Live Long and Prosper...

We continue to punish students, teachers, and schools with punitive standardized testing. One could argue that all this testing is worth it if it actually made a difference, but the truth is, testing only makes things worse.

A valid purpose for standardized testing might be for determining what students have learned. Yet despite the arguments against it such as the limitations of its content (reading and math, and not much else) and the cultural limitations putting some children at a disadvantage, we judge students, teachers, and schools, by this inadequate and often inappropriate measure.

For the most part, standardized tests are an excellent tool for determining students' economic backgrounds.


As for invalid purposes...we have those as well.

Invalid: We use tests to evaluate schools and to give them grades A through F and call it "accountability." Yet there's rarely "accountability" for the adults in legislatures and policy groups around the country who don't seem to understand that public schools don't choose their students. A school which is filled with poor children will have lower test scores. That doesn't mean they're not learning. It means that there's likely neglect on the part of the governing body (the city or state) to adequately fund and maintain the school. It means that standardized tests don't measure the arts, physical education, emotional development, and strength of character. It means that standardized tests don't take into account trauma, hunger, lack of medical care, environmental toxins, and housing insecurity. It means that one size does not fit all.

Invalid: We use tests to evaluate teachers calling them "effective" or "ineffective" based on a child's score. Schools filled with wealthy students have "effective" teachers. Schools filled with poor students have "ineffective" teachers. Why? If a school doesn't use test scores to evaluate teachers, then ignorant politicians will question how "failing schools" could have "effective" teachers without the slightest understanding that the "failure" is as much their fault as anyone else's. Instead, we continue to punish the teachers who work with the children who are the most difficult to teach.

Invalid: We use tests to punish students for not learning at the speed we want them to learn. How many eight and nine year olds around the country are retained in grade because they haven't mastered reading? How many policy makers have ever read the research on retention and its damaging effect on children? This is institutional child abuse based on faulty data.

ISTEP+ tossed for hundreds

Now comes the incompetent testing industry draining billions of tax dollars from public schools every year...using the wrong kinds of tests...in the wrong kinds of ways.

The company charged with administering Indiana's standardized tests, and sucking millions of dollars from already minimal budgets, has failed in its task...putting the burden on schools to beg the state not to hold them "accountable."

“It's so discouraging for the children. It's discouraging for everyone,” said Lori Vaughn, assistant superintendent at DeKalb Central United School District. “It is what it is. I hate that expression, but we're going to move on. It's a black eye when DOE puts (scores) out.”

She said 34 students in third grade at Waterloo Elementary and 19 students in fourth grade at the school will receive “undetermined” scores. This results in passing rates of less than 1 percent for third grade and 17 percent for fourth.

“It's horrific,” Vaughn said. “And that's what's going to be put out with no explanation. It will impact our participation rate and our accountability grade.”

Test scores are a large factor in the A-to-F accountability grades that schools will receive later this year.

Department of Education officials told Vaughn there is nothing that can be done now but schools can appeal those A-to-F grades when they are issued.

Discouraging? It's discouraging that after all this time we're still using these tests to punish students, teachers, and schools.

Politicians and policy makers will denounce public schools as "failures" blaming parents and teachers for low test scores. They don't realize that what standardized tests truly measure is a society's commitment to its children.

ISTEP FAIL


The Indiana Statewide Testing for Educational Progress, called ISTEP, is a mess.

First it was too long, then it was too hard, then it was too late. And now the too-long, too-hard, too-late test has just been revealed to have been the subject of scoring errors. The Indy Star explains...

Computer glitch could have misscored thousands of ISTEP tests, scoring supervisors say

Scores on thousands of student exams could be incorrect because of a computer malfunction that inadvertently changed grades on Indiana’s high-stakes ISTEP test, according to scoring supervisors familiar with the glitch.

But the company that scored the exam on behalf of the state — testing giant CTB McGraw Hill — decided to leave those potentially faulty scores in place, even after the problem was brought to management’s attention, the supervisors said.

Company executives would not speak with The Indianapolis Star, but in a letter Tuesday to the Indiana Department of Education, Executive Vice President Ellen Haley downplayed the problem. She said the issue “was very rare” and “did not affect student scores.”

Seven supervisors who spoke with The Star disagreed. All said they believed the problem was more widespread. Two estimated that tens of thousands of test questions were likely given incorrect scores. Others said it is difficult to put a number on the problem, but it was pervasive enough to merit rescoring the potentially impacted tests.

This has inflamed bloggers, pundits, and educators all over the state. Dave Bangert sums it up...

Bangert: The ISTEP Dumpster fire

ISTEP has tumbled and crashed the way educators across the state predicted as obvious back in January and February. In those days, the dire warnings from classrooms around the state were blown off by those with Statehouse clout as just more excuses about the testing culture of school reform. That’s dereliction of a different sort.

The incompetence of CTB McGraw Hill simply removes all doubt, pounding one more nail in a coffin for a round of testing that should have been lowered into the ground long ago.

Everyone, from your local school superintendent, to the Indiana State Teachers Association, is calling for the legislature to "pause accountability" since the tests used to measure schools and evaluate teachers are so messed up. Even the Governor has agreed to ask the legislature to not use the test scores to grade teachers.

I disagree...we ought not "pause accountability." We ought to end it.

ACCOUNTABILITY

Most "reformers" don't read my blog, but if there are any out there, I'm not calling for an end to all accountability for schools and teachers. I'm calling for an end to "reform-style" accountability.

I'll explain.

Standardized tests, assuming that they're valid and reliable to begin with (another post for the future), ought to be used for that which they have been developed. In other words, student achievement tests ought to be used to measure student achievement, not to evaluate teachers and schools. By definition, student achievement tests are invalid when used to measure anything else.

James Popham, UCLA Professor Emeritus, wrote in 2001 that there were only four appropriate uses for standardized student achievement tests.

Informing parents about their children’s relative achievements
Informing teachers about their students’ relative achievements
Selecting students for special programs
Allocating supplemental resources

He also listed four inappropriate uses.

Evaluating schools
Evaluating teachers
Promoting or grading students
Making classroom instructional decisions

Even earlier (1982) was this from "Ability Testing: Uses, Consequences, and Controversies"

A test score is a numerical description of a sample of performance at a given point in time. A test score gives no information as to why the individual performed as reported.

Claiming that it does, whether intended as a positive attribute or a criticism, is tantamount to test misuse. Furthermore, no statistical manipulation of test data, even though combined with the best additional data, will permit more than probabilistic inferences about causation or future performance.

In other words, a student's score on a student achievement test should not be used to show that a teacher (or school) was the cause of the student's score.

In order to use a test in a way other than the purpose for which it was intended, the user must be able to show how the test retains its validity. To my knowledge, the developer of ISTEP has never shown how it is a valid tool for evaluating schools and teachers other than the non-research based explanation of "it shows what the kids know, therefore the teachers and schools must be responsible." (For just one of many reasons this isn't true, see Poverty and Potential: Out-of-School Factors and School Success

"Reform-style" accountability, then, insists that tests do more than they were developed to do. It insists that tests be used to evaluate schools and teachers. This is a common, though blatant misuse of tests.

