Why Common Core Results Are Bogus - and Why Are Ravitch and Bernie Horn Exposing This Instead of the Teacher Unions?

In layman's terms... Great and must read/share article
http://dianeravitch.net/2015/09/13/bernie-horn-the-common-core-results-are-not-actually-test-scores-must-read... Jia Lee

We hear the mantra from the ed deform faux teacher E4E types - and our own unions - that we just need better tests. Double-Double BULLSHIT!!
(I always tell you that E4E and the UFT/AFT are in various degrees of common core ed deform mode).

We know why the unions are silent in the face of such evidence. Of course I'd like Diane to call them out on this openly but let's take what we can get and do it ourselves.

I'm cross-posting the Ravitch piece because it is so clear in summarizing the Bernie Horn post. But go to his article too.

Bernie Horn: The Common Core “Results” Are Not Actually Test Scores: MUST READ!

This is a terrific article about the Common Core test results. It explains in layman’s language how the test scores are calculated and converted to scale scores.
When you read the “results” in the newspaper or get the results for your child or your class, you need to understand that the “scores” are not really scores:
The only things that have been released are percentages of students who supposedly meet “proficiency” levels. Those are not test scores—certainly not what parents would understand as scores. They are entirely subjective measurements.
Here’s why. When a child takes a standardized test, his or her results are turned into a “raw score,” that is, the actual number of questions answered correctly, or when an answer is worth more than one point, the actual number of points the child received. That is the only real objective “score,” and yet, Common Core raw scores have not been released.
Raw scores are adjusted—in an ideal world to account for the difficulty of questions from year to year—and converted to “scale scores.” A good way to understand those is to think of the SAT. When we say a college applicant scored a 600 on the math portion of the SAT test, we do not mean he or she got 600 answers right, we mean the raw scores were run through a formula that created a scale score—and that formula may change depending on which version of the SAT was taken. Standardized test administrators rarely publicize scale scores and the Common Core administrators have not.
Then the test administrators decide on “cut scores,” that is, the numerical levels of scale scores where a student is declared to be basic, proficient or advanced
The cut scores are the passing marks. They are arbitrary and subjective decisions made by fallible human beings. They can raise the passing mark to create large numbers of “failures,” or they can lower the passing mark to create a “success” story, to celebrate their wonderful policies. In some cases, the cut score is set high, so many students “fail.” The next year, or year after, the cut scores are lowered, and HOORAY! Our Wise Leadership Has Create Success!
As Horn writes:
Now, when a news story says that proficiency percentages were “higher than expected,” you should know what was “expected.” The Common Core consortiums gave the strong impression that they would align their levels of “proficiency” with the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) nationwide standardized test. (That is, by the way, an absurdly high standard. Diane Ravitch explains that on the NAEP, “Proficient is akin to a solid A.”)
Score setting is a subjective decision, implemented by adjusting the scale and/or cut scores. If proficiency percentages are “higher than expected,” it simply means the consortium deliberately set the scores for proficiency to make results look better than the NAEP’s. And that is all it means.
It is no different from what many states did to standardized test results in anticipation of the Common Core exams. New York intentionally lowered and subsequently increased statewide results on its standardized tests. Florida lowered passing scores on its assessment so fewer children and schools would be declared failures. The District of Columbia lowered cut scores so more students would appear to have done well. Other states did the same.
The bottom line is this: The 2015 Common Core tests simply did not and cannot measure if students did better or worse. The “Smarter Balanced” consortium (with its corporate partner McGraw-Hill), the only one to release results so far, decided to make them look better than the NAEP, but worse than prior standardized tests. The PARCC consortium (with corporate partner Pearson) is now likely to do the same. It’s fair to say the results are rigged, or as the Washington Post more gently has put it, “proficiency rates…are as much a product of policymakers’ decisions as they are of student performance.”
You MUST MUST MUST MUST open the link to the cut scores announced by the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium, which Horn helpfully supplies. Scroll down to pp. 5-6. You will see that the cut scores predict that most students will “fail” in every grade. Only the top two levels are considered “passing,” that is, proficiency and advanced. In third grade math, 61% are predicted to “fail.” In fifth grade math, 67% are predicted to “fail.” In eighth grade math, 68% are predicted to “fail.”
The ELA predicted failure rates are slightly better, but even there, the majority of students are expected to “fail” because the cut score was so high.
If they chose different cut scores, the proportion passing or failing would be different, higher or lower.
This is not unique to the Common Core tests. This is the way all standardized testing is graded.
You can see how easy it is for political figures to manipulate the passing rates to their advantage.

The Other PARCC - Parents Advocating Refusal on High-Stakes Testing

A video with the voices of parents by Michael Elliot from nLightn Media and many leading groups critical of high stakes testing as sponsors, many from New Jersey. Starring:

The PARCC Testing begins tomorrow, and the children of New Jersey and all over the country begin struggling through these assessments. The question must be asked by parents everywhere, how long will it take and how much damage will be done, before this ill fated reform agenda is defeated. How long?
Please watch the film, comment and like and share... Lets make our voices, the voices of parents, teachers and children, heard.

https://vimeo.com/120619448



Refuse the PARCC from nLightn Media


Synopsis:
Parents gathered from many different communities in New Jersey to make a short film to voice their concerns and share their stories about the effects that the implementation of CCSS and the PARCC tests were having on their children, teachers, schools and lives.
Link
https://vimeo.com/120619448 unlocks at 5pm EST
Filmmaker: Michael Elliot editme55@me.com
Grassroots support: Montclair Cares About Schools (MCAS) montclaircaresaboutschools@gmail.com
Michael Elliot is a New York film editor who started working with MCAS some months ago on the idea of doing a refusal piece borne from the NJ anti-testing movement.
The film, “The Other PARCC: Parents Advocating Refusal on High Stakes Testing,” is the result.
In just a few short minutes, Michael manages to present the continuum of concerns that move parents to Refuse high stakes testing.
This film truly was a labor of love.
All of Michael’s time, film and use of equipment were donated by him.
Filming was done in an MCAS member’s basement, and MCAS members
reached out to find the people who appear in the film.
Those people, parents and students, gave their time and shared their stories out of a deep need to speak the truth from both suburban and urban perspectives, from diverse ethnicities, genders and ages.
The resulting film is beautiful, informative and moving.
It has grown outside of it’s Jersey roots and speaks such a shared language that national groups and bloggers are joining NJ groups and bloggers and are quickly coming together in a plan to release the film at 5pm Sunday 3/1/15, after our premiere.
About Michael Elliot
Michael currently works as a film editor for FluidNY in advertising with 25 years of experience in commercials, feature narrative and documentaries. He has made films for Change the Stakes and Parent Voices NY.
His work for Montclair Cares About Schools (MCAS) was done as a result of his experiences with his own children and test refusal, and his belief that Test Refusal is the strongest way for parents to push back against Corporate Education Reform, and needs a strong presence in social media content.
Working with a borrowed camera and a few lights, he tries to help make the voices of Parents, Teachers and Activists heard.
About Montclair Cares About Schools
MCAS was founded by parents and community members in May 2013. Since that time, the work of MCAS has inspired 36 other Cares About Schools Groups and counting.
MCAS is dedicated to maintaining strong, integrated, equitable and excellent public schools, where excellence is achieved through an education that engenders creative thinking, in-depth understanding, and the questioning, independent spirit necessary for democracy.
MCAS is concerned with a number of issues that significantly impact Montclair students, schools and taxpayers, including:
the dangerous and growing emphasis on standardized state tests
the narrowing of curriculum in the service of raising test scores
the need for genuine and robust community dialogue about our schools
the need for transparency about district spending and policies
racial disparities in enrollment in advanced academic courses and special education
the need for reasonable class sizes at all grade levels
MCAS works to encourage and provide a platform for community dialogue about research, trends, and best practices for strengthening and maintaining public schools. All children benefit from schools with rich curriculums, collaborative school environments that engender trust among educators and parents, and project-based learning that goes beyond the narrow scope of standardized tests.
MCAS runs a popular Facebook page, holds public forums and parent meetings, and speaks regularly at Board of Education meetings to encourage policies that will benefit Montclair students and schools.

