Leonie Haimson, leader of Class Size Matters and Student Privacy Matters, writes here about the Every Child Achieves Act and the distortions that are filling her email box these days. Haimson is also a member of the board of the Network for Public Education and a fearless supporter of public education.
She writes:
Over the last few days, I have been flooded with blog posts, Facebook comments, memes and tweets, claiming that the bi-partisan bill to be debated this week in the Senate, called ECAA, or Every Child Achieves Act, must be opposed, because it “locks in” Common Core and many of the worst, test-based accountability policies of Arne Duncan and the US Department of Education.
Yet this is far from the truth. For nearly 13 years, students have suffered under the high-stakes testing regime of No Child Left Behind (NCLB), the 2002 reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA). NCLB was likely the dumbest law ever passed by Congress, because it required that all public school children in the United States reach “proficiency” by 2014 as measured by test scores, or else their schools would be deemed failing.
The inanity of NCLB was exacerbated by Race to the Top and other policies pursued by Arne Duncan that put testing on steroids. These policies treated our children as data points, reduced our schools to test prep factories, and attempted to convince parents that their education must be handed over to testing companies, charter operators, and ed tech corporations. This disastrous trend resulted in huge parent protests and hundreds of thousands of students opting out of state exams last spring.
The current Senate bill is admittedly far from perfect. It still requires annual standardized tests in grades 3-8, as did NCLB. It would allot far too many federal dollars and too little accountability to charter schools, while encouraging merit pay for teachers – all policies likely to lead to wasted taxpayer funds that would be better spent on programs proven to work, such as class size reduction. It would do nothing to protect student data privacy, while allowing the continued disclosure of sensitive personal information to vendors and other third parties without parental knowledge or consent. Hopefully this critical issue will be addressed separately by Congress, by improving one or more of the many student privacy bills introduced during the past few months.
Yet ECAA still represents a critical step forward, because it places an absolute ban on the federal government intervening in the decision-making of states and districts as to how to judge schools, evaluate teachers or implement standards. In particular, it expressly bars the feds from requiring or even incentivizing states to adopt any particular set of standards, as Duncan has done with the Common Core, through his Race to the Top grants and NCLB waivers.
It would also bar the feds from requiring that teachers be judged by student test scores, which is not only statistically unreliable according to most experts, but also damaging to the quality of education kids receive, by narrowing the curriculum and encouraging test prep to the exclusion of all else. The bill would prevent the feds from imposing any particular school improvement strategy or mandating which schools need improvement – now based simplistically on test scores, no matter what the challenges faced by these schools or the inappropriateness of the measure. Finally, the bill would prevent the feds from withholding funds from states that allow parents to opt out of testing, as Duncan most recently threatened to do to the state of Oregon.
It is true that many states have already drunk the Common Core/testing Koolaid, led by Governors and legislators influenced by the deep pockets of corporate reformers or tempted by RTTT funds. ECAA also still requires annual testing, which the Tester amendment would replace with grade-span testing, as many organizations including FairTest and Network for Public Education have strongly urged. (Full disclosure: I’m on NPE’s board.) The bill has a provision aimed at alleviating over-testing, by requiring that states audit the number of standardized exams and eliminate duplication, though it’s not clear how effective this requirement will be.
But with or without the Tester amendment, ECAA would release the stranglehold that the federal government currently has on our schools, and would allow each of us to work for more sane and positive policies in our respective states and districts. For this reason alone, it deserves the support of every parent and teacher who cares about finally moving towards a more humane, and evidence-based set of practices in our public schools.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
You mean the Charter School Pork Barrel Act?
It is already illegal for the Federal Department of Educarion to interfere with state level decision making. It just isn’t enforced and this law doesn’t change that substantially as far as I can tell.
If JEB! is elected president or Hillary, for that matter, I don’t see this law changing the reformster approach taken by Obama changing substantially since they all agree with and support the billionaires in pretty much everything they do including education.
I see a laundry list of the worst parts of NCLB and RTTT enshrined in this new law. THEY JUST AREN’t tied to funding now. They certainly aren’t eliminated nor discouraged.
Why are people like the NEA, AFT, and Leonie Hamson arguing that this is a step forward?
I see little that will change for me as a classroom teacher and those of us in reformster-controlled ALEC states will see no relief at all from passing this,law as far as I can tell.
Sorry but I can’t support it. At all.
Chris,
“Why are people like the NEA, AFT, and Leonie Hamson arguing that this is a step forward?”
I can’t speak for them but it appears to be a bit of triangulation thinking that they can outflank the edudeformers. It’s a strategy that is guaranteed to continue educational malpractices that harm many students with the only benefits accruing to the privatizers and edudeformers.
But not only them but also Fair Test and NPE who “strongly urged” using these educational malpractices of “grade span testing”. From the post: “ECAA also still requires annual testing, which the Tester amendment would replace with grade-span testing, as many organizations including FairTest and Network for Public Education have strongly urged.”
By its very name “Fair Test” shows that it still is captured by the educational standards and standardized testing regime (although it does a decent job of getting the anti-testing news out). Until we all realize and unite around eliminating the educational “coin of the realm” malpractices of educational standards and standardized testing we will never kill these edudeformer malpractices and continue to cause much harm to the most innocent of society, the children who have to suffer the consequences of COMPLETELY INVALID and FALSE EDUCATIONAL MALPRACTICES.
It will make a big difference . . . eventually. As Diane has noted before on this issue, it will be much easier to effect change at the state level than with the feds. Guberntorial elections will become referendums on educational issues like testing, use of VAM, etc.
Not here in FL where gerrymandering and term limites produce,a revolving door legislature of charter school investors only too willing to pass whatever boilerplate legislarion ALEC sends them. They are beginning to repsond to pushback from parents and voters in minor ways but we need the heavyweight federal push to make it happen here.
I think NY Teacher is correct. It’s easier to effect education change on the state level. It’s also harder to get voters’ support for education as a core issue in a national election crowded with other critical issues like Supreme Court appointments.
It may work well in the northeastern states and that is what is important to lots of people. It doesn’t do much for us down here in the southern right to work states but then we were pretty much ignored until VAM hit NYC and suddenly became a national tragedy/disgrace, 3 years after we had it in place.
We lobby every year and get a few crumbs if we are lucky.
You both seem to forget what happened to Glenda Ritz in Indiana. Even though more people voted for her than for the governor they managed to strip her of all power.
And then there is Chris Christie who ignores the voters and does what he wants, especially in urban areas. Ask Baraka and the citizens of Newark how much easier it is to influence politics on the state level.
I would agree that it takes less momentum to bring about change at the state level compared to the national level but that is why the reformsters are concentrating their money on local school board elections, governors and legislators, and starting all these astroturf groups.
The federal law matters and the USDOE matters, especially when it is handing out billions of dollars during these days of austerity.
There is nothing good, nothing to celebrate in the Act. It’s nothing more than a change in strategy brought about by political expediency. The reformsters have declared defeat in an attempt to divert our gaze, to get us to pat ourselves on the back and go home. So what if the sock puppet that is the DOE is prevented from imposing a few of it’s absurd, toxic policies at the federal level, who cares? The exact same garbage can and will be imposed state by state. This is worse, it’s harder to fight since it disempowers our national anti-reformster movement by balkanizing us into discrete enclaves, not all of which have the same capacity to resist based on existing differences in state laws and other factors. It also will absolutey lead to another series of huge rebranding/renaming campaigns where the reformsters will claim that “it’s different here and different and better than before”. The reformsters have more than enough money, influence and infrastructure in place to work at imposing their agenda in 50 places at once without missing a beat. It’s a divide and conquer strategy designed to produce a slow version of the domino theory. They will play the long game and wait us out, state by state, and they already have some states and many legislators in their pockets. A ban on the toxic policies themselves would have been a victory, this is not, it’s a feint, a ruse.
NYA Teacher, How will giving states more authority make a big difference in the Cuomosphere? All I see is more Andy Uber Alles. You know, ramming crazy policy through the budget process like not using artifacts of teaching (lesson plans) as part of a teacher’s evaluation or having to register with the state within 30 days of moving.That was all done at the state level.
Cuomo is finished. His policies can be reversed much more readily than a bad ESEA re-write which sticks us for at least seven years.
Parental opt out pressure is making a difference. The BOR is starting to regain its sanity. The NY pendulum is starting to slow down and will soon be turning back. Much of Cuomo’s craziniess comes the full backing and force of federal law courtesy of the RTTT and NCLBW.
NY is now at the forefront of grassroots activism and it will only gain momentum as high school math and ELA are beginning to experience the Pearson Problem. Now that the common core HS tests in algebra and ELA are required for graduation the members of the NY Resistance will grow significantly in numbers and in defiance.
Or, so I hope.
Leonine, you are so wrong.
ECAA + Tester Amendment = WIN!
“Yet ECAA still represents a critical step forward,”
One step forward on a journey will take 20 years to complete, assuming no setbacks. It’s hard for me to get excited about that.
It’s the “Every Corporation Thieves Act.”
Sounds like settling – like a politician, not a true advocate for children and teachers. Required annual testing is cruel and wasteful, and must be opposed! No more settling!
Leonie is a hero of mine from whom I learn much. Regret disagreeing on ECAA. Duncan and feds are already out of the picture, did their dirty work, used fed funds and bully pulpit to mobilize cronies in state and local govts. with tech/testing big biz and private charters to loot public education, now well in the hands of state and local authorities who no longer need a fed push. Against them, Opt-Out has fought CCSS/PARCC/SBAC to a kind of standoff. Parent opt-out already underway must grow to and that force of parents stepping up to protect their kids will stop the war on public schools. We don’t need a new ESEA to tie hands of feds or to authorize us to fight back school by school, district by district and state by state. Fed is done with its dirty work and Dems are looking for a way to protect Hillary’s candidacy in this mess. NEA/AFT are wings of the Democratic Party, not defenders of teachers or public education. The two big unions have seats at the table of the status quo which they will not risk and which now require them to push the bipartisan ECAA for reasons of power, not education. While these union leaders have abandoned public education, refusing to mobilize millions of teachers, students, and parents to stop the war on schools, parents took matters into their own hands and opted out. Let’s continue this bottom-up road of opposition which has made surprising headway so far. Road to winning democratic schools lies through consolidating parent opt-out, teacher wildcats, and student walkouts.
Well stated. The wild cat strikes are a risky move for teachers in this climate. We could wind up with a Reagan move that will replace teachers en masse.
The NEA adopted several proposals from BATs at recent RA, including resolution to recognize parents who opt out.
That doesn’t mean the NEA leadership will listen. They seem quite capable of doing what their funding masters dictate.
Screw the NEA/AFT leadership. The members need to rise up and remove the collaborators at the top and start afresh.
I totally agree with Ira and add this that I’ve posted elsewhere on this string:
There is nothing good, nothing to celebrate in the Act. It’s nothing more than a change in strategy brought about by political expediency. The reformsters have declared defeat in an attempt to divert our gaze, to get us to pat ourselves on the back and go home. So what if the sock puppet that is the DOE is prevented from imposing a few of it’s absurd, toxic policies at the federal level, who cares? The exact same garbage can and will be imposed state by state. This is worse, it’s harder to fight since it disempowers our national anti-reformster movement by balkanizing us into discrete enclaves, not all of which have the same capacity to resist based on existing differences in state laws and other factors. It also will absolutey lead to another series of huge rebranding/renaming campaigns where the reformsters will claim that “it’s different here and different and better than before”. The reformsters have more than enough money, influence and infrastructure in place to work at imposing their agenda in 50 places at once without missing a beat. It’s a divide and conquer strategy designed to produce a slow version of the domino theory. They will play the long game and wait us out, state by state, and they already have some states and many legislators in their pockets. A ban on the toxic policies themselves would have been a victory, this is not, it’s a feint, a ruse.
According to Whiteboard Advisors, 74% of Washington Insiders think that ESEA will not be reauthorized until after December 2015; about 20% think it will never be reauthorized.
These “insiders” are not disclosed by name, only by a general description. They include past and present Congressional staff, former officials at USDE, and other “senior” officials. I think that a lot of the “senior officials” are with Achieve, the National Governor’s Association, and Council of Chief State School Officers. Many from these three groups have a vested interest in seeing the Common Core and PARCC and SBAC tests retained, but they also understand that these initiatives are also tainted by the overreach of Obama and especially Arne Duncan’s explicit and implicit endorsements of that agenda.
In any case, the cast of characters that Whiteboard tapped in this survey seem to think any current movement on ESEA will stall out and receive final attention, if at all, as a legacy matter for the next administration.
I think a delay will allow the proponents of charters, choice, vouchers, “scholarships,” so-called personalized learning (and the rest) to get fully joined at the hip with those who wish to wrap the ESEA Reauthorization into a neo-civil rights/14th Amendment issue. If they have not already done so, they will gain time to get all of their cash cows pouring money into a final bill that will resemble the House version more than the Senate version.
In any case it is a huge disappointment to see that Elizabeth Warren and her staff think that the testing regime is needed, as if those scores are the only or best path to address inequities in education.
I think that the Senate Bill is minor rework of the current policies, with a wide open door for more charter fraud, intrusive marketing of technology and the big business of data mining, some churning of the state testing environments with no let up on the distortions of student achievement and the purposes of education that these create. Because RTT and NCLB waivers by Duncan targeted state laws, there will be a very long tail on the worst of those policies. In Ohio, for example, the legislature requires teacher evaluations with VAM and SLOs. No oversight of charters would also be permitted.
I conclude that there is not yet any coherent and credible way for the deep flaws in what Diane has aptly called The Reign of Error to gain a huge following, big enough and loud enough to cut through the messaging campaigns of the billionaires and ultra conservatives who distain public education and all governance structures of, for, and by the people.
I don’t buy that states were coerced into anything with RttT so it’s difficult for me to believe that cutting some of the strings attached to federal funds changes anything.
Maybe it will have some benefit if state lawmakers can no longer hide behind the big federal boogeyman who is allegedly forcing them to vote for reckless and poorly-considered “reforms” but that’s a very small benefit.
Many states were duped by RTTT and others were prodded into the federal NCLB waiver plan. A tiny handful (5?) rejected the money grab or waiver. I think it was more of a “path of least resistance” scenario for the 45 states that took on the NCLB waiver agenda. Remember that no one had a crystal ball to see what a disaster this would become. From the standpoint of teachers, the entire NCLB waiver package (CC+Tests+VAM+AYP+BigData+Charters) felt more like a boiled frog episode than an in your face explosion. It took some time for the big picture to take shape. Cutting the federal strings puts all the pressure on state governors, legislators. I believe that parental/voter backlash as manifested by the opt out movement will have a strong influence on the elimination of the worst parts of the Duncan waiver package. This is much easier to accomplish at the state/district level because all politics is local. Adding the Tester amendment is important, as grade span testing shows that the Resistance is willing to agree to reasonable compromise. Concerns about charter give-aways are overblown as charter operators will move on to the next shiny thing once their industry collapses under the weight of reality.
I’m not willing to give them the out of “duped” but I generally agree with the rest of your points.
I saw an analysis of RttT at the district level in Ohio once and many of the reform cost more than the “start up” federal funding.
State lawmakers have to get better at this if they didn’t realize something as simple as “this will cost more than the funding we’re getting”.
I think it was political pass the buck- conservative lawmakers can blame Obama and liberal lawmakers can blame Duncan and Duncan was happy to oblige as the designated bad guy because he was getting everything he wanted.
Ohio just got rid of one Common Core contractor which will be replaced with another contractor which means Ohio public schools will spend yet another year focusing exclusively on yet another new test. I feel for you, I really do. It must be crazymaking.
I’m done with CC testing. My son took the CC test this year because I get the “public” part of public schools and I know “public” means I don’t get everything I want, but not next year. He’s not sitting for another 10 hour experimental test. They wasted thousands of hours and tens of millions of dollars on PARCC. I’ll wait until someone sane is in charge before I turn him over for CC testing again.
All I know is that here in NY, Cuomo was drooling over the $700 million we eventually won in the RTTT contest. I don’t think he cared at all if the implementation was more costly than the reward; those costs got dumped on the districts and the taxpayers who agreed to fund our $200 billion Smarter Schools bond act.
Don’t forget that the EAAC will make it very easy for states like Illinois to drop the toxic CC and their companion tests. State governments would to have openly accept them without the cover of federal law or waiver. Every state had standards and tests in place under NCLB and it would be simple enough to use them as the fall-back. Who knows it might even be a foot in the door of open-sourced standards and curriculum.
Take good care of your kid and remember no testing regime or set of standards can over-ride the effect of good parenting. Thanks for your tireless support of our public schools; your willingness to listen and learn is unmatched here.
NY Teacher wrote:
“Every state had standards and tests in place under NCLB and it would be simple enough to use them as the fall-back.”
NO! NO! NO! NO! NO!
AY! AY! AY! AY! AY!
Let’s continue doing the wrong thing righter so we can be wronger! Let’s destroy more students in the process. It doesn’t matter whether the feds or the state department of ed mandates educational standards and standardized testing, THEY ARE STILL UNETHICAL AND IMMORAL MALPRACTICES. (PCC)
“OH, but how do we know if the students are learning?”
Ask the friggin teachers, by god! They work with the students day in and day out, have portfolios, exhibitions, displays, performances, conferences, written and oral assessments made by the teachers.
“But, but, those aren’t ‘objective measures'”
Damn right they aren’t ‘objective measures’, stick those buts up yours as there never has been nor will there ever be ‘objective measures’ in the teaching and learning processes that occur in schooling. Get out of your fantasy world and come back down to earth, open your brain and understand and reject the falsehoods you been led to accept and believe!
I don’t know if you guys saw this but Wisconsin lawmakers are running to distance themselves from their attempt to gut WI sunshine laws.
It’s pretty funny 🙂
“Scott Walker did it!” They sound like 3rd graders. Maybe it is easier to catch them in the act at the state level.
http://host.madison.com/ct/news/local/govt-and-politics/scott-fitzgerald-scott-walker-s-office-was-involved-with-open/article_f3230192-24d1-11e5-9e69-afb2d99bd9f3.html
Sorry, Leonine, I see no reason to trust this legislature any more than the one that passed the alleged bi-partisan NCLB bill in 2001. When that bill passed, the White House promised Jim Jeffords it would include more funding for special education. When that promise was broken, Jeffords switched parties denying GWB a majority in the Senate. Somehow this all went down the memory hole. (see http://www.inclusiondaily.com/news/education/jeffords.htm for details).
Also lost in the mists of time is the original purpose of ESEA funding, which was intended to help economically disadvantaged students. NCLB was GWB’s iteration of this funding stream and Obama has reinforced the test-and-punish elements without providing more funds for schools serving children raised in poverty.
As for giving states control, note that over 40 states have been sued for failing to provide equitable funding in violation of their own constitutions… and the Heritage Foundation is seeking an amendment to ECAA that will make federal funds “portable”… and in this poetical environment I sense that this amendment will get more traction than Tester’s.
Here’s my advice: do not support ANY federal legislation for now. Instead follow the lead of Vermont: explain to the public that standardized tests are NOT an effective measure of student performance and public schools in the state are NOT failing no matter what the federal government thinks.
I have the utmost respect for Leonie, but I can’t agree with her on this one. I recommend listening to Dr. Victoria Young on the War Report with Dr. James Avington Miller, Jr. about the dangers of both the Senate and House versions of the reauthorization of ESEA. THE TROJAN HORSE THAT THREATENS PUBLIC EDUCATION
http://bbsradio.com/podcast/war-report-public-education-june-21-2015
Change is a process, 1 step at a time. Take a look at the Collins amendment (www.wholechildreform.com) that allows some states to use innovative assessment rather than the test to show achievement. This would allow whole child achievement to become the priority and that is a game changer.
Once into it, it will become clear that small class size and more planning time would be extremely important to allow every child to be assessed. And teach to the test would take a whole new meaning. This is not the be all and end all, but a beginning. If this snowballs, the test will become extinct. Think of it. everyone doing local whole child assessments.
And civil rights groups would have the accountability they wish for. Public school teachers are the best in the world at innovating. But here we are stuck with negativity. Yes opt out is great and yes it is good to point out what is wrong with the idiotic choice concept. However, the way to take back our profession is to showcase our strengths, innovation. That is what has been taken away. Innovation that finds the best way to teach every child in the way they learn best.
TAKE BACK YOUR PROFESSION!
I actually think it’s a done deal because they have to go back to their constituents in November with something other than yet another crappy trade deal, which is the one and only accomplishment.
They have to get something done for “the middle class” Anything to distract from said crappy trade deal 🙂
The title of this blog post “Setting the Record Straight” is very misleading.
Diane, I hope you are reading and reflecting all the comments here. Please consider Victoria Young’s analysis, that Sheila shared a link to. Also, worth reading Peter Greene’s analysis:
http://curmudgucation.blogspot.jp/2015/04/senate-esea-rewrite-good-bad-and-ugly.html
Most concerning is this Act adds new constraints and penalties for schools with large numbers of parents that Opt Out. It is being sold as less Federal control, yet the Bill appears to create new laws effecting the entire nation.
“ECAA doesn’t ignore the “opt out” movement – in fact, it adds language that effectively encourages the states to lower the boom on noncompliant students and parents.” ~The American Principals Project
https://americanprinciplesproject.org/app-education/alexander-murray-bill-tightens-the-screws-of-mandated-assessments/
This 800 page bill has a lot of stuff buried in it in seed form, that may sprout and create BIG problems later. In fact, that appears to be the purpose, to keep in place all of the most destructive policies we are fighting, sacrificing Common Core, which was being abandoned anyway, but maintaining the high stakes testing, standards and accountability paradigm.
Anthony Cody recently wrote an excellent piece looking at this issue: http://www.livingindialogue.com/new-paradigm-accountability-can-get-beyond-measure-manage/
Let’s call for public hearings, in every state and town, as Dr. Sandra Stotsky suggests. That would be a big step forward.
“This is a gross violation of civic procedure. There have been no public hearings involving parents of children, those who will be effected by this sweeping 800 page bill that hardly anyone has read. Not only should you be able to read this bill, there should be many opportunities for parents to testify.”
~Dr. Sandra Stotsky (Common Core whistleblower)
Stotsky is living in a dreamworld. Penalizing schools for parent opt outs will be ruled unconstitutional as soon as it enforced. That is a ridiculous attachment that won’t see the light of day.
Then it should not be in there. Much of what the Fed Dept of Ed has been doing should have been ruled unconstitutional, but it was not. The whole VAM thing was created out of thin air with no research evidence, yet RTTT pushed it through.
I think Ira Shor (July 7, 2015 at 3:35 pm) summarized what is happening here pretty well…
“Leonie is a hero of mine from whom I learn much. Regret disagreeing on ECAA. Duncan and feds are already out of the picture, did their dirty work, used fed funds and bully pulpit to mobilize cronies in state and local govts. with tech/testing big biz and private charters to loot public education, now well in the hands of state and local authorities who no longer need a fed push.
Against them, Opt-Out has fought CCSS/PARCC/SBAC to a kind of standoff. Parent opt-out already underway must grow to and that force of parents stepping up to protect their kids will stop the war on public schools. We don’t need a new ESEA to tie hands of feds or to authorize us to fight back school by school, district by district and state by state.
Fed is done with its dirty work and Dems are looking for a way to protect Hillary’s candidacy in this mess. NEA/AFT are wings of the Democratic Party, not defenders of teachers or public education. The two big unions have seats at the table of the status quo which they will not risk and which now require them to push the bipartisan ECAA for reasons of power, not education.
While these union leaders have abandoned public education, refusing to mobilize millions of teachers, students, and parents to stop the war on schools, parents took matters into their own hands and opted out. Let’s continue this bottom-up road of opposition which has made surprising headway so far. Road to winning democratic schools lies through consolidating parent opt-out, teacher wildcats, and student walkouts.”
Agree it should not be there. If it makes it in and is enforced it will be challenged in court and it will not survive. Most importantly, parents will only be energized by such fascist provisions.
It seems to me that through all of this battle, posters have frequently asked why some action or other has not been challenged in court. The flaw in expecting legal challenges lies in the expense for the claimant as well as the seeming dearth of lawyers who think a legal challenge will prevail. Even cases that are deemed to have merit so often seem to end in a settlement rather than an out an out judgement in favor of those bringing suit. Compromise may be required, but we had better be really careful what we are willing to accept in the hopes of change in the future.
I agree with Leonie. In every grassroots lobbying effort I’ve been involved in, there were activists who refused to compromise and would not support a bill/ordinance/regulation that did not fulfill the group’s entire mission. Then there were those who thought that movement in the right direction was something of an achievement. I am supporting the reauth because it is a step in the right direction–and I know we will not stop pushing.
The naiveté of the essay is absolutely terrifying. There is a piece of legislation being debated RIGHT NOW. The education community has their attention. But instead of fighting for meaningful changes at the federal level, the author endorses kicking large chunks of the debate over to the states, swayed by the false notion that lobbying at the state level will be easier. First of all, to have a patchwork of laws, meaning in some states there would be a continuation of drill and kill, test and punish, etc. based upon standardized tests, is UNACCEPTABLE. Secondly, the notion that somehow this will all be made easier by having to lobby in 50 different state legislature is ludicrous. The money grubbing corporations who benefit from the tests, and their lobbyists will just move their focus to the statehouses, and NOTHING will change. The legal bribery will move to the state level. In addition, in states like Virginia where only a fraction of bills introduced get passed, there is no guarantee whatsoever that the legislature will do anything to rein in the state Department of Education on issues they largely do not understand. And where, like in Virginia, the governor’s office is held by a party different than the legislature, the threat of a veto looms large even if the legislature wanted to curb testing. The exact situation we are facing at the federal level now. I recognize that the anti-testing community is much less funded, much less organized, and really not in the same position to effectively lobby Congress like the groups we oppose. But that is no excuse for swallowing the Kool Aid and alleging that what is happening in Congress isn’t screwing over teacher and parents all over this country. Let’s admit it: we are getting SCREWED. Let’s not put some shiny lipstick on it and pontificate that what is being passed is a “step forward”. It is not. At this point I’d almost rather take my chances with NOTHING happening, and say my prayers every night for the next year and a half that a president will be elected in 2016 who won’t veto repeal of NCLB. The whole system needs to GO.
I totally agree with your analysis, though I do admit to some bias here since I posted much the same thing (see my posts above for my version of the dynamic we both see coming). The bottom line is that we must not only maintain the national movement, it must be strengthened in order to be effective on a state by state basis.
The naiveté of the author of the essay is frightening. It will not be easier to get changes made at the state level. The profiteers will only move their campaign donations and lobbyists to the statehouses, where politicians will gladly accept their legal bribery. And to have to lobby in 50 different states, risking a patchwork of different standards, and continuation of the current system in many states will be a nightmare. Plus, in states like Virginia getting any legislation passed is nearly impossible, where only a small fraction of bills ever see the light of day. Plus, if anything is passed, in states like Virginia where the governor’s office is controlled by another party, the very real possibility is that whatever gets passed will be vetoed. The Department of Education in Virginia is extremely cozy with Pearson, and the issues are so complicated and nuanced that members of the legislature just won’t take the time to absorb what is happening in actual practice. Nothing meaningful got passed during our last session, even though I imagine a majority opposes testing. They just don’t have a clue what is happening. WE HAVE CONGRESS’S ATTENTION NOW. Change needs to happen NOW, not kicked over to the states. I realize our opponents are much better funded, better organized, and have better lobbying networks with members of Congress. But that doesn’t mean that I’ll pretend we aren’t getting screwed, because we ARE getting screwed. At this point rather than pretending to myself or anyone else that this horrible piece of legislation is a “step forward”, I actually hope they can’t pass anything. I’ll say my prayers for the next year and a half that we elect a president (either party, don’t care at this point as I am so upset) who won’t veto an out and out repeal of NCLB. We all know that is what needs to happen. REPEAL of a failed system. Back to the drawing board. But repeal can’t happen now because Obama will veto it. This bill is not a true compromise, and I am not one of those people who in legislative matters demands everything on my list. But this is a bad piece of legislation, REALLY bad. The “steps forward” are really steps sideways at best. Sideways to state governments where Departments of Education, legislators, and executives will be bought off just as easily, if not more easily, than Congress. I for one am not going to smile and say this is a good thing.
Virginia is a non-participating state regarding RTT and NCLB waivers. It is one of the five original states to have rejected Common Core standards and has not joined PARCC or SBAC. Virginia is also the state where Arne Duncan shelters his kids far away from his own policies. What’s your beef?
Another poster who calls themselves “democracy” has made many posts about the idiocy going on in VA.
Stop being so confrontational to any who are not in NY. Your problems and solutions aren’t the only ones out there and NY is not the whole country.
You dismiss pretty much everything I ever say and that’s OK. I taught in NYC (South Bronx) for years at the beginning of my career. Florida is a whole different ballgame.
Much of what you beef about here is stuff we’ve been dealing with for years yet you ignore or dismiss anything those of us outside of your circle say.
I would rather work with you than apart from you, as a colleague.
It’s a fair question. I don’t mean to come off as dismissive, but there is not one grand solution that will satisfy every elected official in every state, every teacher, and every parent. Florida sounds like a mess beyond anything happening up here . . .yet. As long as voters keep putting conservative ideologues in office (Bush, Scott, et.al.) you will have a tough row to hoe.
p.s. I made the comment above. I am a Virginia parent and activist. The word “admin” does not mean that I am an admin of this blog. That is just my wordpress account user name.
Where is YOUR beer, NY Teacher? Even though Virginia hasn’t adopted Common Core, in order to get their NCLB Waiver they have adopted the equally dreadful SOL tests, written and marketed by PEARSON TESTING. States that don’t adopt Common Core have to adopt something just as “rigorous” to get their waiver. That is a distinction without a meaning.
Are teacher evaluations linked directly to test scores? When did the test-and-punish component go into place because I don’t recall reading any complaints out of Virginia regarding your “Standards of Learning” and Pearson tests. Are you not there yet?
The opt out movement here in NY is what finally got the politicians attention. Has the opt out movement reached VA?
Consider this; if the ECAA is defeated, the nation will be stuck with NCLB and Race to the Top. With federal waivers and intrusions, with Common Core and test-based evaluation of teachers. ECAA makes Arne disappear.
I agree. The perfect is the enemy of the good. The point you made many months ago regarding the advantage of making political gains at the state level is what sold me on this imperfect re-write. I just read chem teachers “sniveling cowards” remark and the NEA’s firm stance against all testing mandates. Still doesn’t stop the states from continuing their assault on teachers, students, parents, and the public schools,. As long as megalomaniacs like Walker, Bush, Cuomo, Scott, Kasih and others keep getting elected. Making Arne and his replacement(s) disappear from the stage is a good starting point. The force of law will be shifted to where it can be controlled by the will of the people much more readily. If we can get grade span testing with all punitive measures eliminated it has to be a re-write worth rooting for.
I am not a teacher so I do not know what percentage of SOL scores are tied to teacher ratings. I do know that teachers are EXTREMELY obsessed here about their pass rates.. I have only endured the SOL’s as a parent. They are awful, and if your child doesn’t pass a certain number of them they can’t get a diploma. This is very, very burdensome on Special Education and underprivileged kids. I have downloaded released tests to prepare my child, and they are AWFUL. Extremely convoluted and tricky. I have a doctoral degree and feel the tests he’s currently taking are at a college level. It is ridiculous. There are plenty of complaints coming out of Virginia. Join the Virginia BAT’s Facebook Groupo if you want to know more. It’s a private group so you have to ask to join. LOL I was so taken aback at your comment I thought you wrote beer instead of beef. My bad. I have plenty of beefs!!!
Varies across Virginia. My locality bases 40% on various student data points. If a teacher is in an SOL grade/class, half of that comes from SOL scores. Our SOL tests have become more “rigorous” (aka. Impossible) over the past 20 years. The new TEI questions seem devised merely to trick students. Third grade tests, according to reliable sources, chart a 5th grade readability score. On top of SOLs, we have the test mania preassessment premeditations and post exam remediations that rob days of instructional time from the classroom. We estimated that some grades spend upwards of 40 entire days per year in one form of online test or another. The weekly data crunching meetings where teachers gather by grade level to talk about why the same 20 kids can’t seem to pass the online assessments waste valuable and precious prep time. Being from a RTW state means that we have little recourse in challenging these destructive policies. However, we have become very effective at supporting pro-education candidates in deeply gerry-meandered, conservative-tilted voting districts. We also are active in local races and state legislative lobbying.
Are parents opting out their children from these seemingly impossible tests?
To answer your other question, I don’t know when the test and punish component went into place. The requirement that a minimum number of SOL’s must be passed to get a diploma has been in place for as long as I’ve been a parent of high schoolers….since 2008 at least. I it goes back way before then. Arnie Duncan told the Washington Post that he interviewed his kids and they don’t think the SOL’s are burdensome to them. That made me furious! Just like with CC in other states, 25-30% plus fail them. Why doesn’t he ask a learning disabled student, or an inner city kid, instead of his own privileged kids? Ugh!
The Pearson Common Core tests here in NY have had a near 70% failure rate for two consecutive years. This year’s scores are not in yet but few are optimistic it will be much different. However these are no-stakes tests for our grade 3 to 8 students. Common Core math and ELA is just getting to our HS kids. The math failure rate looks like it is going to be over 50% on a mandated algebra test for graduation. Your 25+% failure rate keeps you in the standard graduation rate of 70+%. “Arne of Arlington” has his head up in the cloud of the privileged and has no clue about the have nots.
That failure rate is just our affluent suburban high school. Not unlike Arlington. As you can imagine, it’s much, much higher where there are larger populations of students who are in vulnerable populations. No worries for Arnie. It’s all good from his perspective.
What about the OPT OUT movement?
NY Teacher wrote: “Are parents opting out of these seemingly impossible tests?”
Response (from a Virginia mom)…How can we opt out if we want our kids to get a diploma? Tying diploma status to passing a minimum number of SOL’s pretty much makes that impossible. There is an opt out movement in Virginia, but it’s not very vibrant. Even if you can opt out in elementary/middle school, if you want your kid to get a diploma in high school you want them to have practice. They MUST pass those high school SOL’s to get a diploma. It is just AWFUL. Another reason I think that anyone who things throwing this back to the states is a “step forward” is kidding themselves. Advocates have bitterly complained about this policy, but the Virginia Department of Education has kept this practice in place anyway.
Disclaiming again so there is no confusion: I am not the admin of this blog. That is just my “user name” on my WordPress account that I used to make this comment. I am a Virginia parent, not the admin of this blog.
Thanks Leonie. While the bill is a lot less than we would like, getting out of the clutches of Duncan, and whoever comes after him makes it worth supporting!
So why in heavens go for legislation that still contains flaws? It’s time to get it right and stop playing games. Start with a clean slate and produce something that fits the real world needs and doesn’t kill by a 1,000 cuts and requires as many bandaids.
Dick,
If this doesn’t pass, NCLB and Race to the Top remain as the law. There is no clean slate.
No, there is no clean slate, but there is a chance a REPEAL of NCLB can be introduced after Obama leaves office. He’s made clear he’d veto a repeal. REPEAL is the only clean slate.
(from a Virginia Mom) . If there is reauthorization, the chance that anyone can get a repeal of NCLB passed in the coming years is negligible. That is what Duncan wants “Reauthorization” passed now, before Obama leaves office and they lose control of the process. They don’t want a clean slate, and reauthorization keeps there from being one.
Reauthorization is a trap.
The children are not anything but human capital in this bill and the ulterior motives of those who support it seem to be selfserving utopian delusion. If deception and obfuscation are the fabric of the 800 pages do ya think its a good deal for the people? Well they get it now. It will be a bold offence to the public to pass it.
Our children cannot afford another “step forward” or a bill that partially improves the garbage in NCLB. We need to repeal NCLB not reauthorize or try to patch it. A better than nothing piece of legislation is not what our children deserve. Here is a fix that will bring the results we need. DEFUND the US Dept. of Education, repeal ESEA.
(from Virginia Mom). I totally agree. By signing on with “reauthorization”, the interested parties are pretty much ruling out NCLB being repealed after Obama leaves office. That’s our best shot in my view. Obama would veto a repeal right now. I’ve come to the conclusion that I’d rather that NOTHING happen this session of Congress rather than reauthorization. If Obama and Duncan get their reauthorization, no one will open up this can of worms again for at least 7 years.
There is only one true answer to this problem. Parents in HUGE numbers need to pull their kids out of public schools. There is no hope for education in this country as long as the US Dept. of Education remains in business. I believe over the next year you are going to see a huge increase in home school and it is my intention to do whatever I can to make that happen. No more time or money spent fighting Common Core. All our time and money needs to be spent in educating parents on what is happening in their children’s classroom and how home school is their only option if they truly care about their kids.
We’re apperciate your efferts… you are helpful for everyone
There is nothing good, nothing to celebrate in the Act. It’s nothing more than a change in strategy brought about by political expediency. The reformsters have declared defeat in an attempt to divert our gaze, to get us to pat ourselves on the back and go home. So what if the sock puppet that is the DOE is prevented from imposing a few of it’s absurd, toxic policies at the federal level, who cares? The exact same garbage can and will be imposed state by state. This is worse, it’s harder to fight since it disempowers our national anti-reformster movement by balkanizing us into discrete enclaves, not all of which have the same capacity to resist based on existing differences in state laws and other factors. It also will absolutey lead to another series of huge rebranding/renaming campaigns where the reformsters will claim that “it’s different here and different and better than before”. The reformsters have more than enough money, influence and infrastructure in place to work at imposing their agenda in 50 places at once without missing a beat. It’s a divide and conquer strategy designed to produce a slow version of the domino theory. They will play the long game and wait us out, state by state, and they already have some states and many legislators in their pockets. A ban on the toxic policies themselves would have been a victory, this is not, it’s a feint, a ruse.
There is an additional problem here, deeper and more hidden than the one I described above. Please keep in mind the fact that the DOE, once a somewhat worthy and useful federal agency has now been reduced to being nothing more than a sock puppet, having been fully infiltrated and taken over by the reformsters. By the apparent defanging of their own agency with the ECAA, what they have achieved in the public mind is the diminuation of a significant agency of the federal government, a longtime goal of anti government factions in the country. Due to our disgust at the recent actions of the DOE under Obama and Bush, we have inadvertantly internalized this anti government ideology in regards to the DOE itself. Our goal should not be the destruction in part or in whole of the DOE, but the retaking of it from its usurpers such that it can be made to serve the needs of educators and students by putting actual education professionals at the helm. How better to prevent atrocities like the new Texass text book specifications than via federal authority? We should not allow ourselves to be tricked into throwing out the baby with the bath water, just as we should not allow our desperate hopes for relief to delude us into thinking that the ECAA was designed as an improvement over previous policies. Again, nothing but the complete removal of the toxic policies we have been fighting can be understood to be a victory, this is just the reformsters moving from behind a single, big wall to a bunch of different hilltops from where they will continue shooting at us.
You are assuming that a state government isn’t bought off by organizations who value profit or their own religious views over what is best for kids. Come to Indiana if you don’t think federal oversight is needed. Our state “leaders”go against Indiana’s own constitution to fund private schools with vouchers. Full disclosure I am a 34 year public school teacher, but also a parent and a taxpayer.
AMEN!!! I too live in Indiana.
IF, I say IF, this is a step in the right direction it is less than a baby step.
There has been a lot of backlash here regarding Leonie Haimson’s support of the ESEA re-write and re-authorization. A far from perfect 800 page bill loaded with details yet to be fleshed out. Under the current political/corporatized climate a certain amount of distrust and even paranoia is understandable. But a few simple points need to be made.
Point #1
The ESEA re-write will never be close to perfect. It will never completely satisfy the most fervent supporters of public education. This re-write will not completely eliminate a federal requirement for testing. You can scream and kick and dig your feet in all you want and it will be to no avail. Some version of federal testing will be required. Hopefully it will be the Tetser (grade span) version.
Point #2
If Congress fails to authorize this version (ECAA) we will be stuck in the mud of Duncan’s NLCBW. We will be stuck with mandated yearly testing, teacher evaluations tied to test scores, and AYP (which never went away). We will be stuck with the punitive aspects of the law which have been at the very root of what’s gone wrong in our schools under NCLB. We will be stuck right where we are and many of the pro-public school activists will come out looking as if they are unwilling to compromise.
Point #3
The proposed re-write (ECAA) makes significant gains by eliminating the federal, test-and-punish policies that have proven to be so incredibly detrimental to school climate, and pedagogy. The Common Core standards will become nothing more than a list of recommendations and will soon be simmering on the ash heap of failed ideas.
Point #4
There are no other immediate alternatives,
If you ask for support for a position, as Haimson does here, then it. is disingenuous to complain when people quesrion the particulars of that position and reject it on the merits.
You, Diane, Leonie, and a few others are comfortable with this bill because you assume the things you outline in your points.
I am not comfortable because your points do not apply to my state or my situtation and that is true for many commenters here..
1. I don’t ask for or expect perfect. I do expect some kind of change. athis isn’t it for Florida.
2. All of the worst parts of NCLB and RTTT originated and were field tested in Florida. Passage of this law will not make the state laws vanish or change in any way. VAM is state law. Testing is state law. Opt Out is in its infancy here in Florida. School grades and takeovers are state law. None of these laws will be changed simply because the reauthorization passes.
3. Testing and the CCSS are here to stay in Florida. Our legislature is already examing reduction in testing and reducing the high stakes somewhat. This law will not impact that significantly. Our standards are the CCSs under another name. They will not be changed again since this is the 3rd change in as many years — too expensive and too confusing and would require changing all the testing again to the tune of millions of dollars which this,law does not provide.
4. We are bringing about change under the current laws so change for the sake of change is hardly a motivating factor. We’ve had over a decade of th lesser of two evils, compromising to keep a seat at the table, and swallowing lots of humiliating and vindictive compromises to keep the lines of communication open. This is simply more of the same.
I get that ot will be helpful to NY and other states up north but I’m not moved to support something actively that doesn’t bring any true benefit to my kids or my state. I’m busy trying to fix things here right now. I imagine that is the cas ewith lots of people here.
I get where Diane and Carol are coming from. I too would love to say that we got rid of the requirement for RRRT and CCSS and the waivers. You make some great points. I see the problem being that we should NOT be reauthorizing, the focus should be the sunsetting of the law and allowing a clean slate. We keep on adding laws on top of laws and that is where we keep on running into problems. I too am from Fl and am tired of picking the lesser of two evils.
Maybe I am being naive, but I keep on seeing that replacing laws just keeps on meaning that we are kids always lose.
For example, in Fl, we got EOCs in 2011 (new law), because of the issues in VAM, that were mandated in the RTTT (law in 2010). LAst year 2014, we got SB 7069 to remedy the law from 2011. So the law states that we got rid of all EOCs, right? Well that is not the case is it. My district kept some EOCS. So after all these laws compounded on each other, we now have more testing than before RTTT. Does that make sense. We did not fix anything in all of this. We made things worse.
Hmmmm … Every Child Achieves? Whenever there is some law from the FEDs with a title like: Every Child Achieves, I think the opposite. Remember NCLB? Many children were left behine. In this case, many children will not acheive. It’s stacked, plus the tools used to measure is pure well (fill in the blanks).
Yet again we are being asked to compromise. We are being told it’s far from perfect. We are being told this is the best we can get. I’m just curious why the women who have to most power and the biggest voices are so willing to let go of what they know is right to get what amounts to be a law full of crap? This does NOTHING, nothing to change what is in place and in fact, will drain schools of funding as charters and privatization advances. VAM? Still encouraged. Yearly testing, still there. I’m from Florida too and the only comfort I take is that all my democratic reps voted no. They were uncompromising. It is disheartening to look to leaders in the fight for public Ed telling me to compromise and swallow a bitter pill. Sorry, ladies, I have actual skin in this game. My daughter fortunately is done but my ESE son and friends are not. I’m living the nightmare. I will not capitulate, I will not compromise, and I will keep demanding what is RIGHT. I have a line in the sand and it doesn’t change not can it be moved.
Has everyone forgotten that the U.S. Constitution Amendments 9 and 10 wisely forbid the Federal involvement in Education because it is not enumerated nor has it been delegated to the Federal Government. The U.S. Dept. of Ed has appointed officers, not elected, and allows treaties to be made with foreign nations. Since education is not constitutional, how dare they say they will “give” us more state or local control. It was usurped. Wake up educators, this is like the charter schools, where taxpayers fund schools that they have no say in. That is beyond socialism! Restore Constitutional States’Rights to restore true academic subjects, not vague goals to meet workforce training.