REPA REDUX

RULES FOR TEACHER LICENSING

The Indiana State Board of Education is once again looking at the qualifications for educators and are examining the proposed changes described in REPA III (Rules for Educator Preparation and Accountability) this week.

In 2012, the Tony Bennett-run school board tried to force REPA II through in Bennett's last days in office. Bennett was apparently trying to get them approved before then Superintendent-elect Glenda Ritz could take office. Because of procedural problems, however, the state attorney general prevented implementation. Vic Smith reports.

When the Attorney General’s office reviewed what the State Board had changed in the published rules, they halted implementation of the rules based on procedural problems in the rule-making process. The Attorney General’s ruling meant clarifications had to be drafted and additional public hearings had to be scheduled. State Board member Tony Walker, apparently eager to implement REPA 2, expressed great frustration about the delay during one State Board meeting. Teacher educators, in contrast, were pleased by the Attorney General’s ruling and hoped it would mean the end of REPA 2.

I made some comments at the time because REPA II called for lowering standards for teacher, principal and superintendent licensing.

Now, REPA III has brought the same thing back again. Vic Smith wrote

REPA 2 was Dr. Bennett’s parting shot to try to lower standards for getting teacher and administrator licenses. He asked the State Board to pass the revised rules in December of 2012 after his election defeat. They were passed but with so many amendments that the Attorney General ruled that the rules could not be finalized until they were clarified and given another round of public hearings.

The CECI has now picked up the ball and is calling them REPA 3. They contain at least four really bad ideas:

1) Individuals with any four year degree can get a 5-year “Adjunct” teaching license.

2) Training required to get a principal’s license would be reduced.

3) Training required to get a superintendent’s license would be reduced.

4) Administrative certification can be offered by non-higher education organizations. Whether for-profit private organizations can become training sites for administrators and adjunct teachers is not clear but remains a possibility that should be clarified before the hearings.

...and later...

...[The] problem is the assumption that pedagogical training is a trivial part of becoming a teacher. Why would anyone bother to look into a School of Education teacher training program, especially a rigorous one, if they know they can teach with any bachelor’s degree after passing a content area test? Has the Governor concluded that to know something is to be able to teach it to students? We know better.

A couple of years ago I read a prediction by Stephen Krashen. He predicted that Arne Duncan would eventually claim that

...teachers don't need any kind of degree in education or any course work in education.

Duncan hasn't said that yet...Indiana Governor Mike Pence, the CECI (his shadow department of education) and supporters of REPA III have beaten him to it.

DOES TEACHER QUALITY MATTER?

Does teacher quality, including pedagogical training, actually matter?

In her book, The Flat World and Education, Linda Darling-Hammond discussed just this issue.

Ronald Fersuson demonstrated that...that the single most important measurable cause of increased student learning was teacher expertise, measured by teacher performance on a statewide certification exam measuring academic skills and teaching knowledge, along with teacher experience, and master's degrees. The effects were so strong, and the variations in teacher expertise so great, that after controlling for socioeconomic status the large disparities in achievement between Black and White students were almost entirely accounted for by differences in the qualifications of their teachers. [emphasis added]

There are two important things to note in that paragraph. First, the teacher expertise included teaching knowledge. Knowledge about teaching is important...not just content knowledge! Second, just to make sure that we're clear on the issue of poverty, this study was done "after controlling for socioeconomic status" (Teachers are the most important IN-SCHOOL factor in student learning. Out of school factors play a much bigger role. See Poverty and Potential: Out-of-School Factors and School Success by Berliner, et al).

Other pertinent comments from Darling-Hammond

The strongest predictors of student failure were the proportion of teachers without any training or certification...

Among the school resource measures, the level of teacher experience and a related measure -- the percentage of teachers without a full credential -- are the variables most strongly related to student achievement.

[NOTE: These are all referring to the effect on student achievement after controlling for socioeconomic status.]

Would any members of the school board continue to go to a dentist who allowed an untrained person to work with patients in his/her office even if that person knew a lot about teeth? Would any members of the school board use an attorney who allowed an untrained person to speak for his/her firm in court, even if that person knew a lot about the law? Would any member of the school board got on board a plane flown by an untrained person, even if that person knew a lot about aerodynamics?

Professional work needs to be done by professionals.

MORE

To read Vic Smith's discussion of the REPA III language click here.

If you'd like to tell the School Board how you feel about REPA III, public comments on the proposed language will be accepted until January 31, 2014. Go the SBOE website at http://www.in.gov/sboe/REPAIIIcomment.htm to enter your comments. The proposed rule language can be found here.

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Sign An Education Declaration to Rebuild America

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.

~~~

Stop the Testing Insanity!

Sign the National Resolution on High Stakes Testing!

~~~

Get Rid of Bad Teachers by Lowering Standards

The Deprofessionalization of Teachers Continues

The Indiana Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (IACTE) has sent out a letter describing the proposed REPA (Rules for Educator Preparation and Accountability) changes.

The "reformers" consistently call for states and school systems to get rid of bad teachers, yet Tony Bennett, Indiana's Superintendent of Public Instruction and the new poster-boy for the national reform movement, supports these changes which will lower the standards for teachers in Indiana.

REPA 2 Awareness Letter

May 3, 2012

On April 30 2010, significant changes both to teacher and administrator licensing and to teacher preparation requirements in the state of Indiana went into effect; changes which the Indiana Department of Education approved in January, 2010. Both the Department of Education and teacher preparation programs throughout the state are in the midst of implementing the changes. In fact there are a number of changes approved, such as the testing requirements for new licenses that have yet to be implemented; target dates are January and September, 2013. Amidst these changes, the Department of Education has proposed a new set of rule changes without reviewing the results of the 2010 first set of Rules for Educator Preparation and Accountability (REPA). The timing and nature of this new set of proposed rules adds to the considerable instability that already exists in the state with respect to policy changes affecting teachers and public schools.

At the January 2012 meeting of the State Board of Education, Dr. Bennett and his staff presented REPA 2. Dr. Bennett stated that the purpose of these proposed rules is to provide administrators and schools with flexibility in teacher staffing. However, many professionals in public education have expressed serious concerns with the proposed rules, rules that will significantly lower standards for teaching and administrator licensing in the state.

Currently, there are plans for individuals to be able to provide public comment regarding these changes, and a public hearing in Indianapolis. The intent of this letter is to advise you of this new set of proposed rules and urge you to comment on the public record as provided by law. You are encouraged to share this letter among your colleagues and/or membership to advise them of the potential impact of these proposed changes.

