When Will Congress Hear from Parents on Reauthorizing No Child Left Behind? - #ESEA

When Will Congress Hear from Parents on Reauthorizing No Child Left Behind? - Breitbart:

WHEN WILL CONGRESS HEAR FROM PARENTS ON REAUTHORIZING NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND?

Big Education Ape: #ASKARNE What'sup? with SEC. 1118. PARENTAL INVOLVEMENT in the New ESEA? http://bit.ly/18G4hzI

Big Education Ape: Arne Duncan Urges Parents to Weigh In on NCLB Rewrite; Will It Work? - Politics K-12 - Education... http://bit.ly/1zBIyTU

by DR. SANDRA STOTSKY5 Feb 20154

One of the major problems that the adoption of Common Core’s standards has led to is excessive testing—at all grade levels from kindergarten on—sometimes more than one test per grade level.

It is not yet clear if current drafts for the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (also known as No Child Left Behind or NCLB in its 2002 reauthorization) are going to let states and local school boards choose, not only how many tests to mandate for the children in the state, but also the grade levels at which schools must administer these Common Core-based tests.

Although one would think that providing options for testing would be a strong signal by Congress that it wants to give back to local and state educational agencies some of the educational authority the US Department of Education has taken away from them, arguments are now being made to Congress to keep in place the NCLB testing mandates. Who exactly would benefit from this testing regime—certainly not the teachers and the students in our classrooms, nor their parents.

Professor Martin West at the Harvard Graduate School of Education makes it clear who would benefit from the excessive testing regime mandated by NCLB and possibly continued in the reauthorization of ESEA (which, incidentally, required no tests when it was first authorized in 1965). In no case are teachers and their students benefiting. In written testimony dated January 21, 2015, provided to a Congressional hearing, he gave the following six reasons for keeping annual testing. I have commented on each of his reasons.

Eliminating annual testing is unnecessary because the annual tests in math and reading (and grade-span testing in science) currently required under NCLB typically account for less than half of the total amount of time students spend taking standardized tests.

Professor West needs to speak to teachers directly. Teachers can estimate how much time they actually are teaching to Common Core-based tests, knowing they are being evaluated by test results. The research that Professor West may be referring to did not ask teachers how much instructional time they would spend or are already spending teaching to Common Core-based tests when their annual evaluations are based, in large part, in many states on student test scores.

Measures based on the amount students learn from one year to the next can provide a more accurate gauge of schools’ contribution to student learning. These kinds of measures are only possible, however, when students are tested in adjacent grades.

Professor West needs to speak to teachers directly. Teachers quickly find out what their students learned the previous year by giving them a review quiz in the first weeks of school. At least, they used to do this. They don’t need results from a standardized test that is not directly related to the curriculum that students studied the year before.

Accountability based on grade-span testing judges schools based on the students they serve, not how well they serve them.

Common Core-based test results are not going to be used for judging schools. The US Department of Education has made it very clear that they will be used for judging teachers.

In addition to preventing the development of better and fairer measures of school performance, eliminating annual testing would have other negative consequences: First, it would all but eliminate school-level information about the learning of student subgroups…

Is it really the case that all African-American students learn in the same way? And do all Hispanic students learn in the same way and in ways that are different from the ways in which other kinds of students learn? Where is the research evidence to support these When Will Congress Hear from Parents on Reauthorizing No Child Left Behind? - Breitbart:

WHO SUPPORTS DEMOCRATIC, FREE, MAIN STREAM PUBLIC SCHOOLS?

Go to Parents Across America Web Site.

Civics education is essential to democracy | The Sacramento Bee The Sacramento Bee

Civics education is essential to democracy | The Sacramento Bee The Sacramento Bee:



Civics education is essential to democracy 

 After every election comes the inevitable hand-wringing. Voting experts and other people who care about preserving our democracy shake their heads over turnout numbers among young people and wonder what this world is coming to.

