I don't know how turning any degree of control over to the federal government can ever improve anything. You'll see. Time will tell, as it has for 150 years. And meanwhile more parents and their kids will lose by giving them false hope that the teacher-union-Woke-Progressive blob rolls along. All that energy should instead be put into establishing a parallel private network as a real option.
Sorry John. I covered public schools for nearly half a century. Every "reform" candidate promised to be brand new and fire and hire who they wanted. But the fact remained and persists that school boards are elected by teachers' unions and that's their constituency. Brand new always turns out to be the same old same old. The unions have vice grip on adminnistrators, policy, curriculum and legislation.
The only way to end it is to end it. The public school system is doomed by design.
Mark: You are talking about something very different. I am saying that proper NATIONAL K-12 education changes (via DOEd) will have profound effects on local school boards and teachers. There is no other reasonable option.
John, jumping to #5, the reason no state public K-12 school is teaching children how to think is because it is bound by the ESSA (Every Student Succeeds Act). While touted as offering a public school district the opportunity to implement its own public K-12 curriculum ..., the opportunity comes at a cost. The cost is the forfeiting federal funding. To date, I know of no state or public school department that has forfeited federal funding ..., thus the teaching of what to think instead of how to think continues to permeate the public K-12 propaganda experience. Eliminating the DofEd without eliminating the ESSA will not have the needed effect of allowing for the teaching of children how to think instead of focusing upon teaching them what to think.
This contributes to my concerns of parochial and private schools voluntarily deploying much of, if not all, of the public K-12 curriculum within their institutions.
The attack upon our children within K-12 is a bipartisan attack. The Eisenhower and Reagan regimes worked to integrate Soviet style education within U. S. public K-12 schools. The curriculum mirrors the UNESCO education agenda. The heralded ESSA was ramned through Congress by Senator Lamar Alexander (R-TN) and SOH Paul Ryan (R-WI), almost as a gift to outgoing puppet president Obama and DofEd Secretary, Arne Duncan, in late 2015.
This goes against the accepted narrative, but the more $$$ that is funneled into the existing public K-12 curriculum, the greater the ability of the ne'er-do-wells atop public K-12 education to further devalue the public K-12 curriculum and experience. Parents need to wake up to this fact.
Parents need to fight every increase in funding of public K-12 education, be it via personal property taxes or bond issues. Sadly, I doubt most parents will do so. After all, most of them are products of these schools and they will be hard pressed to believe they were taught what to think instead of how to think. Unfortunately, those who are taught what to think are not likely to think outside of the box in which they find their children and themselves.
This is why tax-funded school choice is so alluring. It appears to be a quick-fix with no downside. In reality, it is a quick-fix for those who want to deploy the federal K-12 curriculum into parochial, private, and home schools. The downside is the elimination of ALL K-12 school choice! By law, WHATEVER THE GOVERNMENT FUNDS, IT CONTROLS!!!
Arthur: Most of what you say is accurate — but it overloks the solution. I'll repeat myself again. The system is controlled by the people in charge. They make the rules, etc. We have brand new people who can hire and fire anyone they want. We have brand new people who can make any policies they want. We have brand new people who can spend $80 BILLION of ANNUAL discretionary money, any way they want. That is what is different from your story.
There may be new people in place, but I believe they were selected to continue the current curriculum, not to make any beneficial changes. "The System" controls the agenda and those who are selected to deploy it.
I've had the benefit of hearing Curtis Bowers speak in person on several occasions. He has spoken of his experience in the Idaho House of Representatives. Once elected, he was excited about the possibilities of making beneficial changes. Republicans controlled the Governor's mansion, the Houss and the Senate.
When he set out to deliver on his campaign promises, he was called in by party leadership. They asked what he was doing? When he told them what he was attempting to do, he was told that he was not there to make changes, but to keep things as they were!
I realize this goes against everything many of us were taught to believe ..., but if people will take a step or two back, hopefully they can see the bigger picture. The view from above the treeline is radically different from the view in the valley.
I used to believe the hogwash we have been fed to keep us playing the controllers of "The System" game. Thankfully, through a personal, ideological metamorphosis, I escaped the gravitational pull and gerbilesque life imposed upon us by those who control "The System". I hope and pray more individuals are able to enjoy a similar escape. Once one sees the end game, he/she can't unsee it ..., and everything that doesn't make sense makes sense!
I understand why you believe what you believe. I wish I could concur with you, but I believe he was (s)elected to usher in a digital panopticom upon us. A Democrat would never get Republicans or conservatives (there is a huge difference between Republicans and conservatives) to go along with what he has done and is doing …, so he was ushered into the Puppet Hut/Puppet Palace.
I genuinely pray that you are correct and I am wrong. Time will tell if #47 is acting in our best interests, or to deploy the global agenda of those who placed him in office.
Arthur: One fact we do know — Trump has hired several other disrupters (like RFKjr). It wouldn't be a stretch to believe that he is also in favor of our K-12 system being disrupted.
Personally, I don't question if RFK, Jr. is a genuine disruptor. Again, I genuinely hope and pray you are correct and I am wrong …, but I don't believe those who control governments and politics all over the globe from outside of government are going to allow anyone to vary from their script, unless there is a ready fix, once he/she is no longer in his/her position. We saw how easily old Joe was able to override some of #45's Executive Orders!
John, cut it up into as many small bites as you like. The reality is each small bite operates by the rules of the humanistic-woke-progressive mob and any divergence within one of those small bites is easily punished into submission. I have a friend who says the answer is to change the teachers. He doesn't realize the teachers are true believers of the system and no more responsible to criticism than any progressive bot. See CRT for proof. They openly speak about continuing CRT under different names, they tout it to rub the fact in the face of "reformers," That will be as suyccessful as reforming the communist party under Lenin and Stalin. They will punish those who make noise about reform, they will denigrade any dissenters and ultimately they will outlast the parents whose kids are in the system 12 years then gone. It's a closed system whose first priority, like all bureaucracies, is self-protection and perpetuation.
Mark: The system is controlled by the people in charge. They make the rules, etc. We have brand new people who can hire and fire anyone they want. We have brand new people who can make any policies they want. We have brand new people who can spend $80 BILLION of ANNUAL discretionary money, any way they want. That is what is different from your examples.
In 1946 I started in a one room school in the last year of Normal school teachers in Alberta. Normal school teachers were high school educated to teach rational thinking within 8 years to feed the war machine. Mental competence to use reason was considered the prerequisite for further study or full citizenship. Rationality seems to have been replaced by the belief in magic.
Our government speaks of altering history and redressing old wrongs, controlling the climate by virtue signalling on our way to a global utopia. I think sanity and the scientific method have proved their superiority to fantasy based theocracies
Henry: Well said. Indeed US K-12 used to be better (not perfect). Subsequently the Left prioritized undermining K-12 and the Right essentially stood by and complained.
Curricula and pedagogy go hand in hand. Neither is useful without the other. The utility of teaching students how to think is marginal if they cannot read. Without being able to read, they are doomed to reinvent all of science and society from scratch. The methods used in most states don't work. Read "Chaos in the Classroom" and "The Great Classroom Collapse" and "The Corrupt Classroom" — and other books — by Lance Izumi.
Reform does start with the basic education children receive from K-12. It must change in order for young people to be truly educated to think for themselves; and not accept propaganda teachings without question.
na . . . all it would take is for critical mass of parents to withdraw their kids from the system, and it would collapse . . . don't ever say "never happen" . . . WE THE PEOPLE can do ANYTHING.
Bob: Again that sounds good, but it will never happen.
Yes, we the people have power, and our power should be focused on insisting that DOEd completely uproot the current system. They have the power and money to do that.
