Teach Effectively!

In my wanderings I came upon a Web site called “Third Education Group,” an organization that says it plans to present independent analyses of education policy issues. Though I’ve only read some of the material available there, the site presents an interesting perspective on some issues. Here is the group’s self-description.

There are two sides to every U.S. education policy debate …and that is the problem.

Those two sides – public education’s entrenched groups allied with the Democratic and Republican Parties – represent the interests of few U.S. citizens on education issues. Yet, with the cooperation of most education journalists, and some wealthy foundations, these groups have become the source of virtually all the information provided the public about education policy. Their biased information is then sold to the rest of the world as neutral, objective, scientific research that, when trusted, can compromise education policy in other nations like an invasive, exotic species of weed.

Third Education Group provides an alternative. We are allied with neither side. We have no vested interest. Unlike the many allied education pundits and researchers who call themselves independent, we actually are. And, we prove it by criticizing both sides, though probably not nearly as much as they deserve.

Third Education Group’s purpose is to provide education information the public can trust.

I like the idea, but I’m left a little at sea about how the group proposes to decide educational policy questions. If the proposition is simply to criticize recommendations made by policy analysts associated with either and both US political policies, then I fear TEG will be mostly of entertainment value. If, as I hope, it takes on the task of establishing standards for educational research, presents syntheses of trustworthy research, and communicates those in clear and actionable terms, then TEG will serve a valuable purpose.

There are many essays available (see “foundational essays” in the sidebar). I’ve read several and can recommend some of them e.g., one on preparing reading teachers by Sandra Stotsky). However, two of those essays (one that’s unsigned but is listed as written by Phelps, who is probably Richard Phelps, and another by Suzanne Franco) dampen my optimism about the prospects for TEG promoting effective practices. (In another post I hope to provide an analysis of the problems with those essays.)

[By the way, the CSS for the site hasn't apparently been tested with multiple browsers; readers should not use Safari to view the site. The site apparently also uses a script that blocks right-clicking, so you won't be able to use right-clicks (or control-clicks, probably) to navigate backwards, bookmark, open a link in a new window or tab, and etc. In addition, it appears that the site may hang browsers while it makes calls to other sources on the Internet (e.g., Yahoo and some scripts site). The navigation is a bit convoluted, too. Sigh.]

I encourage readers (both of you!) to jump over to Third Education Group and take a tour. There’s plenty to read there. Don’t limit the review to the essays by Sandra Stotsky, Suzanne Franco, and Phelps. There is also a plethora of references to papers by Will Fitzhugh, who is involved in TEG and whom I’ve mentioned here previously.