Californians between 18 and 34 aren’t short on opinions when it comes to, say, “American Idol.” But an overwhelming majority of them decline to cast a vote for governor or mayor, let alone the Sacramento Metropolitan Fire District board of directors.

Many smart people have spent many hours pondering why and have come to a conclusion: If young people lack a sense of civic responsibility, perhaps no one taught them to have one.

Like so many other once-important subjects in public K-12 classrooms – art, music, home economics, penmanship – civics education is being de-emphasized, to our collective detriment.

Policymakers must have reasoned that kids could learn about how laws are made after they grasp algebra, French, U.S. history. The result of this educational neglect has come home to roost in dismal election turnouts, not just among young people, but for all Californians. The state ranks 38th out of 50 in civic engagement.

Yes, it could be worse, but let’s not wait to get to No. 50 to act. Failing to prepare the next generation to be civically engaged dooms it to having their lives determined by an increasingly small minority and threatens democracy. We must do better.

Opinion about the value of civic learning, however, has started to turn around. In coming months, groups of prominent people in Sacramento, Butte, Fresno and three other California counties will be asking their school districts to recommit to teaching civics. And not just in the senior year of high school or in AP classes, either – but for all students starting as early as elementary school.

This effort, called Power of Democracy, sprang out of the deliberations of the California Task Force on K-12 Civic Learning. The task force, co-chaired by Sacramento County Office of Education Superintendent David Gordon and Judith McConnell, administrative presiding justice for the Court of Appeal, Fourth Appellate District, developed a plan for rebuilding civics in state schools.

Rather than force these recommendations on districts dealing with big educational policy changes as part of Common Core and Local Control Funding, the task force decided to go the route of gentle persuasion. ToCivics education is essential to democracy | The Sacramento Bee The Sacramento Bee:

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/opinion/editorials/article9373664.html#storylink=cpy

Recalling Another Brian Williams "Bungle" - Living in Dialogue

Recalling Another Brian Williams "Bungle" - Living in Dialogue:



Recalling Another Brian Williams "Bungle"

By Anthony Cody.

This week, Brian Williams is suffering from a public backlash because of the way a story about helicopters under fire in Iraq evolved over the years, leading to a version that inaccurately described the incident as one where his own life was in danger.

But this was not the first journalistic bungle by the popular NBC newscaster. About four years ago, during the second edition of the NBC News production of Education Nation, Brian Williams interviewed Melinda Gates. The Gates Foundation had underwritten the broadcast, but nonetheless, this was a journalistic endeavor. The Education Writers Association had awarded NBC News director Steve Capus with a first place award for a news series. When Williams interviewed Melinda Gates, however, he displayed none of the objectivity one might expect from a journalist. Here is what he said when he introduced her:

We’re also going to be joined by Melinda Gates, co-chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Gates Foundation, one of the sponsors of this event, and the largest single funder of education anywhere in the world. It’s their facts that we’re going to be referring to often to help along our conversation.

You could refer to our guest as the top funder of education in the world. A partner and sponsor of this year’s gathering. Also spending half a billion dollars to devise a way figure out what makes a great teacher, what makes them most effective. The estimates are the Gates Foundation has already spent, obviously a record for any education spending, spent or committed to spending five to seven billion dollars.

This gushing introduction, and particular his statement that the Gates Foundation’s “facts” were going to be guiding the discussion, represent a low point for American journalism.

The Education Writers Association recently declared that I was ineligible to compete for their prizes, even though I have won three awards, including a first place prize last year in the opinion category for my series on the Common Core. But there was not a peep from the EWA when Brian Williams declared his complete Recalling Another Brian Williams "Bungle" - Living in Dialogue:

The Buffalo School District and its Shiny New Police State | The Public

The BPS and its Shiny New Police State | The Public:

The BPS and its Shiny New Police State

by 

Alan Bedenko

 / Feb. 6, 2015 7am EST

The underlying goal isn’t unique to the Buffalo School District. Throughout New York State, tea party reactionaries have aligned themselves with the state government to bring about a simple equation. 

1. De-fund the schools; 

2. Cut electives and programs; fire teachers;

3. Break the teachers’ union;

4. Label schools as “low performing”;

5. Create “charter” schools;

6. Segregate better students into charters; exclude troubled, poor, and special education students; 

7. Ensure that charters rent space from private landlords; 

8. Profit. 

That’s more or less what’s being attempted in Buffalo. It’s a district that has more than its share of socioeconomic crises, but instead of helping the most troubled and disadvantaged kids, powerful, monied interests now controlling the district seems to be writing them off. Instead, it’s moving forward with publicly funded private, exclusive charter schools, not all of which are all that high performing, either, thank you very much. 

It’s not just Buffalo, by the way. In tony, conservative Clarence, a small but well-funded band of tea party activists have succeeded in de-funding the schools, which in turn led to cutting teachers, programs, electives, and every social worker in the district. Kids suffer so that some of western New York’s wealthiest residents can save pennies on their tax bill. No district, teacher, board, or student is safe from this new American movement to destroy public education. 

But what apparently happened Thursday at a hastily organized public Buffalo Board of Education meeting is something new and chilling. Kevin Gibson is the Secretary of the Buffalo Teacher’s Federation, and has every right to be present at a Buffalo school board meeting, and to speak. He began his remarks with, “My name is Kevin Gibson, and I’m a teacher in Buffalo”. Just a few weeks ago, he gave this powerful presentation, blasting one local charter as being just as “low performing” as any other school. 

But this Thursday, Gibson never got a chance to speak. It was a public meeting, and a public comment period. But when Gibson got up, this happened. Keep an eye on Larry Quinn, who seemingly has no patience for this job that he ran for The BPS and its Shiny New Police State | The Public:

A history of Pearson’s testing problems worldwide - The Washington Post

A history of Pearson’s testing problems worldwide - The Washington Post:

A history of Pearson’s testing problems worldwide

 Now that Pearson, the worldwide education company, has won a huge contract with PARCC,  one of the two multi-state consortia designing new Common Core-aligned tests with federal funds, it seems like a good time to review problems Pearson has had with previous projects.

I’ve run one of these before but this is an updated list compiled by Bob Schaeffer, public education director of FairTest, the National Center for Fair & Open Testing, which is dedicated to ending the misuse of standardized tests. Take a look at not just the number of problems but the variety in 14 states — Virginia, Florida, Texas, California, South Carolina, Oklahoma, Minnesota, Arizona, Mississippi, Wyoming, New York, Arkansas, Illinois, Iowa, — as well as in Guam and elsewhere around the world.

1998

California – Test score delivery is delayed.

1999-2000

Arizona – 12,000 tests misgraded due to flawed answer key.

 2000

Florida – Test score delivery is delayed, resulting in $4 million fine.

Minnesota – 45,739  graduation tests misgraded, leading to lawsuit with $11 million settlement; judge finds “years of quality control problems” and a “culture emphasizing profitability and cost-cutting.”  (FairTest consulted with plaintiffs’ attorneys)

Washington – 204,000 writing Washington Assessment of Student Learning exams have to be rescored.

2002

Florida — Dozens of school districts received no state grades for their 2002 scores because of a “programming error” at the state Department of Education. One Montessori school never received scores because NCS Pearson claimed not to have received the tests.

2005

Michigan — Scores are delayed and fines levied per contract.

Virginia   –  Five students get $5,000 scholarships based on misgraded computerized test.

2005-2006

SAT college admissions test – 4400 tests wrongly scored; $3 million settlement after lawsuit (note FairTest was an expert witness for plaintiffs)

2007-2011

Mississippi – Subcontractor programs correct answer as incorrect, A history of Pearson’s testing problems worldwide - The Washington Post:

Fewer Top Graduates Want to Join Teach for America - NYTimes.com

Fewer Top Graduates Want to Join Teach for America - NYTimes.com:

Fewer Top Graduates Want to Join Teach for America

Teach for America, the education powerhouse that has sent thousands of handpicked college graduates to teach in some of the nation’s most troubled schools, is suddenly having recruitment problems.

