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Good Things Happening in Green Bay!

By dianeravitch
February 9, 2013 //
1

Amanda Brooker writes about the good work in her school and district. It is important that everyone recognize that the effort to make public schools intolerable and to privatize public education is national. Scott Walker, Jeb Bush, Tony Bennett, and Michelle Rhee are among its leaders.

Dr. Ravitch,
My superintendent Michelle Langenfeld and I feel like we know you on a first name basis, as we are avid readers of your blog. I am proud to say that I am working in a school district that is reforming on our own (and not RheePhorming) under the leadership of Dr. Langenfeld. The Green Bay Area Public School District has almost 60% students on free or reduced lunch, the highest ELL population in the state (20%), and 45% minority . Our student growth has been rising over the years, considering that we have hundreds of kids entering kindergarten only recognizing 0-3 letters or numbers, and unable to hold a pencil. And if our high school students stay in our schools for their four years, we show more than a 90% graduation rate. http://www.gbaps.org/Hot-Topics/Documents/Reform/Growth%20Handout.pdf

This is in spite of being weighed down with mandates and high stakes testing; our staff is working hard.

We want to share with you what is going on in Green Bay, Wisconsin:
http://www.wbay.com/story/20608613/expanded-school-vouchers-expected-to-be-part-of-budget-plan
http://www.fox11online.com/dpp/news/local/green_bay/governor-stirs-student-voucher-debate
http://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/viewart/20130117/GPG0101/301170390/Wisconsin-Republican-Ellis-to-push-for-voucher-vote

Needless to say, working in public education in Wisconsin has been a very exciting place to be the past two years. We’ve seen nothing like it. But your blog also lets us know that we are not alone in the insanity. Thank you for standing up for what is right in public education.

Categories Administrators, superintendents, Supporting public schools, Teachers and Teaching, Wisconsin

Kaya Henderson and the Cycle of Privatization in D.C.

By dianeravitch
January 26, 2013 //
11

D.C. Chancellor Kaya Henderson is determined to close more public schools, which will create larger enrollments for charter schools. As more public schools close, more charter schools open. As more D.C. public schools lose enrollment, the chancellor has more reason to close them.

Henderson claims she will save money by closing underutilized schools, but somehow the savings never materialize. Net-net-net: privatization of the public schools of D.C.

It is a shame that D.C. does not have a chancellor who actually wants to compete with the charter sector, who will fight to improve the public schools and show that they serve their students well.

Competition implies two teams, each promoting their own wares.

In D.C., in New York City, in Chicago, and in other cities and towns controlled by corporate-style reformers, the leaders of the public school system are working on behalf of the competition.

Categories Accountability, Administrators, superintendents, Charter Schools, Corporate Reformers, Education Industry, Privatization

Teaching in an Age of Injustice

By dianeravitch
January 23, 2013 //
63

Not long ago, I published a post by Carol Jago, a former president of the National Council of Teachers of English, about how to teach the Common Core in English.

The discussion that followed her post was disturbing. Several teachers said that in their school or district there was a strong mandate to cut back on the teaching of literature. This is absurd, and nothing in the Common Core says there should be less literature. Indeed, if you look at reading across all subject areas, the amount of time devoted to teaching literature in the English class should be untouched.

But even more disturbing were several comments by a teacher in Arkansas named Jamie Highfill. Jamie is in her 11th year of teaching in the schools of Fayetteville, Arkansas. Her students have achieved outstanding results. According to her profile on the district home page, her students consistently outperform district and state averages, and 77% scored advanced in 2011-2012.

In 2011, she was selected as Arkansas’ Outstanding Middle Level English Language Arts Teacher by the Arkansas Council of Teachers of ELA.

Read her resume. The plaudits and commendations go on and on. She is also a veteran of the U.S. Navy in the Gulf War of 1991, where she won many medals for her achievements. She is a leader.

But here is the kicker, which I learned from the comments: This remarkably accomplished teacher has been placed on an “improvement plan.”

How is this possible?

Offline, I emailed Jamie and asked her why she was put in the doghouse. She replied:

I was told that I “failed to properly administer the first quarter writing assessment.” 
 
The “assessment” spanned eight class days, and was to coincide with the lengthy paper the students were required to write under the PARCC Content Model Frameworks.  My principal told me that my students’ papers were “unscoreable,” but I was never given the papers back, nor did anyone explain to me what “unscoreable” meant.  My principal also told me that she would have the district’s ELA facilitator meet with me to explain it.  She never did, but she said she told me that “this cannot happen again.”
 
For the second quarter’s writing “assessment” (which lasted twelve days), my students papers were flagged because they were “too similar,” and “too good.”  My principal told me during the meeting where she put me on improvement status that she was afraid my students were “going to finish the year behind.”
I guess it “happened again.”
 
I have Co-Directed the Northwest Arkansas Writing Project since my own Fellowship in 2004, and have taught writing workshops to my students every year, with the result that my students consistently score among the top students in my state, but standardized testing scores aside, I TEACH my students to write.  Now I’m being told that I cannot teach them to write during joint workshop-assessments.

We live in mean times. We live with laws and policies that are meant to break the spirit of students and teachers.

We must not comply with injustice. When a teacher like Jamie Highfill is told that she needs to be on an “improvement plan,” you know that her school, her district, her state is on the wrong track.

Categories Accountability, Administrators, superintendents, Teacher Evaluations, Teachers and Teaching

A Superintendent in New Jersey Joins the Honor Roll

By dianeravitch
January 18, 2013 //
14

I am pleased to add Michael A. Rossi, Jr., of Madison, New Jersey, to the honor roll as a hero of public education

Superintendent has served long and faithfully in the public schools. He is proud of his district. He is a career educator. He is a leader.

He is a hero for speaking out forcefully and publicly about he insane overload of “reforms” piled on the schools all at the same time: the new evaluations, the a common Core, the new assessments, just to name a few. Superintendent Rossi calls it “a train wreck.” He is right.

No organization can absorb so many untried changes of course, so many unproven experiments, without crashing.

At a certain point, one must wonder–as I do–whether the multitude of new tasks is intended to break the school system, to induce havoc, and to bring it to a halt. When state and federal leaders create chaos, Are they doing it to encourage parents to flee their community schools? Is this another way to promote the privatization they admire?

Categories Administrators, superintendents, Honor Roll, New Jersey

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?

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Categories Administrators, superintendents, Rhee, Michelle
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