tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7719550.post6489354680387546499..comments2023-11-13T04:55:40.769-05:00Comments on Tuttle SVC: History Lesson: What Conservatives Used to Think About EducationTom Hoffmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08577165613934129833noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7719550.post-74360518376710518822010-07-08T11:49:32.903-04:002010-07-08T11:49:32.903-04:00But there were always successful schools serving m...But there <i>were</i> always successful schools serving minority, high-poverty students. There were good Catholic schools, there were good segregated blacks-only schools, there were good alternative schools, there were good integrated public schools.<br /><br />They were objectively, empirically good enough to drive upward mobility in generations of immigrants, African Americans, and plain old poor white folk. Good enough to make this the wealthiest, most technologically advanced country in the world (at least for a while).<br /><br />"No excuses" charters are simply not different enough from what came before them to represent a dramatic break from the past. Which is not to say many aren't good schools.<br /><br />The fact of the matter is, the "achievement gap" is an unfortunate construct. My three year old can, to my amazement, identify the Galilean moons of Jupiter by sight and may randomly launch into a discussion of which planets have visible ice on their surface.<br /><br />The kids in section 8 housing living next door to us aren't really going to catch up to that. But that really has nothing to do with whether or not they'll be successful.<br /><br />The achievement gap is a political construct. Right now it is based on cut scores in reading and math. If we close that gap, there's plenty of other ways to define it to keep it unclosable.Tom Hoffmanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08577165613934129833noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7719550.post-28422020148761511712010-07-08T02:00:19.398-04:002010-07-08T02:00:19.398-04:00There was easy criticism of the conclusion that Ca...There was easy criticism of the conclusion that Catholic schools were doing better-- the data was not causal and we were comparing students with drastically different unobserved variables.<br /><br />I'm sure many good liberal social scientists pointed this out frequently.<br /><br />There was pretty good evidence that true integration rarely happened, Head Start had only modest and quickly fading gains (though still 100% worth the investment, it's not enough), and that progressivism failed miserably in its promise to transform schools after 70+ years of enjoying near universal support by academia and teacher training centers (though admittedly highly variable implementation in the field).<br /><br />The truth is all of these ideas had only been shown to be moderately successful at such an unimpressive level that all of them combined would still leave massive achievement gaps.<br /><br />The most success in closing the achievement gap is still largely found within no-excuses charters and a subset of traditional public schools, most of which share DNA with the no-excuses model. That's not to say that this is something which is scalable or a solution for all students. But I do believe it's fair to say that these schools and their results represent a new bar on what's possible with traditionally under-served students and has changed the zeitgeist of education reformers.<br /><br />More people are saying, "It's the school, dummy," and, "It's the teacher, dummy," rather than, "It's their parents... the system... poverty... health..."<br /><br />Ultimately, successful schooling breaks with other forms of systemic inequality and provides an excellent education (based on results) to all students regardless of need and background.Jasonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09055620401368296463noreply@blogger.com