I am reposting this because the first version had a typo in the title. I wrote NOW instead of NOT, changing the meaning.
So here is the correct version!
A reader wrote to ask a question. Are there any states that have resisted the tidal wave of bad ideas? It is impossible to avoid high-stakes testing because it was imposed first by No Child Left Behind and then reinforced by Race to the Top.
Are there ANY states now that are not voucherizing and privatizing, doing high stakes standardized testing, institutiting abusive evaluations, refusing to use Teach for America and generally giving the schools over to the amateurs? I am thinking about on a state level. I am sure there are some schools and even systems that are hanging tough. Where are teachers respected in America? If there are any could you make a post that tells us where. Of course it might create a mass immigration to those states, but that might also shock the idiots out of their collective comas. A few years ago the other southeastern states were losing teachers to Georgia because Zell Miller raised the pay by 15%. The rest groused loudly, but had to raise their pay to compete. So apparently this kind of thing works.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Vermont?
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We’ve been fighting the good fight here in Maine. Yes, we have testing; but I haven’t heard teachers complaining about the sort of insanity common in other states. We haven’t (yet) implemented mandatory teacher evaluations. We have a few charters, but the governor’s ALEC-dictated plans have been stopped so far.
Pray for us.
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Vermont is fighting the good fight.
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There aren’t enough children in Vermont and Maine for us to all head there! If North Dakota and Montana qualify as well, we are not much further ahead. It certainly wouldn’t be as lucrative for Pearson to make a run on those states.
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Hasn’t Vermont, for generations, allowed public funds to flow to private non-sectarian schools in the local community does not have a school? St. Johnsbury Academy (privately run) and a ski academy in the “NE Kingdom” of Vermont were two private schools I visited that described this to me.
It’s a unique program that as I understand developed because not every community wanted to have its “own” school. The Vermont courts decided some years ago that these funds could not go to religious schools (prior to this decision public funds were helping support some religious schools).
Personally, I am opposed to public funds support k-12 religious schools or elite private non-sectarian schools but I think what developed in Vermont is interesting.
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well….. as a future teacher (via traditional master’s in education approach)…. what’s the answer?
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You might want to study Massachusetts. It ranks in the top 5 among states in terms of hs graduation rates. It has one of the nation’s lowest gaps in grad rates between white and African Am students. Mass students ranked very well in recent national math & science international comparisons, and do well on National Assessment Tests.
Mass offered teachers in some districts the opportunity to create new public schools that they think make sense (ie Boston Pilot schools and Horace Mann charters). It also has charters, about which there is some disagreement among people who participate in discussions here.
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And Michelle Rhee gave it a low rating…..Louisiana and Florida rated higher than MA.
Go figure!
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Michelle Rhee often is wrong.
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Always!
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Given how reforms have unfolded in the US, I suggest we look to neighboring Canadian provinces like Alberta and Ontario for alternatives. This helped me to find hope in a culturally similar context that has no federal-level interventions, much less testing, and much greater teacher professionalism. Canada also posts higher than the US on many international metrics. For more information go to: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/c-m-rubin/the-global-search-for-edu_59_b_2564140.html?utm_hp_ref=education-reform
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I believe South Carolina has resisted the testing fervor. There is still NCLB, of course, so the basics are still tested, but RttT is a no show (I think) for the most part.
The State Super is an idiot, and continues to propose more testing and tying scores to teacher evaluation. I think he keeps getting shot down.
I live near SC, but in an adjacent state. We have gone of the edge here, so SC might be an option if everything I’ve heard is true.
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Sorry to add a “Discouraging word” but the corporate educational destruction that is flooding the country, is only ONE part of the corporate raiders enterprise of our destroying our institutions and Democracy! ALEC is made up of the same ilk that is now expanded to Rhee/Gates/Bush; burners of books, teachers, unions and any shred of truly aspiring to raising our national academic status in a very competitive world! The corporate goal is FAR beyond mere education, although an ignorant, non critical populace sure makes their domination goals a heck of a lot easier! Until we can see the macro picture and motives, I fear we will be like Don Quixote, tilting at one windmill and ignorant of what is truly at stake.
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Yes, spot on. I would encourage readers of this blog to also check out Glenn Greenwald, TomDispatch, Naomi Klein and probably many others to see how education is just one facet of what’s happening (happened?) to our democracy.
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Vermont has not gone after the waiver. NH has submitted a waiver two or three times but the USDOE has not approved their plan as yet.
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Good..tell them to forget it. The rest of us are going to need a waiver for our waiver.
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Kansas has resisted so far, but Gov. Brownback and new conservative Republican majorities (cleared of much of their moderate members in the primaries last August) are full speed ahead trying to get Kansas to be just like Florida and Texas. We are sitting in the Koch brothers’ sand box, with our legislators being spoon fed the ALEC/Florida Reform model by a local version of Americans for Prosperity. We have 2 court decisions saying schools are underfunded (2005 Kansas Supreme Court and a recent lower court decision trying to enforce the first one), but we have bills to amend our state constitution to declare only the legislature can set school funding and to change to gubernatorial selection of judges. We have multiple other bills pending to take away teacher union payroll deduction and take away their ability to engage in political speech, take away the ability of school districts to hire lobbyists, lower the number of at-risk determinations, mandate 3rd grade retention and fund a fourth grade reading initiative with . . . cuts to early childhood programs, require 65% of funds to be spent on “classroom” expenses, allow religious displays in public schools and to introduce Celebrate Freedom week (just read about that one after Googling Rick Green). Meanwhile Republican leadership is promising their underlings they’ll “cover their backs”-wouldn’t want them to actually listen to their constituents. We’re trying to awaken Kansas parents. There’s a longstanding advocacy group, Kansas Families for Education, and Shawnee Mission School District based Game On for Kansas Schools. We will continue the good fight, as we can see the alternative is very troubling.
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Another reason why I love Vermont.
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For the record, the Great State of New Jersey is “all in” for corporate reform. Our Education Commissioner is the ethically challenged BROADIE Christopher Cerf. Cerf’s former Deputy Commissioner is none other than Andrew Smarick. The “Chieftan Officer of Talent and Teacher Dispiriting” is another BROADIE with no Educational experience (other than as a student).
Another BROADIE from out of state is consulting in the state (NJDOE – Cerf) controlled district of Passaic and billing the district $7,500 A DAY for his services!
So, count NJ out in your survey!
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For states that have not fallen prey to privitization, TFA, charters, choice and the rest, I would encourage you to look to states like Montana and North Dakota.
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Nebraska can be added to the ‘hopeful’ list. For many years we maintained local control with state testing a legislative action only recent and that with a state test developed by teachers within the state (though delivered via a contracted company). State assessments in writing (grades 4, 8, 11), reading (grades 3 – 8, 11), math (grades 3 – 8, 11), and science (grades 5, 8, 11) are once a year and districts within NE are compared to one another. State standards are developed by educators across the state (core content revised, arts are next in line-up) and we have not (and probably won’t) adopted the Common Core though districts are able to do so if they choose.
We do not have charter schools (not allowed) and teachers here probably wouldn’t know what you were talking about if you mentioned privatizing or Teach for America.
We have a strong emphasis on early childhood and students receiving support through Special Education is reimbursable and (by comparison) districts typically (if you look at districts across the state) have low numbers.
School funding is always a dicey topic but in reality, many districts have healthy general funds. School districts in NE can hire lobbyists and do. The teacher union is alive and well. Class size is typically held around 20 – 25 (if that in smaller districts).
School districts, by invitation, are working collaboratively with a state-led task force to develop a ‘model’ teacher and principal evaluation but they will not be required to use it as is (adapt as works for them). Curriculum and Instruction are determined at the local level.
Districts are served by intermediary agencies called Educational Service Units who provide additional resources such as SPED services and Professional Development. The department of ed. works in collaboration with the ESU’s to deliver support.
I keep saying to anyone who is grousing that most educators in our beautiful state don’t even know the gem of a situation we really have here.
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We in Washington State have turned back charters 3 times but lost this time by 42K votes. We barely have TFA due to efforts to daylight their practices. It is now well-known that teachers at an entire high school (Garfield) refused to give a district standardized test (and teachers at other schools supported their action).
We are not giving up by any means.
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As Ms. Ravitch has already noted, Viginia’s Governor McDonnell is consulting with Louisiana’s Jindal, so even though the Old Dominion did not adopt the Common Core, we might as well have. Virginia’s state legislature is on the way to approving A-F grades for schools and a version of a Recovery School District, except we’re going to call it an Educational Opportunity Institution.
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Going back to the original post, is competition good when it results in states competing to increase teacher pay? I’d say “yes.”
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I think the point of the original post was that states that follow sane policies and reject the corporate agenda will be more attractive to teachers, who will then flock to teach in those states (perhaps even for lower pay); the other states would then be forced to abandon their errant commitment to the corporate agenda. So, this is not about raising teacher pay.
I disagree with the premise of the original post. I found in my own corporate experience that businesses ultimate want obedient workers, and will accept mediocre and even poor performers who are loyal and obedient, than put up with excellent performers who show intellectual independence and will question authority. Based on that experience, I would suspect that many states would be happy to see good teachers who are not toeing the line leave and replace them with passive teachers of any quality.
Don’t forget that the corporate agenda sees teacher quality as a club to attack and destroy public education, not improve education. Ultimately, as evidenced by TFA and virtual charters, the corporate elite see teachers as merely test proctors and room monitors. The corporate elite really could care less about teacher quality.
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Moosensquirrels, thanks for your note. Two responses..
1. It sounded like the comment accurately described what happened in the Southeast – that one state deciding to pay teachers more (a good idea) led to other states doing the same – because they did not want to lose teachers to Georgia. Sounds like a positive impact of competition. Competition does not always have a positive impact (lots more to say on that for another time) but sometimes it helps improve things.
2. As for the “corporate agenda,” my experience in working with various corporations and some CEO’s over the last 40 years is that agendas re education vary widely. Some are deeply concerned about the number of families in poverty, as well as the number of students who are not succeeding. Some much prefer putting more money into education (and have contributed to campaigns urging increases in funding).
Others have a different agenda. Some corporate officials do support vouchers (which I don’t). They do have an agenda often referred here to as the corporate ed agenda.
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I read this article with great interest, since 2 of my daughters and a niece are teachers that may soon be looking for positions. Wisconsin is probably going the privatizing route through vouchers, which will undoubtedly, close the school my daughter is at. The other daughter is teaching in AK since the situation is so bad in WI and my niece took a teaching position in Korea, but would like to return to the states. Talk about WI residents leaving the state, this is one reason. They have made the job situation totally unbareable and jobs very difficult to find. My daughters both have BS degrees in science and Masters in Special Ed.
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Stay the heck out of GA!
New charter laws
Parent trigger law on the way
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