The George W. Bush Institute's First Initiative: "The Alliance to Reform Education Leadership"

By Robert Wilonsky Wed., Sep. 29 2010 at 12:34 PM

Categories: Edumication News

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By now, perhaps, you've heard: Laura Bush was at North Dallas High School this morning to debut the George W. Bush Institute's first significant initiative, aimed at changing "the way America's public school principals are identified, recruited, selected, prepared, evaluated, and empowered," per the just-launched website. The Alliance to Reform Education Leadership will be funded, in part, by a million-dollar donation from AT&T -- and, in the words of James Glassman, executive director of the institute, "Could the real key to fixing America's schools be principals, not teachers?"

Rena Honea, president of the Alliance-AFT teachers association in Dallas, doesn't think so; the institute disagrees. Hence the program's initial goal of reteaching some 200 principals in Dallas, Fort Worth, Plano, Denver, St. Louis and Indianapolis with a much bigger goal in sight: "By 2020, it hopes to have certified or otherwise influenced the preparation of 50,000 K-12 principals, or half the nation's principal ranks."

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Laura Bush and your dimwit husband - stay out of our public schools. Haven't you two done enough damage to this country?
I really haven't had time read everything, but my first reaction.................any Bush related ''events '' deserve zero media response, unless of course it's concerning the ''WAR CRIMES'' he committed/sentencing !!!! Now for OBAMA........''END THESE F--KING WARS. WAR IS THE OBSCENITY !
Commented as a ten year veteran of the public schools with a track record of success in research-based, data-supported pedagogy: While I agree that in many cases, policymakers hold huge responsibility for failure in some schools, I am always disturbed when people suggest that what a school needs is better management. Management is easy: Spend less, do more, be on time, be efficient... these things are cake, and managers who can't manage should take a hike. But we don't need better management; we need better instruction, and the art and science of educating people (pedagogy) is NOT something you can just pick up on the fly. We need educational leadership grounded in scientifically-supported practices. We who are pushing for progressive educational reform know how to fix the system, but the reform we need scares the established system. Bringing in more career switchers isn't the solution. We need a system that promotes those who perform holistically, not the one we have that rewards sycophants and head-nodders. A rigorous, rich, relevant curriculum can't be delivered by someone who doesn't know how to teach. Are there a lot of crappy teachers and principals out there? There sure are. But don't lump us all in with them. I've only ever wanted to be a professional, career educator, and with five degrees, stratospheric standards for myself and others, and ten years of successful experience in the classroom reaching children from special ed to gifted, I can tell you with certainty that I'm not interested in the educational opinion of someone who has never been in the classroom. Anybody can manage. Not everyone can teach. True instruction is a science that requires study, experience, and practice. If you think teaching is something just anybody can do... stay out of the classroom, because you're exactly the sort of person we don't need.
TWAPSPAIRSPEE "The Way America's Public School Principals Are Identified, Recruited, Selected, Prepared, Evaluated, and Empowered" ILA (I Love Acronyms)
Lee Dog....I miss the Clintons too.
I'd like a President & Congress that doesn't tell a couple of hundred poor kids they have vouchers, then yanks them. Not very "pro-choice".
Obama can spell balls because he is used to smelling balls while he is bowing to Saudi kings.
Personally, I'm much more glad to have a President that can actually spell balls.
Has anyone mentioned the parents taking a little responsibility in educating their children ? I know a great number of teachers and one of the biggest complaints is that parents don't teach their kids to respect their teachers. The reality is that many of these kids have parents who are in jail or on drugs and are being raised by their grandparents or older sibling. If the kid doesn't care to learn the present curriculum, teach them a trade.
I miss having a distinguished first lady and a president who has balls.
Maybe the problem is with re-writing the textbooks to reflect partisan ideals. Oh and spending the entire year preparing for TAKS testing (code word for government funding) instead of truly learning. Hmmn Maybe just maybe the people deflecting the blame are the ones causing the problem. Zero tolerance policy and uniforms not working for you eh? wonder why. Oh and really? North Dallas, I wonder why not South Dallas Typical.
And now we are stuck with Hinojosa for five friggin' more years. Hey, Eric Cowan and Adam Medrano, how much will it cost to buy out his contract now if you want to cut him loose? Idiots... Remember, Adam, you stand for election in May. Eric, you stand for election with ALL of your compadres after redistricting...we're coming after you with candidates and money.
Enjoying some nice Shiner Bock this evening, . . . Remember kids! Don't drink and type!
If the Bushes are so concerned about education of Texas School childern: Why have they been not expresses a opinion about the slow motion train wreck that is Texas School Board train? You can trust the first GOP President in 100 years to not believe in evolution when it comes to educating children. An Oct. 29 New York Times piece by Nicholas Kristof reports: "Characteristically, he does not believe in evolution--he says the jury is still out--but he does not actively disbelieve in it either; as a friend puts it, "he doesn't really care about that kind of thing." http://www.slate.com/id/1006378/
lakewooder....i am glad to hear it. i even heard of a openly gay couple going to quinlan high school. however, i hear so many stories about gays getting bullied and the school officials not doing anything about it and then when the kids can't pray the gay away they feel like failures to their family and see suicide as the only way out. i can't imagine that even the most strident homophobe thinks there is anything positive about a teen suicide. i am telling you it breaks my heart into a thousand pieces. had the kid made it a few more years, he would have learned what a wonderful world awaits him.
Can you imagine a school run by Dubya with Unca Dick Cheney as vice principal?
Principals haven't escaped blame at all and I've heard more bad teacher stories than you have heard bad principal stories. I have probably heard more bad prinipal stories than most people too unless you are in the profession. Disturbing or bad. Same difference to a simpleton like me. Yeah I am a know nothing wannabe.
Watch a video Lecture by Linda Darling-Hammond at the Chautauqua Institution, August 2, 2010, Chautauqua, NY. "Examine current efforts that are dramatically improving the performance of public education in the United States. Specifically, we will look at the impact of talented and motivated superintendents, leadership training for principals, trends in teaching teachers, and innovations in curricula. We will discuss the responsibilities, interactions, and support from national, state, and local government leaders, parents and grandparents, and local community groups. Gain a better understanding of what is required and what is working, and what each of us can do to fulfill the goal of greater academic excellence for students in our schools." http://fora.tv/2010/08/02/Linda_Darling-Hammond_The_Flat_World_and_Education
Jack, according to my daughter, a high school senior, the gay/lesbian crowd is a pretty popular bunch these days. I guess what I'm trying to say is... our schools may be governed [in Austin] by closed minded religious tools, but the kids aren't listening. Imagine that.
I know about 20 times more teachers than I do principals, but of those, if you count mean, malicious people that suck at their jobs, the principals <i>still</i> outnumber the teachers. So yeah, lets recruit more mean, malicious people to suck at <b>that</b> job, all the while making the lives of the teachers they would sooner throw under the bus than support that much more miserable.
@bill, ever been out of Dallas? It already is a punchline. Anyhow, Texas education sucks in general. The curriculum is behind many other states. Stuff that was on the TAAS/TAKS test for seniors was on other states basic skills tests in 5th and 7th grade.
I know that the Texas School System must be very proud of the suicide of 13 year old Asher Brown who was bullied to the point he couldn't take it anymore. It boggles my mind that an event like this could take place a hardly gets a mention in any of the Texas press. http://chicago.gopride.com/news/article.cfm/articleid/13507569 Most news reports are from outside the state. I bet my sweet ass that our Governer is proud of this and thinks it is a life leason for other kids who are thinking of "becomng" gay. But, hey Texas journalist....just move along, nothing to see here, just another dead gay teen whose family, friends, and school did not find his life of value to save. This is a result of fucked up religion who are unable to adhere to even the most simple of all practices.......All men are created equal...... These stories are so sad and piss me off at all the redneck bullshit that goes on and is covered up my the media.
Why does the media (yes, you observer)keep going to AFT for quotes? AFT is hardly representative of teachers in Texas, less than 60,000 Texas teachers belong. AFT is renowned as the protector of the lazy and incompetent. Next time try ATPE which has double the membership of AFT. ***Maybe you did & ATPE didn't spout the antiBush blather you guys love to print. Oh.........and Fuck Obama.
Talk about a joke that writes itself. I guess Dallas loves kissing Dubyas ass so much that it won't mind being a national punchline.
The entire concept is very funny.
@Defeat Read Linda Darling-Hammond's book "The Flat World and Education" for starters. There is more than sufficient real research that has been done to support the many things we can do, today, that are effective in raising student achievement. Here's the rub - no one will make any money off of well-educated children - so, on to running our schools like a business - even though that model is NOT supported by any best practices model out there. We need to stop wringing our hands and saying that no one knows what to do. That is patently false. But it doesn't generate any money for vendors and contractors and consultants.
Start by eliminating state testing and then return to a "whole" curriculum that includes literature, art, music and science.
Okay, BOotHill - you spent terrabytes of text prattling on about why this won't work -(is that a record for the longest DO comment post?) so what IS the solution? And it can't involve throwing money at public officials - you sad that was baaaaad.
I've never understood how principals escape the blame for the public school crisis. The stories I've heard from teachers in my family about principals are disturbing.
