Archives for category: District of Columbia
« Older Entries
Newer Entries »

New D.C. Chancellor Antwan Wilson is Out

By dianeravitch
February 20, 2018 //
2

 

Another Reformer is out. Antwan Wilson, former superintendent in Oakland, graduate of the unaccredited Broad Superintendents Academy (which teaches school closings, metrics, and charters), has resigned only months after taking over.

G.F. Brandenburg has some questions for his interim successor:

”The interim successor to Antwan Wilson needs to be asked when, exactly, did she realize that:

1. Her boss, Michelle Rhee’s claimed miraculous teaching accomplishments were fraudulent;

2. Her boss, Michelle Rhee was asking principals to cheat;

3. Noyes principal Wayne Ryan was committing massive fraud by “fixing” student answer sheets;

4. Ryan had no business being promoted to supervising other principals…”

and more.

 

 

Categories Broad Foundation, Closing schools, District of Columbia, Rhee, Michelle

John Merrow: Time for Reformers to Admit that Test-Based “Reform” Failed in D.C.

By dianeravitch
February 15, 2018 //
64

Ever since John Merrow realized that Michelle Rhee was a con artist, he has been on a tear, exposing the fraudulent  claims of reformers.

One of them is that the District of Columbia is a paradigm of reform, the very quintessence of the miracles that happen when test scores are the center of a system of rewards and punishments.

The recent graduation rate scandal sent a loud signal, bringing back memories of the test score scandal in 2011 that was swept under the rug.

Merrow writes here:

“The emperor has no clothes, and it’s high time that everyone acknowledged that. Proof positive is Washington, DC, long the favorite of the ‘school reform’ crowd, which offered it as evidence that test-based reforms that rewarded teachers for high student scores (and fired those with low scores) was the magic bullet for turning around troubled urban school districts.

“But now we know that about one-third of recent DC high school graduates–900 students– had no business receiving diplomas, and that they marched across the stage last Spring because some adults changed their grades or pushed them through the farce known as ‘credit recovery,’ in which students can receive credit for a semester by spending a few hours over a week’s time in front of a computer.

“The reliable Catherine Gewertz of Education Week provides a through (and thoroughly depressing) account of the DC story, which she expands to include data from DC teachers:  “In a survey of 616 District of Columbia teachers conducted after the scandal broke, 47 percent said they’d felt pressured or coerced into giving grades that didn’t accurately reflect what students had learned. Among high school teachers, that number rose to 60 percent. More than 2 in 10 said that their student grades or attendance data had been changed by someone else after teachers submitted them.”

First came George W. Bush’s “raise the test scores” campaign, followed by Arne Duncan’s “raise the graduation rate campaign.” Both of them produced lies (cf. Campbell’s Law).  Both superficial reforms proved to be malignant in their impact upon students, teachers, and schools.  Students were lied to about their proficiency, administrators and teachers cheated, school curricula were debased, standards were lowered, and confidence in public schools dropped.

Republicans and Democrats (CAP) are scrambling to work around this latest debacle.

Merrow reminds his readers: Henderson=Rhee. No change. No evidence that Antwan Wilson will change anything because he comes from the same cult of test-and-punish.

Another setback for “reformers,” who never admit failure even as their sand castles dissolve.

Categories Accountability, District of Columbia, Education Industry, Failure, Fraud, Graduation rates, Testing

D.C. Critic: Investigation of Graduation Rates Did Not Include Charter Schools

By dianeravitch
February 8, 2018 //
10

 

Here is a curiosity. The recent investigation of graduation rates in the D.C. Public Schools–which revealed that one-third of the graduates lacked the minimum qualifications to graduate–did not include charter schools. Nearly half the students in the D.C. schools attend charter schools.  Why were they not included in the investigation?

D.C.’s answer to the scandal is to create an “Office of Integrity.” Former teacher Erich Martel says that is not enough because such an office would be subservient to the authorities creating and covering up the scandal.

He writes:

 

Council Education Committee Chairman and Members, Council Members,

(Council staff: Please print the attachment for your CM, thank you)

 

DCPS chancellor Antwan Wilson’s proposed “Office of Integrity” is inadequate because it is not independent of the education hierarchy that ignored it for years.  Teachers and school staff will not trust any office that is within the DCPS bureaucracy.  And, it doesn’t cover charter schools, voucher recipients, college funding recipients or home schools.

