USC prez lets loose with reformy cliches. Not much else.

Looking through the April 4th issue of EdWeek, I found this back page commentary piece, "Reaching Beyond the Ivory Tower Into the Classroom" co-written by C.L. Max Nikias, the president of USC and USC prof William Tierney. I guess the very idea of the head of one of the world's most expensive and least accessible universities telling public schools what they need, kind of pissed me off. So I forced myself to read it all the way through.

Why it took two such highly-esteemed academics to rehash this corporate reform drivel is beyond me. They start out reminding us once again of the failures of our so-called "dropout factories." Don't they have to pay Arne Ducan a buck or two for using this patented, degrading cliche? Talk about the Ivory Tower! What an encouraging way to start a conversation with real educators.

Then comes the usual plea for schools to help make American corporations "globally competitive." According to Nikias and Tierney, it's public schools that are holding back Microsoft, Bain, GM and the hedge funds from beating the Chinese in the hunt for super-profits. Really? I wonder why public education never got the credit it deserved when the economy was on an upswing.?

With statistics like these, America cannot remain globally competitive and economically vibrant. Student performance in other industrialized nations regularly outpaces ours, and China and India are spending vast sums of money educating their children to catch up.

Not only are we hurting the economy, but public school educators are not even adequately preparing students for college. That reminded me of a recent Diane Ravitch tweet -- "There appears to be a bipartisan agreement that bad teachers killed the Dead Sea."

 Okay, so the pair do make some good points here -- although to put it all on the schools is ridiculous.

At too many schools, fewer than half the seniors will qualify to enroll in a four-year college or university. At many of our state universities, more than half the entering freshmen require courses in remedial math or English—or both. Several recent studies show that the performance gap between affluent and poor students in terms of test scores, high school completion rates, and, ultimately, wage earnings continues to grow at an alarming rate.

Yes, it does. But having the president of one of the world's most expensive private universities ($61,000/year), completely inaccessible to nearly all but the children of the rich, complaining about the gap in school completion rates--that takes chutzpah. This is the school where the gap was practically invented. I mean, USC is a school that pays its football coach $4 million a year to coach a team that is still serving a two-year NCAA suspension for having the ethics of a flea.

USC's 4-year completion rate of 70% is pretty good for most private schools, but it is still below the average for the nation's public schools. USC creams it applicants for high test scores and big, parent bank accounts and yet, still loses 30% of entering freshman. "Maybe USC should be called a dropout factory." And maybe there are some things public schools shouldn't learn from private university consultants.

So what solutions are offered by the men from Troy? Simple -- more university/school partnerships  "compacts". Wow, a compact! Just what every classroom teacher needs right now.  Is this some new school reform breakthrough? Aren't school districts already saturated by high-priced, outside university-based, professional developers? Charter school authorizers?  Consultants whose contracts soak up a huge portion of school budgets as they deliver their eye-rolling, power-point-heavy lectures?

We are not suggesting that research universities hold all the answers to our K-12 problems. Some colleges of education have already made significant strides in their involvement in schools. For example, at our own institution, we have a mentoring program [How nice for you. -mk] that helps low-income youths apply to college and a program that helps college-bound youths improve their writing. But the education of our nation's K-12 students cannot be left to a select few.

No, they say, education cannot be left to the educators. Instead we need to bring "our greatest minds to bear on one of our most vital organizations: the public school."  And if schools and districts are unwilling resistors to those "greatest minds," the two want their contracts mandated by legislation.

Our public schools and universities must work together rather than go it alone. If state policies need to legislate these relationships, then such steps should be examined.

Now, don't get me wrong. I'm all for building relationships between school and university. I've been working to do that for a few decades now. And there are a few really good colleges of education which are great at this and have also been doing it for decades. Academics can and should work with classroom teachers (on a voluntary basis). They can learn a lot from each other. Universities can also bring the power of their research into the public sphere by advocating for good ed policies. For example, here in Chicago, a group of 150 university-based researchers called CReATE came out with a damning report on the overuse of standardized testing in school and teacher evaluation. But this critical role probably isn't what Nikias and Tierney have in mind.

Besides the compacts, what other brilliant ideas do they have to offer? Well, they also want us to "think like rocket scientists." Okay, I'm down with that, although I wouldn't mind some rocket scientists thinking like teachers for a change. Then they want us to "knock down the knowledge silos." Yes, now you're talking. Knock 'em down. But also remember where these silos came from -- academia.

