Reading Between the Lines: Obama's Testing Action Plan - UNITED OPT OUT: The Movement to End Corporate Education Reform

Reading Between the Lines: Obama's Testing Action Plan - UNITED OPT OUT: The Movement to End Corporate Education Reform:

Reading Between the Lines: Obama’s Testing Action Plan

The following post is written by Morna McDermott and was first shared at Education Alchemy.

Reading Between The Lines

Is Obama’s Testing Action Plan, like Fruit Loops, part of a nutritious breakfast? Don’t believe the hype.

This has been over a decade in the making. In 2000 Business Week  listed the companies benefiting from the new boon in online education stating, “Dozens of new companies are springing up to serve the emerging K-12 market for digital learning. Investors have poured nearly $1 billion into these companies since the beginning of 1999, estimates Merrill Lynch.”

Obama’s “Testing Action Plan” declares a reduction in standardized testing! Is less testing a good thing? Yes, of course it is! But what are we getting in its stead? The privatizers are hoping we aren’t asking that, or hoping we won’t look. But we are looking and we are asking. These are the same folks who are driving the policies to privatize public education. What do they gain for reducing testing? Our trust? It makes them look good. And they hope it gets “us” off “their backs.”  But what are we getting in exchange for this?

Remember…the same folks crafting test and punish want to privatize public education. That is their goal.  We are getting rid of over-testing – yes….that is good. BUT … In lieu of that we are now going to have states outsource the “innovative” outcomes-based assessments to the edu-tech industry. Their mission accomplished. Federally mandated testing was getting too much heat. So they’ve built a better mouse trap. One they hope we will not recognize.

If the reduction or elimination of federal standardized testing were the GOAL of United Opt Out Nationalwe would find greater cause to feel hopeful. But we believe that HST was/is merely an instrument toward privatization (profit) and therefore testing refusal is a strategy to dismantle corporate reform. But corporate reformers have not  put down their weapons. They have changed weapons…and strategy. Our goal is not ending testing. Our goal is protecting children, public schools and democratic educational practices. And so our fight wages on with a new face.

This is what the “Testing Action Plan” (TAP) says:

The new plan will “include competency-based assessments, innovative item types.” It states also “The Reading Between the Lines: Obama's Testing Action Plan - UNITED OPT OUT: The Movement to End Corporate Education Reform:

Religion reads: Can teaching religion in public schools improve society? | OregonLive.com

Religion reads: Can teaching religion in public schools improve society? | OregonLive.com:

Religion reads: Can teaching religion in public schools improve society?

Good morning! "Religion reads" is a series of roundups where I share interesting religion stories I read during the week. I hope you'll use the comments section to share articles about faith and values you found particularly intriguing.

The Misplaced Fear of Religion in Classrooms (The Atlantic)

In this thorough interview, Linda Wertheimer examines the friction over teaching religion in public schools. Her conversation with The Atlantic provides insight into why some parents so strongly oppose any teaching about religion in public schools, how one district made it work and the myths that pervade about what's legal and what's not. "Some parents feared that if their children learned about another religion, they might fall out of love with their own faith. Or if a child came from an atheist or agnostic family, maybe he or she might suddenly want to embrace a religion," Wertheimer told The Atlantic's Melinda Anderson.

An Indiana Imam And His Non-Muslim Friend Want To Fight ISIS With Viral Videos (The Huffington Post)

An Indiana imam behind a project to dissuade teens from joining ISIS said the young men who go abroad to join the extremists aren't evil -- they're looking for meaning in life. With that in mind, he's trying to give Muslim youth information that counters ISIS's claims. "My hope and vision for this project is not just about the videos, but it is that the videos are inspiring a movement, reclaiming the faith, reclaiming the true meaning of jihad," the imam said.

God Hates Nags: Why in God's Name is Westboro Protesting Kim Davis? (Religion Dispatches)

Members of the infamous Westboro Baptist Church "have launched perhaps the strangest homophobe-on-homophobe attack imaginable," writes Rebecca Barrett-Fox, a researcher who has spend years studying the Kansas congregation. Westboro members picketed outside the courthouse where Davis works earlier this week. "Westboro Baptists argue that because Davis refuses to return to her first husband, she has made a mockery of Christian sexual ethics and needs to at least act with integrity as a hypocrite and issue marriage licenses to gay people."

