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An Education Declaration to Rebuild America

By dianeravitch
June 11, 2013 //
24

A diverse group of individuals have joined to sign an Education Declaration to Rebuild America. Please read the statement and if you agree, send it to your friends, tweet it, add it to your Facebook page.

Please sign here.
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An Education Declaration to Rebuild America

Americans have long looked to our public schools to provide opportunities for individual advancement, promote social mobility, and share democratic values. We have built great universities, helped bring children out of factories and into classrooms, held open the college door for returning veterans, fought racial segregation, and struggled to support and empower students with special needs. We believe good schools are essential to democracy and prosperity — and that it is our collective responsibility to educate all children, not just a fortunate few.

Over the past three decades, however, we have witnessed a betrayal of those ideals. Following the 1983 report A Nation at Risk, policymakers on all sides have pursued an education agenda that imposes top-down standards and punitive high-stakes testing while ignoring the supports students need to thrive and achieve. This approach – along with years of drastic financial cutbacks — are turning public schools into uncreative, joyless institutions. Educators are being stripped of their dignity and autonomy, leading many to leave the profession. Neighborhood schools are being closed for arbitrary reasons. Parent and community voices are being shut out of the debate. And children, most importantly, are being systemically deprived of opportunities to learn.

As a nation we have failed to rectify glaring inequities in access to educational opportunities and resources. By focusing solely on the achievement gap, we have neglected the opportunity gap that creates it, and have allowed the re-segregation of our schools and communities by class and race. The inevitable result, highlighted in the Federal Equity and Excellence Commission’s recent report For Each and Every Child, is an inequitable system that hits disadvantaged students, families, and communities the hardest.

A new approach is needed to improve our nation’s economic trajectory, strengthen our democracy, and avoid an even more stratified and segregated society. To rebuild America, we need a vision for 21st Century education based on seven principles:

· All students have a right to learn. Opportunities to learn should not depend on zip code or a parent’s abilities to work the system. Our education system must address the needs of all children, regardless of how badly they are damaged by poverty and neglect in their early years. We must invest in research-proven interventions and supports that start before kindergarten and support every child’s aspirations for college or career.

· Public education is a public good. Public education should never be undermined by private control, deregulation, and profiteering. Keeping our schools public is the only way we can ensure that each and every student receives a quality education. School systems must function as democratic institutions responsive to students, teachers, parents, and communities.

· Investments in education must be equitable and sufficient. Funding is necessary for all the things associated with an excellent education: safe buildings, quality teachers, reasonable class sizes, and early learning opportunities. Yet, as we’ve “raised the bar” for achievement, we’ve cut the resources children and schools need to reach it. We must reverse this trend and spend more money on education and distribute those funds more equitably.

· Learning must be engaging and relevant. Learning should be a dynamic experience through connections to real world problems and to students’ own life experiences and cultural backgrounds. High-stakes testing narrows the curriculum and hinders creativity.

· Teachers are professionals. The working conditions of teachers are the learning conditions of students. When we judge teachers solely on a barrage of high-stakes standardized tests, we limit their ability to reach and connect with their students. We must elevate educators’ autonomy and support their efforts to reach every student.

· Discipline policies should keep students in schools. Students need to be in school in order to learn. We must cease ineffective and discriminatory discipline practices that push children down the school-to-prison pipeline. Schools must use fair discipline policies that keep classrooms safe and all students learning.

· National responsibility should complement local control. Education is largely the domain of states and school districts, but in far too many states there are gross inequities in how funding is distributed to schools that serve low income and minority students. In these cases, the federal government has a responsibility to ensure there is equitable funding and enforce the civil right to a quality education for all students.

Principles are only as good as the policies that put them into action. The current policy agenda dominated by standards-based, test-driven reform is clearly insufficient. What’s needed is a supports-based reformagenda that provides every student with the opportunities and resources needed to achieve high standards and succeed, focused on these seven areas:
1. Early Education and Grade Level Reading: Guaranteed access to high quality early education for all, including full-day kindergarten and universal access to pre-K services, to help ensure students can read at grade level.

2. Equitable Funding and Resources: Fair and sufficient school funding freed from over-reliance on locally targeted property taxes, so those who face the toughest hurdles receive the greatest resources. Investments are also needed in out-of-school factors affecting students, such as supports for nutrition and health services, public libraries, after school and summer programs, and adult remedial education — along with better data systems and technology.

3. Student-Centered Supports: Personalized plans or approaches that provide students with the academic, social, and health supports they need for expanded and deeper learning time.

4. Teaching Quality: Recruitment, training, and retention of well-prepared, well-resourced, and effective educators and school leaders, who can provide extended learning time and deeper learning approaches, and are empowered to collaborate with and learn from their colleagues.

5. Better Assessments: High quality diagnostic assessments that go beyond test-driven mandates and help teachers strengthen the classroom experience for each student.

6. Effective Discipline: An end to ineffective and discriminatory discipline practices including inappropriate out-of-school suspensions, replaced with policies and supports that keep all students in quality educational settings.

7. Meaningful Engagement: Parent and community engagement in determining the policies of schools and the delivery of education services to students.

As a nation, we’re failing to provide the basics our children need for an opportunity to learn. Instead, we have substituted a punitive high-stakes testing regime that seeks to force progress on the cheap. But there is no shortcut to success. We must change course before we further undermine schools and drive away the teachers our children need.

All who envision a more just, progressive, and fair society cannot ignore the battle for our nation’s educational future. Principals fighting for better schools, teachers fighting for better classrooms, students fighting for greater opportunities, parents fighting for a future worthy of their child’s promise: their fight is our fight. We must all join in.

Signatories
· Greg Anrig
The Century Foundation

· Kenneth J. Bernstein
National Board Certified Social Studies Teacher

· Martin J. Blank
Director, Coalition for Community Schools

· Jeff Bryant
Education Opportunity Network

· Dr. Nancy Carlsson-Paige
Co Founder, Defending Early Years Foundation

· Anthony Cody
Teachers’ Letters to Obama, Network for Public Education

· Linda Darling-Hammond
Professor of Education, Stanford University

· Larry Deutsch, MD, MPH
Minority Leader (Working Families Party), Hartford City Council

· Bertis Downs
Parent, Lawyer and Advocate

· Dave Eggers
Writer

· Matt Farmer
Chicago Public Schools parent

· Dr. Rosa Castro Feinberg, Ph.D.
LULAC Florida State Education Commissioner;
Associate Professor (Retired), Florida International University

· Nancy Flanagan
Senior Fellow, Institute for Democratic Education in America (IDEA);
Blogger, Education Week; Teacher

· Andrew Gillum
City Commissioner of Tallahassee, Florida
National Director of the Young Elected Officials Network

· Larry Groce
Host and Artistic Director, Mountain Stage, Charleston, West Virginia

· William R. Hanauer
Mayor, Village of Ossining;
President, Westchester Municipal Officials Association

· Julian Vasquez Heilig
The University of Texas at Austin

· Roger Hickey
Institute for America’s Future

· John Jackson
Opportunity To Learn Campaign

· Jonathan Kozol
Educator & Author

· John Kuhn
Superintendent, Perrin-Whitt School District (Texas)

· Kevin Kumashiro, Ph.D.
Incoming Dean, University of San Francisco School of Education;
President, National Association for Multicultural Education

· Rev. Peter Laarman
Progressive Christians Uniting

· Chuck Lesnick
Yonkers City Council President

· Rev. Tim McDonald
Co-Chair, African American Ministers In Action

· Lawrence Mischel
Economic Policy Institute

· Kathleen Oropeza
Co-Founder, Fund Education Now

· State Senator Nan Grogan Orrock
Georgia Senate District 36

· Charles Payne
University of Chicago

· Diane Ravitch
New York University, Network for Public Education

· Robert B. Reich
Chancellor’s Professor, University of California at Berkeley;
Former U.S. Secretary of Labor

· Jan Resseger
United Church of Christ, Justice & Witness Ministries

· Nan Rich
Florida State Senator

· Hans Riemer
Montgomery County Council Member; Montgomery County, MD

· Maya Rockeymoore, Ph.D.
Center for Global Policy Solutions

· David Sciarra
Education Law Center

· Rinku Sen
President and Executive Director, Applied Research Center

· Theda Skocpol
Harvard University
Director, Scholars Strategy Network

· Rita M. Solnet
Co Founder, Parents Across America

· John Stocks
Executive Director, National Education Association

· Steve Suitts
Vice President, Southern Education Foundation

· Paul Thomas, EdD
Furman University

· Dennis Van Roekel
President, National Education Association

· Dr. Jerry D. Weast
Former Superintendent, Montgomery County (MD) Public Schools;
Founder and CEO, Partnership for Deliberate Excellence

· Randi Weingarten
President, American Federation of Teachers

· Kevin Welner
Professor, University of Colorado Boulder School of Education;
Director, National Education Policy Center

Roger Hickey
Campaign for America’s Future
office: (202) 587-1604 cell: (202) 270-0300

Categories Students, Support for public schools, Teachers and Teaching

Camins: Two Roads Diverged in a Wood…..

By dianeravitch
June 10, 2013 //
6

“Two roads diverged in a wood,” begins one of Robert Frost’s most famous poems.

In 2011, Arthur Camins described the fateful choice confronting American education. In 2011, he wrote:

“U.S. education is at a transformational moment. The choices we make will determine whether our schools become collaborative and democratic or prescriptive and authoritarian. The policies proposed by the federal government for the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act will create some good schools for some students while hurting many more and will do little to improve teaching or learning.”

Now, in 2013, he writes that our leaders are taking us down the wrong road:

“We have traveled much further down the latter road than I imagined even in my most pessimistic moments. Charter schools and school closings, value-added, metrics-based teacher evaluation and pay systems and prescriptive turnaround models have all gained momentum, while so-called reform–minded billionaires have influenced elections and administrative hiring around the nation. Perhaps, most disturbing is that this has proceeded despite persistent credible evidentiary challenges, while scholars from around the world have pointed out that no country has made accelerated improvement by relying on market-based policies.”

Categories Charter Schools, Closing schools, Support for public schools, Teacher Evaluations

In Person with Jon Stewart: The Story of the I.S. 318 Chess Team

By dianeravitch
June 8, 2013 //
13

Yesterday I wrote about the championship chess team at I.S. 318 in Brooklyn, which needs $20,000 to travel to tournaments and remain in competition. The after school funding that keeps the program alive was cut by the New York City Department of Education.

I thought you would enjoy watching the segment on “The Daily Show” when Jon Stewart interviewed the producer and one of the students who are featured in the film.

My favorite moment is when the student, Pobo, says spontaneously, “I love my teachers!” And the audience breaks into applause because they love their teachers too.

John Galvin, the assistant principal at 318 in charge of the chess program, has been reading this blog. John, give us a name and address, and we will do some fund-raising for our chess program.

Categories Budget Cuts, NYC, Students, Support for public schools, Teachers

Great Neck, NY, School Board Passes Anti-High-Stakes Testing Resolution

By dianeravitch
June 6, 2013 //
24

Great Neck, New York, is a suburban community outside New York City that has long been renowned for its excellent public schools. About 95% of its students graduate high school, and many are admitted to our nation’s finest colleges and universities.

At its meeting last Monday, the Great Neck school board unanimously passed a resolution opposing the state’s over reliance on standardized testing.

For their clarity of vision and their willingness to stand up for their students and for good education, I place the Great Neck Board of Education on the honor roll as champions of good public education.

Here is the resolution, which was read aloud in its entirety at the meeting and sent to the Governor, legislators, the Commissioner of Education, the Chancellor of the Board of Regents, and shared with the media:

June 3, 2013

RESOLUTION REGARDING OVERRELIANCE ON STANDARDIZED TESTING
A CALL TO THE GOVERNOR OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, THE NEW YORK STATE COMMISSIONER OF EDUCATION, THE NEW YORK STATE BOARD OF REGENTS AND OTHER POLICYMAKERS TO STOP THE OVERRELIANCE ON STANDARDIZED TESTS AS A MEASURE OF STUDENT PERFORMANCE AND PRINCIPAL/TEACHER EFFECTIVENESS.

WHEREAS, every student deserves a quality public education dedicated to preparing engaged citizens, creative and critical thinkers and lifelong learners ready for college and careers; and

WHEREAS, the decline in state aid and support for public schools has forced our district to reduce programs and limited our ability to fully implement new programs mandated by the State such as the Common Core standards thereby creating an uneven rollout of the standards among school districts around the State; and

WHEREAS, while the implementation of the Common Core standards will ultimately help students, teachers and the teaching and learning process, the growing reliance on, and mismanagement of, standardized testing is eroding student learning time, narrowing the curriculum and jeopardizing the rich, meaningful education our students need and deserve; and

WHEREAS, there has been a reliance upon the Common Core standards in the development of state testing despite the fact that students have not been exposed to these standards for a sufficient amount of their school experience; and

WHEREAS, despite the fact that research recommends the use of multiple measures to gauge student performance and teacher effectiveness, the State’s growing reliance on standardized testing is adversely affecting students across all spectrums and the morale of our educators and is further draining already scarce resources; and

WHEREAS, the Federal Elementary and Secondary Education Act’s testing policies fail to appropriately accommodate the unique needs of students with disabilities and English language learners in assessing their academic achievements which results in test scores that do not accurately represent a true measure of the impact of teachers and schools; and

WHEREAS, it is time for policymakers to reconsider the number, duration and appropriate use of standardized tests so that our schools can refocus their efforts on improving student learning outcomes; now, therefore be it

RESOLVED, that we call upon Governor Andrew M. Cuomo, State Education Department Commissioner John B. King, Chancellor of the Board of Regents Merryl Tisch, Chair of the Senate Committee on Education John Flanagan, Senator Jack Martins, Chair of the Assembly Committee on Education Catherine Nolan, Assemblywoman Michelle Schimel and other policymakers to reduce the use of, and overreliance on, standardized testing.

Categories Honor Roll, New York, Students, Support for public schools, Testing

Teacher to Iowa Media: Stop Bashing Teachers and Schools

By dianeravitch
June 5, 2013 //
13

Amy Prime teaches second grade in Iowa. She writes strong opinion pieces and in this one, she lambastes the Des Moines Register (which publishes her articles) for its most recent editorial blasting the schools. In this case,the newspaper complained that Iowa schools did not have test scores as high as Maryland.

Have Iowa’s test scores “stagnated”? Whence came the belief that they must go up every year, like stock prices?

She writes:

“Even if our scores have “stagnated,” as the Register article asserts, then Iowa teachers should be praised for maintaining such high scores with that added challenge. I’d like to see a feature congratulating teachers for not allowing our kids to slip when we have been forced to deal with larger class sizes, decreased funding, more English-as-a-second-language students, less planning and prep time, the slashing of our music and arts programs, the demoralization of our profession in the media, increased interference from politicians and businessmen, and more.”

Amy challenges the editorial writers to talk to teachers, not to Stanford researchers or people from the governor’s office.

Categories Poverty, Pre-K, Support for public schools, Teachers and Teaching, Testing

What Is Going On in Cheatham County, Tennessee?

By dianeravitch
June 4, 2013 //
21

A teacher in Cheatham County, Tennessee, sent me this article about the unusual exodus of teachers from the county’s schools. Twenty-five percent of the staff have resigned in the past year, including the football coach and the basketball coach (whose teams had good seasons).

There is a local school board meeting tonight to hear all sides. Parents and citizens should show up and get involved. Learn what is happening in your local schools.

Categories Parents, Support for public schools, Tennessee

Camins: What Would Real Reform Look Like?

By dianeravitch
June 4, 2013 //
15

Arthur Camins is director of the Center for Innovation in Engineering and Science Education at the Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, New Jersey.

In this excellent article, he notes that the advocates of the status quo are those who are in power and who impose high-stakes testing and privatization on districts and states. Oddly enough, the leaders of the status quo dismiss critics by calling them “defenders of the status quo.”

Camins suggests that real reform would be very different from the current evidence-free status quo.

He argues that: “the pillars of current education reform are more likely to preserve rather than change the status quo. Further, there are alternative policies that are more likely to mediate educational inequity, creating real rather than illusory movement. None of the pillars of reform will address either of these conditions at scale. Instead, they merely give some students a competitive advantage. Even if reforms redistribute these benefits or slightly alter the size of the advantaged group, they are still essentially maintaining the status quo, creating the illusion of movement, without fundamental change.”

One of the pillars of the “status quo reformers” is a devout belief in charters. Camins says this is not real reform: “Current policies that fund increasing numbers of charter schools is not a game-changer because there is no evidence that high-quality charters are a scalable strategy. Some argue that they should be part of a solution. However, since they only serve the few based on comparative advantage, this is in the end a cynical idea- a solution for the lucky few. Others argue that they are the solution. These folks see results-driven competition as a means to weed out ineffective schools through closings. This implies continual disruption in the lives of the disadvantaged children they are meant to serve. Rather than forward movement, it is an exacerbation of current conditions. The publicity around the limited number of effective charter schools creates the illusion of improvement for a few, while everything else stands still. Finally, since the evidence is mounting that charter schools are increasing rather than deceasing class and racial segregation, they are supporting not disrupting the status quo.”

The other pillar of the “status quo reforms” is high-stakes testing. This too is not real reform. “In reality, these reforms preserve rather than challenge the status quo because they do not address the fundamental causes of educational inequity. They preserve the core idea that competition rather than collaboration is the lever for fundamental change. Competition for rewards is only effective for short-term superficial goals while undermining the collaboration necessary for long-term improvement. Since teacher isolation is too often a feature of current school culture, a competitive reward system will only makes this situation worse. Again, we have the illusion of movement while leaving things in place. As many have argued, fostering intrinsic motivation is the only sure strategy for deep sustainable change.”

What would real reform look like? To begin with, it would address the root causes of poor academic performance. Camins says that “A focus on improving the collective culture of schools, rather than individual teachers, has far greater potential for substantive progress.” He has ten specific approaches that would lead to real reform and would liberate students and teachers from the punitive status quo. Read the article.

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Categories Accountability, Charter Schools, Corporate Reformers, Duncan, Arne, Education Industry, Education Reform, Support for public schools, Teachers and Teaching, Testing, Vouchers

Dare They Send Their Child to the Neighborhood School?

By dianeravitch
May 31, 2013 //
11

Andy Hines, a writer and stay-at-home dad, describes his family’s debate about where to send their child to school. They live in San Diego, one of the nation’s best urban school districts, but most advantaged parents shun the neighborhood school. Instead they seek out magnet schools, charter schools, religious schools–anything but the neighborhood school.

Michael Petrilli wrote about the same soul-searching process in his book “The Diverse Schools Dilemma.” Should advantaged parents take a chance on the neighborhood school, where most children are poor and nonwhite? Or should they move to a more affluent district?

This is what Andy Hinds discovered about his neighborhood school:

“Our local public elementary school is a five-minute walk from our house. It has undergone major renovations in the past year, and although it’s not much to look at from the street, the campus is tidy and attractive, with a huge sports field, a brand-new playground, a cute little library, vegetable gardens and whimsical murals and sculptures brightening up the outdoor spaces. The principal is energetic and accessible, the staff turnover is low and the parents who do send their kids there think it’s a wonderful school.”

What’s the problem? Almost every student is poor, and more than half are English language learners.

What did the Hinds family decide? Read on.

Categories Poverty, Segregation , Racial Isolation and Integration, Support for public schools

New York Rally Against High-Stakes Testing on June 8

By dianeravitch
May 30, 2013 //
9

Carol Burris of South Side High School in Rockville Center, New York, sent out the following notice:

Thank you again for signing the petition against high stakes testing. It will be delivered on June 8 at the Rally for Public Education in Albany.

The purpose of the rally (12:00-3:00) is to express opposition to high stakes testing and support educational funding. Although it is sponsored by NYSUT, other groups are marching as well, including parents and principals.

Fellow principals and I will march behind a banner that says

http://www.newyorkprincipals.org

Our kids and teachers are more than a number .

We are assembling at the bottom of the egg, so if you are coming alone, feel free to join us or come by and say “hello”.

Parking is available under the egg. You can park for free in the two lots
on Madison Ave. I hope to see you there.

http://www.theegg.org/about/directions

*Field Testing*

This is a link to a site that gives parents information about field testing
http://www.scribd.com/doc/141872303/say-yes-to-learning-and-no-to-field-testing-what-nyc-parents-need-to-know

Although it was designed for New York City parents, it is relevant to all New York State parents.

inBloom and your children’s data

Please urge your legislators to support the bill A.6059/S.4284, to block the state’s plan to share private student and teacher information with inBloom Inc. and for-profit vendors, which has 59 co-sponsors in the Assembly and 20 in the Senate. It’s especially important to call Sen. Flanagan at 631-361-2154 and Sen. Skelos at (516) 766-8383 and ask them to support the bill and hold hearings on it now.

More about VAM and APPR

Whether you are a parent, principal or teacher, I think you will find this article on VAM of importance.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2013/05/20/principal-why-our-new-educator-evaluation-system-is-unethical/

Here is the bottom line: No measure of teacher or principal performance should put the best interests of students in conflict with the best interests of the adults who serve them.

Categories Class size, New York, Privacy and Privacy Rights, Support for public schools, Teacher Evaluations, Testing

Monica Ratliff: A Challenge to the Status Quo

By dianeravitch
May 29, 2013 //
14

Imagine this: a candidate for the school board who was constantly thinking of students, not hoping for a political stepping stone.

Imagine this: a candidate who thinks of students–not in the abstract–but as real children with names and faces, children she knows.

Imagine this: a candidate who doesn’t make absurd campaign promises because she understands the problems and needs of children, teachers, and schools.

That’s Monica Ratliff. She hated asking people for money. She taught her class every day instead of campaigning. She didn’t wring her hands and long for someone who had the power to make changes that helped students and teachers and schools..

She took responsibility and ran for the Los Angeles school board. She was the longest of long shots. She didn’t have powerful backers. She was outspent nearly 50-1. And she won. She is the real deal.

She is a challenge to the status quo.

She is the embodiment of the famous statement by Margaret Mead:

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.”

Categories Accountability, Education Reform, Students, Support for public schools, Teachers and Teaching
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