Archives for the month of: August, 2015
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Paul Horton: Public Education Nears a “Tipping Point”

By dianeravitch
August 19, 2015 //
28

“Liberty produces wealth, and wealth destroys liberty”
Henry Demarest Lloyd

News that teacher shortages exist in many states is not surprising to the nation’s educators.

Many, if not most, teachers in the United States today do not feel as though they are respected. Public school teachers feel as though their profession is under assault in a country that seems to be abandoning the idea of public education.

Those who seek to defund public education and replace it with a corporate model that makes use of market mechanisms to serve “strivers” and their families sound very well intended.

Education “reformers” typically target takeovers of inner city schools by managers who see charter school networks as assets in stock portfolios. Much as investment firms have bought up distressed mortgages, investors in charter schools envision long-term investment and risk leading to long-term dividends. These fledgling education capitalists sing a confident song of win-win: their schools will close the “achievement gap” between inner city and suburban youth and display the data proving it in “real-time.” They proof will be displayed in the “data,” lighting the path for the disruption of public schools and relieving tax-payers of school pension debt as the corporate school model displaces public control of schooling. The key source of profit for this privatization scheme, the real target of education capitalists, is the destruction of teacher unions. Investors will benefit by profit margins derived at the expense of teachers and their families. With the institution of work to order regimes that pay charter schoolteachers lower salaries, fewer benefits, and that offer virtually no workplace protections; investors will be able to realize more value in their portfolios.

That the Obama administration made a Faustian bargain with Republicans on public education is blindingly obvious. Long before Obama considered a run for the presidency, his best friend, Marty Nesbitt, along with Rahm Emanuel and the major Chicago developer clans: the Rauners, the Crowns, and the Pritzkers guided the creation of public-private partnerships to build housing to replace the city’s decaying and crime-ridden behemoth public housing projects under the Clinton era Hope Acts.

These same individuals, not surprisingly, turned to public-private initiatives in education, by founding and funding the Noble Charter chain. These schools cater to the city’s inner-city “strivers.” While the resources provided by the Pritzkers, Crowns, and Rauners to these schools and their students represent a sterling display of civic investment, what they give they hope will be multiplied by more investment in similar charter enterprises. Mr. Nesbitt predictably has started an investment firm, the Vistria Group, that seeks to attract investors into the charter school education business. Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker, has expressed great confidence in Mr. Nesbitt and the Vistria Group.

The direction of Obama education policy was thus built on two factors: the focus on building public-private partnerships in education modeled on the dismantling of the Chicago Housing authority and the need to attract Silicon Valley and tech sector billionaires, most prominently, Bill Gates. The tech billionaires also wanted more access to school markets and the privatization of public schools could free up money that would otherwise go to teacher salaries and benefits. When the Obama transition team chose Arne Duncan as Education secretary over arguably the most knowledgeable and able education researcher in the country, Linda Darling-Hammond, the die was cast.

Mr. Duncan was never a teacher and thus has little empathy for teachers or teaching. His favorite teacher, a University of Chicago Laboratory High School English teacher, has expressed “concern for the future of her profession” in the wake of attacks on teachers coming from Bill Gates and his foundation, Michael Bloomberg, Republican governors, representatives of the Bush and Obama administrations, and most prominently, her former student.

Many teachers view Mr. Duncan’s Race to the Top Initiative as a failure and the recent revision of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act as a necessary corrective to out of control Federal, state, and local testing mandates that turn teaching into a nightmare.

We have reached an Education tipping point in the United States. We can either reverse course and end our romance with the privatization of Education and our obsession with standardized testing regimes, or our resourced starved public schools will simply collapse, trapped as they are in a zero-sum game of diminishing resources.

The editorial pages and publishers of the New York Times and the Tribune Company have served as the praetorian guard of education reform movement sponsored by well-intentioned plutocrats who have little or no first hand knowledge about the everyday challenges that face most public school teachers, students, and parents.

Our political leaders need to begin to listen to parents who opt their kids out of invalid and ridiculous tests, teachers who are quitting or fleeing teacher hostile states like Kansas, Indiana, North Carolina, and Arizona, and potentially excellent candidates for teaching who decide that teaching is not a rewarding profession.

Disruption is leading us down the wrong road.

Paul Horton teaches history at the University of Chicago Laboratory Schools. His views in no way reflect the views of the board or the administration of the Laboratory Schools (several former members of this board are mentioned in this article)

Categories Charter Schools, Chicago, Corporate Reform, Duncan, Arne, Obama, Privatization

Fred LeBrun: The Opt Out Movement is a Force for Change

By dianeravitch
August 19, 2015 //
34

Fred LeBrun of the Albany Times-Union is one of the most thoughtful commentators on education in Néw York state. He knows that Néw York’s test-and-punish regime is a disaster. Unlike the Néw York Times editorial board, he hails the opt out leaders as heroes.

Civil disobedience is justified when your elected representatives turn their backs on you and refuse to listen. Opt out is a beautiful and intelligent response to a ridiculous testing regime that undermines education and demoralizes educators.

Fred gets it. He writes:

“So much rests on such tiny shoulders.

“And make no mistake while you pack those lunches, it’s all about a political agenda being crudely and arrogantly imposed on education across the country. We know who the banner carrier has been here in New York.

“Of all that Gov. Andrew Cuomo will have to answer for after he finally vacates his current post for whatever cave will have him, near the top has to be the damage he’s done to public schooling in New York.

“With his trademark heavy hand, Cuomo has politicized public education down to every student, and for our times and state, singlehandedly taken the pleasure and satisfaction out of learning, and teaching. Not to mention he put new and needless pressures and anxieties on tens of thousands of young parents caught in the middle of these wars.

“All in the name of the most misused word in the dictionary: reform.

“Although we can indeed thank Cuomo for helping make New York No. 1 somewhere on the public education scoreboard.

“We lead the nation in opting out of high-stakes standardized tests, primarily because those privatized tests of questionable merit were rammed down our throats earlier here than in other states…

“So, look for another tempestuous spring on the Opt Out front, with numbers refusing the tests increasing.

“That’s despite empty threats the feds may withhold some Title 1 funding. Empty because the emerging bipartisan will of Congress for the coming reauthorization of Race to the Top is to detach fiscal consequences from opting out of standardized tests. A response to an emerging public will.

“Long term, things are looking up. The Cuomo fiasco will collapse. Commissioner Elia promises a committee including parents and teachers will look hard at New York’s Common Core plan with an eye toward changes. That’s a necessary step in the right direction.

“The Board of Regents is growing a brain on the subject as its membership changes, and the Legislature is likely to become emboldened to make right what they voted poorly on when Cuomo had them over a barrel.

“Much of this is driven by what Opt Out has accomplished. We owe them a great deal.”

Categories New York, Opt Out, Parents, Resistance, Standardized Testing

Delaware Commissioner Mark Murphy Resigning

By dianeravitch
August 18, 2015 //
7

Delaware State Commissioner Mark Murphy is stepping down.

“Many legislators, the teachers, administrators, and parents had lost confidence in Secretary Murphy, but he had the confidence of the man who mattered, Jack Markell. The DSEA [Delaware State Education Association] voted no confidence in his leadership. Legislators complained about the strong arm tactics to force through Common Core. Parents rallied and protested the Smarter Balanced Assessment. He had been called out of touch, but he claimed his efforts led to significant achievements.”

Murphy was a strong proponent of Common Core and Race to the Top. He was one of the few remaining members of Jeb Bush’s shrinking “Chiefs for Change.”

Until recently, the Chiefs included Gerard Robinson (FL), Tony Bennett (IN, FL) , Chris Cerf (NJ), Mike Miles (Dallas), Deborah Gist (switching from RI to Tulsa)), Janet Barresi (OK), Kevin Huffman (TN), Stephen Bowen (ME), and Chris Barbic (Tenn). All are gone, although Gist is still a “Chief” as district superintendent in Tulsa.

