Perdido Street predicts that Governor Andrew Cuomo will start a witch hunt for “failing” teachers as soon as he is re-elected.
Cuomo is fully in line with the failing national “reform” movement that relies on test scores to grade teachers. Despite a solid base of research that shows that this method is inaccurate and unstable, Cuomo will force through a statewide rating system based on test scores. The problem is that Cuomo has no knowledge of research; he never heard of the American Statistical Association statement on value-added methods, nor of the work of Edward Haertel at Stanford, or Jesse Rothstein at Berkeley, or any of the many others who have closely studied VAM and found it deeply flawed. He has, however, heard from Arne Duncan and the Wall Street hedge fund managers who generously support his campaign. They want experienced teachers gone and replaced by Teach for America or Educators 4 Excellence, or other bright young things who will not stay long enough to want a pension.
Perdido Street writes:
“But Cuomo’s framing this system just as the deformers are framing the system – test scores are the only valid measure and if many students are failing the new Common Core tests (despite the tests being rigged by NYSED and the Board of Regents to have just that outcome), then the teachers of those students must be failing as well.Beware the second term, folks – as the commenter at the Buffalo News story notes, this is a teacher witch hunt that we have coming and Cuomo’s going to be the head hunter.
‘If you’re a regular reader of this blog, you know that I have written over and over again that APPR was always devised to fire as many teachers as possible.
“It wasn’t a mistake that they rolled APPR out at the same time they rolled out the new Common Core tests that they rigged for 70% failure rates.
“The one thing the deformers didn’t count on was a revolt in the suburbs over the Common Core tests and the Common Core Standards themselves.
“After a year of furor over the CCSS, they had to de-link the Common Core test scores from APPR for teachers of 3rd-8th grade students.
“But make no mistake, the link is coming back and it will turn into a bludgeon they will use on you.”
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Cuomo is nothing more than a crass ,, opportunistic politician. With his history, what would lead anyone to have a rational, reality based expectation that Cuomo either reads/skims/ is advised about the research, or, more importantly, gives a damn that research does not support his policies. As was said in a different context: ” Follow the money”. Right now, the only option for progressive educators is to vote third part and organize locally to start the process of electing progressives to school committees and town/city positions. It is a complete waste of time and energy to expect any help from state or national union leadership;they have made their regressive positions abundantly clear.
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cross-posted:
http://www.opednews.com/Quicklink/Perdido-Street-School-Cuo-in-Best_Web_OpEds-LEADER_Reform_Witchhunts-141003-677.html#comment514450
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What about a witch-hunt for the real culprits, the family. Why not call into court the parents or guardians who rarely, or never, help the child out with homework, or make sure they study and get off the computer games, or put away the Instagram? If VAM analysis says that teachers, and therefore, schools only account for about 12-14% of the variance in test scores, then the other 80% must be the society and families, which the kids experience outside the confines of school. Oh, but to expect better parenting, to hold adults morally accountable for the raising of their families is not that easy, or politically favorable. So, we scapegoat schools and teachers because it is convenient, easy and will not get one in trouble with their political constituents (regardless, that the data, logic and rhetoric are false, and don’t support the agenda).
The blame-game becomes personal when one is confronted with their own deficiencies, instead of inventing ones for others that we would like to point our fingers at (remember, for every one pointing forward, 4 are pointing back).
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“…then the other 80% must be the ***society*** and families” [emphasis added]
There’s your answer right there. You can’t tease apart the influence of families vs. society any more than you can tease apart the influence of teachers vs. all the rest of it. Families living in substandard conditions with inadequate access to food and medical care are just as much victims as the kids in those families.
Besides, you’re asking to criminalize parenting. Who gets to decide, for instance, how much video game time is okay and how much is punishable? And what about parents who can’t help their kids with their homework (e.g., those who are still learning English themselves)? Should they be punished?
How about if we get away from a punishment model altogether and simply try to provide people – students, parents, teachers, etc. – with the help they need?
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Good points Dienne,
I’m not advocating the criminalization of any, though we may have dialogues about what are better moral choices and beneficial, pragmatic, outcomes. I ask the questions in order to get the effect: of seeing the absurdity of putting blame on teachers and schools. What really has changed in the last 30-40 years; is it that schools are more full of dysfunctional staff; is it that the input of students are less functional (because of societal issues, like increased divorce frequencies and the trauma it does to kids?); is it because of new instruments that document “new” failures that were never there before; is it the result of all, some kind of conspired “antisynergy”?????
