Archives for the month of: March, 2013
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Gary Rubinstein’s Brilliant Idea to Fix TFA

By dianeravitch
March 3, 2013 //
37

Gary Rubinstein has a brilliant idea to make TFA teachers better. His big complaint about TFA is that the organization doesn’t prepare its teachers for a real classroom. They get five weeks of training in the summer, practice teaching for only a few hours in front of small classes, and then take on large classes in poor schools where they confront class management issues that they can’t handle.

Spoiler alert: Gary says they should start their training the day after they graduate college, working as subs in real schools. A simple but smart idea. Will Wendy listen?

TFA now says that it is really not so much about training teachers (which it does for only five weeks, not enough, as Gary says), but about training leaders. Who are TFA’s most prominent leaders? Michelle Rhee, Kevin Huffman, John White. All three are actively working to promote vouchers, charters, and privatization. More leaders like them and public education in the U.S. will be ruined.

Categories Privatization, Teach for America TFA

What Do the State Commissioners of New Jersey and New Mexico Have in Common?

By dianeravitch
March 2, 2013 //
5

A good question, no?

Both have had trouble getting confirmed.

Both are members of Jeb Bush’s Chiefs for Change.

Both are committed to privatization.

Read here to see what else.

Categories Bush, Jeb, Charter Schools, Chiefs for Change, Privatization

Oregon: Fight to Protect Student Privacy Rules

By dianeravitch
March 2, 2013 //
12

This parent warns that BIG DATA is working its way into the schools, not only in Oregon but across the nation. Why do they want to know everything about your child? The most likely reason: for marketing stuff to them. We have already learned about the collaboration between the Gates Foundation and Rupert Murdoch to collect student data. Parents in Louisiana are worried about this. So should parents in New York, Massachusetts, Delaware, Georgia, Kentucky, Colorado, and elsewhere.

The parent from Oregon, who happens to be a physician, writes:

Rep. Lew Frederick is a great champion for public education! He has been attentive to the Oregon Save Our Schools activists.

This past Thursday, Senator Mark Hass introduced SB 567 on behalf of Oregon Save Our Schools. He is the Chair of the Senate’s Education and Workforce Development Committee.

To access the bill and written testimony, which includes support from Oregon ACLU, go to these links.

Click to access sb0567.intro.pdf

https://olis.leg.state.or.us/liz/2013R1/Committees/SEDWD/2013-02-28-13-00/SB567/Details

With the Family Education Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) dismantled by rule changes in Dec. 2011 and with the onslaught of BIG DATA collected and mined in state longitudinal data systems, we believe a Chief Privacy Officer for Education is essential.

We also agree with Kathleen Styles, the US Dept. of Education’s first CPO, that beyond compliance with laws, state agencies should use fair information practices.
http://www.educause.edu/blogs/kathleen-styles/ed-cpo-privacy-emerging-technologies-and-new-uses-data

Among other things, Fair Information Practices include knowing what kind of data is collected, why it is collected and who has access to it. http://bobgellman.com/rg-docs/rg-FIPShistory.pdf

We also need to be able to correct records… As I testified, my son’s SLDS records (obtained through a FERPA request) have him coded 4 times from 4th through 8th grade as a “W8”: Left to Earn a GED. I assure you he did not do that. Yet the Oregon Department of Education and the Beaverton School District don’t have a good explanation for that code and don’t seem to care to fix it! (Imagine how many other kids are wrongly coded and what that might mean for those “turnaround” schools!)

In my testimony, I advocated for an amendment to expand the work of a CPO. See Ohio and CA websites:
http://www.privacy.ca.gov
http://www.privacy.ohio.gov

I did this because mission creep is already happening here. HIPAA is the federal law that protects patient privacy. Last summer, Oregon’s Early Learning Council asked for a federal waiver for HIPAA/FERPA as needed for data sharing. No doubt that more health records will be maintained as “education records” on our new Student Information System, Edupoint Synergy, in the Beaverton School District since we were awarded $500,000 for school-based health care.
http://www.oregonlive.com/beaverton/index.ssf/2012/12/beaverton_school_district_gets_1.html

As a physician, I am very aware that this sector has had huge data breaches–so much so that the 2009 stimulus stipulated that the Office of Civil Rights monitor breaches greater than 500. http://www.hhs.gov/ocr/privacy/hipaa/administrative/breachnotificationrule/breachtool.html

The largest breach last year was Utah Department of Health. Nearly 800,000 records breached due to a weak password… A big problem since the BSD Chief Information Officer says Edupoint’s Synergy does not demand password stringency for ParentVue.

The Oregon Department of Education was unaware that FERPA trumps HIPAA in p-12 education.

Click to access hipaaferpajointguide.pdf

http://www.nsba.org/SchoolLaw/Federal-Regulations/Archive/HIPAA-FERPA-FAQs.html

I also included information on a “Memorandum of Understanding” funded by the Gates Foundation to create a regional data exchange in Sept. 2011. Washington, Oregon, Hawaii, Idaho agencies have been using the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education and the National Student Clearinghouse as intermediaries to disclose and redisclose data since TWO MONTHS BEFORE THE NEW FERPA RULES WERE FINALIZED!!!

Lastly, I admonished the Senators to be wary of the data reporting contract awarded by SBAC to Wireless Generation, a subsidiary of News Corps. Education Division, Amplify.

Lisa Shultz, a Mentor Graphics engineer and former Beaverton School District School Board member, also gave testimony that day. That she never knew these databases existed when she was a board member says something. Her testimony is very powerful!!!

Categories Privacy and Privacy Rights

How Bill Gates’ Small Schools Failed in NYC

By dianeravitch
March 2, 2013 //
13

Marc Epstein used to work in a large comprehensive high school that was broken up into small schools. Since then, he has worked in many small schools. Based on his knowledge, experience, and research, he came to question and doubt Gates’ belief that NYC’s small schools were successful.

Read here to know why he reached this conclusion.

Small schools are not a new idea in NYC:

“Long before the small school initiative, New York had its own disastrous experiment with dividing up a low achieving comprehensive high school into four small schools.

“Andrew Jackson High School was renamed Campus Magnet almost 20 years ago but the name change did nothing to raise student achievement and stem school violence. It should have provided a cautionary tale for small school promoters. But the lessons of Campus Magnet were ignored. Two of the four schools are to be closed to make way for new schools that will replace failure with success according to authorities.

“When large schools are divided you also lose control of the student population. Students from co-located schools often disrupt classes in neighboring schools or enter a neighboring school to fight. Texting and cell phones provide instant communication to the Clockwork Orange sociopaths, only exacerbating the level of violence.”

Categories Gates Foundation, Bill Gates, Klein, Joel, New York City

Putting Students Last: The Alabama Story

By dianeravitch
March 2, 2013 //
11

The following post was written by Larry Lee, who lives in Alabama and writes often about education and politics. He describes the passage of a bill to create tax credits for students to go to private and religious schools.

School kids make a poor rope in a political tug of war.

Anyone in Alabama who doesn’t believe this should’ve been in Montgomery Feb. 28 when the Republican controlled legislature voted to approve what some reporters called “a legislative bombshell.” The Senate approved what is officially known as the Alabama Accountability Act of 2013 on a vote of 22-11. The House of Representatives vote was 51-26.

It’s hard to tell if opponents were more upset about the contents of the bill or the tactics used to get it approved.

But one thing is certain, in spite of protestations by those on the prevailing side; this battle was not about school kids. If it was about education, why did Dr. Tommy Bice, the state’s superintendent of education, not know about it? After all he is the one person most accountable for the education of 735,000 public school students.

Why did the State Board of Education, with six elected Republican members and two elected Democratic members not know about it? After all, they are the only elected body in the state whose sole responsibility is overseeing education policy.

If this was really about education, why did the Republican leader of the Senate, who says he’d worked on this for a week, tell reporters that he worked hard to keep what he was doing a secret from even those who had signed on in good faith to support the original bill?

“We knew they would oppose what we were trying to do,” he said.

Interpretation: Since we had hatched up a scheme to fundamentally change public education in this state, the last thing we wanted was input from professional educators.

Yep, makes sense to me. Maybe next time the legislature will tackle a healthcare issue. I sure hope they make sure no doctors or nurses know what they are doing.

What was the scheme used to pass the bill?

Go to a conference committee composed of three House members and three Senators (Four Republicans and two Democrats) where each body is supposed to iron out their differences and report the compromises back to their respective bodies. But instead of doing this, an eight page bill went into the committee and morphed into one of 28 pages that was much different than the original bill.

This is when the fur hit the fan because the rules of both bodies prevent a conference committee from reporting out a bill that is substantially different than the original one. But obviously when you are doing something for school kids, why pay attention to rules? After all, isn’t that what we all teach our own kids to do, just ignore the rules you don’t like.

As I think of all of this I keep thinking back to the night of Feb. 19 when the State Department of Education recognized 20 high-poverty schools (the very kind of schools the backers of this legislation say they are so concerned about) as Torchbearer Schools.

All 140 members of the House and Senate were invited to attend this event by Governor Bentley. Only one Senator came. It was not the majority leader. Maybe he was hidden away somewhere working on legislation to benefit education and didn’t have time to visit with 20 of the top principals in Alabama and ask for their input.

Time after time we hear legislative leaders talk about “Alabama values.” Is this what we saw in practice this week? I was born in Alabama. Mother and Daddy were born in Alabama. Grandma and Grandpa were born in Alabama. So I’m about as qualified to know our “values” as anyone. And what was on display in Montgomery Feb. 28 bore no resemblance to the Alabama values I was taught.

But the only value any of us really need to heed is on page 1,414 of my King James Version of the Bible. Matthew 7:12—Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them.

It’s a sad day for all of us when our political leadership tramples on such a simple truth.

Larry Lee led the study, “Lessons Learned from Rural Schools”, and is a long-time advocate for public education and frequently writes about education issues.

Categories Alabama, Education Industry

Our Love Affair with Data: A Sad Tale

By dianeravitch
March 2, 2013 //
15

Jem Muldoon wants to know the meaning of it all. She wants to know why we must devote our lives to data and let data drive our decisions. Why are so many of us assessment victims when we should be assessment consumers?

Categories Education Reform

Who Gets Walton Foundation $$$$$$$$$$$?

By dianeravitch
March 2, 2013 //
9

It is useful every so often to review the list of organizations that are funded by the ultra-rightwing Walton Foundation. This past year, the foundation gave out $158 million for “education reform.” As you will see, almost all of that money went to support charter schools and vouchers and organizations that advocate for privatization.

Of course, this is the foundation’s list of grants, and it does not include the millions of dollars that the members of the Walton family have poured into privatization campaigns and elections in Georgia, Washington State, and elsewhere.

Categories Corporate Reformers, For-Profit, Privatization, Stand for Children, StudentsFirst, Teach for America TFA, U.S. education, Vouchers, Walton Foundation

Needed Now! Courage, Not Compliance!

By dianeravitch
March 2, 2013 //
23

Just minutes ago, I posted a strong letter from Superintendent Jeff Ramey, calling on parents and educators to support their schools and protest the budget cuts and tax caps that undermine them.

Carol Burris, an outstanding high school principal in Long Island, New York, responds here:

Superintendent Rabey,

I assure you, there are outraged New Yorkers all over our state.

Over 12,000 New Yorkers have signed the petition against high stakes testing http://roundtheinkwell.com/2012/12/29/petition-to-the-nys-board-of-regents-against-high-stakes-testing/ in two months. The Alliance for Quality Education has an Albany rally this month regarding funding. Over one third of all New York Principals signed a letter in opposition to APPR for the reasons that you mention. http://www.newyorkprincipals.org . The Niagara Regional PTA is proposing a resolution at the State PTA conference against high stakes testing. Schools Boards in Bedford and in New Paltz have passed their own resolutions.

The problem is that there is no state-wide coordinated effort and frankly a lack of courage to go beyond grumbling and resolutions into passive resistance and even active resistance. If you take your three key points–lack of funding, over testing, and state controlled teacher evaluations with test scores–and link them together, you have a powerful combination that many would support. Think about how much more funding there would be if all of the dollars going to testing and test prep and APPR went into classrooms in the schools that can no longer adequately serve their students?

I will hop on that bus anytime and I will bring others with me. In fact, you will have overwhelming support from principals and from rank and file teachers, though not necessarily from NYSUT, at least not on APPR.

Will you, however, get your colleagues to stop whispering their disgust at the Albany agenda and be willing to stand up against it?

Several years ago, death by lethal injection was brought to a halt in California, because anesthesiologists refused to participate. Courage, not compliance, is what is needed now.

Carol Burris

Categories Administrators, superintendents, Budget Cuts, New York, Principals, Support for public schools, Teacher Evaluations

Why Are Walton Billionaires So Interested in Los Angeles Schools?

By dianeravitch
March 2, 2013 //
51

The big school board race is this week in Los Angeles, and we know that the billionaires have lined up behind their slate. We know that Eli Broad wants to own his hometown’s school board and Mayor Michael Bloomberg has tossed $1million into the race to help the same candidates that Eli wants.

What is less well known is that one of the biggest founders of school choice–AKA, privatization–is the Walton family of Arkansas. Sure, the natural connection between Arkansas and Los Angeles might escape you, as it does me. But consider this, from an article written on Huffington Post by Peter Dreier of Occidental College:

In 2006, one member of the family gave $250,000 to a statewide initiative for universal preschool education.

“In Los Angeles alone, the Walton Family Foundation has donated over $84.3 million to charter schools and organizations that support them, such as Green Dot Schools, ICEF schools, and the Los Angeles Parent Union, as well as $1 million to candidates or political action committees which support diverting tax dollars away from public schools. They believe in high-stakes testing, hate teachers unions, want to measure student and teacher success primarily by relying on one-size-fits-all standardized tests, but have an entirely different set of standards when it comes to judging charter schools.”

Furthermore, the Waltons generously support other organizations that promote privatization:

“The Waltons have long supported efforts to privatize education through the Walton Family Foundation as well as individual political donations to local candidates. Since 2005, the Waltons have given more than $1 billion to organizations and candidates who support privatization. They’ve channeled the funds to the pro-charter and pro-voucher Milton Friedman Foundation for Education Choice, Michelle Rhee’s pro-privatization and high-stakes testing organization Students First, and the pro-voucher Alliance for School Choice, where Walton family member Carrie Walton Penner sits on the board. In addition to funding these corporate-style education reform organizations, since 2000 the Waltons have also spent more than $24 million bankrolling politicians, political action committees, and ballot issues in California and elsewhere at the state and local level which undermine public education and literally shortchange students.”

You do understand what is going on, don’t you? It is the Walmart management style–deregulation, low-wage employees, cost-cutting over all–transported to education.

Categories Los Angeles, Privatization, Walton Foundation

NY Superintendent: Where Is the Outrage?

By dianeravitch
March 2, 2013 //
46

Here is a superintendent who is willing to raise his voice to demand that the Governor and Legislature fund New York state’s public schools. These days, there is so much fear in education, so many educators intimidated by get-tough, know-nothing politicians, that it is refreshing to encounter a superintendent who is willing to speak truth to power.

Superintendent Jeff Rabey wonders why citizens are willing to demonstrate for gun rights but not for their children’s schools. He writes:

Is it just me or do we have our priorities mixed up?

In response to the NY SAFE Act, “Angry demonstrators, at least 1,000 of them traveling from Erie County on 14 packed buses, showed their frustrations in colorful signs such as ‘Cuomo has to go’..” (Buffalo News 03/01/13)

Gun advocates rage against the trampling of their Second Amendment rights. Why don’t we rage at the profound trampling of our children’s Constitutional rights?

NYS’s Constitution guarantees children a fair and equitable education. Yet, for five years NYS has underfunded schools by $765 million. In 2009, when the courts ordered more equitable school funding, Foundation Aid was created to provide at least a 3% aid increase each year. Just one year later, Foundation Aid was frozen and the five-year “take back” of aid began. That “take back,” known as the “Gap Elimination” is decimating our public schools. Where are these 14 packed buses on their way to Albany?

Pounding another nail in the coffin, Albany passed the Tax Levy Cap, which further defunded schools and swept away school board control over local revenue. Heralded as a help to taxpayers facing soaring local property taxes, Albany looked heroic. Albany neglected to mention that local property taxes were soaring because local taxpayers picked up the tab for funding Albany took away … and for mandated expenses Albany won’t address.

The “Gap Elimination” take-back and tax levy cap have fast tracked schools to financial and educational ruin. Schools are cutting programs left and right to save costs. Our children’s transcripts will be too thin for entrance to our own NYS four-year schools. Where are these 14 packed buses on their way to Albany?

Finally, in an effort to grab $700 million in federal Race to the Top funds, Albany committed to transforming our educational system into one that promotes high stakes testing and linked those high stakes, unreliable assessments to teacher performance.

Albany swept away school board control over evaluation of their own teachers. Instead, that authority was given to a time-consuming, unproven system that dramatically escalates expenses for schools, pushing costs far beyond the initial Race to the Top funding. This at a time when Albany took away funding that was Constitutionally-guaranteed. Where are these 14 packed buses on their way to Albany?

Where is the outrage? The colorful signs? The microphones and cameras?

We need to take a lesson from the gun advocates and raise our voices in united outrage. Recently, in a letter sent to the Governor, which was initiated by Senator Gallivan and signed by 17 of his Upstate fellow Senators; the inequitable funding of schools was addressed. The letter urges the Governor to restore funding to low-wealth school districts that have been disproportionately impacted.

This is a start, but where are these 14 packed buses from Western New York on their way to Albany?

Jeffrey R. Rabey
Superintendent of Schools
Depew Union Free School District

Categories Budget Cuts, Cuomo, Andrew, New York
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