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Now I ask you...... where does the problem truly exist?
Sunday, March 30, 2014
Our Society is in trouble.......Let's Blame Teachers!
It is widely accepted that Finland does a better job of educating its children than does the US. The education reform movement has championed the idea that the problem is that teacher's unions are protecting huge numbers of lazy, ineffective teachers. Their solution? Get rid of unions and as many "ineffective" teachers as possible, standardize and privatize education, and that will solve the problem. Let's compare the two countries.........
Thursday, March 27, 2014
Down the Rabbit Hole with PARCC.
It’s taken me a while to begin to wrap my head around what’s really going on with PARCC and what makes it absolutely wrong, but standing in the hall after school today talking to some fellow teachers I think got a glimpse. As we discussed the inappropriateness of the exams for our students, it occurred to me that actually it all makes perfect sense if your goal is to generate the most data that you possibly can. If you believe that, given enough data, you can predict human behavior, environmental, societal and other factors, and all the infinite variables of existence to a degree that mimics reality, of course you would want the most data that you could get. And you become obsessed with data. And eventually you lose track of what you initially were hoping to measure. It becomes data for data’s sake. And soon it has absolutely nothing to do with education, students, or anything human. And as you disappear further and further down the rabbit hole, you can’t understand why nobody gets it but you. The reason we don’t “get it” is that IT MAKES NO SENSE. You have become lost in your neverending quest for data. You are delusional. And you must be stopped.
The joys of the "no excuses" charter school.....
The following is from a tweet "Confessions of a Teacher in a "No Excuses" Charter School....a little creepy and not what I had in mind when choosing education as a career, and the product of a mind that just doesn't get it.
"The behavior management system used by the school is called Whole Brain Teaching, created by Chris Biffle in 1999. The techniques seem to be focused on memorization and repetition. The teacher is supposed to be entertaining and use a lot of energy. The teachers I observed, both in person and in online videos, seemed like square dance callers, auctioneers, carneys in the circus or entertainers on a stage. The fast-talking, call-and-response approach and exaggerated, attention-getting gestures seemed inappropriate. I had difficulty modeling this method of discipline because I was horrified by it, shocked that it was considered the norm and contrary to the principles I had learned studying to be a teacher. There are videotaped examples of this method in action with students ranging in age from kindergarten to college. In every video the teacher makes rehearsed gestures and barks out scripted phrases and the students bark back set responses in the same tones using the same gestures.
Making children sit still and listen, avoiding dangerous situations, creating a sense of order and civility was presumably the goal. In this case behavior management is a mild term for describing a system of regimentation for the sake of control. It is authoritarian and haunting. Students are expected to walk in the hallway like robots: silent, hands straight by their sides, a puff of air in their cheeks referred to as “the bubble” so that they cannot talk, in two straight lines."
From Lulu Café, http://wp.me/p2odLa-7oy
"The behavior management system used by the school is called Whole Brain Teaching, created by Chris Biffle in 1999. The techniques seem to be focused on memorization and repetition. The teacher is supposed to be entertaining and use a lot of energy. The teachers I observed, both in person and in online videos, seemed like square dance callers, auctioneers, carneys in the circus or entertainers on a stage. The fast-talking, call-and-response approach and exaggerated, attention-getting gestures seemed inappropriate. I had difficulty modeling this method of discipline because I was horrified by it, shocked that it was considered the norm and contrary to the principles I had learned studying to be a teacher. There are videotaped examples of this method in action with students ranging in age from kindergarten to college. In every video the teacher makes rehearsed gestures and barks out scripted phrases and the students bark back set responses in the same tones using the same gestures.
Making children sit still and listen, avoiding dangerous situations, creating a sense of order and civility was presumably the goal. In this case behavior management is a mild term for describing a system of regimentation for the sake of control. It is authoritarian and haunting. Students are expected to walk in the hallway like robots: silent, hands straight by their sides, a puff of air in their cheeks referred to as “the bubble” so that they cannot talk, in two straight lines."
From Lulu Café, http://wp.me/p2odLa-7oy
The Testing Beast
If you think that standardized testing hasn't morphed into something truly Orwellian, read this editorial written by the principal of an award winning Pittsburgh school...
