Peter Greene watched “Defies Measurement,” and he urges you to see it too. It was made by a teacher, Shannon Puckett. You can see it free here.
Greene writes:
Let me cut to the chase– I cannot recommend enough that you watch Defies Measurement, a new film by Shannon Puckett.
The film is a clear-eyed, well-sourced look at the business of test-driven corporate-managed profiteer-promoted education reform, and it has several strengths that make it excellent viewing both for those of us who have been staring at these issues for a while and for teachers and civilians who are just now starting to understand that something is going wrong.
The film is anchored by the story of Chipman Middle School in Alemeda, a school that up until ten years ago was an educational pioneer, using the solid research about brains and learning (and where Shannon Puckett once taught). They were a vibrant, exciting, hands-on school that defied expectations about what could be done with middle schools students in a poor urban setting. And then came No Child Left Behind, and we see a focus on test scores and canned programs replace programs centered on creating strong independent thinkers, even as Laura Bush comes to visit to draw attention to the school’s embrace of testing culture. It is heartbreaking to watch some of the teachers from the school reflect on their experience a decade later; one sadly admits that she sold out, while another says she still feels remorse, but that she didn’t sell out– she was duped, making the mistaken assumption that the important people making edicts from on high knew something that she did not. She no longer thinks so.
The story of Chipman is a backdrop for considering the various elements that have played out in the reformosphere over the last decade. The film looks at the flow of reform-pushing money, the smoke-and-mirrors rise of charters and how that has failed in the Charter Dreamland of New Orleans, the misunderstanding of how kids learn (if you’re not a Howard Gardner fan you’ll have to grit your teeth for a minute), the history of standardized testing, the false narrative of US testing failure, the rise of resegregation, the corrosive effects of reform on the teaching profession, the destructiveness of Race to the Top, and how teaching the whole child in a safe and nurturing environment is great for humans, even if it doesn’t help with testing.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Reblogged this on David R. Taylor-Thoughts on Texas Education.
Reblogged this on Crazy Normal – the Classroom Exposé and commented:
The film is a clear-eyed, well-sourced look at the business of test-driven corporate-managed profiteer-promoted education reform, and it has several strengths that make it excellent viewing both for those of us who have been staring at these issues for a while and for teachers and civilians who are just now starting to understand that something is going wrong.
This is a wonderful look at how testing and charter expansion have chokehold on diverse public schools with lower socioeconomic students. The “reformers” keep pushing test score threshold until these schools can no longer compete. Then, they can be sold off to some corporation. Through Chipley’s story we also see the death of constructivist and humanistic approaches to teaching and learning. The problem with Chipley and so many other wonderful schools is that what the students gain cannot be measured by our metric driven society. It is a “lose” “lose” for all except the corporations.
Sorry. Chipman’s
Obama Administration remains unresponsive to the public:
“At the Education Department, officials say the new measures are just about helping teachers and principals improve.
Brad Jupp, a special adviser to Secretary Arne Duncan, compares the anxiety about the adoption of new evaluation tools to the uncertainty in the 1940s over what would happen if the sound barrier was broken. Some people thought it would destroy the plane. Others thought the plane would accelerate to a million miles per hour. When Chuck Yeager finally broke it in 1947, neither happened.”
Is there anyone at the US Department of Education who is capable of recognizing that dismissing every single criticism of their approach as “anxiety” or “uncertainty” is incredibly patronizing and not, actually, RESPONSIVE the questions people are asking?
They need to answer questions. not indulge in amateur, self-aggrandizing psychological analysis and ridiculous historical comparisons.
Defend the teacher ranking system. Explain why they are dogmatically and inflexibly married to this VAM theory, on the merits.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/25/business/economy/grading-teachers-by-the-test.html?ref=business&_r=0&utm_content=buffer3aff0&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer
Obama seems totally detached from taking any responsibility for his unsound, onerous testing agenda. I don’t understand how VAM can stand with any level of credibility. Research and reason are lost among the members of the brainwashed education department. They lead with blindfolds securely fastened.
True, Chiara.
“Is there anyone at the US Department of Education who is capable of recognizing that dismissing every single criticism of their approach as “anxiety” or “uncertainty” is incredibly patronizing and not, actually, RESPONSIVE the questions people are asking?”
No. Those individuals were replaced with flacks.
“Brad Jupp, a special adviser to Secretary Arne Duncan, compares the anxiety about the adoption of new evaluation tools to the uncertainty in the 1940s over what would happen if the sound barrier was broken. Some people thought it would destroy the plane. ”
There’s a solid (and rather simple) science behind the sound barrier. Nothing of the sort exists behind the barriers our friends in high politics propose to break in education.
I also watched this film and agree with Peter. It is an important film that documents what good education looked like before NCLB and how it was destroyed by corporate reform and politician driven testing insanity.
I watched it yesterday and sent the link to our school board and superintendent along with an email explaining why I believed it was important they watch the whole thing. with my email came an invitation to speak with me about their thoughts regarding the film. It reminded me so much of how an initiative I was involved in, and worked hard to integrate, was dropped like a hot potato when our school first didn’t meet AYP. There has never been another similar initiative which has succeeded because staff have been so busy “attempting” to stay off a list that makes our school look like a failure.
I helped support this film through Ms Puckett’s Kickstarter campaign and just watch the film yesterday. Even though we’re knee deep in fighting the corporate reform/privatizer movement here in Los Angeles, I was unexpectedly overwhelmed and moved by the story told through Chipman’s students and teachers.
I’ve shared it through my own personal social media and hope Defies Measurement gets widely viewed. It is a MUST SEE.
The film IS stunning. I saw the whole thing.
Tony, Diane, Mercedes, et al: Thank you!
Please anyone and everyone, view this film and spread it like WILDFIRE to everyone you know and love. . . . .
This film is a gift, an energizer, a motivator, a source of inspiration, a muse, and most of all, it is SATURATED and DRIPPING with the TRUTH!
Ohio Congressman Chabot, who opposes Common Core, said in a phone town hall meeting this evening, that “the budget bill, passed in the House today, defunds Common Core.”
Does it have any significance?
I hope that as many educators as possible will attend NPE conference in Chicago on April 24, 25 and 26.
This conference will have an important impact and influence on “2016” presidential election regarding PUBLIC EDUCATION AUTONOMY which must be the prime pledge from all presidential candidates’ platform.
This film is truly eye opening for all TFAs and all young ideal teachers soon-to-be. Back2basic
My cousin an attorney in VA, mother of 2 girls in public schools did some googling on the charter that replaced Chipman. Here’s her e-mail to me:
“Defies Measurement” has really upset me. It makes me so angry that NCLB essentially destroyed a wonderful school filled with dedicated teachers and enthusiastic students who years later said their middle school years were the best of their lives.
I did a little research to find out about the charter school that replaced Chipman. It’s called “The Academy of Alameda.” Here is its website: http://www.aoaschools.org
Here is what they call a petition for charter renewal: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Bw3sg6j8ROSeRWlNYmZhZ005QVU/edit Read it & weep. It’s so full of reformer BS.
No wonder those Chipman teachers are sad and angry as hell.
Thank you for sharing your cousin’s comment and please thank her for taking the time to do her own investigation…it’s very validating.
I watched this amazing film and then immediately sent a link to all of our county school board members and posted it on several Facebook pages. Every parent, teacher, administrator and politician should see this documentary! It’s outstanding! Although Chipman Middle School was not a Montessori school, its approach to teaching and learning in a hands-on, child-focused environment very well could have been Montessori. There is a movement underway for more public Montessori schools and I hope this film helps fuel it. The science behind this type of education is overwhelming, as was so eloquently pointed out in the film. Why do decision makers continue to ignore it at the expense of our children and our democracy? Oh, right, money! Please share this film with everyone you can!
Thanks so much for all of your comments and for your support in spreading the word about DEFIES MEASUREMENT!! As Diane Ravitch says in the film, “As the public begins to understand what is going on, I think that they’re going to defend their public schools.” I just hope that this film is going to help inform the public about “what is going on…”!