United Interfaith Action mirrors Marlene Pollock in making much about districts around the state that have so called innovative schools. In a March 2012 article the UIA lauds the Boston Teachers Union School and taunts the NBEA, claiming that if “the Boston Teacher Union could figure this out, New Bedford can too.” This kind of comparison carries quite a bit of water in local discussions and Standard Times editorials on the future of our district. Non educators in New Bedford cannot resist opportunities to bemoan New Bedford and laud other districts that are, allegedly, getting it right. Worst of all they claim that, what we are doing is not working, any alternative is a better alternative.
Writing in March, the UIA adopted the pitying and condescending line that if “ Boston can do it, why not New Bedford?” So what exactly did Boston do? The latest MCAS data is instructive. In Boston, their exemplar of all things innovative, small, and autonomous, the Boston Union school , has 311 students enrolled, is below the state in every single MCAS test category in 2012, 2011, 2010 and is little more than an average school for the Boston district.
As actual educators know, and as our multiple Level 1 and Level 2 schools demonstrated in 2012, 2011, and 2010, a dedicated, professional teaching staff, and an unwavering focus on improving instruction are far more important than the size, shape, name, structure and so called autonomy of a school. Fantasy proposals and promises make for wonderful editorials, roundtables and opinion pieces but the facts and data on the UIA’s innovative exemplars continue to show the cold, hard truth.
This article was submitted to our 9/27/2012
No comments:
Post a Comment