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| www.education-consumers.com | Phone & Fax - (423) 282-6832 | |
| November 2001 | Volume 1, Number 11 | |
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Charles Arthur, M.S.Ed. / President and Executive Director / Mastery Learning Institute / Portland, OR Virginia P. Baxt, Ed.D. / President / Education Agenda, Inc. Wayne Bishop, Ph.D. / Professor of Mathematics / Department of Mathematics / California State University-Los Angeles William L. Brown, Ph.D. / Director of Institutional Assessment / Lansing Community College Guy Bruce, Ed.D. / President, APEX Consulting / Assistant Professor, St. Cloud State University Louis Chandler, Ph.D. / Professor & Chairman / Department of Psychology in Education / University of Pittsburgh Andrea Clements,Ph.D. / Professor / College of Education / East Tennessee State University Donald Crawford, Ph.D. / Education Specialist / Otter Creek Institute Nathan Crow, B.A. / School Administration Consultant / Education Consumers Consultants Network George K. Cunningham, Ph.D. / Professor / School of Education / University of Louisville Mary Damer, M.Ed. / Instructor & Student Teaching Supervisor / Northern Illinois University Jerome Dancis, Ph.D. / Associate Professor / Department of Mathematics / University of Maryland-College Park Edwin J. Delattre, Ph.D. / Professor / College of Arts & Sciences / Professor & Dean Emeritus / School of Education / Boston University Benjamin F. Eller, Ed.D. / School of Education / Western Carolina University Lucien Ellington, Ed. D. / Professor & Co-director, Asia Program / College of Education and Applied Prof. Services / University of Tennessee at Chattanooga John Eshleman, Ed.D. / Apex Consulting David R. Feeney, Ed.D. / Director of Digital Education / Fox School of Business & Management / Temple University Carol C. Gambill, M.Ed. / Director-Special Projects / Curriculum & Instruction / Tennessee Department of Education Patrick Groff, Ed.D. / Professor of Education Emeritus / San Diego State University Bonnie Grossen, Ph.D. / Professor, College of Education / University of Oregon Richard Gruetzemacher, Ed.D. / Director / Planning, Evaluation, and Institutional Research / University of Tennessee at Chattanooga Mark Y. Herring, Ed. D. / Professor & Dean of Libraries / Winthrop University |
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Featured Research: "Why
Students in Some Countries Do Better" Briefing: "Why Do Students in Some Countries Do Better?" Other countries usually have a national ministry of education that sets forth uniform education goals and standards, but not here. Our Constitution leaves authority over schools to the states, which delegate much authority to local school districts, which leave much discretion to principals and teachers. This local control makes for great diversity in student learning, but students who move from one school to another often lack the knowledge necessary for success in their new schools. Our system is distinctive in other ways that handicap efficiency. Ludger Woessmann of the Kiel Institute of World Economics reported the largest study of educational efficiency ever conducted. His analysis of thirty-nine countries showed what fostered high achievement:
The influence of teacher unions on curriculum had negative effects. And surprisingly, spending made no difference! So now we know much of why the U.S. stands out with high costs but poor student progress during the school years. In his 1776 book The Wealth of Nations, Adam Smith suggested that "division of labor" promotes efficiency. In many efficient organizations, three groups divide their efforts: external boards establish their distinctive mission, set goals, and measure progress; responsible and responsive to boards, management hires staff and directs operations; staff members hardly invent their own idiosyncratic goals but concentrate on carrying out their responsibilities to attain board goals. Sustained failure of any one of these three groups at their respective tasks means the organization fails. Nearly the opposite is true of the U.S. public school system. No goal seems too remote from academic learning to adopt; no "stakeholder" too removed from having a say about the mission and goals. State and local school boards fail to set clear goals and measure progress. And they tend to interfere with school management. Teachers, principals, boards, and national interest groups compete to set priorities and control teaching. Yet when everyone is responsible, no one is responsible, and having twenty-three priorities means having none. Contention, noise, and fads prevail. In the end, teachers cannot depend on what their students were previously taught. Boards, leaders, and staff all overreach, and yet each group tends to fail at its distinctive task. A thousand flowers bloom but do not a garden make. Other countries provide much better accountability. While making goals clear, they allow parental choice of privately and publicly governed schools, both publicly financed. Competition encourages educators to identify the best practices and helps parents choose the best schools. We spend public funds only on public schools, which limits most parents to the beggar's choice of only a single school, which has little incentive to improve since its customers have nowhere else to go. The answers to these problems are easy as one, two, three:
[This Briefing is digested from an essay by Herbert J. Walberg, Ph.D.,
University Scholar, University of Illinois-Chicago. It was published May
7, 2001 as a Hoover Institution Weekly Essay, copyright Trustees of Leland
Stanford Junior University,
The Education Consumers Consultants Network is an alliance of experienced and credentialed educators dedicated to serving the needs of parents, policymakers, and taxpayers for independent and consumer-friendly consulting. For more information, contact J. E. Stone, Ed.D., at (423) 282-6832, or write: professor@education-consumers.com |
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Daniel Hursh, Ph.D. / Professor of Educational Psychology / College of Human Resources & Education / West Virginia University Carol Jago, M.A. / English Teacher, Santa Monica High School / Director, California Reading & Literature Project / UCLA Jerry Jesness, M.A. / ESL Teacher & Author / Los Fresnos (TX) Schools Daniel Konieczko, M.Ed. / Science Teacher, Brunswick High School / Brunswick, ME Martin Kozloff, Ph.D. / Watson Distinguished Professor / School of Education / University of North Carolina at Wilmington Rob Kremer, M.B.A. / President / Oregon Education Coalition Elaine K. McEwan-Adkins, Ed.D. / Author & Consultant / McEwan-Adkins Group Richard P. Phelps, Ph.D. / Economist & Author Michael Podgursky, Ph.D. / Professor and Chairman / Department of Economics / University of Missouri J. Martin Rochester, Ph.D. / Curator's Distinguished Teaching Professor / Department of Political Science / University of Missouri-St. Louis Linda Ross, Ph.D. / Director & Instructional Design Specialist / Archimedia eLearning Solutions Valerie Copeland Rutledge, Ed.D. / Associate Professor / College of Education / University of Tennessee at Chattanooga / Member, Tenessee Board of Education Douglas Sears, Ph.D. / Professor & Dean / School of Education / Boston University Mark C. Schug, Ph.D. / Professor & Director / Center for Economic Education / University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Lewis Solmon, Ph.D. / Dean Emeritus / UCLA Graduate School of Education / Executive Vice President, Education / Director, Teacher Advancement Program / Milken Family Foundation Robert Spangler, Ed.D. / President / Spangler & Associates, LLC J. E. Stone, Ed.D. / Professor / College of Education / East Tennessee State University Sara Tarver, Ph.D / Professor / School of Education / University of Wisconsin-Madison John Towner, Ph.D. / Professor Emeritus / Woodring College of Education / Western Washington University Herbert Walberg, Ph.D. / Research Professor of Education & Psychology / Emeritus / College of Education / University of Illinois-Chicago John T. Wenders, Ph.D. / Professor of Economics, Emeritus / University of Idaho Richard Western, Ph.D. / Professor (retired) / School of Education / University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee |