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North Carolina: Public Education in Peril

By dianeravitch
July 25, 2013 //
22

Dr. June Atkinson, the state superintendent of instruction in North Carolina, said, ““For the first time in my career of more than 30 years in public education, I am truly worried about students in our care.”

Lindsay Wagner summarizes the damage done to public education by the North Carolina legislature:

It cut more than $500 million from the state’s public schools.

It passed a voucher program to allow students to take public money to private and religious schools.

And more:

The 2013-15 biennial budget introduces a raft of spending cuts to public schools that will result in no raises for teachers, larger class sizes, fewer teacher assistants, little support for instructional supplies or professional development, and what could amount to the dismantling of the North Carolina Teaching Fellows program. Teachers can also say goodbye to tenure and supplemental pay for advanced degrees.

Wagner asks, “Is this the beginning of the end for public education in North Carolina?”

The privatization movement is in full swing in North Carolina. What was once the most progressive state in the South is now leading the attack on public education. For the first time since Reconstruction, the governorship and both houses of the Legislature are in the hands of Republicans, and these are not moderate Republicans who want to preserve a strong public education system. These are radical privatizers who want to send public monies to private schools, religious schools, and entrepreneurs.

The governor’s education advisor, Eric Guckian, is a Teach for America alum. TFA won $5.1 million in the new budget.

Categories Budget Cuts, Class size, Education Industry, For-Profit, North Carolina, Privatization, Teacher Tenure, Teachers and Teaching, Vouchers

Gary Rubinstein: Who Supports the Status Quo?

By dianeravitch
July 24, 2013 //
8

This is one of Gary Rubinstein’s best posts, wherein he challenges the new co-leader of Teach for America to give more thought to his facile reference to “the status quo.”

The post follows some tweets between Gary and Matt Kramer. Gary explains that those who disagree with TFA are not defending the status quo.

Gary writes:

“I could easily make a list of things that I’d like to change. I could bore you for hours about how I feel the math curriculum in this country and this world has evolved into something that leaves out the thing that makes math great — beauty. I could also very easily pick places where money is wasted on consultants and bad education software, and also places where not enough money is spent to do things right. But I’m called a status quo defender, still, just because I think that certain things should not be changed and that other things should not be changed, just for the sake of changing them, but until something that won’t make things worse is devised.

“So I am opposed to school closings. I can understand the allure of school closings — lighting a fire under the butts of the staff of a school (the ‘adults’ as reformers like to call them) to get their best work out of them. But I’m opposed to them because I feel they cause more harm than good. Is that why I’m a status quo defender? Because of all the things that I think should not be changed (just as ‘reformers have a host of things that should not be changed) this controversial practice is a new change that I do not embrace?

“I am opposed to using ‘value-added’ to judge teacher quality which, in turn, will get used to decide on pay increases and firings. I’m not convinced that a computer algorithm has been devised yet that can calculate what a group of thirty students ‘should’ get with an ‘average’ teacher on a poorly made state test. I’ve seen so many examples of a teacher getting wildly different results in consecutive years and even getting wildly different results in the same year when they teach two different grade levels to have any confidence in this golden calf of school reform.”

And he adds: “I don’t know of anyone in my camp who would say that we should do ‘nothing.’ And, yes, it is better to do nothing sometimes than to do something when that ‘something’ is likely to make matters worse.”

TFA, he points out, is deeply resistant to changing their own status quo.

Categories Class size, Closing schools, Teach for America TFA, Testing

Steve Zimmer on Why Class Size Matters

By dianeravitch
July 13, 2013 //
26

At a recent meeting of the Los Angeles school board, newly re-elected member Steve Zimmer spoke passionately about the reasons to reduce class size.

Watch here to see Zimmer’s address to the board. Zimmer was a TFA teacher who taught in the L.A. schools for 17 years before he ran for school board.

Los Angeles has some of the most crowded classrooms in the nation.

The board passed a resolution to spend new money to reduce class size. Superintendent Deasy decided to ignore the board’s wishes. He recently committed tens of millions of dollars to buy iPads for the children in the crowded classrooms.

Categories Class size, Los Angeles

Jeff Bryant: “No Excuses” for Abandoning Kids and Public Schools

By dianeravitch
July 13, 2013 //
9

Jeff Bryant of the Education Opportunity Network congratulates Arne Duncan for saying that there was “no excuse” for states that fail to fund their schools.

Jeff was quick to point out that the “no excuse” mantra is customarily used by Duncan and other corporate reformers to blame teachers for low test scores.

It is refreshing to hear the same rhetoric directed at governors and legislatures that abandon their responsibility to fund public schools.

Bryant writes:

“In his statement to the Pennsylvania officials overseeing the Philadelphia mess, Duncan urged, “We must invest in public education, not abandon it.”

“So yes, “No excuse.”

“When valued neighborhood schools are shuttered with no more justification than a press release, there’s no excuse.

“When public school administrators are forced to cut learning opportunities that keep students safe, healthy, engaged, and supported. No excuse.

“When teachers and parents have to speak out to prevent larger and larger class sizes…

“When students walk out of school because their favorite subjects and teachers are cut…

“When whole communities have to turn out into the streets to protest the plundering of the common good…

“No excuse. No excuse. No excuse!”

Categories Accountability, Arts Education, Budget Cuts, Class size, Curriculum, Pennsylvania

Did You Ever Expect to Hear Eloquence at a School Board Meeting?

By dianeravitch
June 20, 2013 //
27

Steve Zimmer, the school board member who beat back a multi-million dollar campaign to defeat him just a few months ago, spoke to his fellow members of the Los Angeles school board at their meeting yesterday.

He talked about the importance of class size. He demolished the claim that teachers want to reduce class size for their own benefit. He explained patiently and eloquently why class size matters.

This is the full hearing.

http://lausd.granicus.com/MediaPlayer.php?clip_id=58
To watch Steve Zimmer educate the public about class size, skip to:
05:36:50 – 05:42:50
He is simply wonderful.
Categories Budget Cuts, Class size, Los Angeles

Rally in L.A. For Reduced Class Size!

By dianeravitch
June 3, 2013 //
12

A reader in Los Angeles welcomes all who care about improving public education:

Parents from all across Los Angeles are Mobilizing!!!!

Please gather tomorrow, Tuesday June 4 at 8:30 am out front of LAUSD central offices on Beaudry street downtown.

Lend your voice to a collective choir that demands to be heard.

We are Students, Parents and Angelenos for Real Classroom Support: SPARCS.

We must ignite the SPARCS of this truth in front of our elected school board:

KIDS NEED SMALLER CLASSES IN ORDER TO LEARN BETTER

What We Stand For:

Strong, Truly Public Schools. In Los Angeles, we demand truly public schools accountable to the public, administered and run by individuals dedicated to educating every child.

Democracy Fortified Through Public Education. Every child in Los Angeles has a civil right to attend a good public school dedicated primarily to their education.

Dynamic, Responsive Public Education. Appropriate, effective evaluation of our public schools, with parents welcomed, respected and contributing to decisions regarding the school system at every level.

What We Stand Against:

Privatizing Public Schools. The educational system is a sacred public trust, part of the social contract. We have a moral responsibility to the social and educational welfare of all among us.

Mechanized Schooling. All learners are individuals; standardization of classes and tests eliminates the unique contribution of a professional teacher to education and learning.

Public School Control By Non-participants. Educators should drive educational public policy; family and society its social components. Political demogoguery has no place in our social contract to provide effective Public Schooling for all.

Who We Are:

We are many. We are parents from across all of Los Angeles Unified’s seven districts. We have children in LAUSD. We are children in LAUSD. We are concerned with and about children in LAUSD.

We are Students, Parents, Angelenos for Real Classroom Support: SPARCS

If you stand with us, amplify our SPARCS by joining here:

http://www.facebook.com/SPaARCS

Categories Class size, Los Angeles

New York Rally Against High-Stakes Testing on June 8

By dianeravitch
May 30, 2013 //
9

Carol Burris of South Side High School in Rockville Center, New York, sent out the following notice:

Thank you again for signing the petition against high stakes testing. It will be delivered on June 8 at the Rally for Public Education in Albany.

The purpose of the rally (12:00-3:00) is to express opposition to high stakes testing and support educational funding. Although it is sponsored by NYSUT, other groups are marching as well, including parents and principals.

Fellow principals and I will march behind a banner that says

http://www.newyorkprincipals.org

Our kids and teachers are more than a number .

We are assembling at the bottom of the egg, so if you are coming alone, feel free to join us or come by and say “hello”.

Parking is available under the egg. You can park for free in the two lots
on Madison Ave. I hope to see you there.

http://www.theegg.org/about/directions

*Field Testing*

This is a link to a site that gives parents information about field testing
http://www.scribd.com/doc/141872303/say-yes-to-learning-and-no-to-field-testing-what-nyc-parents-need-to-know

Although it was designed for New York City parents, it is relevant to all New York State parents.

inBloom and your children’s data

Please urge your legislators to support the bill A.6059/S.4284, to block the state’s plan to share private student and teacher information with inBloom Inc. and for-profit vendors, which has 59 co-sponsors in the Assembly and 20 in the Senate. It’s especially important to call Sen. Flanagan at 631-361-2154 and Sen. Skelos at (516) 766-8383 and ask them to support the bill and hold hearings on it now.

More about VAM and APPR

Whether you are a parent, principal or teacher, I think you will find this article on VAM of importance.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2013/05/20/principal-why-our-new-educator-evaluation-system-is-unethical/

Here is the bottom line: No measure of teacher or principal performance should put the best interests of students in conflict with the best interests of the adults who serve them.

Categories Class size, New York, Privacy and Privacy Rights, Support for public schools, Teacher Evaluations, Testing

Minneapolis: A Profile in Courage

By dianeravitch
May 29, 2013 //
14

I received this email from a teacher who decided the only way to save public education was to run for mayor. He deserves our support.

“I am a Minneapolis teacher running for Mayor of Minneapolis. I am bright but politically inexperienced. I wouldn’t have dared enter the race except that Minneapolis has Ranked Choice Voting and 7 (at least) other candidates vying for the office, and none are incumbent. Still, I entered the race reluctantly, and only because at that time no one else who was running was much interested in what’s happening with public education.

Before I entered the race I attended a school board meeting where the board decided to sell a vacant Minneapolis school building to a charter school. Our class sizes in public schools in that part of the city are in the mid to upper thirties. I know that many families are either moving to the suburbs or switching to private schools because of class size.

After that vote I decided to enter the race. With the surge in charter schools, high class sizes, high stakes testing, over-evaluation of teachers, the deprofessionalization of teaching through TFA, and union-busting efforts nationwide, I am terribly concerned about the future of public education.

The Minneapolis teachers’ union (MFT 59) is not endorsing anyone, but is discussing a forum or a candidate survey including questions to see where candidates stand on TFA, class size, high stakes testing, teacher evaluations, and site based management of schools, etc.

I would like to win this mayoral race to ensure that public education has a strong advocate and voice in the mayor’s office. An equally strong goal of my campaign is to build a coalition of like-minded people who will work to get information out to voters regarding the positions on education taken by school board members, city council members, and candidates for those and other public offices.

I am writing to ask for your help. We have an immediate need for cash. You could help us by writing about what is happening in Minneapolis and if you feel the spirit move, endorse me and ask those who follow you to go to my website and donate. Your help could make this a competitive race.

I would appreciate the opportunity to talk with you about my candidacy. If you want to know a little more about me, you can check me out on FB: Jim Thomas for Mayor of Minneapolis, or visit my web page: http://www.jimthomasformayor.com. I’d be happy to give you the names and contact information of several teachers who support me, as well.

Thanks for your time, Diane.

Sincerely,

Jim Thomas
Minneapolis Public School Teacher”

Categories Accountability, Charter Schools, Class size, Minnesota, Teach for America TFA

North Carolina: Public Schools and Students Endangered by Radical Agenda

By dianeravitch
May 14, 2013 //
36

Legislation is advancing in North Carolina that will harm the state’s underfunded public schools and strike a blow against its beleaguered teachers.

North Carolina is a right-to-work state, so there is no collective bargaining, and teachers have no voice in policy decisions about education.

Among the worst of the new bills is a proposal to fund a voucher/tax credit program, removing $90 million from public schools so that 1% of the state’s 1.5 million students may attend private and/or religious schools.

Another bill would strip away due process rights from teachers, so that teachers would have no right to a hearing if fired, no matter how many years of experience they have.

The new legislation would restrict eligibility for preschool, reducing the number of children who may enroll, and remove class size limits for some elementary grades.

Make no mistake (President Obama’s favorite expression, mine too): this legislation will save money in the short run but will cost the state far more in the long term. The Legislature is planning not only to harm public education, but to harm the children who benefit by being in preschool and in classes of reasonable size.

Former Congressman and State Superintendent Bob Etheridge said: “To the folks now running our state government in Raleigh, education reform is just another code word for cut, slash and burn.”

Governor Pat McCrory, who supports the radical anti-teacher, anti-public education agenda, has just named Eric Guckian as his Senior Education Advisor. Guckian was regional director of New Leaders in North Carolina (which recruits “transformational” leaders) and before that, was executive director of Teach for America in the state. He has been a consultant for the Gates Foundation and worked with KIPP. The following comes from the Governor’s press release:

“I am honored and humbled to serve as a member of Governor McCrory’s team,” said Guckian. “This is a critical time for education in our state, and I’m looking forward to working with committed teachers, leaders and community members to ensure that all of North Carolina’s students, regardless of circumstance, achieve an excellent education that will put them on the pathway to a better life; a life of honor, prosperity and service.”

Guckian joins John White in Louisiana and Kevin Huffman in Tennessee as TFA alumni in state-level positions serving reactionary administrations.

Categories Childhood, Pre-K, K, Class size, Corporate Reformers, North Carolina, Privatization, Teach for America TFA, Teacher Tenure, Vouchers

Don’t You Love the Providence Student Union?

By dianeravitch
April 30, 2013 //
7

The Providence Student Union delivered the First Annual State of the Student Address today, right before State Commissioner Denorah Gist gave her annual State of Education Address.

**********************

Hello. Attached please find the materials from the Providence Student Union’s First Annual State of the Student Address, including a press release, a list of PSU’s policy recommendations, and a one-page document detailing PSU’s idea for assessment reform.

PRESS RELEASE

CONTACT: Hector Perea | Contact@ProvidenceStudentUnion.org | 401-545-1973

STUDENTS COUNTER ED. COMMISSIONER’S “STATE OF EDUCATION” SPEECH –

OFFER THEIR OWN VISION FOR RI EDUCATION IN “STATE OF THE STUDENT” ADDRESS

Providence, Rhode Island – April 30, 2013 – A crowd of students, parents and teachers gathered in front of the State House today before the Commissioner of Education’s yearly State of Education address for what members of the Providence Student Union (PSU) called their First Annual State of the Student Address.

“Commissioner Gist’s education addresses have been one-sided,” said PSU member and Hope High School junior Kelvis Hernandez. “They have not told the full story about Rhode Island education because they have never been given from the student’s perspective. Rhode Island students know what is actually happening in our schools, and we know what needs to change. Today we will offer an alternative vision for how our schools should be improved so that students can meet the high standards we all aspire to achieve.”

During the address, five students from five different high schools in Providence laid out a series of policy recommendations for the Commissioner to focus to improve education in Rhode Island. Leexammarie, a sophomore at Central High School, explained PSU’s suggestions on teaching and curriculum. “We’re told to sit and listen, to do our test prep so we can pass our NECAP and move on. But that’s not how we learn. That’s certainly not how I learn. We need an education that is as creative as we are. We need projects, hands-on learning, debates, and conversations. We need opportunities to do arts and technology and to work in groups. And we need small enough classes where teachers have the flexibility to teach us like individuals.”

Speaking about the need for more funding for school repairs and transportation, Danise Nichols of Mount Pleasant High School said, “If Providence schools get the funding they need to make our buildings safe, healthy, and comfortable for students, and to provide transportation to students, then we will be in a much better position to learn. We don’t think this is too much to ask. Do you?”

PSU members also described the need for a better assessment system than the current high-stakes testing regime. “We need an assessment system that challenges us to really learn – not to just fill in bubbles,” said Cauldierre McKay, a junior at Classical High School. “We should look for inspiration at successful systems like the New York Performance Standards Consortium. These schools require a student to complete four performance-based assessments that show oral and written skill, including an analytic literary essay, a social studies research paper with valid arguments and evidence, a science experiment that shows understanding of the scientific method and an applied math problem. These schools outperform New York schools using high-stakes testing – and we can see why.”

Members of the Providence Student Union said they hoped their event would help re-center the education conversation in Rhode Island back to its proper focus, the needs of students. After describing all their policy recommendations, Cauldierre McKay summed up PSU’s future plans, saying, “Now it’s up to all of us to work, together, to turn these ideas from words into real changes – to convince the Commissioner to give us an education instead of a test.”
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Categories Class size, Curriculum, Education Reform, Students, Testing
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