I have received many comments from readers nominating their state as the worst in the nation for having enacted legislations that removes due process from teachers or reduces their status or connects their evaluation to student test scores or defunds public education or harms professional educators and the public weal in other ways.
Vermont is different. Vermont still has leadership that wants to improve its schools and support teachers. Vermont decided to turn down the NCLB waiver when it realized that it provided no flexibility, just another bunch of mandates that would be bad for the schools and for children. Vermont doesn’t want to test its students every single year. Vermont realized that NCLB and Race to the Top are not good for students or education.
Are there other states that refuse the enticements offered by Washington, D.C., to create more market-style competition for public schools and to reduce the status of professional educators?
If your state has had the wisdom and foresight of Vermont, please let me know.
The question we must ask is, why is Vermont different? Why has it stood outside the destructive mainstream of education “deform” that has swept the nation?
We can all take heart in knowing that one beacon of sanity remains. And yet how discouraging to know that of our fifty states, there is only one that still wants children to have a childhood and for education to be a time to learn rather than a time to be ranked, rated, and numbered by instruments of limited value.
A reader sent this comment:
Vermont is one of the only states in the country that refuses to get on the bandwagon for corporate ed. reform. The state has a law against charter schools and they refused Race to the top funds. Vermont did try to get a NCLB waiver, but was rejected by Sec. Duncan because their proposal did not include tying student test scores to teacher evaluations or charter schools. Their proposal did include focusing more on creativity, a rich curriculum, and less on testing, but I guess that was not good enough. I’m getting certification in both Mass. and NY, but I may consider going to teach in Vermont. Burlington is beginning to focus more on equity and creating a system similar to what they have in Finland. If it is successful, then maybe people will begin to pay more attention to what actually works.
Please sign this petition to get rid of Arne Duncan:http://dumpduncan.org/
Thank God………….finally someone more concerned about children rather than money.
Add to that one of the highest graduation rates in the country by any measure. Duncan needs to be making a pilgrimage to talk with the state education commissioner and hanging out in Vermont schools to find out what they are doing right and replicate it around the country.
As a BreadLoaf grad, I spent some time in Vermont and love the State. It’s beauty, it’s outside the modern world vibe, and, of course, Bernie Sanders!
One more reason to love Vermont!
Before my family and I pack our bags and move to Vermont, there are a few things I’d like to know. Maybe the readers can provide some insight. As an Illinois educator and a Wisconsin parent of a 5 years old (we live just north of the state line) I have the advantage of watching two government prime time sitcoms in our education system. It’s sort of like flipping the channel back and forth between the “Family Guy” and “Two and a Half Men” (the one with Charlie Sheen of course) or maybe a better comparison would be some sort of reality tv show comparison.
In any case, I’ve posted on here already what’s going on in WI other than the recall election and union busting with respect to Governor Walker’s “Read to Lead” education reform law so I won’t rehash that. There is a direct Wisconsin-Vermont connection that I’ve brought up before that I will again do so here. WI and VT both received “not good enough” reports from Arne Duncan this time around. While we know VT told Arne to do “you know what” with his flexibility, WI Gov. Scott Walker smiled, nodded, jumped and directed State Supt. Tony Evers to make the necessary changes to keep King Arne pleased. So much for Rock Star Tea Party conservative who campaigned in 2010 on getting the government out of our lives. So now WI is on its way to Race to the Top while VT is not. However, what now for VT? Since they will not get the waiver, I assume they will still need to follow NCLB in order to get federal funds. I assume that VT will be unable to meet the demands of NCLB, so what will happen? Will they then have the choice to either stop taking federal funds or follow all the rules and guidelines for “failing schools” under NCLB? Or, will they not even have a choice? If they do stop taking federal funds, how will they make up for them?
My other concern is regarding VT’s role in the Common Core Standards movement. Is VT on board with this? Is their governor an active player in the National Governors Association? Standing up to the fed and Arne Duncan will mean little if they are actively pursuing the CCS movement and their gov. is proactively jparticipating in or even passively accepting the NGA’s push for this. All the CCS movement amounts to is a plan B to try to get race to the top in place. I remember watching some coverage either this past winter or last summer which emphasized the common ground that the GOP and President Obama overwhelmingly shared when the last NGA met (either the winter or the summer one, can’t remember. I think it was the one that is always in DC so that might have been the winter one) Is anyone out there able to comment on this?
Also, if anyone is interested I recently saw a map (I think it was provided by the U.S. Dept of Ed) that showed the status of each state with repspect to waiver status indicating one of three conditions: waiver granted, waiver applied for, waiver not applied for. I don’t have a link to share, but searching it shouldn’t be too difficult. There are still some states out there that haven’t applied for waivers. What’s going on with those states?
James: The only thing Vermont has to do at this point is make sure their schools are meeting the Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) by 2014, and the majority are meeting that benchmark.
If VT had gone along with the demands of Duncan to get the waiver, then things would have been worse. Duncan demanded VT tie student test scores to teacher evaluations and open charter schools (The state has a law against them). VT is trying to focus more on equity by giving each child regardless of socioeconomic status the best education possible.
