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You Are the Leaders

By dianeravitch
January 12, 2013 //
48

Spring is coming.

People are standing up and speaking up.

Teachers at Garfield High in Seattle say “no more.”

Teachers at Ballard High School support their colleagues at Garfield.

The Seattle Education Association supports the Garfield and Ballard teachers.

Randi Weingarten tweeted her support.

Superintendents, one after another, are saying the testing obsession is out of control.

The principals of New York State stand together to demand professional evaluation, not trial by testing.

Parents are defending their children by supporting their teachers and their community schools.

The PTA of Niagara County in New York say hands off our public schools.

Communities are opposing school closings and corporate takeovers.

Students are speaking out because they know what is happening to them is not right.

Journalists are starting to recognize that the “reformers” are not real reformers but privatizers.

It is starting to happen.

We will put education back into the hands of educators and parents and communities.

We will work to make our schools better than ever, not by competition, but by collaboration.

Last year, someone emailed and asked me to create and lead the movement to stop the corporate reformers, and I said I couldn’t do it, that all I can do is write and speak.

That truly is all I can do, but when I started this blog in late April, it turned into a platform for the movement, and leaders are emerging all over the country, and learning about each other. They are communicating.

I am not the leader, I am the facilitator. You are the leaders.

Categories Administrators, superintendents, Corporate Reformers, Parent Groups, Principals, Privatization, Students, Support for public schools, Teachers and Teaching, Testing, Unions

This Superintendent Is Doing It Right

By dianeravitch
January 11, 2013 //
18

Last week, Wendy Lecker wrote an article in the Stamford Advocate saying that she was in search of one superintendent in the state of Connecticut who was doing the right thing for kids, teachers, and the community. Wendy had read here about the courage of Joshua Starr of Montgomery County, Maryland, and Heath Morrison of Charlotte-Mecklenburg, two superintendents who bravely have spoken the truth about the corrosive effects of the misuse of testing.

Was there one such stand-up superintendent in Connecticut?

I posted her plea and that very same day, I was able to identify Tom Scarice, superintendent of Madison, Connecticut, as the one. He brought together his community, parents, and teachers, examined research, and reached agreement on the best path forward for Madison.

I named Superintendent Scarice to the honor roll as a champion of public education.

Wendy Lecker investigated, and she agreed: Tom is the real deal!

She writes here about his leadership, which involved collaboration, not dictatorship or coercion:

“The district sought volunteer educators and administrators to develop a teacher evaluation plan that adhered to the core principles of the recent state legislation. But one component of the state’s proposed teacher evaluation plan is Value Added Measurement (VAM), a highly controversial system that uses student test scores in part to rate teachers’ effectiveness. The 45-member advisory council studied three areas: the efficacy of VAM, the impact of VAM on teachers and students and the impact of VAM on the quality of education. The overarching guiding principle was the goal of preparing Madison’s students to succeed in our complex world.

“After reviewing extensive research, the council concluded that VAM is unstable, unreliable and of questionable validity. To the council, “[s]tudent learning is too central to our beliefs to rely on unreliable data when making decisions.” This conclusion is consistent with the vast body of research on VAM. Just last month, the American Institute of Research joined the growing chorus of educational experts in advising against using VAM in any high-stakes situation precisely because of its many flaws.

“The council found that VAM has a destructive effect on both students and teachers. The narrow focus on standardized test scores heightens anxiety and leads to children who are less creative, expressive and excited to learn. VAM also negatively impacts two essential components of effective instruction: teacher collaboration, and the ability to meet individual students’ needs. Furthermore, the council determined from the research that VAM’s focus on test scores is detrimental to a quality education because it narrows the curriculum and marginalizes the development of the skills Madison decided were vital to successful life outcomes, such as critical thinking, problem solving and ethical decision-making.”

Read more: http://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/article/Wendy-Lecker-A-town-doing-it-the-right-way-4187399.php#ixzz2HiaxSJz7

Categories Administrators, superintendents, Connecticut, Honor Roll, Teacher Evaluations, Testing

FOUND: One Brave Superintendent in Connecticut!

By dianeravitch
January 3, 2013 //
26

Earlier today, I posted Wendy Lecker’s article, in which she said she was in search of one brave superintendent in Connecticut, who would stand up against the data-driven, test-obsessed climate of the times.

I have found him.

He is Thomas Starice, the superintendent of the Madison, Connecticut, public schools. Superintendent Scarice consulted with his school board, parents and the local community. He has shown leadership in responding to the state’s recently passed legislation about linking teacher evaluations to test scores.

I am happy to add Thomas Scarice to the honor roll as a champion of public education.

Like Superintendents Heath Morrison in Charlotte-Mecklenburg, North Carolina, and Joshua Starr in Montgomery, Maryland, Scarice has courageously stood up for the best interests of children as well as his educational ideals. His leadership has made it possible for parents and the local community to express their own concerns and values about what is best for their children.

The Madison community wants its students to be prepared to think and be creative, not just to be good test takers.

One parent in Madison, who teaches in another district, said, “We are lucky [in Madison] to have a superintendent who is pro-active, with a vision,” he said.

According to the article from the local press, Scarice’s vision “holds teachers accountable, while at the same time encouraging and supporting them to help nurture creative, adaptive thinking, was reinforced by a Madison Education Summit held Nov. 28 at the Madison Senior Center. Dozens of community members, including librarians, pre-school teachers, business leaders, moms and dads, coaches, town and state officials, and one nun, gathered to talk about the future of education in Madison.”

Here are the minutes of the December board meeting where the state evaluation system was discussed.

Categories Accountability, Administrators, superintendents, Connecticut, Honor Roll, Teacher Evaluations

In Search of One Brave Superintendent in Connecticut

By dianeravitch
January 3, 2013 //
5

Wendy Lecker is a civil rights lawyer who lives in Ciponnecticut. She worked on the lawsuit for more funding for high-needs schools in New York, called the Campaign for Fiscal Equity and has just agreed to become the lawyer for the Campaign.

In this terrific article, she asks whether there is any superintendent in Connecticut brave enough to stand up with such leaders as Joshua Starr of Montgomery County, Maryland, Heath Morrison of Charlotte-Mecklenberg, North Carolia, and John Kuhn of Texas, all of whom have forthrightly criticized the misuse of standardized testing.

Is there one? Two? Please speak up.

Categories Accountability, Administrators, superintendents, Connecticut, Corporate Reformers, Testing

Good News from North Carolina!

By dianeravitch
December 26, 2012 //
17

Wonderful news from Charlotte-Mecklenbug, North Carolina!

The superintendent of schools has spoken out forcefully against the flood of testing.

Because of this great news, I happily add Heath Morrison to the honor roll as a champion of American public education.

Morrison is superintendent of schools in Charlotte-Mecklenburg, North Carolina. He is also highly respected among his peers nationally. He was elected president of the American Association of School Administrators for this year.

Morrison is taking a courageous stand against high-stakes testing.

He called the huge number of new state tests “an egregious waste of taxpayer dollars” that won’t help kids.

According to the story: “I am very troubled by the amount of testing we are being asked to do,’ Morrison told The Charlotte Observer editorial board. ‘We can teach our way to the top, but we cannot test our way to the top. We’re getting ready in the state of North Carolina to put out 177 new exams.'”

And here is even more exciting news: Heath Morrison is working with several other superintendents, including Montgomery County’s Joshua Starr, “to try to counteract the national testing craze.”

Categories Accountability, Administrators, superintendents, Honor Roll, Testing

DC Teachers: Any advice for Omaha?

By dianeravitch
December 14, 2012 //
5

Carey Wright, who was chief academic officer in DC under Michelle Rhee, has applied for the job of superintendent in Omaha. Educators and parents wonder if she will import Rhee’s aggressive tactics to their district. She had a great PowerPoint but went out of her way to make two points: one, she is not Rhee. Two, she respects Rhee.

Published Thursday, December 13, 2012 at 1:00 am / Updated at 4:42 pm

CHRIS MACHIAN/THE WORLD-HERALD
Omaha Public Schools superintendent finalist Carey Wright gives a presentation at the Teacher Administrative Center on Wednesday.

