Still Dazzled By the Inputs? Get Some Reality Lenses

Here are three reminders of why a focus on the inputs in education is a diversion from what’s important, and a waste of time.

1) Once again, the teacher certification sleight-of-hand is debunked in this Heartland Institute piece.

2) I analyzed achievement gains for NBPTS teachers in this short piece.

3) More breaking news: spending is not a proxy for achievement.

Keeping our eye off the achievement ball, and on school inputs instead, is a sure way to distract attention from the real problem?achievement output. The ‘input distraction’ serves the education establishment pretty well, because in order to get to the heart of the learning problem, something really, really big will have to give in the education establishment. They know this.

The alternative? Keep playing to teacher groups, and hope that by the overwhelming power of guilt (or good intentions) they will drop disingenuous complaints about pay, working conditions, and “institutional support,” and start to focus on students rather than on themselves. Unfortunately, the would-be good teachers often become attrition statistics.

No Child Left Behind: In one sense, the No Child Left Behind law has been a Godsend to the teaching profession. It gives education experts a “bad boy” to rail about, and an excuse for still not producing decent student performance. Better yet, the zombie-esque “More resources!” chant can continue unabated.

Retreat: In an awkward side step, some early NCLB cheerleaders have changed their attitude on the law. Unfortunately, most of them still think NCLB can and should be “tweaked.” Despite the US Department of Education’s loosening of some benchmark definitions, USDE cannot now abandon NCLB wholesale. The alternative is for states to sue, or to forego Title I funding.

Why did freedom advocates ever embrace the NCLB law? In the space between state-sponsored and mandated education, and a belief that government should leave citizens alone to pursue their own ends, there remains a blinding and childlike belief that government 1) owes us a free education, 2) is here only to help us, and 3) is all-wise. Ultimtely, we have gotten exactly the free lunch we ordered.