For-profit attack on public schools

[Kristin]

So there's a concerted for-profit attack on public schools. I live in Seattle, and there's an excellent watchdog blog here:

http://seattleducation2010.wordpress.com/seattle/

There's a ton of information, and it's hard to sort through, but the general upshot is that there is a nationwide push for:

* increasing high-stakes standardized testing of students
* using that standardized testing to fire teachers and bust teacher's unions
* militarizing schools
* establishing charter schools in poor and people of color communities
* further segregating schools

How they're doing it:

* for-profit corporations funneling taxpayer money out of schools
* for-profit corporations bribing public officials (no surprise)
* for-profit corporations getting on school boards and acting as school superintendents
* for-profit corporations setting up fake grassroots organizations to generate public support

(A recent blog post has a great diagram of exactly how this is taking place - which organizations have ties to which other organizations, and how the money is flowing.)

People thinking about long-term anarchist organizing need to be aware that what happens in the here and now will affect the ability of people ten and twenty years from now to organize democratically.

Anyway, is anybody on the ABC boards organizing on education?

[jacobian]

Possibly related:

http://www.thesunnews.com/2010/08/23/1651243/sc-high-school-freshmen-take-junior.html

[thomas]

Anyway, is anybody on the ABC boards organizing on education?

MAS folks are involved in education organizing.   The information you posted seems consistent with what they're trying to do in Florida.  Here's some information:

Teachers and Public Education are Under Attack in Florida
by Pablo
http://miamiautonomyandsolidarity.wordpress.com/2010/04/08/185/

And some action around this situation:

Teachers of Miami-Dade County Call
http://miamiautonomyandsolidarity.wordpress.com/2010/04/09/teachers-of-miami-dade-county-call/

There's also going to be a follow-up article coming soon on our blog that describes more about the struggle, the sick-out and the aftermath.

[cat]

Lately in California there's been a focus on use of the standardized test scores to "evaluate" individual teachers. they do this by looking a change in test scores of a student from teacher A to teacher B in elementary school, one year to the next. if the student does worse with teacher B than A the previous year, then this would be taken to indicate that B is a problem teacher. So it will divide the workforce based on these "performance evaluations" via test score. How would you argue against this?

Would you, for example, argue that the high stakes standardized test regime is not an accurate way to understand education, tends to encourage teaching to the test, doesn't focus on critical thinking or applying ideas in practice, just "answers" to standardized tests. Also, I think this type of testing regime tends to predominate in large public districts with large proportions of working class students. I don't think this kind of regime is used in wealthy suburban school districts.

Or would you deal with the use of the test scores to evaluate teachers in some other way?

[GregA]

Lately in California there's been a focus on use of the standardized test scores to "evaluate" individual teachers. they do this by looking a change in test scores of a student from teacher A to teacher B in elementary school, one year to the next. if the student does worse with teacher B than A the previous year, then this would be taken to indicate that B is a problem teacher. So it will divide the workforce based on these "performance evaluations" via test score. How would you argue against this?

Would you, for example, argue that the high stakes standardized test regime is not an accurate way to understand education, tends to encourage teaching to the test, doesn't focus on critical thinking or applying ideas in practice, just "answers" to standardized tests. Also, I think this type of testing regime tends to predominate in large public districts with large proportions of working class students. I don't think this kind of regime is used in wealthy suburban school districts.

Or would you deal with the use of the test scores to evaluate teachers in some other way?

I think the incentive to teach to the test is the biggest argument.  Think about what isn't on the test: music, art, physical education, social skills, critical thinking, general world knowledge, practical life skills, etc.  If it's not on the test and especially if it is something that can't be easily measured by a multiple-choice test, then teachers will be forced to shift focus away from it.  Even things that better prepare a student academically for a time more than a few months in the future just get in the way.  In that way, it's similar to CEO's getting stock options that vest in a quarter - causing them to drive up the short-term stock price but ultimately destroy the company.

There are a lot of other arguments, too...

[Kristin]

The strategy Cat describes is the same one they're trying to do here in Seattle. It's all part of a nationwide campaign, it's related to Race to the Top, and it's paid for by the Gates Foundation and the Broad Foundation. And the ultimate goal is charter schools - which are seriously scary. I never paid much attention to them before, but basically, corporations running schools, in a coordinated fashion across the U.S. - yow!

As for Cat's question - Greg's answer is a good one - really resonates with parents. And there's a fabulous YouTube video addressing it. It explains just why it's inaccurate and unfair. I'll hunt it down if I have time.

And there's also evidence of what happens as a result - teachers getting laid off based on the results of those test scores. I can try to hunt that down too.

Anyway, I'm going to be organizing on this. I'd love to work with MAS folks.

[cat]

thanks greg and kristin. i'm interested in this right now because i'm writing a section on education for a book and this is relevant.

my teaching experience was at the college level, but I found that working class students don't learn the same way students from more affluent backgrounds do. i mostly taught critical thinking and symbolic logic. i found that i could get complete success with my working class students if i changed the way i taught the course. I had to simplify the subject and concentrate on building understanding of one simple concept at a time, sort of a building block approach. In the end the working class students could learn a math like subject just as well as middle class students, once I made the change.

in Peter Sacks book "Tearing Down the Gates" (about class bias in education) he talks about an experiment at Oceanside High School in San Diego County, which has an overwhelmingly working class student body. The school was turned around by a new regime headed by a teacher who believed exactly what I just said, that working class students learn differently. but it can require time and efforts with particular students. hence class size is an issue.

but i don't know how you could teach critical thinking or writing in a test-driven environment. getting better at writing is like playing the piano, it takes practice. the skill can't be reduced to some multiple choice test.

i think arguments that are persuasive for parents will be important.

[Kristin]

In that case, Cat, if you have any questions, ask away! Some of the people I'm organizing with do this blog:

http://seattleducation2010.wordpress.com/

There are oodles of articles on why high-stakes testing is bad, as well as great info about what's been going on state-by-state, and the way it fits into a national reform agenda, and the ways people have resisted.

MAS folks, if you look at the Letter to Obama, you'll see some people who signed it are from Florida - they're possibly in Parents Across America and might be interesting to organize with.

Cat, I can totally see why your strategy would work - learning is always a building block approach. Perhaps the middle class students got building blocks that the working class students didn't.

[A-train]

It's really exciting to see this topic.  Chicago has been the "experimenting grounds" for privatizing schools with an initiative called Reniassance 2010.  It's been a HUGE set back for teachers (i've taught at Wendell Phillips as a history teacher and Paul Robeson summer school English and currently subbing).  It may help some of you out to look at Chicago because the nations education plan is based off of our 'great' plan.  The last school I was at was a "Turnaround" school, meaning that they put the failing school under private control (though still contracted through CPS) fire all teacher and staff (even janitors) and hire all brand new people.  Then, the school has a huge influx of money (where before it received no funding)

I also think we need to question Teacher for America (Scab for America).  As a program, their canidates get a BA and then take online and take home classes for a semester.  Their student teaching is over summer, four days a week, teaching an hour a day.  Also, their student teaching isn't always in their grade level (ie. they are being certified to teach primary ed. but student teaching in secondary).  They are then placed in high needs schools.  However while some states are lacking teachers, in many there have been massive lay offs, chicago had 17,000 this year. HUGE amount.  TFA instructors are not needed one bit.  They are given highering priority over experienced teachers and canidates from Universities that have two years of classes past their BA, 120 hours of observation, and a 15 week student teaching experience where they are the instructor.

However I think that there is a huge opportunity here and it would be great to see a campaign through the I.W.W.  The CTU (chicago teachers union) by contract cannot organze charter schools.  It would be interesting to see contracts of unions in other states.  The CTU has been completely ineffective and not active in fighting cuts.  Some charter schools have been organized by the AFT (American Federation of Teachers) and they are even less militant and even more conservative (even agreeing with standardized testing).  At Proviso High school (just outside of Chicago) their union reps started by saying, "we pledge our loyalty to the administration" followed by stating their dues are at 753 a year.  As a union, they also give the largest amount of campaign financing.  We have had a recent radical slate under CORE (caucus organized rank and file educators)  I was heavily involved for a year and the discussion was along the lines of occupations, strikes, job actions, and pickets.  When the activity turned towards elections, much of the action came to a stop.  There are still some talks of a teachers strike but it is really hard to guage if there is any real weight in it.

I would look into Catalyst new (one FSAO member is a writer) and also Substance news
http://www.catalyst-chicago.org/

[cat]

Cat, I can totally see why your strategy would work - learning is always a building block approach. Perhaps the middle class students got building blocks that the working class students didn't.

well, the theory is that kids from highly educated parents have a different kind of learning ability that is more holistic, meaning, they can process new information more quickly. at any rate, this is what the lead teacher from Oceanside High says in the interviews with Peter Sacks. and I found this to be the case.  when i first taught logic, i was teaching at UCLA, where 2/3 of the students are from well to do or highly educated professional/managerial class families. i  could teach symbolic logic more rapidly than I could do with working class students at the CSU campuses.

when kids are raised in families with highly educated parents who do conceptual type jobs -- financial analysts, divisional directors, lawyers, engineers, professors, doctors, etc or in wealthy families who provide a zillion types of support from playmates from affluent families, tutors, trips all over, kids will be exposed to more concepts, more words, more conversation going on around them, more information, and this will affect their cognitive development, developing more rapidly. (this shows up as higher average scores on standardized tests in elementary school.) so they develop the ability to process new information more rapidly or in a more holistic way, because more of the bits of new info fit in with the more complex bits they've already acquired.

this is why these students will tend to qualify for high track programs in high schools. altho kids from the working  class have a great range of test scores and kids from wealthy families also have  a great range of test scores, the AVERAGE test score of each class differs,  that is, higher for kids from more highly educated and wealthier parents. as Peter Sacks points out, when U of Michiagn went over to exclusive use of SAT or other standarized tests for admissions, the result was a huge drop in working class students admitted...from 31 percent to 12 percent. "

[A-train]

I think CAT is right on track but we should also discuss 'poverty' class, meaning parents who are on government aide or hold precarious labor positions.   
The last two schools I was at, Wendell phillips and Paul Robeson, 1/4 of the students were homeless.  This means in foster homes, moving between several relatives, or literally on the streets.  The average student is 4-5 years behind academically meaning if you teach seniors in high school, their skill set would match an 8th or 9th grader.  90% of the students who get accepted into college fail in the first year.  At Robeson we had only 8 students pass the ISAT and MAPP (standardized tests).  Currently 1/8 girls are pregnant being the highest in the nation.

Also, 1/4 were special ed which is a really interesting statistic.  I think they "overrate" african american students in the south and west side of Chicago.  There is an increadable break down in the community and home.  Instead of saying capitalism and the state failed and destroyed communities, the student is behind because they are special ed.  (would you care about shakespeare if you parent was on crack or your a kid and have seen people shot?) At Gage Park, which is split between poor Latino and African American students there is a really interesting difference in behavior and performance.  The Latino students are well behaved and do their work while the African American students tend to be off track and don't do work.  I think this is because while poor, their is a different expectation and value for education for latino students.

The violence of capitalism has literally destroyed the functioning of the poorest black communities in Chicago.  There have been 45,000 jobs lost in areas that are 30% or more African American and 65,000 gained in areas that are less than one percent.  For young males, the true unemployment  rate is close to the great depression.  So how do you learn to survive? hustling and dealing.  Of course this adds to the incarceration rate which breaks down the home and community.

Chicago's West and Southside schools have been the targets of turn arounds (and privatized).  At Phillips, we didn't even have funding for sex ed!!!! Wonder why 1/8 girls are pregnant?  In my dept, social studies, we didn't have a teacher until feb? meaning that students went to school sep-feb without a teacher in class.  We had a similiar situation in three classes, and yes some student had these classes in their schedule, where they were missing 2-3 teachers during the day.  We were literally starved and now that the school is turned around by the AUSL there is a tremondous amout of $$$ being introduced.  This is to show that privitization works.  You mean students can learn WHEN they have teachers?

[Kristin]

One of the biggest components for us to tackle is institutional racism. In the Chicago area, a class went from Sept - Feb with no teacher in the public schools? NO WONDER some people of color are getting behind privatization and charter schools. It's leading to some terrible consequences, like students getting beaten in class and military-style, six-day-a-week schools, but people are desperate.

Thirty years ago, when I attended Seattle Public Schools, I was bused to an inner-city school. It was typical liberal shortsightedness in that I was in the gifted program (mostly white) located in a poor black school, and I got the advantages they didn't. But the reality now is that there has been so much re-segregation that the affluent white students never see the poor Black schools. (North Seattle is majority white and South Seattle has a lot of people of color, and it takes about an hour to get from one to the other.) Part of this was school closures - there was simply no room for black students from South Seattle to attend schools in North Seattle. And part was a focus on high-stakes testing, which has led to rote teaching for South Seattle students, which has led to any parent with enough money to abandon South Seattle schools by moving or going to private school.

Brown vs. the Board of Education? Here in Seattle, that's dismantled.

It wouldn't be so bad if South Seattle schools had more autonomy and had funding for struggling students, special ed student, & free and reduced lunch students. They don't.

[Kristin]

The National Education Association (NEA) has a news site. All of us who are organizing for education should keep an eye on that to see where the national sites of struggle are. It's also got some info on the recent Seattle teacher negotiations.

http://neatoday.org/

Also, there is a national parents organization to keep an eye on. It's organizing against this Race to the Top thing, but parents can get overzealous and have an overblown sense of their own knowledge and opinions. Here in Seattle, I was upset when parents tried to influence the teacher contract vote - I didn't think that was appropriate. It's entirely possible that Parents Across America Seattle will come out against the upcoming education levy, which would pay for the MAP test (bad) but also a slight teacher raise and some professional development (good). IMO, that's for TEACHERS to decide, and parents should follow their lead.

Anyway, check out the facebook groups "Parents Across America" and "Parents Across America Seattle." There's also a facebook group in Florida just getting started, "Parents Across America - Florida."

It's related to the Web site I've mentioned before, http://seattleducation2010.wordpress.com/.

[Kristin]

Seattle's going to get some Teach for America recruits next year. Could someone explain to me what this will mean for our schools?

"As part of the effort to bring Teach For America (TFA) to Washington in 2011, The Seattle Foundation will grant $250,000 to TFA and seek to, at minimum, match that amount through donations from fundholders and other contributors.

Between 2011 and 2013, Teach For America’s goal is to place 150 TFA corps members across three-to-five Puget Sound-area school districts to help close the achievement gap between low-income students and their more affluent peers."

Source:

http://www.seattlefoundation.org/news/pressroom/Pages/SeattleFoundationsupportsTeachForAmerica.aspx

[Kristin]

There is a new grassroots-like organization for education, Parents Across America. It opposes education reform, but it looks like it's coming from a liberal democrat focus. Folks who are involved in education in California and Chicago - can you give me any input on the activists in it, and what their agendas are?

The URL announcing the group is: http://seattleducation2010.wordpress.com/2010/09/22/parents-across-america/