The Auto-Tuning of Teacher Voices: VIVA and the NEA 360° Report on Education Accountability - Living in Dialogue

The Auto-Tuning of Teacher Voices: VIVA and the NEA 360° Report on Education Accountability - Living in Dialogue:

The Auto-Tuning of Teacher Voices: VIVA and the NEA 360° Report on Education Accountability

By Anthony Cody.

In December I published a post submitted by a group of teachers that had been working on a special project called the VIVA/NEA 360° writing collaborative. These teachers had been working on a report that was to offer a “new vision for accountability” for K12 education. Many of them were unhappy with the process that had unfolded, and what I heard from them reminded me of some experiences of my own in the past. There were 17 individuals involved, and all were offered the chance to share their individual points of view, and the posts that follow are from the seven individuals who chose to write. Before we get to those posts, I want to share my own perspective.

If a singer happens to sing a tune out of key, nowadays there is a way to use technology to fix that. Their voice can be “auto-tuned,” electronically altered so that it is in key. Something similar is being done to make sure that teacher’s voices are brought into key, and sing the tune that is desired. The series of stories I am about to share will show how that hidden process works, so that we can get a bit closer to the authentic voices of the teachers behind the microphones.

Over the past decade a number of organizations have emerged that purport to provide teachers with platforms from which they might be heard. Education policy, it is well known, often suffers from the absence of the teacher, and these organizations claim that they are providing teachers with that precious “seat at the table.”

There are a number of groups that have issued such reports – and I have been involved with several myself. In 2007, I was invited to participate in a project called TeacherSolutions, a team of 18 teachers which produced a report entitled Performance Pay for Teachers, Designing a System that Students Deserve. The team was sharp and professional, and when we gathered to discuss our final draft, there was a lively discussion over whether our final recommendations should allow for the use of test scores in teacher pay. I argued quite strenuously against this. However, at a certain point, a person on staff with CTQ stepped in and said “there are certain things the funder requires.” The bottom line was our report had to include some sort The Auto-Tuning of Teacher Voices: VIVA and the NEA 360° Report on Education Accountability - Living in Dialogue:

The Process and the Report: What Went Wrong

This post is part of a series related to the VIVA/NEA 360° Report. See an overview here. By Joy Peters. The process was laid out before us clearly: contribute a lot, be selected, write, and report. We did that. We had made the deadline. We were successful. We were proud of what we had produced. Everyone contributed though out all voices were heard. Each of us had taken time from our families, time

2 by Anthony Cody / 4min 

It’s Time to Speak Out: Comparing Reports

(This post is part of a series related to the VIVA/NEA 360° Report. See an overview here. You can download a summary of the changes to the report drafts here: What Was Left Behind, prepared by the same author.) by Petra Schmid-Riggins It’s late, silence echoes through the house, time to go to sleep. So why is an inner voice screaming, “It’s time to speak out.” The writers of the Writing Collaborat

2 by Anthony Cody / 4min 

Using Our Teacher Voices: the Fight to Be Heard

(This post is part of a series related to the VIVA/NEA 360° Report. See an overview here.) By Amanda Koonlaba. In October 2014, while on maternity leave, I received an email from Lily Eskelsen Garcia, president of the National Education Association, about participating in an Idea Exchange with VIVA Teachers. This Idea Exchange posed these questions, “A wide body of research suggests instructional

2 by Anthony Cody / 4min 

We Must Create Avenues for Authentic Teacher Voices to be Heard

(This post is part of a series related to the VIVA/NEA 360° Report. See an overview here.) By Enid Hutchinson. I became a teacher because growing up I loved my teachers, and, I loved working with children. When I was growing up, teaching was a profession that was respected and honored by parents, students and the community. I couldn’t think of anything else I’d rather do than work with children, m

2 by Anthony Cody / 4min 

Let All Teachers’ Voices Be Heard

(This post is part of a series related to the VIVA/NEA 360° Report. See an overview here.) By Nancy Kunsman. An email from National Education Association (NEA) president Lily Eskelson-Garcia in October invited NEA members to share our voices concerning best practices in education accountability. I tend to be one of these people who sign up, try it out, and move on, but the idea that intrigued me a

2 by Anthony Cody / 4min hide  //  save

Teachers Speak Out, Then Get Schooled

(This post is part of a series related to the VIVA/NEA 360° Report. See an overview here.) By Rachel Rich. I felt like I had won the Teachers’ Schoolhouse Sweepstakes as I opened an invitation to an NEA survey on “360 Degree Accountability”. How often do teachers get asked for an opinion?! I was equally blown away when asked to help summarize survey results and then present them to the NEA in Wash

