A Cheap Baker's Dozen Videos on Education Reform

Published January 02, 2009 @ 08:21AM PT

Grab that popcorn and get ready to be schooled with the following edu-film festival. And don't forget to submit your own! Curtains!

1. Progressivism in Education Debate - c. 1940

This 1940’s newsreel offers a sobering reminder of how little the debate on “good teaching” has moved since then. Progressive John Dewey makes an appearance to argue the project-based approach, while a number of traditionalists line up to warn such an approach spelled the end of Greek civilization. I kid you not: it wasn’t the Peloponnesian War. It was project-based learning.

2 - 3. CBS News Education Overviews: A Couple of Quickies

Katie Couric’s Notebook: Standardized Tests

Couric’s one-minute overview of the uses and abuses of standardized testing in NCLB breaks it down for the mainstream. Especially resonant: the elimination of arts and civics classes for the sake of higher reading and math test scores. A hidden curriculum to read between the lines: “Creators and an informed citizenry are less important than workers for the economy.” The short version: “You work. We’ll rule.”

Pros and Cons of Charter Schools

Another mainstream overview of charter schools - the hype versus the lesser-known facts.

4. Obama on His Education Plan, March 2008

Candidate Obama on the main components of his education plan in less than 8 minutes. But this is a campaign moment, so it avoids controversies like charters and vouchers.

5 - 6. Obama’s Education Team: Linda Darling-Hammond and Arne Duncan - a Study in Contrasts

The pair of videos below are meant to introduce Linda Darling-Hammond, the progressive educator who advised Candidate Obama and led his transition team, and Arne Duncan, the more deregulatory privatizer and “C.E.O.” of Chicago Public Schools. Obama chose Duncan as his Secretary of Education.

Linda Darling-Hammond: Debate: Education and the Next President

This October 21, 2008 debate between Obama’s adviser Linda Darling-Hammond and McCain’s adviser Lisa Graham Keegan gives an idea of Candidate Obama’s education stances. Darling-Hammond was the favorite of many progressive educators for the post of Secretary of Education in the Obama administration. Her experience and expertise in the many factors that make up quality teaching and learning are evident in the debate below. (Full transcript here, more on Darling-Hammond here.)

Debate: Education and the Next President - Full Archived Webcast from Education Week on Vimeo.

Arne Duncan on “Improving Public Schools” Hearing at the House of Representatives Education and Labor Committee on July 17, 2008.

Arne Duncan, “C.E.O.” (not “Superintendent” or “Chancellor,” perhaps tellingly) of Chicago Public Schools, is Secretary of Education nominee for the Obama Administration. Here, Duncan testifies on his “successes” as a reformer of Chicago’s schools. Many have contested his claims.

Part I:

Part II:

7. Sir Ken Robinson: Do Schools Kill Creativity?

Robinson’s TED Talk has become viral in educational circles. When more and more schools are eliminating arts programs to spend more time on test-prep for NCLB, it’s a timely talk indeed.

8. Ann Cooper: Reinventing the School Lunch

Ann Cooper forcefully argues that school lunches are a pressing issue in school reform, and her campaign to feed fresh-cooked, healthy foods to students in her school district is a strong reminder that “improving schools” means far, far more than improving math and reading scores.

9 - 10: “Did You Know?” and “Did You Ever Wonder?”: A Video Dialog on the Future - and the Purpose - of Education

Karl Fisch’s and Dr. Scott McLeod's “Did You Know?” is probably the most-watched education video on YouTube. It’s vision of the future of the world, and of how America must face up to that future with necessary changes in education, starkly shows that “our past is not their future” - so maybe our schools should not be either.

William Farren, an advocate of education reform focusing on well-being and the elephant in the edu-living room called environmental stewardship, produced “Did You Ever Wonder?” as a response to “Did You Know?” Pairing these videos brings out fundamental questions about the purpose of education.

BONUS: New American Schoolhouse

Filmmaker Danny Mydlack’s Voices from the New American Schoolhouse is a full-length documentary film - viewable in its entirety on YouTube - about an altogether different alternative to education exemplified by The Fairhaven School. From the trailer’s blurb:

Voices from the New American Schoolhouse explores life outside the usual educational box. Narrated exclusively by students, the film chronicles life and learning at the Fairhaven School in Upper Marlboro, MD which practices an undiluted form of freedom and democracy that turns mainstream education theory on its head. Filmmaker Danny Mydlack enjoyed unrestricted access over a two-year period to produce this candid and unblinking encounter with kid-powered learning.

View the whole film on Youtube.

Photo: Cinema Seats by mark lorch

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Comments (29)

The Fairhaven School is pretty amazing. As of late I've been reading a lot about similar schools, such as the Albany Free School. They came and did a workshop at the NCOR conference a few years ago; I've uploaded video from it here:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1677400378441364117&hl=en

Posted by Patrick St John on 01/02/2009 @ 01:08PM PT
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In 1972, in Melbourne Australia, Coonara Children's Community School was founded with the same educational philosophy as Fairhaven's -- it is interesting to note that of the 8 children that I still know who attended Coonara, five of them are now teachers. They have in common a love of learning and a commitment to student-centered teaching as well as positive memories of their experiences at Coonara. That tells me a lot about the success of this approach to learning...

Posted by M B on 01/02/2009 @ 05:11PM PT
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Patrick, Meredith,

Interesting how comments here and elsewhere so far are responding to the de-schooling approach.

Rest assured that, though the focus on this site is _public_ education, I'm convinced these alternative private schools are only blocked from relevance to public education due to boxed-in thinking. So I'll be giving them their due in future posts.

A teaser: I'm working on lining up a regular guest-blogger with experiential expertise in these schools, who also writes wicked well. More if/when that pans out. :)

Thanks for weighing in.

Posted by Clay Burell on 01/02/2009 @ 10:47PM PT
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Oh, and Patrick - thanks for the link to the vid. On my to-watch list. Is it good?

Posted by Clay Burell on 01/02/2009 @ 10:48PM PT
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One more thing: Meredith - I'm hooked in with many Australian educators from my other blog, Twitter, and more, and they've enlightened me (along with Linda Darling-Hammond) about the ways America could learn from Australian schooling.

That made Joel Klein's recent state-sponsored visit to Australia to proselytize his, IMHO, atrocious "reform" agenda in NYC.

Thoughts on that? Is Australia caving to America's NCLB, anti-union, privatizing wave? I hope not.

Posted by Clay Burell on 01/02/2009 @ 10:51PM PT
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The video is pretty informative, especially for those who are new to Free Schools, but it's not going to win any awards for cinematography, that's for sure. :)

On a somewhat related note, are you familiar with Alfie Kohn? I've been reading and listening to his stuff on education, and I think he embodies the kind of champion of truly progressive education that we should all be. In particular his writings against both competition/rewards and homework are provocative enough to challenge even those on the left.

Posted by Patrick St John on 01/03/2009 @ 07:07AM PT
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Patrick, check the "Top 10 Reads" post on the about page :)

And <i>please</i> feel encouraged to drop as many links to stuff you find worth sharing as you desire. It's a service much appreciated.

Posted by Clay Burell on 01/03/2009 @ 07:11AM PT
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Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah is all I hear and read about when it comes to school reform. In fact, over the last quarter of a century the whole concept of school reform has become a major contributor of the blah and now that the blogosphere jumped into the subject I thought it important to add the term, “blah.com”. Clay Burell is an American high school Humanities teacher, technology coach, and Apple Distinguished Educator who has taught for the last eight years in Asian international schools. He now writes a blog on education for Change.org. For the past couple of days I have read many of his works on education and the necessity to reform it. No offense Mr. Clay but every thing you wrote has been written before some with different titles but all attempting to improve what used to be the best public education system in the world. In fact ever since the early 1980’s when reform programs outnumbered teachers our system of public education has suffered because of these. You wrote an article entitled, “10 top actions you can take to make a difference in public education.” The title sounds impressive but so did the title of George W. Bush’s program of, “No Child Left Behind”. Whether people realize this or not this un-mandated program did more to harm public education than any of the ‘blahs’ before it. Your first action would be to get involved in your local school board politics. No kidding Sherlock. If everyone in ever town in America was filled with people who could get involved not only with their local school boards but with their own families education reform would not exist. But socially our families have evolved into the necessity of having both partners of the family have a full time job. I know of many families that work multiple jobs. Hell, I know many families in which the child has to work in order to have the family survive. Your first action should be to get off its high horse and understand people get tired. Your second action not only wants people to get involved with their school board policies but also get involved in national education policies. I talk with parents of my students every day and they tell me they would love to be more involved. But, the public education of their children has to be controlled by people they elect. They hope these same people will not talk down to them because they are ignorant of the newest of education reforms. All they want is their child to be prepared to succeed in their life better than they are succeeding. Another article Mr. Clay discusses is entitled,” A cheap baker’s dozen video on education reform.” In this particular article you give the reader multiple videos they can see concerning the lecturer’s concepts of how they believe public education should be administered. I have been through hundreds of these lectures in real time. The first question I ask is how many years have you spent in the public classroom.” Most say little too few but state they are experts because of the years they studied the problem. I usually just smile and wonder to myself if they would want a surgeon who never did the surgery but read the book real well. In other words, blah, blah, blah, and blah. I clearly understand that I am a dinosaur of education. I have taught for almost three decades and in this time have met remarkable teachers, administrators, and students. I would like to comment on concepts that concern school vouchers, alternative schools, differing diplomas in the school, and even the newest of concepts that allow only our most talented students to graduate after their sophomore year. I still love being a teacher and am most depressed by what the blah blahs are doing to my students. If anyone is interested in reading about my concerns or would like to view my biography please visit my blog at: http://fabiano.magic-city-news.com/ I would like to link my site to yours. Maybe we will agree with many concerns we have about the future of education. Maybe not.

Posted by James Fabiano on 01/03/2009 @ 07:42AM PT
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James, if you weren't so rude, and if you paragraphed your comments out of consideration for your readers, I'd read you (talk about blah blah blah - sheesh). As things stand, I stopped at about line three.

"I hate people when they're / not polite." - David Byrne, Talking Heads.

Posted by Clay Burell on 01/03/2009 @ 07:47AM PT
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First of all I did paragraph all of my comments. Your site picked them up as on large chunk. I used work and I cut and pasted the work. Secondly I was not rude. I talked about the frustration many of us who have been in education for years are experiencing. You see, we love our schools and our students. The people you talk about have little knowledge of this. Many new educators stop at line three. I teach my students to real all that is displayed in front of them. "Sheesh", now that is rude. Jim Fabiano York, Maine

Posted by James Fabiano on 01/03/2009 @ 08:02AM PT
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James, you come off as not only angry and insulting, but also as _unaware_ that you're angry and hostile. Take a breather and read your first comment as if you were me, and tell me how you'd think otherwise.

You'd think I kicked your dog or something, when I simply wrote some resources. You are rude, paragraphing aside. (And hint: "ctrl + A", "ctrl + C," "submit." If it doesn't go through, you've got it saved on your clipboard. You can paste and submit again. No need to use Word.

I'm not going to play back and forth snark any more. Take care.

Posted by Clay Burell on 01/03/2009 @ 08:25AM PT
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I disagree with that analysis. The best way to understand my thoughts and ideas is to ask my students and read my writings. I agree with the snark comment. In fact, you took all of my concerns the wrong way. Too many people for too long have tried to change a public education system that used to be the best in the world. I wonder what it would be like if it were left alone.

Quoting Nielson's 'The Point': A point in every direction is like having no point at all.

Posted by James Fabiano on 01/03/2009 @ 09:13AM PT
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James - I think one of the most important things I've learned in teaching so far is that you can't assume your students (or colleagues, for that matter) know anything. So yes, some things may appear obvious to you, but you can't assume that everyone else already knows them, too.

This site can be a great tool and resource for educators to come together and spread ideas. If you have great ideas, please share them. If there's something you're doing in your own class that Clay, myself or others can use to benefit our own students, I'm sure we'd love to hear it. There's no need to tear down other educators, though. Let's keep in constructive rather than negative.

Posted by nicholas howell on 01/03/2009 @ 10:56AM PT
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Clay... I appreciate what you said about trying to make this blog more of a democratic forum than one person standing on their soapbox. I live in Los Angeles and am looking at this institution of education from a parent point of view. I have two kids, now 19 and 22 who chose to "unschool" rather than attend high school. I believe that is a path that worked for them but probably would not work for all kids (or at least for all parents).

