Failing the test | Opinion | The Register-Guard | Eugene, Oregon

Failing the test | Opinion | The Register-Guard | Eugene, Oregon:

Failing the test

Smarter Balanced assessment does more harm than good

My high school son will not be taking the Smarter Balanced assessment this spring.

According to the Oregon Department of Education, parents may request that their children be exempted from state testing based on either disability or religious belief, which means any personal ethical standard. My ethical standard includes the view that schools should implement research-based practices that will help all students, regardless of background, achieve success.

Further, it goes against my ethical standard to capitulate to a conspiracy that apparently involves the richest man on the planet, a company that has made billions on high-stakes tests that have failed to improve achievement or equity, cohorts of a woman who wants to destroy public schools, and a secretary of education who forces schools to hold teachers accountable for factors that are entirely outside their control.

Lastly, I believe it is a grievous sin to intentionally set young people up for failure.

Instead of addressing the underlying concerns of poverty, its harmful effects on student achievement, and school funding inequities and inadequacies, our nation has tried for more than a decade to raise student performance by testing students and then using the results to shame them, their teachers and their school leadership. The No Child Left Behind Act has failed to improve student achievement.

As a result of the primary focus being placed on tests, schools today are less creative and engaging, while instruction in physical education, music and art has been reduced. Schools don’t have time to focus on things like helping students learn how to cooperate and resolve relationship problems.

Schools have become test factories. Teachers are forced to spend time teaching students how to take tests, instead of helping them learn more about the world around them.

A recent open letter to President Obama and Congress signed by more than 2,000 education researchers and professors stated: “We are researchers and professors in colleges, universities, and other research institutions throughout the United States with scholarly and practical expertise in public education, including education policy, school reform, teaching and learning, assessment, and educational equity. ... (W)e strongly urge departing from test-focused reforms that not only have been discredited for high-stakes decisions, but also have shown to widen, not close, gaps and inequities.”

The underlying idea of the Common Core was to identify what students need to learn so they can be successful in the 21st century and ensure that students are better able to engage in critical thinking and problem solving. This is actually a good idea. The problems emerge when you look behind the curtain of the idea’s implementation.

Contrary to what the promoters say, the Common Core was not initiated by states or educators. The Gates Foundation kick-started this venture by providing more than $200 million to the various organizations supporting the idea. Microsoft will reap huge financial benefits from the investments in technology. Pierson Corp. has made and will make billions off the sales of high-stakes tests and low quality curriculum designed to teach to the test.

The lead writers of the Common Core standards, David Coleman and Jason Zimba, were also the foundational board members for StudentsFirst — an organization created by Michelle Rhee, former chancellor of Washington, D.C., schools whose perspectives on education and lack of respect for public school teachers are abhorrent. The Common Core standards were not created with significant involvement by educators, and there has been insufficient professional educational review.

A joint statement by over 500 early childhood professionals stated: “We have grave concerns about the core standards for young Failing the test | Opinion | The Register-Guard | Eugene, Oregon:

Parents Can Opt Out - United Opt Out National

Click Here to go to United Opt Out National: 

Click Here to go to the Website- United Opt Out Team

Russ on Reading: Standardized Tests: Silly Incentives or Serious Instruction?

Russ on Reading: Standardized Tests: Silly Incentives or Serious Instruction?:

Standardized Tests: Silly Incentives or Serious Instruction?

In today's guest post, Cindy Mershon, reading specialist and literacy consultant, asks us to keep the child at the center of our thinking about standardized tests. What is our responsibiity as teachers when kids face the high stakes testing? Cindy's answer includes considering standardized testing as a genre to be taught.

by Cindy Mershon

“Educators are faced with a dilemma: our knowledge of reading processes and reading instruction is at odds with our assessment instruments.  As a result, we run the risk of misinterpreting assessment data.  If tests do not assess what we define as skilled reading, then they cannot adequately determine progress toward that goal.  Thus, if we equate high scores on existing tests with good reading we may be led to a false sense of security.  Conversely, low scores may lead us to believe that students are not reading well when, by a more valid set of criteria, they are.  Furthermore, tests have a powerful impact on curriculum and instruction; they influence classroom practice.  In short, tests may be insensitive to growth in the abilities we most want to foster and may be misguiding instruction.”

