The Death and Life of the Great American School System

by Diane Ravitch

  2 Evan Thomas, Eve Conant, and Pat Wingert, “An Unlikely Gambler,” Newsweek, September 1, 2008. The online version of the article was titled “Can Michelle Rhee Save D.C.’s Schools?” and dated August 23, 2008.

  3 Nakamura, “Fenty to Oust Janey Today.”

  4 Thomas et al., “An Unlikely Gambler”; Sam Dillon, “A School Chief Takes On Tenure, Stirring a Fight,” New York Times, November 13, 2008.

  5 Bill Turque, “Rhee Says Consultant’s Report Shows Pay Plan is Sustainable,” Washington Post, March 3, 2009.

  6 Wall Street Journal, “Rhee-Forming D.C. Schools: A Democrat Shakes Up Washington’s Failed Public Schools,” November 22, 2008.

  7 Amanda Ripley, “Can She Save Our Schools?” Time, December 8, 2008, 36-44.

  8 Thomas R. Brooks, Towards Dignity: A Brief History of the United Federation of Teachers (New York: United Federation of Teachers, 1967), p. 12.

  9 Terry M. Moe, “No Teacher Left Behind,” Wall Street Journal, January 13, 2005.

  10 See Joan Baratz-Snowden, Fixing Tenure: A Proposal for Assuring Teacher Effectiveness and Due Process (Washington, D.C.: Center for American Progress, 2009).

  11 National Commission on Teaching & America’s Future, What Matters Most: Teaching for America’s Future (New York: NCTAF, 1996), 10-11, 95-96.

  12 S. Paul Wright, Sandra P. Horn, and William L. Sanders, “Teacher and Classroom Context Effects on Student Achievement: Implications for Teacher Evaluation,” Journal of Personnel Evaluation in Education 11, no. 1 (April 1997): 57-67. See also William L. Sanders and June C. Rivers, “Cumulative and Residual Effects of Teachers on Future Student Academic Achievement,” research progress report, University of Tennessee Value-Added Research and Assessment Center, Knoxville, Tenn., 1996.

  13 William L. Sanders, “Value-Added Assessment from Student Achievement Data: Opportunities and Hurdles,” Journal of Personnel Evaluation in Education 14, no. 4 (December 2000): 329-339, esp. 330. A scholarly debate erupted when William Sanders’s methods and value-added assessment were criticized by Audrey Amrein-Beardsley, “Methodological Concerns About the Education Value-Added Assessment System,” Educational Researcher 37, no. 2 (2008): 65-75. Sanders responded in an interview: Debra Viadero, “‘Value-Added’ Pioneer Says Stinging Critique of Method is Off-Base,” Education Week, May 7, 2008.

  14 Eric A. Hanushek and Steven G. Rivkin, “How to Improve the Supply of High-Quality Teachers,” Brookings Papers on Education Policy, ed. Diane Ravitch (Washington, D.C.: Brookings Institution Press, 2004), 14, 16, 19, 21-23.

  15 Richard Rothstein, “Comment,” Brookings Papers on Education Policy (2004), 26-27.

  16 Robert Gordon, Thomas J. Kane, and Douglas O Staiger, “Identifying Effective Teachers Using Performance on the Job,” Discussion Paper 2006- 01, Brookings Institution, Washington, D.C., 5-6.

  17 Ibid., 8.

  18 Some educators created personality profiles to screen potential teachers, but economists ignored them; www.ed.gov/news/newsletters/innovator/2004/0223.html.

  19 Dale Ballou, “Sizing Up Test Scores,” Education Next, Summer 2002, 12-13, 15.

  20 Dan Goldhaber and Michael Hansen, Assessing the Potential of Using Value-Added Estimates of Teacher Job Performance for Making Tenure Decisions (Washington, D.C.: CALDER, Urban Institute, 2008), 1, 5-6.

  21 Cory Koedel and Julian R. Betts, “Re-examining the Role of Teacher Quality in the Educational Production Function,” Working Paper #2007-03, National Center on Performance Incentives, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, 2007; Helen F. Ladd, “Teacher Effects: What Do We Know?” 2008, www.sesp.northwestern.edu/docs/Ladd_Northwestern_paper_042108.pdf.

  22 Brian A. Jacob, Lars Lefgren, and David Sims, “The Persistence of Teacher-Induced Learning Gains,” NBER Working Paper 14065, National Bureau of Economic Research, Cambridge, MA, 2008, 30, 33.

  23 Jesse Rothstein, “Teacher Quality in Educational Production: Tracking, Decay, and Student Achievement,” Princeton University and NBER, Cambridge, MA, 2009, www.princeton.edu/~jrothst/published/rothstein_vam_may152009.pdf; Debra Viadero, “‘Value-Added’ Gauge of Teaching Probed,” Education Week, July 15, 2009.

