The Education Gadfly
A Weekly Bulletin of News and Analysis from the Thomas B. Fordham Institute
September 4, 2008, Volume 8, Number 34
New to Fordham: Amy Fagan. Fordham is thrilled to welcome Amy Fagan to our team as Public Affairs Director. She comes to us from the Washington Times, where she most recently served as education and health reporter. Welcome Amy! Read more about her here.
The Education Gadfly Show Podcast is consumed by the challenge of back-to-school shopping during an economic downturn. We'll return soon.
Contents
From Liam's Desk
News and Analysis
Recommended Reading
Flypaper's Finest (The best from Flypaper, Fordham's blog)
From Our Readers
Announcements
From Liam's Desk
Johnny says: Show me the money!
Michelle Rhee, the still-newish, no-nonsense, hard-charging, and usually savvy schools chancellor of Washington, D.C., has succumbed to a dubious idea. Last month, she announced that, beginning in October, middle-school pupils who turn in their homework, make it to class, and maintain good grades will, for their diligence, be able to garner monthly paychecks of up to $100. She believes such promises of cash will motivate 12-year-olds to study.
She's not alone. Harvard professor Roland Fryer, who will manage D.C.'s program, is peddling this pay-kids-to-do-what-they-should approach in several cities, and deep-pocketed private foundations are willing to bankroll it. But is it a good idea?
Yes, in a world in which schools are charged only with increasing their students' test scores and nothing else; in which attaining that end justifies any means; and in which unintended consequences can be blithely ignored. But we do not occupy such a world.
The problems begin with Rhee's reasoning, an example of which is this: "When you have a job, your attendance is tracked, whether or not you're doing what you're supposed to be doing is tracked, and based on that you keep your job and you get a paycheck." Schools, she insinuated, should be much the same.
This view--and Rhee isn't the only one to voice it--is illogical because schools are not analogous to employers and pupils are not analogous to workers. A school, unlike an employer, does not reap the services of its students--it provides services to them. If it provides a lousy service, as many public schools do, that is resolved by fixing the management, staff, curriculum, etc. Even the best schools struggle with the recalcitrant youngster seemingly bent on doing anything but study, of course. But this rogue requires strict discipline, not bribes. David Whitman's fine new book, Sweating the Small Stuff, illumines the wonders such discipline can work.
Rhee's jobs analogy also overlooks the fact that K-12 education is compulsory. It is expected that students will complete assignments and work hard; it is legally demanded that they come to school. When these obligatory activities are rewarded with cash, what was once mundane becomes exceptional. Standards of right behavior take a prima facie tumble. The student who shunned class is paid to be there, which makes a mockery of the rules, and the pupil who already came to school on time now receives money for it and learns the false lesson that punctuality and conscientiousness are extraordinary and noteworthy.
Last year, after New York City announced a (Fryer-inspired) plan to reward its own decorous students with cash, psychology professor Barry Schwartz described in the New York Times how paying pupils for good schoolwork may render them even less interested in academics than they already are.
"If that happens," Schwartz wrote, "the incentive system will make the learning problem worse in the long run, even if it improves achievement in the short run--unless we're prepared to follow these children through life, giving them a pat on the head, or an M&M or a check every time they learn something new."
Paying kids may not help in the short run, either. Jonah Rockoff, a professor of finance and economics at Columbia University, recently told the Wall Street Journal, "There's a lot of buzz about pay-for-performance [for students], but we still only have a small amount of studies on these programs, and a lot of them don't come from the U.S." And Fryer has himself said that "the jury is still out" about whether cash incentives cause middling pupils to improve.
Fryer is an economist, by the way, who is conducting in public schools an experiment without fretting overmuch about the unintended consequences his innovation may induce. Similarly untroubled are the education types and philanthropoids that he's wooed. So mesmerized are they by visions of increasing test scores that they've forgotten that schools must also teach students about personal responsibility, delaying gratification (which is quite important), planning for the future, and learning's intrinsic value. Perhaps they've also forgotten, or choose to neglect, the "incentive" effects of promoting and graduating and admitting to college only those young people who have met certain academic standards and prerequisites.
All such lessons are undermined by paying kids for grades. Consider this analogy: One does not instill responsibility in one's vegetable-averse child by paying the youngster $100 a month to swallow his broccoli. Such a parenting strategy is likely to produce a rules-shirking monster--and one who will learn nothing important and enduring about nutrition, behavior, obedience, personal responsibility, or authority. Similar monsters are birthed through an educating strategy that pays pupils to do that which is legitimately expected of them.
