Amateur Hour in the Cabinet

Update: An earlier version of this post mistakenly stated that Luke Messer was an Indiana state legislator. He is, in fact, the U.S. Representative for Indiana's 6th district.

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Has there ever been an Attorney General who didn't have a law degree?

Have we ever had a Surgeon General who wasn't a medical professional?

Why has one administration after another installed non-educators – amateurs – as their Secretary of Education?

Since Jimmy Carter first appointed Judge Shirley Hufstedler in 1979 most subsequent Secretaries of Education had never seen the inside of a K-12 classroom since their childhoods. An educator as the Secretary of Education has been the exception instead of the rule.

How is it justified? One example is Margaret Spellings (B.A. Political Science, Univ. of Houston), Secretary under George W. Bush. She claimed that she was qualified for the position because she was a mom. [Apparently North Carolina thinks that is a good enough qualification and has made her head of the University of North Carolina system.] It's the same mentality that presumes that "anyone can be a teacher" – the same mentality that has perpetrated the low status, poor pay and working conditions, and disrespect of the teaching profession for decades.

President-elect Trump is promising to continue this unfortunate tradition.

A BASKET OF AMATEURS

The people who have been rumored as candidates for the position of Secretary of Education in the new administration have all been not only unqualified, but every one of them is a "reformer". Anyone of them would be, as the President-elect of Superlatives would say, "a total disaster."

We began with Ben Carson. The fact that he's not an educator and has never been an educator isn't enough to reject him any more than it has been for any other President. However, in a moment of uncharacteristic clarity, Dr. Carson recognized his own lack of credentials for the job and removed himself from consideration. The parade of educationally challenged candidates for the most important education position in the country followed.

There's Williamson Evers, a Libertarian turned Republican, and an "education expert" at the Hoover Institution. He has a B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. in political science. His only experience in public education is as a political activist working against public education.

The name of Tony Bennett was mentioned, probably on a recommendation from VP-elect Pence. Bennett is an authentic educator, trained at an actual university's education school, and former head of the Education Departments in Indiana and Florida. He doesn't, however, care much about public education, preferring to get campaign contributions from private and charter school operators. Of all the candidates mentioned, Tony Bennett is, at least on paper, qualified to do the job. However, his history of incompetence and alleged criminal activity during his tenure as Indiana Superintendent of Public Instruction would should disqualify him.

Luke Messer, is an Indiana congressman, who sits on the Education committee in the U.S. House. Messer formed the Congressional School Choice Caucus and has supported measures to allow federal funds to be used for "choice." Messer is an attorney, not an educator.

Following in quick succession, we heard that Trump was considering...

• Eva Moskowitz, a charter charlatan who's trying to take over New York City's schools one building at a time. She has a B.A. and a Ph.D. in History.

• Michelle Rhee, who bullied her way into, through, and out of the D.C. schools leaving a poorly investigated testing scandal in her wake, and who has been the champion of charters and the Common Core. Rhee, who taught for three years under Teach For America, has a B.A. in Government, and a Masters in Public Policy.

• Kevin Chavous, a former personal-injury lawyer turned politician who cofounded DFER and is intent on turning public schools into profit mills.

• Betsy DeVos, a right wing, anti-union, anti-public education, religious right zealot who has spent millions trying to kill public education. DeVos attended a parochial school in high school, followed by Calvin College in Grand Rapids, MI where she graduated with a Bachelors degree in Business Administration and Political Science.

Two of the previous eight candidates have actual public school teaching experience (Bennett and Rhee), and only one (Bennett) has a degree in education, but all eight of them are advocates for school privatization under the guise of "choice."

HISTORICAL INTERLUDE

The latest threat for the position is Jerry Falwell Jr.

Before we talk about him, I just want to mention that his father, Jerry Falwell, founder of Liberty University and blamer of terrorism on abortionists, feminists and gays, once said of public schools,

I hope I live to see the day when, as in the early days of our country, we won't have any public schools. The churches will have taken them over again and Christians will be running them. What a happy day that will be!

Contrast that with Founding Father John Adams who said,

The whole people must take upon themselves the education of the whole people and be willing to bear the expenses of it. There should not be a district of one mile square, without a school in it, not founded by a charitable individual, but maintained at the public expense of the people themselves.

TEACHERS NOT PREACHERS

So, Jerry Falwell Jr. is the latest rumored candidate for the Secretary of Education. He, like most of the others has no experience in K-12 education, except as a student, but even that was not in public schools. Falwell Jr. went to parochial schools, then attended his father's Liberty University where he earned a B.A. in Religious Studies. He then went to law school at the University of Virginia.

Trump Considering Creationist Jerry Falwell Jr. For Position In Department Of Education

Those “passions” include teaching creationism instead of evolution, teaching that being gay is a sin, promoting the idea of taxpayer money funding religious schools via school vouchers and repealing the Johnson Amendment so that tax-exempt universities such as his, alongside houses of worship, can endorse political candidates.

...So it comes as no surprise that Trump, who bases a lot of his decisions on who’s blindly loyal to him, is likely to make Falwell Jr. a part of his administration. However, it should worry anyone who cares about the future of our public school system.

Falwell and his gang have a plan for public schools: If they can’t turn them into fundamentalist Christian academies, they’d like to drain their funding away and move to a voucher system of taxpayer-funded private schools, most of them religious in nature.

Placing Falwell, or for that matter, any of the above candidates, in the office of Secretary of Education, would be a direct attack on public schools, and public school children.

Brace yourselves...

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2016 Medley #29: A Preview of Education in the Trump Administration, Part 3

The Education Plan: Teaching Our Children

See Part 1 HERE.
See Part 2 HERE.

BIGOTRY IN THE CLASSROOM

The bullying, bigotry, and harassment that permeated the recent campaign season has filtered down into our classrooms. One-fifth of the incidents described by the Southern Poverty Law Center, happened in K-12 settings.

Our children are watching us...

Update: More Than 400 Incidents of Hateful Harassment and Intimidation Since the Election

Between Wednesday, November 9, the day after the presidential election, and the morning of Monday, November 14, the Southern Poverty Law Center collected 437 reports of hateful intimidation and harassment.

...A Gwinnett County high school teacher said she was left a note in class Friday telling her that her Muslim headscarf "isn't allowed anymore." “Why don’t you tie it around your neck and hang yourself with it...,” the note said, signed "America!"

Teaching in the Era of Trump

Our kids are going to need a lot of resilience to weather the storm of hate and divisiveness we’re experiencing. This resilience can be cultivated by teachers who celebrate their students. It won’t happen by pretending we don’t see race (or gender or religion) or that everyone’s the same.

But, we don’t just want to build resilient young people, we want to dismantle the harmful forces around them. Anti-bias education teaches students they are powerful. It teaches them they can take action against injustice in their community. If we want to live in a world different than what we’re seeing in the news this week, it’s clear we’ll have to show the next generation another way.

