Teachers unions on the rise again in New Orleans, 10 years after charters pushed them out - The Hechinger Report

Teachers unions on the rise again in New Orleans, 10 years after charters pushed them out - The Hechinger Report:
Teachers unions on the rise again in New Orleans, 10 years after charters pushed them out

 Teachers sporting “proud to be charter and union” buttons filled almost every seat in Morris Jeff Community School’s library on Tuesday in anticipation of the New Orleans campus’ board of directors vote to recognize their union.

The room buzzed with excitement, and the audience was rewarded with a unanimous board acknowledgement of the union, putting the five-year old charter school onto a barely blazed trail.

Like most urban districts, teachers in the New Orleans Public Schools for decades worked under union-negotiated contracts. But after Hurricane Katrina in 2005, with devastated infrastructure and too few students, the school year was effectively cancelled and the city’s teachers were eventually laid off.

That set off a sweeping wrongful termination lawsuit on behalf of nearly 7,000 teachers that was dismissed by the Louisiana Supreme Court in October but still has a slight chance before the U.S. Supreme Court. With the state takeover of a majority of the district’s schools, and the eventual chartering of all but five city schools, collective bargaining essentially disappeared.

Related: Do charter schools need teachers unions?    

The move by the Morris Jeff board to establish a contract with the union is the second action by a city charter school in the past month that indicates teachers — and school operators — may be willing to give unions a role in education.

Broadly speaking, charters were envisioned as a way to free educators from following tightly scripted tradition and common practice in education, and that includes running a campus without unions. Still, unions are popping up at charter schools nationwide, though it’s by no means a swelling trend.

The American Federation of Teachers, one of the country’s two major teachers unions, said it has collective bargaining contracts with 213 charter schools. The National Education Association didn’t immediately respond to a request for precisely how many charters it’s involved with, but has indicated in previous reports that it represents hundreds more.

Three weeks ago, the United Teachers of New Orleans, AFT’s local affiliate, secured its first collective-bargaining contract of the past decade, at Benjamin Franklin High School.

“It is the first and only charter school in the state to have collective bargaining,” UTNO President Larry Carter said.

Franklin’s board unanimously approved the 25-page agreement. The highly rated charter high school, located on the University of New Orleans campus, requires students to test in and is overseen by the Orleans Parish School Board.

Franklin teachers began to organize about a year ago, after staff noticed discrepancies in their salaries.

Now the Morris Jeff teachers are right behind them, and seeking their guidance.

Third-grade teacher Rowan Shafer said she and her colleagues have talked with Benjamin Franklin staff.

“Mostly, we’re really looking forward to having open dialogue,” Shafer said.

Shafer was part of the group that first organized at Morris Jeff. The charter school actually was the first in the city to recognize a teacher’s association. That happened two years ago when the board recognized the Morris Jeff Association of Educators, but that group never negotiated a contract with the board.

Related: In New Orleans schools, decentralization creates confusion over who exactly is in charge when there’s a problem

Tuesday’s vote recognized that a majority of teachers petitioned to move to a new group, supported by the United Teachers of New Orleans (UTNO) and American Federation of Teachers (AFT). UTNO is the longstanding union that used to represent teachers before Teachers unions on the rise again in New Orleans, 10 years after charters pushed them out - The Hechinger Report:

Department of Education Believes Video Games are the Future of Learning - Yahoo Games

Department of Education Believes Video Games are the Future of Learning - Yahoo Games:

Department of Education Believes Video Games are the Future of Learning

 VIDEO: MinecraftEdu is Coming To Schools Near You [07:10]

Kids are playing more video games than ever these days. At least according to data from the US Department of Education. That might be cause for some to worry about the intellectual future of the next generation, but Erik Martin disagrees.

Martin is in charge of the Department of Education's Games for Learning program, which will hold a conference to discuss the future of video games and schooling. Speaking to Polygon, he said, "If you look at the life of a student a lot of [them] play on average about 10,000 hours of video games by the time they are graduating high school. That is almost the same amount of time they are spending in schools. You can imagine a lot of the time which of the two activities they might feel more engaged in or more relevant."

Right now, educational games have some hefty stereotypes associated with them. By bringing educators, researchers, students, and game makers together, Martin thinks that can change.