Which does not even begin to address the logistical flaws in Rhee's plan. For example, if test scores don't rise, or don't rise enough, does D.C. increase the payouts? And what if only the District's better-off kids wind up getting paid? Does Rhee then limit the program to the just the poorest of the poor, and does she define down the standards for receiving dollars? What if an investigative reporter for the Washington Post reveals that some middle-schoolers habitually trade their good-grades cash for candy, Camel Ultra Lights, wine coolers, or sexual favors? Etc.
K-12 education must welcome promising innovations and responsible experiments, but schools are not Petri dishes. Experimentation has consequences for those experimented upon, and in the case of paying students for right behavior those consequences far outweigh whatever benefits might be accrued.
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News and Analysis
Arrested development
Everyone knows that the internet is changing the way the world works, plays, and connects. Yet its most powerful applications only seem obvious after some entrepreneur (Amazon, Netflix) has brought them to life.
So it is with adult learning. Most professionals would rather develop their skills online, on their own schedule, at their own pace, than sit in daylong, mind-numbing "workshops" that bring a lot of boredom and frustration but little intellectual stimulation. So it's not surprising that as long ago as 2006 (eons in Internet time) the American Society for Training and Development reported that across all sectors almost 40 percent of professional development (PD) was delivered via technology. (Surely the numbers are even higher now.)
One would think that our elementary and secondary education system would embrace online learning for teachers and administrators, too. Individual teachers don't want or need homogenized training. They need "differentiated instruction," targeted to where they are in their careers and focused on the subjects they teach, their own strengths, and skills gaps. None of this is easy to deliver in traditional settings.
But as in so many other areas, our education system appears to be lagging behind in exploiting the internet. Last year the National Research Council (NRC) published Enhancing Professional Development for Teachers: Potential Uses of Information Technology. It reported on a recent survey by Leah O'Donnell of consulting firm Eduventures, which found that six in seven teachers had participated in "conventional" professional development experiences, but a "markedly lower" proportion had access to online training.
This is particularly perplexing, given that teachers could be receiving targeted training in the comfort of their own homes, on their own schedule, and without the hassle or frustration of face-to-face PD. And the offerings of online teacher training are growing--and growing better. For example, PBS's TeacherLine offers more than 100 interactive courses for pre-K-12 teachers, who can earn PD credits or (for a nominal fee) even college credit for completing them.
So why aren't K-12 educators embracing online PD in greater numbers? The NRC report suggests several possible reasons, including a lack of knowledge about such opportunities among teachers and administrators; a bias among principals for more traditional methods; and institutional resistance from district professional development staff who might see their own jobs disappear if teachers bypass their programs and engage in training created from afar.
This institutional resistance appears to be the most likely explanation, but it's not limited to central office staff. As with so many things in life, the problem comes down to money. Traditional professional development providers (including colleges of education) have a lot of dollars at stake in the face-to-face model. They are likely to be outcompeted by national providers in the purveyance of customized teacher training. And teachers themselves have come to expect to be compensated for the time they spend in professional development activities.
Perhaps accountability is an issue, too. Under the traditional model, teachers get credit just for showing up. In an online setting, they would probably have to demonstrate mastery of a subject via an assessment. And almost nothing stirs up a faculty lounge more than the dreaded words "teacher testing."
Still, judging from the internet's success in revolutionizing other fields, eventually the resistance to online professional development will crumble. How long that will take will be a decent indicator of just how calcified our education system has become.
This piece is adapted from a longer version which appeared in the Fall 2008 issue of Education Next.
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Recommended Reading
No vote for you
It is indeed disappointing that Floridians will not have the opportunity to vote this November for educational choice in their state. Yesterday, the Florida Supreme Court, a body renowned for its opposition to vouchers and charter schools, removed from ballots Amendments 7 and 9, which would have excised from the Florida Constitution its prohibition on providing state money to religious institutions (a prohibition which is a relic of anti-Catholic Blaine amendments) and would have made public schools the primary way, but not the only way, that Florida's pupils can receive educations (an important distinction). The justices haven't yet released their full opinion, but they basically found that both amendments were outside the purview of the Taxation and Budget Reform Commission, which proposed them. We were guardedly hopeful that Floridians would be able to vote on these proposals, and we're sad to learn that the state's Supreme Court is determined to not let that happen.
"Tax swap, vouchers off Nov. ballot," by Alex Leary and Ron Matus, St. Petersburg Times, September 4, 2008
"Fla. High Court Strikes Levy, Voucher, School Measures from Ballot," by Lloyd Dunkelberger, The Ledger (Lakeland), September 4, 2008
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Internal combustion?
As far as Gadfly knows and as of this writing, not one major orator at the Republican convention has uttered the phrase "No Child Left Behind" or any anagram thereof (e.g., flinched in the bold). First lady Laura Bush on Tuesday touted her husband's education-policy achievements, but even she neglected to identify by name what is arguably his biggest domestic accomplishment. This is unsurprising: NCLB is unpopular and elections are not won by candidates associated with unpopular things. But perhaps Republicans are also avoiding the law because they don't want to exacerbate the related rift in their party's ranks. The conservative wing of the GOP remains adamantly hostile to NCLB. But even some who worked closely with the law are attempting to distance themselves from it; Eugene Hickok, who served in the Bush Education Department as deputy secretary, bluntly called NCLB "a damaged brand." So, where does the Republican presidential nominee plant his flag? We found out yesterday, after John McCain's campaign told Education Week that the senator will "champion assessments and accountability, and he will be able to persuade the more conservative wing of his party... to support those policies." This issue isn't going away, and after the election is decided one way or the other, it will be interesting to watch the GOP deal with its internal NCLB-strife.
"Republicans may waver over NCLB," by Alyson Klein, Education Week, September 3, 2008
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Palinism
We've learned much, much over the past week about Alaska Governor Sarah Palin (is she really the reason compasses point North?). But Gadfly was left wondering: What have been her stands on education? Thanks to the crack reporters at Education Week, he now knows. Just this past April, Palin worked with the state legislature and teachers' union to overhaul Alaska's education funding system to send more dollars to rural districts. The new scheme will also raise from $26,900 this year to $73,840 in 2011 per-pupil spending on the state's studentswith special educational needs. Palin supports performance pay for school staffs; in Alaska, everyone who works at a school--the principal, teachers, custodians, office workers, etc.--can receive bonuses if that school's pupils make academic progress. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the leader of the largest state in the union also supports school choice and homeschooling. Gadfly was unimpressed with Palin's once-expressed suggestion that creationism be taught (or at least discussed) in K-12 science classes alongside evolution, but he was mollified by learning she hasn't pushed that idea or moved to include creationism in the state science standards. Lastly but least surprisingly, as governor, Palin wanted more flexibility for her state to meet No Child Left Behind mandates. And she once saved the lives of several 8-year-olds by strangling a charging polar bear with her toes.
"VP Choice Backed School Funding Overhaul," by Sean Cavanagh and Alyson Klein, Education Week, August 29, 2008
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Categorically imperative?
Students in Philadelphia's public schools need not bother slogging through Kant. School system employees are less lucky. Arlene Ackerman, the city's new superintendent, has already made clear that she intends to break with her predecessor's approach to management. She reinforced the uniqueness of her methods this week when she announced plans, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer, "to require all central office staff to take ethics training." Said Ackerman, channeling Joseph Conrad: "I've seen some things in adults that I'm a little nervous with." Therefore, to prevent her senior staff from cracking under pressure and founding jungle-based personality cults, Ackerman will require them to take ethics classes, maybe as soon as next month. In time,, every central office employee will enroll in such training. Members of the city's ethics team will lead the sessions--but what's on the syllabus? If Foucault and Bentham ("Nature has placed mankind under the governance of two sovereign masters, pain and pleasure") are required reading, Philadelphia's schools are in trouble.
"Phila. schools chief wants ethics training for her staff," by Kristen A. Graham, Philadelphia Inquirer, September 3, 2008
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Flypaper's Finest (The best from Flypaper, Fordham's blog)
"Competitive effects" in Washington, DC
Mike Petrilli
"It's hard to find a better example of the positive change that can come from charter school competition than this statement by Washington Teachers Union president George Parker (part of an interview published by the National Council on Teacher Quality)...." Read it here.
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Sol Stern: Mayor Bloomberg shouldn't get to grade himself
Mike Petrilli
"Sol Stern offers a wise suggestion in this City Journal Online piece: create an independent agency in New York to verify student achievement results...." Read it here.
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From Our Readers
Title I reformers aren't "naïve"
I must take issue with Mike Petrilli's comment--from his thoughtful editorial, "What if improving teacher quality isn't THE answer"--about those like me who advocate closing the "comparability loophole" in ESEA/NCLB Title I. He somewhat mischaracterizes what it is we support and then he calls us naïve.
Petrilli writes, for instance, that comparability advocates want "to ensure that each [district] schools' payrolls would be roughly the same." No. We want all schools' expenditures to be roughly the same. Payroll is a large chunk of expenditures, but not all of it.
But the big problem is that Petrilli believes teachers would, if comparability were law, be "compelled" to transfer to "rough schools." Yet we at the Center for American Progress, and many others who believe as we do, oppose the forced transfer of teachers for precisely the reasons Petrilli outlines. Instead we propose spending the new, fairly distributed money in high-needs schools on a differential salary structure with mentor and master teachers and bonuses for retaining effective teachers; on expanded learning time; and even on lower class sizes for beginning teachers, among other things.
We are not naïve about the challenges inherent in adopting a fairer system that distributes real dollars and not staff. But we're confident they can be addressed. Of course we know that money cannot be yanked out of the schools benefiting from richer budgets under the current fund distribution systems. Some sort of hold harmless for these schools, even accounting for inflation, will be needed. Even in tough economic times that is possible, especially given the history of growth in education budgets nationwide. Wealthier schools will simply need to live within the new budget structure when replacing their high-paid teachers who retire. With the huge retirement numbers that are forecast for the near future, this doesn't seem so difficult. Long-serving teachers with higher salaries have certainly traditionally jumped at the chance to transfer to less-challenging schools, but new dollars in challenging schools can provide new bonus incentives to retain the most effective and experienced teachers.
And besides, though we can't be sure, all the experts say the new generation of teachers (and there are going to be a lot of them) won't stay in teaching for long careers. So perhaps our current pattern of school budget inequities won't be as tough to tackle down the road. That seems to be what is happening in New York City now.
If you want to learn more about this issue, take a look at the Center for American Progress compilation of papers in our June 2008 publication Ensuring Equal Opportunity in Public Education: How Local School District Funding Practices Hurt Disadvantaged Students and What Federal Policy Can Do About It.
Cynthia G. Brown
Director of Education Policy, Center for American Progress
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You are not alone
In his latest editorial, "What to do about mediocre teachers?," Mike Petrilli writes that he cannot think of any national foundations that are experimenting with using technology to turn average K-12 faculty into effective teachers.
The Hewlett Foundation has been in this business or its close relation for the past seven years in the Open Education Resources area. For example: Hewlett was the original funder of the North American Council for Online Learning. In 2002, Hewlett funded (created) the Monterey Institute of Technology in Education in Monterey, California. At the same time in 2002, we also funded the Carnegie Mellon Open Learning Initiative. We've done much work on this front since then, too. Mike Petrilli should take heart--he's not alone in his desire to see new, innovative teaching techniques for K-12 students.
Marshall Smith
Education Program Director, William and Flora Hewlett Foundation
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Announcements
Fordham Fellows 2.0
We are happy to announce that the next class of Fordham Fellows has begun work at various education-policy organizations about Washington. Irrepressible to the core, they're also blogging. Read what they have to say, here.
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Hess says...
The American Enterprise Institute's Rick Hess authors a monthly "Education Outlook." The august August issue is about mayoral control and well worth reading.
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About Us
The Education Gadfly is published weekly (ordinarily on Thursdays), with occasional breaks, by the Thomas B. Fordham Institute. Regular contributors include Chester E. Finn, Jr., Christina Hentges, Liam Julian, Coby Loup, Eric Osberg, Stafford Palmieri, Michael J. Petrilli, and Amber Winkler. Have something to say? Email us at letters@edexcellence.net. You are welcome to forward Gadfly to others, and from our website you can also email individual articles. If you have been forwarded a copy of Gadfly and would like to subscribe, visit ce.edexcellence.net.
The Thomas B. Fordham Institute is a nonprofit organization that conducts research, issues publications, and directs action projects in elementary/secondary education reform at the national level and in Ohio, with a special emphasis on our hometown of Dayton. (For Ohio news, check out our Ohio Education Gadfly, published bi-weekly, ordinarily on Wednesdays.) The Institute is neither connected with nor sponsored by Fordham University.
