Lou Gerstner's Lessons From
40 Years of Education 'Reform'
Lou says:  Let's
abolish local school
districts and finally
adopt national
standards.
Wall Street Journal
Op-Ed
December 1, 2008
By Louis V. Gerstner, Jr.

While the economic news has
most Americans in a state of
near depression, hope
abounds today that the country
may use the current economic
crisis as leverage to address
some longstanding problems.
Nowhere is that prospect for
progress more worthy than the
crisis in our public education
system.

So, from someone who
realized rather glumly last
week that he has been working
at school reform for 40 years,
here is a prescription for
leadership from the Obama
administration.

We must start with the
recognition that, despite
decade after decade of reform
efforts, our public K-12 schools
have not improved. We can
point to individual schools and
some entire districts that have
advanced, but the system as a
whole is still failing. High
school and college graduation
rates, test scores, the number
of graduates majoring in
science and engineering all
are flat or down over the past
two decades. Disappointingly,
the relative performance of our
students has suffered
compared to those of other
nations. As a former CEO, I am
worried about what this will
mean for our future workforce.

It is most crucial for our
political leaders to ask why we
are at this point -- why after
millions of pages, in
thousands of reports, from
hundreds of commissions and
task forces, financed by
billions of dollars, have we
failed to achieve any significant
progress?

Answering this question
correctly is the key to finally
remaking our public schools.

This is a complex problem, but
countless experiments and
analyses have clearly indicated
we need to do four
straightforward things to bring
fundamental changes to K-12
education:

1) Set high academic
standards for all of our kids,
supported by a rigorous
curriculum.  [Questions
from Peyton:  Who
writes the standards?  
Will you require
teachers to teach fuzzy
math? Social studies
rather than history?
Whole language instead
of phonics/phonemic
awareness?]

2) Greatly improve the quality of
teaching in our classrooms,
supported by substantially
higher compensation for our
best teachers.

3) Measure student and
teacher performance on a
systematic basis, supported by
tests and assessments.

4) Increase "time on task" for
all students; this means more
time in school each day, and a
longer school year.

Everything else either does not
matter (e.g., smaller class
sizes) or is supportive of these
four steps (e.g., vastly improve
schools of education).

Lack of effort is not the cause
of our 30-year inability to solve
our education problem. Not
only have we had all those
thousands of studies and task
forces, but we have seen many
courageous and talented
individuals pushing hard to
move the system. Leaders
such as Joel Klein (New York
City), Michelle Rhee
(Washington, D.C.) and Paul
Vallas (New Orleans) have
challenged the system, and
elected officials from both
sides of the political spectrum
have also fought valiantly for
change.

So where does that leave us?
If the problem isn't "what to do,"
nor is it a failure of
commitment, what is stopping
us?

I believe the problem lies with
the structure and corporate
governance of our public
schools. We have over 15,000
school districts in America;
each of them, in its own way, is
involved in standards,
curriculum, teacher selection,
classroom rules and so on.
This unbelievably unwieldy
structure is incapable of
executing a program of
fundamental change. While we
have islands of excellence as
a result of great reform
programs, we continually fail to
scale up systemic change.

Therefore, I recommend
that President-elect
Barack Obama convene
a meeting of our
nation's governors and
seek agreement to the
following:

- Abolish all local school
districts, save 70 (50 states;
20 largest cities). Some states
may choose to leave some of
the rest as community service
organizations, but they would
have no direct involvement in
the critical task of establishing
standards, selecting teachers,
and developing curricula.

- Establish a set of
national standards for
a core curriculum. I
would suggest we start with
four subjects: reading, math,
science and social studies.

- Establish a National Skills
Day on which every third, sixth,
ninth and 12th-grader would
be tested against the national
standards. Results would be
published nationwide for every
school in America.

- Establish national
standards for teacher
certification and require
regular re-evaluations of
teacher skills. Increase
teacher compensation to
permit the best teachers (as
measured by advances in
student learning) to earn well
in excess of $100,000 per year,
and allow school leaders to
remove underperforming
teachers.

- Extend the school day and the
school year to effectively add
20 more days of schooling for
all K-12 students.

I can predict that three
questions will be raised about
these measures:


First, how can we set national
standards when we have a
strong tradition of local school
autonomy? The answer is that
the American people are way
ahead of our politicians here:
Poll after poll shows
they support national
standards.  [Question
from Peyton:  which
polls? funded by whom?]

Second, won't this take many
years to implement? No, if we
follow a focused, pragmatic
approach. While ideally we
want all 50 states to
participate, we can get started
with 30. The rest will be driven
to abandon their "see no evil"
blinders by their citizens as the
original group achieves
momentum and success.
Moreover, we do not have to
start from scratch on the
national standards. Experts
can quickly develop an initial
set just by drawing on existing
domestic and foreign
programs.


Third, how do we pay for all of
this? In three ways: We will
save billions by consolidating
the operations of 15,000
school districts.  [Question
from Peyton:  What proof
do you have that
consolidation will save
any money long term?  
This is a false claim as
there is none.]  The U.S.
Department of Education can
direct all of its discretionary
funds to this effort. And we
need to drive into the
consciousness of every
American politician that
education is not an expense. It
is, rather, the most important
investment we can make as a
country.

H.G. Wells remarked that
"history is a race between
education and catastrophe."
For the first time in America's
history, we may be losing that
race. We can win, but we have
to act quickly and decisively.

Mr. Gerstner, a former CEO of IBM,
was chairman of the Teaching
Commission (2003-2006), which
reported on ways to improve the quality
of public school teaching.Sat
WHO'S ATTENDING
YOUR SCHOOL
BOARD MEETINGS?
Follow the money
in our vendor-driven
schools:  
15 vendors & special
interests to look for at
your next board meeting.
P E Y T O N   W O L C O T T

How we take back our children's education:
one person, one question,
one school at a time.
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Copyright 1999-2010 Peyton Wolcott

"Walk softly
and carry a big stick."
-- Teddy Roosevelt

"Trust but verify."
-- Ronald Reagan
Just because you can
doesn't mean you should.
H o w   w e   t a k e   b a c k   o u r   c h i l d r e n ' s    e d u c a t i o n :    o n e   p e r s o n ,  o n e   q u e s t i o n ,   o n e   s c h o o l   a t   a   t i m e .
PEYTON WOLCOTT'S
6 SIMPLE
SUGGESTIONS
FOR SCHOOL
SUPERINTENDENT
S: How you can rebuild
public trust and save at
least $75 per student
this next year.

1.  End discretionary
spending.
Set an example for your
staff; let them know you
mean business about running
a tighter ship:  No trips, no
conferences, no meals, no
credit cards.  If you want to
learn more about something,
use Google.  Do a webinar.  
Read a newsletter.   No golf
games with vendors, ever.  
No chauffeurs, no rental
cars.  Stay home, do your
work and keep your nose
clean.

2.  Reduce administrative
costs.
Go through your
administrative staff roster
and cut every other job,
starting with getting rid of all
PR and marketing.  No
advisors, no consultants.
Learn how to really read a
budget.  Put your check
register and all wire transfers
online.

3.  Ethics.
No nepotism.  Let your wife
and kids earn a living in a
field other than education.  
No board members' spouses
working in the district.  
Conduct all discussions with
vendors and potential
vendors in the open; invite
your public to watch and ask
questions.  Throw away
your contract and work year
by year.  Move your chair
off the dais at board
meetings.  You're not a team
member with your elected
trustees.  You're not equal to
them.  They're your boss.

4.  No construction.  
If you're the rare district
truly experiencing sufficient
growth to justify building
new schools, splinter off that
population and let them start
their own new school district
or charter school.  They
might be able to take over an
abandoned church or office
building for much less than
the Taj Mahal you had in
mind.

5.  Back-to-basics
curriculum.
Math table (1st grade: add,
2nd grade: subtract, 3rd
grade multiply, 4th grade
divide) daily drill.  You made
sure your own kids learned
the basics at home or with
tutors; why shouldn't all
children have that same
opportunity?  Ditto for
phonics.  Classical literature.  
History, not social studies.  
No more block scheduling.  
Daily P.E. for all. Emphasize
individual effort and
accomplishment.

