Archives for the month of: April, 2017
« Older Entries
Newer Entries »

Rhode Island and the Magic of Standardized Testing

By dianeravitch
April 14, 2017 //
16

Rhode Island State Commissioner Ken Wagner says that the state will drop the unpopular Common Core exam PARCC and adopt instead the Massachusetts test called MCAS. After all, if Massachusetts is the highest-achieving state in the nation, it must be because they have the best tests! So soon, you can expect Rhode Island to be up at the top of NAEP alongside Massachusetts because testing must be the key to their success, especially since Massachusetts has used more or less the same tests for two decades. Stability and the same test. Magic!

Now if every state adopted MCAS, then every state would be at the top!

Categories Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Standardized Testing

Valerie Strauss: Why Does California Allow Charters to Open Where They are Not Needed?

By dianeravitch
April 14, 2017 //
5

Valerie Strauss read the report prepared by Gordon Lafer for “In the Public Interest” about California’s lavish spending on facilities for charters where they are not needed. She reported here.

She writes:

The report says that “nearly 450 charter schools have opened in places that already had enough classroom space for all students — and this overproduction of schools was made possible by generous public support, including $111 million in rent, lease, or mortgage payments picked up by taxpayers, $135 million in general obligation bonds, and $425 million in private investments subsidized with tax credits or tax exemptions.” These amounts are based on only a portion of the state’s charter schools for which data was available, so the true funding amounts given to charters in communities that don’t need more classrooms “is almost twice as great.”

In California, traditional school systems can’t build new schools if enrollment demands it because of the way the state decides when it will give state bond funds to build a new school. According to the report, it does this by comparing existing classroom space with the student population projected over the next five years. Charter schools don’t have such a requirement.

They don’t need the permission of the local school district to open a charter. If they are turned down, they can appeal to the county school board. If they are turned down again, they appeal to the state board, which rubber-stamps almost every charter application with out regard to need.

The rationale of the charter industry is the same as that of Betsy DeVos: choice is an end in itself. It doesn’t matter if the charters offer better education; it doesn’t matter if they don’t get better test scores. All that matters is choice. DeVos agrees. So does Donald Trump. Choice, choice, choice, whether needed or not, whatever it costs.

Categories Betsy DeVos, California, Charter Schools, Corporate Reformers, Education Industry, Privatization

Arthur Camins on The Passover Principle and Its Meaning for All Today

By dianeravitch
April 14, 2017 //
5

Arthur Camins wrote about what he calls “the Passover Principle” and why it has lessons for all of us today.

Passover is a Jewish holiday that celebrates the liberation of the Jewish people from slavery in Egypt. It is a quintessential story of freedom and empowerment of a subject people. To give a small example, I was at the beauty salon the other day, where everyone is a refugee from Ukraine. Most have been in this country for decades. The manicurist told me that her family was Jewish but they were not allowed to practice their religion. I asked, “How did you know you were Jewish?” She said, “It was stamped on my passport.” I asked, “Did you celebrate Passover?” She said, not really. Most of the rituals had been forgotten, and there were no Haggadahs (prayer books for the occasion). It suddenly occurred to me that any dictatorship must banish Passover because of its explicit subversive message of rebellion and freedom.

Arthur Camins writes:

As a society, we have failed to follow what I’ll call the Passover Principle of identification generating retelling. Virtually everyone in the diverse crazy-quilt fabric that is the US has a justice and freedom story to tell. Some narratives are “they tried to defeat us, but we prevailed” legends with persistent resentment as the result. However, tales can also highlight the commonality of struggles. They can recall the courage of the Underground Railroad supporters aiding escaped slaves, of the French Resistance to fascism, or of civil rights workers on the Edmund Pettus Bridge. Then stories can unite and rekindle the spirit of personal and collective responsibility.

Stories are powerful, evoking persistent historical loves or hatreds. Whether and how history is recounted and interpreted is not neutral. First, retelling must be truthful. To do so, it must acknowledge multiple perspectives. For example, the scientific and engineering advances from industrialization, computers and information technologies have enhanced human wellbeing as they also brought suffering, exploitation and dislocation. History is too often written from the perspective of the victors, ignoring the plight of its victims. Second, it must surface human agency. What happened in the past was not the result of inevitable forces, but rather moral and strategic choices. What leaders– democrats and dictators alike– accomplished- was the result of either the struggles or acquiescence of ordinary (and sometimes extraordinary) people.