Hopefully one day, VT and all states will have more of a say in how to make our schools better.
Andrew,
Thanks for the feedback. Is VT on a course to be 100% by 2014? If so how are they accomplishing that? I am very interested in your state as I see it as the last beacon of hope dimly shining for us. Are you familiar with your states role in the common core standards movement? IF Vt has embraced it and the NGA’s role in it, then we are little advantaged by its resistance to Arne Duncan. Thanks again.
Vermont is very much on board with the Common Core Standards. Our current GLE’s, project-based learning, and writing standards are very much in line with the Common Core already.
James: Vermont originally adopted the CCS as a part of their NCLB waiver proposal. VTDOE wanted CCS to be loose frameworks for the school districts to use, but also be allowed the freedom to teach and modify practices and approaches based on the students needs. Now that the state has dropped the waiver, I believe VT is no longer a part of the CCS bandwagon.
I know in the Burlington School District, they are focusing more on the equity of their students, and making sure they all receive a comprehensive education that extends beyond the NCLB constraints (English and Math). What area of teaching are you in?
Andrew, Thanks for the additional info. I teach 8th grade math. I’ll be keeping a close eye on what’s going on in Vermont. Keep me posted.
Sure thing Jim. If you do decide to make the move, here is a website that has lists of teaching jobs in VT.
http://www.schoolspring.com/. There are a number of full-time Math teacher positions available through out the state.
Happy hunting!
Don’t forget their efforts to provide everyone in the state with health care: http://hcr.vermont.gov/
I’ve always said there are 49 states in our union…and then there’s Vermont. It’s such a wonderful state of independent thinkers. Do you know there are only 3 Walmarts in the state?! And only ONE is a big box variety!! We have at least 3 within a 25 mile radius in rural SE CT. If they can ward off Walmart, Arne and RttT should be a piece of cake!! We became in awe of VT when our daughter was a student at Middlebury, dual majoring in art history and Italian. I suggested she also get a marketable skill, suggesting teaching, so she added that also. We all know how that’s becoming less and less marketable. She still has VT certification; maybe she should move north! And, as Teacher Out said, they have Bernie Sanders. Stay strong, VT!!
I am not from Wisconsin but I watch and listen to what is going on in Milwaukee. Teachers, administrators, and parents working together to bolster and increase public Montessori school offerings! Can we shine a spot light there?
I’m not too familiar with what’s going on lately with Montessori schools here in WI. I have looked into this particular school that is Montessori in nature but does not call itself Montessori. Wingra School in Madison seems to be a great place for kids to learn.
http://www.wingraschool.org However, public schools could be just as good if they were given the freedom and autonomy to excel. Instead they are held in check by govt nonsense.
http://www.facebook.com/montessori.milwaukee
Best,
Way to go Vermont! Bold and intelligent leaders and voters give the rest of us a beam of encouragement.
I graduated from UVM in Burlington in the 1980s’s & so I am very familiar with Vermont. It’s a state filled with natural beauty, progressive attitudes, civic minded folks, and common sense. It is not a wealthy state by any means and that’s part of what makes it so real. I am now a resident of Virginia, married, & with two children in the public school system. (VIrginia so far has only 4 charter schools and isn’t a lost cause yet, but it could be headed in that direction very soon given its current political leadership.)
I was one of the first lucky readers last November of Finnish Lessons by Pasi Sahlberg – a wonderful book about the Finnish educational system. You can read my top rated review on Amazon (“Concerned Mom of Two”) wherein I encouraged the citizens of Vermont to please consider rejecting RTTT funding and follow the best of what the Finnish model has to offer. In my opinion, Vermont’s ideals are harmonious with Finnish values and so it struck me as a natural fit.
I read recently in Education Week that Vermont had withdrawn its NCLB waiver application. I went to the US DOE website to read Vermont’s application and was heartened to learn that indeed its system mirrors the Finns in a multitude of ways. Diane – you are friends with Pasi Sahlberg. You should encourage him to visit Vermont – its educators and citizens – to provide moral support in what they are trying to do in that state. I do believe indeed that little Vermont could be on the cutting edge of a new reform movement in the U.S. In my Amazon review I, too, stated that if successful, other states would surely follow (& perhaps ultimately the feds). The only thing that worries me is the money aspect & losing federal funds. As already mentioned, Vermont is not a wealthy state. But if the Finns can educate their students at a cost per pupil that is less than the U.S. average as Dr. Sahlberg asserts in his book, then perhaps he could address this issue with Vermonters and share some advice.
Good luck Vermont…we are watching you and cheering for you from afar!
Thank you. I am forwarding your comment to Pasi Sahlberg.
Thank you, Diane. I know from following Dr. Sahlberg on Twitter that he travels frequently to the U.S. so this would be wonderful if a meeting of the minds could occur.
Another thought: are there any foundations interested in education that think differently from the Billionaires Boys
Club? Would they provide
substantial grant money to Vermont to support their cause (and as a result prove the deformers wrong)?
I’m just a working mom trying to stay informed for the sake of mine & all children. You would know these things, Diane. Thank you for all that you do for us. We are behind you 100%!
VT DOE is no different than any other SEA – philosophy follows funding.