“Many of these defenders, including teachers unions and others on the left, say school choice laws will drain resources from public school systems that are already struggling and make them even worse. And, they argue, voucher programs will put money into the hands of wealthy families who could easily afford private education on their own.“
Did these defenders on the left forget whose money they are spending? A middle to upper middle class home owner in Pennsylvania pays anywhere from 2 to 25 thousand dollars a year in school real estate tax. Shouldn’t the people footing the bill have a say in how that money be distributed? Lower income families may pay less, or nothing, and are receiving a free education paid by very generous citizens. It was only a matter of time until till the over taxed citizens come up with an alternative. Perhaps the teachers unions should spend more time coming up with a solid solution to poor performances in the public schools instead of defending what is clearly proven not to be working.
The shocking 4th grade reading scores don't seem to shock our public leaders and institutions. I'm not a reading expert, but I've been told by one that the window starts to close on reading acquisition after the fourth grade. There are college students who are not up to "grade level" in reading. I know that first hand. The is truly a national crisis.
Kahlenberg added, “The last thing you want is for public money to go to encourage division along any particular line. The idea that the public funds would be used to foster further balkanization of an already balkanized country is troubling.”
Yes, we would all like public schools to stop using taxpayer money to make our kids hate each other and themselves...
I've grown weary and apathetic to each new 'innovative' teaching method that has been introduced over the last 40 years. Just another step on the long road of protracted failure.
When all is said and done, this should be about educating children. It should not be about politics. And yet this article never mentions outcomes. My guess is that the outcomes for micro schools will be highly dependent on the quality of the teacher(s) in that school rather than the model of the school, and given that teacher quality can vary significantly, there is likely to be significantly different outcomes from school to school. If this becomes a significant form of education, what type of oversight will be needed and how will failing schools be handled? If the state is only going to pay for half the cost of educating the student, what will enable the school to be on stable financial footings or do we ignore those students whose parents cannot afford the extra tuition despite the fact that these same people pay taxes?
I hope that any oversight is different from the current "oversight," that allows so very many children to graduate from High School with such limited skills. In other words, there is clearly NO effective oversight now, so it is irrational to add equally purposeless bureaucratic oversight to this new concept in education.
I think that is a state by state situation. While it has been highly unusual and the situation had gotten dire, Massachusetts has gone into a couple of cities and taken over the school system for several years until the situation improved before handing it back to local authorities.
I homeschooled for seven years and it was an amazing opportunity to not only connect with my child but also develop her intellect and capability. Even today, as she's in college, she comments regularly that she has all this "stuff" in her brain thanks to homeschooling that she blows her professors with years later. Ditto being about to write effectively. We took advantage of many microschools focused on various areas - art, science, music - and saw how kids could learn in a range of settings with different ages, abilities, and pedagogies. I love that educators, parents, and communities are willing to experiment with different learning environments to reach - and teach - all learners.
Does Randi Weingarten know what the hell she’s talking about? I’m tired of saying this: despite the best efforts of her and her minions to turn us into one, we aren’t a democracy. Full stop. Martin Gurri made the best argument for the value a representative government. Randi et. al. would do well to read it, but I’m not holding my breath mostly because she ignorant about or chooses to ignore the meaning of plurality. She doesn’t want one, she wants a monolithic tyranny in which she oversees the manufacture of cogs in the massive governmental machine.
We all know education’s dirty little secret: there’s no sating Jabba the Hut, aka public education. Enrollment in a district falls, school budgets climb. Enrollment fall more; budgets rise even more. The only way to kill the beast is to starve it.
I love school choice. Our country is screaming for it. Those NEAP scores are terrifying. But I do fear the individualization of education. Education is to raise up a civically minded individual who work together with others like him to contribute to the commonweal of community and country. Like it or not, we have to fit into the system, not conform the system to our individual learning styles. I’d be interested on others’ perspectives.
It will take some deft leadership to manage a micro school. And some committed teachers. Most of these places should come apart within a year.
But the promise of school choice may rescue US education for the most motivated students. Private schools will be able to admit a lot more talented poor kids, who should appreciate the opportunity more than the average student now, which will raise the competitive bar and motivate teachers. This should be great for US education overall.
It should be clear to everyone by now that the Teacher's Union is nothing more than a money laundering operation for the DEMs, over $55 million in 2022. I would like to see the federal government withhold all funding from any state that forces public school teachers to pay dues to their Teacher's Union. If they want to be part of the union, fine, but no one should be forced by law to pay union dues.
Amén. It happened to me in 1987. I was furious that I was being badgered, and berated for not wanting to join the mafia (this is how I view the teachers unions, all decisions made out of some unknown hierarchy in Chicago). In the end I was aggressively forced into joining. I will forever harbor ill feelings towards those who pretended to be my friends for their complicity in the coercion.
That's a Minnesota problem, no surprise there look whose in charge. In New York City it actually works and has been such a force the UTF does everything it cane to influence politicians, mostly Democrats to be a bulwark against charter schools expanding and growing in NYC.
From the article: *But, he said, “Where I begin to have strong concerns is when taxpayer money is taken to private schools that may be under less oversight than traditional public and charter schools.”
Kahlenberg added, “The last thing you want is for public money to go to encourage division along any particular line. The idea that the public funds would be used to foster further balkanization of an already balkanized country is troubling.”*
The less government oversight the better. If a child has a parent, and that parent is involved in the child's education, why do we need government oversight.
It may be "public money" but when I pay taxes to my local school and then pay (minimally) for my child to attend a one-room hybrid program - how does that make sense?
If anything, this should be a wake-up call to the public school system. Rather than fight it, fix it.
“ Another sign of the movement’s momentum: Billionaires like Peter Thiel and Mark Zuckerberg are starting to invest millions in microschool start-ups.” That alone should be an indicator that we should all run screaming in the opposite direction. As if private equity taking over doctors offices and nursing homes was not already horrifying enough, this would just be one more instance of someone making big bucks out of an area that should not be for profit. At a massive cost to all of society.
What does the shape, location, or proximity of the "room" matter? As long as we're teaching {black} kids that they're perpetual victims, and {white} kids that they're perpetual victimizers (all while eliminating advanced courses and deemphasizing core STEM skills) - we all still lose. Our children especially. Like every great institution the Left seems to destroy once they get their hands on it - America's educational system is cooked.
QFE: "Then, as the pandemic faded, learning pods morphed into a real business called microschools—owned, in many cases, by former learning pod teachers like Jean. On one level, a microschool is an updated version of a very old concept: the nineteenth-century one-room schoolhouse, where kids of different ages, backgrounds, and abilities share a classroom. But on another level, they represent the future."
That quote alone is a rebuttal to Suzi Weiss's assertion in her "doomer optimist" article that, basically, "you can't go back." Small schools, owned and operated by former public school teachers on the model of a 19th C. schoolhouse? QED.
This is a creative example of how older ways of doing things can be creatively reappropriated through intentional decentralization. It shouldn't take a pandemic to encourage such things.
It also shows that for some issues, we had already figured out a way to do them, and now we have to relearn what people once already knew. I watch all kinds of videos online about skills that humans used to have and forgot because some 'better' way overtook it.
The mandate of public school to educate all equally regardless of status has failed. Since school dollars flow from property taxes in our area, the wealthiest areas have the best schools with lots of resources while the others have challenges. My wife started a Montessori school in a lower middle class area, and tried to keep tuition for full day to $6000 annually per student. With lots of management and budget cutting she was able to do it. The results were amazing--all students testing at "honors" levels across reading and math, and the anecdotal evidence down the road has been that the students fared well in higher education and career choices too. This movement toward freedom in education will have good results as long as the government stays out of micro managing curricula etc. Competition will push schools to innovate, will also push schools to lower costs. I hope it takes hold nationwide.
“Many of these defenders, including teachers unions and others on the left, say school choice laws will drain resources from public school systems that are already struggling and make them even worse. And, they argue, voucher programs will put money into the hands of wealthy families who could easily afford private education on their own.“
Did these defenders on the left forget whose money they are spending? A middle to upper middle class home owner in Pennsylvania pays anywhere from 2 to 25 thousand dollars a year in school real estate tax. Shouldn’t the people footing the bill have a say in how that money be distributed? Lower income families may pay less, or nothing, and are receiving a free education paid by very generous citizens. It was only a matter of time until till the over taxed citizens come up with an alternative. Perhaps the teachers unions should spend more time coming up with a solid solution to poor performances in the public schools instead of defending what is clearly proven not to be working.
The shocking 4th grade reading scores don't seem to shock our public leaders and institutions. I'm not a reading expert, but I've been told by one that the window starts to close on reading acquisition after the fourth grade. There are college students who are not up to "grade level" in reading. I know that first hand. The is truly a national crisis.
Kahlenberg added, “The last thing you want is for public money to go to encourage division along any particular line. The idea that the public funds would be used to foster further balkanization of an already balkanized country is troubling.”
Yes, we would all like public schools to stop using taxpayer money to make our kids hate each other and themselves...
Exactly what I was thinking!
I've grown weary and apathetic to each new 'innovative' teaching method that has been introduced over the last 40 years. Just another step on the long road of protracted failure.
When all is said and done, this should be about educating children. It should not be about politics. And yet this article never mentions outcomes. My guess is that the outcomes for micro schools will be highly dependent on the quality of the teacher(s) in that school rather than the model of the school, and given that teacher quality can vary significantly, there is likely to be significantly different outcomes from school to school. If this becomes a significant form of education, what type of oversight will be needed and how will failing schools be handled? If the state is only going to pay for half the cost of educating the student, what will enable the school to be on stable financial footings or do we ignore those students whose parents cannot afford the extra tuition despite the fact that these same people pay taxes?
I hope that any oversight is different from the current "oversight," that allows so very many children to graduate from High School with such limited skills. In other words, there is clearly NO effective oversight now, so it is irrational to add equally purposeless bureaucratic oversight to this new concept in education.
I think that is a state by state situation. While it has been highly unusual and the situation had gotten dire, Massachusetts has gone into a couple of cities and taken over the school system for several years until the situation improved before handing it back to local authorities.
I homeschooled for seven years and it was an amazing opportunity to not only connect with my child but also develop her intellect and capability. Even today, as she's in college, she comments regularly that she has all this "stuff" in her brain thanks to homeschooling that she blows her professors with years later. Ditto being about to write effectively. We took advantage of many microschools focused on various areas - art, science, music - and saw how kids could learn in a range of settings with different ages, abilities, and pedagogies. I love that educators, parents, and communities are willing to experiment with different learning environments to reach - and teach - all learners.
Does Randi Weingarten know what the hell she’s talking about? I’m tired of saying this: despite the best efforts of her and her minions to turn us into one, we aren’t a democracy. Full stop. Martin Gurri made the best argument for the value a representative government. Randi et. al. would do well to read it, but I’m not holding my breath mostly because she ignorant about or chooses to ignore the meaning of plurality. She doesn’t want one, she wants a monolithic tyranny in which she oversees the manufacture of cogs in the massive governmental machine.
We all know education’s dirty little secret: there’s no sating Jabba the Hut, aka public education. Enrollment in a district falls, school budgets climb. Enrollment fall more; budgets rise even more. The only way to kill the beast is to starve it.
I love school choice. Our country is screaming for it. Those NEAP scores are terrifying. But I do fear the individualization of education. Education is to raise up a civically minded individual who work together with others like him to contribute to the commonweal of community and country. Like it or not, we have to fit into the system, not conform the system to our individual learning styles. I’d be interested on others’ perspectives.
Randi W leads the "Teacher's Union," not a union to promote good education for the students.
It will take some deft leadership to manage a micro school. And some committed teachers. Most of these places should come apart within a year.
But the promise of school choice may rescue US education for the most motivated students. Private schools will be able to admit a lot more talented poor kids, who should appreciate the opportunity more than the average student now, which will raise the competitive bar and motivate teachers. This should be great for US education overall.
It should be clear to everyone by now that the Teacher's Union is nothing more than a money laundering operation for the DEMs, over $55 million in 2022. I would like to see the federal government withhold all funding from any state that forces public school teachers to pay dues to their Teacher's Union. If they want to be part of the union, fine, but no one should be forced by law to pay union dues.
https://www.opensecrets.org/industries/indus?cycle=2022&ind=L1300
Amén. It happened to me in 1987. I was furious that I was being badgered, and berated for not wanting to join the mafia (this is how I view the teachers unions, all decisions made out of some unknown hierarchy in Chicago). In the end I was aggressively forced into joining. I will forever harbor ill feelings towards those who pretended to be my friends for their complicity in the coercion.
The Free Press is painting a rosy picture of this movement. Don't fool yourselves. They have an agenda.
https://www.startribune.com/minnesota-charter-schools-failures-must-be-addressed/601146577
That's a Minnesota problem, no surprise there look whose in charge. In New York City it actually works and has been such a force the UTF does everything it cane to influence politicians, mostly Democrats to be a bulwark against charter schools expanding and growing in NYC.
We were the first state to experiment with charter schools. Some do fine, others are disasters. It's never been, and never will be, a panacea.
From the article: *But, he said, “Where I begin to have strong concerns is when taxpayer money is taken to private schools that may be under less oversight than traditional public and charter schools.”
Kahlenberg added, “The last thing you want is for public money to go to encourage division along any particular line. The idea that the public funds would be used to foster further balkanization of an already balkanized country is troubling.”*
The less government oversight the better. If a child has a parent, and that parent is involved in the child's education, why do we need government oversight.
It may be "public money" but when I pay taxes to my local school and then pay (minimally) for my child to attend a one-room hybrid program - how does that make sense?
If anything, this should be a wake-up call to the public school system. Rather than fight it, fix it.
“ Another sign of the movement’s momentum: Billionaires like Peter Thiel and Mark Zuckerberg are starting to invest millions in microschool start-ups.” That alone should be an indicator that we should all run screaming in the opposite direction. As if private equity taking over doctors offices and nursing homes was not already horrifying enough, this would just be one more instance of someone making big bucks out of an area that should not be for profit. At a massive cost to all of society.
What does the shape, location, or proximity of the "room" matter? As long as we're teaching {black} kids that they're perpetual victims, and {white} kids that they're perpetual victimizers (all while eliminating advanced courses and deemphasizing core STEM skills) - we all still lose. Our children especially. Like every great institution the Left seems to destroy once they get their hands on it - America's educational system is cooked.
QFE: "Then, as the pandemic faded, learning pods morphed into a real business called microschools—owned, in many cases, by former learning pod teachers like Jean. On one level, a microschool is an updated version of a very old concept: the nineteenth-century one-room schoolhouse, where kids of different ages, backgrounds, and abilities share a classroom. But on another level, they represent the future."
That quote alone is a rebuttal to Suzi Weiss's assertion in her "doomer optimist" article that, basically, "you can't go back." Small schools, owned and operated by former public school teachers on the model of a 19th C. schoolhouse? QED.
This is a creative example of how older ways of doing things can be creatively reappropriated through intentional decentralization. It shouldn't take a pandemic to encourage such things.
Nothing is ever lost completely. Ideas are rediscovered. So said Tom Stoppard. All aren't good ideas, but the one-room schoolhouse is.
It also shows that for some issues, we had already figured out a way to do them, and now we have to relearn what people once already knew. I watch all kinds of videos online about skills that humans used to have and forgot because some 'better' way overtook it.
The mandate of public school to educate all equally regardless of status has failed. Since school dollars flow from property taxes in our area, the wealthiest areas have the best schools with lots of resources while the others have challenges. My wife started a Montessori school in a lower middle class area, and tried to keep tuition for full day to $6000 annually per student. With lots of management and budget cutting she was able to do it. The results were amazing--all students testing at "honors" levels across reading and math, and the anecdotal evidence down the road has been that the students fared well in higher education and career choices too. This movement toward freedom in education will have good results as long as the government stays out of micro managing curricula etc. Competition will push schools to innovate, will also push schools to lower costs. I hope it takes hold nationwide.
Take the word "expert" out, and it's a good article. We've learned to beware of any use of that word. Replace it with, "common sense."