The story of winning expanded freedoms and justice in the United States has not been one of continuous progress, but instead of hard-fought, contested battles. At times we have taken two steps forward and one step back. At other times it has been the reverse. Our history has been one in which at times politicians and citizens made both moral and reasoned choices and in other instances, immoral irrational choices. The tale of those choices and taking sides is important to tell and remember, for it defines our values, how we regard ourselves and others, and whether or not freedom and justice will expand or be extinguished.

The Passover Principle is the responsibility of anyone who values freedom and justice for all. If stories are framed intentionally and not just out of unexamined habit, they can be catalysts for change. Retelling may fall to parents, grandparents and caregivers. When young people hear about proposals to restrict Mexicans from entry into the US, are they told of efforts to restrict Asian and Southern Europeans? It also falls to religious leaders who are in a position to exert moral leadership. When congregants hear about efforts to bar entry of Muslims, do clergy give sermons recalling efforts to keep out Catholics and Jews? Similarly, it falls to educators. When students learn about westward expansion of the United States, do they learn about stealing land from and exterminating Native Americans? When they learn about Rosa Parks, do they just hear a story of her individual courage or of her resistance training at the Highlander Folk School?

The point of retelling is not simply memory. How we choose to remember reflects the values we cherish, who we want to be, and the future we want to make.

Categories Justice

Politico: Damage Control at ED For DeVos’ Dumb Comment about HBCUs

By dianeravitch
April 14, 2017 //
17

Politico has a exclusive report on the scrambling inside the US Department of Education to limit the damage after Secretary DeVos hailed the nation’s Historically Black Colleges and Universities as models of choice.

http://www.politico.com/tipsheets/morning-education/2017/04/state-colleges-facing-budget-bind-219778

Her ignorant remark led to an explosion of negative reaction. Apparently she had no idea that HBCUs were created because black students were not allowed to attend most colleges and universities. She didn’t know, like Sean Spicer didn’t know about the chemical gas used by Hitler.

Someone quickly drafted a new comment.

“EXCLUSIVE: DAMAGE CONTROL AFTER DEVOS’ HBCU STATEMENT: The day after Education Secretary Betsy DeVos issued a statement tying the origin of historically black colleges and universities to school choice, career officials at the Education Department alerted the new communications crew that it was playing very poorly in the media. One career employee noted it was trending on Twitter and said, “folks are now calling requesting that we amend the statement or issue a correction acknowledging the true origin of HBCUs,” according to emails from the agency’s Office of Communications and Outreach obtained by POLITICO through a Freedom of Information Act request.

“- DeVos clarified the remark at an HBCU Congressional Luncheon. DeVos’ first statement, issued on Feb. 27 at night, equated the history of HBCUs – founded during an era of racial segregation – to charter schools and publicly funded private school options. “HBCUs are real pioneers when it comes to school choice,” she said. But on Feb. 28, as criticism exploded , DeVos stressed at the luncheon that the schools were “born, not out of mere choice, but out of necessity, in the face of racism.” Career employees continued to flag negative media coverage of DeVos’ original statement, with political communications hire Gillum Ferguson instructing them to refer callers to DeVos’ later remarks that HBCUs were born “in the face of racism,” according to the emails.

“- Karen Stratman, a career official and director of national engagement, flagged a Slate article to Ferguson and political communications hire Matthew Frendewey with the headline, “Insane Betsy DeVos Press Release Celebrates Jim Crow Education System as Pioneer of ‘School Choice,'” according to one email. Stratman wrote: “More on this–remember we’re just the messenger–just FYI on how closely words are being watched (not that you needed a reminder…).” She also asked staff to gather links to negative coverage, sending them to Ferguson and Frendewey. In response, Ferguson instructed Stratman that as she sends out DeVos’ luncheon remarks, she should specifically highlight the paragraph acknowledging that HBCUs were born “in the face of racism.” Jim Mould, a career official and director of media and customer relations, also suggested that Stratman highlight that paragraph. An Education Department spokesman didn’t respond to request for comment.”

I don’t know about you, but “in the face of racism” still sounds lame to me. I bet she never heard of Jim Crow or Plessy or Bull Connor.

Categories Education Reform

Colorado: Teacher Shortage Approaching “Crisis” Proportions

By dianeravitch
April 14, 2017 //
10

We have heard from corporate reformers that Denver is the best city in the country when it comes to school choice (although DeVos says we shouldn’t be so quick to praise Denver because it doesn’t yet have vouchers). Teachers should be flocking to Colorado, especially Denver.

