How Pearson Bungled Allegations of Spying on Kids Taking PARCC

There may exist no greater third rail in Public Relations than business activities that even remotely lead to a perception of impropriety, no matter how tangential, in dealings with children.  This week, the media caught up with what groups like the “Badass Teachers Association” had been saying for weeks – that during this month’s administration of the already wildly controversial PARCC standardized test, Pearson Education, Inc., the for profit company that helps oversee the test, admittedly conducted mass monitoring of teenager’s social media in an attempt to do the IMPOSSIBLE, keep up with social media crazed teenagers to ensure they didn’t tweet about the test.

So far, many might think that isn’t so unreasonable. The story, as reported across the country, turns a combination of creepy and downright bizarre from there.

When an suspected “security breach” was detected, Pearson sent school districts a “Priority 1 Alert” after which in at least one case, administrators tracked down the tweeting teenager, had the tweet deleted and notified the parent involved, who was less concerned about her child’s conduct as she was Pearson’s and the school’s.  Even worse, the student turned out not to have revealed any of Pearson’s precious test and had tweeted AFTER school and thus after whatever he or she tweeted couldn’t possibly aid another test taker.

So, what do you do as a business when you get caught policing a test as if you are guarding the launch codes to a nuclear weapon?  Hopefully the exact opposite of what Pearson did.

• Mistake #1 – the press release leads one to wonder whether teachers were handling standardized tests or hazardous materials (Paragraphs 3 and 4). FIX = Strike paragraph 4, and insert “Test booklets have unique barcodes and are delivered to schools shrink wrapped. We’ve also provided Principals a check list they use to train their teachers on best practices for handling the test booklets to ensure the integrity of the test.”

• Mistake #2 – The language used in this entire program – “breach,” “Priority 1 Alert,” etc., conjures an image of prison, or a highly secure institution with armed guards and possibly a moat.  Again, their audience is parents of TEENAGERS, none of whom want to hear about “breaches” or “Priority Alerts” of any kind while their kids are at school.  FIX = “instances where test questions and answers are made publicly available” and “Notify.”  

• Mistake #3 – Word games.  Pearson denies “spying” on teenagers and instead attempts to substitute “monitor.”  Mass monitoring of social media belonging to minors without parental consent is certainly fits the Webster’s definition of the word “spy.”  Certainly it is true that the word “monitor” has an overlapping definition and stings less than “spy,” but it appears someone did what I just did, went on the Webster’s website and picked a word that sounded less, well, creepy in connection to kids – “spying on kids” = angry parents while “monitoring kids” = keeping them safe from harm.  MY FIX = simply say “we use software to search for posts that contain specific keywords to alert us to potential cheating.  That software searches only that which is public already and at no time does it gain any access whatsoever to any accounts or their log in credentials.”
• Mistake #4 Making the first justification for a monitoring program protecting the economic interests of the States who invested in test development.  Fix = It’s only fair to ensure that no student has an unfair advantage on the test and posting questions and answers to standardized tests on social media as a method of cheating is not unique to PARCC, nor is monitoring for the same on social media novel.

Here’s that they should have done:

• Had schools send home with each student an FAQ sheet asking parents to remind their kids that posting questions and answers is considered cheating and detailing to parents that an automated program would be searching social media for posts that contain questions and answers during the test, that only publicly available information would be searched and that no data on their children was being obtained much less retained.

Assume they still found themselves in a firestorm – instead of a mechanical, almost robotic press release, how about something like this:

“We regret that there has been so much confusion about some of the ways we ensure the integrity of the testing process and are committed to total transparency.  We employ a software program that automatically preforms searches of publicly available social media postings to ensure that no test questions or answers are posted during the course of testing. At no time does the program have any access to any non-publicly available postings, and absolutely no data concerning any particular accounts are users are retained by us.  In the event we discover a posting that contains information that could compromise the integrity of the test, we notify the school district where the post originated so that they can work with the involved student and their parents to address the issue in the manner the district sees fit.  No data on any student is ever provided to anyone other than school district or school administrators. ”

“Again, we sincerely apologize that we didn’t do a better job of communicating about the various methods we employ to ensure the integrity of the test.  We take our obligations to States, School Districts, Schools, Educators, Parents and Students very seriously, and we are in the process of reviewing options for a more streamlined process in the future.”

