Tim Farley is a public school parent and advocate in upstate New York. In this post, he describes the way that the New York State Education Department has manipulated test scores to avoid providing needed academic interventions for students who fail.
With the Common Core tests producing a failure rate of 70%, who will give the students the remediation to which they are legally entitled?
I first learned about Roland Fryer, Jr., a Harvard economist, when he devised an experiment to pay students for raising test scores in several cities, which failed. Subsequently, he seemed to be involved in other such experiments where the methodology always involved incentives for teachers or students to get higher scores. Here is an outside review of the merit pay plan he designed for New York City. Another of his less-than-successful incentive plans was called “loss aversion.” It works like this: the district gives teachers a $4,000 bonus at the start of the school year; if scores go up, they keep it. If scores don’t go up, they give the money back.
That gave me an idea: how about “loss aversion” for economists? If their predictions are wrong, their computer is confiscated. Or their pay is cut. Or they lose a digit on one finger.
Mercedes Schneider decided to learn more about Fryer after learning that Charlie Baker, the Republican governor, had appointed Fryer to the State Board of Education. The state is on the verge of deciding whether to stick with its MCAS state tests or switch to PARCC. The State Commissioner of Education for Massachusetts, Mitchell Chester, is chair of the PARCC Governing Board. Gosh, I wonder which test they will choose?
Schneider wondered, who is Roland Fryer, Jr.
She writes that Fryer was “promoted from assistant professor to full professor after a single year on the Harvard University faculty (and skipping right over associate professor, to boot).
“Fryer is also the faculty director of Harvard University-based EdLabs, which describes itself as just a helpful group of individuals with no agenda:”
Here is their agenda:
We are an eclectic collection of scientists, educators, and implementers with diverse backgrounds and vast experience, generating ideas and implementing experiments that have the potential to transform education.
Edlabs has no political affiliation or agenda to promote. We squeeze truths from data. People may not always like what we discover, but we will disseminate our results no matter what we find.
Sounds good, yes?
But then she checked out EdLab’s associates and funding, and almost every notable reformer group was there.
Among his advisors: Joel Klein, Condoleeza Rice, and Eli Broad.
Among his funders: the usual suspects. You can guess, or read the post.
Schneider reports on one of Fryer’s ideas to close the achievement gap: don’t test the affluent districts (like the one he lives in), because it would leave less time for reading Shakespeare; but test the poor kids daily.
As I have said on more than one occasion, tests are a measure, not an educational intervention. They measure gaps, they don’t close them. If you have a fever, you can find out how high it is with a thermometer, but taking your temperature again and again will not lower your fever.
The Koch brothers are two of the richest men on the planet. They plan to plop $1 billion–give or take a few million–into the 2016 Presidential race. Their original candidate was Scott Walker but he seems to be shrinking by the day.
You might be interested in knowing which products benefit their bottom line. Most of the consumer products are either paper towels or toilet paper.
Here is a list. Here is another.
Be a savvy shopper.
And if you care about public education, avoid Walmart.
You can watch the live streaming of the UTLA protest against Eli Broad at the opening of his new museum here.
It will be live streamed TODAY at 9 AM Pacific Time, which is 12 pm EST.
Why picket Eli Broad?
He has funded every attack against the teaching profession, against teachers’ right to collective bargaining, and against public schools. This, despite the fact, that he graduated from the public schools of Michigan. He wants to fill America’s cities and communities with non-union charter schools.
In Los Angeles, his foundation has committed to opening enough charter schools to enroll 50 percent of L.A.’s students. Broad is committed to raise $1 billion from other foundations for his privatization plan. Imagine what he could do for the children of Los Angeles if he raised the same amount to reduce class sizes, to restore arts education and librarians, and to hire social workers and guidance counselors.
The president of the UTLA, Alex Caputo-Pearl has challenged Eli Broad to a debate. Broad has not responded.
Who elected him to privatize the public schools of Los Angeles and the nation?
Angry parents and educators bombarded Senator Legg, chair of the Senate Education Committee in Florida, with 45,000 letters, complaining about the state’s standardized tests. Kathleen Oporeza of Fund Education Now spurred the protests by pointing out that the tests had so many problems that the results were invalid and should not be used to grade schools or teachers.
She wrote:
“There isn’t a Florida student, parent, teacher, superintendent, board member or administrator who doesn’t see through this charade. Superintendents from Leon to Miami-Dade have expressed their deep concerns. The study’s own numbers point out that just 65 percent of the test items match the Florida Standards. It concludes that it would be wrong to retain students or deny diplomas based on the 2015 FSA, yet Commissioner Stewart plans to use these same flawed test results to set pass/fail cut scores, grade schools and evaluate teachers. It’s fundamentally unfair to punish teachers and grade schools based on scores where 35 percent of the test items were never taught to Florida students.
“Put another way, if a student answered every question based on the Florida standards correctly, he would receive a 65 or a D letter grade. It’s hard to reconcile this poor finding with Commissioner Stewart’s glowing reaction to the study. Who or what is she trying to protect?”
Senator Legg responded to protestors, claiming it was too late and there was nothing he could do. Apparently in Florida, the Legislature can pile on tests, but it can’t reduce them or prevent their misuse.
Jessica Bakeman of Politico wrote:
“TALLAHASSEE — A key state senator said Thursday it’s time to stop harping on the problems that arose during state standardized testing earlier this year because there’s little the Legislature can do to fix it now anyway.
“Sen. John Legg, who chairs the chamber’s pre-kindergarten to 12th grade education committee, said it’s not worth entertaining district leaders’ push for education officials to withhold school grades after cyber attacks and technical glitches disrupted state testing for thousands of students.
“Legg, a Republican from Lutz, believes results from the state’s controversial new exams are valid for use in evaluating schools’ performance. But even if they weren’t, he said, lawmakers wouldn’t be able to stop the Department of Education from assigning school grades.”
Florida may be the testing Capitol of the nation. But no one can stop this train wreck.
Oporeza wrote:
“After decades of micro-managing public education, Legg claims “there’s nothing the legislature can do.” He goes on to assert that they are “unable to stop” Commissioner Pam Stewart and the Department of Education from setting pass/fail cut scores, issuing school grades or using the flawed scores to evaluate teachers. Legg’s comment lacks credibility. He knows Stewart is an unelected political appointee with an ardent penchant for rule following. The FSA testing mess was wholly created by the Florida Legislature. Period.
“During the Senate hearing, politicians were dogmatic about preserving the political agenda of “ed reform.” Even though the EdCount/Alpine study team will not deem the FSA 100% “valid,” committee members said any discussion of alternatives is useless. Looking for a better way, such as using limited standardized tests only as transparent diagnostic tools would destroy Florida’s A-F Accountability scheme. Reformers know that without high stakes there would be no classroom fear or chaos. There would be no leverage to use against us.”
At 3:30 pm EST–less than one hour—Robin Hiller of the Network for Public Education will interview Jitu Brown, one of the hunger strikers at Dyett High School in Chicago. Jitu is a member of the board of NPE.
Robin has a regular radio show in Tucson. http://www.kvoi.com/live-stream/
The hunger strike has ended!
Learn what happened.
You can watch the live streaming of the UTLA protest against Eli Broad at the opening of his new museum here.
It will be live streamed TOMORROW at 9 AM Pacific Time, which is noon, EST.
Why picket Eli Broad?
He has funded every attack against the teaching profession, against teachers’ right to collective bargaining, and against public schools. This, despite the fact, that he graduated from the public schools of Michigan. He wants to fill America’s cities and communities with non-union charter schools.
In Los Angeles, his foundation has committed to opening enough charter schools to enroll 50 percent of L.A.’s students. Broad is committed to raise $1 billion from other foundations for his privatization plan. Imagine what he could do for the children of Los Angeles if he raised the same amount to reduce class sizes, to restore arts education and librarians, and to hire social workers and guidance counselors.
The president of the UTLA, Alex Caputo-Pearl has challenged Eli Broad to a debate. Broad has not responded.
Who elected him to privatize the public schools of Los Angeles and the nation?
The blog is fortunate to have its own poet, who goes by the nom de plume of “Some DamPoet.” He/she frequently regales us with witty poems to fit the moment. This one is fashioned after Alfred Noyes'”The Highwayman.”
“The Mywayman” (after “The Highwayman”, by Alfred Noyes)
PART ONE
THE VAM was a torrent of darkness among reformy goals
The school was a ghostly galleon tossed upon rocky shoals
The Test was a ribbon of Pearson tying the Common Core,
And the Mywayman came riding—
Riding—riding—
The Mywayman came riding, up to the school-house door.
He’d a half-cocked plan in his forehead, a shill of Gates for his spin,
A coat of the cleanest whitewash, and breeches of law within;
Though served with a Lederman wrinkle (the suits were up to his thigh!)
He rode with a jeweled twinkle,
His ed-u-bots a-twinkle,
His Tests and VAMs a twinkle, under the New York sky.
Over the cobbles he clattered and clashed in the dark school-yard,
And he tapped with his Test on the shutters, but all was locked and barred;
He whistled a tune to the window, and who should be waiting there
But the Test Lord’s VAM-eyed Super,
Elia, the New York Super
Planting a bright red “Opt Not!!” inside the “Opt out” lair.
And dark in the dark old school-yard a rusty swing-set creaked
Where Diane the Blogger listened; her curiosity piqued;
Her eyes were filled with sadness, her worry was plain as day,
For she loved the public schoolhouse,
The American public schoolhouse
Alert as can be she listened, and she heard the Gov’nor say—
“Hear this, my well-paid Super, I’m after a prize to-night,
And I shall make Opt-out parents fold before the morning light;
Yet, if they press me sharply, and harry me through the day,
Then look for me by moonlight,
Watch for me by moonlight,
I’ll come to thee by moonlight, though parents should bar the way.”
He rose upright in the stirrups; he scarce could hide his rage ,
He tried to mask what the case meant, but face read like a page
As the franks and beans from the dinner were mingling with his bile
He cursed its taste in the moonlight,
(Oh, putrid taste in the moonlight!)
Then he tugged at his reign in the moonlight, and galloped away to Long Isle.
PART TWO
He did not come in the dawning; he did not come at noon;
And out o’ the tawny sunset, before the rise o’ the moon,
When the Test was a Mobius ribbon, looping the Coleman lore,
An Opt-out troop came marching—
Marching—marching—
The parents all came marching, up to the Governor’s door.
They said no word to the Test Lord, they mocked the test instead,
And they nagged the Super and grilled her about everything she’d said;
All of them knew what the case meant, with Lederman at their side!
There were parents at every window;
And hell at one dark window;
Elia could see, through the window, the road that he would ride.
They had tried to get her attention, ‘bout many an invalid test;
They had written a letter to meet her, to discuss the VAMs and the rest!
“Now, keep good watch!” and they dissed her.
She heard the Governor say—
Look for me by moonlight;
Watch for me by moonlight;
I’ll come to thee by moonlight, though parents should bar the way!
She twisted her claims for the parents; but all their Not!s held good!
She waved her hands at the figures, she said were “misunderstood!”
She stretched and strained credulity, and the hours crawled by like years,
Till, now, on the stroke of midnight,
Cold, on the stroke of midnight,
The tip of one finger touched it! The statute at least was hers!
The tip of one finger touched it; she strove no more for the Test!
Up, she stood up to attention, with the statute above the rest ,
She would not risk a hearing; she would not strive again;
For the road lay bare in the moonlight;
Blank and bare in the moonlight;
And the blood of her veins in the moonlight throbbed to the Gov’s refrain .
The quote of laws! Had he heard it? Her quote of NY laws?;
Her quote of laws — from the distance? The “Rights of Parents” clause?
Down the ribbon of Mobius, over the brow with his bill,
The Mywayman came riding,
Riding, riding!
The parents looked to their stymying! She stood up, straight and still!
Tlot-tlot, in the frosty silence! Tlot-tlot, in the echoing night!
Nearer he came and nearer! Her face was like a light!
Her eyes grew wide for a moment; her heart, it missed a beat
Then her fingers moved in the moonlight,
Her pen-stroke shattered the moonlight,
Shattered the tests in the moonlight, sealing the Gov’s defeat
He turned; he spurred to the West; he did not know who blinked
Bowed, with her head o’er edict, drenched with her own ink!
Not till the dawn he heard it, and his face grew grey to hear
How Elia, the New York Super,
The Test Lord’s well-paid Super,
Had watched for the Gov in the moonlight, determined his future there
Back, he spurred like a madman, shrieking a curse to the sky,
With Elia caving behind him and his testing vanquished nigh!
Wide-read- were his slurs on the Twitter; wide-spread was the parents’ vote,
When they opted out on the test day,
In droves and droves on the test day,
And he lay in the flood on the test day, with a bunch of ‘rents at his throat
And still of a winter’s night, they say, when the VAMmers roam like trolls
When the school is a ghostly galleon tossed upon rocky shoals,
When the Test is a ribbon of Pearson tying the Common Core,
A Mywayman comes riding—
Riding—riding—
A Mywayman comes riding, up to the school-house door.
Over the cobbles he clatters and clangs in the dark school-yard,
And he taps with his Test on the shutters, but all is locked and barred;
He whistles a tune to the window, and who should be waiting there
But the Test Lord’s VAM-eyed Super,
Elia, the New York Super
Planting a bright red “Opt Not!!” inside the “Opt out” lair.
Faculty members at the University of Memphis are fighting any partnership between the university and the Relay “Graduate School of Education.”
The student newspaper writes:
“Can Relay Graduate School of Education produce quality educators after a one-year teaching residency in one of Memphis’ charter schools?
“The University of Memphis is reconsidering this question after faculty senate members have asked university president David M. Rudd to reevaluate the potential impact of a proposed partnership between the university, Relay, and Shelby County Schools/ Achievement School District.
“The proposed program is drawing concern from faculty members and people in the community, where charter schools already use young teachers who obtain teaching certification from other non-traditional programs such as Teach for America or Memphis Teacher Residency.
“The faculty senate unanimously voted to independently investigate any risks that Relay might pose to current university programs. Additionally, a task force likely to include Provost Karen Weddle-West, College of Education, Health, and Human Sciences Dean Ernest Rakow, and Professor of Educational Leadership Reginald Green will be established to offer recommendations for a university partnership with SCS/ASD.
“Relay is a one-year teaching residency program available to undergraduates from any major, and while their training period is substantially longer than other alternative certification programs, some feel that it is still inadequate.
“With what they are doing, it is impossible to become a good teacher — especially if you do not have an educational background in areas like the psychology of education,” said Mate Wierdl, a U of M professor in the Department of Mathematical Sciences and a faculty senate member.
“Relay’s official website outlines of their curriculum, that includes reviewing recorded classroom footage of student’s teaching interactions, as well as online tutorials. Wierdl, however, is perturbed by other concerns.
“We don’t exactly know what Relay is doing. We know that Relay is a company based in New York. We know that it is four years old. Otherwise, it has no track record whatsoever,” said Wierdl. “It’s just the strangest thing — that somehow charter school teachers can train other charter school teachers, and in New York and now in Tennessee, they can give out master’s degrees.”
The Hudson Valley Alliance for Public Education issued a statement pledging to increase the number if opt outs next spring, in response to the Board of Regents’ decision to endorse a punitive, test-based teacher evaluation system. In the new system, test scores will count for 50% of a teacher’s evaluation, despite the American Statistical Association’s warning that a teacher accounts for 1-14% of variation in test scores.
Supporters of VAM think that the teachers’ union is pulling the strings and persuading parents to express such views. They think parents are dupes and fools. They are wrong.
Parents understand that when test scores matter so much, teachers will spend more time on test prep and less time on untested subjects. This is educationally unsound, and it hurts their children.
The parents support opt out to protect their children.
Here is the statement of the Hudson Valley Alliance:
“Parents across the Hudson Valley are dismayed by yesterday’s vote by the Board of Regents to adopt teacher evaluation regulations that will double down on high stakes testing and the harmful effects of test-prep driven education. While we applaud the courage of those Regents who voted no, Hudson Valley parents are disappointed with Regent Finn’s failure to protect public school children in our area.
“Under Chancellor Tisch’s leadership, the Regents majority have failed to challenge flawed legislation that harms public school children” said Carol Newman Sharkey, Orange County public school parent. “It is clear that Chancellor Tisch must be removed from her position when her term is up this year.”
“The Regents failed to rise up against the Governor’s tyrannical demands and instead have allowed bad education policies to displace whole child and sound pedagogical practices. They have stood idly by while Cuomo makes a mockery out of public schools putting cronies, political ambition, and charter schools above children” said Tory Lowe, co-founder of Kingston Action for Education and Ulster County public school parent.
“This vote ensures that the opt out movement will continue to grow. Parents seeking to protect their children will not back down or be appeased by false promises of better tests. At the end of the day, you cannot measure teaching and learning with a test score. Until there is real change, parents will continue to reject a corrupt system that destroys authentic teaching and learning” said, Bianca Tanis, New Paltz public school parent.
Since the adoption of the Common Core-aligned assessments, the Regents have voted to limit the number of students entitled to extra support in the form of Academic Intervention Services while simultaneously labeling teachers and students as failures.
“Once again, NYSED seems to talk out of both sides of its mouth. The message that SED continues to spread is that almost 70% of the students in grades 3-8 aren’t “proficient”, but yet schools don’t have to provide AIS (i.e. – “flexibility”) if their level of failure isn’t low enough. Either our children who are scoring ‘1s and 2s’ on the state tests are struggling and they deserve to get the academic support to help them meet the standards, or the standards themselves are inappropriate. They cannot have it both ways” said Tim Farley, Columbia County public school parent.
Stacey Kahn, Ulster County public school parent said “We suggest that Chancellor Tisch and Commissioner stop insulting the intelligence of the public. We will refuse the tests until the Regents majority starts making decisions that put children before politics and corporate sponsors.”
“What took place at the Regents meeting only underscores what parents and educators have known for quite some time – Chancellor Tisch must go. It is critical that parents, educators, and concerned community members turn their eyes towards our state legislators who have the power to amend destructive education law and remove Chancellor Tisch and some of her colleagues as they seek reappointment in the new year. New York students deserve responsible and informed leadership that will ensure an equitable, community-driven, and child-centered education. We will accept nothing less” said Anna Shah, Dutchess County public school parent.
“The 10 NYS Board of Regents members who lacked the courage to vote against Governor Cuomo’s public school privatization agenda have now emboldened parents towards increased activism. Through the use of social media, traditional media and speakers forums parents will continue to inform and educate. They will forge ahead against these harmful policies using their best weapons…involvement in the political process (our eyes will on our legislators) and of course the 500,000 test refusals for Spring 2016,” said Lauren Isaacs Schimko, public school parent, Rockland County educator & Administrator of “Pencils DOWN Rockland County” on Facebook.
HV Alliance for Public education, is a grassroots organization dedicated to advocating for the rights of parents and public school children against harmful testing practices in the Hudson Valley. To join the Alliance or to learn more, please visit us here:
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