Archives for the year of: 2014
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Connecticut: AFT PAC Endorses Anti-Teacher Governor

By dianeravitch
June 4, 2014 //
92

Jonathan Pelto reports that the AFT’s Legislative and Political Action Committee endorsed Governor Danell Malloy for re-election, despite his dismal record on education.

The committee did not interview Pelto.

He wrote:

“The decision to endorse Malloy without an open process is a sad commentary on the state of politics. Putting aside the work I’ve done to speak out for teachers and their unions over the past two years, and my lifetime commitment to public education, Governor Malloy has proven himself to be the most anti-teacher Democratic governor in the country. There is not a teacher in Connecticut who has forgotten that Malloy proposed ending teacher tenure and unilaterally repealing collective bargaining for teachers in ‘turnaround schools’ when he put forward his “Education Reform initiative.”

If their own unions don’t defend the rights of teachers, who will?

Categories Connecticut, Unions

Linda Thomas: The Arizona Voucher Hoax

By dianeravitch
June 4, 2014 //
35

Linda Thomas is the school board president of a small rural district in Arizona. She is a strong advocate for public education as a public responsibility.

In this post, she reminds us that 85% of children in Arizona attend public schools despite the state ‘s trepidation as the “wild west” of charters.

She also describes the legislsture’s devious efforts to expand vouchers.

She writes:

“When vouchers (aka Empowerment Scholarship Accounts) were first introduced in 2011, only children with disabilities were eligible. That has now expanded to include children: who’s parent’s are in the armed forces, are a ward of the juvenile court, who attend a school or district assigned a D or F grade, are eligible to attend kindergarten, and who received a School Tuition Organization scholarship. This session, expansion efforts include those whose siblings receive ESAs, all first responder’s children and (HB 2291) children currently eligible for free or reduced lunch percent. HB 2291 also seeks to further raise the income threshold of those who qualify by 15 percent ever year going forward.

“ESA funds can be used for curriculum, testing, private school tuition, tutors, special needs services or therapies, or even seed money for college. The program however, requires parents to waive their child’s right to a public education…a right that is guaranteed under the state constitution, in order to receive the benefits.”

School choice, she says, is a smokescreen. The real goal is to transfer public funds to private hands. The one risk to voucher advocates is attaching any form of accountability. They want the money, no strings attached.

Categories Accountability, Arizona, Vouchers

Heilig: High-Stakes Testing Does Not Curb Inequity

By dianeravitch
June 4, 2014 //
79

On his blog, Julian Vasquez Heilig explores how the federal courts have failed to confront the racially disparate impact of high-stakes tests.

When the courts were asked in Florida to recognize the unfairness of denying a diploma to students who could not pass the exit examination, in light of the racial disparities in passing rates, the federal court upheld the exams. Not only that, but the court held that the exam would help eliminate racism, even though black students failed the exam at a far higher rate than whites.

When the decision was appealed to the federal appeals court, it upheld the verdict Nd again treated high-stakes testing as a cure for racism. Here is the peculiar reasoning:

“…the diploma sanction is needed to remedy the present effects of past segregation in Florida’s schools. … the diploma sanction will motivate teachers and administrators, as well as students. Although the sanction is to deny the student the diploma, diploma denial reflects adversely on the teachers and administrators of the school system responsible for the student’s education. We think it is clear that teachers and administrators will work to avoid this stigma, thus tending to remedy any lingering lower expectations on the part of teachers (Debra P. v. Turlington 1984, p. 58.).”

Heilig believes that the same reasoning is found among today’s “reformers,” who think that they are defending the civil rights of minorities by subjecting them to standardized tests that have a racially disparate impact.

Categories Florida, Standardized Testing, Students

Protest against PISA League Tables Goes International

By dianeravitch
June 4, 2014 //
5

A few weeks ago, educators Heinz-Dieter Meyer of the State University of New York and Katie Zahedi, principal of the Linden Avenue Middle School in Red Hook, New York, wrote a protest letter against the international horse race inspired by OECD’s PISA examinations. They gathered other signers and went public. Since then, the letter has been translated into Chinese, Japanese, German, French, and Spanish, with Greek and Korean on the way.

PISA, they say, has encouraged short-term thinking like No Child Left Behind and Race to the Top, in which nations look to raise test scores to be competitive with other nations, instead of developing in-depth programs to enrich the education of their young people in the many ways that tests don’t measure.

Please open the link and consider signing.

