From the Lansing State Journal...

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Commentary
Blaming teachers won't fix schools

By John Bell

When politicians and bureaucrats rush to the public with miraculous solutions to educational woes; when a Legislature that has demonstrated chronic inability to function effectively suddenly passes "transformative" legislation; and when federal money is dangled in front of Michigan's impecunious masters of fiscal unreality, then the public better expect more confusion, obfuscation and political rhetoric than actual accomplishment.

For years, teachers have seen wave after wave of these innovations. They always arrive with more wishful thinking than concrete proof of their efficacy.

The current answer seems to be a "data-driven" frenzy with a Greek chorus wailing for judgment of teachers based on test scores.

Earlier failures and proliferating societal ills have created an opening for people whose only qualification to be an expert at educational reform seems to be that they once went to school.

And so we have politicians blindly engaging in massive experiments with a paucity of any serious data to prove that what they are attempting will work. Politicians do not need data; they only need belief. It's the perfect opportunity for the "confidence man" selling his elixir.

Because a concerted effort has been made to portray teachers as obstructionists and union pawns , a "blame the teachers" attitude has become a permanent subtext to any reform movement. The tragedy is that the key to reform is the creative, innovative and transformative power within the teaching profession. Unfortunately, negative anti-union propaganda has convinced many that it is the politicians, educational consultants, administrative teams and school boards who are the key to reform. So, the only people who know how to solve what is going on in our classrooms are people who do not work in a classroom!

God forbid that anyone truly wrestle with the fundamental source of failing schools.

What does the new legislation do to alleviate the impact of homelessness?

What does the new legislation do to address the needs of a first-grade child without crayons, pencils, or paper at home?

What does the new legislation do to address the endemic poverty so devastating to educational advancement? There is voluminous data about this problem, but no political will to solve this issue.

If the Michigan Department of Education and the Michigan Legislature initiate yet another top-down, "we know what's best, do what we tell you or you will get fired, we'll give you the bureaucratic parameters of how to be creative" attitude, we will choke the life out of the creativity and innovative spirit of our professional teachers.

Does any person with common sense believe that if we transferred all of the Okemos teachers to Lansing Eastern and sent the Eastern teachers to Okemos that the awesome success of Okemos academics would transfer to Eastern and Okemos would suddenly become a failing school?

Let's stop blaming teachers and start working with them!