It's just like pressure from the public has made the EPA scrap the Endangerment Finding, the reason that resulted in trillions of dollars of waste. One change, BIG results! Same for DOEd.
Sort of funny that this critique begins with the observation that a recent report on American education reform focused solely on post-secondary/college/university level issues, with the criticism that higher education rests on the foundation of K-12 education.
Have you considered that the problems of K-12 education are rooted in American universities' Schools of Education? That is, American K-12 teachers, to be licensed, must have a degree from a university School of Education. And the Schools of Education are the propagators of the PC-Progressive hate-Normal-America belief system. The belief system came from Dr George S. Counts of Columbia U. His educational philosophy is revered in American Schools of Education, which call it "Social Reconstructionism."
Thus, any focus on K-12 change MUST begin with the higher levels--the university Schools of Education.
In his [Dr. George S. Counts'] bold proclamation, printed as a series of pamphlets capturing his PEA speeches, as Dare the School Build a New Social Order, Counts broke with Dewey’s ideas of child-centered education, and proclaimed the need for “imposition and indoctrination.”
He argued that he and his fellow Progressives had been timid, had professed and theorized, and not acted in concert with their beliefs. Counts’ argument was fundamentally Marxist, in tone and terminology, but never referenced Marx. His themes included class, class conflict, anarchy of extreme individualism, race hatred, reconstruction of society; democracy vs. industrial feudalism, capital must belong to the masses, not the favored few.
In his PEA speeches, He spoke (and spoke, and spoke, and spoke) condescendingly of “the masses,” “the minds of the masses.” He said “natural resources and all important forms of capital will have to be collectively owned.”
Counts went on to demand that “the resulting system of production and distribution be made to serve directly the masses of the people.”
He ended his speeches with a call to action to his fellow Progressive Educators, in effect a call to bloody revolution: “If democracy is to be achieved…powerful classes must be persuaded to surrender their privileges…this process has commonly been attended by bitter struggle and even bloodshed.”
In a shot across the bow of the American bourgeoisie, Counts warned his comrades, “Ruling classes never surrender their privileges voluntarily.”
Kent: If you look at my basic list of K-12 issues, "Teacher Certification" is there. That is what it ius referring to: teachers getting propagandized before they get their teaching certificate.
That said, the subject Standards are what are driving the student propaganda, not the teachers. They are merely teaching to the Standards.
Dealing with any K-12 issue before eradicating/cleansing the University Schools of Education is pissing in the wind.
It's not "Certification" that's the problem. It's that the belief systems of the Schools of Education are fundamentally anti-Normal-American. Teachers-in-training are indoctrinated in this belief system in the Schools of Education.
It's not "Standards" that are the problem. Where do "Standards" come from? University Schools of Education and the EdD's that populate them.
Schools of Education are the nexus of the problem with American education.
Having "Certification" and "Standards" are excellent ideas--once the Schools of Education are fixed.
Discussions of what to do with K-12 BEFORE cleaning out the Schools of Education is like discussing color of wallpaper for a house that doesn't yet have a foundation--interesting and lots of details, but useless until the foundation is built.
Kent: You are partially right, but K-12 subject Standards do NOT come for Schools of Education. They follow the Standards.
For example, the K-12 Science standards (NGSS) were written by a group of progressives at NAS (National Academpy of Sciences), plus Bill Gates' business organization (Achieve), and the National Science Teacher's Association (NSTA). There was no representation by Teacher Education colleges.
In each State the Standards are approved by the State Board of Education — and the Teacher Education colleges are not a part of those.
Not to be argumentative, but this is a really important point. I'm not saying that Schools of Education are 100% DIRECTLY running such issues as Standards. But they are the driving force--Standards, Curriculums, Certification, etc are driven by the Education Mafia, based in the Schools of Education (and the Teachers Unions--which are the practical manifestation of the Schools of Education).
