Between Little Rock and This Hard Place | The Jose Vilson

Between Little Rock and This Hard Place | The Jose Vilson:

Between Little Rock and This Hard Place

“She wasn’t with the rest of the other Black students. Can you imagine having all those harassers, reporters, and guards blocking her from letting her get into school?”

As I was listening to the ranger tell us the story of Elizabeth Eckford’s first day of school at Central High School in Little Rock, I found myself zoning out.

In a few hours, I’d be telling an audience of mostly white educators, business leaders, and students that they need to incorporate a sense of activism in their approach to loving and showing compassion for our kids. I had been nervous about this event because of the breakneck schedule I’d undertaken to get there.

Flight delays. Cancellations. Maintenance issues. Broken laptops. Snapped watches. Erased notes, remarks, and slides. Too many “first world” problems in a 48-hour window.

Our first morning in Little Rock, AR started with a casual breakfast and a visit to the Clinton Presidential Library, courtesy of Noble Impact and the Clinton School of Public Service. My poker face didn’t give much away in terms of my aforementioned issues or the critical thoughts triggered by different renditions of the 42nd president’s legacy in this country. Instead, I let the experience justBetween Little Rock and This Hard Place | The Jose Vilson:

Better Together Corporate Teacher’s Summit | tultican

Better Together Corporate Teacher’s Summit | tultican:

Better Together Corporate Teacher’s Summit

My wonderful friend, Dr. Larry Lawrence, sent me a message last March alerting me to a free teacher’s conference that he was going to attend. He had attended the first Better Together conference in 2015 and was sure I would love to see the common core love fest in action.

On Friday, July 29, National University hosted the San Diego “Better Together California Teacher’s Summit.” I like National University and have nothing but praise for the wonderful job Dr. Judy Mantel and her excellent staff did. However, the conference underwriter was the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation. That gave the proceedings a darker hue.

During the 2016 NPE conference in Raleigh, North Carolina, Diane Ravitch mentioned how much easier it would be if we got a deep pocket sponsor for our movement, but she jokingly lamented that Anthony Cody would not stand for it. When I arrived at the Town and Country Convention Center in San Diego’s hotel circle, I saw what she meant. They had breakfast prepared for all 700 of us. The ballroom was plushly appointed and there appeared to be hotel staff everywhere. Twenty event staff were already on duty when I arrived.

Unfortunately, I had not read the agenda closely enough and had already eaten. I was only hoping for free coffee.

The following graphic was periodically displayed while we were awaiting the proceedings.

Video link connected us with a simultaneous event being held at California State University, Fullerton. Three massive screens projected keynote speaker, Ernie Hudson who was in Fullerton. Besides being a popular actor, Hudson is a wonderful speaker. His speech was moving and entertaining.

However, I wondered if an accomplished professional educator speaking would have been more appropriate. For example, I will never forget the address Professor Yong Zhao gave at NPE Chicago but then he didn’t blame teachers for his son’s problems and he doesn’t support standards based testing. Hard to imagine Gates’ money being spent on a speaker that does not support Gates’ ideology.

The Sponsors

The money came mainly from the Gates Foundation, however, the official Better Together Corporate Teacher’s Summit | tultican:

Are Teachers Writing Their Own Epitaph in Favor of Online Instruction?

Are Teachers Writing Their Own Epitaph in Favor of Online Instruction?:

Are Teachers Writing Their Own Epitaph in Favor of Online Instruction

In places like Louisiana, teachers are being enlisted to help write online curriculum. School officials have determined that Common Core hasn’t worked out well. So isn’t it nice that they asked teachers to supplant Common Core by coming up with their own unit ideas?

Shouldn’t that make teachers feel good—that finally school officials, and businesses, and people marketing educational content finally believe in their professional worth?

Or, will teacher ideas become the online curriculum that eventually ends teaching careers?

Are teachers writing their own demise?  A recent report by Emily Talmage, about the political future of online learning, promoted by both political parties, should give us pause.

In my book Losing America’s Schools, the last chapter is about conversion of brick-and-mortar schools to online learning. Everyone is waking up to the fact that teachers may Are Teachers Writing Their Own Epitaph in Favor of Online Instruction?:

California’s Ed Reform Wars

California’s Ed Reform Wars:
California’s Ed Reform Wars
How long before a teacher is tenured? The legislature mulls it over.

American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten says that extending the time it takes to get tenure in California is a legitimate idea, but that such changes should be done through the political process, not the judiciary.

his past April, the California Court of Appeals unanimously struck down the controversial Vergara v. California decision, in which a Los Angeles County Superior Court judge ruled that five longstanding teacher protections—including a two-year probationary period for new teachers and a layoff system based on how many years one’s been teaching—violated students’ constitutional right to an equal education. The lower court judge had argued that these labor protections make it harder to fire bad teachers, and bad teachers significantly undermine a child’s education. In a 3-0 decision, the appellate judges concluded that the labor protections themselves are not responsible for harming students, even if school administrators sometimes implement them injudiciously.

Students Matter, a nonprofit backed by Silicon Valley entrepreneur David Welch that’s representing the Vergara plaintiffs, has filed an appeal to California’s Supreme Court. Their supporters argue that children pay the price for such job protections as teacher tenure and seniority. They also point toresearch that suggests making it easier to fire teachers has positive effects on student achievement. Critics counter that the real problems students face—particularly low-income students of color—are not teacher job protections, but their under-resourced, highly segregated schools that fail to attract and retain high-quality educators. At a time when states like California face realteacher shortages, they say, the focus on firing teachers is misplaced at best.

Since the lower court’s Vergara ruling two years ago, similar suits challenging teacher job protections have been filed in New York and Minnesota.

While David Welch and his allies remain committed to waging legal battles against tenure, seniority, and other job protections, they are also pushing for statutory changes via the California legislature. Following the original Vergaradecision, Republican lawmakers introduced apackage of three bills to extend the time it would take a teacher to earn tenure, to repeal the “last-in, first-out” statute that makes layoff decisions based on seniority, and to establish an annual teacher evaluation system. These bills, however, got nowhere in the Democratic-controlled statehouse.

“I think the Vergara decision helped increase public demand for improvements in our education system, but I always think it’s better when we can make policy changes through the legislature rather than the court system,” says Assemblywoman Kristin Olsen, the Republican who sponsored the teacher evaluation bill.

Back during the original Vergara trial, unions and some education expertsalso argued against making policy changes through the courts. A spokesperson for the California Teachers Association told The Wall Street Journal that legislators were already looking at ways to amend the contested laws, and Randi Weingarten, the president of the American Federation of Teachers, said that extending the time it takes to get tenure in California is a legitimate idea, but that such changes should be done through the political process, not the judiciary.

Today, however, local unions are fighting back against attempts to change California’s Ed Reform Wars:

 

Dallas ISD Pulls Plug on South Dallas "Community Schools" Pilot | Dallas Observer

Dallas ISD Pulls Plug on South Dallas "Community Schools" Pilot | Dallas Observer:

Dallas ISD Pulls Plug on South Dallas "Community Schools" Pilot

On a sunny morning in early May, a wayward DART bus pulled to a stop in front of Paul Laurence Dunbar Learning Center in South Dallas. From the porches of tumbledown homes, neighbors glanced with mild curiosity as the school’s principal, Dionel Waters, stepped aboard. Waiting for him on the bus was an array of local dignitaries, including a city council member, a state representative, a U.S. Congressman, the Dallas County judge, and the guest of honor, Robert Kaplan, the president of the Dallas Fed. The riders hadaccepted an activist groups’ invitation to tour hardscrabble Dallas neighborhoods that remain untouched by the region’s booming economy.

Waters stood at the front of the idling bus with a microphone and described for Kaplan some of Dunbar’s challenges. The previous school year, all but two of the campus’s 594 students qualified as low-income. The median household income for the surrounding neighborhood, which borders the sprawling parking lots on Fair Park’s eastern edge, is around $10,000 per year. Broken families are the norm, as are parents with criminal records. Unemployment in the area is staggering, with only a third of working-age men and around 40 percent of working-age women with jobs, according to census data.

