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NYC Parents and Students Mobilizing for Real Reform

By dianeravitch
March 24, 2013 //
9

As the mayoral election of 2013 approaches, New York City parents and students are speaking up about what is most important to them. They got hold of an old school bus, painted it blue, and are driving around the city to raise awareness among other parents and students.

The article linked here shows how parents and their children are trying to inform voters and the candidates about their opposition to high-stakes testing and their desire for a well-rounded education, including art and music.

The low point of the article–hilarious really–is when a spokesperson for StudentsFirst, which has no roots in New York City, pooh-poohed the parents’ and students’ concerns:

“Ms. Boyd of Students First New York dismissed the bus trip. “A lot of what they’re doing is political theater, rallying parents around issues that are nuanced and complicated with not a lot of explanation, and then going forward saying, ‘Look, these are parents’ issues,’ ” she said.”

Categories Accountability, Bloomberg, Michael, Corporate Reformers, New York City, Parents, Students, StudentsFirst

Open Letter from Parents to NYC Chancellor

By dianeravitch
March 20, 2013 //
16

Parents in NYC called on Chancellor Dennis Walcott to pledge not to use this year’s tests to punish students, teachers, or schools.

Change the Stakes (www.changethestakes.org), an activist group comprised of parents, teachers and teacher educators – argues that this year’s tests are so fundamentally flawed that the scores should not be used. Here’s our letter to the Chancellor:

OPEN LETTER TO CHANCELLOR WALCOTT

By Change the Stakes

March 20, 2013

Dear Chancellor Walcott,

In four weeks, public school children across New York City will begin two weeks of intensive, high-stakes standardized testing. Change the Stakes – an organization of parents and educators committed to replacing such tests with more meaningful forms of assessment – urges you to publicly pledge that scores from this year’s state English Language Arts (ELA) and math tests will not be used to penalize students, teachers or schools. The upcoming testing cycle represents an unprecedented grand experiment: the exams, and the standards on which they are based, are new and untested.

Educators, parents and students alike are painfully aware that this is a “transitional year” in the state testing program. Two years ago, New York State adopted its own version of the new national education standards known as the “Common Core” and this year’s tests are the first to be aligned with them. Not only are the standards new and unproven, the heart of the program – the curriculum – is still being developed. Teachers haven’t been given sufficient time to transition students to the new learning standards, yet children are being tested on them next month anyway.

You yourself acknowledge the serious challenges inherent in using scores from the looming April 2013 exams to assess student performance – and presumably, by extension, the performance of teachers and schools. In a recent letter to parents, you state:

“In past years, decisions about summer school were made based on estimates of each student’s performance level on the State tests: 1, 2, 3, or 4. This year, because the tests are new, we cannot predict how the State will determine performance levels.”

If the purpose of your letter was to reassure parents, you did not succeed. As far as we can tell, the letter has had the opposite effect by setting off alarms among parents who weren’t already focused on the sweeping changes taking place. Another Department of Education (DOE) document developed for parents, Tips for Talking with Your Elementary School Child about the Common Core Standards & Changing State Tests, is even more disturbing: it says that young children should be told to expect school work and tests to be more difficult this year and that feelings of struggle, anxiety and nervousness are common reactions. These new pressures are likely to be particularly onerous for English Language Learners.

In short, the DOE has acknowledged the harmful nature of the abrupt transition to the Common Core – in a year when schools and families also endured a devastating hurricane, a bus strike and a mass elementary school shooting in a nearby community – and yet offers only platitudes about how to help children, parents and educators cope.

Given the poorly managed phase-in of the Common Core and the experimental nature of this year’s assessments, we call for you to immediately and publicly announce that:

§ All student promotion decisions will be made on the basis of a range of indicators, including a review of a substantive portfolio of work representative of a child’s academic progress throughout the year.

§ Teachers will not be evaluated on the results of this year’s tests as the scores are not comparable to last year’s.

§ School Progress Reports, which are almost entirely based on student test scores, will be either suspended or significantly changed to incorporate additional evidence of student achievement. No schools will be closed using this year’s test scores.

§ Parents have a right to opt their children out of the tests, as Deputy Chancellor Shael Polakow-Suransky has publicly stated, and the DOE will put in writing procedures about how to do so.

It is unacceptable for city students, teachers and schools to be judged by the results of these new exams, which are unpredictable by your own admission, especially when other means of assessment already exist.

The time has come for the DOE to finally acknowledge and respond to the growing concerns among public school parents about high-stakes testing. The current direction of policies and practices MUST change.

Sincerely,

The Members of Change the Stakes

http://www.changethestakes.org

Categories New York City, Parents, Testing

Parents Debate How to Opt Out

By dianeravitch
March 14, 2013 //
34

This is part of an email conversation that I received. It is an exchange between two parents:

The first one writes:

“Hello Everyone!

“Well…it is that time of year again…TCAP testing. I really hate this time of year.

“As I have done for the past TEN years for all of my children, I opted my daughter out of the test. I sent my letter to the school district and of course, I am met with anger and tons of letters from the superintendent of Colorado schools saying that it is illegal for me to take my child out of this test. My daughter’s teachers are threatening her that she will be put in all remedial classes next year if she doesn’t take it and I am required to sign something that says I am aware of how wrong my actions are. Last year, my youngest daughter was met with such criticism and animosity that she begged me to take the test so people would leave her alone. Her teachers and the principal were so mean to her that she was afraid to go to school and afraid to not take the test. My youngest daughter has an anxiety disorder which comes with terrible panic attacks. The children are under so much pressure to do well on this test that she is up puking and crying before every testing day. I am so excited to do that again this year. :0(

“My question to all of you is….do you all have to deal with this? Does the admin at the schools that your children attend give you a hard time over this? The people at my kids’ school make me feel like an uneducated ignorant horrible parent. I’m just getting so tired of it and wondered if anyone out there feels the same.”

“Thanks for listening,”

Here is one of the answers she received:

“First of all, I wouldn’t sign a damn thing for that school.

“Secondly, if your child has an anxiety disorder then your child qualifies for a 504 since she has a ‘hidden disability’ under the Americans with Disabilities Act. Ask your child’s therapist and/or pediatrician for medical documentation recommending she not be tested. This is what I have established for my kids and it is written into the 504 they are NOT taking TCAP or any other standardized district, state or national test.

“The school doesn’t bother me.

“Then, I would take my husband, brother or big burly male neighbor with me and tell the principal that if one more person at the school threatens my child you are going to sue and follow that up with a call to the district. Talk to the teachers at conferences and tell them the same thing. Tell them you will sue them individually; it’s child abuse.

“Next, those jerks have to leave school sometime; be waiting for them off school grounds. I saw my son’s ex-principal in Barnes and Noble and she couldn’t get out of that store fast enough when she saw me coming. She knew I’d make a scene and I would have.

“Lastly, tell your story of child abuse to the media and tell the principal and superintendent you’re doing it. Tell the principal and superintendent you’re going to picket outside the school and hand out leaflets telling parents how to refuse testing. Intimidation works both ways.”

Categories Parents, Special Education, Testing

Breaking News: New Group to Oppose Corporate Reforms

By dianeravitch
March 7, 2013 //
38

Dear Friends,

It is time to organize to support our children, our schools, and our educators against the well-funded attacks on them.

Please join me and a group of education leaders from across the country in building a movement for improving and strengthening our schools with research-based reforms, not fads and sanctions.

Today we announce the creation of the Network for Public Education. We invite you to join as an individual. We invite you to join as an organization. We will create a huge social network of parents, students, teachers, administrators, school board members, and all others who believe in public education and sane educational policy that focuses on a full and rich education for all children.

Diane

Here is the press release:

For Immediate Release
March 7, 2013

Contacts:
Anthony Cody, 707-459-2147, 510-917-9231 (cell) Anthony_cody@hotmail.com
Leonie Haimson, 917-435-9329, leonie@classsizematters.org

Today marks the public launch of a new network devoted to the defense and improvement of public education in the US. Led by renowned education historian, Diane Ravitch, the Network for Public Education will bring together grassroots activists and organizations from around the country, and endorse candidates for office, with the common goal of protecting and strengthening our public schools.

Diane Ravitch said, “The Network for Public Education will give voice to the millions of parents, educators, and other citizens who are fed up with corporate-style reform. We believe in community-based reform, strengthening our schools instead of closing them, respecting our teachers and principals instead of berating them, educating our children instead of constantly testing them. Our public schools are an essential democratic institution. We look forward to working with friends and allies in every state and school district who want to preserve and improve public education for future generations.”

Our nation’s schools are at a crossroads. Wealthy individuals are pouring unprecedented amounts of money into state and local school board races, often into places where they do not reside, to elect candidates intent on undermining and privatizing our public schools. The Network for Public Education will collaborate with other groups and organizations to strengthen our public schools in states and districts throughout the nation, share information and research about what works and what doesn’t work, and endorse and grade candidates based on our shared commitment to the well-being of our children, our society, and our public schools. We will help candidates who work for evidence-based reforms and who oppose high-stakes testing, mass school closures, the privatization of our public schools and the outsourcing of core academic functions to for-profit corporations.

Renee Moore, former Mississippi Teacher of the Year, said, “One of the greatest gifts the U.S. has given to the world is the promise of quality public education. It is also an unfulfilled promise. Public education is a critical part of America’s legacy, and the key to our future. We must defend and constantly improve it.”

According to Anthony Cody, retired California teacher and columnist for Education Week: “As a teacher in Oakland I saw the effects of our obsession with tests first hand. Our students are learning less, and losing the chance to think for themselves as we put more and more pressure on them to perform well on tests. It is time for the millions of us who know better to challenge those who have put our schools on this path. This Network will allow us to learn from and support one another as we push for real school change.”

Leonie Haimson, NYC parent advocate and head of Class Size Matters, said: “With all the billionaire cash trying to buy elections, we need to amass people power to ensure that individuals who care about preserving and strengthening our public schools are elected to positions of power. As the recent Los Angeles school board election shows, when we are organized we can overcome the forces of the privateers and the profiteers, intent on pillaging and dismantling our public schools.”

According to Arizona parent activist and director of Voices for Education, Robin Hiller: “No school was ever improved by closing it. Every community should have good public schools, and we believe that public officials have a solemn responsibility to improve public schools, not close or privatize them.”

Dr. Julian Vasquez Heilig of the University of Texas stated “This new network will seek to empower communities nationwide to unite to be more influential than the powerful. The network will also be an important vehicle for the latest data and research on the strengths and weaknesses of reform fads espoused by a multitude of talking heads.”

Phyllis Bush, a retired teacher from Indiana, said “Public schools are under assault in this country. Now more than ever it is imperative that concerned citizens unite to save the public school system. Our group, Northeast Indiana Friends of Public Education, and other grassroots groups helped to elect Glenda Ritz to become our Superintendent of Public Instruction, a huge victory against rampant and destructive education policies. With the creation of the Network for Public Education, we will reach out to others across the nation to fulfill the promise of public education.”

Added board member and Alabama education activist Larry Lee, “From my view, a lot more “ed reform” is because of the love of money, not the love of children. The result is that kids have become a very poor rope in a political tug of war. The only way to turn this tide is with the collective voices of the American public saying, ‘Enough is enough.’”

The Network invites individuals to join as members and welcomes other organizations to become our allies, to fight with us to preserve and strengthen our public schools.

The group’s website is http://www.networkforpubliceducation.org
and the Twitter feed is at https://twitter.com/NetworkPublicEd

###

Categories Closing schools, Parents, Privatization, Support for public schools, Teachers

PTA Mom Explains Why She Marched to Save Public Schools

By dianeravitch
March 1, 2013 //
5

Kim Burkett went to Austin with her children to speak out for public schools and her community.

She noticed there were two different rallies. On one side of the building was a school choice rally, advocating for vouchers, attended by 30 people, including lobbyists.

On the other side were thousands of parents, students, grandparents, and educators.

Read her account. It gives a good portrait of the battle not only in Texas, but in many states.

Categories Parents, Students, Support for public schools, Teachers, Testing, Texas, Vouchers

Parent Leaders in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, Oppose Gulen Charter School

By dianeravitch
February 18, 2013 //
17

Two parent leaders in Lancaster, Pennsylvania–John MGrann and Dennis Deslippe–are organizing opposition to a Gulen charter in their community. The Gulen charters are the largest charter chain in the nation. They are associated with a reclusive Turkish imam who lives in the Poconos but has a powerful political movement in Turkey.

This is their petition:

The application for a new charter school in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, has generated a strong public response in opposition to its approval. On Tuesday, February 19, the school board for the School District of Lancaster in Pennsylvania will conduct a hearing for the Academy of Business and Entrepreneurship Charter School (ABECS), a school which promises to “integrate business and leadership opportunities” and “launch entrepreneurial skills” for students in kindergarten through fourth grade. The lead applicant for ABECS is Sait Onal.

Troubling letters of support

A group of local parents has been working to review the proposed program and curriculum, and to research the background of the charter school’s board members and letters of support. They have serious concerns about the curriculum, but equally troubling are the letters written in support of the charter school, including several which were subsequently withdrawn after these parents started asking questions and raising concerns. The withdrawn letters include:

· One letter, originally written by Harrisburg Area Community College, withdrawn because, “we believe that based on the ongoing public scrutiny and concerns regarding allegations of the organization, we cannot in good faith continue to support the charter application, at this time.”

· Letters from two Pennsylvania non-profit organizations that “promote teaching financial literacy”, withdrawn after a board member was alerted to the letters and discovered that they overstated the organizations’ position. The board member in question is president of the Pennsylvania State Education Association (the statewide teachers’ union) who added in a follow-up letter, “I do not support the development or creation of any new charter schools in Pennsylvania at this time.”

· A letter of support from Lutheran Refugee Services, withdrawn after leadership from that organization’s office in Philadelphia discovered that the lead applicant’s wife, Selma Onal, issued the letter without authorization.

The remaining letters of support include:

· Letters from US Representative Joseph R. Pitts and Pennsylvania State Senator Lloyd Smucker.

· A letter sent from the local office of the Transamerica Agency Network where lead applicant Sait Onal is District Manager, signed by an employee of that office.

· A letter sent from MUDI Farm Export, a business in which the lead applicant Sait Onal is a partner, signed by Onal himself.

· A letter from Godiva Chocolatier / Yildiz Holdings, promising the opportunity for “job shadowing” and “summer internships” at their facility in Reading for the school’s K-4 students. This letter is signed by Murat Ulker, son of deceased Turkish industrialist Sabri Ulker who was a friend of Fethullah Gulen.

· A letter from Etimine USA in Pittsburgh, also promising “job shadowing” and “summer internships” for the school’s K-4 students. This letter is signed by Gokhan Yazici, former Deputy Undersecretary in the Turkish Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources (2002-2004) and former Advisor to the Prime Minister of Turkey (1996-2001). The opposing parent group has noted the absurdity of a summer internship being offered to K-4 students which necessitates a four-hour drive from where they live.

The lead applicant

Sait Onal has repeatedly attempted to establish charter schools in the midstate-Pennsylvania region. In addition to his failed effort with the Lancaster Science Academy (denied in 2008), Onal was part of the group that attempted to start the Capital [sic] Academy of Harrisburg (denied in 2006). The ABECS application closely resembles two other charter school applications that were submitted in Pennsylvania in 2012, for the Allentown Science Academy and the Erie Biosciences Academy.

Although Onal insists that he has no connection to the Gulen movement, his work has appeared in The Fountain, a magazine produced and published by the Gulen Movement which features a lead article by Fethullah Gulen in every issue. In his capacity as president of two NGOs, the Red Rose Intercultural and Educational Foundation and the Turkish Cultural Center of Pennsylvania, Onal has hosted a number of political dignitaries on trips to Turkey, including State Senator Mike Brubaker.

It was while they were in Turkey in April 2011 that Onal accompanied Brubaker to the headquarters of TUKSON, a Turkish business association described by the RAND Corporation in 2008 as the “fourth leg” of the Gulen movement – the other three being its education, media, and interfaith dialogue activities.

Onal has also organized several Turkish Cultural Days at the Pennsylvania State Capitol, one of which was held in May 2011 shortly after the above-mentioned Turkey trip. The afternoon senate session that day was started with prayers by Bekir Aksoy, president of Golden Generation Worship & Retreat Center in Saylorsburg, Pennsylvania. Fethullah Gulen has been living at this center ever since he fled from Turkey in 1999.

The parent group has posted an online petition at http://www.change.org/petitions/school-district-of-lancaster-pa-oppose-the-academy-of-business-and-entrepreneurship-charter-school

Categories Charter Schools, Parents, Pennsylvania, Privatization, Support for public schools

Is the Tide Turning?

By dianeravitch
January 31, 2013 //
11

The Journey for Justice brought civil rights activists from across the nation to Washington, D.C., where they presented their demands to Secretary Duncan.

This is an important development because until now the leaders of the corporate reform movement have called themselves leaders of the “civil rights issue of our times.” This phrase has been bandied about by Joel Klein, Condoleeza Rice, Mitt Romney, Michelle Rhee, Michael Bloomberg, and Arne Duncan, as they applaud the closing of schools in minority communities, attack unions, and privatize public schools.

Now grassroots activists are speaking out in defense of their schools and communities. They are reclaiming the leadership of the civil rights from the 1%. Add to this the determination of the Garfield teachers in Seattle, the student protests in Portland, Oregon, and Providence, Rhode Island.

Something is in the air. Teachers, students. school boards, and parents are beginning to see what is happening, to understand that what is happening in their community is not a local issue but a determined, coordinated effort to privatize their schools.

Spring is coming.

Here is a first-hand account of the events associated with the Journey for Justice:

1/30/13
Dear SOS,
Many activists went to Washington, DC on a “Journey for Justice” to protest the school closings that are targeting our minority students living in impoverished communities.
Hear what transpired and be inspired.

This email came from Jaisal Noor- his coverage of the day

“Parents and Students Demand Nationwide Moratorium on Schools Closings
//”Journey for Justice” activists rally in DC to DOE investigate alleged Civil Rights violations in school closings
link: http://youtu.be/pCGrkb1qc7o

Chicago Parent and Activist Jitu Brown at “Journey for Justice” Hearing in DC
//Part 2 of TRN’s coverage of the “Journey for Justice” DOE Hearing on School Closings
link: http://youtu.be/1PX7y9-GWzI

New Orleans Parent and Activist Karran Harper Royal at “Journey for Justice” Hearing in DC
//Part 3 of TRN’s coverage of the “Journey for Justice” DOE Hearing on School Closings
link: http://youtu.be/c00PWQl8wLk

JAISAL NOOR: PUBLIC SCHOOL PARENTS AND STUDENTS FROM 18 CITIES ACROSS THE COUNTRY GATHERED IN WASHINGTON, DC THIS WEEK TO DEMAND A NATIONWIDE MORATORIUM ON SCHOOL CLOSINGS.
FEDERAL PROGRAMS LIKE RACE TO THE TOP OFFERED FINANCIAL INCENTIVES TO CITIES AND STATES FOR RADICALLY CHANGING THEIR SCHOOLS, INCLUDING FIRING STAFF AND SHUTTING SCHOOLS DOWN. WHILE THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION TOUTED THE COMPETITIVE MULTI-BILLION DOLLAR PROGRAM AS A WAY TO IMPROVE EDUCATION AND BETTER PREPARE STUDENTS FOR COLLEGE AND THE WORKFORCE, MANY PARENTS, STUDENTS AND TEACHERS SAY THE CHANGES ARE DISPROPORTIONATELY AFFECTING LOW-INCOME COMMUNITIES OF COLOR.

(CLIP HELEN MOORE) “I came here to demand, I am demanding an education for our children. We pay the money, we have a right to have our kids educated”

THAT’S HELEN MOORE, A DETROIT EDUCATION ACTIVIST. SHE WAS ONE OF HUNDREDS WHO ATTENDED A HEARING TUESDAY IN WASHINGTON DC CALLING FOR A NATIONAL MORATORIUM ON SCHOOL CLOSINGS. BROWN WAS PART OF A GROUP THAT FILED A TITLE VI CIVIL RIGHTS COMPLAINT LAST SUMMER CHALLENGING THE POLICIES. SHE SAYS SCHOOL CLOSINGS IN DETROIT, A CITY ALREADY MARKED BY HIGH RATES OF UNEMPLOYMENT, VACANT HOUSES AND FORECLOSURES, ARE DESTABILIZING THE COMMUNITY.

(CLIP HELEN MOORE) “The neighborhood start going down as the families start moving out. They don;t want to be told what school to go to because there is no other school.

WHEN A SCHOOL IS CLOSED, THE STUDENT POPULATION OFTEN HAS TO TRAVEL TO A DIFFERENT SCHOOL BUILDING OR RE-APPLY TO GO BACK TO THEIR SCHOOL. ADDITIONALLY, THE STAFF IS OFTEN REPLACED AND RESOURCES ARE REGULARLY CUT, SOMETIMES IN FAVOR OF A CHARTER SCHOOL THAT IS OPENED IN THE SAME BUILDING.

SETH GALANTER IS WITH THE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION’S OFFICE OF CIVIL RIGHTS. HE SAID THEY ARE INVESTIGATING PEOPLE’S CONCERNS AND THE 6 TITLE VI COMPLAINTS THAT WERE FILED:

(CLIP SETH GALANTER)” When we look at these things, i need to emphasize, we cannot deal with every harmful decision that happens. sometimes people are negatively affected, but that doesn’t mean civil rights violation. THe question we are asking is if there’s an intent to discriminate or decision to make an illegal closing. Not only investigate weather to close schools, which schools to close, and how these decision impacted and affect on students. ”

AFTER THE HEARING, HUNDREDS OF PARENTS AND STUDENTS MARCHED TO THE MARTIN LUTHER KING MEMORIAL FOR A RALLY, CONTINUING THEIR CALL FOR JUSTICE. JOEL VELASQUEZ , A PARENT FROM OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA SAYS HE FOUGHT PLANS TO SHUT HIS SON’S SCHOOL BY LEADING A 3-WEEK LONG SIT-IN AT LAKEVIEW ELEMENTARY.

(CLIP JOEL VELASQUEZ) “After a year of trying to meet with officials, superintendent, we were left with no options, we took our school back. ”

HE WAS JOINED AT THE RALLY BY OAKLAND EDUCATOR AND ACTIVIST MIKE HUTCHINSON WHO SAYS SCHOOL CLOSINGS AND INCREASED CHARTER SCHOOLS ONLY TARGET THE CITY’S LOW INCOME COMMUNITIES

(CLIP HUTCHINSON) “If you look at a map of Oakland, we have the flatlands and the hills. In the flatlands, which are less affluent, that’s where all the school closures have happened, thats where all the charters are. There are no school closures and charters in the hills. If charter schools and school closures are the best option I would expect them to be applied across the board, but I haven’t seen that happen”

A DELEGATION FROM NEW ORLEANS, THE CITY WITH THE HIGHEST PROPORTION OF CHARTER SCHOOLS IN THE COUNTRY, ALSO TRAVELED TO DC. STUDENT TERREL MAJOR SAYS HIS PUBLIC SCHOOL GETS LESS RESOURCES THAN THE CHARTER SCHOOL THAT SHARES THE SAME BUILDING.

(CLIP TERREL MAJOR)”Like when the storm Issac came, after we came back from the storm, – their side of the cafeteria- we sit on different sides, their side of the cafeteria and our side was damaged for weeks. It made me feel lesser than, that I didn’t really matter in our own school.”

MAJOR CALLS THAT DISCRIMINATION. DESPITE THE CHALLENGES, SOME ARE ENCOURAGED BY THE GROWING GRASSROOTS MOVEMENT AGAINST SCHOOL CLOSINGS, INCLUDING NEW ORLEANS PARENT AND ACTIVIST KARRAN HARPER ROYAL.

(CLIP KARRAN HARPER ROYAL) I think we are at a turning point because there are people organizing around the country. In Seattle its testing, we are organizing around school closures, there are teachers organizing around evaluation systems. We are at a critical point because we are not getting the desired outcomes. ”

IN ADDITION TO A NATIONWIDE MORATORIUM ON SCHOOL CLOSINGS, ACTIVISTS ARE CALLING FOR SUSTAINABLE SCHOOL TRANSFORMATION, INCREASED RESOURCES AND A COMMUNITY-BASED INPUT PROCESS . ORGANIZERS HAVE VOWED TO RETURN TO WASHINGTON IF THE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION DOES NOT TAKE ACTION. REPORTING FOR THE REAL NEWS AND FSRN, THIS IS JAISAL NOOR IN WASHINGTON.”

—

Melody
Colorado Information Coordinator
Save Our Schools
saveourschoolsmarch.org
http://www.facebook.com/#!/groups/285175064843594/

Categories Charter Schools, Closing schools, Corporate Reformers, Duncan, Arne, Education Industry, Parents, Privatization, Students, Testing, U.S. Department of Education, U.S. education, Unions

Seattle Parents Support Test Boycott

By dianeravitch
January 30, 2013 //
21

A Seattle parent explains why the Garfield teachers have the support of parents like herself.

Hi everyone,

For his first school-library experience in kindergarten, my five-year-old son was not allowed to check out a book. Instead he was placed in front of a computer with a set of headphones and told to take a test for an hour.

That was my family’s introduction to the Measures of Academic Progress (MAP®), a computerized, adaptive test for math and English, administered to Seattle public school children in grades K-9, three times a year since 2009.

Seattle parents were told the test would help teachers inform instruction and lead to personalized teaching for our children. Instead, it has cost our schools weeks in lost class-time and library access, reams of administrative busy work, and as much as $11 million in scarce district funding. It has also proven to be an unreliable tool, and one which our district is seriously misusing.

Seattle public school children are already fed a veritable alphabet soup of tests, beginning in kindergarten – MAP®, MSP, EOC, HSPE, SAT, ACT, and now, tests tied to the Common Core State Standards.

So when the teachers at one of Seattle’s most highly respected schools, Garfield High School, made national news on Jan. 10 by announcing that they will no longer administer the MAP® test, I applauded their courageous act.

Here’s why:

In 2010, a small group of Seattle parents met with the school district’s test administrators. We wanted to know more about this new test. Why did our children have to take it so often, and at such an early age? Was it intended to take so long? Did the district know that libraries were monopolized by MAP-testing for weeks at a time?

We were told that MAP® should take an hour, but kids may take longer; that it is not well suited for kids in grades K-2 because of their limited reading and computer skills; that advanced learners tend to hit the ceiling so it was of limited use for them; and yes, 40 percent of our school libraries were rendered off-limits three times a year because of MAP®.

I also learned that MAP® is not appropriate for English Language Learners or children with special needs, and that the margin of error in 9th grade exceeds the potential margin of growth.

Above all, the test is not aligned to our district’s curriculum, so it is not a relevant or meaningful assessment tool. This is the main – and legitimate – grievance of the Seattle teachers who oppose it, and a good reason for parents to object to it as well.

In fact, almost from the beginning, parents have reported bewildering swings in their children’s MAP® scores. Then in 2012, the vendor, Northwest Evaluation Association, Inc., announced a “recalibration.” It retroactively recalculated Seattle student test scores for three years, changing some by as much as 20 points. Parents jammed the district web site trying to find out what had happened to their children’s scores.

In Seattle, MAP® has morphed into an all-purpose, arbitrary gauge of most everything. The district is using it to determine eligibility for advanced learning programs, to screen fifth-graders for math placement in middle school, and now, in an apparent bait and switch, to evaluate teachers, a purpose for which even vendor, NWEA, has said it is not designed.

MAP® in Seattle has effectively become a high-stakes test.

Endless testing is not the education experience I want for my children, and that is why I have opted my children out of MAP® for the past three years. I want them to become critical and creative thinkers, not subservient test-takers. I don’t want my children or their teachers shackled to a faulty testing product, or any standardized test, for that matter. That is why I support the Garfield teachers. That is why parents and teachers are saying: Enough – and opt out!

Sue Peters is a Seattle Public Schools parent, a founding member of Parents Across America, and the co-founding editor of the Seattle Education Blog.

Categories Parents, Teachers and Teaching, Testing, Washington State

Philadelphians Fight School Closures

By dianeravitch
January 30, 2013 //
2

The School Reform Commission of Philadelphia plans to close 37 schools to save money while opening charter schools.

Parents, students, teachers, and others are fighting back.

The city’s schools have been under state control for the past decade.

The School Reform Commission was urged by management consultants–the Boston Consulting Gtoup–to privatize more schools, even though Philadelphia tried it a decade ago and it didn’t work.

Categories Boston Consulting Group, Charter Schools, Closing schools, Corporate Reformers, Parents, Philadelphia, Privatization, Students

You Are Invited to a Webinar on High Stakes Testing

By dianeravitch
January 24, 2013 //
18

Parents Across America is hosting a Webinar on high stakes testing. Think about joining and meeting some of the leading figures in the opt-out movement.

Let’s Talk: A Webinar on High Stakes Testing and Opting Out

On January 27 at 1:00 PM PST, 3:00 PM Central and 4:00 PM EST, Parents Across America will be hosting an online seminar on high stakes testing and opting out of these tests.

Our guests will be:

Jesse Hagopian, teacher at Garfield High School and part of the MAP test boycott

Shaun Johnson, a former public school teacher, current teacher educator and online radio show co-host of At the Chalk Face who is a founder of United Opt Out National.

Monty Neill, Executive Director of the National Center for Fair & Open Testing (FairTest). Dr. Neill authored Implementing Performance Assessments: A Guide to Classroom School and System Reform, and Testing Our Children: A Report Card on State Assessment Systems, the first comprehensive evaluation of all 50 state testing programs.

Tim Slekar, a former public school teacher and now an associate professor of teacher education. Dr. Slekar is also co-host of At the Chalk Face and a founder of United Opt Out National.

There will be a discussion on:
How high stakes testing got started.
Methods to fairly evaluate a teacher in the classroom.
Opting your student out of high stakes testing, why and how.
What’s happening in Seattle with the MAP test boycott.

Each guest speaker will have an opportunity to talk about these subjects and then it will be opened up for questions and discussion.

There will be a drawing during the webinar for two copies of Pencils Down: Rethinking High-Stakes Testing and Accountability in Public Schools during this webcast thanks to Rethinking Schools.

To sign up for this free event, go to Eventbrite.

Categories Parents, Testing
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