Predictable Sign Of The Times
October 2, 2007 08:14 PM
When incoming superintendent Richard Rothstein came to New Orleans he told the New York Times “[Given] almost a broken social structure, that’s pummeled by this natural disaster,” that, classroom changes can have only limited reach. His signature efforts will include medical, dental and nutrition programs. He’s going to try to keep schools open as community centers to serve kids until dinner time. Of course, various DC education reformers said that Rothstein had been hired to do education not social work, that he was just trying to let his staff off the hook and we all know the hook is really where people do their best work. Others talked about how this was a defeatist strategy that basically admitted that schools aren’t the answer.
Oops. It wasn't Rothstein, it was Paul Vallas. And there was no discussion of this at all from the usual suspects. Yes, I know Vallas has a real education plan too. And that is necessary. But I think he's right that it's not sufficient to curing what ails these kids or closing the achievement gap. If you’ve ever baited Rothstein or the Economic Policy Institute on these issues (and dear reader, you know who you are), and you didn’t have a similar first reaction to Vallas too, I’ll suggest your education policy pronouncements are too governed by the cocktail party you’re at than by the world around you. As for Vallas, these latest ideas seem pretty good to me.
UPDATE: In Act One, I write a post saying that if someone other than Paul Vallas had said X he would be challenged by the cocktail party element of the education reform movement. In Act Two, Andy Rotherham challenges me for saying what Paul Vallas says.
