Education Nation, which we blogged about last year, is, according to John Merrow, the “Super Bowl” of education events. Most all of the big names in Education Policy either presented there or were at least present. Moreover, many of these figures, such as Education Secretary Arne Duncan or former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, were interviewed by well-known reporters.
According to analysis of attendee and veteran education reporter John Merrow, the conference, while certainly informative, glossed over some of stark realities of American education:
Some sessions were content-rich, particularly the presentation by Professor Caroline Hoxby of Stanford about “Opportunity, Meritocracy and Access to Higher Education.”
She taught what Education Nation called–appropriately–a “Master Class” that showed just how many talented but poor kids fall through the cracks–and what can be done about it.
However, that was as close as Education Nation came to confronting the elephant in the room, poverty. The disgraceful fact that nearly a quarter of American children are growing up poor simply wasn’t on the agenda, although Marian Wright Edelman, Freeman Hrabowski and John Deasy, the Los Angeles Superintendent, raised the issue during their panels.
Instead, Education Nation focused on getting parents involved, using technology to improve learning, urging students to live healthier lives, and praising students who had overcome their difficult circumstances. It struck me [Merrow] as a bit like praising people for getting out of a burning building–but not calling the fire department.
In truth, many of the sessions were closer to show-and-tell infomercials than to probing journalism. The worst offender was “Personalized Learning,” where four panelists sang the praises of technology with nary a dissenting word or hint of skepticism.
The tone of “Education Nation” was generally pretty chummy, with very little wave-making. For example, I thought the usually reliable Brian Williams let former Florida Governor Jeb Bush off the hook in their one-on-one conversation. He began with a tough question: “Do we test our kids too much?” Mr. Bush acted as if he had been asked “Do we need testing?” and went into a polished riff about how “you can’t become a doctor without taking tests, and you can’t get in the military without taking and passing tests,” and so on. His “life is tough, so stop whining” routine plays well with crowds, but that was not what Brian Williams asked, and I wished he had insisted that the former Governor answer the original question. Governor Bush also boasted about his state’s approach to high-stakes testing, the FCAT, which has been riddled with problems, and closed with a gratuitous slam on teacher unions.
Education Secretary Arne Duncan got kid gloves treatment from Matt Lauer when he appeared via satellite, so I guess that was the event’s M.O.
Merrow did think that there were some definite highlights from the conference, however. He writes:
These two days had some highlights and surprises. I thought at least two stars emerged: Delaware Governor Jack Markell, who spoke forcefully about the importance of early education, and Joshua Starr, the Superintendent of Schools in Montgomery County, Maryland, who argued persuasively for multiple measures to assess both students and teachers.
The best sessions involved some give-and-take among opposing views. In one entitled “A Reality Check on Testing,” Randi Weingarten of the AFT, former Louisiana State Superintendent Paul Pastorek, New York Chancellor Dennis Walcott and the aforementioned Josh Starr disagreed, often eloquently. It helped that the session was skillfully moderated by Rehema Ellis, NBC’s reliable Chief Education Correspondent. Weingarten told the audience about a new study of test prep, contrasting how much time two different districts devote to getting their kids ready to take standardized tests. Some in the audience gasped when she presented the figures: In one district, students in grades 6-11 spent 100 or more hours on test prep, the equivalent of nearly one month of school. In another district, students in grades 3-8 spent 80 hours on test prep, the equivalent of 16 days of school. But that was the last time that issue surfaced, unfortunately.
For more information, see our post from last year, and Merrow’s full post about this year: https://www.coreeducationllc.com/blog2/education-nation-year-three/
http://takingnote.learningmatters.tv/?p=6575
