The L.A. Unified school district is improving faster than other large, urban school systems. U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan says that L.A. is among the districts that set an example for the entire country on what can be accomplished when schools embrace reform. Duncan credits the district’s progress to its transformation of the recruiting and training process for teachers and principals. The district has put demanding teaching standards in place, and in part links teacher evaluations to test scores. Duncan says that the “ambitious, courageous, and sometimes controversial reforms” are working for the district’s students — the ultimate goal and highest mark of success for any education reform.
Tag: Education Reform
Oklahoma’s Pilot Pre-Kindergarten Program Provides National Model
“Since 1998, Oklahoma has offered universal access to pre-kindergarten and has one of the highest participation rates in the country, with 74 percent of all 4-year-olds enrolled in a pre-K program,” according to the Washington Post. Recently, New York Times columnist Nick Kristof visited a few families participating in the state’s universal pre-K program and was impressed by depth of support it offered low-income families. He noted how the issue of early childhood education isn’t political in Oklahoma, and attributes this as part of the program’s success. In addition to pre-kindergarten, the state also offers younger children free access to full-day, year-round nursery school. “Oklahoma also supports home visits so that social workers can coach stressed-out single moms (or occasionally dads) on the importance of reading to children and chatting with them constantly,” Kristof wrote. “The social workers also drop off books; otherwise, there may not be a single children’s book in the house.” So far, studies have shown that children enrolled in this program outperform those not enrolled. President Obama recently proposed nationwide adoption of this pre-k program modeled after the success in Oklahoma. Read Obama’s plan here. More on the program here.
M. Night Shymalan: “Fierceness” Will Fix Our Schools
In an event that focused on Philadelphia’s education problems, some reformers focused on schools’ input (the public resources going into a school) and some focused on output (the results schools achieve). Amid conversations about alternative school models, like charter schools, film director M. Night Shyamalan offered his perspective: U.S. students get unequal environments and support. Non-white students especially get shortchanged. Shymalan says that inner-city schools that work tell kids “You’re fierce!” — a reminder that maybe making students feel that they matter is the real purpose of public education.