Now here is a first for this blog. A comment that appeared
on the blog by Robert Rendo was picked up and posted by blogger
Jonathan Pelto. It was indeed a brilliant statement, and somehow I
failed to turn it into a post. So
I am taking the post from Jonathan Pelto’s blog and
posting it here so everyone can read it. Rendo explains how Common
Core and the high-stakes testing mandated by No Child Left Behind
and Race to the Top have degraded schooling and education. Here is
a sample: In fact, we have stepped a long way back into a
new epoch of factory style education, where every student is a
widget, and every widget is hyper-inspected along the conveyor belt
to see if its frame will hold up once sold to the consumer, who is
now the future employer. And if the person hired to do the assembly
messes up just a few times, they are fired and replaced. This
process happens knowing full well the conveyor belt is moving at 45
MPH, up from 10 MPH several years ago. Who can
really produce that many widgets when the belt is rolling by so
quickly? It conjures up the imagery of the classic factory
chocolate making scene from “I Love Lucy”. But
it’s anything but cute or funny. Students are
not widgets. Teachers are not robots. The process of teaching and
learning is a humanistic endeavor. There are bonds to be forged,
even while measuring situations and outcomes with data. The data
used to help contribute indispensably to that human bond.
Presently, the bonding has been devalued, thrown aside, and the
data has become the new humanism.
Alexandra Miletta is a teacher, like her mother, in New
York. When I was in graduate school at Teachers College in the late
1960s, Maureen Miletta and I were in classes together. I am happy
to see Alexandra carrying forward her mother’s legacy as a devoted
educator. Alexandra thinks we can all find inspiration in this
particular Harry Potter story.
Thoughts on education from a teacher
educator.
Dumbledore’s Army
In case you are not a fan of the Harry Potter saga (as I am) allow me to
sum up an interesting moment in the story when it seemed there was
no hope of learning to defeat evil. (For the longer summary with a
bit more context, read this.) The part that I find interesting is
when Hermione (my favorite character) tells her peers:
“Well…erm…well, you know why you’re here. Erm…well, Harry here had
the idea – I mean” – Harry had thrown her a sharp look – “I had the
idea – that it might be good if people who wanted to study Defense
Against the Dark Arts – and I mean, really study it, you know, not
the rubbish that Umbridge is doing with us” – (Hermione’s voice
became suddenly much stronger and more confident) – “because nobody
could call that Defense Against the Dark Arts” – “Hear, hear,” said
Anthony Goldstein, and Hermione looked heartened – “well, I thought
it would be good if we, well, took matters into our own hands.” (p.
339 in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, 2003) In the
movie version, this is simplified to the line, “We need a teacher,
a proper teacher.”
The students of Hogwarts realized that they were
not going to learn the real spells and magic they would need if
they just accepted the status quo being delivered by Dolores
Umbridge and her dull and useless textbook.
Hermione was intelligent enough to recognize that her friend Harry had
experience and knowledge that he could teach them. The group was
formed, a place for secret practice was found, and “Dumbledore’s
Army” was born.
Maybe the analogy of preparing for war in the
wizarding world seems extreme for those returning to school here in
New York State, but as the nation debates the possible consequences
of engaging in real war in Syria, Governor Cuomo ramped up the
hostile rhetoric today by saying failing schools deserve the “death
penalty.” Yes, you read that correctly, it’s a quote. I could
hardly believe it when I saw it. What’s really failing is the
leadership in Albany that has accepted the federal bribe money
through Race to the Top and is creating havoc with lousy tests,
inappropriate measures of teacher performance and school quality,
and a privatization plan that is unproven and as scary as the
return of Lord Voldemort.
So teachers and students, don’t despair.
You don’t have to start this year in fear – of failing, of being
unfairly judged, of seeing your school closed or resources cut to
the bone.
It’s time to learn how to defend yourself against these
dark times. Here are some tips for starting the year off strong:
1. Read and get informed. That means not just the news, which is
sorely lacking in investigative journalists, at least in education.
Find the blogs, the active Twitter users, the Facebook groups, the
organizations of people who are actively working for positive
change and supporting the public schools that are under assault. A
good place to start is Diane Ravitch’s new book Reign of Error:The
Hoax of the Privatization Movement and the Danger to America’s
PublicSchools, out in mid-September. F
2. Practice your talking points. You will need these not just for staff meetings, informal
lunch conversations, PTA meetings, or school board testimonies. You
need to start talking at dinner parties, after lectures and book
talks, at the gym, in the taxi, anywhere you find people willing to
engage in conversation so they too can be informed and involved.
3. Get inspired. Learn from history, from role model activists like
Bayard Rustin, who just was awarded the Presidential Medal of
Freedom posthumously (you can see a beautiful documentary about him
called Brother Outsider: The Life of Bayard Rustin).
4. Show off and be proud of your many accomplishments. You have bulletin boards,
windows and walls, and strings to hang things from across your
classrooms, and websites and email newsletters, and concert and
play performances, and charitable actions and good deeds. Let the
world know that you are proud of what you do.
5. Find strength in numbers. Join up with others, make a regular working lunch date to
talk and strategize, organize pot lucks, ask for volunteers, help
people who want to get involved but don’t know how to begin.
6. Make time for play, and joy, and being creative. If that doesn’t
come naturally, maybe you can start by organizing a cardboard
challenge on October 8th for some kids and let them teach you.
7. Ask for help and support when you need it. It’s normal to have bad
days, to feel depressed and overwhelmed. Reach out to your friends
and let them know you need their encouragement and kind words.
8. Sometimes you just need to go on a march. If that seems
old-fashioned or ineffective, read about the 50th anniversary of
the 1963 March for Jobs and Freedom and listen to the speeches of
Martin Luther King Jr.’s family, Rep. John Lewis, President Obama,
and others who commemorated the anniversary on August 28th.
Most of all, have a good year. Do good, and be well.
A reader writes:
“I retired from teaching music K-5 two
years ago. Still cannot read the children’s goodbye letters and
artwork. When the children heard (from a snarky colleague) that I
as leaving they cried and protested for 2 weeks. I remember a 3rd
grade boy in his music class who spontaneously dropped to his knees
and said, “You can’t leave! You are our only hope!” The person
hired after me phoned to ask questions about the position said she
thought they were hiring my assistant. As a graduate student she’d
read my articles and research on teaching children music… Since
leaving my wonderful students, I turned again to writing. The
manuscript is under review. Thank you, Diane Ravitch for your
advocacy.”
John Wilson, formerly executive director of the NEA, now writes in “Education Week,” where he posed the question above. Which governor ran as a moderate, then revealed himself as an anti-government, anti-teacher, anti-public school extremist as soon as he was elected?
Perhaps you think of Scott Walker in Wisconsin, Paul Page in Maine, John Kasich in Ohio? Or your own governor?
No, says Wilson, the prize for the Most Deceptive Governor of all goes to Pat McCrory of North Carolina. He had been a decent mayor of urbane Charlotte, giving no hint of his radicalism . He did not campaign on a platform of destroying public education, restricting the right to vote, restricting access to abortion, and appointing inexperienced cronies to fat government jobs.
Yet he has turned out to be the governor of ALEC’s dreams, using the one-party control of government to implement a radical agenda of privatization.
“Educators know his deception very well. He campaigned as a supporter of public schools and teachers; yet he signed an appropriation bill that cut over 5,000 teachers and almost 4,000 teacher assistants, eliminated pay to teachers who earn a masters degree in the future, and refused to provide a pay increase to the state’s teachers, despite the fact that they are close to being the worst paid in America. Governor McCrory supported legislation that reduced textbook funding to $15 per student even though a reading textbook in elementary school costs $35. Hundreds of millions of dollars were cut from programs that affected the services of students directly.”
While cutting public schools, McCrory has signed legislation for more charter schools and for vouchers. His senior education advisor, be it noted, is a TFA alumnus named Eric Guckian, who formerly worked for New Leaders for New Schools and is a devotee of charters and digital education. But obviously no fan of public schools or experienced teachers. Guckian joins the constellation of TFA leaders such as Michelle Rhee, John White of Louisiana, and Kevin Huffman who seek to dismantle public education and the teaching profession.
