CURMUDGUCATION: Supreme Court Rules on IEPs + Don't They Understand...?

CURMUDGUCATION: Supreme Court Rules on IEPs:
Supreme Court Rules on IEPs

The Supreme Court has ruled on the case of Endrew F. vs. Douglas County School District, a case that gave the Supremes a chance to rule on just how much education is "enough."The case was brought by the parents of Endrew F., an autistic student whose education was, according to his parents, not nearly enough. But Douglas County Schools (Colorado) took the position that they had provided "de minimis" which is what some folks believe the law requires and what they interpreted to mean "the absolute least we can get away with, even if it's not very much."

How Douglass decided to let itself get dragged all the way to the Supreme Court is beyond me, but once the case arrive, many many many people decided to chime in because the case potentially had huge repercussions for schools across the country.

The court decided the case unanimously, and in a mere sixteen pages. Chief Justice Roberts wrote the decision, and it doesn't hand a full win to either side, but it does provide some clarification for the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) which will no doubt result in memos flying to and from special education directors across America.

Roberts referred back the case of Amy Rowley, centering on "starkly different understandings" of Free and Appropriate Public Education (FAPE) and another case in which the parents and school disagreed; the court somewhat split the difference saying essentially that the district wasn't obliged to provide every single item that parents demanded, but it couldn't just slack off, either. He also notes that in Rowley, the court was deliberately avoiding inserting itself as an ultimate definer of educational programming. 

In the case of Endrew, the parents had placed him in a private school after feeling he was stalled in the publics, and feeling that his IEPs were simply recycled same old same old. That was apparently even more problematic after the private school employed some strategies that helped with some of the behavior issues that had gotten in the way of his education (screaming, running away from CURMUDGUCATION: Supreme Court Rules on IEPs:

Don't They Understand...?

The attempts to do away with teacher tenure. The work to break the teacher unions, resulting in lower pay and less job protection. The initiatives for driving down teacher pensions. The legislative moves to take away sick and bereavement leave. The continued scapegoating of teachers. Lots of teachers look at all that and ask--

Don't they understand that this is making teaching less attractive? Don't they understand that this is making it harder to recruit and retain good people in the profession? Don't they understand that they are pushing people out the door?

Do they get it? Do they get that making teaching a profession that provides less and less job security, less and less ability to support a family, and less and less respect makes it less and less likely that people will choose teaching as a lifetime vocation?

There are, I think, three answers:

No, because teaching is a calling...

Some folks believe that teaching is such a calling and teachers are so closely identified with their profession that a teacher can't choose to not be a teacher any more than a tall person can choose to be short. It simply does not occur to these folks that a person has a choice, that a person can decide to enter the profession or leave it (and if the person does choose to leave teaching, well, that just Don't They Understand...?

The Rainfall Follows The Plow | Blue Cereal Education

The Rainfall Follows The Plow | Blue Cereal Education:
The Rainfall Follows The Plow



 I don’t know if this is a particularly good poem, but it’s certainly an educational one – if not in the way its author intended. 

The idea that otherwise cruel nature would have little choice but to respond favorably to man’s determined labor was neither original nor entirely faith-based. Nineteenth century American climatologists had been propagating such a theory for several decades. 

In other news, there were climatologists in the 19th century. Who knew?

The most famous expression came from Charles Wilber, a land speculator and writer who enthusiastically promoted the American West as the final frontier, the promised land, the cure for what ails you, and generally the bestest bestiest thing you could imagine ever – even if, upon first glance, parts of it seemed pretty darn barren: 

Suppose (an army of frontier farmers) 50 miles, in width… could acting in concert, turn over the prairie sod, and after deep plowing and receiving the rain and moisture, present a new surface of green growing crops instead of dry, hard baked earth covered with sparse buffalo grass. No one can question or doubt the inevitable effect of this cooling condensing surface upon the moisture in the atmosphere… A reduction of temperature must at once occur, accompanied by the usual phenomena of showers. The chief agency in this transformation is agriculture. To be more concise. Rain follows the plow.

Like many of his generation, Wilber wanted to have some scriptural support to go with his… temporal explainifying. Like many of our generation, he somehow managed to convince himself the primary purpose of God’s divinely revealed Word was to provide a disorganized and woefully incomplete science and/or history reference volume. Should there be pages left over to tease out the relationship of fallen man to his omnipotent Creator, well… bonus.

And every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew: for the Lord God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was not a man to till the ground. But there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground. (Genesis 2:5-6, KJV)

Change that third “and” to “because” and we’ve got ourselves plowing advice – only two chapters in, no less! So never mind the weather, or the soil, or history, or science – if you keep plowing, nature itself will bend to your Puritan work ethic. If it eventually rains, it The Rainfall Follows The Plow | Blue Cereal Education:

Charter Leaders Take A Weak Stand Against DeVos | Gary Rubinstein's Blog

Charter Leaders Take A Weak Stand Against DeVos | Gary Rubinstein's Blog:

Charter Leaders Take A Weak Stand Against DeVos

An editorial ran in USA Today recently penned by three CEOs of ‘high performing’ Charter Chains, Achievement First, KIPP, and Uncommon Schools.  It ran under the title ‘Mr. Trump, Don’t boost our budget while cutting education: Charter school CEOs.’

In the new budget despite massive cuts to education, the charter school industry will see a $168 million increase.  About this, the charter CEOs wrote:

As public charter school operators, we appreciate the proposed investment in new schools like ours.

But we cannot support the president’s budget as proposed, and we are determined to do everything in our power to work with Congress and the administration to protect the programs that are essential to the broader needs of our students, families and communities.

Budgets are statements of priorities, and this one sends a clear message that public education is not a top priority.

Of course the usual gang of ed reform cheerleaders received it enthusiastically:

And even some praise from charter school opponents:

I can see why an organization like the UFT might celebrate this piece.  For years there has been bipartisan support for the modern style of education reform which features charter Charter Leaders Take A Weak Stand Against DeVos | Gary Rubinstein's Blog:

“Ignoreland” Realized: Trumplandia 2017 | radical eyes for equity

“Ignoreland” Realized: Trumplandia 2017 | radical eyes for equity:

“Ignoreland” Realized: Trumplandia 2017

Bertis Downs, lawyer and everything-man for Athens-based group R.E.M., asked on social media what Automatic for the People song is most under-appreciated.

As this album approaches its 25-year anniversary—and in the weakening wake of the band calling it a day—we may be hard pressed to argue that any song on that collection is more relevant than “Ignoreland.”

The career of R.E.M. has some relatively clear eras—the independent phase spanning the 1980s, the popular phase associated with the Warner Brothers contract and the 1990s, and then the post-Bill Berry R.E.M.

It seems fair to argue that Automatic represents what makes R.E.M. an elite example of how a group can achieve significant popularity while maintaining artistic independence and credibility. In short, this is a beautiful album that may in fact have a collection of songs that are all under-appreciated.

Throughout their independent years as playing so-called college alternative rock, R.E.M. developed a reputation as a political band; Michael Stipe’s lyrics unpacked as such, even when they remained elliptical and more evocative than declarative, and then band mates themselves politically vocal and active beyond their music.

R.E.M. fandom seems to fall along the three eras above, with some clinging to the independent 1980s band but balking at popular R.E.M. and then abandoning post-Berry R.E.M. However, “Ignoreland” in many ways is a powerful link between the independent and popular phases.

From 1987, Document lays the groundwork for “Ignoreland” with “Exhuming McCarthy,” pop-song catchy and politically scathing. A compact distant cousin to Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, “Exhuming McCarthy” takes aim at the Reagan administration as a manifestation of all-that-is-wrong with U.S. corporate-capitalism as well as the need to keep the public afraid of creeping threats such as the 1950s Red Scare echoed in Reagan’s “Tear down this wall.”

It is damned hard to find better pop-culture political literature than “Look who bought the myth/ By Jingo, buy America.”

The U.S. did just that for twelve years—eight of Reagan and then four more with George W. Bush, who appears in “Ignoreland” with equally incisive lyrics: “How to walk in dignity with throw-up on your shoes.”

A great bittersweet reality of my life is that I no longer can anticipate a new R.E.M. album, no longer feel that rush of the first listen to unpack “Ignoreland” Realized: Trumplandia 2017 | radical eyes for equity:

CURMUDGUCATION: ICYMI: April Is No Fool Edition + Catch up with CURMUDGUCATION

CURMUDGUCATION: ICYMI: April Is No Fool Edition (4/2):

ICYMI: April Is No Fool Edition (4/2)

Keep reading. Keep sharing. I keep meeting people who say things like, "Boy, I wish I could blog about this stuff, but I just don't have the time/confidence/typing skills/etc." But you can take the things that you read and which make sense to you, and you can pass them on. Share what should be shared. Spread the word. We can all do that. Here's just some of what was worth sharing this week.


