Archives for the year of: 2013
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Scott Kuffel: I’m No Hero

By dianeravitch
September 6, 2013 //
20

A few days ago, I named Scott Kuffel to the honor roll for
his courage in speaking out against the state’s arbitrary decision to
raise the cut scores on state tests, thus lowering student grades,
in preparation for Common Core testing. Anytime a superintendent is
willing to stand up for what is right and to defend students and
teachers from misguided policies, they are heroic. We need many
more of them to stop the train wreck that is mistakenly called
“reform.” After I saluted him, Superintendent Kuffel responded with
this comment:

“To those above who state that I am not a hero, you are absolutely correct. I’ve neither made that claim nor asked to be on this honor roll. There is always more that can be done. I’m not going to bore you with the context of the consequences for pulling funding by not taking state mandated tests in Illinois, but trust me, I have explored as many options as possible to direct our district to be non-compliant without jeopardizing essential programs for our students.

“And yes, I do need to make mortgage payments and buy groceries for my family, and perhaps it would be more heroic to disregard personal, professional and programmatic damages and “opt out” of state tests… and it may come to that, but for now, we in Illinois still work under guidelines and laws that would require more than just my decision to authorize said “civil disobedience”. There are many in Illinois who join me in trying to return us to a time of more common sense (and yes, it may reference Thomas Paine), creativity, and constructivism. And believe me, we have refused to take part in several “reform” structures and resource draining initiatives that we believe do not improve our mission.

“So, you’re correct, I am no hero. I’m a superintendent of a public, PK-12 school district in rural Illinois. The hero is the principal who comes in early on a Sunday morning to replace sod on the football field where vandals damaged the turf before graduation. The hero is the school nurses who makes the difficult call home to parents and tends to a scarcely seen scratch on a kindergartner’s arm. The hero is the AP US History teacher who holds study sessions, at 8 pm at night after kids are finished with their practices. The hero is the art teacher who spends her own money for supplies and materials because she knows the budget is dwindling, but the need for the arts is more important than ever. The heroes are the parents who sacrifice time for fundraising and make meals for another parent who just tragically lost a child. The heroes are school board members who take the criticism and complaints for hiring, for spending, for firing, for taking “hard lines” in difficult times.

“The heroes are those who try. They try every day for their “littles” who come with scant learning experiences or understanding of manners. They try for the businesses and realtors in town who pressure for high quality schools because that drives local economies and housing. They try because they believe that what happens today has impacts on tomorrow that we’re never really sure we’ll see.

“And those are the heroes in whom I believe. They are the heroes who keep me coming to work every day. They’ve kept me coming to District 228 for 10 years, and I know they’ll keep me coming for a few more. Thanks for listening, and thanks for the many good suggestions in these previous comments. Scott Kuffel, Geneseo CUSD 228 Superintendent”

Categories Administrators, superintendents, Honor Roll, Illinois

Sharon Higgins on the Gulen Movements and Its Charters

By dianeravitch
September 6, 2013 //
46

Sharon R. Higgins is a parent activist in Oakland,
California, who manages multiple websites as a concerned citizen.
One is “charter school
scandals.” Another is the Broad Report. Third is a
compilation of articles about the Gulen movement.

Sharon has long wondered why so many districts, states, and the federal government
have turned over a basic public responsibility to foreign
nationals, who hire other foreign nationals, and export hundreds of
millions of taxpayer dollars. Her concern is not nationalistic or
xenophobic. It is about the civic and communal nature of public
education.

She writes: “On Saturday I spoke at the “Expose the
Gulen Movement” protest rally held on a farm in the rural, rolling
hills around Saylorsburg, PA. We assembled less than two miles from
the compound where Fethullah Gulen lives. Gulen is considered to be
one of the two most powerful men in Turkey. This is the video of my
speech, starting at 00:45 min.
http://new.livestream.com/…/AbdEylemVakti/videos/28766474 Earlier
that day, Gulenist operatives had driven around to take down the
signs that organizers had posted to help guide protesters to the
rally. The day before, a man from “the camp” (Gulen’s compound)
also attempted to bribe the owners of the farm in an effort to
prevent us from using their place. I also spoke at yesterday’s
“Expose the Gulen Movement” conference in Piscataway, NJ, attended
by 100 people, mostly Turkish Americans. My segment starts at 40:00
min. and lasts 20 min.

I understand the conference was simultaneously broadcast in Turkey.
In both talks I explain how the privatization of public education
has allowed the Gulen movement to establish the largest charter
school network in the US. Their 146 charter schools will enroll
over 60,000 students this year. The schools’ taxpayer-supplied
revenue is up to approximately one-half billion dollars per year.

Preceding me in both videos is Mary Addi, a former Gulen charter
school teacher. She was interviewed in the 60 Minutes piece. The
moderator at the conference is Kaya Boztepe, ex-president of the
Federation of Turkish American Associations. The conference
panelists seated at the table are a retired Turkish admiral and two
Turkish journalists. The journalists, who have been critical of the
government and the Gulen Movement, spent nearly two years in jail
after being arrested under terrorism charges. They were finally
released but I understand their trials are still pending and it is
expected that they will be found guilty and end up with long
sentences. Turkey now leads the world with jailing journalists.

More about those panelists here:
http://perimeterprimate.blogspot.com/2013/08/expose-gulen-movement-protest-and.html
I want to emphasize that the panelists and conference attendees are
incredibly alarmed by Fethullah Gulen’s escalating power and the
manner in which he has acquired it. Gulen has been hiding out at
his compound in the US since 1998, but he periodically delivers
messages through his media organs in Turkey (Zaman newspapers), as
well as weekly sermons (and some even believe fatawa) to his
followers online.

353. Nağme: Allah Rasûlü’nün İzzeti ve Dokunulan Onurumuz


In Pennsylvania I met a local resident who reported personally
seeing guards with “machine guns” at the entry of the compound in
the late 1990s. Locals have also seen helicopters flying over the
compound. I’ve read reports about those things, but never knew if
they were true or not. Over the past two days, I also met a lot of
Turkish Americans with personal stories of their own about the
Gulenists. This group’s stealth strategy is brilliant, and
dangerous. They intimidate and threaten their critics and many,
many people are afraid of speaking out against them. The big
question is why is our government letting this group run so many
charter schools?”

Categories Charter Schools

Art as Part of Protest Against Mass High-Stakes Testing

By dianeravitch
September 6, 2013 //
4

Art teacher Jen Scott entered a painting in a contest.

It shows New York State Commissioner looming happily over children who are answering multiple-choice questions.

If you like the painting, please vote for her here.  See her piece here.

The contest ends tonight at midnight.

 

 

A Medina High School art teacher is seeking online votes in the second annual Vision Art Awards, in which she has entered a painting protesting the state-mandated standardized testing.
 
Vision Art Awards, sponsored by 464 Gallery at 464 Amherst St., Buffalo, seeks to support, encourage and celebrate the work of local and regional artists through a format that levels the playing field between emerging and established artists, said art teacher Jen Scott.
 
Scott’s oil painting titled “An Educational Experiment Engineered for Failure” shows the New York State Education Commissioner John King smiling through a classroom’s windows, while students are struggling with the influx of standardized testing.
 
“This painting really protests the over-reliance on standardized tests and how these tests focus so narrowly on reading and math skills,” Scott said. “Non-standard thinkers, like my son Matt, are penalized through these tests.”
Soon most states, including New York, will mandate so-called high-stakes tests in many subjects at several grade levels, Scott said.
 
She shared a statement from Howard Gardner, professor of Education at Harvard Graduate School of Education: “We must proceed cautiously before we place students’ minds and hearts at risk with tests of dubious quality, whose meaning can be over interpreted and whose consequences can be devastating. Yes, we need more rigorous academic standards, but we must also give youngsters models when it comes to developing the most crucial skills: love of learning, respect for peers and good citizenship. That is what they will need most to pass the test of life.”
 
Scott is asking people to vote for her painting by “liking” the 464 Gallery fan page on Facebook; clicking on the Vision Art Awards photo album; and clicking “like” on the painting.
 
Voting will be open until midnight on Friday.
An opening reception for the art show is scheduled from 6 to 10 p.m. Sept. 13. At this event, the winners of the People’s Choice Awards will be revealed, as well as the juried selections. In addition, some other works of note will be featured, as selected by 464 Gallery owner, Marcus Wise.
Leonie Haimson
Categories Accountability, Testing

Turn Out for Hearings in New York About State “Reform” Policies

By dianeravitch
September 6, 2013 //
11

If you live in New York state, this is your chance to make
your views known about the destructive policies mistakenly called
“reform” by State Commissioner John King and the Board of Regents.
Senator John Flanagan will be
holding four hearings across the state to hear your
concerns. Granted, a hearing from 10 am-2 pm is not
teacher-friendly, but certainly retired teachers should turn out.
If you want change, now is your chance. Here is the schedule:

Tuesday, September 17th from 10:00 am to
2:00 pm

Suffolk Community College, Health,
Sports and Education Center, Grant Campus

1001 Crooked Hill Road,
Brentwood


Tuesday, October 1st from
11:00 am to 3:00
pm

Syracuse City Hall, Common Council
Chambers, 3rd Floor

233 East Washington Street,
Syracuse


Wednesday, October 16th from 10:00 am to
2:00 pm

Buffalo City Hall, Common Council
Chambers, 13th Floor

65 Niagara Square,
Buffalo


Tuesday, October 29th from 10:00 am to 2:00
pm

Senate Hearing Room, 19th
Floor

250 Broadway, New York
City

Categories Education Reform

Can Teachers Be Trained Like Navy Seals?

By dianeravitch
September 6, 2013 //
21

EduShyster has written a hilarious column about an interesting proposal.

According to EduShyster, some very important hedge fund manager was upset by Motoko Rich’s article in the New York Times about the short (two-to-three year) “career” of charter teachers. He suggested that teachers should be as ready and as tough as Navy Seals: the best of the best! They turn over often, and who cares?

EduShyster finds humor in the comparison, as you would expect.

The biggest drawback, it seems, is the difference between Teach for America training (five weeks) and the Seals’ training. Read on and enjoy.

Categories Education Reform

Ohio: Charters No Better Than Public Schools

By dianeravitch
September 6, 2013 //
66

The accountability hawks thought that tests and report cards would help to display the failure of urban public schools and pave the way for more privatization via charters. What they didn’t anticipate, however, was that the charter schools would do no better than the public schools–and by their own measures, far worse.

Test case, Ohio.

On the A-F report cards (a favorite of the reformers), nearly 90% of the charters were graded either D or F. These were supposed to be schools that produced spectacular results by dint of freedom from regulation and unions. They didn’t. Embarrassingly, the Ohio charters had a lower graduation rate.

The charter experiment is not working on Ohio, although it is making a few people very rich.

Categories Charter Schools, Ohio

Parent: My Son Suffered Psychological Abuse

By dianeravitch
September 5, 2013 //
90

This is a story written by a mother who enrolled her son in Democracy Prep in Harlem. She is a Nigerian-born journalist. She contends that the school’s rigid discipline was excessive and that her son spent hours every day in detention.

It is a harrowing story. No doubt, Democracy Prep has another version. I welcome its response to this article. I will post it.

She writes:

“On my first visit to observe class I was struck by the robotic and monotonous style of teaching whereby teachers are programmed to literally clock every second of the class through a count down, while simultaneously monitoring every movement and body language of the young students.

“The students are supposed to respond in non-verbal coded signals called : spirit fingers – a twirling of all ten fingers in the direction of the scholar being supported – means a ‘show of support,’ brain match – is the simultaneous waving of the thumb and the pinkie – it means ‘I agree with you,’ track your speaker means ‘focusing on who’s speaking,’ pound it out – a chorus of pounding on the desks – means ‘the question is answered correctly’; and so on.

“So now I understand fully well why my 12 year old who is very creative and loves to be in motion would feel like he’s in prison; having to endure ten hours of monotonous class sessions daily without any sports activities or recess. Scholars have to eat their lunch in their respective classroom/homeroom and are only given fifteen to twenty minutes.”

And more:

“The endless list of reasons for which students can get railroaded into detention and ultimately suspension include: “not spontaneous on queue,” “clapping three times instead of twice as prompted,” “slouching over the desk,” “looking back at another student,” “talking,” “mumbling to yourself,” “fake coughing or sneezing,” “asking to go to the rest room,” “raising your hands too long,” “clearing your throat” or “breathing too hard.”

“I found this preposterous.

“So the process of suspension usually starts as follows. A teacher would declare “that’s one,” meaning a deduction, then if a student interjects “what did I do,”? The teacher would respond: “that’s two.”

“The third deduction automatically sends a student to “COLUMBIA,” the detention room managed by two African-America male coaches.

“All the Advisory/home rooms are named after a University. My son is in UCONN. I’m not sure why the detention room is called COLUMBIA. And by the way all the teachers at this charter school are white and from out of state. The school’s administrators did manage to get two coaches that are African-American from the New York City area. They are the two in charge of the detention room.”

Read the article and think about this:

The US Department of Education was so impressed by Democracy Prep that it have the charter chain $9.1 million to expand.

Question: With measures that demand total compliance, is Democracy Prep educating for democracy?

Categories Charter Schools, New York City, U.S. Department of Education

Rich Néw Yorkers Offended by de Blasio Plan to Fund Pre-K Education

By dianeravitch
September 5, 2013 //
51

Bloomberg News reports that the city’s corporate leaders and super-wealthy are offended by mayoral candidate Bill de Blasio’s plan to raise taxes on those earning over $500,000 a year to fund universal pre-K and after school programs for middle school kids.

The head of the business leaders’ group was astonished by de Blasio’s indifference to the needs of corporate executives. ““It shows lack of sensitivity to the city’s biggest revenue providers and job creators,” said Kathryn Wylde, president of the Partnership for New York City, a network of 200 chief executive officers, including co-Chairman Laurence Fink of BlackRock Inc. (BLK), the world’s biggest money manager.”

Some predicted an exodus of rich people from the city.

What has de Blasio proposed?

“De Blasio’s plan would raise the marginal tax rate on incomes above $500,000 to 4.4 percent from almost 3.9 percent. For the 27,300 city taxpayers earning $500,000 to $1 million, the average increase would be $973 a year, according to the Independent Budget Office, a municipal agency.

“For those making $1 million to $5 million, the average extra bite would rise to $7,793, the budget office said. At incomes of $5 million to $10 million, it would climb to $33,518, and for those earning more than $10 million, it would mean paying $182,893 more.”

Here is the reaction of one hedge fund manager: “E.E. “Buzzy” Geduld, who runs the hedge fund Cougar Capital LLC in the city and is a trustee of Manhattan’s Dalton School, where annual tuition tops $40,000, said de Blasio’s plan “is the most absurd thing I’ve ever heard” and “not a smart thing to do.”

Think of the billions that Bloomberg squandered on technology projects that fizzled (like the $600 million Citytime project), the failed merit pay plan ($53 million wasted), the failed plan to pay students to get higher test scores, etc.

The business executives said nothing because no one suggested that they would be taxed to pay for it.

De Blasio is proposing research-based programs. Those who care about education and kids should be cheering and should gladly pay an extra $973 (or more if their income is higher) to do what is right for kids.

Oh, and one more thing. The article says:

“The city’s richest 1 percent took home 39 percent of all earnings in 2012, up from 12 percent in 1980, according to the Fiscal Policy Institute, a nonprofit research group in New York.”

Don’t cry for me, Argentina.

Categories Childhood, Pre-K, K, Economy, New York City

Crazy Crawfish Says CREDO New Orleans Study Is Not Credible

By dianeravitch
September 5, 2013 //
1

Jason France, aka Crazy Crawfish, used to work for the
Louisiana Department of Education.,he worked in research and
statistics. He helped to assemble the data on New Orleans charter
schools before he left. He has concluded
that CREDO is not credible. First, he realized that
CREDONis a pro-charter organization. Then, he looked at the
methodology, and was disturbed to see that the NOLA charters were
compare to the Recovery School District, the state’s lowest
performing districts. And he was chagrined when he saw that some of
the “successful” charters had selective admissions.

Categories Charter Schools, New Orleans

Charter Advocates Try to Buy Bridgeport Election

By dianeravitch
September 5, 2013 //
10

Jonathan Pelto reports that charter advocates have dumped at least $50,000 into the Bridgeport school board elections in hopes of maintaining a board that will create more charters and defend Paul Vallas.

Expenditures of this magnitude are still fairly rare in school board elections, except in cases where the privatization movement has decided that they want control, like the Louisiana, Indiana, Idaho, and Los Angeles school board races, as well as the charter referenda in Washington State and Georgia.

Where is the money coming from?

Pelto writes:

In this case, A Better Connecticut is claiming that their five largest funders were Education Reform Now Advocacy of New York City, 50CAN Action Fund, Inc. of New York City, Real Reform Now Network, Inc. of Loudonville, New York, Families for Excellent Schools – Advocacy Inc. of New York City and Students for Education Reform (SFER- Action Network Inc.) of New York City.

A Better Connecticut was created at the beginning of this year by ConnCAN, which was created by the original funders behind Achievement First, Inc.

As readers know, Achievement First, Inc. is the large charter school management company that was co-founded by Stefan Pryor who served on Achievement First’s Board of Directors until he resigned to become Governor Malloy’s Commissioner of Education.

Note how many of these groups are not based in Connecticut. Families for Excellent Schools in NYC is funded by the Walton Family Foundation, the Broad Foundation, and other corporate reform activists.

Categories Charter Schools, Connecticut, Corporate Reformers, Education Industry, Privatization
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