Diane Ravitch applauds the Gates Foundation’s decision to shift the focus of its educational philanthropy, while reminding us that their effort to transform high schools into smaller learning communities is a cautionary tale of seeking a “magic bullet” solution. “We must give the Gates Foundation and its founders credit for their honest self-scrutiny,” Ravitch writes on Forbes.com. ”Most proponents of education reform defend their ideas against all critics, regardless of what evaluations show.”
“The press for small schools, now taken up by almost every big-city district, has diverted our attention from the need to strengthen curriculum and instruction, beginning in elementary schools. Whether a school is small or large, the essential questions in education cannot be ignored: What should students learn? How should they be taught? Are classes too large, especially for struggling students? Are teachers well-prepared in the subjects they teach? Do teachers have the resources they need? Do students arrive in school ready to learn? Until we answer these questions, the size of schools is not a relevant issue.
It’s good news, Ravitch concludes, that Gates is pledging to devote its attention to what happens in the classroom. “The first thing it will learn is that there are no quick fixes. If it targets its dollars wisely, exercises a measure of humility, and continues to evaluate its efforts rigorously, it can make a positive difference,” she says.
The Gates Foundation “will advocate for the politically thorny goal of national standards — and will aim to write its own standards and its own national test,” reports Elizabeth Green at Gotham Schools.
The edusphere is reacting with arched eyebrows. “Gates-made national standards creep me out a little bit,” says Alexander Russo at This Week in Education, “I’d rather the states or the USDE develop the tests than the Gates Foundation do it.” At Eduwonkette, Aaron Pallas, aka “skoolboy,” laughed out loud at Green’s piece.
Does anybody else think this is a really, really bad idea? I’m delighted that the Gates Foundation has realized that throwing money at small schools didn’t work, but I’m not prepared to turn over the public’s interest in what is to be taught and learned to a private philanthropy, no matter how civic-minded it may be.
Perhaps I’m missing something, but industry lobbyists regularly play a role in policy and legislation where they have enormous self-interest with nary a peep. If it’s ok for the insurance industry to write health care legislation or the oil industry to craft energy policy, how could weighing in on national standards and assessments possibly be out of bounds for Gates, which has no dog in the fight outside of its reputational capital?
Bring it.
This is a bit of a stunner that amazingly has gone unnoticed until A-Rus picked up on it: The Gates and Broad Foundations are reportedly winding down their support for Ed in ‘08 well short of the promised $60 million. The Puget Sound Business Journal reported last Friday — and no one else seems to have followed up — that Gates and Broad have stopped contributing to the campaign after putting in a total of about $24 million.
The foundations say the campaign has made education an important issue, and there is no need to spend more. A program officer with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation said the Seattle-based foundation believes it has accomplished the goal of making education a topic for candidates, after contributing $16.4 million, and is not likely to spend more on the effort between now and Election Day.
“If we spend less than the maximum, it is because it is a reflection of the strategies we are executing,” said Marie Groark, senior program officer with the Gates Foundation. She acknowledged that it’s a tough environment for the issue to gain traction. “We are aware that there are significant competing priorities on the agenda,” she said.
“I think it is clear that we have embedded into the mindset of the campaign that the crisis of our schools is an essential part of the domestic policy program,” Marc Lampkin, executive director of Strong American Schools tells the paper.
Glad it’s clear to Lampkin. That’s one down. Eduflack writes a passionate eulogy for Ed in ‘08 here.
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