tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5136296455593799842024-03-05T03:30:05.926-05:00Teacher's Lessons LearnedThis is a blog about lessons learned as a teacher. We can learn them from students, parents, teachers, family, "outsiders". Sometimes lessons come from failures and sometimes from successes. Either way, you can learn a lot!Philly Girlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06543951612451538559noreply@blogger.comBlogger78125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-513629645559379984.post-61598814477032564592015-10-29T12:06:00.002-04:002015-10-29T12:06:07.455-04:00Mr. Nutter is NOT the education Mayor
<br /><br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Philadelphia mayor, Mr. Nutter, has the audacity to say that the union is too focused
on the contract, or lack of. So many issues with this comment! </span></div>
<br /><br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">1. The TEACHERS are the ones currently keeping the school
district together. They are providing the glue, duct tape, staples, and paper
clips needed to somehow teach without books, supplies, prep times, oversize
classes, etc. If it weren't for the sacrifices of time, energy and financial
resources of its teachers, the school district would NOT function.</span></div>
<br /><br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">2. The teachers call on the union to protect their rights as
union members and make sure our working conditions are conducive to learning.
Right now they are NOT. </span></div>
<br /><br />
<ul style="margin-top: 0in;" type="square">
<li style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;">Oversized
classes, some over 50 kids in a class were more prevalent this year than
anytime I can recall. We level classes in October, and this year it was
way too long to wait, as teachers didn’t have enough chairs or even ANY
books to distribute.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Those who
photocopied texts for their extra students found they had to provide their
own toner, paper and sometimes go to STAPLES to do their own copying. No
books, no chairs, no supplies, but they want to evaluate teachers on how
well their students do on a test?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Through contract language, the Union makes sure class sizes and<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>rules governing them are reasonable.</li>
<li style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;">As
noted above, there are literally NO books for some areas and teachers are
encouraged to get what they can off the internet. But unless every kid has
a working computer, it’s not possible. There are no supplies for science
labs or other subjects that require equipment. The union contract has
language that specifies the need for books and supplies.</li>
<li style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;">Some
schools have no Biology teachers or Algebra teachers even though the state
currently requires they pass Biology and Algebra to graduate. The union
contract specifies the need for the proper certification for teachers and
filling spaces ASAP with qualified teachers. Many of the vacancies now
unfilled were known about in June but the School district did not try to
fill them over the summer. Instead they hired a “Talent” recruiter who
makes a tidy sum but can’t find any talent apparently. </li>
<li style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;">Cutting
the custodial staff has resulted in dirty schools, and some unhealthy
schools don’t have needed repairs made to be healthy. Mold and mildew
collect on walls that need pointing or are wet because the roof leaks. My
old school had only ONE working water fountain for 500 kids, and it wasn’t
air-conditioned. Our union contract stipulates at LEAST one working water
fountain and working toilets, room temperatures conducive to learning and
requirements to move the class if the temps get above or below those
levels. Why such specificity? Because in the 70s and 80s those things were
not guaranteed.</li>
<li style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Our union contract calls for a desk and
chair for every teacher, a locked closet for personal belongings, a
private space for both the nurse and counselor. Why? Because it wasn’t the
case at some point in time.<br /></li>
</ul>
<div style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;">
3. Our
union contract says that people should be rehired according to seniority
after they’ve been laid off. The recent mass lay-offs of nurses,
counselors, and secretaries went horribly because seniority rules were not
followed. Nurses and counselors who were committed to the school district
and were cognizant of the problems of the children in their schools, found
themselves somewhere else, or not being called back at all. Now, new hires
have quit and they are having a problem filling the positions. Gee, who
would want to come back and be abused once more after being told their job
was superfluous? <br /></div>
<ul style="margin-top: 0in;" type="square">
</ul>
<div style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;">
4. Same
goes for teachers. There’s no wonder that there is a teacher shortage.
Teachers with seniority are not consulted, honored, or listened to
regarding what works for the students in their care. The new teachers
don’t have enough experience to know how to deal with the more challenging
behaviors they encounter and most quit before they have become good at
their craft. The older teachers are expected to disregard what they know
about child development and adopted the unproven methods of reformers.
Even when they can prove the methods don’t work, they are ignored and
harassed. No wonder no one wants to teach in Philly. Our union wrote
hiring, layoff, and rehiring language into the contract because it was
needed. </div>
<ul style="margin-top: 0in;" type="square">
</ul>
<div style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;">
5. The
School Reform Commission (SRC) cancelled our contract in 2012 and refused
to honor step increases or increases in salary for those who attained
Masters or Doctoral degrees. The school District claims they want highly
qualified teachers and then turns their back when it comes time for
recognizing the qualifications. Teachers here do not get reimbursed for
tuition in obtaining degrees or certification. We are fighting the
cancellation of our contract in the courts and hope it will be reinstated
in our favor.<br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<br /><span style="font-family: Arial;">So, Mr. Nutter, why is our union so concentrated on
negotiating a contract? Because our working conditions are our students’
learning conditions. Right now, the city and state are continuing to
demonstrate that they have no regard for either children or adults in the
Philadelphia School District. Our district has no power to raise money and we
rely on the city and state to fund our schools. With no elected school board
and no politician committed to our plight, it’s up to the union to get the
support needed for its members. </span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Remember, the union IS the body of teachers working to hold
things together in the schools as the city, state, and federal governments, and
the corporate reformers just keep putting more obstacles in our way.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><a href="http://www.philly.com/philly/education/20151028_Nutter__Dissolve_the_School_Reform_Commission.html">http://www.philly.com/philly/education/20151028_Nutter__Dissolve_the_School_Reform_Commission.html</a></span><br />
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
Still learning!Philly Girlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06543951612451538559noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-513629645559379984.post-88086560032698104962015-07-15T11:29:00.003-04:002015-07-15T11:29:50.808-04:00Opting Out Has Never Looked Like a Better Idea<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I recently wrote about standardized tests and the need to get rid of the High stakes attached to them. Several news articles came out this week that need a follow-up blog on standardized tests. There's good news and bad news.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Let's get the bad news out of the way first. <br />Some of the results from the PSSA were released this week that show declines in almost every area of every grade. Why? Two reasons - <br />1. They aligned the tests to follow the Common Core (PA calls it the PA Core, but it's practically the same) so they are more rigorous (I <em>hate</em> that word) and <br />2. they set the test scores too high so many students will fail. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Even though the state readily admits that the tests can't even be compared to last year's tests, they are still insisting on judging schools and teachers on whether their students made certain gains. Ninety percent of a school's performance score is based on these PSSA scores. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Read about that here: </span><a href="http://www.newsworks.org/index.php/local/item/84114-pa-says-2015-standardized-test-scores-drop-precipitously-because-of-added-rigor?linktype=related_articlepage"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">http://www.newsworks.org/index.php/local/item/84114-pa-says-2015-standardized-test-scores-drop-precipitously-because-of-added-rigor?linktype=related_articlepage</span></a><br />
<br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Alison McDowell, and opt out organizer in Philadelphia writes:<br />
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 5pt 15pt 0pt 0in; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;">
<span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "Segoe UI"; mso-ansi-language: EN;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"The state knew at this time last year that significant
numbers of students would "fail" the new PA Core-aligned PSSA tests.
Yes, even before the students took the test. They are "failing"
because the cut scores are set AFTER students take the tests. They can set the
scores to "fail" a predetermined number of students. This is
exactly what happened in New York state in 2013.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 15pt 0pt 0in; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;">
<span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "Segoe UI"; mso-ansi-language: EN;"><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2014/04/29/the-scary-way-common-core-test-cut-scores-are-selected/" target="_blank"><span style="color: #0072c6; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2014/04/29/the-scary-way-common-core-test-cut-scores-are-selected/</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 15pt 0pt 0in; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;">
<span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "Segoe UI"; mso-ansi-language: EN;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"Chris Shaffer from the District told me they would have the PSSA scores in
about a week. The drops described in the article are not happening just in
Philadelphia. I heard from the West Chester, PA superintendent that the results
are the same in his high-performing district. Mr. Shaffer said letters would go
home to parents in September, but scores might be available online in late
August via the parent portal.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 15pt 0pt 0in; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;">
<span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "Segoe UI"; mso-ansi-language: EN;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"If you are thinking about opting out this year, you can send in your intent
to opt out letter at the beginning of the school year. Sample letters are
available here: </span><a href="http://www.workingeducators.org/announcing_our_opt_out_toolkit" target="_blank"><span style="color: #0072c6; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">http://www.workingeducators.org/announcing_our_opt_out_toolkit</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 15pt 0pt 0in; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;">
<span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "Segoe UI"; mso-ansi-language: EN;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"Sending in letters early will put the state department of education on
notice that we do not accept these tests that are designed for failure as a
valid measure of assessment for our children.<br />
<br />
"Note that many high schools use 7th grade PSSAs as part of their admissions
process (but not all). Also starting with the class of 2017 (unless the 2 year
moratorium passes and it hasn't yet), students must pass English, Algebra, and
Biology Keystones. Those that opt out of the tests are compelled to take a
semester-long online course or Project-Based Assessment, which I cannot
recommend. If the moratorium does pass, rising juniors and sophomores would not
have the Keystones as a graduation requirement and could opt out without
consequence. We'll have to see how things progress with the Keystone exams."</span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "Segoe UI"; mso-ansi-language: EN;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 15pt 0pt 0in; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;">
<span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "Segoe UI"; mso-ansi-language: EN;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The good news is that Temple University in Philadelphia has joined hundreds of other colleges and universities in getting rid of the SAT/ACT requirement. So the whole purpose of getting your kids used to standardized testing so they'll do well on the SAT is now moot. Cue applause all around. For decades, college admission officers have been saying that high school performance is a much better indicator of future college success than SAT/ACT scores. Nice to know they're putting their convictions into policies. </span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "Segoe UI"; mso-ansi-language: EN;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />You can read the article here:<br /><br /><a href="http://www.philly.com/philly/education/20150714_Minority_applicants_flock_to_Temple_after_it_dropped_test_requirement.html">http://www.philly.com/philly/education/20150714_Minority_applicants_flock_to_Temple_after_it_dropped_test_requirement.html</a></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span><br />
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<!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> <!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">OPT OUT<br />There are many groups that are offshoots from the United Opt Out group. Facebook has bother National and state groups for opt out. Don't delay, have your letter ready the first week of school. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Still learning!</span>Philly Girlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06543951612451538559noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-513629645559379984.post-11740603151420109462015-07-10T11:34:00.000-04:002015-07-15T10:49:41.432-04:00No High Stakes Testing!<br />
<span style="color: #ff6600;"><span style="color: black;">
</span><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial;">The scores for the PSSA (Pennsylvania’s state standardized
test) just came out. Rumor has it they are not good, with 70% of the students
scoring below basic in math. 70% failure rate??????? When I was in college
learning how to be a teacher constructing a test was one thing we learned
about. It should have a variety of opportunities for responses, should include
multiple choice, fill in the blanks, essays, and true-false questions. We
learned that if we gave a test based on what we taught that saw more than 50%
failing, that there was probably something wrong with the test, that it didn’t
measure what we actually taught, that we should find out what the problem with
the test was, re-teach the material and retest. If 70% are failing the test,
there is a disconnect between what is being taught and what is being tested. We
already know there is a problem in the math curriculum, expecting students in
Algebra 1 to master concepts from Algebra 2/Trigonometry. If they are testing
these concepts on the test, then the failure rate is understandable.
Teaching/testing concepts that require advanced math in a beginning level
course is plain old stupid. Stuff like this is happening all over the United
States, it’s no accident.</span><br />
<span style="color: black;">
</span><br />
</span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: #ff6600;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial;">Since No Child Left Behind (NCLB) and continuing with Race
to the Top (RttT), education has been assaulted by corporate reformers bent on
privatizing public schools, union busting, and setting public schools up for
failure and takeover. Education budgets have continuously been decreased as
prices for books, supplies and heating oil rise. Teacher pensions have been
continuously under attack and many states have not contributed to the pension
funds for decades. Teacher tenure, which in reality is only due process in K-12
schools has been attacked to get rid of the most experienced teachers with
advanced degrees who earn more money than new teachers, balancing the budget on
the backs of the school employees.</span></span></div>
<span style="color: #ff6600;">
<span style="color: black;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial;">Professor Jesse Turner, an educator from Connecticut, has
been walking to Washington DC and meeting with education activists along the
way to highlight the dangers of standardized tests and other education
“reforms.” He met with a few dozen activists in Philadelphia the other day
after they accompanied him across the Ben Franklin Bridge from Camden, NJ to
Philadelphia. With Independence Hall as a backdrop, he addressed the need to
stop the reforms that aren’t working and to get rid of high-stakes tests for
students. He called for a moratorium on the Keystone tests and the PSSAs, and
for a fair-funding formula for public schools. Teachers, parents and students
shared their stories about the devastating effects of these tests on students
and teachers. They admonished corporate-education-supporting politicians NO
JUSTICE, NO VOTES.</span></div>
<span style="color: black;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial;">Teachers assess students every day, several times a day, in
various ways, only some of which require an actual test. Looking at writing
samples, listening to a discussion, judging a poster for accuracy and
creativity, Listening to a child explain a math problem to his peer, reading
and answering questions in reading groups, noticing what kind of questions a
child asks can also give some indication of whether they understand a concept.
Watching a group of students put together a play about an historical figure,
write a song about a science concept. There are many more ways to determine if
a child is progressing. The idea that only a standardized test can tell if a
child is succeeding is ludicrous. </span></div>
<span style="color: black;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial;">A standardized test is a way, however, to gather information
quickly and compare it nationwide. The NAEP tests, given every 2 years in specific grades, do just
that. Even the NAEP's results do not come back in enough time to make a
difference that year for the child that took them. When I went to elementary
school, we took ONE standardized test in 4th grade to determine our IQs. The
rest of the year, our teachers tested us weekly in spelling and math, monthly
in history and geography and civics, (we didn't have science until 6th grade).
We had January and June exams. These exams were usually locally made and cumulative
but didn't count for the whole grade in the report card. I believe they counted
for 25% of your grade. My second standardized test was the PSAT and then the
SAT. And that was it until I took my National Teachers Exams my senior year of
college.</span></div>
<span style="color: black;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial;">We don't NEED standardized test to tell us which kids are
having a problem. In fact, we can probably sit down with the child and
ascertain what the problem is quicker than they can take a standardized test.
Sometimes we can't figure out how to help the child and that's where the IEP
process takes over. Speaking of IEPs, do you realize that kids can't be
declared Special Ed unless they are performing two full years or more below
their grade level? Special Ed kids have to take these grade level tests with no
accounting for where they CAN perform. The only accommodations are the teacher
reading the directions and a longer testing time and a small group atmosphere.
As if taking 4 or 5 hours to complete a 1.5 hour test will make a big
difference. Either you can or you can't do it, whether you can't do it in an
hour or in 4 hours, it's still not going to make a difference. </span></div>
<span style="color: black;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial;">To hold up graduation or promotion because a child cannot
perform on a standardized test is a travesty. You are willing to bet that a
test taken on one day can judge a child better than a year's performance in
class? I don't think so. One day of testing negates 4 years of high school
tests, projects and reports? No.</span></div>
<span style="color: black;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial;">As a teacher, I can see a place for standardized tests, but
not the high stakes these tests come with. My last year of teaching (I retired
in 2012) brought me a class of 25 fifth graders. Two were homeless, one who had
a mother who was an addict. One girl's mother had just died that summer, one
boy's mother had a stroke and was bedridden at home, two kids received special
ed services, one boy arrived in November having never attended a regular
school. He had been in a 6-students class for emotionally disturbed kids for
the previous 5 years. He required constant attention and a TSS worker who never
materialized. Another young man was on his 5th school in the past 2 years
because he had emotional problems at all the others and was seeing a shrink
twice a week. Yet another young man had anger issues and was under a
psychiatrist's care. Two kids arrived mid-year from a local charter school that
counseled them out because they were failing (both kids were performing 2-3
years below level). Another girl had been shuttled back and forth from relative
to relative because she was manipulative and mean. She needed psychiatric help
but was not receiving any. That's almost HALF my class with issues that would
prevent them from learning and doing well on tests. </span></div>
<span style="color: black;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial;">The rest of the class? I saw 6 at or above grade level and 7
were one year below grade level. I taught my heart out that year. Brought 2
kids three levels forward in reading, stopped one of the kids from running out
of the class when frustrated, found hidden talents in several kids that caused
higher self-esteem and therefore higher school performance. </span></div>
<span style="color: black;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="color: black;">How did we do on the PSSA? The on-level kids did great! A
couple of the one-year-below kids were able to make proficient on either math
or reading. One of the special ed kids did well in writing. The emotionally
disturbed kids bombed the tests because they refused to take it once they got
frustrated. The standardized tests they took didn’t begin to scratch the
surface of all the students learned</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="color: black;">
</span></span><span style="color: black;">that year or any of the years before. </span></span></div>
<span style="color: black;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial;">If you asked me whether that year was a success, I could
give you at least one success for each child in that room. Indeed, some of the
kids performed beyond my wildest dreams. I was told at some point that some
kids were assigned to my room simply because I had infinite patience and was
non-confrontational with the emotionally disturbed kids. Many years, I'd get
the kids no one else wanted. If I were to be judged on their overall test
performance, I'd be judged as an ineffective teacher. But I wasn't ineffective
at all. My students left me in a much better place than they arrived, not
because of any test, but because I tried to work with them in the ways they
needed me to.</span></div>
<span style="color: black;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial;">Truly, a standardized test cannot tell you whether a child
has learned or not. It only tells you that the child is good at taking a
standardized test. The writing test tells you that your child can follow a
rigid template and use multi-syllable words. That template destroys any kind of
creative response to a prompt and the essays all end up sounding the same. It’s
disgusting what the writing test has done to creative writing.</span></div>
<span style="color: black;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial;">Standardized test cut scores are set every year AFTER the
test has been taken. Why? So the appropriate number of students will fail. What
is that appropriate number? What ever will make a bell curve. There will always
be low-scoring students because that’s the way the test is set up. If by some
chance everyone who took the test did well and ranked in the proficient area,
they’d take those cut scores and make it so only 25% of the kids scored
proficient and 25% score below basic, even though their results would have
earned everyone a proficient score the year before. They can set the cut scores
anywhere they wish to make it look like kids are failing or kids are
progressing well. The scores have nothing to do with what a child knows and has
learned, the scores are manipulated each year.</span></div>
<span style="color: black;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial;">What to do? Until the standardized tests become low-stakes
tests and aren’t the determiner of promotion or graduation, the only choice is
to Opt Out. Join the movement, it’s been growing exponentially for years. Older
middle schoolers and high schoolers can simply refuse to take the test.