Your work and approach is valuable and much-needed. It would be much more valuable with more inside experience with the Education Mafia.
EVERYTHING in American K-12 education flows from the EdD's in the Schools of Education.
Standards are completely driven by the Education Mafia--based in the Schools of Education. Your example of the NGSS actually shows that to be the case.
Here are the random first 9 members (out of about 25) of the "Writing Team" for the NGSS. They are ALL right out of Schools of Education--either as faculty or as graduates--they're all products and disciples of the Schools of Education.
• Carol Baker: Science and Music Curriculum Director, Community High School, District 218 Orland Park, IL
• Rodger Bybee: Executive Director, Biological Sciences Curriculum Study (Retired) Golden, CO
• Mary Colson: Earth Science Teacher, Moorhead Public Schools Moorhead, MN
• Melanie Cooper: Lappan Phillips Professor of Science Education and Professor of Chemistry, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI
• Richard A. Duschl: Waterbury Chair Professor of Secondary Education, The Pennsylvania State University, State College, PA
• Zoe Evans: Assistant Principal, Carrol County Schools, Carrollton, GA
• Danine Ezell: San Diego Unified School District and San Diego County Office of Education (Retired), San Diego, CA
• Kevin Fisher: Secondary Science Coordinator, Lewisville Independent School District, Flower Mound, TX
• Jacob Foster: Director, Science & Technology/Engineering, Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education
"...teacher colleges acting in collusion to control K-12 subject standards. There is no evidence of that."
It's not just "subject standards," American university Schools of Education are the driving force behind ALL issues related to K-12 education.
If you're in Eastern NC, highly recommend you enroll in a couple of Education classes at ECU. Being in the belly of the beast will open your eyes to the challenge.
Either eradicating or totally cleaning out Schools of Education are the key to taking back American K-12 education. Otherwise "reform discussions" are a total waste of time.
Schools/Colleges of Education are to K-12 issues as the IPCC is to "climate change" issues. Not directly involved in every detail, but the driving force for all the insiders.
Where are the male role models in K-12? In all discussions of equality in employment, I have never heard anyone say "We need more men as teachers in k-12." I have seen first hand how boys are treated as if they are 'defective girls', how girls are encouraged to be strong mentally and physically, and how boys are treated as if their innate character is 'toxic' and must be suppressed. Children seem to be taught that the standard approach to problem solving is to substitute feelings for facts in all disputed, contested, or contentious matters; that feelings trump facts, and that if anyone disagrees or dissents, then they are labelled 'disruptive' and must be removed from the discussion while being denigrated and rebuked. Can there be any wonder why so many families have turned to home schooling?
I don't know how turning any degree of control over to the federal government can ever improve anything. You'll see. Time will tell, as it has for 150 years. And meanwhile more parents and their kids will lose by giving them false hope that the teacher-union-Woke-Progressive blob rolls along. All that energy should instead be put into establishing a parallel private network as a real option.
Mark:
If it is done wrong, you will be right. If it is done properly, I will be.
Sorry John. I covered public schools for nearly half a century. Every "reform" candidate promised to be brand new and fire and hire who they wanted. But the fact remained and persists that school boards are elected by teachers' unions and that's their constituency. Brand new always turns out to be the same old same old. The unions have vice grip on adminnistrators, policy, curriculum and legislation.
The only way to end it is to end it. The public school system is doomed by design.
Mark: You are talking about something very different. I am saying that proper NATIONAL K-12 education changes (via DOEd) will have profound effects on local school boards and teachers. There is no other reasonable option.
John, jumping to #5, the reason no state public K-12 school is teaching children how to think is because it is bound by the ESSA (Every Student Succeeds Act). While touted as offering a public school district the opportunity to implement its own public K-12 curriculum ..., the opportunity comes at a cost. The cost is the forfeiting federal funding. To date, I know of no state or public school department that has forfeited federal funding ..., thus the teaching of what to think instead of how to think continues to permeate the public K-12 propaganda experience. Eliminating the DofEd without eliminating the ESSA will not have the needed effect of allowing for the teaching of children how to think instead of focusing upon teaching them what to think.
This contributes to my concerns of parochial and private schools voluntarily deploying much of, if not all, of the public K-12 curriculum within their institutions.
The attack upon our children within K-12 is a bipartisan attack. The Eisenhower and Reagan regimes worked to integrate Soviet style education within U. S. public K-12 schools. The curriculum mirrors the UNESCO education agenda. The heralded ESSA was ramned through Congress by Senator Lamar Alexander (R-TN) and SOH Paul Ryan (R-WI), almost as a gift to outgoing puppet president Obama and DofEd Secretary, Arne Duncan, in late 2015.
This goes against the accepted narrative, but the more $$$ that is funneled into the existing public K-12 curriculum, the greater the ability of the ne'er-do-wells atop public K-12 education to further devalue the public K-12 curriculum and experience. Parents need to wake up to this fact.
Parents need to fight every increase in funding of public K-12 education, be it via personal property taxes or bond issues. Sadly, I doubt most parents will do so. After all, most of them are products of these schools and they will be hard pressed to believe they were taught what to think instead of how to think. Unfortunately, those who are taught what to think are not likely to think outside of the box in which they find their children and themselves.
This is why tax-funded school choice is so alluring. It appears to be a quick-fix with no downside. In reality, it is a quick-fix for those who want to deploy the federal K-12 curriculum into parochial, private, and home schools. The downside is the elimination of ALL K-12 school choice! By law, WHATEVER THE GOVERNMENT FUNDS, IT CONTROLS!!!
Arthur: Most of what you say is accurate — but it overloks the solution. I'll repeat myself again. The system is controlled by the people in charge. They make the rules, etc. We have brand new people who can hire and fire anyone they want. We have brand new people who can make any policies they want. We have brand new people who can spend $80 BILLION of ANNUAL discretionary money, any way they want. That is what is different from your story.
John,
There may be new people in place, but I believe they were selected to continue the current curriculum, not to make any beneficial changes. "The System" controls the agenda and those who are selected to deploy it.
I've had the benefit of hearing Curtis Bowers speak in person on several occasions. He has spoken of his experience in the Idaho House of Representatives. Once elected, he was excited about the possibilities of making beneficial changes. Republicans controlled the Governor's mansion, the Houss and the Senate.
When he set out to deliver on his campaign promises, he was called in by party leadership. They asked what he was doing? When he told them what he was attempting to do, he was told that he was not there to make changes, but to keep things as they were!
I realize this goes against everything many of us were taught to believe ..., but if people will take a step or two back, hopefully they can see the bigger picture. The view from above the treeline is radically different from the view in the valley.
I used to believe the hogwash we have been fed to keep us playing the controllers of "The System" game. Thankfully, through a personal, ideological metamorphosis, I escaped the gravitational pull and gerbilesque life imposed upon us by those who control "The System". I hope and pray more individuals are able to enjoy a similar escape. Once one sees the end game, he/she can't unsee it ..., and everything that doesn't make sense makes sense!
Trump wants to fix the system, not to continue it. If he is showed that the best possible fix is as I have described, he and Linda can do it.
John,
I understand why you believe what you believe. I wish I could concur with you, but I believe he was (s)elected to usher in a digital panopticom upon us. A Democrat would never get Republicans or conservatives (there is a huge difference between Republicans and conservatives) to go along with what he has done and is doing …, so he was ushered into the Puppet Hut/Puppet Palace.
I genuinely pray that you are correct and I am wrong. Time will tell if #47 is acting in our best interests, or to deploy the global agenda of those who placed him in office.
Arthur: One fact we do know — Trump has hired several other disrupters (like RFKjr). It wouldn't be a stretch to believe that he is also in favor of our K-12 system being disrupted.