6.  Attitude.  
You're a public servant, not a
Third World dictator.
Practice humility and
gratitude.  Remember when
your employees laugh at
your jokes or tell you you're
cool or vendors marvel at
your every utterance that
they're all sucking up to you.
 Remember why you got into
education to begin with.  Sell
your house in the gated
community and buy one in
the middle of a real
subdivision like your average
parents and taxpayers can
afford.  Let yourself be
driven not by the latest
platitude you picked up at the
latest education conference
but by the same wonderful
noble desire to educate kids
that got you into this field.
Terms & Conditions:  
Sorry to have to include this;
 some groups--God bless
them--have copied my
research and published
it as their own.
Robin Hood & 22 'equity'
failures: MALDEF's 22
Edgewood districts cost
Texans billions in failed
academics & extravagance.
How to persuade your
district: Friendly works
best-- take the Golden Rule
with you when asking your
schools to post checks.  
Testimonials:  issues &
concerns solved.
Welcome, America -- glad you're
finding this no-ads website useful!  
#1 on Google & Yahoo of
256,000,000!
Texas Hill Country - Mesquite and Wildflowers
Boerne
WELCOME, Washington
state! Public school
checks now online in 34
states, 600+ school
districts, in 3 years!
05.29.09
Questions reporters
& others ask most:

Q1:   When did this grass-
roots check register
project start, and why?
A1:  We compiled the first
national roster on October
1, 2009.  There were
several precipitating
incidents, including this; it
was clear that
administrators, lobbyists
and vendors didn't like
public records requests.

Q2:  How many school
districts are now online
in how many states?  
A2:  As of March 2010
there are over 800 in 36
states.  

Q3:  How quickly has this
grown?
A3:  When we first started
asking districts to
voluntarily post, there
were only a handful in a
handful of states posting.  

Q4:  How can I find out if
my district is online? Are
any in my state online?
A4:  You can look them up
on these rosters:
o  Alabama
o  Alaska-Louisiana
o  Maine-Tennessee
o  Texas
o  Texas financials
o  Utah-Wyoming

Q5:  How do I make my
district put its checks
online?
A5:   Unless we're
dictators we can't make
anybody do anything -- but
we can persuade.  Here
are some easy to follow
directions based on
treating your schools as
you'd like them to treat
you.  (The Golden Rule
really does work.)  Just
like in baking or anything
else involving special
skills or plans, the steps
we've found that work are
successful 100% of the
time when followed as
scripted; as with making
pastry, shortcuts lead to
failure.

Q6:  Why don't you just
pass a law?
Q6:  Have you ever tried
getting a law passed?  As
the Texas Public Policy
Foundation and similar
groups elsewhere have
learned, the folks who
stand to benefit the least
from public ed financial
transparency are a very
active lobbying force,
especially in larger states
where more money is
involved in public
education.  (With just 17
school districts, only
Delaware has a state law
requiring schools to post
their checks online.)
Fox News mention
Texas Education
Service Centers
posting check
registers
Most of Texas' 20
Regional Education
Service Centers are
now posting their
check registers online.
Hats off to the
following:
Region 10 - Richardson
Choose your month here:
www.region10.org/administrators/C
heckRegisterPosting.html
Region 8 - Mt. Pleasant
Choose a month here:
www.reg8.net/default.aspx?name=a
dmin.checkregister
CONSERVATIVE:  ABOUT     EMAIL      ARCHIVES       FOLLOW THE MONEY       NATIONALIZATION        INTERNAL CONTROLS         PR FOR THE ANGRY & THE POSITIVE         STATES         SCHOOL DISTRICTS
Public Ed Commentary
Here they are: the
updated US rosters!


  • Beyond FOIA:  Why it's
    more effective to
    persuade your local
    school district than to
    demand; why it's better
    for schools to post on
    their sites than for you
    to FOIA check registers
    then put them on your
    private or 501c website.

  • Is 'equity' equitable?  
    More about MALDEF &
    Robin Hood

  • Printable flyer to share
    with your board; print at
    100%. Testimonials
    from school leaders
    who have already
    successfully posted
    their districts' checks
    online countering all
    usual opposition points
    (cost, technology, etc.).

  • Special interests in your
    district and at your
    board meetings:  Do
    you know who they are
    and what they have to
    do with spending?

  • If there was a major
    precipitating incident
    behind the check
    registers, this was it.
CHECK REGISTERS
Are your district's checks on their website?
If not, why not? More than 810 are, in 36
states, in just 3 years. Simple how-to.here
works 100% of the time--if no shortcuts.
Thursday
March 11, 2010
Lou Gerstner's manifesto
published in The Wall
Street Journal, Dec. 2008
From top:
Lou Gerstner;
Chairman Mao
& Adolph Hitler
told us what
they wanted to
do ahead of
time.
Mr. & Mrs. Louis V. Gerstner, Jr.
ED PHOTO OF THE WEEK:
2 PRESIDENTIAL
TELEPROMPTERS IN  
ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
CLASSROOM (VA)
President Barack Obama,
accompanied by Education
Secretary Arne Duncan, speaks
to the media after a discussion
with 6th grade students at
Graham Road Elementary School
in Falls Church (VA), Tuesday,
Jan. 19, 2010. (AP)
Only Texas -- thanks to Governor
Rick Perry, Education
Commissioner Robert Scott, and
our State Board of Education -- all
supported by those who cherish
individual freedoms and local
control of our school districts -- has
had the courage among the 50
states to stand firm against the
power grab by the United States
Department of Education, the
school equivalent of what Mr.
Obama's crew is trying to do with
healthcare.  As with healthcare,
Race to the Top's national
curriculum standards have less to
do with education and more to do
with being a vehicle for increasing
federal control.
Here it is, word for word, plus
a few questions from me,
Peyton, as you read along:
Bringing you the information and tools you need in order to improve public education and lower taxes and spending; during the past two decades of the voucher debate an entire generation has grown up in the public school system.  
If you don't think this is important look at the Nov. 2008 election where folks voted based on emotions and hope rather than facts.  Let's put a stop to the school-to-prison pipeline -- and keep our public schools locally run, strong and free..
Region 7 -  Kilgore
Public Information
www.esc7.net/default.aspx?n
ame=pub_info
Congratulations, America!   What a way to introduce Sunshine Week, March 14-20!  The check
register rosters are now updated, and at least 810 school districts in the United States are posting their
check registers online.  Given that when we started this grassroots movement in October 2006 it
consisted of all of a few names in a few states--back when the list was more roots than grass--our great
nation's embrace of school district transparency in just over three years is encouraging:  At least 36
states have at least one district posting, including all of Alabama and Delaware; Miami, the nation's 4th
largest district whose budget is larger than that of all Iowa public schools, is online as are the two largest
here in Texas, Houston and Dallas.  With 408 districts participating, Texas still has the greatest number
of school district check registers online, and more than the other 49 states combined.
                                                     Peyton
P.S.  Here are some of the leaders in U.S. school district check register transparency; you can find out
more about them by going to each of the state links--that's Texas Gov. RickPerry and  Commissioner
of Education Robert Scott at top left.  
For names, right click on images, choose "Properties."
Updated Wednesday, March 3, 2010 / 8:33 a.m
Texas Education Agency
Press Release / March 10, 2010

Fox inaccurately reporting State Board of Education action

AUSTIN – AUSTIN – The Fox Network in recent days has repeatedly broadcast highly inaccurate information about the State Board of
Education’s efforts to adopt the new social studies curriculum standards.

Here are the facts. The direct quotes come from the March 10 broadcast of Fox & Friends.

Fox: “Texas board of education begins hearings today on proposed changes to textbooks…”
The truth: The State Board of Education today is expected to take a preliminary vote on updated social studies curriculum standards. The
standards detail what teachers are to teach in each class. New social studies textbooks are not scheduled to be selected until 2011.

Fox: “So one of the proposed changes is to start history class in the year 1877.”
The truth: Texas has and always will teach U.S. History from the beginning until present day. U.S. History through Reconstruction is taught
in the eighth grade and those standards can be found in the middle school standards, which are called Texas Essential Knowledge and
Skills (TEKS). Here is a link to the middle school standards: http://ritter.tea.state.tx.us/teks/social/MS_TEKS_amended.pdf. U.S. History
since 1877 is taught in 11th grade.

Fox: Abraham Lincoln and George Washington have been removed from the textbooks.
The truth: The standards, not textbook, are before the board this week. Lincoln is required to be included in the first and eighth grade
history classes, as well as in the U.S. government class. Washington is required to be taught in kindergarten, first grade, fifth grade and
eighth grade. Here is a link to a document detailing those historical figures, including Lincoln and Washington, who are required to be
taught as part of the standards: http://ritter.tea.state.tx.us/teks/social/AlphabetizedList_including.pdf. There is another list of individuals
who are suggested for inclusion and it can be found here: http://ritter.tea.state.tx.us/teks/social/AlphabetizedList_such_as.pdf. Additional
modifications are still possible to both lists as the board debates the standards during its March and May meeting.

