Grading Schools Shows "Reformers" Failure

Standardized test scores have been consistently misused for the last thirty years. They have been used to rank students, teachers, schools, and school systems. This is the status quo of public education as promoted by the educational establishment (aka "reformers") consisting of federal and state departments of education, federal and state commissioners of education, governors and presidents, federal and state legislatures and super-wealthy educrats.

The correlation between poverty and achievement is well known. A quick internet search for the "relationship between poverty and educational achievement" will yield several million hits. On the whole, children who live in poverty do not achieve as well as children from higher income levels.

Poverty is reflected in standardized tests. Children who live in poverty generally have lower scores and therefore the ranking of students, teachers, schools and school systems reflects the prevalence or absence of poverty. Those schools and school systems with higher percentages of students who live in poverty score lower than schools and school systems with lower levels of poverty (See below for a sampling of articles discussing this relationship). A frequent theme on this blog is the fact that pundits, politicians and policy makers seem to exclusively blame teachers and public schools for the low achievement of children in poverty rather than admitting that their own inadequate policies (if any) designed to eliminate or reduce poverty also contribute to the problem.

Grading schools based on achievement test scores, by using a simplistic letter grade or descriptor has become commonplace among the states. Michael Brick, in an oped in the NY Times writes about grading schools by test scores in When ‘Grading’ Is Degrading: Grading Schools isn't the Answer. It's the Problem,

For the past three decades, one administration after another has sought to fix America’s troubled schools by making them compete with one another. Mr. Obama has put up billions of dollars for his Race to the Top program, a federal sweepstakes where state educational systems are judged head-to-head largely on the basis of test scores. Even here in Texas, nobody’s model for educational excellence, the state has long used complex algorithms to assign grades of Exemplary, Recognized, Acceptable or Unacceptable to its schools.

So far, such competition has achieved little more than re-segregation, long charter school waiting lists and the same anemic international rankings in science, math and literacy we’ve had for years.

In his article Mr. Brick doesn't disaggregate the test results used to yield our "anemic international rankings" in science, math and literacy. If he had, he could have reported a consistent correlation between poverty and performance. Our students from low poverty schools score at the top of the world's "rich" nations. The fact that here in the US we have a child poverty rate closing in on 25% means that our average scores are much lower.

The "reformers want to improve achievement in the following ways...

• evaluate teachers using student test scores
• close "low achieving schools"
• fire teachers and principals
• close regular public schools and open more charter schools
• use tax money for vouchers

None of those "reforms" have been shown to improve achievement for America's children. Instead we should put in place the suggestions made by Diane Ravitch in her speech to the Opportunity to Learn campaign. We need a systemic change in American society.

• Every pregnant woman should have good pre-natal care and nutrition so that her child is born healthy. One of three children born to women who do not get good prenatal care will have disabilities that are preventable. That will cost society far more than providing these women with prenatal care.
• Every child should have the medical attention and nutrition that they need to grow up healthy.
• Every child should have high-quality early childhood education.
• Every school should have experienced teachers who are prepared to help all children learn.
• Every teacher should have at least a masters degree.
• Every principal should be a master teacher, not a recruit from industry, the military, or the sports world.
• Every superintendent should be an experienced educator who understands teaching and learning and the needs of children.
• Every school should have a health clinic.
• Schools should collaborate with parents, the local community, civic leaders, and local business leaders to support the needs of children.
• Every school should have a full and balanced curriculum, with the arts, sciences, history, civics, geography, mathematics, foreign languages, and physical education. Every child should have time and space to play.
• We must stop investing in testing, accountability, and consultants and start investing in children.

Susan Zimmerman in Comprehension Going Forward reminds us...

"Somewhere along the line we've forgotten that education is not about getting this or that score on a test, but it is about enlarging hearts, minds, and spirits. It's about fulfilling human potential and unleashing human creativity. It's about helping children understand that the world is a place full of wonder, truly wonder-full. It's about giving children the tools they will need to participate in a complex global world where we can't imagine today what the next twenty years, let alone century, will bring."

It's time to change the status quo in American Public Education.

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Poverty and Achievement

• Poverty and Potential: Out-of-School Factors and School Success
• Poverty has a Powerful Impact on Educational Attainment, or, Don't Trust Ed Trust
• Education and Poverty: Confronting the Evidence
• Class Matters. Why Won’t We Admit It?
• A review of research to aid examination of the links between poverty and educational attainment in the UK.
• Experiences of poverty and educational disadvantage
• Inequality at the Starting Gate: Social Background Differences in Achievement as Children Begin School.
• Education and Poverty: Mapping the terrain and making the links to educational policy

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Indiana Residents: Did you vote for Glenda Ritz?

Let Governor-Elect Pence and the Indiana Legislature know that we voted for her because we rejected the top-down, corporate reform model imposed by the state. We embraced Ritz's platform and her research-backed proposals to support and improve our public schools.

