On the first day of school, my wife's superintendent got choked up.
He was delivering the usual kick-off speech, and she said he started to talk about testing and numbers and the students. He reminded his staff that students were not just test scores, not just a number, and that the work they did as teachers was so much more than could be measured by numbers. It looked, she said, as if he was on the verge of tears.
My wife's superintendent is my former principal. He's a good man and a fine educator. And apparently he's done pretending that chasing test scores is a good way to run a school district.
This may well be the fall we remember for the number of school district leaders who have finally had enough and begin to speak up.
Examples abound. In Peru, Illinois, Superintendent Mark Cross sent out a letter that said in part
Unfortunately, there are many federal and state education initiatives that can very much be a distraction from what matters most. These initiatives are based on good intentions and are cloaked in the concept of accountability, but unfortunately most do little to actually improve teaching and learning. Most are designed to assess, measure, rank and otherwise place some largely meaningless number on a child or a school or a teacher or a district. That is not to say that student growth data is not important. It is very critical, and it is exactly why we have our own local assessment system in place. It is what our principals and teachers use to help guide instruction and meet the needs of your kids on a daily basis. In other words, it is meaningful data to help us teach your child.
He makes this commitment
This is why I wanted to let you know that we will not be talking to you that much about the PARCC assessment or Common Core or other initiatives that have some importance, but they are not what matters most to us. YOUR CHILDREN are what matter most, and we believe that kids should be well-rounded, with an emphasis on a solid foundation for learning across all subjects by the time they get to high school and later college. We believe that kids need to be creative and learn to solve problems. We believe that exposure to music and art, science and social studies, physical education and technology and a wide variety of curricular and extracurricular activities will serve them very well as they grow into young adults.
And he delivers this pointed (if grammatically suspect) indictment
The state and federal government have failed epically in their misguided attempts at “reforming” public education. Public education does not need reformed.
Superintendent Cross is, of course, not alone. In Washington State, the education system has lost its waiver from Arne Duncan because the state legislature would not implement the federal Department of Education's preferred method of teacher evaluation. So Washington schools are operating under No Child Left Behind, which means that all schools not meeting requirements that 100% of students be above average (aka "all schools") are failing. You may recall that one of the punishments for failing schools under NCLB is that they must send out a "We Are Failing" letter to the public.
Superintendents in WA have sent their letter. However, 28 superintendents wrote a letter which includes the observation that the label under NCLB is "regressive and punitive." The basic layout of the letter is "The feds say we have to tell you this, which we are now doing, however you should know that the feds are full of it, their policies are stupid, and we are educating your students pretty well, thank you very much."
And as I noted here yesterday, the Board of Education for the entire State of Vermont has adopted a resolution calling out the feds on their stinky testing requirements.
The tone in administrative offices is continuing to shift. Ten years ago there was a lot of kool-aid drinking. Then we had "Well, it's the law." Then we had fatalism and resignation, "Well, let's just do our best work and hope that these tests take care of themselves and somehow things work out." What we have always needed are administrators to stand up and say clearly, "This is not right. It's not right for us, and it's not right for our students."
I know there are still districts and entire states where the school leaders have not only drunk the kool-aid, but are selling it themselves out of the back of a van. But it's heartening to see and hear more who are willing to speak out in a meaningful and public way. Duncan is clearly trying to stem the tide with his waiver-waiver, the offer of "Look, we'll just wait a year and then we'll punch you in the face." But postponing a stupid thing does not make it any less stupid, and in the meantime, more and more people are starting to point out that the emperor's clothes (which are no longer new) are woven out of air and empty promises.
Saturday, August 23, 2014
Friday, August 22, 2014
Vermont BOE Hammers Fed-Style Testing
With states like North Carolina and Florida doing their best to bury public education and dance on its grave, it's nice to see some states can still stand up for their schools.
Earlier this week, the Vermont State Board of Education adopted a statement and resolution on assessment and accountability. It's worth a read, but let me hit the highlights for you.
The Board starts by recognizing that uniform standardized tests can be a useful tool for helping schools chart a path toward successful delivery of well-designed standards. And then comes the pivot-
Despite their value, there are many things tests cannot tell us. Standardized tests like the NECAP and soon, the SBAC, can tell us something about how students are doing in a limited set of narrowly defined subjects overall, as measured at a given time. However, they cannot tell us how to help students do even better. Nor can they adequately capture the strengths of all children, nor the growth that can be ascribed to individual teachers. And under high-stakes conditions, when schools feel extraordinary pressure to raise scores, even rising scores may not be a signal that students are actually learning more. At best, a standardized test is an incomplete picture of learning: without additional measures, a single test is inadequate to capture a years’ worth of learning and growth.
Unfortunately, the way in which standardized tests have been used under federal law as almost the single measure of school quality has resulted in frequent misuse of these instruments across the nation.
In order to avoid that sort of foolishness getting loose in the Green Mountains, the Board lists eight guiding principals for the appropriate use of standardized tests.
1) The proper role of large scale tests must be stated before giving the test, and that use must be demonstrated as scientifically and empirically valid. That includes proof that the test can predict performance on "other indicators we care about, including post-secondary success, graduation rates and future employment." And you can't use the test all by itself-- mix it up with other measures.
2) Public reporting. Schools need to do that, but they need to report a wide variety of indicators that give a full picture of what they're doing.
3) Judicious and proportionate testing. Reduce the amount of time on summative and standardized testing. The feds should back off on multiple subject testing grades 3-8 as well as high school (so, you know, all of it). "Excessive testing diverts resources and time away from learning while providing little additional value for accountability purposes."
4) Test development criteria. Any big standardized test used in Vermont needs to be built in accordance with principles of American Educational Research Association, National Council on Measurements in Education, and the American Psychological Association.
5) Value-added scores. Near as we can tell, these are crap. We will not be using them in Vermont "for any consequential purpose."
6) Mastery level or Cut-off scores. This whole paragraph is pretty awesome.
While the federal government continues to require the use of subjectively determined cut-off score, employing such metrics lacks scientific foundation. The skills needed for success in society are rich and diverse. Consequently, there is no single point on a testing scale that has proven accurate in measuring the success of a school or in measuring the talents of an individual. Claims to the contrary are technically indefensible and their application would be unethical.
7) Use of cut scores and proficiency categories for reporting purposes. The fed since NCLB was born have required this. Here's a list of ways in which it has been documented to create negative effects. We'll keep doing what the letter of the law requires, but it's crap.
8) Just as the state high quality education, the federal, state and local governments must provide adequate resources to get the job done. If you're going to demand a report on the quality of the school's work, demand a report on the sufficiency of the resources provided to the school "in light of the school's unique needs."
These are followed by several whereas's that note that the the nation's have been spending an ever-increasing amount of time and money on testing of a sort and in ways that are known to be No Damn Help to anyone and wrapping up with
WHEREAS, the culture and structure of the systems in which students learn must change in order to foster engaging school experiences that provide joy in learning, depth of thought and breadth of knowledge for students [emphasis mine, because, damn, wouldn't you like to see that in every school's mission statement!]
And then we get the Be It Resolved portion
-- The Secretary of Education should re-examine the accountability system and come up with one that sucks less (I'm paraphrasing)
-- Congress should get off its collective keister and amend the ESEA
-- Other state and national groups should join us in this
I grew up just across the Connecticut River from Vermont, playing in my front yard and looking at the big beautiful mountains, but I have never loved Vermont more than I do reading this resolution. If you see Vermont today, give it a big hug for me. And send Arne Duncan a copy of their resolution. It's true these are just words-- but they are damn fine words.
Earlier this week, the Vermont State Board of Education adopted a statement and resolution on assessment and accountability. It's worth a read, but let me hit the highlights for you.
The Board starts by recognizing that uniform standardized tests can be a useful tool for helping schools chart a path toward successful delivery of well-designed standards. And then comes the pivot-
Despite their value, there are many things tests cannot tell us. Standardized tests like the NECAP and soon, the SBAC, can tell us something about how students are doing in a limited set of narrowly defined subjects overall, as measured at a given time. However, they cannot tell us how to help students do even better. Nor can they adequately capture the strengths of all children, nor the growth that can be ascribed to individual teachers. And under high-stakes conditions, when schools feel extraordinary pressure to raise scores, even rising scores may not be a signal that students are actually learning more. At best, a standardized test is an incomplete picture of learning: without additional measures, a single test is inadequate to capture a years’ worth of learning and growth.
Unfortunately, the way in which standardized tests have been used under federal law as almost the single measure of school quality has resulted in frequent misuse of these instruments across the nation.
In order to avoid that sort of foolishness getting loose in the Green Mountains, the Board lists eight guiding principals for the appropriate use of standardized tests.
1) The proper role of large scale tests must be stated before giving the test, and that use must be demonstrated as scientifically and empirically valid. That includes proof that the test can predict performance on "other indicators we care about, including post-secondary success, graduation rates and future employment." And you can't use the test all by itself-- mix it up with other measures.
2) Public reporting. Schools need to do that, but they need to report a wide variety of indicators that give a full picture of what they're doing.
3) Judicious and proportionate testing. Reduce the amount of time on summative and standardized testing. The feds should back off on multiple subject testing grades 3-8 as well as high school (so, you know, all of it). "Excessive testing diverts resources and time away from learning while providing little additional value for accountability purposes."
4) Test development criteria. Any big standardized test used in Vermont needs to be built in accordance with principles of American Educational Research Association, National Council on Measurements in Education, and the American Psychological Association.
5) Value-added scores. Near as we can tell, these are crap. We will not be using them in Vermont "for any consequential purpose."
6) Mastery level or Cut-off scores. This whole paragraph is pretty awesome.
While the federal government continues to require the use of subjectively determined cut-off score, employing such metrics lacks scientific foundation. The skills needed for success in society are rich and diverse. Consequently, there is no single point on a testing scale that has proven accurate in measuring the success of a school or in measuring the talents of an individual. Claims to the contrary are technically indefensible and their application would be unethical.
7) Use of cut scores and proficiency categories for reporting purposes. The fed since NCLB was born have required this. Here's a list of ways in which it has been documented to create negative effects. We'll keep doing what the letter of the law requires, but it's crap.
8) Just as the state high quality education, the federal, state and local governments must provide adequate resources to get the job done. If you're going to demand a report on the quality of the school's work, demand a report on the sufficiency of the resources provided to the school "in light of the school's unique needs."
These are followed by several whereas's that note that the the nation's have been spending an ever-increasing amount of time and money on testing of a sort and in ways that are known to be No Damn Help to anyone and wrapping up with
WHEREAS, the culture and structure of the systems in which students learn must change in order to foster engaging school experiences that provide joy in learning, depth of thought and breadth of knowledge for students [emphasis mine, because, damn, wouldn't you like to see that in every school's mission statement!]
And then we get the Be It Resolved portion
-- The Secretary of Education should re-examine the accountability system and come up with one that sucks less (I'm paraphrasing)
-- Congress should get off its collective keister and amend the ESEA
-- Other state and national groups should join us in this
I grew up just across the Connecticut River from Vermont, playing in my front yard and looking at the big beautiful mountains, but I have never loved Vermont more than I do reading this resolution. If you see Vermont today, give it a big hug for me. And send Arne Duncan a copy of their resolution. It's true these are just words-- but they are damn fine words.
Another Solution: ESEA
There is, of course, another way out of this.
The tightly wound spring that keeps Race to the Top and waivers (RttR Lite) ticking away is the ESEA. Instead of dealing with the federal mandate-ish sort-of-regulations that have made Common Core and high stakes testing and data collection the kind-of-law of the land, we could address the underlying mess.
The ESEA was first passed in 1965, and periodically is up for "re-authorization" which means the current Congress gets to monkey with it. In 2002, a bipartisan group under George Bush rewrote it into No Child Left Behind. ESEA was due to be re-authorized in 2007, but that ugly step-child of a law was already so toxic that Congress couldn't bring itself to do anything more than sputter and posture. And so ever since, ESEA has been ticking away. (You can get a more complete run-down of the long convoluted mess here.)
Race to the Top and RttT Lite are simply end runs around ESEA, and the only reason anybody bothers to mess with the four federal requirements (CCSS-like standards, high stakes tests, teacher evals linked to HST, and data collection) is because right now, as we sit here, every public school in this country is in violation of NCLB (well, unless you have 100% of your students above average, in which case your school mascot is probably a unicorn).
That is why Washington State schools are being required to send out "We are failure" letters to their parents-- because they lost their waiver because they wouldn't tie teacher evals to test scores, and so now they are back to living under the reality-defying requirements of NCLB.
So we could pull the plug on the whole reformy mess by simply doing what we were supposed to do seven years ago, and re-authorize (and re-write) the ESEA. All it requires is for members of Congress to show their political courage and commitment to properly educating America's children through a public school system. And after they do that, we can all celebrate by riding around on our unicorns. Heck, all we would need if for Congress to do its job and not impose more stupid ed reform rules. How hard could it be?
There is one other possibility, and it could make the next Presidential election interesting. Because the anti-reform Presidential candidate could say, "The Obama waivers are illegal, and the first thing we'll do in office is throw them out." If that happens, Congress would be under tremendous pressure to get on their unicorns and Do Something. Of course, they were under that sort of pressure right up until the point that the waivers were conceived.
This is one huge argument against having the federal government regulate and control public education in this country-- because when they break the system, they break the entire system.
Granted, the re-authorization of the ESEA is a big unicorn hunt. But many of the goals that are proposed, on all sides of the education debates, are unicorn hunts. So let's no overlook the hunt for the biggest, most magical unicorn of all.
