2 schools of thought: Why should we have to choose?

For all the education geeks out there, you may have picked up on some bantering back and forth (in articles and over the internet, of course--never face-to-face) between 2 major voices in education reform lately:
Bill Gates and Diane Ravitch.
If you check out the links above, you'll see some of the accusatory questions asked by Gates followed by scathing remarks by Ravitch.

It seems like there are 2 schools of thought coming out of their remarks.  (Sorry if I'm repeating stuff you already know)
(1) Corporate-style, results-oriented reform (often affiliated are high-stakes testing, teacher accountability, metrics, etc.)
(2) Wrap-around, community-support-driven reform (often affilaited with this are parent/community engagement, shared responsibility for student learning, concerns about poverty and other non-curricular barriers to learning, etc.)
If you know a lot about education, these are generalizations that don't exactly capture everything, but you get the picture.

Depending on who you are, you may be more sympathetic to one side or the other.  My point for writing this entry is this:
THEY ARE BOTH RIGHT and WE DON'T NEED TO CHOOSE SIDES.

Should teachers be accountable for their jobs? Yes.
Does poverty impact student learning? Yes.
Should school systems take a close look at how they're spending money to ensure that they eliminate waste? Yes.
Should parents be involved in a student's education? Of course!
Should value-added scores be used as one dimension of a teacher's evaluation? Yes.
Should the community be there to support schools? Yes.

Take the United Way's project here in East Tennessee to build community support for effective teachers in the classroom.

While subscribing to the idea that every child deserves and effective teacher in the classroom every year, we also understand that effective teachers don't exist in a silo. 

We've been able to skate between these 2 schools of thought.  Here are a few examples of work we've undertaken:

1. Spreading communications about the "Expect More, Achieve More" campaign: Working with people like the PTA, the Knoxville Chamber, Project GRAD, local school systems to talk about the importance of having higher standards in the classroom.  We helped to prepare the community for lower test scores and encouraged a variety of community entities to be there to provide extra support services for children who will have a tougher time meeting expectations.

2. Business and Education Partnerships: Working through the Knoxville-area regional coalition, we've put together a business/education subcommittee that's building a document that can be used with area Chambers of Commerce to show examples of how businesses and schools have worked together to achieve mutually-beneficial results.  We're presenting at the regional "Partners in Education" conference in February. 

3. Giving teachers and the community a voice in the changes coming to schools: We have gone around and held "listening sessions" to hear teachers' and communities' concerns about the teacher effectiveness movement.  We will present some of these "ground-level" insights to a group of Department of Education and statewide education reform partners on Friday in Nashville.  Additionally, we work with the Knox County Education Association to process through and learn from these listening sessions. 

4. Inviting community patners to hold a professional development session with teachers about the hardest-to-reach students and their families: Working with a broad group of community leaders (YWCA, Project GRAD, KCDC, Boys and Girls Club, PTA, Lenoir City Schools Family Resource Center, etc.) and the Knox County School system to have a dialogue about strategies to use IN and OUT of the classroom that helps to overcome some of the challenges associated with poverty and educational attainment.

5. Convening human service providers and school systems to ensure alignment with services provided and school system priorities in Knoxville: The school system is working with the United Way to create a consistent conversation ("critical friendship") with human service and after-school providers so that they can try to get them to align programs and services with strategic goals and objectives within Knox County Schools.  At the same time, we're trying to work with the school system to break down bureaucratic barriers that prohibit children from getting the services they need.

6. Working with the media to showcase stories about effective teachers and their practices: Let's show the public that there are a lot of teachers out there that take their jobs VERY SERIOUSLY and work tirelessly to ensure student achievement and success.  We've worked with WUOT, WATE, WBIR, and the Knoxville News Sentinel to run stories showcase efforts underway to give teachers the supports they need to be successful. 

Some of the work United Way has done "on the ground" through this project has showcased the necessity of both of these paradigms: High Standards / Accountability and Community Support.  We're trying not to get mired in the politics of the situation.  We're trying to focus on workable community solutions.  That's been the "United Way" for a long time.

Let's put politics aside and get some work done on behalf of our children.