Improving Public Schools

FRIDAY, MARCH 5, 2010


Improving Public Schools

You may have guessed that I am a retired school person. Yep, after 40 some odd years, some not so odd, of helping thugs and thugletts learn, I have hung it up. One thing I am absolutely bonkers about is the notion of "improving" public schools. If you want to send me to an early grave, let someone in public office or the private sector talk about improving our schools.

There are several things pretty obvious to me. First, no one knew schools needed improving until we started collecting data. The data is good to know. It's judgments about schools based on those data that is so damning. Second, the private sector does not have a clue about how to fix public schools and the models they propose are pretty worthless. What, should we be more like AIG, GM, Toyota, Wal-Mart, or you name it.

What most folks just don't get is that inside the walls of a school, the actual processes are much more like a church than a business. That thought merits additional explanation later.