CURMUDGUCATION: The Lesson of Detroit

The Lesson of Detroit Posted by Peter Greene: 18 Sep 2016 Last week a group of children in Detroit, Michigan sued the governor , the state board of education, the superintendent of public instruction, the director of technology, management and budget, and the state school reform/redesign officer. The lawsuit runs over 100 pages, but the table of contents provides a pretty clear outline of the argument: 1) Literacy is a fundamental right 2) The state of Michigan’s role in securing educational rights (subheadings: it has one) 3) The failure to provide access to literacy in plaintiffs’ schools 4) Failure to deliver evidence-based literacy instruction and intervention programs in plaintiffs’ schools 5) Failure to ensure educational conditions necessary to attain literacy (including failure to provide course selection, to maintain a decent physical plant for education, to meet students’ needs, to provide a supported and stable staff, and to demand accountability with charter and school closings). 6) The state’s failure to implement evidence-based reforms to address literacy The details and accounts of the state’s failure is stunning, almost unimaginable, from a “lake” in a classroom cordoned off with tape to the math classes taught by an eighth grader for a month– and that’s not because nobody was paying attention, but because that was the solution the school came up with for their staffing issue. A lot of outrage has been expressed as the lawsuit’s details have spread, supported by photographs from many sources. Yesterday, columnist Nancy Kaffer tried to explain to Detroit Free Press readers what the suit was about and just how bad things are for the largely African-American student population of the five schools named in the suit. But here’s the part of her piece that jumped out at me: (Follow source link below to read the full blog post)

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