Then, Waters pivoted. Together with Hank Lawson, who works for the community development nonprofit Frazier Revitalization Inc., Waters described a vision for transformational change at Dunbar. With support from the Texas Organizing Project, which organized the bus tour, Dunbar would open the 2016-17 school year as Dallas ISD’s first ever “community school.”

Community schools are built on the idea that education doesn’t happen in a vacuum. Poverty levels, family structure, health and nutrition, emotional well-being, and all manner of other outside factors impact academic performance and school quality. Creating a better school, then, requires addressing not only what happens in the classroom but outside social and economic factors as well.

Exactly what a community school looks like depends on the specific needs of the individual school and the surrounding community. Generally speaking, though, the model emphasizes getting parents, community members and teachers greater input in campus decision-making; forging partnerships with local businesses and nonprofits to provide programming and services the school can’t; and finding non-punitive ways to address student behavior.

It is billed as a more humane alternative to No Child Left Behind-style school reform, which can punish poor and heavily minority schools for poor performance without doing much to address root causes.

Community schools are meant to be transformational. A report released in February by the Center for Popular Democracy profiled eight campuses and school districts across the country that have implemented the community schools model with tremendous success.

One of the more dramatic turnarounds took place in Austin. Webb Middle School, a perennially low-performing campus in a working class Hispanic neighborhood in northeast Austin, was on the brink of closure in 2007 when neighbors rallied and convinced the district to give them a final chance to save the school. They turned to the community schools model and crafted a detailed plan based on feedback from parents and neighbors.

The school restored music and art to the curriculum, adding band, orchestra and a dance troupe. The Boys and Girls Club began offering after-school Dallas ISD Pulls Plug on South Dallas "Community Schools" Pilot | Dallas Observer:

Teachers union leader says next president must completely reset education policy and oust current education secretary

Teachers union leader says next president must completely reset education policy and oust current education secretary:

Teachers union leader says next president must completely reset education policy and oust current education secretary

Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), addresses delegates on the first day of the Democratic National Convention at Wells Fargo Center on July 25, 2016 in Philadelphia, Pennsyvania. Photo: SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images

ter playing defense for the better part of two decades, the presidents of the nation’s two teachers unions took the stage at the Democratic National Convention along with other union leaders to speak to Hillary Clinton’s labor bone fides. The two union presidents were some of the earliest and fiercest supporters of Clinton’s presidential bid, and in a speech on the opening night of the convention, American Federation of Teachers president Randi Weingarten talked about what she hopes they’ll get in return.

“She’ll reset education policy to focus on skills like creativity and critical thinking, not more testing,” said Weingarten at the July convention in Philadelphia.

While teachers unions have long been a key pillar in Democratic Party, they’ve been on the outs with President Barack Obama’s education department. The administration doubled down on Republican President George W. Bush’s educational agenda of holding schools accountable for students’ test scores. For struggling schools, if test scores didn’t increase, they could be either closed or converted into charter schools, the vast majority of which employ non-unionized staff.

“If you look at the platform for the Democratic Party, it’s the most progressive in terms of education that we’ve seen for as long as I can remember.”

Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers

These policies devastated some local teachers union, including Philadelphia’s, which lost 10,000 members during the Obama and Bush administrations. Weingarten expects Clinton to totally upend this agenda, and hopes that she’ll remove Education Secretary John King, who was just confirmed by the senate in March,

The Hechinger Report sat down with Weingarten during the last night of the convention to go deeper into what she expects from the next president.

Question: There seems to be a lot more talk about early education and higher education during this convention. Why do you think that is? What are the K-12 policies you would hope to see from a President Clinton?

