Breaking News: Huffman Resigns in Tennessee

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1. Dawn says:

   November 13, 2014 at 10:42 pm

   “There is no power so great as the power of outraged moms. They are stronger than the Koch brothers, stronger than the Walton Family Foundation, stronger even than Bill Gates. When the lives of their children are at risk, they are a mighty and unstoppable force.” – D.R.

   Wonderful news.

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   • cary444 (@cary444) says:

     November 14, 2014 at 2:41 pm

     AMEN!!!

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2. A TN Momma Bear says:

   November 13, 2014 at 10:44 pm

   Some are saying the reason he resigned is because you are coming to Tennessee next week to speak. 🙂 We can’t wait to hear you!!!

   https://www.eventbrite.com/e/diane-ravitch-educating-nashville-on-school-reform-tickets-13676196873

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3. Chiara" says:

   November 13, 2014 at 10:45 pm

   “I’ve known in this job that if you’re going to do the hard work, you’re going to get criticized,” he said. “I’ve never been naive about that, and I’ve never made any of my decisions based on criticism or push-back from people.

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4. Chiara" says:

   November 13, 2014 at 10:54 pm

   “I’ve known in this job that if you’re going to do the hard work, you’re going to get criticized,” he said. “I’ve never been naive about that, and I’ve never made any of my decisions based on criticism or push-back from people.”

   I’m 52 and I’ve made lots of decisions based on “criticism and push-back from people” but then I’m a mere mortal, and sometimes critics were right and I was wrong 🙂

   I think he’ll have a brilliant career as a consultant. He should advise up and coming young ed reformers that all criticism is unfounded, and simply means they’re “doing the hard work”.

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   • jcgrim says:

     November 14, 2014 at 11:07 am

     Arrogance is Huffman’s most outstanding trait.

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5. Donna Kubiak says:

   November 13, 2014 at 11:48 pm

   I’ll try to find somewhere selling them…I know they don’t have them at SAMs club. I just know they’ll be. Much cheaper in the us than here…at least a dollar a pound…ugh!!!!

   So happy you made 1100..don’t forget we have 20 for you too!!!

   HAVE A WONDERFUL DAY!

   >

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   • LG says:

     November 14, 2014 at 6:41 am

     Do you have any for me? 😛

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     • Duane Swacker says:

       November 14, 2014 at 9:23 am

       Whatever the any is, eh!?!?!

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     • LG says:

       November 15, 2014 at 8:07 am

       I’m so excited to finally get some of these. 😀

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6. K Quinn says:

   November 14, 2014 at 12:13 am

   Hope he isn’t headed to WA State…

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   • Puget Sound Parent says:

     November 14, 2014 at 3:41 am

     Why would he be heading here?

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     • K Quinn says:

       November 14, 2014 at 10:14 am

       Burgess and his preschool plan and the decision that the city levy money can be used for charters – City of Seattle Office of Education will need a charter fan/ed deformer for that. Dorn will be done soon, and I don’t think he’s running for reelection. Or perhaps he’ll try to be the next rock star Supe of Seattle Public schools. These ed deformers move around….

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7. Christine Langhoff says:

   November 14, 2014 at 12:33 am

   “House Democratic Leader Craig Fitzhugh said Tennessee had ‘buy-in’ from all education stakeholders in 2010 when the state successfully earned Race to the Top funds. That coalition now splintered, Fitzhugh accused the Tennessee Department of Education of creating a ‘culture of hostility and mistrust.’

   Tennessee will never see real, lasting change until we stop blaming teachers and start addressing root problems. Our schools are underfunded, our teachers are underpaid, and we aren’t talking about poverty and parental involvement — two key factors in student improvement.”

   I wonder if Fitzhugh could send a memo to Arne and to Arne’s boss?

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   • jcgrim says:

     November 14, 2014 at 11:13 am

     Sorry to be a bad news bear, but Fitzhugh- D is in the super minority in the TN house. The state Democratic Party “leadership” gave NO support to Dems running against republicans.

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8. schoolgal says:

   November 14, 2014 at 12:44 am

   He will probably become a venture capitalist and own a chain of test-prep charters.

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   • jcgrim says:

     November 14, 2014 at 11:14 am

     Jeb or Arne probably found him a nice position in the rotted edu-consultant bidness.

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9. Joe Nashville says:

   November 14, 2014 at 1:20 am

   Having him resign really does feel like a holiday… with gifts!

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10. Jack says:

    November 14, 2014 at 2:32 am

    Here’s a blast from the past about Kevin Huffman.

