John Chubb: Overcoming the Governance Challenge in K-12 Online Learning

John Chubb co-authored with Terry M. Moe "Liberating Learning," the milestone book on the intersection of education and technology and the impact "edtech" would have on American education.
There are few people as qualified as Chubb to write the final paper in the Fordham Institutes series "Creating Sound Policy for Digital Learning."
In "Overcoming the Governance Challenge in K-12 Online Learning," Chubb reports that Online learning and our current system of local education governance are at odds with one another.
Chubb examines how local school district control retards the widespread use of instructional technologies. He argues that the surest way to break down the system’s inherent resistance to technology is to shift control from the local district—and thus the school board—and put it in the hands of states.
He then provides 10 education reform steps that would make the environment more conducive to expanding online learning programs.
Click here for a pdf of "Overcoming the Governance Challenge in K-12 Online Learning."
Click here for the complete Fordham series.

Guest Commentary: 'City Journal' on Disrupting Class

Larry Sand is a retired teacher and president of the California Teachers Empowerment Network, a group educators in California came about when several teachers became aware that they were not getting the type of balanced information at their school sites which would enable them to make informed decisions related to their profession.
Sand recently wrote an article for City Journal, an website devoted to urban policy issues.
"Slowly but surely, 'disruptive technology' is penetrating the nation’s ossified public education system. The effects may be liberating for students, but they would be devastating for teachers’ unions. In his extraordinary book, Special Interest, Stanford political scientist and Hoover Institution senior fellow Terry Moe describes a succession of union victories—for tenure, strike rights, and seniority protection; against accountability, charter schools, and vouchers for disadvantaged families. But Moe argues that those victories won’t last. Union power will be marginalized, in part, by online learning. Emerging technology-based education, Moe writes, is the 'long-term trend . . . and the unions cannot stop it from happening,' " Sand writes.
"The greater ramifications of digital learning—and the greater threat to union preeminence—will be seen at the K-12 level," Sand adds.
Click here to read his complete post.

Guest Commentary: EdSurge Takes a Look at Former NYC School Chief Joel Klein Review of Terry M. Moe's 'Special Interest'

A recent edition of the email newsletter from EdSurge, which calls itself "a community watering hole and resource for those of us engaged in the emerging eco-system of education technology," contains an interesting post and links to two new book on teachers unions and education reform.

"Joel Klein does a dandy job of summing up two recent books, Steven Brill's Class Warfare: Inside the Fight To Fix America's Schools and Terry M. Moe's Special Interest: Teacher Unions and America's Public Schools. Brill so believes that unions must be part of any plans to revamp schools, he suggests American Federation of Teachers' Randi Weingarten should be the next chancellor of NYC's public schools. By contrast, Moe contends that the unions are crippling education but technology can help. Klein sees a role for everybody: parents "must become more engaged and enraged," reformers need to enlist the next generation of teachers and treat them like professionals, the public needs to back aggressive reform and the politicians who go for it."

The EdSurge Post adds, " Galvanizing public sentiment is a stiff order, particularly because a new PDK/Gallup poll (based on a survey of about 1,000 Americans 18 years and older) suggests that half of Americans seem to think their local schools rate an "A" or "B," even though only 17% would give that grade to other schools around the country. And there's widespread ambivalence around technology in schools: 2 out of 3 Americans think e-books are appropriate for high school students; half want to see them in middle schools and only a quarter approve of ebooks in elementary school. See the whole report here."

Click here to read the complete Klein review.

Click here to learn more about Liberating Learning's Terry M. Moe's new book Special Interest: Teacher Unions and America's Public Schools.

