Archives for the month of: September, 2013
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KrazyTA on Arne Duncan’s Rhetoric

By dianeravitch
September 13, 2013 //
29

Our frequent commenter KrazyTA was not pleased when Arne Duncan told California it could not stop state testing while introducing Common Core testing.

This was his observation:

This latest statement by Secretary of Education Arne Duncan needs to be viewed in context.

If you read his speech to the April 2013 American Education Research Association he is: for standardized testing and against it; it is useful and not useful and somewhat useful; education is all about testing and not all about testing and somewhat about testing; tests measure and mismeasure and somewhat measure learning and teaching; and to get to the point before his distinguished audience, schools and test experts need to get their testing act together. The clincher: “Some schools have an almost obsessive culture around testing, and that hurts their most vulnerable learners and narrows the curriculum. It’s heartbreaking to hear a child identify himself as “below basic” or “I’m a one out of four.””

Link: http://www.ed.gov/news/speeches/choosing-right-battles-remarks-and-conversation

What is one to make of all this ‘word salad’ that wanders all over the place and seeks to placate and deflect? Teresa Watanabe let the cat out of the bag in the LATIMES of 8-29-13, “State academic performance slips, but L.A. Unified improves.” Her first paragraph: “California public schools lost ground this year in overall academic performance for the first time in a decade, but more than half met state goals for achievement on reading and math standardized tests.”

So just how important are standardized tests in the overall scheme of things?

“The achievement ratings, called the Academic Performance Index, are based on a 1,000-point scale compiled from standardized test scores. They are widely viewed as a comprehensive marker of school quality, affecting property values and triggering penalties, among other effects.”

Link: http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-api-scores-20130829,0,447246.story

In other words, the quality of schools and student achievement and teacher effectiveness = scores on high-stakes standardized tests.

Am I exaggerating? Taking him out of context? Obviously not, for even when for good reasons—within the very strictures imposed by high-stakes standardized testing!—state officials take obvious action to forego for a short time one round of the Holy Edumetrics of $tudent $ucce$$ in order to prepare for another, the Secretary of Education suddenly grows a backbone and speaks his mind plain and simple:

“If California moves forward with a plan that fails to assess all its students, as required by federal law,” Duncan said in a statement released Monday night, “the Department will be forced to take action, which could include withholding funds from the state.”

Link: [the second above in Diane’s posting]

One of the great functions of this blog: to make it possible to put such folks on the spot with their own public words and actions!

Duane Swacker: I think this is a rare instance of you and I parting company on measuring qualities by quantities. I think that blind acceptance of the all-importance of the scores of high-stakes standardized testing can give us an excellent measure of the LACK of: creativity, critical thinking, curiosity, civic-mindedness, compassion, empathy, courage, imagination, and humility [not to mention others]. [taken from Gerald Bracey, EDUCATION HELL, 2009, p. 4].

Just look at the current Secretary of Education. He passed the high-stakes standardized test of “LACK of” with flying colors! He scored a perfect 100 out of 100!

🙂

Lastly, on the misuse and overuse of standardized testing in general, from THE MISMEASURE OF EDUCATION (2013) by Jim Horn and Denise Wilburn, p. 147:

“When the right thing can only be measured poorly, it tends to cause the wrong thing to be measured, only because it can be measured well. And it is often much worse to have a good measurement of the wrong thing—especially when, as is so often the case, the wrong thing will in fact be used as an indicator of the right thing—than to have poor measurements of the right things. —John Tukey mathematician Bell Labs and Princeton University”

Categories California, Duncan, Arne, Testing

A Science Teacher Writes to President Obama: Stop!

By dianeravitch
September 13, 2013 //
57

This letter was posted as a comment: “I just sent the
following post to the White House: Dear David Simas, I have
supported President Obama and the Democratic Party for some time.
However, I’m totally fed up and dismayed by Arne Duncan and the US
Department of Education’s assault on Public Education in America.
There are a lot of subjects I don’t have much in-depth knowledge
about. However, I have been a science teacher for the past 27 years
and I believe that I do know a little about educating children. I
want to tell you that the Race To The Top and it’s predecessor, No
Child Left Behind along with the excessive emphasis on Standardized
Testing are KILLING PUBLIC EDUCATION. “There are a lot of
experienced, knowledgeable, and well educated, respected educators
who are screaming at you to please stop this nutty policy which
includes Pay for Performance and the Common Core Curriculum. It is
certainly true that public education in America can be improved,
but not with the solutions that are now being implemented (without
documentation that they will actually work). “These thoughtless
policies are destroying communities, families, children and
teacher’s lives–all in the name of “improving education”. I now
believe that RTTT, NCLB, and the associated standardized testing
that now drives instruction throughout the country is doing greater
harm to our nation that George Bush’s War in Iraq. In its simplest
terms, children cannot be effectively educated by a top down,
force-fed curriculum. They hate it, get bored, and don’t see the
relevance of this test driven education to their lives. “Teachers
are not given the freedom to teach to the kids where they are and
build on their knowledge base. Curriculum content is dictated from
on high. This is the same concept that Joseph Stalin had in Russia
with his 5-year central economic plans. Didn’t work then, won’t
work now. “Educating children is a complex undertaking. It requires
two way, personal interaction between a teacher and student. If
class sizes are too large, that just can’t happen. If a teacher
cannot get his/her students interested and excited about learning,
educating the child is not going to be effective. There are 4 basic
ingredients to a good education: 1) Well trained and dedicated
teachers, 2) small class sizes, 3) adequate resources and a decent
environment to teach in, and 4) giving the teachers freedom to
teach. “Some will argue that this will just cost too much money and
that there are cheaper ways to educate kids. But it just ain’t so.
“Education is not about the money, it’s about the kids. It’s not
about international competition on standardized tests. Those tests
actually measure the wrong things anyway and cost waaaay too much
money. Public education is perhaps the most important bedrock
pillar that makes our nation great. Policies now being put in
place, including RTTT and Common Core Curriculum are destroying it.
Our children and our nation deserve better from you. I will no
longer support this President or the Democratic Party if they
continue on this self destructive path. “Al Tate
altate1122@gmail.com”

