Archives for the month of: May, 2012
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Who is David Coleman?

By dianeravitch
May 19, 2012 //
53

A few years ago, I met David Coleman for lunch and we talked about education. At the time, I didn’t know much about him, but I knew that he was deeply involved in the writing of the Common Core standards, which were then in the formative stage. We had a wonderful conversation about books and education, and David reminded me that he was a classicist, that he loves ideas and reading, and that his values were the same as mine. I left the lunch feeling that I had met a kindred soul.

I saw him once briefly since then, at a meeting of the Albert Shanker Institute, where he encouraged the AFT to endorse the CC standards. The board agreed, though I demurred. I remain agnostic.

I thought I knew David Coleman. I knew that he had created a data and assessment company that he sold to McGraw-Hill. I knew that he had been a Rhodes Scholar. I knew he had all the right credentials. I came to realize that David was the architect of the Common Core standards, not just one of many hands. I also knew—from the accounts of others—that he disdains fiction and personal writing. I don’t like the idea that some disembodied national agency tells teachers to cut back on the novels, poetry, and short stories and focus on informational text. That shows not only a hostility to imaginative literature but a disregard for teachers’ professionalism. I mean, he can have his opinion but why foist it on the nation?

Last week, the College Board announced that David Coleman will be its new president. One assumes that David will integrate the AP assessments with his prized Common Core standards.

But I just discovered that I don’t know David Coleman at all. I just discovered that he was the treasurer for Michelle Rhee’s Students First. (http://kenmlibby.com/?p=300) I assume that means he supports what she advocates. One doesn’t join the inner circle of a group with which you are not in sympathy. So I assume he supports her well-publicized war against collective bargaining. He supports her opposition to seniority and tenure. He supports her battle to base evaluation on test scores. He supports her efforts to privatize public education. He supports her contempt for experienced teachers.

Not only is he the treasurer, but the other officers of her board are (or were) part of his organization, Student Achievement Partners. One of the directors wrote the math standards for the nation. His organization seems to be integrated with hers.

In the version of this blog that I published this morning–very early–I wrote that I had heard that he stepped down from his role as the keeper of the accounts for Students First. But a friend called to tell me that this was not true. He did  not step down. He is still treasurer of Michelle Rhee’s Students First.

Now I am certain that I don’t know who he is or what he believes.

Diane

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/16/education/david-coleman-to-lead-college-board.html

http://nycpublicschoolparents.blogspot.com/2011/10/kick-off-of-parents-as-partners-week.html

http://www.dailycensored.com/2011/10/18/the-crocodile-in-the-common-core-standards/

Categories Coleman, David, Rhee, Michelle, StudentsFirst

Thank You, Ms. Katie

By dianeravitch
May 19, 2012 //
3

Earlier this year I saw an article that was so good that I saved it, thinking that some day I would have a chance to write about it. It was a blog by a teacher named Katie Osgood, who teaches students with disabilities in a psychiatric hospital. Her insights were so keen, her description of her students so moving, that I knew that I had to write about this article.

http://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/living-in-dialogue/2012/02/katie_osgood_the_reform_my_stu.html?r=132021561&cmp=ENL-EU-VIEWS2

Ms. Katie (as she calls herself) described what her students need. Not charter schools, not green TFA teachers, not teachers pushing their students for higher test scores.

What her students need are “caring, committed, EXPERIENCED teachers.”

They need stability.

They need ‘a village.’

They need extra resources.

They need to have their basic needs met.

They need creativity and flexibility.

They need strong peer groups.

What they don’t need is to have policymakers prattling that “poverty doesn’t matter.”

Ms. Katie’s eloquent plea for common-sense solutions stands in stark contrast to today’s education deform policies. She might have just as well have been writing about all the children in the Chicago public schools, or for that matter, students in every school.

She comes up with different answers than policymakers because she is interested in the children she teaches; our policymakers care only about their test scores. We mustn’t forget that children are, above all, getting ready for global competition. Except that they are not. They are children trying to grow up in a cold society. Let them be children. Attend to their needs. Help them become healthy.

