Leadership Blog

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 This blog is no longer being updated.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 Parsing the Racial Discipline Data
The report issued by the Education Department's Office of Civil Rights leaves the distinct impression that public schools are unfairly disciplining black students ("Minority students as targets?" Los Angeles Times, Mar. 10). The operative word is "unfairly" because if this is true then the practice needs to immediately change. But I think there is more to this story than meets the eye.
Walt Gardner, March 14, 2012
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2 min read
Education Opinion Blame It All On Teachers Unions
Scapegoating is a powerful tool to sway public opinion. That's why I'm not surprised that teachers unions are consistently being singled out for the shortcomings of public schools ("Can Teachers Unions Do Education Reform?" The Wall Street Journal, Mar. 3). After all, they are such an easy target at a time when the public's patience over the glacial pace of school reform is running out.
Walt Gardner, March 12, 2012
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3 min read
Education Opinion Killing Teacher Morale Is Easy
The results of the annual MetLife Survey of the American Teacher confirm what has been apparent to anyone who has been paying attention to news and commentary about public schools. They show that morale is at its lowest point in more than 20 years ("Teacher Survey Shows Morale Is at a Low Point," The New York Times, Mar. 8).
Walt Gardner, March 9, 2012
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2 min read
Education Opinion The Bullying Problem
Often thought of as an unfortunate but unavoidable part of growing up, bullying is finally being recognized for the serious problem it is. Yet "Bully," a documentary to be released nationwide this month that is aimed at raising consciousness about the issue, may not be seen by students because of its R rating for profane language ("A 'Bully' pulpit for Weinstein Co.," Los Angeles Times, Mar. 6). It's a telling commentary that we are more concerned about language (and sex) in movies than about violence.
Walt Gardner, March 7, 2012
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3 min read
Education Opinion Do Good Looks Affect Teacher Ratings?
As farfetched as it sounds, pulchritude is an important factor in determining how teachers are evaluated. It's not that student test scores don't count (they will constitute up to 40 percent of a teacher's rating in some states beginning in the 2012-13 school year), but as long as classroom observations are factored in, the role of good looks comes into play.
Walt Gardner, March 5, 2012
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1 min read
Education Opinion Can El Sistema Be Replicated in Schools Here?
The debate over effective instruction is so familiar by now that it seems little more can be said. But a provocative article about how music is taught in Venezuela calls that view into question ("El Sistema for all, U.S. kids too," Los Angeles Times, Feb. 26). The fame of Gustavo Dudamel, music director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, has focused attention on what is known as El Sistema because he attributes his success to it.
Walt Gardner, March 2, 2012
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2 min read
Education Opinion The Trouble With Student Success Stories
It's always heartening to hear how some students have managed to overcome Dickensian backgrounds to shine in school. They deserve the spotlight for their impressive achievements in spite of the huge disadvantages they brought to class. That's why scholarships provided by The New York Times since 1996 are so welcome ("Resiliency Helps 8 Students Win Times Scholarships," Feb. 25).
Walt Gardner, February 29, 2012
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1 min read
Education Opinion Reporting of Teacher Performance
It had to happen sooner or later. Sixteen months after the Los Angeles Times published rankings of 6,000 third- through fifth-grade teachers in the Los Angeles Unified School District that it compiled from seven years of math and English scores, news organizations under the Freedom of Information Law finally received data on 18,000 teachers in the New York City school system when a state court declined to hear a last ditch appeal from the teachers union to keep the information private. In quick order, The New York Times published the names of teachers and their schools, and their ranking based on their students' gains on state standardized tests in math and English over five years until the 2009-10 school year ("City's Ratings of 18,000 Teachers Indicate That Quality Is Widely Diffused," The New York Times, Feb. 25).
Walt Gardner, February 27, 2012
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3 min read
Education Opinion Parental Involvement Cuts Both Ways
Involvement of parents in the education of their children has long been a goal of school districts. But even when the objective is achieved, there's no guarantee of consensus, as Chicago Public Schools are finding out ("Program to Bridge the Gap With Parents Draws Fire," The New York Times, Feb. 19).
Walt Gardner, February 24, 2012
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2 min read
School & District Management Opinion School Attendance to Age 18 Ignores Reality
It's hard to know which teenagers President Obama was thinking about in his State of the Union speech when he urged making school attendance mandatory until age 18. But his proposal will not decrease the dropout rate because it is premised on a dated view of young people.
Walt Gardner, February 22, 2012
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2 min read
Education Opinion Dr. Fox Makes a House Call to School
More and more states are enacting laws that require teachers to be evaluated on the basis of multiple measures. I support the trend as long as the part of the evaluation that uses classroom observations specifically specifies that evaluators are certified in the subject being observed.
Walt Gardner, February 20, 2012
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2 min read
Education Opinion Who Chooses Public Schools and Why?
If public schools are as bad as reformers claim, then why do parents send their children there? I'm not talking about suburban schools but instead about schools in large cities. Census data show that a large majority of wealthy, foreign-born parents, including both immigrants and others temporarily working in New York City, deliberately choose neighborhood public schools ("Affluent, Born Abroad and Choosing New York's Public Schools," The New York Times, Feb. 15).
Walt Gardner, February 17, 2012
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2 min read
Education Opinion Income More Important Than Race in Achievement Gap
Why it should be front-page news that income plays a more important role than race in the academic achievement gap is beyond me ("Education Gap Grows Between Rich and Poor, Studies Say," The New York Times, Feb. 10). Studies have consistently shown that poverty is the single most important out-of-school factor in predicting student performance. In 2010, for example, The Century Foundation found that socioeconomic obstacles are seven times as large as those associated with race in performance on the SAT (Rewarding Strivers, Century Foundation Press).
Walt Gardner, February 15, 2012
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2 min read
Education Opinion School Closures Oppose the Will of Parents
Education reformers place great emphasis on the importance of parental choice. But they recently revealed their hypocrisy in a way that is infuriating to all those who support the strategy.
Walt Gardner, February 13, 2012
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2 min read
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