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Debate in Philadelphia: Parent Vs. Privatizer

By dianeravitch
October 13, 2012 //
1

Ken Derstine, a retired teacher and now an advocate for public education, wrote up a commentary on a recent debate in Philadelphia.

Helen Gym, a leading parent activist in Philadelphia, debated Matthew Brouillette of the Commonwealth Foundation about the “parent trigger” on WHYY.

It is funny that a parent has to explain why the “parent trigger” is a bad idea that will diminish the role of parents and hand public schools over to un-accountable charter schools.

Please listen to the debate. Helen Gym is amazing.

She should be invited to appear on Education Nation next year and to speak the next time PBS or CNN or Fox News brings on a privatizer. She has real credibility. She is a public school parent.

Categories Charter Schools, Education Industry, Parent trigger, Parents, Philadelphia, Privatization

Why Teachers Are Demoralized

By dianeravitch
October 6, 2012 //
40

There is this superintendent in a small district in Texas who is brilliant. His name is John Kuhn. He speaks like a giant. He writes like a dream. He says what teachers everywhere are saying, and he says it better than anyone I know.

Read this and thank John Kuhn for being a hero of public education, a hero of teachers, and a hero of students.

Categories Childhood, Pre-K, K, Honor Roll, Parents, Students, Teachers and Teaching

Spread the Word about October 17 Campaign for Our Public Schools!

By dianeravitch
October 6, 2012 //
77

I will write about this every single day from now until October 17.

Please write your thoughts about what needs to change in federal education policy and send a letter to President Obama by that date.

You can write it now and follow instructions here.

Anthony Cody, experienced middle school science teacher and fabulous blogger, has offered to coordinate our campaign to write President Obama on October 17.

We call it the Campaign for Our Public Schools.

Our campaign is meant to include everyone who cares about public education: students, parents, teachers, principals, school board members, and concerned citizens. We want everyone to write the President and tell him what needs to change in his education policies.

Tell your friends about the Campaign. If you have a blog, write about it. Wherever you are, spread the news. Join us.

Here are the instructions:

You can send your letter to Anthony Cody or to this blog.

Or you can send it directly to the White House, with a copy to me or Anthony.

Anthony will gather all the emails sent to him and me and forward them to the White House.

1. Email your letters to anthony_cody@hotmail.com.

2. Or submit them as comments to this blog. You can respond to this post or to any other post on this blog about the October 17 Campaign for Our Public Schools.

All letters collected through these two channels will be compiled into a single document, which will be sent to the White House on Oct. 18.

In ADDITION to this,

3. You can mail copies of your letters through US mail to The White House, 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, 20500

4. You can send them by email from this page: http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/submit-questions-and-comments

If you choose to write or email the White House, please send us a copy so we can keep track of how many letters were sent to the President.

One more thought: when you write to the President, also write to your Senators and Congressman or -woman and to your state legislator and Governor. Send the same letter to them all.

Let’s raise our voices NOW against privatization, against high-stakes testing, against teacher bashing, against profiteering.

Let’s advocate for policies that are good for students, that truly improve education, that respect the education profession, and that strengthen our democratic system of public education.

Let’s act. Start here. Start now.

Join our campaign. Speak out. Enough is enough.

Diane

Categories Accountability, Budget Cuts, Charter Schools, Education Industry, Education Reform, For-Profit, Obama, Parents, Privatization, Race to the Top, Students, Teachers and Teaching, Testing, US Education

Hooray for the Niagara PTA!

By dianeravitch
October 4, 2012 //
17

I hereby place the Niagara (NY) PTA on our honor roll. They are heroes of public education. They stood up for their children, their teachers, their principals, and their local schools.

These smart, independent, thoughtful parents passed an excellent resolution against high-stakes testing and against the state’s untried educator evaluation system, created hurriedly to justify Race to the Top requirements.

Many other PTAs are considering following the lead of the Niagara PTA.

This is democracy at work!

This is the American people telling the state officials, stop the misuse of testing. Stop ruining the education of our children. Stop demoralizing our teachers.

Here is a clear example where an upstate PTA makes more sense than the New York State Board of Regents or the New York State Education Department.

Here is the resolution written and adopted by the Niagara PTA:

Parent Teacher Association Resolution
November 16, 2012
Niagara Region Parent Teacher Association

Background:

There is now more than two decades of scientific research demonstrating that high-stakes testing regimes yield unreliable measures of student learning. Such tests cannot serve as a basis for determining teacher effectiveness. In fact, scientific research shows that high-stakes testing lowers the quality of education. Some of the documented harmful outcomes of high-stakes testing are: “teaching to the test”; narrowed curriculum opportunities; increased emotional distress among children and increased “drop outs”; corruption; the marginalization of both very high performing students and students with special needs; an overall lowering of standards and disregard for individual difference, critical thinking and human creativity. Thus, high-stakes testing has been proven to be an ineffective tool for preparing students for the 21st century.

The intent of this resolution is to ask the State Education Department to suspend its testing program until such time as it can create a new one that reliably measures educational progress without harming children and lowering the quality of education. We need a testing program that helps students and schools, not harms them.

Rationale for Submitting as an Emergency Resolution:

All of the following developments have occurred since April 15, 2012:

• In April, 2012, the New York State Education Department’s testing program’s relationship with Pearson, Inc. produced assessments that were judged by psychometricians, practitioners, parents, and students to be demonstrably flawed instruments, incapable of measuring student learning or teacher effectiveness.
• The New York State Education Department has published numerous memoranda and documents related to assessment and the Common Core Learning Standards, each of which add layers of unprecedented bureaucracy and great uncertainty, proving that there are many aspects of implementation, and the consequences of implementation, that NYSED can’t manage without causing great damage to our schools.
• The research of Walter Troup, of the University of Texas, and others, has demonstrated that the methodology used by Pearson to create the New York State assessments renders them “virtually useless at measuring the effects of classroom instruction” (New York Times, July 28, 2012).
• The United States Department of Education has granted the New York State Education Department a waiver from the requirements of No Child Left Behind (May 29, 2012), which technically lifts the federal testing mandate in grades 3 – 8. Finally, school districts have been informed as recently as September 19, 2012, that more field testing is necessary this October, requiring more testing and less learning.
• As of September, 2012, the curriculum associated with the Common Core Learning Standards still has not yet been fully developed (NYSED continues to ask vendors to write is curriculum modules), nor has it been has not been implemented fully in any part of the United States or New York State so that it’s effects on students can be measured or researched.
• To date, there has been no trial or testing to verify effectiveness of this student testing and teacher evaluation system, and no research to show that holding students or teachers accountable to the Common Core Learning Standards has been proven to increase the effectiveness of either.
• The Chicago teacher’s strike was a crisis that was primarily focused on the inappropriate role of standardized testing in evaluating students and linking these tests to teacher annual professional performance reviews. We should be aware of the very real possibility that the numerous controversies, implementation issues, and confusion may well cause considerable disruptions to the important work of educating our children.
• Why would we spend millions of dollars and subject children to another year of emotional distress when it has been determined that these high stakes tests yield no useful information?

Therefore we submit the following resolution:

1. WHEREAS, dating back to 1865, the New York State assessment program was historically a successful collaborative effort involving teachers, administrators and college and university faculty resulting in assessments that measured the efficacy of locally developed curricula in helping students meet state learning standards and yielded data that informed teaching and learning; and, the future well-being of each community in New York State relies on a high-quality public education system that prepares all students for college, careers, citizenship and lifelong learning, and strengthens the nation’s social and economic well-being; and

2. WHEREAS, the New York State PTA supports the health and well being of all children, and has voiced its concern regarding government over reliance on testing, stating that it has “tipped the balance of objectives, tasks, and assessments heavily toward standardized tests” resulting in consequences that can have a “profound impact on students, schools, and the community”, including subjecting students to “drill and kill” test preparation and less focus on curricular areas likely to develop the “whole child”; and

3. WHEREAS, when parents were asked about the high-stakes standardized testing and its negative effects for students from all backgrounds, and especially for low-income students, English language learners, children of color, and those with disabilities in a recent survey of 8,000 parents in New York State, it was found that 75% reported that their child was more anxious in the month before a test, and 80% reported that test preparation prevented their child from engaging in meaningful school activities. Sixty five percent of parents felt that too much time was devoted to test preparation, and 87% of them believed that too much time was being devoted to standardized testing. Ninety five percent of parents were opposed to increasing the number and length of tests causing many informed families to “opt out” of all New York State assessments; and

4. WHEREAS, all schools and school districts in New York State have been spending growing amounts of time, money and energy on high-stakes standardized testing to comply with state and federal accountability systems, in which student performance on standardized tests is inappropriately used to measure individual student progress and teacher effectiveness, which undermines educational quality and equity in U.S. public schools by hampering educators’ efforts to focus on the broad range of learning experiences that promote the innovation, creativity, problem solving, collaboration, communication, critical thinking and deep subject-matter knowledge that will allow students to thrive in a democracy and an increasingly global society and economy; and

5. WHEREAS, it is widely recognized that standardized testing, in particular the New York State assessments developed by Pearson, Inc. and administered to children in grades 3 – 8 in April of 2012, provided no data that will help teachers improve their instruction for children, and were judged by assessment experts, school administrators, teachers, and families to be invalid and unreliable instruments to judge student learning or teacher performance, and are damaging the culture and structure of the systems in which students learn, including narrowing the curriculum, teaching to the test, reducing love of learning, pushing students out of school, driving excellent teachers out of the profession, inhibiting the ability of schools to foster engaging school experiences that promote joy in learning, depth of thought and breadth of knowledge for students necessary for student success; and

therefore be it

RESOLVED, that the New York State Parent Teacher Association calls on Andrew Cuomo, Governor of the State of New York, the Board of Regents of the State University of New York, and Dr. John B. King, Jr., Commissioner of the State Education Department to enact a moratorium on policies that force New York State public schools to rely on high-stakes testing due to the fact that there is no convincing evidence that the pressure associated with high-stakes testing leads to any important benefits to student achievement; and be it

RESOLVED, that the New York State Parent Teacher Association calls on Andrew Cuomo, Governor of the State of New York, the Board of Regents of the State University of New York, and Dr. John B. King, Jr., Commissioner of the State Education Department to end its agreement with Pearson, Inc. and return to the inclusive practice of assessment design that included teachers and administrators, and engaged the college and university academic community, resulting in the development of tests that effectively measured each district’s progress in helping students meet state standards using their own locally developed curricula and will provide practitioners with data that can be used to improve teaching and learning; and be it

RESOLVED, that the New York State Parent Teacher Association calls on Andrew Cuomo, Governor of the State of New York, the New York State Senate and Assembly and Dr. John B. King, Jr., Commissioner of the State Education Department to eliminate the requirement that 40 % of teacher and principal evaluations be based on New York State Assessments and an impractical and unproven Student Learning Objective(SLO) testing model, to develop a system of Annual Professional Performance Review which does not require extensive standardized testing, and requires districts to document that their Annual Professional Performance Review Process assesses the progress of each teacher in meeting the New York State Teaching Standards using multiple measures of teaching performance.

-END-
CONCLUSION : Given the Mission and purpose of the PTA which clearly states that the PTA is: “A powerful voice for all children, a relevant resource for families and communities, and a strong advocate for the education and well-being of every child.” We believe it is our duty and responsibility to be a voice and advocate for our children and our schools.
REFERENCES
For a general overview of standardized testing technology and the issues associated with high-stakes testing, See Daniel Koretz, Measuring Up: What Educational Testing Really Tells Us. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2008; and George Madaus, Michael K. Russell, and Jennifer Higgins, The Paradoxes of High-stakes Testing: How They Affect Students, Their Parents, Teachers, Principals, Schools, and Society. Charlotte, N.C.: Information Age Pub., 2009.

The following studies and research briefs caution against using student test scores to evaluate teachers: Peter Schochet and Hanley S. Chiang, Error Rates in Measuring Teacher and School Performance Based on Student Test Score Gains. U.S Department of Education (NCEE 2010-4004), July 2010. Available online: http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/pubs/20104004/pdf/20104004.pdf; Tim Sass, “The Stability of Value-Added Measures of Teacher Quality and Implications for Teacher Compensation Policy.” In Brief 4. Washington, DC: Urban Institute, November 2008. Available online: http://www.urban.org/publications/1001266.html; the following report represents the views of nationally leading education experts: Eva Baker et al. “Problems with the Use of Student Test Scores to Evaluate Teachers.” Washington, DC: Economic Policy Institute, August 29, 2010. Available online: http://www.epi.org/publication/bp278/. Note as well the letter sent by the National Research Council to the U.S. Department of Education warning it about the limits of so-called “value-added measures” of teacher effectiveness. See: http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=12780#

For a general overview of the relationship between high-stakes testing and corruption, see Sharon Nichols, Sharon Lynn, and David C. Berliner, Collateral Damage: How High-Stakes Testing Corrupts America’s Schools. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Education Press, 2007.

Research continues to draw a link between dropping out of school and high-stakes testing, see: Elizabeth Glennie, Kara Bonneau, Michelle Vandellen, and Kenneth A. Dodge, “Addition by Subtraction: The Relation Between Dropout Rates and School-Level Academic Achievement.” Teachers College Record 114, no. 8 (2012): 1-26., and Martin Carnoy, “Have State Accountability and High-Stakes Tests Influenced Student Progression Rates in High School?”, Educational Measurement: Issues and Practice 24, no. 4 (2005): 19-31. That high-stakes testing lowers the quality of instruction and narrows the curriculum to what is tested has long been documented, see, for example, Linda McNeil’s, Contradictions of School Reform: Educational Costs of Standardized Testing. New York: Routledge, 2000; Recent research on high-stakes testing and gifted students is reviewed here: Tonya Moon, “Myth 16: High-Stakes Tests Are Synonymous With Rigor and Difficulty,” Gifted Child Quarterly 53, no. 4 (2009): 277-279.

Recent work continues to reveal a limited relationship between test scores and economic performance, e.g., Henry Levin, “More Than Just Test Scores,” Prospects: Quarterly Review of Comparative Education, 137 August 20012. Available online at http://roundtheinkwell.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/more-than-just-test-scores-sept2012-2.pdf

A growing body of research documents the role of high-stakes testing in causing teachers to leave the field. See for example, Daniel Sass, Belinda Flores, Lorena Claeys, and Bertha Pérez, “Identifying Personal and Contextual Factors that Contribute to Attrition Rates for Texas Public School Teachers.” Education Policy Analysis Archives 20, no. 15 (2012): 1-25.

See: David Berliner, “Our Impoverished View of Educational Reform,” Teachers College Record 108, no. 6 (2006): 949-95.

WHEREAS 2

• NYS PTA Where We Stand Position Paper on Standards, Testing and the Whole Child
• Recent work continues to reveal a limited relationship between test scores and economic performance, e.g., Henry Levin, “More Than Just Test Scores,” Prospects: Quarterly Review of Comparative Education, 137 August 2012. Available online at http://roundtheinkwell.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/more-than-just-test-scores-sept2012-2.pdf
• For a general overview of the relationship between high-stakes testing and corruption, see Sharon Nichols, Sharon Lynn, and David C. Berliner, Collateral Damage: How High-Stakes Testing Corrupts America’s Schools. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Education Press, 2007.

WHEREAS 3

• http://www.fairtest.org/sites/default/files/HowTestsDamageEd.pdf
• http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/post/what-parents-say-testing-is-doing-to-their-kids/2012/05/30/gJQABJCz2U_blog.html
• Research Regarding Test Anxiety:
• Ryan, K. E., Ryan, A. M., Arbuthnot, K., & Samuels, M. (2007). Students’ motivation for standardized math exams. Educational Researcher, 36(1), 5-13.

• Zohar, D. (1998). An additive model of test anxiety: Role of exam-specific expectations. Journal of Educational Psychology, 90(2), 330-340.

• Jones, M., Jones, B. D., Hardin, B., Chapman, L., Yarbrough, T., & Davis, M. (1999). The impact of high-stakes testing on teachers and students in North Carolina. Phi Delta Kappan, 81(3), 199-203.

• Carter, E. W., Wehby, J., Hughes, C., Johnson, S. M., Plank, D. R., Barton-Arwood, S. M., & Lunsford, L. B. (2005). Preparing adolescents with high-incidence disabilities for high-stakes testing with strategy instruction. Preventing School Failure, 49(2), 55-62.

• Paris, S. G. (2000). Trojan horse in the schoolyard. Issues In Education, 6(1/2), 1.
WHEREAS 4

• For a general overview of standardized testing technology and the issues associated with high-stakes testing, See Daniel Koretz, Measuring Up: What Educational Testing Really Tells Us. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2008; and George Madaus, Michael K. Russell, and Jennifer Higgins, The Paradoxes of High-stakes Testing: How They Affect Students, Their Parents, Teachers, Principals, Schools, and Society. Charlotte, N.C.: Information Age Pub., 2009.
• http://www.mcte.org/journal/mej07/3Henry.pdf
• Baines, L. A., & Stanley, G. (2004). High-stakes hustle: Public schools and the new billion dollar accountability. Educational Forum, The, 69(1), 8-15.
• Behrent, M. (2009). Reclaiming our freedom to teach: Education reform in the Obama era. Harvard Educational Review, 79(2), 240-246.
• Johnson, D. D., & Johnson, B. (2002). High stakes: Children, testing, and failure in American schools. New York: Rowman & Littlefield.
• Keefe, J. W., & Jenkins, J. M. (2005). Personalized instruction. Phi Delta Kappa Fastbacks, 1-2, 7-49
• Popham,James,W (2001), The Truth about Testing, Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development,Alexandria, VA

WHEREAS 5

• The following studies and research briefs caution against using student test scores to evaluate teachers: Peter Schochet and Hanley S. Chiang, Error Rates in Measuring Teacher and School Performance Based on Student Test Score Gains. U.S Department of Education (NCEE 2010-4004), July 2010. Available online: http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/pubs/20104004/pdf/20104004.pdf; Tim Sass, “The Stability of Value-Added Measures of Teacher Quality and Implications for Teacher Compensation Policy.” In Brief 4. Washington, DC: Urban Institute, November 2008. Available online:

• A growing body of research documents the role of high-stakes testing in causing teachers to leave the field. See for example, Daniel Sass, Belinda Flores, Lorena Claeys, and Bertha Pérez, “Identifying Personal and Contextual Factors that Contribute to Attrition Rates for Texas Public School Teachers.” Education Policy Analysis Archives 20, no. 15 (2012): 1-25.

• Barksdale-Ladd, M., & Thomas, K. F. (2000). What’s at stake in high-stakes testing: Teachers and parents speak out. Journal of Teacher Education, 51(5-), 384-97.
http://go.galegroup.com.ezproxy.niagara.edu/ps/retrieve.do?sgHitCountType=None&sort=DA-SORT&inPS=true&prodId=AONE&userGroupName=nysl_we_niagarau&tabID=T002&searchId=R1&resultListType=RESULT_LIST&contentSegment=&searchType=AdvancedSearchForm&currentPosition=1&contentSet=GALE|A66664668&&docId=GALE|A66664668&docType=GALE&role=&docLevel=FULLTEXT

• Baines, L.A., & Stanley, G.K. (2004). High-stakes hustle: Public schools and the new billion dollar accountability. The Educational Forum, 69(1), 8-15.
• Berliner, D. (2011). Rational responses to high stakes testing: The case of curriculum narrowing and the harm that follows. Cambridge Journal of Education, 41(3), 287.
• Bracey, Gerald,W (2002) ,The War Against America’s Public Schools, Allyn & Bacon A Pearson Company,Boston MA

• Hursh, D. (2005). The growth of high-stakes testing in the USA: Accountability, markets and the decline in educational equality. British Educational Research Journal, 31(5), 605-622.
http://web.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.niagara.edu/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=9&hid=126&sid=3abc620f-8a26-4b3f-a827-9efd52fc6e45%40sessionmgr113

• McNeil, L., Coppola, E., Radigan, J., & Heilig, J. (2008). Avoidable Losses: High-Stakes Accountability and the Dropout Crisis. Education Policy Analysis Archives, 16(3), 1-48.

Click to access EJ800872.pdf

Categories Education Reform, Honor Roll, New York, Parent Groups, Parents, Testing

A Parent’s Letter to President Obama

By dianeravitch
October 3, 2012 //
26

This came from a parent in California, who revised my draft:

Submitted on 2012/10/03 at 6:02 pm
I second the motion for a similar letter coming from parents. Here’s my draft…

***

Dear President Obama,

We assume you know that there are many thousands, perhaps hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions of parents, who are disappointed in your education policies.

We assume you know that some will vote for you reluctantly, some will vote for a third party candidate, and some will not vote at all. Our votes will make a difference.

Given the choice between you and Mitt Romney, who seems to view public education with contempt, we want to help you win back the hearts and mind of teachers and parents.

Here are ways to do that.

Please, sir, stop talking about rewarding and punishing teachers. As a parent, I wish for my children to be taught by a well paid professional, not a piece-worker in some factory. I wish for teachers who are managed by experienced, qualified principals and administrators, not given top-down contrived hurdles to jump over.

Please, sir, stop encouraging the privatization of public education. Many studies demonstrate that charters don’t get better results than public schools unless they exclude low-performing children. Public schools educate all children. Charters are tearing our communities apart, pitting parent against parent and created a “them versus us” situation in what were once tight neighborhoods.

Please, sir, speak out against the spread of for-profit schools. These for-profit schools steal precious tax dollars to pay off investors. Those resources belong in the classroom. The for-profit virtual schools get uniformly bad reviews from everyone but Wall Street. In business, what’s bad for your competitor is great for you. The “competition” your policy is fostering is of the typical corporate “cut-throat” variety. It gives private companies incentives to destroy our public schools. Charter school supporters in my town have fought against funding for public schools because the worse it is for our public schools the better it is for their charter school. This is madness.

Please, sir, withdraw your support from the failed effort to evaluate teachers by the test scores of their students. The American Educational Research Association and the National Academy of Education issued a joint paper saying that such methods are inaccurate and unstable. Teachers get high ratings if they teach the easiest students, and low ratings if they teach the most challenging students. I don’t want my children growing up only knowing how to fill in little bubbles. I don’t what my children growing up never learning the things I learned in school because they aren’t on the test.

Please, sir, stop closing schools and firing staffs because of low scores. Low scores are a reflection of high poverty, not an indicator of bad schools or bad teachers. Insist that schools enrolling large numbers of poor and minority students get the resources they need to succeed. I am lucky and my children are easy–they don’t need as much resources to teach as the less fortunate do.

Please, President Obama, recognize that your policies are demoralizing teachers. Many are leaving the profession. Young people are deciding not to become teachers. Your policies are ruining a noble profession. I don’t want my children taught by “what is left over”.

President Obama, we want to support you on November 6.

Please give us reason to believe in you again.

I am a parent.

/signed,

Unapprove | Reply | Quick Edit | Edit | History | Spam | Trash

Categories Obama, Parents

Parent to Teachers: Speak Up!

By dianeravitch
October 3, 2012 //
50

This parent in Connecticut is furious that teachers didn’t tell her that the testing had gotten excessive. They didn’t tell her what the overuse and misuse of testing was doing to her children. She understands that they were just doing their job, but she wants them to stand up and shout that what’s happening is wrong. This is a terrific letter. Once the parents and the students begin to understand what is happening, there will be a grand alliance to take back our schools and rebuild education for the benefit of students and our society:

With all due respect to teachers–I’ve been hearing whispered rumblings from educators for at least 8 years (since my oldest entered public schools) that teachers knew/know these tests are a load of crap. Teachers SHOULD have been speaking up louder a long time ago. Look what silence/fear/going-along/intimidation has resulted in for a generation of our children. Instead of hearing whispered, whimpy rumblings, parents should have been hearing forceful denunciations of these useless tests a long time ago. Parents are not in the classroom every day. Parents have no idea how bad these tests are unless teachers make them aware. At least where I live (Connecticut), that wasn’t the case. In fact, the few times I’ve tried to bring up the subject in the past I got averted eyes and a changing of the subject. I get it–this is your livelihood and you have administration to worry about. But these are our KIDS we’re talking about here. Water under the bridge now, I suppose. But now is the time to make up for lost time. Now is the time to speak up forcefully and DEMAND a change to better practices. And if your unions aren’t supporting you in this THEY SHOULD BE. Union management works for YOU. If they aren’t leading the fight in this, hold them accountable!

Categories Connecticut, Parents, Teachers and Teaching, Testing, Unions

The State Assessment Is Useless

By dianeravitch
October 3, 2012 //
6

This parent did not permit his child to take the state test. She opted out. But through a computer glitch (surprise, surprise!), the parent received a report on the assessment that his child did not take. As he looked at the component parts, he was reaffirmed in his conviction that the test is utterly meaningless.

The test was given in May, but the results arrive in September. What is the value of that? And there are no examples of test questions that a student was able to answer or not able to answer. In fact, none of the information on the report was informative.

His conclusion: Opt out. Don’t let your child take the tests.

Categories Accountability, New York, Parents, Students, Testing

A Visit to Austin, Texas

By dianeravitch
October 2, 2012 //
7

I just concluded an amazing visit to Austin.

I love going back to Texas. It’s my native state. I am a graduate of the Houston public schools. I like the sounds of Texas voices. I like the twang, the earthiness. These are the accents I grew up with.

I like meeting with racially integrated groups. I attended segregated schools in Houston. I’m proud that public education led the way in creating a racially diverse society, a society where people of all colors interact as equals.

I like the friendliness and openness, the lack of pretense and stuffiness that characterizes Texans. I have lived most of my life in New York City, but my heart belongs to this crazy state.

I arrived on Saturday and was met by Sara Stevenson, the tireless librarian at O’Henry Middle School, who has written many opinion pieces and letters to the editor in support of public education. Sara brought me to my hotel, where I met Karen Miller, a vigorous parent leader from Cypress-Fairbanks, who frequently sends me links to important news articles about corporate raiders of public education. It’s people like Sara and Karen who are the front-line combat troops defending our public schools, and they do it out of a fierce devotion to the common good, a sentiment that corporate reformers don’t understand. People like Sara and Karen are our secret weapons.

After an hour of rest (tweeting and blogging), I met two of the “fighting professors” of the University of Texas, Angela Valenzuela and Carolyn Heinrich. These scholars have been warning about the inequity of high-stakes testing for years, and their careful work will eventually turn the tide against the high-stakes mania. (By coincidence–or not–Sandy Kress, the architect of NCLB and now a lobbyist for Pearson, had an opinion piece in the local newspaper extolling the success of NCLB. He and Margaret Spellings may be the last two living defenders of that failed law.)

Saturday night, I had dinner with about forty superintendents from across the state who told me how frustrated they are with high stakes testing, how much time is wasted every year. A group of them have been working for several years on what they call their “visioning project.” Working with Phil Schlechty, they’ve been trying to dream up the kind of education they want for the children in their districts.

Last year, the Legislature passed a law allowing 20 districts to opt out of the state accountability system, which gets more onerous every year. The legislators just keep piling on more and more tests. The superintendents plan to use their autonomy to reinvent accountability and reduce the burden of testing.

Phil Schlechty gave a passionate five-minute talk about how our idea of democracy depends on the connection between the community and its public schools. He warned that if we lose public education, our democracy will be at risk. Phil also talked about his grandson, who made a video for school on “the value of doing nothing. The value of lying on your back and looking at clouds. The value of watching a caterpillar crawl on a branch. The value of counting the leaves on a tree.” Beautiful.

On Sunday morning, I spoke to a general session of the annual convention of the Texas School Boards Association and the Texas Association of School Administrators. More than 800 school boards have passed resolutions against high-stakes testing. I encouraged them to stand strong and to carry their righteous protest to the next level.

I asked, What if an entire district said to the state, we are not giving the tests this year? If the whole district says no, they can’t stop you. What if many districts opt out? If everyone does it, they can’t punish you. They-the legislators and other officials–will have to pay attention. They will have to stop and think of better ways to monitor the progress of education.

There is power in saying “no.” The more people say it, the more powerful it is. Texans have a long history of independence. Texans don’t like to be bullied. I would love to see a bunch of districts try it.

Sunday afternoon, I spoke to an enthusiastic crowd of parents and teachers at Eastside Memorial High School. The district has already promised to give the high school to a charter chain, and the community is furious. They didn’t ask for a charter, and they don’t want to lose their school. They are angry about the way the Broad-trained superintendent of the Austin Independent School District insisted on giving their local elementary school to the same charter chain, over the loud objection of the parents and local community. AISD was not responding to local demand (most of the local students abandoned the school when the charter opened last month). The locals are still angry, and they intend to hold onto the high school if they can.

Austin has several activist groups that are working to stop the encroachment of privately managed charters into the district. They are mobilized to elect school board members in November who will support community sentiment in favor of public schools.

Sunday night I went for Texas barbecue with local parent leaders.

Monday morning, I met with legislative staff to discuss the big issues in Texas. One is funding: the state cut $5.4 billion from the schools in the past two years. Another is the growth of online for-profit charter schools, which take public dollars with minimal accountability and poor results.

I ended my visit with an interview by Evan Smith before a live audience, on his PBS show “Overheard.” Wonderful audience, great questions, a good opportunity to address issues that are important to Texas and the nation.

I had a wonderful time in Austin, experienced a whirlwind of activity, and enjoyed the chance to meet so many people who care about children and our future.

Diane

Categories Parents, Privatization, Ravitch, Diane, Testing, Texas

New Jersey Parent to Daniel Barnz: You Lied

By dianeravitch
September 30, 2012 //
10

Darcie Cimarusti blogs under the name “Mother Crusader.”

She is a parent activist in New Jersey who joined the battle to save her community’s public schools from privatizers.

She was one of the parents who protested outside the opening of “Won’t Back Down” in New York City.

In interviews and articles, the film’s director Daniel Barnz made condescending comments about the parents. He said that they didn’t know what they were protesting against. He claimed they were misinformed.

Mother Crusader calls out Barnz for slandering her and her fellow parents. She knew why she was protesting. She saw the movie. She was not ignorant, misled or misinformed.

The parent protesters are in fact, as Darcie shows, very well informed about the film and its political message, even if its director is not. He comes across as a political naif.

Was Barnz unaware that the “parent trigger” is heavily promoted by rightwing groups like ALEC? Was Barnz ignorant of the political agenda of his billionaire producer, Philip Anschutz, owner of Walden Media? Did he know nothing of Anschutz’s political activism, his funding of anti-gay initiatives in Colorado and California, his hostility to unions, his antagonism to public education, his anti-environmental hydro-fracking business, his contributions to rightwing think tanks? Five minutes on the Internet would have informed Barnz.

Who is misinformed? Not Mother Crusader, and not the other parents who picketed Barnz’s movie. The best one can say about Daniel Barnz is that he is misinformed.

Categories ALEC, Parent trigger, Parents

Who Gets to Pull the Trigger?

By dianeravitch
September 28, 2012 //
8

Rightwing think tanks, ALEC, and the big corporations are excited about the idea of parents “seizing control” of public schools and handing them over to private corporations. But this parent wonders who will be allowed to pull the trigger and who will be left behind:

….. who does and does not have “trigger rights”? My children went to the public schools but have since graduated. Do I still have trigger rights, or did I lose them when my youngest child graduated? Conversely, if your children are not yet school-age do you get a say because any decision will affect your children when they reach school-age? Do people with more children get more votes? Do parents who do not pay property taxes lose their trigger rights? It seems somewhat unfair to make this decision based on a single year, so maybe there should be a vote before each school year begins. Do teachers get a say? What about nurses, social workers, guidance counselors, custodians, and administrators? Do they only get a say if they live in town?

And, OMG, I almost forgot…we definitely need to enact stringent picture ID requirements before trigger voting. I have a driver’s license, but I know one young teacher who does not (she grew up in a big city). Should she apply for a hunting license? If that trigger is pulled, what does the new charter get to keep from our former public school? There are several murals painted by students in years past (my son helped with one). Do they have the right to paint over the murals? So many questions…

Categories Parent trigger, Parents
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