Issues

Issues

What are you thinking about the administration’s efforts to connect teacher evaluations to student test scores and the move to institute national standards? Stay informed! Here’s a couple of recent articles that didn’t appear in local papers. At the bottom of the page, you’ll find contact information for southern Arizona’s Representatives Giffords and Grijalva and Senators Kyl and McCain.

Teachers Should Be Seen and Not Heard

by Anthony Mullens, who is a special education teacher in Connecticut & 2009 Teacher of the Year, as recognized by Obama

http://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/teacher_of_the_year/2010/01/teachers_should_be_seen_and_no.html

I am a fly on the wall sitting at a table. Seated at a round table are three state governors, one state senator, a Harvard professor and author, and a strange little man who assumes the role of group moderator. The strange little man asks the group to talk about their experiences at the education conference. The ex governor from the South begins to talk about how the traditional school model is not working and the problem of too many teachers who do not understand what they teach. Teachers, he complains, are not prepared to teach in 21st century classrooms because they possess, in his words, "only 20th century skills." He does not provide specific examples or elaborate upon his theory but the other guests at the table nod their heads in agreement.

A governor from the Midwest first pays homage to the governor from the South. He tells us that his "good friend "is "right on target" about teachers not prepared to teach in 21st century classrooms. The governor from the Midwest thanks the governor from the South for presenting "the best talk at the conference." Not to be undone, the governor from the South responds by telling the governor from the Midwest that he "presented the best talk at the conference." When both men are done patting each other's backs, the Midwest governor complains that teachers, particularly math teachers, don't know their subject materials. Again, the other guests at the table nod their heads in agreement. All is civil.
The third governor hails from a cold northern state but his words have a scorching tone. "The problem with schools, "he says, "is a lack of accountability. Schools need to be guided by specific core curriculum standards and data-driven assessment." The governor continues his diatribe. "I don't understand why schools are not managed more like businesses." This time the guests nod their heads vigorously, not unlike those small bobble head dolls seen on car dashboards.

The next education expert to speak is the professor from Harvard. He gives a mini lesson about the role of chaos theory in education. His new order of thinking-or New Age way of thinking- argues that seemingly unrelated events occurring in the classroom (the boy coughing, the girl raising her hand, and the teacher writing on the board) when taken together form a pattern of continuity and purpose rather than chaotic or random events. The 21st century teacher must be able to recognize these events as purposeful moments in time and space because education is connected to the rest of the universe. Wow. I will forever wonder if I did something to upset a time and space continuum the next time I admonish a student for not covering his mouth while coughing. Teachers do recognize that order and disorder exist in classrooms and that educating children is often an uncertain endeavor, but we do not have time to reflect on such esoteric thoughts when breaking up a spit ball fight.

The strange little man tries to fuse all the promulgated ideas together and asks the group to consider the following question: "Where do we take education from here?"
The state senator from the West is asked to go first. She is a diminutive lady and pauses to reflect upon the question. "I think we need to consider the role of teachers in the classroom," she replies in a soft voice. "We are headed toward a teacherless classroom and must be guided by this fact." A teacherless classroom? I look around the table and hope one of the esteemed guests will ask her to clarify or possibly expand upon her statement. Instead, the guests just nod their heads in agreement.

The strange little man interrupts. "I agree. Technology is making the traditional classroom teacher less relevant-possibly obsolete. Soon students will be learning at home from online classes on their laptops." I silently question who will be teaching the online classes.
 The senator continues her line of reasoning, asserting how the rapid infusion of technology in classrooms is better understood by students than teachers. Teachers are best suited to facilitate the dissemination of knowledge through interactive technology rather than try to teach ideas and concepts using traditional methods. A Brave New World suddenly enters the discussion and the senator's vision of a utopian classroom is greeted with comments such as "indeed" and "without question."

The Harvard professor tugs at his chin with his right thumb and index finger and compliments the senator. "In the future," he says, "students will be learning at home using their computers. School buildings and classrooms will not be the primary learning environment." Really? Could any sane person envision millions of school children staying home and learning a full curriculum online? I foresee a stay-at-home mom or dad spending most of the day trying to keep their children away from Facebook.

The senator from the West is very pleased that her comment about technology replacing teachers is embraced by the people seated at the table. So far I have not been asked to speak or comment. I remain a fly on the wall at the table. How weird and familiar it feels to be an invisible teacher listening to politicians and academics speak about teachers and the teaching profession. I try not to move lest they notice me.

The governor from the South changes the direction of the conversation and boasts about how he personally raised test scores in his state by challenging the "status quo of education." He forgot to mention that he lowered the passing grades for state assessment tests- a status quo practiced by quite a few states.