Valencia, S.W., Pearson, P.D., Peters, C.W., Wixson, K.K. (1989).   Theory and practice in statewide reading assessment: Closing the gap. Educational Leadership, April, pp. 57-62.

It is my fault that I chose to read the local paper on Tuesday morning.  It is my fault that, when I spied this headline – “Schools Cancel Test Incentives” – I remained in my chair in the kitchen, cocker spaniels in attendance, read the headline, felt the migraine button in my head switch to “on,”, and kept reading.

Seems a local school district had planned “to offer incentives, including $5 gift cards, intended to boost student participation and performance on the standardized PARCC exams.”  This district had used such incentives in the past, but had recently decided to cancel their plan due to increased Russ on Reading: Standardized Tests: Silly Incentives or Serious Instruction?:

Public schools aren’t failing | The Charlotte Observer The Charlotte Observer

Public schools aren’t failing | The Charlotte Observer The Charlotte Observer:

Public schools aren’t failing

In a stroke of whimsy or irony, two new studies about American education have been released in time to get the most media coverage during School Choice Week. The first, from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), looks at the international tests that rank students worldwide in reading, math, and science.

The second is a report from the Horace Mann League and the National Superintendents Roundtable that looks at the international tests but also compares economic equity, social stress, support for families and schools, and student and system outcomes in nine G-7 countries.

Advocates of school choice often speak of a crisis in American public education, but these newest reports indicate otherwise. In fact, both show that American public school children are doing remarkably well.

For example, the NCES report shows that in schools with less than 25 percent poverty rates, American children scored higher in reading than any other children in the world. In. The. World.

The takeaway is simple. Our middle-class and wealthy public school children are thriving. Poor children are struggling, not because their schools are failing but because they come to school with all the well-documented handicaps that poverty imposes – poor prenatal care, developmental delays, hunger, illness, homelessness, emotional and mental illnesses, and so on.

School choice advocates argue that private or charter schools are the answer – but there again the results show otherwise. In Florida, for example, public school children outscored their private school counterparts, and nationally, charters are outperformed by traditional schools the majority of the time. If you want more bang for your buck as a community stakeholder and taxpayer, traditional public education does a better job of educating most children.

A different sort of concern about money, however, drives education reform these days. Forbes recently wrote that “the charter school movement [is] quickly becoming a backdoor for corporate profit.” Wall Street invests heavily in the charter movement, and testing companies push the idea that more tests and scripted curricula are a wise investment of scarce education dollars.

Instead, research is clear that money spent addressing the issues of child poverty are the most effective way to move test scores up – and more importantly, improve learning. However, many states have decreased their spending on education since the recession and those budget deficits are still in place. Head Start cuts are the worst in the history of the program, even though early childhood education is a critical part of helping children in poverty overcome their disadvantages.

The United States is, by far, the wealthiest and best-educated of the nine G-7 countries studied by the Horace Mann League and National Superintendents Roundtable, yet it posts some of the worst measures of economic inequality, social stress, and support for young families. We have the highest rates of substance abuse and violent deaths, for example, issues which negatively affect children and their performance in school.

The writers of the study have suggestions for all stakeholders. Teachers are tasked with making sure the connection between “formative forces in society” and the “summative scores” of children are communicated to communities.

The report asks communities to recognize that schools alone can’t address those formative forces.

For policymakers, the report says, “Celebrate the success of schools whilePublic schools aren’t failing | The Charlotte Observer The Charlotte Observer:

Read more here: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/opinion/op-ed/article9499466.html#storylink=cpy

Cuomo Fails the Children of New York State - Badass Teachers Association

Badass Teachers Association:

Cuomo Fails the Children of New York State

By:  Marla Kilfoyle, General Manager BATs

Every day our children achieve despite having their public schools grossly underfunded by New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo and his education reform agenda.  From Albany to Roosevelt, from Wyandanch to Troy, children are receiving honors and accolades that show their schools are not failing but are indeed providing exemplary services to our children.  For the Governor of New York to go publicly on social media and call those students, their districts, and communities “failures” is a gross misrepresentation of what is really happening – Governor Cuomo has failed our children.

