NY Teacher wrote the following comment in response to the TeachPlus survey, which said that teachers think the PARCC test is better than their own state tests. This gave me a belly laugh.
“Before the teachers were allowed to assess the tests, Teach Plus provided them with training to ensure they had the necessary background knowledge.”
“This training was preceded by a snack of psilocybin mushrooms laced with a generous sprinkling of lysergic acid diethylamide. Teachers were not only impressed with the quality of the PARCC items but were also mesmerized by cursors that continuously changed size, shape, and color, keyboard keys that greeted them by spelling out their name, and wallpaper in the test room that breathed as if alive.”
Diane Ravitch's blog 
I live in Denver where the DPS administration uses “Funny (false) figures to hide the sick reality of the state of affairs in that destroyed system exists in. As the old saying goes, “Figures don’t lie, but liars sure use “figures!”
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Hee, hee, love the metaphor.
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I thought this was good reporting. It’s such a relief to read something about public schools that doesn’t use the “teachers union statement (one side!) and ed reform group statement” (the other side!) structure. I reject that narrow frame, and worse, I think ed reformers both created the frame and prefer that we continue to discuss this as an epic battle between unions and reformers. It doesn’t even make any sense, nationally. There are plenty of states that are subject to these same (national) reforms where labor unions have little or no power.
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Teach Pluss, 1000 teachers and look at who is funding this operation. The voices of billionaires channeled through teachers.
Barclays
Barr Foundation
Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
The Boston Foundation
Carnegie Corporation of New York
Charles & Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation
CityBridge Foundation
Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation
Eli Lilly and Company Foundation
Harold Whitworth Pierce Charitable Trust
The Indianapolis Foundation, a CICF Affiliate
Joyce Foundation
Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust
The Mind Trust
Moriah Fund
Noyce Foundation
Reeder Foundation
Resnick Family Foundation
SheGives
Shippy Foundation
W. Clement & Jessie V. Stone Foundation
Wasserman Foundation
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How do we compete with this . The hedge funds and dark money are driving th privatization movement.
http://www.democracynow.org/search?utf8=✓&query=hedge+funds+charter+schools&commit=Search
Dark money is driving everything…
http://billmoyers.com/2014/09/22/5-signs-dark-money-apocalypse-upon-us/?utm_source=General+Interest&utm_campaign=94370722aa-Midweek_0924149_24_2014&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_4ebbe6839f-94370722aa-168347829
The answer is to amend the constitution
http://billmoyers.com/2015/02/25/end-big-moneys-chokehold-democracy-amend-constitution/?utm_source=General+Interest&utm_campaign=3e81ce4555-Midweek12171412_17_2014&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_4ebbe6839f-3e81ce4555-168347829
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Ha ha ha! This is not so far from the truth. I hear from teachers and principals in Los Angeles about Teach Plus offering cookies to come in and “help teachers create policy”. What they don’t say is that the policy is already well established from the top. The teachers seem to be merely foot soldiers. The organization facilitates sessions where teachers end up writing a policy document that they think organically came out of their own discussion that just so happens to match Teach Plus’s consistent agenda. The teachers are flattered when offered a meeting with Arne Duncan or a byline for an Op Ed or a post like this one stating that teachers support the Vergara decision: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tntp/a-teachers-view-on-tenure_b_5946220.html? A few comments called out this post when it first appeared. Immediately, they got a response from the Teach Plus communications soldier. Now the comments are entirely hidden from public view. Seems they want the appearance of creating public policy in a transparent way, until the public actually gets involved.
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I was told that Pearson is owned by Rupert Murdoch. Is that true?
Another question I hope someone can answer….How are special needs students being accommodated for the PARCC test?
Last question is one I know I won’t get an answer to. How much does PARCC testing cost the states and local districts?
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Murdoch does not own Pearson
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Thanks!
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It is the law that special needs students who do take the tests (& here, in ILL-Annoy, we do have some opting out, as I’m sure, elsewhere) receive accommodations in accordance with their Individualized Education Plans (I.E.P.s). This is determined at I.E.P. meetings (usually the Annual Review), by the I.E.P. team which, of course, includes the parents (&–as a retired sp.ed. teacher–parental input was the major source of the I.E.P.), teachers (special ed. & general ed., if child is in gen.ed. classes), social workers, case mgrs., principal & sp.ed. coordinator–& whoever else might work w/the child. Of course, this doesn’t always happen the way it is supposed to (according to IDEA), but it always SHOULD. In the past, we also watched a child, & sometimes had an amendment meeting (follow up, as a child’s situation might change, a parent might wish to discuss other options, etc.) Now–all that having been said, it’s my belief that the majority of sp.ed. students should NOT–even w/every imaginable accommodation–take the PARCC.
Nor should general education students!
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I wonder if these provisions are the same for all states.
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Just another lame marketing tool. SIC! Where are the lessons on PROPAGANDA, MARKETING, profits at ANY COST, and Hedge Funds? Not in the CCSS. Coleman would rather promote CLOSE READING (UGH), whatever jargon that means.
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Kris–in terms of the IEP, it applies to ALL states–IDEA is federal law.
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