Linda Darling-Hammond, the darling of the teachers unions and ed schools, has been picked to head the education policy team for the Obama transition. This is change we can believe in? The reformers within the Democratic Party might be smart, but they don't appear to have the political juice to beat back the education establishment.
It's Day Five of Fordham's name-the-next-education-secretary-tracking-poll, and Chicago superintendent Arne Duncan has solidified his position as the top contender. That much isn't surprising, but what's new is the rise of Inez Tenenbaum as his primary challenger. In part that's because our insiders increasingly seem to believe that neither Jim Hunt nor Colin Powell would accept the ed sec job if offered. It also reflects the conventional wisdom that President-Elect Obama might need to appoint a woman to this position in order to balance his cabinet's diversity.
But would Tenenbaum be a good pick? It's true that under her leadership as state superintendent, South Carolina was a poster-child for No Child Left Behind-style reform, setting, as it did, some of the clearest and toughest standards in the country. Her state also became a friendly environment for the Teacher Advancement Program. But that's where her enthusiasm for reform stopped; she was known to toe the party (and teacher union) line on charter schools and certainly vouchers. Her selection would be viewed as a victory for the NEA.
Other folks mentioned today: Caroline Kennedy, Hugh Price, Tim Kaine, Ted Mitchell, Ronnie Musgrove, Jim Shelton, Erskine Bowles, Susan Castillo, and Jon Schnur. (Note: a trio of former governors--Roy Barnes, Roy Romer, and Bob Wise--are no longer anywhere to be seen.)
Now let's take a look at the trends over the course of the week:
This picture tells quite a story. The Jim Hunt bubble burst Wednesday night when he pretty much took himself out of contention. His loss was Arne Duncan's gain. The Colin Powell speculation is running out of steam, as is Joel Klein's candidacy. Meanwhile, Tennebaum and Atlanta superintendent Beverly Hall are making inroads.
Most likely we have another couple of weeks to go; expect more ups and downs before an announcement is made.
From guest blogger Emmy Partin, Fordham's writer and researcher in the Ohio office:
I'm in DC for the 19th Education Trust national conference. I was proud to be a Buckeye during last night's dinner when Ohio's Wells Elementary--located in Steubenville in the heart of the Midwest's Rust Belt--was awarded a "Dispelling the Myth" award for its success at closing the achievement gap. Despite a student body that is 47 percent non-White, 65 percent low-income, and highly mobile, Wells has boasted perennial high academic achievement. In 2007-08, 100 percent of the school's fifth graders passed the state reading, science, and social studies exams and 83 percent passed the math test.
This morning's plenary speaker was Jason Kamras. Kamras is a former DC middle-school teacher and national teacher of the year who is now DC Public Schools' director for human capital strategy for teachers. Kamras-speaking on behalf of himself, and not his district or its chancellor-offered five steps for getting a high quality teacher in every classroom:
1. A great principal in every school. Great teachers want to work for great principals who are instructional leaders first and share the passion and drive to help all kids learn.
2. Make it easier to remove low-performing teachers. Great teachers want to work with other great teachers so the profession must become passionate about quality and not accepting mediocrity within its ranks.
3. Provide support commensurate with accountability. Start with continuous professional development that is job-embedded and differentiated by need.
4. Create new opportunities for high-performing teachers. Allow them to stay in the classroom while still taking on new roles and trying new things (think robust career ladders and lattices).
5. Radically rethink compensation. Reward high performing teachers with significantly more money. Kamras noted that simply paying teachers more, even a whole lot more, won't necessarily ratchet up their performance. Rewards for performance would fundamentally change the perception of the profession and thus increase the quality and quantity of the applicant pool.
Along the lines of teacher compensation, Kamras offered additional suggestions:
- Stop spending on what doesn't work, like Ph.D.s for classroom teachers.
- Restructure the salary schedule so that salaries for top performers go up fast and early.
- Differentiate pay based on performance. Kamras chided that if our nation could win two World Wars, cure Polio, put a man on the moon, and invent the Internet then surely we could figure out differentiated pay for teachers.
- Restructure retirement plans by making them portable, flexible, and not back-loaded. Ohio should pay particular attention to this.