Elementary schoolers can be opted out by their parents refusing the tests for
their child in writing to the principal and superintendent after viewing it.</span></div>
<span style="color: black;">
</span></span><br />
Still learning!Philly Girlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06543951612451538559noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-513629645559379984.post-12982921497919664052015-04-01T15:26:00.001-04:002015-04-01T15:26:15.908-04:00NY's Governor Cuomo is So WrongBefore I begin, I must thank my hubby for fixing my computer so I could continue to write.<br />
<br />
The NY State budget passed with a few amendments that have nothing to do with the budgeting of money. Or maybe it does...<br />
<br />
The other night, Gov. Cuomo signed a budget bill that contained the provision for changing teachers' evaluations for the worst. A foe of teachers all throughout the state, Cuomo has done everything he could to help his charter school buddies and thwart the teachers all over the state. He has slashed budgets, reduced pension plans, sneered at teachers in unions, funneled money to his favorite charters over the needs of the kids in the same neighborhoods. He has expressed disbelief that only 2% of the teacher have been found unsatisfactory, and has made changes to the evaluations so that only 2% will be found satisfactory this coming year.<br />
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<a href="http://dianeravitch.net/2015/04/01/new-yorks-outrageous-new-teacher-evaluation-law/">http://dianeravitch.net/2015/04/01/new-yorks-outrageous-new-teacher-evaluation-law/</a><br />
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Now, 20% of a teacher's evaluation depends on test scores of their students. The rest comes from principal observations, meeting professional development goals and other jump-through-hoops requirements. Next year, scores will count for 50% of a teacher's evaluation, and no matter how well they do on the other points, cannot be found satisfactory unless the students improve their scores by a certain percentage. Also, the person observing the teacher in class will be an outside administrator, probably not trained in the teacher's subject area. An additional requirement is that a teacher will be fired with two back-to-back years of bad test scores. In Florida, a teacher's attendance is taken into account so that if more than 10 days are used, the teacher must be found minimally effective. This goes for maternity leave, surgery, broken bones, cancer treatments, etc.<br />
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Do I have to state the obvious that basing a teacher's evaluation on those things will be a big problem? <br />
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Before I expound on what is wrong with his bill, I need to clear something up. There really aren't that many bad teachers out there. We only hear about the bad ones though in the media. My senator, Pat Toomey, introduced a bill to investigate every person in the school at their expense to find the sexual predators. Out of all the teachers in the US, less than 300 were found to be guilty of sexual predation. I figured out the percentage last year. I think it came out to be 0.06% of all the teachers. Really? So you punish the 99.94% of the teachers who are NOT sexual predators. <br />
<br />
Most teachers I know do their job well, teaching with respect and caring and eager to learn new things about their field and about their students. Are there some mediocre teachers out there? Yup. Are there some bad ones? Yup. If they are in your child's school, talk to the principal about getting rid of them or making them learn better methods of teaching. It is the responsibility of the principal to document unsuitability and submit the needed paperwork in order to get help for a teacher or to get them fired. The principal has that responsibility. Unions don't want bad teachers, but they will make sure there is documentation and not arbitrary and capricious accusations against a perfectly good teacher who disagrees with the principal on certain things. There is not room for revenge where political, philosophical, or practical differences may arise between teacher an administrator.<br />
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1. Basing any part of a teacher's evaluation on a student's test scores is statistically invalid according to the American Statistical Association. They have stated numerous times that the use of test scores as well as the formula used to determine the VAM (Value Added Metric) is of no use in determining whether a teacher is effective or not. It is junk science. Look back in my blog entries to find the citations for this statement. <br />
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A student's score determines what that student knows about memorization of facts and test-taking strategies, not their future success in a "College and Career Ready" atmosphere. Many colleges these days don't even require a student to take the SAT or ACT, basing their admissions on portfolios and records of high school work. A student's high school records more accurately determine their success in college than the SAT or ACT. So using this statistical interpretation to judge teacher effectiveness is wrong for 20% but more than doubly wrong for 50%.<br />
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Not only are teachers in poor districts going to have a problem with this, but teachers in rich districts and those who teach gifted kids will find themselves rated ineffective according to scores. For the kids who typically score in the 90th percentile and above, the advanced kids, it will be very difficult to get them to improve enough to satisfy the formula. A kid who scores 98% one year may score 97% the next and that will be counted as a teacher's negative influence, despite the fact that the kid is very gifted. Conversely, a teacher in a high poverty district will have most students scoring lower because of the effects poverty has on their brain development, not because the teacher hasn't taught them well.<br />
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2. Principals have typically observed teachers to determine who well they do their job. There are provisions for drop-in observations, longer informal observations and hour-long formal ones. In Philadelphia, the formals happen twice a year supposedly, and any day can find your principal poking their head in to see how things are going. A principal who knows the kids will be able to see how far Raj has come in his ability to finish an assignment. It might not get finished, but 60% is way better than 10% or nothing. Someone who knows the child will be able to see that Rami is raising her hand sometimes and participating where she just sat disengaged last year when her mother died. A principal will recognize the trust that has developed among a teacher and their class so that students feel safe enough to ask questions and express disagreement without being ostracized. A principal will appreciate that jumpin' Jack Flash has stopped bolting out of the room when he got frustrated and is instead asking for help or signaling discomfort without disrupting the class. A good principal will notice how far Janine has come even though she is still at least a year behind in reading and math. (That won't show up on a test score.) A great principal will recognize that, no matter how many things are on the evaluation rubric, that many things that <em>count</em> can't be measured and that things that <em>can</em> be measured don't always count.<br />
<br />
An outside admin has not seen a beginning teacher struggle and finally find her feet and begin to be effective with her students. They see an inexperienced educator who makes a lot of mistakes, even though she's really getting the class to work together. An outsider doesn't see the effort a teacher puts into getting her students to the point where they CAN pay attention and maybe learn. They don't see how this teacher tutors kids at lunch or outside of school time, how he buys clothes, shoes and supplies for kids in his room who don't have those things, how he has raised the self-confidence of the whole class from September to now, how the kids who were quick to curse him out in the beginning of the year now are respectful. Some days just might be bad for either the teacher or the kids and the teacher should have the right not to be observed then. Outsiders are welcome to observe, but not to judge.<br />
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3. Counting pupil and teacher absences against them for evaluation is a slippery slope. I am not talking about teachers who milk the system and are a chronic problem. The teachers I do mean are the ones who are taking their 89 days childbirth leave, or those who have had tumors removed and need to be out 4-6 weeks to recuperate, the teachers who were in an accident and have broken bones or a concussion. Not all schools are handicapped accessible and can accommodate a person on crutches or a wheelchair. A teacher in Florida recently wrote to say that he had a lung tumor removed and was out 2 weeks. Those 2 weeks took him from being an highly effective teacher to a minimally effective teacher with all other scores being advanced. This teacher had students who were ALL proficient or advanced at their tests.<br />
<br />
4. A teacher's class is not the same year after year. The amount of learning that goes on is not the same year after year. The standards for each grade are not the same year after year. Life events easily change the tenor of the class for students. Deaths, incarcerations, physical, mental or emotional abuse, neighborhood tensions, and the physical well-being of the child grossly affect how the student is able to concentrate on the tasks at hand and perform well in school and on a standardized test. Change one of those situations and it can send a student into a tailspin that might take them years to recover from. My class this year may have more smart kids than last year's class or vice versa. It may have more kids in need of emotional support than last year's class. Both of these will affect the outcome of the test scores with none of the above things taken into consideration. A troubled child can't concentrate and won't test well. A child who reads on a third grade level in fifth grade won't test well. A child who just arrived from Haiti last year won't test well on a grade level test. Who will want to teach the ELL kids, the Special Ed kids, the PSD kids? No one. They'll bring down your scores. The best teachers might be found in the rooms with these children, the ones who never give up on a kid, who find a way to motivate them each day. Are you going to waste the talented teachers' abilities by holding them to higher scores every year for kids they've never seen before? Every high poverty school will be decimated, every teacher of the gifted will be let go as well as the IEP teachers, ELL, and those who dedicate their careers to the kids who need an alternative education. Every school will have new teachers with no experience, no connection to the community, and no institutional memory to help foster a true community in the school. <br />
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What a terribly bad idea has been foisted on the residents of New York and its school children! What are we going to do about it? Please suggest some things below or at least spread the word and call your NY state legislators and complain or get them to introduce a bill to rescind.<br />
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Still learning!Philly Girlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06543951612451538559noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-513629645559379984.post-5085697912523865932015-03-04T16:29:00.003-05:002015-03-04T16:39:54.514-05:00Dear Senator Toomey - Some thoughts on education<br />
<div style="line-height: 120%;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.5pt;">I receive email newsletters sent out by my state and
national senators, congressmen and legislators. My dad had been a state
legislator when I was growing up and I’ve always been involved in the political
side of things. I’ve managed to vote in 100% of the elections since I was
eligible. Letting my representatives know the issues that are near and dear to
me is important if they are to represent me in lawmaking. While Senator Toomey
and I rarely see eye to eye on issues, I was moved to write him when I read his
recent newsletter. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div style="line-height: 120%;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.5pt;">Dear Senator Toomey,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div style="line-height: 120%;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.5pt;">In your most recent newsletter to constituents you stated:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div style="line-height: 120%; margin-left: 27pt;">
<i><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.5pt;">On Tuesday, I met with
representatives from the <a href="http://ct.symplicity.com/t/too/7056ee9155671a2c7ed1055fc50f2496/1830353770/realurl=http://pa-legion.com/" target="_blank"><span style="color: #0072c6;">Pennsylvania American Legion</span></a>. Our veterans should be first
in line for the best quality medical care in the world. Last year, the American
people learned about outrageous examples of mismanagement at the Department of
Veterans Affairs that included excessive wait times for needed care;
substandard care; dishonest reporting on care; and cutting corners that <o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<br />
<div style="line-height: 120%; margin-left: 27pt;">
<i><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.5pt;">Our veterans deserve better. We
discussed ways we can work together to improve care for our heroes, and their
input was valuable…<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">I certainly do not begrudge our veterans their just benefits
and feel that they should be fully supported. These changes need to be made in
order to make it right for our veterans, who are not being taken care of. But
teachers have been under attack for so long and I’d like you to think about
listening to us, too. </span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">You need to meet with teachers from Early Childhood,
Elementary, Middle and High School. Our schools should be the first in line for
the best quality education in the world. For the last decade, Philadelphia,
Allentown, Duquesne, York, and other distressed cities endured the
Commonwealth’s mismanagement of their school districts. They saw layoffs,
program cuts, school takeovers and closings, privatization of schools,
mismanaged charter schools that remain unaccountable for their finances and
curricula. In Philadelphia’s case, cutting counselors and nurses has led to
violent incidences and death for two school children. Teachers in Philly have
no books, paper, supplies or programs to prepare for the Keystones. Indeed,
Overbrook High and a few others don’t even have a biology teacher to teach the
kids the required information for the mandatory-for-graduation Biology Keystone
test. Schools are so underfunded that it would be criminal to hold them
accountable for any federal and state educational requirements. </span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Our schools deserve better. If you were to sit down and
discuss with us ways we can work together to improve education for our
students, you may find our input valuable. We’d tell you that high poverty
areas make strange bedfellows with education. Students whose basic physical,
emotional or medical needs are not being met find it impossible to focus on the
everyday school lessons. They are worried about heat, water and electricity at
home, whether their parent will be home to prepare dinner or will they have to,
whether their parent will be drunk or high and incapable of taking care of the
kids’ needs, whether someone in their family, street or neighborhood will be
shot, beaten, raped or arrested. Yes, children who have been traumatized
repeatedly by familial or neighborhood violence have changes in the structure
of their brains that make it even more difficult to learn in school. If you
haven’t read the report, the National Child Traumatic Stress Network presents a
sobering picture of the effects of traumatic stress in childhood. Here is the
link to their report.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<a href="http://www.nctsn.org/resources/audiences/parents-caregivers/understanding-child-traumatic-stress"><span style="color: #0072c6; font-family: Arial;">http://www.nctsn.org/resources/audiences/parents-caregivers/understanding-child-traumatic-stress</span></a></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">We’d also show you that class size matters for kids who
begin schools already behind. We’ll demonstrate that charter schools release
their hard-to-educate students after the new year so they’ are not counted for
their test results. We’ll prove that children re-entering our public schools
after cyber school are typically 2 years behind. We’d also give you information
about how high-stakes testing is ruining education as we know it, pinning
graduation and promotion on a 4 day test while ignoring what the child does for
the other 175 days of the year. Or in the case of high school graduation, how
can three tests given on one day each going to negate four years of performance
by the students. We could show you how charter schools skim the kids who have
the best chance to succeed from the public schools and pawn off their behavior
problems and special ed kids on the school district teachers.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">We could prove that while we’ve been contributing to our
pensions for the past umpteen years without fail, the Commonwealth has broken
their agreement with us when they didn’t pay their share of the pension
contributions but used that money to give tax breaks to corporations. This is
not only happening here in Pennsylvania, but all over the nation. </span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">We could show you that tenure in the K-12 system is only due
process, giving teachers who have been accused of something the right to know
what it was and the right to defend themselves. Teachers have been in the news
quite recently being fired, let go, or harassed because they dared to speak out
against the high-stakes testing or Common Core. Tenure allows them to defend
themselves. Indeed, in Philadelphia the Feltonville 6 are the perfect example of
what could have been disciplinary action resulted in information distributed
throughout the city instead of firings.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">We could prove, without a doubt, that the Common Core State
Standards are not the correct standards for the schools. They are too hard in
the lower grades and too easy in high school. In K-3, the standards are
requiring that children perform tasks that are not developmentally appropriate.
Kindergarteners need to PLAY and EXPLORE, not learn to read before first grade
or have to write sentences before their fingers are able to even hold the
pencils properly. Here is an example of what developmentally inappropriate
standards translate down to in Kindergarten. For a real example see the link
below:</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<a href="http://www.chicagonow.com/still-advocating/2015/03/more-absurd-kindergarten-homework"><span style="color: #0072c6; font-family: Arial;">http://www.chicagonow.com/still-advocating/2015/03/more-absurd-kindergarten-homework</span></a></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">We could also given you thousands of reason why actual
teachers should have written the standards instead of the testing corporation
writers that did. Diane Ravitch explains very well what is wrong with the
Common Core State Standards here:</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2014/01/18/everything-you-need-to-know-about-common-core-ravitch"><span style="color: #0072c6; font-family: Arial;">http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2014/01/18/everything-you-need-to-know-about-common-core-ravitch</span></a></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">And we’d also like to give you some input on school funding.
All across the nation, state legislatures are decreasing the amount of money
needed for schools rather than raising taxes. They have caused thousands of
layoffs, school closures, inadequate facilities and insufficient books and
supplies for our students. Such tactics in poorer cities such as Philadelphia
in your own state have caused already underfunded school districts plunge
headlong into a funding abyss they just might not be capable of pulling
themselves out of. I realize that the states bear the majority of the burden
where school funding is concerned but the federal government might consider
funding future mandates instead of making the states fund federal mandated
programs and testing with shrinking funds.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">I’d also like to address another part of his newsletter in
my Dear Senator Toomey Part 2.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In the meantime, what else would you tell Mr. Toomey about what's needed in education? Please comment below.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br />Philly Girlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06543951612451538559noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-513629645559379984.post-21103557454643788792015-02-20T08:49:00.005-05:002015-02-20T08:49:58.100-05:00The School Reform Commission Took the Low Road
<br />
<div class="MsoBodyText" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="color: #222222;">Teacher George Bezanis in his impassioned speech to the
SRC in Philadelphia after they approved 5 more charters we can’t pay for. We
join him mid-speech. </span><b><i><span style="color: #222222;">Bold letters are my edit.<o:p></o:p></span></i></b></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<i><span style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">…I am also a proud member of
the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers and the PFT’s Caucus of Working
Educators, a public school parent, and a locally elected Democratic
committeeperson in the 63rd Ward. These many hats shouldn’t come as a surprise
though. We all wear them…</span></span></i><span style="color: #222222;"><br /><span style="font-family: Arial;">
</span><i><br /><span style="font-family: Arial;">
Whether we have never spent a day as a public educator but, instead, run
charities for millionaires in the Wyncote Foundation and are appointed by a
Republican governor who never dared step foot in a Philadelphia school…<b>SRC
member Feather Houston</b></span></i><br /><span style="font-family: Arial;">
</span><i><br /><span style="font-family: Arial;">
Whether we say we advocate for children, but in the meantime collect a paycheck
from Comcast while yelling at students that they “Must attend failing schools…”
<b>SRC member</b> <b>Gloria Simms</b></span></i><br /><span style="font-family: Arial;">
</span><i><br /><span style="font-family: Arial;">
Whether we claim to be an objective member of an unelected school board, but
must recuse ourselves from every other vote because our husband’s law firm has
ties to charter schools throughout the district…<b> SRC member Farrah Jimenez</b></span></i><br /><span style="font-family: Arial;">
</span><i><br /><span style="font-family: Arial;">
Whether we dream of being mayor like our father, and just see this as another
political stepping stone…<b> SRC Chairman Bill Green</b></span></i><br /><span style="font-family: Arial;">
</span><i><br /><span style="font-family: Arial;">
Whether we’re the only person on this mockery of a democratic institution who
has actually worked in a classroom and, as a result, voted NO on every charter
authorization vote. Thank you, Marge… <b>SRC member, former Philadelphia
teacher and principal Marge Neff</b></span></i><br /><span style="font-family: Arial;">
</span><i><br /><span style="font-family: Arial;">
And finally, whether you are yet another Eli Broad Academy superintendent
seeking to “narrow the achievement gap” by shutting down schools. A
superintendent who takes a 10% pay cut but then secretly reinstates it one year
later… <b>School District of Philadelphia Superintendent Dr. William Hite<o:p></o:p></b></span></i></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b><i><span style="color: #222222;"><!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--><span style="font-family: Arial;"> <!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></span></span></i></b></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoBodyText" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial;">The idea that ANY vote regarding charter schools would be
already biased toward the charters should now be foremost in your mind. Their
agenda has been laid bare to the general public in this speech.</span></div>
<br />
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<!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--><span style="font-family: Arial;"> <!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Philadelphia is caught between a rock and a hard place
regarding school funding. Our school board (SRC) is appointed by the Governor
(3 members) and Mayor (2 members) and historically has no authority to raise
taxes to pay for their budget. The school district must rely on the charity of
the Philadelphia City Council as well as the benevolence of the state
legislature to raise money to educate the children in the poorest big city in
America. 80% of the children that attend our schools come from families that
are at or below the poverty level. Surely, the city cannot use real estate
taxes to pay for the schools. The funds must be and have been raised in another
manner. </span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--><span style="font-family: Arial;"> <!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Previously, the city enacted several taxes to support
schools, such as the “sin tax” on drinks and gambling, and a levy on the Parking
Authority funds it collects from hapless drivers. Any other kind of tax needs
the approval of the State lawmakers. We did get approval for an extra percent
on sales tax, but only in the city. In this way, the burden falls on the poor
people who inhabit the city and are paying more sales tax. With the
Republican-controlled state legislature and senate, the chances of a fair deal
are slim to none for the Democratic stronghold in Pennsylvania.</span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--><span style="font-family: Arial;"> <!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">The most recent deal with the State was hashed out last
summer, a tax on cigarettes in the city. The state lawmakers however, led by
Senator Mike Turzai, held the city hostage as the only way they could get the
cigarette tax was to agree to rules about more charters, and that if they did
not approve a charter, the charter could appeal to the state to override the
SRC’s decision.</span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--><span style="font-family: Arial;"> <!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">In reality, there’s no way the SRC could have voted that
made ANYONE happy. In taking the low road, they approved 5 charters out of 39
applicants. These 5 charters will cost the school district $20 million they
don’t have. There is already a projected deficit of $80 million for next
September and little chance of raising that money in the current legislative
atmosphere. The district and city are up to their ears in debt with nowhere to
go but down. The school district has cut the number of nurses, counselors and
librarians. They’ve eliminated pay for extra-curricular activities. Decimated
school budgets to the point where a 2000-student high school had $168 total to
buy books, supplies and materials for its pupils. They’ve cut and privatized
the cleaning staffs, so that the only thing that can be done every day is
emptying the trash. No time for actual cleaning. They’ve cancelled the contract
of the teachers and sought to change benefits so the teachers will have to pay
$8000 a year to keep their current level of coverage. They’ve eliminated raises
based on Masters’ and Doctoral degrees, eliminated step increase for longevity,
and sought to increase the school day and year and cut teachers’ salaries by
13%. These hard-working, beleaguered teachers currently make about 20% less
than the teachers in the surrounding, wealthier counties, teaching students
with many more needs.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">We would have liked for the SRC to have taken the high road
and not approved any charters. Senator Turzai and his Republican counterparts
would have like nothing more than approving ALL the charters. If fact, the
Philadephia School Partnership (read charter and parochial school advocates),
offered the district a bribe of $35 million dollars toward approving the 39
charters. A generous gift, it doesn’t begin to cover the costs to the School
District to educate those kids. While it costs the SDP about $7000 to educate a
charter school, the grant (bribe) only covered $2000 of the costs, leaving the
district to come up with $5000 more per child than PSP offered. The district
can’t handle the students it has now, there’s no way they could take on that
kind of debt. PSP was upset and walked out of the meeting when the SRC did not
approve the majority of the charters. The Senator was upset when the SRC didn’t
take PSP’s money, the teachers and parents were upset when the SRC approved ANY
charters, much less 5 of them. It’s not as bad as it seems because the number
of “seats” added is about equal to the number of “seats” lost when 2 charter
schools closed under shady circumstances earlier this year. Still, rather than
continue to have to shell out the $20 million those seats are worth, the SRC
could have approved none and reduced their upcoming deficit by $20 million.
That would have been the high road to take. But that was not to be.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span> </div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">Some would have taken the high road, the SRC took the low road.</span></div>
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Here is George's Blog entry about the experience. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://phillyteachersdesk.blogspot.com/2015/02/losing-my-virginity-to-src.html?showComment=1424436117821#c4778237396259838828">http://phillyteachersdesk.blogspot.com/2015/02/losing-my-virginity-to-src.html?showComment=1424436117821#c4778237396259838828</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Still learning!</span>Philly Girlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06543951612451538559noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-513629645559379984.post-8175059594143242712015-02-09T17:57:00.001-05:002015-02-09T17:57:30.467-05:00What Do Teachers Do All Day?I watched Taylor Mali's Rant the other day on youtube.com and was reminded once again that the average person has no idea what teachers do all day. <br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.ted.com/talks/taylor_mali_what_teachers_make">http://www.ted.com/talks/taylor_mali_what_teachers_make</a><br />
<br />
My dad used to rag on his friend who taught high school history about not having to work for a living until Mr. D invited him to spend an entire day in the classroom with him. After spending the day watching Mr. D work, my dad never again said that teachers have it easy. He couldn't believe how much work Mr. D had to do teaching so many different classes and dealing with the kids with attitude without killing them. He finally understood what teachers do all day. And he only really knew about what went on at school. So much more happens to make those school day activities work. Someone has to research information, write lesson plans that demonstrate the standards, make sure the objectives are clearly understood, mark papers, make comments on writing, enter grades, make phone calls. That someone is the teacher. Every. Single. Day.<br />
<br />
I've been retired for 2.5 years now and today's teachers have to keep track of many more assessments than I did and many more regulations. I don't envy them. Here's what a typical day was for me while I was a teacher in the city. Some days were much more packed, and rarely the days were less busy. <br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">What do teachers do all day?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">6:15 – Alarm goes off. Get ready for work</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">6:55 – Leave house for work, stopping to pick up a coffee and bagels</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">8:00 Arrive at school, sign in, field a phone call from a parent, run off annotated notes for Social Studies lesson. Make sure reading books can be picked up by students later, use the toilet.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">8:30 Go out to the yard, say the Pledge of Allegiance and the school pledge with the entire school. Field questions from 2 parents, referee in disagreement between 2 students over something that happened yesterday after school.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">8:40 Walk class into building send arguing students to counselor, collect homework, allow kids to sharpen pencils, get paper, etc. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">8:45 Morning Meeting – learn about the Museum of Fine Arts that we will visit on a field trip the end of the week, introduce a new reading routine and practice it, call on 2 students to tell a joke or riddle. Return to seats for reading.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">9:00 – Send one student to Special Ed teacher, review new routine again, write reading menu on the board, answer questions, Read the whole-group reading story, assign activities to be completed by the end of reading groups. Set the clock for 20 minutes and take first reading group. Work on word sorts and suffixes, read. Time is up. Repeat with three more reading groups (different activities and books) with reminders about changed routine. At some point, arguing students come back from counselor and need to be caught up on changes in between reading groups.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">11:00 – Make sure 2 students go to Special Ed teacher for their reading instruction. Work on writing with mini-lesson on using strong verbs and synonyms. Demonstrate on board how many ways there are to say “said.” Conference with two students about their writing while the rest of the group is writing in their writer’s notebooks or working on a draft. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">11:45 – Begin math lesson by introducing a game, play one round with class</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">12:00 – Grab coats and go to lunchroom. Wait for three students to get their school lunch, so they can come back to eat with me and practice guitar for our next show. Talk to counselor about what happened with formerly arguing students. Counselor gives me paperwork to fill out for one of the students. Use the bathroom, eat lunch, put out manipulatives and activities for math. Listen to kids play guitar.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">12:45 – Pick class up from recess, send 2 kids to Special Ed teacher, go to class and continue math lesson with manipulatives, play math games again and break into small groups for instruction/enrichment. Work on long term project when finished assignments.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">1:30 – Take class to computer lab for instruction. Go back to room and fill out paperwork for student, write homework on board, put manipulatives away, get out science materials</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">2:15 – Pick up kids from computer, give them 5 minutes to copy homework, intro science briefly and do as much of the experiment as we can. Rotate around room to make sure procedures are being followed. We will have to finish tomorrow.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">2:55 – Bus kids are called down to the bus. The rest of the class gets coats and bookbags, pack up and tell one good thing that happened to them today. We sing “Ordinary Day” by Great Big Sea</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">3:10 – Dismissal – walk class down to the schoolyard and out to the street. Talk to 2 parents who are waiting in the yard. Help a teacher with a kid who is going nuts. Return to building.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">3:30 - Erase today’s standards and objectives, write tomorrow’s standards and objectives. Grade papers handed in from reading and math, make phone calls for kids without homework or permission slips, and kids with problem behavior. Gather five sets of materials for Social studies which I will teach during reading tomorrow, as reading. Make a list of groups for Social Studies/Reading groups, making sure kids are with students they can work with. Troubleshoot what went wrong in the science experiment and plan for a redo. Call bus company to make sure we have a bus, Talk with colleague about a former student and ways to get him to work. Talk to Special Ed teacher about what activities I can do with the Special Ed students in reading and math when she is out. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">5:30 – Gather up drafts of writing to mark at home. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">6:30 – Make and eat dinner, </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">7:30 - Collect and answer email. Enter test results from yesterday’s math test into online grade book, Flag kids who don’t do well, change math groups according to the results. Go on internet to collect photos or Social Studies. Load Google Earth onto laptop to bring to school tomorrow for Social Studies/Reading. Read and give suggestions for the writing drafts. Read the first two chapters of the 5 different reading books.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">10:30 – Put away anything not completed yet. Browse the web for fun</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">11:00 – Go to bed</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">6:15 – Wake up and start all over again</span></div>
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Still learning!<br />
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Still learning!Philly Girlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06543951612451538559noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-513629645559379984.post-9598986863797115612015-02-07T22:41:00.002-05:002015-02-07T22:48:38.026-05:00Where are the Pro-testers?John Merrow published an article on the Opt-Out movement and standardized testing in general, called <u>What a Difference a Dash Makes...Pro-Test or Protest</u>? He asked for input and 138 comments later has not had even one person in favor of high-stakes testing. I wonder why?<br />
<br />
As a retired teacher who spent 37 years in the Philadelphia School District, I can say all the high-stakes testing has done is make it harder for the kids to learn and the teachers to teach. I left right before the Common Core Standards went into effect. When I began teaching in 1975, or children took one standardized test that took up about four hours of my time to give. <br />
When I left teaching, in fifth grade we were giving standardized benchmarks every 6 weeks to see if the kids were getting ready for the test. We spent one day of each week giving short multiple choice and open-ended tests in every subject. I calculated that we missed more than 20 instructional days of reading (a whole month of school) doing these extra tests and the real tests. That 11% of school time taking standardized tests. But there’s more – The kids that didn’t do well were expected to attend after-school reading and math sessions 4 days a week and not allowed to participate in extra-curricular activities on those days. Three times a year, they took a standardized test in the after-school program to see if they were ready for the big test. By the time they took the REAL test in March/April, they were tested out. In 2012, the kids were enduring 44 hours of testing, not counting the day-to-day tests given by the teacher. 4 hours in 1975 versus 11 times that in 2012. As someone above mentioned, testing kids more often does not make them test better, just like measuring a child daily doesn’t make them grow faster.<br />
The tests are but one problem. Because they are so important to the school/district/state. we have had to change the way we teach. For instance, I discovered a great way to teach Social Studies and make it stick was to use historical fiction. We’d read and discuss and argue and get some understanding of how it was back in the day. The understood the reasons for the Revolutionary War and the Civil War, what it was like in the Great Depression, why child work laws were established, how hard women and people of color fought for the right to vote. No more novels. Now we must only read a chapter in the book and go on to the next standard no matter what. Teaching with novels allowed me to hit two subjects at once and not short shrift either one. Otherwise, there was no time for social studies. <br />
These tests have only exacerbated the problems in the high poverty schools by not addressing the real problem – poverty. Our school had a 90% poverty rate. We needed help with social services, mental health and behavior, clothing and medical care. All that had to be taken care of before the kids could concentrate on the tasks at hand rather than worry about how cold the house was going to be, or if there’d be a hot meal at home or a warm place to sleep.<br />
Tests can be useful, high-stakes tests are useful for nothing. Not for kids, not teachers, not parents, schools, or communities. they have only served to make children stressed and weary and make them hate school, kill any creative drive in the teacher, close schools that the community needs, and take funds away because charter schools supposedly do it better. (Not really!)<br />
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Here's Mr. Merrow's blog link. Read it and comment.<br />
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<a href="http://takingnote.learningmatters.tv/?p=7443">http://takingnote.learningmatters.tv/?p=7443</a><br />
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Still learning!Philly Girlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06543951612451538559noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-513629645559379984.post-49825758229145819242015-01-31T15:27:00.004-05:002015-01-31T15:27:54.092-05:00We Didn't Start the Fire But We Will Fan the Flames
<span style="font-family: Arial;">For at least a year, teachers around the nation have been
talking about the travesty that is high-stakes testing. As required by the US
Department of Education, all students from grades 3-11 must take annual tests
that need to show constant improvement. Indeed, with NCLB, the idea is that ALL
children will be able to pass these tests or else. “Or else” means sanctions,
which can include extra professional development, additional personnel, smaller
class sizes, constant documentation of progress, and possible “reconstitution,”
that is, replacing the principal and at least 50% of the staff at the
non-improving school. Transferring the school to a private for-profit charter
organization is also a last-resort possibility along with closing the school
and sending the students to neighboring schools or existing charter schools.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">Having taught at a school that was identified as failing and
received the extra professional development, personnel, and constant
documentation, I feel qualified to have an opinion about what works. When we
were tagged as a failing school, our scores hovered at the 20% to 40% range for
proficient students. We knew our situation was not good but had begun to make
changes to improve. Our teaching staff was heavily involved in writing curriculum
for math, writing and social studies for the school district. We had changed
our Math program to one of 5 that were identified as “reform programs.” We felt
a need to do this, as our current math series did not help the students or
teachers to “do” meaningful math. We spent two years training our teachers in
the new methods of teaching math and had begun to see some success especially
in the open-ended questions. We wanted to change reading series but it was an
either-math-or-reading budget situation. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">When the school district put us in the failing category, we
were beneficiaries of tens of thousands of dollars worth of new books for every
subject. Luckily, our math series was on the School District’s list of approved
series. We received extra professional development in reading and math during
the school day to tutor us in the new methods. Our school also got an assistant
principal, a Parent Liaison, and an assigned substitute teacher to insure
delivery of the curriculum. Class sizes in the lower grades were decreased to a
17:1 ratio. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">That was all well and good but with the extra resources came
a lot of weeping and gnashing of teeth when the District evaluators did their
Walk-Through each year. Eight to ten people would fan out across the school
with their clipboards and pop in on classes throughout the school. They stayed
for 30-45 minutes, observing, checking off items on the checklist and asking
kids about what they were learning. Later in the day, teachers would meet with
them and get feedback on what they saw. Not much of the feedback was useful but
most of it was given in an “I gotcha!” manner of thought. One year they
bemoaned the lack of words on the word wall, while the next year they told us
word walls were obsolete. Much of the advice given to us was not useful for our
students or their teachers. Each year the teachers and principal dreaded their
visit. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">After three years of walk-throughs and extra supplies, books
and personnel our school finally showed the progress demanded by NCLB and we
were removed from the restructured schools region of the district.
Unfortunately, along with the removal of the label of failing school, came the
removal of all of the supports we had been given, and within 8 years, we were
back in the failing category.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">Back to high-stakes testing, what had helped our teachers be
able to improve the scores of the students? It was the extra professional
development, the smaller class sizes, the assistant principal to handle
discipline, the Parent Liaison who set up educational programs for parents, and
the assigned substitute teacher who knew the kids and their potential. These
were the things that helped us boost our scores. When they were removed, so was
our progress. Why? </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">It was not because we had bad teachers, who became good then
bad again. It was because children who live in high-poverty situations needed
extra help to get them on a path to educational success. Children growing up in
poor neighborhoods start school behind their middle class counterparts and then
continue losing ground as school continues. Because of poor pre-natal care,
healthcare availability, unstable families, trauma and violence, and insecure
home and food situations, our students need safe schools that provide the care
and support that they need in order to succeed. Testing them without providing
the support is not going to give them what they need. Hanging promotion and
graduation on these tests will not make the students perform better if they
don’t have the extras. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">Some students will still have trouble passing the tests even
with the extra supplies and personnel because they are in Special Education
classes or are English Language Learners. Children with certain disabilities
need instruction and assessment that comes from their specific learning methods.
Taking a bubble test in material that is two or more years above their
instructional level will not lift them up to their grade level. It will only
serve to frustrate them and decrease what self-esteem they have left. English
Language Learners are required to take the tests after only one year of
instruction in English. Imagine moving to a foreign country, being immersed in
the new language and after only one year being required to read and write at
the level of the rest of your grade-mates. They are doomed to fail the tests
and so be denied promotion or refused a diploma. And their teachers will be
evaluated on their scores.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">Teacher evaluation is but one reason that high stakes tests
are damaging. I have personally witnessed special ed kids and emotionally
fragile students crumble under the standardized test format and lack of
appropriate accommodations. Students who had come a long way during the year,
from not completing any assignments to being able to do half of what the other
students did on grade level, were completely frustrated during the test and ran
out of the room, unable to take the rest of the test. These students were
capable of doing grade level work without the great stress of the high-stakes
tests, but unable to show progress having to take the tests without
accommodations. How many children need just a pat on the back, frequent breaks,
fewer questions, or a confident “You can do this!” to complete the tests, none
of which we can offer because of test security. Yet, their school success is
incumbent on their ability to do the tests. Limited-English students are forced
to read passages that are far beyond their level of understanding and answer
questions that are tricky and vocabulary specific. What chance do they have of
succeeding in school if this is the only way they are assessed that matters?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">Last year, tens of thousands of parents refused to allow
their children to take the standardized tests. This year, the city of Chicago
decided not to administer the PARCC test to its students this year for the
above reasons. The movement has spread across the nation and finally has caught
up to Philadelphia. Last year only 16 students opted-out of the testing, while
this year100 parents from one school, Feltonville, have chosen to refuse the testing.
Many of the students are ELL or special ed students who have little chance of
passing and much chance at frustration. Six teachers at the school have taken
it upon themselves to educate the parents to their rights to opt-out their
children. Although the parents are sent reams of information about the tests,
they are not told about their rights to opt-out. The teachers passed out flyers
and held meetings off school property so as not to take school time. </span><span style="font-family: Arial;"> <!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Why did they do this? Because their students are the most
educationally vulnerable and they have no one else to stand up for them besides
their parents and teachers. The School District has set up some disciplinary
actions against the teachers to be announced at a future date. The Philadelphia
Federation of Teachers, Caucus of Working Educators, the Badass Teachers
Association, and some members of Philadelphia City Council have expressed their
appreciation and support of the efforts of the Feltonville 6. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">The rest of the school faculties in the city schools need to
fan the flames of the fire that the Feltonville 6 started. The fire needs to
spread throughout the state of Pennsylvania and the rest of the nation to grab
education back from the corporate education “reformers” and put it back into
the hands of educators, who have the knowledge and the welfare of the students
at heart.</span></div>
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Still learning!Philly Girlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06543951612451538559noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-513629645559379984.post-10722710173672118232015-01-21T09:32:00.001-05:002015-01-21T09:33:34.897-05:00Standards Don't Require Standardized TestingWhile reading an article on LinkedIn the other day, I was taken aback by the author's acceptance that standardized tests follow naturally from standards, and that teachers should accept that reality and quit complaining. <br />
<br />
<a href="http://lumoslearning.com/llwp/teachers-speak/the-necessary-evil-of-standardized-testing-by-marisa-adams.html?LIGRPS0117">http://lumoslearning.com/llwp/teachers-speak/the-necessary-evil-of-standardized-testing-by-marisa-adams.html?LIGRPS0117</a><br />
<br />
The author stated, "As teaching methods and content changed through the centuries, along with the number and type of students, so too the assessment methods have also had to change. From the informal testing of Socrates, to more formal testing such spelling and math tests as called for by Horace Mann, to the creation of what we know today as the College Board in 1900, the creation of more in-depth standardized testing seemed almost inevitable. " <br />
<br />
I take umbrage with that thought that standards can only be measured by standardized tests and are the great, modern way to assess learning, especially the annual high-stakes testing perpetrated by Bush's NCLB (No Child Left Behind) and Obama's RttT (Race to the Top).<br />
<br />
National Standards have been in place long before 1994. I am very familiar with the Math Standards from the 1980s when I began 20 years of remedial math teaching. The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM)had wonderful standards way back then and offered alternate assessments and instruction for students who needed it. The most important difference between the NCTM standards and the Common Core (CCSS) standards is that TEACHERS wrote the NCTM standards, piloted them and revised them as needed. The Common Core standards were very short on input from teachers, relying mainly on non-educators to write them. In fact, not even ONE early childhood educator was involved in the K-3 standards as evidenced by the inappropriate developmental demands of the CCSS. In addition, the states can only revise 15% of the standards. And it's a laugh calling them the Common Core STATE Standards because the only thing the states did was rubber stamp them even before they were fully written.<br />
<br />
With the emphasis on differentiation and the prominent place it occupies in the various teacher evaluation rubrics, it is curious how a standardized test can be the be-all and end-all of testing. Standardized tests cannot measure how persevering a child is when solving a problem, how creative they are in thinking of alternate solutions, how compassionate they are to fellow students, how joyful they are when reading a good book, how the finally got enough self-esteem to participate by raising their hand and giving their opinion, How well they are able to connect math and science, etc. They only measure one small aspect of what a child learns. Standardized tests are good only for that part of the population who are good at that form of testing. Differentiated learning requires differentiated assessment, like presentations, discussion, power points, writing a book, play, letter or newscast, explaining to a peer, drawing and art work, singing or acting out, building something, etc. The current tests do not cater to any of the strengths of children who may learn differently than just reading and writing, and today's teachers are required to use what is appropriate for the children in their class, using visual, auditory, and kinesthetic strategies like the above to differentiate instruction in the classroom.<br />
<br />
Another problem with the current trends, is that standardized tests results are currently being used to evaluate teachers, despite the American Statistical Association insisting that the test can only be used to measure information on students, not teachers. In addition, the Value Added Metric, which is used to make the standardized testing results “equitable” has been also debunked by the same statistical organization. It’s is junk science. Indeed, the Department of Education is even extending the test results to evaluate the teacher preparation programs at colleges and universities. If you can't statistically extend the results to teachers, then extending them even further would make the junk science junkier.<br />
<br />
But the fact that standardized testing follows along 'naturally' from the Common Core is really not far fetched at all considering the fact that David Coleman recruited standardized test makers. David Coleman is NOT an educator but a businessman, as are many of the standards writers for the CCSS. In fact, he is inextricably linked to the College Board as he is its president. Coleman wrote the ELA standards and will profit from them, not only for K-12 but beyond. Even more curious, David Coleman is intimately connected to Michelle Rhee’s Students First organization, which promotes VAM, using standardized tests to evaluate teachers, and privatizing public schools. He only has to profit from the Common Core Standards and the subsequent tests, which will be used to close public schools and fire good teachers.<br />
<br />
So no, standardized testing does not have to be accepted without protests by teachers, students and parents. Life-altering decisions should not be based on the results from a test given on 10 days out of 180. the 40 days of high school testing account for only 5% of the time the students are in school. How can you place so much emphasis and the treat of not graduating on 5% and ignore 95% of the work the student has done in school? One test should not be the only thing graduation requirements should look at, day-to-day performance and portfolio work will give a better indicator of high school learning. There is nothing good in using high-stakes standardized testing for schools, students, or teachers - only for the corporations who are profiting from them. <br />
<br />
Still learning!Philly Girlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06543951612451538559noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-513629645559379984.post-2291474066579123272015-01-09T12:11:00.001-05:002015-01-09T12:16:33.048-05:00No Soldier Left Behind, budget woes<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Normally, I write about education topics, but today is different. It did make me think about the educational act with the misnomer No Child Left Behind, though. Like NCLB, this situation with the military needs to change. Here are my thoughts.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">While looking at a pie graph of spending categories on the
US Budget, I couldn’t help but notice that the budget for the military eats up
about 23% (if you count retirees & medical) of the total US monies
available. ~20% of this is set aside for the various wars the nations is
involved in. Education sits down there at 2.6% of the available funds. The war
effort uses more than 8 times what is allotted for education. The total military budget is 240 times the education budget.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--><a href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/04/16/1292380/-Federal-Spending-In-One-Beautiful-Pie-Chart"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial;">http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/04/16/1292380/-Federal-Spending-In-One-Beautiful-Pie-Chart</span></a></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--><span style="font-family: Arial;">I realize that the Federal government doesn’t have much
control over education, or didn’t until No Child Left Behind and its evil
sister, Race to the Top. The Feds oversee certain aspects such as Special ED
through the IDEA (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act). The IDEA establishes
procedures and timelines for teaching, testing and evaluating students with
disabilities. But even the IDEA has recently been watered down to eliminate
some of the responsibilities of the government, and ultimately the school, for
those children. However, the US Department of Education (DOE) continues to
mandate changes to curriculum, assessment, and teacher training and evaluation,
that require additional funds without providing the states with sufficient
money to implement those federal mandates.</span></div>
<br />
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<!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--><span style="font-family: Arial;">Both the military and education budgets are part of the 39%
total set aside for “discretionary” money that must be voted on each year by
Congress. Many important things are in this discretionary portion – military
expenses, federal and military retirees, veteran affairs, environment, justice,
international affairs, for example. Except for the military slice, the money
allotted to the rest of the categories ranges from 1% (Science) to 2.8%
(Transportation).</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--><span style="font-family: Arial;">During the high strung budget talks in Congress each year,
there is always talk of decreasing funds for the military personnel, medical,
education and retirees, even though these items only comprise about 4% of the
total military money available. Indeed, the price of one specialized military
plane will take care of all vets and their needs for decades at this
point.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Why can’t we lessen the funds
available for military hardware and contractors, and put it toward the
veterans’ benefits and military pay? So many military families make so little
they qualify for food stamps.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--><span style="font-family: Arial;">I think it’s time to rethink the allotments to current and
former military personnel and reduce the rest of the military budget,
redistributing that money to the discretionary items sitting at only 1% to 2.8%
allotment. Just increasing each of those by 1% would enable them to do their
jobs thoroughly and efficiently and perhaps even create jobs, especially in the
needed transportation infrastructure. </span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Right now, all we have is a series of yearly cuts to the
budgets of the departments that desperately need more funding. It’s as if we
took education’s No Child Left Behind (which really resulted in Every Child
Left Behind), and have instituted No Soldier Left Behind (NSLB). It seems it’s
working just as well as NCLB. </span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--><span style="font-family: Arial;">Time for a change. No Soldier Left Behind has to go.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span> </div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">To see one of many critiques about No Child Left Behind, click below.<br /><a href="http://theeducatorsroom.com/2015/01/no-child-left-behind-13-unlucky-yucky-years/">http://theeducatorsroom.com/2015/01/no-child-left-behind-13-unlucky-yucky-years/</a></span></div>
<br />
<br />
Still learning!Philly Girlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06543951612451538559noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-513629645559379984.post-51984306422642489372014-10-14T21:47:00.002-04:002014-10-14T23:50:22.795-04:00Do We Need a General Strike?<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">I’ve gotten to the point where I almost hate to look at my
Facebook teacher friends’ statuses. It seems that whenever the School Reform
Commission has done its last stupid, vindictive, anti-union maneuver, another
stupid, vindictive anti-union one follows immediately on its heals. </span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">I know that in New York, an advertising agency has been
hired by pro-charter, anti-union groups to publicly bash both the union and its
president. They have taken out full-page ads in the New York Times and large
billboards near busy highways that disparage and insult the American Federation
of Teachers and what they do, which is teach children against all odds. I have
sat in my chair and shook my head, but never expected similar tactics would be
used here. But in today's feed I found this:<br /><br /><a href="http://phillydeclaration.org/2014/10/14/guerilla-marketing-firm-tapped-to-counter-protest-thursdays-src-demonstration-in-forthcoming-anti-union-campaign/">http://phillydeclaration.org/2014/10/14/guerilla-marketing-firm-tapped-to-counter-protest-thursdays-src-demonstration-in-forthcoming-anti-union-campaign/</a></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Our union has not had a strike in several decades I believe.
It’s because both parties showed up and the negotiation table ready to truly
give and take. Now that the SRC has become entrenched in Philadelphia, Governor
Corbett has appointed Bill Green, who has been anti-public schools from the
beginning. In fact, when his father was Mayor of Philadelphia, he rescinded the
contract that had been bargained and that resulted in a long strike. It looks
like Mr. Green was appointed to the SRC to do something similar.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">The Philadelphia Federation of Teachers has been bargaining
in good faith since our contract ran out in September 2012. The initial
offerings from the SRC included taking away almost everything we had won in the
bargaining process since the inception of the union in the 1970’s. This
included taking away requirements for a working water fountain, a teacher’s
desk and chair, a closet for the teacher’s purse and coat, separate rooms for
the nurse and counselor to insure privacy, chairs and desks for every child,
etc. You can see that their proposals were ridiculous. The SRC unilaterally
eliminated seniority and class size limits after the contract ran out and
instituted hire-back rules that had previously been outlawed by the contract.
They wanted us to take a pay cut, increase the working hours and days, and pay
a sizable chunk for our medical benefits, which were free as a consolation for
not getting any raises. In fact, the School District had suggested it! The last
bargaining session with the SRC found the PFT offering $24 million in paid
medical benefits. This was on top of the $78 million the SRC “borrowed” from
the PFT Health and Welfare Fund, $30 million of which the union told them to
keep. The SRC declined to acknowledge it at all and has not been back to the
table since. The SRC considers the talks are at an impasse and instead of
calling in an arbitrator or mediator, decided to unilaterally cancel the
contract the union members have been working under during the negotiations.
Although the School District feels that the state legislature gave the SRC
power to do that, the union and others are suing the district for the action.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">The teachers of Philadelphia have endured 60 school
closures, countless charter schools, vouchers, layoffs, and draconian budgets
that leave schools without books, supplies, counselors, nurses, secretaries,
assistant principals, copy paper, and even toilet paper. Cleaning staff has
been laid off so that in many schools the only cleaning that can go on is
emptying trash baskets and occasionally sweeping the floors. Bugs and mice run
rampant through the dirty schools and teachers are supposed to supply tissues,
toilet paper, paper towels and soap or hand sanitizer.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">The last straw and one close to my heart is the recent
decision of the SRC to abolish the union’s Health and Welfare Funds, stop
benefits for retired teachers, and to institute payments for formerly-free
medical benefits for teachers, counselors, classroom assistants, and
secretaries. The much touted benefit program they rolled out claimed a cost of
$20 to $70 for employees (5% to 13% payments). But the real costs for those who
wish to keep a similar plan they have now are more like $140 to $650 a month!
In addition, principals who make six-figure salaries pay only 7% and our
superintendent who makes over $200,000 only contributes 5%. They are trying to
balance their budget on the back of the teachers. The lower payment yields high
deductibles and co-pays of 10% for hospital stays and ER visits. You will find
the chart with the real costs below. Last year they had negotiated payments for
benefits with the blue-collar workers and principals and then rewarded them by
laying off cleaning staff and assistant principals. We are waiting for the other shoe
to drop on us too. I am a retiree with 3 more years to collect Social
Security. I already pay $1350 a month for medical coverage for my spouse and I.
Now they have eliminated the prescription benefits, which will now cost my
spouse and I upwards of $10,000 a year just for prescriptions.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">I see the frustration in the posts of current teachers,
counselors and nurses, trying to do more with nothing. Every day I wonder how
they have the strength to go into work each day and smile and teach. I spend
every day thanking God I have retired and don’t have to deal with the reality
that is the current school district. Sometimes I have to NOT read their posts
so I don’t become depressed about the anti-teacher, anti-union, anti-public
school attitude that prevails nationwide and is especially onerous in
Philadelphia.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">But people are starting to fight back. Last year, parents
rallied their school communities to oppose turning their schools over to
charters. Helen Gym, a nationally-known parent activist, regularly contributes
articles to the Notebook, an outside-the-district newspaper that highlights and
investigates issues in the school district. Helen has spoken at rallies, at the
SRC meetings, at parent gatherings, anywhere people will listen. Daniel Denvir
at the City Paper, and Kristen Graham at The Inquirer, are two of our
journalist supporters in the city media. And today’s newsfeed yields the unions
citywide discussing a general strike in support of the teachers, since we are
the only teachers’ union in the state not allowed by law to strike. Diane
Ravitch, public school activist extraordinaire, fights for us in her blog and
rallies others to speak out in support of public schools and the mess they’re
in because of corporate reform methods that are not working.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">I thank everyone who leaves a message of support or disseminates
the correct information about our situation. The current teachers, those laid
off, and the retirees all need your voices against the evil dealings of the
SRC. </span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">SPEAK OUT!</span></div>
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Fact Checking by the Notebook</span><br />
<a href="http://thenotebook.org/blog/147806/fact-checking-district-claims-about-contract-cancellation#comment-85875">http://thenotebook.org/blog/147806/fact-checking-district-claims-about-contract-cancellation#comment-85875</a><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Philadelphia unions ponder a general strike to support the PFT</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><a href="http://www.philly.com/philly/education/20141015_Outraged_by_cancellation_of_teachers__contract__city_labor_leaders_considered_calling_general_strike.html#WkIE5UdGVHjMXqEJ.01"><span style="color: blue;">http://www.philly.com/philly/education/20141015_Outraged_by_cancellation_of_teachers__contract__city_labor_leaders_considered_calling_general_strike.html#WkIE5UdGVHjMXqEJ.01</span></a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">The REAL costs of the new medical benefits:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBGLRTf6qnQUey9MKtIwRl8a_EZme_dD9xkFVJesGG_fgpV9bx-g6pkUkHe7A1wVAqB1K_5Cbl83fNZKbSMduTR_Nu-y4YnRXNFmYjxJ30kx_ZPVZYGQh5MxmgRiWx-VaafCpww7UV7NtS/s1600/RealMedicalPayments.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBGLRTf6qnQUey9MKtIwRl8a_EZme_dD9xkFVJesGG_fgpV9bx-g6pkUkHe7A1wVAqB1K_5Cbl83fNZKbSMduTR_Nu-y4YnRXNFmYjxJ30kx_ZPVZYGQh5MxmgRiWx-VaafCpww7UV7NtS/s1600/RealMedicalPayments.jpg" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"></span><br />Philly Girlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06543951612451538559noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-513629645559379984.post-88274683866986171422014-10-06T13:14:00.005-04:002014-10-14T23:51:38.236-04:00The Game is On! Our Contract is Revoked.<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">I don’t know what the legislature was thinking when they
gave the School Reform Commission (SRC) such broad powers over the School
District of Philadelphia (SDP). The law was written in such a way as to NOT
mention it was only for Philadelphia, but made it obvious when they wrote it to
apply only to first class cities. Duh! There’s only one first class city in
Pennsylvania. Philadelphia. </span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Among other things, the law dissolved the city-appointed
school board, appointed a state-appointed majority School Reform Commission to
govern the schools, and negate the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers’ (PFT)
right to strike. One of the never-before-used-privileges it gave to the SRC was
to cancel the contract and to impose terms on the teachers. These things were
supposed to fix the financial and educational woes of the city schools. In the
dozen years of SRC control it has done neither.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the years since
the SRC took over, we have not had a strike, nor an imposed contract, but have
negotiated several contracts in the regular manner. For 2 years, the PFT has
been negotiating with the SRC with absolutely no GIVE on the SRC’s part. The
PFT understood that the district is in a financial bind, and offered to forego
any raises. The union also loaned the district $30 million from its Health and
Welfare funds to help the SRC balance its books. Last year, the SRC revoked the
pay steps for people with advanced degrees and longevity. Teachers who stay
more than 10 years get no extra pay for remaining, but it is an incentive for
the young teachers hired to stay. After being encouraged to get advanced
degrees by the SRC, so we could become “highly qualified,” the teachers who got
those degrees 2 years ago were denied their pay raises. The school district,
unlike many of its suburban districts, does not pay for nor reimburse teachers
for advance degrees. </span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">The SRC claims that the teachers did nothing to help the
financial troubles of the district. They are dead wrong. In addition to settling
for being paid less for a much more difficult job than their suburban
counterparts, 19% less than a local district, our Philly teachers typically
spend thousands of dollars of their own money to supplement their meager $100
supply allowance from the district. They spend their own time after and before
school to do extra-curricular activities needed by the students. They teach in
neighborhoods where two-thirds of the students suffer from PTSD due to the
violent atmosphere or high poverty of their environment. They have even
provided soap, toilet paper, copy paper and tissues for their classrooms,
supplies that the district will not provide.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">This scenario has been due to happen sooner or later. Here
in Pennsylvania, The last several governors have not supported public
education. In 2010, the state legislature did a study and found that the public
schools in the state were underfunded by BILLIONS of dollars. Although Governor
Rendell supplied the extra funds for the public schools via use of the stimulus
fund from the federal government, he failed to change the school funding
formula to make education funding fair across the state. Even though there were
additional funds for districts where students were non-English speakers,
special ed, or high poverty, it was not enough. When Governor Corbett came into
office, he revoked the additional funds for those groups of students, and
stopped reimbursing school districts for some charter school expenses. Thus the
available funds that the stimulus had provided were now gone, as well as the
additional funds for poor, special ed, and ELL students. </span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Charters have been given rampant growth opportunities and
lack of oversight as the public schools in Pennsylvania, especially in
Philadelphia, siphon away the best students, and leave the special ed,
behaviorally challenged, and non-English speaking students to be educated by
the city schools. Only a handful of these charters have been able to score
better on the state tests, with all of the cyber charters and 50% of the brick-and-mortar
charters performing worse than the public schools they replaced.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">In the recent debate by the gubernatorial candidates, Mr.
Corbett said he was no friend of education unions. That has been obvious since
day one of his term. But can the teachers’ union wait until the November
election and January change of watch to get the imposition of work rules
revoked. I submit that we cannot. It’s now time for action, and that action
seems to be pointing to a strike, legal or not.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">The Philadelphia Notebook describes the revocation of the
contract here.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<a href="http://thenotebook.org/blog/147781/src-revokes-contract-changes-health-benefits#comment-85250"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial;">http://thenotebook.org/blog/147781/src-revokes-contract-changes-health-benefits#comment-85250</span></a></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--><span style="font-family: Arial;"> Fact Checking the SRC</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><a href="http://thenotebook.org/blog/147806/fact-checking-district-claims-about-contract-cancellation#comment-85875">http://thenotebook.org/blog/147806/fact-checking-district-claims-about-contract-cancellation#comment-85875</a><!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--><span style="font-family: Arial;"> <!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--><span style="font-family: Arial;"> <!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></span></div>
Philly Girlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06543951612451538559noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-513629645559379984.post-82837047864718912132014-09-06T22:49:00.000-04:002014-09-06T22:56:07.153-04:00Learning How to Get Along
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-size: 7.5pt;">The article in August 18<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">th</span></sup>’s Inquirer on philly.com states, <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<i><span lang="EN" style="font-family: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-size: 7.5pt;">“The Taney Dragons look like the best parts of our city –
multiracial, integrated, winning. They reflect our city schools: six of the 12
players are District elementary students from McCall, Meredith, Penn Alexander
and Masterman. One student is from World Communications Charter. One of Taney’s
stars was the only girl among the PA teams and the team was the most racially
diverse in the state.<o:p></o:p></span></i><br />
<br />
<i><span lang="EN" style="font-family: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-size: 7.5pt;">You’d think that would be even more cause for celebration
but along the way, they’ve faced <a href="http://articles.philly.com/2014-07-31/news/52243460_1_little-league-lower-perkiomen-seven-hours" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">hateful and ignorant racist and sexist attitudes</span></a> as a
result.”</span></i><br />
<i><span lang="EN" style="font-family: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-size: 7.5pt;"></span></i><br />
<i><span lang="EN" style="font-family: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-size: 7.5pt;">See the link below for the back story.<o:p></o:p></span></i><br />
<br />
<a href="http://parentsunitedphila.com/2014/08/08/phillys-own-taney-dragons-are-the-feel-good-story-of-summer/"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial;">http://parentsunitedphila.com/2014/08/08/phillys-own-taney-dragons-are-the-feel-good-story-of-summer/</span></a><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">This news is a little old but serves to put a spotlight on a
discouraging reality. So many years beyond the Civil Rights marches, MLK, and
the Brown vs. Board of Ed. ruling, we <b><i>still</i></b> have to endure such
racist ideas and harassment, even where kids are concerned. When Vic and I were
Scout leaders 20-30 years ago, we lived in an integrated neighborhood. It was
one of the best things about our little borough. We actually moved in as many
were moving out, and never regretted the decision. Because the neighborhood was
integrated, our kids’ friends were also. They played together in the driveway,
walked to school with each other, and participated in sports teams and band
activities. Our school district did not have the best reputation, but I found
little to criticize about the education my children got there, despite the
court-enforced bussing necessary for the integration of its elementary schools.
</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">I believe the best experiences in living together other than
on the same block were offered in Scouts, sports and band. Having to work
together in activities and earning badges, camping, hiking, and discovering new
experiences, the boys and girls in Scouts managed to show the adults a thing or
two about getting along. Our sports teams were great examples of racial harmony
because they were working toward a common goal. I do believe our community
being integrated played a large part in their success since the kids already
played together at home. We constantly struggled, however, to prove our worth
to the people outside our neighborhood. </span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">The school sports teams – football, soccer, field hockey,
and lacrosse – constantly dealt with racial remarks from opposing teams and
even from some of the coaches and a ref or two. Because we had integrated teams
in a mostly white section of the county, we were an anomaly. I believe we may
have been the only fully integrated set of teams in the county. There were no
token whites or blacks, but we were pretty evenly distributed. Our kids had to
be trained to ignore the racial taunts of the other teams who tried to get our
kids to start a fight and get penalized, We did file complaints with the sport
authorities, but the harassment never completely stopped. It was discouraging
and disappointing that the kids had to learn of racial contempt at such a young
age. But I was relieved, on the other hand, that they had already learned not
to judge people by the color of their skin as young children. In some cases I
believe it made us stronger and more cohesive, but it should never have
happened. </span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">In Scouts, the racial abuse was more subtle, and was
realized only in retrospect. When our leaders were involved in all-white
troops, they always got the campsites in better parts of the Scout reservation.
