Mark Henry, superintendent of the Cypress-Fairbanks district in Texas, stood up and spoke out for common sense and education ethics. In this article, he explains why his district–the third largest in Texas–will not participate in a pilot test to evaluate teachers by student test scores.
He writes:
“This latest movement to “teacher-proof” education places additional fear, anxiety and pressure on professionals who are stressed enough already. I have seen this first-hand with principals and teachers who fret over the STAAR test, a once-per-year high-stakes assessment that measures how a child performed on one test on one day. Is that really learning? I don’t think so. Testing is a key diagnostic tool, and results should be used to assess the progress of students so plans can be developed to address the gaps and deficiencies of each student.
Learning is not a business; it’s a process. Use of a teacher evaluation system tied to standardized test scores alienates educators by trying to transform classrooms into cubicles. There are many more elements that go into teaching and learning than a high-stakes, pressurized test. Tying student test scores to a teacher’s evaluation may improve test scores, but does it improve a child’s educational outcome?”
Henry says there are three reasons that schools fail: mismanagement by school boards and superintendents; ineffective principals; lack of community support.
He does not blame teachers for poor leadership or systemic failure.
He writes:
“Let’s quit trying to “teacher-proof” education and stop the overreliance on data from one high-stakes test. The answers for improvement are recruiting, training and supporting our teaching professionals. Attention to these will deepen the effectiveness of what we do in the classroom and the biggest winners will be our children. ”
Mark Henry is a hero of public education for his willingness to stand against a misinformed and harmful status quo.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
“Henry says there are three reasons that schools fail: mismanagement by school boards and superintendents; ineffective principals; lack of community support. He does not blame teachers for poor leadership or systemic failure.”
Finally someone who not only gets it, but isn’t afraid or ashamed to admit it.
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All we need now is for some Texas Superintendents to encourage parents to keep their kids home on test days. Actions speak louder than words.
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It is a start. Henry’s story ran front and center in the Houston Chronicle. This is what Superintendent Henry can do and teachers carve out what we can do. Eating away at the crumbling foundation of a Big Lie is the natural force of intelligent educators in a democratically-inspired public school system.
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We need Texas Superintendents to make a vocal stand now and continue their rally up to the next legislative session that begins next 2015. Compliments to Mark Henry for his bold words, but he needs his fellow superintendents to organize an effort to put an end to this ridiculous process we call education in Texas. Our students are being denied a balanced and viable education while educators dither over pointless data to tests that actually assess nothing of value.
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Thank you for this helpful tweet, Diane Ravitch. Out of your 50,000 plus tweets. This one’s got to be up in the top 1,000 or so. I wouldn’t know because I’m not one of the faithful who has time to read them all. Do you know of some parents who can help me out with my problems of resegregation in Washington, DC/ under the successor of Michelle Rhee/seems like your and your kind do not wish to help me/perhaps I can you help you for not exactly free?
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“Learning is not a business; it’s a process.”
Me thinks this district may be fortunate to have him for its superintendent. The district that I taught in for thirty years never had anyone like him at the helm. Every one of the three or four we had to survive was an idiot in the long run.
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All superintendents who have membership in the Texas School Alliance should speak out like Mark Henry. Stop blaming the teachers for the NCLB fiasco that was cooked-up behind closed doors by Sandy Kress, Margaret Spellings, Bill Hammond, the Texas Education Agency, certain Texas legislators and others who have undisclosed fiancial conflicts of interest.
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Only the ones as smart as Mr. Henry. Its a rare superintendent that “gets it” like he does.
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Bill Hammond is a toad who used to beat up his own children and used his wife’s contacts to get started in Texas politics.
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M. Henry is one of the very few who “get it”. Most administrators are toadies, ass-kissers, the ultimate GAGAers but a hero he is not. Brave, lionhearted, intelligent, logical, etc. . . . But it takes way more in my definition of hero to be one.
Make a Lionheart Award for brave folks like Mr. Henry, hero should be reserved for those who gave it all in disasters like Sandyhook and the various other times that educators have literally laid their life on the line.
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We can only hope that the voices of Mark Henry and others who have the intelligence to understand, and the courage to speak against, the commercialism of public education, will not be silenced. Or, worse yet, ignored by a sleeping public.
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Parents from coast to coast need to file open records requests for corporate contracts signed by superintendents with school board approval. Then, share the contracts using social media. Superintendents and school boards need to be held accountable for every dollar funneled to corporate interests. Establish a rating system based on “value” added for learning tied to every corporate contract.
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Most of the teachers in my district, Fairfield Suisun Unified in California, did not know the amount paid to our “corporate saviors,” West Ed in this case, until I wrote to our school board and asked for copies of the contracts. Once fellow-teachers realized we were spending over $2 million a year for “data sweeps” and for professional development most of us found repetitive and elementary, this corporate entity was further dismissed by the majority of teachers.
Simple narratives are easy to manufacture, and “blame the teacher” is in that category. So is, “well, we were failing so we need outside help.” Hummmm… Let’s see how that ultimately works. We are stuffing classrooms with too many kids and stripping our schools of things we need that we know work to improve education.
I believe the press needs to do a better job of telling the true story of what’s happening in our schools. Otherwise, the public is left with Michele Rhee’s story, and people like her. Fortunately, we have Diane Ravitch.
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So many of our young, unimpressive (at least where I teach) vice principals, principals and superintendents so blithely label themselves “data driven.” How convenient to skip the long, hard work it takes to bring depth and scholarship to teaching and leading in an educational environment. What a transparent shortcut this is to their corporate rise in the education system. I’m not quite sure why the leadership in public school systems is not examined more closely. As the system becomes more privately-driven, with corporate for-profit companies meddling in school business (in our case it’s West Ed), it appears to become more and more corrupt from the top down.
Funny how the “blame-the-teacher” narrative continues to thrive. Yes – a sleeping, uninformed public, and a reform system that continues to grow exponentially collude to feed the growing monster of education reform at everyone’s expense. I keep wondering where the line is between good intentions and corruption. I know where I teach, that line has been crossed, and so naively.
All of the fine teachers I know want to retire early. Unfortunately, the students, who always know the difference between what’s real and what’s corrupt and ridiculous, mourn the loss of what could have been.
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Every time I hear the “data driven” I gag. Data is a four letter word. Your first four sentences put it all out there.
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Yep!
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Although I totally respect Dr. Henry’s bold move, I just feel it necessary to point out that the CyFair teachers’ organizations like TSTA/NEA put significant pressure on him and the school board to withdraw from the TEA “value-added method” appraisal system, which HE volunteered them for in the first place and which prompted him to write the article for the Houston Chronicle.
Kudos to Mark Henry for realizing the error of his ways and for making it a positive situation for kids and teachers in CyFair.
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These policies are pursued by fools who have no clue what they are doing.
It is time for educators, like this one, simply to say, “No.”
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Absolutely! Administrators must step forward and be vocal — now!
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Mark Henry, Coeur de Lion.
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“Learning is not a business; it’s a process.”
Perhaps we should all get t shirts made.
Toss in some bumper stickers.
Our side has been in need of a slogan. Something simple, direct and easy to grasp. The deform side certainly has made hay with quips, slogans, and cocktail party platitudes. Maybe we should give it a go.
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Yes!
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Works for me.
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Reblogged this on We Are More and commented:
Common Sense – How Refreshing!
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Thank you for standing up for the teachers who can not. You couldn’t be any more truthful about what our students need in order to be successful. Teachers are doing the best they can, but they can only be as good as the principle they work for, the community they serve and the management they have to abide by.
The mass media needs to stop perpetrating the myth that it’s the teachers fault kids aren’t passing standardized testing. Parents are just as responsible & yet the lack of parental involvement grows every year. Superintendents are often out of touch with the students they serve & either don’t see or don’t want to see what the teachers really need to help their students.
Change is hard but not impossible. Thank you Mr. Henry for working towards the changes our school system needs so desperately.
Sincerely,
A pre-service teacher hoping she can be revolutionary without getting fired 🙂
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