Remember when promoters of Common Core tried to present it as a done deal and said it was too late to stop it? Remember when they demonized the critics of Common Core as extremists who should be ridiculed or ignored?
Peter Green writes that the age of realism is beginning to change the conservative tune. CATO never swallowed the belief that national standards were needed. Fordham, which ran from state to state making the case for Common Core, now thinks they have to find a way to make an emotional pitch (sounds like advice from a PR firm). Andy Smarick is rethinking the whole idea of imposing grand plans on the nation.
Of course, the loudest complaints have come from red states, where voters are up in arms about losing local and state control. But even conservatives like Jeb Bush, Michelle Rhee, and John Kasich, governor of Ohio, are still fighting for the Common Core.
As many of us have predicted, Common Core is slowly dying as “national standards.” It may survive in half the states. If those states pull out of the federal tests, it won’t survive long. The PARCC Pearson tests get strong negative reviews. We will see what happens with Smarter Balanced. If it uses the same passing marks as PARCC, it will disappear too. The purpose of education is not to rank children, but to develop them to be good human beings. If we design tests to fail half our students, it will be a malignant system.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
So maybe the CCSS are a red herring, a distraction, after all. They definitely are energizing some of the far right, while still bringing in money from the Chamber, et. al. Sounds almost Rovian.
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Here’s an old post of mine:
Every word that King utters is hollow…
if only becausehe’s spending tens
of thousands of dollars of his
Gates-originated money to make sure
his own kids are, figuratively speaking,
kept as far away from the Common Core
he’s pushing as his Gates’ money will
allow him.
Here’s an old post I directed at
Lawrence Steinberg at an old
thread here:
What if a U.S. Surgeon General
told the nation’s parents that a
great new vaccine has just been
invented, and it’s going to
revolutionize the health of
children and their ability
to fight off disease … blah-
blah-blah…. all the while
the Surgeon General is
being handsomely
compensated for pushing
this vaccine.
And then someone asks,
“Mr. Surgeon General… why
don’t you give that new vaccine
to YOUR OWN children? If the
vaccine is so great, why do
you spend tons of your own
money so that your kids get
an entirely different, and—
by all measures—a superior
vaccine?”
“My children’s vaccination is
none of your business, and
not fair ground for discussion.”
And to add insult to injury,
the hypothetical Surgeon
General intones, “Your kids
are all going to be forced
to take this vaccine whether
you like or not.” With the
power of the state behind
him, he says that, figuratively
speaking, he and the state
will shove it down your kids’
throats, or strap them to
a chair and forcibly inject
into their biceps whether
or not their parents desire
such a vaccine.
“This is what we’re doing,
and there’s nothing you can
do to stop us… so just shut
up and accept it.”
You can see how parents
might be a little vexed by
such a prospect.
Of course, you know I’m
talking about New York State
Ed. Commissioner John King
and his forcing Common
Core on other people’s
children, while keeping his own
children… figuratively
speaking… as far away from
Common Core as his Gates-
originated salary can afford.
Seriously… if Common Core
is the greatest thing ever
for a kid’s education, why
does King spend tens of
thousands of dollars on
expensive private school
tuition to make sure his own
children are kept away from it?
Check out the crucial final 20 min.
of last October’s town hall in
Poughkeepsie, New York,
where NY State Ed.
Commissioner John King
faced the public over his
backing of Common Core.
Here is the colorfully titled
YouTube video —
“Commissioner King Gets Spanked”:
(NOTE: this has been watched 57,950 times!!!)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_Eiz406VAs
One other point:
I just noticed something while
watching this video. King
sends his kid to a “private
school”… but he doesn’t
use the phrase….
Instead, he calls his kids’
school a “non-public school”…
(at 15:52)
KING: “Non-public schools
are part of the community
of schools in our state… ”
It’s part of some Neuro-
Linguistic Programming
technique to subliminally
get the people in the
audience to not associate
King with elitists who avoid
the public schools and
instead send their kids to…
yes… PRIVATE schools…
No, he’s just like all you
“public” school parents.
I think it’s called “negation”
where what follows the
negation… in this case..
the negation is the weasel
prefix “non”, and what follows
it is “public”… with the “public
being what actually is actually
processed by the mind..
By calling it “non-public”
the word “public” is in the
phrase, and that’s what
gets processed… with
people then NOT associating
King with “private” schools…
i.e. avoid using the word
“private” at any cost.
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This is what the pro-Common-Core
NY State Ed Commissioner John King
really thinks of parents who “opt out”,
or even complain about his “education
reform.”
http://www.southbronxschool.com/2013/10/fine-dining-with-new-york-state.html
King draws an asinine analogy between
parents bitching about Common Core, or
excessive or inappropriate-for-grade-level
testing or whatever…
to…
the lack of restraint to a customer
would show at a restaurant when that
customer has a problem with
the wine or food served to him:
http://www.southbronxschool.com/2013/10/fine-dining-with-new-york-state.html
He puts himself in a higher order of class
than those belly-aching parents because
when a waiter brings him substandard
food or wine… well… in such a situation,
he doesn’t complain, or send it back. He
sits there and eats it whether he likes it
or not…
(*** actual quote… no joke***)
JOHN KING: “When I’m in a restaurant,
and the waiter opens the bottle of wine for
me to taste, I never say ‘No,’ send it back,
even if it’s horrible. The same with my
meal; if I don’t like it I’ll eat it anyway.”
AND DAMN IT!!! THAT’S WHAT THE
PARENTS AND STUDENTS IN NEW
YORK STATE SHOULD DO AS WELL!!!
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Our district gave Smarter Balance field tests during the last school year. The tests, in my opinion, were poorly written. I found errors in the training materials. The engineering of the program was lacking in uniformity, not user friendly, and full of glitches that precluded a fair testing situation. Here in CT, misleading (I would even say inaccurate) information was provided to parents about opting out. I resented the time and expense required to administer this useless exercise. My students and I could have worked on far more interesting and useful projects.
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Smarter Balanced is a case of whack-a-mole education policy. I suspect these rebranded rank and yank systems will continue to pop up. After all, it is profitable. When a doctor diagnoses a patient issue, the doctor is given diagnostic results from a variety of sources – scans, blood work, history, and, if you are lucky, personal observation. A doctor then comes to a conclusion and suggests treatment. We don’t rank or fire doctors based on those test results. We don’t blame the doctor if the patient ignores treatment. We don’t insist metabolic syndrome is treated with the same medicine as a common flu. We don’t walk into a drug store, randomly throw together whatever is on the shelves, and roll out the concoction as an untested set of standard treatments. At least not yet – the Reformers haven’t turned toward their gaze to medicine.
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A little humor to lighten things…
What occurred backstage with John
King and his advisors after King fled
the stage last September:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OvKVkitKOgk
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Just wondering which 1/2 of the states are expected to support common core amidst its slow downfall in the other 1/2 of the states.
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WA State will, thanks to the snow job the OSPI pulled. Pathetic public forums that were poorly advertised, poorly attended, and where questions that seemed critical of CCSS were brushed off by both the OSPI staffers and attending state PTA reps. It was clear from the start the decision had already been made. OSPI (and the state union) hired teachers to be social media “messagers”, essentially pushing CC at all times, finding naysayers and pushing the benefits, etc.
WA State is hugely invested in online testing – and SBAC – and the bulk of the technology purchases these days are all geared with that in mind. Some of our poorer districts are struggling to find ways to have enough “testing machines” and have elaborate plans for how they are to be moved around to meed the needs of different schools. Tech departments now spend months making sure machines are ready for testing, have plans in place for staff to be present when tests start to help out with any tech issues. In many of our poorer districts – and even big districts like Seattle, where you’d think tech would be rampant given the proximity to Microsoft – the only computers in the building are in the library (and oftentimes there is no wireless either), so for 6-8 weeks, no library. Just testing. But OSPI thinks this is good. It will continue to support Common Core and SBAC until it is the last one left. Ironic, since Fordham initially said WA State’s math standards were better than CC, before they flip-flopped and jumped on the CC bandwagon that they are now apparently trying to jump off again. Ours were definitely more clear than CC.
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“The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars but in ourselves.” [William Shakespeare]
¿?
Obviously, being on the leading edge of the self-styled “education reform” means never having to say you’re sorry. *Saying sorry is for Leona Helmsley’s “little people.”*
Being self-critical, reflective, taking responsibility for one’s deeds and words—among the leading charterites/privatizers, this is unknown territory.
The image they see in the mirrors held up to their faces by their bought-and-paid-for educrat enablers and edufraud spin doctors and edubully enforcers?
They have someone massage and soothe them by “correcting” William Shakespeare:
“[Fill in the name], sir/madam, you doth bestride the narrow world like a Colossus, and we petty men
Walk under your huge legs and peep about
To find ourselves dishonorable graves.”
Honest. I came across that in my CCSS ‘closet’ reading, though I must admit that my last flashlight battery was running low and I might have misread a word or two.
But the merest thought that any challenge to the truthfulness of the above is valid needs to be met with the maximum rigor and challenge:
“I reject that mind-set.” [Michelle Rhee]
And she ought to know…
😎
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You know, KrazyTA, I don’t think they even think of the “reform” as something that requires an apology. It is a PR campaign. If it fails, it fails and requires no apology in their minds. If a product fails, it is abandoned and anyone who bought it is screwed. I’m sure you can see the parallels.
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Utah just did its first Common Core testing this year. The scores aren’t scheduled to be released until this fall. The tests were over 10 hours long, starting in grade 3. So, THIS year, the tests will be split into two pieces: the two essay per child writing section in February and the rest in May. I hope parents realize that the test is NOT ANY SHORTER.
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The corporate, fake education reformers are nothing but carpetbaggers and we all know what the carpetbaggers did to the South after the Civil War. President Lincoln wanted to heal the nation but he was killed and his plans evaporated. Then the profit mongering carpetbaggers swept in the bleed the Southern states dry of every drop of blood they could get and that has led to more than a century of hate, anger and racism. If you look at a poverty map, some of the worst poverty in the country is in many of those Southern states.
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There were several town halls
scheduled to sell Common Core to
the parents of New York state
schoolchildren. N.Y. State Education
Commissioner was the presenter,
with the events organized and
presented by the N.Y. State PTA.
However, after yesterday’s first
suchtown hall, N.Y. State
Education Commissioner King
strong-armed the N.Y, State PTA
into cancelling the remaining town
halls with the following statement:
https://www.facebook.com/nyspta
– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
“While our goal was to provide
an opportunity to learn and share,
based on review of the initial
October 10 meeting, the
Commissioner concluded the
outcome was not constructive
for those taking the time to
attend.
“Please know that NYS PTA
will continue to work with all
education and child advocacy
partners to keep our members
updated andinformed on
education, health, safety and
welfare issues affecting children
and families.
“We apologize for any
inconvenience this may cause
and express our sincere
appreciation to those who have
given their time to assist with
organizing this initiative.”
– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
Well, you can “review” for yourself
the crucial final 20 minutes of
yesterday’s town hall here—
the colorfully titled YouTube video
“Commissioner King Gets Spanked”:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_Eiz406VAs
This meeting was a Rhee-like
farce where King spoke for 2
hours straight, and was scheduled
to to be followed by 1 hour of
public comments and questions.
