Where did the myth of "public schools were modeled on factories" come from?

I think I finally found the smoking gun...

🧵 In 1993, David Osborne wrote "Reinventing Government." Osborne, a consultant at The Public Strategies Group, was an advisor to the Clinton/Gore White House.

These were the "New Democrats" who were going to win elections by taking a few pages out of the Republican playbook.

My thoughts on this extremely shallow NYT piece on grade inflation and the “devastating consequences it has for our society”…
🧵 nytimes.com/2023/10/04/opi… For those too busy to read it, the argument goes something like this: Once upon a time we had standards...now we don't.

Example: "What's not helping? The policies many school districts are adopting that make it nearly impossible for low-performing students to fail."

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The fight to get into Harvard is undermining your kid's K-12 education.

Here's how...

🧵 The highest-status colleges and universities select students largely on their academic records.

But what is an academic record, really? And how well does it capture what students know and can do?

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Among school voucher advocates, the go-to metaphor has long been grocery stores.

I'm going to drop a few of my favorites here, and explain why this is absolutely bonkers.

1/ Love this one: “Just imagine if the government forced you to buy food from that awful government market down the street that sold contaminated meat, overripe fruit, and moldy bread, and was staffed by incompetent store employees..."

[Wait for the conclusion of this gem]

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I just finished @prof_shelton's new book, The Education Myth. It's the best book I've read in a while.

1/ The book tells the story of how our national narrative about education and social mobility has limited the political possibility of real egalitarianism. At the same time, it has narrowed our understanding of what education is good for.

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A quick thread on what "fund students not systems" means. The most important thing to know is that there are really two separate camps that this movement brings together: market fundamentalists and Christian nationalists.

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Here’s my theory of change: If we want schools to succeed, they need to be places where students and teachers want to spend their time.

1/ Most reform theories are rooted in force and dominance. And that’s why they don’t work.

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OK OK OK...I haven't focused on the AP Program in years. But since it's having a moment right now, a few thoughts...

1/ The AP Program was a Cold War-era project designed to accelerate learning for the so-called best and brightest. Elite high schools and colleges were brought together to identify ways of streamlining the pathway (for students with every possible tailwind at their backs).

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Welcome to Black History Month. Check out the latest issue of @HistEdQuarterly, which is organized around the theme of inclusion and empowerment.

[Click through thread for free access to articles]

1/n @HistEdQuarterly Our editorial introduction kicks off the issue.

Access it here: cambridge.org/core/journals/…

2/n

A public school is a school open to all young people in the community, funded by the community (and the people of the state), and governed by elected members of the community.

A private school is school with different characteristics.

Everything else is storytelling.

1/n As policy elites seek to rip apart the public education system, the storytelling piece is worth paying attention to.

They need to tell stories. Because the facts aren't particularly conducive to what they're trying to achieve.

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The three dominant approaches to education reform of the past quarter-century were all rooted in a flawed theory.

Here's what that tells us about supporting school improvement in the years to come...

🧵 First, the reforms:

1. Test-based accountability
2. New forms of teacher evaluation
3. "Choice" (largely through charters)

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I'm seeing that some folks are confused about how a school voucher removes money from the public education system. Here are the basics.

1/ First, it's important to know that many voucher advocates claim that voucher programs are revenue neutral. Their argument is that the "money follows the child." Schools with fewer students need fewer resources. Even-steven.

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A thought about vouchers and what they're really about...

1/ If you hated the very idea of public education, which serves 90% of American students--and therefore has broad appeal--would you come right out and say it?

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You aren't going to build a better system of ranking colleges and universities.

Why? A few thoughts... OK...first let's acknowledge how bankrupt the US News rankings are. Hard to do worse than those (in terms of validity, equity, etc.).

So, the "let's build a better system" reaction is coming from a reasonable place.

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The title of this thread is:

The Percent of Americans Age 25 and Over Who Have Completed Four Years of College... A Journey through Time. 1940: 4.6 percent.

You did not read that incorrectly.

In 1940, 4.6 percent of the adult population had completed four years of college.

ICYMI: Our latest issue of @HistEdQuarterly looks back on 20 years of NCLB-style accountability in American (and global) education.

[Thread]

1/ @HistEdQuarterly The issue opens with an editorial introduction from yours truly.

Link to free version: cambridge.org/core/journals/…

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If we *actually* want to improve schools, we have to be able to hold two truths in our minds:

1. Our schools are generally better today than in the past. Better in all kinds of ways, and by a huge margin.

2. Our schools are not where we want them to be for all young people.

1/ Knowing #1 inoculates us against cynical uses of nostalgia, simplistic "solutions," ideologically-motivated ploys, crisis rhetoric, and high-modernist hubris.

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You don't fix something by destroying it.

Public education in this country is something that generations of Americans have fought to strengthen and be included in. And if we lose it, it's never coming back.

1/ Consider, for instance, the matter of cost.

One of the chief reasons conservatives have gone after public education is the expense. We spend roughly $650 billion each year, so 50 million kids can be educated at zero cost. That perplexes and enrages right-wing ideologues.

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I'm thinking about what happened in Texas yesterday. And wondering what the past has to teach us...

1/n On a January day in Columbia, S.C., a boy armed with a gun killed one of his schoolmates and severely wounded several others. Presumably firing upon them in retaliation for bullying, he expressed no regret for his deed.

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Working on a new book about teachers and how their time is structured...

...and reading the research literature on time use...

...and basically, it is *wild* what we ask teachers to do, day after day, week after week.

1/n First, it's important to note the *actual* hours teachers work.

It isn't 8am-3pm. It isn't 5 days/week. It isn't 9 months/year.

The hours are...intense.

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Thinking only about so-called "outcomes" in education is toxic.

A few early morning thoughts...

1/n First, the obsession with "outcomes" over the past few decades has largely obscured an essential fact:

We don't know how to measure what matters in education.

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