OVER 3200 WOMEN TRADE UNIONISTS from the length and breadth of this country met in Chicago, March... more OVER 3200 WOMEN TRADE UNIONISTS from the length and breadth of this country met in Chicago, March 23-24 to form the Coalition of Labor Union Women (CLUW) and for the first time in modern labor history, the union movement and women's fight for equality were united. One of the conference organizers, Addie Wyatt, explained in her keynote address that CLUW had been conceived by a very few women trade unionists many months before. What she did not mention was that most of the women who had initiated the conference call and structured the regional meetings that preceded the Chicago convention were top-ranking women in the AFL-CIO and UAW bureaucracy. Despite their best efforts, they were only little more able to contain the political content than they were the size. Originally 800 women had been expected in Chicago, but by conference time attendance had swelled to well over 3000.
"An Exchange on the Equal Rights Amendment"
by Lois Weiner and Phyllis Jacobson, New Politics, Wi... more "An Exchange on the Equal Rights Amendment" by Lois Weiner and Phyllis Jacobson, New Politics, Winter 1973, pp. 84-87, explores the consequences of the likely destruction of protective legislation by passage of the ERA. This PDF was created by Ron Unz in his digitization of alternative media. I now think Phyllis Jacobson had the correct position. (Lois Weiner)
What are the implications of Donald Trump's victory for U.S. teachers unions' rights and responsi... more What are the implications of Donald Trump's victory for U.S. teachers unions' rights and responsibility to represent teachers' collective interests as workers and professionals? My analysis begins with a brief overview of the economic and political terrain before the November 2016 election and U.S. teacher unions' position in it. I then propose that while the GOP and Trump are intensifying policies that have been part of the neoliberal project in the US for at least two decades, neoliberalism has experienced a very sharp ideological challenge that has important implications for public education, teachers' work, and teachers unions. Drawing on this analysis, I explain why union efforts to contest attacks on the right to bargain collectively for teachers should challenge the framework and political assumptions of collective bargaining laws, which predate neoliberalism and were based on " corporate productivism, " the post-World War II agreement between labor unions in the private sector with capitalism. To protect gains made by teachers unions, teachers will need to create and adopt new forms of mobilization that contest power relations in the school site. Transformed unions will also need to develop new kinds of alliances with community groups, parents, and workers who are not members of organized labor, collaborating as respectful allies who may not share identical political premises. The final section of the article presents three imperatives for teachers union officers on the state, national, and local level.
From "Teacher Education and Practice," Spring 2017, Vol. 30, No. 2. "The Trump administration and... more From "Teacher Education and Practice," Spring 2017, Vol. 30, No. 2. "The Trump administration and teacher education. Thoughts from the first days." pages 287-290.
After Albert Shanker's death in February 1997, the numerous obituaries in newspapers throughout t... more After Albert Shanker's death in February 1997, the numerous obituaries in newspapers throughout the United States testified to his notable presence in American political life. This critical analysis of his ideas suggests why his legacy is far more complex than his obituaries propose. The paper, first presented at the American Education Research Association,was subsequently published in "Contemporary Education."
Portuguese translation by Alvaro Hypolito and Cesar Haas of "SCRUTINIZING HOW THE WORLD BANK’S PR... more Portuguese translation by Alvaro Hypolito and Cesar Haas of "SCRUTINIZING HOW THE WORLD BANK’S PROJECT FOR EDUCATIONAL REFORM IN LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN SUBSTITUTES IDEOLOGY FOR EVIDENCE" by Lois Weiner and Mary Compton.
INTRODUÇÃO Em julho de 2014, o Banco Mundial publicou o relatório: Great Teachers: How to raise s... more INTRODUÇÃO Em julho de 2014, o Banco Mundial publicou o relatório: Great Teachers: How to raise student learning in Latin America and the Caribbean. (Grandes Professores: Como aumentar o aprendizado de estudantes na América Latina e no Caribe.) Em seus seis capítulos, o relatório apresenta políticas de educação que, segundo alega o relatório, irão incentivar as economias estagnadas na América Latina e no Caribe (doravante, LAC). Devido à grande influência do Banco Mundial nas políticas educacionais nos países do Sul Global (Connell e Dados, 2014; Klees et al. 2012), o relatório é altamente significativo e merece detalhado escrutínio. Klees (2002) aconselha aos críticos da política neoliberal que "tenham a responsabilidade de desconstruir pesquisas falhas. Porém temos que mudar os termos da discussão" 1 [tradução nossa]. Neste resumo crítico, nos encarregamos de fazer as duas coisas. Grandes Professores: Como aumentar o aprendizado de estudantes na América Latina e no Caribe, (doravante, GP) é, ao mesmo tempo, um relatório de pesquisa conduzido sob os auspícios do Banco Mundial e prescrições políticas associadas à sua pesquisa. Como no caso de outro relatório do Banco Mundial, (Klees et al, 2012), as pesquisas e recomendações políticas do GP são definidas por suposições mal articuladas sobre poder, política e pedagogia. É chave, para as políticas do GP, a identificação que o artigo faz da baixa qualidade dos professores como o maior obstáculo na redução da pobreza na LAC. Os sindicatos de professores são descritos como 1 ''have a responsibility to deconstruct flawed research. But we must change the terms of the discussion''
In July 2014, the World Bank released Great Teachers: How to raise student learning in Latin Amer... more In July 2014, the World Bank released Great Teachers: How to raise student learning in Latin America and the Caribbean. In its six chapters the report puts forward policies in education it contends will jumpstart stalled economic development in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC). Given the huge influence of the World Bank on education policy in the global South (Connell and Dados, 2014; Klees et al. 2012), the report is highly significant and deserves close scrutiny. Klees (2002) advises that critics of neoliberal policy “have a responsibility to deconstruct flawed research. But we must change the terms of the discussion” (np). In this precis and critique we take up both charges. Great Teachers: How to raise student learning in Latin America and the Caribbean (hereafter, GT) is simultaneously a report of research conducted under the auspices of the World Bank and policy prescriptions linked to its research. As is the case in other World Bank reports, (Klees et al,2012), GT’s policy recommendations and research are configured by explicit and unarticulated assumptions about power, politics, and pedagogy. Key to GT’s policies is its identification of poor teacher quality as the major obstacle in reducing poverty in LAC. Teachers unions are described as blocking government efforts to raise educational quality and thereby eradicate poverty by opposing policies identified with the neoliberal project, primarily those associated with teachers’ working conditions (salary, pensions, evaluation linked to standardized testing, performance related pay, and tenure) and privatization (charter schools and outsourcing of educational services). GT argues for various tactics to weaken teacher unions and by so doing advance a package of educational policies termed GERM, the global education reform movement (Sahlberg, 2007). GT suggests three strategies of curtailing union influence: Giving unions limited access to express opinions, what Compton (forthcoming, 2015) describes from the point of view of resisting GERM as a co-optation strategy; governmental actions that weaken and discredit unions and undercut their influence by forming a block of business and civil society that publicizes itself as defending the public interest so as to isolate and marginalize teachers as an organized entity; and legal and regulatory confrontation by governments. We analyze elsewhere how teachers unions globally are responding to GERM (Compton and Weiner, forthcoming). In this article we interrogate five key premises that drive GT’s policy recommendations, examining the evidence for its prescriptions. We find that GT ignores earlier World Bank research on education in LAC, fails to address contradictions in its own findings, and, as it has done previously (Klees et al, 2012), omits acknowledgment of educational research that challenges its analysis. We also scrutinize the World Bank’s research on LAC teacher quality and performance reported in GT, identifying significant flaws in methodology that limit the credibility and usefulness of its findings and the recommendations based on its research. GT deserves a more comprehensive critical response than we provide in this overview, and we invite additional analyses from scholars working in diverse research traditions and areas of expertise, geographic and disciplinary. Toward this end we and Critical Education encourage contributions in English, Spanish, and Portuguese scrutinizing GT’s claims and conclusions. Submissions will be reviewed by scholars who work in each language. Critical Education will publish contributions as they are reviewed and accepted. Contributions will be posted on the Research Collaborative archive on www.teachersolidarity.com so they are available to teacher activists and critical scholars of teachers’ work and teachers unions globally.
"Great Teachers: How to raise student learning in Latin America and the Caribbean" is simultaneo... more "Great Teachers: How to raise student learning in Latin America and the Caribbean" is simultaneously a report of research conducted under the auspices of the World Bank and policy prescriptions linked to its research. GT identifies poor teacher quality as the major obstacle in reducing poverty in LAC. Teachers unions are described as blocking government efforts to raise educational quality and thereby eradicate poverty by opposing policies identified with the neoliberal project. ). In this article we interrogate five key premises that drive GT’s policy recommendations, examining the evidence for its prescriptions. We find that GT ignores earlier World Bank research on education in LAC, fails to address contradictions in its own findings, and omits acknowledgment of educational research that challenges its analysis. We identify significant flaws in methodology that limit the credibility and usefulness of its findings and the recommendations based on its research.
(A version of this article was published as “Democracy, Pluralism, and Schooling: A Progressive A... more (A version of this article was published as “Democracy, Pluralism, and Schooling: A Progressive Agenda” in Educational Studies, 00131946, Fall2000, Vol. 31, Issue 3) In this article, I describe and explain a framework for progressive reform of education at a time in which conservative ideas and policies dominate. I explain the stunning momentum for change we have witnessed in the past several years, and I sketch a program on which a progressive movement for educational reform might be built. I propose this framework to encourage debate among educators concerned about schooling's democratic purposes and expanding education's role in making the society more democratic.