OPS finalist Wright says she won’t turn the district ‘upside down’
By Jonathon Braden and Joe Dejka
WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITERS

• Learn more about the three OPS superintendent finalists: Carey Wright, Mark Evans and Stephen Murley.

***

Carey Wright knew the question was coming. And by the time she met with the public in Omaha Wednesday afternoon, she had already been asked it multiple times.

Was she the same type of leader as Michelle Rhee, the controversial former District of Columbia Public Schools chancellor who recruited her and made her chief academic officer in that district?

Would Wright, 62, a finalist for the Omaha Public Schools superintendent job, follow the Rhee model of firing ineffective teachers and principals, closing poorly performing schools and evaluating and rewarding teachers for how well their students score on tests?

“I am not going to come into your school district and turn it upside down,” Wright said.

OPS has too many good things going on to change everything, she said.

The question came Wednesday afternoon during a 90-minute interview session with the public at the district’s central offices, 3215 Cuming St.

Rhee recruited Wright in 2009 to the struggling district, which is comparable in size to OPS, from neighboring Montgomery County Public Schools in Maryland and, a year later, made her chief academic officer. Then-D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty had appointed Rhee chancellor in 2007.

Although Rhee’s aggressive reforms “rubbed a lot of people the wrong way,” Wright described her as one of the most dedicated superintendents she’s known.

Rhee inherited a district in bad shape, Wright said, and put a “laser-like focus” on students.

She was what D.C. schools needed, Wright said. Employees weren’t getting paid, windows were left broken, and air conditioners weren’t getting repaired.

Wright and Rhee have different styles, Wright said, but the same focus on students.

“She really achieved a tremendous amount in her tenure,” Wright said of Rhee.

On Rhee’s watch, in 2009, the district launched a teacher evaluation system called IMPACT. The system holds educators accountable for the growth their students make on state and local academic assessments. Highly effective teachers are eligible for bonuses and special recognition.

Rhee left the D.C. schools in 2010 after Fenty lost the mayor’s race to Vincent Gray, who was endorsed by the Washington Teachers Union.

For Wright’s part, she has a good relationship with D.C. teachers, she said, and meets every other week with the president of the teachers union. She said she wouldn’t change how Omaha teachers get paid and evaluated until she learned more about what was going on here.

She was the second OPS finalist to go before the public. Tuesday, Steve Murley, superintendent of the Iowa City Community School District, interviewed for the job. The last finalist, Mark Evans, superintendent of the Andover (Kan.) Public Schools, will interview for the position today.

Former Ralston Superintendent Virginia Moon is leading OPS for the remainder of the school year. John Mackiel retired in August after 15 years as OPS superintendent.

Wright spent all of Wednesday in Omaha, meeting with business officials and touring the city and school district, including a trip to Marrs Magnet Center.

About 160 people came to her public forum, a crowd that again included Susie Buffett, Omaha City Council members, Greater Omaha Chamber of Commerce officials and nonprofit leaders.

Wright used a PowerPoint presentation and 30 minutes to introduce herself to the crowd, showing a photo of her two daughters and sharing that she loves to dance. She said she’s a loyal person, a trait that extends to where she got all three academic degrees: the University of Maryland.

With the Maryland Terrapin logo on the overhead, Wright said, “As loyal as I am to the Terps, I’m also open to new possibilities.” The Turtle slid over, making room for a Huskers logo and a Creighton Bluejay as the crowd laughed.

The crowd also included many OPS teachers and administrators curious about the candidate with a tie to Rhee, one of the nation’s most controversial education reformers.

Wright pointed out areas where OPS could improve — its dropout rate with students learning English, and special education students — but held off on saying what she would bring from D.C. to Omaha. Instead, she brought up past experiences and her beliefs about education, such as equity for all students, in both her 80-minute public interview with the OPS school board and her public forum.

In Montgomery County, she pushed for a more inclusive approach to special education, which riled some parents but led to academic gains, she said.

Special education students who were separated from the general population were worked back in, when possible, with extra support for students and teachers, she said.

In D.C., to make sure high-achieving kids can soar, Wright said, she implemented a program for gifted and talented kids.

She also has helped develop a districtwide academic plan that directs teachers what to teach and when, based on the Common Core State Standards for math and reading.

D.C. officials also coached teachers on how to teach the standards, Wright said, and worked with the authors of the nearly national standards.

Wright has helped install a policy that made all high schools offer at least four advanced placement classes. The district also paid for the courses and trained teachers. As a result, student participation has jumped more than 20 percent, and the number of students passing AP exams climbed 85 percent.

Despite spending her entire professional life on the East Coast, Wright said her experiences in suburban and urban districts make her a “perfect match” for OPS.

“I have shown demonstrated results with the students that are underperforming in your district,” she said. “I am fully prepared to come and make my life here in Omaha.”

Contact the writer: 402-444-1074, jonathon.braden@owh.com, twitter.com/jonathonbraden

Meet the finalists

The Omaha Public Schools board is hosting a public meet-and-greet with each superintendent finalist this week. The gatherings are from 4:30 p.m. to 6 p.m. in the school board’s meeting room at the Teacher Administrative Center, 3215 Cuming St. The board is interviewing each candidate earlier on the day of the meet-and-greet.

Today’s candidate:

» Thursday: Mark Evans, superintendent of the Andover (Kan.) Public Schools

OPS superintendent finalist questions

All finalists for the OPS superintendent position were given these questions in advance. The board and the public also are asking other questions of them:

1. Please take a few minutes and give us a thumbnail sketch of your professional experiences; your pivotal beliefs on public education; and why you are interested in being our superintendent.

2. Please describe for us your perception of the role of the superintendent, the board of education as a whole, and individual board members.

3. What is your educational philosophy or theory of action, and how is it tied to research and best practices?

4. What are the essential academic elements of a district that will ensure that students are college or career ready?

5. How can you best develop a district environment that works to continually improve the professional capacity of its employees, in the name of increased student performance?

6. What systems, operational and/or academic, are needed for a district to sustain consistent growth over time?

7. How would you describe your experience in creating, implementing, and assessing system-wide budgets?

8. Explain the critical role that your operations departments play in successfully educating children.

9. Review any experience you may have had in providing equitable opportunities to all students.

10. In today’s budget reality, most districts are being asked to do more with less. Please discuss your approach to resource allocation.

11. Please explain your role with labor, collective bargaining units, and/or with negotiations.

12. What systems, operational or academic, are needed for a district to sustain consistent growth over time?

13. Do you have a closing comment you wish to make or to provide us any information that may not have emanated from this interview that would be valuable to us as we proceed with our selection process?

Copyright ©2012 Omaha World-Herald. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, displayed or redistributed for any purpose without permission from the Omaha World-Herald. To purchase rights to republish this article, please contact The World-Herald Store.

Categories Administrators, superintendents, Rhee, Michelle

Vermont Superintendent Orders Staff to Innovate: UPDATE!!!

By dianeravitch
December 8, 2012 //
26

The superintendent of schools in Franklin County, Vermont, “blasted” the faculty and administration of the high school for resisting innovation. He demanded a faster pace of change because the school is not making progress towards the NCLB goal of 100% proficiency,

The school’s proficiency rates are about the same as the state average.

Can’t help but wonder how many schools in Vermont will hit the goal of 100% proficiency.

I wonder what leadership manual recommends blasting the people you count on to do te work.

UPDATE: Jersey Jazzman did some research and found out that this superintendent was a principal, never a teacher, and that he has taken a leave of absence.

Categories Accountability, Administrators, superintendents, Education Reform, NCLB (No Child Left Behind)

John Kuhn Explains Why the Status Quo is Wrong

By dianeravitch
November 28, 2012 //
7

John Kuhn is superintendent of a small school district in Texas. But his voice is mighty and powerful. Those who have heard him wish he were Commissioner of Education for the state of Texas or in another position where everyone would learn from his wisdom.

Kuhn was the first person to be named to the honor roll for his eloquence and courage in support of public education.

November 02, 2012 07:21 PM CDT November 02, 2012 09:04 PM

http://www.dallasnews.com/opinion/sunday-commentary/20121102-point-person-our-qa-with-john-kuhn-on-schools-over-reliance-on-testing.ece

Point Person: Our Q&A with John Kuhn on school’s over-reliance on testing

Comments (3)
The Dallas Morning News

Published: 02 November 2012 07:21 PM
John Kuhn, superintendent of the Perrin-Whitt school district in Jack County, northwest of Fort Worth, is active speaking out and writing critically about public-education reformers. He’s gained some fame for his oft-quoted “Alamo letter” from 2011, in which he vowed never to surrender the fight for his students. Now that more than 850 Texas school boards have signed on to a resolution against over-reliance on high-stakes testing, we asked Kuhn what that movement is all about. (This is a longer version of the Q&A that appears in print.)
You’ve said some very pointed things about education reformers, including Education Secretary Arne Duncan, and their impact on schools. What worries you the most?
What worries me most as both a dad and an educator is the outsized influence of test-makers, statisticians, and economists on modern educational decision-making. Unfortunately, our wizards of data are not wizards of humanity, and they have foolishly elevated impersonal forces as the drivers of education.
The education of children is above all a human endeavor. We aren’t programming answers into computers; we are inspiring and encouraging and challenging and coaxing and pushing and pulling and hoping and praying and hugging and wiping tears and watching ballgames and telling them how nice they look in their prom dresses. The value of the factory model touted by today’s educational Taylorists is quickly disproved by its absence of the holistic and humane methods employed in the best private schools. Middle class kids need and deserve more art in their lives than the arrays of bubbles they pencil in. Elite reformers want what’s best for their kids, but they often only want what’s most efficient for yours and mine.
Ultimately, I want for my kids what caring parents, like our president, want for theirs: a thorough, non-standardized education of the whole child. Today we are so busy raising test scores that we are forgetting to raise children. The little red schoolhouse is fast becoming a little red widget factory, and that’s wrong for kids and detrimental for our future well-being as a people.
To what extent are your concerns shared by other local educators?
We are nearing critical mass. I only speak for myself, but there are hundreds of Texas schools suing the state in a lawsuit that has been called “the granddaddy of school finance lawsuits.” They aren’t suing for more money but rather for sensible policies and an honest accounting by the state of the costs of its mandates. Reduced education funding sometimes happens during hard times, but reduced regulation? Our recent $5.4 billion school funding reduction came with a brand new $500 million dollar contract with the London test-shop Pearson.
There are also hundreds of school boards in Texas that have signed a resolution that says standardized tests are strangling education and draining it of its vibrancy and excitement for learners. The resolution—started in Texas—has spread to several other states. Then there are Texas parents forming groups like Texans Advocating for Meaningful Student Assessment, Texas Parents Opt Out of State Tests, and Kids Can’t Wait. School board members have organized initiatives like last session’s “Make Education a Priority” movement. Over 20 school districts are participating in the Texas High Performance Schools consortium; they will pilot a new way of holding teachers and students accountable for learning that embraces modern technology instead of tools inspired by 19{+t}{+h} century scientific management theory. They will hopefully develop a new, less punitive and misleading accountability methodology that reduces the onslaught of bubble tests that our kids face today.
Are my concerns widely shared by local educators? I would guess yes, but I can’t prove it. Many educators prefer to keep quiet and keep their jobs (which aren’t as secure as they used to be) so you won’t hear too many speak out publicly about the burdensome and sometimes near-impossible demands they face. In fact, an educator who speaks up is usually condemned fairly quickly as an apologist for the status quo. Meanwhile, the real status quo is the expensive and ineffective testing-and-labeling we’ve been doing for 30 years in Texas.
Put it in human terms. What’s not happening in the classroom today because of focus on standardized testing?
High schoolers must pass five EOC tests per year; they’re often placed in remedial classes if they don’t pass. Sophomores may be losing one or two periods for a remedial class. That’s one or two electives gone. As time passes, some will stack up tests they failed two years ago, last year, and tests they face this year. A struggler who might flourish because of a trade won’t get his hands dirty. This is one size fits all; all kids are going to college whether they want to or not.
Texas Workforce Commissioner Tom Pauken notes that Texas has a shortage of welders and plumbers, but our system is built so that students most likely to benefit from technical training won’t get it. We’re channeling would-be highly-paid technicians not into available industry-recognized certification programs but rather into schedules that feature a paucity of hands-on experiences, so they can focus on their tests.
In elementary school, strugglers lose art, recess, music, or PE. We tell at-risk students to stay in school; then we take away classes they most enjoy. When we reduced education to a competition, we condemned exploration and discovery and settled for rote proficiency.
How does this affect how a teacher teaches?
Teachers face a perverse incentive to drill and kill in the classroom and focus intensely on the narrow curriculum that is tested. Principals face the temptation to enforce scripted approaches that overemphasize test prep. Marketers are pitching materials keyed to STAAR with great zeal; districts face an onslaught of big promises: “Raise STAAR Scores Now!” Some teachers and schools resist a test-centered approach in favor of a child-centered approach; but with livelihoods on the line if scores don’t rise, it’s as if teachers are being asked to teach under hanging anvils.
Teachers and administrators agree with the need for accountability and want to be held accountable for our results. What we ask for are honest measures that take into account all factors that contribute to our success or failure. Educational outcomes do not solely hinge on teacher quality. There are home and community and funding factors in play, but accountability gurus are happy to leave those variables out of their formulas. No one but the teachers are up for criticism in their world of selective accountability.
The U.S. Department of Education has chosen to set a 100 percent standardized testing pass rate as the goal, with constant classroom duress as the main motivator for teachers and students and absolutely no pressure on legislators to provide equitable resources from school district to school district. We shouldn’t be surprised to see unintended consequences as schools struggle to attain the impossible: getting 100 percent of their kids to pass the almighty bubble test by 2014. What’s good for test scores isn’t always what’s good for kids, but our punitive accountability fetish has established test scores as the measurably more important of the two.
But aren’t there poor teachers who fail to prepare their students, and don’t test scores help establish that?
Yes, poor teachers exist. No, a poor test score doesn’t establish poor teaching. It’s not that simple. A terrible teacher in an $8,000-per-pupil school may obtain higher scores than a wonderful teacher in a $4,000-per-pupil school. Those extra funds impact outcomes by providing smaller classes, fewer leaks in the roof, more and newer instructional materials, and various supports that aren’t available at the other school.
Our current system dissuades the best teachers from teaching in our toughest schools because they will be facilely scapegoated for things outside their control. Pinning everything on the classroom teacher lets policymakers and budget writers off the hook pretty easily. Accountability only falls on teachers, and politicians laugh all the way to re-election.
What does your “child-centered approach” look like, and how does the state make sure that all students learn the fundamentals?
Tom Pauken’s approach is child-centered, with multiple paths to graduation: a math/science path, humanities/fine arts path, and a technical/vocational path. Students get ownership of their education and focus on their strengths instead of adhering to one-size-fits-all mandates from outsiders. Elementaries need a well-rounded curriculum including core classes, arts, physical education, and recess for unstructured play.
Test advocates pretend a $500 million plan to test every student every year is the only way to monitor learning and that everyone who opposes this bamboozle opposes accountability. But many of us who wish to reform reform support smart testing using sampling techniques at certain grades to save limited instructional time and education dollars.
There are many additional ways to monitor outcomes if Texans will think outside the testing contract straightjacket. Online portfolios, NAEP scores, ACT-PLAN and PSAT scores, grades and passing rates, graduation rates, college-acceptance rates, dropout rates, and student surveys are just a few that come to mind. We can also require all graduates to show they are college-ready by means of college acceptance and/or ACT/SAT scores, or show they’re career-ready by obtaining an industry-recognized vocational certification prior to graduation. This isn’t hard; it just isn’t what lobbyists want to hear.
I admit that I am not sold on STAAR. I do not agree with the allegation that I therefore oppose accountability. In fact, I want accountability even for the accountability merchants.
More than 850 Texas school boards have passed resolutions objecting to the over-reliance on standardized testing. What impact do you expect that to have in next year’s lawmaking session?
I don’t know. I suspect that voting parents calling their representatives will have more impact than school board resolutions. It was telling months ago how quickly and publicly some Texas moms rebuked a prominent testing advocate when he accused superintendents of “scaring mom” over the testing issue. Rep. Jimmie Don Aycock said in a hearing last session that officials were getting lots of phone calls from parents about overtesting. At the same time, I understand that lobbyists representing the testing firms won’t go down without a fight.
I would like to note that these resolutions were adopted by elected local trustees. In Texas schools, school board members are often parents and involved community members; they are regular folks. This is representative democracy in action—local citizens are using the resolution to let their voices be heard alongside the lobbyists in Austin. If our leaders truly want to represent their constituents, the resolution will indeed influence their actions.
Why fight? Don’t you have a lot of common ground with advocates of standardized testing — high school graduates who are prepared to go into the workforce, onto more training or onto college?
I don’t think I have much common ground with folks who set impossible targets (100 percent of students must pass their standardized tests in 2014, under No Child Left Behind) and ignore the effects of funding injustices (Academically Unacceptable districts get funded an average of $1,000 less per student than Exemplary districts). These policies don’t help kids; they help to torpedo public schools.
Texas leaders have worshipped test-and-punish technocrats for over 20 years, and yet a testing advocate recently wrote “Wake Up – Schools Are Failing.” He says the solution is to “stay the course,” i.e., more of the same. But why are schools failing after two decades with accountability hawks in charge? When will their prescriptions work? It’s telling that Texas private schools are allowed to utilize the state’s testing system but politely say, “No thanks.”
Meanwhile, the universal failure of Texas public schools is preordained for 2014 — guaranteed by those who came up with the federal accountability targets — and news of their failure will be music to the ears of some. But to many of us, the school is still the heart of the community.
Our sons and daughters still grow up in the glow of Friday night lights, just as they have for generations. We still put their pictures in the paper when they do well at the spelling bee or win an essay contest; we still burn a bonfire and crown our small-town royalty. My son and I recently looked at my dad’s yearbook photo from 1951. Dad was a Pirate, and now, 60 years later, my sons and my daughter are all Pirates, too.
Some people may want a charter school or a virtual online school for their kids, and that’s fine — but many of us simply want Texas to stop undermining our humble community schools by carpet-bombing them with tests, paperwork, and inane targets … and maybe pat our hard-working teachers on the back once in awhile, too. To me, these things are worth fighting for.
These are the same public schools that educated the greatest generation and taught the Americans who won the space race. News of their demise is greatly exaggerated.
This Q&A was conducted via email and condensed by Dallas Morning News editorial writer Rodger Jones. His email address is rmjones@dallasnews.com. John Kuhn can be reached at johnkuhntx@gmail.com.
Categories Accountability, Administrators, superintendents, Childhood, Pre-K, K, Corporate Reformers, Duncan, Arne, Education Industry, Education Reform, Honor Roll, Privatization, Testing, Texas, US Education

Nebraska Joins the Honor Roll

By dianeravitch
November 16, 2012 //
11

This just in from a teacher in Nebraska. The state did not get any Race to the Top funding, and therefore didn’t “win” money that would cost them more to implement than they “won.” It is taking a “wait and see” approach to Common Core standards. It doesn’t want the U.S. Department of Education to tell Nebraskans what to do. It doesn’t have any charters.

The state is trying to do what is best for children. Imagine that! The public schools are supported by the public.

Is Nebraska still part of the United States? How did we overlook the amazing common sense that still exists there? Good luck to Nebraska in keeping the privatizers at bay.

I realized when I read this letter that Nebraska belongs on our honor roll as a champion of public education. It supports its public schools. It lets teachers teach. It has not rushed to do the latest thing. It has thus far ignored the privatizers.

Welcome to the honor roll, Nebraska! Stay strong!

Come to Nebraska. A state led by a common sense dept. of education and a smart, reasonable teachers’ union. We don’t rush to jump on every new educational bandwagon (Nope, we didn’t get any Race to the Top money and the verdict’s still out on Common Core–we’re one of the few ‘wait and see’ hold out states) and try to comply with mandatory standards while doing the least amount of damage to our kids. We aren’t averse to change–indeed, we’re always looking to be on that cutting edge, however, if we’re going to spend hard earned tax dollars, it had better be worth it. I’m a high school special education teacher and co-teach algebra and geometry. I work with a tough population and my school isn’t perfect. Lots of hard work. But the difference is that public education is supported in our state. We have no charter schools. I feel appreciated by my students, my co-workers, parents and administration just about every single day. Now, it’s not a Shangra-la…I DO work with teenagers, many with behavior dsorders, and don’t always agree with administration or co-workers. Our state legislature passed a law and implented a state-wide test many educators aren’t crazy about. We are under the same gun to improve test scores as any other state and that can be stressful. However, we are encouraged and celebrated whenever we infuse creativity, active learning, and technology into our classrooms. In a nutshell, we’re held accountable, the state testing is a pain and possibly a waste of time, but overall I feel the higher ups try to stay out of our way as best as they can. The biggest threat to our educational system here is out of state money with an agenda to privatize education and run it like a business–a fate experienced by other states. I only hope we can fight them off and maintain what we have.

Categories Accountability, Administrators, superintendents, Charter Schools, Honor Roll, Privatization, Race to the Top

Michigan Plans to Expand Power of Emergency Manager Covington

By dianeravitch
November 14, 2012 //
21

Last week, voters in Michigan repealed the state’s draconian emergency manager law, which allowed a hand-picked appointee of the governor to abolish public education in financially stressed districts. In two of those districts, the emergency manager turned the children over to for-profit charter chains.

To compensate for the repeal, the Legislature in Michigan plans to expand the powers of the Achievement Authority Chancellor. The Achievement Authority is a non-contiguous district into which the state will cluster all low-performing schools. It is currently headed by John Covington, who was trained by the unaccredited Broad Superintendents Academy. Covington previously served as superintendent of Kansas City, where he proposed to close half the district’s public schools but resigned on short notice to take the higher-profile job in Michigan. Soon after his departure, Kansas City lost its state accreditation.

Under the new law, if it passes, Covington will have a free hand with the state’s lowest performing schools.

He will be the czar of the largest school district in the state of Michigan.

What will Covington do? Stay tuned.

The new law will wipe out all rights that employees previously had:

(B) A COLLECTIVE BARGAINING AGREEMENT APPLICABLE TO EMPLOYEES
16  WORKING AT THE PUBLIC SCHOOL BEFORE THE IMPOSITION OF THE
17  ALTERNATIVE SCHOOL INTERVENTION MODEL SHALL NOT APPLY TO PERSONNEL
18  AT THE PUBLIC SCHOOL AFTER THE IMPOSITION OF THE ALTERNATIVE SCHOOL
19  INTERVENTION MODEL.

20  (C) AN EMPLOYEE WORKING AT THE PUBLIC SCHOOL AFTER THE
21  IMPOSITION OF THE ALTERNATIVE SCHOOL INTERVENTION MODEL WHO WAS
22  PREVIOUSLY EMPLOYED BY THE SCHOOL DISTRICT OTHER THAN THE STATE
23  REFORM DISTRICT THAT PREVIOUSLY OPERATED THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SHALL
24  NOT ACCRUE SENIORITY RIGHTS IN THE SCHOOL DISTRICT OR ACCRUE
25  CREDITABLE SERVICE UNDER THE PUBLIC SCHOOL EMPLOYEES RETIREMENT ACT
26  OF 1979, 1980 PA 300, MCL 38.1301 TO 38.1437, WHILE WORKING AT THE
27  PUBLIC SCHOOL AFTER THE IMPOSITION OF THE ALTERNATIVE SCHOOL

Categories Administrators, superintendents, Broad Foundation, Charter Schools, Education Industry, Michigan
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