MaryEllen Elia, who was fired as Superintendent of Hillsborough County a few months ago, was unanimously endorsed by the Néw York State Board of Regents yesterday.
Valerie Strauss wrote about her selection here. She has the support of the Republican establishment in Florida (she was a member of far-right Governor Rick Scott’s transition team), as well as the support of teachers’ unions in Florida and Néw York.
Parent activists are wary of Elia because of her past support for high-stakes testing. To win their confidence, she must clarify her views about testing, about the Opt Out movement, about detaching test scores from teacher evaluations, about merit pay, and about Common Core.
In this interview, she reiterates her support for high-stakes testing, the Common Core, and using test scores to evaluate teachers. When asked her reaction to parent resistance to testing, she emphasizesd the need for better communications with parents. I don’t think that “better communications” will pacify parents who are fed up with the overuse of testing. At some point, hopefully soon, Commissioner Elia must recognize that parents know what they are doing, and they disagree with the Regents’ policy of plunging into the Common Core, high-stakes testing, and test-based accountability.
Commissioner Elia must understand that the problem is not a failure to communicate, but a genuine difference of opinion about how to educate children. The leaders of the Opt Out movement are not misinformed; they are very well informed indeed. Will she punish children who refuse the tests next year? Will she collaborate with parent leaders? Will she listen to parents and hear them? Will she use her influence to persuade the Regents and the Governor to reduce the importance of standardized tests? If she doubles down on Governor Cuomo’s testing agenda, she will energize the Opt Out movement. Parent leaders are disappointed by the lack of transparency in the selection process as well as the implicit message that the Regents did not listen to them. They will continue to speak out in the only way they can be heard, by refusing to submit their children to the tests.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Oh, goody.More political football in my state.
BTW a couple typos – Néw Yprk State Board – should be New York.
Governor Eick Scott’s – should Rick
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Another Cuomobot, destined to fail, and at the bargain price of $250,000 a year.
Well, here we go again kids, buckle up, it’s time to go after The Dark Side again.
May the Force be with us.
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Weingrew show their true colors, yet again… And so much for Cashin and the other posers among the Regents, all craven followers of so-called reform.
On the other hand, this woman is a clearly incompetent ideologue, as was her predecessor, and she will hopefully be neutralized by the contradictions of her position and competing imperatives – simultaneously show “progress” on the Common Core while demonstrating widespread teacher and public school “failure” on the exams – and disappear without a trace or regret.
Two years, maximum, for this one…
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She couldn’t do any worse than her predecessor:
Oh and for some laughs, look at this parody of
her predecessor:
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Nothing succeeds like failure for the Destroyers Of Public Education.
(You Do The Acronym)
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These top -dogs play musical chairs and go from one job to another, while teachers are out on the streets with nothing to show of years of dedicated service. They collect high salaries and multiple pensions.
Cortinez goes to LA; Crew goes to Florida; from Belmore LI Mucci goes to Englewood, N.J, and NY’s Alvarado goes to California, and his wife Fink, goes form District 2 in NYC where she presided over the first assault on teachers, to San Diego… which threw her out saying, “we don’t treat our teachers like that , here.” (Saw it on TV!)
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I’m surprised NYSUT endorsed her, but I suppose we need to give her the benefit of the doubt.
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Given her background, ideology and previous actions, why should we cut her a ounce of slack?
Every possible obstacle should be placed in this woman’s way, and she should be driven from NY by the righteous anger of parents, students and teachers.
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I tend to agree with you Michael.
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“Where we went wrong”
Where we erred was giving
The benefit of the doubt
To folks who make a living
By counting others out
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Spot on SDP!
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Support of teachers’ unions in Florida and Néw York? There is a huge problem with this.
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Yes Laura, there is a problem. She should get our support when she’s proven that she’s capable of real leadership and not just Cuomo’s quarter million dollars a year pawn like John King, who is still getting rich while having never accomplished a single thing, and people bitch about welfare recipients not working.
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For the life of me, I could not see why the teachers’ union would support her. does anyone know the rationale behind it? Her track record is pretty clear.
