Diane Ravitch Speaks in Colorado

This video posted on Sabrina's Failing Schools Blog is about 90 minutes long, but it's worth it. In it, Diane Ravitch outlines the corporate attack on public education and public school teachers. During this talk she covers, among other things...

• Waiting for Superman -- She debunks it detail by detail, and gives herself credit for preventing it getting an Oscar nomination.
• Poverty and how it affects education in America.
• Charter schools and how they are not better than regular public schools. Charters have become a stand-in for vouchers.
• The corporate reform movement demoralizes teachers and is doing "incalculable damage to public education."
• The status quo. She reminds us that she is NOT defending the "status quo." But she says schools should not be "reformed" by non-educators. The status quo is defined by No Child Left Behind.
• Schools for poor kids. What kind of school should we have for poor kids? We should have the "same kinds of school that's available for rich kids."
• Race to the Top. Closing schools is not a school improvement strategy.
• Voucher schools. She reports that "voucher schools" did not improve education in Milwaukee.

You're going to say, "This is too long...I don't have time to listen to it." But...you need to watch this. You need to pass this on to your friends, family, teachers, administrators, and political leaders. We need your voice. Watch 20 minutes each day for 5 days if you have to...



Click below to join others in helping to save public education in America. Tell corporate America, tell politicians: Enough is Enough!

http://www.saveourschoolsmarch.org/

http://parentsacrossamerica.org/

http://www.educationvotes.nea.org/

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Business and Politics...as usual

The general public doesn't know this stuff. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (along with the Broad and Walton Foundations) donate billions to "help" schools in the US. Except they're not really helping. Their "good intentions" are destroying the public education system in the United States and President Obama along with Secretary of Education Arne Duncan (a former board member of the Broad Foundation) are letting it happen...going along with it...encouraging it.

In Race to the Bottom: Ravitch Says ‘School Reformers’ Scapecoat Teachers, Ignore Poverty, Diane Ravitch is quoted,

"[C]orporate reformers are pursuing a strategy based on ideology, not on evidence," she charged. "It is demoralizing teachers and setting up public schools to be de-legitimized, as they are called upon to meet impossible goals. This is not an improvement strategy, it is a privatization strategy."

And it's not just public schools -- it's the entire teaching profession. Blaming teachers for the failure of society is a convenient way to de-legitimize a profession, bust unions, and take the nation's education out of the hands of educators.

The Broad Academy takes business leaders, military leaders and politicians and with 6 weeks of training turns them into "Superintendents." Large urban school systems are run by politicians and business leaders…Chicago, New York, Washington DC. Even the nation's department of education is run by a non-educator.

Their business model is to take education out of the hands of educators, using the rationale that educators have failed, when in reality, it's society that has failed.

In Got Dough? How Billionaires Rule Our Schools, Joanne Barkan writes

The most recent results (2006) showed the following: students in U.S. schools where the poverty rate was less than 10 percent ranked first in reading, first in science, and third in math. When the poverty rate was 10 percent to 25 percent, U.S. students still ranked first in reading and science. But as the poverty rate rose still higher, students ranked lower and lower. Twenty percent of all U.S. schools have poverty rates over 75 percent. The average ranking of American students reflects this. The problem is not public schools; it is poverty.

Here in Indiana, the legislature made a sharp right turn in the last election, as did state legislatures throughout the country. These politicians are poised to "punish" the teachers (and teachers unions) in the state by moving money from regular public schools to charter schools, gut the collective bargaining law so teachers lose any leverage in contract negotiations*, introduce school vouchers to further drain money from public schools, and in a punitive and blatantly anti-teacher move, the House Labor Committee amended a bill to eliminate payroll deduction for teacher union dues**.

(* If negotiations do not result in a contract before the old contract expires, school boards can unilaterally impose a contract on teachers.)

(** Other payroll deductions are not being targeted. Donations to United Way, Insurance payments, Retirement plan payments, etc., would not be affected…ONLY union dues.)

A Clarion News Editorial, Conservatives' bull's-eye miss targets states,

Gov. Mitch Daniels talks a mean pro-education game, but we have seen how concerned he really is. Just down the road in Floyd County, we watched as four good elementary schools were closed last year. One of them, Galena Elementary, was considered one of the best in the region. And there have been other school closings across the state, as well. And Daniels' property tax initiatives and $300 million cut to schools have seriously crippled many school corporations and now even libraries are receiving less support and funding.

