2015 Medley #2

Florida's Privatization Plan, Why Teachers Quit, VAM, Privatization, Teachers Speak Out,
Texas SBOE, Children's Growth, ADHD

FLORIDA EXPORTS 'REFORM'

Jeb Bush’s “Florida formula” of education privatization in North Carolina

Does this look familiar to Indiana readers? This article describes how Jeb Bush's Foundation for Excellence in Education used "ALEC-like" methods to export the "Florida Formula" to other states. One way was through the "Chiefs for Change" group, a group of state education commissioners, including Indiana's (and later Florida's) Tony Bennett.

Since its creation, the foundation has been largely devoted to exporting the “Florida formula,” an overhaul of public education [Jeb] Bush oversaw as governor between 1999 and 2007.

That agenda includes ideas typically supported by conservatives and opposed by teachers unions: issuing A-to-F report cards for schools, using taxpayer vouchers for tuition at private schools, expanding charter schools, requiring third-graders to pass a reading test, and encouraging online learning and virtual charter schools.

WHO WILL BE TOMORROW'S TEACHERS?

Why half of the nation’s new teachers can’t leave the profession fast enough.

One of the goals of the Global Education Reform Movement (GERM) is the destruction of the teaching profession. The lack of professional educators means lower overhead...lower pay, no pensions, no unions, no professionals to get in the way of for-profit "choices."

Around the nation teachers' job benefits are disappearing, pensions are being blamed for the economic difficulties caused by the banking crisis, and qualifications for becoming a teacher are watered down to the point that completely untrained college graduates can walk into a classroom and start teaching.

The "reform" movement is being directed by billionaires with no training in education, politicians with no training in education, and the media with no training in education. Soon public education will be delivered by people with no training in education.

….teachers quit because we have all the responsibility and little or no authority in the classroom. Administrators don’t support teachers and often don’t trust our judgment as professionals. It’s very hard to stay at a job where you are not supported, appreciated or trusted. Add disrespectful students and parents, and it becomes a daily battle to go to work.” A daily battle to go to work sounds like reason enough for anyone to leave the profession. She went on, “My stepdaughter has been teaching for three years and she’s done. It’s sad because she’s a teacher at heart – this is her calling. But she says no way. Her main reason: lack of support from administration and parents. She said she is held responsible for things she can’t possibly control.”

Virginia Teacher of the Year Tells Why He Resigned

Another intelligent, award winning, high quality teacher resigns.

I’ve seen teachers cry over Standards of Learning scores. I’ve seen students cry over SOL scores. I’ve seen newspaper and TV reports sensationalize SOL scores. These are all indications of an unhealthy obsession with flawed standardized tests.

SOL tests are inherently unfair, but we continue to invest countless hours and resources in our quest for our school to score well. This leads me to the following questions:

• Do we care more about student progress or our appearance?
• Why can’t we start a movement to walk away from these tests?
• Why can’t we shift our focus to critical thinking and relevant educational experiences?

It’s tough to acknowledge that people in Washington, D.C., and Richmond (and sometimes decision makers in Waynesboro) develop systems and policies that affect my students and me negatively. But as they retire and sail off into the sunset, we’re the ones left with the consequences of ineffective measurements and strategies.

Our new teacher evaluations focus heavily on test scores. But while teachers are continually under pressure to be held accountable, there seems to be very little accountability for parents, the community, or district offices.

It’s only going to get worse, and it seems that we have no intention of taking a stand or advocating against flawed assessments. Instead, we have submitted ourselves to these tools that misrepresent student growth. It is a game, and it is a game I no longer wish to play.

Indiana education dean: Teacher measures aren’t fair

VAM isn't reliable. Why do we continue to use student standardized tests for the wrong purposes? Is it because testing companies don't care what their tests are used for as long as they're being paid (with the public dollars)? Is it because the politicians making education policy don't know anything about educational testing? Is it because the policy makers are getting campaign contributions from said test makers?

The answer is probably "yes" to all three questions.

Holding teacher training programs accountable for measures such as how many graduates get jobs within a year of graduating, how well teachers perform on evaluations during their first few years of work or how much student test scores grow isn’t fair because the science behind those measures can’t be trusted, said Gerardo Gonzalez, Indiana University’s education dean.

...“We want to blame teachers, hold them accountable, pay them less than just about every other profession and then we worry why they are leaving within five years?” Gonzalez said.

NEED CAMPAIGN FINANCES? SUPPORT PRIVATIZATION

Will the Media Help Destroy Public Education?

