Liveblogging the Education Committee meeting today…
3:30pm
The second latest, greatest idea from Augusta -EPIC!
(DOE is getting to be like the Pentagon with the acronyms!)
Education Policy Improvement Center, a consulting organization “from away,” as Rep. Sutherland put it, has a $750,000 contract with the state to make itself available to review the “syllabi from each course in a school” to ensure that the course will instruct to and be able to demonstrate mastery of the Learning Results.
As with RISC a half-hour ago, the commissioner is getting some push back about hiring yet another consultant to implement some reform initiative related to improving student achievement.
I have a better idea. How about we implement universal school choice, allow parents to choose the school their children attend, and then, I suspect, schools will suddenly become very, very serious about improving student outcomes. Good schools will succeed, bad schools will close, and, best of all, nobody has to hire some consulting firm from out of state to tell schools how to do their jobs.
The word that has yet to be used today is “accountability.” RISC, EPIC, RTI (Response to Intervention, which is being discussed as I write this) – it is one costly new program or initiative after another – yet no talk of closing bad schools or firing bad teachers.
When, if ever, will we discuss holding the people in the education business accountable for their work?