tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34103877728403218882024-02-21T05:57:48.806-05:00Badass Teachers Association BlogThis is for every teacher who refuses to be blamed for the failure of our society to erase poverty and inequality, and refuses to accept assessments, tests and evaluations imposed by those who have contempt for real teaching and learning.BadassTeacher Associationhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06249079678877556839noreply@blogger.comBlogger1621125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3410387772840321888.post-27461668215531399042020-03-16T14:07:00.000-04:002020-03-16T15:34:53.790-04:00What are You Going to Do when Disaster Capitalism Knocks on the Public-School Door? <br />
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“Schools will be closed until at least April 20, after the
upcoming spring break, but could stay closed for significantly longer, Mr. de
Blasio said.”<o:p></o:p></div>
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When I read those words in the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/15/nyregion/nyc-schools-closed.html">New
York Times article</a> announcing that New York City schools would finally
close, I had a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach. For the past few days, I
have been a vocal advocate for closing NYC schools. Knowing the impact that closing
schools would have on marginalized children and their families who only have public
education as their sole safety net, I still believed that we must close the
schools to stop the spread of COVID-19. But then it hit me that for some
disaster is the only way to fundamentally alter public education. <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/jul/06/naomi-klein-how-power-profits-from-disaster">Disaster
capitalism</a> is what Naomi Klein warned us about in her book <i>The Shock
Doctrine.</i> And we’ve seen this play out in New Orleans after Hurricane
Katrina and in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria (they also tried in Houston
but not sure how far they got). As that sick feeling in the pit of my stomach grew,
one question formed in my mind: how many schools would not reopen as
traditional public schools when this is all over? <o:p></o:p></div>
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Many children will do well online. Some will not. Many
teachers will enjoy teaching online. Some will not. Many districts will like
the benefits of online schooling. Some will not. I can’t predict the future,
and neither can you. But what we can do is learn from history and history teaches
us that public education is ripe for those who want to implement significant
changes during the time of a disaster. So even if you think this can’t happen,
I assure you some intend to make it happen whether you like it or not. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Some people immediately responded that everything would return
to normal because parents need their children to go back to school, so this online
schooling can’t last forever. But online schooling doesn’t have to happen at
home. Online schooling can take place in a school building and still be very
profitable for disaster capitalists. Now that they made sure to place a computer
or a tablet in the hands of every child to have during the quarantine, do you
really believe they will not want them used once students return to school? Or
will they now have the data to back up their claims that personalized learning
through technology is the future? Will they now have a solution to the teacher
shortage, union demands, and need to fund pensions? Can they now show the
consumer, parents, that this is better for their child than traditional face-to-face
instruction?<o:p></o:p></div>
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So, what can we do now? I suggest we closely monitor the new
laws exempting school districts from state testing and mandatory instruction
days. What other riders are being added? What deals are tech companies making
with schools to get the technology to the students? What does the contract say
for after the pandemic ends? <o:p></o:p></div>
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We must also collect our own data. What issues did we face
moving to online schooling? How did students feel? How did parents feel? What
worked and what didn’t work? What cannot be replaced through online schooling?
We must collect and share our own data if we are going to tell our own story.<o:p></o:p></div>
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I believe education does need to fundamentally change. The current
system cannot serve who we will be in the future. We don’t need a generation of
children who can memorize facts for a world that assumes life is a competition to
determine who is smarter than a fifth-grader. The purpose of education is not
to pass a standardized test to get into college. We need to move away from
producing knowledge consumers to helping all children be knowledge producers.
And that will take a fundamental change in how we approach education. So, I
welcome change. But I don’t welcome the kind of change that disaster capitalism
will force on us. That change is all about increasing the profits of a few at
the expense of the many. That change will not improve our current system but
replace it with a system that is profitable to the powers that be to make education
a commodity. We know that education is a priceless human right, and we must do
what we can to protect it. <o:p></o:p></div>
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I know there are immediate challenges regarding what to do
right now in the face of this pandemic. What about seniors? Will they graduate?
Will all students move on to the next grade? How will we know they are ready?
These are valid questions that require collaborative thinking and innovative
approaches to deciding how to move forward in an unprecedented era. What we can’t
do is allow online schooling to be the only solution forced upon us. If we can
rewrite laws to waive mandates for instruction and testing requirements, we can
make sure all students graduate and promoted to the next grade.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We can restructure what the next grade looks
like to account for the impact this pandemic is having on the current school
year.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We can decide that this is our
summer break and resume regular school in July (don’t hate me I love summer too,
but we’re thinking outside of the box). We can create unique assessments that
ask students to demonstrate what they know and have learned and show us that
they are ready to graduate or go on to the next grade. We can answer all these
questions without allowing ed-tech companies to tell us that online schooling
is the only option.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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I hope that I am wrong. I hope that all schools reopen before
the year ends, and everything goes back to normal. Actually, I lied. I don’t
want a return to the status quo that doesn’t help most children. I don’t want a
traditional public-school system that reinforces racism, sexism, heterosexism,
classism, ableism, and all other types of oppression.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I don’t want a public-school system that is
underfunded and expected to provide food, safety, and counseling to all
children.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I don’t want a profession that
is disrespected daily and abused because of their natural dispositions to care for
others.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I want the Great Equalizer that schools
are supposed to be. I want the institution that welcomes all students, cares
for them, educates them, and prepares them to be active citizens. I want education
for liberation, not schooling for capitalism. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Disaster Capitalism is knocking on the public education
door. The best we can do is answer the knock on the door by using this pandemic
to produce the schools we deserve. The least we can do is ignore the knock and
let disaster capitalism do its thing. I know what I’m going to do. What about
you? <o:p></o:p><br />
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Denisha Jones is the Director of the Art of Teaching Program
at Sarah Lawrence College. She serves as the interim Assistant Executive Director for the Badass Teachers Association and as the Director of Early
Childhood Organizing for Defending the Early Years, Inc. Since 2017,
she served on the steering committee for the national Black Lives Matter at
School Week of Action. In 2019, Dr. Jones joined the Anji Play Study Fellowship
program where she will learn about true play from the Anji province in
China and become an Anji Play Ambassador.</div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br />Denisha Joneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12543776198792619814noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3410387772840321888.post-6807907686533783972019-09-07T12:31:00.000-04:002019-09-07T14:53:21.543-04:00Blaming Schools for Student Absences is Like Denouncing Doctors for Disease by Steven SingerOriginally posted at: <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2019/08/25/blaming-schools-for-student-absences-is-like-denouncing-doctors-for-disease/?fbclid=IwAR1LVoEzc5LkC_ZB_BduvzyaPe_IlOwzIBMBzfk6sT7CG4jhcUUCZVgsKi4" target="_blank">https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2019/08/25/blaming-schools-for-student-absences-is-like-denouncing-doctors-for-disease/?fbclid=IwAR1LVoEzc5LkC_ZB_BduvzyaPe_IlOwzIBMBzfk6sT7CG4jhcUUCZVgsKi4</a><br />
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If something is wrong with children, it must be the school’s fault.</div>
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Right?</div>
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If kids can’t read, write and do ‘rithmetic, the <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2019/03/21/school-accountability-begins-with-the-people-who-make-the-rules-a-code-of-conduct-for-politicians-and-test-makers/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">teachers must not have taught ’em right</a>.</div>
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It couldn’t have <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2017/07/16/test-based-accountability-smokescreen-for-cowardly-politicians-and-unscrupulous-corporations/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">anything to do with home life, generational poverty, economic inequality and systemic racism</a>.</div>
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Except that it almost always does.</div>
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Inextricably.</div>
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The fact is <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2018/06/29/the-necessity-and-importance-of-teachers/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">children who don’t live in safe, loving homes have much greater difficulty concentrating </a>and caring about academics. <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2018/09/17/report-us-shortchanged-public-schools-by-hundreds-of-billions-of-dollars-over-decades/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">Kids with impoverished parents are much more likely to go to underfunded schools </a>and sit in classrooms that are <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2018/01/02/the-different-flavors-of-school-segregation/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">racially segregated.</a></div>
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None of that is under the control of teachers or schools, but <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2016/04/27/school-accountability-without-standardized-testing/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">a focus on high stakes standardized testing, school privatization</a> and dangerously <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2018/05/30/school-vouchers-and-runaway-edtech-pave-the-way-for-the-destruction-of-the-very-concept-of-school/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">unregulated ed tech</a> hides the problem.</div>
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It’s not that teachers don’t teach. <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2018/11/16/why-is-there-a-racial-achievement-gap/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">Inequality, prejudice and privatization</a> – these are the root causes and the reason we do nothing about them generation after generation is that we have <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2017/11/19/the-completely-avoidable-teacher-shortage-and-what-to-do-about-it/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">an easy scapegoat in the public schools in general and public school teachers</a> in particular.</div>
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Take <a href="https://www.educationnext.org/nudging-students-families-better-attendance/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">student absences</a>.</div>
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It’s a huge problem.</div>
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When kids don’t show up to school, they learn less. It’s a simple concept.</div>
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Yet just <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2015/12/12/much-ado-about-an-enigma-no-one-really-knows-what-impact-the-essa-will-have-on-public-schools/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">four years ago when we had a chance to rewrite the federal law governing public education</a> to actually <em style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;">DO SOMETHING</span></em> about the problems we’re facing, we dropped the ball. Again!</div>
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The <a href="https://www.future-ed.org/whos-in-chronic-absenteeism-under-the-every-student-succeeds-act/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">Every Student Succeeds Act</a> (ESSA) requires states to include five indicators measuring school performance: four based on academic achievement, and a fifth, “non-academic” measure of student success.</div>
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Most states have adopted chronic student absenteeism as this “fifth indicator.”</div>
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So we take those five indicators, weight them and combine them together to get overall school scores that are used to sort and rank educational institutions. That way we can prioritize funding to the highest performers and withhold it from the lowest.</div>
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It’s <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2015/08/13/parent-power-can-crush-the-testocracy-and-the-government-is-scared-witless/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">the same supply side nonsense</a> we’ve been doing for years with a few numbers moved around and given a different name.</div>
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<a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2017/01/21/trump-says-our-schools-are-flush-with-cash-theyre-falling-apart/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">Schools overflowing with resources </a>serving rich white kids get a sticker. Schools starving for resources serving poor brown kids get a kick.</div>
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And somehow that’s supposed to help things get better.</div>
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Don’t get me wrong. Absenteeism is important.</div>
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Nearly 8 million students missed 15 or more days of school in 2015-16 — an increase from the 6.8 million who missed the same amount in 2013-14, when the federal Department of Education began tracking the data. And there’s a mountain of research that links chronic absenteeism with poor <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/research/chronic-absenteeism-an-old-problem-in-search-of-new-answers/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">academic performance</a>, <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/research/chronic-absenteeism-an-old-problem-in-search-of-new-answers/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">delayed graduation</a>, and increased <a href="https://www2.ed.gov/datastory/chronicabsenteeism.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">dropout rates</a>.</div>
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But putting it all on neighborhood schools and local districts is a huge abrogation of responsibility.</div>
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By and large, public schools do not cause students to be absent. Nor do they have the resources to ensure these students start attending.</div>
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But <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2015/01/17/trust-tests-not-teachers-accountability-for-dummies/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">we’ve found someone to blame</a> and that’s really all this whole exercise was about in the first place.</div>
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It’s like denouncing your doctor for your disease. It won’t cure you, but it might make you feel justified as you die.</div>
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The reasons students are chronically absent have little to do with individual schools.</div>
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According to <a href="https://www.attendanceworks.org/policy/federal-policy/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">Attendance Works</a>, a non-profit focusing on ways to improve student attendance, the <a href="https://portal.ct.gov/SDE/Publications/Reducing-Chronic-Absence-in-Connecticuts-Schools/Why-are-students-chronically-absent" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">main causes of chronic absences</a> are:</div>
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•Chronic disease or lack of health care and/or dental care.</div>
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•The need to care for siblings or other family members.</div>
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•Unmet basic needs: transportation, housing, food, clothing, etc.</div>
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•Trauma.</div>
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•Feeling unsafe getting to school.</div>
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•Academic or social struggles.</div>
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•Being teased or bullied.</div>
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•Poor school climate or unsafe schools.</div>
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•Parents had negative school experience.</div>
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•Lack of engaging and relevant instruction.</div>
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•Peer pressure to be with peers out of school vs. in school.</div>
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•No meaningful relationships with adults in school.</div>
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•High suspension rates and disproportionate school discipline.</div>
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Certainly some of these things are under the control of school directors, administrators, and teachers.</div>
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Schools can and should provide safe ways for students to get to and from school. They should work to reduce bullying and make school a welcoming place for all children. They should provide engaging instruction, fair discipline policies and reach out to parents and the community.</div>
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But <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2017/07/11/the-problem-with-public-schools-isnt-low-test-scores-its-strategic-disinvestment/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">most schools are already doing that</a> – or certainly trying to do that within the confines of their budgets.</div>
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<a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2019/05/20/charter-schools-are-quietly-gobbling-up-my-public-school-district%e2%80%a8/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">My own Western Pennsylvania district</a> has been flagged by the Commonwealth for increasing chronic absences. In the state, this is defined as students with 10 or more unexcused absences. We’ve been put on an improvement plan – which basically means an employee at the state Department of Education <a href="https://www.educationnext.org/nudging-students-families-better-attendance/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">wagging his finger and telling us to get better or else.</a></div>
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However, the overarching problem and solution are easy to see. We are <a href="https://www.post-gazette.com/local/south/2014/08/07/Steel-Valley-talks-busing-with-officials/stories/201408050175" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">a district without busing.</a></div>
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The high school and middle school sit on top of a hill. Students who live in the poorer sections of town at the bottom of the hill have to walk or take public transportation daily to get to school.</div>
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It’s no wonder that some of them don’t do that every day and stay home instead.</div>
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However, we serve a mostly impoverished population. <a href="https://archive.triblive.com/news/steel-valley-school-district-considers-measures-to-bus-students/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">Decades ago, school directors decided it would be more cost effective to save money on busing</a> so they could provide greater services for students. Yet as the economy has continued to stagnate and funding has become even more hard to come by, attendance has worsened.</div>
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So what are we to do? Cut services and add buses?</div>
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Doing so would mean we’d have to <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2019/06/15/charter-schools-will-always-waste-money-because-they-duplicate-services/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">bus students to local charter schools</a> as well, increasing the burden on taxpayers and the amount of muscle and bone we’d have to cut from our own academic programs.</div>
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It’s all very well and good to have the federal government tell us that attendance is important – but where is the help to improve it?</div>
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As with everything else in education, we get threats and the promise of economic sanctions but <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2019/05/02/the-best-school-innovation-would-be-more-people/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">nothing in the way of assistance, aide or intervention</a>.</div>
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We could be <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2019/06/19/top-10-reasons-bernie-sanders-education-policies-are-light-years-ahead-of-everyone-elses/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">working together to try to solve this and other social issues</a>. We could pool resources and construct social programs to help parents get jobs, set up stable homes, fund robust systems of public transportation, and a host of social services for students and their families such as tutoring, counseling, child care, and continuing education classes. We could end discriminatory policies such as <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2019/07/08/busing-and-school-segregation-used-for-politics-not-policy/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">school segregation</a>, <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2016/01/27/top-10-reasons-school-choice-is-no-choice/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">school privatization</a> and <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2019/06/29/standardized-tests-are-not-objective-measures-of-anything/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">high stakes standardized testing</a>.</div>
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But doing so would mean abandoning the blame game and nothing has worked better to shield the rich from paying their fair share than pointing fingers at the less privileged and those who dedicate their lives to help them.</div>
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In truth, the problems with public schools are <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2017/10/19/there-are-very-few-bad-students-bad-parents-and-bad-teachers/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">rarely the teachers</a>.</div>
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It’s that society has written them off and refuses to take responsibility for its own role in supporting the next generation.</div>
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BadassTeacher Associationhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06249079678877556839noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3410387772840321888.post-84323679046105894342019-09-07T12:25:00.000-04:002019-09-07T12:29:16.868-04:00Broad’s Academy and Residencies Fuel the Destroy Public Education Agenda by Thomas UlticanOriginally posted at: <a href="https://tultican.com/2019/08/29/broads-academy-and-residencies-fuel-the-destroy-public-education-agenda/?fbclid=IwAR2raK3Rr7iycPp8olua4gHdwwdvlk3ZkzfCdsO7dwuO84mLWrQJRjk1ohU" target="_blank">https://tultican.com/2019/08/29/broads-academy-and-residencies-fuel-the-destroy-public-education-agenda/?fbclid=IwAR2raK3Rr7iycPp8olua4gHdwwdvlk3ZkzfCdsO7dwuO84mLWrQJRjk1ohU</a><br />
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By T. Ultican 8/29/2019</div>
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In 2002, the billionaire, Eli Broad, established his own education leadership training program. Although he is the only person ever to create two Fortune 500 companies, Broad, who attended public school, has no other experience or training in education. However he is so rich, he can just institute his opinions such as his belief that <a href="http://www.capitolreader.com/bonus/The%20Death%20and%20Life%20of%20the%20Great%20American%20School%20System.pdf" style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; color: #f3686d; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">education knowledge</a> is not needed to run large urban school systems; consultants can be hired for that knowledge.</div>
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Peter Greene, the author of the popular blog Curmudgucation, <a href="https://curmudgucation.blogspot.com/2014/09/what-is-broad-academy.html" style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; color: #f3686d; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">framed this absurdity</a> in his own snarky fashion:</div>
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<em style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">“But Broad does not believe that schools have an education problem; he believes they have a management problem. School leadership does not need an infusion of educational leadership– they need business guys, leadership guys. And so Broad launched the Superintendent’s Academy by ignoring completely the usual requirements for Superintendent certification or program accreditation. The Board Superintendent Academy exists by its own force of will. It’s kind of awesome– there is no external governing or certifying board of any sort declaring that the Broad Superintendent’s Academy is a legitimate thing, and yet, it exists and thrives.</em></div>
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<em style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">“I myself plan to soon open the Curmudgucation Academy of Brain Surgery, or maybe a School Of Fine Art Production. I have everything I need to make these highly successful, with the possible exception of enough power and money to get people to listen to me whether I know what the hell I’m talking about or not.”</em></div>
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In Pasi Sahlberg’s and William Doyle’s new book <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/let-the-children-play-9780190930967?cc=us&lang=en&" style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; color: #f3686d; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Let the Children Play</a>, there are many anecdotes that demonstrate the fallacy of Broad’s education opinions. They describe the growing crisis developing especially in the lower grades and pre-school caused by a lack of play. School leaders frequently have no training in early childhood development leading one teacher to comment, <em style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">“So often the people who have the most power to affect your teaching have no idea what appropriate, best practice looks like.”</em> Another teacher reported sitting on the floor in a circle and singing “<em style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Farmer in the Dell,”</em> with a group of kindergarteners when the superintendent walked by and said, <em style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">“You are going to stop singing and start teaching, right?”</em></div>
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School is a much more complex endeavor than running a business. A CEO at Honeywell can successfully transition to running House Hold Finance, but would find running Houston ISD beyond their scope. They wouldn’t even be aware of what they didn’t know.</div>
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Broad (rhymes with toad) is one of the billionaires driving a neoliberal agenda focused first and foremost on privatizing public education. Hastings, Arnold, Bloomberg, Walton, Rock, Fisher and Broad are all spending huge money for the cause. In the last LA School Board election, just <a href="http://cal-access.sos.ca.gov/Campaign/Committees/list.aspx?view=majorDonors" style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; color: #f3686d; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">this group spent</a> more than $5,000,000 to capture the board. They all lavishly support both Teach for America and charter schools.</div>
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<strong style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Broad Fellowships for Education</strong></h2>
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The Fellowships for education were established in 2002 and has had 568 Fellows participate, including the 64 in the 2018-2020 cohort. The Broad Center <a href="https://www.broadcenter.org/broad-residency/about/" style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; color: #f3686d; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">states</a>, <em style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">“</em><em style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Broad Residents attend eight in-person sessions over two years, taught by practitioners who know firsthand about the issues faced by urban school systems.” </em>Residents will study among <a href="https://www.broadcenter.org/broad-residency/about/curriculum/" style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; color: #f3686d; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">other topics</a>:</div>
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<li style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; list-style-type: circle; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><em style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">“Theories of action”</em></li>
<li style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; list-style-type: circle; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><em style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">“Budget and finance”</em></li>
<li style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; list-style-type: circle; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><em style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">“Accountability, transparency and data-driven decision making”</em></li>
<li style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; list-style-type: circle; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><em style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">“Labor-management relations”</em></li>
<li style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; list-style-type: circle; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><em style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">“Innovative school models”</em></li>
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The following table lists the <a href="https://www.broadcenter.org/alumni/directory/?fwp_cohort=the-broad-fellowship-for-education-leaders" style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; color: #f3686d; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">present</a> Broad Fellowship trainers.</div>
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<img alt="Broad Fellowship Leaders" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-3271" data-attachment-id="3271" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-description="" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"Thomas Ultican","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"1566921280","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="Broad Fellowship Leaders" data-large-file="https://tultican.files.wordpress.com/2019/08/broad-fellowship-leaders.jpg?w=490" data-medium-file="https://tultican.files.wordpress.com/2019/08/broad-fellowship-leaders.jpg?w=300" data-orig-file="https://tultican.files.wordpress.com/2019/08/broad-fellowship-leaders.jpg" data-orig-size="921,390" data-permalink="https://tultican.com/broad-fellowship-leaders/" sizes="(max-width: 490px) 100vw, 490px" src="https://tultican.files.wordpress.com/2019/08/broad-fellowship-leaders.jpg?w=490" srcset="https://tultican.files.wordpress.com/2019/08/broad-fellowship-leaders.jpg?w=490 490w, https://tultican.files.wordpress.com/2019/08/broad-fellowship-leaders.jpg?w=150 150w, https://tultican.files.wordpress.com/2019/08/broad-fellowship-leaders.jpg?w=300 300w, https://tultican.files.wordpress.com/2019/08/broad-fellowship-leaders.jpg?w=768 768w, https://tultican.files.wordpress.com/2019/08/broad-fellowship-leaders.jpg 921w" style="background: 0px 0px; border: 5px solid rgb(251, 221, 223); height: auto; margin: 0px 0px 15px; max-width: 100%; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: auto;" /></div>
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Every “Broad Fellowship for Education Leader” is a member of an organization working to privatize public education. Joan Sullivan who served Antonio Villaraigosa as LA’s Deputy Mayor for Education is not a neutral voice. In 2007, after failing to gain control of LA’s schools, Mayor Villaraigosa was able to arrange for about a dozen schools to be moved from LAUSD into a newly created non-profit <a href="https://tultican.com/2018/10/06/editorial-advocates-destroy-public-education-operative-to-lead-californias-schools/" style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; color: #f3686d; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Partnership for LA</a>. The elected school board no-longer had jurisdiction over Partnership schools. When Marshal Tuck resigned as leader of Partnership, Villaraigosa appointed Joan Sullivan to replace him. Joan is also credited with the 2003 founding of a <a href="https://www.broadcenter.org/alumni/directory/profile/joan-sullivan/" style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; color: #f3686d; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Bronx charter school</a> before she moved to LA.</div>
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One of the highest profile Broad Fellows is Neerav Kingsland from the <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130618135034/http:/www.broadcenter.org/network/profile/featured-neerav-kingsland" style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; color: #f3686d; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Broad Residency Class</a> of 2009-2011. Last year, <strong style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Kingsland</strong> was named Managing Partner of The City Fund. This new fund was founded when Billionaires Jon Arnold and Reed Hastings each pledged $100 million to promote the portfolio model of public school privatization. Before going to work at the Arnold Foundation in 2015, Neerav and two other law students <a href="https://www.crpe.org/experts/neerav-kingsland" style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; color: #f3686d; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">formed </a>the Hurricane Katrina Legal Clinic, which assisted in the creation of the privatizing organization New Schools for New Orleans. Kingsland became its chief executive officer. He is joined at the City Fund by Chris Barbic, first failed Superintendent of the Tennessee Achievement School District, Founder of YES Prep charter schools and alumni of <a href="https://www.broadcenter.org/alumni/directory/profile/chris-barbic/" style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; color: #f3686d; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Broad Superintendents Academy 2011</a>.</div>
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<strong style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Broad Superintendents Academy</strong></h2>
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<img alt="Broad Leadership Academy" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-3270" data-attachment-id="3270" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-description="" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="Broad Leadership Academy" data-large-file="https://tultican.files.wordpress.com/2019/08/broad-leadership-academy.jpg?w=490" data-medium-file="https://tultican.files.wordpress.com/2019/08/broad-leadership-academy.jpg?w=300" data-orig-file="https://tultican.files.wordpress.com/2019/08/broad-leadership-academy.jpg" data-orig-size="1440,874" data-permalink="https://tultican.com/broad-leadership-academy/" sizes="(max-width: 490px) 100vw, 490px" src="https://tultican.files.wordpress.com/2019/08/broad-leadership-academy.jpg?w=490" srcset="https://tultican.files.wordpress.com/2019/08/broad-leadership-academy.jpg?w=490 490w, https://tultican.files.wordpress.com/2019/08/broad-leadership-academy.jpg?w=980 980w, https://tultican.files.wordpress.com/2019/08/broad-leadership-academy.jpg?w=150 150w, https://tultican.files.wordpress.com/2019/08/broad-leadership-academy.jpg?w=300 300w, https://tultican.files.wordpress.com/2019/08/broad-leadership-academy.jpg?w=768 768w" style="background: 0px 0px; border: 5px solid rgb(251, 221, 223); height: auto; margin: 0px 0px 15px; max-width: 100%; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: auto;" /></div>
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<strong style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Austin Beutner with the Broad Academy Cohort 2019-2020 – (Tineye.com no result)</strong></div>
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Not sure where the picture above originated. However, the people shown all do appear to be in the new 2019-2020 <a href="https://www.broadcenter.org/broad-academy/" style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; color: #f3686d; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Broad Academy</a> cohort with the exception of Austin Beutner. There is one correction. Caprice Young, the founder of the California Charter Schools Association (CCSA), is no longer a mouthpiece for Fethullah Gülen. In 2018, she became the National Superintendent for the Learn4Life, cyber school (home schooling) organization that is <a href="https://networkforpubliceducation.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/NPE-Report-Charters-and-Consequences.pdf" style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; color: #f3686d; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">lucrative for operators but has terrible academic results</a>. This summer a San Diego Judge <a href="https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/education/story/2019-06-11/judge-orders-shutdown-of-some-learn4life-charter-schools" style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; color: #f3686d; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">closed three Learn4Life centers</a> because they were not authorized to be where they were operating.</div>
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There was a shift in focus at the Broad academy around 2012. When the operation first started in 2002 an attempt was made to bring new leadership into education including recruiting retired military flag officers. From 2002-2010, 21 retired military members attended the academy. From 2011-2019 there was one. During this later period, people working in the charter industry became dominate in academy cohorts. There have now been 243 people in the Broad Superintendents academy. Recently pro-privatization leaders like Tom Torkelson founder of IDEA Charters (2015-2016 cohort), Diane Tavenner founder Summit Charters (2015-2016 cohort), and Cristina de Jesus President of Green Dot Charters (2016-2017 cohort) feel it is important to participate in the Broad Academy. This year Sonar Tarim, founder of Harmony Charters, and Caprice Young, founder of CCSA, have continued the trend.</div>
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In 2012, the Washington Post <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/post/broad-foundationsplan-to-expand-influence-in-school-reform/2012/08/20/c118e134-eb0a-11e1-b811-09036bcb182b_blog.html" style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; color: #f3686d; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">reported</a> about a <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/r/2010-2019/WashingtonPost/2012/08/20/Local/Graphics/Broadmemos.pdf" style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; color: #f3686d; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">leaked Broad Center memo</a> that outlined a new <em style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">“invitation-only group that will collaborate to address some of the most pressing challenges facing the education sector, help shape policy agendas, influence public opinion, coalesce political forces, and advance bold reforms on the ground.”</em> The group would meet twice a year in Washington DC and “<em style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">would accelerate the pace of reform.”</em> The memo stated the following list of deliverables:</div>
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<li style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; list-style-type: circle; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><em style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">“It will create a powerful group of the most transformational and proven leaders.”</em></li>
<li style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; list-style-type: circle; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><em style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">“It will become the go-to group for reform leaders to engage and move the most cutting edge work forward.”</em></li>
<li style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; list-style-type: circle; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><em style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">“It will help create a more supportive environment and change the national landscape to make it easier for superintendents to define policy agendas, influence public opinion, coalesce political forces, and advance bold reforms on the ground.”</em></li>
<li style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; list-style-type: circle; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><em style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">“The participants’ personal reform agendas and peer pressure from their colleagues will solidify their commitment to do whatever it takes to drive their systems and the education reform movement forward.”</em></li>
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When it comes to placing academy graduates, sometimes Eli Broad gets directly involved. In January 2009, Democratic Gov. Jennifer Granholm of Michigan turned to what was then a little-used state law, Public Act 72, <a href="https://www.metrotimes.com/detroit/after-six-years-and-four-state-appointed-managers-detroit-public-schools-debt-is-deeper-than-ever/Content?oid=2302010" style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; color: #f3686d; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">to appoint</a> an “<em style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">emergency financial manager</em>” charged with addressing Detroit Public School’s ongoing financial troubles. She chose Robert Bobb, a 2005 Broad Academy alumni. No doubt influencing the decision was the fact that Broad and the Kellogg Foundation agreed to pay $145,000 a year toward Bobb’s $425,000 a year salary.</div>
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Bobb’s history of failure in Detroit is well documented.</div>
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John Covington is a 2008 Broad Academy alumni. He became Superintendent <a href="https://tultican.com/2018/11/11/lessons-from-the-continuing-attack-on-kansas-citys-schools/" style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; color: #f3686d; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">of Kansas City Public Schools</a> (KCPS) in 2009. During his first year, Covington claimed that diplomas from KCPS “<em style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">aren’t worth the paper they’re printed on.</em>” His solution for this situation and a looming budget deficit was to close <a href="https://www.semissourian.com/story/1616602.html" style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; color: #f3686d; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">29 schools and layoff 285 teachers</a>. This was in exact accord with the new <a href="https://failingschools.files.wordpress.com/2011/01/school-closure-guide1.pdf" style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; color: #f3686d; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Broad Academy School Closure</a> guide whose first line reads, <em style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">“While school closures can be an important component of any right-sizing plan to address a budget shortfall, properly executed closures require time, leadership attention, and money.”</em></div>
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Covington suddenly and mysteriously <a href="https://www.kansascity.com/news/local/article69301722.html" style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; color: #f3686d; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">resigned</a> from Kansas City in August of 2011. Local elites were stunned and blamed a school board member for hounding him out of town. It was years later before people there learned what happened. A contact at the Broad Center told Covington to be on the alert for a call from Eli Broad who happened to be in Spain at the time. When the call came Broad said, “<em style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">John, I need you to go to Detroit.</em>” Two days later, on Aug. 26, 2011, Covington was introduced as the first superintendent of Michigan’s new Education Achievement Authority.</div>
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Covington’s reputation was so harmed by his time in Michigan that he never got hired again to lead a school system.</div>
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Broad trained Superintendents have a history of bloated staffs leading to financial problems like <a href="https://www.broadcenter.org/alumni/directory/profile/john-deasy/" style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; color: #f3686d; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">John Deasy</a> in Los Angeles (<a href="https://www.latimes.com/opinion/readersreact/la-le-0907-sunday-lausd-ipads-20140907-story.html" style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; color: #f3686d; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Ipad fiasco</a>) or <a href="https://www.broadcenter.org/alumni/directory/profile/antwan-wilson/" style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; color: #f3686d; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Antwan Wilson</a> in <a href="https://tultican.com/2018/03/28/oakland-is-californias-destroy-public-education-petri-dish/" style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; color: #f3686d; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Oakland</a>. They also are notorious for top down management that alienates teachers and parents. <a href="https://www.broadcenter.org/alumni/directory/profile/jean-claude-brizard/" style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; color: #f3686d; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Jean-Claude Brizard</a> was given a 98% no <a href="https://www.rethinkingschools.org/articles/boot-camp-for-education-ceos-the-broad-foundation-superintendents-academy" style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; color: #f3686d; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">confidence vote</a> in Rochester, New York before Rahm Emanuel brought him to Chicago where the teachers union ran him out of town. <a href="https://www.broadcenter.org/alumni/directory/profile/maria-goodloe-johnson/" style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; color: #f3686d; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Maria Goodloe-Johnson</a>became Seattle’s superintendent in 2007. She was soon seen as a <a href="https://www.rethinkingschools.org/articles/boot-camp-for-education-ceos-the-broad-foundation-superintendents-academy" style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; color: #f3686d; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">disruptive demon</a> by teachers and parents. There was great glee when a financial mismanagement issue brought her down.</div>
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<strong style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Conclusion</strong></h2>
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No school district trying to improve and provide high quality education should even consider hiring a candidate with Broad training on their resume. Neither the Residency nor the academy are legitimate institutions working to improve public education. Their primary agenda has always been privatizing schools and ending democratic control by local communities. That is why the founding billionaire, Eli Broad, is one of America’s most prolific financers of Charter Schools and organizations like Teach For America. He believes in markets and thinks schools should be privately run businesses.</div>
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BadassTeacher Associationhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06249079678877556839noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3410387772840321888.post-13579546071432055462019-09-07T12:18:00.001-04:002019-09-07T12:28:40.915-04:00Inside Bill Gates’ Hubris: Propaganda to Make America Neoliberal Again by Steven SingerOriginally posted at: <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2019/09/01/inside-bill-gates-hubris-propaganda-to-make-america-neoliberal-again/?fbclid=IwAR0kkUnzfdWT496tVM5iRCh-p37vGNmU6hcbozYYNI7xqu12j0pDsdqNdjg" target="_blank">https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2019/09/01/inside-bill-gates-hubris-propaganda-to-make-america-neoliberal-again/?fbclid=IwAR0kkUnzfdWT496tVM5iRCh-p37vGNmU6hcbozYYNI7xqu12j0pDsdqNdjg</a><br />
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Once upon a time, the world was run by rich men.</div>
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And all was good.</div>
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But then the world was conquered by other rich men.</div>
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And that is something the first group of rich men could not allow.</div>
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That is the reason behind <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/08/30/how-bill-gates-brain-works-netflix-documentary.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">Netflix’s new film “Inside Bill’s Brain: Decoding Bill Gates.”</a></div>
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The three-part documentary goes live on Sept. 20. But the film’s aims are clear from <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCv29JKmHNY" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">the trailer</a>.</div>
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It’s a vanity project about Bill Gates, <a href="https://www.forbes.com/profile/bill-gates/#43d61252689f" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">the second richest man in the world</a>.<br />
By examining his mind and motivations, director and executive producer <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Davis_Guggenheim" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">Davis Guggenheim </a>will show us how Gates deserves his billionaire status and that we should allow him to use his <a href="https://www.thenation.com/article/philanthrocapitalism-a-self-love-story/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">philanthrocapitalist ventures</a> to rule the world.</div>
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After all, shouldn’t the best and richest among us make all the decisions?</div>
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It’s a cry for oligarchy in an age of idiocracy, a love letter to neoliberalism in a time of neofascism.</div>
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The pity is that <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2017/01/10/self-serving-public-servants-trump-devos-and-the-rise-of-the-plutocrats/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">Donald Trump and the “Make America Great Again” crowd have goose stepped all over their new world order</a>.</div>
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But <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2017/12/18/there-has-never-been-a-better-chance-to-defeat-neoliberals-and-neofascists-hopes-for-2018/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">instead of showing the world why we need to return to democratic principles</a>, <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2019/06/19/top-10-reasons-bernie-sanders-education-policies-are-light-years-ahead-of-everyone-elses/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">strengthen the common good and empower the people to govern themselves</a>, some would rather continue the same plutocracy just with a different set of plutocrats at the wheel.</div>
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In the days of Obama, the Bushes and Clinton, it wasn’t membership in the same political party that defined the ruling class. It was <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2018/07/12/dont-tread-on-me-but-let-me-tread-all-over-you-the-credo-of-personal-freedom-and-limitless-greed/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">holding the same ideology</a>.</div>
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It’s <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2018/08/09/democrats-for-education-reform-think-being-progressive-means-mirroring-betsy-devos/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">not that neoliberals were so much wiser, ethical or empathetic than Trump</a>. They just kept their greed a secret or tried to make it seem a virtue. They told better lies and didn’t incite as much violence on our shores, and they were better at manipulating markets to make themselves richer while keeping the rest of us relatively poorer.</div>
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The <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2017/03/11/the-blinders-of-partisanship-how-republicans-and-democrats-miss-the-point-were-all-being-screwed/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">MAGA insurgents are also rich men, but their greed is transparent</a>. They lie and no one expects them to tell the truth. They can freely dismantle the social safety net because they stoke our prejudices and keep us fighting over race, gender and abortion so much we forget they’re robbing us blind. And when the market crashes, they don’t have to care because they’ve stolen everything of value and can weather the economic depression that will destroy the nation.</div>
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Neofacism is certainly worse – but <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2016/12/21/the-ongoing-resistance-to-trump-neoliberals-anyone-else-trying-to-destroy-our-schools/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">it’s only a difference of degree, not of kind</a>.</div>
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It’s no wonder then that the neoliberals want to make us nostalgic for their brand of simmering destruction instead of Trump’s rapid boil disasters.</div>
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And Gates is the perfect poster child for old style neoliberalism.</div>
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He’s the former CEO of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">Microsoft </a>and – together with his wife – the founder of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_%26_Melinda_Gates_Foundation" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation</a>.<br />
In the trailer, Gates confides that his deepest fear is that one day his brain will “stop working.”</div>
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Gates is a “multiprocessor” says his wife Melinda. “He will be reading something else but then processing at the same time. It’s chaos!”</div>
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Gates “thrives on complexity,” Melinda says. “He makes a framework in his mind, then he starts slotting in the information. If something doesn’t line up, he gets really frustrated.”</div>
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“It’s scary,” says Melinda. “But when Bill stills himself, he can pull ideas together that other people can’t see.”</div>
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Thus we gain a picture of a brilliant man striding over a world populated by intellectual inferiors. How foolish we would be to question his authority!</div>
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And since <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2015/11/18/prejudice-of-poverty-why-americans-hate-the-poor-and-worship-the-rich/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">his intelligence has enabled him to hoard more money than almost anyone else in the world, why shouldn’t we let him use this economic power to change it for our benefit</a>?</div>
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It’s truly one of the most patronizing, paternal and insulting pieces of propaganda I’ve ever seen in my life. And that includes Guggenheim’s previous movies.</div>
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Guggenheim is, after all, the man behind the <a href="https://www.dissentmagazine.org/online_articles/still-waiting-davis-guggenheims-manipulative-and-short-sighted-waiting-for-superman" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">most notorious propaganda film</a> of modern times, <a href="https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2010/11/11/myth-charter-schools/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">“Waiting for Superman.”</a> Back in 2010, he popularized the school privatization of Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama. He made charter schools cool <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2018/03/12/twenty-one-reasons-people-hate-hate-hate-betsy-devos/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">until Betsy DeVos came along and made them uncool again</a>.</div>
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Though I can’t imagine what could possibly be cool about<a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2018/05/26/the-best-charter-school-cannot-hold-a-candle-to-the-worst-public-school/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;"> for-profit schools run by appointed bureaucrats that can discriminate against students in enrollment</a>, <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2016/02/09/most-charter-schools-are-public-schools-in-name-only/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">skimp on special education services and cut academic programs for students </a>while pocketing the savings! All while <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2019/06/15/charter-schools-will-always-waste-money-because-they-duplicate-services/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">gobbling up funding for the public schools</a> that try to educate everyone!</div>
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More recently, he <a href="http://usmfreepress.org/2013/09/16/new-teach-documentary-is-pure-propaganda-for-the-corporate-driven-war-on-education/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">tried to pull the same sleight of hand for education technology firms in 2013 with the film “Teach,”</a> but by then no one was really paying attention to him.</div>
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And for all that time his ventures have been backed by <a href="https://billmoyers.com/2014/03/28/public-education-who-are-the-corporate-reformers/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">the richest neoliberals out there</a> – Netflix CEO Reed Hasgtings, Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos, eBay founder Jeff Skoll, and Salman Khan of Khan Academy.</div>
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Sure these folks are usually identified as Democrats, but <a href="http://usmfreepress.org/2013/09/16/new-teach-documentary-is-pure-propaganda-for-the-corporate-driven-war-on-education/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">their philosophy is completely in line with </a>The Walton Family Foundation, Charles Koch, Walden Media (run by creationist Philip Anschutz), and lobbying groups such as the Lumina Foundation, the New American Foundation, and others.</div>
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Oh! And let’s not forget <a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/no-longer-waiting-for-sup_b_755781" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">Bill Gates, himself,</a> who has bankrolled a number of Guggenheim’s projects including “Waiting for Superman.”</div>
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It’s no wonder Guggenheim is making a fawning tribute to Gates. He owes the man!</div>
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It’s time to pay back his sugar daddy with what he does best – agitprop public relations.</div>
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Yes, Gates is a very intelligent person.</div>
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But he is also a very stupid one.</div>
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When it comes to computers, few people can beat him. But like so many <span class="ILfuVd" style="box-sizing: border-box;">overprivileged</span> people, he takes excellence in one area to mean excellence in all areas.</div>
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And that’s just not how things work.</div>
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The ancient <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_know_that_I_know_nothing" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">Greek philosopher Socrates</a> famously bragged that he was the wisest person in Athens – not because he knew so much more than everyone else but because he was the only person who knew that he didn’t know anything.</div>
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Gates could have learned something from that humility, because it’s the trait he is most lacking.</div>
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Take public education.</div>
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No one has had a greater negative impact on public schools than Gates. With his so-called philanthropic contributions, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2014/06/08/did-bill-gates-fund-an-educational-coup/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">he has steered the course of education policy away from research-based pedagogy</a> to a business-minded approach favored by corporate raiders.</div>
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<a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2017/10/27/mr-and-mrs-public-school-sabotage/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">He didn’t come up with Common Core State Standards, but he did bankroll them</a>. He <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2016/08/01/why-is-common-core-still-here/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">bribed the state and federal government</a> to force their schools to adopt the same or similar academic standards for all students. Not good standards. Not standards developed by classroom teachers, psychologists or experts. But standards created by the standardized testing industry.</div>
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The result has been more high stakes standardized tests, narrowing the curriculum, <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2016/03/11/less-resources-harder-tests-common-core-in-the-last-days-of-obama/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">shrinking education budgets for the poor and minorities, and an increase in developmentally inappropriate approaches to education</a>. Nearly every parent with a school age child will tell you horror stories of attempting to do homework with their children and having to <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2016/08/27/common-cores-new-new-math-has-the-same-problem-as-the-old-new-math/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">relearn basic math and English skills</a> just to untwist the needlessly complex knot that children are expected to unsnarl in order to grasp the bare basics of academia.</div>
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Gates poured billions of dollars into that failed initiative, spent hundreds of millions of dollars for development and promotion and influenced trillions of taxpayer dollars to be flushed down the drain on it. All to no avail.</div>
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But it’s not his only education policy failure.</div>
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<a href="https://dianeravitch.net/2017/10/21/lordy-lordy-bill-gates-has-a-new-idea-run-hide-protect-the-children-and-the-teachers/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">Gates now admits</a> that the approximate $2 billion he spent pushing us to break up large high schools into smaller schools was a bust.</div>
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Then he spent $100 million on <a href="https://www.geekwire.com/2014/gates-backed-inbloom-winding-non-profit-faces-concerns-privacy/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">inBloom, a corporation he financed that would quietly steal student data and sell it to the corporate world</a>. However, that blew up when parents found out and demanded their children be protected.</div>
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He also quietly admits that the $80 million he spent pushing for <a href="http://www.livingindialogue.com/responding-to-bill-gates-destructive-model-of-teacher-evaluation/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">teachers to be evaluated on student test scores </a>was a mistake. However, state, federal and local governments often still insist on enacting it despite all the evidence against it. <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2018/08/06/top-10-reasons-you-cant-fairly-evaluate-teachers-on-student-test-scores/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">Teachers have literally committed suicide over these unfair evaluations</a>, but it hasn’t stopped Gates from continuing to experiment on the rest of humanity with his money.</div>
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And he’s still at it.</div>
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His new plan has been to spend $1.7 billion over five years to develop new curriculums and networks of schools, use data to drive continuous improvement, and give out grants to high needs schools to do whatever he says.</div>
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There’s nothing wrong with someone wanting to help improve public schools. But the best way to do that is to listen to the people most <span class="st" style="box-sizing: border-box;">knowledgeable</span> and invested and then give them the tools they need to succeed.</div>
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But Gates doesn’t play that way. He reads up on a subject and then comes up with his own harebrained schemes.</div>
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“It would be great if our education stuff worked, but that we won’t know for probably a decade,” he said <a href="https://nepc.colorado.edu/newsletter/2013/01/review-MET-final-2013" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">during a speech at Harvard in 2014</a>.</div>
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Lots of people know, Bill. <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2019/05/07/classroom-teachers-are-the-real-scholastic-experts-not-education-journalists/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">Teachers, students, parents, psychologists, professors</a>. You just won’t listen to us.</div>
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You just insist the rest of us listen to you despite the fact that you have no idea what you’re talking about.</div>
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You’re rich and you think that makes you better than us.</div>
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And Guggenheim’s documentary purports to support this position by reference to Gates’ incredible brain.</div>
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He is a smart guy. No one would really contradict it.</div>
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He was a <a href="https://www.thoughtco.com/famous-people-who-have-won-scholarships-3211716" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">National Merit Scholar</a> who scored a 1590 out of 1600 on his SATs. But he also comes from a very privileged upbringing.</div>
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He didn’t grow up on the mean streets of urban America while attending a neighborhood public school. <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2015/09/13/why-were-so-many-education-reformers-bad-students%e2%80%a8%e2%80%a8-%e2%80%a8/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">He went to an elite preparatory school since he was 13</a>.</div>
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At Harvard he wasn’t a polymath. He excelled in subjects he cared about, but neglected others that weren’t immediately interesting. <a href="https://www.quora.com/What-were-Bill-Gates-grades-at-Harvard" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">According to a college friend</a>:</div>
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“Gates was a typical freshman in many ways, thrown off pace by the new requirements and a higher level of competition. He skipped classes, spent days on end in the computer lab working on his own projects, played poker all night, and slept in a bed without sheets when he did go to bed. Other students recall that he often went without sleep for 18 to 36 hours.”</div>
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Gates was no genius. He earned good grades in the subjects he liked and significantly less so in classes he didn’t. Nor was his heart in his studies. Gates joined few college activities unless someone dragged him off to a party.</div>
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School was of little interest to him. <a href="https://www.bostonmagazine.com/news/2013/09/27/bill-gates-says-didnt-drop-harvard-start-microsoft/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">He dropped out of Harvard</a> before getting a degree to start his computer software company.</div>
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Imagine how privileged you have to be to feel empowered to do that!</div>
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Nothing much was at stake for him at school so he could do whatever he liked with little to no real life consequences.</div>
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You want to decode Bill’s brain? Look at his family’s wealth. Look at his upbringing. Look at his medical records.</div>
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But the moral of the story of Bill Gates is not that rich elites should rule the world.</div>
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It is that everyone – <em style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;">EVERYONE</span></em> – should practice humility and not deign to think they have all the answers.</div>
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It is a paean to the need for collaboration to solve problems, the need to listen to all voices and decide the best course together.</div>
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And more than anything it is a desperate cry for democracy and social goods – not to defeat Trump through Gates’ example – but to lead to real human flourishing by smashing through the fallacies supporting Trump and Gates together.</div>
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BadassTeacher Associationhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06249079678877556839noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3410387772840321888.post-37902569834431094412019-08-22T11:47:00.001-04:002019-08-22T11:47:30.235-04:00TFA is Bad for America by Thomas Ultican<span style="color: #283d4b; font-family: Open Sans, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12px;"><b>Originally posted at: <a href="https://tultican.com/2019/08/18/tfa-is-bad-for-america/?fbclid=IwAR19N_uIZHe2oijYLZKLSNAGV1AGdhn5MDtUUEkKc11H2LPM6Ne7qdz1zmU" target="_blank">https://tultican.com/2019/08/18/tfa-is-bad-for-america/?fbclid=IwAR19N_uIZHe2oijYLZKLSNAGV1AGdhn5MDtUUEkKc11H2LPM6Ne7qdz1zmU</a></b></span></span><br />
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By T. Ultican 8/19/2019</div>
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Teach For America (TFA) has become the billionaire financed army for privatizing public education. It is the number one source of charter school teachers and its alumni are carrying a <a href="https://dissexpress.proquest.com/dxweb/results.html?QryTxt=&By=Angela+M.+Kraemer-Holland&Title=&pubnum=" style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; color: #f3686d; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">neoliberal ideology</a> into education leadership at all levels. TFA undermines education professionalism and exacerbates teacher turnover. Its teachers are totally unqualified to run a classroom yet their political support caused the US Congress to label them as <a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/teach-for-america-teachers_b_4219626" style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; color: #f3686d; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">highly qualified</a> teachers. Big money and its political power have elevated TFA to being the nation’s most effective force driving the privatization of public education.</div>
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<strong style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Defining TFA Neoliberalism</strong></h2>
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This April, Angela M. Kraemer-Holland of DePaul University submitted her <a href="https://dissexpress.proquest.com/dxweb/results.html?QryTxt=&By=Angela+M.+Kraemer-Holland&Title=&pubnum=" style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; color: #f3686d; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">doctoral thesis</a> in which<em style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> s</em>he observed:</div>
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<em style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">“TFA’s primary conception of itself is not as a teacher training organization, nor a non-university-based early entry recruitment program, but rather as a “movement” against a pressing and untenable social problem. Conclusions illuminate TFA’s efforts to shape participants’ understanding of teaching and learning—framing teaching as a temporary career—in order to create and sustain a broader movement in education and beyond that is reflective of neoliberal ideas.”</em></div>
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Kraemer-Holland’s conclusions echoes those of two TFA alumni working on their doctorates at Boston College, Randall Lahann and Emilie Mitescu Reagan. They co-wrote “<a href="https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ914920.pdf" style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; color: #f3686d; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><em style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Teach for America and the Politics of Progressive Neoliberalism</em></a>” published by the Teacher Education Quarterly winter 2011. The classification of TFA as a progressive neoliberal organization is based on their definitions of these combined terms:</div>
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<em style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">“Neoliberalism: Political ideology which calls for state policies that better enable entrepreneurs to compete in the free market. Policies which promote privatization, deregulation, individual choice, and the reduction of government expenditures are valued over those which increase, or promote the welfare state and government control of social and economic activity.”</em></div>
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<em style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">“Progressivism: The idea that schooling and teacher education are crucial elements in the making of a more just society.”</em></div>
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Although neoliberalism is known to be a conservative ideology, within TFA there is the idea that the outcomes in education are more than just test scores and knowledge, but equity and justice as well. Lahann and Reagan write, <em style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">“This space can be thought of as progressive neoliberalism.”</em></div>
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Whatever it is called, the faith is in the superiority of the market fundamentalism which Ruth Rosen defined as <em style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">“the irrational belief that markets solve all problems.”</em> In the book <a href="https://history.duke.edu/book/democracy-chains" style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; color: #f3686d; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Democracy in Chains</a>, Nancy MacLean quoted former congressman and leader of the “Contract for America” Dick Armey. He summed up the neoliberal view succinctly, “<em style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The markets are rational, the government is dumb.</em>”</div>
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Neoliberal ideology has been on the ascendancy since the 1970’s coinciding with the founding of the libertarian think tanks Heritage Foundation and Cato Institute. There is an inherent anti-democratic sentiment attached to the theory. In <u style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Democracy</u>, Maclean provides a detailed description of the lavish spending since the 1950s by the billionaire brothers David and Charles Koch promoting their neoliberal based libertarian ideology. Charles Koch <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/the-kochs-vs-cato" style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; color: #f3686d; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">founded the Cato Institute</a>. Their stands include an ultra-conservative property rights view and an anti-public education agenda.</div>
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<strong style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Undermining Professionalism in Education</strong></h2>
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In the paper “<a href="https://epaa.asu.edu/ojs/article/view/1923" style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; color: #f3686d; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Teach For America’s Preferential Treatment: School District Contracts, Hiring Decisions, and Employment Practices</a>”, authors T. Jameson Brewer et al address why school districts want to hire TFA teachers. Their research led to these four points:</div>
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<em style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">“(1) Districts realize the long-term savings potential that comes from converting open teaching positions to positions held exclusively for TFA (or otherwise short-term, not fully credentialed teachers).”</em></div>
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<em style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">“(2) Districts are willing to pay additional up-front costs not only for the long-term savings but in the quest for increased test scores that can result from pedagogical practices of teaching-to-the-test that characterize TFA pedagogy.”</em></div>
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<em style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">“(3) School board leaders have bought into the rhetoric of the ‘bad’ teacher and TFA represents a political opportunity to address that perception.”</em></div>
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<em style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">“(4) In the case of a genuine teacher shortage, cost impacts become less important than filling positions.”</em></div>
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<em style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">“While each rationale – or a combination of them – may explain why districts continue to honor and expand MOUs</em>[memorandums of understanding]<em style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> with TFA, we suggest that it is the long-term savings potential that is the most plausible.”</em></div>
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In the same paper it was mentioned that TFA alumni “<em style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">tend to understand educational change through managerial terms; believing that inequity is a result of resource mismanagement and a lack of accountability and that solutions lay in merit pay for teachers, increased autonomy for leadership, standardization of curriculum, and an end to collective bargaining.</em>”</div>
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An article in Phi Delta Kappan had similar observations. <a href="https://www.academia.edu/6830041/Trujillo_T._and_Scott_J._2014_._Superheroes_and_Transformers_Rethinking_Teach_For_America_s_Leadership_Models._Phi_Delta_Kappan_95_8_pp._57-61" style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; color: #f3686d; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">In <em style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Rethinking Teach For America’s leadership models</em></a> researchers, Tina Trujillo and Janelle Scott, noted that TFA alumni emphasized managerial goals. From their research they reported, <em style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">“Over 80% of our participants depicted the causes of inequality in technical or managerial terms.”</em> The education reforms posited by the TFA alumni interviewed were:</div>
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<li style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; list-style-type: circle; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><em style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">“Scale back unions’ collective bargaining agreements in order to increase principals’ flexibility in personnel matters.”</em></li>
<li style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; list-style-type: circle; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><em style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">“Increase teacher and principal effectiveness through tighter accountability.”</em></li>
<li style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; list-style-type: circle; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><em style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">“Increase principal and teacher expectations.”</em></li>
<li style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; list-style-type: circle; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><em style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">“Tie teacher compensation to student performance.”</em></li>
<li style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; list-style-type: circle; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><em style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">“Hire better “talent.”’</em></li>
<li style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; list-style-type: circle; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><em style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">“Standardize curricula and assessments.”</em></li>
<li style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; list-style-type: circle; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><em style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">“Expand technology and data use.”</em></li>
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Clearly these former TFA corps members had completely assimilated the destroy public education message of failing schools, inept principals and bad teachers.</div>
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Prior to taking over a classroom, TFA teachers receive just five weeks of training. Their training is test centric and employs behaviorist principles. TFA corps members study Doug Lemov’s <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Teach-Like-Champion-2-0-Techniques/dp/1118901851" style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; color: #f3686d; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Teach Like a Champion</a>.</div>
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Lemov never studied education nor taught. He became involved with the no-excuses charter movement in mid-1990s. As glowingly depicted by Elizabeth Green in <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Building-Better-Teacher-Teaching-Everyone-ebook/dp/B00FPT5MSQ" style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; color: #f3686d; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Building A+ Better Teacher</a>, Lemov observed classrooms to develop his teaching ideas.</div>
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Most trained professional educators find Lemov’s teaching theory regressive. Jennifer Berkshire published a post by Layla Treuhaft-Ali on her popular blog and podcast “<em style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Have You Heard</em>.” Under the title “<a href="https://haveyouheardblog.com/teach-like-its-1895/#more-8033" style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; color: #f3686d; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Teach Like its 1885</a>” Layla wrote,</div>
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<em style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">“As I was reading <u style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Teach Like A Champion</u>, I observed something that shocked me. The pedagogical model espoused by Lemov is disturbingly similar to one that was established almost a century ago for the express purpose of maintaining racial hierarchy.”</em></div>
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Treuhaft-Ali added, <em style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">“Placed in their proper racial context, the <u style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Teach Like A Champion</u> techniques can read like a modern-day version of the *Hampton Idea,* where children of color are taught not to challenge authority under the supervision of a wealthy, white elite.”</em></div>
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Amber K. Kim, Ph.D. made the following <a href="https://cloakinginequity.com/2019/05/01/is-teach-for-americas-training-problematic-even-racist/" style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; color: #f3686d; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">observations</a> about <u style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Teach Like A Champion</u>:</div>
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<em style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">“ TLAC strategies are not proven using empirical methodology and published in peer reviewed journals. If there are studies, what are the variables? n? p value?”</em></div>
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<em style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">“ TLAC is for “</em><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Other-Peoples-Children-Cultural-Classroom/dp/1595580743/ref=pd_lpo_sbs_14_t_0?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=B32TPQ8J6DDZP5QQYB19" style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; color: #f3686d; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><em style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Other people’s children</em></a><em style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">” (L. Delpit). Of course some TLAC strategies are effective and even fun, but the strict adherence to TLAC as a bible for teaching is reserved for students of color and low SES </em>[Social Economic Status]<em style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">.”</em></div>
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This year California Assemblywomen Cristina Garcia introduced a bill to end TFA hiring in the state. Garcia is a former classroom teacher and understands the importance of teaching staff stability. In an <a href="https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/opinion/story/2019-04-12/teach-for-america-teachers-ban-low-income-schools" style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; color: #f3686d; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">op-ed</a> for the San Diego Union, She noted that 80% of TFA teachers are gone within three years. Coincidentally, that is the amount of classroom time researchers believe it takes for teachers to become proficient. Garcia stated,</div>
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<em style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">“Third-party trainees lack crucial experience before entering a classroom, receiving only a few weeks of training and do not need to have a degree in education. For teacher-credentialing programs, hopeful educators take two years to complete their educational training and serve as a student teacher for another year before entering the classroom as its sole credentialed instructor.”</em></div>
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<em style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">“Yes, California has struggled with a teacher shortage for decades. The answer to that shortage is not placing untrained educators in schools who leave after a two-year stint. When teachers leave after only a few years, it just exacerbates the issue. It’s a Band-Aid fix on a bullet-hole problem.”</em></div>
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Garcia ordered her bill to the inactive file in May.</div>
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<strong style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">TFA is the Billionaire Army</strong></h2>
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<img alt="TFA Army" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-3263" data-attachment-id="3263" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-description="" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"1"}" data-image-title="TFA Army" data-large-file="https://tultican.files.wordpress.com/2019/08/tfa-army.jpg?w=490" data-medium-file="https://tultican.files.wordpress.com/2019/08/tfa-army.jpg?w=300" data-orig-file="https://tultican.files.wordpress.com/2019/08/tfa-army.jpg" data-orig-size="960,720" data-permalink="https://tultican.com/tfa-army/" sizes="(max-width: 490px) 100vw, 490px" src="https://tultican.files.wordpress.com/2019/08/tfa-army.jpg?w=490" srcset="https://tultican.files.wordpress.com/2019/08/tfa-army.jpg?w=490 490w, https://tultican.files.wordpress.com/2019/08/tfa-army.jpg?w=150 150w, https://tultican.files.wordpress.com/2019/08/tfa-army.jpg?w=300 300w, https://tultican.files.wordpress.com/2019/08/tfa-army.jpg?w=768 768w, https://tultican.files.wordpress.com/2019/08/tfa-army.jpg 960w" style="background: 0px 0px; border: 5px solid rgb(251, 221, 223); height: auto; margin: 0px 0px 15px; max-width: 100%; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: auto;" /></div>
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It seems like every major foundation gives to TFA. Besides Gates, Walton, Broad, Dell, Hastings, and Arnold, there is Bradley, Hall, Kaufman, DeVos, Skillman, Sackler and the list goes on. According to TFA’s 2016 <a href="https://990s.foundationcenter.org/990_pdf_archive/133/133541913/133541913_201705_990.pdf" style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; color: #f3686d; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">tax form</a>, the grants TFA received that year totaled more than $245 million. US taxpayer <a href="https://www.propublica.org/article/how-teach-for-america-evolved-into-an-arm-of-the-charter-school-movement" style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; color: #f3686d; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">give TFA</a> $40 million a year via the US Department of Education.</div>
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The Walton (Walmart) family has provided TFA more than $100,000,000. In 2013, their $20,000,000 grant gave $2,000 more per TFA teacher going to charter schools than for public school teachers. Annie Waldmen <a href="https://www.propublica.org/article/how-teach-for-america-evolved-into-an-arm-of-the-charter-school-movement" style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; color: #f3686d; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">reporting for ProPublica</a> observed,</div>
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<em style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">“The incentives corresponded to a shift in Teach For America’s direction. Although only 7% of students go to charter schools, Teach For America sent almost 40% of its 6,736 teachers to them in 2018 — up from 34% in 2015 and 13% in 2008. In some large cities, charter schools employ the majority of TFA teachers: 54% in Houston, 58% in San Antonio and at least 70% in Los Angeles.”</em></div>
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To enhance the opportunities in leadership for TFA teachers, TFA created the non-profit Leadership for Education Equity (LEE). The LEE board includes Emma Bloomberg (Michael Bloomberg’s daughter); Steuart Walton (billionaire); Arthur Rock (billionaire) and Elisa Villanueva Beard (TFA CEO). LEE finances TFA members and alumni who run for political office and provides campaign training. All LEE members get at least $2,000 but members with the right attitude will also get individual donations from board members. LEE, which received $29 million in contributions and grants in 2017, helped more than 150 alumni run in local and state races in 2018, according to an internal presentation obtained by ProPublica.</div>
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A <a href="https://www.propublica.org/article/how-teach-for-america-evolved-into-an-arm-of-the-charter-school-movement" style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; color: #f3686d; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">LEE example</a>: This May when Houston ISD voted to end their contract with TFA, board member Holly Vilaseca voted to renew it. Previously, Vilaseca had been a founding TFA teacher at a KIPP charter school. Walton family members and Arthur Rock gave a total of $20,000 to her 2017 school board campaign, in addition to $6,000 from LEE.</div>
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The history of the World is replete with examples of Youth movements being used by ruthless individuals for their own purposes. Four years ago, I wrote “<a href="https://tultican.com/2015/05/12/is-tfa-a-cult/" style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; color: #f3686d; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Is TFA a Cult</a>.” At the time, I thought that was somewhat farcical. Today, I believe it is true. Idealistic youths are recruited, taught a neoliberal view of good governance and those that take the bait are shaped for leadership and lucrative careers.</div>
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TFA corps members and alumni are the ground forces for privatizing public education the pillar of American Democracy. TFA is bad for America.</div>
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BadassTeacher Associationhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06249079678877556839noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3410387772840321888.post-9117825403333770602019-08-22T11:44:00.002-04:002019-08-22T11:44:30.131-04:00Gov. Wolf Tries to Stop Charter Schools Gorging on Public School Funding by Steven SingerOriginally posted at: <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2019/08/22/gov-wolf-tries-to-stop-charter-schools-gorging-on-public-school-funding/?fbclid=IwAR2DsJdbK5Of_SdQmJCcPNl0nnSZ4WuIoywNiqBrKUk-13oSiP6lNFZE80U" target="_blank">https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2019/08/22/gov-wolf-tries-to-stop-charter-schools-gorging-on-public-school-funding/?fbclid=IwAR2DsJdbK5Of_SdQmJCcPNl0nnSZ4WuIoywNiqBrKUk-13oSiP6lNFZE80U</a><br />
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<em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Sooey! Here Pig Pig Pig!</em></div>
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No one minds that healthy call at the hog farm when it’s time to feed the sows.</div>
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But taxpayers do take issue with it when it’s the call of the state legislature gathering a different kind of swine <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2019/05/20/charter-schools-are-quietly-gobbling-up-my-public-school-district%e2%80%a8/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">around public tax dollars</a>.</div>
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<a href="https://www.pennlive.com/news/2019/08/wolf-taking-action-to-reforms-to-pas-flawed-and-outdated-charter-school-law-that-he-calls-one-of-the-worst-in-the-nation.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">Pennsylvania’s 180 charter schools gobbled up $1.8 billion last year from the Commonwealth’s public schools</a>.</div>
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And <a href="http://curmudgucation.blogspot.com/2019/08/pa-governor-puts-charters-on-notice.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">Gov. Tom Wolf is refusing to let them continue to gorge on public funding meant to nourish everyone</a>.</div>
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<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />Last week, he took executive action to hold these schools accountable and force them to be more transparent – even if the legislature won’t.</div>
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<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />Charter schools are <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2016/02/09/most-charter-schools-are-public-schools-in-name-only/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">publicly financed but privately run</a>. Unlike authentic public schools, <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2018/05/26/the-best-charter-school-cannot-hold-a-candle-to-the-worst-public-school/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">charters are often administered by appointed boards</a>. They don’t have to provide the same level of services for children, don’t have to accept all students, <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2018/09/07/there-is-virtually-no-difference-between-nonprofit-and-for-profit-charter-schools/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">can make a profit and don’t even have to be transparent about how they spend their money</a>.</div>
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Yet <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2019/06/15/charter-schools-will-always-waste-money-because-they-duplicate-services/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">that money comes from taxpayers</a>.</div>
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For years <a href="https://whyy.org/articles/pa-charter-school-law-worst-in-us-state-auditor-general-says/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">fiscal watchdogs have complained that the state’s 22-year-old charter school law needs revising</a>. However, after lining lawmakers pockets with charter school cash, the legislature continually refuses to do anything about it.</div>
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A few Democrats have offered plans that would increase accountability, but they’ve gotten no traction. And Republican plans have almost exclusively offered to make matters worse by dumping more money in the trough and putting up a thicker curtain so we don’t see the school privatizers eat.</div>
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So finally Gov. Wolf, a Democrat, took action on his own.</div>
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He has <a href="https://www.lehighvalleylive.com/news/2019/08/gov-wolf-wants-to-take-pas-charter-school-law-from-1-of-nations-worst-to-1-of-its-best.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">directed his Department of Education</a> to circumvent the legislature to develop regulations that he says, “will level the playing field for all taxpayer-funded public schools, strengthen the accountability and transparency of charter and cyber charter schools and better serve all students.”</div>
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His plan would:</div>
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<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />•Allow districts to limit student enrollment in charter schools where students aren’t making academic gains.</div>
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•Require charter schools to stop turning away students based on race, ethnicity, gender, disability, intellectual deficits, lack of athletics or other student characteristics.</div>
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<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />•Make charter schools as transparent as authentic public schools.</div>
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•Stop conflicts of interests for charter school board members and operating companies so that they can’t make decisions on behalf of the school that would enrich themselves, their families and/or friends.</div>
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<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />•Make charters submit to financial audits to state regulators, make them publicly bid contracts for supplies and services and use fair contracting practices.</div>
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<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />•Provide greater oversight of charter school management companies so they can’t profit off of the students enrolled in the schools they’re managing.</div>
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<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />•Seek more information about how prospective charters will be run in a new model state application to be used when charters seek to open up shop or renew existing charters.</div>
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•Require charters to accurately document their costs.</div>
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<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />•Prevent charters from overcharging for services they provide to students.</div>
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•Make charters pay to cover the state’s costs for implementing the charter school law.</div>
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•Recoup money from charter schools for the time and services the state provides when it reviews applications, distributes payments and provides legal and administrative support to them.</div>
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<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />It’s a bold step for a governor, but apparently Wolf is tired of waiting on a dysfunctional legislature to actually legislate.</div>
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The problem is Wolf has to be more than a governor. He has to be a goalie.</div>
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The state House and state Senate are deeply gerrymandered and controlled by Republicans.</div>
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<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />Every year, lawmakers pass mostly crap bills written by Koch Brothers proxies only to be vetoed by Wolf.</div>
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Occasionally, the GOP convinces enough <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2018/11/19/charter-school-cheerleaders-elected-to-leadership-with-pa-house-dems/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">right-leaning Democrats </a>to go with them and Wolf can’t or won’t veto the bills.</div>
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<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />And that’s pretty much how things work in Harrisburg.</div>
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However, this time Wolf wasn’t content to just guard the net. He actually took the puck down the ice, himself, and made a slap shot on the opposing team.</div>
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Can he do this? Is he still operating within the law?</div>
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Time will tell – though I’d argue that in the absence of legislative action, he is within his job description.</div>
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Moreover, this is only a first step.</div>
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Wolf, himself, has said that more needs to be done by the legislature. Even after his executive actions, much needs to be done to make charter schools function properly in the Commonwealth.</div>
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Specifically, Wolf asked the legislature to pass a moratorium on <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2019/01/29/ten-of-15-cyber-charter-schools-in-pa-are-operating-without-a-charter-close-them-all/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">new cyber charter schools</a>, cap enrollment in low-performing charter schools until they improve, subject charter management companies to the same transparency rules that districts must follow, and create a fair, predictable and equitable charter school funding formula.</div>
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I’d like them to go even further.</div>
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Frankly, <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2017/09/15/top-10-reasons-public-schools-are-the-best-choice-for-children-parents-communities/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">I’d like to see charter schools ended as educational institutions</a>.<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />Why should the public pay for schools that aren’t locally controlled? Why pay for privatized schools at all?</div>
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I suppose if there are some that are functioning well for students, they can be grandfathered in, but they should be funded separately. When two districts have to compete for the same funding, the students lose.</div>
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At least, <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2016/07/30/no-new-charter-schools-naacp-draws-line-in-the-sand/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">we should not be opening up new charters</a>. The public should not be in the business of funding privatized schools.</div>
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I am grateful to Gov. Wolf for finally having the guts to stand up to this powerful industry.</div>
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The <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2018/09/17/report-us-shortchanged-public-schools-by-hundreds-of-billions-of-dollars-over-decades/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">state exists to further the public good</a> – not enrich private corporations like those running many charter schools.</div>
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It’s time we admitted that charter schools are a failed experiment and shut them down.</div>
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It’s time to block these pigs from chowing down on public funding without public oversight.</div>
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<a href="https://www.pennlive.com/news/2019/08/wolf-taking-action-to-reforms-to-pas-flawed-and-outdated-charter-school-law-that-he-calls-one-of-the-worst-in-the-nation.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">See how much each charter school gets of Commonwealth tax dollars.</a></div>
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BadassTeacher Associationhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06249079678877556839noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3410387772840321888.post-69087194278038687362019-08-12T10:10:00.000-04:002019-08-12T10:10:07.887-04:00The Welcome Back Letter I’d Love to Give My Students – But Can’t by Steven Singeroriginally published at: <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2019/08/05/the-welcome-back-letter-id-love-to-give-my-students-but-cant/?fbclid=IwAR2ReWTVMbcm-SqMFQn_Bubun0GGB7IgXNDafh63ouOMkZ_vESfpyszSHUw" target="_blank">https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2019/08/05/the-welcome-back-letter-id-love-to-give-my-students-but-cant/?fbclid=IwAR2ReWTVMbcm-SqMFQn_Bubun0GGB7IgXNDafh63ouOMkZ_vESfpyszSHUw</a><br />
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<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />I’m a very lucky guy.</div>
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I get to <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2019/06/23/the-last-day-of-school/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">teach language arts in an amazing urban middle school in Western Pennsylvania</a>.</div>
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I have reasonable <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2018/10/12/teacher-autonomy-an-often-ignored-victim-of-high-stakes-testing/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">autonomy</a>, opportunities to <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2019/05/02/the-best-school-innovation-would-be-more-people/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">collaborate with my co-workers</a> and strong <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2014/11/01/forget-corporations-unions-really-are-people/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">union protections</a>.</div>
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Even so, <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2017/11/19/the-completely-avoidable-teacher-shortage-and-what-to-do-about-it/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">I know there are a lot of teachers out there who don’t have those things</a>.</div>
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Yet even after counting all my blessings, I still can’t do whatever I want. <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2019/01/05/how-many-decisions-do-teachers-make-every-day/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">I can’t even do everything that my years of academic training and experience tells me</a> would be best for my students.</div>
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Every year I’m told that <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2018/08/06/top-10-reasons-you-cant-fairly-evaluate-teachers-on-student-test-scores/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">my worth as a professional is mainly defined by student test scores </a>– that <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2018/09/25/the-six-biggest-problems-with-data-driven-instruction/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">I should use those scores to drive my entire class</a>, that my major goal should be increasing the scores and <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2017/06/23/teachers-dont-want-all-this-useless-data/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">my every waking moment should be spent examining past scores.</a></div>
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<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />Every year I have to watch out for this data metric and do that much more work because my district has lost even more funding to <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2019/05/20/charter-schools-are-quietly-gobbling-up-my-public-school-district%e2%80%a8/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">the vampire charter school</a> in our neighborhood. Or l<a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2019/07/19/student-test-scores-may-play-a-smaller-role-in-future-pa-teacher-evaluations/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">awmakers have compromised away another several hours of my tim</a>e to do meaningless paperwork – time that I either have to take away from my students or my family.</div>
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I see all this and I just want to scream.</div>
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<a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2018/03/21/the-lone-voice-of-dissent-against-standardized-testing/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">I want to tell everyone what’s happening </a>so that they can help stop the madness.</div>
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And I do scream into the whirl of cyberspace on <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">my blog</a>.</div>
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But I can’t do the same in my district. I can’t tell those right in front of me – my school board, my administrators, the parents or students.</div>
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<a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2016/02/18/should-teachers-have-strong-opinions/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">Doing so would put everything I do have in jeopardy</a>.</div>
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I know this because it already has.</div>
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Every year on the first day of school, I give my students a welcome letter.</div>
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<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />This is the kind of letter I’d love to give them – but don’t dare:</div>
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Dear Students,</div>
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In a matter of weeks you will be invited back to school and I wanted to let you in on a little secret.</div>
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We missed you.</div>
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That’s right. Your teachers missed the heck out of you over the summer.</div>
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Don’t get me wrong. We enjoyed our time at home with our own children, time on vacation, time spent continuing to refine our craft, and/or time spent working another job. <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">(Hey! Those extra pencils, papers, books and supplies aren’t going to buy themselves! Right?)</em></div>
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Here’s another little secret – your teachers come to school every day not because we have to, but because we want to.</div>
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We literally could do anything else with our lives but we’ve devoted our time to you.</div>
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Why? Because we love you.</div>
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I know that’s mushy talk, but it’s true.</div>
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Another secret: We know you’re nervous about your first day back. But – heck – so are we!</div>
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Don’t forget you’re young. We’re old!</div>
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We know you’re wondering who your teachers will be this year, what they’ll require you to do, which friends will be in your classes, who will sit with you at lunch…</div>
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We wonder if we’re still going to be able to do all the things we need to do to help you learn? Are we going to be able to provide a safe, secure environment for you? Will we be able to keep you engaged, and excited to learn? Will we be able to actually teach everything you want and need to know?</div>
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This is going to be a challenging year for all of us.</div>
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But that’s a good thing.</div>
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We’re in this together.</div>
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That’s kind of an important point.</div>
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You see, we know you’ll probably be asked to take high stakes standardized tests. Just know that it’s not us who’s asking. It’s the state and federal government. Lawmakers seem to think that your answers on multiple choice tests are very, very important.</div>
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Another secret: they aren’t.</div>
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We don’t care how you score on these tests. Not really. We don’t even care if you take them at all – and if your parents decide not to have you sit through this garbage, we will honor their wishes, because they are the ultimate authority on you – their children.</div>
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We know that standardized tests don’t assess how much you learn. The tests your teachers make do that – the work that you do in class every day shows it better than any canned corporate exam.</div>
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We know those scores don’t define who you are. We see you every day. We see your creativity, your intelligence, your fire, your verve, your passion.</div>
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We want to stoke that fire and help you become the people you always wanted to be.</div>
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And none of that can be shown on a standardized test.</div>
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<em style="box-sizing: border-box;">THAT’S</em> our job – not to turn you into great test takers but into the kind of people you most want to be.</div>
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Oh. By the way, please thank your parents for us.</div>
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Thank them for ignoring the hype about the flashy charter school that hedge fund managers opened on the hill – the school sucking up our funding, cutting services for students and making its investors very rich.</div>
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Thank them for declining the shiny school voucher to Pastor Dan’s Creationism, Anti-vaxxor, Climate Denial Academy. Thank them for passing up the tax rebate to Ivy Laurel Prep – where the rich white kids go.</div>
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<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />Thank them for trusting us with the most precious things in their lives – you.</div>
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You really mean a lot to all of us.</div>
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So rest up and try to have fun for the remainder of your summer. We’ll do the same.</div>
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And before you know it, we’ll be back together in class expanding minds, expressing hearts and having a great time!</div>
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Love you all!</div>
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Your Teachers</div>
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<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />That’s the kind of welcome back letter I would love to give my students – but can’t.</div>
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It was partially inspired by a <span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;">REAL</span> welcome back letter given by a New York Superintendent.</div>
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<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />Around this time last year, he gave it to 11 principals and about 600 teachers in the<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />Patchogue-Medford School District before someone posted it online and it went viral.</div>
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His audience was teachers, but <a href="https://www.newsday.com/long-island/education/michael-hynes-patchogue-medford-superintendent-slams-evaluation-system-in-letter-to-teachers-1.10798592" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">his message was the same</a>:</div>
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Aug. 14, 2018</div>
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Dear….</div>
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Once again… this letter is too let you know I DO NOT CARE what your state growth score is. Let me be clear… I DO NOT CARE. It does not define you. You are more than a score. I’m hoping you know by now that the children and parents you serve appreciate your talents and the ability to make a difference in their lives. Keep your head up and your eye on what is most important… your students and your teaching craft.</div>
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The Patchogue-Medford School District fully supports you as an educator, regardless of what this meaningless, invalid and inhumane score states. You have my permission to throw it out, or use it for any creative ways you may think of. I have a feeling divergent thinking will be at an all-time high at Pat-Med. Let me know if you need anything and it is my sincere hope you have an outstanding year.</div>
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With Warmest Regards,</div>
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<br /></div>
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Michael J. Hynes, Ed. D.<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />Superintendent of Schools</div>
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<img alt="image" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-12018" data-attachment-id="12018" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-description="" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="image" data-large-file="https://gadflyonthewallblog.files.wordpress.com/2019/08/image.jpg?w=700" data-medium-file="https://gadflyonthewallblog.files.wordpress.com/2019/08/image.jpg?w=300" data-orig-file="https://gadflyonthewallblog.files.wordpress.com/2019/08/image.jpg" data-orig-size="768,431" data-permalink="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2019/08/05/the-welcome-back-letter-id-love-to-give-my-students-but-cant/image-9/#main" sizes="(max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px" src="https://gadflyonthewallblog.files.wordpress.com/2019/08/image.jpg?w=700" srcset="https://gadflyonthewallblog.files.wordpress.com/2019/08/image.jpg?w=700 700w, https://gadflyonthewallblog.files.wordpress.com/2019/08/image.jpg?w=150 150w, https://gadflyonthewallblog.files.wordpress.com/2019/08/image.jpg?w=300 300w, https://gadflyonthewallblog.files.wordpress.com/2019/08/image.jpg 768w" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; height: auto; max-width: 100%; vertical-align: middle;" /></div>
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<img alt="38014006_10156079233558860_7115622694678167552_n" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-12019" data-attachment-id="12019" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-description="" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="38014006_10156079233558860_7115622694678167552_n" data-large-file="https://gadflyonthewallblog.files.wordpress.com/2019/08/38014006_10156079233558860_7115622694678167552_n.jpg?w=700" data-medium-file="https://gadflyonthewallblog.files.wordpress.com/2019/08/38014006_10156079233558860_7115622694678167552_n.jpg?w=225" data-orig-file="https://gadflyonthewallblog.files.wordpress.com/2019/08/38014006_10156079233558860_7115622694678167552_n.jpg" data-orig-size="720,960" data-permalink="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2019/08/05/the-welcome-back-letter-id-love-to-give-my-students-but-cant/38014006_10156079233558860_7115622694678167552_n/#main" sizes="(max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px" src="https://gadflyonthewallblog.files.wordpress.com/2019/08/38014006_10156079233558860_7115622694678167552_n.jpg?w=700" srcset="https://gadflyonthewallblog.files.wordpress.com/2019/08/38014006_10156079233558860_7115622694678167552_n.jpg?w=700 700w, https://gadflyonthewallblog.files.wordpress.com/2019/08/38014006_10156079233558860_7115622694678167552_n.jpg?w=113 113w, https://gadflyonthewallblog.files.wordpress.com/2019/08/38014006_10156079233558860_7115622694678167552_n.jpg?w=225 225w, https://gadflyonthewallblog.files.wordpress.com/2019/08/38014006_10156079233558860_7115622694678167552_n.jpg 720w" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; height: auto; max-width: 100%; vertical-align: middle;" /></div>
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<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />Cheers to Superintendent Hynes!</div>
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If only every teacher, administrator and school board member could be that brave and honest!</div>
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<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />Here’s <a href="https://myfox8.com/2014/07/15/school-sends-encouraging-letter-to-students-says-there-are-many-ways-of-being-smart/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">another letter</a> given to year six students at <a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/barrowford-school-letter_n_5588988" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">Barrowford Primary School in Lancashire, England, </a>along with their results from a recent standardized exam:</div>
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“Please find enclosed your end of KS2 test results. We are very proud of you as you demonstrated huge amounts of commitment and tried your very best during this tricky week.</div>
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However, we are concerned that these tests do not always assess all of what it is that make each of you special and unique. The people who create these tests and score them do not know each of you- the way your teachers do, the way I hope to, and certainly not the way your families do.</div>
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They do not know that many of you speak two languages. They do not know that you can play a musical instrument or that you can dance or paint a picture. They do not know that your friends count on you to be there for them or that your laughter can brighten the dreariest day.</div>
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They do not know that you write poetry or songs, play or participate in sports, wonder about the future, or that sometimes you take care of your little brother or sister after school.</div>
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They do not know that you have traveled to a really neat place or that you know how to tell a great story or that you really love spending time with special family members and friends.</div>
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They do not know that you can be trustworthy, kind or thoughtful, and that you try, every day, to be your very best… the scores you get will tell you something, but they will not tell you everything.</div>
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So enjoy your results and be very proud of these but remember there are many ways of being smart.”</div>
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<img alt="BskDhaPIYAAMdpd" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-12020" data-attachment-id="12020" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-description="" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="BskDhaPIYAAMdpd" data-large-file="https://gadflyonthewallblog.files.wordpress.com/2019/08/bskdhapiyaamdpd.jpg?w=600" data-medium-file="https://gadflyonthewallblog.files.wordpress.com/2019/08/bskdhapiyaamdpd.jpg?w=300" data-orig-file="https://gadflyonthewallblog.files.wordpress.com/2019/08/bskdhapiyaamdpd.jpg" data-orig-size="600,450" data-permalink="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2019/08/05/the-welcome-back-letter-id-love-to-give-my-students-but-cant/bskdhapiyaamdpd/#main" sizes="(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px" src="https://gadflyonthewallblog.files.wordpress.com/2019/08/bskdhapiyaamdpd.jpg?w=700" srcset="https://gadflyonthewallblog.files.wordpress.com/2019/08/bskdhapiyaamdpd.jpg 600w, https://gadflyonthewallblog.files.wordpress.com/2019/08/bskdhapiyaamdpd.jpg?w=150 150w, https://gadflyonthewallblog.files.wordpress.com/2019/08/bskdhapiyaamdpd.jpg?w=300 300w" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; height: auto; max-width: 100%; vertical-align: middle;" /></div>
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Here’s another one to parents <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/principal-note-to-parents-testing-2017-11" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">from a principal in Singapore</a>:</div>
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“The exams of your child are to start soon. I know you are all really anxious for your child to do well.</div>
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But, please do remember, amongst the students who will be sitting for the exams there is an artist, who doesn’t need to understand Math… There is an entrepreneur, who doesn’t care about History or English literature…There is a musician, whose Chemistry marks won’t matter…There’s an athlete…whose physical fitness is more important than Physics… If your child does get top marks, that’s great! But if he or she doesn’t…please don’t take away their self-confidence and dignity from them. Tell them it’s OK, its just an exam! They are cut out for much bigger things in life. Tell them, no matter what they score…you love them and will not judge them.</div>
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Please do this, and when you do… watch your children conquer the world. One exam or low mark won’t take away…their dreams and talent. And please, do not think that doctors and engineers…are the only happy people in the world.”</div>
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<img alt="PrincipalsLetterToParents" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-12021" data-attachment-id="12021" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-description="" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="PrincipalsLetterToParents" data-large-file="https://gadflyonthewallblog.files.wordpress.com/2019/08/principalslettertoparents.jpg?w=634" data-medium-file="https://gadflyonthewallblog.files.wordpress.com/2019/08/principalslettertoparents.jpg?w=198" data-orig-file="https://gadflyonthewallblog.files.wordpress.com/2019/08/principalslettertoparents.jpg" data-orig-size="634,960" data-permalink="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2019/08/05/the-welcome-back-letter-id-love-to-give-my-students-but-cant/principalslettertoparents/#main" sizes="(max-width: 634px) 100vw, 634px" src="https://gadflyonthewallblog.files.wordpress.com/2019/08/principalslettertoparents.jpg?w=700" srcset="https://gadflyonthewallblog.files.wordpress.com/2019/08/principalslettertoparents.jpg 634w, https://gadflyonthewallblog.files.wordpress.com/2019/08/principalslettertoparents.jpg?w=99 99w, https://gadflyonthewallblog.files.wordpress.com/2019/08/principalslettertoparents.jpg?w=198 198w" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; height: auto; max-width: 100%; vertical-align: middle;" /></div>
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<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />If teachers and principals were allowed to speak freely, I bet there’d be a lot more of these kinds of letters.</div>
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School should not be centered on testing and test scores. It should be centered on students.</div>
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<em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Like this post? I’ve written a book, <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Gadfly-Wall-Public-School-Teacher/dp/1942146671/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1511988536&sr=1-1&keywords=gadfly+on+the+wall" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">“Gadfly on the Wall: A Public School Teacher Speaks Out on Racism and Reform,” </a>now available from <a href="https://www.garnpress.com/news/author-steven-singer-gadfly-on-the-wall-a-public-school-teacher-speaks-out-on-racism-and-reform" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">Garn Press</a>. Ten percent of the proceeds go to the <a href="http://www.badassteacher.org/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">Badass Teachers Association</a>. Check it out!</em></div>
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BadassTeacher Associationhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06249079678877556839noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3410387772840321888.post-42583678183873855342019-08-12T10:07:00.001-04:002019-08-12T10:07:14.684-04:00Pennsylvania Law Meant to Forbid Arming Teachers May Have Done Just the Opposite by Steven SingerOriginally published at: <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2019/08/08/pennsylvania-law-meant-to-forbid-arming-teachers-may-have-done-just-the-opposite/?fbclid=IwAR06MDx4FFUpZMWQhi1U4PLk-I5oKWpjHgwT0SuAyaPVicD49mwykJgNB5o" target="_blank">https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2019/08/08/pennsylvania-law-meant-to-forbid-arming-teachers-may-have-done-just-the-opposite/?fbclid=IwAR06MDx4FFUpZMWQhi1U4PLk-I5oKWpjHgwT0SuAyaPVicD49mwykJgNB5o</a><br />
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Pennsylvania teachers, don’t forget to pack your Glock when returning to school this year.</div>
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A <a href="https://www.inquirer.com/news/school-security-armed-teachers-pennsylvania-legislature-20190705.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">new law meant to close the door on arming teachers may have cracked it open</a>.</div>
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Despite <a href="https://www.ceasefirepa.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/ELCandCeaseFirePennsylvania.pdf" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">warnings from gun safety activists</a>, the bill, <a href="https://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/billinfo/billinfo.cfm?sYear=2019&sInd=0&body=S&type=B&bn=621" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">SB 621</a>, was approved by the legislature and signed into law by Gov. Tom Wolf this summer.</div>
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<a href="https://www.pennlive.com/news/2019/07/pa-schools-now-have-more-armed-personnel-options-to-provide-security-in-their-buildings-just-not-teachers.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">The legislation explicitly allows security guard</a>s – independent contractors who are not members of law enforcement – to carry guns in schools if they go through special training.</div>
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And that’s bad enough.</div>
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Why you’d want glorified rent-a-cops with guns strapped to their hips running around schools full of children is beyond me.</div>
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That’s <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2018/02/15/when-will-it-happen-here/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">not going to make anyone safer</a>. It’s going to do just the opposite.</div>
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But that’s not even the worst of it.</div>
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Commonwealth law already allowed for armed police and school resource officers in school buildings.</div>
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The new bill just adds security guards to the accepted list – so long as they go through special training.</div>
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So <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2018/02/15/when-will-it-happen-here/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">some observers are asking </a>what happens if teachers and administrators go through the same training? Wouldn’t they then qualify as “security personnel” and thus be eligible to be armed as part of their jobs?</div>
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Some say yes.</div>
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But <a href="https://www.inquirer.com/news/school-security-armed-teachers-pennsylvania-legislature-20190705.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">others go even farther</a>.</div>
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The bill only says who may be armed in schools. It doesn’t say anything about who may not be armed.</div>
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So if a district were to arm teachers – even without that special security guard training – it wouldn’t be specifically breaking the law. It would be operating in a huge loophole left open by the legislature and Gov. Wolf.</div>
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In fact, <a href="https://whyy.org/articles/pa-superintendents-quietly-carrying-firearms-in-schools/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">the original version of the bill would have covered just such an ambiguity</a>. It included language saying that <em style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;">ONLY</span></em> the people specifically mentioned in the law (police, resource officers and security guards) were allowed to be armed. However, Wolf could not get legislators to agree on it, so this language was stripped from the bill that was eventually passed.</div>
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This isn’t just theoretical.</div>
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<a href="https://whyy.org/articles/pa-superintendents-quietly-carrying-firearms-in-schools/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">Several school administrators have already taken advantage of it</a>.</div>
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A handful of superintendents in rural parts of the state have already gotten permission from country law enforcement officials and are now carrying guns to school, according to a lawyer representing 50 Commonwealth districts.</div>
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Attorney Ronald Repak, of Altoona-based Beard Legal Group, gave a presentation <a href="https://whyy.org/articles/hard-and-soft-school-safety-solutions-on-display-at-western-pa-conference/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">at a school safety conference </a>saying that his firm had secured permission from local district attorneys for administrators to carry firearms as part of their jobs. They cited ambiguity in the law that allowed for different interpretations.</div>
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Repak said that fewer than six superintendents had been approved, but he would not say which ones or which districts employed them.</div>
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Meanwhile, a district in the eastern part of the state between Hershey and Allentown has <a href="https://www.tnonline.com/tamaqua-rescinds-controversial-gun-policy" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">already passed a policy to arm teachers and staff</a>.</div>
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Tamaqua Area School District in Schuylkill County, approved the policy last year but <a href="https://radio.wpsu.org/post/school-safety-court-case-arming-teachers-continues-pa-schools-use-other-ways-stay-safe" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">suspended it following litigation from the teachers association and a parent group.</a></div>
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Since Harrisburg passed this new measure, <a href="https://www.mcall.com/news/police/mc-nws-tamaqua-school-security-armed-teachers-illegal-20190703-bwgqq4ybjvcptb3cdepiqzhf24-story.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">school board members and administration have been going back and forth </a>about how it pertains to their policy and whether they can legally reinstate it even with pending litigation.</div>
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<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />SB 621 was <a href="https://wnep.com/2019/07/03/governor-signs-bill-to-prevent-arming-teachers/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">supposed to fix the ambiguity </a>of previous statutes on the matter.</div>
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<a href="https://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/legis/LI/consCheck.cfm?txtType=HTM&ttl=18&div=0&chpt=9&sctn=12&subsctn=0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">Title 18, Section 912 of the Pa. Crimes Code</a> says that no one except recognized security personnel may bring a weapon onto school grounds, unless it is for a supervised school activity or “other lawful purpose.”</div>
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But again that leaves a huge loophole.</div>
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Secretary of Education Pedro Rivera wrote in 2016 that the Pennsylvania Department of Education considers “the scope of ‘lawful purpose’…unclear and unsettled.”</div>
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That’s what originally prompted Tamaqua school directors to pass their policy to arm teachers – <a href="https://whyy.org/articles/in-pa-coal-country-debate-flares-over-arming-teachers-to-prevent-school-shootings/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">the first of its kind in the state</a>.</div>
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The Republican majority in the legislature has been trying to pass a law explicitly allowing teachers to be armed for years.</div>
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In June of 2017, <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2017/06/29/bring-your-gun-to-school-courtesy-of-the-pennsylvania-senate/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">the state Senate even passed just such a bill</a> but it got nowhere in the House. Moreover, Gov. Wolf threatened to veto it.</div>
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And that has been the pattern in Harrisburg on most matters – a gerrymandered GOP-controlled legislature narrowly passing far right legislation checked by a popularly elected Democratic governor.</div>
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However, Republicans may have gotten one passed the goal with SB 621.</div>
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Wolf had hoped the bill would end the matter once and for all. When he signed it into law, <a href="https://whyy.org/articles/gov-tom-wolf-says-new-law-ensures-teachers-cant-carry-guns-in-schools/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">he released a statement saying</a>:</div>
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“The students, parents, and educators in this commonwealth can now be secure in the knowledge that teachers can dedicate themselves to teaching our children, and that the security of school facilities rests in the hands of trained, professional security personnel.”</div>
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Ceasefire Pennsylvania, a statewide gun safety organization, saw the danger and warned against it. <a href="https://www.ceasefirepa.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/ELCandCeaseFirePennsylvania.pdf" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">The organization urged the legislature not to pass the bill</a> and the governor not to sign it.</div>
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In a letter sent to lawmakers, <a href="https://www.ceasefirepa.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/ELCandCeaseFirePennsylvania.pdf" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">the group wrote</a>:</div>
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“…adding security personnel who do not have the same law enforcement background, training and experience of those personnel already authorized to serve as school security in the School Code is misguided.</div>
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[In addition] …although we understand that the legislation initially was intended only to address security personnel, we believe SB 621 could be manipulated by school districts intent on arming teachers as a ‘security’ measure… We hope you will Vote No on SB 621.”</div>
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<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />The matter is bound to wind up in the courts where it will ultimately be decided.</div>
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<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />Concerned citizens should probably go to their local school board and let directors know they don’t want school personnel – security guards or others – packing heat.</div>
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To be clear, the new bill doesn’t require security guards to be armed, but it does allow districts to arm them if they go through the necessary training.</div>
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The instruction outlined in the law required before guards can be armed <a href="https://www.pennlive.com/news/2019/07/pa-schools-now-have-more-armed-personnel-options-to-provide-security-in-their-buildings-just-not-teachers.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">costs less than $500 per person.</a></div>
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It includes lessons on developing relationships with diverse students, understanding special needs students, how to deal with violence, victimization, threat response and the prevention of violence in schools. It also includes Act 235 lethal weapons training on specifically how to carry and use lethal weapons.</div>
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Some legislators wanted security guards to have to go through the same training as police officers – a 900-hour municipal course. However, since this would include instruction school security officers would not need such as lessons on traffic laws and the vehicle code – not to mention its hefty cost of $9,000 per person – it was scrapped.</div>
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Don’t get me wrong. I have nothing against security guards. There are several good ones at my district.</div>
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However, putting guns in their hands <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2019/01/27/teaching-through-lockdown/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">doesn’t make me feel any safer.</a></div>
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A few years ago, <a href="https://www.wpxi.com/news/local/steel-valley-security-guard-who-initiated-aggressi/26866477" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">a security guard at my school lost his job because he slammed one of my students into a lunch table</a>.</div>
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The child in question was certainly difficult and could be defiant. But he was a middle school age child. <a href="https://pittsburgh.cbslocal.com/2015/11/04/security-guard-fired-after-incident-with-student-at-steel-valley-middle-school/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">He didn’t deserve to have his head slammed into a table</a> – nor would I want someone with so little impulse control to have to police his trigger finger during tense confrontations with students.</div>
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Arming security guards is just plain dumb. Heck! <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2017/03/03/allowing-guns-in-schools-is-a-bad-idea/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">So is arming teachers and administrators!</a></div>
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This isn’t the wild west. It’s a classroom.</div>
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In real-world shootings, police officers miss their targets about 4-in-5 shots, <a href="https://www.dailyitem.com/news/local_news/arming-teachers-bill-on-pa-house-agenda/article_ff48dce1-9e29-51cf-ba64-a58fca520609.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">according to Dr. Peter Langman</a>, a psychologist who’s studied school shootings. Do you really expect rent-a-cops and teachers to be more accurate?</div>
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Even armed police don’t do much to stop school shootings.</div>
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The <a href="https://www.thetrace.org/2019/04/guns-armed-guards-school-shootings/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">four high-profile school shootings in 2018</a> — including the one in Parkland, Florida and Santa Fe, Texas — had armed guards. All failed to stop the gunmen.</div>
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But research consistently shows that <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2018/03/01/arming-already-stressed-out-teachers-will-only-increase-the-chance-of-school-shootings/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">increasing the number of guns in schools increases the likelihood that students will get hold of them.</a></div>
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What <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2019/01/22/children-of-the-gun-how-lax-firearm-legislation-affects-my-students/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">we need are sensible gun regulations</a> to limit the number of people who have access to firearms. We need <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2018/09/28/the-best-way-to-prepare-for-school-shootings-is-to-reduce-the-chances-theyll-happen-at-all/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">mandatory background checks and a ban on assault weapons</a> – the murder instrument of choice for mass shooters. We need <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2018/01/27/wake-up-america-you-have-a-school-shooting-problem/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">buy back programs </a>to reduce the ridiculous numbers of guns available.</div>
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This new law does none of that. It was a Faustian bargain at best – and like always happens when you try to best the Devil, you end up losing.</div>
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Only this time, the losers are our teachers and school children.</div>
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BadassTeacher Associationhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06249079678877556839noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3410387772840321888.post-5695842406154731042019-08-12T10:04:00.000-04:002019-08-12T10:04:19.201-04:00TNTP is a Part of the Destroy Public Education Infrastructure by Thomas UlticanOriginally posted at: <a href="https://tultican.com/2019/08/10/tntp-is-a-part-of-the-destroy-public-education-infrastructure/?fbclid=IwAR1hdmCXLLmOv4BZ4qVSbPSKglIscG3KcL2yhaVrw2kZRXuryhFoj9DwO7g" target="_blank">https://tultican.com/2019/08/10/tntp-is-a-part-of-the-destroy-public-education-infrastructure/?fbclid=IwAR1hdmCXLLmOv4BZ4qVSbPSKglIscG3KcL2yhaVrw2kZRXuryhFoj9DwO7g</a><br />
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By T. Ultican 8/10/2019</div>
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TNTP is one of several organizations that only exist because billionaires have financed them. Wendy Kopp <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20010808111007/http:/www.tntp.org/who/bkg.html" style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; color: #f3686d; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">founded</a> TNTP (originally called The New Teachers Project) in 1997. She assigned Michelle Rhee, who had recently finished a two year Teach For America (TFA) tour, to run TNTP. Along with TNTP and TFA there are also the uncertified Broad Superintendents Academy and the <a href="https://tultican.com/?s=fake+teachers&submit=Search" style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; color: #f3686d; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">fake school</a> for professional educators called Relay Graduate School forming a significant part of the infrastructure instilling a privatization mindset into the education community.</div>
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TNTP <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090107002350/http:/www.tntp.org/who/bkg.html" style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; color: #f3686d; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">says</a> it mission is to partner with educational entities to:</div>
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<li style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; list-style-type: circle; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><em style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">“Increase the numbers of outstanding individuals who become public school teachers; and</em></li>
<li style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; list-style-type: circle; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><em style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Create environments for all educators that maximize their impact on student achievement”</em></li>
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These are laudable goals but why would any school district or state education department turn to an organization with minimal academic background and experience to train teachers and school leaders? Michelle Rhee <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michelle_Rhee" style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; color: #f3686d; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">earned</a> a B.A. in Government from Cornell and a master’s in public policy from Harvard with no education studies. In the Book <a href="https://www.infoagepub.com/products/A-Chronicle-of-Echoes" style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; color: #f3686d; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Chronicle of Echoes</a>, Mercedes Schneider observes that <em style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">“Wendy Kopp was a child of privilege”. </em>She left her exclusive Highland Park neighborhood in Dallas to study International Affairs at Princeton. Kopp had no education experience or training and Rhee had five weeks of training to go along with two years experience teaching elementary school in Baltimore.</div>
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<img alt="Wendy and Michelle" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-3255" data-attachment-id="3255" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-description="" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="Wendy and Michelle" data-large-file="https://tultican.files.wordpress.com/2019/08/wendy-and-michelle.jpg?w=490" data-medium-file="https://tultican.files.wordpress.com/2019/08/wendy-and-michelle.jpg?w=300" data-orig-file="https://tultican.files.wordpress.com/2019/08/wendy-and-michelle.jpg" data-orig-size="888,531" data-permalink="https://tultican.com/wendy-and-michelle/" sizes="(max-width: 490px) 100vw, 490px" src="https://tultican.files.wordpress.com/2019/08/wendy-and-michelle.jpg?w=490" srcset="https://tultican.files.wordpress.com/2019/08/wendy-and-michelle.jpg?w=490 490w, https://tultican.files.wordpress.com/2019/08/wendy-and-michelle.jpg?w=150 150w, https://tultican.files.wordpress.com/2019/08/wendy-and-michelle.jpg?w=300 300w, https://tultican.files.wordpress.com/2019/08/wendy-and-michelle.jpg?w=768 768w, https://tultican.files.wordpress.com/2019/08/wendy-and-michelle.jpg 888w" style="background: 0px 0px; border: 5px solid rgb(251, 221, 223); height: auto; margin: 0px 0px 15px; max-width: 100%; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: auto;" /></div>
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Corporate Media Embraced Kopp and Rhee as Education Reformers (Google Images)</div>
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In 2001 despite lacking expertise in training educators, TNTP was able to <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20010808111007/http:/www.tntp.org/who/bkg.html" style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; color: #f3686d; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">report</a>,</div>
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<em style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">“In its first full year of operation, The New Teacher Project entered into 3 contracts, and in its second year of operation, the number of contracts jumped to 11. This year, The New Teacher Project has over 20 contracts, and is working with school districts, state departments of education and universities across the country.” </em>And they <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20010803075723/http:/www.tntp.org/cli/index.html" style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; color: #f3686d; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">stated</a>, <em style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">“We have worked with numerous clients across the country, including The New York City Board of Education, Massachusetts Department of Education, District of Columbia Public Schools and East Baton Rouge Parish School System.”</em></div>
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<strong style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Billionaire Drive to Privatize Public School</strong></h2>
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Before the billionaire driven push to privatize public education a “non-profit” company like TNTP would have gotten no consideration for training teachers because they were unqualified. If policy makers in New York wanted to create and alternative teacher certification path, they would have turned to an established institution like Columbia University’s Teachers College to create and manage the program. If Washington DC schools wanted to develop a teacher professional development program, they would have likely looked to the University of Maryland. These are places with more than a century of experience studying education and training its leaders.</div>
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Papers coming from leading education institutions like the University of Texas or the University of California are peer reviewed scholarly efforts. Whereas TNTP produces non-peer reviewed polemics like “<a href="https://tntp.org/publications/view/the-widget-effect-failure-to-act-on-differences-in-teacher-effectiveness" style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; color: #f3686d; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><em style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Widget Effect: Our National Failure to Acknowledge and Act on Differences in Teacher Effectiveness</em></a>” a paper that accelerated teacher bashing. It looked like a real research effort but it was submitted through friendly media avoiding professional criticism. In 2001, a banner on the TNTP web page falsely <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20010803075723/http:/www.tntp.org/cli/index.html" style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; color: #f3686d; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">claimed</a>, “<em style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">No single factor has a greater influence on student achievement than teacher quality</em>”. Of course family income, mental health and the language spoken at home are much more decisive.</div>
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Another faux non-peer reviewed paper produced by TNTP was called “<a href="http://tntp.org/assets/documents/TNTP_DCIrreplaceables_2012.pdf" style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; color: #f3686d; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><em style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Irreplaceables</em></a>”. The paper defines the “<em style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">irreplaceables</em>” as the “<em style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">top 20% of teachers in studied districts, as gauged by district data.</em>” The gauge used was the widely discredited value added measures (VAM) which the American Statistical Association <a href="http://www.amstat.org/asa/files/pdfs/POL-ASAVAM-Statement.pdf" style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; color: #f3686d; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">weighed in on</a> stating,</div>
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<em style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">“The VAM scores themselves have large standard errors, even when calculated using several years of data. These large standard errors make rankings unstable, even under the best scenarios for modeling”</em>.</div>
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Although not a peer-reviewed paper, Bruce Baker of Rutgers University commented on the paper for the National Education Policy Center. He bluntly <a href="https://nepc.colorado.edu/blog/stability-or-not-being-irreplaceable" style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; color: #f3686d; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">called it</a>, “<em style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">a report that is utterly ridiculous at many levels”. </em>Baker powerfully demonstrated his point with the following graphs.</div>
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<img alt="Irreplaceables" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-3254" data-attachment-id="3254" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-description="" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="Irreplaceables" data-large-file="https://tultican.files.wordpress.com/2019/08/irreplaceables.jpg?w=490" data-medium-file="https://tultican.files.wordpress.com/2019/08/irreplaceables.jpg?w=300" data-orig-file="https://tultican.files.wordpress.com/2019/08/irreplaceables.jpg" data-orig-size="960,432" data-permalink="https://tultican.com/irreplaceables/" sizes="(max-width: 490px) 100vw, 490px" src="https://tultican.files.wordpress.com/2019/08/irreplaceables.jpg?w=490" srcset="https://tultican.files.wordpress.com/2019/08/irreplaceables.jpg?w=490 490w, https://tultican.files.wordpress.com/2019/08/irreplaceables.jpg?w=150 150w, https://tultican.files.wordpress.com/2019/08/irreplaceables.jpg?w=300 300w, https://tultican.files.wordpress.com/2019/08/irreplaceables.jpg?w=768 768w, https://tultican.files.wordpress.com/2019/08/irreplaceables.jpg 960w" style="background: 0px 0px; border: 5px solid rgb(251, 221, 223); height: auto; margin: 0px 0px 15px; max-width: 100%; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: auto;" /></div>
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Baker’s Graphics Showing the Absurdity of the TNTP Claim</div>
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A central business of TNTP today, is training principals through its Pathways to Leadership in Urban Schools (PLUS). PLUS has a presence in Camden, Kansas City, New York, Philadelphia and San Francisco. In this program, PLUS provides academic training and places principal trainees in local district schools with contracted mentor principals.</div>
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Kansas City PLUS has a contract with Kansas City Public Schools (KCPS). They <a href="https://kansascityplus.org/who-we-are/our-team" style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; color: #f3686d; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">share</a> about themselves:</div>
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<em style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">“Kansas City PLUS is a two-year, practice-based principal certification residency and master’s program that helps talented educators become capable school leaders. With support from a leadership coach and experience managing teachers in a local school, our residents learn how to create a school culture in which students are challenged and inspired, and where teachers receive the feedback and support they need to grow.”</em></div>
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PLUS inadvertently shares the real reason KCPS contracted them instead of the Universities of Missouri or Kansas. TNTP lists among its partners:</div>
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<em style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">“</em><a href="http://www.kauffman.org/" style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; color: #f3686d; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><em style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation</em></a><em style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">, which funds Kansas City PLUS, was established in the mid-1960s by the late entrepreneur and philanthropist Ewing Marion Kauffman.”</em></div>
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“<a href="http://hallfamilyfoundation.org/" style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; color: #f3686d; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><em style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Hall Family Foundation</em></a><em style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> is a private philanthropic organization that makes grants to community programs in the greater Kansas City area.”</em></div>
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<em style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">“</em><a href="http://www.waltonfamilyfoundation.org/" style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; color: #f3686d; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><em style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Walton Family Foundation</em></a><em style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> is working to expand opportunities and empower children and families with educational options. Since 1992, we have invested more than $1.3 billion in K-12 education and supported a quarter of the 6,700 charter schools created in the United States.”</em></div>
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At the end of 2016 the smallest of these three funds was the Hall Family Foundation with assets of <a href="https://990s.foundationcenter.org/990pf_pdf_archive/446/446006291/446006291_201612_990PF.pdf" style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; color: #f3686d; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">$833,764,620</a>. Without these monies, Kansas City would be training all of its principals through university programs.</div>
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The Kauffman Foundation is emblematic of a growing problem in the philanthropic world. Ewing Kauffman graduated from public school and supported public education both with time and money. It would be surprising if he supported the privatization effort his legacy is being used to promote. Today, the $2 billion fund he founded is led by <a href="https://www.kauffman.org/who-we-are/leadership-and-associates/associates/wendy-guillies" style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; color: #f3686d; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Wendy Guillies</a>. She serves on the boards of the Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce, KCSourcelink, MRI Global, Folience and the Enterprise Bank Advisory Board. The Kansas City Business Journal named her to the Power 100 list in 2016 and 2017, and TechWeek KC named her to the Tech 100 list. Obviously she is a very accomplished women but her resume is consistent with the pro-privatization views espoused by the American Legislative Exchange Council and their chief supporter, Charles Koch.</div>
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<strong style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The PLUS Program has Issues</strong></h2>
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I became privy to some inside communications when contacted about the possibility of a class action suit against TNTP. The warning that follows summarizes some of the negative feelings percolating within the PLUS organization. With the heading “<em style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Beware</em>” the following is from a Principal Intern:</div>
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<em style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">“This organization advertises 60,000 – 100,000. This is to lure you to apply for the position. You will be paid teachers salary and that will be based on your years of teaching and the school district you are partnered with. They will not tell you this upfront. You will initially be contracted as a teacher under a title such as “Instructional Coach”. You will work the same hours as your Mentor Principal. Your will work days that teachers are off, even though you are contracted as a teacher. Be prepared for an unorganized bunch of Plus Leaders who are mean and evil spirited, that lie and have no clue as to what they are doing. Be prepared to be treated like your personal life doesn’t matter, under the direction of an insecure clueless coach and unstable PLUS Leader. Even the Program Manager was incompetent and was belittled by the PLUS Leaders on many occasions.</em></div>
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<em style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">“PLUS promises so much and offers very little. You have been warned. They attack your personal character and take things personally. Once you challenge them about anything, you will be targeted and provoked.</em></div>
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<em style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">“In the end they will decide if you will become a principal, not the university, based on TNTP standards. You will also pay expensive tuition for a degree and certification that is offered much cheaper at other universities (for non-university curriculum in coursework). This information was also not given in the beginning.”</em></div>
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Claims of racial discrimination were also raised as a motive for a class action suit.</div>
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<strong style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Unaccountable and Absurd Organizations that Should be Stopped</strong></h2>
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The ridiculous contention that TFA, TNTP, Relay Graduate School and The Broad Superintendents Academy are organizations that local elected officials should embrace is detailed in the post “<em style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://tultican.com/2018/04/11/fake-teachers-fake-schools-fake-administrators-courtesy-of-dpe/" style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; color: #f3686d; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Fake Teachers, Fake Schools, Fake Administrators Courtesy of DPE</a></em>.” These organizations have one purpose and it is NOT improving education. They exist to advance the privatize everything agenda most wealthy elites support. The super-wealthy fear democracy and do not feel it is right for “<em style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">makers</em>” like themselves to be paying to educate the children of “<em style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">takers</em>” who should be responsible for educating their own children.</div>
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Working for these want-to-be oligarchs is lucrative. The last <a href="https://990s.foundationcenter.org/990_pdf_archive/133/133850158/133850158_201709_990.pdf" style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; color: #f3686d; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">tax return</a> from TNTP (Sep. 2017) listed the top 12 paid employees and all of them made more than $200,000 per year. “<em style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Thirty pieces of silver</em>” is not worth undermining democratic rights and free universal public education.</div>
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BadassTeacher Associationhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06249079678877556839noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3410387772840321888.post-50673986978344674932019-08-12T09:56:00.002-04:002019-08-12T09:57:03.652-04:00Six Problems with a Growth Mindset in Education by Steven SingerOriginally published at: <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2019/08/12/six-problems-with-a-growth-mindset-in-education/?fbclid=IwAR1papbVmVoE1xW5NRYvv_AAR6qlhVAbI-aNKnbPqU8Wr1bGhK-05ISlbDM" target="_blank">https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2019/08/12/six-problems-with-a-growth-mindset-in-education/?fbclid=IwAR1papbVmVoE1xW5NRYvv_AAR6qlhVAbI-aNKnbPqU8Wr1bGhK-05ISlbDM</a><br />
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Sometimes the truth is not enough.</div>
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Especially <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2018/05/18/modernizing-education-starts-with-questioning-our-assumptions/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">if you misunderstand its meaning</a>.</div>
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That seems to be the main problem with a <a href="https://www.brainpickings.org/2014/01/29/carol-dweck-mindset/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">growth mindset</a>.</div>
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It’s one of the <a href="https://www.khanacademy.org/partner-content/learnstorm-growth-mindset-activities-us" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">trendiest concepts in education today</a>, and – though it’s based on an authentic insight into how kids learn – it’s been shackled and monetized into an excuse to support a sterile status quo.</div>
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The <a href="http://aud.ac.in/upload/getting_smart%5b1%5d.pdf" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">basic idea goes like this</a>: academic ability isn’t something students have or do not have. It’s a skill that gets better depending on how hard they work at it.</div>
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And up to that point, <a href="https://www.edweek.org/media/ewrc_mindsetintheclassroom_sept2016.pdf" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">it’s correct and valuable</a>.</div>
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But when we try to take that insight and weave it into <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2014/08/03/the-real-american-education-crisis/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">current education policies</a>, it becomes a shadow of itself.</div>
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As a middle school language arts teacher, I’m confronted with this most often in the context of <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2018/08/25/no-one-ever-remembered-a-teacher-for-raising-standardized-test-scores/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">standardized test scores</a>.</div>
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I am constantly being told not to pay attention to the scores. Instead, I’m told to pay attention to growth – how much this year’s scores have improved from last year’s scores. And the best way to do this, I’m told, is by paradoxically <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2018/09/25/the-six-biggest-problems-with-data-driven-instruction/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">examining the scores in the most minute detail and using them to drive all instruction in the classroom</a>.</div>
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To me that seems to misunderstand the essential psychological truth behind a growth mindset.</div>
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Instead of focusing on the individuality of real human students, we’re zeroing in on the relics of a fixed mindset – test scores – and relegating the growth mindset to happy talk and platitudes.</div>
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B leads to A, and if we really want A, we just need to emphasize B.</div>
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To be clear, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with the idea that learning is a skill that can be strengthened with hard work. I do, however, take issue with how that observation has been used to support the status quo of <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2019/03/21/school-accountability-begins-with-the-people-who-make-the-rules-a-code-of-conduct-for-politicians-and-test-makers/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">test-and-punish </a>and <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2017/07/11/the-problem-with-public-schools-isnt-low-test-scores-its-strategic-disinvestment/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">strategic disinvestment in public schools</a>. I take issue with the idea that growth is the <em style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;">ONLY</span></em>factor in student learning and how we are ignoring the multitudinous ways the human mind works and what that means for education.</div>
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In short, I think making the growth mindset a magic bullet has ended up shooting us in the foot.</div>
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Here are six problems I have with the growth mindset model:</div>
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1) It Has Not Been Proven to Make an Appreciable Difference in Student Academic Achievement.</h2>
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How exactly do you use <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">growth</em> to drive <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">achievement</em>?</div>
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<a href="https://www.edsurge.com/news/2019-08-07-new-study-shows-where-growth-mindset-training-works-and-where-it-doesn-t" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">You make the concept of growth explicit by teaching it</a>. You actively teach kids this idea that anyone can learn with hard work, and the theory goes that they’ll achieve more.</div>
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Does it actually work?</div>
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The <a href="https://statmodeling.stat.columbia.edu/2016/05/12/happy-talk-meet-the-edlin-factor/#comment-272996" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">results have been pretty inconclusive</a>.</div>
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It’s been tested numerous times in various ways – some showing success, some showing nothing or even that it hurts learning.</div>
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The best success has come from Carol Dweck, a Stanford education professor who’s made a name for herself promoting the growth mindset model in <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Mindset-Psychology-Carol-S-Dweck/dp/0345472322" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">books</a> and <a href="https://www.ted.com/talks/carol_dweck_the_power_of_believing_that_you_can_improve?language=en" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">TED talks</a>.</div>
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Just this month, <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-019-1466-y" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">she co-authored the largest nationwide study</a> concluding that a growth mindset can improve student results.</div>
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About 12,500 ninth grade students from 65 public and private schools were given<a href="https://www.perts.net/orientation/hg" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;"> an online training</a> in the concept during the 2015-16 school year.</div>
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The study published in the journal Nature concluded that on average lower-achieving students who took the training earned statistically significant higher grades than those who did not.</div>
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However, results were “muted” when students were less encouraged to seek challenges – such as when they had fewer resources and support.</div>
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Despite this success, <a href="https://aeon.co/essays/schools-love-the-idea-of-a-growth-mindset-but-does-it-work" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">Dweck’s peers haven’t been able to reproduce her results</a>.</div>
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A <a href="https://educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/projects-and-evaluation/projects/changing-mindsets/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">large-scale study of 36 schools in the United Kingdom</a> published in July by the Education Endowment Foundation concluded that the impact on students directly receiving this kind of training did not have statistical significance. And when teachers were given the training, there were no gains at all.</div>
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In <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0191886917303835" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">a 2017 study</a>, researchers gave the training to university applicants in the Czech Republic and then compared their results on a scholastic aptitude test. They found that applicants who got the training did slightly worse than those who hadn’t received it at all.</div>
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In 2018, <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0956797617739704?journalCode=pssa" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">two meta-analyses conducted in the US</a> found that claims for the growth mindset may have been overstated, and that there was “little to no effect of mindset interventions on academic achievement for typical students.”</div>
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A <a href="https://www.jrf.org.uk/sites/default/files/jrf/migrated/files/education-young-people-parents-full.pdf" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">2012 review looking at students attitudes</a> toward education in the UK found “no clear evidence of association or sequence between pupils’ attitudes in general and educational outcomes, although there were several studies attempting to provide explanations for the link (if it exists)”.</div>
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In short, there is little evidence that any current approaches to turning the growth mindset into a series of practices that increase learning at scale has succeeded.</div>
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2) It Doesn’t Fit with Current Education Policies</h2>
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We live in a fixed mindset world.</div>
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That’s how we define academic achievement – <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2018/05/04/grades-and-test-scores-dont-matter-a-love-of-learning-does/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">test scores, grades, projects, etc</a>.</div>
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We tabulate data, compile numbers and information and pretend that draws an accurate picture of students.</div>
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<a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2019/06/29/standardized-tests-are-not-objective-measures-of-anything/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">It doesn’t.</a></div>
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But the concept that student achievement isn’t one of these things – is, in fact, something changeable with enough effort – <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2016/04/27/school-accountability-without-standardized-testing/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">runs counter to everything else in this world view</a>.</div>
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If data points don’t tell us something essential about students but only their effort, <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2016/04/08/high-stakes-testing-holds-the-most-powerful-the-least-accountable/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">connecting them with high stakes is incredibly unfair</a>.</div>
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Moreover, it’s incoherent.</div>
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How can you convince a student that test scores, for example, don’t tell us something essential about her when we put so much emphasis on them?</div>
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It’s almost impossible for students in today’s schools to keep a belief in a growth mindset when test scores and our attitude toward them confirm their belief in a fixed mindset.</div>
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<a href="https://aeon.co/essays/schools-love-the-idea-of-a-growth-mindset-but-does-it-work" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">In a world of constant summative testing, analysis and ranking of students, it is nearly impossible to believe in a growth mindset</a>. It’s merely a platitude between the fixed academic targets we demand students hit.</div>
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This doesn’t exactly take anything away from the concept, but it shows that it cannot be implemented <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2016/01/17/high-stakes-testing-doesnt-protect-civil-rights-it-violates-them/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">within our current educational framework</a>.</div>
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If we really believed in it, we’d throw away <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2017/06/23/teachers-dont-want-all-this-useless-data/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">the testing and data-centricity</a> and focus on the students, themselves.</div>
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3) It Ignores Student Needs and Resources</h2>
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When we try to force the growth mindset onto our test-obsessed world, <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2018/11/08/grit-is-sht-its-just-an-excuse-to-do-nothing-for-struggling-students/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">we end up with something very much like grit.</a></div>
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After all, if the only factor students need to succeed is effort, then those who don’t succeed must be responsible for their own failures because they didn’t try hard enough.</div>
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And while <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2017/08/23/who-is-responsible-for-student-achievement/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">this is true in some instances</a>, it is <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2017/10/19/there-are-very-few-bad-students-bad-parents-and-bad-teachers/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">not true in all of them</a>.</div>
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Effort may be a <a href="https://slatestarcodex.com/2015/04/08/no-clarity-around-growth-mindset-yet/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">necessary component of academic success but it is not in itself sufficient</a>. There are other factors that need to be present, too, such as the presence of proper resources and support.</div>
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And most – if not all – of these factors are <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2019/08/05/the-welcome-back-letter-id-love-to-give-my-students-but-cant/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">outside of students’ control</a>. They have no say whether they are <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2019/07/24/americas-new-school-lunch-policy-punishing-hungry-students-for-their-parents-poverty/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">well fed</a>, live in <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2019/01/22/children-of-the-gun-how-lax-firearm-legislation-affects-my-students/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">safe homes</a>, have their <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2018/12/04/the-holiday-season-brings-fear-and-resentment-for-many-students/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">emotional needs met</a>. Nor have they any say <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2017/01/21/trump-says-our-schools-are-flush-with-cash-theyre-falling-apart/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">whether they go to a well-resourced school</a> with a wide curriculum, extracurricular activities, school nurses, tutors, mentors, psychologists and a host of other services.</div>
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Putting everything on growth is extremely cruel to students – <a href="https://aeon.co/ideas/teaching-grit-is-bad-for-children-and-bad-for-democracy" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">much like the phenomenon of grit.</a></div>
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Education policy should help raise up struggling students, not continue to support their marginalization through poverty, racism and/or socioeconomic disadvantages.</div>
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4) It Can Make Kids Feel Disrespected and Disparaged</h2>
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<a href="https://www.edsurge.com/news/2019-08-07-new-study-shows-where-growth-mindset-training-works-and-where-it-doesn-t" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">No child wants to be remediated</a>.</div>
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It makes them feel small, inadequate and broken. And if they’re already feeling that way, it reinforces that helplessness instead of helping.</div>
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Context is everything. Well-meaning educators may gather all the students with low test scores in one place to tell them the good news about how they can finally achieve if they put in enough effort. But students may recognize this for what it is and instinctively turn away.</div>
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The <a href="https://www.press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/P/bo19722848.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">best way to teach someone is often not to lecture, not to even let on that you’re teaching at all.</a></div>
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<a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.3102/0034654311405999?journalCode=rera" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">David Yeager and Gregory Walton at Stanford claimed</a> in 2011:</div>
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“…if adolescents perceive a teacher’s reinforcement of a psychological idea as conveying that they are seen as in need of help, teacher training or an extended workshop could undo the effects of the intervention, not increase its benefits.”</div>
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Teachers cannot set themselves up as saviors because that reinforces the idea that students are broken and thus need saved.</div>
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I don’t think this is an insurmountable goal, but many growth mindset interventions are planned and conceived by non-teachers. As such, they often walk right into this trap.</div>
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5) It is Not Suitable For All Kids</h2>
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Everyone’s minds don’t work alike.</div>
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When you tell some kids that anyone can achieve with enough hard work, it makes them discouraged because they thought that their academic successes marked them as special.</div>
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According to <a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2017-34744-001" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">a 2017 study published by the American Psychological Association</a>, growth mindset training can backfire especially with high achieving students for exactly this reason.</div>
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Hard work just isn’t enough for some students. Their <a href="https://www.edsurge.com/news/2017-12-12-how-teaching-using-mindfulness-or-growth-mindset-can-backfire" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">self-esteem relies on the idea that they are good at school </a>because of fixed qualities about themselves.</div>
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When we take that belief away, we can damage their self esteem and thus their motivation to do well in school.</div>
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The point isn’t that a growth mindset is wrong, but that as an intervention it is not appropriate for all students. In fact, perhaps we shouldn’t be using it as an intervention at all.</div>
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6) It Should Not be a Student Intervention. It Should Be a Pedagogical Underpinning for Educators</h2>
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We’ve got this growth mindset thing all wrong.</div>
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It’s not a tool to help students learn. <a href="https://aeon.co/essays/schools-love-the-idea-of-a-growth-mindset-but-does-it-work" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">It’s a tool for teachers to better understand their students and thus better help them learn</a>. It’s a tool for administrators, parents and policymakers to better understand what grades and test scores mean.</div>
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If you want to teach a student any skill, let’s call it X, you shouldn’t begin by telling them that anyone can learn it with enough effort.</div>
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Just teach X. And when you succeed, <a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2003-01605-011" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">that will become all the motivation students need to learn the next thing.</a></div>
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Education is an incremental process. Success breeds success just as failure breeds failure.</div>
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<a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2019/01/05/how-many-decisions-do-teachers-make-every-day/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">As every teacher knows</a>, you start small, scaffold your lessons from point A to B to C and make whatever changes you need along the way.</div>
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If we really want to help students in this process, we can start by ridding ourselves of the fixed mindset that current education policy is rooted in.</div>
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Growth mindset is a psychological observation about how human minds work. It’s not pedagogy. It’s empiricism.</div>
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We can use it <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2018/10/12/teacher-autonomy-an-often-ignored-victim-of-high-stakes-testing/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">to help design policy, lessons and assessment</a>. But it has limited value – if any – being taught directly to students.</div>
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The growth mindset model has value, but not in the way it has typically been used in our school system.</div>
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Instead of providing justification for <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2015/07/09/do-americans-throw-money-at-their-schools-a-fair-funding-primer/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">equitable resources</a> and <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2017/04/08/standardized-testing-creates-captive-markets/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">tearing down the testocracy</a>, it’s been used to<a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2018/09/04/nationwide-poll-shows-overwhelming-support-for-public-schools-in-all-areas-except-one/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;"> gaslight educators into obeying the party line</a>.</div>
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It is not a magic cure all, but one factor among many that provides insight into learning.</div>
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If we can disentangle it from the profit-driven mire of corporate education, perhaps it can <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2016/04/27/school-accountability-without-standardized-testing/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">help us achieve an authentic pedagogy</a> that treats every student as an individual and not an <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2017/01/04/why-schools-should-not-be-run-like-businesses/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">economic incentive</a> for billionaires to pocket more tax money.</div>
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<em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Like this post? I’ve written a book, <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Gadfly-Wall-Public-School-Teacher/dp/1942146671/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1511988536&sr=1-1&keywords=gadfly+on+the+wall" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">“Gadfly on the Wall: A Public School Teacher Speaks Out on Racism and Reform,” </a>now available from <a href="https://www.garnpress.com/news/author-steven-singer-gadfly-on-the-wall-a-public-school-teacher-speaks-out-on-racism-and-reform" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">Garn Press</a>. Ten percent of the proceeds go to the <a href="http://www.badassteacher.org/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">Badass Teachers Association</a>. Check it out!</em></div>
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BadassTeacher Associationhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06249079678877556839noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3410387772840321888.post-49391170667858709252019-07-21T16:30:00.003-04:002019-07-21T16:30:48.239-04:00eBackpack Bankruptcy May Put Student & Teacher Data in Peril by Steven SingerOriginally posted at: <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2019/07/20/ebackpack-bankruptcy-may-put-student-teacher-data-in-peril/?fbclid=IwAR03EvWyHKpEEzTo_Y60TLjMv2pg17aQcezKsEsc4GPGBgHteMGgDrMvH_0" target="_blank">https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2019/07/20/ebackpack-bankruptcy-may-put-student-teacher-data-in-peril/?fbclid=IwAR03EvWyHKpEEzTo_Y60TLjMv2pg17aQcezKsEsc4GPGBgHteMGgDrMvH_0</a><br />
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<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />Teachers put their assignments into an on-line data base.</div>
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Students access them on their computers, iPads or other devices and then submit their work via the Internet.</div>
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What could go wrong?</div>
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Plenty. Especially when the company that provides this service goes bankrupt.</div>
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And that’s exactly what’s happened with Texas-based educational technology company <a href="https://www.ebackpack.com/about-us/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">eBackpack</a>.</div>
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All those teacher assignments and student works are still there in computer servers somewhere. And now that <a href="https://app.courtdrive.com/filings/txnbke_471600-3-19-bk-30520-ebackpack-llc" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">eBackpack has filed Chapter 7 bankruptcy,</a> all of it has become assets the company could decide to sell off to pay its debts.</div>
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<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />The company explicitly reserves the right to do so according to <a href="https://www.ebackpack.com/privacy/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">its own Privacy Statement:</a></div>
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“The information we collect is used to improve the content of our Web pages and the quality of our service, and is not shared with or sold to other organizations for commercial purposes, <span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;">except</span> to provide products or services you’ve requested, when we have your permission, or <span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;">under the following circumstances:</span></div>
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<span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;">-We transfer information about you if eBackpack or part of it is acquired by or merged with another company.</span> In this event, eBackpack will notify you before information about you is transferred and becomes subject to a different privacy policy.” <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">[Emphasis mine]</em></div>
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Well that’s comforting. I wonder how a company that will no longer exist will have staff to notify former customers about what’s happening to the mountains of data we put in its hands.</div>
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Even under the best of circumstances, who will it notify? Teachers? Students? Parents? Or just the administrators or school boards who managed the over all accounts for individual districts?</div>
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<a href="https://www.ebackpack.com/terms/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">eBackpack’s Terms of Service Agreement </a>contains several red flags that someone should have noticed before students’ privacy was jeopardized:</div>
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<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />“-eBackpack may assign its rights and obligations under these Terms to a third party without your consent.</div>
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“-You agree to use the Service at your own risk, without any liability whatsoever to eBackpack.</div>
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-1.1. Your use of the Service is at your sole risk. The Service is provided on an “as is,” “as available” and “with all faults” basis. The Service is owned and copyrighted by eBackpack and offered through a subscription, not sold, to you.</div>
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-10.1. eBackpack reserves the right at any time and from time to time to modify or discontinue, temporarily or permanently, the Service (or any part thereof) with or without notice.</div>
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-By submitting Content to eBackpack, you grant eBackpack a perpetual, worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free right to copy, display, modify, transmit, make derivative works of, and distribute your Content for the purpose of providing or developing the Service.</div>
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-14.2. You consent to eBackpack’s use and/or references to your name, directly or indirectly, in eBackpack’s marketing and training materials. You consent to eBackpack’s use of your communication with eBackpack for marketing and training materials. You may not use eBackpack’s name or trademark without eBackpack’s prior written consent.”</div>
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<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />It’s not like schools weren’t warned.</div>
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<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />Less than a year ago, <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2018/09/20/fbi-warns-edtech-puts-student-safety-at-risk/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) issued a strong statement cautioning consumers</a> that edtech companies put student data at risk.</div>
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The bureau advised parents, teachers and administrators to take several steps to safeguard children’s privacy. The organization also pushed for the federal government to revise privacy laws to better protect kids from this industry.</div>
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In addition, <a href="https://marketbrief.edweek.org/marketplace-k-12/ed-tech-products-dont-meet-minimum-criteria-privacy-policies-report-finds/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">commonsense.org – a nonprofit studying education issues – conducted a three-year review of 100 edtech companies</a>. It concluded that 74% of these businesses hold the right to transfer any personal information they collect if the company is acquired, merged, or files for bankruptcy.</div>
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The authors wrote that there is “a widespread lack of transparency, as well as inconsistent privacy and security practices” in how student information is collected, used, and disclosed.</div>
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Why would any company want such student data?</div>
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It helps market products and, itself, can be a very marketable product.</div>
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For instance, imagine how much more effective the hiring process would be if businesses had access to applicants school attendance records. Imagine if businesses had an applicant’s entire academic record.</div>
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Employers could buy vast amounts of data and use algorithms to sort through it looking for red flags without fully comprehending what was being compiled. Imagine an applicant being turned down for a job because of low middle school attendance but not being able to explain that this was due to a legitimate illness.</div>
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There are reasons we protect people’s privacy. You shouldn’t have to explain your score on a 3rd grade spelling test the rest of your life or have the need for special education services become a liability on your credit record.</div>
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Yet all of these things are possible when student data is up for grabs as it may be in this instance.</div>
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<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />This is personal to me.</div>
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My district uses eBackpack.</div>
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Yet it was <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2017/09/03/dear-teachers-dont-be-good-soldiers-for-the-edtech-industry/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">for these exact reasons that I never jumped on the bandwagon</a> with my own students in my classroom.</div>
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I experimented somewhat with the platform, myself, to see what it offered and to weigh whether the advantages canceled out the disadvantages.</div>
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If I had decided to move forward, I would have asked parent permission first, but in the end, I decided it wasn’t worth the risk – and boy am I glad!</div>
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Yet having interacted with the platform at all, I received the following email from the company yesterday:</div>
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“Dear User,</div>
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We regret to inform you that this 2018-2019 school year is the last year eBackpack will be operating. We will not be accepting any renewals going forward and we will not be providing any services past July 31, 2019. All services will be terminated on that date. Please download and save to your own devices any data prior to July 31, 2019. Once the services for eBackpack are turned off, your files and data will no longer be accessible, and we will not have staff available to respond to any customer inquiries. We appreciate your support over the past years and we will truly miss working with you all!</div>
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<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to send an email to edison@ebackpack.com or billing@ebackpck.com.<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />Again, we appreciate your time with us and all of your support.</div>
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<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />Thank you, eBackpack Team”</div>
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I haven’t tried to contact the company, but I’m seeing on Reddit that others have been unable to do so.</div>
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<a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/k12sysadmin/comments/c67soj/ebackpack_out_of_buisness/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">One customer wrote</a>:</div>
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“We use eBackpack and we are unable to pay our bill as no one answers their number or responds to emails. A quick Google search shows recent bankruptcy procedure. Anyone know anything? Am I the only one still using them?”</div>
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EBACKPACK, LLC did in fact file a chapter 7 bankruptcy case on Feb 8, <a href="https://app.courtdrive.com/filings/txnbke_471600-3-19-bk-30520-ebackpack-llc" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">according to docket information on-line.</a></div>
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<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /><a href="https://www.thebalance.com/what-is-chapter-7-bankruptcy-316202" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">Chapter 7 is sometimes called straight bankruptcy</a> or liquidation bankruptcy. In general, the court appoints a trustee to oversee the case, take the company’s assets, sell them and distribute the money to the creditors who file claims. However, the trustee doesn’t take every last bit of company property. Owners are allowed to keep enough “exempt” property to get a “fresh start.”</div>
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This is big business. <a href="https://www.inc.com/chirag-kulkarni/why-edtech-is-flunking-out.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">Venture capitalists have invested more than $1.8 billion</a> in the edtech industry in 2015, alone.</div>
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<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />At this time, it is still unclear exactly how many students and teachers have been put at risk.</div>
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I can’t find information anywhere about how many student or teacher accounts are in jeopardy or how many districts used the platform.</div>
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<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />Hopefully this will be a wakeup call that the edtech industry needs to be more closely monitored and regulated.</div>
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<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />We cannot continue to put convenience and profit ahead of student and teacher safety.</div>
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<em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Like this post? I’ve written a book, <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Gadfly-Wall-Public-School-Teacher/dp/1942146671/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1511988536&sr=1-1&keywords=gadfly+on+the+wall" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">“Gadfly on the Wall: A Public School Teacher Speaks Out on Racism and Reform,” </a>now available from <a href="https://www.garnpress.com/news/author-steven-singer-gadfly-on-the-wall-a-public-school-teacher-speaks-out-on-racism-and-reform" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">Garn Press</a>. Ten percent of the proceeds go to the <a href="http://www.badassteacher.org/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">Badass Teachers Association</a>. Check it out!</em></div>
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BadassTeacher Associationhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06249079678877556839noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3410387772840321888.post-89417532525913097352019-07-21T16:25:00.001-04:002019-07-21T16:34:16.594-04:00Student Test Scores May Play a Smaller Role in Future PA Teacher Evaluations by Steven Singer<div style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444; font-family: "gentium basic", georgia, "times new roman", times, serif; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em;">
Originally posted at: <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2019/07/19/student-test-scores-may-play-a-smaller-role-in-future-pa-teacher-evaluations/?fbclid=IwAR34pt52pA0FyXWJM8TtqM7aJpOAKXGWNwSH8Nmafd2ujjp9XI72zW-exCE" target="_blank">https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2019/07/19/student-test-scores-may-play-a-smaller-role-in-future-pa-teacher-evaluations/?fbclid=IwAR34pt52pA0FyXWJM8TtqM7aJpOAKXGWNwSH8Nmafd2ujjp9XI72zW-exCE</a><br />
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Pennsylvania lawmakers may have finally realized that treating teachers like crap isn’t a good way to improve public schools.</div>
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Across the country it’s <a href="http://curmudgucation.blogspot.com/2019/01/there-is-no-teacher-shortage.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">getting harder to fill teaching positions</a> with qualified educators. And that’s because of the way we treat the people who volunteer to educate the next generation.</div>
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You can’t raise expectations while <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2017/07/11/the-problem-with-public-schools-isnt-low-test-scores-its-strategic-disinvestment/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">taking away resources</a>, <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2017/02/09/pa-senate-regulates-union-political-spending-but-not-corporate-political-spending/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">union protections</a>, and <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2018/08/06/top-10-reasons-you-cant-fairly-evaluate-teachers-on-student-test-scores/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">fair ways to evaluate their work.</a></div>
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And to his credit,<a href="https://www.penncapital-star.com/education/should-student-poverty-affect-teacher-evaluations-one-senator-used-to-say-no-but-now-hes-changed-his-mind/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;"> state Sen. Ryan Aument</a> seems to have finally seen the light.</div>
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In 2012, the Republican from Lancaster County was <a href="https://www.pennlive.com/news/2019/06/test-scores-de-emphasized-in-proposed-teacher-evaluation-system-in-pennsylvania.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">one of the leading proponents of the Commonwealth’s new teacher evaluation system</a> which drastically increased the amount student test scores are used to assess educators.</div>
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But now Aument and other Republicans are proposing new legislation to <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2017/08/23/who-is-responsible-for-student-achievement/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">cut back on these same measures.</a></div>
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Under the current system, only 50 percent of state teachers annual evaluations come from <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2019/01/05/how-many-decisions-do-teachers-make-every-day/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">observations of what they actually do in the classroom</a>. The rest comes from student test scores and other <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2018/10/12/teacher-autonomy-an-often-ignored-victim-of-high-stakes-testing/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">factors that are out of their control</a>.</div>
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The <a href="https://www.pennlive.com/news/2019/06/test-scores-de-emphasized-in-proposed-teacher-evaluation-system-in-pennsylvania.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">proposed legislation would</a> increase teacher observations to 70 percent of their evaluations and <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2018/07/20/wealth-not-enrollment-in-private-school-increases-student-achievement-according-to-new-study/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">try to account for student poverty</a> – in addition to student test scores – in the remaining 30 percent.</div>
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If passed, the new evaluation system would begin in the 2021-22 school year.</div>
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<figure aria-describedby="caption-attachment-11995" class="wp-caption alignnone" data-shortcode="caption" id="attachment_11995" style="background-color: white; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444; font-family: "Gentium Basic", Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 20px; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; max-width: 100%; width: 1086px;"><img alt="Screen Shot 2019-07-19 at 12.17.23 AM" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-11995" data-attachment-id="11995" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-description="" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="Screen Shot 2019-07-19 at 12.17.23 AM" data-large-file="https://gadflyonthewallblog.files.wordpress.com/2019/07/screen-shot-2019-07-19-at-12.17.23-am.png?w=700" data-medium-file="https://gadflyonthewallblog.files.wordpress.com/2019/07/screen-shot-2019-07-19-at-12.17.23-am.png?w=300" data-orig-file="https://gadflyonthewallblog.files.wordpress.com/2019/07/screen-shot-2019-07-19-at-12.17.23-am.png" data-orig-size="1086,942" data-permalink="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2019/07/19/student-test-scores-may-play-a-smaller-role-in-future-pa-teacher-evaluations/screen-shot-2019-07-19-at-12-17-23-am/#main" sizes="(max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px" src="https://gadflyonthewallblog.files.wordpress.com/2019/07/screen-shot-2019-07-19-at-12.17.23-am.png?w=700" srcset="https://gadflyonthewallblog.files.wordpress.com/2019/07/screen-shot-2019-07-19-at-12.17.23-am.png?w=700 700w, https://gadflyonthewallblog.files.wordpress.com/2019/07/screen-shot-2019-07-19-at-12.17.23-am.png?w=150 150w, https://gadflyonthewallblog.files.wordpress.com/2019/07/screen-shot-2019-07-19-at-12.17.23-am.png?w=300 300w, https://gadflyonthewallblog.files.wordpress.com/2019/07/screen-shot-2019-07-19-at-12.17.23-am.png?w=768 768w, https://gadflyonthewallblog.files.wordpress.com/2019/07/screen-shot-2019-07-19-at-12.17.23-am.png?w=1024 1024w, https://gadflyonthewallblog.files.wordpress.com/2019/07/screen-shot-2019-07-19-at-12.17.23-am.png 1086w" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: block; height: auto; margin: 8.375px auto 0px; max-width: 98%; vertical-align: middle;" /><figcaption class="wp-caption-text" id="caption-attachment-11995" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 14px; margin: 0.8075em; text-align: center;">Source: <a href="https://www.pageturnpro.com/PSEA/91008-PSEA-Voice--July-2019/sdefault.html#page/20" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">PSEA</a></figcaption></figure><br />
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The proposed legislation – <a href="https://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/billInfo/billInfo.cfm?syear=2019&sind=0&body=S&type=B&bn=0751" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">Senate Bill 751</a>– <a href="https://whyy.org/articles/seven-big-takeaways-for-education-in-the-new-pa-budget/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">passed in the Senate by a vote of 38-11</a>.</div>
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However, the identical <a href="https://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/billInfo/billInfo.cfm?sYear=2019&sInd=0&body=H&type=B&bn=1607" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">House Bill 1607</a> proposed by Rep. Jesse Topper (R-Bedford County) <a href="https://whyy.org/articles/seven-big-takeaways-for-education-in-the-new-pa-budget/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">was not considered in time before the legislative session ended</a>. It is <a href="http://www.altoonamirror.com/uncategorized/2019/07/teacher-evaluation-bill-on-hold-until-fall-session/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">expected to come up for a vote in the fall.</a></div>
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J.J. Abbott, a spokesperson for Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf, said that the governor generally supports the proposal. It has also been endorsed by the <a href="https://www.psea.org/issues-action/key-issues/educator-evaluation-reform/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">Pennsylvania State Education Association (</a>PSEA) and the <a href="https://www.pasa-net.org/currentupdate" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">Pennsylvania Association of School Administrators</a> (PASA).</div>
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Each year <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2018/06/14/he-was-kind-my-students-describe-what-im-like-as-a-teacher/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">teachers are judged</a> either Distinguished, Proficient, Needs Improvement or Failing. The first two are passing scores. The last two are not and require teachers to be more closely monitored, more frequently evaluated, complete a performance improvement plan and if improvements are not made, they can be fired.</div>
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If approved, the new bill would shorten the window when teachers are penalized for bad evaluations.</div>
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Under the current system, teachers who get two “Needs Improvement” ratings in 10 years can be sacked. The new bill shortens that period to four years. <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2018/05/04/grades-and-test-scores-dont-matter-a-love-of-learning-does/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">This incentivizes improvement</a> and doesn’t hold a bad evaluation over a teacher’s head for a decade.</div>
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Moreover, the current law only allows principals to judge a very small percentage of their staff as Distinguished – the top of the scale. The proposed law puts no cap on this allowing them to give <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2018/08/25/no-one-ever-remembered-a-teacher-for-raising-standardized-test-scores/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">more honest and accurate evaluations</a>.</div>
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Finally, there’s the issue of <a href="http://pdesas.org/Page/Viewer/ViewPage/7" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">Student Learning Outcomes</a> or SLOs. These are cumbersome and time consuming evaluations teachers are currently required to create and submit to their administrators for approval before conducting complicated performance measures of their classes that must be reviewed a second time by administrators as part of the annual evaluation.</div>
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I can’t find anywhere in either bill that spells out that these SLOs would be discontinued, but that does appear to be the case. There is no mention of them whatsoever in the new proposals where in the current law they make up 20% of the total evaluation.</div>
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The only thing I see that’s even close to the SLO is the requirement under <a href="https://www.legis.state.pa.us/CFDOCS/Legis/PN/Public/btCheck.cfm?txtType=PDF&sessYr=2019&sessInd=0&billBody=S&billTyp=B&billNbr=0751&pn=1055" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">Section 1138.7. Overall performance rating. Part II</a>:</div>
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“A classroom teacher shall provide documented input to an evaluator on the development of teacher-specific data measures and annual results of data. The documented input shall be included with documentation of the classroom teacher’s overall annual rating.”</div>
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However, I don’t think this is the same thing.</div>
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Despite bipartisan support, there are important groups calling for caution on the proposal.</div>
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<a href="https://www.penncapital-star.com/education/a-proposal-to-change-pa-s-teacher-evaluation-system-is-moving-forward-without-support-from-philly-teachers/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">Teachers in the Philadelphia and Pittsburgh districts</a> – the areas of the state with the highest percentage of impoverished students – say that they weren’t consulted on the bill and have not had time to fully consider it. Both groups belong to the American Federation of Teachers (AFT).</div>
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They worry that <a href="https://www.educationnext.org/americas-mediocre-test-scores-education-poverty-crisis/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">the poverty index</a> included in the bill may not accurately account for economic disparities and whether the proposal really reduces the influence of standardized testing on teacher evaluations. After all, test scores are part of the teacher specific evaluation which under the proposal would go from 15-20 percent of educator’s evaluations. It may be the elimination of the SLOs which rely on student performance that ultimately reduce student outcomes from the evaluation while slightly increasing standardized test scores.</div>
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In any case, educators and advocates should scour the proposed legislation in the summer months to ensure that legislators know the full impact of what they’ll be asked to vote on as early as September.</div>
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The proposal may have been initiated in part to deal with the <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2017/11/19/the-completely-avoidable-teacher-shortage-and-what-to-do-about-it/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">nationwide plague of teachers walking off the job </a>due to unfair legislative practices and the demonization of educators. <a href="https://observer-reporter.com/news/localnews/national-teacher-shortage-affects-pennsylvania/article_c2793686-9928-11e9-8314-53675fa32b2f.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">Since 1996, the number of undergraduate education majors has declined by 55 percent</a>. And, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Education, the number of newly issued instructional teaching certificates in the Commonwealth has dropped by 71 percent since 2009. The state used to issue more than 14,000 new teachers licenses annually. In 2016-17, the state only gave out 4,412.</div>
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Perhaps offering educators more equitable evaluations may help stem the tide – otherwise we’ll soon find our classrooms filled with students that no one is willing to teach.</div>
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Another reason behind the new proposal may be a reaction to previous bad legislation in Harrisburg.</div>
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It seems to be an attempt to numb some of the sting from a 2017 bill that <a href="https://www.pennlive.com/politics/2017/11/gov_tom_wolf_allows_school_bil.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">ended seniority-based teacher layoffs </a>in the Commonwealth and instead tied those decisions to these teacher evaluations.</div>
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Now teachers who receive Unsatisfactory evaluations – even if that only means they need improvement – are the first to go. It allows administrators to stack the deck against teachers they don’t like, teachers at the top of the pay scale or <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2019/02/09/the-trouble-with-test-obsessed-principals/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">who advocate for policies different than those favored by the bosses.</a></div>
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Frankly, it’s a <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2017/07/16/test-based-accountability-smokescreen-for-cowardly-politicians-and-unscrupulous-corporations/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">lawsuit waiting to happen</a>.</div>
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That bill was passed mostly by the Republican majority and though Wolf could have vetoed it, he chose to let it become law without his signature.</div>
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<a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2016/11/03/why-teaching-to-the-test-is-educational-malpractice/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">As bad as it is</a>, it set a fire under legislators to at least create a better system for teacher evaluation which they seem to have actually taken seriously.</div>
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One concern lawmakers have with the current system is that it tends to <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2017/11/19/the-completely-avoidable-teacher-shortage-and-what-to-do-about-it/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">penalize the best teachers and buoy the worst ones.</a></div>
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The <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2019/06/23/the-last-day-of-school/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">best teachers</a> get their evaluations dragged down if they work in low performing districts just as struggling teachers get theirs pushed up if they work in high performing ones.</div>
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It’s hoped that <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2019/03/21/school-accountability-begins-with-the-people-who-make-the-rules-a-code-of-conduct-for-politicians-and-test-makers/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">judging teachers more on what they actually do</a> and trying to account for the poverty level of the students they teach will avoid this trap.</div>
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In truth, <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2018/08/06/top-10-reasons-you-cant-fairly-evaluate-teachers-on-student-test-scores/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">it’s unfair to judge teachers on student test scores at all</a>. Mountains of research have concluded that such so-called Value-Added Measures (VAM) are <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2019/06/29/standardized-tests-are-not-objective-measures-of-anything/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">inaccurate and discriminatory.</a></div>
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Relying on these measures even to a lessor degree opens the state and individual districts up to <a href="https://www.educationworld.com/a_news/highly-regarded-teacher-sues-after-being-evaluated-ineffective-989111890" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">legal challenges </a>as <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2015/10/15/us/los-angeles-teacher-class-action-lawsuit-rafe-esquith/index.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">has happened in other states</a>.</div>
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But at least this new suggestion improves over the present system in many ways.</div>
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We’ll have to see if Philadelphia and Pittsburgh teachers end up endorsing the plan and whether the House finally passes the measure and Wolf signs it.</div>
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Stay tuned.</div>
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BadassTeacher Associationhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06249079678877556839noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3410387772840321888.post-65654657229392412262019-07-18T19:16:00.003-04:002019-07-18T19:16:56.954-04:00Charter Scandal a Product of Shabby Law and Ignored Oversight by Thomas Ultican<div style="background: 0px 0px rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; color: #7a7a7a; font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
Originally posted at: <a href="https://tultican.com/2019/07/07/charter-scandal-a-product-of-shabby-law-and-ignored-oversight/?fbclid=IwAR23CqY7_uOiqKG_6WiJ0zsck4iY_kUeX2ZzSrZEkBqeFn-TyKa2Uws8v6k" target="_blank">https://tultican.com/2019/07/07/charter-scandal-a-product-of-shabby-law-and-ignored-oversight/?fbclid=IwAR23CqY7_uOiqKG_6WiJ0zsck4iY_kUeX2ZzSrZEkBqeFn-TyKa2Uws8v6k</a></div>
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Notoriously clever operators of an online charter empire were indicted for allegedly stealing $50 million dollars. The Grand Jury of San Diego County heard the testimony of 72 witnesses and voted out a <a href="https://www.courthousenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/A3Charter-INDICT.pdf" style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; color: #f3686d; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">67-count indictment</a> against Sean McManus, Jason Schrock, Justin Schmitt, Eli Johnson, Steven Zant and six others. The charges were centered on the byzantine operations of the A3 Education organization which took full advantage of weak charter school laws in California.</div>
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From the indictment,</div>
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<em style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">“Conspirators knowingly obtained state funding for children who were not assigned certificated teachers as required by law, were not in contact with the charter school, and who were not provided any educational services during the dates claimed.”</em></div>
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<em style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">“Conspirators themselves, and through subordinates courted small school districts across California who were suffering budget woes and suggested they authorize charter schools as a means to generate additional state funding for the district in the form of oversight fees.”</em></div>
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<strong style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Small District Authorizer Model</strong></h2>
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Carol Burris was one of the first people to identify McManus as a predator. In her 2017 investigative report “<a href="http://networkforpubliceducation.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/NPE-Report-Charters-and-Consequences.pdf" style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; color: #f3686d; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Charters and Consequences</a>”, she wrote about the Wise school which calls itself a Waldorf inspired charter school. She noted,</div>
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<em style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">“No one really seems to be wise to Wise—except perhaps California STEAM Sonoma, which claims Wise Academy as its project.”</em></div>
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<em style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">“The former Academy of Arts and Sciences CEO, Sean McManus, described Wise as “a boutique program that people usually have to pay for, so to be part of a free charter school appeals to a lot of people in the area.” Wise and the state funding it brings left the Academy of Arts and Sciences, and so did Sean McManus, who is now listed as the CEO of a new corporation–California STEAM Sonoma.”</em></div>
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<em style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">“Despite its classroom schedule, Wise refers to itself as a ‘learning based resource center.’ This classification allows California STEAM Sonoma to sponsor the program, and the Liberty School District to acquire the cash cow.”</em></div>
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Wise is still in operation under the name <a href="https://990s.foundationcenter.org/990_pdf_archive/472/472834601/472834601_201612_990O.pdf" style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; color: #f3686d; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Heartwood Education Collaborative</a>. McManus exited the Academy of Arts and Science (AAS) in 2016. AAS renamed itself <a href="https://990s.foundationcenter.org/990_pdf_archive/453/453643984/453643984_201606_990.pdf" style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; color: #f3686d; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Compass Charter Schools</a>. Shortly after leaving AAS, McManus cofounded A3 Education with Jason Schrock.</div>
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<img alt="Heartwood Educational Collaborative" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-3224" data-attachment-id="3224" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-description="" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"2.2","credit":"Marin Independent Journal","camera":"iPhone 6s","caption":"Heartwood Educational Collaborative school in Fairfax. (Keri Brenner - Marin Independent Journal)","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"4.15","iso":"25","shutter_speed":"0.0083333333333333","title":"","orientation":"1"}" data-image-title="Heartwood Educational Collaborative" data-large-file="https://tultican.files.wordpress.com/2019/07/heartwood-educational-collaborative.jpg?w=490" data-medium-file="https://tultican.files.wordpress.com/2019/07/heartwood-educational-collaborative.jpg?w=300" data-orig-file="https://tultican.files.wordpress.com/2019/07/heartwood-educational-collaborative.jpg" data-orig-size="879,659" data-permalink="https://tultican.com/heartwood-educational-collaborative/" sizes="(max-width: 490px) 100vw, 490px" src="https://tultican.files.wordpress.com/2019/07/heartwood-educational-collaborative.jpg?w=490" srcset="https://tultican.files.wordpress.com/2019/07/heartwood-educational-collaborative.jpg?w=490 490w, https://tultican.files.wordpress.com/2019/07/heartwood-educational-collaborative.jpg?w=150 150w, https://tultican.files.wordpress.com/2019/07/heartwood-educational-collaborative.jpg?w=300 300w, https://tultican.files.wordpress.com/2019/07/heartwood-educational-collaborative.jpg?w=768 768w, https://tultican.files.wordpress.com/2019/07/heartwood-educational-collaborative.jpg 879w" style="background: 0px 0px; border: 5px solid rgb(251, 221, 223); height: auto; margin: 0px 0px 15px; max-width: 100%; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: auto;" /></div>
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Heartwood (AKA Wise) Education Collaborative <a href="https://www.marinij.com/2018/01/11/future-uncertain-for-heartwood-charter-school-in-fairfax/" style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; color: #f3686d; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Independent Journal Photo</a></div>
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Carol Burris <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2019/06/24/report-that-detailed-up-billion-wasted-federal-funds-bad-charter-schools-may-have-underestimated-problem/?utm_term=.3baad154fd2f" style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; color: #f3686d; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">recently</a> posted,</div>
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“<em style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">From 2009-2015, McManus was the CEO of the Academy of Arts and Science Charter Schools for which he served as CEO from 2009-2016, developing his model of using cash-strapped, small districts as authorizers of online charter schools that draw students from all over adjoining counties in exchange for fees.”</em></div>
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<em style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">“And who gave the seed money to start this adventure?”</em></div>
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<em style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">“The U.S. Department of Education’s Charter Schools Program (CSP) did.”</em></div>
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<em style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">“Eleven Academy of Arts and Sciences charter schools that used the for-profit K-12 curriculum received a total of $2,825,000 from the CSP state grant to California. Today, all 11 schools are closed.”</em></div>
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McManus and his associates at A3 implemented the small district authorizer model with a vengeance.</div>
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Previously, one of McManus’s first forays into using small district authorizers was with New Jerusalem Elementary School District which authorized the Academy of Arts and Sciences – San Joaquin and CalSTEM – San Joaquin. For unknown reasons, AAS closed both those schools and its renamed successor Compass Charter Schools has departed San Joaquin County. New Jerusalem <a href="https://www.njesd.net/pf4/cms2/view_page?d=x&group_id=1535349885507&vdid=i9f1ycdq3hq" style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; color: #f3686d; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">only had</a> <strong style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">22 Public School Students</strong> this year but it had 4,809 Charter School Students, few of whom lived in their Tracy, California area. New Jerusalem appears more sinister than just a cash strapped small district.</div>
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Apparently, part of the problem McManus had at AAS was that some of their schools were blended learning academies which meant they had physical addresses. This led to a law suit by Los Angeles Unified School District for opening schools in their district without notification and the closure of some schools. A3 Education has been careful to only implement Independent study; AKA 100% cyber schools with no physical addresses for students.</div>
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<img alt="A3 Small District Model" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-3223" data-attachment-id="3223" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-description="" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="A3 Small District Model" data-large-file="https://tultican.files.wordpress.com/2019/07/a3-small-district-model.jpg?w=490" data-medium-file="https://tultican.files.wordpress.com/2019/07/a3-small-district-model.jpg?w=300" data-orig-file="https://tultican.files.wordpress.com/2019/07/a3-small-district-model.jpg" data-orig-size="960,720" data-permalink="https://tultican.com/a3-small-district-model/" sizes="(max-width: 490px) 100vw, 490px" src="https://tultican.files.wordpress.com/2019/07/a3-small-district-model.jpg?w=490" srcset="https://tultican.files.wordpress.com/2019/07/a3-small-district-model.jpg?w=490 490w, https://tultican.files.wordpress.com/2019/07/a3-small-district-model.jpg?w=150 150w, https://tultican.files.wordpress.com/2019/07/a3-small-district-model.jpg?w=300 300w, https://tultican.files.wordpress.com/2019/07/a3-small-district-model.jpg?w=768 768w, https://tultican.files.wordpress.com/2019/07/a3-small-district-model.jpg 960w" style="background: 0px 0px; border: 5px solid rgb(251, 221, 223); height: auto; margin: 0px 0px 15px; max-width: 100%; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: auto;" /></div>
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Based on California Department of Education <a href="https://dq.cde.ca.gov/dataquest/page2.asp?level=District&subject=Enrollment&submit1=Submit" style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; color: #f3686d; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Enrollment 2018-2019</a></div>
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All of the schools listed above with the various districts have the same business address, 3300 Irvine Ave. #330 Newport Beach, Ca 92660 which is A3 Education’s business address. The non-profit tax filings available for theses schools all show this address and have some combination of Rob Sikma, Kevin Tu, Eric Johnson and Klarc Kover on their boards. As an example see these legal documents for <a href="https://990s.foundationcenter.org/990_pdf_archive/812/812555285/812555285_201706_990.pdf" style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; color: #f3686d; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">California Steam San Bernardino</a>, <a href="https://990s.foundationcenter.org/990_pdf_archive/812/812567735/812567735_201606_990EZ.pdf" style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; color: #f3686d; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">California Steam Sonoma</a>, <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1O4O21KMxt1FsxWJS_Yww2twfqkejFP4w/view" style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; color: #f3686d; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">University Prep</a> and <a href="https://990s.foundationcenter.org/990_pdf_archive/813/813769549/813769549_201706_990.pdf" style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; color: #f3686d; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Uplift California</a>.</div>
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Board member Eric Johnson is probably the person indicted in San Diego under the name Eli Johnson. Board members Sikma, Tu and Kover all <a href="https://www.courthousenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/A3Charter-INDICT.pdf" style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; color: #f3686d; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">testified</a> before the grand jury investigating A3.</div>
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Various California news sources reported details about the alleged scheme to steal $50 million. San Diego’s <a href="https://www.courthousenews.com/eleven-charged-in-50-million-charter-school-fraud-scheme/" style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; color: #f3686d; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Courthouse News</a> wrote about the funding of the charter schools,</div>
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<em style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">“The funds were then transferred to multiple companies owned by McManus and Schrock, including A3 Education, A3 Consulting, Global Consulting Services and Mad Dog Marketing. The money was spent on start-up investments and real estate and some funds were wired directly to themselves or family members, according to the indictment.”</em></div>
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<em style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">“Another co-defendant, Steve Van Zant, 56, created the company EdCBO to provide back office services for A3 Charter Schools. He hid his involvement with EdCBO and McManus by filing all corporate paperwork under another person’s name, prosecutors say.”</em></div>
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The Los Angeles Times <a href="https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-edu-charter-school-indictments-20190528-story.html" style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; color: #f3686d; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">stated</a>,</div>
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<em style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">“From the affiliated businesses, at least $8.18 million went into personal bank accounts, some in Australia, and into charitable trust accounts for McManus, Schrock and their wives, and $500,000 went to a family member of McManus, according to the indictment.”</em></div>
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<em style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">“McManus and Schrock also used $1.6 million of A3 Education’s funds to buy a private residence for McManus in San Juan Capistrano, the indictment states.”</em></div>
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<em style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">“The alleged violations included Valiant Academy paying A3 about $3.6 million during the 2017-18 fiscal year. The invoices were approved for payment by McManus at A3 and another man, neither of whom were employees of the charter school, according to the district’s report.”</em></div>
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<em style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">“The school also paid Mad Dog Marketing — a company that has common ownership with A3 — $288,000 during the 2017-18 fiscal year, according to the report.”</em></div>
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The <a href="https://www.voiceofsandiego.org/topics/education/inside-the-charter-school-empire-prosecutors-say-scammed-california-for-80m/" style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; color: #f3686d; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Voice of San Diego</a> added,</div>
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<em style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">“An early step in establishing the A3 empire came when Steve Van Zant, a former superintendent of Dehesa Elementary School District, “brokered” the sale of an online nonprofit charter school to A3 for $1.5 million, prosecutors say.”</em></div>
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<em style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">“In winter 2017, Chris Thibodeau was performing an annual audit of Cal Prep Sutter in Sutter County …. He noticed that McManus was listed as the CEO of Cal Prep Sutter, but that the school was also doing business with McManus’s company A3 Education.</em></div>
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The Voice of San Diego explained that prosecutors allege McManus and Schrock fabricated a set of minutes dated July 6, 2016 that said McManus was replaced as CEO by codefendant Eli Johnson. They purportedly used these false documents to allay Thibodeau’s concern about “related transactions.”</div>
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Sean McManus appears to have fled the country and is thought to be in his native Australia. The other 10-defendents have entered not guilty pleas.</div>
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<strong style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">State Charter Law was Designed to be Weak</strong></h2>
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Cyber Charters in California can serve all of the students in the home county of the authorizing district plus all of the students from bordering counties. That means these eight small school districts gave A3 access to millions of students.</div>
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<img alt="A3 Athorizer Map" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-3222" data-attachment-id="3222" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-description="" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"Thomas Ultican","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"1561986146","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="A3 Athorizer Map" data-large-file="https://tultican.files.wordpress.com/2019/07/a3-athorizer-map.jpg?w=490" data-medium-file="https://tultican.files.wordpress.com/2019/07/a3-athorizer-map.jpg?w=273" data-orig-file="https://tultican.files.wordpress.com/2019/07/a3-athorizer-map.jpg" data-orig-size="686,753" data-permalink="https://tultican.com/a3-athorizer-map/" sizes="(max-width: 490px) 100vw, 490px" src="https://tultican.files.wordpress.com/2019/07/a3-athorizer-map.jpg?w=490" srcset="https://tultican.files.wordpress.com/2019/07/a3-athorizer-map.jpg?w=490 490w, https://tultican.files.wordpress.com/2019/07/a3-athorizer-map.jpg?w=137 137w, https://tultican.files.wordpress.com/2019/07/a3-athorizer-map.jpg?w=273 273w, https://tultican.files.wordpress.com/2019/07/a3-athorizer-map.jpg 686w" style="background: 0px 0px; border: 5px solid rgb(251, 221, 223); height: auto; margin: 0px 0px 15px; max-width: 100%; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: auto;" /></div>
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<a href="https://www.voiceofsandiego.org/topics/education/inside-the-charter-school-empire-prosecutors-say-scammed-california-for-80m/" style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; color: #f3686d; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Voice of San Diego Map</a> of Counties Served by A3</div>
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In the school year 2018-2019, Dehesa Elementary had <a href="https://dq.cde.ca.gov/dataquest/dqcensus/EnrGrdLevels.aspx?cds=3768049&agglevel=district&year=2018-19" style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; color: #f3686d; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">5010 students</a> in online only schools. Of those 2267 were in kindergarten to third grade or 45.2% of the total. There were similar numbers in the other districts. Why would people put babies in front of computer screens? It must be that the main attraction for these cyber schools is home-schooling.</div>
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Since home-schooling does nothing to build community and is driven mostly by religious convictions, why should taxpayers fund it? All Americans should have freedom of choice, but taxpayers should not be expected to pay for private choices. The public already provides the world’s best public education system for free; taking funds from those public schools for the benefit of a small minority is inequitable.</div>
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The state of California puts more than $80 billion annually <a href="https://www.cde.ca.gov/nr/ne/yr19/yr19rel34.asp" style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; color: #f3686d; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">into k12 education</a>. Because that money is a natural target for profiteers and scammers, extra vigilance is needed. However, California’s charter school law was developed to provide minimum vigilance.</div>
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During its early stages, several billionaires like Carry Walton Penner, Reed Hastings and Arthur Rock made sure the California charter school law was designed to limit governmental rules and oversight. For example, charter schools are <a href="https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codesTOCSelected.xhtml?tocCode=EDC&tocTitle=+Education+Code+-+EDC" style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; color: #f3686d; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">not required</a> to meet the earthquake standards prescribed in the 1933 <a href="https://www.laschools.org/new-site/ab300/" style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; color: #f3686d; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Field Act</a>, which holds public schools to higher building code requirements. Since that laws enactment no public schools have collapsed in an earthquake. The picture of the Education Collaborative School above is evidence that students in a known earthquake zone are now at increased risk of injury and death.</div>
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A few weeks ago Louis Freedberg <a href="https://edsource.org/2019/charter-authorizers-come-under-greater-scrutiny-in-california/614004" style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; color: #f3686d; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">observed</a> that a key weakness in California’s chartering law is that there are no standards for authorizers and a lack of expertise. He also wrote about the number of charter authorizers saying, “<em style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">unlike many states, California has hundreds of them: 294 local school districts, 41 county offices of education, along with the State Board of Education.</em>” Among these 336 authorizers, several are school districts of less than 1,000 students which have neither the capacity nor training to supervise charter schools. Some of these small districts look more like charter school grafters than public school districts.</div>
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A <a href="https://www.bsa.ca.gov/pdfs/reports/2016-141.pdf" style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; color: #f3686d; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">state audit</a> dated October 17, 2017 reported,</div>
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<em style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">“Acton</em><em style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">‑</em><em style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Agua Dulce Unified’s and New Jerusalem’s decisions to authorize the out</em><em style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">‑</em><em style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">of</em><em style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">‑</em><em style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">district charter schools we reviewed may have resulted p</em><em style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">artly from weaknesses in the districts’ authorization processes. Specifically, neither of the two districts has an adequate process for ensuring that petitions comply with state law.”</em></div>
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This state audit which was promptly ignored by Governor Brown and the legislature was pointing directly at the weaknesses in California’s chartering law that A3 Education is accused of exploiting. A3 is not the only organization that is using these weaknesses. K-12 Inc. is selling products into both A3 and <a href="http://www.mercurynews.com/education/ci_29780959/k12-inc-california-virtual-academies-operator-exploits-charter" style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; color: #f3686d; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">California Virtual Academy</a>. Furthermore, K-12’s relationship with California Virtual is legally questionable. Pearson Corporation is using <a href="https://tultican.com/2019/06/06/pearson-embraces-the-digital-knock-off-of-authentic-education/" style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; color: #f3686d; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Connections Academy</a> to market their online products and <a href="https://tultican.com/2019/05/04/sketchy-epic-cyber-charter-has-gone-national/" style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; color: #f3686d; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Epic</a> is also looking to expand their own dubious online schools.</div>
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Not only are state officials not reacting to warnings from auditors, they are providing the offenders loans through the <a href="https://www.treasurer.ca.gov/csfa/csrlf/awards/" style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; color: #f3686d; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Charter School Revolving Loan</a>program. The A3 schools have received over $2,000,000 in loans through this program.</div>
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A majority of Governor Gavin Newsom’s Charter School Policy Task Force supported banning authorizing charter schools outside of district boundaries. Secretary of Public Instruction, Tony Thurmond <a href="https://www.cde.ca.gov/eo/in/documents/charterstaskforcereport.pdf" style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; color: #f3686d; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">explained</a>,</div>
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<em style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">“Prohibiting districts from authorizing charter schools located outside of district boundaries would allow for greater local control and oversight of charter schools. In addition, such a prohibition would limit the potential for the detrimental practice of using oversight fees as a revenue stream, while incurring only limited expenses associated with authorizing the charter school.”</em></div>
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In addition, the task force unanimously backed a call to <em style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">“create a statewide entity to provide training for authorizers.” </em>A majority also proposed enacting <em style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">“a one-year moratorium on the establishment of new virtual charter schools.”</em>Concerning this last point Thurmond’s report said, <em style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">“There has been growing concern that virtual charter schools are operated without appropriate academic rigor and oversight, providing a sub-par education for their students …”</em></div>
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<strong style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">A Few Points and Observations</strong></h2>
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A3 Education was looking to expand across the country. In 2016, Johnson, Schrock and McManus put together a proposal for <a href="http://www.charterschoolspec.com/data/NewSchoolSubmissions/OhioSTEAMColumbus9-12-Intent-toApply-andExecutiveSummary.pdf" style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; color: #f3686d; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Ohio Steam Columbus</a>. The Colorado group <a href="https://www.facebook.com/TSDReformWatch/posts/1389942601144432?__tn__=K-R" style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; color: #f3686d; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Thompson School District Reform Watch</a> reports that Justin Schmitt is still involved with Foundations Learning and Colorado’s Online Charter’s. They also note that Schmitt has virtual charter school interests in Arizona. Schmitt brought Mosaica virtual schools to California which A3 purchased and evidently Schmitt was part of the purchase. It is also interesting that A3’s <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/mary-clare-coyle-93555b4/" style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; color: #f3686d; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Marketing Director</a>, Mary Clare Coyle, lives in Jacksonville, Florida.</div>
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In an <a href="https://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2019/04/18/many-online-charter-schools-fail-to-graduate.html" style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; color: #f3686d; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">April EdWeek article</a>, Arianna Prothero and Alex Harwin reported,</div>
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“<em style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Nationally, half of all virtual charter high schools had graduation rates below 50 percent in the 2016-17 school year.</em> … <em style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The most high-profile study, done by economists at Stanford University in 2015, found that students attending an online charter school made </em><a href="https://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/DigitalEducation/2015/10/CREDO_online_charters_study.html" style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; color: #f3686d; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><em style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">so little progress in math</em></a><em style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">over the course of a year that it was as if they hadn’t attended school at all.”</em></div>
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The charter school experiment is a national disaster. It has clearly failed and virtual charter schools have a lengthy history of corruption and poor performance. Shut them down and only allow elected school boards to provide online education. It is time for an extended moratorium on new charter schools while existing charter schools are carefully transitioned to management by elected school boards.</div>
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Maybe Alice Walton and Charles Koch think property rights are the only freedom to be valued. Maybe they want to end public education. Maybe they think markets are a magic elixir that never fails. I don’t! I agree with the statement in Nancy MacLean’s <u style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Democracy in Chains,</u> “<em style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Market fundamentalism – the irrational belief that markets solve all problems ….</em>” I believe in democracy, human rights and public education.</div>
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BadassTeacher Associationhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06249079678877556839noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3410387772840321888.post-90620921960251299762019-07-18T19:13:00.004-04:002019-07-18T19:13:57.825-04:00Busing and School Segregation Used for Politics not Policy by Steven Singer<header class="entry-header" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444; font-family: "Gentium Basic", Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 20px;"><h1 class="entry-title" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #283d4b; font-family: "Open Sans", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 0px 0px 0.67em;">
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Originally posted at: <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2019/07/08/busing-and-school-segregation-used-for-politics-not-policy/?fbclid=IwAR3162xP8OwqvPReKGLsebjuMlO0jp62g2N44ZcY1Ef0voSX1VXUwiI7-zw" target="_blank">https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2019/07/08/busing-and-school-segregation-used-for-politics-not-policy/?fbclid=IwAR3162xP8OwqvPReKGLsebjuMlO0jp62g2N44ZcY1Ef0voSX1VXUwiI7-zw</a> <br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /></div>
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If children of all races went to the same schools with each other, it would be harder to <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2017/01/21/trump-says-our-schools-are-flush-with-cash-theyre-falling-apart/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">treat them unequally</a>.</div>
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Moreover, it would be <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2014/08/17/perfect-strangers-racial-injustice-as-a-symptom-of-continuing-school-segregation/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">harder for them to grow up prejudiced</a> because they would have learned what it’s like to have classmates who are different from them.</div>
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And though <a href="https://tcf.org/content/commentary/new-poll-data-underscore-better-ways-talk-school-integration/?agreed=1" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">most people agree with these premises in principle</a>, our <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2018/01/02/the-different-flavors-of-school-segregation/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">laws still refuse to make them a reality in fact.</a></div>
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Perhaps that’s why it was so astounding when Kamala Harris brought up the issue of school segregation and busing at the first Democratic debates.</div>
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<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />If you’re anything like me, for the first time these debates made Harris look like a viable contender for the party’s Presidential nomination to face Republican incumbent Donald Trump in 2020.</div>
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But then <a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/kamala-harris-busing-federal-mandate_n_5d1df665e4b04c48140fdc3f" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">she immediately contradicted herself when people actually started to take her seriously</a>.</div>
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During the debates, Harris called out front runner and former vice president Joe Biden for opposing court-ordered busing in the 1970s as a way of combating school segregation.</div>
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The California Democrat and former federal prosecutor rightly said that 40 years ago there was a “failure of states to integrate public schools in America,” so “that’s where the federal government must step in.”</div>
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But her star-making moment was when she made the whole matter extremely personal.</div>
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“There was a little girl in California who was part of the second class to integrate her public schools and she was bused to school every day,” Harris said. “That little girl was me.”</div>
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<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />The tactic was so successful that <a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/joe-biden-segregationist-civility-apology_n_5d20ec5ce4b0f312568512c8" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">Biden has been fumbling to apologize and explain</a>away a history of obstructing desegregation ever since.</div>
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A <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-election-poll/bidens-support-from-black-voters-cut-in-half-after-debate-reuters-ipsos-poll-idUSKCN1TY1AM" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">Reuters/Ipsos poll</a> conducted after the debate showed Biden had lost half of his support among black voters since earlier in June.</div>
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Meanwhile, <a href="https://dailycaller.com/2019/06/28/harris-campaign-fundraising-that-little-girl-was-me-t-shirts/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">the Harris campaign was quick to cash in on the political capital she earned by selling t-shirts with a picture of herself when she was in school with the emblem “That Little Girl Was Me.”</a></div>
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It could almost be a masterclass in how to make a political point to both boost your own campaign and change the narrative to improve national policy.</div>
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That is if Harris actually backed up her rhetoric with action.</div>
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<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />Unfortunately, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/harriss-views-on-busing-come-under-question-after-her-debate-criticism-of-bidens-past-position/2019/07/04/b197c6cc-9e71-11e9-b27f-ed2942f73d70_story.html?utm_term=.7b04ba192443" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">she has been tripping all over herself to keep this a criticism of Biden and not let it become a policy prescription for today</a>.</div>
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<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />While perfectly happy to support busing as a measure to stop segregation in the past, she seems much less comfortable using it to stop our current school segregation problems.</div>
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Because even though the landmark Supreme Court decision that found racial segregation to be unconstitutional – <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Brown v. Board of Education</em> – is more than 60 years old, <a href="https://www.vox.com/2018/3/5/17080218/school-segregation-getting-worse-data" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">our nation’s schools are in many places even more segregated now than they were when this ruling was handed down.</a></div>
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So the question remains: in some areas should we bus kids from black neighborhoods to schools located in white ones and vice versa to ensure that our classrooms are integrated?</div>
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Since the debates, <a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/kamala-harris-busing-federal-mandate_n_5d1df665e4b04c48140fdc3f" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">Harris has waffled saying</a> busing should be “considered” by school districts but she would not support mandating it.</div>
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In subsequent comments, she said she’d support a federal mandate for busing in certain situations where other integration efforts have not been effective or when the courts have stepped in to provide the federal government that power. However, she does not believe that either of these conditions have been met.</div>
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Frankly, it sounds a whole lot more like someone desperately making things up as she goes along than someone with a true plan to fix a deep problem in our public education system.</div>
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She rightly attacked Biden on his record but then <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2019/03/28/sell-your-soul-to-the-testocracy-kamala-harriss-faustian-teacher-raises/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">came up short trying to prove that she would be much different</a>, herself, if elected.</div>
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However, that doesn’t mean all Democratic candidates are so unprepared. <a href="https://www.vox.com/2019/7/3/20676991/school-segregation-busing-harris-biden-bernie-sanders" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">A handful have detailed integration policy proposals.</a></div>
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The most obvious is Bernie Sanders.</div>
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In fact, it is a cornerstone of his <a href="https://berniesanders.com/a-thurgood-marshall-plan-for-public-education/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">“Thurgood Marshall Plan for Education.” </a>Not only would he repeal the existing ban on using federal transportation funding to promote school integration, he would put aside $1 billion to support magnet schools to entice more diverse students. However, the most ambitious part of his desegregation effort goes beyond legislation. Sanders promises to “execute and enforce desegregation orders and appoint federal judges who will enforce the 1964 Civil Rights Act in school systems.”</div>
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Sanders understands that <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2017/07/05/where-did-all-the-integrated-schools-go-why-segregation-is-still-bad/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">the courts have largely sabotaged most desegregation efforts in the last 40 years.</a></div>
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At least two Supreme Court rulings have taken away the federal government’s power to enforce <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Brown v. Board</em>. The first was <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milliken_v._Bradley" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">1974’s <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Milliken v. Bradley</em></a> ruling which established that federal courts could not order desegregation busing across school district lines. They could only do so inside districts. So in big cities like Detroit – where the case originated – you have largely black city schools surrounded by mostly white suburban ones. The ruling forbids busing from city to suburban districts and vice-versa thereby destroying any kind of authentic desegregation efforts.</div>
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More recently, in 2007, the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parents_Involved_in_Community_Schools_v._Seattle_School_District_No._1" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">Supreme Court’s <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Parent’s Involved</em> </a>decision put even more constraints on voluntary busing programs.</div>
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Sanders is acknowledging these problems and promising to select judges to the bench who would work to overturn these wrongheaded decisions.</div>
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To my knowledge, <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2019/06/19/top-10-reasons-bernie-sanders-education-policies-are-light-years-ahead-of-everyone-elses/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">no one has yet offered a more comprehensive plan</a>.</div>
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However, former Housing and Urban Development Secretary and San Antonio Mayor Julián Castro comes in at a close second.</div>
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As you might expect, <a href="https://issues.juliancastro.com/people-first-education/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">his school integration plan</a> focuses on <a href="https://issues.juliancastro.com/people-first-housing/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">real estate and housing</a>issues. According to his Website, Castro’s plan includes:</div>
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“Fulfill the promise of <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Brown v Board of Education</em> through a progressive housing policy that includes affirmatively furthering fair housing, implementing zoning reform, and expanding affordable housing in high opportunity areas. These efforts will reduce racial segregation in classrooms.”</div>
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In other words, Castro hopes to work around the courts by incentivizing integration in neighborhoods which would also increase it in our schools.</div>
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It’s a good plan – though perhaps not enough in itself.</div>
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Unfortunately, there are reasons to doubt Castro’s sincerity here. <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2019/06/19/top-10-reasons-bernie-sanders-education-policies-are-light-years-ahead-of-everyone-elses/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">Unlike Sanders’ plan</a>, Castro’s education policy statement is littered with jargon right out of the school privatization, edtech and high stakes testing playbook. <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2016/09/01/whats-more-important-fighting-school-segregation-or-protecting-charter-school-profits/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">These are, after all, the same people who have worked to increase segregation with the promotion of charter and voucher schools.</a></div>
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For instance, the second point of his plan is called “Reimagining High School” – a monicker stolen from <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2017/09/09/xq-live-desperate-school-choice-rebrand-after-trump-touched-it/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">the XQ Superschools program</a>, a philanthrocapitalist scheme to rebrand school privatization funded by Laurene Powell Jobs, the widow of Steve Jobs.</div>
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<a href="https://npeaction.org/julian-castro/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">This shouldn’t be surprising coming from Castro</a>. In 2013, the mayor went on a tour of cities sponsored by <a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/education-reform-mayors_n_4119868" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">Education Reform Now</a> – an arm of <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2018/08/09/democrats-for-education-reform-think-being-progressive-means-mirroring-betsy-devos/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">Democrats for Education Reform, a school privatization lobbying network</a>. In the same year, he was also a <a href="https://www.nifdi.org/news-latest/370-idea-public-schools-hosts-ribbon-cutting-and-announces-san-antonio-expansion-plans" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">featured guest</a> at a ribbon cutting ceremony for IDEA charter schools. In 2010, he admitted he had no problem taking money with strings attached – a reference to the Obama administration’s chief education initiative of offering education grants if states increased reliance on high stakes testing and charter schools. In particular, Castro said: <a href="http://www.ontheissues.org/Celeb/Julian_Castro_Education.htm" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">“I would have taken the Race to the Top money if I was mayor, dogcatcher, or whatever.”</a></div>
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And speaking of <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2019/04/05/standardized-testing-is-a-tool-of-white-supremacy/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">standardized testing</a> and edtech, there are other telling hints that he’s on the neoliberal bandwagon in his current education plan:</div>
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“Provide educators and public schools flexibility in defining success, including <span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;">competency-based assessments</span> and support for transitions away from seat-time requirements. Provide maximum flexibility for school leaders, teachers, and students to work together to develop <span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;">rigorous, competency-based</span> pathways to a diploma and industry recognized credentials,” <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">[Emphasis mine]</em>.</div>
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These terms “competency-based” and “rigorous” have strong associations with the privatization industry. “Competency-based” education programs<a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2015/11/30/standardized-tests-every-day-the-competency-based-education-scam/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;"> usually mean making kids do daily mini-standardized tests on iPads </a>or other devices and <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2018/05/30/school-vouchers-and-runaway-edtech-pave-the-way-for-the-destruction-of-the-very-concept-of-school/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">other untested cyber education programs</a>. “Rigorous” <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2018/11/08/grit-is-sht-its-just-an-excuse-to-do-nothing-for-struggling-students/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">has been associated with topdown academic standards </a>like the Common Core that provide students with few resources or even taking them away and then blaming kids for not being able to meet arbitrary and developmentally inappropriate benchmarks.</div>
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Castro has some good ideas, but his troubling associations and language give any person familiar with these issues reason to pause.</div>
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Of course, Castro has not yet made a real mark among those Democrats seeking their party’s nomination.</div>
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Perhaps more important is the relative silence of a more popular candidate, <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2019/06/04/charter-school-lobbyist-introduces-elizabeth-warren-at-rally/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">Sen. Elizabeth Warren.</a></div>
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She hasn’t spoken much about integration efforts on the campaign trail. Along with Sanders, she is a co-sponsor of the <a href="https://www.murphy.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/murphy-fudge-introduce-legislation-to-increase-diversity-in-schools" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">Strength in Diversity Act</a>, the <a href="http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/campaign-k-12/2018/09/strength-diversity-federal-grants-socioeconomic-racial-isolation-schools.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">leading congressional vehicle for school integration</a>. However, that legislation is deeply flawed because it not only increases grant money for desegregation but also gives a big chunk of change away to charter schools.</div>
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In the past, Warren has supported <a href="https://www.vox.com/2014/4/16/5621630/elizabeth-warren-wants-to-kill-the-neighborhood-school" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">a kind of school voucher program to separate where a student is enrolled in school from where they live entirely</a>, but you can add it to the list of education issues she has not seen the need to clarify as yet.</div>
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It’s no surprise that so few Democratic hopefuls want to address the issue of desegregation – especially doing so through busing.</div>
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<a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2018/01/02/the-different-flavors-of-school-segregation/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">White middle class and wealthy people generally don’t support it</a>.</div>
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<a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2017/07/05/where-did-all-the-integrated-schools-go-why-segregation-is-still-bad/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">They simply don’t want their kids going to schools with large numbers of black and brown students.</a></div>
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And this is a real<a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2017/11/14/black-progress-does-not-come-at-white-expense/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;"> moral weakness in white culture</a>.</div>
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I went to an integrated school from Kindergarten to high school. My daughter goes to the same district. I teach at another integrated school.</div>
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The benefits of attending such a school far outweigh any negatives.</div>
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If students have to spend more time getting to and from school via buses to reach this goal, it wouldn’t matter if we valued the outcome.</div>
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In fact, many white parents don’t mind putting their kids on buses or driving them to get away from minority children.</div>
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Certainly we should try to minimize the time it takes to get to and from school but that shouldn’t be the only consideration.</div>
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They say we get the leaders we deserve.</div>
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<a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2018/04/13/in-trumps-america-you-no-longer-need-to-pretend-to-be-against-school-segregation/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">If white people really want to defeat Trump</a>, they may have to start by defeating the bigot inside themselves first.</div>
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BadassTeacher Associationhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06249079678877556839noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3410387772840321888.post-57183189744726881372019-07-18T19:11:00.000-04:002019-07-18T19:11:10.001-04:00Will This Be On The Test? by Steven Singer<header class="entry-header" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444; font-family: "Gentium Basic", Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 20px;"><h1 class="entry-title" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #283d4b; font-family: "Open Sans", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 0px 0px 0.67em;">
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Originally posted at: <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2019/07/12/will-this-be-on-the-test/?fbclid=IwAR33Ya4AEdqbpo8i6RugJLzXHo24m2bjHpas-gvs8SzmIH4FOm8TnNAbPdw" target="_blank">https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2019/07/12/will-this-be-on-the-test/?fbclid=IwAR33Ya4AEdqbpo8i6RugJLzXHo24m2bjHpas-gvs8SzmIH4FOm8TnNAbPdw</a> </div>
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As a public school teacher, I’m confronted with an awful lot of urgent questions.</div>
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Sometimes all at once and in rapid fire succession.</div>
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But perhaps the most frequent one I get is this:</div>
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<br /></div>
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“Mr. Singer, will this be on the test?”</div>
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Seriously?</div>
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<em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Will this be on the test?</em></div>
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In <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2017/04/03/decolonizing-through-dialogue-authentic-teaching-in-the-age-of-testing-and-common-core/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">8th grade Language Arts</a>, we’re discussing the relative merits of the death penalty vs. life imprisonment – or the history behind the Nazi invasion of Holland – or the origin of Dill Harris’ obsession with Boo Radley — and this little kid wants to know if any of it is going to be on the test!?</div>
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What in the almighty universe does he think we’re doing here!?</div>
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I pause, take a deep breath and reflect.<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />After all, it could be worse. The kiddo could have interrupted the flow just to ask to go to the bathroom.</div>
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So I try to put a positive spin on the inquiry.</div>
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It does give me some important information about this student. It tells me that he is really concerned about doing well in my class.</div>
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The kids that don’t care about that, <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2015/12/22/dont-blame-my-students-for-societys-ills/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">the ones who are more preoccupied with survival or fear or malnutrition or a thousand other adult cares</a> foisted too early on childish shoulders – those are the ones I really worry about.</div>
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But this kid isn’t like that at all. He just wants to know the rules.</div>
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On the other hand, it also tells me that <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2018/07/16/five-things-i-learned-about-ed-tech-while-playing-zelda-breath-of-the-wild/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">he really doesn’t care</a> about what we’re talking about.</div>
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Oh, this student cares about <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2018/06/11/dont-worry-about-grade-inflation-worry-about-grading-fairly/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">getting a good grade</a>, to be judged proficient and to move on to the next task in a series of Herculean labors. But does he care about the tasks or does he just want to end the labor?</div>
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He sees school like a tiger sees a circus – a series of hoops to jump through in order to get a juicy hunk of meat as a reward at the end of the day.<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />For him, our class contains no magic, no mystery – it’s just a pure extrinsic transaction.</div>
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I tell you X and then you spit it back up again. Then I’m supposed to give you a gold star and send you on your way to do things that really matter.</div>
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And I suppose it bothers me this much because it’s a way of looking at things that <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2018/05/04/grades-and-test-scores-dont-matter-a-love-of-learning-does/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">ignores the larger context of education.</a></div>
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If we must see things as either assignments or tests, as either work toward a goal or a reward for working toward a goal – well, then isn’t everything in life a test, really?</div>
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After all, every action has its own rewards and significance.</div>
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<a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2018/02/19/economists-dont-know-crap-about-education/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">Looked at from that vantage point</a>, one can feel almost sorry for these sorts of students. Because in a matter of minutes the bell will ring and they will leave the classroom to encounter this awesome experience we call life.</div>
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It’s a collection of majesty and the mundane that will be unfiltered through bell schedules and note taking, homework and assignments.</div>
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It will just be.</div>
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And no matter what it consists of these children will be tried, tested and judged for it.</div>
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Some of it will be tests of skill. They’ll encounter certain obstacles that they’ll have to overcome.</div>
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Can they express themselves in writing? Can they compose an email, a text, a Facebook post that gets across what they’re really trying to say?</div>
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Presumably, they’ll want to apply for a job someday. That requires typing a cover letter, a resume, and being able to speak intelligently during an interview.</div>
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But even beyond these professional skills, they’ll come into contact with other human beings. And what they say and how they interact will be at least partially determined by what they’ve learned both in and out of the classroom.</div>
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People will judge them based on what kind of person they think they are – is this someone knowledgeable about the world, do they have good judgement, can they think logically and solve a problem, do they have enough background knowledge about the world to be able to make meaning and if they don’t know something (as inevitably everyone must) do they know where to find the answers they seek?</div>
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When they come into social contact with others, will they have digested enough knowledge and experience to form interesting, empathetic characters and thus will they be able to experience deep relationships?</div>
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Will they be victims of their own ignorance, able to be pushed around and tricked by any passing intellect or will they be the masters of their own inner space, impervious to easy manipulation?</div>
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Will they be at the mercy of history and politics or will they be the captains of consciousness and context molding educated opinions about justice, ethics and statecraft?</div>
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Because for these students all of that, all of their lives really, is an assessment in a way. And the grades aren’t A, B, C, D or F. <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2016/11/03/why-teaching-to-the-test-is-educational-malpractice/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">There is no Advanced, Proficient, Basic or Below Basic</a>. It is not graded on a curve.</div>
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It’s a test that’s timed in the minutes they breath and in each pump their hearts push blood throughout their bodies.</div>
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This exam will assess everything they do, everything they think, everything that’s done to them and every action they do or think in response.</div>
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This is an evaluation with the highest stakes. They will not get to take it again. And if they fail, their grade will be final.</div>
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But what they don’t seem to realize is that no matter how they score, the result will be the same as it is for everyone who’s ever been born – it will be terminal.</div>
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Because each of these students, and only these students, as they grow and mature will have the power to determine ultimately what that score will be.</div>
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We are all judged and evaluated, but it is our own judgements that we have to live with – and this passive acceptance of being tested and this petty goal of grade grubbing your life away, <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2016/01/06/my-daughter-is-not-a-widget/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">it denies your individual agency, your freedom of thought</a>.</div>
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So, you ask if this will be on the test?</div>
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The answer is yes.</div>
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Everything is on the test.</div>
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But you’re asking the wrong question.</div>
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<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />That’s what I really want to say.</div>
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<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />That’s what I want to shout at a world that <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2017/01/04/why-schools-should-not-be-run-like-businesses/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">sees learning as nothing but a means to a job</a> and education as nothing but the fitting of cogs to a greasy machine.</div>
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<br /></div>
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Yet invariably, when the question comes I usually narrow it all down to just this simple answer.</div>
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“Yes.</div>
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It will.”</div>
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<span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;">NOTE:</span> This article owes a debt to the <a href="http://www.johngreenbooks.com/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">author and YouTube personality</a> <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/495430-yeah-about-the-test-the-test-will-measure-whether-you" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">John Green</a>. It was partially inspired by a speech he gave to introduce his video about <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yocja_N5s1I&list=PLBDA2E52FB1EF80C9" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">The Agricultural Revolution</a>:</div>
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“Will this be on the test?<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />The test will measure whether you’re an informed, engaged, productive citizen of the world.</div>
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It will take place in schools and bars and hospitals and in dorm rooms and in places of worship.</div>
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You will be tested on first dates, in job interviews, while watching football and while scrolling through your twitter feed.</div>
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The test will test your ability to think about things other than celebrity marriages, whether you’ll be easily persuaded by empty political rhetoric and whether you’ll be able to place your life and your community in a broader context.</div>
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The test will last your entire life and it will be comprised of the millions of decisions that when taken together make your life, yours.</div>
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And everything, everything will be on it.</div>
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I know right, so pay attention.”</div>
</blockquote>
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<em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Like this post? I’ve written a book, <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Gadfly-Wall-Public-School-Teacher/dp/1942146671/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1511988536&sr=1-1&keywords=gadfly+on+the+wall" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">“Gadfly on the Wall: A Public School Teacher Speaks Out on Racism and Reform,” </a>now available from <a href="https://www.garnpress.com/news/author-steven-singer-gadfly-on-the-wall-a-public-school-teacher-speaks-out-on-racism-and-reform" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">Garn Press</a>. Ten percent of the proceeds go to the <a href="http://www.badassteacher.org/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">Badass Teachers Association</a>. Check it out!</em></div>
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BadassTeacher Associationhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06249079678877556839noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3410387772840321888.post-43555188383416934202019-07-18T19:08:00.000-04:002019-07-18T19:08:07.547-04:00Reforming California’s Dysfunctional Charter School Law by Thomas Ultican<h1 class="title" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(231, 231, 231); border-bottom-style: solid; border-image: initial; border-left-color: initial; border-left-style: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-top-style: initial; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; font-family: Rockwell, Georgia, "Palatino Linotype", Palatino, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; margin: 0px 0px 30px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 25px; position: relative; vertical-align: baseline; width: 500px;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #7a7a7a; font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; font-size: 14px; font-weight: 400;">Originally posted at: <a href="https://tultican.com/2019/07/18/reforming-californias-dysfunctional-charter-school-law/?fbclid=IwAR0Ow0L1E10MRwZMi0JEHrWuqNYPx3wnKUUa75jT48kmDCKQa2EMf5nOvKU" target="_blank">https://tultican.com/2019/07/18/reforming-californias-dysfunctional-charter-school-law/?fbclid=IwAR0Ow0L1E10MRwZMi0JEHrWuqNYPx3wnKUUa75jT48kmDCKQa2EMf5nOvKU</a></span></h1>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #7a7a7a; font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; font-size: 14px; font-weight: 400;">Members of the California legislature have engaged in an internecine battle over charter schools. Even the California Charter Schools Association (CCSA) has expressed concern over </span><a href="https://cdn2.hubspot.net/hubfs/3049635/2018-02-09-LETTER-SPI%20re%20Valiant%20Prep%20and%20A3.pdf" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; color: #f3686d; font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; font-size: 14px; font-weight: 400; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">lawless cyber charters</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #7a7a7a; font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; font-size: 14px; font-weight: 400;"> and filed the first known complaint with the California Department of Education over A3 Education and Valiant Prep which were recently charged with stealing a stunning $50 million. California State Sen. John Moorlach (R) </span><a href="https://patch.com/california/newportbeach/orange-county-senator-predicts-financial-crisis-public-schools" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; color: #f3686d; font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; font-size: 14px; font-weight: 400; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">is warning</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #7a7a7a; font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; font-size: 14px; font-weight: 400;"> that 85% of school districts in California are running deficits. Governor Gavin Newsom has </span><a href="https://www.latimes.com/local/education/la-me-edu-governor-launches-charter-school-review-20190206-story.html" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; color: #f3686d; font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; font-size: 14px; font-weight: 400; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">stated</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #7a7a7a; font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; font-size: 14px; font-weight: 400;"> “</span><em style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; color: #7a7a7a; font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; font-size: 14px; font-weight: 400; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">rising charter school enrollments in some urban districts are having real impacts on those districts’ ability to provide essential support and services for their students</em><span style="background-color: white; color: #7a7a7a; font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; font-size: 14px; font-weight: 400;">.”</span></h1>
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The drive to privatize schools in Oakland, San Diego and Los Angeles has been fueled by enormous sums of money spent on elections. Billionaires led by Eli Broad and Richard Riordan have successfully installed a former investment banker – a proponent of school privatization with no education experience – as Superintendent of Schools for Los Angeles. <a href="https://tultican.com/2018/05/10/newest-existential-threat-to-oaklands-public-schools-2/" style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; color: #f3686d; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">In Oakland</a>, hundreds of thousands of dollars have been donated to pro-privatization independent expenditure committees and a similar amount has been donated directly to charter friendly candidates running for that city’s school board. Very few of the donations come from Oakland. The story is similar in San Diego.</div>
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With so many extremely wealthy individuals like Michael Bloomberg from New York City, Stacy Schusterman from Tulsa, Oklahoma and Alice Walton from Bentonville, Arkansas continually making six and seven figure donations to privatize public schools in California, the defenders of public education are fighting with all they have against what they see as an undemocratic attack by oligarchs. At the same time, many charter school leaders are feeling insecure and under attack.</div>
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It is this Gordian Knot that legislators are addressing. As Upton Sinclair observed, “<em style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends on not understanding it.</em>”</div>
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California’s new Democratic governor does not seem as mindlessly pro-charter school as the outgoing Democrat but his long time backers and chief of staff have public school advocates concerned. The Sacramento Bee <a href="https://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article221424715.html" style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; color: #f3686d; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">reported</a> “<em style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Gavin Newsom turns to top Hillary Clinton adviser to launch administration</em>.” That would be his Chief of Staff, Ann O’Leary, whose Fortune magazine <a href="https://fortune.com/2015/06/02/meet-the-wonk-shaping-hillary-clintons-plans-for-the-country/" style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; color: #f3686d; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">biography</a>says she was a key voice in creating the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) law. She defends NCLB stating, “<em style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">We were committed to high standards and helping states get there.</em>”</div>
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For those of us working in classrooms in 2001, it became clear that O’Leary’s education ideology harmed students and facilitated privatizing public schools. Her theory comes from the neoliberal business mindset that venerates market based solutions and competition. The writer Anand Giridharadas recently <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/539747/winners-take-all-by-anand-giridharadas/9780451493248/" style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; color: #f3686d; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">labeled</a> this philosophy “<em style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">MarketWorld</em>.”</div>
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Leading up to the 2018 general election, the Los Angeles Times ran an in-depth article about the eight elite San Francisco families that have funded Newsom’s political success. Although his own family was not particularly wealthy, they did provide him with connections to the wealthy elite. The Times story <a href="https://www.latimes.com/projects/la-pol-ca-gavin-newsom-san-francisco-money/" style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; color: #f3686d; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">included</a>,</div>
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<em style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">“He has said he was primarily raised by his mother, who at times struggled to make ends meet. But Gordon and Ann Getty viewed him as a son, according to interviews the couple gave to the San Francisco Chronicle and W Magazine, and they provided him with experiences his parents could not afford, including an African safari when he was a teen, Newsom said in an earlier interview with The Times.</em></div>
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<em style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">‘“It all goes back to the Gettys as far as Gavin is concerned,’ said Jerry Roberts, former managing editor of the San Francisco Chronicle and an expert on Bay Area politics.”</em></div>
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The Getty’s are the heirs of John Paul Getty. However, of the eight families described in the Time’s article it is the Fishers and Pritzkers that most concern public school advocates. Doris Fisher and her late husband Don founded The Gap. They were the first major contributors to KIPP charter schools and Don was a cofounder of the Charter School Growth fund. Doris continuously contributes to efforts for privatizing public education. The Fisher family has provided more than $300,000 in contributions to Newsom since 1998.</div>
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The Pritzker family are heirs to the Hyatt Hotel empire. Penny Pritzker was Barack Obama’s campaign treasure and his Commerce Secretary. As Secretary of Commerce, she used the Malcolm Baldrige award to promote <a href="https://tultican.com/2015/11/25/malcolm-baldrige-award-promotes-school-privatization/" style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; color: #f3686d; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">charter schools in the mall</a>. In Chicago, the family financed a charter school called Pritzker College Prep which is part of the Noble Network of Charter Schools. Since 1998, the Pritzker family has donated more than $600,000 to Newsom.</div>
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<img alt="Newsom and the SF Billionaires" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-3234" data-attachment-id="3234" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-description="" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"Thomas Ultican","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"1563263036","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="Newsom and the SF Billionaires" data-large-file="https://tultican.files.wordpress.com/2019/07/newsom-and-the-sf-billionaires.jpg?w=490" data-medium-file="https://tultican.files.wordpress.com/2019/07/newsom-and-the-sf-billionaires.jpg?w=284" data-orig-file="https://tultican.files.wordpress.com/2019/07/newsom-and-the-sf-billionaires.jpg" data-orig-size="769,812" data-permalink="https://tultican.com/newsom-and-the-sf-billionaires/" sizes="(max-width: 490px) 100vw, 490px" src="https://tultican.files.wordpress.com/2019/07/newsom-and-the-sf-billionaires.jpg?w=490" srcset="https://tultican.files.wordpress.com/2019/07/newsom-and-the-sf-billionaires.jpg?w=490 490w, https://tultican.files.wordpress.com/2019/07/newsom-and-the-sf-billionaires.jpg?w=142 142w, https://tultican.files.wordpress.com/2019/07/newsom-and-the-sf-billionaires.jpg?w=284 284w, https://tultican.files.wordpress.com/2019/07/newsom-and-the-sf-billionaires.jpg?w=768 768w, https://tultican.files.wordpress.com/2019/07/newsom-and-the-sf-billionaires.jpg 769w" style="background: 0px 0px; border: 5px solid rgb(251, 221, 223); height: auto; margin: 0px 0px 15px; max-width: 100%; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: auto;" /></div>
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Newsom Hob Knobbing with San Francisco Elites (<a href="https://www.latimes.com/projects/la-pol-ca-gavin-newsom-san-francisco-money/" style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; color: #f3686d; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">from the LA Times</a>)</div>
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<strong style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Legislature Takes on the Issue</strong></h2>
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Four bills were introduced in February aimed at reforming the charter law. Newly elected Senator María Elena Durazo from Los Angeles submitted SB 756 for a moratorium on new charters. Over at the assembly education committee three reform bills were presented AB 1505, 1506 and 1507. AB 1506 would have introduced a new meaningful cap on new charter schools. In May, both SB 756 and AB 1506 were pulled by their respective authors. The Los Angeles School Report <a href="http://laschoolreport.com/two-of-the-strongest-anti-charter-bills-fail-in-the-california-legislature-but-two-others-move-ahead-as-both-sides-claim-victory/" style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; color: #f3686d; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">said</a>,</div>
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<em style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">“On Wednesday, Sen. Maria Elena Durazo sidelined the Senate moratorium bill, which she authored. The bill would have placed a two-year halt on new charter schools in the state unless the Senate passed further regulations. The measure could return for consideration next January, according to Senate rules.</em></div>
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<em style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">“The next day, Assemblyman Kevin McCarty opted to hold his bill on the last day it was eligible for a vote in the chamber. AB 1506 would have mandated a statewide cap on charter schools…”</em></div>
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Now the battle is centered on AB 1505 and AB 1507. 1505 increases local control over chartering and reduces rights of appeal and 1507 bans charters not authorized by the district in which they operate.</div>
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On July 9<span style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">th</span>, EdSource <a href="https://edsource.org/2019/governors-team-jumps-into-fray-over-contested-charter-school-bill/615053" style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; color: #f3686d; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">reported,</a> “<em style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Governor’s team jumps into fray over contested charter school bill.</em>” It said,</div>
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<em style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">“On Wednesday, the Senate Education Committee held a hearing on Assembly Bill 1505, which included a substantial number of amendments that Newsom’s office submitted after numerous discussions between his advisers and representatives of charter schools, organized labor and the bill’s author, Assemblyman Patrick O’Donnell, D-Long Beach, according to sources familiar with the discussions.</em></div>
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<em style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">“With the final vote expected at day’s end, Senate Education Committee Chairwoman Connie Leyva, D-Chino, characterized the amended bill as ‘the makings of a deal with the governor’s office’ and said she is ‘cautiously optimistic’ that remaining issues can be resolved over the summer for passage in the fall.”</em></div>
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Scholar and former US assistant Secretary of Education, Diane Ravitch, reacted to this news with a post on her blog <a href="https://dianeravitch.net/2019/07/11/california-is-governor-gavin-newsom-selling-out-to-the-charter-industry/" style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; color: #f3686d; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">titled</a>, “<em style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">California: Is Governor Gavin Newsom Selling Out to the Charter Industry?</em>” Diane points out that the one thing the charter Industry has going for it is money. She noted that politicians are always in search of money for their next campaign and says, “<em style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Big donors always find open doors.</em>”</div>
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<strong style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Back in the Education Committees</strong></h2>
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The Assembly Education Committee chairman is Patrick O’Donnell a 20-year classroom teacher who worked mostly in middle school. He is leading AB 1505 through the difficult legislative process. The authors of the bill are San Jose Assembly member Ash Karla and East Bay Senator Nancy Skinner who are both representing areas suffering at the hands of the charter industry.</div>
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The other bill still alive is AB 1507 which blocks districts from authorizing charter schools out of their own boundaries. Assembly members Patrick O’Donnell, Kevin McCarty and Christy Smith authored this bill.</div>
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The Assembly Education Committee has seven members; five Democrats and two Republicans. One of the first big hurdles for these two bills came at an April 10<span style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">th</span> hearing. It was the first opportunity to keep these bills alive or kill them. Charter school supporters came out in droves to talk the bills down. It was during this hearing that Assembly member Shirley Weber from San Diego said “since the four coauthors are here this is a done deal.” Weber also said she did not think these bills addressed the right issues and announced she would not be supporting them. Interestingly, Weber did not vote against the bill, she just didn’t vote. The bills passed out of committee by a vote of 4 to 1 with the lone descent coming from the only Republican in attendance Kevin Kiley.</div>
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There was a similar dynamic when these bills finally arrived at the Senate Education Committee this July. The Senate Committee is also a seven member committee with five Democrats and Two Republicans. Democratic Senator Steven Glazer said “<em style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">781 public schools in the state have poor performance</em>” and “<em style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">We have failures all across the state</em>.” Like Weber he was not satisfied with the content of the bills and said we need to worry about too many students in failing schools. Glazer did not make clear what he based his failing schools charges on. However, the charges by the Contra Costa Senator are similar to the charges made by leaders of the school privatization movement like the current US Secretary of Education, Betsy DeVos.</div>
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Both AB 1505 with the Governor’s amendments and AB 1507 were voted out of the Senate committee by identical 4 to 3 votes. The two Republicans and Glazer were the no votes.</div>
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Possibly Weber and Glazer agree with DeVos and her choice advocacy and that is why privatizing money is going to them or did they take this anti-public school position to attract that money? In any case, privatization money is flowing their way.</div>
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<img alt="Glazer and Webber" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-3236" data-attachment-id="3236" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-description="" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="Glazer and Webber" data-large-file="https://tultican.files.wordpress.com/2019/07/glazer-and-webber.gif?w=490" data-medium-file="https://tultican.files.wordpress.com/2019/07/glazer-and-webber.gif?w=251" data-orig-file="https://tultican.files.wordpress.com/2019/07/glazer-and-webber.gif" data-orig-size="720,861" data-permalink="https://tultican.com/2019/07/18/reforming-californias-dysfunctional-charter-school-law/glazer-and-webber-2/" src="https://tultican.files.wordpress.com/2019/07/glazer-and-webber.gif?w=490" style="background: 0px 0px; border: 5px solid rgb(251, 221, 223); height: auto; margin: 0px 0px 15px; max-width: 100%; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: auto;" /></div>
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Data from <a href="http://cal-access.sos.ca.gov/Campaign/Candidates/" style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; color: #f3686d; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">California Secretary of State</a> Glazer ID #1377665 and Weber ID #1393376</div>
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When these two bills went to the Assembly for a floor vote, every Republican voted no or didn’t vote. Weber didn’t vote and Glazer joined two other Democrats voting no. The final tallies were AB 1505 <u style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">44</u> yes <u style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">19</u> no with <u style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">17</u> not voting and AB 1507 <u style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">54</u> yes <u style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">18</u> no with <u style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">8</u> not voting.</div>
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As a child growing up in a Republican community in Idaho, I remember Republicans as being very pro-public education and suspicious of big business and big centralized government. What happened to my grandfather’s Republican Party? How can it be that not one Republican during any of the votes taken supported protecting our public schools from plunder by large charter management organizations or stood against the demise of Democratic local control of schools?</div>
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If we consider the development of political action committees (PAC) for privatizing public school, the anti-democratic nature becomes stark. If your holdings are $2 or $3 billion, then you are generating at least $100 million income every year. So, donating a $1 million to four PACs is not a strain. That means besides creating a huge pot for independent expenditures, the 4 PACs will also send 4 more max donations to your favored candidates. No matter how bad the idea being pushed, this kind of spending gives it consideration and drowns out opposition.</div>
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<strong style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Bills and Amendments</strong></h2>
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Former State Sen. Gary Hart, a Democrat who represented Santa Barbara in the Assembly and Senate for 20 years, authored the original 1992 California charter school law. Sue Burr, a current member of the State Board of Education, played a major role in drafting it. EdSource interviewed Sen. Hart last year. Reporter John Fensterwald noted that the financial impact on a district was not part of the law and asked, “<em style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Was it brought up at the time?</em>” Hart <a href="https://edsource.org/2018/gary-hart-author-of-californias-charter-school-law-reflects-on-its-impact/601212" style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; color: #f3686d; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">replied</a>,</div>
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<em style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">“I don’t think so. The law didn’t have large-scale financial ramifications. We were talking about 100 charters statewide.”</em></div>
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The original law capped charter schools at 100 statewide. In 1998, the cap was raised to 250 with a 100 schools a year escalator thereafter. Today, there are 1310 active charter schools in California and the <a href="https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billAnalysisClient.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB1506" style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; color: #f3686d; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">current cap</a> statewide is 2,250 for the 2018-19 school-year. Neither this uncontrolled growth with essentially no cap nor its financial implications were addressed in the original law.</div>
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As originally proposed, AB 1505 would have given all school districts broad authority to reject a charter school’s application and renewal after considering the financial impact on neighborhood schools and the district. That provision has been restricted to just school districts already certified as being in financial crisis.</div>
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The amended version also sides with charter schools in changing the language back to “shall” issue a charter to a petitioner who met the state requirements from the less demanding “may” issue the charter.</div>
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None of Governor Newsom’s amendments are more demanding on the charter industry, most make things easier on the industry and some of them smack of favoritism. For example, while Mayor of Oakland; Jerry Brown created a military charter school with the National Guard. The following amendment seems written for the benefit of that one school.</div>
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<em style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">“Notwithstanding any other law, a charter school in operation as of July 1, 2019, that operates in partnership with the California National Guard may dismiss a pupil from the charter school for failing to maintain the minimum standards of conduct required by the Military Department.”</em></div>
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The Oakland Military Institute had tried during its reauthorization to be allowed to dismiss students who had too many demerits. The Chartering Authorities rejected the request. They felt that demerits were given for such minor offenses as not having a badge sewn on correctly and that a student should only be dismissed from a public school in extreme circumstances. Now the charter school’s questionable request is written into the amended law.</div>
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<strong style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Conclusions</strong></h2>
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Money is still ruling but even watered down the bills as amended are better than what we have now, so it is important to keep pushing for their passage.</div>
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A parent and resident named Jane Nylund wrote a letter to Newsom expressing her disappointment at his amendments. Diane Ravitch <a href="https://dianeravitch.net/2019/07/17/oakland-parent-jane-nylund-writes-a-letter-to-governor-gavin-newsom/" style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; color: #f3686d; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">posted the letter</a>. I encourage you to read the whole letter. It makes many strong points. Jane personalized the letter noting,</div>
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<em style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">“You and I have something in common-we both attended well-resourced public high schools. You went to Redwood High School in Marin, and I attended Miramonte High School in Orinda, located in what is now one of the wealthiest suburbs in the East Bay. Lucky us.</em></div>
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<em style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">“The irony regarding your potential alliance with privatization groups like CCSA is that, because of your severe dyslexia, you would have been rejected by the same schools that are now being touted as “high quality seats”, aggressively marketed as superior to real public schools because of test scores. According to the bio I read, you were rejected from a private prep school and enrolled in your local public high school instead. So you have first-hand experience with the idea that real public schools enroll all children, not just the easy ones.”</em></div>
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BadassTeacher Associationhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06249079678877556839noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3410387772840321888.post-2289915903051176622019-07-18T18:59:00.003-04:002019-07-18T18:59:49.421-04:00PA Officials Want to Replace Bad Keystone Exams with Bad College Entrance Exams by Steven Singer<header class="entry-header" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><h1 class="entry-title" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #283d4b; font-family: "Open Sans", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 0px 0px 0.67em;">
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<span style="font-size: 20px;"> </span>Originally posted at: <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2019/07/15/pa-officials-want-to-replace-bad-keystone-exams-with-bad-college-entrance-exams/?fbclid=IwAR0yj6z7Xn0lKd5fqW6LzBYbQZYuGOpMM-640AP9Fz80SNgLB711uu83ASE" target="_blank">https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2019/07/15/pa-officials-want-to-replace-bad-keystone-exams-with-bad-college-entrance-exams/?fbclid=IwAR0yj6z7Xn0lKd5fqW6LzBYbQZYuGOpMM-640AP9Fz80SNgLB711uu83ASE</a><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /></div>
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Pennsylvania officials are scandalized that the Commonwealth is wasting more than $100 million on unnecessary and unfair <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2018/10/22/pennsylvanias-keystone-exam-the-monster-we-refuse-to-let-die/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">Keystone Exams</a>.</div>
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<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />They’d rather the state spend slightly less on biased college entrance exams.</div>
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<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />State Auditor General <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eugene_DePasquale" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">Eugene DePasquale</a> and State Sen. <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2016/09/04/state-senator-get-ready-to-sue-the-pa-department-of-education-over-common-core-testing/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">Andy Dinniman</a> held a joint press conference last week to introduce <a href="https://www.paauditor.gov/Media/Default/Reports/RPT_Standardized_testing_071019_FINAL.pdf" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">a new report </a>compiled by DePasquale’s office on the subject which concludes with this recommendation.</div>
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Replacing bad with bad will somehow equal good?</div>
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<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />Under the proposal, elementary and middle school students would still take the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment (PSSA) tests. However, instead of requiring all high school students to take the <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2016/09/09/instead-of-nixing-the-keystone-exams-pde-recommends-a-cornucopia-of-tests/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">Keystone Exams</a> in Algebra I, Literature and Science, the report proposes the same students be required to take the SAT or ACT test at state expense.</div>
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This is certainly an <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2018/09/14/meet-the-test-before-the-test-pennsylvanias-classroom-diagnostic-tools-cdt/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">improvement over what the state demands now</a>, but it’s really just replacing one faulty test with another – albeit at about a $1 million annual cost savings to taxpayers.</div>
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The report does a good job of outlining the <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2018/03/26/testing-corporations-rake-in-cash-while-teachers-sell-plasma-to-survive/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">fiscal waste, lack of accountability and dubious academic merits </a>of the Keystone Exams, but it fails to note similar qualities in its own proposal.</div>
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From 2008 to 2019, <a href="https://www.paauditor.gov/Media/Default/Reports/RPT_Standardized_testing_071019_FINAL.pdf" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">the state already paid Minnesota-based Data Recognition Corp. more than $426 million </a>for the PSSAs, Keystone Exams and Classroom Diagnostic Tools (an optional pretesting program). The federal government paid the company more than an additional $106 million. Officials wonder if this money couldn’t have been better spent elsewhere, like in helping students actually learn.</div>
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DePasquale, who recently <a href="https://triblive.com/news/politics-election/state-auditor-general-eugene-depasquale-to-run-for-u-s-house-democrats-say/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">launched a congressional bid</a>, <a href="https://patch.com/pennsylvania/pittsburgh/scrap-keystone-exams-pa-auditor-general-says" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">puts it like this</a>:</div>
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“When the federal law changed in 2015, why didn’t Pennsylvania begin to phase out Keystone Exams? I could understand if they use them for a short period of time after that, but it’s been four years, and will cost taxpayers nearly $100 million by the end of the contract for tests our students do not even need to take.”</div>
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The federal government dropped its mandate four years ago and the state legislature did the same last year.</div>
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Originally, <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2017/08/14/pennsylvania-proposes-smaller-tests-same-high-stakes/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">state lawmakers intended to make the Keystone Exams a graduation requirement</a>, but in 2018 they passed legislation to make the assessments one of many avenues to qualify for graduation starting in 2021-22. Students can instead pass their core courses and get into college among other things.</div>
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“The Department of Education itself said they [the Keystone Exams] are not an accurate or adequate indicator of career or academic readiness,” <a href="https://levittownnow.com/2019/07/12/officials-blast-pas-100-million-commitment-to-keystone-exams-as-futile-wasteful/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">Dinniman said</a>. “So what I’m always surprised about is, they said it and then they continue to use it. These tests have faced opposition from almost every educational organization that exists. And when we got rid of the requirement and put in [more] pathways to graduation, this was passed unanimously by both the Senate and the House.”</div>
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The federal government also changed its testing mandate. It used to require all public school students to take state-specific assessments in grades 3-8 and once in high school.</div>
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When <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2015/12/12/much-ado-about-an-enigma-no-one-really-knows-what-impact-the-essa-will-have-on-public-schools/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">Congress reauthorized the federal law overseeing education in 2015</a>, it offered states more flexibility in this regard. Elementary and middle school students still have to take a state-specific test. But now the high school portion can be fulfilled with college admissions tests – and, in fact, a dozen other states legislate just such a requirement.</div>
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<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />Democrats DePasquale and Dinniman think the SAT and ACT test are an improvement because students who taken them are more likely to go to college. But that’s <a href="https://towardsdatascience.com/why-correlation-does-not-imply-causation-5b99790df07e" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">a classic case of confusing correlation and causation</a>.</div>
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<a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2018/10/05/college-remediation-is-less-about-bad-students-than-academic-elitism/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">Students motivated to go to college often take these exams because they are required to get in to a lot of these schools</a>. Taking these tests doesn’t make students <em style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;">MORE</span></em>motivated and determined to enroll in post-secondary education. They’re <em style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;">ALREADY</span></em>motivated and determined.</div>
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Moreover, one of the faults the report finds with the Keystone Exams is that <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2019/04/05/standardized-testing-is-a-tool-of-white-supremacy/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">the assessments measure student’s parental income more than children’s academics</a>.</div>
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<a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2018/07/18/the-naacp-once-again-opposes-high-stakes-standardized-testing/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">Kids in wealthier districts almost always do better on the Keystone Exams than those in poorer districts</a>. In fact, the report notes that of the 100 state schools with the highest scores, only five were located in impoverished districts —where the average household income is below $50,000.</div>
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Yet the report fails to note that <a href="https://www.sacbee.com/opinion/op-ed/soapbox/article224538095.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">this same discrepancy holds for the SAT and ACT tests</a>. Poor kids tend to get low scores and rich kids get the highest scores.</div>
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In fact, the College Board – the corporation that makes and distributes the SAT – recently <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/education/2019/05/16/college-admissions-college-board-add-adversity-score-sat/3692471002/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">started adjusting scores on its test in an attempt to counteract this effect</a>thereby accounting for high schools and neighborhoods “level of disadvantage.”</div>
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Does this creative scoring actually work? Who knows – but <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2019/05/27/sat-adversity-score-is-an-antidote-to-poison-none-of-us-need-take/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">it’s kind of like being forced to swallow poison and an antidote at the same time when any sensible person would simply refuse to swallow poison in the first place.</a></div>
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And that’s the best solution state officials have for our children.</div>
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They’re suggesting we replace discriminatory Keystone Exams with discriminatory college entrance exams.</div>
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To be fair, DePasquale and Dinniman are somewhat constrained by boneheaded federal law here.</div>
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Though the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) is an improvement over No Child Left Behind, it <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2019/06/29/standardized-tests-are-not-objective-measures-of-anything/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">still requires all high school students to take standardized tests</a>.</div>
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Given what we know about <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2016/04/05/standardized-tests-have-always-been-about-keeping-people-in-their-place/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">the limits and biases of these assessments</a>, policymakers should remove that hurdle altogether. But until the federal government gets its act together, one could argue that DePasquale and Dinniman’s policy suggestion may be the best available.</div>
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When you can’t do right, maybe it’s best to do less wrong.</div>
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But we must acknowledge that this isn’t the ultimate solution, it’s only a stopgap. <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2015/01/30/why-we-should-have-zero-standardized-tests-in-public-schools%e2%80%a8%e2%80%a8/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">We must continue to push for intelligent assessment policy that’s best for our children</a>.</div>
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Standardized testing should be eliminated altogether – especially in high stakes situations. <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2016/04/27/school-accountability-without-standardized-testing/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">Instead we should rely on classroom grades, portfolios of student work and/or other authentic measures</a> of what children have learned in school.</div>
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Accountability – <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2015/09/19/you-cant-win-a-rigged-game-standardized-tests-as-proof-of-failure/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">the typical reason given behind these assessments</a> – should be determined by the resources provided to students, not a highly dubious score given by a corporation making a profit off of its testing, test prep and ed tech enterprises.</div>
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The most we can expect from DePasquale and Dinniman’s program if it is even considered by the legislature is a band-aid on a gaping wound.</div>
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Read the full report, <a href="https://www.paauditor.gov/Media/Default/Reports/RPT_Standardized_testing_071019_FINAL.pdf" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">Where Did Your Money Go? A Special Report on Improving Standardized Testing in Pennsylvania</a>.</h2>
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<em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Like this post? I’ve written a book, <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Gadfly-Wall-Public-School-Teacher/dp/1942146671/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1511988536&sr=1-1&keywords=gadfly+on+the+wall" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">“Gadfly on the Wall: A Public School Teacher Speaks Out on Racism and Reform,” </a>now available from <a href="https://www.garnpress.com/news/author-steven-singer-gadfly-on-the-wall-a-public-school-teacher-speaks-out-on-racism-and-reform" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">Garn Press</a>. Ten percent of the proceeds go to the<a href="http://www.badassteacher.org/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">Badass Teachers Association</a>. Check it out!</em></div>
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BadassTeacher Associationhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06249079678877556839noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3410387772840321888.post-69104500956325760402019-07-18T18:56:00.000-04:002019-07-18T18:56:22.296-04:00The Billionaire Financed Racist Attack on Camden’s Schools by Thomas Ultican<h1 class="title" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(231, 231, 231); border-bottom-style: solid; border-image: initial; border-left-color: initial; border-left-style: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-top-style: initial; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; font-family: Rockwell, Georgia, "Palatino Linotype", Palatino, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; margin: 0px 0px 30px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 25px; position: relative; vertical-align: baseline; width: 500px;">
<span style="color: #7a7a7a; font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; font-size: 14px;">Originally posted at: </span><a href="https://tultican.com/2019/06/26/the-billionaire-financed-racist-attack-on-camdens-schools/?fbclid=IwAR2ejd7tzizBOsuS3-KRMzcUt11iUkGS3B3VLXP8Cdc5wf8HYLDVZnMC1Ys" style="font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; font-size: 14px;" target="_blank">https://tultican.com/2019/06/26/the-billionaire-financed-racist-attack-on-camdens-schools/?fbclid=IwAR2ejd7tzizBOsuS3-KRMzcUt11iUkGS3B3VLXP8Cdc5wf8HYLDVZnMC1Ys</a></h1>
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The rape of public education in Camden, New Jersey is a classic example of “<a href="https://tultican.com/2019/04/07/apartheid-education-and-segrenomics/" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; color: #f3686d; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">segrenomics</a>.” In 1997, one of the only functioning organizations in the city of Camden was the public school system. This city often labeled “the most dangerous city in America” had 19,303 students registered into Camden City School District (CCSD). Ninety-five percent of those students were either Black (56.5%) or Hispanic (38.9%). In 2018, CCSD had 6800 students registered into its public schools.</div>
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In her masterpiece <a href="http://noliwerooks.com/books/cutting-school/" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; color: #f3686d; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Cutting School</a>, Noliwe Rooks defined “segrenomics.” She noted that to lift all children up requires racial and economic integration and she encourages us to educate poor students with wealthy students; not falling for the separate but equal fallacy. Unfortunately, today, poor children experience a recurrent push towards vocational education. Their schools often employ “<em style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">cost effective</em>” forms of funding and delivery such as cyber schools, students at screens and blended learning. Rooks observes,</div>
<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 30px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<em style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">“While not ensuring educational equality, such separate, segregated, and unequal forms of education have provided the opportunity for businesses to make a profit selling schooling. I am calling this specific form of economic profit </em><strong style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><em style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">segrenomics</em></strong><em style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">. </em><strong style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><em style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Segrenomics</em></strong><em style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">, or the business of profiting specifically from high levels of racial and economic segregation, is on the rise.”</em></div>
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<strong style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Camden</strong></h3>
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<img alt="Camden Images" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-3208" data-attachment-id="3208" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-description="" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="Camden Images" data-large-file="https://tultican.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/camden-images.jpg?w=490" data-medium-file="https://tultican.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/camden-images.jpg?w=300" data-orig-file="https://tultican.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/camden-images.jpg" data-orig-size="960,705" data-permalink="https://tultican.com/camden-images/" sizes="(max-width: 490px) 100vw, 490px" src="https://tultican.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/camden-images.jpg?w=490" srcset="https://tultican.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/camden-images.jpg?w=490 490w, https://tultican.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/camden-images.jpg?w=150 150w, https://tultican.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/camden-images.jpg?w=300 300w, https://tultican.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/camden-images.jpg?w=768 768w, https://tultican.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/camden-images.jpg 960w" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 5px solid rgb(251, 221, 223); height: auto; margin: 0px 0px 15px; max-width: 100%; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: auto;" /></div>
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Camden, New Jersey Images</div>
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When crossing the Delaware River from Philadelphia on the Ben Franklin Bridge, you arrive in Camden, New Jersey. The small city of 77,000 was <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camden,_New_Jersey" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; color: #f3686d; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">incorporated</a> in 1828. It was a prosperous manufacturing center up until the 1950’s when its population peaked at 125,000 and manufacturing jobs started leaving.</div>
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By the 1990’s corruption and violence were wracking the city. In December of 2000, Mayor Milton Milan <a href="https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=HChGAAAAIBAJ&sjid=9s8MAAAAIBAJ&pg=6643,4727883&dq=arnold-webster&hl=en" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; color: #f3686d; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">was convicted</a> of taking bribes. Ralph Natale the former boss of the Philadelphia-South Jersey mob turned state’s evidence against Milan. The Mayor’s predecessor, Arnold Webster pleaded guilty to illegally paying himself $20,000 in school district funds after he became mayor. A former CCSD board president pled guilty to embezzling $24,000. Worst of all, homicides were becoming common.</div>
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In 2012, the Daily Mail, a publication from the United Kingdom, ran an article about Camden, “<a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2184246/Americas-dangerous-city-Camden-New-Jersey-39-people-murdered-year.html" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; color: #f3686d; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><em style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The most dangerous town in America</em></a><em style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">: Inside Camden, New Jersey where 39 people have been murdered this year.</em>” It gave these bullet points:</div>
<ul style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 30px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<li style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; list-style-type: circle; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><em style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">13 homicides in July – the most deadly month since a shooting spree in 1949</em></li>
<li style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; list-style-type: circle; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><em style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Murder rate was ten times New York City in 2011 — and on pace to be even higher this year</em></li>
<li style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; list-style-type: circle; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><em style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">More than half of children live below the poverty line as city is ravaged by drugs</em></li>
<li style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; list-style-type: circle; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><em style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Police department forced to cut one third of officers in 2011 and arrests dropped to less than half of what they were in 2009</em></li>
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The web site <a href="https://www.neighborhoodscout.com/blog/top100dangerous" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; color: #f3686d; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Neighborhood Scout</a> tracks violent crime in America. They state, “<em style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Our research reveals the 100 most dangerous cities in America with 25,000 or more people, based on the number of violent crimes per 1,000 residents.</em>” From 2012 until today, Camden has been in the top 10 most dangerous American cities.</div>
<ul style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 30px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<li style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; list-style-type: circle; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">2012 – 5th place</li>
<li style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; list-style-type: circle; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">2013 – 2nd place</li>
<li style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; list-style-type: circle; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">2014 – 3rd place</li>
<li style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; list-style-type: circle; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">2015 – 1st place</li>
<li style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; list-style-type: circle; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">2016 – 2nd place</li>
<li style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; list-style-type: circle; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">2017 – 4th place</li>
<li style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; list-style-type: circle; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">2018 – 4<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">th</span> place</li>
<li style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; list-style-type: circle; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">2019 – 8<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">th</span> place</li>
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To go along with political corruption and out of control violent crime, Camden is poverty racked. New Jersey TV 13 <a href="https://www.thirteen.org/metrofocus/2012/09/the-poorest-city-in-the-nation-is-camden-nj/" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; color: #f3686d; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">reported</a>,</div>
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<em style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">“Camden, N.J., is the poorest city in the nation. According to figures from the U.S. Census Bureau, nearly 32,000 Camden residents live below the poverty line. For a family of four, the poverty line is an annual household income of about $22,000.”</em></div>
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<strong style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Public Schools Are Failing – Really?</strong></h3>
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Alfie Kohn published a 2004 article, “<a href="https://www.alfiekohn.org/article/test-today-privatize-tomorrow/" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; color: #f3686d; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Test Today, Privatize Tomorrow; Using Accountability to ‘Reform’ Public Schools to Death.</a>” In it, he discussed the idea that the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) accountability measures were purposely designed to open a path for privatizing schools. He wrote,</div>
<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 30px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<em style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">“As Lily Tomlin once remarked, “No matter how cynical you become, it’s never enough to keep up.’”</em></div>
<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 30px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<em style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">“We now have corroboration that these fears were entirely justified. Susan Neuman, an assistant secretary of education during the roll-out of NCLB, admitted that others in Bush’s Department of Education ‘saw NCLB as a Trojan horse for the choice agenda – a way to expose the failure of public education and ‘“blow it up a bit’’’ (Claudia Wallis, ‘No Child Left Behind: Doomed to Fail?’, Time, June 8, 2008).”</em></div>
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In 2006, the state of New Jersey appointed a fiscal monitor to oversee all actions taken by the CCSD board. This was motivated in part by a cheating scandal and corruption concerns. As Mark Weber who blogs as the <a href="https://jerseyjazzman.blogspot.com/2016/05/the-dismantling-of-camdens-school.html" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; color: #f3686d; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Jersey Jazz Man</a> wrote, <em style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">“The state appoints a fiscal monitor for the Camden district after members of the Legislature are shocked — shocked, I tell you! — that a city that has been under the thumb of a political machine for years might have some corruption.”</em></div>
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There appears to have been two types of <a href="https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5637480" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; color: #f3686d; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">cheating at CCSD</a>. In type one, certain administrators were getting bonus for improved graduation rates and in the other type teachers were being pressured to cheat on the NCLB related testing.</div>
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The big downfall of high stakes testing and merit pay is they both drive unethical behavior. It is now clear that standardized testing only measures economic status. That explains why exclusively schools in high poverty areas have been closed for poor testing results. The tests of course do not measure the quality of the closed schools; they reflected average family income.</div>
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In 2011, Camden’s testing results and <a href="https://www.state.nj.us/education/pr/2013/07/070680030.pdf" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; color: #f3686d; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">graduation rates were miserable</a>. Only 45% of the student body graduated in four years and just 60% had graduated after five years. Graduation rates of less than 50% had persisted since the 1990’s. However, there have been success stories matriculating from Camden’s schools like <a href="https://www.weloveweather.tv/introducing-tevin-wooten/" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; color: #f3686d; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Tevin Wooten</a> of the Weather Channel.</div>
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It is disingenuous to blame Camden public schools, teachers and students for these poor outcomes.</div>
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Doctor Kerry Ressler is the lead investigator of the <a href="http://gradytraumaproject.com/" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; color: #f3686d; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Grady Trauma Project</a>. He has been interviewing inner-city residents and found that about two-thirds said they had been violently attacked and that half knew someone who had been murdered. At least 1 in 3 of those interviewed experienced symptoms <a href="http://colorlines.com/archives/2014/02/the_ptsd_crisis_thats_plaguing_americas_poorest_neighborhoods.html" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; color: #f3686d; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">consistent with PTSD</a> at some point in their lives — and that’s a “conservative estimate” said Dr. Ressler. He stated,</div>
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“The <em style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">rates of PTSD we see are as high or higher than Iraq, Afghanistan or Vietnam veterans.</em> <em style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">We have a whole population who is traumatized.</em>”</div>
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Marie Corfield who is “<em style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">that teacher in that Chris Christie You Tube video”</em><a href="https://mcorfield.blogspot.com/2014/08/the-gentrification-of-camdens-schools.html" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; color: #f3686d; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">interviewed</a> Doctor Keith Benson for her blog. Benson <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/keith-e-benson-ed-d-20a16091/" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; color: #f3686d; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">wears many hats</a>. He is an Adjunct Professor at Rutgers Graduate School of Education, President of the Camden Education Association, Education Program Specialist for CCSD, Education Chair Camden NAACP and has a decade of classroom teaching experience. In the interview, he responded to a question about teaching traumatized children,</div>
<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 30px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<em style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">“When you’re dealing with children who live in concentrated poverty and a lot of violence, there are a lot of residual effects. … And that’s something that’s given very little regard by ‘reformers’ but it’s a very big hurdle in the educative process between teacher and student. So a lot of what we’re doing is building up students as individuals; showing love and care. And until we do those things, teaching content is a waste of time.”</em></div>
<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 30px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<em style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">“Some of these violent occurrences are in students’ families or their social network, so they bring those stories, that pain, that hurt into the classroom. What does that do to a child’s perspective on the future when people they care about have been seriously hurt or killed or incarcerated?”</em></div>
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In 2011, even while the Camden police and fire departments were imploding due to Governor Chris Christie’s <a href="https://www.salon.com/2011/01/18/camden_police_layoffs/" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; color: #f3686d; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">budget cuts</a>, the CCSD continued to take care of and educate the children. However, the schools had no control over the violence and poverty that their students were facing. Far from being failures, they were making heroic efforts to save as many children as possible. Those are the children and communities of color that politicians in New Jersey had turned their back on.</div>
<h3 style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; color: black; font-family: Rockwell, Georgia, "Palatino Linotype", Palatino, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 20px; margin: 0px 0px 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<strong style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Billionaire Attack</strong></h3>
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In January 2010, a big fan of privatizing public education, Chris Christy, assumed the the office of New Jersey Governor. In 1999, Christy had been a lobbyist for Chris Whittle and his Edison Schools. That is when Edison Schools had their Initial Public Offering. Their claim that Christy was touting said that they could educate America’s children at a profit and do it both cheaper and better than public schools.</div>
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The Jersey Jazz Man, Mark Webber, says the takeover of Camden schools was not inevitable. He <a href="https://jerseyjazzman.blogspot.com/2016/05/the-dismantling-of-camdens-school.html" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; color: #f3686d; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">claims</a>, “<em style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The dismantling of Camden’s public school system was <u style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">planned</u> years ago, and that <u style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">plan</u> was <a href="http://jerseyjazzman.blogspot.com/2013/03/camdens-schools-its-all-going-according.html" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; color: #f3686d; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">funded by a California billionaire</a></em><em style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">with an ideological agenda.</em>”</div>
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The California billionaire is Eli Broad. To advance the cause of public school privatization, Broad founded The Broad Academy, an unaccredited administration training program.</div>
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Broad’s theory is that public school administrators and elected school boards lack the financial background to run large organizations. Motoko Rich’s Times <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/05/education/oakland-district-at-heart-of-drive-to-transform-urban-schools.html" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; color: #f3686d; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">article</a> explained<em style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">, ‘“The new academy,’ he said, would ‘dramatically change this equation’ by seeking candidates in educational circles as well as recruiting from corporate backgrounds and the military, introducing management concepts borrowed from business.”</em> He believes school leaders do not need expertise in education; consultants can be hired for that.</div>
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Broad was able to place several of his trainees into New Jersey including Bing Howell and Rochelle Sinclair. Howell <a href="http://jerseyjazzman.blogspot.com/2012/05/njdoe-coup-detat.html" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; color: #f3686d; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">served as a liaison</a> to Camden for the creation of four <a href="http://www.njtvonline.org/news/uncategorized/governor-christie-signs-urban-hope-act/" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; color: #f3686d; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Urban Hope Act</a> charter schools. He reported directly to the deputy commissioner of education, Andy Smerick. Howell’s proposal for Camden suggests that he oversee the intervention through <strong style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">portfolio management</strong> — providing a range of school options with the state, not the district, overseeing the options.</div>
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The Urban Hope Act is a 2012 law that created a new class of charter schools called renaissance schools. It also has a teacher professional development component. Of all the excellent graduate schools of education in the state, the Act hands over professional development to Relay Graduate School, the <a href="https://tultican.com/2018/04/11/fake-teachers-fake-schools-fake-administrators-courtesy-of-dpe/" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; color: #f3686d; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">fake graduate school</a> started by the charter school industry.</div>
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The portfolio model posits treating schools like stock holdings and trimming the failures by privatizing them or closing them. The instrument for measuring failure is the wholly inappropriate standardized test. This model inevitably leads to an ever more privatized system that strips parents and taxpayers of their democratic rights. It was created through billionaire funding as a systematic way to remove democratic control of schools from local communities.</div>
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Governor Christie took control of Camden’s schools in March 2013. <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/nj-takes-over-troubled-camden-schools/" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; color: #f3686d; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">CBS News stated</a>, “<em style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Christie says he’ll appoint a new superintendent and the state will ensure every student has books and technology.”</em> The state took control in June and in August, True Jersey <a href="https://www.nj.com/camden/2013/08/gov_christie_names_new_superintendent_of_camden_school_district.html" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; color: #f3686d; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">reported</a>,</div>
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<em style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">“The city of Camden could soon be getting a new superintendent. Gov. Chris Christie announced his selection of Paymon Rouhanifard as the first State Superintendent of the Camden School District.”</em></div>
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At the time Rouhanifard was 32-years old. He had 2-years teaching experience as a TFA corps member and no experience leading schools. From 2009-2012, he worked for the NYC Department of Education. Mark Weber <a href="https://jerseyjazzman.blogspot.com/2016/05/the-dismantling-of-camdens-school.html" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; color: #f3686d; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">described</a> his job,</div>
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<em style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">“Rouhanifard’s job at the NYCDOE was to go around New York and close neighborhood schools so they could be replaced with charters. Obviously, this is why then-Education Commissioner Chris Cerf and Christie picked him for the job: he knows how to dismantle a public school system and turn it over to privatizers.”</em></div>
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Rouhanifard left his superintendent’s job in 2018 to become an <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/paymon-rouhanifard-76476710b/" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; color: #f3686d; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Entrepreneur in Residence</a> at the Walton Family Foundation. He also completed the Broad <a href="https://www.broadcenter.org/alumni/directory/profile/paymon-rouhanifard/" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; color: #f3686d; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">academy administration program in 2016</a>.</div>
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Gates, Sackler, Arnold and the Walton Family have all joined Eli Broad in financing the privatization of Camden’s schools. Gates sent <a href="https://www.gatesfoundation.org/Search#q/k=50CAN%2C%20Inc." style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; color: #f3686d; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">$2,700,000</a> to 50Can and $27,000,000 to the Charter Fund which are both organizations supplying money to privatize Camden’s schools. Jonathan Sackler sent <a href="https://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm?bay=search.profile&ein=134119735" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; color: #f3686d; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">$1,050,000</a> to 50Can. John Arnold sent <a href="https://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm?bay=search.profile&ein=263241764" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; color: #f3686d; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">$6,189,000</a> to the Charter Fund, $100,000 for common enrollment in Camden and $290,000 to Teach for America in Camden. The Walton family is the <a href="https://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm?bay=search.profile&ein=133441466" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; color: #f3686d; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Charter Funds major donor </a>and gives direct support to the charter school management companies in Camden.</div>
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<img alt="Schools Disappearing" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-3215" data-attachment-id="3215" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-description="" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"Thomas Ultican","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"1561543153","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="Schools Disappearing" data-large-file="https://tultican.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/schools-disappearing-1.jpg?w=490" data-medium-file="https://tultican.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/schools-disappearing-1.jpg?w=300" data-orig-file="https://tultican.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/schools-disappearing-1.jpg" data-orig-size="781,255" data-permalink="https://tultican.com/2019/06/26/the-billionaire-financed-racist-attack-on-camdens-schools/schools-disappearing-2/" sizes="(max-width: 490px) 100vw, 490px" src="https://tultican.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/schools-disappearing-1.jpg?w=490" srcset="https://tultican.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/schools-disappearing-1.jpg?w=490 490w, https://tultican.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/schools-disappearing-1.jpg?w=150 150w, https://tultican.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/schools-disappearing-1.jpg?w=300 300w, https://tultican.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/schools-disappearing-1.jpg?w=768 768w, https://tultican.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/schools-disappearing-1.jpg 781w" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 5px solid rgb(251, 221, 223); height: auto; margin: 0px 0px 15px; max-width: 100%; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: auto;" /></div>
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Privatization Chart Compares <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20070206123351/http://www.camden.k12.nj.us/departments/rpis/district_profile.jsp" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; color: #f3686d; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">2003</a> Enrollment Data with <a href="http://camden.k12.nj.us/divisions/superintendent_s_office/c_c_s_d__facts___figures" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; color: #f3686d; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">2018</a></div>
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What chance does a small city that is poverty stricken and dominated by minority populations have against Billionaires who are out to end their right to vote on the control of their schools? This is what segrenomics looks like.</div>
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BadassTeacher Associationhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06249079678877556839noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3410387772840321888.post-44261310377595665242019-07-18T18:51:00.000-04:002019-07-18T18:51:12.737-04:00Standardized Tests Are Not Objective Measures of Anything by Steven Singer<header class="entry-header" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><br /></header><div class="entry-content" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 30px;">
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<img alt="Screen Shot 2019-06-29 at 12.27.12 AM" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-11978" data-attachment-id="11978" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-description="" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="Screen Shot 2019-06-29 at 12.27.12 AM" data-large-file="https://gadflyonthewallblog.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/screen-shot-2019-06-29-at-12.27.12-am.png?w=700" data-medium-file="https://gadflyonthewallblog.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/screen-shot-2019-06-29-at-12.27.12-am.png?w=300" data-orig-file="https://gadflyonthewallblog.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/screen-shot-2019-06-29-at-12.27.12-am.png" data-orig-size="2042,1496" data-permalink="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2019/06/29/standardized-tests-are-not-objective-measures-of-anything/screen-shot-2019-06-29-at-12-27-12-am/#main" sizes="(max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px" src="https://gadflyonthewallblog.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/screen-shot-2019-06-29-at-12.27.12-am.png?w=700" srcset="https://gadflyonthewallblog.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/screen-shot-2019-06-29-at-12.27.12-am.png?w=700 700w, https://gadflyonthewallblog.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/screen-shot-2019-06-29-at-12.27.12-am.png?w=1400 1400w, https://gadflyonthewallblog.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/screen-shot-2019-06-29-at-12.27.12-am.png?w=150 150w, https://gadflyonthewallblog.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/screen-shot-2019-06-29-at-12.27.12-am.png?w=300 300w, https://gadflyonthewallblog.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/screen-shot-2019-06-29-at-12.27.12-am.png?w=768 768w, https://gadflyonthewallblog.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/screen-shot-2019-06-29-at-12.27.12-am.png?w=1024 1024w" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; height: auto; max-width: 100%; vertical-align: middle;" /></div>
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Originally posted at: <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2019/06/29/standardized-tests-are-not-objective-measures-of-anything/?fbclid=IwAR0HPBy7Wm4qsWYM_mPVV5EaIh9WJYaiTp_mljyuT-pC0KqpN6ml6BYUJH8" target="_blank">https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2019/06/29/standardized-tests-are-not-objective-measures-of-anything/?fbclid=IwAR0HPBy7Wm4qsWYM_mPVV5EaIh9WJYaiTp_mljyuT-pC0KqpN6ml6BYUJH8</a> </div>
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<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />When it comes to standardized tests, most people are blinded by science.</div>
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Or at least <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2016/03/15/blinded-by-pseudoscience-standardized-testing-is-modern-day-eugenics/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">the appearance of science</a>.</div>
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Because there is little about these assessments that is scientific, factual or unbiased.</div>
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And that has real world implications <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2015/04/18/this-article-may-be-illegal-lifting-the-veil-of-silence-on-standardized-testing/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">when it comes to education policy</a>.</div>
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First of all, <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2015/12/12/much-ado-about-an-enigma-no-one-really-knows-what-impact-the-essa-will-have-on-public-schools/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">the federal government requires</a> that all public school children take these assessments in 3-8th grade and once in high school. Second, many states <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2018/08/06/top-10-reasons-you-cant-fairly-evaluate-teachers-on-student-test-scores/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">require teachers be evaluated by their students’ test scores.</a></div>
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Why?</div>
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It seems to come down to <a href="https://www.debate.org/opinions/are-standardized-tests-the-best-way-to-universally-compare-students" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">three main reasons</a>:</div>
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1) Comparability<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />2) Accountability<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />3) Objectivity</div>
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COMPARABILITY</h2>
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First, there is a strong <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2018/01/23/few-kids-in-the-world-can-pass-americas-common-core-tests-according-to-new-study/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">desire to compare students and student groups</a>, one with the other.</div>
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We look at learning like athletics. Who has shown the most success, and thereby is better than everyone else?</div>
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This is true for students in a single class, students in a single grade, an entire building, a district, a state, and between nations, themselves.</div>
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If we keep questions and grading methods the same for every student, there is an assumption that we can demonstrate which group is best and worst.</div>
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ACCOUNTABILITY</h2>
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Second, we want to ensure all students are receiving the best education. So if testing can show academic success through its comparability, it <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2015/01/17/trust-tests-not-teachers-accountability-for-dummies/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">can also be used as a tool to hold schools and teachers accountable</a>. We can simply look at the scores and determine where academic deficiencies exist, diagnose them based on which questions students get incorrect and then focus there to fix the problem. And if schools and teachers can’t or won’t do that, it is their fault. Thus, the high stakes in high stakes testing.</div>
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Obviously there are other more direct ways to determine these facts. Historically, <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2016/04/27/school-accountability-without-standardized-testing/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">before standardized testing became the centerpiece of education policy, we’d look at resource allocation to determine this</a>. Are we providing each student with what they need to learn? Do they have sound facilities, wide curriculum, tutoring, proper nutrition, etc.? Are teachers abiding by best practices in their lessons? <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2019/03/21/school-accountability-begins-with-the-people-who-make-the-rules-a-code-of-conduct-for-politicians-and-test-makers/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">Many would argue this was a better way of ensuring accountability,</a> but if standardized assessments produce valid results, they are at least one possible way to ensure our responsibilities to students are being met.</div>
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OBJECTIVITY</h2>
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Third, and most importantly, there is <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2015/01/30/why-we-should-have-zero-standardized-tests-in-public-schools%e2%80%a8%e2%80%a8/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">the assumption that of all the ways to measure learning, only standardized testing produces objective results</a>. Classroom grades, student writing, even high school graduation rates are considered subjective and thereby inferior.</div>
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Questions and grading methods are identical for every student, and a score on the test is proof that a student is either good or bad at a certain subject. Moreover, we <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2017/07/16/test-based-accountability-smokescreen-for-cowardly-politicians-and-unscrupulous-corporations/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">can use that score to keep the entire education system on track and ensure it is functioning correctly</a>.</div>
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So <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2019/04/23/the-forgotten-disaster-of-americas-first-standardized-test/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">this third reason for standardized testing is really the bedrock rationale</a>. If testing is not objective, it doesn’t matter if it’s comparable or useful for accountability.</div>
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After all, we could hold kids accountable for the length of their hair, but if that isn’t an objective measure of what they’ve learned, we’re merely mandating obedience not learning.</div>
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The same goes for comparability. We could compare all students academic success by their ability to come up with extemporaneous rhymes. But as impressive as it is, skill at spitting out sick rhymes and matching them to dope beats isn’t an objective measure of math or reading.</div>
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Yet in a different culture, in a different time or place, we might pretend that it was. <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2016/10/26/standardizing-whiteness-the-essential-racism-of-standardized-testing/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">Imagine how test scores would change and which racial and socioeconomic groups would be privileged and which would suffer</a>. It might – in effect – upend the current trend that prizes richer, whiter students and undervalues the poor and minorities.</div>
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<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />So let’s begin with objectivity.</div>
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ARE STANDARDIZED TESTS OBJECTIVE?</h2>
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<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />There is nothing objective about standardized test scores.</div>
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<a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/objective" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">Objective means</a> something not influenced by personal feelings or opinions. It is a fact – a provable proposition about the world.</div>
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<a href="https://www.healthline.com/health/blood-tests#routine-tests-and-others" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">An objective test would be drawing someone’s blood</a> and looking for levels of nutrients like iron and B vitamins.</div>
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These nutrients are either there or not.</div>
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A standardized test is not like that at all. <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2016/11/03/why-teaching-to-the-test-is-educational-malpractice/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">It tries to take a series of skills in a given subject like reading and reduce them to multiple choice questions</a>.</div>
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Think about <a href="http://www.institute4learning.com/2013/02/28/15-reasons-why-standardized-tests-are-worthless-2/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">how artificial standardized tests are</a>: they’re timed, you can’t talk to others, the questions you’re allowed to ask are limited as is the use of references or learning devices, you can’t even get out of your seat and move around the room. This is nothing like the real world – unless perhaps you’re in prison.</div>
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Moreover, this is also true of the questions, themselves.</div>
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If you’re asking something simple like the addition or subtraction of two numbers or for readers to pick out the color of a character’s shirt in a passage, you’re probably okay.</div>
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However, <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2016/05/21/great-reading-must-be-felt-not-standardized/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">the more advanced and complex the skill being assessed, the more it has to be dumbed down </a>so that it will be able to be answered with A, B, C or D.</div>
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The answer does not avoid human influences or feelings. Instead it assesses how well the test taker’s influences and feelings line up with those of the test maker.</div>
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If I ask you why Hamlet was so upset by the death of his father, there is no one right answer. It could be because his father was murdered, because his uncle usurped his father’s position, because he was experiencing an Oedipus complex, etc. But the test maker will pick one answer and expect test takers to pick the same one.</div>
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If they aren’t thinking like the test maker, they are wrong. If they are, they are right.</div>
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MISUNDERSTANDINGS</h2>
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<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />Yet <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2016/08/25/shouldnt-our-schools-at-least-be-as-logical-as-dental-floss/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">we pretend this is scientific</a> – in fact, that it’s the <em style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;">ONLY</span></em> scientific way to measure student learning.</div>
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And the reason we make this leap is a misunderstanding.</div>
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We misconstrue our first reason for testing with our third. What we take for objectivity is actually just consistency again.</div>
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Since we give the same tests to every student in a given state, they show the same things about all students.</div>
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Unfortunately, <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2018/09/25/the-six-biggest-problems-with-data-driven-instruction/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">that isn’t learning. It’s likemindedness</a>. It’s the ability to conform to one particular way of thinking about things.</div>
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This is one of the main reason <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2018/11/16/why-is-there-a-racial-achievement-gap/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">the poor and minorities often don’t score as highly on these assessments as middle class and wealthy white students</a>. These groups have different frames of reference.</div>
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The test makers generally come from the same socioeconomic group as the highest test takers do. So <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2018/06/11/dont-worry-about-grade-inflation-worry-about-grading-fairly/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">it’s no wonder that children from that group tend to think in similar ways to adults in that group</a>.</div>
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This isn’t because of any deficiency in the poor or minorities. It’s a difference in what they’re exposed to, how they’re enculturated, what examples they’re given, etc.</div>
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And it is entirely unfair to judge these children based on these factors.</div>
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UNDERESTIMATING HUMAN PSYCHOLOGY</h2>
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The theory of standardized testing is based on a series of faulty premises about human psychology that have been repeatedly discredited.</div>
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First, they were developed by eugenicists like Lewis Terman who explicitly was <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Mismeasure-Man-Stephen-Jay-Gould/dp/0393314251/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/102-6666269-7668142?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1194908352&sr=1-1" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">trying to justify a racial hierarchy</a>. I’ve <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2016/04/05/standardized-tests-have-always-been-about-keeping-people-in-their-place/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">written in detail about how in the 1920s and 30s these pseudoscientists </a>tried to rationalize the idea that white Europeans were genetically superior to other races based on test scores.</div>
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Second, even if we put blatant racism to one side, the theory is built on a flawed and outmoded conception of the human mind – Behaviorism. One of the pioneers of the practice was <a href="https://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/1999/06/16/40pioneers.h18.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">Edward Thorndike</a>, who used experiments on rats going through mazes as the foundation of standardized testing.</div>
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This is all good for Mickey and Minnie Mouse, but human beings are much more complicated than that.</div>
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The <a href="http://www.jimpryor.net/teaching/courses/mind/notes/behaviorism.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">idea goes like this</a> – all learning is a combination of stimulus and response. Teaching and learning follow an input-output model where the student acquires information through practice and repetition.</div>
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This was innovative stuff when B. F. Skinner was writing in the 20th Century. But <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2017/11/25/the-staggering-naivety-of-those-criticizing-public-schools-as-out-of-date/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">we live in the 21st.</a></div>
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We now know that there are <a href="https://www.enotes.com/homework-help/discuss-chomskys-argument-against-behavourist-370793" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">various complex factors </a>that come into play during learning – bio-psychological, developmental and neural processes. When these are aligned to undergo pattern recognition and information processing, people learn. When they aren’t, people don’t learn.</div>
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However, these factors are much too complicated to be captured in a standardized assessment.</div>
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As Noam Chomsky wrote in his classic article <a href="https://chomsky.info/1967____/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">“A Review of B. F. Skinner’s Verbal Behavior,” </a>this theory fails to recognize much needed variables in development, intellectual adeptness, motivation, and skill application. It is impossible to make human behavior entirely predictable due to its inherent cognitive complexity.</div>
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IMPLICATIONS</h2>
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So we’re left with the <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2017/07/11/the-problem-with-public-schools-isnt-low-test-scores-its-strategic-disinvestment/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">continued use of widespread standardized testing attached to high stakes for students, schools and teachers</a>.</div>
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And none of it has a sound rational basis.</div>
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It is far from objective. It is merely consistent. Therefore it is useless for accountability purposes as well.</div>
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<a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2018/05/04/grades-and-test-scores-dont-matter-a-love-of-learning-does/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">Since children from different socioeconomic groups have such varying experiences, it is unfair</a>.</div>
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Demanding everyone to meet the same measure is <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2016/03/11/less-resources-harder-tests-common-core-in-the-last-days-of-obama/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">unjust if everyone isn’t given the same resources and advantages from the start</a>. And that’s before we even recognize that what it consistently shows isn’t learning.</div>
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The assumption that other measures of academic success are inferior has <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2016/04/08/high-stakes-testing-holds-the-most-powerful-the-least-accountable/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">obscured these truths.</a> While quantifications like classroom grades are not objective either, <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2018/08/25/no-one-ever-remembered-a-teacher-for-raising-standardized-test-scores/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">they are better assessments than standardized tests and produce more valid results.</a></div>
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Given the complexity of the human mind, it takes something just as complex to understand it. <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2016/04/27/school-accountability-without-standardized-testing/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">Far from disparaging educators’ judgement of student performance, we should be encouraging it</a>.</div>
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It is<a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2019/05/07/classroom-teachers-are-the-real-scholastic-experts-not-education-journalists/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;"> the student-teacher relationship which is the most scientific</a>. Educators are embedded with their subjects, observe attempts at learning and <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2018/10/12/teacher-autonomy-an-often-ignored-victim-of-high-stakes-testing/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">can then use empirical data to increase academic success on a student-by-student basis as they go</a>. The fact that these methods will not be identical for all students is not a deficiency. It is the <em style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;">ONLY</span></em> way to meet the needs of diverse and complex humanity – not standardization.</div>
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Thus we see that <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2018/10/05/college-remediation-is-less-about-bad-students-than-academic-elitism/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">the continued use of standardized testing is more a religion – an article of faith – than it is a science</a>.</div>
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Yet this fact is repeatedly ignored by the media and public policymakers because<a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2017/04/08/standardized-testing-creates-captive-markets/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">there has grown up an entire industry around it that makes large profits </a>from <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2018/03/26/testing-corporations-rake-in-cash-while-teachers-sell-plasma-to-survive/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">the inequality it recreates.</a></div>
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In the USA, <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2018/08/29/public-school-is-not-for-profit-it-is-for-children/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">it is the profit principle that rules all</a>. We adjust our “science” to <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2018/02/19/economists-dont-know-crap-about-education/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">fit into our economic fictions</a> just as test makers require students to adjust their answers to the way corporate cronies think.</div>
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In a land that truly was brave and free, we’d allow our children freedom of thought and not punish them for cogitating outside the bubbles.</div>
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<em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Like this post? I’ve written a book, <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Gadfly-Wall-Public-School-Teacher/dp/1942146671/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1511988536&sr=1-1&keywords=gadfly+on+the+wall" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">“Gadfly on the Wall: A Public School Teacher Speaks Out on Racism and Reform,” </a>now available from <a href="https://www.garnpress.com/news/author-steven-singer-gadfly-on-the-wall-a-public-school-teacher-speaks-out-on-racism-and-reform" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">Garn Press</a>. Ten percent of the proceeds go to the <a href="http://www.badassteacher.org/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">Badass Teachers Association</a>. Check it out!</em></div>
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BadassTeacher Associationhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06249079678877556839noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3410387772840321888.post-5148962179830309582019-06-25T12:24:00.003-04:002019-06-25T12:24:49.142-04:00The Last Day of School by Steven SingerOriginally posted at: <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2019/06/23/the-last-day-of-school/?fbclid=IwAR01QMlmXWHUywg09kM-X-T8DqntknAAATXtZoNXv7pneiY0h7HVFD-lMNs">https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2019/06/23/the-last-day-of-school/?fbclid=IwAR01QMlmXWHUywg09kM-X-T8DqntknAAATXtZoNXv7pneiY0h7HVFD-lMNs</a><br />
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On the last day of school this year, my 8th grade students gave me one of the greatest salutes a teacher can get.</div>
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They reenacted the closing scene of <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j64SctPKmqk" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">“The Dead Poets Society.”</a></div>
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You know. The one where Robin Williams’ Mr. Keating has been fired from a boarding school for teaching his students to embrace life, and as he collects his things and leaves, the students get up on their desks as a testament to his impact and as a protest to the current administration’s <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2019/04/05/standardized-testing-is-a-tool-of-white-supremacy/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">reductive standardization</a>.</div>
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That’s what my students did for me. And I almost didn’t even notice it at first.</div>
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The whole thing went down like this.</div>
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<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />The bell rang and an announcement was made telling us that the day was done.</div>
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<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />I was immediately rushed by a crowd of children <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2017/08/23/who-is-responsible-for-student-achievement/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">turning in final projects</a>, shaking my hand, saying goodbye.</div>
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<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />In fact, I was so occupied with the students right in front of me that I didn’t notice what was happening with the ones just behind them.</div>
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<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />I heard someone say in a ringing voice, “Oh Captain, my Captain!”</div>
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<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />I looked up and there they were.</div>
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<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />About a dozen students were standing on their desks, looking down at me with big goofy grins.</div>
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Some had their hands on their hearts. One had raised his fist in the air. I think someone in the back was even making jazz hands. But they were each standing up there with the same look on their faces – a mixture of independence, humor and gratitude.</div>
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It shouldn’t have come as a surprise that this happened. Some of them had threatened months ago to make just such a demonstration.</div>
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<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />We had watched the movie together back in April at the introduction of our poetry unit. I guess it was my way of trying to show them that poetry could make a deep impact on people. But I certainly hadn’t wanted them to put themselves at risk by standing on the furniture.</div>
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In fact, I had specifically cautioned them <em style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;">NOT</span></em> to do this exact thing because someone might fall off their desk and hurt themselves.</div>
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But on the last day of school after the last bell has rung and my tenure as their teacher has expired – well, things are different then.</div>
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“Thank you,” I said. “That is really one of the nicest things students have ever done for me.”</div>
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Then I took out my phone and asked if I could snap a few pictures, because who’d ever believe me if I didn’t? They didn’t mind.</div>
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<img alt="thumbnail_IMG_8835" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-11973" data-attachment-id="11973" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-description="" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="thumbnail_IMG_8835" data-large-file="https://gadflyonthewallblog.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/thumbnail_img_8835.jpg?w=700" data-medium-file="https://gadflyonthewallblog.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/thumbnail_img_8835.jpg?w=300" data-orig-file="https://gadflyonthewallblog.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/thumbnail_img_8835.jpg" data-orig-size="1280,960" data-permalink="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2019/06/23/the-last-day-of-school/thumbnail_img_8835/#main" sizes="(max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px" src="https://gadflyonthewallblog.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/thumbnail_img_8835.jpg?w=700" srcset="https://gadflyonthewallblog.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/thumbnail_img_8835.jpg?w=700 700w, https://gadflyonthewallblog.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/thumbnail_img_8835.jpg?w=150 150w, https://gadflyonthewallblog.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/thumbnail_img_8835.jpg?w=300 300w, https://gadflyonthewallblog.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/thumbnail_img_8835.jpg?w=768 768w, https://gadflyonthewallblog.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/thumbnail_img_8835.jpg?w=1024 1024w, https://gadflyonthewallblog.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/thumbnail_img_8835.jpg 1280w" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; height: auto; max-width: 100%; vertical-align: middle;" /><img alt="thumbnail_IMG_8830" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-11974" data-attachment-id="11974" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-description="" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="thumbnail_IMG_8830" data-large-file="https://gadflyonthewallblog.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/thumbnail_img_8830.jpg?w=700" data-medium-file="https://gadflyonthewallblog.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/thumbnail_img_8830.jpg?w=300" data-orig-file="https://gadflyonthewallblog.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/thumbnail_img_8830.jpg" data-orig-size="1280,960" data-permalink="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2019/06/23/the-last-day-of-school/thumbnail_img_8830/#main" sizes="(max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px" src="https://gadflyonthewallblog.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/thumbnail_img_8830.jpg?w=700" srcset="https://gadflyonthewallblog.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/thumbnail_img_8830.jpg?w=700 700w, https://gadflyonthewallblog.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/thumbnail_img_8830.jpg?w=150 150w, https://gadflyonthewallblog.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/thumbnail_img_8830.jpg?w=300 300w, https://gadflyonthewallblog.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/thumbnail_img_8830.jpg?w=768 768w, https://gadflyonthewallblog.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/thumbnail_img_8830.jpg?w=1024 1024w, https://gadflyonthewallblog.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/thumbnail_img_8830.jpg 1280w" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; height: auto; max-width: 100%; vertical-align: middle;" /><img alt="thumbnail_IMG_8832" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-11975" data-attachment-id="11975" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-description="" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="thumbnail_IMG_8832" data-large-file="https://gadflyonthewallblog.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/thumbnail_img_8832.jpg?w=700" data-medium-file="https://gadflyonthewallblog.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/thumbnail_img_8832.jpg?w=300" data-orig-file="https://gadflyonthewallblog.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/thumbnail_img_8832.jpg" data-orig-size="1280,960" data-permalink="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2019/06/23/the-last-day-of-school/thumbnail_img_8832/#main" sizes="(max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px" src="https://gadflyonthewallblog.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/thumbnail_img_8832.jpg?w=700" srcset="https://gadflyonthewallblog.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/thumbnail_img_8832.jpg?w=700 700w, https://gadflyonthewallblog.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/thumbnail_img_8832.jpg?w=150 150w, https://gadflyonthewallblog.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/thumbnail_img_8832.jpg?w=300 300w, https://gadflyonthewallblog.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/thumbnail_img_8832.jpg?w=768 768w, https://gadflyonthewallblog.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/thumbnail_img_8832.jpg?w=1024 1024w, https://gadflyonthewallblog.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/thumbnail_img_8832.jpg 1280w" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; height: auto; max-width: 100%; vertical-align: middle;" /></div>
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When I was done, they hopped down one at a time, many of them rushing forward to give me a hug.</div>
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This class will always be a special one in my heart.</div>
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We’ve come a long way together.</div>
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For most of them, <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2018/08/25/no-one-ever-remembered-a-teacher-for-raising-standardized-test-scores/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">I was their language arts teacher for two years</a>. When they first came in the classroom they were just babies. Now they are going off to high school.</div>
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Unless you’re a parent, you wouldn’t believe how much kids can grow and change in just a few short years. And the middle school years are some of the most extreme. The line between child and adult fades into nothingness.</div>
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I’ve had a handful of children who were enrolled in my classes for multiple years before, but I’d never had so many. In some ways, we were more like a family than a classroom.</div>
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I had been there when parents got sick, left, died. I knew them all so well – who would ask questions just to stall, who never got enough sleep and why (often <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2018/03/06/when-students-stay-up-all-night-playing-fortnite-and-youve-got-to-teach-them-in-the-morning/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">Fortnite</a>), which ones had athletic aspirations, which were incredible artists, etc. Some had come out of the closet to me and their classmates but not at home.</div>
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Many of us went on <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2019/06/10/school-field-trip-turns-into-a-tour-of-our-nations-unhealed-scars/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">a school field trip to Washington, DC,</a> together. We’d toured the <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2019/04/11/the-diary-of-anne-frank-has-never-been-more-important-than-it-is-today/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">Holocaust Museum</a> and Arlington National Cemetery. When I was <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b2YrLrbIqns" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">invited to do a TED talk</a>, they tracked it down on YouTube. They even found <a href="https://twitter.com/StevenSinger3" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">my Twitter account</a> and made merciless fun of my profile picture. And when I actually had <a href="https://www.garnpress.com/news/5-star-book-reviews-for-gadfly-on-the-wall-a-public-school-teacher-speaks-out-on-racism-and-reform" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">my book published</a> on education issues last year, a bunch of my kids even <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2018/02/24/gadfly-on-the-road-reflections-on-my-first-book-signing/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">came out to hear me talk about it at local book stores</a>.</div>
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It’s hard to explain the depth of the relationship.</div>
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At the end of the year, <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2018/06/14/he-was-kind-my-students-describe-what-im-like-as-a-teacher/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">I always give my students a survey</a> to gauge <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2018/08/06/top-10-reasons-you-cant-fairly-evaluate-teachers-on-student-test-scores/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">how they think I did as their teacher</a>. It’s not graded, and they can even turn it in anonymously.</div>
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The results are almost always positive, but this year, I got responses like never before:</div>
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“I love you, Mr. Singer. Thanks for a great 2 years. I will terribly miss you.”</div>
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<img alt="thumbnail_IMG_8849" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-11960" data-attachment-id="11960" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-description="" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="thumbnail_IMG_8849" data-large-file="https://gadflyonthewallblog.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/thumbnail_img_8849.jpg?w=700" data-medium-file="https://gadflyonthewallblog.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/thumbnail_img_8849.jpg?w=300" data-orig-file="https://gadflyonthewallblog.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/thumbnail_img_8849.jpg" data-orig-size="1280,436" data-permalink="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2019/06/23/the-last-day-of-school/thumbnail_img_8849/#main" sizes="(max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px" src="https://gadflyonthewallblog.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/thumbnail_img_8849.jpg?w=700" srcset="https://gadflyonthewallblog.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/thumbnail_img_8849.jpg?w=700 700w, https://gadflyonthewallblog.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/thumbnail_img_8849.jpg?w=150 150w, https://gadflyonthewallblog.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/thumbnail_img_8849.jpg?w=300 300w, https://gadflyonthewallblog.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/thumbnail_img_8849.jpg?w=768 768w, https://gadflyonthewallblog.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/thumbnail_img_8849.jpg?w=1024 1024w, https://gadflyonthewallblog.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/thumbnail_img_8849.jpg 1280w" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; height: auto; max-width: 100%; vertical-align: middle;" /></div>
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“I’ve never been bored here. You are the first teacher that made me want to go to their class and has been one of my favorites.”</div>
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<img alt="thumbnail_IMG_8847" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-11966" data-attachment-id="11966" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-description="" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="thumbnail_IMG_8847" data-large-file="https://gadflyonthewallblog.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/thumbnail_img_8847.jpg?w=700" data-medium-file="https://gadflyonthewallblog.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/thumbnail_img_8847.jpg?w=300" data-orig-file="https://gadflyonthewallblog.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/thumbnail_img_8847.jpg" data-orig-size="1280,765" data-permalink="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2019/06/23/the-last-day-of-school/thumbnail_img_8847/#main" sizes="(max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px" src="https://gadflyonthewallblog.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/thumbnail_img_8847.jpg?w=700" srcset="https://gadflyonthewallblog.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/thumbnail_img_8847.jpg?w=700 700w, https://gadflyonthewallblog.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/thumbnail_img_8847.jpg?w=150 150w, https://gadflyonthewallblog.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/thumbnail_img_8847.jpg?w=300 300w, https://gadflyonthewallblog.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/thumbnail_img_8847.jpg?w=768 768w, https://gadflyonthewallblog.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/thumbnail_img_8847.jpg?w=1024 1024w, https://gadflyonthewallblog.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/thumbnail_img_8847.jpg 1280w" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; height: auto; max-width: 100%; vertical-align: middle;" /></div>
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<div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em;">
“He stayed cool as a cucumber and was never angry… Basically the greatest teacher I’ve had all year.”</div>
<div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em;">
<br /></div>
</blockquote>
<div style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444; font-family: "Gentium Basic", Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 20px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em;">
<img alt="thumbnail_IMG_8846" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-11965" data-attachment-id="11965" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-description="" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="thumbnail_IMG_8846" data-large-file="https://gadflyonthewallblog.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/thumbnail_img_8846.jpg?w=700" data-medium-file="https://gadflyonthewallblog.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/thumbnail_img_8846.jpg?w=300" data-orig-file="https://gadflyonthewallblog.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/thumbnail_img_8846.jpg" data-orig-size="1280,806" data-permalink="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2019/06/23/the-last-day-of-school/thumbnail_img_8846/#main" sizes="(max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px" src="https://gadflyonthewallblog.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/thumbnail_img_8846.jpg?w=700" srcset="https://gadflyonthewallblog.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/thumbnail_img_8846.jpg?w=700 700w, https://gadflyonthewallblog.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/thumbnail_img_8846.jpg?w=150 150w, https://gadflyonthewallblog.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/thumbnail_img_8846.jpg?w=300 300w, https://gadflyonthewallblog.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/thumbnail_img_8846.jpg?w=768 768w, https://gadflyonthewallblog.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/thumbnail_img_8846.jpg?w=1024 1024w, https://gadflyonthewallblog.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/thumbnail_img_8846.jpg 1280w" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; height: auto; max-width: 100%; vertical-align: middle;" /></div>
<blockquote style="background-color: white; border-left: 5px solid rgb(31, 86, 125); box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444; font-family: "Gentium Basic", Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 20px; margin: 0px 0px 30px; padding: 15px 30px;">
<div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em;">
He was “fair to all students.”</div>
<div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em;">
<br /></div>
</blockquote>
<div style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444; font-family: "Gentium Basic", Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 20px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em;">
<img alt="thumbnail_IMG_8845" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-11964" data-attachment-id="11964" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-description="" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="thumbnail_IMG_8845" data-large-file="https://gadflyonthewallblog.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/thumbnail_img_8845.jpg?w=700" data-medium-file="https://gadflyonthewallblog.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/thumbnail_img_8845.jpg?w=300" data-orig-file="https://gadflyonthewallblog.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/thumbnail_img_8845.jpg" data-orig-size="1280,311" data-permalink="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2019/06/23/the-last-day-of-school/thumbnail_img_8845/#main" sizes="(max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px" src="https://gadflyonthewallblog.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/thumbnail_img_8845.jpg?w=700" srcset="https://gadflyonthewallblog.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/thumbnail_img_8845.jpg?w=700 700w, https://gadflyonthewallblog.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/thumbnail_img_8845.jpg?w=150 150w, https://gadflyonthewallblog.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/thumbnail_img_8845.jpg?w=300 300w, https://gadflyonthewallblog.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/thumbnail_img_8845.jpg?w=768 768w, https://gadflyonthewallblog.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/thumbnail_img_8845.jpg?w=1024 1024w, https://gadflyonthewallblog.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/thumbnail_img_8845.jpg 1280w" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; height: auto; max-width: 100%; vertical-align: middle;" /></div>
<blockquote style="background-color: white; border-left: 5px solid rgb(31, 86, 125); box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444; font-family: "Gentium Basic", Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 20px; margin: 0px 0px 30px; padding: 15px 30px;">
<div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em;">
“He was more inclusive to many different groups.”</div>
<div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em;">
<br /></div>
</blockquote>
<div style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444; font-family: "Gentium Basic", Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 20px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em;">
<img alt="thumbnail_IMG_8844" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-11963" data-attachment-id="11963" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-description="" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="thumbnail_IMG_8844" data-large-file="https://gadflyonthewallblog.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/thumbnail_img_8844.jpg?w=700" data-medium-file="https://gadflyonthewallblog.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/thumbnail_img_8844.jpg?w=300" data-orig-file="https://gadflyonthewallblog.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/thumbnail_img_8844.jpg" data-orig-size="1280,250" data-permalink="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2019/06/23/the-last-day-of-school/thumbnail_img_8844/#main" sizes="(max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px" src="https://gadflyonthewallblog.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/thumbnail_img_8844.jpg?w=700" srcset="https://gadflyonthewallblog.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/thumbnail_img_8844.jpg?w=700 700w, https://gadflyonthewallblog.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/thumbnail_img_8844.jpg?w=150 150w, https://gadflyonthewallblog.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/thumbnail_img_8844.jpg?w=300 300w, https://gadflyonthewallblog.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/thumbnail_img_8844.jpg?w=768 768w, https://gadflyonthewallblog.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/thumbnail_img_8844.jpg?w=1024 1024w, https://gadflyonthewallblog.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/thumbnail_img_8844.jpg 1280w" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; height: auto; max-width: 100%; vertical-align: middle;" /></div>
<blockquote style="background-color: white; border-left: 5px solid rgb(31, 86, 125); box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444; font-family: "Gentium Basic", Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 20px; margin: 0px 0px 30px; padding: 15px 30px;">
<div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em;">
“He made sure I didn’t fool around. He let me hand in my work late. He was always very kind and he cares about us. He shows us that he cares about how we feel. He made sure everything was fair.”</div>
<div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em;">
<br /></div>
</blockquote>
<div style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444; font-family: "Gentium Basic", Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 20px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em;">
<img alt="thumbnail_IMG_8843" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-11962" data-attachment-id="11962" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-description="" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="thumbnail_IMG_8843" data-large-file="https://gadflyonthewallblog.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/thumbnail_img_8843.jpg?w=700" data-medium-file="https://gadflyonthewallblog.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/thumbnail_img_8843.jpg?w=300" data-orig-file="https://gadflyonthewallblog.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/thumbnail_img_8843.jpg" data-orig-size="1280,518" data-permalink="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2019/06/23/the-last-day-of-school/thumbnail_img_8843/#main" sizes="(max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px" src="https://gadflyonthewallblog.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/thumbnail_img_8843.jpg?w=700" srcset="https://gadflyonthewallblog.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/thumbnail_img_8843.jpg?w=700 700w, https://gadflyonthewallblog.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/thumbnail_img_8843.jpg?w=150 150w, https://gadflyonthewallblog.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/thumbnail_img_8843.jpg?w=300 300w, https://gadflyonthewallblog.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/thumbnail_img_8843.jpg?w=768 768w, https://gadflyonthewallblog.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/thumbnail_img_8843.jpg?w=1024 1024w, https://gadflyonthewallblog.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/thumbnail_img_8843.jpg 1280w" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; height: auto; max-width: 100%; vertical-align: middle;" /></div>
<blockquote style="background-color: white; border-left: 5px solid rgb(31, 86, 125); box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444; font-family: "Gentium Basic", Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 20px; margin: 0px 0px 30px; padding: 15px 30px;">
<div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em;">
“He breaks things down A LOT better than other teachers. He’s a very nice person. I like the way he teaches.”</div>
<div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em;">
<br /></div>
</blockquote>
<div style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444; font-family: "Gentium Basic", Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 20px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em;">
<img alt="thumbnail_IMG_8842" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-11961" data-attachment-id="11961" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-description="" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="thumbnail_IMG_8842" data-large-file="https://gadflyonthewallblog.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/thumbnail_img_8842.jpg?w=700" data-medium-file="https://gadflyonthewallblog.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/thumbnail_img_8842.jpg?w=300" data-orig-file="https://gadflyonthewallblog.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/thumbnail_img_8842.jpg" data-orig-size="1280,373" data-permalink="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2019/06/23/the-last-day-of-school/thumbnail_img_8842/#main" sizes="(max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px" src="https://gadflyonthewallblog.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/thumbnail_img_8842.jpg?w=700" srcset="https://gadflyonthewallblog.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/thumbnail_img_8842.jpg?w=700 700w, https://gadflyonthewallblog.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/thumbnail_img_8842.jpg?w=150 150w, https://gadflyonthewallblog.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/thumbnail_img_8842.jpg?w=300 300w, https://gadflyonthewallblog.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/thumbnail_img_8842.jpg?w=768 768w, https://gadflyonthewallblog.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/thumbnail_img_8842.jpg?w=1024 1024w, https://gadflyonthewallblog.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/thumbnail_img_8842.jpg 1280w" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; height: auto; max-width: 100%; vertical-align: middle;" /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444; font-family: "Gentium Basic", Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 20px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em;">
<br /></div>
<blockquote style="background-color: white; border-left: 5px solid rgb(31, 86, 125); box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444; font-family: "Gentium Basic", Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 20px; margin: 0px 0px 30px; padding: 15px 30px;">
<div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em;">
“Mr. Singer did well to motivate us and help us to succeed and get a better grade.”</div>
</blockquote>
<div style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444; font-family: "Gentium Basic", Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 20px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444; font-family: "Gentium Basic", Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 20px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em;">
<img alt="thumbnail_IMG_8841" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-11968" data-attachment-id="11968" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-description="" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="thumbnail_IMG_8841" data-large-file="https://gadflyonthewallblog.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/thumbnail_img_8841.jpg?w=700" data-medium-file="https://gadflyonthewallblog.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/thumbnail_img_8841.jpg?w=300" data-orig-file="https://gadflyonthewallblog.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/thumbnail_img_8841.jpg" data-orig-size="1280,350" data-permalink="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2019/06/23/the-last-day-of-school/thumbnail_img_8841/#main" sizes="(max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px" src="https://gadflyonthewallblog.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/thumbnail_img_8841.jpg?w=700" srcset="https://gadflyonthewallblog.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/thumbnail_img_8841.jpg?w=700 700w, https://gadflyonthewallblog.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/thumbnail_img_8841.jpg?w=150 150w, https://gadflyonthewallblog.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/thumbnail_img_8841.jpg?w=300 300w, https://gadflyonthewallblog.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/thumbnail_img_8841.jpg?w=768 768w, https://gadflyonthewallblog.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/thumbnail_img_8841.jpg?w=1024 1024w, https://gadflyonthewallblog.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/thumbnail_img_8841.jpg 1280w" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; height: auto; max-width: 100%; vertical-align: middle;" /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444; font-family: "Gentium Basic", Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 20px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em;">