Note that… ***was scheduled to
be followed…***
The best laid plans…
Indeed, 20 minutes in, neither
King nor the NYS PTA
moderator “could stand the
heat, so they got outta the kitchen.”
They were totally unprepared by
how well-informed and
onfrontational these parents were.
At about the 10 minute mark, one
parent brought up the fact that King
sends his own kids to a Montessori
School which has a curriculum that
is the antithesis of Common Core
as a Montessori school is…
(to quote its wikipedia entry)
– – – – – – – – – – – – –
“… characterized by an emphasis on
independence, freedom within limits,
and respect for a child’s natural
psychological, physical, and social
development….
“… and has these elements
as essential:[1][2]
” — Mixed age classrooms, with
classrooms for children aged
2½ or 3 to 6 years old by far the
most common
“— Student choice of activity
from within a prescribed range of
options
“— Uninterrupted blocks of work
time, ideally three hours
“— A Constructivist or ‘discovery’
model, where students learn
concepts from working with
materials, rather than by direct
instruction.
“Specialized educational materials
developed by Montessori and her
collaborators
“— Freedom of movement within
the classroom
” — A trained Montessori teacher
“In addition, many Montessori
schools design their programs
with reference to Montessori’s
model of human development
from her published works, and
use pedagogy, lessons, and
materials introduced in teacher
training derived from courses
presented by Montessori
during her lifetime… ”
– – – – – – – – – – – –
This disclosure and implied attack
on King pretty much ended things.
King made the dubious claim that
his Montessori school scrupulously
follows “Common Core”
“This totally enraged the audience
of parents as it was and is a
ludicrous and demonstrably false
claim that was rightly met with
skepticism and loud booing,
enraging the crowd… if for
no other reason that folks
don’t like to be lied to or have
their intelligences insulted.
The flustered moderator then
quickly wrapped it up, “We’re going
to allow two more people to speak.”
At which point people began
screaming even louder:
“WHAT HAPPENED TO ‘ONE
HOUR’ ?!!!”
This is absolutely riveting video.
Again, you can see that crucial
final 20 minutes at:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_Eiz406VAs
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RE-POSTED from last October:
I was hoping that someone had
actual information about the Montessori
school where King sends his kids,
the Woodland Hill Montessori school.
So far, I’ve yet to find out exactly
what occurs during a typical
school day at that specific Montessori
school—schedule, curriculum,
activities, subjects taught, etc.
Thankfully, both Montessori’s
official site and its Wikipedia
page details what happens at
almost all Montessori
schools—i.e. the ones that are
functioning in a way consistent
with the Montessori educational
philosophy and methods. If
the Montessori to which King
sends his children does not
operate this way, they are an
exception, and not a true
Montessori school—sort of like
a restaurant purporting be a
McDonald’s and uses the name
McDonald’s, but instead that
sells hot dogs instead of
hamburgers.
However, I was able to discover
a blog post from Carol Burris
who DOES have information about
the Montessori school to which
King sends his kids. It’s at the
top of the COMMENTS section:
http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/finding_common_ground/2013/06/when_the_ny_state_education_dept_complained_about_this_blog.html
– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
CAROL BURRIS (regarding the
Montessori school where King
sends his kids):
“A friend whose employee attends
the Montessori School (and
therefore knows that the children
attend it) informed me that the
school does not give all of the
tests at all of the grade levels.
“Teachers are not evaluated by
the scores, nor is the school
evaluated by the scores.
“That has been confirmed.”
– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
In the video, King described
his children’s Montessori school
being part of NY state’s
“community of schools”.
Apparently, not all of NYS’s
educational institutions
are in sync with the policies that
King demands that the public
schools follow—i.e. the
non-public school where he
sends his own children.
The article that this COMMENT
is responding to is pretty
incendiary as well. It’s from
the “FINDING COMMON
GROUND”, blog written by
elementary school principal
Peter DeWitt.
According to the webpage,
DeWitt “writes about students’
social and emotional health,
and how educators can help
young people find common
ground. He was selected as
the 2013 New York State
Outstanding Educator of the
Year by the School
Administrators Association
of New York State.”
The story is about how
officials from the N.Y. State
Education Dept. harassed
him at his school office in
response to comments he
wrote about… you guessed it…
the subject of King’s sending
his children to a Montessori
school.
The attempts to intimidate,
censor, and implicitly threaten
DeWitt are as creepy as
anything to do with the recent
Town Hall fiasco.
For example, Tom Dunn,
King’s Director of Communications,
volunteered to DeWitt…
“It’s not like I’m going to call your
superintendent … ”
… to complain about DeWitt,
should DeWitt refuse to cooperate
and do what he says—i.e. edit out
the stuff about King’s kids
attending a Montessori school.
That remark has a very mafioso-ish
type ring to it—along the lines of…
“It’s not like we’re going to
and harm your wife and kids if
you don’t play ball with us. We
wouldn’t want anything to happen
to them, now. Would we?”
If you’re not going to do
something, and you’re not
actually threatening to do so,
then why even bring it up?
These are the final paragraphs
of DeWitt’s article in their entirety:
– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
PETER DEWITT:
“(Ed. Commissioner King’s)
communications director should
spend less time trying to coerce
and intimidate educational
bloggers who are trying to get
out the truth, and spend more
time listening to the voices of
teachers, parents, students and
principals.
“Collectively, there were thousands
of them who converged on Albany,
NY yesterday for the June 8th Rally.