Ultimately, culturally relevant pedagogy is one name for one part of a larger approach to teaching that celebrates diversity. When looking for resources you might also look for “anti-bias education” or “culturally responsive teaching”. These are not interchangeable, but they all work together to help teachers create a classroom environment where all students can succeed.

PRIVATIZATION

What Will a Trump Administration Mean for Supporters of Public Education?

Republicans haven't been friends of public education since before Reagan pushed for both eliminating the US Education Department and private school vouchers. Today's Republicans are no different. President-elect Trump has bounced the idea of getting rid of the USED and has stumped for "choice" whenever he mentioned K-12 education – which wasn't very often.

For those of us in Indiana, a Trump Administration, coupled with the continued Republican control of the legislature and governor's office, will mean more of the same. There will likely be a continued misuse and overuse of testing, more "choice," more charters, more vouchers, and less for public schools and public school teachers.

One party rule in a two party system is dangerous.

One thing we do know for sure, however, is that every branch of our federal government will be dominated by Republicans—the Presidency, the Senate, the House, and the Supreme Court.

A new President whose plans we do not know. The absence of checks and balances. Federal public education policy that has for years been undermining support for the institution of public education. Those of us who believe improving the public schools is important have good reason to be nervous, even afraid.

After all, in 2000 and especially after we were distracted in September of 2001 by the attacks on the World Trade Center, we were unprepared to speak to the federal test-and-punish education law, No Child Left Behind. We failed to connect the dots between an accountability-driven, poorly funded testing mandate and the destruction of respect for school teachers and the drive for school privatization that lurked just under the surface of federal policy. And in 2008, we didn’t anticipate the collusion of government technocrats and philanthro-capitalists that emerged when the federal stimulus gave billions of dollars to the U.S. Department of Education for competitive experiments with top-down turnarounds to close and privatize schools and attack teachers.

POSITIVE NEWS

Anti-Privatization Education Victories We Can Rally Around

The election was not all bad news for public educators. A few states dodged threats to public education.

First, in Massachusetts, voters rejected a referendum called Question 2 that would have forced the expansion of charter schools in the state. Charter schools, which receive taxpayer money but are privately operated, have come to represent another example of the creeping privatization blob rapidly absorbing public infrastructure – transportation, schools, sanitation, prisons, and other essential services – into business pursuits for the wealthy.

...In Georgia, another progressive victory for public schools shone bright through the cloud of misery up-ballot.

...In the state of Washington, the threat to public schools appeared on the ballot in the form of a race for state Supreme Court.

...In Montana, charter school advocates had targeted Democratic Governor Steve Bullock for defeat. Bullock had the temerity to express, according to a state-based news outlet, “I continue to firmly believe that our public education system is the great equalizer. Anyone who says public schools have failed isn’t seeing what’s happening.”

...Of course, support for public education did not win everywhere. There were bad outcomes in state legislative races in California and New York.

SECRETARY OF EDUCATION – MORE NAMES

Names Floated for Trump Ed Secretary: Eva Moskowitz and Michelle Rhee

In the "She's baaaack" department, Michelle Rhee's name was mentioned in connection with the US Education Department. Of course it was. Former D.C. Chancellor Rhee used the same sort of bullying during her rule as chancellor as has been prevalent during the campaign.

Two of the names in the mix for Trump-nominated US Secretary of Education are Eva Moskowitz and Michelle Rhee.

Moskowitz is the CEO of New York-based Success Academies charter schools. Rhee is the former chancellor of DC Public Schools.

Both are very controlling, with Rhee having a bonus dose of sociopathy.

According to the New York News, a source stated that a Moskowitz appointment “is not going to happen.” This makes sense; in order to become US ed sec, Moskowitz would have to relinquish her tight control over her Success Academies empire– an empire that is heavily dependent upon one person– Eva Moskowitz.

As for Rhee: Congress would have to confirm her appointment, which means Congress would have to dismiss Rhee’s unresolved past regarding the DC cheating scandal as well as a seemingly endless stream of sexual scandal issues related to her husband, Sacramento mayor, Kevin Johnson. Rhee is, however, supposedly a Democrat agreeable to the usually-Republican preference for vouchers.

TEACHING CIVICS

Lacking Civics Education and School Privatization

Why were so many people ready to believe Candidate Trump when he promised things which a US President cannot do unilaterally? A US President has a lot of power, but it's not unlimited. He can't restrict the free press, deny citizens the right to an attorney, mistreat prisoners, or ask the military to engage in torture. Maybe it's time to increase (or begin) the teaching of civics.

We have just come to the end of a long and contentious political season. Many of us are worried about America’s future. It’s never too late to ask how civics education is being addressed in our public schools.

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2014 Medley #8

Teacher Evaluations, Vouchers, Charters, Michelle Rhee, ADHD, Testing, 
Defunding Public Education

EVALUATIONS

Washington State Legislature Considers Tying Test Scores to Teacher and Principal Evaluations

The current wave of teacher evaluation schemes seems to be the same sort of process. "Reformers," legislators, and other policy makers, convinced that "the problem" with public schools is bad teachers, have latched on to a quick and easy way to evaluate educators and schools -- use student test scores. The fact that test scores are invalid for evaluating teachers doesn't seem to matter. Using student test scores is the DIBELS of teacher evaluation techniques...it's quick...it's easy...and it provides a number with which to make a judgement -- albeit an inaccurate one.

Misusing standardized test results displays the ignorance of those who make laws about education. What teacher is going to want to continue teaching difficult to educate students when they know that they will be blamed for their students' failures to overcome disabilities or the effects of poverty? This sort of legislative malpractice is guaranteed to demoralize hard working teachers and their students.

...high-stakes tests hurt low-income students the most, exactly those students the accountability movement professes to be attempting to help. At my school (approximately 90% free and reduced), we have seen teaching positions go unfilled for months at a time. Our reputation is not what we would hope, and many of our students are faced with significant life challenges. The first response I received from my staff when I alerted them to the possibility that some of them may soon have test scores compose a part of their evaluations was: "Thank you for the information. And now I want to quit."

Faced with the reality that a) nobody, not even "experts," has discovered a surefire method for improving student test scores and b) this affects teachers' livelihoods; many teachers in low-income schools will be delivered a strong incentive to find a more affluent school to teach in if they want to continue in this profession.

And take it from me - someone who's worked in inner-city DC and the South Bronx - most of the people who work in these kinds of schools in 2014 are among the most dedicated people you could ever hope to work with.

"REFORMER" WARS

Vouchers vs. Charters: Comparing Quality School Choice Policies

First, I don't have anything against teachers who work in charter or private schools. Good teachers need jobs, and the students who attend all schools, public, private or corporate, deserve to have good teachers.