I'd love to see proof that the ISTEP has been developed to include measuring the effectiveness of schools and teachers, in addition to measuring student achievement.

If there is none (and I don't think there is), we need to stop, not just pause, using it for those purposes.


For more information about ISTEP see:
A CLOSER LOOK: ISTEP SCORES, A HISTORY AND WHAT IT MEANS FOR YOUR SCHOOL

[NOTE: This blog entry discusses bills which have been introduced in the 2015 session of the Indiana General Assembly. As of this posting (2/19/2015) none of the bills have become law. The purpose of including them in this entry is to describe the attitudes and agenda of the anti-public education forces in Indiana.]

HOW DARE SHE!

The Indiana General Assembly is conducting it's annual "let's-see-how-much-we-can-damage-public-education" campaign. This year they started with the Superintendent of Public Instruction. So much has been written about the problems that Superintendent Ritz has with the State Board of Education (SBOE) that it would be impossible for me to attempt to summarize it here. The following, however, expresses the gist of the conflict...

What's The Matter With Indiana

The Indiana GOP has been trying to separate Ritz from any power. They cite any number of complaints about her work style and competence (the GOP president of the Senate famously commented "In all fairness, Superintendent Ritz was a librarian, okay?") and most of the complaints smell like nothing but political posturing. [emphasis and link added]

...and the most perceptive quote from the entire article...

...This is a state that really hates its public schools.

All three branches of the state government have been working together to privatize public education well before Ritz took office in 2012. She was elected -- the lone Democrat winning a state-wide office in a blood-red state -- because voters, Republicans and Democrats alike, were tired of the "reformist" education policies of Mitch Daniels and Tony Bennett.

This was too much for the Republicans in the governor's office and the legislature to take...so Ritz became the target. How dare she defeat well-funded, "reform"-backed, Tony Bennett. How dare she disagree with the governor and all the "reformist" legislators (and lest I be called partisan, Pence's opponent in the race for governor was John Gregg...a Democratic "reformer." I know that the Democrats in the legislature are fighting against the Republican-led "reforms" now, but is it because they really support public education or is it simply that they don't like Republican-led anything?).



REVERSING THE 2012 ELECTION

Republicans: 2012 election doesn't matter

The Republicans in the governor's office and the legislature have finally gotten their way -- or at least they will after Governor Pence signs the bill stripping Superintendent Ritz of her chairmanship of the SBOE. Here's a report about the vote in the House.

If you’re one of the 1.3 million Hoosiers who voted for Glenda Ritz, congratulations — you’ve potentially been disenfranchised by 58 members of the Indiana General Assembly.

You elected Ritz as superintendent of public instruction and chairwoman of the State Board of Education.

They — 58 Republicans — decided to throw out your vote. After a single hour of debate, they approved a bill Monday removing Ritz as board chairwoman.

You elected a Democrat as a counterbalance to Republican educationpolicies. They said your vote doesn’t matter.

Indiana Senate votes to remove Ritz from chair; here's how your senator voted

The Senate followed suit...

The Republican-dominated Indiana Senate has advanced a bill that would remove Democratic schools Superintendent Glenda Ritz from automatically chairing the State Board of Education.

Senate members voted 33-17 Tuesday to advance the proposal that would allow board members to elect their own chairman, most likely removing Ritz from the position.

So the precedent has been made and the legislature can now change the job description of a member of the executive department, elected by the people, in the middle of a term of office. Would a Republican legislature dare to change the job description of a Democratic governor (or secretary of state or auditor, or any other state-wide elected office) in the middle of a term? This sets that precedent. Checks and Balances anyone?

The truth is that Glenda Ritz will be stripped of her chairmanship of the SBOE for two simple reasons. First, she defeated Tony Bennett and the Republicans in the state have, from day one, sought to overturn that election. Even Senator Long admitted (in this video starting at about minute 11:00) that some of the moves against the superintendent appear

...like the Republicans are trying to take away her job. And I think it does appear that way right now.

He was talking specifically about the move to make the job of Superintendent of Public Instruction an appointed position. The fact is, however, that the appearance of partisanship is pervasive.

The second and more immediate reason, is because Glenda Ritz ran against the Republican-led "reform" movement in Indiana -- and won. The establishment of CECI, the conflict with the SBOE, the successful move to end her chairmanship over the SBOE, and other bills now before the legislature, are simply the governor and his followers on the SBOE and in the legislature doing everything they can to stifle any dissent over their move to privatize education in Indiana.


EQUALITY IS NOT EQUITY

IPS would lose out in education funding overhaul

Not satisfied with taking power away from the superintendent and effectively disenfranchising 1.3 million voters, the legislators then turned their attention to the fact that schools with higher needs received higher levels of support. We certainly can't have that, so the next step was to introduce a bill which would make everything "equal."

Do they realize that it takes more resources to educate students who live in poverty than wealthy students? Probably...but poor and even middle class constituents don't donate as much money to political campaigns as do the wealthy and, in Indiana, as in the rest of the nation, money talks.

The shift pushed by conservatives is intended to move toward a "money following the student" plan that helps growing suburban districts but hits urban districts like Indianapolis Public Schools [IPS] hardest. As a result:

•IPS would lose roughly $18 million over the next two years as it continues to lose students.

•Hamilton Southeastern, one of the state's largest suburban districts, will receive $24 million more.

•Northwest Hendricks Schools Corp, a more rural district, will see an overall increase of close to $1.3 million.

Brown, R-Crawfordsville, said the changes would reduce the gap in per pupil funding among the highest and lowest funded school districts from $2,934 to $1,618 by 2017.

State budget proposal shifts aid toward wealthy schools

Indianapolis Public Schools, for example, would see a 6 percent reduction in total state tuition aid by 2017 despite being one of the state’s poorest districts, with more than 75 percent of children coming from families that are poor enough to qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. Some of the state’s other poorest cities also would face basic tuition aid cuts: 19 percent for Gary, 10.5 percent for East Chicago and 3 percent for Hammond by 2017.

Meanwhile, the two wealthiest school districts in the state for family income — Zionsville and Carmel — would see large increases in total state basic tuition aid: 10.6 percent and 10.7 percent, respectively, over the two-year budget period. Neither district has more than 10 percent of its students qualifying for free or reduced-price lunch.

At the same time, the proposed budget also would provide more money for public charter schools and private schools receiving publicly funded tuition vouchers.

Notice where the big increase in school funding is going, then...to the wealthy, to charter schools, and to vouchers for private and parochial schools.

The U.S. is one of the three "advanced nations where schools serving better-off children usually have more educational resources than those serving poor students." So much for our dedication to eliminating the achievement gap.



SBOE VS. IDOE

House moves to shorten ISTEP, broaden state board’s testing role

Members of the SBOE have, since Ritz was elected, argued that the SBOE is the education policy making body and the job of the Department of Education is to carry out that policy. That's about to change...

Here's a bill which would give the SBOE more power to micromanage education and the state's Department of Education and lessen local control of education.

But a series of changes the amendment lays out would address state board concerns over recent months. It requires the department to share data with the state board and consult with its members on testing contracts. House Bill 1072 also would let the board set minimum requirements for student test score gains. That’s a decision local schools get to make under current law.

Thompson and other Republicans on the committee said the bill would not shift any authority from Ritz to the state board. Democrats weren’t buying that the changes would have no influence.

Walker said she found the new rules in House Bill 1072 baffling. The department already consults with the state board, she said, and the bill would only require a duplication of efforts.

“It’s that they don’t trust you,” Rep. Vernon Smith, D-Gary, suggested.

Vic’s Statehouse Notes #203 – February 16, 2015: House Bill 1639

Need more? If passed House Bill 1639 would give the SBOE more micromanaging access...this time to student data, and they'll spend more tax dollars in the process.

There is, however, no let up in the Statehouse battles over public education...

...House Bill 1639...would put control of a new system to expand access to student records in the hands of the State Board, not the Indiana Department of Education. For the first time, it would make the State Board an administrative agency, handling student data functions that have always been controlled by the Indiana Department of Education. The expanded data access through this data warehouse will cost $4.1 million as projected by the non-partisan Legislative Services Agency, requiring an independent computer staff for the State Board with a new stand alone computer system. The duplication of services is obvious.

The $4.1 million price tag is more than the current entire annual budget for the State Board of $3 million and of course far more than the annual budget for professional development, which stands at zero.

This is a major salvo in the battle to move functions out of the Indiana Department of Education under the control of State Superintendent Ritz and into the ___domain of the State Board controlled by Governor Pence.

EXTRA PERKS FOR PRIVATE SCHOOLS

Indiana: Senate Committee Approves Bill to Exempt Voucher Schools from State Testing

How much worse can it get?

If you're not yet convinced that the Republican leaders in Indiana hate public schools...how about a bill which would allow private and parochial schools, most of which, receive state money in the form of vouchers, to forego the state mandated testing program. The bill would allow them to "choose their own test." The budget proposed by the governor gives a higher increase to charter and voucher accepting private schools than to public schools. This is just another plus for private schools...the obvious "choice" of the governor. Public schools don't get this "choice."

Today, February 12, the Senate Education Committee voted to exempt voucher schools receiving public money from ISTEP, the state testing program. It was a straight party-line vote, 7-3. The voucher schools may take a test of their own choosing.

ANYONE CAN TEACH

House Bill 1639

Ok, one more just for show...

Among the many bills before the legislature there are those which would further the demoralization, and deprofessionalization of teachers by stripping them of what little employee rights they have left, lower qualifications to let Joe Nobody from off the street step into a classroom and teach, and other insane and educationally unsound ideas.

It's bad enough that teachers' evaluations are based on student test scores, a practice which is invalid at worse and unreliable at best. The idea behind this bill is to have a popularity contest included in a teacher's evaluation.

Someone came up with the bright idea of having parents and students share in the evaluation of teachers...because we know that students are mature and experienced enough to recognize excellence in teaching.

Provides that, before July 1, 2016, the state board shall develop a survey to be used by a school corporation to allow parents and grade appropriate students to evaluate certificated employees.

REAL PROBLEMS EXIST

Hunger, poverty, substance abuse, suicide impact Indiana kids at high rates

The governor thinks that Indiana is doing just swell...and it's true we had a $2 billion at the end of the last fiscal year. Maybe it's time to spend that money...maybe it's time to remind the leaders of the state that the reason we collect taxes is so that we can use it to help improve the lot of our citizens.

Instead of wasting time and money fighting against public schools perhaps they could work on some more pressing problems...

While the economy has shown a rebound, it doesn't seemed to be changing the trajectory of several indicators related to poverty. About 22.3 percent of Indiana children live in poverty, but Lake County has a higher percentage than the state — 27.7 percent in 2013. The poverty rate for children is lower in Porter County — 15 percent — but it has seen a steady increase from 9.9 percent in 2004.

...Suicide...According to a nationwide survey, Indiana has the highest rate in the nation of teens who have considered suicide in the past 12 months — 19 percent — and the second highest rate in the nation of teens who have attempted suicide — 11 percent.

...Stress and Violence...Nineteen percent of Indiana children living in poverty have witnessed domestic violence.

...Substance abuse...Abuse of prescription drugs among teens has increased by more than 95 percent from 2003 to 2014.

...Infant Mortality...In 2012, the state saw 6.7 deaths for every 1,000 live births, but the number was much higher in Lake County at 9.9, among minority groups, rural residents and those who are low-income.

The narrow pursuit of test results has sidelined education issues of enduring importance such as poverty, equity in school funding, school segregation, health and physical education, science, the arts, access to early childhood education, class size, and curriculum development. We have witnessed the erosion of teachers’ professional autonomy, a narrowing of curriculum, and classrooms saturated with “test score-raising” instructional practices that betray our understandings of child development and our commitment to educating for artistry and critical thinking. And so now we are faced with “a crisis of pedagogy”–teaching in a system that no longer resembles the democratic ideals or tolerates the critical thinking and critical decision-making that we hope to impart on the students we teach.

The Governor, Governor-elect, some members of the legislature, and the rest of the pro-"reformers" in Indiana can't admit that Glenda Ritz, the Superintendent of Public Instruction-elect was elected because of dissatisfaction with the pro-privatization status quo which includes 1) a massively invasive testing program stealing time from students' instruction, 2) a voucher program which is stripping Indiana's public schools of funds, 3) pro charter and privatization initiatives from the superintendent's office, 4) the dismantling of the profession of teaching in Indiana, and 5) the takeover of local schools and the threatened takeover of entire school corporations. Instead they blame an imaginary misinformation campaign.

In a meeting with The Journal Gazette editorial board today, Gov. Mitch Daniels continued to insist voters' rejection of state Superintendent Tony Bennett was not a rejection of the aggressive education agenda they shared, but instead the result of underhanded campaign tactics.

GOP firm despite education coup

If the idea of a misinformation campaign doesn't convince you, then how about this? The Speaker of the Indiana House claims that it was simply a personality clash between teachers and outgoing superintendent Tony Bennett.

“This is not an indictment in any way of reforms,” [GOP House Speaker] Bosma said. “Some of the education reform controversy deals with the tone and presentation of the reforms and how it’s explained. Occasionally the discussion moved into arenas that teachers found offensive.”

Did Bennett Really Lose in Indiana?

Still not convinced? Bennett himself said it was the fault of the state teachers union...and the enemies of reform who don't want the common core standards.

The reason, Bennett said, is that he knew the Indiana teachers' unions would be "formidable foes" in any election fight, and that his policy initiatives in the last four years would generate strong opposition from some in the state education establishment. Bennett is a big national voice on issues prioritized by so-called "education reform" advocates, but his education stardom wasn't enough to satisfy Hoosier voters, who gave Ritz 52 percent of the vote and Bennett 48 percent...

Excuses!

Let's get this straight...Glenda Ritz, who got more votes than Governor-Elect Pence, won the office of State Superintendent because 1) voters were misinformed, 2) Tony Bennett has an unpleasant and abrasive personality and 3) the state teachers unions influenced enough people to cross party lines and vote for a Democrat in this race (but not the race for Governor).

I don't think so.

What's more likely is that a coalition of teachers, parents, and concerned citizens participated in a grass roots campaign which educated people around the state about the pro-privatization and anti-public education policies of the current administration. The excuses from the privatizers are just that...excuses. The Republican leadership in Indiana doesn't want to admit that they were beaten on the issues. They would rather pretend that something else happened...an anomaly...cheating...misinformation...anything to explain away their loss after spending 4 times as much money ($1.5 million, much of it from out of state) as their opponent.

Maybe they don't want the grass-roots success of Glenda Ritz to catch on...maybe they don't want the citizens of Indiana to realize the power they have to change things.

Diane Ravitch has an explanation...

How Did David Beat Goliath in Indiana?

...teachers, principals and superintendents were angry, but that would not be enough to beat him.

The unions were angry, but that would not be enough to beat him.

Parents were angry at the avalanche of testing. There are lots and lots of parents. That would matter.

Hoosiers who graduated from public schools, who loved their teachers, who respect the importance of public education figured out that he was doing his best to turn it over to entrepreneurs.

Maybe that’s what did it.

Ritz ran on a platform of less testing and more teaching, public money going to public schools, local control (which I always thought was a Republican talking point!) and an end to the privatization of public schools. Daniels, Pence, Bosma, et al, ought to join the grass-roots effort to change the direction of public education in Indiana before the people turn on them.

Other comments from around the web...

LETTER: Ritz win a blow to bullies

This letter writer scolds the "bullies" who are claiming that Ritz's election is not a mandate for change from the "putting private schools first" agenda of the state.

The election of Glenda Ritz was an enormous victory for our public schools. The "Putting Private Schools First" agenda and those who developed it were sent a strong message that our teachers know what is best for education in Indiana. The voters who crossed party lines to remove the thorn in the side of public schools should be commended and their voices not silenced. To say that you will continue the current reform efforts and downplay the significance of the defeat of its poster boy does not seem like a wise choice. I would expect a person in the highest position in the state to listen to the experts in the field, not direct them to the sidelines and show your backside.

Glenda Ritz: I knew I was going to be elected

She knew it all along...

We organized grassroots coalitions and energized people through the social media. It just got broader and broader to the point where when you put a message on Facebook that says, “Take your signs to the polling places,” and people just do it. We only had 2,500 yard signs statewide. It got to the point where we said, “Call 25 of your friends,” and they’d call 50. Whatever we put out, people went and did. I knew a month out that I was going to be elected. I was traveling all over the state and it was energized. It was exciting. Our Facebook page visits have gone up tremendously since the race. My husband was posting at 6 a.m., before school, about what I was doing each day and we’d get lots of hits instantly. We’re still doing that. I knew the base was huge. I would have been shocked if we lost. I was telling people for weeks I was going to win and they were like, “yeah, right.”

Can Glenda Ritz Work With A New, Pence-Appointed State Board?

One of the biggest challenges facing state superintendent-elect Glenda Ritz is the fact that the governor's office, the state school board and the legislature are all against her and her policies. How will she handle that challenge?

In the early stages of her campaign, state superintendent-elect Glenda Ritz knew that defeating well-funded and highly-visible incumbent Tony Bennett would only be her first challenge.

The next challenge — barring fellow Democrats retaking Indiana’s General Assembly or governorship — would be winning over the State Board of Education, the executive panel charged with overseeing Ritz’s work.

Republican Governor-elect Mike Pence, who opposes Ritz’s stances as much as Bennett, appoints the members of that board.

Governor Daniels, Governor-elect Pence, the Indiana state legislature: Honor our 1,300,000 votes for Glenda Ritz

The grass-roots movement hasn't quit...here's a petition on change.org asking the Republican leadership to accept the fact that Ritz's victory was a victory for a change to the "reformer's" status quo.

Indiana voters elected Glenda Ritz as our new Superintendent of Public Instruction by a large margin. She received roughly 1,300,000 votes--about 100,000 more votes than the governor-elect, Mike Pence. Now, however, Governor Daniels refuses to acknowledge that our election of Glenda Ritz sent a clear message on the direction of school reform, saying instead: "The consensus and momentum for reform and change in Indiana is rock solid." Governor-elect Mike Pence is also choosing to interpret the election results as a "strong affirmation on the progress of education reform in this state," (Journal Gazette 11/8/12). On the contrary: when Indiana voters elected Glenda Ritz as superintendent, we rejected the top-down, corporate reform model imposed by the state. We embraced Ritz's platform and her research-backed proposals to support and improve our public schools.

More...

Mapping The ‘Campaign In A Box’: How Glenda Ritz Won Indiana

Ritz upsets Bennett in Indiana superintendent race

Glenda Ritz wins surprise state superintendent victory over incumbent Republican Tony Bennett

Glenda Ritz Wins Superintendent Job In Indiana, Upsetting Republican Incumbent Tony Bennett


Readers from Indiana, did you vote for Glenda Ritz?

Let Governor-Elect Pence and the Indiana Legislature know that we voted for her because we rejected the top-down, corporate reform model imposed by the state. We embraced Ritz's platform and her research-backed proposals to support and improve our public schools.

Click here to sign the Petition!

1.3 million signatures by Thanksgiving!!

LETTERS TO THE PRESIDENT

There are only two more days. Please consider contributing your thoughts about NCLB and Race to the Top in the form of a letter to the President. Instructions can be found at the end of this blog entry.

A Powerful, Important Letter to President Obama

This was posted on Diane Ravitch's blog. It's a portion of a letter to the President from Nancy Carlsson-Paige. Click the link above to read the entire, excellent letter.

...Children of the wealthy and privileged such as your daughters attend elite private or public schools. Children of less affluent families who are relatively able students with better informed parents increasingly find their way to charter schools, many of which have access to private funding and greater resources. But the third tier is left for the majority of poor or working-class children who must attend underfunded, under resourced, mostly inner-city public schools.

...Please look closely at how your education policies are impacting children, especially our youngest and poorest children. Your focus on competition and market-driven reforms is resulting in greater inequities in our education system and an undermining of our public schools. A vibrant, flourishing public education system is the cornerstone of our democracy. Please be willing to re-examine and reverse the direction of your approach to education. Please don’t be the President who abandoned our nation’s children and our public education system.

Other teachers have posted their letters on Dr. Ravitch's blog as well. Many clearly express the frustration and anger felt by teachers at the destruction of public schools. The love these teachers have for their profession, and for their students comes through in their words. Their disappointment in the President's policies is vividly described. The frustration they feel as they have to sit by and watch public education being sold to the highest bidder is powerful and tragic. Some of them, with mixed feelings like I had, have left teaching behind. They've been defeated by the "reformers" who have used their billions to buy public education and America's children.

Here are some selections from Dr. Ravitch's blog...

Diana

Your Race to the Top program is misguided and destructive. You have said that you do not believe in “teaching to the test.” Yet your Race to the Top program has had the effect of forcing schools and teachers to spend an inordinate amount of time doing just that, much to the detriment of student learning and motivation. Schools should be collegial communities of learning, where principals support teachers, teachers support each other, and all support students’ understanding, motivation and personal growth. Instead, they have become anxiety-ridden places where principals and teachers exhaust themselves in an effort to produce the data that will prevent their schools from being labeled “failing.” And authentic educational experts assert that the data being pursued is flawed at best. Yet it is driving the educational process all across the nation. Race to the Top has become an abusive program that undermines the efforts of educators to do their real jobs of fostering critical thinking and creativity in their students.

gailrichmond

When I listen to you speak it is clear to me that you have no clue about what it’s like to be a teacher, nor do you care. I believe “education” to politicians is one of those terms that is used to either fuel the anti-union fire or to appease the parents across the US who care about their child’s education. If you truly respected teachers and wanted the best for public school children, you would have actual teachers with many years of experience in the field advise you or work with you to develop policy...

I want you to know, that due to your policies and those of Andrew Cuomo, I have switched my party affiliation to Independent, after being a lifelong Democrat. I did NOT contribute to your campaign, nor will I. I have WITHDRAWN my PAC money from VOTE COPE and have urged my colleagues to do the same. NYSUT and AFT (my parent unions) might be supporting you, but the average teacher is NOT. I have called on Mr. Iannuzzi to represent MY feelings. I’m sure I’m one of thousands of NYSUT members calling for the same. I am an education activist and will continue to rally teachers across the US. Your silence has been deafening but perhaps it is what we needed to wake us up. To shake us into action and to fight for this thing that we all love-public education.

Kristen

One year ago I moved 4,382 miles so I could teach. This December I will move back 4,382 miles and not be returning to the teaching profession. I cannot bring myself to return to a system that is so utterly broken and using our students as fodder in political games. Continuing Bush era policies couched under a new name (Race To The Top) hasn’t made them work better or improved learning conditions for millions of American students. By failing to offer a truly new vision of education policy, your administration has failed to grow hope where it has been sorely eroding; public schools...

Making mistakes, I tell my students, is how we learn. I also teach them, Mr. President, that it takes courage and vulnerability to admit our mistakes and as long as we don’t keep making them we’re doing pretty well.

Creating Race To The Top was a mistake and continues to leach the public out of public schools. It is time to take responsibility and own the mistake.

Linnea

It takes intuition, compassion, willingness to go the extra mile for a kid and a geeky personality that gets a tremendous amount of satisfaction out of helping someone learn. This job is hard, has always been hard, no matter how smart you are. This is a job in which you could always do better. There is no upper limit, just daily reflection on how you could improve next time. Satisfaction comes in small doses, and sometimes in big ones when you see the success of your former students. We do not need to beat up teachers. Nothing at all good will come of it, but several very bad things will.

CORPORATE CHARTERS*

Today's lesson: charters do not outperform unionized schools

"Reformers" claim that charter schools perform higher than regular public schools. Some "reformers" blame teachers unions...other just blame teachers. Studies show that charters, as a whole, do not perform better than regular public schools.

Besides, the chief barometers for measuring good versus bad are standardized tests that bear little relation to anything of value that anyone would eventually do in a real profession, or in life. Plus, students can improve their scores by taking special classes, should their parents be able to afford them. Which is another way of saying that higher scores can be bought—like just about everything else in Chicago.

The Great Charter Charade

• Charter schools, public schools, and private schools all have essentially indistinguishable ranges of student outcomes. Research shows there is nothing about the way school is packaged among the three that produces uniquely superior outcomes.
• Charter schools do, however, appear to have a powerful segregating effect that is detrimental to the goals of universal public education.
• Charter schools are allowed autonomy simultaneously with public schools losing autonomy; and the outcomes remain about the same.
• Charter school advocacy exposes the failure of promoting solutions without identifying problems.
• No compelling or substantial evidence exists showing that any form of competition creates better educational outcomes for the choices offered (such as charter schools) or the traditional schools. Isolated positive and negative data exist regarding the impact of competition.
• Charter school outliers receive disproportionate media coverage, almost no media scrutiny, and nearly no follow up that confirms we simply do not have evidence of "miracle" schools. Comparisons of apples to apples, scalability, and long-term data are almost never included in media support of charter schools.

INDIANA ELECTION

Indiana is a red state. It went for Obama in 2008, the first time in over 40 years a Democrat carried the state in a presidential race. The state legislature is dominated by Republicans, both the House and the Senate. The US Congressional delegation is as well. There is a slight chance that the Democrat will win former Senator Richard Lugar's Senate seat, however most polls indicate that it's too close to call at this time. The new Governor will likely be a Republican in 2012.

Tony Bennett is the Republican State Superintendent of Public Instruction. His challenger, Glenda Ritz, is counting on a "grass-roots" movement to unseat the powerful, pro-privatization, big-money backed Bennett.

Tony Bennett Selling the Big Lie about Need for Hoosier Teacher Accountability

In sum, much of the turmoil surrounding the need for greater teacher accountability is because Bennett has said teachers need improvement and endorsed his own statement saying so...

...Indiana, it is time for a change. How can Bennett think he is putting students first by continually putting teachers last? A teacher’s working conditions are the student’s learning conditions. Bennett’s denigration of the Hoosier teacher results in the denigration of all public education students.

It will take years to fix the damage Bennett has wreaked on Hoosier schools. Four more years of Tony Bennett’s policies and the damage may well be irreversible.

Time to halt Bennett’s ambitions

While enthusiastically promoting vouchers and charter schools, Bennett has expanded state control of local schools and exercised authority to hand them over to for-profit operators. Through the rule-making process, he has weakened the licensing requirements for teachers and administrators and now champions the national Common Core academic standards – less rigorous than Indiana’s highly acclaimed standards – and a new test to replace ISTEP+.

Also troubling are his ties with out-of-state donors and corporate interests. He spent much of 2011 traveling the country, often at the expense of groups looking to privatize schools. His campaign donors include wealthy school-choice proponents. Wal-Mart heir Alice Walton gave him $200,000, and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg contributed $40,000. Some of the largest have come from groups backed by hedge-fund managers. Bennett’s campaign chest is nearing $1.5 million. Compare that to the $39,000 Reed had raised at the end of her 2004 re-election contest. Ritz has raised about $100,000 to compete against Bennett.

TESTING

Schooling Beyond Measure

Alfie Kohn reminds us that assessment hasn't always been limited to standardized tests. Measurement does not equal assessment. Assessment does not equal measurement. Teachers who are experienced and well trained "child watchers" are also necessary. Qualitative, rather than quantitative, assessment is what's needed in today's classrooms.

The reason that standardized test results tend to be so uninformative and misleading is closely related to the reason that these tests are so popular in the first place. That, in turn, is connected to our attraction to -- and the trouble with -- grades, rubrics, and various practices commended to us as “data-based.”

...In education, the question “How do we assess (kids, teachers, schools)?” has morphed over the years into “How do we measure…?” We’ve forgotten that assessment doesn’t require measurement -- and, moreover, that the most valuable forms of assessment are often qualitative (say, a narrative account of a child’s progress by an observant teacher who knows the child well) rather than quantitative (a standardized test score). Yet the former may well be brushed aside in favor of the latter -- by people who don’t even bother to ask what was on the test. It’s a number, so we sit up and pay attention. Over time, the more data we accumulate, the less we really know.

*References to charters generally imply corporate, for-profit charter schools. Quotes from other writers reflect their opinions only. See It's Important to Look in a Mirror Now and Then


ONLY TWO DAYS LEFT!

Diane Ravitch and Anthony Cody, have teamed up with a plan to flood the White House email with letters in support of -- and against the privatization of -- public education. While President Obama's reelection is in no way guaranteed, he is, of the two main party candidates, the one who is most likely to listen. Sample letters and suggestions are on Diane Ravitch's blog.

There is no guarantee that the President will listen, but it can't hurt to let him know that there are many people who are unhappy with the corporate privatization of America's public education system.

For more information about participating, see Instructions for the October 17 Campaign for Our Public Schools.

Five Steps to Destroy Public Education

1. Under-fund/STARVE the schools financially
2. Overcrowd the classrooms, reduce programs, supplies
3. Fail the public school using NCLB and/or Race to the Top laws leaving the public school in death-throws
4. Sell the school to private charters
5. Public school, Dead On Arrival

A New Low

The five step plan above is working thanks to Arne Duncan, Tony Bennett, Bill Gates and all the other corporate reformers

Americans' confidence in public schools is down five percentage points from last year, with 29% expressing "a great deal" or "quite a lot" of confidence in them. That establishes a new low in public school confidence...

Big Money Joins Chicago Fight

Education Reform Now, a corporate reform group funded by Wall Street and other financial elites, is now involved in the Chicago teachers’ collective bargaining issues. ERN spent millions in New York state last year to attack teachers’ job protections. In the linked article, the group says it is not coordinating with the Mayor’s office, but this seems unlikely as its robo-calls are parroting what the school superintendent has said publicly.

Dumbing down education in Indiana

If there were evidence that second-career professionals make better teachers, there might be reason to support REPA II. But there is none. Finland certainly doesn’t promote that route to the classroom. Studies, including one from IUPUI’s Center for Urban and Multicultural Education, find that “teachers who are fully certified (through traditional college/university based teacher education programs) have a more significant positive impact on student outcomes than teachers who are not.”

Chartering the Whole District

Do you still doubt that the privatization of American public schools is proceeding at full speed? In Michigan the Governor has the right to appoint an "Emergency Manager" if a municipality is "failing," thereby bypassing elected officials (like city councils, mayors and school boards). Governor Snyder's Emergency Manager for Muskegon Heights Public Schools is planning to give the public schools away to the charter industry. Instead of funding the public schools, they're going to give them away...

The emergency manager for Muskegon Heights Public Schools is taking an unprecedented approach to eliminate the district's severe debt -- one of the worst deficits among Michigan's schools -- by chartering the entire west Michigan district.

...and in Memphis, too.

...the Memphis City Schools are faced with a whole list of disturbing recommendations, including one that would totally disrupt the feeder school system in Memphis, which will lead to privatized high schools in the next phase of corporate takeover

A Major Charter School Scandal

Why are people so quick to give up public oversight of public schools?

In response to whistle-blower complaints by parents and former teachers, the Oakland school board launched an independent audit of the charter’s finances. The audit reported that $3.7 million dollars were wrongly spent...Wrote the San Francisco Chronicle, “The founder and governing board of three controversial Oakland charter schools could face a criminal investigation into allegations of fraud, misappropriation of funds and other illegal activities outlined in an official audit report released Wednesday.”

Tax Credit Strategy Fuels Private School Choice Push

The political climate in many states has become ripe for private-school choice, and few choice models are proving as popular as tax-credit scholarships.

Despite what the "Reformers" say, Poverty Matters.

Legislators can extend the school day, force new tests on students and link the scores to a teacher’s job, but a new analysis about disparities in school funding raises the uncomfortable question of just how effective any reforms can really be when issues of equity are ignored.

Read More about it HERE...

Equitable and adequate financing of public school systems in the U.S. remains largely a state responsibility, and some states continue to either throw their entire education systems under the bus (Arizona, Tennessee), or selectively disregard children living in high poverty settings. Put simply, money matters. School funding equity and school finance reforms matter.

sh!t arne says

“Our goal is to work with educators in rebuilding their profession—and to elevate the teacher voice in shaping federal, state and local education policy,” said Secretary Duncan today at the launch of the RESPECT Project. “Our larger goal is to make teaching not only America’s most important profession—but America’s most respected profession,” he said.
Secretary Arne Duncan
National Conversation on the Future of Teachers Town Hall Meeting

So, Arne. You're going to do this while you and your corporate ed deformer pals continue to beat the sh!t out of these teachers you so respect. Give me a break! Seriously, Arne. How stupid do you think teachers are?

R.E.S.P.E.C.T..... Arne, you haven't a clue!

The teacher blogger at outside the box is absolutely right. Arne Duncan doesn't have a clue. He hasn't got the credentials to be the Secretary of Education. He has no experience in public school classrooms.

However both national teachers unions, the NEA and the AFT, have endorsed Obama, and by default, Duncan, for another term during which they can continue their onslaught against public schools. Apparently Duncan isn't the only one without a clue.

Which lever will you pull in November...the one for the Democratic candidate who says he supports public schools, hates teaching to the test and then does everything he can to destroy public education, or the Republican candidate who flat out promises to destroy public education?

Not much of a choice, is it?

WTHR, Indianapolis' NBC affiliate sent out an non scientific survey to teachers earlier this month. In it they asked about the pressures that standardized testing has put on their students, themselves, their classrooms and their ability to teach.

The survey was released just days after news of a cheating scandal at North Central High School in Indianapolis hit the news.

According to the survey many (10%) of the 2000 teachers who responded to the survey knew of students who have cheated...and a similar number (11%) knew about other teachers who have cheated.

No one condones cheating on the tests, but the fact remains that when the pressure to succeed overwhelms the available resources people will game the system and figure out ways to succeed, even if those ways are unethical. Campbell's Law states that

The more any quantitative social indicator is used for social decision-making, the more subject it will be to corruption pressures and the more apt it will be to distort and corrupt the social processes it is intended to monitor.

Donald Campbell, an experimental social science reseacher, also said,

...achievement tests may well be valuable indicators of general school achievement under conditions of normal teaching aimed at general competence. But when test scores become the goal of the teaching process, they both lose their value as indicators of educational status and distort the educational process in undesirable ways.

It's clear, under No Child Left Behind and Race to the Top, that test scores have become the goal of the teaching process. The fact that standardized tests are now so important has made the tests themselves less valid.

In an article about the survey, WTHR mentioned the additional key findings.

• 81% of teachers said they feel pressure related to their students' achievement on standardized tests.
• 80% of teachers said pressure related to standardized tests has a negative impact on the learning environment in their classroom.
• 78% of teachers said pressure related to standardized tests has a negative impact on their ability to teach effectively.

