NYC Parent Urges Farina and King to Cancel Upcoming Math Exam

There was no rigor applied to the development of these tests, nor does the practice of high-stakes testing in general stand up to critical analysis....I was offended by your remarks earlier this week to the effect that while parents' opinions should be respected, children should come to school prepared to meet challenges like the state tests...

I honestly believe it is time for insurrection at the local level... I want de Blasio and Farina to unequivocally condemn these tests and call those who inflicted them us to account.

......Jeff Nichols, NYC parent opt-outer

Read Jeff's comments regarding the motivation of this letter below. Jeff and his wife Anne Stone are Change the Stakes stalwarts..

Dear Commissioner King and Chancellor Fariña,

Events are moving very fast. You are no doubt aware that today the principal, staff and parents of one of the most highly regarded schools In New York City, PS 321 in Brooklyn, will be holding a protest outside their schools to decry the abysmal quality of this year's ELA tests. You have probably read the astonishing comments from teachers and principals that continue to pour into the the New York City Public School Parents blog and other sites (http://nycpublicschoolparents.blogspot.com/2014/04/liz-phillips-brooklyn-principal-i-have.html).

I have not yet heard your view of this situation, Chancellor Fariña. But as an opt out parent, I have to tell you frankly I was offended by your remarks earlier this week to the effect that while parents' opinions should be respected, children should come to school prepared to meet challenges like the state tests.

Have you not realized that parents are protesting the tests precisely because we want our kids challenged deeply by real learning in our schools and these tests are obstructing that goal? Have you not realized that NYSED's and Pearson's claims that these tests represent new levels of "rigor" and "critical thinking" are demonstrably false?
There was no rigor applied to the development of these tests, nor does the practice of high-stakes testing in general stand up to critical analysis, so I fail to see how taking the state tests represents a worthwhile challenge for any child.

Moreover, Commissioner King, I cannot accept the state's intention to keep the tests secret from parents. My wife and I are responsible for all aspects of our children's upbringing. We would not permit a doctor to administer a vaccine to our children and forbid us from knowing what is in the shot. We will not let you subject our children to any exercise in school while forbidding us to know its contents, much less tests that are being used to determine their promotion and whether or not their teachers will be fired.
The forced, secret high-stakes testing of minor children is going to go the way of cane switches, dunce caps and forcing left-handed children to write with their right hands -- practices that were once commonplace that we now regard as child abuse. It's only a matter of time.

The question is, will our local and state education leaders join together and stop this travesty? Given the fact that the NYSED and the Pearson corporation have again utterly failed the test of earning parents' and educators' confidence in the quality of these exams, why should our schools proceed with administering the math tests later this month? Can you give me any reason other than obedience for obedience's sake? All I hear from you, Commissioner King, is slogans about higher standards and career readiness. I have yet to witness direct engagement by you with the arguments made by the thousands of educators and parents in our state who are advocate abandoning high-stakes testing of young children once and for all.

I call on you, Commissioner King, to suspend the administration of this year's state tests, and if you fail to do that (as I expect you will) I call on you, Chancellor Fariña to refuse to administer them.

We have lemon laws protecting consumers from egregiously faulty consumer products, but we no one is protecting our children from these worthless exams. Chancellor Fariña, they are state tests, so you can blame Commissioner King and the legislature for them, but you are ultimately responsible for our city's schools. You must ensure that no one forces educational malpractice upon them. If NYSED continues to ignore the protests against the state tests that are exploding across the state, and you allow the math exams exams to go forward, the public will hold the DOE accountable as well as NYSED and the U.S. Department of Education.

We now have teachers in this city and beyond refusing to administer the state tests and parents refusing to allow their children to take them. Chancellor Fariña, will you stand with these disobedient citizens, or will you stand with Arne Duncan and John King and insist that the tests must go forward regardless of their quality, because an unjust law says they must?

I hope both of you will acknowledge that finally, enough is enough. Suspend the state tests and bring daylight onto the whole process that led to this debacle.

Sincerely,

Jeff Nichols

One parent thought Jeff should address King and not Farina since she has no control. Jeff begged to differ:

I know, of course you're right, these matters are outside Farina's and de Blasio's control. I know at one level my demand make no sense.
But for the sake of argument, the tests are also outside the control of teachers who are now starting to refuse to administer the exams and are risking their jobs to do so. And they are outside the control of parents boycotting them. At the grass-roots level, test refusal is exploding. Is it truly impossible for our city officials to join us?
As a negative example, we have the history of leaders in the south defying federal orders of integration in the 1960s. As a positive one, we have Obama's administration refusing to defend the Defense of Marriage Act, in a sense defying Congress, which has the authority to make laws the president must obey.
Officials can and do at times take a position contrary to the directives of authorities higher than themselves when they believe an inviolable principle is at stake.

By the way, can Tisch and King suspend the exams, or does the order to give them technically rest with the legislature? Who could legally suspend the tests?
I regard NYSED as utterly hopeless, which is why I am not bothering to talk to them. I honestly believe it is time for insurrection at the local level, and NYC is a pretty darned sizable locality. And moreover what I really want is something less than what I demand -- I want de Blasio and Farina to unequivocally condemn these tests and call those who inflicted them us to account.

Jeff

NYC Teachers of Conscience - Letter to Farina - We Refuse to Support Market-Based Reform by Giving the Test

We find ourselves at a point in the progress of education reform in which clear acts of conscience will be necessary to preserve the integrity of public education. We can no longer implement policies that seek to transform the broad promises of public education into a narrow obsession with the ranking and sorting of children. .. Teachers of Conscience

Jia Lee is a core member of MORE and Change the Stakes and Chapter Leader at the Earth School. Feel free to download the letter and share with your colleagues. MORE recommends anyone doing this seek legal advice. A massive resistance effort -- like something supported by a real union -- would begin to turn the tide. (I'm going to follow up with a powerful parent letter to Farina).

http://teachersofconscience.wordpress.com/

A Letter to Chancellor Carmen Fariña

DOWNLOAD Letter

“The ongoing wars, the distortions of truth we have witnessed, the widening gaps between rich and poor disturb us more than we can say; but we have had so many reminders of powerlessness that we have retreated before the challenge of bringing such issues into our classrooms. At once, we cannot but realize that one of our primary obligations is to try to provide equal opportunities for the young. And we realize full that this cannot happen if our students are not equipped with what are thought to be survival skills, not to speak of a more or less equal range of literacies. And yet the tendency to describe the young as “human resources,” with the implication that they are mainly grist for the mills of globalized business is offensive not merely to educators, but to anyone committed to resist dehumanization of any kind.”