 

The bill before the MD state legislature calling for an Investigator General under a proposed “Education Monitoring Unit” that is INDEPENDENT of the state education hierarchy with an independent funding stream is a far better alternative, more likely to fulfill its intended function. 

 

It has to have investigative powers with full due process protections as the proposed MD bill spells out.

 

Alternatives for DC might be:

An education investigator general (or whatever name) under the DC Inspector General,  DC auditor, with authority over DCPS, DC charters, DC voucher recipient schools, DC college funding recipients and home schools.

 

And – I am waiting for the Council to conduct an independent audit of DC charters’ graduates compliance with attendance requirements and fulfillment of graduation requirements.

 

Erich Martel

Retired DCPS high school teacher

Ward 3

ehmartel@starpower.net

Categories District of Columbia, Graduation rates, Scandals

New York Celebrates Half Point Rise in Graduation Rate: Is It Real?

By dianeravitch
February 7, 2018 //
45

 

New York State released the latest graduation rate data. The grad rate went up by half a percentage point, from 79.7% to 80.2%.

http://www.nysed.gov/news/2018/state-education-department-releases-2013-cohort-high-school-graduation-rates

It is good to see more students finishing high school, and their teachers and principals and the students themselves deserve congratulations.

But.

Given the spread of online “credit recovery,” which allows students to make up for a failed course by taking an online course for a few days or a couple of weeks, is the grad rate real or is it margarine?

The recent graduation rate scandal in D.C. should raise red flags everywhere.

Future releases should report on the use of credit recovery courses. The NCAA became so concerned about credit recovery that it disqualified high schools that were allowing students to graduate with fake degrees, in some cases received after answering simple true-false questions. In some cases, with multiple chances to take the multiple-choice exam.

Campbell’s Law is immutable.

Categories Campbell's Law, District of Columbia, Graduation rates, New York

Valerie Strauss: The Collapse of the D.C. “Miracle” Should Not Surprise Anyone

By dianeravitch
February 2, 2018 //
10

Valerie Strauss wisely reviews the scathing report of the falsified graduation rates and wonders whether the reformers will pay attention to the crash of their favorite district.

Other observers, like G.F. Brandenburg, have called Rhee and her bag of tricks a hoax from the beginning, the beginning that is when she claimed to have raised the test scores of low performing students to dramatic heights in only two years as a new teacher. From a class scoring below the 13th percentile to one scoring above the 90th percentile. The media loved the story. If you believe it, I have a bridge in Brooklyn to sell you.

Categories District of Columbia, Fake, Fraud, Rhee, Michelle

D.C.: “Model” School District Mired in Graduation Rate Scandal, Raising Questions about All Claims of Progress

By dianeravitch
February 2, 2018 //
6

There is a new scandal in the District of Columbia that has shaken true believers in Rhee-style reform to their core. An independent investigation of the high school graduation rate determined that 1/3 of the district’s graduates should not have received a diploma.

Reformers have been touting the District of Columbia public schools as a model of success ever since Michelle Rhee wielded her broom and swept away every “bad” teacher. Although she had no prior experience as an administrator or principal, she was chosen by Mayor Adrian Fenty to overhaul the school system. She did so in a spirit of meanness. She openly scoffed at collaboration, which she said was for losers.  She set out to fire as many teachers and principals as she could, and she set test score goals that every school was expected to meet. She left when the mayor who appointed her was defeated in 2010, but the District has remained true to her cold-hearted vision. Rhee then formed a group called Students First, devoted to firing teachers, busting unions, and promoting charters and vouchers. Betsy DeVos’s American Federation for Children honored her with an award for her service to the cause of destroying public education, an award she shared at the time with Wisconsin’s Governor Scott Walker.

But not long after her departure, there was a major scandal in 2011, when USA Today conducted an investigation and determined that the test score erasures at Noyes Educational Complex were literally incredible. Rhee scoffed at the claims of cheating, as the principal of Noyes was one of her stars. 

Her successor Kaya Henderson continued Rhee’s policies, and the new chancellor Antwon Wilson (a graduate of the unaccredited Broad Academy) is also a true believer in Rheeform (at his most recent post, in Oakland, he nearly bankrupted the district by hiring large numbers of administrators).

D.C. continues to be a reform shrine, but it is really a monument to Campbell’s Law. When the measure becomes the goal, both the measure and the goal are corrupted.

The graduation rate scandal is probably the tip of the iceberg.

 

 

 

 

Categories District of Columbia, Fraud, Graduation rates, Rhee, Michelle

Teacher Calls for Investigation of All D.C. High Schools, Including Charter Schools, for Fake Grad Rates

By dianeravitch
January 8, 2018 //
16

Erich Martel, retired veteran teacher in D.C. school system, wrote a public letter calling for a thorough investigation of graduation rates in all D.C. high schools, including charters, and for the reinstatement of the whistleblower teachers who were fired at Ballou High School. You may recall that NPR ran a story about the miraculous graduation rate and college acceptance rate at Ballou. After a teacher came forward and pointed out that students with numerous absences from school and inadequate credits were allowed to graduate, NPR investigated and corrected the earlier story. The underlying story was about gullible reporters wanting to believe in miracles.

 

Martel writes:

 

Council Member David Grosso

Chairman, Committee on Education, Council of the District of Columbi

Dear Chairman Grosso,

Today’s Washington Post article on the investigation into the Ballou H.S. graduation scandal reports that “a group of [Ballou H.S.] teachers met with D.C. Public School officials” the day after the June 2017 graduation to report that “students who missed dozens of classes had been able to earn passing grades and graduate.” https://tinyurl.com/yc37lerj

A month later, music teacher Monica Brokenborough wrote to Chancellor Antwan Wilson requesting a “thorough investigation … inclusive of pertinent stakeholders,” but never heard back from him. The Washington Post has evidence that Ms. Brokenborough, the WTU representative “tried time and again to reach district officials about her concerns” resulting in the principal cutting her position from the school budget this year.

Chancellor Antwan Wilson conceded at your December 15th Education Committee hearing that effort “he and other officials did not look into it until the November airing of a WAMU and NPR news report.” His words of acknowledgement were chilling:

“‘We know that there was a Ballou teacher who in August complained through the grievance procedure about concerns along with 30 other concerns,’ Wilson said at the hearing. ‘Our team, prioritizing impact [IMPACT???], had not gotten to it.'”

Question:

Will you request that Mayor Bowser immediately instruct Chancellor Wilson to reinstate whole all Ballou teachers who reported these violations and were subsequently terminated/excessed by the principal?

On the December 8th Kojo Nnambi show, you stated,

“I think it is unfair to focus only on Ballou H.S. in this situation. Ballou HS has some wonderful things going on there that we need to celebrate.”

“I’m saying it just frustrates me that this is always going to come down on Ballou.”

“To pick on Ballou alone is unfair. … But let me tell you, that’s not the only place where students are leaving high school not ready for college in the District of Columbia.”

The current investigation appears to be focused solely on Ballou H.S., but I haven’t heard of you requesting that it include all DCPS and charter high schools.

Question:

Will you request that Mayor Bowser expand the investigation to all DCPS AND all DC charter high schools?

I look forward to your response.

Sincerely,

Erich Martel

Ward 3, Retired DCPS high school teacher (Cardozo HS, Wilson HS, Phelps ACE HS)

ehmartel@starpower.net

Categories District of Columbia, Education Reform, Fake News, Graduation rates, Media

Michigan: One of the Most Segregated States in the Nation: Thanks, Betsy!

By dianeravitch
January 5, 2018 //
39

 

The next time an advocate of school choice claims it is “ the civil rights issue of our time,” tell him or her about Michigan. After many years of school choice, it is now one of the most segregated states in the nation, tied with Mississippi and just behind the District of Columbia. 

Is racial segregation the new definition of civil rights?

”Jennifer Chambers and Christine MacDonald with the Detroit News report that the Associated Press analyzed data from the National Center for Education Statistics enrollment data from the 2014-2015 school year.

“The AP found that a large number of African-American students are enrolled in schools which are largely segregated, especially in Michigan, where 40% of black students are in public schools that are in “extreme racial isolation.”

“That puts Michigan in second-place nationwide, tied with Mississippi and behind only Washington, D.C., which came in at 66%.”

Racial segregation is highly correlated with low test scores.

“One major factor was charter schools, which are much more segregated than traditional public schools on average. In Michigan, 64% of black charter students are in schools in which the student bodies are more than 90% black.“

The head of Michigan’s charter association said the charter school hypersegrgatuin merely reflected residential patterns.

Truth is, charter advocates don’t really care about segregation or integration.

 

 

Categories District of Columbia, Education Reform, Michigan, Mississippi, Segregation , Racial Isolation and Integration

Adell Cothorne, an Educator of Courage, Honesty, and Integrity

By dianeravitch
December 31, 2017 //
16

Earlier this year, Adell Cothorne won the Kenneth S. Goodman “In Defense of Good Teaching” Award at the University of Arizona. I was not aware of this honor when it happened but wanted to take this opportunity to salute Adell.

Adell was the whistle-blower in Washington, D.C., who called attention to the cheating that was happening during the regime of Michelle Rhee.

This was the citation:

“Adell Cothorne, teacher, administrator, and teacher educator, is the 2017 winner of the In Defense of Good Teaching award

“The award is given every year, in honor of Dr. Kenneth S. Goodman, to an educator who has stood up for students at great personal and professional risk. Ms. Cothorne blew the whistle on standardized test cheating in one of Michelle Rhee’s “success story” schools in Washington, D.C. because she did not want her students to miss out on access to a high-quality education. This decision ultimately led to loss of her career in K-12 public education, reflecting how much she is willing to fight for her students.”

Cothorne was principal of the Noyes Education Campus from 2010-2011. She discovered cheating, reported it, and was fired by district officials. After she tightened test s3curity, the school’s test scores plummeted. She blew an inconvenient hole in the “miracle” of Adam.C. Success under Rhee. She was featured in John Merrow’s last PBS documentary.

Mercedes Schneider invited Adell Cothorne to tell her story here.

She joins the honor roll of this Blog.

Categories Cheating, Courage, District of Columbia, Education Reform, Honor Roll

Erich Martel: In D.C., Gaming the System is Commonplace

By dianeravitch
December 9, 2017 //
3

Erich Martel is a retired D.C. teacher and current whistleblower. The principal of the much-criticized Ballou High School–where chronic absenteeism was ignored–has been removed, but the deeper problems have not been addressed. He points out in a letter to the editor of the Washington Post that the system of rewards and punishments built into the system encourages gaming the system. Standardized tests are used not to identify student needs and remediate them, but to hold schools’ accountable for meeting goals.

He writes:

There is no mystery to high school students’ deficient achievement: DCPS doesn’t use standardized tests to diagnose and remediate students’ learning needs; they’re used to hold school faculties collectively accountable, while unremediated students are socially promoted. Fifty percent of principals’ IMPACT evaluation consists of “voluntarily” set performance goals, including promotion and graduation rates at the high school level. Principals face an unethical choice: honor the grades that students earned or keep their jobs. It’s time to end troubled DCPS management policies that impede teaching and learning and teach the wrong lesson on integrity.

These are the “get tough” policies installed by Michelle Rhee in the name of “reform” and kept in place by Kaya Henderson. They have produced phony test scores and phony graduation rates. This is the fruit of corporate reform, where meeting the goals matter more than truth.

Campbell’s Law takes its toll again. And always. By using the measure as the goal, both the measure and the goal are corrupted.

“The more any quantitative social indicator is used for social decision-making, the more subject it will be to corruption pressures and the more apt it will be to distort and corrupt the social processes it is intended to monitor.”

On a similar note, Campbell also wrote:

achievement tests may well be valuable indicators of general school achievement under conditions of normal teaching aimed at general competence. But when test scores become the goal of the teaching process, they both lose their value as indicators of educational status and distort the educational process in undesirable ways. (Similar biases of course surround the use of objective tests in courses or as entrance examinations.)

Categories Accountability, Campbell's Law, District of Columbia, Fraud
« Older Entries
Newer Entries »