Archives for the year of: 2013
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Los Angeles United Way Allies with Corporate Reform

By dianeravitch
February 21, 2013 //
16

United Way of Los Angeles strongly supports the demolition of public education. (A reader pointed out that this stance is not typical of other United Way organizations. This post is about the United Way of Los Angeles.)

In 2011, United Way-L.A. partnered with the National Council on Teacher Quality (see Mercedes Schneider’s series about NCTQ, whose board includes reform luminaries such as Michelle Rhee and Wendy Kopp) to produce a report calling for tougher teacher evaluations based on test scores. Who knew that United Way was expert on the subject of education? Wonder how they reacted to the suicide of Rigoberto Ruelas?

Here is a conference the United Way is sponsoring, right before the Los Angeles school board election, featuring mayors best known for closing public schools, battling the teachers’ union, and giving public money to private entrepreneurs without accountability. You will hear no complaints at this event about how billionaires corrupt democracy by buying state and local school boards.

If you want to know how to reform the nation’s schools, why not ask the mayors of some of the lowest performing districts in the nation? Newark has been under state control since 1995. Chicago has had mayoral control since 1995. Los Angeles is not likely to learn much from either of them.

Mayors Cory Booker, Rahm Emanuel and Antonio Villaraigosa Headline United
Way of Greater Los Angeles’ Education Summit Market Watch
2/19/13

LOS ANGELES, PRNewswire via COMTEX/ — Three of the country’s leading
“Education Mayors,” Cory Booker (Newark), Rahm Emanuel (Chicago), and
Antonio Villaraigosa (L.A.), will gather for the first time to discuss the
challenges of urban education reform at the United Way of Greater Los
Angeles 2013 Education Summit on February 27th from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the
Los Angeles Convention Center. Through frank conversation among some of
education’s most progressive, if controversial figures, the Summit will
address the greatest obstacles to improving our schools, particularly those
that have chronically struggled. All 1,200 seats are sold out.

The Summit will honor Mayor Villaraigosa for championing education reform.
Looking ahead to the future of L.A. education, the event will feature a
panel discussion with the five top mayoral candidates to share their visions
for improving our schools. Eric Garcetti (invited), Wendy Greuel, Kevin
James, Jan Perry and Emanuel Pleitez will debate pressing education issues,
including teacher evaluations, school choice, budget cuts, the relationship
between the District and UTLA, and parents’ roles in schools.

“Given that we’re heading into a local election March 5th, it’s important to
hear from our potential leaders about their plans for addressing the immense
challenges facing our schools,” says Elise Buik, President and CEO of United
Way of Greater Los Angeles.

“This Summit is an opportunity for everyone who cares deeply about education
in L.A. to learn from one another, and to confront the complex issues that
demand our attention,” says LAUSD Superintendent John Deasy, one of the
event’s featured speakers. Other speakers include philanthropist Eli Broad
and school board president Monica Garcia.

The Summit will also include two breakout sessions with key education,
business and community leaders about improving education in high-poverty
areas. One session will focus on how businesses can impact struggling
schools. The other session, whose panelists include UTLA President Warren
Fletcher, will investigate how innovative practices can strengthen teaching.
This is the second Education Summit that United Way of Greater Los Angeles
has held at the Convention Center. The first was in 2011 and featured
keynote speaker U.S. Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan. United Way has positioned itself as a
leader in the fight to improve education for all of L.A. County students.

Categories Charter Schools, Closing schools, Emanuel, Rahm, Los Angeles, New Jersey

Louisiana Shocker: Ties Between White, Murdoch, Gates

By dianeravitch
February 21, 2013 //
11

In response to litigation, the Louisiana Department of Education released a trove of emails that shows a department obsessed with public relations while flailing about to impose new rules nd programs.

Worst of all is the deal that John White made to share confidential student data (including names and addresses, test scores and grades and other information) to an organization jointly created by the Gates Foundation and Rupert Murdoch’s organization Wireless Generation.

The story says:

“Copies of emails released to LouisianaVoice by the Department of Education (DOE) under threat of litigation reveal an agency over which there is little or no oversight, where escalating costs of expensive programs appear to be of no concern to administrators and a department that appears to be flailing about in search of some direction. The electronic communications also unveil a cozy relationship between DOE, Rupert Murdoch and his company, News Corp., which apparently will be provided personal information on Louisiana public school students for use by a company affiliated with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. News Corp. is the parent company of Fox News Network. In 2011, News Corp. was implicated in a major phone hacking scandal in which private telephone records were compromised.”

Categories For-Profit, Gates Foundation, Bill Gates, Louisiana

Who Was Behind the Jeb Bush Twitter Kerfuffle?

By dianeravitch
February 21, 2013 //
9

Yesterday I opened my Twitter account to discover that Jeb Bush’s Foundation for Excellence in Education claimed that I likened school choice to the Nazi invasion of Poland.

This was absurd, so I wrote a post about it.

I find that the best way to respond to outrageous attacks is to put them into the sunlight, the mighty disinfectant.

Happily, Jersey Jazzman figured out who wrote the post for Jeb Bush’s Foundation and explained the long and interesting back story.

Read it here.

Categories Bush, Jeb, Education Reform

Battle Creek Editorial: High-Stakes Testing Is Killing Our Schools

By dianeravitch
February 21, 2013 //
16

This editorial in the Battle Creek Enquirer is exactly right. High-stakes testing is ruining education.

Testing kids more and blaming their teachers doesn’t improve education.

The editorial rightly points out that Michelle Rhee–the advocate for high-stakes testing and every punitive measure she can dream up–is no model for Michigan.

Her teacher evaluation system in DC has produced no dramatic improvement.

Nor will she ever admit that the DC schools still have the largest achievements gaps in the nation.

When I see an editorial like this, I am reminded that the American people have not lost their minds.

But our policymakers in states like Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Florida, New York, Pennsylvania, Maine, and a few other states most certainly have.

Categories Accountability, Education Reform, Michigan, Teacher Evaluations, Testing

York County, Pa., Wants to Copy New Orleans

By dianeravitch
February 21, 2013 //
9

A report by the York County Community Foundation proposes that the answer to the county’s educational needs is an all-charter school system. York county schools have below average performance and many students are impoverished.

The study group cited the inflated claims of New Orleans charter boosters and decided that York county could achieve great things by copying the New Orleans model.

Had they done a bit more research, they would have learned that the New Orkeans Recovery School District is the lowest ranked district in the state of Louisiana, and that two-thirds of its charter schools received a grade of D or F for academic performance.

Eliminating public education does not solve the problems of poverty.

Categories New Orleans, Pennsylvania

Be a Hero: Speak Up for Garfield High Teachers

By dianeravitch
February 21, 2013 //
22

Tomorrow February 22 is the day the superintendent of the Seattle schools will decide whether to punish the teachers at Garfield High who refused to administer the MAP test. They are conscientious objectors. They are defending their students against malpractice. They have bravely defied orders to do what they know is wrong.

Today is a day to send emails to the superintendent. Urge him to stand with his teachers. Encourage him to do the right thing. He too can be a national hero. Seattle can join Selma, Seneca Falls, and Stonewall as a symbol of resistance to unjust authority. Also, like them, it starts with an S.

Categories Standardized Testing, Testing, Washington State

Federal Commission on Equity Dismisses Bush-Obama Reforms

By dianeravitch
February 21, 2013 //
26

In a stunning surprise, the federal Commission on Equity and Excellence dismissed the reforms of the Bush-Obama era and called for a fresh approach. What is remarkable about the commission report is that the members were appointed by Secretary Duncan. Its members include a solid bloc of corporate reformers, but clearly they did not prevail.

Quite frankly, I was expecting a reprise of the corporate reformer mantra: more charter schools, more vouchers, more competition, more inexperienced teachers, more testing, and more online learning will end the deeply rooted poverty in our society and lift all boats. Test more often, fire more teachers, lower standards for entry into teaching, close more schools.

But this commission did not echo the popular and failed nostrums of the past generation.. It demanded more resources for the neediest students, better prepared teachers, early childhood education, health and social services, and a deliberate effort to reduce segregation.

Since 1983, when “A Nation at Risk” was published by another federal commission, the policymakers at the state and national levels have followed the formula of testing, accountability (read: punishment), and choice. With what results? After three decades, we now have a raging, destructive movement to privatize public education, bash teachers, remove their academic freedom, replace them with temps, and use standardized tests to judge and punish teachers, principals, and schools.

The heroes of this “movement” are entrepreneurs, foundation executives, and think tank thinkers, who express contempt for public schools and those who work in them. We are on our way to creating (re-creating) dual school systems in cities across the nation and giving public dollars to schools that are free to exclude the neediest students. A “movement” that talks incessantly about results and data-based decision-making has become impervious to the meager results of its own policies and has now turned into an ideological war against public education.

Secretary Duncan should read the report of his commission. For the first time in 30 years, a federal commission tells the nation what it needs to hear. We can expect the corporate reform leaders to ignore the report.

This, quite frankly, is the agenda President Obama’s supporters had expected in 2008. Will he listen?

Categories Childhood, Pre-K, K, Duncan, Arne, Segregation , Racial Isolation and Integration, Teachers and Teaching, U.S. education

NY Times: Online Colleges Are a Sham

By dianeravitch
February 21, 2013 //
23

The New York Times’ lead editorial on February 19 was a slashing critique of online colleges.

The editorial ripped apart the hype and spin about these colleges.

Their attrition rates are 90%. And, “courses delivered solely online may be fine for highly skilled, highly motivated people, but they are inappropriate for struggling students who make up a significant portion of college enrollment and who need close contact with instructors to succeed.”

Furthermore, research shows the high failure rates at these cyber-institutions:

“The research has shown over and over again that community college students who enroll in online courses are significantly more likely to fail or withdraw than those in traditional classes, which means that they spend hard-earned tuition dollars and get nothing in return. Worse still, low-performing students who may be just barely hanging on in traditional classes tend to fall even further behind in online courses.”

If the online colleges are such a bad deal for adults, think how awful cyber-charters are for children. Children need human contact, not just bells and whistles or a disembodied voice.

Categories Higher Education, On-Line Education

Privatizers Now Targeting Pittsburgh Public Schools

By dianeravitch
February 21, 2013 //
3

Yinzercation, one of the best blogs in Pennsylvania, has an alarming post.

The Pittsburgh Public Schools have given a $2.4 million contract to two consulting companies to deal with the district’s equity and financial issues.

Some of this was underwritten by the Gates Foundation, as well as local foundations (Gates gave Pittsburgh a large grant to install a new teacher evaluation system).

One of the two companies is Bellwether, whose partners include the TIME columnist Andrew Rotherham and also Andy Smarick.

Andy is well known for his hostility to public schools. He believes in charterizing public education.

Other members of the firm were formerly associated with Bain & Company, Mitt Romney’s old firm.

Looks like Pittsburgh will join the urban districts that are closing public schools and handing the kids and money over to private enterpreneurs.

It would be great to see one example of an urban district anywhere in the U.S. where the corporate reform policies have produced a better school system, one that works for all kids.

Categories Charter Schools, Corporate Reformers, Education Reform, Pennsylvania

Conservative Think Tank: Why Standardized Tests Are Great

By dianeravitch
February 21, 2013 //
15

Kathleen Porter-Magee of the conservative Thomas B. Fordham Institute explains here why the anti-testing movement is wrong. She describes what she calls four “myths.”

Myth #1: teachers should be allowed to teach what they want, or “let teachers teach.” This is a very bad idea, she says, because teachers will have low expectations if you don’t tell them what to do.

Myth #2: emphasizing testing causes “drill and kill” instruction. Nothing could be farther from the truth, she says, because the really successful students are those who get engaging instruction. Don’t pay attention to the hundreds of millions of dollars that districts and states are spending on test prep materials.

Myth #3: tests can’t measure what really matter. What they do matter is very important so don’t worry that they don’t measure everything. Of course, very few people say that tests should not be used, but that they should not be used for rewards and punishments. When used diagnostically, they can be helpful. When used for high-stakes, they corrupt instruction.

Myth #4: standardization doesn’t work. Porter-Magee likes standardization.

It would be easy to knock down each of these “myths” and her facile answers.

The real danger of high-stakes testing is that they ruin education. Children cannot be standardized. Each one is unique. Yes, standards are helpful as guidelines but not as rigid prescriptions. The greatest dangers of high-stakes testing are that they narrow the curriculum only to what is tested. They encourage states and districts to game the system. They promote cheating (e.g., D.C.). They are based on the pretense that standardized tests are scientific instruments. They are not. They are prone to statistical error, random error, human error, measurement error. No one’s life should hinge on these fallible instruments.

Porter-Magee should google Campbell’s Law and study it. Also, read Daniel Koretz’ book “Measuring Up.”

Categories Childhood, Pre-K, K, Students, Teachers and Teaching, Testing
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