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How Test-Based Reform Will Ruin Lives and Our Society

By dianeravitch
March 1, 2014 //
135

Time to be data-driven!

Carol Burris decided it was time to test the extravagant claims of the New York Board of Regents and Commissioner John King by checking the numbers.

The Regents and King made a grand pretense of delaying the date when the Common Core tests will be used for graduation. It is all a charade, she writes.

Consider what would have happened if they had used the Common Core tests as graduation standards this year:

“If these scores were used last year, the New York four-year graduation rate would have dropped from 74 percent to 34 percent. But even that awful rate would not be evenly spread across student groups. A close look demonstrates just how devastating the imposition of the Common Core scores would be for our minority, disadvantaged and ELL students, as well as our students with disabilities.

“The Percentage of 2013 4-Year Grads who earned the Common Core “pass” scores (required for students who enter high school in 2018)

“Low SES (socioeconomic status) students – 20 percent

“Students with Disabilities – 5 percent

“English Language Learners – 7 percent

“Black students – 12 percent

“Hispanic students – 16 percent

“Even if we project 10 years forward, given the expected incremental increases in test scores, far too many students will not earn a high school diploma. A full doubling (and in some cases a tripling) of rates for the above groups of students would not approach an acceptable outcome. We would be taking already too low graduation rates and making them far worse.”

Despite the inflated and misleading claims that Common Core would advance civil rights, the numbers show that the poorest and neediest children not only fall farther behind but the achievement gap grows larger. How will our society prepare for the huge failure rates that the Common Core seems sure to generate?

Burris shows that students in New York persist longer in college than students in top-rated Massachusetts.

Test-based reform is a failure. High school grades matter far more than standardized tests.

She concludes:

“This should come as no surprise. Student grades reflect not only classroom learning, but also work ethic, cooperation and attendance —the stuff that really matters for later life success. How do we increase those behaviors while using sensible accountability systems—that is the right road to travel.

“If our destination is to make all of our students college and career ready, we need to open doors for students, not shut them with sorting and punitive testing. Creating unreasonable graduation standards that will marginalize and exclude our most at-risk students while we implement untested standards linked to high-stakes testing, will not get us where we want to be. It is a road on which too many students will be lost.”

Categories Common Core, Graduation rates, Students

Who Is the Man Funding the Vergara Trial?

By dianeravitch
February 26, 2014 //
11

David Welch is a Silicon Valley entrepreneur who is spending millions of dollars in legal fees to try to strip teachers of any due process rights or job security.

Who is he and who are his allies?

This investigative report provides some answers, though no one can truly explain the animus towards teachers that blames them for poverty, inequitable funding, large classes, poor leadership, racism, incompetent administrators, and myriad factors beyond their control. Even the most expert, dedicated teachers will lose if Welch wins.

Categories California, Poverty, Students, Teacher Evaluations, Teachers and Teaching

Obama Invites Dr. James Comer to Join Advisory Panel

By dianeravitch
February 25, 2014 //
32

This is really good news.

President Obama appointed famed Yale child psychologist Dr. James Comer to join an advisory panel, where he will be

 

“one of 15 appointees to a new President’s Advisory Commission on Educational Excellence for African Americans.

The commission is tasked with “improving educational outcomes for African Americans to ensure that all African Americans receive an education that prepares them for college, productive careers, and satisfying lives.”

Comer said he will stress to the committee the central importance of child development in helping disadvantaged minority kids succeed.

“The modern school reform movement that focuses on math and reading,” Comer said, “misses what schools are about. Schools are to prepare students to be successful in life.”

 

Dr. Comer has devoted his career to helping children by focusing on their social and emotional development and their relationship to their family and community.

He is not an admirer of the punitive stress of high-stakes testing, which harms children’s development. Dr. Comer understands that Race to the Top ignores what matters most in healthy child development.

Here is hoping that the President and his advisors take the sage advice of Dr. Comer.

Categories Education Industry, Students, Testing

The Vergara Case and Other People’s Children: A Teacher’s View

By dianeravitch
February 25, 2014 //
31

The Vergara trial in Los Angeles prompted this National Board Certified Teacher to reflect on the power dynamics in LAUSD. And how it affects the students. The trial is funded by a very wealthy tech entrepreneur whose legal team claims that due process rights for teachers denies the civil rights of minority students because it is harder to fire teachers if they get a hearing. Superintendent John Deasy testified for the plaintiffs who are suing his districts because he says he can’t fire ineffective teachers.

