2008克林顿全球行动会议：第一部分
Diane Geng | 把 2008年9月23号 粘贴在 活动, 其他组织, 素质教育, 乡村教育促进会 上面里 
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2008年度克林顿全球行动会议明 天将于纽约市开幕。这是RCEF第二年应邀出席，对RCEF来说既是荣誉，也是一次难得的机会，可以和克林顿总统等著名人物、创新性的社会团体、企业领导 人以及各行业重量级人士相互交流。去年马伟基代表RCEF出席了会议，并且认识了一些教育界的领军人物，他们后来为我们传授了许多经验，对我们的帮助很 
大。这里面包括曾在哥伦比亚成功开展了一系列教育改革的社会团体Escuela Nueva的Vicky Colbert，以及“为美国而教”的机构创始人Wendy Kopp。
今年，我作为RCEF的代表来到纽约参加了本次会议。而我最高兴的是见到了华盛顿DC学区的主事Michelle Rhee。我最近正在读一些关于提高教师水平的文章，而Michelle就是在这方面最大胆的改革派之一。她在接手了全美最糟的学区之一后，便对准经验不 善学校的死穴——人事问题动起了干戈。她解雇了一百名以上的中央行政人员，并更换了四分之一的校长人选。如今，她希望所有的教师放弃他们的铁饭碗工会合 同，而代之以将学生的学业成绩与所得的薪水收入挂钩，能者多得。年轻教师们大多支持这个方案，但大多数上年纪的教师对此犹有疑虑。“铁饭碗”的问题在中国 农村同样存在，大笔的财政被限制在向许多水平较低的公办教师和校长发放较高的薪水上，而新鲜的血液——更有能力的年轻却无法得到聘用。我很敬佩 Michelle推翻铁饭碗制度的魄力与政府所给予的支持，虽然很多的家长并不赞成。
Michelle希望在改革整个系统的时候，重点关注于怎样才对学生学业成绩最好，而不是在为本区、或对现任教师，又或者为本土学校考虑。例如，根据最近一篇Newsweek中关于她的文章， 如果一所私人管理的学校比她所管辖的公立学校经营的更好，那么她并不反对让旧有制度就此萎靡。而现在她仍致力于重撰制度，以使公立与私立两者之间可以抗 衡。她利用经济激励机制以使教师提高学生成绩的方法是很有创新性的；但是，她所设立的短期目标仍与在中国我们所面临的状况大相径庭。在中国，提高学生考试 成绩的需要历来毫无争议，学习时间太长和考试压力太大的惯例也已经根深蒂固。而DC区的学生由于与其所在年级的普遍水平差距太远，所以在最基础的教学上作 一些实质性努力便显得尤为重要。但若更深入一点，要培养全面发展的学生就需要发展许多其它的技能和思维方式。找出能够胜任的教师，以及如何扩大这支教师队 伍，是我认为如何提高教师素质更重要的问题。
修正
Kiel Harell (作者博客) 说:
在 %I:%M%p 添加 2008年9月23号Michelle Rhee is also a Teach For America Alumnus. When I was in the program I heard other corps members talk about her all the time. She sounds pretty impressive. I hope you get a chance to meet her.
Wei Ji Ma 说：
在 %I:%M%p 添加 2008年9月23号Very interesting to hear that radical reform is possible. I also agree with your analysis of the differences between DC and rural China. Let me know what ensues of your meeting.
Stephanie Hakes 说：
在 %I:%M%p 添加 2008年9月23号In what other profession do we argue about paying people more for doing better work??? Wouldn’t paying teachers more force districts to look closer at teacher performance and future prosperity in the field? They would want to get more bang for their buck. If teaching was viewed as a more respected profession in both the East and the West, teachers would receive the training and resources necessary to do a professional job just as most doctors are afforded the proper schooling and tools necessary to perform surgeries. Training and resources should be highly linked to teacher performance. Districts in the U.S. fail because the teachers who have the best training go to the school systems that have the greatest amount of resources and can pay the teachers more for their efforts. But even all that isn’t enough. The United States needs to make education a national priority. No Child Left Behind is extremely flawed but the one good thing I can take away from it, is that it actually allowed the national government to focus on standards and called for uniform measures to gauge success. This is what China’s education system is based upon. However, both the U.S. and China only focus on the succeeding schools to bolster their educational and usually political record and deem those not succeeding as failing. That is the wrong terminology and outlook and only serves as a catalyst for more tensions. They both instead, need to view the schools that are failing as not an anomaly or a nuisance but rather the prime target of their efforts.
I would really love to hear more about your experiences as well!
Steven Liu (作者博客) 说:
在 %I:%M%p 添加 2008年9月24号“I envy Michelle’s ability to smash iron rice bowls with the full support of the mayor, often in front of screaming parents.”
I may be a bit dense here, but why would the parents be screaming?
Stephanie Hakes 说：
在 %I:%M%p 添加 2008年9月24号Because she has fired people, threatened to and has actually shut down schools in her short time as the new DC Chancellor. Although it’s not pretty and some good things will be lost in the fray, these things need to happen all across America’s inner cities. We not only need political change but new grassroots level initiatives if we want to take our public schools back.