Superintendents in the Lower Hudson Valley area spoke critically of the state evaluation system for teachers and principals, called the Annual Professional Performance Review, in a meeting with the editorial board of the Journal-News. .
The evaluation system does not accurately identify teachers as effective or ineffective, and the State Education Department has been unwilling to listen to professionals in the field. The implementation has been as flawed as the implementation of Common Core. Both are tied to testing, and both derive from Race to the Top. The state received $700 million in Race to the Top funding but is likely to spend multiples of that amount to carry out its mandates. Since no part of Race to the Top was based on research, it is unlikely to produce good results. What it has produced is disruption, demoralization, outrage, and a vibrant anti-testing and anti-Common Core movement, led by parents.
To other readers who might have the same question like mine:
“…The state received $700 million in Race to the Top funding…” First, I still do not know where RttT funding comes from or/and who has the control over the RttT funding?
Secondly, I still do not quite understand the reason as why are NATIONAL STANDARDS written by private fund from Bill Gate and Pearson? Last but not least, why are these National Standards not allowed to have input from educational experts, experienced certified teachers, parents from at least 30 different States, and a certain period of time of implementation, or testing out for trial and err to find its effectiveness for appropriate level?
Last but not least, why don’t these NATIONAL STANDARDS have a specific clause for revision and update any info that is necessary to reflect its adaptation in the near future?
If someone knows the answer, please be kind enough to clarify my confusion. Thank you in advance for your precious time to educate me. Back2basic.
m4potw.. you ask some “golden questions”… The answers???? Teachers are supposed to act like software in a computer program. They have no say in what they teach.. they just comply. Filling in the blanks in an entirely scripted scenario (proclaiming to be freeing) and this is the order of the day. Get teachers involved in creating protocols? Heck no! Consider how students learn by asking those who work with students? Heck no… Susan O’Hanian said this recently:
“Out of alignment. Common core pushers have taken alignment to new depths of exactitude. They seem determined to eliminate the fact that teaching is a passion as well as a daily grind; it is a craft more affirmed and enriched by mystery than by certainty. As JRR Tolkien once observed, “Not all those who wander are lost.” Nor do they need a map or Standards for walking. There is no magic elixir–no pedagogical Guaranteed To Pass® emissions test formula –for pouring into children…”
So . . . it’s like this RTTT funding originated with the USDOE. In the past, the feds funded states and school districts with hundreds of millions of dollars in monies for Title !, IDEA, etc. In the past 15 yrs or so federal policy became focused on assessment and accountability (NCLB). With RTTT they went to a competitive process for federal funding. NY failed to win a grant in the first round competition, they won in the second round with an application developed under the leadership of then Deputy Commissioner King. The Commissioner (Steiner) resigned (or was forced out) and King was appointed Commissioner in 2011. NY’s award was for $696.6 million dollars. The funds advance the New York Regents Reform Agenda which includes expansion of charter schools, roll out of Common Core, expanded testing, new APPR (professional performance evaluation), and expanded data systems and use of data, among other initiatives. What is not well known or understood as that the specifics of these initiatives, corresponding policy, etc., have been developed not by State Ed employees but by a group of privately funded “Regents Research Fellows” who have close tiles to TFA, Students First, the Broad Foundation, New Leaders for New Schools, and other “reform” organizations. Re: Common Core–the 10th amendment prohibits the federal government from mandating a national curriculum, however the feds can, and have, said if you want our money (Title I, IDEA, RTTT etc.) you have to conform with our rules, and rules now include adopting these new learning standards. Re; talk about the CCLS being copyrighted, not subject to revision, etc., I’m not sure about that and someone else who knows more than me should chime in.
Well, the intended point, the end of the game, was to eliminate unions, eliminate teachers, install techno infrastructure and computers, with a common curriculum, and test to that curriculum. Problem was, they needed to get the parents on board and the teachers and unions out of the way without stating, at first, that was all along the agenda. Then, they could privatize all the schools, and sell the programs and the tests, and have clerks walk the aisles with the kids “plugged in” and also collect the data. When you follow the money, you follow the motives. Sad thing is, the billionaires declared war on public schools so they could syphon all those public taxpayer dollars into their own bank accounts….but people – teachers, students, parents – got in the way, and they could only make casualties of the teachers…..but the parents and even the kids got wise. It took a while, but we caught on that we were being played for profits. Period. Get these turds out of education; they don’t belong there – they have done enough damage on Wall Street, at the banks, in our pocketbooks, to reducing many jobs to part time minimum wage spots where people can’t even afford a decent apartment or food. Sad really, when you think about how much good they could have done with their money and their efforts, rather than buying elections, buying school boards, etc. They are soul-less monsters without conscience.
