Publisher: Education reform opponents continue to resist innovation

In his latest column, Business Report Publisher Rolfe McCollister says opponents to education reform in Louisiana are still trying to use anything and everything to stop progress and turn back the clock. McCollister writes about a new state law that provides more autonomy to charter schools when it comes to hiring teachers and removes a requirement that at least 75% of a school’s teachers are “certified.” “Charter schools are about innovation, and certification has not proven to be a guarantee of success in helping students learn. But opponents are trying to use this issue as a wedge to turn back reform,” McCollister says. “BESE member Chas Roemer told me, ‘The fact of the matter is that certification is not a good predictor of quality. If it were, we would not have a problem in this state. We live in a community with some of the greatest chemists and engineers in the world, and yet many could not go teach in our schools. Does that make sense?’ ” Considering the rapid rate of change happening throughout the world, McCollister says he’s puzzled by the constant resistance to change in Louisiana. “Maybe it’s fear. Maybe it’s lack of vision. Often it is job protection. But we must innovate, and that is nowhere more evident than in education,” he says. “So tell those who resist this year’s education reforms—including the media—that we are not going to turn the page back and retreat. The only path to the future is forward.” Read the full column here.