Why does a divide exist between scholars of critical education and teachers unions and how might ... more Why does a divide exist between scholars of critical education and teachers unions and how might it be bridged to develop a more robust, mutually beneficial relationship? In this article I explain why supporters of critical education have a huge stake in the transformation and regeneration teachers unions and describe how critical education might, in turn, support teachers unions to develop a new grammar and vocabulary to discuss education. The paper concludes with discussion of pedagogical implications of unions educating members about the injustices and contradictions of capitalism. It contrasts this pedagogical and political approach with the expectation that union members will agree with a critical perspective or adopt critical pedagogy.
In this article, I describe and explain a framework for progressive reform of education at a time... more In this article, I describe and explain a framework for progressive reform of education at a time in which conservative ideas and policies dominate. I explain the stunning momentum for change we have witnessed in the past several years, and I sketch a program on which a progressive movement for educational reform might be built. I propose this framework to encourage debate among educators concerned about schooling's democratic purposes and expanding education's role in making the society more democratic. (Version of an article published in Educational Studies, Fall 2000).
Why has gender been marginalized as a consideration in decisions about how conditions in urban sc... more Why has gender been marginalized as a consideration in decisions about how conditions in urban schools should be improved? To answer this question I examine research about home and school relations to analyze my experience as a parent activist in the urban public school that my daughter attended. I use the activity of “nitpicking” as both a literal explanation and a metaphoric representation of the ways that women’s responsibilities for maintenance of children’s emotional and physical well-being interfere with the political task of making schools more equitable. Moving to a scrutiny of research on urban school organization and improvement, I explain how structures of urban schools,the ideology of professionalism, and the chronic scarcity of resources combine with working women’s dual jobs to obscure gender as the subject and object of school reform. I conclude that for gender equity to be put on the table as a consistent consideration in school reform, it must be one facet of a broader agenda for school reform that addresses status and power differentials among researchers, parents, teachers, and school administrators, due to race and class, as well as gender.
This article examines data on student achievement and school demographics not explored by the res... more This article examines data on student achievement and school demographics not explored by the researchers who have promoted Community School District 2 (CSD 2) as a model of urban school reform that should be replicated elsewhere. Data on achievement indicate a remarkable degree of social and racial stratification among CSD 2's schools and levels of achievement that closely correlate with race, ethnicity, and poverty. In addition, when CSD 2's scores on state and city tests of mathematics are compared with results from CSD 25 in Queens, a school district that serves a population demographically similar, the superiority of its functioning becomes questionable. The article explains why the design of research on CSD 2 illustrates the perils to both
This study examined the reasons given by college students for choosing teaching as a career, comp... more This study examined the reasons given by college students for choosing teaching as a career, comparing responses of high-achieving graduates of select liberal arts colleges enrolled in the Teaching and Curriculum program at Harvard Graduate School of Education to become secondary level teachers, and 53 prospective early childhood, elementary, and secondary school teachers at Urban College, a small public college in the Northeast with a more racially and socially diverse student body. Respondents rated 23 statements, giving their importance as motivations for becoming a teacher, and ranked their two or three most important reasons for career choice. Urban College and. Harvard students were found to be more similar than different. Three of four motivations named as a primary reason for wanting to be a teacher were the same wanting the opportunity to be creative, enjoying work with young people, and desiring a socially useful job. Compared to Harvard students, Urban College students gave higher ratings for the importance of salary and job security, while Harvard students gave higher ratings to independence and autonomy, desire to change society, desire to meet people of different social backgrounds, the suitability of the academic calendar, and the length of the school year. (3DD)
Nitpicking: An Exploration of the Marginalization of Gender Equity in Urban School Research and Reform
The Urban Review, 2002
Why has gender been marginalized as a consideration in decisions about how conditions in urban sc... more Why has gender been marginalized as a consideration in decisions about how conditions in urban schools should be improved? To answer this question I examine research about home and school relations to analyze my experience as a parent activist in the urban public school that my daughter attended. I use the activity of “nitpicking” as both a literal explanation and a metaphoric representation of the ways that women's responsibilities for maintenance of children's emotional and physical well-being interfere with the political task of making schools more equitable. Moving to a scrutiny of research on urban school organization and improvement, I explain how structures of urban schools, the ideology of professionalism, and the chronic scarcity of resources combine with working women's dual jobs to obscure gender as the subject and object of school reform. I conclude that for gender equity to be put on the table as a consistent consideration in school reform, it must be one facet of a broader agenda for school reform that addresses status and power differentials among researchers, parents, teachers, and school administrators, due to race and class, as well as gender.