Yes, none of this would be easy to do-especially not in Ohio where money is tight and teacher unions are powerful. But perhaps maybe the time is right for the Buckeye State to make the changes needed to get a top-notch teacher in front of every child. Roughly one-third of our teachers are expected retire by 2015. If we have to replace them anyhow, why not do so with really great ones?
Photograph: President Bush greets Jason Kamras at the White House after he won 2005 National Teacher of the Year. Picture from White House website.
The Washington Post has a front-page story today about the Republican Governors Association meeting being held in Florida this week. Not surprisingly, the guvs are gloomy, and they are pointing fingers at their colleagues in the Administration and Capitol Hill for making a mess of the Republican brand.
But governors, get a grip. Don't expect salvation from Washington. While Newt Gingrich and his Contract with America deserved much credit for bringing the GOP back from the abyss in 1994, its arguments to devolve power to the states and limit the federal government were salable only because people could point to bold, reform-minded governors who were really shaking things up. Think John Engler on education, Tommy Thompson on welfare, and on and on.
Who are the reform governors now? Tim Pawlenty is good on pay-for-performance, and Bobby Jindal got a small voucher program through his Southern legislature. That's an OK start. But??it's not much to brag about.
What the GOP most needs are at least a handful of governors to make bold, competent moves in policy areas voters care about, including education. So who's it going to be?
Photograph of Bobby Jindal from Office of the Governor - State of Louisiana website
It looks like Jim Hunt convinced our panel that he doesn't want to move to Washington, because he's back in a distant second place behind Chicago schools superintendent (and FOBO*) Arne Duncan. But the word on the street is that this is an old-fashioned head-fake, and that Hunt and his associates are campaigning hard for the job.
Meanwhile, it looks like Joel Klein's star is falling. And notice the growing number of women and minorities making the list. Conventional wisdom is that President-Elect Obama might name white men to a few of the big cabinet jobs, which means he'll need women, African-Americans, and Latinos to balance his team's diversity.
Other folks mentioned today include Peter McWalters, Caroline Kennedy, Jon Schnur, Erskine Bowles, and Susan Castillo.
* Friend of Barack Obama
Democrats for Education Reform is circulating a document with its wish list for the transition, including suggestions for key education jobs in the Obama Administration. I read this as a guide to the positions the folks listed below would like for themselves. (And, for the most part, education reformers should be thrilled to see them get their way.)
- White House Policy Czar: John Podesta
- Domestic Policy Director: Jon Schnur, James Kvaal, Roberto Rodriguez, or Michele Jolin
- OMB (position unnamed): Michael Dannenberg
- Secretary of Education: Arne Duncan (strong preference), Wendy Kopp, Jon Schnur, Hugh Price, Alan Bersin, Mike Easley, Kathleen Sebelius, Janet Napolitano, Roy Barnes, or Bob Wise
- Deputy Secretary/ Under Secretary: Andrew Rotherham, Russlyn Ali, James Shelton, or Ted Mitchell
- Assistant Secretary for Elementary and Secondary Education: Michael Bennet, Anthony Alvarado, Patricia Harvey, or Bart Peterson
- Title I Director*: Zollie Stephenson or Brad Jupp
- Assistant Secretary for Postsecondary Education: Kevin Carey, Barmak Nassirian, or Bob Shireman
- Assistant Secretary for Planning & Evaluation: Robert Gordon, Kevin Hall, Alice Johnson Cain, or Andrew Rotherham
- Assistant Secretary for Legislative Affairs: Roberto Rodriguez
- Assistant Secretary for English Language Acquisition: Peter Zamora
- Assistant Deputy Secretary for Innovation and Improvement: Kim Smith, Kevin Chavous, Shirley Sagawa, or Michele Cahill
- Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights: Carmel Martin, Russlyn Ali, or Goodwin Liu
- Assistant Secretary for Special Education: Martha Thurlow
- Director, Institute of Education Sciences: Jane Hannaway or Catherine Freeman
- General Counsel: Dianne Piche, Kent Anker, Ross Wiener, or Robert Gordon
- Communications and Outreach: Rodney Ferguson or Julie Petersen
- Others: Steve Robinson, J.B. Buxton, Sara Mead, Peter Groff, Erin Dillon, Gina Burkhardt, Ethan Gray, Chris Cerf, Kristan Van Hook, and Patrick McGuinn
This list brings to mind three questions. First, what will happen to Democrats for Education Reform if all of these people join the Administration? There won't be any Democrats for education reform left outside of the government. Second, same question for Education Sector. Will it just close its doors? Third, does this mean that people such as Kati Haycock, Amy Wilkins, and Michael Cohen aren't interested in jobs in the government? Otherwise, why aren't they listed?