The strange little man grabs a large strawberry from a fruit dish and gnaws at it. I have never seen a person eat a strawberry with two hands. "I think we all agree that changes are needed, "he declares to the group. "That's why we are here," the senator replied.

The politicians and academics enjoy a dessert of pastries and fruit. I can't keep my eyes off the strange little man nibbling on the strawberry like some backyard squirrel. The group discusses the need to drastically modify classroom management and teaching practices. They talk about curricula and how children learn best when they are provided meaningful activities. We are reminded by the governor from the South that teachers must be proficient in content knowledge.  Once again the strange little man grabs the reigns of the discussion and now alerts the group of my presence. He deposits the strawberry's calyx on a plate. I am no longer a fly on the wall at a table as the others look upon me. "What do you think?" the senator asked.

Where do I begin? I spent the last thirty minutes listening to a group of arrogant and condescending non educators disrespect my colleagues and profession. I listened to a group of disingenuous people whose own self-interests guide their policies rather than the interests of children. I listened to a cabal of people who sit on national education committees that will have a profound impact on classroom teaching practices. And I heard nothing of value.  "I'm thinking about the current health care debate, "I said. "And I am wondering if I will be asked to sit on a national committee charged with the task of creating a core curriculum of medical procedures to be used in hospital emergency rooms."
The strange little man cocks his head and, suddenly, the fly on the wall has everyone's attention.

"I realize that most people would think I am unqualified to sit on such a committee because I am not a doctor, I have never worked in an emergency room, and I have never treated a single patient. So what? Today I have listened to people who are not teachers, have never worked in a classroom, and have never taught a single student tell me how to teach."

An uneasy silence cloaks the table. The governor from the South looks at his watch, the

governor from the North bows his head, the governor from the Midwest stirs his coffee, the

diminutive senator stares at me, and the strange little man grabs another strawberry. One

by one the lunch guests leave the table. I return to being a fly on a wall at a table.

I wonder how many other teachers have been treated in such a manner.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/17/education/17educ.html?hp
Obama Pushes States to Shift on Education
By SAM DILLON
Published: August 16, 2009
Holding out billions of dollars as a potential windfall, the Obama administration is persuading state after state to rewrite education laws to open the door to more charter schools and expand the use of student test scores for judging teachers.
That aggressive use of economic stimulus money by Education Secretary Arne Duncan is provoking heated debates over the uses of standardized testing and the proper federal role in education, issues that flared frequently during President George W. Bush’s enforcement of his signature education law, the No Child Left Behind Law.
A recent case is California, where legislative leaders are vowing to do whatever is necessary, including rewriting a law that prohibits the use of student scores in teacher evaluations, to ensure that the state is eligible for a chunk of the $4.3 billion the federal Education Department will soon award to a dozen or so states. The law had strong backing from the state teachers union.
Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana, Tennessee and several other states have moved to bring state education laws or policies into line with one or more planks in President Obama’s school improvement agenda.
The administration’s stance has caught by surprise those educators and officials who had hoped that Mr. Obama’s calls during the campaign for an overhaul of the No Child law would mean a reduced federal role and less reliance on standardized testing. The law requires every American school to bring all students to proficiency in reading and math by 2014 and penalizes those that do not meet annual goals.
The proposed rules make testing an even more powerful factor in schools by extending the use of scores to teacher evaluations. The proposed rules for the $4.3 billion in grants, which the administration calls the Race to the Top, require states to show they are fostering innovation, improving achievement, raising standards, recruiting effective teachers, turning around failed schools and building data systems.
Just to be eligible to apply, a “state must not have any legal, statutory or regulatory barriers to linking data on student achievement or student growth to teachers and principals for the purpose of teacher and principal evaluation,” the rules say.
While many educators and advocates support the administration, there has been an outpouring of complaints as well, including in comments on the rules filed recently with the Education Department. (The department will issue final rules after the comment period ends Aug. 28.)
“The proposed regulations are overly burdensome,” Robert P. Grimesey, superintendent of the Orange County Public Schools, a rural district in Virginia, said in written comments. “They give the impression that stimulus funds provide the federal government with unbridled capacity to impose bureaucratic demands.”
Much of the grumbling is from educators who say they supported Mr. Obama’s candidacy.
“I am a public school teacher who vehemently wanted to vote for a president who would save us from No Child Left Behind,” Diane Aoki of Kealakekua, Hawaii, wrote to the Education Department. But requiring a linking of test scores to teacher evaluations, Ms. Aoki said, means “the potential is there for the test frenzy to get worse than it is under No Child Left Behind.”
An Education Department spokesman, Peter Cunningham, said, “There’s a healthy debate around this grand application, which is what we were hoping for.”
“We’re mindful of all the criticisms about federal overreaching, about too much testing, of all the complaints about No Child Left Behind,” Mr. Cunningham said. “These complaints come up all the time in conversations about all our programs, not just this one, with education officials across the country. The context that No Child has generated is the context that we have to live with.”
The New Teacher Project, a nonprofit group, published a report this month handicapping states’ chances. Florida and Louisiana, it said, were “highly competitive,” New Jersey and others were “competitive,” and Connecticut was “somewhat competitive.” California, New York and Wisconsin, the report said, were not eligible because of state laws limiting the use of achievement data in teacher evaluation.
Lawmakers and officials in California and Wisconsin are debating whether to make legislative changes to meet the administration’s eligibility requirement.
In New York, education officials are pushing back against suggestions that the state is ineligible. Merryl H. Tisch, chancellor of the State Board of Regents, said Friday that because the law banned the use of student data in evaluating teachers only for tenure decisions, the administration’s proposed rules would not render New York ineligible.
Also, Dr. Tisch said, the state law is scheduled to expire in June 2010, and “there is no appetite to renew that law.”
Not everyone is upset with the administration’s tactics.
“We like the way the administration is using Race to the Top to send a message about its priorities,” said Joe Williams, executive director of Democrats for Education Reform. “We like that it’s gotten states to take a close look at their laws and practices and whether they continue to make sense.”
Diane Ravitch, an education historian at New York University, disagreed. “The Department of Education should respect the requirements of federalism and look to states to offer their best ideas rather than mandating policies that the current administration likes,” Dr. Ravitch said in comments filed with the department.
An early sign that the promise of education financing could induce changes in state laws came after several blunt statements by Mr. Duncan this spring that states with laws limiting the growth of charter schools would have trouble getting an award.
Lawmakers in Illinois, Louisiana, Tennessee and several other states soon responded by lifting caps on the numbers of charter schools or by expanding the pool of students eligible to attend them. Charter schools are publicly financed, but they are managed by groups separate from school districts and are largely free from work rules governing traditional public schools.
In Indiana, lawmakers beat back an effort to impose a moratorium on new charters and, after Mr. Duncan warned that states prohibiting the use of student test data in teacher evaluations would be ineligible for awards, revoked such a prohibition.
Union lobbying was crucial in passing such laws. The two national unions have not formally commented on the proposed rules. They have opposed using test scores in evaluations, saying misuse of ambiguous data could lead to unfair dismissals.
California got special attention in June when Mr. Duncan noted in a speech that it was among states that had created “a firewall between students and teacher data.”
“In California, they have 300,000 teachers,” he said. The top 10 percent are the “best in the world,” he said, the bottom 10 percent, “should probably find another profession, yet no one in California can tell you which teacher is in which category.”
“Something is wrong with that picture,” he said.
In response, the state’s superintendent of public instruction, board of education president and education secretary wrote a joint letter to Mr. Duncan saying his concerns were “based on a misunderstanding.”
California’s law, they argued, bars state officials from using test results to evaluate teachers but does not block local districts from doing so. Only a few do.
State Senator Gloria Romero, a Democrat and chairwoman of the Senate Education Committee, said in an interview that because “disagreement continues” between the state and Obama officials, she was drafting legislation to clarify the law. Ms. Romero has scheduled a hearing on the issue for Aug. 26. 
BACA SPONSORS BILL TO END NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND TESTING
REQUIREMENTS

Bill Would End Costly Testing Requirements, Reign in
“Teaching to the Test” Culture

Washington, DC – Today, Congressman Joe Baca (D-Rialto,
California) introduced legislation in the House of
Representatives that creates a moratorium on the testing
provisions in the No Child Left Behind Act, which currently
govern the assessment standards used by each of the 50
states. The Save our Schools (S.O.S.) Act amends the
Elementary and Secondary Education Act to remove all
mandated testing provisions, freeing school districts and
teachers from the “teaching to the test culture” and
ending an inequitable system that punished, instead of
assisted, those schools and students in the most dire need.

“Since it’s enactment in 2001, the No Child Left Behind
Act has been a complete and utter failure,” said Rep.
Baca. “Instead of ensuring all of America’s children
have access to a quality education, the legislation has tied
the hands of teachers and school administrators, forced
students to learn inane testing strategies instead of
real-life skills, and made billions in profits for
standardized testing companies. I am proud to introduce
this long overdue legislation, which can finally put
America’s education policy back in the hands of local
officials, teachers and parents, and remove the influence of
big corporations and Washington bureaucrats.”

While the testing measures included in the No Child Left
Behind Act were originally meant to serve as a means of
holding school districts, administrators and teachers to the
highest standards of accountability to ensure strong
academic achievement for all students – the measures have
in fact had the opposite effect. The persistent problems
caused by the testing mandates in the No Child Left Behind
Act include over-emphasizing standardized testing, narrowing
curriculum and instruction to focus on test preparation
rather than richer academic learning, using sanctions that
do not help improve schools, inappropriately excluding
low-scoring children in order to boost test results, and
failing to come up with successful measures of assessment
for students with limited English skills and special needs
students.

“No Child Left Behind Act prescribes a failed
one-size-fits all approach to the development of America’s
youth,” said Rep. Baca. “The S.O.S. Act is responsible
legislation which can eliminate the misguided testing
requirements that are currently in place, and instead return
education policy to where it belongs, in the hands of our
states and local governments.”

From Jim Crawford, at the Institute for Language and Policy

What's most remarkable about Race to the Top -- especially coming from a progressive Democrat like Obama -- is that it's an end-run around the democratic process.

1. National standards and tests have long been controversial ideas. But with its new slush fund for "reform," the Obama administration can now "incentivize" states to go along, regardless of what Congress wants to do. This would be a policy change with enormous implications, and it should properly be debated as part of ESEA reauthorization, when there would be at least some chance for critical views to be heard and for citizens to contact their representatives. But the administration has set this up so states will already be on board before Congress acts and any protests may come too late to have an impact on the outcome.

2. Experiments with "merit pay" systems for teachers are already happening as pilot projects around the country, with help from the federal Teacher Incentive Fund. Obama is pushing for that program's funding to be quintupled from $97 million to $487 billion in the appropriations bill now pending (and Congress will probably approve most of it). But the carrot is not enough for this administration; it wants the stick, too. Duncan is now telling states they'll have to "change their laws" to allow test scores to be used in calculating merit pay or miss out on funding for any kind of "school reform" project. Why? Not because we've had any full airing of the issues -- e.g., in a Congressional hearing -- or any kind of deliberative process, but merely because Barack and Arne think they know better.

Congress occasionally passes laws that overrule state authority -- e.g., when it raised the national drinking age to 21 under pressure from Mothers Against Drunk Driving. In my view that was an unfortunate decision, which seemed to exacerbate the problem of binge drinking on campus, but at least it was done with some semblance of democracy. Since when does the president have power to force states to change their laws to conform to his preferred policies by threatening to withhold funding for unrelated purposes? A very bad precedent.

3. It also looks like states will now have to take draconian steps to "turn around failing schools" -- in particular, replacing all the teachers and administrators. That's one option now allowed under NCLB. Obama & Duncan are telling states to require it a lot more often if want to keep the federal money flowing. There's no evidence that reconstituting schools is effective, despite considerable research in this area. But, using the carrot of federal funding, the "reformers" have the power to impose their pet solution without democratic interference. And they obviously plan to do so.

What can we do?

Keep the pressure on in every way we can. (Hint: That means people like ourselves actually need to take action -- something I haven't witnessed much of in recent months.) Bombard the news media with complaints. Try to get well known "experts" off their collective asses to contradict Obama's claim that Arne has built a "consensus" behind his approach. Work with dissidents in education groups, including state and local teachers unions, to pressure their national leaders to stop rolling over and playing dead. Get parents involved. Appeal to liberals in Congress to make noise -- we only need one or two strong champions to have an impact on the debate -- e.g., senators like Russ Feingold, Bernie Sanders, Dick Durbin, or Al Franken (who was close to the late Paul Wellstone, the only major-league politician who ever seemed to fully "get it" about high stakes testing).

Here are some things that we don't need: more conference presentations and journal articles. There's nothing wrong with such activities in themselves and I wouldn't discourage them. But unfortunately, these are the only things many of my academic friends seem willing to do -- i.e., projects designed to further their careers. Which is fine, but they shouldn't kid themselves that what they're doing is "advocacy." And advocacy will be the only hope of stopping this slow-motion disaster now occurring before our eyes.

Rep. Raul Grijalva http://www.house.gov/writerep/
810 E. 22nd St.
Suite 102
Tucson, AZ 85713
ph (520)622-6788
Rep. Gabrielle Giffords http://www.house.gov/writerep/
1661 N. Swan, Suite 112
Tucson, AZ 85712
Phone: (520) 881-3588
Sen. John Kyle http://kyle.senate.gov
6840 North Oracle Road, Suite 150
Tucson, AZ 85704
Voice: 520-575-8633
Sen. John McCain http://mccain.senate.gov
407 West Congress Street, Suite 103
Tucson, AZ 85701
Voice: 520-670-6334