It is hard to choose which state has done the most to undermine public education: Louisiana, Tennessee, North Carolina, Ohio, and Wisconsin come to mind, but Michigan is right up there as a state whose Governor Rick Snyder is working hard to crush public education. There is the fact that some 80% of the charters in Michigan are run by for-profit operators. And note too that entire low-performing districts have been given to for-profit corporations.
But the worst of Snyder’s inventions is the deceptively-named Education Achievement Authority. Here the governor has gathered the state’s low-performing schools for special treatment.
Eclectablog, a Michigan blog, decided to go behind the claims of success and manufactured data, and instead to talk to teachers who work for the EAA. The stories are harrowing, including accounts of physical abuse, drugs in the schools, and an atmosphere of fear. Some teachers are afraid of violent teachers in schools where there is no discipline.
“Over the past couple of years, Republicans and the Snyder administration has attempted to resolve the problem of urban school districts that are failing to provide even the bare basics of a good education for their students by grouping them all together into a single “school district for misfit schools” called the Education Achievement Authority or EAA. As has been well-documented (see my interview with State Rep. Ellen Cogen Lipton HERE), the EAA has been a catastrophic failure. Instead of providing these disadvantaged children with the resources and environment they so sorely lack, the EAA has attempted to educate them on the cheap. They have resorted to “teaching by computer” but, rather than providing the students with the cutting edge technology that you might expect a school district like this to have, instead there are too few computers for the students, the software was nonfunctional for much of the school year, and the system crashes regularly.
“Worse yet, special needs students are woefully neglected, very possibly in violation of the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). Special plans for these students, called Individualized Education Plans or IEPs, are frequently not provided to the teachers which prevents them from making the accommodations needed for these students, accommodations required by law.”
Conditions for teaching and learning are abysmal:
““It’s dangerous for kids to come to school,” one teacher at an EAA elementary school told me. “We’ve found drugs in the school. We’ve found weapons in the school. We have a metal detector that doesn’t even work, nobody checks anyone on the way in.”
“The security problems are exacerbated by ridiculously large classroom sizes, something that’s only getting worse due to teachers leaving in droves. According to one teacher I spoke with, the classroom they teach in is about to go to almost 50 students. This is despite the fact that a quarter of the students have left the EAA system, a dramatic drop that reflects the dissatisfaction of the students’ parents with the education their children are receiving.
“One of the things that really has pushed me to speak out is that I learned from another teacher recently that I’m about to get another ten students in my class which will take me to almost 50 kids,” the teacher said. “Another teacher quit and, instead of hiring someone to replace them, they are just redistributing their students to all the other teachers. So, it’s just me and all these kids with no help, no paraprofessionals. It’s just dangerous. Beyond being able to educate that many kids at once all by myself, I’m not confident I can keep them safe from each other. They don’t fit in the room, there aren’t enough chairs, it’s not okay. I have this knot in my stomach and I’m worried sick and stressed out because of it.”
“Alone in a class of nearly 50 students with no student teachers, no paraprofessionals, and little support from school administrators when children act out violently. And many of these teachers are in their early twenties. The ones from Teach for America — roughly a quarter of the teachers in the EAA — had a scant five weeks of training before they were assigned to a classroom full of kids.”
Constant turnover damages morale:
““The bottom line is that the EAA is really bad for teachers and, more importantly, it’s really bad for students. The way they treat the teachers is causing them to leave. I would leave if…I’m almost there, to tell you the truth. The turnover rate is horrible for the kids. Any educator worth their salt knows that a lot of what you do every day and the success of it is dependent on the depth of the relationships that you form with your students and parents. And, for a lot of these students, school is the most stable thing in their life, especially in these high-risk, urban areas.
“So, when they constantly have instability at home and also instability at school with this revolving door of teachers…they’re in and they’re out because the district is treating them like crap. That’s horrible for kids. Not to mention the fact that class sizes are huge, the things that they feed them in the cafeteria are not nutritious, they have very minimal security.”
Governor Snyder plans to expand the EAA.
As we continually discussed, most of these ideas were first floated experimentally in Chicago, then thrown across the country (along with Chicago veterans like Paul Vallas and Arne Duncan) afterwards. Chicago had a local “Academic Achievement Council” in the late 1990s, legislatively. It turned out it was a corporate thingy designed to continually harp on “failure” and propose what eventually became “turnaround” and, even later, charterization. As everyone reading this knows, what is today, in corporate jargon, called “turnaround” is actually what was then (late 1990s) called “Reconstitution.” Once research showed (by 1999 at the latest) that it “failed” they simply “rebranded” it and went right on with it to this day.
The Chicago Academic Achievement thingy was completely corporate. It was chaired by “Venture Capitalist” Martin Koldyke (a buddy of Mayor Daley and former chairman of the Chicago School Finance Authority) and populated by a rainbow coalition of corporate hacks and flacks (there is an infinite supply of them at this point in history, thanks to the success of diversity politics: think Barack Obama and Cory Booker as male examples…).
Once some of us began going to their meetings, compliance with the Open Meetings Act, demanding public participation, and reporting every detail of every meeting (with pictures) regularly, they simply abolished it and did their “turnaround” dirtywork behind the scenes. Koldyke became first chairman of the “Academy for Urban School Leadership”, which takes over schools to be “tuarnarounded”.
One of the fun parts about organizing the Resistance all these years has been taking on frauds like this and reporting on them. Friday I had a good time reporting on the latest corporate charter school scam in Chicago as Rahm Emanuel did a publicity stunt at that latest “Noble Network” charter “campus” across the street from a real public high school. The attacks continue, but the flacks and hacks who sit in the “reserved” seats at these events hate having to read about themselves — anywhere. You can read that story at the top of substancenews.net if you want this morning. And I urge brothers and sisters in Michigan to cover every meeting and every moment of Michigan’s “Education Achievement Authority.”
As I have said before, with a name (Achievement Authority) like that, you wonder what country you live in.
Orwell-Land.
Long live Orwellandia! Arriba, Arriba.
I have experienced many of these things mentioned by teachers in Michigan charter schools. I am one of the teachers who left after feeling unsafe every day. The for-profit end of things is also scandalous. CEO’s who take money from public funds for Title I should be caught and brought to justice. Instead they use fear tactics to keep teachers in line. The economy is so bad, that often teachers have no other choice but to manage teaching under such ridiculous pressures. Then, to drive home and hear how teachers and schools are failing students on the radio, adds insult to injury.
Our fine governor is working diligently to eliminate public education in the state of Michigan. All of the “failing” schools will be sucked into the EAA blackhole to be parceled out to for profit corporations. Every year will have a new 5%. For the other districts in the state, he continues to underfund them in such a way that they will go bankrupt and need an “emergency financial manager” who will then turn the districts and taxpayer funded properties over to the same for profit corporations. Small school districts that go bankrupt are simply dissolved because there is not enough profit for a corporation to bother with.
Contrast this with the school that his own daughter attends at $20,000 a year. It features a broad rich curriculum with no mandatory standardized tests or teacher evaluations based on student test scores. His daughter’s education experience is his vision of a great education in Michigan. For our children, he is satisfied with finding the cheapest way possible. In his eyes, it’s good enough for who it’s for.
When I read this I feel sick. ‘Worse yet, special needs students are woefully neglected, very possibly in violation of the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). Special plans for these students, called Individualized Education Plans or IEPs, are frequently not provided to the teachers which prevents them from making the accommodations needed for these students, accommodations required by law.”
These are the very practices that IDEA is designed to punish and eliminate. Instead, Arne stopped enforcing compliance in 2011 so SPED is returning to pre-1960’s. Segregation, secrecy, special schools for “those” children.
I know we often bash Duncan for his policies that put Corporations First, but don’t forget who appointed him.
And who has the authority to replace him at any time (but Arne is a ringer at White House basketball games so his job is safe.)
Diane could you profile who is funding Midwest Trust. They always get to have their opinions published in the Detroit Free Press. I was wondering why this group gets to have all of their opinions treated as special. Just wondering if you know who is pulling the strings.
Detroit may have more computers replacing teachers than in any other location I’ve read about. Ed reformers are pushing it hard in lower income areas. According to the people selling the products, it’s fabulous. See how many ed reform marketing terms you can spot in this piece. I really think he managed to use every one:
“EAA Buzz. Equally impressive were the schools managed by the Education Achievement Authority (EAA). On each visit there was clear evidence of strong pedagogical vision, a powerful learning platform and great teaching in every classroom.
The core EAA innovation is a mastery-based student-centered learning system. Instructional units are the building blocks of the system. Each unit includes approximately three standards-based learning targets. For each unit, the Buzz learning platform—developed with Agilix—includes a variety of learning resources, application opportunities, and assessments.
Mary Esselman is the academic driver behind the innovation. I met this pedagogical tinkerer in Kansas City three years ago where she developed and piloted Buzz. When her boss John Covington took on the EAA challenge, they brought Buzz and student- centered learning to Detroit along with a couple great principals.
There are eight things I really like about Buzz:
Ownership. Each unit includes a rich library of learning resources that give students learning pathways choices (units include content from Compass Learning, HMH, LearnZillion, Flocabulary as well as open and teacher created content).
Application. Compared to competency-based systems where teachers tick off individual subskills, the Buzz units are big enough to allow interesting application projects.
Evidence. Students must present three forms of evidence for each learning target—they have options in how they show what they know.
Grading. The 1-4 grading system is the basis for the mastery-based system. Students must score a 3, proficient, in order to move to the next unit. Students scoring a 4, advanced, are eligible for peer coaching.
Levels. The K-8 EAA schools and the Buzz platform are organized into 18 levels. Having twice as many levels as grades provides finer grained performance grouping. It also reduces the stigma for twelve year olds that are in Level 10 in ELA and Level 9 in math, for example. New students are placed in appropriate levels using adaptive tests from Scantron.
Tracking. Student productivity is measured by the number of targets hit over an expected period of time and show on a speedometer on their desktop. Teachers can monitor the progress of all of their students at a glance. Some teachers display a project-tracking tool projected on an interactive white board to create a game-like leaderboard effect—a nice mixture of an individual progress model in a cohort environment.
Motivation. The combination of student choice, engaging content, lots of feedback on performance and progress yields a motivating learning environment.
Focus. Rather than focusing on lesson plans, teachers build and swap units—a bigger sequence of instruction, application, and assessment.
Buzz is as close to the merit badge idea I’ve been writing about for a couple years of anything I’ve seen. Still a work in progress, teachers quickly admit that they are “building the plane while flying it.”
The platform is really interesting, but the step-function improvement in results that will be widely evident at most EAA schools at the end of the year will be a result of a coherent system that includes:
High expectations and powerful performance-based culture.
Pedagogical vision of a student-centered show-what-you-know learning system.
Performance-based year round employment and a long student day and year.
Student and teacher access to digital learning resources.
Effective learning practices in every classroom every day.
Relentless community engagement and outreach.
Like every other secondary school I visit, I’d like to see more writing across the curriculum. And while I appreciate the safety concerns, I’d still like to see take-home technology (or help with at-home technology for kids that need it…and Mary said that’s coming).
Angela Underwood, came from Kansas City as well. She’s the principal of Noland K-8 school (see NGLC profile). After filling over 30 dumpsters with garbage and junk, Angela found staffing the turnaround to be the real challenge. “It’s really hard work,” she said and the conditions in the old building can be pretty bad—hot in the summer, cold in the winter.
Like all EAA schools, they have a high percentage of first year teachers including many from Teach For America. Some veteran teachers take to the new system but many struggled with the student-centered model. Underwood has replaced 8 teachers at her school this year. She said they have learned to “screen for the learning facilitator mindset.”
Like students, teachers progress through four levels of mastery. EAA uses PD360 to provide online supports in areas including learning environment, building learning units, fostering student ownership and use of data. There is a learning coach in every school.