Video: Another Brick in Ohio - No More Common Core!

Published on Oct 26, 2014

A project by the Anti-Common Core Club made possible by Matthew Goforth and Frank Yanno. Please Support the Anti-Common Core Club at https://www.facebook.com/groups/AntiC... and buy a T-Shirt http://teespring.com/anti-common-core....

http://youtu.be/qUoC7_fW1j4

#AFT14 Video - Sarah Chambers and The Speech that Triggered Mulgrew "Punch in Face" Comments

Common Core Debate - Sarah Chambers, Michelle Gunderson vs Michael Mulgrew - Note how Mulgrew was set up at the mic to follow Sarah Chamber's speech. Not a coincidence. Another UFT leader, Leroy Barr (not included in this video) was set up at the mic following Mulgrew - also not a coincidence. Unity Caucus uses placeholders at strategic mics as a way to control the debate.



The battle between NYC and Chicago: Providing context for the common core debate at the AFT14 convention

The Chicago Teachers Union, (CTU), suffering almost 2 decades of ed deform based on testing regimens and corporate takeovers of education, has become one of the most militant voices in opposition. They view the common core standards as another plank in this takeover.

The New York City union, the UFT, has collaborated on many of the issues the CTU has opposed, including the common core. The UFT supports the CC but complains it was implemented poorly. They call for support (resolution 2) but with what they term "accountability."

UFT President Michael Mulgrew's speech during the debate has received wide notice for its "punch in the face" comment. Immediately preceding his speech, CTU's Sarah Chambers made a strong speech opposing the CC, pointing to the damage the rigid testing regimen that goes with it has done to the children of Chicago.

Following Mulgrew's response, I added CTU's Michelle Gunderson's words?

Norm Scott

Julie Cavanagh on Common Core in Daily News, Major Contrast to Mulgrew

Julie Cavanagh won't punch you in the face if you support common core as she makes a clear and concise statement in her article in the DN that is way more powerful than what we hear coming out of our union leaders.

As Mulgrew's opponent in 2013 election she is quite a contrast to Mulgrew as she makes similar points Chicago teachers made at the AFT convention in that debate on the floor and in committee where Unity slugs used thug tactics.

• AFT Convention Update: Chicago CC Reso Goes Down O...Posted Fri 5PM
• #AFT14 Report - Common Core Debate - Epic Battle B...

You heard none of Julie's points made at the convention by even one of the 800 Unity Caucus loyalty-oath pledged delegates who were elected in that winner take all election, thus disenfranchising the thousands of teachers who agree with Julie. The use of the Unity horde to distort and tilt and control the common core debate on the city, state and national levels is what has allowed the ed deform movement to gain such a strong foothold. Leo Casey's attempt to brand CC opponents as tea party influenced is one example (video). Leo can be assured that Julie is no tea party advocate, as he full well knows since he knows Julie.

That is why I put time into building MORE in the belly of the UFT/Unity Caucus beast. Because nothing will change with the unions unless we make those changes here in NYC. And Ed Deform cannot be defeated until the teacher unions become more Chicago-like -- willing to spit in the face of the deformers and use their resources in organizing opposition. Having powerhouses like Julie Cavanagh committed to this goal makes the work

Cavanagh: Common Core testing creates a narrative of failure

Last year, our students were assessed for the first time according to the new standards. State Education Department officials predicted a steep drop, and scores plummeted. This year, small gains were predicted, and that’s what happened, to the astonishment of no one.

BY Julie Cavanagh

SPECIAL TO THE NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

Friday, August 15, 2014, 1:32 AM

Siegel.Jefferson Julie Cavanagh (center) is a special education teacher and chapter leader at Public School 15 in Red Hook, Brooklyn.

Four years ago, a group tied to testing and publishing companies, and bankrolled with Bill and Melinda Gates’ money, brought us the Common Core Learning Standards.
Cash-strapped states that wanted to win federal Race to the Top dollars had to adopt the standards, and more than 40 states, including New York, did so.
Last year, our students were assessed for the first time according to the new standards. State Education Department officials predicted a steep drop, and scores plummeted. This year, small gains were predicted, and that’s what happened, to the astonishment of no one.
Predictions are easy to make when you define what constitutes proficiency.
There will be an attempt from all factions to spin the results: The state will say the reform agenda is working, the city will argue the scores show the need for pre-K, and charter schools will claim they show their importance as high-quality alternatives.
Let’s get off the hamster wheel.

Siegel.Jefferson 

The truth is, these tests were designed to create a narrative of failure, and the trends are not so different from those we saw on the old tests: we are failing our children with special needs, our English language learners, our children who live in poverty, and a disproportionate number of black and Latino pupils.

It is no surprise that the results mirror the struggles and deep flaws in our society. Of course, the goal was never to actually fix our schools — there are no profits in doing that. There are no profits in providing small class sizes, experienced educators and services like counseling, tutoring and family support — proven reforms that would benefit all students.
Instead, the focus is on unproven standards and the tests that supposedly measure our student’s competency — written by the very people who profit from their use.

Julie Cavanagh is a special education teacher and chapter leader at Public School 15 in Red Hook, Brooklyn .

#AFT14 Convention Video - Common Core Debate - Mulgrew is Going to Punch Someone in the Face

Has anyone speaking against the common core said they don't WANT standards? .... Don't throw the baby out with the bathwater? The baby is in the bath water... Pia Payne-Shannon, Minneapolis Teacher opposing common core in rousing speech at AFT convention

I extracted a 12 minute sliver from over an hour debate including the Mike Mulgrew "punch you in the face" line. Followed by Leroy Barr and new NYSUT President Karen Magee (see Randi's face as she qvells at her coup) - I didn't include all of Magee's - yada, yada, yada. I put in 2 speeches of a Chicago teacher and a rousing rebuttal from a Minneapolis teacher.

It was union leadership pushing common core vs classroom teachers opposing. I still have a load of great speeches, mostly from Chicago, which I'll put up tomorrow.

Newark Teacher to Southern Poverty Law Center

Totalitarianism is never content to rule by external means, namely, through the state and a machinery of violence; thanks to its peculiar ideology and the role assigned to it in this apparatus of coercion, totalitarianism has discovered a means of dominating and terrorizing human beings from within. .... Hannah Arendt 1951

Dear Southern Poverty Law Center,

I am neither a right wing Christian, nor a Tea Party supporter. In fact, I am a left of center Jew who has spent the vast majority of her life thus far in northern New Jersey.  Despite not exactly fitting your profile, I am an ardent opponent of Common Core, which by the way contrary to your contentions was bought and paid for by billionaire Bill Gates.

