Archives for the month of: July, 2013
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Is Eli Broad Abandoning TFA?

By dianeravitch
July 3, 2013 //
55

In an op-ed in the Los Angeles Times, billionaire philanthropist Eli Broad heaps praise on the much-maligned report of the National Council on Teacher Quality. For a foundation that claims to care most of all about performance, not inputs, Broad is surprisingly willing to endorse a report based solely on a review of course readings and catalogues, not results. That is probably because his foundation helped to support the “study.” He is impressed that the report was “eights years in the making,” but doesn’t mention that the NCTQ was created only 13 years ago by a conservative think tank to act as a battering ram against schools of education. This report is the culmination of its ambitions.

Bear in mind: NCTQ is not a professional association; it is not a research organization; it is not a think tank. It is an advocacy organization that promotes alternative ways to become a teacher, that is, alternative to going to an education school.

Broad’s recommends that future teachers be deeply grounded in their subject and that they participate in a high-quality residency program.

He writes: “We would never allow a medical student to perform surgery without participating in a high-quality residency program and studying under the careful eye of an experienced physician. We shouldn’t force new teachers to enter the classroom without the same type of support and training.”

Medical students are not allowed to perform surgeries without years of training in medical schools, internship, and residency. That leaves out Teach for America.

Is Eli Broad turning his back on Teach for America?

Categories Corporate Reformers, Teach for America TFA, Teachers and Teaching

The Origins of BAT: When Reason Doesn’t Work

By dianeravitch
July 3, 2013 //
20

Mark Naison, one of the founders and leaders of the Badass Association of Teachers, explains why BAT became necessary, and why its numbers have grown so dramatically:

 

When Reason Doesn’t Work: Another Explanation for “The Rise of the BATs”

Many people have criticized the “Badass Teachers Association” for its unprofessional sounding name and in your face image, but the meteoric rise of this group didn’t come out of nowhere.  All over the country educators have faced policies imposed from above by education officials-political appointees all- which violate their best practices and common sense, but have had no success whatsoever modifying these policies by writing position papers, mounting petition drives or testifying before the few open forums where such policies are discussed

 

Let’s use New York State as an example. During the last year, the Governor, the Legislature, and the State Education Department have imposed on school districts throughout the state protocols for teacher evaluation that are expensive, complicated, time consuming, unfair, and in the judgment of most principals in the state, completely unworkable. Some of the best principals in the state organized to challenge the new system. They wrote an extensive, well researched critique of the policies, circulated a principals letter with thousands of signatures, got even more signatures on a parents letter, and tried to testify at allegedly “open hearings” held by the state’s

“Education Reform Commission,” but found themselves marginalized and rebuffed.  The policies have been literally rammed down the throat of school districts by the Governor, who now have to cope with massive demoralization of teachers and administrators, the smothering of creative pedagogy in favor of “teaching to the test” and the cancellation of beloved art, music and sports programs to pay for the unfunded mandates the new system requires.

 

This  misapplication and intensification of high stakes testing provoked a huge statewide test revolt organized by parents, concentrated in Long Island, the Hudson Valley and Western New York,  as well as a broad based movement against Common Core Standards,  but is it any wonder that teachers, whose union leaders reluctantly supported the plan, are also rising up?

 

Teachers and children’s lives are being destroyed every day in New York State  and some teachers decided that  maybe a new, more confrontational style was required to deal with the arrogance of policy makers and  the astro turf, billionaire supported education policy groups behind the new policies.  So Badass Teachers Association was born, fueled by that rage and disappointment.

 

That is touched a chord with teachers throughout the nation, and the world, says something about how much concentrated power, and concentrated wealth, has undermined even the the pretense of democratic discussion regarding education policies.

 

Maybe it’s time to fight fire with fire.

 

Categories Corporate Reformers, Teachers and Teaching, Testing

In Search of a Metaphor for “Reform”

By dianeravitch
July 3, 2013 //
17

Over recent years, I have heard many metaphors used to explain what is happening–what is being done to–the nation’s public schools. In New York City, parents often use the phrase “the emperor has no clothes.” Others may have different metaphors to suggest. In this post, reader Joanna Best thinks that the story of Hansel and Gretel best explains what is happening across the nation:

 

So, as I have worked to compartmentalize all the aspects to Ed Reform (to get a clear understanding of everything), I keep coming back to this being like the opera Hansel and Gretel. Humperdink’s sister adapted the libretto from the Grimms’ tale: the parents have fallen on hard times (like our current generation of working-age Americans)—they are broom makers and they go into the surrounding villages to try and sell brooms (like efforts are being made to get our economy back to a pleasant level); in doing so they leave Hansel and Gretel (the children) doing measurable tasks (a la testing) so that they will be contributing to the welfare in general (working on a broom and fixing a sock); a neighbor gives them some milk which leads Hansel and Gretel to abandon their measurable tasks and frolick as they dream about the milk. When mother discovers they are not working (like those who think the schools must measure and measure), in the shuffle of disgruntlement the milk is spilled (NCLB). So the children are sent into the enchanted forest to find berries (RttT). There are some good breaks for them (the sandman lures them to sleep–they have each other—and they pray quite a bit). Meanwhile mother also prays (those of us in teaching realizing that we have in fact sent our children into the enchanted forest), and realizes she has over-reacted. Father, who has had a good day in the villages, brings home lots of food (those of us finally getting a break in the economy, or finding excitement in how can we better the children’s lives), but it is too late. The children are already out there.


Meanwhile a tasty candy and gingerbread house pops up (a solution to the children’s fear and hunger!!! charters, vouchers, TFA). The children nibble and are then set under the spell of the witch (those who do not have children’s best interest in mind, but just want to plump them up to devour them or line them up in the fence of gingerbread children already captured)!!
For a while, the children are at her mercy. But clever Gretel outsmarts the witch and the children then set all the other captured gingerbread children free—and they become real boys and girls again. The spell is broken. And mother and father appear, after having searched the enchanted forest throughout the night to find them. There is prayer and celebrating and the family is reunited, the witch ousted.
I am sure the analogy doesn’t fit directly, but it is where my musical brain has taken me this week when reading this blog. Here’s hoping all witches with candy houses can be outsmarted by the Gretels of the world—and Hansel can be freed. And the family can get about their business of enjoying what father and mother are able to provide from their business and the children can frolick and be children, as they learn.

Categories Education Industry, Education Reform, Privatization

Voice, Not Choice, Improves Public Schools

By dianeravitch
July 3, 2013 //
6

Steve Hinnefeld writes a terrific blog in Indiana.

In this one, he explains that public schools get better when parents become active and use their voice.

They do not become better when parents vote with their feet and exit the door to a charter school, a  private school, or something else.

I am going to be watching this blogger.

He understands how our public schools are being wrecked by misguided ideas about consumerism, the free market, competition, and choice that are not successful outside of the financial sphere.

Of course, if your goal is not to  improve public schools but to privatize them and turn them into money-making ed-ventures, then choice works well indeed.

Categories Charter Schools, Education Reform, Privatization

They Closed My School, But It Will Always Be in My Heart: CORRECTION!

By dianeravitch
July 3, 2013 //
15

In my original post, I miscredited the author of this piece. It is Carina Hilbert. I attributed the piece to someone who retweeted it. My apologies to Carina Hilbert.

Here is the link to her blog.

Teacher Carina Hilbert is heart-broken. She was proud to work at Albion High School. She loved the kids. The kids were the best. So was the staff.

But they closed the school.

It hurts her to think about it, to talk about it, to write it.

“I may be gone from AHS, but a piece of my heart will always be there, hidden away in room 121, where magic happened, students learned and grew, and lives were changed. We are all Wildcats.”

Who are “they”? Who are these cold, callous people who blithely shut down a beloved school and disrupt communities? How dare they? And they piously claim they are doing it “for the children.” Did they ask the children? Did they ask their parents?

Of course not.

Categories Closing schools, Education Industry, Michigan, Teachers and Teaching

How The Privatization Movement Is Destroying Public Education

By dianeravitch
July 3, 2013 //
6

In this post, Richard Eskow describes the manipulation of public opinion by people who call themselves reformers.

The attack on public education, he writes, is an attack on children and our nation’s future.

The playbook has been carefully planned and orchestrated. And the media fell for it, with few exceptions. Instead of calling them “reformers,” he says, they should be known as “demolishers.”

Here is a synopsis of the playbook:

“Pretend that “budgets” are the real crisis — but never mention that corporations and the wealthy are paying less in taxes than ever before in modern history.

“Make scapegoats of innocent people to draw attention away from yourselves. For Social Security they’ve attacked “greedy geezers,” but it’s hard to come up with a catchy equivalent for kids. (“Insatiable imps”? “Avaricious anklebiters”?) So they vilify teachers instead.

“Sell a fantasy which says that the private sector can do more, with less money, than government can. (Never, never mention that private insurance provides far less healthcare than public insurance, at much higher cost. And don’t bring up the mess privatization’s made of prisons and other government services.)

“Find a name that doesn’t use words like “money making.” How about “charter schools”?

“Describe yourselves as “reformers” – rather than, say, “demolishers.” That’s why “entitlement reform” is used as a euphemism for cutting Social Security and Medicare. (Michelle Rhee even called her autobiography “Radical.” Apparently “Shameless” was taken.)

“Employ the political and media elite’s fascination with (and poor understanding of) numbers. Suggest that “standardized” and “data-driven” programs will solve everything — without ever mentioning that the truly ideological decisions are made when you decide what it is you’re measuring.

“Co-opt the elite media into supporting your artificial description of the problem, as well as your entirely self-serving solution.

“Use your money to co-opt politicians from both parties so you can present your agenda as “bipartisan” — a word which means you can “buy” a few “partisans” from both sides.”

Categories Budget Cuts, Charter Schools, Corporate Reformers

Katie Osgood to New TFA Recruits: Quit

By dianeravitch
July 3, 2013 //
66

In this post, Katie Osgood writes an open letter to the young people who are entering Teach for America as new recruits.

She knows they are idealistic and believe they are serving a noble cause. They think they are working to reduce inequality. They think they are activists in a progressive organization.

Nothing could be farther from the truth, she writes. They will enter the classrooms of poor students with minimal preparation. They will not reduce inequality. They will advance the goals of some of the nation’s most powerful corporations.

Sophie asks: “Ask yourself honestly, since when did billionaires, financial giants, or hedge fund managers on Wall St begin to care about the education of poor black and brown children in America? If you follow the money, you will see the potential for mass profit through privatization, new construction, union-busting, and various educational service industries. Why would a group dedicated to educational justice partner with these forces?”

With the advance of privatization and school closings, most cities have experienced teachers out of work: “Like so many other cities (New York City, Detroit, and Philadelphia to name a few) we have no teacher shortages. We have teacher surpluses. And yet, TFA is still placing first year novice corps members in places like Chicago. To put it bluntly, the last thing our students undergoing mass school closings, budget cuts, and chaotic school policy need is short-term, poorly-trained novices. Teach for America is not needed in Chicago. Teach for America is not needed in most places.”

TFA, she warns, is an integral part of the assault on public education and the teaching profession. Osgood says to the recruits: “Know why groups of educators and parents boo and hiss when the name “Teach for America” is spoken. You must understand the pushback, and that it has nothing to do with you personally. There have been multiple abuses already endured in the cities you are entering and which TFA exploits. How else are stakeholders supposed to respond as TFA steals precious resources from districts and states in budgetary crisis? Or watch as TFA steals jobs from experienced teachers and qualified, fully-credentialed candidates? As TFA undermines a noble, and importantly female-dominated, profession with false claims that teachers need little preparation? Or as TFA increases inequality by giving our neediest students, students living in poverty, students with disabilities, students still learning English. TFA partners with the very wealthy and politically-connected forces wreaking havoc on our schools against the will of communities?”

Categories Chicago, Teach for America TFA

Duncan Urges Pennsylvania Officials to Act to Save Philly Schools

By dianeravitch
July 2, 2013 //
40

Secretary Arne Duncan publicly urged Pennsylvania officials to take action to save the public schools of Philadelphia.

 

 

Categories Philadelphia

Breaking News: Deasy Critic Wins L.A. Board Presidency

By dianeravitch
July 2, 2013 //
11

In a changing of the regime, the leadership of the Los Angeles school board changed hands.

Six-term president Monica Garcia is out.

Dr. Richard Vladovic was elected as president, with Steve Zimmer as vice-president.

Garcia was a close ally of Mayor Villaraigosa.

Categories Los Angeles

Why Is TFA Replacing the Mississippi Teacher Corps?

By dianeravitch
July 2, 2013 //
30

In response to news that the Walton Family Foundation awarded $4.3 million to Teach for America to send its ill-trained recruits to the Delta, a reader sent this comment:

What upset me most about this award was that the Mississippi Delta is served by our own Mississippi Teacher Corps, which provides more summer training than TFA and a lot more support during the school year. It also requires that its members take coursework at the University of Mississippi leading to a master’s degree in teaching, while attending classes on weekends. Our school has received recruits from both programs, and I can tell that the MTC corps members are much more grounded in the realities of the environments in which they will be placed than the TFA members. I cannot understand why our legislature was so easily swayed away from our own program, unless megabucks have changed hands.

http://mtc.olemiss.edu/

Categories Teach for America TFA
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