"If you can take that experience of getting outside of school and make it feel just as relevant and just as compelling when they're in school learning stuff and doing stuff and doing something that's interesting and educational, that's the bridging we want to provide."

"This is not about looking at games because they are cool or they are fun, they're a real educational solution."

One of gaming's largest publishers, Ubisoft, will be attending the conference and presenting about games like Assassin's Creed which relies on a high degree of historical accuracy. "Over the years we've heard of universities across US using the games to engage students," Ubisoft Public relations director Michael Beadle told Polygon. "[They] compare the in-game history with the history they learned in class to show students what these periods of history look like visually."

Ubisoft consults with historians and linguists to ensure accuracy for many of their characters and groups, including the Kanien'kesga:ka (Mohawk) nation from Assassin's Creed III as Forbes explains in this article. "History is a core component of the Assassins' Creed franchise," Beadle said, "and one that we know has taught millions of players over the years about key characters and historical events by experiencing pivotal moments in history."

Games for Learning is just the most recent initiative to push for integrating video games into schools. Almost three years ago, we reported on a special version of Minecraft that had been adapted to help Department of Education Believes Video Games are the Future of Learning - Yahoo Games:

New York standardized test boycott: Parents oppose emphasis on results - San Jose Mercury News

New York standardized test boycott: Parents oppose emphasis on results - San Jose Mercury News:

New York standardized test boycott: Parents oppose emphasis on results

BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) -- Parent leaders of the movement to boycott New York's standardized tests say opting children out could do more for their education than the tests could.

As English assessments are given Tuesday through Thursday to more than 1 million third- through eighth-grade students, tens of thousands of others are expected, with their parents' permission, to refuse to take them with the hope of eventually changing state policy.

Parent critics and teachers unions say the tests and time spent preparing for them take away from creative instruction and that tying results to annual teacher and school rankings has only worsened the problem.

"The connection between these tests and the teacher evaluations and the school evaluations has changed the entire culture of what our kids are experiencing in school," said parent Eric Mihelbergel, whose fourth- and seventh-grade daughters will sit out the tests in the Kenmore-Tonawanda school district outside Buffalo. "Instead of the focus being on the student in school, now the focus is on the test."

Last year, about 49,000 students did not take the ELA test and about 67,000 sat out the math tests, according to the state Education Department. About 1.1 million students took each test. This year's math tests are scheduled for next week.

Mihelbergel, a member of New York Allies for Public Education, said Monday the group's goal this year is 250,000 opt-outs, or enough to dilute their usefulness in teacher evaluations. State tests count for between 20 and 40 percent of a teacher's mandatory Annual Professional Performance Review under the current statewide formula.

But authorities warn there may be financial implications, as well. Federal law requires states to assess students in grades 3-8 each year and mandates that 95 percent of students in each school participate or risk losing federal funding, the New York State School Boards Association advised districts in a recent legal memo.

Although there were districts that fell short of the threshold last year, none have been sanctioned, state officials said.

"Any sanctions must be decided on a case-by-case basis, taking into account the degree and length of time the district has failed to meet participation rate requirements and the reasons for such failure," the Education Department said in an email.

Merryl Tisch, chancellor of the policy-setting Board of Regents, has said the assessments provide objective information about student progress and help identify students who need extra resources, particularly minority and special education students.

"Opting out could cost us much of the progress we have made, and damage the work that still needs to be done for our most vulnerable students," Tisch said after the head of the state's largest teachers union endorsed the opt-out movement. New York State United Teachers President Karen Magee's comments followed a contentious budget battle during which Gov. Andrew Cuomo had proposed doubling the weight of test results in teacher New York standardized test boycott: Parents oppose emphasis on results - San Jose Mercury News:

WH Correspondents' Dinner Guest list Expands to Include Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson and his wife, Failed DC Chancellor Michelle Rhee

WH Correspondents' Dinner Guestlist Expands to Include Alfre Woodard, Pete Wentz, Michelle Monaghan:

April 25 “Nerd Prom” draws even more entertainment industry, as USA Today, Atlantic Media and Huffington Post announce guests

 April 25 “Nerd Prom” draws even more entertainment industry, as USA Today, Atlantic Media and Huffington Post announce guests

More of the details about the celebs that will be attending the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner, alias the Nerd Prom, are falling into place as the April 25 dinner nears.

USA Today on Monday said its dinner guests will include Alfre Woodward, “State of Affairs”; Wendy McLendon-Covey, “The Goldbergs”; Fall Out Boys lead singer Pete Wentz; Naya Rivera, “Glee”; Michelle Trachtenberg, “Gossip Girl”; Trojan Bellisario, “Pretty Little Liars”; and Matchbox 20 lead singer Rob Thomas.

Atlantic Media announced that its guests will include Tim Simmons, “Veep”; Michelle Monaghan, “True Detective”; Melissa Fitzgerald, “West Wing”; and UN Ambassador Samantha Power; Sen.Joe Donnelly, D-Ind.; and Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson and his wife, former District of Columbia School Superintendent Michelle Rhee.

TheWrap reported earlier that McLendon-Covey, Rivera, Bellisario and Trachtenberg are all slated to participate in The Creative Coalition’s lobbying for the arts in Congress and a benefit the day before the correspondents’ dinner and were expected attend the dinner as well. Woodward serves on the Creative Coalition’s board.

Also Read: ‘Game of Thrones,’ ‘Scandal,’ ‘Modern Family’ Stars Headed to White House Correspondents’ Dinner (Exclusive)

Huffington Post, which usually includes entertainment industry celebrities to the dinner, is turning instead this year to big names in the Internet and social media.

It’s guests this year include Heather Armstrong, blogger of dooce.com; Vine stars Nash Grier and Marcus Johns; YouTube comedian Grace Helbig of the new Grace Helbig Show; Jerome Jarre, an entrepreneur and Vine and Snapchat star; Steven Johnson, author, TV host and entrepreneur; Sarah Koenig, host of “Serial,” the most listened-to podcast in history; hip-hop recording artist and social activist Killer Mike; YouTube fashion and beauty blogger Bethany Mota; Tyler Oakley, social star and LGBT advocate; Sean Parker, co-founder of Napster and first president of Facebook; photographer and activist Ruddy Roye; and astrophysicist, cosmologist, TV personality and author Neil deGrasse Tyson.

CBS, NBC and Fox have yet to release their guest lists.

Here is the latest guest of celebrity guests announced earler:

ABC: From “Modern Family” Julie Bowen, Ty Burrell, Julie Tyler Ferguson and Eric Stonestreet; from “black-ish” Anthony Anderson and Ellis Ross; and from “Scandal” Ballamy Young.

The New Yorker: Larry Wilmore of Comedy Central.WH Correspondents' Dinner Guestlist Expands to Include Alfre Woodard, Pete Wentz, Michelle Monaghan:

This Week In Education: Thompson: My Contribution to Oklahoma Edu-Bloggers' Discussion of Teaching Content

This Week In Education: Thompson: My Contribution to Oklahoma Edu-Bloggers' Discussion of Teaching Content:

Thompson: My Contribution to Oklahoma Edu-Bloggers' Discussion of Teaching Content

 The Tulsa blogger, Blue Cereal, challenged Oklahoma edu-bloggers to describe, in 1200 words or less, our personal beliefs regarding the teaching of content. Here's my contribution: 

Akili (as I will call him) borrowed every issue of my New York Review of Books.  One evening we were shocked to learn that it was past 6:00 and we had been talking for hours.  He had wanted to discuss Herbert Gutman's theory about the black family.  Akili said, "You are the coolest white man I've known.  Here we are having an intellectual discussion.  You respect my brain."

Such experiences taught me that poor students of color respond with pride and with excellence when challenged to meet high and authentic standards.

My approach was consistent with Martin Haberman's critique of The Pedagogy of Poverty. Haberman argued that good teaching for poor children was a "process of drawing out" the power inside students rather than "stuffing in" knowledge. I also saw learning stimulated by "divergent questioning strategies" and culminating in reflective conversations to help students “see major concepts, big ideas, and general principles and ... not [being] merely engaged in the pursuit of isolated facts."

Even in the 1990s, it would have been hard to teach effectively had I not experimented under the cover of "Orientation" during the first weeks of the school year. Administrators wouldn’t demand that teachers immediately rush into teaching the tested subject matter.  They understood the importance of laying a foundation for a successful class.  Teachers were encouraged to heed the wisdom of progressive scholars like Haberman and use the first week of school to get to know their students as individuals.

