Archives for the month of: August, 2016
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New York Times on the Debate Among Black Organizations about Charters

By dianeravitch
August 21, 2016 //
28

A good and balanced article in the New York Times about the division among black organizations about charters.

The writer, Kate Zernike, also wrote this stunning article about the failure of school choice in Detroit. Lots of choice but no good choices.

Howard Fuller runs Black Alliance for Educational Options. BAEO has been lavishly funded by rightwing foundations for many years, to advocate for vouchers and charters.

Shavar Jeffries, of course, speaks for Democrats for Educational Reform, which has zero roots in the black community. Its members and funders are hedge fund managers. DFER probably hired him so it would have a voice in this conversation. It has long claimed to speak for “the civil rights movement,” but no one could take that claim seriously when DFER consists only of billionaires, millionaires, and others whose roots are in Wall Street, not Main Street or Harlem or BedStuy.

The NAACP and Black Lives Matter are indeed grassroots activists who advocate for improvements in policies that affect the black community.

The debate will heat up as more and more black parents in places like Philadelphia, Detroit, Newark, Camden, St. Louis, and Baltimore see their public schools underfunded, understaffed, and losing resources to charters.

Categories Accountability, Charter Schools, Civil Rights, Corporate Reformers, DFER, Education Industry, Privatization

Paul Thomas: The Lessons that Ryan Lochte Teaches Us

By dianeravitch
August 21, 2016 //
26

Paul Thomas says there are lessons in what Ryan Lochte did and said.

He warns, don’t let your child to grow up to be like Ryan.

Boys will be boys, even if the boy is 32.

If you are white, you can get away with lying and disgracing your teammates.

If you are black, don’t dare to carry a water gun or a toy pistol.

You could be killed.

Categories Race

Our Dam Poet on the Billionaires’ Burden

By dianeravitch
August 21, 2016 //
9

Our poet is missing. Poet, come back! We need your voice, your wit, your passion.

“The Billionaire’s Burden” (based on
“The White Man’s Burden”, by Rudyard
Kipling”)

 

 

Take up the Billionaire’s burden,
Send forth the tests ye breed
Go bind your schools to test style,
To serve his market’s need;
The weight of heavy VAMness,
On captive folk and mild—
Your new-caught, sullen peoples,
Half teacher and half child.

 

Take up the Billionaire’s burden,
In patience to abide,
To veil the scheme for teach-bots,
The prime intent to hide;
With coded speech of Orwell,
You really must take pains
To make a hefty profit,
And see the major gains.

 

Take up the Billionaire’s burden,
The public schools to fleece—
Fill full the days with testing
And Common Core disease;
And when your goal is nearest
The end that you have sought,
Destroy the Opt-out movement
Lest work be all for naught.

 

Take up the Billionaire’s burden,
A tawdry rule of Kings,
The toil of IT keeper,
The sale of software things.
The data ye shall enter,
On privacy to tread,
To make a “decent” living,
Until they all are dead.

 

Take up the Billionaire’s burden
And reap his old reward:
The blame of those ye better,
The hate of those ye guard—
The cry of hosts ye humour
(Ah, slowly!) toward the light:—
“Why brought he us from bondage,
From stupid blissful night?”

 

Take up the Billionaire’s burden,
Ye dare not stoop to less—
So fulminate ‘gainst Apple
To cloak your Siri-ness;
And strategize in whispers,
For all ye leave or do,
Or silent, sullen peoples
Shall weigh Diane on you!

 

Take up the Billionaire’s burden,
Have done with childish ways—
The Kindergarten playing,
The test-less former days
Come now, to join Reform-hood,
The pride of Duncan years
Cold, edged with Gates-bought wisdom,
The plan of Billionaires!

Categories Accountability, Billionaires, Charter Schools, Common Core, Corporate Reformers, Education Industry, Education Reform, Privatization, Testing

I Support Judge Barbara Madsen for Re-Election in Washington State: Our Hero!

By dianeravitch
August 21, 2016 //
0

Barbara Madsen has had a stellar career as a public defender and as a judge in Washington State.

She was first elected to the Washington State Supreme Court in 1992, and has been re-elected again and again.

Her colleagues chose her to be Chief Justice of the Court in 2009.

In 2015, the Supreme Court ruled that charter schools cannot receive public funding dedicated to public schools because they are not public schools.

Chief Justice Madsen wrote the majority opinion.

In the state of Washington, public schools are governed by elected school boards. Charter schools are privately managed. The decision was 6-3.

To retaliate, the Billionaire Boys Club put together a campaign fund to defeat Judge Madsen of more than $1 million. Judge Madsen has raised $30,000.

Justice Madsen came in first in the state primary last week. http://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/politics/supreme-court-chief-justice-barbara-madsen-leading-in-race-to-keep-seat/

Now there will be a race between her and the second place candidate in November. We can expect the billionaires to throw millions into this race to beat Justice Madsen. For a billionaire, a campaign contribution of $100,000 or $500,000 is no big deal.

