Jeannie Kaplan was twice elected to the school board in Denver. She has long been active in civil rights and education issues. She has been a persistent and vocal critic of school closings, choice, and boasting about paltry gains in test scores. She was ignored by the “Reformers” like Michael Bennett and Tom Boasberg. As “Reform” money poured into Denver elections, the grassroots candidates she favored were defeated time and again, and Denver’s school board became unanimous for disruption.
When she recently read a blunt admission by her fellow Coloradan Van Schoales that “reform as we know it, is over,” she was astonished, outraged, and not amused.
She summarized it in the title of her post: “OMG, ICYMI, SMDH.”
For a translation, open the link.
She begins:
Soooooo…it appears “The education reform movement as we have known it is over.” This from none other than “education reformer” extraordinaire, Van Schoales, writing in the May 6, 2019 Education Week: Education Reform as We Know It Is Over. What Have We Learned? Along his way to becoming the president of Colorado’s own reform-oriented “oversight” committee, A+ Colorado , Van has worked at Denver’s Piton Foundation and Education Reform Now (ERN), the advocacy arm of Democrats for Education Reform (DFER). He has also been integrally involved with starting and supporting local charter schools and drafting statewide education reform-oriented legislation. When Denver media has needed a quote to support “education reform” outcomes, whom have they called? Not Ghost Busters! No, their go-to guy has been Van Schoales. So his partial about face in his recent post in Education Week is quite surprising. In his words:
“There are three primary reasons that education reforms failed to live up to our expectations: too few teacher-led reforms, a lack of real community support from those most impacted, and a lack of focus on policy change for public schools across the board, not just the lowest of low-performing schools.”
Gee. Who knew?
If I weren’t so darn mad, I’d be shedding tears of laughter. If we hadn’t fought and fought and fought against “education reform” for the last 15 years, foretelling the recent conclusions of ed reformers,” the whole education reform movement could be viewed as a bad joke. If we the taxpayers hadn’t spent hundreds of millions of dollars and if we the people hadn’t lost at least a generation of students and teachers to the chaos and churn and complete lack of common sense of “education reform,” we could all be lifting a glass of whatever to toasting “we told you so.” If only the past 15 years could have been a bad dream, and we could all be like Dorothy and wake up in our safe places, wiping out the nightmare. But alas, that is not the case. And even with these mea culpas coming from unexpected places, most reformers are still unwilling to fully accept the disasters they have wrought upon community after community, most of which just happen to be populated primarily by people of color.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
When predator philanthropists such as Bill/Melinda Gates, Broad, Waltons, etc. pump big money into faux reforms and our compliance officers (aka–bought legislators and bought career ed. administrators) use shock tactics to disrupt a system that for the better part was working, not perfect, but working, the mess we are faced with today can certainly be expected. It will take generations to correct the damage that has been done. Let’s get started and Keep on Pushing!
Each of the foundations that took up the cause of anti-democracy i.e. union busting and Silicon Valley profit taking, should face consequences.
Charters cost Ohioans $1 bil. and ratcheted up corruption in state government.
I for one would welcome a more sincere, and rueful, mea culpa from Van Schoales and his ilk (where, incidentally, is Ian Shoales when we so desperately need him?).
a fantasy to believe that he (and so many just like him) CAN honestly grasp how far off the mark their views have been from being benign/helpful
Full agreement, though the hundreds of millions spent need not be in past tense.
“Reform” has never been an authentic movement. It has always been a top down imposed set of principles sold by the 1%, corporations and a few ideologues. It is the US version of GERM, and it is naive to think that the outcomes of such a fake movement would be better. We know the devastating impact of privatization in any country in the world, but the wealthy people that pulled the strings thought they could do it right. They were wrong. All we have to show for it is a narrowed test-centric curriculum, more segregation and weakened public schools. Any claims of academic gains are grasping at straws.
The only positive step forward is to recommit to quality public education and local democratic control. We need to fix funding formulae so that urban districts get their fair share. We need to stop throwing copious amounts of public cash at charters and vouchers. As Kaplan states, we know what works: smaller classes, a rich curriculum, and supports for poor students. I would also add integration is a positive way to improve all students educational experience. We should also remain politically engaged to help rid the states and federal governments of the puppets that aided and abetted this “reform” fiasco. We need to listen to real teachers about the real problems in education, not hedge fund managers and MBAs.