Last week Governor Cuomo released a report about  New York States failing schools.  Read here:  https://www.governor.ny.gov/sites/governor.ny.gov/files/atoms/files/NYSFailingSchoolsReport.pdf

If you go to page 10 you will see the list of those 17 “failing” school districts but here is a screen shot of that page so that you can peruse it quickly.

Cuomo blasted out a long series of tweets about the failing schools on February 26th.  Here is a sample of the torrent of tweets he sent calling the children , communities, and teachers who utilize these schools “failures.” 

Thankfully, well respected school finance researcher  Bruce Baker took to twitter and tweeted his report about the underfunding of NYS schools.  You can read it herehttps://schoolfinance101.files.wordpress.com/2014/02/50-biggest-aid-gaps-2013-14_15_final.pdf   Baker wrote up a magnificent report comparing Cuomo’s 17 failing schools and how significantly they have been underfunded over the years   https://schoolfinance101.wordpress.com/2015/02/27/angry-andys-failing-schools-the-finger-of-blame/    

But......... this is not the reason for this write up.  Being a teacher in NYS, I want to highlight some amazing things these “failing” schools are doing for kids, and kids in these schools are doing, Badass Teachers Association:

THE DEBT

BY: Andres Rodriguez, Jr.

Andres Rodriguez, Jr with his daughter BAT Leadership
Team Member Aixa Rodriguez

My family immigrated to the United States from Puerto Rico in the summer of 1960. I was an eight year old boy who, along with two younger sisters and his parents, arrived to start a new life in an urban setting that dwarfed the quiet and mostly rural lifestyle he left behind. The change in scenery was overwhelming. In the island we were part of an extended family living in a humble but spacious home. Life was joyful, noisy, carefree, simple and full of adventure. The thought that we were poor never crossed our minds. My daily childhood routine consisted of waking at sunrise, playing outside all day without adult supervision and coming home just before sundown. Boredom was an unfamiliar state.

Until I arrived in the United States, I had never experienced isolation. Suddenly I was in a different world. Everything was new or alien. The familiar warmth and security of our extended family disappeared. What family we had living in the states lived far away. I didn’t know a word of English. I had no friends. Concerned about my safety, my parents wouldn’t let me play outside unsupervised. I had to devise indoor games and grow accustomed to the confining and constraining forces of apartment living. But there was no turning back. As much as I hated my new surroundings, I knew we had arrived to stay. Still, traumatic as that introduction to life in the South Bronx was, the idea that things could get worse never occurred to me. But they did. It would take some years for me to understand why and to realize the profound impact that simple acts of kindness and compassion had on my life’s trajectory. One such act was performed by Ms. Bonilla in September of 1960 when my mother took me to P.S. 62 to register me for school.

It is noteworthy that to this day the island’s K-12 public school instruction includes European as well as American characteristics. It is: free and secular, compulsory and conducted entirely in Spanish, with English taught as a second language and compulsory at all levels. Hence, by the time they graduate high school students are fully bilingual and are quite competitive in America’s higher education system. Many decide to attend American colleges and universities.

Ms. Bonilla was the only Latina administrator in P.S. 62 and may very well have been the only one in NYC’s public school system at the time. She was also one of the few of color and as a woman, a rarity in NYC’s public education bureaucracy. She also lived in the community where she worked. Perhaps it was coincidence, but she was in the administrative office when my mother walked in with me in tow. With her limited English my mother spoke to a non-Spanish speaking administrative staff member explaining that she was there to register me for school. I had completed the first and second grade in Puerto Rico and by the time I finished second grade I could read and was already getting writing instruction. My mother provided that information fully expecting that I would be  Badass Teachers Association:

The School Closure Playbook - How Billionaires Exploit Poor Children in Chicago | naked capitalism

The School Closure Playbook - How Billionaires Exploit Poor Children in Chicago | naked capitalism:

The School Closure Playbook – How Billionaires Exploit Poor Children in Chicago

Posted on February 26, 2015 by Yves Smith

Rebecca Rojer, who directed this film essay about a public school version of the Shock Doctrine playbook called “corporate school reform” asked us to present her video after it first appeared on Jacobin. It is accessible yet presents a hard-hitting overview of who is behind this taxpayer looting program and the mechanics of how it operates. From Rojer’s overview:

The piece uses Chicago to explore the broader neoliberal campaign against public schools, focusing on how education “reformers” manufactured a budget crisis through a combination of creative accounting, secretive tax schemes (specifically TIF), and media cooperation. It also looks at some of the organizing that developed to regain local control of schools (and possibly just forced Rahm into a run-off election!).

What is stunning is the degree of out and out grifting that has taken place in Chicago, with millions diverted from public schools to create a false image of a budgetary crisis. And some of the money wound up in dubious-looking pockets, like a Hyatt Hotels franchise.

I hope you’ll watch this video. Be sure to circulate it to anyone you know who lives or votes in Chicago.

The School Closure Playbook - How Billionaires Exploit Poor Children in Chicago | naked capitalism: 

“The Other PARCC:” A New Short Film Of Refusal In New Jersey | The Education Activist: From Student to Teacher

“The Other PARCC:” A New Short Film Of Refusal In New Jersey | The Education Activist: From Student to Teacher:

“THE OTHER PARCC:” A NEW SHORT FILM OF REFUSAL IN NEW JERSEY

The activist movement in New Jersey, as a coalition of parents, students, teachers, and community members, has culminated in some of the most incredible grassroots organizing in the country. As Diane Ravitch has reported, new legislation in New Jersey has been coined “a ray of hope against PARCC” and state and national writers have been covering the happenings in local towns all across New Jersey (there are just too many links to post, but please look around online). All of this work in New Jersey has culminated in a new short film to be released tomorrow – “The Other PARCC: Parents Advocating Refusal on High-Stakes Testing,” a short documentary film by Michael Elliot.

The video is set to be released nationally at 5:00pm tomorrow, Sunday, Match 1st, 2015 and will launch the already inspiring grassroots activist movement in New Jersey into the national spotlight, highlighting the stories of parents and students in the struggle against high-stakes testing. The video is set to also be released at an event tomorrow in Montclair, New Jersey.

The Other PARCC: Parents Advocating Refusal on High-Stakes Testing Synopsis:
Parents gathered from many different communities in New Jersey to make a short film to voice their concerns and share their stories about the effects that the implementation of CCSS and the PARCC tests were having on their children, teachers, schools and lives. 
Link: https://vimeo.com/120619448

**Note: The link is currently private and cannot be accessed. It will be available upon release at 5:00pm tomorrow, Sunday, March 1st, 2015.

The event is set to take place Sunday, March 1st, 2015 from 3pm to 5pm at Firehouse headquarters (1 Pine Street, Montclair, New Jersey, 07042) in the second floor meeting room. The Firehouse is located just in from Bloomfield Avenue, near the Bay Street train station. Parking will be available across from the Firehouse. Filmmaker Michael Elliot will be in attendance for the premiere at the event, along with many of the film participants.

There is a Facebook event link: https://www.facebook.com/events/815054668561757 

The organizers have asked that all who wish to attend register for free tickets using the following link: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/parcc-refusal-meet-up-tickets-15904851840

Again, at the event we will be premiering a fabulous short 5 minute film of parents and students talking about their reasons for refusing from all over the State. Michael Elliot, filmmaker from New York, has made the film with support from Montclair Cares about Schools. Michael has also made an incredibly inspiring film with Change the Stakes, which can be see here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ayYajsQjg8

This is a great way to solidify and build support on the eve of the PARCC testing that is set to begin Monday in New Jersey. We hope to see many of you there.

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We Care: Teachers Speak Against Cuomo on Vimeo

We Care: Teachers Speak Against Cuomo on Vimeo:

We Care: Teachers Speak Against Cuomo 

We Care: Teachers Speak Against Cuomo from Social Media on Vimeo.

We Care: Teachers Speak Against Cuomo on Vimeo:

A is for Apple B is for Badass What it means to Badassteachers in the Age of Corporate Education Reform Badass Teachers Association

Badass Teachers Association:



A is for Apple B is for Badass 

What it means to Badassteachers in the Age of Corporate Education Reform

By: Dr. Yohuru Williams

One of the persistent questions BATS face centers on the name of our organization and what it means to be one of the Badassteachers. A recent interview with a French journalist reminded me of this fact and the necessity for us to revisit regularly the goals and aims of our collective. So what exactly does it mean to be Badass, she asked sheepishly toward the close of our conversation on the legacy of the Civil Rights Movement. What does the Badassteachers Association believe are the central threats to public education and what makes one a Badass?

It is a question most of us should become adept at answering if we mean to counter the corrosive effect of the narratives of failure that accompany the corporate education reform agenda. As one of the co-founders once observed, we are not trying to resurrect any group from the past. While the rich history of social justice activism informs us, we fully recognize how our situation today calls for organizations and solutions that speak to the unique challenges we face in the present moment.

The essence of what it means to be a Badassteacher can be found in each of the letters that make up our provocative name.

To be clear, the Badassteachers and their allies recognize that the problems we face are

B: Big. The agents of corporate education reform are active in every state of the Union and are financed by individuals like the Koch brothers whose anti-union, anti-teacher schemes have done immeasurable damage to public education. They also understand that corporate education reform is global and that what we fight is one facet of a global education reform movement (GERM) aimed at undermining public education and reducing students worldwide to data points. While we recognize the size and scope of the problem Badassteachers welcome the fight. As our motto states, for too long teachers were forced to suffer in silence as the condition of our public schools eroded and the failure of elected officials to take seriously calls for sober minded reforms such as reducing class sizes and tackling the crippling effects of poverty in our schools. The days of silence have passed. We answer the big challenge with an even bigger commitment to fighting for social justice for our kids and communities across the globe.

A: Action Oriented. What distinguished Badass teachers is their penchant for action. Whether on social media or boots on the ground, real Badassteachers seek to be at the center of the fray, challenging high stakes testing, standing up to politicians, and demanding equity for our students. This is because BATS recognize that the need for action is central to our fight against the corporate education reform industry. We recognize and appreciate the need to challenge the narrative of school failure whenever and wherever it presents itself. We are prepared to vote with our feet as the brave students and education activists have done in New York, Newark, Los Angles, Providence, Philadelphia, and Chicago to stamp out the vestiges of inequality that plague our communities and reclaim our schools.

D. Dedication. Being a Badass requires a level of dedication that transcends casual engagement and takes on an all or nothing mentality with regard to education activism. The state moderators who run this organization from the Bronx to Baton Rouge share a common resolve to get in this fight and stay in this fight until all public school students have the schools they deserve. They share the fundamental belief that schools are the nucleus of communities and that partnership between parents, students, and teachers holds the key to designing schools of the future that will develop our youth and preserve democracy. Badass Teachers and their allies will accept nothing less.

A: Assertive. Badass Teachers know that the only way to check the dangerous incursion of corporate education reform is to be clear and thoughtful in their approach. For this reason, Badassteachers read and study the issues. They read the Bat Blog and other independent sources of information such as Diane Ravitch’s blog that expose the true corporate education reform agenda. They are always ready to share in a fresh and accessible manner our core concerns over issues as high stakes testing, the expansion of charters at the expense of funding for public education, the school to prison pipeline and the need for the recruitment and retention of more teachers of color.

S. Serious. Badass teachers recognize the seriousness of this fight and our need to be steadfast in our approach to fighting for the schools our students deserve. This includes insuring that a full range of academic interventions remains available to our students as well as sustained funding for libraries, music and the arts and other non-negotiable necessities essential to the development of well-rounded students.

S. Surgical. Badass Teachers recognize global education reform as an infectious disease, which, if left unchecked threatens to corrupt the very fabric of our society at the same time it chokes the very life from our schools. We focus on Badass Teachers Association:

Renewing America's Labor Movement | Randi Weingarten

Renewing America's Labor Movement | Randi Weingarten:

Renewing America's Labor Movement

Across the country, people are clamoring to be heard. They want a voice.

These are people who work hard but never see their wages keep up. After a lifetime of work, they don't have a pension or savings for a secure retirement. They rack up debtso they and their children can get a higher education, which is more necessary now than ever before. People are searching for a way to transform an economic system that benefits the few over the many. They are searching for fairness, opportunity, justice and real change.

