[A shorter version of this op-ed article was published in the December 23, 2008 issue of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution]

 

"Wrong Choice for America’s Schools"

Op-Ed
By Kevin Kumashiro

December 18, 2008 – Hailed by some as a pioneer in education reform, Arne Duncan was recently selected by President-Elect Obama to be our next Secretary of Education.  However, his track record as the CEO of Chicago Public Schools for the past seven years shows that Duncan is the wrong choice for America’s schools.

Behind the rhetoric of “reform” is the reality of Duncan’s accomplishments, particularly the problems behind his signature initiative, Renaissance 2010.  Launched in 2004, Renaissance 2010 aims to open 100 new smaller schools (and close about sixty “failing” schools) by the year 2010.  To date, seventy-five new schools have opened. 

However, many of them are charter schools that serve fewer low-income, limited-English proficient, and disabled students than regular public schools.  More than a third of them are in communities that are not high-needs areas.  During Duncan’s tenure, districtwide high school test scores have not risen, and most of the lowest performing high schools saw scores drop.  Renaissance 2010 is not doing enough to support those students who struggle the most. 

This should not be surprising.  The blueprint of Renaissance 2010 lies in a report titled, “Left Behind,” produced a year earlier by the Commercial Club of Chicago which mapped out a strategy for schools to more closely align with the goals of the business elite.  Central to that strategy was the creation of 100 new charter schools, managed by for-profit businesses, and freed of Local School Councils and teacher unions--groups that historically have put the welfare of poor and minority students before that of the business sector. 

Business leaders have long had influence over America’s schools.  In the early 1900s, the business sector influenced how large school districts were consolidated and managed.  In the late 1900s and into the era of No Child Left Behind, the Business Roundtable (the top 300 business CEOs in America) influenced how policy makers narrowly defined “standards” and “accountability.”  Today, public debates are framed by business principles, and certain assumptions go unquestioned and are seen to be “common sense.”  This includes the assumption that improvement comes when schools are put into competition with one another, like businesses in a so-called free market.

Duncan’s reforms are steeped in a free-market model of school reform, particularly the notion that school choice and 100 new charter and specialty schools will motivate educators to work harder to do better (as will penalties for not meeting standards).  But research does not support such initiatives.  There is evidence that opening new schools and encouraging choice and competition will not raise districtwide achievement, and charter schools in particular are not outperforming regular schools.  There is evidence that choice programs actually exacerbate racial segregation.  And there is evidence that high-stakes testing actually increases the drop-out rate.

Duncan’s track record is clear.  Less court intervention to desegregate schools.  Less parental and community involvement in school governance.  Less support for teacher unions.  Less breadth and depth in what and how students learn as schools place more emphasis on narrow high-stakes testing.  More opportunities to certify teachers without adequate preparation and training.  More penalties for schools but without adequate resources for those in high-poverty areas.  And more profit for businesses as school systems become increasingly privatized.  Students do not benefit from these changes.  Duncan’s accomplishments for Chicago Public Schools are not a model for the nation. 

America’s schools are in dire need of reform, and in 2009, we have the opportunity to overhaul the failed policies of No Child Left Behind.  The research is compelling: students need to learn more, not less.  Parents need to be involved more, not less.  Teachers need to be trained more.  Schools need to be resourced more.  We need new ways to fund schools, to integrate schools, to evaluate learning, and to envision about what we want schools to accomplish. 

Public education should aim for more than high test scores, and more than a stronger business sector.  Education should strive to prepare every child to flourish in life.  We need a different leader, one with a rich knowledge of research, with a commitment to educating our diverse children, and with a vision to make that happen.

Kevin Kumashiro, Ph.D., is Associate Professor and Chair of Educational Policy Studies and Interim Co-Director of the Institute for Research on Race and Public Policy at the University of Illinois at Chicago, and the author of The Seduction of Common Sense: How the Right has Framed the Debate on America’s Schools (Teachers College Press, 2008).