Yet the Denver Post reports that the state of Colorado has a teacher shortage that is becoming a crisis. Teacher salaries have actually declined in Colorado by 7.7% over the past decade. In 2010, the legislature passes a teacher evaluation law that bases 50% of teachers’ rating on standardized test scores of their students; the law remains on the books even though it has had zero effect, and the underlying theory has been widely discredited. (The author of the bill, former State Senator Mike Johnston, plans to run for governor.)

Rural districts, where salaries are lowest, are hit hardest by the shortage.

The state’s teacher shortage, which mirrors a national trend, grows larger each year. As many as 3,000 new teachers are needed to fill existing slots in Colorado classrooms while the number of graduates from teacher-preparation programs in the state has declined by 24.4 percent over the past five years.

Meanwhile, enrollment in the state’s teacher preparation programs in 2015-16 remained flat from the previous academic year with 9,896 students. On top of that, at least a third of the teachers in Colorado are 55 or older, and closing in on retirement.

Plenty of factors — low salaries, a culture obsessed with student testing, the social isolation that comes with teaching in small towns — send students scrambling from teaching careers, say experts.

There is also a pall that hangs over teaching that hasn’t existed in the past, said Mike Merrifield, a 30-year teaching veteran and now a state senator.

“Teachers are constantly being bashed,” Merrifield said. “It’s not the same job it used to be….”

Urban school districts are slightly more immune to the downward trend than rural districts. The highest average salary for K-12 teachers in Colorado is $63,000 in Boulder Valley. At Colorado’s rural schools, the average teacher salary is about $22,700 — $14,000 less than the state average for teachers.

Metro areas can offer teachers higher salaries, greater housing options and more opportunities to teach specialized classes. But the secluded nature of rural schools may be the biggest drawback for many new teachers.

Categories Colorado, Teacher Evaluations, Teacher Pay, Teacher Shortage

Indiana: Inside a Voucher School

By dianeravitch
April 14, 2017 //
18

This post was written by a woman in Indiana who requested anonymity to protect the identity of her step-son.

The Reality of Indiana Vouchers

My husband’s child goes to an expensive private Catholic high school in Indianapolis. By a divorce agreement, my husband must pay for the child’s education at this school. To respect privacy, I will call the child “A.” If the administrators of the school were to figure out that A was the subject of this account, A would be expelled even though there are only a few weeks to graduation.

A started at the private school in the 2013/14 school year. At the time, my husband had the financial resources to pay the $20,500 per year tuition and fees. Cancer put an end to his career in the middle of A’s 9th grade school year and suddenly the ability to pay for this school by a court order was in jeopardy. After a discussion with the business office at the private school, it was determined that my husband would qualify for financial aid, but he would have to apply for the state voucher to get the financial aid. My husband had a very public career where he spoke out against vouchers and worked in politics to defeat voucher legislation. Even though he was politically and morally opposed to the vouchers, he was in a position where he had to participate.

“A“ had difficulty with the school from the very beginning of the Freshman year. Teachers often reminded A of the exclusivity of the school, and how A was lucky to be attending, as a reprimand for poor performance in their classes. A’s mother and my husband were encouraged to have A evaluated, and the determination was made that A was depressed and needed counseling. The school psychologist told A and the parents that they should not reveal the depression to the school because A would most likely be “kicked out,” and not allowed to finish the year.

The psychologist changed the diagnosis to ADHD, the mother put A on medication and A was required to be enrolled in the school’s “Learning Center,” a resource room for students with special needs. My husband and the mother of A asked for an Individual Education Plan (IEP) for A, but the school failed to provide the IEP, and there was never any goal or plan for A in the Learning Center, only that A have access to the center. The Learning Center added an additional $2,500 per year to the cost of the school and was often short staffed by only one teacher for over 200 students.

“A” was required to take AP classes and the tests for the AP courses. Although A always scored well on tests, classes were a struggle. Teachers offered A little help and berated A for asking for help. Not once were we contacted or informed about A’s struggle keeping up with homework and assignments. Once we found out, my husband encouraged me as a teacher to assist A with homework and A welcomed the help. A’s mother objected to my participation and went to the school to have both my husband and myself banned from the school premises and outside activities. This was done without any meetings with the principal, any discussion of the issue or any legal proceedings barring us from the school.

In other words, we had no rights as parents of a student to dispute the mother’s claim, although we were required to pay the $6,000 of tuition left after the financial aid and voucher payments, we were not allowed to set foot in the school that we were scraping every penny together to pay for.

In the following years, A continued to have issues with the school because of our economic status. To participate in sports activities (which we could not attend), we had to fork over nearly $1,000 for equipment use and uniforms; band was out because we would have had to purchase or lease instruments for far more than we could afford; class trips or field trips were off the table because of the cost and the requirement that we provide transportation, pay for expensive air travel. The ultimate embarrassment came from having A’s car driving privileges rejected because the 1999 Honda Civic we provided for A to drive was “too old” and did not meet the safety criteria for student vehicles.
A eventually had far too many classroom issues for the school to tolerate in the upcoming senior year; A had to bring up the grades or face expulsion. At the same time, our financial aid was cut in half and we had to pay $10,000 after financial aid and voucher money was applied for the senior year tuition, an amount that was completely out of reach for a family that lived on a teacher’s salary and social security. We worked out a payment deal with the school and A could stay if grades improved which they did. A went on to take the ACT and SAT and received a perfect score on the ACT and a few points shy of perfect on the SAT. Suddenly, the student that was near expulsion was the golden child and the private school took all the credit for A’s remarkable accomplishment. The school wanted to use A’s high test scores as part of a marketing campaign that would claim the “poor kid” on financial aid and vouchers could succeed only because of the private school, not the efforts of A. If we agreed to this exploitation of A, the school would waive half of the $10,000 we owed. Of course, we did not agree. Loans from amazingly wonderful family and friends helped us pay the balance and A will graduate in a few weeks and go on to a state university with a full scholarship next school year.

Private schools are not a good fit for all students. They don’t allow the students and families any rights, the primary interest of the school is financial, and they are accountable to no one. It is clear to me and almost anyone else that had been in our situation, that the sole purpose of state vouchers is to support the students that already attend private schools, and to promote economic segregation. Vouchers fit into the ideology of those that believe there are those deserving of “good” education, and there are those who only deserve training that allows them to function in society; and that is an abuse of our tax dollars but most importantly of the children.

The state of Indiana had to fork over $21,000 in tax dollars to help pay the tuition of religious school that denied A and the family of our rights, forced A to be labeled with a learning disability that was false, blocked A from the normal high school activities such as band, sports and even just driving to and from school because of our economic status. I am sorry we had to do that to the state, but I am sorrier for A and what A had to endure to go to the “good” school. I hope one day these vouchers will stop, solely for the sake of kids like A.

Categories Indiana, Special Education, Vouchers

Mercedes Schneider Explains Why Betsy DeVos Never Mentions the School Where Her Mother Briefly Taught

By dianeravitch
April 14, 2017 //
5

Mercedes Schneider has been reading the archives of the local newspaper in Holland, Michigan, where the DeVos family reigns.

She learned about the brief teaching career of her mother in the local public school.

She learned the name of the school.

She has a picture of the school.

She knows the fate of the school. It was closed, after a century as the heart of the community.

Read her post to learn why it was closed.

Categories Betsy DeVos, Closing schools, Michigan, School Choice

Jeff Bryant: Spring Time is the Right Time for Resistance to the DeVos Privatization Agenda Time

By dianeravitch
April 14, 2017 //
9

Jeff Bryant writes that Congress is in recess until April 23 and this is the time to reach out and speak to your member of Congress and your members of the state legislature about protecting public education against the DeVos privatization agenda.

Join with your friends and neighbors.

Join the Network for Public Education. Use its toolkit to inform yourself about the issues.

Jeff writes:

Why should you care?

Whether you have school-age children or not, you have a lot at stake in the struggle to ensure public schools continue to benefit the public.

Public education is America’s most collaborative endeavor by far. We all pay taxes to support public schools. Schools are community anchors like main streets, town halls, public parks, churches, and community centers. And we depend on public schools to prepare our future workers, entrepreneurs, and citizens. Public schools are the foundation of our democracy where students learn to respect and appreciate others who are different from them and schools model civic values to students and the community.

But public schools are imperiled, which means our democracy, and our future, is too.

If you doubt that at all, just review prominent news stories from the past few days. They present ample evidence of the widespread effort to turn public education into opportunities for private gain.

The Trump-DeVos regime has nothing positive for public schools. They want to turn your tax dollars over to entrepreneurs and corporate chain schools and religious schools. This is not about better education. It is about turning our tax dollars into someone else’s profit or treasury.

Vouchers! Failed.

Charters! Failed.

Cyber Charters! Failed.

There is nothing new in this agenda, nothing that hasn’t been tried for the past 25 years without success.

Consider a recent news story from the other side of the continent. As the Los Angeles Times reports, a new study by pro-public advocacy group In the Public Interest finds that in California, charter schools are getting billions of dollars in state funding to open in places where they’re not needed and compete with public schools for students and precious education resources.

The report reveals that that three-quarters of these charters do worse on standardized tests than comparable public schools, and hundreds of them have been caught red-handed by the American Civil Liberties Union for maintaining discriminatory enrollment policies. Much of the money taxpayers provide goes to charter schools that are part of large chains that operate statewide and across the country. And charter organizations use public funds to purchase vast tracts of real estate and buildings they profit from and can retain even if the school operation shuts down.

Although the study is confined to California, the findings are likely similar to what occurs in the charter industry in other states, says report author Gordon Laffer, during a media call. What’s also worrisome, says ITPI Executive Director Donald Cohen during the call, is that Secretary DeVos and President Trump are strong supporters of charter schools, pledging to provide federal funds to incentivize the spread of these schools.

RESIST!

Categories Education Reform, Resistance, Vouchers

Larry Lee: The Stories that Data Never Tell

By dianeravitch
April 14, 2017 //
14

Larry Lee, blogger and education activist in Alabama, posted this moving account by a teacher of the difference that art makes in the life of a child.

This is a story told by veteran elementary educator Wendy Lang about one of her students.

It begins like this:

He was small for his age. He was immature and yet showed signs of struggles of which only adults are aware. Skinny with two constantly skinned knees, academics didn’t come easy to him; neither did the ability to sit still. His pale complexion only accented the dirt crusted on his face and hands each day. He often wore shorts in the dead of winter and his shirts were always torn and tattered. He was in desperate need of a ‘touch,’ yet I was unaware of just what I could do to give him the encouragement that he needed to establish the self-confidence necessary to find one brief, rare ray of light in the darkened tunnel of his life.

At five, he appeared to have already given up. There were times when I felt the same.

He couldn’t write his first name, couldn’t count to ten or recognize the letters of the alphabet. A severe speech impediment kept him from being easily understood. Lunch was the only subject where he seemed to excel but that was because he appeared hungry and I wonder if it ever crossed his mind just where his next meal might come from.
He did enjoy his art class when it was available. Our school shared an art teacher with two other schools and he looked forward to his time with Mrs. Young. During the spring, students were chosen to participate in an art contest at the Carnegie Visual Art Center. Every school in Decatur and Morgan County was represented by their stellar art students.

It was quite the honor.

But his mother didn’t want to go to the art show where the child’s work would be featured. She didn’t think it was all that important.

Read on to see what happened next.

Categories Alabama, Arts Education, Childhood, Teachers and Teaching

Trump Choice for Ed Department’s General Counsel Helped Stop Litigation in Florida Against Trump University

By dianeravitch
April 13, 2017 //
13

The Associated Press reports that the lawyer who was chosen as general counsel of the U.S. Department of Education was involved in defending Florida’s decision not to prosecute Trump University for fraud.

As a top aide to Florida’s attorney general, Carlos G. Muniz helped defend the office’s decision to sit out legal action against Trump University. Now the president is naming him to be the top lawyer in the U.S. Education Department.

President Donald Trump has announced his intent to nominate Muniz to serve as general counsel to Education Secretary Betsy DeVos. The Senate would then consider the nomination of the Republican lawyer.

Emails reviewed by The Associated Press show that in 2013 Muniz, who served as Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi’s chief of staff for three years, was included in discussions about student complaints alleging fraud with Trump’s namesake real-estate seminars.

Muniz, now in private practice, has also been the lead attorney defending Florida State University in a lawsuit by a former student who said the school failed to investigate after she said she was sexually assaulted by the star quarterback of the Seminoles’ 2013 national championship football team. The player was never charged with a crime by police in Tallahassee, and the state attorney’s office declined to pursue a criminal case against him.

An investigation by the Education Department’s Office of Civil Rights is still underway, presenting a potential conflict of interest if Muniz is confirmed.

Both Muniz and the White House declined to comment Tuesday, referring all questions to the Education Department.
That department did not respond to phone calls and emails seeking comment about the Trump University review or whether Muniz would recuse himself from involvement in the Florida State probe.

Muniz’s boss Pamela Bondi solicited a contribution of $25,000 from Donald Trump when she was running for re-election and while his case was on her desk.

I wonder who will be in charge of ethics at the U.S. Department of Education?

Categories Ethics, U.S. Department of Education
« Older Entries
Newer Entries »