A reader in North Carolina reflects on the Legislature’s
many punishments imposed on teachers: “As a teacher in NC, I am
disappointed yet not surprised by the recent cuts. Another year
without a raise while our health insurance premiums continue to
rise, the demand increases, leadership decreases, and class size
balloons. The people who make the most money on the district and
state level are so disconnected from the daily operations of the
classroom, that they have no idea what it means to teach. I have
never been so discouraged in my professional life. If an
exceptional teacher can not earn enough income to support his or
her family, then they will undoubtedly leave the system. And then
who is left to teach the children…..NC should think about
this…”
This teacher left a powerful comment about how he
became
educated about real life by teaching. The myths
he had learned in
his youth fell away when confronted
by the children whose lives are
burdened by poverty.
Please tweet this comment. It should go viral.
Add your
voice. This reader said in a comment: “People harass me
for talking about poverty all the time. I come from a middle
class,
white family, and I was sheltered away from the
poor and needy. I
attended a middle class and upper
class private school just south
of Detroit. “After
teaching in public schools since the late 90’s
(and
having never walked in one until I began to teach), I now the
see the world I was sheltered from. It is a world of poverty.
“I
agree that people should be responsible, but when
the game is
rigged, even responsible people falter in
finding work. Once the
jobs are gone, families suffer,
and this seemingly “responsible
behavior” becomes a
smoke and mirrors argument. “Public schools
essentially
saved me from the closed mindedness that comes from
this conservative mindset. I understand now what we need. We
need
strong public services (including education),
strong labor unions,
and a government not run by
corporations. “Shame on my family for
raising me to
believe I was something special, and everybody else
was
not because they were not willing to work as hard as I was.
What a crock.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/07/18/1111575/-Two-Americas”
This teacher in North Carolina has an invitation for the
legislators cutting the schools’ budget and the pundits who applaud
them: Walk
in our shoes.
She writes: “I’d like to put out a call to
every politician who had a hand in passing NC’s new budget. To
every policy maker who thinks this is a good (or even just
acceptable) idea.
To every parent forsaking public education.
To every taxpayer lamenting the “waste” of money that our schools are
in their minds. I’d like to challenge you to walk a day in our
shoes.
“Walk the halls in the scuffed up loafers of the high school
teacher who has been required to write his own textbook, because
there’s no money to buy them. “Sit on the carpet in the polka
dotted flats of the 2nd grade teacher tasked with teaching 25
students all day with no teacher assistant. Oh, and did I mention
that 4 are gifted, 5 have disabilities, 8 speak English as a second
language, and 15 live in poverty?
“Follow a child with behavioral
problems down the hallway in the well-worn Keds of the special ed
teacher who fights for appropriate services for her students,
because the law says they are entitled to a “free and appropriate
public education,” but the people with the money just keep saying
they can’t fund what she needs.
“Conduct awhile in the shiny black
shoes of the band teacher purchasing sheet music and instrument
repairs with his own paycheck. “Clean the green slime off of the
Sperrys of the middle school teacher who has to stop his after
school science club because there are no funds for materials.
“Walk out the door at 6pm in the sandals of the third year teacher, still
bright-eyed and hopeful that her 55 hour week makes a difference.
Then, kick them off as she sits down for two hours of research and
paper-writing, diligently putting in the work to earn an advanced
degree that will no longer provide her any hope of increasing her
$32,000 salary.
“Please, come find us. Come walk in our shoes. See
what you’ve left us with, and let’s see if YOU can ensure that
every third grader can read, that every student graduates high
school college and career ready. Because we can’t. And we aren’t a
group of people that often admit there’s something we can’t do.
We can cause light bulbs to turn on inside little minds. We can inspire a
love of historical facts. We can make any math concept relevant to
real life. We can love a child who doesn’t know what that feels
like, and we can show them that they can learn.
But to do all of this without sufficient funds, sufficient staff, and, most of all,
sufficient appreciation and respect, is simply becoming too tall of
an order.
So you give it a try. Then let’s talk.”
In response to a
post about a teacher’s last day of teaching first grade,
this retired teacher wrote the following: I read this
while sitting on the ferry to Martha’s Vineyard and soon was
sobbing uncontrollably. My husband returned from the deck, saw me
reading on my phone and asked if someone died. It’s been one year
since I retired after 34 years of teaching. Last Day’s letter
rekindled all the powerful mixed emotions I felt on my last day-
tremendous relief that I could leave just before the CC and its
testing arrived in full force, and heartache at leaving my middle
schoolers and the magic that happened in the classroom. And there
is grieving and loss. So, yes, I told my husband- something is
dying. Teachers and students connected in the joy and intensity of
learning together will be a dying art if the scripted, robotic
factories take over. Like First Day, I’m now retired but still a
teacher. My new job is to fight against the
machines.
