Check out what is going on in education policy. http://www2.ed.gov/news/pressreleases/2010/03/03172010.html
They are talking about a ton of money that is available to the lowest performing schools, via their state. The states can apply for these funds then distribute the money to their districts and the districts must implement one of these models. These are the strategies they have come up with to essentially redesign American public education (or at least shape it's direction in the near future). It seems to me that it must be based on theories that go something like this:
turnaround- the school isn't performing well because the staff is inadequate.
restart- this place is hopeless, let's just get rid of it
school closure- this place is cursed, to break it the whole thing must be dismantled
transformation- the leadership sucks
I guess some of them aren't such bad ideas, I think it all depends on what the ultimate objective is. Frankly, I am not quite sure what the federal government's ultimate objective is. I've heard through the grapevine that it's essentially about ranking. We want to be number one or at least in the top five. I'm just not so sure I'm down with that being the objective. I want the objective to be about people, namely the students, supporting them in being great people. I think the rest will come if we make that our focus.
