In its new president, Lily Eskelsen Garcia, the National Education Association (NEA) has a gifted spokesperson for school teachers and for public education. Eskelsen Garcia knows the issues, connects the dots, and frames a pro-teacher, pro-public education agenda that puts into words the kind of commitment to children and public schools that I have observed over many years to be the priority of the NEA. In an extensive interview with Jeff Bryant, Eskelsen Garcia discusses her priorities.
When Bryant asks Eskelsen Garcia about the resolution passed at NEA’s recent convention, a resolution to demand Secretary of Education Arne Duncan’s removal, she replies: “I will own this; I share in their anger. The Department of Education has become an evidence-free zone when it comes to high stakes decisions being made on the basis of cut scores on standardized tests. We can go back and forth about interpretations of the department’s policies, like, for instance, the situation in Florida where teachers are being evaluated on the basis of test scores of students they don’t even teach… But he (Arne Duncan) needs to understand that Florida did that because they were encouraged in their applications for grant money and regulation waivers to do so. When his department requires that state departments of education have to make sure all their teachers are being judged by students’ standardized test scores, then the state departments just start making stuff up. And it’s stupid. It’s absurd. It’s non-defensible. And his department didn’t reject applications based on their absurd requirements for testing. It made the requirement that all teachers be evaluated on the basis of tests a threshold that every application had to cross over. That’s indefensible… The testing is corrupting what it means to teach… They still don’t get that when you do a whole lot of things on the periphery, but you’re still judging success by a cut score on a standardized test and judging ‘effective’ teachers on a standardized test, then you will corrupt anything good that you try to accomplish.”
Examine the two compositions carefully. If you think the resemblance is purely coincidental, read on.
Campbell Brown is queen of a second lawsuit aimed at cutting down teacher tenure in NY. With all the experience that comes from teaching English for a single year in Czechoslovakia, she seeks to destroy for all teachers the due-process protections that allow academic freedom over the span of a career. These same protections also give teachers the ability to better assure students receive their legally mandated services, safe learning environments and a sound education.
If Campbell wins, do you wonder what her post-tenure world might look like? Look to the pages of Lewis Carroll and his relentless logic. The imperial finger will point at all of us.
Too much homework! Off with their heads!
Too little homework! Off with their heads!
Too many fail! Off with their heads!
Too many pass! Off with their heads!
Putting a hand on a student's shoulder? Off with their heads!
Cold and uncaring! Off with their heads!
Students said you said, "...."! Off with their heads!
Red pen? Off with their heads!
Blue, Green, Yellow, Orange, Black pens! Off with their heads!
Christie, bully and punk, puts down a Newark teenager
The Decider and The Punk
Gov. Chris Christie, arguably the most powerful man in New Jersey, yesterday ridiculed a high school senior for asking a perfectly reasonable question: Why won’t he come to Newark to hold one of his “town hall” meetings? He dismissed the question as “ridiculous” and then mocked the student for asking it.
The encounter occurred in politically safe Belmar and was captured on a video available from YouTube. Kristin Towkaniuk, a senior at Science Park High School and president of the Newark Students Union, asked why Christie has never held a town hall meeting—he has held more than 120 since taking office in 2010—in the state’s largest city.
The governor immediately went on the defensive, saying that, if the question implied he was ignoring Newark, then it was “ridiculous.” He inadvertently touched a sore spot by suggesting that anyone who believed he was ignoring Newark should talk to Cory Booker, he former mayor.
Booker, an ideological Republican who pretends to be a Democrat, has been a staunch Christie ally ever since the Governor took office. He and Christie conspired—openly, it turns out—to bring the incompetent Cami Anderson to the city as school superintendent (she was a Booker political operative) and to make Newark “the charter school capital of New Jersey,” according to a recent article in The New Yorker. Christie and Booker worked together to manipulate last year’s senate election so that Booker Christie, bully and punk, puts down a Newark teenager | Bob Braun's Ledger:
Three Lawsuits: BESE, White Out on a Limb and Wielding a Saw
July 30, 2014
Late in the evening on July 29, 2014, I completely finished writing my book on the history, development, and promotion of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS). The manuscript is with the publisher. I promise that the book will make for quite the illuminating read.
At this point, publication looks like it will be in April 2015.
Proponents of CCSS like to call it “state led.”
What if the state is divided against itself over CCSS? What then?
As the 2014-15 school year rapidly approaches, we are discovering as much in Louisiana.
Why, on the very day that I finished my CCSS book, July 29, 2014, the Louisiana State Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE) held a special meeting to decide how to approach suing Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal (let’s just get that intention out in the open and call the overall point of the meeting what it was). In short, Jindal does not want BESE to utilize any tests or even individual items created by or in cooperation with the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC). BESE President Chas Roemer and State Superintendent John White want to continue with PARCC and believe that this is their right in the official capacities that they hold. (For background, read here, and here, and here, and here.)
A major problem with insisting that Louisiana education be tied to either CCSS or PARCC is that state involvement in both ventures requires states to forego state sovereignty over state educational affairs. For example, the CCSS memorandum of understanding (MOU) that Jindal and former State Superintendent Paul Pastorek signed in May 2009 (and that Jindal canceled on June 18, 2014) stipulates that CCSS revision will be determined in consortium form. Thus, states adopting CCSS agree to forego their individual rights to revise CCSS. CCSS is a group projectowned by the National Governors Association (NGA) and the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO). By design, individual states must forfeit sovereignty to the NGA- and CCSSO-led “group.”
Arne Duncan Drops in Unexpectedly on Meeting With BATS at US Department of Education Office of Civil Rights and Gets an Earful!
On July 28, 2014, following the BAT Rally outside the US Department of Education, a delegation of BATS went up to the Education Department’s Office of Civil Rights to share some of the main issues that BATS had with Department Policy. Representing the BATS were Marla Kilfoyle, General Manager of BATS. Dr Yohuru Williams of Fairfield University, Chicago BAM (Badass Moms) leader Shoneice Reynolds and her son Asean Johnson, Tennessee BAT leader Larry Proffitt, and me — Dr Mark Naison, co founder of BATS. The meeting had been set up by Marla Kilfoyle through an official of the Department of Education’s Office of Communications.
Arne Duncan was not originally scheduled to attend the meeting, but dropped in unexpectedly in the middle. What follows is my account of the meeting, including the dialogue with Mr. Duncan, along with some reflections on what it all means. How much of what transpired will lead to further communication and action, and how much represented a “smoke and mirrors” game by officials of the Department remains to be seen.
After going through security, we were escorted to a conference room in the US Ed Department’s Office of Civil Rights, where we were met by 9 people, including a senior staff member of the Office of Civil Rights, James Kim, who chaired the meeting, along with staff members from the Offices of Communications and Community Outreach and several student interns with the Department. Mr Kim, who chaired the meeting, was very cordial and asked us if we could present our major concerns, saying he hoped we could find areas of agreement as well as areas where we disagreed, and that a dialogue could develop which would hopefully continue after the meetings.
When Mr. Kim asked if someone would present the groups major concerns, I stepped forward, I decided to do so in a manner which would focus attention on Department of Education policies that maximized educational inequality and violated the civil rights of students, parents and teachers in inner city and Arne Duncan Meets BATS:
Arne Duncan Drops in Unexpectedly on Meeting With BATS at US Department of Education Office of Civil Rights and Gets an Earful! (w/ added reflections by Larry Proffitt and Marla Kilfoyle)
By: Dr. Mark Naison
On July 28, 2014, following the BAT Rally outside the US Department of Education, a delegation of BATS went up to the Education Department’s Office of Civil Rights to share some of the main issues that BATS had with Department Policy. Representing the BATS were Marla Kilfoyle, General Manager of BATS. Dr Yohuru Williams of Fairfield University, Chicago BAM (Badass Moms) leader Shoneice Reynolds and her son Asean Johnson, Tennessee BAT leader Larry Proffitt, and Dr Mark Naison, co founder of BATS. The meeting had been set up by Marla Kilfoyle through an official of the Department of Education’s Office of Communications.
Arne Duncan was not originally scheduled to attend the meeting, but dropped in unexpectedly in the middle. What follows is my account of the meeting, including the dialogue with Mr. Duncan, along with and some reflections on what it all means. How much of what transpired will lead to further communication and action, and how much represented a “smoke and mirrors” game by officials of the Department remains to be seen.
After going through security, we were escorted to a conference room in the US Ed Department’s Office of Civil Rights, where we were met by 9 people, including a senior staff member of the Office of Civil Rights, James Kim, who chaired the meeting, along with staff members from the Offices of Communications and Community Outreach and several student interns with the Department. Mr Kim, who chaired the meeting, was very cordial and asked us if we could present our major concerns, saying he hoped we could find areas of agreement as well as areas where we disagreed, and that a dialogue could develop which would hopefully continue after the meetings.
When Mr. Kim asked if someone would present the groups major concerns, I stepped forward, I decided to do so in a manner which would focus attention on Department of Education policies that maximized educational inequality and violated the civil rights of students, parents and teachers in inner city and working class communities. Using my own experiences in the Bronx as a reference point, I said that BATS were deeply concerned with how Race to the Top Policies, which required rating schools and teachers on the basis of student test scores, closing allegedly “failing schools,” and preferring charter schools over public schools had the following consequences:
Leading teachers in vulnerable neighborhoods to “teach to the test” to the detriment of activities which fostered student creativity.
Leading to the use of recess time, gym time, and after school time to test prep, Badass Teachers Association:
Surprise announcement!!!! BATs will be conducting a National Teacher's Congress in DC in 2015!! We will vote on the date and we will swarm the Capitol!!!! STAY TUNED FOR MORE INFO!!
One looks back with appreciation to the brilliant teachers, but with gratitude to those who touched our human feelings. The curriculum is so much necessary raw material, but warmth is the vital element for the growing plant and for the soul of the child. ~ Carl Jung
If you just learn a single trick, Scout, you’ll get along a lot better with all kinds of folks. You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view…Until you climb inside of his skin and walk around in it. ~ Atticus Finch, ( Gregory Peck) “To Kill A Mockingbird”
Standards Are Expectations of Learning | WagTheDog: Standards Are Expectations of LearningMany ed reformers who are not experienced educators don’t understand that The Common Core State Standards are cognitive goals and expectations of student learning or “growth”.The Standards demand a fixed set of grade level cognitive skills and abilities that must be acquired by students, rather than imparted
“Ineffective,” Veteran, Primary Grade Teacher in Tennessee Resigns
As per a recent article in The Tennessean, it seems yet another teacher has resigned, this time from the 1st grade – a grade in which teacher-level value-added normally does not “count.” This teacher, a 15-year career 1st grade teacher, was recently categorized as “ineffective” in terms of “adding value” to her students’ learning and achievement, as her district added a new test to start holding primary grade teachers accountable for their value-added as well. To read her full letter of resignation and the conditions driving her decision, click here (http://www.tennessean.com/story/news/local/sumner/2014/06/03/defines-ineffective-teacher/9918539/)
Thirty-five percent of her evaluation score was based on student growth or value-added as determined by the Tennessee Value-Added Assessment System (TVAAS), often called outside the state of Tennessee (where it was originally developed) the Education Value-Added Assessment System (EVAAS). Both of these systems should be of increasing familiarity to readers/followers of this blog.
But given a different test recently introduced to help evaluate more teachers like her, again in the primary grades for which no other state-level tests exist (like in grades 3-8), just this year she “received a growth score of 1, [after which she] was placed on a list of ineffective teachers needing additional coaching.” Ironically, the person to serve as her mentor, to help her become better than an “ineffective teacher,” was her own student teacher from a few years prior. It seems her new teacher mentor was not able to increase her former-mentor’s effectiveness in due time, however.
But here’s the real issue: In this case, and exponentially growing numbers of cases like this across the country, the district decided to use a national versus state test (i.e., the SAT 10) which can (but should not) be used to test students in kindergarten and 1st“Ineffective,” Veteran, Primary Grade Teacher in Tennessee Resigns |:
Campbell Brown’s anti-union group uses union slogan (update)
(Update: Adding comment from Brown’s group)
Campbell Brown doesn’t hide her disdain for teachers unions. She has frequently railed against them, and formed an anti-union advocacy group that filed a lawsuit in New York this week seeking to eliminate job protections for teachers in the state.
That’s why it is somewhat amusing that her group, the Partnership for Educational Justice, describes itself on its Web site with the very same language of the slogan branding the current educational campaign of the American Federation of Teachers, the nation’s second-largest teachers union.
Here’s the AFT’s logo for its “Reclaiming the Promise” campaign:
(AFT)
AFT President Randi Weingarten wrote last year in this piece on Huffington Post that “reclaiming the promise of public education” was vital for the future of the country .
Now take a look at an explanation of the Brown group mission, taken from its Web site (emphasis is mine):
About Us
We’re committed to reclaiming the promise of public education for all students. Our passionate team of parent leaders, education advocates and legal experts empowers local communities to strengthen their schools by pursuing common sense policy changes. We provide the resources and support families need to get the schools they deserve.
Partnership for Educational Justice
222 Broadway, 19th Floor
New York, NY 10038
Campbell Brown may be surprised that she has something in common with Randi Weingarten.
Lesson 5: Love is the Answer. And Also Skills. But Also Love.
Remember my friend Lauren the English teacher? The one my former student Gerardo said had turned his life around because she just refused to give up on him?
I just found out that 16 of her students from last year passed the AP English Literature exam. Four of them scored “4’s.”
In the case of Lauren’s class, we are talking about students from one of the highest-poverty communities in Los Angeles, who until high school had attended some of the most infamously terrible schools in Los Angeles, many of whom came into 9th grade reading well below grade level. The AP English Lit exam, for those of you who haven’t taken it, relies heavily on a student’s knowledge of the entire body of English and American Literature. Of the many things I learned this year, one of them is that students who live in very high-poverty communities like South L.A. or Watts live in a kind of isolation that segregates them from exposure to other socioeconomic groups, which makes tests like the AP Lit exam, which tests upper-middle-class cultural knowledge as much as writing skills, particularly difficult. I’ve actually never heard of such a large number of kids passing the AP Lit exam at a school in a high-poverty community.
I know, because Lauren is incredibly modest, that she is going to want to kill me for writing about her, but she’s going to have to deal with it, because what she did is amazing—and it helps me understand the most important lesson I learned all year, which is that great teaching is much, much more than a set of techniques. I know that Lauren has Lesson 5: Love is the Answer. And Also Skills. But Also Love. | Gatsby In L.A.:
THIS WEEK: Children’s Well-Being Suffers … Teacher Pay Stinks … Moms Winning Common Core War … School Library Cutbacks Hurt … Longer School Days No Solution
“Anyone who wants to have a genuinely honest discussion about education policy based on the real facts of the matter … needs to constantly question what policy leaders and their scribes in the press are foisting off as ‘information’ … An especially egregious example of dishonest conversation is the way school administration in New Orleans … is now being marketed to the entire country as a ‘solution’ for public education.” Read more …
“The 25th annual KIDS COUNT Data Book … found that on the whole, children today appear better off in terms of education and health than children five or even 25 years ago … but this doesn’t necessarily translate to changes in welfare for America’s most at-risk children … So while children overall may be doing better today than their predecessors, far too many children still aren’t receiving the resources they need … Despite initiatives to expand access to early education … 54% percent (more than half!) of the nation’s 3- and 4-year-olds are still not enrolled in pre-k … 6 of the 8 KIDS COUNT indicators for economic and family well-being have yet to return to pre-recession levels. The official child poverty rate has increased to 23%.” Read more …
“Teachers not only have bad starting pay in many states, but also that teachers are unlikely to see major salary gains even after several years of teaching … Growth in teacher salaries is especially bad when comparing the U.S. to other developed countries … In only four states – Connecticut, Maryland, New Jersey, and New York – can teachers max out on the salary schedule above $80,000.” Read more …
“In a series of strategy sessions in recent months, top promoters of the Common Core standards have concluded they’re losing the broader public debate – and need to devise better PR … Standards supporters say they’re at a huge disadvantage in the PR fight because anytime a child brings home a confusing worksheet, gets a bad grade or stresses out about a test, parents can — and do — blame it on the Common Core … Analysts say the opposition also has an edge because it’s tapped into a populist anger that animates both left and right. The self-proclaimed ‘mommy platoons’ organized to take down the standards portray them as an inferior product forced on unsuspecting communities by a cabal of big business and big government elites. Every time supporters come out with sophisticated new promotional material, it only feeds their anger at the big money backing … National polling … found voters more skeptical of the Common Core than they were two years ago. A Pew Research Center report last month found solid opposition among all Republicans, not just tea party members, while support from liberals was fairly anemic, at around 55%. And a recent Siena College poll of likely voters in New York state found 49% want to drop the standards and only 39% want to keep them.” Read more …
“About one-third of public schools do not have a full-time, state-certified librarian … In states that have already tried Common Core exams, as many as 70% of students failed, raising fears of mass retentions among teachers, parents and children … Though physical book collections are shrinking in many districts, the role of librarians or media specialists is expanding. Along with fostering a love of reading, librarians teach students media literacy, in part how to research, analyze information and evaluate sources to determine what is accurate … School libraries with more staff and larger collections lead to stronger academic performance … Students at schools with better funded media centers tend to achieve higher average reading scores, regardless of family income and parent education level.’” Read more …
“Prompted in part by federal incentives to expand learning time for students, districts serving high-poverty populations are leaping into longer school days, without always embracing what research has found: Simply adding time is not enough to raise student performance … A case in New Haven tells a cautionary tale of what can happen when a low-performing school rushes to add time to close that gap. It also reflects the latest focus of the expanded-time movement: making extra time for teachers to learn … Over half a million American students, predominantly in urban areas, now attend public schools with extended learning time, with on average more than 200 extra hours per year.” Read more …
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Arne Duncan Drops in Unexpectedly on Meeting With BATS at US Department of Education Office of Civil Rights and Gets an Earful!