Our troop somehow always managed to get the campsite that was farthest way from
the mess tent, activities, and physically separated from the non-integrated
troops by distance, no matter how early we registered. After several years, it
finally dawned on our leaders what was going on. My husband says that it was
the only time he was ashamed to be a Scouter. </span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Scouts also offered a look into the racial attitudes of
others in the neighborhood, finding out that not everyone felt the same as we
did. We wanted to plan a get-together for the families in the troop and
approached the all-white private swim club. We were told in no uncertain terms
that we could not. Nothing directly racial was said, but other non-integrated
troops had been able to use the facilities. So we looked elsewhere, to the
all-black swim club on the other side of town. We were welcomed by the
officials and for the most part, the day went without incident. One kid there
wanted to know why we weren’t at “our” swim club; that we didn’t belong. But a
few of our scouts who belonged to the club told him otherwise.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Although it meant that my last child had to be bussed to
school when the others had been able to walk to school, I am all for
integrating schools. There’s so much opportunity there for understanding that
people are people wherever you go, as Dr. Seuss would say. Even better is
integrating the neighborhood! There are mean kids and bullies of every race and
creed; bad people and wonderful people come in all colors. Kids need to learn
that color has no unfortunate tags exclusively associated with it. The only way
you’re going to get that across is by living somewhere that presents those
opportunities everyday. The way things are today, there are still many
segregated communities that rarely have opportunities to interact with people
of other races and creeds. So much room for those old stereotypes to rear their
ugly heads!</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Let’s not allow our society to slip back to where it was
before Rosa Parks, Jackie Robinson, Jim Thorpe, Rubye Bridges, MLK, etc. We
need to be a true Melting Pot, living the motto – E Pluribus Unum or Out of
Many, One.</span></div>
<br />
Still learning!Philly Girlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06543951612451538559noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-513629645559379984.post-17818669411349526992014-08-28T17:05:00.001-04:002014-08-28T22:15:12.962-04:00My Book Anniversary!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5BjtW-yNSC5g_oOP_WlHCoCXCnliC2omPiXCgPJjORZ_ukwwziOhod5t61QeXILpTHHJsGzWaDmiJ27oCOWmgFaDThUnTVA3dbKMdWgujk3ttUI4XiVTYZtDoU75DrDli1gUc-fFt14ln/s1600/Cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5BjtW-yNSC5g_oOP_WlHCoCXCnliC2omPiXCgPJjORZ_ukwwziOhod5t61QeXILpTHHJsGzWaDmiJ27oCOWmgFaDThUnTVA3dbKMdWgujk3ttUI4XiVTYZtDoU75DrDli1gUc-fFt14ln/s1600/Cover.jpg" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">A year ago I launched myself on the beginning of what I hope
will be a long journey. On August 28, 2013, my first book, <i>It Wasn’t in the
Lesson Plan</i>, was published by Outskirts Press. I had been working on it for
almost 2 years with a push from some Fun-A-Day show attendees in February 2011.
</span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">The project began when my son Nick asked me what I was doing
for Fun-A-Day in January 2011. The concept behind Fun-A-Day is simple – for the
month of January you promise yourself to do something fun every single day. It
could be making your bed, cooking a different variety of pasta, taking a photo,
painting, drawing, haiku writing, singing, pick <i>something</i>! After the
month has expired, there is a show where you can share with people what you
did. When I bound my writings about my students, people reading their stories
at the show wrote little post-it notes, encouraging me to write and publish a book. </span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">When I began the project, I didn’t think I’d have enough to
write a different story every night after work. But I found there was a lot in
that head of mine and I wanted to share it. Several of my family and friends
proof-read for me as I went along, but the yeoman’s job of editing went to Tina
Capalbo, whom I met online through the music of Great Big Sea. She had been a
teacher and was a benevolent task master. Believe me when I tell you I had to
revise and edit a lot after all the other edits! But the suggestions she gave
made the book a much better set of stories. Her suggestions made it flow. </span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Another Great Big Sea connection is my illustrator, James
Duncan. He lives in Montreal, but I met him and his wife Fran Courselle and
their kids at a GBS concert in Lowell, MA. I sent him the stories I wanted
illustrations for and he did a beautiful job. A couple of the drawings of kids whom
he’s never seen, had an uncanny likeness to the real kids. And I was over the
moon with his cover! It’s a real eye opener.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">I’ve been writing a lot at home since the release of the
book, and almost have enough for another book. This one will be me speaking my
mind about recent education issues. Hopefully by next year, I’ll be
crowdfunding once again. </span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">I want to thank every person who’s encouraged me,
contributed money for publishing, bought the book, read the book, passed it on
to another person, shared the links, liked my <i>It Wasn’t in the Lesson Plan </i>Facebook
page. I will continue to write in my blog and for later publishing as I think I
have found my not-teaching niche now. I am a writer. Wow! That sounds good! </span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">I am a writer.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Please tell me what story you liked or what struck a chord
with you as you read. I’d like to hear. You could also tell me some education issues you'd like me to write about/address. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">You can read some of the book at Amazon.com - </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/It-Wasnt-Lesson-Plan-Lessons/dp/1478708662/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1409259831&sr=8-1&keywords=It+wasn%27t+in+the+lesson+plan">http://www.amazon.com/It-Wasnt-Lesson-Plan-Lessons/dp/1478708662/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1409259831&sr=8-1&keywords=It+wasn%27t+in+the+lesson+plan</a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
</div>
<br />
<br />
Still learning!Philly Girlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06543951612451538559noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-513629645559379984.post-52133833710951482912014-08-12T10:39:00.002-04:002014-08-27T11:02:52.499-04:00The Fight Has Just Begun<span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia; mso-ansi-language: EN;">Ever since the publishing of A Nation at Risk during
Reagan’s presidency, the teaching profession has come under increasing
suspicion and scrutiny.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>During the 30
plus years since his grave pronouncement, this mistrust has led to; No Child
Left Behind; Race to the Top; PARCC (Partnership for Assessment of Readiness
for College & Careers) and Smarter Balanced tests, Common Core State
Standards; VAM (Value Added Model); decreased teacher training quality (Teach
for America); vouchers; the outlaw of unions in some “right-to-work” states;
increased importance of high-stakes standardized testing; a high rate of
teacher “churn;” record-low morale among teachers; introduction of laws to
eliminate tenure (due process) for teachers; and the closing and charterizing
of hundreds of public community schools. This war is raging on many fronts at
this time as political and corporate powers without much teaching experience
attack teachers and their unions, especially teachers in highly urban or rural poverty-ridden
communities. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia; mso-ansi-language: EN;">The average teacher does their job of educating young
minds no matter what the current “flavor” of reading or math teaching strategy
is. We are so used to top-down management imposing programs and materials on us
that may or may not have any educational value. We usually just accept the
package and go on trying to reach growing minds.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In my 37 years of teaching in urban public schools, I have seen
the preferred reading methods reach full-circle twice and the math has come
‘round once. Rarely do the people in authority even ask teachers how it’s
working. Rarely do they consider that it will take upwards of 10 years to see
whether a new method is truly working. They expect to see miracles within a 2
to 3 year period and when they don’t, it’s get on the carousel again to the
next “best practices.” Indeed, it takes a good three years for a teacher to get
used to a new program and use it well. When a teacher finally can implement the
program easily, it is changed and the process repeats itself ad-nauseum.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia; mso-ansi-language: EN;">Teachers have always just dealt with the war against
administrators by doing our jobs and complaining when things didn’t work out
for the better. Indeed, we have no say in the adoption of educational programs
in the district, but have to use them anyway. Both teachers and our students
have suffered through such horrible ideas as scripted lessons and no-phonics
reading only because we were evaluated on using them “with fidelity.” Thank
goodness our unions were eventually able to show the administrators that scripted lessons
were NOT good for the education of ALL children, and that balanced literacy approach works
for most children. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia; mso-ansi-language: EN;">Indeed, no one method will work for all children to
learn. Hence our opposition to the Common Core State Standards. The premise behind
the standards is good, but each state already had standards which they used
throughout the grades and subjects. The states, for the most part, had employed
teachers to examine, write, adapt, and test the standards’ viability in the
classroom. It is the states’ responsibility according to the constitution to
educate their citizenry and federal interference is not allowed in the
impostion of curriculum. The name Common Core STATE Standards belies the
process by which they were birthed and adopted.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Neither the states’ education departments themselves nor their
teachers have much to do with writing them. There were two college professors
on the committee which first examined the standards, both of which refused to
support the final versions in math and reading. There were no early childhood
teachers whose students are the most impacted by the developmentally
inappropriate standards. Most of the writers of the common core were employed
by corporate educational testing companies or other non-teaching industries.
Pearson, which is involved in writing the tests for the standards, should not
have been given a seat at the birthing table. And the adoption of the standards
was somehow done before they had been written and diseminated. I don’t know how
to account for the states’ “approval” if the governors voting to implement them
had never seen them, nor had they been field-tested prior to approval.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia; mso-ansi-language: EN;">Attackers from another front are charter schools,
supposedly public schools who have the liberty to “do their own thing.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Many charters have selective enrollment
processes which prohibit or deter English Language Learners (ELL) and Special
Ed (IEP) kids from applying because of their application process and/or lack of
programs. Many charters counsel out students with learning or emotional
disablities through no excuses discipline and one-size-fits-all educational
practices. Charters were originally established to help the very students they
are counseling out, those that can’t make it in the public school system. Instead,
charters have managed to skim the cream from the public schools, leaving
disproportionate numbers of<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>ELL and IEP
students. All this for what? The majority of charters here in Pennsylvania do no better than public
schools when standardized tests are used to compare. Some do achieve better,
but many more do worse than the local public schools, cyber charters in
particular. Not one cyber charter made AYP. In addition,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the school
district ends up paying for all the charter school kids regardless of where
they transfer from. In Philadelphia, a significant number of charter students
come from Catholic schools, not public schools, but the public school district
has to pay for them, too. Teachers and parents here have had it with closing
schools, laying off familiar experienced teachers and hiring Teach for America
recruits for the charters, most of whom stay 2 years and leave. Both teachers
and parents are sick of the closing-schools battles in this war and the
constant churn of new, inexperienced teachers.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia; mso-ansi-language: EN;">Even Bill Gates, who has given millions of dollars to fund
his ideas for education has admitted that the current so-called reform models
have done little to improve educational outcomes. He keeps his hand in the
educationally profitable computerized testing industry which will not be
responsible to create, test and evaluate standardized tests that will be used
to judge student, teacher, and district. PAARC and Smarter Balamced tests made
for the Common Core will be given solely on computers that run Windows 8. Who’s
the winner there? Certainly not the school districts that have to purchase new
computers and upgrade existing one, leaving less money for actual instruction. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia; mso-ansi-language: EN;">Computers may be wonderful, but teachers know that not
every student is able to show what they know on the computer. Students require
assessments that are as varied as they are to be able to judge whether they
have acquired the knowledge they need to be successful. There are 7<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Intelligences according to Howard Gardiner
and teachers are required to differentiate their instruction to reach as many
as possible. Computer skills and visual methods used on the computerized tests
are but 14% of the skills that should be used to test children. Even if the
computer tests include audio, that’s only 22% of the assessments that should be
used in order to assess fairly. Teachers are still fighting the battle of
teaching to a child’s strength but testing only one facet of learning.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia; mso-ansi-language: EN;">Then there is the unseen enemy, that is, the
behind-the-scenes corporate and political influences that shape the laws, even
up to the higher levels of the federal courts. Politics plays way too large a
role in how education works in our nation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Every two-four years the elected governor or legislators seem to decide
whatever the previous guy did for education needs to be changed. These changes
have nothing to do with the needs of public schools, but with political
atmosphere at the time. Unfortunately, these political changes have taken on a
national agenda, with so many states challenging tenure, changing work rules
for teachers, requiring evaluations tied into test scores, promoting charters
and vouchers, and reducing budgets and pensions. It is the same all across the
country, too much to be a coincidence. Schools need to be far removed from the
political or corporate influences. It’s an ongoing battle we are currently
losing.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia; mso-ansi-language: EN;">One of the latest battles teachers are waging now is
against our right to due process, our right to know what we are accused of and
be able to mount our defense. Most of the people in the United States misunderstand
the way due process, or tenure works for teachers in grades Kindergarten
through 12<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">th</span></sup> grade. Although it’s commonly known as “tenure,” it is
not what tenure is in higher education. In universities, tenure allows
professors to study, experiment with, and challenge widely held views in order
to get to the truth about an issue. They can tackle controversial issues
without worry of being fired because the department head disagrees. Tenure in K
to 12 circles only means a teacher cannot be fired without good reason. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia; mso-ansi-language: EN;">Highly-visible lawyers, former journalists, and movie
stars all seem to have opinions on tenure which they have put out there with
much ado in recent weeks. These non-educators misrepresent our profession and
our unions when they complain we can’t get rid of bad teachers because there is
tenure. But that is patently false. Our unions do not fight for bad teachers,
but they do fight for an accused teachers right mount a defense against
arbitrary and capricious accusations. It is not the unions obligation to get
rid of the “bad” teachers, but the responsibility of the administrator at the
school level. There aren’t that many “bad” teachers in schools, though, and no
techer worth their salt wants to teach with one. In fact, the union frequently counsels
out teachers who need to leave because they don’t improve after having been
found ineffective.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If there are bad
teachers in a school, it is the school district’ responsibility to prove it and
to go through the process of firing. Despite research that shows that teachers
only account for 1% to 20% of a child’s school success, false information keeps
being spread by these political influences to discredit teachers and their
unions.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia; mso-ansi-language: EN;">Pension reform is the latest attack on teachers. Many
teachers stayed in their positions long-term because of the promise of a good
pension upon retirement. No one goes into teaching because of the salary. In
most school districts in the nation, neither salaries nor pensions are
commensurate with the level of proficiency and professionalism required by the
job. For most teachers, it’s not a job but a career, a calling if you will. How
else could you justify those tenacious instructors who stay in the ghetto, year
after year, trying to better serve the students in their charge? Those teachers
fight battles every day that the average citizen can’t imagine. The ravages of
poverty and violence that plague the inner city make it very hard to reach and
teach the students who live there. But they stay, and teach, and counsel, and listen,
and cajole, and comfort children who have seen more violence than many
soldiers. They buy personal items and school supplies for their students. They
work within the confines of the untreated PTSD their children experience daily.
After 30-40 years of teaching within these conditions, teachers deserve to
bring home a pension they have contributed to their whole working lives. Many
states have laws where teachers can’t collect both their pension and Social
Security. We all know that living on a Social Security check keeps one at the
poverty level or close to it. Is this what we want for those to whom we entrust
our most valuable resource, our children? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--><span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia; mso-ansi-language: EN;">Again, the pension question seems to be on the political
agenda to destroy public education and is a nationwide issue. In my state of
Pennsylvania, funds desperately needed by the Philadelphia School District and
being held up because the Governor insists on pension reform. One has nothing
to do with the other. Our governor insists it is the public employees pension
funds that are bleeding the state. What he doesn’t tell anyone is that state
has elected not to contribute to the pension fund for at least a decade, the
state “borrowing” the money and using it for something else so they don’t have
to raise taxes. Our no-tax governor has decreased corporate taxes as well as
not tax the fracking industry in order to claim that the money it now owes to
the pension fund is bringing the state down. It’s a debt the state is planning
to renege on without paying any penalties and in the process, not fulfilling an
obligation to its workers. An obligation that was a contract with the workers
who gave up salary increases and reductions in workforce to save the state
money. Ken Previti says it best in his blog, <u>Reclaim Reform</u>. Even though
he speaks about Illinois, the battle is being waged in many states.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<i><span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia; mso-ansi-language: EN;">Not many people realize that the state legislature is
required by law to fund, as earned compensation, teacher pensions. The pensions
are further protected by the Illinois constitution. State legislators have
intentionally not fully funded pensions, preferring to use the money for pet
projects that profit political cronies and campaign contributors. Legislators
don’t want to be considered the thieves that they are, so the procedure is
euphemistically called underfunding. This type of theft became so popular that
R. Eden Martin and his cohorts have encouraged legislators to shift money in
order to put the money elsewhere into more “worthy” areas. This used to be
called misappropriation of funds. Now, it is called saving the state</span></i><span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia; mso-ansi-language: EN;">.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia; mso-ansi-language: EN;">Well, the teachers have been trying to work for decades
with curriculum changes, evaluations based on test scores of students they may
never have taught, reductions in both federal and state budgets for education,
charter schools taking over their traditional public school and removing their
union rights, increased standardized testing whose practice tests and formative
tests eat up a whole month’s worth of reading lessons each year, being demeaned
by parents, administrators, television, radio, and movies. The attacks on
tenure, pensions and common sense practices has awakened the beast within. Both
the NEA and AFT have called for the Department of Education Secretary to change
his ways or resign, teachers have refused to give tests that count for nothing,
parents, teachers and principals have protested the incessant test-taking, and
an organization of teachers, 51,000 strong, dedicated to taking back our
profession, has been born- the Badass Teachers Association. </span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia; mso-ansi-language: EN;">Watch out! The members of the Badass Teacher Association
are mad and we’re not going to take it anymore. The group 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. " At first I was put off by the name, but after watching the continuing dismantling of the Philadelphia public schools, I felt I had to do something I was not able to do until I retired. That is, speak out loud and strong for the teachers who were left struggling to perform the miracles the system requires without the proper materials to do it. I joined the ranks of those who refuse to be blamed for the general inequalities of society and refuse to accept the assessments required by those who have no knowledge of proper educational methods and strategies.</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia;"></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia;">Others have joined the fight against the Common Core, standardized testing, and the dismantling of teachers' work protections and pensions. </span><span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia; mso-ansi-language: EN;">This is the turning point in
the battle that we will win. We will vanquish our enemies. The fight has just begun.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia; mso-ansi-language: EN;"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia; mso-ansi-language: EN;">The Badass Teacher Association - <a href="http://badassteachers.blogspot.com/">http://badassteachers.blogspot.com/</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia; mso-ansi-language: EN;">VAM debunked - <a href="http://dianeravitch.net/2014/08/11/the-holes-in-the-chetty-et-al-vam-study-as-seen-by-the-american-statistical-association/"><span style="color: blue;">http://dianeravitch.net/2014/08/11/the-holes-in-the-chetty-et-al-vam-study-as-seen-by-the-american-statistical-association/</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia; mso-ansi-language: EN;">Tenure on The View – <a href="http://goo.gl/L34aFR"><span style="color: blue;">http://goo.gl/L34aFR</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia; mso-ansi-language: EN;">The problem with No Child Left Behind - <a href="http://teacherslessonslearned.blogspot.com/2014/04/the-real-failure-of-nclb.html"><span style="color: blue;">http://teacherslessonslearned.blogspot.com/2014/04/the-real-failure-of-nclb.html</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia; mso-ansi-language: EN;">Thirty Years since A Nation at Risk –<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> <span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><a href="http://www.npr.org/2013/04/26/179281961/30-years-on-educators-still-divided-on-scathing-schools-report"><span style="color: blue;">http://www.npr.org/2013/04/26/179281961/30-years-on-educators-still-divided-on-scathing-schools-report</span></a></span></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia; mso-ansi-language: EN;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"></span></span></span> </div>
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<span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia; mso-ansi-language: EN;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span></span> Peter Greene's A Field Guide to Anti-Teacher Trolls - <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/peter-greene/anti-teacher-trolls_b_5614131.html">http://www.huffingtonpost.com/peter-greene/anti-teacher-trolls_b_5614131.html</a></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia; mso-ansi-language: EN;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span></span> </div>
Still learning!Philly Girlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06543951612451538559noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-513629645559379984.post-79504276540083391232014-08-04T17:03:00.001-04:002014-08-04T17:03:12.914-04:00Love & Politics Don't Mix
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Stuart McLean’s <i>Vinyl Café</i> always makes me laugh.
Today it made me reminisce and reflect on political differences. As the saying
goes, “Love and politics don’t mix.” </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">The story was about the 50’s-type life of Morley and her
mother’s finally feeling empowered enough to express a political opinion that
just happened to be the opposite of her husband’s. There was much fussing about
who needed to take the sign down and whose was bigger. After some fuming and
sign-size besting on the front lawn, the campaign was over with the election of
the incumbent, and everything calmed down. But it never went back to the Father
Knows Best atmosphere in the house. Mama had found her voice.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">Growing up in the 50’s and 60’s, my house wasn’t exactly
Leave It to Beaver. We were on the cusp of the feminist movement but at that
time, women didn’t leave any footprints in the job force, newsroom or politics.
Fathers went off to work and mother stayed home to take care of the kids.
