The waivers offered to states by Arne Duncan removed the NCLB deadline of 2014, in exchange for states agreeing to accept punitive mandates and loss of state and local control.
The waivers took the heat off Congress to repeal NCLB. NCLB is a train-wreck. By removing the deadline, Congress can now tinker around the edges. The punishments, the firings, the school closings, the toxic testing–goes on. Thanks, Arne.
From Wendy Lecker in Connecticut, civil rights lawyer and fighter for equity:
“The waiver mandates increase the over-emphasis on standardized tests. They require implementing a teacher evaluation based in significant part on standardized test scores- for every teacher; in every grade and subject. They require impementation of the Common Core State Standards, and the computerized standardized tests that are the main feature of CCSS. They continue to base school and district performance on standardized test scores. To move away from the obsession with standardized tests, don’t look to the “waivers” for help.”
Diane Ravitch's blog 
This idea of speaking truth to power, as Chomsky said, is useless as the opposition, those legislators in Congress and the statehouses, already know the truth. And they choose to recognize waivers as a way to “tinker around the edges,” and to increase the hellish environment public school teachers find themselves in. And this furthers the privatization efforts that these leaders are aiming for. I’m not as versed as most in the complexities of educational politics, but I’m thinking that we must foresee and be several steps ahead of those who’s goal is to deregulate education so that bogus charters, bogus teacher training “schools,” bogus testing, and other things deleterious come to the marketplace and push out the ‘starved by design’ public schools through phoney promises combined with the motivation for financialization of a trillion dollar industry and the monetary rewards that it brings to the pockets of private equity as well into the pockets of our public law makers.
While I admire the states that opted not to get involved in the NCLB Waiver process I worry about what will happen to the schools and students who will suffer the repercussions when, and if the much needed funding gets pulled from them.
How do the already over burdened educators in the trenches go about organizing on a large scale to expose the truths of the privatization push to the public without sounding like “whining teachers”?
I want to be a leader in doing the right thing, but sometimes the right thing is not as obvious to identify as what is so obviously wrong….
I rely on the voices of educational historians like Diane, those currently working in the trenches, and my own heart to guide me, but if this isn’t enough where does someone like me turn to next?
The states who are currently implementing the mandates of Race to the Top are finding it more expensive than the money they received. In any event, it’s blood money and detrimental to the children.
Connecticut Teacher Evaluations have more exceptions and variations which will lead to useless results…If you teach 3rd grade CMT, you MUST use last year’s childrens’ data and compare to your children at the end of the year. If you teach social studies, you must use an element from the CMT even if you don’t directly teach the concept or the children. You can use DRP’s or Dibels which teachers give themselves and there is a lot of variation from tester to tester. I am not suggesting anything negative, but it just goes to show the variations. Parent survey and Student surveys – no controls, can survey different parents in pre and post so how do you prove goal was met? Observations are cumbersome and go to 6 in the first year with 3 being very intensive for every single teacher…teacher and administrator evaluations, all new programs require training, now throw in new standards AND a new test in 2 years!
If you wanted schools to fail, you just might create a Teacher Evaluation system this intense and under this timeline during one of the worst economic climates in our history. It makes you wonder if there is another motive here.
Did you see this farcical chart, see the first link below.
Now there are alternatives to the secondary pilot roll out after the original pilot..check out the verbiage:
Existing assumption, preferred alternative, additional alternative, other locally determined options, etc.
Really….only one third of the staff, only classroom teachers, lambs to the slaughter, how do we choose, which schools, which teachers, define classroom teacher..teacher with a classroom…what if you move period to period? Are you still a classroom teacher? Everyone else is off the hook?
This is the SDE version of keystone cops.
From this article:
http://www.ctmirror.org/story/19016/teacher-evaluations-panel-wants-phase-not-statewide-rollout
Did you see this farcical chart, see the first link below.
Now there are alternatives to the secondary pilot roll out after the original pilot..check out the verbiage:
Existing assumption, preferred alternative, additional alternative, other locally determined options, etc.
Really….only one third of the staff, only classroom teachers, lambs to the slaughter, how do we choose, which schools, which teachers, define classroom teacher..teacher with a classroom…what if you move period to period? Are you still a classroom teacher? Everyone else is off the hook?
This is the SDE version of keystone cops.
This ridiculous chart actually gave me hope. If the wagons are already falling off the cart, and it hasn’t even started, maybe the whole thing will break down and towns/state will unfund it before doing too much damage in CT.