Personally, I don't question if RFK, Jr. is a genuine disruptor. Again, I genuinely hope and pray you are correct and I am wrong …, but I don't believe those who control governments and politics all over the globe from outside of government are going to allow anyone to vary from their script, unless there is a ready fix, once he/she is no longer in his/her position. We saw how easily old Joe was able to override some of #45's Executive Orders!
John, cut it up into as many small bites as you like. The reality is each small bite operates by the rules of the humanistic-woke-progressive mob and any divergence within one of those small bites is easily punished into submission. I have a friend who says the answer is to change the teachers. He doesn't realize the teachers are true believers of the system and no more responsible to criticism than any progressive bot. See CRT for proof. They openly speak about continuing CRT under different names, they tout it to rub the fact in the face of "reformers," That will be as suyccessful as reforming the communist party under Lenin and Stalin. They will punish those who make noise about reform, they will denigrade any dissenters and ultimately they will outlast the parents whose kids are in the system 12 years then gone. It's a closed system whose first priority, like all bureaucracies, is self-protection and perpetuation.
Mark: The system is controlled by the people in charge. They make the rules, etc. We have brand new people who can hire and fire anyone they want. We have brand new people who can make any policies they want. We have brand new people who can spend $80 BILLION of ANNUAL discretionary money, any way they want. That is what is different from your examples.
The modern U.S. School system is designed to crush curiosity, because curious people question things. Remove the ability to read the ideas, and the ideas die. https://torrancestephensphd.substack.com/p/forget-free-college-how-about-we
In 1946 I started in a one room school in the last year of Normal school teachers in Alberta. Normal school teachers were high school educated to teach rational thinking within 8 years to feed the war machine. Mental competence to use reason was considered the prerequisite for further study or full citizenship. Rationality seems to have been replaced by the belief in magic.
Our government speaks of altering history and redressing old wrongs, controlling the climate by virtue signalling on our way to a global utopia. I think sanity and the scientific method have proved their superiority to fantasy based theocracies
Henry: Well said. Indeed US K-12 used to be better (not perfect). Subsequently the Left prioritized undermining K-12 and the Right essentially stood by and complained.
Curricula and pedagogy go hand in hand. Neither is useful without the other. The utility of teaching students how to think is marginal if they cannot read. Without being able to read, they are doomed to reinvent all of science and society from scratch. The methods used in most states don't work. Read "Chaos in the Classroom" and "The Great Classroom Collapse" and "The Corrupt Classroom" — and other books — by Lance Izumi.
VS: Yes, I've repeatedly said that all this is based on having skills with the 3Rs. I'll add that above, again.
Reform does start with the basic education children receive from K-12. It must change in order for young people to be truly educated to think for themselves; and not accept propaganda teachings without question.
Barbara: Yes, Thank you.
we MUST remove control of "education" from the Government.
Bob: Sounds good, but will never happen. We need to have practical solutions, like minimum government propaganda.
na . . . all it would take is for critical mass of parents to withdraw their kids from the system, and it would collapse . . . don't ever say "never happen" . . . WE THE PEOPLE can do ANYTHING.
Bob: Again that sounds good, but it will never happen.
Yes, we the people have power, and our power should be focused on insisting that DOEd completely uproot the current system. They have the power and money to do that.
It's just like pressure from the public has made the EPA scrap the Endangerment Finding, the reason that resulted in trillions of dollars of waste. One change, BIG results! Same for DOEd.
Sort of funny that this critique begins with the observation that a recent report on American education reform focused solely on post-secondary/college/university level issues, with the criticism that higher education rests on the foundation of K-12 education.
Have you considered that the problems of K-12 education are rooted in American universities' Schools of Education? That is, American K-12 teachers, to be licensed, must have a degree from a university School of Education. And the Schools of Education are the propagators of the PC-Progressive hate-Normal-America belief system. The belief system came from Dr George S. Counts of Columbia U. His educational philosophy is revered in American Schools of Education, which call it "Social Reconstructionism."
Thus, any focus on K-12 change MUST begin with the higher levels--the university Schools of Education.
Full details:
https://kentclizbe.substack.com/p/infiltration-and-subversion-of-american?utm_source=publication-search
Excerpt:
In his [Dr. George S. Counts'] bold proclamation, printed as a series of pamphlets capturing his PEA speeches, as Dare the School Build a New Social Order, Counts broke with Dewey’s ideas of child-centered education, and proclaimed the need for “imposition and indoctrination.”
He argued that he and his fellow Progressives had been timid, had professed and theorized, and not acted in concert with their beliefs. Counts’ argument was fundamentally Marxist, in tone and terminology, but never referenced Marx. His themes included class, class conflict, anarchy of extreme individualism, race hatred, reconstruction of society; democracy vs. industrial feudalism, capital must belong to the masses, not the favored few.
In his PEA speeches, He spoke (and spoke, and spoke, and spoke) condescendingly of “the masses,” “the minds of the masses.” He said “natural resources and all important forms of capital will have to be collectively owned.”
Counts went on to demand that “the resulting system of production and distribution be made to serve directly the masses of the people.”
He ended his speeches with a call to action to his fellow Progressive Educators, in effect a call to bloody revolution: “If democracy is to be achieved…powerful classes must be persuaded to surrender their privileges…this process has commonly been attended by bitter struggle and even bloodshed.”
In a shot across the bow of the American bourgeoisie, Counts warned his comrades, “Ruling classes never surrender their privileges voluntarily.”
Kent: If you look at my basic list of K-12 issues, "Teacher Certification" is there. That is what it ius referring to: teachers getting propagandized before they get their teaching certificate.
That said, the subject Standards are what are driving the student propaganda, not the teachers. They are merely teaching to the Standards.
Dealing with any K-12 issue before eradicating/cleansing the University Schools of Education is pissing in the wind.
It's not "Certification" that's the problem. It's that the belief systems of the Schools of Education are fundamentally anti-Normal-American. Teachers-in-training are indoctrinated in this belief system in the Schools of Education.
It's not "Standards" that are the problem. Where do "Standards" come from? University Schools of Education and the EdD's that populate them.
Schools of Education are the nexus of the problem with American education.
Having "Certification" and "Standards" are excellent ideas--once the Schools of Education are fixed.
Discussions of what to do with K-12 BEFORE cleaning out the Schools of Education is like discussing color of wallpaper for a house that doesn't yet have a foundation--interesting and lots of details, but useless until the foundation is built.
Kent: You are partially right, but K-12 subject Standards do NOT come for Schools of Education. They follow the Standards.
For example, the K-12 Science standards (NGSS) were written by a group of progressives at NAS (National Academpy of Sciences), plus Bill Gates' business organization (Achieve), and the National Science Teacher's Association (NSTA). There was no representation by Teacher Education colleges.
In each State the Standards are approved by the State Board of Education — and the Teacher Education colleges are not a part of those.
Not to be argumentative, but this is a really important point. I'm not saying that Schools of Education are 100% DIRECTLY running such issues as Standards. But they are the driving force--Standards, Curriculums, Certification, etc are driven by the Education Mafia, based in the Schools of Education (and the Teachers Unions--which are the practical manifestation of the Schools of Education).
Your work and approach is valuable and much-needed. It would be much more valuable with more inside experience with the Education Mafia.
EVERYTHING in American K-12 education flows from the EdD's in the Schools of Education.
Standards are completely driven by the Education Mafia--based in the Schools of Education. Your example of the NGSS actually shows that to be the case.
Here are the random first 9 members (out of about 25) of the "Writing Team" for the NGSS. They are ALL right out of Schools of Education--either as faculty or as graduates--they're all products and disciples of the Schools of Education.
• Carol Baker: Science and Music Curriculum Director, Community High School, District 218 Orland Park, IL
• Rodger Bybee: Executive Director, Biological Sciences Curriculum Study (Retired) Golden, CO
• Mary Colson: Earth Science Teacher, Moorhead Public Schools Moorhead, MN
• Melanie Cooper: Lappan Phillips Professor of Science Education and Professor of Chemistry, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI
• Richard A. Duschl: Waterbury Chair Professor of Secondary Education, The Pennsylvania State University, State College, PA
• Zoe Evans: Assistant Principal, Carrol County Schools, Carrollton, GA
• Danine Ezell: San Diego Unified School District and San Diego County Office of Education (Retired), San Diego, CA
• Kevin Fisher: Secondary Science Coordinator, Lewisville Independent School District, Flower Mound, TX
• Jacob Foster: Director, Science & Technology/Engineering, Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education
https://www.nextgenscience.org/writing-team
The Bill Gates program, now known as NextGenScience, finalizes the NGSS lessons, with a Peer Review Panel.
Who serves on the NextGenScience PRP? They're all products and disciples of the Schools of Education
• David Allen, 6-12 Science Curriculum Coordinator, West Aurora School District 129, IL
• Liz Beans, Secondary Science and Biotechnology Curriculum and Instruction Specialist, South San Francisco Unified School District, CA
• Michael Burt, Science Teacher, McLean County Unit 5 Schools, IL
• Christine Depatie, STEM Teacher/Coach, Missisquoi Valley School District, VT
• Kathy Gill, Retired Teacher, Davis Joint Unified School District
• Kavita Gupta, Science Curriculum Lead and Research Class Teacher, Fremont Union High School District, CA
• Justin Harvey, Physics Teacher, Gwinnett County Public Schools
• Amy Hilliard, Lead Teacher, Western Heights Middle School, Washington County Public Schools
• Diane Johnson, Master Teacher, MSUTeach, Morehead State University, KY
• Sarah Nelson Wiese, Secondary Science Teacher, Omaha Public Schools, NE
• Shubha Sarode, Science Instructional Coach, University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education, PA
• Amy Trauth, Assistant Professor, University of Delaware, DE
• Megan Willig, Program Coordinator, Environmental Education at the National Environmental Education Foundation, WI
• Barbara Woods, Science Specialist, Retired Teacher, Galt Joint Union School District, CA
Kent: Almost everyone in the education business at one time had a connection to a teacher's college.
That's a very different thing from teacher colleges acting in collusion to control K-12 subject standards. There is no evidence of that.
"...teacher colleges acting in collusion to control K-12 subject standards. There is no evidence of that."
It's not just "subject standards," American university Schools of Education are the driving force behind ALL issues related to K-12 education.
If you're in Eastern NC, highly recommend you enroll in a couple of Education classes at ECU. Being in the belly of the beast will open your eyes to the challenge.
Either eradicating or totally cleaning out Schools of Education are the key to taking back American K-12 education. Otherwise "reform discussions" are a total waste of time.
Schools/Colleges of Education are to K-12 issues as the IPCC is to "climate change" issues. Not directly involved in every detail, but the driving force for all the insiders.
Where are the male role models in K-12? In all discussions of equality in employment, I have never heard anyone say "We need more men as teachers in k-12." I have seen first hand how boys are treated as if they are 'defective girls', how girls are encouraged to be strong mentally and physically, and how boys are treated as if their innate character is 'toxic' and must be suppressed. Children seem to be taught that the standard approach to problem solving is to substitute feelings for facts in all disputed, contested, or contentious matters; that feelings trump facts, and that if anyone disagrees or dissents, then they are labelled 'disruptive' and must be removed from the discussion while being denigrated and rebuked. Can there be any wonder why so many families have turned to home schooling?
Chris: Indeed that is one of multiple problems with the K-12 education system.
That said we need to focus on the #1 problem and thn work down th list.