Raising Ruckus: The Decline of Public Education in the 21st Century


But even they show that, on average, students who spend four or more years in charter schools gain an additional two months of learning in reading and more than two months in math every year , compared to similar students in traditional public schools.

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Urban students gain five months in math and three and a half in reading. And charter parents are happier with their schools. Any good idea can be done poorly, and some states have proven it with their charter practices. One has to look beyond the averages to see the truth: In states where charter authorizers close or replace failing schools — a central feature of the charter model — charters vastly outperform traditional public schools, with students gaining as much as an extra year of learning every year.

Elizabeth Witbeck

But in states where failing charters are allowed to remain open, they are, on average, no better than other public schools. Do they have the autonomy they need to design a school model that works for the children they must educate? Are they free to hire the best teachers and fire the worst? Do they experience competition that drives them to continuously improve? Does the district give families a choice of different kinds of schools, designed to educate different kinds of learners? Do schools experience enough accountability — including the threat of closure if they fail — to create a sense of urgency among their employees?

And when they close, are they replaced by better schools? If the answer to these questions is yes, the system will be self-renewing: Its schools will constantly improve and evolve. Leaders in cities as diverse as New Orleans, Washington, D.

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Before we can solve the problems in schools today, we must consider how schools were Raising Ruckus. The Decline of Public Education in the 21st Century. Raising Ruckus The Decline Of Public Education In The 21st Century English Edition is big ebook you must read. You can get any ebooks you wanted like.

C, Denver, Indianapolis, and Camden have concluded that if they want more than incremental improvement, they have to embrace this new model. Their old systems were a century old, constructed for a different era. In their 21st century systems, the central administration steers but often contracts with others to operate schools. The steering body, usually an elected school board and appointed superintendent but sometimes a mayor or appointed board and superintendent, awards charters or other forms of performance agreements to schools that meet emerging student needs.

If the schools work, it expands them and replicates them. If they fail, it replaces them with better schools. Every year, it replaces the worst performers, replicates the best, and develops new models to meet new needs.

Gene Levinson PhD

We have inherited 20th century systems whose centralized control and vast web of rules repel innovation and frustrate innovators. In their place, we are building 21st century systems that not only reward improvement but demand it. In its place they create an ever-evolving network of schools designed for the Information Age, with multiple providers, different teaching methods, and choices for parents and their children. Since both parents and teachers can choose among different kinds of schools, they are less likely to insist on the one best way — whether phonics or whole language, new math or old math.

"Instructional Leadership for the 21st Century Changes in Teaching and Schooling"

Elected school boards are politically free to create a more diverse set of schools, to meet the needs of an increasingly diverse body of students. School boards in these 21st century systems also find it easier to create new kinds of schools when new needs and opportunities emerge. For example, traditional districts have been slow to create schools that use information technology in a meaningful way, because it requires a different configuration of personnel — something teachers and their unions find threatening.

How can we help them take ownership of, and responsibility for, their own education? How can we teach kids to become their own teachers? No one book has all of the answers. But far more important than the answers are the questions that are raised.

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About Publish Join Sign In. Test scores, school performance scores, graduation and dropout rates, college-going rates, and independent studies all tell the same story: The 74 traveled the country to document the faces and stories of the individuals who are leading the charge to bring new models of education to students in those cities. It will not be easy to reach the tipping point. The issues raised in this book certainly deserve a considered and open-minded response from educational policy makers. The Decline of Public Education in the 21st Century.

The issues raised in this book certainly deserve a considered and open-minded response from educational policy makers. Those who simply dismiss it as glib or subversive do so at their own peril. This book brings a fresh and enthusiastic—and ultimately quite optimistic—point of view within the easy reach of the genuine stakeholders in public education. Teachers are the unsung heroes of our public schools, and they suffer both economically and socially under the current oppressive system.

Parents know their kids deserve a better childhood than they get in school. Students know they face unprecedented challenges in our rapidly changing global marketplace. The author dreams of creating a model school prototype that embraces the vision and values of her book. I, for one, eagerly await what she will have to say, as she struggles against the powers that be, to realize that dream. And struggle she will.

It will not be easy to reach the tipping point.

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Corporations will funnel billions of dollars into resisting change. Kids should be dreamers too—not factory drones. Change is in the wind.

Why did we create a national school system? The answers are a lot darker than you think. Before we can solve the problems in schools today, we must consider how schools were first started. Witbeck takes the reader back in time to the Industrial Revolution to discover what our schools are really for, the hidden agenda of education, and how it can be stopped. You're about to learn secrets that very few parents ever learn about baby names. Naming Your Newborn is an enlightened guide to baby naming.