Some of the proposed changes include:

• Creation of adjunct teaching permits, for which the only criteria are a 3.0/4.0 undergraduate grade point average and passage of the content assessment. Adjunct teachers would not be required to complete any preparation in how to teach nor pass the new pedagogy assessment required for new teacher licenses.
• Restrictions of the teacher license renewal criteria to only the results of teacher evaluations earned in their local schools with no external expectations for professional development.
• Elimination of the opportunity to renew existing 10 year licenses.
• Ability to add any content area to an existing license without any developmentally appropriate content or teaching preparations. This change includes the potential for license additions in the fine arts, special education, early childhood education and elementary education by licensed individuals simply passing a test.
• Changes to special education preparation that would not require any subject area preparation or expertise.
• Changes to the building principal license requirements, changes that reduce degree requirements and eligibility criteria at a time in which the building principals are being asked to do significantly more.
• Changes in the approval/accreditation criteria for state teacher preparation programs with no reference to national or professional criteria nor to a clear review process or time line.

In summary, the Indiana Department of Education made significant changes to teacher and administrator licensing and teacher preparation just two years ago; changes which have yet to be implemented fully even by the Department of Education. Coming before the original REPA revisions are fully implemented, REPA 2 will add significantly to the high level of instability in the policy environment affecting teachers and schools in Indiana. Perhaps, the primary recommendation should be “wait”; to allow for the changes made in 2010 to be implemented and for the results to be seen. If consideration of REPA 2 is not deferred, it is important to be aware of the proposed changes and to speak out on specific revisions needed to maintain quality standards for licensure and to avoid further de-professionalization of teaching. You are encouraged to share this letter and to review the proposed rules at http://www.doe.in.gov/sites/default/files/sboe/repa-2-april-25.pdf. More details about the public comment Website and the public hearing will be forthcoming.

On behalf of the Indiana Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (IACTE) Executive Committee

Jill D. Shedd
IACTE Executive Secretary

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Stop the Testing Insanity!

Sign the National Resolution on High Stakes Testing!

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REPA III - Deprofessionalizing Education

ON BEING A PROFESSIONAL

This weekend Anthony Cody posted the following video on his new blog site...

The three minute talk by Visiting Assistant Professor of Early Childhood Education at Howard University, Denisha Jones, speaks right to the heart of the matter of allowing (or encouraging) people to walk into public school classrooms unprepared.

Dr. Jones (Ph.D in Curriculum and Instruction from Indiana University) focuses her comments on the 5-week TFA (Teach For Awhile?) training program which places minimally trained college graduates in public school classrooms. In its early years, TFA aimed to fill unfilled positions in low income neighborhood schools. Now it's also being used to replace laid off teachers with cheap temps in school districts around the nation.

On the other hand, REPA III, which was adopted last week by the Indiana State Board or Education, doesn't even require 5 weeks of pedagogical training before you can be hired to teach in one of Indiana's high schools. You have to be well trained or experienced in your subject area, but developing the skills needed to transfer knowledge and develop understanding to the students in your classroom is apparently not necessary. If an unlucky high school does hire you to teach, only then do you have to start your training in pedagogy. You can "learn how to teach" from...

...school-based professional development, college or university-based course work or professional development, an entity that is not an institution of higher education, or a professional education organization

This pedagogical training must start within the first month you enter the classroom. The seven members of the State Board of Education who voted for REPA III apparently believe that you can 1) make it through the first month in a high school classroom without any knowledge of how teaching actually works or 2) learn how to teach instantly once you are exposed to "pedagogy training." [Note how the language in REPA III allows you to get your "training" from virtually anyone...like Pearson, perhaps]

THOSE FABULOUS FINNS

Allowing untrained "experts" to teach on the REPA III plan is simply the logical next step in the privatization of public education and the deprofessionalization of teachers in Indiana and across the nation.

In contrast, Finland has improved its schools and national education, not by testing every child yearly and using tests to punish students, teachers and schools, or by reducing funding for education resulting in lower or frozen teacher salaries. It hasn't removed collective bargaining rights for teachers, or taken away teachers' due process rights. What Finland has done, among other things, is to elevate the profession of teaching to such a high level that the "best and the brightest" want to pursue careers in education. The Finns have improved teacher training by increasing, rather than decreasing the requirements needed before one can step in front of a classroom. They require educators to understand their subject area, of course, but they also require them to be well trained in pedagogy. They give their teachers plenty of time to collaborate and plan lessons so their students need less in-school time than their American counterparts. They pay their teachers well, and even pay them during their training.

What does all this investment in teacher training and professional development yield?

Academically, Finland is one of the highest performing nations in the world.

WE'RE NOT #1

We hear so much about how American schools are failing because our students don't score high enough on international tests and how we should learn from those successful countries so that our students will be able to "compete in the global marketplace."

Then we turn around and underfund our schools, overwork our teachers, blame public education for the failure of policy makers to deal with issues surrounding poverty and sell off the education of our children to private and charter schools with little or no public oversight.

The final step in making our public schools as much unlike successful nations' schools as possible, is to demoralize teachers and deprofessionalize the field of education. Instead of increasing requirements for becoming a teacher, we decrease them. Instead of doing what we need to do to attract the "best and the brightest" to our public school classrooms we make a career in the field of education so difficult and so filled with mind-numbing test-obsessed insanity that fewer and fewer students are going into teaching and older, experienced career teachers are leaving the field in greater and greater numbers.

REPA III requires training in some "related field." Would any of the seven REPA III supporters on the Indiana State Board of Education want to be treated for an illness by say, an anatomy professor who never attended medical or nursing school, but who promised to learn how to practice medicine within a month? Would any of them go to a former police officer for legal help, for example, if the officer decided that s/he wanted to practice law and would start on her/his law degree during the first month of handling their case?

Do any of them send their own children to schools with untrained teachers?

