Mike Deshotels of Louisiana has figured out how the scheme works.
Create a program that rates all schools by a standard that assures that half will be above the standard and half will be below.
Of course, schools that enroll affluent students will appear largely in the top half, and schools that enroll poor students will rank largely in the bottom half.
Declare those in the bottom half to be failing schools.
Privatize those schools.
Start over.
A reader posted the following comment.
As a public school teacher on the Northshore across the lake from New Orleans, educated in parochial schools for most of my elementary and high school years, I have been wanting to discuss the truth of education in the State of Louisiana for years, but it cannot be discussed publically, even though most people know the truth, a person could get killed or maimed at worst or at best, fired from a teaching position by openly speaking the unspeakable in today’s irrationally violent world. Under federal mandatory desegregation in 1969, I student taught English IV at a public high school in a Northshore Parish. Prior to this law, schools across the State were segregated into all black or all white public schools—“separate but equal” they called it. My senior high school class was composed of 10 white students and 10 black students, as were all of the other classes in the school. My white students could all read and write at grade level able to do “A, B or C” work. Half of my black students could not read or write at all, two of them could read and write at junior high level, two of them at elementary level and one of them could do B and C work in my class. I was horrified by the levels of illiteracy and low skill levels among my black students. Teachers were not provided with remedial materials to help the students learn at their level nor any books or handouts that would enable the non readers and writers learn the alphabet, the sounds of the letters, nor how to put the sounds together so that they could even begin to make sense of reading and writing. As a secondary level teacher, I was not even given any training to reach students who were not at grade level. I did the best I could bringing in albums of Shakespearian plays and sonnets, so that my lowest level students could get something out of the material by hearing it read, even though they could not pass the written tests on it. No one had ever heard of the accommodation for “Tests Read Aloud” that our immigrant population is given on classroom and standardized tests today. Consequently, all through the 1970’s due to the academic problems, also resulting in behavior issues black students experienced in school system, plus the fact that the majority of students did not have anything to eat before coming to school, they were not making much progress academically. These conditions caused the parents of white students to pull their children out of the public school system and put them in private or parochial schools, so that their children could receive a good education without all the social problems black children brought with them into the classroom. At that time most black children could not attend schools that required tuition because their parents did not have the financial ability to do so since most did not have jobs that paid a middle class wage to do so. In addition, the values of many black parents regarding education, which extended to their children, were not as high as white parents, I think mainly because most of them were not very well educated themselves and could not help their children with homework or did not have time to help them due to other social problems that continue to plague the black community in Louisiana—namely single parent households, drug addiction, poverty, a lack of values shared by the white middle or upper class communities, violence and multiple levels of abuse in the home. The lack of parental support, a stable family structure, and a healthy home environment that supports learning are the main reasons black students are under performing in Louisiana schools today, as well as the inability of many black students to speak standard American English, which many teachers do not insist upon in the classroom out of fear of being called racist at worst or politically incorrect at best. Bobby Jindal does not have the courage to face the real problem in education in Louisiana. He is taking the coward’s way out through scapegoating, blaming public schools and teachers for the failure of some black students to pass culturally biased standardized tests, one of the primary measures in assigning schools a passing or failing grade based on their AYP. The main problem is that when a public school becomes predominately black, with students and teachers alike, the standards are usually lowered and students are socially promoted, even though they cannot pass their course work or earn a basic score on standardized tests. How do I know this not having taught in public schools that have this particular demographic problem? I taught at a New Orleans community college for several years and in one of my classes had a large group of black students from the New Orleans projects, who insisted that I lower the standards in my class so that they could all get “A’s and B’s” for their final grade. They were physically and emotionally threatening in attempting to take control of the class, but I did not cave in as their public school teachers had to have done in order to get through the school year alive. What Bobby Jindal needs to do if he wants change education in Louisiana that will last for generations to come is to have the courage to educate the black community on what it will take for their children to perform well in school and to mentor them until they are able to adopt and embrace a value system that supports their children’s education, and thus, bring them out of the impoverished conditions that keep them like crabs in a bucket into a more productive standard of living. He needs to generate higher paying, skilled jobs for the black community, especially for the women who are usually the sole support of their families, so that they can support their children preparing them for a successful life in the middle class. Through education many black people in Louisiana have done just that over the last four decades, but many more have yet to enjoy that success. Bobby Jindal does not have the courage to do this because he does not have the heart to uplift anyone but himself. His education reforms have not been done for the people of Louisiana, but for himself, so that he can add another feather to cap, putting another initiative on his resume, so that when the time comes that he is seeking the status of President of the United States of America, the unconscious masses of voters in our country may believe he will be able to do something beneficial for them. Just about everyone in the State of Louisiana knows that Bobby Jindal has his eye on the Presidency and whatever he does as Governor of our State is merely a stepping stone to get out of the swamp into the Oval Office. Because the ‘separate but equal’ condition of education in Louisiana has been going on for more than 40 years, superficially changing form very slightly over the years, it is not going to permanently change anytime soon especially though a voucher program that is doomed to failure because the majority of private or parochial schools can see through this smokescreen and are not willing to accept the burden of educating black children from households that do not support the prime values of education. All teachers across the United States know that students who perform well in school are those who have 100% support from their parents. This is not the case for many black children in Louisiana, nor in other impoverished areas of our country. I would like to hear your plan for permanently changing these conditions that plague education and our society all across America because I believe, unlike Bobby Jindal, you have the intelligence, experience in education and heart to dream big.
I received an email from Lottie Beebe, a member of the Louisiana Board of Elementary and Secondary Education. She is an experienced educator who won a seat on the board and has been a voice of sanity in a dark time.
| As a member of the Louisiana Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE), I want to thank you for your continued efforts to inform education stakeholders across our wonderful country and beyond of the concerns related to Louisiana’s education reform. As an experienced educator of 27 years, I decided to seek the BESE position because I truly wanted to contribute to the responsible reform of our educational system. However, shortly after securing the District 3 BESE seat, I realized my voice would be muffled by a group outnumbering me whose vision is strictly that of CHOICE. My desire is to preserve traditional public education; however, I don’t see this happening in Louisiana. My idea of reform is to identify the strengths of the education system and build from those without totally dismantling the traditonal public education system. I recognize our society is broken. Until we acknowledge the poverty, apathy, dysfunction, lack of parental involvement, and all other factors that adversely impact student learning, we will continue to struggle to improve our educational ranking at the local, state, federal, and international levels–regardless of the educational setting. We can no longer continue to bury our heads in the sand. To quote a Louisiana legislator in a letter to his colleagues, he stated, “our society is broken and we can’t fix it.” Thus, in my opinion, the blame was placed on educators and there was a rush to “fix education.” On another note, I am so proud of the educators throughout Louisiana who exhibited professionalism despite the constant criticism heard throughout the education reform debates. I applaud our educators for their continued commitment and desire for educational excellence despite the teacher bashing that occurred this year leading up to and during the Louisiana legislative session. Television commercials aired frequently showing students banging their heads against lockers in an attempt to vilify our hardworking teachers and administrators. Despite the educator bashing, the release of 2012 test scores revealed academic improvement across Louisiana’s public schools. Imagine this! The improvement was attributed to the most recent education reforms. (Not true). For the last decade, Louisiana’s test scores have improved and can be verified via the Louisiana Department of Education website. In closing, I will say to those in other states who want to emulate Louisiana’s education reform–BEWARE! As Ms. Raviitch and many others have communicated, where is the Accountability? Louisiana’s traditonal schools will be compelled to adhere to stringent federal and state guidelines where voucher and charter schools can exercise flexibility in curriculum, teacher evaluation, certification requirements, etc. How do we measure success when we are not comparing apples to apples or competing on an equitable field? Competition has been a resounding theme in Louisiana’s education reform debate. Imagine a football game—how fair is it for traditional schools (without the football gear) to compete with vouchers and charters who are in full game attire–helmets, etc? Who do you think stands the better chance of winning? My point, exactly! I am a voice for responsible education reform and welcome the competition as long as it is fair! THis is not the case in Louisiana and I predict it is only a matter of time before this ed reform movement will find its way to your communities. |
The voucher legislation in Louisiana will send millions of dollars to Christian academies that repudiate evolution and teach creationism. Their students will never learn about evolution other than to hear it ridiculed.
At least 20 of the religious schools that receive voucher students teach creationism, and as this researcher shows, that may be only the tip of the iceberg.
This is a descent into ignorance.
But in the eyes of a group of state superintendents called Chiefs for Change (the state superintendents of Florida, Oklahoma, New Jersey, New Mexico, Maine, Louisiana, Rhode Island, and Tennessee), this is called bold and visionary “reform.”
We are in deep trouble if we continue in this direction.
The Louisiana reforms should be recognized for what they are: An embarrassment to our nation.
Louisiana has made itself an international joke.
But for the children, it’s not funny.
John White spelled out the rules for nonpublic schools receiving vouchers, and few if any will be held accountable for student performance.
Most of the students taking public money with them are in kindergarten, first and second grades, where they are not tested.
And there will be no consequences for the voucher schools if their students fail:
White’s plan requires voucher students in grades 3-11 to take standardized tests like public school students, including the LEAP exam taken by fourth- and eighth-graders take. [But not all the students in the school.]
However, unlike public school students voucher recipients will not be required to pass LEAP to move to the next grade.
Private schools will not get letter grades, which their public school counterparts do.
The Reuters story about the voucher system spells it out: Even if students fail the state tests,there will be no accountability for the private schools.
Now we begin to understand what the voucher program is about.
It is not about helping the children. They can continue to fail and the state doesn’t care.
It is not about improving public education, as the money will come out of the public schools’ budget.
It is not about accountability, as the voucher schools won’t’ be held accountable.
So what is it really about? Is it about defunding public education? Is it about “choice” for the sake of choice, without regard to the consequences?
What’s the point?
A reader sends a description of a teacher’s life in Louisiana, where a new state law changed everything, including tenure, evaluation, charters, vouchers, and whatever else the reformers could throw into a law that was passed without input from educators or any deliberation:
So here in Louisiana we get ready to start the new school year, having spent the summer at “mandatory” conferences and training; middle schools are sending many teachers to become AP certified, math and English teachers have spent their summer in classes 5 days a week for STEM training, CCSS classes abound with little information and three full days of “in-services” await us before we see students. That alone will kill any motivation that remains. So many teachers are exhausted and yet the demands for new and better programs requires 200%, last year teachers were requested to give 200% or find another position. Yet we have no idea what our value added scores really mean-some are told they don’t really matter if you’re a good teacher. Others are told that starting 2013-2014 the firing of the lowest 10% will start.
No one can tell us how the scores will help us improve, where our strong or weak areas are, what we need to change, how we relate to the rest of the state etc. Teachers want to do their best and take it to heart when we are told we failed our kids. Even though logically we know the value added scores are bogus, especially since the numbers are not given meaning with explanations and feedback. Emotionally it has been devastating and most discussions are about the fear of hurting our students again since we don’t know what to improve. Teachers express fear of getting caught up in this mess and losing their tenure knowing that there is no way in hell anyone will manage to get “highly Effective 5 out of 6 years” to regain tenure if we don’t know what we did wrong in the first place!
A student I taught in high school several years ago, both of his parents are teachers, commented that this value added stuff is like failing your drivers test but no one tells you why and then says you have to do it again but since you don’t know what you did wrong in the first place you just keep failing. He said his family had a pretty miserable summer trying to deal with all the stress and fear of trying to decide if they should change careers, move to another state, get another degree (both of his parents have masters degrees and are national board certified and have been Teacher’s of the Year. He said they stick up for their students and that is what gets them in trouble and they fear it will effect their evaluations. He is looking forward to going back to college just to get out of the house and that makes him feel guilty.
If you teach math and English at least the LEAP scores count for your area, science and social studies are the step children. Any idea of how motivated a middle school student is to pass a test they don’t have to? Why focus only on 50% of the core subjects for years and years? Supposedly highly educated people who should know the interrelationship between all the core classes made that decision! Now math and English CCSS are here, with lots of overlap to science and social studies whose CCSS are years away.
No one want to talk about what is really going to happen next year, everyone is afraid, discussion leads to anger and frustration and many just want to ignore it and think all this will go away. Talking about the mess gets many in trouble and the newspapers don’t think it is worth discussing except for an occasional article. The Shreveport paper had a short article about how parents could avoid the inconvenience of PTA/PTO involvement(Thanks Shreveport Times), Jindal is gone running around campaigning for an office he doesn’t have yet while ignoring the one he has and our students are depending on teachers to create the safe, caring, learning environments they need. And we will, because that is what educators do.
Not a surprise that FUD explains our state and many others.
We will have to wait for court challenges to be resolved before we know whether Bobby Jindal’s voucher plan meets the requirements of both the Louisiana state constitution (which says that public money is for public schools) and the U.S. Constitution, which says nothing about education.
The U.S. Supreme Court did uphold a voucher plan in Cleveland a decade ago, and this blogger analyzes whether Louisiana’s plan meets the same criteria. (Of course, no one now points to Cleveland as an example of the benefits of vouchers, but that’s another story.)
But what we know now is that the offer of vouchers did not provoke a stampede for the exits, as voucher advocates have claimed for more than half a century. We have heard again and again about all those poor kids trying desperately to escape their failing schools. We now know that this claim is false. Only 2% of all those eligible to get a state-funded voucher even asked for one. 98% made a choice to stay where they are.
So much for voucher mythology.
And we also know that many of the voucher schools are poorly equipped, under-resourced, and offer a meager and/or faith-based curriculum that will not prepare children for the 21st century.
Louisiana has become a national laughing stock because of its voucher program. I take that back. Louisiana has become an international laughing stock, as media in other nations published stories about the schools using textbooks saying the Loch Ness monster proves that evolution never happened.
Whether it passes muster in court is important, because of the implications for similar raids on the public budget. But ultimately we have learned something perhaps even more important: The public is not clamoring for vouchers, and if we want to create a future for our children and our society, we should build the best public schools in the world.
Michigan Governor Rick Snyder has his own plan to hack away at the foundations of universal, free public education.
He is vying to be one of the national leaders of the education reform movement.
Like Bobby Jindal, his Southern counterpart in the far-right of the Republican Party, Snyder would love to offer vouchers but the Michigan state constitution doesn’t permit it (neither does the Louisiana state constitution, but who cares when you are a reformer?). Leaving constitutional niceties aside, Snyder wants to promote, encourage, expand, and fund with taxpayer dollars anything that is not a public school.
Governor Snyder wants to reshape the state’s school finance system so that public money “follows the child,” instead of just automatically going to public schools. This is part of the rightwing agenda to defund public education, cloaked in alluring terminology. The governor has created a panel to figure out how to make this happen.
He won’t come right out and say (reformers never do) that public education is bad, instead he will parrot Michelle Rhee’s absurd claim that public education is rigged to support “adult interests,” not the needs of children. I think what that means is that people who work in public schools get paid for doing so, which shows how selfish they are.
Far better, in the eyes of this education reformer in Michigan, to allow public money to go to for-profit corporations who put children first or anywhere else where there are no unions.
This is one of the peculiar views of the reformers in Michigan. It released a memo saying “the existing School Aid Act of 1979 generates $14 billion for public education, but the group believes that the existing law “serves the interest of legislators and representatives of the educational interests who control the education system, it is generally inaccessible to the general public.”
See the reasoning: That $14 billion now spent on public schools for all is controlled by “the educational interests” who “control the system” and it is not really for “the general public.” Get that: the money spent for public education is not for the public.
So if you follow the logic here, what is needed is more school choice, with money not targeted to any particular district or any particular school. No student would be assigned anywhere, and any choice the student or family made would be accompanied by state funding. Needless to say, that includes online learning and charters. Be it noted that Michigan has a very large for-profit charter sector; somewhere between 70-80% of its many charters operate for profit.
The governor wants funding to be allocated to “proficiency-based funding instead of “seat time” requirements,” which means that testing will be the sole criterion of education value. This again is a green light for the online corporations, because students can pass the state tests on computers and won’t need to go to a brick-and-mortar school at all.
And of course, we can’t have “reform” without “innovation.” In this case, the governor wants “A system that embraces innovative learning tools and reflects changing from a static approach to education delivery to one responsive to individual learning styles.” There we go again: code words meaning that we don’t want public money to pay for the current status quo system of public education, which is “static,” but to pay for online delivery system where the computer can adjust to “individual learning styles.” Apparently that is something that individual teachers, mere human beings, can’t possibly do. Only computers can do that.
And most certainly the governor wants to allow “nonpublic and homeschooled students maximum access to public education resources within the constraints of the state constitution.”
There you have it, folks, Governor Rick Snyder’s plan to reform public education by funding everything other than public education.
If you want to see a demonstration of the bipartisan consensus around bad ideas, read this interview with former Florida Governor Jeb Bush.
Bush talks about his great success in Florida and his strong support for Governor Rick Scott, who has been wreaking havoc with the lives of Florida’s public school teachers. Of course, Bush is thrilled with this and is probably pulling the strings as the Legislature cracks the whip on their backs.
He is a strong supporter of the Common Core state standards and acknowledges that he intervened with ALEC, the far-right group of state legislators, to persuade them not to denounce the national standards. He defends ALEC and tries to paint the group as a group of “center-right” legislators, not the anti-government, pro-privatization lobby that became famous for promoting “Stand Your Ground” laws and voter suppression laws.
He is very happy with President Obama’s Race to the Top, and why shouldn’t he be? Race to the Top contains everything that pleases rightwing Republicans like Bush. It green-lights more testing and more privatization. And it hammers teachers by tying their fate to test scores.
And of course he is enthusiastic about the “reforms” passed by Governor Jindal in Louisiana, Governor Daniels in Indiana, and others on the far-right.
In your wildest dreams, did you ever imagine a consensus that stretched from Obama to Jindal? Did you ever dream that education would be the issue that would be common ground for a Democratic President and the rightwing of the Republican party?
In response to a post asking why politicians are scapegoating teachers, I received this inspiring comment from a teacher in Louisiana:
| Teacher bashing is an integral part of the reform movement. It’s almost as if these republican governors were coached or told that this was the plan. Here in Louisiana it was as if the teacher bashing began almost as soon as Jindal was elected and made education reform his focus. Teachers are the only people in the school beurocracies that have a direct contact and influence on the students. Why disenfranchise this group? Why tear them down instead of build them up? I’m no businessman, but if your employees are constantly looking over their shoulder, in constant fear, it can not help productivity. Even if these reformers are correct that schools should be run as businesses, well, this is a terrible way to run a business.As an aside, I find it telling that he decided to ruin public education during his final term in office and just in time to position himself as a possible VP.It’s tough, I know, but we’ve got to keep our chins up, remain proud, and focus. Ignore the “adults” and focus on the kids. They still love and respect us. They are great judges of character. I’m not saying be silent or not to concern ourselves with these outside influences that effect us, but when I close the door to my classroom, I am in my element. It’s still where I belong. It’s my happy place. Teacher bashes throw out terms like lazy, entitled, union thuggery, but all that gets drowned out in my noisy classroom (yes, my class is noisy, learning is not silent). I still can’t wait for the school year to start. No, I’m not a wide eyed optimist, I’m not a green teacher (10th year of service), I love my job, bust my tail doing it and dare anyone that knows me or sees me teach or had me as a student tell me I’m lazy or entitled. Those that say those things just don’t know. They’ve obviously never tried to teach. Their comments prove their ignorance, not my incompetence.
Ms. Ravitch, thank you for fighting for the children. To those that are ignorant it may seem as though you are fighting for teachers, and yes that may have truth to it, but I sense that you really want what’s best for children. What is best for the teachers often goes hand in hand with what’s best for the student. I believe this is where unions and teacher advocates dropped the ball. Here in Louisiana, teacher groups complained about the loss of tenure and how it effects teachers, but no one said how it effects students. Pick nearly any issue and it was us against them with little to no mention on the effects it has on kids. |
Diane Ravitch's blog 