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 This blog is no longer being updated.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
Evaluating Teach for America
Dueling views about innovative programs aimed at improving educational quality are nothing new. What is different today is taxpayer demand for evidence to support these proposals. Two recent essays about Teach for America, which was started by Wendy Kopp in 1989, serve as cases in point.
Education
Opinion
The Case for Foreign Language Classes
The demands of the new global economy have led school reformers to place overwhelming emphasis on math and science, and to a lesser degree on reading. There is no doubt that these are vital subjects to be mastered. Strangely, however, little attention has been paid to the importance of learning a foreign language, probably because English is considered the lingua franca. This strategy is a big mistake.
Education
Opinion
Does Student Free Speech Apply to Online Comments?
Two recent court rulings about the right of students to exercise free speech have left me baffled. I'm referring to the decisions initially handed down in February in the Third Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia but now up for reconsideration.
Education
Opinion
Will D.C.-Union Contract Benefit Students?
The agreement reached last month between the District of Columbia and the union representing its 4,000 teachers was hailed by the Wall Street Journal in an editorial on July 1 as a model for school districts across the country ("Teacher Tenure Breakout").
Education
Opinion
The Home Schooling Option
Lost in the debate over school choice is the rapidly growing home school movement. At last count, an estimated 2 million children, or about 4 percent of the total school-age population, were receiving their education in this setting. The number of children learning at home is expanding by 15 to 20 percent a year, according to the Department of Education.
Education
Opinion
Are Proprietary Colleges Worthwhile?
Just when the heated debate over the payoff of a four-year college degree seemed to have died down, The Weekly Standard published a piece in the July 5-12 issue that is sure to reignite the flames ("Obama's Crusade Against Profits"). Andrew Ferguson, the magazine's senior editor, argued that the only genuine difference between non-profit (traditional) and for-profit (proprietary) colleges is that the latter earn a profit. He believes "nowadays that's enough to make you suspect."
Education
Opinion
A Proposal for School Choice
It's time to acknowledge that parental choice of schools is the wave of the future. Its foes can continue to try to stall its growth through a series of rear guard actions, but they will not succeed in derailing the movement. It is too powerful. The only question, therefore, is the form that parental choice will ultimately take. There is an urgency to the issue, however, that is not fully appreciated.
Education
Opinion
The Old College Buy
Although the start of the fall semester is months away, obsessed seniors are already hard at work polishing their applications in the belief that the admissions process is a meritocracy. What they don't understand or don't want to accept is that it is a marketplace in which every opening is up for bids. The number of slots that have been set aside for legacies (children of alumni) and development admits (children who wouldn't be accepted but for wealthy parents who might donate large sums to the school) serves as an example.
Education
Opinion
The SAT-ACT Duel
The school year is finally over, but zealous students will not be spending the summer months as they did in days of yore. Instead, they'll be honing their skills either for the SAT or the ACT, which still count heavily for admission to most marquee-name colleges.
Education
Opinion
Catholic Schools Face Hard Times
As the largest non-government provider of education in the U.S., Catholic schools are considered a sensitive gauge of the health of this sector. That's why the news out of San Francisco regarding the uncertain future of Stuart Hall High School is noteworthy. In the 10 years that Stuart Hall has been in operation, it has established a reputation for academic excellence. Yet even its 2010-11 tuition of $32,500 is not enough to offset a $1.1 million budget shortfall ("Exclusive Private School in Danger of Failing").
Education
Opinion
The SAT-ACT Duel for Supremacy
The school year is finally over, but summer vacation won't be the idyllic time of yore for many high school students. Instead, it will be a season of prepping for either the SAT or the ACT, both of which still determine to a large extent admission to most marquee-name colleges and universities.
Education
Opinion
Campbell's Law Strikes Again
Cheating by educators on high-stakes standardized tests is on the rise. A blatant reminder appeared on the front page of The New York Times on June 11 ("Under Pressure, Teachers Tamper With Test Scores"). As a result of an investigation prompted by suspicions that educators had erased incorrect responses and substituted correct ones in 191 schools in Georgia in February, 11 teachers and administrators were referred to a state agency with the power to revoke their licenses. The Times followed up this story with an editorial on June 18 that focused on cheating at an elementary school in Baltimore as further evidence of the contagion ("That Cheats the Kids").
Education
Opinion
Rethinking the Value of a College Degree
In 1963, I bought a book not because of its titillating cover but because of its provocative title. When I finished reading The Sheepskin Psychosis by John Keats (Delta Book, 1963), I began to question conventional wisdom about a bachelor's degree. Keats maintained that the public has been "wildly oversold" on its worth. College is merely the most convenient place to learn how to learn.
Education
Opinion
Financing Schools in Today's Recession
It's no longer news that public schools across the country are facing the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. Because the federal government contributes less than 10 percent of funding, public education depends heavily on state and local support in roughly equal proportions. But the recession has shrunk revenues from both sources. As a result, states are engaged in a series of unprecedented reforms to deal with the deficits they face.