I believe that search can and should lead to the labor movement. At this week's Albert Shanker Institute conference, The American Labor Movement at a Crossroads: New Thinking, New Organizing, New Strategies, Labor Secretary Tom Perez reminded us: "The growth of the middle class was linked to a labor movement that was strong."

But we must re-envision and renew our labor movement to face the challenges of the 21st century, to be the voice that today's working people want and the robust engine our economy needs. Because, as we face a new global economy -- one powered on technology and knowledge, where information travels at lightning speed -- we can no longer operate as if we're in a factory. As circumstances change, our nation changes, our world changes -- we too must change.

At the conference, we asked these hard questions: Are we flexible and forward-thinking enough to meet the demands of a 21st-century economy? Can our infrastructure adapt to meet the needs of new generations?

The ideas and strategies were promising. David Rolf, president of SEIU 775, challenged us to innovate: "We have to be willing to stand up and say no court is going to stop workers from building power." Others emphasized the need to work with community. "It's no longer about garnering community alliances for workplace fights. We have to figure out how workplace fights are part of the broader community struggles," said Sarita Gupta, executive director of Jobs with Justice. At the same time, Tefere Gebre, AFL-CIO executive vice president, reminded us that "in order to build a movement, we have to keep workers at the center of our thinking; we need to empower workers to decide for themselves."

As our movement evolves, our values endure: Fairness. Opportunity. Democracy. Justice. These values guide all we do, pressing us to look beyond the four walls of a workplace to the broader community. When we believe in economic and educational justice and opportunity, and in democracy, voting rights and social justice, it inspires us to fight back and to work to ensure all communities have access to high-quality public services, starting with a high-quality public education with fair funding.

Look at New York state. There, we are fighting against a governor who has focused more on settling scores than addressing the funding gap between rich and poor school districts that has only grown under his watch. This past week, Moral Mondays' Rev. William Barber and I joined community activists for a rally for funding equity in New York's schools. If we believe that all children, regardless of their ZIP code, need and deserve a high-quality public education, then we must ensure all children have access to that opportunity -- not just in rhetoric, but in reality.

Across the country, we are standing with community and building power through community. Community is labor's new density. People want a voice: Occupy Wall Renewing America's Labor Movement | Randi Weingarten:

A case for public education | Lehigh University

A case for public education | Lehigh University:



A CASE FOR PUBLIC EDUCATION

Education historian Diane Ravitch, a lightning rod in the national debate on school reform, presented her case for public education Tuesday night in a well-received lecture at the Zoellner Arts Center.

Hosted by Lehigh’s College of Education, Ravitch engaged in an imaginary, yet spirited, debate with a school reformer who’d likely argue that the nation’s public schools are failing, test scores are declining and drastic measures are needed to save the nation from certain ruin.

As she fiercely countered those contentions, Ravitch argued that public schools must be saved for a future generation of children. She called the protection of public education from attempts at privatization as “the civil rights issue of our time.”

“The public schools are the people’s schools,” said Ravitch, author of Reign of Error: The Hoax of the Privatization Movement and the Danger to America’s Public Schools. “Their doors are open to all… Public education must be, as we once hoped, a bastion of equal opportunity. Public education is a public trust. It is not a business opportunity.”

Ravitch, recently named by Education Week as the education scholar with the greatest public influence, spoke at Lehigh as part of COE’s Distinguished Lecture Series. She also sat down for a question-and-answer segment with Dean Gary Sasso, who described the school reform debate as one of the most contentious and polarizing in the world of education. In an effort to find common ground, Sasso said the College of Education also planned to host a speaker who presents an opposing view in the fall.

Ravitch, an educational policy analyst, was an assistant Secretary of Education and Counselor to Secretary of Education Lamar Alexander in the administration of President George H. W. Bush from 1991 to 1993. She is a research professor at New York University’s Steinhardt School of Culture, Education and Human Development.

In an hour-long presentation, Ravitch argued that public schools are not failing and cited several factors: National Assessment of Educational Progress test scores and graduation rates are at their highest in U. S. history and dropout rates are at their lowest.

“Public schools are not mediocre,” she said. “They reflect their communities. Some are outstanding. Some are good but not great. Some are the heart of their community. Some struggle because they serve impoverished communities. We should help them, not close them.”

Anticipating how the debate with a school reformer might unfold, Ravitch countered a number of common arguments:

• That teacher performance should be evaluated by students’ test scores, in an effort to weed out bad teachers. Ravitch said test scores cannot adequately measure a teacher’s effectiveness. She said those who teach in affluent districts or who teach native English speakers will get higher ratings than those who teach in poor districts, who teach mostly English-as-a-Second-Language learners or who teach the severely disabled. She said peer assistance and review would be a better way to evaluate teachers.
• That collective bargaining should be banned so that unions can’t protect bad teachers. Ravitch argued that unions helped build the middle class in America and that teachers would be voiceless without unions to protect from them from misguided governors and legislators.
• That teacher tenure protects bad teachers. Ravitch argued that tenure protects teachers them from being fired for arbitrary reasons. “If bad teachers are getting tenure, then we have an administrator problem, not a teacher problem,” she said to applause.
• That test scores would go up if teachers had the incentive of merit pay. Ravitch argued that merit pay has never made a difference and pointed to a three-year Vanderbilt University study in Nashville. She said professionals are motivated by idealism, autonomy and sense of purpose, not money.
• That parents have a right to choose the schools for their children. Ravitch said school vouchers, which would help pay for students to attend private schools, don’t lead to higher test scores for children. ”Why privatize our public schools and destroy an institution that has been central to our democracy?” she asked.
• That Common Core will close the achievement gap. Ravitch said Common Core standards were set too high and that most students will fail.

For those who worry that the United States is falling behind other countries, such as China, in how well their students score on test, Ravitch argued that test scores are not an indicator of a nation’s economic future or success. 

“America’s trump card has always been freedom, creativity, originality, innovation, ingenuity…,” she said.  In addition to students getting a good education, she said she hopes America’s children are learning to be kind, thoughtful and hard-working and that they will come to possess a zeal for making society better. “That matters more than test scores,” she said to applause.

Ravitch acknowledged all is not well with public education. But rather than privatizing schools or using test scores to evaluate teachers, she said, the country needs to attack the root causes of low academic performance, namely segregation and poverty.

“We need reform intended to improve schools, not close them,” she said. “We need to believe we can solve our problems, not hand them off to entrepreneurs and corporations and well-meaning amateurs. We need to believe that our public institutions can be improved, not privatized, or we will lose our democracy. We must not abandon our ideals.”

Story by Mary Ellen Alu

Photos by Christa Neu

Posted on: 

Thursday, February 12, 2015

Chicago Elementary School Votes to Oppose PARCC Common Core Tests - Living in Dialogue

Chicago Elementary School Votes to Oppose PARCC Common Core Tests - Living in Dialogue:



Chicago Elementary School Votes to Oppose PARCC Common Core Tests 

 By Michelle Strater Gunderson.

“What the best and wisest parent wants for his child, that must we want for all the children of the community. Anything less is unlovely, and left unchecked, destroys our democracy.”      John Dewey

Last week the Local School Council at Nettelhorst Elementary School in Chicago voted unanimously to write a letter of opposition to the PARCC exam, and gave permission to the parent/teacher organization to distribute testing opt out information to all families.

This is a big deal.

Local School Councils are elected bodies of parent, community, and teacher representatives who are entrusted with governing schools in Chicago. The local school council at Nettelhorst is composed of thoughtful and wise people who gave this action much personal deliberation.

So, why would a Chicago public school that is rated one plus and compliant in almost every school district mandate take this action? Why would a school where most of the children are middle class, speak English at home, and do super great on standardized tests refuse a test? Because opposing the PARCC exam comes from wisdom and a desire for what is lovely in schooling.

This was not a position that was taken hastily and it comes from three distinct conclusions.

First, the test is written at a level far beyond where students are expected to read at each age group (read Russ Walsh’s analysis here). We disagree with the stance that frustration levels for children represents “productive struggle” – a concept promoted by many education reformers. Imagine you are 8 years old, and you are not able to process information on page after page on a test that will last hours. Wise parents do not Chicago Elementary School Votes to Oppose PARCC Common Core Tests - Living in Dialogue: