Cuban (#13, pp.85-88)

1. Cuban (#13, pp.85-88) Warning that we should not expect to find one standard form for good schools Argues for avoidance of becoming trapped into either-or arguments, especially progressive/traditional (sounds like Dewey) Argues for re-examination of basic goals Argues for development of democratic attitudes, values, and behaviors open-mindedness, respect, fair treatment, commitment to work out problems “Can you think of other democratic attitudes, values, or behaviors?” “Can we think of what kinds of basic knowledge would be necessary or useful in developing these democratic attitudes, values, or behaviors?” Individual freedom vs.(?) respect for authority Current goals of educational policy are not like Cuban’s 3 criteria for judgment of goodness: satisfying stakeholders achieving explicit, possibly idiosyncratic goals development of democratic attitudes, values, and behaviors

2. Chenoweth (#16, pp.101-105) Journalist hired by Kati Haycock (Education Trust) to show that “no excuses” works I trust Chenoweth better because of her understanding that the negative example (pp.102-103) might show up on paper as a good school because of high test scores, but it is really a fake. There are schools like this in every large city. I think their mania for test scores is in every case fueled by an overly fearful or overly ambitious principal. These are all good points, backed by research. It’s not clear that good suburban schools are similarly “data-driven.” However, it is probably true that many good educators look for the information they need to measure the effects they are striving for.

3. Barth Definition of school culture—p.8 Why are schools so “incredibly resistant to change?” Nondiscussables—a discussion of this term is usually very productive Compare Saphier and King’s list of healthy cultural norms (p.10) to the lists of qualities of effective schools presented by Ryan & Cooper and by Chenoweth Think of a school you know well. It could be your high school, or the school (not just a single classroom) they are visiting. Make sure you are thinking of all students, the average ones (Powell) as well as the highly visible ones. “What are some of the healthy qualities of that school? Toxic qualities? What would it take to change the bad ones?” Bottom right, pp.10-12—notice that Barth puts a lot of faith in the abilities and imagination and dedication of the people “on the ground” to solve problems related to school culture.

4. Community of learners—I like the way he analyzes each of the words to expand the definition At-risk students—here Barth is slyly redefining the term to mean what we do in schools that puts students at risk How does Barth describe success in learning in school?