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Mr. Katzoff Writes an Open Letter to Chris Matthews and MSNBC

By dianeravitch
March 28, 2014 //
33

Howard Katzoff doesn’t understand why the commentators at MSNBC are so ill-informed about education issues. With the exception of Ed Schultz and possibly Chris Hayes, the commentators at MSNBC have swallowed the snake oil of corporate reform. Although they are usually out front on social and political issues, they sound like Fox News on education. When Education Nation opens in September, all of NBC turns into a cheerleading squad for the non-educators who paint by numbers (test scores).

In this post, Mr. Katzoff reminds Chris Matthews what education should be: it should be about educating the whole child in the liberal arts and sciences. It should not be a race for higher test scores or a process dominated by fear of failure.

Mr. Katzoff remembers when he started teaching:

“Look at our educational system from the point of view of well-meaning adults who use their academic knowledge and interpersonal skills with kids every day— and you will see that the whole discussion about American Education is framed from what Society needs, rather than from who children are.

“That is what is wrong with American public education.

“When our generation came into teaching in the mid-1960′s, it was typical for a Superintendent of Schools to make a speech at the start of the school year to inspire idealism among the staff, especially among the first- year teachers. Educational leaders would inevitably quote Socrates and the classics, alluding to the higher purposes of our jobs.”

But consider how things have changed:

“When I attended my last early September motivational meeting before I retired, the new regional superintendent came to our school to tell us we were in danger of getting a failing grade from the New York City Department of Education. Then she proceeded with graphs and charts to show exactly how we could move last year’s test scores to her projected scores for that year.

The instructional culture within American public schools has radically shifted from the classical Liberal Arts and Sciences or Humanistic tradition which emphasizes all the Arts, Sciences, Literature, History, Physical Education, Hand Work, Civics and Community Service— the paradigm of EDUCATING THE WHOLE CHILD.”

Our leaders are obsessed with numbers and data, not children or learning. That’s backwards.

Chris, can you help us? Rachel Maddow, can you?

Categories Arts Education, Childhood, Pre-K, K, Corporate Reformers, Curriculum

Anthony Cody: Why Do “Reformers” Hate Democracy?

By dianeravitch
March 28, 2014 //
40

Anthony Cody wonders why corporate education reformers hate democracy. They love mayoral control, but only if the mayor agrees with their privatization agenda. They hate local school boards, because they are elected and can be removed.

They love private corporate control. They work to enact ALEC’s goal of removing local control from communities.

Democracy is too messy. The reformers know how to buy mayors and legislatures. Campaign contributions do the job. But the problem with democracy is that voters are unpredictable. The “reformers” can’t buy them, although the reformers can spend millions to flood the airwaves with attack ads, and they own most of the mainstream media. Think Murdoch. Think Education Nation.

Think Reed Hastings, the billionaire who owns Netflix. He let the cat out of the bag in a recent speech, which Cody quotes and links to.

Cody asks:

“Reed Hastings was right about one thing. If you go to the American public and actually tell them you want to eliminate elected school boards, or completely disempower them, no one’s going to go for that. So instead, these billionaires conspire. Yes, conspire, behind closed doors, and we only find out when someone surreptitiously shoots a video of the bald-faced attempt to steal our democracy right out from under us.

“The question nobody asks is “why do they hate our freedom”? The answer is obvious. Occasionally it gets in the way of what they want to do. And when that happens, the solution is to destroy democracy. Take power away from the elected offices that are there to ensure accountability to the people. Make sure that it goes wherever your grip is strongest. And spend millions on TV ads to cover up the real game under way. “

Categories Charter Schools, Corporate Reformers, New York City, Vouchers

NYC Elected Officials Rally Today to Denounce “Corrupt Budget Deal” with Charter Lobbyists

By dianeravitch
March 27, 2014 //
20

As the New York Daily News broke the news that hedge fund managers behind a front group called “Families for Excellent Schools” spent more than $4 million for attack ads against de Blasio and for protection of privately managed charter schools–which are not subject to public audit because they are not public schools–parent advocates announced an emergency rally to protect the public schools and the 94% of children who attend them.

