In reading movie reviews about Waiting for Superman, we notice that it positions charter schools as the savior and traditional public schools as the failure. What do you think? Is there a way (or a reason) to save the traditional school?
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For many Americans, this autumn may appear to be "the narrative/qualitative research gone WILD"! Popular culture is riddled with counter-narratives; take a look:
ARCHIVED QUOTES:
"We’re trying to constantly build the knowledge base, and it can’t just be built in the ivory towers." James W. Kohlmoos, the president of Knowledge Alliance. See full article by clicking here.
On television screens, in a week-long series called Education Nation, NBC focused on the experiences of students and teachers in American schools.
On the big screen, Waiting for Superman is fodder for discussions as the premise states: American schools are failing American children. The movie is getting a lot of attention as it travels the states--it is even being cartoon-ized!
Every week day, children climb onto the bus, get dropped off, and walk through school doors. And for what?
You tell us.....Let's talk.
It seems that traditional researchers, at least in the public's eye, are not claiming the bulk of attention; rather, the university scholars have been de-centered by popular culture and "rogue" researchers who are foregrounding often silenced narratives are taking center stage (literally, on the television and big screen). Instead of writing dissertations, qualitative methods such as interviews, observations, and member checks are resulting in television and movie reels.
As a group of young scholars and qualitative students, let's talk about two questions:
1. ) What are the benefits and costs to this decentering? As you consider your response, we urge you to look beyond our class articles regarding paradigms, methodology, ethics, and IRB. Apply these understandings to research beyond the "ivory tower." What types of knowledge claims are being made to corroborate, compliment, facilitate (Brannen article) other research?
2.) Imagine you just received a large federal grant to research public and charter schools. At the culmination of your project, the government is expecting you to offer suggestions/provide an answer on which structure provides the highest student achievement. The only requirement: You must foreground qualitative research methods. Discuss your research design and which paradigm best fits your approach; how will you begin to research this highly political and crucial topic?
Quote of the Week: "Reasons for that dearth of evidence include a general lack of rigor in education research, as well as specific obstacles that make studying professional development's impact on student achievement a challenge." Stephen Sawchuk, staff writer Education Week. See full article by clicking here.
Quote of the Week: "Reasons for that dearth of evidence include a general lack of rigor in education research, as well as specific obstacles that make studying professional development's impact on student achievement a challenge." Stephen Sawchuk, staff writer Education Week. See full article by clicking here.
ARCHIVED QUOTES:
"We’re trying to constantly build the knowledge base, and it can’t just be built in the ivory towers." James W. Kohlmoos, the president of Knowledge Alliance. See full article by clicking here.
"As educators across the country focus attention on designing new and better ways to gauge what students are learning, they risk distorting the meaning and practice of formative assessment and squandering its potential to enhance teaching and learning." CRESST. See full article by clicking here.
I think this is an important topic, and, in many ways, is linked to the Lagemann text. Nationally, this is a very important discussion because we are shifting the “institution” as conceived by Thorndike--perhaps incorporating more of Dewey’s ideas around education as experience (not in all charter schools, but many).
ReplyDeleteIES study revealed there may not be a difference between charter and traditional public school student achievement:
ReplyDeletehttp://nces.ed.gov/whatsnew/press_releases/2010/6_29_2010.pdf
What did we really learn from this quantitative study?
One of the primary features from ‘Waiting for Superman,’ is bad teachers are the main cause of the poor educational state in this country. Teachers get their unions, unions get their teachers unable to be terminated. Some of these teachers, who perform poorly, are unable to be fired at the expense of students and the budgets. Likewise, this movie also reminds me of the importance of good teachers. According to Legemann, there are a few teacher education research, and the role of a researcher is very small. I think that school districts and teacher preparation programs that run by universities have to more focus on training highly qualified teachers as well as professional teachers in educational research. As providing more funding to establish well-organized teacher preparation programs and research in teacher education, the quality of teachers have to be enhanced to educate our children and to reform the bad settings in schools in our communities.
ReplyDeleteEun Jeong,
ReplyDeleteThank you for your post and the link you have made between Lagemann's account of the history of educational science and claims made in Waiting for Superman. Preparing highly qualified teachers is an important topic in multiple circles at this time and I think you're right--that the university must be front and center in the dialogue.