Blog — Education

Posted 4/25/12 by Common Good

May 7 Forum: Making New York Work, co-sponsored by Common Good

Making New York Work: What Gets In The Way?

Please join Common Good, the Manhattan Institute and the Citizens Budget Commission for an evening forum discussion on the ways in which outdated rules and unreasonable constraints tie the hands of those managing key agencies in municipal and state government.  A panel, including both those who understand the problems posed by such rules and managers who have had to work within and around them, will bring to light how government really works, from an insider’s perspective—and how difficult it is to make it work well.  At a time when budget constraints increase the need for government that is both efficient and effective, we will explore, as well, reform proposals to achieve those goals. Please join us Monday, May 7.

Opening remarks will be given by attorney Philip Howard, author of The Death of Common Sense and Founder & Chair of Common Good.

A panel discussion, moderated by Howard Husock, VP of Policy Research at the Manhattan Institute, will include:

• Anthony Crowell – Counselor to Mayor Bloomberg and incoming dean of New York Law School.
• Patrick Foye – Executive Director, Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, and former chair of the Empire State Development Corporation.
• Robert Doar – Commissioner, New York City Human Resources Administration, and former Commissioner of the New York State Office of Temporary & Disability Assistance.

Event Details:

When:  Monday, May 7, 2012 - 5:30 PM to 7:00 PM
             Discussion begins promptly at 5:45 PM.
             A cocktail reception will follow the discussion.
Where: Covington & Burling LLP
             The New York Times Building
             620 Eight Avenue, 43rd Floor
             New York, NY 10018

To RSVP, please e-mail your name, position, affiliation, and contact information to mbrown@commongood.org. If you have any questions, please contact Matt Brown of Common Good at this email address.

Posted 4/23/12 by Common Good

America the Fixable: The Three Main Obstacles in the Way of Education Reform

Andrew J. Rotherham, co-founder and partner at Bellwether Education, joins "America the Fixable" with an article on the three factors that prevent us from making progress in education reform:

• "Buying reform" is the time-honored practice of sugarcoating tough problems with money.
• Schools lack for an adequate way to measure teacher performance.
• Education policy is by its nature change-averse. "[W]e've created an environment in which our schools can't really respond to the demands for improved student performance, or think creatively about productivity-enhancing reforms."

Read the rest of Rotherham's analysis here.

"America the Fixable" is an online magazine collaboration between The Atlantic and Common Good. It provides a bipartisan forum for the presentation of bold, new ideas to reform America's governmental and legal system--ideas that need to be part of the 2012 debate.

Posted 4/19/12 by Common Good

America the Fixable: Why Teachers are Too Isolated

Jeffrey Mirel and Simona Goldin of the School of Education at Michigan University say teachers work best when they work together, sharing ideas and teaching methods. "[T]eachers spend only about 3 percent of their teaching day collaborating with colleagues," write Mirel and Goldin in the latest installment of "America the Fixable." "The majority of American teachers plan, teach, and examine their practice alone. In other countries, such as Finland and Japan, where students outperform those in the U.S. in international tests such as PISA and TIMMS, collaboration among teachers is an essential aspect of instructional improvement."

The authors suggest that a common curriculum and new approach to teacher evaluation would encourage teachers to work together improving their skills. Read the full article here.

"America the Fixable" is an online magazine collaboration between The Atlantic and Common Good. It provides a bipartisan forum for the presentation of bold, new ideas to reform America's governmental and legal system--ideas that need to be part of the 2012 debate.

Posted 4/18/12 by Common Good

Ron Faucheux of Common Good comments on the GSA scandal

A recent public funds abuse scandal has raised questions about accountability and responsibility at the General Services Administration and beyond. Today, Politico hosted a discussion of the scandal’s implications featuring members of Congress, leading political commentators, and scholars. Ron Faucheux of Common Good offered these comments:

When it comes to the management of government, both Democrats and Republicans are guilty of malpractice.

Focusing on bureaucratic waste and dysfunction is an opportunity to transcend contentious partisanship. It is something the left and the right should embrace. But, for some reason, neither side has fully engaged this issue.

Liberals believe government should be consequential, an active problem solver. Doesn’t it make sense, then, that they should push for more efficient government? Shouldn't they view wasteful spending and bloated bureaucracy as the enemy of useful programs and essential services?

If conservatives truly want to cut government, shouldn’t they focus on structural reform and better management? Shouldn't they identify waste in specific agencies and call daily press conferences to expose bureaucratic idiocies, one by one?

The GSA scandal is not just about short-term blame. It's a symbol of a much bigger issue. And both sides are missing the boat.

Posted 4/17/12 by Common Good

Disabilities Act: Plaintiffs Come Second

The front page of today’s New York Times features a story on the Americans with Disabilities Act in New York City. Lawyers, trying to create fee opportunities, scan small businesses for code violations. Once a violation is discovered, the lawyers then seek out a disabled person to serve as plaintiff. Most cases are settled without advancing to trial. The plaintiff typically receives $500 while the lawyer can win thousands of dollars in fees.

The Times reports that one plaintiff alone has filed 143 suits, as many as nine per day.

Posted 4/16/12 by Common Good

America the Fixable: The Paradox of Public Education

Schools need autonomy and accountability rather than politics and bureaucracy, argues Paul Hill, founder of the Center on Reinventing Public Education, in an article for “America the Fixable”.

“School leadership, personal responsibility, and accountability have been driven out of schools,” Hill writes, “especially in big cities where local politics adds to the burden of regulation.” But, thanks to innovative educational models, “The combination of chartering and instructional technology is also opening public education to individualization and innovation that could make schools much more effective for all children.”

See the rest of Hill’s analysis here.

"America the Fixable" is an online magazine collaboration between The Atlantic and Common Good. It provides a bipartisan forum for the presentation of bold, new ideas to reform America's governmental and legal system--ideas that need to be part of the 2012 debate.

Posted 4/16/12 by Common Good

America the Fixable: The Culture of ‘Can’t’ in American Schools

There is too much focus on what "can't be done" to improve America's schools and not enough on what "can" be done. So argue Frederick Hess and Whitney Downs of the American Enterprise Institute in the latest installment of "America the Fixable".

Hess and Downs contend that resourceful principals and school boards can often take control of their schools despite obstacles posed by outdated laws, senseless regulations, and burdensome contracts. Unfortunately, they say, "in selecting, training, socializing, and rewarding leaders, we do not equip or encourage them to lead.'"

A school system can only work as well as the people who run it. "Happily, across the country there are examples of determined state chiefs, principals, superintendents, and school boards who are ready to stop getting pushed around. In Sacramento, many low-performing 'turnaround' schools have been staffed with bright young teachers," write Hess and Dunn. "The problem: California is one state where state law meant these teachers would be the first to go during layoffs. Rather than play the victim, researcher Heather Zavadsky reports that the district figured out a work-around. The superintendent battled with the union, negotiating a deal which stipulated 'that if a teacher had been specifically selected for a turnaround school, and the district could document that the training was different and specific, then the teachers would not be subjected to seniority-based layoff.'"

Read Hess and Downs' full article here.

"America the Fixable" is an online magazine collaboration between The Atlantic and Common Good. It provides a bipartisan forum for the presentation of bold, new ideas to reform America's governmental and legal system--ideas that need to be part of the 2012 debate.

Posted 4/11/12 by Common Good

The Plain Writing Act: Simplifying regulatory language

If you've ever tried to read through federal regulations, you're familiar with sentences that read like this: "This subpart identifies those products in which the Administrator has found an unsafe condition as described in Sec. 39.1 and, as appropriate, prescribes inspections and the conditions and limitations, if any, under which those products may continue to be operated."

Thanks to this kind of convoluted language, government rules and directives are often impenetrable. This is especially true when those rules are intended to serve as detailed instruction manuals for every eventuality. It's a big problem for individuals and small businesses that lack the resources to employ compliance experts who can decipher complex regulations and bureaucratic mandates.

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Posted 4/11/12 by Common Good

America the Fixable: How to Rebuild No Child Left Behind

New Jersey Representative Rob Andrews, the latest contributor to our “America the Fixable” series, believes the No Child Left Behind Act should be mended, not ended.

Andrews argues that the law “has helped close the achievement gap between minority students and white students, decrease the high school dropout rate, and help many schools realize their true potential. But,” he says, “the law is outdated and fails to fully address our students' --and our nation's--educational needs.”

Andrews proposes three changes to the No Child Left Behind Act:

• We must implement a longitudinal data method to measure success.
• Special education students should have individual and personalized standards for progress.
• We need a better system to measure progress for English learners.

See the complete reform proposal here.

"America the Fixable" is an online magazine collaboration between The Atlantic and Common Good. It provides a bipartisan forum for the presentation of bold, new ideas to reform America's governmental and legal system--ideas that need to be part of the 2012 debate.

Posted 4/10/12

America the Fixable: Picking Up the Pieces of No Child Left Behind

In the latest “America the Fixable” essay, American Federation of Teachers president Randi Weingarten explains how America should move past the shortcomings of the No Child Left Behind Act and why we should embrace proven strategies for rehabilitating American schools.

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