As noted last month, EAA benefited from a $10 million grant from the Broad Foundation. Excellent Schools Detroit is funded by Kellogg, Kresge, Skillman, McGregor, and United Way.
If it’s not clear to Lansing yet, the results posted by EAA schools will make the case for expanding their authority and investing in their capacity. Like Cornerstone, the EAA is doing work of national importance—and I’m glad that’s happening in Detroit.
Disclosures: Connections and Compass Learning are Getting Smart Advocacy Partners. MasteryConnect and LearnZillion are portfolio companies of Learn Capital where Tom is partner.
Tom Vander Ark”
So my concern when I first encountered online learning replacing teachers (in a juvenile detention facility 5 years ago) was that it would be used to cut costs in low income schools.
Since that appears to be happening, particularly in Detroit, is anything being done to address this trend of using technology as a cheap replacement for staff in low income areas, or will we continue to pretend it isn’t happening?
http://gettingsmart.com/2013/04/whats-all-the-buzz-about-detroit/
Chiara, the “reformer” game plan is to save money by replacing teachers with computers. This is a big moneymaker for the industry, and it gets rid of unions and experienced teachers. Machines can be tossed away when they are obsolete, and they never get a pension.
I’m hearing from various sources that Mary Esselman has financial ties to the company that makes “BUZZ”, Agilix. I’ll be following up on this.
Truth in advertising: “pedagogical tinkerer” !!
This is a waking nightmare. My heart goes out to the students, parents, and all the staff trapped in this system. Violence, huge class sizes, no support, violation of student rights, it couldn’t be any worse.
Also, the Broad’s say the EAA is a big success and should be expanded.
I don’t know how they know this, it was my understanding they live in Los Angeles, but they once lived near Detroit.
So far we have two ed reform experts from outside Detroit who say EAA is a big success, although Vander Ark is selling cyberlearning product, so I’d dismiss his evaluation completely.
I’m curious about the Detroit/Kansas City connection. Why are there so many ed reformers from Kansas City parachuting into Detroit?
http://www.freep.com/article/20130428/OPINION05/304280058/Education-Eli-and-Edythe-Broad-Michigan-Education-Acheivement-Authority
Here’s Arne Duncan on the EAA:
“NEW ORLEANS – Calling Detroit Public Schools “Ground Zero for education in this country,” U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan said there are big changes in the works for the city schools – but said he is not ready to give details.
“Stay tuned,” he told reporters attending the Education Writers Association national seminar Friday.
Talking about Detroit, Duncan said the city schools have suffered from a “lack of leadership, and a lack of courage” and compared potential changes there to what occurred in New Orleans, where 75 percent of students now attend charter schools.
But Duncan said he could not yet reveal what the changes would be, saying “there are conversations happening right now.”
Such drama and mystery! He “can not yet reveal…”
So silly. The plan was the same cookie-cutter plan they use in every city or district they drop into. The plan was to privatize the public schools. The only difference in Detroit is they’re replacing staff with computer programs to cut costs and try to educate (lower income students, exclusively) on the cheap.
Chiara, never forget that Duncan is the only one who speaks about our dumb kids and lazy parents with “courage.” Everyone else shields them from the competition and excoriation he thinks they deserve.
@chiarra duggan.. you mention, “The only difference in Detroit is they’re replacing staff with computer programs to cut costs and try to educate (lower income students, exclusively) on the cheap…” I say that in the process of “educating the kids via computer on the cheap” this would happily result in some heavy duty profit for technology companies at the expense of real education. It is disgusting. When will DUNCAN BE DUMPED… WHEN????? I read recently Civil Rights leader, James Meredith on points needed to address in ridding public education of destructive reforms. Being this is Black History Month.. it surely is worth a read:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2014/01/29/civil-rights-hero-launches-american-childs-education-bill-of-rights/
Thank you for this link!
It is horrific to think that a teacher has a ratio of one to fifty! It is child endangerment (even worse so if indeed this ratio exists in a new teacher’s classroom – especially a TFA teacher with no real training). I notice a huge difference in a class of 30 students that used to be a class of 23. So I just cannot imagine the difficulties for a teacher given this 1 to 50 situation. All it takes is one or two students with extreme behavioral issues to upset the balance of a classroom (even in a smaller classroom). Seems to me that there should be some legal precedent in all this worthy of being put before the Supreme Court which would set legal precedent for policy which cares about the lives of students and the dedicated teachers who give them the skills for life-long learning.
It is endangerment for everyone. Remember, these are kids for whom drugs, gangs and guns are just part of their daily life. And the kids whose parents are the least bit involved are pulling them from these schools and sending them to “schools of choice” in the suburbs. The ones left behind are the toughest kids with the toughest home lives in the toughest neighborhoods. And to think there are up to 50 teenagers in a room with a 22 year old TFA? It’s criminal.
As horrible as this story is, you left out what I consider to be the worst part. Broken computers and laptops were required to log in and use the curriculum software Buzz. This software was horrible to navigate, had no curriculum on it so teachers in the EAA facilities were being paid $25 an hour (not during school hours) to input curriculum into Buzz, and often the teachers doing this were TFA instructors, so not people who had any curriculum background to begin with.
Eclectablog yesterday reported that Buzz is produced by software company Agilix, based out of Utah and before the EAA this software had never been used by any other school in the country.
The EAA, a program that took at-risk students already struggling and put them in these overcrowded, underfunded schools staffed with inexperienced TFA recruits, guinea pigs beta testing software.
http://www.eclectablog.com/2014/01/instead-of-using-proven-computer-based-teaching-the-eaa-was-the-test-site-for-previously-untested-software.html
http://agilix.com/announcing-agilix-buzz/
Reblogged this on Crazy Normal – the Classroom Exposé and commented:
If you want a look at what’s happening inside the opaque privatization movement that intends to replace transparent, democratically run public schools with schools operated for a profit by corporations and CEOs, this post will shock you and might open your eyes if you have no idea what’s going on. Many veteran public school teachers already know what’s going on.
Thanks, Diane. I appreciate your helping this story get more attention. I had hoped to attend your blogger roundtable on Tuesday but I can’t get away. Perhaps we’ll meet another day.
For those interested in all of reporting on the EAA since the linked story broke, you can see all of the posts HERE.
Eclectablog, I will be posting your pieces one at a time, for the next few days.
As a Michigan educator of 20+ years reading this I’m happy that the state of education in MI is receiving notice, kudos to Eclectablog. We have lost our tenure rights in this state, our senority is rendered useless and we are now looking at a weaker union with RTW as the law. Our local public schools face less and less state money coming in as more and more cyber schools take root as well as Charters, yet Gov Snyder in his state of state address insists he’s increased funding. He’s running for reelection of course and with all the dark money allowed in this state, he’ll probably win. God help education in this state if that happens, I never thought my state would reach this level so quickly.
Taught in Lansing , Michigan. Glad i don’t teach there anymore.
And yet Michigan voters voted against diverting public funds to private schools three times, in 1957, 1978 and 2000, by an average margin of 67% to 33%, about the same margin as in the rest the 27 referenda on the matter between 1966 and 2012 from coast to coast. — Edd Doerr (for details see “The Great School Voucher Fraud” at arlinc.org)
Michigan voters also through out the Emergency Manager law, which empowered the EAA. But Governor Snyder directed his legislature to pass a new one, which is essentially the same.
Governor Snyder has repeatedly ignored the will of the people he serves. He has no concept of “the consent of the governed.”
Electablog is reporting the truth. I know people who have worked for the EAA at it is awful!!! When will the truth be told to the public by the local media?? Chelsea Clinton helped to put on a phony propaganda show about the EAA on NBC. How pathetic.
I have also been wondering why we aren’t seeing this story in the Free Press, the News, or any of the local stations. The fact that our children are being abused, our tax dollars are being squandered, and people are getting rich off of it should be front page news.
I’m in North Carolina. I moved here 8 years ago from California. While neither of them having great schools the literacy rate in NC is horrible! Many people cannot read above a 4th grade level. Sad indeed…
The Eclectablog report is absolutely filled with errors and false claims. Dr. Ravitch, as far as I know, you’ve never visited the Education Achievement Authority to see its work for yourself. We urge you to come and take a look and see how our educators are making an incredible difference for our children. Please look at our work before you dismiss what our educators are doing. Dr. Covington also will send you a personal invitation to visit.
Terry Abbott
Communications Office
Education Achievement Authority
Dr. Ravitch, because you used the false claims in the Eclectablog as the basis for your own blog, I am posting here, and requesting that you publish, this response:
Response from the Education Achievement Authority to largely false allegations published in the Eclectablog on January 22, 2014
On January 22, 2014 a political blog with a history of vehement opposition to education reform and the Education Achievement Authority of Michigan published a more than 4,500-word attack on the educators who make up the historic school turnaround effort in Michigan that is the Education Achievement Authority.
This political attack on Michigan’s effort to save failing schools was comprised entirely of anonymous statements allegedly made to a blogger by educators. No names, dates or locations were provided to readers of the blog to support the allegations.
Educators throughout the Education Achievement Authority’s 15 schools in Detroit have thoroughly reviewed the anonymous allegations allegedly reported to this political blog and have determined almost all of them are false.
Here is the truth from real educators in Detroit about the anonymous allegations contained in the political blog posting:
Special needs education:
The anonymous accusation: The political blog used anonymous alleged sources to claim that special needs students are neglected and that teachers are not provided with Individualized Education Plans for students.
The truth: Educators in EAA schools report these anonymous allegations are false. All teachers have access to the Individualized Education Plans every day. Every EAA school provides quality support and services for special needs students. The blog’s anonymous allegations to the contrary are patently false.
In fact, Education Achievement Authority schools are serving a higher percentage of special needs students than are other state schools:
Special needs students
State Reporting Data for 2012-2013 School Year:
EAA: 17.6%
State: 13.0%
Students identified as cognitively Impaired
EAA: 17.4%
State: 9.8%
Special education students are served and the enrollment is increasing as shown below for an additional 126 students since the start of the school year. Here are the numbers and percentages of EAA students with special needs being served each month during the 2013-14 school year
September – 343 Elementary, 728 Secondary 1071 total
Elem 32.0% Secondary 68.0%
October – 367 Elementary, 762 Secondary 1129 total
Elem 32.5% Secondary 67.5%
November – 376 Elementary, 788 Secondary 1164 total
Elem 32.3% Secondary 67.7%
December – 382 Elementary, 784 Secondary 1176 total
Elem 32.5% Secondary 67.5%
Discipline of school employees or students who are physically abusive:
The anonymous accusation: The political blog used anonymous alleged sources to claim that school employees who “have been seen physically abusing” students and “violent students” who endanger teachers are not punished or suspended.
The truth: Educators in EAA schools report these anonymous allegations are false. On the rare occasions when students have made physical contact with educators, they have been punished appropriately. And on the even rarer occasions when an employee has made inappropriate physical contact with a student, the employee has dealt with appropriately. The anonymous allegations that no action was taken are false.
Unlike the political blog, which provided no school names nor any other information to back up its anonymous allegations, real EAA educators did provide school names and detailed facts in their review of the false anonymous allegations in the blog:
• Brenda Scott Elementary/Middle School: A security officer who allegedly pushed a student was terminated from employment at EAA. A five-year-old student bit a teacher and was suspended.
• Mumford High School: A teacher who made physical contact with a student left the district. The matter had been resolved in a meeting with a parent and administrators. Another student allegedly made physical contact with a security officer and was suspended. Another student was arrested for physical contact with an employee and making a threat. The student also was suspended.
• Denby High School: A food service worker who allegedly made physical contact with a student was terminated from employment at EAA. A student who made inappropriate contact with a teacher was suspended.
• Bethune Elementary/Middle School: Two teachers allegedly pushed a student. Both were placed on administrative leave during a formal investigation. One of the teachers was allowed to return to work with no conclusive evidence found of the action, but the teacher chose to resign. The other teacher was suspended and then left the school.
• Southeastern High School: Two students alleged two different incidents by two different employees of physical contact by the employees. A thorough investigation by EAA district officials and the school did not conclude inappropriate physical contact. Both employees remained on administrative leave during the investigation and both returned to their jobs following the investigation. During the 2012-13 school year, there were two incidents in which students pushed or grabbed a teacher. These students were suspended and then expelled. During the current school year, one teacher was hit in the nose while interceding in an altercation between two students. Both students were suspended and recommended for expulsion. A disciplinary hearing judge reviewed the case and allowed one student to return to school after serving a suspension. The judge ruled the other student would be suspended for 90 days and then removed to an alternative program.
• Pershing High School: During the 2012-13 school year staff members were disciplined for incidents. A student allegedly verbally abused a staff member and made inappropriate contact with the staff member. The investigation is ongoing. In another matter, a teacher allegedly grabbed a student. The teacher was placed on leave but an investigation cleared him to return to work. In another matter, a teacher had a verbal confrontation with a student. An investigation was conducted and the teacher no longer works at the school.
• Nolan Elementary School: This school year, one staff member was pulled on the arm by a 7-year-old student and was suspended. A second staff member was accidentally hit in the nose during an elementary student altercation on a school bus. Both students involved in the altercation were suspended.
• Phoenix Academy: A student bit a teacher and was suspended.
• Ford High School: Two students were alleged to have made inappropriate contact with a staff member. Both students were suspended. A third student is under investigation after a similar claim.
• Burns Elementary/Middle: A student allegedly made physical contact with a teacher and paraprofessional. The student was suspended.
Teaching model:
The anonymous accusation: The political blog used an anonymous alleged source to claim that a school has “changed our teaching model twice this year and we’re going to change again in February.”
The truth: Educators in EAA schools report this anonymous allegation is false. There is no change in teaching model during the course of the school year. However, with each administration of the district’s Performance Series tests, schools assess their students’ mastery and adjust instructional levels as needed. The teaching model does not change.
Metal detectors:
The anonymous accusation: The political blog used an anonymous alleged source to claim that an elementary school has a metal detector that does not work and that no one checks it.
The truth: Educators in EAA schools report this anonymous allegation is false. All metal detectors at all elementary schools are in working order and are monitored. One metal detector at Henry Ford High School is out of order, two at Mumford High are out of order, and one at Pershing High is out of order. Repairs have been ordered.
Class sizes:
The anonymous accusation: The political blog used an anonymous alleged source to claim that the number of students in school classrooms is too large, sometimes reaching almost 50 students.
The truth: Educators in EAA schools report this anonymous allegation is largely false. EAA schools have no regular classes that are larger than 49 students, as is alleged in the political blog.
• Nolan Elementary School uses a unique “Hub” design that involves pulling students into small groups throughout the day for English Language Arts instruction, social studies, math and science. One of these special Hub units at Nolan has 51 students and the other has 52. Paraprofessionals work in both Hubs to support the classroom teachers throughout the day. When the students are pulled back out of the Hubs, the classroom teacher is left with 37 students and a paraprofessional for assistance.
• Central High School has no core instructional classrooms that exceed 49 students. The only class that exceeds 49 is a physical education class which has a total of 64 students, which is below the state limit of 70.
Training of Teacher for America teachers:
The anonymous accusation: The political blog used an anonymous alleged source to claim that Teach For America program graduates at EAA schools “had a scant five weeks of training before they were assigned to a classroom full of kids.”
The truth: Educators at EAA report this anonymous allegation is completely false. The truth is that teachers from the Teach For America program participate in a five-week summer training institute with Teach for America prior to beginning their teaching assignment. As part of this assignment they teach in an urban classroom. They must also pass the state test in their area of certification prior to the start of the school year. Then, the Teach for America teachers receive two more weeks of professional development training from the EAA prior to the start of school and they receive coaching from both Teach for America and the Education Achievement Authority. These teachers also are assigned a mentor to help them, and they participate in regular professional development training through both the EAA and Teach for America.
Teacher turnover
The anonymous accusation: The political blog used anonymous alleged sources to claim that EAA’s teacher turnover rate this year is 20 percent, and that “last fall, they had to hire around 40 new teachers after the school year was already underway.”
The truth: Educators at EAA report these anonymous allegations are false.
The teacher turnover rate in EAA schools this year is 6.83 percent, not the 20 percent claimed in the uncredited, unsourced political blog. EAA schools replaced 29 teachers this year, which is 28 percent below the replacement rate claimed in the political blog.
Loss of special education teachers
The anonymous accusation: The political blog used an anonymous alleged source to claim that a school “lost our entire special ed department.”
The truth: Educators at EAA schools report this anonymous allegation is false.
Educators report that no school in the Education Achievement Authority lost its entire special education department.
Training and support for teachers
The anonymous accusation: The political blog used an anonymous alleged source to claim that the Education Achievement Authority provides no instructional coaches to help teachers and no support for new teachers.
The truth: Educators at EAA schools report this anonymous allegation is false.
All new teachers at Education Achievement Authority schools receive two weeks of professional development prior to the start of school. In addition, they are assigned a mentor and have access to on-demand professional development, virtual and face to face, and instructional coaches who are able to model best teaching practices and provide additional support. Schools have a full schedule of professional development to support the needs of teachers. Teachers also have the opportunity to participate in district level workshops and new teacher professional development twice a month after school.
Performance bonuses for teachers
The anonymous accusation: The political blog used an anonymous alleged source to claim that pay-for-performance bonuses should have been made to teachers in October but have been withheld until spring.
The truth: Educators at EAA report this anonymous allegation is false.
The pay-for-performance bonuses obviously cannot be awarded until the performance reports are released by the state of Michigan, when MEAP results are published. This fact was communicated to teachers during the 2012-13 school year and again through meetings at the schools in December of 2013.
Technology resources for students
The anonymous accusation: The political blog claimed that schools do not have enough technology for every student in every classroom.
The truth: This is the only allegation in the blog posting that is partially true. EAA schools have thousands of computers but needs new ones to replace older model computers that require continued maintenance. EAA sought and received bids in January for new mobile devices for students, and will be receiving about 3,000 new notebook computers to make sure the needs of students are met.
Included among the educators who provided this information to set the record straight are:
Marquis Stewart, Scott Elementary/Middle; Dwayne Richardson, Burns Elementary/Middle; Ronnie Belle, Law Academy; Antoinette Pearson, Bethune Elementary/Middle; Malon Harris, Murphy Elementary/Middle; Angela Underwood, Nolan Elementary/Middle; Alex Cintron, Phoenix Academy; Stephen McGhee, Central Collegiate Academy; Tracie McKissic, Denby High; Mark Mayberry, Ford High; Kenyetta Wilbourn, Mumford High; Gregory King, Pershing High; Jeffrey Maxwell, Southeastern High; Mary Esselman, EAA Central Office; MiUndrae Prince, EAA Central Office; Kevin Magin, EAA Central Office.
So, Mr. Covington polled all of his principals, the people that work directly for him, and asked them if they were abusing students, had disciplinary issues, and if they were violating federal laws with regard to special education students and they all said no?
What a surprise! Too bad he didn’t ask some of the dozens of teachers who have already left or maybe some of the parents of the 25% of students that left the EAA after just one year.
I’ve responded to this Chris Christie-style “investigation” HERE.
Blame the messenger all you want, the evidence is mounting that you have a big problem and no amount of obfuscation changes that. I still have four more interviews in the hopper and I’m getting more each day. If the EAA hadn’t created such a profound atmosphere and culture of fear and intimidation with its teachers, they might not have to hear about the problems on a “political blog” whose politics you obviously disagree with.
Make that five. I was just contacted by another teacher.
http://www.wsbtv.com/news/news/secretary-accused-of-using-school-money-to-shop/nD97X/
Given his reputation, I had a difficult time believing that Gregory King had been given another job managing teachers and money. Detroit must have been desperate.
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