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Monday, April 6, 2015

Special Nite Cap: Catch Up on Today's Post 4/6/15 #‎Chuy2015‬


Special Nite Cap - Catch Up on Today's Post 4/6/15


Special Nite Cap 



Press conference in Seattle on SBAC testing | Seattle Education
Press conference in Seattle on SBAC testing | Seattle Education: Press conference in Seattle on SBAC testingPress conference on SBAC testing:Opt Out Movement Biggest in Seattle’s HistoryA gathering of community groups, parents, teachers and students from across Seattle question the equity and validity of SBAC testingGarfield High School teachers and parents to announce their opposition to high sta
by mike simpson / 7min 
Join the Obamas and "Opt-Out" of High-Stakes Testing | Alan Singer
Join the Obamas and "Opt-Out" of High-Stakes Testing | Alan Singer: Join the Obamas and "Opt-Out" of High-Stakes Testing It was easy for Barack and Michelle Obama to opt-out. They send Sasha and Malia to the prestigious Sidwell Friends School in Washington DC where tuition is about $35,000 a year and students do not take high-stakes Common Core aligned tests. Michelle and Barac
1 by mike simpson / 17min 
Twitter Storm of the Century #Chuy2015
Twitter Storm of the Century #Chuy2015Toward Fiscal Sustainability: A New Approach in Prudent Fiscal Management of ChicagoClick here to go to Jesus "Chuy" Garcia for Mayor of Chicago Website‪#‎Chuy2015‬ ‪#‎imwithchuy‬Toward Fiscal Sustainability: A New Approach in Prudent Fiscal Management of ChicagoClick here to go to Jesus "Chuy" Garcia for Mayor of Chicago Website‪#‎Chuy2015
4 by mike simpson / 1h 
empathyeducates – Chomsky: The Corporate Assault on Public Education
empathyeducates – Chomsky: The Corporate Assault on Public Education: Chomsky: The Corporate Assault on Public EducationOur kids are being prepared for passive obedience, not creative, independent lives.By Noam Chomsky / Originally Published at AlterNet. March 8, 2013 | Pouring water into a vessel kills interest, deadens the mind, but makes students more passive and obedient and less trouble. (Pho
1 by mike simpson / 6h 
Blaming Teachers While Students Self-Destruct
Blaming Teachers While Students Self-Destruct: Blaming Teachers While Students Self-DestructAPRIL 6, 2015 BY NANCY BAILEY LEAVE A COMMENTTwo recent articles, and published comments, unfairly incriminate teachers as those who fail students. One comes from The Independent today, “‘Exam Factories’ Conditions at School Causing Children to Self-Harm, Says New Research”and is about the serious issue of
by mike simpson / 7h 
Thompson: Atlanta Is Still Just the Tip of the Testing Icebergs
This Week In Education: Thompson: Atlanta Is Still Just the Tip of the Testing Icebergs: Thompson: Atlanta Is Still Just the Tip of the Testing IcebergsThe criminal trial of a dozen Atlanta Public Schools employees accused of conspiring to alter and boost students’ standardized test scores opened on Monday. Credit Pool photo by Kent D. Johnson Once again, the convictions of the eleven surviving ed
1 by mike simpson / 7h 
NYC families to boycott state math, reading exams: activists - NY Daily News
NYC families to boycott state math, reading exams: activists - NY Daily News: Thousands of NYC families will boycott state math, reading exams: activistsSUSAN WATTS/NEW YORK DAILY NEWSThousands of city families will boycott the state’s math and reading exams, according to activists who oppose testing. Thousands of city families will boycott the state’s math and reading exams, which begin April 14,
1 by mike simpson / 7h 
Atlanta Is Burning | A Day In the Life
Atlanta Is Burning | A Day In the Life: Atlanta Is BurningSo I've had my blog off line for a long time.No one actually asked me why, or seemed to notice, one person told me I had poor editing I should work on, but I noticed how often-at first-I wanted to write to something, and then as months passed eventually I noticed that the world went on without me.I would like to comment NOW as a teacher, co
