My website is dianeravitch.com. I write about two interconnected topics: education and democracy. I am a historian of education.
Diane Ravitch’s Blog by Diane Ravitch is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
Based on a work at dianeravitch.net.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Hope you can spread the word and join us at this great event this Thursday. I tried to post before, but I’m not sure it worked and somehow a website I know nothing about inserted its name in the third box.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Thursday, June 6th, 2013
NYC public school children sign John Hancocks to their own “Declaration of Education” on Chancellor’s Day
City Hall Park gathering injects a positive message into the standardized testing debate, favors giving administrators room to create learning communities and giving teachers time to do what they do best: teach!
MANHATTAN—Parents, New York City public schoolchildren and community members will gather in City Hall Park on Thursday, June 6th at 10:00 am for a Chancellor’s Day event that will feature music, giant puppets and a participatory social studies lesson inspired by the drafting of the Declaration of Independence.
“We’re coming together in support of our amazing public school teams,” said Jody Drezner Alperin, one of the event’s organizers. “The high-stakes testing culture handcuffs our teachers and administrators and keeps them from doing what they do best. We want to see the tests return to being just one valid measure of success among many.”
Vicky Finney Crouch, another event organizer, said “This isn’t about opting out, it’s about redressing the balance. We don’t send our kids to school to just take tests and do endless test prep; we send our kids to school to learn. We don’t want our schools turned into test-taking factories; we want them to be nurturing communities of learning again.”
At the gathering, as part of an interactive lesson, kids will offer suggestions for what they believe are the fundamental ingredients every school should have, and their ideas will be inscribed on an enormous scroll, the “Declaration of Education”. Candidates for mayor and City Council have been invited to attend.
The scroll, which the kids will sign, will be delivered later to New York State Education Commissioner John King. Copies will go to Mayor Mike Bloomberg, NYC Schools Chancellor Dennis Walcott, NY State Board of Regents Chancellor Merryl Tisch, NYC City Councilmembers, city members of the NY State Legislature, American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten, United Federation of Teachers President Michael Mulgrew, Council of School Supervisors and Administrators President Ernest Logan, US Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama.
“We’re helping New York City Public School children share their strong and important voices with the powers that be,” said Drezner Alperin. Added Finney Crouch, “This will remind decision-makers how fantastic kids can be when they’re encouraged to think for themselves. And it will show them that when kids are actively engaged, real learning happens – the kind of learning can’t happen during test prep and isn’t valued by standardized tests.”
Media Contacts: Jody Drezner Alperin: 917.902.0944. jd.alperin@gmail.com
Vicky Finney Crouch: 917.608.4321. vickyfinney@mac.com
Robin Epstein: 917.658.8803. robinepsteindesign@gmail.com
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Hope you can join us and spread the word!
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Thursday, June 6th, 2013
NYC public school children sign John Hancocks to their own “Declaration of Education” on Chancellor’s Day
City Hall Park gathering injects a positive message into the standardized testing debate, favors giving administrators room to create learning communities and giving teachers time to do what they do best: teach!
MANHATTAN—Parents, New York City public schoolchildren and community members will gather in City Hall Park on Thursday, June 6th at 10:00 am for a Chancellor’s Day event that will feature music, giant puppets and a participatory social studies lesson inspired by the drafting of the Declaration of Independence.
“We’re coming together in support of our amazing public school teams,” said Jody Drezner Alperin, one of the event’s organizers. “The high-stakes testing culture handcuffs our teachers and administrators and keeps them from doing what they do best. We want to see the tests return to being just one valid measure of success among many.”
Vicky Finney Crouch, another event organizer, said “This isn’t about opting out, it’s about redressing the balance. We don’t send our kids to school to just take tests and do endless test prep; we send our kids to school to learn. We don’t want our schools turned into test-taking factories; we want them to be nurturing communities of learning again.”
At the gathering, as part of an interactive lesson, kids will offer suggestions for what they believe are the fundamental ingredients every school should have, and their ideas will be inscribed on an enormous scroll, the “Declaration of Education”. Candidates for mayor and City Council have been invited to attend.
The scroll, which the kids will sign, will be delivered later to New York State Education Commissioner John King. Copies will go to Mayor Mike Bloomberg, NYC Schools Chancellor Dennis Walcott, NY State Board of Regents Chancellor Merryl Tisch, NYC City Councilmembers, city members of the NY State Legislature, American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten, United Federation of Teachers President Michael Mulgrew, Council of School Supervisors and Administrators President Ernest Logan, US Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama.
“We’re helping New York City Public School children share their strong and important voices with the powers that be,” said Drezner Alperin. Added Finney Crouch, “This will remind decision-makers how fantastic kids can be when they’re encouraged to think for themselves. And it will show them that when kids are actively engaged, real learning happens – the kind of learning can’t happen during test prep and isn’t valued by standardized tests.”
Media Contacts: Jody Drezner Alperin: 917.902.0944. jd.alperin@gmail.com
Vicky Finney Crouch: 917.608.4321. vickyfinney@mac.com
Robin Epstein: 917.658.8803. robinepsteindesign@gmail.com
####
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I need guidance from someone who knows New York Law and the protection of children and their privacy in public schools here in NYC…today,my daughter’s third grade class (gifted and talented) was told by their teacher to empty their desks in order to reveal who might be a thief in the class. Three students claimed that some of their “trading”cards were missing and one child claimed that he was missing ten dollars. I find this to be absolutely outrageous. She told her students that it was pathetic that she was spending her time searching instead of teaching. In my opinion it was pathetic on her behalf. Things go missing all of the time. Why must their be an assumption of thievery. It is impossible and I believe unlawful for a teacher to put themselves in an adversary position with the children in their class. At the end, nothing was discovered. This was a “fishing expedition” and in my limited knowledge of privacy laws but my gut reaction as a mother and fierce advocate for all of the children in this class…this was an abuse of our children’s Fourth Amendment Rights. No one was in any danger…no drugs were involved…no weapons of any kind….If you are or know of a lawyer, please advise…..
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Educators in Minnesota respond to a Star Tribune of Minneapolis editorial criticizing the governor’s veto of a $1.5 million earmark for TFA. http://www.startribune.com/opinion/commentaries/210324801.html
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So, as I have worked to compartmentalize all the aspects to Ed Reform (to get a clear understanding of everything), I keep coming back to this being like the opera Hansel and Gretel. Humperdink’s sister adapted the libretto from the Grimms’ tale: the parents have fallen on hard times (like our current generation of working-age Americans)—they are broom makers and they go into the surrounding villages to try and sell brooms (like efforts are being made to get our economy back to a pleasant level); in doing so they leave Hansel and Gretel (the children) doing measurable tasks (a la testing) so that they will be contributing to the welfare in general (working on a broom and fixing a sock); a neighbor gives them some milk which leads Hansel and Gretel to abandon their measurable tasks and frolick as they dream about the milk. When mother discovers they are not working (like those who think the schools must measure and measure), in the shuffle of disgruntlement the milk is spilled (NCLB). So the children are sent into the enchanted forest to find berries (RttT). There are some good breaks for them (the sandman lures them to sleep–they have each other—and they pray quite a bit). Meanwhile mother also prays (those of us in teaching realizing that we have in fact sent our children into the enchanted forest), and realizes she has over-reacted. Father, who has had a good day in the villages, brings home lots of food (those of us finally getting a break in the economy, or finding excitement in how can we better the children’s lives), but it is too late. The children are already out there.
Meanwhile a tasty candy and gingerbread house pops up (a solution to the children’s fear and hunger!!! charters, vouchers, TFA). The children nibble and are then set under the spell of the witch (those who do not have children’s best interest in mind, but just want to plump them up to devour them or line them up in the fence of gingerbread children already captured)!!
For a while, the children are at her mercy. But clever Gretel outsmarts the witch and the children then set all the other captured gingerbread children free—and they become real boys and girls again. The spell is broken. And mother and father appear, after having searched the enchanted forest throughout the night to find them. There is prayer and celebrating and the family is reunited, the witch ousted.
I am sure the analogy doesn’t fit directly, but it is where my musical brain has taken me this week when reading this blog. Here’s hoping all witches with candy houses can be outsmarted by the Gretels of the world—and Hansel can be freed. And the family can get about their business of enjoying what father and mother are able to provide from their business and the children can frolick and be children, as they learn.
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Stunning and sad news from Washington, DC and the DC City Council:
“Two separate proposals were offered by District of Columbia officials this past week to put public tax money into private hands, waive the District’s own statutory regulations, and exempt schools from operating under collective bargaining agreements: Mayor Vincent Gray proposed a bill to expand charter authority. The DC Council’s Education Committee Chair, meanwhile, proposed “Innovation Schools,” another concept promoted by the American Legislative Exchange Council. Citizens in- and outside the District are encouraged to read these proposals and examine their origins.”
http://weacted.wordpress.com/2013/06/06/two-branches-of-dc-government-propose-privatizing-schools/
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Thought you should see this, Diane! Awesome article on salon.com. They go after the “reformers.”
http://www.salon.com/2013/06/03/instead_of_a_war_on_teachers_how_about_one_on_poverty/
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Diane,
Please consider sharing this article on your blog. I am resigning from my teaching position because I can no longer cooperate with the standardized testing regime that is destroying creativity and imagination in education.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2013/05/26/award-winning-virginia-teacher-i-can-no-longer-cooperate-with-testing-regime/
Thanks and keep up the great work!
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News from the White House: A National “Show and Tell” today at 3:30.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/show-and-tell?utm_source=email214&utm_medium=text2&utm_campaign=education
A must read for anyone who doubts that its all about the money.
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It was firing day at the charter school. I’ve never seen a faculty with sooo many ineffective teachers (REALLY?!). I’ve seen a number of teacher’s identities crushed under the weight of the new evaluations that leave no room for individuality. Did an informal survey… 50% of the teachers are on meds for anxiety and depression. What’s wrong with this picture?
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Churn and burn is alive and well.
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Teachers in Lebanon, Oregon have voted to do away with grant money from the Chalkboard Project, because it requires VAM and merit pay.
http://democratherald.com/news/local/education/lebanon-teachers-vote-to-opt-out-of-grant-program/article_8077eb06-cd2d-11e2-83b9-001a4bcf887a.html?mobile_touch=true
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I wanted to share with you this truthful and well-researched article about 4 issues relating to education reform.
It talks about school closings esp. in Chicago, lack of funding, corporate involvement, and all the issues most of us on this blog are so concerned about.
t also discredits Michelle Rhee’s reform movement.
http://www.nationofchange.org/forces-driving-america-s-education-spring-1369577132
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Diane:
You asked for the address for the Governor of Mississippi:
Governor Phil Bryant
300 E Capitol St
Jackson, MS 39201
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Nice summary on the latest privatization shenanigans of ALEC and Republican Govs.
http://www.politicususa.com/2013/06/10/month-state-level-republicans-steps-privatize-schools.html
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Diane on June 10th you asked, in a post: “Is there a right way to do something wrong?”
Here is my experience with that question.
I’ve been thinking about testing too. A lot. I teach first grade. My students arrive at the tender age of 5 or 6 and exit at 6 or 7. I give my students 6 benchmark tests a year, 3 in literacy and 3 in math. This past year, 4 more tests were added to the roster – this time on computer. That adds up to 10 – yes 10 -multiple choice tests every year for children who still cry for their moms, pee on the carpet, fall asleep spread eagle on the floor, and poke, prod, tease, and growl at each other. Oh –did I say that the children can’t read, at least for the first third of the year –the first 3 or 4 tests?
I am told the tests are to help inform my instruction. But I know the truth. The tests are there in first grade to get the kids ready for the tests in second grade –the tests that really matter – the tests that will count on the schools’ API and AYP reports. (California tests 2nd grade).
As a pragmatist, I’m efficient, organized, hold traditional values, and like rules and order. I know how to do what is expected of me and how to show results. So I reasoned I could use these structural strengths to get the tests over with, show the expected results, meet the smart goals, so that I could move on to the creative part of teaching –the part that cannot be quantified– the part of teaching where I get to interact with the children I am charged with developing academically, I get to know their passions, fears, ideas, the part of teaching that educates children – where there are no borders between painting and reading and playing basketball and building towers and writing , the part of teaching that is magical, that combines knowledge of standards, expertise, and passion on the part of the teacher with excitement, willingness, surprise, and vision from children.
But that is not what happened. Every breathing space I created for myself and my students by my efficiency got filled up with another expectation. More students – 18 one year, 20 the next, 24 for a few years, then 26; a new policy of all-day, full inclusion of special needs children in the general education classroom; a neighborhood impacted by the housing market decline and its resultant mobile population – causing more to move in and out of my classroom during the year; a school in program improvement – in effect designated as failing, and the resultant punishments – more administrative scrutiny, narrowing of curriculum to math and reading, canceling of arts programs during the school day; flight of families to school with better scores; and noisy classrooms in buildings without connecting walls.
So I got tired. I got beaten down. I got discouraged. And if you think I had it bad, think of the kids. Imagine a teacher for them who is always cross, always serious, harps about the test, never takes the time to ask them how they are doing, is too busy to tie a shoe lace or rub a boo-boo. That is me. I cringe as I write this.
Standardized tests don’t just stop my students from thinking, they teach them not to think. Imagine a 5 year old child who doesn’t read, and may not even speak English. They look at an 8 by 11 inch white paper devoid of all but one or two sketches. They listen as I read the question to them. Then I read the 3 or 4 choices. They pick the choice and fill in the bubble. Imagine the time I spend teaching them how to find the question, scroll with their eyes through the 4 choices, all while listening to me drone on and repeat the question and the choices until all 26 of them have bubbled something in. Imagine that this one test has 8 pages of questions – 15 or 20 questions in all. No wonder I’m cross. No wonder their eyes are glazed and they are growling.
But it gets worse. I am complicit in this next part. Standardized tests actually make students stupid. Yes, stupid. Not only are the kids not thinking, they are losing the ability to think. In my zeal to get administrative scrutiny off me and my students, I mistakenly thought that if I give them the test results they want, then I could do what I know was best for my students. To that end I trained my students to do well in these tests. I taught them to look for loopholes; to eliminate and guess; to find key words; to look for clues; in short, to exchange the process of thinking for the process of manipulation. I capitalized on my knowledge of young children, and the fact that they want to please adults and like to get the answer “right”. I justified my actions by saying that I had no choice, that the consequences of low test scores at my school were too dire to contemplate, and I wasn’t willing to put myself in professional or financial jeopardy. Clearly, testing made me stupid too.
I can’t speak for all my fellow teachers at my school, but I suspect many of them would, at the very least, recognize similar behaviors in their test-teaching practices. So, when despite our best collective efforts at raising test scores failed and my school entered 2nd year program improvement, I surrendered my stupidity and started speaking up, and eventually speaking out. I read research, blogs, government publications, and journals. I read widely from educational, historical, economic, pediatric, and psychological literature. I challenged administrative authority at my school to do the same – read, think, debate, discuss, and much to my surprise, did not get rebuffed. Astonishingly, I got ignored.
At about the same time I woke up out of my testing-induced nightmare , I started to notice the monster I had helped create. My students were only happy when they got the answer right. For many years my colleagues and I had noticed a trend in young children – a trend toward passivity in learning. We had theories – all the kids had TV’s in the bedrooms, they had far too much screen time – computer, games, cells, TV’s in cars, lack of adult supervision and interaction, lack of conversational models at home, lack of social models at home, the list went on. But what wasn’t on the list was what I was culpable for – I had become about the right answer. They wanted to please me. They knew that if they waited long enough I would help them find the right answer. And I did.
One day, during small group math rotation, I put up privacy boards during the practice part of a lesson on math reasoning. The story problem went like this: There are 10 buttons on my coat. 6 are red and the rest are blue. How many are blue? We have worked on these kind of problems frequently, and the children has seen in test format. Using connecting cubes as buttons, the children had to make a model of the problem. Three kids cried that day. The stress of thinking for and by themselves got to them. You see, many of the children had become expert at copying – watching what other children did in the group to get an answer and then providing “their” answer a nanosecond later. The children did not trust themselves enough to even attempt an answer. Their discomfort was palpable, and I was appalled.
Crying notwithstanding, I continued to use privacy boards. I also started to coach the kids about my belief in their abilities. I found that as they worked out a math problem using manipulatives to represent objects, I could lean in and coach them, one to one. Then, when they all had their answers, we pushed down the privacy boards to explore what we had all done. Ever so slowly, over many weeks, they started to regain their confidence.
You might wonder why I had not been doing this kind of teaching all along. I had, 11 years ago, pre-NCLB. Testing, along with the breadth of the standards and the resulting mountain of material to cover, much of it developmentally inappropriate, slowly eroded my professional judgement. Pressure to produce results through collaboration and mind-numbing analysis sapped my energy. A constant barrage of media stories about the ineffectiveness of teachers, some of it supported by leaders at my own school, drowned my spirit. Then I heard you, Diane, speak as a guest of my district and union. I started to read your work and have never looked back.
So thank you from the bottom of my heart. You are truly brave. You inspire me to speak up and speak out. You remind me that knowledge is power –I had forgotten. Now I get my ducks in a row, collect my facts, back up my intuition and experience with research, and speak up without fear or rancor. And in the process of speaking up for myself, I speak up for my students. And ever so slowly I start to rebuild my confidence too.
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And the march to privatization continues…and questions are raised? Really? I wonder why?
“Only 13 percent of students from closing D.C. schools have signed up to stay in the traditional school system next year, Chancellor Kaya Henderson said Tuesday, raising questions about whether the school closures are driving families into charter schools.”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/small-percentage-of-displaced-students-enrolling-in-dc-schools/2013/06/11/ebe818fc-d2b4-11e2-8cbe-1bcbee06f8f8_story.html
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I am writing a book on K-12 education titled, “Unleashing America’s Greatest Natural Resource, the Minds of our children”, subtitled, “Education is not the total solution to anything, but it’s a part of the solution to everything”. I am seeking permission to quote several of Diane’s blog posts. How do I get permission
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I am writing a book about transforming K-12 education titled, “Unleashing America’s Greatest Natural Resource:The Minds of Our Children” and subtitled, “Education is not the total solution to anything, but it’s a part of the solution to everything.” In the book I would like to use quotes from a number of Diane’s blog-posts or newspaper columns. How do I get permission?
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Dear Allan Jones,
Contact me toast for permission to quote blogs.
Familiarize yourself with the fair use doctrine.
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Hello Diane, Thanks for responding. I am trying to contact you, but having difficulty in doing so. This exchange is the closest I have come. I am a big fan of your recent work and find myself tempted to include your comments a few times in the book. Some are blog posts, but more are from your articles in Huffington Post and Washington Post. What is the best way to contact you?
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Allan
My address is on my website
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You must think I’m a total dunce by now. I’m beginning to doubt myself. I have been in the technology business and education for about 40 years now, but I can’t find an email address for you at either this site or at http://dianeravitch.com/. All I could find under the contact link was a connection to the speaker’s bureau. Where do I go from here?
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Gardendr@gmail.com
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This may be the beginning of the endgame here in Rhode Island: Vouchers!
http://www.providencejournal.com/politics/content/20130612-rhode-island-school-choice-bill-draws-lively-debate.ece
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True reform will not come from the top down, it must start from the grassroots which the teachers of Madison and Chicago have learned all to well. Eventually, we must be willing to walk the line to challenge the school yard bullies in our midsts:
http://deconstructingmyths.com/2013/06/13/they-walk-the-line-2/
Thank you Diane for helping to give us a voice and a mic.
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I saw this tweet and thought you might be interested: “In under an hour, 1300+ people liked this; you will, too: ow.ly/1Xv5zF #HB2386 #staar #txed #txlege Thks @JasStanford” HB 2386 was passed unanimously in both house and senate.
Gov. Perry vetoed testing relief for 3rd-8th and a day later confused LIbya and Lebenon. Texas kids deserve better! Thanks for joining us at the Save Texas Schools Rally and for helping get the word out through your blog.
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Is there any indication anywhere in US that a push against the expanding/expansive role of the Federal government in education will be fought or addressed in a formal sense? Will any kind of decisions come down to say that NCLB was too big, too vast and too sweeping so that it won’t continue to be the style of government we have regarding education? Are political platforms for future elections forming on this premise? (I know there is no crystal ball, but surely people recognize that this is the root of the problems)? What is the word on the political street from this viewpoint?
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Diane… just so you know, on FB there is a new group called “Badass Teachers Association”… and you are in the process of being voted into the “Badass Hall of Fame” for being the most passionate fighter against “Corporate Education Deform!” LOL!!!
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Diane, please call out NPR. Today’s Morning Edition featured a story demeaning university teacher training – featuring the NCTQ’s “study” without disclosing their funders or agenda.
http://www.npr.org/2013/06/18/192765776/study-teacher-prep-programs-get-failing-marks
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Don’t listen to NPR anymore since it’s so much of its funding comes from Gates. Democracy Now with Amy Goodman is a better source of information.
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You may be interested in that Michael Gilson– who developed the modern Libertarian movement and the privatization movement with Peter Drucker which was originally meant to legalize privately offered public services, not sell them off– has a very dim view of most ‘pseudo-privatization’ efforts by the extreme right GOP and other types including the recent Gates funded study.
See the thinkpieces on what the Libs are doing for education options worldwide and Gilson’s rejection of the STEM-mania at http://www.libertarianinternational.org
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Soon the Regents scores will be coming out, with the usual comparisons of how this year’s scores compare with previous year’s scores. The media, NYSED, and school administrators will be all over this “data,” claiming it reveals something about what is going on in our classrooms. Most likely, at least when it comes to the English Regents, there will be concern about a decrease in mastery and passing rates. No one will mention that comparing this year’s scores to last year’s scores is invalid. As the state is pushing Common Core, more testing, and APPR teacher scores based on these tests, they are manipulating Regents scores in order to make it appear that students are doing worse year-to-year. Teachers will be labeled “unsatisfactory,” because their APPR scores are, in large part, contingent upon the Regents scores. The email I sent to Steven Katz, NYSED Director of Assessment, explains the problem here. I have yet to receive a reply as to my question re: the rationale of changing the scoring rubric in order to allow more students to fail.
Dear Mr. Katz,
I have few questions about the NYS English Regents scoring chart. In 2011, a student scoring 17 on the multiple choice and 7 points on questions 26-28 would earn a score of 71; in 2012, that student would earn a score of 66, and this year, that student would fail with a score of 63. In 2011, there were 77 boxes on the chart that allowed for passing scores; in 2012, there were 70; this year, there are 57. You get my point.
My questions:
What is the rationale behind making it more difficult for students to pass year-to-year? Why are these scoring changes not publicized, when you are well aware that when mastery and passing rates go down, the media and the public see it as a failure on the part of teachers? My students could earn the same number of points on the test as they did last year, yet it will be seen as a drop in performance. Comparing scores from year to year is invalid when the scores are manipulated in this way, yet year-to-year comparisons are made by NYSED, the media, the public, and school administrators.
This year’s test already had some Common Core influenced questions, such as question 3 in the listening section. First of all, this question requires close reading of a text; it does not belong in the listening section. My AP Language students know how to analyze diction and identify the purpose of words in a reading passage, but many got this question wrong, and it’s understandable. If they had the text in front of them, they would have easily answered the question. So, while you are increasing the difficulty of the test (and I would question the validity of this particular attempt), you are also increasing the difficulty of passing, or even earning mastery, by raising the bar on the scores.
I cannot understand why the State is manipulating the scoring chart in order to ensure that more students fail the test each year. Please convince me that this is not an attempt to make teachers appear to be failing so that you can justify the insane Common Core testing regime that you are shoving down our throats.
I plan on publicizing this information on various social media groups of which I am a part. In fact, as an activist, I plan on sharing it as widely as I can. I think it is important for students, parents, and the public to know that lower scores do not mean a drop in performance. Prior to doing that, I’d like to know your explanation for this.
Thank you.
Sincerely,
Jennifer M. Fatone
English Teacher
The Wheatley School
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Hello Dr. Ravitch – I have a question about NCLB I’d like to pose via email. Mine is jeannehsinclair@gmail.com; please email me if you could receive my question.
Thank you.
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EdReform in D.C. Public and Charter Schools. 10,000 Students Suspended. Most for disruptive behavior. Guess who suspends and expels the most? (report attached)
http://wamu.org/news/13/06/20/report_10000_students_suspended_from_dc_schools_in_past_academic_year
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StateImpact Ohio and the Cleveland Plain Dealer did a series on using value-add for evaluating teachers. The series was generally less favorable to teachers as expected by Ohio’s Conservative media. The story was picked up by Columbus on the Record which presented a slightly more balanced approach and Sound of Ideas which actually allowed teacher input into the discussion. StateImpact and the PD unfortunately published the stack ranking of teachers based on incomplete and self-admitted flawed data which was discussed. This blog also was mentioned on SofI. My post below to Molly Bloom of StateImpact:
“Value add has a fundemental flaw in that it is based on standardized tests – a single test once or twice a year that may itself be flawed or biased. Also, I am reading the ODE documents on EVAAS and lacking a PhD in statistics, I do not see how any teacher could could answer the question “what do I need to do to improve my EVAAS score?”. If the model is obscure or secret, then it becomes ineffective. Plus any statistical model is only as good as its assumptions and EVAAS has many. For example, the method to handle transfer students and missing scores is a nested matrix equation that is mind boggling. EVAAS layers assumption on parameter on adjustment till we must wonder if it is truly measuring anything anymore. Google “Campbell’s Law” and you can see another issue is that EVASS, in measuring education, may actually end up distorting the very system it is trying to measure – in other words people will game the system and teach only to the test.
Also, publishing teacher ratings serves no purpose and Ohio can do better. It is a simplistic, negative, and destructive practice. I am trying to think of another profession either public or private where stack rankings are used to try to publicly shame employees to improve. It would be like ranking doctors by summarizing results of patient blood work or measuring patient waistlines with the “better” doctors having lower LDL counts or slimmer patients. Publishing the rankings, especially with flawed data, shows an anti-teacher bias that I would expect from the PD but did not from Impact. That was disappointing. No ranking system is perfect or even close. Students are humans, not data points. Believe it or not, teachers fall into that category, too. But we should not need statistical models to know that.”
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Diane –
I don’t know if you’ve heard about it, but there’s a group that just formed on Facebook called “Badass Teachers Association” (BATs). It formed just 10 days ago and already has nearly 15,000 members -an average of over 1000 members a day. Teachers and administrators from across the country who are mobilizing to try to change the conversation. Basically, the objective is for educators to hold the mirror up to the emperor and to finally start exposing the TRUE situation with his clothes. The first official action is today – phoning the White House to demand the removal of Arne Duncan as Education Secretary and replaced with an actual educator.
Thought you might be interested, since teachers and administrators and other supporters making noise en masse is one of the only ways we’re going to turn this privatization tide.
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Two announcements that readers might be able to take advantage of.
1. The first is the opening of new airwaves for local radio stations. Start your own local or school radio station with programming that you design, talking about the issues that matter to you. What follows is a link to a group helping to get more progressive radio stations started — http://www.prometheusradio.org/getradio
2. EdWeek is calling for nominations for its “annual tribute to innovative district leaders.” It would be great to see some of those you’ve written about nominated and honored! Nominations for 2014 are due by August 1, 2013. http://www.edweek.org/leaders/nominate
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Rudy Crew leaves Oregon after one year:
http://m.statesmanjournal.com/topstories/article?a=2013306240055&f=1087
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Aloha Diane,
I have not seen on your site and wanted to share it if you have not seen. Quite telling.
Forwarded email
On May 4, about 200 scholars, teachers, administrators, parents, students, and other concerned citizens gathered together in New York City to resist the test-driven corporate education “reforms” and reclaim the conversation on education (program attached). For the next couple of weeks, we will be releasing the videos from the event through Edu4 website.
To start out, here is a video clip (http://education4.org/). It’s about what’s been happening to public education, why more and more people are becoming “education activists,” how they are resisting, and how they came together one day to reclaim the conversation on education. Because it givens a nice overview of the current educational landscape and the growing resistance against it, this will be a powerful tool for promoting social consciousness within classrooms, schools, and communities. May this video go viral…
Daiyu Suzuki
Co-founder – Edu4
Find the latest education activism on Facebook
Follow us on twitter @Edu4_news
http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/edu4/
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Diane, what are your thoughts on CUNY’s new Institute for Education Policy??? That is, the objectives underlying its creation and the role it can/will play in the ongoing debates/struggles in public education today?
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Diane,
I resigned from teaching after after 33 years because I oppose the standardized-testing regime that is crushing imagination and creativity in our schools. I wrote about this in a guest column for the Washington Posts’ education blog, The Answer Sheet. Please consider sharing this with your readers. Here is the link:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2013/06/24/life-is-not-a-multiple-choice-test/
Thanks!
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NCDPI Set up this webpage to continue getting folks to buy in to Common Core
http://www.ncpublicschools.org/core-explained/
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If you read these posts and docs, you can see why a teacher like me, who was raised in NC public schools (mother was a teacher, step-father a principal, many teachers in the family across the state, etc) and was raised to trust leadership, you can see why I would become extremely confused and restless when reading the neat and tidy, unapologetic, unyielding stance presented here implying that RttT and new Common Core are awesome. I feel like there could be a jingle to go along with these propaganda-like updates (complete with logos and letterhead). I read these and I seriously want to go crawl under a rock. Is it just me? I am structuring my lesson plans around the new standards and I am compliant as compliant can be, but I am constantly scratching my head in confusion. (And I was always supposed to be one of the smart ones).?????
http://www.ncpublicschools.org/statesuperintendent/blog/2013/20130528
Click to access updates.pdf
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Hi Diane. Thanks for all that you do. I have a question: do you know of a report/website/blogger that includes or maintains a comprehensive list of states who have passed or are considering legislation that removes automatic pay increases with the completion of an advanced degree for teachers? Thanks for any help you can provide!
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Mike Putnam,
I don’t know of anyone keeping track, but I am looking
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As much as I don’t care for the source, I came across the following: http://reportcard.studentsfirst.org/policy-discussion?objective=Reform+Salary+Schedules .
It’s not representative of what is going on in several states now, but it provides a summary of where things were fairly recently.
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Diane: the media announced today that the latest National Assessment of Educational Progress showed proved our secondary schools to be failing as test scores on NAEP for 17 year olds have been “stagnant since 1970s.” Ignorance, irresponsible, or deliberate misinterpretations? The NAEP has only been given national since the 1970s. (Not the same exam eg, the math is way harder now) and what NAEP scores shows is not negative but clearly disproves the whole catastrophic failure for our public schools myth, We can do better in K- 12 and we need to continue to adapt to changes in the technology of schooling and workplace, and to the demographics of our 21st century nation but we we will never succeed if we wallow in falsehoods.
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Dan Pickard,
Just blogged the real story about the NAEP results.
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Diane, I wonder if you have information about what is going on in Colorado? I believe that many teachers there have been laid off without hope of being rehired. I believe that DPS is hiring teachers with no experience rather than rehiring those who were laid off. This appears to be part of the strategy of DPS…the assumption being that teachers need not be experienced to be effective. Do you have ideas about how one might go about fighting this head on?
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Diane – Do you know anything about a law in Indiana that allows Charter Schools to expel students for discipline and prohibit them from entering another school – charter or regular public – for 180 days. I was talking to someone who works at a Charter here in Indiana who told me that they are able to rid their school of unwanted students and send them back to the city school corporation because of this law. She said they never have had to actually use it because when a student has enough marks against them and are approaching the number 10, they have a conference with the student’s parents. They warn the parents that if the student has one more discipline problem that the student will be expelled and cannot enter another school in Indiana for 180 days. The school tells the parents that they can avoid this 180 day school expulsion by voluntarily withdrawing the student from the charter and entering them in the city public school. The parents always choose to withdraw the student. Of course this is before our state test and after the mandatory attendance day that sets the school’s funding for the year.
Maybe another reader knows about this law.
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Betty, I am not familiar with that law in Indiana. I will check around.
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You can’t make this stuff up: http://news.providencejournal.com/breaking-news/2013/05/love-canal-activist-will-join-school-siting-law-protestready.html
Long story made short — RI Mayoral Academies, the group recently commended by the Walton Foundation for their work in encouraging “non-profit charter school management organizations” (note the different ways that the phrase can be legitimately parsed — is it the charter schools that are non-profit, or the CMOs?), wants to be able to build schools on sites that might technically not be safe. Their actions in pushing to change the law to allow for this have attracted one of the more visible activists who was involved in Love Canal.
I’ve been trying to learn more about RI Mayoral Academies — they are apparently an umbrella group encompassing several charters such as Blackstone Valley Prep in Pawtucket. One thing that caught my eye in the projo article last week — which has since been made very difficult to find on their website — was the revelation that RI Mayoral Academy charters are “different” from “regular” charters in that they are exempt from some of the rule and regulations that “regular” charters must abide by. Which rules and regulations, I wonder? I am trying to find out because I have previously stated that there are two areas where Gist is not in lockstep with the corporate reform collective — she has not made it easier to become a teacher and she has been holding charters to the same standards as conventional public schools. If I have been wrong about this — and it seems that maybe I have, so long as a charter is the “right” charter — then I’d really like to know.
Meanwhile, a charter-expanding organization (on their website they have posted ads for three jobs, including a PR manager and a “Chief Expansion Officer”) that has been commended by one of the “big boys” of corporate education reform is now tangling with the activists who fought to prevent things like Love Canal from happening again. Sure does make one think.
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I didn’t see this topic covered lately but I just got an email about PARRC (which I’ve tried to stay on top of) and I don’t think I was the one they intended for this to go to. Unless they think as a tech director I would want to bid on this job or have input. Because if I’m reading this correctly they don’t even have the special ed (reading and hearing) part of this test completed yet and we’re supposed to be giving this test in 2014…really? Also, I live in Illinois so I’m not sure why I received this email…maybe everyone did who follows Parrc: http://myflorida.com/apps/vbs/vbs_www.ad.view_ad?advertisement_key_num=107800
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Diane. I was just getting trained as a music teacher when NCLB came about. I would like to know what, in your opinion, should have been done instead of NCLB? Though that bell cannot be unrung, I want to know what experienced people from the time think should have been offered up instead? If given the chance, how would you have kept NCLB from going through? The thing I love about your blog is the new questions it leaves me with every day. This one has been on my mind for a while now. If not NCLB, then what?
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Joanna,
That is a good question, and one that requires a much longer answer than I can provide here. My new book (out on September 17) will answer the question in detail.
NCLB has been a disaster for public education and for children and teachers and everyone else in education.
It has imposed test-based accountability on every school–turning control of public education over to the federal government–and the results have been meager.
As I recently posted, the latest NAEP Long-Term Trend report shows almost no gains in test scores at all from 2008 to 2012.
We will one day look back on this as an era of harm.
We should be assuring that every school has the resources it needs to educate the children it enrolls.
We should aim to reduce poverty and segregation through federal, state and local policies.
We should insist that every school have a full and balanced curriculum.
Read more on September 17 in “Reign of Error.”
Diane
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How could anyone disagree with your vision of what public schools should be like:
“We should be assuring that every school has the resources it needs to educate the children it enrolls.
We should aim to reduce poverty and segregation through federal, state and local policies.
We should insist that every school have a full and balanced curriculum.”
Beyond education of the public, do you envision any changes in state law to accomplish those goals? Do we get the resources by higher taxes on local property and higher income taxes at the state level? I am wondering what federal, state, and local policies you think should be implemented to reduce poverty and reduce segregation. How do we bring back the full and balanced curricula from the best school systems? These are all pious wishes, but I feel something is missing from your statements, possibly your assumptions.
Well, I’ll wait for the book. So far this blog rails but doesn’t construct. If you really, truly think that squeezing the 1% of the 1% for money is the way to go, I think you should propose specific modifications to the federal, state, and local tax codes. It seems to me as if you are saying “Everyone should have a nice car” without saying how you would deliver one. My fear is that you really think something like, “The car companies should donate them.”
The French Revolution was needed because the aristocracy was not paying their share of taxes, but it did lead to a Reign of Terror, in which the hapless aristos were killed in quasi judicial procedures. Eventually things got so bad, that Napoleon was invited to restore order in Paris. He did it. But eventually he started to deal for himself and no longer functioned as a creature of the General Assembly. Are you implicitly comparing the NCLB folks to the out of control Revolutionaries. Do you imply that we need a strong man, a Napoleon, to restore the proper allocation of resources in the country? He cemented the “rule from Paris” tradition in France, including education. I was under the impression you were against federal control of education.
Metaphors matter. I find some deep inconsistencies in yours.
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Why do you think something needed to be “done?”
If they wanted to improve the schools in high poverty/high minority areas, they could have lowered the class sizes, given social workers and certified librarians, paid for students’ college – stuff we know works.
The purpose of NCLB was to lower teachers’ pay and it worked. It never had anything to do with improving anyone’s education and it didn’t.
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Diane,
I attempted a little satire on the voucher/charter issue in my latest blog entry. Thought your readers might enjoy it.
http://russonreading.blogspot.com/search?updated-min=2013-01-01T00:00:00-08:00&updated-max=2014-01-01T00:00:00-08:00&max-results=8
All the best,
Russ
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Diane, you should know about this: http://www.theonion.com/articles/progressive-charter-school-doesnt-have-students,33009/?utm_source=Facebook&utm_medium=SocialMarketing&utm_campaign=LinkPreview%3A1%3ADefault
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Ron – FYI…..Not sure how much of that article you want to take seriously……the description of The Onion directly from The Onion website…
“The Onion is a satirical weekly publication published 52 times a year on Thursdays. The Onion is published by Onion, Inc. The contents of this material are © Copyright 2010 by Onion, Inc. and may not be reprinted or re-transmitted in whole or in part without the express written consent of the publisher. The Onion is not intended for readers under 18 years of age.
The Onion uses invented names in all its stories, except in cases where public figures are being satirized. Any other use of real names is accidental and coincidental.”
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You might find what’s going on in Alabama interesting…
Tuscaloosanews.com
New education standards factor in student race, economic status
Jun 29, 2013
By Jamon Smith / Staff Writer
Beginning this fall, Alabama public schools will be under a new state-created academic accountability system that sets different goals for students in math and reading based on their race, economic status, ability to speak English and disabilities.
The state’s new Plan 2020 will replace No Child Left Behind, the much-maligned, Bush-era accountability program. Plan 2020 emphasizes getting students college- or career-ready and closing the achievement gap that exists between impoverished minority students and students who are better off socioeconomically.
It sets a different standard for students in each of several subgroups — American Indian, Asian/Pacific Islander, black, English language learners, Hispanic, multirace, poverty, special education and white.
No Child Left Behind divided students into subgroups as well, but it didn’t set different goals for students by subgroup.
For example, under No Child Left Behind, 95 percent of all third-graders had to pass math by 2013 for a school to meet education standards. All third-graders, black, white, poor, special needs or otherwise, had to meet the same goal.
But under Plan 2020, the percentage of third-graders required to pass math in 2013 is different for each subgroup.
The percentages needed for third-graders to pass math in their subgroups for 2013 are:
– 93.6 percent of Asian/Pacific Islander students.
– 91.5 percent of white students.
– 90.3 percent of American Indian students.
– 89.4 percent of multiracial students.
– 85.5 percent of Hispanic students.
– 82.6 percent of students in poverty.
– 79.6 percent of English language-learner students.
– 79 percent of black students.
– 61.7 percent of special needs students.
Some parents and community activists say Plan 2020’s “race-based” standards unfairly set low expectations for black, Hispanic, English language-learner, impoverished and special needs students.
“I think having a low bar means they can just pass them on,” said Tim Robinson, the father of two black children who attend Alberta Elementary and Englewood Elementary. “I think it’s dumbing our race down and preparing our boys for prison.
“The teachers aren’t even going to teach all of them anymore. Not the black boys and girls. And if we sit by and let this happen, it’s on us.”
Andrea Alston, the mother of a black student with special needs who’s transferring from Central High School to Pleasant Grove High School, said she knew about Plan 2020 but had heard nothing about the plan’s accountability standards by subgroup. She said school systems should have notified parents of the change.
“If this was of value and interest to the parents, why didn’t local school boards tell this to the parents?” she said. “Plan 2020 says it’s going to close the achievement gap and every student is going to graduate, but how is this going to benefit that?”
Nirmala Erevelles, the mother of a Woodland Forrest Elementary student who is of mixed race, said she doesn’t think the new accountability system is fair.
“I’m not sure what’s the science behind this,” she said. “The science of knowing that only a certain percentage of black kids or other kids are going to pass this. Evaluation measures should be individualized to kids’ needs, strengths and weaknesses. Standardized tests don’t do that, and using another type of standardized test won’t necessarily take care of kids’ needs.”
John Gordon, an education advocate and former Tuscaloosa City Board of Education member from 1992-2001, said the goal for each student subgroup needs to be the same. He said setting lower expectations for some is only going to produce the same kinds of failures public education has been experiencing.
“Having high expectations for some and lower expectations for others is unacceptable,” he said. “All children can learn; they just learn at different rates depending on their background. Set the same goals for everyone, because if you don’t, teachers will go into the classrooms with a preconceived notion and a self-fulfilling prophecy that these black kids aren’t going to learn and these white kids are going to learn.”
In math, reading and graduation rates — the categories Plan 2020 examines — students who are special needs, in poverty, Hispanic, black and English language-learners have the lowest starting achievement goals of all subgroups in every grade.
But Plan 2020 also requires that the percentage of students in those subgroups increase the most by 2018.
Black third-graders are expected to go from 79 percent passing in math in 2013 to 88.5 percent in 2018, while whites are expected to go from 91.5 percent in 2013 to 95.4 percent in 2018.
Shanthia Washington, education administrator for the Alabama Department of Education, said the reason they set lower goals for some student subgroups is because they weren’t performing as well as others based on 2012’s standardized test data.
She said one of the goals of Plan 2020 is to start students off at the level they’re performing on and set annual goals to get them to improve from there.
“We’re not just grabbing the numbers out of the air …,” Washington said. “This is real-life, true data. These are your goals every year. The goal is to reduce the students who aren’t proficient over the period of the next six years.
“The purpose in (setting higher annual percentage increases for the lower performing subgroups) is to try to give ambitious but obtainable goals for each subgroup,” she said. “With the old system, they all had to adhere to the same goal, but some might have only had 20 percent proficiency.”
After the 2013-2014 school year, Washington said the accountability aspect of Plan 2020 will change somewhat. Instead of going by state goals for each subgroup, school systems will be allowed to use the test data from their own students to set their goals.
“There is not a one-size-fits-all for every district,” she said. “In other words, each district is different, and we have to recognize that each district has its own strengths and weaknesses, and this is a way we’re catering to their specific needs.
“In that way, we feel like we can raise the performance. The ultimate goal of Plan 2020 is to ensure that each child is
college- and career-ready.”
Paul McKendrick, superintendent of the Tuscaloosa City School System, said he’s not sure if Plan 2020’s new accountability system is better than the one No Child Left Behind used but that he’s going to support it because he has faith in Alabama Superintendent of Education Tommy Bice.
“They’ve researched it,” McKendrick said. “It’s fair because in the ideal world it shows what we want our children to be doing, which are those end goals. It’s fair because it’s helping every child to achieve, instead of pockets of them. This is trying to shrink the (achievement) gap, but you don’t do that just by going from 79 to 90 percent. You do it by going to 85 percent, 87 percent and then 90 percent.
“We’ll use those (objectives), but that’s the minimum, and the whole idea is to shoot beyond that.”
Gwendolyn Ferreti, co-founder of Somos Tuskaloosa, a grass-roots organization that advocates for Hispanics and immigrants, said having differentiated standards will work only if a disproportionate amount of education funding is given to schools that have a majority of the students in the lower achievement subgroups.
“Overall, it has a bad feeling, having people separated in that way,” she said. “But if there’s more resources for students in the categories that need the most help, I say it can work. But otherwise, it’s just having lower expectations for some people.”
Washington said there’s no immediate plans to provide additional funding to schools that have a lot of students in the lower achieving groups.
Peter Hlebowitsh, dean of the College of Education at the University of Alabama, said he believes Plan 2020 has good intentions.
“The idea is to chase after equity and close the achievement gap,” he said. “And who could be against the idea of more kids graduating? But underscoring this is the question of why are expectations lower for some groups than others?
“I think this is purely psychometric. … While the number is lower for the African-American group, the percentage increase is higher. The African-American score is lower because it’s disproportionately associated with lower income kids. I think what they’re thinking is it would only be fair to expect a little bit less from them than others.
“Percentage-wise, if you go from 82 to 91, which is what the expectation is in third-grade reading for black students, that’s a big increase. So in a way, you could argue that the expectation for the black population is higher than the whites because they expect them to increase more. It’s just harder for poorer kids to do better in school.”
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Diane,
You might want to be aware . . . .
Recent news, more Arizona districts starved of funding convert to charters for bonus money from new state law . . . .
AZ has more charters than any other state . . . ..
http://www.azcentral.com/community/scottsdale/articles/20130604charter-school-transition-funding.html
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Diane – wanted to share letter regarding public education in Syracuse NY
http://blog.syracuse.com/opinion/2013/06/to_fix_schools_parents_and_cit.html#incart_river
thanks! Michael
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A very sensible survey, Michael Gilbert, of what needs to be done, and a reasonable pointer in the direction of how it might come about. Taking back the schools at the local level is parallel to restoring constitutional government by increasing awareness of the issues involved nationally. Would you feel comfortable sharing your wisdom at a meeting of one of the tea party groups in your area? While many call them “astroturf” I have not found them so, but rather true grass roots whether you agree with all of their initiatives.
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Note: segment on NPR Morning Edition today about CCC. Cant wait. Comment at the half-hour suggests that CCC will expose just how far behind public schools are.
Augggghhhh!!
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Dr. Ravitch. I used to hang out with former punk band members and I learned that in their tour days, they slept on the floor etc in the homes of other punk band members. There was a circuit.
For your upcoming book tour, I would like to invite you to stay in our home in Asheville and wonder can this type idea be a movement that defines BAT? (I am not a member but I understand that if you have the spirit of it, you are a BAT). We can even do better than the floor–we will offer you a bed! :). Seriously. What a loud message and there would be so much to learn by doing a tour of staying with teachers across America on your book tour.
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Joanna,
Ah, for the good old days when I slept on floors and air mattresses!
If I were just a bit younger, I’d grab that idea.
I will be visiting as many cities as I can, hopefully sleeping on comfy mattresses.
I will publish the schedule when I am sure about dates.
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In rural Tennessee, a new way to help hungry children: A bus turned bread truck
http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/in-rural-tennessee-a-new-way-to-help-hungry-children-a-bus-turned-bread-truck/2013/07/06/c93c5eec-e292-11e2-aef3-339619eab080_story.html?hpid=z4
Dear Diane,
This article lays out how poor kids in one sector of Tennessee are getting their “free” meal everyday, which in some cases is the only meal.
I would say this is only 1 degree away from what goes on in the classroom.
It would be interesting o see the test scores from the nearby schools.
And, as with any article in the Post, the comments are just as informative.
Ed
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Dear Diane,
After working at Grace Dodge Career and Technical High School in The Bronx for 16 years, I was made an ATR (Absent Teacher Reserve) starting this past September 2012. I have worked at 15 schools over the past year and I have enjoyed my work as an ATR, but I think the current system of moving teachers to a different school every week is terribly wasteful of valuable, needed human resources.
Principals should be allowed to retain an ATR that they think is Adding Value to their school. If a Principal does not think that a Teacher will Add Value to their school, then he/she should not be forced to retain that Teacher.
An ATR that is retained for the long term is a lot more valuable to the school community than one who is there for only one week. The retained ATR can be a Utility Player for the school until he/she finds a Permanent Position. He she can be a substitute, can Tutor Children, can work to get absent children into schools by calling their homes, can work on Special Projects for the school, as the need arises. This individual would be evaluated by that school’s Principal and would be able to get to know the students, which is impossible when you are only there for one week.
The NYCDOE claims that they are trying to help Teachers obtain new contacts by moving Teachers around every week, but I believe that the NYCDOE is trying to frustrate teachers to get them to quit by keeping them “Homeless”.
Allowing a Principal to retain good ATRs, that would add value to their schools will be beneficial to schools, students and the ATRs.
What do you think of shuffling ATRs to different schools every week?
Also, what do you think about the policy of NOT giving students Textbooks to take home to do Homework from?
Thank you,
Robert W. Lieberman
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Robert, the ATR “system” is abusive and stupid and demoralizing.
Only the NYC DOE could come up with such a toxic policy.
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Diane,
Also, what do you think about the policy of NOT giving students Textbooks to take home to do Homework from?
Over the past school year, I worked at several schools in The Bronx where students were NOT given Social Studies Textbooks to take home. This is a change of policy from when I started teaching in 1996 where it was mandatory that every student be given Textbooks by the end of the 3rd week to take home.
Thanks,
Robert
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And what are they supposed to read for homework?
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Diane,
I was asked to post this on your blog. I hope you read this. I recently talked to Phyllis Bush online with the same letter. I am very passionate about education. I am thoroughly disgusted with how legislators are disrespecting my profession. Please read and let me know your thoughts. Thank you.
I recently read a status update from WA representative Liz Pike. Here is my response to her: This was published in the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette…
Web letter by Ryann Hill: Washington state education critic not telling the whole story
I recently read a Facebook status from Washington state representative Liz Pike addressing educators. I was appalled by how much someone who is a part of making decisions on education and funding had a lack of understanding of educators and teachers unions.
I do not get paid holidays, spring break and summer vacations. I am on a salary where I make a certain amount for an entire year. I chose the breakdown of my paychecks on a 26-week pay period (not 20 weeks) so therefore I make less through the school year so I can still receive a paycheck in the summer (all in my contract).
I am very passionate about my career. Teaching is a calling, not something that I decided to do because I felt like it was easy or a big moneymaker. Anyone who says I am going into teaching so I can make a lot of money will be in for a rude awakening (those people usually don’t make it past the first year anyways).
Teachers are not money hungry, lazy or in it for the “vacations.” My “generous” pension is constantly under the attack by the state. My health insurance out-of-pocket costs have risen over the time that I’ve worked in my current school district. I do not get “free health care benefits.” I too have to pay for my benefits like the private sector.
What Pike has failed to mention is that she is a state representative. She too has a generous pension courtesy of the state that I highly doubt is being scrutinized much like the “money-hungry teachers unions.” She is also being paid by tax dollars. I pay taxes just like each and everyone else. She has failed to mention that in her status update.
She has also failed to mention that legislators do not work an entire year, either. Once the session is over she too gets a wonderful summer vacation paid for by tax dollars.
There was also a bit on the radio recently about colleges being more selective in teachers’ programs. Obviously, the gentleman discussing this either did not go to college or talk to teachers because I had to pass Praxis exams and have a certain GPA before entering the teaching program. I also had to pass state boards, just like many other professions, to obtain my teaching license. I have to do continuing education every five years to renew and pay for my teaching license. Do state legislators take any exams before entering that profession?
Pike and all legislators need to realize that they too are receiving state benefits. I would like to see their daily objectives posted, daily snapshots on their effectiveness, actually answer and return phone calls to citizens (much like we do with parents). I want to see their evaluations with rankings from 1-4 on effectiveness. Are they deemed highly qualified to make important decisions that affect our careers and daily lives?
I am not saying a legislator has a cushy job by any means, but before legislators want to put the attack on the “unionized, money-hungry vultures” that we teachers are made out to be, all the facts need to be straight.
RYANN HILL
Decatur
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Not taking home textbooks is a good thing!
One of the critical teaching/learning resources used in traditional classrooms is the textbook. It organizes and presents all of the information that the academic standards require a student to know in order to pass the high-stakes tests. Textbooks provide teachers with activities and assessments that enable the teachers to deliver the lessons to their students and assess their recall of the information.
Textbooks have some well-known limitations; the most often cited is that they go out of date. In today’s eco-friendly world, they “kill” a lot of trees. They are also very expensive. Most recently, there is a lot of excitement around the introduction of digital textbooks. They would seem to mitigate the big issues. They don’t use paper. They can be kept up to date. And they are less expensive. Unfortunately, digital textbooks do not eliminate the most significant and yet insidious problem associated with their use. Textbooks create generations of passive, dependent learners.
One of the great hopes for saving education over the past few decades has been the appropriate use of technology. Unfortunately, education failed to learn from General Motors experience when it implemented factory automation and robotics. GM simply used the technology to automate the way they always made cars instead of looking at their system and redesigning it to take full advantage of what the new technology allowed. The result was that GM could make defective cars faster. Digital textbooks are education’s way of automating a bad practice.
Education has to learn from GM’s mistake – forget the old classroom paradigm that worked for an agrarian economy and was modified to work for a manufacturing economy. The global economic, high performance, information-rich world our graduates will face requires a comprehensive redesign of the education system.
In the traditional educational setting, the school provides a textbook for each subject (Math, Science, Language Arts, etc.). The textbook tells the students what they will learn (meaning memorize for recall), provides the information for them to learn and then provides tests to determine if they have learned it. When a student graduates and is facing a problem or project in the real world, who will tell them what they will need to know to solve the problem? Who will tell them where to find it? The following table contrasts the students’ experience in a textbook versus a non-textbook based learning environment.
We need to get rid of textbooks altogether!
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Diane,
Teachers are expected to either make Xerox copies everyday OR students are to complete homework from that day’s class notes. I worked in one Transfer School where the policy was to keep student’s notebooks in the classroom, so those students went home with nothing.
My 2 girls who go to school in Rockland County, New York are sent home with Textbooks but The Bronx students are NOT. I think this policy in Bronx High Schools is Educational Neglect.
At Dodge where I worked since 1996, the policy was NOT to send Textbooks home for 8 years (from 2004-2012 when I was excessed because Dodge is being Phased Out). I had one colleague who would xerox the Textbook one chapter at a time, so students would have material to do homework from.
Thanks again Diane,
Robert
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Diane,
What do you suggest should be done for students in poor neighborhoods to have a resource at home instead of Textbooks to do Homework from?
Thanks,
Robert
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Only the leadership of the United Federation of Teachers would *agree* to it.
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I’ve taught high school in Pawtucket, RI (which could be said to be what passes for “inner city” in RI) for about 16 years now, and even when I started the students were not allowed to take the textbooks home. The reason given was that we would quickly lose the books as we have such a high transience rate (and no real way to enforce the demand that students return the books). I attended one of my state’s more well-known Catholic high schools (LaSalle Academy), and we were allowed to take all of our books home.
Not sure what all of this means, but the upshot is that students are not often assigned homework because they cannot take books home with them. This may change as more students get internet access and teachers begin to build online databases, but for the moment that is more pipe dream than reality.
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The same thing happened at Dodge in The Bronx as it does in Pawtucket.
Students need Textbooks at home so they can prepare for the next day’s lesson. To me it is insane that schools deprive students and teachers of these valuable resources. The Textbook that a school sends home can be a Barrons Paperback Review book that costs $20.00 instead of a $100.00 Textbook. Something to work with is much better than nothing. Not all students in the Bronx have access to the Internet at home.
