Archives for the month of: March, 2016
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26 Million Page Views! Thank You!

By dianeravitch
March 25, 2016 //
40

Overnight, as we slept, the blog reached 26 million page views. I started the blog in April 2012.

 

I have written nearly 14,000 posts. You have written nearly 400,000 comments.

 

In my view, the comments section of the blog is the liveliest discussion of education issues to be found anywhere in the nation. You, the readers, disseminate local and state news that isn’t reported in the mainstream media. Because of you, the blog has stringers (local journalists) in every state and in thousands of school districts.

 

The goal of the blog is “a better education for all.” Not a better education for a few, but a better education for all. Great nations have great public school systems, not choice programs that privilege a few and impoverish everyone else; not entrepreneurial schools run by rank amateurs, wannabe educators, and charlatans. Great nations treat their teachers with respect.

 

We know where we need to go: adequate funding for all; a full curriculum; an end to high-stakes testing; a ban on for-profit schooling; a ban on profiteering in non-profit charter chains; professional autonomy to design lessons and tests; experienced and well-paid teachers; and a full attack on the poverty that burdens so many of our children and their families.

 

The continued failure of every aspect of what is deceptively called “reform” cannot be ignored or spun by slick PR. Everything the corporate reformers do has failed. Their day has come and gone. They had their chance and they showed the shallowness of their ideas, which are rooted in behaviorist theories that prevailed a century ago. They remain in power by deception and the power of money, not the efficacy of their ideas. They will go out with the tide. Bad ideas do not last. Think “Ozymandias.” The future belongs to those who cherish and love children, those who love and teach knowledge, not those who see children as tools for their own ambition and who reduce knowledge to standardized basic skills.

Categories Accountability, Education Reform

Parents Applaud Election of Betty Rosa as Chancellor of New York Board of Regents

By dianeravitch
March 25, 2016 //
7

Parents in New York are thrilled by the ascent of Dr. Betty Rosa as Chancellor of the New York Board of Regents.

 

They know that she is knowledgeable, experienced, and sensitive to the needs of children with disabilities and English language learners.

 

They know she has openly supported the parents who opt their children out of state testing that is too long, developmentally inappropriate, and invalid. Whereas the previous chancellor, Merryl Tisch, vocally supported the Common Core and the high-stakes testing, Rosa has made her skepticism clear. Tisch insisted that the state tests provide important information to help children, but parents and teachers know that a score of 1, 2, 3, or 4 is not useful information, nor is it helpful to know what percentile rank your child or student has.

 

Rosa has also actively supported vigorous state action to protect the mostly-minority children of East Ramapo, whose school board is dominated by orthodox Jews whose own children are not in public schools and who have starved the public schools of resources to keep taxes low.

 

“Bravo, Betty,” lohud commenter Teddy Gross said on an article reporting the chancellor-elect’s support for the testing opt-out movement.

 

The chancellor-elect expressed support for opt-out parents, just weeks before the grade 3-8 assessment tests are to begin. Citing her own two, now grown children, Rosa told the Capitol Pressroom radio show that one of her kids found testing stressful. “As a family, we would make a decision about my two children,” she said Tuesday, expressing concern about whether she could be certain that the tests had “an entry point where my child would feel successful with it.”

 

 

While Rosa has criticized both tying teacher evaluations to test scores and Common Core, Tisch championed a rapid-fire implementation of Common Core standards and bought into high-stakes testing. Their backgrounds also couldn’t be more different: Tisch has devoted much time, and family wealth, to civic and philanthropic endeavors; Rosa, the first Latina chancellor, was born in New York City but raised partly in Puerto Rico, and later worked as a teacher and administrator. One overlap: Both have Ivy League Ph.Ds.

 

The state has already made changes to this year’s standardized testing regimen, with shorter tests and unlimited time allowed. The Regents also voted to stop using state test scores for teacher evaluations for the next few years — only data-centric Tisch voted against the move.

 

Who is Betty Rosa? Read her official biography here on the Regents’ website.

 

 

 

Categories Education Reform, New York, Opt Out, Testing

“Killing Ed” Will Be Shown in NYC for One Week, Starting Today

By dianeravitch
March 25, 2016 //
4

Mark Hall’s important new film about corporate reform and the assault on public education will be shown starting today in New York City at the Cinema Village, 22 East 12 street, at 7 pm.

 

The show will run for one week.

 

Mark will be there tonight, along with Sharon Higgins, an Oakland, California, parent who has written extensively about charter school scandals (she has a website called “charterschoolscandals”), especially the Gulen charter schools. I will be in the audience.

 

Hall is touring the country with his film. Check the schedule to see if he is coming to your city or state. If not, contact him to arrange a showing.  @KillingEdFilm

 

 

Categories Corporate Reformers, Education Industry, Privatization

North Carolina NAAP Denounces Anti-Gay Legislation

By dianeravitch
March 25, 2016 //
17

A statement by the North Carolina NAACP:

 

The North Carolina NAACP Stands Against the Hypocrisy and Immorality of the NC General Assembly Made Clear By the Passage of HB2

 
The constitutional rights of North Carolinians to equal protection under the law in the state and federal constitutions are under attack.

 

An estimated 7 people die preventable deaths daily in North Carolina, including veterans, healthcare workers and other working poor people, because the NC General Assembly did not pass Medicaid Expansion under the Affordable Care Act.

 

Tens of thousands of voters have been disenfranchised or burdened by voter suppression laws and the inconsistent implementation of them across the state.

 

Hundreds of thousands of working poor North Carolinians are locked into poverty by a minimum wage that doesn’t allow them to feed their families and care for their loved ones.

 

Despite our cries for justice and mercy, the NC General Assembly has never called a Special Session to accept Medicaid Expansion. They have never called a Special Session to undue the voter suppression laws. They have never called a Special Session to pass a minimum wage increase and restore the Earned Income Tax Credit.

 

North Carolinians face real threats to our constitutional rights and lives. Instead of addressing these real needs, the NC General Assembly, under the extreme leadership of Speaker Tim Moore and Senate Leader Phil Berger, called a Special Session to overturn non-discrimination protections across the state in House Bill 2. Now the Governor had signed the worst anti gay bill in the country.

 

House Bill 2 passed and signed prevents local governments from passing ANY nondiscrimination policy that provides protections for lesbian, gay, and transgender people. HB 2 also gives Raleigh lawmakers unprecedented control over local governments by pre-empting local employment ordinances governing wages, benefits, employee protections and leave policies.

 

The North Carolina NAACP and the Forward Together Moral Movement demand equal protection under the law for all. Any bill that undermines the constitutional right of one group hurts us all. HB 2 is extreme and immoral.

Categories Inequality, Injustice, North Carolina

NPE Will Meet in Raleigh, N.C., To Protest Repressive Anti-Gay, Anti-Worker, Anti-Teacher, Anti-Public School Legislation

By dianeravitch
March 25, 2016 //
38

The previous post described the latest legislative outrage in North Carolina, permitting discrimination against gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered people. This legislation follows on five years of enacting laws to demoralize teachers, to privatize public schools, to authorize charters, vouchers, and cybercharters, and to defund public higher education.

 

The Network for Public Education is holding its annual meeting in Raleigh, North Carolina, from April 15-17. We knew how terrible the politics of the state leadership was when we chose to go to Raleigh. We knew that North Carolina is one of the most regressive states in the nation. That is why we are going to Raleigh. We hope to bring support and encouragement to the educators and parents of North Carolina by holding our meeting there. We will not pull our punches in speaking truth to power.

 

We oppose the anti-gay legislation just passed. We join with the Human Rights Campaign in denouncing it.