As a teacher, I have tried to tether my lesson planning to the vague, confusing and overlapping Common Core ELA standards. There are separate standards for literary and information texts. Which standard should I use, for example, for a lesson on distinguishing between fact and opinion? In my view, the previous New Jersey standards were far better tailored to the instruction of elementary school children.

Are the Common Core standards totalitarian in nature? A case could be made that the standards are being used for the purpose of "dominating and terrorizing human beings from within." Earlier this school term, I was told by an administrator that I was not to use any instructional materials that were not Common Core aligned. There is an element of an attempt at totalitarian control of thought in this type of top down management. So I with more years of teaching experience than I would like to admit would lack the requisite skills to select texts for my students? There are broader totalitarian impulses in the desire to have every child and teacher in the country marching in curricular lockstep. The beauty of our country lies in the cultural patchwork we as a nation have stitched together.

I would recommend that the

Southern  Poverty Law Center diversify its lunatic fringe category to include Yankee individualists marching to the beat of a different drummer like me. Forgive me, but how is the Common Core debate intertwined with Southern Poverty legal matters?

A Newark Teacher

 

Mercedes Schneider Dissects Sol Stern's Lack of Knowledge on Common Core

Stern, I have to tell you– you are so out of the loop... Mercedes Schneider

Sol Stern has been a sparring partner for many years - since the days when he went after teacher seniority as the worst thing to happen to public education. Sol is a delightful adversary. But we have had some blow-ups over the years-- at one point he called me dishonest and said he had way more respect for Randi's honesty than mine. They must be growing shrooms on the upper west side.

Sol was kind enough to get me invited to many Manhattan Institute luncheons where I got to hobnob with charter scum - until I asked too  many questions of Chris Cerf -- the only one in the room to challenge his ridiculous assertions. In those days Diane Ravitch was also at some of those MI events. (One time she came by and whispered in my ear, "go get 'em.")

Sol, rightfully, went wild when Joel Klein imposed Diana Lam on us with her insane curriculum that banished phonics. Sol sees red when confronted with progressive education -- I am by nature a progressive educator but also a realist and a big fan of teaching phonics -- when needed by certain children. I termed Sol as part of "the phonics police." Sol is a fan of Core Curriculum and E.D. Hirsch is Moses. (Which is why Sol was a fan of Kathy Cashin who implemented core curriculum -- but so was Diane Ravitch for some of the same reasons.)

The bitter break between Sol and Diane has at times turned personal. Mercedes in her blog on Sol termed it an  "ugly post criticizing education historian Diane Ravitch."

At one point Sol and Diane Ravitch were allies -- in fact in those days I was part of the attack crew on Ravitch over her advocacy of what turned out to be ed deform. I remember when Diane was given the John Dewey Award by the UFT there were national outcries from the true reformers like the late and great Jerry Bracey and Susan Ohanian - some asked me if we were setting up a picket line at the Hilton. Jerry seemed ready to fly in from Oregon.

When Diane turned on the deformers and became the chief spokesperson for real reform, much rending of garments took place. I hope Sol has a good tailor.

I read Mercedes superb post taking Sol's defense of the Common Core last week and wanted to blog about it - but today Diane has beaten me to it. Oh, the joy!

Schneider Schools Sol Stern on the Common Core

by dianeravitch

Many years go, when I was a Fellow at the conservative Manhattan Institute, I got o know Sol Stern, who has been at that think tank for many years. Sol has an interesting history. Back in the radical 1960s, he was an editor at the leftwing Ramparts. At some point, he had a political-ideological conversion experience, and he became a zealous conservative. He is a journalist, not an educator. He writes about what interests him. Ten years ago, he wrote a book advocating school choice, called Breaking Free. In 2011, he wrote a book about Israeli-Palestinian relations, called "A Century of Palestinian Rejectionism and Jew-Hatred." one thing about Sol Stern: He has strong opinions.

At the moment, his strong opinions are focused on fervent advocacy for the Common Core. Stern thinks that the Common Core implements the ideas of E.D. Hirsch, Jr. Hirsch believes that kids should learn lots of background knowledge, which will not only make them smarter but enable them to read and understand increasingly difficult text. I agree that background knowledge matters, so long as it is developmentally appropriate, that is, comprehensible to the child. And I don't see Comon Core as the fulfillment of E.D. Hirsch's vision. After all, David Coleman--widely acknowledged as the "architect" of he Common Core--advocates "close reading," in which a student deciphers text without reference to any background knowledge. One example would be a student reading the "Gettysburg Address" without reference to or knowledge of the Civil War or Lincoln or the battle it commemorates. I think Hirsch would insist that context and background knowledge are crucial for comprehension. I am not sure that Stern understands the Commn Core standards but he has now made it his business to defend them and to attack those who doubt their excellence.

Stern got into a heated debate with Peter Wood, the president of the National Association of Scholars, who does not believe--as Stern and Arne Duncan insist--that development of CCSS was "state-led." They have other differences, but it is amusing to see Stern, one of our most conservative education commentators, defend Duncan and CCSS.

Now comes Mercedes Schneider to dissect Sol Stern's take on the Common Core. It's fair to say that she knows a lot more about the Core than Sol Stern. Stern doesn't really understand that the CCSS does not embody Hirsch's Core Knowledge. And it must surely pain him to realize that one of he best-selling books about the Common Core was written by Lucy Calkins of Teachers College, one of Stern's arch enemies (he hates Balanced Literacy, loves phonics).

Bottom line: CCSS has created strange alliances.

MORE Zooms in on CCSS - and the Union Connection Plus Mercedes Schneider 10 Myths

I find it remarkable the degree to which AFT and Randi Weingarten will go in order to protect and promote CCSS. One of the more telling pieces is a post Weingarten wrote for Huffington Post entitled, Will States Fail the Common Core?– As though CCSS is a personality, complete with feelings that will be hurt by states’ betrayal. ... Mercedes Schneider

it has been the teacher unions -- from the Shanker years on -- that have initiated and pushed for standards and a common curriculum around the nation before the business corporations took it up. This was an issue that forged a relationship between Shanker/AFT/UFT and the Business Roundtable in the 80s. Shanker was the lead, not the follow... Ed Notes

At the MORE retreat Monday we decided to move ahead with a committee we formed to address the common core issue in depth. (This committee is open by the way to anyone out there who is interested in working with us.) Taking the lead on the committee is Katie Lapham who blogs at Critical Classrooms, Critical Kids. Katie is joining  9 others and me on the 2nd edition of the MORE steering committee - which has a 6 month term in office, unlike the UFT/Unity Caucus which has a 60 year term in office - and counting.

We are gathering resources to explore the issue. This will cover some wide ground but my focus, as it often is, deals with the UFT/AFT involvement. The other day I had a discussion with a MOREista who viewed the union support as "jumping on the coat tails" of a corporate inspired movement designed to make profits and sort children as prep for the future job market -- mostly low-paying jobs. Or that the unions were doing it for the Gates money.

I disagreed and put forth the idea that it has been the teacher unions -- from the Shanker years on -- that have initiated and pushed for standards and a common curriculum around the nation before the business corporations took it up. This was an issue that forged a relationship between Shanker/AFT/UFT and the Business Roundtable in the 80s. Shanker was the lead, not the follow.

