Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, takes issue with Secretary Duncan in reauthorization of NCLB. Duncan said last week that annual testing was “a line in the sand,” that is, non-negotiable. This, of course, ignores the views if educators and parents, who SES how the testing obsession has harmed teaching and learning and narrowed the curriculum.
Randi on Secretary Duncan’s ESEA Reauthorization Remarks
WASHINGTON— Statement from American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten on Education Secretary Arne Duncan’s speech regarding the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act.
“As I’ve said before, any law that doesn’t address our biggest challenges—funding inequity, segregation, the effects of poverty—will fail to make the sweeping transformation our kids and our schools need. Today, it was promising to hear Secretary Duncan make a call for equity, stressing, as we did through the Equity and Excellence Commission, the importance of early childhood education and engaging curriculum. It was encouraging to hear him laud the hard work of educators, who have had to overcome polarization and deep cuts after a harsh recession. And it was heartening to hear him acknowledge the progress our schools have made. However, the robust progress we saw in the first 40 years after the passage of ESEA has slowed over the last 10 years.
“On testing, we are glad the secretary has acknowledged that ‘there are too many tests that take up too much time’ and that ‘we need to take action to support a better balance.’ However, current federal educational policy—No Child Left Behind, Race to the Top and waivers—has enshrined a focus on testing, not learning, especially high-stakes testing and the consequences and sanctions that flow from it. That’s wrong, and that’s why there is a clarion call for change. The waiver strategy and Race to the Top exacerbated the test-fixation that was put in place with NCLB, allowing sanctions and consequences to eclipse all else. From his words today, it seems the secretary may want to justify and enshrine that status quo and that’s worrisome.
“Yes, we need to get parents, educators and communities the information they need. And all of us must be accountable and responsible for helping all children succeed. That’s why we have suggested some new interventions, like community schools and wraparound services; project-based learning; service internships; and individual plans for over-age students, under-credited students and those who are not reading at grade level by third grade.
“If one test per year can cause an entire school to be shuttered or all the teachers fired, something is wrong with the way that test is being used. Even in the District of Columbia, where the secretary spoke from today, the school district has pulled back from the consequential nature of these tests.
“At the end of the day, the most important part of the debate shouldn’t happen in big speeches. It should happen in real conversations with parents, students and teachers, who are closest to the classroom. Communities understand the huge positive effect ESEA had for impoverished and at-risk communities 50 years ago. Those communities are saying loudly and clearly that they want more supports for students and schools, and data used to inform and improve, not sanction. It’s my hope that, in the coming weeks, leaders in Congress and the administration will listen to these voices and shape a law that reflects the needs of all our kids.”
Postscript: An advanced copy of Secretary Duncan’s remarks today included a quote from Albert Shanker, former president of the AFT, on accountability. To this, Weingarten responded, “If the secretary wants to invoke Shanker on accountability, then invoke him on his proposals for grade-span over annual testing. Shanker once called for ‘an immediate end to standardized tests as they are now,’ instead favoring testing over five-year intervals.”
###
Randi Weingarten
American Federation of Teachers, AFL-CIO
Diane Ravitch's blog 
I’m getting a taste for hot chocolate. That response was awfully marshmallow-y.
Just for starters: “Today, it was promising to hear Secretary Duncan make a call for equity, …”
No it wasn’t – he’s said that many times. “Equity” is supposedly the rationale for why we need to test all kids. How could we possibly know what poor, minority, disabled or ELL students need without testing?
Dienne.. that same Weingarten line, “Today it was promising…” made me annoyed! Nothing Duncan says is “promising” because he speaks out of both sides of his mouth… drivel, platitudes and nonsense! And it is worse when he acts because look at what a nation of public school teachers are forced to do!
Readers of this blog do realize that Randi’s rhetoric is just a sideshow to Cuomo’s and Tisch’s plan to destroy US public education beginning in New York, a state that once had excellent education. Call us New York-tucky, with Cuomo proposing to evaluate all teachers based on math and ELA. One thing is clear from the smoke and mirrors of ESEA- testing lives. education dies.
Yes, Dienne. I agree with you 200%.
Important (rigor?) tests are for professional and accountable people who want to earn a respect and trust for their expertise, period.
K-12 will need to pass once of every FIVE YEARS test which only shows the learners how much they can understand and apply their humanity, and survival skills through their daily activities in academic studies, extra-curriculum, and part time/voluntary works.
All public servers and government officials should be tested annually for country security, and social economic stabilization. This is how it should be done.
“A line in the sand” only wants for a good wind.
Nothing drawn in sand is permanent, no matter how much the drawer might wish.
Wonderful. Your comment is almost like a haiku.
‘ “A line in the sand”
only wants for a good wind.’
or a rising tide.
I couldn’t resist. You were right, John. Any other takers?
Love it.
I don’t know…it’s like 5 a.m. and close to zero degrees outside the window next to me here. And, the school world I inhabit all day long seems so different from the moments that are respected by haiku. I don’t know if my brain CAN write anything original like that at this moment. Wow.
Here’s one I found, though:
The snow having melted.
the village
is full of children. -Issa (1763-1828)
Spring will be back again one of these days. Take care.
Not a haiku, but what the heck
“Lyin’ in the shifting sands”
Shifting sands
On shifting strands
Bide the sw
eillsAnd hide the sh
eillsIt really is
Thank that’s a good one. I would rather see a line drawn in wet cement and hopefully it would stay permanent.
Democrats have finally identified their one unshakeable education principle, and it’s standardized testing.
Everything else is negotiable, and indeed they will now proceed to barter everything else away in exchange for testing.
Is there anyone in DC who advocates for public schools besides union leaders? How did it happen that the only people who advocate for public school funding are actually NOT public employees?
What are all the people we’re paying doing?
And even the union leaders barely advocate for public education…
From Secretary of Education Arne Duncan’s speech of 1-12-2015. I excerpt quite a bit so that no one can justly accuse me of taking things out of context.
When reading the nine paragraphs below, simply assume for a moment that word salad and cognitive dissonance are a normal part of how he think about, and presents, anything important. Then ask yourself: what part of the below consists of catchy slogans and political pandering and studied ignorance and inability to understand the simplest realities and what part is the HERE’S WHAT’S GONNA HAPPEN.
IMHO, the HERE’S WHAT’S GONNA HAPPEN part is in paragraph #3. That’s the keeper. That’s the part you pay attention to. The rest is just the verbal equivalent of a pretty floral arrangement that will wilt and rot so quickly that it’s thrown out tomorrow with the rest of the trash.
[start excerpt]
Assessments – and they have to be good ones – are one indicator but they should be only one part of that picture.
I believe parents, and teachers, and students have both the right and the absolute need to know how much progress all students are making each year towards college- and career-readiness. The reality of unexpected, crushing disappointments, about the actual lack of college preparedness cannot continue to happen to hard working 16- and 17-year olds – it is not fair to them, and it is simply too late. Those days must be over.
That means that all students need to take annual, statewide assessments that are aligned to their teacher’s classroom instruction in reading and math in grades 3 through 8, and once in high school.
But I think we need to do more to support schools, and educators, and families and students in this time of enormous change when so many states and districts are courageously raising the bar for student achievement.
Assessments, the tests themselves, have been and should be an important part of this debate. We must be very, very thoughtful here.
I am absolutely convinced that we need to know how much progress students are making – but we also must do more to ensure that the tests – and time spent in preparation for them – don’t take excessive time away from actual classroom instruction. Great teaching, and not test prep, is always what best engages students, and what leads to higher achievement.
In many places, there are simply too many tests that take up too much time, and I know many educators and families and students are frustrated about that. We need to take action to support a better balance.
And that’s why we will work with Congress to urge states and districts to review and streamline the tests they are giving and eliminate redundant and unnecessary tests, and provide support for them to do exactly that.
We’ll urge Congress to have states set limits on the amount of time spent on state- and district-wide standardized testing, and notify parents if they exceed those limits.
[end excerpt]
Link: http://www.ed.gov/news/speeches/americas-educational-crossroads-making-right-choice-our-children’s-future
I don’t mean the following as respectful or disrespectful but simply as an “in your face” obvious fact:
Arne Duncan won’t self-correct because he can’t self-correct. He can’t self-correct because he doesn’t have a clue what he needs to correct, least of all himself.
If only Arne hadn’t spent so much time with b-ball and had spent a few moments with one of those old dead Greek guys:
“A man is his own easiest dupe, for what he wishes to be true he generally believes to be true.” [Demosthenes]
😎
P.S. And Arne didn’t do himself any favors with this latest speech, one that tops [not in a good way, I must add] even his April 30, 2013 speech to the AERA convention. Demosthenes could also say of his latest entry in the oratory sweepstakes:
“As a vessel is known by the sound, whether it be cracked or not; so men are proved, by their speeches, whether they be wise or foolish.”
Arne not partial to Greeks? Not his cup of tea? Well, some homegrown talent could have given him some very good advice:
“It is better to keep your mouth closed and let people think you are a fool than to open it and remove all doubt.” [Mark Twain]
😏
Duncan’s been in there for 6 years. If “supporting public schools” was a priority, he had more than enough time to act on that. He didn’t.
Obviously it wasn’t really a priority. He waited until the second part of his last term when Republicans are in control of Congress. He has absolutely no leverage now. It’s a purely political rhetorical bone he’s throwing to the Democratic base.
They’ll sign anything as long as it includes annual testing and teacher ranking. He’s already announced that. He could not send a clearer message.
As a recent, former principal of a Middle School in the Bronx, I can attest to the significant disruption that all of the testing from the Measures of Student Learning, field testing, regents, teacher created tests, English Language Learners Assessment, in addition to the State Tests and Surveys has caused. The amount of hours that have actually added into full weeks of lost instructional time are disparaging. The amount of staff needed to collect, distribute, grade, secure and administer these tests is overwhelming. The students are overwhelmed and over tested. The tripod survey, is a joke. It is so long, the students were exhausted. In middle school the students had to do one for 3 or 4 of the teachers they see. The survey had close to 90 questions. Who in their right mind thinks this is normal for our students? Who said that teachers are not capable of assessing their own students? Why do we have to give special tests? My teachers own assessments mirrored the Local and State Tests with conservative accuracy. Why waste all the other instructional days on additional testing? I guess all the tests give the testing companies money which in turn provide jobs, but at what cost to our children?
L. Evanko: thank you for the specifics.
See my above comment where I include Arne Duncan’s remarks. He speaks in feel-good rheephormish: “we also must do more to ensure that the tests – and time spent in preparation for them – don’t take excessive time away from actual classroom instruction. Great teaching, and not test prep, is always what best engages students, and what leads to higher achievement.”
What he decries in nice sounding words has been happening for years and years now under his watch. Even more than that, he—perhaps more than any other single person—is responsible for taking “excessive time away from actual classroom instruction.”
He is intellectually and emotionally detached from what he himself has wrought, perfectly mirroring a partner in crime, Sandy Kress aka Mr. NCLB [see separate posting, this blog, today].
He won’t self-correct. He can’t. He is determined to not be accountable or responsible for his own behavior.
Please pardon if I am being presumptuous, but you don’t have to put up with his clueless bullying. To the extent possible, don’t agonize, organize.
Take whatever action you think appropriate and within your power. You will be following in the best American tradition:
“I prayed for twenty years but received no answer until I prayed with my legs.” [Frederick Douglass]
😎
KrazyTA, great quote from Frederick Douglass.
The problem with Duncan’s suggestion that he wants to limit the time of testing does not ring true. State Test and now these Measures of Student Learning Tests and all the other non-teacher created testing takes massive amounts of manpower and time. There are so many rules that come with the testing it is overwhelming. You have to secure the tests in a secure location, they have to be counted to make sure there are enough of each grade, then they have to be sorted for each class. Grids have to be checked that they have the correct students information. Teachers and administrators have to sign for them. The worst part of the State Test is that everyday you have to package and send the tests to a secure location by 4:00 pm. So that means that, you have to have people to do this and this takes for a school over 500 at least 4 or 5 people working at full speed, no breaks.
I did not mention the time it takes to ensure that all students with IEP’s and 504’s receive their testing accommodations, let alone finding the places to house them for the tests. And there is always the students that are absent that have to be tested when they return to school.
A school with E’LL’s has another set of challenges. Those students who take the test must be provided with a language dictionary in the language that is native. Our school had many different languages and the books had to be collected and distributed out correctly.
What about the students that come in late or are not taking the test? they had to be monitored by a pedagogue. It is overwhelming to the school especially when all teachers are being used because there is no other way.
A testing schedule has to be made and that takes manpower.
So, after all that time is wasted on testing, the school is then mandated to send; in the city 5 teachers to the testing site all day for minimum of 4 days, maybe longer to score the tests. Now, you can choose not to send teachers but then you have to pay out of your budget $1,500 per teacher you do not send. Remember this is for both ELA and Math so if you don’t send anyone you loose a minimum of $10,000 dollars.
So as the Principal, I think that I should send people to score because at least they will get to see the format of the new common core test. What happens when the teachers get there? They do not score grades they teach in, so my middle school teachers score elementary school tests. WoW, this makes so much sense, NOT!
Lets continue, now at least 5 teachers have to have their classes covered per day for a minimum of 5 days. So, substitutes have to be called in and we put in calls early, because guess what? Almost every school in NYC is calling for subs. We had a hard time getting substitutes in the first place and were lucky if we got even one.
Talk about a waste of instructional time. Six days lost to take the state tests and for the students whose teachers are out grading another 8 days minimum. And that is just for the Math and ELA tests.
Now add the MOSL’s, ELL testing, Learning Environment Survey, Tripod Survey, Field Testing that a school must participate in when chosen and what do you get? Days and days of wasted instructional time that would yield the same results with using teacher created tests, but it would give back a significant chunk of instructional time to the students.
So, when Duncan speaks about careful testing, does he know what a school must go through during the testing process? Maybe he needs to visit a NYCDOE school for a week of testing and see what is mandated. And then come back when they have to send teachers to score, because all those teachers gone makes a big difference in the School Environment.
KTA,
“Even more than that, he—perhaps more than any other single person—is responsible for taking “excessive time away from actual classroom instruction.””
NO! I don’t believe that we can, should, ought to lay this “excessive time away from actual classroom instruction” solely or even mostly at the Dunkster’s feet. Maybe partially but he is just a mouth piece and it has taken hundreds of thousands of teachers, administrators and state education personnel to put into place/enforce these educational malpractices.
It’s too easy to blame blArney when the blame is so spread about and many should look themselves squarely in the eyes and hopefully have an epiphany and refuse to continue to participate in the destruction of children.
Duane Swacker: your correction is noted—and accepted.
I will admit to going a bit overboard on someone who is merely, when all is said and done, an employee of those most responsible.
It’s just that he is such a willing participant in worst practices—educational and managerial and ethical—that sometimes I let him get on my nerves.
I will try to be more careful in the future, heeding the words of that most excellent Mexican superhero of yesteryear, El Chapulín Colorado [The Red Grasshopper]:
“Fue sin querer queriendo” [It was without wanting to want {to do} it] but I will try in the future to make sure that “todos mis movimientos están fríamente calculados” [all my movements are coldly calculated].
😎
L. Evanko: your details match what I saw in the HS where I worked as a SpecEd TA.
I cannot imagine how unsettling it must be for someone like yourself to then read the following from a “thought leader” of the self-styled “education reform” movement—even if she is now a fading supernova of the cage busting firmament.
[start quote]
Those test-crazed districts need to be reeled in. But a new study by Teach Plus, an organization that advocates for students in urban schools, found that on average, in grades three and seven, just 1.7 percent of classroom time is devoted to preparing for and taking standardized tests. That’s not outrageous at all. Most people spend a larger percentage of their waking day choosing an outfit to wear or watching TV.
[end quote]
Link: http://jerseyjazzman.blogspot.com/2014/04/why-is-michelle-rhee-wrong-about.html
Except that as Jersey Jazzman points out, the actual report she cites as the basis for her assertion says: “These 1.7 percent figures do not reflect the many time demands that may be associated with testing such as preparing students or analyzing data.”
The very same report then cites teachers on the same subject:
1), “Yes, with daily test prep and standards review sessions. More than 35 percent of instructional time is spent on these assessments per year. That includes initial instruction, review, scoring, planning, preparation of additional assessment materials, and reassessments.”
2), “The prepping for the test takes a lot of time. Instead of possibly doing projects or more hands-on learning, we really focused on the testing format and preparing our students to be comfortable taking the test. The prepping starts at the beginning of the year and ends in April. We also have to do the practice tests for the [state test] and [district test]. These practice tests can take up to an hour to do.”
3), “I would say overall we lose about 15-20 days of instruction to testing to statewide testing. Another 20 days we are instructing, but it is focused on test prep.”
All that was required was for her to read a report—relatively short, in plain accessible English and widely available!—past the one or two paragraphs that supported her self-serving talking points.
Although I know he would object, I refer now to how the CEO of the New Jersey Charter Schools Association criticizes Jersey Jazzman and Julia Sass Rubin for their use of numbers & stats: “statistical gibberish.” [see Jersey Jazzman’s blog of 12-18-2014, “Charter School ‘Gibberish’”]
But then, what can be said of a hard data-driven rheephormer that did the modern day equivalent in education of walking on water and turning water into wine—you know, taking “her” [forget that co-teacher!] students from the 13th to the 90th percentile. With absolutely no proof beyond her assertion that she is the second coming of…
Forgive me if I have offended someone.
When it comes to the “education reform” establishment they take the following as encouragement for, not an admonition against:
“He uses statistics as a drunken man uses lamp posts – for support rather than for illumination.” [Andrew Lang]
Again, thank you for your comments.
😎
Thanks for that new information. Sadly, I can say that it is way more then 15-20 days on instructional time alone. Just in the State testing we loose that much. What about the new “MOSL”? The time it took to give each and every student a test in every single subject was astronomical. Each ELA teacher gave the Reading Running Record to the entire school 3 times!, Each student had to take a Pre and Post Science, Math and Social Studies Test. The Math test was an online Performance Series, which needed a schedule in and of itself, because with only one computer lab and hundreds of students it took weeks and time out of other disciplines to administer it. With that said, if the students did not finish it in the period, it would lock them out the next time and they would have to start again. A nightmare.
The science and social studies tests were essay and short answer driven. So they were time consuming for the teachers to grade, twice.
Oh and lets not forget, to make matters worse, teachers were not allowed to test their own students, so the scheduled had to be re-created along with IEP and 504 needs. Madness!
Who benefits from all this? The testing companies, the curriculum companies, the professional development training companies?
Not the students. It is ridiculous that the State Test is not even available for us to see samples before hand. An assessment should not be a secret. Its like asking doctors to switch patients when an operation is needed.
I didn’t even talk about the monumental task of frequent teacher observations on administrative staff.
Only us educators can stop this.
It is time to get rid of Arne Duncan. Dump Duncan now he is a nothing and his policies are against chiLoren.DUMP DUNCAN
Agreed…though it was time to Dump Duncan years ago!
Dumping Duncan doesn’t get at the root of the problem. We’d only get Duncan 2.0.
It probably makes it tough for Democrats in Congress to negotiate on funding now that the Obama Administration has preemptively announced they’ll accept anything Republicans draft as long as it includes annual testing and teacher ranking.
So much for that, huh? Is there some good reason he came out and announced he’s ready to capitulate on everything else at the start of negotiations?
Jamie Dimon sponsored Obama into the White House. All policy eventually leads to securing the public commons by Wall Street. Now Jamie Dimon (Citi Bank) is the prime minister of economic policy in a well-funded move to organize a public which serves banking interests. And that includes the sovereignty of public-private and private partnerships. Only an overthrow of the neoliberal state through a majority populist movement will bring the commons, public schools and other resources into the hands of the people who built this place.
Jamie Dimon is head of Chase, not Citibank.
It is,time,to Dump Duncan he is behaving like a king.
DUMP DUNCAN NOW
here’s your chance to make your voice heard:
http://www.petition2congress.com/15685/dump-arne-duncan/
That “line in the sand” for testing is there because without testing designed to paint teachers and public schools as failures to justify, falsely, that they must be replaced with corporate Charters, the education reform movement has no reason to exist.
They need a tool that removes principals and peers from the evaluation process—a tool the reform gang controls 100%.
The reform movement is not about improving education. It about making money off our children while destroying the lives of millions of teachers and their families right out o the middle class. That line in the sand is the key to bigger fortunes for a few, but no magic bullet to better teaching and more learning.
Basically, that line in the sand represents a fraud supporting a fraud.
Much said in few words.
Thank you for your comments.
😎
The “line in the sand” is really a line at the bottom of the Pearson contract.
A line at the bottom of a Pearson Contract—-Yep!
Pearson is like cancer. It’s spreading across the globe.
“Lyin’ in the Sand”
Lyin’ in the sand
Is really something grand
Cuz some folks will be fanned
And others will be tanned
“Lyin’ in the Sand” (2)
Lyin’ in the sand
Is really something grand
So take me by the hand
And surely, you’ll be tanned
One standardized test in a child’s K-12 experience is ONE TEST TOO MANY.
(If legal adults want to subject themselves to such falsehoods as are standardized tests that is their problem, they should know better)
We’ll urge Congress to have states set limits on the amount of time spent on state- and district-wide standardized testing, and notify parents if they exceed those limits.
Doesn’t the above statement squarely place the blame on the amount of time spent on state/district wide standardized testing on the districts? Is Arne seriously demanding the standardized tests, and whatever time it takes to administer/take those STANDARDIZED tests, and then blaming the teachers, the schools, the administrators of those MANDATORY tests? I’m flabbergasted.
He is a dummy with someone’s hand up his arse moving the mouth parts while Broad or Koch or Gates is behind the curtain throwing his voice.
Duncan’s Line in the Sand https://rlratto.wordpress.com/2015/01/10/duncans-line-in-the-sand/
Here we all go with Randi again. . . .
Fasten your seat belts. . .. you’re in for a hypocritical ride tonight.
Yawn.
Somebody needs to explain to Randi why we need a totally uncompromising hard line against every aspect of the GERM agenda. Our objective needs to be its utter destruction, to plough it under and sew salt in the furrows.
We need to say no child will ever be given a test not created by the teachers of their own school.
We need to say no charters no vouchers similar gimmicks. A big fat NO to compromise with privatization.
The only thing our adversaries respect is total uncompromising rejection of the reform agenda.
When Arne threatens teachers with tests, Randi responds by saying, “Please don’t threaten us with tests, and if you continue to threaten us I will continue to ask you to please stop, pretty please.”
Try this on for size Randi:
“Send back the boxes! Shut off your computers. Don’t even sharpen the pencils. This is the power of three million teachers who refuse to be threatened. Welcome to the test boycott of 2015.”
YEP!! TAGO!!
Reblogged this on seldurio.
Democrats already announced testing is the only thing they’ll fight for, which pretty much guarantees that’s the only thing they’ll get.
And they were going to get annual testing anyway. They spent hundreds of millions on CC tests.
Democrats could actually make it worse for public schools if they start punishing public school systems for “redundant” or “low quality” tests, because it costs money to hire consultants to evaluate testing regimes. Duncan said he would “tell parents” if public school systems exceed whatever the test “limit” is, which is pretty funny because it was parents who told Duncan there was too much testing 🙂
Democrats set the performance bar really, really low. If they retain annual testing they’ll declare victory:
“Murray’s core principles: 1) reduce “unnecessary” testing (“redundant” and “low-quality” tests) 2) don’t roll back standards/acctability”
There is absolutely no set of circumstances where she fails with those “gimmee” goals. They started negotiations at the LEAST they would possibly get.
Given her long, virtually unbroken record of betraying teachers, why would anyone bother to pay attention to what this woman has to say?
And because Democrats preemptively lowered the “success!” bar to floor level, and made annual testing their one and only condition, Republicans will demand (and get) a huge concession on something else if they “give” Democrats annual testing.
Both sides will then declare victory 🙂
“The High Pains Shifter”
When High Pains Shifter came to town
The townsfolk barred the doors
Because he’d gunned Evrett Eacher down
With tests and Common Cores
The Shifter drew a line in sand
And dared the folks to cross
And quoted from “Complete Ayn Rand”
‘Bout “value” and such dross
But townsfolk opted to ignore
The Shifter and his test
Cuz Common Core was such a bore
And Shifter was possessed
And so here’s what Republicans will get in return for their “concession” of annual testing to Democrats:
“Given the statute’s scope, today’s debate could include countless issues, such as possible changes to Title II rules on educator effectiveness, the expansion of the charter school grant program, the introduction of a private school choice initiative, reconsideration of competitive grant programs (RTTT, TIF, i3), and much more.”
DC Democrats and Republicans just allocated more money to build charter schools last session, so this would be yet another grant that public schools aren’t eligible for, plus vouchers.
I think it’s remarkable that no one outside two labor leaders who aren’t even paid or employed by the public are acting as advocates for for public school funding.
That’s ridiculous.
http://edexcellence.net/articles/state-chiefs-speak-on-esea
Weingarten does not represent all the members of the AFT or UFT. She represents her demands upon her unity loyalists only. Her political posturing is the rhetoric used so often by someone who seeks a high political office. As far as research shows, Weingarten still supports the foundation of everything that she claims is wrong with Arne Duncan (not that I care for the man); all the causes of failure Duncan does not include in his idiotic policy. And that foundation is the Common Core. It’s a mistake by NPE to include Weingarten under their tent. It brings a mixed message to so many union dues paying teachers. The Common Core is the hub of the neoliberal vision of public education (privatization). When Weingarten denounces the Core, then she might have more credibility. When her unity includes ALL teachers and not just her chosen, loyalist delegates, then more respectability would be brought to the NPE. (Putting aside Weingarten’s desire for ever increasing self-serving political power. Perhaps Secretary of Education).
One thing that is very telling is the absolute omission of ASA findings about VAM and the inadequacues of refering to tests that have compromised integrity because of widespread cheating that is documented in at least 36 states. It is funny how our local union in LA union leaders embraced a new evaluation system which bases 30% of the score on tests . Keep in mind that these tests impact teachers who are not teaching the subjects they cover , so an art teacher ( if any are left with all arts and music cut ) is somehow assessed for the scores and potentially labeled as ineffective . With one Stull that defines her as such , she need only get another poor evaluation to lose her job and probably her career. On top of this , we know that administrators in LA were given a directive an incentives to find “bad” teachers and weed them out . In his addresses to administrators , Deasy asserts many strange things about teachers being burnt out in 5 years and of no use to him after this. He claims they are gaming the system by earning PhDs, earning salary points for professional development they take on themselves and are, he makes it clear , that our complancy and incompetence are egregious. Nevermind that advanced degrees get a differential of only $600 a year. This sets in motion an effort to ambush senior staff in classroom observations that teachers all describe as surreal . Sometimes a walk through lasts less than two minutes and the negative remarks in the forms are completely untrue. One lady says an AP half her age slept through the lesson and gave her a horrible score that was completely unqualified by eveidence. Because of teacher jail , many were unaware that this lady and hundreds of others were brought in and given an option: either they waited for the inevitable second fail from the APs and were fired or they signed a contract agreeing to be demoted to sub . As a result they lost large chunks of income and became at will employees , but without a union to support them, most agree to this deal . As part of the deal they must attend this class to help them improve . It is very demoralizing and ultimately a ruse used to appease state codes that mandate an effort to help teachers improve before they are dismissed . Keeping them in the mix has its purpose too.
NCLB is not entirely a waste as it has strict guidelines designed to avert the very things we see unfolding . Schools must have a solid percentage of credentialed teachers to appease the laws.
Thus the the teachers who sub help balance the quota . However , soon after the norm day accounting, the subs are assigned to kill sites . They arrive for an assignment and when the day ends they are given an unsatisfactory service memo . Most are upset but do nothing about it because they assume it is like the memos in files they have as regular teachers . They are merely there to document some lapse or mistake . This is not the case . While padding files with memos is a tactic employed to leave a paper trail to justify the dismissal of some teachers , subs suddenly face some rule , which we never heard of but without a contract or policy to go by cannot discount , that makes a memo grounds for dismissal. Until I publicized this UTLA had not issued even a warning , but since that is limited to a page in the site , the sub has no clue and usually fails to respond in five days , then they are terminated When they ask for union assistance they are told too bad, so sad but you are SOL I hear the officers are especially unmoved by these teachers plights and leers from reps I have confirm the mendacity and mindset of these misleaders
A WORD ABOUT SUBS
When I was lead teacher, I was worried about a errant lack of effort on some subs’ parts. They were a group that had first dIBS on jobs because they were tight with the secretary . I encouraged teachers in my academy to write memos as teachers did then , to address the problem of ignored lesson plans , trashed classrooms , out of control classes and missing items . I believe teachers are obligated to fIND the right subs for their classes . I always had a few who I Could call at hOME and set up to cover for me .
But nothing came of the effort , and it was clear the school was not interested in even honoring our plans to use certain subs as they would send them to another ciass and install some deadbeat who wasted your kids day and put you behind .
This is sabotage but not the worst of it.
Recently Gov Brown , who is clearly caught UP IN an unfortunate mess as an education and labor advocate dealing with the Obama reform assaults upon both as well as the unions’ failure to support them , discovered that Sup. John Deasy was labeling interns as credentialed teachers. He was furious and an odd public appeal was made for teachers with credentials after this school year started . They were eager to have military applicants and not long after the BOE made vague noises about new hires with credentials . However, there is a likelihood that they restored RiFs , most of them rookies and installed them in their former positions as subs , a practice we know is being employed anyway.
Gaming the stats and numbers is so common there is no way to be sure what the truth is . We can verify that more than 10,000 teachers are casualties from RiFs , displacement and teacher jail. That does not included the retired teachers, who are expected to become an enormous exodus of employees as baby boomers and because of the pressures at school , are increasingly going out early at a profound cost in benefits . So far so good for the district. In the last two years , many mid career teachers have decided to leave LAUSD and others have fled the profession . I do not think Deasy had anticipated that , but with interns descending in masse on the offices to be processed , he has recruited thousands of eager replacements and even opened the first of three apartment complexes erected to house the eternal turn over . I am told these interns often are placed in counselor positions , PSW and special education classes they are not remotely qualified for . The special Ed codes are bypassed using qualified TA s , who usually assume responsibility for lower functioning children . However, there is no way to be sure they can provide the intervention that autism and other conditions requires . An example of the potential disaster may be that in some cases, if left unaddressed, a condition can have profound consequences. For example Aspergers can seem mild in a child , and was often not identified in the past . Youngsters , mainly males, who had quirks as kids become increasingly dysfunctional in adulthood. By their 30s, untreated Aspergers manifests itself in schizophrenic symptoms that many attribute to a lot of homeless people’s inability to lead a regular life and develop healthy bonds .
Such long term burdens on individuals as well as society , are never considered by these reforners, betraying a fundemental indifference to the mission of educators who serve a greater good and are committed to progress not innovation or excellence . It is imperfect because we just don’t know a lot of things, but we know a lot more than we used to .
While I am not surprised by the arrogance and stupid greed of reforners like Deasy and Duncan , both Broad bred parasites , I find it appalling that unions are letting this go on without a peep. Indeed they are enabling the destruction of our schools and our students’ potential by allowing the rank and file to be purged as we have seen in LA. For all Deasy’s dominance In a narrative that praises HIS impact on scores abd graduation stats, there is an ever increasing back drop of chaos and dysfunction that has special education and ESL students in crisis , as documented by the intervention of feds ,marine to buffer the calamity in broad terms that insinuate teachers are the problem even though they are mostly not qualified, not really teachers and installed by leaders.
Nothing is prevent said by the local Union or CTA, AFT or NEA, all of which many many teachers have reached out to .
Reporting SPED violations is a good way to find yourself charged with some misconduct or pink slipped . Where is our union ? Aiding and abetting the dustruct, of course.
What are our dues paying for ? UTLA neglected to purchase legal insurance for teachers , a basic concession to our agreement with it as members . Indeed , this is why we are mandated members and if we have religious reasons to be left out there is a mandate to buy coverage . When teachers began getting RIFed , displaced and jailed in mass , UTLA did not renew that policy which is purchased through CTA who verified the cancellation and said the reasons for it were economics . The problems teachers confronted were curiously ignored by the union and teachers consistently detail witch hunts, contractual breeches, bullying , harassment and far worse on campus . They all claim the union not only did not help them, it constantly lied about the CBA articies , state education codes and district policy . I myself witnessed an unnerving collaboration and comarderie between reps and suits handling cases . In many situations while advocate for colleagues , I saw reps throw the teacher to the wolves and deliberately facilitate fraud or sabotage rather than any kind of defense . In many instances teachers were told the union could not help them unless they agreed to resign . Because I armed myself with the codes and other rules, teachers began asking me to be their rep . None of the codes or policy made a difference in the end but it sure did send suits into a state of fear and loathing .
Nothing has improved. It has just descended in to deeper depths of deparvity as union officers are spending the budget on vacations , hefty bonuses , 5 star hotels in Palm Springs for a leadership conference few teachers can afford . Now there is an urgent urge on UTLA’s part to strike , even though little effort is established to hammer out an agreement with CORTINES , who the union has been much more critical of than Deasy. Despite his relatively short time in charge and some possibly positive proactive measures he has made , UTLa essential derailed efforts to save the remaining teachers up for dismissal . The negotiations were recently delayed because an officer was a last minute no show due to illness Why a conference call or other measures were not explored is unclear. What we do know is the union began thumping for a strike soon after this and unfairly attacked CORTINES in a rally despite his rather gracious offer to help the jailed teachers .
Don’t mistake me for a fan of CORTINES who ushered in the propoganda that assailed us around 2009 . He has his fair share of blame in the nightmare and is culpable for some corruption . However, in the best interest of those teachers and fruitful collaboration, UTLA should have been respectful and gracious as he was . I have yet to see CORTINES respond with any of the malice or mendacity Deasy would have , but then he has had the union in his pocket for a while . As UTLa gears up for a strike, it is pushing members to approve $3 million+ ( one activists says 11 million but I have yet to verify his numbers) for the strike fund. Some members balk at this because they want that money to pay for the legal insurance most teachers have no idea is lapsed in fact, if purchased, the union would have far more than any union in the nation sets aside for these expenses. includung Chicago, who they are modeling the strike after , was not funded like this . I am not so sure that strike was a success guven hiw littlle improved, but it was a publicity boon for Karen Lewis and its a safe bet ALEX Caputo Peael has politucal ambitions a strike could serve
Members reported to me yesterday that they felt the HOR and BOD votes on the initiative were being manipulated to limit any real discourse and they saw the vote will be rushed and bullied into happening. These urgent even wild cat strike plans have been in play since late 2013 but few teachers are enthusiatic . Without question, circumstances justify serious action, but with our jobs so precarious and the union lapse in defense it is an ill advised proposition. With so many senior staff MiA, and an estimated 30k teachers who worked for LAUSD before the purges, it is clear the demographic is uncertain . We cannot get them to comply with CPRA FOIA requests at the district or the union which claims it has no clue.who or how many teachers were severed . But it is a safe bet more than a third of them are subs, interns and temps . Most loyal unionists are gone but the remaining mid career teachers are in desperate financial states with no raise in 8 years, draconian furloughs and the mortgages LAUSD pushed upon us to take in as part of a program that urges teachers to live in the communitues they work in where gentrification was supposed to make these hoods diverse communities with positive members . The real estate collapse hit Califirnia,me specially LA very hard . Now underwater, these people are probably disenchanted with their union and frightened of what the district will do if they dare to strike . You can bet TFA leaders will forbid the interns from taking part and while career subs are usually the most avid union supporters , they are now replaced with a bevy of young people , grad students, artists , etc who see the gig as no more than a good way to supplement their incomes . They will not walk with strikers and the ones who are no longer receiving calls are desperate enough to become scabs when LAUSD needs bodies to cover the classroom.
I don’t know why UTLA is hell bent on a strike , nor do I believe teachers will vote to do so . But if they do, it is likely a trap that will have consequences that reach beyond the teachers it ensnares .
The MiSiS crisis has many seniors in a pickle as they may not graduate and the mess is long from sorted out for the schools that could not meet students needs because of the data disaster and lack of leadership . These concerns are widely publicized and largely responsible for Deasy’s departure . For teachers to strike now, especially with new old leadership presenting an affable and efficient front , a strike will be career suicide. It will give the up slate an ample slush fund and usher in more dues paying interns who demand nothing from UTLA, which is recruiting charter school teachers and fraternizing with E4E ( which oversaw last year’s dirty election) and Teach + which took an oath to swear off tenure,
The president, Alex Caputo Pearl is much like Deasy in his way with the media and his ties to Deasy apparently go back to aPrince George though I am unclear about what capacity this was in . As an intern in the very first TFA corp , ACP has close ties with Wendy KOPP Who recently celebrated the corps 20th year of service ; notably, Joel Stein ( the devil to NYC teachers), Deasy ( LA ‘s satanic reforner) , Randi Weingarten and presumably pioneering TFA alum ACP was in attendance . No wonder he has never confronted the issue of interns taking our jobs and recruited year round even when thousands of veterans were pink slipped and never reinstated as prop 3o mandates . CORTINES announced that the district was in financial dire straights yesterday; despite the state infusion of funds and a spending spree that includes contracts, luxury concessions to the district offices and the corpulent bloat that LA is notorious for , the pink slips are again on their way to teachers . With Deasy’s carnage MISIS alone will cost at least $80 million to salvage ( the program is from Microsoft and there was no support from them , so why not file civil a case to seek damages as happened in payroll fiasco of 2006?) Siting declines in enrollment and shoddy attendance , CORTINES contends the cuts are coming . CORTINES is brutal about the budget , and without arts or music , one wonders what kids will lose next beside their teachers . Moreover, why isn’t Desy being connected to this state of decline along with test obsessions that would make anyone play hooky? And here is another $64 abroad Prize Question: why the hell isn’t Randi Weingarten speaking up about any of this as she should ?
I apologize for the length of this rant but I do feel better.
“Randi takes issue with Duncan…” (Of course she got prior approval from him before issuing this half-baked statement.).
She draws a line in the sand…” (And then takes out a giant fan to blow it away.).
This woman is stealing our dues for her own self interest.
NAKED CAPITALISM: Duncan’s “line in the sand” is crucial because every policy he’s instituted relies on standardized test scores to determine “what works”. Exactly why you need an educator in that position – public education is a process, not a production line. He’s burned through millions to inform parents what they can learn in two minutes in a parent-teacher conference.
There is no one assessment that’s going to work for the high performing districts, inner city schools and everyone in between. Attempts to do so, like the Common Core, are expensive experiments, floundering badly because of foundational flaws. For example, assuming all kids of the same age will progress at the same pace has cost many tax dollars.
So this points right back to the wolves of Wall Street, who don’t care about the ups and downs as long as they get their fees. Pearson has Halliburton-ized US education, and the receiving line of corporations is a mile long. In his defense, Duncan was tasked with a job just as impossible as differentiating for 100 students per day – he was told to fix education without addressing the causes of the crisis.
And because of this unwillingness, he has to stage every event and appearance, because real people would simply ask him, why are you ignoring the increase in poverty, ignoring needs that extend outside of academic instruction? Why won’t you discus the science behind your metrics? Why was ALEC’s model of using tests against teachers your first choice?
So this has almost nothing to do with Duncan – it’s more about Obama, Wall Street and the loss of representative government due to the last decade of campaign finance abuse.