Reign of Error: The Hoax of the Privatization Movement and the Danger to America's Public Schools Diane Ravirch New York: Knopf, 2013. 416 pages. $14-34 USD/Paperbac Diane Ravitch spent decades advocating metrics and alternatives for elementary and secondary public school reform, including some years in government implementing the current assessment-as-accountability regime, but, by 2006, she doubted her own prescription for public school ills. This itch in her mind turned into two books, The Life and Death of the Great American School System, a careful mea culpa regarding testing and a data-driven attack on data-fixation, and, most recently, Reign of Error. As a New York University research professor of education, she also founded an organization, the Network for Public Education (NPE). All of these efforts are aimed fundamentally at the primary and secondary educational systems in the U.S., but the arguments are relevant to community colleges, particularly in the Obama administration. Community colleges today face such questions of "reform"--Ravitch often puts this word in doubtful quotes--and the community college may fall for the same hoax. Ravitch outlines the view of "reformers" in chapters 3-8 of Life and Death and chapters 2-4 and 14-20 of Reign of Error as seeing schools preparing children to become participants in the society's economy. This vision, argues Ravitch, emphasizes two elements: standardized tests and social engineering. Standardized tests are the first social modality by which academic competition is exercised. At this level, a child is getting practice and developing skills that suit one for a competitive economy: self-control, the efficient use of instrumental reason, calculations of utility, innovation, initiative-taking, and so on; but more specifically, job-relevant skills come along eventually, and by assessing disaggregated skills instead of the aggregated judgment that grades make, the system can more precisely sort its future workers. Educational services deliverers get their own grade, from their output--from the scores that their students make, assessed over time. The other element comparative testing emphasizes is a social engineering aspect: that people of differential abilities and aptitudes will be sorted by testing into those career and academic pathways in which they will be comparatively advantaged--on the Adam Smith and David Ricardo model, more or less. Market utility is the appropriate standard of judgment for an individual, according to the reformers' view, because it is the standard of judgment for a collectivity. The strength of corporations (the "bottom line") and countries (military, GDP) is similarly assessed quantitatively. In advanced societies, the citizen labor force is stratified according to performance, which is measured by one "earning what one deserves"--by differential monetary life outcomes. A well-formed education system thus prepares each person for the slot in the economy in which she is most apt to attain her greatest comparative advantage--that which will, among the measurable outcomes, result in her maximum lifetime income-earning potential. Privatization melds public and private interest, in this view, because it allows maximum room for competitive pressures to sort out to any desired level of detail the most efficient producers of society-specific, needed workforce skills. Assessing student learning disaggregated by skill performance facilitates tracking students into the most contributory pathways and prepares them for competitive job-hunting and job-keeping. Similarly, assessing instruction drives teachers and teaching institutions into the most efficient delivery of the most demanded knowledge and skills. Anything that gets in the way of this quantized, data-driven approach is a market inefficiency--as well as, on the reformers' view, a social anachronism and a political albatross. …

Reign of Error: The Hoax of the Privatization Movement and the Danger to America's Public Schools

Initial teacher education: What does it take to put equity at the center?

Teacher educators' professional learning: A literature review

A universal lack of attention to the professional learning needs of teacher educators is the driver for this study, which considers the most effective ways to support the professional learning of higher education-based teacher educators. At a time when many industrialised countries are engaged in systemic educational reform, this study provides an international and comparative needs analysis through a survey of 1,158 higher education-based teacher educators in the countries participating in the International Forum for Teacher Educator Development (InFo-TED): Belgium, Ireland, Israel, the Netherlands, Norway and the UK. Our results suggest that while teacher educators are only moderately satisfied with their professional development experiences, a strong desire exists for further professional learning. This desire, influenced by their professional context, relates to their current beliefs concerning ‘best practice’ in teacher education, the academic skills required to further their professional careers and knowledge of the curriculum associated with their fields of expertise.

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The professional developmental needs of higher education-based teacher educators: an international comparative needs analysis

Most professional development activities focus on individual teachers, such as mentoring or the use of portfolios However, new developments in higher education require teachers to work together in teams more often Due to these changes, there is a growing need for professional development activities focusing on teams Therefore, this review study was conducted to provide an overview of what is known about professional development in teams in the context of higher education A total of 18 articles were reviewed that describe the effects of professional development in teams on teacher attitudes and teacher learning Furthermore, several factors that can either hinder or support professional development in teams are identified at the individual teacher level, at the team level, and also at the organizational level

Team-Based Professional Development Interventions in Higher Education: A Systematic Review:

This paper reports on a research study of 28 literacy teacher educators (LTE) in four countries: Canada, the USA, England and Australia. It identifies three main forms of professional development: informal, formal and communities of practice and four spheres of knowledge: research; pedagogy of higher education; literacy and literacy teaching; and current school district and government initiatives. The study reveals the sheer scale of knowledge required to be an effective LTE and demonstrates how participants used the three forms of professional development to enhance their knowledge in each sphere. It concludes that the professional development of teacher educators is not conducted systematically; rather, it is quite ad hoc with much of it occurring through learning while doing. All had to construct their own programmes for professional development, which added yet another layer to their responsibilities.

Four spheres of knowledge required: an international study of the professional development of literacy/English teacher educators

This study involved 28 literacy/English teachers in four countries: Canada, the USA, the UK and Australia. The goal of the study was to examine their backgrounds, knowledge, research activities, identity and support within the university. The teacher educators had a range of classroom teaching experience which they drew on in many ways. Most went far beyond simply telling stories about their previous work. All were heavily influenced by their own childhood experiences, which continue to affect their current work. Many felt that they needed to hold dual identities, teacher and academic, because they were still heavily involved in schools through their research and in-service activities. Several felt that there was a hierarchy in their department with those most removed from schooling at the highest tier. Most saw themselves in the field of literacy not teacher education and gravitate towards literacy-focused conferences and journals rather than those in teacher education.

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A foot in many camps: literacy teacher educators acquiring knowledge across many realms and juggling multiple identities

This article reports on a study of 21 mid‐career and senior literacy/English teacher educators in four countries: Canada, the United States (), the United Kingdom (), and Australia. Three main them...

Beyond Initial Transition: An International Examination of the Complex Work of Experienced Literacy/English Teacher Educators

This study involved 28 literacy/English teacher educators in four countries: Canada, U.S., UK, and Australia. The goal of the study was to examine their backgrounds, pedagogies, research activities, identity, and turning points in their lives. Eight of the participants self-identified as having a critical stance which they actualized through specific pedagogical choices. Their broad goals for schooling are to support pupils who are traditionally underserved. Data analysis (using NVivo) revealed commonalities across the participants; each participant had a pivotal experience in early childhood (e.g., marginalized as English Language Learners) that continues to influence their current pedagogy. Each participant provided experiences beyond the confines of the course for student teachers to work with children in high needs situations. In some cases, student teachers embraced the opportunity (and commitment to social justice), while others, would have preferred a much greater focus on practical skills and resources.

You Teach Who You Are: The Experiences and Pedagogies of Literacy/English Teacher Educators Who Have a Critical Stance

Given expanding concepts of literacy and evolving communication patterns literacy teacher educators face a daunting task - preparing student teachers for a world where literacy is very complicated and contested. This paper addresses two key questions: What are the elements of a pedagogy of literacy teacher education? What opportunities for learning do literacy/English teacher educators offer to help student teachers understand the changing conception of literacy? For this research 28 literacy/English teacher educators in four countries were interviewed three times. Two overall conclusions are: the need to anchor their course in the concept of literacy as expanding and evolving; and to approach literacy teacher education holistically. Three elements of a pedagogy of literacy teacher education are discussed in this paper; that there is a need to: value and respond to diversity; read, discuss, and analyse a range of texts and genres; create authentic reflection activities. These elements are relevant for our increasingly diverse student body and can work dialogically. This paper provides a broad road map for literacy teacher educators who are often faced with conflicting messages from governments and feel tremendous pressure to teach to the test.

Cathy Miyata

Papers

Four spheres of knowledge required: an international study of the professional development of literacy/English teacher educators

A foot in many camps: literacy teacher educators acquiring knowledge across many realms and juggling multiple identities

Beyond Initial Transition: An International Examination of the Complex Work of Experienced Literacy/English Teacher Educators

You Teach Who You Are: The Experiences and Pedagogies of Literacy/English Teacher Educators Who Have a Critical Stance

So how do you teach literacy in teacher education?: Literacy/English teacher educators' goals and pedagogies