I hope some leaders from State
Ed were in the crowd because
one thing is for sure…our voices
won’t be stifled. ”
“My concern over the phone call
is ‘what’s next?’ One phone call
for an error. A second one
because I used strong language
or criticized the commissioner?
“What will be the next thing I
write that State Ed does not like?
If there is something untrue about
my blog, post a comment at the
end or send an e-mail like everyone
else.
“My secretary is too busy to take
calls about my blog, nor should
she have to. I don’t post blogs at
school, and my students and staff
are my first priority. We are trying
to meet the deadline of getting
through our End of the Year SLO’s.
“Unfortunately, Mr. Dunn’s phone
call seemed less about correcting
an error (which may or may not be
true) and more about flexing his
NY State Education muscles. We
have about as much time for State
Ed phone calls as they do for
ours.”
– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
Again, you can read the whole
thing at:
http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/finding_common_ground/2013/06/when_the_ny_state_education_dept_complained_about_this_blog.html
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It looks like the fake education reformers and 21st century corporate/billionaire carpetbaggers will have to rely on fooling people who don’t attend these meetings to get their hands on the tax payers money that’s intended for democratic public schools.
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ALSO FROM LAST OCTOBER:
from:
http://perdidostreetschool.blogspot.com/2013/10/commissioner-john-king-throws-gasoline.html
– – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
Saturday, October 12, 2013
Commissioner John King Throws Gasoline Onto The Common Core/inBloom/Endless Testing Bonfire
The only thing worse that NYSED Commissioner John King could have done after his meltdown in Poughkeepsie the other night, where he threatened to take his microphone and lectern and go on home if the audience didn’t sit quietly and let him pontificate about the wonders of Common Core, Endless Testing and the inBloom data base, was to cancel the remaining meetings with parents across the state.
One major criticism King and NYSED, along with Merryl Tisch and the Board of Regents, have been taking over their education reform agenda is how they have rammed it down the throats of students, parents and teachers in the state without taking into consideration any of the cares or concerns of the other stakeholders.
By canceling the remaining PTA-sponsored town hall meetings with the public, King reinforces the meme that SED officials are out of touch and do not care one whit what anyone outside of their own offices or the Gates Foundation thinks about their education policies.
The smart move would have been to take the verbal beating in Poughkeepsie, take the verbal beatings elsewhere, acknowledge some of the concerns and say “Oh, we’ll conduct a study over that…” or something to that effect and just keep on keeping on like they’ve been doing.
But Commissioner King is not a smart man, certainly not politically at any rate, because he did the absolute worst thing possible in these circumstances – he took his microphone and lectern and went back to Albany in a huff, canceling the rest of the town hall meetings and underscoring in one feckless act how little he cares about what the public thinks and how little he can handle criticism or challenge.
As Leonie Haimson put it in this post:
– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
“These cancellations have provoked even more anger and resentment, with parents saying that while King won’t allow their schools or children to opt out of the Common Core, standardized testing or data sharing with vendors, he is opting out of an important dialogue with parents.
– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
Leonie says there is one meeting that was not sponsored by the PTA that King is still slated to attend – October 15 in Oyster Bay, co-sponsored by Senator Marcellino.
If King was a smart man, an astute politician, he would attend that meeting and make believe he actually cared what the attendees were telling him there rather than act as he did in Poughkeepsie and get all defensive and snooty about things.
He can take some of the fuel off the Common Core/inBloom/Endless Testing Bonfire by acting like most politicians and making believe he cares what people think and feel about these issues rather than showing how little cares about what the public thinks or feels about them.
In other words, he would fake it.
Not that faking that he cares when he really doesn’t would put an end to the criticism and the fight SED and the Regents are going to takeover their education reform agenda.
It won’t – not with parents in the affluent suburbs up in arms over the agenda.
But it certainly would put a little bit of a damper on the tumult and fury King set off with his imperious act in Poughkeepsie the other night.
We’ll see if he even shows up to October 15 meeting and then, if he does, how he handles criticism.
As of now, King is making things worse for himself and his compatriots in reform at SED and the Board of Regents.
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Here’s a great column on King from
last October on this blog, written
by on Arthur Goldstein:
Arthur Goldstein, who teaches at Frances Lewis High School in Queens, New York, observed the video in which John King was completely unable to maintain order when faced with an audience of angry parents. He condescended to them, which seems to be his default mode, and they responded angrily. He could not control the class. He probably wanted to expel them, but he couldn’t. They were not “bad students,” they were outraged parents and taxpayers. He forgot that he works for them. They are his boss, not his subjects.
Goldstein wrote the following about John King’s debacle.
ARTHUR GOLDSTEIN:
John King? Or King John?
The spectacle of NY State Education Commissioner John King losing his composure while speaking to Poughkeepsie parents last week was remarkable. I’m just a lowly teacher, but even I know that’s not how you face an audience you’re trying to persuade. I tell young teachers that every time you lose your temper, you make the kids trying to distract you happy. Not only that, but you also embolden and multiply your opposition.
I don’t mean to condemn critical parents or students here. I’m simply saying that educators ought to be able to accept differences of opinion without getting emotional. There are many viewpoints I do not share with my students, but that doesn’t mean they can’t express them in my classroom. How can I engage kids if I don’t tolerate their expressing themselves?
Honestly, how can King, who deems the public schools he administers unsuitable for his kids, tell us with a straight face that they’re good enough for ours? And how dare he suggest we have no right even to ask this question?
Young teachers in my school have concerns similar to those of upstate parents. One tells me his daughter, who used to love to read, is now spending hours doing homework for which she is not developmentally prepared. He says she now cries as a result of being overburdened.