- Maxine Greene, In Search of a Pedagogy

Dear Chancellor Carmen Fariña,

We are teachers of public education in the City of New York. We are writing to distance ourselves from a set of policies that have come to be known as market-based education reform. We recognize that there has been a persistent and troubling gulf between the vision of individuals in policymaking and the work of educators, but we see you as someone who has known both positions and might therefore be understanding of our position. We find ourselves at a point in the progress of education reform in which clear acts of conscience will be necessary to preserve the integrity of public education. We can no longer implement policies that seek to transform the broad promises of public education into a narrow obsession with the ranking and sorting of children. We will not distort curriculum in order to encourage students to comply with bubble test thinking. We can no longer, in good conscience, push aside months of instruction to compete in a city-wide ritual of meaningless and academically bankrupt test preparation. We have seen clearly how these reforms undermine teachers’ love for their profession and undermine students’ intrinsic love of learning.

As an act of conscience, we are declining the role of test administrators for the 2014 New York State Common Core Tests. We are acting in solidarity with countless public school teachers who have paved their own paths of resistance and spoken truthfully about the decay of their profession under market-based reforms. These acts of conscience have been necessary because we are accountable to the children we teach and our pedagogy, both of which are dishonored daily by current policies.
The policies of Common Core have been misguided, unworkable, and a serious failure of implementation. At no time in the history of education reform have we witnessed the ideological ambitions of policymakers result in such a profound disconnect with the experiences of parents, teachers, and children. There is a growing movement of dissatisfied parents who are refusing high-stakes Common Core testing for their children and we are acting in solidarity with those parents. Reformers in the State Department of Education are now making gestures to slow down implementation and reform their reforms. Their efforts represent a failure of imagination — an inability to envision an education system based on human development and democratic ideals rather than an allegiance to standardization, ranking, and sorting. State policies have placed haphazard and burdensome mandates on schools that are profoundly out of touch with what we know to be inspired teaching and learning. Although the case against market-based education reform has been thoroughly written about, we feel obliged to outline our position at length to address critics who may see our choice of action as overstepping or unwarranted. You will find a position paper attached to this letter. We are urging you, Chancellor Fariña, to articulate your own position in this critical and defining moment in the history of public education. What will you stand for? What public school legacy will we forge together?

Sincerely,
Colin Schumacher, 4th/5th Grade Teacher, P.S. 364, Earth School
Emmy Matias, 4th/5th Grade Teacher, P.S. 364, Earth School
Jia Lee, 4th/5th Grade Teacher, P.S. 364, Earth School

Download the position paper or read it at the Port Jefferson Station TA site: Teachers of Conscience Position Paper

Aljazeera Features Change the Stakes Opt-Out Parent, NYC Teacher

FANTASTIC!!! Takiema, you nailed it!... CTS parent

Imagine if the UFT urged NYC teachers to consider opting out their kids to help bump the movement to deny the data for judging teachers? The day we have a majority of people opting out is the day that teacher evals based on testing become meaningless.

N.Y. educator lets her son opt out of Common Core-based testing

April 2, 2014

A New York parent who opposes tests based on new Common Core standards says 'We can't test our way into high standards'

http://america.aljazeera.com/watch/shows/consider-this/2014/4/n-y-educator-letshersonoptoutofcommoncorebasedtesting.html

Memo from the RTC: Professionalism, Personality, Talent – and Me

  How to Succeed cast (most of them) photo --
                                      Follow the red line straight|down to a tiny head - me

Published in The Wave, April 4, 2014
www.rockawave.com

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Memo from the RTC: Professionalism, Personality, Talent – and Me

By Norm Scott

After the Sunday matinee closing performance, I had a hangover Monday morning, not from the incredible fun cast party, but withdrawal symptoms from the intensity of total immersion in a theater experience. I can’t tell you how many people connected to the RTC came up to me saying with such glee, “You are hooked. You’ll never escape.” And so it goes. Early Monday morning I joined the de-construction crew taking down the set that had become home to the almost 40 cast  members. By Tuesday, noon, the basic set for Moon Over Buffalo was in place.

And how sad to see the empty backstage dressing room that had pulsed with such life over the past 3 months – people constantly coming and going onstage and off, changing costumes on the fly, moving the not inconsiderable sized sets during the show, often in wet and windy weather. Watching the always amazing Stage Manager, Nora Meyers coral this bunch was a wonder. Until I appeared in these 2 plays I never new that the stage manager is almost as important as the director – she is the person the actors come into contact with constantly once the play opens. Nora’s husband Patrick is not only a very talented performer (Curly in Oklahoma) but does anything asked behind scenes, including one of the most important jobs, operating the curtain when Suzanne Riggs was not available. If you haven’t heard of Suzanne, a local teacher, she is a major behind the scenes player at RTC, doing anything that is needed to keep the theater going.

On to the amazingly diverse cast. Many RTC vets played key roles. I’ve mentioned many of them in my previous columns and want to make sure to note the work of Roger Gonzalez (Twimble) who knocks it out with “Company Way” and keeps everyone laughing back stage. Roger runs a website (localtheatreny.com) - INDEPENDENT, LOCAL, GRASSROOTS NEW YORK THEATRE FROM THE COMMUNITY STAGE TO BROADWAY – where you can find out about auditions, performances, etc. I’ve watched 12-year RTC vet Najat Arkadan (Smitty) belt it out for years. How did she get involved? She was Susan Jaspar’s student at Goldstein HS. Jose Velez (Wally Whomper) was one of my card-playing pals in “The Odd Couple” and has been a powerful voice not only in RTC productions but in the Far Rockaway community. I met Joseph Lopez (known as JoLo) in Frank Ciaiti’s acting class and did my first scene with him. Janet Miserandino and Cathy Murfitt, who have been RTC mainstays, played the scrubwomen – small roles they brought verve and vigor to. And what a delight to meet first time performer Danielle Rose Fisher who was my dance partner (for 15 seconds at each performance) at the World Wide Wickett office party. Danielle, whose enthusiasm and cheer brought a smile to my face every time I saw her, has been involved backstage at the RTC for a decade since she was a 15-year old. In the show she sang and tapped her way into future performances.

The high school kids were fabulous to work with and I got such a kick out of their enthusiasm, knowledge of the theater, and ease on stage (due to the training of the RTC youth program run by Peggy Page). Midwood HS senior Casey Stabiner, already with an impressive resume as a performer at RTC since she was 9, never seemed to stop moving - when she wasn’t back stage reading Hamlet. I was delighted to listen in as Casey and Leon Goldstein teacher Steve Ryan (Bratt) discussed the plot. Other RTC youth program vets Kayla Ann Healy (15- student at Professional Performing Arts School), Antonio Oliveri (senior at Xaverian), James Dalid(studying music at CCNY) and Dante Rei (19) – the only cast member with facial hair – a perfect mustache - made being backstage so much fun. I couldn’t stop smiling as Casey and Keyla danced up a storm during the overture right before the curtain opened and then went into freeze pose seconds before it did open. Dante is assisting Nora as stage manager for the next production. RTC is more than a production company. It offers the full theater education experience, from sound to lighting, to all age groups.

I’ve run out of words before getting to the great influx of newcomers to this production (I’ll cover this amazing crew in a future column) who trekked out to Fort Tilden from Brooklyn, Queens and Manhattan almost daily, often by public transportation. They all say they are coming back, just showing the power and draw of Rockaway’s local theater group.

And the fab cast party where the guys did the gals’ tap and the gals did the  guys’ Brotherhood of Man. And people gathering around the piano to sing just about anything – what a Les Mis they did. I’ll always remember the backstage banter, spontaneous bouts of breaking into song, people practicing lines, dance steps - a once in a lifetime treat 
--> for a non-theater person of a certain age.

NYSUT Update: EIA Analyzes NYSUT Delegate Vote

My unscientific extrapolation estimates Revive NYSUT holds about 56 percent of the delegates, Stronger Together 24 percent, and 20 percent are unknown or undecided... EIA

Mike Antonucci crunches the numbers based on endorsement of big local presidents for the Mulgrew/Weingarten Revive Slate.

Is he missing something by assuming the rest of the delegates from the big locals will vote the way their leaders want them to like the Unity clones? What if that 56% doesn't vote as a block? Other than the roughly Unity controlled NYC 32% the other 24% will not hold firm because those local presidents don't have the control over their people like Unity does.

Other than a few Unity people defecting because they want to leave Unity anyway and maybe some PSC (Prof. Staff Congress - CUNY) defections, we are hearing that there may be a lot more defections from UUP (SUNY), Rochester, Syracuse, Buffalo and maybe even Yonkers.

I at no point believed Stronger Together will win, but have believed that anything from 70-30 to 60-40 is a defeat for Randi with some talk of leaving NYSUT and joining the NEA by some locals. Anything above 40% approaching half the vote is massive.

In case you are not aware, Arthur Goldstein running for Exec VP gets to address the convention Saturday morning -- some of these delegates are bound to be impressed. In addition, MORE, not running on Stronger Together, will send 2 speakers to the podium to explain how the Unity machine operates, amongst other issues  -- Mike Schirtzer and Lauren Cohen -- the new faces of the opposition here in NYC. MORE's other candidates (Julie Cavanagh, Jia Lee, James Eterno and Francesco Portelos have yielded their time). Expect at least some withering away from the big locals. Maybe not enough to win but ....

Here is Antonucci's post with a great graph -- if NYSUT was run like the US Senate where each state gets the same vote it would be a landslide for Stronger Together. Not that I am advocating that. But imagine if our election here in NYC elected delegates by our local school districts rather than winner take all? A reform that might be worth fighting for.

Why Iannuzzi Is Toast by EIA

Posted: 03 Apr 2014 07:34 AM PDT

More than two months ago I posted my thoughts on the New York State United Teachers election headlined “Iannuzzi Is Toast.” My conclusion had nothing to do with the policies of the incumbent NYSUT president or his slate, nor did it take into account the policies of his challengers, Revive NYSUT. I simply took a look at the number of delegates and the locals pledged to the challengers, particularly the largest teachers’ union local in the nation, the United Federation of Teachers.
In recent weeks Iannuzzi’s slate, named Stronger Together, has trumpeted its growing list of endorsements by NYSUT local presidents and boards. We started to see graphs like this one.


That’s an impressive show of strength and it would be decisive if the NYSUT Representative Assembly assigned a single vote to each local. But the votes are weighted according to the size of the local, and that’s where Stronger Together gets a lot Smaller Together.

I don’t have a list of delegates and I have no special insight into how individuals might vote on the open floor (no secret ballot in NYSUT). But the two slates are using local endorsements as a proxy for voting power and I will, too. I know how many teachers are in each district they represent and can usually add pretty well.

I took a look at the list of 300 or so local presidents on the Stronger Together web site and discovered: a) there was some double-counting of locals; and b) the total number of teachers those locals represented came to about 60,000.
UFT by itself has 64,000 active full-time K-12 teachers.
So if UFT stood alone, Stronger Together would have a fighting chance to pick up votes from the rest of the delegation. But the Revive slate also boasts the endorsement of virtually all of the largest locals in NYSUT: the Professional Staff Congress, the United University Professions, and the K-12 unions in Buffalo, Rochester, Yonkers and Syracuse. Stronger’s largest declared local is the Brentwood Teachers Association, representing about 1,100 teachers.

My unscientific extrapolation estimates Revive NYSUT holds about 56 percent of the delegates, Stronger Together 24 percent, and 20 percent are unknown or undecided. Iannuzzi’s slate would have to capture all of the undecideds and peel off about 11 percent of Revive’s delegates while holding on to all of its own.

My prediction: Revive NYSUT picks up at least 60 percent of the vote. If it climbs to 70 percent, I would not be surprised.

PS 321K Rallies Friday Morning to Protest Awful ELA Test

...the teachers and administration are truly devastated by what a terrible test it was and how little it will tell us about our students. 

This is just the beginning. Let the deformers attack the staff and parents at one of the highest performing schools in the city and the actions of one of the top principals (who also happens to be the spouse of Mark Naison).

Will Carmen Farina repeat her recent comment about some parents not being up to the challenge?

Having trouble viewing this email? View it in your browser.

PS 321 PARENTS--Our 3rd, 4th, and 5th  graders have just completed three days  of the New York State English  Language Arts Exam.   Your  children were wonderful and worked incredibly hard.  On the whole, we think that we were able to protect them from the worst stresses of the test,  and most seemed fine during most of the exam.   However, the teachers and administration are truly devastated by what a terrible test it was and how little it will tell us about our students.   Because we are bound by test security, we cannot reveal details but we can tell you that we have never seen an ELA exam that does a worse job of testing reading comprehension.   There was inappropriate content, many highly ambiguous questions, and a focus on structure rather than meaning of passages.   Our teachers and administrators feel that this test is an insult to the profession of teaching and that students’ scores on it will not correlate with their reading ability.  Because of this, the staff has decided to hold a protest outside of school TOMORROW, FRIDAY, APRIL 4, FROM 8:15-8:35 to express their extreme dissatisfaction with the ELA exam.  Parents are invited to join the staff before going into classrooms for Family Friday.

PS 321 180 Seventh Ave. , Brooklyn, New York 11215

Video: Change the Stakes Rocks Opt-Out Movement

“I had people come up to me on the street and explain that their kids were sick this morning going into school, because they knew they have to take the test,” Dromm said.

There is so much opt-out news I can manage to share much of it - stuff is just flying around.

Former teacher and current City Councilman Danny Dromm held a press conference: More Parents Refusing NYC Standardized School Tests.

A parent in touch with Change the Stakes said, "the changes made by the budget bill that lower the stakes for students are part of the solution, but don’t go far enough. It’s also used to evaluate teachers, it’s also used to evaluate schools. I’m not just here for my kids, although I’m very much here for them. I think teachers are an incredibly important part of the society and they’re getting just stepped on all over.”

Right in the middle of all this is our own lil ole Change the Stakes crew who are getting lots of publicity.

I was just talking to Julie Cavanagh tonight, remembering old times and how we met less than 5 years ago through the resistance to charter movement, which spurred us to make our 2011 film response to that awful pro-charter unmentionable film. and how many people locally and nationally it seemed to inspire to take action. And we remembered meeting a parent at one of our film showings who came because she was so upset at the testing her daughter was going to face. She expressed such great emotion at the impact of the film and jumped into the fray - helping organize a committee of GEM we called Change the Stakes (I think Julie may have come up with the name). That parent was/is Janine Sopp, who has become a giant, joined by other giants in CTS. (See Janine Sopp, Opt-Outer).

Janine broke her back working with parents and film maker Michael Elliot to make this promo for opting out.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ayYajsQjg8




Last night at the CEC 19 Meeting a parent on the CEC suggested we make our own commercials to counter the Eva ones -- ours would run on You-tube and won't cost $5 million bucks.

Remember those millions of dollars of our UFT dues money spent on tepid commercials? Ho-hum.

Even Charterbeat had an article which features MORE/CTS stalwart woman of steel and stamina, Jia Lee. Less than 2 years ago Jia came to a testing forum GEM put on - with a very pregnant Julie hosting and VROOOM! Jia was the gal on fire. She has become a force of nature in both GEM (she is also chapter leader) and CTS.

And the article mentions Nancy Cauthen whose incredible competence and driving energy make things happen.

You know the lesson of the Janine and Jia and Nancy stories? And even Julie? They got involved because some of us had built some structural organizations taking action that provided a place for them to hang their hats and the freedom for them to flourish. Build it and they will come. But you don't build it by sitting at the keyboard. If you think you do you are under an illusion. It takes organizers to make stuff happen - face to face.

Here is s piece of the chalkbeat piece on Jia -- did they link to the CTS website like they used to with E4E? Did they even think to mention

For Jia Lee, a critic of the state’s standardized tests who teaches at the Earth School and has a son there, the decision to opt her child out of this year’s exams was a “no-brainer.”

But Lee felt she could do more, so she and two of her colleagues at the East Village public school decided to refuse to administer this year’s state tests.
 
The teachers had already drafted a letter to the schools chancellor explaining their decision when they were called into their school office last week. Enough families had opted their children out of the tests, the teachers were told, that they did not need to proctor the exam — the teachers’ planned boycott was trumped by their students’. So on Tuesday, the first of six state-exam days, all but a handful of Lee’s students worked on a project about immigration instead of taking the test.
As the number of parents who opt out their children grows, and as test scores play a role in teacher evaluations for the first time, educators like Lee are being drawn into their protest. Some are simply providing logistical information to parents; others are sharing their concerns about over-testing; and still others, including Lee, are opting out their own children or, in some cases, even encouraging other parents to.
“We’re hoping that more teachers will realize that there’s empowerment in saying, ‘We don’t want to be a part of this,’” Lee said.
The number of city families opting out of state tests this year is poised to hit a record high, one year after new tests tied to the Common Core standards resulted in vastly lower scores. While just 276 students opted out citywide last year, nearly 640 students have already opted out this year just among six schools in Brooklyn and Manhattan, according to parents and teachers. The advocacy group Change the Stakes estimates that 1,000 students or more may decline to take this year’s test — a tiny portion of the city’s test-takers, but a huge increase from years past.
Many families are opting out despite pushback from their schools. At least 50 parents told Change the Stakes that school administrators discouraged them or told them children who skip the tests might be penalized, according to parent leader Nancy Cauthen. Responding to the growing tension within schools, Chancellor Carmen Fariña — who herself has expressed reservations about test boycotts — last week told principals to “respect the parents’ decision” if they decide to keep their child from taking the tests.
But at many of the opt-out hotspots, educators are offering support — both explicit and tacit — to families that are choosing to have their children sit out the tests.
Several schools held information sessions for parents who expressed interest in opting students out of the tests. In most cases, educators at those schools were “scrupulous” about offering information about testing while remaining neutral on the question of opting out, said Jessica Blatt, a parent at Brooklyn’s Arts and Letters Academy, where 83 percent of third graders are not taking the tests.
But educators’ comments at the meetings signaled that they were sympathetic to testing concerns — and emphasized that there would likely be no significant consequences for families who opted out, according to people who attended and records of the meetings.
Parents at the Earth School organized meetings where middle school principals explained that students’ lack of test scores would not be held against them in the admissions process, Lee said. At another forum for parents, Lee and other teachers described the impact of testing on their classrooms, she said. Some 57 percent of Earth School students are not taking this year’s tests.

NYSUT UPDATE: UFT Sells Out on Charter Law in Exchange for Cuomo Tossing a Bone on Evals to Cut Iannuzzi

It will be even more interesting to see how the election results affect the delegates and the union. Will they all close ranks behind the next regime? Or will the divisions opened up during the campaign linger on?.. Mike Antonucci, EIA

Insiders are telling me that Cuomo throwing Mulgrew an olive branch on teacher evals yesterday was a way to slap Iannuzzi and help Mulgrew in NYSUT election - a sign it is closer than we thought. Mike Antonucci seems to think so too.

In exchange, UFT was quiet as a mouse in disastrous charter deal that will end up costing the UFT thousands of working members over the next few years as charters grow into a much as 10% of the school system. Actually, I'm predicting that this new charter enhancement bill will have a tsunami effect -- think accelerating greenhouse effect and global warming -- ice pack melts, etc.

This is the charter equivalent -- watch charters grow to 30% in a decade as the state legislature keeps expanding the charter cap -- see millions in commercials spent on that coming soon. UFT will barely organize any of them and end up losing 15,000 members.

If Dick wins, no NYSUT endorsement for Cuomo.

If Mulgrew wins and NYSUT endorses Cuomo there will be a revolt - esp w Cuomo support for charters.

Mike Antonucci who gave Revise a slam dunk not long ago now sees a closer election.

Mike is right on that but wrong on a few things in not bringing up the Cuomo issue. He is also wrong that national AFT has little impact on local stuff. National AFT and local UFT are one and the same -- under the control of the same people on all levels.

Mike doesn't see that the key is Randi's ties to Dem party. Randi still controls Mulgrew and UFT. This is her deal as much as anyone's -- she wants to be a player in Dem party and Iannuzzi revolt threatened that.

Summing up:

• UFT/Randi have sacrificed long-term interests of union for short-term stool at the Cuomo table.
• No matter what they have fomented a permanent split in NYSUT that cannot be healed -- though watch them attack the people they just finished going after for being "divisive."
• This will carry over to the national AFT as alliances are built between the NYSUT anti-Unity crew and others around the nation wanting to challenge Randi's leadership.
• Ed Notes will be there to cover everything as I continue to not have a life.

 From Antonucci EIA:

NYSUT Election Will Be Held Saturday Evening

Posted: 02 Apr 2014 10:53 AM PDT

The incumbent has the support of more than 300 locals, and the challenger has the support of all the largest ones. Barring something utterly extraordinary, Karen Magee will become the new president of New York State United Teachers, but by a less-than-impressive margin.
Almost all of the union’s business will be conducted prior to the election on Saturday evening, and it will be interesting to see how much the battle between the two caucuses affects other areas.
Former NYSUT president Tom Hobart will be receiving an award. He has endorsed incumbent president Richard Iannuzzi. AFT president Randi Weingarten will address the delegates. Her local, the United Federation of Teachers, is the driving force behind the challenger. John Stocks, the executive director of NEA, will also speak. The national union has little influence on NYSUT, and its staunch support of Common Core has hit swirling rapids in New York.
It will be even more interesting to see how the election results affect the delegates and the union. Will they all close ranks behind the next regime? Or will the divisions opened up during the campaign linger on?

Janine Sopp, Opt-Outer

It was an incredible honor to stand with all of the parents, elected officials and press in Brooklyn today. It felt like a real movement, with the most lively opt out signs to decorate our celebration!.. Janine Sopp

Some press on the

Press Conference: Brooklyn Parents Opt Out of State Tests

http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/story?section=news/education&id=9487788#

http://pix11.com/2014/04/01/family-opts-out-of-bullying-common-core-exams/#axzz2xgkGxjUE

http://pix11.com/2014/04/01/opting-out-of-controversial-common-core-testing-is-common-sense-brooklyn-parents/#axzz2xgkGxjUE

http://brooklyn.news12.com/news/brooklyn-parents-opt-kids-out-of-english-language-arts-assessments-over-common-core-standards-1.7570847#autoplay=true

These were my closing remarks at today's press conference:

 

Optout, The New Normal (Brooklyn Opt Out Press Conference, 4/1/14)

My name is Janine Sopp. I am a parent of a 5th grader at The Brooklyn New School who has opted out of the state tests since 3rd grade. We were the first family at BNS to opt out three years ago. It's wonderful to be surrounded by so many families who have decided to opt out this year. I'd like to thank everyone who has shared their stories here today and everyone who has come to hear them.

As we wrap up this morning, I'd like you to think about this experience as the NEW NORMAL!

Where Parents from all over Brooklyn have come together to help collectively explain what WE REMEMBER about ourselves, about our children, our teachers and our schools.

When a fog rolled in about 13 years ago, with the enactment of NCLB, and and even thicker fog tried to create a screen between parents and schools when RTTT and CCSS were put into place, parents were busy with their busy lives. When a nation at risk seemed to have all the answer to help all children succeed, laws were passed and no one on the ground really understood what was at stake. That the standardization of a generation, privatization and the collection of sensitive student data would become acceptable.

But then, one day, parents began to wake up out of this fog. We looked at our children and realized we did not recognize them. And in that moment, we began to REMEMBER that thing called "intuition", which had served us well just a few years before. We are here today to tell you that education for us is not about raising test scores, but about raising children. That education, when done well, can incorporate all the senses and all the joys of childhood.

Our children have one shot at this experience, and we want it to be filled with fond memories of our teachers and our schools, and to fill them with the love of learning that is found in private schools that teach to the whole child. 

There are many ways to educate and evaluate that do not require the use of high stakes standardized tests. It is clear that private schools know this best, and many of our public schools know this too.

Our children are not here to fulfill some corporate agenda. They are not widgets, they are not standardized and they are not happy when made to perform as such. They are children, who learn organically, whether some agree with this or not. They are individuals, with their own talents and strengths, and we do not want an education that puts them into a box or onto a spreadsheet. We see them as living, breathing and expanding beings and their education needs to reflect this.

So let's stop this "one size fits all testing". Let's take the millions of dollars now handed over to for-profit companies and put it where real teaching and learning take place, in our childrens' classrooms. And let's protect our children and keep the sensitive information about them private. This beautiful alliance of parents from all schools in the city coming together is the BEGINNING of the NEW NORMAL, and it's a place where we can all meet - policy makers, parents, teachers, administrators, experts in child development and testing, along with students. Where we can come together to discuss, look at and listen to ways to positively assess our children, our teachers and our schools, and once again, see them as individuals with their own needs and gifts and hopes.

This is the wish I have as a parent, for my beautiful and gifted daughter, and for all children. That their experience in school allows them to find their voice and self confidence as they grow to become the best they can be. And this cannot be measured by a test score.

Thank you.

Janine Sopp

BNS parent

CEC 19 Meeting - Back to the Past - Plus Parent Outrage at What Test Did To Her Child

Oh what memories - I went to the Community Education Council 19 meeting last night to tape MORE/CTS member Katie Lapham (Critical Classrooms, Critical Kids blog) and CTS Fred Smith do a presentation on testing. The meeting was sparsely attended, but interesting all the same. CEC 19 (East New York - a block from Jefferson HS on Pennsylvania Av) is run by long-time activist Erica Perez. They are prepping for a visit from Carmen Farina on April 10 and there was a DOE parent liaison in attendance offering "guidance" on the prep - which led to some interesting exchanges as he tried to get them to modify/tone down some of what he saw as possibly inflammatory/confrontational language in the leaflet. Erica and crew didn't seem to be buying it. I have another event on the 10th but that should be an interesting evening.

But I want to mention a fabulous couple and their son I met. Dad is on the PTA at George Gershwin MS, a school due to phase out -- and partly or wholly due to the occupation of the UFT charter (which has been moved into another local school. I was in the first grad class at Gershwin - entering in 1956 and through 1959. When I threw those numbers out people looked at me as if I was an ancient Roman. But after the meeting, over pizza, I got to talk to dad and his wife and one of their sons and it was a pleasure to meet them -- aware parents and fairly newly ed activists. They love Gershwin where their 14-year old 8th grader is doing well and heading for a local vocational-oriented high school they seem happy with -- to their credit they are looking at what they think will fit their child at this point in his life.

I'm hoping we can get them involved in change the stakes at some point. I ran out to my car to give them a dvd of our movie and their son pointed to the elementary school he goes to 2 blocks away -- yes, my very own elementary school that I went to from 1950-56 - still standing -- and apparently still not closed - the only school I went to not closed under Bloomberg.

I do have some tape -- one guy in the audience was so full of knowledge about the evils of ed deform - he knew every angle - but doesn't want to be public -- but did say I could use his voice.

On a slightly different tack, this letter below came into the MORE today from an elementary school parent -- we referred her to CTS.

I am truly reminded today how stressful, taking state test are for children, my son spoke to me today, and said mommy the test was really hard, there were so many big words and nothing we study was on the test. I am going to get left back mommy.  Which almost brought me to tears, because I remembered my first state test, I was so nervous I was sick for 2 days and I had to take the make up test. Our children are not equip to handle such stress in life and the anxiety which comes with it.  I do not want my child or any other child to feel unprepared but realize they were never prepared and cannot regain the confidence they once had. 

Yes, it is time to change the stakes for a multitude of reasons, but the first reason is to allow our children room for expression and not depression. My son was singing Katie Perry's song I am Champion - this morning, and to hear him so distraught, this afternoon is a killer to a parent. 
......Emotionally submitted a Parent of a 3rd grader 

Press Conference: Brooklyn Parents Opt Out of State Tests

The press attacks on opt-outers as cop-outers don't go very far when 80% of the parents at one of the top performing schools in the city opt-out - and with the support of the principal and teachers. Now one of the attacks on opt-outers is that they are coddled middle class white parents. So having 80% of the parents from District 23’s PS 446/The Riverdale Avenue Community School (which is in Brownsville) and the Academy of Arts & Letters, located in Ft. Greene in District 13, also opt-out is turning into a game-changer.

As I reported earlier, Change the Stakes is committed to

CTS stalwart Janine Sopp, front left

reaching out to every community in the city over time -- by next year's tests we will see a true uprising which will drive the data munchers crazy -- really, how will they be able to even try to evaluate teachers when many of their kids won't take the test? The very concept throws the entire plan into disarray -- and the UFT should be supporting the opt-out movement like crazy - even with ads.

Here from the press conference this morning - pics from girlray are here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/girlray/sets/72157643269760184/

Good morning and welcome to Brooklyn!

My name is Kemala Karmen and I am the parent of a 4^th grader at PS 146, the Brooklyn New School. In recent years, our borough has earned a reputation as a trendsetter in everything from Indie music to urban farming to participatory budgeting—pioneered in NYC by Council Member Brad Lander, who is here today to support us.

Now we can add one more way in which Brooklyn is blazing a trail: the parents of Brooklyn, outraged by the hijacking of our childrens’ educations, outraged by the assault on our public schools and on our public school teachers, we parents of Brooklyn are taking a stand. Whether we live in Brownsville or Cobble Hill, Ft. Greene or Greenpoint, we are saying ENOUGH! Stop using the blunt instrument of the state ELA and math tests to rank and sort our children, our teachers, and our schools.

Maybe it’s our city, state, and federal policy makers who need to take the ELA test! When we delivered petitions or wrote letters about the misuses of the tests, they didn’t seem to be able to read—or heed—our urgent concerns about our children.

Our policy makers also flat-out ignored experts in child development and test design, experts whose published research “warned against attaching severe consequences to performance on any test.” And, sadly, even the teachers’ union has been slow to protect its members from the stranglehold of testing.

So now, we parents are invoking the only tool we have left. In growing numbers, we are refusing to let our children take these tests. No test score means no data. No data on which to base teacher evaluations. No data on which to justify school closings. No sensitive, personal data that follows our children from year to year, from school to school.

This morning parents at our District 15 school stand together with parents at other Brooklyn schools to announce the explosive growth of test resistance in our borough, a movement that is gaining momentum elsewhere, too—in the city, and the state, and, really, anywhere in the country where parents see the joys of teaching and learning constrained, the spark of curiosity and creativity snuffed out.

At 3 Brooklyn schools that we know of—our school, District 23’s PS 446/The Riverdale Avenue Community School (which is in Brownsville) and the Academy of Arts & Letters, located in Ft. Greene in District 13—this year there will be far more children NOT taking the tests than taking them. What that means in stark numbers: at PS 446 48 out of 60 children will REFUSE THE TESTS. At Arts & Letters 44 out of 53 3^rd graders will REFUSE THE TESTS. At PS 146, Brooklyn New School 243 out of 306 students will REFUSE THE TESTS.  

It may be April Fools Day, but these tests and, indeed, the whole edifice of corporate “education reform” built upon these tests is no joke.  It is no laughing matter when millions are diverted away from our children’s classrooms and into the hands of for-profit companies. It fails to amuse when our class sizes become so large that even our best teachers are hard pressed to know each child.

I am happy to report that at Riverdale Avenue Community, Arts & Letters, & BNS, our families will no longer blindly default to taking the tests.  We are fortunate, because the administration and teachers at our schools have supported us in exercising our rights as parents to make informed decisions about “opting in” or “opting out” of the tests. We hope that others will take heart from what is happening at our schools, that other parents will understand that they have the right to direct their children’s education—and not be afraid to exercise that right. And we hope more principals will not be afraid to stand up for their families.

I am going to pause now because Council Member Lander is on a tight schedule and we want to give him a chance to say a few words. After he has spoken, I will return to introduce you to the rest of our parent speakers, and to the representatives from other government offices who took time out to be here today to listen to our concerns. Thank you.

Opt-Out Update: Change the Stakes releases open letter to Chancellor: Stop bullying by admins

I've been neglectful in reporting the awesome stuff going on at Change the Stakes - blame my preoccupation with the play. As a peripheral member of their steering committee I am privy to all the internal debates, etc. though I stay in the background while the amazing parents run things. But I do get to see how the sausage is made and they are fabulous chefs.

One constant thread has been the hassle some parents are getting from principals (and some teachers) over opting out. Meetings were held with the Farina admin which promised there would be no hassles. The message hasn't gotten through to some. Here is a letter to Farina from CTS.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: April 1, 2014

Contact: Nancy Cauthen 646-438-1233

              changethestakespress@gmail.com

An Open Letter to Chancellor Carmen Fariña from Change the Stakes:

Stop Administrators from Bullying Parents

Dear Chancellor Fariña,

Today public school children across New York City begin three days of intensive, high-stakes testing, which will be followed by three more such days later this month. As you know, hundreds of parents (perhaps more) across the city are refusing to allow their children to be tested. We appreciate the guidance your department released directing principals to respect parent refusals.*

Yet in the past week, Change the Stakes has received scores of complaints from parents whose inquiries about refusing the tests have been met with misinformation, intimidation and outright threats from administrators. We urge you to immediately put a stop to such behavior, which has no place in our schools.

Here is some of what we’ve heard. Parents have been told flat out their children won't be promoted if they refuse the tests; others have been told that refusal would jeopardize promotion. This is particularly frightening for parents of special needs children and parents of children who have been deeply and negatively affected by the pressure and anxiety surrounding the tests.  Parents also have been told their children will be excluded from school activities and celebrations if they don’t take the tests. And many have simply been told without explanation their children MUST take the tests.

Perhaps most disturbing is what parents have reported hearing from their children: students themselves have been told that if they don’t take the tests, they will be held back, forced to attend summer school and/or prohibited from playing sports, attending school functions and participating in graduation ceremonies.

All of this is hardly surprising after a dozen years in which Mayor Bloomberg forcefully communicated both his disdain for educators and his demand that they produce improvements in test scores or else jeopardize their schools’ standing potentially leading to closure.  Further, the kind of bullying behavior we're seeing from some principals and superintendents is the inevitable result of the enormously high stakes the state has attached to test scores – when threatened, people often threaten others, apparently even children.

Although we know the city alone cannot undo the high-stakes nature of the current testing regime, you can prohibit threats and intimidation on the part of Department of Education administrators. You have made the determination that principals must respect the right of parents to refuse the state tests. We call on you now to reinforce that message.

Many parents are afraid to speak publicly about what is going on for fear of angering school officials who might take out their resentment on their children. Parents and students need, deserve and would be grateful for an immediate and forceful response on their behalf.

Sincerely,

The parents and educators of Change the Stakes

www.changethestakes.org

changethestakespress@gmail.com

* NYC Department of Education, Parent Guide: Student Participation in Grades 3-8 New York State Tests, http://schools.nyc.gov/NR/rdonlyres/B1997860-503B-40E8-A184-93582B654D79/0/2014ELAMathStudentParticipationParentGuide032714.pdf

###

Change the Stakes is a group of New York City parents and educators promoting alternatives to high stakes-testing.

http://changethestakes.wordpress.com/2014/04/01/carmen-farina-stop-bullying/
changethestakes.org

Change the Stakes -- Tonight CEC19 (East NY, Brownsville)

CTS continues its outreach and message to communities regarding testing and opting out.


From Katie Lapham, MORE steering committee

 - Jia Lee, Fred Smith (Change the Stakes) and I are going to attend the CEC D19 meeting tonight. We are on the agenda to speak about testing. I teach in D19. It's from 6:45 - 9:45 pm; here's the address.

Place: P.S. 13

Address: 557 Pennsylvania Ave.between Livonia and Riverdale

Nearest subway: 3 train, get off at Pennsylvania Ave.

Only 2 blocks from where I grew up on Alabama and Riverdale - and PS 13 used to be Jefferson HS football field and sports complex where we cut our teeth playing basketball on hoops that ranged from 7 foot on up - yes, even I could dunk on those hoops. I'm going to try to get there to tape some of it.

Worst Practices: You Don't Have to Teach in a Charter School to Get That Experience -

High staff turnover rates were considered a negative at one time -- now that is considered a good thing.

Public school principals are using charter school tactics, not only in the way they treat staff -- aiming for constant turnover, etc, but also in how they treat kids -- push-outs, suspensions, no excuses, etc. The key to the cheap labor, high turnover concept is making teaching teacher-proof -- programming and scripting. Of course much of this can turn kids off -- and those that can't conform just get counseled out and end up at a public school that has not yet "caught on" - until the number of these kids leads that school to be branded a failure.

Some of us in MORE are working on exposing one such principal in the near future as we gather evidence.

