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News from Wisconsin: “Reign of Error” Puts Voucher Advocates on Defensive

By dianeravitch
October 16, 2013 //
1

A progressive Wisconsin newspaper reports that “Reign of Error” has thrown voucher advocates onto the f
Defensive. Despite the obvious failure of vouchers in Milwaukee, Governor Scott Walker has expanded the voucher program to a larger geographical area and lifted the income limits for participants. His goal becomes clear: he has no interest in saving poor children from “failing public schools,” but destroying Wisconsin’s public school system and creating a market system. Markets never serve the needs of the poor. Markets favor the haves, not the have-nots.

“Reign of Error” is an antidote and guide to fighting the privatization movement. Everything they sell is failing. Everything they promote lacks evidence behind it. Some innocents have gone along with the siren song of “choice,” perhaps being too young to remember that “choice” was the battle cry of segregationists.

Don’t let the privatizers, libertarians, and government haters fool you. Defend public education. It belongs to the public, not to the entrepreneurs.

Categories Reign of Error, Vouchers, Wisconsin

Denver: Fight the Testing Madness on Saturday

By dianeravitch
October 16, 2013 //
4

Hi SOS Supporters,

On October 19th, there are two actions against high stakes testing in Denver. Please join or support them in whatever way you can.  If you enjoy dressing as a Zombie, join the Zombie crawl and protest turning our students into testing zombies.  Visit the tumblr to learn more.

http://testingkillsbrains.tumblr.com/

Also, they are specifically looking for volunteers at the following times. Amber writes,

“I need volunteers for our first action on Sat Oct 19th, to dress as test zombies and pass out flyers at the zombie crawl.  I would love to have a large group of people at the costume contest to chant and get media attention.  Times as follows:

  2:00 pm – Kickoff!

  3:00 pm – Widows Bane

  3:55 pm – Thriller!

  4:00 pm – Zombie Crawl Parade down 16th St.

  5:30 pm – Costume Contests @ Skyline Park

The parade and costume contest is what I feel is most important.

Please send out the word and get as many people as you can to help us.  This is the launch of our group and it promises to be big.  Contact me athypnoamber@netscape.net for more deets.

Amber”

If you don’t want to be a zombie on Saturday, how about joining Students for our Schools to find out how you would score on our students’ tests? On Saturday, the 19th, join adults and community leaders as they take a high stakes tests.

Alex writes,

“Hello Education Activists and Supports,

As you know, the education revolution is a continuous fight, and we could use your help.

On October 19th, we are hosting our Take-The-Test event where adults will be taking a standardized test. We have invited over 100 elected officials, and we need you too!

Below is what we have been sending to the press, but we need your help spreading the word, getting people to sign up and making this event great! If you can spread the word, sign up and get one other person to sign up we can make this event great. Feel free to post this anywhere and everywhere! If you have any questions feel free to send me an email or call.

Thank you so much.

Alex”

http://www.students4ourschools.org/takethetest.html

Check out the great press release about this event.

http://www.students4ourschools.org/1/post/2013/10/take-the-test-event-press-release.html

Thank you for all of your help! Together, we can stop this testing madness and let teachers get back to teaching.

-Melody

P.S. Don’t forget to support school board candidates who are committed to fighting the neoliberal or corporate reform movements.  Our teachers and students deserve elected officials who will put students’ interests ahead of political or financial gains. Thank you.

Categories Colorado, Testing

Haimson: How Charter Co-Locations Hurt Public School Children

By dianeravitch
October 16, 2013 //
16

Leonie Haimson of Class Size Matters explains here in shocking detail how charter co-locations harm New York City’s neediest children.

Here is a sample:

“These proposals will uniformly disadvantage the children in the existing schools, cause even more overcrowding and larger classes, and push disabled students out of the spaces they need for special services.

Some of the examples have been described in newspaper accounts. Here is how the severely disabled children in the Mickey Mantle School in PS 149 have already been affected by the co-location of Harlem Success Academy in their building, according to Juan Gonzalez of the Daily News:

Originally, these children had a “cafeteria, playground, library, and cluster rooms (for specialized activities).” In 2006, when the charter school moved in, they lost their library and a bunch of classrooms. The following year, according to a teacher,
“We lost our technology room, our music room, our art room and we had to start sharing the cafeteria, the gym and playground,” Manuell says.

Now she is “teaching theater at Mickey Mantle in a former office with no windows. A fellow teacher conducts four periods a week of gym in a regular classroom because so little time has been allotted in the main gym to the Mickey Mantle pupils”

Now DOE wants to give space to up to “375 middle-school pupils to Manuell’s school over the next several years. They will come from another Moskowitz school, Harlem Success 4.

As for the Mickey Mantle School, 20% of its enrollment will be cut and displaced elsewhere. “Even with that reduction, officials concede the building may reach 130% of capacity.”

Of the 23 proposals to be voted on today, there are 21 co-location proposals and two expansions. Ten of the 23 co-location proposals will cause a building utilization rate of over 100% in the next few years, according to the DOE.

As the DOE severely underestimates the amount of overcrowding in these buildings, one can assume that even more schools will lose their art rooms, libraries, science labs, and intervention spaces, and will suffer class size increases as a result.

Simple justice says this is wrong. Why should we have two publicly-funded school systems, one free to select students and kick them out; the other require to accept all?

Categories Charter Schools, New York City

Oregon: Lost in the Quagmire of Pseudo-Accountability

By dianeravitch
October 16, 2013 //
8

Steve Duin is an excellent writer for The Oregonian.

In this column, he tries to wade through the semantics and mathematical formulae of the state accountability system.

He can’t make sense of it. No one can.

Is it fair to compare these two schools on “growth” measures?

Crane Union and Lincoln are considered demographically comparable high schools, even though Crane is a rural, Title 1 boarding school with 69 students, and Lincoln a sprawling urban high school with a student body of 1,471.

State officials twist and turn and do somersaults but the bottom line is the nation’s obsession with “accountability” is insane.

Schools are not in the business of manufacturing widgets or toothbrushes or tennis balls or chewing gum.

Every child is different.

The tests do not define what matters most in school or in life.

Someday, sanity will return to education policy.

It will come when parents get angry, because they boo and hiss and make noise when state officials tell them their child is failing and their school will be closed.

It will come when parents–the sleeping giant–wake up and burst the bubbles of the data-obsessed robots now running  our state education departments and school districts.

Demand that they visit the schools. Demand that they look every child in their eyes and tell them they are failures.

Make the leaders accountable for the damage they are doing to our children and our schools and our society.

Categories Accountability, Administrators, superintendents, Corporate Reformers, Education Industry, Students, Testing

De Blasio Vs. Lhota: Are Charter Co-Locations Fair?

By dianeravitch
October 16, 2013 //
2

A report from an insider at the New York City Department of Education, in response to the first debate between Democratic candidate Bill di Blasio and Republican candidate Joe Lhota:

New York City last night was treated to two starkly different visions of public schools. We had a mayoral debate in which a progressive candidate who believes in voice for parents and communities battled a candidate in the pocket of corporations. The corporation candidate claimed that charter schools “absolutely deserve to be co-located.” The progressive candidate pointed out that he plans a moratorium on co-locations because “public school parents don’t have a voice in decisions about their own children and the building their children go to school in.“ He committed to giving parents a voice. Who has the true best interests of students at heart?

Here are the facts. Co-locations usually involve the closing or shrinking of existing schools. This process is rife with dishonesty and the manipulation of numbers. Parent and community voice is ignored. One year 14 out of 20 schools Bloomberg’s Department of Education wanted to close, in order to make room for other schools, scored above the criteria for closing a school as set by the very same department. Another school was closed even though the department’s own reviewers praised the school noting that “the positive impact is striking. Not only have the academics of individual students risen but also the effect throughout the whole school is evident for all to see.” Schools in Queens and in Manhattan were closed even though the data clearly showed that their scores were better than other schools serving similar student populations. Another school built a website showcasing extensive data demonstrating that the school in fact did a good job with its students. The department ignored the data and closed the school anyway.

Reports describe how co-locations involve taking resources and space from students in public schools in favor of those in the charter schools, leading to inequitable distribution or resources. Case studies have provided numerous examples of co-located charter schools that will only accept certain “types” of students leading to concentrations of poor students, students with special needs, and English Language Learners at the public schools in the very same building. Such inequity harms students.

There is no question that the facts support a halt to co-locations while a fair, honest and open process is established. We cannot allow direct harm to many students to continue in order to support politically privileged schools as has been the practice under Bloomberg. We need a mayor who will stand up to the demands of the powerful corporate charter lobby. We need a mayor who will defend students foremost.

Categories Charter Schools, Education Industry, New York City, Privatization

Politico: Vouchers Are $1 Billion Waste of Taxpayer Dollars

By dianeravitch
October 16, 2013 //
4

Stephanie Simon, one of the nation’s best investigative education journalists, reports that vouchers are a costly failure. In every case where they were adopted, voucher advocates claimed they would “save poor kids from failing public schools,” but nowhere has the promise been true.

Voucher advocates insist that they are supporting the “right” of children to attend a private or religious school with public funds. But the students who have used vouchers are getting a raw deal, while taxpayers have shelled out $1 billion to voucher schools that are usually worse than the public schools.

Simon writes:

“In Milwaukee, just 13 percent of voucher students scored proficient in math and 11 percent made the bar in reading this spring. That’s worse on both counts than students in the city’s public schools. In Cleveland, voucher students in most grades performed worse than their peers in public schools in math, though they did better in reading.

“In New Orleans, voucher students who struggle academically haven’t advanced to grade-level work any faster over the past two years than students in the public schools, many of which are rated D or F, state data show.

“And across Louisiana, many of the most popular private schools for voucher students posted miserable scores in math, reading, science and social studies this spring, with fewer than half their voucher students achieving even basic proficiency and fewer than 2 percent demonstrating mastery. Seven schools did so badly, state Superintendent John White barred them from accepting new voucher students — though the state agreed to keep paying tuition for the more than 200 voucher students already enrolled, if they chose to stay.”

Due to the number of far-right governors and legislatures, voucher use is increasing, despite their meager results.

The latest Gallup Poll found that 70 percent of Americans oppose the use of public funds for religious or private schools. No voucher program has ever been endorsed by voters. Just last fall, the voters of Florida decisively rejected a referendum to legalize vouchers.
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Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2013/10/vouchers-dont-do-much-for-students-97909.html#ixzz2hk1PvfC8

Categories Education Reform

A Terrifying Report about Child Abuse in Texas Schools–and in Your State Too

By dianeravitch
October 16, 2013 //
78

At the request of the author, this post was briefly taken down in order to obscure the name of the school and of one student.

Do students have the right not to be subjected to emotional and psychological abuse? If pressure and chronic stress raise test scores, are they acceptable?

A group of mental health professionals prepared the following report. It is long. It is painful to read. This is what many schools are doing to our children. They must be stopped. This borders on criminality. Wake up. It is happening in many states and communities.

Dear Diane,

This is very Orwellian, but we wanted you to know about it.

I have attached a copy of report that I and several other university and mental health professionals in Texas schools have prepared.

We would like to ask your help in bringing awareness to this problem.

Thank you,

Joyce Feilke, Counselor Austin Independent School District

 

15 October 2013

To: Senator Jane Nelson & Committee for Health & Human Services

From: Joyce Murdock Feilke, Counselor, Austin ISD

Re: Report of Psychological Abuse in An AISD Elementary School

Dear Senator Nelson & HHS Committee,

I am writing to report my observations of psychological abuse in a public elementary school in AISD. I am providing this report to your committee
as my professional responsibility and according to the Texas Family Code. The conditions and methods described in this report can be confirmed by mental health experts as factors which are known to contribute to mental illness and criminality when used for conditioning and shaping behavior in young children.

During the past 30 years as a school counselor, I have observed a steady decline in the elementary school environment. This decline has resulted from complex reasons, but primarily from the obsession with statewide testing and corrosive school politics. Children in most elementary schools of Texas are being forced to function in an environment of chronic stress. Chronic stress is known to change brain chemistry in children and can lead to mental illness. Many of these young children with genetic predisposition to autism and other neurological, sensory, and developmental delays are experiencing chronic traumatic stress and will suffer even greater psychological harm. The demands for high test performance ratings are causing these children to be exploited and experimented on as if they were caged mice in a science lab. They are being psychologically abused on a grand scale that will impact the mental health of future generations.

It is common knowledge among educators in Texas that punitive methods of Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA), which are known to cause psychological harm, are being used in many elementary schools across Texas to enhance test performance; however, I will focus my report on the one school where I have observed this psychological abuse – XXXXX Elementary school in Austin ISD.

XXXXXX Elementary School is a Title I School, which means it has a low socio economic population of minority students. Last May it received an
Exemplary performance rating on statewide testing as a result of a system that was implemented into the school over a three year period. That system, called The New 3 R’s, is said to mean: The Right Resources, The Right People, and The Right Systems.

The New 3 R’s System was designed by a former structural engineer who became a principal in AISD. He designed his own program of behavioral
engineering and experimented on the general elementary school population of minority students ages 4 – 11. It was a successful and efficient method of getting high performance on tests, and led to his school receiving an Exemplary performance rating on statewide testing and national recognition for his school. This high performance recognition led to the Austin ISD allowing another Title I school principal to implement the same New 3 R’s System. After the 2nd school implemented the program over three years and received an Exemplary rating on statewide testing, AISD allowed the principal to train other principals in Title I schools. AISD allowed this program to be implemented into Title I schools without adequate review by mental health experts who would have recognized the potential for psychological harm to young children.

The New 3 R’s System of behavioral engineering that AISD is celebrating and perpetuating uses the same methods of punitive classic conditioning that are known to enslave children for child labor and sex trafficking, and for obedience training for dogs and zoo animals. It is the same dysfunctional system that kept the black culture of the South submissive to oppression for the hundred years after the Civil War. It is the same dysfunctional system that led to the Nazi Regime in Germany prior to WWII. The New 3 R’s System has the same sophisticated dysfunctional dynamics and abuse of power that can be observed in every poisonous pedagogy that has ever woven its way through history. It can be observed in families, cults, and countries. It is efficient, and it does result in high performance, but at the expense of great psychological damage to its victims.

The use of punitive ABA methods for conditioning young children in a controlled environment is a violation of human rights. It is unethical,
immoral, and illegal. It is psychological abuse which research has shown to have high potential for mental illness and personality disorders that will manifest in young adulthood, but are known to have roots in childhood.

Positive methods of ABA are designed for use in specific educational settings by specialists with demonstrated expertise in the field of psychology and behavioral sciences. They are required to have certification by a regulatory board: Behavior Analysis Certification Board (BACB). ABA uses therapeutic methods of re-learning and management for autistic, disabled, and/or violent children with special needs, addictions, OCD, and other disabilities which may respond to positive ABA treatment. When ABA methods of punitive classical conditioning are used in a controlled environment on healthy young children whose brains are still developing, it can lead to permanent psychological damage. Those same methods can be observed in the dysfunctional dynamics of families with battered-person syndrome, and are sometimes known as mind control, or Stockholm syndrome.

What the New 3 R’s System calls good discipline, is actually punitive ABA. The signs of psychological abuse that I have observed from chronic stress in this system usually begin by age 6 – 8. The most common symptoms begin with signs of desensitization, anxiety, loss of imagination,
loss of spontaneity, loss of humor, regression, irritability, self injury, inability to concentrate, and dissociation. However, the most destructive effects of this psychological abuse will not manifest until the children reach their teenage years, or early adulthood. At that time, their conditioned emotional repression from victimization of institutional bullying and positive/negative ambivalent role modeling can lead to mental illness and criminality.

Children’s symptoms from chronic traumatic stress are the same symptoms as High Functioning Autism. It is the observation of this counselor, as well as a growing number of other mental health experts, that there is a relationship between the elementary school environment of chronic traumatic stress and the increase in psychiatric disorders that are known to co-occur with High Functioning Autism, especially anxiety, depression, mood disorders, and thought disorders. It is our believe that the elementary school environment of chronic traumatic stress is the environmental factor causing soaring rates of High Functioning Autism in children who have a neurological genetic predisposition to autism.

The elementary school environment of chronic traumatic stress is believed to be a cause of the increase in personality disorders, especially Narcissistic, Borderline, and Antisocial Disorders, which often lead to criminality and violence. These disorders do not manifest until adulthood, but are known to have roots in early childhood, with symptoms beginning around age 5. These symptoms can be observed in children who have no emotions of empathy or guilt, no emotions of pleasure, imaginative play, spontaneity, or humor.

In addition, symptoms of complex chronic traumatic stress can result from entrapment in dual environments of institutional bullying and ambivalent role modeling at school, and also at home. The psychological damage can increase with a lack of positive behavior modeling from teacher/caregivers and a lack of social and emotional attachments to teacher/caregivers and peers. This entrapment from psychological abuse in their total environment, and expectations which the child can never fully meet, are thought to lead to Dissociative Disorder as well as personality disorders.

Mental health professionals categorize these disorders into the following types:

Antisocial Personality Disorder
Avoidant Personality Disorder
Borderline Personality Disorder
Dependent Personality Disorder
Histrionic Personality Disorder
Narcissistic Personality Disorder
ObessiveCompulsive Personality Disorder
Paranoid Personality Disorder
Schizoid Personality Disorder
Schizotypal Personality Disorder

In 2008 the rate of personality disorders in the US was estimated at 1 in 10, and described as a major public health concern requiring attention by
researchers and clinicians. It is estimated to have steadily increased during the last five years and an elementary school environment of chronic traumatic stress is highly suspect as a leading cause.

The following descriptions are methods of the New 3 R’s System that I have observed in use at XXXXXXXX Elementary during the past two years. These methods are recognized as having potential for psychological harm.

ABSOLUTE CONTROL IN A CONTROLLED ENVIRONMENT

Absolute teacher/caregiver dominance in a controlled environment using punitive classical conditioning to shape behavior through fear, humiliation, and shame are the hallmarks of the New 3 R’s System. This poisonous pedagogy has been demonstrated throughout history to produce efficiency in human systems and gain desired performance, but at the same time repressing vitality, creativity, and emotions in children. This extreme form of discipline takes away any opportunity for self directed learning or original thinking. It represses children’s individuality and independence. It causes them to feel helpless and dependent. It breaks a child’s spirit and represses their imagination. It prevents the development of higher level thinking skills. Research has shown this pedagogy to cause children to become obedient to abusive authority, self destructive, codependent, addictive, mentally ill, and have deviant behaviors. It is institutional bullying.

PUBLIC HUMILIATION IN THE CHILD’S COMMUNITY

Any child with unfinished homework on any given day is singled out in the cafeteria during their lunch, in front of their school community, as punishment for not having completed their work. This method of shaming and humiliating a child during their lunch, in front of their peers, teachers, mentors, school staff, parents, and others, is a method known to cause psychological harm to children. It causes scapegoating and social isolation, and causes a child to become labeled as an “offender”. Many of the younger children cry when forced to sit in isolation by themselves in front of everyone in the cafeteria. Some of their peers show signs of sympathy, while others make sarcastic comments or looks, and others fear the same could happen to them. Most of the children see the injustice, and feel helpless and sad for the victims. This method of humiliating children causes strong emotions of shame, anger, and resentment for both the victim and the bystanders. By using this method, teachers are modeling negative behavior of “bullying”, while presenting it to the child as “good discipline”.

The cognitive and emotional conflict from such ambivalent positive/negative role modeling from teacher/caregivers causes confusion and distorted thinking in young children. They do not have adequate coping mechanisms to process the strong emotions this victimization produces. This ambivalent role modeling by teacher/caregivers is sometimes called “crazy making” by psychologists. The child who is victim of this institutional bullying will try to save face in front of his peers by denying his strong emotions of shame, anger, resentment, and self pity. Both the child who is victim and the children who are bystanders will learn that cruelty and disrespect from teacher/caregivers is acceptable and normal. It teaches children to deny and repress their own strong emotions, while keeping up the positive appearance and expectations of the teacher/caregiver. This “splitting” or distorted thinking (separating cognitive and affective) is considered a defense mechanism leading to personality disorders and regression. It distorts perception of reality. This method of the New 3 R’s is strongly associated with psychological abuse causing Narcissistic, Borderline, and Antisocial Personality Disorders.

Since children perceive themselves as they think others see them, this method of public humiliation and disrespect teaches them to devalue and disrespect themselves and their needs. It teaches them to fear and disrespect their teacher/caregivers, while at the same time working hard to gain their acceptance through their own performance and appearance of compliance. Teacher/caregivers who abuse their power and manipulate children’s emotions with this ambivalent method are demonstrating a lack of empathy and disregard for the dignity of the child. Teacher/caregivers who use this method are recognized as insensitive and cruel. They are modeling unhealthy behavior, while presenting it as positive discipline. They are teaching children to trust and depend on authorities who mistreat and disrespect them.

Since young children still have a developing brain and a fragile sense of self and identity, experiencing the strong emotions of victimization of institutional bullying over time will cause desensitization to cruelty and mistreatment that was modeled by teacher/caregivers. Years of this chronic psychological abuse can cause a child to become emotionally desensitized to the point of having no empathy for others who are mistreated. The child will be conditioned to perpetuate the same cruelty to themselves or others without guilt, since they learned this behavior to be normal and acceptable.

The child who suffered the most punishment with this method last year due to chronic homework problems, was also a victim of impoverished family circumstances. Her name is XXXX, and she is the oldest of five siblings. Her mother is intellectually handicapped. As a forth grader, XXXXX had assumed the role of parenting her younger siblings. They were a homeless family and had slept on the floor of a friend’s two room shed for two years. XXXXX spent time in cafeteria isolation on a regular basis. She was the victim of a cruel method which only increased her social isolation and
distrust for her teacher/caregiver, and enhanced her feelings of helplessness and worthlessness.

As counselor, my efforts to point out the harm in using this method and the psychological damage it could cause were ignored. I protested to both the
principal and the Social Emotional Learning Chairperson, and to higher AISD administration. The principal defended this method by calling it good discipline and one of her methods of success in the 3 R’s System.
Later, I was told by an AISD legal administrator to either support all the principal’s policies or leave. This punitive method of ABA illustrates callous disregard and professional ignorance by any administrator who would approve it to be used with young children and call it good discipline.

FRIDAY ASSESSMENTS

The discipline called Friday Assessments is a marathon of weekly testing sessions lasting up to four hours every Friday. This non stop testing begins at the start of the school day on Friday and lasts until lunch and up to four hours. This weekly four hour test is said to be a need to check student progress; however, it has all the characteristics of a simulated STAAR test, which last four hours. The children work in isolation behind triboards as they do during the STAAR for security. This disguised Simulated STAAR is mentally and physically exhausting for young children. It causes them to become desensitized and lethargic. While the purpose is apparently to condition them with test stamina for STAAR, it is robbing them of imagination and original thinking. This Simulated STAAR is an example of exploitation of children for the unrealistic demands of an administrator who lacks empathy for children and who does not understand their developmental needs. If the Friday Assessments were actually for the purpose of determining children’s weekly progress, then the children could be tested on different days for shorter periods of time. Four consecutive hours of testing every Friday for young children is not developmentally age appropriate or healthy, nor does it illustrate good professional judgement from an administrator. It is mental and physical cruelty. For children, it is torture.

NEW 3 R’S DAILY TIMED MATH DRILLS

The New 3 R’s uses morning math timed drills to start each day. These daily drills generate anxiety and set the pace for capturing absolute control of the child’s thinking and attention for the remainder of the day’s drill.
Many children develop anxiety disorders from being hurried on work that can be frustrating when they are not developmentally ready for excessive timed tasks. The chronic frustration of excessive tasks with limited time at an early age can lead to anxiety and somatic disorders, performance anxiety, fear of making mistakes, perfectionism, and self defeating behaviors. Such rigid regimens cause children to become passive and pressured. They lose the capacity for spontaneous imaginative play and a pleasure in intellectual discovery. This method of beginning each day with a regimen of anxiety, then holding children’s attention captive with absolute teacher dominated forced rote learning of test material for the rest of the day, resembles brainwashing. It creates feelings of helplessness and entrapment. Children are conditioned to shut down their own original thoughts and ideas and become a receptor for the teacher’s programming.

PUBLIC DISPLAY OF CHILDREN’S DAILY BEHAVIOR REPORT

Each child’s daily behavior report from the teacher is posted on the board for peers and others in the school to see. This is a punitive method of ABA for motivating children with fear and intimidation. This causes a child shame, anger, and resentment, as well as fear of additional punishment from home. This method serves as a threat throughout the day, and causes chronic stress and loss of trust in the teacher/caregiver. This method singles out a child for scapegoating by peers, and it conflicts with a child’s need for healthy attachment to the teacher/caregiver. This method of the New 3 R’s is a violation of the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA).

EXCESSIVE REWARD & PUNISHMENT FOR PERFORMANCE

The 3 R’s method of emphasis on performance rewards for young children neglects their most primary social and emotional developmental needs. Emphasis on performance rewards creates competition too early and hampers development of authentic self and identity. Young children perceive themselves as they think others see them; therefore, when only performance is rewarded with neglect of ongoing emotional validation, they begin to think of themselves as a test score, since that is what matters most to their teacher/caregiver. They will become conditioned to perform for their teacher/caregiver, while denying their own emotions and needs. Young children are not developmentally ready to have their performance depend on rewards/punishment since they have not yet learned coping skills for disappointment. They learn from behavior modeled by teacher/caregivers. When a young child sees others rewarded for performance while they are not, they are left with the strong emotions of sadness, jealousy, anger, resentment, and failure, which they are unable to process. The method of constant rewards for test performance reinforces negative emotions of winner/loser and competition for children too young to process the emotions. It does not allow children to learn intrinsic motivation.

MESSAGES OF MISTRUST AND INCOMPETENCE

There is intimidation and fear from constant surveillance, requiring children to carry a behavior checklist with them for all movement outside their contained classroom, such as library or lunch when supervised by someone other than their primary teacher/caregiver. This punitive method creates disrespect and lack of emotional attachment to the teacher/caregiver. It teaches children that the teacher/caregiver does not trust or believe in them to control their own behavior. The children will learn to think of themselves as incapable of controlling their own behavior without someone always monitoring it. It validates the teacher/caregiver’s mistrust and diminishes opportunity to learn self regulation and to function independently. It does not illustrate mutual respect. This method leads to paranoia and fear of making mistakes, as well as creating dependency and lack of opportunity for behavioral decision making.

THE RIGHT PEOPLE

The New 3 R’s uses a selective process for teachers and staff in order to
implement the program effectively into a school. There is a process of weeding out all teachers and staff who have objections to the methods of the system or who have recognition of the potential for psychological harm.
The Right People means that everyone on the faculty must agree with the principal and not express any opposition or disagreement to the methods.

The gradual selective process of the Right People begins with flight, fight, or freeze, which are the normal reactions to a threat of abuse of power.

FLIGHT: Those teachers who were not indoctrinated into the system by the end of the second year, either transferred, retired, or were terminated.

FIGHT: The school counselor is the only one left on the faculty at present who has continued to point out the psychological abuse in the system. The counselor filed two formal grievances of child mistreatment to AISD Human Resources last school year, but no changes were made in the system. At this time the counselor has experienced the full victimization of bullying by the principal and AISD higher administration: Threats, scapegoating, alienation of faculty, and retaliation continued until the counselor was forced to take leave on 17 September. The counselor filed an EEOC
grievance against AISD for retaliation on 17 September 2013, and is continuing to advocate for the children who are being exploited in an
environment of psychological abuse.

FREEZE: Teachers who remained in the school are desensitized and loyal
to the principal and the New 3 R’s System. They do not object to any of the punitive harmful methods nor do they empathize with the students. Teachers who function in chronic stress have similar symptoms as the students. They function in a “survive” mode rather than a “thrive” mode. They are robotic and scripted, emotionless, lack spontaneity and imagination, lack humor and flexibility. They are rigid and controlled. Their performance is measured by the test scores of their students, so they are dedicated to programming their students according to administrative directives. They obey orders without question. Many walk on eggshells for fear of making mistakes or displeasing the principal. They work very hard to keep up with the principal’s expectations and focus on their own performance. They are stern and demanding. They have lost the ability for imaginative play.

Summary:

The New 3 R’s System is a rigid system of behavioral engineering that uses punitive methods of ABA which are known to cause psychological harm to young children. Some of the methods are known to cause mental illness and criminality. The New 3 R’s is a sophisticated system of bullying.

AISD administrators allowed the New 3 R’s System to be used in elementary schools for the purpose of obtaining high performance ratings on statewide tests, but without adequate oversight of mental health experts who would have recognized the potential for psychological abuse.

AISD has allowed administrators to use punitive methods of ABA in violation of certification requirements and with methods known to cause
psychological damage to young children.

AISD administrators ignored the counselor’s reports of the New 3 R’s methods as being psychologically abusive to children, and retaliated against the counselor.

Children in Texas public elementary schools are entitled to have their mental and physical health protected by state law. There are currently
no agencies with adequate laws in place to protect the rights of these children.

Categories Students, Texas

Will the Reformers Kill Common Core?

By dianeravitch
October 16, 2013 //
27

Jeff Bryant at the Education Opportunity Network is not a critic of Common Core. He is a thoughtful observer.

In this brilliant post, he shows that the worst enemies of Common Core are its advocates.

Why are kindergarten children given standardized tests? Why are teachers compelled to follow scripted curricula? Why are teachers and parents’ voices disregarded? Why the rush? Why the gloating over lower test scores?

None of this makes any sense. Friends of Common Core need to step back, calm down, listen to teachers, think of ways to make revisions, stop the testing until there has been adequate professional development, sufficient resources, time for children to learn the skills that will be tested, and a curriculum to go with the testing.

Who will pay for the new technology for the testing? Who will grade the essays? Temps from Craig’s List? Testing companies in India? Counters?

the needed changes and planning and implementation won’t take one year. It will probably take three. Maybe five.

Reformers, cool your jets. Do it right or don’t do it at all.

Categories Common Core, Corporate Reformers, Teachers and Teaching, Testing

NPR Lauds Pitbull’s Charter Money Pit

By dianeravitch
October 16, 2013 //
26

I never thought I would see the day when NPR ran a story complimenting a misogynist rapper for opening a charter school. This rapper, who calls himself Pitbull, writes lyrics that are too filthy to repeat on NPR or on this blog.

But there is Claudio Sanchez, reporting on the charming phenomenon that celebrities who are not educators and who apparently have no education themselves are opening charter schools! Isn’t that wonderful! Shouldn’t we all be impresssed!

Well, no, it is not that Mr. Pitbull has a heart overflowing with love of children or love of learning. He is making a lot of money. Fortunately for the readers of this blog, we have read Jersey Jazzman and Mother Crusader, both of whom did the sort of research that NPR did not do. Mr. Pitbull has another name: Armando Perez. In Jersey Jazzman’s article, you will see Mr. Pitbull-Perez has hired Academica, a for-profit charter chain with revenues of $158 million, to run his new charter school. Academica is owned by Mr. Fernando Zulueta, who controls some $115 million in real estate in Miami, all exempt from property taxes because his for-profit schools are “public.”

The story–and the money trail–gets way more complicated, but NPR did not see fit to discover any of the backers of Mr. Pitbull’s school.

The story gets entangled in Florida Republican politics, as Mother Crusader shows.

As always, it is a good thing to follow the money. Who is putting up the money, who is getting the money, who is making out like bandits?

But there is a lingering question: Why does anyone think it is a good idea for celebrities to open their own schools and to get public dollars for their profitable vanity project? How are we supposed to “outcompete” the globe by turning our children over to uneducated sports stars and rappers?

Categories Charter Schools, Education Industry, Florida, For-Profit, Privatization

Mother to John King: I Have a “Special Interest”: My Son

By dianeravitch
October 16, 2013 //
15

This letter was distributed to every member of the New York State Board of Regents, along with many elected officials in New York State.

Dear Distinguished Elected Officials,
I am the parent of two children one presently enrolled in the Spackenkill school district, the other is a junior in college studying computer science, much to my chagrin. I have an advanced degree and have practiced in the legal field for many years. I am raising my second child who is now in Kindergarten in the Spackenkill School District, Poughkeepsie, NY.
Spackenkill teachers are professional, engaging and amazing people! They go the extra mile for our students. We feel blessed to live and learn in this small community. But, I digress. A little more about me. Both my parents are physicians. My brother has a PhD in neuroscience. In fact, to be honest everyone in my family has an advanced degree of some sort, mostly MDs, a few pharmacists and some dentists. I have a JD. Naturally, I am the black sheep in this family both figuratively and pregoratively. My point?  As you can see, I am not an ignorant fool…..no, in my family we strive for and understand the value of a stellar education. I want to instill those values and I expect the same opportunity for my children too.
Which brings me to why I am writing you today. I am writing to express my deep disatisfaction with Commissioner of Education John  B. King, Jr. I attended and spoke at the October 10, 2013 Town Hall event and would like to share my thoughts with you, if you dont mind.
The event, at capacity, was hosted by the NYSPTA. My friend Jennifer Kaufman (who also spoke) and I sat in my car prior to the event debating whether we should bail and go for coffee to catch up. That was the extent of our “plot” to organize some sort of concerted effort to “manipulate and control” the forum. I assure you, that was the farthest thing from our minds that evening. My intention that evening was to face Dr. King, make eye contact and to be heard with the hopes that he would address my concerns. End of story. No conspiracy there.
From the NYSPTA Town Hall flyer:
“NYS PTA is providing you with this opportunity to gather information,
ask questions, and share concerns with NYS Education Commissioner
John King and/or other SED Representatives at one of five town hall meetings around the state”
Those of us who were at the meeting saw firsthand that Dr King must have missed the memo. Instead of providing parents and teachers the opportunity to “ask questions, and share concerns” this meeting was dominated by Dr. King. The audience was not given much opportunity to speak, ask questions or raise concerns which issues we were hoping the Commissioner would address.
Concededly, there were some hecklers at the meeting. People who were rude and spoke out of turn. But, I understand why they were acting this way. You see, as parents and teachers I feel that we have not been afforded an opportunity to express our concerns directly to the man in charge – Commissioner King- about Core, privacy or testing and this was our golden moment. A shot. A chance. A rare opportunity for us as parents and teachers to face the man who is making important, significant educational policy decisions that have been affecting our lives every day and night at, breakfast, lunch and at the dinner table with our children. Look, this forum was supposed to be our turn to have a say, a voice, a chance to express concerns. This evening, for once, was about us,  not about him.
I understand that some people were rude and spoke out of turn. Some hecklers were annoying. But, so what? This is a very important subject one that we have been denied an opportunity to participate in at the outset. So, even though I dont condone such behavior, I understand where these people were coming from. In my opinion, whether rational or not, they were coming from a primal need and desire to protect their children. Guess what? I GET THAT AND CAN RESPECT THAT. Can you? Truthfully, if Commissioner King had handled these individuals questions and concerns with sensitivity, tact and grace then I would have had respect for him also.
But thats not what happened. I was there. I spoke at the mic. I consumed every last second of my precious 2 minutes at that mic. while Dr. King made attempts to further dominate and manipulate the forum. I had 2 minutes to speak up – I did the best that I could speaking as quickly but articulately as I could knowing full well that my concerns were not and have not been addressed and probably wont be. This  does not sit well with me. But, to add insult to injury,  the meeting ended abruptly after 5 speakers including myself presented  leaving at least 75 or more people who were simply denied the chance to speak. On subject matter of this magnitude, this is simply unacceptable.
Commissioner King has since canceled all further Town Hall appearances without affording parents, students, and teachers an opportunity to have a voice in the curriculum that is being bestowed on them. We deserve better. What a disappointment and disgrace to parents, teachers and students of Spackenkill and the State of NY. I am very disgusted with the support Commissioner King is recieving from Robert Bartlett, Regents Board Member and Chief.
I would like to express my incredible displeasure at Commissioner John B. King, Jr.’s decision and the support being promulgated by the Board of Regents about his decision to cancel the state sponsored PTA town hall meetings. As I stated earlier, we have legitimate concerns regarding NYS educational reform policies that are affecting our children and deserve an opportunity and forum in which to be heard, not patronized…..heard. Commissioner King is an appointed official who oversees the education of our children. He became defensive when mention was made of his own 2 children, so he should understand why we as parents feel defensive towards NYSED when it comes to the policies being implemented and the curriculum around those policies that affect our children and our lives.
Commissioner King should at least have had the decency to listen to concerns and address policy and curriculum related decisions publicly. He did not do this. This speaks volumes. Frankly, may I be so bold as to suggest that Comissioner King apologize for shutting down dialogue on a subject that is so significant to us as parents and teachers on a daily basis. We breathe it. We sleep it. We eat it. I am flabbergasted that Commissioner King does not have the sensitivity or capacity to understand where parents and teachers are coming from.
Many parents, like myself, chose to raise our children here in NY because of the quality schools that have existed for decades. The Commissioner’s policies seem fatally flawed and the curriculum has been poorly implemented. The canceling of these important meetings suggests to me that the Commissioner of Education, and his progeny, are more concerned with privatized education and corporate nepotism that children and teachers.
Commissioner King claims that the forum was hijacked by self interest groups intent on dominating and manipulating the forum. In one article that is presently circulating, Commissioner King was asked to identify the “self interest” groups he was referring to. He was quoted as saying: google it. I did. The video in which I speak comes up. Commissioner King further elaborates about these purported self interest groups alleging that “Email blasts encouraging their membership to dominate the microphone and take over the meeting,” were sent.  http://jamestown.ynn.com/content/news/700678/education-commissioner-to-consider-rescheduling-meetings/#sthash.kk64eK2B.dpuf
Well, if I were an average citizen, which Im not, I would write a boiler plate letter and be done with it. But, Im not writing you a boiler plate letter for a reason. I am disgusted by King’s representations. I am a one of the parents who spoke for 2 minutes at the mircophone on October 10, 2013 before Commissioner King and he has essentially reduced my concerns to anti education reform zealot rhetoric. I dont take kindly to that representation and I dont think my 6 year old and his teachers would appreciate it either.
In the short video aptly entitled “Commissioner gets Spanked” by Mert Melfa, I can be seen around the 7min 10 sec mark. I am “Anna Shak” (sic….its Shah). I am a parent. A taxpayer. A citizen. A mother. I am all of those things and I dont appreciate the fact that Commissioner King dismissed my concerns.
A copy of my speech is attached herewith. I cannot tell you how many hours I have devoted to researching these issues prior to this event in order to be fully informed before speaking to the Commissioner. I wrote my speech because I was thrilled beyond imagination about having the opportunity to voice my concerns to Dr King in an open forum. As you can see from the video and my speech, I was respectful, articulate and I advanced intelligent, well versed and legitimate concerns that I have about common core, testing and privacy that I wanted the Commissioner to hear. I did not even get to finish my statement within the 2 minute mark despite the fact that I had practiced it over 100 times and had clocked in at 1 minute 54 seconds – giving myself the cushion of a few seconds leeway in case I had to sneeze or cough during my statement before Dr. King.
I am disgusted beyond words that a man of the Commissioner’s stature would choose to dismiss parents and lump speakers in with “special interest” groups just because he did not like what he was hearing. King’s statements are inflammatory and abhorrent.  Rest assured, I am not a special interest group – I am a parent, a tax payer and a mother  of two children who simply wants to make sound decisions that are right for my children. I took the opportunity that exists in a democratic society to air my concerns to the official to whom those matters whould be addressed and he slammed the door in my face and the face of all of us. This is absolutely unacceptable and should not be tolerated by those of you who are in a position to do something about it.
Cancelling further Town Hall sessions and referring to speakers at the mircrophone that night as an organized effort by “special interests” to “dominate and manipulate” the forum was disgraceful. I am offended beyond words by this man.  The Commissioner’s decision to cancel further appearances speaks volumes. While I went into this forum willing to have an open mind, circumstances have now changed as a result of King’s behavior. I question his agenda more now then I did before the meeting. I have lost faith and respect in the Education Department. I have been unwilling to be swayed by zealots who argue against education reform in general, as King so put it, but King’s lack of judgment has given legitimacy to these coalitions. As a result of King’s own actions, I am worried that the Core initiative is less about children and more about competing interests (think $). Personally, I attended the meeting skeptical of this initiative, concerned about common core strategies and its implementation and yes I had nagging questions. But, to be honest, I was open to being persuaded if the evidence to back up this plan was there. It wasnt. I had hope that this meeting would quell my concerns so that I could have faith in Commissioner King’s leadership. I went into it as a parent. But, when I realized how mismanaged the system is and how irresponsible Commissioner King has been with legitimate concerns, red flags were raised and circumstances changed considerably for me. King has thrown down the gauntlet- he has accused me of being a “special interest” and he questionsmy agenda. So be it. I have no problem being accused of being a “special interest”. Indeed, my special interest is 6 years old and his name is Tyler and I would love the opportunity to face Commissioner King one more time.
There have been allegations made by Regent Board Member Bennett that Commissioner King was subject to racial slurs at this meeting. I was there at the meeting. I have watched the video several times. Given the fact that I am a person of color, a minority, I am acutely aware and sensitive to the challenges that minorities face on a daily basis. I can assure you that I heard no racial epithets and, in my opinion, the Comissioners race was not a factor at this event.
For all of the forgoing reasons, I am respectfully requesting that elected officials censure, reprimand and/or seek the resignation of Commissioner John B. King, Jr. immediately.
I am attaching a photo of myself and my youngest, “special interest”. Rest assured, I will remain active, interested and involved in my child’s education for despite Commissioner King attempt to shut me and other parents like me out of it. Thank you for your kind attention to this matter.
Respectfully submitted,
Anna Shah
Categories Education Reform
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