Peter Goodman regularly blogs about education in New York. He is close to the UFT leadership in New York City and thus has good sources. Here is his update from inside the AFT convention.
Reading this, I conclude that the AFT will not call for Arne Duncan’s resignation. This is the first time in my memory that the AFT was less militant than its larger brethren and sisters in the NEA.
It appears that there will be a floor debate about the Common Core. The Chicago Teachers Union is opposed to it. If my reading of the tea leaves is right, the New York City delegation is prepared to shoot that resolution down too. CTU is the outlier in this convention, battle-scarred and ready to fight. The NYC delegation has the numbers to vote them down.
Readers of this blog know my views. Arne Duncan is the most anti- teacher, anti-union Secretary of Education in the history of the Department. He was the guy who said that Hurricane Katrina was the best thing to happen to education in New Orleans, having swept away public schools and teachers’ unions (forget the death toll). He was the one who cheered the firing of the entire staff of Central Falls High School in Rhode Island. He was thrilled when the Los Angeles Times posted teachers’ (inaccurate) VAM ratings. He required states to adopt VAM ratings, which Randi wisely called “a sham” in her speech to the convention. He spoke admiringly of the Vergara decision. He should not be Secretary of Education. He should be Ambassador to some very small nation, where he can’t do much damage. Or teach basketball.
As for Common Core, I agree with CTU. Teachers don’t need scripts. They don’t need “standards” written by a committee that included not a single classroom teacher. They need class sizes they can manage. Their schools need equitable funding. They need tenure to protect them from political reprisals. They need due process and speedy resolution of complaints. They need respect. Common Core does nothing to alleviate the poverty in which nearly one-quarter of our children live. It does nothing to restore the art teachers, librarians, nurses and counselors who have been laid off. It does nothing to address the root causes of poor academic performance: poverty and segregation. It will die no matter what the AFT does because, frankly, it doesn’t matter.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
I’m glad to see your voice out there. It kind of makes me wish there were something resembling democracy in UFT, so that real working teachers, like the hundreds I represent, who did not sign loyalty oaths to UFT leadership could have voices in AFT and NYSUT. Then they’d have their hands full shutting out not only Chicago teachers, but real representative NYC teachers as well.
I completely agree Arthur. As I’ve been watching l can’t help but think that there ought to be UFT people at the convention who haven’t signed the Unity loyalty oath which prevents them from speaking up. If I were there I definitely would have raised concerns about clearing the meeting room and causing Chicago members to lose their spots near mics. IF true it’s just … so wrong.
I AM happy they’re live streaming it though… lots to be learned about parliamentary procedure and RRoO.
From the above blog: “He was thrilled when the Los Angeles Times posted teachers’ (inaccurate) VAM ratings.”
From the Los Angeles Times of 9-28-2010:
[start quote]
As a teacher in an impoverished, gang-ridden area of South Los Angeles, Rigoberto Ruelas always reached out to the toughest kids. He would tutor them on weekends and after school, visit their homes, encourage them to aim high and go to college.
The fifth-grade teacher at Miramonte Elementary School was so passionate about his mission that, school authorities say, he had near perfect attendance in 14 years on the job.
So when Ruelas, 39, failed to show up for work last week, his colleagues instantly began to worry. And their worst fears were confirmed Sunday morning. In the Big Tujunga Canyon area of the Angeles National Forest, a search-and-rescue team with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department discovered Ruelas’ body in a ravine about 100 feet below a nearby bridge.
The Los Angeles County Coroner determined he had committed suicide.
Ruelas’ death stunned Miramonte students, teachers and parents. Many left hand-written notes, flowers, candles and white balloons at an impromptu memorial. By evening, dozens gathered to light candles, sing Spanish-language hymns and recite the Rosary. Ruelas’ family, too, came to the school and slowly walked along the memorial wall, thanking parents and reading the messages.
Ruelas did not leave a suicide note, authorities said, and it remained unclear why he took his life.