.http://www.post-gazette.com/opinion/2014/03/26/Slay-the-testing-beast/stories/201403260004
Greg Taranto: Slay the testing beast
Standardized tests are out of control; let's stand together to fight them off
March 26, 2014 12:00 AM
I am the principal of an award-winning middle school in Canonsburg.
We have been designated as one of 350 “schools to watch” nationwide, not
for our test scores, which are very good, but instead for the ways in
which we engage the “whole child.” This means we surround strong core
academics with quality arts programs, technology education, physical
fitness, wellness and extracurricular opportunities such as athletics
and jazz band.
Normally my school is alive with student-work displays, posters, inspirational sayings and images. My seventh-grade teams recently completed a cross disciplinary unit on mythology and the rooms were proudly filled with student work. This included material from Investigation of a Mythological Character (research in English and social studies), Student-Created Myths and Movie Proposal PowerPoints and Prezis (creative writing in language arts) and Hypothetical Future Offspring of the Gods Projects (genetics in science).
But not this week — because one of the many ugly heads of the student-testing monster is test security. Pennsylvania System of School Assessment testing security requires that “… all materials on the walls that relate to tested content, including motivational posters” are to be covered. So this week, a testing week, all of these amazing projects are hidden or removed. Even a poster that says, “Expect the Best” has been covered because testing rules say such a poster might “spark” a student’s imagination during testing.
My teachers’ classroom walls are bare and boring. My students notice this and ask: “What have you done with our work?”
Another of testing’s ugly heads is the narrowing of the curriculum. The stringent rules of test security force teachers into many long meetings in which they learn how to become testing police instead of educators. These meetings are piled on top of the state’s PSSA security online module that teachers must watch and themselves be tested upon.
Testing-enforcement preparation also narrows the time available for other kinds of classroom prep and professional development. And while my school does not drop everything for PSSA prep, many schools fall under pressure to do so for months — even sacrificing non-tested subjects such as social studies, arts and physical education.
The beast of standardized testing is taking control of the learning environment. Testing is being used to evaluate schools, teachers, administrators and, in some cases, to determine a young child’s future. Some children are being asked to take high school graduation exams as early as sixth grade. But recent studies show that grades, not test scores, are a much better predictor of a child’s future success.
Our school has been highly rated, but NOT because of our test scores. If you want to evaluate my school, you should have to visit my school, experience it and see what is going on first-hand. What can you learn about the things that really matter to students and parents at my school by looking at my students’ standardized test scores? Nothing.
How did this beast grow so many heads?
When standardized testing was simply a few periods taken out of an entire year, it was not a strain on instructional time and the data were welcomed in helping make curricular and instructional adjustments. As educators, we understand the importance of assessment.
But the beast has been sprouting heads, and everyone can understand at least one of the reasons: profit.
Testing makes a lot of money for education companies. Here in Pennsylvania in 2013 we paid more than $200 million to the company responsible for the development of the Keystone exams — tests aligned with the Common Core curriculum (known as PA Core in Pennsylvania). Our state legislators just approved another five “optional” Keystones in the coming years. Can you imagine the cost to taxpayers?
Unfortunately, the many-headed hydra of standardized testing is not like the mythical creatures made by my seventh graders. It is real. And we need real heroes to slay the beast.
Parents and educators must start speaking out and talking to our school districts, school boards and state and federal legislators. State and federal legislators are especially important, because they are the ones mandating tests such as the PSSA and the Keystones and thus tying the hands of district officials and school boards.
Some groups already engaged in this fight include Education Voters PA, Yinzercation, PA Against the Common Core, the Network for Public Education and Fairtest.org.
Do you think testing has gotten out of control? Please become a hero in the fight against this many-headed hydra. We need more ordinary heroes — people like you and me — to wrest control of our kids’ education away from the testing beast and to restore educational agency to parents, teachers and principals.
Greg Taranto the principal of Canonsburg Middle School, was named 2012 Middle Level Principal of the Year by the Pennsylvania Association of Elementary and Secondary School Principals.