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Diane, Please take a look at this article on dissent among TFA alums, first noted the link on the Catalyst Chicago website
http://prospect.org/article/teach-americas-civil-war
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When I realized that the Common Core and its Standardized
Testing were instilling fear in the hearts of the most expert,
esteemed and dedicated teachers, I decided to do some
investigating. When parents were becoming alarmed and one parent
felt a need to take her child for therapy because of his negative
reaction toward the pre standardized test I knew something was
wrong with the CC. I was one of the two people aligning district
primary reading standards with NY State’ Standards . The NY State
doesn’t need a new set of standards. There are problems with the CC
on every front. I first looked at the reading standards of the
Common Core. The opening paragraph of the CC: “One of the key
requirements of the Core or reading … is that all must be able to
comprehend texts of steadily increasing complexity… ” The word must
bothered me. A set of Standards can be present as a goal to reach
for but it is ridiculous to demand it. Furthermore, increasing
complexity has always been one of the goals but we start with the
child not the curriculum. CC states,” Far too often,students who
have fallen behind are given only less complex text rather than the
instruction they need in the foundational skill in reading as well
as vocabulary and other supports they need to read at an
appropriate level of complexity. First of all, student haven’t
fallen behind. They were behind before they began formal education.
What research are they referring to? What reading programs are they
referring to? What tests are they referring to? A test can easily
be invalidated if student is fearful, overly tense, upset… The
statement above is meaningless. Standards are a goal to aim for but
teachers work with the abilities and home life of the students. Do
not assume it was the teachers’ fault or the approach and their
teaching tools. My expertise was working with the At Risk students
but the last year I was assigned a group of gifted students – every
student scored a 99% on their standardized test in the spring. It
was obvious that whoever constructed the CC had no background, no
knowledge of the Emergent Reader, the approach, and the materials
needed. It was obvious that the Behavioral approach was influencing
them : “varied and repeated practice torpid recall and
automaticity.” It claimed that the CC was “research based.”
Something was wrong here so I searched the Reading Biography. None
of the researchers and thinkers who made great contributions to
learning theory, philosophy of education, and reading in particular
were mentioned. I did find one name: Kintsch, W. Learning and
Constructivism. It was a book review in which it was evident that
Kintsch favored Behaviorism. I went on to read, ” The Common Core
develops higher order thinking skills through comparing and
analyzing concepts only with text.” “Ask and answer questions to
demonstrate understanding of text, referring explicitly to the text
as the basis for the answers.” That is not researched base. CC has
no understanding of the reading process: Reading is a process -the
interaction of the reader with visual/perceptual (text, pictures,
and graphics) and non visual/conceptual which includes background
knowledge along with knowledge of the language structure: semantic,
syntactic, and graphophonics systems. The reader uses these two
sources of information to construct meaning. It is a selective
process bringing together experience, knowledge, skills, and
abilities. It is a strategic process- strategies used before,
during, and after reading to achieve goals. Constructivists believe
that it is essential to relate the child’s background
knowledge/experiences to the curriculum/ text. Learning is social;
we learn from one another. We don’t see with our eyes, or hear with
our ears, we perceive with our whole being which is based upon our
experiences. CC states that “… information lies in the text. Learn
sight words, and phonics to decode and the student will find the
answers within.” Frank Smith, a psycholinguist, maintained that one
must bring meaning to print before one can acquire meaning from it.
As we become fluent readers we learn to rely more on what we
already know, on what is behind the eyeballs and less on the print
on the page in front of us. CC places emphases on facts/ knowledge
but Dewey, the Enstein of education, says that the pursuit of
knowledge is only one higher order thinking skill; imagination is
what makes advances in science. The affective realm is ignored.
Narratives study the whole person: soul, mind, and relationship,
empathy and respect for others. Narratives provide laughter – food
for mind and body. They encourage life long learners/readers.
Expository text fills the brain with facts but today’s technology
removes the need to commit to memory the facts and figures which CC
is trying to do with the informational text. CC has no respect for
diversity and Gardner’s 9 intelligences. It does not recognize
mental limitations. All children can learn, but children do not
lean in the same way and at the same pace. 14 states and the
District of Columbia mandate retention of all third graders who do
not score adequately on the Standardized Test. When medical
researchers publish a finding, we listen; we had better or most of
us would be dead by now. But we ignore the findings of our esteemed
psychologists maintaining retention is most devastating and
destructive- destroying ones self image to say the least. Edmund
Burke stated, “The equal treatment of unequals is the greatest
injustice of all.” Instruction for slower readers is most effective
when it addresses all of the critical reading components in an
integrated and coordinated manner. Students who need additional
assistance, however, must not miss out on essential instruction
their classmates are receiving to help them think deeply about
texts, participate in thoughtful discussions, and gain knowledge of
both words and the world.” Again, a lot of gibberish! There is a
total lack of understanding of the reading process. The State
Standards support the teachers but the CC Standards place fear,
hardship, and impose a harmful task on the teachers. A
Constructivists develops higher oder thinking skills at every level
with the text being used as their teaching tool be they caption
books or B, C, D, E…levels. Skills and strategies are developed
at the rate the student can understand and master. Concepts,
skills, strategies are all intertwined; we don’t teach in
isolation. Placing a text into the hands of a student that is too
difficult will hinder a students progress. Forcing a child to read
on a frustration level can cause a disability. The CC has no
understanding of the meaning of scaffolding so important in
developing the skill of reading. Instead of top down trying to
prepare students for the future, for college, we need to learn how
to live and interact in the present. Examine how we can close the
Achievement Gap starting at the bottom – the home. Other realities
about CC that are wrong: Politically it is unconstitutional.
Examine their origin: The architect of CC, David Coleman, has
degrees from Yale, Oxford and Cambridge but that does not make him
an expert in all areas. He is not an educator; he never taught, has
no degree in education. Susan Pimentel has an early childhood
degree and a law degree. Jason Zimba has a BA, MA Ph.D. in math and
physics. He taught on the college level. He is a cofounder of Grow
Network, an education technology company and the founding principal
of Student Achievement. None have a background in education nor
have they taught on the elementary and high school level. Pimentel
taught in Head Start but that doesn’t make her an expert in the
teaching of elementary and high school students. These three are
telling elementary and high school teachers what they should teach.
What an insult to the teaching profession not to have one
educational expert on the original team! Who is at the top
approving all this craziness with the CC? Arne Duncan, Secretary of
Education; a man whose degree is in sociology- not in education,
not in philosophy of education or learning theory. He has no
masters nor a doctoral degree yet our N Y State mandates a masters
degree for teachers; worse yet, is imposing standards which are not
educationally sound. If you compare the members of the
English-language Arts Work Group and the members of the mathematics
Work Group you will find some names on both the English and math
group: Sara Clough, Hohn Kraman, and Sherri Miller. All three
belong to a company. Other members on the “Work Group” are either
one of the three: founders of Act, Inc., Achieve, or are a member
of the College Board. The Feedback Group have credentials but final
decisions regarding the common core standards document were made by
the Standards Development Work Group. The Feedback Group served as
an advisory role, not a decision-making role in the process. Two
people on the Validation Committee didn’t sign off. Dr. Snow signed
off but in a video she made at a later date she made a point to
state her position on prior knowledge. Something is not right.
Economically: With the Freedom of Information Act, Matt Chingos of
Brookings Institute estimated the cost of testing to 41.7 billion..
The following blog has been removed Common Core Standards Aren’t
Cheap; Taxpayers Will Pay the Heavy Price but this is what it
stated: “AccountabilityWorks, in their study of Common Core,
estimated that the total additional costs (one-time plus a 7-year
time period for implementation) to state taxpayers will amount to
$15.8 billion across participating states. This constitutes a “mid
range” estimate that only addresses expenditures required for
implementation of the new standards. It does not include the cost
of additional expenses or controversial reforms that are sometimes
recommended to help students meet high standards, such as
performance-based compensation or reduced class sizes. That
estimate includes the following additional expenses for the states:
$1.2 billion for participation in the new assessments; $5.3 billion
for professional development; $2.5 billion for textbooks and
instructional materials; and $6.9 billion for technology
infrastructure and support. The Sequester reduced govt. funding by
$2.6 billion for ’13-’14. Districts had to lay off teachers or
agree to no pay increase for the coming year. One district on LI
had to lay off 100 teachers and the superintendent does not foresee
hiring for another ten years. With the govt. 17 trillion in debt,
the high unemployment, the high number of homeless, and people
working for salary that doesn’t pay the bills, who is going to pay
for all this? A big concern is the Pearson Company. They are a
conglomerate. Pearson Conglomerate Gets $32 million for
Standardised Test Scandal and Idiocy ★ Our History/ Pearson 1998
Pearson Education, the world’s leading education business, is
created from the merger of Addison-Wesley Longman and the
educational businesses of Simon and Schuster. Pearson Education
leads in every major sector of educational publishing, including
elementary and secondary school, higher education, professional
education, English Language Teaching (ELT), and educational
technology, both in the US and internationally. Over 100 education
brands including Scott Foresman, Prentice Hall,
Allyn & Bacon, Addison-Wesley, Silver, Burdette and
Ginn, Longman, Benjamin Cummings and Macmillan Publishing USA fall
under Pearson’s umbrella. Jeffery Horn summarizes well: So Who
REALLY Developed Common Core State Standards? Common Core State
Standards were developed by individuals coming from interests in
the testing, textbook, training, and student and teacher tracking
industry. Here are the major players: America’s Choice –
http://www.americaschoice.org • Senior Fellows Phil Daro (MATH) and
Sally Hampton (ELA) • Really Pearson Publishing – One of the
largest providers of services and materials to help low performing
schools raise their performance through professional development,
technical assistance and high quality materials. • Student
Achievement Partners – http://achievethecore.org • Founders –
Jason Zimba (MATH) and David Coleman (ELA) [now with College Board]
• Non-profit with goal to promote CCSS • $18MM Grant from GE
Foundation ACT, Inc. – http://www.act.org • Sara Clough (MATH and
ELA), Ken Mullen (MATH), Sharri Miller (Math and ELA), Jim
Patterson (ELA), Nina Metzner (ELA) • One of the largest college
testing and test preparation services The College Board –
http://www.collegeboard.org • Robin O’Callaghan (MATH),
Andrew Schwartz (MATH), Natasha Vasavada (MATH and ELA), Joel
Harris (ELA), Beth Hart (ELA) • One of the largest college testing
and test preparation services (SAT) Achieve, Inc. –
http://www.achieve.org • Kaye Forgione (MATH), Laura McGiffert
Slover (MATH and ELA), Douglas Sovde (MATH), John Kraman
(ELA), Sue Pimental (ELA) • P-20 Data Systems
Consulting, Student and Teacher Assessment Tools, Data and
Accountability Systems with strong alignment to policies in
post-secondary and economic development sectors So, the Common Core
State Standards were created by two trade associations by
individuals who worked for interests with a great deal to gain by
creating a national standard for education in the United States!
This entry was posted in Background on Common Core, Pushed By Big
Business on April 13, 2013 by Jeffrey Horn.i
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Thank you for your in depth explanation about Common Core. My daughter is a teacher in the first public trigger school. I have no background in education and am trying to understand the challenges she is facing on all fronts. I am very confused/conflicted on the state of education, but concept’s I do understand are “follow the money” and look for the motivation. The time you contributed to writing this is much appreciated.
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thank you Diane Ravitch. I’m a 2nd grade public school teacher in California and value your voice. Thank you.
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When a man with a gun admittedly stalks and kills an unarmed youth and is acquitted with a “not guilty” verdict, it truly does become a nation of (f)laws which requires redefining. Voting Rights Act dismantled because it’s obsolete? Really? Arguably, we should be scrutinizing these laws and those who pass them with as much fervor as we demonize educators.
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Today’s Detroit Free Press advocating the State adopt Common Core and those who oppose it as the “Fringe” It allows comments 🙂
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Interesting information Rudy Crew’s expensive year in Oregon:
http://www.oregonlive.com/education/index.ssf/2013/07/ex-education_czar_rudy_crew_ra.html
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This week the HIDOE in Hawaii just posted their Educator Effectiveness System, EES…supposedly designed after Danielson’s Enhancing Professional Practice. By the name, EES, alone you can see they missed the big points made in Danielson’s framework. I would love to know how to post it so that others nationwide can see how poorly designed this is, and how poorly supported we are as teachers in Hawaii, by our employers..the HIDOE and our union, the HSTA who is touting their input into this document which will affect our pay increases based on evaluation results..This in a state pays uncertified teachers almost as much as those with masters degree because they do not know what they are looking at when they see credential paperwork from other states
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As poorly conceived as the Danielson Framework is itself … districts around the country have actually managed to make it *worse* ; that is to say: more arbitrary, bureaucratic, unrealistic and educationally irrelevant than it was to begin with. And that’s quite an achievement. I know Hawaii is not alone in this respect ( NYC did… and does.. the same thing.) And I suspect it is pretty typical of other states where Danielson has gotten its foot in the door. “Improving” the Framework, ( or “adapting” it) you understand, creates a whole new cottage industry of out-of-classroom positions: Danielson Coordinators, presenters, trainers, curriculum writers, data collectors, etc etc etc. The money that is now wasted on the “teacher-eval” industry could make a serious dent in world hunger.
And I’ll leave aside for the moment the truckloads of pointless extra paperwork produced for teachers. What a nightmare.
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What overpaid, over-vacationed, over-educated teachers do in their spare time:
The CCSS Cheer & I-Feel-Like-I’m-Fixin’-To-Be Lied –To-Rag
w/ special thanks to Country Joe McDonald
Gimme a C!
C!
Gimme a C!
C!
Gimme an S!
S!
Gimme an S!
S!
What’s that spell ?
Untried, Unproven, Unsolicited, Unattainable!
What’s that spell ?
Federally Consecrated, Incentivized and Promoted!
What’s that spell ?
“National,” “Rigorous,” “Nonpartisan,” Learning Standards!
Yeah, come on all of you women and men,
Arne Duncan needs your help again.
He’s got himself in a terrible fix,
Jumping in bed with a dominatrix.
So pull down your pants and bend up to the sun,
We’re gonna have a whole lotta fun.
And it’s one, two, three,
What in Hell’s the Common Core?
Don’t ask me, it’s Uncle Sam’s,
He’ll feed it to little lambs.
And it’s five, six, seven,
Got the dough of ole Willam Gates.
Well there ain’t no need to ask how and why,
Whoopee! they’re all gonna lie.
Come on Wall Street leverage some cash,
Why man, this is profit after the crash.
There’s plenty good money to be made,
Supplying the Testers with the tools of its trade.
But just hope and pray if they flunk the lot,
You can blame it on a Democrat’s plot.
And it’s one, two, three,
What in Hell’s the Common Core?
Don’t ask me, it’s Uncle Sam’s.
He’ll feed it to little lambs.
And it’s five, six, seven,
Got the dough of ole Willam Gates.
Well there ain’t no need to ask how and why,
Whoopee! they’re all gonna lie.
Well come on teachers let’s move fast,
Your big chance has come at last.
Now you can turn out standards based scholars,
Even if it costs a hundred billion dollars.
And when the kids don’t follow the rules,
We’ll send them all to charter schools.
And it’s one, two, three,
What in Hell’s the Common Core?
Don’t ask me, it’s Uncle Sam’s.
He’ll feed it to little lambs.
And it’s five, six, seven,
Got the dough of ole Willam Gates.
Well there ain’t no need to ask how and why,
Whoopee! they’re all gonna lie.
Well come on mothers throughout the land,
Pack your kids off to college with a new iPad.
And come on fathers, and don’t hesitate,
Send ‘em all to schools with less federal aid.
And you can be the first ones on your block,
To pay off loans until you’re in a box.
And it’s one, two, three,
What in Hell’s the Common Core?
Don’t ask me, it’s Uncle Sam’s.
He’ll feed it to little lambs.
And it’s five, six, seven,
Got the dough of ole Willam Gates.
Well there ain’t no need to ask how and why,
Whoopee! they’re all gonna lie.
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Not sure if you all know about this or not: http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/campaign-k-12/2013/07/house_debates_no_child_left_re.html?override=web
The situation is complex and reducing any of it to one simple facet would be a mistake, but here is one important sea change that may be hinted at through all of this — curiously, it appears to be REPUBLICAN lawmakers who are taking the side of the teachers. I’m sure that’s mostly coincidental to their stated concerns about states’ rights, as well as the usual mentality that anything the other side does must be resisted, but within this could be the makings of a real shift in political allegiances.
For all the ballyhoo about their supposed political power, educators are an orphaned political group, and have been for close to a decade now (certainly since Obama took office). Their unions might have clout, but as I learn more I can see that their union leadership can have its own agenda that is not really in the best interests of the rank and file — and the unions have been siding with the corporate reformers an alarming percentage of the time. Consider that the AFT sent us e-mails urging us to protest the changes being proposed by Republican lawmakers — changes that in many cases were in fact in our best interests.
With Obama and Duncan, the Democrats have sealed their selling-out of educators. Will Republicans — and educators — be perceptive and adaptive enough to make something positive of this?
Probably not. But still, the possibility is out there.
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LOVE IT! He has hit the ‘achievement gap’ nail smack dab on its head! What an ‘insightful’ solution; both practical and radical in its application! Russell Walsh is a Pennsylvania educator and teaches at Rider University. Bravo Russ!
http://russonreading.blogspot.com/2013/06/a-modest-proposal-how-about-real-estate.html
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http://www.providencejournal.com/politics/content/20130720-revised-law-gives-guidelines-in-redeveloping-blighted-industrial-sites-into-schools.ece
To say that this sounds like another Love Canal is not exaggeration. Consider that Lois Gibbs, one of the more well known mothers turned activist who LIVED in Love Canal, has personally protested this situation.
I’m not making this up — look here: http://www.pawtuckettimes.com/content/school-citing-law-center-dispute
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If you get a chance, try to catch a rerun of today’s Ed Show. He really went after conservatives for what’s going on with the bankruptcy of Detroit and the impetus towards privatization, including in public education.
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“The American Association of School Administrators is offering a new Superintendent Certification Program. They are touting the high caliber mentors they have lined up for the program
The program is a comprehensive professional development experience that offers best practice and relevant experiences to superintendents to sharpen their executive leadership skills. Spread over 18 months, the forums, seminars, webinars, simulations, and coaching and mentoring provide opportunities to define and examine with colleagues issues that surface in real life, on-the-job situations.
In addition to Dr. Domenech, scheduled mentors and speakers include Dr. William R. Hite, Jr., Superintendent, School District of Philadelphia, Dr. John Deasy, Superintendent, Los Angeles Unified School District, and Dr. Terry Grier, Superintendent, Houston Independent School District. ”
http://oswego.patch.com/groups/schools/p/wendt-selected-for-national-superintendent-certification-program
http://www.aasa.org/superintendent-certification.aspx
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More “Broadie” creep. Lets hope these new recruits do better than some of their mentors.
Just thinking aloud, I’m wondering when the mob will get involved in school reform. I would love to see their school and what they believe constitutes “best practices”. Just thinking aloud…
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Diane: I would be interested to see your assessment of McKinsey’s chapter on education in their GAME CHANGERS, July 2013, pp,109-133: particularly their endorsements of the improvements in 9 states including Texas, Arkansas, and, the District of Columbia.
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Jerrold O’Brien,
There is so much wrong–factually wrong–with the McKinsey report that I don’t know where to begin. My new book answers every question raised by the report. Start with the fact that McKinsey says we are losing the “race” to have the most college graduates. But fails to point out that we have a far higher proportion of college graduates than Germany, which is the most powerful economy in Europe. The claims in the McKinsey report are facile, superficial, and reflect the conventional wisdom.
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Diane,
The Statesman Journal newspaper (Salem, Oregon) had an interesting piece on Rudy Crew’s work history in today’s paper (complete with graphic!).
http://www.statesmanjournal.com/article/20130728/NEWS/307280060/State-s-education-leader-had-history-short-stays-schools
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Diane, If you have not seen it already, please take a look at John Merrow’s “A Story About Michelle Rhee That No One Will Print.” Wowsa!
http://takingnote.learningmatters.tv/?p=6490
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We just added a link to dianeravitch.net on our new website, TheManhattanFive.com.
Five NYC Public School Teachers who endured the Rubber Rooms and a Federal lawsuit that shockingly upheld the validity of the long term confinement of teachers.
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Curious if any one knows anything about edgenuity? Our district wants to outsource Algebra I for 8th graders using this company. When I look it up I only see their marketing. It looks like many school districts are using them to outsource teaching.
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Curious if anyone out there knows more than the obvious about “Great Oakland Public Schools,” (G.O.P.S) which I believe is considered a PAC (Political Action Committee). Questions I have: What influence will it have that G.O.P.S. has various members who are T.F.A. alumni? Is G.O.P.S basically a “rubber stamp” organization for the Oakland USD’s policies? Perhaps Anthony Cody has written about this?
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trying to find information on your tour stops in California this fall- where have you posted this information? thank you!!!!
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I will be speaking in Sacramento, Stanford, Berkeley, and Los Angeles. Details posted soon!
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Everybody should see this: “15 Things Everyone Would Know if There Were a Liberal Media”
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/08/07/1229087/-15-things-everyone-would-know-if-there-were-a-liberal-media
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Diane, I think we need something similar, like “15 Things Everyone Would Know About EDUCATION if There Were a Liberal Media”
Which 15 things would you point out to people? Maybe you can post that here or at the Network for Public Education website
BTW, I see connections between the issues not regularly reported in the mainstream media regarding economics, inequity and education, because big $$$$$ and political power brokers are behind it all, including the news black-out, and they are waging class warfare on each of those fronts, which many people just don’t realize, so I’d want to see those relationships revealed, too.
Or is all of this in your new book?
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All in my new book. What corporate reformers and the media ignore: Research and evidence about what works The effects of poverty on children and test scores Segregation Lots more
Diane Ravitch
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Great! Thanks, I look forward to reading it!!
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This is even better than Jeanne Allen’s Rat Pack celebration and fund- raiser. Adrian Fenty and his ‘budding romance’ with Laurene Powell Jobs, widow of Steve Jobs.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/reliable-source/wp/2013/08/08/adrian-fenty-and-his-budding-romance-with-laurene-powell-jobs-billionaire-widow-of-apple-co-founder-steve-jobs/
Best lines: “Adrian Fenty is one of our country’s great advocates for education reform,” she said in a statement when he joined the board. “His sense of urgency and record of accomplishment is unparalleled.”
Please wake me up when it’s over.
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For the sake of ideological diversity I present this post on data mining and the Common Core. What if progressives, conservatives, libertarians and all others joined forces to beat this one back? What if?
http://watchdogwire.com/florida/2013/08/08/data-mining-using-common-core-cha-ching-cha-ching/
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Diane,
on a wing and a prayer and a feather in my hair, I am beginning to apply my hunches in what children need in education to a business that will do just that. I am still getting it worked out, but here is my trial website and blog.
I will begin posting as thoughts come to me.
http://www.scissorsandgluellc.com/blog.html
Thank you for your leadership and inspiration. All I have is creative observation; your blog has allowed me to become informed.
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Please, get rid of the Unions. Through the use of them, the Federal Government has obtained power in education it was never meant to have. Second, get back to basics. Common Core is NOT about teaching a child how to think. It’s about teaching children what to think. Please take the time to learn John Deweys true motives in education. http://www.improve-education.org/id42.html Then look at what our enemies were doing through the use of Deweys ideas. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Obr1XqUPEII All information needs to be looked at to see a true picture of what is going on.
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Thought you might like to see what the state of NY thinks is appropriate expectations for first graders. After they explain the significance of the Code of Hammurabi, they will then need to go on to the human body systems. Who thought that these ideas could be understood in any meaningful way by a six-year old?
http://www.engageny.org/resource/grade-1-ela-domain-4-early-world-civilizations
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Mesopotamia???? Good LORD! I learned about that in the 6th Grade… and they’re shoving down to 1st?! O!M!G!
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Good morning, Ms. Ravitch,
First thank you for the clarity and information you bring to the important topic of public education.
A few years ago I wrote to my new state senator and my new state assemblyman about the importance of public education and making our public schools the best that they can be. Their response was the ALEC guidebook, a link to “Waiting for Superman”, and importance of parental choice. Soon after, state school funding was slashed, the voice of the state’s public school teacher was silenced, teacher blame grew, and the voucher system was expanded.
I realized I had to do some homework.
As you suggest, I followed the money. I learned of the Common Core, the A-F school grading system, and the massive Foundation support for privatizing education, and how the words of marketers were convincing the public that the our education system was failing and that that the free market had all the answers to save our kids, and so much more.
And to think that the destruction of public education is about the only bipartisan movement there is today.
As I share what I’ve learned with others, most people don’t believe it.
The Gates Foundation is seen as a force for good.
Teachers should be accountable and test scores are the only indicator.
LIFO is a death knell to an enterprise (unless it impacts them personally)
The few who know anything about TFA, see it as a noble enterprise. Those who kids are involved in TFA are so proud of what their kids are are doing.
After the recent testing news from New York, I visited my own state’s DPI website and found this document http://statesupt.dpi.wi.gov/files/statesupt/pdf/fs-high_exp.pdf
which appears to set Wisconsin up for an experience similar to New York’s.
“Because of these benchmark score
changes, WKCE results will show a
significant decline in the number of
students considered to be “proficient”
or “advanced.” This does not reflect a
change in the abilities of students, but
rather reflects the higher standards and
aspirations we have for our students and
schools.”
Keep the light shining at the national level, I’ll try to do what I can in my town.
Thank you.
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Thank you, Rick.
We must educate the public.
Diane Ravitch
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http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2013/02/09/a-warning-to-college-profs-from-a-high-school-teacher/
great read. did not see it here so I figured I would share.
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The latest celebrity expert and school reformer: May I introduce M. Knight Shyamalan. The horror movie director. His latest horrific contribution to society is his analysis of school problems and his proposed solutions.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323977304578653941518660984.html
Here are a few choice quotes and excerpts:
He wanted to do more. He decided to approach education like he did his films: thematically. “I think in terms of plot structure,” he says. He wondered if the problems in U.S. public schools could be traced to the country’s racial divisions. Because so many underperforming students are minorities, he says, “There’s an apathy. We don’t think of it as ‘us.’ ”
Additional solutions he proposes:
“That was the click,” says Mr. Shyamalan. It struck him that the reason the educational research was so inconsistent was that few school districts were trying to use the best, most proven reform ideas at once. He ultimately concluded that five reforms, done together, stand a good chance of dramatically improving American education. The agenda described in his book is: Eliminate the worst teachers, pivot the principal’s job from operations to improving teaching and school culture, give teachers and principals feedback, build smaller schools, and keep children in class for more hours.
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Not surprising. Years ago, I taught at a pricey religious private school, heavily populated by the nouveau riche due to the expansion of the banking industry in our state. These folks “knew everything about everything”, including teaching and learning. There were times when I felt like the cleaning woman receiving instructions on how the job was to be done.
My theory is that it’s all about income. “I make two (or three) times as much as you do, so I must know at least twice as much.”
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My comment is in response to Mark Collins.
Mark – Your comments always inspire me to do some research and to think more deeply. I can’t help but wonder about the amount of actual teaching experience our so called expert reformers have acquired. How many years of actual teaching experience do the following individuals have: Arne Duncan , Michelle Rhee, NYS Commissioner of Education and all of the Heads of Departments of Education across the United States?? What would the evidence prove that the collective average of ACTUAL experience amount to —- 3 years??? What about years of experience in an URBAN school district??? What would that average be ??
Inquirimg minds want to know.
Marge
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Thanks for the kind words. The fact that this guy has a book being published in September just stupefies.
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I have a comment awaiting moderation for this article about the ESEA Waiver granted to seven California school districts. While teachers were not involved as this article states, there was no meaningful participation by parents/families.
http://laschoolreport.com/teachers-unions-chagrin-waiver-process-left-them-out/#comment-430
In case they find my comment too incendiary, I’ll post here:
Sonja Luchini on August 12, 2013 at 5:03 pm said:
Your comment is awaiting moderation.
“Stakeholders were left in the cold as well. I feel that the ESEA waiver has not represented properly the involvement of stakeholders. In looking over the documentation provided from the link here: http://coredistricts.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/CORE-Waiver-Application-8.5.13-full-doc-2.pdf
it appears claims were made that ESEA was discussed with all stakeholders, but in fact it was not. The ESEA waiver paperwork is 400+ pages and access to the public was difficult for me to find until last Wednesday, August 7, 2013 so I haven’t digested all. But on the contents page 3 there is a section labeled: “Appendix E, List of Attachments”. Number 3 on that attachment list is “Notice and information provided to the public regarding the request” followed by the notation “N/A” (Not Attached? or Not Applicable?). There is no attachment of public involvement proof because I believe there was no meaningful public involvement.
This statement from page 16:
“CORE believes that a decentralized approach is necessary to gather the input required to meaningfully represent each participating district. The input process must be facilitated in a manner that is respectful of the unique culture and character of each respective community. To support the development of this Waiver application, each participating LEA has initiated efforts to engage its local community. As documented in Appendix F, audiences, forums, and participants in this local engagement work have varied from district to district. They have included local school boards; community forums attended by parents, students, and other community members; School Site Council meetings; parent liaisons from Title I schools; PTA Executive Council; district English Language Advisory Committees; Parent Advisory Committees; Student Advisory Councils; Community Advisory Councils; emails to district/school staff; postings about the evolving Waiver application on district web sites; news releases to local communities; and convenings of local business and educational leaders. Below we provide examples of how District administrators have engaged and sought input for the Waiver application from diverse stakeholder groups to date:”
Only four of the seven districts actually highlighted what they claimed was public input: Fresno, Sacramento and Sanger on pages 14 & 15 with Sacramento, again, and San Francisco as examples of how they performed outreach on pages 16 & 17. There is no documented proof from any of them and no specific mention of LAUSD, Long Beach or Oakland participating in this at all. Where is the documented proof? Who signed off and claimed we were involved when in fact we were not? While Attachment F, regarding LAUSD shows one meeting agenda for a “CORE Board Meeting” for Jan 24, 2013, it does not show a sign-in sheet or state all in attendance. The only other LAUSD “documentation” is a power point about the CORE plans which include in one slide, “turnaround principals applied to CORE strategies” showing “Replace Principals” as number 1. The plan is to punish ‘low performing’ schools by removing principals and teachers as the knee-jerk, first option while later in the list is the suggestion to provide “job-embedded professional development designed to build capacity and support staff”….shouldn’t that be first on the list?
The Waiver “committee” did, however have discussions with these folks (from pg 15 & 16):
“We also want to highlight that this Waiver application incorporates input from numerous national and/or statewide educator, research, advocacy, and non-profit organizations. Those groups include, but are not limited to: Education Trust West, Association of School Administrators Superintendents’ Council representatives and staff, County Office of Education Superintendents, WestEd, the Parthenon Group, and Teachers on Special Assignment in Participating LEAs. We have also been advised directly by Michael Fullan, Professor Emeritus at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education at the University of Toronto, and Special Adviser on Education to Dalton McGuinty, the Premier of Ontario. The input from these groups and experts has informed the application on issues including: professional development to support implementation of the Common Core State Standards; designing and weighting components of a strong, effective alternative accountability model; setting aggressive but achievable goals for student achievement and eliminating subgroup gaps; the rationale for and evidence supporting the inclusion of measures such as non-cognitive factors and results of stakeholder surveys as viable indicators of school performance; effective interventions for schools that do not meet growth targets; and effective processes for evaluating, recognizing, and supporting teachers, principals and superintendents. Moreover, on an ongoing basis during the development of this Waiver application, CORE staff have maintained communication with and sought input from key constituencies such as the State Board of Education, California Department of Education, and the Association of California School Administrators.”
And who, exactly are “Teachers on Special Assignment in Participating LEAs”? Teach for America? I’m amazed that they reach out to the University of Toronto, but not the stakeholders in their backyard.
This information was not shared with our LAUSD CAC in any form…and I’m the chair so should’ve been notified. We did have two “information” meetings about CCSS and special education, but not one word was mentioned of the waiver and the need for us to be involved. This mirrors an earlier claim by the State Department of Education’s Special Education Director in a letter to a statewide advocacy group for students with disabilities claiming that all stakeholders were notified in a timely manner to comment on proposed changes to special education law. Link here: http://www.cde.ca.gov/re/lr/rr/specialeducation.asp
We were not notified as a CAC. The notice was posted on the CDE website May 24, 2013. LAUSD’s CAC had their last meeting of the school year May 15, 2013. I did not hear about this information until June 1, 2013 through one of the members of the advocacy group. We had no opportunity to generate a meeting (LAUSD changes in the school year calendar, furlough days and other factors made it impossible to call a meeting with time to translate, share and discuss this info with families.
A request to grant an extension regarding the hearing was denied based on this false assumption that all CACs were notified and were able to provide input. The hearing was held in early July, information was not provided in a timely manner and it was impossible for any CAC to have a meeting that fulfilled Brown Act requirements to share, discuss and provide input on these proposed special education law changes.
I heard about the Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF) public input hearings through parent advocacy sites, not school district personnel. Special Education information regarding the LCFF was difficult to access and wasn’t immediately available. I did receive an email two days before the August 8, 2013 meeting held in Downey, CA through one of LAUSD’s Parent Collaborative Services Branch representatives(PCSB – helps facilitate Title I, ELAC, School Site Councils – not special education specific). The email called the meeting a “training” in error. The information sent to stakeholders was confusing and unclear as to the purpose. I sent an email back with info links that included this message:
“I’ve known about this for a couple of weeks through an advocacy site. We’ve barely had time to gather information and think through what it means in order to give input. When did you first receive the info? The CAC has had similar difficulties in getting these notices regarding special ed issues from CDE in a timely manner as well. There seems to be a huge time gap between when the info is posted, when it is disseminated to district personnel and when it is finally passed on to stakeholders.
I’ve attached a word doc I put together with links to pertinent info regarding LCFF and some other docs of interest. If you wouldn’t mind sharing with those you just sent this notice to, it would be helpful in giving them more than just a time and date.
I’m concerned that it will be another “warm body/compliance” meeting to fulfill some legal requirements that will just spoon-fed some CDE line without having a real discussion about the content and what it means to our children. I hope I’m wrong.
Thanks for the notice.
Sonja Luchini”
To date, I have had no response as to when PCSB was notified of the meeting and whether they had the information just that day or if they sat on it until two days before the meeting.
Educational decisions are being made without us, not just in LAUSD but at all levels. How can we figure out a better statewide notification system that could make contact, in a timely manner AND with proper informational materials, with those who wish to participate in order to address these questions that are not being answered? Accountability appears to be lip-service at this point. I feel that our education process has been hijacked by outside interests. Community Advisory Committees have been snubbed at state and federal levels while those making proposals and bringing forward changes have not included stakeholders in a meaningful way (if at all). Families of students with disabilities don’t have lobbyists and big-business money to help fund decisions made in Sacramento and DC. It seems that our democratic process is only effective for those who can pay for it these days and our students are the ones who suffer.”
In regards to that LCFF meeting in Downey; We were also promised that a copy of the power point visuals would be available to us by today, actually. It’s not in my mailbox yet. I will say that more time was provided for input than in giving information – even if a majority of those commenting were administrators. One legal aid agency that helps foster youth brought a young teenage girl who gave an impassioned suggestion to do a better job of having her cum file follow her. One semester in her senior year she had been re-located in four different foster homes and four different schools – none of which received her documentation to allow her proper credits for classes and she repeated many in order to graduate. She did, in spite of the system, bless her heart. There were not enough of these speakers. The last people they wanted to hear from were those who would be directly affected by all this upheaval.
I was able to get in a question and asked how LCFF mattered for LAUSD and six other districts (Fresno, Long Beach, Oakland, Sacramento, San Francisco & Sanger) that were granted the ESEA waiver as a package deal only the day before. What compliance and oversight will be lost with the Waiver package? How will it be interwoven with the LCFF? And what about special ed? Obviously no one had thought about it as I could see eyes widen in surprise at the question.
I have no idea where we’re headed with education “reform” in California, but it’s being done without any meaningful public input. Foxes in the hen-house, indeed….
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Apparently my post was not allowed. This particular enews report tends to sway “pro-charter” and “pro-business”
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I don’t really think any of this has to do with teaching kids how to think. It’s ultimately going to be about teaching kids what to think. The outcome of politics being inner mingled with every doggone institution possible. Who controls the purse string controls the narrative. No educational experience needed for that!
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My sister just quit teaching in a predominantly black school district. None of those reforms would do the trick. The breakdown of the family, the prevalence of single moms, the lack of disciplinary measures at the school all make teaching impossible. You have to have a willing student body backed by concerned parents. Past policies and decision making coming back to bite society in the tail end.
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Nice piece on the possible future of schools.
http://truth-out.org/opinion/item/18133-when-schools-become-dead-zones-of-the-imagination-a-critical-pedagogy-manifesto
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Students at 3 local schools posted STAR test pictures online, officials say
Read more here: http://www.sanluisobispo.com/2013/08/12/2628980/star-test-images-social-media.html#storylink=cpy
* * *
Here is the funny thing,and by “funny,” I mean rueful funny, as opposed to “ha-ha” funny, about this story.
It suggests cheating by students who took cell phone photos of the California STAR test, the yearly gauntlet we make our students run in the name of Accountability.
This decade-long testing trend has generated a kind of homogenization of California teaching in thrall to a homogenized standards test. This was called “Taylorism” in the Twenties, after the efficiency expert who formulated the time-motion studies intended to similarly standardize and robotize the industrial workplace.
I am not sure of my theology here, but I’d like to think it’s possible that Mr. Taylor’s time in hell is spent on the Ford assembly line at the Rouge Plant, where, to cut costs, Mr. Ford– a devotee, by the way, of both square dancing and young Adolf Hitler–incrementally sped up the line and fired the workers who couldn’t keep pace.
The idea that students were “cheating” is, of course, ludicrous, because that implies there is some kind of motivation at work here. Not so.
If a student scores really well on the STAR test, do you know what happens to him?
Nothing.
If a student totally bombs the STAR test, on the other hand, THIS is what happens:
Nothing.
There is no reason for them to cheat.
The test has absolutely no impact on the student, his or her grade, his or her college or career choice, and, by the way, also has, I think, little impact on the student learning the material in a meaningful way, say, in my case, history, by writing about it, researching it, creating a project, delivering a speech, interviewing a historical informant, creating a work of art or literature about it, or participating in a community service project related to what he or she has learned.
Furthermore, the STAR test is timed so that it’s a parenthesis in a sentence that isn’t over yet, since it comes in April and May–it’s timed for the convenience of the number crunchers in Sacramento, the folks who so love the term “Data Driven”–and the school year doesn’t end until June. Usually, I’m up to either “Viet” or “Water” by then,but neither “Nam” nor “Gate.”
So it’s a race to cram curriculum into them, so they, ultimately, can bubble bubbles, as opposed to the seditious and unholy thing I like to do, called “teaching.”
This race means I don’t have the time, in U.S. History, for example, to take at least a full classroom week to explore the Vietnam War, which I think, after the Civil War and the Great Depression, is the greatest crisis in our history. I used to have the time for a wonderful guest speaker, a Marine pilot, who brought his uniforms, photos, and who absolutely riveted the kids’ attention.
That means I don’t have time to do much local history—the Farmers’ Alliance in the North County, the wild Twenties in Pismo and San Luis, the impact of the Great Depression on migrant workers in the South County, learning about the young men from our county who died in World War II.
What we don’t have the time to do is to teach passionately.
What we do instead is administer a pre-test, teach to it and, at the end of the prescribed unit, give them the same test, and, by submitting the test data to District, we are enlightened, and so we move another measurable step toward teaching excellence.
Remember those paint-by-number kits they used to sell? Remember how the painting never looked like the one on the box?
I am not arguing against testing. But, to a typical California student, these STAR tests have no meaning and no importance whatsoever. The kids who took photos of these tests weren’t cheating on them. Here’s what I think they were doing:
They were mocking them.
In a much more serious, and tragic, parallel, by 1917, French private soldiers were marching into battle and “baa-ing” like sheep, because they knew they were going to be slaughtered in yet another general offensive in which they had no stake and which would do nothing to change the course of the war. They were helpless participants in a reality that existed only in a mustachioed French Marshal’s limited imagination, where the numbers had been crunched and found to be satisfactory. Mockery was the poilu’s last defense.
The people who sweat over the STAR tests are teachers. THEY’RE the ones who should be cheating, but–with their Hyundai Elantras, their Kmart shoes, their Rite-Aid reading glasses and their fancy romantic dinners out at Taco Bell–oh, they’re a haughty bunch, they are–they have really crappy cell phone cameras, to boot, and it would be to no avail.
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Dr Ravitch–I would love to see a post on all federal laws that are contributing to the attack on public schools nation-wide (and state laws if applicable).
After my questions about hedge funds yesterday I followed the link you gave me and did more reading that led to more (research, if you will). And then on the post about NC puzzle and I, in jest, said “start with the edges,” it occurred to me that there should be some type of big picture look at how tax incentives have also led to this crisis—-like the New Market Tax Credit. A big exposé, perhaps, about which tax codes actually enable the rage on public school and the incentive to hurt public school.
The fact is, while my mother was a teacher and many family members over the years have been in public education, there are just as many bankers in my family. I cannot accept the notion that the school people are somehow of better moral fiber than the bankers. In fact, sometimes the bankers have been better towards me on a personal level than the teachers (who have caused me heartache plenty).
I strongly support public school because it makes sense to me in terms of democracy and because I cannot fathom turning a child away from having a school nearby where he or she is welcome. The fact is, though, the very livelihood my husband provides for us is tied to banking and I have people connected to hedge funds in my family and circle of friends. And they are not evil.
In 2000 some laws came through (from what I can see) that have created this climate of plundering public school for financial gain. There are emotional outcries on the part of public school supporters because of the devastation and there should be. But I feel like things are not black and white in terms of good and evil in this arena.
If the government declared, “OK, piracy is legal! Go gettem pirates!” Would we be mad at the pirates or at the government decision?
I think many posts on this blog hint at these underlying legislation causes, but I think a large focus should be on that. NCLB and RttT yes, but what about the tax laws that are enabling it?
We all know that all you have to do is take a walk through a shopping mall or an amusement park to know that there are plenty of Americans for whom “career” and “college” are foreign words (and for whom they would be foreign no matter the efforts of schooling). Jobs and surviving might be better, more practical words. Jobs can become careers, and an education that prepares you for life helps you survive. But to me all of this focus on education is really because some floodgates were opened up. What were they? People need to know.
Hedge fund managers are doing the job that their career requires, for which they were prepared by college. What laws of ours, what loop holes in our tax code, are enabling that to be hurtful to schools that are for and belong to the public?
Understanding things this way lets it be less about good and evil and more about what strengthens our country.
I am hoping to find that type information laid out by people more knowledgeable than I am. I am thinking this blog might be a place where that can happen.
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If you care about this issue, please sign and share this petition widely:
http://www.change.org/petitions/think-again-pause-and-reassess-the-testing-process-of-new-york-state-students
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Another Pearson scoring disaster in VA.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/pearson-miscalculates-scorecards-for-more-than-4000-va-students/2013/08/13/5620cc42-042d-11e3-a07f-49ddc7417125_story.html
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I have been researching both sides of the common core issue for the last couple of months. To say there is a lot of un-researched information of both sides of the issue would be an understatement. The amount of political rancor on both sides of the issue only demonstrates some of the polarity dividing the country. As a 29 year veteran teacher I am open to almost anything in the way of new pedagogy and ideas as I will do almost anything to engage students in the process of understanding how much they know and how much potential they have as individual learners.
After wading through so much rhetoric on all sides of this issue it was wonderful to read a reasoned response from you Diane. I am researching an article for my state (Nevada) in an attempt to put to rest some of the myths and get down to some of the facts and I am finding some common threads.
I just wanted to thank you for providing some sanity in a sea of emotional garbage. Until I read your article I felt like I was in the middle of the Pacific Ocean with the other refuse floating around. I am still trying to put everything in perspective, your article assisted in this process.
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Dear Ms. Ravitch:
I have followed your courageous and much-needed blog posts for over a year now, and as a retired educator have experienced first-hand many of the negative and unproductive changes wrought in public education over the last decade or so. I do have one recommendation, which has nothing to do with the qualitative work you have done and engendered. Please have someone look over the posts before they are put online, to check for simple typos. I have to do this when I e-mail, or I would routinely be sending out such typos unaware. Again, I simply can’t imagine the current situation in public ed without your brave and very detailed blogs as a counter-balance to the skewed and illogical mainstream news and leadership. Please continue, just with this small oversight in mind. Thank your for everything you have done and will do.
With respect,
Robert Cornman
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Robert,
I don’t like typos. I don’t like errors. Autocorrect creates many problems for me. I work on my own. I am my only employee. If I hired a staff, I could not be as productive as I am now, and the news would get out too late. Tell me when you see errors and I will correct them. Bear with me. Help me.
Diane
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Vouchers, Charters and the Parent Trigger in VA.
Cuccinelli’s K-12 Education Plan
http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/virginia-politics/cuccinellis-k-12-education-plan-would-let-virginia-parents-take-over-failing-schools/2013/08/13/213cfcb8-03cd-11e3-a07f-49ddc7417125_story.html
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Heads Up- Merrow on PBS News-Hour. NY students sound off on the Common Core.
http://learningmatters.tv/blog/video/watch-students-sound-off-on-common-core-tests/11501/
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Dr. Ravitch,
Christopher Cerf, the education commissioner in New Jersey, recently sent out an update on the investigation into erasures on the 2011-2012 administration of the NJASK. The memo can be found here: http://education.state.nj.us/broadcasts/2013/AUG/13/10043/Erasure%20Analysis.pdf
Although the entire memo is disturbing in that it shows what happens when such an emphasis is placed on testing, this is what most bothers me: “While we began with only three investigators assigned to this task, last year we increased this number to six investigators. Just last month, we doubled that again to twelve investigators, and are looking to bring in even more resources to finalize these reviews. With the experience of now conducting a number of these investigations, and with additional resources, we
look forward to completing all of these outstanding investigations by the end of the school year.”
With all of the money going into PARCC assessments and teacher evaluations, now money is going into investigating erasures? Doesn’t anyone see that this is taking more time and money away from educating our children?
Thank you so much for all that you do to show people what is really going on in our schools.
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NYCDOE requesting waiver to exempt schools from having librarians
Dear Diane, I’m hoping that you can spread the word on this latest budget crunching idea from the Chancellors office. Shael Polakow-Suransky is confident that technology can take the place of libraries and librarians.
It never ceases to amaze me how the folks who tout the Common Core’s focus on critical thinking and text complexity don’t even seem to understand their own “mandates” or what it takes to get there. Of course these are the same people who think it perfectly natural to test skills before they are taught.
Below is a letter to our listserv, from a colleague of mine, Patricia Sarles, a school librarian from Staten Island. She includes links to the articles in the Wall St Journal, the Atlantic Wire and NY 1 plus a petition to John King.
Thank you for all that you do for public education.
Prudence Hill, MA, MLS
Librarian
NYC Public Schools
____________
Dear colleagues all over the country,
New York State law requires secondary schools to have either a full- or part-time librarian, depending on the population of the school.
Many of us in New York state have jobs because of this law.
However, many schools in NYC violate these state regulations, as reported in Monday’s Wall Street Journal:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324769704579006604137520932.html
and also picked up by the Atlantic Wire:
http://www.theatlanticwire.com/entertainment/2013/08/new-york-city-has-fewer-school-librarians-ever/68217/
Now the NYC Department of Education wants to seek a waiver from the state so that it does not have to staff its schools with librarians. This was just reported on NY1 news two days ago:
http://www.ny1.com/content/education/187074/doe-asking-state-to-waive-regulation-requiring-schools-to-employ-librarians
So I am writing because there is a petition that was started by Christian Zabriskie, a NYC librarian, that will be sent to Dr. John B. King, New York State Commissioner of Education, to keep librarians in NYC schools. I would like to make you aware of it in case you would like to sign it:
http://petitions.moveon.org/sign/librarians-belong-in.fb30?source=c.fb&r_by=8579709
Patricia Sarles, MA, MLS
Librarian
NYC Public Schools
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I reside in Michigan, and I understand you were in Lansing, Mi yesterday, August 14th to discuss CommomCore standards during a House hearing. I was unable to attend; I was thrilled to learn you were coming to Michigan to educate/share your intelligent and easy to understand statements concerning CCS. Thank you for all that you do. Could you report how the meeting went? I am hoping you we’re treated with respect and listened to.
Blessings,
A retired educator (teacher 24 yrs, principal 8 yrs.)
Elllen
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i follow your comments on the “new ” common core curriculum.I don’t hear even one word about the fact that last year ny teachers worked without text books,and the “new” text books are not ready and will not be in schools b4 the end of sept.
How about fixing the test scores so that the city and it’s leader will look good.
Unfortunately you and others are focusing on the wrong problems in the education system.As long as the teachers can be blamed,everything else is being pushed under the rug.One can not wonder “what about our kids”.
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You may have seen this but just in case…Christie’s latest attack on teachers this week.http://www.nj.com/politics/index.ssf/2013/08/christie_republican_convention.html#incart_m-rpt-1
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My response to the Peter Cunningham article, Ravitch Redux http://www.huffingtonpost.com/peter-cunningham/ravitch-redux_b_3768887.html?utm_hp_ref=%40education123
Dear Mr. Cunningham, I am a school improvement coach with 40 years in public education as a teacher and administrator. I have been on the front lines of student assessment, which originally was designed to track individual student progress, but has since morphed into wildly exaggerated measures of a teacher’s ability leading to “grades” for schools. If you look into the problematic legislation with the intricate (and often irrational) methods of determining these career threatening measures from a first person perspective, you would understand why Dr. Ravitch has so much to say, and why it sounds as if she were a mere radical with nothing to back up her statements. Actually the opposite is true. Dr. Ravitch has so much information that to post it concisely is becoming an unrealistic goal. Therefore, I am looking forward to reading her book, which will afford the readers ample access to her extensive knowledge base. This is a rapidly changing arena with new laws and policies coming out daily. I am a resident of Tennessee and have spent half of my career in this state. Yesterday, the state board of education passed a policy that would link student test scores to teacher licenses. That sounds reasonable until you factor in poverty, special needs students, non-English speaking students, and the additional policy that modified assessments for these populations are being eliminated. The deck is stacked, Mr. Cunningham, and we are losing the ability to retain the most qualified educators for our most needy students.
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Thank you, Barbide. Peter Cunningham was Arne Duncan’s communications director. In my view as a historian, Arne Duncan is actively encouraging the privatization of public education. Has he spoken out against vouchers? I have not seen it. Did he join the protestors in Wisconsin when teachers were under attack by Scott Walker? Has he said anything against the increasing segregation in our schools? None of the above. He will be remembered, and not favorably.
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Here’s an insightful article written this week by David Sirota, “A Civics Lesson From America’s Education Debate”
http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/a_civics_lesson_from_americas_education_debate_20130815/
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Diane,
There is one facet of education reform that I don’t think has been addressed/questioned. Please read the post I made on another site. I would be interested in knowing what other heavily-hit ed reform states followed this pattern. This could be CRUCIAL to our cause. Thank you.
(I post ANONYMOUSLY on the website listed in my details.)
How Closely Did Bennett Follow In Michelle Rhee’s Footsteps?
(I first had my audience read a blog on the history of Michelle Rhee)
The question is, “How closely did Bennett follow in Michelle Rhee’s footsteps.” One of the first things that happened during Rhee’s reign of terror in D.C. was that she announced that there was a multi-million dollar shortfall in the education budget. Shortly thereafter, she fired 241 D.C.P.S teachers, citing the need to make huge budget cuts. After the firings, the monies were suddenly found. Rhee and her CFO, Noah Webman, said that the problem with the missing millions was “accounting mistake.”
Once the lost money was restored to the education coffer’s books, Rhee went on a hiring spree, filling many vacancies with….you guessed it!…Teach for America teachers.
Later, Webman said, under oath, in a hearing with the DC city council, that he and Rhee had devised the “accounting error.” Currently, one of the teachers fired is pursuing a fraud charge against Rhee. This past April, a DC judge has said that there is evidence enough for the case to move forward.
A cursory look at other states that are being pushed into heavy ed reform shows a curious pattern…
*Put a dubiously qualified person in as the state’s superintendent (or equivalent);
* Be sure that this person has enough charisma, brashness, wizardry, whatever to sell the public on the “Big Lie” that public schools are failing;
* “Misplace” massive amounts of money
*Force schools to make severe cut-backs (like the arts) that the public sees as failures in the schools
*Find the money….blow it on under-educated “teachers”, charters, vouchers…whatever.
How Closely Did Bennett Follow in Rhee’s Footsteps????
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Diane,
A recent Providence Journal article indicated that you would be coming to Rhode Island in the near future, but didn’t say where or when. As I understand it will be part of some sort of forum that Deborah Gist will be presenting at as well (not necessarily on the same day).
Can you let me know where and when you will be in RI? I would love to spread the word to fellow Rhode Islanders.
Thanks,
– Ron P.
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Ron, I will be at University of Rhode Island on October 15, speaking at 6:30 pm.
Diane
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Thanks. Have been spreading the word!
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Scragged was never that important a website, and has dwindled in importance over the years (IMO), but I thought some people here might want to check out this article regarding the Wall Street Journal’s article on Korean “rock-star teacher” Kim ki-Hoon:
http://www.scragged.com/articles/korea-shows-how-to-fix-education?utm_source=subscriptions&utm_medium=email&utm_term=Korea+Shows+How+To+Fix+Education&utm_content=%27Go+to+article%27+link&utm_campaign=articles
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From a comment on the article:
“The bottom line being: government monopoly on education must be destroyed; what it’s replaced with is less important as long as it’s more or less freedom-based.”
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Kevin Drum and Mother Jones Buying the Common Core hype? Yikes!
http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2013/08/common-core-right-conspiracy
https://www.facebook.com/drumblog?hc_location=stream
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Mother Jones and Kevin Drum. Buying the Common Core hype?
http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2013/08/common-core-right-conspiracy
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Exactly what hype are you talking about Mark? There seems to be a diverse amount of hype from many angles regarding common core or not to common core. The article seemed to be more aimed at Malkin and Beck. I have read their stuff and much of it seems to be nonsense. The most sensible objections have come from this page.
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This doesn’t fit under any story but I’ve been following this trend for a while in Chicago. I get this rss feed and several others via Netvibes . The other one I’ve been watching every day, all summer, is the Chicago Tribune. Every day the top story is how many people have been killed over night, or if no one is, how many since a certain day. Now they are starting to veer towards who was killed along safe school routes. These are the routes the kids who’s schools were closed will take to get to new schools. Mind you they’ve already started building or opening new charter schools in these same neighborhoods….see the pattern? Scare the parents to death so they will not attend another public school in another neighborhood that may take a VERY dangerous route. Instead you should pick the nice safe Charter school….even though you had a perfectly fine public school in your own neighborhood just a few months ago (and the charter is probably in the same building).
But since people are obviously not signing up for these charter quick enough…Rahm/the trib are tring to scare them to death, because what is more frightening to a parent then their own child’s death? and can you think of a more inhumane way to get people to buy into something? I can’t, but as we’ve seen again and again, these charter know no low.
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