Teachers union President A.J. Duffy said his staff was told by Ruelas’ family that the teacher was depressed about his score on a teacher-rating database posted by The Times on its website. The newspaper analyzed seven years of student test scores in English and math to determine how much students’ performance improved under about 6,000 third- through fifth-grade teachers. Based on The Times’ findings, Ruelas was rated “average” in his ability to raise students’ English scores and “less effective” in his ability to raise math scores. Overall, he was rated slightly “less effective” than his peers.
“Despite The Times’ analysis, and all other measures, this was a really good teacher,” said Duffy, who called on the newspaper to take down the database. Many parents also asked that Ruelas’ page on The Times’ website be taken down.
Ruelas’ brother, Alejandro Ruelas, told The Times that the family is boycotting the newspaper and would not comment.
The Times said it extends “our sympathy to his family, students, friends and colleagues,” Nancy Sullivan, Times vice-president of communications, said in a statement.
The newspaper published the database, she said, “because it bears directly on the performance of public employees who provide an important service, and in the belief that parents and the public have a right to judge the data for themselves.”
Miramonte Principal Martin Sandoval described Ruelas, a South Gate native, as a caring teacher who loved the outdoors. For the teachers and staff, he organized volleyball games at the beach, hiking trips and bonfires, said Carmen Jimenez, 24, a Miramonte nurse assistant.
“He was a very happy individual,” Sandoval said. “He grew up in this community and he felt a desire and need to help this community.”
Andromeda Palma, a 13-year-old eighth-grader, stopped by after school to leave a balloon at the memorial. She said she used to struggle at math, but he taught her to succeed and not to give up.
[end quote]
Link: http://articles.latimes.com/2010/sep/28/local/la-me-south-gate-teacher-20100928
I do not apologize for including the entire article. Rigoberto Ruelas should not be forgotten. He was everything Arne Duncan is not.
😎
P.S. Note the sad self-serving excuse by the LATIMES. The only data that counted was a data point—and then consider all that Rigoberto Ruelas contributed.
Very touching article. What is missing from the common core and the reform movement is quite simply humanity. Compassion, caring, understanding, encouraging, motivating, loving. This is what a good teacher does. Perhaps if you are a nerd lover of academia like Gates none of this is necessary or appealing. But if you are a poor immigrant struggling with the language, the culture etc. it is the difference between success and failure. I am continually amazed at the arrogance of the reformers to by pass teachers, revile them, and not include them in the formula. And I wonder where does that come from? It’s amazing to me. Ruelas was a jewel in his element providing his kids with the strength to prevail under difficult circumstances and the reformers would see him as less than useless. Hard to understand.
I had not read this article. Thank you for posting and we do need to keep Rigoberto’s memory alive. I can only imagine how many students he kept alive and turned into productive adults because of his caring and concern for them. We are so much more than a score…especially a score based on CC and hidden exams we never get to see.
What Arne needs is another sternly-worded letter. After all, he is a Democrat, and as far as AFT is concerned, it’s carte blanche for Democrats:
“Committees” “Delegations” “Conventions” are now simply the polish they’re putting on the turds. We are being corralled into positions that are politically convenient (hoping to take a majority, refusing to fight the majority, settling for being slapped instead of punched…)
We need truth speakers who will name names, detail the connections for the voters and the people. If those names and connections bear scrutiny and survive-so be it. For example, Cuomo has gone silent, and our unions have gone silent on Cuomo. Is that how to rally the people? Describe what makes him worthy of our trust and our votes now, and if you can’t…that says it all. if you believe you’ve already won the political game and have no need to debate the moral issues-come out and say so instead of playing the delegate/convention game.
What is being done by the AFT and NEA to seriously address the root causes of academic performance? I understand that it’s very difficult to go on the offensive when you’re constantly under siege from monied interests, but the perpetuation of the status quo looks untenable as well. Will Hillary Clinton (or Biden) be all that different from Obama on education?
No, Matt, the Clintons, Biden, and Obama all support the “public-private partnership” to unite corporate expansion and state power against the Commons and the public sphere.
The NEA and AFT at a national level have fundamentally done nothing to oppose the conversion of public education into a new profit center. For instance, Randi Weingarten sits on the board of Green Dot, an education management contractor traded on the NY stock exchange.
Meanwhile, rank and file teachers, and our “breakaway” local (and now state) unions have been the most effective voices raised against the corporate scorched-earth attack on city schools. We have been uniting with our communities to get the truth out about how it’s harming our kids. We are part of a national movement to widen that model of union organizing.
Here’s the Chicago Teachers Union 2012 plan to bring Chicago children the schools they deserve. Open it, download the PDF, read it, and then get back to us by tomorrow afternoon.
Whoever you are, if you actually read it, I think you’ll be on the CTU side when the stuff hits the fan in Los Angeles.
http://www.ctunet.com/quest-center/research/the-schools-chicagos-students-deserve
My question was meant to be rhetorical. Hillary’s past doesn’t really inspire confidence and the current political environment is not favorable either. A strong national movement does have the potential to change politicians’ minds, so I do think you all have the right idea.
chemtchr: just checking on where you got the info—
“For instance, Randi Weingarten sits on the board of Green Dot, an education management contractor traded on the NY stock exchange.”
Thank you in advance for your help.
😎
That comes by way of Kathleen Carroll.
“When Did Teacher Unions Decide to “TURN” Against Collective Bargaining Rights? ”
https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2014/07/11/18758486.php
The title isn’t a rhetorical flourish, she goes through detailed accounts of one wrenching betrayal after another. I watched some of the videos too. I can understand how some seriously battle-scarred veterans of the long fight-back still have trouble trusting Diane, because Randi has traded on Diane’s support to keep her grip.
There’s a picture of Gates on the big screen at AFT2010 at the top of the page, and one of Randi with Steve Barr at the bottom.
chemtchr, thanks for the linked article. It supports everything I’ve been saying about the corrupted and captured union heads. I’ve bookmarked it for future reference.
I love you Diane! Can you run with Hillary in ’16 or is she on the ‘dark side’ too? Bless you for keeping us in the real loop! Where do we go from here? How do we stop this monster(s)?
Jane, vote, vote, vote. Get others to vote. Your colleagues, your family, your friends.
Hillary is absolutely “on the dark side.” She is NOT a progressive. She’s a free market neoliberal who served on the board of the right wing Walton foundation, and like her husband, Obama, Duncan, Emanuel, Cuomo, etc., who also supports privatizing public services including education, and stipping unions of their power. When was the last time you saw a Democrat supporting unions besides in empty campaign promises during an election year, as with Obama’s false pledge to walk alongside striking workers?
What the hell is wrong with the NY teachers’ union, that they can’t see that the Democrats are no longer liberal and supportive of social and economic policies, for the sake of humanity and middle and lower income people?
The Democrats made a hard right turn back when Bill Clinton established the “New Democrats,” who cater to corporate sponsors, just as the GOP does, which Bill did in order to capture to the Southern vote.
Bill Clinton’s signing of NAFTA is why millions of jobs have been outsourced to foreign workers for slave wages. His support of the repeal of Glass-Steagall was what gave his bankster cronies free reign to squander other people’s money, exploit people with the appeal of subprime mortgages to buy homes they could not really afford and crash the economy –with no consequences except federal bailouts that resulted in the awarding of big time bonus pay for the CEOs involved.
Do not vote for a party! Make Democratic candidates EARN your votes through their pledge to NOT follow the lead of a party that is right of center and has been bought by corporate sponsors, as well as a demonstrated record of service to the 99% instead of the 1%.
It is my understanding that NYSUT is NOT endorsing Cuomo for Governor.
Until we free the NEA and the AFT from the tentacles of the Democratic Party I will remain skeptical of everything they do. I will also continue to discuss the option of dues withholding as a viable means of bringing about change before it is too late for thousands of teachers who may lose their jobs and their teaching licenses through VAM.
Mercedes’s link above to what happens in CT is about the best example of why our unions are useless to us as long as they remain under Democratic Party control
And thank you,KrazyTA, for reminding everyone that this is real life damage being done. Ruelas, may he RIP, is not the only casualty of the NEA’s and AFT’s “compromise” strategies. Other teachers have taken their lives, suffered from major physical illnesses brought on or exacerbated by the stress of teaching under union-approved horrors, or suffered mental anguish and illness that is costly to treat and may not be treated at all.
Enough playing around with people’s lives! Stand up and fight for us or get out of the way, NEA and AFT!
Unions under democratic control? I think not. The relationship is far more complex than that. I’m hoping that the NEA and AFT are playing good cop, bad cop but will only believe it when I see it. While I’m not pleased by Randi’s performance, it’s not for the same reasons that many here list. Were she to be as publicly strident and correct about the CC$$ as many here would like, she would no longer have a seat at the table and also leave the entire membership open to even more misrepresentation than is now inflicted on it. The attacks would write themselves. As it stands, she is in a much better position to monitor the corporate opposition. She is playing a political game which is far different than and in many ways unrelated to advocating for the fact based policies we favor and know to be correct. My sense is that although we are gaining ground, we are not yet in a superior position where we can see “the whites of their eyes”. The reality is that advocating for a fact and research based policy alone without any other political action and maneuvering will not get us and the nations schools to where we need to go. It is a messy, ugly process that offends the sensibilities. This is about the only thing I fault teachers in general for, that their strong ethics and integrity are such that they cannot understand the actions required by the terrain upon which we fight as it is all too repugnant to them to be considered to be real. War is hell. Politics is a festering cesspool that fouls all who enter or even approach it.
Is this strategy working though? Politics can obviously get messy, but unions only look to be getting weaker as time passes. Shouldn’t the primary focus be on building grassroots support for research-based policies?
The way to build strength is to be strong.
If you are saying this after reading what Mercedes posted about how Randi sold out the teachers of CT to support the democratic governor despite the fact that he is destroying the profession of public school teaching in his state then you must be a Unity member of the UFT upholding your loyalty oath to Randi or maybe a neoliberal Clinton supporter.
Randi’s capture by the democratic party is not something I made up. The general atmosphere of unions and their betrayal by the democratic party has been in the news since Obama took office. Use Google. It’s free. Try searching “democratic party betrays unions” and you will get 1,740,000 hits.
Randi has “won” absolutely nothing from her precarious perch, at least nothing for the rank and file. She has “won” herself several board seats and guaranteed, highly-lucrative employment when she leaves the AFT.
Teachers still have to face down:
NCLB – AFT/Randi lost this one 12 years ago
RTTT – Randi provided political cover for Duncan/Obama and brought us VAM; she lost this one
Right to Work States – AFT has done absolutely nothing to get these laws repealed
High Stakes Testing – Randi has written several sternly worded letters and made a few public comments; she lost this one big time.
Unfair Teacher Evaluations/VAM – Randi provided political cover and agreed that there are lots of bad teachers and WE need to ferret them out, rat on them, and otherwise be responsible for firing them despite the fact we don’t HIRE them; she lost this one so big it takes the breath away.
Teacher Pay/Benefits – She has inserted herself into several contract negotiations around the country where she ended up costing the teachers pay and protections and gave away many reformist gotchas. In some places the schools are now being closed down and replaced with charters; she failed miserably here.
Gates Foundation – while Gates continues to spend billions gutting public schools and destroying the careers of teachers Randi takes his money, brings him in as an honored speaker, provides political cover again and again; she lost this one along with her credibility and honor.
So tell me, please, just exactly what has Randi “won” for the rank and file by having her coveted “seat at the table” and “watchful eye on the reformers”? In state after state teaching in being de-professionalized, teachers are losing due process, teachers are becoming at-will employees, teacher degrees and credentials are becoming worthless, teachers are being replaced by TFA temps, teachers are being blamed for poverty and its effects and she has won us . . . . . . . .
