- John Deasy, the cage-busting superintendent of the Los Angeles Unified School District, resigned last week, ending a productive but contentious three-and-a-half-year tenure. Deasy’s bold moves and bright successes are legion: He helped reform teacher tenure, revamped school discipline, improved test scores, upped graduation rates, and reduced suspension rates—all while the district was mired in debt. He was the good kind of troublemaker, a sort of Joel Klein without the benefit of mayoral backing. But like Klein and others of his ilk, his changes brought about enemies and didn’t always work. An unsuccessful $1.3 billion iPad program and a controversial, imperfect student record system provided those people whose feathers he ruffled reason to squawk; the rest mirrors familiar, repeated history. Governance is hard, especially if leaders do more than act as caretakers. Deasy’s laudable because he did more.
- Bobby Jindal, who has made some questionable moves lately, got something right last week. His teacher tenure reform law received a unanimous stamp of approval from Louisiana’s high court. The law’s merits—it gives principals greater flexibility in hiring and firing teachers, usurps some local school board power and gives it to superintendents, and weakens other tenure provisions—weren’t in question. The shaky basis for the challenge before the court was instead a constitutional provision that requires that bills be about a single subject. Nevertheless, it’s a win for smart tenure policy—and a reminder that such lawsuits aren’t always wise, no matter one’s stance.
- The Atlantic published an article last week that shed some light on Germany’s approach to career and technical education—and why it’s so much better at training workers than the U.S. When it comes to learning a trade stateside, the apprenticeship model has rarely been used, historically. But that’s about to change after President Obama dumps $6 billion over the next four years into building up these programs. The article, however, cautions that the über-successful German model might not translate well to America. Apprenticeships can cost companies (who will foot the bulk of the bill) up to $170,000 per apprentice. That could be a problem here, where short-term profits are king. Nevertheless, regardless of the means, the end is worth pursuing, and imperfect effort is better than none. As the “college for all” orthodoxy is increasingly questioned, we need all the routes to career and technical education we can muster.
