The dance between soon-to-be Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry and the educational unions ought to be fun to watch over the next 100 days...
...while education experts agree that Kerry has mapped out a more liberal education agenda, he has surprised some educators with more moderate proposals.
Kerry caused some consternation with the National Education Association in May when he proposed spending $30 billion over the next 10 years to hire 500,000 teachers, but to reward teachers with higher pay when their students' performance improved.
The NEA opposes the measure. It would use students' standardized test scores to determine whether teachers should receive bonuses, as opposed to traditional factors such as tenure.
"I believe we need to offer teachers more pay. More training, more career choices, and more options for education. And we must ask for more in return, that's the bargain," Kerry said.
Emphasis mine. Think this was because Kerry sensed the parental approval of get-tough acts like NCLB? Whatever the case, he now appears to be backpedaling. So he's for "pay for performance," until he's against it. And even though Kerry's not yet at the convention, the teachers are, in full force:
Milton Bond Jr., a high school teacher from Milwaukee, Wis., and a first-time delegate from that state, said he wanted to come to the Boston convention because of his concern about the direction the country is heading under President Bush...
Mr. Bond echoed many complaints that his union has leveled at the law, which holds schools accountable for showing yearly academic gains by their students.
“I feel like you’re punishing schools, and you’re punishing students. It’s an empty policy,” he said.
But we are punishing schools. That's the point. We're trying to punish the schools that are punishing students by depriving them of a quality education. It's pretty hard to hold schools accountable for anything if there's never any punitive action for the schools who fail their students. Perhaps Kerry, with his talent for "nuance," can think of some way to get accountability with only praise, never punishment.
And then there's this:
Convention delegates flipping through copies of the Boston Globe on Monday might have stumbled upon a provocative quarter-page advertisement with the headline: "No Child Left Behind?" The ad, signed by more than 100 classroom teachers, parents, noted education advocates, and others, suggests the federal law is part of a plan by President Bush "to privatize America's public schools," and that it threatens thousands of schools with closure. The law, the ad argues, encourages "lying about the facts" and "uses blacklists to banish professionals, institutions, methods, and books."
Addressing John Kerry, John Edwards and the Democratic Party, the ad declares, "Teachers need your support to save our schools from the punitive law misleadingly labeled No Child Left Behind ... " Sens. Kerry and Edwards, along with most other Democratic congressional delegates here, voted for the No Child Left Behind Act in 2001. As candidates for the White House, both have suggested the law needs some changes, but the ad calls for stronger medicine.
"Will the Democratic Party commit to getting rid of NCLB?" it asks.
The ad quickly drew fire.
"It's outrageous," said Andrew J. Rotherham, the director of education policy at the Progressive Policy Institute, a Washington-based think tank aligned with the centrist Democratic Leadership Council. "There are legitimate criticisms of No Child Left Behind, but that ad seems to go out of its way to avoid them."
Yes, it does, and in doing so overplays its hand. I can't improve upon Mr. Rotherham's summary of the effect of the ad:
...Mr. Rotherham suggests that the ad's rhetoric may well undermine its mission.
"Hysterical paranoia went out of style after the primaries, when John Kerry [prevailed]," Mr. Rotherham said.
"Ads like this hurt the cause of people seeking changes in No Child Left Behind, rather than help it," he added. "Your average person sees an ad like that and is going to smell weirdness, not reasoned debate."
Posted by kswygert at July 28, 2004 03:19 PM