Please go to her website and read about her. She is a dedicated public servant who represents the public interest.

Don’t let the billionaires take her out!

Tell them with your votes that our public schools are not for sale!

Categories Education Reform

Florida: Candidate for Orange County School Board Runs Against Marzano Method

By dianeravitch
August 21, 2016 //
26

This is an unusual political campaign. Matthew Fitzpatrick, an educator in Orange County, Florida, is running for a seat on the district school board on a platform opposed to the evaluation methods of Robert Marzano. Now, I have no views for or against Mr. Marzano since I am not a classroom teacher and I am not familiar with his method, but I have seen remarkable pushback on this blog from teachers. Since I too oppose the reduction of teaching to numerical measurements, I am sympathetic to his arguments.

He gives 40 reasons to oppose the Marzano method. I am posting only four of them. Read his post if you want to see the other 36.

My name is Matthew J. Fitzpatrick, and I am running for the District 7 Seat on the Orange County School Board. I am currently an Assistant Director at Orange Technical College, Westside Campus in Winter Garden. I’ve been in education for 23 years — 12 years as a teacher, and 11 years as a school and district administrator. In all my years of being involved in education, in my opinion, I have never seen a more demoralizing and destructive system than the OCPS implementation of the Marzano Teacher Evaluation system. I believe the Marzano system, more than anything else, is driving teachers out of education…and thus, OCPS has long lists of teacher vacancies. I believe this enough that I am willing to set aside my own administrative career and take a 50% pay cut in order to bring common sense back to the classroom. We must turn things around now.

Here are my first 40 Reasons to Replace the Marzano Teacher Evaluation System…splitting hairs on a system designed to split hairs on the art of teaching…

1. Dr. Marzano himself said on page 4 of his famous book, The Art and Science of Teaching, that, “It is certainly true that research provides us with guidance as to the nature of effective teaching, and yet I strongly believe that there is not (nor will there ever be) a formula for effective teaching.” If Dr. Robert J. Marzano says there is not a formula for effective instruction, who am I to argue with him? Why have we settle for a cookie-cutter approach to teaching?

2. Non-educators may not completely understand all of this “teacherese” jargon about teacher evaluations, but simply mention the name Marzano to an Orange County Public School teacher and take note of how they react…watch what happens to their face…feel the emotions of their words. Anything that causes such disdain among the very lifeblood of education–the teachers–surely is not good for education…no matter how much the sanitized research is quoted in support of it.

3. Where are the amazing results from using the “research-proven” Marzano strategies? Our District’s test scores and grades went down in many areas and schools. Why haven’t 6 years of Marzano transformed our District? If something is not delivering results, and at the same time it is driving great teachers out of the profession, we must make a data-driven decision and move in another direction…for the sake of our students and teachers.

4. Teaching should not be reduced to the numerical measurements of individual instructional strategies. Just as Mr. Keating (Robin Williams), in Dead Poets Society instructed his students to resist the armies of academics who want to reduce poetry to a passionless score that misses its true beauty and purpose, so, too, must students, parents, teachers and administrators stand against such a heartless, nitpicking view of the art of instruction. We must “Rip It Out” as an evaluation tool in our District.

Categories Accountability, Education Reform, Florida, Teacher Evaluations, Teachers and Teaching, Testing

Mitchell Robinson: How Private Prisons are Like Charter Schools

By dianeravitch
August 21, 2016 //
22

Mitchell Robinson, chairman of the music department at Michigan State University in East Lansing, read the story about the decision by the Justice Department to stop sending inmates to privately-managed prisons, and it occurred to him that private prisons are similar to privately managed charter schools.

Here are comparisons:

Consider the following chilling parallels between charters and private prisons:

Private prisons house 12% of inmates nationally
Charter schools enroll 6% of students nationally

Private prisons are not locally managed or controlled
Charter schools are not locally managed or controlled

Private prisons do not provide the same level of correctional services, programs and resources as government-managed correctional facilities
Charter schools do not provide the same level of educational services, programs and resources (i.e., special education, music, art, library, social workers, school psychologists, school nurses) as public schools

Private prisons are not subject to the same level or degree of regulation and oversight as government correctional facilities
Charter schools are not subject to the same level or degree of regulation and oversight as public schools

Privately contracted prisons reported more incidents of inmate contraband, higher rates of assaults and more uses of force than facilities run by the Federal Bureau of Prisons
Charter schools, like Success Academy and KIPP, have been reported as having more incidents of student suspensions, higher rates of student misbehavior due to draconian behavior policies and expectations, and troubling incidents of teacher abuse (http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/13/nyregion/success-academy-teacher-rips-up-student-paper.html?_r=0) than the public schools in their communities

Categories Charter Schools, Privatization

Nashville: Blogger Dad Interviews Amy Frogge on Her Upset Victory Over Big $$$$

By dianeravitch
August 21, 2016 //
5

T.C. Weber blogs in Nashville (and around the world) as “Dad Gone Wild.” He is a parent of children in the Nashville public schools, and he is as bewildered as everyone else by the movement to hand public schools over to private interests. He is equally appalled by the amount of money that has been spent to defeat school board members who support public education and oppose privatization.

