There are two groups that can’t be attacked by corporate reformers as greedy and self-interested: parents and students. The fake reformers automatically dismiss the voices if educators, but they can’t dismiss parents and students.
No, wait, Arne Duncan ridiculed parents in Néw York as “white suburban moms” who were disappointed to find out their children weren’t so bright after all.
But so far he hasn’t tried to dismiss the students, and no voice is more powerful than that of knowledgeable students.
In Providence, Rhode Island, high school students have stood up bravely against the misuse of a standardized test as a graduation requirement.
The Providence Student Union held a mayoral forum, and every candida date, from both parties, endorsed the student platform. We can all take lessons from these brilliant young people.
They wrote:
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“Did you hear?
“Last week, the Providence Student Union partnered with Young Voices and the Nellie Mae Education Foundation to organize a 100% youth-led, youth-moderated Mayoral Forum.
“As Friday’s front-page Providence Journal story put it – students “grilled” Providence mayoral hopefuls on the issues important to our city’s young people.
“With a packed house, critical discussion, and a Twitter conversation on the forum’s #pvdymf hashtag that trended top 10 nationally, it’s safe to say students successfully pushed their concerns into the conversation around this year’s election.
“More than anything, however, this forum illustrated just how far we have come in building student power in our community. Three things we learned:
“1. Every mayoral candidate – Democrat and Republican – announced their opposition to using the NECAP as a graduation requirement. It would have been hard to imagine when we began our “More Than a Test Score” campaign, but in the course of a year PSU youth leaders have truly turned this into a consensus political issue.
“2. Every mayoral candidate voiced their support for the Providence Student Union’s campaign to reduce the district’s walking distance and provide bus passes to more students.
“3. Every mayoral candidate agreed to sign our youth platform, The Schools Providence Students Deserve, pledging their commitment to fighting for more student-centered and hands-on learning, support for the arts, an emphasis on restorative practices versus punitive discipline systems, and more.
“The forum was a success, but it was just the beginning. Whoever wins this election, our task remains the same: bringing together impassioned student leaders who can hold adults to their promises and deliver the schools Providence students deserve.
“Thanks for all of your support. And if you want to be a part of this critical work, please make a donation and help students as they stand up, again and again, to have a fair say in their education.
“Sincerely,
Zack Mezera
Executive Director”
To learn more about the Providence Student Union, get in contact, or make a donation:
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Thanks for spreading the word, Diane! Folks can click the link below to see photos from the event!
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.791294757547961.1073741842.319618354715606&type=1
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Students and parents are certainly self-interested. Not all students have a well-defined sense of their own interests. But their parents do, or think they do.
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The reformers never attack students as greedy.
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No, the proper way to attack students is the “babe of the woods” routine. They’re just innocent, unknowing victims being led astray by the greedy, self-interested teachers, and the poor dears need to be set straight by people who genuinely have their interests at heart.
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Congratulations, Providence Student Union!
“Nothing is stronger than an idea whose time has come.”
Victor Hugo
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I’m wondering about this.
“Smarter Balanced has worked actively with colleges and universities through higher education leads in each member state. Higher education and K–12 leads worked together to develop a College Content-readiness Policy that was approved by member states last spring. This policy, along with Achievement Level Descriptors also approved last spring, will inform the setting of achievement levels this fall.
As states look ahead to the first operational administration of the summative assessment in Spring 2015, higher education leads are working with colleges and universities to enact the policy and administrative changes necessary to recognize and use Smarter Balanced Grade 11 scores as evidence of student readiness for credit-bearing courses.”
So would that apply to Grade 11 and Grade 12 students in the 2015/16 and 2016/17 school year?
Because that’s “high stakes” for students, is it not? Depending on the definition of “high stakes”, I guess.
And this batch students would be taking these new tests at most a couple of years when they were “used as evidence of readiness”, because the CC testing will have only been in a year or two at that point.
I think parents of current high school students probably need more info on this.
http://all4ed.org/more-on-the-assessment-consortia-field-tests/
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Dear Diane:
I recently saw a copy of the April edition of The Mountaineer, the student newspaper for the High School in Montclair New Jersey. The “April Fools” edition contained a number of humorous articles, including spoofs of reform policies.
The front page featured a vintage picture of actor Macauley Culkin in his role as Kevin in the movie Home Alone, wearing his Oh-No face, (hands on cheeks, mouth open in shock) in front of the school. Hand drawn helicopters circle overhead and “Carabinieri” police cars stand outside.
The headline reads, “THE COMMON CORE TAKES OVER.”
Inside, among other tongue-in-cheek pieces are “Daily Testing Required for All Students” and “Chris Christie Extends School Day, MHS Students are Devastated.”
(I am leaving off the student authors’ names because I do not know what practices might apply for publicizing in which forums–I’m sure you could contact the paper directly.)
This from “Daily Testing Required for All Students”:
“The day both teachers and students have dreaded has finally come. The superintendent has officially required testing for all students. Feeling as though her quarterlies weren’t helping kids to meet her standards, superintendent Dr. Penny McCormack figured that students needed to be tested on a daily basis. Even students as young as five and six years old are required to take a test every day to make sure they’ve kept up with their ABC’s and coloring….” and
“… standardized tests are the only way to truly measure a student’s ability not only in school, but in life.
And from the spoof, “Chris Christie Extends School Day”:
“Chris Christie feels that if students are in school longer they will do better on standardized tests … He came up with this law based off of standardized tests scores…”
Creative writing and personal opinion are certainly effective means of communication in the hands of these amazing young writers.
I am also stuck by the images chosen for the front page.
Representations of military and police action.
And you might recall that in Home Alone, Kevin is left behind when his family goes on vacation.
He must face and defeat a team of intruders without the help of the absent adults.
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Christine,
I am often impressed by how incredibly smart our young people are.
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Love the concept of Providence Student Union!
-Empowers the students.
-Expands critical thinking and communication skills.
-Encourages students to act as responsible citizens in a democracy.
Educates students in ways current public education does not have time to do!
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Parents are not immune from the labeling.
In Indianapolis, late 1990s, public school parents organized against a very aggressive campaign by the Indianapolis Public Schools Superintendent of Schools Esperanza Zendejas. She was brought in by the Mayor Stephen Goldsmith to destroy the public school system by selling off the schools that were ranked the BEST, advocating for private school vouchers, firing the administrators of the most SUCCESSFUL programs, and all manner of other despicable things. We parents were sneeringly called a “Special Interest Group” who should be ignored.
We finally got Esperanza Zendejas ousted. But, immediately, the Indiana legislature enacted a charter school law for Indianapolis, which the next mayor Bart Peterson (whom we and our children had campaigned for!) implemented. Crushing! http://cva.nuvo.net/cva/parents-for-public-education-maureen-jayne/
When I read Diane Ravitch’s book “Reign of Error” I get chills, recognizing those beginning days of the destruction of public schools.
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