Dr. Jones said,

...this is what makes one a professional. They have completed a course of education deemed appropriate by the leaders in their field, and they have demonstrated a readiness to enter the profession. [emphasis added]

The seven pro-REPA III members of the Indiana State Board of Education are not leaders in the field of education despite some of their credentials. They have demonstrated that they are unqualified to have anything to do with public education.

~~~

Sign An Education Declaration to Rebuild America

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.

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Stop the Testing Insanity!

Vermont State Board of Education: Statement and Resolution on Assessment and Accountability, Adopted August 19, 201

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REPA III - The Wrong Direction

Yesterday, by a vote of 7 Ayes to 3 Nays, the Indiana State Board of Education passed REPA III, rules which define the qualifications for public school educators. This version contains the Career Specialist Permit which gives non-educational professionals the right to teach in Indiana high schools.

LOCAL CONTROL

Why did David Frietas, a lifelong educator who has spent much of his professional career working with educators, vote for this. Referring to REPA III he said,

"We give a lot of lip-service to local control of public schools and I see this issue as an opportunity to reinforce and affirm our great school principals, great school board and great superintendents to make that decision for allowing people to have a pathway into the profession," Freitas said. "But the gatekeepers should not be at the state level. ... That is best done by the local school board."

Does he really believe that or is he being disingenuous? Consider...

Does he believe that testing requirements should be under local control? Does he believe that local school systems should choose what tests to use, how often to administer them and what to do with the results?

Does he believe that curriculum decisions should be under local control? Does he believe that local school systems should choose their own textbooks and standards?

How is REPA III different than any other aspect of public education which is decided at the state level? Why isn't he pushing to remove state involvement from other areas of public education? Why did he agree to sit on the state board of education where he is part of a group which makes policy decisions "at the state level." If he is in favor of local control, why did he accept appointment as one of the state level "gatekeepers?"

THE NAYS

Thanks to professional educators Glenda Ritz, Brad Oliver, and Troy Albert, who voted against REPA III. It dilutes the quality of teaching in Indiana's high schools, insults the thousands of education professionals in the state who earned their credentials, and experiments with the quality of education for our students. Those three educators understand that you don't just walk into a public school classroom, begin disseminating information and call that teaching.

They understand that lowering standards for public school teachers won't help students learn or raise student achievement.

DARLING-HAMMOND

Linda Darling Hammond is a Professor of Education at Stanford University and a researcher in education policy and reform. In the film, Rise Above the Mark, she said,

What do we know about what works?

We know that high achieving systems are equitably funded whereas we fund our schools very inequitably. They take care of children with health care and preschool education, they have very low rates of childhood poverty whereas we have the highest rate in the industrialized world.

They invest in very well trained teachers and administrators who are extremely professional and well supported and knowledgable, and then they let them make decisions about what to do. They have a lean curriculum guidance some curriculum suggestions about what should happen each year but then people in the schools develop that into real curriculum and programs.

They use assessments that are authentic, performance based, open ended, essays, oral examinations, projects, scientific experiments all of those. Many fewer tests much more thoughtful, and at the end of the day they're really aiming to enable all of their kids to be successful in the public system. [emphasis added]

Having very well trained teachers and administrators in Indiana is something that the majority of members of the State Board of Education apparently don't believe in.

~~~

Sign An Education Declaration to Rebuild America

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.

~~~

Stop the Testing Insanity!

Vermont State Board of Education: Statement and Resolution on Assessment and Accountability, Adopted August 19, 2014

~~~

Bennett & Co. Double Down on the Nonsense

To be a teacher in Indiana...

Last month the no-nothings on the Indiana State Board of Education (SBOE) decided -- in the face of substantial public objection -- to allow anyone with a college degree to teach the subject of their degree area in the public schools of Indiana...no education training necessary. The idea that you have to know your subject to teach apparently trumped the idea that you have to know how to teach.

This morning I read where that's been altered a bit. They're going to add the "pedagogy requirement" so that, at least some training is required to keep a teaching job. At first I thought that was a good idea...until I saw the details.

Want To Teach In Indiana? Without An Ed Degree, You’ll (Still) Need Some Training

...after a last-minute addendum to a package of changes to the state’s teacher licensing rules, known as “REPA II,” non-education majors will need to receive training on teaching strategies in order to keep a teaching job...

...the final change — which board member Neil Pickett proposed just minutes before a final vote on the REPA II package — adds a requirement that teachers must complete a “pedagogy requirement” if they wish to keep their jobs.

This is, in my opinion, not as good as an education degree, but at least it's something, right? Wrong!

According to the final language, if a permit-holder wants to renew his license in five years, he’ll need to receive training...

The Pedagogical Requirement

Five years? The rules state that if you have a college degree in a subject area you can teach for five years in Indiana without learning anything about educating children. This is a Teach for America program only without even the minimal five weeks of training which TFA offers.

About a third of beginning teachers quit before their first three years are over. Nearly half are gone within five years. The numbers are even lower for teachers in low income schools. Nearly 85% of Teach for America teachers are gone after five years.

Do the members of the SBOE have any idea what it's like to be a teacher? A few of them -- the two who voted against the REPA II rules last December -- are professional educators. Many of those who spoke against the plan at the meeting in December and were ignored by 9 of the SBOE members were educators. Apparently, though, even the educators among the 9, including outgoing State Superintendent of Public Instruction, Tony Bennett, don't believe that teachers in Indiana schools need to be prepared to teach...they just need the right content knowledge.

What is the "pedagogical requirement"?

According to the final language, if a permit-holder wants to renew his license in five years, he’ll need to receive training in these areas:

• “Literacy for adolescents in content areas and across the curriculum based on scientifically-based reading research”
• “Differentiation of instruction and instructional methods, including methods for students with exceptional needs” (Differentiation is basically edu-speak for teaching a bunch of students of differing ability levels at once.)
• “Classroom and behavioral management, including legal rights and responsibilities of teacher and student”
• “Curriculum development, lesson planning, assessment strategies and using data to inform instruction”
• “Psychology of child development, including the development of exceptional needs students”
• “Competence in multicultural awareness and technology as an aid to education”

A college graduate in Math, for example, can walk into a Freshman Algebra class and not know anything about differentiated instruction.  An English or Journalism major can teach 7th grade English without any preparation, practice teaching or observation of classroom and behavioral management techniques. No lesson planning experience...no understanding of child development...no experience within classrooms...no guidance from a master teacher...nothing. The SBOE wants you to be able to teach in the public schools of Indiana with no understanding of education -- other than the content -- at all -- for five years.

I'll ask the questions I asked in December:

Would any of these people allow a person untrained and unqualified in their respective fields work for them? Would any of them actually allow someone who was untrained and unqualified teach their own children?

Tony Bennett was in the forefront of the movement to get rid of "bad teachers." Collective bargaining is all but gone in Indiana. Evaluation by student test scores is all the rage and is the rule in Indiana. Do Bennett and the rest of the SBOE who voted for REPA II actually believe that lowering the standards for becoming a teacher will improve the quality of learning in Indiana schools?

Is this just ignorance or are they doing everything they can to fail the public schools in Indiana and make room for more for-profit schools to move in? Do they hate children? Do they hate professional teachers? Is Bennett still blaming ISTA for his loss and trying to get even? What are they thinking?

After Five Years

Let's suppose that someone survives four or five years as a teacher without any preparation. Where will they be required to get their training?

Where will teachers receive this training? They could receive it in the school itself, “through school-based professional development,” through a college, or a “professional education organization.”

So...you can spend five years teaching children in our public schools before you need to learn to teach...and then you can learn to teach by going to building level inservice activities...or, you can spend the money going to an accredited education school (like you should have done in the first place), or you can get your training from some other "professional education organization" -- like Pearson, perhaps? (More on Pearson HERE.)

And guess who is going to decide what qualifies as a "professional education organization?"

The SBOE now has the authority for approving teacher education programs instead of the Department of Education. They are also responsible for approving the new licensure assessments which will give the not-qualified-but-ready-to-take-the-test people their "adjunct" licenses. Looking at the rest of the list of SBOE members, I wonder why they think they're qualified for that task.

(Read more about REPA II here and here.)

Sometimes the insanity is too much for me. I'm going to go read a book. Take a look at the following cartoon...and substitute educator for engineer (click for a larger size).

~~~

Stop the Testing Insanity!

Sign the National Resolution on High Stakes Testing!

~~~

2012 Medley #23

Indiana, RttT, Finland, Charters*,
Professional Educators, Evaluations, Politics.

INDIANA EDUCATION- REPA2

‘The de-professionalization of teaching’

This is an older posting, however, with the vote of REPA2 coming up early in December it's time for a review.

...among the new proposals is the creation of an “adjunct” teacher permit that would be awarded to anyone holding a bachelor’s degree with a 3.0 grade point average who passes a content test – even though that person may have no preparation to be a teacher.

REPA2 also makes it possible for teachers licensed in any subject at any level to add other licenses, including special education, fine arts, early childhood and elementary licenses, by simply passing a standardized test.

And it drops the requirement that special education teachers, who under REPA2 would be licensed to teach special education from pre-school through high school, also be licensed in a content area.

REPA2 also lowers the bar for principals and other school administrators in the state.

INDIANA RESIDENTS: It's time to contact your State Board of Education (SBOE) member. Urge them to table the vote on REPA2 so as not to saddle the newly elected state superintendent  with policies which are not needed or supported by voters.

Click here to contact your SBOE member

Here are some talking points you may want to use when contacting your SBE members.

• Do not act in December. In the strictest sense, you may have the authority but in the broadest sense, you do not have the support.
• The election results have warranted a moratorium on unilateral changes to policy without taking into consideration the public’s concerns. If they weren’t before, the public is “tuned in” now.
• No consensus on these changes has been demonstrated.
• In fact, no bona fide need has been proven for these proposed licensure changes.
• Let REPA 1 become effective first. You are making changes before REPA 1 (which was developed within the last 2 years and with broad-based input) takes hold.
• REPA 2 would allow individuals who have never spent one moment studying pedagogy (teaching methods) to become fully licensed with all of the powers and responsibilities of those who have been fully trained. (under Adjunct Faculty).
• REPA 2 would allow the DOE to approve virtually any organization as a teacher training institution. While the make-up and attitudes within the DOE will now likely change, this is still not advisable policy.

ENDING RACE TO THE TOP

Call the White House. A national campaign to stop Race to the Top

Click the link to find your state's designated day to contact the White House. Indiana is Tuesday!

Contact the White House weekly at 202-456-1111 on your state’s designated day.

Message: Give all students the same education your girls are getting! Abandon Race to the Top and stop privatizing public schools.

FINLAND

Finland's Secret Sauce: Its Teachers

The "reformer's" love affair with Finland has faded somewhat of late, however, those who are really interested in improving America's public education system (as opposed to those interested in profiting from it) can learn something.

...Finnish teachers are not highly paid. But they are highly respected and treated far more like professionals than American teachers. Finnish teachers are on their feet in front of students for fewer hours every week, teaching only three to four hours per day. The rest of their work time is spent in preparation, working with colleagues, marking papers, and doing other duties assigned by their heads. Unless they have to teach a class, they are not required to be at the school.

Just as Americans had lessons to learn from Germany and Japan, now it's time to consider Finland's success and determine what we could learn from that tiny nation. In the words of Leo Pahkin, "Money is not the secret of good results. The secret lies somewhere else."

CHARTERS*

Researcher: Florida District Schools Outperform Charter Schools On Average

What a surprise...charter schools have the same problems that regular public schools have. They can do better than regular public schools if they skim off the best students from the public school system, however, once the playing field is equalized, the results show that charters are no better. Here is yet another study showing that charters do no better than regular public schools.

The average charter school is doing about the same as the non-charter school when no adjustments are made for poverty and minority statuses. When the adjusted scores are considered, the average charter school performs significantly worse than the average non-charter school.

TEACHING AS A CAREER

Is it worse to be called a "bitch" or to be treated like one?

[NOTE: The language used in this posting may be offensive to some people. It's my opinion, however, that the way America treats its children is even more offensive.]

There's plenty of money to bail out those who brought the world to its economic knees, however, for public schools...not so much. Our priorities are crystal clear. American children just aren't that important to us.

...lest society as a whole think they are without sin, let us hold a mirror up to America's face. Hi America, here is what your stewardship of our economic and education system has wrought. In a recent Daily News article Juan Gonzalez revealed how employees at AIG enjoy many free perks. Perks such as free Snapple, Starbucks, soda, Tylenol and Advil. The company also buys breakfast and lunch several times a week for its employees. The insurance bastards, who were saved from bankruptcy by sucking $182 billion from the public teat, have funds for this nonsense but at Intermediate School Who Gives A Fuck, teachers have to buy their own paper. What the hell, America? Get your priorities straight. Teachers who want to take their students on a trip to the theatre, ballet or Statue of Liberty must beg at the altar of Donors Choose because there is no money for such unholy "extras" but inept corporations (of which we still own 52%) get no oversight. Bitch.

EVALUATIONS

The newest rhetoric on teacher evaluation — and why it is nonsense

Carol Burris takes on three fallacies perpetrated in the Kappan magazine.

...perhaps we all could back off and allow teachers to enjoy the same humanity we seem to graciously grant to others. Teachers aren’t perfect, but I must tell you that nearly all of the teachers that I have met over the years are darn good at what they do. And the variation in their skill is no wider than the variation that I have observed in other professions whose evaluations we never seem to discuss. Let’s look to improve evaluation systems as well as other parts of our schools. But could we stay within reasonable bounds of critique based on fact and research? If we do not stop this constant drumbeat of criticism there will be no one left to evaluate with our new excellent-every-hour-every-day evaluation systems.

POLITICS

Phony school “reform” agenda takes a beating

Glenda Ritz wasn't the only one to "beat the 'reformers'" in the last election.

That these results have been largely ignored by the same media and political establishment demonizing teachers, promoting technology as a panacea, and championing privately run charter schools only underscores their importance. Simply put, the election outcomes are ignored because they so powerfully expose the lies behind all the “reform” propaganda coursing through the media and treated as unquestioned fact in our politics. Indeed, just as the larger national election results exposed conservative news outlets as prioritizing ideologically driven wishful thinking over reporting on what was actually happening on the ground, so too do these results expose the “reform” coalition for what it really is: not a popular mass movement, but another profit-driven elite-crafted scheme, one with little proof of educational success and even less mass support throughout America.

President Obama Re-Elected, and Now…

Diane Ravitch gets the last word today.

Now that President Obama has been re-elected, supporters of public education must redouble our efforts to end educational malpractice and rejuvenate American education.

It’s time to stop the privatization of public education.

It’s time to stop using invalid methods to judge teacher quality.

It’s time to stop high-stakes testing.

It’s time to stop closing schools.

It’s time to stop teaching to the tests.

It’s time to end the obsession with data and test-based metrics.

It’s time to support students and teachers and public schools.

It’s time to enrich the curriculum with the arts, history, civics and foreign languages for all children.

It’s time to think about what’s good for children, what will really improve education, and what will truly encourage creativity and ingenuity.

It’s time to think about reviving the spirits of educators and the joy of teaching and learning.

The election is over. The struggle for the heart and soul of American education continues.

*References to charters generally imply corporate, for-profit charter schools. Quotes from other writers reflect their opinions only. See It's Important to Look in a Mirror Now and Then.

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Stop the Testing Insanity!

Sign the National Resolution on High Stakes Testing!

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Indiana "reformers" are Surprised by a Teacher Shortage?

[This entry has been updated. The second part has been added.]

INITIAL REACTION

Kruse and Behning can't understand why there's a teacher shortage?

The two people in the Indiana legislature who are responsible for more damage to the state's public education system than anyone else...and they don't know why there's a teacher shortage?

Either they are even more stupid than I suspected (and that's saying quite a bit) or they think we're incredibly stupid.

Indiana Lawmakers Call For Study On Teacher Shortage

"Senate Education Committee Chairman Sen. Dennis Kruse, R-Auburn, and House Education Chairman Robert Behning, R-Indianapolis, wrote that “given the media reports and concerns that they have generated with school districts, we think it would be wise for the Indiana General Assembly to proactively address this issue.”

"They are calling for testimony from experts and those teaching in local schools to explain why the enrollment at teacher colleges and licensures are dropping...."

For starters (please feel free to add your own)...

We have...

Attacking teachers

• Loss of collective bargaining rights over most contract items.
• Attacking the State Superintendent of Public Instruction, a National Board Certified Teacher, because she's "...just a librarian."
• REPA-3 allowing anyone someone to teach without knowing the first thing about education (Yes, I know this was the SBOE, but my guess is that they heard about it).

And...

Attacking Public Schools

• Diverting funds for public education to private and charter schools.
• Using an unproven and inadequate single letter grade to grade public schools...and insisting that we use it even though the testing was screwed up.

And finally...

Overuse and Misuse of Standardized Tests

• Using student test scores to evaluate teachers.
• Insisting on using an untested system before it's ready.

UPON FURTHER CONSIDERATION

My first thought was that Kruse and Behning are just stupider than I imagined...and then I started thinking about it and I have begun to suspect that they aren't worried about the lack of teachers at all.

First...this is the perfect excuse to saturate the state with TFA temps. Think of all the money the state will save without career teachers getting higher salaries.

Second...I think it will be time for REPA-4. The new crisis is that there won't be enough teachers so the state will have to lower even further the requirements for people to become teachers. Right now all you need is a bachelor's degree...and the ability to pass a test in your subject area and you can teach that subject in High School...without any teaching experience or training. Perhaps REPA-4 will drop the requirements even lower...and add elementary schools. Anyone with a college degree in anything could teach elementary school...and forget the test portion of the requirement...after all, how hard can it be to get a bunch of little kids to do what you want them to do! More low paid temps...

Third...not enough teachers? Raise the class size. Think how much money we can save there!

With those three things going think how easy it will be to claim that public schools are failing and we need to send even more money to private, parochial and charter schools. Let's just shut down the whole public education system in the state and let the Friedmanites take over...no regulation needed at all. After all, it worked well for the banks, didn't it?

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Support Teachers of Conscience

The narrow pursuit of test results has sidelined education issues of enduring importance such as poverty, equity in school funding, school segregation, health and physical education, science, the arts, access to early childhood education, class size, and curriculum development. We have witnessed the erosion of teachers’ professional autonomy, a narrowing of curriculum, and classrooms saturated with “test score-raising” instructional practices that betray our understandings of child development and our commitment to educating for artistry and critical thinking. And so now we are faced with “a crisis of pedagogy”–teaching in a system that no longer resembles the democratic ideals or tolerates the critical thinking and critical decision-making that we hope to impart on the students we teach.

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Stop the Testing Insanity!

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Vermont State Board of Education: Statement and Resolution on Assessment and Accountability, Adopted August 19, 2014

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Kill the Teaching Profession: Indiana and Wisconsin Show How It's Done

THE INDIANA PLAN

Indiana provides a lesson on how to destroy the teaching profession.

Beginning in 2011 the state legislature, with the help of then State Superintendent of Public Instruction, Tony Bennett, and then Governor Mitch Daniels, initiated a number of school "reforms" guaranteed to damage public education and public school educators. Their reasoning was two-fold.

1. Public education received large amounts of tax money which could be used for profit by friends, investors, and colleagues. Privatization of the public sector was and is a goal of Republican politicians.
2. The Indiana State Teachers Association generally supports Democratic candidates for state offices because Democrats (usually) support public education.

In order to damage public education and speed up privatization, denigrate public school educators, and bust the teachers union, the following effort has been made by the Republican dominated state government since 2011.

• Collective bargaining rights for teachers have been restricted. No longer can discussions of things like working conditions, class size, grievance procedures, and evaluation processes be required at the bargaining table.

• School districts and teachers cannot agree to a contract which lasts longer than the state's budget biennium. Extended contract lengths are no longer allowed which means that schools and their teachers must meet more often whether they want to or not. Clearly, this has an impact on school systems, not just teachers unions. A bargained contract is an agreement between TWO parties.

• The state began what is now the largest private/parochial school voucher program in the nation, which, along with increased funding for privately owned and operated charter schools, has drained millions of dollars from public school funding.

• The state – with the help of the voters – passed a property tax cap amendment to the constitution, and shifted state funding of public education to the state legislature. Some schools systems (notably Gary and Muncie which are now in serious financial difficulty) lost up to 10% of their funding when the system changed.

• Loss of tenure (due process) and seniority protections for teachers. Permanent status – or tenure – for teachers used to provide teachers with the right to a hearing before they could be dismissed. That is no longer the case. School systems no longer have to show any incompetence or wrongdoing in order to fire a teacher. 

• Reduction of the importance of experience and education level as a factor in teacher salaries. Experience matters...except for public school teachers in Indiana. 

• Accountability requiring teacher evaluations to be based on student test scores despite lack of validity. Note that legislature, policy makers, and politicians are not held accountable for funding, societal issues, etc.

• (I'm sure there are more that I've forgotten. Let me know...and I'll add them here – – – –)

As expected, this attack on public education had the desired (by the Republican privatizers) effect. Schools are losing money. Teachers are fleeing the classroom (see here and here), retiring early, and fewer young people are entering the teaching profession.

Indiana faces shortage of first-time teachers

Aug. 2, 2015

First-time teachers have decreased more than 18 percent in the past five years, leaving districts in a scramble.

Study: Indiana ranks among lowest for teacher recruitment, retention

Sept. 15, 2016

Indiana ranks among the lowest states for teacher recruitment and retention, according to a new nationwide study that anticipates a growing shortage of educators as fewer people enter the profession and demand grows.

In Indiana, more than a quarter of teachers say standardized testing makes them worried about job security — the highest proportion in the nation. Hoosier educators also earn starting salaries lower than the national average but face among the largest class sizes.

Those factors led to the state’s low rating for attracting professionals to the classroom in a report released this week by the Learning Policy Institute. Indiana scored a 2.17 out of a possible 5 points in a review of educator data, including teacher compensation and working conditions. Just three states, Arizona, Texas and Colorado, and the District of Columbia received lower scores.

The shortage continues...

Indiana facing teacher shortage

October 24, 2017

School districts across Indiana are dealing with teacher shortages. According to a new survey, even more districts are feeling the impact now than in 2016. So, what’s going on?

More than 130 District Superintendents in the survey said they have a teacher shortage right now.

Some Republicans claim the teacher shortage isn't actually happening. Note that the article linked here includes licensed teachers who are not in the classroom as part of the "excess." Why are they not teaching? Did they leave the classroom because of the deterioration of working conditions and salary?

Nevertheless, in order to offset the loss of teaching staff in the state, rules for becoming a teacher have been relaxed...

...because nothing says increased achievement more than hiring under qualified personnel.

Controversial alternative teaching permit approved by Indiana State Board of Education

Sept. 3, 2014

The Indiana State Board of Education on Wednesday approved a controversial proposal to provide another way for people without a teaching degree to teach high school students, despite outrage from teachers who said it would devalue their profession and subject kids to unprepared educators.

REPA III - Deprofessionalizing Education

SEPTEMBER 8, 2014

The final step in making our public schools as much unlike successful nations' schools as possible, is to demoralize teachers and deprofessionalize the field of education. Instead of increasing requirements for becoming a teacher, we decrease them. Instead of doing what we need to do to attract the "best and the brightest" to our public school classrooms we make a career in the field of education so difficult and so filled with mind-numbing test-obsessed insanity that fewer and fewer students are going into teaching and older, experienced career teachers are leaving the field in greater and greater numbers.

REPA III requires training in some "related field." Would any of the seven REPA III supporters on the Indiana State Board of Education want to be treated for an illness by say, an anatomy professor who never attended medical or nursing school, but who promised to learn how to practice medicine within a month? Would any of them go to a former police officer for legal help, for example, if the officer decided that s/he wanted to practice law and would start on her/his law degree during the first month of handling their case?

Do any of them send their own children to schools with untrained teachers?

ON WISCONSIN

Marquette University dropout and Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker hates teachers (and most other public sector workers, as well) and ran his campaign on a platform of union busting. How has that worked out?

Apparently not so well for the students of Wisconsin. The "unintended" [sic] consequences of Walker's attack on public schools, public school teachers, and public sector unions, has, believe it or not, reduced the number of people who want to become teachers in Wisconsin. Go figure...

This Is Just How Badly Scott Walker Has Decimated Public Schools in Wisconsin

“Rather than encouraging the best and the brightest to become teachers and remain in the field throughout their career,” Wisconsin state Senate Democratic Leader Jennifer Shilling said during a press call on Wednesday, “Act 10 has demonized and devalued the teaching profession and driven away many good teachers. These serious implications have left schools across Wisconsin struggling to fill teaching positions.”

That shortage is only starting. As time goes on and fewer people enter the field, the state’s school districts will struggle to find teachers to fill open slots. Already for the 2016-2017 school year, the state’s Department of Public Instruction had to relax the rules for teacher licenses so that more people could get one-year emergency approval to fill shortages.

In response, Wisconsin, like Indiana, has decided that Walker's successful attempt to drive teachers away from Wisconsin means that they need to lower standards for teacher candidates.

Below you can read about a lobbyist for Wisconsin school boards. He doesn't come out and say that Walker is the reason for the teacher shortage. Instead he claims that there haven't been teacher salary raises since the Great Recession. Also, for some unexplained reason, the status of teachers isn't as high as it once was.

DPI expanding teacher license options to address staffing shortages

Dan Rossmiller, lobbyist for the Wisconsin Association of School Boards, said the teacher shortages being felt in Wisconsin reflect a national trend of fewer high school students studying in college to become classroom teachers.

“The pipeline is definitely narrower and weaker than it used to be,” said Rossmiller.

Rossmiller said factors contributing to fewer people wanting to become teachers include a decline in the reliability of teacher pay raises since the Great Recession.

“For whatever reason, the status of teachers is not being seen as high as it once was,” said Rossmiller. He said when teachers stopped receiving pay raises to keep up with cost of living increases, the attractiveness of the profession declined.

STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURE

Indiana and Wisconsin – along with other states across the nation (looking at you, Florida and North Carolina, among others) – have found successful ways to weaken and destroy teachers unions, lower the quality of teachers in the classroom, and damage public education. It consists of a few simple steps.

• First, claim that public schools are failing and that teachers are at fault.

• Second, use the false narrative of failing public schools to pass laws which damage public education further and make the teaching profession less attractive.

• Third, lower the qualifications for teachers in order to find enough bodies to fill classroom positions.

• Fourth, blame the decimated and demoralized teaching force for not increasing student achievement.

• Repeat.

Student achievement isn't even considered except as a tool to bludgeon public schools.

I doubt that Walker (or Bennett, Daniels, and Pence in Indiana) are at all worried about the teacher shortage.

That was part of the plan all along.

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There's More to Teaching Than Telling

It's important for teachers to have content knowledge before they try to teach. Peter Greene – Curmudgucation – wrote,

Expertise

Yes, teaching is both a skill and an art and to do a good job, you have to know the skill and the art of teaching. But just as you can't have waves without water or air, you cannot have "teaching skills" without content knowledge-- and all the teaching skills in the world will not make up for lacking knowledge. You cannot make an awesome lesson about adding two plus two if you do not know that the result is four. You cannot lead your students through an illuminating and inspiring study of Hamlet if you have never read the play yourself.

This is true, absolutely.

It's also true for teachers of young children. Early childhood educators and elementary teachers need to understand the reading, math, social studies, and science they teach, just as much as a physics teacher needs to understand physics. Curmudgucation agrees...

Content knowledge is the foundation of everything else. You cannot be an expert at teaching without being an expert at subject matter. Yes, even teachers of the littles, who in particular need the security of knowing they are in the hands of a grownup who Knows Things.

However, what is often misunderstood by non-educators who think they know all about teaching (I'm looking at you, "reformers") is that content knowledge is only one part of the teaching skill set.

Elementary teachers – and most educated people in general – are already experts in elementary school content. The average college graduate, for example, can already read, do basic arithmetic, and is familiar with basic science and history. This is the likely reason that non-educators think teaching elementary school is "easy." As one parent said to me when I was explaining why his son was struggling in first grade, "Just tell him. Just tell him what he needs to know."

Indeed, many people think that you "just tell" children information and they learn it. They don't understand that learning is more than information. They don't understand that teaching is more than simply teaching content. Elementary students need more than someone who "tells" them stuff.

In the early 1980s I had been teaching for about 5 years...and had started on my masters degree. I was discussing this with a group of people and someone asked, "When you get your masters, will you be able to teach high school then?" I tried to explain that teaching elementary school was more than just telling kids stuff. The misunderstanding was, and still is, pervasive.

This ignorance about learning has led to things like REPA III (Rules for Educator Preparation and Accountability) in Indiana which allows people with no education training to start teaching content areas in high school. If you have a degree in biology (and a B average), for example, you can teach biology. According to REPA III, there is no education degree required...no need for pedagogical training...no need to learn about classroom management, child development, teaching methods or student discipline. Those are things you can apparently pick up while you're teaching.

The same sorts of rules are now in force in other states like Arizona and Utah.

But that's wrong. Teachers need training before they can take on the sole responsibility of a classroom. That's why legitimate educator training programs include a significant amount of time in classrooms as well as a full semester (or more) of student teaching.

Of course, content knowledge is important, but it's only part of the teaching story...

One of the comments to Expertise contained an excellent list of what knowledge is necessary to teach...

NY Teacher June 6, 2017 at 7:39 AM

...Might I add, the importance of knowledge goes beyond subject area content:

Knowledge of pedagogy and methodologies
knowledge of child and adolescent psychology
knowledge of mob psychology (Ha!)
knowledge of cognitive learning theory and brain development (and damage)
knowledge of local community and families
knowledge of school community and happenings,
knowledge of your students - as people
knowledge of your limitations
knowledge of classroom management techniques and policies

And that's just the knowledge side of of being a good teacher.
Work ethic, professionalism, judgement, personality and many more come into play. Maybe the clueless tweeter and all the other know-nothing reformers that came very late to this 150 year old party will begin to understand just how complex and nuanced the skill set required to a "good" teacher. It's no wonder they don't grow on trees.

A child is more than a test score. A teacher is more than a purveyor of information.

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Random Quotes - September 2015

TEACHER SHORTAGE

Irony, Education Reform and Teacher Shortages

Is the current teacher shortage the result of a purposeful attempt to destroy the teaching profession? After years of teacher bashing fewer people are becoming teachers. States are opening up classrooms to untrained novices like 5-week trained graduates in TFA programs, and "professionals" who are content area specialists with no training in pedagogy (REPA III in Indiana). Fewer long-term professionals means less money spent on personnel. Less money spent on personnel means more profits when the same low standards are applied to privately owned charter schools and private/parochial schools. More profits...

Who would want to enter a profession which is constantly belittled, poorly paid, and set up to fail?

Two quotes from educator Russ Walsh...

From Russ Walsh

So as I understand the reform agenda, repeated attacks on the teaching profession is not the problem. The problem is, instead, the economy. We can expect to attract the best and brightest to a profession that has low pay, low esteem and low stability. That does not sound like any law of supply and demand that I read about.

After making the teaching profession as undesirable as possible we need to lower our standards for teachers in order to fill classroom shortages. Add Indiana to the states mentioned below.

Next, we can solve the teacher shortage by loosening certification requirements, so that anyone who can prove s/he is breathing can teach. This seems to be the direction that states like North Carolina and Kansas are going. As I understand this argument, it goes something like this, teachers and their unions are the problem in education, so let’s solve the problem by putting even less qualified, less knowledgeable people in the classroom. I have to wonder how many reformsters go to a doctor who is unlicensed and received five weeks of medical training in the summer.

TESTING

Duncan Still Oblivious

The buck gets passed...Duncan blames the states, the states blame the federal government, local school districts blame the states and the federal government.

The fact is that our students are tested to death in order to fill the bellies of test manufacturers.