1 by mike simpson / 8h 
School closings inevitable if Emanuel wins second term ‪#‎Chuy2015‬ ‪#‎DumpRahm
Chicago Teachers Union | School closings inevitable if Emanuel wins second term: School closings inevitable if Emanuel wins second termBY CTU COMMUNICATIONS  |  04/06/2015CHICAGO—Rahm Emanuel’s refusal to seriously pursue any meaningful, progressive revenue solutions for Chicago Public Schools (CPS) funding needs will without question lead to further mass school closings in the city’s most disadva
1 by mike simpson / 9h 
The gap between rich and poor schools grew 44 percent over a decade. - The Hechinger Report
The gap between rich and poor schools grew 44 percent over a decade. - The Hechinger Report: The gap between rich and poor schools grew 44 percent over a decade.Growing money gap across 30 statesThe growing gap between rich and poor is affecting many aspects of life in the United States, from health to work to home life. Now the one place that’s supposed to give Americans an equal chance at life —
1 by mike simpson / 9h 
Chicago needs a mayor for the people! The people need to Tweet & VOTE #Chuy2015! Twitter Storm tonight 7-9 CT!
Chicago needs a mayor for the people! The people need to Tweet & VOTE #Chuy2015! Twitter Storm tonight 7-9 CT!Toward Fiscal Sustainability: A New Approach in Prudent Fiscal Management of ChicagoClick here to go to Jesus "Chuy" Garcia for Mayor of Chicago Website‪#‎Chuy2015‬ ‪#‎imwithchuy‬
2 by mike simpson / 10h 
NEA - Educators to spring into Wave of Action on eve of 50th anniversary of ESEA
NEA - Educators to spring into Wave of Action on eve of 50th anniversary of ESEA: Educators to spring into Wave of Action on eve of 50th anniversary of ESEANationwide actions to reaffirm LBJ’s ‘fierce commitment to the ideal of education for everyone’ WASHINGTON - April 06, 2015 -Families, students, educators, and communities across the nation will spring into an April Wave of Action to inject the
1 by mike simpson / 11h 
Jersey Jazzman: Camden State Superintendent Confirms: There's ALWAYS Money for Charter Schools
Jersey Jazzman: Camden State Superintendent Confirms: There's ALWAYS Money for Charter Schools: Camden State Superintendent Confirms: There's ALWAYS Money for Charter Schools - Earlier this week, Stephen Danley posted a remarkable piece of video. Camden's State Superintendent, Paymon Rouhanifard, met with parents to discuss the fate of McGraw Elementary School, one of five schools scheduled to be
1 by mike simpson / 11h 
‘Opting Haven out of the state-mandated tests is our family’s act of civil disobedience’ - The Washington Post
‘Opting Haven out of the state-mandated tests is our family’s act of civil disobedience’ - The Washington Post: ‘Opting Haven out of the state-mandated tests is our family’s act of civil disobedience’Parents Can Opt Out - United Opt Out NationalClick Here to go to United Opt Out National: Click Here to go to the Website- United Opt Out TeamClick Here to go to the Website FairTest New York has been
1 by mike simpson / 11h 
A case for cutting foreign languages from US schools - Quartz
A case for cutting foreign languages from US schools - Quartz: A case for cutting foreign languages from US schools Eva Moskowitz is the CEO and founder of Success Academy Charter Schools, responsible for about 9,000 students in 32 charter schools around New York City. Moskowitz sat down for an interview with the American Enterprise Institute this week, and talked about how to fit everything she d
1 by mike simpson / 11h 
At Success Academy Charter Schools, Polarizing Methods and Superior Results - NYTimes.com