All I know as a highschooler in the 1970s is that we just had normal classes, very little testing, took SAT for college, went to college, became “educated” and were well prepared for life. Yet, the “less than beneficial” forces that now exist in greater frequency and magnitude in our culture and society, were back then, only in dormant, incipient, stages of development.
Grace and Peace,
Rick
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“All I know as a highschooler in the 1970s is that we just had normal classes, very little testing, took SAT for college, went to college, became “educated” and were well prepared for life.”
Yep, all was peachy keen back then (for me 68-73 HS). Like all the pot that was sold out of my friend locker. Or the half ounce of mescaline that we capped up in English class the week before prom. Or skipping class to drive down Hwy 44 to drive through Lone Elk Park and driving back smoking one joint on the way, one in the park and one on the way back. Or how about making a hash pipe out of a Bic pen and aluminum foil during lunch, using it and then putting the pen back together and smelling the hash for the rest of the afternoon. Or skipping class and going over to the little local grocery store with our altered drivers license to buy some beer to have on the way back to school.
Oh, and that was in a Catholic School. Imagine what my friends were doing at the public schools-having sex, doing drugs and all kinds of other fun things.
Yep, those were the halcyon days (before Halcyon was a psychoactive brand drug name).
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And “knownothingatall” how do your comments provide any substance to the dialogue I began? Yes, I did all that stuff too, but what has that to do about the topics mentioned???????????????
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Ah, the good old days (class of 72) – drinking champaign in the girls bathroom to celebrate a class mate turning 18 (only I was only 17).
We are all turning sixty this year – the ones who survived!
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But my education was superior. I went to a top notch high school, attended my first choice college at UB, and graduated Magna Cum Laude, Phi Beta Kappa.
Then I ended up teaching in the Buffalo Public Schools.
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Rick, if you are looking for culprits, look no farther than those who are responsible for the deterioration of social safety nets and social infrastructure and the severe decline of the middle class. The effects of these social ‘traumas’ are played out in all social institutions; schooling is only one institution. Stretch your imagination and think of the effects on individuals and families and, yes, kids. Sure adults make terrible life choices that horribly impact their children. What you see on the macro level is not poor moral choices or insufficiency, but the failures of government. To think otherwise is folly.
Rick, from what you write, it appears that you lived and were schooled in rather cloistered world, closed off from the harsh realities of the lives of poor and low income people: intact families, all attempting to survive in a world you did not experience, understand, or perhaps even know existed. More than generation ago Jonathan Kozol wrote “Death at an Early Age”, about the lives of the children he taught in the Boston Public Schools.
You must know that Diane Ravitch has beautifully written, about the pseudo “crisis” in public schools . If you read her last book, follow the writings of Mercedes Schneider and read this forum, you will come to understand the reality confronting public schools schools and their students.
Rick , you are a serious person. That is obvious from your postings. I write this post to respectfully disagree with your perspective.
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John,
My comments were a bit extreme, only to paint a generalization, a partial-truth or pattern. Yes, larger macro-societal issues are working against the poor and middle class and cannot be ignored or denied. You are right about this. However, people regardless of socioeconomic forces or status still make moral decisions, both rich and poor. I don’t think GW Carver or BT Washington sought to make excuses about their people not succeeding because the gov’t was not helping them out enough. YES, this was an issue, but the sought to motivate and enable people to “rise above” the limitations and seek greatness, both for their own good, society’s good and the glory of their Faith.
When I see people using food stamps that have many tattoos, wear nice tennis shoes and jewelry, yet do not buy enough school supplies for their children or work at the kitchen table to help them at school, then I think more is wrong than just macro-societal issues; many problems begin and end in the home and family, not the Gov’t. I respect your disagreement with my inferences, and I too agree with your perspective. Yet, it is not either/or, both Gov’t and family play vital roles, and family is not limited by the Gov’t, but with grace, faith, hard work, perseverance, moral excellence (all what BT and GW preached) even the lowest levels can rise above (history proves that). Grace and Peace, Rick
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Thanks for your reply. Individual adult choices affect the lives of children. I will not enter the ‘moral’ domain, rather stick with the notion of choices that impact constellations of adult(s) and children. I use the word “constellation”, because there are multiple adult/child(ren) living arangements, some of which are familial. That being said, the impact of individual (micro)l choices versus macro, societal level failures is driving the changes we have seen, or, perhaps , have refused to see and confront over the lifetime of this country. Be well.
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Rick –
There’s a difference between providing help and hindering growth.
I had the unique opportunity to provide instruction in the homes of the inner city poor. My eyes were open to true poverty. Most families try to do their best in spite of the adversity they face.
And I don’t presume to judge their choices. Poverty is bad enough – they shouldn’t be forced to wear “a scarlet letter” on their person to indicate that they are too poor to enjoy the life that others take for granted. Someone in government once begrudged families the use of a refrigerator if they wanted to be considered truly poor.
What I have observed is the lack of opportunities available. Pulling oneself up by the bootstraps is not that easy to achieve. Going beyond the radius of your neighborhood to discover what is beyond the next block is difficult. And while education can make a difference, the schools in the city lack the amenities and resources of those found in the suburbs. In general, I find that those who have get more or that it often takes money to make money.
So, get off your high horse and start looking at the reality of those of us living at ground level.
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Thanks Ellen for bringing me back to earth, and off my “high horse”. Yes, poverty is real and restrictive; it closes off certain opportunities and choices. Yes, those that have already usually can get more; Agreed.
The world is a fallen and sinful place where depraved and misplaced human values have ruined the “free market” (only free to the degree it has been redeemed, or is redeeming). Our city garbage-collectors deserve a better, just-equitable, living wage, as do our farmers and many others (that provide more essential goods and services, than our pro-athletes). How can entertainment be of more value than food production and service. Lebron James, and all he represents, deserve no more than 5-6 figures, at best. He will make more in a year than many farmers and servers will in a lifetime, for a “good or service” that is not even fundamental to human existence (all pro-leagues can collapse and life goes on, whereas farmers and city workers cannot make a living and life becomes chaotic).
So, I agree with you, and point out there still are moral choices to be made about what is good or better, and what is vain and futile. Jesus came to redeem all of us from that’s vain, and futile and that which really-has-no-value.
Grace and Peace
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Rick – thank you for your humble reply. I agree, there are always moral choices to be made and many who grow up not knowing or even caring about the difference. However, I do not blame or begrudge Lebron and others of his ilk for their good fortune.
I am upset though when a women who steals from Dollar General serves five months in prison while a man who embezzles $200,000 is given five years probation. Where a black man pulled over for driving a car with “tinted” windows is frisked and ends up in prison for having marijuana in his pocket, but a white kid in the suburbs is given a warning. I won’t get into the politics of recent shootings based on color and not on deed.
The reason we read this blog is because we see the inequities in the system and want to lodge a protest. I loathe the idea that decisions are made regarding our vulnerable children based on monetary rewards for the elite and not on their best interests. What is even worse, is that this has been going on for years in many of our urban areas, but the outcry is only reaching a fevered pitch because this menace has reached the suburbs.
Obviously the issue is complex and there is simply too much evil in this world for us to overturn, but still we must try. I pray daily for guidance. So, we each do our part and try to make the correct choices in our own daily lives. Then, at least, we are able to sleep at night with a clear conscience.
Peace to you, Rick.
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Thanks Ellen, Agreed, good points.
Maybe the women having to steal would not have to do so if they were paid a better more fair wage. I do fault pro-sports and the fact that so much money goes into their industry and so LITTLE benefit comes back to society (but, then the fans must love to have it that way because they pay for the over-priced tickets). The way we “reward” work with wages seems so unjust and disproportionate that it is wrong, unsustainable, economically folly and according to the tenets of my faith, sinful. The farmer does a way more important job than LeBron, but is paid so little.
Yes, the way crimes are punished in our society is ludicrous too, and disproportionate, biased toward favoring the rich and powerful (and my faith teaches no partiality, favoritism or bias in justice).
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Cuomo has no reason to go to war with teachers, he killed Bloomberg’s attempt to end longevity, exempted NYC from the property tax cap, and agreed to a teacher favorable teacher evaluation law … he is “disliked” by many teachers, who have no alternative at the polls … he is extremely strategic and placed himself in a socially liberal (pro marriage equality, pro medical marijuana) and conservative on economic issues), if Hillary chooses not to run, or is defeated Cuomo is situating himself as a presidential candidate … he would be a centrist candidate … neither too far to the left or right … and he isn’t “going to war” with teacher unions.
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“…agreed to a teacher favorable teacher evaluation law…”
What exactly is a “teacher favorable teacher evaluation law”? From my understanding, some percentage (30%? more?) of New York’s teacher evaluations are based on student test scores. I don’t know too many teachers who find that “teacher favorable”.