The UFT/AFT leadership has been ideologically committed to common core concepts for 40 years and those who think all you need is to logically explain to the leaders why they might be wrong are getting lost in the woods. The internal battle we face is over the leadership ideology, which also appeals naturally to many teachers -- often until they come smack up against the reality. (I will go back to the Kahlenberg Shanker bio for a follow-up providing specific examples).

But the leadership deals with it this way: "CCSS good, Rollout/implementation bad."

What needs to happen is take this on head on. Mercedes Schneider's impressive piece of work AFT’s 10 Myths: Unyielding Devotion to the Common Core.

Mercedes ends with this news:
Note: Randi Weingarten and I are to be members of the CCSS panel scheduled for Sunday, March 2, 2014, as part of the Network for Public Education conference in Austin, Texas, (March 1 and 2).
Anthony Cody will also be part of the CCSS panel, as will Paul Horton and Ethan Young.
Come hear us.

Darn - I can't go and would have loved to see Mercedes and Randi go at it.

I am reproducing her piece in full below -- here is the link.
http://deutsch29.wordpress.com/2013/12/31/afts-10-myths-unyielding-devotion-to-the-common-core/

AFT’s 10 Myths: Unyielding Devotion to the Common Core

Squaring the Circle on Common Core: Left Meets Right on Huckabee

Interesting too how not one of these people mentioned Gates, Broad and Co.   and all allowed Huckabee to spin a bullshit narrative as to the genesis of CC.  ... Patrick Walsh

....apparently Huckabee has been getting heat from his audience for his support of Common Core so the beginning is his attempt to pull away/clarify his views on the topic – not altogether successfully... Leonie Haimson

I haven't had time to watch these videos yet. But Carol Burris and Ethan Young appearing on FOX is something to behold. Here is Leonie's update:

NY HS principal  Carol Burris and Tennessee HS student Ethan Young on the Common Core & tests on Huckabee show last night.

Carol was named principal of the year is the author of a petition against the teacher eval system in NYS that more than 1/3 the principals in the state signed onto.

Ethan’s speech before the Knox Co. school board on the Common Core has gone viral on YouTube, BuzzFeed and elsewhere.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=PprP5TCZBRI

Their appearance on the Huckabee Show is in two segments on you tube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ptk4eCfpEWU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I2MdQooDxQk

Carol and Ethan come on at about 7 minutes in the first segment; apparently Huckabee has been getting heat from his audience for his support of Common Core so the beginning is his attempt to pull away/clarify his views on the topic – not altogether successfully.

Leonie Haimson

Executive Director

Class Size Matters

Teacher Union Shores Up Support for John King And Reaffirms Backing for Common Core

Randi Weingarten, president of American Federation of Teachers, also expressed support for the Common Core, along with the teacher evaluations, diverging only on one point. “The testing, right now, is not ready for prime time,” she said. .. Epoch Times

 Clearly a heavily scripted event, designed to signal AFT attempts to shore the collapsing support for King, the SED and the Regents. More proof, as if any were needed, that the UFT/AFT has joined with the so-called reformers to co-manage the implementation of the standards, which will ultimately require far more testing. Needless to say, Ms. Weingarten said nothing about that. It was also fitting that this little love-fest was held at the Harvard Club, since that august institution has been so active in making teachers and students lives miserable. Another footnote to Weingarten's disgraceful legacy.... Michael Fiorillo

A request came in this morning to the MORE listserve for MORE to take a strong position on the Common Core with an explanation as to why oppose it. MORE has been so focused on the eval issue CC has slipped through the cracks. There is so much anti-CC stuff out there a book could be written. If any of the readers want to chip in on some points leave a comment or send me an email. I'll collate the ideas and work something up for MORE to use.

http://www.theepochtimes.com/n3/327696-heads-of-teachers-union-state-education-department-agree-on-common-core/?photo=2

NY State Ed Comm John King Enters Witness Protection Program

DUCK, INCOMING:

Commissioner John King faced a tough crowd while meeting with parents last night. (GS in Brief)

Reformy NY Education Commish gets taken to the woodshed by parents. .. The Chalkface

King has "suspended" the four remaining forums on Common Core after last night's town hall in Poughkeepsie (including Oct. 15 in Garden City).

Commissioner King Gets Spanked.
King gets the Cathy Black treatment.
Unbelievable that King spent an hour and 40 minutes talking about our children but didn't want his children mentioned for one minute. So what if they do Common Core--they don't get tested and their teachers don't get fired!
King loves to speak in front of friendly groups like E4E. Not this time.

It is interesting (unfortunate) that the NYS PTA is backing the commissioner, not the parents!  Just like the UFT!!  Certainly the people at the meeting are on our side.
I love the title of Chris Cerrone's blog post, "Reformy NY Education Commish gets taken to the woodshed by parents."
We need to do everything we can to fan the flames.

The word late last night via Facebook is that the remaining four NYS PTA town halls were "suspended"--presumably because of the Oct. 10 meeting! I know Long Island was ready to go with signs in hand and a strategy to get people signed up to speak and make the most of the allotted time. 

The video needs to go viral so that it will get NYC media attention; I was telling the LI parents there should be a press release about the fact that the Oct. 15 event was suspended and should link to the video.

Perdido St. School blog uses Danielson to meadure King 's rigor and excellence.
http://perdidostreetschool.blogspot.com/2013/10/in-which-i-use-danielson-rubric-to.html?m=1

http://criticalclassrooms.wordpress.com/2013/10/12/nysed-commissioner-john-king-runs-away-lessons-from-the-trenches/


https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=P_Eiz406VAs#t=160

Leonie Haimson Goes to School and Finds Tweedie Implementation of Common Core Is a Disaster Movie

So, amongst all the inherent faults of the Common Bore, we have the totally inept Walcott-led Tweedies showing once again that they would find getting out of a paper bag a significant challenge.

Heeeeere's Leonie:

I toured school yesterday where majority of students are ELLs, either in dual language or transitional bilingual:

- Most teachers said that they were lacking Common core texts, workbooks and/or teacher guides;

- Meanwhile there were many big boxes in library full of materials that were excess or the wrong stuff, but that DOE said could NOT be returned;

- NONE of the Common Core materials are written in Spanish, making it impossible to teach literacy according to the dual language or bilingual model.

Thus there were classes full of students, some of them just arrived to the country, and others with IEPs, who were struggling with materials that they had NO chance of being able to read.

Add to this that the grade level of some of these Pearson texts are already way above the grades assigned them, even for fluent English speakers (see Clara Hemphill on this), for example, Charlotte’s web in 2nd grade; and an informational text on spiders for 4th grade, full of VERY difficult vocabulary and densely packed prose that I had difficulty getting through.

This is a perfect example of how the Common Core’s standardization model and difficulty level seem totally misguided – especially for ELL students and kids with IEPs, who have also assigned these materials.

Leonie Haimson

Change the stakes parents responded:

Teachers at my son's dual language school were concerned about this problem last winter, and seemingly nothing was done to address it. HST policies and now Common Core rollout have been incredibly damaging to dual language programs (which,as we know, have very strong evidence of success on many indicators of learning.) 

-----
My son's school started using a a "common-core-aligned" math series this year.  I'm not sure whether or not there is a Spanish edition, but there is definitely not an English edition :-).

Pardon the sidetrack, but the definition of "core aligned" (based on my limited sample) seems to be "random quotes and references to sections of the common core standards sprinkled throughout the the text, with no discernible connection to the pages on which they appear."  If what I've seen is in any way representative, common core is nakedly nothing more than an excuse to sell the same old books in a new wrapper.

Rob Rendo on Common Core

Common Core or no Common Core, standards for what children should know by a certain age (skills or content) have always been in flux and controverted.

The CCSS is, I think, on an extreme part of that spectrum of flux.

The consensus reality and research that more or less corroborates what, for example, a fifth grader should be able to do in math or ELA, has been largely ignored by policy makers for the last 5 to 7 years.
Now we are faced with an intentional system that ties scores to teacher and student performance in a high stakes fashion, resulting in a demoralization that may as well require fish to climb trees.

Test results were used and should continue to be used to find out what we need to reteach. Results and data drive a large part of instruction. They sill do, but, alas, now with the added layer of sad, angering, and destabilizing punishment that if one underperforms, one is mischaracterized as “not bright”, “not strong”, “poor”, or for dedicated and hardworking teachers, “ineffective”, “developing”, or “unemployable”. All of this would seem very reasonable and perfectly productive if it were done in every school: charter, parochial, private, public, specialized, etc.

But it’s not.

The very school President Obama sends his children to has openly declared that they do not test nearly the same way as public schools are forced to, and they do not measure students and teachers the same way either. Conduct a survey of every private facility in the United States (calling all teaching economists!), from the most competitively priced to the most deluxe and expensive, and see a pattern emerging about the qualitative differences in evaluating students and teachers, never mind the differences in resources.

Even the public school facility I attended between 1969 and 1982, which was fueled mainly by a blue collar population, was a resplendent, resourced, open-green-fields, ample teaching space system, and teachers were closely watched and monitored with feedback. Yet, they were never blamed for low test scores, and they were treated, with appropriate critiques from the administration, with respect and trust. We were a racially integrated school system. We thrived upon art, music, and gym. Students could literally build platform lumber framed houses from the ground up, repair automotive engines, design and landscape gardens, weld, play football, study French impressionism, compete in lacrosse or tennis, learn to cut hair, type, experiment with test tubes, microscopes, bunsen burners, petri dishes, telescopes, and learn AP physics. There was something for everyone. The list was endless. No wonder my parents paid such significant taxes. They’d frown when the tax bill came due; they’d smile when they received our report cards.

We had small reading groups. We had teachers who loved us and always made us feel safe, socialized, stimulated, challenged, and affirmed. My elementary school was my safe haven . . . far more than my own household, I must admit. It was not supposed to have been as imbalanced as that, but that was the situation, and I didn't choose it.  The responsibility for a child's sense of safety and self esteem lies clearly first and foremost in his nuclear family. Schools and classrooms trail right behind that. Yet I am grateful I did not have to come to a school where the teacher’s incentivized focus was mainly on my scores instead of holistically upon me.

I therefore felt safe in school. That's the best word I can come up with: "safe". I fell head over heels in love with learning because of that very safety. I'll never be able to thank enough or repay the vast majority of my teachers. Although, perhaps the best way to honor them is to fight for the dignity and truth of the teaching profession.

Anyway, I was very fortunate to have grown up in the era I did, and I excelled in school: honors classes, fast track programs, advanced course work, AP credits. I ultimately achieved a B.S. in architecture from an impossibly rigorous and strong program, and an M.S. in linguistics from an equally rigorous program. I have never been in doubt of my abilities, knowing full well what I still need to focus on and improve in. I have never been in want of intellectualism or critical thinking. I’ve conducted research. I’ve written articles and have been published. I have turn key trained colleagues. I am a life long learner, but I have reasonable awareness and confidence of my competence in general.

Students don’t face this same type of balance or developmental track any more. They have become numbers, statistics, “production-ists” in need of making a test score quota. I am convinced had I been a student under this current system, I would have fared poorly in school or been labeled with an artificial, man-made learning disability because I read better as I aged. I was behind in literacy in first and second grade. By the time I was in fifth grade, I ended up in a gifted reading group with the assistant principal. It was nirvana!

We were never taught to write any kind of essay until 7th grade, where I became hooked on writing and thrived from the encouragement, discussions, and red pen critiques of my teachers. I did not do ANYTHING with algebra until I was in 8th grade, and once introduced, it was addicting.

We have come a long, long way since 1969 . . . or even 1982.

In fact, we have stepped a long way back into a new epoch of factory style education, where every student is a widget, and and every widget is hyper-inspected along the conveyor belt to see if its frame will hold up once sold to the consumer, who is now the future employer. And if the person hired to do the assembly messes up just a few times, they are fired and replaced. This process happens knowing full well the conveyor belt is moving at 45 MPH, up from 10 MPH several years ago.

Who can really produce that many widgets when the belt is rolling by so quickly? It conjures up the imagery of the classic factory chocolate making scene from “I Love Lucy”.

But it’s anything but cute or funny.

Students are not widgets. Teachers are not robots. The process of teaching and learning is a humanistic endeavor. There are bonds to be forged, even while measuring situations and outcomes with data. The data used to help contribute indispensably to that human bond. Presently, the bonding has been devalued, thrown aside, and the data has become the new humanism.

But with such a high stakes grip, data will only continue to dehumanize education and demoralize children, families, and educators. There is a keen difference between being told “You are not the center of the universe / you will always have a lot to learn” AND “You are a failure because you did not measure up to these untried, unproven, unresearched, Herculean tasks that you and your teachers were not even given time to be exposed to”.

Is this a failure of the highly experienced people using and executing the functions of the system?

Or is it a failure of the inexperienced people designing, promulgating, and enforcing the functions of the system?

You decide.

I have.

Rob Rendo

 

Common Core: Commentary on NY TImes Sunday Piece from Ohanian and Daily Howler

Our public schools were now being compared to the world’s most famous shipwreck! And by the way: As long as this Standard Story is told, our public school teachers will get blamed for the disaster they have produced. The wreck of the Hesperus will get blamed on them and their infernal unions.
.....does it make sense to have a uniform set of “standards” for every child in each grade? Given the large academic gaps within our ginormous student population, this basic notion has never made a lick of sense. But given the way our “public discourse” works, this question has almost never been raised as the so-called “standards movement” has taken hold in the past twenty years. In their apparent main point, Hacker and Dreifus worried about the millions of kids—black kids, white kids, Hispanic kids—who are functioning near the bottom end of the vast academic ranges found in our public schools. If those kids can’t make it through high school today, how will they be helped if we make our “standards” tougher?

... Daily Howler

There are loads of comments on this piece (Who’s Minding the Schools by Andrew Hacker and Claudia Dreifus - New York Times, June 09, 2013) and below are a few. One thing I found interesting was the emphasis on the right wing (Glenn Beck) and minimizing the left/anti-testing crowd. This was from my Wave column today:

We can expect the testing to get heavier due to another national imposition on schools called the “common core” with all kinds of ridiculous rules on what and how to teach – really, why trust teachers to make ANY decisions? You know something weird is going on when Glen Beck and the tea partiers and right wing Republicans are joining the left in opposing the Common Core. For the right it is the Obama/Arne Duncan assault on local control over education. Like let’s teach that the South really won the Civil War (maybe they did) or that Darwin was really the serpent in the Garden of Eden. That has been used by CC supporters but the left is not having any of it, opposing the CC on the heavy testing and control exerted over schools where they would actually teach important stuff if they were allowed to.

Susan Ohanian chose a few (http://susanohanian.org/core.php?id=507):

Indiana Reader Comment: There is a winner-takes-all aspect to the implementation of Common Core that I find chilling. The authors are right to ask: how does this curriculum account for or prepare those who don't "make it" (whether that means not finishing high school, not going to college, or some other form of societal misstep)?

It reminds me of the horribly-named "Race to the Top". Dearies, we can't all be at the top. By definition. We need to be considering the 80% of our population who aren't, well, the top 20%, and who likely won't be getting good jobs with good benefits and living out the American Dream.

Please don't pretend that ensuring a continually higher level of average academic achievement will somehow produce happier citizens who feel more secure in their health and well-being. That's nothing more than an academic arms race.

Los Angeles Reader Comment: Does anyone with a functioning brain really think that education and standardization have anything in common? Education by its very definition is the exact opposite of standardization. Education is a liberating force, the breakdown of boundaries and limits in pursuit of knowledge in its purest and most profound sense.

Standardization is great for Microsoft and other businesses that mass produce a product. But does anyone want their children to think or be like everyone else? Does anyone even believe such a goal is possible?

One could easier imagine standardized, one-size-fits-all liquor laws and drivers license tests across these 50 diverse and unique states before anything approaching standardized education. Yet 45 states have rushed to embrace Common Core? This hasty and ill-considered attempt to radically change the very heart of public education in America without the slightest bit of public discussion is sheer madness.

Westchester County Comment: As a 7th grade English teacher, this year, I incorporated numerous informational texts to link to the novels my class was reading. Many of these included New York Times articles of high interest levels for my 7th graders. It was gratifying to help students to deconstruct the articles, along with some movie reviews, so that they could interact directly with well-crafted writing. It was exciting to see students work to make sense of difficult vocabulary and to share their interpretations in lively discussions.

On a regular basis, I ask myself: Am I giving them a foundation that will help to fire up curiosity about how to communicate and to understand other points of view? Am I helping to demystify novels and articles and approaches to writing?

Wow. Was I ever asking the wrong questions! The ELA exam wiped my students and me out. We are all demoralized.

During the three days of testing, my students struggled to finish textbook informational texts that didn't resemble any authentic newspaper or magazine articles we had studied earlier in class.

If somebody from another planet had visited us on those test days, s/he/it might conclude that reading is an unpleasant chore and that writing is something you've got do to shove the words down on the paper, so you can get it over with; get as far away from the "learning" as possible, because it is painful.

I'm not on the same page as the Common Core and the Exams.

Here is a different take from Bob Somerby at The Daily Howler. Bob was a long-time teacher in the Baltimore school system so he knows of what he speaks when it comes to education. Somerby talks about a lot of stuff but I love it when he talks education.

TWO KINDS OF FACTS: Some basic facts which are always withheld!

Posted: 13 Jun 2013 07:01 AM PDT

THURSDAY, JUNE 13, 2013

Part 4—Including some horrible facts: We’ve been asking the question all week:

How many readers were able to discern the main point of the piece by Hacker and Dreifus in Sunday’s New York Times?

We raised that question at the start of the week, noting the rather jumbled writing the Times didn’t bother to edit. Because their piece was a bit opaque, we wondered how many readers had actually discerned the authors’ (apparent) main point.

Yesterday, one set of results came in.

The Times published five letters about the piece. None of the letters addressed the (very worthwhile) point the professors seemed to be raising in their piece about the new Common Core standards.

The authors seemed to be asking a critical question: If twenty-five percent of American students can’t get through high school as matters stand now, what will happen when the “more rigorous” Common Core standards make the task that much harder?

“Supporters are confident that students will rise to these challenges and make up for our country’s lag in the global education race,” Hacker and Dreifus said at one point in their stroll through the land. “We are not so sure.”

In our view, Hacker and Dreifus raised an extremely good point. Yesterday morning, in five separate letters, no one seemed to realize that this was the question they asked.

We don’t know what kinds of letters the New York Times may have received. But none of the letters the paper published addressed the authors’ (apparent) main point.

That said, two of the letters did recite the propagandistic Standard Story which dominates our nation’s discussions of the public schools. We refer to the mandated Standard Story about “our country’s lag in the global education race,” a Standard Story the authors themselves recited as part of their piece.

The first letter-writer praised the new standards, failing to mention the point of concern Hacker and Dreifus had raised. But as she ended, she tickled the strings of our nation’s Favorite Song:

“I think that we all agree—the old approach was not working.”

The old approach has been working reasonably well for a fairly large number of kids, as we will note below. But it seems to be federal law: You simply can’t discuss public schools without advancing that Standard Claim.

Another letter-writer pumped up the volume on this mandated tune. “Isn’t arguing about the Common Core State Standards rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic?” he gloomily wondered.

That was more like it! Our public schools were now being compared to the world’s most famous shipwreck! And by the way:

As long as this Standard Story is told, our public school teachers will get blamed for the disaster they have produced. The wreck of the Hesperus will get blamed on them and their infernal unions.

Alas! These letter writers approached Sunday’s piece like the famous blind men groping the elephant. Though these folk seemed to be down the hall groping parts of a rhino instead.

The basic point of the piece went unaddressed. But twice, we got to hear the mandated Standard Story—the familiar old story about how gruesome our public schools actually are!

Let’s be clear: American students do not lead the world on international tests. On most measures, the Asian tigers outscore the rest of the world, the United States included.

On the other hand, we aren’t exactly on the Titanic, though everyone and his crazy uncle seems to know that such a claim must, by law, be made.

Sorry, Virginia! American students do not “score well below their European peers in reading and math,” the false claim advanced by Hacker and Dreifus midway through their piece. Even on the international test the authors cherry-picked for maximum gloom, American students outscored their peers from Germany, France and England.

Sorry, Virginia! Scandinavian countries do not “show higher levels of student achievement than the United States,” the bogus claim which appeared in the Washington Post on May 18, placed there by the brightest college kid in the country—by a very bright and caring kid who has been brainwashed by the ubiquity of the Standard Story.

But so what? Everyone from Hacker on down repeats the Standard Story, preferably in a demonstrably bogus form. But then, the Standard Tales which control our discourse are typically built upon two kinds of facts—invented and withheld.

Today, let’s look at some facts which get withheld from your view when public schools get discussed. You will never see these facts when your upper-end press corps pretends to discuss public schools.

Some of these facts are almost uplifting; some of these facts are horrific. All these facts open the window onto our brutal history. But all these facts are actual facts—and they are highly relevant to Hacker and Dreifus’ apparent main point.

These facts are constantly withheld from your view. Although they routinely appear in major reports, you are never shown them.

Let’s start with the semi-gloomy facts which Hacker and Dreifus misstated. Below, you see average scores in reading literacy on the 2009 PISA, the international tests on which the professors chose to focus:

Average scores in reading literacy, 2009 PISA:
Korea 539
Finland 536
Canada 524
New Zealand 521
Japan 520
Australia 515
[...]
United States 500
Germany 497
France 496
United Kingdom 494
Average of OECD countries 493
Italy 486
Spain 481
Turkey 464
Chile 449
Mexico 425

Korea scored highest of the 34 OECD nations; Mexico scored lowest. For simplicity, we are omitting 21 countries, none of which outscored the U.S. in a "measurably different" way.

To peruse the entire list, click here, scroll down to page 8.

As you can see, the United States outscored the major European nations, though sometimes by small margins. The New York Times should file a detailed, prominent correction of the claim made by its high scholars.

(If they do, they will of course load it with other cherry-picked facts.)

That said, the United States was outscored on this test, in a “measurably different” way, by half a dozen nations. Prompted by endless propaganda, excitable people may compare this to an outing on the Titanic.

If they do, the New York Times will rush their cries into print.

Propagandized people will wring their hands over this gruesome result. Below, we’ll present a different, more detailed version of this list.

We will include some additional facts, including some which are horrifying. The National Center for Educational Statistics gives prominent placement to these “disaggregated” scores; scroll down to page 14. But when you read about public schools, these facts are always withheld, perhaps because they are accurate:

Average scores in reading literacy, 2009 PISA:
(United States, Asian-American students 541)
Korea 539
Finland 536
(United States, white students 525)
Canada 524
New Zealand 521
Japan 520
Australia 515
[...]
United States 500
Germany 497
France 496
United Kingdom 494
Average of OECD countries 493
Italy 486
Spain 481
(United States, Hispanic students 466)
Turkey 464
Chile 449
(United States, black students 441)
Mexico 425

Propagandists and tribalists will interpret those “disaggregated” scores in various ways. But only to the extent that they’re forced to view them, since these facts are always withheld when we discuss public schools.

Some of those scores are almost encouraging; others are horrifying. For ourselves, we will say that the worst of those scores represents the effect of three centuries of brutal racial history, in which our benighted ancestors worked very hard, for three hundred years, to eliminate literacy from one major segment of the American nation.

Aside from that, how did you like the seventeenth through the nineteenth centuries? With Jim Crow to follow?

That much said, we’ll ask two questions. Let’s start with the first:

Even on this cherry-picked test, do our schools seem like the Titanic when you look at the average score of white students? These are the kids whose ancestors weren’t violently stripped of access to literacy for roughly three hundred years, depending on when you stop counting.

That is this country’s mainstream majority population, the population of kids whose ancestors weren’t violently stripped of the culture of literacy. (Some of those other countries have nothing but a mainstream majority population. To their credit, they didn’t direct three centuries of violence at segments of their populations.) And yes, that average score includes the work of the gap-toothed, shoeless, yahoo-raised kids we fiery liberals like to picture in the southern red states.

Do our schools really seem like the Titanic when you look at that average score?

That said, the average score on this test by American black kids is close to horrifying. It must be said, because it’s true, that many black kids are doing extremely well in school. And it must be said that Americans kids of all descriptions tend to score better on other international tests.

In Massachusetts, black kids outscored Finland in math on the 2011 TIMSS! To review those inspiring numbers, click this. Remember, the authors cherry-picked the PISA because it provides the gloomiest scores. This is one of the basic ways the nation gets propagandized.

We reach our second question:

Our nation still lives in the backwash of centuries of brutal racial history. Meanwhile, many black kids do extremely well in school; many white kids do quite poorly. But on the 2009 PISA, our white kids were reading, on average, like kids from middle-class, unicultural Finland. On average, our black kids were closer to Mexico.

In such a country, does it make sense to have a uniform set of “standards” for every child in each grade? Given the large academic gaps within our ginormous student population, this basic notion has never made a lick of sense. But given the way our “public discourse” works, this question has almost never been raised as the so-called “standards movement” has taken hold in the past twenty years.

In their apparent main point, Hacker and Dreifus worried about the millions of kids—black kids, white kids, Hispanic kids—who are functioning near the bottom end of the vast academic ranges found in our public schools. If those kids can’t make it through high school today, how will they be helped if we make our “standards” tougher?

For kids who are struggling as it is, won’t tougher standards just make matters worse? Hacker and Dreifus seemed to be asking that (very important) question.

Alas! In the cluelessness which never sleeps, the New York Times printed exactly no letters which spoke to this, the authors’ main point. But on Monday, the paper did publish a front-page report which touched on this general question.

Slate and Salon tried to comment.

Almost all our public discussions are built around two kinds of facts. The cluelessness of our elites was on display in Monday’s reports, which tended to withhold basic facts about our nation’s academic divides.

Tomorrow: Can our elites read and do math?

Randi's "Mid-Course" Babble on Common Core: Who's doing more harm to public education, Glenn Beck or Randi Weingarten?

Can we call for a moratorium on Randi Weingarten? -- Fred Smith

Susan Ohanian asked that intriguing question about Glenn Beck and Randi in the headline. The amount of damage Randi's AFT/UFT capitulation has done to public education is exposed as parents and teachers reacted to Weingarten's worthless words to cover her ass with a soundbite when the entire common core crap she has had the AFT/UFT push down everyone's throats comes apart, as so much of ed deform has before it, ed deform that Weingarten supported and enabled.

Here is more from Susan:

Extreme Common Core rhetoric clouds serious debate
The fact that Phyllis Schlaffley and I agree on opposing the Common Core doesn't scare me. . . or drive me into alignment with her other opinions. If you doubt her proposition about training students to be obedient servants of the government, think about the way teachers are being forced to become obedient servants of the government's Common Core. Remember: the Feds are pushing the Common Core States agreed to adopt the Common Core only because they didn't want to risk access to federal monies. Of course state departments of education are now rushing to push quite bizarre curriculum.

I'm disappointed that Valerie Strauss chooses to give lots of ink to the "teachers need more time" approach a la Randi Weingarten. I commented on Weingarten's 'teachers need more time' strategy here.

Teachers don't need more time to learn the Common Core. They need to stand up for their right make professional decisions. They need to learn how to say no. The outrage is that teachers have no union or professional organization to organize and bolster their professional independence.

Who's doing more harm to public education? Glenn Beck or Randi Weingarten?

It's a question worth discussing. 

Susan is in town for the weekend to speak at a conference I can't attend. I was hoping to discuss that question and I'm hoping she will be around for a chat.

Yesterday I posted about about media mea culpas (or mid-course corrections if you prefer) regarding ed deform (As Ed Deform Failures Mount, Mid-Course Correction for Former Cheerleaders Merrow, Goldstein, Weingarten) and promised a follow-up today on Randi Weingarten's common core moratorium speech the other day. How people still take her waffling seriously still baffles me.

There were some good comments on my post:

Michael FiorilloMay 2, 2013 at 1:40:00 PM EDT

There's a quote attributed to Churchill, where he supposedly said of the Germans, that they're either "at your feet or at your throat."

In fact, this perfectly describes the cravenness of the media and most journalists: they sycophantically build people up, then join the lynch mob to bring them down.

While I'm pleased that John Merrow - whose recent reporting on Michelle Rhee is superb - and Dana Goldstein finally seem to be half-awake about what so-called education reform really means, that does not excuse the fact that they have helped enable the ongoing destruction of public education and teaching with their earlier credulous, hero-worshipping, accept-the-premises-of-the-powerful coverage.

It's a good thing that they are finally exposing some of the racist, class war elements embedded in so-called education reform, but they're also one of the reasons we face the dilemmas we do.

As for Weingarten, she's hopeless, and is not correcting anything. She is merely throwing out some sound bites she can refer to later, so she can (falsely) claim that she opposes high stakes testing. In fact, she bears as much responsibility as anyone for the life-or-death situation the public schools and their teachers face. She could have strangled this bad seed in its crib, yet she chose to collaborate with those who would destroy the public schools and teacher unions.

Her speech this week was a favor granted for past services rendered, giving her a stage for her membership, since there's no chance whatsoever that Tisch, King, Cuomo and the rest will listen to her, and she's knows that full well.

Anon: The latest edition of the AFT paper prominently displays a photo of Karen Lewis CTU President at a rally protesting school closings. Weingarten and her comments are to be taken with two grains of salt as she now speaks out against the common core. She is as phony as a two dollar blomberg Bill. Looks like the AFT wants to take credit for the CTU stand against the reformers. Too little Too late.

There were many comments on Leonie's NYCEducationNews:

Lisa Donlan leads off with some great points that touch on the teacher centric approach vs the broader social justice aspect that MORE advocates:

More salient to the anti HSST is the failure here to question the entire data driven accountability model of the last decade. Rather, teachers need more time and more better curricula aligned w/ the more better tests to meet the deeper higher standards of CCLS.

So many missed opportunities to offer real opposition and raise real issues, such as exposing the actual costs of these tests and data systems as compared to the inadequate sums granted to districts in RttT or the outrageous premiums paid to corporations to develop the much in demand national curricula (rather than state by state as previously), etc, etc.

Once again, in order to be "relevant" and keep a seat at the table, the teachers' union relies on the "yes, but" approach, accepting the basic premises of bad policy and disagreeing only w/how the implementation affects teachers.

What if instead they applied the Karen Lewis sniff test:
Does this advance our goals?
Does this create unity and consensus among allies/
What a different speech this would be!

There is just so much to lament in this speech, starting w/ the "public school on the LES" she cites, which is in fact a HIGHLY selective citywide Gifted and Talented school that has a long history of exclusion of LES, and high needs kids in general (and where Eva's eldest kid is enrolled!). See my posting at GS for more details
http://gothamschools.org/2013/04/30/weingarten-calling-for-moratorium-on-common-core-stakes/

Tim Slekar at The Chalkface (full post at bottom):

This is not “solution driven unionism.”  This is individual protectionism. This is nothing more than a massive sell out of AFT membership and American public school children. Randi Weingarten’s call for a “moratorium on the consequences of high stakes testing with the Common Core standards” is worthless! We don’t need a moratorium on “consequences” associated with the Common Core.  We need the abolition of all high-stakes testing and dissolution of the Common Core. Anything else is a capitulation to the destructive forces of the education reform machine!

Loretta Prisco:

She sings the same tune as Mulgrew- It's not mayoral control - only this mayor. It is not high stakes testing - only the way they are being implemented. It is not common core - on the way that they are presented without teacher input an training.

Justin Wedes:

What a courageous stand, Randi! ... let the corporate reformers institute their national curriculum and THEN test the hell out of the kids. Ugh.

Fred Smith:

This outrages me. When did Randi get the memo? Why don't these poseurs get lost!!! The leaderless UFT would rather control a corrupt system than clean it up. Yours truly called for a moratorium, before I knew which way the wind was blowing. http://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/n-y-testing-parents-patience-article-1.1193382. Do I get royalties?

Some people did not take exception to Randi's speech, which prompted some debate. 

Deb Meier:

Clarify for me---what is it about her speech or demands etc etc that angers you so? Spell it out for me. Thanks. Deb

Justin Wedes:

What angers me is that Randi could easily stand up and say "Enough is enough! End the Common Core! End high stakes testing! Let's tax the corporations and use the money to give districts autonomy and the needed resources to create their own culturally-relevant curriculum rather than selling out our children to a corporate logo-laden national curriculum designed by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation" but instead we get this luke-warm, please-nobody-except-Arne-Duncan nonsense. This article pretty much sums up - generously to Randi, in my opinion - where the country stands on Common Core.

Jim Devor agrees with Deb:

Deborah,
As explained in the article pointed to by Justin, the Common Core "standards emphasize critical thinking and problem solving and encourage thinking deeply about fewer topics." Given the hysterical response on this list to Randi's speech, it is obvious that the objection is NOT to its implementation, but rather the very IDEAS underlying the Common Core. Or as the Jefferson Airplane sang in my youth, "got to revolution!" Apparently then, actually developing a coherent pedagogical policy is only suitable for the Upper Classes - not the peasants who attend public schools and CERTAINLY not for the teachers who toil in those corrupt and decrepit vineyards.

Lisa Donlan replies:

Just like NCLB closed the achievement gap and RttT fostered innovation and flexibility! Let's not confuse the hype w/ the reality.

Deb Meier:

But surely you don't expect her to say that. And I'm not sure most teachers would want her to do so. We've got a lot of work still to do to persuade our colleagues. You do so daily I'm sure, and it's frustrating but... there's more to be done!!!!

Jim Devor:

Lisa,
I agree with you that much of the Common Core stuff is hype. At a minimum, it would be nice if a curriculum were developed that could be examined and critiqued. Still, just as reducing the achievement gap IS a worthy goal, so is a lot of the values underlying Common Core. After all, it shares many of the precepts found in progressive education as advanced by John Dewey. Merely because hucksters are trying to make a buck off it don't make it fundamentally wrong. I kind of think that was Randi's point. But I could be wrong.

While we're at it, make sure to sign this petition:
http://www.change.org/petitions/the-new-york-state-department-of-education-make-the-2013-nys-common-core-exams-available-for-public-viewing

If we're getting screwed, we have the right to see the screwdrivers.


Below is the full ChalkFace piece

high stakes testing moratorium? @slekar says not enough!

April 30, 2013 By Timothy D. Slekar 5 Comments

Sorry, but Randi Weingarten’s call for a “moratorium on the consequences of high stakes testing with the Common Core standards” is worthless!
We don’t need a moratorium on “consequences” associated with the Common Core.  We need the abolition of all high-stakes testing and dissolution of the Common Core.

Anything else is a capitulation to the destructive forces of the education reform machine!

According to Randi, “We have the ability to transform the very DNA of teaching and learning, to move away from rote memorization and endless test taking, and toward problem solving, critical thinking and teamwork….”
What in the world is she talking about?  I agree with her first assertion and that the DNA of teaching and learning will be transformed.  However, let’s be honest.  The transformation will really be a genetic mutation that disfigures teaching and learning so that “rote memorization and endless test taking” will be at the core of all teaching and learning.   Problem solving, critical thinking, and teamwork will be forever banned from the genetic material that makes up real teaching and learning.

However, I do agree with Randi that “[t]he Common Core standards have the potential to be a once-in-a-generation revolution in education….”  If we allow this “revolution” to proceed we will destroy authentic teaching and learning and reduce our children to untapped vessels of data. We are literally about to sell the souls (data) of millions of children in the name of the Common Core and this will revolutionize education!

There is no middle ground on the Common Core.  It is a curriculum directly linked to high stakes testing and the selling of data to for profit companies.
Someone has to say it!

This is not “solution driven unionism.”  This is individual protectionism. This is nothing more than a massive sell out of AFT membership and American public school children.

http://atthechalkface.com/2013/04/30/high-stakes-testing-moratorium-slekar-says-not-enough/