At Success Academy Charter Schools, Polarizing Methods and Superior Results - NYTimes.com: At Success Academy Charter Schools, Polarizing Methods and Superior ResultsAt most schools, if a child is flailing academically, it is treated as a private matter.But at Success Academy Harlem 4, one boy’s struggles were there for all to see: On two colored charts in the hallway, where the students’ performa
by mike simpson / 12h 
School Superintendents' Association Pushes Congress on NCLB Rewrite - Politics K-12 - Education Week
School Superintendents' Association Pushes Congress on NCLB Rewrite - Politics K-12 - Education Week: School Superintendents' Association Pushes Congress on NCLB RewriteBy Lauren Camera on April 6, 2015 10:17 AMIn an unprecedented move by the nation's public school superintendents' groups at both the state and national level, AASA, the School Superintendents Association, and 49 state affiliates se
by mike simpson / 12h 
Low bidder says California will overpay testing contractor | The Sacramento Bee The Sacramento Bee
Low bidder says California will overpay testing contractor | The Sacramento Bee The Sacramento Bee: Low bidder says California will overpay testing contractorCalifornia education officials relied on three paper slips and a box to help determine who would win a nearly quarter-billion-dollar contract to overhaul the state’s system of testing students.At a state Board of Education meeting last month,
by mike simpson / 12h 
Could Rahm Emanuel Lose Chicago Race to 'Hanukkah Harry' Challenger? #‎Chuy2015‬ ‪#‎imwithchuy‬
Could Rahm Emanuel Lose Chicago Race to 'Hanukkah Harry' Challenger? – Forward.com: Could Rahm Emanuel Lose Chicago Race to 'Hanukkah Harry' Challenger?Election Pits Liberals Against Jewish Establishment Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel is in a race to retain his job against Jesus “Chuy” Garcia, a career politician with strong ties to Chicago’s progressive community. And, the upcoming Chicago mayoral el
1 by mike simpson / 12h 
John McDonogh Flunkie “Manager” Steve Barr Is Doing Just Fine in Los Angeles | deutsch29
John McDonogh Flunkie “Manager” Steve Barr Is Doing Just Fine in Los Angeles | deutsch29: John McDonogh Flunkie “Manager” Steve Barr Is Doing Just Fine in Los AngelesThe Los Angeles (LA) Times has a column entitled, “Chat and Selfie.” On April 4, 2015, the column featured “education rabble rouser Steve Barr.”The column featured Barr taking a “selfie” “in front of his Silver Lake (Los Angeles) home
1 by mike simpson / 13h 
Did Atlanta Educators Get Equal Justice Before the Law? | Diane Ravitch's blog
Did Atlanta Educators Get Equal Justice Before the Law? | Diane Ravitch's blog: Did Atlanta Educators Get Equal Justice Before the Law?Michael Klonsky posted on his blog these photographs of some of the Atlanta educators who were investigated for cheating; 11 were convicted and sent directly to jail to await sentencing (excepting a pregnant woman.) Superintendent Beverly Hall died weeks before the
1 by mike simpson / 13h 
Atlanta Teacher RICO Conviction is Blood Sacrifice to the Testocracy | EduBloggers
Atlanta Teacher RICO Conviction is Blood Sacrifice to the Testocracy | EduBloggers: Atlanta Teacher RICO Conviction is Blood Sacrifice to the TestocracyMake no mistake.The conviction of 11 former Atlanta public school teachers for cheating on students standardized tests has little to do with what these people actually did or didn’t do.It is meant as a message for the entire education profession: i
by mike simpson / 13h 
With A Brooklyn Accent: The Tragedies that Have Befallen Public Education in the Last 20 Years
With A Brooklyn Accent: The Tragedies that Have Befallen Public Education in the Last 20 Years: The Tragedies that Have Befallen Public Education in the Last 20 Years1. The closing of thousands of public schools in US urban areas, destabilizing communities and make them rife for gentrification and real estate speculation2. The ethnic and racial cleansing of US teaching force through school closing
1 by mike simpson / 13h 

YESTERDAY

Testing Games : Fire is Catching – If We Burn, You Burn With Us
Testing Games : Fire is Catching – If We Burn, You Burn With Us – Comparing Ed Reform to the Hunger Games | Welcome to the Testing Games: Testing Games : Fire is Catching – If We Burn, You Burn With Us – Comparing Ed Reform to the Hunger GamesWelcome back to the Testing Games. This week, in our comparison of current education reform policies to the popular, Hunger Games series, we will dive deep i
by mike simpson / 23h 
Good News, Transparency: Louisiana CREDO Data No Longer Exclusive to CREDO | deutsch29
Good News, Transparency: Louisiana CREDO Data No Longer Exclusive to CREDO | deutsch29: Good News, Transparency: Louisiana CREDO Data No Longer Exclusive to CREDO According to Louisiana-based Research on Reforms (ROR), between 2010 and March 2015, the Stanford-University-based, Hoover-Institute-run Center for Research on Education Outcomes (CREDO) was the only research body allowed access to decod
by mike simpson / 1d 
Seattle Schools Community Forum: Student Data Privacy Meets " Not Cooperative" Sped Parents in Massachusetts
Seattle Schools Community Forum: Student Data Privacy Meets " Not Cooperative" Sped Parents in Massachusetts: Student Data Privacy Meets " Not Cooperative" Sped Parents in MassachusettsIn what can only be termed "disgraceful," Tewksbury Public Schools accidentally released private student info about the out-of-district placements for 83 Special Ed students and rated p
1 by mike simpson / 1d 
Online Test-Takers Feel Anti-Cheating Software’s Uneasy Glare - NYTimes.com
Online Test-Takers Feel Anti-Cheating Software’s Uneasy Glare - NYTimes.com: Online Test-Takers Feel Anti-Cheating Software’s Uneasy GlareNEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. — Before Betsy Chao, a senior here at Rutgers University, could take midterm exams in her online courses this semester, her instructors sent emails directing students to download Proctortrack, a new anti-cheating technology.“You have to put y
by mike simpson / 1d 
Special Nite Cap: Catch Up on Today's Post 4/5/15 #‎Chuy2015‬ #rahmssecretemails
Special Nite Cap - Catch Up on Today's Post 4/5/15Special Nite Cap CORPORATE ED REFORMClick here to go to Jesus "Chuy" Garcia for Mayor of Chicago Website#‎Chuy2015‬ ‪#‎imwithchuy‬19 Million Hits on This Blog! | Diane Ravitch's blog19 Million Hits on This Blog! | Diane Ravitch's blog: 19 Million Hits on This Blog! Thank you to the many readers who have turned this blog into a go-to place
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19 Million Hits on This Blog! | Diane Ravitch's blog
19 Million Hits on This Blog! | Diane Ravitch's blog: 19 Million Hits on This Blog! Thank you to the many readers who have turned this blog into a go-to place for all interested in the battle to save and improve public education!Many reporters have told me that they check the blog to find out what is happening in education, since most of the mainstream media either doesn’t report on education or w
1 by mike simpson / 1d 





2015 National Conference – Chicago

The Countdown to Chicago Has Begun!

The Network For Public Education | 2015 National Conference – Chicago 
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Press conference in Seattle on SBAC testing | Seattle Education

Press conference in Seattle on SBAC testing | Seattle Education:



Press conference in Seattle on SBAC testing

I test
Press conference on SBAC testing:
Opt Out Movement Biggest in Seattle’s History
A gathering of community groups, parents, teachers and students from across Seattle question the equity and validity of SBAC testing
Garfield High School teachers and parents to announce their opposition to high stakes testing.
Technological malfunctions are creating testing chaos in schools.
Seattle/King County NAACP to announce position on the new SBAC exam.
Opt out numbers from schools around Seattle will be revealed.
Who: Parents, students and teachers from schools across Seattle, including Nathan Hale, Garfield, NOVA, Franklin, Chief Sealth, Dearborn Park, and more.
What: Press conference on growing opposition to SBAC testing
When: Tuesday April 7, 4:00pm
Where: Seattle NAACP Headquarters, 715 23rd Ave S, Seattle, WA 98112
Why: The movement to opt out of high-stakes, standardized testing in Seattle has never been bigger.  A growing number of schools around Seattle are experiencing unprecedented numbers of parents opting their students out of standardized testing, especially the new SBAC exams. Parent Carolyn Leith said, “I’m opting my daughters out of SBAC testing this year because these test are robbing our children of valuable class time.  My children are developing many skills–such as collaboration, creativity, and problem solving–that can’t be measured by this test.”
At the press conference, the newly formed organization “Seattle Opt Out” will reveal the numbers they have collected so far of how many students have opted out of the exams.  Parent opt out leader Anastaisa Samuelsen said, “Our newly formed Seattle Opt Out group has grown significantly, and raised parent’s awareness in every part of our District.  We have organized several regional forums around Seattle–and more are forthcoming–attended by dozens and dozens of parents.  Parents who vote.  Many have shared heartbreaking stories about the undue stress testing brings, and the dislike of school their children are developing.  We are very concerned about this.”  Parents from several of these schools will be on hand to explain why they have opted their students out of the tests including:
  • SPED parents who will talk about how these tests unfairly punish and demoralize their students
  • ELL parents who will address why these tests are not culturally or linguistically appropriate
  • Parents of color who will talk about the way these exams maintain institutional racism
This parent uprising against the SBAC is also being supported by teachers.  Teachers atNathan Hale, Chief Sealth, Ingram, Schmitz Park Elementary, Garfield, and others have issued statements about their many objections to SBAC testing.  As award winning Nathan Hale history teacher Doug Edelstein said, “Many teachers, educational researchers and parents have determined after responsible research that the SBAC tests could cause harms to our students. There is no valid reason to force these tests on Seattle kids.” Garfield High School Language Arts teacher Heather Robison added, “My conscience demands that I publicly and emphatically assert that high-stakes standardized tests like the SBA as graduation requirements and teacher evaluations tools are Press conference in Seattle on SBAC testing | Seattle Education:
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Join the Obamas and "Opt-Out" of High-Stakes Testing | Alan Singer