The governing theory of managing a crisis is to speak up quickly, tell the truth, identify areas for improvement, apologize for not meeting expectations and set forth a process by which the issue will be resolved and not repeated.  They may well need to comb social media to ensure the integrity of the test, and that may not be a bad thing, but when it comes to any sort of “monitoring” of children by a private business, it’s good business to communicate in advance so no one, especially not a critical constituency like the parents of said children, are caught of guard.

– Jonathan Franks is the CEO of LUCID Public Relations, and a crisis management expert.

NJ BATs Statement to NJ Assembly Education Committee

The more than 1300 members of the New Jersey Badass Teachers Association stand in solidarity with Chairman of the Assembly Education Committee, Assemblyman Diegnan, in his requests that a representative of Pearson appear Thursday before his committee to explain the company's surveillance of New Jersey student’s social media activity and the companies decision to report students to the Department of Education.. The story that Bob Braun released Friday March 13^th demonstrates the extensive overreach that this company has been allowed with regards to the privacy of minors and its possible collusion with the Department of Education. The fact that Pearson feels entitled not just to monitor social media but to report behavior that they find to the NJDOE and that they expect the NJDOE to act on such reports is a blatant display of a very troubling relationship between a private for profit company and the NJDOE, a public body that is empowered to serve the needs of our children. This needs to be investigated – the full extent of the demands and control that Pearson has on our NJDOE and thereby on our schools, educators, and students. It is quite clear that Pearson is serving its own interest and will use any measure to achieve their goals.

The concerns expressed by parents, teachers and community members regarding the disruptive effect PARCC is having on the educational programs in our schools including budgetary cuts from needed programs,such as creative arts and after school activities, was cause enough for concern . But when we allow a profit driven corporation to dictate demands upon our schools, all stakeholders should be questioning the motives of these entities and analyzing if they are really operating in the best interest of all our children. At this point, it has become quite clear that Pearson is serving its own interest and will use any measure to achieve their goals.

Pearson's overwhelming influence has resulted in disruption to our schools, a dictation of the testing modifications of our special needs students, a strain on our budgets to meet technology and testing requirements as well as holding our children hostage to a strained testing culture that has driven any love of learning and enjoyment of school from their daily lives. Parents have started to speak loudly against their influence in the form of thousands of children across the state refusing to take the PARCC exams. Our union has launched an extensive campaign against testing. As a company that is being paid millions of dollars for a contract with the state, Pearson should be in the position to be meeting the demands of the state, of our schools, and of our children. Instead, the state has been exhausting all resources possible to meet the demands of the Pearson corporation to integrate its requirements. Requirements that have resulted in several testing errors that include videos not being seen or heard by all students, students and test administrators becoming frustrated when unable to correctly start tests, unnecessary burdens to school administrators and staff to adjust scheduling needs, a loss of classroom instructional time, a total interruption in the educational learning process, not once but twice this school year, and an entire generation of students that have been left feeling that they are not smart enough and that they do not deserve a well-rounded learning experience.

As constituents of the state of New Jersey , we have confidence that our legislators will hold Pearson and the New Jersey Department of Education responsible for these transgressions against our children. We trust that the Assembly Education Committee will see the need for more than one simple conversation to address the issues that Pearson is forcing our schools to face. We know that several more conversations will be held as our representatives take on the responsibility of investigating the invasion of Pearson into the lives of our children.

Self-Actualization

By Jamaal A Bowman

Originally posted on his blog at https://jamaalabowman.wordpress.com/2015/03/15/self-actualization/

According to 2013 census data, 86% of Americans have a high school diploma, whereas only 29% of Americans have a college degree. Wow! That’s a 57% difference! In poor communities of color, the numbers are even more staggering. Although 75% may graduate high school in some of the higher performing districts, only 1 in ten will graduate from college. Obviously, what we’re doing for kids has not been working at all.

Why aren’t the majority of students finishing college after graduating from high school? There are obviously many reasons. Some go into the military. Others start their own business. Others, make poor lifestyle choices and end up pregnant or in jail. Some just try to get the best job they can with benefits, and the chance to earn some form of a living wage.

