Archives for category: Louisiana
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When Youth Get Involved

By dianeravitch
July 25, 2012 //
1

A reader in Louisiana points out that the research I cited this morning was prepared by a 19-year-old who is fighting for quality education and real science education, not religious indoctrination. This is an uphill battle in Louisiana today, in light of the state’s decision to give public funding to schools that teach creationism as science.

 The young man whose blog you cited, Zach Kopplin – 19,  is a shining example of the ability and power that our youth have when they speak out and take action against injustice and just plain bad policy.   Zach has recorded a video for me to share at the Save Our Schools People’s Convention August 3-5 explaining his work to repeal Louisiana’s Creationist law when it was proposed. I will publish it on my blog as soon as it is edited and ready.  Zach testified yesterday at our Board of Education meeting when our Supt. John White presented his worthless accountability plan for private and parochial schools that received vouchers.   His testimony that many of the approved receiving schools bypass the proper teaching of science and replace it with creationism was compelling and presents the case that they are therefore unqualified to receive public funding because their curricula would not meet the “quality” criterion.    It should be one of the issues that is presented in the lawsuit filed by two of our state unions and a group of district school boards against the new voucher legislation. 

Categories Accountability, Louisiana, Vouchers

Creationists in Louisiana Win State Funding

By dianeravitch
July 25, 2012 //
49

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.

Categories Chiefs for Change, Curriculum, Education Reform, Jindal, Bobby, Louisiana, Vouchers

No Accountability for Voucher Schools in Louisiana

By dianeravitch
July 25, 2012 //
10

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?

 

Categories Accountability, Education Reform, Jindal, Bobby, Louisiana, Vouchers

Will Test Scores Go Up if Teachers Live in Fear?

By dianeravitch
July 20, 2012 //
19

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.

Categories Accountability, Jindal, Bobby, Louisiana, Teachers and Teaching

The Lessons of Louisiana’s Voucher Program

By dianeravitch
July 19, 2012 //
8

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.

Categories Jindal, Bobby, Louisiana, Vouchers

John White, Are You Listening?

By dianeravitch
July 17, 2012 //
9

John White, here is a school that needs your help. Don’t close it. Don’t treat it as a sinking ship whose students should just get out before it’s too late. This is a community school. Do not let it die. Do not make things worse. You are the captain of the ship. If it goes down on your watch, it’s your fault. Give these teachers support. They are trying to make a difference. Can you help them?

I am a Louisiana teacher who thanks you for your tireless advocacy of public education in general and your focus to Louisiana in particular. The past year was a difficult one for me personally and professionally. I teach students in one of the so-called “failing” schools and know first hand how hard we work and how much we are trying to educate the students we have. At my high school, we often have students who arrive in ninth grade reading below the 5th grade level. We aren’t given any solutions or ideas or help from the state department. We do our best to take them where they are and guide them where they need to be. We do this despite many who lack any parental support, some who are parents themselves, some who live in dangerous conditions, and many other challenges. Yet the message we receive from the state is that our efforts aren’t good enough.

Categories Accountability, Education Reform, Louisiana, Poverty

New Investments Needed in Technology for Common Core

By dianeravitch
July 14, 2012 //
13

A survey in Louisiana finds that most schools do not have the technology to support the Common Core online testing that will begin in 2014-2015. This will require a major investment in hardware and infrastructure.

Here is part of the article:

BATON ROUGE — A survey of Louisiana schools shows most lack the technology and facilities needed to conduct online testing that’s to be part of a new Common Core Curriculum to be implemented in the 2014-15 school year.

The Department of Education asked school systems around the state to report the numbers of computers available to students, their operating speed, the type of Internet connections and bandwidth available and where to computers were located, such as in classrooms or computer laboratories.

The “Technology Footprint” shows a shortfall in computers, high-speed Internet connections and facilities in which testing can be conducted.

“We must believe our students and teachers can achieve great things, but they need access to the right technology to do so,” Superintendent of Education John White said in a news release. “We are not there yet. Too few schools are ready for the digital age. If we plan now, and invest our funds wisely, we can change this.”

Only five school systems — Ascension, City of Bogalusa, Red River, St. James and FirstLine Schools of New Orleans — meet the minimum device readiness requirements and only two school systems — Ascension and St. James — meet both device and network readiness guidelines for online testing, it said.

In Caddo Parish, the report said, “currently 3 out of 46 schools have an adequate number of computers that meet current minimum computer hardware specifications for online testing in 2014-15. In order to bring all schools in Caddo Parish up to the minimum testing readiness level of a 7-to-1 student to computer ratio, the district will need to either purchase an additional 2,814 devices and/or upgrade some of the 2,952 computers that potentially could meet the new minimum computer hardware specifications.”

In DeSoto Parish, it read, “currently 1 out of 9 schools has an adequate number of computers that meet current minimum computer hardware specifications for online testing in 2014-15. In order to bring all schools in DeSoto Parish up to the minimum testing readiness level of a 7-to-1 student to computer ratio, the district will need to either purchase an additional 175 devices and/or upgrade some of the 117 computers that potentially could meet the new minimum computer hardware specifications.”

Categories Common Core, Education Reform, Louisiana, Technology, Computers

When a Teacher Loves Teaching

By dianeravitch
July 13, 2012 //
26

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.
Categories Education Reform, Jindal, Bobby, Louisiana, Teachers and Teaching

Who Knows Naomi Klein?

By dianeravitch
July 12, 2012 //
23

A reader thinks that Naomi Klein should revisit the Louisiana story and see how the “shock doctrine” has progressed:

Diane, I too have a passion for Louisiana, and a couple of friends there who also keep me in the loop.Your tireless efforts to tell the truth about what has happened in Louisiana since Milton Friedman decided to use “Shock Doctrine” to his advantage is very important to stopping Jindal from his merciless destruction of public education and democracy itself!

For those who are not familiar with Naomi’s introduction to “The Shock Doctrine – The Rise of Disaster Capitalism”- here is a brief excerpt from her intro:

“Over at the shelter, Jamar could think of nothing else. “I really don’t see it as cleaning up the city. What I see is that a lot of people got killed uptown. People who shouldn’t have died.”

He was speaking quietly, but an older man in line in front of us overheard and whipped around. “What is wrong with these people in Baton Rouge? This isn’t an opportunity. It’s a goddamned tragedy. Are they blind?” A mother with two kids chimed in. “No, they’re not blind, they’re evil. They see just fine.”

One of those who saw opportunity in the floodwaters of New Orleans was the late Milton Friedman, grand guru of unfettered capitalism and credited with writing the rulebook for the contemporary, hyper-mobile global economy. Ninety-three years old and in failing health, “Uncle Miltie”, as he was known to his followers, found the strength to write an op-ed for the Wall Street Journal three months after the levees broke. “Most New Orleans schools are in ruins,” Friedman observed, “as are the homes of the children who have attended them. The children are now scattered all over the country. This is a tragedy. It is also an opportunity.”

Friedman’s radical idea was that instead of spending a portion of the billions of dollars in reconstruction money on rebuilding and improving New Orleans’ existing public school system, the government should provide families with vouchers, which they could spend at private institutions.

In sharp contrast to the glacial pace with which the levees were repaired and the electricity grid brought back online, the auctioning-off of New Orleans’ school system took place with military speed and precision. Within 19 months, with most of the city’s poor residents still in exile, New Orleans’ public school system had been almost completely replaced by privately run charter schools.

The Friedmanite American Enterprise Institute enthused that “Katrina accomplished in a day … what Louisiana school reformers couldn’t do after years of trying”. Public school teachers, meanwhile, were calling Friedman’s plan “an educational land grab”. I call these orchestrated raids on the public sphere in the wake of catastrophic events, combined with the treatment of disasters as exciting market opportunities, “disaster capitalism”. ~Naomi Klein, “The Shock Doctrine – The Rise of Disaster Capitalism” [2007] ~ read the excerpt as taken from here: http://www.naomiklein.org/shock-doctrine/excerpt

I would like to see three media sources come to do a follow-up on Naomi Klein’s introduction to her world renowned book: “The Shock Doctrine – The Rise of Disaster Capitalism”.

Can we get Naomi Klein to do a follow up?

How about teaming up with Joanne Barkan who wrote, “Got Dough” [see link to this article here: http://muse.jhu.edu/login?auth=0&type=summary&url=/journals/dissent/v058/58.1.barkan.pdf ] in Dissent Magazine?

And of course, how about teaming up with Ed Shultz? Cant he three of them get together with you to increase the public’s awareness of the unconscionable crimes being committed against Louisiana’s children, against their own state constitution? Gotta love, Ed! I’m so glad he had you on his show. I want him to invite you as a REGULAR guest! Still wish Maddow would wake up and bring you on too, but I digress.

I think the 4 of you could do some real good together as partners to help Louisiana get out of “disaster capitalism” and spread that healing to the nation, ridding us of the marriage between Neoliberalism and Neoconservativism through corporate education reform that is destroying public education and democracy!

Thank you again for helping the children, families, teachers, and communities of Louisiana by shining a light on the horrors of corporate education reform in this state.


 
Categories Corporate Reformers, Education Reform, Louisiana, New Orleans

My Friends in Louisiana

By dianeravitch
July 12, 2012 //
15

Readers may notice that I often post about what is happening in Louisiana.

There are several reasons for this.

One is that Louisiana is truly an important site for what is now called school reform. It became important after Hurricane Katrina wiped out most of the public school system, and New Orleans became a closely-watched experiment in privatizing public education. Corporate reformers frequently refer to New Orleans as their shining example of the good that will come as a result of getting rid of public education, teachers’ unions, and veteran teachers.

Another reason is that I have amazing contacts in Louisiana. The most important contact is Dr. Lance Hill of the Southern Institute for Education and Research. He sends me the latest studies, reports, and news articles. Hill is a careful researcher, and I frequently rely on him to get the facts right. And experience has proven to me that he is invariably correct in his data and use of data. I want to mention here that Lance Hill was first to spot that 98 percent of the eligible students in Louisiana passed up the chance to apply for a voucher. Lance also has supplied me the data demonstrating that New Orleans is one of the lowest performing districts in the entire state. And one other thing, at a time when the elites of New Orleans are gaga for privatization, Lance knows the other side of the story, the one the national media never reports; he hears those who have been dispossessed and left out. Lance invited me to New Orleans two years ago, and I spoke at Dillard University, where I heard some of those voices. I thank him for his integrity, his moral center, and his commitment to the children of the state. And his friendship.

And last, I have gotten myself on some really terrific email lists in Louisiana. I read Mike Deshotel’s blog Louisiana Educator. I get regular updates from two other lists. And I have friends that I made when I spoke to the Louisiana School Boards Association this past March. I can’t name all my contacts, as some have relatives working in state government and I don’t want to get them fired.

And now I have a number of Louisiana teachers who are regular readers of this blog. I learn from them. They keep me informed. I’ll keep doing what I can to tell the public what is happening in your state. You keep hanging in there, ignoring the insults from the governor and the legislature, and stand by the children.

Categories Louisiana, New Orleans
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