The classroom teacher wrote this commentary on the trial and the issues:

“The Vergara case is truly the epicenter of everything wrong with the direction of American public education.

“Sorry in advance for this long post, but this case connects a lot of dots…from my classroom in Los Angeles…to Wall Street…to The White House.

“The words in this case are twisted in Orwellian ways, where a term like “Civil Rights” gets to be used by the oppressors instead of those trying to liberate kids from their dictums.

“Teaching in the Los Angeles Unified School District is an exercise in futility these days. Watching this court case unfold with its Trojan Horse arguments about the best education for students is like hearing the 1% argue that what the financial system needs is less regulation so that the poor people of the country can be free to achieve their American Dream.

“Their words are all about “liberty” and “justice” and “equality”, but it is obvious who reaps the benefits of those terms.

“It is no coincidence that our District Superintendent John Deasy, was the first witness called to testify against the teachers of his own district.

“He knew that he had the backing of the very rich benefactors who have paved his life in education. He keeps winning because there is no realistic way to challenge his authority.

“The Editorial Board of the LA TIMES, like the Editorial Boards of papers like The Washington Post, The New York Times and The Chicago Tribune are enamored by this sort of superintendent–a man who is brought in to kick teachers’ whining butts and bring up test scores. The cosmetic nature of HOW they do it is apparent to anyone who looks at it.

“They have lowered graduation requirements and (as in our school) have brought in empty BS “Advisory” classes that the kids can get full credit for attending (that’s 40 additional credits after four years!!!) so that graduation rates can be boosted. No one is going to do an in depth analysis of this because the public wants results! Arne Duncan can give a big hooray for Deasy and company because the graduation figures are going up! Numbers don’t lie!

“Are our kids “smarter” because John Deasy is our superintendent? No. The pedagogy that Deasy believes in is small-minded and literal. If a teacher in LA is doing great things in his or her classroom, the chances are it’s IN SPITE of the District, not because of it. The only true education emphasis that Deasy champions is the same one that most of the 1% from Bill Gates to Barack Obama to Arne Duncan adhere to: Get the most kids through the education factory they oversee (and often profit from) towards the goal of making them somewhat competent in the world to not go out and steal. It is a very low bar. Very few schools and administrations treat education as a mind-blowing, explosive and subversive experience. That would be about the last thing on John Deasy’s agenda.

“For Deasy and those who back him, Education is defined by them alone, using their own, limited metrics about what they think constitutes “education”.

“For Deasy’s system, creative teaching is seen only as an added bonus–not a primary function. If it happens, great, but it is not the most important aspect of education. Creativity and the emphasis on a critical understanding of the world is not the thing the system values most. Deasy, Duncan, Gates and Pearson value kids responding to its metrics. Actually, if those metrics are achieved, then the Education System says the “product” is successfully educated.

“The truth is that the System will NEVER get the results from this urban population of kids (or for most others either) because they neglect to deal with a variety of factors: Poverty, environment, lack of parental wherewithal, economic forces that dictate a certain path for the working class that Deasy oversees.

“But Deasy’s route to “success” was vastly different from that likely of the students he oversees. In fact, ironically, his path was much more “American” in its orchestration of how the country actually works: Inheritance, privilege and obsequiousness. Although most people are tired of hearing about Deasy’s PhD “controversy” (http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/news/education/blog/2008/10/prince_georges_says_goodbye_to.html) it is always worth remembering because it is a perfect metaphor for how Deasy has always gotten his way throughout his entire education life. With the tremendous support of a financial power structure that has bolstered his career from Day One, Deasy has been the beneficiary of those whose interests he promotes. First it was the financial interests of billionaires Bill Gates and later Eli Broad which morph conveniently into the political interests of the neo-liberal Democrat agenda.

“Brought in and imposed upon the city by former Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, Deasy consolidated his support by having Eli Broad pony up millions into LAUSD to “buy” support for him. Deasy has enjoyed the unfaltering support of The United Way, the Chamber of Commerce, multi-millionaire Jamie Alter-Lynton’s LA SCHOOL REPORT and The LA Times…behind these entities are all men and women of great wealth who have thrown their considerable influence backing Deasy’s “Reform” Agenda but do not send their own kids to LAUSD. Our current Mayor Eric Garcetti is a product of the UCLA Lab School and the tony Harvard Westlake Prep (as Mayor Emmanuel sends his kids to University of Chicago Lab where the Obama kids also attended).

“No matter.

“Like many other inner cities with very separate education agendas for other people’s children, these socially-liberal Titans of LA Power pull the strings for a school system that is both racist and classist. The type of education that Deasy prescribes for the kids of LAUSD would never go over in his former school district of Santa Monica. Educated, mostly white and financially secure parents would not tolerate the low bar for their own kids. They would not tolerate the class size that our students endure and are supposed to “buck up” and learn in, nor the pitiful lack of electives, art, drama or field trip opportunities.

“As for LAUSD teachers? Most suffer in silence. Our system’s teachers are cowed and intimidated. Where do they look for support? How did they become the enemy? Hundreds of teachers in “jail” in LA. Deasy gets a 91% disapproval rating from the very people he leads and it doesn’t garner a shrug. Imagine if the Secretary of Defense got that rating from the troops or any municipal Police Chief from the officers on the street? There would be calls for firing immediately, but teachers are demonized and can be ignored. Everyone from Obama to Bill Gates to Arne Duncan gives lip service to “WE LOVE TEACHERS!” but it is in much the same way as Colonel Sanders LOVES his chickens.

“Only a neo-liberal, corporatist agenda could get a piece of agitprop like the anti-union teacher film WON’T BACK DOWN at the last Democratic Convention. Wall Street loves people like Arne Duncan and John Deasy and Barack Obama. No matter that these people never had any experience in public urban education before they rose to power, they have sought to undermine teachers and student opportunities at every level.

“They have no shame of putting my students in a real-life movie that actually SUBVERTS their interests. They will back law suits like Vergara v. California stating its “for the kids”. Deasy will claim that his teachers are the problem, instead of the social issues that hold students’ lives in their sway. Ghastly, Deasy then claims that its HIS OWN self-serving, self-aggrandizing, self-benefiting educational policies (and those of Gates, Broad, Pearson, et. al) that are the life preservers for the kids.

“Our kids are afloat in a desperate sea and the “rescue” ship they send is manned by cannibals.

“The LAUSD School Board is a feckless lot. It is too much inside baseball to go into the individual psychologies of the seven members. Suffice to say they read the newspapers and are always VERY concerned how they appear to the editorial boards who keep them in line. Education is political and its big business. To say otherwise is ignorant at best and downright disingenuous at worst. I do not hold out much hope for this sorry lot because they are all in over their heads.

“Without rehashing the iPad story, LA’s citizens got upset because they saw it as a ridiculous waste of their money–while teachers saw it as horrifying waste of resources and priorities. We were told by our leader, Deasy, that iPads were a Civil Rights issue which was met with universal derision. We are now forced to figure out some way of threading the needle of asking the public to actually give MORE to public education which actually IS a Civil Rights issue, but it has been polluted by Deasy’s “version” of Civil Rights. When our own district stabs us in the back, undercutting our desire to make the public understand what the system truly needs, then what hope do we have to actually do right by our kids?

“John Deasy, Bill Gates, Arne Duncan and Barack Obama have miserably failed all urban kids. Their education is a disaster for my students. But the people who have the influence and power to change it don’t realize it (charitably?) or they simply BELIEVE the “philanthropists” when they say something is true and necessary because they also NEED those people for their political survival. And they get their backing because they back them. And so on and so on and so on….

“To connect the dots even further in this depressing spirit, the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS) has announced that Bill Gates will be a keynote speaker at their 2014 Teaching and Learning conference next month. As a National Board teacher, I am horrified by this entity that is supposed to recognize the excellence in teaching is becoming just a shill front. Education is political and the National Board steadfastly refuses to acknowledge the destruction of public education. In fact, Gates has given so much money to this organization that it has created a toxic influence in the organization, reducing the “reliability” of what National Board constitutes great teaching.

“My disenfranchised classroom loses out simply because we can’t buy our way into a seat at the table.

“My kids can’t “buy” their way into a PhD.

“My kids have to accept what Deasy and The LA Times tells them is necessary for them.

“Who is our court of appeal in this system?

“Vergara v. California is the rich’s power grab. American public education is on trial not by “the people” but by the oligarchs who use it as a punching board to misdirect the culpability of many of these elites in creating the societal pathologies these kids navigate everyday.

“The true enemy of the nine students whose names are cynically being used in the suit are not their teachers–but those who exploit their desire for a true education–and will replace their trust with fat bank accounts in someone else’s name at a desk very far away (and with a much better window view) than theirs at the school’s they originally came from.”

Categories Accountability, Administrators, superintendents, Broad Foundation, California, Corporate Reformers, Education Industry, Education Reform, Graduation rates, Los Angeles, Students

This Friday: Privacy Hearings in Manhattan: inBloom Will Testify

By dianeravitch
February 24, 2014 //
19

The New York City parent blog reports that there will be Legislative hearings this Friday in lower Manhattan on student privacy, a matter of great concerns to parents (and grandparents!).

“The hearings will take place Friday, Feb. 28 at 10:30 AM at 250 Broadway in Lower Manhattan; livestream here.  More info and a form you can fill out if you want  to testify is here.  See also the RT video interview from NYC parent activist Karen Sprowal on why she opposes inBloom and feels it will put at risk her child’s privacy and security on our blog below; please also sign the MoveOn petition to stop inBloom in New York state here. “

Despite massive objections from parents, New York is the only state that plans to hand over confidential student information to inBloom, which was funded by the Gates Foundation and the Carnegie Corporation, and will be managed by Rupert Murdoch’s Wireless Generation and Amplify.

No one has ever offered a satisfactory explanation about why the federal government, the state, and vendors need 400 data points about every child.

Show up; testify; raise your voice.

Don’t let them have the data about your child.

 

 

Categories New York, Privacy and Privacy Rights, Students

A Third Grade Teacher in North Carolina: What It Is Like To Teach in My State

By dianeravitch
February 22, 2014 //
213

This third grade teacher responded to the post and comments about the heavy emphasis on testing students in third grade.

She wrote:

I thought that maybe a third grade teacher in NC should weigh in on this. I can only speak for what is occurring in my county, but here is what I am up against: I have to complete all reading 3D data within an approximate 2 week period. This involves a three minute fill in the blank test (whole class), three one minute timed reads with three one minute retells of each read, and a diagnosis of a students independent reading level by testing their reading, writing, and oral comprehension of leveled passages. The writing consists of two questions which are scored against a rubric and you must take the LOWER of the two scores. This must be completed on every student in my class.

In addition, our school opted to give EVERY child the portfolio assessment. Why? Because there are many reasons why a child might fail an EOG test. Some may not be good test takers, some may be sick, some may misalign the test, others may have something happen to them or their family but their parents decide to send them to school anyway because of the test. I cannot tell you how many children have been sent into my room feverish, throwing up, having little to no sleep due to a family emergency, etc. Therefore, every Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, our students will take an assessment based on whatever standard the county has stated we are testing on that particular week at least until we get to a review week where students will be retesting on the tests they failed.

Janna, I read your post. I analyze the data and look at which students need remediation but honestly, right now, all I see is testing with this: portfolio assessments; benchmark testing, Reading 3D testing and AR testing. Let’s not forget these are children. Little people with strengths and weaknesses. Children who have dreams and aspirations. Children who develop at a highly individualized rate that cannot be changed by any state test or legal mandate. Children who want to have FUN. Children who should be having fun while they are learning. What areas do you excel at-the ones who are fun to you or laborious?

At some point I am still supposed to TEACH literacy. Whole and small group-with rigor and engaging activities. In small groups I should be spiraling back to the necessary weak skills that my students may need extra help with and challenge those students who need the challenge. Do not forget that I have to make sure that all students are staying on task while the small group and independent testing is occurring. ALL of this is to occur within a two hour block of literacy. Our school also uses accelerated reader so the students then test on the books they read independently because they need to meet their AR goal. I am also held accountable if that goal is not met by the majority of my class.

Afterwards, I need to continue to teach math, science and social studies lessons, make sure students have opportunities to interact with technology (I have 3 outdated computers in the classroom), lunch, recess (which is mandated as well let’s not forget), and usually fine arts taught by a specialist. During that time, I am supposed to plan with colleagues, grade the portfolio assessments, grade, meet with parents, make phone calls, and if I am lucky, use the bathroom.

You want to talk about the test? The test is skewed to white upper/middle class students who have had certain experiences. My students have never seen the ocean. They have never touched a seashell before my class. These students don’t have gardens, haven’t seen deer in the wild and many of them don’t ride in cars because their parents don’t have one. Their parents don’t talk to them. Not because they don’t care, but because they are working two and three jobs just to try to survive. These babies are being watched by slightly older babies who use Disney and Nick as babysitters. My students need to be immersed into museums and places in our state. They need to feel the sand between their toes at a beach and feel the cold mountain air blow in their face. They need to visit a real farm, not a pumpkin patch and smell the earth when it has been freshly turned by a plow. They need to see works of fine art and go to the symphony. They need to go to a fine dining restaurant and learn the proper etiquette for eating out. You want to equalize the gap? THAT is how to do it. NOT through testing. They need experiences.

I have two important questions. Where is the student accountability in this? Also where is parent accountability? When you have students who flat refuse to do what you ask them, how is that MY fault? I have had classes where the majority of my students were labeled oppositional defiant, autistic, ADHD, bi-polar, etc. I have had students in my class who couldn’t speak English or even read in their native language, but I am supposed to get them ON grade level? Did I teach them? YES. Did they grow? YES. However, try as I might, they did not get on grade level. I never quit teaching them, but what happens when teachers no longer want little Johnny or Susie because it affects their salary? What about the parents who make excuses for their children’s lack of performance? Explain to me how it is my fault that they have not raised their child in a manner that would allow them to succeed. How is it my fault they argue and scream at the teacher instead of doing their work. How is it my fault that they refuse to complete assignments? Parents blame the teacher because obviously it is their fault-the legislature says so. When teachers can no longer teach, when they no longer have the respect of society, how long do you think they will stay in their job? I guess we will see soon.

I LOVE my students, I LOVE teaching, but what I am doing now is a pale comparison to what I used to do and I would not classify it as teaching. I spend hundreds of dollars a month on my class. Money as a single mom that I really don’t have, but if I don’t spend that money, my students don’t have pencils, paper, or tissues or other supplies. Parents feel it is MY responsibility to provide these supplies. Schools cannot give out what they do not have, budgets have been cut and schools have to make choices between staff and supplies. I love North Carolina. This is the only state that I have ever lived in and I cannot imagine leaving but I will be hard pressed to continue to do what I love because I cannot pay my bills. I had to tell my high school senior that I have no money to help her with college. Not even for her textbooks. She doesn’t have her driver’s license because I have been unable to afford to put her on my insurance. I will very soon be faced with the choice of moving to another state or choosing a new career. I never thought that my own state would force me into that kind of decision.

Categories North Carolina, Students, Teachers and Teaching, Testing

In Honor of Terry Stetson Wilson

By dianeravitch
February 22, 2014 //
4

Colleen Wood, parent leader in Florida, active in 50th No More, and board member of the Network for Public Education, here remembers a true champion of children and public education, Terry Stetson Wilson, who died suddenly a few days ago. Colleen asks that we all Tweet a comment to honor Terry’s good life and work for others. Write your words on Twitter, marked #ForTerry. For her dedication to our children and our society, I add her to our honor roll of heroes of American education.

Colleen writes:

“Relentless, persistent, and dedicated. That is what comes to mind when I think of Terry Stetson Wilson, a friend and fierce advocate for public school children in Florida. Terry unexpectedly passed away Monday evening leaving behind her husband, Tom, two adult children, Christopher and Linzy, dear friends, and countless beneficiaries of her advocacy.

Terry’s work began like many of us when she was first concerned with her own child’s school experience, and grew over time into what is now the Florida Gifted Network. If your child received gifted services in Florida, you can thank Terry Wilson.

When her own children graduated, Terry didn’t leave public education behind. The day she died a group of us were sitting together working on building a statewide coalition. We talked about needing to expand our group, and attract new supporters to public education when someone said we needed more people like Terry. People who stayed even after their own children were gone. She was a role model and inspiration to each of us.

Through her 30 years of advocacy, Terry fought for a high quality public education for every child, and became a staunch defender of teachers. She saw the onslaught against our public school teachers and knew it was not a battle they could win alone. When teacher merit pay was first proposed in Florida in a bill known as SB6, and many of us were upset, Terry wanted action. She always prodded us to do something.

And she did. Terry and a few others formed a Facebook group called Stop SB6. Within a month there were over 60,000 members. That group was a driving force behind the push for our Governor to veto the bill, but many people didn’t know Terry was behind it. She often flew under the radar, but her impact was far-reaching.

And if she met you, if she knew you cared about public education you were hooked. A day didn’t go by without an email, text or call about something you needed to do, and you needed to do it now. Funny thing is that after her death, we’re all learning that’s how Terry was in her whole life: from her family, to her friends, to her love of Florida and fishing. She wanted you to support you, help you, and get you to do something. Now.

In every fight in Florida, from parent trigger to school grades, her first question was, “What are we going to DO?”

We’ve been struggling with how to honor Terry, and then it occurred to us – what are we going to DO? What action are we going to take today to honor Terry and defend public education?

So that’s what we’re asking of you. #ForTerry what are you going to do today to support and defend public education? Share with all of us and #ForTerry who inspired you to this work.

In the words of our colleague, Ray Seaman, “That is perhaps one of the many things Terry taught all of us who had the pleasure of knowing and working with her. Tireless, impatient persistence is oftentimes the only way you get things done, and you never know who you’ll inspire by it.”

We will all have to be tireless, impatient, and persistent if we are to save our schools and our children. Terry inspired all of us to be just that, and we know she’ll inspire you to do something too. #ForTerry.

– Colleen Doherty Wood, parent advocate, 50thNoMore.org

Categories Florida, Honor Roll, Parent trigger, Parents, Students, Supporting public schools

#resistTFA Tops Twitter Trend

By dianeravitch
February 18, 2014 //
15

The student-led movement to defend the teaching profession is off to a fast start:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Press Contacts:

Stephanie Rivera
Rutgers University
1.732.485.0508 srrivera92@gmail.com

Hannah Nguyen
University of Southern California
1.408.644.9717 hbnguyen@usc.edu

#ResistTFA (Resist Teach For America) Hashtag Tops Twitter Trend List

February 18 – Chicago, IL – The hashtag, #ResistTFA (Resist Teach For America), topped the Twitter trend list in the United States beginning around 9pm EST on February 17, 2014, and remained there well into the night. For much of the evening, #ResistTFA was more popular on Twitter than “Olympics”, #JimmyFallon, and #TheTonightShow on the night of Jimmy Fallon’s Tonight Show debut.

Students United for Public Education (SUPE), a grassroots, student-led organization founded by Stephanie Rivera, Rutgers University Graduate School of Education Student & Urban Teaching Fellow, and Hannah Nguyen, University of Southern California Student and SUPE Chapter Leader, organized the #ResistTFA “Twitter Chat” Monday evening as part of SUPE’s “Students Resisting Teach For America” national campaign. The goal of the event was to initiate a public debate around critical issues related to Teach For America’s impact on public education. Teach For America is a controversial nonprofit organization that places high-achieving college graduates in low-income school districts across the country to teach for a minimum of two years after receiving just five weeks of summer training. The timing of the #ResistTFA “Twitter Chat” was selected to coincide with Teach For America’s final 2014 application deadline.

Participants in the #ResistTFA “Twitter Chat” included students, former TFA participants, teachers and education professionals, parents, and concerned citizens. Topics of discussion primarily focused on:

· TFA’s five week training program deemed insufficient to prepare novice teachers to teach in some of America’s most challenging schools
· The lack of commitment TFA teachers have to the communities they are assigned to (the majority leave teaching within 2-3 years)
· The concern that TFA teachers may see their teaching experience as just a stepping stone to other careers
· TFA’s partnerships with privately managed charter schools and the impact that has on teachers unions and the teaching profession

A joint statement from SUPE co-founders Rivera and Nguyen asserts, “The overwhelming response to the #ResistTFA hashtag proves that there is an enormous concern among students, teachers, parents and citizens across the country regarding Teach For America’s disproportionate influence on public education. We are encouraged to see this massive outpouring on Twitter, and we look forward to continuing this important discussion about Teach For America on campuses across the country.”

About SUPE

Students United for Public Education (SUPE) evolved out of the work of college students involved in defending public education from its attackers. In particular, SUPE was founded to fill a void in the movement for public education — before SUPE, there was no national student organization devoted solely to this cause. Under the guise of “closing the achievement gap” and “school choice,” for-profit corporations and their political representatives have sought to privatize and sell off public education. SUPE understands that a profit motive cannot guarantee a good education. Instead, only a robust and well-supported public education system — along with the courage and will to directly confront problems of racial and economic inequality — can provide a quality education for all.

SUPE is a community based organization because we know that public schools are the heart of every community. In other words, SUPE understands that in order for our goals to be reached, we must work with, not only K-12 students, but parents, teachers, and community members as a whole. We are not here to tell any community or students what to do. Rather, we want to work with communities to find what their needs are, and have them lead the way in the struggle as we work as equals to organize the change they believe is best. Find out more about Students United for Public Education at: http://supe.k12newsnetwork.com.

About Students Resisting Teach For America

Students Resisting Teach For America is a national, student-led campaign by Students United For Public Education. Although TFA presents itself as a non-partisan, data-driven philanthropy, it is in fact a sophisticated and efficiently run political organization. We therefore oppose TFA as an organization on political grounds. We resist TFA because we believe that its approach to education is not only immediately harmful to the students, schools, and families that it affects, but also that it actively promotes a vision of both education and society more broadly that furthers inequality and degrades holistic learning. Find out more about Students Resisting Teach For America at: http://studentsresistingtfa.k12newsnetwork.com.

E-mail: SUPEcontact@gmail.com
Twitter: @supenational
Facebook: facebook.com/StudentsUnitedForPublicEducation
Website: http://supe.k12newsnetwork.com

Categories Resistance, Students, Teach for America

Alfie Kohn on Grit and Its Misuses

By dianeravitch
February 17, 2014 //
55

Due to the success of Paul Tough’s book “How Children Succeed: Grit, Curiosity, and the Hidden Power of Character,” the corporate reformers seized on the idea that what is needed for academic success is not just strict discipline and constant test prep, but GRIT. Grit, meaning perseverance.

As Alfie Kohn writes, the original interest in noncognitive skills focused on emotional intelligence.

He writes:

“Education experts have long known that there is more to success — in school or in life — than cognitive ability. That recognition got a big boost with science writer Dan Goleman’s book Emotional Intelligence in 1996, which emphasized the importance of self-awareness, altruism, personal motivation, empathy, and the ability to love and be loved.

“But a funny thing has happened to the message since then. When you hear about the limits of IQ these days, it’s usually in the context of a conservative narrative that emphasizes not altruism or empathy but something that sounds suspiciously like the Protestant work ethic. More than smarts, we’re told, what kids need to succeed is old-fashioned grit and perseverance, self-discipline and will power. The goal is to make sure they’ll be able to resist temptation, override their unconstructive impulses, and put off doing what they enjoy in order to grind through whatever they’ve been told to do. (I examined this issue in an earlier essay called “Why Self-Discipline is Overrated.”)

“Closely connected to this sensibility is the proposition that children benefit from plenty of bracing experiences with frustration and failure. Ostensibly this will motivate them to try even harder next time and prepare them for the rigors of the unforgiving Real World. However, it’s also said that children don’t get enough of these experiences because they’re overprotected by well-meaning but clueless adults who hover too close and catch them every time they stumble.”

Grit is the new term for an emotional disposition to comply, obey, do the job no matter how unpleasant. Persevere.

Now, perseverance is a good trait. Teachers have always taught children to persevere. But the US DOE is now trying to figure out how to measure grit. Another opportunity to measure, rank, and rate kids.

A few months ago, Paul Tough wrote a gripping story about a commercial fisherman who fell off the boat at 3 a.m,, with no life preserver, forty miles from land. It was a cover story on the Néw York Times magazine. The man ingeniously came up with strategies of survival, and he miraculously stayed afloat until he was found by a helicopter rescue team.

I sent an email to Paul to tell him how much I enjoyed reading the story. I added, “that guy really had grit, but how were his test scores?” Paul responded that he did indeed demonstrate grit, and he doubted his test scores were very high.

What can we learn from this story?

Categories Students

Grace Breaks Up with Common Core

By dianeravitch
February 15, 2014 //
104

This letter arrived recently from Rhode Island:

“Dear Ms. Ravitch, Another example of what’s happening in Little Rhody: We also received an incredible letter from Grace (last name withheld), a High School Junior in a southern Rhode Island town who wrote a “breakup letter” with Common Core. I have independently verified the author’s authenticity but have not published her last name for privacy reasons. You can contact me for more details: tad@stopcommoncoreri.org . I hope you publish this letter on your blog to show everyone the sort of creativity and independent thinking we will lose from our students under the Common Core.

Her “breakup letter” is pasted below and also here: http://www.stopcommoncoreri.org/the_home_room_blog

———
Breaking Up With Common Core

I’ve decided to write a letter. A breakup letter, that is. I am a teenage girl in modern day America and, therefore, one might blame the ever-present Taylor Swift songs for this creation. However, I am a teenager in modern day America and, therefore, one might blame a set of standards. Those assuming the latter case would be correct. Common Core State Standards will have us singing the blues before we know it, so before things get too serious, while I still can, I’m breaking up with Common Core.

Dear Common Core,

I would begin by saying the cliché “It’s not you, it’s me.” But I’d be lying. It is you. I’m sorry, I’m too harsh? Maybe I am, so here are some tips for your future relationships. Take these into consideration and you might spare yourself a broken heart next time.

1. You’re too controlling. You’re changing education to become a form of the factory system. I’ve heard people talk about how robots are replacing humans as our technology grows, but it is your fault. Under your standards we are manufacturing robots in huge factories called “Elementary School”, “Junior High School” and “High School”. The result of such manufacturing is students who are being robbed of individuality. However, this is one of the most important aspects of education. Individuality must be present in school because it allows for an exchange of ideas and a great diversity of perspectives; the very things that I believe make education so valuable. Nobody likes “Bossy Pants” looming over their shoulder, constantly telling them what to do.

2. You make unfair comparisons. There is too much testing because of the use of PARCC. Every student learns differently and tests differently; however, they will still be assessed in the same way. With this taken into account, how is it possible that your standardized testing fairly and accurately measures the students’ abilities and knowledge? Even if you are able to do so, you’re still comparing each person to others, so how can you possibly have the time to focus on each individual and build upon their strengths while helping to strengthen them in their weak areas? Additionally, harder tests do not mean more learning, it simply means harder tests. Therefore, this means that between too many questions, not enough answers and static learning, you’re just bad news.

3. You’re a compulsive liar. You say that you help better prepare students for college and careers; your supporters cling to this statement, but do you truly do so? The National Education Association tried to warn me in their policy briefing, where it is written “there is no research or evidence indicating that national standards are essential for a nation’s students to be high achievers.” You almost convinced me that the “real world” calls for finding functions, answering multiple-choice questions and graphing parabolas. In ending this relationship, I am able to understand that there is more than this. I see a world that demands its inhabitants to achieve greatness of all sorts. Greatness, in my opinion is doing something that makes a change; it is something that makes an impact. Whether it is done in complete anonymity or not does not matter, nor is it important how large or small the impact is. I believe that through education we can set the students up to achieve this greatness, because it is what the world needs. This world craves art, beauty, and passion. It is a place in which a sculptor’s hands are equally important to those of a doctor and where the words of a poet are as powerful as those of a lawyer. So let these words be a lesson, in any future relationship, honesty is the best policy.

It would probably be in everyone’s best interest if you went back to the land of bumbling businessmen and paltering politicians. I’m sure there’s other fish in the sea… not in Rhode Island, but maybe somewhere… maybe not.

Good Riddance Common Core,

Grace [Last Name Withheld by Editor]

RI High School Junior”

Categories Common Core, Students
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