Join the Obamas and "Opt-Out" of High-Stakes Testing | Alan Singer:

Join the Obamas and "Opt-Out" of High-Stakes Testing








 It was easy for Barack and Michelle Obama to opt-out. They send Sasha and Malia to the prestigious Sidwell Friends School in Washington DC where tuition is about $35,000 a year and students do not take high-stakes Common Core aligned tests. Michelle and Barack chose this school because it offers children an enriched curriculum, not constant test prep. It was also easy for New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand to opt-out. According to her 2013 tax returns, her children, ages twelve and seven, attend the Capitol Hill Day School where they do not have to take high-stakes standardized tests either.

Wealthy celebrities who are part of the opt-out movement because their children attend or attended expensive private schools where they do not have to take high-stakes standardized tests include Tom Cruise (daughter Suri, Avenues school in New York) and the children of the Jolie-Pitt clan (Lycée Français de New York).
Now you can join Barack, Michelle, Kirsten, Tom, Angelina, and Brad and have your children opt-out of high-stakes testing too. Children from families that opt-out of the tests, even ordinary children like ours, cannot be punished in any way and it is not that hard to opt-out. NYS Allies for Public Education has a sample "refusal" letter and video instructions on its website. All parents have to do is fill out the letter and deliver it to the school principal, either in person or via email. They also recommend a follow-up call before the test dates to remind school personnel. Last year approximately60,000 New York State students refused to take the tests. In New York State, high-stakes Common Core aligned math and reading tests will be administered in grades 3-8 from April 14 - 16 and April 22 - April 24.
Karen Magee, president of the New York state teachers' union (NYSUT) is calling for a statewide boycott of the Common Core aligned tests in protest against new testing regulations and test-based evaluations of teachers propagated by Governor Andrew Cuomo. Despite evidence against the validity of evaluating teachers using student scores on these tests, Cuomo demanded that 50% of every teacher's evaluation be based on test results in their schools. Meanwhile, he is unable to explain how the 70% of teachers who do not teach tested subjects can legitimately be judged based on the tests.
Magee dismissed the tests as "not valid indicators of student progress" or of teacher performance. "I'm a parent. My child is in 11th grade at this point in time. Had he been a third to eighth grader, he would not be taking the test. The tests are not valid indicators. The American Statistical Join the Obamas and "Opt-Out" of High-Stakes Testing | Alan Singer:Association has said there is no direct link to tie these tests to student performance or teacher evaluation."
Merryl Tisch, Chancellor of the New York State Board of Regents, the governing body for schools in the state, is trying to undermine the growing opt-out movement by offering to exempt teachers from high-performing school districts from evaluations based on student test scores. But children in those districts would still have to take the high-stakes tests and sit through months of test prep.
Jen Debler, a middle school teacher whose own children attend school in a high-performing Long Island district is not tricked by Tisch's offer. She emailed me that "I am refusing testing for my children again this year because I want creativity to return to their classrooms. I miss projects, book reports, and artwork. My middle schooler wishes for more hands on activities. I see a stark difference in the learning experiences of my older child compared to my middle and youngest. A flurry of module based worksheets has left my first grader uninspired by math."
Long Island parents Henry and Christina Dircks also had both of their children opt-out from the high-stakes tests last year and they will opt-out again. They discussed it as a family and the children and parents all signed the opt-out letters. The Dircks family's reasons for opt-out were featured in a letter published by a local newspaper. Henry wrote, "I'm opting out my two children because I believe that these Join the Obamas and "Opt-Out" of High-Stakes Testing | Alan Singer:

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
Home
Click Here to go to the Website FairTest

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Twitter Storm of the Century #Chuy2015


Twitter Storm of the Century #Chuy2015













2015 National Conference – Chicago

The Countdown to Chicago Has Begun!

The Network For Public Education | 2015 National Conference – Chicago 


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empathyeducates – Chomsky: The Corporate Assault on Public Education

empathyeducates – Chomsky: The Corporate Assault on Public Education:

Chomsky: The Corporate Assault on Public Education

Our kids are being prepared for passive obedience, not creative, independent lives.

By Noam Chomsky / Originally Published at AlterNet. March 8, 2013 | Pouring water into a vessel kills interest, deadens the mind, but makes students more passive and obedient and less trouble. (Photo: Tim Platt)




The following is Part II of the transcript of a speech Noam Chomsky delivered in February on “The Common Good.” Click here to read Part I.

Let’s turn to the assault on education, one element of the general elite reaction to the civilizing effect of the ‘60s. On the right side of the political spectrum, one striking illustration is an influential memorandum written by Lewis Powell, a corporate lawyer working for the tobacco industry, later appointed to the Supreme Court by Richard Nixon. At the other end of the narrow spectrum, there was an important study by the Trilateral Commission, liberal internationalists from the three major state capitalist industrial systems: the US, Europe and Japan. Both provide good insight into why the assault targets the educational system.

Let’s start with the Powell memorandum. Its title is, “The Attack on the American Free-Enterprise System.” It is interesting not only for the content, but also for the paranoid tone. For those who take for granted the right to rule, anything that gets out of control means that the world is coming to an end, like a spoiled three-year-old. So the rhetoric tends to be inflated and paranoid.
Powell identifies the leading criminals who are destroying the American free-enterprise system: one was Ralph Nader, with his consumer safety campaigns. The other was Herbert Marcuse, preaching Marxism to the young New Leftists who were on the rampage all over, while their “naive victims” dominated the universities and schools, controlled TV and other media, the educated community and virtually the entire government. If you think I am exaggerating, I urge you to read it yourself (pdf). Their takeover of the country, he said, is a dire threat to freedom. That’s what it looks like from the standpoint of the Masters, as the nefarious campaigns of Nader and the ‘60s popular movements chipped away very slightly at total domination.
Powell drew the obvious conclusion: “The campuses from which much of this criticism emanates are supported by tax funds generated largely from American business, contributions from capital funds controlled or generated by American business. The boards of trustees at universities are overwhelmingly composed of men and women who are leaders in the business system and most of the media, including the national TV systems are owned and theoretically controlled by corporations which depend on profits and the enterprise system on which they survive.”
Therefore, the oppressed business people who have lost all influence should organize and defend themselves instead of idly sitting by while fundamental freedoms are destroyed by the Marxist onslaught from the media, universities and the government. Those are the expression of the concerns elicited by ’60s activism at the right end of the mainstream spectrum.

But in the ‘60s, something dangerous happened. Special interest groups began to try to enter the political arena and press for their demands. The special interests were women, minorities, young people, old people, farmers, workers.

More revealing is the reaction from the opposite extreme, the liberal internationalists, those who staffed the Carter administration, in their study called “The Crisis of Democracy.” The crisis that they perceived was that there was too much democracy. The system used to work fine when most of the population was silent, passive, apathetic and obedient. The American rapporteur, Professor Samuel Huntington of Harvard, looked back with nostalgia to the good old days when “Truman had been able to govern the country with the cooperation of a relatively small number of Wall Street lawyers and bankers,” so that democracy flourished, with no crisis.

But in the ‘60s, something dangerous happened. Special interest groups began to try to enter the political arena and press for their demands. The special interests were women, minorities, young people, old people, farmers, workers. In other words: The population, who are supposed to sit obediently while the intelligent minority runs things in the interest of everyone, according to liberal democratic theory – and this is no exaggeration either. There’s one group omitted in the lament of the liberal internationalists: The corporate sector. That’s because they don’t comprise a special interest; they represent the national Interest. Therefore their dominant influence in what we call democracy is right and proper, and merits no mention or concern.
One leading concern of the Trilateral scholars was the failure of the institutions responsible for the “indoctrination of the young” — the schools, the empathyeducates – Chomsky: The Corporate Assault on Public Education:


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Blaming Teachers While Students Self-Destruct

Blaming Teachers While Students Self-Destruct:



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Blaming Teachers While Students Self-Destruct

 BY  LEAVE A COMMENT
Two recent articles, and published comments, unfairly incriminate teachers as those who fail students. One comes from The Independent today, “‘Exam Factories’ Conditions at School Causing Children to Self-Harm, Says New Research”and is about the serious issue of students there harming themselves due to the high pressure of exams.
The other article, from yesterday, by Jay Matthews, “Why Can’t We Have More Teachers Like the Ones We Loved?” of the Washington Post, might seem like a folksy good nature yarn about highlighting the great teachers in one’s life, but the message I see is, how can we make all the bad teachers like the few good ones we have known.
Let’s look at the article out of the U.K. first. The report is serious, could have likely been reported in the U.S., and is worthy of grave concern. Students are hurting themselves due to high-stakes exams. It notes that harmful testing came from previous Education Secretary Michael Gove, but some of the comments blame teachers.  Here are a few of the U.K. statements that criticize teachers:
If our teaching profession was excellent with regard to the phonics provision in the first place, there would be more than enough time to be creative and no need to pull children out for intervention year after year.
And another:
Generally I can manage to sympathise with the ‘teacher’s lot’ when it comes to the Blaming Teachers While Students Self-Destruct:
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Thompson: Atlanta Is Still Just the Tip of the Testing Icebergs

This Week In Education: Thompson: Atlanta Is Still Just the Tip of the Testing Icebergs:

Thompson: Atlanta Is Still Just the Tip of the Testing Icebergs



The criminal trial of a dozen Atlanta Public Schools employees accused of conspiring to alter and boost students’ standardized test scores opened on Monday. Credit Pool photo by Kent D. Johnson


 Once again, the convictions of the eleven surviving educators for their role in Atlanta's infamous cheating scandal provides a "teachable moment" in regard to the inherent harm of high stakes testing. The Guardian's Max Blau, in Why the Atlanta Cheating Scandal Failed to Bring National Reform, cites Fair Test's Bob Schaeffer who says, “Atlanta is the tip of the iceberg. ... Cheating is a predictable outcome of what happens when public policy puts too much pressure on test scores.”

During the NCLB era, other cheating scandals have occurred in Baltimore, Camden, Philadelphia, Las Vegas, Houston, El Paso, Norfolk, Virginia and, yes, in Michelle Rhee's Washington D.C. As Schaeffer explained to the Christian Science Monitor's Stacy Teichner Khadaroo, in Atlanta Teacher Conviction: Do Standardized Tests Pressure Foster Cheating?, today's testing “creates a climate in school where you have to boost scores by hook or by crook.”
Khodaroo also cites Harvard's Daniel Koretz who explains why high stakes testing reveals just the tips of other dangerous icebergs. Koretz describes “shortcuts” that educators are encouraged to take, such as teaching to the “'power standards' – the types of items most commonly tested." He says that "states now routinely offer teachers old test items to use for test prep," even though that practice was frowned upon in the 1980s.
“'Clearly cheating is unethical, but at what point does this other stuff become unethical?'” Koretz says.
In my experience, these more subtle means of manipulating metrics are the most pervasive and thus the most destructive.
In my two decades of teaching and working with my school system's data, I have never witnessed cheating or anything that could be clearly defined as unethical. Although we scrupulously followed the NCLB regulations, those regulations allowed for an unbelievable array of loopholes regarding students who could be excluded from school level accountability reports (which were the metrics that were widely read and thus the most important.) And, few things are easier than using NCLB loopholes to reduce absenteeism and increase graduation rates. Although I have never seen outright cheating, neither would I ever again trust data that is based on NCLB metrics. 
My biggest complaint about the inherent damage done by high stakes testing involves an issue where it is impossible to even articulate an ethical position. Surely we can all agree that it is wrong to focus unflinchingly on students' weaknesses and on remediation, while ignoring their strengths and failing to challenge inner city kids to meet real standards of learning. But, if teachers don't agree to distort and cheapen instruction by concentrating on the reteaching of End of Instruction Tests to students who failed them the first time, an unconscionable number of low-skilled students will be denied a high school diploma. So, we all participate in education malpractice to a greater or lesser extent. 
Would inner city educators be more morally upright if we remained true to our values, taught our classes in the engaging ways that most benefitted our students who were on track for graduation, hugged our kids as they received their diplomas, and ignored the huge number of our other students who would end up on the streets without a degree?
And, that brings me back to Blau's question of why American schools are still oppressed by the test, sort, and punish policies imposed by top-down reform. Why have we not rejected the bubble-in accountability that has corrupted our schools in so many outrageous, as well as subtle This Week In Education: Thompson: Atlanta Is Still Just the Tip of the Testing Icebergs:
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