OVER 3200 WOMEN TRADE UNIONISTS from the length and breadth of this country met in Chicago, March... more OVER 3200 WOMEN TRADE UNIONISTS from the length and breadth of this country met in Chicago, March 23-24 to form the Coalition of Labor Union Women (CLUW) and for the first time in modern labor history, the union movement and women's fight for equality were united. One of the conference organizers, Addie Wyatt, explained in her keynote address that CLUW had been conceived by a very few women trade unionists many months before. What she did not mention was that most of the women who had initiated the conference call and structured the regional meetings that preceded the Chicago convention were top-ranking women in the AFL-CIO and UAW bureaucracy. Despite their best efforts, they were only little more able to contain the political content than they were the size. Originally 800 women had been expected in Chicago, but by conference time attendance had swelled to well over 3000.
"An Exchange on the Equal Rights Amendment"
by Lois Weiner and Phyllis Jacobson, New Politics, Wi... more "An Exchange on the Equal Rights Amendment" by Lois Weiner and Phyllis Jacobson, New Politics, Winter 1973, pp. 84-87, explores the consequences of the likely destruction of protective legislation by passage of the ERA. This PDF was created by Ron Unz in his digitization of alternative media. I now think Phyllis Jacobson had the correct position. (Lois Weiner)
What are the implications of Donald Trump's victory for U.S. teachers unions' rights and responsi... more What are the implications of Donald Trump's victory for U.S. teachers unions' rights and responsibility to represent teachers' collective interests as workers and professionals? My analysis begins with a brief overview of the economic and political terrain before the November 2016 election and U.S. teacher unions' position in it. I then propose that while the GOP and Trump are intensifying policies that have been part of the neoliberal project in the US for at least two decades, neoliberalism has experienced a very sharp ideological challenge that has important implications for public education, teachers' work, and teachers unions. Drawing on this analysis, I explain why union efforts to contest attacks on the right to bargain collectively for teachers should challenge the framework and political assumptions of collective bargaining laws, which predate neoliberalism and were based on " corporate productivism, " the post-World War II agreement between labor unions in the private sector with capitalism. To protect gains made by teachers unions, teachers will need to create and adopt new forms of mobilization that contest power relations in the school site. Transformed unions will also need to develop new kinds of alliances with community groups, parents, and workers who are not members of organized labor, collaborating as respectful allies who may not share identical political premises. The final section of the article presents three imperatives for teachers union officers on the state, national, and local level.
From "Teacher Education and Practice," Spring 2017, Vol. 30, No. 2. "The Trump administration and... more From "Teacher Education and Practice," Spring 2017, Vol. 30, No. 2. "The Trump administration and teacher education. Thoughts from the first days." pages 287-290.
After Albert Shanker's death in February 1997, the numerous obituaries in newspapers throughout t... more After Albert Shanker's death in February 1997, the numerous obituaries in newspapers throughout the United States testified to his notable presence in American political life. This critical analysis of his ideas suggests why his legacy is far more complex than his obituaries propose. The paper, first presented at the American Education Research Association,was subsequently published in "Contemporary Education."
Portuguese translation by Alvaro Hypolito and Cesar Haas of "SCRUTINIZING HOW THE WORLD BANK’S PR... more Portuguese translation by Alvaro Hypolito and Cesar Haas of "SCRUTINIZING HOW THE WORLD BANK’S PROJECT FOR EDUCATIONAL REFORM IN LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN SUBSTITUTES IDEOLOGY FOR EVIDENCE" by Lois Weiner and Mary Compton.
