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Schneider: Updates on State-by-State Common Core Controversies: Part 3

By dianeravitch
February 10, 2014 //
6

Mercedes Schneider here reports on the ongoing debates about Common Core standards and tests in the states.

Links to the earlier posts are included in this one.

The reason for the controversy is the lack of democratic process in imposing the standards.

Imposing them by stealth was not a good idea.

The public doesn’t know what they are, and their merits and demerits were never discussed and debated in an open democratic process.

Even now, the standards have a copyright, by the National Governors Association and the Council of Chief State School Officers.

I have never heard of “national standards” that were copyrighted, essentially outside the public domain.

These standards need to be reviewed and revised by expert practitioners. They can be fixed by the experts, the teachers who know the children and the classroom.

In the meanwhile–and perhaps forever–they should be decoupled from the two federally funded testing consortia–whose very existence is legally dubious, since the federal government is legally prohibited from seeking to control, direct, or supervise curriculum and instruction. Nothing is more effective in controlling, directing, and supervising curriculum and instruction than the tests used.

 

Categories Common Core

What Went Wrong with Common Core Testing in Nashua, New Hampshire

By dianeravitch
February 10, 2014 //
19

Not long ago, I posted a news story about the problems with Common Core testing in Nashua, New Hampshire, where teachers reported serious flaws with the Smarter Balanced Assessment.

Here is the letter from John Nelson, the principal of Fairgrounds Middle School, which contains details about the problems, as reported by teachers.

FROM: JOHN NELSON

RE: SMARTER BALANCE TEST

This communication is to share the sentiment of the FMS staff as it relates to the Smarter Balance Test. As you know, our staff used the December Early Release to take this test with the goal that it would provide us with some insight how we might incorporate the “common core” and the format of the Smarter Balance Test into our instructional practices. We believe that we successfully incorporated the NECAP Test format and GLEs into our teaching practices, especially in our “Bell Activities. “

Although a few staff members shared that they believed that our test scores would improve over time, I was surprised with the responses from the FMS teachers when we gathered to debrief after taking the test. I was hopeful that we would have teachers sharing test vocabulary, ideas for test taking, and strategies to help prepare our students for the 2015 Smarter Balance Test. Instead, teachers shared frustrations they had when they were taking the test and disappointment in test format and the difficulties they had trying to use their computer to take this test.

The comments shared below come from successful dedicated veteran teachers. I have much respect for this staff and I not only appreciated the honesty of the staff in their response to the Smarter Balance Test; but, I am hopeful that the Nashua School District will accept these responses in a positive way and not look at the comments as “negative” or “unprofessional”. The FMS staff collectively believe that the Smarter Balance Test is inappropriate for our students at this time and that the results from this test will not measure the academic achievement of our students; but will be a test of computer skills and students’ abilities to endure through a cumbersome task.

Listed below are some of the concerns that were shared by our staff:

*I feel sad for the students who have to take this test — not many will be successful.

*Much is said about “depersonalizing” information as part of a learning strategy. This is not how students learn.

*There is too much “stuff” going on the screen at once. It is difficult to move the icons where you want them. Students don’t know how to use the “mouse” everything for them is “tough screen”.
If you leave the screen for a short period of time the information on the screen will be gone when you return. “I tried the grade six-grade math—it was humbling. It was scary.

*I had technology problems. If kids have these problems they’ll just quit.

*Double-wide monitors would help. I am a huge fan of concept maps but notepad does not let you do that on Smarter Balance. You can’t even copand paste from the notepad into the test.

*This was more of a test on the computer skills than on the math concepts. If I was a student I would just pickout an answer and move on.

*Too tedious—kids will get sick of it and just guess to move on. Kids won’t even get past the computer directions.

These are just a sample of the concerns that were raised at this meeting. We did shift to “what do we have to do from now until the spring of 2015 to prepare students. Sample answers include:

*Pay attention to the directions. Provide students with many opportunities to read directions for their assignments.

*You can’t just read this test and then respond. Students need to highlight and take notes—especially during the audio questions.

*Students need to learn to “read the question first”.

*Students need to be able to go back into the text passages to pull out data that will support their answers.

*Students need to read through the questions and all possible answers. Sometimes questions give the answers to other questions in the test.

*Kids need to know how to do “note taking”.

*We need to teach students “how to draw an inference”.

*Students need to learn how to write a transition sentence between two paragraphs.
*Students need to learn how to write using “the speakers” voice.
*Students need to memorize formulas in this test.
*Students will have difficulty writing in the boxes that expand because of the technology of the way the box expands.
*Students will have trouble reading and understanding the directions and what is being asked by the question. Is this test closely aligned to the “common core?” It is important that teachers know what the test will be assessing.

*I am concerned that the math test is not necessarily testing students’ math abilities since there is so much reading. This test seems to assess how well the students read the math questions more than their math skills. Thus, because of the amount of reading, I question the validity of our receiving a math ability score.

*When Measured Progress developed the NECAP there was a committee on bias to check for testing bias. Does Smarter Balance do the same? Also, math teachers were asked to evaluate the questions to eliminate unnecessary verbiage so that the Math was being tested.

*The opening pages of directions and computer information was ridiculous. I didn’t read it—I’m sure my students won’t. Suggestions: We should have posters made of the most important and often used keys to post in each math classroom. Students need to practice making equations in Word, including the fractions symbol. We need to teach students to distinguish between on correct answer and many correct answers. There are questions that tell the students to choose the correct answers.

*The test is difficult to navigate with so many keystrokes to juggle.
*The page layout makes it eye weary even though you can expand the screen and zoom in and out.
*The passages are lengthy and time consuming and made me consider just choosing “B” so I could move on. Some terms in the reading seemed out-dated—“Plumb crazy and millwright” for example.
I had to use multiple skills and at the same time multitask—id—the audio portions require me to listen and at the same time read possible answers while constructing a well written paragraph in my head.

*The test assumes the students are skilled in such areas as pre-reading and questions and if they are not, it assumes they will learn while taking the test to read the questions in advance of the reading.

*There wasn’t a flow or cadence to the questions. The type or style of questions changed from one to the next. The answers were not straight forward—for example on the math test they did not want the answer to the equation, they wanted to know if the answer was 2/3rd greater than what you started with. I understand this is import ant but this test will be exhausting for the kids.

*The idea of the best answer and then there being 2 or more good and appropriate answers. It felt like a trick. We’re going to look bad for a few years.

*I did 30 questions in an hour and then had to take a break. My eyes hurt and my shoulders felt strained. When I returned 5 minutes later the work was gone.

*Each question is totally different than the one before it creating confusion which creates more confusion for the test takers.

*Frustration level builds as your take the test creating mental despair—students will shut down.
Many of the math questions seemed to have no basis in the real world and skills that will never be used in life. Students will need to be taught the technology skills for the test.—scrolling through screens, highlighting, scanning the questions, touch typing, and more.

*The test does not encourage students to use writing webs, brain maps, organizers to assist with writing. Summary: In my opinion, this test is a sad indictment of how disconnected the people who design the test are from the typical students in the classroom. Assessment is necessary but it should be designed to be developmentally appropriate for the students being tested. Assessment should also all for different methods to demonstrate competency rather than one computer model. This test is designed for one type of student—the verbal learner with exceptional executive functioning skills.

*I took the Grade 7 Language Arts test which I believe is developmentally designed for adults, not seventh grade students. The questions were tedious and punitive. I’m not sure that any seventh grader in the St ate would be able to score well on this test. The worst part of this test was the directions. They were numerous and multifaceted. After observing middle school students take tests for over a decade, it is my firm belief that most kids will stop reading the directions because there are too many and they are far too complex. Students will fail this test and the test will destroy their confidence which is an important stage of their development. In addition, the results of this test will become a public relations night mare for the school and the school districts as children will fail in large numbers.

Categories Common Core, Education Reform, Testing

A Mother Responds to Newsday’s Claim That Common Core Is Right No Matter How Many Protest

By dianeravitch
February 9, 2014 //
69

This letter came from a mother and teacher on Long Island in New York, which has been a hotbed of resistance to the Common Core and the testing.

Newsday ran an editorial today saying that it is time to “Stop the testing tug-of-war.” The editorial insists that Common Core is needed no matter how many teachers and educators object. The editorial is accompanied by a cartoon showing a tug-of-war with Commissioner John King on one side and everyone else on the other. That is an accurate portrait. King sees no need to listen to educators with far more experience than his three years in a charter school. Nor does he care what parents or the public thinks because he rules as the King. He and the Board of Regents–with only a few honorable exceptions–forget that we live in a democracy. Newsday offers not a shred of evidence for its defense of the testing other than to insist that it is time to swallow this bitter pill. Why? Because they say so.

“Dear Dr. Ravitch,

Newsday, Long Island’s only newspaper, ran the attached editorial today. Below is my response. People have asked me to share my response with you. Many parents have said that my response clarifies many points that people have had a hard time finding amidst all of the muck that is being thrown around.

In response to “Stop the testing tug-of-war”

Upset is not the word. As a teacher, as a mother and as a taxpayer, I am filled with disgust. Let’s speak of facts from people who are in the system, rather than the hypotheses of those (the media and corporations) on the outside.

1. The “standardized tests” do not track year-to-year progress of a student. No teacher knows what students mastered, and what they did not. Last year’s assessment tested students on materials that were not available until after the assessment. It contained proprietary material that the test’s maker, Pearson, includes in curricular materials that it sells to school districts – giving purchasers an unfair advantage on the test. Next, the test’s outcome was predicted by the Commissioner weeks before the tests ever made their way to schools for administration. Finally, in the six years I have administered the assessment to my students, I have personally observed ten point swings between passing and failing – depending upon how the state wanted schools and teachers to be perceived by the public.

2. The state teacher evaluation system (APPR) will find few teachers ineffective because the majority of the score (60-80%) is derived from local measures – observation, lesson plans, parent communication, etc…. The state gave me a 1 out of 20 for my growth score for last year. If the state’s portion were used as my only evaluative tool, I would have been considered ineffective. I could accept a 1 out of 20, if the state could tell me what I did well, what I did not and which portion of that score was for my math instruction of 60 students, and which portion was for my English Language Arts (ELA) instruction of 30 students. No one has this information.

3. Standards-based evaluations have yet to be seen. During my years in business, I had objectives I was required to meet. Each year, I sat down with my supervisor and we discussed those I had met, those I had not, and how to improve. In this system, we give students assessments that have no standardized bar to pass. After they take the assessment, their teachers and parents never know what standards they have met, and which they have not.

4. The curricular materials were not available last year. This is true. This fall, the state released materials. The math modules available for my sixth grade class required me to spend two hours per day modifying them in order to eliminate spelling and grammatical errors, replace a 10-point font with a 14-point font that young children can read and see, as well as define ways to bridge gaps between what my students were able to do, and the skills they needed to have to get through the lessons. Furthermore, the first unit was comprised entirely of lengthy word problems that my students, who are reading several years behind, were unable to read.

As a mother and a teacher I ask for:

o Assessments that measure state standards, with consistent benchmarks for passing to track progress over time.
o Item analysis for parents and teachers so both parties know what students have mastered and what they have not.
o A state growth score that tells a teacher what his /her students mastered, and what they did not.

Until those three requirements are met, my own four children will not participate in the state’s fraudulent assessment system that drains valuable resources from cash-strapped school districts, promotes growth for corporations like Pearson and in its lack of transparency, erodes the teacher-student relationship.

Sincerely,

Melissa McMullan
6th Grade Teacher
JFK Middle School
http://www.comsewogue.k12.ny.us/webpages/mmcmullan/
https://www.facebook.com/MrsMcmullansClassPage

“No kind action ever stops with itself. One kind action leads to another. Good example is followed. A single act of kindness throws out roots in all directions, and the roots spring up and make new trees. The greatest work that kindness does to others is that it makes them kind themselves.” ~ Amelia Earhart

Categories Common Core, New York, Testing

New Yorkers Denounce Cuomo’s Stacked Panel to “Review” Common Core

By dianeravitch
February 9, 2014 //
30

After the past year’s troubled rollout of Common Core standards and tests, parents and legislative leaders spoke out against the New York State Education Department’s rush to impose and test standards that neither students nor teachers were prepared for. On the botched tests, passing rates fell to only 30% across the state. Only 3% of English learners passed the test, along with 5% of students with disabilities and less than 20% of African American and Hispanic students. In response to the fiasco, parents turned out by the thousands at public hearings, and legislators called for a moratorium of at least two years on the testing.

To date, the state Board of Regents has shown no willingness to review the developmental appropriateness of the standards, and Commissioner King has been insistent that no meaningful changes are likely.

Governor Cuomo entered the fray by appointing a panel to review the controversy, but parent advocates say the panel is stacked with known proponents of Common Core, who are unable to conduct an independent review.

Here is their press release, just issued:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: February 9, 2014

More information contact:

Eric Mihelbergel (716) 553-1123; nys.allies@gmail.com

Lisa Rudley (917) 414-9190; nys.allies@gmail.com

NYS Allies for Public Education http://www.nysape.org

New Yorkers Outraged by Governor’s Flawed Common Core Panel

The leaders of the NYS Allies for Public Education (NYSAPE), a coalition of more than 45 parent and educator groups from throughout the state, expressed their outrage at Governor Cuomo’s choice of appointees to his Common Core Panel.

As Lisa Rudley, Ossining public school parent and founding member of NYSAPE said, “As a parent I am offended that the Governor’s Panel is stacked with known supporters of the Common Core, eliminating the chance for an objective evaluation. The chair, Stanley Litow, Vice President of IBM, has already written an Op-ed saying full speed ahead with its implementation. Dr. Charles Russo is one of the very few Superintendents in the state to publicly support the standards, including the flawed NYSED modules known to be rife with errors and questionable content.”

As Leonie Haimson of Class Size Matters pointed out, “Several members selected by the Governor belong to organizations that are heavily dependent on funding from the Gates Foundation, which has spent more than $170 million on developing and promoting the Common Core. These include Dan Weisberg of The New Teacher Project, which has received $23 million from the Gates Foundation, including $7 million in the last year alone. Nick Lawrence is a prominent member of Educators for Excellence, which received more than $3 million from the Gates Foundation in 2013. This evident conflict of interest undermines their credibility not only concerning the Common Core, but also the highly controversial issue of whether the state should go ahead with sharing personal student data with inBloom Inc., a corporation established by the Gates Foundation with $100 million.”

“Parents are tired of having education policy in this state hijacked by deep-pocketed billionaires who do not send their own children to public school and would never consider having their education stifled by a rigid regime of instructional text, scripted modules, test prep, and their personal data provided to for-profit companies without their consent,” said Eric Mihelbergel, Ken-Ton public school parent and founding member of NYSAPE.

Bianca Tanis a New Paltz public school parent and special education teacher noted, “Experts in special education, early childhood development and elementary school teachers have all noted that the Common Core standards are developmentally inappropriate, were created without their input and need significant reform. And yet not a single individual from any of these groups was selected for the Panel, ensuring that their recommendations will be profoundly deficient.”

“I am astounded that the governor would fail to include any teachers of younger students and those with special needs, especially since many of the criticisms and concerns surround the issue whether the standards are appropriately designed for these children,” pointed out Lori Griffin, a Copenhagen public school parent and educator.

“The Governor argues that no decision should be made on the Common Core until this Panel has come up with its recommendations. The fact that this Panel is so heavily stacked only reinforces our conviction that there is no reason to wait for the Panel’s conclusions. The Common Core standards must be immediately pulled back and revised, with input from educators and parents, the over-testing must come to a halt, the teacher evaluation system scrapped, and the contract with inBloom cancelled,” said Jeanette Deutermann, Bellmore public school parent and founder of Long Island Opt-Out.

Jessica McNair, New Hartford public school parent concluded, “Our children are suffering and cannot wait. If Commissioner King does not immediately stop the runaway train, call a halt to the standards and the testing, and withdraw his agreement with inBloom, the Legislature must act in his place.”

###

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__,_._,___

Categories Common Core, Cuomo, Andrew, Education Industry, New York

Schneider: State-by-State Update on Common Core Controversies–Part 2

By dianeravitch
February 9, 2014 //
23

Schneider here provides part 2 of her state-by-state review of controversies over the Common Core standards and testing.

This one includes the following states: Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, and Tennessee.

Her part 1 appeared yesterday.

She describes the entire mess as a textbook example of how NOT to create national standards.

Top-down, states bribed with millions of federal dollars to adopt them, public unaware of them until the fait has been accomplished, Gates’ millions deployed to manufacture consent.

It is not working.

 

Categories Common Core

Schneider: A State-by-State Update on Common Core: Part 1

By dianeravitch
February 8, 2014 //
34

Mercedes Schneider is keeping track of the debates about the Common Core standards in the states.

So much is happening that she is breaking it into three posts.

This post covers the controversy surrounding Common Core in 12 states:

Alabama, Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, and South Carolina.

Categories Common Core

Mercedes Schneider: NGA and Its Corporate Fellows

By dianeravitch
February 8, 2014 //
18

The National Governors Association has a corporate fellows program.

Mercedes Schneider takes a close look at which corporations are supporting NGA and where their money so spent.

Some of their leading corporate sponsors are deeply involved in education:

“Here is NGA’s complete corporate listing. However, allow me to list a sampling of corporate names that hold particular meaning in the current corporate-friendly, education reform atmosphere:

“ACT, Amplify, Apple, College Board, Educational Testing Service, ExxonMobil, General Electric, McKinsey and Company, Microsoft, Pearson, Scholastic, and Walmart.

“If these corporate names sound familiar, here’s why:

“ACT and College Board were on the CCSS insider work group. Also a CCSS insider, David Coleman is now president of College Board.

“Amplify is run by former NYC Chancellor, Joel Klein, and is connected to the CCSS assessment consortium, Smarter Balanced.

“Apple is involved in the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) iPad fiasco. LAUSD Superintendent John Deasy owns Apple stock.

“Educational Testing Service (ETS) is connected to both CCSS testing consortia (PARCC and Smarter Balanced).

“ExxonMobil has taken a vocal stand for CCSS of late.

“General Electric (GE) donated $4 million to David Coleman’s Student Achievement Partners in 2010.

“McKinsey and Company is the former employer of David Coleman.

“Microsoft is Bill Gates’ company. It just abandoned the destructive employee evaluation methods that Gates is trying to impose upon public school teachers.

“Pearson is a major corporate reform presence. For one, Pearson is involved in the LAUSD iPad fiasco. Pearson is also connected to both CCSS testing consortia.

“Scholastic and Gates released partial results of a survey that notes (surprise, surprise) teachers are fine with CCSS.

“And finally, Walmart is owned by the Waltons, who are anti-union and pro-charter and spend millions on education privatization.”

Categories Common Core, Corporate Reformers

Reader Asks: Is Pearson Taking Control of AP?

By dianeravitch
February 8, 2014 //
118

An AP teacher sent me the following letter. I don’t know the answer. Can anyone answer her question? Maybe not, maybe we are all in the dark. It does not seem beyond belief that Pearson and the College Board are closely collaborating. Is there more afoot than collaboration? Shouldn’t they be competitors?

Here is the communication I received:

“Hi Diane,

Just wanted to bring this to your attention. As a member of the AP English listserv, er, college board-monitored discussion board, I received this message yesterday. When I logged in to follow the discussion thread, it had been removed. If true, it is important information that AP teachers have not yet been informed about. Several AP teachers, from AP Biology to AP Language, noted that their students reported “weird” questions on the exams, which are similar to the comments that have been made about the Pearson 3-8 exams in New York.

“I can’t find any proof written anywhere except that when I registered this year for the AP National Conference in Las Vegas, I called AP central about a question I had because Pearson was communicating with me about needing a code or something to complete my application and the young man on the phone said “Oh Pearson is handling AP now and GED so you’ll have to call this number. He said the website etc. would remain on College Board but that it was really “a separate entity” now. I am anxious to hear what they have to say at the National Conference. I fear we are going to see a major change in philosophy and more alignment with Common Core. It’s hard to pin them down. They are sneaky about things. Almost Everything our school does now is governed by Pearson. We are mostly government funded–Navajo school but it is a trickle down process. What happens with us will eventually worm its way into every school. We are the guinea pigs. They are updating our internet connections this summer so that we have more room for all these tests that will be taught online. 3rd graders will be taught to type on the computer all their work so they can do the tests, as well as everyone else. They are practicing because eventually the tests will become the determiner for passing the kid on. They say in 2 years but they keep moving it up.

“The above is from a recent conversation on a literary-minded thread on LinkedIn. Can anyone speak to this matter of Pearson and the CollegeBoard as bedfellows to the extent that things may be changing, and not for the better? Heck, I wonder if I am wrong for even posting this thread here…”

Categories Common Core, Pearson, Testing

Andrew Cuomo Names Panel to Study Common Core Implementation

By dianeravitch
February 7, 2014 //
75

Leonie Haimson, leader of New York City’s Class Size Matters, reports that Governor Andrew Cuomo has named a panel to study the implementation of the Common Core standards in the state. The panel, she says, is stacked with supporters of Common Core.

 

She writes:

 

No early childhood experts, elementary or special ed teachers on commission, which is unfortunate because these are the people whose critiques have been most sharp.

Litow chair already wrote an oped in favor http://bit.ly/1ea69ge 

Russo is one of the few Superintendents in entire state on record in favor http://bit.ly/1ea6wHP 

He was booed by parents & teachers at a Common Core forum http://bit.ly/1ea6wHP  and says CC curriculum “one of best things I’ve seen in education in 31, 32 yrs”

Dan Weisberg head of TNTP has received $23M from Gates Foundation including $7M in last yr alone http://bit.ly/1bDFNH8 

Gates has spent >$170M on the Common Core and will not go down lightly   http://wapo.st/1bDHggw

 

 

Cuomo names Common Core panel as rollout remains under fire

by Philissa Cramer on February 7, 2014

More in Albany ReportMORE IN ALBANY REPORT

Gov. Andrew Cuomo has named the members of a panel that he has asked to advise him about the way the state is implementing the Common Core standards.

The 11 panel members include state legislators, educators from New York City and upstate, an upstate parent, business leaders, and advocates. Linda Darling-Hammond, the Stanford University education professor who advised President Barack Obama on education, is also on the panel.

Cuomo announced in his budget address in January that he would convene the panel, after remaining silent for months amid growing concerns about the state’s rollout of the new standards. Parents and educators from across the state have said schools did not get enough time or support to adjust to the standards before being held accountable for having students meet them.

The panel’s work gained new significance this week when legislators — including the two on the panel — called for the state to untie Common Core test scores from teacher evaluations for at least two years. Darling-Hammond has supported Common Core testing but criticized using test scores to measure individual teachers.

“It would be premature to consider any moratorium before the panel is allowed to do its work,” Cuomo said in response.

The panel will deliver recommendations before the end of the legislative session this spring, according to Cuomo’s office.

The full list of panel members is below:

  • Stanley S. Litow, Vice President, IBM Corporate Citizenship and Corporate Affairs & President, IBM International Foundation (Chair)
  • Senator John Flanagan, Senate Education Committee Chair (Senate appointee)
  • Assemblywoman Catherine Nolan, Assembly Education Committee Chair (Assembly appointee)
  • Linda Darling-Hammond, Charles E. Ducommun Professor of Education, Stanford University Graduate School of Education
  • Todd Hathaway, Teacher, East Aurora High School (Erie County)
  • Alice Jackson-Jolley, Parent (Westchester County)
  • Anne Kress, President, Monroe Community College
  • Nick Lawrence, Teacher, East Bronx Academy for the Future (NYC)
  • Delia Pompa, Senior Vice President of Programs, National Council of La Raza
  • Charles Russo, Superintendent, East Moriches UFSD (Long Island)
  • Dan Weisberg, EVP & General Counsel, The New Teacher Project

Lawrence, the UFT lead teacher at his school, wrote last year about his experience with New York City’s teacher evaluation rules for Chalkbeat’s First Person section.

 
Categories Common Core, Cuomo, Andrew, New York

When Did Gibberish Replace Conventional English?

By dianeravitch
February 7, 2014 //
120

Colin McEnroe of NPR in Connecticut has discovered the root problem of corporate reformers: They have lost touch with common sense and the meaning of learning. To cover up their ignorance, they have invented rhetoric that sounds impressive but is no more than unintelligible verbiage.

He starts here, and gets better:

“I don’t know about you, but I remember the moment when, as a boy, I fell in love with learning. It was 1964, in the spring. My fourth-grade teacher, Miss Vick, sat down with me in the late afternoon and gently pried from my hands Hardy Boys book No. 42, “The Secret of the Mummy’s Strategically Dynamic New Paradigms.”

“Colin,” she said. “I know you’re a good boy with a bright mind. But your EAPE scores don’t point to project-based learning across the curriculum. You need to scaffold texts to other texts, and to that end I’m going to start interfacing with your developmental space.”

“Miss Vick,” I stammered, “can you disintermediate that for me in a way that unpacks the convergence in assessment-driven terms?”

We talked for hours as the sun sank toward the horizon. I believe both of us wept. My mind opened like a flower. That night, I chopped my Hardy Boys books into little pieces and fed them to the neighbor’s python. I read Emerson’s “The American Scholar” instead.

Wait. Maybe it didn’t happen that way, because in 1964, American education was not drowning in incomprehensible crap.”

Have we lost the ability to say what we mean and mean what we say?

Categories Common Core, Connecticut, Corporate Reformers, Education Industry, Humor
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