Categories Global Education Reform Movement (GERM), International

SEC Charges Chicago’s Largest Charter Chain with Fraud

By dianeravitch
June 4, 2014 //
22

According to the Chicago Sun-Times, the federal SEC has “charged the clout-heavy United Neighborhood Organization and its charter-school network Monday with defrauding investors in a $37.5 million bond deal by “making materially misleading statements” about contracts that funneled millions of state taxpayer dollars to organization insiders.”

Federal officials say their investigation is continuing and that “UNO leaders have agreed to settle the case against it by promising to never again enter into crony contracts and accepting the appointment of a federal monitor to oversee the group’s operations for a year.”

Blogger Fred Klonsky says no one in Chicago was surprised. the leader of the UNO charter chain was co-chair of Rahm Emanuel ‘s 2011 mayoral campaign

Categories Charter Schools, Chicago

Pearson: Follow the Money

By dianeravitch
June 4, 2014 //
20

It is curious indeed that Pearson has been so effective at buying a controlling interest in American education. It is curious because in school we were always taught that heathy competition produces better products, that America reveres an open field for new products, and that monopolies are clumsy and inefficient. We were also taught that the public sector belongs to the public, not to private corporations.

This post, by Jennifer Job of UNC Chapel Hill, follows the money in trying to understand how Pearson inverted these axioms. How did Pearson become a dominating force American education? She examines the tentacles of power. Maybe the CEO of Pearson should be our next Secretary of Education. But no, that would mean taking a salary cut.

Categories Education Industry, For-Profit, Pearson

Florida Students Avoid Mandatory Online Classes

By dianeravitch
June 4, 2014 //
15

Back in 2011, the Florida legislature decreed that every student must pass an online course as a graduation requirement. Was this decision based on research about the value of online learning? No. It was justified as a means of readying all students for an online workplace but there is as yet no solid evidence that students learn better online. Perhaps it was sheer coincidence that the legislature’s mandate coincided with former Governor Jeb Bush’s determination that digital learning was the wave of the future; Jeb launched a national campaign, well funded by the technology industry, to promote digital learning, including a high school graduation requirement to take at least one or two courses online or no diploma. Six states have since adopted Jeb’s propsal and require students to take at least one course online as a graduation requirement. That sold a lot of new hardware and software but there is still no evidence of its necessity or value.

The Orlando Sentinel found that many seniors are familiar with digital technology but they have not met their graduation requirement:

“More than 11,000 Central Florida 11th-graders — about 43 percent of the region’s juniors — have not yet passed an online course, even though they must do that to earn a diploma next year. The class of 2015 is the first to fall under the online-learning requirements the state adopted four years ago.

“Spencer Thompson, 16, met the requirement at his parents’ insistence, but he isn’t surprised many classmates have not.

“I think it’s forcing a lot of kids to do something they don’t want to do,” said the junior at Hagerty High School in Seminole County.

“Some teenagers think they learn better with an in-person teacher, Spencer said, and some have found it a hassle to fit an online course into their schedule. Online courses, he added, are a useful option — he’s taking a virtual math class next year — but shouldn’t be required.”

Now districts are scrambling to find ways to help students meet the requirement for virtual coursework. “Orange, Seminole and Volusia schools next school year will enroll any 12th-grader who hasn’t taken an online class in new “blended learning” economics or government courses.

“These courses will be taught during the school day, with a teacher at the helm, but at least 50 percent of their lessons — enough to meet the state’s requirement — will be delivered via computer. Because economics and government both are required for graduation and typically taken senior year, administrators have a captive audience and a way to make sure students meet the online rule.”

Some students don’t have a computer or Internet access at home. Some prefer face-to-face interaction with a teacher. For a time, students took their drivers education courses online, but “the Legislature later decided that would not count for the graduation rule.

“This year, lawmakers reversed themselves, so if Gov. Rick Scott signs the latest bill, starting in July students can again use an online driver’s education class to help earn their diploma.”

Really, it shouldn’t matter what course the student takes as long as the purpose of the mandate is filled: to divert more public money to private vendors.

In Maine, Jeb Bush’s “Digital Learning Now” campaign stalled when a local reporter wrote an award-winning story about the money trail connecting Bush’s Foundation for Educational Excellence, the tech vendors, and Maine politicians.

Categories Bush, Jeb, Education Industry, Florida, For-Profit, On-Line Education, Technology, Computers

Cursive Writing and Me

By dianeravitch
June 4, 2014 //
129

I earlier posted about an article in the New York Times that expressed concern about the loss of handwriting, as children are taught keyboarding at younger and younger ages. The article said that some researchers believe that a loss of handwriting skills may be associated with a loss of cognitive development.

As I read the comments on this post, I felt inspired to share my own experiences with handwriting and typing.

When I started public school in Houston, we used pencils and quill pens. By quill pens, I mean that the pen was dipped into an inkwell repeatedly to have enough ink to write answers. Because I am left-handed, this was often messy as I ran my hand over the wet ink, which always got smudged. I believe we were taught to write with the Palmer method, which required making round, round circles again and again. It was excruciatingly boring as my circles were never round enough.

About the time I was in third grade, there was a technological breakthrough, and we switched from quill pens to ballpoint pens. I would have said “hallelujah,” but the ballpoint pens were even messier for a lefty than the quill pens. I always dragged my hand across whatever I wrote, and whatever I wrote was smudged and my left hand was always ink-stained. To make matters worse for us lefties, the chairs in the classroom had single arm extensions, almost always designed for righties. So my natural tendency to turn my hand above my writing was accentuated because of the design of the chair. There was a brief period when my teacher tried to force me to write with my right hand, but she gave up when she saw it was hopeless.

Now, despite the Palmer method and despite being graded for penmanship, I have truly terrible handwriting. Sometimes I can’t decipher my own notes.

I was really happy the day I was able to buy a portable typewriter. It was my proudest possession. That was probably about ninth grade. I was finally freed from the bondage of my own awful handwriting.

So, from my personal experience, I am not prepared to say whether my struggles with pen and ink improved my cognitive development. I don’t know. I do think it is a good idea that young children learn to sign their names and to write notes. It is practical. I admire people with beautiful handwriting. But I was never one of them.

Categories Personal

What Happens When Handwriting Fades?

By dianeravitch
June 3, 2014 //
125

The New York Times reports today that the loss of handwriting skills may lead to the loss of cognitive development.

Maria Konnikova writes:

“Does handwriting matter?

“Not very much, according to many educators. The Common Core standards, which have been adopted in most states, call for teaching legible writing, but only in kindergarten and first grade. After that, the emphasis quickly shifts to proficiency on the keyboard.

“But psychologists and neuroscientists say it is far too soon to declare handwriting a relic of the past. New evidence suggests that the links between handwriting and broader educational development run deep.

“Children not only learn to read more quickly when they first learn to write by hand, but they also remain better able to generate ideas and retain information. In other words, it’s not just what we write that matters — but how.

“When we write, a unique neural circuit is automatically activated,” said Stanislas Dehaene, a psychologist at the Collège de France in Paris. “There is a core recognition of the gesture in the written word, a sort of recognition by mental simulation in your brain.

“And it seems that this circuit is contributing in unique ways we didn’t realize,” he continued. “Learning is made easier.”

Categories Common Core

Alan Singer: Why Is This Charter Management Company Still in Business?

By dianeravitch
June 3, 2014 //
16

Alan Singer asks why National Heritage Academies is still in business, in light of its business practices. For-profit companies are good at making profits, and that’s what NHA does well.

NHA has most of its charters in Michigan, where more than 80% of charters operate for-profit. It has ties to ALEC and conservative think tanks.

It also operates charters in other states.

Singer writes:

“In 2005, the State University of New York closed the Rochester Leadership Academy Charter School because of poor academic performance by its students. Four years later the former charter school’s board of directors sued the for-profit management company, National Heritage Academies. The suit claimed that National Heritage Academies failed to provide the promised “management, operation, administration, accounting and education” which resulted in the school losing its state charter. In addition, the board blamed the management company for the loss of over $2 million.

“In March 2010 the Rochester Leadership Academy Charter School board and National Heritage Academies reached an out of court settlement. National Heritage Academies agreed to “donate” $175,000 to a non-profit organization selected by the charter school, however because of a confidentiality clause in the agreement no other details were released to the public.

“National Heritage Academies is a for-profit corporation based in Grand Rapids, Michigan. It operates 75 schools in nine states with approximately 50,000 students. In 2011-2012, it was the third largest for profit charter school company in the United States based on number of schools with second largest number of students.”

NHA also operates charters in Brooklyn. “In May 2014, the New York Daily News reported that National Heritage Academies charged its Brooklyn Dreams Charter School $2.3 million a year to rent space in a Catholic Church that the management company leased from the church for much less. The going rate for rental of this kind was between $14.25 and $25.50 per square foot, but National Heritage Academies charged the school $46.99 per square foot. While neither the management company nor the church would admit how much the company was actually paying to the Brooklyn diocese, the New York Post claimed it was only $264,000 per year. National Heritage Academies also charged another charter school it manages, Brooklyn Scholars, well over the market rate.”

A good business.

Categories Charter Schools, Education Industry, For-Profit
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