    Back in 2008, TFA flunked an exam from federal auditors. “What they found was shocking,” CBS News reported. Then leaders and spokesman Kevin Huffman was put on the hot seat during this CBS piece.

    Details below:

    http://www.cbsnews.com/news/teach-for-america-gets-schooled/

    Good stuff here.

    Watch TFA’s then-national leader, and soon-to-be-ex-Tennessee State Education Supe Kevin Huffman—Michelle Rhee’s ex-hubby btw—go hommina, hommina, hommina… to the financial malfeasance questions asked of him in this video expose by CBS News’ Sharyl Attkinson.

    However, this didn’t stop the rise in Kev’s career in the least, however. I’m guessing that nobody played this video during Kev’s confirmation hearings in Tennessee.

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    • LG says:

      November 14, 2014 at 6:38 am

      I’m convinced that, unless they break federal laws by taking advantage of other rich and powerful people, the rich and powerful will ALWAYS be taken care of. Huffman will just land in some other “education” venture where he will make a buttload of money for a few years before he moves on to greener pastures again while the governor of TN will just replace him with another TFA crony hell-bent on using test scores to “prove” teacher effectiveness.

      “The rich keep getting richer”…this cycle will never be broken until lawmakers fix it. While their campaigns are allowed to accept special interest money, lawmakers will never stop the influence of the rich and powerful. They enjoy the power of being in office far too much to do so.

      We need campaign finance reform if we’re going to give true voice to the majority of people of this country. Until then, the elite will always take care of each other while the rest of us peons suffer through with regulations that threaten our livelihoods–regulations that make little pedagogical and social sense. We really have no voice as long as the power is still pointed away from us.

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    • jcgrim says:

      November 14, 2014 at 11:19 am

      Jack, accountability is for teachers. Period. Reformers come from the master class who aced all the tests. They’re inherent greatness allows them to lie and steal.

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11. Chiara" says:

    November 14, 2014 at 6:10 am

    Diane, I don’t know if you’re following this,, but the public schools in Charlotte complained at the beginning of the school year that the state didn’t verify charter school projected enrollment claims, leading to public schools scrambling to serve many more students with less funding.

    Looks like they were telling the truth:

    “The nine new charter schools that opened in the Charlotte area this fall amid a rapid expansion now enroll about half the number of students they had projected, according to data released by the N.C. Department of Public Instruction.

    The figures support complaints from Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools that the district found itself with thousands more students than expected. They also underscore the difficulty in launching a new school and recruiting enough families to make it viable long term.”

    Why do lawmakers allow this to continue? Is it fair to harm every kid in a public school to promote their preferred charter schools? They’re actually damaging these public schools. How is that fair?

    http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2014/11/10/5305917/charlotte-area-charter-school.html#.VGNv8PTF-To

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12. Dienne says:

    November 14, 2014 at 6:29 am

    “”I’ve known in this job that if you’re going to do the hard work, you’re going to get criticized,” he said. “I’ve never been naive about that, and I’ve never made any of my decisions based on criticism or push-back from people.”

    Yeah, it sure is hard being a dictator in a democracy. I feel for ya, Kevin.

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    • LG says:

      November 14, 2014 at 6:40 am

      Uh…no, Kevin. You get criticized when you make terrible decisions. 😛

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13. John says:

    November 14, 2014 at 7:23 am

    I notice nobody here has mentioned Tennessee’s NAEP scores. His resignation is a loss for kids. Its hard to get squeezed by both the anti-common core right and the anti-accountability left, both more interested in political points and the best interests of adults than those of kids.

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    • Linda says:

      November 14, 2014 at 8:13 am

      John,
      You’re Interested in kids? How about the parents trying to support their kids?
      Are you or Kevin going to participate in the Black Friday protests to raise wages at Walmart? How much, in profits, does Walmart drain from Tennessee?

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      • John says:

        November 14, 2014 at 9:32 am

        Linda, you don’t know me. I’m a political progressive and agree re low wages. We probably agree on the damaging effects of wealth and income disparity and a lot of other progressive issues.

        Most of the actual people (as opposed to the sources of funds and the political backing) in ed reform are progressives. Its an uphill battle to get progressives to recognize that poor educational outcomes for kids is more important than protecting schools as employers. That is what has led to political and financial support of reform that can sometimes be more in it for anti-union reasons than kids’ interests.

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      • Linda says:

        November 14, 2014 at 2:44 pm

        John,
        Should we assemble a fleet of buses to transport the “actual people” to the anti-Walmart worker actions across the nation? Or, would the “actual people” prefer GPS coordinates to a local county club?

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    • A TN Momma Bear says:

      November 14, 2014 at 8:31 am

      I’ll mention the NAEP (since Huffman & Co. can’t go a day without bragging about it. That is all they have to cling to). The NAEP scores were higher in TN because of a new law that was passed that required 3rd graders who weren’t proficient to be held back in 3rd grade instead of being promoted to 4th the year the last NAEP was administered. This took out the low-scoring students from the 4th grade (NAEP only tests 4th and 8th graders) and brought the average state-wide up.
      http://www.tnparents.com/our-voicesblog/bingo-why-the-tn-naep-scores-improved

      Now, what about those flat TCAP scores? and poor ACT scores? and the fact that the ASD schools test scores are lower than they were under public school control? and the widening achievement gap on the NAEP? If there really was such miraculous work being done by Huffman, why didn’t the magic work for those things???

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      • Linda says:

        November 14, 2014 at 2:55 pm

        A third-grader “being held back” is a crime against children.
        Research was cited at this blog, that concluded children fear only blindness and loss of a parent more than being held back.
        Commenter John is not a progressive nor does he have a soul, if he condones breaking a child’s spirit for better test results.

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    • phillipmarlowe2terry says:

      November 14, 2014 at 8:39 am

      You left out the anti-common core left and the anti-accountability right, whatever “anti-accountability” means.
      Sounds good, though.

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    • Duane Swacker says:

      November 14, 2014 at 8:42 am

      “. . . nobody here has mentioned Tennessee’s NAEP scores. . . ”

      Well, allow me to mention that those NAEP scores are still ILLOGICAL, INVALID AND UNETHICAL TO USE FOR ANYTHING as they suffer all the epistemological and ontological errors that Wilson has identified for all educational standards and standardized testing.

      To understand why they are ILLOGICAL, INVALID AND UNETHICAL read “Educational Standards and the Problem of Error” found at: http://epaa.asu.edu/ojs/article/view/577/700

      Brief outline of Wilson’s “Educational Standards and the Problem of Error” and some comments of mine. (updated 6/24/13 per Wilson email)

      1. A description of a quality can only be partially quantified. Quantity is almost always a very small aspect of quality. It is illogical to judge/assess a whole category only by a part of the whole. The assessment is, by definition, lacking in the sense that “assessments are always of multidimensional qualities. To quantify them as unidimensional quantities (numbers or grades) is to perpetuate a fundamental logical error” (per Wilson). The teaching and learning process falls in the logical realm of aesthetics/qualities of human interactions. In attempting to quantify educational standards and standardized testing the descriptive information about said interactions is inadequate, insufficient and inferior to the point of invalidity and unacceptability.

      2. A major epistemological mistake is that we attach, with great importance, the “score” of the student, not only onto the student but also, by extension, the teacher, school and district. Any description of a testing event is only a description of an interaction, that of the student and the testing device at a given time and place. The only correct logical thing that we can attempt to do is to describe that interaction (how accurately or not is a whole other story). That description cannot, by logical thought, be “assigned/attached” to the student as it cannot be a description of the student but the interaction. And this error is probably one of the most egregious “errors” that occur with standardized testing (and even the “grading” of students by a teacher).

      3. Wilson identifies four “frames of reference” each with distinct assumptions (epistemological basis) about the assessment process from which the “assessor” views the interactions of the teaching and learning process: the Judge (think college professor who “knows” the students capabilities and grades them accordingly), the General Frame-think standardized testing that claims to have a “scientific” basis, the Specific Frame-think of learning by objective like computer based learning, getting a correct answer before moving on to the next screen, and the Responsive Frame-think of an apprenticeship in a trade or a medical residency program where the learner interacts with the “teacher” with constant feedback. Each category has its own sources of error and more error in the process is caused when the assessor confuses and conflates the categories.

      4. Wilson elucidates the notion of “error”: “Error is predicated on a notion of perfection; to allocate error is to imply what is without error; to know error it is necessary to determine what is true. And what is true is determined by what we define as true, theoretically by the assumptions of our epistemology, practically by the events and non-events, the discourses and silences, the world of surfaces and their interactions and interpretations; in short, the practices that permeate the field. . . Error is the uncertainty dimension of the statement; error is the band within which chaos reigns, in which anything can happen. Error comprises all of those eventful circumstances which make the assessment statement less than perfectly precise, the measure less than perfectly accurate, the rank order less than perfectly stable, the standard and its measurement less than absolute, and the communication of its truth less than impeccable.”

      In other word all the logical errors involved in the process render any conclusions invalid.

      5. The test makers/psychometricians, through all sorts of mathematical machinations attempt to “prove” that these tests (based on standards) are valid-errorless or supposedly at least with minimal error [they aren’t]. Wilson turns the concept of validity on its head and focuses on just how invalid the machinations and the test and results are. He is an advocate for the test taker not the test maker. In doing so he identifies thirteen sources of “error”, any one of which renders the test making/giving/disseminating of results invalid. And a basic logical premise is that once something is shown to be invalid it is just that, invalid, and no amount of “fudging” by the psychometricians/test makers can alleviate that invalidity.

      6. Having shown the invalidity, and therefore the unreliability, of the whole process Wilson concludes, rightly so, that any result/information gleaned from the process is “vain and illusory”. In other words start with an invalidity, end with an invalidity (except by sheer chance every once in a while, like a blind and anosmic squirrel who finds the occasional acorn, a result may be “true”) or to put in more mundane terms crap in-crap out.

      7. And so what does this all mean? I’ll let Wilson have the second to last word: “So what does a test measure in our world? It measures what the person with the power to pay for the test says it measures. And the person who sets the test will name the test what the person who pays for the test wants the test to be named.”

      In other words it attempts to measure “’something’ and we can specify some of the ‘errors’ in that ‘something’ but still don’t know [precisely] what the ‘something’ is.” The whole process harms many students as the social rewards for some are not available to others who “don’t make the grade (sic)” Should American public education have the function of sorting and separating students so that some may receive greater benefits than others, especially considering that the sorting and separating devices, educational standards and standardized testing, are so flawed not only in concept but in execution?

      My answer is NO!!!!!

      One final note with Wilson channeling Foucault and his concept of subjectivization:

      “So the mark [grade/test score] becomes part of the story about yourself and with sufficient repetitions becomes true: true because those who know, those in authority, say it is true; true because the society in which you live legitimates this authority; true because your cultural habitus makes it difficult for you to perceive, conceive and integrate those aspects of your experience that contradict the story; true because in acting out your story, which now includes the mark and its meaning, the social truth that created it is confirmed; true because if your mark is high you are consistently rewarded, so that your voice becomes a voice of authority in the power-knowledge discourses that reproduce the structure that helped to produce you; true because if your mark is low your voice becomes muted and confirms your lower position in the social hierarchy; true finally because that success or failure confirms that mark that implicitly predicted the now self evident consequences. And so the circle is complete.”

      In other words students “internalize” what those “marks” (grades/test scores) mean, and since the vast majority of the students have not developed the mental skills to counteract what the “authorities” say, they accept as “natural and normal” that “story/description” of them. Although paradoxical in a sense, the “I’m an “A” student” is almost as harmful as “I’m an ‘F’ student” in hindering students becoming independent, critical and free thinkers. And having independent, critical and free thinkers is a threat to the current socio-economic structure of society.

      By Duane E. Swacker

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      • John says:

        November 14, 2014 at 9:20 am

        Should we do away with assessments for doctors and lawyers as well? Plumbers, electricians, contractors? Bus drivers, policemen and firemen?

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      • booklady says:

        November 14, 2014 at 4:23 pm

        John, are those doctors, plumbers, firefighters, et al. in 3rd to 8th grades? Or are they assessed in a field of their choice as adults?

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    • Duane Swacker says:

      November 14, 2014 at 9:27 am

      “Should we do away with assessments for doctors and lawyers as well? Plumbers, electricians, contractors? Bus drivers, policemen and firemen?”

      I didn’t propose to do away with assessments. Nice try but lacking in many ways. Perhaps a “close” reading lesson would help your comprehension skills, eh?!?!?

      Have you read Wilson? If so, your thoughts, please.

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      • John says:

        November 14, 2014 at 9:51 am

        I haven’t read the whole paper, but read parts. The conclusion is that standards and assessment against them are inaccurate. Sorry, but I’m in the camp that thinks that assessments are better than the workable alternatives. A school district near me had zero percent passing for a particular grade and subject. I think there’s more of an issue there than test error. As you can imagine, they’d like to see the tests go away as well.

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    • Steve Magruder says:

      November 17, 2014 at 12:56 pm

      What “anti-accountability left”? I don’t believe this exists. The problems are with the _form_ of accountability (crazy amounts of standardized testing), which actually _hurts_ students, not with accountability in general.

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14. Dienne says:

    November 14, 2014 at 7:47 am

    Of course, getting rid of Huffman without getting rid of Haslam might be like getting rid of Duncan without getting rid of Obama.

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    • Iron_Monger says:

      November 14, 2014 at 8:49 am

      Or getting rid ob Bennett in Indiana and electing Pence.

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      • Dienne says:

        November 14, 2014 at 8:55 am

        Yes, that was a heartbreaker. Ritz worked so hard and that was such a triumph. And then…Pence.

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    • Christine Langhoff says:

      November 14, 2014 at 10:27 am

      I’ll take it!

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15. Linda says:

    November 14, 2014 at 8:15 am

    Congrats to all, in Tennessee, who applied pressure to get the oligarch minions, out of your schools.

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16. alicetowery says:

    November 14, 2014 at 9:28 am

    Thank goodness, now if only Louisiana’s education head would resign and the governor would resign!

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17. KrazyTA says:

    November 14, 2014 at 11:34 am

    Duane Swacker: again, someone who claims to be reasonable and fair and willing to listen to all sides—

    And then plays cheap debaters’ tricks with terms.

    Starts with ‘framing’ [don’t you love how they use the same playbook?] the debate/discussion as “I notice nobody here has mentioned Tennessee’s NAEP scores. His resignation is a loss for kids. Its hard to get squeezed by both the anti-common core right and the anti-accountability left, both more interested in political points and the best interests of adults than those of kids.”

    Notice how the Land of VAMania now is the Land of NAEP Wonders? And VAM is all about high-stakes standardized test scores. Oopsy daisy, forgot to mention William Sanders and the utter sham that is VAM! Plus notice the comments in this thread that [again!] point out how the accountabully underlings of the self-proclaimed “education reform” movement massage and torture numbers at the expense of the kids. And then the false dichotomy between “the anti-common core right and the anti-accountability left” that are both more interested in scoring points that favor adults over kids. There are people all over the political/philosophical map against CCSS and false accountability. And notice the self-serving flip-flopping in the use of “accountability” and “assessment” in this thread as if they are automatically and obviously the very same thing.

    This is more than unfair. It is a transparently dishonest mangling of the ed debates. And on this blog you can’t get away with such errant nonsense.

    No wonder those in mad dog pursuit of $tudent $ucce$$ run away from publicly discussing and debating with Diane Ravitch and others for a “better education for all.”

    So let me remind one and all that lack the “grit” and “determination” to do their homework—even a smidgeon of it—what real assessment and genuine responsibility might look like in education.

    “Diane Ravitch’s blog A site to discussion best education for all.” A blog posting of merelyTWO DAYS ago! “My New Paradigm for Accountability.” And the thread that follows is thought-provoking [if, er, one is interested in challenging oneself and learning new things].

    Link: https://dianeravitch.net/2014/11/12/my-new-paradigm-for-accountability/

    But no, with the “education reform” establishment and their edubully enforcers and edufraud spin doctors the only thing that makes ₵ent¢ is their Potemkin Village Plan for $tudent $ucce$$. They will fall on their swords for their Marxist principles:

    “Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly and applying the wrong remedies.”

    Needless to say, Groucho, the really famous one.

    😎

    P.S. Isn’t there just one charterite/voucherite/privatizer that can come up with something resembling an honest, logical and factual argument in favor of their proven worst management and education practices?

    Just one. Or would that be asking for the impossible?

    “Eso es pedir peras al olmo.” (That’s asking for pears from an oak tree)

    I guess I would have more luck squeezing blood from a stone…

    Sigh…

    😔

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    • John says:

      November 14, 2014 at 12:00 pm

      Tell me how many people you disagree with but respect. I’m guessing the answer is zero. I’m here because I’m interested in what Diane’s followers have to say, though substanceless rants like yours are hard to stomach. How much time do you spend reading ed reformer’s blogs? If you see no value in anything reformers are trying to do, perhaps the issue is you? More likely, you just think all education issues are external and therefore there is nothing to change. QED, wash hands, and hang here with likeminded people so that all you hear is validation that you’re right.

      Forcing kids to go to schools with crappy outcomes (like 50% dropout rates) isn’t democracy, and the community is not better served because those schools are run by elected boards or their teachers get great pay and benefits.

      As for Diane’s accountability paradigm, I like it, though I think it needs addition measures for academic outcomes. “How Many” kids wrote 5 page papers is pretty meaningless without knowing anything about the quality of the papers. Clearly, a school could ace her criteria and still graduate students who couldn’t read or do math.

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      • Duane Swacker says:

        November 14, 2014 at 1:12 pm

        John,

        Replying here so as to not Cliletize the thread.

        “I haven’t read the whole paper, but read parts. The conclusion is that standards and assessment against them are inaccurate. Sorry, but I’m in the camp that thinks that assessments are better than the workable alternatives. A school district near me had zero percent passing for a particular grade and subject. I think there’s more of an issue there than test error. As you can imagine, they’d like to see the tests go away as well.”

        First reading and comprehending the whole paper is a key to begin to understand my, and many other’s, rejection of educational standards and standardized TESTING (notice I did not say ASSESSMENT-you are confusing and conflating two separate terms that do not mean/stand for the same thing) for the educational malpractices that they are. What parts have you read? And what are your objections to what you have read? Let me know and I’ll be able to respond to your concerns.

        An anecdote of “a school district near me” means nothing to us reading as we cannot respond to your claims without checking the facts. Name names, please.

        To fail to differentiate two separate issues, grievous epistemological and ontological errors with an unnamed district’s supposedly having a “zero percent passing” (which could be easily accomplished by setting the pass/fail cut line to ensure such failure) lacks logical coherence and is ludicrous and risible, and that’s being nice on my part.

        Show Me (yes, I’m from Missouri) your “beef” with Wilson’s work and then we can have an intelligent debate. Without such refutation and rebuttal of Wilson’s work I can only conclude that you aren’t willing to truly listen to us anti-edudeformers.

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      • John says:

        November 14, 2014 at 2:58 pm

        I have no issue with Wilson and plan to read it through now that I know about it.

        I don’t see any benefit to calling out the particular district I mentioned and where it is doesn’t matter. Do you doubt that such districts exist? In New York, there are 489 school/grade/subject combinations with zero% proficient.

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      • LG says:

        November 15, 2014 at 10:44 am

        John, you said:
        “Forcing kids to go to schools with crappy outcomes (like 50% dropout rates) isn’t democracy, and the community is not better served because those schools are run by elected boards or their teachers get great pay and benefits.”

        First off, who is defining “crappy outcomes?” Would it not make sense that actual educators make those determinations? Readers of this and countless other education blogs can attest that in many cases, we get legislation from non-educators and regulations from governor-appointed (non-elected) officials at the state level telling educators just what the outcomes should be, and then the public gets a message of “failing schools” based on these non-expert created criteria. This would be like politicians and philanthropic “good Samaritans” telling doctors how to practice medicine and then judging doctors by how many people in doctors’ care suffer from disease or die. Using standards of student assessment and teacher evaluation created by policy-makers who are not educators to judge the success of schools creates a horrendous double-standard–it is easy to understand the many variables that affect the outcome of patients’ health but it is never a matter of public discourse among the reformer camp that there are countless variables that affect student learning. It’s all about the bad, over-paid teachers, according to reformers. Let’s evaluate and assess to death to somehow “prove” (using data points!) that learning is or is not occurring. As well, learning can and should be assessed on many levels by professional educators and not by one standardized test or politically-generated set of “cut-off” scores determined by so-called reform philanthropists, government-appointed “officials” and their “do-gooder” minions.

        School boards represent their respective communities by 1) making decisions about the way schools run and 2) appropriating funding. The system allows these boards to hire credentialed education professionals to make the actual education decisions, although the mantra of the reform camp is to hire “educators” with very little actual experience and credentials in the field of education to fight against the “failing system.” The permission to call oneself an educator (Huffman? Rhee?) comes from organizations that are designed to bring in untrained “intellectuals” with credentials in varying non-education areas and “quick-train them to become teachers because teaching is extremely easy” if you are an expert in a subject, and our students deserve highly intelligent and hard-working young people (i.e. high-scoring graduates from a reputable university) and not “typical” education students at the local college or old and expensive career educators who “don’t care” because they have actual job protections. (Job protections–how anti-Progressive!) The hubris of the Reform Movement fuels the constant attacking of our public school teaching force. Reformers are notorious for insulting educators who have education degrees, certifications, and experience and instead are proponents of placing who they consider “smarter people” in teaching positions. You need only read the commentary of countless temporary teachers* who were sold a bill-of-goods by these powerful reformers to learn how unfairly they are treated in terms of impossible working hours, low pay, lack of stability in scheduling structures, lack of administrative support, and lack of adequate training while in charge of classrooms. If it’s a temp job, they should just suck it up, right? “Career educators are the devil anyway! You’ll be much happier when you move on to administration and rake in the big bucks or move on to a real job in the private sector!”

        *i.e. TFA and the current “education” CEOS–what does that even mean?–who were in charge of some education environment for the equivalent of ten minutes, etc.

        On your second point “teachers get great pay and benefits,” WHERE? There is no “great” here especially when you compare the compensation of those with a similar level of academic credentials and experience who work in other fields. However, if teachers DID receive great pay and benefits, WHY SHOULDN’T THEY? If you have already determined that teachers do not deserve compensation for the work they do because you do not value the investments they have made in order to obtain their degrees and certifications and you do not value their experiential knowledge from extensive time in the field, then you would feel as though they do not deserve just compensation. How Progressive a thought! Actually, not.

        Since the community cannot afford to pay these professionals what they truly deserve (and a salary on par with their counterparts with comparable credentials and experience in other professions), compensation most often includes health benefits and pension both of which are negotiated on either the state or local level. No one is forcing the governing bodies-that-be to provide “perks” to these education professionals at gunpoint. Teachers receive compensation for the work that they do as per a mutually agreed upon contract between the board and the bargaining unit (if the district is lucky enough to have one). These types of deferred compensation are part and parcel of the total compensation for doing the job–they are not Cadillac extras. In many states, employees are being forced by new laws to provide greater contributions of their own salaries to help the states and locals with the funding for this part of their own compensation. Despite the fact that teachers pay into the tax systems of their own local communities, they are also paying into their own pensions and in many cases their health benefits from their own earnings. They also pay wage taxes before these contributions. On paper, the salary might look pretty decent, but take-home pay can be anywhere from 40-50% less the gross salary. If you think teachers are getting “great pay,” you are grossly mistaken.

        Finally, to devalue teachers by taking the tack that they do not deserve fair compensation is a sure-fire way to prevent a dedicated teaching and support staff from serving the community. Investing in your community’s teachers encourages them to invest back in the community. The most successful schools in our country are in states with strong and supportive teachers unions. There is a reason that these folks do their best work–they are valued.

        I am trying to fathom how your anti-teacher comments color you as a true Progressive. Teachers work hard for what they make. Benefits are not perks, but compensation. Progressives stand for the people, and not only do teachers stand for the people in their communities, they ARE the people in their communities, not some powerful, figure-heads with money who can influence policies for which they are not expert all in the name of “not forcing kids” to be educated in their public, community-schools and defeating “crappy outcomes.” Your comments are not only insulting to professional educators but quite telling of where your real political motivations lie. If you’d like to see high-level educators at work, you are welcome any day to spend a week in my school district shadowing the educators day and night. You are welcome to pay their bills on their salaries, too.

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    • calanghoff says:

      November 14, 2014 at 12:33 pm

      Uhm – Krazy,
      Olmo = elm
      Roble = oak

      But I’m with you the rest of the way! 😊

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    • LG says:

      November 15, 2014 at 8:08 am

      Oh no! Groucho wasn’t Greek, was he? 🙂

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18. KrazyTA says:

    November 14, 2014 at 2:03 pm

    calanghoff: an embarrassing error.

    I appreciate you letting me know. Many thanks for correcting me.

    And as that Mexican superhero of yesteryear, El Chapulín Colorado, might say in this circumstance, “no contaban con tu astucia” [they didn’t count on your astuteness!].

    If I didn’t have someone like you to set me straight, next thing you know I’ll be talking graduation rates of 2% and turning them into 12% a la former LAUSD Supt. John Deasy. Or transforming hard data points at the 13th percentile into those of the 90th like Michelle Rhee-[Johnson] without the slightest documentation or corroboration.

    And if I may add point to what Señor Swacker has mentioned above…

    It has come to my attention that I—and apparently something called “Diane’s followers” [although that’s nicer than the previous term used by someone else, “Ravitchbots”]—don’t have a clue what the self-styled “education reform” establishment says and does. We’re just, um, ‘ranting’ away without knowing anything about the words and deeds of the self-proclaimed “new civil rights movement of our time.” *Now I know a little how the owner of this blog feels when the edubullies call her “shrill” and “strident.”*

    Uh, er, just for one example, there are legions of genuine real human beings that have lived through an intensive onslaught of all the eduexcellent cage busting achievement gap crushing ideas and programs. It was during the catastrophic misrule of a supernova of the “education reform” status quo, John Deasy.

    Although with occasional partial and mild exceptions, MSM fawning over every single one of his sad and failed ideas such as management by fear & by the numbers, deceptive & misleading metrics, astonishingly inept performance, and abusive treatment of his LAUSD betters like Ms. Patrena Shankling. Fierce backing by edupreneurs in search of that pot of gold at the end of every $tudent $ucce$$ rainbow. And don’t forget politicians of every stripe and hue and color that put their full weight behind the Deasy-nator.

    If it weren’t for blogs like this, democracy and the voice of ordinary concerned citizens wouldn’t be heard for all the din and blare of the those determined to impose one system of low-level skills training and docility on the vast majority while reserving genuine learning and teaching for the advantaged few.

    I end with just one last comment. I read this blog for a number of reasons, including wanting to read thought-provoking comments and to be informed. I find myself sometimes agreeing in full or part, and sometimes disagreeing in full or part. It’s called learning.

    But when commenters discredit themselves—whatever their POV—don’t expect me to give them any credit for adding to the discussion here.

    Want to make points? Sharp points? A very dead and very old and very Greek guy would come in handy right about now:

    “Words empty as the wind are best left unsaid.” [Homer]

    Think about it…

    😎

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19. retiredbutmissthekids says:

    November 14, 2014 at 4:22 pm

    John–thanks for your contributions to this discussion. Speaking for myself (but I’m betting for Duane, Linda, Krazy TA & many more,here, because, in any battle as big as this one–one must “keep her/his friends close, but his/her enemies closer”) that yes, I HAVE read reformers’ info., blogs, gone to meetings, etc. (Speaking of which–if you read Diane’s post about the meetings in Chicago Dec.4th-5th–we DON’T KNOW WHERE THEY ARE!! & the reformers WANT it that way!) Have you read the Edushyster blog? (She managed to get into some of those meetings–NOT trying to help public schools, students, parents, communities, teachers ONE iota.)
    In ILL-Annoy, those reformers (specifically, a group named “Advance Illinois”) is pushing a rather noxious bill–SB 16–PURPORTING to help low-income IL school districts but will, in fact, be funneling money from programs such as special ed. (even though the ILL-Annoy Board of Ed. rep–when asked about this at a public meeting–lied through his teeth, stating, “Nothing will change the special ed. funding.”) This meeting lasted an hour-&-a-half, w/ NO time given for public comment–BECAUSE the Advance ILL_Annoy rep. filibustered the meeting for at least THIRTY FIVE MINUTES–showing graphs & charts of how much “help” this bill would provide these low-income school districts. Again, a case of “if you can’t dazzle them w/your brilliance, baffle them w/your B.S.”
    There, like Duane (& keep on reiterating your Wilson diatribe–it bears repeating over & over again!), I’ve said it again. And will keep on saying it.

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    • John says:

      November 14, 2014 at 5:11 pm

      Thanks, and glad to hear you read others. Yes, I do read Edushyster pretty regularly. I agree that there is plenty that is done in the name of ed reform that isn’t in the best interests of kids. I have no doubt that there are some in ed reform who are in it for their own best interests, but the vast majority I’ve met are not.

      I think plenty gets done in the name of anti-reform that also is not in the best interests of kids. I agree that that should be the yardstick by which efforts are judged.

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    • Linda says:

      November 15, 2014 at 12:13 am

      Miss the kids,
      Only 35 minutes?
      Debe Terhar, of the Ohio State Board of Education, made an art form, out of denying anti-deformers the right to speak.
      The Dayton Daily News reported that people were told they would have an opportunity to speak, at the meeting at 10:45. Terhar, changed the agenda, during the meeting, forcing comments to late afternoon. Four board members walked out in protest.

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20. retiredbutmissthekids says:

    November 14, 2014 at 11:11 pm

    Just for the record, John, the vast majority of reformers I’VE met are in no way, shape or form working in the best interests of kids (whether or not they are working in THEIR own self-interest, they are some of the most misguided, misinformed people I’ve EVER met). Further: not a one of these reformers had/have ANY experience–zilch!–in education (perhaps sitting on a board of a philanthropic organization, having children in exclusive, expensive private schools…) I could go on & on, but there’s no point–the majority of people who read this blog and participate in the discussion (not you, T.E.)
    get that. End of discussion for me.

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21. Linda says:

    November 15, 2014 at 12:01 am

    The legislature of Tennessee could commission research, from a group like the NBER.
    A study of the amount of Tennessee money, that replenishes the coffers of the 6 Walmart heirs yearly, seems warranted to identify problems in a tight budget situation. The research could be released and find its way, into policy implementation, like Harvard’s austerity research did. Then, bastions of objective reporting, like Time magazine, recognizing the study’s significance, could be relied on to devote a cover to it. Throw in a misleading title and, Voila!
    It’s difficult to understand how under dogs, like pensioners (costing a whopping 3% of state budgets) and underpaid teachers, garner so much research interest and headlines but, a corporation’s owners, 6 of them, who have income equal to 50,000,000 people, just can’t seem to get arrested, proverbially (i.e. noticed by msm, think tanks and university researchers)

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22. Jake says:

    November 15, 2014 at 7:17 am

    I wonder if the governor of Tennessee read the article in Fortune magazine that Tennessee has the third most corrupt government in the U.S. This is do to the politicians siphoning education and health care money into their favorite charities. You can fool some of the >>>>>>>>>etc

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