Reader Joan Grim reports on Tennessee’s plans to improve outcomes by mandating better outcomes.
Forgive a certain lack of tolerance for stupidity, but this is one of the dumbest programs I have heard about lately.
She writes:
“Diane, you are truly an amazing woman- the gift that keeps on giving. We need your voice now more than ever because these people are not going away. The network of right wing lawmakers and lobbyists are still introducing laws to degrade & dismantle the public education system and reduce the teaching profession to a cheap, computer algorithm. Are there other states whose reps & media are promoting the following failure narrative for public teacher prep? Be on the look out for more “reform”
“Here is what’s happening in TN:
“Spotlight on Teacher Prep Programs
”Teacher preparation programs took center stage this week as both House Education Committees heard presentations on the topic coordinated by the Tennessee Higher Education Commission (THEC) and the State Board of Education.
“The presentation largely focused on the results of a new state report card aimed at providing more accountability for higher education teacher preparation programs.
“When I see this data, we think we can do much better than this, and in fact we must do much better than this,” Mike Krause, the THEC Executive Director, said.
“The report card covers factors such as the percentage of completers with an ACT score of 21 or higher, percentage of racially and ethnically diverse completers, beyond year one retention rate, percentage of completers with a Tennessee Value-Added Assessment System (teacher evaluation) score of three or higher, among others, and contends that 50 percent of Tennessee’s teacher preparation programs are in the lowest two performance categories. One trend of concern to THEC is the lack of diversity among Tennessee’s teacher preparation programs, which are primarily composed of white females. Several members raised questions as to how THEC and the State Board of Education are defining diversity.
“We are having conversations with our programs about whether we need to expand our measure of diversity to include things like first generation graduates or other poverty measures. Right now, it really is a racial diversity measure on the report card,” Dr. Sara Morrison, the Executive Director of the State Board of Education, said.
“THEC highlighted the need to increase the presence of male teachers and other races in state classrooms. According to Krause, research shows students perform better when there is diversity in the classroom and perform better when entering the workforce.
“Rep. Eddie Smith (R-Knoxville) asked how Tennessee colleges were responding to the data, which Krause characterized as “overwhelmingly positive.” Krause pointed to UT Martin as an example. Chancellor Keith Carver presented to members on how UT Martin has identified and implemented needed changes in its program in response to the state report card and subsequent meetings with THEC and the State Board of Education. The programs at UT Knoxville and UT Chattanooga were also referenced in the hearing as examples of programs with positive efforts underway.
“Several members asked questions regarding a “teacher warranty program,” and whether such an idea would be feasible in Tennessee. This is the second time this session a mention has been made in a legislative committee regarding a warranty as it relates to teacher preparation programs. While legislation has not yet been filed to this end, it is likely.
“Rep. Jimmy Matlock (R-Lenoir City) voiced frustration that change is not happening fast enough in Tennessee’s teacher preparation programs. He urged greater accountability for programs.
“We seem to be constantly hearing ‘change is coming, there’s a new day awakening,’ but we come back and see [data] like that. I’m not sure how anybody could be optimistic,” Matlock said.
“Teacher preparation is shaping up to be a major topic of legislative interest this session. We will continue to update advocates as the issue progresses.
“2.Bill Filed to Scrap Humanities General Education Requirement
“A bill filed this week, HB1754 by Rep. Tilman Goins, aims to no longer require first-time college students at two-year or four-year higher education institutions to take more than six credit hours of Humanities course work to satisfy the institution’s general education requirements. The legislation also would require first-time college students to complete at least three credit hours of economics course work to satisfy general education requirements. There could be a large fiscal impact in regards to time spent on curricular adjustments, as each campus would have to review their general education requirements for nearly 500 majors, as well as ensuring there are sufficient resources available to provide an appropriate economics course for all students. The University opposes attempts to legislate curricular requirements at its institutions, particularly those that may impact accreditation.”
If only the legislators could pass the requirements they mandate.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Reblogged this on David R. Taylor-Thoughts on Education and commented:
Sounds like more “whipping the jockeys and hoping the horses run faster”
This is part of the SCHEME to privatize everything, even education. We already have FOR PROFIT jails and so on. Think: The Hunger Games.
Yep…the children now have to compete with each other for exclusive slots into colleges and universities as mandated by the “adults in charge”. The “adults” throw chum in the water and watch the madness begin as these children have been deprived of a good and democratic education for all of their school lives. This is exactly why I am pulling my child out of public school and paying for private. This game of pitting children against one another is absolutely deplorable. The lies told to children and parents so that those further up the food chain profit is sickening. It is pure evil….and very Hunger Games like. I only wish that more parents would see this and follow the money trail.
There’s that word “MANDATE” again. Good GAWD. Is this the ONLY word the deformers know? Probably makes them feel good to MANDATE everything. After all, they are afraid of people who can critically think.
Can I MANDATE that those DEFORMERS just DESIST their GREEDY RAID on everything?
“If Politicians could pass Pre-school”
If pols could pass the pre-school
Our country would be great
If pols could learn the Golden Rule
We wouldn’t have the hate
Amen Brother
But pols, alas, just can’t
They just can’t fit the bill
Forgive my little rant
But answer’s “won’t” and “will”
Allow me to modify first line of second stanza
“But most pols simply can’t”
I liked the first version of the first line. It’s a poem, bro, not a legal document. 🙂
I hope they don’t make poems illegal documents.
I don’t want to get sued for libel by some politician who felt wronged.
Politicians hire aides for that very purpose, you know: to scrape the web looking for poetic insults to themselves and their hollowed profession (oops, I meant “hallowed”, of course)
Better to allow them to think “I’m not most politicians”
50 percent of Tennessee’s teacher preparation programs are in the lowest two performance categories.
Well, if you have a bell curve mindset, about 50% will always be in the lowest performance categories. Killing studies in the arts and humanities in favor of an economics requirement is consistent with the ideologues who want every public institution to conform to templates from ALEC and promoters of the corporate state, especially the Koch brothers.
50% of Tennessee’s politicians are in the lowest performance category.
And the other 50% are in the second lowest category.
Maybe we should lower the standard to: Must have a pulse to be qualified to teach.
The problem is that state and national legislatures are comprised of people who don’t understand statistical “analyses” of education. They are not experts. Therefore, they are gullible, and easily swayed by statements such as, Fifty percent of n are failing. Charles Koch relies on legislators’ ignorance and his ability to influence them. That’s why education needs to be controlled by teachers, professors, locally elected school boards (minus the outsider funding of school board elections), and the erudite colleagues and friends of Diane Ravitch. We are over-legislating and have been for decades. Put educators in charge of education.
How do you do it?
Anti-legislation legislation. Moratoriums on education legislation until ALEC disbands.
“How do you put educators in charge of education?”
The same way you put doctors in charge of medicine.
Oh, wait…
“If Statusticians Ruled”
If statusticians ruled
The public would be fooled
Cuz lies can not compare
With statustistrick flair
But statusticians rule
On testing in the school
So statustistrick flair
Is operating there
In the second stanza, should probably be
“So statusdistrict flair”
Americans for Prosperity are under every rock in the state and TN’s terrain is rocky.
Mandating better results is about a rational as a toddler’s tantrum.
“Education Mandate”
We order you to score
Much higher on the test
Or else it’s “out the door”
Our test is simply best
At demonstrating testing
Ability, for sure.
And testing is the best thing,
The education cure
“We seem to be constantly hearing ‘change is coming, there’s a new day awakening!
“Teacher preparation is shaping up to be a major topic of legislative interest this session. We will continue to update advocates as the issue progresses.
“If only the legislators could pass the requirements they mandate.”
IF ONLY! YEAH!
This is taking place amid a growing teacher shortage. I know of two unfilled positions in our county. The house is beginning to burn, but the legislature can only argue about why the firemen cannot wind the hose properly.
“Mission Accomplished!”
Mission Accomplished!
Send in computers
Teachers are vanquished
Bots are our suitors
Contracts are written
For software and hard-
Teachers were smitten
By Gates and his guard
“This is taking place amid a growing teacher shortage. I know of two unfilled positions in our county.”
There are hundreds in Memphis. You can imagine the attraction of the job with headlines about a-f grading of our schools and such.
“If only the legislators could pass the requirements they mandate.” I have often thought that things might change rapidly if passing ALL of their state’s 10th grade forced testing was made mandatory for persons seeking office.
When our governor, who hired Kevin Huffman to be the commissioner several years ago, made his yearly speech, he claimed Tennessee to be the state showing the most improved educational state in the union. This was because of some blip on th NAEP scores, although he did not specifically mention the matter in the speech. Political claims of miracles in education and economics seem to be more common now that the republican dominated legislature has debated giving teachers the right to arm themselves.
I suggest we train future teachers by teaching them to shoot lazy students on the spot. That would raise test scores in the short run. The problem is that it would hurt our graduation rate. I am not kidding. If a student dies unexpectedly, his death counts against the school graduation rate. Is this just ten or are all states crazy?
I don’t feel this time like waiting until Diane has time to take my reply to Dr. Chapman out of moderation, so here it is as an open comment:
The problem is that state and national legislatures are comprised of people who don’t understand statistical “analyses” of education. They are not experts. Therefore, they are gullible, and easily swayed by statements such as, Fifty percent of n are failing. Charles Koch relies on legislators’ ignorance and his ability to influence them. That’s why education needs to be controlled by teachers, professors, locally elected school boards (minus the outsider funding of school board elections), and the erudite colleagues and friends of Diane Ravitch. We are over-legislating and have been for decades. Put educators in charge of education.
And it’s still in mod. Oy vei es mier.
I think this craziness is not really fueled by the mental capacities of TN politicians. I think, they are just executing a strategy designed by somebody else. As I look over ALEC bill templates, I have the impression the whole program is driven by ALEC—and more closely in TN than in other states. ALEC has a separate Education and Workforce Development Task Force.
It would be great if somebody could point to an article where ALEC’s education bills and the strategy behind them is discussed.
A good first step would be to have a one sentence comment on each of the education bill templates of ALEC. Only a few of them have comments here
https://www.alecexposed.org/wiki/Bills_Affecting_Americans%27_Rights_to_a_Public_Education
I see quite a few of the bills listed at the above link implemented at my university.
Read “The One Percent Solution” by Gordon Lafer , (not the same Lafer as the ‘Lafer Curve’ nitwit). Gordon Lafer tracked copycat ALEC bills across the country using plagiarism software. He opens his book with a story about the TN legel’s the failure to take the ACA Medicaid expansion in spite of supprt from Gov. Haslam & TN hospitals.
Here are some links with podcasts of the author:
http://www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/?GCOI=80140100151780
http://haveyouheardblog.com/what-we-talk-about-when-we-talk-about-the-corporate-education-agenda/
And, you are correct that ALEC has influenced peddled a large proportion of TN legislation since the entire state turned Republican in 2010. In a state that depends on tourism in its beautiful parks and wild-life areas, the Republicans have wrecked havoc on TN’s environmental protections.
When Tennessee adopted legislation to allow a for-profit online school, the legislator introduced the ALEC bill and forgot to write Tennessee in the blank spot for the name of the state.
Thanks for the links—they do help starting off. In the transcript for the second podcast, I read the interesting
What’s
Kraft Food care about lowering wages or laying people off in Wisconsin or Ohio? It’s
not obvious, and we need to think about it.
I think part of what’s going on is this. The people at the very top of the economy
believe that America is an empire in decline and the country is going to keep going
down. They don’t see it rebounding. For them, the political problem is how do they
manage the politics of decline. How do they pursue a policy agenda which is going to
make the country yet more unequal, which is going to make the rich richer and the
majority of people’s lives materially worse off without provoking a political backlash?
I think there’s several different things that they do to try to manage that [decline];
that’s the essential political challenge for the real economic elite. And one of them is, I
think, trying to lower our expectations of what we think we have right to demand, just
by virtue of living here, either from or jobs as workers, or from the government as
citizens.
I got Lafer’s book, and it seems that he has a very clear idea of why public education is under such heavy attack. The main reason is not the money to be made from privatizing public education (though there are great direct opportunities in that), but Americans’ affection to public education. As he states early in the book, the main goal of the biggest players in the US is to lower people’s expectations from their government, because this lack of expectations prevent uprising against the 1% that is getting richer by the minute. What the 1% want is people who feel, they are not entitled to anything, and they do not have motivation to fight for anything.
[…] the notion that one’s kids have a right to a decent education represents the most substantive right to which Americans believe we are entitled, simply by dint of residence. [ …] for those interested in lowering citizens’ expectations of what we have a right to demand from government, there is no more central fight than that around public education.
Before reading this and thinking about it, I wouldn’t have accepted that the real goal of complete privatization is not full control of the economy but, in fact, full control of people’s minds. This would have sounded a way too farfetched goal, only existing in the star war movies.
Yes. That was the most depressing part- The point is to lower expectations for what people should expect their government to provide for them. It’s about obliterating any semblance of Roosevelt’s New Deal. When I began teaching in the 1980’s TN had a robust public health system in every county. There were public health clinics fully staffed by nurses, some who made home visits to our poor students.
Reagan’s business-friendly revolution was the beginning of the end of our fine public health system. Why would ANY Democrat look at the failure & deprivation imposed by privatized health care and think privatized education is an improvement?
As you mention, ALEC EXPOSED is best source.
Be sure to read Gordon Lafer’s THE ONE PERCENT SOLUTION