Archives for category: New York
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Race to the Top=A Pig in a Poke

By dianeravitch
October 31, 2013 //
28

When states won millions in Race to the Top funding, they
found themselves required to spend more than they received from the
federal government. One
careful study reported that school districts in New York
had to spend almost $11 million, in exchange for $400,000 from the
federal government.

School districts are spending billions to offer and test the Common Core standards, which have until recently been untested. Now that they were tested in Kentucky and New York, we know that the Common Core tests cause a dramatic score decline.

This, Race to the Top offered $4.35 billion to 11 states and DC but will cost the nation tens of billions that might have been spent to build health clinics or support pre-K or the arts.

As it happens, few of RTTT’s costly mandates
have any evidence to support them. So districts are forced to spend
more at the same time they are getting budgets cut–or in the case
of New York–at the same time that the legislature enacted a tax
cap that prevents them from finding. New revenues unless they get a
popular vote of at least 60%. The result: larger classes, program
cuts, less money for everything schools need in order to satisfy
Washington’s evidence-free mandates.

What is a pig in a poke?

This is the Wikipedia definition: “The English colloquialisms such as
turn out to be a pig in a poke or buy a pig in a poke mean that
something is sold or bought without the buyer knowing its true
nature or value, especially when buying without inspecting the item
beforehand. The phrase can also be applied to accepting an idea or
plan without a full understanding of its basis. Similar expressions
exist in other European languages, most of them referring to the
purchase of a cat in a bag. The advice being given is ‘don’t buy a
pig until you have seen it’. This is enshrined in British
commercial law as ‘caveat emptor’ – Latin for ‘let the buyer
beware’. This remains the guiding principle of commerce in many
countries and, in essence, supports the view that if you buy
something you take responsibility to make sure it is what you
intended to buy. A poke is a sack or bag. It has a French origin as
‘poque’ and, like several other French words, its diminutive is
formed by adding ‘ette’ or ‘et’ – hence ‘pocket’ began life with
the meaning ‘small bag’. Poke is still in use in several
English-speaking countries, notably Scotland and the USA, and
describes just the sort of bag that would be useful for carrying a
piglet to market. A pig that’s in a poke might turn out to be no
pig at all. If a merchant tried to cheat by substituting a lower
value animal, the trick could be uncovered by letting the cat out
of the bag. Many other European languages have a version of this
phrase – most of them translating into English as a warning not to
‘buy a cat in a bag’. The advice has stood the test of time and
people have been repeating it in one form or the other for getting
on for five hundred years, maybe longer.”

Categories New York, Race to the Top

Will John King Destroy Common Core in New York By Alienating Parents?

By dianeravitch
October 30, 2013 //
11

Peter Goodman, long an insider in New York city and state education policies, here reviews the parlous state of the Common Core and its testing regime in that state.

John King has approached parents with an attitude of inflexibility. He has made it clear that he will sit through hearings if he must, but any changes will be inconsequential.

He will not be dissuaded.

The reformer wagon is losing its wheels. The game plan is falling apart.

The reformer expectation, which was predicted long ago by Jeb Bush, was that the Common Core testing would cause test scores to plummet (as they did).

Then parents would be outraged to discover that their children were getting a bad education, and they would demand charters and vouchers.

But what Jeb didn’t count on was that the charters in New York fared even worse than the public schools.

And what Jeb didn’t count on was that the parents know their children, know their teachers, and know their schools.

They don’t believe their children failed.

They believe the test was designed to fail their children.

They don’t trust John King or the New York State Board of Regents or the New York State Education Department.

They don’t trust the  Common Core or the testing associated with it. They think that both were designed to hurt their children.

They think the testing has become onerous. They know that it does not help their children. They think it hurts their children.

Peter Goodman predicts immense collateral damage as a result of the State Education Department’s arrogance.

Heads will roll. Whose head will roll first?

Categories Accountability, Common Core, New York

Tisch Says Blooomberg School Support Networks Have Failed

By dianeravitch
October 29, 2013 //
6

Merryl Tisch, chancellor of the New York State Board of Regents, harshly criticized one of Mayor Bloomberg’s signature initiatives, the school support networks.