There is also the issue of academic performance. Because of the perceived “rigor gap” between high school and college, students enter college unprepared and either fail out or drop out. Enter the common core standards. Designed to increase K-12 rigor so more students graduate high school “prepared” for college. Which, in theory, will make them more likely to finish college. The common core should create a seamless cognitive transition into higher education. We’ll know if this theory works in another 15 years or so.

Considering all of the above, I think we should also examine some very important questions as they relate to students. What is the purpose of school? How do students perceive school? How do students perceive themselves within the context of school? In my experience, these questions are rarely if ever explored by students. Therefore, upon high school graduation, most students want to get as far away from school as possible. They are not attuned with the life-long learner within. Consider this: According to multiple studies, students become disengaged from school beginning as early as the 4th grade. After 4th grade, many students are doing school more because they have to than because they want to.

We must have a paradigm shift in education. Our mindset and schools must be 100% student centered. School must become a true place for self-actualization. We have been “top down” for far too long. America’s authoritarian, assembly line mentality has destroyed the passion in far too many of our young people. They have survived school. We need them to thrive in school.

There is a powerful grassroots movement happening in education across the nation. Teachers are saying no to testing and no to the common core standards. Teachers are saying no to corporate control and no to being obsessed with data. Teachers are also saying no to teacher evaluations connected to a flawed standardized testing system.

Teachers aren’t saying no to these things because they don’t believe in assessment, data, or accountability. Teachers are saying no because they know that students have been left out of the so- called Ed reform conversation. Instead, children are being programmed by a system outside of their environment to do the bidding of that system. In many ways, “the matrix has us all.” Teachers are freedom fighters, fighting to free our minds.

Teachers are saying no because learning begins and ends with the student at the center — not with the state Ed department or Wall Street profiteers.

One test, measuring one side of the brain, or only two of Howard Gardener’s eight intelligences, sells short the infinite abilities of children and the overall potentials of our society.

The student-centered approach begins at birth. First by supporting “at risk” families to ensure a language and executive function gap doesn’t occur with children between birth and age 5. Doctors, teachers, and children’s services must work collaboratively and strategically to meet the needs of families. Further, nursery school must be available for all children. Head start and nursery programs help to build essential character and language skills so that students enter school ready to learn. Also, a holistic experiential approach should be implemented beginning in early childhood. This gives students the chance to explore their environments and engage in hands on learning. Studies show that hands on activities make learning stick. All of the above, in addition to foundational numeracy, and inquiry skills, will instill confidence in our children and an understanding that school is a place of warm engagement and growth.

Through the primary grades and into high school, we hone our practices to make them more individualized as we continue to help students access their genius. We should continue to expose our students to the multiple intelligences with pedagogy rooted in critical thinking, communication, collaboration, and creativity. Our curricula must strike a balance between relationship and authority, coaching and teaching, and real world application with abstract understanding. The student-centered approach will instill a love of life and learning into our students, which will increase college enrollment and graduation. Students will see the purpose. Students will feel their genius.
Redesigning our school system into a student-centered model will bring out the innate brilliance of every child. Our world, filled with war, poverty, and mental illness, needs this. As opposed to living without a plan, floating through life feeling disempowered, our students will become goal setters, leaders, and design thinkers. For far too long school has been done to students instead of with students. With a new mindset, our kids will create objects beyond our wildest imaginations. More standardized testing does not get this done. Neither does using V.A.M. to evaluate teachers, or implementing developmentally inappropriate standards to 5 year olds. It’s like our system still functions to identify the “have nots,” so they can be inserted as cogs, living simply to die.

We must let empathy be our guide. Meet students where they are and take them beyond their imaginations. Students will then understand and feel that school is a pathway to self-actualization, not a pathway toward subordination. With this newfound understanding and empowerment, college graduation rates will exponentially increase, and our students will change the world!

Teach for America – What a Stupid Idea! (Or is it?)

By:  Steven Singer

Originally posted on his blog  https://gadflyonthewallblog.wordpress.com/2015/03/14/teach-for-america-what-a-stupid-idea-or-is-it/

Welcome to the Hall of Stupid Ideas!

I’ll be your guide through this section of the museum.

