Pedro Noguera, my colleague at New York University, said the following in an email this morning:
“How ironic. Not one banker in jail for ruining the economy but a superintendent is under indictment for cheating. Says a lot about our nation’s priorities. – pedro”
I asked and got his permission to post this. He added:
“I don’t condone cheating but I see what happened in Atlanta and the other districts where cheating has occurred as a direct result of the insane fixation on raising test scores at the expense of actually insuring that children are learning. The real fault lies with the federal and state governments that have been applying the pressure on school districts. They have compelled good people like Beverly Hall to turn a blind eye to cheating.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
The bankers are too busy funding the politicians so they can profit from the policies that result in cheating rather than actual learning.
AMEN!
Don’t forget buying up school board and placing superintendents and administrators.
I thought the same thing. Every teacher in D.C. who cheated for the bonus should be in jail. Hang on, everyone in the mortgage industry who benefitted by producing fraudulent loan documents needs to go to jail first.
If I turned a blind eye on my pupil’s cheating, would you say I was good people?
Come on, Pedro, and you are a college professor?
Call me in few years and I’ll represent you for an ethics violation.
Right on Brutus…who is Pedro? He is not the quality Pedro from “Napoleon Dynamite” that is for sure!
I guess Pedro does not subscribe to Jiminy Cricket’s advice, “always let your conscience be your guide.”
BTW, I was a CA educator for 45 years and cheating never crossed my mind!
Quote of the year. Going to tattoo it on my forehead…
Pedro,
No duh! Are you a full professor?
I will not believe another thing this commenter states after this statement that she was “compelled” to cheat. The only thing that compelled that person was sociopathy and a criminal mind. That is like saying to the bank robber “You were compelled to do it.” No it was a choice. This is a total lack of integrity and ethics and that is all there is to it. Schools which are the worse performers can be fixed. It has been done before. But, no one wants to talk to those who have really done it and to put them into a room to work out a plan and to then train people how to be successful, NO, cant’t do that. Just make excuses for illegal behavior as they “Had to do it.” Unacceptable and I question your ethics for saying such. This is the reason everything is a mess. Making excuses is the problem.
George, I think you are being waaayyy too harsh on a working class teacher. Being a sociopath is confined to a few people who don’t know the difference between right and wrong. She obviously did. Maybe we should hold those accountable who threaten teachers, principals and schools over test scores.
Such as Michele Rhee!
I rea lly do not think I am being too harsh. This is their career business and money not mine. It is their job, professionally that is, to know what is going on in their profession, if you are a real professional that is. But teachers receive no where the harshness I have for administrators, board members and superintendents. Go punch in my name or George1la and you will see. I am the only person to ever have LAUSD audited by the state for teachers being falsely accused of child abuse and principals stealing student impress funds. I, not any teacher or union, did the work for Schiff-Bustamente which added $1.5 billion over 3 years to the textbook and instructional materials and supplies funds for all school districts in California. I was the leader of those who fought the $1.3 billion high school Belmont while teachers threatened me. Yes, I have an attitude and it is well placed. In LAUSD their union, UTLA, has gone out of control as a result of the teachers lack of concern, even now, except for a few. My best friend and one of my best mentors, Richard Arthur, was one of the founders of UTLA and he feels the same way about teachers now and what has happened to the union. UTLA was formed to protect students, teachers and the community not to rip them off as they do now. I have given over more than 20 years of my fraud and other work in education, transportation and criminal justice every penny I have made and no one pays me to do it. I have no respect for those who have no respect for themselves and their profession is my bottom line, especially in education and criminal justice who are tied so closely together they cannot be separated. Ask Sheriff Baca, L.A. County, if this is not true. In fact ask sheriffs across the U.S this question, there is only one answer. In Chicago they are acting like professionals, what is everyone elses problem? No excuses on important issues for me.
“Schools which are the worse performers can be fixed. It has been done before. But, no one wants to talk to those who have really done it and to put them into a room to work out a plan and to then train people how to be successful, NO, cant’t do that. Just make excuses…”
I don’t agree with the OPs characterization of the superintendent’s role in the cheating scandal, but now you’ve taken the corporate “reform” side of the fence with that comment, George.
We already know what the “No Excuses” schools do. They’re KIPP and similar charters that use a militaristic approach on children of color, with drill sargeants for teachers, and they counsel out non-compliant kids, who are not replaced so test scores increase. That’s not a model that could or should be replicated by public schools.
The problem that no one wants to talk about or fix is poverty, including inequitable funding for high needs, under-resourced schools serving low income minority kids.
Good post, George. There are NO excuses!
Under-resourced schools serving high needs children in poverty is not an excuse, it’s an American disgrace.
Is it criminal to try to undo something criminal? NCLB , whether by purpose or design, was destroying the education of our nation’s children. Race to the Top and Common Core testing may be even worse…I don’t condone cheating, but it does raise an interesting question. If you don’t follow seriously dangerous laws, are you a criminal??
But they weren’t trying to “undo something criminal? NCLB”, they were trying to game the system for personal gain, not do what is right by/for the students who are, no doubt, harmed by NCLB and RaTT.. So it was not a matter of not following seriously dangerous laws quite the opposite.
The Rich are just different, and are treated differently. 1%. Teachers have never been rich, have always been treated like 2nd class citizens historically and definitely more so today. The bankers bring big $$ influence. Teachers ‘0’. The only way teachers become rich is to align themselves with super rich. Plenty of examples today. But, quickly kicked to the curb when they can’t be used by the Rich. Sad but true!
It will get worse because the Rich are now Super Rich and could buy Everything Anywhere! Those who work with an unethical Super Rich will fall much farther…from grace. The price is much higher because more teachers and children have to pay more via mandated testing.
There is no end in sight. I just don’t know where all the poor people will go once hundreds of schools are closed, teachers fired, charter schools will come and go, and TFAtypes will discover something else to save the world, what then?
Will look like Detroit or WWII 1945 bombed Berlin. Big difference, no Berlin Airlift.
Just as we beat the Fascist Nazi’s, Italians and Japanese we can beat these sociopaths also if we want to. If we want to is the prevailing language in control of this situation.
I agree with the professor on the ridiculousness of the punishment she’s facing ($7.5 million dollars bond, seriously?) and the lack of any prosecution of the people behind the financial crisis. But he loses me with the ‘pressure made her do it’ argument: it was pressure to make impossible year-over-year profits that led to the financial crisis, after all. Wrongdoing is wrongdoing.
Wait, what if Beverly Hall isn’t a “good person” at all? What if she’s a willing tool for other cheats and liars? She’s a superintendent, not a teacher. She covered up evidence, and protected principals who threatened and coerced teachers to make them go along. Now her apologists are trying to hide behind the teachers.
Hall fired whistle blowers. Her cheating, like Michelle Rhee’s, is an instance of systematic power abuse, not a lapse in the face of irresistible pressure.
No leader is forced to ignore reports of cheating. This behavior is not acceptable.
Including Arne re: Rhee and DC, right?
Mr. Noguera,
They both deserve to serve a prison sentence.
To see what can happen when the federal and state governments force the standardized testing onto school districts, read this testing horror story: http://www.mountainmaninsights.org Education Termination
Cheaters never prosper, except if they’re bankers or politicians.
Exactly……but we will crucify the teacher who makes some erasure marks
Allow me to complete your thought: . . . or insurance executives, oh that’s right they already legally cheat.
I just watched the cheating scandal stories on both “NBC Nightly News” and “ABC World News Tonight.” How interesting! NBC “Education Nation” put their signature blame-the-teachers spin on the story, interviewing a parent & a student who still reads below grade level, but scored higher, & blamed the teachers for “taking this child’s education away.” Other parents were also interviewed, who also said things about not trusting teachers, and one who said “They should all be put in jail.” (To be fair, they did acknowledge the indictment of the Atlanta superintendent.)
ABC was a bit more fair, going so far as to interview one teacher who had quit earlier, because “I refused to cheat,” and who further explained that teachers were being threatened with their jobs if their students did poorly on the tests. ABC also put greater emphasis on the indictment of the superintendent. The reporter also interviewed a reporter from The Atlanta Constitution-Journal, and he stated that this was not just occurring in Atlanta–that it was happening all over the U.S. due to the emphasis on testing.
As I have not been watching CNN since their disrespectful interview with Diane, someone let us know how THEY covered this story! In the future, I may not be watching NBC News, either.
I can’t say that I truly think of this as being compelled to cheat. The point is that some districts have been placed in the position of being unable to get their students to meet the standards despite their best efforts. Some students begin school with such a learning deficit that they won’t be able to meet the standards. They continue to live in a poverty ridden environment with little food, comfort, supervision, books, or academic reinforcement. Yet there is some magical expectation that injecting them with a sudden bout of standards and expectations will turn things around overnight. The implementation of these standards coupled with cuts in funding and resulting higher class sizes has created an environment of hopelessness and panic. This reaction is most unfortunate.
They are all responsible, from the lowest on the food chain, the teachers in the trenches, to the principals and the superintendent who condone cheating, to the state and federal politicians who that mandate high-stakes testing..
The main difference between the test cheaters and the fraudulent bankster types who brought down the economy is that the latter dodged indictments and they were rewarded AFTER they were caught, with bailouts and bonuses. Little people with little cash are nobodies in this culture. But, as one of the few sane people on Capital Hill who defends them, Bernie Sanders, tweeted yesterday, “If an institution is too big to fail, it is too big to exist.” That should include the state and federal governments that are complicit in and/or whose actions are the very cause of these debacles.
Beverly Hall is human like the rest of us.
The testing and school closing agenda that has been pursued for so long and with such focus, is not working-at least not for students, teachers and administrators. Big money interests and their associates seem to be the only winners.
I feel bad for Ms. Hall. It seems she alienated her staff-90% of principals fired! Leading through fear does not produce loyalty. And I wonder how many of the corporate people and their associates, who profit through the testing and school closing agenda and who profited by using her “success” as an example, will stand by her side and admit that their drumbeat of “results and no excuses” are partly to blame for this scandal? Their jobs and money are on the line. It is unlikely that they will jeopardize their own livelihood.
Being alone when the chips are down is a very tough place to be, especially if we caused our isolation! I think most of us recognize that and as another human being, I hope everything works out for her.
But, like Karen Lewis says, (if I’m quoting correctly) “What are the winners telling the losers to keep the losers playing the game?” It’s time to stop playing the testing and school closing game. The stakes are too high for the losers and the winners don’t seem to care!
Yes, she is, which is why “They have compelled good people like Beverly Hall to turn a blind eye to cheating” bothers me so much.
To suggest, as Mr. Noguera does, that Dr. Hill’s culpability is in any way mitigated by pressure to improve scores is morally bankrupt. She knew perfectly well what she was doing. Did she decline the National Superintendent of the Year award? No, she did not…
Please get this clear: It is Hall who’s been pushing
“the testing and school closing agenda that has been pursued for so long and with such focus”.
She’s a front-row perpetrator of the whole hoax, and cheating on their own “accountability” scam is just part of their con game. Rhee did the same thing, and so did Klein.
Yes and shouldn’t Arne and Barack be demanding an investigation?
Anybody know why they are not? Joe, do you know?
A: I feel your heart is in the right place, but Beverly Hall has no valid excuse for creating the climate of fear that drove the cheating. If she had had any integrity as a leader, she would have done no less than Eisenhower: “You don’t lead by hitting people over the head – that’s assault, not leadership.”
It is also a truism that you can’t fire your way to excellence. Whether she perceived of herself as an edubully or not, that is how she conducted herself. Let her suffer the consequences of her own actions and be held accountable for the terrible harm she inflicted on so many others.
If you live by the mantra of no-excuses…
The losers are the children. This testing insanity is helping no one except the companies that make the tests, seemingly make the rules and the questions and have input on the core curricula. I really feel disgusted that this was in any way allowed to occur. At my school district, the union voted against joining RttT but our superintendent went on record saying that our teachers “just didn’t want to be evaluated every year” and we wound up becoming an RttT district. We got a pittance of funding since we were already an Excellent with Distinction rated district. But … nevertheless, teachers feel like second class citizens if their students don’t meet up with the demands of AYP … whatever the reason. It is sickening. 89-100% passage isn’t good enough…
I don’t know if any of you ever were under pressure to do something. I understand when a school district, gov’t puts people under pressure to perform. It’s never ok to cheat and lie but people do it everyday. Should these people go to jail. No. Other things can be done to ensure they never do this again but if we are going to punish the cheater, the liar. remember this, those who are without guilt, throw the first stone.
Of course I don’t believe in cheating ever. I do think big districts in large cities with underperforming students have been put into this position. I don’t believe they cheated for personal gain (other than keeping their jobs), but they did so to keep their district intact. Privatization of schools is threatening districts like never before. When people such as Michelle Rhee are given free reign … it creates undue panic. She is NO ONE. She is not important. Yet, somehow, she has “standing”. I have zero respect for her.
I know this might seem like small potatoes compared to the Wall Street debacle, but it is part of a plot to mislead our citizens about our public schools for the purpose of discrediting and destroying them (“Look, Atlanta got those poor kids to do as well as their advantaged peers. Why can’t you?”)..
So far as I’m concerned, this was a very serious crime that victimized innocent children and educators and damaged one of our greatest institutions. If it can be proven that Hall knowingly cheated, I hope she pays a high price. Also, I expect the major newspapers to press for a similar investigation of D.C. and its leaders.
I agree.
Apologists for urban district administrators don’t mention the fact that it is the higher-ups job to set policy to best serve their populations.
Instead of allocating resources to the classroom, the admins have spent more funds on layers of administration above the classroom.
The only way to cover up managerial dysfunction is to blame teachers and/or cheat.
When you make 10k+ per month, the ethical line gets a little wiggly.
In some fundamental ways, our public district administrators are no different than the “reform” crowd–and that is really scary.
I don’t disagree. But, let’s arrest the big shots on Wall Street and Big Business, too. There are many things bringing down this society.
Sadly, I only think this cheating is going to get worse. At some point people have to realized that teaching is just a job and it’s a job people take to feed, clothe and house their families and just like at any other job, when there is a threat of losing that job, people will do what ever they have to to keep that job.
Most teachers went to school 4+ years to become a teachers, they are not really trained to do anything else. I was a graphic designer before I was a teacher, I could go back into the corporate world but most of my ‘teacher’ trained co-workers couldn’t.
These are people who trailed to be TEACHERS…PROFESSIONAL TEACHERS. if you threaten to pull that rug out from under their families and their lives, they will do what they have to, to hang on to that job. Unlike the bankers who were only out for personal profit (greed), teachers have families to feed. (I will admit I think there was way more to this case that simply keeping their jobs…but with increased testing there will be increased cheating…and they will get better at it).
Sadly, you may be correct. I think it is compounded by the fact that so many businesses continue to want to employ people with specific degrees. When I was RIFed back in 1982, the unemployment office told me that I had no skills except for teaching, so I had to apply for minimum wage jobs. I went in at first dressed for a real job, by the time I had been there 2 weeks (at that time you had to go to the office, not check in online), I began dressing in a manner to blend in and look invisibly with the rest of the unemployed. It was difficult to find anything. I got no interviews. (And, I had to apply IN PERSON.) Finally, I got called back to teach. Mind you, I am very professional and have had my masters degree since 1979. In any case, teachers are having the rug pulled out from under them. Their lives are shattered. Often the tests are just invalid. But some seem to want to jump on the bandwagon as if the tests are relevant. They are NOT.
“Often the tests are just invalid.”
No, not often, standardized tests are ALWAYS INVALID!! To understand why see: Noel Wilson’s “Educational Standards and the Problem of Error” found at: http://epaa.asu.edu/ojs/article/view/577/700 .
The only winners are the testing companies and their associates. Mr. Noguera blames the state and federal government, but who are the state and federal governments listening to- the testing companies who want to sell their testing product!
That’s the game-it’s easier to use a test to blame/ reward students, teachers and administrators- than to try to fix the real problem, poverty.
Testing companies, and their associates tell us- if we buy, and buy into, the the testing product, all of the hard-to-solve problems will disappear. They tell us that their testing product is good, so if student results are not good, the delivery system (teachers and administrators) is flawed.
Testing companies want to sell their testing product. That’s it. It’s too bad that so many believe anything else.
I agree. These testing companies hold all the cards, it seems. I liken some of the ideas to having someone walk into my life, telling me they are going to test me on a foreign language, say Mandarin, give me intense lessons with no foundational skills, and then expect proficiency based on my “grade level”. It doesn’t matter that I know nothing of what they are trying to test prior to the sudden exposure. These tests continue to expose students to an ever-changing vocabulary, much of which was never part of the college-level courses taken by teachers, even with Masters Degrees. They march in with new words for the same things we’ve been teaching for years, expect immediate memorization of new things that replace the words and techniques that we’ve been doing for years in the name of “speaking the same language”. It is a never-ending merry-go-round of UNNECESSARY change. Change without purpose is useless. Furthermore, it is a waste of time and money. Yet THIS is the way teachers are evaluated. It is simply absurd. The poor students suffer because of the compounded stress passed down from the state to the district to the administration to principals to teachers and to them. We should be ashamed of the leaders for setting this in motion starting with NCLB.
And who are those testing companies? Well, the corporate elite. Just go look. The same people are taking a stake in every percentage there is to take.
I guess that my feelings come closest to Pedro’s. But that she accepted the money reminds me how insidiously this stuff corrupts even good people. Although I guess that could be said for the bankers and their ilks too–who stole far far more money and destroyed millions of people’s lives and remain untouched. Even worse are the petty crimes (and some times non-crimes) committed by truly poor people with insufficient legal support–who end up spending years in jail, lose their vote, leave abandoned children, et al .
Deb,
What if there were no financial bonuses. Is it a crime if someone cheats on imposed standardized test scores for other reasons, like avoiding public humiliation?
It seems like proving theft and racketeering is going to be a big challenge.
Gary,
Yes, as they always have the option, albeit a bad one in terms of job security, of not participating in the process.
Duane
I first met Beverly Hall in Newark on an FBI raid on a warehouse full of school supplies stolen by organized crime groups in New Jersey. As an administrator, she was not required to go on the raid but outrage brought her (and the state superintendent) out that night.
I knew her as superintendent of Atlanta only from afar but even from a distance it was clear that the flow of resources from the private corporations and foundations was dependent on “spectacular” test scores and Hall’s constant wooing.
Michael Steinberg, chief trader for SAC was arrested yesterday for insider trading and is being held on $3 million bail while Beverly Hall, whose crimes seemingly occurred as part of the cover up rather than commission of the cheating, is being held on $7 million and is facing a jail term of 45 years.
The inequities of these cases should tell us something about why a woman, who at the front end of her career was so outraged over the mob stealing school supplies that she would go on a dangerous raid, and at the end of her career be facing the rest of her life in jail for a cheating scandal. “High stakes” indeed.
There are many times over the course of our careers when we may be faced with ethical dilemmas, including those presented by administrators, and we feel pressured to break with protocol, violate our ethics or break the law and our choices seem limited. As educators, we are held to high standards, because we are models for children and the community, so we need to take a stand on such matters, even if that stand may seem like it’s not in our own best interests and might jeopardize our jobs. Sometimes, we might be protected by whistle blower legislation. Other times, we may not be. Either way can result in a difficult situation.
I have been through this numerous times in my career as a teacher. For example, I had to repeatedly report suspicions of child abuse to the state when I worked for an administrator who was in the habit of NEVER filing reports. In these situations, a whistle blower law protected me as a mandated reporter, though I was still in a precarious position with my boss, because she figured out I was the one who had reported. I reminded her of my status as a mandated reporter and the whistle blower clause and felt very lucky to have kept my job, in each situation.
Other times, I was not protected at all. When I worked for an administrator who wanted me to falsify data on reports to the government, I refused to do it, so she said she had someone else who would. However, then she repeatedly returned insisting that I do it, I realized this was not something I could easily avoid, so I decided to resign. I did not have another job waiting for me in the wings…
In another situation, I worked for a principal who gave me reams of workbooks and wanted me to do a lot of test prep. I refused and did something very different instead. So then she conjured up all kinds of reasons why she couldn’t pay me, so I quit –again, with no other job awaiting me..
If I learned anything from Nuremburg, it’s that “just following orders” does not justify crimes against humanity.
TeacherEd: a heartfelt thank you for sharing this with us because too often “compliance” [no matter how forced] is interpreted as “consent.”
Perhaps change will begin if enough school staff refuse to keep “going along” in order to “get along” with the edubullies…
🙂
My pleasure, KrazyTA, and thank YOU!.
I think we really do have to take a stand when we feel we are being asked to compromise our integrity. It often works out best when we’re not alone and can rally the support of other teachers though, as they did at Garfield HS in Seattle.
Not only do I agree with Pedro, but they better present a great deal of evidence to convince me of theft and racketeering charges. RACKETEERING?
I can’t help but sense a racial angle in this prosecution as well.
http://thinkingaboutschools-jhstlny.blogspot.com/
Atlanta: We’re All A Little Responsible …
excerpt
Indict the Atlanta educators – but we are all guilty of tolerating the new “reform.” We – superintendents, school boards, professional organizations (NCTM, NCTE, NCSS, NSTA…), principals – are guilty of not speaking loudly and vociferously enough of the perils of federal intrusion beyond its civil rights role in education, corporate opportunism, political quick-fixers, and excessive testing that suck the soul out of the only public institution that guarantees a level playing field and opportunity for every student in America and is governed as democratically.
There’s a whiff of coercion that troubles me in this case. No teacher agreed to be threatened with public shaming, career jeopardy or financial peril based on the NCLB requirements. Those were imposed.
While it may be true that Atlanta educators received bonuses based on AYP or some other nonsense, does the prosecution have to prove that they cheated to “steal” money? What if no bonuses were connected and they cheated to avoid public humiliation? Is that a crime (aside from lying under oath)?
Check out this from Jersey Jazzman:
http://jerseyjazzman.blogspot.com/2013/03/reformy-praise-for-beverly-hall.html
Especially the Arne Duncan quote….I had to read the last sentence twice…whatever the outcome, these accomplishments? Since they cheated, Arne, they are NOT accomplishments. Is he for real? What’s he got in store for Rhee….besides a cover up?
In a letter to Franklin dated Oct. 14, Duncan said wrongdoers should be held accountable. He said his primary concern was getting additional academic help for children whose scores may have been changed. “However, it cannot be ignored that under Dr. Hall’s leadership,” Atlanta students have made double-digit gains on national exams known as the National Assessment of Educational Progress, or NAEP, Duncan said.
“Whatever the outcome of the state investigation, these accomplishments should not go unrecognized,” he said.
Guess which reformer showered this praise upon Beverly Hall–
“The third example of positive accountability is Atlanta, where Superintendent Beverly Hall established a series of interventions to help struggling schools. The district, whose students are 91 percent African American and Hispanic and three-quarters low-income, was known for low performance before her arrival. But since her appointment in 1999, Atlanta’s public schools have steadily improved. She raised the quality of the professional staff by careful hiring, ‘meaningful evaluations, and consistent job-embedded professional development.’ Before the enactment of NCLB, Hall established accountability targets for every school, including the percentage of students who meet standards and the percentage who exceed them, as well as student attendance and enrollment in higher-level courses. When a school meets 70 percent of its targets, the entire staff receives a bonus, including cafeteria workers, bus drivers, the school nurse, and teachers. Hall replaced 89 percent of the principals, who had allegedly been hired on the basis of personal connections. She closed some schools whose enrollments had dropped when Atlanta demolished its public housing projects. Her strategy was slow and steady, and it paid off. Not only did Atlanta see strong improvement in its state test scores and graduation rates (which are not always meaningful indicators), but Atlanta showed impressive gains on the National Assessment of Educational Progress. It was the only one of eleven cities tested from 2003 to 2007 that showed significant progress in both reading and mathematics in fourth and eighth grades. The American Association of School Administrators selected Hall as its National Superintendent of the Year in 2009.”
–Diane Ravitch, The Death and Life of the Great American School System, published March 2, 2010
“In the original printing of this book, I offered the Atlanta public schools as a third example of positive accountability. I saluted Superintendent Beverly Hall for her record of steady and significant improvement over a decade. I was taken in, as were many other people.” Diane Ravitch, THE DEATH AND LIFE OF THE GREAT AMERICAN SCHOOL SYSTEM, revised and expanded edition of 2011, p. 164.
Further on, p. 165: “So, Atlanta ends up not as an example of positive accountability but as an example of how the pressure to get higher test scores every year may drive educators to desperate, illegal measures.”
Tim: the selective sneer-and-smear is unwarranted on this blog.
Tim,
You are no longer credible here. Be gone.
Tim, in the paperback edition of the book–published November 2011–I changed the praise and wrote that I had been taken in by the Atlanta story. Before I wrote the praise, I checked with outside experts, who said the gains were real. There remains the fact that Atlanta did register solid gains on NAEP, actually progressing more than NYC, for example. And from my experience as a NAEP board member, it is not possible to cheat on NAEP. So, yes, I was taken in as were many others. And, yes, I corrected my praise in the paperback edition.
But I can’t help feeling enormously sad, first, because so many educators cheated, which was a betrayal of the children and of their professional ethics. But second, because there apparently were some improvements happening in Atlanta. Whatever they were, they will be lost because of the cheating.
It wasn’t wrong to bring up this point. Most of us who read a book are not going to read the second edition as well. Ms. Ravitch did amend the content after new facts came out, but it seems the commenter quoted correctly.
Also, no matter what the reason, firing 89% of any job title is going to inspire fear, warranted or not. Personally, I would think that if one group is seen as expendable, then my group could be next. As important as data and evidence are, maybe we should also pay close attention to methods used to obtain the data.
I’m glad this point was brought up. While I appreciate all of the hard work it takes to continue this blog and keep us all connected, we are all human. Once we think one person (whether it’s ourself or someone else) has all the right answers, we close off and set ourselves up for a big fall.
As John Maynard Keynes once said (I quote this in my book): “When the facts change, I change my mind. What do you do, sir?”
Jersey Jazzman, I hope you read this column! I need some advice!
My D-Oregon State legislator (since 2005), Tobias Read, is seasoned in corporations and finance, having worked for Nike (his wife still works for them) for years. He had been groomed in the Clinton administration, when he worked with Sheryl Sandberg for Treasury Secretary Larry Summers. (Sandberg is now COO of facebook.)
It has been puzzling to me that Rep. Read has no known work as he is just paid $21,936/year during legislative sessions ($123/day per diem tied to the federal rate.) http://ballotpedia.org/wiki/index.php/Oregon_State_Legislature#Salaries
When I saw large sums of out-of-state Silicon Valley contributions to his coffers ( ~$34K of the $230,000 raised as a shoo-in incumbent las year: see below), I was puzzled. http://tinyurl.com/d2mxay7
Then I saw this link from jersey jazzman. “How To Buy a School Board Race 3000 Miles Away” and it blew my mind because the cast of characters was similar.
http://jerseyjazzman.blogspot.com/2012/11/how-to-buy-school-board-3000-miles-away.html
Other links to ed reform:
http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2012-06-28/newark-school-reform-about-that-100-million-dot-dot-dot
http://www.arnoldporter.com/professionals.cfm?action=view&id=231
http://www.insidermonkey.com/blog/david-tepper-and-alan-fournier-target-nj-teachers-7429/
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204662204577199271676522972.html
http://conservativeteachersofamerica.com/tag/reid-hoffman/
http://www.wired.com/business/2012/03/ff_hoffman/all/
http://www.wweek.com/portland/article-12647-save_our_state_.html
I got to thinking… If we follow the money to corporate education reformers, how do we figure out their next steps?
Ya’ see, we in Oregon may seem really progressive, but we have a D-governor who usurped the role of state superintendent and created a Chief Education Officer and an Oregon Education Investment Board–all in one swoop recently!!!
Yours truly,
Kris Alman
1350222 09/20/2012 Original Friends of Tobias Read Sheryl Sandberg ** Cash Contribution $5,000.00
1400310 10/22/2012 Original Friends of Tobias Read Sheryl Sandberg ** Cash Contribution $1,000.00
His other Silicon Valley friends have eyes on the education prize:
1372812 10/11/2012 Amended Friends of Tobias Read Arthur Rock ** Cash Contribution $5,000.00
1372813 10/12/2012 Original Friends of Tobias Read Greg Penner ** Cash Contribution $5,000.00
1393572 10/13/2012 Amended Friends of Tobias Read Lydia Callaghan ** Cash Contribution $5,000.00
1254137 05/16/2012 Original Friends of Tobias Read David Fischer ** Cash Contribution $3,000.00
1368091 10/04/2012 Amended Friends of Tobias Read Alan Fournier ** Cash Contribution $2,500.00
1368092 10/04/2012 Amended Friends of Tobias Read Jennifer Fournier ** Cash Contribution $2,500.00
1411040 10/31/2012 Original Friends of Tobias Read Reid Hoffman ** Cash Contribution $2,000.00
1411041 11/01/2012 Original Friends of Tobias Read Michelle Yee ** Cash Contribution $2,000.00
1263304 06/04/2012 Original Friends of Tobias Read Facebook, Inc. ** Cash Contribution $1,000.00
1109612 11/17/2011 Original Friends of Tobias Read Arnold & Porter LLP Partners PAC (federal) ** In-Kind Contribution $857.90
Cheating to make test scores look good is just the extreme end on the spectrum of BAD decisions.
– How many teachers are being “Compelled” to do what they know is wrong for their students?
– How do teachers make it known that students have needs that will NEVER be met by teaching to a test?
– At what point to teachers speak up, involve parents, and take a stand?
Now that unions are being broken, teachers will have even less incentive to try to stand up against what they know is hurtful to children.
The AFT is being broken from within by its president. . . .has been for a long time.
Robert, I have no interaction with the AFT whatsoever.
Mr. Noguera uses the word “compel” to describe what the government has done to Ms. Hall, but really, she was motivated by them to do what she did.
Ms. Hall should have considered rebelling against the status quo, publishing well researched position papers against RTTT and NCLB, and joining in solidarity with other high level administrators in her state to object to this reform movement. She was a collaborator instead of an activist.
All of these shenanigans occured, as they would for so many of us, to save her job
Instead, she chose to act like a good little girl who listens to mommy and daddy, even if it meant that their abusive exigency would motivate her to lie to mommy and daddy.
This is a perfect opportunity for Beverly Hall, in jail or not, fined or not, to do a turn-around and speak the truth, the awful truth, about RTTT and its egregious unfairness and inequities against children. This is her moment of high exposure press and equally high redemption. She can choose to be a powerful voice for millions or she can be soley interested in herself and save as much of her derriere as she and her lawyer project is possible.
Time will reveal the path she picks.
I believe that the reason we are “all in this together” on one level is because teachers are generally in no position to sacrifice their paychecks, so they comply rather than file for bankruptcy. Also, they don’t wish to be accused of being insubordinate. With so many willing fresh graduates, the districts are ready to und people with 3-5 years of experience to replace those with 30. We can’t afford to do much but retire. I would not have posted anything on Favebook or in a letter to he editor while I was still teaching. We were told to never say anything to the publc that would reflect badly on the district. The consequences wouod have been constant harassment.
“Curious Grade for Teachers: Nearly All Pass”
In any other field, would people be so upset because there’s evidence that most workers are competent? In their minds, the “reformers” have made it all about test scores, no matter what percentage is used in determining teacher competency. I don’t think they are going to be pleased until a teacher evaluation is used that results in forcing a bell curve.
You’re correct, Other Spaces.
They want the GE Jack Welch model in which 5 to 10 percent every years gets cut off and disposed off due to “incompetence, lack of productivity, lack of value added assets, and inefficiency”.
According to the model, every organization has this, and every organization needs pruning and replacement with better quality components in order to survive and remain competitive.
We teachers are now prone to this approach of employment. The labels are already established by the model and research without bias is out the door. Tenure for true due process is rendered meaningless.
Wait until thens of thousands of teachers across the United States who are perfectly fine teachers start to face termination because their standardized test scores were not high enough, while their class sizes rose form 21 to 28, while their students came in poorer and poorer, while despite parent engagment and outreach, there was little to noe response from parents in supporting the child’s education, while their pre-k programs were eliminated due to budget cuts from shrinking state and federal subsidies . . . the list goes on.
Just you or anyone wait.
Then what? It will be fascinating and interesting to see where the “unions” and parents stand . . . .
Now… we’ve learned the names of the Principals who cheated and the teachers who were complicit in the cheating… let’s learn the names of the Principals who DIDN’T cheat their students… and the teachers who REFUSED to play along… and let’s make sure THEY are rewarded for their honesty and integrity. Arne Duncan: here’s a chance to make a statement on the importance of playing by the rules. Issue a press release praising those who brought this cheating to light and those who refused to cheat… channelling Ben Stein in Ferris Bueller I say: “Duncan?… Duncan?… Duncan?”
I disagree that those who did not cheat should be “rewarded for their honesty and integrity.”
My rationale?
You don’t reward people for honesty or integrity–its like rewarding someone for not holding up a bank.
Maybe “reward” is an overstatement… but for nearly a decade the honest people in the district were under pressure to “play by the rules” the Superintendent established and they were effectively shunned for not going into a room and “doing what you do” (i.e. being assigned to seats at the back of the auditorium… and, in some cases, losing their job)… and those who “ratted out” their bosses were under tremendous peer and community pressure to stay quiet… I think someone needs to applaud those who play by the rules and ESPECIALLY those who decide to blow a whistle for whatever reason…. my sense from what I’ve read in this blog and other news reports is that there are a lot of shenanigans going on that need to be brought to light… I think someone should use their bully pulpit to encourage teachers and Principals to share ANY misconduct on the part of testing…
I agree with you. All through America whistleblowers are taking risks when they expose the
‘good ole boys” yet we wonder why the same baloney permeates society. Even people who claim to be religious are caught up in the “big lie”. It’s a sad mess we have woven…
Pressured to do well? Maybe. But there is no excuse for abandoning moral behavior.
How about putting both groups in the “Pokey.” We need the banking regulations back in place that Clinton eliminated. Thanks Bill for setting up the problems we have now and you too Obama for being worse than the rest of them with your failed bought and sold policies especially concerning the “Banksters”, education and civil rights.
Yes, some bankers should be in jail. Some people who committed financial crimes are in jail. More should be. I also believe in restorative justice, so I’d like to see huge fines and required community service.
Senior who overlooked cheating and ignored whistle-blowers and took large financial bonuses also deserve significant consequences. I’m not sure what’s accomplished by putting them in jail – again – huge fines and community service should be an option to be considered.
If they can put people in jail for stealing bicycles and candybars why not for the big stuff? One thing those people do not like is being locked up and no more fine wine, dinners, limos and private jets. Let them have a lesson in life. When Beverly Hills got slammed by MTA they got to feel what everyone else feels. They were not used to it. Now they are working with other communities on common issues such as transportation. They want to put the subway under Beverly Hills High School with oil, abandoned wells and the risk to their property and students for some devolupers. Beverly Hills just, through the State, caught MTA lying about the fault danger. Put them in jail like they do to everyone else. Fair for one, fair for all.
Education run by for-profit companies is an oxymoron. The only ones who should be profiting from education are the children and their parents.