Sign the petition at:

http://www.change.org/petitions/governor-daniels-governor-elect-pence-the-indiana-state-legislature-honor-our-1-300-000-votes-for-glenda-ritz#

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Stop the Testing Insanity!

Sign the National Resolution on High Stakes Testing!

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Karen Lewis Takes Down the Status Quo

In this video, Karen Lewis, president of the Chicago Teachers Union, addresses business leaders at the Chicago Club.

Jim Horn at Schools Matter posted this as well. His comment is right on target.

You won't get this kind of honesty and genuine care from the mealy-mouthed sellouts who run AFT and NEA.

Diane Ravitch, who also posted a link to this speech wrote,

Please watch this speech! It is a brilliant dissection of why "reform," as presently defined, is failing. And it is a clear and realistic description of what students and teachers need to succeed. If you take the time to watch this, it will make your day.

President Obama needs to listen to this...and then fire Arne Duncan. Lewis is honest, blunt, and correct. Things need to change, now.

Karen Lewis spoke to the Chicago Club on November 20.

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Stop the Testing Insanity!

Sign the National Resolution on High Stakes Testing!

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Punishing Low Achievers

A very disturbing item in the news a few days ago...

Idaho Teacher in Face-Marking Incident Faces Probe

A southern Idaho teacher whose students used a permanent marker on the faces of classmates who fell short of reading goals is the subject of a formal complaint.

...One 10-year-old came home in tears after his entire face, including his eyelids, had been scribbled on with green, red and purple markers.

According to the article, the teacher allowed her students to choose their own "incentive" for their Accelerated Reader goal. The incentives the class chose were 1) staying in from recess until the goal was met or 2) having their faces drawn on with markers by peers who met their goals.

The parties involved have kept fairly quiet about the incident since it's a personnel issue...however parents brought the issue to the public eye, including a petition to the school board.

First of all, the obvious problem with the incentives put in place is the poor choice made by the teacher. I understand and can appreciate the positive learning opportunity of giving children choices, but as the adult in charge it's the teacher's job to monitor those choices and make sure that they are appropriate. The students chose to punish their peers who didn't (or couldn't) reach their goal. Punishment for failing to achieve an academic goal is not appropriate.

Second, some questions...

Were the students actually allowed to set their own goals? What if a student chose a goal of not reading any books at all? Would the teacher have allowed that?

Were all the student goals realistic? Some students, especially students with learning problems, often can't accurately determine their own limits. In that case it's up to the teacher to help them make appropriate goals.

The students chose the "incentives" based on the assumption that reaching a reading goal was a choice. This might not have been true if students weren't able to pick a realistic goal for themselves.

Finally, what's the atmosphere in this classroom that allowed the teacher to choose a punishment as an incentive? I tend to differentiate between "incentives" and "consequences." The former should be something positive. The Accelerated Reader documentation also suggests positive rewards as incentives.

Consider reinforcing meeting individualized goals with certificates, bookmarks, pencils, or other items. Some teachers allow students to enter their names in a drawing every time they score 100 percent on a quiz for a book within their ZPD. Prizes might include a free yearbook or free admission to a basketball game, prom, or other special event. Ask students to help you identify the most appealing prizes.

...prizes, not punishments.

[Although Alfie Kohn has argued against both punishment and rewards in his book Punished by Rewards. See articles HERE and HERE.]

Letting students choose incentives is fine, but punishing students for not achieving is inappropriate at any level. Punishments masquerading as "incentives" should be avoided.

The publicity which this story received makes it clear that many people think the teacher made a mistake. It's likely that some "reformers" might use this story to illustrate how much we need to fire "bad teachers." It's ironic, however,  that the teacher was just following the lead of education "reformers". The federal government as well as many state governments have been punishing students, teachers, and school systems for low achievement for nearly a dozen years, through No Child Left Behind, Race to the Top and a variety of state-based initiatives (such as IREAD-3 in Indiana).

Neither classroom based punishments, nor government supported punishments are appropriate for improving academic achievement.

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Stop the Testing Insanity!

Sign the National Resolution on High Stakes Testing!

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2012 Medley #23

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

INDIANA EDUCATION- REPA2

‘The de-professionalization of teaching’

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

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

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

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

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

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

Click here to contact your SBOE member

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

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

ENDING RACE TO THE TOP

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

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

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

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

FINLAND

Finland's Secret Sauce: Its Teachers

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

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

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

CHARTERS*

Researcher: Florida District Schools Outperform Charter Schools On Average

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

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

TEACHING AS A CAREER

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

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

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

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

EVALUATIONS

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

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

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

POLITICS

Phony school “reform” agenda takes a beating

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

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

President Obama Re-Elected, and Now…

Diane Ravitch gets the last word today.

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

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

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

It’s time to stop high-stakes testing.

It’s time to stop closing schools.

It’s time to stop teaching to the tests.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Stop the Testing Insanity!

Sign the National Resolution on High Stakes Testing!

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