Categories Common Core, Democrats, Obama, Privatization, Race to the Top, Testing

Reader: The New York Times Violated Its Own Guidelines

By dianeravitch
September 13, 2013 //
16

A reader posted this comment in response to the article in the New York Times that was a profile of me:

 

I wrote to the Times public editor. The “portrait” twice quotes unnamed “critics”, a practice I believe is forbidden under NYT editorial rules. The language used is loaded. Her words on her blog are “barbed” and convey “righteous anger”. She displays a “quick temper” and “skewers” individuals. The evidence for that claim? Her new book “devotes a chapter to Michelle A. Rhee”. What does the chapter have to say? We aren’t told. Other “individuals” she allegedly skewers are education politicians in public office. We aren’t told what she had to say about them. Political office-holders have to endure criticism all the time. Is it common practice for the NYT to use such loaded terminology about political disagreements? Of course not. And of course, the darlings of NYT education reform cult don’t “skewer” their opponents ‘ they make reasonable arguments. But woe if you disagree with them, you are a mean-spirited loudmouth.

Categories Education Reform

Herb Bassett: Why Louisiana’s Teacher Evaluation Is Invalid

By dianeravitch
September 13, 2013 //
25

Herb Bassett is a teacher in Louisiana. He teaches music, but like Jersey Jazzman, has the ability to understand statistics and how they work in real classrooms.

This is a letter that he wrote about Louisiana’s new teacher evaluation system, which is as incoherent as teacher evaluation systems in other states:

 

State Superintendent John White showed his true colors when he recently praised four FirstLine charter schools that “fell in the top 10 percent of Louisiana schools in terms of improving test scores, yet ranked fewer than 10 percent of their teachers highly effective.
 
‘Amazing results,’ he wrote.”
 
He did not mention that one of the four schools, while ranked in the 99th percentile of improvement, declared 68 percent of its teachers Ineffective. Most of its teachers are now on a fast track to dismissal.
 
In each of the other three schools, at least 69 percent of their Value-added Assessment Model (VAM) teachers ranked Highly Effective, but none received an observation rating of Highly Effective. Not one.
 
If the VAM computer model ranked so many teachers Highly Effective, why could the principals not find at least one example of Highly Effective teaching in an observation?
 
These results clearly do not reflect student achievement or teacher quality. They deserve condemnation, not praise.
 
What does this bode for teachers and students on the coming Common Core assessments? White has predicted that due to the “rigor” of the new standards, achievement scores will go down.
 
As strange as it seems, teachers will not see lower ratings under VAM – even with the dramatic drop predicted for student scores. The VAM computer model simply ranks the teachers from highest to lowest. No matter whether the scores rise or drop dramatically, there will always be a bottom ten percent ranked Ineffective and a top twenty percent ranked Highly Effective. These quotas were set by the Louisiana Department of Education. Yes, the Department arbitrarily decided that ten percent of teachers are Ineffective and twenty percent should be Highly Effective.
 
Then why does the Compass Report show that only four percent of all teachers are Ineffective?
 
The computer model does not rank all teachers. The majority of teachers are not subject to the quotas. The purpose of the Compass Report was to show the discrepancy, and to coerce evaluators of the non-VAM teachers into matching the VAM system quotas.
 
White, however, seems to relish the thought of evaluations that cut short the quota for Highly Effective teachers.
 
Superintendent White now controls the cut-off scores for the achievement levels on the new assessments. Having seen him praise unjustifiably low teacher evaluations, should parents trust him to decide whether their children pass or fail the new assessments?  
Categories Accountability, Louisiana, Teacher Evaluations

Susan Ohanian: 28 Questions About Common Core

By dianeravitch
September 13, 2013 //
12

Susan Ohanian addressed
this letter to the top officials of the state of Vermont.
She asks straightforward questions about the claims made for Common
Core: what is the evidence? Who wrote them? Where is TE evidence
that Vermont schools were doing a poor job? What will it cost to
implement the Common Core? What makes the new assessments better
than current ones? Bottom line: where is the evidence? Or, look
before you leap.

Categories Common Core

California Ignores Duncan Ultimatum

By dianeravitch
September 13, 2013 //
34

When California officials decided to skip its regular state tests while making the transition to the new Common Core tests, Secretary Arne Duncan warned them that he wouldn’t permit it.

California’s leaders ignored Duncan’s warnings and threats. The state legislature passed the legislation to suspend the state tests.

What a paradox! No one has pushed harder for states to adopt the Common Core (untested) standards than Duncan, yet here he was threatening to punish a state that was doing what he supposedly wanted.

Lewis Freedberg of Edsource in California commented:

“Veteran education watchers in California could not recall a presidential cabinet officer ever attempting to block state legislation and certainly not in the heavy handed way U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan attempted to do on Monday night.”

Federalism seems to be an unknown concept to Duncan.

..

Categories California, Common Core, Duncan, Arne

Who ARE Those Guys? Do They Know Everything?

By dianeravitch
September 13, 2013 //
38

Butch Cassidy asked the
Sundance Kid about their pursuers, “Who ARE those guys?”

We could well ask the same about the posse now hoping to
standardize the nation’s children and teachers. What qualifies
Governor Cuomo, Chancellor King, and those others who are
cheerleaders for the Common Core (e.g., Joel Klein, Jeb Bush,
Michelle Rhee, Arne Duncan, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce) to know
what children in the early and middle grades need to know to be
ready for college and careers?

This teacher writes: “As a 6-8 math
teacher in NYS, what I would like to see or find commentary on is
this question, “What qualifications do the Governor, Mayor,
Commissioner King, and others have to pinpoint precise benchmarks
toward ‘college and career ready’ in 3rd – 8th graders? I just
don’t believe the glide path toward readiness is accurate. Each
student’s path may be as varied and diverse as their own
backgrounds and motivations.”

Categories Common Core, New York, Testing

Tennessee Superintendents Speak Out Against Kevin Huffman

By dianeravitch
September 13, 2013 //
34

Nearly half the superintendents in the state of Tennessee took the unusual step of signing a letter in opposition to State Commissioner Kevin Huffman. They were clearly frustrated by Huffman’s arrogant style of leadership. Huffman was chosen to be state commissioner even though he has only three years of experience as a teacher in Teach for America and no administrative experience. When he was hired, he was in charge of communications for TFA.

Superintendents felt that Huffman was rushing his changes without bothering to consult them. Teachers, they said, felt “voiceless and powerless.” Governor Haslam defended Huffman.

The letter says Education Commissioner Kevin Huffman’s office “has no interest in a dialogue” with local school leaders, and adds that superintendents’ efforts to improve their schools are being thwarted by low teacher morale because of policy changes on the state level.

“It has become obvious to the signees that our efforts to acquire a voice within this administration is futile,” according to the petition. The author of the letter said “his concerns were sparked when Huffman and the Haslam administration last decided to withhold $3.4 million in state education funding from Nashville over its school board’s refusal to authorize a charter school.”

To say the least, it is unusual for local superintendents to speak out against the state commissioner. Huffman’s autocratic, dictatorial decision-making is causing unrest among not only superintendents and teachers, but parents as well, who created a Facebook page calling for Huffman’s ouster.

If the rebellion grows, Huffman may make Haslam a one-term governor.

Categories Accountability, Tennessee

New Report: Race to the Top Is “Impossible” and “Damaging”

By dianeravitch
September 13, 2013 //
8

The Broader Bolder Approach released
a 100-page report in conjunction with the American
Association of School Administrators lambasting the Obama
administration’s Race to the Top program. RTTT’s goals are
“impossible” and may even be damaging schools, the report said.
RTTT handed out $4.35 billion to 11 states to implement changes for
which there was no evidence, like test-based teacher evaluation.
Critics of the report said that it was too soon to make a judgment
but RTTT funding runs out in one year. “The 100-page report,
released Thursday, argues that policies should tackle the effects
of poverty while simultaneously making schools better. By not
targeting out-of-school factors like nutrition and parental income,
the report says, and by focusing on teacher evaluation systems that
often result in harsh consequences without much useful feedback,
Race to the Top goals are severely mismatched with its
policies.”

For another analysis of the report, see Valerie Strauss’s summation here.

Categories Poverty, Race to the Top

My Next Talk in Néw York City

By dianeravitch
September 12, 2013 //
11

If you want to hear about my new book, I will be discussing it at the Century Foundation, 1 Whitehall Street, in Manhattan on Monday, September 23 at 6 pm.

Admission is free but you must register.

The moderator will be Greg Anrig, who writes thoughtfully about education issues.

Some callers were told the event is sold out, but I understand that the foundation plans to add additional seating, so don’t give up.

Categories Ravitch, Diane
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