For the second year in a row, applicants for the elite program have dropped, breaking a 15-year growth trend. Applications are down by about 10 percent from a year earlier on college campuses around the country as of the end of last month.

The group, which has sought to transform education in close alignment with the charter school movement, has advised schools that the size of its teacher corps this fall could be down by as much as a quarter and has closed two of its eight national summer training sites, in New York City and Los Angeles.

“I want the numbers to be higher, because the demand from districts is extremely high and we’re not going to meet it this year,” said Matt Kramer, a co-chief executive of Teach for America. But, he added, “it is not existentially concerning.”

Last year, the highly selective program accepted about 15 percent of its applicants. Mr. Kramer said there were no plans to lower standards for the current year simply to yield a larger corps of teachers.

Photo

Some say the decline in applicants could point to a loss of luster for the program, which rose to prominence through the idea that teaching the nation’s poorest, most needy students could be a crusade, like the Peace Corps. Teach for America has sent hundreds of graduates to Capitol Hill, school superintendents’ offices and education reform groups, seeding a movement that has supported testing and standards, teacher evaluations tethered to student test scores, and a weakening of teacher tenure.

“We are sort of at 2.0 of education reform, and its future direction seems a little bit uncertain at this point,” said David M. Steiner, the dean of the Hunter College School of Education in New York.

Leaders of the organization say their biggest problem is that the rebounding economy has given high-achieving college graduates more job choices.

“It’s so different from three years ago, where suddenly you have candidates that may have an offer from Facebook and Wells Fargo and an offer to join the T.F.A. corps, and clearly, the money is going to be radically different,” said Lida Jennings, executive director of the Los Angeles office of Teach for America.

Mr. Kramer dismissed the idea that the group’s philosophy was driving candidates away. “As I talk to people on campuses, it is not like the central thing I hear,” he said. “I don’t hear people say, ‘Oh, I hear this criticism and therefore I don’t want to do Teach for America.’ ”

Teaching in general has been losing favor. From 2010 to 2013, the number of student candidates enrolled in teacher training programs fell 12.5 percent, according to federal data.

But Teach for America’s belief that new college graduates can jump into teaching without much training, as well as its ties through prominent alumni to the testing and standards movement, may also be taking a toll, driving away the kind of students the program once attracted.

When Haleigh Duncan, a junior at Macalester College in St. Paul, first came across Teach for America recruiters on campus during her freshman year in 2012, she was captivated by the group’s mission to address educational inequality.

Ms. Duncan, an English major, went back to her dormitory room and pinned the group’s pamphlet on a bulletin board. She was also attracted by the fact that it would be a fast route into teaching. “I felt like I didn’t want to waste time and wanted to jump into the field,” she said.

But as she learned more about the organization, Ms. Duncan lost faith in its short training and grew skeptical of its ties to certain donors, including the Walton Family Foundation, a philanthropic group governed by the family that founded Walmart. She decided she needed to go to a teachers’ college after graduation. “I had a little too much confidence in my ability to override my lack of experience through sheer good will,” she said.

Founded in 1990 by Wendy Kopp, a Princeton University student who proposed the idea in her senior thesis, Teach for America started as a kind of civil rights crusade, with 500 novice teachers in six regions across the country.

The nonprofit organization faced financial and management challenges during its first decade, but since 2000 had been growing its teaching corps by close to 20 percent every year. Ms. Kopp, who now runs Teach for All, a global spinoff initiative she founded, declined to be interviewed for this article.