I remembered this article last night when I read another blog by Ms. Katie. (Thank you, Twitter.) She had been thinking of teaching in the Chicago public schools, but decided that it was not possible. It was not possible because Mayor Rahm Emanuel is pursuing policies that will harm the children she wants to help. A brief quote:

“I refuse to teach in a school which your appointed Board purposefully starves in order to justify closure and privatization. I cannot watch the savage inequalities of school funding play out in children’s lives.

“I refuse to administer standardized tests to children with special needs over and over and over again. I did that once in a school, and I consider it immoral forcing a child who is having panic attacks, crying, flipping desks in frustration to take a test far above the level we know that child is currently learning. And all for the purpose of judging, sorting, and punishing.

“I refuse to teach the scripted curriculum forced on your teachers. My students need creative, responsive, individualized instruction. Not canned test-prep.

http://mskatiesramblings.blogspot.com/2012/04/dear-mr-mayor-why-i-will-not-teach-in.html

As I read Ms. Katie, I wonder why the powerful organizations that sponsor symposia and conferences about how to solve the problems of education seldom invite teachers like her. Instead, they stack their conferences with high-tech gurus, charter school advocates, and business leaders. A few days ago, I was invited to participate in a New York Times-sponsored event to discuss the teacher quality problem. There were no teachers (as yet) invited to speak. I declined. They need Ms. Katie.

Diane

Categories Teachers and Teaching

The Very Rewarding Job of Saving Schools

By dianeravitch
May 18, 2012 //
7

Those pesky public schools! They get reformed, and they don’t stay reformed!

They get saved, and they don’t stay saved! What gives?

Take Chicago: First, Chicago was saved by Paul Vallas in the 1990s; President Clinton congratulated Vallas for raising test scores and all sorts of innovative reforms. Then came Arne Duncan to lead the Chicago school system, and he developed a new plan to save the schools, called Renaissance 2010. Under this plan, 100 or more schools were closed and 100 or more charters and other privately run schools were created. Schools closed, schools opened. By the time 2010 rolled around, Duncan was U.S. Secretary of Education and he took the lessons of Renaissance 2010 and applied them to the nation.

Sadly, even with 2010 having come and gone,  Chicago did not stay saved, so Mayor Rahm Emanuel imported a new Superintendent, J.C. Brizard, from Rochester, to save Chicago public schools yet again. Brizard had a pretty awful record in Rochester (proficiency rates on state tests were only in the 25% range and graduation rates fell). But no matter, Mayor Emanuel decided he was the very one to save Chicago this time. So it goes.

The original saviour of the Chicago public schools meanwhile went off to the Philadelphia public schools, where he saved them as he had saved the Chicago schools. Once again the media hailed a turnaround. The state-controlled School Reform Commission got annoyed when Vallas ran up an unexpected deficit, so he exited and went to save New Orleans. In New Orleans, Vallas won national media acclaim because he encouraged privately-run charters to open and basically put the public school system out of business (Hurricane Katrina had cleared the way). Millions on millions of private and public dollars poured into New Orleans to open charter schools. Now about 80% of the Recovery School District are enrolled in charters. No one thought it worthwhile to revive the moribund public schools. Why bother when so many eager reformers were eager to run their own schools. (Please ignore the fact that most of the New Orleans charters were rated D or F by the state and found to be one of the lowest-performing districts in the state–but that was before Governor Bobby Jindal took change of the State Board of Education and the State Department of Education).

Vallas left New Orleans to try to do for Haiti what he had done for New Orleans, but I don’t know where that stands. He also made an appearance in Chile, but students turned out by the thousands to protest any new measures to privatize that nation’ s schools and universities. Apparently they are fed up with the University of Chicago privatization reforms. http://www.substancenews.net/articles.php?page=2439

Now Vallas has been hired to save the public schools in Bridgeport, Connecticut, and he has been given a free hand, as is his way. Jonathan Pelto, a political blogger in Connecticut, has been raising questions about Vallas’ deal with Bridgeport. http://jonathanpelto.com/2012/05/16/vallas-says-no-prob-1m-deal-wont-affect-his-work-in-bridgeport/  and http://jonathanpelto.com/2012/04/22/i-wouldve-sworn-you-used-the-word-transparency-the-art-of-moving-public-funds-off-line/

The most interesting part of Vallas’ deal is that he is not only superintendent of schools but runs a consulting company on the side. The Vallas Group just won a contract for $1 million to advise Illinois on saving its schools. It’s one of those “look, Ma, no hands,” moment, when Vallas says that he can handle both jobs. I don’t know of any other superintendents who run a private business on the side, do you?

But see how things go in circles when it comes to saving schools: Vallas is back to save the Chicago schools that he saved more than a decade ago. Maybe he could pick up a contract to save the Philadelphia schools again, since the School Reform Commission wants to hand a large portion of them over to private management.

Whatever else you might say about school reform, two things are clear:

One, the schools don’t stay saved for long;

And, two, it’s a very rewarding business for those who make a profession of saving them.

Diane

Categories Chicago, Duncan, Arne, New Orleans, Vallas, Paul

Chicago Supt Brizard Admits Failure

By dianeravitch
May 17, 2012 //
17

Chicago Superintendent of Schools J.C. Brizard has admitted that he does not know how to improve Chicago’s public schools. He did so by asking the Gates Foundation to supply millions of dollars to open another 100 charter schools. http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/ct-met-cps-charter-growth-20120517,0,7306759.story

Handing public schools over to private management is a frank admission of failure on the part of school leadership. It amounts to saying, “I don’t know how to improve them. Let’s turn the kids over to the private sector and see if they can do it.”

Of course, Brizard arrived with an uneven record after having served briefly as superintendent of schools in Rochester. While he was there, the low graduation rate fell even lower. And, even though he claimed test scores gains, the proficiency rate in English and math was less than 30% when he left for Chicago. Brizard claimed that the state had raised standards in 2010, but in fact the state education department admitted that it had dropped the passing mark on state tests year after year, creating a false image of progress. http://www.chicagonewscoop.org/jean-claude-brizard-report-card-uneven-performance-in-short-rochester-tenure/

It is a shame that Mayor Rahm Emanuel was unable to find a superintendent for the city’s public schools that was able to develop a plan to improve them. Not having a plan, Brizard is ready to throw in the towel and privatize them. But, then, as a graduate of the Broad Superintendents’ Academy, he probably thinks that this is a good strategy, rather than an admission of defeat and failure.

Diane

Categories Broad Foundation, Chicago, Testing

Democrats tell DFER to Stop Using Party Name

By dianeravitch | Aside
May 17, 2012 //
7

Two Democratic party groups in California have publicly protested the use of the word “Democrats” by the hedge-fund managers’ charter advocacy group Democrats for Education Reform.

The Los Angeles Democratic Party and the Democratic Party of San Fernando Valley have complained that the Wall Street group–whose education policies are indistinguishable from those of the GOP–should cease and desist using the word “Democrats” in their name as it confuses voters. Here is the LA complaint: http://www.lacdp.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/LACDP-2012-DFER-Cease-Desist-Final.pdf.

The Democratic Party of San Fernando Valley distributed a flyer, but I don’t have a link for it.

The complaint is the same. DFER is supporting conservative candidates who are not the candidates of the Democratic party. DFER, of course, advocates for charter schools and for evaluation of teachers by test scores. The Democratic party has traditionally supported public education, not privately managed charters (of course, President Obama has broken new ground by endorsing GOP education policy).

But what is clear in these complaints is that the grassroots Democrats are not yet ready to embrace, as the President has, the Republican program of testing, accountability, and school choice.

Categories Democrats, Democrats for Education Reform

California: Two Democratic Party Groups Protest DFER Use of “Democrats”

By dianeravitch | Aside
May 17, 2012 //
0

Two Democratic party groups in California have publicly protested the use of the word “Democrats” by the hedge-fund managers’ charter advocacy group Democrats for Education Reform.