The tightly wound spring that keeps Race to the Top and waivers (RttR Lite) ticking away is the ESEA. Instead of dealing with the federal mandate-ish sort-of-regulations that have made Common Core and high stakes testing and data collection the kind-of-law of the land, we could address the underlying mess.
The ESEA was first passed in 1965, and periodically is up for "re-authorization" which means the current Congress gets to monkey with it. In 2002, a bipartisan group under George Bush rewrote it into No Child Left Behind. ESEA was due to be re-authorized in 2007, but that ugly step-child of a law was already so toxic that Congress couldn't bring itself to do anything more than sputter and posture. And so ever since, ESEA has been ticking away. (You can get a more complete run-down of the long convoluted mess here.)
Race to the Top and RttT Lite are simply end runs around ESEA, and the only reason anybody bothers to mess with the four federal requirements (CCSS-like standards, high stakes tests, teacher evals linked to HST, and data collection) is because right now, as we sit here, every public school in this country is in violation of NCLB (well, unless you have 100% of your students above average, in which case your school mascot is probably a unicorn).
That is why Washington State schools are being required to send out "We are failure" letters to their parents-- because they lost their waiver because they wouldn't tie teacher evals to test scores, and so now they are back to living under the reality-defying requirements of NCLB.
So we could pull the plug on the whole reformy mess by simply doing what we were supposed to do seven years ago, and re-authorize (and re-write) the ESEA. All it requires is for members of Congress to show their political courage and commitment to properly educating America's children through a public school system. And after they do that, we can all celebrate by riding around on our unicorns. Heck, all we would need if for Congress to do its job and not impose more stupid ed reform rules. How hard could it be?
There is one other possibility, and it could make the next Presidential election interesting. Because the anti-reform Presidential candidate could say, "The Obama waivers are illegal, and the first thing we'll do in office is throw them out." If that happens, Congress would be under tremendous pressure to get on their unicorns and Do Something. Of course, they were under that sort of pressure right up until the point that the waivers were conceived.
This is one huge argument against having the federal government regulate and control public education in this country-- because when they break the system, they break the entire system.
Granted, the re-authorization of the ESEA is a big unicorn hunt. But many of the goals that are proposed, on all sides of the education debates, are unicorn hunts. So let's no overlook the hunt for the biggest, most magical unicorn of all.
Thursday, August 21, 2014
Duncan Tries To Hear Teachers
US Secretary of Education Arne Duncan is here with some back-to-school blogging to assure folks that he is totes listening to somebody. His back-to-school conversation comes with two messages.
First, he wants to send out a big thank you to all the folks who helped create some super-duper data points last year-- specifically, the high school graduation rate and the college enrollment rate. I might be inclined to wonder about A) the reality behind those juicy stats and B) what it actually means. But Arne knows what it means:
These achievements are also indications of deeper, more successful relationships with our students. All of us who’ve worked with young people know how much they yearn for adults to care about them and know them as individuals.
Reading Duncan's words always induces an odd sort of vertiginous disorientation as one tries to take in the huge measured-in-light-years distance between the things he says and the policies he pursues. What in the four requirements of Race to the Top would possibly indicate that Duncan's administration is pursuing policies that develop these kind of relationships or satisfy these alleged yearnings? Is it the way teachers fates have a federally mandated dependency on student test scores? Is it the sweet embrace of one-size-fits-all national standards? Maybe it's the grueling program of punishing tests.
Which brings us to the second message.
Duncan says he's been having many many conversations with teachers, "often led by Teacher and Principal Ambassador Fellows" (those teachy folks who have been carefully vetted and selected by the DOE, so you know they're a real collection of widely varied viewpoints). And in those conversations, he's picked a little something something about standardized testing. Which he still thinks is basically swell.
Assessment of student progress has a fundamental place in teaching and learning – few question that teachers, schools and parents need to know what progress students are making.
Also, a bicycle, because a vest has no sleeves. Sure, classroom assessment is important. But recognizing that importance has nothing at all to do with making a case for standardized testing, particularly of the current brand. "Medicine is important" is true, but it's no justification for jamming aspirin into somebody's compound fracture.
Anyway, Arne has picked up three specific concerns:
No test will ever measure what a student is, or can be. It’s simply one measure of one kind of progress. Yet in too many places, testing itself has become a distraction from the work it is meant to support.
You know what one might conclude from that? One might conclude that the testing is a doing an ever-so-crappy job of supporting "the work it is meant to support."
States will have the opportunity to request a delay in when test results matter for teacher evaluation during this transition. As we always have, we’ll work with them in a spirit of flexibility to develop a plan that works...
I would like to check with someone from Washington to see what it feels to be flailed with that spirit of flexibility. But Duncan is opening the door to states postponing the most painful consequences of testing for one year, because, you know, teachers' voices.
Anthony Cody has correctly pointed out that one other voice has spoken up in favor of this-- the voice of Bill Gates. Unfortunately, we'll never know for certain how this all played out. Did Duncan decide to obey the Call of Gates and try to use it to mollify teachers? Is the Voice of Gates so powerful that it blasted the wax from Arne's ears and he could hear teachers finally? Is he bending to political realities, or trying to do damage control.
I have a question I'm more interested in-- what difference will a year make?
Duncan seems to think that some time will improve the tests themselves.
Many educators, and parents, have made clear that they’re supportive of assessment that measures what matters – but that a lot of tests today don’t do that – they focus too much on basic skills rather than problem solving and critical thinking. That’s why we’ve committed a third of a billion dollars to two consortia of states working to create new assessments that get beyond the bubble test, and do a better job of measuring critical thinking and writing.
Never going to happen. National standardized test means test that can be quickly checked and graded at large scale and low cost (or else the testmakers can't profit from it). The college board has had decades to refine their craft, and their refined craft looks like-- a bubble test.
As far as Duncan's other concerns go-- a year will not matter. Much of what he decries is the direct result of making the stakes of these tests extremely high. Student success, teacher careers, school existence all ride on The Test. As long as they do, it is absurd to imagine that The Test will not dominate the school landscape. And that domination is only made worse by the many VAMtastic faux formulas in circulation.
Too much testing can rob school buildings of joy, and cause unnecessary stress. This issue is a priority for us, and we’ll continue to work throughout the fall on efforts to cut back on over-testing.
Oh, the woozies. Duncan's office needs to do one thing, and one thing only-- remove the huge stakes from The Test. Don't use it to judge students, don't use it to judge teachers, don't use it to judge schools and districts. It's that attachment of huge stakes-- not any innate qualities of The Test itself-- that has created the test-drive joy-sucking school-deadening culture that Duncan both creates and criticizes. If the department doesn't address that, it will not matter whether we wait one year or ten-- the results will be the same.
First, he wants to send out a big thank you to all the folks who helped create some super-duper data points last year-- specifically, the high school graduation rate and the college enrollment rate. I might be inclined to wonder about A) the reality behind those juicy stats and B) what it actually means. But Arne knows what it means:
These achievements are also indications of deeper, more successful relationships with our students. All of us who’ve worked with young people know how much they yearn for adults to care about them and know them as individuals.
Reading Duncan's words always induces an odd sort of vertiginous disorientation as one tries to take in the huge measured-in-light-years distance between the things he says and the policies he pursues. What in the four requirements of Race to the Top would possibly indicate that Duncan's administration is pursuing policies that develop these kind of relationships or satisfy these alleged yearnings? Is it the way teachers fates have a federally mandated dependency on student test scores? Is it the sweet embrace of one-size-fits-all national standards? Maybe it's the grueling program of punishing tests.
Which brings us to the second message.
Duncan says he's been having many many conversations with teachers, "often led by Teacher and Principal Ambassador Fellows" (those teachy folks who have been carefully vetted and selected by the DOE, so you know they're a real collection of widely varied viewpoints). And in those conversations, he's picked a little something something about standardized testing. Which he still thinks is basically swell.
Assessment of student progress has a fundamental place in teaching and learning – few question that teachers, schools and parents need to know what progress students are making.
Also, a bicycle, because a vest has no sleeves. Sure, classroom assessment is important. But recognizing that importance has nothing at all to do with making a case for standardized testing, particularly of the current brand. "Medicine is important" is true, but it's no justification for jamming aspirin into somebody's compound fracture.
Anyway, Arne has picked up three specific concerns:
- It doesn’t make sense to hold them [educators] accountable during this transition year for results on the new assessments – a test many of them have not seen before – and as many are coming up to speed with new standards.
- The standardized tests they have today focus too much on basic skills, not enough on critical thinking and deeper learning.
- Testing – and test preparation – takes up too much time.
No test will ever measure what a student is, or can be. It’s simply one measure of one kind of progress. Yet in too many places, testing itself has become a distraction from the work it is meant to support.
You know what one might conclude from that? One might conclude that the testing is a doing an ever-so-crappy job of supporting "the work it is meant to support."
States will have the opportunity to request a delay in when test results matter for teacher evaluation during this transition. As we always have, we’ll work with them in a spirit of flexibility to develop a plan that works...
I would like to check with someone from Washington to see what it feels to be flailed with that spirit of flexibility. But Duncan is opening the door to states postponing the most painful consequences of testing for one year, because, you know, teachers' voices.
Anthony Cody has correctly pointed out that one other voice has spoken up in favor of this-- the voice of Bill Gates. Unfortunately, we'll never know for certain how this all played out. Did Duncan decide to obey the Call of Gates and try to use it to mollify teachers? Is the Voice of Gates so powerful that it blasted the wax from Arne's ears and he could hear teachers finally? Is he bending to political realities, or trying to do damage control.
I have a question I'm more interested in-- what difference will a year make?
Duncan seems to think that some time will improve the tests themselves.
Many educators, and parents, have made clear that they’re supportive of assessment that measures what matters – but that a lot of tests today don’t do that – they focus too much on basic skills rather than problem solving and critical thinking. That’s why we’ve committed a third of a billion dollars to two consortia of states working to create new assessments that get beyond the bubble test, and do a better job of measuring critical thinking and writing.
Never going to happen. National standardized test means test that can be quickly checked and graded at large scale and low cost (or else the testmakers can't profit from it). The college board has had decades to refine their craft, and their refined craft looks like-- a bubble test.
As far as Duncan's other concerns go-- a year will not matter. Much of what he decries is the direct result of making the stakes of these tests extremely high. Student success, teacher careers, school existence all ride on The Test. As long as they do, it is absurd to imagine that The Test will not dominate the school landscape. And that domination is only made worse by the many VAMtastic faux formulas in circulation.
Too much testing can rob school buildings of joy, and cause unnecessary stress. This issue is a priority for us, and we’ll continue to work throughout the fall on efforts to cut back on over-testing.
Oh, the woozies. Duncan's office needs to do one thing, and one thing only-- remove the huge stakes from The Test. Don't use it to judge students, don't use it to judge teachers, don't use it to judge schools and districts. It's that attachment of huge stakes-- not any innate qualities of The Test itself-- that has created the test-drive joy-sucking school-deadening culture that Duncan both creates and criticizes. If the department doesn't address that, it will not matter whether we wait one year or ten-- the results will be the same.
More Bad Polling News For CCSS
While we're making note of how Common Core is tanking in the Education Next and PDK/Gallup polls, let's pull out one other poll from earlier in the summer. This one also used the word "plummets," which has become a serious contender for leading the Common Core Headline Word Bank.
Conducted and released in June of 2014, the Rasmussen Reports national phone survey checked the support for the Core among a very specific population-- those with children in elementary or secondary school.
Once again, we can see the result of a year's worth of direct exposure. In November of 2013, the Core was supported by an unimpressive 52% and specifically opposed by 32%. By the following June, the numbers had shifted. Among parents of school-age children, support dropped to 34%, while actual opposition to the Core (which the survey referred to as the Common Core national standards) had grown to 47%.
The message is the same as revealed in the other polls currently making PR use of the word "plummet"-- direct experience of the Common Core and the various barnicular educational attachments that come with does not make people love it better.
This poll is not news, but back in June, we couldn't see so clearly that it was the harbinger of a trend. This is the opposite of a grass roots movement, the reverse of going viral. This is like the movie that opens strong on Thursday and plays to empty theaters on Friday. Common Core's one big remaining hope was that people might experience it and say, at the very least, "Well, this wasn't so bad. I don't know why people were fussing." Instead, the reaction is more along the lines of "Damn, that really does suck."
Conducted and released in June of 2014, the Rasmussen Reports national phone survey checked the support for the Core among a very specific population-- those with children in elementary or secondary school.
Once again, we can see the result of a year's worth of direct exposure. In November of 2013, the Core was supported by an unimpressive 52% and specifically opposed by 32%. By the following June, the numbers had shifted. Among parents of school-age children, support dropped to 34%, while actual opposition to the Core (which the survey referred to as the Common Core national standards) had grown to 47%.
The message is the same as revealed in the other polls currently making PR use of the word "plummet"-- direct experience of the Common Core and the various barnicular educational attachments that come with does not make people love it better.
This poll is not news, but back in June, we couldn't see so clearly that it was the harbinger of a trend. This is the opposite of a grass roots movement, the reverse of going viral. This is like the movie that opens strong on Thursday and plays to empty theaters on Friday. Common Core's one big remaining hope was that people might experience it and say, at the very least, "Well, this wasn't so bad. I don't know why people were fussing." Instead, the reaction is more along the lines of "Damn, that really does suck."
Wednesday, August 20, 2014
Making a Difference
How can I make a difference?
In millions of situations millions of people have asked that single question.
There are plenty of inspirational answers for it. A thousand single persons working together can move the world. Your single action can be the straw that breaks the camel's back, the action that inspires others. Cue violins.
Personally, I think it's actually the wrong question.