Today, while talking to a teacher about testing, I was told that now, the third graders in our local school district only have to take the ISTEP (the state test given in two parts in February and April), IREAD-3 (given in March), and the NWEA (a computer based achievement test given two or three times a year depending on the school system).

The teacher gave me that information and from the tone of his voice he was relieved because this was actually less than third graders have had in the past. We have so over tested our students –– we're so used to massive amounts of testing –– that when we cut the amount of testing down to only three different tests in one year, taking approximately 15-20 hours of class time (not including test-prep and transition time) it almost seems reasonable.

But it's not reasonable. The tests are still misused and overused.

ISTEP is being misused to grade schools and teachers and has virtually no diagnostic benefit for teachers and students. IREAD-3 is being misused to punish students who struggle with reading by threatening them with retention. Why do we need IREAD-3 when ISTEP and NWEA also test reading achievement? Why do we need ISTEP when NWEA also tests math, reading, and language?

How many millions of dollars are schools in Indiana spending on testing which should be spent on student learning?

...and Duncan thinks that "no one is that focused on [test] scores?"

From Peter Greene

Meanwhile, [Duncan is] clueless. "No one is that focused on scores," he says, and I'm now thinking that he's not so much smoking something as shunting it directly into his brain. Because the kids who can't move on to Fourth Grade in some states because their scores were too low, or the schools that are being shut down or sucked dry by charters because their scores are too low, or the teachers whose professional evaluation is in some part set by BS Test scores-- I think all of those folks are pretty focused on scores. Plus, Duncan's comment sidesteps a big question-- why should anybody be focused on test scores at all?

WHO GETS TO CHOOSE?

Destroying Public Schools To "Save" Them

What happens when public schools are blamed for all the societal failures in the nation, and taxpayer funds are diverted to private charters and parochial schools?

From Jersey Jazzman

You shouldn't be surprised when families "choose" to send their children to schools that have resource advantages, even if they lack transparency and accountability to the communities they supposedly serve.

No Zip Code Tyranny

"Reformers" claim that we must close "failing" schools and replace them with charters...and by "failing" schools they mean schools where test scores are low. Where are test scores the lowest? In schools with high numbers of students who live in poverty. Schools in poor neighborhoods of cities are the ones often targeted to be closed and replaced with charters. Who lives in the poor neighborhoods of cities? Children of color.

From Peter Greene

...the wealthy do not choose choice.

Burdick-Will took a look at 24,000 rising ninth graders in Chicago. In neighborhoods with median income over $75,000, the students attended one of two or three schools. In neighborhoods with median income under $25,000, students were divied up among around thirteen different schools.

..."We think of choice as a thing of privilege,” she said. “But what we see is that there is a privilege of not having to choose." [emphasis added]

PRIVATIZATION

School Closure: A Tragic Turnaround Strategy

Across the nation public schools are the focus of community in neighborhoods and small towns. What happens when those schools are closed, instead of improved, in order to free up funds for privatization?

From Jan Resseger

School closure is one of the four approved, top-down “turnaround” plans prescribed by the federal No Child Left Behind Act for schools unable to raise test scores after several years. The implication of the “turnaround” language, of course, implies that somehow closure will inspire rebirth, but too often school closure has meant not only the death of the school but also the demise of the neighborhood for which the school was the institutional anchor.

USED: Accountability for Public Schools Only

Secretary Duncan's Education Department just tossed another $157 million at charter schools. Take a look at how carefully USED takes care of public tax money (which should be going to public schools) –– check out Diane Ravitch's article, You Can’t Make This Stuff Up! Manipulator of Charter Data Wins Big Federal Grants for Ohio

From Peter Greene

The double standard remains the same. Public schools must account for every penny, including federal bucks that must be spent only as Uncle Sugar demands. Public schools must keep open records always available to the taxpayers. Public schools must even hire employees whose only job is to monitor and report on the money-- all the money. Meanwhile, charter schools just get money thrown at them with no requirement to do anything except, I suppose, have a nice day.

EduShyster: Three “White Shoe” Law Firms Sue to Lift the Charter Cap in Massachusetts

The only thing Diane Ravitch doesn't mention here is that the same thing is happening all over the country.

From Diane Ravitch

The Bay State–or at least its current leaders–seem determined to create a fiscal crisis for underfunded districts and a two-tier system of schools with public funds. One free to choose its students, the other required to enroll all students.

HIGH-TECH EDUCATION

Technology for technology's sake

In the mid-80s desktop computers invaded public schools. As an "early adopter" of computer education, I was fortunate enough to be able to help colleagues develop lesson plans which used computers to enhance learning. It was difficult, however, to convince people that, like a film projector, or a tape recorder, computers were just tools...and should not be the focus of education itself. Software for education, I argued, should be high quality, taking advantage of the medium's strengths rather than just copying paper-based teaching tools. The software "worksheet" was the prime example. Why would a mindless, busywork worksheet delivered electronically be better than the traditional paper and pencil mimeographed sheet?  Obviously, it wouldn't. Both are a waste of resources -- either physical or electronic.

Times have changed but there are still new technological advances being used as simple replacements for obsolete technology. The latest...moving overused and misused standardized tests to computers.

Gerald Bracey is missed...

From the late Gerald Bracey

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Support Teachers of Conscience

The narrow pursuit of test results has sidelined education issues of enduring importance such as poverty, equity in school funding, school segregation, health and physical education, science, the arts, access to early childhood education, class size, and curriculum development. We have witnessed the erosion of teachers’ professional autonomy, a narrowing of curriculum, and classrooms saturated with “test score-raising” instructional practices that betray our understandings of child development and our commitment to educating for artistry and critical thinking. And so now we are faced with “a crisis of pedagogy”–teaching in a system that no longer resembles the democratic ideals or tolerates the critical thinking and critical decision-making that we hope to impart on the students we teach.

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Stop the Testing Insanity!

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A Manifesto for a Revolution in Public Education
Click here to sign the petition.

For over a decade...“reformers” have proclaimed that the solution to the purported crisis in education lies in more high stakes testing, more surveillance, more number crunching, more school closings, more charter schools, and more cutbacks in school resources and academic and extra-curricular opportunities for students, particularly students of color. As our public schools become skeletons of what they once were, they are forced to spend their last dollars on the data systems, test guides, and tests meant to help implement the “reforms” but that do little more than line the coffers of corporations, like Pearson, Inc. and Microsoft, Inc.

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