Nashville School Board Puts the Brakes on KIPP Expansion

Recently Mayor Karl Dean and the corporate fat cats who made him mayor shoved through a $16,000,000 giveaway to renovate the Nashville KIPP test prep factory.  We can only wonder now if that decision will be revisited after considering last year's results on state tests, even though this information was available to Dean's staff when the decision was made.  KIPP Nashville had the lowest value-added scores in social studies and science of any middle school in all of Metro Nashville.  The amazing power of non-stop test prep in math and reading!!

Thanks to the Gates Foundation and ALEC, the caps on charters in Tennessee are off, and expansion is now open to all socioeconomic groups.  This new law will doubtless have a further segregative effect on Tennessee schools, creating as it will high-end white progressive charters in the leafy suburbs to contrast the total compliance chain gangs of inner city Nashville and Memphis.  Jim Crow schooling all over again, corporate style.

Below is the piece from the Tennessean on the KIPP smackdown, with information on the lurking corporate schools now in line for some of the tax dollars intended for public education.  Nashville has gone from $4 million five years ago for charters to $25 million today to educate 3,000 charter kids.

Where's the outrage over this outrageous and transparent starving out of public education for corporate schools with no oversight!? Do we need Wall Street running our schools into the ground in the same fashion they have ruined the Economy?

Story by Nate Rau (thank god that the Tennessean has real reporter for education).

The local branch of a prominent national charter school chain was on the defensive Wednesday on the heels of the school board’s vote to reject its application to open a second middle school in Nashville.

KIPP Academy Executive Director Randy Dowell vowed to appeal the school board’s decision and defended the academic achievements at the charter organization’s current middle school, which opened in 2005.

School board member Mark North was critical of KIPP’s test results, pointing to the charter school’s regressed scores in science and social studies. The school board voted 5-1 on Tuesday to reject KIPP’s application, even though the school district’s charter review committee had recommended that it be approved.

“They were hurt by their own performance at their existing school,” North said, pointing out that KIPP’s value-added scores for eighth-grade science and social studies were the worst among middle schools in the entire school district.

KIPP Academy’s overall academic achievement received poor marks on the most recent state evaluation for the 2010-11 school year. KIPP, which educates students in grades 5-8, received a D grade in math, reading and social studies, and an F in science.

But Dowell said KIPP has seen improvements that outpace those at traditional public schools, according to year-over-year data compiled by the state Department of Education. KIPP received an A grade for improvement in math and B grades for improvement in reading and social studies. The school did receive a D grade for test improvements in science.

KIPP serves 325 students, 87 percent of whom receive free or reduced-price lunch.

“Our overall achievement scores were not where they needed to be last year, especially in science. We own this at KIPP, as our motto is ‘no excuses,’ ” Dowell said. “This year, we made adjustments to our academic program, such as administering weekly assessments and providing students with weekly remediation.”

Next move?

While KIPP officials vowed to appeal the school board’s decision, it was unclear on Wednesday what the future held for Arizona-based Great Hearts Academy, which sought to add five schools across Davidson County, including in affluent areas. Charter schools have historically catered to poor students at failing schools, but Great Hearts proposed to be the first school to take advantage of a 2011 change in state law that opened up enrollment in charter schools to all students, regardless of economic status.

Great Hearts officials did not respond to a request for comment on whether they would appeal the school board’s unanimous decision to reject their application. The charter review committee cited concerns over Great Hearts’ lack of a transportation plan. Great Hearts, which received the support of various local politicians, such as U.S. Rep. Jim Cooper and members of Metro Council, would only commit to providing transportation to special-needs students.

“The organizational plan partially meets criteria for approval because there is no specific plan for student recruitment and enrollment and the lack of a transportation plan,” the review committee’s report released on Tuesday stated. “Additionally, the location in West Nashville does not align with district priorities as outlined in the request for proposal.”

The eight rejected charter schools have until June 13 to submit appeals, which the school board will then vote on at its June 26 meeting. If an application is rejected a second time, then a potential operator may appeal to the state Board of Education.

The school board approved just two applications at its Tuesday meeting. The high rejection rate comes at a time when charter schools are expanding rapidly in Nashville. Metro will commit $25 million to educate 3,000 students in the upcoming school year at charter schools, which are publicly financed but privately operated. Just five years ago, Metro spent $4 million to finance charter schools.

Nashville Classical Charter School and Intrepid Preparatory Charter School were the two applicants approved by the board. Nashville Classical will initially offer enrollment to 108 kindergarten students when it opens in East Nashville in 2013. Intrepid College Prep will offer enrollment to 120 fifth-graders when it opens in Antioch in 2013.

“My sense was that MNPS has worked really hard to hold charters to an increasingly high standard,” Intrepid College Prep founder Mia Howard said of the district’s approval process for charter operators.

Contact Nate Rau at 615-259-8094 or nrau@tennessean.com.

New Jersey's Cerfdom Brings Treasure to Corporate Broadies

Below is an email I received from a former NJ DOE employee whose moral fatigue forced her from a good paying job with the State.  Read it and then you will know why the Eli Broad calls his kind of philanthropy investments rather than grants. _______________________ I am a former NJ DOE employee who resigned recently because I could no longer be a part of the extortion and fraud that is taking part there under the Broad Administration of Chris Cerf, Penny MacCormack, Peter Shulman, Bing Howell, ad nauseum. Cerf first tried to get rid of the County Exec Superintendents offices, but was stopped when the legislature reminded him that they were created by statute.  How inconvenient!  So he hired a Broad Intern (for $90,000 named Rochelle Sinclair) who came up with the idea to overlay the state with 7 Regional Achievement Centers (RACs) staffed with "Education Rockstars" from around the country (read Broad Academy grads) who would go in to schools that were failing, assess them, replace the principals and hire new teachers (Teacher 4 America, anyone?).  The problem was the cost. Enter Arne Duncan and the NCLB waiver, plus the Race to the Top funding.  Now Penny MacCormack is trying to divert the SES money we still have ($56 million)., to pay for the RACs.  Oh, and we have thrown out the NCLB report cards and replaced them with our own in-house "measures of proficiency" which is a lot of speculative data manipulated by another bunch of Broad interns since none of the in-house data people would go along with this scheme.  They have all been "rubber roomed" in other departments for not being "team players." So far, so good.  Now, armed with his new proficiency data, Cerf has swooped down on a bunch of "underperforming" charter schools, presenting them with two options:  we pull your charter, close you down, and your kids are on the street OR you select from this DOE-approved list of Charter Management Organizations (more Broad buddies) who will TAKE OVER YOUR CHARTER.  This is extortion.  The first to fall will be Paul Robeson Charter in Trenton which has a fund balance of $1.6 million.  They are even forcing them to change the name of the school to Scholars Academy!!! Save us from the pirates of education reform.  I know you guys are not really fond of charters, but Cerf is after the public schools, too.  (See Newark, Paterson, Jersey City, and Camden).  First he comes for the charters, then he comes for the public schools.   http://www.nj.com/mercer/index.ssf/2012/05/administration_to_resign_to_ke.html http://www.courierpostonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2012305010023 http://www.njspotlight.com/stories/12/0517/2208/

Ed Show Covers War on Public Education

"Wake the town and tell the people."  --D. Ravitch

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Diane Ravitch on Why Scott Walker Must Go

From the Journal-Sentinel:

By Diane Ravitch

If you are concerned about the future of public education in Wisconsin, vote to oust Gov. Scott Walker. Since his election in 2010, he has proved himself to be a steadfast enemy of the public schools.

In the world according to Walker, the best way to reform public education is to demoralize its teachers, attack the teachers' union and hand over more taxpayer dollars to privately managed charters and voucher schools.

He is wrong on every count. In his role as governor, he has a constitutional duty to preserve, protect and strengthen the state's democratic institutions. He has violated that trust by his ongoing efforts to undermine public education, which is a cornerstone of our democracy.

As a conservative, he should have done his best to strengthen the public schools, not tear them down. Conservatives don't blow up traditional institutions. His approach is radical, not conservative.

As the state's leader, he should have set a good example and thanked the teachers who do the public's work every day. Regardless of what the contract says, the typical teacher works 11-12 hours every day, preparing the next generation to take their place as citizens and workers. But instead of acting as a leader, Walker spent the past two years as the state's bully-in-chief, showering the state's teachers with disrespect and blaming them for the ills of an unequal and unjust society.

Walker thinks that he will improve education by getting rid of the union, which is the collective voice of the state's teachers.The nation's highest performing states-Massachusetts, New Jersey, and Connecticut-have strong unions, while the lowest performing states-in the Deep South-have weak unions or none at all. Very likely, what Walker really wants is to remove the teachers' voice when legislators are cutting the schools' budget. The best way to silence the strongest voice for public education in Madison is to weaken the teachers' union.

Walker has cut the budget, thus requiring public schools to lay off teachers, increase class sizes, close libraries, and reduce essential services on which needy children depend. Lest we forget, the victims of these budget cuts are children, the very children who will determine the future of the state in years to come.

Walker has expanded the voucher program, so that more children can use taxpayer dollars to enroll in religious schools. But he fails to mention that the Milwaukee voucher program has had unimpressive results. Twenty-two years later, the children in voucher schools get no better scores on the Wisconsin tests than children in Milwaukee's public schools.

Walker claims that competition among vouchers, charters, and public schools will lead to big improvements, but Milwaukee has had exactly that competition for the past two decades. According to the federal assessments, Milwaukee's public schools are one of the lowest performing in the nation. Competition did not make them improve, and the children in the alternative systems are doing no better. Black children in Milwaukee were supposed to be the beneficiaries of school choice, but the federal tests show that black students in Milwaukee have scores no better than black children in the Deep South.

Walker is determined to dismantle the public education system and to replace it with a choice system. But that won't be good for Wisconsin and it won't be good for children. No high-performing nation in the world demoralizes its teachers and creates alternatives to public education.

The best performing nations in the world have built a strong public education system. They respect their teachers. They do not judge them by student test scores. They do not launch public campaigns against their unions (in high-performing Finland, all the teachers and principals belong to the same union). The most successful nations recognize the importance of having teachers and principals who are dedicated professionals, not a revolving door of young college graduates. They understand that successful schools establish a culture of collaboration, not a culture of competition.

It's time for a change in Wisconsin. End the attacks on public education. End the attacks on teachers. It's time for leadership that seeks to build a better school system. It's time for a leader with a positive vision, a leader who puts the needs of children and communities first.

Diane Ravitch is author of the bestselling book "The Death and Life of the Great American School System: How Testing and Choice Are Undermining Education" (Basic Books). She spoke at the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences in Madison in March 2011.

Krash Course #10: NCTQ's Gradual Unmasking

With the release of the National Education Policy Center's 2011 Bunkum Awards, I feel the need to join in the spirit of NEPC's excellent work to highlight the gradual unmasking of the National Council on Teacher Quality (NCTQ).

Jim Horn warned about NCTQ here (February 2, 2010):

"To demonstrate that enough funding can buy exclusive rights to publish propaganda as research in the mainstream media, see this teacher bashing piece below from the AP, which treats NCTQ as a legitimate research organization, rather than as an advocacy group in support of charter schools and the corporate attack on the teacher preparation, teacher quality, and state teacher credentialing systems [emphasis added]."

Recently, I characterized NCTQ's assault on teachers and teacher education as a central player in the bully politics of education reform. Since then, the evidence is gathering, exposing NCTQ as partisan politics masked as scholarly evaluations of teacher education.

NCTQ's first report has already been thoroughly dismissed in a review from NEPC: "Benner’s critique finds fault at every level of the NCTQ evaluation, including development and interpretation of the standards of evaluation, sampling techniques, methodology, data analysis, and findings."

As well, Diane Ravitch, who sat at the table in the beginning of NCTQ, has confirmed NCTQ's bully politics:

"Since then, many institutions announced that they would not collaborate. Some felt that they had already been evaluated by other accrediting institutions like NCATE or TEAC; others objected to NCTQ’s methodology. As the debate rated, NCTQ told the dissenters that they would be rated whether they agreed or not, and if they didn’t cooperate, they would get a zero. The latest information that I have seen is that the ratings will appear this fall."

And Ravitch has exposed the partisan and ideological roots of NCTQ's masked agenda:

"NCTQ was created by the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation in 2000. I was on the board of TBF at the time. Conservatives, and I was one, did not like teacher training institutions. We thought they were too touchy-feely, too concerned about self-esteem and social justice and not concerned enough with basic skills and academics. In 1997, we had commissioned a Public Agenda study called 'Different Drummers'; this study chided professors of education because they didn’t care much about discipline and safety and were more concerned with how children learn rather than what they learned. TBF established NCTQ as a new entity to promote alternative certification and to break the power of the hated [emphasis added] ed schools."

Building on Ravitch's challenges to NCTQ's credibility, Anthony Cody has compared NCTQ to "[t]he 'Payola' scandal occurred in the 1950s when it was discovered that many of the DJs were routinely making decisions about what to play not based on the quality of the music, but on bribes they were receiving from record companies." Cody then offers an alternative to NCTQ's dishonest claim to be addressing teacher certification:

"Our schools of education ought to be in a position to think clearly and freely about the challenges our schools face. They are certainly not perfect, but their ability to take an independent stance on education policies and practices is crucial for us to avoid a complete groupthink. But this sort of ideological unanimity in support of 'obsession over data' is what our education 'reformers' apparently want, and the foundations driving the corporate reform agenda will do what it takes to get it."

But the most pointed challenge to NCTQ may be from Jack Hassard:

"The researchers of the NTCQ study are stuck in a 19th-century model of teaching, and simply want to hold accountable teacher education institutions to the principles and practices that teacher education rocketed through years ago. 

"But at the same time, the NTCQ study cleverly uses percentages and numbers in such a way to convince some that teacher education programs are inadequate, and need to be regulated in ways that satisfy their interests. If you look at their sources of funding, and the names of individuals who sit on their boards, you will see the conservative agenda in action in this organization. 

"My advice is to call them to task on this study. Tell them that their study in no way sheds any light on how assessment is taught in teacher education programs. The only light that is shed is on their own deficiencies as a research organization."

NCTQ offers no credible agenda or scholarship worthy of reforming teacher education. But this ideological think tank is a disturbing example of all that is wrong with the current education reform movement that has allowed people without experience or expertise as educators to perpetuate an education reform agenda through the weight of money, political influence, and media compliance.

While I agree with Anthony Cody that much in teacher education needs to be reformed, nothing coming from NCTQ or the myriad self-proclaimed reformers or the U.S. Department of Education or The Gates Foundation or U.S. News & World Report offers anything of value in that pursuit.

Wireless internet: A good investment for schools?

Is wireless internet a good investment for schools?
Sent to Seattle Times, May 30, 2012

Re: “Seattle construction levy may include wireless Internet for all schools,” May 28, 2012.

By the time voters in Seattle decide whether they want to spend $11.5 million (that’s about $200 per student) largely to install wireless internet in Seattle schools, wireless connections as we know them now will be different and maybe even obsolete. Remember ethernet?

The computer companies will be delighted to sell Seattle the newest hardware and software to keep the students connected. Again and again.

Why not spend the money on materials we know are of clear and lasting value?

Stephen Krashen


Original article: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2018307238_wireless29m.html

Who Owns Stock in Pearson?

Sometimes the comments are more profound than the story:

Comment on CommonDreams to Valerie Strauss story on High Stakes Standardized Tests

The question, reported by the New York Daily News, referred to a story similar to the famous Aesop fable about the tortoise and the hare, but in this version, a talking pineapple challenges a hare to race. The rabbit wins, not surprisingly, as the fruit can’t actually move, and other animals, who have wagered on the winner, eat the pineapple, according to the paper. Students were asked some perplexing questions:

Why did the animals eat the talking fruit, and which animal was wisest? "

And someone actually paid a lot of money to have this test developed and administered?  I think that demonstrates how utterly stupid the premise of "standardized" testing actually is.  Just what qualifies Pearson as an authority on education?  And who owns stock in the firm?

When I was in eigth grade we had to pass a "constitution" test to graduate and go on to high school.  Somehow I think that's been more valuable to my life experience than wondering why the pineapple was eaten.  It's pretty obvious the other animals were simply hedging their bet.  Interestingly I wonder why they were even worried about the outcome since obviously the pineapple was immobile to begin with. Either they were hungry and liked the taste of pineapple or they were totally clueless and perverted. Much like today's Wall St.. Since the pineapple is not an animal it's not to be included in the last part of the question, and the other animals aren't identified....there can only be one winner: the hare.

Is my answer correct? I am thinking we'll never know.

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America can't wait until middle school!

Sent to the Columbus Dispatch, May 30, 2012

High school credit for middle-school courses is of course a step in the right direction, but doesn’t go nearly far enough (“Middle-schoolers get additional shots at taking high-school courses,” May 30).

Why wait until middle school? We should strengthen instruction in the earlier years as well. Back in 1998, I called for prenatal phonemic awareness training (published in the professional journal Reading Improvement), which, along with a more rigorous and extensive preschool program, should prepare children for high school credit classes much earlier than middle school.

Of course this increased academic load will require a longer school day. For a reasonable suggestion, please see O’Neal and Hicks’ paper in the Journal of Irreproducible Results in which they conclude that a 21-hour school day is optimal, with continuous classes and no breaks, except for two breaks for meals and one lavatory visit.

As US Secretary of Education Arne Duncan has said, “America can’t wait!”

Stephen Krashen
President, Society for Kindergarten Kalculus

Sources:
Krashen, S. 1998. Phonemic awareness training for prelinguistic children: Do we need prenatal PA? Reading Improvement 35: 167-171.
O'Neal, R. and Hicks, L. 1991. The 21-hour school day. The Journal of Irreproducible Results, 36 (6): 17

Original story: http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2012/05/30/get-ahead-credits.html

Crisis in PA Cracks Ed Privatization Scheme Wide Open

Some good journalism coming out of privatization scheme for Phildadelphia public schools. The lead is at the top of the article for a change: The fiscal crisis facing our public schools is being exploited by a movement to privatize public education, break unions and subject students to high-stakes test-prep regimes. The story is there, not buried way down, like it is in the NYT and the corporate owned media. Same scenario playing out all across the country as state budget woes are being used to cut public education spending and transfer funds to friends and cronies in the corporate, for-profit world, a world where earnings per share is worshipped at the expense of everything humane. Nothing like a financial crisis to get people to pay attention - the plan all along since the inception of NCLB was to privatize public education, break unions and keep the profits rolling in for the testing industrial complex and the profiteers like Pearson. The day of reckoning has finally arrived. The good news is, people are slowly waking up and they aren't sure this is the way they want their children to be educated in a Race to the Top that generates a few winners, a monopoly in the testing business, and lots of losers including their own children who are reduced to nothing but a number. Thanks to the dedicated teachers who have hung in there in the trenches there are still a few educated people around who can still discern the difference between fair and unfair, equal and unequal, stupid and intelligent. Despite the vicious attacks by business leaders and politicians who have scapegoated teachers and public schools for a financial crisis that was caused by them, there is no longer anywhere for the privatizers to hide. After Bush and his regime trashed the economy and mismanagement the budget, states are looking for ways to save money and it's on the backs of the most vulnerable. Public education spending is being slashed and teachers are easy pickings when it comes to  austerity because after all, who, other than teachers know what it's like to live on a tight budget.  It will be interesting to see what happens in PA. Will Penn cough up a few bucks to help educate the next generation, or continue to hide behind its non-profit status. HT to Daniel Denvir of the City Paper, nice work. Hostile Witness Make 'Em Pay Daniel Denvir City Paper The fiscal crisis facing our public schools is being exploited by a movement to privatize public education, break unions and subject students to high-stakes test-prep regimes. But it is a crisis nonetheless — one that requires long-term solutions, immediate band-aids and, critically, a substantial commitment from Philly's largest stakeholders. As I've reported, the state, whose School Reform Commission (SRC) has controlled Philly schools since 2001, has underfunded poor districts for decades. This fiscal year, Gov. Tom Corbett and the Republican legislature slashed nearly $300 million of Philly's funding. The district now faces a $218 million deficit for the coming year and a $1.1 billion cumulative five-year shortfall. "We have a dysfunctional conversation here," Republican City Councilman Dennis O'Brien told the SRC last week. "We have a five-year plan [from the district] with no anticipated revenue from the state until 2016 or '17? What the hell is up with that?" Sure: Corbett probably isn't eager to deliver aid to Philly. But the crisis is statewide: Upper Darby, Harrisburg, York. Philly could lead a movement. Short-term solutions, though insufficient, are also critical. The city's funding debate has revolved around Mayor Nutter's controversial request that a recalibrated property-tax system pay out an additional $94 million. But deep-pocketed Philadelphia institutions could also help soften the blow. Penn (with a $6.58 billion endowment) hides behind its nonprofit status and pays no property taxes to the city. And unlike nearly every Ivy League school in the country, Penn pays no "payments in lieu of taxes," or PILOTs. In 2005, Harvard agreed to pay Boston $60 million in PILOTs over 20 years; Yale pays about $8.1 million a year to New Haven. Already, a yearly investment of about $800,000 from Penn has turned West Philly's Penn Alexander School into a shining beacon in the troubled district. Imagine what a few million more dollars could do. Nutter has said that Act 55, a 1997 state law, stripped the city of its ability to legally challenge nonprofit exemptions, and thus made it impossible to demand PILOTs. But in April, the state Supreme Court ruled that cities could hold nonprofits to a tougher standard. The city has indicated it will. The city should make Penn pay now. And if Nutter had the gumption, he would lead a movement of mayors to demand that Corbett meet the state constitution's requirement to provide for "a thorough and efficient system of public education to serve the needs of the Commonwealth." (daniel.denvir@citypaper.net) (@danieldenvir)

Wide and Deep: High Stakes Testing Protests Escalate

From Valerie Strauss at WaPo:

Opposition to high-stakes standardized testing is growing around the country, with more parents choosing to opt their children out of taking exams, more school boards expressing disapproval of testing accountability systems and even a group of superintendents joining the fight.

Just last month I wrote about the growing resistance, noting that it wasn’t yet full-fledged but that it seemed to be picking up steam. It has and still is.

A national resolution protesting high-stakes test that was released in April already has support from more than 300 organizations and more than 8,000 individuals.

In Georgia, a group of school district superintendents, led by PelhamCity Schools chief Jim Arnold have started a petition calling on the state legislature to rethink its test-based accountability system. (Other superintendens on board include Danny Hawkins of Whitfield County Schools and Bill McCown of Gordon County Schools.)

That petition is based on a resolution that has been passed now by about 520 local school boards in Texas — including Houston, the home of the so-called “Texas miracle” that launched the high-stakes testing era. Those school boards represent more than 40 percent of the state’s students. It was the Texas education commission, Robert Scott, who earlier this year made news by saying publicly that the mentality that standardized testing is the “end-all, be-all” is a “perversion” of what a quality education should be. He recently announced that he was resigning.
 
Arnold was influenced by a petition started in New York by school principals protesting the state’s new educator evaluation system that used in part standardized test scores of students. More than 1,400 New York principals have signed it.

Then professors in New York launched their own petition against the state’s educator evaluation system, while scores of professors and researchers from at least 16 universities throughout the Chicago metropolitan area signed an open letter to the city’s mayor, Rahm Emanuel, and Chicago school officials warning against implementing a teacher evaluation system that is based on standardized test scores.
What’s the reason for the growing resistance? Actually, there are a number of them. Student scores on standardized tests have become the main accountability measure today for students, schools, teachers, principals, districts and even states. Assessment experts have warned that standardized tests are not designed for such purposes, but they are being used by reformers who either don’t believe the experts or are ignoring them.

Here’s more of what’s going on, from Monty Neill, executive director of the non-profit National Center for Fair & Open Testing, known ass FairTest:

*Testing errors, such as the notorious “Pineapple story” in New York and the “I have a secret” writing prompt in New Jersey have further roiled the waters. “Pineapple” was just one of more than 20 mistakes on the New York exams. The impact was intensified because New York’s tests are now kept secret. Until recently the state made its questions and answers public after administering them. Under its new contact with test-maker Pearson, however, they are secret, as they are in most states. Teachers face severe sanctions for revealing scores, but students and their parents have been revealing the flaws.

*In New York, parents are organizing to boycott the June administration of a “try out” test. Students will answer experimental questions so Pearson can select items for future tests, perhaps to be used in multiple states for more profits, as was “Pineapple.” The company already had included experimental questions on the May state tests.

Some parents opted their children out of the regular New York tests. In some cases, principals allowed the students to do schoolwork when exams were being administered, but in other schools principals threatened parents with truancy and child-endangerment laws. (Given that the tests have been known to increase fights in school, create emotional distress, and even induce vomiting, the real “child endangerment” is the testing.) Now, more and more parents, urban and suburban, are rising up to say, “Enough,” “No Mas.”

Opting out is not new. Boycotts grew in states such as Massachusetts when increased testing began under No Child Left Behind. Attaching high stakes to them, such as graduation and school sanctions, quieted the revolt. Students needed to pass to graduate and schools that did not test enough students would automatically fail. Still, in states such as Colorado, steady work by groups such as the Coalition for Better Schools has produced growing numbers of opting out parents. And in Snohomish, Washington, 550 parents held their children out, and they are working to spread the refusal to other communities.

*The national resolution has been endorsed by a variety of mjor national organizations have also endorsed the resolution. This includes education groups such as the National Education Association and National Association for Bilingual Education; civil rights organizations such as the NAACP-Legal Defense and Educational Fund and its Asian American counterpart, AALDEF; National Opportunity to Learn Campaign; religious denominations including Presbyterians; and more. The National PTA sent to its members a letter saying the resolution is congruent with PTA policy and urging locals to sign it.

You can see the list of signers – and add your endorsement - at the resolution home page http://timeoutfromtesting.org/nationalresolution/.

* In Florida, two county school boards voted to support the national resolution: Palm Beach (the nation’s 11th largest) and Saint Lucie.

* More media attention is being paid to the emerging testing revolt. In Florida, for example, stories have proliferated in newspapers and on television. Editorials and columnists have denounced the state’s testing policy. Meanwhile, the Wall Street Journal, CNN and MSNBC  are among the major outlets providing coverage (as well, of course, as this blog). Nat Hentoff headlined his column for Southern Standard, “Parents rebel against standardized tests.”

If this keeps up, even President Obama and Education Secretary Arne Duncan are going to have to notice.

Summer Reading in Champaign: An Easier and More Effective Way

Sent to the News-Gazette (Champaign, IL), May 29, 2012

The summer reading programs in Champaign for high school students have a worthy and sensible goal: Increase interest in recreational reading. This goal, however, can be achieved far more efficiently.

The new program described by the News-Gazette (“Champaign high schools now require summer reading,” May 28) requires high school students to select among a small set of books on a given theme and read one over the summer. (Students can read a book not on the list, but it must be related to the assigned theme.) Research consistently shows that self-selected reading of books of genuine interest is much more effective in stimulating literacy development than assigned reading.

The program requires written responses to questions about the book when students return in the summer. Research consistently shows that writing summaries and book reports does not increase literacy development and can turn students off to reading.

Another summer program in the Champaign area, the Teen Summer Reading program, awards prizes for reading. Research consistently shows that rewarding people for activities that are inherently pleasurable can result in less interest in doing the activity. Rewards send the message that the activity is not pleasurable and nobody would do it without a bribe.

There is an easier and more effective way. Research also consistently shows that when interesting books are available, teenagers do indeed read them, as demonstrated by the success of Harry Potter, Twilight, and Hunger Games. This means that we need to make a greater investment in public libraries, often the only source of books during the summer for those living in poverty, with the goal of providing students with a wide choice of books to read, with no written reports required.

With the increase in poverty in East Central Illinois over the last decade (“Changes in poverty and how schools are affected,” News-Gazette, January 15, 2012), well supported libraries are of more importance than ever.

Stephen Krashen
Professor Emeritus
University of Southern California

Original article: http://www.news-gazette.com/news/education/2012-05-28/champaign-high-schools-now-require-summer-reading.html

Some sources:
Self-selected reading is more effective: Krashen, S. 2004. The Power of Reading. Heinemann Publishing Company and Libraries Unlimited; Lee, S.Y. 2007. Revelations from three consecutive studies on extensive reading. RELC Journal 38 no. 2, 150–70. For a report of a successful summer reading program based on self-selected, see: Shin, F. and Krashen, S. 2007. Summer Reading: Program and Evidence. New York: Allyn and Bacon.
Writing summaries and book reports; Krashen, S. 2004. The Power of Reading. Heinemann Publishing Company and Libraries Unlimited; Mason, B. 2004. The effect of adding supplementary writing to an extensive reading program. International Journal of Foreign Language Teaching 1 (1): 2-16; Smith, K. 2006. A comparison of “pure” extensive reading with intensive reading and extensive reading with supplementary activities. International Journal of Foreign Language Teaching 2 (2): 12-15.
Prizes for reading: Kohn, A. 1997. Punished by Rewards. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. McQuillan, J. 1997. The effects of incentives on reading, Reading Research and Instruction 36: 111-25.Krashen, S. 2003. The (lack of) experimental evidence supporting the use of accelerated reader. Journal of Children’s Literature 29 (2): 9, 16-30.
Tennagers do read them: Krashen, S. 2001. Do teenagers like to read? Yes! Reading Today 18(5): 16. Krashen, S. 2011. Why we should stop scolding teenagers and their schools: Frequency of leisure reading. Language Magazine 11(4): 18-21.
Library the only source of books: Neuman, S. and Celano, D. 2001. Access to print in low-income and middle-income communities. Reading Research Quarterly 36 (1): 8-26. Krashen, S. Power of Reading.

The States: More Bully Politics of Education Reform

From South Carolina to New Jersey to Wisconsin—and all across the U.S.—universal public education is under assault by the bully politics of education reform.

In my home state of South Carolina, Governor Haley and Superintendent Zais, neither of whom have experience or expertise in education, are seeking to attack unions (although SC is a non-union, right-to-work state), increase education testing through adopting Common Core State Standards, deprofessionalize teachers through new accountability and merit-pay schemes, and cripple public schools by endorsing expanded choice initiatives.

Tractenberg details a similar pattern in New Jersey:

"Gov. Chris Christie wastes no opportunity to trash Newark’s public schools. His assaults continued recently at a national school choice conference, where he and odd-couple partner Mayor Cory Booker were featured speakers. "Aside from Christie’s well-known penchant for confrontation, there are two big problems with his attacks. "First, he insists on citing “facts” that are either flat-out wrong or cherry-picked to emphasize the worst in Newark’s schools. An education expert recently questioned why those promoting school choice often use the best charter schools to characterize all charter schools and the worst regular public schools to characterize all those schools."

The situation is even more grim in Wisconsin, home of the relentless Governor Walker:

"Walker is the archetypical bully. He has plenty of insecurities as a possible suspect in a John Doe case and as a college dropout--which necessitates his attacks on the 'liberal' academics. Self-esteem issues explain his need to repeatedly remind us how 'courageous' he has been and how he is like Ronald Reagan. Walker, like most bullies, yearns for status—which explains his national speaking tour. Most blatantly bullying is Walker’s 'divide and conquer' management style (openly advertised to one of his billionaire campaign donors)." "No group is better skilled at handling bullies, like Walker, than public educators. Teachers have much experience managing bullies in schools. We are trained in anti-bullying tactics. We have intervened in bullying situations and we advise our students on how to counter bullying. It is now time for Wisconsin’s teachers to embrace what we teach our students."

Steve Strieker, then, calls for a response in Wisconsin that every educator should heed: "Public educators must not be bystanders to Walker’s bullying." Part of the action educators must take is to identify the hypocrisy and lack of credibility coming from the current leaders in the call to reform schools along "no excuses" and corporate ideologies.


Bully Bravado Masks Inexperience, No Expertise, and Hypocrisy

Presidents, Secretaries of Education, Governors, and State Superintendents of Education historically and currently have used their bully pulpits to speak to and directly influence public education in the U.S. and in each state. In the twenty-first century, billionaires, millionaires, athletes, and celebrities have increasingly joined those political leaders by adopting education as their hobby. Among all of these elites, several patterns expose their combined failure to understand the problems facing and solutions needed for education—despite their elitist status that allows them power and prestige in the education debate. Those patterns expose these leaders' hypocrisy and lack of credibility and include the following:

• Most of these leaders experienced educational advantages unlike the schools they hope to create by dismantling public schools. Bill Gates, Arne Duncan, and Mitt Romney, for example, enjoyed the luxury of low student-teacher ratios, but claim class size doesn't matter (although class size does matter). The hypocrisy of the "no excuses" reformers reveals that these people living in privilege have a different standard for other people's children.

• Most of these leaders have never taught a day in their lives, and have no background in education other than their appointments and self-proclamations as educators. Sal Khan—like Duncan, Gates, and the governors across the nation—for example, has been anointed "educator" and "innovator" without having ever taught, without holding any degrees in education.

• Most of these leaders have either a weak or nonexistent grasp on the current knowledge and research-base for teaching and learning. Further, like Christie, when these reformers call on evidence, they either cherry-pick, distort, or misrepresent the data. Recently, Superintendent Zais (SC) discounted paying teachers for years of experience or advanced degrees since, as he claimed, those two characteristic do not correlate positively with higher student test scores. But Zais does endorse merit pay, value-added methods of teacher evaluation, charter schools, and vouchers/tuition tax credits—all of which have the same correlation with higher student test scores as his claim about experience and advanced degrees.

With these patterns in mind, educators must consider directly the situation in Wisconsin, where a recall highlights the power of action, and possibly highlights yet again the negative influence of passive educators.

Wisconsin, along with SC and New Jersey, is not just one state in the union, but a very real crucible of democracy. Educators and citizens across the U.S. must not ignore that an attack on public schools, public school teachers, and public school students is an attack on democracy.

Democracy is not just an ideal, it is an act of the individual fully committed to the community.