Let’s take it to Michelle Rhee and Bill Gates: Here’s how Democrats should talk about education tonight
Charter schools, Race to the Top, public education -- none of it came up in the '12 debates. Let's change that now
During the 2012 presidential campaign, the subject of K-12 education was largely ignored. Mitt Romney issued a white paper supporting privatization, including charter schools and vouchers. President Obama stood behind his Race to the Top program, which promotes high-stakes testing and charter schools, but not vouchers. The topic never came up in the three presidential debates. Neither candidate questioned the direction in which the nation is headed for our nation’s children, our educators, and our public schools.
The media and citizens at public forums must not let that happen again. Education is central to our future as a nation; it is also the single largest item in every state’s budget. Yet the candidates for the 2016 race in both parties are talking only about pre-kindergarten and higher education, skipping right over the important issues that face millions of children and educators in public schools today.
The Network for Public Education, a national organization of educators and parents, has written a K-12 education agenda for 2016. We encourage members of the media to question candidates for the presidency on these issues. American public education is currently under an attack by a well-organized, well-funded privatization movement. Standardized testing and privatization are the weapons used to undermine public schools and to deter efforts to improve our schools.
Here are our questions and the rationale behind them:
TESTING
Will you end the federal mandate for annual high-stakes testing?
We oppose annual standardized testing. No high performing nation in the world tests every child every year. The hundreds of millions (or billions) of dollars and the weeks of instructional time now devoted to preparing to take these tests and to administering them is a misuse of money and time.
We oppose high-stakes testing, in which test results are used to evaluate teachers, grade schools, award bonuses, fire staff, or close schools. Putting so much emphasis on bubble tests of questionable educational value and quality encourages teaching to the test, narrowing the curriculum only to what is tested, gaming the system, cheating, and distorts the purpose of education.
We believe that tests should be made by teachers, not by corporate conglomerates. Teachers know what they taught and what their students need to learn. We oppose the use of standardized testing in the early grades, and we oppose their misuse and overuse in grades 3-12. These tests should be used only for their diagnostic value in helping teachers understand what children need. The current Common Core tests provide very little useful information. Those who wish to compare the test scores of states can refer to the results of the National Assessment of Educational Progress, which has been gathering this information since 1992.
We support assessments that measure what was taught, through projects, portfolios, teacher-designed tests and activities in which students can demonstrate what they have learned, rather than check off one of four boxes.
We support the evaluation of teachers by professionals, not by unreliable test scores.
SCHOOL CLOSURES
Will you put an end to school closures based on test scores?
We oppose the closing of public schools based on test scores because standardized test scores are primarily a measure of family income, rather than the quality of schools. We must address the issues of poverty at the same time we are improving our schools. We support helping schools that are struggling by providing additional resources, not by closing or privatizing them. School closures have primarily targeted neighborhood schools in African American and Latino communities, damaging the fabric of those communities.
PRIVATIZATION
Will you put an end to the privatization of public education?
We support public education because it is a pillar of our democratic society. Public schools should not be outsourced, privatized, or given away to for profit Let’s take it to Michelle Rhee and Bill Gates: Here’s how Democrats should talk about education tonight - Salon.com: