Archives for category: Honor Roll
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Matt Damon: A Hero of American Education

By dianeravitch
August 12, 2013 //
26

Here, Arthur Goldstein explains why Matt is a hero of public education, and why those who send their kids to tony elite schools while they close public schools are not.

The corporate reform PR machine has trained its big guns on him because he put his kids in a private school. First, they wreck public schools by turning them into testing factories, then they ridicule those who don’t like what they have done to the public schools. They say, yah, yah, yah, you have no credibility to support public schools. They send their own kids to private schools, but they say he should not because he supports public schools.

They are wrong, because everyone should support public schools, even if they send their children to private schools and EVEN IF THEY HAVE NO CHILDREN AT ALL. Public schools are a public responsibility, like public parks, public roads, public libraries, fire protection, and police protection. Even if you never call the police, you pay for them. Even if you never go to a public library, you should pay to support it. It is a community asset. Even if you never have a fire in your own house, you pay to provide fire protection for the community. Even if you don’t send your children to public schools, you should support them because they are a necessary institution in a democratic society.

Matt Damon is a true American hero because he supports the commonweal.

When he spoke to the SOS rally in 2011, Matt was harassed by a TV crew who insisted that he only works because he gets bonuses. He told them off, and this video went viral.

And for that reason, and because he is willing to stand up for all of those who are voiceless, I am adding him to the honor roll. He is not only a hero on the big screen, he is a hero to millions of parents and teachers who need him.

Categories Honor Roll, Support for public schools

A Hero Educator in Long Island

By dianeravitch
August 12, 2013 //
16

This superintendent saw the scores on the Common Core tests and hit the ceiling. He was not shy in contacting his legislators and parents to tell them that he smelled a rat. The state commissioner predicted a 30-37% fall in scores last fall, and lo and behold, there was a 30-37% fall in scores.

Superintendent Joseph V. Rella of the Comsewogue School District in Long Island joins the honor roll today, for his courage, his clear thinking, and his willingness to stand up to the bullies in Albany.

Here are his letters.

Categories Common Core, Honor Roll, Testing

A Hero Educator in Upstate Néw York!

By dianeravitch
August 12, 2013 //
7

Imagine the superintendent of a high-performing district who is fearless and speaks boldly about the political manipulation of the Common Core test scores. Imagine a woman who defends the students and staff against the rigging of scores by ambitious politicians and bureaucrats.

That is Teresa Thayer Snyder of Voorheesville in upstate Néw York, a district that has a 97% graduation rate.

Scores crashed in her district and she spotted the fraud. She saw that the distribution of scores was unchanged, and the gaps were unchanged.

She wrote: “Over the past several months school leaders have been receiving countless messages from the State Education Department preparing us for the dire outcomes associated with the most recent spate of State testing in grades 3-8 in Math and English Language Arts. As the date for the releases of the test scores approached, we received many notices of “talking points” to inform our communities about the outcomes, with explanations of new baselines and how these tests do not reflect the efforts of students and teachers this year. I have rejected these missives because they reek of the self-serving mentality the ‘powers that be’ have thrust upon our students and parents.

“Our community is sophisticated enough to recognize a canard when it experiences one. These tests were intentionally designed to obtain precisely the outcomes that were rendered. The rationale behind this is to demonstrate that our most successful students are not so much and our least successful students are dreadful. If you look at the distribution of scores, you see exactly the same distances as any other test. The only difference is that the distribution has been manipulated to be 30 to 40 percent lower for everybody. This serves an enormously powerful purpose. If you establish a baseline this low, the subsequent growth over the next few years will indicate that your plans for elevating the outcomes were necessary. However, it must be recognized that the test developers control the scaled scores—indeed they have developed a draconian statistical formula that is elaborate, if indecipherable, to determine scaled scores. I would bet my house on the fact that over the next few years, scores will “improve”—not necessarily student learning, but scores. They must, because the State accepted millions and millions of dollars to increase student scores and increase graduation rates. If scores do not improve from this baseline, then those ‘powers that be’ will have a lot of explaining to do to justify having accepted those millions.”

For telling the truth, for standing up to the bullies in Albany, for seeing through the vicious game that the State Education Department is playing and refusing to go along, I hereby name Teresa Thayer Snyder a hero of American education. She joins our honor roll of distinction for her service to her students and her community.

Categories Common Core, Honor Roll, New York, Testing

Wendy Davis, a True American Hero

By dianeravitch
July 10, 2013 //
25

The world knows Wendy Davis as the state senator in Texas who filibustered for 11 hours straight against an bill that would restrict abortion. Unlike Jimmy Stewart in “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington,” she was not allowed to take a drink of water or go off-topic or even lean on the speaker’s desk.

What you may not know is that this was not her first filibuster. That was in 2011, when she filibustered against the mammoth budget cuts to public education of $5.4 billion, which crippled many schools and turned out to be completely unnecessary ( but the funding was not restored).

For her valiant resistance to the cuts, the Republican leadership kicked her off the education committee, but she continued to sit in on its meetings and even to offer legislation. She joins the honor roll today as a champion of American education and an all-around champion of courage in public life.

She knows more than most people how crucial education is, how it offers a lifeline to those who reach out for it. The following appears in the New York Times:

“My mother only had a sixth-grade education, and it was really a struggle for us,” she said in a 2011 video for Generation TX. She said she fell through the cracks in high school, and shortly after she graduated, she got married and divorced, and was a single mother by age 19.

“I was living in a mobile home in southeast Fort Worth, and I was destined to live the life that I watched my mother live,” she said in the video. A co-worker showed her a brochure for Tarrant County College, and she took classes to become a paralegal, working two jobs at the same time. From there she received a scholarship to attend Texas Christian University in Fort Worth — becoming the first person in her family to earn a bachelor’s degree — and then went on to Harvard. “When I was accepted into Harvard Law School, I remember thinking about who I am, and where I came from, and where I had been only a few years before,” she said.”

Wendy Davis is a true American hero. She has tenacity and guts. She has intelligence and wisdom. That’s a great combination.

She never forgot where she came from or how she got to where she is today.

She doesn’t use her life experience to tell others to pull themselves up by their bootstraps. She uses her elected position to extend a helping hand. She knows what free public education meant to her. She wants to keep the promise alive for the millions of boys and girls in Texas who are counting on her.

She is only 50. What a great future she has before her.

Now that Rick Perry is stepping down, I hope she runs for governor.

Categories Budget Cuts, Honor Roll, Texas

Susan Ohanian Joins the Honor Roll

By dianeravitch
July 2, 2013 //
9

Susan Ohanian has been speaking, blogging, and agitating against bad education ideas for many years. Her writing is informed by a finely tuned sense of humanism–that is, she cares about people, especially children, more than big ideas and grand policies that treat people like widgets.

She speaks with honesty, candor, courage, and integrity. She is tireless. She is the real deal. She has taught every grade in school. To Susan, every issue always comes down the same question: is it good for children?

Susan Ohanian is a fearless advocate for children and good education, grounded in reality, not abstractions.

She is truly a hero of American education, and I gladly add her name to the honor roll of this blog.

To get a sense of her work, read one of her latest posts.

I especially enjoyed this tribute to Mr. Rogers.

Susan regularly posts cartoons that lampoon the madness of the NCLB-Race to the Top regime.

See here.

And here.

And here.

And here.

Read her collection of Outrages.

And for more, read her running commentary on the Common Core.

Categories Common Core, Duncan, Arne, Honor Roll, NCLB (No Child Left Behind), Race to the Top

Great Neck, NY, School Board Passes Anti-High-Stakes Testing Resolution

By dianeravitch
June 6, 2013 //
24

Great Neck, New York, is a suburban community outside New York City that has long been renowned for its excellent public schools. About 95% of its students graduate high school, and many are admitted to our nation’s finest colleges and universities.

At its meeting last Monday, the Great Neck school board unanimously passed a resolution opposing the state’s over reliance on standardized testing.

For their clarity of vision and their willingness to stand up for their students and for good education, I place the Great Neck Board of Education on the honor roll as champions of good public education.

Here is the resolution, which was read aloud in its entirety at the meeting and sent to the Governor, legislators, the Commissioner of Education, the Chancellor of the Board of Regents, and shared with the media:

June 3, 2013

RESOLUTION REGARDING OVERRELIANCE ON STANDARDIZED TESTING
A CALL TO THE GOVERNOR OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, THE NEW YORK STATE COMMISSIONER OF EDUCATION, THE NEW YORK STATE BOARD OF REGENTS AND OTHER POLICYMAKERS TO STOP THE OVERRELIANCE ON STANDARDIZED TESTS AS A MEASURE OF STUDENT PERFORMANCE AND PRINCIPAL/TEACHER EFFECTIVENESS.

WHEREAS, every student deserves a quality public education dedicated to preparing engaged citizens, creative and critical thinkers and lifelong learners ready for college and careers; and

WHEREAS, the decline in state aid and support for public schools has forced our district to reduce programs and limited our ability to fully implement new programs mandated by the State such as the Common Core standards thereby creating an uneven rollout of the standards among school districts around the State; and

WHEREAS, while the implementation of the Common Core standards will ultimately help students, teachers and the teaching and learning process, the growing reliance on, and mismanagement of, standardized testing is eroding student learning time, narrowing the curriculum and jeopardizing the rich, meaningful education our students need and deserve; and

WHEREAS, there has been a reliance upon the Common Core standards in the development of state testing despite the fact that students have not been exposed to these standards for a sufficient amount of their school experience; and

WHEREAS, despite the fact that research recommends the use of multiple measures to gauge student performance and teacher effectiveness, the State’s growing reliance on standardized testing is adversely affecting students across all spectrums and the morale of our educators and is further draining already scarce resources; and

WHEREAS, the Federal Elementary and Secondary Education Act’s testing policies fail to appropriately accommodate the unique needs of students with disabilities and English language learners in assessing their academic achievements which results in test scores that do not accurately represent a true measure of the impact of teachers and schools; and

WHEREAS, it is time for policymakers to reconsider the number, duration and appropriate use of standardized tests so that our schools can refocus their efforts on improving student learning outcomes; now, therefore be it

RESOLVED, that we call upon Governor Andrew M. Cuomo, State Education Department Commissioner John B. King, Chancellor of the Board of Regents Merryl Tisch, Chair of the Senate Committee on Education John Flanagan, Senator Jack Martins, Chair of the Assembly Committee on Education Catherine Nolan, Assemblywoman Michelle Schimel and other policymakers to reduce the use of, and overreliance on, standardized testing.

Categories Honor Roll, New York, Students, Support for public schools, Testing

New Yorkers Oppose Pearson Field Tests, Plus DeWitt Joins the Honor Roll

By dianeravitch
June 6, 2013 //
10

As thousands of activists plan to rally in Albany against the stat’s heavy reliance on standardized testing on June 8, many parents and educators are speaking out against Pearson’s field tests. The testing corporation is trying out questions in the state’s classrooms that might be used on future tests, but opponents say “enough is enough.” The students recently completed two weeks of grueling state tests.

One reward of opening the link is that you get to see a picture of Peter DeWitt, one of the state’s best principals and an outspoken opponent of high-stakes testing. DeWitt was recently the target of an effort by the State Education Department to intimidate him. He is one of my heroes. For he steadfast defense of children, he certainly belongs on the honor roll. He is a champion of children, a champion of public education, and a champion of ethics in education,

Categories Education Industry, For-Profit, Honor Roll, New York, Pearson, Testing

Please Attend the Skinny Awards in NYC

By dianeravitch
May 28, 2013 //
3

If you are within driving distance of New York City, please come to the Skinny Awards.

I will be there, along with many other friends of public education.

The Skinny Awards are the opposite of the Broad Awards, which are given to urban districts and charter schools that raise test scores. The Skinny Awards recognize character, courage, valor, and integrity in support of sound education ideas.

Leonie Haimson is the genius behind the Skinny Awards.

Benefits go to Class Size Matters, which advocates for reduced class size, opposes invasion of student privacy, and supports teachers and public schools. Leonie runs Class Size Matters on something less than a shoestring.

Here is the announcement:

Please attend our Fifth annual “Skinny Awards” Class Size Matters fundraiser

And enjoy a four-course dinner with wine

When: Tuesday June 18 at 6 PM

Where: FAGIOLINI ON 40TH, 120 E. 40th St. (betw. Lexington and 3rd Ave.)

Purchase your tickets here.

Each year we give an award to the individuals who provide the real “Skinny” on NYC schools. Past recipients of the award include Diane Ravitch and Juan Gonzalez. This year, our “Skinny” award will go to two brilliant teacher/bloggers:

Arthur Goldstein, who writes the NYC Educator blog and is an ESL teacher

at Francis Lewis High School in Queens

Gary Rubinstein, who blogs at Teach for Us and is a math teacher

at Stuyvesant HS in lower Manhattan

This dinner is always a highlight of the year, with delicious food, good wine, and great company.

This year, it is especially important to attend and/or contribute to our work. As always, Class Size Matters relies on your donations to keep our organization going. We have continued to advocate for smaller classes and an end to school overcrowding, as class sizes swell throughout the country. We also have become leaders in the fight against high-stakes testing, privatization, and the violation of student privacy.

Nationally, we spearheaded the battle against the sharing of confidential student data with a corporation called inBloom Inc. inBloom Inc. plans to put children’s personal information on a vulnerable data cloud, and share it with private vendors without parental notification or consent.

For the last few months, the tabloids and corporate reform blogs have featured attacks against me personally, evidence of the prominent role that Class Size Matters plays in the debate over education policy. One of the best ways to show your support for our work is to contribute whatever you can to keep our organization alive.

If you believe that class size matters, and that it is important to keep our public schools and children’s personal information out of the hands of private corporations, please make tax-deductible contribution now to Class Size Matters and/or purchase a seat at our fundraiser dinner June 18 by clicking here or here: http://www.nycharities.org/events/EventLevels.aspx?ETID=6292 .

Please forward to others who care and hope to see you there, Leonie

Leonie Haimson
Executive Director
Class Size Matters
124 Waverly Pl.
New York, NY 10011
212-674-7320

leonie@classsizematters.org
http://www.classsizematters.org
http://nycpublicschoolparents.blogspot.com
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/leonie-haimson

Follow me on twitter @leoniehaimson

Make a tax-deductible contribution to Class Size Matters now!

Subscribe to Class Size Matters news by emailing classsizematters-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
Subscribe to NYC education news by emailing nyceducationnews-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

Categories Honor Roll

Just Heard from Monica

By dianeravitch
May 22, 2013 //
11

Monica Ratliff just emailed to thank all of us for our help. She was rushing off to teach her fifth grade class. She never stopped teaching while running for office.

Dear friends, your contributions made a difference. Together we will turn the tide and restore American education to focus on children and learning and collaboration, not data and profits and budget cuts.

Thank you, Monica, for the lessons you taught us all: people matter more than money. Experience and knowledge count. Courage in the face of overwhelming odds is essential. Teaching is an honorable profession, and teachers must be heard and involved in decisions about schooling.

For your courage and Integrity, I add you to our honor roll as a champion of American education. And a Giant Slayer.

Categories Honor Roll, Los Angeles

Come to the Skinny Awards in NYC on June 18

By dianeravitch
May 21, 2013 //
2

If you are within driving distance of New York City, please come to the Skinny Awards.

I will be there, along with many other friends of public education.

The Skinny Awards are the opposite of the Broad Awards, which are given to urban districts and charter schools that raise test scores. The Skinny Awards recognize character, courage, valor, and integrity in support of sound education ideas.

Leonie Haimson is the genius behind the Skinny Awards.

Benefits go to Class Size Matters, which advocates for reduced class size, opposes invasion of student privacy, and supports teachers and public schools. Leonie runs Class Size Matters on something less than a shoestring.

Here is the announcement:

Please attend our Fifth annual “Skinny Awards” Class Size Matters fundraiser

And enjoy a four-course dinner with wine

When: Tuesday June 18 at 6 PM

Where: FAGIOLINI ON 40TH, 120 E. 40th St. (betw. Lexington and 3rd Ave.)

Purchase your tickets here.

Each year we give an award to the individuals who provide the real “Skinny” on NYC schools. Past recipients of the award include Diane Ravitch and Juan Gonzalez. This year, our “Skinny” award will go to two brilliant teacher/bloggers:

Arthur Goldstein, who writes the NYC Educator blog and is an ESL teacher

at Francis Lewis High School in Queens

Gary Rubinstein, who blogs at Teach for Us and is a math teacher

at Stuyvesant HS in lower Manhattan

This dinner is always a highlight of the year, with delicious food, good wine, and great company.

This year, it is especially important to attend and/or contribute to our work. As always, Class Size Matters relies on your donations to keep our organization going. We have continued to advocate for smaller classes and an end to school overcrowding, as class sizes swell throughout the country. We also have become leaders in the fight against high-stakes testing, privatization, and the violation of student privacy.

Nationally, we spearheaded the battle against the sharing of confidential student data with a corporation called inBloom Inc. inBloom Inc. plans to put children’s personal information on a vulnerable data cloud, and share it with private vendors without parental notification or consent.

For the last few months, the tabloids and corporate reform blogs have featured attacks against me personally, evidence of the prominent role that Class Size Matters plays in the debate over education policy. One of the best ways to show your support for our work is to contribute whatever you can to keep our organization alive.

If you believe that class size matters, and that it is important to keep our public schools and children’s personal information out of the hands of private corporations, please make tax-deductible contribution now to Class Size Matters and/or purchase a seat at our fundraiser dinner June 18 by clicking here or here: http://www.nycharities.org/events/EventLevels.aspx?ETID=6292 .

Please forward to others who care and hope to see you there, Leonie

Leonie Haimson
Executive Director
Class Size Matters
124 Waverly Pl.
New York, NY 10011
212-674-7320

leonie@classsizematters.org
http://www.classsizematters.org
http://nycpublicschoolparents.blogspot.com
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/leonie-haimson

Follow me on twitter @leoniehaimson

Make a tax-deductible contribution to Class Size Matters now!

Subscribe to Class Size Matters news by emailing classsizematters-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
Subscribe to NYC education news by emailing nyceducationnews-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

Categories Honor Roll
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