Archives for the month of: October, 2012
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Who Is Paying for Charter Referendum in Georgia? UPDATE: Link Added!

By dianeravitch
October 21, 2012 //
2

An article in a Georgia newspaper identifies the money behind the charter referendum.

Remember that Governor Nathan Deal wants the power to create a state commission to approve charters even though the local school board turns them down. This is based on ALEC model legislation. It serves corporate interests while spurning local control.

The advocates raised almost half a million dollars as of September 1. Almost all of that money came from out of state donors. A big donor was Alice Walton of the Walmart family in Arkansas, who is also a big contributor to the charter campaign in Washington State.

At the same time, the opposition to the referendum had raised less than $90,000, and there were no big donors.

On this charter issue, big donors are swamping local democracy. We seem to be moving rapidly back to the age of the robber barons, only this time it’s the schools they want to buy, not the railroads or other basic industries (they have already outsourced most of them).

Categories ALEC, Charter Schools, Education Reform, Georgia, Walton Foundation, Washington State

Louisiana Evaluation System Flunks Top Teachers

By dianeravitch
October 21, 2012 //
18

Teachers in some of Louisiana’s best schools are getting low ratings. Because their students already have high scores, the teachers are not getting high value-added scores, and many of he state’s best teachers will be rated ineffective. A teacher rated ineffective two years in a row may be fired.

Test scores count for 50% of every teacher’s evaluation.

State Commissioner of Education John White defends the state’s harsh system, even though it appears set to remove excellent teachers from top schools.

How long will it take before the people who launched this inaccurate, unreliable, invalid way of evaluating teachers acknowledge their error? Will they ever admit they were wrong or will they just continue ruining the lives of children and teachers? How long until the public throws them all out and tells them to find another line of work?

Categories Accountability, Louisiana, Teacher Evaluations

Short Memory Alert! About that Parent Trigger

By dianeravitch
October 20, 2012 //
6

With all the national publicity about the world’s first parent trigger in Adelanto, California, you would think someone might have noticed that the new charter is not the first charter in this town.

Only a little more than a year ago, the Adelanto Charter Academy had to close because of multiple operational and fiscal problems. The biggest problem was that the operators of the charter were involved in questionable self-dealing.

As the local newspaper put it, “The Sentinel has learned that much of the academy’s academic imperative was suborned to the mercenary intent of those involved at the school, shortchanging the educational mission.

“While charter schools are by law non-profit entities, it appears that those involved with the school in some cases formed for-profit companies that were devoted to providing the charter academy with materials, ranging from furniture to computers to visual aids to books to writing materials that were sold at inflated prices.”

It gets worse. Read the article.

How soon we forget.

So now, with the votes of only 50 parents in a school enrolling more than 600 children, the charter idea gets another run in Adelanto.

Categories California, Charter Schools, Parent trigger

What Does Tony Bennett (Not the Singer) Call “a Beautiful Day”

By dianeravitch
October 20, 2012 //
5

Read here to learn Indiana State Superintendent Tony Bennett’s description of “a beautiful day.”

I can think of so many other ways to describe a beautiful day.

I’m going out to take a walk and experience one of those beautiful days in Brooklyn. I want to forget about the people who smile when they cause other people to be miserable. Who smile when children are taking tests again and again, for hours on end. Who smile when teachers and principals are fired. Who smile when all the joy is squeezed out of learning and teaching.

I have a different idea about a beautiful day. I’m going out to enjoy one.

Categories Indiana

Breaking News! VAM in Florida County is a Disaster

By dianeravitch
October 20, 2012 //
36

The Tampa Bay Times reports that teachers are baffled, confused, and outraged by their value-added ratings, which will determine their evaluation, their longevity and their career.

The story begins like this:

Geoffrey Robinson is a National Board certified teacher at Osceola High School in Pinellas County who says 60 percent of his upper-level calculus students last year tested so well they earned college credit.

But this week Robinson received his teacher evaluation, based on a controversial new formula being rolled out statewide.

He was shocked to see how poorly he scored in the “student achievement” portion: 10.63 out of 40.

He’s not alone. Teachers all over Pinellashave received their scores, calculated by a new formula that confounds even math teachers. Hillsborough teachers also got their scores, though their situation is different due to participation in a grant program with its own evaluation rules. In Pasco, the scoring is on hold while the teachers union and the district figure out how to implement it.

Another teacher said that she is one of the best in the state in terms of test scores, but was rated only 57 out of 100 points. She said:

“I know I’m good, I’ve been teaching for 19 years, I’m not stressing about that. But if I was new, I’d go home crying.”

Teachers were wondering how these wildly erratic and inaccurate ratings are supposed to improve education.

In Hillsborough, where the Gates Foundation poured in many millions of dollars ($100 million?), 95 percent of teachers were rated either “effective” or “highly effective.” So they are not as unhappy as the bewildered teachers in Pinellas County.

Some teachers were rated based on the scores of students they never taught.

As one teacher says in the article, this system is not ready for prime time.

Can anyone remember how or why it was supposed to improve education?

It would be interesting if someone figures out how much money Florida received from Race to the Top and how much it has spent to implement the mandates of Race to the Top.

 

Categories Florida, Gates Foundation, Bill Gates, Race to the Top, Teacher Evaluations, Testing

Enrollment at For-Profit Colleges Shrinks, Stock Price Drops

By dianeravitch
October 20, 2012 //
6

Here is a bit of good news.  Enrollment is declining at for-profit colleges and growing at non-profit colleges.

The University of Phoenix is closing 115 of its campuses, as enrollments dropped as did its stock price.

Could it be an outbreak of common sense?

Time will tell.

Categories Education Reform, For-Profit, Higher Education, On-Line Education

The Campaign for Our Public Schools: What You Need to Do Now

By dianeravitch
October 20, 2012 //
15

The Campaign for Our Public Schools was a spontaneous effort to gather the candid views of educators, parents, students, and concerned citizens about the state of public education policy today. On October 3, everyone reading this blog was invited to write a letter to President Obama expressing their ideas.

In a brief, two-week period, nearly 400 letters were submitted. There were many that were eloquent, many that were heartfelt, many written from personal experience.

No one was paid to solicit letter-writers or to write letters. No one who worked to bring the letters together was paid. This was an earnest and completely volunteer effort to carry the views of concerned citizens to the President.

Not a single letter of those submitted expressed support for high-stakes testing or for the policies of No Child Left Behind or the Race to the Top.

It was easy for me to ask readers to write letters. Once they began to arrive, I would have been lost without the providential intervention of Anthony Cody, who offered to collect them, bring them together in one place, have them printed, and ship them to the White House. Robert Valiant offered to create a file for the letters.

In short, dear friends, collating and compiling your letters into a single volume would not have been possible without the kindness of strangers. The volume was created by a new community–a community of cyber-friends–and it now exists as a document.

All of the letters that arrived by the end of the day on October 17 are now a pdf file of 430 pages. They may be found here.

This is our work. This is what we together produced.

If anyone has any ideas about how to forward this link to every Senator, every member of Congress, every Governor, every state legislator, every mayor, every journalist, and every foundation, please share the knowledge. Or better yet: Just do it. Let me know that you did it. But you do it. If you can’t send it to every one of them, send it to the ones who represent you and your district.

Take what we have created and publish it to the world to combat the barrage of lies about how happy teachers and parents are with endless testing, standardization and privatization.

Thank you for whatever you do on behalf of your children and my grandchildren and our society,

Diane

Categories Education Reform

He Can Get High Ratings from Students–or High Scores

By dianeravitch
October 20, 2012 //
6

Arthur Goldstein teaches English in a high school in Queens, New York City. If you want to know what teachers in New York City are saying, you have to read his blog. It’s funny, sad, outrageous, and honest. Here’s Arthur:

I found your piece about student ratings very interesting.

I taught almost 20 years at the English Language Institute at Queens College. Student ratings were very important—word of mouth kept enrollment very robust. I‘d come to this position from the POV of a high school teacher. As such, I insisted on homework and participation. I also gave people a pretty hard time if they didn’t do the work. For a number of years I scored 80% favorable with the students, but one year I got a bad rating. It was partially my insistence on assignments done on time, but mostly my fault—I’d selected a text that was too tough.

After that, I chose texts more carefully. I also stopped bothering students about missing homework. My scores jumped to 99% favorable, and could have hit 100 were it not for my awful handwriting. They stayed there until I quit about five years ago. So if student ratings are important, I can do that.

