Chris's blog

An article in the San Francisco Gate illustrates wonderfully the dilemma faced by urban districts as the balance the moral imperative of lifting the ever increasing populations of poor and challenged students while also kissing the gentle hands and precious feet of the white, educated, entitled, and politically privileged middle- and upper-class.

In "School Boards as a Symptom, Not the Cause" Rick Hess addresses the inclination of many "reformers" to replace elected school boards with Mayoral control. The idea has been floated here in Minneapolis by McKinsey & Company in their report to the board during strategic planning. It was a buried little footnote that was purposely obscured to avoid an unproductive volley between board and the public.

There seems to be no end to the string of gimmicks the Obama administration will propose to cover the fact that they lack a coherent education agenda. With the promise of $10 billion in one-time money intended to prevent teacher layoffs few will look a gift horse in the mouth.

According to the president the aid should not be "a partisan issue." The fact that he and other Democrats are raining money to save union jobs in an election year is coincidence. 

And I am king of never-never land.

Please continue your national school reform juggernaut without me 

I quit.

The 1970s push by the Business Round Table to corporatize schooling continued with President Bush's poorly named "No Child Left Behind," and was reaffirmed by President Obama's NCLB-lite re-visioning.

According to a new report from the Schott Foundation public schools are "systematically" failing black males. Fewer than half are graduating from high school. Curiously, districts heralded as "innovative" leaders in school "reform," including New York and Chicago, have the worst performance.

EdWeek is sponsoring a Webinar regarding High Graduation:

Diplomas Count 2010: Graduation by the Numbers
Tuesday, June 15, 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. Eastern time

Free registration is now open.

Teacher union contracts with their employers have been at the center of the national school reform debate since there there has been a thing called "school reform." Though many strong opinions exist that lock the debate into a for/against dichotomy, little is known about the contracts beyond those in the school district negotiating lair.

It's a sad day for those of us that believe in school integration. In a anger-laced meeting the Wake County School Board ended its nationally respected integration model.

For decades Wake County's student assignment policies have been praised for creating diversity in schools and raising standards of academic excellence. As a sign of their success the bipartisan leaders of their politically balanced system even authored a book about their efforts called "A School District's Journey to Excellence: Lessons from Business and Education".

Our national rationale for educating children has changed greatly over time. Massachusetts was first to compel education of children 1642; they did so as a way to mandate religious instruction. During the Industrial Age many adults went to work in factories and their children went to school in order to learn English and be assimilated into a collective culture. In 1958, Congress passed the National Defense Education Act in response to Cold War anxiety and a perceived need for more technologists to compete with the Soviet Union.

Dear Friends and Supporters;

I'm writing to inform you that after a great deal of soul searching I have decided not to seek another term as a member of the Minneapolis Board of Education.

I ran for this office in 2006 because I was deeply frustrated by the countless news stories about chaos in Minneapolis Public Schools. Having worked with families in poverty I was aware of how systems meant to help are often unsuccessful. Instead of complaining about the failing schools I decided to launch an unlikely campaign for a school board seat.