With corporate sponsors like Wells Fargo and Comcast NBCUniversal,charitable contributions from the Walton family, and foundations overseen by the families of the billionaires John D. Arnold and Eli Broad, Teach for America now has 10,500 teachers in classrooms in 35 states and employs 2,400 people across its regional offices. Last year, it had revenue of $196.2 Fewer Top Graduates Want to Join Teach for America - NYTimes.com:

Constitutional Protection? Yes, but not for teachers. | Reclaim Reform

Constitutional Protection? Yes, but not for teachers. | Reclaim Reform:

Constitutional Protection? Yes, but not for teachers.

Posted on February 5, 2015by Ken Previti

The human corruption known as elected legislators is out of control.

Some legislators carry little copies of the U.S. Constitution, with itty-bitty font, in the suit pockets over their hearts since it is sacred. Sacred? The written word of the one true God? They “quote” anything they want and claim that it’s all there as they raise aloft the tiny tome in sacred consecration.

Other legislators think of the U.S. Constitution as something written on an Etch-a-Sketch that can be turned upside down, shaken and changed at will. Hey, doo-doo happens!

Since both extremes are self-serving forms of legalized corruption, the least these legislators can do is apply it to everyone with no exceptions. Teachers, money and teachers’ money are the exceptions in many states.

In Illinois all legislators take a short oath of office. The oath simply states that they, as lawmakers not judicial experts, will uphold the state constitution and the U.S. Constitution. Not doing so is a violation of their elected office; they can and should be removed from office.

State Rep. Elaine Nekritz (D) of Northbrook stated for the Chicago Tribune, “”There are no absolutes in the state constitution or the U.S. Constitution.”
Nekritz wants to steal even more from active and retired teachers.
(Blogger Glen Brownsearches deeper into the intricacies.)

The Illinois Constitution states, “Membership in any pension or retirement system of the State, any unit of local government, or school district, or any agency or instrumentality thereof, shall be an enforceable contractual relationship, the benefits of which shall not be diminished or impaired.”

What does Nekritz want to do as she and members of both political parties hand over hundreds of millions of tax dollars per corporation per year to her political campaign Constitutional Protection? Yes, but not for teachers. | Reclaim Reform:

Madeloni to Warren: Educators want to "end the testing madness"

Madeloni to Warren: Educators want to "end the testing madness":

Madeloni to Warren: Educators want to "end the testing madness"

At a meeting on January 29 with U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren, MTA President Barbara Madeloni conveyed the message that educators want to “end the testing madness.” She also asked Warren to help ensure that state and federal education policymakers are held accountable for providing the schools our children deserve.

Warren is a member of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, which is currently holding hearings on the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, better known as No Child Left Behind. Click here to read Senator Warren's comments about the importance of providing funding to help educators do their jobs.

Related Resources

• Read the MTA's 2015-2016 Legislative Agenda, which includes bills calling for a moratorium on high-stakes testing and new charter schools.
• Check out the dates of the state senate's listening tour, beginning on Feb. 4 in Holyoke.

Madeloni to Warren: Educators want to "end the testing madness":

The First Question This Teacher Asks Her Students Every Day

The First Question This Teacher Asks Her Students Every Day:

The First Question This Teacher Asks Her Kindergarteners Every Morning Is Heartbreaking

BY ALICE GOMSTYN | POSTED 17 HOURS AGO

FacebookTwitterGoogle+TumblrPinterest

About a decade ago, I stood in a high school English classroom, trying my best to give an exciting speech about my experiences as a young reporter. I worked for the local newspaper at the time and the school had invited me and a photographer to give the students a sense of the career opportunities available to them.

The teens all sat politely, if not quite rapt … except for one. He was a short, scrawny kid in an oversized hoodie. I could see him fidget and, worse, heard him mutter the occasional complaint about my presentation. Finally, he seemed to surrender to the fact that yes, I would be there for at least a few more minutes but instead of perking his ears up to listen, he lay his head down on his desk.

His teacher approached him and I expected some form of discipline would ensue. Instead, she gently put her arm around him and said something in a soft voice. I couldn’t make out exactly what it was, but it was clear she wasn’t scolding him — just showing some TLC. I felt mildly annoyed, to say the least. A child was acting rudely during my talk and there’d be no consequence for it?

It only hit me later that the student’s behavior likely had little to do with me. The school served mostly poor students, more than half of whom qualified for free or reduced-cost lunches. The odds were good that this kid faced dire straits outside school hours. Maybe he was cranky because he had skipped a meal or two. Maybe he was tired because he didn’t have a comfortable place to sleep. Maybe he didn’t have a home at all. Whatever his problems were, his teacher saw fit to offer him compassion instead of punishment.

I thought about them both as I read a recent story in The Washington Post reporting that more than half of U.S. public school students live in poverty. The statistic itself is shocking, but what moved me even more was an anecdote about a kindergarten teacher in Albuquerque. Sonya Romero-Smith shows her young students some TLC, too, in part by stocking a drawer full of clean kids’ socks, underwear, and pants for the children.

“When they first come in my door in the morning, the first thing I do is an inventory of immediate needs: Did you eat? Are you clean?” she told The Post.

My older son is nearly kindergarten age and he’s never short on food or clean clothing. No one The First Question This Teacher Asks Her Students Every Day:

GLSEN Adds Chapters in Arkansas, Georgia and Missouri, Bringing Total Number of Chapters to 40 in 28 States | GLSEN

Find Chapters | GLSEN:

GLSEN Adds Chapters in Arkansas, Georgia and Missouri, Bringing Total Number of Chapters to 40 in 28 States

NEW YORK (Feb. 5, 2015) – GLSEN today announced expansion of its chapter network to 40 in 28 states with the addition of three new chapters in Arkansas, Georgia and Missouri. GLSEN Atlanta and GLSEN Southeast Arkansas are the only chapters in Georgia and Arkansas, respectively. With the addition of GLSEN Springfield to GLSEN Kansas City, Missouri now has two chapters.

GLSEN chapters, led by volunteers, play an important role in bringing GLSEN's programs to ensure safe and affirming schools for all students to local communities. The chapters work closely with the national office to implement programs, such as student leadership, educator training and public policy.

“We are excited to have these new chapters spearheaded by local leaders who are committed to ensuring that all students have safe and affirming school environments that foster robust learning environments,” said Dr. Eliza Byard, Executive Director of GLSEN. “The reality is that the majority of LGBT students continue to face hostile school climates. These new chapters will work with students and educators to help turn that reality around. I look forward to seeing the impact they will have in their communities.”

The most recent National School Climate Survey, which first began in 1999 and remains one of the few studies to examine the middle and high school experiences of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) youth nationally, found that while school climate for LGBT students has improved somewhat over the years, schools nationwide remain hostile environments for a distressing number of LGBT students. Specifically in Georgia and Missouri, more than 90 percent of LGBT students regularly heard homophobic remarks and most did not have access to vital in-school supports, like Gay-Straight Alliances (GSAs).

“GLSEN Atlanta has come together through the leadership of students, teachers, faculty members and community activists to improve the environment that LGBT students face in K-12 schools in Atlanta and the surrounding area,” said Patrick Faerber, chair of GLSEN Atlanta. “Even in a city considered by many to be the LGBT capital of the south, our students are not protected from discrimination based on their sexual orientation or gender identity. Our objective is to provide Atlanta’s K-12 students, teachers, parents and school staff with all the necessary tools and knowledge to create schools where every student is part of an environment in which they can succeed regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity.”

“In Southeast Arkansas, diverse educators, activists, administrators and community members have collaborated to ensure that all students, regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity, have access to a safe, equal and inclusive education,” said Alen Amini, chair of GLSEN Southeast Arkansas. “The narrative in our communities typically revolves around perceived deficits - high poverty and unemployment rates, rampant obesity, lack of basic necessities - but our chapter seeks to empower students and educators to work together to improve outcomes. We will focus on influencing state policy, as well as training educators across the region, to make certain that our students will have enhanced opportunities in and out of the classroom, and that they feel respected and valued in school, at home and in their communities.”

“Springfield is nestled in the heart of the Ozarks, a predominately rural, conservative, religious region. Historically, Missouri, and the Springfield region in particular, have not been places supportive of LGBT individuals, and our schools are certainly no exception,” said Amanda Derham, chair of GLSEN Springfield. “We plan to work tirelessly to address the LGBT bias, bullying and harassment that exist in the hallways of our schools and government buildings where legislators have passed laws that prohibit schools from creating safer places for students. We plan to do so by focusing our first year on the development and growth of GSAs, advocating for policies at local and state levels that address bias and bullying in schools, and creating networks of LGBT and allied support to join us in promoting GLSEN’s mission.”

For a full list of GLSEN chapters, including contact information, visit www.glsen.org/chapters.

About GLSEN

GLSEN, the Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network, is the leading national education organization focused on ensuring safe and affirming schools for all students. Celebrating its 25^th year, GLSEN envisions a world in which every child learns to respect and accept all people, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity/expression. GLSEN seeks to develop school climates where difference is valued for the positive contribution it makes to creating a more vibrant and diverse community. For information on GLSEN's research, educational resources, public policy advocacy, student organizing programs and educator training initiatives, visit www.glsen.org.

###

Is this School Heaven? No, it’s Finland - Lily's Blackboard

Is this School Heaven? No, it’s Finland - Lily's Blackboard:

Is this School Heaven? No, it’s Finland

January 31, 2015 by Lily

Categories: Education, Events, General, Policy, School Reform

Tags: Finland, GERM, global education, Testing, whole child

Metaphor Alert: I have been to the mountaintop. I have trod sacred ground. I have seen the light. I have been to Finland. It’s the place where teachers go after they die if they’ve been good and taught the Whole Blessed Child; if they’ve rejected the hell of Obsessive Standardized Testing.

It says something about the upside-down world we live in where we are called on to keep believing in the false and failed prophets of absurd school proposals they like to call “reform” – privatize for profit, have children compete with each other for the winner’s crown or the loser label. Here in the United States, we’re told this will hold back the demon – our “Global Competition”.

Well, let’s end the metaphor here or I’ll run out of air-quotes. Let’s talk science. Because our Global Competition is basically every country doing the opposite of what school privateers and test profiteers tell us to have faith in.

Singapore doesn’t use test scores to shame teachers. Canada doesn’t have charter franchises. Korea doesn’t have short-cut preparation for teachers. This is an embarrassment to the Global Education Reform Movement (the GERM) that rolls out economic development plans to entire countries suggesting they will become richer countries if they privatize, standardize and de-professionalize education.

None of the top performing countries got there with this stuff. And these guys have no idea what to do with smart, little Finland.

Finland is no mystery and it is no miracle. They simply have a very good system’s approach to school improvement. They decided 40 years ago that in a country with few natural resources, they would do well to develop the human beings in their society. The believed that healthy, well-educated, compassionate human beings should form the foundation, not only of a good economy, but of good families, neighbors, and even a good democracy.

They did their homework. They saw that private competition in school systems tended to shake out with wealthy families getting more for their kids than middle class and poor families. As they had no brains to waste, they decided to invest in one, good public system where all kids would get what they needed whether their parents were rich or not.

They decided to invest heavily in teacher recruitment and teacher preparation. By design, they made the colleges of education a highly elite program where only the top university students were accepted with all expenses paid.

There is a one-year residency under a top teacher for graduates. All teachers have master’s degrees related to their teaching assignments. They make it impossible to hire a bad teacher.

There are no fast-track, short-cut, temporary teachers. There is no Teach for Finland. Trust is the key word that comes from politicians, parents, academicians, and unions – after a top notch teacher training for top ranked students; trust rules.

And they put in the hands of these skilled, career educators the tools, technology and time to collaborate, design, intervene and assess instruction, teaching and learning on the school building level. (There are no state Is this School Heaven? No, it’s Finland - Lily's Blackboard: