Archives for the month of: January, 2015
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Dallas: “Reform” Takeover Collapses…for Now

By dianeravitch
January 26, 2015 //
14

Corporate reformers don’t like democracy. They don’t like elected school boards. They like mayoral control, state takeovers, all-charter districts, emergency managers. Anything but democracy.

In Dallas, the corporate reformers had the idea that the way to by-pass democracy was to utilize an obscure state law that would turn the district into a “home rule” district. Billionaire John Arnold helped to fund a group called “Save Our Public Schools,” which collected signatures for a referendum to create a home rule district. No one knows how it would have worked, but its backers were hoping it would turn Dallas into an all-charter district like Néw Orleans.

Despite the money and activity, the proposal simply died. With Dan Patrick, a voucher advocate as Lt. Governor, it is likely to come back again.

“Last night in Dallas, the commission that could have completely redesigned the city’s school system—handed control to the mayor, done away with elected trustees or rewritten teacher contracts—voted instead to call off its school reform experiment entirely.

“It’s a quiet end to a dramatic reform drive that began almost a year ago, when a group called Support Our Public Schools announced its plans to make the state’s second-largest school system into its first “home-rule charter” district.”

Investigative journalist George Joseph called this reform the “Big Dallas Plunder.” he says the business community wanted to open the charter floodgates. All those poor kids with low test scores, they thought, need charters, not small classes.

Categories Corporate Reformers, Dallas, Education Reform

Philadelphia Warns Teachers of Disciplinary Actions if They Inform Parents of Opt Out Right

By dianeravitch
January 26, 2015 //
42

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

 

Philadelphia, PA January 26, 2015

 

PHILADELPHIA SCHOOL DISTRICT TAKES DISCIPLINARY ACTION AGAINST TEACHERS FOR INFORMING PARENTS OF THEIR OPT OUT RIGHTS AROUND HIGH STAKES TESTING

 

Parents at Feltonville and across the district stand in support of teachers

 

Dissatisfied with how standardized testing is eclipsing their children’s education, 20% of parents at Feltonville School of Arts and Sciences — with the support of teachers — have opted their children out of standardized testing. And that number is growing despite disciplinary actions taken last week against teachers involved in informing parents of their rights.

 

Teachers were issued letters compelling them to attend investigatory conferences on Thursday of this week. The district move follows this City Paper article announcing that 17% of students at Feltonville School of Arts and Sciences refused to take the PSSAs and other assessments. News of the action prompted Council members María Quiñones-Sánchez, Mark Squilla and Jannie Blackwell to issue a public statement of support for Feltonville families on Thursday saying “Until we put some limits on this obsession with testing students, we will see protests like that at Feltonville. We stand with families who are making the choice they believe is best for their children.”

 

With the recent appointment of a new Pennsylvania Secretary of Education, Pedro Rivera, Council members Quinones-Sanchez, Squilla, and Blackwell called upon the School Reform Commission to formally request a waiver for this school year, and to begin a review of the long-term strategy to reform the use of standardized testing.

 

“We, as parents, have a right to say no to the test”, says Heidey Contrera, the mother of 8th grader Natalie Contrera, who, having moved to Philadelphia from the Dominican Republic in 2011, is designated an English Language Learner at Feltonville. “The test is not a good measure of my daughter’s ability. It is not a fair way to judge her. And we’re not taking it.”

 

“Parents have the right to opt out – that is an indisputable right,” said Helen Gym, co-founder of Parents United for Public Education, one of the groups to come out publicly in support of parents and teachers at Feltonville. “The District has an opportunity to work with parents and teachers on an issue of common gain rather than once again being on the wrong side of the table.”

 

Amy Roat, amyroat@gmail.com, 215 768 8479, teacher, Caucus of Working Educators Steering Committee member, and Feltonville School of Arts & Sciences PFT Building Representative

 

Kelley Collings, kelleycollings@gmail.com , 215 868 3089, teacher, Caucus of Working Educators Steering Committee member, and Feltonville School of Arts & Sciences PFT Building Committee member

 

Categories Opt Out, Philadelphia, Testing

NY Times: Is New York Public Education in Crisis? Experts Say No

By dianeravitch
January 25, 2015 //
41

Kate Taylor of the New York Times checked with a few nonpartisan experts on Governor Cuomo’s claim that New York public education is in “crisis,” and in dire need of the draconian “reforms” he favors.

 

The experts said that New York public education is NOT in crisis. The public schools fare about the same as they did on national assessments as they did 20 years ago. Tom Loveless of the Brookings Institution says that if they are in crisis now, then they must have been in crisis for the past 20 years.

 

Aaron Pallas of Teachers College says it is unfair to use the Common Core test scores to gauge achievement because they are have a different passing mark from the previous tests. Only 30% passed the Common Core tests, but the year before, 80% were passing. The teachers didn’t suddenly get worse. The State Commissioner decided to change the standards.

Categories Accountability, Cuomo, Andrew, New York, Testing

Fairtest: Widespread Cheating on SAT in Asia

By dianeravitch
January 25, 2015 //
21

FairTest
National Center for Fair & Open Testing

for further information:
Bob Schaeffer (239) 395-6773
for immediate release Thursday, January 22, 2015

WIDESPREAD SAT CHEATING CONTINUES IN ASIA;
UPCOMING SAT. JANUARY 24 EXAM LIKELY COMPROMISED;
COLLEGE BOARD, ETS ENABLE CHEATING BY REUSING OLD TESTS

For the fourth SAT administration in a row, widespread cheating threatens the security of this Saturday’s college admissions exam in Asia. According to Robert Schaeffer, Public Education Director of the National Center for Fair & Open Testing (FairTest), “Recycling test forms that were previously administered in the U.S. is the root cause of this ongoing scandal.”

Schaeffer explained, “Last fall, widespread reports of SAT cheating forced the test-makers to delay reporting many scores. Some are still being withheld, including those from honest students who did not cheat. Earlier this week, a source sent FairTest a website link to what purports to be the test scheduled for use in Asia on Saturday, January 24. It appears to be an exam form administered in the U.S. in June 2014. Multiple other sources report that test coaching companies in China and South Korea are selling access to this document.”

“The test-makers now admit that scores from the October, November and December 2014 SATs were held back for ‘administrative review,’” Schaeffer continued. “Yet, the companies that own and manufacture the SAT – the College Board and Educational Testing Service (ETS) — have not addressed the underlying problem, their practice of recycling tests in Asia that have previously been seen by thousands of U.S. students”

A College Board web page states, “Over the past three months, organizations and individuals have illegally obtained and shared test materials for their own profit, to the ultimate detriment of students.” (http://secure-media.collegeboard.org/digitalServices/pdf/sat/additional-information-about-score-reporting.pdf)

Schaeffer concluded, “In an age of instant global communication via secret websites, text messages, and cell phone videos, it is irresponsible for the College Board and ETS to act as if test contents can be kept ‘secret’ after their administration. Unless the test-makers stop recycling old exams in Asia, SAT ‘test security’ will continue to be an international joke.”

– – 3 0 – –

Categories Testing

Alan Singer: Does Andrew Cuomo Have a Problem with Educated Women?

By dianeravitch
January 25, 2015 //
40

Alan Singer recognizes that Governor Andrew Cuomo doesn’t like teachers. In New York as in the rest of the nation, about 75% of teachers are women.

 

New York state has a highly educated teacher corps. 84% of the state’s teachers have master’s degrees, as compared to only 47% nationally.

 

But Cuomo keeps badgering teachers. He has gotten tough with teachers. He assumes that if students have low scores, it is because their teachers are no good. He wants more of them fired, using the test scores of their students to find out which need firing.

 

Singer wonders if Andrew Cuomo has a problem with educated professional women.

Categories Education Reform

George Joseph: Black Lives Matter in School

By dianeravitch
January 25, 2015 //
31

George Joseph is rapidly becoming one of our best education writers. In this article in The Nation, he shows how education “reform” is contributing to the “school to prison pipeline.” At best, he says, “no excuses” charter schools are preparing black students for low wage jobs.

He writes:

“As assistant professor of education Beth Sondel and education researcher Joseph L. Boselovic detailed in a Jacobin Magazine investigation, the “No Excuses” disciplinary approach, promoted by KIPP, the largest charter school chain in America, has transformed schools into totalizing carceral environments. Sondel and Boselovic write:

“There were, for example, specific expectations about where students should put their hands, which direction they should turn their heads, how they should stand, and how they should sit.… Silence seemed to be especially important in the hallways. At the sound of each bell at the middle school, students were expected to line up at “level zero” with their faces forward and hands behind their backs and, when given permission, step into the hallway and onto strips of black duct tape. There they waited for the command of an administrator: ‘Duke, you can move to your next class! Tulane, you can walk when you show me that you are ready!’ Students then marched until they reached the STOP sign on the floor, where their teacher checked them for hallway position before giving them permission to continue around the corner. Throughout this process, students moved counter-clockwise around the perimeter of the hallway (even if they were going to a classroom one door to the left).

“This extreme control over the movements of black students teaches them that they neither have, nor deserve control over their own bodies—a disturbing message to send in a country still shaped by the legacy of slavery. Furthermore, it perpetuates the normalization of surveillance and domination that law enforcement authorities inflict on black communities every day. Indeed, as the education writer Owen Davis points out, this “no excuses” disciplinary approach is a direct adaption by schools of the “broken windows” policing theory.”

Joseph relates that black students are beginning to protest the abuses that are inflicted on them by paternalistic authorities. That is an awakening that could change the narrative.

Categories Corporate Reformers, Education Industry, Education Reform, Race, Students

Children Say No to PARCC Testing

By dianeravitch
January 25, 2015 //
3

Watch the videos of children testifying against Common Core PARCC testing.

Here is one.

Here is another.

From the mouths of babes….wisdom.

Categories Common Core, Students, Testing

Marie Corfield: Everything You Didn’t Know About Néw Jersey

By dianeravitch
January 25, 2015 //
15

Marie Corfield, education activist and blogger in Néw Jersey, has an amazing story to tell about her state.

The big surprise: Two moms sued to desegregate their local public school and won, a decade before the Supreme Court’s Brown decision of 1954.

“The state is home to many firsts. The light bulb, phonograph and motion picture projector were all invented here. The first baseball game was played here. The first Miss America pageant was held here in Atlantic City, home to the world’s longest boardwalk and Monopoly’s street names. The first Indian Reservation was founded here. The first drive-in theatre was opened here. Modern paleontology began here.”

And there’s so much more that the Garden State can be proud of. Did you know that Néw Jersey has one of the best school systems in the nation? Massachusetts, Néw Jersey, and Connecticut are our three top states, as judged by the National Assessment of Educational Progress. Strange that all three have governors who decided they know how to reform their state school systems. They should take care not to “fix” what is not broken.

Categories New Jersey, Segregation , Racial Isolation and Integration

Colorado: Follow the Money

By dianeravitch
January 25, 2015 //
2

Douglas County, Colorado, has a school board controlled by supporters of school choice. Normally, school boards see themselves as stewards of public schools. Not this one.

One local parent has been watching the money. She wonders, “Quid Pro Quo or Coincidence?”

Categories Colorado

Washington State Democrats Condemn Common Core

By dianeravitch
January 25, 2015 //
33

Anthony Cody reports that Democratic leaders in Washington State passed a resolution condemning the Common Core standards.

“The Central Committee of the Washington State Democratic Party has passed a resolution that roundly condemns the Common Core standards. This is the first time a statewide Democratic Party committee has taken a public position against the Common Core, and it happened in the back yard of the Gates Foundation, which has provided the funding that made the national standards project possible. This could signal a sea-change for the beleaguered standards, because up until now, political opposition has been strongest in the Republican party.

“More than 200 delegates representing 49 legislative districts, from 29 counties, gathered at the Red Lion Inn in the state capital, Olympia on Saturday, Jan. 24, where there was a showdown between “new Democrats” and a scrappy coalition of education and labor activists. Activists mixed in with the delegates, and carried homemade signs expressing their opposition to the Common Core. They also arrived early and made sure there were flyers on each chair carrying their message.”

Categories Common Core, Washington State
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