Fox: Independence Day and Veteran’s Day are being deleted from the textbooks.
The truth: Again, the new history textbooks have not been written yet but they will be based on the curriculum standards adopted by the
board. The standards currently under consideration cover Independence Day in kindergarten, second and fifth grades. Veteran’s Day is
included in kindergarten, first, second and fifth grades.

Fox: References to Christmas have been deleted.

The truth: A TEKS review committee briefly recommended removing Christmas from a list that mentioned one major holiday for each of the
world’s religions. The committee recommended leaving Easter in the document. The State Board immediately rejected this idea and a
reference to Christmas was restored in the standards months ago and can be found in sixth grade in standard 19(b).

Fox: Textbooks adopted in Texas will be used classrooms across the country.
The truth: Each state has its own textbook selection process. Publishers may offer other states the Texas edition of a book but they are not
required to select it.

Citizens can read the standards for themselves at http://www.tea.state.tx.us/index2.aspx?id=3643. A live webcast of the meeting, which
begins at 11 a.m. today, can be viewed at http://www.texasadmin.com/cgi-bin/tea.cgi.
Quick:  You've got 20 seconds to tell us about
the Kansas City closings, the Texas SBOE and
the feds' race to nationalize our schools -- and
don't leave anything out
By Peyton Wolcott
Thursday, March 11, 2010 / 12:07 a.m. - Updated Thursday, March 11, 2010 / 8:01 a.m.

The misreporting earlier this week of the current social studies curriculum
standards cycle in Texas' elected State Board of Education's textbook
adoption process by Fox News (and every other network) highlights the fact
that such reporting is from the news business, not from the news hobby.  
And the TV news business is driven by 20-second sound bytes which feed
the stream of fast food, erectile dysfunction and other ads.  

The need for speed results in an emphasis is on the easy quick hit, the
emotional 'human' aspects of stories -- at the expense of facts.  For example,
the Kansas City Star's coverage of last night's Kansas City, Missouri school
board vote to close half of their schools focuses on a sense of loss as with the
photo at right.  Fox this morning hasn't yet mentioned that it was Judge
Russell Clark who ordered Kansas City taxpayers in 1985 to open their wallets
to the schools and let the schools take as much as they wanted.  Predic.  
Texas Education Agency, Austin
Fox and Friends

Yesterday TEA offered some facts in the form of a press release (below); hopefully Fox
will want to read them.In the interests of fair and balanced reporting:
What's so surprising is that on so many issues Fox News has been a lone beacon offering fair and balanced news and in many
cases the only national coverage at all, as with last year's Tea Party movement.  And remember the study earlier this year showing
with hard facts -- not just your daddy's opinions -- that the major networks gave President Obama more flattering early-on coverage
than they gave Presidents Reagan, Clinton and George W. Bush, all of whom received roughly three times more bad press than
good from those same broadcast networks.  

This episode with the Texas State Board highlights the general lack of investigative reporting in public education by news outlets,
driven as they are by the need for those rock 'em/sock 'em 20-second sound bytes.  For example, look at the reporting of last
night's historic vote by the Kansas City, Missouri school board to close half of their schools.  Is anyone going to mention detailed
coverage of their decades of court-mandated Spend-O-Rama practices.  Things do not occur in a vacuum.  Seldom if ever does an
event spring from nowhere.  
?  Last night they even labeled
SBOE member Pat Hardy of
Weatherford as "Pat Henry."
Here's this morning's Kansas City Star's lead photo (above)
and its caption today:  "After the meeting ended, Christine
Taylor-Butler (left), a district parent, gives Nancy Haynes, a
teacher at Faxon Montessori, a hug. Faxon's program will no
longer exist, as the students will be split into two different
schools and other students will move into the building. In a
5-4 split, the Kansas City School Board voted to approve the
largest school closing in the district's history. The Right-sizing
plan, recommended by Superintendent of Schools John
Covington Wednesday, Mar. 10, 2010, at the Board of
Education Building in Kansas City, resulted in the closure of
26 district schools. JILL TOYOSHIBA/The Kansas City Star."


Developing . . . please check back at 10 p.m.