Second, I don't have any problem with private schools. They provide an important service. What I object to is reducing the tax revenue needed for public schools and giving it to private and privately run schools. Public schools are a public responsibility and should be fully funded with tax money. Private schools should be supported by those who use them -- especially since the vast majority of private schools that receive public funds (aka vouchers) are religious schools.

When a Religion is good, I conceive that it will support itself; and, when it cannot support itself, and God does not take care to support, so that its Professors are oblig'd to call for the help of the Civil Power, it is a sign, I apprehend, of its being a bad one -- Ben Franklin

I enjoyed this article in which a charter school advocate discusses the research showing that vouchers don't work. I agree...vouchers are a theft of public funds diverted to private corporations or religious institutions, However, you can read similar research on charter schools here and here . Charters aren't any better than public schools (corporate-run charters may take public dollars but they are not public schools) even though they find ways to reduce the number of difficult to educate students they enroll.

School choice is about giving parents the opportunity to select the best education for their children from a variety of options. But choice itself isn’t enough. To truly be worthy of public investment, school choice programs should also improve academic outcomes for the target population. When the evidence suggests that a particular approach doesn’t improve academic outcomes we need to think very carefully before adopting it.

As a caveat, I will not debate the merits of school choice in this article. My purpose is merely to examine one of the most popular options for school choice at the moment, school vouchers, and determine if it is worth of our public investment and if not, offer alternatives...

...what does the evidence say about the impact of vouchers on student outcomes? To date we’ve seen little to no positive demonstrated impact on student achievement from these programs.

CHARTERS

Even at charters, school choice limited

Julian Vasquez Heilig reports on charter schools...no better than public schools.

The reports from some of these corporate charters of 100 percent graduation rates and 100 percent of students attending college seem too good to be true. They are. A closer look shows they come at a cost. For example, KIPP has posited it serves mostly low-income and minority students and still gets better results than public schools. What they don't brag about are the high attrition rates that cull their classes to the most high-achieving students.

A nationwide study of KIPP by researchers at Western Michigan University criticized the high attrition rates —about 40 percent for African-American males — and the fact that they serve few students learning English or with disabilities. KIPP also spent around “$18,500 per pupil in 2007-08, about $6,500 more per student than the average for other schools in the same districts,” according to Education Week.

Same story with BASIS. At the original campus of BASIS charter school in Tucson, Ariz., the class of 2012 had 97 students when they were sixth-graders. By their senior year, the number had dwindled to 33, a 66 percent drop.

Families churned out of such charters end up back at their neighborhood public schools, which welcome them, regardless of race, class or level of ability.

CHARTERS

Myth 7: Charter schools make all schools better.

In their new book, 50 Myths and Lies That Threaten America's Public Schools: The Real Crisis in Education, David Berliner and Gene Glass dispel the myths being used to destroy America's public education system. Their take on "competition" and "choice"...

Myth 7. School choice and competition work to improve all schools. Vouchers, tuition tax credits, and charter schools inject competition into the education system and “raise all boats.”

Do charter schools really make all schools better? Up until now, the only effect the charter school movement has had on traditional public schools has been on the latter's marketing budget.

"RHEE"-FORM

Rhee’s Misguided Mission: Former D.C. Public Schools Chief Jumps On Voucher Bandwagon

While exposing her for the charlatan she is, this article is, IMHO, too kind to Michelle Rhee. The woman is a menace to public schools, public school educators, and public school students everywhere.

Rhee graduated from Cornell University in 1992 with a degree in government and later obtained a master’s in public policy from Harvard, neither of which really suggested a future in education.

Yet Rhee ended up joining Teach for America (TFA), a program that seeks to place recent college grads, usually from elite schools, in classrooms populated by kids from low-income households. TFA sees this is a way to close the “achievement gap,” which basically means that kids from wealthy families tend to do better on standardized tests than poor kids of the same age. That’s a nice mission. The problem is, TFA spends very little time actually preparing its teachers for classroom instruction and has been criticized as little more than a resume builder for select college grads...

Rhee still has her sights set on breaking teachers’ unions, but her group is pretty gung-ho about vouchers, too. On its website, StudentsFirst says, “Until states can guarantee equal access to an excellent public school for every student in every zip code, we must find a way to provide better choices for all families. Voucher programs can provide additional options for ensuring all boys and girls get the great education they need to succeed in life.”

In reality, vouchers are usually just an excuse to weaken public schools and redistribute some of their money to religious organizations. They don’t improve educational outcomes nor are they a solution to existing problems with public schools.

ADHD

The truth about ADHD: Over-diagnosis linked to cause championed by Michelle Rhee

Though it mentions her name in the title, this article is not actually about Michelle Rhee, other than she is a strong proponent of the "test and punish" method of destroying public education.

ADHD is a real neurological disorder, but in the past it's been over diagnosed by lazy and/or poorly informed doctors, and schools trying to control the behavior of students. It's also been under diagnosed.

An accurate diagnosis must include proof that ADHD behavior, which many children and adults exhibit in varying degrees, impairs functioning in more than one area. In other words, a child showing hyperactive behaviors which do not interfere with his successful life functioning does not warrant an ADHD diagnosis.

That being said, the overuse, misuse and abuse of standardized tests has been responsible for desperate parents and teachers searching for a way to improve test scores. Unfortunately, some doctors have gone along and provided the medical diagnosis for ADHD where none exists.

There has been a lot of public agonizing lately about the steep rise in diagnoses of ADHD over the last two decades. There is growing, and justifiable, worry that a lot of kids are being put on stimulant medications who don’t need them.

What there hasn’t been is a plausible theory about what’s driving this explosion of diagnoses — 40 percent over the last decade and more than 50 percent over 25 years. The CDC now estimates that 12 percent of school age kids, and as many as 20 percent of teenage boys have been diagnosed with ADHD.

Blame has been directed at parents, for being so poor at discipline that they reach for a pill to make unruly kids settle down. Teachers are blamed for being so inept at maintaining order that they want students medicated into submission. Psychiatrists are blamed for being the pawns of drug companies peddling ADHD meds. But blaming doesn’t explain it. It’s not credible that an increase of this magnitude comes from individual parents, teachers and doctors suddenly pathologizing ordinary child and adolescent behavior. In my experience, most parents are quite reluctant to put their kids on psychotropic medication unless they’re in serious distress.

Now comes a book that, finally, offers a data-based analysis that could begin to account for an increase on this scale. “The ADHD Explosion,“ by Stephen Hinshaw and Richard Scheffler, considers all kinds of factors that may contribute to the surge, from diagnosis by undertrained and harried pediatricians to pharmaceutical advertising. But the eye-opening insight from Hinshaw, a clinical psychologist, and Schleffler, a health economist, who are colleagues at University of California, Berkeley, is the correlation between educational policies and the prevalence of ADHD diagnoses.

END WASTEFUL TESTING

Yes, let's drop the SAT essay. While we're at it, let's drop the SAT.