If you have to start re-working it to even make it actionable, you lose “fidelity” – the validity breaks down as well.
I felt hopeful for a minute…I hope I’m right!
Yes, the whole re-pilot approach is ridiculous. Did you see Wendy’s article yet? I will link. Also, what about the time factor for those who have to undergo the new system vs the old system. How does a district decide which schools, which teachers, which administrators? Some will be measured by test scores, some will not. This will be the clusterfudge of all cluster%#%#s. Read this by Wendy Lecker:
http://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/article/Wendy-Lecker-Connecticut-s-teacher-evaluation-4263492.php
Uggh…I wish I could edit these posts:)
I meant to say “wheels” are falling off the cart!
I am beginning to understand that we have been going about this in the wrong direction. It is not the policy makers we need to educate. The key lies with our students and parents. They hold the power to take back their schools. Without them we don’t have a chance. We are teachers. We have the platform to teach about the history of the civil rights movement. Let’s teach our students how Dr. King led the charge, through nonviolent protest and his voice. Let the people take back their schools. Let’s empower our students and families with knowledge. It’s what we do best.
I can’t tell you how much I agree. None of this works without the data! Time to opt-out of testing, surveys, etc..
And when you refer to Civil Rights, this is where partisanship must go away. Some Educators (read: politicians on both sides) are calling Educational Reform the Civil Rights issue of our time. “Eliminating Reform” is the real Civil Rights issue. Just focus on the children and it will all be clear!
Let the districts tell the parents all this data collection is MANDATORY and we will have an uprising! It will become clear to all that this is not about improving instruction. It is about collecting the data to prove failure to ensure state/charter/magnet takeover.
Every single PTC should be having workshops on teacher evaluations and explain the components and its potential impact on the school, Student Success plans – talk about an invasion of our students right to privacy – all to collect data that WILL be shared! And shared freely due to FERPA rules lifting restrictions!
Today, PTA’s, PTC’s, PFA, teachers and parents must align!
I’ve been following the educational reform movement for quite a while now. The more I follow it, the more I can see that they are winning and, in the end, are going to win.
I’m a teacher in Rhode Island and the unions are beached whales. They are frozen. The citizenry hates us. I mean they really hate and resent us. They see us as hogs at the public fund trough who get summers off and wouldn’t be able to make it in the “real world.” I think the resentment stems from teachers being some of the last workers out there with dignity and benefits. It’s somehow a badge of honor to be a wage slave these days. The average person out there has bought the narrative that teachers are the root cause of “failing schools” and that unions are corrupt.
Here’s a response in the Providence Journal from an article about schools helping students with the state test: (WORD FOR WORD)
“Stop wasting taxpayers money on public school teachers and allocate a set dollar amount to every child and let their parents choose the school their kids go to. Competition brings out the best in any venue. Public schools should not be a monopoly to support people who can’t work in the private sector.”
I no longer reply. I have in the past. I’ve even offered to debate people in public. What do I get in response? “You’re a union cool aide drinker.”
Now, this guy is a Yahoo. He’s wrong on many points. But we as teachers are going to get VERY LITTLE support from citizens. The educational reformers have a bully pulpit. They also have a lot more money and a lot more access to power. They win the rhetoric game almost every time, even when they are wrong. If we fight them, we’re “settling for low expectations, the status quo, we’re afraid of change…” The ed reformers play whack-a-mole while we fiddle and watch it all burn. They are attacking on all fronts (federal, state, local) and if we win A, B, and C, they win D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K AND L. And their hubris glows in the dark. And they don’t care. And when you really corner them? All they have to say is “It’s for the children” and we’re on the ropes.
Sure, I’ll fight them to the end.
What’s the end? Public education will be privatized. There might be a few public schools left here and there. Maybe an upper middle class town with a strong school board and high tax base and the political clout to keep their state government off of their backs. And there might be some in the poor areas who teach the kids nobody else wants to. But even these two extremes could be pulled down. The CCCS and PARC are going to be some of the final coffin nails. That, and funding policies. Then they’ll get rid of certification all together.
The unions are done, they just don’t know it yet. Sure, Chicago was valiant, but the city will still slowly close schools and privatize. The reformers will play whack-a-mole.
I love how the Ed refomers can play the game of saying they want stricter qualifications for teaching certs but then bring in TFA type programs.