Normally my school is alive with student-work displays, posters, inspirational sayings and images. My seventh-grade teams recently completed a cross disciplinary unit on mythology and the rooms were proudly filled with student work. This included material from Investigation of a Mythological Character (research in English and social studies), Student-Created Myths and Movie Proposal PowerPoints and Prezis (creative writing in language arts) and Hypothetical Future Offspring of the Gods Projects (genetics in science).
But not this week — because one of the many ugly heads of the student-testing monster is test security. Pennsylvania System of School Assessment testing security requires that “… all materials on the walls that relate to tested content, including motivational posters” are to be covered. So this week, a testing week, all of these amazing projects are hidden or removed. Even a poster that says, “Expect the Best” has been covered because testing rules say such a poster might “spark” a student’s imagination during testing.
My teachers’ classroom walls are bare and boring. My students notice this and ask: “What have you done with our work?”
Another of testing’s ugly heads is the narrowing of the curriculum. The stringent rules of test security force teachers into many long meetings in which they learn how to become testing police instead of educators. These meetings are piled on top of the state’s PSSA security online module that teachers must watch and themselves be tested upon.
Testing-enforcement preparation also narrows the time available for other kinds of classroom prep and professional development. And while my school does not drop everything for PSSA prep, many schools fall under pressure to do so for months — even sacrificing non-tested subjects such as social studies, arts and physical education.
The beast of standardized testing is taking control of the learning environment. Testing is being used to evaluate schools, teachers, administrators and, in some cases, to determine a young child’s future. Some children are being asked to take high school graduation exams as early as sixth grade. But recent studies show that grades, not test scores, are a much better predictor of a child’s future success.
Our school has been highly rated, but NOT because of our test scores. If you want to evaluate my school, you should have to visit my school, experience it and see what is going on first-hand. What can you learn about the things that really matter to students and parents at my school by looking at my students’ standardized test scores? Nothing.
How did this beast grow so many heads?
When standardized testing was simply a few periods taken out of an entire year, it was not a strain on instructional time and the data were welcomed in helping make curricular and instructional adjustments. As educators, we understand the importance of assessment.
But the beast has been sprouting heads, and everyone can understand at least one of the reasons: profit.
Testing makes a lot of money for education companies. Here in Pennsylvania in 2013 we paid more than $200 million to the company responsible for the development of the Keystone exams — tests aligned with the Common Core curriculum (known as PA Core in Pennsylvania). Our state legislators just approved another five “optional” Keystones in the coming years. Can you imagine the cost to taxpayers?
Unfortunately, the many-headed hydra of standardized testing is not like the mythical creatures made by my seventh graders. It is real. And we need real heroes to slay the beast.
Parents and educators must start speaking out and talking to our school districts, school boards and state and federal legislators. State and federal legislators are especially important, because they are the ones mandating tests such as the PSSA and the Keystones and thus tying the hands of district officials and school boards.
Some groups already engaged in this fight include Education Voters PA, Yinzercation, PA Against the Common Core, the Network for Public Education and Fairtest.org.
Do you think testing has gotten out of control? Please become a hero in the fight against this many-headed hydra. We need more ordinary heroes — people like you and me — to wrest control of our kids’ education away from the testing beast and to restore educational agency to parents, teachers and principals.
Greg Taranto the principal of Canonsburg Middle School, was named 2012 Middle Level Principal of the Year by the Pennsylvania Association of Elementary and Secondary School Principals.
.http://www.post-gazette.com/opinion/2014/03/26/Slay-the-testing-beast/stories/201403260004
Tuesday, March 25, 2014
The "New Deformers."
In an effort to bring Ohio more shame than it already has, one of our finest legislators goes all "Benghazi" on us.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2014/03/25/the-new-extremists-in-education-debate/
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2014/03/25/the-new-extremists-in-education-debate/
Big Data in your child's school........
In one of the more chilling things I've read lately (maybe since Orwell's 1984) the place of big data and its connection to the common core (I refuse to capitalize that travesty) is laid out in stark detail. Click the link and let me know what you think.........
http://dianeravitch.net/2014/03/25/peter-greene-connecting-the-dots-between-ccss-and-big-data/
http://dianeravitch.net/2014/03/25/peter-greene-connecting-the-dots-between-ccss-and-big-data/
This is a great history lesson that explains how we got to this place......http://newsle.com/article/0/132092127/
Monday, March 24, 2014
Church and state should remain separate.