Guest Commentary: Former NYC Schools Chief Joel Klein on School Reform, Teachers Unions and Customized Learning

Joel Klein has been paying a lot of attention to what Liberating Learning's Terry M. Moe has been writing about teachers unions and their impact on school reform and the impact of information technology on education.
Here's what Klein wrote about Moe's new book Special Interest: Teachers Unions and America's Public Schools earlier this year.
"America's public schools are broken, and Terry Moe sets out to explain why. In a bare-knuckled and brilliant account, he shows how the teachers unions use their unmatched political power to control virtually every aspect of educational policy and practice. The result, not surprisingly, is a system that protects the interests of employees at the expense of our kids."
Klein recently took a second look at Special Interest when he wrote a review of the book for the Wall Street Journal. In the review, Klein also critiqued Steven Brill's book, Class Warfare, which also takes a tough look at the impact teachers unions have had on education reform.
"At their core (Moe and Brill) share the reformist perspective and conclude that teachers unions—fueled by the manpower and money they can mobilize and the enormous political power they enjoy as a result—are the major obstacle to solving the education crisis. But they make their arguments from different perspectives, citing different evidence," Klein writes.
"Class Warfare, by Steven Brill, is an extremely well-reported survey of the modern reform movement that is likely to have a big impact and will appeal to a wide audience. Special Interest, by Terry M. Moe, is a carefully researched analysis of the power dynamics underlying today's policy disputes," Klein adds.
Click here to read all of Klein's review.
Click here to learn more about Special Interest: Teachers Unions and America's Public Schools.

Terry M. Moe: Will Young People Reform Teachers Unions? Drean On

Andy Rotherham is an astute observer of American education reform, but in his latest article in Time.com he engages in a flight of wishful thinking. He waxes eloquent about "renegade groups" of younger teachers who are rising up to demand a new brand of unionism--one in which the unions disavow seniority provisions, insist on serious teachers evaluations, make it easy to get bad teachers out of the classroom, and otherwise do whatever is best for children and effective schools. He strongly suggests that big changes are in the offing for America's teachers unions. A revolution from within.

This kind of argument is quite common and has a long lineage--although in the past, the agents of change were "progressive" union leaders rather than young teachers.

Click here to find out why I believe these arguments are so common and to read my complete post on the Public Sector Inc. blog

Terry M. Moe: 'Special Interest' Ed Next Book Club's August Selection

My latest book, Special Interest: Teachers Unions and America's Public Schools is the August selection for the Ed Next Book Club.
Michael Petrilli, education analyst and executive vice president of the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, interviewed me about the book which looks at the impact teachers unions have had on the education reform movement.
Click here to learn more about the book club and to hear a podcast of my interview with Petrilli.
Click here to learn more about Special Interest: Teachers Unions and America's Public Schools.

Terry M. Moe: My Radio Interview on How the Internet Will Reduce Teachers Union Power

Earlier this week, I was on the radio in St. Louis, the Hancock & Kelley Show on KMOX-AM, to be specific.
Our topic was my recent Wall Street Journal essay How the Internet Will Reduce Teachers Union Power.
I gave Hancock and Kelley an overview of how information technology is changing K-12 education. While the impact of this historic change may still be flying under the radar, the unions see the future: as virtual education grows, the need for more teachers will be reduced.
After my interview, Hancock and Kelley launch into a debate that is being repeated at the kitchen tables around this nation.
Click here to listen to the complete 10-minute segment. Make sure to click on the button below the description of my part of the show.

Terry M. Moe: The Internet Will Reduce Teachers Union Power

In an essay I wrote for the July 18, 2011 issue of the Wall Street Journal, I show why over the long haul, teachers unions are in grave trouble--for reasons that have little to do with the tribulations these unions have had this year.
One of the greatest challenges teachers unions face is the information technology revolution in education.
This tsunami is only now beginning to swell, and it will hit the American education system with full force over the next few decades. The teachers unions are trying to stop it, but it is much bigger than they are.
Online learning now allows schools to customize coursework to each child, with all kids working at their own pace, receiving instant remedial help, exploring a vast array of courses, and much more. The advantages are huge. Already some 39 states have set up virtual schools or learning initiatives that enroll students statewide, often providing advanced placement courses, remedial courses, and other offerings that students can't get in their local schools.
Click here to read my complete essay.

Terry M. Moe: Road to Reform Runs Through Indiana

The June 2011 issue of The School Choice Advocate focuses on this year's school choice success. Articles include a look at the recent education reform efforts in Indiana that resulted in a landmark voucher program, the Foundation For Education Choice's newest study that sparked a national dialog and an interview with me.
They call this a " Two-Minute Talk ." Click here to read it.

