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November 10, 2005
Bloomberg's Failed Education Reforms
I think the WSJ OpinionJournal writers need to go back and read some of their own past columns. From today (any emphases are mine):
On the other hand, the one notable Republican who did win, New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg, owes more to Mr. Bush than he or anyone else will admit. The 2003 tax cuts helped to revive financial markets and thus the city's economy and revenue coffers, allowing him to rebate some of his earlier and unpopular tax increase. Mr. Bloomberg also benefited from his laudable attempt to reform education in the face of union opposition.
Mr. Bloomberg's attempt at education reform has been anything but "laudable". Back on May 12, OpinionJournal published a piece by the estimable Diane Ravitch, who deploys an absolutely withering assault against Bloomberg, his school chancellor Joel Klein and the constructivist educational agenda they adopted. The essay is also an excellent overall primer on the "progressive"/constructivist ideas that dominate public education policy and practice. Ravitch:
Neither Mr. Bloomberg nor Mr. Klein knew about the war of ideas that had been raging among educators for many years. On one side, beloved by schools of education, are the century-old ideas of progressive education, now called "constructivism." Associated with this philosophy are such approaches as whole language, fuzzy math, and invented spelling, as well as a disdain for phonics and grammar, an insistence that there are no right answers (just different ways to solve problems), and an emphasis on students' self-esteem. Constructivists dislike any kind of ability grouping or special classes for gifted children. By diminishing the authority of the teacher, constructivist methods often create discipline problems.
On the other side are those who believe that learning depends on both highly skilled teachers and student effort; that students need self-discipline more than self-esteem; that accuracy is important; that in many cases there truly are right answers and wrong answers (the Civil War was not caused by Reconstruction); and that instructional methods should be chosen because they are effective, not because they fit one's philosophical values.
Messrs. Bloomberg and Klein embarked on school reform knowing nothing of this heated debate. [...]
They outcome, as you might expect, has been disastrous. After noting that the results of Bloomberg's reforms have been mediocre at best in the budget and personnel areas, she moves on to student performance:
In the first round of state testing in 2004, the results were mixed. In the fourth grade, where the pedagogical changes were concentrated, the citywide scores in math were up by 1.4%, but in reading they declined by 3%. In some poor districts, such as Harlem and Bedford-Stuyvesant, the score declines in reading were in double digits.
State scores for 2005 will be released in the next few weeks. It is widely expected that scores will rise, reflecting the unusual amount of time devoted this year to test preparation. Social studies and other subjects have been shelved to focus on the all-important tests of reading and mathematics (81% of eighth graders failed the state social studies exam, a 20% increase in the failure rate since Mayor Bloomberg took charge). A modest amount of time devoted to test preparation makes sense; but when it consumes vast amounts of instructional time, it does not.
Here's a photo from today's Houston Chronicle. The accompanying article relates the vast sums of money local school districts receive from the Texas Education Agency to help students pass the state-mandated proficiency exams.
Note the little "manipulative" blocks on the students' desks--in the third grade. It is typical of the constructivist approach to emphasize manipulatives over pencil-and-paper algorithms.
Bloomberg's squandering of his opportunity to reform the public education system is a real tragedy for NYC students, parents and taxpayers. But it also highlights a nationwide problem: there are far too many parents, journalists, and politicians who are simply unaware these issues even exist. Luckily I was able to get a good idea of the mindset of my own local school district by simply surfing the websites of my local elementary schools. After a few days of reading the little blurbs written by the teachers, I was a walking dictionary of ed school buzzwords. But I'm sure most parents of elementary school-age children still couldn't tell you what whole language is.
Thanks to failed reformers like Bloomberg, we aren't any closer to changing that.
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