RAVITCH: Effect of corporate ed reform: Sharp Decline in Number Entering Teaching in California

[yurbud]

Last edited Sat May 4, 2013, 02:54 AM - Edit history (1)

The corporate education reform agenda has a two part strategy:

1. "Prove" that public schools are failing through constant, repetitive standardized testing.

2. Use that "failure" as an excuse to privatize public schools, meaning give our tax dollars to for profit corporations to run existing schools or set up charter schools (even though those charter schools do worse twice as often as better than real public schools).

The constant teacher bashing and attacks on their unions and job security are taking a toll: fewer students are earning teaching credentials and far fewer are entering programs to become teachers.

If fewer people go into the profession, you have a lot less chance of having "great" teachers or schools having much choice between candidates at hiring time, even at the new corporate McSchools.

Obama has backed this agenda from the beginning with his appointment of corporate ed reform tool Arne Duncan as his education secretary.

He needs to change course, so his legacy won't be doing to our schools what George W. Bush did to Iraq.

Tell the White House to stop backing the testing and privatization agenda and start listening to actual educators when it comes to education policy.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/submit-questions-and-comments

The corporate reform movement has been bashing teachers and public education without let-up for the past several years. The bashing became super-charged after the introduction of Race to the Top in 2009, because it explicitly blames teachers for low test scores despite evidence to the contrary.

The "reformers" claim they want "great teachers" in every classroom, and the way to do it is to fire teachers whose students get low scores, to close schools with low scores, and to deny teachers the right to due process. This is their formula, and they are sticking to it even though no other nation in the world has launched a vendetta against the teaching profession and public schools.

Now the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing reports a sharp decline in the number of people who want to teach.

Teresa Watanabe writes that:

" Interest in teaching is steadily dropping in California, with the number of educators earning a teaching credential dipping by 12% last year -- marking the eighth straight annual decline.

"The California Commission on Teacher Credentialing reported this month that 16,450 educators earned their credential in 2011-12, compared with 23,320 in 2007-08.

"The number of students enrolling in teacher preparation programs has also decreased, to 34,838 in 2010-11 from 51,744 in 2006-07."

This fraudulent reform movement is not going to achieve any of its stated goals. It will not lead to a great teacher in every classroom. Left unchecked, it will turn teaching into a temp job and dismantle public education. This will benefit the haves, not the have-nots. And that may explain why the haves are dumping millions of dollars into state and local school board races, to elect candidates who share their contempt for career educators and democratic control of public education.

http://wp.me/p2odLa-4En

[dem in texas]

1. So True, my Granddaughter switched her major

My granddaughter, who always wanted to be a teacher like her other grandmother, decided to switch majors in her second year of college/ She cited the low pay, layoff's and how teachers are being treated. She will soon graduate with a Business degree.

[Lifelong Protester]

2. Agree with what you and Dr. Ravitch are reporting but...

maybe edit that Arne Duncan (can't stand the man) is the education, not labor, secretary.

[yurbud]

3. thanks. I did this on the fly and missed that.