Archives for category: Duncan, Arne
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Who is the #1 Enemy of Public Education?

By dianeravitch
March 11, 2014 //
29

Bill Phillis, the leader of the Ohio Coalition for Education & Adequacy is a tireless crusader for equitable funding of public schools. He is a retired after serving as assistant state superintendent of schools.

He writes:

Public education enemy #1

The Gates, Walton Family and Broad Foundations have federated with the U. S. Department of Education to eliminate the public common school system. The Obama administration’s point man, Arne Duncan, is spearheading an assault on public education that is unprecedented in American history. He is attempting to override the education provisions of every state Constitution. All states have one or more constitutional provisions that establish and maintain a public common school system.

It is mindboggling and unconscionable that this federal administration is deferring to the corporate, for-profit agenda to destroy the premier promoter of the public good-the public common school system.

Policies coming out of Washington D.C., and in many state capitols, are demoralizing teachers, undermining the traditional role and governance of boards of education, de-professionalizing the teaching profession, re-segregating American communities and reducing the traditional dynamic of learning to a testing obsession.

Many chief state school officers in recent years are moles of the privatizers or lack the conviction to fight for the public common school system. Hence, state legislatures and governors, in many cases, receive no resistance to their privatization agenda.

Often local public school personnel, including boards of education, feel helpless to stem the tide of public school bashing and the privatization movement.

Enough is enough. It is past time to hold all state officials accountable for their support of policies that lead to the privatization of public education.

Ohioans and the citizens of the nation, when mobilized, can uproot the anti-public education agenda of America’s oligarchs and their plutocratic political allies.

William Phillis
Ohio E & A

Ohio E & A | 100 S. 3rd Street | Columbus | OH | 43215

Categories Budget Cuts, Charter Schools, Corporate Reformers, Duncan, Arne, Obama, Ohio, Privatization, Race to the Top

Peter Greene Knocks the Highly Qualified Teacher Talk Outta the Park

By dianeravitch
March 1, 2014 //
63

Peter Greene has a ball with the U.S. Department of Education’s latest fantasy plan: Every child has a civil right to a “highly qualified teacher.”

Who is a “highly qualified teacher”? Any teacher who can raise test scores or anyone who belongs to Teach for America and leaves before the third year of test scores are reported.

It is all super but here is the laugh-out-loud deconstruction of Duncan-style logic:

“Discussion of teaching as a civil right often circles back around to the assertion that poor students have more lousy teachers than non-poor students. This assertion rests primarily on a model of circular reasoning. Follow along.

“A) Teachers are judged low-performing because their students score poorly on tests.

“B) Students low test scores are explained by the fact that they have low-performing teachers.

“Or, framed another way, this argument defines a low-quality teacher as any teacher whose students don’t do well on standardized tests. The assumption is that teachers are the only single solitary explanation for student standardized test scores. Nothing else affects those scores. Only teacher behavior explains the low scores. That’s it.

“Ergo, the best runners are runners who run down hills. Runners who are running uphill are slow runners, and must be replaced by those good runners– the ones we find running downhill. Or, the wettest dogs are the ones who are out in the rain, while the driest ones are the ones indoors. So if we take the indoor dogs outside, we will have drier dogs in the yard. While it rains.

“As long as we define low-quality teachers as those who teach low-achieving students (who we know will mostly be the children of poor folk), low-achieving students will always be taught by low-quality teachers. It’s the perfect education crisis, one that can never, ever be solved.”

Categories Duncan, Arne, NCLB (No Child Left Behind), Teach for America, Teacher Evaluations, Teachers and Teaching, U.S. Department of Education

Breaking News: Washington State Senate Rejects Failed Educator Evaluation Plan

By dianeravitch
February 20, 2014 //
24

Good news!

The Washington State Senate, rejecting federal bribes and threats, voted NO to evaluating teachers by student test scores. The fact that this method has failed wherever it was tried may have influenced their decision. Also, the state senators may have been aware of the research showing the utter failure of this way of evaluating teachers, which reflects who was in the class, not teacher quality.

Sorry, Arne!

Here is the story:

“OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) — Education officials say the state will be limited in the way it can spend about $44 million in federal dollars after the Senate on Tuesday turned down a proposal that would have mandated the use of statewide standardized tests in educators’ evaluations.

