Ann Romney - "Get rid of public education"

Eagled-eyed read TN spotted this in Good Houskeeping of all places

GH: Can you tell me, what campaign issue is closest to your heart?

AR: I've been a First Lady of the State. I have seen what happens to people's lives if they don't get a proper education. And we know the answers to that. The charter schools have provided the answers. The teachers' unions are preventing those things from happening, from bringing real change to our educational system. We need to throw out the system.

Throw the whole system out!

We probably should not listen to someone who has never worked in public education, never went to a public school, and never sent any of her 5 children to public schools. As for the all too common swipe at teacher's unions, she probably doesn't realize that Massachusetts, where her husband Mitt Romney brags of it being number 1 in education, is the most unionized state of all.

If the issue of public education is so close to Mrs. Romney's heart, it is curious why she has never been invovled in it, and apparently knows so little.

Perhaps she should stick to things she does know and really cares about, such as dressage.

Bringing Out the Me in Team

A great first person account of how high stakes test based evaluations destroys team work in schools

Test scores are the new epicenter for the war over education. On one side are politicians and reformers advocating test scores to evaluate teachers. On the other side are teachers and unions arguing for more comprehensive evaluations rather than relying on scores alone. In a society that values results, reformers are gaining the upper hand. In report after report, districts and states have adopted evaluations primarily based on student achievement on end of grade tests. The results, the reformers argue, will retain the best teachers while removing the bad ones. It is a system that has worked in the private sector and could revolutionize our schools.

Despite the mountain of evidence against using test scores in this way (a nice summary here), I have to admit, there seems to be a bit of logic to the argument. A talented teacher like my wife would be rewarded in a system like this, while lesser teachers would soon be removed. In theory, it seems reasonable. . . until I saw it in action.

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