Archives for the month of: October, 2014
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Civil Rights Groups Urge Obama to Drop Punitive Testing

By dianeravitch
October 28, 2014 //
31

Eleven national civil rights groups issued a joint statement to President Obama and Secretary Duncan calling for an end to the regime of test-based accountability.

Their statement was reminiscent of a similar one objecting to Race to the Top in 2010. At that time, Secretary Duncan did his best to bury the groups’ objections.

The statement was signed by:

Advancement Project, Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF), National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, National Opportunity to Learn (OTL) Campaign, National Urban League (NUL), NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund (LDF), National Council on Educating Black Children (NCEBC), National Indian Education Association (NIEA) and Southeast Asia Resource Action Center (SEARAC).

Their statement includes recommendations to improve the needed supports and services for children.

Number one is “1. Appropriate and equitable resources that ensure opportunities to learn, respond to students’ needs, prioritize racial diversity and integration of schools, strengthen school system capacity, and meaningfully support improvement.”

Among the needed resources are:

“Qualified, certified, competent, racially and culturally diverse and committed teachers, principals, counselors, nurses, librarians, and other school support staff, with appropriate professional development opportunities, including cultural competency training, and support and incentives to work with students of greatest need; and

Social, emotional, nutritional, and health services”

They write:

“The current educational accountability system has become overly focused on narrow measures of success and, in some cases, has discouraged schools from providing a rich curriculum for all students focused on the 21st century skills they need to acquire. This particularly impacts under-resourced schools that disproportionately serve low-income students and students of color. In our highly inequitable system of education, accountability is not currently designed to ensure students will experience diverse and integrated classrooms with the necessary resources for learning and support for excellent teaching in all schools. It is time to end the advancement of policies and ideas that largely omit the critical supports and services necessary for children and families to access equal educational opportunity in diverse settings and to promote positive educational outcomes.”

Categories Funding, Obama, Poverty, Segregation , Racial Isolation and Integration, Testing

Education Advocates Blast Cuomo Attack on Public Schools

By dianeravitch
October 28, 2014 //
36

Education advocates blasted Governor Andrew Cuomo for vowing to “bust the public school monopoly” by creating more privately managed charters.

Will he bust the “police monopoly” or the “firefighters” monopoly? Will he privatize other essential public services as he now threatens to privatize our public schools?

The Alliance for Quality Education and other groups said:

ALBANY (October 28, 2014) – AQE, local school superintendents and leaders of the state’s major community organizations issued the following statement in response to Gov. Cuomo’s vow to break the public schools “public monopolies” and replace them with more privately-run charter schools.

“Gov. Cuomo has laid clear plans to expand his frontal assault on our public schools through high stakes testing, starving our public schools and privatization,” said Billy Easton, executive director of the Alliance for Quality Education. “It’s not that shocking when you look at the enormous pile of cash he has raked in from the Wall Street billionaires who are investing in charter schools. He is rewarding his financial backers at a devastating cost to our children.”

“Governor Cuomo’s public school bashing hurts students and families, especially in low-income immigrant communities hardest hit by the inequality that has grown under his tenure. Instead of addressing overcrowding, the loss of vital resources, high dropout rates among Latinos, or record-high inequality between school districts, he’s stuck on tired talking points that are divisive and benefit a small few,” said Javier H. Valdés, co-executive director of Make the Road Action Fund.

“New York State’s graduation rates for black and Latinos ranks at the bottom of all states nationally. It has also been established that NYS clearly discriminates against those same children when it comes to equal distribution state education aid. If you are white and/or rich in New York, you get the best of all state aid worlds. If you are poor and/or black or Latino, you get the short end of the education aid stick,” said Kenneth Eastwood, Superintendent of Schools of the Middletown Enlarged City School District. “So lets redirect the real issue of education in New York State to the evaluation of teachers using data from a failed common core test that the Governor admits is so bad that the same data should not be used to evaluate students for the next five years. Political hyperbole at the expense of fair funding and opportunities for all students in New York State only results in greater sales of smoke and mirrors and larger numbers of disenfranchised poor and minority students in New York. Stop running for President and do what’s right for New York’s poor and minority students.”

“The Governor’s words demonstrate that he really doesn’t understand the important role of public education in the continuing re-tooling and development of the American economy,” said Robert Libby, the Cohoes City School District’s Superintendent of Schools.

“It is outrageous that Mr. Cuomo calls our public school system a ‘monopoly.’ While the governor calls for school competition, what he’s really pushing is a ‘survival of the fittest’ charter school model,” said Jonathan Westin, executive director of New York Communities for Change.“What the governor should be doing is complying with the Campaign for Fiscal Equity’s decision to fully fund our schools and pay the $2.5 billion New York City public schools are owed. Every child in New York City should have access to good schools and we will be in Albany next year to make sure this happens.”

