The Core Knowledge Blog

The Edusphere goes for a We Are The World moment, with full page ads in the New York Times and Washington Post today in support of an initiative called A Broader, Bolder Approach to Education. Led by Helen F. Ladd of Duke University, NYU’s Pedro Noguera, and Tom Payzant of Harvard, and with signatories from Diane Ravitch to Richard Rothstein, the ads argue that schools can’t go it alone in closing the achievement gap, and call for:

1. Continued school improvement efforts.
2. Developmentally appropriate and high-quality early childhood, pre-school and kindergarten care and education.
3. Routine pediatric, dental, hearing and vision care for all infants, toddlers and schoolchildren.
4. Improving the quality of students’ out-of-school time.

Blogosphere reaction breaks along expected lines. Eduwonk Andy Rotherham takes issue with “the conspicuous soft-pedaling of a focus on results and the explicit rejection that perhaps schools are even a substantial part of the educational problem. At Fordham, Mike Petrilli says “amen” to the homilies but likewise complains “it’s REALLY squishy on school accountability.” Fellow Fordhamite Liam Julian, having none of it, wonders why there’s no call to provide “housing for every family and daisies for all schoolchildren.” Eduwonkette, on the other hand offers “big props” and provides a link for others to sign the statement. Joanne Jacobs plays it down the middle, but wants to see a “privately funded campaign that promotes good parenting: how to help your child develop language and reading skills and how to teach good behavior, for example.”

I’m going to avoid the Blogging 101 temptation to cop an attitude, quip and move on. This is an interesting discussion — it’s the discussion — and I’ll do my small part to encourage a low-temperature, thoughtful discussion, not knee-jerk reactions. The plain truth is, I could argue much of this round or flat, especially the accountability piece, the umbrella which covers everything else.

I’m going to go out on a limb and say I have long suspected that both staunch testing and accountability advocates and foes secretly understand the potential damage their respective positions do to children, but dare not say so—and not unreasonably.

Those who are most in favor of muscular accountability and aggressive testing, I think, understand that testing mania has damaged schools by narrowing curriculum to an unacceptable degree, and made school a joyless grind of prep-and-test for many students—especially those who would benefit most from a well-rounded, meaningful education. Likewise, those who oppose testing, would probably privately acknowledge that the discipline it has imposed has helped some schools, and that a large number of schools would be truly horrific without it. But at the same time, they rightfully resent being tyrannized by tests. Many good teachers know but won’t admit they’re suffering for the low standards and laziness of others. “I don’t need the pressure of a test to do right by my kids,” they believe, and they’re right. Still, they know there are classrooms where very little teaching and learning would occur absent the pressure of testing.

I wish I could see a path to the badly needed middle ground here. Accountability hawks, I believe, might find their way toward the center if they believed that teachers and schools could be trusted to hold themselves objectively accountable. Teachers wouldn’t resent the testing if they felt treated as professionals, and if a more nuanced view of accountability accounted for the very high and absolutely legitimate hurdles to achievement placed in front of some students that are beyond a teacher’s control or even ability to influence.

Both sides see their positions—again, not unreasonably—as slippery slopes. If we say not every student can reach proficiency we open the door to excuse-making on a grand scale and zero accountability. If we roll back accountability we risk institutionalizing low expectations. Both sides, to paraphrase Thomas Jefferson, are holding a tiger by its ears. They don’t much like it, but they dare not let go.