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Back to School, and to Widening Inequality
By Wisconsin School Administrators Alliance staff | September 18, 2014
Robert Reich, Secretary of Labor in the Clinton Administration, is a polarizing figure to some. However, I must admit that, even when I don’t agree with him, I find his analysis insightful and always worthy of consumption.
Recently, I stumbled across a blog post of his entitled, “Back to School, and to Widening Inequality”. In it he discusses how the nation’s achievement gap between rich and poor kids is, not surprisingly, a reflection of the widening gulf between rich and poor families in this country, as well as our political unwillingness to direct enough school funding where it is needed most.
Reich concludes his post with the following:
Money isn’t everything, obviously. But how can we pretend it doesn’t count? Money buys the most experienced teachers, less-crowded classrooms, high-quality teaching materials, and after-school programs.
Yet we seem to be doing everything except getting more money to the schools that most need it.
We’re requiring all schools meet high standards, requiring students to take more and more tests, and judging teachers by their students’ test scores.
But until we recognize we’re systematically hobbling schools serving disadvantaged kids, we’re unlikely to make much headway.
Amen. I’m sure many of you will agree that much of this column reads like a reference to the Wisconsin Supreme Court’s standard created in the Vincent v. Voight (2000) decision regarding disadvantaged students.
We need to re-frame the conversation, in Wisconsin and the nation, to focus on creating good education policy based not on ideology but on what the evidence says is best for kids.
Thanks for listening. Keep up the good fight. The kids you serve deserve nothing less.
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