Exceptions to this were few and far between. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">Politics was my father’s realm. In my memory he had always
been a Democratic committeeman, the workhorse of the party. A committeeman knew
everyone in the neighborhood and frequently knew more gossip than the women
did. They knew who to call for street repairs, traffic tickets, bail money and
other pressing problems. When they got help from a committeeman, the neighbors
felt an obligation to the ruling party in elections. In Philadelphia, the
victors were usually Democrats and the committeemen and Ward leaders worked
hard before elections, visiting every house in their division, encouraging them
to get out to vote for the Democratic candidate.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">Enter JFK, MLK, the Hippie Age of peace and love, anti-war,
civil rights marches. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">I had seen candidate Kennedy with my own eyes as he rode
down Roosevelt Blvd in his convertible, waving to the thousands of people who
would eventually vote for him. The nation’s first Catholic president, he was
huge in our overwhelmingly Catholic neighborhood. My father got to meet him in his
capacity of committeeman and I thought that was magical. It was then I became
interested in politics. Or at least I was more aware of the workings of
politics in our community than most kids. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">My awareness of politics piqued my interest in the civil rights
movement and the anti-war protestors. I was inextricably connected via the
folksongs touting peace. Songs from Arlo Guthrie, Pete Seeger, Joan Baez, Joni
Mitchell, Peter, Paul & Mary, and Simon & Garfunkel became the
soundtrack of my life. I sang the songs, attended the rallies, picketed for
Cesar Chavez and the grape pickers and generally subscribed to the politics of
the anti-war movement. During this turbulent period, my father was elected to
the State Legislature for our piece of Philadelphia. I gave out campaign
literature, made phone calls, and got well acquainted with campaign maneuvers
and politics in general. So when Frank Rizzo ran for mayor on the Democratic
side in the 70’s, I figured the only reason he switched parties was that he
knew a Republican would not stand a chance as a Mayoral candidate. Many saw
through his political move. Rizzo had been the Philadelphia Police Commissioner
and was notorious for his bullying, his racism, his brashness, and schmoozing
of the city’s high-ranking politicians. I was not going to vote for him no
matter what.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">I managed to procure a Thatcher Longstreth sign (his
opponent) and placed in proudly in my bedroom window. My father was not too
pleased but once I explained my reasons for supporting Longstreth, he relented.
Dad was all about the debate. He wanted to make you think about your positions
and opinions. The poster was highly visible as my bedroom windows were facing 2
of the available 3 sides of the house, the sides where the most people would
see them as they walked home from the bus stop or playground or corner store.
The ward leader saw them too. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">He gave my dad a hard time for supporting Rizzo’s opponent.
Dad informed him that it was not he, but his daughter who was in favor of the
Republican candidate. Dad listened to the ward leaders ranting, but when Mr. M.
told him to take it down, Dad said NO. He was in favor of freedom of choice and
that applied to his daughter’s vote as well as his. I was forever grateful and
impressed that he took that stance. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">So if you had walked by the house during that election
season, you would have noticed a big RIZZO sign downstairs in the kitchen
window where it was highly visible, and above it, on the second floor, an
equally large LONGSTRETH sign. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">For <i>this</i> was the house that compromise built. At
least for that voting season, love and politics <i>did</i> mix!</span></div>
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<!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--><span style="font-family: Arial;"> </span>Still learning!</div>
Philly Girlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06543951612451538559noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-513629645559379984.post-21345347971692885212014-07-08T21:26:00.000-04:002014-07-08T21:26:00.863-04:00Isn't That Special?
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">The Miracle Workers, Part 2</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">Arne Duncan, the United States Secretary of Education (who
BTW never taught a day in his life), insists that students in need of Special
Ed services (with IEPs) would be able to pass their state’s standardized tests
if they had “quality” instruction. He has recently made it a requirement that
such students pass the tests at the same rate as regular ed students who do not
require special instruction. In fact, my last blog post was about this subject.
But I find it so unreal, that I wrote another one. I apologize for any
repetition.</span></div>
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<!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--><span style="font-family: Arial;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial;">Arne feels that showing progress on grade-level tests is so
important that he will lessen the federal government’s watchdog role on IDEA
(Individuals with Disabilities Education Act) regulations which require timely
identification, aren’t participation, and testing of potential special ed
students. These regulations were put into effect because some school districts
were making the students either wait too long for services or get railroaded
through the testing process when other strategies may have worked. Those rules
were needed then, and they are needed NOW. If school districts don’t have a
watchdog making sure children are identified and serviced in an appropriate and
timely fashion, look for the Special Ed services to lessen appreciably. It
costs extra money to teach children with IEPs. In these days of draconian
budget cuts in cash-strapped districts, the fewer Special Ed teachers a school
district hires saves them thousands of dollars.</span></div>
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<!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--><span style="font-family: Arial;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial;">Children are not identified as needing specialized
instruction in a willy-nilly fashion. They are first given certain academic
accommodations in their classroom by the teacher, with data collected as to the
success of lack of it of the strategies.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>After 4-6 weeks, the teacher determines, along with the Child Study
Team, whether or not those strategies are working. If not working, other
strategies are suggested and tried in the next time frame. There can be several
4-6 week sessions of identifying, accommodating, and re-evaluating before any
determination is made that the child <i>might</i> need testing. If the child
does not show enough progress, then the parent must be notified, questionnaires
filled out, any physical reasons for the lack of progress eliminated, parent
and teacher conferences held, and preliminary academic testing done. Then and
only then, and only with the parent’s input and approval, can the child be
tested by a school psychologist to determine the need for specialized
instruction. In many school districts, a child must be <i>at least</i> 2 years
below grade level to be considered for special ed testing. </span></div>
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<!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--><span style="font-family: Arial;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial;">Despite the lengthy time period to determine if testing is
needed, there are times in which the school does not meet the federally
prescribed timelines set forth in the IDEA regulations. There were hefty
consequences involved with not meeting prescribed deadlines concerning
identification and re-evaluation of Special Ed students. That is the way it
should be. Children who have special learning requirements should get all the
services to which they are entitled in order to help them overcome their
disability if possible, and to educate them to be contributing members of
society as much as their disabilities allow. If the federal government doesn’t
keep an eye on this, school districts are not going to be as diligent as they
need to be in providing an appropriate education to our special children. </span></div>
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<!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--><span style="font-family: Arial;">These days, most kids with IEPs are already mainstreamed
into regular classes for the majority of their school day. Unless their
disability is severe, the children are instructed on grade level subjects in
their classroom with the special education teacher’s support either in-class or
in a separate resource room for a prescribed period of time each day. In this
manner, they are exposed to grade-appropriate concepts as well as instruction
on their learning level, as per the IEP. As the years have gone by, the time
spent on the Resource Room has been decreasing for most children. The exposure
to grade-level material is important as many kids can grasp complicated
concepts in Social Studies or Science instruction that doesn’t require their
reading the textbooks. The instruction at the IEP level is usually far below
grade level, meeting the students where they are to give them the strategies
and specialized instruction needed to progress. Each child is different,
needing varying levels of assistance and instruction. In my last 5<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">th</span></sup>
grade class, J. was a math whiz, but could only read on a second grade level.
His pal, A., could read on a 4<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">th</span></sup> grade level, but only did math at a
first grade level, and could not write a coherent paragraph. D. was on the
autism spectrum and was able to do the reading work but not the math and only
on his terms, which changed from day to day. He required short sessions and
frequent breaks, with little interaction with classmates. AJ could do grade
level work but frustrated easily and required frequent teacher interaction,
frequent breaks and reduced work loads to perform in class. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">Unfortunately, the tests they were required to take are
written at grade level and if they can’t read them, the students can’t even
understand the questions! The accommodations allowed for most learning disabled
students on the standardized tests are not very helpful – extra time and
smaller classes for testing. A teacher is only allowed to read the math or
science test to them if the student asks. The reading test, which most students
in Special Ed can’t handle at grade level, cannot be read to them, only the
directions. Consequently, students who have been identified as Special Ed and
are already at least 2 years behind, can’t even begin to handle the reading
portion of the test. Yet, according to the latest iteration of No Child Left
Behind (NCLB) the teachers’ effectiveness are supposed to be evaluated on their
students’ standardized test scores, not reaching their IEP goals. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">I don’t need to tell you that not many Special Ed students
pass the tests at the proficient level, although there are some exceptions.
Everyone understands that most students being instructed below grade level as
per their IEP, are not going to be able to handle the grade-level test. That
doesn’t mean they aren’t making progress. Au contraire!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">Some learning disabled children 3 levels behind can recoup 2
of those levels in a few years with a lot of hard work, support from home and
the right approach to teaching. However, many students won’t be able to make a
year’s progress in a year. Those with very low IQs, a child classified as what
would have been referred to in the old days as Trainable Mentally Retarded, may
take many years to make one year’s worth of progress. Children with pervasive
developmental disabilities that make them as mature as a 4 year old will never
be able to do close reading and algebra. Hopefully, they would be among the
very few exempted from the testing, although not many are exempted. Even a
child in Florida who was in hospice, on his deathbed, was expected to take the
test. Talk about ridiculous. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">But, then, how are you going to judge whether the Special Ed
teacher is doing her job? The goals for each special ed child should be unique
to that child. They should be goals that are attainable with work on the
student’s and the teacher’s part. If a child needs many repetitions for a concept
to sink in, it’s going to take longer to make a year’s worth of progress in
reading or math, but they will make it. If the child requires special
equipment, it may be easier to make the growth in class, but the test will
still not allow all of the accommod-ations permitted in the classroom. Children
with IQs of 47 are not going to be able to grasp the 5<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">th</span></sup> grade
concepts measured in the standardized tests. They can still improve and go
forward in their learning nevertheless and the teacher and student should be
recognized for the role they played in that student reaching their IEP goals. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">The current requirements for most kids with IEPs to take
their grade level tests is cruel and unusual punishment and results in some
special ed children testing ALL day for 7 days in a row. No child should have
to be accountable to test for 5 hours a day, especially those who are already
identified as not being able to perform on grade level. It’s just wrong. And
then to have their teachers’ “quality” depend on their score? Ridiculous!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">If you agree with me, would you take time out of your busy
day and email or use social media to pressure Arne Duncan to reassess his
Special ed policies? Arne the Miracle Worker believes that special ed children
will improve if only they are given harder tests. Show him his folly. None of
us are Miracle Workers if those are the rules.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">A Note to Arne Duncan from a Special Ed Teacher<br />
</span><a href="http://dianeravitch.net/category/special-education/"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial;">http://dianeravitch.net/category/special-education/</span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">Am I a Bad Teacher?<br />
</span><a href="http://dianeravitch.net/2014/04/09/am-i-a-bad-teacher/"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial;">http://dianeravitch.net/2014/04/09/am-i-a-bad-teacher/</span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">The Stupidest Idea from the D.O.E.</span></div>
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<a href="http://curmudgucation.blogspot.com/2014/06/quite-possibly-stupidest-thing-to-come.html"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial;">http://curmudgucation.blogspot.com/2014/06/quite-possibly-stupidest-thing-to-come.html</span></a></div>
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Still learning!Philly Girlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06543951612451538559noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-513629645559379984.post-57634280642694947252014-06-24T21:23:00.002-04:002014-06-25T09:22:31.980-04:00The Miracle Workers<br />
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<!--[endif]--><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Arial;">In the book, The Miracle Worker, Helen Keller overcomes all
odds and succeeds in becoming a contributing member of society with the 24/7
one-on-one help of her very determined teacher, Annie Sullivan. As the title
suggests, a miracle is not an everyday occurrence, but a once-in-a-lifetime
thing, something that happens despite terrible hardships or impossible
situations. A miracle is a rarity, and the Catholic Church attributes them to
the intervention of saints. </span></div>
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<!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--><span style="font-family: Arial;"> <!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan, must believe that the
teachers of America are all saints, capable of delivering miracles daily, but
especially during standardized test time. In his proposed changes to the IDEA,
Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, Mr. Duncan wants to assure the
public that there are no obstacles to Special Ed children reaching the goals of
the new Common Core State Standards tests, the ones that “regular” kids are
overwhelmingly expected to fail this year and next. Mr. Duncan expects every
child with disabilities, physical, learning or emotional, to score in the
proficient range on an above-grade standardized test, one that is offered with
very few accommodations other than small group testing and extended time.</span></div>
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<!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--><span style="font-family: Arial;"> <!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">Good teachers can help the learning disabled kids make good
progress, but since they cannot be identified as Special Ed unless they are at
least 2 years behind, it’s ridiculous to expect such children to “ace the
test.” Some may indeed, eventually catch up due to the right combination of
in-school and at-home support. When I taught remedial math, there was a
full-time learning disabled student who came to me for extra math instruction because she was heads above her special ed class in math.
After 2 years we were able to mainstream her entirely for math because she was
forging ahead of most kids in her grade in math. She ended up scoring at a
proficient level on the state test in math. Reading, however, was not her
forte, and she remained in her learning disabled category for Language Arts
during the time she was with us.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">Some kids are not going to make that kind of progress no
matter what you try. I taught siblings in a family of mentally challenged kids
and adults. Although I was able to help two of the kids who had an IQ of 47 and
55 respectively, their abilities in Grade 8 were far below what would be tested
on the state test at this point. Think about a child being forced to take a
2-hour test in reading and in math on an 8<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">th</span></sup> grade level when their
reading and math levels were at a 2<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">nd</span></sup> grade level. Algebra versus 2
digit subtraction, close reading of historical documents from the 18<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">th</span></sup>
century versus memorizing 200 sight words because phonics is impossible with
your auditory perception problem.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">Kids like the siblings in Special Ed are now able to take a
modified version of the standardized test that is shorter and with alternative
assessments and accommodations. Some kids actually score basic and proficient
using these alternative methods and assessments! But Mr. Duncan is currently
seeking to modify that to require only the most severely affected students to
take the test. Students identified with learning disabilities such as dyslexia
(visual misperceptions of words), dyscalculia (inability to work with numbers)
and dysgraphia (inability to write legibly) will be considered not severe
enough and have to take the 6 hours of ELA and Math tests at their grade level,
despite performing at levels 4 or more grades below. Plus, their teachers,
schools, districts and states will be penalized if they don’t score well.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">Huffington Post’s Joy Resmovits puts it this way:</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br />
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<span lang="EN"><em><span style="font-family: Arial;">After years of holding states accountable
under the law for such things as timely evaluations of students and due process
hearings, the Education Department plans to look at results. For the first
time, the government will define compliance with the law not just in terms of
what states do for students with disabilities, but with how those students
perform… According to this new results-driven accountability framework, states
will be responsible for students with disabilities' participation in state
tests, gaps in proficiency between students with disabilities and their peers,
and performance on the National Assessment of Education Progress, or NAEP, the
only national standardized test.</span></em></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">I don’t understand what the US Department of Education
doesn’t understand about being in Special Ed. The reason a child is identified
as such, is because they are performing at a level 2 or more years below their
peers. If they were able to take the test and pass, they wouldn’t be in Special
Ed! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">The new portion of the IDEA law will put punitive measures into
effect for those states that do not meet their goals for Special Ed students.
If a state fails to meet goals three years in a row, a portion of their federal
money for Special Ed services can be withheld. That’s puzzling, since what is
the likelihood of being able to meet their goal in the fourth year without
adequate funding? As far as I can see it, the federal government is setting up
the cash-strapped districts for failure. Most money-starved districts have
already had to cut back on extra personnel and service that would make it
easier for students with IEPs to come closer to grade level. Classroom assistants and specialized reading programs have been reduced. Look at the
Philadelphia School District that has had to cut personnel three years in a
row, and is working on a bare-bones budget that doesn’t deliver the needed
services to its students. There is 1000:1 ratio of counselors to students, 44
schools are getting counseling services one day every three weeks. There is a
dearth of librarians, social workers, assistant principals, and materials and
supplies. And the federal government wants to up the ante for special ed students? Until fair funding formulae are commonplace, the number of support services for students correlates directly with the funds available (or not).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">Let’s employ some honest-to-goodness special ed teachers in
advisory positions in the Department of Education to determine which pieces of
the curriculum and which accommodations will be reasonable to use for their IEP
students. Instead, we have a Secretary who has never taught, touting a
curriculum written mostly by corporate testing people, not real teachers, a
common core curriculum that has never been field tested, and regulations that
no teacher worth their special ed certification would agree to. We have politicians and
pundits, despite never having been competent K-12 teachers, who KNOW what teachers
need to do to serve their students. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">Sorry, I can’t buy it. We need policy makers with common
sense who have the best interests of the children and their schools in mind,
not the policy makers we currently have who never had the common sense to begin
with. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">We can’t work miracles with every child. Miracles are the
exception. We are not Arne Duncan's Miracle Workers.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">IDEA – What is it? <br />
</span><a href="http://nichcy.org/laws/idea/partb"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial;">http://nichcy.org/laws/idea/partb</span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">Arne Duncan’s Makeover of Special Ed</span></div>
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<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/06/24/idea-compliance-2014_n_5524196.html?ncid=fcbklnkushpmg00000020&ir=Education"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial;">http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/06/24/idea-compliance-2014_n_5524196.html?ncid=fcbklnkushpmg00000020&ir=Education</span></a></div>
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Still learning!Philly Girlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06543951612451538559noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-513629645559379984.post-20522643556660588682014-05-27T19:15:00.004-04:002014-06-24T21:20:53.423-04:00My Common Core FAQ Part 1<br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">Please read this piece of much misinformation first and then
you can read my thoughts. I am just answering 14 questions today, more for
tomorrow. I can probably write a whole blog entry on question #15.</span></div>
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<a href="http://www.npr.org/blogs/ed/2014/05/27/307755798/the-common-core-faq?ft=1&f=1013#q3"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial;">http://www.npr.org/blogs/ed/2014/05/27/307755798/the-common-core-faq?ft=1&f=1013#q3</span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">The educators that supposedly wrote the CCSS had not spent
much time teaching school. None were current school teachers. College
experience doesn’t count. The two profs when were experts in their fields
refused to sign off on the standards because they felt they needed tweaking. They forgot in mention that among the
“experts” were 16 representatives of the standardized testing industry. No
elementary/middle school teachers were involved in writing the standards, only
approving them. No early childhood ed teachers were involved in either writing
or approving them.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">1) <strong><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">What is the Common Core? </span></strong>Yes the states adopted them because they were told it was
the only way to get the Race to the Top Money. They were written because the corporate education big-wigs decided they were needed. Same reason why they adopted
VAM, PARCC, etc. Can’t get federal money without paying the bribe of approving
the CCSS, which includes the VAM evaluation of teachers and the standardized
testing.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">2) <strong><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">OK, so what is the relationship between Common Core and my kid's math homework? </span></strong>New math standards have been on place for 40 years. The
NCTM standards are good. The new math is not new, indeed, some methods have
been around for centuries, just not here in the USA. The problem with the math
standards are that many of them are totally inappropriate for the K to 3 kids.
They just don’t have the brain maturity to think in the ways the CCSS wants
them to think. This is why Early Childhood Ed teachers should have been on the
committee that established the standards. The math questions are like those on
the standardized tests associated with the CCSS. The same people who made the
standards, make the tests and are in charge of the computer programs connected
to the CCSS.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">3) <strong><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">Why do we need the Common Core? </span></strong>In the grand scheme of things, not that many students are
moving state-to-state, most move in-state. Not speaking against the military
kids, just pointing out that it doesn’t justify a whole new set of standards
and therefore a whole new curriculum. And the federal government is supposed to
leave the standards up to the states, not make money contingent on their
adoption of standards that they really had no big part of. States already had
standards in place and in many cases replaced superior standards with inferior
CCSS ones.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">4) <strong><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">Where did the Common Core come from? </span></strong>They came from many CORPORATATIONS, the ones that are
trying to close public schools and privatize education with charters and
vouchers. The so-called “reformers” who have done nothing more than DEform
public schools. Notice in the Family Tree, how big a part educators played.
Hardly any input was from K-12 educators who know their students’
psychological, physical, and maturational abilities. And, as mentioned before,
there was NO input from current teachers of grades K-3. The union heads
approved the standards without seeking opinions about them from their union
members. They have since changed their minds about much of the CCSS since their
membership is up in arms about them.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">5) <strong><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">What was the federal government's role in creating the Common Core? </span></strong>The Federal government made sure all the players
understood that approving the standards would get the states’ money. That the
people they appointed to the committee would rubber stamp the standards is a
given.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">6) <strong><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">What do "standards" mean? Are they the same as curricula?</span></strong>New standards begot new curricula written by the people
who wrote the standards. New standards begot new standardized tests written by
the writers of the standards. Schools’ performance depends on test results of
the new standards, and so new curricula aligned with them. Which came first,
the chicken or the egg? New curricula would not have been necessary if the
standards and tests remained the same.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">7) <strong><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">What are the standards replacing? </span></strong>The standards are replacing other standards previously
written by educators in each state. Yes, some states had “inferior” standards,
but others had to give up their superior ones to comply with the “incentive”
for federal money. It is true that some states adjusted their standards to have
some way to make the impossible No Child Left Behind goal of 100% of the kids
scoring at proficient and advanced levels. The current addendum to NCLB, Race to
the Top, has the same impossible goals, especially for ESL, Learning Disabled,
and Pervasive Developmentally Disabled kids.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">8) <strong><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">Are the Common Core standards harder than my state's old standards? </span></strong>See above.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">9) <strong><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">Do other countries do this? </span></strong>Not all high performing countries do this. In fact, you
really cannot compare the PISA scores of kids in other nations whose poverty
level can be only 4%, while ours is 23%. When you remover the schools with more
than 10% poverty levels, the USA is either first or second in all categories.
In fact Singapore is talking about pulling out of the PISA tests because of the
pressure associated with the tests. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">10) <strong><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">What do the standards mean for math? </span></strong>For math, the CCSS mean that everyone will now be
totally confused about what the kids are learning in math. Like I said above,
“reform” math programs and methods have been around for at least decades, the
idea being that each child should have the opportunity to take calculus in high
school, and algebra by 8<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">th</span></sup> grade. A lofty goal, but it is possible
for those who have been taught to think like a mathematician. You cannot
implement these methods and strategies for solving in one year, or even in 5.
Each year, another layer should be added, with the teachers in elementary and
middle school given extensive, intensive, on-going professional development. At
the same time, parents should also be given opportunities to be taught new
methods and invited to attend their children’s class during math.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">11) <strong><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">What do the standards mean for English? </span></strong>The writing portion of the CCSS is the most troubling to
me. Elementary students are very egocentric. It is perfectly normal for them to
be like this. They find it hard to be understanding of someone else’s point to
view. Maturation will take them there, but certainly not at third grade age.
Children should learn to write what they know first, to form coherent thoughts
and expound on them through telling their own experiences. Third graders are
still learning how to read, not reading to learn yet. Same with writing,
learning how to form a story of several paragraphs which has a sequence, a
beginning, middle and an end. To ask them to write an argumentative essay is
asking too much according to ther child development milestones. The books that
they list for children to read are also ridiculously hard for the younger
grades. The words may not be too difficult, but the themes are meant for older,
more mature kids. To require a 2<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">nd</span></sup> grader to read and understand the
nuances of Charlotte’s Web is ridiculous. And although Dr. Seuss books are
popular with the younger set, the vocabulary in them is not at a first grade
level. Most picture books are actually written at a 4<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">th</span></sup>-5<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">th</span></sup>
grade level, but meant to be read to young people. A 50-50 balance of fiction
and non-fiction is probably not going to make smarter kids, but ones that are
reluctant to read for pleasure. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">12) <strong><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">What's an "informational text"? </span></strong>Kids have been reading informational for centuries,
especially Science and Social Studies texts.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">13) <strong><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">How are Common Core standards affecting state tests? </span></strong>CCSS is affecting the state tests in hat it will be
replacing them, except ion those states that have backed out of it for 2014-15.
The two new tests, PARCC and Smarter Balance, are meant to be taken on the
computer and/or computer graded. Many problems have arisen this year with
states administering the tests via computer. Some crashed, some did not perform
the way they were supposed to, some of the tests required computer skills which
many kids did not have. The length of the tests were not developmentally
appropriate for young children – some kindergarteners spent FIVE HOURS
completing their computer tests. Almost all of the grades spent more time on
the tests than are asked of the bar exam, medical boards, etc.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">14) <strong><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">What is the "assessment cliff"? </span></strong>The assessment cliff is a totally arbitrary line of
proficiency, drawn so the results would show failure in the beginning to prove
that schools were not doing their jobs. It’s very strange that they were able
to predict how many would fail. How can you do that with a test no one has
taken yet? Unless you have rigged it that way...</span></div>
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MORE TO COME<br />
Still learning!Philly Girlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06543951612451538559noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-513629645559379984.post-37122322206827948662014-05-14T22:55:00.001-04:002014-05-14T22:55:16.127-04:00Cheating is NOT an Option<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">A familiar, frequently-used phrase used to describe “good”
schools is “No Excuses.” It’s supposed to mean that no matter what
circumstances are blocking your improvement, no excuse will be accepted for not
reaching your goal. Many influential people who consider themselves “reformers”
will wax poetic about the idea of no excuses.<br />
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</span><br />
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While the thought behind the phrase may be noble, in real
life there are plenty of things that can make a child’s school achievement just
about impossible to happen on time. These may include physical or mental abuse,
lack of sufficient health care, violence in the house and neighborhood,
insufficient food, heat, water, and other factors. “No Excuses” was even a
motto of the year during a recent time when our region had a horrible superintendent.
It meant that only the teachers and principals were blamed for their students
nor performing as well as the children in the richer suburbs performed.</div>
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“No Excuses” promoters feel that everyone can bring
themselves up by their bootstraps, and often use this phrase to denounce the
low scores of high poverty schools. Although it is not impossible for children
to score well, it requires a certain mix of ingredients to make it happen. A
supportive family, a caring community, and school personnel who can point the
families towards the right services, can lay the groundwork for higher
achievement of the child who is lucky enough to have all three ingredients. </div>
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No Excuses is a zero tolerance policy. I have a huge problem
with zero tolerance. Everything is NOT black and white; there are more than 50
shades of grey in school and in legal situations. No excuses touts that the
teacher or administrator is ALWAYS right. Not true! There are many reasons why
a child acts the way they do or doesn’t act the way we want. The motivation
behind a child’s disrespect almost always lies in their not feeling respected
themselves. The root could have been planted at home, in the community or at
school itself. Kids like this must be shown the we feel they are worthy of respect
and only then will be able to teach them how to show it to others. </div>
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Teachers are on the front lines in school for these
students. Teachers need to make sure they are cultivating a culture of respect
in their classroom. This does not mean total acquiescence on the part of the
students. If the students feel they are respected, they will be able to
question the reasons behind certain rules and policies. They will be able to
respectfully question and argue their point and agree to disagree, if necessary.
No excuses demands total subjugation to the whims of the teacher and school.
Subjugation is NOT the way to get students to work hard and contribute to
society. It feeds a subculture of resistance and revolt and will come back to
sting you eventually. Questioning rules is a rite of passage for teenagers
coming into their own, a necessary part of growing up and finding your place in
this world. </div>
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No excuses requires sick kids to come to school and have eye
contact 100% of the time the lesson is being taught even though their headache
is stabbing their eyes. No excuses means even though you spent 6-8 hours in the
ER trying to get your asthma under control, you have your homework completely
done the next day. No excuses means not being able to speak at all during the
school day unless your teacher speaks to you, except for your 30 minute lunch
which is often eaten in silence as a punishment for some infraction against the
rules. No excuses means when you are being bullied unmercifully and you get
punished for your outburst. A recent “no excuses/zero tolerance” issue came to
light a few weeks ago when a bully accused a kid who was twirling his pencil of
making gun shooting motions at him. The bullied kid with the pencil was
suspended, questioned at the police station, given a slew of psychological
tests, examined by a psychiatrist and ultimately returned to the classroom
having been vindicated. No excuses put all that into motion automatically
without giving the pencil-wielding kid a chance to explain. No excuses means
many round kids who don’t fit in the square holes get excluded from schools
unfairly.</div>
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Behavior is one no-excuses way to get rid of recalcitrant
kids, academics is another. A popular law, sponsored by the American
Legislative Exchange<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Council (ALEC) and
written into many states’ educational regulations, is the Third Grade Reading
initiative. This means that if a child isn’t reading on grade level by third
grade, they are retained until they can. If this includes Special Ed kids, as
some school districts believe it does, then some children are going to spend a
long time in grade 3. There could be many reasons why a child is not reading on
grade level by third grade. I am not saying they should NOT be retained, just
that you have to go on a case-by-case basis to decide. This No Excuses mantra
doesn’t accept that there are exceptions and many shades of grey.</div>
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There is one area however, that I truly feel there is no
excuse for, and that is cheating on standardized tests. Over the past few
years, cheating scandals have occurred in many major cities such as Atlanta,
Washington DC, and Philadelphia. In many cases, the teachers were either
strong-armed or made to feel threatened with being fired or laid off if they
didn’t help the kids or fix the wrong answers. At the same time, the principals
of the schools were also being strong-armed and threatened by the
superintendent in increase the scores or lose their job. I know from close
association that threats and embarrassment were being foisted upon principals in
Philadelphia by both the Regional and the City Superintendents. The principals
would face berating remarks and have to sit there as principals whose scores
had increased got special rewards and favors. They were expected to go back and
do the same to their teachers. Thank God our principal would stand up for the
teachers in those meetings and refuse to make our jobs any more stressful than
they were already. She truly did succeed in keeping the specter of cheating at
bay. </div>
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Our Test Coordinator was very thorough in her handling of
the tests and in enforcing the security imposed by the state. We were trained
and had to sign that we understood the procedures. She collected the tests
every day before lunch and locked them in a safe place until the next morning.
We had been able to make AYP (Adequate Yearly Progress) every year or two. It
was nice to be recognized when you did, but we didn’t let it ruin our year if
we didn’t. We tried harder and changed what we thought we needed to change and
tried again the next year. I never felt the need to have higher scores than
anyone else, although their were some teachers on the staff who wanted to be
better than their grade partner. I can honestly say that I have never allowed
cheating on any standardized test in my classroom during my 37 years working in
Philly schools.</div>
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Was I aware of cheating? Yes, but way back in the 60’s when
we had a different principal. In fact, it was the principal who would come in
the room and ask a child who had bubbled the wrong answer, “Are you sure you
want that answer?” She’d ask the question as many times as it took to get the
kids to mark it properly. She was obsessed with being the best school in our
region, but I didn’t let that convince me to cheat, I just felt that I’d rather
know honestly how the kids were doing on the test, than not be sure. </div>
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My brother-in-law is a lawyer who worked for our rival union
for a while and told me stories of teachers losing their certification because
of cheating. I decided that I liked teaching and didn’t want anything to happen
so that I’d find myself losing my teaching certificate. I warned teachers at
school about the consequences. I really don’t know if my colleagues cheated or
not, but our scores didn’t go up precipitously or unexpectedly. Our test scores
pretty much aligned with our report cards and reading levels, so I think that
would indicate that we weren’t cheating. That coupled with the fact that we
didn’t always make AYP is a fairly good indicator that our school was on the up
and up.</div>
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But in these times of Value-Added metrics and 50% reliance
on test scores for a teacher’s evaluation, cheating may look better and better
for those principals and teachers who are trying to hang on but whose kids are
not making enough progress. I retired before the 50% test score rule and I am
sure I would not have received a good score on that end because of our school’s
less-than-stellar performance. But the difference between me and the teachers
who cheated is that I <b><i>know</i></b> I am a good teacher, whereas newer
teachers may not feel confident in their teaching, I <b><i>know</i></b> that I
only have so much influence on a child and the bulk of their score is molded by
home, health, poverty, and community. The teacher’s roll in all that accounts
for at most 15%, 85% being influenced by out-of-school factors. I <b><i>know</i></b>
what my kids can do or not do yet. I <b><i>know</i></b> that each child has
their own strengths and weaknesses, and those strengths may not be in an
academic area. I <b><i>know</i></b> it’s important to develop a child’s
confidence and self-esteem so they will be able to recognize when they have to
persevere, and the way to do that is play on their strengths first. When I do
that, I know that I am giving each child the best chance to succeed, and
eventually they will. </div>
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Teachers and principals, superintendents and school board
members must understand that there is no excuse for cheating in a district that
supports its students well.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And that if
you feel the need to cheat, maybe it’s time to leave. </div>
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<a href="http://articles.philly.com/2014-05-10/news/49745388_1_test-scores-test-answers-test-booklets"><span style="color: blue;">http://articles.philly.com/2014-05-10/news/49745388_1_test-scores-test-answers-test-booklets</span></a></div>
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<a href="http://articles.philly.com/2014-05-10/news/49745440_1_test-scores-best-teachers-grand-jury-charges"><span style="color: blue;">http://articles.philly.com/2014-05-10/news/49745440_1_test-scores-best-teachers-grand-jury-charges</span></a></div>
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Still learning!Philly Girlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06543951612451538559noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-513629645559379984.post-22646031421551272442014-05-06T16:25:00.001-04:002014-05-14T22:58:02.376-04:00Teacher Appreciation?<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It's Teacher Appreciation Week!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This is a week of gifts from students and principals if you are lucky. If you are not lucky, it's just another week. No matter your luck there are some things teachers would really enjoy during this week.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">From the students - how about a week of good behavior? A week of doing all your homework? A week of please and thank you, excuse me and I'm sorry. A week of good behavior. A week of walking quietly in the hallway, of trouble-free recess, of copying homework in a timely fashion. And most importantly, how about a week of doing your best and working hard?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">From the parents - you know what would be a lovely gift for a teacher? A letter of thanks for the little things, checking your child's bookbag every night this week, volunteering to come in and help, supervising homework, reading your child a book, maybe even a letter to the principal about how much you appreciate the teacher. And most importantly, showing your child that they are loved and valued so they will come to school in a good frame of mind.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">From other teachers - Nothing says we can't celebrate each other! We can give each other encouragement and a listening ear. We can share a great activity or lesson, we can keep a sense of humor about all the crap in school, we can compliment another class or teacher on something special. We can keep our class in the room for a prep period and give the prep teacher a break they weren't expecting. We can support each other in these times of uncertainty and attack. We can stick together.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">From the principal - How about giving a week off from lesson plans and observations? Picking up the class from lunch and bringing them into the classroom would be wonderful - a teacher might even have a chance to visit the rest room! How about showing a movie in the auditorium the last two periods to give everyone a needed break? How about taking the time to write a nice note to your teachers to tell them you appreciate them and why?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">From the general public - I know teacher-bashing is fashionable these days, but can you take a minute to research the thing you're up in arms about? I can clear some things up right here. 1)In K-12, tenure means due process, nothing more. It means that if I am accused of something, I have the right to defend myself. It doesn't mean teachers have a job for life. There is no such job in education. 2) Test scores measure how much a student knows on one day out of 180. Because they measure student learning, it is statistically wrong to use them for anything else, like evaluating the teacher. 3) Teachers are not responsible for our failing schools. First of all, standardized scores are the highest they've been, graduation rates are the highest they've been, college attendance is the highest it's been. The achievement gap is the smallest it's been. Not all schools are failing. In fact, most schools are not! The schools which score the lowest on standardized tests are schools with high concentrations of students living in poverty. Countries who score higher than us on PISA tests do not have near the poverty level the USA has. When we only consider the students at the level of poverty other countries have, the USA leaves the other countries in the dust. We're #1 as long as we ignore the 25% poverty level of our country. 4) Our teachers unions are for improving the working conditions for teachers AND pupils and do not support keeping bad teachers working. They DO support helping teachers get better at their craft and making sure teaching conditions are healthful and fair. Our unions are proud of the job we are doing to make the future lives of students better through education and guidance today.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For politicians - It's Teacher Appreciation Week. Also Charter School Week. I think those two cancel each other out. I'm not saying that charter schools don't appreciate their teachers. Clearly some of them do. What I am trying to get across is that the advent of charter schools was also the advent of teacher bashing in the name of "choice." Charter school proliferation will be the death of quality public education if allowed to continue as it has been. Give the public school teachers a present and evaluate the charters the exact same way you evaluate the neighborhood public schools. And make the charters open their financial books the way the public schools have to. Make the charters educate the same level of ELL, Special Ed and behavior problems that the public schools in the neighborhood MUST educate. If President Obama wanted to appreciate teachers, one of the things he should undo is making this Charter School Week.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So, while we love the chocolates, flowers, mugs, and gift cards, the above things mean so much more. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We appreciate you, too. Thanks. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Still learning!</span>Philly Girlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06543951612451538559noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-513629645559379984.post-54517099221857918342014-05-04T11:32:00.001-04:002017-08-14T09:58:57.879-04:00You Make Too Much Money For Having Summers Off!<span style="font-family: "arial";">“You make too much money for having summers off!” </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial";">That has to be the most frequent statement told to teachers
when John Q. Public wants to know why they pay so much if teachers their have
summers off. Believe me, no teacher worth their pay spends the summer goofing
around! If you pressed further, the person telling you this most likely thinks
that teachers have weekends off, and only work a quarter of a day, too.</span></div>
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<!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--><span style="font-family: "arial";">First of all, a teacher’s work does not only happen during
the six or seven hours you are standing in front of a classroom. Teachers who
are lucky enough to have a preparation period every day have this time to mark
papers, run off lesson activities and assessments, research activities, plan
lesson specifics, consult with the counselor or a colleague, meet with a
parent, make phone calls to parents, and do something as mundane as use the
rest room. Teachers do not get a break to use the restroom during class time.
Lunch and prep times are the only periods available. Since there is no way a
teacher can get all of the fore-mentioned things finished in one 30-45 minute time frame, she must
take home the paperwork that has not been completed. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial";">Most states have continuing education requirements wherein
every teacher has to spend a certain amount of hours in undergraduate or
masters level classes or seminars designed to improve their teaching. Many
teachers elect to take one college course per year during the summer so they
can spend the time learning the information. Courses taken during the school
year always seem to have real life intrude upon them and you can never give
them the attention they deserve. So summertime is the best time to take the
required continuing education courses. Any new programs initiated by the school
district regarding curricula have to be introduced to the teachers so they can
implement the new ideas well. Most of the time these programs are rolled out in
a week’s worth of classes during the summer.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial";">As the doors to the school are closing in June, most
teachers are reflecting on the triumphs and tribulations of the past year.
Depending on how tumultuous a year it was, it could take up to three weeks to
wrap up the year in your mind so you can get on with some relaxation during
your vacation. Teachers just can’t turn off their minds and go into rest and
relax mode. Some of those beginning weeks of vacation are also spent decorating
your class for next year or taking down from the end just ending. Many schools
require that everything be taken down from bulletin boards and walls, and all
bookshelves be cleared before you are relieved of your school responsibilities.
For obvious reasons, bookshelves cannot be cleared while school is in session.
Therefore, these things are done after the children’s voices fade away on the
last day of school. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial";">Vacation is usually ten weeks long. Two weeks on either end
to clear your class and then put it back again, leaves you with eight weeks
left to relax. Eight weeks is a little more than the time it takes to complete
a summer course. If you do take a class, then you end up with only two weeks
vacation, technically. If you do not take a class, school is still never far
from your mind. A teacher’s mind is rarely “off.” Even when a teacher is on
vacation, he keeps a lookout for books, equipment and activities that he can
share with his class. He is always evaluating how a summer experience can be
used to help his students acquire background knowledge for reading and social
studies. Teachers in high poverty schools are claiming all the back-to-school
bargains they can so their students can begin the year well equipped. Teachers
spend hundreds of dollars on supplies that the school does not provide in order
to be able to provide the best instruction for their pupils who might not be
able to buy those little extras such as notebooks, paper, pencils and crayons.
Some teachers may stock up on bookbags for a needy student or two. </span></div>
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<!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--><span style="font-family: "arial";">One summer, my colleague and I had to roll out the new Math
curriculum we had helped to write. We worked 6 hours a day in addition to our
classroom duties from January to July 1st. Then we spent two weeks teaching
professional development for the Math series we were introducing. After that,
we spent three weeks rolling out the new curriculum to the teachers in our
region. This brought us into the second week of August. Each of us took two weeks
off and then went back into the school to ready our classrooms for the new
school year. That school year ended up being the hardest year to teach because
we had not gotten enough rest and relaxation over the summer. We were both
pretty burnt out by the time the following June rolled around. It truly was not
worth being busy all summer, as we couldn’t give our best to the students that
year.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial";">Do you still think teachers have too much vacation? Let us
examine the hours teachers put in versus the worker who has a forty-hour
workweek, with two weeks vacation. That worker works approximately 2,000 hours
a year, 40 hours x 50 working weeks. A teacher performs teaching activities
about 6 hours a day, including his 30-45 minute preparation period where he prepares
materials to teach various subjects, communicates with parents and staff about
students, grades tests and writing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>That makes 30 hours a week performing teaching duties x 40 weeks of
school = 1200. </span></div>
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<!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--><span style="font-family: "arial";">The preparation period is not sufficient to perform all the
necessary tasks in a teacher’s day. So he takes paperwork home to work on.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is not enough just to grade a test and
slap a mark on it. These days, teachers are expected to comment on both what
the student did well and what they need to work on. Twenty-five tests can take
10 minutes apiece to grade = 4+ hours at home. Tests are not graded every
night, but two or three nights a week (12 hours total) would be common for an
elementary school teacher who has to teach all subjects. If you are grading a
writing assignment you should figure on 20-30 minutes on each essay. Reading
through them all once, separating into piles to compare easily, using the
rubric as you read again to more closely examine the writing quality, making
notes on the sides about content, style, grammatical and spelling conventions
and so on. Thirty minutes x 25 papers= 11 hours. So far that makes 23
additional hours per week performing grading tasks x 40 weeks of school = 920
hours + 1200 in-class hours = 2120 hours already in only 40 weeks! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial";">Then there is the matter of researching activities,
standards and lesson planning on the weekends, which, if you are doing it
right, takes a good six hours a week minimum. That makes 6 x 40 weeks = 240
hours + 2120 hours of teaching activities = 2360 hours, at 40 hours weekly
yields 59 work weeks in a year. Here are only 52 weeks in a year! Even though
we are not physically in school, we are working as though we have no vacation
time and there is plenty of overtime, which we do not get paid for. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial";">The next time you hear someone chide a teacher for only
working 40 weeks a year, please help them understand why we need all the time
we get.</span></div>
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Still learning!Philly Girlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06543951612451538559noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-513629645559379984.post-72380676617549553032014-04-28T18:22:00.002-04:002014-04-28T18:23:30.834-04:00How Teachers Feel About Arne DuncanA little while ago I wrote an imaginary letter to President Obama stating You Are Not My Education President. Today I read an article in an online newspaper, a letter to Arne Duncan by David Reber at the Topeka Examiner. It's good and says everything I'd want to say. So I will publish it here with a link to the page online. Check it out. Arne Duncan is totally unqualified to be in charge of education for the United States.<br />
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<i>Mr. Duncan,</i></div>
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<i>I read your Teacher Appreciation Week letter to teachers,
and had at first decided not to respond. Upon further thought, I realized I do
have a few things to say.</i></div>
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<i>I’ll begin with a small sample of relevant adjectives just
to get them out of the way: condescending, arrogant, insulting, misleading,
patronizing, egotistic, supercilious, haughty, insolent, peremptory, cavalier,
imperious, conceited, contemptuous, pompous, audacious, brazen, insincere,
superficial, contrived, garish, hollow, pedantic, shallow, swindling, boorish,
predictable, duplicitous, pitchy, obtuse, banal, scheming, hackneyed, and
quotidian. Again, it’s just a small sample; but since your attention to teacher
input is minimal, I wanted to put a lot into the first paragraph.</i></div>
<i>
</i><br />
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<br /></div>
<i>
</i><br />
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<i>Your lead sentence, “I have worked in education for much of
my life”, immediately establishes your tone of condescension; for your 20-year
“education” career lacks even one day as a classroom teacher. You, Mr. Duncan,
are the poster-child for the prevailing attitude in corporate-style education
reform: that the number one prerequisite for educational expertise is never
having been a teacher. Your stated goal is that teachers be “…treated with the
dignity we award to other professionals in society.”</i></div>
<i>
</i><br />
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<i>
</i><br />
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<i>Really?</i></div>
<i>
</i><br />
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<br /></div>
<i>
</i><br />
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<i>How many other professionals are the last ones consulted
about their own profession; and are then summarily ignored when policy
decisions are made? How many other professionals are so distrusted that
sweeping federal legislation is passed to “force” them to do their jobs? And
what dignities did you award teachers when you publicly praised the mass firing
of teachers in Rhode Island?</i></div>
<i>
</i><br />
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<br /></div>
<i>
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<i>You acknowledge teacher’s concerns about No Child Left
Behind, yet you continue touting the same old rhetoric: “In today’s economy,
there is no acceptable dropout rate, and we rightly expect all children –
English-language learners, students with disabilities, and children of poverty
- to learn and succeed.”</i></div>
<i>
</i><br />
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<i>
</i><br />
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<i>What other professions are held to impossible standards of
perfection? Do we demand that police officers eliminate all crime, or that
doctors cure all patients? Of course we don’t.</i></div>
<i>
</i><br />
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<br /></div>
<i>
</i><br />
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<i>There are no parallel claims of “in today’s society, there
is no acceptable crime rate”, or “we rightly expect all patients – those with
end-stage cancers, heart failure, and multiple gunshot wounds – to thrive into
old age.” When it comes to other professions, respect and common sense prevail.
Your condescension continues with “developing better assessments so [teachers]
will have useful information to guide instruction…” Excuse me, but I am a
skilled, experienced, and licensed professional. I don’t need an outsourced
standardized test – marketed by people who haven’t set foot in my school – to
tell me how my students are doing. I know how my students are doing because I
work directly with them. I learn their strengths and weaknesses through
first-hand experience, and I know how to tailor instruction to meet each
student’s needs. To suggest otherwise insults both me and my profession.</i></div>
<i>
</i><br />
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<br /></div>
<i>
</i><br />
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<i>You want to “…restore the status of the teaching
profession...” Mr. Duncan, you built your career defiling the teaching
profession. Your signature effort, Race to the Top, is the largest
de-professionalizing, demoralizing, sweeter-carrot-and-sharper-stick public education
policy in U.S. history. You literally bribed cash-starved states to enshrine in
statute the very reforms teachers have spoken against.</i></div>
<i>
</i><br />
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<i>
</i><br />
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<i>You imply that teachers are the bottom-feeders among
academics. You want more of “America’s top college students” to enter the
profession. If by “top college students” you mean those with high GPA’s from
prestigious, pricey schools then the answer is simple: a five-fold increase in
teaching salaries. You see, Mr. Duncan, those “top” college students come
largely from our nation’s wealthiest families. They simply will not spend a
fortune on an elite college education to pursue a 500% drop in socioeconomic
status relative to their parents.</i></div>
<i>
</i><br />
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</i><br />
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<i>You assume that “top” college students automatically make
better teachers. How, exactly, will a 21-year-old, silver-spoon-fed ivy-league
graduate establish rapport with inner-city kids? You think they’d be better at
it than an experienced teacher from a working-class family, with their own
rough edges or checkered past, who can actually relate to those kids? Your
ignorance of human nature is astounding.</i></div>
<i>
</i><br />
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<br /></div>
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</i><br />
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<i>As to your concluding sentence, “I hear you, I value you,
and I respect you”; no, you don’t, and you don’t, and you don’t. In fact, I
don’t believe you even wrote this letter for teachers. I think you sense a
shift in public opinion. Parents are starting to see through the façade; and
recognize the privatization and for-profit education reform movement for what
it is. And they’ve begun to organize – Parents Across America, is one example.</i></div>
<i>
</i><br />
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<i>
</i><br />
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<i>To save yourself, you need to reinforce the illusion that
you’re doing what’s best for public education. So you play nice with teachers
for one day - not for the teachers but for your public audience. You also need
to reassure those who leverage their wealth – and have clearly bought your
loyalties – that you’re still on their side. Your letter is riddled with all
the right buzzwords and catch phrases to do just that: </i></div>
<i>
</i><br />
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</i><br />
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<i>“…to change and improve federal law
to invest in teachers” sounds like a wink-nod to TFA that federal dollars are
headed their way.</i></div>
<i>
</i><br />
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<i>
</i><br />
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<i>“…sophisticated assessment that
measures individual student growth” can be nothing other than value-added
standardized testing; a mill-stone for teachers but a boon to the for-profit
testing industry.</i></div>
<i>
</i><br />
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<i>
</i><br />
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<i>“…transform teaching from the
factory model…to one built for the information age” alludes to systemic
replacement of living teachers with virtual ones – bolstering the near monopoly
of one software giant who believes the “babysitting” function of public schools
is the only reason not to go 100% virtual.</i></div>
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<i>
</i><br />
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<i>“…recognize and reward great
teaching” is stale code for “merit pay”; which is stale code for “bribe for
test scores”; which comes down to “justification to pay most teachers less.”
Lower teacher salaries, in turn, will free up money for standardized tests, new
computer software, and other profitable pursuits.</i></div>
<i>
</i><br />
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</i><br />
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<i>No doubt some will dismiss what I’ve said as paranoid
delusion. What they call paranoia I call paying attention. Mr. Duncan, teachers
hear what you say. We also watch what you do, and we are paying attention.
Working with kids every day, our baloney-detectors are in fine form. We’ve
heard the double-speak before; we don’t believe the dog ate your homework.
Coming from children, double-speak is expected and it provides important
teachable moments. Coming from adults, it’s just sad. </i></div>
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</i><br />
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<i>Despite our best efforts, some folks never outgrow their
disingenuous, manipulative, self-serving approach to life. Of that, Mr. Duncan,
you are a shining example.</i></div>
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<i>Letter by David Reber, Topeka K-12 Examiner</i></div>
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It can be found online here:</div>
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<a href="http://www.examiner.com/article/mr-duncan-you-are-a-shining-example">http://www.examiner.com/article/mr-duncan-you-are-a-shining-example</a></div>
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Still learning!Philly Girlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06543951612451538559noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-513629645559379984.post-53383906678441101942014-04-21T15:01:00.005-04:002014-04-24T12:49:08.132-04:00The Real Problem with NCLB<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial;">In an education article in the
online newspaper at Philly.com, I found a profound statement on the No Child
Left Behind Act (NCLB) by Anita Kulick, <span class="title9"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 8.5pt;">President & CEO, Educating
Communities for Parenting</span></span>. She stated:</span><br />
<span style="color: black;"></span><br />
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<i><span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 8.5pt;"><span style="color: black;">After 12 years
and billions of dollars invested, it didn’t accomplish the most important goal:<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
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<ul type="disc"><span style="color: black;">
</span>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; color: black; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-line-height-alt: 10.5pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;"><i><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 8.5pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial;">One hundred
percent of all students in 100 percent of all public schools become
proficient in reading/language arts and mathematics – by spring 2014! </span></span></i></li>
<span style="color: black;">
</span></ul>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="color: black;">The entire article can be found here - <span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 8.5pt;"><a href="http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/healthy_kids/Is-high-stakes-testing-bad-for-my-child.html#zqdXr0jDTgCisAOL.99">http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/healthy_kids/Is-high-stakes-testing-bad-for-my-child.html#zqdXr0jDTgCisAOL.99</a><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial;">It’s a pleasant surprise to find opinions such as that
being touted in a big city online newspaper. For such a long time, the teacher’s voice
has been one “crying in the wilderness.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>As far back as the inception of NCLB, teachers have been warning that
the basic premise behind that 100% goal was impossible, but for the past dozen
years no one has listened. It still holds true with Race to the Top (RttT).
There are many reasons why a 100% proficiency goal is unattainable: 1) We do
not live in Lake Woebegone where all children are above average; 2) There are
students in our schools with profound disabilities who will never be able to
show proficiency at grade level; 3) English Language Learners (ELL) are
expected to show proficiency on a test in English before they are English-proficient
themselves; 4) Schools did not all start from the same place where test scores
are concerned and cannot all be expected to reach the same standard at the same
time; 5) Standardized tests are not necessarily the best way to assess whether
the student has learned what they were supposed to learn; and 6) Using test
scores to evaluate teachers is a misuse of statistics, as the tests were not
designed to measure teacher effectiveness, but how a student performs. </span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial;">1) In fact, as measured by standardized tests, that 100%
goal is definitely <b><i>impossible</i></b>. Lake Woebegone, after all, is a
fictional utopia. All of the children cannot be above average where
standardized testing is concerned. When a question on such a test is answered
correctly by too many test-takers, it is stricken and replaced with something
else that is supposedly harder. Statistically speaking, there will never be a
standardized test where everyone scores at a proficient level because that
would be considered a failed test by the test-makers, and therefore scrapped.
The constructors of these tests still operate by the bell-shaped curve, where
there are a few will score Advanced, many will score Proficient, most will
score Basic, and a few will score Below Basic. There will always be students
who are labeled Below Basic on these tests, no matter how much they know.</span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 8.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="color: black;">This puts the Portfolio Model of school “reform” in the
failed NCLB category as far as I am concerned. This model takes the bottom 5%
or 10% of the schools, according to the standardized tests, as dissolves them,
ostensibly to allow the students to attend better schools and get rid of the
“bad” teachers. This is an idea that is typically used on Wall Street when
examining stock market portfolios. Mark Gleason, head of the Philadelphia
Schools Partnership (PSP), and a former journalist and publisher in New York,
recently addressed the AERA conference in Philadelphia where he described the
Portfolio Model of reform as “dumping the losers.” It might work for Wall
Street, but it won’t work for education. Think about it, every year 5% of the
schools get replaced, as judged by the scores on a standardized test, not by
observations of successful programs in the schools. As this goes on, there will
come a time when only schools who <b><i>can</i></b> make Adequate Yearly
Progress are left, but since there will always be a bottom 5%, some will have
to be closed, despite the success of the schools. There will always be some
school at the bottom, even when they are all charter schools. But by that time,
the public school system will have been replaced by for-profit enterprises. The
Portfolio Model is the death of the public school system. The whole premise is
a disaster and will only result in the entire school district turned into
charter schools, like New Orleans. The quality of New Orleans schools has not
improved because the majority of its public schools were replaced by charters.
The much-touted charter school renaissance has not happened. New Orleans school
kids are still unenlightened; they still score at the bottom.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 8.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="color: black;">2) Who are the students who score at the bottom? Schools
which are situated in high poverty neighborhoods and those schools with higher than
average enrollments of students who need Special Ed or English Language
Learners (ELL) services. Some schools in any school district have a higher than
normal concentration of children with disabilities. The children could have physical
limitations, mental illnesses, communication disorders, learning disabilities,
or simply insufficient grasp of the English Language. </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial;">Public schools are required to educate children in all of
these categories. Charter schools, not so much. In my city, in order to get a
student tested for Special Ed services, their un-named disability must cause
them to perform at least 2 years below grade level. Then, if they score at a certain
level on the psychological test, they are deemed in need of Special Ed
services and an Individualized Educational Prescription is written. These IEPs
are the foundation of the student’s instruction at school. The IEP's charge to the
teacher is to instruct the kids at the level at which they are performing, not their grade level, with the idea that this will
help them learn the basics they missed and eventually
lead to total instruction on grade level. This is an honorable goal and is
sometimes the case, but not most of the time. There have been instances where
children have “seen the light” and suddenly can go at a faster pace, which will
lead them out of the specialized classes. But some learning disabilities are such
that they cannot be overcome, and to expect a child who is 2 or more years
behind, to take a grade level test with very few accommodations and pass at a proficient level is
ridiculous. </span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 8.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="color: black;">With few allowed accommodations during the tests, children with certain physical
disabilities have a problem when they are testing at the computer,
or when doing the writing assessment. Children with speech disorders or
pervasive developmental delays are expected to take the same grade level tests as
their peers without disabilities, even when their communication skills are very
limited. Even students who are in the hospital with life-threatening
illnesses are <b><i>still </i></b>expected to take the tests. One recent example of
this is the child who was in <em><strong>hospice</strong></em> in Florida, unable to communicate, whose teacher had
to attempt to administer the test to him because it was a state requirement and he was not exempt. Or the recent case in Oklahoma where the children's parents were killed that week and the state told the school district the children still had to take the test. Luckily, the school district's administrator realized how absurd this was and made the exemption herself, without the state's approval.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 8.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="color: black;">3) English Language Learners are at a special disadvantage
because the state makes them take the tests after only having been in the
United States for 1 year. Imagine sitting in a classroom in Korea, at age 10,
where the alphabet bears no resemblance to the one you first learned, and where
you have very limited skills in reading and writing in that language after only
1 year. Now imagine having to take a test that uses idioms, irony, metaphors,
and double negatives and being expected to take it at your grade level, not
your Korean Proficiency level. Even math tests ask tricky questions and expect
you to explain your answers. These ELL kids get so frustrated and the scores
indicate they are doing very poorly, when that may not be the reality at all.
Often they give up fairly quickly and half-heartedly bubble in any old answers.
This is one reason why some charter schools show miraculous improvement over
public schools, they are more likely to have lower concentrations of special ed
or ELL students, and are likely to counsel out students with emotional or
behavior problems.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 8.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="color: black;">4) It is no surprise that students in poor neighborhoods
score lower than in wealthy neighborhoods. Study after study has shown that
poverty has the most detrimental effect on the academic well-being of a child.
Those statistics can be proven in any large city with a disparity of income
level, or any state with areas of high and low poverty levels. This is not
because of the quality of the teachers or the principal or the parents, it is
because high poverty puts high stressors on everyone who lives there. A recent
study claimed that lack of money, poor housing, no healthcare and the resulting
violence in these neighborhoods all contribute to a condition very similar to Post
Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Schools in these areas have to address the
survival, medical and emotional issues of the students in order to begin to
make a dent in the academic hole they have to climb out of. Unless you make
simple, sufficient, non-traumatic living a priority, academic goals will always be
extremely difficult to attain, including scoring at a proficient level on a
standardized test. Schools that accept all students regardless of income,
disability or language proficiency will always score lower than schools with
low concentrations of special students and those in high-income areas. <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 8.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="color: black;">5) Putting income levels, disabilities, language
proficiency, and the bell-shaped curve behind us, there are much better ways to
evaluate the job that the school are doing than a standardized test. Graduation
rates, success rates in higher education institutions, parental satisfaction
surveys, student interviews, projects, observations of teachers, principals and
students, report card grades, and AP exam offerings are many of the ways a person
can evaluate whether a school is a good one. Improving the graduation and
higher education/job attainment success rates of students, creating and
maintaining an atmosphere of collegiality, creativity, and trust between and
among students, teachers, and administration may be the best method to judge a
school. True learning and critical thinking can only take place in an
atmosphere described above. If the atmosphere and needed social services are
provided and maintained, schools should be able to begin to consistently better
the academic state of their students, measuring their abilities by what they
can do and show that they’ve learned. <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 8.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="color: black;">6) Using many different measures is better than using one to
determine a student’s success. Test scores only measure what the students know
on one certain day out of 180 days. The tests were not designed, nor do they
pretend to be able, to predict the value and effectiveness of the students’
teachers. Because they were not designed to measure the teacher’s
effectiveness, they should not be used as an evaluative measure for teachers.
The evaluative formulas of VAM or PVAAS are poor uses of mathematics to
quantify and non-quantifiable set of characteristics. If you observe a good
teacher, you will not need a formula to tell you, you will be able to figure it
out right away. Same with a bad teacher. Standardized test results of students
will not tell you 10% of what you can observe in a day.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 8.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="color: black;"></span></span></span><br />
<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 8.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="color: black;">A sensible use of test scores from the State College School District here in Pennsylvania can be found here - <a href="http://www.centredaily.com/2014/04/19/4141707/public-issues-forum-appropriate.html">http://www.centredaily.com/2014/04/19/4141707/public-issues-forum-appropriate.html</a><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 8.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="color: black;">Standardized tests are a hallmark of the NCLB and RttT acts.
Theses laws initiated an emphasis on standardized testing that has mushroomed
out of control. Until we put the role of standardized testing back where it
belongs -<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> only </span>measuring what a student
knows on one particular day – public schools will bear the unfortunate and
damaging burden of having to prove their worth with inappropriate measures. </span></span></span><br />
<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 8.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="color: black;"></span></span></span><br />
<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 8.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="color: black;">Get
back to basics. First, fairly fund public schools, and then observe, discuss, gather evidence.
Only then can you figure out whether a school and its students are doing a
great job.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;">Still learning!</span>Philly Girlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06543951612451538559noreply@blogger.com0