Call Congress Today to Stop Testing - Network For Public Education

Call Congress Today to Stop Testing - Network For Public Education

Call Congress Today to Stop Testing

In December of 2019, candidate Joe Biden promised that if elected, he would stop standardized testing. His Department of Ed, however, said that we should have testing in the middle of the pandemic.

We pushed back and today, we have good news! Some members of Congress are asking the U.S. Department of Education to change its mind about testing! Read about it here. Let’s give them our support TODAY!

We need more members of Congress to get on board. We can’t give up.

1. Call Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office at: (202) 225-4965.

Here is a suggested script.

My name is (name). I am calling to request that Speaker Pelosi ask the President and Secretary Cardona to grant waivers from annual testing. Forcing schools to administer annual tests undermines the administration’s call to support our students’ social-emotional and mental health in this time of crisis. We need to put children, not data, first. Thank you.“

2. Then call your Representative and Senators. You can find their numbers here and here.

Here is a suggested script.

“My name is (name), and I am a constituent of (name). I strongly oppose the Department of Ed’s recent letter that forces schools to administer annual tests this year. All of our schools’ efforts must be used to support our students’ social-emotional and mental health in this time of crisis.  I am requesting that (name) speak with the President and Secretary Cardona and ask them to grant waivers from the annual testing mandate. Thank you.”

Call Congress Today to Stop Testing - Network For Public Education

Jeff Bryant in German News Weekly Die Zeit: The fixation on testing is deeply anchored in education officials in Washington DC | Ed Politics

Jeff Bryant in German News Weekly Die Zeit: The fixation on testing is deeply anchored in education officials in Washington DC | Ed Politics

JEFF BRYANT IN GERMAN NEWS WEEKLY DIE ZEIT: THE FIXATION ON TESTING IS DEEPLY ANCHORED IN EDUCATION OFFICIALS IN WASHINGTON DC

In an interview with Die Zeit’s United States correspondent Heike Buchter, Jeff Bryant explains what’s behind the decision by the Biden administration to enforce the federal mandate for student academic testing in a pandemic even before incoming education secretary Miguel Cardona took office. Excerpts:

“‘[Cardona’s]  life story must have played a big role in his nomination,’ says Jeff Bryant, chief correspondent for Our Schools, a project that promotes public education…Cardona’s options for combating this existential crisis with grants and orders are limited. As in the federal German system, education is a matter for the federal states and municipalities in the USA. But he could use the political influence of his office, says education activist Jeff Bryant…The effects of the pandemic are adding to the pressure. The Chamber of Commerce, the lobbying association of large corporations, is concerned about the learning deficits among many students. The fixation on metrics, as they are common in business, is now deeply anchored in education officials in Washington, says Jeff Bryant. This is shown, among other things, in the fact that the Biden government announced before Cardona’s inauguration last week that it wanted to hold the annual state exams to record the effects of the pandemic on school performance. DeVos suspended testing last year.”

https://www.zeit.de/2021/10/miguel-cardona-us-bildungsminister-schule-corona-pandemie/komplettansicht

Jeff Bryant in German News Weekly Die Zeit: The fixation on testing is deeply anchored in education officials in Washington DC | Ed Politics

Rep. Jamaal Bowman Leads Effort to Reverse Federal Stance on Testing | Diane Ravitch's blog

Rep. Jamaal Bowman Leads Effort to Reverse Federal Stance on Testing | Diane Ravitch's blog

Rep. Jamaal Bowman Leads Effort to Reverse Federal Stance on Testing

Before he became a member of Congress, Jamaal Bowman was principal of a middle school in the Bronx. He knows what kids need: more support, not more testing. He is now vice chair of the House Education Committee. In New York, before entering Congress, he was an active member of the opt-out of testing movement. He is now spearheading an effort to roll back the Biden administration’s refusal to grant waivers to states from the mandated federal testing.

He wrote a letter to Secretary Miguel Cardona and gathered signatures from other members of Congress. What is remarkable is how few members signed his letter.

Bowman said that requiring testing this year would add stress to kids who are already traumatized and divert school administrators’ resources and attention away from reopening safely. 