Moving past the hall of phrenology, past the flat earth wing and the newly renovated rotunda of climate change denial, we come to one of my favorite displays – Teach for America or TFA.

This really is a very dumb idea.

Imagine, if you will, a country besieged by an education crisis! In this case, a shortage of teachers.

To meet the needs of this deficiency, we hire a slew of poorly trained college grads to fill-in the gaps.

Sounds nice, doesn’t it?

Young go-getters ready to take a stand and help the country by devoting themselves to our little children.

Yet it’s just so much bullshit.

You see the problem is real. We DO need more teachers – especially at our poorest schools. However, the same people who are promoting TFA are the ones who caused this shortage in the first place.

As public school budgets are slashed at both the state and federal level, local districts are forced to furlough more-and-more educators. Students are stuffed into larger classes and forced to do without the arts, foreign languages, technology courses, anything that isn’t on our federally mandated standardized tests.

So there IS a real shortage of teachers in the classroom, but there is NO shortage of unemployed teachers.

More than 300,000 teachers are out of work. These are people with at least a bachelors degree in education – many of whom have even more experience in the classroom actually teaching kids.

You might think that we could just allocate funding and hire them! Right!?

Wouldn’t that be better?

We could fill our public schools with dedicated education professionals instead of lightly trained temps.

Because this is what Teach for America is providing. TFA recruits get 5 weeks training and only have to sign on for a two-year commitment.

So those advocating for TFA insist it’s somehow better to give a child an instructor who has a few weeks training versus someone with a 4-or-5-year degree and who has real life experience on the job!

It’s staggering isn’t it?

Now this would never fly in most neighborhoods. Imagine trying to convince the rich that their children would be best served by this kind of scheme. They’d riot!

But this scam is almost exclusively perpetrated in poor neighborhoods because that’s where our state and federal governments cut funding. In rich neighborhoods, they can just raise local property taxes to give their children all the best that money can buy. In poor neighborhoods, this isn’t an option. They rely on state and federal tax dollars to give their kids a fair start in life so they can equally compete in the job market.

Well, the joke’s on you, poor people!

Rich folks are selling you substandard teachers and pretending like it’s philanthropy!

You’d think this scheme would be laughed out of existence but many national news sources praise it to the sky! They even make excuses when research proves how ineffective the whole scheme is!

Take this report from March 2015 concluding that students taught by TFA recruits score no better on standardized tests than those of traditional teachers.

Time Magazine – yes, THAT Time Magazine – published an article claiming that this proved TFA was a success!

Look! It’s just as effective as bachelor-degree-holding-teachers!

However, all it really shows is that judging an instructor – whether TFA or not –based on student test scores is ridiculous!

(Yes,Value-Added Measures are coming up later in the tour. But I’m getting ahead of myself!)

Standardized test scores have been shown time-and-again to measure the student’s parental income – not academic abilities.

So you would expect poor students to have lower test scores than rich students – no matter how well-trained their instructors are!

Which leaves us with motivation. Why would anyone still advocate for TFA?

Answer: because it’s actually not a dumb idea at all!

It’s an evil one!

The whole point of this sham is to serve the needs of the privatization movement.

Investors want to change public education into a cash cow. They want to alter the rules so that corporations running districts can cut services for children and use the extra cash for profits.

And that starts with teachers.

If we allow privatizers to replace well-prepared and trained teachers with lightly trained temps, we can reduce the salaries we pay instructors. We delegitimize the profession. We redefine the job “teacher.” It’s no longer a highly-trained professional. It’s something anyone can do from off the street – thus we can pay poverty wages.

And the savings from cutting salaries can all go into our corporate pockets!

This kind of flim-flam would never be allowed with our present crop of highly trained professionals because many of them belong to labor unions. We have to give them the boot so we can exterminate their unions and thus provide easy pickings for the profiteers.

There’s no question that this scheme is bad for children.

But that’s not the point for TFA advocates. It’s all about money.

I guess this is as good a time as any to reveal the name of the wing we’ve just entered – Corporate Education Reform!

Here we’ll see many more exhibits displaying ideas that appear just as stupid as TFA but are really as intelligent as they are immoral.

What’s that, little boy? Who’s that man pictured above the archway? That’s Bill Gates.

