When Will Bill Gates Leave Public Education Alone?

There can be no doubt that Bill Gates is a smart guy.  What I have a tough time with is that because he is smart AND has lots of money that somehow that makes him an expert on anything he decides is important.
Mr. Gates, like Eli Broad and the Waltons, have created a playbook (probably via our friends at ALEC) for ed reform.

Just to be fair, I'm sure it is as frustrating to them as it is to all American citizens at the stubbornness of the opportunity gap, the numbers of students who drop out, the need for new skills/rigor in our classrooms and the need for the best-trained, best quality teachers.

But here's the playbook they created (this via the Edushyster blog). 

1. Bad News Bears.  The news is bad folks. In fact it’s worse than bad. It’s *terrible.* You thought you knew just how badly our union-stifled public schools were doing? Take what you thought you knew and ratchet up (or is that down?) the failure by a factor of 9—no, make that 10. While there may be astonishing news to the contrary (like the fact that African American 8th graders in Massachusetts outscored the Finns in mathon last year’s TIMSS tests, the global equivalent of March Madness), I can’t think of any reason to report that—can you?

2.  Hype, Hype, Hooray.  Keep saying how bad our teachers are - across the country, mind you - and it'll stick.   We move from Oprah in the '90s telling us how wonderful teachers are (to great applause from her audiences) to a shake of the head over those lazy, low-performing teachers.  Quite the trick.

Meanwhile, hype testing as the great hope for education and have a SECOND hope which is called charter schools.   No matter that testing has not given us a better idea of how ALL American students are doing.  No matter that it has come at a cost of tremendous upheaval, narrowing of curriculum, loss of real teaching in the classroom, fewer ed dollars in the classroom and now, cheating by desperate teachers and administrators.  The former superintendent in El Paso, Texas is now in jail for their cheating scandal.

3. Context is Nothing.  This is one of my favorites.

Folks, I am perfectly willing to listen to new ideas or opinions.  I can respect others who differ with me on what will bring about the best academic outcomes for more students.  What I do NOT respect are those who will NOT be fair and acknowledge the good, the bad and the ugly.

For charter supporters, well, there might be a few bad egg schools but for the rest, it's smooth sailing.  They will mouth that charters "aren't a silver bullet" but then proceed to want every charter cap in every state lifted. 

Gates, Broad and the Waltons have used all of these tactics.   But let's get back to Gates.  He recently had a column published in The Washington Post.  He says that multiple measures are needed to evaluate teachers (and he makes fun, of all people, Tom Brady, the NFL quarterback).   He said this:

Efforts are being made to define effective teaching and give teachers the support they need to be as effective as possible. But as states and districts rush to implement new teacher development and evaluation systems, there is a risk they’ll use hastily contrived, unproven measures. One glaring example is the rush to develop new assessments in grades and subjects not currently covered by state tests. Some states and districts are talking about developing tests for all subjects, including choir and gym, just so they have something to measure.

Or, it might be that they want assessments for all subject to keep those subjects relevant.  You teach what you test, Bill.  (Oh but I forgot, your children don't have to be subjected to all these tests.)

And, as Anthony Cody points out in his column (see below), the criticism that Gates has for testing PE came from language in a law in Indiana that Gates had a hand in creating.  Gates continues:

If we aren’t careful to build a system that provides feedback and that teachers trust, this opportunity to dramatically improve the U.S. education system will be wasted. 

The fact is, teachers want to be accountable to their students. What the country needs are thoughtfully developed teacher evaluation systems that include multiple measures of performance, such as student surveys, classroom observations by experienced colleagues and student test results.

Great but where was this talk several years back?

At the Living in Dialogue blog at Ed Week, Anthony Cody takes on Gates' column.

No one in America has done more to promote the raising of stakes for test scores in education than Bill Gates.  (bold his)

The Gates Foundation promoted these practices not only through their migrated staff members, but also through numerous policy and advocacy groups that were well funded, or even created for this purpose. We have the Data Quality Council, the National Council on Teacher Quality, and groups like Teach Plus, given millions of dollars to advocate for the use of test scores in teacher evaluations.

This amounts to an attempt to distance the Gates Foundation from the asinine consequences of the policies they have sponsored, while accepting no responsibility for them whatsoever.  (bold his)

When Bill Gates states he is all for accountability, perhaps he might start with himself. Until then, I really do not value his views on what good accountability systems for others ought to consist of. 

I've said it before - I believe that Melinda and Bill Gates are changing the face of world health and bless them for it.  I just wish that Mr. Gates, a data-driven guy, would step back from public education and ask himself, "What am I getting done with all this money I have spent?  Where are my outcomes?"  The answer would stare him right in the face.