A fundamental tenet of the American experience is the separation of church and state. Tax money should not be used to support religious schools, especially since many of them teach religion as science. A creeping stealth incursion is threatening the separation of church and state at the state government level in our country today.
Read more here: http://politi.co/1oSZXSf
Read more here: http://politi.co/1oSZXSf
Sunday, March 23, 2014
Enough is enough....
Check out Todd Gazda's blog at the link to the right This is one of his recent posts:
Wednesday, March 19, 2014
Enough is Enough!
We are at a pivotal juncture in this country with respect to education. Over the past decade, we have seen a dramatic escalation in the involvement of the Federal Government in education. There seems to be the belief in Washington that the alleged problems in public education in the U.S. can be corrected through national standards, increased regulations, standardized testing, and mandates regarding what and how our children should be taught. It seems that government at both the State and Federal levels want to take control of education away from locally elected officials and place that control in the hands of bureaucrats in the various state capitals and Washington. Nowhere is that practice more evident than here in Massachusetts.
We are drowning in initiatives. Even if they were all good ideas, there is no way we could effectively implement them all. They are getting in the way of each other and working to inhibit necessary change and progress. The number and pace of regulations to which we must respond and comply is increasing at an alarming rate. The following information is taken from the testimony of Tom Scott, Executive Director of the Massachusetts Association of School Superintendents, presented to the Massachusetts Legislature's Joint Education Committee on June 27, 2013. An examination of the regulations and documents requiring action by local districts on the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education website demonstrates that from the years 1996 -2008 (13 years) there were 4,055 (average of 312 each year) documents requiring action of local districts in response to regulations. The same examination conducted on the four year period of 2009-2013 reveals that there were 5,382 (an average of 1077 each year) multiple page documents requiring action by local school districts. How are we effectively supposed to implement local initiatives and meet the needs of our students when we are mired in this bureaucratic nightmare of a system?
Education is an inherently local pursuit. To view it otherwise is misguided and detrimental to the mission of educating our children. In order for schools to be effective they must be responsive to the culture of the community in which they reside. The culture of those individual communities differ greatly and mandates which dictate uniformity for schools across the state, and now even the nation, are in direct contravention to that reality. Educational historian, David Tyack, stated that "The search for the one best system has ill served the pluralistic character of American Society. Bureaucracy has often perpetuated positions and outworn practices rather than serving the clients, the children to be taught."
Current education reform is not designed to truly change education it merely adds additional levels of bureaucracy to an already overburdened system. The extreme emphasis on standardized testing is an unproductive exercise in bureaucratic compliance. As educators, however, if we speak out against the standardized testing movement and the amount of time it takes away from instruction then we are not for accountability. If we point out that many of the standardized test questions are not developmentally appropriate for the age of the students to whom they are being given, then we are not for rigor.
Assessments are an essential part of education. They serve as diagnostic tools that afford teachers the opportunity to determine areas where students need extra assistance or demonstrate when a topic needs to be re-taught. However, standardized tests whose scores take months to arrive, often after the student has moved on to another teacher, have a limited utility for shaping the educational environment. I am concerned that we are creating students who will excel in taking multiple choice tests. Unfortunately, life is not a multiple choice test. Enough is enough!
It is time for educators to push back against the standardized, centralized, top-down mandate driven school reform environment. I agree with the need for standards, but those standards need to be broadly written. Local communities, school boards, administrators and teachers should then be afforded the flexibility to demonstrate how they have worked to creatively to implement local initiatives in order to meet those broadly construed standards. The problem is that it is difficult to boil down creativity to a data point and that makes bureaucrats uncomfortable to say the least.
Well, where does that leave us? Education in the United States is constantly being compared to the systems in countries around the world. One important characteristic of education in those countries, which is consistently linked to the success of their students, is the esteem with which they hold their educators. It is time to treat our teachers with respect. It is time that we involve teachers in the discussion to set the direction for education in this country. They are the ones with the training and expertise. They are on the front lines in this battle. It is time that as educators we let our representatives at the state and federal levels know that we are headed in the wrong direction. It is time that, rather than be influenced by special interests, we focus on the students and the skills they need to be successful in our modern society. I will do my part. Will You?
