Time to get started on my day and to see which consultants will be involved in our PD day.

I’ve been thinking about this a lot recently. It feels like the greatest asset of the singular focus on teachers is that lets those of us not in the classroom off the hook. If it all depends on the teacher, we have no collective responsibility for the success of schools and students.

However, I take issue with Wendy Kopp’s statement that she chose this teacher because she lives and breathes teaching (or something to that effect). It is not a surprising statement and it fits right in with the superhero narrative, the idealization of these teachers who sacrifice their own lives to save their students. However, as others have pointed out, this is not a tenable response to the crisis in education.

I’m not against teachers (or people in any profession) making a choice to devote all of their energy and time to their jobs. I am against the idea that this amounts to policy. For education to serve all children, schools and teachers need to be properly supported; issues of poverty and inequity which surround school systems must be addressed; education policy must take this into account.

Many thousands of teachers might be spending ten and twelve hour days and doing great things in their individual classrooms, but this will not transform education. And while it is possible that some individual teachers will have the stamina and will (and lack of family, or generosity of partner) to keep up this level of single-minded dedication for many years, reports I’ve read indicate that such gung-ho 80-hour-a-week teachers are the very ones who leave teaching before five years are out.

Parents often put their children in kindergarten at the age the school must legally accept them regardless of whether or not the student is ready to begin school. In the past the cut off was five years old by December 2 of the current year. For parents who held off on kindergarten when the student was eligible according to age there is a year and a half difference in age. Imagine a four year old sitting still and writing for 20 minutes, now imagine a six year old sitting for 20 minutes. Very different picture.

A student in Oakland cannot be held back without parental permission – even in kindergarten or first grade.

Students should have more opportunities to attend schools that either reflect their aptitude or their interests. Are there recent graduates/current students of Oakland puplic schools capable of being admitted to (and graduating from) Stanford or an Ivy League Univesity? Yes, but what specialized schools provide are opportunities for more focused and rigorous instruction in that schools focus area, socialization (different fields have their own social norms), networking opportunities, etc. The article you referenced (“Exam High Schools and Academic Achievement: Evidence From New York City”)can be intepreted a myriad of ways; however, the research and the results are by no means conclusive. One of the reports authors’ are quoted in the New York Times as stating:

“Without longer-term measures such as income, health, or life satisfaction,” they note, “it is difficult to fully interpret our results.”

As a current OUSD parent, I would welcome the opportunity for my children to have more educational choices, and I believe that a selective middle and high school is needed.