The only two original members left are John White and Hannah Skandera, neither of whom is popular with educators or parents.

The original Chiefs for Change was funded by Jeb Bush’s Foundation for Educational Excellence.

Categories Bush, Jeb, Chiefs for Change, Common Core, Delaware

Billionaires Fund Education News at LA Times

By dianeravitch
August 18, 2015 //
55

Just when you thought it couldn’t get worse, you read a story like this.

It is a letter from the publisher of the Los Angeles Times informing readers that a group of wealthy foundations are underwriting expanded coverage of education. Not surprising to see the Eli Broad Foundation in the mix. Former Mayor Richard Riordan is not listed but you can be sure he is involved.

These control freaks–er, philanthropists–worry that the LAT has not provided enough space to cover this vital topic.

Publisher Austin Beutner writes:

“We are calling our initiative Education Matters, and I encourage you to join us as we explore the issues that matter most to you and your child. If you want to understand the latest debate on curriculum or testing, find out about the role of student health in learning, study how charter schools are changing public education or experience a classroom from the perspective of a teacher, then Education Matters will be an essential destination.

“With an expanded team of reporters, we will take a fresh approach to our news and analysis starting with today’s stories about the unique challenges facing LAUSD and the last year-round school in Los Angeles. Our editorial pages feature a guest column by U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan on the need for more investment in math and science education. You will find our reports at latimes.com/schools in English and Spanish.

“In the coming months, we will convene public forums to address topics such as educational education policy, saving for college and talking to your child’s teacher. We intend these conversations to be both thoughtful and practical.”

A guest column by Arne Duncan! Now there’s a fresh perspective!

I wonder if I will ever be invited to write for the LA Times again?

Categories Corporate Reformers, Los Angeles, Media

Common Core Standards: To Know Them is not to Love Them

By dianeravitch
August 18, 2015 //
24

Politico reports on the opinion poll conducted by the rightwing journal Education Next:

“COMMON CORE WAR MELLOWING?: Support for the Common Core standards is dropping, but it’s not in a freefall. In fact, it might even be stabilizing. Education Next’s new annual survey [http://bit.ly/1KsoOF2 ] released with the Program on Education Policy and Governance at Harvard Kennedy School shows overall support slipped this year, falling four percentage points to 49 percent. A year earlier, however, support fell 12 points in one year. The survey has two more key takeaways on Common Core: Democrats over Republicans favor the standards (by a 57 percent to 37 percent margin), and the standards are becoming less popular with teachers. (Seventy-six percent of teachers in 2013 said they support the standards compared to 40 percent this year).”

To read the Education Next report, go here.

The big story here is the dramatic decline in support for the standards by teachers: from 76% in 2013 to 40% in 2015. That is a dramatic decline. Teachers know the standards. The general public does not. Pay attention to the connoisseurs.

While Education Next says a majority oppose opting out from tests, what is remarkable is that a third of parents and teachers support it. Acts of conscience do not require majority approval. If the civil rights movement and legislators had abided by opinion polls in the 1950s and 1960s, American society would still have laws requiring racial segregation.

Categories Common Core, Opinion Polling

Mercedes Schneider: Jeb Bush Doesn’t Remember What Common Core Is

By dianeravitch
August 18, 2015 //
18

Mercedes Schneider wrote a book about Common Core (“The Common Core Dilemma: Who Owns Our Schools?), and she knows its history as well as anyone. One thing she knows is that Jeb Bush was one of the biggest supporters of the Common Core. When the criticism started, he defended Common Core. When the criticism intensified, he said he would not cut and run from Common Core. He stood on principle in their defense. He saw the Common Core standards as the answer to closing achievement gaps and doing all sorts of important and good things.

But now that he is in a hotly contested primary campaign, he forgot what the Common Core standards are. He doesn’t remember supporting them. He just likes high standards. He wants to get as far away from the Common Core brand as possible. It has become “poisonous,” he said recently.

Categories Bush, Jeb, Common Core

The Onion: State Sets High Goal for Teachers

By dianeravitch
August 18, 2015 //
8

The Onion is the best journal in the nation on the subject of education. With tongue in cheek, they see through the fraud of corporate reform.

In this article, the Onion reports that the Illinois State Department of Education set a new goal for teachers:

“In an effort to hold classroom instructors more accountable, the Illinois State Board of Education unveiled new statewide education standards Friday that require public school teachers to forever change the lives of at least 30 percent of their students. “Under our updated educator evaluation policy, teachers must make an unforgettable, lifelong impact on at least three of every 10 students and instill a love of learning in them that lasts the rest of their lives,” said chairman James Meeks, adding that based on the annual assessments, if 30 percent of students don’t recall a particular teacher’s name when asked to identify the most influential and inspiring person in their lives, that instructor would be promptly dismissed.”

Even better, teachers will be held accountable if more than 40% end up in prison.

Guess the Onion has been reading Raj Chetty.

Categories Humor, Teachers

EduShyster: What Happened to the Teachers at a Charter School Who Voted to Join a Union

By dianeravitch
August 18, 2015 //
33

EduShyster here tells the sad story of the teachers at Urban Prep Academy in Chicago. They voted to form a union, and most of those who did were fired. Period.

This is the same charter school that Arne Duncan praised at the 20th anniversary celebration of Teach for America, where he claimed that replacing the entire staff had produced dramatically different results. Gary Rubinstein wrote about that speech here, and it turned out to be a defining moment for Gary, who turned against the “reform” charade.

EduShyster writes that

the teachers decided to form a union to redress what they saw as a serious problem: Urban Prep administrators’ lack of accountability to, well, anyone. So on June 3rd, a majority of teachers voted *yes* to having a union in a secret-ballot election. But instead of our story ending here, this is the point at which we stumble onto the treacherous shoals of labor law. You see, it took the Labor Board weeks to certify the results of the election due to large number of ballots that school administrators were contesting. And during this *grey area* period when the new union wasn’t yet officially official, Urban Prep fired sixteen teachers. Hows come? Well, because they could. Administrators are arguing that until the exact moment that the union becomes official, they are allowed to do whatever it is they feel like doing. Which would seem to be an example of exactly the kind of asshole-ish behavior that prompted teachers at the charter network to form a union in the first place.

In short order, 16 teachers were fired. 80% of them are African-American. The Chicago Alliance of Charter Teachers and Staff, which now represents teachers at Urban Prep, has filed unfair labor practices over the firings of all 16 teachers.

Incidents like this one reminds us of why workers formed unions long ago, and why corporate America is so eager to crush the last of them.

Categories Charter Schools, Chicago, Unions

David Bloomfield to Newshour: Please Do Not Get Education Content from Education Week

By dianeravitch
August 18, 2015 //
15

David Bloomfield, a professor of education at Brooklyn College was alarmed to read the following announcement by Education Week’s CEO, Virginia Edwards.

Learning Matters TV is acquired by Education Week.

FROM:
Virginia B. Edwards
President and Editor-in-Chief

August 11, 2015

Dear Readers,

It is with great enthusiasm and excitement that I share the news that Education Week has acquired Learning Matters TV.

With the acquisition of Learning Matters, a video-production company based in New York City, Education Week will greatly expand its visual storytelling around the issues, people, and news developments shaping American education. We look forward to producing broadcast-quality segments for the PBS NewsHour and other outlets as well as expanding the amount of digital video we produce and disseminate on edweek.org, YouTube, and other distribution platforms.

I am convinced that this acquisition is a game-changer for Education Week, even as our current and expanding audience will be the ultimate beneficiaries.

As the leading independent provider of news and analysis in pre-K-12 education, we have evolved over the years from a print-only publication to a 24/7 digital news operation. At a time when many news organizations have struggled to sustain their audiences, and even their businesses, the nonprofit Education Week is a success story. Our news operation has not only survived the media disruption of recent years, but leveraged it, catalyzing our authoritative coverage with even more engaging and diversified forms of journalism.

For more than two decades, the nonprofit Learning Matters has been celebrated for its award-winning video news segments and documentaries on education in America, from the preschool years through career training and higher education. As you may have heard, John Merrow, who founded Learning Matters in 1995, announced his retirement last month.

Education Week’s acquisition of Learning Matters unites the strengths and sensibilities of two trusted news organizations dedicated to improving student outcomes through better-informed policymaking and more effective educator practice.

Please be on the lookout for our new line of Education Week-branded video and please be in touch with suggestions about how we can continue to serve you better.

In response, Bloomfield wrote this letter to the Newshour:

From: David Bloomfield <davidcbloomfield@gmail.com>
Date: August 11, 2015 at 2:43:52 PM EDT
To: “Viewermail@newshour.org” <Viewermail@newshour.org>
Cc: “john.merrow@gmail.com” <john.merrow@gmail.com>, “gined@epe.org” <gined@epe.org>
Subject: Please Reconsider Carrying Learning Matters Content after EdWeek Acquisition

To NewsHour Management:

As a professional consumer of Education news and as a regular NewsHour viewer, I am disheartened by the purchase of Learning Matters by Education Week and the apparent intention, according to EdWeek, that Learning Matters will continue to be a primary provider of Education content to the NewsHour.

Education Week long ago stopped being an independent news source, having sold its editorial soul to its funders. They will tell you otherwise but in letting funders like Gates, Broad, Cooke, and Walton, among others determine the types of stories covered (generally tech, testing, and charters), EdWeek has allowed itself to be used as a promotion vehicle for these organizations’ “corporate-reform”, profit-centered agenda and systematically disregarded stories without specific funding streams that might otherwise be covered.

Until now, the NewsHour has done a pretty good job of not falling into this issue-based funding trap. I urge you to reconsider the NewsHour’s association with the new owners of Learning Matters who appear to have no such scruples.

Sincerely,
David C. Bloomfield
Professor of Education Leadership, Law & Policy
Brooklyn College and The CUNY Graduate Center
davidcbloomfield@gmail.com
718-877-6353

Categories Education Industry, Media

Gene V. Glass: Why I Quit the Field of Measurement

By dianeravitch
August 18, 2015 //
29

Gene V. Glass is one of our mation’s superstar researchers of education. His field for many decades was measurement. He describes how hopeful the field was that better measurement of students would solve important problems.

But in this post, he explains that he is resigning from his field. Measurement has over promised and under delivered.

“The degrading of public education has involved impugning its effectiveness, cutting its budget, and busting its unions. Educational measurement has been the perfect tool for accomplishing all three: cheap and scientific looking….

“Teachers and many parents understand that children’s development is far too complex to capture with an hour or two taking a standardized test. So resistance has been met with legislated mandates. The test company lobbyists convince politicians that grading teachers and schools is as easy as grading cuts of meat. A huge publishing company from the UK has spent $8 million in the past decade lobbying Congress. Politicians believe that testing must be the cornerstone of any education policy.

“The results of this cronyism between corporations and politicians have been chaotic. Parents see the stress placed on their children and report them sick on test day. Educators, under pressure they see as illegitimate, break the rules imposed on them by governments. Many teachers put their best judgment and best lessons aside and drill children on how to score high on multiple-choice tests. And too many of the best teachers exit the profession.

“When measurement became the instrument of accountability, testing companies prospered and schools suffered. I have watched this happen for several years now. I have slowly withdrawn my intellectual commitment to the field of measurement. Recently I asked my dean to switch my affiliation from the measurement program to the policy program. I am no longer comfortable being associated with the discipline of educational measurement.”

Categories Data and Data Mining, Standardized Testing
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