The reform/privatization strategy is now in full operation is states across the nation.
This is the way it works:
First, set an impossible goal, say, 100% proficiency for all students.
Second, say that there can be “no excuses,” no reference to social conditions in which children live.
Third, insist on accountability for schools, teachers, and principals. If they can’t meet the impossible goals, fire the staff and close the school.
Fourth, hand the school over to private management.
Mission accomplished!
Oklahoma is in the midst of this process, as this teacher describes here. The schools will be graded. Many will fail, by design. Does anyone still believe this is about improving education?
You know what comes next. This Oklahoma teacher writes:
Oh, it’s much worse than just testing…the use of this data will “fail” schools and then trumpet their failure. In order to earn an “A”, a school must score nearly 94%. The easy-to understand resources on the OKSDE website are anything but simple and transparent. The district Superintendents (nearly 200, I believe) who objected to the release of scores have been called names by our State Super and our Governor. Dedicated professional educators have been attacked personally.
The State Superintendent likened them to the kid who runs home to white-out his report card before his parents get home. Remember, she’s speaking to career educators…which she is not. She was a speech pathologist for a few years, became a dentist, and helped open a charter school in OKC because her own children were struggling in public schools. She sees herself as the heroine of DON’T BACK DOWN.
The spokesperson for the SDE says they’ve worked with districts, getting their input. I was at the Public Comments meeting, at the SDE…scheduled by the SDE. NO ONE representative from the SDE attended the meeting except the lawyer who pushed ‘play’ on the tape recorder. We all spoke to a tape recorder…superintendents, principals, school officials, legislators, PTA state officers, and I was the lone teacher…we were all ignored. Is THIS how our SDE works with us? Unfortunately, the answer is ‘yes’.
Our state officials are bullies, and they bully with smiles on their faces, with the knowledge that the media won’t pursue the story to the ultimate truth.
Tomorrow the grades come out…the same grades Mitt Romney thinks are such a good idea. My firm belief is the grades will show exactly what high-stakes testing shows: poverty matters. So, once again, schools and teachers and districts will be punished and publicly shamed because we serve poor children.
Pray for us.
I actually took to verse to describe this yesterday: http://okeducationtruths.wordpress.com/2012/10/07/happy-a-f-report-card-eve/
This whole process has been a travesty. The legislature passed a law in 2010 allowing the governor to replace the whole state board in one felled swoop. And even this hand-picked board doesn’t completely support the state superintendent. In the end, they all just say “you’re protecting the status quo,” “you’re using poverty as an excuse,” and “the education establishment are avoiding transparency.”
Publish our test scores. That’s transparent. Running them through some ridiculous formula to generate an arbitrary letter grade is Grade A obfuscation in my book!
Love it! Keep fighting.
isn’t it interesting how all the privatizers use the same vocabulary no matter where they are? Do they have a crib book that tells them what to say? which phrases to use to defend their failed strategies?
I prefer to call VAM, grades, etc. . . 100% pure USDA approved grade AA bovine excrement with a side of equine excrement.
The SDE lawyer needs to be replaced. He is a wimp to succumb to the idea of using a tape recorder. I would
never have spoken into a tape recorder. That was your first mistake. I would have left this one sided meeting.
I then would have contacted the local newspaper and/or radio station sympathetic to the cause and told them about the
use of a tape recorder instead of using real people…actual bodies to attend this so called “meeting.”
(If there is no one present, you cannot “meet” can you?)
Then I would have contacted the SDE leadership and told them to grow some balls and meet the opposition head on …
not by tape recordings from a wimpy lawyer…which can be changed and amended.(by the way what does the S stand for in SDE? )
OKSDE breached the records of students wanting to opt-out of their high-stakes tests. OKSDE required the students to waive their FERPA rights, legally questionable at best. Some of the students were IDEA.
Then, they posted the students’ names & education records along with personal statements (some of them heart wrenching) about why they wanted/needed to opt-out on the OKSDE website!
When the breach was brought to the attention of OKSDE they RELUCTANTLY redacted some information, however grades & students names (& more) were not redacted for some students.
Sloppy & careless stewardship of children’s information. Not much knowledge on the part of OKSDE attorneys.
Very unfortunate for OK kids.
The number of districts that are asking for a delay in the release of report cards is now over 300.
They should all pass a resolution opposing the report cards and high-stakes testing, like Texas school boards.
You forgot five, remove the first through fourth requirements, so the privatized schools can be held accountable.
CORRECTION:
You forgot five, remove the first through fourth requirements, so the privatized schools *can’t* be held accountable.
that’s what I thought you meant!
I am utterly saddened by the direction of our educational system. As a teacher, who has worked in the New York area for 20 years, I am feeling more and more powerless. While I know 90% of all educators (maybe more?) abhor what is happening, it appears that no one, but educators themselves, are listening. How do we stop this? Perhaps it’s time for a March on Washington, or something big where all teachers, parents, administrators etc. around the country can converge together so that our voices are heard?
http://newsok.com/oklahoma-schools-superintendent-lashes-out-at-board-member/article/3717084 The latest from OK…after the State Board voted 6-0 to defy Super. Barresi and postpone the release of our grades.