The administrators aren’t stupid. There’s just no down-side to them acting as if they are. In fact, acting stupid has some definite advantages so the question that needs to be asked isn’t why do they act stupid but what reason is there for them to act smart?

So, use it in the early grades, and then move on to something else.

This is not how companies like DI and Open Court work (the phrase Open Court Police wasn’t invented for no reason). They come in and insist their program is the best for EVERYONE and that teachers cannot use anything else. Remember, one of the developers of DI was quoted as saying he doesn’t give a damn about what teachers think.

There can be no higher priority for a school system than insuring that ALL kids (some special ed studernts obviously excepted) are reading at grade level no later than 3rd grade or so.

In theory, yeah. But assuming that education is the only, or even primary, driving force in public education is missing the obvious.

If education were the primary decision-making criteria then there wouldn’t be any need for the NCLB or, indeed, the various state-level testing schemes. You wouldn’t be able to keep schools or school districts from trying to determine how well they were educating the kids. But that isn’t the case, is it?

In fact, any effort to determine educational efficacy is always controversial or flawed or unfair. There’s always something wrong with any effort to determine the quantity and quality of education coupled with the intimation that if the flaws are remedied the idea will be acceptable. But somehow that situation never occurs. No matter how watered-down any accountability scheme becomes, it’s never good enough until it’s gone entirely.

So, if education doesn’t matter, why should the tools needed to effect education matter?

If you don’t care how your lawn looks and someone else is going to pick up the tab, what kind of lawn mower do you buy? It’s a trick question. The only thing that’s certian is that you won’t buy the best machine for the least money. Why should you?

There can be no higher priority for a school system than insuring that ALL kids (some special ed studernts obviously excepted) are reading at grade level no later than 3rd grade or so. There can be no excuses accepted for failing to accomplish that- a failure that amounts to child abuse. If that truly requires buying a curriclum for K-6 that’s only really appropriate for K-3, so be it. Of course readers of Professor Plum’s blog will realize that the reason such a thing has to be bought at all is the ed schools are flagrantly and willfully incompetent at training their graduates in how to teach reading.

If you think school districts have byzantine ways of doing things, you should check out some of their vendors.