This is the second in a series of blog posts called EduFacts: The SOS March in Context.
As demonstrators prepare to gather in Washington, DC and other locations around the nation for this week’s Save Our Schools March, educators, journalists, and policymakers are trying to determine just what kind of changes to public schools the organizers are calling for. While much of the messaging on the group’s website seems worthwhile, even noble, at first glance, many of the SOS guiding principles turn out to be quite elusive when read a second time.
To their credit, however, the SOS marchers do have some specific, concrete policy recommendations. They want “an end to economically and racially re-segregated schools”—a principle strongly supported by nearly all who contribute to education policy creation, if read literally; but, in reality, a coded phrase for eliminating charter schools and other schools of choice. Pay-for-performance should be ditched, they also argue, as should competitive grants, increased class sizes, and closing schools with poor test scores.
The raison d’être of the SOS March and website is a demand, a plea, that decisions concerning education policy and practice be returned to the public. Teachers, parents, students, and communities have lost ground to powerful political and corporate interests, the organizers assert, and they want to take back their seats at the education policy table. Yet, the intellectuals who designed the SOS March and articulated its principles face one big, insurmountable contradiction in their argumentation: The American public—that they claim to champion—disagrees with much, if not most, of the K-12 education vision outlined by SOS’s organizers. Take a look at some of the most recent public opinion data on education policy to more clearly see this contradiction:
Grading Current Public Schools
A supermajority of Americans does not believe the nation’s public schools, as a whole, are presently offering students an academically rigorous education. In 2010, just 18% of PDK / Gallup Poll respondents gave the nation’s public schools a grade of A or B, down from 27% in 1985; more than 1 in 4 respondents gave today’s public schools a D or below. (It’s also true, however, that when grading the school their oldest children attend, 77% of parents gave grades of A or B, up from 71% in 1985.)
Charter Schools
Americans, of all demographic groups, mostly support charter schools or have neutral feelings about them. According to a 2010 Harvard University / Education Next poll, 44% of Americans support charter schools and 36% hold a neutral stance. Among minorities, 64% of African-Americans and 47% of Hispanics expressed clear support for charter schools. The ratio of supporters of charter schools has grown steadily over the past decade, according to 2010 Phi Delta Kappa / Gallup Poll numbers – from 42% in 2000 to 68% in 2010.
Teacher Evaluation and Pay
The American citizenry supports paying teachers based on their students’ academic achievement. 73% of 2010 PDK / Gallup Poll respondents believe that teacher compensation should be either ‘very closely’ or ‘somewhat closely’ tied to student achievement. The percentage of public school parents who express those opinions is even higher, at 75%.
The Federal Government’s Role in Public Education
Most Americans want an influential role for the federal government in K-12 education. When asked what level of involvement the federal government should have in public education, 63% of respondents to an August 2010 Gallup poll expressed that the feds should keep the same level of involvement or increase their involvement.
Arguing on behalf of democratic decision making means accepting that the public might disagree with your principles and policy recommendations, or even completely reverse its opinions from time-to-time. Presently, democracy doesn’t seem to favor many of the concrete education policies put forward by SOS marchers.
Note: Gauging public opinion is a complex endeavor, but I attempted to select sources of public opinion that are widely respected and trusted. I should also emphasize that my own views on education policy are not necessarily always aligned with the public’s, and are often much more nuanced than the opinions that polls allow to be recorded.
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5/11/2012 | U.S. News & World Report highlights ideas from "Moving On Up: How Tuition Tax Breaks Increasingly Favor the Upper-Middle Class." 
5/11/2012 | In Diverse, Steve Burd comments on the Obama administration's plans to address student debt. 
5/11/2012 | Kevin Carey talks to Salon about the government's role in rising student debt.
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I agree with you. However, many government agencies are hamstrung by politics. The EPA and Department of the Interior are two. As their funding is restricted by politicians who do not agree with experts, say climate change, they do not fund actions which they disagree politically. It is no accident that funding in public schools in Florida has reduced disproportionately monies for programs like art, music, and even athletics. If the politicians in power think, however misguidedly, that these programs have little value, they will simply cut the budgets of such programs. A very sad thing….I loved my art classes.
The idea that the public disagrees with much of the SOS marchers’ vision as measured by various polls is probably more likely to do with the general public’s lack of understanding of the issues facing education. The general public is bombarded daily with propaganda about the dire state of the nations public education system. Since 1983’s A Nation At Risk report was provided to the public, people have been told repeatedly on the nightly news that our public schools are horrible. This media propaganda blitz also includes the sensational reporting of all sorts of horrors from child molestation to cheating in our public schools. Americans are operating on fear and supporting decisions that may ultimately lead to the demise of free public education in America, and support the goals of big business (yes big business, as in the education publishing and testing markets).