A young mom with whom I work tells me her second grader is overwhelmed by demands he do algebra. She visited his school, claimed he left something in his desk, and surreptitiously used her iPad to photograph every page of his English and math books. She says that’s the only way she can effectively help him with his homework.
These are fundamental issues that are not effectively answered by pontifications on the wonders of Common Core. In fact, I’m amazed at the format utilized in Poughkeepsie. As a teacher, one of my prime directives is to engage my audience. Were I to attempt a two-hour lecture, with a twenty-minute comment period after, my teenage audience would likely engage in open revolt. This would be particularly true if I’d chosen a topic with which they disagreed strenuously, and would be exacerbated if my presentation failed to influence them or address their concerns.
King, ostensibly our state’s foremost educational authority, showed communication and management skills that would be unacceptable in a second-year teacher. He would not have fared well under the Danielson framework city teachers now face. There can be serious consequences for teachers who fail to engage their audiences, but I’ve seen none for King.
Even worse, after this exchange, Chancellor King saw fit to cancel the rest of his appearances. I’ve seen teachers, overwhelmed by the pressures of facing 34 teenagers at a time, get up and walk away. However, I’ve never seen them cancel all future classes and get to keep their jobs.
Last I looked, we’re still a democracy, and We, the People are the ultimate voice. John King is supposed to represent us, not dictate to us. If King cannot abide by what we and our children want and need, let alone allow us to question him, he ought not to keep his job either.
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Also, about John King, there was a great guest column on Edushyster’s blog by Sue Altman, describing John King , with all his tone-deaf actions, has been the best thing ever to happen to the Opt-Out movement. He has single-handedly multiplied the numbers of parents currently opting their kids out of standardized testing:
http://edushyster.com/?p=3419
– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
John King’s Gift to Parents
Posted on October 16, 2013
John King just gave New York parents the perfect spark to fuel the boycott fire.
By Sue Altman
John King cancelled a town hall style meeting in Garden City, NY this week where he was scheduled to discuss policy around testing and education reform. Following a raucous meeting in Poughkeepsie, King accused “special interests” of “manipulating parents” and called off the show.
Gasp! My goodness, will someone please tell us, who are these “special interests” that lurk so menacingly this October? Are they swashbuckling pirates wheeling and dealing crooked deals in yachts off South Hampton? Or thuggish crowbar-swinging hit men sent by mobsters from Merrick? Who are these henchmen so prevalent and powerful that King John feels he must hop on his headless horse and flee to Albany?
I was confused myself, since I know that everyone you meet in college is from Long Island—so who better to know what it takes to be *college and career ready*? It turns out there is a little something brewing on Long Island, and it’s not iced tea or a late summer hurricane.
The testing opt-out movement, a boycott of standardized tests, is 10,000 strong on Long Island. Ten thousand!!! You think that has something to do with King’s avoidance of the place? Maybe he knows he might have trouble explaining himself to a crowd of well-informed, well-organized, angry Long Islanders.
Garden City might well have become an epicenter of controversy for thousands of angry, frustrated parents demanding answers from King. And, if that town hall had taken place, we would have heard stories from the students themselves (very eloquent and well-educated, despite what the make-believe scores say) about the countless hours of new testing, the anxiety starting in third grade, the stressed-out teachers and the crying in the bathroom. Maybe we would have heard about double sessions in reading and math. About lost time for arts and music. About how private school kids get those things in abundance, but students attending New York public schools don’t. The meeting, and King’s appearance, would have given thousands more confused moms and dads who have heard about the testing boycott, a chance to hear both sides before deciding what to do this fall.
The opt-out movement is well organized. It is headed by parents, whose members include lawyers, stay-at-home moms, academics, secretaries, small-business owners. No, they are not sent by the unions. No, they are not influenced by mobsters, henchmen or, ahem, billionaires. They. Are. PARENTS. Opt-out members cut across districts, race, socioeconomic status, and, most importantly, political party lines. They have one thing in common: they are parents. And they are highly suspect of anything that makes their child hate school. The right hates the governmental influence in education; the left hates the testing part. And everyone hates seeing unhappy children.
These people want to make sure that their children, who have one shot, right now—receive an education that is well-resourced, well-balanced, and inspiring. They are parents whose special interest is…their children.
These New Yorkers refuse to believe that test scores, created by the Department of Education, scored by the Department of Education and calibrated by the Department of Education mean anything at all. They refuse to believe that these numbers measure the value of their child, the value of their child’s teacher, or the value of their school. The mantra “Our children are more than test scores” nails it. These parents are boycotting because they love their children, but also because they believe that something terrible, something big-picture, is happening in education. And, as history shows, boycotts are a means to empowerment when democracy has been suspended.
These citizens are sick of being treated as “consumers” and their children as “products” for whom education is “delivered.” When you treat people like consumers, you get a consumerist response. Angry consumers who want to make a point about something engage in boycotts. The testing boycott is about something larger than tests; it’s an expression of frustration at being excluded from a vital democratic process. The boycotts are last resort of people who feel the state and national departments of education are ignoring them and their children; it is the last weapon they have against this wave of corporate-inspired accountability reforms.
John King’s cowardly decision to skip Tuesday’s town hall in Garden City and cancel the rest of the meetings in New York State is an example of an awful trend of anti-democracy in education. But for boycotters, these moments are a call for others to join the cause.
John King has given New York parents the perfect spark to fuel the boycott fire. This might be King’s greatest legacy.
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Sue Altman recently completed a dual Master’s degree in International and Comparative Education and Business Administration at the University of Oxford, UK. Her thesis focused on parent motivations for the boycott of standardized tests in New York, 2012-13. Prior to her time at Oxford, she taught history for four years in New Jersey. Follow her on Twitter at @suealtman.
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While we’re at it, here’s a great letter from parent Ali Gordon to John King at:
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ALI GORDON:
This is the message I recently sent to the Board of Regents and my state representatives:
I have been very vocal about my concerns regarding the implementation of the Common Core Standards, testing, and curriculum in NYS. I have written letters and emails to my NYS representatives and made phone calls. I organized a rally which drew over 2000 people to Comsewogue High School to remind everyone that our students are not defined by their state test scores. I’ve been involved and aware. I joined with other concerned community members to create the group Students, Not Scores.
Tonight this fight became very, very personal.
My ten year old daughter asked me what it would take for me to let her stay home from school forever.
Forever. Not tomorrow… not this week. Forever.
Isabella is very well spoken; very bright. She describes herself as a feminist, and loves to debate adults about the inequity of womens’ pay for equal work. She is committed to calling out bullies in school and helping those people she sees that need a little boost. She can carry on conversations about interesting points and people in American history most kids have never heard of. She can tell you all about the Women’s Suffrage Movement. However, Bella doesn’t learn some things as quickly as other kids do. She struggles with reading at grade level, and has difficulty memorizing math facts. Math word problems are confusing to her, and take her longer than her peers. She has to work really hard to be successful academically. And she does work very hard.
But tonight Isabella decided she has had enough. “School is too hard now.” She said. “I’m too stupid to do this math.” I can assure you we do not use the word ‘stupid’ in our home to describe anything, especially not people. But in the one hour conversation we had in which she was begging me to let her quit school, Isabella used that word- stupid- to describe how she felt about herself more than 10 times.
So, now I have had enough.
No matter the intent, good or bad, in creating and implementing these Common Core standards… if they are hurting children, causing them to give up on themselves at ten years old, there is a problem no one can deny. This problem is bigger than the left wing – right wing debate over states rights and Federal overreach. This problem is bigger than corporations spending billions to influence education policy. This problem is bigger than data mining and privacy. This problem is bigger than Bill Gates, Arne Duncan and Commissioner John King.
Because when a child is broken in spirit, when they have lost their self worth and confidence, that damage is not erased easily. When children hate school to the point that they attempt to avoid it at all costs, there will be no desire to be college or career ready.
Now, before you say I just want my child to succeed no matter what, and I must be one of those ‘everyone gets a trophy for participating’ parents, let me say this: I want my children to be challenged. I want them to have to work to be successful. I want them to sweat it out occasionally, and have to ask questions to clarify. I want their curiosity to lead them down paths I’ve never imagined. I want them to want to know more… about everything.
But when they have no confidence, they will not try. They will not raise their hand to ask a question. They will fear homework, quizzes and exams… and the voice they hear in their heads telling them they can’t, will create a self fulfilling prophecy… so they won’t succeed.
If these insane policies pushing developmentally inappropriate curriculum on our children are allowed to stay in place, what will the future hold for those students who do not fit in this one size fits all approach? What will happen when the precious data doesn’t show the growth these education reformers want to see because so many kids just give up? How many kids have to be hurt before we stop? How many kids have to use that word to describe themselves before we realize the damage that is being done?
Tomorrow morning I will bring Isabella to school. I will tell her that I know this is hard, but she has to just try her best. I will tell her I know how smart she is, and so does her teacher. I will kiss her head and whisper “I love you” with a smile.
And after she walks down the long school hallway, I will use very ounce of passion and compassion I have to call on my elected representatives to stop the abuse. I will contact every media outlet and offer my story- Isabella’s story. I will call, write, tweet, and email the Board of Regents and NYSED Commissioner. I will request meetings with policy makers. I will rally friends and family to do the same. I cannot, no I will not sit back and wait for someone else to get this done.
No one has the right to implement policies that are downright abusive, no matter how lofty their goals. These policies have hurt my child- and that is unacceptable. You’ve heard the phrase ‘Hell hath no fury like that of a woman scorned’…. that is nothing compared to that of a mother protecting her child.
~Ali Gordon
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Oh, and here’s a great letter from one Mikey Jackson, the parent who broke up the Poughkeepsie meeting. As soon as he mentioned that King’s kids went to a Montessori school, his mic was turned off, but not before that revelation caused Hell to break loose in the room. (You turned it off too late, guys, everyone got to hear it… you need to be a little faster with the censoring next time.)
(John King had claimed that Jackson and others at the meeting who spoke against Common Core were “paid agents of special interests” who had posed as parents, so these imposter parents could infiltrate and disrupt the meeting… that turned out to be a bunch o’ baloney, of course.)
Jackson is the guy in the freeze of the YouTube video below: (he starts speaking at 12:13)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_Eiz406VAs
Here’s his letter to Dr. Ravitch at:
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Dear Diane,
I’m the parent in the video who raised the point about Montessori school…http://youtu.be/P_Eiz406VAs (Spackenkill High School. PTA Sponsored Meeting about the Common Core). I hope to set the record straight on my comments.
Sincerely,
Mikey Jackson
As I Was Saying…
Last Thursday evening, I travelled up to Spackenkill High School in Poughkeepsie to attend the PTA-sponsored Common Core town hall where State Education Commissioner John King spoke. I made the hour-long drive by myself with nothing more than a prepared statement I had typed earlier in the day. I was not part of any group. No one lobbied me to go. I had no plans to pick a fight with Mr. King. I was there on behalf of my 8 year old son, his mother and me. I got there very early and thanked the PTA reps for organizing the event while I signed up on the list to make a statement. The PTA told me that Mr. King would not be answering any questions or responding during this portion of the night and would only be listening to concerns.
Before Mr. King gave his presentation, the crowd was told that their concerns would be heard and listened to very carefully. Mr. King went on to give an hour-long PowerPoint presentation and video about the Common Core. Some of it was very interesting. A lot of it made sense. The biggest point I took away from his speech was that we need our kids to do better in math and science to compete in the global job market. That notion makes a whole of lot of sense to me—but the plan of action that the Dept. of Education has decided on to get us there is wrong. It is completely based on number crunching and textbook publisher lobbying, etc. The Board of Ed. can claim whatever statistics they want, but suddenly making great teachers follow scripts or “modules” in the classroom is obnoxious and leaves very little to zero room for any imagination or flexibility in educating. (Homework, for instance, consists mostly of prescribed worksheets.)
My statement was cut short at the regulated two-minute mark and the microphone was turned off. Anyone can see my full statement online, but I wanted to clear something up and finish what I was saying. The NY State Education Commissioner sends his children to private Montessori school. In Montessori, the learning is child-centered and child-specific; from my experience sending my son to Montessori preschool, the kids dictate the speed at which they learn. Common Core and everything that goes along with it could not be more different. Montessori is a proven method of learning. The kids that I know who went to Montessori have all the intellectual benefits that Common Core hopes to achieve. I had no intention of taking Mr. King to task for sending his kids to private school, and I completely understand why someone in the public eye would do so. But after listening to his informative, yet boring, presentation about how great the Common Core is—while knowing how much stress it is adding to my son’s life (and the lives of his teachers, principal, friends, and my parent friends)—I thought Mr. King did himself a giant disservice by not listening to parents’ and teachers’ very real concerns.
The school and district my son attends have always been known for having amazing teachers, arts, sports, and more. Our college rate was already good. Why fix what wasn’t broken? Mr. King, the problems in our schools are community-based problems. This is where you should be putting your attention. How can we make schools in poorer areas just as good as the schools in districts with lots of money? How can we give the districts guidelines, then make sure they know that they are just guidelines and that no teacher or school will be penalized because a seven-year old didn’t fill in a bubble fully? How can we make Art, Music, Physical Education, Technology, Social Studies and reading FICTION just as important as Math and Science? How can we keep big business from influencing how our educrats dictate policy?
This issue is NOT Liberal or Conservative or Progressive. It’s about our kids. My kid. My “Special Interest.” I want him to love school! I want to build him up and let his imagination thrive. The Common Core and the State Assessment tests are hurting our schools, and if Mr. King and the NYS Board of Education don’t want to hear the voices of parents who are on the ground fighting for their kids’ right to learn and be healthy and happy, then they should go get other jobs.
-Mikey Jackson
Parent
Cornwall on Hudson, NY
PS: Here is a picture of me and my “Special Interest” Group.
(I presume that’s a picture of him with his kids & wife… JACK)
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And here’s a letter from yet another parent at the infamous Pougkeepsie meeting:
This is at:
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DR. RAVITCH:
A parent in Poughkeepsie writes about the infamous meeting where John King lectured for 1 hour and 40 minutes and was then hooted by parents and teachers:
– – – – – – – – – – – – –
Parent:
On October 10, 2013, SED Commissioner John King spoke at the Spackenkill School District in Poughkeepsie, NY. This was the first of several forums on the Common Core Learning Standards (CCLS) that NYS adopted on July 19, 2010.
It has been widely seen in social media that Dr. King’s presentation was not well received by the audience. However, his perception of what transpired is not shared by those in the audience. He is quoted in Newsday as saying, “The disruptions caused by the ‘special interests’ have deprived parents of the opportunity to listen, ask questions and offer comments. Essentially, dialogue has been denied.”
Au contraire. If you take the time to watch the video (http://youtu.be/swWm9b_LUAU), you will see that Dr. King dominates the first hour and 40 minutes. At that point, audience members were allowed to speak for a whopping 23 minutes. Between speakers, Dr. King was defensive and tried to control the “dialogue”. A dialogue is supposed to be a two-way conversation where both sides speak and are listened to. The audience did their part by listening to him. King failed to do his part.
What “special interests” is he talking about anyway? Parents and teachers are not special interests. Pearson, inBloom, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, et al, are special interests and their interests are money, not children. He tries to depict the audience as having been infiltrated by an angry mob with an agenda. If you take the time to watch the video, you will see that the entire audience was filled with parents and teachers who have legitimate concerns for their children. Their frustration and yes, anger, were delivered to the man it belongs to.
Some have expressed concern about this anger – that it may come across as unseemly or unprofessional. I say that their anger can be defined as “righteous anger”. In John 2:13-22, Jesus shows his righteous anger toward the “money-changers” doing work in his Father’s home. This is the way many of those adversely affected by the reform movement feel. The work we do is sacred. What could be more sacred than working with children? In Matthew 18:6, Jesus talks about the special care given to children; woe to those who would harm one hair on their heads.
The parents in the audience were angry, very angry. It is justified and righteous. Dr. King has harmed a lot of children with his dictates and mandates. He has aligned himself with the “money changers” and they have assembled themselves in one of our sacred places – our schools. He has violated a trust that we have in education and he needs to suffer the consequences.
Dr. King is a failure and if he were evaluated with one of the tools in which we evaluate our teachers, he would rate as “ineffective”. Please join the many parents from across the state who will be demanding King’s resignation this week. Please call Governor Cuomo’s office (518-474-8390) and demand his resignation. Take back the schools from the corporations and give them back to our teachers and students. They deserve it.
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Here’s something interesting.
First, once again, here’s the video of the Poughkeepsie meeting:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_Eiz406VAs
This is how King views the same event:
(at: http://polhudson.lohudblogs.com/2013/10/15/john-king-forums-were-not-a-constructive-context-for-dialogue/ )
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John King: “(The behavior of the “special interest” plants) made it impossible to have constructive dialogue…. We’ll look for other opportunities to create constructive dialogue, but there’s nothing constructive about a room of people just yelling and heckling.
“My own view is that parents should have the choice of which schools they send their children to and that the children of public officials should not be an object of political debate. That said, the tone was raucous throughout the meeting. There was yelling throughout the meeting. Actually, one parent tried to ask people to quiet down so that he could hear the conversation, and instead people screamed at him, yelled at him.”
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If you look at the long version, the parents actually sat very politely through King’s interminable 2 hour presentation extolling Common Core. The only shouting occurred when he interrupted the parents’ promised 1 hour of comments to claim that Montessori follows the Common Core (a ludicrous and demostrably false claim), and then a bit later—a mere 14 minutes into the promised 1 hour of parent comments—King directed the moderator to say, “This is the last question.”
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Finally, here’s an old post of mine:
Every word that King utters is hollow…
if only becausehe’s spending tens
of thousands of dollars of his
Gates-originated money to make sure
his own kids are, figuratively speaking,
kept as far away from the Common Core
he’s pushing as his Gates’ money will
allow him.
Here’s an old post I directed at
Lawrence Steinberg at an old
thread here:
What if a U.S. Surgeon General
told the nation’s parents that a
great new vaccine has just been
invented, and it’s going to
revolutionize the health of
children and their ability
to fight off disease … blah-
blah-blah…. all the while
the Surgeon General is
being handsomely
compensated for pushing
this vaccine.
And then someone asks,
“Mr. Surgeon General… why
don’t you give that new vaccine
to YOUR OWN children? If the
vaccine is so great, why do
you spend tons of your own
money so that your kids get
an entirely different, and—
by all measures—a superior
vaccine?”
“My children’s vaccination is
none of your business, and
not fair ground for discussion.”
And to add insult to injury,
the hypothetical Surgeon
General intones, “Your kids
are all going to be forced
to take this vaccine whether
you like or not.” With the
power of the state behind
him, he says that, figuratively
speaking, he and the state
will shove it down your kids’
throats, or strap them to
a chair and forcibly inject
into their biceps whether
or not their parents desire
such a vaccine.
“This is what we’re doing,
and there’s nothing you can
do to stop us… so just shut
up and accept it.”
You can see how parents
might be a little vexed by
such a prospect.
Of course, you know I’m
talking about New York State
Ed. Commissioner John King
and his forcing Common
Core on other people’s
children, while keeping his own
children… figuratively
speaking… as far away from
Common Core as his Gates-
originated salary can afford.
Seriously… if Common Core
is the greatest thing ever
for a kid’s education, why
does King spend tens of
thousands of dollars on
expensive private school
tuition to make sure his own
children are kept away from it?
Check out the crucial final 20 min.
of last October’s town hall in
Poughkeepsie, New York,
where NY State Ed.
Commissioner John King
faced the public over his
backing of Common Core.
Here is the colorfully titled
YouTube video —
“Commissioner King Gets Spanked”:
(NOTE: this has been watched 57,950 times!!!)
One other point:
I just noticed something while
watching this video. King
sends his kid to a “private
school”… but he doesn’t
use the phrase….
Instead, he calls his kids’
school a “non-public school”…
(at 15:52)
KING: “Non-public schools
are part of the community
of schools in our state… ”
It’s part of some Neuro-
Linguistic Programming
technique to subliminally
get the people in the
audience to not associate
King with elitists who avoid
the public schools and
instead send their kids to…
yes… PRIVATE schools…
No, he’s just like all you
“public” school parents.
I think it’s called “negation”
where what follows the
negation… in this case..
the negation is the weasel
prefix “non”, and what follows
it is “public”… with the “public
being what actually is actually
processed by the mind..
By calling it “non-public”
the word “public” is in the
phrase, and that’s what
gets processed… with
people then NOT associating
King with “private” schools…
i.e. avoid using the word
“private” at any cost.
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“We will see what happens with Smarter Balanced. If it uses the same passing marks as PARCC, it will disappear too.”
Diane: From the get go the intent was for the two consortia to have “comparability” in their tests and cut scores. The following passages are from the pitches made to USDE in order to assure the feds that the two tests were on the same track.
PARCC will “coordinate with the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium on… artificial intelligence scoring, setting achievement levels, and anchoring high school assessments in the knowledge and skills students need to be prepared for postsecondary education and careers” (PARCC, 2010, December, p. 3). Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers. (2010, December 23). Proposal for supplemental race to the top assessment award.
Similarly, the SMARTER Balanced Assessment Consortium (SBAC) asserts: “SBAC and PARCC are strongly committed to ensuring comparability between their assessments…[including] collaborative standard setting that will facilitate valid comparisons of achievement levels (cut scores) in each consortium’s summative test…” (SMARTER, 2011, p. 31). SMARTER Balanced Assessment Consortium. (2011, January 6). Supplemental funding budget narrative submitted to the U.S. Department of Education. p. 31.
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Jeb Bush is NOT a Conservative, he’s a RINO. Made big bucks off of FCAT in Florida and now on Common Core! Follow the money!
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In Ohio, in the past few days, a bill was introduced (Plunderbund) to get rid of Common Core.
Meanwhile, the Ohio Chamber of Commerce and the Warren County Educational Service Center, which provides sponsorship for charter schools, are going to “talk the nuts and bolts” of Common Core to the Warren County community, on Sept. 12, at a cost of $50 a plate. If the C. of C. and charters are on one side, we can conclude, public education will be on the losing end.
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