But what about, "thinking outside the box" and "becoming life-long learners"?  They must have missed those.

WEEKEND QUOTABLES

In Sanford, Fl  the police chief threatened to stop the game if Robinson did not leave the field

Chris Lamb

"A specter of Jackie Robinson" haunts the city of 53,000 people to this day. People want to forget it and it shouldn't be forgotten." -- Racist past haunts Florida town where Trayvon died

Judy Rabin

"Like Pharoah, Duncan's heart is hardened and although members of United Opt Out met with him last week and he has heard the cries of the people, he refuses to let them go." --  Schools Matter

 Karen Lewis

"In all of my 22 years of teaching I have never seen a climate as hostile as the one created by Rahm Emanuel, his hand-picked school board and his handpicked leadership of Chicago Public Schools." -- CTU Net

Eric Zorn

"Parents, who were shut out of the key decision here, deserve a greater voice and individual schools should be able to customize their schedules based on what’s best for their student populations, not for someone else’s sweeping reform agenda." -- Change of Subject

Chicago teachers' answer to SB7 -- Vote yes in strike poll

The Chicago Teachers Union has put the mayor and his Board of Ed cronies on notice. After Stand For Children bankrolled the passage of SB7, corporate reformers thought they had essentially eliminated the threat of a teachers strike. The new law bans strikes without 75% approval from union members. So the CTU took the issue right to the rank-and-file and got the approval they needed. The teachers responded to the "hostile environment" created by the mayor, loudly and clearly.

Chicago Public School officials and Mayor Rahm Emanuel have created such a “hostile” climate that teacher leaders in 150 schools polled CTU members about support for a strike, Lewis and other CTU officials said. At each school, Lewis said, at least 75 percent of teachers favored a strike “should contract negotiations fail” and “CPS and the mayor do not reverse the hostile climate against us.” -- Sun-Times

No money for schools but...

During his press conference to tout $6.8 million in new high-definition cameras at 14 high schools, the mayor's hand-picked schools CEO, J.C. Brizard insisted he had “tremendous respect’’ for teachers and it was “unfortunate’’ teachers were talking about strikin

CPS still obstructing LSCs, says Don Moore

“I would say their overall pattern during the election period has been to obstruct and limit the number of candidates,” says Don Moore, executive director of Designs for Change and one of the authors of the 1988 legislation that created LSCs. Moore, a self-described “irritant” for CPS, has been steadily following Local School Councils and prodding CPS for information for 15 years. -- Center Square Journal

44 years after Dr. King's death attacks on unions continue

Dr. King in Memphis, 1968

"That is why the labor-hater and labor-baiter is virtually always a twin-headed creature spewing anti-Negro epithets from one mouth and anti-labor propaganda from the other mouth." -- Dr. Martin Luther King, AFL-CIO Convention, December 1961

Yesterday was the anniversary of the 1968 assassination of  Dr. King, who was killed while defending the rights of black public workers in Memphis, to unionize. How ironic then, 44 years later, to hear school reformer Geoffrey Canada's declaration of war on the teachers union.

Canada, the founder of the Harlem Children's Zone and co-star, along with Michelle Rhee, in the anti-teacher, propaganda film, Waiting For Superman, was quoted in Tuesday's New York Times:

Ms. Rhee and Mr. (Joel) Klein have a confrontational history with teachers’ unions. But some charter school leaders and other advocates have spoken of the need to lower the temperature of the debate and have turned their focus inward on improving their own schools.

“Folks are genuinely looking for opportunities to make peace and not war,” Mr. Canada said. “And I think that’s terrific. But someone has to make war.”

In making his declaration, Canada, who is fond of quoting Dr. King in his speeches, joined hands with the worst of the worst education privatizers and profiteers whose hatred of unions is understandable. They include, Rhee and Klein (front man for international criminal Rupert Murdoch), Micah Lasher, who runs Mayor Bloomberg's legislative affairs, and charter profiteer Eva Moskowitz. Together, they announced the formation of StudentsFirstNY, a heavily-funded group that intends to pour money behind anti-teacher union candidates in upcoming election campaigns.

******

Thanks to Richard Kahlenberg for sending me a copy of his and Moshe Marvit's new book, Why Labor Organizing should be a civil right. The book begins with the recounting of Dr. King's role in the supporting organized labor, which he considered part and parcel of the civil rights movement. King was also highly critical of those union leaders who had allowed racially segregated local unions into the AFL-CIO.

King declared in his famous Chaos or Community speech in 1967:

The displaced are flowing into proliferating service occupations. These enterprises are traditionally unorganized and provide low wage scales with longer hours. The Negroes pressed into these services need union protection, and the union movement needs their membership to maintain its relative strength in the whole society.

Santa Monica tuition protests met with pepper spray

Growing up in L.A. in the '60s, I would take summer school classes at Santa Monica City College. L.A. had a great junior college system back then and tuition was cheap enough (about $10/class) so that a kid like me, with few resources, had access to a quality post-secondary education and with that, a job and some social capital. I remember SMCC students as being mostly white, sandy-haired and really into the surfer sub-culture, ie. the Beach Boys, Dick Dale, The Ventures and doing the surfer's stomp at the Oar House on Friday nights.

Courtney Aravena, left, speaks Wednesday about being pepper-sprayed the previous evening, while Ernie Sevilla tells of being pressed up against the wall by the crowd next to the officer who used pepper spray. (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times / April 4

On Tuesday, hundreds of (what is now called) Santa Monica College students (none of them sandy-haired) gathered peacefully outside the Board of Trustees meeting to protest a plan to raise tuition for some high-demand, core courses such as English, math and history. Under the plan, a foundation would offer about 50 popular classes at high cost, which would supplement about 700 regular state-funded classes. California residents would pay about $540, for example, for a typical three-unit course such as English, while non-residents would pay about $840.

As the trustees began discussing the new two-tiered system, students began chanting against the growing  privatization of public education. Police moved in without warning and began pepper spraying the legal gathering of students in the enclosed hallway.  Dozens had to be treated for inhaling the toxic fumes. Several were taken to the hospital. Shades of U.C. Davis last November.

President Tsang claims that the police acted with "restraint" and that students were acting illegally. However there wasn't even one arrest. I guess pepper spray has replaced due process when it comes to California student protests.

Students are now calling for a campus-wide referendum on the two-tier plan and  Chancellor Jack Scott has asked the trustees to put a hold on the plan. "No one likes to see something like this happen, and I expressed that it might be wise to put this matter on hold," Scott said in an interview.

In the mailbox

This Open Letter to the New York State Regents from New York State Professors Against High Stakes Testing follows on the heels of Chicago CReATE statement on the poor use of standardized test scores as teacher evaluation measures.

Open Letter to the New York State Regents from New York State Professors Against High Stakes Testing

March 30, 2012

As lifelong educators and researchers, from across the State of New York, we strongly oppose New York State’s continued reliance on high stakes standardized testing in public schools as the primary criterion for assessing student achievement, evaluating teacher effectiveness, and determining school quality. We write to express our professional consensus and concern, and to offer our assistance to the Regents in generating educationally sound alternatives to high-stakes testing as the primary strategy for assessment in New York State.

Researchers and educational organizations have consistently documented, and a nine-year study by the National Research Council has recently confirmed, that the past decade’s emphasis on testing has yielded little learning progress. In New York State and New York City, the consequences of testing policies have been most disappointing.

Disparate impact on students. Numerous studies document that the over-reliance on high-stakes testing bears adverse impact on student achievement and has been accompanied by widening racial/ethnic gaps. Using New York City as an example, we see that large numbers of students are performing below proficiency. High numbers of the city’s public school graduates fail the CUNY entry tests and are required to take remedial courses. Results on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) suggest a failure to achieve significant reduction in the achievement gap separating New York City’s white students from African American and Latino students since 2003. The negative effects of our high-stakes testing environment are perhaps most pronounced for English Language Learners for whom the tests were not designed, who cumulatively and consistently fail to achieve proficiency within the limited school time (a year and a day) before they are required to take the exam in English. In 2010, 24% of 4th graders labeled as ELLs were deemed proficient in English Language Arts compared to 58% of non-ELLs. By 8th grade only 4% of ELLs were classified as proficient compared to 54% of non-ELLs. It is therefore little surprise that of the 2006 cohort, only 40% of ELLs graduated after four years compared to 75% for non-ELLs.