Daniels has been in office long enough to have really made some positive progress in the state's schools. But he hasn't shown even the slightest interest in doing so. Now, all of a sudden, he wants to rip the current system to shreds and make life miserable for every teacher in the state so he'll be able to brag about his fiscal policies during the next presidential election. And everything he does this year will be focused that way.

Here's one thing we can do...

Save Our Schools March & National Call to Action!

We, a collection of people from all walks of life and every corner of this nation, embody a mixture of ideas and opinions regarding how we can improve educational opportunities for all children. We stand united by one belief – it’s time for teachers and parents to organize and reclaim control of our schools.

As concerned citizens, we demand an end to the destructive policies and rhetoric that have eroded confidence in our public schools, demoralized teachers, and reduced the education of too many of our children to nothing more than test preparation.

Third Grade Reading Test for Indiana

How does retention affect children? The National Association of School Psychologists, in the paper, Grade Retention: Achievement and Mental Health Outcomes, refers to a higher dropout rate among students who have been retained.

Analysis of multiple studies of retention indicate that retained students experience lower self esteem and lower rates of school attendance, relative to promoted peers (Jimerson, 2001). Both of these factors are further predictive of dropping out of school. Indirectly, low self-esteem and poor school attendance influence adult outcomes. Students who ultimately drop out of school without a diploma face considerable difficulty finding and maintaining employment for self-sufficiency and experience higher rates of mental health problems, chemical abuse and criminal activities than do high school graduates.

Retention leads to dropping out of school, which leads to adult problems.

...retained children are subsequently overage for grade, which is associated with deleterious outcomes, particularly as retained children approach middle school and puberty (stigmatization by peers and other negative experiences of grade retention may exacerbate behavioral and socio-emotional adjustment problems).

In a synthesis of Grade Retention Research, Shane Jimerson made the following conclusions:

• Achievement for retained students is lower than if they had been "socially" promoted.
• Emotionally, retained students have poorer social adjustment, attitudes toward school, attendance, and more problem behaviors in comparison to matched controls.
• Retained students had lower levels of academic adjustment at the end of 11th grade, were more likely to drop out of high school by age 19, were less likely to receive a diploma by age 20, were less likely to be enrolled in a post- secondary education program, received lower education/employment status ratings, were paid less per hour, and received poorer employment competence ratings at age 20 in comparison to a group of low-achieving students.

A massive amount of research is consistent. Retention in Grade doesn't help and, in fact, hurts students (See the sidebar of this blog for RESEARCH ON RETENTION IN GRADE).

Last week the Indiana Board of Education proposed a plan in which third graders would have to pass a test in order to be promoted to fourth grade. Indystar.com reports:

All third-graders would be required to pass a new statewide reading test before advancing to the fourth grade under a proposal the Indiana State Board of Education approved Tuesday.

Gov. Mitch Daniels is expected to approve the plan, which would take effect for students finishing third grade in the spring of 2013 -- curtailing the so-called "social promotion" of third-graders.

Why? Where's the research which shows this to be an effective practice? It didn't work in Chicago or New York City. Why should we expect it to work in Indiana?

A common response from proponents of retention is that social promotion doesn't work so retention is "the only thing left." I agree that social promotion isn't necessarily best for students (though the research in retention shows that it is better than holding students back), but it's wrong to assume that social promotion and retention are the only choices. The National Association of School Psychologists continues:

Early identification (through assessment) for prevention and intervention is essential, whenever a student is struggling. Several school-based supports have been found to be effective in assisting children with educational difficulties. These include various reading programs, summer school and more direct instruction (teacher to student). Tutoring, well-designed homework activities and after- school programs have also been demonstrated to be beneficial. Other helpful strategies include encouraging parents to communicate regularly with the school and to become involved through attending student study team (SST) meetings, participating in training programs and exploring behavior management strategies if appropriate. Most important is to advocate for implementation of educational interventions that are supported by research first, continue monitoring the child’s achievement trajectory, and then revisit the progress made. A coordinated system of comprehensive support services aimed at addressing the academic, socio-emotional, behavioral and psychological needs of the child will help promote healthy adjustment and achievement among children at risk for grade retention.

When weighing the pros and cons of a decision to retain or promote a student, it is critical to emphasize to educators and parents that a century of research has failed to demonstrate the benefits of grade retention over promotion to the next grade for any group of students. Instead, we must focus on implementing evidence-based prevention and intervention strategies to promote social and cognitive competence and facilitate the academic success of all students.

One sentence in the above paragraph bears repeating:

...a century of research has failed to demonstrate the benefits of grade retention over promotion to the next grade for any group of students.

Interventions cost money and are difficult. America doesn't care enough about their children to invest in them. Instead, as is the trend in state and national departments of education, executive offices and legislatures, the choice is to punish not support. Punish students, schools and teachers for "failing."

...and I haven't even addressed the issue of basing retention on the outcome of one test!

What do schools do if they can't afford research-based intervention? In my opinion, and from the research, it's clear that retention is more harmful than social promotion.

The Indiana Department of Education, is proposing to do significant damage to children in Indiana. The Governor is going to go along with it. The truth based on research, it seems, doesn't matter.

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Parents Across America: National Group Launches

Parents Across America: National group launches to give parents a voice in the education debate

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Parent advocates from across the country converged on New York City on Monday, February 7 for the first national forum of Parents Across America, a parent-led movement to make parent voices heard in the national debate over education reform – and to promote positive, common-sense solutions that will improve public schools nationwide.

A Gallup poll released this week showed that the majority of Americans want major revisions to No Child Left Behind, the 2002 law that imposes rigid testing and accountability mandates on schools.

“Parents are a sleeping giant,” nationally known education commentator Diane Ravitch said at the event. “If the sleeping giant awakens, we can take back education.”

“Parents Across America is an opportunity to use our collective voices on a national level,” said founding member Karran Harper Royal, a New Orleans parent activist, “to inform the policies that drive the decision making in our each of our communities and nationwide. We will no longer allow our children to be subject to large-scale experimentation in the name of supposed ‘innovation,’ without our consent, when we know these policies have no backing in research or experience.”

At the forum, held at PS 89 in New York City’s Tribeca, Ravitch – author of the best-selling “The Death and Life of the Great American School System” – warned in her keynote speech about the harm done by excessive reliance on standardized tests, privatization through charter school expansion, and the growing influence of wealthy private foundations on education policies. Those forces, Ravitch said, are undermining education and failing the children who are most in need.

“We need to do what works: early childhood education. Parenting workshops. Lower class size. For teachers, more professionalization, not less,” she told the 350 people who packed the school auditorium.

Founding members of Parents Across America (PAA) also spoke about the issues confronting their local schools, which reflect larger challenges nationwide.

Harper Royal, who works with New Orleans’ Pyramid Community Parent Resource Center and the Southern Poverty Law Center, described the turmoil created by charter schools, which will soon enroll nearly 85 percent of New Orleans students. “Children with disabilities and behavior issues are being pushed out of schools and are forced to attend the lowest performing schools in the city,” she said. “Under the guise of ‘choice,’ many children with disabilities have attended three or more schools in the five years since Katrina. This was not their parents’ ‘choice’.”

Seattle parent activist Sue Peters echoed Ravitch on the influence of private wealth and venture philanthropy on education policy. “As a parent, I am very disturbed to discover that private billionaires with foundations and agendas and zero expertise in education are largely determining national public education policy right now,” she said. “Why should Eli Broad and Bill Gates have more of a say in what goes on in my child’s classroom than I do?”

Chicago activist Julie Woestehoff of Parents United for Responsible Education spoke about the damaging impact of high-stakes testing on children. Haimson, founder of New York’s Class Size Matters, emphasized that corporate reformers are advocating for increases in class size, despite clear evidence from research and experience that smaller classes are key to improving opportunities for children.

“We should be looking at the model of Finland’s schools, a system based on cooperation rather than competition, trusting and respecting teachers rather than scapegoating them, de-emphasizing standardized testing and providing small classes,” Haimson said. “Which, sadly, is the opposite direction of the one in which our country is moving now.”

Other founding members of PAA at the event included parent activists Mark Mishler of Albany, N.Y.; Pamela Grundy of Charlotte, N.C.; Dora Taylor of Seattle; Sharon Higgins of Oakland, Calif; Caroline Grannan of San Francisco; Natalie Beyer of Durham, N.C.; and Andrea Mérida of Denver, who delivered the closing speech. Beyer and Mérida were elected to serve on their districts’ school boards.

The audience included Philadelphia parent activist Helen Gym and San Francisco PTA leader Shellie Wiener, as well as members of Rochester, N.Y.’s Community Education Task Force, and New Jersey’s Coalition for Effective Newark Public Schools.

PAA founding member Rita Solnet of Boca Raton, Fla., later summed up the group’s commitment. “Parents will no longer sit on the sidelines and accept the dismantling of their children’s public schools. Enough is enough!” she said. “These are our schools, and our children, and our voices must be heard.”

“We will persist in our mission to provide every child with a high-quality education.”

Read about Parents Across America on their web site.
Join Parents Across America on Facebook.
Follow Parents Across America on Twitter.

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