The Los Angeles Democratic Party and the Democratic Party of San Fernando Valley have complained that the Wall Street group–whose education policies are indistinguishable from those of the GOP–should cease and desist using the word “Democrats” in their name as it confuses voters. Here is the LA complaint: http://www.lacdp.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/LACDP-2012-DFER-Cease-Desist-Final.pdf.

The Democratic Party of San Fernando Valley distributed a flyer, but I don’t have a link for it.

The complaint is the same. DFER is supporting conservative candidates who are not the candidates of the Democratic party. DFER, of course, advocates for charter schools and for evaluation of teachers by test scores. The Democratic party has traditionally supported public education, not privately managed charters (of course, President Obama has broken new ground by endorsing GOP education policy).

But what is clear in these complaints is that the grassroots Democrats are not yet ready to embrace, as the President has, the Republican program of testing, accountability, and school choice.

Categories California, Democrats, Democrats for Education Reform

Tenure Issue Doesn’t Belong in Courts

By dianeravitch
May 17, 2012 //
0

The usual group of corporate reformers, bankrolled by a Silicon Valley entrepreneur and the Broad Foundation, filed a lawsuit to invalidate teacher tenure and seniority in California. They claim that such protections impair the provision of quality education. Their claim is laughable on its face, since high-performing districts as well as low-performing districts have the same contractual requirements. http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-0516-lausd-teachers-20120516,0,6292585.story

This is part of an unending assault on any job protections or due process at all for public school teachers, as well as an effort to negate collective bargaining.

Quite remarkably, the Los Angeles Times–no softie for teachers’ unions–blasted the idea of taking the issue to court, as the corporate reformers have done. In its editorial, it says that job protections are too strong, that it should take longer to get tenure, and that there have to be safeguards to permit the dismissal of incompetent teachers. But the editorial smartly argues that these issues should be resolved through collective bargaining, not by a challenge in the courts. If this challenge is sustained, the editorial warns, then every policy issue affecting education will end up in the courts, which is not the appropriate place to reach agreement.

This is a smart editorial: http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/editorials/la-ed-tenure-teacher-california-lawsuit-20120516,0,5459914.story

Categories Broad Foundation, California, Teachers and Teaching

Indianapolis Charters Dumping Students

By dianeravitch
May 17, 2012 //
3

Sharon Higgins, a parent activist in Oakland, manages an important blog called “charter school scandals.” she collects articles from around the nation about the misdeeds of charter operators. That’s how I learned about the story below.

I have heard from many public school principals about the practice of dumping low-performing students and keeping the tuition money. Don’t be surprised if Tony Bennett doesn’t turn a blind eye:

“IPS superintendent calls for state investigation into charter schools.” FOX59 (IN), 10/24/2011
Indianapolis Public Schools Superintendent Eugene G. White called for a state investigation Monday.  White called for the state to investigate what he calls an illegal charter schools practice that will cost his district $500,000 in state aid this year.

In a letter to State Superintendent of Public Instruction Dr. Tony Bennett, White claims that charter schools are intentionally waiting until after the states average daily membership date to release special needs, homeless and other difficult to place students back to IPS, thereby keeping state aid for the students, while shouldering IPS with the responsibility to educate them…

White said 72 children have come back to IPS because they were homeless and could not be transported to charter schools or the charter school was unequipped to handle their special disabilities or they faced disciplinary expulsion…

White said IPS staff videotaped interviews with returning students and parents about their decisions to leave charter schools and those tapes will be made available to state officials and Mayor Greg Ballard, who sponsors the schools, and Ball State University, which oversees the system.