The most important fact in American politics today is the Citizens United decision. With this, the hand of the Democratic Party was forced: in order to win major elections the party must accept major campaign funding from the Silicon Valley right libertarians, neoliberals and their financiers on Wall Street. For neoliberal Democrats who are forced to lick the Nikes of their major funders, the privatization of education has become the price they pay to get the dollars needed to win elections.

COURAGEOUS TEACHERS STAND UP

Teachers of Conscience

Read the position paper...a strong statement against corporate "reform."

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.

IGNORANCE IN THE TEXAS SBOE

Texas Freedom Network: Live-Blogging the Texas Social Studies Textbook Vote

The Founding Fathers: Thomas Jefferson, Ben Franklin, John Adams, James Madison...and Moses?

According to the Texas State Board of Education, Moses (yes, that Moses) was a major influence in  the formation of the nation's founding documents, aka the U.S. Constitution.

During a months-long process, publishers made a number of improvements to their textbooks. Those improvements included removing inaccurate information promoting climate change denialism; deleting offensive cartoons comparing beneficiaries of affirmative action to space aliens; making clearer that slavery was the primary cause of the Civil War; and revising passages that had promoted unfair negative stereotypes of Muslims. Scholars and the general public had ample opportunity to review and comment on those revisions.

However, the new textbooks also include passages that suggest Moses influenced the writing of the Constitution and that the roots of democracy can be found in the Old Testament. Scholars from across the country have said such claims are inaccurate and mislead students about the historical record.

EMOTIONAL GROWTH

Why Emotional Learning May Be As Important As The ABCs

A growing body of research suggests that teaching really young kids how to recognize and express their feelings can help them into their adult lives...and save society time, money, and social stress in the long run.

...common sense — along with a growing body of research — shows that mastering social skills early on can help people stay out of trouble all the way into their adult lives.

ADHD

ADHD And Creativity: New Research Says ADHD Is Being Mistreated In Schools

Research now shows what many people who have Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder — or those who parent someone who does — have long since believed there is a huge link between ADHD and creativity, often referred to as the “upside of ADHD.” And according to an extensive report by Salon, in focusing solely on the difficulties those with ADHD have — such as poor attention and impulse control — kids with ADHD are falling through the cracks, educationally speaking...

...recent studies in the field of cognitive neuroscience draws a strong connection between ADHD and creativity, as well, showing that both creative thinkers and people with ADHD have trouble “suppressing brain activity coming from the ‘Imagination Network.'”

All of this creativity — and with it, the inability to control those creative thoughts — can be seen as either positive or negative. Creativity is a valuable asset, but so is being able to control one’s thoughts and impulses, and obviously, a creative mind that is always spontaneously generating new ideas or constantly daydreaming interferes greatly with the ability to pay attention in the classroom.

For parents, teachers, and significant others...

10 Things You Should Never Tell Your Child

Most parents, teachers, and significant others don't say things to others to hurt their feelings on purpose, but sometimes, when living, or working with an ADHD child or adult we become frustrated and the hurtful words slip out.  Unfortunately, hurtful words stay with people, causing humiliation and embarrassment which can last into adulthood and negatively impact relationships and one's ability to hold on to a job.

Here's an incomplete list of hurtful phrases ADHD folks have grown up and lived with.

People say some pretty insensitive things. ADHD myths and misinformation don't help. People blame us or our kids for behaviors controlled by the condition, and we know it's wrong. But sometimes frustrating behaviors can push even the most loving parents to say things we quickly regret.

I would add a few more to this list:

• "Why didn't you think!?"
• "...if you'd only try harder..."
• "...if you weren't so lazy."

My advice to those living (or working) with people with ADHD..."Think before you speak."

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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.

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Stop the Testing Insanity!

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

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Insanity is...

INSANITY

...doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.

The above quote, often attributed to Albert Einstein, Ben Franklin, or Mark Twain, is a good representation of the American educational practice of "retention in grade."

For the past 100 years the "common sense" concept of "retaining," "flunking," or "holding students back" has been a mainstay of American education. It seems to make sense that if a child doesn't achieve the required learning during his/her year in a particular grade, repeating the grade to reinforce the learning would help. Unfortunately for the child, the "common sense" is wrong and retention in grade usually doesn't work.

It may seem reasonable to give a child an extra year to "catch up," however, research has consistently shown that retention in grade is less effective than other forms of remediation.