We should also work in states to tighten up definitions of public education in state laws. We also need to refine certification laws so that states cannot install uncertified, unqualified leaders and “teachers” in school districts around the country. It is outrageous that business people can walk in take over school district when they have little to no training or experience. We need laws on the books that will stop this from happening again.
What state are you located in? How are you pushing back?
My state is currently a lost cause as I live in Florida. However, I taught in New York where change is possible. The best way to make these changes is to join and support a union. Unions often have subcommittees that work on specific projects. I would get involved in a professional standards committee to make these changes. If enough people in a union want to see these changes, you may be able to get enough political clout to make it happen. It depends on the state political climate, but you cannot do it alone.
I agree!
Unions are part of the answer along with rallying parents in rural, suburban and urban areas. It is time to take back our public schools.
I will be using your reply in messaging our ed. advocates in Oregon. We lost our elected state superintendent of schools, bought into SBAC and Oregon Kindergarten Assessment fiasco to the tune of millions spent and so much instructional time lost, etc. Frustrating to the max. We have started an Oregon Public Education Network with a focus on the testing. Will also be considering work on retirement protection as the Public Employee Retirement System is under major attack at this time–hoping to link with the new NRTA study on pensions and their toolkit. So much that needs attention and so little support. Hoping to get retired educators engaged but it is a heavy lift. We did get the National Grange to adopt a resolution on high-stakes testing and the Oregon State Grange to adopt a resolution for the state of Oregon to withdraw from the Common Core State Standards. We push on.
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Without sounding like a broken record, I would like to point to some of the problems we face combating this era or school reform.
First, Kaplan correctly points out that there is no data supporting the idea that education reform worked. She then marshals data to suggest that the data available show failure of reform. While I understand that she had to form the argument that way, I worry that the reformers won when they couched reform in the language of test scores students produce on the flawed tests. We should reject that, promoting instead things we can count. We can easily count available resources. We can count time allotted for learning. We can count dollars spent on children (as opposed to administration of and accounting for one program or another). We can even count correct responses on tests, but when we make these tests the be all and end all of school reform, this ceases to be a productive activity.
Second, treating school reform like an issue in and of itself, a thing I would never accuse Kaplan of doing, is problematic. School reform is only one part of societal reform. When I was young, schools accepted too much of the responsibility of changing the public. Desegregation of schools was a must, we had to begin there, but too often the argument became “look what we did for those people and they still sit with their kind at the lunch table” and nothing was done toward an equitable society out on the street. When the only reform in a problematic society is school reform, failure is assured.
Finally, some of us believe that real reform is a constant necessity. Like the Enligtenment thinkers who thought of change as a constant and sought to enshrine change in documents that would preserve individual rights, define social responsibility, and free the individual from the oppression of the monarchy and the superstition that supported it, we need to agree to principles that guide a real reform of what we as professionals do. We need to understand that we will not all be in agreement about what is best, and that our arguments can lead to openings for the dishonest to exploit our division.
It is only by paying attention to these things that we can turn yet another corner in the round room of school reform.
Well state Roy!
stated
“. . .we need to agree to principles that guide a real reform of what we as professionals do.”
I give some general guidelines in the Afterword of my book:
A tactic of administrators or any powers that be to silence those bold enough to critique their policies and practices, even after agreeing with one’s critique, is “Well, you’ve criticized what we are doing but “What is your solution?” usually said with such tone and emphasis as if they have now trapped the perpetrator in a debate dilemma. The administrator knows that it is impossible to come up with a feasible solution to your critiques in the minute or two they allot you to do so, solving his/her problem of the critical thinker in their employ. He/She walks away smug in his/her confidence that he/she won that verbal battle. And you’re left standing there thinking “What a smug ass bastard!”
IF WE PROVIDE IT, THEY WILL COME!
It being the proper resources implemented with a fidelity to truth attitude.
They being results in line with the fundamental purpose(s) of public education–to promote the welfare of the individual so that each person may savor the right to life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness, and the fruits of their own industry.
Discussions around “education reform” have been challenging in large part because of the language barrier, i.e., WE have been forced into using THEIR language and their data points. So, while you are correct in the seeming contradiction of my use of THEIR data with the poor outcomes, I have been flummoxed how else do describe the realities of “education reform.” High stakes testing has driven the chaos and the supposed changes and until WE have other data points we consider valid, I feel compelled to use THEIR data – which is damning enough. As to your final point about the Enlightenment etc., I cannot agree more. But I am not smart enough to design those changes. We can only hope that after 15 years of the status quo, real reform will take over, driven by professionals who are in the classrooms and school buildings.
Jeanne,
I understand your being “flummoxed how else do describe the realities of “education reform.” And I appreciate all the work you have done and continue to do in regards to fighting those supposed “reforms”.
First, calling those supposed “reforms” for what they are: educational malpractices. Quit using the term reform and up front briefly discuss how they are in reality educational malpractices and continue to hammer that concept home, every single time you right about it.
Second, read and understand Noel Wilson’s work (see below) to thoroughly understand what all of the errors and falsehoods of those malpractices are. Read and understand what I have to say in my book “Infidelity to Truth: Education Malpractice in American Public Education”. (email me at duaneswacker@gmail.com with your address and I’ll get you one)
We have the rationo-logical ground, the deformers have ceded that territory to us. We need to utilize it. We also have the moral, ethical and justice grounds. We need to pound those concerns in as much if not more than they use phrases like “choice”, “civil rights issue of the day” (our side also has the upper hand on that issue-see my comment here or my book) or any other of the false concepts they keep hammering home.
Yes, we can refute their statistics but at the same time we have to insist on informing all about the inherent completely invalid nature of their information.
Diane mentioned Lakoff in another comment and Lakoff is correct in his thoughts on not using the opposition’s language. It puts them on the offensive and us on the defensive. Let’s, every single one of us at all times, start calling the deforms what they are EDUCATIONAL MALPRACTICES. And continue pointing out the unethicalnesses, injustices and harms that are being perpetrated onto the most innocent of society, the students.
Dr. Kaplan has pointed out, here, that reform has failed by its own preferred measures. She’s absolutely right about this, and it’s important that this be said again and again and again. She deserves praise, not censure for this. Of course those measures are invalid and unreliable. Most people on this blog know this. But it cannot be said often enough that Ed Deform has failed, failed, failed. We’ve had a generation of kids who have been subjected to these absurd tests and to curricula and pedagogy that have been dramatically distorted and narrowed due to the Gates/Coleman bullet list becoming the default, de facto curriculum in the US. Yes, curriculum. Every educational publisher in the US now hews closely to the bullet list. If it’s on it, it’s taught. If it isn’t, it’s not. Ridiculous. Enough. Thank you, Jeannie Kaplan!
I heartily agree, Bob Shepherd. The test scores have been used to demonize and close untold numbers of public schools and to punish teachers. If the deformers fail by the same measures, let it be known. Hoist by their own petard.
It is extremely important to keep pointing out that Ed Reform has failed utterly BY ITS OWN PREFERRED (and, yes, absurd) MEASURE,. TEST SCORES. These haven’t increased, and gaps haven’t closed. So, if the scores were valid and reliable indices of progress or failure (they aren’t), Ed Reform would be a failure EVEN WITH REGARD TO THESE. And, of course, it is a colossal failure in many other ways as well. One of these that is very real but is difficult to quantify is distortion and narrowing of curricula and pedagogy, but having worked both in educational publishing and as a teacher during the Deform area, I have seen this monster, daily, first-hand.
The division among people with regard to what’s best in education can be a source of strength if harnessed by a system that allows for bottom-up continuous improvement and freedom of teachers to choose from among competing materials and competing model curriculum maps, diagnostic and formative assessments, sample lessons, domain vocabulary lists, reading lists, and so on. In lieu of treating the Gates/Coleman bullet list as the default, de facto curriculum, allow classroom practitioners, subject-matter experts, researchers, and others to post such materials to a national wiki, and allow empowered teachers, working collaboratively at the school level, to choose from among them. That’s how you get real change, real continuous improvement.
I think I’m starting to figure out why we never hear anything about public schools or public school students from the US Department of Education:
“James Blew, Assistant Secretary for Planning, Evaluation and Policy Development — Biography
Prior to joining the Department, Blew advocated for education reform across the country. His roles included serving as director of the 50CAN affiliate Student Success California, national president of StudentsFirst, and national director of the Alliance for School Choice and its predecessor, the American Education Reform Council.
Blew also helped guide the Walton Family Foundation’s K-12 reform investments for nearly a decade.”
100% echo chamber resumes. They probably exclude anyone who doesn’t have the required ed reform orgs listed.
