Micropolitics Gone Bad

I am going to "borrow" my classmate Beth Sepelyak's definition of micropolitics - influencing others to attain desired goals. Well, I am going to give an example of micropolitics being used for evil. In many cases, we think of an example of a principal using his/her influence over staff and students to improve student achievement. Unfortunately, as I was reading this week I thought of more than one example in my previous school district where a teacher (or group of teachers) used their influence to derail the efforts of the building principal - this was those teachers' goal.

In either case, I think the "influencer" plays a large role in this, but ultimately, I think it is the people that are influenced that truly make the difference in whether or not the goals are achieved.

Who Isn't a Special Interest Group!?!?

Initially, when I prepared for this week, I asked myself "What interest group(s) am I going to focus on?" The more I thought about it, I couldn't help but wonder isn't anyone who is bringing something to education a special interest group? My first thoughts went to the unions (which exhibit an enormous amount of power in states other than Virginia) and then I thought of the testing companies. Both groups have a considerable amount of lobbying power to get what they want (and what they want is most often not what is best) and they often DO get what they want!

The group I was most interested in this week is the "think tank." These groups have the phrase "scientifically-based research" to back up a lot of what these groups are trying to promote. What is most frightening is that the "research" they share may be very slanted to promote the mission of what they in fact are trying to sell.

I wonder, when are students going to be their own Special Interest Group?

The Politics of Education and Special Interest Groups

One group that I will be reading about under the umbrella of special interest groups is the think tank. Here's a little humor for you as I do my weekend reading. Enjoy!

Educational Malpractice

During my reading this week, I saw the phrase “educational malpractice” in a number of different articles. This was most often used in cases dealing with IDEA and high school graduation. I thought more about this phrase when we were talking about growth models last night in class. I really fear that there will be a whole new level of litigation once we finally reach the critical year of 2013-2014 and whether or not any children were in fact, left behind. I wonder if school divisions have started to think about this. Couldn’t there also be cases of malpractice where parents contend that we are doing too much testing and not enough teaching?

You Don't Work for the School Board - You Work for Me

This statement was spoken by a local superintendent to his staff. He felt that he needed to say this since many of his employees were jumping off the chain of command by bypassing administrative supervisors and instead going straight to school board members with issues. One reason the superintendent felt the need to make this statement is because this caused a change in dynamic between the superintendent and school board. The school board now has been alerted to issues and it has brought them into the day to day operations. This undermines the vision of the superintendent and his administrative staff since now there is an extra step of “checking in” with the school board before any instructional decisions can move forward.

Coming Soon: School Corruption at a State Near You

This week we are studying the state’s role in education. It was just a coincidence that I happened to be in New Jersey while researching this topic. As I opened up the Sunday paper I saw that starting next weekend, in selected theaters, the movie The Cartel will be shown. This movie has already been screened at a number of film festivals in New Jersey and Philadelphia. This documentary takes a hard look at the relation between educational spending and the achievement of the students throughout the Garden State. You can visit the website for the film at www.thecartelmovie.com

The website contains a number of clips from the movie that are hosted by YouTube. I have attached the link to the trailer here.

I realize it will probably be some time before I get to see the full movie, but as a former New Jersey teacher, I am very interested to see the film. One group that I know will be portrayed in a negative light will be the teacher unions. After viewing the trailer, however, I have a feeling that there won’t be many groups that will emerge unscathed.

Why does it sound like people are "Fed" Up?

I am looking forward to a very interesting week in class as we discuss the federal role in education. Through my readings this week, it strikes me that the three main roles the federal government plays or have played in education are (1) funding, (2) supervising the desegregation of schools, and (3) the enforcement of equality and adequacy. I will be curious to see if anyone else found other areas.

This week’s topic will also prove to be quite emotionally charged, I believe. The discussion of the role that the federal government plays in education seems to be tied very tightly to political parties. In one of the articles I read, The Elementary and Secondary Education Act at 40: Equity, Accountability and the Evolving Federal Role in Public Education the authors Thomas and Brady identified that ““To directly address concerns regarding national control over education, the drafters of ESEA included a provision explicitly stating that the federal government could not ‘exercise and direction, supervision, or control over the curriculum, program of instruction, administration, or personnel, or over the selection of any instructional materials in any educational institution or school system’ – Public Law 89-10, Section 604” (p. 52).

While NCLB and still tried to keep the original provision intact, there was certainly more federal involvement in the pieces than before. For instance, while the United States Department of Education was not stating what curriculum should be used, they emphasized very strongly the fact that the curriculum needed to be research-based. The phrase research-based appears over 100 times in the NCLB law of 2001.

Where will we go with the reauthorization of NCLB? It appears that there will be more federal involvement in a great number of aspects of PK – 12 education. As the fall goes on and more information is released about Race to the Top, we will all begin to understand how states, state departments of education, LEAs, schools, and teachers will all be affected by this new manifestation of ESEA.

A preview of things to come?

How can someone not be excited to take a class on The Politics of Education?

While I am sure there will be a number of places to gain perspective, one great jumping off point will be reflecting on the posts from Bridging Differences. I am already hooked after reading We're Relying on an Absurd Definition of Achievement. Deborah Meier has demonstrated so many examples of how measuring achievement through testing is not the answer. I am going to have to find a way to use one particular quote of hers at my job to really drive (no pun intended) her point home: “Achievement equals standardized test scores in reading and math; others add test scores in other subjects, including aptitude/IQ tests. Everything else gets called ‘soft skills.’ It’s as absurd as calling the written driving test the real achievement and the road test a measure of ‘soft’ skills.”

Hopefully, we will all feel comfortable enough this semester to have some great discussion on where things seem to be going in our schools, school divisions, and nation and how that compares to where we all believe they should be going.