Today, the US Senate voted to confirm John King as Secretary of Education by a vote of 49-40.
The only Democrat to vote no was New York Senator Gillibrand.
King was opposed by many New York parent groups because of his unwillingness to listen, his unyielding devotion to the Common Core, test-based teacher evaluation, high stakes testing for children, and the corporate reform agenda.
Supporters of public education in Florida began a challenge of the state’s punitive accountability system in 2009. The trial started today.
The parent-led group, Fund Florida Now, is one of the plaintiffs. It sent out this important information today:
“Florida’s A-F Public School Accountability Trial starts today!
“Florida’s marquee public education trial, ‘Citizens for Strong Schools,’ filed in 2009, begins today. Thanks to the herculean pro bono efforts of the Southern Legal Counsel, this is truly a citizen-driven lawsuit. Just about every “education reform” policy legislators have imposed on our children and teachers through Florida’s A-F Accountability scheme is on the table.
“As a public education advocate, your voice helped to move this lawsuit forward.
“Fund Education Now is a plaintiff in the case along with Citizens for Strong Schools and several individuals. The journey to this day has been long. Fund Education Now came to be in 2009 in response to what former Orange County School Superintendent Ron Blocker called “criminal and catastrophic” cuts to public education. What drove us was the absolute lack of answers from the state legislature as to why they were deliberately de-funding public education while spending billions to grow a high stakes testing juggernaut and diverting money to separate, unequal and often privately held “choice options.”
“All of this was happening despite the fact that the Florida Constitution was amended in 1998 with the approval of over 70% of the voters, giving the Florida Legislature specific instructions regarding public education funding:
“Article IX, section 1 of the Florida Constitution states
“(a) The education of children is a fundamental value of the people of the State of Florida. It is, therefore, a paramount duty of the state to make adequate provision for the education of all children residing within its borders. Adequate provision shall be made by law for a uniform, efficient, safe, secure, and high quality system of free public schools…
“It’s been clear for a long time that nothing short of legal action was needed to make a difference. A powerful combination of state legislators, PACs, business chambers, former politicians, industry and foundation lobbyists joined together to pass one “bold reform” after another, session after session with the net effect of deeply wounding teachers, students and public schools. Parents responded by calling, writing and speaking to legislators. Those early and sustained actions turned the conversation from “education reform” as a fait accompli to a strong push-back over validity, intent and the profit motive behind so many of these laws.
“The State of Florida fought hard to keep this trial from ever taking place. It represents a significant struggle to finally have an unvarnished discussion to determine whether the state of Florida is fulfilling its constitutional duty to the 2.8 million children enrolled in public schools.
“Make sure to watch this important case live-streaming daily on the Florida Channel for the next five weeks. The state Supreme Court ruled that the Citizens for Strong Schools case is a “matter of extreme public importance” that should be heard in court. We couldn’t agree more.
“If you like what we do, please help us continue to fund this work.”
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Last week, NPR had a story about how “dumb” our students are, compared to those in other countries. The story title said that our high school graduates are on par with high school dropouts elsewhere on international tests.
For myself, I always wonder how critics can say in one breath that we live in the greatest nation in the world, and in the next breath say that we have the worst schools and dumbest students in the world. This bizarre logic then leads to the rephormer claim that we must cut the budget for public schools and push for the transfer of funds to religious schools (not known for teaching STEM simubjects) or to brand-new charters run by corporations or amateurs. You might think that only a knucklehead could believe in such truly foolish ideas but our major foundations–Gates, Walton, Broad, Arnold, Helmsley, and others–relentlessly push this line of baloney.
One reader referred to the story and blamed “bad” teachers. Another reader who is both teacher and parent, responded here:
“Let me give you a different perspective, assuming you are willing to listen.
“All schools are not “failing.” I worked years in industry (high tech) and can assure you, on a aggregate level, America’s graduates far exceed the capability of most other countries. I can’t count the number of H1bs I hired that, while good employees, lacked the adaptability and critical thinking required to solve problems. In those countries that ARE on par with us, they support their schools, respect and value teachers, and believe in both a strong college OR vocational pathway. Are some schools “failing”? Sure, but the reasons rarely have to do with teacher competence.
“Now I teach math. So you are free to blame us evil math teachers for your child’s struggle. I’ve heard it all before. Here’s the reality. I teach students who are “high risk” in math. Often, I battle a accumulation of years of external issues – poverty, health problems, learning challenges, disinterested parents, violence, drugs, mental health – the list goes on. I have never abandoned a student, but many parents have. Politicians blame teachers, but then cut social programs, employment opportunities, and health programs. Business complains, but then wiggles out of financially supporting schools, ships good jobs overseas, and pushes job training onto schools. Keep in mind, too, that k-12 works to retain and teach ALL students. Post secondary operates by screening out and eliminating students. Very different missions.
“The students do lack various math skills. I see seniors unable to add fractions trying to solve trig problems. One common thread in math illiteracy is these students are reluctant learners and avoid math. Math is not sesame street. It takes careful study and practice. I can make it “entertaining” and I’ll try my best with a 150+ student roster to “differentiate” and individually reach out to each student, but America does not want great teachers, only inexpensive ones.
“I am also a parent of a struggling student. Unlike you, I took responsibility from kindergarten for his learning. I followed his progress and alphabet soup of diagnoses. I didn’t just sit back and blame teachers, I actively worked with teachers. I learned about new subjects to help him through school. I reached out and showed interest. I even lost a job focusing on my kids’ well being. Were all teachers perfect? No, they are human. But I made it work. My kid is going to college. He still struggles, but the journey doesn’t end with some kids when they become adults. Think before unfairly indicting a profession.
Jan Resseger, a social justice activist in Ohio, writes here about John Kasich and his lack of knowledge of his own education policies. In one of the most recent presidential debates, Kasich boasted about the rebirth of Cleveland public schools and pretended that he knew how to fix the Detroit public schools.
As Resseger writes, he is wrong about Cleveland and Detroit. His policy has been to disinvest in public schools and to rely on charters. Ohio has some of the worst charters in the nation. His plan for Youngstown was hatched behind closed doors, and it follows the ALEC script of a state takeover, followed by privatization.
Kasich implied that mayoral control might fix the public schools in Detroit, but mayoral control hasn’t helped the public schools of Cleveland. Of course, he didn’t know that Detroit had mayoral control for a few years, but the voters vetoed it. That mayor, if memory serves, subsequently went to jail for something he did wrong.
Kasich plays the role of the adult among a bunch of squabbling kids. But when it comes to education, he is as clueless as the rest of them.
Our reader Laura Chapman has unearthed another tentacle of corporate reform, in the business of rating schools and data mining.
She writes:
“Here is another example of the problem.
“Angela Duckworth of Grit fame is on the National Advisory Boardof GreatSchools.org, funded by Gates, Walton, Robertson, Arnold Foundations and 19 others, including the Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice, Goldman Sachs Gives.
“This nonprofit is a huge “red lining” operation with opportunities to license ads using data about schools which, coincidentally, has been gathered through other projects that are not what they seem to be on the surface, like the CORE district program in Californa reaching 11 million students, with data gathering well beyond what that state requires for accountability, including surveys of school climate and social-emotional well-being.
“I am working on some chunks of information that show how deeply this organization is involved in redlining real estate, leveraging data on schools and “choice” options, parent profiles and so on.
“GreatSchools.org offers licenses and ads. These are marketed with “base” and “local” modules set up to push enrollment in specific schools. The scary part is that the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Devlopment and Fannie Mae have paid for a license,
“The website boasts that it has one million customer ratings, on 200,000 schools, with more in the pipeline. I discovered this operation by looking at one school evaluation in Oakland CA, one of the 10 CORE districts that have a new system of data gathering on “school quality.” When I clicked on the rating, I was sent to the GreatSchools website. None of the PR about the CORE districts disclosed this commercial data mining operation operating under the auspices of a distant non-profit, funded by foundations known to be seeking market- based education with initiatives in dominating media outlets, and surveys that pretend to be research.”
Paul Thomas, professor at Furman University in South Carolina and former high school teacher, warns of the risks of relying on standards and accountability to fix poverty.
South Carolina has families trapped in generational poverty. This is no secret or new discovery. What do policymakers propose: tougher standards and accountability, and school takeovers. They tell themselves and the public that the New Orleans Recovery Dchool District and the Tennessee Achievement District is the answer to poverty, although there is no evidence to back their assertion.
In effect, accountability is a hoax, a scam, a swindle. It is a 3-card Monte game. It diverts our attention from what must be done. It is a quick fix that fixes nothing.
According to press reports, the New York Board of Regents will select veteran educator Dr. Betty Rosa as Chancellor at its meeting next week. Rosa was born in Puerto Rico and educated in New York City. She has been a teacher, a principal, and a superintendent in the public schools in the Bronx. She has taught English language learners and children with disabilities.
Rosa was a member of the dissident group of Regents who questioned high-stakes testing, test-based teacher evaluation, the Common Core, and other aspects of the corporate reform movement. With her real-world experience, she brings a fresh perspective to the board that oversees education in the state.
She has the strong support of parent leaders in the opt out movement.
Jonathan Pelto, a former legislator in Connecticut, warns about proposed legislation that would allow the state to take control of local schools, without regard to wishes of local school board.
He writes:
“A new piece of legislation before the Connecticut General Assembly (H.B. 5551) would be the most far-reaching power grab in state history – a direct attack local control of schools, our democracy and Connecticut’s students, parents, teachers, local school officials and public school.
“The legislation would enable Malloy’s political appointees on the State Board of Education to takeover individual schools in a district, remove the control of the elected board of education, “suspend laws” and eliminate the role of school governance councils which are the parent’s voice in school “turnaround plans.
“The bill is nothing short of an authoritarian maneuver by grossly expanding the Commissioner of Education’s powers under the Commissioner’s Network. The bill destroys the fundamental role of local control because it allows the state to indefinitely take over schools and even entire districts, without a vote of local citizens.
“The bill removes any time limit on Commissioner’s Network Schools. It removes the cap on how many Commissioner’s Network schools can be taken over by the state. It removes the right of the local community to appoint their own turnaround committee. It eliminates the requirement that local parents, through their school governance council are included in the process.”
Governor Dannell Malloy is chairman of the Democratic Governors’ Association, but the proposed legislation comes from the rightwing group ALEC.
Here is the list of people chosen to write the regulations for the new federal law, Every Student Succeeds Act. The regulations are crucial for interpreting the law.
Not everyone is pleased. Some see the hand of the Gates Foundation in the choices.
Interesting that Exxon Mobil gets a member of the committee, a Republican who served in the George W. Bush administration but is now education program director of Exxon Mobil. If you recall, the CEO of Exxon Mobil Rex Tillerson said that American schools were producing a “defective product” (our kids).
The New York Times today has an article about the new Broad-trained superintendent in Oakland, California. Antwan Wilson was recruited from Denver, which has been under control by corporate reformers for over a decade. Oakland has been under control by Broad superintendents since 2003. The article describes Wilson’s plans to “transform” Oakland by merging the application process for charter schools and public schools. The Broad superintendents have been promising transformative results for more than a decade. Years ago, Oakland was seen as an ideal petri dish for corporate reform because it was under state control, with no meddlesome school board. Now it has a school board again, and the promises continue. There is always next year.
The article gives an overview of the trajectory of Broad-trained superintendents. It is not a pretty picture.
Broad-trained superintendents currently run districts in two dozen communities, including Boston, Broward County, Fla., and Philadelphia. They have lasted an average of four and three-quarter years, delivering incremental academic progress at best. Like others in the field, they have run up against the complexities of trying to improve schools bedeviled by poverty, racial disparities, unequal funding and contentious local politics.
Some prominent academy alumni have resigned after tumultuous terms. Mike Miles, the Dallas schools superintendent, quit last June after just three years, during which he battled teachers over new evaluation criteria and performance-based pay.
In Los Angeles, John Deasy stepped down as superintendent in the fall of 2014 after a turbulent tenure in which he testified against teachers’ unions during a landmark trial involving tenure and job protections, and presided over a botched rollout of a $1.3 billion plan to give all students iPads. That same year, John Covington abruptly resigned as chancellor of a state-operated district for the lowest performing schools in Detroit. Two years earlier, Jean-Claude Brizard resigned from the Chicago Public Schools after 17 months on the job and a bruising teachers’ strike.
Still, Mr. Broad said his money is well spent. “When I look at how many students are educated in public school systems where our alumni are and have worked,” he wrote in an email, “there is no question that this has been a worthwhile investment.”
Oakland is the kind of place where philanthropists hope to make a difference. Here, across the Bay Bridge from San Francisco, close to three-quarters of the 37,000 students in district-run schools come from low-income families. About 30 percent of the students are African-Americans, and more than 40 percent are Latino.
Why Mr. Broad is satisfied is not at all clear. There is an even longer list of failed superintendencies than is listed here, and in some cases Broadies were run out of town by the local citizenry. In Wake County, a Broadie was put in charge of resegregation the district after the Tea Party won control of the school board; when the majority was ousted in the next school board election, the superintendent left with them.
There is no doubt that Eli Broad “hopes to make a difference” in Oakland, as he does wherever he invests. But someone should remind him that Broad-trained superintendents have controlled the districts for more than a dozen years. When should we start seeing the “difference” that they have made?