The Pahara Institute Proliferation of Corporate Ed Reformers

The indispensable Mercedes Schneider peels back some layers on yet another gathering-place of well-heeled corporate ed reformers. Some great research here and some disturbing new information.


Private Practice

Jennifer Berkshire interviews Ken Zeichner about how the attempts to break teacher preparation programs fit into the goals of the privatization movement.

Nashville's Charter School Industry Unraveling

Nashville has been out in front of the charter biz for a while. Now it's all starting to fall apart. 

What the Public Doesn't Know About High Performing Charter Schools in Arizona

Carol Burris takes another guest spot at The Answer Sheet to show one more example of how a supposedly high quality charter chaoin can turn out to be a big fat scam.

Madame Secretary, May I Offer You A Screwdriver?

Mike Petrilli provides a compendium of Betsy DeVos's tone-deaf missteps, including a few I'd missed, and suggests that she broaden her view a bit.

The Disadvantages of Competitive Learning

Nancy Flanagan makes a compelling case for keeping competition out of the classroom. 

Who Moved My Teachers

Patrick Caldwell at Mother Jones looks at how Scott Walker's successful war against the teachers of Wisconsin has gutted their school system 

Driverless

If you only read one piece on the list... Audrey Watters takes a good hard look at the Uber-education analogy that's suddenly a reformster fave. Here's where it falls apart and where it's view on the dangers facing public ed. 

Defending Public Education From Trump

Russ Walsh with some education-related thoughts about the resistance.

Betsy DeVos's Mom's Teaching Career

Mercedes Schneider has been on a roll this week. Here's a well-researched piece on exactly what DeVos's teaching career actually was. Follow it up with Schneider's piece on what happened to the school where Mom taught. CURMUDGUCATION: ICYMI: April Is No Fool Edition (4/2):

Catch up with CURMUDGUCATION

Big Education Ape: Catch up with CURMUDGUCATION - http://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2017/04/catch-up-with-curmudgucation.html

Russ on Reading: Defending Public Education from Trump's Tyranny

Russ on Reading: Defending Public Education from Trump's Tyranny:

Defending Public Education from Trump's Tyranny

Last week on his show, Real Time, Bill Maher introduced the Yale professor and author, Timothy Snyder, whose new book is entitled, On Tyranny. The book outlines 20 lessons we can learn from the rise of fascism and communism in the 20th century to make sure the same does not happen to us in the 21st century. Lesson #2 caught my ear immediately: Defend Institutions. Snyder says

It is institutions that help us to preserve decency. They need our help as well. Do not speak of "our institutions" unless you make them yours by acting on their behalf. Institutions do not protect themselves. They fall one after the other unless each is defended from the beginning. So choose an institution you care about - a court, a newspaper, a law, a labor union - and take its side.

OK, Professor Snyder, I choose public education as my institution to defend.

One way we can be sure that Trump and his minions are coming after our institutions is to see who the Tweeter-in-chief has chosen to head up various government departments. Almost to a person (Pruitt, Perry, Price), people who are opposed to the very institutions they are leading have been put in charge. If public education is to survive, we are going to have to fight for it. We cannot sit back and wait for this current nightmare to pass because by the time we wake up, it may be too late. It should be clear to all of us that the institution of public education is under a very real threat from the authoritarian Trump administration and its anti-public schools Secretary of Education, Betsy DeVos.

The appointment of DeVos was the clearest indication from the new Trump administration that public education would be under siege. Next came the Russ on Reading: Defending Public Education from Trump's Tyranny:

NYC Educator: Chalkbeat NY--From Reforminess to White Supremacy

NYC Educator: Chalkbeat NY--From Reforminess to White Supremacy:

Chalkbeat NY--From Reforminess to White Supremacy

Chalkbeat NY has been showing its colors for years now, but has managed to reach a new low. That's not easy. I once wrote for them, back when they were Gotham Schools, and was subject to the most brutal editing process I've ever experienced. (I found this curious because there was some reformy teacher guy who wrote abject nonsense for them that appeared to flow freely without regard to accuracy, and they had no issue running a blatantly stereotypical takedown of ATR teachers.) 

I've always questioned their judgment in links, but it has now started directing its readers to ultra-right wing Breitbart. (It now labels it a "national news organization aimed at ultra-conservatives," but that's not what it said the first time I saw the link. It called them simply "advocates.") For years I'd noticed them linking to every single NY Post editorial on the perfidy of teachers. It made no difference how nonsensical or baseless the attack. Of course every time the preposterous Gates-funded "Educators 4 Excellence" sneezed, there was Chalkbeat NY ready to report where every drop landed. 

Naturally, when self-appointed education expert Campbell Brown started a reformy website, Chalkbeat NY eagerly linked to it. I often see "The 74" there, and I figure if that's what their readers want, well, they can have it. 

But Breitbart is not merely reformy, or "aimed at ultra-conservatives." It's a veritable cesspool of hatred, and how the hell New York City's students, most of color, are supposed to be served by presenting Breitbart as a worthy source eludes me utterly. I mean, sure you can say "alt-right" instead of white supremacist, but at the end of the day you have to call a bigot a bigot, an anti-Semite an anti-Semite, and a racist a racist. I don't tolerate that in my classroom, but of course I'm a teacher. What could I possibly know about education? That's why you won't see me in Chalkbeat anymore. 

Chalkbeat's got a very different point of view, and just blew Trump's Education Secretary Betsy DeVos a big old wet kiss.  Betsy's done a heckuva job in Detroit, and wants to introduce that particular brand of wonder and beauty to America as a whole. While students just like ours try to motivate through neglected rat-infested public schools or abysmal charters with no accountability, you can be sure Betsy's BFFs are profiting handsomely off the misery of the children she claims to be serving.

Donald Trump is a textbook bigot. He appeals to the worst of people, and has managed to capitalize on religious hatred. He has Breitbart NYC Educator: Chalkbeat NY--From Reforminess to White Supremacy:

 

Why Are There So Few Films and TV Programs That Capture the Daily Work and Life of Teachers In and Out of School? (Part 3) | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

Why Are There So Few Films and TV Programs That Capture the Daily Work and Life of Teachers In and Out of School? (Part 3) | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice:

Why Are There So Few Films and TV Programs That Capture the Daily Work and Life of Teachers In and Out of School? (Part 3)

Hollywood and network television have filmed cop shows, lawyer series, and doctor programs again and again over the past half-century. From “Law and Order” and “Dirty Harry” to “The Good Wife” and “The Firm” to “ER” and “Patch Adams,” viewers have gotten a sense of how detectives do stakeouts and grill suspects, lawyers do briefs and argue in court, and doctors deal with patients and emergencies. And in the past decade, computers appear regularly in the filmed work these professionals do. These network, Hollywood, and cable procedurals  have been (and are) weekly fare for tens of millions of viewers.

Procedurals show how professionals do their work daily–allowing for the ever-present conflicts and resolution within 48 minutes for a network TV program or 90 minutes for a film. They reveal how cops, lawyers, and doctors not only follow step-by-step procedures, often using cell phones and computers in doing their job, but also that their work mixes with family life and friends creating dilemmas that spill over to their private lives. These are staples for U.S. viewers.

The accuracy of these TV programs and films is secondary to their entertainment value. Nonetheless, they do capture key activities of each professional’s craft.

What about teachers and teaching? In the previous post, I pointed out that new technologies have yet to “disrupt” public/private organization, governance, and instruction in K-12 schools–as they already have in print journalism. Moreover, there are distinctions that can be made between technologies that help students acquire content and skills (e.g., playlists, software games, personalized platforms) and the actual craft of teaching that requires much face-to-face contact through hour long lessons with varied activities, different groupings of students, and screen time to reach a teacher’s content and skill objectives.

But where are the procedurals that capture six hours in schools with children and youth and how being a teacher has its own dramatic moments and dilemmas that spill over families and friends just like cops, lawyers, and doctors?

I ransacked my memory of films and TV shows about teachers and teaching (yes, I used to watch network TV’s “Our Miss Brooks in the 1950s,” “Room 222” in the Why Are There So Few Films and TV Programs That Capture the Daily Work and Life of Teachers In and Out of School? (Part 3) | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice:

Trump’s Supreme Court Nominee Neil Gorsuch Denies Education for Some Disabled Children - Badass Teachers Association

Badass Teachers Association:

Trump’s Supreme Court Nominee Neil Gorsuch Denies Education for Some Disabled Children.
Gorsuch Then Misrepresents Why at a Senate Hearing

By John C. Fager

Neil Gorsuch, a George W. Bush appointee to the Tenth Circuit federal appeals court and now President Trump’s first appointee to the United States Supreme Court, in 2008 wrote a decision, Luke P. v. Thompson School District, that dictated a very weak standard for the rights of students with disabilities.

          And last year another Tenth Circuit case, Endrew F v. Douglas County School District, not one of Gorsuch’s but with the same weak standard he used in Luke P., reached the Supreme Court. 

But this time something joyful – yes joyful – happened at our Supreme Court.  The very conservative Chief Justice John Roberts lead the court to an 8-0 decision overruling the low standard used by the lower court judge in the Endrew F. case.  And, of course, what Chief Justice Roberts wrote about Endrew F. applies to Gorsuch because he used the same weak standard in his Luke P. decision.

          On page 14 of Roberts’ Endrew F. opinion (March 22) he wrote about what rights students with disabilities have today given the standard used by the lower Tenth Circuit Court.  He wrote, “When all is said and done, a student offered an educational program providing ‘merely more than de minimis’(underlining added by writer) progress from year to year can hardly be said to have been offered an education at all.  For children with disabilities, receiving instruction that aims so low would be tantamount to ‘sitting idly…awaiting the time when they were old enough to ‘drop out.’” 

          “Hardly… offered an education at all” and “awaiting the time when they were old enough to drop” out is a shocking condemnation of the standard used in Endrew F. and Luke P.  In other words the very weak standard that Gorsuch Badass Teachers Association:

Seattle Schools Community Forum: The Annual "Who Can Wear What" Discussion

Seattle Schools Community Forum: The Annual "Who Can Wear What" Discussion:

The Annual "Who Can Wear What" Discussion

There were two stories in the news around the clothing that girls are choosing to wear.  (And I hope everyone sees that I'm leaving the comments section up.)

The first story - very widely publicized- came from an incident last weekend where girls traveling with an adult who works for United airlines got stopped from boarding the plane because of the leggings that they were wearing.  There was a high-profile mom activist in line who saw this and started a Twitter frenzy that included a couple of actresses who stepped in.  United answered back but left out a key point (which hurt them).

The point was that for flyers using United's "buddy" rates, the airline requires a higher standard of dress (for men and women, boys and girls).  It was not that that what the girls were wearing was objectionable but that it was not up to the code.  The airline didn't explain how they created their code and frankly, I don't think they have to. 

They make their employees wearing uniforms and I would think that getting a big discount for your family might be worth dressing up more than you normally would to fly. 

One key issue here is this debate over whether leggings are pants or not.  To me, they are not.  I noticed at Facebook that many adult women say yes, they are pants and worn with a long tunic and boots are an acceptable outfit in public.  I would agree but the majority of women and girls who wear leggings are not wearing long tunics. 

The nature of leggings is that they are very clingy.  I think some of that is Seattle Schools Community Forum: The Annual "Who Can Wear What" Discussion:

Alison McDowell – What Silicon Valley Has Planned for Public Education | Poetic Justice

Alison McDowell – What Silicon Valley Has Planned for Public Education | Poetic Justice:

Alison McDowell – What Silicon Valley Has Planned for Public Education

This is really hard to watch but every teacher, parent, and grandparent needs to watch this through to the end. The truth of what has been going on in public education, what is happening now in public education, and what is planned for the future of public education needs to be understood and shared with the public. If not, our future will be determined by a small group of elitists.

We need a miracle uprising to take down this scheme.

This is  Poetic Justice’s idea of educational transformation:

Thanks to Christopher Chase and the Art of Learning Facebook page for the above graphic.

Please visit Alison McDowell’s blog Wrench in the Gears. You can download the slide show from the video. Feel free to use and share.

Share the TRUTH – the TRUTH will set us free.

Alison McDowell – What Silicon Valley Has Planned for Public Education | Poetic Justice: