Jesse Hagopian Rocks Education Nation!

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1. Alex Berg says:

   October 9, 2013 at 2:51 pm

   He did indeed ‘rock’ what was mostly a corporately sanitized production, at least in terms of the corporate scions featured on the show… Plus, he’s HOT!

   It was the students and teachers who pushed a true education agenda… not the ‘experts’, especially Rohema Ellis, whom I’m sure sensed that she was in over her head given the sentiments of frontline classroom folks….

   Reply
2. First Teachers @ Home says:

   October 9, 2013 at 2:54 pm

   Fabulous….only you could have gotten me to watch any part of thatt disgraceful piece of pseudo journalism.

   Reply
   • jcgrim says:

     October 9, 2013 at 5:26 pm

     hahahaha! my sentiments exactly. I didn’t want to give NBC ANY hits to their web count!

     Reply
3. berti3579_ says:

   October 9, 2013 at 3:12 pm

   BEAUTIFUL!!!!
   Well said.

   Reply
4. Chiara says:

   October 9, 2013 at 3:13 pm

   He really did a great job.

   Wonderful opening line “teachers invented tests” to blunt the inevitable media framing of opposition to the insane focus on as opposition to “tests” or “accountability.”

   It’s harder than it looks, presenting a logical yet passionate and obviously authentic response.

   I love the look on the media interviewer’s face, too, I have to say-just dying to interrupt Mr. Hagopian 🙂

   Reply
5. FLERP! says:

   October 9, 2013 at 3:13 pm

   I’d be interested in what the immediate response on the dais was. Brian Williams looked like he was about to jump out of his chair at one point.

   Reply
   • Dee Dee says:

     October 9, 2013 at 5:15 pm

     Williams is absolutely clueless. He acted like this new eval. system and common core was finally going to bring great education to America. It is just awful.

     Reply
   • thenextlevel2000 says:

     October 9, 2013 at 10:50 pm

     That was great. Both interviewers were not hiding their hand too well. They were very uncomfortable with what he was saying!

     Reply
6. Robert D. Shepherd says:

   October 9, 2013 at 3:15 pm

   Wonderful. I am waiting for Bill Gates to come out strongly against standardized testing (when he finally groks how opposed to it the entire country is). When that happens, of course, all the sycophants and toadies who receive Gates money to promote this crap will back off too.

   One can dream.

   Reply
7. David Yuguchi says:

   October 9, 2013 at 3:18 pm

   Jesse does rock!

   Reply
8. Colorado Teacher says:

   October 9, 2013 at 3:24 pm

   wow – He sure makes the case that teachers are practical, smart, and articulate. Thanks for posting this!

   Reply
9. Linda says:

   October 9, 2013 at 3:40 pm

   Who are the two women? The one to the left of Brian Williams looked annoyed. Who is she?

   Reply
10. George Buzzetti says:

    October 9, 2013 at 3:48 pm

    How about president for this amazing thinking person. I thought I was listening to myself and wanted to photoshop my head on him. Finally, someone spoke truth to power in a very clear, concise and logical manner. Run for Prez. Enough of the phonies working to wipe up out literally. If you have seen the latest studies on the artic, ie. climate, it will scare you. He must have read it and been following for a long time to make the statements he has and has thought a lot on this overall look at what we are facing.

    Reply
11. Benjamin Campbell says:

    October 9, 2013 at 4:00 pm

    An encouraging and thoughtful 2 minute video by a real teacher!

    From: Diane Ravitch’s blog Reply-To: Diane Ravitch’s blog Date: Wednesday, October 9, 2013 2:44 PM To: Benjamin Campbell Subject: [New post] Jesse Hagopian Rocks Education Nation!

    WordPress.com dianerav posted: “Jesse Hagopian was one of the leaders of the teacher boycott of MAP testing at Garfield High School in Seattle last spring. Watch him knock the socks off a question about testing at Education Nation. Well done, Jesse!”

    Reply
12. Randal Hendee says:

    October 9, 2013 at 4:00 pm

    Thanks for the link. He packed more good humored sense into a minute forty-seven than all the “reformers” in their endless hours of ranting.

    I saw this live and couldn’t help laughing out loud when they cut to the MSNBC education reporter giving him the stink eye. It was also very telling that Brian Williams didn’t address any of his points. No follow-up questions, no nothing. During this clip Williams appears to shift uneasily in his seat.

    I believe that if he’s willing, and if he connects with the right people, Jesse Hagopian can have a best selling book, too. I’d buy it. Even Oprah might take notice. (Speaking of which… Diane, any chance that she’ll interview you at some point?)

