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Tag Archives: school bureaucracy
How Charles Dickens and Oscar Wilde Ganged Up on Me – A Lesson in Bureaucracy
His mother glared at me. She struggled to control her tone… Continue reading
The Two Headed Being in American Education
Ironically, charters have brought to scale and intensity ideas that arose out of research and inconsistent implementation in those nasty public schools. Continue reading
School Reform and the Demise of the Bureaucrat
Summary: The transformation of Foster High School into a functioning academy for a largely immigrant multicultural population, with improved graduation rates, strong math scores, and a peaceful campus is a study in how communication and respect can melt away the … Continue reading
Posted in At Risk Students, School Bureaucracy
Tagged administrator leadership, at risk students, communication in schools, counselor role, empowering teachers, immigrant students, low-income students, relationships in schools, school bureaucracy, school funding, school reform, teacher overwork
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Charter Schools: Russakov’s The Prize, and Lessons from Newark
Summary: Dale Russakov’s tale of the assault by reformers on Newark Schools is a saga of conflict, righteous myopia, entrenched interests, unintended consequences, upheaval in neighborhoods, grudging progress, and a rending of social fabric; yet in the end no easy … Continue reading
School Culture: The “Disagreeable Giver” and the Culture of Continuous Improvement
Summary: Can evidence of successful leadership style in the corporate world be transplanted to schools and kick start a culture of continuous improvement? Do nice guys and gals finish last and ultimately assholes prevail in the race to the mantle … Continue reading
Charter Schools: The Search for the Golden Mean
Summary: After lagging behind other parts of the country in establishing charter schools, the state of Washington is poised to enter the arena after enabling legislation was passed via a recent initiative. An article in the Seattle Times which explores … Continue reading
Posted in Charter Schools, Schools and Politics
Tagged at risk students, charter schools, education and politics, fiscal impact charter schoools, Green Dot Public Schools, Initiative 1240 Washington State, low-income students, school bureaucracy, school reform, teaching culture, UCLA education research
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School Bureaucracy: Behind the Walkout at Garfield High
Summary: The common practice in school districts that adjusts student-teacher ratios a month into school retards the learning process, distracts teachers and counselors from more important work, and in the end simply harms students, some more than others. The practice … Continue reading
School Bureaucracy: Lessons from the VA and GM
Summary: The current debacles at the Veterans’ Administration and General Motors, and the parallel inability of upper management to solicit data from grass roots workers, may well mirror the deaf ear of too many senior school administrators to teacher point … Continue reading
School Reform and Politics: Teach for America and Its Political Identity
Summary: Has Teach for America been hijacked by conservative and market ideology? Teach for America has become a political lightning rod in the struggle over reform in American education. The organization was originally conceived as an avenue through which to … Continue reading
School Reform and Bureaucracy: The Washington State Charter Battle
Summary: A lawsuit challenging Washington’s new charter school law on constitutional grounds may be embarrassingly in the end a defense of a dysfunctional status quo. I believe in teachers. Not the Type A’s that reformers would like to attract from … Continue reading
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