Walt Gardner's Reality Check
Walt Gardner taught for 28 years in the Los Angeles Unified School District and was a lecturer in the UCLA Graduate School of Education. This blog is no longer being updated.
Education
Opinion
Preparing Doctors and Teachers
The preparation of doctors and teachers is moving in opposite directions, even though both professions have the same goal of serving their patients and students according to the highest standards.
Education
Opinion
Education Inc.
When I first heard about education management organizations, I have to admit that I was intrigued. But the more I learned about them, the more I became convinced that they can never deliver what they promise. I thought of my initial reaction after reading that Christopher Whittle is once again trying to sell for-profit preparatory schools to a gullible audience.
Education
Opinion
The Downside of Student Competition
Competition is supposed to bring out the best in students by making them take their studies more seriously. But there is a downside that deserves far greater attention. It involves the use of prescription stimulants to give them an edge ("Risky Rise of the Good-Grade Pill," The New York Times, Jun. 10).
Education
Opinion
Telling Is Not Teaching
From time to time, college professors weigh in on ways to improve public schools. It always amazes me that their views are taken so seriously. I say that because what passes for sound pedagogy in higher education in all likelihood would be a total flop in K-12 classrooms.
Education
Opinion
The Allure of School Rankings
Once upon a time, rankings were limited to the sports pages, where avid fans knew them by heart. But that changed when U.S. News & World Report made a name for itself by applying the practice to colleges and universities. In short order, high schools followed, until today at least seven national and local lists exist.
Education
Opinion
Taking School Privatization to New Level
It was bound to happen. In what is the boldest move to date to privatize education, Louisiana this fall will give vouchers to parents to cover the full cost of tuition and fees at more than 120 private schools across the state ("Louisiana's bold bid to privatize schools," Reuters, Jun. 1). Approximately 380,000 students are expected to participate.
Education
Opinion
Schools Not Cause of Skills Mismatch
Repeating something often enough does not make it true no matter how intuitively appealing the statement. I thought of that axiom after reading about companies bemoaning the lack of workers with requisite skills. This mismatch is what economists call a structural issue in the labor market. With time, workers will develop the skills in demand or employers will readjust their needs to the skills that workers possess. In the meantime, unemployment will remain high.
Education
Opinion
How Much Parental Choice Is Enough?
The debate over parental choice of schools took an unexpected turn recently when Mitt Romney came out in favor of allowing children to enroll in any school anywhere as long as there was room to accommodate them ("Romney's School Surprise," The New York Times, May 30). His remarks fly in the face of the 1974 U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Milliken v. Bradley, which held that students could be bused across district lines only when clear evidence of de jure segregation existed. Most often, the movement is from city to suburban schools because the latter are known for the quality of their educational programs. This was the case in Milliken, which involved Detroit and its suburban school districts.
Education
Opinion
Adequate Funding of Schools
Despite the guarantee of what most state Constitutions define as a basic education (or words to that effect) for all students, the commitment has largely fallen by the wayside because of the protracted recession ("Albany's Unkindest Cut of All," The New York Times, May 25).
Education
Opinion
Any Hope for Chronically Failing Schools?
Taxpayer patience is slowly running out for the 5,000 persistently failing schools across the country that Education Secretary Arne Duncan has identified. Before writing these schools off as hopeless, however, I think it's important to take a closer look at the reasons.
Education
Opinion
Another Way of Rating Teachers
Professors in colleges and universities are better known for the quality of their research than for the quality of their instruction. But the approach taken by a Boston University biomedical engineering professor stands out as a notable exception ("Feedback From Students Becomes a Campus Staple, but Some Go Further," The New York Times, Mar. 29).
Education
Opinion
Beware of Tuition Tax Credits
Programs designed to redirect public funds to religious schools are effectively using tax credits to skirt the requirement separating church and state ("Public Money Finds Back Door to Private Schools," The New York Times, May 22). Despite its transparent nature, the strategy has succeeded so far because it is supported by donations collected and distributed by nonprofit groups. Although the details differ somewhat, the programs are operating in eight states.
Education
Opinion
Latest Attack on Teachers Unions
In football, it's called piling on, and it draws a penalty. But when a similar tactic takes place in education, it rates an op-ed. I'm referring to an essay by Troy Senik, a senior fellow at the Center for Individual Freedom who attacked the California Teachers Association for all the ills afflicting public schools in the state ("The teachers union that's failing California," Los Angeles Times, May 18).
Education
Opinion
Do Parents Have Diplomatic Immunity in Education?
It's easy to dismiss what transpires in the nation's largest school district as an aberration because of its sheer size. But I believe that the latest remarks by Mayor Michael Bloomberg happen to have relevance to districts across the U.S. For the second time in a year, he suggested that some parents don't understand the value of education ("Mayor Michael Bloomberg says many parents don't know or don't care that their kids skip school," New York Daily News, May 11).