Irrespective of party, politicians often target and malign education — as author Erika Christakis very capably makes clear — making hay of education’s perceived failings. But, this negative rhetoric ignores what we know to be true: the American public education system, despite some anecdotal problems, despite struggling with mixed financial investments, despite being the frequent target of opportunistic and misinformed politicians, does provide an overall positive benefit to school children and families. And further, educators are not satisfied, educators are not done with attempting to improve.
Try This One Trick To Improve Student Outcomes
Despite the popular yet unsophisticated opinion, we know that it isn’t always about personnel. NPR’s Anya Kamenetz interviews The Century Foundation‘s Richard Kahlenberg on some of the research-based factors educators know increase student achievement: integration.
Education Policy Fights Don’t Focus Enough on Teaching and Learning
Along with other federal departments under the new administration, the U.S. Department of Education has been staffed not by a policy or practice expert, but by an ideologue. And related to what is known about the new Secretary of Education is her advocacy for school choice in the form of vouchers, despite what the most recent research reveals about their ineffectiveness as a school improvement model. But, as this article well demonstrates, governmental education reform efforts are rarely about improving instructional practice, and instead about the more politically-oriented governance. Too often, legislative school reform omits those most informed, and those most affected: the practitioners and students.