2 by Anthony Cody / 4min 

The Auto-Tuning of Teacher Voices: VIVA and the NEA 360° Report on Education Accountability

By Anthony Cody. In December I published a post submitted by a group of teachers that had been working on a special project called the VIVA/NEA 360° writing collaborative. These teachers had been working on a report that was to offer a “new vision for accountability” for K12 education. Many of them were unhappy with the process that had unfolded, and what I heard from them reminded me of some expe

by Anthony Cody / 4min 

NYC Public School Parents: KidsPAC to Release Mayor de Blasio's Education Report Card on Sunday

NYC Public School Parents: KidsPAC to Release Mayor de Blasio's Education Report Card on Sunday:

KidsPAC to Release Mayor de Blasio's Education Report Card on Sunday

Join us at Tweed on Sunday at noon when we release NYC KidsPAC's Education Report Card for Mayor Bill de Blasio! Flyer below. 

Report Card Flier Final

NYC Public School Parents: KidsPAC to Release Mayor de Blasio's Education Report Card on Sunday:

If You’re a Teacher Who Denies Recess…:

If You’re a Teacher Who Denies Recess…

APRIL 17, 2015 BY NANCY BAILEY 1 COMMENT

If you are a teacher in a school where children are lucky enough to get recess, please don’t use it as a disciplinary tool. Don’t deny students with behavioral issues recess for punishment. If you do, not only will you not be doing right by your students, you will risk looking like you know little about children and their needs.

If you are a teacher with parents who don’t like recess, and I have known parents like this, you need to discuss the importance of recess with them.

The important thing is to know that other professional groups are increasingly understanding the importance of recess and they will point to teachers who deny recess as not doing right by children. Teachers will eventually look most unprofessional—even cruel.

Evie Blad at Ed. Week writes about how there are some places like Minnesota, where lawmakers might rule against permitting teachers to withhold recess as punishment. Many schools are insisting teachers not use recess as punishment. So teachers may no longer be legally permitted to deny recess to a child.

In fact, why teachers have not picketed for recess in general, that they haven’t been out on the frontline fighting for their students’ right to recess, always perplexes me. Teachers should stand with pediatricians and others who support recess.

How many times must it be said, that making children into workhorses with no breaks is tantamount to child abuse?

The fact that the teaching profession needs parents, wellness advocates and If You’re a Teacher Who Denies Recess…:

Elect an Educator – Candidate District 1 Louisiana Board of Elementary & Secondary Education - ELECT LEE BARRIOS

ELECT LEE BARRIOS:

Elect an Educator

Candidate – District 1

Board of Elementary & Secondary Education

Lee P. Barrios, M.Ed., NBCT

Campaign Kickoff

Dear Teachers, Parents, Concerned Citizens, and Friends:

I would like to introduce myself as a candidate for District 1 Representative for the State Board of Elementary & Secondary Education (BESE).   

As a National Board Certified Teacher with 17 years of experience in the classroom, I offer the educational expertise needed by the state’s top policymaking body charged with leading and advocating for a system of K-12 public education in Louisiana.

The model of reform that ultimately led to the 2001 federal No Child Left Behind Act has not contributed to meaningful, lasting improvements in education.  

The U. S. Department of Education’s current “Blueprint for Reform” has only succeeded in developing a culture of failure measured by high stakes standardized tests.

The ability of highly qualified educators to practice proven, researched educational strategies has been undermined and labeled “status quo,” and the public’s confidence in their effectiveness has been eroded.

The landscape of public education with its community schools and local governance is rapidly changing, diminishing participation, input, and oversight by parents and tax paying citizens. 

Curriculum is being narrowed and is no longer designed to meet the needs of our children, while the state’s method of measuring failure has only succeeded in proving that we cannot and should not standardize our children.

Let’s provide the equitable, quality education our children deserve and that we need to ensure that your investments in our communities and the economy of Louisiana grow.  Please offer your financial support for my campaign, along with your vote In October that will allow me to help transform BESE into a highly qualified leadership team responsive to the public that will move our public education system forward.

  If you would like to assist me in this effort, please attach the formHERE to your campaign contribution.   

Do not hesitate to contact me for more information about my goals for education or to schedule me to speak to the community or professional group of your choice.
  

Sincerely,

Lee P. Barrios, M.Ed., NBCT
P.O. Box 1456
Abita Springs, Louisiana 70420

Go to the  ELECT LEE BARRIOS Website

Listen to my 2011 Keynote Presentation at the Gillespie Memorial Community Breakfast:

"Winners and Losers: The Privatization of Public Ed"

ELECT LEE BARRIOS:

School board hires Hill, but not before board member Kemp scolds teachers, resigns and walks out of meeting - Burbank Leader

School board hires Hill, but not before board member Kemp scolds teachers, resigns and walks out of meeting - Burbank Leader:

School board hires Hill, but not before board member Kemp scolds teachers, resigns and walks out of meeting

 During a heated meeting packed with teachers who opposed the Burbank school board’s proposed choice for the district’s next superintendent, the board made the hire in a 4-0 vote Thursday, but not before longtime board member and retired teacher Dave Kemp submitted his immediate resignation and walked out of City Council chambers,  saying he was ashamed of the teachers’ behavior.

Matt Hill, who replaces current Supt. Jan Britz, will begin his new post on July 1.

Many teachers, along with parents, who filled council chambers Thursday night, spoke against Hill’s hiring, in part, because he does not have any teaching experience or credentials. They also pointed to his role in a $130 million implementation of a student management system that failed at Los Angeles Unified, where he had two years remaining on his contract as LAUSD's chief strategy officer.

“I can hardly tell you how disappointed I am in the board tonight for putting us and the community in this position,” said Lori Adams, president of the Burbank Teachers’ Assn. during the public comment portion of the meeting.

She encouraged board members to continue their search for an “experienced” superintendent to guide the 15,000-student district, winning applause from fellow teachers.

A few days earlier, the teachers’ union asked the L.A. County district attorney's office to look into possible violations of the state's open meeting law, the Brown Act, regarding the potential hiring of Hill as the new superintendent.

District officials reported that Hill had been selected as a finalist for the position on March 15, but nothing was reported out of closed session from that day's meeting. Public officials are allowed to discuss certain matters behind closed doors — including personnel matters — but votes are required to be reported in the open afterward.

Under the Brown Act, actions taken in violation of the law are voided.

In response to the union’s allegations, school board member Larry Applebaum said the district has been “overly transparent,” and when two former superintendents, Greg Bowman and Stan Carrizosa, were hired, their contracts were not made public until the meeting where they were offered a job.

During the meeting on Thursday night, Burbank High teacher Diana Abasta said Hill’s contract, which includes a $241,000 base salary, was an “insult.”

“I have never been so disheartened,” she told the board. “And you make me feel that it’s not good enough to be a teacher because you can bring someone in without any experience.”

Many also had issue with Hill’s salary, which totals about $36,000 more than what is paid to Britz, who took the district’s helm in 2012 and whose salary was raised to $205,000 last year from $190,000.

“This is one of those times I feel you guys are making a serious mistake,” high school teacher Jerry Mullady said.

Also in the audience was a Burbank police officer in uniform, which is not typical during Burbank school board meetings.

A few people pleaded with the board to hold off on voting until two newly elected board members — Steve Ferguson and Armond Aghakhanian, who are expected to take their oath of office in early May — have time to weigh in on the hiring process.

The current board, however, began deliberating over the next superintendent in November after Britz announced in October she would retire at the end of this school year, after 40 years in education and about a decade at Burbank Unified.

“Common Core’s all about evidence and argument,” said Burroughs High teacher, Jill Sullivan. “Make your case. What has Mr. Hill done that is so special to you?”

However, before they offered their insight, Kemp, a board member for 12 years and a teacher in the district for many more years, stepped down from the dais and walked up to the podium as the teachers had, speaking during the public comment session not as a board member, he said, but as a citizen.

Because Kemp did not seek re-election this year, the night was his final meeting as a board member, along with board member Ted Bunch, who also did not seek reelection.

“I am absolutely appalled and ashamed by [this] mob mentality,” Kemp said during his seven-minute address to the teachers.

“This is unsuitable. And I am so unhappy that so many of my former colleagues decided how I’m going to vote on this situation,” he said, adding that he’s been “raked over the coals” over Hill’s potential hire.

Even so, as he did during Tuesday’s three-hour public forum with Hill, Kemp spoke in support of Hill, 38, describing him as “a terrific young man.”

“I’m so ashamed of the people I always thought were such good friends and former colleagues that meant so much to me, that at this time, I can no longer be a part of this. I’m tendering my resignation to Dr. Britz,” he said.

