Education Week - January 17, 2018 - 26

"

Having
participated in
some of these
battles over
the years, I
have arrived
at an
understanding
about how and
when to
intervene."

How to Decide When Your Voice Is Necessary

I

By Pedro A. Noguera
n many respects, the polarization that
characterizes the national political climate has long been present in the debates over the direction of public education, which took a particularly rancorous
turn with the enactment of No Child Left
Behind 16 years ago. Fierce conflicts over
the expansion of charter schools, school
closures, high-stakes testing, teacher evaluation,
and the merits of the common core have been
common in communities across the country. Unlike the current political debates over immigration, taxes, and healthcare, which typically pit
Republicans against Democrats, the fault lines in
these long-running conflicts over education have
frequently put leaders in the Democratic Party
against constituencies that are typically regarded
as a stable part of their base, namely teachers'
unions and parents and activists in low-income
communities of color.
Not surprisingly, some academics (myself included) have chosen to weigh in on these education conflicts. Some have participated actively
out of a sense of moral obligation because the re-

search they have done has a direct bearing on the
issues under debate. Others have done so because
of their close political or ideological alignment to
one side or the other. Most do quickly learn that
becoming embroiled in such heated debates, especially when the stakes are high, always comes
with risks to reputation, and in some cases, even
job security.
Having participated in some of these battles
over the years, I have arrived at an understanding
about how and when to intervene in the debate
through our scholarship and writing. Here are
criteria that I have found helpful:
1) Avoid calling upon others to take stands
that you are not taking yourself. For example,
although I have been critical of high-stakes testing
for many years, I have never encouraged parents
to "opt out." I feel that this is a decision that each
parent must make on their own, and while I feel it
is appropriate to explain the merits and drawbacks
associated with high-stakes testing, I draw the line
at telling parents what to do with their children.
2) Only enter conflicts in which you have
a knowledgeable position that can be supported by research. This may seem like an obvious rule of thumb, but I have seen many scholars

drawn into debates where they lack the expertise
to offer well-reasoned positions. Invariably, their
reputations are sullied when it turns out they
can't effectively defend a position they have taken.
3) Don't be afraid to acknowledge the complexity of an issue even if it angers some
people who want you to declare your allegiance to their position. For example, I have
been asked repeatedly to weigh-in on the debate
over charters and single-gender schools. My answer has consistently been that some are good,
some are not, and there's no evidence to suggest
that expanding either will lead to significant improvements in educational outcomes.
4) Don't be afraid of speaking truth to
power. If you are confident about your position on
an issue, don't be afraid of speaking out or writing
on the issue. Even if your position may be at odds
with the position of powerful political or economic
interest groups, you shouldn't hesitate to speak for
the interests of vulnerable and disadvantaged children. Sometimes, silence is a form of complicity. n
PEDRO A. NOGUERA is a professor of education at the
Graduate School of Education & Information Studies at the
University of California, Los Angeles.

88%

Percentage of 2018 RHSU EduScholars with Twitter accounts

71

67

65

64

60

54

54

SOURCE: Education Week Research Center analysis of RHSU
Edu-Scholar Public Influence Rankings, 2018
Data analysis: Alex Harwin and Hannah Sarisohn

14
U. Virginia

NYU

U. Penn

Stanford

Columbia

UC Berkeley

Harvard

UCLA

Vanderbilt

THE NINE UNIVERSITIES WITH THE MOST EDU-SCHOLARS

Some Cautions for Junior Scholars (and Their Institutions)

T

By Robert Kelchen
he new generation of academics is coming of age in a more
exciting-and more challenging-time than ever before. The
importance of social media in
education policy discussions has
given junior faculty members
(such as myself) the opportunity
to become nationally known in a way that would
have been nearly impossible even a decade ago.
But in an era when facts that don't fit one's preferred political narrative are dismissed as "fake
news" and when some colleges claim to value
public engagement while not rewarding it in
tenure decisions, young academics interested in
becoming public scholars should proceed with
caution. Here are my four cautions, three aimed
at scholars and one aimed at their colleges:
1) Academics should be aware that everything they say online or in an interview (unless it is explicitly stated as being
off-the-record) could end up reaching a
broader audience than initially expected.
It can be tempting to use social media to vent
about the current political environment or use
humor to opine about topics unrelated to education, but this carries two risks. The first is about
the ability to engage policymakers on both sides

of the aisle-if legislative staffers check out an
academic's Twitter account and see a number of
posts opposing their party, they may not listen
to his or her research. The second is gaining the
attention of internet trolls who try to make people's lives miserable for sharing their political
opinions; this is a particular concern for female
and minority scholars, who are disproportionately subjected to online vitriol. I won't say to
avoid getting into politically charged debates,
but scholars should be aware of potential concerns.
2) Academics must keep the importance
of high-quality research front and center.
The importance of rigorous research designs
(both quantitative and qualitative) is a hallmark
of our doctoral training. It is essential to emphasize the nature of this rigor on social media and
when speaking with journalists or policymakers. There are plenty of partisans out there promoting so-called "research" that would not get
a passing grade in a research methods course.
Driving home the importance of high-quality
research (and explaining to the public why certain studies cannot be relied upon for making
policies) is crucial, even if the findings of these
studies do not match one's prior beliefs.
3) Junior academics should be mindful of
the ticking tenure clock. Assistant professors
have a limited amount of time to produce the

26 | EDUCATION WEEK | January 17, 2018 | www.edweek.org/go/commentary

research necessary for tenure, so public engagement must be viewed as a trade-off. Is spending
half an hour a day on Twitter likely to pay off
by producing potential research collaborations
or opportunities to influence policy? I happen
to think so, but spending time on social media
needs to be a part of an overall strategy to earn
tenure. It is worth spending time being strategic
about social-media engagement in order to get
the best return on one's investment of time.
4) Colleges that support public engagement must step up and actually provide
the necessary support to their faculty.
Universities that expect their scholars to be engaged in the public sphere should provide written guidance about how this engagement factors
into the tenure and promotion processes; otherwise, senior faculty on tenure committees may
be less likely to give academics credit for their
work. Universities must also be willing to stand
behind faculty members with actual statements
of support (not just a notice that scholars' socialmedia activity is their own) when the internet
trolls come out of hiding. If they fail to do so,
then a generation of young academics may be
cowered into silence. n
ROBERT KELCHEN is an assistant professor of higher
education at Seton Hall University in South Orange, N.J.
He can be found on Twitter at @rkelchen.

"

It is worth
spending time
being strategic
about socialmedia
engagement in
order to get the
best return on
your investment
of time."
http://www.edweek.org/go/commentary
Education Week - January 17, 2018

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