How huge contributions from tech titans, a STEM curriculum, and gadgets everywhere failed to overhaul systemic problems in a San Francisco public middle school
Huge contributions from tech titans, a STEM-packed curriculum, gadgets everywhere: Willie Brown Middle School was supposed to set the bar. Tweets: @ilyasu , @mims , @samfr , @kimmaicutler , @jonsteinberg31 , @wired , @angela_watson , @benjaminjriley , @benjaminjriley , @jfholmquest , and @karinchenoweth Tweets: Ilya Sukhar / @ilyasu : “San Francisco [has] the lowest number of children per capita of any of the nation's 100 largest cities” http://www.wired.com/... Christopher Mims / @mims : SF's public school system sounds like a disaster.$43,000 / year teacher salaries in the most expensive city in the wealthiest country on earth http://twitter.com/... Sam Freedman / @samfr : How the startup mentality failed kids - a microcosm of the “tech and trendy curriculum” fantasy that is doing so much damage to education. http://www.wired.com/... Kim-Mai Cutler / @kimmaicutler : This headline is weird, but if the point of this story is that flashy tech philanthropy donations can't make up for crappy tax revenues for education, *DON'T* vote for the CA realtors' dumb initiative in Nov. which will take away $150M (in the 1st yr) to $1B+/yr of K12 funding. http://twitter.com/... Jon Steinberg / @jonsteinberg31 : This is a fabulous retelling of a damning story that we've read many times before—all with the same simple takeaway: Pay teachers and principals more. http://www.wired.com/... @wired : Willie Brown Middle School was the most expensive new public school in San Francisco history. There were laboratories for robotics and digital media, Apple TVs in every classroom, and Chromebooks for students. Then it opened. http://www.wired.com/... http://twitter.com/... Angela Watson / @angela_watson : A lot to unpack here. It's like they forgot that actual human children would be attending and teachers would need to culturally responsive & trauma-informed. 3D printers & celebrity guest speakers can't replace the hard work of building real school culture. #edtech http://twitter.com/... Benjamin Riley / @benjaminjriley : Read this story all the way until the end. We aren't going to improve education opportunity through Chromebooks or personalized-learning platforms. It's the humans, the principals, the teachers and of course the students. http://twitter.com/... Benjamin Riley / @benjaminjriley : One gratifying aspect of this otherwise disheartening story is that the reporter (and parent of student in this school, briefly) asks the question that's so rarely asked: Instead of blowing millions on technology, why not pay teachers more? http://twitter.com/... Justin Holmquest / @jfholmquest : “Eric Hanushek, a Stanford professor of economics who studies education, points out that among all the countless reforms tried over the years, the one that correlates most reliably with good student outcomes is the presence of good teachers and principals who stick around.” http://twitter.com/... Karin Chenoweth / @karinchenoweth : The children “were very positive until they realized the school was a sham.” http://twitter.com/...