INTRODUÇÃO Em julho de 2014, o Banco Mundial publicou o relatório: Great Teachers: How to raise s... more INTRODUÇÃO Em julho de 2014, o Banco Mundial publicou o relatório: Great Teachers: How to raise student learning in Latin America and the Caribbean. (Grandes Professores: Como aumentar o aprendizado de estudantes na América Latina e no Caribe.) Em seus seis capítulos, o relatório apresenta políticas de educação que, segundo alega o relatório, irão incentivar as economias estagnadas na América Latina e no Caribe (doravante, LAC). Devido à grande influência do Banco Mundial nas políticas educacionais nos países do Sul Global (Connell e Dados, 2014; Klees et al. 2012), o relatório é altamente significativo e merece detalhado escrutínio. Klees (2002) aconselha aos críticos da política neoliberal que "tenham a responsabilidade de desconstruir pesquisas falhas. Porém temos que mudar os termos da discussão" 1 [tradução nossa]. Neste resumo crítico, nos encarregamos de fazer as duas coisas. Grandes Professores: Como aumentar o aprendizado de estudantes na América Latina e no Caribe, (doravante, GP) é, ao mesmo tempo, um relatório de pesquisa conduzido sob os auspícios do Banco Mundial e prescrições políticas associadas à sua pesquisa. Como no caso de outro relatório do Banco Mundial, (Klees et al, 2012), as pesquisas e recomendações políticas do GP são definidas por suposições mal articuladas sobre poder, política e pedagogia. É chave, para as políticas do GP, a identificação que o artigo faz da baixa qualidade dos professores como o maior obstáculo na redução da pobreza na LAC. Os sindicatos de professores são descritos como 1 ''have a responsibility to deconstruct flawed research. But we must change the terms of the discussion''
In July 2014, the World Bank released Great Teachers: How to raise student learning in Latin Amer... more In July 2014, the World Bank released Great Teachers: How to raise student learning in Latin America and the Caribbean. In its six chapters the report puts forward policies in education it contends will jumpstart stalled economic development in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC). Given the huge influence of the World Bank on education policy in the global South (Connell and Dados, 2014; Klees et al. 2012), the report is highly significant and deserves close scrutiny. Klees (2002) advises that critics of neoliberal policy “have a responsibility to deconstruct flawed research. But we must change the terms of the discussion” (np). In this precis and critique we take up both charges. Great Teachers: How to raise student learning in Latin America and the Caribbean (hereafter, GT) is simultaneously a report of research conducted under the auspices of the World Bank and policy prescriptions linked to its research. As is the case in other World Bank reports, (Klees et al,2012), GT’s policy recommendations and research are configured by explicit and unarticulated assumptions about power, politics, and pedagogy. Key to GT’s policies is its identification of poor teacher quality as the major obstacle in reducing poverty in LAC. Teachers unions are described as blocking government efforts to raise educational quality and thereby eradicate poverty by opposing policies identified with the neoliberal project, primarily those associated with teachers’ working conditions (salary, pensions, evaluation linked to standardized testing, performance related pay, and tenure) and privatization (charter schools and outsourcing of educational services). GT argues for various tactics to weaken teacher unions and by so doing advance a package of educational policies termed GERM, the global education reform movement (Sahlberg, 2007). GT suggests three strategies of curtailing union influence: Giving unions limited access to express opinions, what Compton (forthcoming, 2015) describes from the point of view of resisting GERM as a co-optation strategy; governmental actions that weaken and discredit unions and undercut their influence by forming a block of business and civil society that publicizes itself as defending the public interest so as to isolate and marginalize teachers as an organized entity; and legal and regulatory confrontation by governments. We analyze elsewhere how teachers unions globally are responding to GERM (Compton and Weiner, forthcoming). In this article we interrogate five key premises that drive GT’s policy recommendations, examining the evidence for its prescriptions. We find that GT ignores earlier World Bank research on education in LAC, fails to address contradictions in its own findings, and, as it has done previously (Klees et al, 2012), omits acknowledgment of educational research that challenges its analysis. We also scrutinize the World Bank’s research on LAC teacher quality and performance reported in GT, identifying significant flaws in methodology that limit the credibility and usefulness of its findings and the recommendations based on its research. GT deserves a more comprehensive critical response than we provide in this overview, and we invite additional analyses from scholars working in diverse research traditions and areas of expertise, geographic and disciplinary. Toward this end we and Critical Education encourage contributions in English, Spanish, and Portuguese scrutinizing GT’s claims and conclusions. Submissions will be reviewed by scholars who work in each language. Critical Education will publish contributions as they are reviewed and accepted. Contributions will be posted on the Research Collaborative archive on www.teachersolidarity.com so they are available to teacher activists and critical scholars of teachers’ work and teachers unions globally.
"Great Teachers: How to raise student learning in Latin America and the Caribbean" is simultaneo... more "Great Teachers: How to raise student learning in Latin America and the Caribbean" is simultaneously a report of research conducted under the auspices of the World Bank and policy prescriptions linked to its research. GT identifies poor teacher quality as the major obstacle in reducing poverty in LAC. Teachers unions are described as blocking government efforts to raise educational quality and thereby eradicate poverty by opposing policies identified with the neoliberal project. ). In this article we interrogate five key premises that drive GT’s policy recommendations, examining the evidence for its prescriptions. We find that GT ignores earlier World Bank research on education in LAC, fails to address contradictions in its own findings, and omits acknowledgment of educational research that challenges its analysis. We identify significant flaws in methodology that limit the credibility and usefulness of its findings and the recommendations based on its research.
(A version of this article was published as “Democracy, Pluralism, and Schooling: A Progressive A... more (A version of this article was published as “Democracy, Pluralism, and Schooling: A Progressive Agenda” in Educational Studies, 00131946, Fall2000, Vol. 31, Issue 3) In this article, I describe and explain a framework for progressive reform of education at a time in which conservative ideas and policies dominate. I explain the stunning momentum for change we have witnessed in the past several years, and I sketch a program on which a progressive movement for educational reform might be built. I propose this framework to encourage debate among educators concerned about schooling's democratic purposes and expanding education's role in making the society more democratic.
Why does a divide exist between scholars of critical education and teachers unions and how might ... more Why does a divide exist between scholars of critical education and teachers unions and how might it be bridged to develop a more robust, mutually beneficial relationship? In this article I explain why supporters of critical education have a huge stake in the transformation and regeneration teachers unions and describe how critical education might, in turn, support teachers unions to develop a new grammar and vocabulary to discuss education. The paper concludes with discussion of pedagogical implications of unions educating members about the injustices and contradictions of capitalism. It contrasts this pedagogical and political approach with the expectation that union members will agree with a critical perspective or adopt critical pedagogy.
In this article, I describe and explain a framework for progressive reform of education at a time... more In this article, I describe and explain a framework for progressive reform of education at a time in which conservative ideas and policies dominate. I explain the stunning momentum for change we have witnessed in the past several years, and I sketch a program on which a progressive movement for educational reform might be built. I propose this framework to encourage debate among educators concerned about schooling's democratic purposes and expanding education's role in making the society more democratic. (Version of an article published in Educational Studies, Fall 2000).
Why has gender been marginalized as a consideration in decisions about how conditions in urban sc... more Why has gender been marginalized as a consideration in decisions about how conditions in urban schools should be improved? To answer this question I examine research about home and school relations to analyze my experience as a parent activist in the urban public school that my daughter attended. I use the activity of “nitpicking” as both a literal explanation and a metaphoric representation of the ways that women’s responsibilities for maintenance of children’s emotional and physical well-being interfere with the political task of making schools more equitable. Moving to a scrutiny of research on urban school organization and improvement, I explain how structures of urban schools,the ideology of professionalism, and the chronic scarcity of resources combine with working women’s dual jobs to obscure gender as the subject and object of school reform. I conclude that for gender equity to be put on the table as a consistent consideration in school reform, it must be one facet of a broader agenda for school reform that addresses status and power differentials among researchers, parents, teachers, and school administrators, due to race and class, as well as gender.
This article examines data on student achievement and school demographics not explored by the res... more This article examines data on student achievement and school demographics not explored by the researchers who have promoted Community School District 2 (CSD 2) as a model of urban school reform that should be replicated elsewhere. Data on achievement indicate a remarkable degree of social and racial stratification among CSD 2's schools and levels of achievement that closely correlate with race, ethnicity, and poverty. In addition, when CSD 2's scores on state and city tests of mathematics are compared with results from CSD 25 in Queens, a school district that serves a population demographically similar, the superiority of its functioning becomes questionable. The article explains why the design of research on CSD 2 illustrates the perils to both
This study examined the reasons given by college students for choosing teaching as a career, comp... more This study examined the reasons given by college students for choosing teaching as a career, comparing responses of high-achieving graduates of select liberal arts colleges enrolled in the Teaching and Curriculum program at Harvard Graduate School of Education to become secondary level teachers, and 53 prospective early childhood, elementary, and secondary school teachers at Urban College, a small public college in the Northeast with a more racially and socially diverse student body. Respondents rated 23 statements, giving their importance as motivations for becoming a teacher, and ranked their two or three most important reasons for career choice. Urban College and. Harvard students were found to be more similar than different. Three of four motivations named as a primary reason for wanting to be a teacher were the same wanting the opportunity to be creative, enjoying work with young people, and desiring a socially useful job. Compared to Harvard students, Urban College students gave higher ratings for the importance of salary and job security, while Harvard students gave higher ratings to independence and autonomy, desire to change society, desire to meet people of different social backgrounds, the suitability of the academic calendar, and the length of the school year. (3DD)
Nitpicking: An Exploration of the Marginalization of Gender Equity in Urban School Research and Reform
The Urban Review, 2002
Why has gender been marginalized as a consideration in decisions about how conditions in urban sc... more Why has gender been marginalized as a consideration in decisions about how conditions in urban schools should be improved? To answer this question I examine research about home and school relations to analyze my experience as a parent activist in the urban public school that my daughter attended. I use the activity of “nitpicking” as both a literal explanation and a metaphoric representation of the ways that women's responsibilities for maintenance of children's emotional and physical well-being interfere with the political task of making schools more equitable. Moving to a scrutiny of research on urban school organization and improvement, I explain how structures of urban schools, the ideology of professionalism, and the chronic scarcity of resources combine with working women's dual jobs to obscure gender as the subject and object of school reform. I conclude that for gender equity to be put on the table as a consistent consideration in school reform, it must be one facet of a broader agenda for school reform that addresses status and power differentials among researchers, parents, teachers, and school administrators, due to race and class, as well as gender.
Video of Presentation at Universite Laval, Quebec Canada, 20 October 2016
The presentation addresses pushing back successfully against deprofessionalization of teaching, a... more The presentation addresses pushing back successfully against deprofessionalization of teaching, austerity, and dispossession in public education. It addresses two questions: 1. How do we develop and support mutually-respectful collaborations among constituencies that should be considered natural allies in struggles to defend high-quality education for all students? 2. What do those advocating for equity and quality for all students (scholars, activists in civil society organizations; teacher union officials; activist teachers committed to social justice; parents; students; labor unions) need to know and do? Comments and discussion follow the presentation. Link here: http://www.fse.ulaval.ca/actualites/videos/
Lois Weiner and Andy Kaplan Respond to Diane Ravitch’s
The Reign of Error
LOIS WEINER and ANDY KA... more Lois Weiner and Andy Kaplan Respond to Diane Ravitch’s The Reign of Error LOIS WEINER and ANDY KAPLAN: An interview about Diane Ravitch's The Reign of Error: The Hoax of the Privatization Movement and the Danger to America’s Public Schools. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2013.
This is my dissertation, which was revised and published as "Preparing teachers for urban schools... more This is my dissertation, which was revised and published as "Preparing teachers for urban schools. Lessons from thirty years of school reform," Teachers College Press. "Perspectives on preparing teachers o f at-risk students in urban schools, 1960-1990." Harvard University, 1991
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Papers by Lois Weiner
by Lois Weiner and Phyllis Jacobson, New Politics, Winter 1973, pp. 84-87, explores the consequences of the likely destruction of protective legislation by passage of the ERA. This PDF was created by Ron Unz in his digitization of alternative media. I now think Phyllis Jacobson had the correct position. (Lois Weiner)
Great Teachers: How to raise student learning in Latin America and the Caribbean (hereafter, GT) is simultaneously a report of research conducted under the auspices of the World Bank and policy prescriptions linked to its research. As is the case in other World Bank reports, (Klees et al,2012), GT’s policy recommendations and research are configured by explicit and unarticulated assumptions about power, politics, and pedagogy. Key to GT’s policies is its identification of poor teacher quality as the major obstacle in reducing poverty in LAC. Teachers unions are described as blocking government efforts to raise educational quality and thereby eradicate poverty by opposing policies identified with the neoliberal project, primarily those associated with teachers’ working conditions (salary, pensions, evaluation linked to standardized testing, performance related pay, and tenure) and privatization (charter schools and outsourcing of educational services). GT argues for various tactics to weaken teacher unions and by so doing advance a package of educational policies termed GERM, the global education reform movement (Sahlberg, 2007). GT suggests three strategies of curtailing union influence: Giving unions limited access to express opinions, what Compton (forthcoming, 2015) describes from the point of view of resisting GERM as a co-optation strategy; governmental actions that weaken and discredit unions and undercut their influence by forming a block of business and civil society that publicizes itself as defending the public interest so as to isolate and marginalize teachers as an organized entity; and legal and regulatory confrontation by governments.
We analyze elsewhere how teachers unions globally are responding to GERM (Compton and Weiner, forthcoming). In this article we interrogate five key premises that drive GT’s policy recommendations, examining the evidence for its prescriptions. We find that GT ignores earlier World Bank research on education in LAC, fails to address contradictions in its own findings, and, as it has done previously (Klees et al, 2012), omits acknowledgment of educational research that challenges its analysis. We also scrutinize the World Bank’s research on LAC teacher quality and performance reported in GT, identifying significant flaws in methodology that limit the credibility and usefulness of its findings and the recommendations based on its research.
GT deserves a more comprehensive critical response than we provide in this overview, and we invite additional analyses from scholars working in diverse research traditions and areas of expertise, geographic and disciplinary. Toward this end we and Critical Education encourage contributions in English, Spanish, and Portuguese scrutinizing GT’s claims and conclusions. Submissions will be reviewed by scholars who work in each language. Critical Education will publish contributions as they are reviewed and accepted. Contributions will be posted on the Research Collaborative archive on www.teachersolidarity.com so they are available to teacher activists and critical scholars of teachers’ work and teachers unions globally.
In this article, I describe and explain a framework for progressive reform of education at a time in which conservative ideas and policies dominate. I explain the stunning momentum for change we have witnessed in the past several years, and I sketch a program on which a progressive movement for educational reform might be built. I propose this framework to encourage debate among educators concerned about schooling's democratic purposes and expanding education's role in making the society more democratic.
about home and school relations to analyze my experience as a parent activist in the urban public school that my daughter attended. I use the activity of “nitpicking” as both a
literal explanation and a metaphoric representation of the ways that women’s responsibilities for maintenance of children’s emotional and physical well-being interfere with the political task of making schools more equitable. Moving to a scrutiny of research on urban school organization and improvement, I explain how structures of urban schools,the ideology of professionalism, and the chronic scarcity of resources combine with working women’s dual jobs to obscure gender as the subject and object of school reform. I conclude that for gender equity to be put on the table as a consistent consideration
in school reform, it must be one facet of a broader agenda for school reform that addresses status and power differentials among researchers, parents, teachers, and school administrators, due to race and class, as well as gender.
by Lois Weiner and Phyllis Jacobson, New Politics, Winter 1973, pp. 84-87, explores the consequences of the likely destruction of protective legislation by passage of the ERA. This PDF was created by Ron Unz in his digitization of alternative media. I now think Phyllis Jacobson had the correct position. (Lois Weiner)
Great Teachers: How to raise student learning in Latin America and the Caribbean (hereafter, GT) is simultaneously a report of research conducted under the auspices of the World Bank and policy prescriptions linked to its research. As is the case in other World Bank reports, (Klees et al,2012), GT’s policy recommendations and research are configured by explicit and unarticulated assumptions about power, politics, and pedagogy. Key to GT’s policies is its identification of poor teacher quality as the major obstacle in reducing poverty in LAC. Teachers unions are described as blocking government efforts to raise educational quality and thereby eradicate poverty by opposing policies identified with the neoliberal project, primarily those associated with teachers’ working conditions (salary, pensions, evaluation linked to standardized testing, performance related pay, and tenure) and privatization (charter schools and outsourcing of educational services). GT argues for various tactics to weaken teacher unions and by so doing advance a package of educational policies termed GERM, the global education reform movement (Sahlberg, 2007). GT suggests three strategies of curtailing union influence: Giving unions limited access to express opinions, what Compton (forthcoming, 2015) describes from the point of view of resisting GERM as a co-optation strategy; governmental actions that weaken and discredit unions and undercut their influence by forming a block of business and civil society that publicizes itself as defending the public interest so as to isolate and marginalize teachers as an organized entity; and legal and regulatory confrontation by governments.
We analyze elsewhere how teachers unions globally are responding to GERM (Compton and Weiner, forthcoming). In this article we interrogate five key premises that drive GT’s policy recommendations, examining the evidence for its prescriptions. We find that GT ignores earlier World Bank research on education in LAC, fails to address contradictions in its own findings, and, as it has done previously (Klees et al, 2012), omits acknowledgment of educational research that challenges its analysis. We also scrutinize the World Bank’s research on LAC teacher quality and performance reported in GT, identifying significant flaws in methodology that limit the credibility and usefulness of its findings and the recommendations based on its research.
GT deserves a more comprehensive critical response than we provide in this overview, and we invite additional analyses from scholars working in diverse research traditions and areas of expertise, geographic and disciplinary. Toward this end we and Critical Education encourage contributions in English, Spanish, and Portuguese scrutinizing GT’s claims and conclusions. Submissions will be reviewed by scholars who work in each language. Critical Education will publish contributions as they are reviewed and accepted. Contributions will be posted on the Research Collaborative archive on www.teachersolidarity.com so they are available to teacher activists and critical scholars of teachers’ work and teachers unions globally.
In this article, I describe and explain a framework for progressive reform of education at a time in which conservative ideas and policies dominate. I explain the stunning momentum for change we have witnessed in the past several years, and I sketch a program on which a progressive movement for educational reform might be built. I propose this framework to encourage debate among educators concerned about schooling's democratic purposes and expanding education's role in making the society more democratic.
about home and school relations to analyze my experience as a parent activist in the urban public school that my daughter attended. I use the activity of “nitpicking” as both a
literal explanation and a metaphoric representation of the ways that women’s responsibilities for maintenance of children’s emotional and physical well-being interfere with the political task of making schools more equitable. Moving to a scrutiny of research on urban school organization and improvement, I explain how structures of urban schools,the ideology of professionalism, and the chronic scarcity of resources combine with working women’s dual jobs to obscure gender as the subject and object of school reform. I conclude that for gender equity to be put on the table as a consistent consideration
in school reform, it must be one facet of a broader agenda for school reform that addresses status and power differentials among researchers, parents, teachers, and school administrators, due to race and class, as well as gender.
Link here: http://www.fse.ulaval.ca/actualites/videos/
The Reign of Error
LOIS WEINER and ANDY KAPLAN: An interview about
Diane Ravitch's The Reign of Error: The Hoax of the Privatization Movement and the Danger to America’s Public Schools. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2013.
"Perspectives on preparing teachers o f at-risk students in urban
schools, 1960-1990."
Harvard University, 1991