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I always loved this other parody of John King,
her predecessor, and his message to
parents and teachers: (near the end,
her references the Poughkeepsie fiasco
in the video above… and in response,
his ending the “Common Core is Wonderful”
tour, before re-starting it again when pressure
forced him to)
http://nyceducator.com/2014/12/reformy-john-has-message-for-us-all.html
————————–
JOHN KING:
“Hi, special interest teachers and parents,
“It’s me, your old pal Reformy John King, and I’m reformier than ever. As you know, a few years back, we instituted new teacher evaluation systems that use multiple measures, including student test scores. We fully expected to fire a whole lot of teachers, particularly given the whole test score thing, but things haven’t worked out quite as we expected.
“It’s common knowledge we’ve introduced Common Core tests, and kids are failing in droves. Well, not my kids, who I send to a Montessori school, but rather your kids. Like most of you, I actually like my kids’ school, and their teachers, so I don’t want to see them fired. Naturally, you can send your kids to a Montessori school, or Dalton, or wherever President Obama sends his kids, so don’t worry if you don’t like Common Core. Most of these programs run under 30K a year, so if you have a gig like mine it should be no prob.
“Anyway, the rest of you know that only about 30% of NY kids are passing the tests. I should know, because I help set the cutoff scores and can predict how many kids will fail in advance. It’s true that most kids have not been taught using our fabulous new Common Core methodology, the one my kids don’t use, but that’s not really the issue. The issue, not to put to fine a point on it, is how can we match up the failure rate of kids to that of teachers, and therefore fire 70% of them?
“Look at this from a taxpayer’s point of view. Most of those teachers are in unions, and are paid considerably more than minimum wage. And don’t get me started about the benefits those teachers get. I mean, there’s the health care, and the days off, and we aren’t even allowed to have them come in weekends to clean up the buildings.
“Now if we can fire 70% of the state teachers, and if Merryl Tisch can replace the public schools with charter schools, we can test prep your kids (not mine) pretty much 24/7. No more wasting time with all that literature, music and art nonsense. What we need is a generation of kids who know nothing but a, b, c, or d, a generation that can scan for content and summarize rather than frittering away their time reading for enjoyment.
“That’s why companies like Walmart invest heavily in the programs I’ve helped bring to your kids and not mine. With a generation used to tedious time-consuming nonsense, folding towels and stocking shelves should be a snap. And with so much rampant failure and so few rewards, I’m pretty confident they’ll get right into the swing of working for eight bucks an hour and applying for food stamps to make ends meet. That’s my vision for your kids. Not mine.
“So please, stop complaining about it. I honestly hate criticism. I was so pissed off the first time I heard it that I canceled my listening tour until Tisch insisted we sit through it to make things look good. But honestly, if I were listening to the likes of you I wouldn’t really be doing my job now, would I?
“So let’s get with the program. By degrading teacher jobs and firing them for no good reason I’m setting up a golden opportunity for your kids to have degrading jobs and be fired for no reason. And the best thing about it is ALL kids will have equal opportunities to get placement in these jobs.
“Except mine, of course. That’s why I send my kids to private school. After all, someone has to tell your kids what to do. How can we depend on the likes of you, who won’t even vote in sufficient numbers to tell me what to do?”
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Sorry, Diane, off-topic, but are you aware that Lily has already broken her promise to you (made in front of many of us) about taking Gates money? https://deutsch29.wordpress.com/2015/05/18/neas-lily-eskelsen-garcia-remains-faithful-to-gates-funding/
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It is not a right or left issue. While the right is funding a large portion of the reform it is the left who were the masterminds. I hope commentators will place the blame where it belongs i.e., in the lap of both parties.
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Don’t confuse the parties with “left” and “right” – both parties really just serve Wall Street. The Democrats are hardly “left”. It’s the real left that is fighting education rephorm, along with all the other Wall Street abuses.
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This is the true “dance of the lemons.”
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They’ve set this up so it’s impossible for them to be wrong. If people don’t like what they’re doing and fire them, it’s because people are scared or stupid or protecting the status quo. If people do like what they’re doing and don’t fire them it’s because they’re a huge success.
There is no set of circumstances where an ed reformer to be just WRONG. They’re either misunderstood visionary leaders or visionary leaders.
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Does the Gates foundation now have his sights set on NY? Why does this man hate parents, children and teachers as much as he does???
“Clear progress has occurred. But the final verdict remains several years away…….For the Gates Foundation, it has invested heavily in Hillsborough schools. It certainly is hopeful of a return on those funds, one measured by a successful outcome of better student achievement that it can show off to other U.S. school systems.”
http://www.tampabay.com/news/perspective/perspective-progress-made-but-still-gauging-impact-of-gates-100-million-in/2176739
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“The Gates Virus”
The virus is infectious
Attaches itself to dollars
From Gates Foundation nexus
Who often pose as scholars
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Explaining the Common Core to parents two years after they put it in is inherently disrespectful and arrogant.
The ed reform “movement” is jam-packed with political professionals. They run sophisticated media/political campaigns all the time. The idea that they somehow “bungled” the public information process is nonsense.
They simply didn’t care. They wanted to explain it after it was a done deal, because they didn’t want dissent or criticism to slow it down. Now that it’s in they’re ready to move to Phase Two of the marketing campaign.
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Indeed. They don’t even really want to explain it after it was a done deal. If forced to, they’ll put out a little PR spin on it, but they won’t really explain it There’s no money to be made in that.
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Diane,
Any insights as to why the NY Teachers Union supported her? She sounds absolutely awful!
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My sentiments exactly. I hope Karen Magee isn’t going to go Ianuzzi on us.
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Democracy, the AFT and NYSUT hear from their sources in Florida that Elia collaborated with teachers and worked well with the unions. Elia supports Common Core, so do the unions. Elia supports VAM, tying test scores to teacher evaluations, and we will hope to hear more from her on that subject. New York parents are not going to abandon their opposition to high-stakes testing, and we will await her stance on this. She has never expressed opposition to high-stakes testing.
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I can tell you that the local teacher union in Hillsborough is particularly weak and has rolled over on just about everything. There has been literally no resistance from them to any of the reforms.
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Here are some insights: http://www.nysut.org/news/2015/may/nysut-encouraged-by-appointment-of-new-education-commissioner
Or what NYSUT does in regard to the Regents:
“NYSUT constantly interacts with the Regents and the State Education Department on several levels and reviews and publishes fact sheets for the membership on issues being discussed by the Regents that affect NYSUT members’ professional lives. NYSUT also discusses with the board and individual Regents the impact of proposals on our members and their work in the classroom. The adoption of common core standards is an example of this interactive effort. NYSUT is working to ensure that the new standards include a teachable program that results in improved student achievement.
The NYSUT wouldn’t want to ruin that relationship on the wedding night would they?
Couldn’t find anything about finances or outside funders of NYSUT on the site. I certainly don’t “wonder why?”.
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Read it. Orwellian! Collaboration is touted as their goal… collaborate with the enemy, not listen to the teachers. They sold out the teachers, as usual.
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This reminds me of Tony Bennett, who after being kicked out as state supt by voters in Indiana was immediately hired by Scott in Florida. I guess we could call this “recycling rejects”.
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I just think public schools will continue to get short shrift as long as we have passionate and committed charter/voucher supporters on one side and useless, potted plant “agnostics” on the other.
Public schools need an advocate in government. They don’t need more people who don’t see them as having any value and would just as soon replace them. That’s a skewed debate. Our schools will always lose if we’re dependent on The Agnostics for advocacy and support. They’re lousy at advocacy. The best they can do is this carefully calibrated “great schools!” that helps exactly no one, because it’s mostly designed not to offend their political and career patrons.
I think we deserve passionate, committed advocates FOR public schools.
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and may I add this observation at OEN, with links to all I say, to many posts on this blog.
http://www.opednews.com/Quicklink/Breaking-Ex-Superintenden-in-Best_Web_OpEds-Business_Complaint_Cuomo_Diane-Ravitch-150527-326.html#comment546726
These top -dogs play musical chairs and go from one job as top-dog, to another, while teachers are out on the streets with nothing to show for years of dedicated service. Former superintendents and chancellors collect high salaries and multiple pensions for poor performance and outright failure.
From NYC Cortinez goes to LA and Rudy Crew goes to Florida; from Belmore LI, Mucci goes to Englewood, N.J, and NYC’s Alvarado went on Dan Diego but he was not there long —, and his wife Elaine Fink, went from District 2 in NYC where she presided over the first assault on teachers, to San Diego” which threw her out saying, “we don’t treat our teachers like that , here.” (Saw it on TV!)
Top-down mandates from these hacks are now the rule since the professional voice of the educator has been removed from all conversations about education in order to ensure that the schools failed.
The final step is in play now… as legislatures across the nation with nary an educator on board, TAKE OVER the schools.
“The Wisconsin legislature wants to privatize low-performing public schools , –The federal government has spent more than $3.3 billion over the past two decades creating and fueling the charter school industry, according to a new financial analysis and reporters’ guide by the Center for Media and Democracy (CMD)”.
“Privitization is in full swing in Nashville, and look at Texas if you do not see how swiftly public education is going DOWN!: Nevada & Oklahoma legislatures have taken over the schools.”
“Reactionary Legislature in NC Set for Big Charter Expansion”
“Based on the failure of the Achievement School District in Tennessee and the phony Recovery School District in New Orleans, the Texas senate approved legislation to create a state takeover district of low-performing schools. ” The Texas Legislature is so far out of touch with the needs of children and public schools that we can only hope the legislative session ends before any of the proposals for “reform” are enacted. The Texas Observer here gives an excellent overview of what is happening in Austin that might land on the heads of kids and public schools.”
Ravitch points out: “Here is a pathetic contrast that says a whole lot about the politics of education, not only in Texas but across the nation. The latest ethics report in Texas shows that “Texans for Education Reform,” a spinoff of Democrats for Education Reform, has hired 15 lobbyiststo work the legislature this session. Most will be paid between $50,000-100,000, some less, some more. One will be paid between $150,000-200,000. This group would not call itself “Democrats for Education Reform” in Texas, because the Democratic Party is out of favor; the constituency this group appeals to would not want to be affiliated with any organization that called itself “Democrats.” The name may be helpful in fooling people in liberal states, but it would be a stigma in Texas.”
Other links from this blog, include:
Tim Slekar writes on his blog “BustED Pencils” about Milwaukee.
A story by Annie Gilbertson of public radio station KPCC reviews the dramatic increase in national spending on local school board races by the charter industry.
Historian and teacher John Thompson reports on the progress of privatization in Oklahoma.
Moody’s Investors Servicrs paints a gloomy picture of the effects of charter schools on public schools in Pennsylvania.
I could go on and on… but the tragedy is, th epublic cannot see into fifty states and almost sixteen thousand districts, so the oligharchs are taking them down one by one. Got to my series here at OEN: 15,880/50.
http://www.opednews.com/author/comments/author40790.html
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From the interview/article: “”Raising standards is a good thing. Our economy, this world, has changed in the 21st century and we need to reflect what’s necessary for students to be successful,” Elia said.”
That statement reminds me of a middle school wannabe-in-girl who can parrot what the real in-girls are saying but can’t parrot what the in-girls do—and now this wannabe-in-girl is getting her revenge.
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A teacher in my building in Williamsville CSD (Western New York) said MaryEllen Elia was her teacher at Sweet Home High School in the 1970’s and remembered her fondly. I am worried after what I have read that times have changed since the 1970’s for MaryEllen. The OPT OUT movement was strong in Western NY as well as Long Island. I’m thinking that Maryellen is valuable for being a former New York State teacher in Western NY as well as the pieces you have already mentioned. New Yorkers be careful. Wolf in sheep’s clothing…Trojan Horse.
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A wolf? Yes!
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“The More effective Evil”
The evil more effective
Is better than the lesser
If evil’s your objective
Then vote for wolf sheep-dresser
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peace, you are exactly right. The fact is, she was last in New York 29 years ago. A lot has changed in the world of education during that time period. She hasn’t been a high school history teacher for 3 decades now. Instead, her most recent history shows that she has been a champion for every reform that Bill Gates chooses to endorse. It also shows that she is a “my way or the highway” type. My forecast: nothing good comes of this.
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For those who care about Education this is a must read.
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Thank goodness parents and students weren’t relying on lawmakers and the 500 paid ed reform lobbying groups to look out for the interests of students:
“Creators of the much-maligned PARCC (Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Career) standardized tests for public schools have heard the complaints of schools and parents and have promised to make changes for next school year.”
The Common Core testing cheerleading squad were apparently wrong about these tests not being too long.
Why don’t they do their jobs and ask questions of the contractors? Why am I relying on volunteer parents and teachers to analyze and critique this giant national program? My God, the CC payroll is huge, and if you add to that the 500 lobbying groups and reams of (paid) experts we’re talking about tens of millions of dollars.
No one asked “are these tests TOO LONG for 3rd graders?”
Instead they went right to demeaning critics as scared moms who don’t know what they’re talking about?
Shouldn’t the US Dept of Ed apologize to parents for their lack of rigor and oversight?
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Apologize. They should be jailed for what they have done.
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Is there going to be some actual analysis of the Common Core? Since governors, the President and CEO’s all pre-endorsed it prior to the national experiment, is it likely that government and CEO’s will be reliable and trustworthy when determining whether it benefits students?
A lot of very fancy reputations and careers riding on this. Seems to me there’s a huge incentive to declare victory and go home.
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NO! no analysis ever… fait accompli.
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Teachers are supposed to reflect on their practice. Students are supposed to reflect on their answers. Everybody but the high muckety mucks are busily reflecting. Bill Gates doesn’t plan to reflect for ten years. Isn’t it past time for some metacognitive activity on the part of the reformers. You would think reforming would require more thought than how to spin the message. What is Gates’ message going to be after ten years? “Oops!”?
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I just don’t get it. Just when we seemed to slow down that pendulum of education deform, just when it looked as though it may actually stop swinging menacingly at us, it seems as though a collective “heave ho!” could be heard all across New York. That menacing pendulum was given a huge unanimous push by the newly revised Board of Regents with help from NYSUT and the AFT. The question remains, which direction was it pushed?
When the Regents appointed former Hillsborough, Florida, schools chief MaryEllen Elia to become New York’s education chief,is the pendulum being push towards deform or away from it? Will public schools be bowled over or will the reformers be knocked out of our path?
Which way?
Will we get the Elia that is for VAM, Common Core, high stakes testing, firing 5% of teachers every year, merit pay, and Gates’ poisoned carrot on a stick mentality? Will we get the Elia that was fired from her former gig that three of the seven elected Hillsborough County School Board members lost confidence in her for reasons that included her response to two student deaths in 2012. Will we get the Elia that embraced the magnet school movement aggressively, became known for her extensive use of student performance data.Perhaps we will get the Elia that aggressively supports charter schools.
Will we get the Elia that NYSUT touts as having a background as a high school teacher and reading specialist, and her deep roots in Western New York, make her a welcome voice in the discussion about how to improve New York’s already strong public education system?
NYSUT somehow sees a silver lining in this storm cloud.
Well,I don’t!
I see a tornado that is about to push that pendulum and knock us all down like we are pins in a “Skittle Bowl” game!skittle bowl
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It’s obvious that MaryEllen Elia was brought in becasue the previous New York Commissioner of Education wasn’t vicious enough to ram through the reforms that were wanted by Gates and his cabal.
For instance, her new role in New York is what Josef Mengele’s job was for Hitler, Cuomo’s Angel of Death for teachers, parents and children who dare to resist the Common Core high stakes mandate to get rid of public schools and replace them with corporate charters.
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Ah , the communication issue again. Isn’t that the line Cuomo used when confronted with the massive opt outs. He said something like “parents don’t understand …”
Guess we know they were thick as thieves over these past months plotting revenge.
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So, I posted some info on her on Diane’s previous post; I have since found out a few things, like where she got her ed leadership certification from (Nova Southeastern University i 1989).
As for her time in New York, this is what I found on her resume:
Sweet Home Central School District
Amherst, NY
Teacher of Social Studies courses in Grades 9 –
12 including World Cultures, World History,
American History, European History Advanced
Placement, Crucial Issues, American
Government, and American Economics.
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Never fear, New York, Elia was the 2011 Florida District Data Leader of the Year…
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