Archives for the month of: April, 2014

KrazyTA with a Tribute to Our Conversation!

April 1, 2014 //

TAKE NOTHING FOR GRANTED.

The symmetry of two ones followed by six zeros in less than two appeals to me.

So please excuse a bit of long-winded impertinence about how I view this blog.

DO NOT TAKE FOR GRANTED: “Diane Ravitch’s Blog A site to discuss better education for all.” 75 may be the new 45, but remember that Michelle Rhee literally is 44 years old and has a real staff of 120 and Diane Ravitch has a fictional staff of 92. Diane does it herself [with very occasional help from others]. A sterling contrast between the impersonal [and often fictional] accountability of those pushing eduproduct and genuine personal responsibility.

DO NOT TAKE FOR GRANTED: the commenters on this blog. With apologies in advance to many others, where would we be without at least an occasional mention of Noel Wilson by Duane Swacker, or a take down of the CCSS curricular bullet lists by Bob Shepherd, or Chiara Duggan’s detailed breakdown of the latest shenanigans [and worse] of the charterite/privatizer movement? Not to mention the pointed and revealing comments of Dienne, 2old2tch, chemtchr, Linda…and the beat goes on.

DO NOT TAKE FOR GRANTED: that some ‘stage’ in the discussion about a “better education for all” has been completed. Ensuring that every parent has the option of sending their child to a well-resourced neighborhood public school is truly the “never-ending story.” Just like the classroom, there are folks that have been in the thick of the discussion [and activism] for a while and those just joining in. That’s what genuine learning and teaching is all about—and it should never have an end point.

DO NOT TAKE FOR GRANTED: that there’s only one way to ensure a “better education for all.” Agree and act together where we can, disagree and go our separate ways where we must, but never give in to one of the fundamental principles of the charterite/privatization movement: contempt. Diversity of thought and action is a plus, not a minus, from the NPE conference and blogs and informal discussions to opt out and strikes and demonstrations.

I end with a simple reminder. This blog is Diane’s virtual living room. She didn’t have to invite us in. We don’t have to stay. Let’s make the most of her generous offer to join in a wide-ranging conversation—and perhaps more—knowing that two twos followed by six zeros is within her, and our, reach. And that one person, armed with powerful ideas, can make a difference by bringing people together:

“A decent boldness ever meets with friends.” [Homer]

Perhaps the old dead Greek guy knew someone like the owner of this blog?

😎

Categories Education Reform

Brooklyn Parents: Can You Hear Me Now?

By dianeravitch

April 1, 2014 //

These remarks were delivered by a parent in Brooklyn at the Opt Out rally:

“Good morning and welcome to Brooklyn!

“My name is Kemala Karmen and I am the parent of a 4th grader at PS 146, the Brooklyn New School. In recent years, our borough has earned a reputation as a trendsetter in everything from Indie music to urban farming to participatory budgeting—pioneered in NYC by Council Member Brad Lander, who is here today to support us.

“Now we can add one more way in which Brooklyn is blazing a trail: the parents of Brooklyn, outraged by the hijacking of our childrens’ educations, outraged by the assault on our public schools and on our public school teachers, we parents of Brooklyn are taking a stand. Whether we live in Brownsville or Cobble Hill, Ft. Greene or Greenpoint, we are saying ENOUGH! Stop using the blunt instrument of the state ELA and math tests to rank and sort our children, our teachers, and our schools.

“Maybe it’s our city, state, and federal policy makers who need to take the ELA test! When we delivered petitions or wrote letters about the misuses of the tests, they didn’t seem to be able to read—or heed—our urgent concerns about our children.

“Our policy makers also flat-out ignored experts in child development and test design, experts whose published research “warned against attaching severe consequences to performance on any test.” And, sadly, even the teachers’ union has been slow to protect its members from the stranglehold of testing.

“So now, we parents are invoking the only tool we have left. In growing numbers, we are refusing to let our children take these tests. No test score means no data. No data on which to base teacher evaluations. No data on which to justify school closings. No sensitive, personal data that follows our children from year to year, from school to school.

“This morning parents at our District 15 school stand together with parents at other Brooklyn schools to announce the explosive growth of test resistance in our borough, a movement that is gaining momentum elsewhere, too—in the city, and the state, and, really, anywhere in the country where parents see the joys of teaching and learning constrained, the spark of curiosity and creativity snuffed out.

“At 3 Brooklyn schools that we know of—our school, District 23’s PS 446/The Riverdale Avenue Community School (which is in Brownsville) and the Academy of Arts & Letters, located in Ft. Greene in District 13—this year there will be far more children NOT taking the tests than taking them. What that means in stark numbers: at PS 446 48 out of 60 children will REFUSE THE TESTS. At Arts & Letters 44 out of 53 3rd graders will REFUSE THE TESTS. At PS 146, Brooklyn New School 243 out of 306 students will REFUSE THE TESTS.

“It may be April Fools Day, but these tests and, indeed, the whole edifice of corporate “education reform” built upon these tests is no joke. It is no laughing matter when millions are diverted away from our children’s classrooms and into the hands of for-profit companies. It fails to amuse when our class sizes become so large that even our best teachers are hard pressed to know each child.

“I am happy to report that at Riverdale Avenue Community, Arts & Letters, & BNS, our families will no longer blindly default to taking the tests. We are fortunate, because the administration and teachers at our schools have supported us in exercising our rights as parents to make informed decisions about “opting in” or “opting out” of the tests. We hope that others will take heart from what is happening at our schools, that other parents will understand that they have the right to direct their children’s education—and not be afraid to exercise that right. And we hope more principals will not be afraid to stand up for their families.

—

Categories New York City, Parents, Testing

Should We Send EduShyster to Hobnob with the Thought Leaders at Whiteface Lodge?

By dianeravitch

April 1, 2014 //

EduShyster volunteers to join the mighty and the very rich at Camp Philos, where our self-anointed thought leaders will figure out how to hasten the privatization of public schools and how to get rid of those expensive veteran teachers, while encouraging more young people to spend a year or two as “teachers” before finding their real career.

Is that a real Paypal button? If it is, I am donating to send our very own thought leader.

Wouldn’t it be funny if most of those who signed up were opposed to privatization and union-busting and teacher-bashing?

I am reminded of a long story or short novel by Joseph Conrad in which the protagonist is encouraged by the authorities to join a small band of anarchists who are planning an act of violence. He joins, blends in, and—spoiler alert!–belatedly discovers that all of them are double agents, like him.

If only that were true at Camp Philos, but alas, we know the agenda of these guys: They represent the Status Quo and the 1%. In Cuomo’s case, he represents Wall Street and the 3% of children in charters. He just brokered a state budget deal to cut the tax rate on banks and to shower money on privately managed charters, at the expense of the 97%.

Categories Cuomo, Andrew, Democrats for Education Reform, Humor, Privatization

United Opt Out Website Working Now

By dianeravitch

April 1, 2014 //

Peg Ribertson’s technical advisor fixed the damage to the United Opt Out website. It is working again. Pay them a visit.

Categories Testing

What Makes a Mass Movement?

By dianeravitch

April 1, 2014 //

A reader posted this video recently, and I couldn’t stop laughing.

What makes a movement? Here is the answer.

Be a leader, be a follower. Let’s build a mass movement!

Categories Humor

Bob Shepherd: You Can Always Trust Data

By dianeravitch

April 1, 2014 //

A frequent commentator, Bob Shepherd, with many years in curriculum development, education publishing, and assessment, offers sage advice:

“The tests are infallible. They are objective measures. And we know that because they produce data. And not just any old data. Data with numbers and stuff. Very rigorously determined raw-to-scaled-score conversions and cut scores and proficiencies. Super-dooper, charterific, infallible data. Lots and lots of it. I mean lots. Tons. You wouldn’t believe the data!!! Data for days. Rivers of data. Big, big data.

“If the new tests show that 70 percent of students are failures, that’s because 70 percent of students are failures. And if the tests show that 70 percent of our students are failures, that’s because 70 percent of our teachers are failures too.

“You see? The data show that those shiftless, ungritful kids and teachers just can’t measure up to “higher standards” produced by folks with VAST experience as educators. Folks like David Coleman.

“And that’s why teachers need to be replaced with educational technology.

“And that’s why the public schools need to be closed down and replaced with private schools and charter schools.

“And that’s why the country needs to spend about 50 billion dollars making the transition to the Common Core and Big Data.

“Because the Common Core data show a 70 percent failure rate!!!

“Because numbers in a report, however they got there, are never wrong!

“Why are they never wrong? Because they are data!

“data data data data data

“You see?

“It couldn’t POSSIBLY BE that the tests are poorly conceived and written. It couldn’t possibly be that the standards are likewise poorly conceived and written. It couldn’t possibly be that what’s being called data-driven decision making is a variety of NUMEROLOGY.

“Because the masters who designed these tests and these standards are infallible. They are the best makers of tests and standards (well, if you use those terms very, very loosely) that a plutocrat’s money can buy, that is, if the plutocrat is in a hurry, and if he doesn’t really give the matter much thought. You know, if he does this in the way that ordinary, nonplutocratic folks might, say, order up a pizza.

“Glad I could straighten that out for you.

“Just remember: The DATA show that everybody failed and needs to be fired and that everything needs to be privatized.

“Oh, and lots and lots of new software and data systems need to be bought. I mean, billions of dollars worth. Billions and billions.

“You’re welcome.”

Categories Data and Data Mining

The Height of the Ridiculous

By dianeravitch

April 1, 2014 //

Oliver Wendell Holmes was a remarkably gifted man: physician, author, poet, a man of many talents

This poem, which he wrote in 1833, is a favorite of mine. These days, we are surrounded by so much that is ridiculous that satire becomes nigh impossible. But that’s all the more reason to laugh when we can.

***********************************************

The Height of the Ridiculous

I WROTE some lines once on a time
In wondrous merry mood,
And thought, as usual, men would say
They were exceeding good.

They were so queer, so very queer,
I laughed as I would die;
Albeit, in the general way,
A sober man am I.

I called my servant, and he came;
How kind it was of him
To mind a slender man like me,
He of the mighty limb.

“These to the printer,” I exclaimed,
And, in my humorous way,
I added (as a trifling jest,)
“There ’ll be the devil to pay.”

He took the paper, and I watched,
And saw him peep within;
At the first line he read, his face
Was all upon the grin.

He read the next; the grin grew broad,
And shot from ear to ear;
He read the third; a chuckling noise
I now began to hear.

The fourth; he broke into a roar;
The fifth; his waistband split;
The sixth; he burst five buttons off,
And tumbled in a fit.

Ten days and nights, with sleepless eye,
I watched that wretched man,
And since, I never dare to write
As funny as I can.

Categories Humor

United Opt Out Site Severely Damaged: Message from Peg Robertson

By dianeravitch

April 1, 2014 //

A message from Peg Robertson, who is a leader of the Opt Out movement and manages the United Opt Out website:

My computer guru friend who is working on the UOO site states:

“The United Opt Out site was attacked, and essentially corrupted from its internal databases.
The hacker crippled every single SQL table, and left them unrepairable, and our site frozen and inaccessible to administrate.”

He is trying to recover files now.”

Question: who wanted to prevent parents from getting information about how to opt out? Who would stoop so low? They must be frightened of parent power.

Stay tuned.

Categories Testing