Posted by Todd Gazda, M.Ed., JD
Wednesday, March 19, 2014
Enough is Enough!
We are at a pivotal juncture in this country with respect to education. Over the past decade, we have seen a dramatic escalation in the involvement of the Federal Government in education. There seems to be the belief in Washington that the alleged problems in public education in the U.S. can be corrected through national standards, increased regulations, standardized testing, and mandates regarding what and how our children should be taught. It seems that government at both the State and Federal levels want to take control of education away from locally elected officials and place that control in the hands of bureaucrats in the various state capitals and Washington. Nowhere is that practice more evident than here in Massachusetts.
We are drowning in initiatives. Even if they were all good ideas, there is no way we could effectively implement them all. They are getting in the way of each other and working to inhibit necessary change and progress. The number and pace of regulations to which we must respond and comply is increasing at an alarming rate. The following information is taken from the testimony of Tom Scott, Executive Director of the Massachusetts Association of School Superintendents, presented to the Massachusetts Legislature's Joint Education Committee on June 27, 2013. An examination of the regulations and documents requiring action by local districts on the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education website demonstrates that from the years 1996 -2008 (13 years) there were 4,055 (average of 312 each year) documents requiring action of local districts in response to regulations. The same examination conducted on the four year period of 2009-2013 reveals that there were 5,382 (an average of 1077 each year) multiple page documents requiring action by local school districts. How are we effectively supposed to implement local initiatives and meet the needs of our students when we are mired in this bureaucratic nightmare of a system?
Education is an inherently local pursuit. To view it otherwise is misguided and detrimental to the mission of educating our children. In order for schools to be effective they must be responsive to the culture of the community in which they reside. The culture of those individual communities differ greatly and mandates which dictate uniformity for schools across the state, and now even the nation, are in direct contravention to that reality. Educational historian, David Tyack, stated that "The search for the one best system has ill served the pluralistic character of American Society. Bureaucracy has often perpetuated positions and outworn practices rather than serving the clients, the children to be taught."
Current education reform is not designed to truly change education it merely adds additional levels of bureaucracy to an already overburdened system. The extreme emphasis on standardized testing is an unproductive exercise in bureaucratic compliance. As educators, however, if we speak out against the standardized testing movement and the amount of time it takes away from instruction then we are not for accountability. If we point out that many of the standardized test questions are not developmentally appropriate for the age of the students to whom they are being given, then we are not for rigor.
Assessments are an essential part of education. They serve as diagnostic tools that afford teachers the opportunity to determine areas where students need extra assistance or demonstrate when a topic needs to be re-taught. However, standardized tests whose scores take months to arrive, often after the student has moved on to another teacher, have a limited utility for shaping the educational environment. I am concerned that we are creating students who will excel in taking multiple choice tests. Unfortunately, life is not a multiple choice test. Enough is enough!
It is time for educators to push back against the standardized, centralized, top-down mandate driven school reform environment. I agree with the need for standards, but those standards need to be broadly written. Local communities, school boards, administrators and teachers should then be afforded the flexibility to demonstrate how they have worked to creatively to implement local initiatives in order to meet those broadly construed standards. The problem is that it is difficult to boil down creativity to a data point and that makes bureaucrats uncomfortable to say the least.
Well, where does that leave us? Education in the United States is constantly being compared to the systems in countries around the world. One important characteristic of education in those countries, which is consistently linked to the success of their students, is the esteem with which they hold their educators. It is time to treat our teachers with respect. It is time that we involve teachers in the discussion to set the direction for education in this country. They are the ones with the training and expertise. They are on the front lines in this battle. It is time that as educators we let our representatives at the state and federal levels know that we are headed in the wrong direction. It is time that, rather than be influenced by special interests, we focus on the students and the skills they need to be successful in our modern society. I will do my part. Will You?
Posted by Todd Gazda, M.Ed., JD
Value Added (to the coffers of Pearson and the testing companies) but not to students.