At the beginning of the year, we could move outside the prescribed curriculum to promote motivation and teamwork. Teachers were told to take two or three days to lay out rules, procedures, and expectations.  We could "break it down" for children, establish relationships, and steer them for success by teaching them to be students. The expectation was that this would be over and done with after a week. I preferred to stretch opportunities for dynamic classroom instruction far past the date when the administration expected us to focus on the curriculum pacing guide.

My first lesson each year initially surprised students who had heard the laughter coming out of my classroom the years before.

With a straight face, I had them take notes on the key lessons they needed to remember from U.S. History.  I drew a stairway on the board with a stick figure climbing the steps to true democracy. According to my spiel, these were the steps that America took as it became the greatest nation in history.  I pretended to believe that George Washington was the "Father of our Country" ("he was busy") and that Thomas Jefferson made everyone equal ("he didn't free his children by a black slave, but ...").  I lectured that Andrew Jackson “invented” democracy and Abraham Lincoln freed the slaves ("the Union Army might have helped but ...").

Most students took out a pen or pencil and copied the notes. But every year, someone would challenge me. I responded authoritatively and decisively, firmly putting the student in check and establishing that I was in charge. 

Keeping a straight face for as long as possible I’d say, "write this down.  The name for that view is 'history from the top down.' This is what I learned in school and what I will teach you is ....” I would pause there for a little dramatic effect. “This is the craziest bunch of lies I ever heard." 

“History from the top down,” I told them, is based on the idea that rich white men supposedly “made” America. But there’s another story. A truer story.  I then described "history from the bottom up," the idea that everyone in our society made our history, and then I described multiculturalism, which is what I believe. “So, we will study history from a multicultural perspective,” I would say, and, "since I would never lie to you, you're cool with that. Right?"

Many students agreed, but others would challenge me saying that I had just lied to them….

I also began the year by warning my predominately black classes that they were required to become Bruce Springsteen fans.  If they couldn’t accept that rule, the alternative was listening to me sing “Dead Skunk in the Middle of the Road.” After their hooting died down, we used Springsteen to illustrate issues that we would study in Government and engage in "horizontal alignment" by helping English teachers to teach repetition, point of view, and metaphor.

A close textual analysis of Springsteen’s "American Skin" was guaranteed to win the students over. The song was often called "41 Shots" because of the chorus, but the true title foreshadowed a deeper meaning.  In the first verse, Springsteen wrote from the perspective of the white New York City cops who shot a Nigerian immigrant, Amadou Diallo, 41 times thinking he had a gun, even though it was his wallet. "Forty-one shots, and we'll take this ride, cross the bloody river, to the other side." The second verse was from the perspective of a black mother warning her son in case he was racially profiled, "If you are stopped tonight, always be polite, Never ever run away, and promise your momma, Keep your hands in plain sight." 

The third verse was from a universal perspective as we are "baptized in each others' blood," and a crucial change is made in the chorus, "Is it a gun?  Is it a knife?  Is it in your heart?  Is it in your sight?"

Asked the source of Springsteen's image of "the river," a freshman named Kesha replied, "Langston Hughes!"

"Great," I answered, throwing a copy of Hughes' poems to her, "Support your answer."

Kesha read, "I've known rivers: Ancient, dusky rivers. My soul has grown deep like the rivers ...." Then she added the commentary, "My sister, Lakisha, said you were cool."

Back then, educators innovated in ways that would be forbidden in the post-NCLB era.  The curriculum department often encouraged social studies teachers to organize their classes thematically, or to deviate from the old-fashioned chronological presentation of history. This freed our World History classes to start with the twentieth century.  We began with the Standard covering the change from colonialism to nationalism. This permitted a “guest teaching appearance” by Denzel Washington. Regardless of when the curriculum pacing guide said we should be studying the anti-apartheid movement, it was just good marketing to schedule my lessons so that early in the year I could use Washington, playing the role of Stephen Biko, the founder of the Black Consciousness movement, to co-teach colonialism, thus insuring a lesson that the entire class would love.

We then built success upon success, using Cry Freedom to stimulate the motivation for mastering the dramatic themes of the modern era.  Around Thanksgiving, we looped back to the ancient civilizations. In the spring, students had a second chance to study the 20th century for mastery, which meant that new transfers were not disadvantaged.

After NCLB, if a principal questioned the violation of the district's "vertical alignment" of curriculum, I defended it as "horizontal alignment," helping U.S. History teachers by concentrating on the concepts that next year’s juniors would need to pass graduation examinations. Nowadays, I doubt my views on content would be allowed in many urban schools.-JT(@drjohnthompson)This Week In Education: Thompson: My Contribution to Oklahoma Edu-Bloggers' Discussion of Teaching Content:

Senators Try To Revise No Child Left Behind — A Few Years Behind : NPR Ed : NPR

Senators Try To Revise No Child Left Behind — A Few Years Behind : NPR Ed : NPR:

Senators Try To Revise No Child Left Behind — A Few Years Behind

 Newsflash: Members of the U.S. Senate will work across party lines tomorrow for the sake of America's students.

Well, at least for a few more days.

Tomorrow, a bipartisan group of senators on the HELP committee will begin hashing out the details of a proposed re-write to the massive education law known as No Child Left Behind. The law, itself a reauthorization of the landmark Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, was supposed to have been revised back in 2007.

Obsessives and political ed junkies, grab your popcorn. You can stream the mark-up live here.

If you're a public school teacher, there is a lot to like in this major revision of President George W. Bush's signature education law, passed in 2001. The proposed changes would let states — not Washington — decide how to evaluate their teachers and fix struggling schools.

Randi Weingarten, President of the American Federation of Teachers, says she's heartened that, as it stands, the revision gets the federal government out of the teacher-evaluation and closing-schools businesses and de-emphasizes testing.

Weingarten says the bill would "create some oxygen again for teaching and learning, for instruction, for the joy of teaching, for engaging kids for where they are and not where you want them to be as displayed by a test score."

The Senate proposal was negotiated by Republican Lamar Alexander of Tennessee and Democrat Patty Murray of Washington in a rare stroke of bipartisanship.

To be clear, the bill would not reduce the number of tests kids are required to take — one each year in reading and math from third through eighth grade and one test round in high school. But, significantly, those tests would mean less.

The bill would not require states to evaluate teachers or measure them based on student test scores. And schools would no longer face federal sanctions if they fail to make what was called "adequate yearly progress" — a benchmark that critics have long called unrealistic and onerous. It would now be left to states to decide how and when to sanction low-performing schools.

"We are incredibly optimistic by what the Senate has put forward. Number one, it's bipartisan," says Chris Minnich, the executive director of the Council of Chief State School Officers. "It also gives states additional flexibility. It's not a one-size-fits-all solution. The states have to continue to work on low-performing schools. It's a problem in this country. So by saying that the states have more control over this does not mean we don't need to focus on this. It means that states are better equipped to do that than the federal government," Minnich says.

NPR ED

Arne Duncan Wants To Drop 'No Child Left Behind' — But Keep Its Tests

NPR ED

Why Some Parents Are Sitting Kids Out Of Tests

In a nod to the bitter fights over the Common Core State Standards, the bill tells the federal government to back off. The Senate proposal would still require states to adopt "challenging" academic standards. But it explicitly bars the Education Department from pressuring states to adopt any specific guidelines. Common Core was always state-led and state implemented, but critics have charged that Washington unduly pushed those standards.

Bush's No Child Left Behind was a revision of the ESEA, passed as part of Lyndon Johnson's War on Poverty. The law is supposed to be revised every few years, but Congress has been unable to find common ground on a major revision since NCLB technically expired in 2007.

Weingarten says this proposal, especially on federal funding, helps restore the original intent of the law: To better support the nation's most vulnerable students. "It really says that money has to follow kids who are in high concentrations of poverty. And that's a very important equity issue."

On his blog, U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan called the proposal "a good first step," especially in promoting "transparency on resource inequities and rejecting earlier proposals to allow resources to be siphoned away from our neediest schools."

But Duncan called for improvements in key areas as the bill moves forward, including expanding federal support for high-quality preschool, bolstering resources for schools with high proportions of low-income and minority students, and ensuring what he calls "meaningful accountability" for persistently underperforming schools.

The bill, of course, has a long road ahead. The Senate and House versions are expected to be far apart. The House version was abruptly withdrawn earlier this year when it became clear it wouldn't pass. To many Democrats, it was too conservative, and to many Republicans it wasn't conservative enough.

At least one subject of debate has unified some members of the more activist wings of their parties — those who agree that testing and the stakes attached should be radically reduced. This Senate proposal, they argue, still places too much emphasis on standardized testing.

