A reader who calls himself or herself “Democracy” left comments criticizing me for defending Randi Weingarten–or perhaps for not attacking her.
Here is my response to Democracy:
Democracy, you ask a good question, and I will answer as best I can..
As you know, I have criticized the Common Core in many posts. I have criticized the lack of transparency and the lack of educator participation in its development. I have criticized the fact that the Gates Foundation paid out nearly $200 million to develop and promote the CCSS, which really means they are the Gates Standards. I have said that rigorous standards will not solve–let alone address–the economic dysfunction at the root of educational inequality–and is likely to exacerbate it.
Randi Weingarten is certainly more positive about Common Core than I am. She is the president of the AFT and has been willing to engage on the issues, while the NEA has remained supportive of Common Core and silent.
I have long believed that Randi would ultimately change course, and she has done so recently. First, she called for a moratorium on testing. only days ago, she came out in opposition to VAM, saying that VAM is a sham. She has followed her reasoning to its logical conclusion, which is that Common Core should be decoupled from testing. If Common Core is in fact decoupled from testing, it loses its power as a means of rating and ranking students and teachers and principals. It becomes a set of standards that may or may not prove useful but has no power to ruin lives and careers
The next, inevitable step is to recognize that Common Core must be amended by teachers and scholars. As it currently exists, it is an infallible edict encased in concrete. No standards are so perfect that they need never be updated.
I will not attack Randi, not only because she is a personal friend, not only because she is showing the capacity to evolve and change her mind, but because we who object to the current demolition derby can’t prevail without the support of at least one of the major unions. In short, we need her leadership. To turn against her is to wound our cause irreparably, our cause being the survival of public education and the teaching profession. To attack one of our few national leaders in the middle of a crucial war will aid those who are attacking public education and teachers. If we who are allies fight one another, we lose. I prefer success to defeat. Too much is riding on the outcome of these questions to indulge in ideological purity and cast out those who are not in complete agreement.
Perfection is the enemy of the good. If we demand ideological purity in our leaders and allies, we’ll find ourselves alone with our ideals, on the losing end of fights won by those willing to make strategic allegiances.
$trategic allegiance$ are the enemy of the good.
This isn’t a matter of “purity”–this is a matter of union officials selling out the rank-and-file again and again. The “other side” knows how to kill public education in America, and that’s by infiltrating unions and other supporters of public education to kill them from within.
They have also infiltrated the Democratic Party with obvious fakes like Obama and Booker to render it meaningless and eventually kill it.
This isn’t tin foil hat thinking. This kind of thing happened during the 1960s, when the anti-war groups were infiltrated by the FBI.
While I admire Diane’s loyalty to a personal friend, this is politics. Randi is not just an ordinary citizen, but the head of one of the largest unions in the country. The choices she makes affect us all.
If you were in an army about to go into battle and found your general is collaborating with the enemy, would you follow that general into battle or get a new general?
Randi has boasted about her collaboration with Bill Gates. She had him as keynote speaker at the 2010 AFT convention, the AFT has received millions from Gates to promote Common Core, and the AFT magazine is dominated by promotion of Common Core.
Mercedes Schneider in her latest post comments about the connections between Common Core and standardized testing.
“inBloom, Clever, and Student Privacy: More “Big Data” Considerations”
http://tinyurl.com/kjsyjsy
Consider this article from New York’s Raging Horse blog:
“Bill Gates Continues To Purchase Major Teacher Unions and At Discount Rates”
http://tinyurl.com/q3a6plp
Philaken, it is a little-known fact that Randi also invited me to speak at the 2010 convention in Seattle. You have to decide if you want to go into battle with no leaders against a well-organized army.
With all due respect, Diane, you pose a false choice when you say that teachers must either accept the catastrophically failed leadership of Randi Weingarten, or have no leadership at all.
The teacher’s unions have from the first been the target of the so-called reformers, precisely because they have the institutional capability to defend the profession and public education as a whole.
The major reason we find ourselves where we are to day is because fraudulent leaders like Weingarten have insisted on collaborating – her word, used proudly in the dark days of the Bloomberg administration, not mine – with those sworn to the hostile takeover of public education.
Careers have been destroyed, children’s education’s ruined by what you have correctly referred to as this scourge, none of which could have happened without Weingarten’s disingenuous need for “a place at the table.”
Karen Lewis in Chicago and Julie Cavanaugh here in NYC offer an alternative path for the AFT/UFT and public education. The nightmare years for teachers and students will not end until the misleaders of the teachers unions are repudiated and the unions taken back by the members.
Diane, I whole heartily agree with your statements about Randi. I have disagreed with her on the Common Core as well.
While I may disagree with some of what Randi says, I respect her for what she truly believes in.
She is also willing to engage in the discourse that arises when someone with her responsibilities must face daily.Her recent comments regarding VAM is proof that she hears us.
I only hope that as she continues to be part of our important debate and that one day we can all put the behind us.
After all.. we all do have the same goal
AGREED. We can start today to take back our profession and give hope to all kids again. this is a sample but if every school did it, we would have a strong assessment system to stand on. Thats whats missing is a plan. http://savingstudents-caplee.blogspot.com/2013/12/accountability-with-honor-and-yes-we.html
Diane and everybody,
I am a member of NEA. Diane writes of NEA’s silence. Anybody, why is the NEA silent ( facts or hypotheses welcome) and how can we call the NEA leadership to get off the dime?
Tom, so am I. Whatever state you’re in, look into the delegate selection for the next state convention. Raise up a candidate and write up the platform we know we share, to defend public education from the very people whose money Dennis and Randi have taken. Start arranging house parties in different districts.
Bring it.
I agree. As someone who has been critical of Randi Weingarten in the past, I welcome her reassessment of Common Core. Now I hope she moderates her position on charter schools. When I have heard her speak before in Los Angeles, she was very positive about them, especially KIPP.
I respect you for not attacking Randi, doesn’t make sense at all on so many levels. But isn’t it fair to say you give her the benefit of the doubt because she is your friend. Versus Dennis at NEA, because you personally don’t like him? It was the NEA that filed the VAM lawsuit in FL. Who raised doubts long ago. I think stylistically Randi & Dennis are very different, and that hurts/helps them both with different audiences. Randi can invite Gates to our convention, and get a pass. And co-author a editorial with the Gates Foundation, and the Business Roundtable and it’s fine. Dennis does that with TFA and it’s a call to arm. For the record, I think they were both right. But I guess what I am saying Diane, I agree with not attacking Randi but should also acknowledge that you’re always harder on NEA because you don’t like Dennis.
Ealicia, you are wrong. I personally like Dennis Van Roekel very much. In 2010, he and the NEA honored me that the Friend of Education for the year. I have never said or written anything negative about him. I think he is a wonderful man. I was not thrilled when he co-authored an article with Wendy Kopp in USA Today saying that they agreed about how teachers should be prepared when TFA doesn’t share NEA’s belief in professional preparation. But I am very fond of him personally, and I am hopeful that the NEA will take a pro-active stance against high-stakes testing and VAM and the ongoing efforts to strip teachers of due process and to force them to compete with one another for bonuses. I am ever hopeful that will happen.
Diane, you aren’t a member of the NEA or the AFT, so you didn’t vote for these people, even indirectly. I am a member of the NEA, and of Educators for Democracy, and I urge my brothers and sisters in Massachusetts to vote for Barbara Madeloni for president of the MTA this spring. She’s the UMASS Amherst education professor who was fired last year because her students declined to participate in a Pearson certification program pilot, and she supported them.
When you endorse the current apparatus of power, across the country, you’re drowning out the voices of actual union members. Remember how Randi’s Unity Coalition in Chicago was defeated by an upstart candidate named Karen Lewis? That election required CTU members to disagree with her platform, and write a new one for the history books.
When you argue against “attacking” the current presidents for their positions, what you’re doing is just endorsing them at this year’s conventions. These aren’t TV personalities, they’re paid by our dues to represent the membership.
Neither of them is Leader for Life, though.
You may find some solace in Weingarten’s “engaging” about Common Core, but in terms of policy, her position is not visibly different from the more silently-supportive sellout by NEA. With regards to her new hook line, “VAM is a sham,” she was saying “VAM is junk science” over a year ago (as you noted in December 2012), just days after she helped Newark craft a contract that approved school level growth scores to evaluate teachers.
Randi has been bobbing and weaving as criticism grows and demands for her resignation escalate, and her gold-plated bullhorn and velvet handcuffs do not conceal her CorpEd support that got her the AFT presidency to begin with.
I think you have made news here, Diane, with the “decoupling” announcement from Randi. Of course, the decoupling of VAM from Common Core is not her idea, but one that started quite recently inside the Business Roundtable, and it was triggered by the impending avalanches of lawsuits against the high stakes use of VAM and all the charlatans who support it. The BRT and Gates plans to buy full union and teacher support for Common Core by trading the removal of VAM based teacher evaluation and student retention. And, of course, they will offer, too, teacher a “voice” in making the Corporate Core something we will all come to love.
That just leaves the good old fashioned high stakes testing and continuing corporate control of schools to contend with. Thank you again, Randi.
You may attack those who disagree with Weingarten as ideological purists, or you may welcome the opportunity to call for new union leadership that supports teachers and children, rather than policy elites and corporate foundations that use children and teachers to advance their own imposed positions from 20,000 feet.
I think it is admirable when someone can admit they no longer support something they once supported. My question is this…were opposing voices allowed to be heard, acknowledged and considered when her original position was formed…and, moving forward, will those voicesbe heard and respected, loud and clear?
Diane, thank you for this blog and your explanation. I (and I imagine other superintendents) find ourselves in the same quandary battling the outrageous reform efforts with a need to implement sound, academic, professional change.
The majority of the reform efforts legislated and imposed from Washington and state (Governors, legislators, et al) are quick fixes, attempts to fix what wasn’t/isn’t broken, good ideas nowhere close to ready for prime time, or looking for right answers in wrong places.
The “however” is that we don’t want to throw the baby out with the bathwater. There IS work to be done. The best of schools, those victims to zip code, and those just not reaching 100% of the kids all can improve (and there’s always something exciting to explore in education, too).
It may seem like we are playing both sides of the fence but that is not the case. We have to fight the fight of miserable reforms AND work for constructive, professional change.
Like Ms. Weingarten, (I presume) we work reject the corporate takeover of public education, attempts to privatize public education, excessive testing, local authentic testing being converted to high-stakes testing, labeling teachers, VAM, using single high stakes tests to evaluate teachers, right-wing efforts to take science out of the schools, diverting public funds to exclusive private/parochial interests, re-segregation of kids, charter schools far from the original concept and too many failing kids, misuse of college kids on a mission with the profit motive TFA business model, replacing professionals with teach-for-awhile “teachers,” teacher-proof scripted curriculum, and teachers evaluated by roving cameras… the list goes on and on. But, we need and support standards, professional development, innovation, and even state and professional accountability that is authentic, fair, and informative.
As an example, the majority of blogs, comments at public forums, and articles generally begin with “I don’t have a problem with the actual common core standards…” The standards are not close to perfect – but we need professional academic standards.
The problem with CCSS is who wrote them, sources of funding (follow the money), the abuse of them to drive testing which drives more testing, the narrowing of curriculum due to the testing, the misuse of testing to evaluate teachers, the cost of testing, and the outrageous profits from the publishing, software, and testing companies pushing the CCSS label of approval. And, now, the big money right wing is co-opting the standards fight to kill public education. So –
So, educators like Randi Weingarten and others are not playing both sides of the fence when they support rigorous academic standards, fair and professional accountability / evaluation, and other progressive changes that are necessary but whose versions have been misused, misdirected, or poorly implemented.
Wow – thank you for a cogent, reasoned, and encyclopedic reply! If we could address the few yet vital issues you cite (and recap in your conclusion), as educators in collaboration with stakeholders, I believe we would see real, positive change to benefit our children and the future of the country.
Will she go back and try to undo the damage she has done to the teachers in New York, Newark and elsewhere? Of course, it is admirable to admit you are wrong, but there were so many voices out there saying it for so many years, voices that Randi had an obligation to listen to.
I agree with not throwing the baby out w bathwater. We begin by de coupling the test. we can start this immediately. We set up our own strong assessment within the schools. Here’s a sample that I did in 95 in Milwaukee http://savingstudents-caplee.blogspot.com/2013/12/accountability-with-honor-and-yes-we.html
Jere, what if schools in your district did their own assesment to offset the others but also to bring real learning to their kids. This can be done immediately, don’t wait for them to give local control, take it.
Of course you can still take the big test, but teach to the kid can start today and let the big test scores fall where they may. http://www.wholechildreform.com
just a thought
Well said
We can’t de couple testing just talking about it. Nor can we wait for the feds to do it. What if we took the first step right now, right in your district? The rules say you must take the test, they do not say you can’t develop a meaning full alternative in your schools beginning today.
This is a chance not only to talk the talk but too walk the walk. Many schools already do small pre and post testing for real immediate feedback to teachers. If so, the cost would be non existant. And you don’t need high priced consultants to help you do it. We did it in our Milwaukee Village School in 1995 – 98 so we know where of we speak.
Also, of most significance, demonstrated proficiencies are built right into the daily activities. No big bucks needed. Just a little common sense.
Mr Superintendent, how many schools in your district are willing to get the ball rolling and simply change it forward?. How many schools will you allow to develop an assessment that means something to kids and holds teachers accountable in a fair and meaningfull way?
How do they get the time within the structure of the day to accomplish this? You simply stop test prep and allow the big test scores to fall where they may. Here’s a jumping off point. It’s time to stop the rhetoric, finger pointing and other political nonsense and take action. http://savingstudents-caplee.blogspot.com/2013/12/accountability-with-honor-and-yes-we.html
Randi:, you say de couple the test, I agree. Are you ready. Esta lista?
Diane: If not now, when?
Diane
I support your choice in defending Randi. When you changed your mind the turnaround has had an immense impact. But you as an academic affected policy. Randi’s positions had a direct impact on the working conditions of teachers. As a union leader her pushing of positions that turned out to be wrong emasculated the union membership’s ability to fight back against the forces attacking public education. She bears some major responsibility in helping enable NCLB and especially RTTT.
As members of the local union she led for a decade and the national union she now leads we have an obligation to question the kind of decision making that led to so many turn-arounds on poor decisions that not just affect us theoretically but the very nature of what public education has come to mean. I can speak as one who as far back as the late 90s and early oughts urged the Randi to take a position on high stakes testing with resolutions I put up at the Delegate Assembly only to get the most adamant defense of those practices that have so harmed us. I should point out that I raised the story of Chicago where the process began in 1995 and by 2002 around the time Arne Duncan replaced Paul Valas we had enough info to make an informed decision. Yet Randi continued to make deformer decisions and crippled the one organization with the resources that had the capability to lead the fight. With this latest turnaround my sense is she should hold a Chris Christie like press conference and apologize to every AFT union member for the entire enchilada of errors. I would forgive her but never trust any of her decisions in the future to be correct, given her past.
One of my teacher friends just posted this:
“Good that she’s changed her mind. But she needs to use her position to ACT. She needs to speak to Obama and Duncan. She needs to sit down with Cuomo and Tisch and King. She needs to pull our districts out. She needs to apologize for the horrible contracts she helped negotiate. We in the trenches have this CCLS yolk around our necks. Our children are being crippled academically and teachers are being rated under them. Those, like Randi, who can should get to those powers and get education…public, private and otherwise back on track and demand the funding and changes in economics that will make education the best it can be across this country. Sitting on a panel defending herself is not going to bring about change!”
It seems our comments crossed paths because your comment wasn’t up when I posted.
The problem I see with the comments defending Randi’s “change of course” is that teachers have no idea what a deeper hole they are digging for themselves. And I am also convinced the “Trolls” are out as well.
Teachers who are defending her here have not closely looked at her history. She says one thing, then does another. When the rank and file were angry at Bloomberg, she arranged a rally. Then, that rally was suddenly cancelled. Did any NYC teacher benefit from whatever deal was made especially before his 2nd election? Didn’t Randi endorse Bloomberg’s 2nd and illegal third term by not endorsing any candidate? Before 2005 she was against mayoral control. Then she supported it not once, but twice when the legislature made changes. Changes that actually did nothing. Randi works the politics to her advantage, not that of the teachers. And she is doing it now.
I have no problems with Diane’s support of her because she is NOT a teacher as you state, but policy maker. And while she fights for public ed, she hasn’t really experienced or wrote about the plight of ATRs who our union abandoned. Something you and MORE have tried to address and help those under the scarlet letters that Randi helped develop. But when other teachers defend her, I can’t help but feel they believe the spin. And that’s what is so pathetic–that educated people do not examine a history of saying one thing, yet doing another.
The comments defending Randi as someone who “listens” are a comic relief today. Wonder how many of these people work in NYC where Randi began her descent into reform as early as 2005?? 9 years is quite a long time to disregard your own union members and shove VAM and a new evaluation system (without allowing rank and file to vote) down our throats and destroy seniority rights. You people commenting do know what an ATR is? What, you don’t!! For shame!!!
As for listening, has anyone here ever attended a Delegate’s Assembly run by Randi or Mulgrew?? Voices are stifled unless you sign her “oath”. Yes people, there is an actual “oath” stating you may not disagree with the Grand Madam.
Here is NYC Educator’s newest post about Randi and her Unity party for those of you readers who have no clue and it’s just the tip of a very deep iceberg…..
http://nyceducator.com/2014/01/why-confuse-union-leadership-with-mary.html#disqus_thread
Gee folks….could it be that there’s a possibility Karen Lewis is gaining support to become the next head of the AFT?? Wake up!!! This is what’s called “Damage Control”.
(See Chris Christie for definition)
Messy, protracted, confusing, overly long, painful, never-ending: that describes every great movement for positive change. IMHO, that includes the struggle for a “better education for all” too.
The key is be clear about what is absolutely essential and tolerate—however uncomfortable it may be—the many many things that are in disagreement. Of course, deciding what is primary and what is secondary is never easy or simple.
I do not know Randi Weingarten and I do not have the firsthand personal experience that some commenters have about the AFT and its internal politics and functioning. Nonetheless, I think a little historical perspective would serve us all well.
Years and years ago a well-known educator in NYC engaged in a years-long dialogue with another New Yorker who was a former Bush Sr. official. The first, Deborah Meier; the second, Diane Ravitch. The blog: BRIDGING DIFFERENCES. Read some of their exchanges along with the comments. That was the precursor to this blog that just celebrated over 9 million views.
It was not a one-way conversation but it was open, wide-ranging and honest. The key: they didn’t give up on each other. The end result was a big plus for public education. Not many of the discussions on BRIDGING DIFFERENCES end up so happily. But no matter. The point is not to short-circuit the discussion before it even begins.
Only engage in discussion when there are guaranteed results? Only for those whose minds are clouded by Rheeality Distortion Fields on RheeWorld when pushing eduproducts. *State Commissioner John King, anyone?*
Here on Planet Reality, how cool is it that Randi Weingarten will be on a panel at the Network for Public Education meeting in early March? Or that among the panelists we can spot Karen Lewis and Katie Osgood and Julian Vazquez Heilig and Hannah Nguyen and Helen Gym and John Kuhn and the beat goes on…
This blog and those panels are open and available to all who wish to hear and view. There will be plenty of opportunities for people to change their own minds and those of others. Let’s not give up ON EACH OTHER.
Will everyone get their way on everything? I remember a SpecEd teacher I worked with once jokingly described a meeting she just went to of all the SpecEd teachers. I asked about a certain person expressing his/her opinion and she replied: “When you get ten SpecEd teachers in a room, there are at least eleven or twelve opinions. And several more when so-and-so walks into the room!”
The owner of this blog has spoken of “the pattern on the rug.” IMHO, Deborah Meier had a salutary effect on the opinions of Diane Ravitch, and Diane Ravitch is having a salutary effect on the opinions of Randi Weingarten. Add to this mix a phrase taken from a book by Deborah Meier, “the power of their ideas.”
Speaking just for myself, I have confidence in the power of the ideas behind a “better education for all.” We have nothing to lose, and everything to gain, by engaging in dialogue.
Just my dos centavitos worth…
😎
You’re not so crazy, Krazy. Good stuff. I have been trying to push ideas in this whole discussion . when we do that, we can change the world. Change it forward. I really believe we can develop a plan that is better for kids. And then pick away till it becomes reality.
When you are for kids, people will attack you with every fiber of their being. But you will prevail
“Friends Don’t Let Friends Support Common Core”
These are some good ideas about decoupling. I believe it is the backlash from teachers that has brought Randi around, let’s call it constructive criticism. I am in classrooms regularly and see the damage being done to teachers and children with these materials. It is not theoretical stuff on a website. Curriculum guides require “direct instruction” with language that is well above those who are in 2nd grade and below. Student centered learning is being threatened by these materials, that use imagined and new terms that make no sense to children or adult. These materials could cause real damage as teachers are expected to follow them in lock step. I have seen children come up with much better answers to questions than those in the teachers guides, and rather than honor them, they are usurped by the answers in the teachers guide, which have not been reviewed by teachers or academics. Reductionist instruction is now on steroids and the brightest children are the ones that act up, recognizing what is being done to them and others. These children are faulted for having a problem, teachers and administrators are cautious and afraid to question publicly as their careers are tenuous. Women no longer feel free to take maternity leave, “Friends don’t let Friends Support Common Core”
What ever the reason, we can begin today, together, to de couple testing in your school. Take this as a sample and make it your own. I did this in 95 in Milwaukee. http://savingstudents-caplee.blogspot.com/2013/12/accountability-with-honor-and-yes-we.html If you make ur own assessment, you can counter the test and provide real information for the support of your kids education. My parent loved it.
Ask your leaders to develop an assessment plan for your school. Let me help.
I agree with Diane totally. As the conversation turns to ideas rather than rhetoric, a new way of schooling rather than the slavery based system of education in existence today, and to changing CC forward to humanize it, we will then have a plan to support public schools.
A conversation is now open to allow these ideas to flow. It appears, however, that a strong majority of the conversation is about the tea party mentality of “get the enemy”. It’s amazing how much the tea party influence exists in our educational comments.
When the rhetoric stops and the vast majority start talking issues, then and only then will we have a forum to save public schools. Marching and beating our chest won’t do it alone. I said many years ago that if Public school supporters didn’t develop a new approcash, public schools will and should perish. And both came true. While supporters cried and whinned, schools closed. As we marched, schools closed. We did everything but stand for a better plan
It’s now or never! Change it forward or perish! No more http://savingstudents-caplee.blogspot.com/2013/12/the-agenda-of-children-or-how-to-piss.html
Replace it with http://savingstudents-caplee.blogspot.com/2013/12/accountability-with-honor-and-yes-we.html
I admire your intelligence, wisdom, and analysis. Thank you.
When will Diane replace Arne Duncan? Can’t happen too soon for me.
I have been impressed with Weingarten’s willingness to engage and discuss, even as I think she is dead wrong on CCSS. I agree that purity tests have no business in this ongoing struggle.
Interesting to see that you’re friends with DVR. As an NEA member I am exceptionally UNimpressed with my national leadership’s stance and even less impressed with their silent, ivory-tower separation from the teachers they are supposed to be representing. It is extraordinarily discouraging.
Bottom line is this: Sellout or not, Randi Weingarten, an attorney by trade, has NO business whatsoever heading a union of TEACHERS.
Diane says, “The next, inevitable step is to recognize that Common Core must be amended by teachers and scholars.”
To which I say, “Right on!” That IS inevitable and a much better course than all this “throw them out” talk.
Well, if teachers and scholars amend CCS we won’t need Mr. Money Bags Gates and company, so essentially we will have thrown them out. Many of us already subvert daily.
Throw them (the standards) out. Yes, no doubt as they are the flip side of the same coin of the edudeformer realm that features standardized testing on the other side. There is no one or the other; they are inextricably joined in epistemological and ontological illogic.
yes, I certainly agree. Tell your leaders you want to do something like this in your school. Start the revolution now http://savingstudents-caplee.blogspot.com/2013/12/accountability-with-honor-and-yes-we.html
And we can amend it beginning today. Think about it. Actions speak much louder than words. Today we can begin developing a system of assessment that is meaningfull for kids as well as one that holds teachers accountable in a fair and meaningfull way.Stop the BS and start changing it forward NOW! Here’s a jumping off point http://savingstudents-caplee.blogspot.com/2013/12/accountability-with-honor-and-yes-we.html
For more go to http://www.wholechildreform.com
I understand the logic of your post, Dr. Ravitch. I’m sure you have a greater understanding of national politics regarding public education than I do. If your blog readers take issue with Randi’s stands on various issues, it is because we are working directly with students everyday and we know there is not a moment to lose to get educational policies on the right footing for the sake of all stake-holders. If Randi is now on the right path, out of frustration I must ask what took her so long?
My question is what is taking us so long when we can ignore test prep and develop our own assessment right in our schools. Let the big test scores fall where they may. Ask your school leaders to do something like this http://savingstudents-caplee.blogspot.com/2013/12/accountability-with-honor-and-yes-we.html
TAKE ACTION NOW!
Change it forward now!
I was extremely disappointed that the leaders of both teachers’ unions did not take the lead in protecting public schools against those who are trying to destroy and profit from them.
Until you stepped in, Diane, there was almost no one to represent teachers in their fight to provide every child with an equal opportunity to receive a good education.
That said, I agree that it would be counterproductive to oppose people who are basically on the side of teachers and students. Now that we have strength in numbers, as well as strong leadership, we can expect to see positive changes in the coming year.
“Too much is riding on the outcome of these questions to indulge in ideological purity and cast out those who are not in complete agreement.”
Interesting as I’ve been trying to get into the EPC 25 conference (put on by “The Constitutional Coalition out of MO) in St. Louis at the end of the month. They want $199 for new folks, and I don’t have that kind of money. This is about as far right as it gets, eh Gretchen L., which is fine with me, as we all have the right to organize and petition for our causes.
And if the folks at this conference are against CCSS, well. . . , let’s enlist their help. I’m trying to get in to set up a table to take the Quixotic Quest on a trip and encourage others to learn just how invalid these educational malpractices and the results are and that to support vouchers, charters, etc. . . while opposing CCSS appears illogical and irrational as CCSS is the mechanism with which to destroy public community schools and open the door for vouchers, charters, privatization, etc. . . .
And here is an interesting take on these things from a gentleman with whom I share educational news:
Getting into bed with —
http://missourieducationwatchdog.com/the-wild-west-of-education-and-the-common-core-gold-rush/
— Michelle Malkin?
http://washingtonexaminer.com/common-core-and-the-edutech-abyss/article/2541743
I wish it were otherwise.
If NCLB and W and Rod Paige were bad,
then RTTT and Obama and Arne are bad, too.
I am idealistic enough to want some sort of rapprochement with the right.
To the extent that the Missouri legislature is controlled by the right, and I suspect is going to remain so after November 2014, there is some chance to split Republicans. You cannot at one and the same time love corporatizing / privatizing / charterizing / voucherizing, and hate the testing that is the essence of the corporatizing / privatizing / charterizing / voucherizing [movement].
Agree or disagree?
Michelle Malkin draws an equal sign between Common Core and high stakes testing.
I very much doubt that Michelle Malkin could ever wave the flag FOR teacher unions.
But high-stakes testing is a key tool being used by the billionaires to accomplish two things at once: enrich themselves, and bust teacher unions.
To the extent that anyone on the right hates standardized testing WE ARE IN AGREEMENT.
To the extent that AFT or NEA embrace or accept standardized testing as a valid tool to evaluate teachers we MUST DISAGREE.
School boards and school superintendents have been co-opted into all of this already. Outside of the rebellion in Seattle, I know of no resistance to testing other than individuals — Zoe in North Carolina —
http://missourieducationwatchdog.com/schools-not-so-subtle-action-against-student-who-refused-the-test/
Agree or disagree? Do you think that a “just say no” campaign would work / could happen in Warrenton?
And here is one doozie of a graphic on Common Core / NCLB / PARCC / SBAC / P20W — my mind is boggled.
Be careful who you side with. The right may be against common core but what are they for is the issue. Thats why I say no to repeal but yes to bringing it home. Changing it forward
Cap,
Not siding with anyone in this little endeavor, right, left, in between or on the far sides of those two supposed ends of the political spectrum. Just trying to get the “truth” out about the errors and resulting invalidities involved in the whole educational standards and standardized testing regime as the two go skipping along hand in hand.
Some of my best conversations are with those whom many here would consider “far right loonies”. What I see needed from all points of view are clarifications of what constitutes what is right, just and good and the various political/religious (and those two are also different side of the same coin) idiologies (purposely misspelled) are damn near impossible to break through against, although inroads can be made.
The only label that I accept is the one I attach to myself and that is: a free thinking rationo-logical critical enquirist (spelled correctly) who views all ideologies as suspect.
Good for you. Woody Guthrie would sing to anyone who will listen about unions. I am the same. My friend Dr. Howard Fuller was the main voucher advocate, however, he was also the one who let my school into the Milwaukee system as a fully union public school. My point is, however, not that you side with those who, like you are against common core. Side with those who are FOR what you believe a school should be.
Keep up the good work
Hopefully the cause can include schools being places that are compatible with how students’ brains actually work and where students can learn in an atmosphere free from meltdowns due to high stakes resting. As someone that is not a K-12 educator, but a parent, I haven’t agreed with every one of Diane’s posts. I do agree with most.
The only time there is total agrrement in a group is when people blindly follow the kinds of folks that give their followers deadly kool aid in Guyana. I wouldn’t read this blog if Diane were like that.
Oops, high stakes testing, not resting
However I wouldn’t be surprised if the Rhee.Duncan folks have banned kindergarden naptime
I really support high stakes resting
Diane, thank you for posting this. It is so frustrating to hear supporters of public education bash AFT’s leadership. This has to please the Billionaire Boys who love to see educators do their dirty work- am sure they find this amusing. Like you said this division “will aid those who are attacking public education.”
Respectfully, your comment makes no sense whatsoever.
I am a member of both the AFT and UFT and you would characterize justified criticism of both entities as “Bashing”.
That is utter nonsense.
Weingarten is responsible for over 12 years of destruction in the NYC public school system. I know this because I’ve taught and continue to teach the students caught in the wake of Weingarten’s posturing and self-aggrandizement.
Union support in my opinion is not characterized by following lock-step with union leadership.
good points…
I admire your loyalty, Diane, in refusing to attack a friend and would not suggest that you do so. But it should be noted that all your reasons in your opening paragraph for not supporting the CC apply to our unions’ support of them. There was a lack of transparency in the upper echelon’s decision to support the CC, a lack of educator participation, and plenty of Gates Foundation money to both the NEA and AFT to roll out that support. Our unions have exhibited an inability to admit that the CCSS came as part of a lethal package that includes standardized testing and all the other requirements that work to promote the demise of our public school system. I was at the rally in Albany in June and nearly 25,000 suffering NYS teachers heard Randi shout at the top of her lungs that “we” support the CC. I do not see myself as an “ideological purist” but can tell you that is when she lost me. Every time I speak up for my fellow teachers (which Randi did NOT do at that rally), I hear a version of what yesterday’s Binghamton Press & Sun Bulletin quoted our NYS Commissioner King as saying, and herein lies the harm she and others like her continue to do. In part the article says:
“The moratorium NYSUT wants would require a change in state law. But talk of a moratorium is a distraction,” said King spokesman Dennis Tompkins in a statement. “The focus should be on our students. Every year, 140,000 high school students leave high school without the skills they need to succeed in college or a career. The evaluation system and the Common Core together will help our students succeed. NYSUT’s leadership should honor the commitments they’ve repeatedly made to both.”
It makes me want to cry and in fact, I have. Thank-you for allowing me the opportunity to share my feelings.
I about the issues as you may know by reading my blah blah. I will defend an issue and the person who stands for that issue only for that issue alone. I believe we can change CC forward, keeping the proficiency based learning but changing most other parts.
we can begin by de coupling the test, today. Yes, I said it, we can begin now with a few schools willing to take a chance. They say you must take the test, but they don’t say you can’t have your own assessment system in your school, something like this. http://savingstudents-caplee.blogspot.com/2013/12/accountability-with-honor-and-yes-we.html
So the question becomes, not what someone else did or didn’t do, it becomes what will you do in your school?
I salute Diane Ravitch’s approach here. Diane is not a member of the AFT, but she supports our union and defends us against the attacks which will continue to grow against us. And she has stated clearly here her priorities: winning this fight for our schools and children and teachers (and our union), and pulling together all who will participate in this battle together. I agree with this as well.
As an AFT member, I feel an obligation to take on issues inside the AFT on which I feel strongly. In this capacity, I will continue to raise and fight for things I believe our union should (must!) do differently. I will do so fiercely and unrelentingly, as some of you who know me will smile at with indulgence (or cringe at, perhaps). I have many strong disagreements with things some of our leaders have done which I believe have hurt our members and our cause.
I see no contradiction between the two.
When our leaders, including Randi Weingarten, move in a direction which I think will strengthen our fight (and, therefore, our union) I will applaud and embrace those moves, and help to publicize them. I hope others who care deeply about our union, and about our big fight, can join in doing so. This in no way means that we should stop our fight to make our union more of the democratic, member-run, member-needs-based, social-justice, proponent-of-good-developmentally-appropriate-pedagogy, solidarity-leading organization that it must must must become if it is to survive what will only be bigger fights and challenges ahead.
But what are we to do, Kipp, when our leaders have a deeply-established pattern of collaborating with those who wish us harm, while intermittently releasing empty sound bites intended to distract us from their actions?
While head of the UFT in New York, Weingarten played a cynical game of good cop/bad cop with the membership, blaming Joel Klein for the abuses suffered by teachers, while letting Bloomberg off the hook (and indeed, enabling his dictatorial control of the schools, twice, as well as his illegal third term). She actually had the unmitigated nerve to claim that Bloomberg’s control of the schools had led to “stability,” at the very same time that public schools were being disrupted and closed, charters given immense subsidies, and teacher’s careers ruined.
Weingarten has called for an end to school closings, yet done nothing to combat them. In fact, her actions over the years have enabled those very same closings.
Weingarten has done nothing to stop the plague of charter school invasions of public facilities. Yet why should she? Her own UFT opened a (failing and only kept open for political reasons) charter in a public school building, against the wishes of local parents.
Randi has been in power, in DC and NYC, for years now, and things just get worse for teachers and students. When will she be held accountable for her catastrophic failures, rather than have people eagerly delude themselves into thinking she has finally changed her spots, based upon empty words?
Teachers should pay absolutely no attention to what Weingarten, or to her mentee currently filibustering at the UFT Delegate Assemblies in NYC, says, but rather judge her by her actions. Do that, and you will see that she, like the dark era she helped enable, must be removed from power.
well said Kipp. As an outsider, I support the issues and like you applaud the good while going beserk on the bad. I believe we can change CC forward keeping the proficiency based learning but changing what’s needed.
I truly believe that the truth is in actions rather than words. And actions can happen today. When I developed my fully public, fully union Milwaukee Village school in 95, it had never been done before. I didn´t wait for someone on high to change federal policy. My superintendent, Dr. Howard Fuller, made it happen. And with a ton of naysayers, we made into being.
We got beat up the entire time but we were for kids so we prevailed at least for the three years. Pooitics took away our monet after Dr Fuller left but our two books continue the story. The reality is you can begin today, in your school to develop and implement a true assessment system designed for the education of children.
If not now, when? http://savingstudents-caplee.blogspot.com/2013/12/accountability-with-honor-and-yes-we.html
Great, let’s uncouple the Common Core and Testing. Now the teachers are protected from being judged by testing for now.
We are still stuck with the Common Core. Teachers may not be judged by it with testing (until the program is completely implemented), but must follow it or lose their job, while the students lose their minds. We won’t need teachers once the Common Core is in place and all of Gate’s computers are tied to it. Then, let the testing begin! Teachers can be replaced by school aids, they already are being reduced to that level of skill sets. The writing is on the wall, when union presidents are “honored” at the Harvard Club.
Dr. Ravitch.
I have criticized you on your site several times for supporting Weingarten and I will continue to do so today.
There have been few figures in the past 14 years who have had as much of a detrimental impact on public education than Randi Weingarten. I have watched Weingarten fail to achieve the most basic levels of advocacy for her members in NY as well as the children who attend the public schools in this city.
Weingarten was wrong on the 2005 contract despite the warnings and concerns of the rank and file.
Weingarten was wrong on mayoral control of schools despite the machinations of Emperor Bloomberg.
Weingarten was wrong on the issue of charter schools which has led to an expanding of the achievement gap in NYC.
How often do I as well as other union members have to support the abject failure of a supposed “Union leader” who constantly advocates against her membership?
Randi should offer a huge apology and resign. It would be so refreshing if she would actually take an action that would be good for the rank and file. Her credibility at this point is null and void. Integrity is like air, without it nothing else matters.
I didn’t want to come off as disrespectful or provocative but I think candor is necessary.
Weingarten should resign as head of the AFT.
Too much damage has been done and coming from a NYC UFT member her history of hindsight, instead of foresight, is too much to deal with.
The 2005 contract, mayoral control, support of Gates and Walton, VAM, Core Curriculum etc. At each point of debate Weingarten was BESIEGED with warnings about the damage that would result from supporting these actions and each time she disregarded it.
Dr. Ravitch,
I understand your personal support of Randi Weingarten. AFT is much bigger than Randi Weingarten. and from where I sit I fail to see the positive influence it has in US politics. Yet to couch your decision in politics is disingenuous at best.
Randi Weingarten has done much more than not defend and protect her union members and America’s children. Which anyone who cares about children can understanding losing on the side of “right.” Randi Weingarten tried to benefit personally at the height of corporate attempt on Privatization by using her unions and personal support for (Hillary Clinton) to attain a US Senate seat. Randi was simultaneously president of UFT and AFT when she unethically politicked for a Senate appointment. Which former Governor of New York, David Patterson, soundly rejected. Instead of fighting against a contract that would give Michelle Rhee a semblance of accomplishment in Wash DC. Randi fought for it. Even attempting to violate the constitution of the Washington Teachers Union to do so. While allowing to teachers with gross violations of WTU contract to be fired without due process!
Currently, Randi is in a position of possibly explaining her role in missing large sums of money from WTU. Randi Weingarten has done everything she could to support privatization and Bill Gates. I’ve personally experienced Randi working harder against union members than for! And much more…. Maybe you should chose your friends more carefully!
Weingarten faced with one of the greatest challenges of her professional life where should could have shown courage and integrity. She failed miserably!
Thank you for re-posting. Hopefully this means you felt you needed to.
you make some good points…
Many of the comments here remind me of the William Faulkner quote about the past not being dead, not even being past. The UFT has a history and style developed over many years. So does the AFT. So does Randi. It does no good to complain about the organizational, even anti-democratic shortcomings of the UFT and AFT. Neither is Randi likely to resign (in favor of whom, one wonders?). If in fact Karen Lewis is planning to run for AFT President next summer, this is the first I’ve heard. She better get busy, because Randi has many, many supporters in the AFT.
But seriously, if Randi really wants to “decouple” high-stakes testing from the CCSS, I say yay! Teacher evaluation is too important to be politicized as it has been recently.
Next, let’s decouple school funding from the CCSS, and support our public schools the way they need to be supported. Smaller classes, adequate support services, adequate materials (as an English teacher I’d appreciate some funding for real books, not iPads and “flavor of the month” curriculum materials!), computers that work and printers that print, for a start.How about making sure that all students have access to electives, so that they can become well-rounded individuals, not just expert test-takers?
Rather than lament the shortcomings of our current leaders, our job remains that of telling truth to power, demanding what we know our students need. Good teachers have always had high standards; we don’t need another list. We and our students need support.
Good thoughts. Fixing it forward will be difficult. It will take thoughtful people like you who bring their ideas to the table. It will take those w political agendas, many we’ve heard from here, to put them away in lieau of the agenda of children.
I truly believe that the 1st step in the process is to devise and IMPLEMENT a solid assessment strategy that includes accountability. It can’t be the same old thing but here’s a thought to get things started. I did this in 95- 98 and saw it’s effectiveness. http://savingstudents-caplee.blogspot.com/2013/12/accountability-with-honor-and-yes-we.html
This is just an overview but schools and teachers muct make it their own. It will accomplish 2 things. 1. You will be ready with information once CC stumbles. 2. You will have some simple data to show how big test scores can be wrong and are not valid.
The time is now to change it forward
“Mr. Chambers- don’t get on that ship!” (We all remember what happened to Mr. Chambers…):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/To_Serve_Man_(The_Twilight_Zone)
One of the best things about this thread is the number of people speaking in their own names. Thanks so much for that.
Now, about Randi and her history.
For most of the past 15 years, as these atrocities developed and grew strong teeth, than fangs, Randi was on the other side, first in New York City and then as AFT president since 2008.
But the “major unions” have never been hegemonic in support of No Child Left Behind, then Race To The Top. Within many locals there have been major challenges to all these corporate attacks, and in some, like Chicago, we have won.
So… Opposition to the atrocities of corporate “school reform” has been alive and well in many of the “major unions” for several years. I was fired and blacklisted by Chicago Public Schools for outing the crazy CASE tests in 1999 in the pages of Substance. Back then, support for our position came from thousands of teachers and others here in Chicago (that’s right, thousands), and from national friends like Jerry Bracey and Monty Neal (Fair Test) both of whom testified on my behalf at my termination hearing, a Show Trial in the classical sense orchestrated by Paul G. Vallas and corporate “school reform”.
Despite the ability of Paul Vallas and the Chicago administration to fire me and ruin my teaching career (I wound up blacklisted from teaching across this region, not just here in Chicago, as I learned as I looked for work), our opposition here in Chicago continued to grow. During those years, our side grew against corporate “reform”, reconstitutions, and all the other monstrosities that Arne Duncan pioneered here and later brought to the nation.
Since 2010, the Chicago Teachers Union, one of the largest K-12 locals in the AFT, has been aligned with every protest against school closings and Arne Duncan’s predations (which began in Chicago). Randi has come late to the party, to say the least. When we (CORE, Karen Lewis, the new leadership at the Chicago Teachers Union) were first elected in June 2010, we (I was not a delegate then, but covered the AFT convention for Substancenews.net) arrived in Seattle to learn not only was the AFT leadership (Randi) ignoring the robust history of union protests in the “Northwest” but was slapping all of us in the face by featuring Bill Gates as a major convention speaker. By the time we led the Chicago Teachers Strike of 2012, it was heartening to see Randi marching with us, from the May rally onward. (The iconic photograph of that march framed with the Art Institute of Chicago in the background was taken by my wife, Sharon, who teaches English and journalism and is a union delegate from Steinmetz High School in Chicago).
Randi has been slowly shifting her positions for the past couple of years, but she can’t ignore the history she has already helped create. If it turns out that the AFT finally supports Opt Out, opposes Common Core, and gets on the side of the majority of teachers, parents and kids in opposition to corporate school reform, fine. But her policies and her support — dramatically in the Bill Gates thing in July 2010 in Seattle, less so in dozens of other ways — have already done immense damage to our side in the struggle against public school sabotage and destruction, charter school expansion, teacher bashing, and other corporate policies.
One of the reasons I’m writing this is that these are facts of history. Another fact is that many “major unions” have been opposing this nonsense for a long time — and many of us who have been helping lead (or leading the opposition in) major union locals. We will learn in July 2014 at the AFT national convention how far Randi has really come since her days in Seattle smiling and promoting Bill Gates’s stuff. But I was there, and Randi’s colleagues (a) booed those who opposed Gates in the name of our unions, unionization and history, and our unorganized brothers and sisters facing Microsoft’s union busting and (b) feted Gates is a dozen different ways during the convention.
Norm Scott and I reported that for Ed Notes and Substance. Those are facts of history.
And I’m glad that at substancenews.net and at Ed Notes we all speak in our own names. “Democracy” may have some nice points, but those who hide behind anonymity on the Internet undermine their own credibility.
I will be glad to take the floor at AFT in July in support of Randi’s proposals to stop high-stakes testing, postpone Common Core everywhere, completely end charter school proliferation, audit and investigate every charter school in the USA, and support parental Opt Out — among other things. By the time we get to the AFT convention in Los Angeles, we will be able to report what resolutions will be before the convention and whether Rani’s New York steamrollers are still in gear to crush those who oppose all this nonsense. If Randi’s clearly on “our side” by then, she will be welcomed, just as others have been. (As I mentioned, Diane, Jerry Bracey has to be raising one of those wines he used to evaluate toasting Reign of Error…).
We’ll see when the facts of those meetings are as much a part of history as the Seattle stuff already is. But for now, the national union president who feted Bill Gates and tried to have her minions shout down the opponents of Gates still has a lot to answer for.
George,
You make some sound points in your comments about Randi Weingarten…but I seriously doubt they are credible (or not) because you used your name.
Just sayin’.
Randi Weingarten is a true leader in every sense of the word. She has brought members from across the country together in comprehending the plight that we presently face in education. We see her leadership through her actions, through the concepts that she promotes, through her strong and talented leadership. She promotes solidarity and unity, understanding of our similarities and differences, but primarily, I see her presence continually, in districts throughout the country, at union conferences and rallies, and always, always, in the media. I can’t see anyone working as hard as she does. That presence is key, especially now.
Yes, “always, always, in the media.” They sure love to get her up there, don’t they, to promote our unity in bowing to their corporate demands.
Bleccch.
Yes, she certainly does work hard.
But whom is she working for?
Does anyone know if the concept of an achievement ceiling, as a result of the CCSS, has ever been discussed? It seems to me that many teachers are simply running a checklist for their students now, as opposed to allowing them to “run” with an idea.
Ms. Weingarten’s call to “decouple” the tests from the standards is extraordinarily important.
And brave. She’s going to take a lot of grief for this. I am deeply moved by this step that she has taken.
Robert….are you serious?
Brave?
Randi Weingarten is “leading” from behind.
Democracy, the forces behind creating these “standards” and turning our schools into institutions for test preparation are very, very powerful, as you know. Standing against all that power on a key measure like the PARCC and SBAC tests is a gutsy thing for a public figure who is in the business of negotiation–of making deals–to do. I wish that she would go further and publicly recognize the problems with ossified, invariant standards in general and with these standards in particular. In her shoes, I would have denounced the whole deform package–the standards, the testing, VAM, privatization of our public schools–from Day 1. I don’t see why any sane person would think that inflexible, invariant standards created by a centralized authority in utter contempt of the independence of thought of scholars, teachers, curriculum coordinators, and curriculum developers with differing notions are a good idea. I would like to think that Ms. Weingarten’s thinking is evolving, that she is recognizing that the damage being done by deform is too great to concede the entire deform package in the name of conciliation and compromise. There are some influential voices against testing and VAM being raised in the land. That’s a good thing.
Robert,
You give Weingarten an awful lot of credit by saying her “thinking is evolving.”
I’d say she is simply responding to the large amount of criticism she’s receiving (rightfully so) and just trying to cover her rear end.
See the questions I pose in my comment at the bottom of this thread.
I’d love to see Weingarten’s reponse. Or Diane’s.
Democracy,
Robert Shepherd is serious.
So is this Robert when I say this:
I won’t use Robert Shepherd’s choice of words ot even perspective, but I will agree that to get Randi on our side is a strategically important political move in the choreography and football playbook of power.
If you accept such a premise, you’ll have to hold your nose, but the positive results have better chances of materializing by doing so than compared to shunning her.
Dance with the Devil and the Devil’s wet nurse to get a little closer.
The closer you are, the better a chance you have of stealing the Devil’s pitchfork and impaling the Devil to rid yourself of evil . . . . .
Robert D. Shepherd: I do not think you are using hyperbole when you write “extraordinarily important.”
As an expert witness par excellence, I call Dr. Frederick Hess of the American Enterprise Institute, a rheephormista insider:
[start quote]
In truth, the idea that the Common Core might be a “game-changer” has little to do with the Common Core standards themselves, and everything to do with stuff attached to them, especially the adoption of common tests that make it possible to readily compare schools, programs, districts, and states (of course, the announcement that one state after another is opting out of the two testing consortia is hollowing out this promise).
But the Common Core will only make a dramatic difference if those test results are used to evaluate schools or hire, pay, or fire teachers; or if the effort serves to alter teacher preparation, revamp instructional materials, or compel teachers to change what students read and do. And, of course, advocates have made clear that this is exactly what they have in mind. When they refer to the “Common Core,” they don’t just mean the words on paper–what they really have in mind is this whole complex of changes.
[end quote]
Link: http://deutsch29.wordpress.com/2013/12/28/the-american-enterprise-institute-common-core-and-good-cop/
When it comes to letting the cat out of the bag on Common Core, there’s no “striver” [thank you, Mr. Michael Petrilli!] like Dr. Frederick Hess.
😎
I am not being hyperbolic, Krazy. I did mean what I said there. This is an important move. I think it will make an enormous difference. I think I might even break out my Pete Seeger recording of “Union Maid” in celebration. And I am quite serious about that. 🙂
I must disagree wit you here, Robert. Having witnessed and engaged with Randi over quite a few years now, I can assure you that her words are meaningless, and intended to do nothing more than dull the edge of the criticism she receives from teachers.
It’s political triangulation, something she is expert at, and little more.
Talk is cheap, and Randi’s words transact at an especially high discount.
Thanks Diane! I was having a little trouble myself reconciling Randi in my head as well.
I might add that this is a problem with broader implications for me. How can come to respect colleagues that I have seen go straight down the garden path with corporate reform. I have seen so many teachers that are willing to sell their souls for approval from a principal, engage in competition where there is nothing to be won, and talk their colleagues down because they believe this invective to be a kind professional insight.
When I say that I’m not trying to be mean spirited. But after 15 years as a teacher I find myself in a state of disrespect for some teachers (in some cases many). I mean a kind of organic respect. It’s as if a garden has been destroyed where these relationships used to be. I wonder, when the dust settles, how I will work with these people.
g
“I have seen so many teachers that are willing to sell their souls for approval from a principal, engage in competition where there is nothing to be won, and talk their colleagues down because they believe this invective to be a kind professional insight.”
Sad, but true. The school I teach at (17th year) had, for a long time, an amazing atmosphere. It was a joy to work there. While we’re not quite at the selling of souls stage yet, it is much as you describe.
I have to remind myself that the whole system is toxic now and that people react differently when intoxicated.
Toxic indeed…
Every good teacherI talk to says this. It’s really sad.
Have witnessed this first hand…Most of the teachers are out for themselves…not working together..Why? They have been put in a situation where their jobs on on the line….why am I going to help you when I have to worry about MY JOB… Very few share..They have forced meetings with coaches present..The coaches asks the teachers to share….They share a few generic plans but are correct in not sharing the material they have created on weekends…Holidays..and during the summer..The districts asked them to share …..now the State asks them to share..NOT….Not going to happen…..Do not blame the teachers…Teachers do the work..teachers keep it..This is the result of the High Stakes Testing and the VAM…It is a disaster for education but this is the outcome…Teachers working against teachers…Zero Unity…
Perhaps we should all think before we speak. Maybe then we wouldn’t have to backstroke so often. I judge a leader by the way he or she treats the “little guy.” As the leader of a large union, Randi showed me very early into her presidency that she had neither time nor concern for an individual member who needed help dealing with state problems. When a leader loses sight of the importance of the individual, he/she has lost connection with the purpose of his/her position.
Diane,
I disapprove of Randi’s leadership in general.
She has played too many roles, too many sides, and I am sure she has felt it has been better to dance with the devil and maintain some kind of voice in education and “be a part of the process” than to be shut out of it altogether.
I am also sure she probably has figured that it is better to let all the warts and burns and sores and open puss-ridden blisters of this reform movement rear their ugly heads and be visible to and felt by the public.
Nothing would surprise me if these were her strategies, as opposed to dominating her leadership with confrontation and opposition. Kudos to Karen Lewis for doing the latter.
There are thousands of teachers who have suffered – and many more who will have yet to suffer – under Ms. Weingarten’s leadership and “collaboration”.
Still, as much as I dislike Weingarten (I am, per your very legitimate rules, refraining from using some very harsh language or even colorful imagery here!), I have to say that you may well be right when you say it is better to have her here on our side when we go up against some of the most powerful forces and institutions in the United States. It is also acceptable that she she is starting to wax more reasonable, balanced, and anti-reform.
Of course, Randi might blow like a weather vane all over again, all depending on her self opportunism and the barometer she checks every 10 seconds, 24/7.
Still, your articulating a strategy that employs her voice and alliance – even if it turns out to be a temporary or wavering alliance – is a strategy that may end up having more merit and empowerment than I care to admit.
In an effort to support all my sisters and bretheren on this site and NPE, I support whatever weapons we can get.
But I’m saying right now that as soon as the battles are won, we all would be hardpressed to keep Ms. Weingarten in our arsenal unless she will have really reformed permanently her global and domestic views of education and labor.
Right now, she wields a lot of influence and even power, and it stands to be a waste of resource if we don’t embrace her with inclusiveness.
Of all people, I thought I would NEVER find myself saying this, but we are up against some very powerful forces, and we can use all the counterbalances we can get.
I will accept Ms. Weingarten’s alignment with our cause right here on this blog, but I am bracing myself and holding my nose as I do it. I still might need my garlic wreath and stake. Or disinfectant.
Out of perhaps trusting solidarity and naivetee about such a strategy, I would encourage all my peers and colleagues who contribute to this blog, to do the same. Try to embrace all reasonable, considerable strategies. I would venture say that 99% of us who may disagree with Diane on a few things are still the same 99% of people who trust her and rely on her advocacy and empowerment.
There is NO doubt – nor ever will be – that Diane Ravitch is pro-public education, pro-teacher and adminstrator, pro-family and child, pro-egalitarian, and pro-public trust.
To those who contribut to this blog, I feel as though I know all of you, even if you’re spread out throughout the nation . . . . Social media is strange and wonderful that way. I wish I had a dining room big enough where my wife and I could invite you all to come and have dinner, break bread, and celebrate what we all cohesively have accomplished together in this quest for social justice . . . .
That and we like to cook and feed people . . . .
Robert Rendo: your invitation is tempting. How about a division of labor: you provide the eats, and I’ll provide my appetite?
😃
Or we could meet up at Pink Slip Bar & Grille and knock back a few with Señor Swacker and Linda and Ang and Socrates—though the old Greek guy hasn’t been in a good mood lately. Seems he finally discovered the internet; unfortunately, first time out he had the misfortune of viewing the “robot video” of the CCK [Common Core Klowns]. You know how he is about the “unexamined life” but those images are haunting him, and he just can’t get them out of his head…
I haven’t seen him this depressed since the “Pineapple and the Hare” debacle.
😕
On the bright side, at the NPE meeting in March there will be a Common Core Panel featuring Randi Weingarten, Jose Luis Vilson, Mercedes Schneider, Anthony Cody, Paul Horton, and Geralyn Bywater McLaughlin. Now that will be a treat!
😎
P.S. On a serious note: your honesty and integrity are much appreciated. Keep posting. I’ll keep reading.
KrazyTA,
Thank you for your suggestions.
I’m afraid, however, that the pink slip bar sounds a bit depressing and dreary, and – I don’t know – bars just never do it for me.
The NPE convention sounds amazing, and I’m sorry I won’t be able to attend. Hopefully, Diane will be able to well tape it and get it streamed.
I would like to snatch Socrates’ hemlock drink and serve it in a punchbowl quantity for a party I’m holding for all the reformers out there.
Would Ms. Rhee enjoy hers on the rocks, and perhaps with a twist of organic lime? . . . . . . .
Thank you for thinking of my posts as having integrity. I often have to watch my mouth and black sense of humor here, and legitimately so . . . . .
There is a great line in the novel Q&A, which was the basis for the film “Slumdog Millionaire “. “I realized a long time ago that dreams have power only over your own mind, but with money you can have power over the minds of others.” It appears that the teachers union has been enchanted by Mr. Gates. Hopefully, this enchantment will be broken.
No, Joseph. It’s not the TEACHERS in the unions that have been enchanted with Mr. Gates and those of his ilk.
It’s our UNION leaders and administrators. I guess that it’s hard to keep the proper prospective ( that these people are supposed to represent us), when one is surrounded by the trappings of power, wealth, and luxury.
This makes excellent sense to me, Diane, and perhaps with Randi’s turn, others will join to repudiate CCSC, which from my point of view are perniciously creeping into charter and private education as well. Decoupling is a start. If, as you say, “real reform” can come to the public school systems, their demise can be arrested.
100 % agree regarding Randi W. Thank you for writing this, Diane.
As far as our NEA, to which I am also a member, I can tell you the state organizations have much to say about Common Core. At our last FEA (NEA) Delegate Assembly in Florida, we managed to get three RBI’s passed (with the help of FLBats) – 1. review Common Core standards, 2 Halt further implementation until standards and tests are evaluated, 3. moratorium on high stakes associated with the CC testing. I imagine this will be an interesting NEA Representative Assembly this year. I expect much discussion of Common Core.
If it weren’t for the flood of criticism would RW have ever changed her mind?
Is she walking her position back because of personal considerations or because of a true epiphany? It can be a fine line between redemption or salvation.
Sorry, I can’t agree that it makes sense to be supportive of someone who has cooperated so willingly in the dismemberment of public education. As a New Yorker, I have witnessed her fawning over Michael Bloomberg’s humiliation of New York students, educators, schools, parents, and communities. Principle has to trump personal friendship when you’re talking about the wellbeing of helpless children.
I will never forget the day I saw her kiss Bloomberg on the cheek. I felt it was one of the greatest betrayals ever.
Politics does make for some strange bedfellows, doesn’t it?
Well and don’t forget that beyond politics is the actual business of governing. Diane is right—governing and leading has to wiggle out from under politics and focus on getting somewhere and not just squabbling idealogy. And that will create a need, sometimes, to abandon a definite party line, if but for a moment, in order to listen and gain insight into what will actually move things forward.
I suppose it is for this reason that at least one of our oldest institutions in the US does not offer courses in political science, but rather in government. Two sides of a coin, but one coin is what makes things happen—not just one side of the coin.
And that is a good reality. One sided coins would be hard to mint, afterall.
I still don’t see CCSS being THE problem here for one reason and one reason only:
We have ALWAYS had standards come in and out. When they have been weak, educators have plugged the gaps by supplementing what was missing and making sure that students had salient continuous opportunities to master the standards and then some.
It is the high stakes attached to the TESTING of the CCSS that in turn determines employment viability. THIS is precisely what the problem is. This is an utter disaster, a fascist statement about our government, a plutocratic proof that is in the pudding, and a catastrophic disconnect bewteen policy maker and educator/cognitive scientist.
Tying a test score to teacher employability may seem seductive and logical, but it is sheer junk science and will never lead to a sustainable system, let alone an excellent education for every child in the United States.
Allow educators and people in the local communities to work out a LOCAL system of accountability that utilizes peer review, administrative review, parent input, and a review and evaluation of outside elements and officials, such as funding from state and federal governments flowing into the LEA.
Give back local control to schools. That’s actually a very “conservative” value, and I am no conservative by American standards.
There is NO reason why we can’t have local control with federal tax dollars coming to help finance schools, as the tax dollars are also the money that WE paid to the federal government . . . . .
I have a slightly different view. Don’t wait for them to give it back to local control, take it back! Yes, I said it, snatch it back step by step. Here’s a sample of how it could be done. This is no high falutant theory, we did it in 95. http://savingstudents-caplee.blogspot.com/2013/12/accountability-with-honor-and-yes-we.html
Ahoy, Captain.
You have some interesting thoughts. I have always advocated for different types of assessments that reflect the different and multiple intelligences. Students can give speeches, draw, sing, dance, re-enact, write, create sculpture, and use many different types of medium to demonstrate their knowledge on a subject. This can all be in addition to some regular pen and paper and even digital tests, no?
Assessments should be school and educator created, as they are in FInland . . . . .
the great news is there is no rule or law that says we can’t do this in our schools. Just dont teach to CC anymore, let chips fall where they may caste off me bully boys
do what you say? http://savingstudents-caplee.blogspot.com/2013/12/accountability-with-honor-and-yes-we.html
Well said. There is always cause to consider these things carefully so that we choose the greater good. I do not approve of RW and I see no reason to trust her since only this summer she coldly ordered “bad” teachers to give it up because the unions were not going to protect them. Funny thing is, there are a lot of very fine teachers going down in flames while union leaders ( already earning close to $500 k with perks, etc.) are being enriched as an organization and individual thanks to “philanthropy.”
In LA THOUSANDS of teachers and staff are desperate . Right now they are on public aid, losing their homes and have no HMOs.
Most of the casualties are veteran teachers who have stellar employee files going back decades. That counts for nothing. LAUSD HAS NO IDEA wht esculpatory evidence is, LAUSDeasy has no interest in due process. State codes abd pokicy are abitrary . The law is violated, civil rights are violated and human decency is violated, RW needs to address the damage she caused by affiliating herself and compromising our best interests. She betrayerd her duties and her mission by becoming a puppet for Gates, Broad and Walton family. I do not believe she id evil as many folks do, and she obviously values Ravitch more than any of these elite oppressors. I can imagine how tedious kit is to be at their service. We all make mistakes too; however we are paying dearly for her error. I assure you, we cannot afford it. Some teachers are homeless, along with their own children. I was damn near one of them. Had this happened , forgiveness would bever be possible.
In many ways it seems imprudent for teachers to have faith in her I must ask: why can’t Randi help them by bringing attention to rubber rooms,teacher jails, TFA replacements for reduction of force bpvictments and displacements? Why can’t she show how teachers are driven of classrooms and burnt out with sub assignments made inconvenient and unbearable to drive them out? Maybe she get these teachers work at that charts school she has now or ask that they be paid to develop CCSS with teachers, as it just came out in the LA times that schools do NOT have to buy the Person program. She can work wit the new Mayor in NYC.cultivate alliances with Boe members like Ms. Ratliff in LA. Can she put TFA out to pasture!? Now there is a real coup.
She sure needs to do more than sing a new tune. She needs to do something to help because RW owes it to these teachers in NYC, Chicago , LA and everywhere else that teachers look to her for leadership. She has power enough to reject these billionaires and by doing so she can empower us. That is her job, after all. In fact, her failure to act in a heroic fashion to right these wrongs is likely to make her bid for re- election a bust, especially if Lewis runs. My bet is a few unusual candidates will challenge her.George Schmidt is one I would support. It seems that Dr. Ravitch is either a very loyal friend, a fool or something I would prefer not to think about, so if RW fails to follow through she could very well cost our champion a great deal of her credibility.
almost never comment here, but read often….I must say this about Randi Weingarten. First, she is paid BY teachers to represent teachers. She is there to protect our interests and we are there to protect the interest of the children. She seems to forget that she is there to represent us. The AFT, like the UFT, is a bureaucracy that seems to care more about its own existence and prosperity than it does care about the welfare and well-being of its members. If Randi Weingarten had not cooperated so much with the reformers and if she had consulted the members about these issues, then VAM would not have gained traction…..
Most teachers I know are miserable now and feel even more dejected since our leadership is only coming around to a less anti-teacher point of view.
I used to believe in Randi, but as the years have passed, I have seen that she is only interested in her own agenda and in her own advancement. Teachers and students, what goes on in the classroom, the bullying of teachers and the continuing devaluation of what we know and what we do seems either secondary or unimportant to her.
Maybe before she takes positions, she should have the membership vote. The same goes for the UFT and NYSUT…both of which have allowed this awful system of VAM to happen and that have allowed the Common Core to be implemented without any teacher input.
Sarah,
I’d bet there are an awful lot of teachers both union and non-union – who feel the way that you do.
It’s not just the AFT and the NEA….the national superintendent’s organization and the high school and elementary principal associations are headed by some less-than-stellar “leaders” too.
Can we stick with the issues? First we take action today to de couple from the test. like this http://savingstudents-caplee.blogspot.com/2013/12/accountability-with-honor-and-yes-we.html And then the dominoes will fall. I´m telling you the dominoes will fall and we better be ready with a plan, not tea party style rhetoric. Here’s a bunch of plans, also in our books http://www.wholechildreform.com
Teachers under attack need to feel union leaders stand with rank and file members. Silence by national union leaders, or worse, collaboration with enemies who are trying to undermine the profession will inevitably, and rightly so, bring criticism. Silence in the face of attacks and Randi’s collaboration with reform groups erode teacher confidence in the union like a cancer.
I believe local unions are being seriously impaired by it as well. They look to AFt for directives and what is being abided is in direct conflict with teachers’s best interests as well as students and community.
NY teachers who have been exposed to Randi’s sojourn through reform territory have a right to be wary of her motives. They are more likely to have been directly impacted by her actions than many of us. Not that her actions as head of national have been benign, but it is easier to delay ultimate judgement if her actions have not affected someone’s career adversely. I have belonged to both unions neither of which has done anything for me personally. Locals and nationals, as a rule, seem to have very little to do with teachers who have not achieved tenure. The larger the local the more likely they are to ignore/forget who they serve. I resented paying union dues for little personal return, but I appreciated the importance of a larger voice for teachers as a group. So, I don’t trust Randi, but I won’t dismiss her either. If she continues to show herself willing to work for her membership, I think it is worth it to work with her…for now. There will come a time where she will have to answer for her actions, all of them. I am not at all sure she can win back anything but grudging support, but we do need a unified voice.
Diane writes this, in reference to an earlier comment of mine:
“A reader who calls himself or herself “Democracy” left comments criticizing me for defending Randi Weingarten–or perhaps for not attacking her.”
Now let’s be fair here.
First, in my original comment (see below) I said I was puzzled, that I didn’t grasp why Diane keeps defending Randi Weingarten when she’s gone all-in on the Common Core.
Second, I never suggested that Diane should “attack” Weingarten. I merely asked why Diane keeps assisting her.
Here’s the original comment:
_______________________________________
I don’t get it.
I don’t grasp why Diane keeps defending Randi Weingarten and trying to “rehabilitate” her image. And I don’t understand why Weingarten keeps defending the Common Core standards when they were written without teacher participation and when they are based on a demonstrably faulty premise.
Let’s start first at the end of Weingarten’s Huffington Post column that was linked to by Diane. In that piece, Weingarten concludes her support for the Common Core with this:
“We can’t reclaim the promise of public education without investing in strong neighborhood public schools that are safe, collaborative and welcome environments for students, parents, educators and the broader community. Schools where teachers and school staff are well-prepared and well-supported, with manageable class sizes and time to collaborate…schools with wraparound services to address our children’s social, emotional and health needs.”
Is Weingarten serious in implying that Common Core is the necessary ingredient to achieve what she outlines in that paragraph? If so, then she really should not be heading up an education organization of any kind. Common Core has little if anything to do with neighborhood schools that are “safe, collaborative, welcome environments.” It has nothing to do with “manageable class sizes” and “wraparound services” that “address…social, emotional and health needs.”
Moreover, the Common Core is predicated on the notion that “rigorous” standards (and the testing of them) are needed – are imperative – to prepare students (and the nation) “to compete successfully in the global economy.” Nothing could be further from the truth. The U.S already is economically competitive. When it drops in the World Economic Forum competitiveness rankings – as it has done over the last several years – it’s because of really stupid economic policy choices it’s made, policies that have been pushed aggressively by many of those who now insist that schools and teachers must the ones to remedy their economic fallout. Very sad. And very cowardly. And Randi Weingarten is siding with them.
Achieve was one of the instigators of Common Core. (along with the ACT and the College Board). It just so happens that Achieve is funded by groups like Battelle (which argues for STEM when there is no STEM shortage), the Gates Foundation, Prudential and State Farm and Travelers, Boeing, GE, JPMorgan Chase, Intel, IBM, the Helmsley Foundation, DuPont, Cisco, Chevron, Microsoft….many of these companies pay little or no taxes. You can read about Microsoft, just to pick one, here:
http://www.vanityfair.com/business/2012/08/microsoft-lost-mojo-steve-ballmer
Achieve’s board of directors is here:
http://www.achieve.org/our-board-directors
As I’ve noted previously, the ACT and the products of the College Board (the PSAT SAT, and AP) are more hype than useful educational resources. They just don’t do much in predicting college (or workplace) readiness or success. But they are big business. And contrary to what they say, they stack the deck AGAINST opportunity for all students. As Matthew Quirk wrote, “The ACT and the College Board don’t just sell hundreds of thousands of student profiles to schools; they also offer software and consulting services that can be used to set crude wealth and test-score cutoffs, to target or eliminate students before they apply…That students are rejected on the basis of income is one of the most closely held secrets in admissions; enrollment managers say the practice is far more prevalent than most schools let on.”
So, why is Randi Weingarten siding with “the big boys?” And why does Diane keep assisting her?
_________________________________________
I think it’s plain to see that I never suggested that Diane should “attack” Randi Weingarten.
I think it’s also plain to see that there are some very serious questions posed that Randi Weingarten should attempt to answer. Diane avoided each and every one of them in her response to my comment.
Given that there is no sound basis for the Common Core, and that it is supported by some of the biggest ($$$) and baddest financial players in the country who want to blame public education for the economic problems they caused, why is Weingarten (still) taking their side on Common Core?
Asking such a question can hardly be construed as “ideological purity.” It’s what Smith and Hullfish referred to as reflective inquiry. Common Core enthusiasts call it critical thinking (though they seem loathe to engage in it themselves). Frankly, I think it’s just common sense.
If more “rigor” and more standards and more testing and more “accountability” have not “improved” public education – and may well have done it damage – then why do we need more of it?
“our cause being the survival of public education and the teaching profession.”
I follow your blog regularly and agree with everything I read. However, I think we need to be careful to include students or children as part of our cause. We don’t want to be seen as only worried about the teachers or the profession. As a parent I hated all the emphasis on testing, then I completed an intense career swithcers program to become an ESL teacher. Now I can really see first hand the destruction testing does in schools, especially for ESL students who are held do the same standards as native born English speakers. Let’s just try to keep the focus on the kids that really feel the impact of the testing fiasco. Keep on writing.
Sarah, I agree with you. It has been striking me for a long time as not the right emphasis to keep putting forth as the answer to reformers. I feel it is only giving them ammunition to talk about teachers who are more concerned about themselves than the students. I totally support strengthening public schools rather than the disastrous mish mash of so called education choices the reformers are creating with no accountability.
I know this post was about Randi W and unions, but talk about unions permeates many posts. A lot of states either do not have unions or they are not a strong presence. It’s not about the teachers, it’s about what we are there for in the first place.
Hi Diane, one note of caution re: Common Core as “…a set of standards that may or may not prove useful but has no power to ruin lives and careers.” (if Randi gets her wish and testing is removed)
Perhaps Randi has a two-step plan, and second step involves getting rid of the standards. Perhaps she’d also like Open School Standards (openschoolstandards.org). If so, she’s better get to step 2 ASAP.
However, let’s remember that it’s not just teachers’ careers and lives impacted by Common Core (both testing AND standards). Let’s not forget parents and, most importantly, their kids.
Common Core, even if just standards, has the power to ruin the opportunity kids would have with truly local/state-led standards (and tests & materials). In California, Common Core standards set kids back nearly a year behind in math where they are now under CA standards–effectively “failing” an entire generation of kids for a year…even our straight A students. When “one size fits all,” it doesn’t always mean the size is too tight. Same is true in Massachusetts and other states with superior school standards.
The worst part is that it none of this was needed. CA standards (and, yes, tests) have helped as a foundation for teachers and schools to show success in improving college-readiness for past 10+ years, across economics/demographics. Common Core throws all this out the window, like hitting a big, multi-billion-dollar “Reset” button — at a time when we didn’t need to do so and when school dollars should go to other priorities like reducing class sizes. Common Core standards (not tests) have already turned our CA children’s lives and school careers upside down. CA doesn’t even have the (real) Smarter Balanced tests until 2015. This year is just a “trial.”
Common Core in CA is a politically-driven train wreck, ESPECIALLY if it just becomes just a set of lowered (yet adopted) standards, without ANY tests. Likely Randi and Gov. Brown are, unfortunately, on the same wrong track with this notion.
With all respect, in our opinion, Randi’s suggestion just won’t work–not without the “step 2” of replacing the standards. As some have said, “What’s the point (of Common Core)?” at that point? Parents will likely not stand for having no testing, yet keeping one-size-fits-all, federally/Gates-funded Common Core standards. You’ll loose BOTH the pro-Common Core folks AND the Stop Common Core folks. Those who can, will pull out of public schools in droves (taking their support & dollars with them).
Randi should play this out a bit further into the future, especially in this 2014 election year.
Thank you again for your thoughtful consideration of all sides of this issue.
UnCommon: what are just a couple specific examples of standards that are different between the CA standards and CCSS?
Bill Duncan, here is a specific difference:
The California standards can be revised; the CCSS standards cannot.
If you see an error or a flaw, to whom do you send your concern/complaint?
Very important, Diane. I agree. And that must be changed. Period. Would you agree that, if that were changed, that would be better than starting over?
@ Bill Duncan:
1. why would it be so bad to just scrap the Common Core?
2. are you the same Bill Duncan who supports the Common Core in New Hampshire, and who touts the work of Achieve, and the National Governors Association, and the Council of Chief State School Officers?
“if you see a flaw”
Now there’s an understatement! My kids had gerbils who could have written better ELA standards.
But Diane’s point is key, and I am very happy to see that you agree with it, Bill. Continuous improvement requires, uh, continuous improvement. That’s a tautology. But Achieve seems to have missed that.
Maybe projecting a little Dianne? People forgave u for serving Bush, so we should forgive Randi? Yours is a great defense for the general public, perhaps for ill-advised policy makers. Not for the leader of the teacher’s movement. While Randi was discovering the errors of her ways, DC teachers lost 50% of their membership & fighting strength as they capitulated to the charter movement and the VAM modeling. Defend her, fine. But teachers need to wake up and identify leaders who show sound judgement and leadership from day 1. Because by the time it takes our leaders to wake up, there may be no union or even public schools left.
mcsmith, I am not projecting. I am giving you my view, take it or leave it. When you fight among yourselves–a bad habit among progressives–you lose. Watch “The Life of Brian,” a Monty Python film, to see the point made clearly, when the various opposition groups fight among themselves. We can’t shoot our leaders, flawed as they are, and expect to prevail.
It’s rather difficult to “prevail” when your “leaders” appear to have sided with the moneyed interests who’ve based their “reform” plans and policies – like the Common Core –– on demonstrably false premises.
You wrote in July of last year that “We all need to work together, argue when we must, but maintain our basic unity against the truly radical, truly reactionary threat of privatization. As a nation, as a democracy, we cannot afford to lose this essential democratizing institution.”
So the argument goes on…why is Randi Wiengarten siding with the corporate interests and the charlatans (think, for example, Wendy Kopp, or Michelle Rhee, or those at the College Board) who push the Common Core?
It is past time to focus on issues rather than who did what with whom. No person is all bad and no person is all good. Focus on the issues rather than taking tea party style cheap shots.
The issue number 1 is that given assessment drives the curriculum, how do we develop an assessment that is real? How do we build a better mouse trap? When and only when we do that, will we have an assessment the is credible. Then we challenge, point by point the test. A credible assesment is the only way to stop the runaway freight. Develop it and then sell it everywhere.
Here’s a jumping off spot http://savingstudents-caplee.blogspot.com/2013/12/accountability-with-honor-and-yes-we.html
Well said, Diane.
I still have acute disdain for Randi, but I see the political utilization of her voice, her presence, her imagery, and hopefully, her actions.
You are right in this regard to defend her.
You really are . . . . .
I agree Diane. We are implementing the CC here in Delaware and it has been rough with PLC’s to help explain them. We will be tying the CC standards to our DCAS testing system that is reflected in our Component 5 that rates teachers. I am stressing to our local union that CC is not the answer and is only a way to codify learning across the U.S, so that companies (Amplify, Wireless Generation) can market easier to schools and parents. It’s a multi-billion dollar opportunity for some companies.
The teachers and parents have been heard.
but the whole program needs to be suspended
and reviewed entirely, not just amended.
We need not do harm for three years while we get it right.
NYSUT United
6 hours ago
The following was released this morning as a follow to NYSUT President Dick Iannuzzi’s announcement last week that he will seek a vote of no confidence in Commissioner King when the union’s Board of Directors meets later this month:
NYSUT: King’s failures corrupted framework for evaluations, Common Core
ALBANY, N.Y. January 13, 2014 – New York State United Teachers today said failures by the State Education Department and Education Commissioner John King Jr. to properly implement the Common Core learning standards have corrupted the framework needed to establish a valid and fair teacher evaluation system.
“Once again, the commissioner is deliberately attempting to deflect attention from his failed implementation plan and obsession with testing by blaming everyone but himself,” said NYSUT President Richard C. Iannuzzi. “NYSUT, like many stakeholders, committed to a framework that had the potential to make the Common Core about raising standards, and teacher evaluations about improving classroom instruction. The commissioner and SED have corrupted both with their obsession over standardized testing and data collection, instead of teaching and learning. Teachers and principals should be held accountable and students should be striving to reach higher standards but, sadly, the commissioner and State Education Department are more interested in playing the corporate numbers game than improving the educational experience for students and educators.”
Last week, Iannuzzi said “mounting frustration” over King’s refusal to listen to concerns from parents and teachers, and make necessary course corrections would lead him to seek a “no confidence” vote from the union’s Board of Directors this month, and from NYSUT’s Representative Assembly in April.
NYSUT is calling for a three-year moratorium on high-stakes consequences for students and teachers from standardized testing to give SED time to “get it right.” Iannuzzi said a three-year moratorium “would allow New York State to make amendments to the Common Core, incorporating input from experienced educators in curriculum development and achieving better alignment of assessments and instruction before attaching high-stakes consequences.”
why would anyone drink water from a well that is tainted? (apologies to West Virginians)….
Randi Weingarten is tainted by her personal, professional and political ties to Eli Broad and Bill Gates… she allowed the AFT to take millions from Gates… she did nothing to stop the spread of TeachForAwhile, aka TFA… or charters – in fact, she helped bring in charter schools, with a grant from Broad to start two…
You cannot unshackle VAM from the Common Core – the two are conjoined twins…
Randi DID NOT risk anything in speaking out against VAM – she was merely distracting attention by throwing a bone to anti ed reform advocates, trying to defuse the rising opposition to Common Core, which is where the real power and money is for her bosses……
The Common Core is developmentally inappropriate, is highly questionable as to content focus and was created by ed reformers and a monopoly testing/textbook company, without teacher or parent input… It should be scrapped… Randi has strong ties to the Common Core creators/marketers/profiteers. Actions speak louder than words and her actions – supporting Common Core in the face of expert evidence that it is a bad ‘product’ – prove she answers to her corporate masters. She does not have the interests of teachers and children at heart – she should be dumped as leader of the AFT…
Thank you, Diane! Eloquently spoken! Both integrity and common sense are necessary. Solidarity will help us through this important time.
As I found out in WI solidarity isn’t sufficient. It doesn’t say anything other than me, me me. Develop an assessment plan that is superior, a viable alternative, and then sell it. Without that we are whistling into the wind
Solidarity yes, Randi should come on board with her own members and parents.
Georgiann – as union leaders are apparently lacking in integrity, then I guess common sense would say they should be dumped and teachers and parents should get together in solidarity and fight the ed reformers without them….
Republicans are protecting children, where are the Democrats and Teachers union?
http://open.nysenate.gov/legislation/bill/S6007-2013
http://open.nysenate.gov/legislation/bill/S6008-2013
http://open.nysenate.gov/legislation/bill/S6009-2013
It’s not,or shouldn’t be, about the opinions of a union president as an individual. Union members should be steering their union. Explained here: http://newpol.org/content/teachers-union-leaders-need-union-democracy