Cambridge School Committee Increases Bureaucracy To Imporve Education?

Cambridge, MA School Committee, 2011-13

[From article]
The plans cover myriad topics such as student achievement, professional development and family engagement.
[. . .]
Not that every school should be the same, but that the general overarching goals should be coherent and consistent across the district.”
[. . .]
Young said the district hired Lyle Kirtman, an education consultant and president of Future Management Systems, several weeks ago to train staff in crafting the SIP. Similar training sessions will be held with each school council – comprised primarily of parents, teachers and other city staff.
[. . .]
Young said Kirtman will provide advice about how to develop SIPs that “really develop student achievement.”

It is business as usual with the school committee hiring more consultants, increasing the bureaucracy in the name of improving education. During the 2013 campaign incumbents boasted of how great the Cambridge schools are. Graduating students who went to to college and graduate schools. So why is there a need to improve the schools if they are operating so well? One element seldom discussed during the campaign is the influence of the teachers unions in setting policies, which often hinder education in the name of protecting the bureaucracy. John Taylor Gatto received awards for being the best teacher in New York City and then for being the best teacher in New York State. In essays and speeches in his book, Dumbing Us Down, he recommends less school. Instead the Cambridge School Committee promotes more schooling and more efforts to get parents involved. 

http://www.wickedlocal.com/cambridge/news/x1565410357/Cambridge-School-Improvement-Plan-to-be-released-this-month

Cambridge School Improvement Plan to be released this month
By Erin Baldassari/ebaldassari (at) wickedlocal.com
Cambridge Chronicle
Posted Nov 14, 2013 @ 03:48 PM