“We absolutely should not be doing this now in the middle of a pandemic,” he said in an interview, adding that it CONTINUE READING: Rep. Jamaal Bowman Leads Effort to Reverse Federal Stance on Testing | Diane Ravitch's blog

NYC Educator: My New Job

NYC Educator: My New Job

My New Job

My first year as a teacher was my worst. I did a lot of on-the-job learning. One thing I learned was that my supervisor was out of her freaking mind. I had no experience. She promised to help me with grading, failed to do so, and then managed to hate me and everything I stood for when I didn't get grades in on time. This resulted in things like not getting enough books when I needed them and having a kid named Frankie steal them out of the bookroom for me. 

I had students who made me crazy, but some who were helpful. One, after I told him I was going crazy keeping up with all the mail in my box, kindly arrived every morning before I did and tossed it all into the trash. While I missed meetings and such as a result, I could always say I was never notified, and no one was able to prove otherwise. During my second year, I was in a new school with a new supervisor who was actually supportive, and I started to grow into the job a little.

Every year was a little better, until this one. I'm doing the best I can, and I'm not getting into any particular trouble beyond that of being chapter leader. That's perpetual, and I've grown used to it. I'll go so far as to say helping people is very rewarding and despite my complaints, I ultimately love doing it.

But man, this year is my second worst.  Online learning thing is just not what I signed up for. I would never have lasted in a job that entailed sitting at a desk, and that's the job I have now. While we may open wider next year, I don't think we're going back to doing what we actually do. 

In our school, we had until March 8th to negotiate with students to resolve NX grades. I had a few on the borderline, pushed them a little, and managed to get them to pass CONTINUE READING: NYC Educator: My New Job

Strategic Advocacy Over Decades Brought Us an Expanded Child Tax Credit: Can the Same Kind of Strategic Organizing Produce School Funding Reform? | janresseger

Strategic Advocacy Over Decades Brought Us an Expanded Child Tax Credit: Can the Same Kind of Strategic Organizing Produce School Funding Reform? | janresseger

Strategic Advocacy Over Decades Brought Us an Expanded Child Tax Credit: Can the Same Kind of Strategic Organizing Produce School Funding Reform?

On Saturday, after the U.S. Senate joined the U.S. House of Representatives to pass President Joe Biden’s American Rescue Plan, I started thinking about how a huge coalition and strong advocates can sustain support for an important reform even through times that feel bleak and hopeless. Now, as a result of persistent and strategic advocacy, suddenly an election of new leaders has on some level adjusted our society’s collective notion of the role of government.

Welfare reform imposed policies that punished parents who were not working by reducing their access to public assistance. In doing so, President Bill Clinton and the Congress that replaced Aid to Families with Dependent Children with Temporary Assistance for Needy Families entirely neglected the needs of America’s poorest children. But as of this weekend, by expanding the Child Tax Credit, Congress accepted the idea that as a society we bear collective responsibility for the well-being of our children. And while the expanded Child Tax Credit is part of this year’s time-limited pandemic relief, my Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown and Colorado Senator Michael Bennett have promised to try to make the changes permanent.

Back in 2004, I read Jason DeParle’s powerful book, American Dream: Three Women, Ten Kids, and a Nation’s Drive to End Welfare, about how the 1996 welfare reform harmed children. Since then I have filled my clipping file with DeParle’s articles about our collective responsibility for poor children, most recently last summer, when DeParle pushed for expanding the Child Tax Credit in the NY Times and the New York Review of Books.  At the same time, I realized that powerful research and advocacy organizations—including First Focus on Children, the Center for Law and Social Policy, the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, the Urban Institute, and the Brookings Institution—were working to expand the CONTINUE READING: Strategic Advocacy Over Decades Brought Us an Expanded Child Tax Credit: Can the Same Kind of Strategic Organizing Produce School Funding Reform? | janresseger

NYC Public School Parents: Letter from members of Congress to Sec. Cardona asking him to waive the tests; and how to have your voice heard

NYC Public School Parents: Letter from members of Congress to Sec. Cardona asking him to waive the tests; and how to have your voice heard

Letter from members of Congress to Sec. Cardona asking him to waive the tests; and how to have your voice heard

See the letter sent today by members of Congress to our newly-confirmed Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona, asking him to grant waivers so that states do not have to give students the federally-mandated exams this year, in the midst of the pandemic.  This letter was spearheaded by newly-elected Representative Jamaal Bowman from the Bronx and Westchester, and a former Bronx middle school principal.  More on this here.

