Education that Works

The Chill Winds of Competition

Teacher unions in New Zealand are pathologically opposed to private, non-unionised schools. They share this stance with most teacher unions in the West. The drama being played out presently in Indiana and Wisconsin is just the latest stoush. Since the government money has run out, teacher unions are starting to feel the chill winds. They are blowing from a number of directions.

Antidote to Government-Run Education

by Kyle Olson

Charter schools are facing increasing fierce attacks by organized labor – because they work.  Most of them are publicly funded and are not bound by inch-thick union contracts that stipulate what teachers don’t have to do and which hoops administrators have to jump through in order to hold their employees accountable.
Some charter schools don’t produce the desired results.  But because of the agreement between the school and their state, if they aren’t up to snuff, they can be shut down.  If only the same could be said of traditional public systems in Detroit, Chicago or Los Angeles.

Indianapolis Public Schools is a dismal mess.  Leaders there do whatever they can to keep the ship afloat, regardless of the harm it brings to the children of the city. Parents are desperate for choices – and they found one in the Charles A. Tindley Accelerated School.

Tindley Accelerated School was started by education visionaries who bought an old grocery store, put up some walls, hired quality teachers and began educating kids. Today, those kids are out-performing their peers in the very same neighborhood, dispelling many myths.

The success of Tindley Accelerated School is showing that anyone can learn when the culture is right. Fancy buildings and heavy spending are not requirements for impressive academic results.

In the pitched battle over education reform that is going on in Indiana right now, the state is expanding reforms that are working, much to the dismay of the Indiana State Teachers Association. But union leaders have vowed to do whatever they can to hamper reform, even if it means sentencing kids to failing schools.
Who will win? It’s a deadly serious question, because nothing less than the future of Indiana (and of the entire United States) is at stake.

This sounds familiar. Maybe we could do with Charter Schools reform in New Zealand.