"There needs to be a further de-linking of test scores from educational high-stakes decisions about students, teachers and schools," says Robert Schaeffer, the public education director of the watchdog group Fair Test. "They've still maintained the federal foot on the testing accelerator by requiring every kid to be tested every year in elementary and middle school in reading and math and by not allowing an opt-out provision."

Fair Test proposes reducing the number of required tests to nine in what's called "grade span" testing. Under that idea, students would be tested once in elementary, middle and high school in math, science and reading.Senators Try To Revise No Child Left Behind — A Few Years Behind : NPR Ed : NPR:

‘Why do you believe you need the Common Core?’ — principal - The Washington Post

‘Why do you believe you need the Common Core?’ — principal - The Washington Post:

‘Why do you believe you need the Common Core?’ — principal

 This is the fifth in a continuing series of letters between two award-winning school principals, one who likes the Common Core State Standards and the other who doesn’t. The debate over the Common Core State Standards has become so polarized that it is hard to get people who disagree to have reasonable conversations about it. The Hechinger Report, a nonprofit, independent news Web site focused on inequality and innovation in education, is hosting a conversation between Carol Burris of New York and Jayne Ellspermann of Florida (in a format that Education Week once used with Diane Ravitch and Deborah Meier as the authors).  The Report’s editors as well as both principals have given me permission to republish each letter.

Burris has served as principal of South Side High School in the Rockville Centre School District in New York since 2000. In 2010, she was recognized by the School Administrators Association of New York State as their Outstanding Educator of the Year, and in 2013, she was recognized as the New York State High School Principal of the Year. Ellspermann is principal of West Port High School in Ocala, Florida.  She has served as a principal in elementary, middle, and high schools for the past 24 years and is the 2015 Principal of the Year for the National Association of Secondary School Principals. 

The first letter was written by Burris, a Core opponent, to Ellspermann, a Core supporter. Burris explained why she once liked the Core but changed her mind after New York State schools began to implement them several years ago. You can read her letter to Ellspermann here. Ellspermann’s reply letter, which you can read here, explained why she thinks the schools in her district benefit from the Common Core. The fourth, by Ellspermann, says that critics should not blame the Common Core standards for bad implementation and she writes why she likes the English Language Arts emphasis on reading text rather than allowing students to rely on personal experience. This is the fifth letter, from Burris.

Dear Jayne,

I am glad to hear that you were able to avoid the problems with Common Core testing experienced by other Florida schools. Testing is stressful enough without technology glitches.

New York will begin its third year of 3-8 Common Core testing next week. Last spring, the parents of 60,000 New York students refused to have their children take the test. This year the number will be far higher, with estimates of a quarter million or more. Thirty percent of our district’s parents have already handed in opt-out letters. The superintendent of the Comsewogue Schools has test refusal letters for 80% of his students, and a principal upstate has over 60%. All across the state, resistance to Common Core tests is increasing.

Boards of Education have reacted in various ways to the opt-out movement but most districts have been tolerant of parental rights. Many local teacher associations have their support, and the president of the New York State United Teachers, Karen McGee, called for a boycott of the tests. One of the members of our state’s Board of Regents, Kathleen Cashin,  a retired superintendent, publicly stated that she does not believe that the Common Core tests measure learning and that they should not be used to evaluate teachers, principals or schools.  She also said she understood why parents were refusing to have their children take the test.

In my 25 years in education, I have never seen such resistance to standards and their tests. Opt-out has become a movement of conscience for parents and teachers. Prior changes to standards and tests were implemented with some grumbling, but we quickly adapted. This is not the case with the Common Core.

The local television station, PIX11, did a series on the standards. The reporter, a Yale graduate, took the eighth-grade test and was stumped by several questions. I was interviewed by him and asked to participate in a Webchat on the topic. One after another, parents expressed their dismay. I was saddened when two students lamented, “I don’t think this test really measures if I am smart.” I reassured them that it does not.

I find that to be one of the most distressing aspects of standardized testing—students internalizing the results and drawing conclusions about their abilities and potential. Whether it is an IQ test, SAT or a Common Core ‘Why do you believe you need the Common Core?’ — principal - The Washington Post:

Seattle Students Resist New Common Core Tests

Seattle Students Resist New Common Core Tests:

Seattle Students Resist New Common Core Tests

 According to the “I am an educator” website, Nathan Hale High School in Seattle has taken the lead in resisting the new “Smarter Balanced Assessment” Common Core Tests being pushed on the high schools in the city. Common Core is a school curriculum that is meant to be followed lockstep, which its proponents claim will make schools more rigorous, students smarter, and the country stronger. They claim that states have been getting onboard with the plan of their own volition, because the curriculum is just better. Opponents claim that the plan is being foisted on the schools by the federal government, that its teaching methodologies are flawed, that its main goal is to get students to all believe the same ideals, and that it means less true thinking for students.

Educators at Garfield High School, where the rebellion against standardized testing began, sent an open letter of thanks to their counterparts at Nathan Hale for coming out so strongly against this nine-hour monster of a test. They stated:

We are writing to congratulate you for taking a bold stand against the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium testing. Your school Senate’s vote to oppose the SBA has helped many all across Seattle find the courage to join this growing movement for authentic assessments.

Where did these tests come from? Where else but from the U.S. Department of Education, proving beyond any doubt that this is part of the federal takeover of America’s local public schools. The Race to the Top Assessment Program, authorized in 2009 by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, provided funding for these tests that would measure student achievement against the new Common Core standards. A PDF government document states:

In September of 2010, the U.S. Department of Education awarded two Comprehensive Assessment Systems grants to the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) Consortium and the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortia (SBAC). The consortia are to develop and implement assessment systems by the 2014-2015 school year. In addition, PARCC and SBAC were each provided a supplemental grant award to support the work in their approved application and to successfully transition to the new standards and assessments.

In other words, this is the federal government’s not so subtle way of taking complete control of American education by financing assessment tests tied to the Common Core curriculum. To what extent student and educator resistance to these tests will put a stop to this federal takeover is still to be seen. According to Education Week, so far, $360 million in federal grants has gone to 37 states to implement the tests. However, 15 states have rejected the program: Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Utah, Arizona, Minnesota, Kentucky, Virginia, Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, Florida, Alaska, and Hawaii.

Who are some of the educational bureaucrats in charge of this federal program? Jeffrey Nellhaus, who holds a masters degree from Harvard Graduate School of Education and a doctorate degree from the University of Maryland, is director of PARCC (Partnership for the Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers). According to the PDF:

Before joining PARCC, Mr. Nellhaus spent nearly 25 years with the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education [MA DESE] where [he] held the positions of Deputy Commissioner, Acting Commissioner, and Associate Commissioner for Curriculum and Assessment. While at the MA DESE, Mr. Nellhaus directed the design, development and implementation of the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS), and the development of the Massachusetts Curriculum Frameworks, which include the Common Core.

Nellhaus is a true establishment bureaucrat who will implement whatever the federal government wants. Another such dedicated functionary is Joe Wilhoft, executive director of the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium. Prior to this appointment, he was assistant superintendent for assessment and student information for Washington State. His job is to develop new state assessment systems aligned to the Common Core State Standards. The PDF states:

He is past president of the Maryland Assessment Group, the Washington Educational Research Association, and the American Educational Research Association Classroom Assessment Special Interest Group. He has been involved in multiple collaborative data and assessment efforts, including having served on technical advisory committees in several states and the Technical Work Group for the most-recent congressionally-mandated evaluation of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). He previously served as co-chair of the NAEP Policy Advisory Task Force, a collaborative effort of the National Assessment Governing Board and the Council of Chief State School Officers.

In other words, Wilhoft has spent his entire professional life in educational testing on every level possible. When I was going to public school in New York City in the 1930s and '40s, the only tests we took were the ones given us by our teachers, who wanted to know if we were learning what they were teaching. Since they were teaching the basic traditional curriculum in reading, writing, and arithmetic, they could easily keep track of every student’s progress. At the end of high school, we were all required to take the state’s Regents Test in order to get our diploma. I don’t recall many not passing that test, which was taken with pencil and paper.

Fast forward to the age of computer technology. From March 25 to June 13, 2014, more than 4.2 million students, 16,549 schools, and thousands of teachers have participated in the Smarter Balanced Field Test — the largest online assessment ever. And the technology worked well.

Nevertheless, two high schools in Seattle have decided not to participate in the tests, complaining that they take too much out of Seattle Students Resist New Common Core Tests: