Today’s Commentary: Startling study: California Schools are in trouble.
On February 15th the Governor received a detailed assessment on California’s education system from Stanford’s Institute for Research on Education Policy & Practice. Hardly anyone reading the FlashReport will be surprised to learn that California’s schools are struggling. But some of the conclusions will surprise you. For example, the report concluded that California couldn’t spend its way out of the growing educational crisis – that better, more sensible management is more critical than additional dollars. Even school officials don’t think spending more money is the answer – in fact their top concern was not getting more money or a new program, it was the ability to fire bad teachers. Not a wholesale sweep, but just those who either can’t or simply don’t want to teach children anymore. “Tenure reform” is a hot-button issue for the teachers union – but instead of muscling up against it, they should embrace it and push for higher standards for teachers. In the long… Read More