Terry M. Moe: The Coming Fall of the Teachers Unions

Bruno Behrend is the director of the Center for School Reform at the Heartland Institute. Recently, he reviewed my new book Special Interest: Teachers Unions and America's Public Schools, for the American Thinker, a daily Internet publication devoted to the thoughtful exploration of issues of importance to Americans.
In his review, Behrend said, "Moe demolishes many of the myths surrounding teachers and their unions. The most important of these is the myth that teachers are unhappy with their unions and yearn to shed their yoke. Not quite."
He also writes, "The book shows teacher unions are an inexorable force imposing their will on education policy at the federal, state, and local level. Reforms and reformers are blocked at every turn by a political juggernaut built over decades and intricately designed to block reform."
Click here to read the complete review
Click here to learn more about Special Interest: Teachers Unions and America's Public Schools.

Terry M. Moe: What Marcus A. Winters said about 'Special Interest: Teachers Unions and America's Public Schools'

City Journal is a magazine about urban policy. "The Bible of the new urbanism" according to London' Daily Telegraph.
Recently, Marcus A. Winters, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, who writes about education policy, reviewed my new book, Special Interest: Teachers Unions and America's Public Schools. In his review, Winters said, " Moe traces the sources of the unions’ power and explains why they behave as they do. In the process, he blows apart several pervasive myths that have been used for far too long to let teachers and their unions off the hook."
He added, "The book is a must-read for anyone frustrated by the slow progress toward improving America’s public schools."
Winters wonders what will change the balance of power between teachers unions and education reform.
"It is a factor outside of education that Moe believes is the real game-changer: the rapid expansion of information technology. Moe believes, as he and John Chubb argued recently in their 2009 book, Liberating Learning, that technology has the power to weaken the unions by fundamentally changing the way that schools operate."
Click here to read all of Winters review.
Click here to learn more about Special Interest: Teachers Unions and America's Public Schools.

Terry M. Moe: California in the Dark Ages

You’d think that California, the home of Silicon Valley, would be at the forefront of the movement to harness technology in boosting K-12 education. But nothing could be further from the truth. California remains in the dark ages. And under the bold leadership of Governor Jerry Brown, it seems intent on staying there.
Brown was heavily backed in the 2010 election by the powerful California Teachers Association, and, soon after his election, he tipped his hand by appointing a CTA lobbyist to the state school board. His most recent gift to the CTA: as the new state budget takes shape, he is refusing to approve funding for the state’s educational data system, which links data on students and teachers, generates a ton of information on performance and its possible determinants—and (gasp) makes it possible to evaluate how much learning is actually going on in each teacher’s classroom. Just what the CTA doesn’t want.
The CTA has long fought against this data system: first by opposing any linkage between student and teacher data, and then (when it eventually lost that battle) by opposing the use of such data, even as just one factor, in evaluating, paying, or possibly dismissing teachers. Under Race to the Top, President Obama and Education Secretary Arne Duncan explicitly sought to encourage the creation and use of these data systems by insisting that any states with California-like “firewalls” must remove them if they were to stand any chance of winning a share of the money. Desperate to be a winner, California dutifully complied. Sort of. It removed its restrictions from the law, but it allowed local districts to decide whether the data would actually be put to use in any way. And at the local level, of course, all such decisions are subject to collective bargaining; and local unions have regularly made sure that the data don’t actually get used in ways that might reflect on the performance of individual teachers, and thus be a threat to jobs.
Brown’s latest move, the denial of funding, is the crowning blow. If it stands, it will essentially destroy the state’s data system—and give the CTA exactly what it has wanted from the beginning. The technology exists for California to collect and store massive amounts of pertinent information on students and teachers, statewide, and to put that information to sophisticated, productive—and fair—use in improving the public schools. There is no doubt that the advance of technology and the productive use of information are the future of American education. President Obama knows it. Secretary Arne Duncan knows it. Education reformers in all corners of the country know it. But the CTA and Governor Brown are modern day Luddites. What they know is that technology is threatening to low-performing teachers, that it is threatening to jobs—and that its innovations need to be resisted, however much they might actually improve the management and operation of California’s public schools.
Long term, of course, this assault against the revolution in information technology won’t work. But in the short term, it will make technological progress slower and more difficult—and it will have consequences. Governor Moonbeam has become Governor Luddite, and it can’t help but take a toll on California’s schools and kids.

Terry M. Moe: Talking About Teachers Unions

I appeared on the Ronn Owens Radio Show this week. Owens has a daily, high-rated, talk show show based in San Francisco.
The focus of the program was my new book, Special Interest: Teachers Unions and America's Public Schools. Our conversation was wide-ranging, touching on subjects such as union impact on how schools are organized and the power unions have over getting bad teachers out of the classroom.
We also talked about seniority rules, the role public employee unions have on the political process, and the impact information technology will have on education and teachers unions.
I also took phone calls and answered emails from listeners.
Click here to find a link to the podcast of the hour-long show. The link is the "Ronn Owens June 6 10 a.m."
Click here to learn more about Special Interest: Teachers Unions and America's Public Schools.

Terry M. Moe: Behind the News

On May 28, I appeared on Berkeley's KPFA-FM with Doug Henwood, who just completed a Media Fellowship at the Hoover Institution.

We had a wide-ranging discussion on issues from the power of teachers unions, to charter schools, to the quality of education in Harlem to virtual education and the Obama Administration's Race to the Top.

We also talked about my new book Special Interest: Teachers Unions and America's Public Schools.

Click here to listen to the complete audio of my conversation with Henwood. Scroll to 23:00 for the start of my portion of the show.

Click here for more information on Special Interest: Teachers Unions and America's Public Schools.

Terry M. Moe: More Reviews for 'Special Interest: Teachers Unions and America's Public Schools'

Here are two more reviews of my new book Special Interest: Teachers Unions and America's Public Schools.

"Special Interest constitutes the most serious and sustained inquiry into teachers unions ever conducted. It has the signature markings of Moe's scholarship: impeccable writing, clear and persuasive argumentation, sound empirics, and an utter unwillingness to pull any punches. In the ongoing debate about teacher unions and school reform, this book is a game changer." --William Howell, University of Chicago.

"An exquisitely researched, compellingly reasoned treatise on the role of teachers unions and their impact on America's schools. Terry Moe has read everything, collected mountains of data, and thought more deeply on this topic than anyone in America. Special Interest immediately becomes essential reading for policymakers, would-be reformers, and anyone concerned about the future of American education." -- Frederick Hess, American Enterprise Institute.

Click here to learn more about Special Interest: Teachers Unions and America's Public Schools.

Terry M. Moe: Reviews are in on 'Special Interest: Teachers Unions and America's Public Schools'

Here are two reviews of my new book, Special Interest: Teachers Unions and America's Public Schools.
"This is a superb and historic book. Terry Moe, the first scholar to brave unions' wrath by revealing how they operate, now also shows how their dominance of public education will wane, due to political change and productivity-enhancing technology. Reformers, foundation heads, elected officials who have up to now been afraid to cross the unions, and union leaders and their allies should read this book as soon as they can get their hands on it."
--Paul Hill, University of Washington
"Anyone who wants to understand education reform and its challenges should read this extraordinary book. Over the past few decades, teachers unions have become some of the most powerful actors in American public education. Terry Moe fills a crucial gap by exploring how the unions work; how they veto important reforms in ways that are detrimental for children; and how their power might be waning. As with his prior work, this book will make a tremendous difference in how we run our schools."
--Michelle Rhee, former Chancellor, District of Columbia Public Schools
Click here to learn more about Special Interest: Teachers Unions and America's Public Schools.