Media Contacts:
Julian Vinocur. 203.313.2479. julian@aqeny.org
Dan Morris. 917.952.8920. dlmcommunications@gmail.com

 

*** Media Advisory for Today, March 27, 12:15pm, Steps of Dept. of Education, 52 Chambers St. , Lower Manhattan***

 

BREAKING: Rally Against Corrupt State Budget Deal Being Made with Charter School Lobbyists
*At 12:15 today, Elected Officials Will Condemn a Deal that will Give 5 X More Money to Charter Schools Per Pupil than to Traditional District Schools in New York City*
***The Pay-to-Play Deal is the Result of a $5 Million Charter School Lobbying Campaign Funded by Top Donors to Cuomo, Klein, the IDC, and Senate Republicans***

 

WHAT: At a major rally today, elected officials, parents, and advocates will condemn a state budget deal orchestrated by charter lobbyists, who are top donors to Cuomo, the IDC, and Senate Republicans, to give charter schools 5 times more money per pupil than traditional district public schools. They will speak out against the $ 5 million ad campaign lobbyists used to get charter schools a sweetheart deal in the budget and to open the door to gubernatorial control of schools.
=> Participants will Tweet using the #NoGovControl hashtag

 

WHO: Councilmember and Chair of the Education Committee Daniel Dromm; Council Members Carlos Menchaca, Laurie Cumbo, Ruben Wills, Jimmy Van Bramer, Antonio Reyonoso, Helen Rosenthal, Mark Treyger, Daneek Miller; Public school parents co-located with Success Academy, at PS 149/811, Soundview Academy, Seth Low; parents and advocates from the Alliance for Quality Education, New York Communities for Change and Make the Road New York.

 

WHERE: Steps of the Dept. of Education, 52 Chambers St., Lower Manhattan
WHEN: Today, Thursday, March 27, 12:15pm.
# # #

Categories Charter Schools, Corporate Reformers, Privatization

NYC: Emergency Rally Thursday at Noon

By dianeravitch
March 27, 2014 //
5

Emergency meeting on Thursday on behalf of the 97% of New York State students who are not in charter schools:

Anyone who can make it tomorrow should do so. The state budget is hitting crunch time, with the Charter lobby spending millions on behalf of privatization and the 3% in charters, while firmly controlling both the Governor and the State Senate. Support must be given to Speaker Silver and the Assembly Dems to hold fast for the 97% of our kids in public schools and for public education, and to allow Mayor de Blasio to determine his own education policies.

The Senate/Cuomo proposal would force the DOE (and all local public school boards throughout the state) to provide public space for EVERY charter authorized at the state level, or else pay the charter’s rent in private space; a colocation policy that would be worse than anything Bloomberg ever sought. Additionally, the charter lobby boondoggle bill would give Charters more upfront money (aka tuition), and give Albany control of our NYC public school buildings and budget, while sending 25 cents of every new state education dollar to the 3 out of 100 kids in charters. Meanwhile, the City and State public schools are looking at 2009 funding levels which the courts said were $2 billion short – back then. Outrageous.

Please join New York Communities for Change, Public School Parents, Elected Officials, Educators, Community Members.

Thursday, March 27
12 noon
Tweed Courthouse – 52 Chambers

Noah

noah eliot gotbaum
community education council district 3 (cec3)
noah@gotbaum.com
twitter: @noahegotbaum

Categories Budget Cuts, Charter Schools, Corporate Reformers, Cuomo, Andrew, Education Industry, New York, New York City

Michigan: Ellen Cogen Lipton: We Will Bear Witness

By dianeravitch
March 26, 2014 //
18

Representative Ellen Cogen Lipton has been one of the most outspoken critics of Governor Rick Snyder’s Education Achievement Authority.

The EAA was created to gather up the low-performing schools in the state and put them under a single leader, in this case, the Broad “trained” superintendent John Covington.

There have been numerous accounts by students and teachers of mistreatment and abuse, poor teaching, inoperable technology, etc.

Governor Snyder asked the Republican-controlled House of Representatives to pass HB 4369 to expand the EAA.

Before the bill passed, Representative Lipton gave the following speech. The bill now goes to the State Senate, where passage seems likely.

 

Representative Lipton said:

 

Microsoft Word – Ellen’s EAA Floor Speech.docx

I rise before you today with profound disappointment and regret, as this is a floor speech that I wished never to have to make.

But here we are, and I can’t help but ask myself ‐ how did we get here? So a little bit of history is in order.

I’d like to take you back to the fall of 2012 ‐ November 2012 to be exact ‐ when a bill was introduced to codify an idea borne of the ideological agenda often referred to as corporate education reform, but in reality de‐form.

And the idea which is being replicated in states all across this country generally goes something like this:

  •   declare public schools a failure ‐ usually urban schools in extremely impoverished neighborhoods
  •   legislate a mechanism under which these schools come under some sort of state executive control
  •   and now with democratically‐elected school boards out of the way, sell said takeover district a bunch of educational elixirs peddled by a band of “edu‐ preneurs” who promise the moon and the stars and everything in between but deliver nothing
  •   and then declare victory, pocket their spoils, and then move on. But they did not expect what happened next in Michigan.

People all across this state said Whoa! Stop the train! Not so fast. And the bill didn’t pass and there was a collective sigh of relief.

But the corporate reformers are persistent ‐ I’ll give them that ‐ and the same old idea was tweaked and turned and re‐introduced and passed from this chamber in record time.

The process to create in statute a state takeover district has not been a smooth one, however, thanks to many Freedom of Information Act Requests, brave teachers and students who have come forward to tell their stories despite being silenced, persistent journalists and bloggers who continued to ask difficult questions to uncover the inconvenient truths, and all those in this chamber and out who bravely continue to speak truth to power. I thank all of you.

I thank the teacher who shared this story:

 
 
 
 
 

“The way that they’re treating the students is terrifying,” they said. “We’ve had multiple fights where no security has actually shown up. They’re not suspending students so I’ve been hit by a kid before and nothing has happened. Another teacher has been hit numerous times and nothing has happened to the child who did the hitting even though he was very clearly identified. He is still at school today.

“I’ve never felt this worried about going to school,” they continued. “I’m well aware that most of my kids would protect me and they have before, but they shouldn’t have to. That’s the role of discipline. But, at the same time, I afraid to report a kid because I’ve seen disciplinary officers hit them and I’ve reported it and nothing has happened from the state.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

“I’m at my end where I can’t be part of this organization that is abusing children both educationally and physically.”

 
 
 
 
 

And another who shared this one:

 
 
 
 
 

“I’ve written the state about our highly illegal practices with special education students. I’ve seen exactly four IEPs this year.” And of course there were more than four students with special needs. The teacher explains, “I have at least 20% per class. And I have no paraprofessionals except for one hour a day. It’s horrendous. I have no idea how to modify my teaching plan if I haven’t seen their IEPs. For example, I might need to read the test to them or modify things for math only. I have no idea without seeing the IEP. So, of course these kids are doing poorly because I’m not able to modify my teaching in the way that their IEP specifies.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

“Worse yet, if I don’t do it and they fail, they have to pass the kid because their teaching plan wasn’t modified as it should have been. But, I didn’t know! So, kids are being passed on.”

You know, it’s often been said that a society will be measured by the way it treats its most vulnerable citizens

And so, I’d like to thank the many children who have shared their stories with me, stories that are etched in my memory and seared in my heart.

