Five Best Blogs: Not Charters, Not Poverty -- Not "Obamacore"

Not Charters, Not Poverty- @UchicagoUEI's Charles Payne on magic bullets and excuses in Chicago and elsewhere ow.ly/f7Wy0

From Jay Mathews: Moving the best teachers to the worst schools: Here are two tough questions for D.C. Schools... bit.ly/T6Zg7E

Indy Star's @Scottelliot rebukes notion that conservative opposition caused the Bennett defeat in IN ow.ly/f84wF @AEIeducation

Roundup of views on CA Prop 32 and MI collective bargaining initiative from Union Watch #5bb ow.ly/f8jmh

Please Stop Using the Phrase 'Achievement Gap' ow.ly/f8CPV @DrCamikaRoyal #5bb

Former NYT education columnist mike @winerip embroiled in Springsteen/Springstein kerfluffle ow.ly/f8Cpd @edwrriters

Comments

[Bruce]

I regularly enjoy Jay Mathews's column, but his reflections on the quandary Kaya Henderson is placed in by TNTP's questions stimulate two cautionary notes: (1) he seems to assume teachers are like chess pieces, and might be easily shifted around the board by some grand master playing with them; and (2) he also seems to accept TNTP's assumption that a "best" teacher will remain "best" even if moved to a "worst" school. I, obviously, question both those assumptions. Teachers are human beings, and they often have freedom and mobility; and if you attempt to move them around like playing pieces, they can easily migrate to another board (in which case you will have failed to retain them, another TNTP concern). And in reality different teachers often prove "best" with different populations and different subjects. Even knowledgeable pundits regularly lack nuance in the positions they take in these debates.