The Educational Delusional Scheme

 

by Dr. Denise Gordon                                 

November 22, 2014

 

Taken from http://educationalchemy.com/2014/11/29/the-educational-delusional-scheme/

I write this short essay to disclose what is happening within my own science classroom, I write to expose the demeaning work environment that I and my fellow colleagues must endure, and I write to give purpose to my years of acquiring the necessary skills and knowledge in teaching science for the secondary student. I am not a failure; however, by the Texas STAAR standard assessment test, I am since this past year I had a 32% failure rate from my 8th grade students in April, 2014. The year before, my students had an 82% passing rate.

 

What happened in one school year? It does not matter that 2/3 of the student population speaks Spanish in their home. It does not matter their reading capability could be on a 4th grade level. It does not matter homework never gets turned in and parent phone calls bring little results. What does matter was that my students were required to develop a yearlong research project by stating a problem, thinking of a solution, designing the experimental set up, collecting the required data, and formulating a conclusion. Some of the projects were good enough to enter into the regional science fair. From a selection of thirty-five projects, twenty-four were sent to the regional science fair. Some of these projects won ribbons and a chance to go to the state science fair competition. Five of my students were invited to participate in the elite Broadcom Master Science Competition. No other 8th grader in my school district achieved this accomplishment. Other yearlong projects involved entering the Future City Competition sponsored by the IEEE. My eighth graders had seven teams to compete and three came back with special awards. Another science competition for secondary students is eCybermission sponsored by the NSTA and the U.S. Army. My only team of girls who competed in this program won first place for the entire southern region of the eCybermission Competition.  Did any of my students get a thank you or congratulations from our school principal or the district about their science achievements? Sadly, the answer is a no. All I got was a call into the principal’s office at the end of the school year for the purpose of being pulled from teaching the 8th grade for the next school year due to my high failure rate on the state test.  My students and I did receive two thank you letters from two community partnerships. The Potters Water Action Group, represented by Richard Wukich and Steve Carpenter were thankful for our educational brochure that my students helped design for their water filtration project. Krista Dunham, Project Director of Special Olympics in Fort Worth, sent a thank you to my students for donating the soap box derby race money that my students organized and who built three scrap box cars for this worthy affair. 

 

I am now being monitored on a weekly basis within my 6th grade classes and their posted grades. I am required to have a 15% failure rate. All assignments must be pulled from the district’s online teaching schedule; therefore, no soap box races or water brochures this year. I am not allowed to take any of my students off campus for data collecting. Student project development does not flow well in the district school calendar, so I am being questioned by the principal about my scientific teaching philosophy. Action science with real world data is not on the district’s curriculum website. It does not matter that I have a Ph.D. in curriculum development. I must teach to the test since every three weeks all students will be taking a mandated district test. This means all teachers must review for the test, students take the test, and then we go over the test. That is three days out of fifteen teaching days dedicated to a test every three weeks.

 

Testing and retesting with documented lesson plans from the scheduled curriculum is what the district wants, but is it what the students need really to enjoy science? Our test scores are posted online and evaluated by the administration. Our performance on these tests weighs heavily into our yearly professional evaluation. I have been placed on a “growth plan” due to the fact that I teach what my students should know rather than what the district has posted. I am somewhat a rebel or just set in my ways; however, this growth plan gives the new principal her leverage to remove me from this school. If I do not meet her standards on the growth plan at the end of the year, then I must be relocated to another school. I teach my students math skills, writing skills, and research skills. I document this growth instead of monitoring their district test scores. I have been ordered to submit weekly announcements to the parent newsletter, but my submissions are deleted by the principal. I have been ordered to attend professional development at the level three tier within our district, but there is no level three offered because level three does not exist. I have been documented that 100% of my students do not understand my lessons when I teach because I use “big” words. The 100% came from asking two or three students in the classroom by the principal when she did her bimonthly walk throughs. I have been pulled out of teaching class to be reprimanded on my poor teaching practices rather than wait for my planning time. I must lower my standards and give less work if I am to maintain a 15% failure rate. Is this what the parents want? Will this prepare the students for high school?

 

I can no longer incorporate the arts within my assignments since my activities do not come from the district’s website. The current push for STEM should be the banner to wave inside my classroom since I have been a secondary science teacher for the past thirty years; however, I could not and we should not trade the arts and music for pure technical science and math course work. Creative problem solving with visual displays or performing arts can be demonstrated instead of just technology and engineering skills. Language arts would implement the importance of writing and research instead of just writing a basic lab report. When a student is allowed to decide on what he/she would like to study for their research project so many necessary skills are required. The student must speak and “sell” their project by presenting to outside judges at the regional science fair, designing skills are needed for the backboard, mathematical and technological skills are used for the data collection. The actual meaning of “science” comes from the Latin verb, scire, “to know” via knowledge gained by a study or a particular branch of study (Ayto, 1990). 

 

 To know encompasses all topics of interest and that is why I teach science bringing in all areas of skills and interests for the student to develop. This is not found on the district curriculum website. I want the student to be creative, to write, to sing, to explore, to draw, to decipher, and to act in order to gain “knowledge” through the sciences.

 

I firmly believe students should have a choice in their own curriculum of study, final assessment should come from a variety of skills displaying the student’s individual growth, and what is taught inside the classroom should be applied to help the local community and school partnerships.  My principal has cut my fifteen year commitment with community partnerships for the Fort Worth Botanic Gardens, Botanical Research Institute of Texas, and the Fort Worth Science & History Museum by not approving any of my bus requests. Action science does not exist. Science education lies only in the classroom and on the district’s website. This is the educational delusion I must work in; a science classroom that is data driven to the point of paralysis and where students no longer experience real world problem solving projects. Retirement is my ticket out of this madness, but what will be the student’s ticket out?

 

A Moment of Silence for Michael Brown

By:  Steven Singer

As it appeared on his blog https://gadflyonthewallblog.wordpress.com/2014/11/26/a-moment-of-silence-for-michael-brown/

Michael Brown has been dead for more than 100 days.

Yet he was in my classroom this morning.

He stared up at me from 22 sets of eyes, out of 22 faces with 22 pairs of mostly Black and Brown childish cheeks.

The day after it was announced Missouri police Officer Darren Wilson would not be indicted in the shooting death of the unarmed Black teen my class was eerily quiet.

There was no yelling.

No singing or humming or tapping either.

No one played keep away with anyone else’s pencil or laughed about something someone had said or done the night before.

No conversation about what so-and-so was wearing or arguments about the football game.

My first period class filed into the room and collapsed into their seats like they’d been up all night.

Perhaps they had been.

By the time the morning announcements ended and I had finished taking the 8th graders attendance, I had come to a decision.

I had to address it.

There was simply no way to ignore what we were all thinking and feeling. No way to ignore the ghost haunting our hearts and minds.

“May I ask you something?” I said turning to the class.

They just stared.

“Would you mind if we had a moment of silence for Michael Brown?”

I’ve never seen relief on so many faces all at once.

It was like I had pulled a splinter from out of 22 pairs of hands with a single tug.

The White teacher was going to acknowledge Black pain. In here, they wouldn’t have to hide it. They could be themselves.

Some mumbled affirmatives but most had already begun memorializing. There had been silence in their hearts since last night. Silence after the rage.

How else to deal with a reality like ours? Young men of color can be gunned down in the street and our justice system rules it isn’t even worth investigating in a formal trial. The police are free to use deadly force with impunity so long as they tell a grand jury they felt threatened by their unarmed alleged assailant. And if a community can’t control its anger and frustration, it’s the oppressed people’s fault.

These are bitter pills to swallow for adults. How much harder for the young ones just starting out?

So we bowed our heads in silence.

I’ve never heard a sound quit like this emptiness. Footsteps pattered in the hall, an adult’s voice could be heard far away giving directions. But in our room you could almost hear your own heart beating. What a lonely sound, more like a rhythm than any particular note of the scale.

But as we stood there together it was somehow less lonely. All those solitary hearts beating with a single purpose.

I made sure to do this in all of my classes today.

The first thing I did was make this same request: “Do you mind if we have a moment of silence for Michael Brown?”

They all agreed.

In most classes this became a springboard for discussion. No grades, no lesson plans, just talk.

We talked about who Brown was and what had happened to him. We talked about the grand jury and the evidence it had considered. We talked about what their parents had told them.

And as you might expect, speaking about Brown was like a séance inviting a long line of specters into our classroom – Trayvon Martin, Eric Garner, Emmett Till, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. – fathers, brothers, classmates.

Some groups talked more than others. Some students spoke softly and with an eloquence beyond their years. Many only shook their heads.

One boy asked me, “Why does this keep happening, Mr. Singer?”

It was the question of which I had been most afraid. As a teacher, it’s always uncomfortable to admit the limits of your knowledge. But I tried to be completely honest with him.

“I really don’t know,” I said, “But let’s not forget that question. It’s a really good one.”

Every class was different. In some we spent a long time on it. In others, we moved on more quickly.

But in each one, I made sure to look into their eyes – each and every one – before the moment ended.

I didn’t say it aloud, but I wanted them to know something.

We live in an uncertain world. There are people out there who will hate you just because of the color of your skin. They will hate you because of your religion or your parents or whom you love.

But in this room, I want you to know you are safe, you are cherished and you are loved.

I hope they understand.

For me this is not just an academic concern. It’s personal.

I have devoted my life to those children.

Some of my colleagues say that I’ve gone too far. That what happened to Michael Brown and issues of racism aren’t education issues, they aren’t things that should concern teachers.

If not, I don’t know what is.

Our society segregates public schools into Black and White. It defunds the Black schools, closes them and funnels the wastrels into privatized for-profit charters while leaving the best facilities and Cadillac funding for the elite and privileged.

And we allow it. Our deformed society leads to deformed citizens and a deformed parody of justice.

My room may be haunted. I teach among the ghosts of oppression. But that’s the thing about phantoms. They demand their due – honesty.

It’s all I have to give.

The Administrators of the Badass Teachers Association Denounces Decision of Ferguson Grand Jury!

The Administration of the Badass Teachers Association denounces the decision of the Ferguson Grand Jury not to indict Officer Darren Wilson in the killing of Michael Brown. The decision and actions of officials, at all levels in Ferguson since the shooting, reflect what we feel to be a gross insensitivity to the legitimate demands for transparency, understanding and justice, as expressed by the local community in Ferguson and the wider community, black, brown and white, across the country. Michael Brown was someone’s child, a beloved student, and a valued community member of Ferguson.

The failure to indict must not be the end of the issues raised by the killing of Michael Brown, nor should it be an excuse for further repression of the peaceful outrage this failure of justice will provoke. The real issues of economic inequality, police brutality, and institutionalized racism are a national shame. Failure to confront these issues in Ferguson only adds fuel to the fire of continued injustice everywhere.

The BATs Administration demand Federal Civil Rights charges be immediately brought against Officer Wilson and demand the Justice Department immediately launch investigations into the actions and policies of the Ferguson Police, including hiring protocols, training and procedures, as well as investigation into the actions and processes of local and state officials, with regard to the denial of First and Fourteenth amendment rights.

BATs stand in solidarity with the Ferguson community, children, and teachers!

"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. " ~Dr. Martin Luther King

.
Massachusetts BAT Testifies at Philly Hearing on High Stakes Test
By:  Gus Morales

I want to preface my following statement by saying how adamantly opposed to high-­‐stakes testing, standardized curriculum, standardized learning, and the idea that all children can be assessed using the same measure. To paraphrase Albert Einstein: Standardizing the production of automobiles is a good thing, but to standardize human beings is to walk a dangerous path.

All over Massachusetts you see bumper stickers touting my state as the leader of the pack when it comes to standardized testing. For better or worse, we are the envy of all other states because we do testing better than anyone else. And I can’t stand it. But even if you use the “rigorous” standard put forth by the Rote-­‐minded Robot Reformers, that the way to measure and hold teachers accountable is through the austere path of high-­‐stakes testing, Massachusetts is tops. And what exactly is the reward for the teachers that have lived up to the expectations of the Testing Machine? Lifelong probationary status is what they get for their service.

You see, in the infinite wisdom of those who either have never in their lives taught  or those who have spent too little time in the classroom to develop an appreciation for the art of instruction, the idea is to tie student test scores not only to teacher evaluations, but to their licensure as well. What does this mean for the teachers in my state and other states where this is being proposed? In no uncertain terms, this will cause an exodus. Teaching has always been difficult and there were times where personalities clashed and someone was let go and went to a different district. While this proposal was defeated due to strong opposition in Massachusetts, if this is allowed to pass in any state, teachers won’t just lose their job, they will lose their license and with it their ability to teach in their respective state.

Already I have to deal with teachers telling me on a daily basis that they just can’t do it anymore. I have spouses of teachers telling me that they can’t do it anymore. I have teachers telling me that they have anxiety attacks at school. They tell me that they are taking medication to go to school, more at lunch to get through the day, and more at home to be able to function in their own homes. Why should anyone give a damn about how teachers are doing? Why should anyone care that we will see a rise in the attrition rate of educators? Why should anyone care that teachers are under attack?

To put it simply, the teachers’ working conditions are the students’ learning conditions. I am the President of the Holyoke Teachers Association in Holyoke, MA. I couldn’t be more proud to be from Holyoke and to represent some of the greatest teachers to ever hold a teacher’s manual. Apply some simple logic to this situation and understand that to make a teacher’s life miserable is tantamount to assuring that teacher cannot be successful. The two are inextricable. One’s condition depends on the other’s condition.

Let us not fall victim to the widespread lies being cast about teachers’ unions being the thing that holds black and Latino children from excelling. To illustrate this, why not look at the performance of states with strong unions and those without and see

if in fact it is the unions that are holding progress back. Or, and I suppose I am going out on a limb here, we could discuss the incredulous disparities in funding and extracurricular activities from the haves and the have-­‐nots. Even Bill Green, chairman of the School Reform Commission, during yesterday’s Education Funding Hearings, admitted that Philadelphia schools were not being adequately funded to appropriately meet the needs of children living in poverty and English Language Learners. Maybe that conversation is just too difficult to have and it is just easier to cancel all the teachers’ contracts and put the blame squarely on their shoulders.

I think what we really have to talk about, what we really need to get into, is the undiagnosed mental condition of a nation that’s lost its mind. This country suffers from a delusion that testing will somehow narrow the achievement gap. We are afflicted with a disorder that makes us think that the children of this great nation  are just going to soak it all up, show some GRIT, and have that happy ending promised so long ago. I am Puerto Rican. I grew up in a city that is full of Puerto Ricans. For the last three years I taught in the same city I grew up in. The “rigor” that I hear so much about is the same venom that has poisoned my schools.

Listen to me when I tell you this because it is something I have said time and time again, but I’m not sure the people hearing me are understanding what it is I mean to say: were this the environment, the culture of schools when I was growing up, I would have dropped out. Of that I am certain. I don’t treat my students with a “no excuses” attitude because a lot of the time I wonder how any of us would do in some of the situations that my students face?

I truly believe that most people would crumble under the weight that these kids bear. They come in tired. They come in hungry. They come in with emotional issues that shake my core as a human being. They come with stories so sad that it becomes hard to have happy moments. And still they show up every single day. So, you’ll forgive me if I, along with the great teachers of Philadelphia, don’t put any stock in your tests and your metrics. What I see in front of me is a child. Not a test score. Not a data point. But a real, live human being.

THE BADASS TEACHERS ASSOCIATION - WE HAVE CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTIONS TO TESTING THAT HURTS, PUNISHES, AND BLAMES CHILDREN!

Conscientious objector is a phrase that refers to a person who refuses to serve in the armed forces or to bear arms on moral or religious grounds. 

We know that we are in the middle of a war, fighting for our schools and our students. One of the tolls in this war is the implementation of high stakes testing. These tests are like weapons, based upon the knowledge that these tests do not accurately measure educational achievement, but are more truly a measurement of the economic characteristics of the student. Today, decisions are being made to divert funds from numerous programs and appropriate staffing levels as districts are rushing to meet technology requirements and implement test practice programs. This money could be better used to increase staffing levels to allow for better student to teacher ratios, implement new programs that increase cultural and global awareness, create services that support the needs of the whole child, and renovate existing school structures that are in desperate need of repair.

The amount of stress that our students are under has become overwhelming and our schools are becoming less able to help that. As educators it is our moral responsibility to become a shield for our children and protect them from the people that seek to manipulate their education to personally profit at their expense. We have the moral obligation to become conscientious objectors as we remember our responsibility to our students.

As employees of our schools districts we realize that we are contractually obligated to perform certain tasks upon direction of the administration. However, we would like to formally state our objection to administering these high stakes tests to our students. We, the Badass Teachers Association which is an association of 52,000 people fighting to save public education,  would like to proclaim that we are doing so under extreme duress.

Please visit here for teachers who have refused testing or made statements of objection nationwide

https://teacherslettersofprofessionalconscience.wordpress.com/2015/02/08/teachers-a-call-to-conscience/

Terry Kalb

Lori Brogan

Michael Dixon

Jim Sommerville

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Donita Reese

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Joan Kramer

A Michelle Navarro

Patti Knowles

Deborah S. Staires, Ed.D.

Jenny Twardowski

Lynne Siqueiros

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Anne Strader

Paul Matthew Chonka

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Steven Singer

Maria O'Keefe Lauer

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Heidi Baumeister Mee

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Molly Manthey

Ralph Fahnestock

Susan Murolo Soldano

Adam Silver

Heather Rollins-Chappel

Lea Benson

Sheila Reed

Maritza Gallegos

Pamela Casey Nagler

Lindsay Boylan

Beth Forrester

Julie Fleming Wright

Maggie Gryciuk

Robert Halczyn

Ferial Pearson

Carla Novak Gish

Donna Yates Mace

Kristin Vogel

Ruth Jones

Carrie Preston

Yirusha Eshet Malkiel

Ingrid Utke

Mitzi Lea Hall

Julie Schuberth

Melissa Hicks

Deb Greene

Danielle Lanza-Flora

Natalie S. Corvino

Bobby Hechler

Christopher Naze

Kelley DeTrolio

Kelly Anderson

Lenora Peyton

Charlene Caputo-Kahse

Christine Roedig Gentile

Elizabeth Diane Krolczyk

Tammy Smith Karn

Gus Morales

Robyn J. Valdizon

Kate McConachie Lin

Elaine Cooper

Beth Glazer Schettino

Steven Kieley

Susan Feiner

Kimberly Welch Livaudais

Lynnette Krieger-Zook

Debbie Reddick

Michelle Klein

Betsy Marshall

Joyce Lewis

David Lynch Topitzer

Debbie Grill

Chris Cox

Stephanie O’Rourke

Lisa Bakely

Eve Hava

Karen Mary Klenke

Denise Laich

Lisa Harris

Joan C. Grim

Stacy Elizabeth Holcombe

Kevin Mcnamara

Nikki Kershaw

Sue Mueller Hoyt

Terry Pruess

Joanna Emerle Kotecki

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