Tense Vatican summit ends by opening door for divorced, punting on welcome to gays (Religion News Service)

A three-week-long summit on family issues at the Vatican ended Saturday, with bishops agreeing to be more inclusive of people who are divorced and remarried but not tackling whether or how to welcome gays. It was a tense synod revealing serious friction within the Roman Catholic Church.

-- Melissa Binder

mbinder@oregonian.com
503-294-7656
@binderpdxReligion reads: Can teaching religion in public schools improve society? | OregonLive.com:

Dear USDOE, Testing Disaster Is Yours, and You Still Don’t Get It: A Reader | the becoming radical

Dear USDOE, Testing Disaster Is Yours, and You Still Don’t Get It: A Reader | the becoming radical:

Dear USDOE, Testing Disaster Is Yours, and You Still Don’t Get It: A Reader

Let’s not miss that in the same week that vice president (and plagiarist) Joe Biden holds a press conference to announce what he plans not to do (o, the narcissism of the ruling class!), the U.S. Department of Education has come to some sort of Onion-esque realization that students are being subjected to an inordinate number of standardized tests (although it seems the USDOE is able only to worry about the redundancy and excessive number of tests).

The Ozymandias (I mean, Obama) administration has announced:

“Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!

Nothing beside remains. Round the decay

Of that colossal Wreck, boundless and bare

The lone and level sands stretch far away.”

And let’s not fail to acknowledge that such vapid bureaucratic nonsense is inevitably the result of know-nothings being appointed to positions of power (think never-taught Arne Duncan serving as Secretary of Education in the wake of Margaret Dishonest-or-IncompetentSpellings turning her hollow SOE gig into becoming president of the University of North Carolina, resulting in her bragging about having none of the background experiences typical of leading higher education).

You see, U.S. education became a test-corrupted venture in the early decades of the twentieth century, which was documented and confronted by Raymond Callahan in 1962 as the cult of efficiency.

Yes, 1962.

But know-nothings in positions of power can only confirm the truism: those unaware of the past are doomed to repeat it.

Finally, let’s be very clear that the number of unnecessary standardized tests equals anything greater than zero.

And to confirm that we are over-testing students—and that it isn’t a problem of bad tests orDear USDOE, Testing Disaster Is Yours, and You Still Don’t Get It: A Reader | the becoming radical: 

The new anti-testing police | @ THE CHALKFACE

The new anti-testing police | @ THE CHALKFACE:

The new anti-testing police

I am awash in analysis of the Obama administration’s walk-back of testing. See, from the NYT.

This is a somewhat hopeful shift in focus for an administration that has exponentially increased the amount of testing in the last several years. But this increase in testing would not have occurred unless this administration did not possess a legion of pawns stationed in various high-profile districts throughout the country. In what should have been plainly obvious to anyone with experience in bureaucracies (not saying I’m one of them), there began a struggle in schools across America to win the trophy of the most compliant.

States, Districts, and schools were incentivized for maximum compliance and lauded for the speed at which it was achieved. Teachers were in turn evaluated and scrutinized excessively for their compliance, micro-managed to the point where wall-hangings are subjected to detailed checklists. After years of pushing testing, the test-pushers are all in positions of power, from superintendents to school principals. They have no other compelling vision for education. The data and its meticulous measurement are all they know.

We cannot expect any changes in the very near term as a result of this announcement. Additional details won’t even be released until January. As far as I’m concerned, this school year is a wash in terms of any improvements in the test and punish culture. Despite this announcement, teachers will not see any improvements or changes in their jobs on Monday. As the context is clearly shifting around us, and the The new anti-testing police | @ THE CHALKFACE:

Louisiana Educator: The Louisiana Purchase of BESE Continues

Louisiana Educator: The Louisiana Purchase of BESE Continues:

The Louisiana Purchase of BESE Continues

It was a huge waste of billionaire money, and it could have been much better used if it had simply been donated to better fund schools that serve the most at-risk students. But instead it was used to perpetrate the strangle hold of the privatizers on the Louisiana State Board of Education. What a shame!