Negative impact on educators. High-stakes testing creates adverse consequences not only for students but also for educators. Statisticians and educational researchers have challenged the validity, effectiveness, and ethics of using high stakes test scores to evaluate educators. As argued in an open letter to Mayor Rahm Emanuel by CReATE (Chicago Researchers and Advocates for Transformative Education), “There is no evidence that evaluation systems that incorporate student test scores produce gains in student achievement. [and] Teachers will subtly but surely be incentivized to avoid students with health issues, students with disabilities, students who are English Language Learners, or students suffering from emotional issues. Research has shown that no model yet developed can adequately account for all of these ongoing factors.” Given various value added measures, it is not possible to actually identify with accuracy the teachers who are most effective or least effective. This is already causing some highly effective teachers to leave the profession and may very well serve as a significant disincentive for aspiring new teachers to enter the field. The recent release of New York City Teachers Data Reports unleashed a hugely demoralizing media attack on the professional dignity of teachers.

Disparate impact on children who are disrupted by school closings. Finally, we are extremely concerned about the misuse of test scores as the primary criterion for the closing of schools. The 117 schools closings authorized by the New York City Department of Education since 2003 disproportionately affect children receiving special education services, those who receive free and reduced lunch, and those who are English Language Learners.

In conclusion, we stand with the 1400 principals who signed a petition against teacher evaluations based on high-stakes testing. We offer our intellectual support to the State to help generate public policies that bolster schools to be intellectually vibrant environments where inquiry-based pedagogy is encouraged, class sizes are reduced, educators are respected, parents are welcomed, and students are granted dignity while learning. We make ourselves available to the Regents to create just policies to transform the public schools in New York.

Bernadette Anand, Instructor and Advisor, Educational Leadership, Bank Street College
Gary Anderson, Professor of Education Leadership, NYU
Jean Anyon, Professor of Urban Education, The Graduate Center, CUNY
Lee Anne Bell, Professor, Barbara Silver Horowitz Director of Education, Barnard College
Douglas Biklen, Dean, School of Education, Syracuse University
Sari Knopp Biklen, Laura and Douglas Meredith Professor, School of Education, Syracuse University
Robert Cohen, Professor of Teaching and Learning, NYU
Edward Deci, Professor of Psychology and Helen F. & Fred H. Gowen Professor in the Social Sciences, University of Rochester
Greg Dimitriadis, Professor, Educational Leadership and Policy, University at Buffalo, SUNY
Arnold Dodge, Chair, Department of Educational Leadership and Administration, Long Island University -Post
Michelle Fine, Distinguished Professor of Psychology and Urban Education, The Graduate Center, CUNY
Ofelia Garcia, Professor of Urban Education, The Graduate Center, CUNY
Beverly Greene, Professor of Psychology, St. John’s University
Suzanne Kessler, Dean of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Purchase College, SUNY
Wendy Luttrell, Professor of Urban Education and Social-Personality Psychology, The Graduate Center, CUNY
Ernest Morrell, Professor, English Education, Teachers College, Columbia University; Director: Institute for Urban and Minority Education (IUME); Vice President: National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE)
Leith Mullings, Distinguished Professor of Anthropology, The Graduate Center, CUNY
Mark D. Naison, Professor of African American Studies, Fordham University
Pedro A. Noguera, Peter L. Agnew Professor of Education, Executive Director, Metropolitan Center for Urban Education, New York University
Celia Oyler, Associate Professor and director of Inclusive Education Programs, Teachers College, Columbia University
Pedro Pedraza, Researcher at El Centro, The Center for Puerto Rican Studies, Hunter College, CUNY
Diane Ravitch, Research Professor of Education, New York University and Former Assistant Secretary of Education
Michael Rebell, Professor of Law and Educational Practice, Teachers College, Columbia University
Richard M. Ryan, Professor of Psychology, Psychiatry and Education and Director of Clinical Training, Clinical and Social Sciences in Psychology, University of Rochester
Ira Shor, Professor of English, CUNY Graduate Center
Louise Silverstein, Professor of School-Child Clinical Psychology, Ferkauf Graduate School, Yeshiva University
Carola Suarez-Orozco, Professor of Applied Psychology and Co-Director, Immigration Studies at NYU
Henry Louis Taylor, Jr. Professor of Urban History and Director of Center for Urban Studies, University of Buffalo, SUNY
Ethel Tobach, Curator Emerita, American Museum of Natural History
Sofia Villenas, Director, Latino Studies Program and Associate Professor of Anthropology and Education, Cornell University
Lois Weis, State University of New York Distinguished Professor, Educational Leadership and Policy, University at Buffalo, SUNY

The give and take

I enjoyed the give and take last night on #SOSchat. I haven't typed that fast since Miss Roman's 10th-grade typing class. Most useful class I ever took in high school. Thanks Nancy Flanagan for pulling these Tuesday night Twitter events together.