White said the practice violates state and federal laws and is asking for investigations of 10 charter schools in particular…

Categories Charter Schools, Indiana

GERM in Brazil

By dianeravitch
May 17, 2012 //
4

In his recent book Finnish Lessons, Pasi Sahlberg talks about the spread of GERM (the Global Education Reform Movement), the devout belief in testing, accountability, competition, choice, and privatization. One reason for the contagious nature of GERM is that it is boosted by an unparalleled public relations campaign. This campaign makes dramatic claims about successes, test score gains, improvements of all kinds. If one has the opportunity to look closely at these claims, they disappear in smoke.

Such is the case with the “miracle” of New York City under Mayor Bloomberg. As New Yorkers know all too well, the mayor came into office claiming that he could fix the city school system without spending any more than the current budget. He persuaded the state legislature to give him total control of the public schools. He controls a rubber-stamp board, which compliantly does whatever he wants, regardless of the wishes of parents, teachers, students, and communities. Year after year, the city’s test scores went up and up, until 2010 when the State Education Department admitted that it had lowered the passing mark each year. The city’s gains collapsed overnight, the achievement gap went back to where it had been eight years earlier, but the Mayor never admitted that the boasting was in error. There is a bit less touting of the miracle, although now he and his employees boast about a rising graduation rate, never acknowledging that 80% of the city’s graduates who enter local community colleges require remediation in basic skills.

Oh, and the budget doubled during the mayor’s reign of total control.

The public was not fooled. Polls now show that the mayor gets negative ratings on his education record, and that most want a different arrangement under the next mayor. The public doesn’t really like authoritarian rule and, despite the PR, knows that it has not gone well. Yet the mayor continues to close school after school, 24 just days ago, never recognizing that closing schools is an admission of the failure of his policies.

This is background for the lovely email I received overnight, which was a comment in response to “Who is Reading My Blog”:

Diane I´m writing from São Paulo, Brazil. Your work is extremely useful for us because most of these bad ideas that are being used in the United States, like standardized testing and merit pay are being used in several states and cities in Brazil. There is a bizarre fetish for the educational accomplishments of Mayor Bloomberg among Brazilian journalists and policy makers, there was even a newspaper columnist that suggested that bad teachers should be replaced by Khan Academy videos(That´s seriously). The state of São Paulo even mandated that all teachers, even P.E and Arts, should have worked with basic writing, reading and math for a bimester. States are even hiring these expensive consulting firms from the United States to provide solutions. Your writing and your interviews allowed me to see things that I never noted on all these ideas about testing and merit pay, it opened a new window to me. Few Brazilian teachers can read in English, but there are lots of teachers noting your writings here. You are the best, I love you. 
Categories Global Education Reform Movement (GERM)

Alvarez & Marsal to the Rescue

By dianeravitch
May 16, 2012 //
4

I learned yesterday that the Colorado Department of Education has hired the ubiquitous firm Alvarez & Marsal to investigate a cheating scandal in Denver (http://www.ednewscolorado.org/2012/05/15/38261-state-investigating-two-denver-schools).

Alvarez & Marsal has no experience in investigating cheating scandals. The firm is a business consulting firm in New York City. It was hired a few weeks ago to investigate the Michelle Rhee cheating scandal in Washington, D.C. (by Rhee’s former deputy), but that investigation has not yet occurred. That scarcely constitutes expertise in this field.

A&M was hired to run the St. Louis schools several years ago. They sent in one of their principals, former CEO of Brooks Brothers clothing store, to run the district. After collecting $5 million, A&M departed and the district sank further into despair and was taken over by the state. A&M also did some consulting in New Orleans, which was awash in money for consultants.

Then A&M got a $16 million contract to rearrange the bus schedules in New York City. In its most memorable day, the firm was responsible for stranding thousands of children on street corners on the coldest day of the year. What New Yorkers remember best about A&M was that it charged the city $500 per hour for the work of its executives. Read that again, slowly. $500 an hour, not a day. The city’s Department of Education never apologized, and no one was ever held accountable for the fiasco. But as we now know, only teachers are held accountable, never the leaders of the school system or their highly paid advisors.

We will watch with interest to see what comes of A&M’s new role as the investigator of cheating on tests.

Diane

Categories Colorado, Testing
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