David Brooks writes that our national debate should not be about the size of government–it should be about the effectiveness of government. Will it achieve our goals? Will it spur achievement and investment by Americans.
Hmmmmm, sounds to me a lot like education, and especially, special education. In special education, we argue endlessly about how much time, how many services, how often, etc. The inputs. The size of programs. The costs. etc.
We don’t focus nearly enough attenion on the outputs. Does the program work? Is it achieving the goals? In short, does it help the child learn more?
As Mr. Brooks writes in the broader context, the debate should be about the quality and effectiveness of serivdes, not the quantity of them. Hear hear! http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/04/opinion/04brooks.html?_r=1&src=me&ref=homepage
About Miriam
Miriam Kurtzig Freedman, JD, MA—an expert in public education, focused on special education law— is a lawyer, author, speaker, consultant, and reformer.
For more than 35 years, Miriam worked with educators, parents, policy makers, and citizens to translate complex legalese into plain English and focus on good practices for children.
Now, she focuses her passion on reforming special education, with her new book, Special Education 2.0—Breaking Taboos to Build a NEW Education Law. Presentations include those at the AASA Conference, Orange County (CA), Boston College (MA), CADRE (OR), and the Fordham Institute (DC). Her writings have appeared in The Wall Street Journal, Education Week, Education Next, Hoover Digest, The University of Chicago Law Review on line, DianeRavitch.net, and The Atlantic Monthly on line.
No Comments
Be the first to start a conversation