Archives for the month of: March, 2015
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Parent Trigger: Five Years Later

By dianeravitch
March 22, 2015 //
11

In an article funded by the Walton Family Foundation, Education Week sums up the sad history of the “parent trigger” law. Clearly, the writer struggles to show the accomplishments of the law, but it is hard to hide its failings.

Two people–Gloria Romero (former state senator in California, former director of Wall Street-backed Democrats for Education Reform in California) says she wrote the law. Ben Austin, former leader of Parent Revolution, says he wrote the law.

The Gates Foundation, the Walton Family Foundation, and other foundations poured millions into Parent Revolution, hoping that parents would vote to turn their public schools over to charter operators.

At the end of the day, five years later, here is the scorecard: six states passed similar parent trigger laws. “So far, nationally, only one school, Desert Trails Elementary School in Adelanto, Calif., has been transformed into a charter while another six schools in the state have used the parent-trigger law in some way to secure changes on their campuses.”

Only one school turned charter, and that happened only after a bitter fight among parents. Parents who did not sign the parent trigger petition were not allowed to vote in choosing a charter. Ultimately only 53 out of 600 parents selected the charter operator to take control of their public school.

Some reform.

Categories California, Parent trigger, Walton Foundation

School Board Member (and Parent) Rates Cuomo “Ineffective”

By dianeravitch
March 21, 2015 //
14

This letter was sent to the blog as part of a comment:

 

 

Dear Governor Cuomo,

 

I have a problem and I hope you can help. Last week, my child decided to stay up all night and binge watch Gossip Girls on Netflix instead of studying. As a result, she failed a test she had the next day. I’m struggling with exactly how to word the letter of complaint to her teacher, because clearly, this is his fault. Were he an “effective” educator, she would have made a different choice. Where did he go wrong? How can I make him understand that he needs to do a little better if he wants to keep his job?

 

The above might be funny if it weren’t so close to the absolutely appalling plan you have proposed for evaluating teachers. You can’t be serious. I have to believe you know it’s a terrible plan as well, or you wouldn’t feel like you had to hold school districts’ funding hostage in order to get it passed.

 

I am a parent, a school board member, a taxpayer, and a registered Democrat. (I’m ashamed to say I even voted for you, twice.) I’m also a product of NYC Public Schools, and even without standardized testing, the Common Core and APPR, I managed to be the first person in my family to attend college.

 

You’re missing an important part about kids in your plan: they are not widgets. You can’t standardize them. I have three children, and they’re all different. They all make different choices. I don’t care how they perform on your tests. I care that they remain intellectually curious, that they are confident problem solvers and that they spend their days with teachers who have the freedom to academically challenge them while honoring their differences. Is it possible that you and Regent Tisch really don’t see how you’re ruining that for them and for all the children of New York State? Our teachers need more freedom, not less. Our districts need more flexibility, and more funding – not less.

 

Last week, I had the opportunity to attend a Q&A session with our local legislators and was asked what alternative I would propose to the APPR if I disliked it so much. Here’s my answer: LEAVE US ALONE. Our district, like many others across the state, is the best judge of our teachers, our students, and the education we provide. If you feel like you want to help, let me suggest you appropriately fund our districts and put an end to the Gap Elimination Adjustment. You might want to take a look at the real issue impacting education in this state: educational inequality. My son has 18 children in his 5th grade class. In a similar classroom less than 3 miles away, there are 32. Do something about that. Maybe then I could feel proud to have voted for you.

 

Today, I’m rating you ineffective.

 

Sincerely,

 

Elizabeth Soggs
New Hartford School Board Member, Parent, Voter and Taxpayer
New Hartford Central School District

Categories Cuomo, Andrew, Teacher Evaluations

Reader: Word from a Test Monitor

By dianeravitch
March 21, 2015 //
4

Reader Chiara shares the following:

Politico has a good piece about the contractor(s) doing the monitoring.

“Chris Frydrych, the CEO of Geo Listening, says his service routinely alerts school principals to students whose posts indicate they’re feeling particularly stressed or angry. He also points administrators to students who share too much personal information online, leaving them vulnerable to cyber predators.

Boasts about cheating. Dares to act recklessly. Taunts. Threats. Trash talk about teachers. For $7,500 per school per year, his service will scoop it all up and report it all to administrators.

“Our philosophy is, if someone in China can type in your child’s user name and see what they’re posting publicly on social media, shouldn’t the people who are the trusted in adults in a child’s life see that information?” Frydrych said.

He responds to critics who worry about privacy violations by quoting a student tweet he spotted while monitoring a school: “Twitter is not your diary. Get over it.”

Read more:

http://www.politico.com/story/2015/03/cyber-snoops-track-students-116276.html#ixzz3V24EuBKl

Someone should inform this guy that he works for, and is paid by, the students and parents he’s sneering at. The arrogance is just incredible. The contractors we’re all paying seem to be running the show.

Read more:

http://www.politico.com/story/2015/03/cyber-snoops-track-students-116276.html#ixzz3V23ajlPV

Categories Privacy and Privacy Rights, Students, Testing

16 Courageous Teachers in Massachusetts Explain Why PARCC Is Bad for Kids and Bad for Education

By dianeravitch
March 21, 2015 //
10

Sixteen elementary school teachers in Framingham, Massachusetts, wrote an eloquent letter to parents explaining the damage that is done by high-stakes PARCC testing.

 

They write:

 

As teachers we cannot stay silent as PARCC makes its way into our classrooms.

 

In the words of Soujourner Truth at the 1851 Women’s Convention, “Where there is so much racket there must be something out of kilter.” Nationally, we’re hearing a racket about the problem of standardized tests driving instruction, knocking the process of education clearly out of kilter. Here are a few reasons why:

 

First, test prep takes time away from real instruction in reading, math, and writing. “On average we will cancel six weeks of reading and writing instruction to prepare for the tests.”

 

Second, test prep extinguishes students’ love of learning:

 

Third, standardized tests harm students who are English language learners, students with disabilities, and students with anxiety.

 

Fourth, PARCC will feed into the reform mantra that our schools and teachers are “failing.”

 

Categories Massachusetts, Resistance, Teachers, Testing

Alabama Endorses Dual School System

By dianeravitch
March 21, 2015 //
13

Alabama became the 43rd state to endorse the creation of privately managed, publicly funded charter schools.

In average, charter schools do not get better academic results than public schools and are usually more segregated than public schools.

Categories Alabama, Charter Schools, Segregation , Racial Isolation and Integration

Peter Greene: Margaret Spellings Still Plugging NCLB Testing

By dianeravitch
March 21, 2015 //
12

Peter Greene notes that Margaret Spellings, one of the architects of NCLB, still vigorously defends annual high-stakes testing.

Forget the parents and teachers who are fed up with non-stop testing. Forget the fact that no high-performing nation tests every child every year starting in grade 3. Spellings is not a quitter.

After reviewing Spellings’ claims, Greene writes:

“The “we can’t turn back and waste our accomplishments so far” argument is special because it is an argument used to oppose NCLB back in the day and Common Core more recently. But somehow back then the reformsters thought that new and awesome things were worth a little chaos and disorder. Now suddenly they are huge fans of inertia. It should not be news to anybody that when you are doing something that doesn’t work, you should think about not doing it any more.

“Look, some of these would be great things to say if they represented reality. But the standardized test does not become an accurate measure of a student’s entire life prospects just because you say so, and while it would be nice if the test results were used to improve education for underserved students, we’ve been at this for over a decade and it hasn’t happened yet.”

Categories NCLB (No Child Left Behind), Testing

Delaware: Charter Founders Fired for Alleged Misuse of Public Money

By dianeravitch
March 21, 2015 //
4

The co-founders of the Family Foundation Academy were fired, after allegations that they had racked up some $94,000 in credit card charges to the school for personal expenses.

 

Amid accusations its co-leaders used school credit cards for more than $94,000 in personal purchases, the Family Foundations Academy charter school has fired the pair, re-shuffled its board, and handed the reins to the leaders of Eastside Charter School in hopes of convincing the state that it should stay open.

 

The new leaders say the school’s academics and finances are fundamentally sound, and argue that 825 students shouldn’t have to see their school closed because of two leaders’ bad decisions.

 

“Our motivation is the good of the kids here,” said Charlie McDowell, who is now chair of both schools’ boards. “They have a successful school and it’s just not right for the school not continue because of this.”

 

Family Foundations was supposed to have its charter renewed at last month’s State Board of Education meeting, but Department of Education officials abruptly postponed the vote, saying they had been made aware of an audit alleging serious financial mismanagement.

 

Deregulation and lack of oversight lead to predictable problems.

 

Categories Charter Schools, Education Industry

Wendy Lecker: If Only Connecticut Leaders Were as Wise as Vermont’s

By dianeravitch
March 21, 2015 //
9

Civil right attorney Wendy Lecker chastises education leaders in Connecticut for their whole-hearted embrace of the Smarter Balanced Assessment. She contrasts her home state with the wisdom of Vermont.

Vermont’s State Board deminstrated independent judgement:

“Last week, Vermont’s State Board of Education unanimously approved a new resolution on the SBAC tests, which gives strong and informed guidance that Connecticut’s education leaders are unwilling to provide.

“Vermont’s resolution declares that while the SBAC tests “purport to measure progress towards `college and career readiness . . . the tests have not been externally validated as measuring these important attributes.”

“Accordingly, the state board resolved “until empirical studies confirm a sound relationship between performance on the SBAC and critical and valued life outcomes (“college and career-ready”), test results should not be used to make normative and consequential judgments about schools and students.”

“Vermont’s state board also resolved that until Vermont has more experience with evidence from the SBACs, “the results of the SBAC assessment will not support reliable and valid inferences about student performance, and thus should not be used as the basis for any consequential purpose.”

“Finally, honest education officials admit the SBACs have never been proven to measure “college readiness” or progress toward “college readiness,” and in fact are unreliable to measure student learning. In other words, the foundation upon which the Common Core rests is an artifice, and our children are being subjected to unproven tests. Connecticut districts have been diverting resources and time toward a testing regime without any proof that it would improve our children’s education.”

Conclusion: Vermont puts children first. Connecticut doesn’t.

Categories Connecticut, Testing, Vermont

BATs Call on Justice Department to Investigate Pearson

By dianeravitch
March 21, 2015 //
33

The BadAss Teachers Association wants the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate Pearson.

“This week’s scandal about Pearson spying on children and their social media activity to determine if testing security was breached shows us that Pearson has no qualms in stealing the sanctity of childhood. Gone are the days in which a child’s life can be that of a private citizen. The idea that Pearson feels it must corral and control what our children put on social media is a corruption, greed, and injustice sandwich. Sorry Pearson we are not eating it.

“Here is a strong and direct warning from the teachers and parents of the Badass Teachers Association – You messed up and you messed up BIG. Due to your attempt to continue to buy up and control American education you have committed perhaps the most disgusting act any one could commit – you have used our children to further your agenda in a light that is so transparent. America values its children’s privacy and respects their ability to be private citizens.”

Write Michael Barber, who directs Pearson:

michael.barber@pearson.com

@MichaelBarber9

Categories Pearson, Privacy and Privacy Rights

Has Pearson Gone Too Far? Write Michael Barber!

By dianeravitch
March 21, 2015 //
25

We learned in the past few days that Pearson is monitoring the Twitter accounts and Facebook accounts and other social media used by America’s children. Some call it spying. Pearson expects America’s teachers and principals to help them police the children to make sure that they don’t write about or even discuss the PARCC test. (The corporation administering the Smarter Balanced Assessments is trying to exercise the same control to protect its tests.)

 

Mercedes Schneider here describes Pearson’s intrusive policy for non-native speakers of English who take the “Pearson Test of English Academic.”

 

Part of the agreement signed by the test-taker states:

 

I confirm that I have carefully reviewed the PTE Academic Test Taker Handbook, including, but not limited to, those provisions relating to testing, score cancellations, privacy policies, and the collection, processing, use and transmission to the United States of the PTE Academic test taker’s personally identifiable data (including the digital photograph, fingerprint, signature, palm-vein scan, and audio/video recording collected at the test centre) and disclosure of such data to Pearson Language Tests, its service providers, any score recipients the PTE Academic test taker selects, and others as necessary to prevent unlawful activity or as required by law.

 

Excuse me, but what is a “palm-vein scan?” Does everyone know this except me?

 

Now, there is no point just baying at the moon. If you don’t like Pearson’s policies, why not write to the man in charge, Michael Barber? In Great Britain, he is called “Sir Michael,” but in the United States we don’t recognize titles, so you may address him in the democratic style as Michael Barber, or Mr. Barber, or Mike. He is best known for his ardent faith in targets, goals, or what he calls “deliverology.”

 

Write him here:

michael.barber@pearson.com

@MichaelBarber9

 

Be candid. Tell him what you think.

 

 

Categories Accountability, Pearson, Privacy and Privacy Rights, Testing
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