An Open Letter to Greg Toppo (USA TODAY)
October 16, 2008
Dear Greg,
A huge round of applause to you for covering the education views of the prospective next POTUS. Your coverage of education is almost always on point with a keen distinction between rhetoric and reality. This is why CER once gave you an award for excellence in journalism and has been an avid fan.
But on your candidate coverage this week, it seems you confuse what the candidates believe with what others expect each candidate to believe and hence, there are a couple of phrases which seem loaded in one direction and not another. In the interest of fairness, I’d like to point these assumptions out.
You usually have it right. In the past when you’ve talked about charters, you’ve correctly noted that the high performing nature of so many has helped education become a reality for so many children without.
This week, however, you missed a bunch of important information when discussing a possible disconnect between how teachers operate in high performing charters and what Michelle Rhee’s performance pay plan would do for teachers in the traditional system.
Let me explain.
First, the teamwork you cite as so vital to successful charter schools - no matter which organization or company you cite - is evolutionary. It is not forced, but it is encouraged, and it is encouraged in a myriad of ways, much of which is left to the teachers themselves to decide.
An Open Letter to Jay Mathews (Washington Post)