The best line from this letter by Stephen Krashen is the title.

There is no point in testing writing form, i.e. the use of conventional writing style, grammatical accuracy. Research consistently tells us that writing form comes from reading, not from writing and not from study.

Writing itself is a powerful tool for solving problems and making yourself smarter. This requires mastery of the composing process (e.g. knowing that as you revise you come up with better ideas). This cannot be tested.

Research also tells us that high school grades are a good predictor of college success. Adding a standardized test does not improve the prediction. So there is no point in having the SAT.

IN IT FOR THE MONEY

Vic’s Statehouse Notes #177 – March 11, 2014

The Indiana governor and legislature continue to attack public schools. In the past few years the governors and legislators have behaved like termites eating away at the foundation of public education. Indiana has enacted a cap on property taxes, a reduction of education funding, a redirecting of funds to private and charter schools, and a redirecting of funds towards more and more testing.

The latest tax reduction which will reduce needed funds to public schools is just the latest in a long line of moves meant to further weaken the foundation of public education. When there is no money to provide the services required, the privatizers will claim that the public schools have failed.

Governor Pence wanted to help businesses, and he didn’t mind doing that at the expense of revenues for schools, libraries and local government. He worked hard to make this happen in a sometimes reluctant legislature. Now that they have followed his lead, at least $2 million per year in school property tax revenue is at risk, just at the time when the great competition between public and private schools for the hearts and minds of parents is revving up, a competition created by the voucher program passed by the General Assembly in 2011 and expanded with Governor Pence’s strong support in 2013.

There is something wrong when Indiana’s grand experiment in a competitive marketplace is set up and then public schools are threatened with a new cut in their funding. It doesn’t look like fair competition to me. It looks to me like public school revenue support is being undermined in a creative new way every year, and the favoritism shown by the Governor for private schools in the competition and his willingness to let public school funding erode remain obvious. [emphasis added]

In real terms, this affects local schools and students...Big changes loom for Fort Wayne Community Schools

Who is the #1 Enemy of Public Education?

And not just in Indiana...

Policies coming out of Washington D.C., and in many state capitols, are demoralizing teachers, undermining the traditional role and governance of boards of education, de-professionalizing the teaching profession, re-segregating American communities and reducing the traditional dynamic of learning to a testing obsession.

Many chief state school officers in recent years are moles of the privatizers or lack the conviction to fight for the public common school system. Hence, state legislatures and governors, in many cases, receive no resistance to their privatization agenda.

Often local public school personnel, including boards of education, feel helpless to stem the tide of public school bashing and the privatization movement.

Enough is enough. It is past time to hold all state officials accountable for their support of policies that lead to the privatization of public education.

Ohioans and the citizens of the nation, when mobilized, can uproot the anti-public education agenda of America’s oligarchs and their plutocratic political allies.

"Anyone who denies that the "reform" movement isn't abetting a wholesale transfer of public monies and property to private concerns is either corrupt or willingly obtuse." -- Jersey Jazzman

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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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Buying American Education

Diane Ravitch posted this letter...and suggested it be reposted everywhere.

This is an extraordinary letter. Please read it. Send it to your friends. Send it to everyone on your email list. tweet it. These are questions that should be answered by the Secretary, under oath, in public hearings.

American education is being radically reconstituted and centralized, with little or no democratic deliberation. The public hears bland assurances about “high standards for all,” “college and career readiness for all,” and other unproven claims and assertions about sweeping changes that have not been subject to trial or open debate or careful review.

Here's the author's posting of the letter. There's an interesting irony in that the author is a teacher at the University of Chicago Lab School, the school which Arne Duncan attended on his way to becoming the CEO of Chicago Public Schools and the Secretary of Education without ever teaching in or attending a public school.

The Honorable Tom Harkin
Chairman, Subcommittee on Labor,
Health and Human Services, and Education
Senate Appropriations Committee

June 3, 2013

Dear Chairman Harkin,

I was very saddened to hear that you have decided not to run for reelection as a United States senator. You have always represented the most honest branch of the Democratic Party and the long proud legacy of Midwestern prairie populism extending from James B. Weaver, to Williams Jennings Bryan, to Bob LaFollette, the Farm-Labor party, Paul Simon, George McGovern, and Tom Daschle. We could also count the comedian turned senator from Minnesota in this, but he needs a few more years of “seasoning.” I am sure that you are mentoring him in the tradition. Your friend and my senator, Dick Durbin, shares this tradition, but I am worried that he has cozied up too closely with the Chicago plutocrats to be an effective spokesperson for “the small fry.”

I write because you hold a very important position in congress that has oversight over Education. I am a history teacher, a historian, a leader of history teachers, and a critic of the No Child Left Behind and Race to the Top Mandates. I have thirty years of teaching under my belt, including service to the people of the great state of Iowa at Malcolm Price Laboratory School in Cedar Falls where I taught high school students and trained pre service history teachers at the University of Northern Iowa.

Your friend and colleague, senator Grassley, has sent you a letter expressing his concerns about the Race to the Top mandates and the Common Core Curriculum Standards, so I will not belabor the concerns that he has already expressed to you, http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2013/04/19/common-core-standards-attacked-by-republicans/.

I would like to encourage you to call our Secretary of Education before your committee and ask him some hard questions about the way that the RTTT mandates were constructed. His responses to the concerns that many citizens have from all points on the political spectrum have been exceedingly evasive. He typically claims that those who are opposed to the RTTT mandates and the Common Core Standards are hysterical wing nuts who fully embrace Glenn Beck’s conspiracy theories about attempts to create a one world government: http://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/living-in-dialogue/2013/04/paul_horton_of_common_core_con.html

In fact, despite the claims of a recent Washington Post story (http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/tea-party-groups-rallying-against-common-core-education-overhaul/2013/05/30/64faab62-c917-11e2-9245-773c0123c027_story.html), critics of the RTTT mandates and the CCS come from the progressive wing of the Democratic Party and the libertarian wing of the Republican Party. In the national education debate, the status quo agenda that is being pushed comes from the corporate middle of both parties that is backed by many of those who have been the biggest beneficiaries of the current economic “recovery” in Seattle, Silicon Valley, and Manhattan (and Westchester County) and large foundations.

I humbly recommend that Mr. Duncan be called before your committee to answer some serious questions under oath about corporate and investor influence on Education policy. Mr. Duncan told a committee of congress that he did not want to “participate in the hysteria” surrounding the RTTT and the CCS. Because he is a public servant, it is his duty to serve the people of the United States. Part of his job is to be accountable to the public.

