A New York Times article reports that the Southern Methodist University’s new School of Education and Human Development is “aligned with President Bush’s hallmark education program, No Child Left Behind, and that the school says are based on the kind of research protocols used in science and medicine.” S.M.U.’s out-of-the-box thinking has the ed school establishment on the defensive. Take these examples:
– Deborah Stipek of Stanford says, “It’s very dangerous and wrong-headed. If you think about what we want our students to do and what teachers want to prepare them for, issues like social development are really important, as well.”
Dangerous? Wrong-headed? Obviously, “social development” really means “social activism,” which is what she wants to prepare students and teachers to do. Dr. Stipek finds S.M.U.’s disregard for social activism dangerous and wrong-headed.
– Kenneth Zeichner of Wisconsin, Madison says, “I question the degree of certainty of the research… [No Child Left Behind is] a focus on ‘low-level’ learners, devised only to improve test scores…Not that it’s not important. But kids in urban schools deserve the same high-quality education that kids get in affluent areas.”
Obviously, we SHOULD begin to focus on ‘low level” learners because they need our help the most, although I am not sure how it is possible to design a policy to only improve test scores. Moreover, I agree that affluent and urban schools deserve the same high quality instruction. What does this have to do with S.M.U. or NCLB?
– Deborah Loewenberg Ball of Michigan says “You want to turn out quality teachers, but I don’t think you do education around a single policy.”
Ok, there are two very different ideas here – turning out quality teachers and “doing” education around a single policy. I think quality teachers have a grasp of the demands of NCLB and state accountability models, as well as be able to adapt to the demands of both. As for “doing” education around a single policy. Well, I am not sure what that means. I am curious how many policies Dr. Ball would require for states to “do” education properly. Really, I want a number.
