SES Hurt Voucher Proponents Like NCLB Transfers Hurt Public School Choice
As promised, Nina Rees's guest column in this week's Gadfly includes some interesting things to say about how the SES provision has been ignored by private school choice advocates who don't realize that they're hurting their own cause:
"School-choice advocates should be particularly interested in SES’s problems with quality. If left unremedied, they could cast a dark shadow on future efforts to expand choice and to allow newcomers to build innovative programs for low-income students."
It's well worth noting that many of these same arguments apply to the left on the issue of NCLB transfers. By ignoring and belittling the transfer option in NCLB, and letting it go unattended, public school choice advocates have made the public system appear as monolothic and monopolistic possible. If they had instead embraced the notion of transfers, they might have blunted at least some of the right's arguments for vouchers. Instead, both left and right get what they deserve.
UPDATE: Eduwonk's got a different (and somewhat incoherent) take on Rees's commentary. Something about buying the cure, drunk pilots, and accreditation. But I'm glad he's finally got pictures to go along with all those self-referential hyperlinks. Yay, pictures.
"School-choice advocates should be particularly interested in SES’s problems with quality. If left unremedied, they could cast a dark shadow on future efforts to expand choice and to allow newcomers to build innovative programs for low-income students."
It's well worth noting that many of these same arguments apply to the left on the issue of NCLB transfers. By ignoring and belittling the transfer option in NCLB, and letting it go unattended, public school choice advocates have made the public system appear as monolothic and monopolistic possible. If they had instead embraced the notion of transfers, they might have blunted at least some of the right's arguments for vouchers. Instead, both left and right get what they deserve.
UPDATE: Eduwonk's got a different (and somewhat incoherent) take on Rees's commentary. Something about buying the cure, drunk pilots, and accreditation. But I'm glad he's finally got pictures to go along with all those self-referential hyperlinks. Yay, pictures.
posted by Alexander Russo at 4/13/2006 05:04:00 PM
1 Comments:
I agree that people from all political streams should pay attention to both SES quality and opportunities and every other potential idea to help improve our schools. When smart people take to political bickering they miss the point. The point is not to make their point; instead, it is to do what it takes to improve schools.
Andrew Pass
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