I recommend a few questions that any populist or progressive senator would have asked in the 1890s or early twentieth century:

1. How many of your staffers have worked for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation? Who are they, and why did you hire them?
2. What role did these staffers and Bill Gates have on the formulation of the RTTT mandates?
3. How much classroom teaching experience do the principal authors of the RTTT mandates have, individually, and as a group?
4. Why are these individuals qualified to make decisions about education policy?
5. Were you, or anyone who works within the Department of Education in contact with any representative or lobbyist representing Pearson Education, McGraw-Hill, or InBloom before or during the writing of the RTTT mandates?
6. What is the Broad Foundation? What is your connection to the Broad Foundation? What education policies does the Broad Foundation support? How do these policies support public education? How do these policies support private education? What was the role of the Broad Foundation in the creation of the RTTT mandates?
7. How many individuals associated with the Broad Foundation helped author the report, “Smart Options: Investing Recovery Funds for Student Success” that was published in April of 2009 and served as a blueprint for the RTTT mandates? How many representatives from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation assisted in writing this report? What was their role in authoring this report? How many representatives of McKinsey Consulting participated in authoring this report? What was David Coleman’s role in authoring this report?
8. Do you know David Coleman? Have you ever had any conversations with David Coleman? Has anyone on your staff had any conversations with David Coleman? Did anyone within the Department of Education have any connection to any of the authors of the Common Core Standards? Did anyone in your Department have any conversations with any of the authors of the Common Core Standards as they were being written?
9. Have you ever had any conversations with representatives or lobbyists who represent the Walton Family Foundation? Has anyone on your staff had any conversations with the Walton Family Foundation or lobbyists representing the Walton Family Foundation? If so, what was the substance of those conversations?
10. Do you know Michelle Rhee? If so, could you describe your relationship with Michelle Rhee? Have you, or anyone working within the Department of Education, had any conversations with Students First, Rhee’s advocacy group, about the dispersal foundation funds for candidates in local and state school board elections?

This is just a start. Public concerns about possible collusion between the Department of Education and education corporations could be addressed with a few straightforward answers to these and other questions.

Every parent, student, and teacher in the country is concerned about the influence of corporate vendors on education policy. What is represented as an extreme movement by our Education Secretary can be more accurately described as a consumer revolt against shoddy products produced by an education vendor biopoly (Pearson and McGraw Hill). Because these two vendors have redefined the education marketplace to meet the requirements of RTTT, they both need to be required to write competitive impact statements for the Anti-Trust Division of the Department of Justice.

Senator Harkin, I have a simple solution to this education mess. You represent a state with a great education system. In Iowa, there are great teachers in Cumming, Hudson, and West Des Moines. Most teachers across the country are dedicated, talented, and creative. They, and not Pearson, McGraw Hill, or InBloom , have a better sense about what is good for kids. Allow teachers to create national rubrics to evaluate authentic assessments and allow teachers to do their jobs and grade these assessments. We can save billions of dollars in a time of austerity if we do this. You have control over the disbursement of RTTT funds. These funds should go to teacher assessments, not assessments designed by people with little or no classroom experience. Likewise, these assessments should be graded by teachers, not by temporary employees or computers under the control of for profit corporations.

Let’s invest in our teachers to insure that this investment stays in our communities and states. Education vendors are not loyal to kids, parents, or states. They seek profit, and they will invest their proceeds wherever they can make the most money. It is time for some common sense. We need education policy for the small fry, not education policy for plutocrats.

I would love to speak to you and to your committee on these issues.

The very best to you,

Paul Horton, History teacher, The University of Chicago Laboratory Schools (former History Instructor, The University of Northern Iowa, Malcolm Price Laboratory School, Cedar Falls, Iowa)

~~~

Stop the Testing Insanity!

Sign the National Resolution on High Stakes Testing!

~~~

Maher vs. Rhee

AN EDUCATION FAILURE

I don't like Bill Maher. I think he's obnoxious, pompous and rude. However, just because I don't like his style doesn't mean I don't agree with him on a lot of things. So, despite my dislike for the man, when I heard that he had interviewed "reformer" Michelle Rhee I decided to listen. The interview with Rhee took place on March 15 (not posted as of this writing on the Real Time with Bill Maher site). Below is a amateur youtube of the interview. The visual is not so good, but you can hear the interview.

[WARNING: the following contains offensive language. Don't blame me if you decide to listen.]



We could choose a variety of places where Rhee spouts incorrect or misleading information, but Kris Nielsen did some of that for me in his @The Chalk Face post titled Michelle Rhee Needs a Head Shrinker...

Neilsen reminds us of the fact that Rhee is a failure at education.

As I mentioned in previously articles, Michelle had a really tough go at it in the classroom. I would even go as far as to say that her teaching career was a total bomb. Then, her rough-and-tumble methods as the D.C. Chancellor got her and her boss fired. In the eyes of several kids and adults, over those five years (or whatever), she was a failure.

Nielsen also reported on Rhee's almost obligatory anecdote about how "good teachers" can save everyone.

She told some lame, anecdote about how one teacher in a school in a tough neighborhood was so much better than everyone else. Bill even called her on it, reminding her that it was anecdotal.

THE MYTH OF TENURE

At the end of the interview Maher brings up tenure, the basis of one of the biggest myths about public education and "the bad teacher." Here's my transcript of the last few minutes (beginning at about 6:10 in the video)...

Maher: I think what bothers a lot of people in America is why do teachers get this...this perk that the rest of us don't have? We can all be fired. But let me give you an answer that might make sense.

[laughter]

Maher: The Supreme Court has tenure...you can't fire a Supreme Court justice because they have to make very hard decisions and you wouldn't want to hold them accountable and say well...we didn't like the decision...you've gotta go. It's kinda the same thing with teachers. I mean, A teacher has to be able to say to parents, "Your kid is dumb..."

Rhee: [laughing] No, not that.

Maher: ...because...and not get fired for it because that's very often the answer...is that...because to parents, it's never their precious child that's the problem.

Rhee: Teachers do have to make hard calls and they have to have protections to make sure that, you know, when they are making those tough calls, the ones that are right for kids, that, you know, they have what they need. The problem in public education is tenure has become a job for life regardless of performance. And so we have some people who are not doing the right things for kids...where kids...you know, children are going into their classroom year in and year out and are sort of losing ground...or you even have here in Southern California, you know, sexual predators, and they cannot be fired.

Maher: That's the church. You're mixing the two up.

[laughter]

Maher; Alright, well, I gotta go...

[interview ends]

Some basic assumptions here are incorrect...from Maher's claim that teachers have a perk (tenure) which guarantees them a job for life to Rhee's incredibly offensive reference implying a relationship between "bad teachers" and "sexual predators."

Teachers can, and do get fired. Tenure for public school teachers in K-12 education does not mean a job for life...it means due process. Period.

Due process means that a teacher cannot be fired for no reason. The school leaders, school board, or administrators must show that a teacher is either incompetent, immoral or behaves illegally. Monster.com lists 10 ways teachers can, and do, get fired.

Due process, frequently misnamed tenure means that proof of one of these behaviors must be presented before a teacher can be fired. Once that is done, then the teacher can be fired no matter how many years they have taught. If, during my last year of teaching, I decided that I liked the school computer and wanted it for myself so I took it home for my personal use, the school system would have been entirely within their rights to fire me. I would have been within my rights to ask for due process. Just because you might not have this guarantee at your job...and you can be accused of stealing from the company and fired without any proof at all...doesn't mean that it's the right thing to do. Due process simply requires school leaders to be fair...and not fire teachers on a whim.

Rhee, as well as other "reformers," usually focus on bad teaching. Can bad teaching get you fired? Yes, but, again, the administration has to prove it. That's where we are right now and that's where there are problems. What constitutes a "bad teacher?" "Reformers" tend to think that low student test scores reflect bad teaching -- even though using test scores to evaluate teachers is (IMHO) invalid.

A "reformer" might even agree that due process is good, in theory, "but," she might say, "in actual practice it takes a lot of time and a great deal of money to get rid of a 'bad teacher' and the reason for that is due process." To that I say..."yes, that may be correct." My follow up to that, however, is probably different from that of your average "reformer."

Here's a plan. Instead of eliminating due process - like the legislature in Indiana did - let's improve some things.

1. Make sure that every person in a supervisory position (e.g. Principals) is an experienced educator with training sufficient to analyze teaching and to fairly evaluate teachers.
2. Make sure that supervisors of principals (e.g. Superintendent) are similarly experienced and trained.
3. Make sure that evaluations are done when scheduled and/or required by the contract, records kept, visitations documented, attempts to help the teacher improve made and recorded, etc. 
4. We need to establish fair and effective evaluation methods such as the Montgomery County Maryland's Peer Assistance and Review evaluation procedure (which has been destroyed by Race to the Top) or procedures described by Linda Darling-Hammond.
5. I don't have any objection to streamlining due process so it proceeds more quickly. There's no reason for teachers to sit for months or years waiting for a hearing...and there's no reason a school system has to wait that long to have the option of getting rid, with adequate proof, of a bad teacher. However, I would insist that the procedure be fair and require proof. We don't want to go back to the era of firing teachers to make room for a state senator's nephew or a school board member's cousin, or because the principal just doesn't like someone.

As long as education failures/faux "reformers" like Rhee continue to promote false myths like "the bad teacher" and "job-for-life tenure" the real work of education will be sidetracked by wasted resources, attacks on teachers, and the continued privatization of public education.

~~~

Stop the Testing Insanity!

Sign the National Resolution on High Stakes Testing!

~~~

Four Know-Nothings Who Dominate Education Policy in America

It's clear to me now. The nation's education policy is under the control of people who are afflicted with the Dunning-Kruger Effect.

Simply stated, the Dunning-Kruger Effect is a mistaken belief in one's own competence. Someone who is unskilled believes that they are skilled. Those with no ability believe their ability is not only adequate, but above average. They lack the ability to recognize their own mistakes. This is caused by Illusory Superiority, common among politicians and professional athletes, which causes people to overestimate their own importance relative to others.

Some people who suffer from this Effect are: Barack Obama, Arne Duncan, Bill Gates, and Michelle Rhee (also Jeb Bush, Tony Bennett, Rahm Emanuel, Joel Klein, Michael Bloomberg, Indiana's Republican majority, Oprah Winfrey and others...but this is already long enough).

These four people have some things in common...

• a desire to replace public schools with privately-run-with-public-money charters*.
• a willingness to overuse and misuse standardized tests.
• little or no experience as an actual teacher in a public school or, for that matter, as a student in public schools. All spent most or all of their early years at elite private schools. Gates, Obama and Rhee were all in private schools by 7th grade. Duncan attended private schools exclusively. Rhee is the only one who ever actually taught real students in a public school.
• wealth. All four of these people are either independently wealthy or, as in Rhee's case, receive money and donations for their activities from wealthy people.

None have expertise in education. Obama, Duncan and Gates have never had any training in education. Rhee was trained by Teach For America. They all support "turning around public schools" which means, converting public schools to for-profit charter schools. None, but Rhee will admit it, but they all probably hope that the teachers unions would just go away since they're filled with, you know, actual teachers. None of them seem to understand that...

• Closing schools doesn't improve education.
• Privately-run-with-public-money charter schools don't do any better than regular public schools.
• standardized tests shouldn't be used to rank schools or students. Standardized tests shouldn't be used to evaluate teachers.
• States with strong teachers unions score as high, or higher than states without strong teachers unions.

No "reformy" strategy has actually helped children learn better than traditional public schools. Some charters and private schools do better (usually those which serve wealthy children or have huge influxes of cash from corporate donors), some do worse, but on the whole the "reform" movement hasn't changed much in the world of American education -- other than closing neighborhood public schools, making teachers' jobs harder and sucking the joy out of learning for children.

None of the four want to talk about poverty and its impact on achievement.

Let's get to know them...

BARACK OBAMA: Currently President of the United States (Net Worth: >$2.5m) - law degree from Harvard. Tells teachers what they want to hear and convinced the president of NEA that his policy of closing and privatizing schools was good for education. Cheered when all the teachers at Central Falls High School in RI were fired. Education experience - none. Education expertise - none.

We have an obligation and a responsibility to be investing in our students and our schools. We must make sure that people who have the grades, the desire and the will, but not the money, can still get the best education possible.

What about the people who don't have the grades, the desire and the will? Do we just let them fade away? Do we forget about their possible contributions if given an opportunity? Do we just write them off and start saving money for prisons and welfare? We need to support the schools with these most difficult to educate students...and find ways to pique their interest and motivate them.

Don't label a school as failing one day and then throw your hands up and walk away from it the next. Don't tell us that the only way to teach a child is to spend too much of a year preparing him to fill out a few bubbles in a standardized test...You didn't devote your lives to testing. You devoted it to teaching, and teaching is what you should be allowed to do.

As President, Obama has thrown up his hands and walked away from the public schools. His program, Race to the Top, doesn't target the neediest schools and children in the country. It targets those who play the "Race to the Top" game (more: see Duncan). Furthermore, while saying that we shouldn't "teach to the test" or that teachers didn't devote their lives to testing, he supports the US DOE which is forcing the overuse and misuse of testing on America's schools.

ARNE DUNCAN: Currently US Secretary of Education (Net Worth: >$1.5m)> - a professional basketball player (Melbourne's Eastside Spectres), with a degree from Harvard in Sociology. He believes that observing his mother tutor students qualifies him to make education policy. Along with his boss, cheered when all the teachers at Central Falls HS in Central Falls RI were fired. Education experience - none. Education expertise - none.

Surveys show that many talented and committed young people are reluctant to enter teaching for the long haul because they think the profession is low-paying and not prestigious enough.

Encouraging states to use invalid evaluation methods in order to get Race to the Top money...encouraging the demise of public schools at the hands of corporate charter operators...forcing states to use unproven methods in order to get needed funds to keep schools running is not the way to improve the teaching profession.