“Me, if I were going to take over the school system, I would look heavily to change the networks,” Tisch said during a panel discussion hosted by the nonprofit group, PENCIL.

“I think the networks have basically failed children who are [English-language learners],” added Tisch, who is due to defend the state’s education policies at a state senate hearing Tuesday. “They have failed children who have special needs.”

Under the $90 million network system, principals choose from about 55 Department of Education or nonprofit-run support providers, which assist schools with teacher training, budgeting and more.

This is important, as the Boston Consulting Group (a management consulting firm) advised the Philadelphia School Reform Commission to replicate the Bloomberg networks,

Why BCG was impressed by the geographically dispersed networks is anyone’s guess.

Categories Bloomberg, Michael, Boston Consulting Group, New York, New York City, Philadelphia

New York Parent and Educator: Common Core Is Killing My Child’s Love of Learning

By dianeravitch
October 29, 2013 //
13

I have met the writer of this letter. I know he is real. He requested anonymity. In New York, it is not safe to question authority:

“It is time for parents to speak out against the Common Core standards. They are destroying the love of learning in our children. My eight-year old son is in the third grade. He is a very strong student, particularly in Mathematics. Despite that strength, he recently had a homework assignment from his Common Core Math workbook, that frustrated him to tears. The word problem involved many steps including reading and understanding the problem, interpreting what needs to be done to solve it, subtracting three digit numbers, estimating each number’s tenth place value before subtracting and then coming up with an answer that matched an estimated answer. The problem was far too complex for a third grader. Instead of being excited about doing Math homework like he used to be, he now frequently says, “I don’t get this. It doesn’t make sense.” He’s right. It doesn’t.
“My son is losing his love of learning as the drill for the spring tests begin. He was so excited by a project that he did on planets and one that he did on Walt Disney. Both projects required him to research, read, write and most importantly, be creative. He didn’t cry then, he laughed and smiled. It was at an appropriate level and made sense. The Common Core and teaching to the test is now replacing these projects in our schools. As an educator, I am disappointed in our leaders and puzzled by their allegiance to the Common Core. As a parent, I am saddened and extremely upset that a curriculum matched to State testing is having such a negative effect on my child’s learning. The inappropriate level of difficulty in the Common Core is quickly turning my son’s joy of learning into sadness. I know that I am far from alone in my feelings and experience with this.
” A fellow parent told me about the effect of the Common Core testing on her daughter. Last year her little girl took the New York State Mathematics exam in the fourth grade. Her performance level on the Common Core test was scored as a 2 (below proficiency), however, the year before she was a 4 (advanced) and has been a very strong student in Math. Unfortunately, this parent was told by her school that her daughter must be placed in an additional Math support class for academic intervention services because of her score. Upon hearing this, the student said, “Now I’m stupid. Now I’m a dumb kid,”. The parent told me that her daughter’s teacher told her that she really does not need AIS, but the State of New York mandates it because of her score on the exam. The student’s confidence has been unnecessarily crushed and the parent is outraged.
“Parents in my suburban community are sharing similar anecdotes and seeing similar effects on their children. They are angry and expect better. They have watched their older children successfully navigate our schools and be very well prepared for college. They know that the scores are not an accurate measure. Their children deserve a well-researched curriculum that is appropriate at every level and does not confuse or frustrate their children to tears. Our children are now experiencing heightened levels of stress, anxiety, confusion, lowered self-esteem and a lack of interest in school. It is frequently being called, “Common Core Disorder.” Many parents have told me that they do not understand what the questions are asking for, why the questions are being asked and even how to solve them. Because I am a school leader in another district, they have complained to me repeatedly that they do not understand why such difficult concepts and high level problems are being taught to children who do not understand, or have just learned, basic concepts. The Common Core is lacking common sense.
“Reformers will suggest that “Common Core Disorder” is due to the lack of quality teaching in prior years and that suddenly things have to change so that students become college and career ready. The children in my community, including my son, and the children in the school that I work in, would be college and career ready without the inclusion of the Common Core curriculum. How do I know this? It’s simple. They have dedicated parents and teachers in their lives that care about them and devote all their efforts and time to teaching them about academics, learning and life at the appropriate levels and in a healthy manner. They instill upon them the importance of school, community and being a good person with a quality character. At times I wonder if reformers have studied the true sources of problems in our schools and education system or implement changes such as the Common Core for other reasons.
“If the reason that the Common Core is being implemented is to increase the numbers of students who are not college and career ready coming out of high school, then why are schools with extremely high percentages of students going to college being subjected to this? If strong students are finding this curriculum to be confusing, how are students with special needs and English language learners going to understand it? If there are students who lack the basic skills to prepare them for college, shouldn’t we have a curriculum that stresses those skills, not one that makes it impossible for them to succeed? Many parents are questioning the motives behind the Common Core. Some have suggested that it is a way to help destroy public school education and for big businesses to profit off of poor results of State exams. I’m not entirely sure, but one thing is certain. The crying and frustration must end. We are raising a generation of students for whom education has become punishment.”

Categories Common Core, New York

Parent: “These Reforms Are Not About Education”

By dianeravitch
October 29, 2013 //
10

This parent testified at the state’s public hearing in Portchester, Néw York. She concluded that John King must resign. Read her explanation:

“Dear Diane,

Last night I attended the Common Core Forum in Port Chester, NY. I was number 6 to speak.It was an incredible feeling to finally be able to look Commissioner King in the eye and say what I have been wanting to say to him for the past 6 months, and to know that this time, he would have to hear me. But that’s the thing, he didn’t hear me or anyone else for that matter.

I brought my almost 80 year old father to the forum. Before last night he was only peripherally aware of education reform. As we left, he was holding back tears, overwhelmed by the pain that he heard parents and teachers expressing and moved by the dozens of parents, teachers and administrators who had spoken so eloquently on behalf of children. I too was moved but I was also angry.

Despite being forced to listen to dozens of parents, superintendents and teachers say over and over again that the current education reform is hurting children and public education, Commissioner King was unmoved. King had not heard me or anyone else for that matter. Despite his 12 stop mea culpa tour, King is going full steam ahead with his corportate, hostile takeover of education.

Back when I was a 28 year old mother of 2 children on the Autism spectrum, I worked hard to return to graduate school and become a teacher. During my teacher training I lost my little brother to cancer and watched my son undergo numerous surgeries. Through it all I continued my graduate work and maintained a near perfect GPA. I don’t tell you these things because I want sympathy or accolades, but to make the point that I know perseverance, I know struggle…the qualities that commissioner king believes that 8 and 9 year olds should experience as the means of motivating them to achieve career and college readiness. And part of what has helped me to persevere and to push through the tough times is my ability to stop and reflect, to change course when one paradigm no longer works. I am saddened and angered that public education is led by someone who is willing to do neither.

I have attached my testimony from the forum below. This is what our commissioner of education didn’t hear.Commissioner King must resign because as parents and educators, we deserve better.

Sincerely,
Bianca Tanis
Parent, educator and co-founder of New York State Allies for Public Education

“My son has autism and your reforms have hurt him. You mandate schools to share sensitive student data. You force students with disabilities to submit to inappropriate and humiliating testing. Only now, 5 months later, after you have had to endure public outcry, are you willing to consider changes. Where was common sense and decency 5 months ago when parents begged to for their children to be exempt and when children with disabilities were being tortured. You should be ashamed.

“These reforms are not about education. They are about the agenda of billionaires with no teaching experience. The fact that your close advisors are the mysterious Regents Fellows, individuals with little to no teaching experience, who are paid 6 figure salaries with private donations by Bill Gates and Chancellor Meryl Tisch, speaks volumes. Private money comes with a price tag and that price tag is influence. We reject leadership that allows public education to be bought. That is not democracy. By the way, the Regents Fellow job description does not mention teaching experience as a requirement.

“It has been said that parent opposition is typical when change is introduced. There is nothing typical about the present response. The incompetent roll out of the common core and the naked disregard that has been shown for developmentally appropriate and educationally sound practice is unacceptable. Your recent concessions are disingenuous and a case of too little too late. They do nothing to reduce the hours of testing or the inappropriate level of test difficulty. They do nothing to make cut scores reasonable or address serious problems associated with high stakes testing.

“In addition to hurting children, your policies promote social inequality. Private school parents, such as your self have the opportunity to say to no to harmful testing and data sharing while public school parents are not afforded the same rights. Are you afraid of what would happen if you gave all parents a choice?

“The inadequacy of our schools is a manufactured crisis. Poverty is the number one indicator of student achievement. When you factor in poverty, US schools are at the top. New York deserves real leadership that addresses real issues. If you won’t provide that leadership, we need someone who will.”

Categories Common Core, New York, Parents, Testing

New York Principals: Why the Common Core Tests Failed Our Students and Your Children

By dianeravitch
October 29, 2013 //
14

This is a very important letter from the New York principals who have led the fight against high-stakes testing and the state’s invalid educator evaluation system.

Here is an important excerpt. Read the letter in its entirety.

 

Here’s what we know:

1)    NYS Testing Has Increased Dramatically: We know that our students are spending more time taking State tests than ever before. Since 2010, the amount of time spent on average taking the 3-8 ELA and Math tests has increased by a whopping 128%! The increase has been particularly hard on our younger students, with third graders seeing an increase of 163%!

2)    The Tests were Too Long: We know that many students were unable to complete the tests in the allotted time. Not only were the tests lengthy and challenging, but embedded field test questions extended the length of the tests and caused mental exhaustion, often before students reached the questions that counted toward their scores. For our Special Education students who receive additional time, these tests have become more a measure of endurance than anything else.

3)    Ambiguous Questions Appeared throughout the Exams: We know that many teachers and principals could not agree on the correct answers to ambiguous questions in both ELA and Math. In some schools, identical passages and questions appeared on more than one test and at more than one grade level. One school reported that on one day of the ELA Assessment, the same passage with identical questions was included in the third, fourth AND fifth grade ELA Assessments.

4)    Children have Reacted Viscerally to the Tests: We know that many children cried during or after testing, and others vomited or lost control of their bowels or bladders. Others simply gave up. One teacher reported that a student kept banging his head on the desk, and wrote, “This is too hard,” and “I can’t do this,” throughout his test booklet.

5)    The Low Passing Rate was Predicted: We know that in his “Implementation of the Common Core Learning Standards” memo of March 2013, Deputy Commissioner Slentz stated that proficiency scores (i.e., passing rate) on the new assessments would range between 30%-37% statewide. When scores were released in August 2013, the statewide proficiency rate was announced as 31%.

6)    The College Readiness Benchmark is Irresponsibly Inflated: We know that the New York State Education Department used SAT scores of 560 in Reading, 540 in Writing and 530 in mathematics, as the college readiness benchmarks to help set the “passing” cut scores on the 3-8 New York State exams. These NYSED scores, totaling 1630, are far higher than the College Board’s own college readiness benchmark score of 1550. By doing this, NYSED has carelessly inflated the “college readiness” proficiency cut scores for students as young as nine years of age.

7)    State Measures are Contradictory: We know that many children are receiving scores that are not commensurate with the abilities they demonstrate on other measures, particularly the New York State Integrated Algebra Regents examination. Across New York, many accelerated eighth-graders scored below proficiency on the eighth grade test only to go on and excel on the Regents examination one month later. One district reports that 58% of the students who scored below proficiency on the NYS Math 8 examination earned a mastery score on the Integrated Algebra Regents.

8)    Students Labeled as Failures are Forced Out of Classes: We know that many students who never needed Academic Intervention Services (AIS) in the past, are now receiving mandated AIS as a result of the failing scores. As a result, these students are forced to forgo enrichment classes. For example, in one district, some middle school students had to give up instrumental music, computer or other special classes in order to fit AIS into their schedules.

9)    The Achievement Gap is Widening: We know that the tests have caused the achievement gap to widen as the scores of economically disadvantaged students plummeted, and that parents are reporting that low-scoring children feel like failures.

10) The Tests are Putting Financial Strains on Schools: We know that many schools are spending precious dollars on test prep materials, and that instructional time formerly dedicated to field trips, special projects, the arts and enrichment, has been reallocated to test prep, testing, and AIS services.

11) The Tests are Threatening Other State Initiatives: Without a doubt, the emphasis on testing is threatening other important State initiatives, most notably the implementation of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS). Parents who see the impact of the testing on their children are blaming the CCSS, rather than the unwise decision to implement high stakes testing before proper capacity had been developed. As long as these tests remain, it will be nearly impossible to have honest conversations about the impact of the CCSS on our schools.

 

 

Categories New York, Principals, Students, Testing

John King Meets the Public Again

By dianeravitch
October 28, 2013 //
19

After his fiasco in Poughkeepsie, and his hasty decision to cancel all future public forums, the New York Regents sent John King out on the road again.

His next meeting in Portchester was not the disaster of the Poughkeepsie meeting, For starters, he didn’t lecture the audience for over an hour.

He showed a certain openness to dialogue, though little evidence that anything he heard would change his mind.

He was there to convince parents and educators that he was right about Common Core and high-stakes testing, both of which he advocates.

If he had been listening, he might have backed down and showed some reflection because the audience was clearly not supportive of the Regents’ agenda.

But King and the Regent present engaged in dialogue and will now move on to the next event in the traveling road show.

Opponents of the Regents’ agenda may find that King is doing their work for them in rallying parents and educators against high-stakes testing.

Categories Common Core, New York, Testing

Will Mark NAISON Run for Governor of Néw York?

By dianeravitch
October 27, 2013 //
31

Mark Naison, professor of African American studies at Fordham University and co-foundr of the BATS, is considering throwing his hat into the ring as a write-in candidate for Governor of Néw York.

I would vote for him!

He calls his new party the Restore Recess Party.

Here is his platform:

From: mnaison <mnaison@aol.com

RESTORE RECESS PARTY- NEW YORK STATE- EDUCATION PROGRAM (Draft)

1. Restore Recess. No use of Recess or Physical Education for Test prep
2. Cut the state testing budget in half and use the money to lower class size and fund arts programs, sports programs and school counselors.
3. No Data Sharing. No information about children can be shared with anyone outside of the school district without parental permission
4 Create a new Education Policy Committee to replace the Education Reform Commission, and require it to have a majority of currently active teachers and parents
5. End the use of student test scores in teacher evaluations.
6. Cancel all State Education Contracts with for profit companies
7. Stop all School Closings- Help Schools in Trouble, Don't Close Them
8. End state support for the Common Core Standards- Leave that decision up to each individual school district.
9. Multiply the number of portfolio schools which require no tests at all. Let teachers and parents form them within the public school system, not as charters
10. Bring back vocational and technical education into every school district if parents and teachers support it
11. Withdraw from Race to the Top and take no Federal Funds that require more testing or adoption of Common Core Standards
12. Make sure all schools, especially those in high poverty areas, have strong after school programs.
13, Make Community History welcome in the schools
14. Encourage the creation of school farms and gardens

Mark D Naison
Professor of African American Studies and History
Fordham University

"If you Want to Save America's Public Schools: Replace Secretary of Education Arne Duncan With a Lifetime Educator." http://dumpduncan.org/

Categories New York

NY Principal: “Reforms” Kill Love of Learning

By dianeravitch
October 27, 2013 //
22

Tim Farley is a brave man and a fearless educator. He wrote the following letter and he also testified in a similar vein to State a commissioner King.

Tim Farley is a principal in New York state and his wife Jessica is a teacher. In addition, they are parents of four school-age children. They have been participants in the most disastrous, mandate-driven, top-down experimentation on students, teachers, and administrators in our nation’s history. These experiments demoralize teachers and destroy children’s love of learning. The Farley’s have become so disheartened that they are considering homeschooling their children. Is this the goal of the reformers? Do they want to destroy public confidence in public education? It seems that way.

Tim Farley wrote:

My wife and I are the proud parents of four school aged children. They are in grades K, 3, 5, and 7. I happen to be a building Principal in the district my children attend. I have been in education for 22 years. My wife was a teacher for 12.

The transformational changes to public education over the past few years has been quite alarming, not only from an educator’s perspective, but from a parent’s perspective as well.

We have observed a change in how our children are perceiving their educational experience. A couple of years ago, all of them were excited about school and all the wonderful things they would learn. My wife and I no longer observe this. Our children have lost their love of school.

Every week, at least two of our children have meltdowns over the developmentally inappropriate homework assignments, the poorly worded questions, the amount of homework that comes home, repetitive and inane assignments, etc.

We cast no blame on our children’s teachers. They are the kind of teachers every parent would want for their children. They are doing their jobs to the best of their abilities even though the great majority of teachers knows that the reforms they are implementing are truly harmful to children. However, they have no choice because their jobs are literally at stake. Administrators are terrified to speak out publicly because SED is quick to intimidate those who do not comply with their dictates.

My wife and I cast the blame exactly where it belongs: John King, Merryl Tisch, Andrew Cuomo, Arne Duncan, Barack Obama, Bill Gates, Rupert Murdoch, the Board of Regents, et al.

These corporate reformers did an excellent job in denigrating teachers and the profession. They systematically manufactured a crisis that US schools are not competitive internationally (e.g. – the PISA study, which Dr. Gerald Tirozzi [of NASSP] wrote about, correcting the fallacy that our schools are failing). Our educational system isn’t perfect, but it is far from being in a crisis. Actually, we should be proud of our achievements. But accolades do not sell expensive data systems that deprive our students of their privacy. Accolades do not sell software that “fixes” the students who do not achieve at the same rate as their peers.

My wife and I are quite frankly disgusted. We can no longer tolerate the abuse of our children. We will likely pull our children out of a school district that we hold most dear; a district in which we have made our home for the past nine years. We will likely homeschool our children unless drastic changes to these reforms take place.

My feeling is that we will not be the only parents making a decision of this magnitude. Fortunately, my wife has many years experience as a teacher, so our children will do well. But I feel badly for the parents who would like to do the same thing but due to their individual circumstances cannot.

I’m tired. My wife is tired. My kids are tired. My teachers are tired. When will this insanity end? When will the parents rise up and take back their schools from the billionaires?

Signed,

Tired dad, educator, administrator

Categories Corporate Reformers, New York, Parents, Principals, Students, Teachers

New York Principal Sounds Off at First of King!s New Listening Tours:

By dianeravitch
October 27, 2013 //
32

After Commissioner John King had a disastrous meeting with parents in Poughkeepsie, he canceled his remaining five open meetings. But the Board of Regents decided what was needed was even more meetings, so King is now holding more meetings around the state, though so far not in New York City.

At his first new round of meetings, one principal got up and spoke fearlessly about what was happening in the state. This was his statement:

“Dr. King, My name is Tim Farley, from Kinderhook, NY, and I am the proud father of four school-aged children and I happen to be an educator of 22 years. Since this is now a listening tour, I would like to offer you three suggestions from the field followed by a question.

1. We do not want your corporately-backed Common Core. We don’t like it. We don’t like it as parents and we certainly don’t like it as educators. Common Core has not been properly field tested and we do not want our children used as guinea pigs for one of Bill Gates’ newest whims.

2. We do not want inBloom or any 3rd party vendor to have access to our children’s once private and confidential information. We know it’s now legal because those in power literally changed federal law in 2011 just so they can do what they are currently doing. We demand and immediate cease and desist on this wide-spread data collection and specifically, the now mandated “Data Dashboard”.

3. We demand an end to high stakes testing. It isn’t NYSUT that wants to curtail tying student scores to teachers’ ratings of effectiveness; it is us, the parents. We know that the ratings are meaningless and it is unfair to the students and to the teachers.

Now for my question: We know that the NYS Education Department used SAT scores of 560 in reading, 540 in writing, and 530 in mathematics, as the college readiness benchmarks to help set the “passing” cut scores on the 3-8 NYS Tests. These NYSED scores, totaling 1630, are FAR higher than the College Board’s own “college readiness” proficiency cut scores for students as young as 9 years of age. Why did you anchor the cut scores to 1630 on the SATs instead of the College Board’s 1550? And I have NYSED’s benchmark study here for your reference.

Thank you.”

Categories Common Core, New York, Principals, Testing
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