On the other hand, if test scores are what you want, I can teach to the test and be a total pain. When I taught ESL kids how to pass the English Regents, my Chinese-teaching colleague overheard and translated the following exchange:

“I don’t know what to do. I can’t seem to pass the English Regents.”

“That’s too bad. You should take Goldstein’s class.”

“Why? Is it good?”

“No, it’s terrible. You will hate every minute of it. But you will pass the Regents.”

I was lucky enough not to be rated by the students in that class. But they wouldn’t have been able to graduate without passing that test, so I did what I could for them. Many kids, who really did not know English, managed to pass the test anyway.

Now, I teach near-beginners the English they really need. I hassle them if they don’t participate or do the work. I call their parents, or have people who speak their languages do so. I think the kids would give me a good rating, but not 99%. However, if you put a gun to my head and demand I teach to a test that doesn’t really suit them, I’ll take another approach, and there goes my rating.

If Gates and his band of know-nothings have their way, we’ll be judged both on test scores and student ratings. I can cater to one or the other if I have to. I’ve done it.

That’s why I know a better system would be to trust me to do my job and teach my kids what they need to know. Unlike the folks at Pearson who sit in offices writing tests, I see these kids every day. I can adjust the course to their needs, and adjust the tests to their needs too.

It’s not like I run around telling “reformers” how to run their hedge funds. I don’t even know what a hedge fund is. And after ten years of “reform,” it’s clear to me that billionaires making rules about my business haven’t got the slightest notion what makes that work, let alone how to put “Children First, Ever.”

Categories Students, Teacher Evaluations

Would You Support the Parent Trigger If….

By dianeravitch
October 20, 2012 //
15

This came from a retired California teacher:

“Won’t Back Down” is loosely based on the Parent Trigger Law in California, which has only been tried twice. Neither attempt was successful. The law was created on a drawing board and has no basis in prior experience or knowledge.

Would you support the Parent Trigger Law if:

• You discovered it was designed to hasten the destruction of public education and replace it with privatized for-profit corporations?
• You discovered privatization (i.e. handing over a school to privately run charter school entities) has already created a two-tiered educational system that has greatly increased racial and economic segregation?
• You discovered that the law first passed in California without any trial or pilot program to test the process and its possible outcomes?
• You discovered that this law therefore has no evidence of success?
• You discovered that Florida soundly defeated a similar law because parent groups rallied against it?
• You discovered that the Parent Trigger idea was hatched in Los Angeles by Parent Revolution, an organization created by the large charter group, Green Dot Schools?
• You discovered that Parent Revolution is led by an attorney, not an educator?
• You discovered that Parent Revolution’s paid solicitors go door to door targeting neighborhoods with high rates of immigrant/non-English speaking parents whom they barrage with publicity and promises?
• You discovered that the Parent Trigger Law is a model legislation being pushed by the American Legislative Exchange Counsel (ALEC), which promotes privatization and de-professionalizing the teaching profession?
• You discovered that charter and voucher schools, on average, underperform traditional public schools?
• You discovered that charter schools have been known to prevent low performers from applying, counsel them out during the school year, require large donations from parents, or cheat during standardized testing?
• You discovered that charter schools service a much lower percentage of special education and English language learners than traditional public schools?
• You discovered that a high percentage of students at charter schools require remediation when entering college?
• Last, you discovered that a large number of parents targeted in California’s first two Parent Trigger takeovers tried to rescind their signatures once they understood that they may ultimately have less control over their school?

Categories California, Parent trigger

Students Say: Vote NO on Charter Amendment in Georgia: CORRECTION!

By dianeravitch
October 20, 2012 //
6

Listen to the students.

On this link there is a terrific video by two Georgia students who explain why voters should turn down a constitutional amendment on charter schools.

Georgia has over 130 charter schools.

The charter schools do not outperform the public schools.

Some local school boards have turned down new charters.

So the Governor has put an amendment to the Constitution on the ballot allowing him to create a commission to override local control. This idea comes from the corporate-controlled reactionary organization ALEC.

The state superintendent John Barge, WHO WAS ELECTED, NOT appointed by Governor Deal AS I ORIGINALLY WROTE, opposes the amendment.

So do PTAs and the NAACP and local school boards.

The amendment would set up a costly new bureaucracy.

It will cost $430 million.

It would undermine local control.

It would take money away from public schools.

It would give more money to charter schools than public schools receive.

Categories Charter Schools, Corporate Reformers, Privatization, Students
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