Answer: She’s actually done four major speeches on K-12 education. It hasn’t been covered. I think it’s because it’s not controversial because it’s rooted in the evidence of what works for kids. She calls it TLC: teaching, learning and community. It’s about how do we ensure we have a great teaching force, and how do we nurture them and how do we lift them up? How do we have high standards, but also make sure we meet the needs of individual kids, including kids with special needs and kids who are limited English proficient?Teachers union leader says next president must completely reset education policy and oust current education secretary:

California Data Show Flaws in Federal Regulations - On California - Education Week

California Data Show Flaws in Federal Regulations - On California - Education Week:

California Data Show Flaws in Federal Regulations

When Congress passed the Every Student Succeeds Act in 2015, it was celebrated as relief from its predecessor, but as regulations emerge it's beginning to look like its evil sibling of the discredited No Child Left Behind Act's name-and-shame policy.  In a report released Monday two California organizations are pushing back with data.

A report issued by Policy Analysis for California Education (PACE), as a part of its research partnership with the state's CORE districts, argues that the summative single list of bottom 5 percent schools required in pending regulations would fail to indentify some of the schools that need comprehensive support.  The regulations would unjustly target some schools that were making good progress but whose overall scores were still low.

Data from CORE Districts

Authors Heather Hough, Emily Penner, and Joe Witte illustrate the issue with data from California's CORE districts, which include Los Angeles, San Francisco, Fresno, Long Beach, Oakland, and Santa Ana.  Although only six districts, they contain 923 more high poverty (Title I) schools than do 26 states.

Both academic performance and academic growth are required elements in the federal guidelines for academic measurement.  But as the graphic below shows, only a few schools fall in the lowest 5 percent of both low achievement and low growth in achievement (red dots).  For the most part, the schools with low achievement (orange dots) are different from the schools with low academic growth (blue dots).

Under pending federal regulations, achievement and growth, along with graduation rates and chronic absence, must be combined into a single indicator to pick the bottom 5 percent of schools for comprehensive assistance by an external body.  But analysis shows that each of the four operate independently.  For example, only 4 percent of the schools that were in the bottom tier of academic achievement were also in the bottom tier of results for English learners.

Seeking A 'Flashlight Not A Hammer'

This report is not just picking at nits with the feds.  The question of what schools are labeledCalifornia Data Show Flaws in Federal Regulations - On California - Education Week: as 

 Big Education Ape: CORE districts want state waiver to continue their work | EdSource - http://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2016/08/core-districts-want-state-waiver-to.html

A Little Ditty About Donald and Diane

A Little Ditty About Donald and Diane:

A Little Ditty About Donald and Diane

Donald Trump thinks the Common Core State Standards are a disaster and so does education historian turned anti-education reform advocate Diane Ravitch. This puts Ravitch and Trump in opposition to millions of parents, classroom teachers, national teachers unions, the Democratic Party and Hillary Clinton.

In a July 24 essay in the New York Times renouncing the standards, Ravitch wrote:

Six years after the release of our first national standards, the Common Core, and the new federal tests that accompanied them, it seems clear that the pursuit of a national curriculum is yet another excuse to avoid making serious efforts to reduce the main causes of low student achievement: poverty and racial segregation.

First of all, as Ravitch knows very well, the Common Core are not a set of “national” standards. They were created by governors and chief state school officers and adopted voluntarily by states. States can repeal them or amend them whenever they want and several already have. In fact, the federal government is prohibited by law from creating or mandating standards.

Second, there is not now and never has been a “pursuit of a national curriculum.” Conflating standards and curriculum is a cynical, coded appeal to the local control zealots on both sides who reflexively oppose anything with the word “national” attached and insist against all evidence that public education will magically improve without oversight and accountability.

Fighting Poverty and Segregation

As for fighting poverty and segregation, America has been fighting on both fronts for decades while allowing schools to languish in mediocrity. Noble as both goals A Little Ditty About Donald and Diane:

 

Peter Cunningham 

Executive Director, Education Post; Former Assistant Secretary for Communications and Outreach, U.S. Department of Education (Arne's Mouth)

Turkish president blasts foreign countries over coup reaction - World - CBC News

Turkish president blasts foreign countries over coup reaction - World - CBC News:

Turkish president blasts foreign countries over coup reaction

Erdogan seeking extradition of Muslim cleric and alleged mastermind from U.S.

Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday once more blasted unnamed Western countries for what he said was support for the attempted coup on July 15 which left more than 270 people dead.

"The West is supporting terrorism and taking sides with coups," Erdogan said.

• Erdogan overhauls military after failed coup attempt
• Turkey kills 35 Kurdish militants who attempted to storm army base

Speaking at an event for foreign investors in Ankara, Erdogan singled out Germany for criticism, after a German court ruled against allowing him to appear on a video link to address a crowd of about 30,000 supporters and anti-coup demonstrators Cologne over the weekend.

'We did not request documents for terrorists that you wanted returned.'- Recep Erodgan, on U.S. extradition procedures

Turkey had sent Germany more than 4,000 files on what he said were wanted terrorists, but Germany did nothing, Erdogan said. However, he said, courts quickly decided against him speaking at the rally.

Erdogan repeated a complaint that no foreign leader had visited Turkey after the failed coup, while France and Belgium received visits in solidarity after terror attacks there.

"Those we considered friends are siding with coup-plotters and terrorists," the president said.

Sweeping crackdown

The government says the coup was instigated by U.S.-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen, a former Erdogan ally who has been living in self-imposed exile in Pennsylvania. Turkey has demanded his extradition, but Washington has asked for evidence of the cleric's involvement, saying the extradition process must take its course.

Erdogan complained about the request for evidence, saying: "We did not request documents for terrorists that you wanted returned."

Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag sent a second document to the United States Tuesday seeking Gulen's arrest, the state-run Anadolu news agency said. The minister said the second letter explained why there was an urgent need for the arrest.

U.S.-based cleric Fethullah Gulen, whose followers Turkey blames for a failed coup, speaks to journalists at his home in Saylorsburg, Penn., on July 16. Turkey has asked the U.S. to arrest and extradite Gulen. (Greg Savoy/Reuters)

The government has launched a sweeping crackdown on Gulen's movement, which it characterizes as a terrorist organization and which runs schools, charities and businesses internationally. In Turkey, nearly 70,000 people have been suspended from their jobs on suspicion of being involved in the movement.

• Who is Fethullah Gulen?
• Why is Turkey blaming Gulen for the coup attempt?

"They requested certain information following our first letter; we provided answers to the question 'why is it urgent,"' Anadolu quoted Bozdag as telling reporters in parliament, adding that Turkey had intelligence indicating Gulen might leave for a third country.

"I hope that the United States decides in Turkey's favour, in line with democracy and the rule of law, and returns this leader of a terror organization to Turkey," he said.

The minister said that if Gulen leaves the U.S., it would be with the full knowledge of U.S. authorities.

Part of the crackdown against Gulen's network has focused on reforming the military, bringing it increasingly under civilian command. About 18,000 people have been detained or arrested, most of them from the military, and authorities have said the purge of those suspected of links to Gulen in the military will continue.

Calgary's Davud Hanci has also been detained in Turkey on allegations he worked for Gulen. His friends and family say he is innocent. 

Turkish soldiers detain Staff Sergeant Erkan Cikat, one of the missing military personnel suspected of being involved in the coup attempt, in Marmaris, Turkey, on July 25. (Kenan Gurbuz/Reuters)

Changes to military courts

Prime Minister Binali Yildirim announced plans to shut down two military high courts — the administrative and appeals courts — and said military courts, which deal with disciplinary issues, would be placed under the Defence Ministry's supervision.

The government has already issued a decree introducing sweeping Turkish president blasts foreign countries over coup reaction - World - CBC News:

Director of Special Education Division - Year 2016 (CA Dept of Education)

Director of Special Education Division - Year 2016 (CA Dept of Education):

State Schools Superintendent Tom Torlakson Appoints Kristin Wright as Director of Special Education Division

Kristen Wright — National Center for Special Education in Charter Schools - http://www.ncsecs.org/kristen-wright/

SACRAMENTO—State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson announced today that he has appointed Kristin Wright as the new Special Education Division Director at the California Department of Education (CDE). She begins her assignment September 1.

Wright has spent more than a decade working in education with a focus on special education. Since December 2014, she has worked for the California State Board of Education as an Education Policy Consultant and liaison between the State Board and the CDE on a variety of subjects, including special education, child nutrition, foster and homeless youth, and computer science.