The little boy who told me that he misses seeing books in his schools

The little girl with a hearing impairment who was told to try to learn by reading the teacher’s lips when she had always received a audio amplifying headset

The little boy with cerebral palsy whose IEP was never followed and was told not to finish out the school year because he was going to flunk anyway.

And finally the little girl who told me “I may be poor, but I’m not stupid”

The promise I make to all of you who have joined this fight is that we will not back down. We will not be silenced. We will bear witness.

Because we have no other choice. And because the stakes are far too high.

This is what John Dewey meant when he wrote “What the best and wisest parent wants for his child, that must we want for all of the children of the community. Anything less is unlovely, and left unchecked, destroys our democracy.”

 

Categories Corporate Reformers, Education Industry, Michigan

Students Organize to Resist Destructive “Reforms”

By dianeravitch
March 23, 2014 //
5

Students have the power to stop the destructive forces that are ruining their education and treating them as data points, not humans who want to learn. They are holding a conference in Los Angeles, where they will discuss strategies to resist school closings, high-stakes testing, data mining, and other current efforts to turn their educational opportunity into an opportunity for entrepreneurs to use them. They can learn from the creative tactics of the Providence Student Union, which has utilized politicl theater to gain public support.

Go, students, go! You own the future. Don’t let the profiteers, bureaucrats, technocrats, and futurists steal it.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Media Contact:

Hannah Nguyen
University of Southern California
Phone: (408) 644-9717
Email address: hbnguyen@usc.edu

USC Hosts EmpowerED 2014 Conference to Highlight Student Voice and Organizing in Education

Students everywhere are tired of feeling powerless
when it comes to decisions about their education.
That’s why they’re fighting back.

LOS ANGELES, MARCH 23 — On Saturday, March 29, at the University of Southern California, over 130 youth from all over Los Angeles will participate in EmpowerED: Los Angeles Student Power 2014. EmpowerED is a student-led education conference that will engage the local student community in discussing and strategizing what it will take to transform our education system to serve all students –and incorporate student voices.

EmpowerED 2014 is hosted by Students United for Public Education’s LA Chapter as a part USC EdMonth. This will be SUPE-LA’s first major event and the first EdMonth event to include local students in a discussion about educational policy issues.

EmpowerED will provide an opportunity for students in LA to learn about the student organizing that is expanding throughout the country, raise their voices on important educational issues, develop leadership and organizing skills, and collaborate with their peers on how to build a movement for student power. Israel Muñoz, co-founder of the Chicago Students Union who has spoken about his experiences on NBC and TED, will deliver the keynote address.

“Students spend most of their day in school, but almost never have a voice when it comes to decisions about their education. My fellow student organizers and I are tired of feeling powerless and have organized student unions to make sure our voices are heard,” says Muñoz. “We are very excited to share our stories with LA students, as well as hear their experiences and work with them to build a stronger local and national student movement. I am honored to be a part of a groundbreaking event that fosters peer-to-peer student empowerment and youth voice.”

Israel Muñoz marches with the Chicago Students Union
to protest mass school closings in his community.

The conference will bring together leading high school student activists from across the country who have organized and led student unions in response to the lack of student voice in top-down policies of the current education reform movement, such as high stakes testing, budget cuts, and mass school closings. In Los Angeles, these policies have further destabilized already under-resourced communities through cutbacks on the arts and humanities, mass teacher layoffs, and the reconstitution of major high schools like Crenshaw and Dorsey.

These experiences run nationwide. As such, EmpowerED will host a discussion panel with Providence Student Union’s Cauldierre McKay, Portland Student Union’s Sekai Edwards, Newark Students Union’s Kristin Towkaniuk, LA’s Coalition for Educational Justice organizer Taylor Broom, Alliance for Educational Justice’s Tre Murphy, and Chicago Students Union’s Israel Munoz.

A large part of the event will consist of hands-on, interactive workshops and open forums. There will be workshops led by all speakers and panelists on various topics such as student unionism, creative direct actions, public speaking, social media, and LA-specific movements for educational justice and student voice. Community groups like K-12 News Network and the California Student Union will also lead workshops on student voice in the budget and student organizing at the college level.

At the end of the day, students will have the unique opportunity to generate artwork that portrays their vision for student voice in education. This artwork will then be displayed in an exhibit called Collective Voice: The Wisdom of Young People on Education, at a 2015 national educational conference in Washington DC.

There will be a Livestream of the event for those who cannot make it to LA to attend. For more information about the EmpowerED 2014 conference and to access the Livestream video on the day of the event, go to empowerED2014.com.

View our promo video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FIFz2qCHYcI

Follow Us on Twitter: @empowerED_2014

MEDIA INTERVIEWS

Local media is invited to attend the conference on Saturday, March 29, 2014 to:

Interview EmpowerED attendees and speakers during lunch (12:00 – 12:30 PM)
Capture footage of the featured student organizing panel (12:30 – 1:30 PM)

About Students United for Public Education

Students United for Public Education (SUPE) evolved out of the work of college students involved in defending public education from its attackers. In particular, SUPE was founded to fill a void in the movement for public education — before SUPE, there was no national student organization devoted solely to this cause. Under the guise of “closing the achievement gap” and “school choice,” for-profit corporations and their political representatives have sought to privatize and sell off public education. SUPE understands that a profit motive cannot guarantee a good education. Instead, only a robust and well-supported public education system — along with the courage and will to directly confront problems of racial and economic inequality — can provide a quality education for all.

SUPE is a community based organization because we know that public schools are the heart of every community. In other words, SUPE understands that in order for our goals to be reached, we must fight with K-12 students, parents, teachers, and community members and elevate their essential voices. We aim to work with communities to find out what their needs are, and have them lead the way in the struggle as we work as equals to organize the change they believe is best. Find out more about Students United for Public Education at: studentsunitedforpubliced.org

About USC EdMonth

EdMonth at USC is the first national student-led movement and discussion about the state of education in our country. Downtown Los Angeles and the USC campus will serve as the backdrop for educators, parents, policy makers, business leaders, elected officials, engaged citizens and students to engage in a national, collegiate student-driven discussion on the issue of improving education in our country. USC EdMonth is organized by the USC Academic Culture Assembly and USC Program Board. Find out more at: edmonth.usc.edu

© Copyright 2014 University of Southern California. All rights reserved.

Hannah Nguyen
(408) 644-9717
hbnguyen@usc.edu
University of Southern California | B.A. Sociology
Students United for Public Education | Co-National Organizer
USC EdMonth | Executive Board Member
EmpowerED 2014 | Executive Director

Categories Closing schools, Corporate Reformers, Standardized Testing, Students

Breaking News: Tennessee State Senate Guts Local Control

By dianeravitch
March 21, 2014 //
23

The Tennessee State Senate passed a bill based on ALEC model legislation to minimize local control.

ALEC is more dedicated to privatization and to the destruction of public sector agencies than to local control.

ALEC’s agenda is not conservative; it is extremist.

Under this bill, those who wish to open a privately managed charter school may apply to a state authorizing board if the local board turns them down.

This guts local control.

The legislation applies only to 5 of the state’s 95 districts, because the charters want to expand in the urban districts, especially Memphis and Nashville.

The bill is payback against the Metro Nashville school board, which on four occasions turned down the controversial Great Hearts Academy, which wanted to open in an affluent section of Nashville with no transportation plans for children from other neighborhoods. The board rejected their proposal because it would not serve the city’s neediest children.

State Commissioner Kevin Huffman–whose only experience as an educator was his two years in TFA–fined the Nashville district $3.4 million for rejecting Great Hearts.

Great Hearts has been criticized in Arizona, where it is based, for its lack of diversity, and for conflicts of interest on its board. 

According to research by the Arizona Republic:

The 15 schools under the non-profit Great Hearts Academies offer a college-preparatory curriculum that stresses classic literature. That means students get an intensive reading regimen.

To supply the books, the schools have been making regular purchases for at least the last three years from a Tempe-based textbook company called Educational Sales Co. Daniel Sauer, the company’s president and CEO and a shareholder, is also an unpaid officer of the Great Hearts Academies non-profit.

Since July 2009, the schools have made $987,995 in purchases from the company.

Great Hearts also gives parents the option of buying books directly from the company. Six of the Great Hearts school websites feature links only to Educational Sales’ website for parents who want to buy a second set of books for use at home.

Great Hearts CEO Dan Scoggin said he doesn’t believe there is a conflict of interest because Great Hearts has no mandates on where its schools buy books. Many Great Hearts schools use several vendors based on pricing, service and availability, he said.

Great Hearts schools are exempt from state purchasing laws. Scoggin said Great Hearts doesn’t have a contract with Educational Sales because schools have choices on where they make textbook purchases.

Read more: http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/news/articles/20121016insiders-benefiting-charter-deals.html#ixzz2wcWACd5J

Categories Charter Schools, Corporate Reformers, Privatization, Tennessee

Chicago Teachers Union Fights “Deformers” and “Pension Thieves” in Elections

By dianeravitch
March 19, 2014 //
11

 

The Chicago Teachers Union is getting politically active on behalf of public education and teachers. It supported candidates who oppose school closings and privatization via charters. Note the lessons: The last one is: “This ain’t Wisconsin.”

 

NEWS RELEASE

IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                                   CONTACT:   Stephanie Gadlin

March 19, 2014                                                                                                                            312-329-6250

 

 

LESSONS LEARNED IN PRIMARY 2014

Incumbents seeking to erode retirement security in Chicago had better beware

 

CHICAGO – Throughout this primary season, the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) has been a strong and vocal advocate for voters on the South and West Sides of Chicago—many of whom have been most impacted by the foolishness of education deformers and pension thieves. It is time to stand up to the predatory corporate and political interests that seek to threaten the economic security of thousands of workers. Incumbents seeking to steal our retirement security, beware.

“The Chicago Teachers Union expressed people power this electoral cycle,” said CTU President Karen Lewis.  “We were most successful in creating a platform of educational justice and retirement security that was expressed by our endorsed candidates.  Representative-elect Will Guzzardi amplified our calls for an elected, representative school board, a moratorium on school closings and an end to charter proliferation.

“With our continued support and his ability to turn the issues we’ve long championed into a successful political campaign, he was able to take down the Berrios machine and strike a blow to the top-down political tradition of the Northwest Side,” she said.

While the 26th District race remains contested, it is clear that voters on the South Side have soundly rejected State Rep. Christian “Crown” Mitchell’s anti-working families’ platform. This contest, more than any other this Primary season, exposes the racial and economic fault lines for 2015.

School closings, the campaign for an elected, representative school board and retirement security are important issues that matter well beyond downtown Chicago. It is also clear that education deformers, such as Democrats for Education Reform, Stand For Children, Lester Crown and the We Mean Business PAC will continue to spend millions of dollars to influence Illinois public policy and purchase the loyalty of politicians too compromised to stand up for their constituents.

The only way an incumbent like Mitchell was able to—possibly—squeak by a relatively unknown community leader like Jay Travis was by pandering to predominantly white wards through scare tactics and misinformation about imaginary tax increases. Travis, on the other hand, was able to secure the support of working families that want well-resourced neighborhood schools, retirement security and the right to self-determination thru an elected representative school board. It is also telling that despite having virtually no support beyond parents, students and working class people such as teachers, social workers, secretaries, lunchroom workers, janitors, firefighters, police officers and hospital workers, Travis showed impressive gains against a well-financed incumbent backed by the mayor, the Illinois Speaker of the House, the Cook County Board President, two U.S. congressmen, various aldermen, preachers and other paid political operatives.

Tuesday was only Round One in the 26th District. The die has been cast and the electorate has been energized. The CTU will continue to be dogmatic, clear and protective of publicly funded public education and retirement security. Because of our collective effort, Rep. Christian “Crown” Mitchell has been exposed as a puppet of the oligarchy who gave him nearly a half-million dollars in 2012 and a million dollars in 2014 to secure his pension vote. He continues to accept donations from a group that advocates for the shuttering of neighborhood schools and uses those funds to benefit charter operations and the businesses they run.

LESSONS LEARNED

  • ·         LESSON ONE: The CTU also provided organizers and financial resources that helped secure the Will Guzzardi victory over Toni Berrios in the 39th Legislative District. The CTU’s campaigns echoed strongly in Guzzardi’s winning education platform of saving neighborhood schools and stopping pension theft. It has been more than a decade since a union-supported candidate unseated an incumbent in a primary.

 

  • ·         LESSON TWO: While pollsters and key influencers were predicting a Christian ‘Crown’ Mitchell 10-point–to 12-point blowout in the 26th Legislative District, CTU’s candidate Jay Travis trounced the incumbent in in the 4th Ward (where his political sponsors have the most influence) and she is within just over 400 votes of victory—this despite widespread incidents of intimidation and interference with the democratic process.

 

  • ·         LESSON THREE: The CTU sent a clear message: We will not sit by idly while threats are made to steal the retirement security of our members. The Union has turned nearly 30,000 members into a vast political army that is prepared to educate the public, work precincts, donate money and go to the polls on Election Day.

 

  • ·         LESSON FOUR: There is nothing dead about organized labor. With pundits and pollsters projecting a magnificent landslide for Republican charter booster Bruce Rauner, Kirk Dillard—backed by labor—came within two points of defeating him for the nomination. His near-loss shows that Rauner is an out-of-touch, right-wing billionaire who would put the wealthy, corporations and his special interest buddies ahead of the priorities of Illinois families—job creation and a stronger middle class.

 

  • ·         LESSON FIVE: The CTU extended its influence to Champaign, Illinois, where Carol Ammons has claimed victory in the 103rd Legislative District. Ammons will make equitable access to public education and pension protection pillars of her race in the fall against Republican Kristin Williamson of Urbana. She is also a strong supporter of Fair Tax and drug policy reform.

 

  • ·         LESSON SIX: Parents, teachers and voters in the 26th Ward soundly rejected a massive effort by the school district to convert Ames Middle School into an unnecessary military academy. This victory happened despite tactics used by Ald. Roberto Maldonado, which included mailings, persistent robo-calls, and having students dressed as Marines canvass door to door.

 

  • ·         LESSON SEVEN: The CTU gained valuable field experience, involved hundreds of members in field operations, increased the number of members donating political contributions, and intends to use these increased capacities in future contests. Through the Chicagoans for Economic Security PAC, working families will organize, pool their resources and actively participate in campaigns to defeat the status quo.

 

  • ·         LESSON EIGHT: This ain’t Wisconsin.

 

###

The Chicago Teachers Union represents 30,000 teachers and educational support personnel working in the Chicago Public Schools, and by extension, the more than 400,000 students and families they serve. The CTU is an affiliate of the American Federation of Teachers and the Illinois Federation of Teachers and is the third largest teachers local in the United States and the largest local union in Illinois. For more information please visit CTU’s website at www.ctunet.com.

SG:oteg-743-tr

 

Categories Chicago, Corporate Reformers, Privatization, Unions

The Mess That Race to the Top Inflicted on Connecticut’s Schools

By dianeravitch
March 19, 2014 //
4

What a mess in Connecticut!

Robert A. Frahm writes in the Connecticut Mirror about how teachers and principals are struggling with the state’s test-based evaluation system. Teachers waste time setting paperwork goals that are low enough to make statistical “gains.” If they don’t, they may be rated ineffective.

Every principal spends hours observing teachers—one hour each time—taking copious notes, then spending hours writing up the observations.

Connecticut, one of the two or three top scoring states in the nation on NAEP (the others are Massachusetts and New Jersey), is drowning its schools and educators in mandates and paperwork.

Why? Race to the Top says it is absolutely necessary. Connecticut didn’t win Race to the Top funding, but the state is doing what Arne Duncan believes in. Stefan Pryor, the state commissioner, loves evaluating by test scores, but that’s no surprise because he was never a teacher; he is a law school graduate and co-founder of a “no excuses” charter school chain in Connecticut that is devoted to test scores at all times. The charter chain he founded is known for its high suspension rate, its high scores, and its limited enrollment of English learners.

Researchers have shown again and again that test-based accountability is flawed, inaccurate, unstable. It doesn’t work in theory, and it has not worked in five years of experience.

The article quotes the conservative advocacy group, National Council for Teacher Quality, which applauds this discredited methodology. NCTQ is neither an accrediting body nor a research organization.

Our nation’s leading scholars and scholarly organizations have criticized test-based accountability.

In 2010, some of the nation’s most highly accomplished scholars in testing, including Robert Linn, Eva Baker, Richard Shavelson, and Lorrie Shepard, spoke out against the misuse of test scores to judge teacher quality.

The American Educational Research Association and the National Academy of Education issued a joint statement warning about VAM.

Many noted scholars, like Edward Haertel, Linda Darling Hammond, and David Berliner, have warned about the lack of “science” behind VAM.

The highly esteemed National Research Council issued a report warning that test-based accountability had not succeeded and was unlikely to succeed. Marc Tucker recently described the failure of test-based accountability.

But the carefully researched views of our nation’s leading scholars were tossed aside by Arne Duncan, the Gates Foundation, and the phalanx of rightwing groups that support their agenda of demoralizing teachers, clearing out those who are veterans, and turning teaching into a short-time temp job.

The article cites New Haven as an example:

“Four years ago, New Haven schools won national attention when the district and the teachers’ union developed an evaluation system that uses test results as a factor in rating teachers. Since then, dozens of teachers have resigned or been dismissed as a result of the evaluations. Last year, 20 teachers, about 1 percent of the workforce, left the district after receiving poor evaluations.”

Four years later, can anyone say that New Haven is now the best district in Connecticut? Has the achievement gap closed? Time for another investigative report.

Categories Connecticut, Corporate Reformers, Duncan, Arne, Gates Foundation, Bill Gates, National Council on Teacher Quality (NCTQ), Standardized Testing, Teacher Evaluations

EduShyster: Arne’s Secret Visit to Boston

By dianeravitch
March 16, 2014 //
17

EduShyster here breaks the story of Secretary of Education Arne Duncan’s secret trip to Boston.

It must have been secret because, she reports, not a word appeared in the Boston media.

He used his time in Boston to tout “no excuses” charter schools and a “turnaround” school that demonstrated the great success of his grand theory: Fire everyone and the school miraculously improves. But, as EduShyster points out, he did not visit the schools where the same tactic produced failure, not success.

EduShyster points out that the Boston charters enroll 12% of the city’s children but collect 50% of state aid.

Then he toured Worcester, where he was greeted by anti-Common Core protestors.

In Worcester, the school board has courageously given parents the right to opt their children out of PARCC pilot testing–a move opposed by the state. The school board was not invited to meet Arne or even informed of his stealth visit.

Arne ended his Massachusetts tour with a visit to the Match Graduate School of Education, that unique institution that has no scholars or researchers; its sole purpose is to train teachers for no-excuses charter schools. Arne showed them lots of love, not mentioning the high attrition rate of their graduates.

Categories Charter Schools, Closing schools, Corporate Reformers, Duncan, Arne, Education Reform
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