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Archives for category: Washington State
The revolt against the inappropriate use of standardized testing is spreading in Seattle.
Teachers at Ballard High School in Seattle voted not to administer the MAP test and to support their colleagues at Garfield High School.
“Whereas
The MAP test is a resource expensive and cash expensive program in a district with very finite financial resources,
The MAP test is not used in practice to inform student instruction,
The MAP test is not connected to our curricula,
The MAP test has been re-purposed by district administration to form part of a teacher’s evaluation, which is contrary to the purposes it was designed for, as stated by its purveyor, making it part of junk science,
The MAP test has also been re-purposed for student placement in courses and programs, for which it was not designed,
The MAP test was purchased under corrupt crony-ist circumstances (Our former superintendent, while employed by Seattle Public Schools (SPS) sat on the corporation board of NWEA, the purveyor of the MAP test. This was undisclosed to her employer. The initial MAP test was purchased in a no-bid, non-competitive process.)
The MAP test was and remains unwanted and unneeded and unsolicited by SPS professional classroom educators, those who work directly with students,
The MAP test is not taken seriously by students, (They don’t need the results for graduation, for applications, for course credit, or any other purpose, so they routinely blow it off.)
The MAP test’s reported testing errors are greater than students’ expected growth,
The technology administration of the MAP test has serious flaws district wide which waste students’ time,
Therefore
We, the undersigned educators from Ballard High School do hereby support statements and actions of our colleagues at Garfield High School surrounding the MAP test. Specifically, the MAP test program throughout Seattle Public Schools ought to be shut down immediately. It has been and continues to be an embarrassing mistake. Continuing it even another day, let alone another month or year or decade, will not turn this sow’s ear into a silk purse.
Ballard High School teachers
Leonie Haimson has some excellent ideas about where to make budget cuts and how to raise revenues to protect children in the looming fiscal crisis.
Haimson is executive director of Class Size Matters in New York City and has long been the city’s leading parent activist. Her ability to analyze research and budgets is astounding. Her courage in fighting for students and parents is unmatched.
Leonie Haimson was among the first people to be placed on the honor roll as a champion of public education. She was one of the original founders of Parents Across America.
She is a tireless and effective advocate who makes a difference in improving the lives of children.
Is democracy for sale?
Apparently it is in Washington State.
Three times the voters turned down a charter amendment.
In this election, a small number of extremely rich people decided they really wanted charters.
So they raised $10 million to beat back the parents and educators of the state, who could not match their spending.
Read the list of donors in the link above.
It is shocking to see how much money is being poured into state and local races by a small number of incredibly rich people.
This is a good argument for raising taxes on the super-rich.
Then they have less money to buy elections.
Some investigative journalist is going to win major prizes for breaking open the story about the money and the motives of those promoting privatization of public education.
Motoko Rich drops tantalizing hints in her story in the New York Times. We learn that the charter referendum in Georgia was funded by “out-of-state donors, including Alice Walton, the daughter of the founder of Walmart, Sam Walton; Americans for Prosperity, the Tea Party group founded by the billionaire Koch brothers; and several companies that manage charter schools. Supporters of the amendment outspent opponents by about 15 to 1.”
The Georgia amendment was based on ALEC model legislation.
In Washington state, “Donors included Ms. Walton, the Bezos foundation, and Bill Gates and Paul Allen, the co-founders of Microsoft. They raised millions of dollars to promote the ballot initiative…”
Also involved, we learned, was Democrats for Education Reform, the Wall Street hedge fund managers organization, and Stand for Children, which stands for equity investors.
Who coordinates these fund-raisers? Who else is involved? How do they manage to present themselves as liberals and supporters of “the civil rights issue of our era” in alliance with far-right groups? And why are they so intent on privatization when the evidence is clear that charters don’t produce better education than public schools?
And how can the Obama administration support a movement tied to the far-right that worked to defeat him?
I promise this is the last thing I will post about the charter referendum in Washington State until there really is a final tally.
Someone sent me what she thought was a final tally but it was NOT a final tally.
The votes are still being counted.
The election is close. The charter advocates were ahead but there are still hundreds of thousands of uncounted mail ballots.
We still do not know whether Bill Gates and his friends have won.
I won’t send out any more bulletins until there is a verified final count.
This one is meant to say: Don’t give up hope.
The fat lady has not yet sung.
This just in from the Washington State Secretary of State:
November 06, 2012 General Election Results
Initiative Measure No. 1240 Concerns creation of a public charter school system
Last updated on 11/06/2012 11:26 PM
| Initiative Measure No. 1240 Concerns creation of a public charter school system | ||
| Candidate | Vote | Vote % |
|---|---|---|
|
Yes
|
952,279 | 51.24% |
|
No
|
906,101 | 48.76% |
| Total Votes | 1,858,380 | 100% |
I renew the Bill Gates Challenge.
Bill knows that charter schools do not get better results than public schools. He knows that they are often more segregated than public schools.
Yet he and his friends spent $10 million to push them in his home state.
Bill, now that you have won, over the opposition of almost every parent and educator group in the state, I challenge you to enroll your own children in a charter school.
Hold off on popping the champagne corks, corporate reformers.
Voters in Washington State advise that the state is an all-mail-in state and many ballots have not yet been counted.
This from one reader:
It’s not over yet. There are still over 600,000 ballots to be counted and nearly 300,000 of those are from the two largest metropolitan areas. One of those counties is leaning no and the other is ever so slightly leaning yes. I’m still hopeful that the balance will change. Oh, and in WA, it’s not terribly uncommon for the voters to pass an initiative and for the courts to overturn it. Our I-1185 is definitely going to pass like several times before, but the courts keep determining the basic concept of the initiative illegal. I am hopeful that if the charter school initiative does pass, that the courts will determine that it violates the McCleary order to fully fund public education. I’m sure the lawsuit it waiting in the wings to be filed as soon as the election results are finally in.
And from another reader:
Not quite yet! Washington is an all mail-in state and the results are close enough that we really won’t know for sure until at least tonight, possibly later. King County (the most populous county in the state) is only about half counted, and “No” is leading there.
I am realistic but still a little bit hopeful, it’s not time for the wake just yet.
So, suspend the Bill Gates Challenge. Let’s wait for all the votes to be counted.
A reader from Washington State sends this comment:
Here is a satirical “Recipe for How To Change The Nation’s Schools.” I am a 33 year classroom teaching veteran currently working on the campaign to stop the charter school initiative in WA state. It doesn’t look good as Bill Gates and friends spend $9 million on ads (we have no ads).
RECIPE for Taking over a Nation’s Public Schools
Ingredients:
• A Few Super Wealthy Families (that have never attended public schools)
• Powerful Religious Groups convinced that what is wrong with the nation is caused by public education.
• Lobbyists for Private Corporations Waiting To Cash In on Public Money.
• A Political System that allows legislation to be “bought” where campaign money is uncontrolled.
• The illusion that the Public School System is Broken (despite the fact that it has steadily gotten better over time according to the NAEP)
• A few convincing movies to create a negative version of public schools to sway public sentiment.
• A pretense at reform by mandating progress on test scores with unattainable, unsupported goals that ensure turmoil and failure. Tie funding to those scores so they become all consuming. Also, remember that testing is big business for our friends.
• Someone to Blame: Teacher Unions (this is an especially important ingredient since they are the only organization with enough influence to stop the process of taking over the public schools)
Directions:
Put all the ingredients together, stir well. When the time is right, buy legislation with millions and millions of dollars that puts into place the kind of privately controlled schools you really want. Also, do this in a way that further weakens neighborhood public schools by stealing their funding and resources.
Finally, sit back and enjoy you what you have created: A new version of Public Schools where teacher’s cannot unionize, where creationism can be taught as scientific truth with public funds, and where corporations can better control education of the public more to their liking while their friends cash in on the profits.
The frosting on the cake: Yes, it was a little expensive buying these ingredients, but now we have the public permanently financing our project!
This article explains succinctly why certain members of the billionaire boys club have decided that Washington State absolutely positively must have charter schools. Their recipe for school reform: the free market. And why not? The free market works for them. Will they put their own children (or in the case of the Bezos family, grandchildren) in charter schools? Don’t be silly.
Diane Ravitch's blog 