See, we don't have to ask if or how we can make a difference, because by the very nature of existing, we make a difference. How do we make a difference? Hell, we can't avoid making a difference. I'm walking down the street. Another person is walking the other way. If I smile and say hi, that will have a different effect than if I scowl and look angry. There is no "doing nothing and not making a difference" option. If I walk past him as if I don't even see him, that has an effect, too. Doing nothing, not responding to other human beings-- that makes a difference, too.
Saying, "I can't make any difference, so I'll just be a lousy person, or one who stands by and does nothing," is not an out. Being lousy, doing nothing-- those things make a difference. It can suck-- sometimes we are thrown into situations that we did not choose, but once there, we must choose what kind of difference we will make. If you stumble upon a person being beaten, a choice has been forced upon you, and whatever choice you make, it will make a difference. I get that you may wish with all your heart that you weren't there, that this choice hadn't come to you. But it did, and whatever you choose will make a difference.
So there is no question about how to make a difference. We exist in the world, so we are making a difference. Maybe not a huge difference. Maybe not a Change the Course of Western Civilization difference.
This is doubly true of us as teachers. We are put in a situation every day in which we must interact with dozens, or even hundreds, of young human beings. We can't not interact with them, because even ignoring them is a form of interaction.
So there's really only one question to ask. What kind of difference are we going to make?
Doesn't have to be huge. Sometimes I think the biggest thing we can do for some of our students is take five seconds to send the message, "I see you. I hear you."
I imagine sometimes that when the Bible says we're made in God's image, what that means is that we all have the power of creation. By our interactions with other humans, we take a step to create a world that is just and kind, or harsh and unjust and cruel. We help create a world where people are known and loved as they are, or told they cannot have love until they change.
We are all engines of change. We alter the world around us, affect the people around us. With our actions or our inactions, we send ripples out into the world.
We make a difference.
I go back to school tomorrow (no students till Tuesday, but still...). I remind myself of this every year. I am going to make a difference, and I get to decide what difference I am going to make. So do you. Have a great new year.
In millions of situations millions of people have asked that single question.
There are plenty of inspirational answers for it. A thousand single persons working together can move the world. Your single action can be the straw that breaks the camel's back, the action that inspires others. Cue violins.
Personally, I think it's actually the wrong question.
See, we don't have to ask if or how we can make a difference, because by the very nature of existing, we make a difference. How do we make a difference? Hell, we can't avoid making a difference. I'm walking down the street. Another person is walking the other way. If I smile and say hi, that will have a different effect than if I scowl and look angry. There is no "doing nothing and not making a difference" option. If I walk past him as if I don't even see him, that has an effect, too. Doing nothing, not responding to other human beings-- that makes a difference, too.
Saying, "I can't make any difference, so I'll just be a lousy person, or one who stands by and does nothing," is not an out. Being lousy, doing nothing-- those things make a difference. It can suck-- sometimes we are thrown into situations that we did not choose, but once there, we must choose what kind of difference we will make. If you stumble upon a person being beaten, a choice has been forced upon you, and whatever choice you make, it will make a difference. I get that you may wish with all your heart that you weren't there, that this choice hadn't come to you. But it did, and whatever you choose will make a difference.
So there is no question about how to make a difference. We exist in the world, so we are making a difference. Maybe not a huge difference. Maybe not a Change the Course of Western Civilization difference.
This is doubly true of us as teachers. We are put in a situation every day in which we must interact with dozens, or even hundreds, of young human beings. We can't not interact with them, because even ignoring them is a form of interaction.
So there's really only one question to ask. What kind of difference are we going to make?
Doesn't have to be huge. Sometimes I think the biggest thing we can do for some of our students is take five seconds to send the message, "I see you. I hear you."
I imagine sometimes that when the Bible says we're made in God's image, what that means is that we all have the power of creation. By our interactions with other humans, we take a step to create a world that is just and kind, or harsh and unjust and cruel. We help create a world where people are known and loved as they are, or told they cannot have love until they change.
We are all engines of change. We alter the world around us, affect the people around us. With our actions or our inactions, we send ripples out into the world.
We make a difference.
I go back to school tomorrow (no students till Tuesday, but still...). I remind myself of this every year. I am going to make a difference, and I get to decide what difference I am going to make. So do you. Have a great new year.
Lily E. Garcia Will Break My Heart
It is clear that my relationship with the new NEA president will be fraught with ups and downs.
I have expressed my willingness to be courted. And she has definitely had her moments.
Back on August 11, Valerie Strauss unveiled an interview with LEG that had many folks cheering. Plainspoken and direct, LEG, provided a brace of great quotes:
Arne Duncan is a very nice man. I actually believe he is a very honest man. And that cannot excuse the fact that he is wrong wrong wrong on just about every thing that he believes is reform.
And I believe will go down to my last breath telling people that the most corrupting influence in public influence today is a high-stakes consequence for not hitting the cut score on a standardized test.
Stop doing stupid.
Her call for what is somewhere between civil disobedience and passive-aggressive insubordination.
“The revolution I want is ‘proceed until apprehended.’”In other words, ignore directives to engage in educational malpractice, and follow your best professional judgment until someone pins you down and forces you.
That is dead on. Yes, you have to weigh taking a stand against keeping your job in some settings. But there are also teachers out there following bad instructions because they are afraid that an administrator might speak to them sternly or give them a dirty look. It is way past time for teachers to stop being good little soldiers.
So, with the WaPo interview, LEG had me feeling all the feelings. Yes, her love for CCSS remained undimmed, but, you know, no relationship is perfect. And yes, the word on the street is that LEG talks a better game than she delivers, but that still makes her a step up from DVR, who was 0/2 on the talking/delivering business.
And then came this NEA press release in response to the PDK/Gallup poll that further chronicled the not-love directed at the Core.
It’s no surprise that many aren’t behind the Common Core as they are victims of targeted misinformation campaigns. Some on the far right have turned high standards for all students into a political football.
Dammit, Lily. I thought I could believe in you.
It's one thing to take the position that the Core are swell and lovely. You're wrong, but I get it (but you're wrong).
But it's quite another thing to stick with that old baloney about how people who don't love the Core are either 1) tragically misinformed or 2) tin hat Tea Party tools. Mistaking the CCSS for sound educational policy can be chalked up to a very different point of view (although, you are wrong). But mistaking the opposition to CCSS as a combination of ignorance and political wingnuttery is just delusional.
I know that you have to hold the NEA line, and that "proceed until apprehended" can be used in a classroom, but never an NEA boardroom. But even the backers of the CCSS have figured out they can't simply write off opposition as the result of ignorance and political buffonery. I don't think it's too much to expect the leader of my national union to have figured out the same thing.
This is going to be a long, tumultuous courtship as it is. Let's not make things worse by writing off critics from within the union itself. My heart just can't take it.
I have expressed my willingness to be courted. And she has definitely had her moments.
Back on August 11, Valerie Strauss unveiled an interview with LEG that had many folks cheering. Plainspoken and direct, LEG, provided a brace of great quotes:
Arne Duncan is a very nice man. I actually believe he is a very honest man. And that cannot excuse the fact that he is wrong wrong wrong on just about every thing that he believes is reform.
And I believe will go down to my last breath telling people that the most corrupting influence in public influence today is a high-stakes consequence for not hitting the cut score on a standardized test.
Stop doing stupid.
Her call for what is somewhere between civil disobedience and passive-aggressive insubordination.
“The revolution I want is ‘proceed until apprehended.’”In other words, ignore directives to engage in educational malpractice, and follow your best professional judgment until someone pins you down and forces you.
That is dead on. Yes, you have to weigh taking a stand against keeping your job in some settings. But there are also teachers out there following bad instructions because they are afraid that an administrator might speak to them sternly or give them a dirty look. It is way past time for teachers to stop being good little soldiers.
So, with the WaPo interview, LEG had me feeling all the feelings. Yes, her love for CCSS remained undimmed, but, you know, no relationship is perfect. And yes, the word on the street is that LEG talks a better game than she delivers, but that still makes her a step up from DVR, who was 0/2 on the talking/delivering business.
And then came this NEA press release in response to the PDK/Gallup poll that further chronicled the not-love directed at the Core.
It’s no surprise that many aren’t behind the Common Core as they are victims of targeted misinformation campaigns. Some on the far right have turned high standards for all students into a political football.
Dammit, Lily. I thought I could believe in you.
It's one thing to take the position that the Core are swell and lovely. You're wrong, but I get it (but you're wrong).
But it's quite another thing to stick with that old baloney about how people who don't love the Core are either 1) tragically misinformed or 2) tin hat Tea Party tools. Mistaking the CCSS for sound educational policy can be chalked up to a very different point of view (although, you are wrong). But mistaking the opposition to CCSS as a combination of ignorance and political wingnuttery is just delusional.
I know that you have to hold the NEA line, and that "proceed until apprehended" can be used in a classroom, but never an NEA boardroom. But even the backers of the CCSS have figured out they can't simply write off opposition as the result of ignorance and political buffonery. I don't think it's too much to expect the leader of my national union to have figured out the same thing.
This is going to be a long, tumultuous courtship as it is. Let's not make things worse by writing off critics from within the union itself. My heart just can't take it.
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