 

Reverend William Barber, North Carolina’s most eloquent spokesman for civil rights, will be a keynote speaker at our conference. He has been President of the North Carolina NAACP SINCE 2006; it is the largest NAACP in the South and second largest in the nation.

 

We are going to North Carolina to join in solidarity with those who are under assault and to defend the American values of democracy, equality, and justice: for African-Americans, for Hispanic Americans, for LGBT people, and for everyone whose rights are endangered by this out-of-control, reactionary, mean-spirited legislature.

 

Come to Raleigh. Join with us. Stand alongside our friends and allies in North Carolina against repression and injustice. We are not afraid. We will not abandon the teachers, principals, and parents of North Carolina. Nor will we abandon the LGBT community of North Carolina. When people’s rights are under fire, it is our duty to stand with them. And we will.

 

 

 

 

Categories Education Reform

North Carolina: Legislature Approves Bill Allowing Discrimination against LGBT People

By dianeravitch
March 25, 2016 //
14

It is hard to know what the North Carolina legislature will do next in its quest to turn back the clock at least 50 years. Or maybe to the 1920s, prior to the New Deal efforts to help people who were poor. None of that liberal stuff anymore in North Carolina!

 

This article in NC Policy Watch sums up the backward steps of the current special session, just concluded. It refers to the legislature’s “shameful legacy.”

 

 

The defining moment of the absurd special legislative session held this week in Raleigh had nothing to do with the common sense decision by the Charlotte City Council to allow transgender people to use the public restroom that corresponds to their sexual identity—the way many other local governments and private companies do.

 

And it had nothing to do with the anti-worker provisions of the secretly crafted legislation that forbids cities from requiring companies that contract with local governments to pay decent wages—as damaging as those provisions are to workers and the economy.

 

And it wasn’t even about a provision debated on the House floor that takes away the right of workers who are fired simply because they are African-American or Jewish or female to sue under state law—as shocking as that provision is, joining North Carolina with Mississippi as the only places where workers cannot sue in state court for being fired people for their race, religion, color, national origin, age, sex or disability.

 

No, the defining moment in what has to be one of the most offensive special legislative sessions in North Carolina history came in the House on amendment proposed by Rep. Grier Martin that would have broadened the state’s nondiscrimination law to include military status, sexual orientation and gender identity.

 

Martin’s proposal came after bill sponsor Rep. Dan Bishop boasted that the legislation, unveiled minutes before it was debated in a House committee, would establish a statewide nondiscrimination law that protects people in employment and public accommodations based on their race, religion, color, national origin, age, biological sex or disability.

 

Biological sex was added to make sure transgender people were not protected.

 

The ordinance passed by the Charlotte City Council also included protections based on sexual orientation and gender identity, in addition to the bathroom provision that was the subject of some of the worst demagoguery and fear-mongering to ever come out of the Legislative Building–and that’s quite a high bar to clear.

 

Bishop’s bill voids Charlotte’s protection of LGBT people from discrimination and prohibits any other local governments from protecting them either. That didn’t deter Bishop from repeatedly bellowing about what he called the historic statewide nondiscrimination standard the legislation established….

 

What the vote means is that the majority of the state House affirmatively decided that is ok for companies to fire people who are gay simply because they are gay—in Charlotte and everywhere else in North Carolina.

 

They voted to allow hotels to refuse rooms to same-sex couples and let taxis refuse rides to transgender men and women. The majority of the House voted to give restaurants permission to refuse to serve a gay man and allow theaters to refuse to seat him based on his sexual orientation.

 

What is amazing is how quickly North Carolina went from being recognized the most progressive state in the South to the most regressive. The slide began in 2010, with the election of a Tea Party legislature, and accelerated with the election of Pat McCrory as governor in 2012.

 

To learn more about the political regress of North Carolina, read NC Policy Watch’s Altered State: How Five Years of Conservative Rule Have Redefined North Carolina, which documents disinvestment in the public sector, starving the public schools and public higher education, the advance of privatization, and other consequences of the conservative takeover since 2010.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Categories North Carolina

NYC: Go See an Important Film Tomorrow Night

By dianeravitch
March 24, 2016 //
1

I am posting this notice tonight and again tomorrow.

KILLING ED will be shown in NYC for one week, starting tomorrow

 
Mark Hall’s important new film about corporate reform and the assault on public education will be shown starting Friday in New York City at the Cinema Village, 22 East 12 street, at 7 pm.

 

The show will run for one week.
Mark will be there Friday night, along with Sharon Higgins, an Oakland, California, parent who has written extensively about charter school scandals (she has a website called “charterschoolscandals”), especially the Gulen charter schools. I will be in the audience.

 
Hall is touring the country with his film. Check the schedule to see if he is coming to your city or state. If not, contact him to arrange a showing. @KillingEdFilm

Categories Charter Schools, Corporate Reform, Education Reform

Chicago Teachers Union Votes for a “Day of Action” on April 1

By dianeravitch
March 24, 2016 //
13

Frustrated by ongoing budget cuts, layoffs, and the Chicago school board’s support for privatization, the Chicago Teachers Union voted overwhelmingly to take a “Day of Action” on April 1. 

 

The union has been fighting for the needs of the students of Chicago public schools. The union is in a two-front battle for survival: Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Governor Bruce Rauner both prefer charter schools to public schools. Both are hostile to the CTU. Rauner, a hedge fund manager and political amateur, has been unable to get a budget passed by the legislature, and the schools face a growing deficit without adequate funding. Meanwhile, the Chicago Public Schools–led by a non-educator–is demanding ever more layoffs and budget cuts. Chicago doesn’t want to pay for public education. The constant attacks on the union and on teachers hurts children. It means increased class sizes and loss of the arts, librarians, and other services.

 

 

Teachers will be walking off the job April 1 for a “day of action” the Chicago Teachers Union said it hopes will help pressure the city and state to properly fund the school system.

 

After months of threatening the action, the union’s House of Delegates took the vote during a meeting Wednesday night at the International Operating Engineers Hall, 2260 S. Grove St. The union voted to authorize the strike with 486 votes, said union President Karen Lewis.

 

Another 124 members voted against the day of action, but only because they thought an official strike should be organized immediately, Lewis said.

 

“The labor conditions have gotten to a point where they are not tolerable,” Lewis said at a news conference after the vote.

Whereas the union has traditionally clashed with Mayor Rahm Emanuel over issues of funding and school closures, this time the teachers are putting Gov. Bruce Rauner within their crosshairs.

 

The action is needed because the budget impasse and political stalemate in the General Assembly have led to unfair working conditions for teachers in Chicago Public Schools.

 

The lack of a state budget has placed tremendous financial burden on the school system. Teachers already have been asked to take three furlough days so the district can save $30 million, with the first furlough day scheduled for Friday.

 

“We are dying the death by 1,000 cuts,” Lewis said. “We cannot go on like this … We need Gov. Rauner to get a budget passed.”

 

 

Categories Budget Cuts, Chicago, Funding, Unions

New York: Teachers Speak Out, and Parent Applauds

By dianeravitch
March 24, 2016 //
18

A parent in New York asked me to recognize the wisdom and courage of the district’s teachers.

I am glad to do so and to place the Corning Teachers’ Association on the honor roll of this blog for supporting the rights of parents and the interests of students.

 

 

Here is her letter:

 

 

“The Corning Teachers’ Association sent the following position statement to all members. As a parent in the Corning-Painted Post School District, I am grateful for their courage to share facts regarding NYS Grades 3-8 standardized testing.
“The CTA memorandum is an example of what needs to happen across NYS if teachers want REAL change instead of relying on empty promises outlined in the NYSED “tool kits”, flyers, and rhetoric from Commissioner Elia.
“Until there is REAL change in NYS classrooms, the opt outs MUST continue. Teachers supporting parents who are refusing the NYS standardized tests are supporting children and the future of public education.
“Will you please consider posting the CTA Position Statement on your blog? It is with hope that teacher associations in other school districts across NYS will have the courage to do the same.

“THANK YOU for all that you do every day to support children and educators!

“Kind regards,

“Lynn Leonard

“M E M O R A N D U M

 

“TO: Members of the Corning Teachers’ Association
FROM: CTA Executive Council
DATE: March 18, 2016
RE: New York State grades 3-8 Testing Position Statement

“We, the members of the Corning Teachers’ Association believe in academic rigor supported by engagement and the enchantment of learning. We believe that it is our responsibility to provide sound educational practices for our students, and we are to be held accountable to these practices.

 

“We believe that a strong curriculum provides time and resources for social and emotional development, practical skills, project-based and authentic learning opportunities, deep exploration of subject matters as well as a focus on social and cultural concerns. Our ultimate goal is to foster a high-quality public education system that prepares all students for college, careers, citizenship and lifelong learning, thus strengthening our social and economic well-being.

 

“We believe that the large amount of learning time that is lost through administration of these high-stakes test is not what is best for children. Mandated New York State standardized testing is an inadequate, limited and often unreliable measure for student learning. While we acknowledge that the test results are currently not tied to a teacher’s evaluation, teachers are still not given the professional freedom to design or score such tests. The delayed results are not available for use to drive further instruction or give meaningful feedback to the stakeholders.

 

“We believe that New York’s children belong to their families. We support the right of parents and guardians to choose to absent their children from any or all state and federal-mandated testing. We support the right of teachers to discuss freely with parents and guardians their rights and responsibilities with respect to such testing.

 

“The Corning Teachers’ Association will, to the best of its ability, protect and support members who may suffer the negative consequences as a result of speaking about their views of such testing or about the rights and obligations of parents and guardians with respect to such testing.”

 

Categories Education Reform, Honor Roll, New York, Opt Out, Parents, Standardized Testing, Teachers and Teaching

Is Commissioner Pam Stewart of Florida a Serial Child Abuser?

By dianeravitch
March 24, 2016 //
47

In this post, Valerie Strauss recounts the sordid history of Florida’s State Superintendent, Pam Stewart, who tries to force severely disabled children to take standardized state tests.

 

One of them, Ethan Radiske, was dying as the Florida Department of Education harassed his family to get him to take the test. Poor Ethan cheated the state by dying without taking the test.

 

Valerie Strauss writes:

 

“Now, a mother named Paula Drew is fighting the same kind of battle with the Florida Department of Education. Paula’s daughter, 15-year-old Madison Drew, has cerebral palsy and cannot speak. She suffers from a number of conditions related to her condition and takes several medications daily to prevent seizures, which can affect her cognitive abilities, a doctor’s written diagnosis shows.

 

“Drew said she sought an exemption from state-mandated testing, but Pam Stewart, the Florida education commissioner, denied the request…

 

“I asked the Florida Department of Education for comment. While not speaking specifically about Madison Drew’s case, Meghan Collins, a department spokeswoman, said in an email: “Florida state law states that participation in statewide standardized assessments is mandatory for students in public schools. However, there are two types of exemptions that can be submitted by a school district to the state: medical complexity and extraordinary exemption due to circumstance or condition (extraordinary exemption). … All requests are considered on an individual basis.”

 

 

“That response reflects the reasoning behind why Florida — and other states, as well as the U.S. Department of Education — insist that kids with impaired cognitive ability take standardized tests: It is pure boilerplate.

 

 

“They say, nearly every child can learn something and be assessed in some fashion. In a 2014 letter to teachers, Stewart wrote in part: “We cannot and should not return to the days where we tacitly ignore the needs of children with special needs by failing to ensure they are learning and growing as the result of teachers’ excellent work.”

 

 

 

 

Categories Accountability, Education Reform, Florida, Injustice
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