Despite the research, however, the current trend is for states to require students to read "at grade level" by third grade or face retention. The mayoral controlled city school systems of Chicago and New York have also tried it and found that it didn't work. Florida does it. North Carolina does it. Indiana does it. It's also being used in Texas, Ohio, Iowa, and Arizona. (FYI see Chapter 7, Section 2 of the A-Plus Literacy Act by the American Legislative Exchange Council, or ALEC)

Rather than simply expecting schools to bring all children to a Lake Wobegon standard of "at grade level" by third grade, Americans, and their legislators must understand that not all children learn at the same rate. Rather than wasting money retaining children at third grade, states ought to invest in early childhood education, early interventions like Reading Recovery and smaller class sizes.

Holding Kids Back Doesn't Help Them by Deborah Stipek and Michael Lombardo

A majority of peer-reviewed studies over the past 30 years have demonstrated that holding students back yields little or no long-term academic benefits and can actually be harmful to students...

Moreover, there is compelling evidence that retention can reduce the probability of high school graduation...

Instead of giving children the same treatment that failed them the first time, alternative strategies provide different kinds of learning opportunities.

Interventions should also begin long before 3rd grade. Research has provided compelling evidence that investments in preschool can reduce retention and have positive long-term payoff for individuals and society, in contrast to the negative long-term effects of holding a student back later.

FLORIDA THINKS TWICE

Jeb Bush's reading rule loses ground

Not mentioned in the article below, but included in the one above, is the fact that the gains of "retention in grade" are lost in about 2 years, and by 8th grade Florida students are still below the national average in reading proficiency.

Many students could use the extra help: Nationally, 32 percent of fourth-graders were reading at below basic levels in 2013, according to the National Assessment of Educational Progress.

But it’s unclear whether the retention policies work as intended.

One study from Florida shows that after two years of implementation, third-graders who were retained made significant reading gains relative to their socially promoted peers.

But other studies have shown that retention leads to loss of self-esteem, a decreased feeling of belonging at school and negative effects on college attendance. A Harvard University study found that any positive effects of retention fade out over time.

Data from Florida show that about a third of students held back for a year in 2003 never became proficient at reading. But a state official also noted that fewer students have been retained over the years because they’re getting more intensive instruction, thanks to the law.

A benefit of the Florida law that further denies the effectiveness of grade retention is

...retention plus being assigned to a highly effective teacher and receiving 90 minutes of additional literacy instruction per day is more effective than being promoted with no such guaranteed, high-dosage interventions.

The Marsico Institute for Early Learning and Literacy at the University of Denver reviewed the research on retention.

They concluded that Florida had improved test scores according to some studies specifically because...

Florida also has universal preschool, class size limits, and guaranteed high-quality literacy coaches, among other well-financed innovations.

In other words, when money is provided for proven interventions, student acheivement improves.

...since 2006 Florida has legislated a separate education fund guaranteed to be spent on literacy. This year that fund has $130M to distribute across its districts to be spent on highly qualified literacy coaches, intensive summer reading camps for lagging readers, among others. Although Florida’s unique combination of reforms and financial backing is likely largely responsible for some test score gains seen there, the effects of retention itself are not possible to isolate.

WRONG PRIORITIES

Until the United States finally decides to place a high priority on our early learners, especially those who are at risk due to poverty and English language learners, we'll have an economic and linguistic learning gap. Forced retention at third grade won't change that.

There are sufficient data to conclude that retention in the absence of well-funded, guaranteed, and high-dosage interventions is ineffective or harmful. This includes the most recent research using the most rigorous methods to control for pre-retention differences.

Forced retention in grade, the overuse and misuse of testing, closing schools instead of supporting them, charter schools, vouchers, invalid teacher evaluations, reducing teacher benefits, lowering requirements for educators -- None of those "reforms" will help children.

What will help is early and intensive research-based interventions for students at risk of failure.

Unfortunately, "reformers" haven't figured out how to make money from actually helping students.

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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.

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Stop the Testing Insanity!

Sign the National Resolution on High Stakes Testing!

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Hypocrisy in Action

FIGHTING OVER ALEC

Florida Republican Jeb Bush defended the Common Core standards to ALEC with the usual lies such as,

[The US] has become a global leader in education spending while also becoming a global lagger in math and science.

[See Fighting Myths with Facts]

Bush's ignorance about the field of education provides us a lesson in why he, and others like him, should not be allowed to participate in forming public education policy.

Bush called for state policies holding back third-graders who cannot read well and ending tenure systems that employ and pay teachers based on experience rather than student performance.