States should not balance their budgets on the backs of students.

Race to the Top provides funds only for those states who want to use unproven methods. Other states -- if there still are any -- who want support for their public schools don't get it from the federal government.

BILL GATES: Currently retired busybody and rich person (Net Worth: $66bn) - a college dropout with extremely high technology and business skills. He believes that having money makes him an expert in everything. Education experience - none. Education expertise - none.

In American math classes, we teach a lot of concepts poorly over many years. In the Asian systems they teach you very few concepts very well over a few years.

Wrong. Our students from low-poverty schools score at the top of the world when compared to other countries. It's the high poverty schools which skews our average scores down and gives the impression that American schools are mediocre.

If you think your teacher is tough, wait until you get a boss. He doesn't have tenure.

Teachers don't have tenure. They have due process (although some states, like Indiana, have even eliminated that). Due process means that administrators must prove that teachers are not doing their jobs before getting rid of them. Due process provides teachers with a right to a hearing. Due process means that teachers have the right to improve before their fired.

There is no tenure.

MICHELLE RHEE: Currently CEO of the New Teachers Project (with funding from Bill Gates) and StudentsFirst (with funding from the Broad Foundation) - a holder of degrees in government and public policy from two high quality, Ivy League institutions (Cornell and Harvard). She believes that after 3 years experience teaching with minimal training, and serving unsuccessfully as chancellor of D.C. public schools, she now knows all there is to know about education. Education experience - 3 years as a TFA teacher in Baltimore. Education expertise - fund raising.

People don't understand where we stand right now on international rankings on academics. We are behind countries like Hungary and Luxumbourg.

Rhee is one of those people she describes. She doesn't understand where we stand right now internationally (See above under Bill Gates).

She also doesn't seem to see any conflict between this statement...

Part of what we outlined was that teachers who were highly effective could get paid twice as much money as they could under the old system. The ineffective teachers stopped teaching and the minimally effective were given one year to improve – during which there was a freeze on all pay increases.

...and this one.

Teachers have integrity. And if money was the motivating factor, they wouldn’t be in education.

People exhibiting the Dunning-Kruger Effect have no business making public policy of any kind, especially in education. Educators need a voice. Teachers, principals and superintendents need to speak out against the corporate drive to privatize American schools.

*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.

~~~

Stop the Testing Insanity!

Sign the National Resolution on High Stakes Testing!

~~~

Rheeform on the Daily Show

Michelle Rhee, the former DC Chancellor and 3 year TFA teacher was a guest on the Daily Show last night to plug her new book, Radical (see the interview in 3 parts, below). "Effective teachers" and "Failing Schools" were her go to buzz words. Beginning sentences with "So..." (a pet peeve of mine) happened frequently, too.

Rhee's definition of "effective teacher" however wasn't apparent as she waffled back and forth between "must have a way to measure student achievement" and "teachers are disrespected." She never answered the objection that the tests weren't appropriate to evaluate teachers -- or maybe it never got asked. The point is, though, that standardized tests for students are NOT valid measures to evaluate teachers. Just because we may not have something which is better (which I don't believe is true) doesn't mean we should use something invalid.

[NOTE: Maryland has just forced Montgomery County Schools to quit using their effective evaluation plan because it doesn't include evaluating teachers using student test scores. Read about the excellent plan they had in this article by Michael Winrip, Helping Teachers Help Themselves. The plan can be found HERE.]

Failing schools was another phrase that she kept repeating. No matter how good a teacher is, they can't make up for students who are suffering from the effects of poverty -- lead poisoning, community violence, poor nutrition and health care, lack of access to books. A good teacher is the most important IN-SCHOOL factor in achievement. Out of school factors, however, account for a larger percentage of a child's achievement. See Poverty and Potential by David Berliner.

In addition, she mentioned that it was "common sense" to close "failing" schools. No, it's not. If we were using common sense we would improve the schools in which children were struggling by providing them with MORE resources and MORE support.

Jon Stewart was too polite, I think (though she might have not stayed if he wasn't). Rhee has very little experience in education and she wasn't all that successful at what little she had. Like many TFA teachers she wasn't prepared for what greeted her in a real classroom...she quit after 3 years. As chancellor, she threw the DC Public Schools into chaos and the voters couldn't get rid of her and the mayor who appointed her fast enough.

I don't know what her motivation is...money, glory, whatever...but her participation in the privatization movement is not in the best interest of students.

The Daily Show Interview with Michelle Rhee

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
Get More: Daily Show Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,The Daily Show on Facebook

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
Get More: Daily Show Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,The Daily Show on Facebook

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
Get More: Daily Show Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,The Daily Show on Facebook

~~~

Stop the Testing Insanity!

Sign the National Resolution on High Stakes Testing!

~~~

Ravitch, Rhee and Rankings

Recently, Diane Ravitch was interviewed by Randi Kaye on CNN's Newsroom. The interview took the form of Ms. Kaye making a negative statement about education and then asking Dr. Ravitch a question like, "How do you explain that?" or "How do you respond to that?" It was more a "third degree" than an interview. Fortunately, Dr. Ravitch responded well to the grilling.

One of the aspects of public education which Ms. Kaye focused on was low test scores. While America's performance on international tests wasn't specifically mentioned (or if it was, it was edited out), it's common among the PPPs (politicians, pundits and policy makers) to decry the low ranking of our students when compared to other nations. In another interview, this one with Michelle Rhee, Ms. Kaye asked,

...you point to a new Harvard study that ranks the US 25th internationally in education. What do you think it is that we need to improve?

Ms. Rhee's response...

People don't understand where we stand right now on international rankings on academics. We are behind countries like Hungary and Luxumbourg.

Rhee went on to claim that true school reform means getting rid of bad teachers and offering more choice to families. There was no mention at all of the effects of poverty on American students, no suggestion that students in poverty need more support, and no suggestion that we attempt to improve low performing schools instead of just giving them away to profit seeking corporate interests closing them.

The Harvard study which Rhee referred to doesn't even speak to academic achievement levels. Instead it focuses on the rate of academic growth for states and countries. Some lower performing states, for example, increased their achievement at a greater rate than higher performing states. Part of this may be due to the "catch up" factor. States which made large gains, such as Louisiana, Arkansas, and South Carolina, are still among the lowest performing states in the nation. In contrast, some of the states with the lowest improvement gains, Connecticut, Vermont and Minnesota, for example, are among the highest performing states in the nation (see America's Smartest Kids). Furthermore, it's still true that students who perform better on NAEP tests tend to come from states with lower levels of student poverty.

Rankings, whether domestic or international, are good for identifying trends. However, there are many factors which go into the achievement levels of students in various geographic areas. Factors such as poverty, health care, economic and academic investment in schools and teacher training, and societal attitudes towards education and educators all make an impact on the nation's or state's test results. Using low rankings as a bludgeon to destroy public education is a misuse of test scores and a disservice to students.

The American obsession with rankings and "being number one" has damaged public education. We have never been number one in academic tests yet we've managed to lead the world economically and scientifically (among other things) over the last half century. How is that possible?

Do we blame doctors and hospitals because the United States ranks 37th internationally in health care (behind such places as Luxembourg, Columbia, and Singapore) or 34th in infant mortality rates (which puts us behind Iceland, Slovenia and Cuba)?

Do we blame psychologists and psychiatrists because the US ranks 11th in "happiness" (behind places like Israel, Austria and Canada)?

We don't have a nation-wide problem with failing schools. What we have is a problem with the failure of our leaders to address the issues facing schools with high levels of poverty. It's time to end the privatization of public education and focus on supporting public schools.

~~~

Stop the Testing Insanity!

Sign the National Resolution on High Stakes Testing!

~~~

2012 Medley #16

Michelle Rhee, Testing, Vouchers, Corporate Reform,
A Teaching Career.

MICHELLE RHEE

Michelle Rhee is Shameless

Michelle Rhee taught for two years...and joined the nearly 50% of all educators who get out of the classroom within the first 5 years. She moved from there to administration. She left teaching before she could experience it. She doesn't know enough about being a classroom teacher...

This ad begins with two false premises. First, that American schools were once "the best in the world." Second, that our schools are now failing.

It is disgusting.

It is a lie.

It smears America.

It smears our teachers and our students.

It makes fun of obesity.

Michelle Rhee's Shameless Ad, Again

...This is an insulting stereotype of a gay man.

If StudentsFirst has any wisdom, it would withdraw this ad.

First ever StudentsFirst video that I did not laugh at

It is also unfair to compare our scores to the scores of the other countries since we have 22% of our students in poverty compared to single digits in most of the top countries. In an interesting analysis here we see that if we compare our schools with countries that have similar poverty levels, we would be at the top of the world in every category.

TESTING

PISA: It's Poverty Not Stupid

The link in the article above deserves another mention...American schools with low poverty levels achieve at the highest levels in the world. When are the policy makers going to accept responsibility for the levels of poverty in the United States?

Truthfully, you and I know all too well that Secretary Duncan, who led schools in Chicago, is aware of the relationship between poverty and student achievement, but he doesn't trust us enough to tell us the truth. He is afraid that we will use poverty as an excuse and that we will forget about our disadvantaged students. Ironically, by not acknowledging poverty as a challenge to be overcome, Duncan is forgetting about our disadvantaged students. Duncan needs to deliver the message that all our students deserve not only access to an education, but access to an excellent education. He needs to repeatedly remind us that, when it comes to school improvement, it's poverty not stupid.

A Serious Design Flaw Is Suspected in State Tests

High stakes tests are not designed to evaluate teachers. They are designed to test students' learning. Using tests for other reasons than that for which they were intended is educational malpractice, yet the US Department of Education, in Race to the Top requires that teachers be evaluated on "student progress" -- interpreted by most states as using student test scores to evaluate teachers.

Now, in studies that threaten to shake the foundation of high-stakes test-based accountability, Mr. Stroup and two other researchers said they believe they have found the reason: a glitch embedded in the DNA of the state exams that, as a result of a statistical method used to assemble them, suggests they are virtually useless at measuring the effects of classroom instruction.

Texas Orders Up a New Test to Solve Problems Created by 32 Years of Testing

What better way to repair the damage done by decades of high stakes tests than to use another test.

Texas has been been doing more of the same standardized testing and expecting different results (see Einstein's definition of insanity) for 32 years now, and the children of the Lone Star state are as poor, malnourished, and miseducated as ever. One in four lives in poverty, just as one in four Texans has no health insurance. Poverty rates jumped by 9 percent in the last U. S. Census, while the national average was a 6 percent rise.

VOUCHERS

Louisiana Voucher Program Includes Schools That Teach Creationism, Reject Evolution

The truth behind the Louisiana voucher plan.

The program is the cornerstone of Republican Gov. Bobby Jindal's bold effort to reform public education in the state. Critics are concerned about funding and fairness -- vouchers would cover the full cost of tuition at more than 120 private schools, including small, Bible-based church schools. Jindal says the program will spur school competition and expand parental choice.

Several of those religious schools that will be receiving public funds to take in new students from public schools also teach curricula that question the age of the universe, defying scientific evidence and theory and promote religious doctrine that "challenges the lessons central to public school science classrooms," according to the AP.

"What they're going to be getting financed with public money is phony science. They're going to be getting religion instead of science," Barbara Forrest, a founder of the Louisiana Coalition for Science, told AP.

THE "REFORMERS"

Med Reform

Are doctors blamed for their patient's medical conditions? If doctors were treated like teachers...

When professional doctors complain that they are not miracle workers and are unable to overcome all the out of hospital experiences that can shorten someone’s life, the med reformers tell them to stop making excuses. The med reformers are convinced that doctors can overcome every out of hospital experience because they have seen the miraculous results of charter hospitals and their young doctors who trained for just five weeks, but have managed to accomplish an amazing amount of years-added.

Rahm and Other People’s Children

When are the "reformers" going to acknowledge that they would never send their children to the schools they demand for everyone else?

One of the themes of the corporate reform movement is this:

“We know what’s best for other people’s children but it is not what’s best for mine.”

Mayor Rahm Emanuel sends his children to [the University of Chicago Lab School]. Arne Duncan is a graduate of it.

TEACHING AS A CAREER

On Obama’s call to states to save teachers’ jobs
By Valerie Strauss

In any case, the irony here can’t be overlooked: While Obama is, once again, calling for efforts to save teachers’ jobs (and that’s a good thing), his Education Department has over the past three years put forth policies that have been viewed by many teachers as nothing but an attack on them, including a misguided push to get districts to evaluate teachers by the standardized test scores of their students.

Public Education Being Set on Fire

Why are teachers leaving teaching? Where will teachers for the next generation come from? Why would someone want to become a teacher in this insane educational environment?

Of course I am going to keep battling on to work towards a better world, a place for educational equity…but I have to be honest, I am heavily discouraged right now. When people\current teachers would tell me, “I can’t believe you’re still going to be a teacher,” or when I’d receive e-mails and messages saying, “Do not go into the teaching field,” I never understood. Now I’m seeing why.

For the first time, I am struggling to get out of this idea that I have no chance against these big organizations that are able to keep flourishing and damaging our education system. Public education is being set on fire, and it is so sad how many people are just watching it burn and are absolutely ok with it. This just isn’t fair, it isn’t moral, and it makes me sick. It is not fair how many students of not only today but of our future are going to receive the impact from these constant attacks.

~~~

Stop the Testing Insanity!

Sign the National Resolution on High Stakes Testing!

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