We now know that some of the best and most sincere supporters of public education have been removed from BESE and some extremely good educators have been barred from service for the benefit of our children. The billionaires now own BESE, but do they have any idea what to do with it?

I want to express my sincere appreciation to Dr Lottie Beebe and to Carolyn Hill for their support of our public schools and for fighting so passionately for democratic control of our public schools. Your efforts will never be forgotten. I only hope that you will continue the fight for our public schools in whatever capacity in which you choose to participate.

Thank you also to Lee Barrios, Kara Washington, Glynis Johnston, Johnny Fatheree, Jason France, and Mike Kreamer who all fought a good fight against the takeover of our public education system.

Lets all join together in supporting Mary Harris who is in a runoff in District 4 and Kathy Edmonton who is in a runoff in District 6. They will need our wholehearted support to succeed in maintaining a force for reason and democracy on BESE.

John Bel Edwards in his quest for governor is also a bright hope for the continued support of our public schools. Please support John Bel.
Thanks,
Michael DeshotelsLouisiana Educator: The Louisiana Purchase of BESE Continues:

CURMUDGUCATION: Obama's Testing Action Plan Sucks (And Changes Nothing)

CURMUDGUCATION: Obama's Testing Action Plan Sucks (And Changes Nothing):

Obama's Testing Action Plan Sucks (And Changes Nothing)

As I noted yesterday, the administrative announcement of "Wow, this testing things sure is out of control. We should do something." is absolutely nothing new-- we went through the exact same exercise last year. I know I have readers who don't care for the snark or language over something so serious, but damn-- this makes me so frustrated and angry that it's what I do to cope. So, warning, snark ahead, because I cannot believe that we are going through this same dance of lies and obfuscation again.

What's new this time around is a Presidential video and an action plan. But there's a problem with the action plan. The problem is that it sucks. More specifically, it doesn't represent any shift in administrative policy at all.

Let's take a look at this action plan that some folks are so excited about.

Start with the first three sentences:

One essential part of educating students successfully is assessing their progress in learning to high standards. Done well and thoughtfully, assessments are tools for learning and promoting equity. They provide necessary information for educators, families, the public, and students themselves to measure progress and improve outcomes for all learners.

Read those sentences carefully, because they make one thing crystal clear-- the administrations philosophy on Big Standardized Testing has not shifted so much as a micro-millimeter. The rest of the document simply underlines that.

The preamble goes on to talk about "bad" tests that have been proliferating out there:

--unintended effects of policies that have aimed to provide more useful information to educators, CURMUDGUCATION: Obama's Testing Action Plan Sucks (And Changes Nothing):

ICYMI: Edu-reading for the week

Hey, remember back before everyone was busy writing responses to the latest administration PR blitz? Let's travel back to that land of a Few Days Ago, shall we, and look at some of what deserved reading this week.

Is Success Academy Fighting Inequality


A good look at SA's policy's and involvement in NY lobbying


As a Weapon in the Hands of the Restless Poor

This is a long form piece that originally ran in Harper's back in 1997. It's Earl Shorris writing about his launch of the Clemente Class project, and if you don't know about any of that, this is a good introduction. But it's also an answer to a fundamental question-- is there a point to teaching classical humanities to the poor (or anyone)?

Dear USD, Testing Disaster Is Yours

Don't miss Paul Thomas's take on the current kerfluffle, including a great reading list to put the whole testing biz into historical perspective.

Newark: The Day the Dream Died

Bob Braun takes a look, from right on the front lines, at how things are headed south in Newark. A bummer, but a necessary read.

Should Reading Be Taught in Kindergarten? 

Reading expert Russ Walsh takes a look at this question and handles it with intelligence and balance, as always.

This Is What Has To Be Done 

Jose Luis Vilson, as always an articulate advocate for both the positive and the challenging. A good positive note to end this week's list on.

ICYMI: Edu-reading for the week

Food Trucks Are Making Healthy School Lunches a Little More Appealing - The Atlantic

Food Trucks Are Making Healthy School Lunches a Little More Appealing - The Atlantic:

How Food Trucks Are Making School Lunch Cool

The same fruits and veggies, coming from a food truck, just seems to be a little more appealing.

Getting high-school students to embrace healthy eating is an age-old battle. And when it comes to lunch, many eschew their school cafeteria in favor of eating off-campus, where healthy choices don’t always abound.

Now school districts are starting to lure their students into eating better—by getting their own food trucks up and running on campus.

“Food trucks are a great addition to school food service—both from a way to engage the older kids and a way to engage the community,” says Ann Cooper, the director of food services at Colorado’s Boulder Valley School District. “It’s part of a great overall marketing strategy.”

Last year, Boulder Valley became one of the first districts in the U.S. to startserving school lunches at a food truck during the academic year. The vehicle, which has been attractively styled as a cross between a rustic farmhouse and a milk truck, was funded by a $75,000 grant from Whole Foods Market.

Cooper says that though the truck mostly serves the same food as the cafeteria and the prices are identical, the students find the truck food more appealing.

“It’s meeting the kids where they are to provide a cool environment,” Cooper says. “There’s a different vibe to it, with music playing.”

In addition to rotating among local high schools during the week, the truck also comes to the district’s elementary schools for special events.

“Cafeteria participation has been up and so is the number of kids eating at the food truck,” she says. “So we’re getting a demographic that never [ate at] the cafeteria before … Kids who walked off campus are now eating at the food truck.”

This spring, the Minneapolis School District will start serving daily school lunch from its food trucks, which have successfully been feeding students at field trips and special events for three years. Like Boulder Valley, the truck will rotate among its high-school campuses.

“Principals have been begging us to get the truck out there,” says Bertrand Weber, the director of food services. “The main challenge is that we can’t keep up with the demand.”

Weber worked with chefs at local restaurants to develop recipes for the truck’s brown rice-based carnitas bowl, orange chicken bowl, and curry chicken bowl. They’re part of the district’s partnership with chefs to develop healthy recipes(such as beet hummus) made with local food.

“In just the first three weeks of this school year alone, we served 28,000 pounds Food Trucks Are Making Healthy School Lunches a Little More Appealing - The Atlantic:

Teachers Respond: Veteran Teachers Cry In Their Cars Too : NPR Ed : NPR

Teachers Respond: Veteran Teachers Cry In Their Cars Too : NPR Ed : NPR:

Teachers Respond: Veteran Teachers Cry In Their Cars Too

One in 10 teachers will quit by the end of their first year — getting through October and November: especially tough. Having someone to support you along the way can help.

Turns out there's a toolkit to help — as we wrote about this week. Thousands chimed in on Facebook, Twitter and in the comments section. Here are some takeaways from the discussion.

The "disillusionment phase" goes by another name:

"They may call it the "Disillusionment Phase" in this article ... it's actually DEVOLSON (dark evil vortex of late September, October, and November). It doesn't only hit first year teachers." - Jill Gorman Turner, on Facebook

Struggling as a new teacher is common:

"I can remember wishing several times that first year, 'maybe no one will show up today!' " - Kodyo, on npr.org

"I am a first year teacher and I have been struggling. This article really resonated with me and reading these comments makes me feel like I'm not totally alone. I feel like I am drowning most days and I often cry in my car ... I just feel so overwhelmed sometimes. It will get better, It will get better, It will get better." - Melissa Ivins, on npr.org

And experienced teachers can be right there with them:

"Hey, veteran teachers, it's still okay to cry in your car. Hopefully it happens less often, but if you're still crying it means you're still caring and that's a good thing." - Hilary Schardein, on Facebook

"Sometimes veteran teachers cry in their cars too. After 31 years of kids, parents and meetings a good cry (and a glass of wine) can help you gain perspective and try again the next day." - Lauren Schwab, on Facebook

But many veterans did say it gets better:

"There is such a huge learning curve your first 3 yrs. You are not going to be awesome until you are at least 3-5 years in. Hang in there. You'll get better." - Jackie Doerner, on Facebook

Some readers chimed in with solutions, ranging from systemic:

"I love working in education but - we need a national movement to improve pay, class sizes , performance assessment , and professional development." - Jeff Bockert, on Teachers Respond: Veteran Teachers Cry In Their Cars Too : NPR Ed : NPR:

The Billionaires Bought BESE in 2015, But They Didn’t Buy Edwards | deutsch29

The Billionaires Bought BESE in 2015, But They Didn’t Buy Edwards | deutsch29:

The Billionaires Bought BESE in 2015, But They Didn’t Buy Edwards

The Louisiana Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE) race has been bought again.

Here are the results:

District 1: James Garvey (71%); Lee Barrios (29%)

District 2: Kira Orange-Jones (69%); Kara Washington (31%)

District 3: Sandy Holloway (61%); Lottie Beebe (39%)

District 4: Runoff between Mary Harris (43%) and Tony Davis (37%)

District 5: Gary Jones (62%); Johnny Fatheree (38%)

District 6: Runoff between Kathy Edmonston (47%) and Jason Engen (19%)

District 7: Holly Boffy (53%); Mike Kreamer (47%)

District 8: Jada Lewis (52%); Carolyn Hill (48%).

Based upon the above results, the only decidedly-non-corporate-reform voice who might still be elected to BESE is Mary Harris.

According to Danielle Dreilinger of nola.com, at least $3.5 million has been spent on this 2015 BESE race:

Major education activist groups are again spending big on Louisiana Board of Elementary and Secondary Education races. More than $3.5 million has already come in to political action committees that support the Common Core standards and innovations such as charter schools and publicly funded vouchers.

It’s an astounding amount of money for a relatively obscure board. And the sum has already exceeded the 2011 BESE race — itself unprecedentedly expensive — even though it doesn’t count contributions made directly to candidates, nor most October spending.

The obscene amount of money pouring in from out-of-state billionaires (which, by the way, counts as “in state” money once it is funneled through a Louisiana PAC) is designed to keep corporate reform alive and well in Louisiana.

But this is not 2011. It looks like Democrat John Bel Edwards will become Louisiana’s next governor. He is in a November 21, 2015, runoff with Republican Senator David Vitter, who only garnered 24 percent of the vote to Edwards’ 40 percent.

Let us consider a possible (probable?) Edwards win in November.

In 2011, Louisiana superintendent John White was Governor Bobby Jindal’s golden boy.

This is 2015, and White holds no favor with Edwards. In fact, Edwards has publicly expressed his intent to get rid of White– and his words about White’s time as The Billionaires Bought BESE in 2015, But They Didn’t Buy Edwards | deutsch29:

Teaching Democracy: A Hands-On Exercise (Tara Kini) | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

Teaching Democracy: A Hands-On Exercise (Tara Kini) | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice:

Teaching Democracy: A Hands-On Exercise (Tara Kini)

This post is by Tara Kini, senior policy analyst at the Learning Policy Institute. It appeared in Education Week September 28, 2015.*

I had the privilege of teaching history and civics to 61 8th graders in San Francisco this past year. Our school is a segregated one: 75 percent of students are Latino, 60 percent low-income, and half are learning English. My teaching materials were limited–the district-issued U.S. history textbook was published in 2005; California has not adopted any new textbooks since adopting the Common Core State Standards in 2010 in any subject.

Learning about our system of government by reading about it in a textbook and listening to me talk about it had not felt terribly successful last year. A recentCalifornia Task Force on K-12 Civic Learning noted that nationally, fewer than half of eligible young people ages 18-24 voted in the 2012 elections, and that the U.S. recently ranked 139th in voter participation of 172 democracies around the world. I was worried that my standard approach to teaching civics was failing to prepare my students for their future roles as voters, jurors, and civic leaders.

Gaining the skills to meaningfully participate in our democracy is especially critical for low-income students, both because our current weak campaign finance laws allow those with money to speak louder in our democracy and because too many students from low-income families have parents who cannot vote due to their immigration status or criminal records. In California, voters must be prepared to read a 100+ page ballot pamphlet and decide whether to vote yes or no on dozens of state and local referendums on Election Day. Jurors may be called upon to listen to complex arguments about topics like trademark infringement and medical negligence. The ability to listen to the news, engage in civic debate within their communities, and make their voices heard to elected officials are just a few of the skills Americans are called upon to use when navigating a 21st century democracy.

So this year, I tried an approach to teaching civics that would get my students participating in government rather than just reading about it. Partnering withGeneration Citizen, each of my classes picked an issue in our community that the students wanted to address. Over a ten week period last fall, we went through a process of choosing an issue, studying it, identifying a goal for how to address itTeaching Democracy: A Hands-On Exercise (Tara Kini) | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice:

With A Brooklyn Accent: Why Teachers are Fair Game for Ruthless Politicians and School Officials

With A Brooklyn Accent: Why Teachers are Fair Game for Ruthless Politicians and School Officials:

Why Teachers are Fair Game for Ruthless Politicians and School Officials

I just had an epiphany. The reason school administrators have license to, and indeed can be ordered, to abuse teachers beyond acceptable limits is..... because they can!

The economy has so few jobs that provide decent incomes, job security, and humane treatment, that if teachers quit, they are unlikely to find other jobs which provide the income needed to meet their responsibilities. much less the respect that has been taken from them

Teachers are basically trapped. Many are single parents. Others have spouses or partners who have irregular incomes. More than a few could lose their homes if their family incomes dropped.

Plus, and this is also important, younger teachers have huge student loans to pay off.

If the rest of the economy provided real alternatives, teachers could tell their supervisors that they will leave rather than commit professional malpractice or accept daily humiliation.

But since most jobs in the nation are now part time and without benefits and since 51% of jobs pay $30,000 year or less, teachers can't just pack up and leave.

And since teachers unions seem to have lost the will and power to fight back, teachers are being crushed psychologically, physically and morally by heartless public officials who take advantage of their economic vulnerabilityWith A Brooklyn Accent: Why Teachers are Fair Game for Ruthless Politicians and School Officials:

In Newark, charter schools beef up for political fight | Moran | NJ.com

In Newark, charter schools beef up for political fight | Moran | NJ.com:

In Newark, charter schools beef up for political fight | Moran

The failure of urban schools, we are often told, can be traced to the apathy of urban parents when it comes to their children's success in the classroom.

It seems that in Newark, no one got that memo.

Because about 400 parents and their children crammed into the city council's hearing room Monday night, filling the seats and balconies, and overflowing into hallways where they strained to hear.

What drove that kind of passion? A bid by North Star charter schools to build a new K-12 building on an old parking lot in the Central Ward.

"We outnumbered the teachers union by 10-1, and that tells you where the mood of this city is," says Barbara Martinez, a spokeswoman for North Star.

Are charters “sucking the life” out of traditional schools?

This is something entirely new. Until now, the charters have paid little attention to politics. They have served as the city's political punching bag, like the passive kid on the playground who never hits back.

But lately, the charters have been taking vitamins and doing lots of push-ups. With nearly 1 in 3 Newark kids in charter schools now, they have a reserve army of parents, one that grows every year.

And they recently hired a professional political operative, Muhammed Akil, who has built a staff of 20 local people and intends to hire more.

"The growing number does affects the politics," Akil says. "And we intend to weigh in heavily."

This could change Newark's political landscape, just as the state prepares to yield control of the city schools sometime in the next few years.

One impact could be on school elections. The charter schools could finally outmuscle the city's teachers' union, as they did Monday night. North Star's new building was approved by a vote of 8-1.

But the bigger question concerns the charter schools' collision course with Mayor Ras Baraka, who made charter schools a chief target during his election last year and vowsnow to block any further expansion.

Baraka grudgingly concedes that many charters are doing remarkable work. But he says their success comes at the expense of the traditional schools, which lose state aid every time a student moves to a charter.

"It's about 60 percent of the kids we are ignoring because we are so enthralled with these schools," he says. "I have to worry about the kids from every school. I have to make sure one is not sucking the life out of the other.

---

MORE TOM MORAN COLUMNS

---

Let's look at that argument, first the merits, and then the politics.

Are charters "sucking the life" out of traditional schools? When a child moves to a charter school, state law provides that up to 90 percent of the money follows. The 10 percent is supposed to help the district cover its fixed costs, like buildings.

Baraka says that's not enough, and blames that formula for the cuts at district schools in recent years, which he saw first-hand as a high school principal.

"Ultimately, it's still about resources," he says. "We cut chorus. Then you go to athletic programs. You go into the clubs and newspapers. And after a while, you cut an English teacher, a math teacher, a technology coach."

But are charters really driving that? Trenton has frozen aid to schools across the state, despite built-in cost increases for things like health care and teacher salaries. And the state' makes no allowance for the growing number of students in Newark, which has mushroomed by 10 percent in the last three years.

"That is the core challenge, and it is independent of charter schools," says In Newark, charter schools beef up for political fight | Moran | NJ.com:

Alan J. Borsuk - 25 years into Milwaukee's voucher schools, lessons for Wisconsin

Alan J. Borsuk - 25 years into Milwaukee's voucher schools, lessons for Wisconsin:

25 years into Milwaukee's voucher schools, lessons for Wisconsin

Literally hundreds of schools.

Those are four important words, because they come from Jim Bender, president of School Choice Wisconsin, the advocacy group for programs that offer publicly funded vouchers to students to attend private schools in Wisconsin.

"We have talked to literally hundreds of schools that are considering getting into the statewide program in coming years," Bender said when we talked about the 25th anniversary of the launch of Milwaukee's voucher program.

It was the fall of 1990 when the national precedent-setting Milwaukee Parental Choice Program came to life, with participation of seven nonreligious private schools and 337 low-income students. There were a lot of limitations on who could take part. Total public spending in the first year: $733,800.

It's a vastly different picture now.

Many of the limitations are gone; an estimated 26,900 students who live in the city of Milwaukee are using vouchers to attend 117 private schools, the vast majority of them religious. Public spending for the current school year will exceed $190million.

And that's just Milwaukee. Vouchers became available in Racine four years ago, with a capped enrollment under 250.

The cap is gone now, and voucher enrollment is about 2,200, according to state estimates. That's about 10% of the Racine public school enrollment.

Then there's the statewide program. Now in its third year, the caps initially placed on it have been weakened and will fade in coming years.

This fall, outside Milwaukee and Racine, about 3,000 students are using vouchers to attend 79 private schools (out of a total of more than 650 private schools).

In total, that's about 32,000 voucher students, between 3% and 4% of Wisconsin public school enrollment. This year, kindergarten through eighth-grade students generally bring $7,214 each to their private schools; high school students bring $7,860.

Bender said he sees a lot of parallels between the statewide program now and the Milwaukee program in its early years.

And the long-term Milwaukee story has been one of changing rules to expand the program and who can take part.

Whether you like or hate the prospect of this happening statewide, you have to be naive not to think a similar track may occur in Wisconsin if pro-voucher Republicans remain in the governor's office and in majorities in the Legislature.

Support of vouchers among Democratic elected officials is around zero.

Lessons learned

What has been learned in the 25 years of Milwaukee vouchers?

A few thoughts:

■ Public opinion is fairly closely divided overall on vouchers, but whenever they've been made available, there has been demand for them.

No one ever has been required to use a voucher. How big is the potential demand?

Milwaukee might be nearing a point where the demand for religious schools levels off.

But statewide, there's big potential long-term.

■ Parental choice alone doesn't drive quality. This is the No. 1 lesson from Milwaukee, in my book.

In earlier days, quality control on schools was nearly nonexistent.

The idea was that if parents chose schools, that alone would drive quality. That's probably applicable to a lot of parents, but certainly not for a lot of others.

Uncontrolled quality in Milwaukee resulted in the existence of some schools that were scandalously bad.

Repair, in the form of financial and educational oversight, has taken years and is still not strong enough. Just look at some of the schools that still exist.

■ With such a small middle class remaining in Milwaukee, it is hard to picture private schools surviving on Alan J. Borsuk - 25 years into Milwaukee's voucher schools, lessons for Wisconsin:

Related Coverage

• Wisconsin's graduation rate gap widens to largest in U.S.

About voucher schools

Voucher schools are private schools that receive taxpayer money in the form of tuition payments for qualifying students. All voucher schools are private schools, and most teach religion. As of the 2014-’15 school year, 26,930 students in Milwaukee were using vouchers to attend one of 113 private schools.

The Milwaukee voucher program, officially known as the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program, was started in 1990 and is the longest-running urban school voucher program in the country. Students have to come from low-income or moderate-income families to qualify for a voucher. Once enrolled, they bring the participating school a voucher payment of between $7,000 and $8,000 annually.

The state Legislature created a Racine voucher program in 2011 and a statewide voucher program in 2013.

Hillary Clinton Endorses Obama's Reductions In School Testing Wrought By No Child Left Behind, Education Law She Voted For

Hillary Clinton Endorses Obama's Reductions In School Testing Wrought By No Child Left Behind, Education Law She Voted For:

Hillary Clinton Endorses Obama's Reductions In School Testing Wrought By No Child Left Behind, Education Law She Voted For

Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton said Saturday she supports the Obama administration's efforts to reduce unnecessary standardized testing in schools, despite a shifting record on the controversial law No Child Left Behind, of which testing was a centerpiece. Above, Clinton speaks during a campaign rally with her husband former President Bill Clinton in Des Moines, Iowa, Oct. 24, 2015. Reuters/Scott Morgan

Schools should stop testing children excessively, Hillary Clinton said in a statement released Saturday in response to the White House's announcement of an action plan to reduce unnecessary standardized testing in schools. But Clinton's own stance on education has varied over the years, with the current Democratic presidential contender sometimes critical and at other times in favor of the very law thatimplemented these rigorous testing regimes. 

"While testing can provide communities with full information about how our students are doing and help us determine whether we have achievement gaps, we can and must do better," Clinton said in her statement Saturday. "We should be ruthless in looking at tests and eliminating them if they do not actually help us move our kids forward," she added. 

In 2001, as a U.S. senator, Clinton voted for No Child Left Behind, George W.Bush's wildly unpopulareducation reform law at the core of which was testing. Although it expired in 2007, many of those elements, including the testing that many critics describe as excessive, remain. Now, the Obama administration has said it wants to solve that particular problem, unveiling a "Testing Action Plan" Saturday it said would "ensure that tests are fair, are of high quality, take up the minimum necessary time, and reflect the expectation that students will be prepared for success in college and careers."

Clinton said Saturday she supports those efforts. "I embrace the principles laid out today by the Obama administration because they move us in the right direction. Standardized tests must be worth taking, high quality, time-limited, fair, fully transparent to students and parents, just one of multiple measures, and tied to improving learning," she said. 

It was not the first time Clinton has excoriated excessive testing in U.S. school -- or appeared inconsistent on the issue. In August 2007 during a Democratic primary forum, during her first campaign for president, she said, "No Child Left Behind has been a terrible imposition on teachers and school districts and families and students." A month later, when asked how she felt about "the testing mania forced upon our children" by the law, she did not critique testing specifically, saying, "I believe in accountability," and, "There is a place for testing." Still, she admitted, "We've gone overboard."

On her campaign website, Clinton has called for "the right balance" between assessing how children are doing in school and spending too much time on test preparation. The nation needs a conversation about a "robust and engaging curriculum that engages students in the love of learning rather than narrowing our schools to focus primarily on test preparation," the platform reads. Hillary Clinton Endorses Obama's Reductions In School Testing Wrought By No Child Left Behind, Education Law She Voted For: