Peter Greene and I are on the same page about Indiana. What is going on there has nothing to do with education, nothing to do with children, and everything to do with politics, power, and money.
Peter’s post, as usual, is brilliant.
He writes:
In the modern era of education reform, each state has tried to create its own special brand of educational dysfunction. If the point of Common Core related reforms was to bring standardization to the country’s many and varied state systems, it has failed miserably by failing in fifty different ways.
What Indiana provides is an example of what happens when the political process completely overwhelms educational concerns. If there is anyone in the Indiana state capitol more worried about education students than in political maneuvering and political posturing, it’s not immediately evident who that person might be.
The current marquee conflagration of the moment is the announcement of a new Big Standardized Test that will take twelve hours to complete. This announcement has triggered a veritable stampede from responsibility, as every elected official in Indianapolis tries to put some air space between themselves and this testing disaster. And it brings up some of the underlying issues of the moment in Indiana.
Currently, all roads lead to Glenda Ritz.
Back before the fall of 2012, Indiana had become a reformster playground. They’d made early strides solving the puzzle of how to turn an entire urban school district over to privatizers, and they loved them some Common Core, too. Tony Bennett, buddy of Jeb Bush and big-time Chief for Change, was running the state’s education department just the way reformsters thought it should be done. And then came the 2012 election.
Bennett was the public face of Indiana education reform. He dumped a ton of money into the race. And he lost. Not just lost, but looooooooosssssssssst!!! As is frequently noted, Glenda Ritz was elected Superintendent for Public Instruction with more votes than Governor Mike Pence. I like this account of the fallout by Joy Resmovits mostly because it includes a quote from Mike Petrilli that I think captures well the reaction of reformsters when Bennett lost.
“Shit shit shit shit shit,” he said. “You can quote me on that.”
And it gets better. Read it.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
I guess y’all aren’t on the right emailing lists.
See, that’s what you get for being all “shrill” and “strident” about a “better education for all” and “democracy” and “public education.” You’ve been reading the wrong stuff.
The self-proclaimed “education reform” movement has a playbook that is a national best seller. Rheeally! And in a most Johnsonally sort of way to boot! Millions of copies were bought up by villainthropies like those bearing the names and money of Gates and Broad and Walton and Koch. Although, if we go from the metric of ‘purchased copies’ to ‘copies actually read by human beings’ it doesn’t even make it on to Amazon—really!
¿😳?
FIFTY SHADES OF FAILURE, of course, with its accompanying free supply of whips and handcuffs and Skinner boxes with which the few actual readers can attempt to subject the vast majority of us to their will. And enjoy the triumph of same.
Although, to be honest, there are one or two redeeming features of said Manual of $tudent $ucce$$. I especially liked the forward by David Coleman where he ‘borrows’ from his famous speech on CCSS and subjects Michael Petrilli’s carefully chosen words [see posting above] to a scathing critique:
“[A]s you grow up in this world you realize people don’t really give a shit about what you feel or think” about shit.
Link: http://theline.edublogs.org/2011/11/02/common-core-director-to-you-no-one-gives-a-st-what-you-think-or-feel/
😱
If you disagree with my editing, just think of it as creatively disruptive out-of-the-box reimagining, understood as an exemplar of written 21st century cage busting innovation. Kind of like 100% charter graduation rates or taking students from the 13th to the 90th percentile all by one’s lonesome or 100% failure rate of little-test taking machines to pass exams to get into NYC’s prestigious specialized high schools…
Hey, hate the game if you must but don’t hate the playa…
Interestingly, I found out that the pitch-black color of the book jacket—and the total absence of red anywhere on the jacket or in the book—was expressly demanded by those that paid to have the book published, er, the publishers in consultation with the authors. Turns out it has a long history: apparently those keeping count in accounts used black to show profit and red to show loss.
But c’mon, it’s all about the kids, right? Who could possibly accuse the “education reform” movement of being about adults and $tudent $ucce$$?
😎
P.S. My apologies to the owner of this blog for pushing the boundaries of decorum. But when all is said and done, when it comes to the deepest sentiments of Michael Petrilli and David Coleman, expressed so eloquently in their choice of words, I guess they forget one of their cherished Marxist maxims:
“Quote me as saying I was mis-quoted.”
Must I keep repeating? Groucho, natcherly.
Diane: Not sure how to get hold of you but would love to see a blog on Mitchell Chester, Commissioner for MA. On the DOE site he posts a weekly update. Every now and then I check it. Today, I see a link to a report from the MBAE-MA Business Alliance for Ed. They have been granted money from the Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors to make a comparison between MCAS and PARCC to see which might better suit the business community of MA. Despite PARCC still in a pilot year, guess which won? The Study was conducted by the Center for Assessment, in NH, which is interested in “promoting improved practices in educational assessment and accountability”. The Center partners with CCSSO-the Council of Chief State School Officers and the USDE. The Study was advised by Ann Duffy of Education First. MA has received grants from many of these acronyms in the past and all are pro-CCSS and PARCC. (It seems.) The MBAE has some words of advice: “passing” on PARCC must have high “cut score” to mean anything and we, the public, will just “have to endure it”. The MBAE also is very deep in education policy here. They apparently have written a report, or plan,: The New Opportunity to Lead “Over the next several years, MBAE will translate The New Opportunity to Lead proposal into action that can lead to reinvention of the school classroom, support for effective teachers and school leaders, personalized learning to close the opportunity gap, and funding focused on students in schools with the autonomy to use it most productively.” So, more money to go to those schools who have great grant writers. The MBAE also seems fascinated with the FutureReady initiative and sounds like they like the idea of lots more technology in the classroom. They also seem to be partnered with Verizon, IBM etc. The MBAE report is available at the MA DOE site at the bottom of the page, last sentence in the Commissioner’s weekly update or at the MBAE site. sorry I am no good at copy, paste etc.
“…funding focused on students in schools with the autonomy to use it most productively.”
Sounds like they plan to push charters big time.
this is a bit off topic but we are waiting for Mitchell Chester to go!!!!! We don’t have elections for this role. Also, the Governor appoints his own Secretary of Education in addition to the Comissioner of Education…. Despite the snow and schools being closed for 5 or more days and now going into Feb week of vacation M. Chester is not giving one inch when it comes to the testing schedule. He has a commitment to Pearson and he doesn’t give a hill of beans for the students or the schools. He is relentless in pursuing the testing schedule. One of his former test personnel in the state department has already gone to work for Pearson and I imagine they are in negotiations for developing a contract for Chester but it can’t be too soon for me. I am guessing he will get an offer to oversee their inter-state testing regimen full time (he is already doing that out of the Department of Elementary Secondary Ed in Malden MA. So he will show up just as someone like Bennett shows up again and again and Jeb Bush oversees Bennett’s career moves from there on I guess.
The chorus of voices against Pence and the GOP statehouse is getting more interesting. Here is an excerpt of a letter between Superintendent Thallheimer from Fairfield Schools (a small rural district near Goshen, Indiana).
Mr. Thallheimer gave permission to share excerpts.
This letter was addressed to one state senator and two house members:
From: Steve Thalheimer
Sent: Friday, February 13, 2015 10:19 AM
Subject: Agenda for Public Schools
Gentlemen,
Several weeks ago you met with the school board of trustees for Fairfield Schools, our business manager, and me for an evening of open conversation about the challenges we face as a public school. I left that meeting feeling hopeful that our needs and concerns were heard and that this would truly be a “Year of Education” that translated into a “Year of the Teacher” as was talked about that night.
However, in the time since, there has been little for me to be optimistic about:
1. No one has followed up with us after the meeting to continue the dialogue. I reached out to Carlin via email after seeing him at a local restaurant and have heard nothing back, even after offering again that I would be willing to share Fairfield’s situation with his colleagues as they look at the funding formula. Other than a question from Curt about the Amish and free/reduced lunch and an automated response from Wes’s office when I emailed about broadband support, we have heard nothing.
2. In a “Year of Education,” legislators have staged a full assault on Glenda Ritz in aiming to strip her of her position as chair of the State Board. While I do not feel that she has always been as effective as she could be, she was elected by the citizens of Indiana to fill her role as Superintendent of Public Instruction, which involves the chairmanship of the State Board. If the citizens of Indiana do not like the job she does, then let them vote her out, but do not rob her of the position that she earned with more votes than Governor Pence received.
3. Related to this, the scorn and pile on to Mrs. Ritz regarding the ISTEP testing times is disingenuous and unfair. The testing schedule that came out reflects what needs to happen as we meet current accountability and “test drive” questions for new accountability required because we changed the standards. While I do find that some of Mrs. Ritz’s problems in leading effectively rise from her not having administrative experience, one thing I am pretty sure of—she is close enough to time in the classroom and is well enough connected to teachers that she would not intentionally oversee or allow CTB to develop a test that would deprive teachers and children of instructional time. She is made out as either inept at this or as trying to extend testing just for the sake of doing it, which is unfair to her. The Governor’s push to withdraw from Common Core has landed us here. He and his supporters in doing this should take ownership of that and stand up for what needs to happen rather than react and find a scapegoat in Mrs. Ritz. All the changes to the testing, all the practice students need to be familiar with the test, and the later rollout of what the assessments would look like all mean that Supt. Ritz’s suggestion that accountability measures be suspended for one year should be considered as well.
4. What finally broke all hope for me was the news about Senate Bill 470. Amidst the testing time controversy being drummed up by the Governor and others, we now have a bill allowing voucher schools to find an alternate accountability system. Seriously? What family would not want to use a voucher and take student to a private school and only take a few hours of Iowa Test of Basic Skills or some other test than stay in the public schools and take “hours and hours” of ISTEP? If this flexibility is good for kids and good enough for private schools, why is this not an option for public school? If schools bound by public monies are required to take ISTEP, then ALL entities receiving this public money should be required to take the State mandated assessment. That was one of the points used when vouchers were sold initially. How is this even fair?
The school board and I had such a desire for this year to be different in terms of the support for public schools and a real give-and-take regarding the issues. I am writing because I want to believe that is still possible. I write you asking again that public schools be treated as the bedrock of a democratic society that they are. Please engage with us about these issues and help us understand why some of these actions are being taken.
Thank you, Steve
Steve Thalheimer, Superintendent
Fairfield Community Schools