We only hear about vouchers and charters because the selection process starts at the hiring process. No competing views permitted!
Could we hire a couple of people in government to work on behalf of the 90% of students who DON’T attend charter and private schools? Just one or two?
Jim Blew is a faithful steward of the Destroy Public Education movement. He now holds the most crucial job in the US Department of Education, second only to the Secretary.
Kaplan is sure correct. The DFERS are “Turn Coats for $$$$$.” I can’t support a DFER.
” As for Denver, what data could he possibly be seeing that the rest of us are not privy to? Proficiencies of 32% in math, 42% in English Language Arts, achievement/opportunity gaps between white students and students of color registering at the highest level nationally. Seriously, the only way anything positive can be honestly taken from these data points is if you are comparing DPS with the state. Yes, that gap has closed significantly but only because the state has fallen so significantly since the implementation of CMAS. State proficiencies are 34% in math and 44.5% in ELA. But even this statistic says more about the state dropping than DPS improving.”
SERIOUSLY, there is nothing positive that can be honestly taken from these corrupt and invalid data points-NOTHING!
Noel Wilson has pointed out the myriad onto-epistemological errors and falsehoods and all the psychometric fudgings that comprise the standards and testing regime that render the usage of the the results “vain and illusory”, in other words COMPLETELY INVALID.
Until we quit using COMPLETELY INVALID DATA as a debating point, the shitshow will continue and all students will continue to be harmed in their very being by the standards and testing malpractice processes used to obtain said data.
The same statistical flaw was noted when I looked at excellent New Jersey districts I know. Many of them had a “college readiness” score of around 63%. Yet, most of these districts send over 95% of the students to college or community college. The vast majority of these students graduate. These scores are misleading to make public schools seem inadequate. It is “weaponized reform data” from tests with a rigged cut score.
But it’s not a “statistical flaw” RT that is the problem. The concept of “statistical flaw” is window dressing that can be adjusted and it implies that the underlying onto-epistemological assumptions are essentially fine. They are not!
The whole mess, the standards and testing malpractice regime is fundamentally conceptually flawed, filled with errors and falsehoods rendering any usage of the results completely invalid. I’ve not seen in twenty years of searching, begging for a single rebuttal or refutation of Wilson’s proof of those errors and falsehoods.
Crap in, crap out is the guiding principle that should be applied to such faulty thinking as is the standards and testing malpractice regime.
I agree. The whole data madness is a fake flag that tries to label and pigeonhole.
Duane,
Jeanne’s point is that the Denver Miracle Myth is based upon fake claims.
But she did not make the “fake claims” explicitly clear. As I read what I quoted I just saw more of using the edudeformers’ language. And we lose every time we do so. We HAVE TO call that language out explicitly for what it is and to call the “deforms” explicitly what they are EDUCATIONAL MALPRACTICES. And then continue to hammer that concept home just as the edudeformers hammer home their “fake claims” or to put it more crudely “blatant lies”.
If we were to cede anything at all to the edudeformers it might be that we “don’t doubt their intentions” but the results of their edudeform policies and actions render said actions unjust, unethical and are, indeed, malpractices and we will call them out on that FACT.
“But if we can believe Van’s realization of what went wrong, there is hope to make the civil rights issue of our time work for all.”
THE civil rights issue of today and of the last 18 years since NCLB first came on the scene is the blatant discrimination against students due to mental capabilities as determined in the standards and testing malpractice regime. Why is it okay to exclude students from their educational desires due to the BSTest (Greene’s moniker) results? Is not mental capability as inherent a trait as eye color, skin tone, gender, age, disability, etc. . . ? Why is that discrimination against the students allowed when the others are not?
That discrimination is THE CIVIL RIGHTS ISSUE of our time and until it has been discontinued and/or outlawed public education will never “work for all.”
Gotta luv wordpress, eh! Comment in moderation.
Standardized tests work against poor students and those that are culturally different like ELLs. If you look at the list of schools in the NYC performance based assessment group, many of these schools are alternative schools, and some serve ELLs. This is a much more meaningful way to assess certain populations.
Have you heard of the Black IQ test named BITCH 100?
See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Intelligence_Test_of_Cultural_Homogeneity
Lots of what we know is determined by our prior experience. It depends on what is measured on these tests. I taught a lot of students from poor countries. I was amazed by how resourceful they were. I thought if knowing how to get coconuts from a tree were on an IQ test, I’d be in the slow learner group.