In 2013 and 2014, she worked as an Education Programs Consultant within CDE's Special Education Division, serving as a liaison to the Advisory Commission on Special Education (ACSE) and consulting on program and policy matters related to California's Common Core State Standards and accessibility for students with disabilities. She served as a State Senate appointee to the ACSE from 2006 to 2013 and was chair of the advisory commission from 2009 to 2013.

"Kristin brings a wealth of professional and personal experience to this important position as a policy expert, a former special education student teacher, and a mother of a child with disabilities," Torlakson said. "California's students with disabilities and their families will find they have an advocate and an ally in Kristin."

Wright's public service career took a turn with the birth of her middle daughter, Shelby, who has significant intellectual and physical disabilities. Wright, who earned a bachelor's degree in sociology from California State University, Sacramento, returned to the university to earn a special education teaching credential and a master's degree in special education. She spent the 2008-09 school year as a special education student teacher in the San Juan Unified School District, the Sacramento City Unified School District and the Twin Rivers Unified School District.

From 2010 to 2013, she was a contract consultant providing special education research and other support to organizations that included the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Her work there included researching special education services provided by U.S. charter schools.

Wright replaces former Special Education Division Director Fred Balcom, who retired in December. Since December, the Division Director's role has been filled on an interim basis by Chris Drouin. California's public schools served 717,962 special education students ranging in age from newborns to 22 during the 2014-15 school year.

A Sacramento native, Wright and her husband, Charles, have three children: Ace, Shelby, and Violet.

# # # #

Tom Torlakson — State Superintendent of Public Instruction
Communications Division, Room 5206, 916-319-0818, Fax 916-319-0100

Last Reviewed: Monday, August 1, 2016

NYSAPE PR Opt Out 16 Results - NYS ALLIES for Public Education

NYSAPE PR Opt Out 16 Results - NYS ALLIES for Public Education:

   NYSED Declares Scores Not Comparable, Opt Out Grows Across State

 

This past Friday afternoon, the New York State Education Department (NYSED) released the results of the 2016 NYS Common Core 3-8 ELA and math results. Despite expensive ad campaigns from Gates-funded advocacy groups and the distribution of "Anti Opt-out" toolkits by Commissioner Elia aimed at persuading parents to opt in to state tests, the test non-participation rate increased from 20 percent last year to 22 percent.

As Chris Cerrone, a school board member and NYSAPE member from Western NY said, "Given Commissioner Elia’s public relation blitz across the state and all the interviews she did with the media, as well as all the money spent by the pro-Common Core groups, the increase in opt out numbers indicates that parents remain very concerned about the low quality of these tests and the direction of education in our state."

An increase in test refusals were seen across the state, including in large urban districts like Buffalo and New York City. In only 5 percent of districts statewide --38 out of 686 -- was the test participation rate at or above 95 percent for ELA and math.  If the current proposed Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) regulations are adopted, this would mean that the state would have to punish the vast majority of schools by giving them low grades or imposing aggressive intervention plans. (see chart below)

“Despite the relentless and well-funded PR push back we received in the city, more and more parents are becoming educated on just how harmful standardized testing is for their children. The increase in opt-out is a significant win for immigrant families, students with special needs and students from low income households. Our grassroots approach is resonating with parents seeking true equity in public education,” said Johanna Garcia, NYC parent and Co-President of District 6 President’s Council.

"Overall, these exams not only demonize our students and teachers, but the entire city of Rochester. I will not allow my child to take an exam that does not accurately reflect her progress. I'm not against testing, but I am against tests with no educational value," Eileen Graham, Rochester parent of 4th grader and founder of Black Student Leadership.

Long Island districts again this year opted out in large numbers, some as high as 84%.  Many other districts also experienced over 50% of student refusing to take the tests. (see chart below)

Jeanette Deutermann, Long Island public school parent, the founder of Long Island Opt Out and a member of NYSAPE said, "The opt out movement continues to expand despite the aggressive campaign to thwart our efforts and marginalize our voices. Parents demand nothing short of a complete overhaul to our excessive testing system, a ban on the mining of sensitive personal data, replacement of flawed Common Core with research-based standards, and a permanent decoupling of evaluations from test scores."

Despite their own warning that this year's test scores could not be compared to last year’s because the tests were shorter and untimed, NYSED still claimed that increases in this year’s ELA scores over last year’s scores justified their continuing to implement the Common Core standards and Common Core aligned exams. These contradictory statements undermine NYSED’s credibility.

The reality is that without a more careful analysis of the tests themselves, their length, and the impact of giving them untimed, it is impossible to ascertain if achievement increased, decreased, or stayed the same as last year.  In addition, the fact that so few schools and districts had a 95% participation rate also undermines their reliability.

“The fact that 95% of school districts in NYS did not meet the federal and state participation requirements significantly weakens the reliability and validity of test scores for accountability purposes. How can Commissioner Elia claim that these scores are valid or show any improvement in achievement,” asked, Jessica McNair, Central NY public school parent, educator, and Opt Out CNY founder.

“There is little doubt that parents will continue to exercise their right to refuse harmful state tests and right now it is imperative that Commissioner Elia and the Board of Regents advocate for a revision in the proposed ESSA regulations, or else face having to intervene in most of the schools in the state,” said Marla Kilfoyle, Long Island public school parent, educator, and BATs Executive Director

"Parents were very concerned when MaryEllen Elia was named Commissioner, due to her links to the Gates Foundation in Florida.  Skepticism was withheld to give her the benefit of the doubt while changes were discussed.  However, her continued failure to address the concerns of parents have only further eroded confidence in her leadership and in the State Department of Education," said Lisa Rudley, Westchester County public school parent and founding member of NYSAPE.

In response to increases in test refusal, Commissioner MaryEllen Elia attacked critics and claimed that parents refusing the state tests were unaware of “important” changes made to the tests. Bianca Tanis, Ulster County Public School parent and educator said, “The small changes and tweaks made by the NYS Education Department are simply not enough. Nothing has changed for the individual child and to suggest otherwise is just plain wrong.”

Said Leonie Haimson, Executive Director of Class Size Matters: "Between 2003 and 2009, the NY State Education Department engaged in rampant test score inflation, by making the tests and the scoring easier, without admitting this.  After that, the bubble burst and the scores fell radically with the introduction of Common Core-aligned exams, when our Commissioner was intent on proving to parents their children and their schools were failing.  I fear that state officials are still manipulating the scores for political ends.  It is no wonder that New York parents do not trust these exams to give an accurate picture of their children’s learning."

"NYSED must work more consistently with teachers, parents, and students, to create policy that supports whole child initiatives in every community. It’s tiresome to continue to sell our children and families short by engaging annually in narrow discussions about learning that only focus on ELA and mathematics, while continuing to neglect science, the arts, and civic engagement,” said Jamaal Bowman, Bronx public school educator and parent.

"Why would anyone support tests designed for over 60 percent of students to fail? If a teacher gave a test in her classroom where over 60 percent failed she would rightly question the validity of her test. This is insanity," said Tim Farley, Hudson Valley principal and public school parent.

It is clear that the over-emphasis and misuse of test scores with questionable validity and no educational purpose continue to rob our public schools of valuable instructional time and resources. Until the leaders of public education in NYS begin to focus on closing the opportunity gap by addressing the inequitable resources in our schools and heed the demands of parents and educators for evidence-based and child-centered educational policies, the opt out movement will continue to grow.


                        NYSAPE is a grassroots coalition with over 50 parent and educator groups across the state.

                                                                                                               ###

- See more at: http://www.nysape.org/nysape-pr-opt-out-16-results.html#sthash.KfKCIR6U.dpuf



More information contact:
Lisa Rudley (917) 414-9190; nys.allies@gmail.com
Jeanette Deutermann (516) 902-9228; nys.allies@gmail.com 
NYS Allies for Public Education (NYSAPE) www.nysape.org - See more at: http://www.nysape.org/nysape-pr-opt-out-16-results.html#sthash.KfKCIR6U.dpuf

Flint Water Crisis: Mr. Shuette I Am Shocked

Flint Water Crisis: Mr. Shuette I Am Shocked

by Mike Simpson I am shocked. Truly shocked that Governor Snyder has not been questioned by Shuette yet. Only one State Official from Michigan spoke at the RNC this year. Shuette. Four years ago, Governor Snyder had an oyster and champagne bar for RNC goers and was courting the RNC as a potential Presidential candidate. This time, not so much. We are not off the hook yet. Through his Empire like policies, Snyder is the milder, higher pitched voice version of Donald Trump. Snyder also has two criminal defense lawyers working for him at our expense. Regarding Flint, Dan Farough of Common Core Michigan said, "It is striking that the person who bears ultimate responsibility - GOVERNOR RICK SNYDER - continues to be shielded from scrutiny." So what did Shuette tell the Republicans gathered in Ohio about Flint, Michigan’s worst EM Law Austerity Camp? Shuette explained that pregnant women and newborns “still should not bathe or drink the water.” He told them that he was in charge, and more investigation was coming from his office. Sounds tough. It is true that he has ordered the Governor to stop tampering with the investigation, at the Department of Justice’s insistence. It is true that he has accused the Governor of not turning over documents. He has sued three engineering firms. He has charged nine people. He told the RNC that he had it under control. Before Trump spoke to accept the nomination, one might have even begun to feel safe that Shuette would do the right thing. Then, at the DNC, Flint Mayor, Karen Weaver called out Michigan’s Republicans for using the Emergency Manager Law “to take over control of the city.” That control, by one person, the Emergency Manager, who reported only to Governor Snyder is the problem. Let us not forget the emails in April of 2014, from the Department of Environmental Quality that show DEQ warned the Emergency Managers that the Flint River was not even safe for fish to swim in, let alone for people to drink. Let us not forget that the Emergency Manager went ahead with a contract to retrofit the Flint Water Department, but did not even bother to treat that polluted water. And so it is not so soothing that… well, I continue to be shocked, further still that Shuette will be arguing in favor of the Emergency Manager Law in the U.S. Court of Appeals. His argument? Wait for it….. U.S. Citizens are not guaranteed the right to choose their own local government. Based on this line of thinking, Austerity Camps like Flint will be popping up everywhere, just like mushrooms on the floor of the Detroit Public Schools, which was also run into the ground by the same law. It certainly seems to be a conflict of interest that Shuette would make this argument while investigating Flint. It indicates that only the folks low on the totem pole will feel any heat.

Read More about the Flint Water Crisis at Go Left America

How Schools in New Orleans Are Trying to Grow Children Like Monsanto Grows Corn – EduShyster

How Schools in New Orleans Are Trying to Grow Children Like Monsanto Grows Corn – EduShyster:

How Schools in New Orleans Are Trying to Grow Children Like Monsanto Grows Corn

A teacher in New Orleans sees some startling similarities between the education of the city’s children and the way that commodity crops are grown on industrial farms…

By Stefin Pasternak
The way we educate our children in many schools in New Orleans these days shares some startling similarities with how industrial farms raise commodity crops. Industrial farms prefer the complete uniformity of straight, orderly rows of a single crop rather than the organic relationships of different organisms that support one another in a true ecosystem.  Many of our schools prefer to educate children under the veil of a culture of straight, silent lines, seeking to produce identical outcomes rather than cultivating the organic interactions and freedoms that breed healthy children and communities.1

Industrial farms prefer to control as many variables in the growing process as possible instead of encouraging a diversity of variables to yield different growing environments.  Many schools try to control as many variables in the teaching process as possible instead of encouraging a diverse array of teaching styles and critical thought.

Industrial farms prefer to genetically engineer crops for yield at the expense of taste and nutrition, leaving us with a surplus of tasteless, nutrition-less food-like plants.  Many of our schools prefer to educate kids who score basic or above on a battery of How Schools in New Orleans Are Trying to Grow Children Like Monsanto Grows Corn – EduShyster: