Why Aren’t Prep Schools Following Corporate Reforms? By diane ravitch

[Jefferson23]

**Hat tip to yurbud, who posted this in Good Reads


This is a terrific article about the elite prep schools and the fact that they do not follow the “reforms” that are now pushed by the U.S. Department of Education, the Gates Foundation, the Broad Foundation, and other corporate reformers.

Here are some quotes from the article:

Go ahead and do an online search of the country’s top prep schools, or check out this list from Forbes. Peruse some of the school websites and do a search for anything that mainstream education reformers suggest we implement in your neighborhood public school. Try, for example, common core state standards. How about data-driven instruction? Or, what about two weeks worth of mandated high-stakes, standardized state tests, preceded by weeks, if not months, of benchmarks, short-cyles, and pre-assessments?

Are they likely to hire teachers without advanced degrees?

Check out the proportion of teachers at those schools who possess advanced degrees. At Horace Mann in the Bronx—where 36 percent of students are accepted at an Ivy League school, Stanford, or MIT—94 percent of the teachers have advanced degrees. Now, who was it that said rewarding teachers with advanced degrees is a waste of money? Ah yes, our Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan. How far do you think Mr. Duncan’s argument would get with parents who examine a potential school’s “Ivy/MIT/Stanford pipeline” percentage score? Not very far.

So why are the prep schools avoiding Duncan’s great ideas?

If the reforms mandated by Departments of Education and fawned over by upstart think-tankers were as fantastic as advised again and again, then you can bet that every single one of the country’s best prep schools would be implementing them as rapidly as possible. They’re not, and you shouldn’t accept them either.

in full: http://dianeravitch.net/2014/01/04/why-arent-prep-schools-following-corporate-reforms/

[Demeter]

1. Watch what the 1% do

Not what they say. Especially when their hands are in your pocket(book)s.

[Jefferson23]

2. Someone from the US Dept of Ed tell me with a straight face this information does not

amount to an indication of neglect and fraud on their Race to the Top policies.

[rgbecker]

3. I sent my kids to the best prep school I could find.

I put my money where my mouth is. Never a class with more than 15 kids...some with only 5. No drugs, no bullies.


Until the public schools do that, I don't want to hear about how "it'd never work in public schools where everybody has to go and you can't kick the bad apples out."

Two words: Class size. Ask any teacher.

[Squinch]

4. Also, "Let teachers teach!"

[elleng]

7. Yes

[elleng]

6. Ditto

(tho our 'best' schools, that we could afford, were parochial.)

[Orlandodem]

5. Obama's education policies are a disaster. I should never have voted for him.

I will not make that mistake again. I will only vote for a Dem who repudiates his dumbass education plans. Otherwise I sit out the election. I enourage all teachers to do the same.

[elleng]

8. Not smart, to sit out elections.

I firmly agree that his education policies are a disaster, but there's much more at stake.

[rgbecker]

9. Picking one guy to be president out of 250 million who could be involves some compromise.

It will always be a matter of choosing the least bad. If Democrats sit out elections, Republicans sit on the supreme court.

What was Romney's plan for education? OH yeah, close the department of Education...defund public education.

[Orlandodem]

10. Not much different with Obama's plan: turn public money over to corporate charters.

[lutefisk]

11. "Disaster" is understating the situation.

Obama and Duncan set in motion the destruction of public education in this country. No Republican has done more damage to public education than this President. It is just shameful.

Their motivations don't even matter any more. The floodgates have been opened and the damage will spiral out of control. Obama and that under-educated fool Duncan have done more damage to one of the absolutely essential foundations of our democracy than our fellow citizens realize.

[AnneD]

12. I got fooled the first time....

but not the second time. I went Green this time around and did not regret my vote.

I work in public education so I am very aware of the discrepancies. In fact, I am so disgusted that I have decided to retire this year even though I could work longer.

I have always been one to put money at the front of a problem than behind-it really is cheaper that way. My daughter got the best public education because I was one to work with her teachers, made sure she was ready, and knew how to pull strings when I needed. The public schools were better than the best private schools here. She has graduated and though she had to take out loans, she may actually be able to pay them off soon. I was the first in my family to go to college and I learned much. I wanted my daughter to go further and she has. Watch what the 1% do, not what they say.