Pressure related to student achievement is not always bad. Teachers should be pressured to help their students achieve. That's the point of schools and public education, after all. However, when pressure overwhelms reality then things need to change. The fact that so many teachers feel that the pressure has a negative impact on their classrooms and on their ability to teach is significant. The tests are making it harder to teach and that's backwards. As a society, we need to do everything we can to make it easier for teachers to teach and for students to learn, not the opposite. In the video accompanying the story, Theresa Meredith, Vice President of the Indiana State Teachers Association said,

I think when you push for competition in a school setting, when we're all supposed to be heading toward the same goal, we're all supposed to be working to help our students achieve as much as they possibly can...when you change that dynamic and you put so much pressure on schools and you force them to compete, literally compete, against each other, teachers feel tremendous pressure.

The education reformers are convinced (and have been for decades) that competition is what's needed to improve our public schools. The fact that it doesn't work doesn't seem to matter to them. It hasn't worked in Milwaukee, where a voucher system has been "in competition" with the public schools for two decades. It hasn't worked in thousands of charter schools around the country whose scores and results are no better than regular, neighborhood public schools (see HERE, HERE and HERE). Competition yields winners and losers and, when it comes to public education, we shouldn't accept any loss.

Diane Ravitch, in The Death and Life of the Great American School System, wrote,

Our schools will not improve if we entrust them to the magical powers of the market. Markets have winners and losers...Our goal must be to establish school systems that foster academic excellence in every school and every neighborhood.

Every child must be given the opportunity to develop to the highest level of their ability and motivation. That is, after all, why we have a public school system.

In a telling comment about the survey, Stephanie Sample, The Indiana DOE Communcations director said,

Do you really think parents care if their kids' teachers are feeling pressure? I don't. I think most parents just want them to teach.

Of course Indiana parents want their children's teachers to "teach." Sample's condescending comment seems to ignore the fact that the atmosphere of the classroom has an impact on student learning. I think most parents would, indeed, care if their child's teachers felt that pressure from the state had a negative impact on their classroom.

And that's just what the results of the survey show. When asked where the pressure comes from the teachers responded in this manner...

Does that pressure come from (check all that apply)

• Yourself 57.1%
• Your school administrators 74.7%
• Your school board 34.6%
• The State Department of Education 93.4%
• Parents 17.6%

This is the pressure that 80% of respondents said had a negative impact on the learning environment of their classroom and 78% said interfered with their ability to teach effectively....so yes, Ms. Sample, I think parents would care about the pressure teachers feel. What are you and the Indiana Department of Education doing to help improve the atmosphere in the public schools of Indiana?

The unspoken implication in Ms. Sample's comment is that teachers don't care about parents...and by extension their children. She might think differently if she and the Indiana Department of Education collaborated with and worked together with the state's teachers instead of against them in the current push to privatize education in Indiana and the US.

Click here to see the complete results of the survey.

The Deprofessionalization of Teachers Continues

The Indiana Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (IACTE) has sent out a letter describing the proposed REPA (Rules for Educator Preparation and Accountability) changes.

The "reformers" consistently call for states and school systems to get rid of bad teachers, yet Tony Bennett, Indiana's Superintendent of Public Instruction and the new poster-boy for the national reform movement, supports these changes which will lower the standards for teachers in Indiana.

REPA 2 Awareness Letter

May 3, 2012

On April 30 2010, significant changes both to teacher and administrator licensing and to teacher preparation requirements in the state of Indiana went into effect; changes which the Indiana Department of Education approved in January, 2010. Both the Department of Education and teacher preparation programs throughout the state are in the midst of implementing the changes. In fact there are a number of changes approved, such as the testing requirements for new licenses that have yet to be implemented; target dates are January and September, 2013. Amidst these changes, the Department of Education has proposed a new set of rule changes without reviewing the results of the 2010 first set of Rules for Educator Preparation and Accountability (REPA). The timing and nature of this new set of proposed rules adds to the considerable instability that already exists in the state with respect to policy changes affecting teachers and public schools.

At the January 2012 meeting of the State Board of Education, Dr. Bennett and his staff presented REPA 2. Dr. Bennett stated that the purpose of these proposed rules is to provide administrators and schools with flexibility in teacher staffing. However, many professionals in public education have expressed serious concerns with the proposed rules, rules that will significantly lower standards for teaching and administrator licensing in the state.

Currently, there are plans for individuals to be able to provide public comment regarding these changes, and a public hearing in Indianapolis. The intent of this letter is to advise you of this new set of proposed rules and urge you to comment on the public record as provided by law. You are encouraged to share this letter among your colleagues and/or membership to advise them of the potential impact of these proposed changes.

Some of the proposed changes include:

• Creation of adjunct teaching permits, for which the only criteria are a 3.0/4.0 undergraduate grade point average and passage of the content assessment. Adjunct teachers would not be required to complete any preparation in how to teach nor pass the new pedagogy assessment required for new teacher licenses.
• Restrictions of the teacher license renewal criteria to only the results of teacher evaluations earned in their local schools with no external expectations for professional development.
• Elimination of the opportunity to renew existing 10 year licenses.
• Ability to add any content area to an existing license without any developmentally appropriate content or teaching preparations. This change includes the potential for license additions in the fine arts, special education, early childhood education and elementary education by licensed individuals simply passing a test.
• Changes to special education preparation that would not require any subject area preparation or expertise.
• Changes to the building principal license requirements, changes that reduce degree requirements and eligibility criteria at a time in which the building principals are being asked to do significantly more.
• Changes in the approval/accreditation criteria for state teacher preparation programs with no reference to national or professional criteria nor to a clear review process or time line.

In summary, the Indiana Department of Education made significant changes to teacher and administrator licensing and teacher preparation just two years ago; changes which have yet to be implemented fully even by the Department of Education. Coming before the original REPA revisions are fully implemented, REPA 2 will add significantly to the high level of instability in the policy environment affecting teachers and schools in Indiana. Perhaps, the primary recommendation should be “wait”; to allow for the changes made in 2010 to be implemented and for the results to be seen. If consideration of REPA 2 is not deferred, it is important to be aware of the proposed changes and to speak out on specific revisions needed to maintain quality standards for licensure and to avoid further de-professionalization of teaching. You are encouraged to share this letter and to review the proposed rules at http://www.doe.in.gov/sites/default/files/sboe/repa-2-april-25.pdf. More details about the public comment Website and the public hearing will be forthcoming.

On behalf of the Indiana Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (IACTE) Executive Committee

Jill D. Shedd
IACTE Executive Secretary

Indiana's superintendent of public instruction, Tony Bennett, and his boss, governor Mitch Daniels, have received campaign money from corporate school reform businesses, including those who are set to take over the "so called failing schools" in Indianapolis and Gary.

Doug Martin, in Murdoch’s Wireless Gen. and Edison Learning Donated Money to Tony Bennett, lists the contributors to Bennett's (and Daniel's) campaign funds.

As the Indiana State Board of Education decides to hand over Indiana’s so-called “failing” schools to EdisonLearning, Charter Schools USA, and Rupert Murdoch’s Wireless Generation today, it is important to note that both Edison and Wireless Generation have donated to Education Reform Idol Indiana supt. of public instruction Tony Bennett’s campaign chest. In fact, Wireless Gen. even lavished money on Mitch Daniels and Indiana Republicans, the month before Murdoch acquired the company.

The list of donors includes corporate reform companies like Edison and Charter Schools USA, as well as standardized test giant, McGraw-Hill, Education Services of America (who has a contract with my former employer, East Allen County Schools), and various charter and school choice advocates.

Simply following the money will help to explain why Bennett and Daniels are so eager to give away Indiana's Public Schools.

See also, Follow the Money--Bennett and Campaign Money at the Indiana Citizens for Public Education blog.

The Indiana State Department of Education proposed that the state take over four high schools and one middle school in Gary and Indianapolis. By "state takeover" the DOE means that the schools will be run by private companies and eventually become charters. The superintendent of Indianapolis schools has threatened a lawsuit.

Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Bennett said he had mixed emotions in asking the State Board of Education to approve the takeover of a Gary high school and three Indianapolis high schools and a middle school. But he said the step is necessary for the students’ sake. The schools have been on academic probation for five years because of poor test scores.

“This is not about blame, this is about the future,” Bennett said at a news conference in Indianapolis. “Our intent is to use everything we have in this state to restore these schools to what they should be for the students in these communities.”

The state intends to use "everything" they have for the schools? Does that include restoring the funding cuts passed by the legislature and signed by the governor? Do we have to go through the list again? Superintendent Bennett, Governor Daniels, State School Board...listen carefully please:

1. Test scores should not determine the success or failure of a school, but if you're going to use test scores remember that the most reliable determiner of test success is family income. It's poverty -- a failed society, a failed economy...not a failed school.

2. Charter schools do NOT perform better than regular public schools.

3. Replacing staffs and administrators does not improve schools.

May I suggest that the state follow the lead of the world's education leaders, Finland for example. Reduce our poverty level to that of Finland's (or most of the other industrialized nations of the world) and we will have solved the main problem.

When students in Finnish schools have academic problems are the schools closed? Are the teachers fired? Are the unions dismantled? Are the administrators shuffled? No. The students are given more support. The schools are given more support. Teachers who are having trouble are given support. When they need help they are helped. The entire system benefits.

Are we serious about helping students or are we just manipulating the system to increase privatization of our school system?

In Indiana this year, the legislature passed laws which include a voucher program, increased charters and various things to weaken teachers and their unions, none of which help students and most of which suck money away from the public schools and into the coffers of private corporations or parochial schools.

In 'Comprehensive' school reform? Not without preschool, Karen Francisco, a blogger for the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette wrote;

...charter school supporters got what they wanted by keeping quiet about the millions in public school support being siphoned off to parochial schools through vouchers.

She was speaking about the fact that Indiana doesn't do a very good job of supporting preschools, another proven method of helping students, and the charters, private and parochial schools are going to have to deal with children who come to school with deficits...just like the traditional public schools.

The point is, however, that closing schools, busting unions, and pushing vouchers and charters is not about student success. It's about taking the schools of Indiana (and elsewhere) out of the hands of the public and putting them into the hands of corporate "reformers."

How does retention affect children? The National Association of School Psychologists, in the paper, Grade Retention: Achievement and Mental Health Outcomes, refers to a higher dropout rate among students who have been retained.

Analysis of multiple studies of retention indicate that retained students experience lower self esteem and lower rates of school attendance, relative to promoted peers (Jimerson, 2001). Both of these factors are further predictive of dropping out of school. Indirectly, low self-esteem and poor school attendance influence adult outcomes. Students who ultimately drop out of school without a diploma face considerable difficulty finding and maintaining employment for self-sufficiency and experience higher rates of mental health problems, chemical abuse and criminal activities than do high school graduates.

Retention leads to dropping out of school, which leads to adult problems.

...retained children are subsequently overage for grade, which is associated with deleterious outcomes, particularly as retained children approach middle school and puberty (stigmatization by peers and other negative experiences of grade retention may exacerbate behavioral and socio-emotional adjustment problems).

In a synthesis of Grade Retention Research, Shane Jimerson made the following conclusions:

• Achievement for retained students is lower than if they had been "socially" promoted.
• Emotionally, retained students have poorer social adjustment, attitudes toward school, attendance, and more problem behaviors in comparison to matched controls.
• Retained students had lower levels of academic adjustment at the end of 11th grade, were more likely to drop out of high school by age 19, were less likely to receive a diploma by age 20, were less likely to be enrolled in a post- secondary education program, received lower education/employment status ratings, were paid less per hour, and received poorer employment competence ratings at age 20 in comparison to a group of low-achieving students.

A massive amount of research is consistent. Retention in Grade doesn't help and, in fact, hurts students (See the sidebar of this blog for RESEARCH ON RETENTION IN GRADE).

Last week the Indiana Board of Education proposed a plan in which third graders would have to pass a test in order to be promoted to fourth grade. Indystar.com reports:

All third-graders would be required to pass a new statewide reading test before advancing to the fourth grade under a proposal the Indiana State Board of Education approved Tuesday.

Gov. Mitch Daniels is expected to approve the plan, which would take effect for students finishing third grade in the spring of 2013 -- curtailing the so-called "social promotion" of third-graders.

Why? Where's the research which shows this to be an effective practice? It didn't work in Chicago or New York City. Why should we expect it to work in Indiana?

A common response from proponents of retention is that social promotion doesn't work so retention is "the only thing left." I agree that social promotion isn't necessarily best for students (though the research in retention shows that it is better than holding students back), but it's wrong to assume that social promotion and retention are the only choices. The National Association of School Psychologists continues:

Early identification (through assessment) for prevention and intervention is essential, whenever a student is struggling. Several school-based supports have been found to be effective in assisting children with educational difficulties. These include various reading programs, summer school and more direct instruction (teacher to student). Tutoring, well-designed homework activities and after- school programs have also been demonstrated to be beneficial. Other helpful strategies include encouraging parents to communicate regularly with the school and to become involved through attending student study team (SST) meetings, participating in training programs and exploring behavior management strategies if appropriate. Most important is to advocate for implementation of educational interventions that are supported by research first, continue monitoring the child’s achievement trajectory, and then revisit the progress made. A coordinated system of comprehensive support services aimed at addressing the academic, socio-emotional, behavioral and psychological needs of the child will help promote healthy adjustment and achievement among children at risk for grade retention.

When weighing the pros and cons of a decision to retain or promote a student, it is critical to emphasize to educators and parents that a century of research has failed to demonstrate the benefits of grade retention over promotion to the next grade for any group of students. Instead, we must focus on implementing evidence-based prevention and intervention strategies to promote social and cognitive competence and facilitate the academic success of all students.

One sentence in the above paragraph bears repeating:

...a century of research has failed to demonstrate the benefits of grade retention over promotion to the next grade for any group of students.

Interventions cost money and are difficult. America doesn't care enough about their children to invest in them. Instead, as is the trend in state and national departments of education, executive offices and legislatures, the choice is to punish not support. Punish students, schools and teachers for "failing."

...and I haven't even addressed the issue of basing retention on the outcome of one test!

What do schools do if they can't afford research-based intervention? In my opinion, and from the research, it's clear that retention is more harmful than social promotion.

The Indiana Department of Education, is proposing to do significant damage to children in Indiana. The Governor is going to go along with it. The truth based on research, it seems, doesn't matter.