Paul Karrer, who teaches in Castroville, California, writes a scorching review of what is laughingly called “reform.”
He begins:
“Arne Duncan and his patron President Barack Obama have gotten themselves in a bit of an educational bind. Big news came out of the White House on Aug. 21 but a lot of America missed it. It seems a collision course of: 1. sunsetting of the year 2014 and the imbecilic impossible fatwa of No Child Left Behind (the obscenity of schools held accountable for testing without a morsel of input for poverty); and 2. a large push by teacher unions to dethrone he of the basketball — Sir Arne Duncan.”
So Duncan made his statement about testing “sucking the oxygen” out of teaching, a typical Duncanism in which he denounces the policies he promote and still enforces.
Says Karrer of Duncan’s fancy step:
“Is it a complete flip flop? No, it is a little greasy middle-of-the-road weaseling meant to gain favor from Obama’s once-upon-a-time education supporters and to patch the rebellious hemorrhaging of his pet bamboozle Race To The Top and its ugly stepsister Common Core. Ever since Obama initiated his slash and burn policy regarding public education with pro-privatization, the green light to pro-charter corporations, his relationship with publishing-testing companies, and his knee in the groin and knife in the backs of teachers with rigorous evaluations based on kids’ test scores, he’s been trusted about as much as a pedophile at a playground by those who once-upon-a-halo included him in their sacred prayers.”
Karrer says time is running out for the Age of Test and Punish. More and more people are speaking up and the public is catching on to the failure of test, test, test. The momentum is growing. Time is running out.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
quote: “Karrer says time is running out for the Age of Test and Punish. More and more people are speaking up and the public is catching on to the failure of test, test, test.”
It took me a year to work on one colleague but I finally think she understands. The Department Chair at her public University assigned students in every course to read the Berler book on Norwalk Public Schools. So my colleague doesn’t like this assignment from the powerful department chair ; the book is a news journalist/pundit depiction …. I have been giving her all of the back up research I can find to augment her work with students in teacher training. She agreed that we have set education back two generations with the test and punish mode….. Thanks to the people who are providing this support …. and the articles on Dane’s blog…. (over at Fordham Institute Petrili and Hess are said to be “making nice” with the white flag; after they left all the land mines in the hinterlands and the zones they have traversed )
The bad news is that salvation is in the hands of the US Congress.
From the above posting: “So Duncan made his statement about testing ‘sucking the oxygen’ out of teaching, a typical Duncanism in which he denounces the policies he promote and still enforces.”
Presaged almost a year and a half ago by “his”* speech at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association (April 30, 2013).
[*Obviously written by a speechwriter since he espouses contradictory opinions, lambastes his critics for his own policies and behaviors, and talks about things like Campbell’s Law that he quite obviously doesn’t understand in the least.]
Link: http://www.ed.gov/news/speeches/choosing-right-battles-remarks-and-conversation
But then, what can one say about a man that stands firmly for rigorous and determined and gritty Marxist thinking?
“Well, Art is Art, isn’t it? Still, on the other hand, water is water. And east is east and west is west and if you take cranberries and stew them like applesauce they taste much more like prunes than rhubarb does. Now you tell me what you know.”
¿Again? Groucho, the famous one. And not Zeppo or Harpo or Chico…
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The other bad news is that too many higher education faculty working in education are complicit in this regime or too busy navel gazing to recognize that they are next in line for sham ratings based on the test scores the graduates of their programs will be expected to produce on the job.
The triage will be aided and abetted by the bilionaire funded scheme to rate teacher education programs based on surveys produced by underemployed and under qualified workers who look at course syllabi and other documents. That fraud is then scaled up by publishing the results in US News and World Report.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Hear, hear! I love Mr Karrer’s no-holds-barred delivery. I note this article comes from Monterey, Cal. California, that strange melting pot of extreme conservatism and extreme liberalism, which often as not has resulted in cultural innovations copied round the country. We look to you, Cal– you owe us one after Vergara.
Well, on the plus side, at least Obama didn’t appoint Donald Trump to be the education czar…..so far. He has all the “qualifications” to be an education expert….he’s a billionaire, he’s for privatization and deregulation, he’s a loud mouthed lout and he enjoys firing people.
This is absolutely amazing.
The Ohio Department of Education has chosen a lobbying group. StudentsFirst, to direct efforts to “inform” parents on whether to turn over a bunch of public schools to private contractors under the Parent Trigger:
“Columbus Superintendent Dan Good said yesterday that the district is working to understand all the nuances of the law. On Tuesday, the school board is to hear a presentation by the Education Department and StudentsFirst, the group that the department chose to inform and organize parents”
Rules released by the department yesterday refer to StudentsFirst as a “neutral third party,” but Columbus Education Association President Tracey Johnson said the group is not neutral; it’s a school-reform lobbying organization.”
This is ridiculous. Our state Department of Education is completely captured by lobbyists.
They’re a joke. I resent paying these people. I think StudentsFirst should put them on the payroll and take them off mine. They are actively working against existing public schools in this state.
http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2014/09/13/parents-allowed-under-law-to-overhaul-20-failing-columbus-schools.html
“This is ridiculous. Our state Department of Education is completely captured by lobbyists.”
The corruption and incompetence in Ohio is astounding. And it appears that New York is being mentored by Ohio. Next up: the College Board addresses the NYS Board of Regents this week. What diabolical contract for college board products will be inflicted upon NY high schools? In addition to changes in AP US history, changes have been wrought in biology, chemistry, and physics in the past few years. Changes are coming to the SAT next year. Under Coleman, CB has changed, not necessarily for the better. One Coleman to rule them all…
According to ed reformers StudentsFirst is a “neutral third party” Are they embarrassed? Is there ONE of them who really believe their lobbying group is a “neutral third party”?
Now that the Common Core tests are in the can and the program has been “implemented” I guess it’s back to the full-out assault on public schools. For a couple of weeks there, our public schools and teachers were doing a GREAT job! Now they’re getting ready to fire 70% of the same teachers they were pandering to during the testing roll-out.
Chiara: what you said.
Just when you think the “education reform” movement can’t say something any more cruel or inane or privately self-serving but publicly unselfish—
They top themselves.
Or rather, they reach new lows.
And your last paragraph is spot on. An excellent example of what Dwight D. Eisenhower warned against:
“You don’t lead people by hitting them over the head — that’s assault, not leadership.”
And with ungrateful sucker punches, no less.
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Thank you for your comments.
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That long middle paragraph is spot-on, particularly about how many teachers who used to revere President Obama now despise him and his policies…
I think you should pat yourselves on the back for starting to roll back testing
That’s been effective. I know there’s still a ton of standardized testing going on, but you won the public debate on that issue.
You-all did that with no billionaire bucks and no support from lawmakers, lobbyists, pundits or media. Good work. Good advocacy for public schools and children.
Who’s that lobbyist in Texas who pushes tests nationwide? Sandy Kress? Maybe you can put him out of business 🙂
I am a teacher an very proud of it. However, my advice to people wanting to get into education is, Don’t.
It has changed in such a drastic way, again. Having been in education since 1982, I’ve seen many mandates come and go from the government, which has absolutely no clue of how to fix what they continue to meddle in and break. Start listening to the people who actually have the experience and knowledge of how to really teach so children can learn.
I have had an idea since NCLB came out. I’d actually like to keep it–under the new title of “No Citizen Left Behind.” Instead of teachers being held accountable for all of the variables not in their control, the government and politicians who like to control everything would now be held accountable for the economics and living standard of their districts. If they don’t make AYP in their districts, they lose their jobs and their ability to ever run for or be appointed to any other political position. (While we’re at it, shouldn’t people who are in charge of our country be required to hold a license to show they are qualified to be doing so?) All of their constituents should be making economic progress and will be tested to show it. All people will be held to the same standard regardless of their abilities. Maybe their policies from that point on would be a lot more reasonable when it comes to dealing with people. My opinion is that they don’t think about their policies past the nose on their face. It’s time we as educators started showing these policy makers that they’re dealing with people, not widgets in their districts, just as we are in our schools.
Too bad that the people that should be running this country are already too busy teaching (or bloody well trying, anyway).
I’m with you. Well said.