What's sad to me is how many people are still unaware of how curriculum decisions get made, and how their belief in their so-called "good district" is misplaced. Often -- very often -- those "good" districts are some of the worst purely b/c they are the districts with high real estate values, which means high incomes, which means well-educated parents who are, as we know, often progressive.

That in turn means they have likely voted themselves into a situation where the gov't they put so much faith in to fix all the problems sees them being a "good" district above and beyond other good districts as one of the problems to fix. I'm not saying the gov't wants to make them a bad district, per se...but I am suggesting the priority shift is to one where picking the kids within that district to champion, or "center," will be job #1, and these same parents may not realize what that looks like in Critical Praxis terms.

Then parents get a look at some of the materials, or notice their once bright kid doesn't even know where CA is on a map, or can't read at grade level, or do math as well as the parents could at the same age, and they get worried enough to ask "How is this happening in MY DISTRICT?"

Well it's not just your district; you didn't have some special dibs on curriculum, or teacher quality, either good or bad. However "good" the district was, likely had more to do with the parents and kids being focused on excellence, at a time when teachers could likewise serve the local community, not the state. The more the state took control to, you know, "fix" all those terrible "systemic" problems, the more the "good" district became part of the system, and that means top-down, one-size-fits-all fixes that will level that playing field alright!

As I've said many many times, the only way to achieve equity isn't to fertilize, it's to CUT the grass.

https://bit.ly/36CcSZd