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40%
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He only agreed out of desperation and in the process was hoodwinked by Richard Iannuzzi. The teacher favorable law was the law that allows each independent local union to negotiate their own APPR agreement. Many districts, with experienced and level-headed administrators (and school boards) were able to negotiate fairly reasonable (less punitive) APPR plans. Proof is in the pudding as 98+% of NY teachers have scored “effective” or highly “effective” in contrats to the 70% failure rate of students on CC exams. Under Karen Magee, Cuomo has a good chance of rescinding that agreement and re-writing the law to a less favorable evaluation system. And Mulgrew will not stand in the way as 150.000 NYC teachers, many working in the most impoverished and dysfunctional neighborhoods in America will get sucked into the Cuomo vortex.
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Syracuse teachers drew the short end of the straw.
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Any idea how the Syracuse (or Rochester) lawsuits are progressing?
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Please, there IS an alternative at the polls, just one you apparently choose to ignore.
His name is Howie Hawkins, and he is running for Governor on the Green Party ticket.
Now, before you come back with a reply that he doesn’t have a chance of winning…I totally agree. Cuomo will win and will be Governor for a second term. That said, I will vote for Hawkins because at least I know I’m voting for someone I can support, who supports public education, who is a person of integrity and character.
You are never throwing a vote away if you vote for someone like that. I can live with myself if I vote for Hawkins – knowing going into the voting booth on that Tuesday in November that he has no chance at all of winning.
But on Wednesday morning I’ll wake up from having slept well and, like I said, I’ll be able to live with myself.
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I’m on a local board of education and a retired teacher…I write articles for the local paper and stand up for students and teachers in every board meeting. How do we fight this? I read your blog daily and I follow Carol Buris…I don’t want this political outcome to be inevitable. I am a registered Democrat but Cuomo will not get my vote…there must be more we can do…
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Judith,
A protest vote against Cuomo is a good place to start. I’m voting Green Party.
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I truly do not get the logic of “we did not find enough failure, so there’s something wrong with the measurement” – how many teachers will need to be fired before they are satisfied?
I’ll go one more – if the object is to fire away until we have enough good teachers, where is one place where this has EVER worked AND worked for a group of children that was demographically similar, without a policy that pushed out those children who are difficult to work with. And what if we find we can fire thousands of teachers without nearly enough waiting in the wings to replace them – and we now have a dishonored disgruntled teaching force that moved on because of force, and a whole society of children that need cohesive communities except that their favorite teachers get fired and/or move on every other year?
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If Cuomo wants to get rid of teachers, just offer a retirement incentive. There are a bunch out there who are chomping at the bit to retire and are just waiting to get their time completed. A little boost will push them over the edge.
I, too, predict a teacher shortage. I see signing bonuses in the future for NYS teachers.
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You say this as if it will,take place some time in the future instead of something happening right now!
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I don’t agree with many of his positions on education, but Perdido Street is as astute an analyst of the regional political scene as anyone who does that type of thing for a living. I never miss a post.
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And I can picture the scene as Cuomo announces the re-coupling of teacher evaluations to test scores – ALL teachers being evaluated by ONLY math and ELA scores. And standing next to him at the podium will be Karen Magee smiling for the photo op. And I can read her mind . . . “move over Arne, here I come.”
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The Board of Regents already is making noise about tying every teacher’s evaluation to math and ELA scores. It is only a matter of time. And this week NYSED will hold state training that includes Student Achievement Partners conducting a session on how ELA classrooms need to change to meet the CCSS. I sense that some dots need to be connected between the war on teachers and a private entity telling teachers how to meet “state” standards.
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NYSED is definitely heading towards a math and ELA evaluation system for all teachers. Its another example of moving the goal posts. They desperately need to justify the discrepancy between a 70% failure rate and a 98+% teacher effectiveness on APPR. So in their effort to prove how many bad teacher there are, they will try to tie all evaluations to the impossibly difficult Pearson exams. To the best of my knowledge this cannot happen unless Karen Magee signs off. I think she will by using the claim that it will dramatically reduce the amount of testing by eliminating all local pre and post tests. If this happens, every district in the state should enter a class action suit against Cuomo, NYSED, and the Board of Regents.
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I’m not sure what’s up with the Democrat Party I used to know- the inclusive one that reaches out to all. The NYS Democratic Committee has no information in Spanish that I can see. http://nydems.org Neither does http://andrewcuomo.com
Rob Astorino is reaching out http://www.robastorino.com
Howie Hawkins is reaching out http://www.howiehawkins.org
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We are predicting a large turn out for our Annual Election Day Bake Sale with proceeds to go to mission projects throughout the world.
Cuomo has ticked off so many demographics that scores will show up to give their protest vote.
It couldn’t happen to a “nicer” guy.
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