Guest Commentary: Terry M. Moe's book is one to savor

In a short review of Terry M. Moe's new book, Special Interest: Teachers Unions and America's Public Schools, Chester E. Finn writes that this a definitely a book that needs to be widely read.
"Hot off the Brookings Institution press is Terry Moe's magnum opus on teacher unions. Magnum, indeed (at 500-plus pages), it's deeply informative, profoundly insightful, fundamentally depressing, and yet ultimately somewhat hopeful about an educational future that unions won't be able to block—though they'll try hard—due to the combined forces of technology and changing politics," Finn, president of the Thomas B. Fordham Institute and chairman of the Hoover Institution's Koret K-12 Education Task Force, writes on The Education Gadfly blog.
"Insights along the way—and there are many—include the gaps between teachers and their union leaders, the false promise of 'reform unionism,' the strength of union influence even where there's no collective bargaining, the many faces of Randi Weingarten, and the mixed bag that is Race to the Top. This is a book you'll want for your shelf and, one hopes, a book you’ll actually read and savor and learn from."
Click here to learn more about Special Interest: Teachers Unions and America's Public Schools.

Terry M. Moe: Government, Markets, and the Mixed Model of American Education Reform

Paul T. Hill, the John and Marguerite Corbally professor of Public Affairs at the University of Washington-Bothell, director of the Center of Reinventing Public Education, and a colleague on the Hoover Institution's Koret K-12 Education Task Force, and I co-authored an essay for Education Week's blog "The Futures of School Reform."
Our article is part of a series written by members of a working group organized by the Harvard Graduate School of Education. The group's goal is to seek "seeking to engage a wider audience in an “urgent” conversation—one that it hopes can advance the national dialogue on improving public education for all children."
Over the next few weeks, Education Week will run essays from the group.
In our essay, Hill and I call for a new education model, one that has "different mixes" that meet the needs of "different states and communities, depending on their distinctive values, concerns, and local conditions."
Here are some highlights from our article:
-- The current system of district-run schools can simply be left in place, but required to compete for children and money in a much larger marketplace of educational options.
-- A core rule is that money should follow the child (with more resources attached to the disadvantaged) and flow to the school of the family’s choosing.
-- Policy rules should encourage the proliferation of new educational options, chief among them (for now) charter schools—with no ceilings on their numbers or enrollments, funding equal to that of district schools, access to buildings and seed grants, the right of for-profit firms to manage them, and no requirement that they be unionized.
-- States should open the marketplace to online learning and the new forms of schooling that offer it: virtual charters, blended (hybrid) schools, state-led virtual schools, and more—which may enroll “whole” students taking full curricula or just “parts” of students taking a few courses.
Click here to read the entire essay.
Click here to learn more about my new book Special Interest: Teachers Unions and America's Public Schools.

Terry M. Moe: My Discussion with Radio Talk Show Host John Batchelor About the Power of Teachers Unions

Earlier this month, I was interviewed by John Batchelor on his nationally syndicated radio show. The topic: the political confrontation between the governors and teachers unions.
My latest book, Special Interest: Teachers Unions and America's Public Schools provides context and background to this fight, which will be ongoing for some time.
What can get us out the the current mess? The revolution in information technology. Virtual education, be it in a blended learning environment or as part of a home-school program, is a game-changers, especially when it come to the power of teachers unions.
Click here to listen to my conversation with John Batchelor (my part of the program starts at the 29.25 point in the podcast).
Click here to learn more about my book Special Interest: Teachers Unions and America's Public Schools.

Terry M. Moe: Special Interest: Teachers Unions and America's Public Schools

A number of smart people got advanced copies of my latest book, Special Interest: Teachers Unions and America's Public Schools. They had many insights and said a lot of nice things. Eric Hanushek, my colleague at the Hoover Institution and on the Koret Task Force on K-12 Education wrote that the book, "shines a bright light on perhaps the most under-researched topic in all of education policy. This is a theoretical and empirical tour de force, revealing what makes the teachers unions tick and why they are absolutely central to any discussions of education reform." Joel Klein, CEO of News Corp. Education Division and former Chancellor of New York City Public Schools said that in this "bare-knuckled and brilliant account" the book "shows how the teachers unions use their unmatched political power to control virtually every aspect of educational policy and practice. The result, not surprisingly, is a system that protects the interests of employees at the expense of our kids. Click here to learn more about Special Interest: Teachers Unions and America's Public Schools.