    Reply
    • Randal Hendee says:

      October 9, 2013 at 4:07 pm

      Sorry if I misidentified the woman giving him the dirty look. She was given quite a bit of time to speak during the show. Not exactly on the same wavelength as the applauding teachers.

      Reply
    • Dee Dee says:

      October 9, 2013 at 5:20 pm

      Williams couldn’t ask questions because he has no clue what is going on out here. He probably only interacts with the usual reform suspects and reads teleprompters. He really has no clue. Ellis is also clueless.

      Reply
      • Randal Hendee says:

        October 9, 2013 at 5:49 pm

        I guess I did get the reporter’s identity right. Anyway, I’ve never liked Brian Williams’s work. In this case, he did ask a follow-up question of the woman to his left, but he pointedly ignored Mr. Hagopian. So while I agree that Williams is clueless about education, he isn’t clueless about what NBC is trying to achieve with Education Nation. I think he wants to keep his job.

        Still, it was fun to see a high school teacher run intellectual rings around an NBC anchor.

      • Linda says:

        October 9, 2013 at 5:55 pm

        A few years ago he was fawning all over Deborah Kinney (sp?) and Harlem village academy. His kids never attended public school, I bet. This is his service to the poor people stuck in public schools. In his mind he is helping “some of them”. Now he can feel as though he did something good for the commoners.

      • Randal Hendee says:

        October 9, 2013 at 6:27 pm

        Linda:

        There’s a lot of that going around these days. High profile people who are uninformed about education can feel good by “giving back,” which can take the form of supporting charters , etc. That’s the only motivation, other than the paycheck, I can imagine for somebody like Viola Davis starring in and doing publicity for that awful anti-union, anti-teacher movie that bombed last summer.

        I’d love to see Oprah Winfrey (who’s caught that same bug and might some day be cured of it) in conversation with people like Diane Ravitch, Deborah Meier, Jonathan Kozol, Cornel West, and a sampling of brilliant teachers like Jesse Hagopian. Hey, she’s into lifelong learning, isn’t she? She could make it happen.

      • KrazyTA says:

        October 9, 2013 at 10:36 pm

        Dee Dee: I think that you are right. Literally and factually. Brian Williams and the other MSM stenographers don’t have a clue. They are so uninformed and misinformed that they are at a loss for what to say next—even as a challenge—to what an actual teacher has to say, that they can do nothing more than gape and glare.

        Jesse Hagopian was obviously unknown to the sponsors and producers of Education Nation; they will learn from this “mistake” and try to avoid it in the future. This is a perfect example of why—when they know the quality of a Diane Ravitch and some others who are articulate and expert spokespersons for public school and a “better education for all”—they don’t allow them to have one-on-one discussions with the leading lights of the charterite/privatizer movement. It would destroy the schmooze-fest and congenial edubusiness-friendly atmosphere of such MSM events.

        Jess Hagopian: most krazy props from a decidedly most KrazyTA.

        🙂

13. tutucker says:

    October 9, 2013 at 4:02 pm

    Linda, she’s a journalist who came to Denver. I was in the audience at education nation when they were in Denver and I had the chance to speak to these things. She tried to come back with something but it made no sense.
    I do love her facial expressions on this. Remember these journalists are not on our side or at least are ignorant and will listen to the ones who pay them.
    (I’m 45 minutes into the 2nd part.) http://www.educationnation.com/index.cfm?objectid=A66FD270-7DBE-11E1-8B72000C296BA163
    I even quote Dr. Ravitch in my message. 🙂

    Reply
14. Mark Ahlness says:

    October 9, 2013 at 4:46 pm

    Kudos to Jesse for his spot on message and for allowing no chance for an interruption. That’s not an easy thing to do.

    I also thought it was interesting watching Brian Williams shift uncomfortably – and the the sigh and glares (“stink eye”, Randal, that’s a good one) from Rhema Ellis (NBC Chief Education Correspondent) – sheesh.

    Most telling, however, was the enthusiastic audience response to Jesse’s message.

    Reply
    • Mark Ahlness says:

      October 9, 2013 at 4:49 pm

      oops, that was Rehema…

      Reply
    • tutucker says:

      October 9, 2013 at 4:49 pm

      Bet he won’t be invited back. 😉

      Reply
    • Dee Dee says:

      October 9, 2013 at 5:23 pm

      I’ve seen Ellis report things on NBC that were nothing more than Gates’ propaganda pieces. I no longer watch NBC because it has become so obvious that they are bought by a few.

      Reply
15. Concerned Mom of Two says:

    October 9, 2013 at 5:46 pm

    Would love to see Jesse debate Michelle Rhee or Bill Gates! Who can arrange this?

    Reply
16. 2old2tch says:

    October 9, 2013 at 6:01 pm

    I would like to leave the whole worship of testing behind. Testing gives me a snapshot of where a student is, and my response depends on what I know about that student. I am not in favor of testing as an interim event or as the culminating event of K-12 education. There is something very wrong with your system if you need a test to tell you that a child is ready to move on. I am not convinced that a test or even a project is a fair measure of 12 years of education. We seem to forget that culminating events in college or graduate school are over increasingly narrow areas of study although of far greater depth. We want to test our K-12 students’ readiness with tests covering a much wider area of study with less depth. The teacher designed assessment instruments (of whatever form) administered as a student moves through school are of far more value. It was wonderful to watch Jesse put assessment back in the hands of teachers, where it belongs.

    Reply
    • Mark Ahlness says:

      October 9, 2013 at 7:06 pm

      I agree about the letting testing craze keep a foot in the door. That was the one thing Jesse said that made me wince – at the end. Assess every kid in every single subject? I don’t care whether it’s a portfolio, a performance task, a product, or whatever… Given the state of things, a goal like that would make things much, much worse than they already are, upping the high stakes nature of education unnecessarily and leaving the door always open to the misuse/abuse of testing, all over again.

      Reply
    • Randal Hendee says:

      October 9, 2013 at 8:47 pm

      It did give me pause when he said that a defense-of-dissertation style activity should be done in every grade. I’m hoping he believes teachers should be free to design their own activities, appropriate to the subject matter, age group, and so on.

      Theodore Sizer made that suggestion back in the 1980s. Formal and informal sharing, project displays, demonstrations, presentations, and performances that are valuable in and of themselves would make a lot more sense than standardized tests. Here’s a performance that captures that spirit:

      The Tuttles with AJ Lee perform “Hickory Wind,” by Gram Parsons. Mr. Tuttle has some interesting comments about learning at the beginning and the end.

      Reply
    • Metro Issues :: Lou (@MetroIssuesLou) says:

      October 10, 2013 at 9:48 am

      Re: “There is something very wrong with your system if you need a test to tell you that a child is ready to move on.”

      Agreed. But also there’s an ongoing problem with social promotion and that’s probably one aspect that has led us into this big testing mess in the first place. Note that my understanding is teachers engage in this social promotion mostly due to prodding from administrators who don’t want to have to deal with “failure statistics” or be responsible for additional remedial costs. Many teachers know their principals frown on failing students, and so to avoid further unpleasantness in the workplace, they pass them on. I stress again that I put the onus on administrators with this practice.

      Reply
      • 2old2tch says:

        October 10, 2013 at 1:09 pm

        I agree with you that social promotion can be a problem but one that I would contend cannot be solved with high stakes testing. If I dare to use the dreaded words “research shows,” holding students back may be more detrimental and may lead to an increase in students giving up and leaving school. We need to think more creatively to tackle why some students are not making adequate progress. I agree that administrators are often responsible for social promotion. Teachers are “encouraged” to pass students especially at the high school level. I suspect, though, that the problem is multi-layered and requires multiple interventions unique to the age and circumstances of the at risk students. There is no silver bullet to employ another overused cliche.

      • Metro Issues :: Lou (@MetroIssuesLou) says:

        October 10, 2013 at 1:41 pm

        2old2tch, I don’t disagree with anything you said.

        But I think the core issue at hand is a student is falling behind, and what’s done in many cases? It’s swept under the rug. Again, I think this is largely admin-driven.

        I don’t think high-stakes testing is good in any possible way, and I also think we have to consider the self-esteem of the students concerned. Of course, if a student is promoted and has increasing problems in later grades, that affects their self-esteem just as negatively.

        I think the basic answer is in front of our faces: If the student is failing, do what you can to get them up to speed before the next school year starts. If they got an ‘F’ in 6th grade math, then tutor them over the summer to at least get them to a ‘D’ or better, so they at least have the essentials to handle 7th grade math. This is the true “leaving no child behind”.

        So, ultimately we have to ask ourselves: “Why aren’t we doing the basic things to keep students on top of the skills they supposed to have?” The answer certainly is complex, but it has to be tackled.

        Making the lives of teachers and students miserable with sometimes-frequent high-stakes testing is about as off-course as one can go to deal with the real issues.

      • 2old2tch says:

        October 10, 2013 at 5:01 pm

        We agree.

      • LG says:

        October 10, 2013 at 3:53 pm

        High stakes testing only measures a fraction of what children need to know to be citizens. I’m starting to believe that there is a social skill deficiency epidemic in our schools and communities that affects learning.

        Some students may be wired differently, but their learning styles can also be reinforced through a strong reliance on learning modifications and behavior scaffolds. While many modifications serve to meet the child in his own learning style, processing pace, and social comfort zone, many unproductive learning behaviors are reinforced through ignoring appropriate social education. We need a “common core” for social education. How do we have time to address and practice the resolution of little conflicts that arise each day when our Kindergarteners are being held to “academic rigor?”

        In my school, we do not have severely disabled children, but we do have more than 10% with a cognitive impairment. However, basic skills such as attending to the teacher, interpreting directions, and performing simple, ordered tasks are lost on many of the regular ed students in every grade level. I have seen many of these children “in action” in other situations, and I find that they are often coddled which does not teach them to be self-reliant or focused. They interrupt, they have little to no patience, and many show up in school with very little in the way of socially appropriate skills. I’m tired of hearing excuses for behavior issues such as, “They’re kids” or “He’s just very active because he’s a boy” when I know that a well-structured lesson with intervals of up and down time as well as appropriate and attainable learning tasks are what students need to learn. However, clear expectations of what is expected of students throughout the school community is also important. Every moment is a socially teachable one.

        I don’t feel there is enough of an emphasis on social education whether in home or in other activity environments. It gets to be that students have no idea how to behave in public. They see non-academic tasks as down time not worthy of any sense of personal discipline. Ever watch an elementary class walking back into the school hallways after running around in the playground? Most students just do not have a clue how to be respectful of other classrooms without constant redirection.

        I do not teach just one set of children–I have upwards of six different classes a day. I see more and more students with very little experiential knowledge about how to behave appropriately toward adults and fellow children. Since I do not see the same children every day, I cannot reinforce the appropriate behaviors on a daily basis. Therefore the bulk of my work is based on reminding students of expectations in an effort to develop the social skills necessary for the preservation of a safe and productive learning environment. As a result, I teach a fraction of the actual curriculum. Are my students attentive and do they appear to be learning? Yes, but I feel they are not learning as much as I would like them to know. My related arts colleagues and I are too busy reminding students how to walk safely in our hallways or how to enter a classroom respectfully. They certainly know how to take standardized tests, though.

17. 2old2tch says:

    October 9, 2013 at 6:05 pm

    “We want to test our K-12 students’ readiness with tests covering a much wider area of study with less depth.”

    Change to: We want to judge our K-12 students’ readiness with tests covering a much wider area of study with less depth. Why?

    Reply
18. Reflective Thinking says:

    October 9, 2013 at 6:39 pm

    who is the woman giving him the eagle eye?

    Reply
    • Reflective Thinking says:

      October 9, 2013 at 6:39 pm

      evil eye

      Reply
      • Metro Issues :: Lou (@MetroIssuesLou) says:

        October 10, 2013 at 1:44 pm

        That’s Reforma, er, Deforma, er, Rehema Ellis, NBC’s utterly unqualified Chief Education Correspondent

19. Maggie says:

    October 9, 2013 at 6:40 pm

    Outstanding! I loved the way he barely breathed so that there was no chance to be interrupted or shut down. Succinct, eloquent. You’re my hero, Jesse. Thank you!

    Reply
20. mom/speducator says:

    October 9, 2013 at 7:04 pm

    Thanks Jesse! You were awesome. The non verbals of the interviewers were priceless. Daggers at Jesse. Did anyone ever find out who the woman was who did the glare?

    Reply
21. Mark Twainfive says:

    October 9, 2013 at 9:09 pm

    Coleman keeps talking about other nations doing this but it appears to me that they want more creativity and thinking outside the box? Why not have someone like Pasi Salhberg talk about Finland? Are they afraid he will not support their agenda!

    Reply
    • 2old2tch says:

      October 9, 2013 at 9:24 pm

      I was reading in a educational newsletter that beholden to foundation funding that children’s creativity has declined in the last twenty years. Imagine that! I don’t know what metrics they were using (and am not sure I care), but now we have states, MA and Ca were mentioned, designing checklists or some such nonsense to measure how school districts are encouraging creativity in their schools. Are they serious?!

      Reply
22. 2old2tch says:

    October 9, 2013 at 9:24 pm

    …that is beholden…

    Reply
23. John Young says:

    October 9, 2013 at 10:31 pm

    Much smoother than David Coleman:

    Watch David Coleman tap dance his way through CCSS Explanation http://t.co/gcrPmsGyou

    — John M. Young (@ED_IN_DE) October 10, 2013

    Reply
    • chemtchr says:

      October 10, 2013 at 1:05 am

      Wow. Coleman is toast.
      I think the kids just defeated Common Core.

      Reply
    • LG says:

      October 10, 2013 at 6:26 am

      “Much smoother than David Coleman…” but not anywhere as slippery. Coleman gave me the creeps as he slithered so over-confidently through his propaganda. Too bad he couldn’t convince the students to be as impressed with him as he is with himself.

      Reply
    • Metro Issues :: Lou (@MetroIssuesLou) says:

      October 10, 2013 at 9:30 am

      If the lead designer of CCSS can’t explain it, and certainly nobody else has been able to, who can? All the public gets from CCSS cheerleaders is superficial infotainment-grade la-la-la’s on what this new curriculum is about. There is never any explanation on how exactly CCSS does any better at helping to make students more “college and career ready” than their previous local curricula. It’s like all the CCSS purveyors are working from a pyramid of trust. And if Coleman is at the top of that pyramid…. yikes.

      Reply
24. thenextlevel2000 says:

    October 9, 2013 at 10:56 pm

    He mentioned teaching collaboration and creative thinking….Schools need to get over this idea! Schools think they can teach creative thinking…..teach children to read, write and do math. Let them focus on undiluted academics. But then let them create things! Creative thinking” grows from doing creative things…it can not be taught. Let’s please get over that idea. Solid foundation in basics, opportunities to really be creative…and throw away all the rubrics!

    Reply
    • Sahila says:

      October 9, 2013 at 11:22 pm

      let them be CREATIVE and then introduce the academics…. for example – let them build pyramids AND THEN teach them the math that makes that building possible…. that’s how the brain learns/works…. from the concrete to the abstract, not vice versa

      Reply
      • thenextlevel2000 says:

        October 9, 2013 at 11:27 pm

        Funny, but not funny…CC works from abstract to concrete.

      • thenextlevel2000 says:

        October 9, 2013 at 11:28 pm

        at least for math.

    • Metro Issues :: Lou (@MetroIssuesLou) says:

      October 10, 2013 at 9:26 am

      Yes and no. Yes, you can let students go off and create things, and that’s worthwhile. But also, there are all kinds of best-practice creativity exercises that can only be brought to the students through their teachers, along with making the time for such exercises and integrating them into their studies.

      Reply
      • thenextlevel2000 says:

        October 10, 2013 at 10:01 am

        Agreed. But we have gone from checklists to prescriptive, lengthy rubrics which effectively act as a set of directions for success. Just let teachers go back to doing what they do best.

25. neanderthal100 says:

    October 10, 2013 at 7:21 am

    it is so refreshing to hear Jesse.
    He is totally correct.
    Teachers teach a Test. I did…. and in doing so creativity was lost…

    Did anyone read on the Chris Hayes interview with Diane, the article by Leah Sellers.

    I found her website..
    “The Divinity of Music and Homemade Cookies”
    Creativity does not get much better than this!!!

    This article is so inspiring

    http://leahsellers.newsvine.com/_news/2013/10/06/20842460-the-divinity-of-music-and-homemade-cookies

    Reply
26. Metro Issues :: Lou (@MetroIssuesLou) says:

    October 10, 2013 at 9:20 am

    Hagopian’s answer to Brian Williams is nothing less than a “shot heard ’round the country”.

    My assessment is that Miseducation Nation’s producers thought, errantly, that they could bring on this “ringleader” of opposition to standardized testing and trip him up, embarrassing him and this growing movement. Their plot was obviously foiled, in spades.

    Hagopian’s answer, to the deformers’ surprise, was forthright, creative, insistent and compelling. Anyone watching could visualize actual tables being turned.

    We have more than a new hero here, folks. We have a turning point.

    Reply
27. dChristine says:

    October 10, 2013 at 1:38 pm

    The Real News Website had a short segment on Jesse Hagopian ( video and transcript)
    ———

    Seattle Teacher Jesse Hagopian Schools NBC’s Education Nation:

    http://therealnews.com/t2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=10856

    Reply

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