AND
THEY
ARE
GETTING
AWAY
WITH
IT
All of this “disruptive change” is about running as many “old style” (this means professional), teachers out of the system. They need to get rid of us professionals. We’re too expensive. We’re too vocal. What will be left? Small, private charters, run by larger companies. The teachers? People who will go from teaching job to teaching job, in one to three year stints. We’ll be worked like consultants. We’ll all be lucky to make thirty grand a year with no benefits and no retirement. I even see a lot of us part-timing it. Maybe work at Charter A on Mondays and Wednesdays, and Charter B on Tuesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays. Then take on a class at Cyber Charter C. We will be at the mercy of schedules and enrollment from semester to semester. “Better pass all of your students, Miss Fishbourne, because if the enrollment falls, you won’t be here next year.”
The ed reformers have a perfect storm right now: They have money, influence, a really sour economy, state and local governments who can be bought and sold for the promise of a crate of lap tops, a propaganda system that would make Hitler blush, nihilistic policies like NCLB, work down teachers, senile unions… And to top it off? “Educational Reform is the ultimate win-win platform for any politician, from president to rat catcher. It’s a joke. I know. I was living in Texas when George II was governor. Here’s a politician, “I want to improve education.” OK. Thanks. Because improving infrastructure might actually mean hard work. Because dealing with poverty might actually mean doing something real, truly noble, and contrary to Big Money. (Johnson’s Great Society was a great start. We never gave it time and Vietnam busted the bank).
The social classes in this country are drifting apart. The upper classes are becoming a sub-culture, with their own zip codes. This group will still give their children the kind of education we all strive to give every kid, rich and poor. The have nots? (the kids who I’ve been teaching for most of the past 18 years) Test prep.
“academies” and Online scams so they can go off to fold sweaters in the mall, stock shelves in Walmart, and change bedpans.
I’m 49. My wife is 48 and also a master teacher. We have two teenage children and college expenses coming up. I’m too old to start a new profession. I love my job and I am really good at it.
My future? I’m the old homeless guy in Fahrenheit 451 with an old stack of worn out books.
I still like this blog. Sometimes I don’t want to read it. There have even been times I’ve thought about unjoining. I see what’s going on from state to state and then see it going on in Rhode Island and my own district.
If you’ve gotten his far, thanks for reading my rant. It’s cathartic. Sort of. If I were single and in my 20’s I would have quit. When one of my students tells me they are thinking about becoming a teacher, I tell them to go into health care. Poor advice to go from the Titanic to the Lusitania.
Another RI teacher here (and from the information you give I think I remember seeing your posts on projo.com). All I can say is that I tend to agree with you now, as I’ve agreed with you then. Do you know projo kept muzzling my accounts over the years? Never a warning, I’d just notice that no one would reply to or thumb up/down my comments and when I checked, sure enough, they were invisible to everyone but myself. I must have made dummy accounts four or five times before they finally switched to Facebook. Sure made me wonder.
You better hope you are wrong because if public education is done, so is this country.
I so hope you are wrong, Dinosaur, but the evidence you cite makes me worry that you may be correct. I just have to keep hoping that the beginning of the push-back will amount to something transformative. I am just a few years older than you, one child left in college. I don’t think I’ll make the eleven more years needed to retire on a full pension.
This is all a part of total control from the top. This is also another proof that Obama is not a socialist or communist but a right wing ruler. All you have to do is look at his agenda and priorities and you will see that he might as well be a right wing republican. Privatization of schools, attacking whistleblowers, not doing anything about the financial crisis, in fact, he has helped continue the problem and he did not really fight for health care. Is he better than having the other guys, well, yes. He is the lesser of two devils not our savior. Since Clinton the democrats have gone to the right and are now controlled by the same private concerns that the republicans are controlled by. Amazing isn’t it that they have the same beliefs on education and finance.
It was critical that outfits like the Bradley Foundation buy off “Democrats,” especially those of a minority bent. I fully blame Obama and Duncan for the mess that is going on in public education.
No Republican would have EVER gotten away with this.
No Republican would have EVER gotten away with this.
Great point! I keep blaming both parties, but you are right…at this time we should blame the media for keeping this all under wraps.
Diane, Here is a teacher/blogger from Washington State who has another viewpoint. He is a friend of my son-in-law. http://creativitynotcontrol.wordpress.com/
Classic bait and switch ..States took that bait hookline and sinker. Now public schools all across the nation have become the new bait for the corporate sharks
Montgomery County, Maryland is being pressured to change how it evaluates teachers based on our state’s acquiescence to NCLB. In this article:
http://www.gazette.net/article/20130206/NEWS/130209447/0/gazette&template=gazette
Kate Walsh is quoted in the story saying, “The state is right to challenge Montgomery’s system, said Kate Walsh, a former member of the Maryland State Board of Education and president of the National Council on Teacher Quality, a nonprofit focused on teacher quality reform.
“Who decided [Montgomery’s model] is a national model is one question,” said Walsh, of Baltimore. “And, two, why are folks so afraid of being accountable for what students learn?”
Perhaps she doesn’t read Education Week, since it has ranked Maryland as the top education state for five years running.
Or perhaps she has an entirely other agenda in mind for public schools.
Personally, I am hoping our Board of Education and/or our union sues the state and Arne Duncan for this mess.
“And, two, why are folks so afraid of being accountable for what students learn?”
This is what is winning the teacher evaluation battle.
It wins because it falls into the same category of platitudes the reformy crowd spouts that few media types actually bother to question by asking things like “Don’t students have accountability in the learning process as well?” “What evidence is there that value-added models are fair, accurate ways to measure what students learn?” etc.
While it may not generate much discussion at this time, I think the real repercussions of the NCLB/waiver situation will be felt in areas other than education. Do not think that there are not other branches of our federal government watching this situation very closely with arched eyebrows and glancing at each other — “Do you think WE could pull off something like this in OUR arenas?”
Touche, Mr. Poirier, touche….
“The waiver mandates increase the over-emphasis on standardized tests… require implementing a teacher evaluation based in significant part on standardized test scores- for every teacher; in every grade and subject… require implementation of the Common Core State Standards, and the computerized standardized tests that are the main feature of CCSS … continue to base school and district performance on standardized test scores.”
It sounds like NCLB waivers are just RTTT without the added funding. What are the carrots and sticks in this game?
Just a reminder. People seem to forget what I have heard and read many times during my life from 99% of the People Who Counted for Something: Civil rights? Pish posh, probably not in this or the next century; War in Vietnam? Nothing can be done about it; Equal pay for equal work? Misguided foolishness; Dignity and legal protections for the LGBT community? Never, ever, no how in a million years. And the list goes on and on and on… Amazing how spot on such considered judgments tend to be [Oops! Forgot to mention the indisputable evidence of WMDs in Iraq and the unmistakeable correctness of financial deregulation. Silly me…].
Many years ago there was a lively musical called “South Pacific.” In the song “Happy Talk” there are the lines: “If you don’t have a dream, how you gonna have a dream come true?”
Amazing how often the “impractical” dreamers have proven the “practical” bean counters wrong. Or maybe, just maybe, we overestimate the edubullies and we underestimate ourselves.
And maybe, just maybe, that’s just what the edubean counters are “counting” on…
🙂
How about we disappoint them yet again?
🙂
I’m with Krazy! Rhode Islanders–agreed, you, in particular, have had a tough row to hoe. Central Falls (national news applauded by Obama & Arne)…Gina Raimondo (sp.-?)…AND, I believe, you have Deborah Gist. BUT–nationally, there is LOTS of push back. As Bluto said in Animal House (watch it again and laugh–we all need a good one!): “It ain’t over till WE say it’s over!” No, this isn’t a movie, and that’s the crux of it–we’re in the fight of our lives. So–for inspiration–look at Chicago (and not just the CTU–1,000s of people-parents, students, community members–have been showing up and shouting down at school closing meetings. Look at Garfield H.S.–so the administration was ordered to give the tests, BUT THREE HUNDRED OUT OF FOUR HUNDRED CHILDREN were OPTED OUT BY PARENTS WHO SUPPORTED THE TEACHERS! (So, Supt. Banda, you do NOT have adequate data to do anything.)
Texas POLITICIANS–REPUBLICANS–are calling for an end to excessive testing.
Portland, ORE students are protesting testing. Recently, the Journey for Justice–comprised of community leaders and public school supporters from all over the country–spoke up in D.C. Read the Parents Across America newsletter–their first midwest, four-state conference will be held in 2 weeks. groups are filing lawsuits.
IT’S HAPPENING, and it will continue to happen. Please take heart, Rhode Islanders, and keep fighting as best you can. Yes WE can!
We have jumped out of the frying pan and into the fire by seeking and receiving the NCLB waiver in Connecticut. Never have I felt so much pressure to make sure my students make the grade.