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
When was the national strike? I must’ve missed it. When was the Call To Action where she asked our brothers and sisters in the other unions to stand with us and we took on the corporate reformers? I must’ve missed that. Where was the victory we won in Washington when we elected Obama twice and his Sec. of Education began the systematic destruction of our professions, our careers, and our lives? I must’ve missed that one too.
I’m glad you are willing to wait this out and that you believe that in another few Friedman units (see Atrios/Eschaton for that reference) things will begin to turn Randi’s way through some super-secret, 11th dimensional chess moves. I’ve heard that one before and I’m not buying it again.
Sorry, my reply was to Victor3. I was typing while the others posted.
Chris in Florida,
I posted a similar less comprehensive list elsewhere.
Randi has taken very nice care of herself.
I, on the other hand, have been on the receiving end of the horrible contract in Newark. She cares not a tad for the havoc she wreaks for teachers.
She will be sitting at the table when you and I are living in the street after a lifetime of work.
She is a graduate of the Broad Academy. She does not represent you.
http://www.substancenews.net/articles.php?page=2941
http://www.defendpubliceducation.net/
Reporting comment for Peter Goodman’s blog here:
Akademos on July 12, 2014 at 1:08 pm
Why not address the issue of taking the least reliable, most flawed, most controversial part of a teacher evaluation and weighting it 100% when it goes awry?
This is stupidity and malice.
All testing, old unaligned Regents, new Regents, MOSL’s for growth and goals, target groups is somewhat informative, but why make it high stakes, highest stakes for teachers?
Stupidity and malice.
Control and deform.
Misplaced and misguided corporate ideology.
“Reposting”
I was skimming, so, when I came to the final sentence ” It will die no matter what the AFT does because, frankly, it doesn’t matter.”
I had to go back to make sure of what that it was referring to in “It will die…it doesn’t matter.”.
While I applaud the work of those who go to these conventions and who are trying to change these Titanically sized rotting, stinking, entrenched self serving bureaucracies, the NEA and AFT barely matter to my working hard work mates. 30 years ago, when I was in my 20’s and paying the bills as a cook, when millions of working stiffs voted for the blatant lies of Ronnie Raygun and his obvious 1% policies, I did blame the working stiffs for being so stupid, gullible, passive, clueless.
After decades of betrayals from their Seat-At-The-Table I-Want-To-Be-Dilettante sell out “leaders”, I blame the “leaders” for the lack of interest, involvement, passion … on the part of the working stiffs.
“It will die, it doesn’t matter” might be the best description of NEA or AFT.
When I view the machinations of the Randis and DVRs through a Cheney-Rummy set of glasses – “What would a self serving liar do?”, they make … ummm … ah … sense.
rmm.
Add this to the list of items that don’t make sense:
Having expensive school libraries stand idle with no librarian (and no one to order new materials). (And a teacher aide is not a librarian)
Lamenting that children no longer love to read, yet not allowing for story time during the common core day (by either the teacher or the librarian).
Complaining that the literacy rates are low, yet closing the libraries so that children don’t have access to reading material (especially for low income families).
Expecting children to be computer literate when they don’t have access to computers and the one place which does provide such access for free, the Public Library, has been closed or given reduced hours to save taxpayers money.
Of course, I’m a little biased, since I am a certified school librarian and I thought my services were important. Silly me, I’m expendable.
Please add to your list: Decrying the lack of teenagers who don’t read for pleasure, and yet demanding teachers only teach “informational text,” and no literature. My rising junior did not read A SINGLE novel or play last year in his English class. The English department at his school has dumped all literature because of the Common Core.
Yikes! Double negative. Should read the number of students who don’t read for pleasure.
I agree with you on every point here, except one. Arne Duncan can’t teach and I wouldn’t want him to be our ambassador to any nation, even a small one.
my question is: AFT adopts the official position that Duncan should resign…he makes another crack about “local union politics” and it is completely undone by one sound bite…and what good has been done?
How about something of substance from MY National..since NEA didn’t…(Florida is a merged state, they are BOTH my nationals…which causes me to shake my head on a regular basis…
Arne resignation on for vote tomorrow
Is anyone out there a sentimentalist and enjoy a good love letter now and then?
Well, here’s my love letter to my new girlfriend, Randi Weingarten:
“My Darling Randi,
Kudos and good for you for declaring that the status quo is really not good. Good for us! Put on those boxing gloves. I think you’d make a fabulous pugilist.
But what I would like to know is why were the CTU people closest to the microphone at the convention in California asked to get up and move away? They arrived early so that they could get a shot at the microphone to ask you to do the same as the NEA and call for Arne Duncan’s resignation.
All of a sudden, that voice was, well, snuffed out with a pillow.
I know, Randi; I get it. You just happen to NOT know of any of this, and this is the first time you’re hearing about it. And, of course, you had nothing to do with it. You never do.
When one CTU woman accidentally left her purse on the chair she was asked to leave, she returned to the seat to find Michael Mulgrew sitting in it. Surprise!
Randi, where are you going with all of this? What are you all about? Who are you? Would the real Randi Weingarten please stand up?
I wrote an article praising you years ago when you started to negotiate for comparable pay in NY CIty . . . . It was in your own union paper. Surely you recall. Then, when I followed you closely in the media, I saw that your actions and words as well as your non-actions and absence of words really spelled out your m.o. as a leader, and at that point, I got in touch with my inner Diane Ravitch (no offense, Diane . . . . you know how I’ve always felt about you) and I too did a 180. It was a perfect bridge map: NCLB was to Diane Ravitch as Randi Weingarten was to Robert Rendo.
However, unlike NCLB, you are not a stagnant, fixed piece of legislation.
You are a dynamic, non-static human with the capacity for elasticity, plasticity, and multi-directionality. The question right now is. “What direction will you choose to take?”
There, plain and simple: who will you choose to be for now and for long enough to help change the winds and actually let it show up in the weather vane?
I refuse to be without hope when it comes to your “talmudic mindset”, but I am not without ongoing doubt either. There comes a time when people will not be comfortable with both mindsets co-existing.
Randi, you are at a rare pivotal moment. Windows like this don’t come along often . . . . . That puts us, in a sense, at that same pivotal moment. Although, we will always move forward as we see fit, AFT or no AFT. It’s obvious which is a more efficient trajectory given the power of unions, even if on a symbolic basis . . . .
So, Randi: tag, you’re it . . . . .
Love,
Robert
Ms. Weingarten is not listed as a member of the Board, at the Green Dot website.
Is the Green Dot CEO, Mr. Petruzzi, a former employee of Mitt Romney’s company, Bain?
Good catch. Maybe she isn’t, or maybe she was and isn’t anymore. Kathleen makes that statement on one of the long meeting tapes, which are older than her “TURN” post.
Somebody can check on Greendot’s current status. Steve Barr stepped aside I think, and maybe has even sold it. They were big players in New Orleans, i think.
Why not follow the paper trail and see if the history reveals her to be a member of the board? I’d be curious.
Please do that if you can. Green Dot and Barr are doing some kind of chameleon act in New Orleans, I think. It’s on my list, but below other questions.
http://andsoimovemyfurniture.com/1152-fading-dot-illusion
That wasn’t so hard. Yes, I remember now. Take a sip of cool water, so you don’t throw up in your mouth when you open the link:
UFT, Green Dot Sign Pioneering Contract For NYC Charter School –
http://www.edwize.org/uft-green-dot-sign-pioneering-contract-for-nyc-charter-school#sthash.qEUWCb4w.dpuf
Check out the board of directors and WHAT THEIR BACKGROUNDS ARE IN . . . . .one is the manager of a private equity firm.
Oh, Randi, Randi, Randi.
Caught playing with the political private parts of these kinds of people. They are SO anti-public education. They SO know so little about teaching and learning. They are a publicly traded company, and in order to thrive, they must expand to make profits.
And YOU’RE fooling aroung with THEM?
Steven W. Streit
Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer
Kenneth C. Aldrich
Director
Samuel Altman
Director
Timothy R. Greenleaf
Director
Mary J. Dent
Director
Michael J. Moritz
Director
George T. Shaheen
Director
There appear to be 3 organizations (unconnected) with the name Green Dot. The products of the 3 firms are (1) schools (2) credit cards and (3) training.
The bio. of Damien White, COO of Green Dot, includes, “Broad Residency in Urban Education”. Both the VP of Advancement and a Cluster Director, cite their experiences with TFA, as credentials.
Will it really solve any problems if the AFT rewrites the standards? The rewritten standards still won’t be the product of any individual state’s sovereign effort on behalf of its own citizenry, and it will still reflect a “national” effort — substituting the AFT for the NGA and CCSSO. It’s a nice idea, and it would be heading in the right direction, but it might be almost as misguided as the original effort, and another example of throwing more good money after bad. Who decides who rewrites them? The AFT is missing the forest for the trees. Shouldn’t standards be returned to the individual state ed departments?
Seriously, what do we mean when we say, “THE standards”? I was doing a thought experiment. Suppose NEA made that offer, too.
Imagine I apply for a grant, and write a strand of “THE” chemistry standards for student comprehension of a chemical equation.
Fe + S –> FeS
And my students get really good at Connecting Fe with actual iron, and S with a yellow crumbly solid, and understand that the FeS is that crumbly black stuff made out of the same atoms, but with new and different properties. And then, they do that with element after element, compound after compound, as the formulas and patterns of rearrangement get more complicated.
And my strand is a really good teaching tool, and pedagogically sound, not like the backwards-engineered crap they put in the NextGen standards.
Then, somebody has to market a standardized test, and the questions don’t capture that actual student understanding. They just don’t. The process of sitting in front of a screen or a bubble sheet and interpreting garbled task instructions overwhelms their processing capacity, leaving no room for functional knowledge.
So teachers trying to use my standards have to veer off, and teach students how to apply their understanding to an open response item or a multiple choice item. And the kids don’t get really good at Connecting Fe with actual iron, and S with a yellow crumbly solid, and understand that the FeS is that crumbly black stuff made out of the same atoms, but with new and different properties.
Been there, done that. Should I apply, and take the money?
They can be returned if and only if teachers and cognitive scientists have a major voice in them. There is a huge diconnect between those who work content for a living (stem cell reseracher, civil engineer, etc) and those who teach the foundational skills leading up to and even incorporating this content area.
Therefore, I would want Frank Lloyd Wright (if he were still here with su) to sit down at a table with teachers and cognitive reasearchers and have a productive discussion of what to teach in K-12 in math, desgin, art, and physics. . . . how to design curriculum.
There is not enough connection made between these two realms . . . . . . It is nothing but post secondary education out there saying, “What have you primary and secondary education people been doing for 13 years such that kids entering college can’t write a decent essay?”
This is a gap that needs bridging. College professors need to know the nature of the realms of teachers pre-k-12 and minors before they just attack this end from only ther persepctive, which is based on their own needs, however legitimate those needs are . . . . .
Businesses need to understand this very realm as well . . . .
Deborah,
I will be happy to take back my old New Jersey standards. Thank you very much. You are right. It is a complete waste of time and money.
NYS also had some good standards we had been revising the past ten years. And most of the state was doing well, until the state ed dept changed the cut scores. Analyzing the schools who were underperforming found students who were either poor, a minority, an ELL student, a special ed student, or a combination.
None of these issues have been satisfactorily addressed. Throwing inadequate standards and the cry for rigor at these children will not magically transform them into stellar students.
And since CCSS is currently producing more failures than successes, what is there to discuss? An intelligent person would chuck the reform and re look at what had been working and then reinstitute and/or adapt.
Then again, I didn’t graduate from Harvard, so what do I know (except for thirty years experience)?
Reblogged this on seldurio and commented:
Interesting take. (Yes, I am at this convention)