The Lie Behind Educational Reform

Michelle Rhee said on CNN that the US tested 27th on the world scale.

The US tests everyone. Special Ed, IEP’s, all vocational students. Other nations just test their cream of the crop, their college bound. In most nations, you have to pass an exam to get into high school. In India, which Markell uses in his comparisons btw, only 15% reach High School, and only 7% graduate.

When we take our top 15% and match it up against the rest of the world, the US is number one.

So… We Are Rating the University of Delaware By Common Core

The educational department of the University of Delaware is ranked 31st in the nation... That is at least out of 5000 accredited teaching schools…

Not only that, they are 31st in the top ranked educational teacher training country in the entire world… Apparently there is no educational crises in America when it comes to teachers receiving top notch training.

Overall, the top 10 countries in rank order are the United States, Sweden, Switzerland, Canada, Denmark, Finland, the Netherlands, Australia, Singapore and the United Kingdom….

What just passed last Thursday in Delaware, now requires the University of Delaware, again now ranked 31st in the top educator nation in the world, to be judged solely on how its teachers administer Common Core when they go out into the field…

Common Core?

Just how good is this Common Core we are talking about?

New Attack on Common Core From Pennsylvania Democrats

Common Core Standards attacked by Republicans

‘Common Core’ Standards Come Under Attack By Lucas Johnson, Associated Press

Nation at Risk Anniversary, Common Core Under Attack

Common Core Conundrum

Common Core State Standards Under Attack

The RNC’s Attack on Common Standards

The War Against the Common Core

911: Common Core Under Attack

Rotten to the Core: Conservatives spearhead drive at RNC meeting to stop Common Core

Weingarten Calls For A Moratorium on the Implementation of the Common Core: A “Save Harmless” Year for Planning That Includes Parents, Teachers and Principals.

Washington Post: Common Core is in Trouble

Common Core Standards Facing Increased Opposition

Common Core – Language

Common Core Makes Waves

Indiana Among States Acting to Oppose Common Core Standards

Lisa Nielsen: Is the Common Core an Attack on Progressive Education?

Common Core: Education Without Representation

The Common Core: The Good, the Bad, the Possible

Your Children Need a Néw Brain for Common Core

Kentuckians Against Common Core Standards

Toynbee Predicted Privatization

One would think someone in Legislative Hall would have at least looked into Common Core before mandating that the 31st best teaching institution in the best ranked nation for turning out good teachers, would have to be judged on its effectiveness by the results of a program everyone is having so much trouble with.

Progressives are against it. Tea Party Advocates are against it. Democrats are against it. Republicans are against it.. Red States are against it. Blue States are against it. How could this be? Could it be possible they all have children?

In fact, it appears there is no one who is in favor of common core, across this entire great nation we are so fortunate to live in… No one except 59 Delaware legislators, who apparently didn’t get the memo…..

Exposing Common Core To The Public

This is a homework assignment given to one Delawarean student. I published this before, but since many are now tuning in for the first time, here it is again…. The original story began with how a student was upset they would not be covering Shakespeare this year. When a parent asked at open house, the answer was: “We’re doing common core this year. It is a very structured learning process. We won’t be reading literature this year”. This is what they read instead.

======

“Inventory” was almost here. Miguel had to count all the product on his shelves. He didn’t have time. In the morning deliveries came and had to be stocked and rotated. Once he opened his doors, he had to handle customers, and never was a time that no one was in the building. Then in the evening, he had to stay to make sure his evening shift was running smoothly. His assistant came in at five, and Miguel would wait to make sure all staff was present and accounted for, that no manpower shortages would occur, and that all equipment was working properly, before he could leave. He started every day at 5 am…”

DISCUSS THOROUGHLY

ANALYZE CORRECTLY

WRITE THE NEXT SENTENCE

VOCABULARY

inventory
deliveries
customers
assistant
accounted
manpower
shortages
properly

WHAT IS THE KEY POINT OF THIS PARAGRAPH

WHAT IS THE AUTHOR TRYING TO SAY

WRITE A 5 PARAGRAPH TEXT ON HOW YOU WOULD SOLVE MIGUEL’S PROBLEMS.

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From Shakespeare to this….. Welcome to Common Core, ladies and gentlemen.

They’re Trying To Trick You.

I’m usually done with a piece of legislation when it doesn’t go my way.. I always shared a disdain for those who lose and refuse to accept reality for what it is… But I’ve received so many questions over SB51, that I’ll break protocol, to discuss it for one last time…

The main question I’ve received most often, is why did I take on this unattainable cause. Surely one could see the writing on the wall when the Senate voted? Wasn’t it a waste of time?

Oddly, no. And I’m perplexed a little as to why I feel that way. Because it did suck up a lot of time and it had only two people vote against it in the entire General Assembly, and two abstentions (one principled and one physical.) So I’m going to try and work it out here, in type, as to why it was important to lead a fight against it. One that if one was keeping score, turned out to be an unmitigated disaster.

The reason for SB51″s success, was its stealth. It was out of committee, in the Senate, out of the Senate, in the House committee, and on the House floor, each time with very little notice. In fact, it wasn’t until after it had passed the Senate that I began hearing how bad this bill really was. Perhaps in a regular year, that would not have occurred. Someone would have read the bill earlier as it hit the docket and passed that information along. It should be noted this is an extraordinary year. The recomposition of this General Assembly has made many big changes possible. Gay Marriage, Background Checks, Reporting Stolen Firearms, Repeal of Death Penalty, Kinder-Morgan, Assault Bans, Bans of High Capacity Clips, have kind of sucked the wind out of the room when it comes to a bill that says something sensible like we should be hiring smart teachers instead of dumb ones.

One of our most progressive commentators said something like “I can see no one having a problem with that.”

And indeed. This bill seemed to have everyone on board. DSEA, that educational labor union who represents teachers, RODEL who represents the corporate Investors, the Governor who put this prominently in his state of the state address, both parties whom neither wanted to be seen as being against better education, the Chamber of Commerce and those who fund the entities inside the Community Service Building on 10th Street, progressives, conservatives. There was no one who seemed not to want to rubber stamp it…

It took a lot of work to wake up even three people to contest it…. And that is a start….

With overwhelming support, my goodness, in percentage terms…. 93% of the entire General Assembly was in favor. That ironically was the same percentage of Delawareans that wanted Offshore Wind over the objections of 4 well place members of the Executive Committee back in 2007-8…

How can anyone “credible” be against such a good bill with “overwhelming” support?

I would say there is one common thread among those who first voiced opposition and carried the water for trying to educate the public about this bill. And if you agree or disagree, please feel free to chime in. This is an informal piece.

Anyone who has experienced Common Core, who has actually experienced it, would be against this bill. I experienced it by helping a student with their homework assignment. Teachers and administrators experience it in their professional capacity. School Boards experience it by being in the cross fire between the DOE and parents who are as upset as I was with the crap that is being passed off as “learning.”…

Obviously from the results of the vote, very few people in Delaware have experience Common Core. Once you see what it has done to your kids, you are outraged. Outraged. There is no other accurate description….

So the vote in support of SB51, was primarily based, if I could extrapolate, on ignorance. I too would have been right there with them if I had not had the cathartic experience of meeting Common Core face to face. Once one does, one quickly learns to hate it. For many, many years I have been privy to a lot of grumbling from educators over each new “program of the year”, but never, never have I experienced a deterioration in a student’s drive to do well, as I have seen across the board with Common core…. “A” Students just giving up and settling for “C’s”, because of the capriciousness of the teaching and those learning materials that come in “packets.”

Here is what has to happen. These tests and packets need to get leaked to the public. Once seen and ridiculed, the proper perspective and potential damage from Common Core becomes clearer. Further more, every single member of the educational committees of both the Delaware Senate and House, should take this bill. Then the General Assembly would finally be in alignment with where the parents will be next year.

This year was really the first where Common Core was trialed. Next year it will be much more extensive.

So when one says that our teaching colleges and universities will be rated by how well their student teacher’s students do on Common Core tests over the next five years, quite a bit of that sentence totally depends on how good or bad Common Core is… I can tell you… it’s really.. really… bad.

Common Core is no better than “No Child Left Behind.” That too was a landmark piece of legislation to make teachers accountable to teaching, and not sending unprepared students up the ladder. It was hailed as the crowning achievement of American Society. Those very few who looked at the detail, and questioned how it would work, were laughed at as being among those who wanted to “leave children behind.” But guess what? When that was implemented in full across the nation, it didn’t work. Students did worse instead of better. Gee, the educational structure asked? How can this be? Answer was, it didn’t work in Texas under then Governor George W. Bush, either. They just tweaked the test scores.

Common Core is no better. In fact, it is probably worse. And there are many reasons why, which have been discussed on this blog many times, as well as on Transparent Christina, Kilroy’s of Delaware, Delaware Way, and Seventh Type… It “can” be better, but those pieces are being squashed under “bigger” principles, such as busting the teachers union, paying off Wall Street investors, making fistfuls of dough out of charter schools and vouchers… Big money has got its roots into education and is now trying to choke off all competition from good crops..

This bill’s overwhelming victory is not the end…. In fact, I think it may just hasten the end of Common Core, instead of extending it… I think so because I know how bad this program is.. I know there is no way you, once you experience it’s insanity, its inadequacy, and its ineptitude, will be supportive of common core… You can’t be.. No one like being inside a Kafka novel. We have nine months to educate Delaware what Common Core will do to your children. Nine months… If we are wrong, and the public does not by then demonize this program, then perhaps it is good that this bill passed.

But I’ve seen Common Core face to face… so I sincerely doubt that outcome….

Then, come next January, January 2014 an election year no doubt, we again will see these familiar words with a lot of support behind it.

“Section 1. Amend the title of Chapter 12, Title 14 of the Delaware Code, by making insertions as shown by underlining and deletions as shown by strikethrough as follows:”……

Vote Like A Goat

Today is School Board Elections…Polls are open 10-8…  If anyone is sponsored by Markell or Rodell or RTTT or WSFS, don’t vote for them.. If anyone is sponsored by DSEA, they are on the students side. They are safe.

So go out and vote like a goat… Be…  B-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-D

Sermon On The Mount

Bottom line in all cases I think everyone here would agree, is that we do what is best for the children. In certain cases  in which you may find yourself in,  a charter school scenario seems better to achieve that, than that situation’s public school alternative.

I guess the opposing point to your argument,  would be that instead of allowing charter schools to siphon funds away from public school systems, hard changes are now needed to be implemented inside the public schools. Raise the revenue, invest in quality, and make the public school system move itself forward to do what is best for the children.

Then, the charter’s group counter-argument to THAT…, is:   that is exactly what existed before charter schools were brought in! What you suggest didn’t happen then! Instead as situations got worse, administrators were told to deal with it; use good judgment. Charters are what brought in the necessary competition and now therefore they are responsible for today reforming public schools.

The retort for THAT, would be of what I spoke before:  that too many mouths at the trough make thin pigs. No one benefits from too many hungry mouths fighting over too scarce resources…

And that is where this argument seems to lie. Am I seeing our differences now as question of perspective? Sort of like from where one is looking, sort of determines how one sees this problem?

Let me elaborate. charter supporters speak of charters making positive inroads on children lucky enough to attend their schools … So from the perspective of those particular kids (our number one priority) the charter moving in and siphoning resources from a neighborhood dying entity, is a very good thing… Seen from that perspective I’ll agree….

However,… as a society one has to have the broad approach. One has to look for the Ying that corresponds to the Yang… In this case, that Ying would be…. what is happening to those children NOT being put into a charter school?

The answer is….. drumroll…… that they are doing worse then when public schools alone ruled the educational fiefdom. And shockingly, students at charter schools seem across the whole to be doing worse than when public schools alone ruled the educational landscape as well….
And this is where we have to be careful… we can say, look at this Charter… see how well it is doing?

But we must first know … is it doing well comparatively because it is teaching superlatively, or because the students it takes in were originally more highly motivated to succeed in the first place? Had those same students been in public schools, would they  now be boosting the public school’s results upward?

So from a theoretical perspective, it appears that the only sane way to determine whether charters have a positive or a negative impact upon societal education as a whole, is to use the numerical data to see how well students are responding now.