Thanks also to those who are commenting on my post  (below) in the wake of Occupy the DOE. Some thoughtful comments so far and a few no so much. I hope the tone stays positive. But I will let it rip til the end of the day, so please keep the discussion going. We can disagree without being divisive. Thanks especially to OPT OUT organizer Peggy Robertson for her responses, even to anonymous critics. That takes courage.

The long drive home

Am I getting too old for these long road trips? I hope not. I just need more time to recover, that's all. I left Occupy the DOE yesterday to get back to work and family business. We drove straight back to Chicago in 12 hours. Lots of time to witness spring's colorful rebirth, listen to some great music and contemplate life in America's heartland.

But what you don't see out the car window is the bubbling up of anger and frustration people in small towns and big cities over their steadily worsening economic conditions and their accompanying feelings of political powerlessness. The latter is driven by the steady erosion and selling off of public space and with it, public decision-making. Which political force will capture this anger and how will it express itself in the upcoming elections is anybody's guess.

Occupy DOE organizer Morna McDermott

Occupy the DOE was part of a young but growing movement to change all that. Taking part left me feeling at once elated, encouraged, and frustrated--elated as I always am when I get to spend time in the company of good people. The United Opt-Out organizers, like Morna McDermott McNulty, Laurie Murphy, Peggy Robertson, Tim Slekar and Ceresta Smith, pulled this 4-day event together on a shoestring, right outside Arne Duncan's window. They are among those good people who see clearly the damaging effects on schools and children of standardized testing and current corporate-reform policies and are willing to do something about it.

I was encouraged by the strength of the presentations and speeches by some of the best scholars and education activists in the country --Stephen Krashen, Ira Shor, Linda Nathan, Ann O’Halloran, Ruth Rodriguez-Fay, Mark Naison, David Greene,  Jesse "Walking Man" Turner, Jim Horn, Brian Jones ... the list goes on and on. This was a nothing less than an engaging and powerful  four-day course, in a small school, taught by great teachers, all about the struggle for democratic education in America. I hope these presentations will be made widely available in the months ahead.

I heard that yesterday, after I left, Duncan invited a small group of organizers inside the DOE for a meeting and am eagerly awaiting to hear what they discussed and what kind of response the meeting generated.

Like most of the participants I spoke with, I was frustrated at the miniscule turnout which could be measured in dozens, not hundreds or thousands. I felt the same way after our SOS March and Rally last summer which drew a few thousand teachers instead of the tens of thousands I had hoped for. Similar feelings of frustration are expressed in David Greene's post, "Where have all the teachers gone?" But rather than blame teachers for being no-shows, I would rather that we organizers and activists focus on our strategies. Teachers, parents and students mobilize through their unions and existing community-based organizations. Without their active participation, no national action is going to be very large or attract much media coverage.

The core of this Opt-Out movement is strong. But its base is still narrow. Could it have something to do with the group's limited focus? Could outreach and publicity have been better? I don't know. But it raises all kinds of strategic and tactical questions for me, especially with our own SOS Convention coming up in August.

One thing I know:  there is massive opposition building to corporate school reform policies and to the standardized testing madness. I saw the depth and breadth of this base in the Wisconsin protests and the anti-Walker recall movement (elections are today) and the beating back the attacks on unions and teacher's collective-bargaining rights with SB 5 in Ohio and the Parent Trigger law in Florida. Here in Chicago, there is a broad-based community movement building against school closings and turnarounds led by a militant teachers union.

But the fact is, we are still on the strategic defensive while our opponents not only control federal and local policy but have tons of private corporation and foundation money behind them. Joanne Barkan's excellent piece in Dissent gives us a good picture of what we are up against.

My hope is that Occupy the DOE will be the start of something great and powerful and that it will generate some thoughtful dialogue in coming weeks, within the movement, about tactics and strategy.

Occupy the DOE today

Jesse "Walking Man" Turner

Ira Shor (L) and Mark Naison

Heading back to Occupy this morning

Peggy Robertson

It should be a beautiful day in D.C. -- sunny and in the 70s. I'm heading back for Day 3 of Occupy the DOE this morning. Although the turnout has been smaller than organizers had hoped for, the occupiers and OPT-OUTers are a wonderful and friendly group of highly-committed educator/activists.