[See Articles Labeled: Retention --Nearly a hundred years of research has provided us with enough information so that we know retention-in-grade (aka flunking) is not an effective remediation technique. The research consistently shows that, with few exceptions, long-term success of students is not improved using grade retention.]

At the same time, protesters outside the Palmer House in Chicago where ALEC was holding its meeting, were demonstrating against the wholesale privatization of public education sponsored by ALEC and selected billionaires.

EMANUEL'S HYPOCRISY

The backdrop for this battle among Common Core advocates, privatizers and pro-public education forces is the city of Chicago where Democratic Mayor Rahm Emanuel has overseen the closing of dozens of public schools, resulting in the loss of thousands of jobs for public education employees, and the disruption of the education of thousands of Chicago school children, all in the name of saving money (while still finding enough taxpayer cash to pay for a new arena for a private university).

Now, quietly, and entirely without a trace of irony, Emanuel's (appointed) board of education puppets have decided to open new schools.

"Wait," you ask, "they just closed 50 schools and now they're going to open new ones?"

I understand your confusion, but I think I can explain it in a way that will make everything clear.

CPS has issued a "Request for Proposals for New Schools" -- new charter schools!

Yes. You read that right...after closing 50 public schools because of "underutilization" the mayor and his rich friends want to open charter schools to relieve -- you guessed it -- overcrowding.

Despite closings and budget cuts, CPS calls for new charter schools

As Chicago Public Schools officials finish shuttering a record number of schools and leave many neighborhood schools to open their doors in two weeks with diminished budgets, the district has quietly issued a call for new charter schools.

In a 52-page PDF posted without fanfare on the district’s website, CPS is asking for new charter operators and campuses for the 2014-15 and 2015-16 school years mainly — but not only — in 11 so-called “priority communities” on the Northwest and Southwest Sides where district-run schools have been complaining of overcrowding. [emphasis added]

Apparently, closing 50 schools, laying off thousands of education professionals and support personnel, and disrupting the education and lives of students (as well as placing them in danger as they walk to school across gang boundaries) isn't enough punishment for the mayor to heap upon the Chicago Teachers Union for having the audacity to strike last year. The Mayor needs to punish the CTU further by moving more and more children into privately run charter schools with apparent disregard for the safety and education of the children living in his city.

Make no mistake: this is a blatant move designed to further the privatization of public education in Chicago.

...and there's little doubt that he feels a zing of pleasure by turning the knife on the CTU.

Just months after closing 50 schools, Chicago issues RFP for more charter schools

The Chicago Teachers Union and others have argued for years that school closures are about making way for charters and weakening the union.

“We are not surprised at all by this,” said union president Karen Lewis . “We were called conspiracy theorists, and then here is the absolute proof of what the intentions are…. The district has clearly made a decision that they want to push privatization of our public schools.”

The district has been slowly shifting students to charter schools, which are publicly funded but privately run. Around 13 percent of district students—and more than 20 percent of the district’s high school students— are educated in charter schools. Teachers at charters cannot be represented by the Chicago Teachers Union.

Only half of the teachers in the charter schools need to be certified...and the charter teachers are not covered by the Collective Bargaining Agreement between CPS and CTU.

There's no longer any pretense of "improving public education" on the part of the privatizers. There's no difference between Republicans and Democrats. The goal is the destruction of America's public education system.

Fact: Charters are not better than public schools. Charters not outperforming nation’s traditional public schools, report says
Fact: Mass closings of schools causes damage to communities.

GOOD SCHOOLS FOR MY KIDS

So-called "reformers" like Bush and Emanuel know what good education is. They are the products of elite private schools and have purchased an elite private school education for their children.

• They know that small class size is important.
• They know that trained, certified and experienced educators are important.
• They don't send their children to schools filled with uncertified teachers with 5 weeks of "education training."
• They don't send their children to schools where test prep takes up the first 2 hours of the day and the content of "the test" is the only curriculum guide.

They know what good education is and they make sure they have it for themselves and their children...everyone else be damned.

While Bush tries to bring the tea-party back to the Common Core, Rahm Emanuel is quietly going about the business of killing public education in Chicago.

[UPDATE: from Mike Klonsky "For those of you who miss the distinction between handing closed schools over to charter operators and opening new charters around the corner --- so do I."]

[UPDATE: Judge denies class-action status in CPS school closings suit]

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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.

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Stop the Testing Insanity!

Sign the National Resolution on High Stakes Testing!

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