Cool new book about the politics of ed reform. Even better it's free! Via Eduwonk -

Here is the link. You'll need Adobe Acrobat to download, which is about 900kb.

Here's a snippet:

WHY THE INSTITUTION DEFENDS THE EXISTING SYSTEM

It might seem that the leadership in public education would welcome the state
intervening constructively to get the fundamentals right, to create a framework within which boards and administrators would have incentives—reasons and opportunities—to act effectively on the challenges they face.

But this would require those inside to be candid about the problems of the institution.And most are not eager to do that. In public educators are reluctant to talk about the political obstacles to making change—though in private,as someone has
noted,they seldom talk about anything else.

Some minds do seem open. But by and large the leadership reacts with hostility
if state policy leadership tries to change the arrangements for K-12. And if the
state—blocked in its effort to turn this into a self-improving institution—tries to
introduce improvements directly into existing schools, the institution resists that
intervention as well, waving the banner of local control and complaining that the
state is trying to usurp the role of the elected board.

Essentially the attitude is that the state should not intervene in either way: It
should give the districts the money and leave them alone.The state cannot accept that. Pressed now by national legislation it has got to have an institution that works. So the state has to act. But the answer is not to do improvement from the state level. Rather, it is to make K-12 a self-improving institution.

The state Academic Achievement and Accountability Commission met in Vancouver yesterday and made this reccomendation:

...none of the eight commission members at yesterday's meeting favored requiring students to earn a score of "proficient" in each of three subjects — reading, writing and math — starting in 2008.

Instead, commissioners voted to allow students to reach the "proficient" level in one or two subjects in 2008, as long as they reach the "basic" level in the others.

Why? They all said they felt state lawmakers haven't come through with enough resources to ensure that the state isn't setting students up to fail

Who is going to measure the resources? When will it be enough?

So much for high standards.

Vent #1 of the school year:

No way should any teacher have four preps that include three different English/Writing classes. I can't keep up with the workload. I have always tried to balance teaching, coaching, and the personal but my schedule is difficult. Any suggestions?