For me, so far it's been a great couple of days. For one thing, I've been able to meet and hear from lots of new and old friends, including, for the first time face-to-face some fellow members of the SOS National Steering Committee like United Opt-Out organizer Peggy Robertson, dynamic Florida educator/organizer Ceresta Smith, and former Rochester superintendent, Don "Bart" Bartolo. I also got to hang out at lunch with  teacher and parent organizer Dov Rosenberg from Parents Across America who rode the bus to D.C. from Durham, N.C.. Dov and I are scheduled to co-present on Monday.

Jesse Turner

This morning at 11 a.m. I get to hear fellow SOSer Jesse Turner talk about, "Children more than data," or  how the current NCLB/RTTT assessment framework is both unethical and unbalanced. Along with being a member of the SOS National Steering Committee, Jesse also serves as Director of the Central Connecticut State University Literacy Center.

Yesterday afternoon, I got to hear a powerful and devastating critique of Teach For America (TFA)  delivered by New York City mentor teacher, David Greene. I already knew a little about David's work from reading Anthony Cody's Edweek blog.

Following David's stirring presentation (big mistake) I was handed the bullhorn and got to talk a little about the current assault on public education, public school teachers,  public space in general and public decision-making, especially home in Chicago. I also did an interview with Opt-Outer Tim Slekar and Shaun Johnson  who are doing some great alternative radio stuff. at @chalkface. 

Urban Prep charter hype redux

Lots of extra resources for Urban Prep

The media usually go nuts every year when  Chicago's Urban Prep Academy announces it has enrolled 100% of it's graduates in college. In Arne Duncan's Race To The Top, Urban Prep is definitely considered a winner.

I always applaud founder Tim King and the Urban Prep teachers and counselors for meeting their yearly goal. I mean, this is a school that only accepts students who are committed to going to college. Those more interested or financially compelled to go directly into the world of work, need not apply. College enrollment is its reason for being and students are, from the start, dressed up in preppy outfits, blazers and striped ties, to get them into the Ivy League frame of mind. I wonder how many are actually headed to the Ivy League or to schools (or jobs) where people actually dress like this? I also wonder how many of those enrolled will be able to afford skyrocketing college tuition or make it all the way through to graduation.

Urban Prep is located in the south-side, racially-isolated Englewood community and is the only all-African-American, all-male charter high school in Chicago. It's been touted by some reformers as a "Chicago miracle," and "no excuses" school and proof of the superiority of charters over the city's "failing" public schools. It is also a school that has been successful in attracting large donations from celebrities like Oprah Winfrey and one that is able to spend $12,000 per student -- certainly not on par with wealthy suburban schools, but high by CPS standards.

But once you cut through all the hype, Urban Prep is anything but a miracle. For one thing, only about half of its students even make it to their senior year. This high attrition rate is typical of charter schools and neighborhood schools alike. For another, despite its strong emphasis on test scores, UP's reading and math scores are among the lowest in the district and usually fall below the CPS average for African-American male students.

Last year the school had its charter renewed even though it failed to meet most of its own accountability targets. Only 17 percent of Urban Prep juniors passed their state exams a year ago, far lower than the district average of 29 percent. On the positive side, that beats the 8.4 percent passing rate in many neighboring high schools. But nevertheless, nothing to write home about. 

As I pointed out last year, the school's entire graduating class has been accepted to four-year universities even though only 12% of them met the college readiness benchmark in reading and only 36% met the benchmark in English on the ACT exam. And while UP's composite ACT score is a few (3) points higher than nearby high schools, it's important to remember that Urban Prep ISN'T a neighborhood school. It draws its students from 31 different zip-codes in the city.

So yes, congratulations to the teachers and students who made it through 4 years at Urban Prep. But let's put an end to all the hype and the playing off of UP against other public schools, all of which could do a hell of a lot better with Urban Prep's resources.

In D.C. with an eye on Chicago

I'm in D.C. for the Occupy the DOE events. I don't speak until Monday so I'm taking in the other presentations and will be reporting on some of them as time allows.

Occupiers should find strength and solidarity vibes floating in from Spain where there's a general strike and where nearly a million protesters are demanding an end to austerity and budget cuts from Madrid to the Basque country.

Meanwhile back in Chicago, I see that the mayor persists in his denial of First Amendment rights to those who want to demonstrate their opposition to NATO's war machine next month. He continues to defend his refusal to allow a march in the Loop on the first day of the NATO Summit, claiming police will be too busy with all the motorcades for visiting delegates.  Of course there's noting in the Constitution allowing for suspension of free speech because the police are "too busy."

 However the real thing keeping them busy in the city's free-fire zones is an epidemic of gun violence. Last night alone there were 13 shot and 2 killed within 6 hours on city streets, all of them between the ages of 16 and 24.

Conditions of life for inner-city youth continue to worsen. The costs are high. Joblessness, easy access to guns, instability caused in so small measure by continued school closings and teacher firings, and growing poverty all contribute to the crisis. 

So far, Emanuel has had no problem in raising $36.5 million from his rich, powerful friends to pay for all the bells and whistles around the NATO Summit. But still no money in sight to pay for lost teaching positions or schools in general. The mayor will say that by bringing this up, we are just making excuses for falling test scores. Is anybody buying that?

Welcome to Chicago, NATO protesters. 

Back to Ohio...

On the road again today. I'm heading back to Ohio to do some speaking. Then on to D.C. to take part in Occupy the DOE with lots of other folks. Hope to see you there.

At yesterday's press conference

Isabel Nuñez from Concordia Univ. at  press conference

I went to yesterday's press conference to stand with other academics in support of  (CReATE). The research group presented its "Open Letter of Concern Regarding Chicago’s Implementation of Legislation for the Evaluation of Teachers and Principals" to the mayor yesterday.

Academics from 15 universities, including many that run teacher education programs, warned in the letter that relying heavily on student test scores to evaluate teachers will negatively impact students. CPS is currently in negotiations with the teachers union over a new evaluation system, which state law requires be in place in at least 300 CPS schools by fall. I signed on to the letter and took part in the press conference, but thought the statement could have been stronger in its recommendations. It currently calls on the mayor to,

1. Pilot and adjust the evaluation system before implementing it on a large scale.
2. Minimize the percentage that student growth counts in teacher or principal evaluation.

Speakers at the press conference included: Kevin Kumashiro, Professor of Asian American Studies and Education at UIC; Isabel Nuñez, Assoc. Professor of Foundations, Social Policy and Research, Concordia University;  David Stovall, Associate Professor of Educational Policy Studies and African American Studies at UIC; Therese Quinn:, Chair of Art Education School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and Erica Meiners, Professor of Educational Foundations, Women’s Studies, and Latina/o and Latin American Studies
at NIU.

The Tribune, WGN, Catalyst, and WBEZ have coverage this morning.

Duncan Etch-a-Sketches on publishing teacher names in Times

Talk about your Etch-a-Sketch politicians -- Arne Duncan was the first in line to applaud the L.A. Times for its publishing of teachers names alongside students test scores, a new low in public debasement of the teaching profession. "What's there to hide?" asked a glib Duncan back in August of 2010.

But now it's 2012 and the winds of change are blowing in the other direction (I hope). Not to mention that his boss is up for reelection in a few months and millions of teachers vote. For whatever reason, Duncan now says he's against the New York Times doing it.

 "Do you need to publish every single teacher's rating in the paper? I don't think you do," he said. "There's not much of an upside there, and there's a tremendous downside for teachers. We're at a time where morale is at a record low. ... We need to be sort of strengthening teachers, and elevating and supporting them."

When asked about his obvious flip-flop by Edweek reporter, Stephen Sawchuck, Duncan wriggles around a bit and then, instead of just saying he was wrong, tries to reconcile both positions.

"What I was reacting to in L.A. was this mind-boggling situation where teachers were denied access to this data. The only way they could get it was through the newspaper," he claims.

"May God have mercy on us..."

Lake Board votes on cuts

I'm heading back to Ohio this week to speak at Kenyon College and then on to D.C. to speak at Occupy the DOE. While at Bowling Green last Thursday, I picked up a copy of the local Sentinel-Tribune. The lead story about the devastating cuts being made in nearby Lake Township schools has stayed with me all the way back to Chicago.

It starts with the Lake Board's ceremony recognizing the accomplishments of its students.

There was a parade of outstanding basketball players, superior-rated music students and the top speller at Lake Elementary. The middle school quiz bowl team got kudos for being tops in the county.

Then the other shoe drops. The Board votes to strip $1.15 million from the district's budget. That's 43 positions, including eight teachers, and the all-day everyday kindergarten program. They blame the cuts on $1.6 million lost this year in state and federal funding, combined with a decrease in property taxes, plus the rejection of two levies last year.

"This board now has no choice but to make these deep and devastating cuts," said board president Tim Krugh before a crowd of about 200 in the middle school cafeteria. "It's heartbreaking to me that we are forced to take this action that we are compelled to take. May God have mercy on us."

Each of the five board members spoke before voting unanimously to make the cuts. There was no public commentary before the vote.

WEEKEND QUOTABLES

President Obama

"If I had a son, he'd look like Trayvon. I can only imagine what his parents are going through. When I think about this boy, I think about my own kids." -- AP Wire

Jesse Jackson

 "Why isn't America outraged, that far more people die of gun violence in one year in America than the number of soldiers killed in the wars waged in Iraq and Afghanistan?" -- L.A. Times

Rahm Emanuel

“Taking the politics out of politics is like taking the money out of capitalism.” -- Meet the New Boss

Rahm to white, middle-class parents

“Don’t head for the doors when your kid’s in fifth grade or sixth grade — for the suburbs — because the city of Chicago is going to give you a high-quality life with a high-quality education for your children."  -- Sun-Times

Fernando Castro, 14, Brighton High School

“I don’t eat school lunch anyway.  It looks weird.” -- ‘Pink Slime’ Is Vanishing From School Cafeterias

The Urban Ed Conference at Bowling Green

Thanks to the great folks at the ECCO Learning Community (Educators in Context and Community) for inviting me to keynote their Urban Education Conference at Bowling Green University, Friday. The entire conference was great. I especially enjoyed the many informal discussions with ECCO students and then listening to several of their presentations at the break out sessions. ECCO is a small learning community of education students and faculty within the college of education.

My keynote speech Friday evening, was followed by a showing of the documentary film, Louder than a Bomb which drew an emotional audience response. 

IN THE MAILBOX

TO:       Journalists Who Cover Education
FROM:  Bob Schaeffer, Public Education Director, National Center for Fair & Open Testing (FairTest)
RE:       Test Cheating
DATE:   March 24, 2012

The Atlanta Journal Constitution's investigation of suspicious test scores around the nation is the latest example of how the widespread, politically mandated misuse of standardized tests is damaging U.S. public schools and the children they serve. Yes, cheating on standardized exams is very widespread -- FairTest has documented confirmed cases of test score manipulation in 33 states plus the District of Columbia in just the past three academic years with apparent systematic patterns of improper behavior in at least a dozen (list available on request).

These scandals are the predictable result of over-reliance on test scores, as our fact sheet "Tests, Cheating and Educational Corruption" (http://fairtest.org/sites/default/files/Cheating_Fact_Sheet_8-17-11.pdf) demonstrates. In fact, most high-stakes testing practices violate the standards for professional assessment and, in many instances, the proper use guidelines of the exams' manufacturers themselves.

At the same time, the testing obsession has neither significantly improved overall school  performance nor closed persistent achievement gaps between racial groups, as demonstrated by the past decade's National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) results

Enhanced test security may reduce the number of reported problems, but a real solution requires a comprehensive overhaul of federal, state and local testing requirements. Politicians such as Education Secretary Arne Duncan need to stop mouthing platitudes and reexamine their own failed policies.

Please feel free to call on FairTest whenever you are reporting about any facet of testing or assessment. This weekend, I can be reached directly via my cell phone at 239 699-0468

Urban Education Conference at Bowling Green University

Friday and Saturday, March 23-24, in Olscamp Hall

The third annual Urban Education Conference is where BGSU undergraduates will be presenting alongside University faculty, graduate students, professional teachers, and administrators to learn from each other about the complexities of the urban education experience.

Keynote speaker Dr. Michael Klonsky, Small Schools Workshop, Chicago, will be presenting "Public Schools-An Endangered Species" at 6:30 p.m. on Friday, March 23, in 101 Olscamp Hall.

A showing of "Louder Than A Bomb" will be held at 8:30 p.m. on Friday, March 23, in the Student Union Theater.

Sessions with presentations will be held all day Saturday, March 24. Registration that day begins at 8:30 a.m. in Olscamp Hall.

For more information, please e-mail pcc@bgsu.edu.

Sponsored by ECCO Learning Community (Educators in Context and Community--formerly PCC)