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 This blog is no longer being updated.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
What Constitutes a Free Education?
With the cost of educating students in public schools rising and state funding declining, it was inevitable that school districts would be forced to resort to new methods of narrowing the gap. In a front-page story, The Wall Street Journal detailed the way different states have added lab fees, book fees and even fees for extracurricular activities ("Public Schools Charge Kids for Basics, Frills," May 25).
Education
Opinion
The Unexamined Side of School Competition
A favorite argument made by reformers is that if public schools were forced to compete for students the educational landscape in this country would change for the better. Yet an essay in The Weekly Standard presents the downside of this strategy without fully realizing its implications for the accountability movement ("Learning on the Last Frontier," May 30).
Education
Opinion
The Octopuses in School Reform
When Michelle Rhee announced that George Parker is joining Students First as its initial senior fellow, the news was greeted with disbelief ("Former Foes Join Forces for Education Reform," The New York Times, May 21). That's because as former president of the local teachers union, Parker had often done battle with Rhee as former chancellor of the District of Columbia schools.
Education
Opinion
More Reasons to Question Going to College
Every year about this time, the media report about job prospects for new college graduates. It comes as no surprise that the news is dismal this spring because of the battered economy. Not only have employment rates fallen sharply in the last two years but only half of the jobs require a college degree ("Jobs Outlook Is Bleak Even for College Graduates," The New York Times, May 19).
Education
Opinion
Removing Teachers at Will
Tying ratings of teachers to student achievement took a new twist on May 10 when the Board of Education of the Los Angeles Unified School District decided that all members of Huntington Park High School must reinterview for their jobs even though the school met improvement goals on standardized tests. The plan is expected to result in the replacement of at least half the faculty by July when the start of school for the year-round campus begins ("L.A. district plans shakeup at Huntington Park High," Los Angeles Times, May 10).
Education
Opinion
Half-Truths in School Reform
Few strategies are as effective as half-truths in swaying public opinion. That's because unlike blatant falsehoods, they have enough plausibility to mask their insidiousness. One of the best examples is "The Failure of American Schools," (The Atlantic, June 2011) by Joel Klein, who served as chancellor of the New York City school system from 2002 through 2010 before resigning to become CEO of News Corporation's educational division.
Education
Opinion
Education Abroad Not Always What It Seems
Reformers like to point to schools overseas as models because they say American schools are inferior. I've written often why this view is overblown and why a more nuanced view is necessary. The latest reminder was a front-page story in The Wall Street Journal about India's system of education ("India Graduates Millions, but Too Few Are Fit to Hire," Apr. 5).
Education
Opinion
Gresham's Law and a College Degree
Convinced that the best jobs will move to states with a highly qualified work force, President Obama Obama is determined to add eight million college graduates by 2020. I question the wisdom of this strategy.
Education
Opinion
Cracking the SAT the Chinese Way
With the debate over standardized testing increasingly focused on using the results to evaluate teachers, it's easy to forget about the SAT. How students in China are gaming the grandfather of all standardized tests was the subject of an article by Daniel Golden that was published in Bloomberg Businessweek on May 5 ("China's Test Prep Juggernaut"). Golden is a former Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter for The Wall Street Journal and author of The Price of Admission: How America's Ruling Class Buys Its Way into Elite Colleges - and Who Gets Left Outside the Gates (Crown Publishers, 2006).
Education
Opinion
Are Public Schools Supermarkets?
The absurdity of applying the business model to public schools knows no boundaries. In an essay published in The Wall Street Journal on May 5 titled "If Supermarkets Were Like Public Schools," Donald J. Boudreaux, professor of economics at George Mason University and senior fellow at the Mercatus Center, tries to show why the present monopolistic system of public education in the U.S. is indefensible. He attempts to make his case by supposing that groceries were supplied in the same way as K-12 education.
Education
Opinion
Unsung Heroes for Poor Students
In the midst of the publicity given to marquee-name organizations like the Harlem Children's Zone and their leaders like Geoffrey Canada, it's easy to forget other organizations and their leaders that have achieved equal results in their own quiet way. I call such people unsung heroes because they work in the shadows without ever getting the recognition they deserve.
Education
Opinion
A Contrarian View of "Race to Nowhere"
As a long-time subscriber to The Wall Street Journal, I know before reading its editorials and essays about public schools what to expect. "Do American Students Study Too Hard?" (Apr. 30) by James Freeman, assistant editor of the editorial page, was no exception.
Education
Opinion
Double Standard in Education Reportage
The Los Angeles Times prides itself on balanced coverage of education news. When it published on its front page in August the names and rankings of teachers in the Los Angeles Unified School District based on their students' standardized test scores, it justified its decision by explaining that taxpayers have the right to know if students are being well taught.
Education
Opinion
Single-Sex Schools Are Sexy Once Again
Often thought of as an anachronism, single-sex schools are undergoing a reevaluation by reformers who belatedly realize their potential for improving academic achievement. Whether they will find a serious place in the menu of options open to parents largely depends on how well the issues surrounding them are understood.