a six-month, unpaid suspension and return to a lower administrative job. Most principals were suspended for 10 days. And everyone would receive ethics training, among other measures.

Crescendo parents were never told of the cheating, only that there were problems involving the tests.

Allen declined requests from The Times for an interview. But according to investigations by Crescendo and L.A. Unified, he admitted the cheating to Crescendo's then-board president, Leah Bass-Bayliss, saying that "he got carried away."

No public acknowledgment was made except for a blank space that appeared months later in state records where Crescendo's scores would normally be listed, with the notation that "adult irregularities" had occurred. The tests had been invalidated.

The matter may have never come to light except that two of Crescendo's schools were coming up for renewal in March 2011. District staff recommended approving the charters with conditions attached to make sure all testing rules were followed.

District insiders had expected a pro forma approval at a March 1 school board meeting. But after a Feb. 28 article about the cheating appeared in The Times, incoming L.A. schools Supt. John Deasy backed away from the staff recommendation for a five-year renewal. Board members, worried about appearing to condone cheating, went even further.

They voted to begin the lengthy process of shutting down Crescendo.

The Crescendo board hastily voted to fire Allen, but it didn't save the schools. They were allowed only to finish out the year.

In October, 2011, Allen sued for wrongful dismissal, contending in court documents that allegations of testing irregularities were "unfounded." In April, he reached a settlement for $245,000 of Crescendo's remaining assets, which approached $8 million at the time the schools closed.

In the end, said one trustee, "we didn't do what we should have done," namely, fire Allen immediately.

Cortines, who retired shortly after the board vote, said: "I'm sure the charter school office would probably tell you that I was not as direct as I might be."

Allen's mission to reach students in some of Southern California's poorest areas will be carried on by some of the teachers who became whistle-blowers.

Sims and Hardison are founding teachers for Apple Academy Charter Schools, which will open this month at one of Crescendo's former campuses.