Doing so is a lot more complicated than this upcoming explanation, but using a simpler model will allow me to communicate it more easily. … Think if we were to give each student a number based on whether they graduated or not, and make those numbers either a +1 for graduating, or a -1 for not…. and then add up all of an entire city’s students, we would have a number for that district. We could then compare that number with numbers of the past, and also have the future come back to compare with us…

If with Charter schools in the equation, our success (graduation) number for ALL combined Public and Charter students is lower than it was before the time that Charters came in, then despite lots of  individual success stories, the concept of starting charters is over the total system, … disruptive… On the other hand, if with Charters our comprehensive success (graduation) number is higher than it was before Charters came in……. then thank heavens, someone brought in charter schools…..

Does that make sense?   If we took all of Delaware and compared all the numbers of students who meet the graduation standards before Charter Schools came in to disrupt, and compared that with all the numbers of students who meet the graduations standards now, … we would see, flat out, if that disruption was a positive one, or a negative one!  Is that clearer?

I think what has always quantified the difference in perspective between the two camps,… charter versus non-charter, is that one side is adding the negative numbers into the equation, and the other side is strictly only looking at the positive spectrum…

As in positive: … “look this kid was failing but now in a charter he is graduating… Isn’t that great”. Versus,“look over here, these two kids are dropping out of public school while one person graduates from a charter, that’s a combined score of a negative one… We should switch priorities, fund public education and then at least, should the charter wither and fail, we’d have a score of a positive one at the very least. Positive three if the kid in the charter succeeds!”

And if I’m a good writer, I’ve led you right to the solution that should be forming in your mind right now as you read this… The real solution is to refund education, period; allowing for both the successful existing charters to continue, and for adequately funding public education to provide increased opportunities to close the gaps still existing among our students. Remember again, our goal is our children.

Public education thrived post second World War! Only when the tax revolt began and people even considered lowering property taxes and cutting spending, did quality levels of education start declining. We once had a very robust educational system… How can we tell? Our nation today is the byproduct of that intergenerational system stretching beginning and end across the 20th Century.

But somewhere in the 80′s we began to make a conscious choice as a society that we would benefit more if we gave the wealthy more wealth and gave public education and other things… less..

Somewhere in the past we as a society made a conscious choice to allow our nation’s leaders to put less money into education, and keep more for themselves and their friends…. ( of course in fairness, we thought we were going to get some of it too…. Psyche!)

And the longer and longer I look at today’s educational problem and all the millions of pieces that need to be glued back together, the more and more I come to the inevitable conclusion that we simply really need to take that money back, invest it where it should have been all along, and still, keep that same fire in our bellies which we have now, and make education fun again so that great things can happen…..

Just like it probably did for each and every one of us… After all, we’re reading blogs for heaven’s sakes… Where on earth did THAT curiosity come from? Does that make us all sort of weird? lol.

Where’s All The Outrage!!!

” Benghazi.Benghazi.Benghazi.Benghazi.Benghazi.”

OH SHUT UP YOU STUPID OLD FARTS!

Since  the rampage at Connecticut,  less than five months later — this list includes 137 accidental shootings, 57 of which were fatal. These children and teens were accidentally shot by themselves, by parents, siblings, relatives, friends, neighbors, and caregivers. In other words, these shootings were not by strangers. Many of the guns used in these shootings were obtained by family members for personal protection.

Isn’t that far more important? 137 accidental shootings because we can’t responsibly handle weapons of mass destruction?

137/ 57 fatal Guns in the US are the log in our eye. Meanwhile we try to take splinters out of the eyes of others!

And we’re wasting yet another day of Congress to rehash what the last 17 hearings on the same topic have dug up? One that killed just 4 Americans in a terrorist ambush, something of which we have no control over? And we want to get down to the bottom of who is to blame? But 137 actual shootings occur, and these same people drink champagne and eat caviar while whooping and rejoicing that background checks got defeated?

We have got to rid ourselves of these outdated farting Republicans, either one way or another….. Maybe give them some Beano. For heavens sake, let’s get our nation’s priorities in order.

Testing Children Till They Cry!

I don’t think I did.  At least I don’t remember ever crying over the taking of a test… I know towards the end of my academic life, where I stretched myself a little too far, I felt like crying, but  you’d be hard pressed to call me a kid then…  Even if a couple of former lovers would disagree.

But stories abound about these tests being dispensed.   All in the name of Common Core.  Here is the logic.

Our kids are not doing as well as kids in Shanghai.  We need to turn them into Chinese.  The Chinese are brutal.  We need to be brutal to compete.  We will make our test so hard and pump so much knowledge into our child’s heads, that we will do as good or better….

They have come and shanghai’d our kids…..

Someone in the Department of Education must hate kids.   That is the only conclusion a sane person can draw…   Making kids cry over a test?  For what?  Does that make them better citizens?  Does that make them better customers?

It has become obvious at least to this human being, that our Department of Education is interested only in the Department of Education.  It has lost focused.

We are supposed to be educating our children so they can compete in a future world.  Making them cry is the exact opposite approach that is needing to be taken….

Instead, our resources need to go to an 11 to 1 student teacher ratio.   Teachers need to be rated if anything on whether their students are or are not engaged….  It is hard not to be engaged as a student when you have a student teacher ratio 11 to 1 ratio….

And the reason they fight this concept of having more teachers teach students? It is because there is no corporate money in hiring teachers…  Wall Street does not get rich like they do whenever a school district buys a test….

And if you can make a child cry when taking a test, there is a good chance they will all take another one to redeem their self-esteem…..

Where the (Jea) Streets Have No Name

A quick comment on Rhonda Graham’s piece in the News Journal regarding Jea Streets outburst and the Christina School District.

First, the praise.  The comment by Shirley was pretty weird, and Rhonda was correct to point that out.  Jea Street is not going to turn into Adam Lanza.  I believe though, Rhonda mischaracterized the board’s  fear was of Jea Street when it was more, over whether his rabid followers would also lose track of reality since their cult leader obviously did in print.  The posse were the ones who were feared.   We well remember Henry II’s emotional outburst about the Archbishop of Canterbury….  Still, that fear should have been quickly put aside and not been pushed to the press  which had the tendency to distract from the real essence of why RTTT is a bad idea.

So that was accurate. On the other hand, she fails to bring up these points in her support of Jea Street.

1) the RTTT and charter programs segregate and discriminate against blacks far worse than the existing system.

2) .Under RTTT and charter programs, test scores are plummeting to new lows.

3)  Under RTTT and charter programs, Common Core is pissing off more students against learning than it is teaching.

4)  Under the “Broad”  trained Superintendents, the mess was made. The current crew is in the process of cleaning it up, and is doing nicely.

5)  She neglected to mention that Jea Street is a joke, and  is considered one by all who have to work beside him.. Demanding the firing of three of the most competent board members in this century’s history, is grandstanding pure and simple.  Jea Street might as well call for  Obama to step down, because he didn’t raise taxes high enough the first time… Poppycock and  Rhonda should know this.

These absences from her story make her portrayal incomplete….

The reason she neglected to tell her readers that the Christina board was considering to refuse the money being offered by RTTT, was that the strings attached to that sum of money would cost the District more than the money itself.

It is like someone forcing a $20 bill on you that you didn’t need, and loan sharking you for a $50 when you had to pay it back.

Jea Street can’t understand Math.  If Rhonda looked a little deeper, she might have realized it….

“Hi, I’m jea street, And I Approve This Message”

I’m not going to embarrass the pants off Jea Street by pointing him out… If you know him, or of him, you’ll know whom I’m talking about.  If you don’t, he could be anyone, sitting in the audience of your districts Board of Education Meeting…

But, Jea Street just did a very dumb thing.  He fires off a public letter calling for the firing of three Christina School Board members calling them super “obstructionists”…

Really.  Super obstructionists?  Is that like Superman?  Wouldn’t it have been smarter to call them Spider obstructionists?  Like Spiderman?  Or Bat obstructionists?  Like Batman?  or Under obstructionists, “like little olde me,…….. Underdog”.

Look, Jea Street!…. It’s a frog…..   A    F-R-O-G?

This isn’t a “new” or “confused” Jea Street. This is the Jea Street from decades ago hammered Red Clay and who so concerned the Red Clay Board that they had rent-a-cops attend board meetings. This is the Jea street who hammered everyone within earshot about achieving racial equality. This is the Jea Street who never opened his mouth when the shining lights of state and district politics (were any minorities of note involved in this?) went for and obtained Charter, Choice, and Neighborhood Schools. This is the Jea Street I always considered racist and have not seen any change in his position on that. This is the Jea Street who had to be aware of what was happening to Warner and all the kids there in recent years – and said nothing. This is the Jea Street who watched as Red Clay designed and implemented a racially divided district – and said nothing. So, the only conclusion I can draw from this is: What’s in it for Jea Street? — Adam Smith, aka Batman.