Value Added margin of errors have been known to range from the mid 60s to 109%. Can't wait until a third of my evaluation as a teacher depends on this:
"Covariate Adjustment Model
The statistical value-added model implemented for the State of Florida is typically referred to as a covariate adjustment model (McCaffrey et al, 2004) as the current year observed score is conditioned on prior levels of student achievement as well as other possible covariates that may be related to the selection of students into classrooms.
In its most general form, the model can be represented as:
y¬_ti=X_i β+∑_(r=1)^L▒〖y_(t-r,i) γ_(t-r) 〗+∑_(q=1)^Q▒〖Z_qi θ_q 〗+e_i
where y¬_ti is the observed score at time t for student i, X_i is the model matrix for the student and school level demographic variables, β is a vector of coefficients capturing the effect of any demographics included in the model, y¬_(t-r,i) is the observed lag score at time t-r (r∈{1,2,…,L}), γ is the coefficient vector capturing the effects of lagged scores, Z_qi is a design matrix with one column for each unit in q (q∈{1,2,…,Q}) and one row for each student record in the database. The entries in the matrix indicate the association between the test represented in the row and the unit (e.g., school, teacher) represented in the column. We often concatenate the sub-matrices such that Z={Z_1,…,Z_Q}. 謬_q is the vector of effects for the units within a level. For example, it might be the vector of school or teacher effects which may be estimated as random or fixed effects. When the vector of effects is treated as random, then we assume θ_q~N(0,σ_(θ_q)^2) for each level of q.
Corresponding to Z={Z_1,…,Z_Q}, we define θ'=(θ_1^',…,θ_Q^'). In the subsequent sections, we use the notation δ'={β',γ'}, and W={X,y¬_(t-1),y_(t-2),…,y_(t-L)} to simplify computation and explanation.
Note that all test scores are measured with error, and that the magnitude of the error varies over the range of test scores. Treating the observed scores as if they were the true scores introduces a bias in the regression and this bias cannot be ignored within the context of a high stakes accountability system. Our approach to incorporating measurement error in the model is described in a later section."
Saturday, March 22, 2014
There's a movement going on.......
It’s taken me a while to wrap my head around what’s really going on in the sphere of public education, but I’ve come to realize that, guess what? Whether it started that way or not, now it’s all about money, and the belief of those who have it in abundance that if you are super rich you somehow have the answers to….. well, everything. There’s a vibrant strain of megalomania going around among the super rich that is threatening to turn what’s left of our democracy into a plutocracy faster than you can say “Bill Gates.” You may wonder why I chose poor Mr. Gates (oxymoron intended) and not Warren Buffet, the Kochs, or another of our wealthy elite. The reason is this: Mr. Gates has chosen education as his arena of involvement and intends to remake it in his own image. As one who is on the receiving end of his ministrations, I don’t like it one bit. Here’s the scenario in a nutshell: In spite of the fact that the myth of failing public schools is totally inaccurate, and choosing to ignore the fact that all human beings are not identical and cannot be standardized, he and others came to believe that it is possible to find an approach to teaching that will be appropriate for anyone, anywhere, anytime, and that all that is standing in the way of every student being ready to go to college or career is the arts, unions, and ineffective teachers. This gave rise to the development of No Child Left Behind, the Common Core, and standardized testing and its accompanying method of teacher evaluation called Value Added (VAM). Whether or not the intentions of the originators of these ideas were pure we’ll never know. One thing is known, however: all of these things have morphed into the wholesale raiding of public education money under the guise of "helping students" by individual and corporate raiders with little regard for its actual effect on education or those who are in the classroom every day dealing with real students with real issues and not data points on someone’s data wall. It is the attempted transfer of one of the last large pools of public money into the private coffers of a few unscrupulous individuals and companies and the gutting of public education. Things are heating up as more and more teachers, administrators, school boards, and parents become aware of what is really going on. My hope is that this blog will be a useful link for those who want to stay on top of what’s happening and maybe even inspire some to become involved. This is reminiscent of another time in our country when people of all ages and from all walks of life and political persuasions came together to fight for what they knew was right. I’m glad I was there then, and I’m glad I’m here now. There’s a movement going on…….stay tuned.
Sunday, March 16, 2014
Our Unaccountable, Corrupt Charters in Ohio.
From Diane Ravitch's blog:A reader writes:
"How do you like this for accountability???
Lack of regulations, accountability and transparency invites charter school fraud
"Pet care, alcohol, vacations and other personal purchases were charged to taxpayers via Cincinnati College Preparatory Academy charter school, according to a 2013 state audit. The school misspent $520,000 in public money. Two former officials from the Cincinnati College Preparatory Academy are awaiting trial in Hamilton County Court of Common Pleas for theft in office and tampering with public records. Based on the states past record of recovering misspent funds by charter schools, the school districts from which these funds were extracted will not receive reimbursement
"In the now-closed Lion of Judah charter school fiasco, $1.2 million in public funds were lost but the court agreed to a settlement of $195,000 in restitution from the charter school operator. It is interesting that the Cuyahoga County Common Pleas judge approved a payback of less than 20% of the funds misspent and indicated that a prison sentence was not proper because the state didn't properly anticipate the mistakes that could be made when citizens tried to run charter schools. It appears that the charter school operator received a lenient sentence for the fraud committed due to the judge's view that the charter school law in Ohio is defective.
"On February 25, the State Auditor issued a finding for recovery in the amount of $507,206 against a Cleveland businessman who had unlawful interests in public contracts awarded to the now-closed Greater Heights Academy. Other persons involved in this charter school operation have been charged with a conspiracy to defraud the charter school of over $400,000.
"In a news release regarding the Greater Heights Academy charter school case, the State Auditor said, "...I'll never understand what motivates people to steal from children." An equally puzzling incomprehension is what motivates state officials to enact and continue to support charter school laws that provide for a license to steal.
"When will lawmakers regulate charter schools in ways to stop the fraud on the public and the low quality education provided to charter school students? Not until the public becomes outraged and demands that state officials refuse campaign contributions from charter school operators and advocates and begin to regulate charter schools.
"But hey, you know they are all in it for the kids. Aren't you just wowed by the "innovation"? I'm sure people in NYC would love to know what is happening in the charters that they pay for."
And what happens when the State Comptroller is legally barred from auditing charter schools, as in Néw York, because charter schools are not "a unit of government." That means they get public money but they are not public schools and may not be audited by public authorities.
"How do you like this for accountability???
Lack of regulations, accountability and transparency invites charter school fraud
"Pet care, alcohol, vacations and other personal purchases were charged to taxpayers via Cincinnati College Preparatory Academy charter school, according to a 2013 state audit. The school misspent $520,000 in public money. Two former officials from the Cincinnati College Preparatory Academy are awaiting trial in Hamilton County Court of Common Pleas for theft in office and tampering with public records. Based on the states past record of recovering misspent funds by charter schools, the school districts from which these funds were extracted will not receive reimbursement
"In the now-closed Lion of Judah charter school fiasco, $1.2 million in public funds were lost but the court agreed to a settlement of $195,000 in restitution from the charter school operator. It is interesting that the Cuyahoga County Common Pleas judge approved a payback of less than 20% of the funds misspent and indicated that a prison sentence was not proper because the state didn't properly anticipate the mistakes that could be made when citizens tried to run charter schools. It appears that the charter school operator received a lenient sentence for the fraud committed due to the judge's view that the charter school law in Ohio is defective.
"On February 25, the State Auditor issued a finding for recovery in the amount of $507,206 against a Cleveland businessman who had unlawful interests in public contracts awarded to the now-closed Greater Heights Academy. Other persons involved in this charter school operation have been charged with a conspiracy to defraud the charter school of over $400,000.
"In a news release regarding the Greater Heights Academy charter school case, the State Auditor said, "...I'll never understand what motivates people to steal from children." An equally puzzling incomprehension is what motivates state officials to enact and continue to support charter school laws that provide for a license to steal.
"When will lawmakers regulate charter schools in ways to stop the fraud on the public and the low quality education provided to charter school students? Not until the public becomes outraged and demands that state officials refuse campaign contributions from charter school operators and advocates and begin to regulate charter schools.
"But hey, you know they are all in it for the kids. Aren't you just wowed by the "innovation"? I'm sure people in NYC would love to know what is happening in the charters that they pay for."
And what happens when the State Comptroller is legally barred from auditing charter schools, as in Néw York, because charter schools are not "a unit of government." That means they get public money but they are not public schools and may not be audited by public authorities.
The OGT and standardized testing.
Even though I wrote this last week, the feeling is still very fresh in my mind and heart...
"This morning I sat in a room administering the first section of the Ohio Graduation Test. A standardized test that will determine whether the students in the room will receive a high school diploma. I came away feeling dirty, as if I had participated in a punitive exercise that was dehumanizing and unable to take into account the fact that people are not standardized……nor should they be. Listen to the education buzzwords of today: standardized, common, for profit, rigorous. If I’d wanted a factory job turning out an identical product I wouldn’t have gone into teaching. Do they even know what rigor means? Look it up: “Strictness or severity; a harsh or cruel act; inflexibility.” Are those the goals we have set for our educational system? More rigor? Standardized people? More profit? It’s what is NOT common about us that makes us interesting. And, capitalism to the contrary, everything is NOT about money. I’m not against assessments….we need to know how we’re doing, what we need to change. But when the end result of assessment is standardization and punishment for those who don’t fit the mold, something has gone horribly wrong. You don’t need to be able to suss out the finer points of rhetoric to be an excellent carpenter, or welder, or cosmetologist, and you shouldn’t be punished or have your worth diminished because of that. I used to be one of them, the punishers, the judgers, the heartless testers. But my eyes have been opened and what I see breaks my heart. More rigor? No thanks. How about a little love?"
end of rant.
I've been in the classroom for 15 years now, not nearly as long as many of my peers, but long enough to have witnessed an incredible increase in the amount of tension, frustration, unhappiness, and paranoia among teachers resulting from No Child Left Behind with its adequate yearly progress leading to school closings and continuing today with the Common Core, PARCC, vouchers, Value Added teacher evaluations, union busting, teacher bashing,and the entry of big money into the world of public education. But it's an exciting time to be in education.... the fight for survival and a new direction is on.
"This morning I sat in a room administering the first section of the Ohio Graduation Test. A standardized test that will determine whether the students in the room will receive a high school diploma. I came away feeling dirty, as if I had participated in a punitive exercise that was dehumanizing and unable to take into account the fact that people are not standardized……nor should they be. Listen to the education buzzwords of today: standardized, common, for profit, rigorous. If I’d wanted a factory job turning out an identical product I wouldn’t have gone into teaching. Do they even know what rigor means? Look it up: “Strictness or severity; a harsh or cruel act; inflexibility.” Are those the goals we have set for our educational system? More rigor? Standardized people? More profit? It’s what is NOT common about us that makes us interesting. And, capitalism to the contrary, everything is NOT about money. I’m not against assessments….we need to know how we’re doing, what we need to change. But when the end result of assessment is standardization and punishment for those who don’t fit the mold, something has gone horribly wrong. You don’t need to be able to suss out the finer points of rhetoric to be an excellent carpenter, or welder, or cosmetologist, and you shouldn’t be punished or have your worth diminished because of that. I used to be one of them, the punishers, the judgers, the heartless testers. But my eyes have been opened and what I see breaks my heart. More rigor? No thanks. How about a little love?"
end of rant.
I've been in the classroom for 15 years now, not nearly as long as many of my peers, but long enough to have witnessed an incredible increase in the amount of tension, frustration, unhappiness, and paranoia among teachers resulting from No Child Left Behind with its adequate yearly progress leading to school closings and continuing today with the Common Core, PARCC, vouchers, Value Added teacher evaluations, union busting, teacher bashing,and the entry of big money into the world of public education. But it's an exciting time to be in education.... the fight for survival and a new direction is on.
A beginning......
After the stark realization that I've been bombarding my Facebook friends with my obsessive comments about the systematic dismantling of public education by the monied elite, I decided they and I would be better served if I put those opinions/rants on a blog where people who are interested can follow, and those not interested won't be bothered. So, I'll keep my education oriented ranting (mostly) confined to these pages.
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