Are All Schools Above Average?

" It is almost a miracle that modern teaching methods have not yet entirely strangled the holy curiosity of inquiry. " Albert Einstein

" One of these days they are going to remove so much of the hooey and the thousands of things schools have been clogged up with and we will find that we can educate our broods for about 1/10 thof the price and learn them something that they might actually use after the escape ." Will Rogers

Thanks for dropping by with the thoughts of Einstein and Rogers. It's remarkable that while we expect productivity gains elsewhere (that is, more for less), in education public policies favor decreasing productivity (e.g., smaller classes, classroom aides). There are a host of reasons for that, which would fill several other blog entries.

Mayoral control of schools can be of some use. It produced some improvements in financial accountability in Chicago, but the gains in academic performance are not so clear. Then again, some schools are doing so badly that the only place to go is up.