In this post, he interviews Amy Frogge, a public school parent, lawyer, and school board member who just won re-election despite being outspent.

Amy describes why she decided to run for the Metro Nashville school board, how she won her first election despite her opponent having a 5-1 advantage in campaign funds, and how she won again, despite the money from groups like “Stand for Children,” which supports school privatization. When she first became involved, she knew nothing about the battle against privatization, she just wanted to help.

The Nashville story should be told in every state and every district. It is a valiant story of parents and friends of public education banding together to defeat the deceptive advertising and campaign funding by privatizers and corporate interests.

Whenever anyone feels down about the amount of money pouring into the state or the district to privatize public schools, think of Nashville, pick yourself up, and keep fighting.

Categories Accountability, Charter Schools, Corporate Reformers, Education Industry, Nashville, Privatization, Resistance

Speaking of Billionaires, How Much Does Trump Owe?

By dianeravitch
August 20, 2016 //
62

The New York Times just posted a story that will appear in print tomorrow. It is the result of dogged efforts to understand Donald Trump’s finances. This is especially important since he refuses to release his tax returns. He seems to think the public has no right to know his income, how much he pays in taxes, how much he gives to charity.

The story reflects a detailed investigation of Trump’s holdings, including his debts, which are staggering. Trump once said, “I love debt!” He was not kidding. Some of his massive debts are owed to the Chinese national bank, some to Goldman Sachs. Who owns whom?

Categories Billionaires, Trump

The Boston Globe Notices the Dark Money Funding Question 2, the Charter Initiative

By dianeravitch
August 20, 2016 //
14

This blog reported earlier on Professor Maurice Cunningham’s unearthing of the dark money used to promote charter expansion in Massachuseets. The big donors, he learned, were wealthy Republicans, and of course, Question 2 is being de eptively marketed as a means of “improving public schools. Passage of Question 2 would in fact give a stamp of approval to privatization of public schools and enable the establishment of more privately managed charters.

Now even the Boston Globe, which has consistently covered charters favorably, reports that the money behind Question 2 is hidden from public view.

“A new $2.3 million ad boosting the expansion of charter schools in Massachusetts lists the campaign’s top five donors on screen, in accordance with state law. But the singularly bland names, including Strong Economy for Growth and Education Reform Now Advocacy, give no hint of who is writing the checks.

“Four of the five donors to the procharter committee are nonprofit groups that do not, under state law, have to disclose their funders, allowing the individuals backing the effort to remain anonymous.

“The cloak of secrecy surrounding the financing of what could be the most expensive ballot campaign in state history has frustrated election officials and underscored the proliferation of untraceable money in political races across the country.

“Would we like to see every donor disclosed? Absolutely,” said Michael J. Sullivan, the director of the state Office of Campaign and Political Finance. “But the statute does not provide for it at this point. This dark money issue is a puzzle that every state is facing right now.”

Spending to push Question 2 is expected to exceed the $15.5 million spent by gambling interests to block efforts to ban casinos.

The Globe interviewed Professor Cunningham and listed the major groups funding the pro-charter campaign, most of which are funded by billionaires and hedge fund managers.

Categories Accountability, Billionaires, Charter Schools, Massachusetts, Privatization

Reader: It Takes 300 Days to Teach the Florida Standards Effectively

By dianeravitch
August 20, 2016 //
35

A reader who works for a software company explains why it is so difficult to teach the standards effectively and so unfair to judge teachers by an impossible task: It takes 300 days to teach them, but there are only 180 days in a school year. Oops!

 

 

Here is the main problem with these tests. The FLDOE has absolutely no clue on how long it takes to teach each standard effectively. So the question is, “can a teacher teach the standards in the allotted time during the year?” As an educational software company we looked at the standards that a fifth grade teacher is required to teach effectively and stopped counting when we found it would take a minimum of at least 300 school days to teach the standards to an effective level. This does not include teaching a child how to type effectively if the state required typing on the writing portion of the test. The problem is, it’s impossible for an elementary school teacher or for that matter anybody including the testing companies to teach the standards that are on the test in a school year. In order for a teacher or school to score effectively on these tests you have to hope that the students that are coming into your classroom have at least some prior knowledge of the standards.

 

 

You have to understand that these tests are not built to test your child’s learning knowledge, they are built to evaluate the schools and teachers on their effectiveness on teaching the standards. Finally, ask yourself this question… “Who benefits if the teachers and schools FAIL teaching the standards effectively?” Teachers? Schools? Children? No benefit here!… Private Charter Schools? Testing Companies? Publishers? ED Tech Companies? Lobbyists and the list goes on and on and on…..

Categories Florida, Teacher Evaluations, Testing
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