What the polls don’t tell you is why the people polled feel that the public education system does not provide a rigorous education for students. Where are they getting their information? To what are they attributing this lack of rigor? The polls also don’t reflect whether or not those polled are aware of all of the school choice options that are blocked or made impossible to provide under current education policies. Are they aware that magnet schools that operated to offer an alternative to the traditional neighborhood school much as charters do, are closing their doors? What do those polled feel is a rigorous and appropriate education? Is it possible within the budget constraints that public schools operate under?
The polls also do not reflect the knowledge of those polled of the inappropriateness of, or the statistical problems associated with paying teachers based on the test scores of their students. The polls also do not show whether or not those polled believe that students, administrators, environmental, and neurobiological factors converge to affect the assessment of student learning.
I believe (and I suspect some of the SOS marchers may believe this also) that the public should be informed and educated about all facets of the issues affecting the public education system before they make up their minds about what is wrong with public education, and definitely before they decide to vote on the remedies. We all need to sit down at the table and talk. The problem is, some voices are louder than others. Education reformers have the bull horns and microphones, and teachers like me are shouting from the cheap seats in a crowded arena. Our voices aren’t as loud and don’t carry as far. This is why we march.
Sandra,
I think both of the topics you have raised are valid concerns that require careful thought. The teachers who have made test preparation their primary concern, and the administrators who encourage them, are gaming the accountability system at students’ expense. Rights to privacy should also be vigilantly protected and weighed against any societal benefits that come from collecting information about citizens.
The trouble is that the SOS platform is quite elusive and allows parents and teachers — with very diverse perspectives — to draw what they like onto the march’s mission. The platform makes some specific policy recommendations, but the two you have written about are not directly mentioned.
Two items that the poll does not reflect:
1) A growing number of parents with children in public schools object to test-centric test prep classrooms. The new federal education reform initiatives include testing from preschool to beyond high school and additional tests than those currently administered. Accountability is important; however, it has to make sense. It is a reasonable request.
2) A growing number of parents and community members, irrespective of ideology, are concerned the federal initiative for a longitudinal database with data on the nation’s children (preschool to college) based on these test results. A recent regulatory change to FERPA by the US DOE excludes parent permission for sharing of student information for some purposes. It is an expensive database development without sufficient rationale, and has serious privacy and security concerns.
I support the SOS March since legislators and federal policy makers have ignored these serious concerns. In my view, this March on D.C. is the only way to make it clear that expensive, experimental federal policies are failing children. A large body of research and evidence has been published and presented that clearly indicate the initiatives of over the last ten years should not be continued. Suggesting that those involved in the March should be providing “suggestions” misses the point. Those suggestions have been made. Policymakers ignore.
…and the answer to your question is both.
And, by the way, I don’t argue that parents are “not very thoughtful.” But you can hardly act wide-eyed about my observation that your propaganda barrage has some effect.
Sorry, I failed to notice that Part 2 wasn’t also written by Richard, whose byline was on Part 1.
Very Orwellian, Forrest H.
You’re part of an initiative that pours millions of dollars into convincing the public that our public schools are failing and that charter schools are the miracle cure.
Then you sneer at those of us who try to combat your hype, lies and propaganda, after the hype, lies and propaganda have some effect. Part of the lie-hype-and-propaganda campaign is to accuse those who try to combat it of disrespecting others’ opinions — opinions that were heavily influenced by the lies, hype and propaganda.
Caroline,
The logical flaw here is that those who want more participation from parents, students, teachers, and community groups go on to describe why those same constituents are poorly educated and fooled when the groups disagree with them. In your post, you link to an organization that claims to represent parents’ collective voice in education, but then you argue that parents are uninformed and not very thoughtful when it comes to charter schools and teacher evaluation policies.
Are you for democratic participation in education, or are you for a set of specific principles and policy recommendations?
Richard, this is the key point, the operative information:
(It’s also true, however, that when grading the school their oldest children attend, 77% of parents gave grades of A or B, up from 71% in 1985.)
The endless drumbeat from our political leadership, our commentators and the nation’s editorial boards that “our public schools are failing” fuels the public perception — even though, as you admit, parents know it’s not true about the schools they’re familiar with in real life. The millions upon millions of dollars promoting that view (who’s funding Education Sector, an enthusiastic participant?) are certainly going to have some effect, or the money wouldn’t be spent.
Most people know very little about charter schools — not to their discredit; it’s a specialized topic. From a quick description, charter schools sound fabulous to the low-information member of the public, so of course they poll well. I would say that’s true about paying teachers based on test scores as well. Does the average member of the populace understand the degree to which poverty correlates with low achievement? Rhetorical question, because the answer is most certainly no. I know I often have to explain it to people.
A key point about the current situation is that education policy is formulated not only without the involvement of educators; it’s created under the pervasive attitude that educators are the enemy of good education. Is there any other area in which we would create public policy while ignoring and disdaining the views of those experienced and involved in it — even treating them like an obstacle that must be overcome, worked around and generally silenced? Health care? Military? Agricultural policy? Anything?
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