Archives for the year of: 2013
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End of Jeb Bush Miracle? Florida Grades Collapse

By dianeravitch
July 26, 2013 //
14

Jeb Bush has toured the country boasting of the Florida miracle. Central to the miracle is the letter grades for schools. But the state just reported that the proportion of A-rated schools fell from 48% to 29%.

Is the Jeb miracle over?

The schools didn’t suddenly get worse. The grading system is arbitrary, capricious, and meaningless.

As Fairtest points out, the state has changed the formula at least 30 times.

Here is the Fairtest view:

FairTest
National Center for Fair & Open Testing
for further information:
Bob Schaeffer (239) 395-6773
cell (239) 699-0468
for immediate release, Friday, July 26, 2013
FLORIDA SCHOOL GRADES ARE “WORSE THAN USELESS;”
ASSESSMENT EXPERT CALLS THEM “EXTREMELY MISLEADING,”
“PHONY LABELS FROM BY A POLITICALLY MANIPULATED BLACK BOX,”
AND “A CLASSIC CASE OF GARBAGE IN, GARBAGE OUT”

Florida school grades released today are “worse than useless measures of educational quality,” according to a local expert on assessment. Bob Schaeffer, Pubic Education Director of the National Center for Fair & Open Testing (FairTest), explained, “Based largely on scores from the low quality FCAT exam, state officials change the grading formula each year to serve their political agendas.”

The result, Schaeffer said is that “Florida’s school grades are extremely misleading. Phony labels from a politically manipulated black box do nothing to improve educational quality. It’s time for Florida to end this cynical, failed experiment in bogus accountability.”

Schaeffer noted that the state admits to having made more than 30 changes to its school rating system since 2011. “This is a classic case of garbage in, garbage out. The standards for letter grades are not even consistent from one year to the next.”

Founded in 1985 by leaders of major education, civil rights and student groups, FairTest is based in Boston, Massachusetts. Schaeffer has lived in southwest Florida for 14 years while continuing to work for the organization.

Categories Bush, Jeb, Florida, Testing

Anthony Weiner and the Politics of Shamelessness

By dianeravitch
July 26, 2013 //
29

The most amazing thing about Anthony Weiner is that he is still running for mayor of New York City despite the revelations about his tawdry behavior. Maybe he will drop out because his poll numbers have plummeted in the last few days. Maybe he already has, and I haven’t heard the news.

It is upsetting to hear the “man on the street” say that he doesn’t care about Weiner’s behavior because it is personal and has no bearing on his fitness to serve.

If a teacher or a principal did what Weiner did, they would be fired.

Imagine if he were mayor. Would he continue sending lewd photos of himself to women he never met? He would be in full charge of the schools and 1.1 million children. Would he set a high moral standard for those who work in the schools?

Weiner continues to campaign because he has no shame. He believes that a majority of voters are also shameless and will forgive him his every trespass of what we once thought was a moral code. The moral code is not law. It is a basic sense of decency.

Shame is important in a civilized society. Shame is the recognition that certain behaviors are wrong even if they are not illegal.

As for Elliott Spitzer, who resigned the governorship in disgrace after being caught patronizing prostitutes, don’t get me started! He is running for City Comptroller, a position that requires a leader of unimpeachable integrity.

New York City politics feels like a Gong Show right now.

Categories New York City

Mark Naison: How TFA Is Destructive

By dianeravitch
July 26, 2013 //
15

Mark Naison sent the following thoughts about Teach for America:

Why Teach for America is Seductive to Mayors and Legislators and Destructive to Everyone Else

Teach for America offers states and municipalities the opportunity to subcontract their teaching to non-union workers, saving large expenses in pensions and health care. Such a policy saves money, as subcontracting usually does; but it destroys a section of the local middle class, drives down compensation for all workers, and has several extremely destructive consequences for the quality of schools:

1. It destroys the mentoring and relationship building that lifetime teachers provide.

2. It creates a revolving door teaching force that undermines the
role of schools as community institutions.

3. It reduces instruction to test prep since the 5 week training TFAers get makes raising test scores the highest priority and includes cookie cutter, “teacher proof” advice on class management that leaves little room for the creativity that great teachers employ.

No matter what TFA leaders say, its methods lead to the destruction of public education as we have known it in the United States, and the emergence of an alternative model which makes the union teacher and the lifetime educator an endangered species. Its implementation will also sharply widen gaps between those in private schools and public schools, and between high income and moderate/ low income communities, in terms of creative thinking and exposure to the arts, reinforcing and intensifying the nation’s status as one of the most economically stratified societies in the world.

Mark D Naison
Professor of African American Studies and History
Fordham University

“If you Want to Save America’s Public Schools: Replace Secretary of Education Arne Duncan With a Lifetime Educator.” http://dumpduncan.org/

Categories Teach for America TFA, Teachers and Teaching

Teacher: Ripping Off Taxpayers Is Easy in Arizona

By dianeravitch
July 26, 2013 //
14

A teacher in Arizona sent this comment:

“I live in Arizona, am a certified teacher who came from a civilized state, and have taught in four different charter schools here. These are public schools often being run like private schools. There is an infamous one here that gets away with having an entrance exam in order to weed out all but the best of the best. Consequently, this school is consistently ranked by US News and World Report as a top-notch school when, in reality, the students are the kind of children who could be taught by a monkey with a textbook.

“Arizona, backward in every way possible, was ripe for the picking. I have seen staffs comprised of high school graduate teachers who bought their degrees online and took not one college level course. I have taught in a school whose principal took federal money for a nutrition program and bought a Jaguar and, yes, this and other criminal activities were documented by several people and reported to the Arizona charter school board. What did the board do? They wrung their hands, took copies of the documentation, and did nothing. The schools are still operating.

“Come to Arizona if you want to rip off the taxpayer.”

Categories Charter Schools, Teachers and Teaching

TFA: We Won’t Be Scabs in Chicago

By dianeravitch
July 26, 2013 //
25

The TFA director in Chicago said that corps members would not take the jobs of teachers who were laid off. He said the positions were being eliminated and would not be offered to TFA. TFA members were also affected by the layoffs, he said.

However, in late June, “Chicago Public Schools agreed to support up to 325 new teachers and 245 second-year teachers for a cost of nearly $1.6 million — more than double what the district paid the organization last year.”

This makes no sense. Why is CPS bringing in TFA at the same time it is sending pink slips to experienced teachers?

Categories Chicago, Teach for America TFA

Is Corporate Reform a “House of Cards”?

By dianeravitch
July 26, 2013 //
8

This is a clever, sharp video about corporate reform.

It comes with the endorsement of the notorious BAT teachers.

It is the first of a series explaining the nefarious role of the privatization movement and its pretense to be “for the kids” as it destroys their community public schools.

If this is a sample of the BAT work, we can expect that the house of cards will be toppling soon.

The reformers who impose bad ideas on kids and schools take themselves very seriously. They don’t like to be reminded that all their policies fail, and that their work is a house of cards.

Categories Charter Schools, Corporate Reformers, For-Profit

Ct. Court: Vallas Can Stay During Appeal

By dianeravitch
July 25, 2013 //
24

Connecticut’s Supreme Court ruled that Bridgeport Superintendent Paul Vallas could stay in his job while appealing a lower court decision that he lacked the qualifications for his job and should leave at once.

The Bridgeport citizens who sued to remove Vallas issued this statement:

STATEMENT OF CARMEN L. LOPEZ & DEBORAH REYES-WILLIAMS

This decision, which was rendered without a hearing or argument, is not
a decision on the merits of our appeal.

We look forward to arguing the merits of the appeal because we believe
that both the law and the facts on our side.

We are confident that Judge Bellis’ decision will be upheld because it
is legally sound, and her findings of fact are supported by the evidence
which was introduced at trial.

Paul Vallas is not qualified under Connecticut law to serve as
Superintendent of Schools.

Nothing said by the Supreme Court today changes that fact.

All the court has done is to reinstate the automatic stay which is
provided by the Rules of Practice.

We still believe that the law should not be applied differently based
upon a party’s political connections or those of his wealthy
supporters.

If the Connecticut Supreme Court ultimately says that the laws that
apply to the rest of us do not apply to the politically well
connected, then it will be a very sad day.

But today is not that day.

Categories Connecticut

When Chemtchr Fell in Love with Science

By dianeravitch
July 25, 2013 //
17

This wonderful comment was posted in response to my article in “Scientific American”:

“This is very special for me, because 51 years ago, on July 25 1962, my mother gave me a subscription to Scientific American for my 13th birthday. She bought me the current issue, cut out the subscription form and mailed it, and then gift-wrapped the magazine. She also baked me a heart-shaped cake (make a 9″ square one, and a 9” round one, and cut the round one in half, and lay out the heart).

I had only bought one issue before that; this one:
http://backissues.com/issue/Scientific-American-September-1961
I lived on an unpaved road in rural Florida, with a front row seat on the rollout of the greatest discoveries in cell biology.

It was from this magazine I learned what the military industrial complex was, studying the ads for mysterious entities like Rand Corporation. The editors had no more guts than they do now, unfortunately, with regard to big-buck interests. I quickly understood there was something going on in American science that would never belong to me, but the discipline that became biochemistry seemed to speak out for itself independently, through the work of those pioneers.

A couple of years later, I picked up Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring at the Quonset hut post library in Fort Sill Oklahoma, and it all came together.

Thanks for writing so clearly for Scientific Americn, Diane, and for displaying human values and judgement right on the page. You will never know what kids read it, but remember
Way down the river, a hundred miles or more,
Other little children will bring my boats to shore.

Categories Education Reform

North Carolina: Public Education in Peril

By dianeravitch
July 25, 2013 //
22

Dr. June Atkinson, the state superintendent of instruction in North Carolina, said, ““For the first time in my career of more than 30 years in public education, I am truly worried about students in our care.”

Lindsay Wagner summarizes the damage done to public education by the North Carolina legislature:

It cut more than $500 million from the state’s public schools.

It passed a voucher program to allow students to take public money to private and religious schools.

And more:

The 2013-15 biennial budget introduces a raft of spending cuts to public schools that will result in no raises for teachers, larger class sizes, fewer teacher assistants, little support for instructional supplies or professional development, and what could amount to the dismantling of the North Carolina Teaching Fellows program. Teachers can also say goodbye to tenure and supplemental pay for advanced degrees.

Wagner asks, “Is this the beginning of the end for public education in North Carolina?”

The privatization movement is in full swing in North Carolina. What was once the most progressive state in the South is now leading the attack on public education. For the first time since Reconstruction, the governorship and both houses of the Legislature are in the hands of Republicans, and these are not moderate Republicans who want to preserve a strong public education system. These are radical privatizers who want to send public monies to private schools, religious schools, and entrepreneurs.

The governor’s education advisor, Eric Guckian, is a Teach for America alum. TFA won $5.1 million in the new budget.

Categories Budget Cuts, Class size, Education Industry, For-Profit, North Carolina, Privatization, Teacher Tenure, Teachers and Teaching, Vouchers

Crazy Crawfish Investigates the Recovery School District in St. Helena’s Parish

By dianeravitch
July 25, 2013 //
0

Are you in the mood for a demonstration of investigative scholarship written in journalistic style?

If so, curl up in a comfy chair and read this saga, wherein the LouisianaRecovery School District makes claims that cannot be substantiated.

If this is true, if data are so easily manipulated and fabricated, why should we trust any data from state, local, or federal officials who seek advantage by painting a false picture of either amazing progress or sharp failure?

Crazy Crawfish previously worked in the assessment section of the Louisiana Department of Education.

He writes: “Reformers and the RSD in particular fear the truth and embrace lies and subterfuge. They actually seem to hate children and the poor, and delight in stripping resources from the poorest of our citizens to line the private coffers of their donors. You really won’t believe some of the other arguments RSD is making.”

Categories Louisiana
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