He then picked up his belongings, handed Britz a yellow slip of paper and walked out of the chambers.

Shortly after, school board President Roberta Reynolds called for a brief break, and within 10 minutes, the meeting resumed — without Kemp — for additional public comments.

Then Ted Bunch, who has also served on the board for a dozen years, said he empathized with Kemp’s reaction.

“He feels betrayed by you,” he said. “I can understand why Dave said, ‘The hell with it and walked out.’ You have no confidence in us. You listen to what the union says and you eat it up like it’s steak.”

Fellow board members went on to offer their insight into choosing Hill as a finalist after a national search that brought the board a total of 18 candidates, which they whittled down to five to interview.

“If you think that I have not spent dozens and dozens and dozens of hours going through binders this thick of people’s qualifications, doing due diligence and doing vetting… I didn’t just leave it to a search firm to do it,” board member Applebaum said. “I want somebody who’s going to lead the entire district to greatness. I believe Mr. Hill could.”

Fellow school board member Charlene Tabet said she was looking for a leader “who wasn’t just what School board hires Hill, but not before board member Kemp scolds teachers, resigns and walks out of meeting - Burbank Leader:

Charter Schools Won't Solve Segregation | Demos

Charter Schools Won't Solve Segregation | Demos:

Charter Schools Won't Solve Segregation

One of the things charter school advocates like to point out is that neighborhood schools are class-segregated because access to them depends upon your ability to secure housing in the neighborhood. Jonathan Chait, for instance, had a recent post about this. Presumably this is meant to be a knock against neighborhood schools in comparison to charter schools. But charter schools, as far as I can tell, don't do anything to reduce class-based segregation and advocates for charter schools are actually very aggressive about pointing this out.

Skimming

One of the flash points in the charter school debate concerns the degree to which charter school administrators cherry-pick their students. The way this debate usually unfolds (Chait's somewhat naive "it's against the rules for charters to do that" argument notwithstanding) is one side provides specific evidence of charter schools skimming. Then the other side claims that any skimming that is going on is very limited and uses as evidence for this the fact that, overall, the schools are very demographically similar to nearby neighborhood schools.

As a rebuttal, I am not sure it really answers the criticism. After all, within any given demographically similar group, it is possible to isolate a subgroup that is disproportionately made up of the higher-performers in the larger group. Even in a school made up entirely of rich white students, there are some students who perform better than others.

For our purposes here though, it doesn't matter what you think of the success of the rebuttal because the underlying factoid of the rebuttal is clearly that charter schools are replicating the exact same segregation as neighborhood schools. Sometimes the charter school advocates seem downright proud of this, at least in the context of boasting about how their test scores stack up against richer and whiter schools.

Poor Methods

One of the other flash points in the charter school debate concerns the harsh and testing-heavy schooling methods some charter schools appear to use. For instance, in the Times profile of Success Academy schools, we learn that students spend what seems like an extraordinary time on test prep, that the schools cut out subjects that aren't tested, that students are publicly shamed for having low scores, and that students and drilled so hard that some literally piss their pants. Other charter school descriptions leave one with the impression that at least some charter schools operate like silent boot camps.

One rebuttal to this argument is that it just isn't true, that reports of this sort are exaggerated or only picking up the worst isolated incidents. I don't know what's going on (who does?) in aggregate in these schools, so this is at least a viable possibility.

But there is another rebuttal you often see. According to this rebuttal, these methods are actually justified because they are necessary to get poor kids to learn. They aren't necessary to get all kids to learn (the rich can still have relaxed schools with less testing, less pressure, and more subject diversity), but just poor kids because of the difficulties that come along with being poor. Josh Greenman's string of tweets in response to the above-quoted Times article is the latest person I've seen make this argument.

What's interesting about this position is that it's actually an argument for class-based schooling segregation. At its core, the argument says that through our imposition of deeply inegalitarian economic institutions, we have created socioeconomic disparities so great that children of different classes cannot be taught together. The rich kids need to go to schools that use the Rich Methods while the poor kids need to go to schools that use the Poor Methods.

If that's true, then that means that neighborhood schools are actually good, at least insofar as they rightly segregate students based on class (they may still be bad because they do that without then adopting the Poor Methods). So you see, the charter school advocate at this point has somewhat amusingly come full circle on segregation. They start out as horrified about segregation vis-a-vis neighborhood schools and then end out as saying it's crucially necessary for the proper education of poor kids (via the Poor Methods).

Busing

What's odd about the whole segregation debate (and whether neighborhood or charter schools are more or less exclusive) is that we already know full well how to desegregate schools. It's called "busing" and we used to do it. Under this busing strategy, what you do is you bus some kids from the rich areas to schools in the poor areas and some kids from poor areas to schools in the rich areas. Through this magic, schools are less segregated.

But the problem with busing, it turns out, is that rich people don't want their kids going to school with poor kids (or in the case of racial busing, white people don't want their kids going to school with black kids). Rich people, it also turns out, are quite politically powerful. And so busing was gotten rid of.

To me, the politics of busing are the most illuminating when it comes to the viability of schooling desegregation of any sort. People pretend to be clever when they observe that people "buy their way" into school districts, but the real clever person would note that the reason poor people can't live in many of these districts is because rich people don't want them to and have the political power to keep them out (e.g. through exclusionary zoning). At all times, the primary cause of schooling segregation is not a lack of possible fixes but a steadfast desire among rich people to maintain it and to keep the poor in ghettos away from them.

Nothing about charter schools seems poised to change that political dynamic and I don't see rich suburban parents pulling kids out of their nice public schools to send them to urban charter schools brimming with poor kids being instructed with the Poor Methods. Thus, I suspect nothing about charter schools will deliver significant desegregation and I therefore don't understand what charter school advocates are actually trying to accomplish when they bring it up.

• MAIN
 
• NEXT ›

Charter Schools Won't Solve Segregation | Demos:

Lily Eskelsen Garcia: Are Standardized Tests Ruining Primary Education? | News One

Are Standardized Tests Ruining Primary Education? | News One:

No Child Left Behind: Are Standardized Tests Ruining Primary Education?

No Child Left Behind was the reauthorization of the 1965 Elementary and Secondary Education Act and was supposed to ensure that all children had equal opportunities to excel in school.

In the process of making sure that all children have access to a quality education, an emphasis on testing was instituted, which seemingly changed the focus of educating our youth to focusing on a test.

According to the 2013 PDK/Gallup Poll of Public Attitudes Toward Public Education, 77 percent of Americans believe increased testing has either hurt or made no difference in improving schools.

On Thursday, Lily Eskelsen Garcia, President of the National Education Association, appeared on NewsOne Now with guest host Mo Ivory to discuss the reauthorization of No Child Left Behind and the impact that standardized tests are having in America’s classrooms.

Garcia minced no words when talking about how the emphasis on “toxic testing” has adversely impacted education, calling No Child Left Behind “No Child Left Untested.”

She explained that when the program was initiated in 2002, No Child Left Behind changed how children across the country were compared and assessed.

“But people who didn’t really know what they were talking about, who never actually stood in front of 39 kids the way I have, they said ‘And I guess we’ll just all make it on a standardized test.’”

Garcia added that children are being assessed through “one test, one time a year.” Once the scores are tallied, the children are ranked, labeled, and by way of this test, children in third grade are told if they can go to fourth grade and if a senior gets to graduate from high school.

“What we tried to say was that standardized tests give us some information, but it’s very, very limited. Some kids will never feel comfortable taking a standardized test. It’s why as teachers, as educators, we make sure that there were lots of ways for a kid to show us that they got it,” she said.

“It was never one test, given once a year that would determine whether a child was considered a failure and had to be retained or not graduate, or whether or not they were ready to move forward.”

Ivory highlighted that this practice is what led to the Atlanta teacher cheating scandal, because if students don’t meet the “cut mark” and are considered failures, those educating would be considered failures, putting their jobs and potential bonuses in danger.

What is even more shocking about the impact of the use of standardized tests revolving around “cut scores” is that if the numbers are not met, schools lose funding for art, recesses, and sports.

Garcia said, “Those kind of extracurricular electives were how they [students] got scholarships” to attend higher educational institutions. She also explained that in more affluent school districts, the standardized tests are not so heavily relied upon and are looked at more of as “a kind of annoyance.”

“But for our kids in our most vulnerable situations, they have obsessed over these tests so that they have narrowed what it means to teach and what it means to learn.”

Watch NewsOne Now guest host Mo Ivory and Garcia discuss how No Child Left Behind and standardized testing has adversely impacted education, especially in underserved communities.

Be sure to watch “NewsOne Now” with Roland Martin, weekdays at 9 a.m. EST on TV One.

Subscribe to the “NewsOne Now” Audio Podcast on iTunes.Are Standardized Tests Ruining Primary Education? | News One: