Larry Cuban uncovers and posts some truly remarkable things.
How many futures are riding on the Gates grant?
"Then Bill Gates said in his 2009 Annual Letter that while these small urban high schools had accomplished much for students they had largely failed to improve academic achievement."
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Good blog Suzie and very accurate post. Thanks for sharing. The "it's a brave new world" statement has been being tossed around a lot these days. I've noticed it's a regular buzz phrase at district meetings, and I've received it as a curt response when questioning practices in our district that don't make sense. Just because something is new doesn't always mean its better or improved. The Gates Grant is a good example of this. Right now it's simply one huge experiment with results that won't be measured for many years to come. Yet it's being embraced as "the answer" to all our education woes. It's fair to ask how many futures ride on it. How many potentially great teachers will be let go, or become discouraged and walk away while this plays out? (This doesn't even include future education majors who are offended by the whole "it's the teacher's fault" assumption and choose another career path.) Retention rates for the profession are already seriously compromised. I don't see this reform movement making that any better. How exactly is that going to help improve academic achievement?
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