<br /></div>
<blockquote style="background-color: white; border-left: 5px solid rgb(31, 86, 125); box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444; font-family: "Gentium Basic", Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 20px; margin: 0px 0px 30px; padding: 15px 30px;">
<div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em;">
“He explained things better than other teachers.”</div>
</blockquote>
<div style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444; font-family: "Gentium Basic", Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 20px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444; font-family: "Gentium Basic", Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 20px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em;">
<img alt="thumbnail_IMG_8840" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-11969" data-attachment-id="11969" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-description="" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="thumbnail_IMG_8840" data-large-file="https://gadflyonthewallblog.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/thumbnail_img_8840.jpg?w=700" data-medium-file="https://gadflyonthewallblog.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/thumbnail_img_8840.jpg?w=300" data-orig-file="https://gadflyonthewallblog.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/thumbnail_img_8840.jpg" data-orig-size="1280,345" data-permalink="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2019/06/23/the-last-day-of-school/thumbnail_img_8840/#main" sizes="(max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px" src="https://gadflyonthewallblog.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/thumbnail_img_8840.jpg?w=700" srcset="https://gadflyonthewallblog.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/thumbnail_img_8840.jpg?w=700 700w, https://gadflyonthewallblog.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/thumbnail_img_8840.jpg?w=150 150w, https://gadflyonthewallblog.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/thumbnail_img_8840.jpg?w=300 300w, https://gadflyonthewallblog.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/thumbnail_img_8840.jpg?w=768 768w, https://gadflyonthewallblog.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/thumbnail_img_8840.jpg?w=1024 1024w, https://gadflyonthewallblog.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/thumbnail_img_8840.jpg 1280w" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; height: auto; max-width: 100%; vertical-align: middle;" /></div>
<blockquote style="background-color: white; border-left: 5px solid rgb(31, 86, 125); box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444; font-family: "Gentium Basic", Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 20px; margin: 0px 0px 30px; padding: 15px 30px;">
<div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em;">
“He helped me mentally and physically to be ready for the PSSAs. Also he gave us good books to read and not bad ones such as “The Outsiders,” “The Diary of Anne Frank,” and “To Kill a Mockingbird.” Also you taught me a lot these past 2 years to be ready for high school.”</div>
</blockquote>
<div style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444; font-family: "Gentium Basic", Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 20px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444; font-family: "Gentium Basic", Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 20px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em;">
<img alt="thumbnail_IMG_8839" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-11970" data-attachment-id="11970" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-description="" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="thumbnail_IMG_8839" data-large-file="https://gadflyonthewallblog.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/thumbnail_img_8839.jpg?w=700" data-medium-file="https://gadflyonthewallblog.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/thumbnail_img_8839.jpg?w=300" data-orig-file="https://gadflyonthewallblog.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/thumbnail_img_8839.jpg" data-orig-size="1280,619" data-permalink="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2019/06/23/the-last-day-of-school/thumbnail_img_8839/#main" sizes="(max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px" src="https://gadflyonthewallblog.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/thumbnail_img_8839.jpg?w=700" srcset="https://gadflyonthewallblog.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/thumbnail_img_8839.jpg?w=700 700w, https://gadflyonthewallblog.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/thumbnail_img_8839.jpg?w=150 150w, https://gadflyonthewallblog.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/thumbnail_img_8839.jpg?w=300 300w, https://gadflyonthewallblog.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/thumbnail_img_8839.jpg?w=768 768w, https://gadflyonthewallblog.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/thumbnail_img_8839.jpg?w=1024 1024w, https://gadflyonthewallblog.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/thumbnail_img_8839.jpg 1280w" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; height: auto; max-width: 100%; vertical-align: middle;" /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444; font-family: "Gentium Basic", Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 20px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em;">
<br /></div>
<blockquote style="background-color: white; border-left: 5px solid rgb(31, 86, 125); box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444; font-family: "Gentium Basic", Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 20px; margin: 0px 0px 30px; padding: 15px 30px;">
<div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em;">
“To be absolutely honest, I don’t think my teacher needs to improve. He actually has done more than the rest of my teachers.”</div>
</blockquote>
<div style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444; font-family: "Gentium Basic", Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 20px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444; font-family: "Gentium Basic", Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 20px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em;">
<img alt="thumbnail_IMG_8838" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-11971" data-attachment-id="11971" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-description="" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="thumbnail_IMG_8838" data-large-file="https://gadflyonthewallblog.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/thumbnail_img_8838.jpg?w=700" data-medium-file="https://gadflyonthewallblog.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/thumbnail_img_8838.jpg?w=300" data-orig-file="https://gadflyonthewallblog.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/thumbnail_img_8838.jpg" data-orig-size="1280,473" data-permalink="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2019/06/23/the-last-day-of-school/thumbnail_img_8838/#main" sizes="(max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px" src="https://gadflyonthewallblog.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/thumbnail_img_8838.jpg?w=700" srcset="https://gadflyonthewallblog.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/thumbnail_img_8838.jpg?w=700 700w, https://gadflyonthewallblog.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/thumbnail_img_8838.jpg?w=150 150w, https://gadflyonthewallblog.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/thumbnail_img_8838.jpg?w=300 300w, https://gadflyonthewallblog.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/thumbnail_img_8838.jpg?w=768 768w, https://gadflyonthewallblog.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/thumbnail_img_8838.jpg?w=1024 1024w, https://gadflyonthewallblog.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/thumbnail_img_8838.jpg 1280w" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; height: auto; max-width: 100%; vertical-align: middle;" /></div>
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“Well he encouraged me to succeed more in his class and in life as well. He also taught me that the meaning of life is not how you take it but where you go with it. I’m thankful that he taught me more than the history my actual history teacher taught me. He also told me the truth of our history. He talked about the parts no one else would talk about.”</div>
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I’m not sure there’s much to say beyond that.</div>
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As these now former students reluctantly walked away in ones or twos, a few stayed behind.</div>
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I did a lot of reassuring that 9th grade would be great and that I’d probably be right here if they needed me.</div>
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I overheard one girl say to another that a certain teacher was good but not “Mr. Singer good.” I thanked her and she blushed because I wasn’t supposed to hear that.</div>
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There were tears. Some of them shed by me.</div>
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But when the last student left, I remained at my desk surrounded by a hum of fluorescent lights and ear numbing silence.</div>
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There is no emptiness like that of a space that has just been filled – a space that cries out for more.</div>
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My classroom is like that. <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2017/09/01/why-i-teach/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">And so is my heart</a>.</div>
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Don’t get me wrong. <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2016/06/21/summer-break-the-least-understood-and-most-maligned-aspect-of-a-teachers-life/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">I need this summer break to recover</a>.</div>
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But I also need the end of August, when a new group of students will come rushing through those doors.</div>
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Here’s looking forward to the first day of school.</div>
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<em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Like this post? I’ve written a book, <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Gadfly-Wall-Public-School-Teacher/dp/1942146671/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1511988536&sr=1-1&keywords=gadfly+on+the+wall" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">“Gadfly on the Wall: A Public School Teacher Speaks Out on Racism and Reform,” </a>now available from <a href="https://www.garnpress.com/news/author-steven-singer-gadfly-on-the-wall-a-public-school-teacher-speaks-out-on-racism-and-reform" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">Garn Press</a>. Ten percent of the proceeds go to the <a href="http://www.badassteacher.org/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">Badass Teachers Association</a>. Check it out!</em></div>
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Denisha Joneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12543776198792619814noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3410387772840321888.post-20170404563002522782019-06-25T12:23:00.000-04:002019-06-25T12:23:06.162-04:00Top 10 Reasons Bernie Sanders’ Education Policies Are Light Years Ahead of Everyone Else’s by Steven SingerOriginally posted at: <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2019/06/19/top-10-reasons-bernie-sanders-education-policies-are-light-years-ahead-of-everyone-elses/?fbclid=IwAR2M4n8ac_fh18_sJpkqwQmk41OVNn2p-wjThZIVF7KHVRFVLtyTavfHcl0">https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2019/06/19/top-10-reasons-bernie-sanders-education-policies-are-light-years-ahead-of-everyone-elses/?fbclid=IwAR2M4n8ac_fh18_sJpkqwQmk41OVNn2p-wjThZIVF7KHVRFVLtyTavfHcl0</a><br />
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For most of my life, the United States has been neglecting its public school children – especially the black and brown ones.</div>
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<a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2017/07/05/where-did-all-the-integrated-schools-go-why-segregation-is-still-bad/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">Since the mid 1970s</a>, instead of integrating our schools, we’ve been slowly resegregating them on the basis of race and social class.</div>
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<a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2019/04/05/standardized-testing-is-a-tool-of-white-supremacy/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">Since the 1980s</a>, instead of measuring academic success by the satisfaction of an individuals curiosity and authentic learning, we’ve been slowly redefining it to mean nothing but achievement on standardized tests.</div>
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<a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2017/01/09/school-privatization-turns-business-into-predator-and-students-into-prey/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">And since the 1990s</a>, instead of making sure our schools meet the needs of all students, we’ve been slowly allowing charter schools to infect our system of authentic public education so that business interests are education’s organizing principle.</div>
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But now, for the first time in at least 60 years, a mainstream political candidate running for President has had the courage to go another way.</div>
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And that person is <a href="https://truthout.org/articles/bernie-sanders-unveils-a-10-point-plan-to-overhaul-public-education/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">Bernie Sanders</a>.</div>
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We didn’t see this with Barack Obama. We didn’t see it with Bill Clinton. We certainly didn’t see it with any Republican Presidents from Reagan to the Bushes to Trump.</div>
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Only <a href="https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=5&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwj1pPm42fTiAhWhxVkKHal3AzAQFjAEegQIBRAB&url=http%3A%2F%2Fblogs.edweek.org%2Fedweek%2Fcampaign-k-12%2F2019%2F05%2Fbernie-sanders-education-plan-teachers-unions-desegregation-win-charter-schools-lose.html&usg=AOvVaw27Ho8CR9xaj7M7V0MBCyP2" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">Sanders in his 2020 campaign</a>. Even among his Democratic rivals for the party’s nomination – Warren, Biden, Harris, Booker and a host of others – he stands apart and unique. Heck! <a href="https://dianeravitch.net/2019/04/12/bernie-sanders-staff-called-me-to-talk-about-education-policy/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">He’s even more progressive today on this issue than he was when he ran in 2015.</a></div>
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It doesn’t take a deep dive into the mass media to find this out. You don’t have to parse disparate comments he made at this rally or in that interview. If you want to know what Bernie thinks about education policy, you can <a href="https://berniesanders.com/a-thurgood-marshall-plan-for-public-education/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">just go on his campaign Website</a> and read all about it.</div>
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The other candidates barely address these issues at all. They may be open about one or even two of them, but to understand where they stand on education in total – especially K-12 schooling – <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2019/06/04/charter-school-lobbyist-introduces-elizabeth-warren-at-rally/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">you have to read the tea leaves of who they’ve selected as an education advisor or what they wrote in decades old books or what offhand comments they made in interviews</a>.</div>
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In almost every regard, only Sanders has the guts to tell you straight out exactly what he thinks. And that’s clear right from the name of his proposal.</div>
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He calls it <a href="https://berniesanders.com/a-thurgood-marshall-plan-for-public-education/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">“A Thurgood Marshall Plan for Public Education.”</a></div>
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Why name his agenda after the first black Supreme Court justice? Because<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thurgood_Marshall" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;"> prior to accepting a nomination to the highest court in the land, Marshall argued several cases before that court including the landmark Brown v. Board of Education</a>. He also founded the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund. Not only did Marshall successfully argue that school segregation violated the equal protection clause of the U.S. Constitution, but he spent his life fighting for civil rights.</div>
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Sanders is the only candidate out there today brave enough to connect those dots. <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2016/10/17/fighting-for-public-schools-means-fighting-against-systemic-racism-united-opt-out-education-and-civil-rights-summit/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">The fight against segregation, high stakes testing and school privatization is a fight for civil rights.</a></div>
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That is clear in nearly every aspect of his plan.</div>
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I’m not saying it’s perfect. He doesn’t go as far as he might in some areas – <a href="http://curmudgucation.blogspot.com/2019/05/bernie-addresses-education-and-it.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">especially against high stakes testing</a>. But his plan is so far advanced of anything anyone else has even considered, it deserves recognition and strong consideration.</div>
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So without further ado, I give you the top 10 reasons <a href="https://www.thenation.com/article/bernie-sanders-public-education-plan/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">Bernie Sanders’ education platform is the most progressive in modern American history</a>:</div>
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1) He Proposes Fighting School Segregation and Racial Discrimination</h2>
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Sanders understands that many of <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2018/01/02/the-different-flavors-of-school-segregation/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">our public schools today are more segregated than they were 65 years ago </a>when Brown v. Board was decided. Only <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2018/08/27/americas-public-school-teachers-are-far-less-racially-and-ethnically-diverse-than-their-students/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">20 percent</a> of our teachers are nonwhite – even in schools that serve a majority of black and brown children. <a href="https://medicine.yale.edu/childstudy/zigler/publications/briefs.aspx" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">Implicit racial bias</a> puts these students at risk of higher suspensions, unfair discipline policies and an early introduction into the criminal justice system through <a href="http://civilrightsdocs.info/pdf/education/School-Discipline-Policy-Brief.pdf" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">the school-to-prison pipeline.</a></div>
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Bernie proposes we increase funding to integrate schools, enforce desegregation orders and appoint federal judges who will support these measures. He wants to triple Title I funding for schools serving poor and minority children and increase funding for English as a Second Language programs. He even suggests racial sensitivity training for teachers and better review of civil rights complaints and discipline policies.</div>
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This could have <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2018/04/13/in-trumps-america-you-no-longer-need-to-pretend-to-be-against-school-segregation/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">an amazingly positive impact on our schools</a>. Imagine a school system where people of all different races, nationalities, sexualities and creeds could meet and get to know one another. It’s harder to be racist and prejudiced adults when as children you learned not to consider people different than you as an other. <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2016/09/01/whats-more-important-fighting-school-segregation-or-protecting-charter-school-profits/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">It’s also harder to withhold funding and opportunities to minority populations when you mix all children together in the same schools.</a></div>
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2) He Would Ban For-Profit Charter Schools</h2>
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This is a case of Bernie just listening to what educators, school directors and civil rights organizations like <a href="https://www.naacp.org/latest/statement-regarding-naacps-resolution-moratorium-charter-schools/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">the NAACP</a> are already saying. <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2019/06/15/charter-schools-will-always-waste-money-because-they-duplicate-services/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">Charter schools are publicly funded but privately operated</a>. Though this differs somewhat from state to state, in general it means that <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2018/09/07/there-is-virtually-no-difference-between-nonprofit-and-for-profit-charter-schools/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">charters don’t have to abide by the same rules as the authentic public schools in the same neighborhoods</a>. They can <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2016/02/09/most-charter-schools-are-public-schools-in-name-only/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">run without an elected school board, have selective enrollment, don’t have to provide the same services for students especially those requiring special education, and they can even cut services for children and pocket the savings as profit.</a></div>
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Moreover, charters increase segregation – <a href="https://www.apnews.com/e9c25534dfd44851a5e56bd57454b4f5" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">17 percent</a> of charter schools are 99 percent minority, compared to 4 percent of traditional public schools.<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />To reverse this trend, Bernie would ban <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2019/05/03/floridas-charter-school-sector-is-real-mess/?utm_term=.b5a35e452814" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">for-profit charter schools</a> and impose a moratorium on federal dollars for charter expansion until a national audit was conducted. That means no more federal funds for new charter schools.</div>
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Moving forward, <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2017/07/27/charter-school-lobby-panics-as-naacp-rejects-for-profit-schools/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">charter schools would have to be more accountable for their actions</a>. They would have to comply with the same rules as authentic public schools, open their records about what happens at these schools, have the same employment practices as at the neighborhood authentic public school, and abide by local union contracts.</div>
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I know. I know. I might have gone a bit further regulating charter schools, myself, <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2018/09/07/there-is-virtually-no-difference-between-nonprofit-and-for-profit-charter-schools/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">especially since the real difference between a for-profit charter school and a non-profit one is often just its tax status</a>. But let’s pause a moment here to consider what he’s actually proposing.</div>
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<a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2018/05/26/the-best-charter-school-cannot-hold-a-candle-to-the-worst-public-school/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">If all charter schools had to actually abide by all these rules, they would almost be the same as authentic public schools</a>. This is almost tantamount to eliminating charter schools unless they can meet the same standards as authentic public schools.</div>
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I think we would find very few that could meet this standard – but those that did could – with financial help – be integrated into the community school system as a productive part of it and not – as too many are now – as parasites.</div>
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Could Bernie as President actually do all of this? Probably not considering that much of charter school law is controlled by the states. But holding the bully pulpit and (with the help of an ascendant Democratic legislature?) the federal purse strings, <a href="https://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/ny-oped-bernie-is-right-on-charter-schools-20190607-7vzqaltbdjchth6z46jxr4nc3e-story.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">he could have a transformative impact on the industry</a>. It would at least change the narrative and the direction these policies have been going. It would provide activists the impetus to make real change in their state legislatures supporting local politicians who likewise back the President’s agenda.</div>
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3) He’d Push for Equitable School Funding</h2>
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Bernie understands that <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2018/09/17/report-us-shortchanged-public-schools-by-hundreds-of-billions-of-dollars-over-decades/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">our public school funding system is a mess</a>. Most schools rely on local property taxes to make up the majority of their funding. State legislatures and the federal government shoulder very little of the financial burden. As a result, <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2015/07/09/do-americans-throw-money-at-their-schools-a-fair-funding-primer/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">schools in rich neighborhoods are well-funded and schools in poor neighborhoods go wanting</a>. This means more opportunities for the already privileged and less for the needy.</div>
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Bernie proposes <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2016/01/13/bernie-sanders-is-right-we-should-federalize-public-school-funding/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">rethinking this ubiquitous connection between property taxes and education</a>, establishing a nationwide minimum that must be allocated for every student, funding initiatives to decrease class size, and supporting the arts, foreign language acquisition and music education.</div>
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Once again, this isn’t something the President can do alone. He needs the support of Congress and state legislatures. But he could have tremendous influence from the Oval Office and even putting this issue on the map would be powerful. We can’t solve problems we don’t talk about – and no one else is really talking much about this. Imagine if the President was talking about it every day on the news.</div>
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4) He’d Provide More Funding for Special Education Students</h2>
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Students with special needs cost more to educate than those without them. <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2017/12/11/betsy-devos-extreme-image-makeover-as-champion-of-special-needs-children/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">More than four decades ago, the federal government made a promise to school districts around the country to fund 40 percent of the cost of special education. It’s never happened</a>. This chronic lack of funding translates to a shortage of special education teachers and physical and speech therapists. Moreover, the turnover rate for these specialists is incredibly high.</div>
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Bernie wants to not only fulfill the age old promise of special education funding but to go beyond it. He proposes the federal government meet half the cost for each special needs student. That, alone, would go a long way to providing financial help to districts and ensuring these children get the extra help they need.</div>
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5) He Wants to Give Teachers a Raise</h2>
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Teachers are flooding out of the classroom <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2017/07/20/the-one-reform-we-never-try-increase-teacher-salary/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">because they often can’t survive on the salaries they’re being paid</a>. Moreover, considering the amount of responsibilities heaped on their shoulders, <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2017/11/19/the-completely-avoidable-teacher-shortage-and-what-to-do-about-it/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">such undervaluing is not only economically untenable, it is psychologically demoralizing and morally unfair</a>. As a result, <a href="http://www.nea.org/tools/17054.htm" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">20 percent</a> of teachers leave the profession within five years – 40 percent more than the historical average.</div>
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Bernie suggests working with states to ensure a minimum starting salary of $60,000 tied to cost of living, years of service, etc. He also wants to protect and expand collective bargaining and tenure, allow teachers to write off at least $500 of expenses for supplies they buy for their classrooms, and end <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2019/02/the-explosion-of-women-teachers/582622/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">gender and racial discrepancies</a> in teacher salaries.</div>
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It’s an ambitious project. <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2019/03/28/sell-your-soul-to-the-testocracy-kamala-harriss-faustian-teacher-raises/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">I criticized Kamala Harris for proposing a more modest teacher pay raise </a>because it wasn’t connected to a broad progressive education platform like Sanders. In short, we’ve heard neoliberal candidates make good suggestions in the past that quickly morphed into faustian bargains like merit pay programs – an initiative that would be entirely out of place among Sanders initiatives.</div>
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In Harris’ case, the devil is in the details. In Sanders, it’s a matter of the totality of the proposal.</div>
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6) He Wants to Expand Summer School and After School Programs</h2>
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It’s no secret that while on summer break students forget some of what they’ve learned during the year and that <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2018/06/29/the-necessity-and-importance-of-teachers/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">summer programs can help reduce this learning loss</a>. Moreover, after school programs provide a similar function throughout the year and help kids not just academically but socially. Children with a safe place to go before parents get home from work avoid risky behaviors and the temptations of the streets. Plus they tend to have better school attendance, better relationships with peers, better social and emotional skills, etc.</div>
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Under the guidance of Betsy Devos, <a href="http://www.afterschoolalliance.org/afterschoolSnack/Afterschool-eliminated-in-Trump-administration-budget_03-11-2019.cfm" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">the Trump administration has proposed cutting such programs </a>by $2 billion. Bernie is suggesting to increase them by $5 billion. It’s as simple as that. Sanders wants to more than double our current investment in summer and after school programs. It’s emblematic of humane and rational treatment of children.</div>
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7) He Wants to Provide Free Meals for All Students Year-Round</h2>
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<a href="https://www.nokidhungry.org/who-we-are/hunger-facts" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">One in six children go hungry in America today</a>. Instead of shaming them with lunch debts and wondering why they have difficulty learning on an empty stomach, Bernie wants to feed them free breakfast, lunch and even snacks. In addition, he doesn’t want to shame them by having the needy be the only ones eligible for these free meals. This program would be open to every child, regardless of parental wealth.</div>
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It’s <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2016/12/09/does-eating-a-free-school-lunch-give-kids-an-empty-soul/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">an initiative that already exists at many Title I schools</a> like the one where I teach and the one where my daughter goes to school. I can say from experience that it is incredibly successful. This goes in the opposite direction of boot strapped conservatives like Paul Ryan who suggested a free meal gives kids an empty soul. Instead, it creates a community of children who know that their society cares about them and will ensure they don’t go hungry.</div>
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That may seem like a small thing to some, but to a hungry child it can make all the difference.</div>
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8) He Wants to Transform all Schools into Community Schools</h2>
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This is a beautiful model of exactly what public education should be.</div>
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Schools <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2017/01/04/why-schools-should-not-be-run-like-businesses/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">shouldn’t be businesses run to make a profit</a> for investors. They <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2019/03/16/whos-afraid-of-public-schools/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">should be the beating heart of the communities they serve</a>. Bernie thinks all schools should be made in this image and provide medical care, dental services, mental health resources, and substance abuse prevention. They should furnish programs for adults as well as students including job training, continuing education, art spaces, English language classes and places to get your GED.<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />Many schools already do this. Instead of eliminating funding for these types of schools as the Trump administration has suggested, Bernie proposes providing an additional $5 billion in annual funding for them.</div>
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9) He Would Fix Crumbling Schools</h2>
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<a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2017/01/21/trump-says-our-schools-are-flush-with-cash-theyre-falling-apart/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">America’s schools, just like her roads and bridges, are falling into disrepair</a>. <a href="https://mobile.edweek.org/c.jsp?cid=25919971&bcid=25919971&rssid=25919961&item=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.edweek.org%2Fv1%2Few%2F%3Fuuid%3D578D4756-D08B-11E8-9CE8-C606B4743667" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">A 2014 study </a>found that at least 53 percent of the nation’s schools need immediate repair. <a href="https://www.educationsuperhighway.org/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">At least 2.3 million students</a>, mostly in rural communities, attend schools without high-speed internet access. Heating and cooling systems don’t work. Some schools have leaks in their roofs. This is just not acceptable.</div>
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Bernie wants to fix these infrastructure issues while modernizing and making our schools green and welcoming.</div>
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10) He Wants to Ensure All Students are Safe and Included</h2>
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<a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2017/02/23/im-a-public-school-teacher-hands-off-my-trans-students/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">Our LGBTQ students are at increased risk of bullying, self harm and suicide</a>. We need schools where everyone can be safe and accepted for who they are.</div>
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Bernie wants to pass legislation that would explicitly protect the rights of LGBTQ students and protect them from harassment, discrimination and violence. He is also calling for <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2018/06/01/dear-betsy-devos-i-will-never-report-my-students-to-ice/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">protection of immigrant students to ensure that they are not put under surveillance or harassed due to their immigration status</a>. Finally, this project includes <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2019/01/22/children-of-the-gun-how-lax-firearm-legislation-affects-my-students/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">gun violence prevention to make school shootings increasingly unlikely</a>.</div>
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There are a lot of issues that fall under this umbrella, but they are each essential to a 21st Century school. Solutions here are not easy, but it is telling that the Sanders campaign includes them as part of his platform.<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />So there you have it – a truly progressive series of policy proposals for our schools.<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />Not since <a href="https://socialwelfare.library.vcu.edu/programs/education/elementary-and-secondary-education-act-of-1965/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">Lyndon Johnson envisioned the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) </a>has there been a more far reaching and progressive set of education initiatives.</div>
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What About High Stakes Testing?</h2>
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Unfortunately, that also highlights Sanders biggest weakness.</div>
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<a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2015/12/12/much-ado-about-an-enigma-no-one-really-knows-what-impact-the-essa-will-have-on-public-schools/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">Johnson’s signature legislation which had been focused on addressing funding disparities in 1965</a> became <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2016/04/08/high-stakes-testing-holds-the-most-powerful-the-least-accountable/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">under George W. Bush in the 2000s a way of punishing poor schools for low standardized test scores</a>.</div>
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The glaring omission from Sanders plan is anything substantive to do with high stakes testing.</div>
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The Thurgood Marshall plan hardly mentions it at all. In fact, the only place you’ll find testing is <a href="https://berniesanders.com/a-thurgood-marshall-plan-for-public-education/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">in the introduction</a> to illustrate how far American education has fallen behind other countries and in this <a href="https://berniesanders.com/issues/reinvest-in-public-education-and-teachers/?fbclid=IwAR1ANfokleFzT0wGUZc8P20ieBjM6UUINvWPKmXkPShBlk8yH5la_vIRc88" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">somewhat vague condemnation</a>:</div>
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“We must put an end to high-stakes testing and “teaching to the test” so that our students have a more fulfilling educational life and our teachers are afforded professional respect.”</div>
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However, it’s troubling that for once Bernie doesn’t tie a political position with a specific policy. If he wants to “end high-stakes testing,” what exactly is his plan to do so? Where does it fit within his education platform? And why wasn’t it a specific part of the overall plan?</div>
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Thankfully, it is addressed in more detail on <a href="https://feelthebern.org/bernie-sanders-on-education/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">FeelTheBern.org</a> – a Website not officially affiliated with Sanders but created by volunteers to spread his policy positions.</div>
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After giving a fairly good explanation of the problems with high stakes testing, it references <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2015/08/21/activist-teachers-challenge-sen-bernie-sanders-on-corporate-school-reform/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">this quote from Sanders</a>:</div>
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“I voted against No Child Left Behind in 2001, and continue to oppose the bill’s reliance on high-stakes standardized testing to direct draconian interventions. In my view, No Child Left Behind ignores several important factors in a student’s academic performance, specifically the impact of poverty, access to adequate health care, mental health, nutrition, and a wide variety of supports that children in poverty should have access to. By placing so much emphasis on standardized testing, No Child Left Behind ignores many of the skills and qualities that are vitally important in our 21st century economy, like problem solving, critical thinking, and teamwork, in favor of test preparation that provides no benefit to students after they leave school.”</div>
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The site suggests that Bernie supports more flexibility in how we determine academic success. It references <a href="https://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=114&session=1&vote=00249" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">Sanders 2015 vote</a> for the <a href="https://www.help.senate.gov/imo/media/The_Every_Child_Achieves_Act_of_2015--summary.pdf" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">Every Child Achieves Act </a>which allows for states to create their own accountability systems to assess student performance.</div>
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However, the full impact of this bill has not been as far reaching as advocates claimed it would be. <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2015/12/12/much-ado-about-an-enigma-no-one-really-knows-what-impact-the-essa-will-have-on-public-schools/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">In retrospect, it seems to represent a missed opportunity to curtail high stakes testing </a>more than a workaround of its faults.</div>
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In addition, the site notes the problems with Common Core and while citing Sanders reticence with certain aspects of the project admits that <a href="https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/anti-common-core-amendment-passes-senate-vote" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">he voted in early 2015</a>against an anti-Common Core amendment thereby indicating opposition to its repeal.</div>
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I’ll admit this is disappointing. And perplexing in light of the rest of his education platform.</div>
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It’s like watching a vegan buy all of his veggies at Whole Foods and then start crunching on a slice of bacon, or like a gay rights activist who takes a lunch break at Chick-fil-a.</div>
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My guess is that Sanders hasn’t quite got up to speed on the issue of standardized testing yet. However, I can’t imagine him supporting it because, frankly, it doesn’t fit in with his platform at all.</div>
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One wonders what the purpose of high stakes testing could possibly be in a world where all of his other education goals were fulfilled.</div>
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<a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2015/01/30/why-we-should-have-zero-standardized-tests-in-public-schools%e2%80%a8%e2%80%a8/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">If it were up to me, I’d scrap high stakes testing</a> as a waste of education spending that did next to nothing to show how students or schools were doing. <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2019/03/21/school-accountability-begins-with-the-people-who-make-the-rules-a-code-of-conduct-for-politicians-and-test-makers/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">Real accountability would come from looking at the resources actually provided to schools and what schools did with them</a>. It would result from observing teachers and principals to see what education they actually provided – not some second hand guessing game based on the whims of <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2018/03/26/testing-corporations-rake-in-cash-while-teachers-sell-plasma-to-survive/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">corporations making money on the tests, the grading of the tests and the subsequent remediation materials when students failed</a>.</div>
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For me, the omission of high stakes testing from Sanders platform is acceptable only because of the degree of detail he has already provided in nearly every other aspect. There are few areas of uncertainty here. Unlike any other candidate, we know pretty well where Sanders is going.</div>
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It is way more likely that advocates could get Sanders to take a more progressive and substantial policy stand on this issue than that he would suddenly become a standardized testing champion while opposing everything else in the school privatization handbook.</div>
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Conclusion</h2>
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So there it is.</div>
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Bernie Sanders has put forth the most progressive education plan in more than half a century.</div>
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It’s not perfect, but it’s orders of magnitude better than the plans of even his closest rival.</div>
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This isn’t to say that other candidates might not improve their education projects before the primary election. I hope that happens. Sanders has a knack for moving the conversation further left.</div>
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However, he is so far ahead, I seriously doubt that anyone else will be able to catch him here.</div>
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Who knows what the future will bring, but education advocates have a clear first choice in this race – Bernie Sanders.</div>
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He is the only one offering us a real future we can believe in.</div>
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<em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Like this post? I’ve written a book, <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Gadfly-Wall-Public-School-Teacher/dp/1942146671/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1511988536&sr=1-1&keywords=gadfly+on+the+wall" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">“Gadfly on the Wall: A Public School Teacher Speaks Out on Racism and Reform,” </a>now available from <a href="https://www.garnpress.com/news/author-steven-singer-gadfly-on-the-wall-a-public-school-teacher-speaks-out-on-racism-and-reform" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">Garn Press</a>. Ten percent of the proceeds go to the <a href="http://www.badassteacher.org/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">Badass Teachers Association</a>. Check it out!</em></div>
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<img alt="book-4" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-11133" data-attachment-id="11133" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-description="" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="book-4" data-large-file="https://gadflyonthewallblog.files.wordpress.com/2017/11/book-4.jpg?w=700" data-medium-file="https://gadflyonthewallblog.files.wordpress.com/2017/11/book-4.jpg?w=300" data-orig-file="https://gadflyonthewallblog.files.wordpress.com/2017/11/book-4.jpg" data-orig-size="3000,2000" data-permalink="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2017/11/11/i-wrote-a-book-yeah-i-cant-believe-it-either/book-4/#main" sizes="(max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px" src="https://gadflyonthewallblog.files.wordpress.com/2017/11/book-4.jpg?w=700" srcset="https://gadflyonthewallblog.files.wordpress.com/2017/11/book-4.jpg?w=700 700w, https://gadflyonthewallblog.files.wordpress.com/2017/11/book-4.jpg?w=1400 1400w, https://gadflyonthewallblog.files.wordpress.com/2017/11/book-4.jpg?w=150 150w, https://gadflyonthewallblog.files.wordpress.com/2017/11/book-4.jpg?w=300 300w, https://gadflyonthewallblog.files.wordpress.com/2017/11/book-4.jpg?w=768 768w, https://gadflyonthewallblog.files.wordpress.com/2017/11/book-4.jpg?w=1024 1024w" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; height: auto; max-width: 100%; vertical-align: middle;" /></div>
Denisha Joneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12543776198792619814noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3410387772840321888.post-47952986047819851792019-06-25T12:20:00.002-04:002019-06-25T12:20:35.348-04:00Pearson Embraces a Digital Knock-Off of Authentic Education by Thomas Ultican<div style="background: 0px 0px rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; color: #7a7a7a; font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
By T. Ultican 7/6/2019<strong style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></strong></div>
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The world’s largest publishing company is betting on cyber education. Great Britain’s Pearson Corporation took a financial beating when common core state testing did not turn into a planned for cash cow and concurrently the market for text books slowed. With its world-wide reach, Pearson’s new play is for digital education to open up global markets. The corporation envisions creating life-long relationships with its customers to provide virtual schooling, professional certifications, assessments, and other services.</div>
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In April, Education International Research published “<em style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://issuu.com/educationinternational/docs/2019_ei_gr_essay_pearson2025_eng_24" style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; color: #f3686d; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Pearson 2025 Transforming teaching and privatising education data</a></em>.” Authors Sam Sellar and Anna Hogan report,</div>
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<em style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">“Pearson aims to lead the ‘next generation’ of teaching and learning by developing digital learning platforms, including Artificial Intelligence in education (AIEd). It is piloting new AI technologies that it hopes will enable virtual tutors to provide personalised learning to students, much like Siri or Alexa. This technology will be integrated into a single platform—Pearson Realize™—that has now been integrated with Google Classroom.”</em></div>
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<em style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">“… [I]ts corporate strategy is premised upon creating disruptive changes to (a) the teaching profession, (b) the delivery of curriculum and assessment and (c) the function of schools, particularly public schooling. These disruptions do not follow a coherent set of educational principles, but capriciously serve the interests of the company’s shareholders.</em>”</div>
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Two main concerns accompany Person’s new agenda. (1) The privatization of data and infrastructure will turn the commons into private assets. (2) Diminishing the teaching profession will transform education from its broad purposes such as social development and creative thinking into a focus on individual knowledge and skills. And looming over the entire enterprise is the risk of data breach which is sure to occur. Sellar and Hogan note that securing data “<em style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">can be difficult, if not impossible to achieve, even with the help of advanced privacy preservation techniques.</em>”</div>
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Pearson currently has a presence in 60 counties. One of their clients is Bridge International for which they provide digital services and scripted lessons for low cost privatized education in Africa. In Diane Ravitch’s new Book <u style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://www.garnpress.com/news/the-wisdom-and-wit-of-diane-ravitch" style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; color: #f3686d; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Wisdom and Wit of Diane Ravitch</a></u>, she notes this is the company whose founders claimed it had the potential to become a billion dollar company selling school for between $46 and $126 dollars per year to poor families. Besides Pearson, “<em style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">the investors include Bill Gates, the Omidyar Network, the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative and the World Bank.</em>”</div>
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Sellar and Hogan note, “<em style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">At the 2018 AGM [Annual General Meeting], Pearson announced a £750 million investment in new technologies and platforms to provide new digital services, which it claims will provide educators with real-time data and “smart” assessments for their students, blended learning models that partner with existing educational institutions, and new kinds of educational programming.</em>”</div>
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In the United States, Pearson is concentrating on expanding their virtual charter school business. Mercedes Schneider <a href="https://deutsch29.wordpress.com/2019/05/29/pearson-wants-to-expand-its-virtual-schools-market-its-connections-academy-in-louisiana-is-no-selling-factor/" style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; color: #f3686d; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">reported</a> on Pearson’s February 2019 earnings call. She wrote,</div>
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<em style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">“Pearson is focused on expanding its Connections Academy market. Pearson is undergoing restructuring; it has (and continues to) reduce its workforce and has been selling off less-profitable companies in an effort to recover from unrealized profits, including those Pearson expected from Common Core (CC) and CC-related PARCC testing.”</em></div>
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<img alt="Pearson Call 4" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-3174" data-attachment-id="3174" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-description="" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"Thomas Ultican","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"1559642642","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="Pearson Call 4" data-large-file="https://tultican.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/pearson-call-4.jpg?w=490" data-medium-file="https://tultican.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/pearson-call-4.jpg?w=300" data-orig-file="https://tultican.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/pearson-call-4.jpg" data-orig-size="1169,628" data-permalink="https://tultican.com/pearson-call-4/" sizes="(max-width: 490px) 100vw, 490px" src="https://tultican.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/pearson-call-4.jpg?w=490" srcset="https://tultican.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/pearson-call-4.jpg?w=490 490w, https://tultican.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/pearson-call-4.jpg?w=980 980w, https://tultican.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/pearson-call-4.jpg?w=150 150w, https://tultican.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/pearson-call-4.jpg?w=300 300w, https://tultican.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/pearson-call-4.jpg?w=768 768w" style="background: 0px 0px; border: 5px solid rgb(251, 221, 223); height: auto; margin: 0px 0px 15px; max-width: 100%; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: auto;" /></div>
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Connections Academy Slide Pearson <a href="https://seekingalpha.com/article/4243289-pearson-plc-2018-q4-results-earnings-call-slides?part=single" style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; color: #f3686d; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Presented</a> at the 2019 Earning Call</div>
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<strong style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Virtual Schools Bring Low Costs and Poor Academics</strong></h3>
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May 28<span style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">th</span>, the National Education Policy Center (NEPC) at the University of Colorado released its <a href="https://nepc.colorado.edu/publication/virtual-schools-annual-2019" style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; color: #f3686d; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">annual report on virtual schools</a>. The report was written by Alex Molnar, Gary Miron, Najat Elgeberi, Michael K. Barbour, Luis Huerta, Sheryl Rankin Shafer, and Jennifer King Rice. In the report introduction they state,</div>
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<em style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">“Many argue that online curriculum can be tailored to individual students more effectively than curriculum in traditional classrooms, giving it the potential to promote greater student achievement than can be realized in traditional brick-and-mortar schools. These claims are not supported by the research evidence; nonetheless, the promise of lower costs—primarily for instructional personnel and facilities—continues to make virtual schools financially appealing to both policymakers and for-profit providers.”</em></div>
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In the 2017-18 school year, nearly 300,000 students were enrolled across 501 full-time virtual schools. Poor academic performance and terrible graduation rates were a consistent characteristic of these schools. The authors recommended, “<em style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Slow or stop the growth in the number of virtual and blended schools and the size of their enrollments until the reasons for their relatively poor performance have been identified and addressed.”</em></div>
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Emily Tate interviewed one of the report authors – Michael K. Barbour an NEPC Fellow – for her edsurge.com article, “<a href="https://www.edsurge.com/news/2019-05-28-despite-poor-performance-virtual-school-enrollment-continues-to-grow" style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; color: #f3686d; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><em style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Despite Poor Performance, Virtual School Enrollment Continues to Grow</em></a>”. Tate wrote,</div>
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<em style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">“But even as the sector grows, one thing remains constant, Barbour says: ‘Students in these programs—both full-time online programs and blended schools—tend not to do as well as their brick-and-mortar counterparts.’</em></div>
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<em style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">“He adds: ‘There’s not really a rationale for the growth, based on performance.’”</em></div>
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In an <a href="https://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2019/04/18/many-online-charter-schools-fail-to-graduate.html" style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; color: #f3686d; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">April EdWeek article</a>, Arianna Prothero and Alex Harwin reported, “<em style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Nationally, half of all virtual charter high schools had graduation rates below 50 percent in the 2016-17 school year.”</em> They also shared, <em style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">“The most high-profile study, done by economists at Stanford University in 2015, found that students attending an online charter school made </em><a href="https://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/DigitalEducation/2015/10/CREDO_online_charters_study.html" style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; color: #f3686d; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><em style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">so little progress in math</em></a><em style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> over the course of a year that it was as if they hadn’t attended school at all.”</em></div>
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Prothero and Harwin’s article contains an interactive chart showing which cyber schools in each state did or did not achieve a 50% graduation rate over the past four years. “<em style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Out of the 163 schools, in some states, such as Indiana, not a single virtual charter school operating in 2016-17 had a graduation rate over 50 percent in the past four years.</em>”</div>
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If cyber schools have such poor academic outcomes, what explains parents putting their children in them? One clue can be found in a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJYFPMLuVRE" style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; color: #f3686d; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">2001 interview</a> with Dick and Betsy DeVos at the Gathering, a group that Jay Michaelson <a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-dollar1-billion-a-year-right-wing-conspiracy-you-havent-heard-of" style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; color: #f3686d; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">describes</a> as the “<em style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">hub of Christian Right organizing</em>.” Betsy said, “<em style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">There are not enough philanthropic dollars in America to fund what is currently the need in education…Our desire is to confront the culture in ways that will continue to advance God’s kingdom.</em>” Dick lamented the fact that schools have displaced churches as the center of community activities. He then mentions that Bill Bennett is involved in something that could be quite helpful. He says Bennett’s new K12 Inc. cyber schools although not Christian could be a great help to Evangelical homeschoolers.</div>
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<strong style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">California Connections Academy</strong></h3>
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<img alt="Map of California Connections Academy Structure" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-3173" data-attachment-id="3173" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-description="" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="Map of California Connections Academy Structure" data-large-file="https://tultican.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/map-of-california-connections-academy-structure.jpg?w=490" data-medium-file="https://tultican.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/map-of-california-connections-academy-structure.jpg?w=300" data-orig-file="https://tultican.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/map-of-california-connections-academy-structure.jpg" data-orig-size="918,672" data-permalink="https://tultican.com/map-of-california-connections-academy-structure/" sizes="(max-width: 490px) 100vw, 490px" src="https://tultican.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/map-of-california-connections-academy-structure.jpg?w=490" srcset="https://tultican.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/map-of-california-connections-academy-structure.jpg?w=490 490w, https://tultican.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/map-of-california-connections-academy-structure.jpg?w=150 150w, https://tultican.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/map-of-california-connections-academy-structure.jpg?w=300 300w, https://tultican.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/map-of-california-connections-academy-structure.jpg?w=768 768w, https://tultican.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/map-of-california-connections-academy-structure.jpg 918w" style="background: 0px 0px; border: 5px solid rgb(251, 221, 223); height: auto; margin: 0px 0px 15px; max-width: 100%; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: auto;" /></div>
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This <a href="https://littlesis.org/maps/4113-california-connections-academy" style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; color: #f3686d; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Little Sis Map</a> Shows the Structure of California Connections Academy in 2017</div>
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On September 18, 2018 a Mercury News <a href="https://www.mercurynews.com/2018/09/07/california-bans-for-profit-charter-schools/" style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; color: #f3686d; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">lead read</a>, “<em style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">California has just kicked for-profit management companies out of the charter school business.</em>” However, the new law is quite flawed. A for-profit company can create a non-profit to run the schools and then the non-profit in turn hires the for-profit management company to provide operating services and materials.</div>
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In 2011, Pearson Corporation <a href="https://www.pressherald.com/2014/03/16/real_giant_set_to_run_first_virtual_school_in_maine_/" style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; color: #f3686d; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">purchased</a> the cyber charter school company Connections Academy for $400,000,000. At the time Pearson said that this purchase gave them a leading position in the emerging cyber education arena.</div>
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Fortunately for Pearson, in California the Connections Academy cyber business was being run by the three non-profits shown in blue on the map. All three of the non-profits provide a similar explanation of their structure to this one in Capistrano Connections Academy’s <a href="https://990s.foundationcenter.org/990_pdf_archive/201/201485148/201485148_201606_990.pdf" style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; color: #f3686d; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">2016 form 990</a>:</div>
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<em style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">“Capistrano Connections Academy has a shared services agreement in place which includes the sharing of school staff and various other expenses between a network of charter schools. This agreement involves three non-profit public benefit corporations Capistrano Connections Academy, Alpaugh Academies, and friends of California Virtual Education. The school has also contracted with a third-party organization (Connections Academy of California, LLC a subsidiary of Connections Education, LLC) to provide educational products and services to the school. Due to delays in the receipts of state funding the school has arranged with Connections Education to process its payroll including the paying of school staff which requires the use of Connections Education, LLC’s EIN number. As part of this arrangement, the school reimburses connections education for paying staff as funding becomes available. As all staff members are reported on the school’s behalf using the EIN of Connections Education, LLC, no employees are listed as part of this return.”</em></div>
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There is some confusion in this statement. For example, Alpaugh Academies is also referred to as California on Line Public Schools (CalOps) and on December 18, 2017, Connections Academy of California, LLC <a href="https://businesssearch.sos.ca.gov/Document/RetrievePDF?Id=201129110110-23399893" style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; color: #f3686d; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">submitted a termination</a>statement to the California Secretary of State. It <a href="https://businesssearch.sos.ca.gov/Document/RetrievePDF?Id=200515410252-26264267" style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; color: #f3686d; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">appears</a> the Baltimore based Connections Education, LLC is now paying the bills and collecting the service fees through its Minnesota office. Also, there are two employees listed on the three non-profit tax form 990’s (<a href="https://990s.foundationcenter.org/990_pdf_archive/201/201485148/201485148_201606_990.pdf" style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; color: #f3686d; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Capistrano</a>, <a href="https://990s.foundationcenter.org/990_pdf_archive/510/510596749/510596749_201706_990.pdf" style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; color: #f3686d; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">CalOps</a> and <a href="https://990s.foundationcenter.org/990_pdf_archive/453/453970141/453970141_201706_990.pdf" style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; color: #f3686d; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Friends</a>). Director of Business Services, Franci Sassin receives more than $143,000 yearly and Executive Director, Richard Savage receives more than $225,000 yearly in total from the three non-profits.</div>
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There are four Connections Academy schools shown on the Little Sis map in yellow. In addition, a fifth school, California Connections Academy Central Coast is <a href="https://www.cde.ca.gov/SchoolDirectory/details?cdscode=42750100138891" style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; color: #f3686d; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">listed by the state</a> as pending opening September 3, 2019. That must be one of the “strong pipeline of 2-5 new schools in 2019” Pearson referenced in their earnings call.</div>
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Locally we have been buzzing over the San Diego Union <a href="https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/education/story/2019-05-29/prosecutors-two-men-stole-50-million-in-online-charter-school-scheme-11-face-charges" style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; color: #f3686d; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">report</a>, “<em style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Two charter school leaders illegally pocketed more than $50 million of state funds by siphoning the money through a network of 19 online charter schools across California which falsely enrolled thousands of students, prosecutors alleged Wednesday</em>.” One of the issues cited in this scam was that little 145-student Dehesa School District in the mountains east of San Diego authorized 3 of these-cyber charters all outside of their district boundaries.</div>
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The Connections Academy model is not that different. According the 2018-2019 Connections Academy <a href="https://www.connectionsacademy.com/Portals/13/ca-schools/calca/documents/pdfs/1819_California_SchoolProfile2.pdf" style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; color: #f3686d; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">School Profile</a>, “<em style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Capistrano Connections Academy is an accredited, virtual public charter school serving students in grades K–12 in Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, and San Diego counties.</em>” However, Capistrano Connections Academy is only authorized by <a href="https://www.cde.ca.gov/SchoolDirectory/details?cdscode=30664640106765" style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; color: #f3686d; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">one school district</a>, Capistrano Unified. The other three schools have a similar territory outside of their authorizer’s district.</div>
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Table 1: Connections Academy <a href="https://dq.cde.ca.gov/dataquest/SearchName.asp?rbTimeFrame=oneyear&rYear=2018-19&cName=connections+academy&Topic=Enrollment&Level=School&submit1=Submit" style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; color: #f3686d; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Enrollment</a> by Grade</div>
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<img alt="Connections Academy Enrollment" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-3171" data-attachment-id="3171" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-description="" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"Thomas Ultican","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"1559767869","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="Connections Academy Enrollment" data-large-file="https://tultican.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/connections-academy-enrollment.jpg?w=490" data-medium-file="https://tultican.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/connections-academy-enrollment.jpg?w=300" data-orig-file="https://tultican.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/connections-academy-enrollment.jpg" data-orig-size="715,372" data-permalink="https://tultican.com/connections-academy-enrollment/" sizes="(max-width: 490px) 100vw, 490px" src="https://tultican.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/connections-academy-enrollment.jpg?w=490" srcset="https://tultican.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/connections-academy-enrollment.jpg?w=490 490w, https://tultican.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/connections-academy-enrollment.jpg?w=150 150w, https://tultican.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/connections-academy-enrollment.jpg?w=300 300w, https://tultican.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/connections-academy-enrollment.jpg 715w" style="background: 0px 0px; border: 5px solid rgb(251, 221, 223); height: auto; margin: 0px 0px 15px; max-width: 100%; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: auto;" /></div>
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What kind of education are those more than 1,000 students in the primary grades receiving? They certainly are not being socialized with other community members and it is well known that too much screen time is unhealthy for children.</div>
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Table 2: Connections Academy <a href="https://dq.cde.ca.gov/dataquest/SearchName.asp?rbTimeFrame=oneyear&rYear=2017-18&cName=connections+academy&Topic=Coh&Level=School&submit1=Submit" style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; color: #f3686d; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Graduation</a> and ELL Rates Compared to the State</div>
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<img alt="Connections Academy Graduation and EL" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-3172" data-attachment-id="3172" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-description="" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"Thomas Ultican","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"1559768305","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="Connections Academy Graduation and EL" data-large-file="https://tultican.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/connections-academy-graduation-and-el.jpg?w=490" data-medium-file="https://tultican.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/connections-academy-graduation-and-el.jpg?w=300" data-orig-file="https://tultican.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/connections-academy-graduation-and-el.jpg" data-orig-size="776,201" data-permalink="https://tultican.com/connections-academy-graduation-and-el/" sizes="(max-width: 490px) 100vw, 490px" src="https://tultican.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/connections-academy-graduation-and-el.jpg?w=490" srcset="https://tultican.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/connections-academy-graduation-and-el.jpg?w=490 490w, https://tultican.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/connections-academy-graduation-and-el.jpg?w=150 150w, https://tultican.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/connections-academy-graduation-and-el.jpg?w=300 300w, https://tultican.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/connections-academy-graduation-and-el.jpg?w=768 768w, https://tultican.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/connections-academy-graduation-and-el.jpg 776w" style="background: 0px 0px; border: 5px solid rgb(251, 221, 223); height: auto; margin: 0px 0px 15px; max-width: 100%; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: auto;" /></div>
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Sadly, these Connections Academy graduation rates are good compared to their peers in the cyber school industry. However, they are not acceptable as an education policy. In California, English language learners (ELL) are 19.3% of the enrollment which is by far the largest ELL percentage in the nation. As is typical of cyber schools the ELL percentage at Connections Academy is only <strong style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; color: red; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">3.6%</span></strong>.</div>
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In an Education Week <a href="https://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2016/11/03/a-virtual-mess-colorados-largest-cyber-charter.html" style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; color: #f3686d; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">investigation</a> of cyber schools, Benjamin Herold called it a “<em style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Broken Model</em>” and summed it up this way,</div>
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<em style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">“The schools are based on an educational model that doesn’t work for most kids. Many cyber operators have cashed in anyway, expanding aggressively, often with the help of their boards. Rather than pump the brakes, cyber authorizers have frequently gone along for the ride. And state lawmakers have repeatedly looked the other way, usually at the urging of lobbyists who fight tooth and nail against even modest attempts to improve oversight or limit growth.”</em></div>
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<strong style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Some Conclusions</strong></h3>
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Pearson Corporation is an amoral entity that is not terribly invested in much beyond profit margin. They have made another bad bet. AI is science fiction and central to their latest education initiative is the Orwellianly labeled “<em style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">personalized learning</em>”. A Child sitting at screens responding to computer generated algorithms is as impersonal as it gets. Students hate it.</div>
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Policy makers like the cyber concept because they see the possibility of reducing the largest costs in public schools, teachers’ salaries and facilities. Reactionaries see cyber charters as one more positive step toward ending public education. However, people are catching onto this attack on the commons and do not like it.</div>
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Making war is not a legitimate central purpose of government; education is. Reduce the embarrassing military industrial complex and put some of those savings into revitalizing public education. Our children deserve small classes in top notch facilities that are well maintained and staffed with certificated professional educators.</div>
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It does not take much to see that a wide deployment of taxpayer-funded lightly-regulated cyber schools is a horrible idea. They already have a stunning history of corruption and bad outcomes. If homeschoolers choose to use cyber education, that is fine but there is no need for taxpayers to fund that private choice. There is a small legitimate need for cyber education, but those schools should be administered by elected school boards and not by profiteering corporations.</div>
Denisha Joneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12543776198792619814noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3410387772840321888.post-74074467278116710552019-06-25T12:19:00.002-04:002019-06-25T12:19:26.686-04:00School Field Trip Turns Into a Tour of Our Nation’s Unhealed Scars by Steven SingerOriginally published at: <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2019/06/10/school-field-trip-turns-into-a-tour-of-our-nations-unhealed-scars/?fbclid=IwAR3u_lrJlxVD4Ak9zdoaX2MhZtqkWT0_j7j8JcDrz95_4b6nqZqCF2UQS8o">https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2019/06/10/school-field-trip-turns-into-a-tour-of-our-nations-unhealed-scars/?fbclid=IwAR3u_lrJlxVD4Ak9zdoaX2MhZtqkWT0_j7j8JcDrz95_4b6nqZqCF2UQS8o</a><br />
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You’ve got to be a little crazy to take a bunch of teenagers on a field trip – especially overnight and out of town.</div>
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But that’s what I did, and – yeah – guilty as charged.</div>
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For the second time in <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2017/09/01/why-i-teach/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">my more than 15-year career as a public school teacher</a>, I volunteered along with a group of parents and other teachers to escort my classes of 8th graders to Washington, DC, and surrounding sights.<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /> <br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />And I never regretted it. Not for a moment.</div>
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Not when Jason bombed the bathroom in the back of the bus after eating a burrito for lunch.</div>
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Not when Isaac gulped down dairy creamers for dessert and threw up all over himself.</div>
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Not when a trio of teenage girls accidentally locked themselves in their hotel room and we needed a crowbar to get them out.</div>
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But as I stood in Manassas, Virginia, looking at a statue of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stonewall_Jackson" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">Stonewall Jackson</a>, the edge of regret began to creep into my mind.</div>
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There he was <a href="https://civilwarwiki.net/wiki/%22Stonewall%22_Jackson_Monument_(Manassas)" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">perched on the horizon</a>, ripped and bulging like an advertisement for weight gain powder.</div>
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“We call him the superman statue,” the park ranger said.</div>
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And as I stood amongst the confused looks of my western Pennsylvania teens, I felt a wave of cognitive dissonance wash over me like a slap in the face.</div>
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<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />Stonewall Jackson, a lanky Confederate General whose horse was too small for him, here mythologized, enshrined and worshiped like a hero. <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/public-safety/stonewall-jackson-statue-defaced-at-civil-war-battlefield-in-virginia/2017/10/04/21c343c0-a920-11e7-94ce-4f901ed36a82_story.html?utm_term=.088e2930f9b4" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">Yet he was a traitor to our country.</a></div>
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They call him Stonewall because the union army couldn’t get through his battle lines. He was like a wall the North could not break through.</div>
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<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />So what?</div>
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He was fighting to preserve human slavery. Who cares how well he fought or how great his tactics? He was on the losing side of history.</div>
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<a href="https://patch.com/virginia/manassas/stonewall-jacksons-great-great-grandsons-weigh-his-statue" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">We shouldn’t be praising him</a>. He should be forgotten, at best a footnote in a record that celebrates those fighting to overturn human bondage, not those battling to uphold it.</div>
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But the confusion didn’t start at the statue. It began before our tour bus even arrived at the national park.</div>
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I teach Language Arts, not history, but I had never heard of <a href="https://www.nps.gov/mana/index.htm" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">the battle of Manassas</a>. I knew it was close to Bull Run, a nearby creek where the two Civil War battles of that name were fought.<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /> <br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />It was only when the park ranger was showing us the sights (of which there weren’t many) that the truth became clear.</div>
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<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />Even today more than 150 years since Lee surrendered to Grant at <a href="https://www.nps.gov/apco/index.htm" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">the Appomattox Court House</a>, the two sides can’t agree on the names of the battles.</div>
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In the South, they name them after the nearest city or town. In the North, we name them after the nearest geologic landmark.</div>
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So even though this battle took place on a farm in northern Virginia, we still can’t agree even on what to call the confrontation – much less its import to our shared history.</div>
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Before we stepped out onto the battlefield, the park service treated us to a short documentary film about the site and its history – <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Manassas-End-Innocense-Richard-Dreyfuss/dp/B01DUY44Y0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">“Manassas: End of Innocence.”</a></div>
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The film was narrated by <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0295422/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">Richard Dreyfus</a>. I marveled at hearing Mr. Holland nonchalantly inform us that this first battle of the Civil War marked the titular “end of innocence.”</div>
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<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />I’m still not sure who suffered such an end. Was it the nation, as a whole, which had never before experienced such a bloody war among its own citizenry, pitting brother against brother? Was it the North who had not until this point realized the South would resist with shot and shell? Was it the South who had not yet tasted the bitterness of Northern aggression?</div>
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The latter seemed to be the narrator’s implication.</div>
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<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />Dreyfus painted a scene of peaceful life on the farm shattered by the sneak attack of union soldiers.<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /> <br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;"><em style="box-sizing: border-box;">THAT</em> </span>is what marked this “end of innocence.”</div>
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<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />“Innocence!?” I thought.</div>
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These people were not innocent. They owned slaves. Mrs. Judith Carter Henry, the 85-year-old who refused to evacuate her farm and was killed in the fighting, owned another human being.</div>
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In my book, that disqualifies you from any kind of innocence.</div>
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And <a href="https://psmag.com/education/of-course-the-civil-war-was-about-slavery-26265" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">that’s what this whole war was essentially about</a>. Should people be allowed to own other people?</div>
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<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />The answer is an unequivocal – <span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;">NO.</span></div>
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The fact that <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/itsallpolitics/2011/04/12/135353655/slavery-not-states-rights-was-civil-wars-cause" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">an entire segment of our population still drags its feet on that question</a>has implications that reverberate through our history and up through our last Presidential election.</div>
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<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />A few days before venturing to Manassas, my students and I toured Washington, DC. We stopped in front of the White House.</div>
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<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />I’d been there before. It’s a popular place for protests of every kind. But never had I seen it so crowded with discontent.</div>
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Political critics had set up booths and tents. They even brought speakers to blast out music to accompany their protests. My favorite was the song <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aTZYSzxZcvA" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">“Master of the House”</a>from <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Les_Mis%C3%A9rables_(musical)" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;"><em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Les Miserables</em></a> booming from a booth with multicolored “F- Trump!” signs.</div>
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But as we took our picture in front of that iconic Presidential manor, itself, partially built by slaves, I couldn’t help noticing another kiosk across the way – one selling MAGA hats.<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /> <br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />In fact, they were everywhere.</div>
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<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />A few students even bought them – cheap red knockoff baseball caps with <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2016/03/30/my-students-are-scared-of-donald-trump/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">a slogan of dog whistle hatred emblazoned on the front.</a></div>
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Make America Great Again? Like when union troops couldn’t get passed Stonewall Jackson?<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /> <br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />We hit many more famous sites.</div>
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We went to the Jefferson memorial and all I could think about was <a href="https://www.monticello.org/thomas-jefferson/jefferson-slavery/thomas-jefferson-and-sally-hemings-a-brief-account/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">Sally Hemings</a>. We went to the FDR memorial and all I could think about were the <a href="https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/japanese-american-relocation" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">Japanese internment camps</a>. We went to the Martin Luther King memorial and all I could think about was <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2018/01/13/public-schools-best-fulfill-dr-kings-purpose-of-education/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">how the struggle continues</a>.</div>
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We didn’t talk much about what we were seeing. We just raced through the experience of it – going from one to another – gotta’ get back on the bus in time to hit the next one.</div>
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<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />We had a really good time together on that field trip. Me, included.</div>
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But we took a lot more home with us than souvenirs.</div>
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<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />It wasn’t just sight seeing or a vacation from the normal school day.</div>
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We toured the historic scars of our nation.</div>
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Scars still red and ripe and bleeding.</div>
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Will they ever heal, I wondered.</div>
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Will our nation ever become whole, healthy and clean?</div>
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I suppose that depends on us.</div>
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Because the first step to healing them is recognizing that they’re still there.</div>
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Denisha Joneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12543776198792619814noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3410387772840321888.post-43034169233884226912019-06-25T12:17:00.002-04:002019-06-25T12:17:45.830-04:00Hired Guns, Scholars and the California School Policy Task Force by Thomas UlticanOriginally published at: <a href="https://tultican.com/2019/06/15/hired-guns-scholars-and-the-california-school-policy-task-force/?fbclid=IwAR0ijLCpfweRLcbpGToaoNN41jVkNatShE5dCp7DMRtZSfMv3EtKMuOXT_4">https://tultican.com/2019/06/15/hired-guns-scholars-and-the-california-school-policy-task-force/?fbclid=IwAR0ijLCpfweRLcbpGToaoNN41jVkNatShE5dCp7DMRtZSfMv3EtKMuOXT_4</a><br />
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By T. Ultican 6/15/2019</div>
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California Governor Gavin Newsom created a task force and assigned the State Superintendent of Public Instruction (SSPI), Tony Thurmond, to lead a review of California charter school laws and policies. The Center on Reinventing Public Education (CRPE) produced three policy briefs and CRPE founder Paul Hill testified to the task force as an expert witness “sympathetic to charter schools.” The author of “Breaking Point,” Gordon Lafer also provided expert testimony.</div>
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Rutgers Professor Bruce Baker <a href="https://www.crpe.org/publications/CA-charters-cost-benefit-impact-on-districts" style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; color: #f3686d; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">reviewed</a> Hill’s claims which were published in three CRPE policy briefs created for the taskforce. Spoiler alert: He found them deceptive.</div>
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Thurmond released “<a href="https://www.cde.ca.gov/eo/in/documents/charterstaskforcereport.pdf" style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; color: #f3686d; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Charter School Policy Task Force</a>” report to the Governor on June 6.</div>
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The claims by these scholars and political actions coming from the task force have the potential to influence the spending of hundreds of millions of dollars in public monies by California and billions in spending by the federal government.</div>
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<strong style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Charter School Policy Task Force (CTF)</strong></h3>
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The task force was made up of eleven members. Since 90% of the California’s students attend public schools and because the charter industry spent more than $50 million to defeat SSPI Thurmond in 2018, many people expected supporters of public schools to dominate the task force. But that was not the case. Jan Resseger <a href="https://janresseger.wordpress.com/2019/06/14/one-state-sets-out-to-rethink-charter-oversight/" style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; color: #f3686d; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">observed</a>,</div>
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<em style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">“It is one of those groups carefully balanced to provide a forum for both sides of what has become a contentious debate about whether or not there ought to be a charter school sector. Actually whoever recommended the appointments seem to have accepted the idea that the fight is between unions and charter schools—an assumption I believe is wrong, because the debate is not limited to the fact that fewer teachers in charter schools belong to teachers unions.”</em></div>
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Others like Diane Ravitch saw the committee in terms of the charter school industry versus public schools. She <a href="https://dianeravitch.net/2019/03/11/california-thurmond-and-newsom-put-the-fox-in-charge-of-the-henhouse/" style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; color: #f3686d; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">wrote</a>, “<em style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">By my count, six members of the 11-member panel are directly connected to the charter industry, including two from the lobbying organization CCSA.</em>” A seventh member of <a href="https://edsource.org/2019/california-governors-new-task-force-on-charter-schools-convenes/609657" style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; color: #f3686d; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">the eleven</a>member task force also appears to be biased toward privatization. The seven pro-privatization members were:</div>
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<li style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; list-style-type: decimal; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Cristina de Jesus, president and chief executive officer, Green Dot Public Schools California. This was the same <strong style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">charter system</strong> failed SSPI candidate Marshall Tuck previously led.</li>
<li style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; list-style-type: decimal; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Margaret Fortune, <strong style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">California Charter Schools Association board chair</strong>; Fortune School of Education, president & CEO.</li>
<li style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; list-style-type: decimal; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Lester Garcia, political director, SEIU Local 99. Closely associated with Eli Broad. Most recently they <a href="https://dianeravitch.net/2019/03/11/california-thurmond-and-newsom-put-the-fox-in-charge-of-the-henhouse/" style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; color: #f3686d; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">took $100,000</a> from Broad to oppose Jackie Goldberg for LA Unified School District Board.</li>
<li style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; list-style-type: decimal; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Beth Hunkapiller, educator and administrator, Aspire Public Schools. A <strong style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">charter school chain</strong>.</li>
<li style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; list-style-type: decimal; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Ed Manansala, superintendent, El Dorado County and board president, California County Superintendents Educational Services Association. Diane Ravitch <a href="https://dianeravitch.net/2019/03/11/california-thurmond-and-newsom-put-the-fox-in-charge-of-the-henhouse/" style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; color: #f3686d; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">reported</a>, <em style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">“… Ed Manansala was principal and superintendent of Kevin Johnson’s St. Hope Academy Charter High School in Sacramento before he became County Superintendent in El Dorado.” </em>His El Dorado County Office set up a Special Education Local Plan Area (SELPA) specifically to service students with disabilities in charter schools and wooed charter students away from their local districts.</li>
<li style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; list-style-type: decimal; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Gina Plate, vice president of special education, <strong style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">California Charter Schools Association</strong>.</li>
<li style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; list-style-type: decimal; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Edgar Zazueta, senior director, policy & governmental relations, Association of California School Administrators. During the last election cycle his organization endorsed former charter school executive Marshall Tuck for SSPI.</li>
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The other four members – which also included the only two members with classroom teaching experience – were:</div>
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<li style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; list-style-type: decimal; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Dolores Duran, California School Employees Association.</li>
<li style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; list-style-type: decimal; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Alia Griffing, political director, American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) Council 57.</li>
<li style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; list-style-type: decimal; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Cindy Marten, superintendent, San Diego Unified School District. (A former teacher)</li>
<li style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; list-style-type: decimal; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Erika Jones, board of directors, California Teachers Association. (A current teacher serving on the union board)</li>
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The immediate response to this committee was anger directed at SSPI Thurmond for the task force makeup. <a href="https://capitalandmain.com/have-charters-already-gamed-gavin-newsoms-task-force-0329" style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; color: #f3686d; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Capital and Main reported</a>, “<strong style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><em style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">No sooner did author-academic Diane Ravitch </em></strong><strong style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><em style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://dianeravitch.net/2019/03/10/california-did-tony-thurmond-give-the-charter-task-force-to-the-charter-lobby/" style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; color: #f3686d; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">expose</a></em></strong><strong style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><em style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> this month</em></strong> <strong style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><em style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">the charter leanings</em></strong> <em style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">of Governor Gavin Newsom’s task force studying the fiscal impacts of charters than California schools superintendent and panel chair <strong style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Tony Thurmond</strong> found a <a href="https://twitter.com/search?l=&q=Tony%20Thurmond%20%22task%20force%22%20charter%20OR%20school%20OR%20impact%20OR%20study%20OR%20appointee%20OR%20bias%20OR%20impartial%20OR%20public%20OR%20school&src=typd&lang=en" style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; color: #f3686d; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Twitter blowtorch</a> pointed </em><em style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">his</em><em style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> way.</em>” My tweet was part of that blowtorch.</div>
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<img alt="My Taskforce Tweet" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-3190" data-attachment-id="3190" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-description="" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"Thomas Ultican","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"1560526980","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="My Taskforce Tweet" data-large-file="https://tultican.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/my-taskforce-tweet.jpg?w=490" data-medium-file="https://tultican.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/my-taskforce-tweet.jpg?w=300" data-orig-file="https://tultican.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/my-taskforce-tweet.jpg" data-orig-size="566,320" data-permalink="https://tultican.com/my-taskforce-tweet/" sizes="(max-width: 490px) 100vw, 490px" src="https://tultican.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/my-taskforce-tweet.jpg?w=490" srcset="https://tultican.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/my-taskforce-tweet.jpg?w=490 490w, https://tultican.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/my-taskforce-tweet.jpg?w=150 150w, https://tultican.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/my-taskforce-tweet.jpg?w=300 300w, https://tultican.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/my-taskforce-tweet.jpg 566w" style="background: 0px 0px; border: 5px solid rgb(251, 221, 223); height: auto; margin: 0px 0px 15px; max-width: 100%; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: auto;" /></div>
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A few days later on March 14, Diane Ravitch <a href="https://dianeravitch.net/2019/03/14/california-who-chose-the-members-of-the-charter-task-force/" style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; color: #f3686d; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">posted</a>,</div>
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“<em style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">I received an email from a reader in California whose credentials are impeccable, who has a direct tie inside the Governor’s office. This person told me that the committee was selected by Governor Gavin Newsom, not by Tony Thurmond.</em>”</div>
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It is not likely that Newsom personally selected the committee members. It is highly probable that Newsom’s <a href="https://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article221424715.html" style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; color: #f3686d; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">new Chief of Staff</a>, Ann O’Leary, a former advisor to Hilary Clinton, selected them. A Fortune magazine <a href="http://fortune.com/2015/06/02/meet-the-wonk-shaping-hillary-clintons-plans-for-the-country/" style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; color: #f3686d; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">biography</a> of O’Leary noted,</div>
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<em style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">“O’Leary is a diehard policy wonk, especially keen on anything that affects families or education. As Clinton’s Senate aide in 2001, she was at the center of No Child Left Behind—a once popular education initiative that has since soured in the public mind. ‘It was a really important moment,’ she says of the law, which Ted Kennedy crafted and George W. Bush signed. ‘When you look back at what happened, this was serious, bipartisan, constructive work. We were committed to high standards and helping states get there.”’</em></div>
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<img alt="Ann OLeary" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-3187" data-attachment-id="3187" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-description="" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="Ann OLeary" data-large-file="https://tultican.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/ann-oleary.png?w=490" data-medium-file="https://tultican.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/ann-oleary.png?w=300" data-orig-file="https://tultican.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/ann-oleary.png" data-orig-size="625,315" data-permalink="https://tultican.com/ann-oleary/" sizes="(max-width: 490px) 100vw, 490px" src="https://tultican.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/ann-oleary.png?w=490" srcset="https://tultican.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/ann-oleary.png?w=490 490w, https://tultican.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/ann-oleary.png?w=150 150w, https://tultican.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/ann-oleary.png?w=300 300w, https://tultican.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/ann-oleary.png 625w" style="background: 0px 0px; border: 5px solid rgb(251, 221, 223); height: auto; margin: 0px 0px 15px; max-width: 100%; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: auto;" /></div>
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Ann O’Leary – <a href="https://alumnae.mtholyoke.edu/blog/policy-runner/" style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; color: #f3686d; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Policy Runner Blog</a> Mount Holyoake College 2016</div>
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O’Leary appears to be a heartfelt social liberal who had a key voice in promoting gay rights and paid maternity leave. However, besides her history with NCLB, she supports Common Core State Standards and says they were developed by state governors. She believes in standards based testing and supports privatizing public education with charter schools. She is a neoliberal from the Clinton wing of the Democratic Party. Her professional position and past actions provide strong evidence that she selected the members of the task force.</div>
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<strong style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The CTF Work Product</strong></h3>
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<a href="https://www.cde.ca.gov/eo/in/documents/charterstaskforcereport.pdf" style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; color: #f3686d; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">To begin their work</a>, the CTF received a series of reports on charter schools and their impacts from a variety of sources. Thurmond called this “<em style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">an attempt to provide some level setting for members to establish a baseline of understanding and knowledge.</em>” Once “level setting” was complete the CTF began brainstorming policy reform proposals. The task force was able to reach consensus on four proposals, reported majority voting support for seven proposals and two proposals did not receive majority support.</div>
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Proposals not receiving majority support reflect the impact of giving the charter industry a majority position on the task force.</div>
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A California law (Education Code 47605 [b]) states, “<em style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">the governing board of the school district <strong style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><u style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">shall</u></strong> grant a charter for the operation of a school if it is satisfied that granting the charter is consistent with sound educational practice.</em>” Because of the word “shall,” if the proposal is educationally sound few other considerations are relevant and the charter must be granted. The proposal was to replace the word “shall” with “may.” This change could add to the difficulty in obtaining a charter especially in districts already impacted by charters, therefore it failed. SSPI Thurmond wrote, “<em style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The proposal to change from ‘shall’ to ‘may’ failed by the narrowest of votes, with the majority position opposing the change.</em>”</div>
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A managed growth plan that would control growth in highly impacted districts like Los Angeles, San Diego and Oakland did not make it to a vote. Thurmond reported, “<em style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">CTF members were invited to provide an alternative set of caveats for a managed growth plan, however CTF members could not agree on the conditions for limiting growth.”</em></div>
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Current charter school law requires using Academic Performance Index (API) testing data to determine whether a charter school has met the academic testing criteria for renewal. A proposal to update the charter law to reflect that API is no longer used got majority support but not consensus. Why?</div>
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There was majority support for ending charter denial appeals to the state, limiting appeals to the county to errors by the district, prohibiting authorization of charters outside district boundaries, allowing fiscal impact to be considered in charter authorization and developing clearer authorization guidelines.</div>
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There was consensus agreement that the state department of education should not supervise charters and that school saturation, academic outcomes and statements of need should be part of the authorizing process. There was also consensus that districts losing students to charter schools should receive the same hold harmless provisions a district receives when a student moves out of the area. This $100,000,000 proposal would help mitigate some of the losses districts face when charters are expanding in their area.</div>
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The other two consensus proposals add thirty days to the time a district has to respond to a charter petition and create statewide authorizer standards and training.</div>
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<strong style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Center on Reinventing Public Education (CRPE) is a Propaganda Mill</strong></h3>
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Scholar, Bruce Baker reviewed the three policy briefs by CRPE for the National Education Policy Center at the University of Colorado. His paper “<em style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://scholar.colorado.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1096&context=nepc" style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; color: #f3686d; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Costs, Benefits, and Impact on School Districts (Center on Reinventing Public Education, May 2019)</a></em>” begins,</div>
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<em style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">“The Center on Reinventing Public Education (CRPE), based at the University of Washington, Bothell, recently released a series of three policy briefs on the financial impact of charter schools on nearby school districts in California. The briefs arrive at a time when a Task Force convened by California Gov. Gavin Newsom is deliberating on these exact matters. CRPE’s founder, Paul Hill, was a key source of testimony to the task force, serving as an expert viewed as ‘sympathetic to charter schools.”’</em></div>
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John Chubb’s and Terry Moe’s 1990 book, <a href="https://books.google.com/books/about/Politics_Markets_and_America_s_Schools.html?id=mplqg6qzOGwC" style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; color: #f3686d; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Politics, Markets, and America’s Schools</a>, claimed that poor academic performance was “one of the prices Americans pay for choosing to exercise direct democratic control over their schools.”</div>
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Responding to Chubb and Moe, Rand Corporation researcher Paul Hill founded the Center on Reinventing Public Education (CRPE) and began working out the mechanics of ending democratic control of public education. His solution was the portfolio model of school governance.</div>
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The <a href="https://chalkbeat.org/posts/us/2019/03/08/portfolio-model-explainer/" style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; color: #f3686d; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">portfolio model</a> directs closing schools that score in the bottom 5% on standardized testing and reopening them as charter schools or <a href="https://www.alec.org/model-policy/the-innovation-schools-and-school-districts-act/" style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; color: #f3686d; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Innovation schools</a>. In either case, the local community loses their right to hold elected leaders accountable, because the schools are removed from the school board’s portfolio. It is a plan that guarantees school churn in poor neighborhoods, venerates disruption and dismisses the value of stability and community history.</div>
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In July of 2018, former Enron trader, John Arnold, joined forces with San Francisco billionaire Netflix CEO, Reed Hastings. They each pledged $100,000,000 to a new non-profit dedicated to selling the portfolio model of school governance. They call it <a href="https://tultican.com/2018/08/18/dpe-2-0-the-city-fund/" style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; color: #f3686d; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">City Fund</a>. Gates and Dell have also <a href="https://littlesis.org/maps/3676-dpe-reorganization-map" style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; color: #f3686d; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">contributed</a>to City Fund.</div>
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<img alt="Little-Sis-Map-of-Reorganization" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-3189" data-attachment-id="3189" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-description="" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"1"}" data-image-title="Little-Sis-Map-of-Reorganization" data-large-file="https://tultican.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/little-sis-map-of-reorganization.jpg?w=490" data-medium-file="https://tultican.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/little-sis-map-of-reorganization.jpg?w=300" data-orig-file="https://tultican.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/little-sis-map-of-reorganization.jpg" data-orig-size="768,404" data-permalink="https://tultican.com/little-sis-map-of-reorganization-2/" sizes="(max-width: 490px) 100vw, 490px" src="https://tultican.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/little-sis-map-of-reorganization.jpg?w=490" srcset="https://tultican.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/little-sis-map-of-reorganization.jpg?w=490 490w, https://tultican.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/little-sis-map-of-reorganization.jpg?w=150 150w, https://tultican.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/little-sis-map-of-reorganization.jpg?w=300 300w, https://tultican.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/little-sis-map-of-reorganization.jpg 768w" style="background: 0px 0px; border: 5px solid rgb(251, 221, 223); height: auto; margin: 0px 0px 15px; max-width: 100%; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: auto;" /></div>
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Big Money Flowing to the Portfolio Model and Public School Privatization (Map <a href="https://littlesis.org/maps/3676-dpe-reorganization-map" style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; color: #f3686d; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">here</a>)</div>
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Hill’s presentation to the CTF had little to do with scholarly research and everything to do with promoting the privatization of public education. In his review, Professor Baker goes into a detailed refutation of the CRPE assertions. He concludes,</div>
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<em style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">“The first brief is misleading in its assertion that charter enrollment growth is not to blame for district enrollment decline. It is, and has been for some time, whether in districts with declining, stable or growing overall student enrollments. The brief also attempts to minimize the import of the considerable role played by charters in districts’ enrollment loss, offering up the non sequitur that enrollment loss can arise from other sources as well. The second brief relies on overly simplistic comparisons of charter enrollments and county-assigned “fiscal distress” classifications to conclude that there is no association between charter enrollments and fiscal distress. The contention here is that there can’t be an illness if the patient isn’t dead. In order to rely on this problematic approach, the brief erroneously dismisses a significant, more rigorous, detailed, peer-reviewed and published body of research that illustrates the fiscal impact of charter schools on host districts, and how those fiscal impacts may lead to fiscal stress. The third brief, which presents itself as an analysis of costs and benefits, merely touts the benefits of charter schooling as tangible while being entirely dismissive of numerous known and often measurable costs. Taken together, the briefs are useful only in pointing to some important issues that policymakers should consider; <strong style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">their analyses of those issues are, however, generally superficial and misleading.”</strong> (emphasis added)</em></div>
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<img alt="CRPE Graphic" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-3188" data-attachment-id="3188" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-description="" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="CRPE Graphic" data-large-file="https://tultican.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/crpe-graphic.jpg?w=490" data-medium-file="https://tultican.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/crpe-graphic.jpg?w=300" data-orig-file="https://tultican.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/crpe-graphic.jpg" data-orig-size="644,465" data-permalink="https://tultican.com/crpe-graphic/" sizes="(max-width: 490px) 100vw, 490px" src="https://tultican.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/crpe-graphic.jpg?w=490" srcset="https://tultican.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/crpe-graphic.jpg?w=490 490w, https://tultican.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/crpe-graphic.jpg?w=150 150w, https://tultican.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/crpe-graphic.jpg?w=300 300w, https://tultican.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/crpe-graphic.jpg 644w" style="background: 0px 0px; border: 5px solid rgb(251, 221, 223); height: auto; margin: 0px 0px 15px; max-width: 100%; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: auto;" /></div>
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CRPE Graph Showing Fiscal Distress Decreased as Charter Enrollment Increased</div>
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Baker’s amusing analysis of this proof that charter schools are not causing fiscals distress says,</div>
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<em style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">“Of course, what Figure 2 actually shows is that the recessionary period from 2008 through about 2013 resulted in a dramatic increase in districts in fiscal distress, which has subsided during the recovery period, swamping any noticeable effects of charter growth and making it impossible to draw any conclusions regarding charter enrollment impact from this broad descriptive data.”</em></div>
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<em style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">“It’s also true, however, that between 1960 and 2000, the rate of cigarette smoking among women declined by about 30%, while during the same time period, the rate of death from lung cancer increased more than 50%. Should we logically conclude that stopping smoking causes lung cancer? Or might there be other factors at play?”</em></div>
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It seems clear that CRPE is not producing scholarly information. They are simply creating propaganda to sell the billionaire financed positions.</div>
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<strong style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Some Charter School Reform Proposals</strong></h3>
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After 25-years, it is obvious that the charter school experiment is a failure. Charter schools have been a net harm to public education in America. There has been almost no innovation coming from the charter school sector with the exception of regressive practices such as “no excuses” discipline policies. It is a sector that is rife with profiteering, fraud and abuse. The best charter schools merely match the better public schools and on average charters do worse on testing than public schools.</div>
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The charter system adds a layer of inefficiency to public education and creates division in communities. As Peter Greene wrote again yesterday in his blog <a href="http://curmudgucation.blogspot.com/2019/06/magical-money-and-school-choice.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+blogspot%2FORjvzd+%28CURMUDGUCATION%29" style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; color: #f3686d; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Curmudgucation</a>,</div>
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<em style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">“The problem here, as with several other choice-related issues, is in a false premise of modern school choice movement. That false premise is the assertion that we can fund multiple school districts for the same money we used to use to fund one single public system.</em></div>
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<em style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">“This is transparent baloney.”</em></div>
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Charter school reform proposal 1: A complete and permanent moratorium on new charter schools.</div>
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Charter school reform proposal 2: Role all existing charter schools that choose not to become private schools into the school district within which they reside.</div>
Denisha Joneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12543776198792619814noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3410387772840321888.post-50780912871630648652019-06-25T12:15:00.003-04:002019-06-25T12:15:43.143-04:00Charter Schools Will Always Waste Money Because They Duplicate Services by Steven SingerOriginally posted at <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2019/06/15/charter-schools-will-always-waste-money-because-they-duplicate-services/?fbclid=IwAR3uHvC70OJB0QcYtmJ7hRWcjwVjs6jRjcMEOYOq8lHgUpDeScQKhx3njXU">https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2019/06/15/charter-schools-will-always-waste-money-because-they-duplicate-services/?fbclid=IwAR3uHvC70OJB0QcYtmJ7hRWcjwVjs6jRjcMEOYOq8lHgUpDeScQKhx3njXU</a><br />
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You can’t save money buying more of what you already have.</div>
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Constructing two fire departments serving the same community will never be as cheap as having one.</div>
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Empowering two police departments to patrol the same neighborhoods will never be as economical as one.</div>
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Building two roads parallel to each other that go to exactly the same places will never be as cost effective as one.</div>
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This isn’t exactly rocket science. In fact, it’s an axiom of efficiency and sound financial planning. <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2016/08/15/what-real-school-choice-would-look-like-and-why-what-theyre-selling-isnt-it/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">It’s more practical and productive to create one robust service instead of two redundant ones</a>.</div>
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However, when it comes to education, a lot of so-called fiscal conservatives will try to convince us that we should erect two separate school systems – a public one and a privatized one.</div>
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The duplicate may be<a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2017/05/18/charter-schools-and-voucher-schools-are-virtually-identical/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;"> a voucher system</a> where we use public tax dollars to fund private and parochial schools. <a href="https://www.alternet.org/2016/10/who-controls-our-schools-how-billionaire-sponsored-privatization-destroying-democracy-and/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">It may be charter schools</a> where public money is used to finance systems run by private organizations. Or <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2018/01/02/the-different-flavors-of-school-segregation/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">it may be some combination of the two</a>.</div>
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But no matter what they’re suggesting, it’s a duplication of services.</div>
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And it’s a huge waste of money.</div>
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Consider <a href="https://www.rawstory.com/2019/06/the-charter-school-dumpster-fire-in-pennsylvania-provides-an-important-lesson-for-2020-democratic-candidates/?fbclid=IwAR0LzEUwO29J-TNT3mtdZCbv0fwnhYsLYPFrHZXsmQcT65EDxuFabAW94Pg" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">the case of my home state of Pennsylvania</a>.</div>
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Charter schools <a href="https://www.pasbo.org/files/Charter%20School%20Funding%20Reform%205_29_19.pdf" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">cost Commonwealth taxpayers more than $1.8 billion a year</a> and take <a href="https://www.pasbo.org/dailydata-april11" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">more than 25 percent</a> of the state’s basic education funding – <a href="https://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/pdf/coe_cgb.pdf" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">yet they only enroll about 6 percent of students</a>.</div>
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Just imagine – <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2016/11/28/the-essential-selfishness-of-school-choice/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">94% of Pennsylvania students lose out on opportunities</a> because we’re allowing so much money to be siphoned off for a small fraction of students.</div>
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The Keystone state only has 179 charter schools enrolling 135,100 students – <a href="https://www.publiccharters.org/sites/default/files/documents/2018-03/FINAL%20Estimated%20Public%20Charter%20School%20Enrollment%2C%202017-18.pdf" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">the sixth highest charter enrollment in the country</a>. Of those, <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2019/01/29/ten-of-15-cyber-charter-schools-in-pa-are-operating-without-a-charter-close-them-all/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">about a fourth are online cyber charters.</a></div>
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Is it fair to Ma and Pa Taxpayer that they are <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2019/05/20/charter-schools-are-quietly-gobbling-up-my-public-school-district%e2%80%a8/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">forced to bear the extra burden of reproducing these services for a handful of students</a>?</div>
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And make no mistake. This is one of the <a href="https://www.inquirer.com/philly/news/pennsylvania/pennsylvania-property-tax-increases-bucks-chester-montgomery-delaware-county-20180227.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">leading causes of property tax increases</a> in the state.</div>
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The ideology of some results in a direct hit to everyone’s pocketbooks.</div>
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According to <a href="https://www.pasbo.org/files/Charter%20School%20Funding%20Reform%205_29_19.pdf" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">a recent report by the Pennsylvania Association of School Business Officials</a> (PASBO), “Charter school tuition is one of the largest areas of mandated cost growth for school districts.”</div>
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The report found that <a href="https://www.pasbo.org/dailydata-april11" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">state charter schools are growing at a rate of 10 percent a year</a>. The PASBO calculates at least 37 cents of every new dollar of property taxes in the fiscal year 2017-2018 went right to charters. And that percentage is only expected to grow.</div>
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Part of this is due to a <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2019/05/20/charter-schools-are-quietly-gobbling-up-my-public-school-district%e2%80%a8/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">blind, deaf and dumb state legislature that no longer does anything to help alleviate these costs to local school districts</a>. Neighborhood schools can only try to <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2017/01/21/trump-says-our-schools-are-flush-with-cash-theyre-falling-apart/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">compensate by cutting services for students where it can</a> and raising property taxes where it can’t make ends meet.</div>
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<a href="https://www.pasbo.org/2018-fall-budget-report" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">More than one third of school superintendents surveyed by PASBO</a> report a worsening financial picture in their districts—and they put the blame on charter schools.</div>
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“With the state providing no state support for mandatory charter school tuition costs,” the study says, “the increases in this single budget item have the potential to decimate school district budgets.”</div>
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Part of this is the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2016/03/17/the-walmartization-of-public-education/?utm_term=.571b4e61997c" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">extremely unfair way the state determines how much money</a> to give charter schools.</div>
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The legislature has <a href="https://www.education.pa.gov/K-12/Charter%20Schools/Pages/Charter-School-Funding.aspx" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">constructed a funding formula</a> that gives every advantage to charter schools while short changing authentic public schools at every turn.</div>
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For instance, as Jeff Bryant puts it in his article <a href="https://www.rawstory.com/2019/06/the-charter-school-dumpster-fire-in-pennsylvania-provides-an-important-lesson-for-2020-democratic-candidates/?fbclid=IwAR0LzEUwO29J-TNT3mtdZCbv0fwnhYsLYPFrHZXsmQcT65EDxuFabAW94Pg" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">“The Charter School ‘Dumpster Fire’ in Pennsylvania Provides an Important Lesson for 2020 Democratic Candidates”:</a></div>
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“Charter school tuition charged to Pennsylvania public schools is calculated as if charters had to provide the same services public schools have to provide, such as transportation—they don’t. Also, the tuition bill public schools pay to charters is calculated as if every student cost the same to educate—they don’t.</div>
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Instead, the state requires authentic public schools to pay charters way more than authentic public schools get to educate the children in their care – and <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2018/08/29/public-school-is-not-for-profit-it-is-for-children/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">state law even allows charter operators to pocket the savings as profit.</a></div>
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But this just pours lighter fluid on Bryant’s <a href="https://www.rawstory.com/2019/06/the-charter-school-dumpster-fire-in-pennsylvania-provides-an-important-lesson-for-2020-democratic-candidates/?fbclid=IwAR0LzEUwO29J-TNT3mtdZCbv0fwnhYsLYPFrHZXsmQcT65EDxuFabAW94Pg" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">already raging “dumpster fire</a>.”</div>
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<a href="https://www.mcall.com/opinion/mc-opi-pennsylvania-school-funding-disgraceful-white-20180718-story.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">Even if Pennsylvania was entirely equitable</a> in how it allocated funding between these two types of school, it would still be wasting our tax dollars because it would still be engaged in duplication of services.</div>
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There is simply no good reason to do this. At least, not if providing the best education to students is our goal.</div>
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There are few places in the entire country – if any – <a href="http://curmudgucation.blogspot.com/2019/02/charter-schools-are-not-public-schools.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">where charter schools are able to accommodate all students</a>. They cater to <a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/charter-schools-and-commitment_b_58fbab26e4b0f02c3870eafa" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">nitch markets where operators expect they can turn a profit</a>. There are <a href="https://www.city-journal.org/html/our-school-problem-and-its-solutions-11877.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">essentially no communities</a> with a charter school and no authentic public school but many where you find just the opposite.</div>
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Moreover, the <a href="https://ies.ed.gov/ncee/pubs/20104029/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">quality of education provided at charter schools does not live up to the hype of its advertising</a>.</div>
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Except in extremely rare circumstances, <a href="https://www.nber.org/papers/w22502" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">charter schools have never been shown to provide better outcomes than authentic public schools</a>. Almost every study conducted – even those funded by the school privatization industry – show that these two types of schools produce similar results or in many cases that authentic public schools are much better.</div>
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And this <a href="https://nepc.colorado.edu/publication/problems-credo" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">despite the fact that such studies are already stacked in charter schools favor</a> because unlike authentic public schools, charter schools often have selective enrollment. <a href="https://www.educationnext.org/charters-expected-serve-kinds-students/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">A school that gets to cherrypick the best and brightest students</a> has an incredible advantage over those that can’t – yet even with such an uneven starting point charter schools rarely show large academic gains.</div>
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For instance, <a href="https://credo.stanford.edu/pdfs/2019_PA_State_Report_FINAL.pdf" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">a recent study of charter school students in Pennsylvania conducted by the school privatization friendly Center for Research on EDucation Outcomes</a>(CREDO), found that charter students do about the same on reading exams but score worse in math than students in authentic public schools. The study also found <a href="https://www.inquirer.com/news/pennsylvania-charter-school-performance-cyber-credo-stanford-20190604.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">major disparities between charter schools</a> – with cyber charters performing especially poorly.</div>
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However, <a href="https://shermandorn.com/wordpress/?p=8079" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">this study’s methodology has been called into question </a>suggesting that even its meager praise of charter schools may be exaggerated. Yet the overall results are in-line with <a href="https://whyy.org/segments/report-calls-overhaul-pa-charter-law/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">previous research that also found charter schools in the state generally </a> produce students who aren’t as prepared as authentic public school students.</div>
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Pennsylvania passed its charter school law in 1997.</div>
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It’s way passed time for lawmakers in this state and beyond to acknowledge <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2017/01/09/school-privatization-turns-business-into-predator-and-students-into-prey/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">that was a mistake.</a></div>
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We cannot continue to force voters to pay for a supply-side ideology that <a href="https://www.edweek.org/media/kippstudy.pdf" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">not only has been disproven through decades of data </a>but that many do not share.</div>
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That is why we have charter and voucher schools – <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2019/03/16/whos-afraid-of-public-schools/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">a prejudice against authentic public education </a>and desire to allow businesses to cash in on education dollars.</div>
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The duplication of services has nothing to do with helping students learn.</div>
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It’s about <a href="https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2017/01/04/why-schools-should-not-be-run-like-businesses/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">creating a slush fund for unscrupulous corporations and hangers on to get easy cash.</a></div>
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No true fiscal conservative can support charter schools.</div>
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Just as no one who values children can continue to justify this economic double vision.</div>
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