OK, let the gossiping begin.
* This is actually a career job so I'm not sure why it's on the list.
Checker's weighing in on The Gates Foundation's new education strategy with an op-ed on Forbes.com. While Checker lauds the emphasis on high school completion, college readiness, national standards and strengthening education data, some areas are left wanting.
Two cheers are surely deserved. It's too early to know, however, whether a third is warranted. For what was emphasized in Seattle, and in the materials released so far, is mostly an educator's (and student's) version of education reform, not a parent's, taxpayer's or policymaker's version. Indeed, the word "parent" scarcely appears, nor "choice," "charter" or "governance," nor much by way of politics, policy or finance.
The Los Angeles Times reports that several charter schools in California are outperforming traditional public schools in the state when it comes to serving children in poverty. Ben Chavis, the head of American Indian Public Charter said it's easier to teach poor students because they are more motivated than affluent students. "It's the opposite of what everybody says," he said. "It's easier to do it with the poor kids and the minority kids because they have nothing, so they should be the highest." Read more here.
Maybe it was Diane Ravitch's strong arguments, or perhaps our insiders took a peek at this document, but former North Carolina Governor Jim Hunt has taken a tiny lead over Chicago schools superintendent Arne Duncan in the race for 400 Maryland Avenue (previous results here and here). Meanwhile, NYC Chancellor Joel Klein is hanging tough, and has now moved into third place. Which I can't quite understand. Don't you have to assume that AFT president Randi Weingarten will have a veto over any Obama nominees for the ed sec job? And wouldn't she use it when it comes to Klein? (Especially in light of this petition which urges Obama to go in another direction.)
Still, our ten insiders have spoken:
Keep your eye on Atlanta superintendent Beverly Hall; David Hoff, for one, says she's a real contender. Other folks mentioned today: Peter McWalters, Jon Schnur, Susan Castillo, Tom Payzant, Kathleen Sebelius, Erskine Bowles, Bob Wise, and Roy Romer.
??
I attended an advisory panel meeting today for a study looking at how to retain talented Gen Y teachers in the classroom. I was rather skeptical from the beginning, as I doubt that it's possible to keep talented young people in any job for more than a few years. The nature of most young high-achievers is that they want a variety of challenges and experiences.
Still, two profound insights surfaced today, both of which were new to me. First, one participant (a former teacher turned district official) argued that one of the most powerful levers for keeping great people in the classroom is to let go of ineffective teachers. Survey data from Education Sector's recent report on teachers, Waiting to be Won Over , backs this up. Great teachers are endlessly frustrated by watching colleagues who are burned out, putting in minimal hours, and doing harm to children. And if they don't see leaders address these underperformers, the high performers are going to go someplace else. (I think that's true in any workplace, by the way.)
So that leads us to a conversation about tenure reform, right? No, not necessarily. The other big insight, from another former teacher-turned-district-official, is that our current pension system is the real stumbling block. Here's why: Lots of burned out, ineffective teachers would gladly go find another job, were it not for the million-dollar pensions they'd be foregoing. Many would even leave voluntarily. But trying to terminate a teacher who is five or ten years from his or her retirement payday becomes World War III, because there's so much at stake. (My colleague better be careful with that kind of talk, lest Leo Casey likens him to Father Coughlin.)
Imagine if we were able to transition to a 401(k) style system for new teachers. (Which is easier said than done, since the current defined-benefits pension system only works if young teachers pay into it.) Picture a world 10 or 15 years from now, when mid-career teachers start to burn out. Even if they have tenure, they probably could be pushed out the door if they get to take their 401(k) with them, and don't have a huge incentive to stay put and wait for retirement.
So bottom line: if we want to get serious about high quality teachers, we gotta get serious about low quality ones, too. And that means tackling the true third rail of education policy: teacher pensions.