Archives for the month of: February, 2015
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Los Angeles: Did Charter Association Mock Candidate’s Disability?

By dianeravitch
February 15, 2015 //
14

Los Angeles school board member Bennett Kayser is a candidate for re-election on March 3. He issued a press release accusing the California Charter Schools Association of airing a TV commercial mocking his Parkinson’s disease.

KAYSER CHALLENGES CALIFORNIA CHARTER SCHOOL ASSOCIATION
ALLIANCE TO “SAY IT TO MY FACE”

The California Charter School Association’s (CCSA’s) political arm, the CCSA Alliance (CCSAA) is running a political attack ad with a coffee cup dropped and shattering in slow motion, not so subtly linking the image to Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) Board Member Bennett Kayser, who has Parkinson’s. He proudly represents the tens of thousands of LAUSD students, families and employees with special needs and people with Parkinson’s everywhere. He publically jokes about his shaking hands and being a politician. His election is 3/3/15.

Kayser was alerted to the shameful hit-piece by supporters who reported it running first on Thursday February 12, 2015. Since Thursday, the Board member has tried to see for himself why others are so upset on his behalf. There is a 24-hour mandatory campaign expenditure reporting requirement so a link to the ad was soon expected. He looked at the Los Angeles City Ethics’ website on Thursday, and Friday, and again on Saturday. Where is the Coffee Cup?

Alas, there is no Coffee Cup ad reported but there is a $50,000 radio buy with no content listed on 2/12/15, same day the TV attack ad was spotted. They too are probably mean-spirited but no one knows because the charter group’s political hammer has failed to provide documentation. http://ethics.lacity.org/disclosure/campaign/totals/public_election.cfm?election_id=50

“If CCSA Alliance is going to make vile attacks against me, then own it, and post them as required by the Los Angeles City Ethics Commission. This election-bullying by CCSA Advocates is unacceptable.” Notes Kayser, “If the charter advocates won’t follow the rules of decency, at least they should follow the law.”

Given the fact the charter school Political Action Committee has flushed hundreds of millions of dollars into (largely unsuccessful) LAUSD school board races over the last decade CCSA Advocates should know how to play by the rules of the Ethics Commission. Sadly, b/millionaire donors, many of whom are out-of-state, will cover fines later while the local electorate is deceived now.

Categories Education Reform

My Interview about the Mess in Indiana

By dianeravitch
February 15, 2015 //
22

A few days ago I was interviewed for this podcast by Justin Oakley, whom I met last fall in Indianapolis. Justin gave me a wristband that says “Just Let Me Teach.”

 

We talked about the effort by Givernor Pence and the Legislature to crush State Superintendent Glenda Ritz. We speculated: is it because they want to destroy the only elected state official? Is it because she is a woman? Is it because she was elected by a bipartisan coalition and won more votes than Governor Pence?

 

Let’s apply Occam’s Razor, the logical principle that says one should look for the simplest, most obvious reason. It’s clear: Governor Pence is afraid of Ritz. She got more votes than he did. He has to smear her her and diminish her, even if it means nullifying her election. She might run against him and beat him.

 

Join the rally at the Statehouse in Indianapolis on Monday to show your support for public education and Glenda Ritz!

Categories Administrators, superintendents, Indiana

Support “Beyond Measure,” a Film by the Director of “Race to Nowhere”

By dianeravitch
February 15, 2015 //
0

Vicki Abeles, the professional film-maker who created the brilliant anti-testing film “Race to Nowhere” is finishing work on a new film with a positive message about public education today and those who are fighting against the testing mania.

 

She needs our help. She has started a Thunderclap campaign. Please sign up for it. 

 

Vicki sent this message. She needs your help today!

 

We are working to get word out far and wide and would love your support. We launched a Thunderclap campaign to help raise awareness. Thunderclap is a tool that works with your existing social media accounts to authorize Thunderclap to post one message from us (and only that message) on your Twitter or Facebook account. Thunderclap sends that post out from all our supporters on the same day, at the same time! It’s like a digital megaphone sending out our message with one (loud) voice. If you sign up, here’s the message that will go out on your social media platforms if you opt in (you can also edit the message):
Support a new film from the #RacetoNowhere team. This time? The bright side of American #education. #BeyondMeasure. http://thndr.it/1yxr48q

 

Thunderclap is an all-or-nothing platform. We have to meet our minimum goal of 250 participants by February 17 or no messages will be sent. I’d love your participation. It’s easy and fast to join on this page bit.ly/BMThunder.

Categories Resistance, Standardized Testing

Peter Greene Explains the Fallacious Logic of Corporate Reformers

By dianeravitch
February 15, 2015 //
14

In the first year of this blog, someone explained the methodology of corporate reformers by referring to the marketing strategy known as FUD. This is an acronym for fear, uncertainty, and doubt. When trying to put a competitor out of business–whether in politics or commerce–spread FUD. That way, the public will distrust their brand or candidate, and be open to your promises for your brand or candidate. According to Wikipedia, the term has been used since the 1920, but more recently was adopted by IBM, then by Microsoft. We have certainly seen FUD employed against public education since 1983, when we heard from the government report “A Nation at Risk” that our very identity as a nation and a people, as well as our economic competitiveness, was undermined by our mediocre public schools. In 2012, Joel Klein and Condoleeza Rice released a report on behalf of the Council of Foreign Relations declaring that our terrible public schools were a threat to our national security. What was our salvation: Common Core, charters, and vouchers.

 

Peter Greene has analyzed the reformer game-plan and boiled it down to a 3-step strategy. Step 1: there is a terrible crisis; Step 2: therefore we must do Step 3) what I prescribe.

 

Here is one of his examples:

 

1) SOMETHING AWFUL IS GOING TO HAPPEN OH MY GOOD LORD IN HEAVEN LOOOK I EVEN HAVE CHARTS AND GRAPHS AND IT IS SOOOOOOOOO TERRIBLE THAT IT WILL MAKE AWFUL THINGS HAPPEN, REALLY TERRIBLE AWFUL THINGS LET ME TELL YOU JUST HOW AWFUL OH GOD HEAVENS WE MUST ALL BEWARE— BEEE WAAAARREEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!

 

2) therefore for some reason

 

3) You must let me do X to save us!

 

The trick here is to load up #1 with facts and figures and details and specifics. Make it as facty and credible as you possibly can (even if you need to gin up some fake facts to do it).

 

#3 is where you load in your PR for whatever initiative you’re pushing.

 

And #2 you just try to skate past as quickly as possible, because #2 is the part that most needs support and proof and fact-like content, but #2 is also the place where you probably don’t have any.

 

In a normal, non-baloney argument, #2 is the strongest point, because the rational, supportable connection between the problem and the solution is what matters most. But if you are selling baloney, that connection is precisely what you don’t have. So instead of actual substance in #2, you just do your best to drive up the urgency in #1.

 

Thus, we have a constant litany of complaints about test scores, graduation rates, dropout rates, etc., linked to solutions that have no evidence that they will have any impact whatever on test scores, graduation rates, dropout rates, etc. Where is the evidence for vouchers and charters? There is none? Where is the evidence to take away teacher tenure? There is none. Where is the evidence that merit pay improves student performance? There is none. Where is the evidence that evaluating teachers by test scores improves education? There is none.

 

Evidence doesn’t matter. So long as reformers play on the public’s doubts and fears for their children, they can keep pushing failed policies.

 

 

Categories Charter Schools, Common Core, Corporate Reformers, Education Industry, Privatization, Vouchers

Wisconsin: Scott Walker Wants to Degrade University of Wisconsin

By dianeravitch
February 15, 2015 //
28

Just when you thought “reform” couldn’t get worse, couldn’t become more hostile to real education, count on Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker to think of something utterly reprehensible.

Valerie Strauss reports on Walker’s assault on his state’s great university system, both by cutting its budget by $300 million and changing its purpose.

She writes:

“Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker submitted a budget proposal that included language that would have changed the century-old mission of the University of Wisconsin system — known as the Wisconsin Idea and embedded in the state code — by removing words that commanded the university to “search for truth” and “improve the human condition” and replacing them with “meet the state’s workforce needs.”

After loud public criticism, Walker’s staff said the wording was an error.

Reflecting on Walker’s bold but brainless initiative, Arthur Camins wrote this essay on “What Is the Purpose of Education?”

Governor Walker thinks it’s to prepare the workforce. Camins disagrees:

“But it doesn’t have to be either-or. Education should prepare young people for life, work and citizenship.

“Knowledge of the natural and engineered environments and how people live in the world is critical to all three purposes of education. Critical thinking, creativity, interpersonal skills and a sense of social responsibility all influence success in life, work and citizenship. For example, unhappy personal relationships often spill over into the work environment, while a stressful workplace or unemployment negatively impacts family life. Uninformed disengaged citizens lead to poor policy choices that impact life, work and citizenship. To paraphrase the verse in the old song, “You can’t have one without the others.”

Categories Higher Education, Wisconsin

A Debate About Whether the Feds Should Mandate Teacher Evaluation

By dianeravitch
February 15, 2015 //
81

In this post, Rick Hess of the American Enterprise Institute in D.C., debates Peter Cunningham, who served as Arne Duncan’s Assistant Secretary for Communications in President Obama’s first term. The subject: Should the federal government mandate teacher evaluation.

Cunningham, not surprisingly, says yes, suggesting that teachers would not be evaluated correctly (I.e. using test scores) without a federal mandate.

Hess opposes a federal mandate.

Here is the beginning of his very fine response:

“School systems should do much better when it comes to teacher evaluation, but Congress should stay far, far away from that process. When it comes to teacher evaluation, where the question is not whether it’s done but how well it’s done, federal requirements are good at spurring commotion and compliance, but lousy at ensuring that complex tasks are done well.

“It’s not like teacher evaluation is a new thing. Schools and systems have done it forever, and they’ve generally been awful at it. Guess what? For all the frustration and furor prompted by the Obama administration’s waivers, little has changed. In states like Florida, Tennessee, and Michigan, 99% of teachers were rated effective before they unveiled new evaluation systems in accord with federal demands—and 98% or 99% were deemed effective under their new systems.”

My thought: Teaching is a very essential profession, even though most teachers are not paid like professionals. If Congress insists on mandates for teachers, why not high-stakes doctor evaluations? Lawyer evaluations? State legislator evaluations? Members of Congress evaluations? Governor evaluations?

For legislators, for example, how often were you absent? How many votes did you miss? Who funded your campaign? Did your votes reflect the wishes of your contributors, or the needs of your constituents? How many bills did you introduce? How many passed? What changes did they produce? Did you help to reduce poverty? Unemployment?

Wonder how doctors and lawyers would respond to evaluations mandated by Congrress?

Categories Teacher Evaluations, U.S. Department of Education

David Gamberg: Cuomo’s Education Plan “the Worst” in New York History

By dianeravitch
February 15, 2015 //
31

David Gamberg, superintendent of the public schools in Southold and Greenport–two independent districts on Long Island in Néw York–denounced Governor Cuomo’s “education reforms.” Gamberg was blunt. He has the full support of his board.

 

Gamberg said that the Governor’s desire to make test scores count for 50% of teachers’ evaluation “could devastate the faculty and, thus, the students of Southold.

 

“The governor has proposed a teacher rating system that would base 50 percent of an instructor’s evaluation on student performance on state tests — an increase from the current 20 percent.

 

“If this plan were to become law, I will provide the board with direct, accurate evidence of [the teachers] who will get swept up — that should not get swept up — in this metric to the detriment of the students of Southold,” Mr. Gamberg said. “I think it would be the highest irresponsibility for our school district to just sit by and allow it to happen….

 

““It can not go through because it is, without a doubt, the worst construct of improvement in public education that has been enunciated in the history of New York,” Mr. Gamberg said.”

 

Cuomo is holding school districts hostage, said Southold school board president Paulette Ofrias, by promising them a 4.8% increase in funds, but only if they implement his ideas.

 

“The New York State teachers’ union did not endorse Mr. Cuomo in his bid for re-election last year and has fought his reform agenda in recent years.

 

“I know he’s doing it to get back at the teachers, but the bottom line is it hurts the children in New York State,” Ms. Ofrias said about the governor’s latest plan. “It’s just deplorable and disgusting.”

Categories Administrators, superintendents, Charter Schools, Cuomo, Andrew, Teacher Evaluations, Testing, Vouchers

Pasi Sahlberg: Why There Is No Teach for Finland

By dianeravitch
February 15, 2015 //
33

Pasi Sahlberg, the eminent Finnish scholar, writes here about why there is no Teach for Finland and why Finland is not a model for Teach for America. In his travels, he has heard people say that TFA is like Finland, because both recruit “the best and the brightest.” Sahlberg explains why this is not the case. While it is true that would-be teachers are carefully selected, those who are selected must meet a number of criteria, including a readiness and intention to make teaching a lifelong career.

 

Once they are admitted to a teacher education program at the end of their secondary schooling, future teachers must engage in a rigorous program of study:

 

All teachers in Finland must hold a master’s degree either in education (primary school teachers) or in subjects that they teach (lower- and upper-secondary school teachers). Primary school teachers in Finland go through rigorous academic education that normally lasts five to six years and can only be done in one of the research universities that offer teacher education degrees. This advanced academic program includes modules on pedagogy, psychology, neuroscience, curriculum theories, assessment methods, research methods and clinical practical training in teacher training school attached to the university. Subject teachers complete advanced academic studies in their field and combine that with an additional year of an educational program. This approach differs dramatically from the one employed by TFA, requiring only five or six weeks of summer training for college graduates, with limited clinical training in the practice of teaching.

 

As Sahlberg explains, teaching in Finland is a profession, and no one would be allowed to teach based solely on having high grades, high test scores, and going to an elite university. There are high standards for entry into the teacher education program and high standards for entry into the classroom as a professional. Consequently, teaching in Finland is a prestigious career. And that is why Finland does not have Teach for Finland.

Categories International, Teach for America, Teacher Education

Gail Collins Tries to Understand Governor Scott Walker’s Ideas about Education

By dianeravitch
February 14, 2015 //
38

Gail Collins, formerly chief editorial writer for The New York Times and now a regular columnist, has a hilarious column today about Governor Scott Walker of Wisconsin.

 

This is a man who seriously should not be in contention for the Republican presidential nomination.

 

Collins says he needs an eraser to take care of the mistakes and drafting errors that plague his speeches and statements.

 

She writes about his Big Speech to conservative activists in Iowa:

 

Mainly, though, The Speech was about waging war on public employee unions, particularly the ones for teachers. “In 2010, there was a young woman named Megan Sampson who was honored as the outstanding teacher of the year in my state. And not long after she got that distinction, she was laid off by her school district,” said Walker, lacing into teacher contracts that require layoffs be done by seniority.

 

All of that came as a distinct surprise to Claudia Felske, a member of the faculty at East Troy High School who actually was named a Wisconsin Teacher of the Year in 2010. In a phone interview, Felske said she still remembers when she got the news at a “surprise pep assembly at my school.” As well as the fact that those layoffs happened because Walker cut state aid to education.

 

Actually, Wisconsin names four teachers of the year, none of which has ever been Megan Sampson, who won an award for first-year English teachers given by a nonprofit group. But do not blame any of this on Sampson, poor woman, who was happily working at a new school in 2011 when Walker made her the star victim in an anti-union opinion piece in The Wall Street Journal. At the time, she expressed a strong desire not to be used as a “poster child for this political agenda,” and you would think that after that the governor would leave her alone. Or at least stop saying she was teacher of the year.

 

When it comes to education, Walker seems prone toward this sort of intellectual hiccup. Just recently, he released a proposed budget that would have changed the University of Wisconsin’s mission statement by eliminating the bits about “the search for truth,” educating people and serving society, in favor of the educational goal of meeting “the state’s work force needs.” When all hell broke loose, Walker blamed that one on a drafting error.

 

She notes that Walker wants to change teacher licensing, so teachers need not have any teacher education or training to teach. “Life experience” would count instead. Anyone should be able to teach, like in the early 19th century. This is a man who seriously doesn’t care about education.

 

 

 

 

Categories Wisconsin

Jeb Bush’s Very Bad, Terrible, Horrible Week

By dianeravitch
February 14, 2015 //
27

Jeb Bush prides himself on being a master of technology. He was one of the main movers behind a report called “Digital Learning NOW!,” which was underwritten by a score of technology companies. Many of those same companies are sponsors of Bush’s Foundation for Educational Excellence, and he has actively promoted replacing teachers with technology. A reporter in Maine traced the links between Bush and his sponsors and won a major journalism award for this story.

 

But technologically speaking, this was a bad week for Jeb Bush. First, in an effort to demonstrate transparency, he released a trove of private emails, not knowing that he was making public the emails, addresses, phone numbers, and in some cases, social security numbers of people who had corresponded with him. Then, he had another tech problem. He hired some guy to be his campaign’s technology director who had a long trail of misogynistic statements, referring to women as “sluts,” for example.

 

Read about it here.

Categories Bush, Jeb, For-Profit, Technology, Computers
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