“Get these turds. . . ”
You’re being too nice I would have made a compound word starting with the letter F.
A lot more superintendents need to be openly critical of the nonsense! Hats off to those willing to take a stand. Now, when are they going to do so in unison? Soon I hope. Valerie Strauss has a very poignant article in the Washington Post’s “Answer Sheet” where a leader has taken a stand (and a very good one at that)! This education leader was responding to Time Magazine’s most recent “teacher-bashing cover”…
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2014/11/12/what-it-really-means-to-be-a-public-school-educator-today/
The Lower Hudson Study Council already did speak in unison: http://waynegersen.com/2014/10/27/lower-hudson-superintendents-expose-vam-sham/
The “old guard” Superintendents and principals need to speak as one because the “new breed” of TFA and Broad grads are in accord with the thinking of the “reformers”…. and the veteran teachers need to join in because many of the teachers hired in the past decade only know teaching as a “test prep” activity. Finally, all of us need to make certain we elect school board members who are on the same page because with 32 Republicans (and Mario Cuomo) in State Houses the pushback on “reform” will have to come from the bottom up.
wgersen… would like to see superintendents SPEAK IN UNISON NATIONALLY! Hats off to the Lower Hudson Valley superintendents!!
Oops… an amendment: we have 32 Republicans + Malloy + Raimondo + Cuomo… and Wolf, who Diane reported has served on a charter school board. Get ready to walk up hill against a headwind… watch out for ALEC legislation and keep an eye on local Board elections…
This is another example of why it is time to “rage against the machine.” The LOHUD superintendents found more voodoo math at work in the rigged teacher evaluation system to the offset the rigged test component formula with a high observation score so most of their staff would be satisfactory. Most telling about the “fix” was that teachers that didn’t have to give the tests received the highest scores of all! Maybe it’s time for NYSUT to file a class action suit about faux evaluation formulas designed to discredit effective teachers. Westchester and Long Island should back the LOHUD superintendents, and this news should get out to the media. Parents too should kick up a fuss since the goal of this evaluation system is to make effective, experienced teachers vulnerable to dismissal.
Looked at the technical report on the evaluation system. It is preoccupied with getting the system of evaluation tweaked so all of the components of the evaluation..observations VAM and SLOs and so on are distributed as a bell curve, by subject, by grade,by district, with the HEDI tracings never ever making teachers look competent, or their principals and so on. How many thingy’s can dance on the head of pin. The statistical minutiae are driving the state officials and the external writers of this report to seek a one perfect rating system. In the meantime the technicians who wrote the report freely use the phrase teaching quality as it their bar charts and scatter plots and other representations of scores were the key to making real teachers more able to do their work free of this nonsense. Imagine the policy makers being rated by this system, how about HEDI ratings for the staff at USDE who started this nonsense. HEDI stands for your rating as highly effective, effective, developing, or ineffective. The aim is to have 50% of teachers in a safe harbor and 50% in danger of being fired, year to year. This report does not even mention that there is no evidence of the reliability and validity of the SLO process, nor does the report consider that the screwy distributions of scores on the observation protocol are likely due to flaws in it as well as it’s use. No doubt that NY will spend a fortune trying to get a lot of bell curves in the distribution of data by next year.
The cash tied to RttT has served to make states spend more money in preparing for and administering the tests (such as the tech bond just passed in NYS). Superintendent Brenda Myers in this interview says that in NYS, for every $1 RttT in brought $10 – $20 was spent. Maybe this was part of the plan all along: mandate spending that is unsustainable, making public school systems more financially unstable and more ready for take over by privatizers.
“This report does not even mention that there is no evidence of the reliability and validity of the SLO process,”
It’s not mentioned because there is no reliability or validity in the SLO process which is another name for “educational standards” as the “standards” are seen as, used as objectives in learning. Wilson has proven so not only in his dissertation “Educational Standards and the Problem of Error” but also his essay book review of the testing bible “A Little Less than Valid: An Essay Review” found at:
Duane. The SLO process has been heavily marketed since 1999 by a Boston-based consulting group and a bunch of people hired by USDE to form the “Reform Support Network.”
You probably know that the SLO process is a version of Mangement by Objectives–MBO– a business practice from mid-century last via Peter Drucker (1954). It lasted about two decades. The best companies dropped it because (among other reasons) it created a blizzard of paperwork and was dubbed a case of bureaupathology– rewarding the most competitive and willing to game the system to get a bonus. It is not about standards, it is about meeting quotas–gains in scores between two points in time–mistakenly equated with “growth” and rating teachers highly effective if the gains they produce are greater that the average gains by their peers who have a job alike assignmnet. It is more about standardization than standards.
Yes, it is indeed FLAWED. The basic tenets are WRONG.
Is it not all just a big mess. The children pay this price, it seems so forgotten that they are suffering the brunt of the failed system. I have been reading a book by M. Shannon Hernandez called Breaking the Silence. She left teaching here in NY as she was feeling powerless to help, the education system desperately needed reformation and she writes a brilliant story of her students and her struggle. http://www.myfinal40days.com is her site. Hopefully her book brings her to light and her advocacy for change.
Thank you Artseagal for this wonderful link:
I would recommend to all educators who feel helpless with regard to Common Core to read this link. It is very moving article. Please join Valerie in her “myanswersheet”. Back2basic.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2014/11/12/what-it-really-means-to-be-a-public-school-educator-today/
m4potw… your welcome on the “thanks” for the WP link. It is so sad that all online newspapers around the nation are limiting the views one can have unless they subscribe. This has limited me from reading and commenting in the WP online! I always thought on line newspapers got their money from the overwhelming barrage of on line ads that are linked to the papers – apparently this is not enough. I used to love scanning many papers around the nation to get a sense of what is happening in education. Strauss has a FABULOUS site and I used to love reading the many blog comments from people around the nation. Sadly, this regular conversation is now basically limited to those who subscribe. I so thank you Diane for the blog you provided because it continues to enable people around the nation to understand what is happening in public education around the nation and to contribute thoughts. Sure wish the newspaper blogs had free access so comments could be opened to ALL.
It is truly shameful how the Superintendents in NJ have cowered to Chris Christie’s bombastic intimidation and kept their tongues quisling quiet.
Kudos to those brave educators in NY for courage unseen across the river.
To NY Educators:
Please accept my heartfelt thanks for your golden info. From reading your info, and according to some educators’ advice of follow the money trail, I will have only two more questions to figure out the big mess of Common Core.
1) What qualification does Commissioner of Education need to qualify for this important job?
2) From “beating around the bush” in “Common Core Math” at grade 3 in order to find the answer, I wonder why Commissioner King and Federal Department of Education cannot GET the CLUE where they OBEY the rules OF BUSINESS TYCOONS after giving public tax payer money away easily TO BUSINESS TYCOONS. Here is what I read and understand:
…Re: Common Core–the 10th amendment
PROHIBITS the federal government from MANDATING a national curriculum,
however the feds can, and have, said if you want our money (Title I, IDEA, RTTT etc.) you have to CONFORM WITH OUR RULES, (means the business tycoons’ rules!)
and rules now include ADOPTING THESE NEW LEARNING STANDARDS. Re; talk about the CCLS being copyrighted, not subject to revision, etc.,
I beg for the answer from all readers from this forum. Maybe, it is time to rewrite the LAW of QUALIFICATION, and LICENCE FOR LIFE, except these licences will be invalid for life if committing the crime, such as:
-destabilizing national economy (in the banking sector);
-intentionally destroying/smearing/defaming the human dignity into destabilizing career and family of others. (in media sector, education sector);
-lack of knowledge, skills for the jobs involving in surgical (in medical sector);
-intentionally twisting or hiding evidences for criminals (in legal sector).
We need a legal system that honours people with conscience, and that penalizes people with bribery in the amount or value beyond the means of annual income of person being bribed. The person can accept the bribery without any consequence, but the person who bribes goes to jail.
The Law of Qualification and Licence for Life will prevent all crooks, all FAKE beings to be sooner or later lost their licence and prohibit them to work in their field for life. However, they still have a second chance to begin their life with different field, licence. (it will take extra 10 years to work all the way up again).
I know that I am the dreamer for the short period of time on earth. Back2basic.