“Senate Bill 5246, which failed by a 28-19 vote, would have revised the state’s new teacher-principal evaluation system to accommodate a demand from the federal government to mandate using statewide standardized tests as a factor in evaluations.

“Washington state has a waiver from provisions of the so-called No Child Left Behind law. It could lose the waiver and some federal money by not changing the current law, which only suggests the tests be used in evaluations instead of mandating them.

“Sen. Rosemary McAuliffe, D-Bothell, said she voted against the bill because using state tests to measure student growth has not been proven to be an effective way to judge teachers.

“Nationwide we are a leader in the teacher-principal evaluation system,” she said. “Why would we allow the federal government to break a system that is working?”

Categories Duncan, Arne, Education Reform, Teacher Evaluations, Washington State

Attention, Arne and Jeb: Why Does a Dying Child Have to Take the Test?

By dianeravitch
February 9, 2014 //
36

This is a horrifying story about educational policy gone mad, gone cruel, gone inhumane.

Ethan Rediske, an 11-year-old boy, died in hospice in Florida last Friday.

Before he died, his plight gained national attention.

Valerie Strauss wrote about him, and so did Laura Clawson in the Daily Kos.

Ethan was blind and had brain damage and cerebral palsy.

As he lay dying in hospice, the state demanded written documentation to prove that he should not be required to take the FCAT (Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test).

Surely, the state knew his condition. But the state could not rest content. They needed proof before allowing this child to skip the state test.

He had a teacher who came to his room each day, but he obviously could not take the FCAT.

His mother publicized this absurd, heartless, and cruel situation.

Without documentation, Ethan’s teacher will be penalized because he didn’t take the test.

A few days ago, Ethan’s mother wrote:

Ethan is dying. He has been in hospice care for the past month. We are in the last days of his life. His loving and dedicated teacher, Jennifer Rose has been visiting him every day, bringing some love, peace, and light into these last days. How do we know that he knows that she is there? Because he opens his eyes and gives her a little smile. He is content and comforted after she leaves.

Jennifer is the greatest example of what a dedicated teacher should be. About a week ago, Jennifer hesitantly told me that the district required a medical update for continuation of the med waiver for the adapted FCAT. Apparently, my communication through her that he was in hospice wasn’t enough: they required a letter from the hospice company to say that he was dying. Every day that she comes to visit, she is required to do paperwork to document his “progress.” Seriously? Why is Ethan Rediske not meeting his 6th-grade hospital homebound curriculum requirements? BECAUSE HE IS IN A MORPHINE COMA. We expect him to go any day. He is tenaciously clinging to life.

Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, how will you evaluate the performance of Ethan’s teacher Jennifer Rose? Will she be considered “ineffective” because Ethan didn’t make any progress this year?

Jeb Bush, is this the accountability system of which you are so proud? Is this the Florida model?

Arne and Jeb, this is not a multiple-choice question: Do you care more about children or about data? Please write a five-paragraph essay with specific reference to the case of Ethan.

Categories Accountability, Bush, Jeb, Data and Data Mining, Duncan, Arne, Florida, Special Education, Testing

Jason Stanford: Why Is Duncan Asking Pearson for Advice?

By dianeravitch
January 27, 2014 //
48

Jason Stanford, a Texas journalist, is appalled that President Obama and Arne Duncan met with Pearson to get advice about how to prepare low-income students for college. The White House refers to Pearson as “the world’s leading learning company,” instead of the world’s largest testing company.

What advice do you think Pearson offered? Stanford bets: more testing, better testing.

He notes that Texas has a contract with Pearson for nearly $500 million. Thanks to high-stakes testing, 76,000 students will not graduate. Testing did not make them smarter. Instead they have been effectively consigned to lifetime struggle and poverty.

The mind meld between Duncan and Pearson is alarming.

Even more alarming is Duncan’s contempt for America’s students, parents, and teachers.

Categories Duncan, Arne, Obama, Pearson, Testing

Starr to Duncan: Stop Calling Educators Liars

By dianeravitch
January 26, 2014 //
20

Joshua Starr to Secretary of Education Arne Duncan: Stop calling lifelong public educators liars.

This is one of Arne’s most inexplicable habits. He has repeatedly said that educators lie to children. They tell children they are smart, they tell them they passed, they tell them they did good work, when Arne knows better. He knows our kids are lazy and dumb. He alone tells the truth.

Thanks to Josh Starr, superintendent of Montgomery County, Maryland, for saying that’s enough. Please, Arne, just stop it.

Find the good and praise it.

Or, as W. H. Auden wrote, “In the prison of his days, Teach the free man how to praise.”

Categories Duncan, Arne, Education Industry

Peter Greene Reviews Arne Duncan’s Performance, But His Spleen Explodes

By dianeravitch
January 24, 2014 //
12

Peter Greene, a high school English teacher in Pennsylvania, here reviews Arne Duncan’s friendly chat with two teachers. In this chat, he assures them that Bill Gates does not have a seat at the table. Just look at that table! Do you see Bill Gates? No, all you see is Arne and two teachers. Proof! Bill Gates definitely does not have a seat at that table.

Peter reminds us that there are people–like you and me–who see the world as it is, and not as the masters of the universe want us too.

Were you fooled by Arne’s guileless reassurances.

Or did your spleen explode, like Peter Greene’s?

Categories Broad Foundation, Corporate Reformers, Duncan, Arne, Gates Foundation, Bill Gates

Duncan Says Gates Has No Seat at the Education Policy Table

By dianeravitch
January 24, 2014 //
83

Anthony Cody comments on a startling conversation between two teachers and Secretary of Education Duncan.

The conversation appears on a video.

One of the teachers asks him about the role of philanthropists such as Eli Broad and Bill Gates in setting education policy.

Consider this astonishing exchange:

“Lisa Clarke:

“One of the particular questions we’ve heard teachers ask is if corporate-based philanthropists are playing too heavy a role in public education, and if there’s a corporate agenda at the Department.

“Arne Duncan:

“I think that’s a very important question of what role does philanthropy or the corporate side have, and anyone who thinks that those who are major donors to education, or those giving a lot, have a seat at the table in terms of policymaking, nothing could be further from the truth.”

Read that line again.

“Nothing could be further from the truth.”

Then read Anthony Cody’s description of how Bill gates paid for every aspect of the Common Core standards that Arne vociferously advocates.

“Nothing could be further from the truth.”

Others can parse how many seats Eli Broad has at the policy table, but it would be hard to find someone who thinks he has none.

Categories Common Core, Duncan, Arne, Gates Foundation, Bill Gates

Mercedes Schneider on Duncan: Why Does He Blame Everyone But the DOE?

By dianeravitch
January 17, 2014 //
41

Mercedes Schneider has a terrific post in which she reviews Arne Duncan’s interview with U.S. News, in which he claims that American teachers “often come from the bottom of the academic barrel.”

His ideal of academic excellence? Examination hell in South Korea.

Schneider explains what Duncan finds so admirable. For one hing, his only way to think of education is test scores. Nothing else matters.

She wonders why Duncan is quick to blame everyone for what he sees as failing schools but never thinks about the ineffectiveness of the Bush-Obama policies. If they were graded, they would certainly be graded Ineffective. A dozen years of failed policy is enough!

Categories Duncan, Arne, International, Testing

Peter Greene: Why I Agree with Arne Duncan

By dianeravitch
January 17, 2014 //
36

Peter Greene, who teaches in Pennsylvania, read an interview in “US News” in which Arne Duncan claimed that our students fall behind those in other nations because we are “not serious” about education.

Greene agrees with Arne that our country is not serious about education.

If we took education seriously, he writes, teachers would be highly respected and well paid.

“If we were serious about education, we would not allow our public school system to be hijacked and dismantled by rich and powerful amateurs.”

“If we were serious about education, our media would direct its questions about education to teachers…

“If we were serious about education, we would never entrust our nation’s educational leadership to men who have no training or experience in education at all and who only listened to other men with no training or experience in education at all. If we were serious about education, we would demand leadership by people who were also serious about education, and we would demand leadership based on proven principles and techniques developed by people who truly cared about the education of America’s students.

“In short, Arne, if we were serious about education, we would not have you and your cronies running the Department of Education and popping up as “leaders” in the national discussion of education and more than we would be asking Robin Williams and Justin Bieber to straighten out the war in Afghanistan. If we were serious about education, we would send the whole wave of privateers masquerading as reformers scuttling back to their hedge funds and corporate tax havens….”

Categories Corporate Reformers, Duncan, Arne
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