Did the councilman really just invite any whack job in Delaware to seek out school board members and deal with them as if they were weapons of mass destruction? Line crossing?  (Translated: show up at your efffin board of education with an AR 15 and whack the m–fu–ers.)  Django  aka  Django.

I used to simply feel sorry for this guy until I saw him act in person worse than he acts with pen in hand at the GABMAAFWF govt School (not education) Choice event at Woodlawn Library a few months ago.  Now I have a tremendous and somewhat fearful distaste for his self serving rants and sanctimonious rage. His is the most dangerous of several common actions of the all too common race pimp class of citizens.  Peter Parker  aka Spiderman.

And to think some thought The Jea Street was the latest dance. It’s the “Hustle” all over again. Clark Kent  aka  Superman.

This is the jea who watched high ranking 100K admins in RC and CSD help keep it quiet for years. some were paid directly by the districts, others had companies with contracts! it is disgusting at every level. What has happened in education in DE is comparable to the robbery the banks and defense contractors have done to the public.  Alfred…. (Butler to Adam Smith.)

(If you don’t now know who jea street is, he is the little guy driving the tank in the video linked above…….)   Now, I don’t know Jea Street or care to really, after the ringing endorsements his actions have resonated,  but since I have a hard time remembering faces, I use cartoons… In this case, Jea Street is  close to “J Street” which as most know, is right beside “K Street” in Washington DC.

This is fitting.  ”J Street” (which I will call him/her for the rest of this highly educational and scientific article) is carrying water for the Lobbyists of Pure-Profit Management of Public Schools (PMS)…..  When “J Street” slips under the influence of PMS he gets wild and loose with facts.  He gets emotional;  PMS will do that to a person…..

This preposterous decision destines the resolution for failure and guarantees continuation of the District’s modus operandi of ongoing discrimination that I have been complaining bout since Novermber 17, 2005…

(Note to Reader:  ”J Street”  has forgotten with his temporary amnesia  the two African American superintendents who PRECEEDED Dr. Williams and were in place during the OCR fiasco…one of whom is Maryland’s current State Superintendent of Education, Lillian Lowery.)  PMS does make you forget important things…..

I believe that this decision was race based in a futile attemp to keep Mr. Evans from continuing to speak up and speak out for African American children as he had effectively done for so many years….

(Note to Reader:  Mr. Evans had run for that position the previous election and had been thumped, repudiated, and badly beaten like a chump if I remember correctly, by a 10 to 1 margin.  Upon hearing that his opponent had resigned, Mr Evans made himself the only person available for that position.  The board felt that someone so rejected by parents of students in that district, could only do harm by being allowed to sit in that position for if he were allowed on as a voting member, it could set up court challenges in the future for everything the board did from that point onward..)  PMS  seems to have made “J Street” forgetful here as well.

In my view the District’s apparent willingness to put $2.3 million in jeopardy is a breach of promise to the effected schools and teachers impacted by this decision.

(Note to Reader:  Across this nation, many districts are opting out of RTTT because it simply costs more to achieve, than the funds one is given.  Of all the districts in this state, Christina first recognized this, and in order not to be forced to spend far more than they get, they are negotiating with the Department of Education for leeway in using the funding in ways that wouldn’t cost the district more to use the money.   Meaning it is actually cheaper, NOT to accept RTTT funding, and therefore NOT implement all the costly purchases required by RTTT,  This frees up money which can be used on things like educating children inside the inner city, something which has been put on hold, since RTTT began.)  This of course cannot be comprehended when one as PMS.

Apparently, “J Street” is being manipulated by “K Street” to intimidate the board of Christina.  ”K Street” feels that refusing to buy products from only certain firms sanctioned by the state as official suppliers, and using that money to actually help children learn, instead of line their pockets, is an outrage.  Unfortunately.  For a rich man to scream… “I’m not wealthy enough!  Buy my ‘effin’ product” turns people off.   But that is no problem for them, as long as their neighbor “j street” will do it for them and …yes… blame it on race, even though those guilty, were all Afro-Americans…..

In case you missed it above…. “J Street” is the guy driving the tank..