This is a letter from Arthur Goldstein to his colleagues at Francis Lewis High School in Queens, New York. Arthur is chapter chair of his school, where he teaches English language learners. He also had a terrific blog called NYC Educator.
This is what he told the staff about the new teacher evaluation system:
Dear colleagues:
Today our Measures of Student Learning Committee met to decide precisely how thoroughly invalid junk science measures will be used to rate teachers in Francis Lewis High School. We had several choices. We based our choices on the information available to us, which was very little.
Our first choice was whether to use goal or growth measures. We were told that goal measures entailed inventing tests or projects. These tests or projects would then be sent to the insane ideologues at the NYC Department of Education who would set goals. The goals could have been different for individual students, which could mean ringing 170 different bells.
Were you to disagree with the goals set by the DOE, you would have the option of submitting reasons and appealing to the principal, who would either deny your appeal or submit your reasons and appeal to the DOE for reconsideration.
Given the tremendous amount of work we have ahead of us this year, we opted for growth models, although we have little or no idea how they will be calculated. For state measures, some were mandated to reflect individual classes of teachers. In those cases, we opted to have department results reflect the local measures. In other words, your department Regents results could be the local measures. This would reflect not only the exams in areas you teach, but those given by your entire department. For example, if you teach algebra, the results in geometry and trigonometry will also be part of your local measures.
We aimed, in general, to make measures as broad as possible. Wherever possible, we tried to avoid competition between teachers and groups of teachers. We do not want teachers to feel they would be hurting themselves by, for example, tutoring students of their colleagues.
If there was a state exam and individual class results were not mandated, your department results were your growth measure. In those cases, we opted to have the local measure be your department results. In this system, if the state measure was also department results, local growth would be measured by the lowest third of your department results. Because there is no logic, rhyme or reason to this system, we were prohibited from using the same standard twice.
If your subject, like music, art, or physical education, does not have a state assessment, your evaluation would be based on schoolwide state tests. Your local evaluation would be based on the lowest third of schoolwide state tests.
We did not have the option of evaluating what teachers actually do, as the geniuses in Albany and DC, many of whom send their children to private schools where this nonsense does not apply, appear to have determined that teachers teach tests rather than students.
We will discuss this further when we meet on Tuesday and Wednesday. I’m afraid I have no more details than these on this system. However, we will revisit it next year, by which time we’ll hopefully have a better idea on what does and does not work in our school.
Let me be clear—I hate this system and virtually everything about it. But as our union leadership had a hand in writing the law imposing this on us, and as John King had carte blanche to impose pretty much whatever reformy nonsense he saw fit, we are stuck with it.
We will make the best of it, and work to bring sanity in education back to our city and state soon. Sadly, that won’t be happening this year.
Best regards,
Arthur
This reader responds to the findings
of the PDK/Gallup poll, which showed a shift in public
opinion against testing, against using test scores to evaluate
teachers, and against public release of teacher personnel files and
ratings. “We said last year that we had a lot of hard work to do,
to inform and educate the parents we work with, to organize
communities and form effective coalitions of resistance…We said
it was going to be a herculean task. For the past year we each have
been busy doing just that. (I held a series of advocatcy workshps
for parents at my school, with my principal’s blessing) We have
been relentless promoting our cause in the media and on the
internet…constant unrelenting communicating and informing, always
learning. Knowledge is power. “Now we discover that since last
year, the percentages have shifted in favor of teachers, teacher
concerns and Public Education. I ask you, “Who said American public
educators are not effective teachers?” Just look at what we have
accomplished in a year! “We are AMAZING educators and incredible
motivators…Congratulations everyone (((cheers)))
(((applause)))… “Now we need to keep at it until every classroom
in our great nation is FREE of the corporate influence. Keep active
educating other teachers and supporting parents and encouraging
students to organize…the battle is shifting in our favor and it
is a battle, but the war is far from over. We can do
this!”