As to getting involved in your local school district governance... very good idea! I think school decision makers should be interacting directly with the students, parents and teachers that are impacted by their actions. That is not going to happen at the state or federal level.

We have a special problem here in Los Angeles (like in other big cities), we have a school district with over 700,000 kids and a school district bureaucracy that would rival the old Soviet Union. Running for school board here involves reaching out to a constiuency of several 100,000 people (that's just for one of seven school board seats) and raising and spending several $100K to do so. Best if you are either part of one or another political machine or tight with the teachers union to do so.

But from my experience with the LA Unified School District, the real decision making power is at the state level, where curriculum and school evaluation methodology is set, by some mysterious bureaucracy of advisory boards or some such which I need to figure out but have yet to do so. I would love it if you would take a stab at figuring out the California state school "org chart" and how the real education policy decisions on curriculum and school evaluation are made.

Cooper Zale
Los Angeles
www.leftyparent.com
<a href="http://www.leftyparent.com">www.leftyparent.com</a>

Posted by Cooper Zale on 01/03/2009 @ 11:50AM PT
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Clay... Please consider posting this video by former New York State Teacher of the Year John Taylor Gatto. He is a profound critic of our public education system and should be represented on your list of videos as a truly articulate and provocative contrarian.

He has a video on youtube at... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ogCc8ObiwQ

Cooper Zale
Los Angeles
www.leftyparent.com

Posted by Cooper Zale on 01/03/2009 @ 01:18PM PT
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I am a passionate believer in public education for democracy, but I also think that our definition of "public education" has gotten so narrow as to be more of the problem than the solution! Real change is made almost impossible because of entrenched bureaucracy and legal mandates. What about supporting the provision of a "free and appropriate" education for all children, but getting rid of the compulsory attendance laws that equate education with "schooling" and keep us trapped in a democracy-squashing box? Check out this link to my essay: A Teacher Questions Comulsory Schooling -- http://www.naturallifemagazine.com/0812/teacher_questions_compulsory_schooling.htm

Posted by Jim Strickland on 01/04/2009 @ 09:10AM PT
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Responding to Jim Strickland's post...

I agree with this idea. A classroom should be full of people who want to be there. It is not fair to the students and teachers that want to be in this learning situation to have to deal with other students (teachers?) who don't want to be there. Mandatory attendance in school is more incarceration than learning.

That said... I think there is a legit fear with making school non-compulsory is that some parents will choose not to send their kids and give them no other learning environment as an alternative, and some communities will no longer be concerned with ensuring that all the youth in their community have access to school.

Cooper Zale
Los Angeles
http://www.leftyparent.com/

Posted by Cooper Zale on 01/04/2009 @ 10:34AM PT
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I understand the concern that some parents would neglect their children's education without compulosry attendance laws. A couple of things to consider:

* When we make schooling compulosry, then we have a legal mandate to define what consitutes a "school". This obligation to define schooling (which, by the way, is generally done by those most interested in maintaining our political and economic status quo) creates the box that eventually becomes self-defeating for our democracy. Abolishing compulsory schooling opens the door for us to generate more creative definitions of education, both inside and outside of our present system, thus removing our biggest obstacle to democratic reform.

* In the end, only entire communities can offer a truly "public" education. By equating "schooling" with "education", compulsory schooling has allowed us to abdicate our responsibility to build communities that are truly educative -- communities in which the arts and habits of democracy are naturally learned simply by our participation in community life.

* Making schooling voluntary, while requiring communities to insure equitable access for ALL families, would make partnerships out of what are now, for many families, adversarial relationship.

* Can we as a society afford to continue using coercive means which inadvertently undermine the democratic ends we are seeking? Coercion is the culprit!

I know this is a scary idea to many of us, but if we make DEMOCRACY the banner under which these changes are made and make concerted efforts to wrap our collective arms around those who are currently dropping through the cracks in our system, I believe we will realize our greatest hopes instead of our worst fears. Is real, lasting change even possible in a coercive system? Something to think about....

Posted by Jim Strickland on 01/05/2009 @ 06:56AM PT
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@Jim... I agree with you on all points above... It does not suit us as a society to use massive social engineering, coercion and a top-down command and control education system to create a well educated populace for the 21st Century.

But before we can tackle non-compulsory we can tackle allowing for many paths.

Posted by Cooper Zale on 01/05/2009 @ 06:21PM PT
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They probably have to happen simultaneously -- compulsory schooling inhibits the development of other paths, and the lack of other paths makes us afraid to end compulsory schooling! It reminds me of having to move a piece of heavy furniture by myself -- push one corner forward a little, then move the other corner to catch up, then back to the first corner... and back and forth and back and forth to keep inching the whole thing forward!

Posted by Jim Strickland on 01/05/2009 @ 08:03PM PT
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@Jim... again I agree, but I think options is a lot easier a sell than making school non-compulsory. Options addresses the issue of school dropouts which is a hugh and recognized problem. Making schools non-compulsory is a radical step that probably 90% of the public still stongly opposes and particularly minority communities who see it as a backhanded way of denying their kids equal educational opportunities.

Posted by Cooper Zale on 01/06/2009 @ 09:53AM PT
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Cooper, you are right. Have you read Dennis Littky's "The Big Picture"? His approach is a perfect example of providing options that meet kids where they are and take their interests and passions seriously. He also advocates a built-in component for connecting kids with mentors/apprenticeships in the community. In pursing creative options like this, we will undoubtedly butt up against legal and bureaucratic obstacles -- this is where we will find work that needs to be done. Thanks for your comments!

Posted by Jim Strickland on 01/06/2009 @ 10:12AM PT
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@Jim... I checked out Littky's "The Big Picture" site and it looks good. Thanks for sharing that. Are you familiar with AERO (the Alternative Education Resource Organization @ http://www.educationrevolution.org/), which is an organization supporting the full range of educational alternatives, particularly those featuring more democratic education components.

Cooper Zale
http://www.leftyparent.com

Posted by Cooper Zale on 01/06/2009 @ 01:35PM PT
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Funny you should mention AERO -- I just finished reading Ron Miller's new book, "The Self-Organizing Revolution" (highly recommended, as is all of Miller's work) and have started getting the AERO newsletter. They are certainly on the cutting edge of where I believe we need to be going. I'd love to see more holistic alternatives available within our public system. My two youngest attended a public Montessori school for several years, but those are few and far between.

Posted by Jim Strickland on 01/06/2009 @ 07:05PM PT
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@Jim... If you can afford the time and money, you might want to consider attending the yearly AERO conference in late June in the Albany NY area. I have been to the last three and am planning to go again this year. It is a great opportunity to meet people like Ron Miller and other big time proponents of educational alternatives and network with maybe 300 other people who are interested in this stuff like you and I are. See the AERO site @ http://www.educationrevolution.org/conference.html.

Posted by Cooper Zale on 01/07/2009 @ 12:10PM PT
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Cooper, the AERO conference looks great! I'll look into it.

Posted by Jim Strickland on 01/07/2009 @ 09:56PM PT
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@Jim... cool... hope you can attend... I could introduce you to all the folks I know there.

I have not had a chance to read Ron's new book, but I have a copy and its on my list... btw... Ron is a friend now and usually attends the AERO conferences. If all three of us are there this summer I will introduce you.

Also you might like to check out my blog at http://www.leftyparent.com

Posted by Cooper Zale on 01/08/2009 @ 11:32AM PT
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Cooper, great blog! I don't do a lot of reading online, but I very much enjoyed your site -- you are quite a gifted writer. I especially enjoyed Eric's story. Reminds me a lot of my 13-year-old unschooler. He is very into online games and his UU youth group. He also volunteers at our local coffee shop and animal shelter. School isn't for him, but he is learning and growing in ways far beyond that of many schooled kids his age. For kids who recoil at the thought of someone else telling them what to do six hours a day, unschooling is the way to go!

Posted by Jim Strickland on 01/09/2009 @ 08:17PM PT
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Jim... thanks for the kudo... I came home and read it and it made my night. Good to hear you have a kid unschooling as well. It is amazing what a young person can do if they have the space to stop the world for a moment and figure out something they actually want to do.

Posted by Cooper Zale on 01/09/2009 @ 11:01PM PT
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Clay is an American high school Humanities teacher, technology coach, and Apple Distinguished Educator who has taught for the last eight years in Asian international schools. According to law, he's married to his wife. According to his wife, he's married to his Mac.