Sun Mar 30, 2014 at 11:14 AM PDT

The newest front in the war on teachers: public schools to mimic worst habits of charter schools

by Steve SingiserFollow for Daily Kos Labor

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Like so many school districts across the nation which are scrambling to figure out how to divide a pie that isn't growing nearly fast enough to meet everyone's needs, the Philadelphia School District is in the middle of a protracted and often acrimonious contract dispute.
What distinguishes this situation in a novel, to say nothing of perilous, way is how the district's superintendent may choose to handle the crisis ... and why he might take that action:

Budget season is closing in, the struggling Philadelphia School District has a $14 million hole to fill this school year, and it needs $440 million in new funds for next year. But most significantly, the district has signaled it is willing to use its "nuclear option" - invoking special powers bestowed by the state law that created the School Reform Commission - to get what it wants from the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers.
Superintendent William R. Hite Jr. has publicly said he must have work-rule changes in order to compete with charter schools. [Emphasis added]

On one level, you want to slap your forehead when you read that last sentence. But on another level, you just knew it was heading this way, didn't you? So, what the heck does that sentence really mean? Follow me beyond the fold for the explanation.

First, let's look at the nitty gritty of what "work-rule" changes Hite was referencing. They are, to say the least, predictable:

The sources said the PFT [Philadelphia Federation of Teachers] had offered some work-rule changes at the bargaining table, but nothing near what the district says it must have: giving principals absolute authority over hiring and firing staff; weakening seniority; and halting the practice of higher pay for advanced education, among other shifts.

The common thread in all of those things, of course, is money. At a time of dwindling resources, cheaper is better, and not rewarding teachers for pursuing additional education (the Philly School District honors a master's degree with a pay bump that ranges from $1,300 to $8,700, depending on years of service) will save a few dimes here and there, though someone will have to probably explain the "think about the kids" rationale in trying to have less educated faculty members. 

Enhanced hiring and firing? Weakening seniority?
That is (a) entirely about money and (b) straight out of the charter schools movement. It has long been part of the charter schools movement ethos that experience in education is not only irrelevant, it can be damaging.
For a superintendent, though, what would be awfully tempting is having the free rein to replace an experienced teacher with a rookie. In Philadelphia, at the master's degree column in their salary schedule, replacing an experienced teacher with a newbie would net a savings of just under $30,000 per teacher.
And, if you can sell the public that creating a revolving door of young teachers actually will improve the quality of instruction (despite the existence of considerable evidence to the contrary), all the better!
The architect of this newer, far more aggressive stance by management of the Philadelphia School District is one Bill Green, a veteran city councilman and the new chairman of the state-authored School Reform Commission. Green is the third generation of a dynastic Democratic political power family in the city, and was appointed to this current role by the state's Republican Governor, Tom Corbett. It was not a bipartisan gesture, however: Green's appointment was met with a decidedly tepid response from Democratic Mayor Michael Nutter:

“I find his nomination quite frankly perplexing,” Nutter said. Nutter said Green’s track record of voting against some education funding measures, coupled with his views on public education, raises some concerns in the mayor’s office.
Particularly, Nutter wants Green to roll with some of his plans, such as: a new state formula for education funding; the cigarette tax; split the sales extension tax to pay for schools and pensions; plans to turn around the worst performing schools.
“It is my hope that he will come to better understand the importance of District-managed schools and that he will stand up and truly support our school children and teachers,” Nutter said.

Nutter's hope for cooperation from Green, it would seem, is a bit of a pipe dream. Before leaping into the "family business" in 2007, Green made a fairly handsome living as a corporate lawyer. And like most of the well-heeled folks in corporate land, his stance on public school teachers is so retrograde and dismissive, it is almost painful.
Last month, he got the district's principals to capitulate on a contract that included a double-digit pay cut. He did so by strong-arming the principals, threatening an imposition of a more draconian contract if they didn't play ball:

Bill Green's joining the SRC was a pivot point, [administrator's union head Robert] McGrogan said: Green has publicly suggested the commission has not been aggressive enough in using its special powers, but the winds have now shifted. If Green is going to take drastic action, McGrogan said, "he's not going to wait to do it."
Green, McGrogan said, "is coming with a gun out."

Green, for his part, did not deny the aggressiveness, and in praising the principals' union for playing ball, he issued what might be the most insulting statement about public school teachers possible:

"As leaders, they recognize they need the flexibility with teachers they provided to Dr. Hite and his team," Green said of the principals. "They led by example, and we look forward to working with them to change outcomes for the 118,000 children in non-performing schools. When the PFT makes that their goal rather than excessive benefits and salary and impossible work rules, those children will have a chance at success."

Read the whole thing again. Then, if necessary, scream into a pillow. By the way, just to remind you, a fifth-year teacher with a master's degree in Philadelphia schools makes $59,000.
Green, for what it is worth, made more than triple that amount moonlighting in his former gig as a corporate lawyer in 2010, while still pulling down six figures in salary as a city councilman.
As I wrote last year, the corporate crowd loves the charter schools movement because it takes some of the worst labor habits of corporate America and superimposes them into the realm of "public education." It basically takes what was, for generations, a noble lifelong calling to service, and transforms it into just another temp job, filled with inexperienced souls who are willing to endure absurdly austere working conditions, safe in their belief that they won't be there that long, anyway.
Now, with the help of this state-sanctioned commission, we could easily see the public school district in one of the largest cities in America following this race to the bottom already started by too many "education" corporations.
That should be terribly frightening to anyone who cares about education, even those that haven't already been aware of the prevailing zeitgeist in far too many public conversations that charter schools are the only form of education worth saving at this point (hard to believe, but it has been over three years since Diane Ravitch wrote this excellent piece on the subject). The "charter schools as a panacea" myth has already taken a beating (this study, which shows the comical ease with which charters deal with problem students, is but the most recent example). Yet still, it's the only sacred cow left in education in the eyes of far too many politicos (including those who like to call themselves Democrats).
And, somehow, now public school districts feel that, rather than advocate for their teachers and students, their time would be better spent "competing" with charters? Compete with them how? Forcing their employees to work an additional 20-30 hours a week for free, while cutting their pay on top of that? Ripping health care benefits from staff? Income security? Job security?
If this becomes the norm, one must ask: who in the world will make this their life's calling? The short answer to that question is: few, if any will. Teaching will become something someone does for a year or two or three, before they either (a) go into the rapidly expanding and lucrative peripheries of education consulting or charter school management, or (b) bide their time and network, until they go get their MBA or go off to some other field.
Teaching will no longer be a career, it will be a snazzy line on people's resumes. That's not good for the profession, and it sure as all hell isn't good for kids.

Originally posted to Daily Kos Labor on Sun Mar 30, 2014 at 11:14 AM PDT.

Also republished by Daily Kos.