Jason France-the blogger known as “Crazy Crawfish”–is running for the Board of Elementary and Secondary
Education in Louisiana. He met with a reformer who said, I know what you against, what are you for?
This is Jason’s answer.
Start with the recognition that the costly “reforms” of the past decade have not moved the needle on student test scores. On the 2013 NAEP, Louisiana outpaced Mississippi by a whisker. Jason would not be surprised to learn that Mississippi outpaces Louisiana in 2015, making it the lowest performing state in the nation.
Jason dissects the state’s many misguided deforms, like charter schools, vouchers, and TFA.
And he lays out common sense ideas to stop the data manipulation, privatization, and lying.
Change course, he urges, before we lose public education altogether.
“Our schools have been plagued for many years by poverty, apathy, and acceptance. In many parts of the state we have allowed our schools and systems to fall into disarray.
“Our more affluent parents have abandoned the schools and they have taken their resources and parental involvement with them. Out of these ashes we’ve had some outstanding new school districts form with the backing of their communities, like Central and Zachary. (Obviously Baker is still a problem.)
“However the solution is not having the state/RSD come in and take control from the locals or chartering the school to a company based out of New York or Michigan. Rather than simply punishing low performance or problems, and completely pushing the locals out of the way, we need to work with these folks and help guide support them. This is what the LDOE used to do when our scores were going up – serving in an advisory and support capacity. This is what we need to do resume our climb from the performance dungeon the education reform movement has commissioned us to – while they drained our coffers dry.
“In New Orleans we have many local communities seeking to have their schools returned to them, like the perpetual failure John McDonogh.
“Rather than ignore and disregard these folks the state needs to embrace them and their efforts.
“We won’t have successful community schools without the community. We have mobilized communities in many parts of the state. This BESE and LDOE ignores them, mocks them and alienates them.
“Many public school parents of means are taking their kids out of public schools to homeschool them.
“Those are not victories, but tragic losses we must reverse now, before it’s too late!”
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Just made a small contribution to Jason’s BESE candidacy.
Georgia Governor Nathan Deal, in cahoots with Atlanta superintendent Meria Carstarphen and her TFA-dominated school board, is fast moving to an RSD but called OSD (Opportunity School District). Just last evening Atlanta school board voted up Carstarphen’s wanting to hire, on a $96,000 no-bid contract basis, Gov. Deal’s OSD architect, Erin Hames. Why? Because Hames can “help Atlanta’s school system fend off” Deal’s OSD and, according to Carstarphen, Hames can “… help APS fix the past and be set up better for the future.”
http://politics.blog.ajc.com/2015/08/10/nathan-deals-top-education-adviser-leaving-to-help-schools-fend-off-takeovers/
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Thanks Ed. I was wondering where you came from or how you had heard of me. I will be laying out some more issues with our recovery school district, that might be helpful in your fight, soon.
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Jason looks at “poverty, apathy, and acceptance” as a primary source of our school problems. I purport that we must search deeper yet. There are five major reasons why students cannot meet the standards witch the politicians and the corporate world hand out.
Reason #1There is a connection between the reading program students use in the lower graders and used later on. Cunningham and Stanovich (1997) found that first-grade reading achievement strongly predicts 11th-grade reading achievement. http://www.bartonreading.com/research2.html
We know that the reading program CC mandates is anchored in phonics. Research has shown a phonetic approach is flawed. Phonics is only one aspect of a successful three-pronged approach. How can phonics be the primary approach to reading when there are so many varied speech patterns around the country? How can the same phonics program be taught throughout the states when only the Midwest uses Standardized English? How can different regions with their various accents and dialects teach phonics when so many sounds are distorted. Students on their own must be using more of the whole word approach in lieu of sounding/blending or learning words through analogy. Furthermore, students have an unnecessary challenge in trying to learn through phonics – trying to decode words via Standard English and then translate into another language – their accent or dialect language. It is like learning another language – Standard English in lieu of what they speak. Contrived and meaningless sentences compound the task.
In a document published by nonprofit educational center, CELT, entitled “Center for Expansion of Language and Thinking”
http://www.celtlink.org/fact-sheet-9-phonics-and-dialects-of-english/
addresses the problem of different dialects in the teaching of phonics. “There is a single spelling across dialects that pronounce words very differently. .. The pretense of a single set of phonics rules is not only confusing, it damages people’s chances for school success. Most standardized reading tests have a section on phonics that asks students to match rhyming words or to identify words with similar sounds. …Out-of-context, uninformed phonics instruction is not only confusing; it makes the learning of phonics harder. And when the rules being taught in out-of-context lessons do not match the learner’s own dialect, it is that much more confusing and that much harder to learn. Yet another barrier for far too many children! ”
“Familiar words can be read as fast as single letters. Under some conditions, words can be identified when the separate letters cannot be. Meaningful context speeds word identification. All phonics can be expected to do is help children get approximate pronunciations.” Becoming a Nation of Readers p. 11
Reason #2 The lack of prior knowledge is a very basic problem. Just because students didn’t pass the state tests doesn’t mean they can’t read- they are simply asked to read material that they can’t relate to. In order to construct meaning the reader must be able to relate to what he/she is reading. Frank Smith, a psycholinguist, in Comprehension and Learning
Click to access franksmith3.pdf
maintains that what is behind the eye ball is more important than what is in front- the visual/text. But instead of building on their prior knowledge, Common Core directs teachers to the practice of “Close Reading.” “Closed reading” is contrary to what constitutes good reading instruction. A good teacher bridges the text to the students’ prior knowledge. In order to gleam some understanding of a text, the reader must be able to relate to the subject matter in some way. “Closed Reading” just attacks students confidence and makes the students more anxious. A good teacher may spend an entire lesson on building background knowledge via a video, pictures, field trip, maps etc. Also, Common Core negates the importance of prediction. Being able to predict is an indication that the student understands/comprehends.
How is it possible to construct a valid national standardized test with so many major regional differences? Is it possible to create a test that is not biased? Pearson Company, a British company whose main office is in England, publishes the tests. Who are the people who construct them? The British?
Reason #3 The third major problem is stealing learning time away from students. In Finland the students take only one standardized test in their academic career. We are wasting precious student time with all this unnecessary testing and test preparation . “… test prep and testing absorbed 19 full school days in one district and a month and a half in the other in heavily tested grades.” The best way to increase reading skills is by reading independently. Instead of giving students time to do extended reading, students have to waste time in test prep and testing. “How much time do school districts spend on standardized testing? This Much “The Answer sheet 7/25/13
It is only through reading that a child can learn to identify new words on the basis of old. Too often formal instruction in reading doesn’t provide enough independent reading. Independent reading at school and at home supports the learning of reading. Here the parent/caregiver must play a part. Where there is a will the effects of poverty and apathy can be over come. A child doesn’t need to be rich to go to the public library and take advantage of all it has to offer. In the early history of Kentucky books came to homes via a horse back rider. As Jason stated, apathy is a major problem but you don’t have to be rich to change one’s attitude. Where there is a will attitude can be changed also.
Reason #4 Failure to pass the reading portion of standardized test from first grade on, starts eroding a student’s confidence and attacking the student’s ego. A defeatist attitude is most difficult to overcome.
The standardized tests not only blocks reasoning powers and put fear in the hearts and minds of students and they lose confidence. Frank Smith states, “…when an individual is anxious or unsure of himself/herself or has experienced an unhappy succession of ‘failures’, his/her behavior exhibits an inevitable consequence: he demands far more information before he makes a decision. His very hesitancy aggravates his difficulties. …The more anxious he is, the less likely he will be to rely on non visual information. …Where the relaxed individual sees order, the tense individual sees visual confusion.” The old saying, “Nothing succeeds like success.” That is why Marie Clay’s approach with the emergent reader prevents students from making a mistakes.
Frank Smith purports, “Remedial action with older students who are diagnosed as ‘reading problems’ may magnify difficulties rather than facilitate fluency. The main need of a student inexperienced in reading is to engage in reading that is easy, interesting, and can relate to. Instead he is likely to get less reading, contrived, meaningless text and more isolated, meaningless drill. Material that is challenging …rather than easy, raises the anxiety level so that reading is neither meaningful nor pleasant. The problem of a fifteen-year-old who has difficulty reading may not be insufficiency of instruction, but that his previous years of instruction have made learning to read more difficult. …After ten years of instructional bruising a student may be far more in need of a couple of years …in education convalescence than an aggravation of his injuries.”
I maintain that students should never struggle. Regardless how far behind a student is from what is considered “on level” reading, a teacher must start instruction/reading at the student’s instructional level. Easy reading builds up confidence and then the student can begin to make progress. Common Core totally ignores “instructional” level and advocates, at times, giving students text that will be a challenge/struggle- an erroneous mandate.
Smith maintains that reading is essential in order to read. Reading should be made as easy as possible for children. Instead of drilling phonetic elements and words in isolation, back ground knowledge should be developed so the child can identify with the text. The less the student can relate to the story the more difficult the task of reading.
If the child meets a word he/she does not know he can predict or guess with the help of knowing the sound of the initial letter and what would make sense. Only if the student can relate to the text can the student predict words and develop higher order thinking skills.
Standardized tests are not the tool to validate a student’s progress and the teacher’s teaching ability.
Reason #5 My fifth point of concern is the absorbent cost of testing. “Many districts have increased class sizes and reduced services to students. Some leave closed libraries and laid off librarian, social workers, counselors, and psychologists. Many thousands of teachers have lost their jobs…” It boggles my mind how districts can spend millions of dollars on testing material but lay off teachers, close libraries…!!!!!!! Some are even getting rid of art, music, dance, electives, etc. The very activity that could give students a chance to excel, boost their ego, give them confidence is taken away! Oh woe to those who are out to destroy our youth. “With no gym, art class, librarians, or significant science or social studies…”!!!!!!!
School Testing In U.S. Costs $1.7 Billion, But That May Not Be Enough: Report 11/29/12 Huff Post http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/29/school-testing_n_2214362.html
The Midwestern district spent $600 or more for standardized testing per pupil in grades 3-8; about $200 per student for grades K-2; from $400 to $600 per student for grades 9-11. The Eastern district spent more than $1,100 annually on testing per student in grades 6-11; around $400 per student in grades 1-2; between $700 and $800 per student for grades 3-5. The Answer sheet 7/25/13
If we gave only one standardized test during the students academic career as they do in Finland, think of all the money that would be available to hire the needed reading specialists for every building. At Risk students should received extra help daily with a reading specialists working in tandem with the classroom teacher- two classes of reading instruction daily. Teachers’ assessments should be good enough for the administration and politicians. It has been stated countless times: students are individuals each with their own gifts. Politicians nor the corporate world can standardized them. Can you imagine how boring life would be if every child had the same interests, acted and spoke the same way?
My last concern: What is the purpose of publishing scores or rating schools? its a form of discrimination.
We must start educating the care givers and change their attitudes. If parents can’t read, there are read-a-long tapes/ discs. There are computers in the libraries to listen to read-a-longs. What ever excuse you give me I can give you a solution. You don’t have to be rich to become educated- to develop students’ potential. Where there is a will there is a way- not the corporate world’s way. We need to get back to supporting public education – not testing it. We need to realize that “one size does not fit all.”
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