Adell Cothorne is the brave principal in Washington, D.C., who reported to her headquarters that she saw cheating going on. She was featured on a PBS Frontline special about the uncertain legacy of Michelle Rhee. What happened after she reported cheating by a group of staff? Nothing. Nothing except she became persona non grata for blowing the whistle.
For a long time, her lawyer told her to remain silent.
Now she speaks, and EduShyster offered her this column.
Adell is, pardon the expression, a hero. She spoke out when she saw wrongdoing. She risked her job and career because she could not remain silent.
She belongs on the honor roll of this blog. All schools deserve teachers and principals as courageous and kind and dedicated as Adell Cothorne.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Reprising this for anyone who missed it:
Obviously, the problems in DC schools are all due to the fact that chancellors in the past haven’t been tough enough. They haven’t been nearly Radical enough.
Time to Rheevaluate everyone. And fire them all.
And test more. A LOT more. Nothing motivates kids–nothing fills their bellies and gives them hope and decent living situations and decent clothing to wear and people to love them and two parents at home and money in their parents’ pockets and freedom from fear and stimulating life experiences and direction in life and passion for learning like a good test!
And a rigorous curriculum, of course, in prenatal Algebra (or whatever–anything rigorous will do as long as it seems, to kids, completely irrelevant, completely out of any meaningful context). No excuses!
Oh, and we’ll be needing a LOT of pimply white TFA teenagers from the privileged suburbs to train students in the bubbling of bubbles, which is perhaps THE KEY 21st-century workforce skill.
And when the test scores aren’t what they’re spozed to be, well, there is a solution to that too, a real bee-eater solution–Erase to the Top! You heard me: Erase to the Top! No need for excuses there (heh heh).
Am I making sense here? Then gimmie a great grate.
Well, whatever. I am the Red Queen. I can believe six impossible things before breakfast, and Mr. Walton and Mr. Gates pay me HANDSOMELY–oh, so very HANDSOMELY–to do that for them. Off with their heads. Off with their heads, I say! Wait. Don’t take their heads off until the reporters get here with their cameras. What do you think? This profile, or this? Mirror, mirror on the wall. . . .
Don’t get all squeamish on me, now. Do as I say or I will turn all red in the face and stomp around a lot. That’s what a RHEEL schools chancellor does.
NB: Thanks, BTW, to those on this blog who invented the phrases “prenatal Algebra” and “Rheevaluate”! I wish I remembered who was who, there so that I could give credit where credit is due.
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Adell is a brave and conscientious woman. What a pity that she was subjected to such “leadership.”
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Clearly, creating a culture of fear is going to encourage cheating. It is altogether possible, of course, that Ms. Rhee was not aware of the cheating that was going on. But it seems astonishing that anyone would not understand that creating a culture of fear is going to have such outcomes.
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I can see the hero name for her. I’m down with that.
She has only the self-interest that any parent should have regarding public school. That, and her integrity. What you see is what you get.
And that is heroic, in this day and age (perhaps that’s all heroism really ever has been).
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Didn’t I just see you at Occidental College a mere 7 hours ago….and now you’re already posting, and championing what is truly meaningful in American education? Do you ever rest? Thank you for being our voice during this critical time!!
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“Whatever happened to addressing a child’s social and emotional needs to ensure that they are ready to learn?”
I have wondered this for about 10 years now.
Well, never mind, just give ’em another expensive, highly flawed, corporate made test and punish everyone for the results.
What have “we” done?
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The average performance level of the students in the DC school system simply reflects the racial/ethnic demographics of these students and the long-standing differences in average cognitive level of various racial/ethnic groups. It is doubtful whether tinkering with educational modalities will have much effect.
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Just FYI, we’re in Diane’s living room here, not her bathroom. Please take your $@#%! somewhere else. Thanks.
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“average cognitive level of various racial/ethnic groups.”
Please stop with this nonsense.
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Dienne & Ang: thank you. Some things should be said no matter how obvious they are.
Your responses have prompted me to write something that has been on my mind for some months now. Not only is high-stakes standardized testing indefensible on its own grounds [e.g., inherently imprecise and extremely limited in what it can measure hence deeply misleading], but the data it generates is fodder for the worst kinds of racial and gender profiling.
What is the developing ‘pattern on the rug’? Mayor Rahm Emanuel of Chicago puts it well when he declared to Karen Lewis that “25%” of Chicago Public School children are the “uneducables.” Why only 25%? When Bill Gates says it will take 10 years to see if his “reforms” work, what is magical about that number? Why not more—much more—time?
Don’t be fooled by the superficially inclusive “rainbow coalition” of the wealthy, well-connected, powerful and famous who are hell-bent on achieving $tudent $ucce$$ at any cost. In order to win, the movers and shakers in the charterite/privatizer movement have to re-educate the general public into believing that a “better education for all” in public schools is impossible, impractical, and irresponsible. Using what they assert are “best business practices” it is time—Impatient Optimists of the World Unite!—to put every available resource behind Michael J Petrilli’s ‘strivers’ and Rahm’s ‘educables.’
After all, isn’t that what the “hard data” demand? With the nation at risk, everything on the line, this is no time to be sentimental, soft-headed, and well-meaning in the short run but cruel in the long run. Some are just destined by laws both divine and natural to be on top. As a leading theologian of the charterite/privatizer movement declaims,
“Men lie and women lie but numbers don’t.” [Dr. Steve Perry, “America’s Most Trusted Educator” echoing the wisdom of rapper Jay-Z]
Allegedly.
“Statistics are no substitute for judgment.” [Henry Clay]
And bad statistics at that!
🙂
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wonderful post, KTA.
Especially, “Some are just destined by laws both divine and natural to be on top.”
I have believed for a very long time that none of this public school restructuring was an accident or mistake, earning me the (good natured) nickname “conspiracy sister” from many of my colleagues.
I am coming to understand that the “predestined” ruling class has as much to do with the style and order of “reform” as the smash and grab disaster capitalists.
I continue to be very glad you post here!
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“a leading theologian”
Well said, Krazy. And yes, there is a sickening racist undertone to the current reforms. Those who are powerful and wealthy have always wanted to believe that they differ in kind from others. These days, they bolster their belief with bad genetics.
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The average cognitive level of the person who believes that average cognitive levels are matters of “race” is not so high.
Jim, I highly suggest that you do some reading to disabuse yourself of these notions. Start by reading Richard Lewontin’s seminal paper, “The Apportionment of Human Diversity,” which you can find here:
Click to access Lewontin-The-Apportionment-of-Human-Diversity.pdf
Then read Richart Nisbett’s Intelligence and How to Get It. Then read Eva Jablonka’s brilliant Evolution in Four Dimensions. Then let’s talk.
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Robert D. Shepherd: what in your opinion are the main strengths and weaknesses of Stephen Jay Gould, THE MISMEASURE OF MAN (1996, updated edition)? And in your opinion, how does it compare to Richard Nesbitt’s INTELLIGENCE AND HOW TO GET IT (2010)?
I read all your postings and have a sense of how you approach things. I am not looking for an exhaustive answer (frankly, I feel that would be an abuse of this blog) but after looking at the table of contents and first few pages of Nesbitt’s book online at amazon, I am considering buying it. Your answer will weigh in my decision.
Thank you in advance if you have a moment to respond.
🙂
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The Mismeasure of Man is an excellent book, no doubt about it, but the Nisbett contains some really important info. He reports on studies of fluid intelligence activities done with kids from low socioeconomic status areas of Baltimore that resulted in gains of AN ENTIRE STANDARD DEVIATION on IQ tests. The gains didn’t last, however, because the kids went right back to their high-poverty circumstances, which eroded them significantly. But these findings show that IQ is NOT–let me repeat, NOT–heritable to the extent proclaimed in racist tracts like The Bell Curve. Also very interesting in Nisbett’s book is his reporting on a study in which VAST improvements on IQ tests came from the simple intervention of rewarding kids with small candies for each correct answer. This improved IQ results by 12 points!!!
The Jablonka book goes much, much deeper. The emerging science of epigenetics is revealing that the physical circumstances of mothers affect the chemical environment of DNA in her eggs, turning particular genes on or off–that is, controlling gene expression. What this means is that the identical twin studies that reported high heritability were completely flawed because they didn’t control for these crucial epigenetic factors–environmental factors that were passed on in the mother’s eggs! So, the separation of the twins DIDN’T CONTROL FOR ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS!!!Epigenetics is turning what we know of genes and heritability on its head, and all this science is very, very new.
BTW, an oldie but goodie, a very important, seminal paper on IQ and race is Lewontin, R. D. (1973) “The Apportionment of Human Diversity.” Evolutionary Biology 6: 381-397. A must read.
An excellent starting point for info on epigenetics is this recent conference summary:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3783959/
Again, these epigenetics findings are very new, and a lot of the evolutionary psychologists haven’t caught up with it yet and don’t want to do so because it blows their genetic determinism out of the water.
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So, just to be clear about this, here’s what happens: A mother experiences poverty and stress. These cause changes in her body, including creation of corticosteroids. These in turn change the expression of genes in her DNA. So, take two twins identical twins born from this mother and raise them separately and you have NOT isolated genetic factors because their gene expression depends to an enormous extent upon THE MOTHER’S ENVIRONMENT.
In other words, poverty matters. But that’s not what those at the top of the socioeconomic ladder want to believe. They want to believe that they are there because they have superior genes, and folks who are poor are there because of their inferior genes. They don’t want to think that it’s because those poor kids’ parents were poor, and their grandparents were poor, and their great grandparents were slaves, and these economic conditions HAD CONSEQUENCES.
A new picture of how genes work is emerging. They are not a simple recipe–an all-or-nothing recipe. They are more like a set of dials on a mixer for a PA system. The environment sets the dials–controls the gene expression–in other words, it has DRAMATIC consequences for the resultant phenotypes.
So, when you hear people talking this genetic determinism line, you can draw one conclusion: they haven’t been paying attention to the emerging science.
BTW, the Gould book is a bit out of date. He blames the heritability numbers on a lousy statistical technique–factor analysis–and one the faking of data by a British researcher. Both are true but only part of the story. THE BIG PART that is missing is this new info about epigenetic factors.
Clearly, the widely reported heritability figures for intelligence are junk science.
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Robert D. Shepherd: thank you.
I hope to order Richard Nesbitt’s book today. I am also thinking favorably about the other.
🙂
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Uncomfortable aspects of reality do not vanish because one refuses to acknowledge them. In traditional Comanche culture for example death is never mentioned and the
dead are never even referred to or their names used. Nevertheless Comanches still die.
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some people remain ignorant despite progress…nevertheless Jim.
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Isn’t culture different than race and ethnicity? If you’re saying that socio-economic and cultural factors are tough to overcome, I’d agree.
“whether tinkering with educational modalities will have much effect.”
Well I’d say its worth about half. The other half of the time they spend aat home. Tinkering to increase the stability of home life is a more complicated problem.
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Jim, please see my notes above regarding heritability of IQ.
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I admire your teacher’s optimism that everyone is educable, but, frankly, I think Jim is one of those zoned out in the back row. I don’t think he’s terribly interested in learning anything he doesn’t already know.
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I remain optimistic, Dienne. Science is science. People can have their opinions but not their facts. Genetic determinism is going the way of phlogiston and ether and the belief that moving bodies use up their inherent force until they come to a rest.
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By the way, one of the earliest findings of epigenetics research explains why obesity is a problem among the poor. And guess what, it’s not because they are lazy good-for-nothings who spend their government assistance money on potato chips. T
he mother’s stress causes changes methyl groups to be attached to certain genes, putting them in an “off” position that causes obesity. So, the environment of the mother changes the gene expression, and the obesity has an epigenetic cause due to environmental conditions. There’s another reason, too, why those chips are so satisfying. Our ancestors in stressful environments (hunger was a chief stressor) survived differentially if, in those circumstances, they gorged on high-fat foods when they came across them (those yummy grubs under that log).
Again, epigenetics invalidates those identical twin studies that purported to control for environment. That’s junk science.
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Anyone else notice that this brave woman appeared on Edushyster’s blog, not John Merrow’s?
Do we need an English-to-English translation of a recent John Merrow blog posting? Does “No More Rhee” actually mean “No More Cothorne”?
Or was it just autocorrect on his Bill Gates Special $tudent $ucce$$ version of Word?
Link: http://takingnote.learningmatters.tv/?p=6537
Inquiring minds, rumor has it, don’t want to know. They have better things to do, like try to ensure a “better education for all”…
🙂
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Actually, Merrow did post about Cothorne on his blog. He did not, however, include her on the Frontline show, where she would have been much more visible.
http://takingnote.learningmatters.tv/?p=6070
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Christine Langhoff: I know about that posting and thank you for reminding viewers of it.
Obviously I did not make clear that I was referring to a recent reference, i.e., John Merrow himself is responsible for bringing this brave woman to our attention in the first place, but apparently anything to do with “Rhee” stuff is now “No More.”
Which brings up a question of both moral integrity and professional ethics for John Merrow: just because you won’t cover Rhee, what’s stopping you from covering Adell Cothorne?
Thank you for your posting.
🙂
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Not to let Merrow off the hook re: his journalistic integrity, but I’m beginning to think that letting Rhee drop from sight might be a good thing. She’s kind of like Sarah Palin or Michelle Backman – just a side show. And she is in no way Diane’s equal. I heard Diane mention debating Rhee on KQED, but I would much prefer a debate with Arne Duncan. Not to imply that he’s Diane’s equal either; she could make hash of his policies in about 3 minutes. He’s the one with the power to pull all the levers – he could put Gates, Klein and Amplify out of education in a moment.
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When I listen to the reformers where I work, some of them actually sound like they believe the drivel. I thought they were supposed to be the best and the brightest? What definition is being used for “best”- the depth of their families’ pockets? And since when does brightest equate with naivety?
I noticed Rhee being swept in and out of the neighborhoods in an SUV where the schools are. She should have walked the streets, as should all TFAs, and see what really goes on where the students come from. I had a first grader once who I was constantly reminding to sit down when we were eating in the cafeteria. I went to his apartment in the projects to get his parent to sign something and I saw a tiny little table with no chairs. I never asked him to sit down again.
And I know this is NOTHING compared to the issues and environments inner city kids face where they live. Do you think the reformers even know about the other world that exists out there for some students? I know the kids are capable, but you cannot give them back innocence once it’s lost.
Talk about being out of touch with the students’ realities! I honor and praise the kids for getting up everyday and getting to school. That is bravery- just facing another day.
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Magnificent, Robert. Thank you!!! I wish every one of these “reformers” would read what you have said here.
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As with everything else in a democracy, unless “heroes” appear and fight against tyranny, democracy does not exist. There will be many heroes in this fight, most probably never known but Kennedy”s “Profiles of [in?] Courage” still needs to be read and emulated.
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Give them hell Adell. Never give in. Minority children and their community are being ripped off by “reformers” all over America. Keep telling the truth.
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