$60 MIllion for School Debate - Where's the Beef?

In an article entitled, "Billionaires Start $60 Million Schools Effort" the New York Times reports, that Eli Broad and Bill Gates are teaming up to sponsor a campaign to make school reform an important topic in the upcoming Presidential election.

The article reports, "The project will not endorse candidates — indeed, it is illegal to do so as a charitable group — but will instead focus on three main areas: a call for stronger, more consistent curriculum standards nationwide; lengthening the school day and year; and improving teacher quality through merit pay and other measures."

Apparently, the project's first print advertisement contains a picture with a student misspelling, "Irak" and "histery." The advertisement states, "Debating Iraq is tough; Spelling it shoulnd't be."

I'm shocked that Mr. Gates would approve such an advertisement. Doesn't he know that his spellchecker has made spelling less important than other areas of education. I'm looking forward to learning more about this initiative. What emphasis does it place on the importance of thinking? What about the importance of global education? NCLB does not currently mandate testing in social studies. We all know that "what is tested is taught." Can we encourage this campaign's leadership to emphasize the importance of social studies? After all, if our students don't understand the importance of civics, if our students don't know how to voice their opinions and make their opinions count, what's the point of being able to read, write and tackle tough math problems?

David Warlick recently posted a quesiton on his blog asking readers if they thought that longer school days would make the difference. Overwhelmingly, people responded "No." The length of the school day does not matter so much, it's what happens during the school day. Well I guess Messrs. Gates and Broad did not see the survey, or at least dismissed it. For they are calling for longer school days and longer school years. (Unfortunately, I can't find the survey.)

I personally won't criticize their call for merit pay. Becuase in my opinion teachers should be compensated based on results. Certainly, the question of "What does results mean?" needs to be answered. Certainly, I don't think that every teacher should be expected to ensure that every one of their students scores above 90% on standardized tests. Academic learning may not be the most important things for some kids. Instead, as an example, some children may need to have experiences that raise their self esteem. But the point is that like all other professionals teachers must be held accountable. The harder part is determining accountable for what?

Just some thoughts on a rainy Wednesday morning in Michigan.


Technorati Tags: Andrew Pass education Bill Gates Eli Broad warlick Election 2008