“New York’s leaders need to stop blaming everyone else and instead address the real problem with our education system: the state’s chronic under-funding of schools,” said Karen Scharff, executive director with Citizen Action of New York. “Declaring war on teachers is just an excuse for the budget cuts that are undermining our kids’ opportunity for success.”

“The Governor’s assertion that competition is an adequate substitute for equity should be an affront to New Yorker’s sensibilities,” Schenectady City School District’s Superintendent of Schools Laurence Spring said.

Categories Cuomo, Andrew, Privatization

Texas: Standardized Testing in Trouble

By dianeravitch
October 28, 2014 //
8

There is no state that has invested as much time, money, and belief in standardized testing as Texas. The deep belief that regular measurement will produce great results has been a dogma in that state. Its testing regime was the model for No Child Left Behind, which is now viewed as a failed law that set impossible targets and real punishments.

But that confidence has been shaken, as this special report in the Dallas Morning News shows, because test scores foremost districts have been stagnant for three years. Instead of blaming teachers and students, pictmakersare casting a skeptical eye at the tests–and maybe even at their dogmatic commitment to testing as a cure all. This is a state where the legislature it billions out of the school budget, expected schools to do better with larger classes and fewer resources, and counted on testing to make everything right.

Reporters Jeffrey Weiss and Holly K. Hacker write:

“For Texas school districts high-achieving and low, affluent and not, urban and suburban, the lack of progress on STAAR is consistent.

“Three years of stagnant statewide average test scores were matched by flat results in the districts where most Texas students attend, according to an analysis by The Dallas Morning News.

“It wasn’t supposed to be this way.

“When STAAR debuted, state education leaders assumed scores would climb as they did with STAAR’s predecessor, TAKS. But no district larger than a Class 5A high school has shown significant progress on most STAAR tests compared with the state. Even for the smallest districts, about as many have lost ground as gained.

“And that feeds into questions being asked with increasing urgency by parents and politicians: Do these scores mean students aren’t learning? Or are the tests bad at measuring what kids know?”

And the elected officials are turning against the test mania:

“As a practical and political matter, Texas’ standardized tests are in trouble.

“Last year, lawmakers killed 10 of the 15 planned end-of-course exams for secondary schools. More pullback may be in the offing for next year’s session. The Texas Education Agency is even asking for $30 million to develop accountability measures that don’t depend so much on testing.

“Republican and Democratic candidates have all campaigned on cutting the number and use of the tests. Legislators peppered state education officials with tough questions during recent hearings. And many of those questions had to do with the gap between predictions and reality for STAAR scores.”

The reporters note that the tests are defended by the state education comissioner, but he was never an educator. Before Governor Rick Perry appointed him, he headedanagrncy charged with regulating the energy industry. We can assume that in Texas under a Republican governor, the energy industry is a lot less regulated than the public schools.

Weiss and Hacker ask a great question:

“Imagine putting a pot of food on the stove, putting a thermometer in the pot and walking away for a while. When you come back, the thermometer reading hasn’t changed. Is the problem with the stove, something unexpected in the pot or a busted thermometer?”

Mor and more parents, educators, and elected officials are saying that the thermometer is broken.

Categories Standardized Testing, Texas

California: Why Marshall Tuck Should Not Be Elected State Superintendent

By dianeravitch
October 28, 2014 //
39

California blogger “RedQueeninLA” reviews the contest between Marshall Tuck and Tom Torlakson for state superintendent and concludes that Tuck is unfit for the office.

Tuck is the candidate of the power elite, the billionaires who cynically employ fake rhetoric about “it’s all for the kids,” when their real goal is to demonize teachers and invest in technology. They have zero commitment to public education as a civic responsibility.

Tuck comes from the world of investment banking. His education experience at Green Dot Charter Schools and at former Los Angeles Mayor Villaraigosa’s takeover schools was a failure. On that ground alone–his dismal experience–he should be disqualified.

But his greatest liability is his contempt for public education. With him at the helm, public school students would have no advocate in Sacramento. But the oligarchs would.

On behalf of the power elite, Marshall Tuck is running a:

“professionally organized, PR-driven, fact- and experience-free, 1%-obsessed campaign. With relentless repetition their agenda is focused on issues to degrade the influence of organized labour and drive the market predominance of high technology. The challenger, Marshall Tuck, simply blusters through one Big Lie after another, disingenuously claiming to be all about “the children” when in fact this is seemingly the opposite of his agenda. Marshall Tuck’s resume offers no evidence to suggest children’s best interests are the focus of his attention. What all these billionaire-backed candidates – whether Sanchez I v Kayser, Anderson v Zimmer, Sanchez II v Ratliff, or Johnson v McKenna – is about, is the corporate interests of their paymasters.”

Will the 1% buy the state superintendents’ job in California? Will Tuck–the puppet of the oligarchs–win despite his record of failure? Will the public ignore his contempt for public schools and their teachers?

Or will they see through the mask of power politics and reject his deceptive and divisive rhetoric?

I hope that the voters choose Tom Torlakson, a veteran educator who will truly fight for the kids, their teachers, and their public schools.

The race in California is a test of democracy? Can the voters be hoodwinked by Big Lies and Big Money?

Categories California, Charter Schools, Corporate Reformers

Cuomo Promises More Charter Schools, Tougher Teacher Evaluations, After Election

By dianeravitch
October 28, 2014 //
50

Governor Andrew Cuomo promised, in a meeting with the New York Daily News editorial board, to “bust” the public school monopoly.

 

 

Vowing to break “one of the only remaining public monopolies,” Gov. Cuomo on Monday said he’ll push for a new round of teacher evaluation standards if re-elected.

Cuomo, during a meeting with the Daily News Editorial Board, said better teachers and competition from charter schools are the best ways to revamp an underachieving and entrenched public education system.

“I believe these kinds of changes are probably the single best thing that I can do as governor that’s going to matter long-term,” he said, “to break what is in essence one of the only remaining public monopolies — and that’s what this is, it’s a public monopoly.”

He said the key is to put “real performance measures with some competition, which is why I like charter schools.”

Cuomo said he will push a plan that includes more incentives — and sanctions — that “make it a more rigorous evaluation system.”

Cuomo expects fierce opposition from the state’s teachers, who are already upset with him and have refused to endorse his re-election bid.

“The teachers don’t want to do the evaluations and they don’t want to do rigorous evaluations — I get it,” Cuomo said. “I feel exactly opposite.”

 

Cuomo sounds more and more like Scott Walker of Wisconsin every day. Bust the unions. Humble the teachers. Crush public schools and introduce free market competition.

Categories Charter Schools, Corporate Reformers, Education Industry, Privatization, Teacher Evaluations

Wisconsin Teachers Send a Warning to Their Colleagues in Illinois about Bruce Rauner

By dianeravitch
October 28, 2014 //
17

Teachers in Wisconsin warn public sector workers in Illinois: Billionaire Bruce Rauner will be your Scott Walker.

Categories Illinois, Teachers

Anthony Cody: Is There a Néw Paradigm for Accountability?

By dianeravitch
October 28, 2014 //
21

Anthony Cody recognizes that “reformers” are back-pedaling from test-test-test because 1) the results have been disappointing; and 2) the anti-testing backlash is turning into a mighty roar.

So, of course, they need a new paradigm that redefines accountability. In this post, Cody reviews the latest effort to make accountability palatable and concludes that any paradigm that preserves high-stakes testing will preserve the flaws and misguided incentives of the current system.

He writes that every effort to shift to a new paradigm is trapped in the stale thinking of the old paradigm:

“We are stuck in a model that says learning must be measured to be managed, and management is the overriding systemic imperative. This necessitates top-down systems, even as those systems are incapable of delivering the sort of change advocates insist upon….

“A truly new paradigm would invest confidence in students and teachers, rather than constantly require them to demonstrate their adherence to standards and predetermined curricula and assessments. A new paradigm would refocus our schools on the needs of local communities, and require educators to work closely with parents and community leaders to set goals and share evidence of student progress. Accountability invested in centralized authority is inherently top-down. New paradigm? Not there yet.”

Categories Accountability, Common Core, Testing

Buffalo School Board Member Invests in Charter Schools and Votes for Them

By dianeravitch
October 28, 2014 //
22

Carl Paladino, a multimillionaire in Buffalo who ran on the Republican ticket for governor against Andrew Cuomo in the last election, got elected to the Buffalo, New York, school board.

 

He supports charter schools. He also invests in them.  He makes money investing in charter schools. “If I didn’t, I’d be a frigging idiot,” he said.

 

Conflict of interest?

 

PS: Sorry to say that the Buffalo newspaper removed this story from the Internet, although it still appears on Google.

Categories Charter Schools, Education Industry, New York, Privatization

Colorado: Student Scores Collapse on “Harder” Tests in Science, Social Studies

By dianeravitch
October 27, 2014 //
78

Colorado released scores on its new tests in science and social studies, and the proportion of students labeled “college-reeady ” was disastrous. That is, if you expect  most students to graduate from high school and perhaps go to college.

 

Either the curriculum has been narrowed so much that students aren’t learning much science or math, or the tests were so hard that few students could pass it.

 

Officials said, as they always did, that they expected low scores. Any teacher whose class got such low scores would be rated “ineffective.”

 

Colorado has been in the firm grip of the corporate reform movement for a decade. Look at the results. Sad for the kids.

 

Colorado students scored dismally in new science and social studies test results released Monday, a sobering development as the state enters a new era of standards and tests meant to be more demanding.

 

Just 17 percent of Colorado fourth- and seventh-graders scored “strong” or “distinguished” in the state’s first social studies tests. That means those students are on track to be ready for college and career.

 

In science, 34 percent of fifth-graders and 32 percent of eighth-graders hit those marks in assessments given last spring.

 

The results are a test run for advocates of tougher standards and tests. Those supporters will face a similar situation — and possible backlash — after a larger round of tests this spring based on the politically divisive Common Core standards in math and language arts.

 

In portraying the social studies and science results, state officials were careful to emphasize two points — that the standards and tests are unique to Colorado, and low scores were anticipated.

 

And more:

 

To measure students’ mastery, the education department, educators and publishing giant Pearson Inc. developed new online tests, the Colorado Measures of Academic Success, or CMAS.

 

The racial achievement gaps were stark in the results released Monday. In fifth-grade science, 13 percent of black and 15 percent of Latino students were strong or distinguished, compared to 46 percent of white students.

 

High-performing charter schools and district-run schools in affluent areas scored highly.

 

Districts in poor rural areas and close-in Denver suburbs posted the lowest scores. On average, just 6 percent of students in Commerce City-based Adams County School District 14 scored strong or distinguished on the tests.

 

In Denver Public Schools, 11 percent of fourth-graders and 12 percent of seventh-graders scored strong or distinguished in social studies. Twenty percent of fifth-graders and 22 percent of eight-graders did so in science.

 

“The results are not where we want them to be long-term,” said Alyssa Whitehead-Bust, DPS’ chief academic and innovation officer, adding they were not a surprise. “We obviously feel we have the opportunity to really grow and ensure deeper levels of command for students.”

 

Look at the bright side: There is lots of opportunity to grow when you are down so far. Rigor, rigor, rigor!

 

 

 

 

Categories Colorado, Testing

What Does TIME Have Against America’s Teachers?

By dianeravitch
October 27, 2014 //
49

Valerie Strauss recapitulates the TIME magazine cover story. She notes that the AFT petition in opposition to the TIME cover has collected 50,000 signatures ( it is now up to 70,000). Strauss compares this current cover to the one featuring Michelle Rhee as the one who was likely to “transform education.” She didn’t. The achievement gap in D.C. remains the one of the largest (possibly THE largest) in urban America. And she also proved that it is not impossible to fire tenured teachers; she fired hundreds of teachers and principals.

 

Why pick on teachers? Is it because it is a female-dominated profession? Is it part of the tech millionaires’ dream of replacing live teachers with laptops and tablets?

 

TIME agreed to print some responses.

 

One was written by Randi Weingarten of the AFT, and I think she got it exactly right. We need to focus on recruiting, retaining, and supporting teachers. Schools in stressed districts are not getting the funding they need for the children they serve. We must do more to combat and reduce poverty and segregation.

 

Another was written by Lily Eskelsen Garcia of the NEA, and it has just the right tone of amazement and outrage:

 

A fabulous friend recently said to me, “I’m just so tired of the new national pastime – Beat up a Teacher.” She had seen the nasty cover of Time with a court gavel about to smash an apple (a good one by the way). She had seen the title she knew was a lie: It’s nearly impossible to fire a bad teacher. But I think what pushed her over the edge was the subheading: A group of Silicon Valley investors wants to change that.
The irony drips. The Wolves of Wall Street woke up one day and decided simultaneously that all the problems with American education could be solved by…firing teachers. Seriously? My dear friend could not even muster outrage. She was just tired. She saw prestigious Time as next up to bat in a long line of cheap swings at teachers. Time could have written about any number of ways to improve our schools–restoring school funding, actually ensuring equity, and ending the insane and costly No Child Left Behind testing regime, which has replaced real classroom instruction with tests, tests, and more tests. Instead, Time decided to write about tenure. They came to the astonishing conclusion that the one critical reform we must make is to make it easier to fire teachers.

 

 

 

 

Categories Teachers
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