Step right this way to the Common Core display…

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Movie Extra:

The Badass Teachers Association Calls on the U.S. Department of Justice to Investigate Pearson

This week’s scandal about Pearson spying on children and their social media activity to determine if testing security was breached shows us that Pearson has no qualms in stealing the sanctity of childhood. Gone are the days in which a child’s life can be that of a private citizen.  The idea that Pearson feels it must corral and control what our children put on social media is a corruption, greed, and injustice sandwich.  Sorry Pearson we are not eating it.

Here is a strong and direct warning from the teachers and parents of the Badass Teachers Association – You messed up and you messed up BIG.  Due to your attempt to continue to buy up and control American education you have committed perhaps the most disgusting act any one could commit – you have used our children to further your agenda in a light that is so transparent.  America values  its children’s privacy and respects their ability to be private citizens.

To place limitations upon a child’s ability to be a private citizen brings us a step closer to the Orwellian society that may have been more prophetic than even George Orwell himself realized. A veiled threat made through the communication of the state department of education informing the school of the issuance of a Priority 1 Alert for a test item breach AFTER school hours, while the child is a private citizen is, as the kids would say, creepy. Even though there was no picture of the test item and no attempt at cheating, the tweet was done, by the child, as a private citizen. With the questioning by many around the nation that has been done about the appropriateness of Common Core and PARCC related materials, this can be seen as an attempt by Pearson to merely silence that questioning by attempting to limit the exposure of their test items. However, the cloud of secrecy that envelops Pearson tests is not thick enough to hide just how wrong it is.

The fact that Pearson already had well-laid out plans that included the contracting of a social media watchdog company to monitor student discussions on social media speaks to the validity and reliability of this test in the first place. If their product was a true educational tool with a valid purpose the need for such procedures would not have even arisen. Pearson is being faced with a strong uprising over their control of the educational marketplace.  Pearson’s control of this market should not even exist in the first place as private companies seek to profit from our children and from public education. A national test refusal movement so massive would not have even begun if Pearson, and others, were not engaged in educational malpractice tactics that are harmful to our children and to their schools.  We would like to strongly  state, again, that all parents refuse their children from Pearson testing.

As parents and teachers that have a duty to protect our children and safeguard their right to being private citizens, we are outraged at the over reach that Pearson has been allowed.  It is an overbearing reach that has even been condoned by New Jersey's department of education. As parents and teachers we demand that the United States Department of Justice investigate  the facts and practices that Pearson is employing to monitor and control the actions of our children, that is not only in clear violation of their rights, but also a transgression against their childhood.    

Please email the U.S Department of Justice and demand they investigate this matter AskDOJ@usdoj.gov

The Party of Greed

By:  Terri Michal 

While reading both charter bills, SB 45 and HB 192, I realized that for those Alabamians that are paying attention there is literally something for EVERYONE to detest in these bills, everyone except those that are profiting from them.  Could the corporate ‘Party of Greed’, with Sen. Marsh, Rep. Hubbard, and Rep. Terri Collins at the helm, be any more obvious about whom they pledge their allegiance to?  As the billions of dollars roll in on the side of the corporations the peoples’ voices are being drowned out. In order to win our government back what other choice will the people of Alabama have but to find common ground on individual issues and join forces in opposition to these corporate led legislators?  The charter bills in Alabama give us a perfect opportunity to do just that. Our perspectives may be different but our goals are the same. Rid the legislative process of corporate greed so that the will of the people will truly be served.

This weekend we marched to show respect for those that stood tall while facing their oppressors in Selma, Alabama 50 years ago. Yet today we stay silent about the most important event to affect our children in Alabama’s public schools since desegregation.  We need to stand now for the rights of ALL of our public school’s students to have an equitable, quality public education led by professionals that possess the tools needed to allow each child to achieve at their highest ability. We must ask ourselves; do we really believe that our current public schools cannot provide that? I do not. I believe our educator’s hands have been tied and our high poverty schools set up to fail, BUT if you do believe our public schools cannot provide what our students need then I contend, wouldn’t it make more sense to change the laws like the ‘Party of Greed’ is proposing for the charter schools so that they can?  Putting another layer of bureaucracy over a system that is drowning in  it and allowing more hands to be raking in the cash that is already stretched PAST its limits is not an acceptable answer. Read the Fiscal Note for SB 45 and you will find this interesting little bit “In addition, the provisions of this bill will further increase the administrative and fiscal obligations of the State Department of Education by an estimated $500,000 annually for personnel and other departmental costs associated with hiring an additional 4 employees to carry out the provisions of this bill.” and with that one statement the money drain begins.

With these two charter bills that are basically one in the same, our politicians will have the ultimate say in our public schools. Eight of the nine appointed positions on the state Charter Commission will come from the leaders of the House and the Senate, the Governor and the State Superintendent. Everything else aside, from that one bit of information, do you really feel our students’ best interest will be met or could it be this commission will be so politicized that it will actually serve the needs of those that appointed them?  Isn’t it also a problem when we have commissions appointed by politicians that can override elected local school boards? In these proposed bills they will be condemning our children to classrooms with no certified teachers, corporations will be able to convert ENTIRE SCHOOL SYSTEMS to  charter schools against the will of the people, the non-profits holding the license to the charter will be able to take the local, state and federal dollars it obtains, that should be used for our children's PUBLIC education, and funnel it through for profit companies where it will be almost impossible to trace and use it, instead, to line their pockets. Hubbard has already been accused of taking $7,500 a month in kick-backs from one education service provider before the bill is even signed, yet we look the other way and pretend the children’s best interest will be honored.

We can stop these charter bills, the power of the people proved its might 50 years ago and it can again this week if we are only willing to take that step of faith that what is right will prevail and that, united, our voices have power. We must hold our legislators accountable for their failures to create equitable schools, not hand them the weapons to use against us, and that is indeed what these bills are.  Weapons.  Weapons used by the politically powerful and extremely wealthy to ensure that their power and wealth continues to grow, weapons that will suppress and marginalize a people, weapons used to divide and conquer.  There can be no other explanation for a bill that is written by Republicans but takes power away from local elected school boards and puts it in the hands of an appointed state committee. 

The new fight coming to politics is no longer the Left against the Right.  It is the corporate interests against the people.  The Party of Greed will eat everyone in its path, Republican or Democrat; no one’s interest will be protected but their own.   Please call and write your Legislators, both in the House and Senate NOW, tell them that they are elected to represent the PEOPLE OF ALABAMA.  Tell them to say NO to the Alabama School Choice and Opportunity Act.

Terri Michal is founder of her own grassroots group, SOS Support our Students, she also heads the Alabama BATs, is an administrator with the national Badass Teacher’s Association and is Co-chair of Moral Monday Alabama.  You may contact her at tmichal3@gmail.com.

The Leadership Team of the Badass Teachers Association

Supports A Parents' Right to Refuse the Test! 

The Leadership Team of the Badass Teachers Association would like to publicly state that we support a parents' right to refuse state testing for their children.  As an education activist organization of over 54,000 teachers and parents, we know that the testing our children are subject to under corporate education reform is harmful, invalid, and not being used as an instrument to further instruction.  We strongly object to any education practice that is not rooted in sound pedagogy and is being used as a weapon to harm children and their communities.  We most strongly object that these tests scores are being used to close schools in our poor communities, which are also predominantly our communities of color.  As educators, we will never support assessments that continue to marginalize, blame, and punish our children and their communities.  Therefore, we strongly advise all parents to refuse their children from state testing. When we deny education departments the data, they cannot use it against our children, their communities, or teachers.  REFUSE THE TEST!

The Leadership Team of the Badass Teachers Association has also published a statement against the sit and stare policy.  This abusive policy requires children, who refuse state testing, to sit and stare for hours.  Here is our statement on that policy:  http://badassteachers.blogspot.com/2015/02/bats-leadership-team-releases-statement.html

The Leadership Team of the Badass Teachers Association has also published that we are, as an organization, conscientious objectors to state tests that are being used to punish, blame, and fail our children, their communities, and teachers.  You can read that statement here:  http://badassteachers.blogspot.com/2014/11/the-badass-teachers-association-we-have.html

We want to tell all our parents and students that WE SUPPORT YOUR RIGHT TO REFUSE HARMFUL TESTING and we also would like to encourage all teachers/parents to REFUSE YOUR OWN CHILDREN FROM TESTING.