More corporate-style reform. Anyone can be a principal! The Broad Foundation has a fellowship program where "people of promise" serve as interns with superintendents in urban school districts and then are deemed qualified to become a superintendent! This isn't about teacher unions. It's about money. When educational success is defined so narrowly (Bush era testing) so many things go wrong, how can everyone not see that? Laura Bush needs to listen to a school teacher friend of mine. She detailed her tactics for achieving 95% TAKS Science pass rate. Her kids don't understand the material all that much better, but they know that in all TAKS answers, A. Man did something wrong and B. the sun is the source. They follow those two guidelines and pass. The inner circle of this Bush group is worrisome. Diane Ravitch referred to Greene in her recent book on p.129 as "strongly pro-voucher". He was part of a research group which interestingly enough found that in the Milwaukee schools, the voucher group did no better than the regular public schools - they were both equally bad. Linda Darling-Hammond refers to Michael Podgursky on p. 121 of her book. It is bad news. He was part of the "experts" for the state of Arizona in Flores vs. Arizona. The experts argued basically that "public officials serving low-income children would make bad decisions about spending, and thus should not be trusted with more money. They further argued that "the dominant view of scholars [is] that educational reform should focus on student performance - the output of school systems - rather than inputs such as funding levels." This opinion was rebutted in a separate amicus brief, signed by 30 current and former presidents of the American Educational Research Association and the National Academy of Education who argued that "education policy risks failure when it focuses predominantly on outcomes alone without giving sufficient attention to supports for student achievement and instructional quality." Basically, he argued that "low-income and minority students are unlikely to do better even with the resources their more affluent counterparts take for granted." And you should all remember Sandy Kress. Here is an excerpt from an old Texas Observer article by Emily Pyle: Texas Observer May 13, 2005 TE$T MARKET$ High-Stakes Tests Aren't Good for Students, Teachers, or Schools. So Who Are They Good for? By EMILY PYLE "In a time of growing budget crises, few states-let alone districts and schools-have the time or the money to develop the programs that No Child Left Behind makes mandatory, or all but mandatory. That's where business, and Sandy Kress, come in. Bush signed No Child Left Behind into law in January 2002. Five months later, Kress registered with the U.S. Secretary of the Senate as a lobbyist for NCS Pearson. Kress specializes in helping his clients tailor themselves to the requirements of No Child Left Behind, something Pearson has done with startling success. A publishing conglomerate that owns The Financial Times and Penguin Books, Pearson had been a bit player in the education market, concentrating on the scoring of standardized tests. In 2000, however, Pearson acquired National Computer Systems, the company that held the contract for designing and scoring the Texas Assessment of Academic Skills. Since then, Pearson has built an accountability empire of sorts, becoming the third-largest testing company in the country, behind CTB McGraw-Hill and Harcourt Educational Measurement. NCS Pearson publishes software systems that allow teachers to create, administer, and score "diagnostic" tests that purport to show how well students are learning by demonstrating in part how prepared they are for state tests. Subsidiary Pearson Educational Measurement holds test design contracts in states with large testing programs, like Florida and Texas. Pearson Education, another subsidiary, publishes reading, math, science, art, and music curricula for grades K-12. Other subsidiaries offer online testing, data management services, and professional training for teachers, including an online master's degree program. The company claims to have at least one product placed in 50,000 schools nationwide. Another of Kress's clients, Educational Testing Services, Inc., also made a sudden market surge in the wake of No Child Left Behind. A non-profit best known as the publisher of the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT), ETS stayed clear of the commercial testing business for nearly 50 years. Beginning with the spin-off of for-profit subsidiary K-12 Works in 2000, however, ETS has aggressively pursued state testing contracts. The company now holds contracts with New Jersey, Indiana, and the plum of the state testing market, California. ETS also offers a professional development program for teachers and one of the few tests so far available to certify teaching aides. Another Kress client, Kaplan, Inc., which formerly specialized in prepping students for college entrance exams, now offers a variety of test-related services. These include prep courses tailored to the standardized tests in 13 states and the District of Columbia, "Intervention" programs targeting low-scoring students with skill-drilling software, and professional development courses in which, for roughly $1,000 an hour, Kaplan specialists give teachers tips on how to coach their students to pass the test. Kress also lobbies for HOSTS Learning, which publishes online testing tools and an associated line of curricular materials and for Kumon North America, a rising star in the brand-new after-school tutoring market. Other clients include Community Education Partners, a for-profit school management company that runs alternative campuses for students with disciplinary problems, as well as companies that help schools and districts collect, manage, and report the volume of data required by No Child Left Behind." If Hinojosa doesn't get the Las Vegas odds are 2 to 1 he works at the Bush Institute.