Fix The Schools: Reason Saves Cleveland With Drew Carey, Ep. 2

 

Cleveland's public schools are failing to prepare students for their futures and as a result, all parents who can afford to have been fleeing to the suburbs for decades.

Yet some urban schools, like Think College Now in Oakland, California are finding out that a combination of administrative autonomy and accountability can lead to amazing results. Within Cleveland's own boundaries, charter schools are booming and delivering quality education at a fraction of the cost of traditional public schools.

Does Cleveland have what it takes to fundamentally reform its K-12 education system and become a leader in 21st-century education?

Reason Saves Cleveland with Drew Carey is written and produced by Paul Feine; camera and editing by Roger Richards and Alex Manning; narrated by Nick Gillespie; music by the Cleveland band Cats on Holiday. This is the second of six episodes that will air March 15-19, 2010.

Approximately 10 minutes long.

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Comments

[heller]

The video isn't working for me...

[SIV]

Shit load of filler posts today.

[Flex Nasty B.I.G.]

This is really, really, really well done.

[Almanian]

Excellent work! Lots of info and things to think about in 10 mins - well done.

I like the comparison across school districts. Would like to see even more in-depth review of what's out there, whether by Reason or whomever.

Again, excellent, and thanks very much for doing this! Look fwd to the next installment.

[rctl]

the backpack approach males a lot of sense.

[rctl]

"makes", not "males"

[Warty]

Out-fucking-standing.

[Wind Rider]

Superb work. The best aspect is the focus on illustration of solutions that have a proven track record of success, without wallowing in what obviously doesn't work, and the causes. Those battles are already lost, and this looks forward, in a positive manner. Great approach.

[Mike Laursen]

Reason Save Cleveland rocks!

[Tomcat1066]

My town has a lot of the same problems Cleveland seems to have. I was looking forward to this series with anticipation, hoping that it would be something I could show around and hopefully show some ideas on how to move forward and fix this town.

Thanks Reason. Now, if I can get the incompetent politicians on board, there's hope for my home town!

In other words, we're still screwed, but thanks anyways 😉

[mizuna]

When parents pick the school and believe the school will help their kids succeed, they are more supportive of the teachers and set higher goals for their children. The success of these schools has little to do with the individual teachers.

The success of charter, parochial, and private schools also can be attributed to the fact that they can exclude students--for behavioral, medical, or academic reasons.

Getting parents engaged in the process of selecting a school and holding out the prospect that the student may be kicked out of the school if he/she can't/doesn't keep up socially or academically is a huge advantage to these alternative schools.

Even low-functioning, poor, inner-city types hope for a better future for their children. Right now there's almost no alternative, and so the mills of poverty grind up another generation... Let's expand choice in education.

[wheelock]

Excellent work. Common arguments against this type of decentralized funding is that the incentive for "competitive" schools would be to turn them all into pre-community colleges preparing kids only for permanent lower-class standing. This piece handily uses reality to dispel this notion. "respect, discipline and honesty" are values that will prepare a kid for any path and are the type of values you really only get when everyone involved is in the room by choice.

[bigterguy]

Money is not the answer - as Nick points out. The key features are competition and a commitment to the school. The parents need to have a stake in the school - need to make some kind of sacrifice to have their kids there - to be involved. You niticed the 'parent volunteer' at the Charter school; that's commitment.

Free education like free govt cheese, and soon 'free' health insurance is worth exactly what you pay for it: nothing.

[Dave]

More government SPENDING is not the answer - but giving the money already being spent back to their parents, be it in the form of a tax rebate or voucher is what is needed.

Competition is what we need.

[Dave]

Absolutely fantastic - as always.

Money is and isnt the issue here. The average per-student spending in America (using the school boards own numbers here) is roughly $11,000 per child. That number - as researched by CATO is actually higher...but I digress.

The average parochial/charter school costs anywhere from $5,000 to $10,000 yet they achieve results that dwarf those of the public schools.

Also worth noting - the current "double pay" parents are forced to make when choosing to send their child to a private/charter school. The parents pay their taxes, see their money go to the local public schools and then have to pay the tuition at their school choice! They are getting hit twice just to avoid having their child at a poor school.

[Check]

Video is definitely not working properly on your site. But watched it on youtube, well done. Keep it up and I think it'd be good to see more of Drew out there (obviously without diluting things too much).

[abercrombie milano]

This has been very helpful understanding a lot of things. I'm sure a lot of other people will agree with me.

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