Archives for the month of: September, 2012
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The Fighting Profs at U. Of Texas

By dianeravitch
September 21, 2012 //
2

This parent supports the professors at the University of Texas, whose patient work is paying off. More than half the school boards in Texas have passed resolutions against high stakes testing, and the head of the state workforce commission just denounced it.

Thanks for their scholarship and courage!

The parent writes:

I love my alma mater, the University of Texas at Austin. This fine institution boasts the likes of Walter Stroup:

http://www.dallasnews.com/news/education/headlines/20120811-texas-standardized-tests-a-poor-measure-of-what-students-learned-ut-austin-professor-says.ece

Carolyn Heinrich:

http://www.statesman.com/opinion/insight/standardized-tests-with-high-stakes-are-bad-for-2230088.html?cxtype=rss_ece_frontpage

Julian Vasquez Heilig:

http://cloakinginequity.com/

And Angela Valenzuela:

http://www.forumforeducation.org/conveners/angela-valenzuela

I believe that there are many more fine and distinguished professors at UT who “support the profession of teaching”. Conducting research and reporting the harmful effects of high-stakes/standardized testing is vitally important. Why aren’t more parents receiving this information?

Categories Education Reform, Testing, Texas

A Parent Activist Saw the Anti-Union Movie

By dianeravitch
September 20, 2012 //
2

Leonie Haimson, founder of Class Size Matters, saw the anti-union movie “Won’t Back Down.” She saw it so you don’t have to. Here she tells you the details of the movie and describes a panel discussion that follows.

Leonie has been fighting for better public schools for years. She believes that parents and teachers should work together. Not to seize control of their school, but to press for smaller classes and an experienced staff. She knows what does not work: privatization and high stakes testing.

Categories Parent trigger, Parents

My Trip to Chattanooga

By dianeravitch
September 20, 2012 //
7

I had a great visit to Chattanooga and met many dedicated, civic-minded people. I was invited to visit by the Benwood Foundation, which has done an amazing job helping local public schools and supporting environmental improvement.

Chattanooga is a beautiful city of about 170,000 people. It has a lovely, historic central city. Everything is within walking distance or a short ride.

First, I met the local editorial board and had a spirited conversation with them. They literally had a columnist on the left (who sat to my left) and a columnist on the right (who sat to my right). We had a great conversation about what is happening nationally and in Tennessee.

Then I talked to civic and business leaders, and we had a good question-and-answer session about the ingredients needed for a community to improve its schools and how the business community could play a constructive role. I talked about the need for collaboration around children and families; the importance of prenatal care for every woman; early childhood education; the arts in every school; and how vital it is to treasure our educators. I hope that conversations like this will encourage people to ignore those who disrespect and demean educators. Our public schools are vital community institutions. I think the people of Chattanooga understand that.

Before my lecture, there was a reception where I met some old friends that I did not anticipate. One was Henry Shulson, the director of the Chattanooga Children’s Museum. I knew him when he lived next door and was about 8 years old. That was about 50 years ago!

At the same reception, I met a local state senator who told me that Michelle Rhee has been pouring lots of money into political campaigns in Tennessee. Most of the candidates she supports are Republicans, he said. But she pumped $105,000 into a Democratic primary fight. On one side was a liberal Democrat who supports public education; on the other was a very conservative Democrat who wants vouchers. She supported the latter, who won. He said to me, “You have to understand that legislators will work hard to raise $1,000. Can you imagine what it means to have someone give you $105,000?” He said she is going from state to state, knocking off good people who care about public education and support her Republican views.

The lecture went really well. The room at the University of Tennessee was animated. What amazed me was that on several occasions I made statements that caused the audience literally to gasp. I recall saying that states should never cut education to give tax breaks to corporation–which seems like a truism to me–and I heard an audible gasp. Tennessee has been so eager to lure corporations to the state that I think what I said was heresy, yet music to the ears of educated people.

Chattanooga is a city that has enormous potential. There is a real hunger to build a community, to have a city that takes care of its own. That’s a great beginning for the revitalization of public education.

Categories Black Alliance for Educational Options, Education Reform, Tennessee

The Not-So-Hidden Crisis

By dianeravitch
September 20, 2012 //
8

While the billionaires and multi-millionaires wring their hands over the public schools and promise to end poverty by testing kids and their teachers, there is a back story.

The back story is that income inequality is growing worse in America. And nowhere is it more blatant and more outrageous than in New York City, the very epicenter of faux education reform.

While the mayor and his three chancellors have expanded the number of charter schools, increased testing and demanded value-added assessment of teachers and waged war against tenure and seniority, the income gap between the rich and poor has become a wide chasm.

An article in the New York Times today says that the poverty rate is at its highest point in a decade.

And get this:

“Median income for the lowest fifth was $8,844, down $463 from 2010. For the highest, it was $223,285, up $1,919.

“In Manhattan, the disparity was even starker. The lowest fifth made $9,681, while the highest took home $391,022. The wealthiest fifth of Manhattanites made more than 40 times what the lowest fifth reported, a widening gap (it was 38 times, the year before) surpassed by only a few developing countries, including Namibia and Sierra Leone.”

Do the reformers still believe that we can fix the schools first, then turn our attention to poverty? Or that if we fix the schools, then poverty will take care of itself? Yes, they do. Do they have any evidence that any of this will happen? No.

The economic policies of the past decade have been very very good for the very very rich. Not good at all for the other end of the spectrum.

Categories Bloomberg, Michael, Corporate Reformers, Economy, Education Reform, Poverty

A Postmortem on the Strike

By dianeravitch
September 20, 2012 //
11

We will see many discussions of what the strike accomplished, who won, who lost. This one takes a balanced view and sees the strike as a lesson about working with teachers and de-emphasizing test scores.

As another reader pointed out, it is interesting that the anti-union forces usually keep hands off police and firefighters, the male-dominated unions, but go after teaching, nursing and social work. Wonder why?

Categories Chicago

What the Strike Taught Teachers

By dianeravitch
September 20, 2012 //
2

Kipp Dawson, a teacher in Pittsburgh, reflects on the lessons of the Chicago strike for teachers everywhere:

This strike, and the democratic and solidarity-packed way the CTU led it, has transformed ALL teachers EVERYWHERE from powerless to having now a sense of how to become powerful. Eyes on what our children need, involvement in the communities in which they live to support their struggles and have the communities see us as part of what they are struggling for, democratic functioning which aims to have ALL members feel and become leaders, clear messages (“The Schools Chicago’s Children Deserve” and a great Facebook campaign), and people “at the top” who are not looking for personal glory but who truly truly represent their membership. WE CAN DO THIS!!!

Categories Chicago, Unions

A Future Teacher’s Review of That Movie

By dianeravitch
September 20, 2012 //
6

Stephanie Rivera is a junior at Rutgers in New Jersey who plans to teach. She has tangled with Students For Education Reform about education issues, both on Twitter and her blog. Here is her review.

I must say, the more I read about the movie, the less I want to see it. I can’t stand the idea that film makers manipulate your emotions to sell political propaganda. This sort of emotional manipulation can persuade people to go to war or to vote against their self-interest. In this case, it is being cynically used to undermine a vital democratic institution. No thanks.

Categories Corporate Reformers, Education Reform, Parent trigger

This Is the Candidate We Want

By dianeravitch
September 20, 2012 //
13

A reader sent this, commenting on post that asked whether the President would oppose Wisconsin’s Act 10:

Submitted on 2012/09/18 at 1:02 pm

“Don’t label a school as failing one day and then throw your hands up and walk away from it the next. Don’t tell us that the only way to teach a child is to spend too much of a year preparing him to fill out a few bubbles in a standardized test…You didn’t devote your lives to testing. You devoted it to teaching, and teaching is what you should be allowed to do.” — Candidate Barack Obama, Summer 2007

Categories Obama

Parent Review of “Won’t Back Down”

By dianeravitch
September 20, 2012 //
0

A New York City parent went to a screening of the new movie “Won’t Back Down,” which promotes the parent trigger idea. Various privatization advocates are pushing parent trigger laws that enable parents to “seize control” of their public school and hand it over to private corporations.

The parent stayed afterward for a panel discussion involving Leonie Haimson, leader of the pro-public school group Class Size Matters (I am one of her board members), and two others who are not public school parents.

Here is the report:

From: nyceducationnews@yahoogroups.com [mailto:nyceducationnews@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of Marge
Sent: Thursday, September 20, 2012 11:03 AM
To: nyceducationnews@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [nyceducationnews] Screening of Won’t Back Down Last Night

Thanks to Leonie spreading the word, I attended the free screening of “Won’t Back Down” last night in Union Square.

The movie was not that great, though I generally like the three main actresses, Maggie Gyllenhall, Viola Davis and Holly Hunter. The Pennsylvania Teachers’ Union was shown as Machiavellian and the fact that the school was converted to a charter was never mentioned (only that the teachers would no longer be unionized).

On the panel afterward were Leonie and a woman named Christina from NYCAN, which is currently pushing new parent trigger legislation for the Buffalo area (which would not only allow parents to vote for charter conversions, but also closure and turn-around). The third woman, Kate, the parent of a 5-year-old, is on the board of a proposed new 6-12 charter school (Great Oaks) hoping to be approved and sited on Governor’s Island.

It continually amazes me when someone whose only experience of public school is that they have a 5-year-old is invited to speak on panels such as these. I daresay Leonie’s little finger knows more about public education than ten parents like this woman. Her main objective in opening a charter school is that there aren’t enough seats in lower Manhattan, so instead of lobbying the DOE to build more, her first thought is to open a charter school? Also, the source of her involvement seems to stem from the fact that her child was shut out of his/her local zoned school (probably PS 234) and now attends a private school. (I guess she couldn’t dream of accepting a seat in another near-by school, calling that “no choice at all.” She also complained that the principal wouldn’t let her walk in whenever she wanted to observe class, though not sure why that came up if her child is not enrolled in the school. And, I don’t know of any school that’s going to let parents in whenever they want to “observe.” By the way, ever heard of open school week?)

I really appreciated receiving the Parents Across America FAQ from Leonie. This pointed out that the movie is produced by 20th Century Fox (Rupert Murdoch) and Walden Media (Philip Anschutz, who also made “Waiting for Superman”). It explains that the Parent Trigger law has been misused in California (and the schools chosen were set upon by outside operatives who, in one case, got parents to sign multiple petitions – one calling for smaller class sizes and other reforms and a second calling for the school’s conversion to a charter – way to confuse people).

Leonie actually offered a prescription for parent involvement that differs from these parent trigger laws – a robust School Leadership Team which can make decisions affecting the school, including firing the principal, and parent involvement in decision making on a district, city-wide and state-wide level.

Leonie, thanks again for letting us know about last night’s opportunity. I’m glad I didn’t have to pay to see this movie!

Categories Charter Schools, Parent trigger, Parents

The Real Story Behind “Won’t Back Down”

By dianeravitch
September 20, 2012 //
5

The Center for Media and Democracy keeps a careful watch on the activities of ALEC, the ultra-conservative organization of state legislators. One of ALEC’s model law is a “parent trigger” bill.

The new film “Won’t Back Down” pulls together the threads of corporate backing for the privatization of public education.

Read about it here.

Categories ALEC, Charter Schools, Corporate Reformers, Education Industry, For-Profit, Parent trigger, Privatization, Rhee, Michelle
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