  24 Malcolm Gladwell, “Most Likely to Succeed: How Do We Hire When We Can’t Tell Who’s Right for the Job?” New Yorker, December 15, 2008.

  25 Nicholas D. Kristof, “Our Greatest National Shame,” New York Times, February 15, 2009.

  26 Teach for America Web site, www.teachforamerica.org/about/our_history.htm; see also Donna Foote, Relentless Pursuit: A Year in the Trenches with Teach for America (New York: Knopf, 2008).

  27 Ildiko Laczko-Kerr and David C. Berliner, “The Effectiveness of ‘Teach for America’ and Other Under-Certified Teachers on Student Academic Achievement: A Case of Harmful Public Policy,” Education Policy Analysis Archives 10, no. 37 (September 6, 2002).

  28 Paul T. Decker, Daniel P. Mayer, and Steven Glazerman, The Effects of Teach for America on Students: Findings from a National Evaluation (Princeton, NJ: Mathematica Policy Research, 2004).

  29 Linda Darling-Hammond et al., “Does Teacher Preparation Matter? Evidence About Teacher Certification, Teach for America, and Teacher Effectiveness,” Education Policy Analysis Archives 13, no. 42 (October 12, 2005).

  30 Zeyu Xu, Jane Hannaway, and Colin Taylor, Making a Difference? The Effects of Teach for America in High School (Washington, D.C.: CALDER, Urban Institute, 2009), 3; Charles T. Clotfelter, Helen F. Ladd, and Jacob L. Vigdor, “Teacher Credentials and Student Achievement in High School: A Cross-Subject Analysis with Student Fixed Effects,” NBER Working Paper 13617, National Bureau of Economic Research, Cambridge, MA, 2007.

  31 Thomas J. Kane, Jonah E. Rockoff, and Douglas O. Staiger, “Photo Finish: Teacher Certification Doesn’t Guarantee a Winner,” Education Next 7, no. 1 (Winter 2007): 64. See also Kane, Rockoff, and Staiger, “What Does Certification Tell Us About Teacher Effectiveness? Evidence from New York City,” NBER Working Paper 12155, National Bureau of Economic Research, Cambridge, MA, 2006.

  32 Linda Darling-Hammond et al., “Does Teacher Preparation Matter?” 14; Kane, Rockoff, and Staiger, “What Does Certification Tell Us About Teacher Effectiveness? Evidence from New York City,” 34; Donald Boyd et al., “How Changes in Entry Requirements Alter the Teacher Workforce and Affect Student Achievement,” Education Finance and Policy 1, no. 2 (Spring 2006): 207.

  33 Phil Gonring, Paul Teske, and Brad Jupp, Pay-for-Performance Teacher Compensation: An Inside View of Denver’s ProComp Plan (Cambridge, MA: Harvard Education Press, 2007).

  34 Susan Sclafani and Marc S. Tucker, Teacher and Principal Compensation: An International Review (Washington, D.C.: Center for American Progress, 2006), 19-21, 42.

  CHAPTER TEN

  1 In the mid-1960s, the Black Power movement became a political force, demanding black control of institutions located in black communities.

  2 For a description of the clash between the Ocean Hill-Brownsville district and the United Federation of Teachers, see Diane Ravitch, The Great School Wars: New York City, 1805-1973 (New York: Basic Books, 1974), 352-378.

  3 Historians continue to debate whether the concerted efforts of Northern philanthropists on behalf of African American children in the South were helpful. Some contend that they colluded with the white leadership to close down private and sectarian black schools and to push black children into public school systems that were controlled by unsympathetic, racist whites. Eric Anderson and Alfred A. Moss Jr., Dangerous Donations: Northern Philanthropy and Southern Black Education, 1902-1930 (Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 1999).

  4 David Halberstam, “The Very Expensive Education of McGeorge Bundy,” Harper’s, July 1969, 21-41; Ravitch, “Foundations: Playing God in the Ghetto,” Center Forum 3 (May 15, 1969): 24-27.

  5 See, for example, Raymond Domanico, Carol Innerst, and Alexander Russo, Can Philanthropy Fix Our Schools? Appraising Walter Annenberg’s $500 Million Gift to Public Education (Washington, D.C.: Thomas B. Fordham Foundation, 2
000), for case studies of New York City, Chicago, and Philadelphia.

  6 Domanico et al., Can Philanthropy Fix Our Schools?,28-29; Alyson Klein, “Bush Calls for Resolve on NCLB Renewal,” Education Week, January 8, 2009.

  7 Frederick M. Hess, introduction to With the Best of Intentions: How Philanthropy Is Reshaping K-12 Education, ed. Frederick M. Hess (Cambridge, MA: Harvard Education Press, 2005), 4-5.

  8 Ibid., 5-6.

  9 Ibid., 9-11.

  10 The Web site of the Walton Family Foundation, www.waltonfamilyfoundation.org/aboutus/2007grants.asp.

  11 Donald G. McNeil Jr., “Gates Foundation’s Influence Criticized,” New York Times, February 16, 2008.

  12 Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, “All Students Ready for College, Career and Life: Reflections on the Foundation’s Education Investments, 2000- 2008,” September 2008, 3-4, www.gatesfoundation.org/learning/Documents/reflections-foundations-education-investments.pdf.

  13 Bill Gates, Prepared Remarks, National Governors Association/Achieve Summit, February 26, 2005, www.nga.org/Files/pdf/es05gates.pdf. See also TED, “Bill Gates on Mosquitos, Malaria and Education,” www.ted.com/talks/bill_gates_unplugged.html.

  14 American Institutes for Research, Executive Summary: Evaluation of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s High School Grants, 2001-2004 (Washington, D.C.: AIR, 2005), 8; AIR, Rigor, Relevance, and Results: The Quality of Teacher Assignments and Student Work in New and Conventional High Schools; Evaluation of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s High School Grants (Washington, D.C.: American Institutes for Research, 2005), 43, 56; Erik W. Robelen, “Gates High Schools Get Mixed Review in Study,” Education Week, November 16, 2005.

  15 Allison Sherry, “Manual’s Slow Death,” Denver Post, May 7, 2006; Catherine Gewertz, “Failed Breakup of H.S. in Denver Offering Lessons,” Education Week, March 15, 2006; Colorado Children’s Campaign, “Breaking Up is Hard to Do: Lessons Learned from the Experiences of Manual High School,” 2005, www.coloradokids.org/includes/downloads/ngupishardtodo.pdf; Jay Greene and William C. Symonds, “Bill Gates Gets Schooled,” BusinessWeek , June 26, 2006.

  16 Gary Lichtenstein, “What Went Wrong at Manual High?” Education Week, May 17, 2006.

  17 Bob Geballe, “Bill Gates’ Guinea Pigs,” Seattle Weekly, July 20, 2005.

  18 Geballe, “Bill Gates’ Guinea Pigs”; Mountlake Terrace High School, “Mountlake Terrace High School Profile 2008-2009,” www.edmonds.wednet.edu/MTHS/Profile_0809.pdf.

  19 Valerie E. Lee and Julia B. Smith, “High School Size: Which Works Best and For Whom?” Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis 19, no. 3 (1997) 205-227.

  20 Linda Shaw, “Foundation’s Small-Schools Experiment Has Yet to Yield Big Results,” Seattle Times, November 5, 2006.

  21 Valerie E. Lee and Douglas D. Ready, Schools Within Schools: Possibilities and Pitfalls of High School Reform (New York: Teachers College Press, 2007), 153-156.

  22 Kate N. Grossman, “Small Schools Gain, but Test Scores Don’t Show It,” Chicago Sun-Times, August 3, 2006; Joseph E. Kahne et al., Small Schools on a Larger Scale: The First Three Years of the Chicago High School Redesign Initiative (Chicago: Consortium on Chicago School Research, University of Chicago, 2006); Sarah Karp, “Chicago High School Test Scores Stall, Including Those at Transformation Schools,” Catalyst Chicago, September 15, 2009, www.catalyst-chicago.org/notebook/index.php/entry/379. For a scathing critique of the corporate takeover of the small school movement, see Michael Klonsky and Susan Klonsky, Small Schools: Public School Reform Meets the Ownership Society (New York: Routledge, 2008).

  23 Greene and Symonds, “Bill Gates Gets Schooled”; New Visions for Public Schools, “New Century High Schools: Evidence of Progress,” www.newvisions.org/schools/nchs/evidence.asp.

  24 Jennifer L. Jennings and Aaron Pallas, “Who Attends New York City’s New Small Schools?” paper, Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association, San Diego, California, April 2009. Chicago’s Renaissance 2010 plan closed low-performing high schools and replaced them with new ones, but only 2 percent of the students who had been enrolled in the low-performing schools enrolled in the new ones. See Sarah Karp and John Myers, “Duncan’s Track Record,” Catalyst Chicago, December 15, 2008; see also Marisa de la Torre and Julia Gwynne, When Schools Close: Effects on Displaced Students in Chicago Public Schools (Chicago: Consortium on Chicago School Research, University of Chicago, 2009).

  25 Clara Hemphill et al., The New Marketplace: How Small-School Reforms and School Choice Have Reshaped New York City’s High Schools (New York: Center for New York City Affairs, The New School, 2009).

  26 Debra Viadero, “Foundation Shifts Tack on Studies: Scholars Say Gates Risks Losing Valuable Findings,” Education Week, October 25, 2006.

  27 Erik W. Robelen, “Gates Learns to Think Big,” Education Week, October 11, 2006. I was a trustee of the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation and Thomas B. Fordham Institute for many years (I resigned in April 2009); I opposed the foundation’s decision to accept Gates’s funding for its programs, not because of any doubts about the Gates Foundation, but because I wanted Fordham to remain independent and free to be a critic.

  28 Ibid.

  29 Ibid.

  30 Elizabeth Green, “Gates Foundation Will Steer Its Education Giving in a New Direction, But How Much Impact Will the Billions Have?” GothamSchools, November 12, 2008, http://gothamschools.org/2008/11/12/gates-foundation-will-steer-its-education-giving-in-a-new-direction-but-how-much-impact-will-the-billions-have/; AIR, Evaluation of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s High School Grants Initiative: 2001-2005 Final Report (Washington, D.C., AIR: 2006), 9; Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, “All Students Ready for College, Career and Life.”

  31 Bill Gates, “School Reform That Works,” Washington Post, January 28, 2009.

  32 Philissa Cramer, “Eli Broad Describes Close Ties to Klein, Weingarten, Duncan,” GothamSchools, March 11, 2009, http://gothamschools. org/2009/03/11/eli-broad-describes-close-ties-to-klein-weingarten-duncan/.

  33 Abby Goodnough, “Klein is Said to Be Planning a Strategic Map for Change,” New York Times, October 3, 2002.

  34 Jeanne Allen, foreword to National Model or Temporary Opportunity? The Oakland Education Reform Story, by Joe Williams (Washington, D.C.: Center for Education Reform, 2007).

  35 Williams, National Model or Temporary Opportunity?, 3-4.

  36 Ibid., 6-7.

  37 Katy Murphy, “Report: Oakland Charters Outshine District Schools,” Education Report blog, February 10, 2009, www.ibabuzz.com/education/2009/02/10/report-charter-schools-outshine-district-schools-in-oakland/; California Charter Schools Association, A Longitudinal Analysis of Charter School Performance in Oakland Unified School District: A District and Neighborhood Matched Comparison Analysis, January 2009, 9, 28, www.ibabuzz.com/education/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/charter-report-0209.pdf; Oakland Unified School District, “School Portfolio Management: Comparing Oakland Charter Schools to OUSD District Schools,” August 17, 2007, 28, www.weebly.com/uploads/4/1/6/1/41611/spm_charter_schools_08.17.07_v2.pdf; Murphy, “Report: Oakland Charters Outshine District Schools,” comment #6.

  38 Dan Katzir, “Ten Years of K-12 Lessons Learned and Reform Opportunities in 2009,” remarks as prepared for delivery, Democrats for Education Reform event, Denver, Colorado, March 11, 2009.

  39 Grants by the Eli and Edythe L. Broad Foundation are listed on the foundation’s Form 990, which is filed annually with the Internal Revenue Service. These forms can be found on GuideStar.org. When I had trouble locating the 990 for 2007, the latest available, the foundation generously sent it to me. The Eduwonkette blog at Education Week posted the 990 forms for several foundations, including the Broad Foundation, from 2003 to 2005, at http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/eduwonkette/2008/02/funding_frenzy_1.html.

  40 Ibid.

  41 David M. Herszenhorn, “Billionaires Start $60 Million Schools Effort,” New York Times, April 25, 2007.

  42 NewSchools Venture Fund, htt
p://newschools.org/.

  43 Michael Petrilli, “The Race to the Top: The Carrot That Feels Like a Stick,” Flypaper blog, July 23, 2009, www.edexcellence.net/flypaper/index.php/2009/07/the-race-to-the-top-the-carrot-that-feels-like-a-stick/.

  44 Fred Hiatt, “How Bill Gates Would Repair Our Schools,” Washington Post, March 30, 2009; Gates, Speech to the National Conference of State Legislatures, July 21, 2009, www.gatesfoundation.org/speeches-commentary/Pages/bill-gates-2009-conference-state-legislatures.aspx.

  45 Andrew J. Rotherham and Richard Whitmire, “Close Underperforming Charter Schools, Reward Those That Work,” U.S. News & World Report, June 17, 2009.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  1 Ina V. S. Mullis and Michael O. Martin, “TIMSS in Perspective: Lessons Learned from IEA’s Four Decades of International Mathematics Assessments,” in Lessons Learned: What International Assessments Tell Us About Math Achievement, ed. Tom Loveless (Washington, D.C.: Brookings Institution Press, 2007), 35.