On Feb. 22, the  letter from the US Department of Education, rejecting state waivers before Sec. Cardona even took office was signed by Ian Rosenblum, an acting assistant secretary for elementary and secondary education and the former executive director of the pro-testing organization, Education Trust-New York.

As Rep. Bowman points out, “Mr. Rosenblum, with all due respect, has never been a teacher or school administrator in his life, and it’s important that our parents and educators know that these decisions are being made by people who do not have the experience to make those decisions. That’s unacceptable in and of itself.”

A few days ago, Diane Ravitch posted on her page a list of the organizations that signed a previous letter on Feb. 3, urging the US Education Dept. not to grant waivers for testing.  This letter was led by Rosenblum's previous employer Ed Trust.  Diane also including information we had gathered on the many millions of dollars these organizations had received by the pro-testing, billionaire-led Gates and Walton Foundation.  She also posted the list of organizations and the millions of Walton and Gates funds given the organizations that signed onto a press release on Feb. 23, also led by Ed Trust, posted the day after Rosenblum rejected the waivers, urging the Department not to grant states any flexibility in this regard:

"The Department must not, as part of its promised state-by-state “flexibility,” grant waivers to states that would allow them to substitute local assessments in place of statewide assessments or to only assess a subset of students. 

If you want to have your voice heard over the insistent shouts of the billionaires and the groups that they fund, you should call the US Dept. of Education at 800-872-5327 from 9 AM-5 PM; press #3, and tell them to cancel the tests.

NYC Public School Parents: Letter from members of Congress to Sec. Cardona asking him to waive the tests; and how to have your voice heard

Yong Zhao: New article: Build back better: Avoid the learning loss trap - Education in the Age of Globalization

Education in the Age of Globalization » Blog Archive » New article: Build back better: Avoid the learning loss trap

New article: Build back better: Avoid the learning loss trap

Abstract

A dangerous trap exists for educators and education policy makers: the learning loss. This trap comes with a large amount of data and with sophisticated projection methods. It presents a stunningly grim picture for education and it invites educators and policy makers to make wrong decisions and invest in wrong things. The article identifies a number of undesirable outcomes that their concerns could lead to. It also suggests several productive actions when the pandemic is controlled and schools reopen. My article Build back better: Avoid the learning loss trap published in Prospects on March 4 2021. Below is the abstract and you can read here.

A dangerous trap exists for educators and education policy makers. This trap comes with a large amount of data and with sophisticated projection methods. It presents a stunningly grim picture for education. This trap invites educators and policy makers to make wrong decisions and invest in wrong things.

The learning loss

The trap is the so-called learning losses during the Covid-19 pandemic. A number of organizations and individuals have put out various estimates about what students have lost due to school closures and remote learning during the pandemic. For CONTINUE READING: Education in the Age of Globalization » Blog Archive » New article: Build back better: Avoid the learning loss trap

A VERY BUSY DAY Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... The latest news and resources in education since 2007 #REOPENSCHOOLSSAFELY #openonlywhensafe

 Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... | The latest news and resources in education since 2007

A VERY BUSY DAY

Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day...

The latest news and resources in education since 2007

Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day...

The latest news and resources in education since 2007 - http://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2021/03/this-week-in-education-larry-ferlazzos.html

Actively Learn Upgrades All Teachers To “Prime” Through June 30th

by Larry Ferlazzo / 2h

Actively Learn is an excellent tool used by many teachers, and offers a free plan that many of us use. Its Prime plan, though, is much, much better, but a bit pricey. And pretty much the only way you can access it is if you can convince your school or district to ante up for it. Today, though, Actively Learn announced that all free accounts will be upgraded to Prime from March 15th to June 30th.

Learn About Electronic Music & Create Some Yourself With New Google Tool

by Larry Ferlazzo / 2h

Google has just announced a new exhibition at Google Arts and Culture called Music, Makers & Machines: A Brief History of Electronic Music. A particularly neat part of it is a tool that lets you create your own electronic music and share it with others. I’m adding this info to The Best Online Sites For Creating Music .

“‘There Is No Playbook’ for How to Do Hybrid Teaching”

by Larry Ferlazzo / 11h

‘There Is No Playbook’ for How to Do Hybrid Teaching is the headline of my latest Education Week column. Four educators “wrap up” a nine-part series offering advice on hybrid/concurrent teaching. Here are some excerpts: I’m adding it to A BEGINNING LIST OF THE BEST RESOURCES TO SUPPORT CONCURRENT/HYBRID TEACHING .

Wednesday’s Must-Read Articles On School Reopenings

by Larry Ferlazzo / 11h

geralt / Pixabay Here are new additions to THE BEST POSTS PREDICTING WHAT SCHOOLS WILL LOOK LIKE IN THE FALL : Misplaced anger at teachers in reopening debate is from CAL Matters. When it comes to reopening schools, it’s time for leaders to listen to Black families is from The Hechinger Report. D.C. will randomly test 10 percent of students for coronavirus each week is from The Washington Post. S

“The News Evaluator” Is A New Interactive Designed To Help Teach Information Literacy

by Larry Ferlazzo / 11h

News Evaluator website is a new interactive designed to help students develop information literacy skills. Here’s an excerpt from New tool makes students better at detecting fake imagery and videos : Researchers at Uppsala University have developed a digital self-test that trains users to assess news items, images and videos presented on social media. The self-test has also been evaluated in a sc

Pins Of The Week

by Larry Ferlazzo / 11h

I’m fairly active on Pinterest and, in fact, have curated 22,000 resources there that I haven’t shared on this blog. I thought readers might find it useful if I began sharing a handful of my most recent “pins” each week (I’m not sure if you can see them through an RSS Reader – you might have to click through to the original post). You might also be interested in MY MOST POPULAR PINS OF 2020 Here

“We ‘Can Lower Expectations & Still Have High Standards’ in Hybrid Teaching”

by Larry Ferlazzo / 1d

We ‘Can Lower Expectations & Still Have High Standards’ in Hybrid Teaching is the headline of my latest Education Week column. Four educators make recommendations for effective hybrid teaching, including how to use “stations.” Here are some excerpts:

This Is One Of The Best Pieces I’ve Read On School Reopening, Especially If You Have Gotten As Irritated As I Have By Op-Eds Written By Many Doctors On The Topic

by Larry Ferlazzo / 1d

Inside a Long, Messy Year of Reopening Schools by Rachel M. Cohen is clearly one of the best pieces I’ve seen written about school reopening. She really engages with the research – lots of it – and, most importantly, brings a dose of reality to the discussion. You have to really wonder how many schools these doctors who write op-eds calling for their opening have really visited – especially ones

Research Studies Of The Week

by Larry Ferlazzo / 1d

I often write about research studies from various fields and how they can be applied to the classroom. I write individual posts about ones that I think are especially significant, and will continue to do so. However, so many studies are published that it’s hard to keep up. So I’ve started writing a “round-up” of some of them each week or every other week as a regular feature . By the way, you mig

March 25th Is “International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade” – Here Are Teaching Resources

by Larry Ferlazzo / 1d

caption id=”attachment_96317″ align=”aligncenter” width=”1280″] Engin_Akyurt / Pixabay[/caption] The United Nations has declared March 25th to be the International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade. You might be interested in USEFUL RESOURCES FOR LEARNING ABOUT THE 400TH ANNIVERSARY OF BRINGING ENSLAVED AFRICANS TO AMERICA .

Tuesday’s Must-Read Articles On School Reopenings

by Larry Ferlazzo / 1d

geralt / Pixabay Here are new additions to THE BEST POSTS PREDICTING WHAT SCHOOLS WILL LOOK LIKE IN THE FALL : ‘An essential service’: Inside Biden’s struggle to meet his school reopening promises is from The

Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... | The latest news and resources in education since 2007