Popular backlash against high stakes testing grows stronger, but the Senate doesn't appear to notice (with video)

See the video below of the rally on Wednesday of the Seattle Garfield high school teacher boycott of the MAP test, with teachers, parents and the local NAACP speaking up about the waste of time and money and invalid teacher evaluation metrics that result.  They also read statements of support from other groups around the nation. (Many of them are posted here)  Here are just a sample of stories  from the past week, thanks to Monty Neill of FairTest.

Has Testing Reached a Tipping Point?
USA Today on Growing National Resistance
Seattle Teachers Lead Day of Action Against Standardized Tests
New Wave of Teacher Unionism Focuses on Standardized Testing 
Providence [RI] Students' Strong Op Ed Opposing High-Stakes Testing
Portland Students Push Standardized Test Boycott
Chicago Parents' Petition Seeks Limits on Testing
New York Principals Continue Campaign Against High-Stakes Testing Misuse
Key Texas Legislator Proposes Standardized Exam Requirement Rollback
State, Local Officials Call for "No Child Left Behind" Overhaul
Opposition to Standardized Testing & Common Core Assessments Grows Across Political Spectrum
If Testing Makes for Better Education, Why Are Obama Girls in a School thatDisagrees?
E-mails Link Bush Foundation with Corporations and State Officials in Pushing Test-Driven "Reform"
Testing Insanity Kills the Joy of Teaching and Learning
 
Yet on Thursday, the very next day, the Senate held hearings on the US Dept of Education's NCLB "waivers"; with all five witnesses, including Arne Duncan, uncritically supporting the corporate reform agenda of test-based accountability; with no mention of the grassroots backlash that is growing in strength each day.  Though Duncan claims the NCLB waivers are more "flexible" in many ways they are even worse than NCLB by requiring teacher evaluation be linked to test scores.  (See video of the hearings and links to the testimonies.)

The only skeptics were Sen. Bernie Sanders (VT) and Sen. Pat Roberts (KS), who  mostly focused on how the "Race to the Top" competitive grant program granted funds only to 11 states and DC, and discriminated against small and rural states like theirs without vast bureaucracies able to complete the grant proposals. Roberts also mentioned the briefly the importance of local control rather than top-down heavy hand of the feds. Sen. Rand Paul (KT) pointed out there is a growing coalition of the left and the right against federal mandates, but then went into a paean for vouchers.

Sen. Lamar Alexander (TN) argued against the notion that the federal government should be so prescriptive, when NY State Education  Commissioner King urged the federal government to absolutely require that teacher evaluation be linked to student /achievement  (which they have done already through the waivers) .  "Adults must be held accountable for student learning and outcomes." [You see he as well as other corporate reformers use these words interchangeably and reduce student performance/achievement/learning/outcomes with test scores.]

"Why do you need me to come from Tennessee to tell you what to do? Can't you do it on your own?"  gently scoffed Sen. Alexander, who needled him by mentioning Bloomberg's disdain for the teacher evaluation systems that New York state had agreed to.  But not one of the Senators present actually confronted how test scores are an unreliable, unfair and invalid way to measure teacher quality, and how all over the country, parents and teachers are rejecting the  increasingly oppressive effect of testing on our schools.

The women on the committee were nowhere to be found; neither Patti Murray (WA), now the two new appointees:  Elizabeth Warren (MA) and Tammy Baldwin (WI).  Particularly disappointing was the performance of Sen. Al Franken (MI), who praised computer-adaptive tests, like the MAP tests that the Garfield teachers are boycotting.

In response,  Duncan said "There are schools in NYC where every single day teachers get real life feedback on how much their students learned; the goal of teachers is not to teach but to have students learn. In NYC, every single day, using technology, teachers understand what their children learned." 

Does anyone know what he is talking about?  The School of One program, that has had disappointing results and was dropped by two out of the three schools that tried it?  Once again, the Congress shows how they are trapped in a bubble, isolated from reality, their constituents and the rising popular revulsion against these damaging policies.

If they had been more in tune with what is happening in their communities, they would have invited the Montgomery Co. Superintendent Starr, who has called for a three year moratorium on high stakes testing, the Portland Oregon students who are boycotting their state tests, or the Seattle Garfield teachers and parents, speaking out below.

Mayor's Appointees Force Big Testing Contract Despite Looming Classroom Cuts

Wednesday's Panel for Educational Policy meeting held on Staten Island focused exclusively on contracts.
 
My resolution to rescind our prior approval of the tutoring services contract for Champion Learning passed unanimously.  Following the disclosure that the comptroller's office had rejected the contract due to an ongoing federal investigation even the mayor's appointees agreed to revoke our approval.  See here for text of the resolution.

Deputy Chancellor Polakow-Suransky presented an awful $19 million testing technology contract for Pearson.  The contract includes both assessment content and the assessment technology platform.  The platform includes important things like: "the capability to import and host ("ingest") content from varied and multiple sources".  You can read all the details of what we bought here.  I pointed out to Chancellor Walcott that the mayor's intransigence in refusing to agree to the evaluation system DOE negotiators had worked out with the UFT had brought us $250 million in punitive budget cuts from Governor Cuomo.  I asked the Chancellor why, if by his own estimation, the governor's funding reduction will cost our students "2,500" teaching positions and "essential" class room supplies, we should spend $19 million on unneeded testing technology.   His answer focused on how surveys had shown teachers used our current technology.  The idea that we could avoid some of those 2.500 teacher cuts by deferring this contract was not of interest to him.

During public comment we heard from Council Member Deborah Rose, members of the Staten Island CEC (District 31) and the public including a number of striking bus drivers and their supporters.   Panel Chair Tino Hernandez shut off CEC 31 President Sam Pirozzolo's mike after deciding he had talked too long.   I made a motion to extend his speaking time by two minutes citing the fact that we were guests on Staten Island and we ought to allow some additional time to hear the concerns of the elected parent representatives.   Queens PEP member Fedkowskyj seconded my motion.   Chair Hernandez first said "no" and then apparently realizing he had violated parliamentary procedure, agreed to provide one minute of additional speaking time.

Several CEC members including Michael Reilly and Frank Squicciarini as well as members of the public spoke in favor of their security proposal which would add modern security to school entrances including video and buzzer systems.   I was disappointed to learn Chancellor Walcott had dismissed the proposal out of hand and accused the CEC of self promotion.  I will ask the Chancellor and staff to revisit the proposal as I did see merit to some of the ideas after speaking with CEC members, many of whom have deep expertise in law enforcement.

Chancellor Walcott responded to concerns about the bus drivers strike by insisting there was no role for the DOE or City despite the fact that the National Labor Relations Board had found that both the bus companies and DOE were primary employers of the drivers and matrons.   

Growing coalition of education, parent & privacy groups protest plan to share confidential student data with Gates-funded corporation

Education, parent and privacy groups, including the Massachusetts ACLU, the MA state PTA, the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood, and Citizens for Public Schools, sent a letter today to the MA State Board of Education,  protesting the state's plan to share confidential student and teacher information with the Gates Foundation. The information to be shared will likely include student names, test scores, grades, disciplinary and attendance records, special education and free lunch status.  These groups are asking to see the contract with the Gates Foundation, and demanding the right of parents to consent before their children's highly sensitive educational records are shared with the Gates Foundation or any other corporation that in turn plans to share it with private vendors. See the press release below and the letter here.  

Why is should this concern us here?  Because as I have written about previously, the New York State Education Department is participating eagerly in this project as well, and intends to disclose the confidential information of NYC public school children for the same purpose, without  telling parents or giving them the right to consent.

This  "datastore", including the personally identifiable records of  public school students in nine states, will be held by a new spin-off corporation called inBloom Inc.,  headed by Iwan Streichenberger, who worked at a company called  Promethean that sells whiteboards. Its chief product officer is Sharren Bates, formerly of Gates and before that, the NYC DOE official who headed up the $80 million boondoggle known as ARIS.

Gushing stores about the new company, which participated in yesterday's "Digital Learning Day," are all over the web, including this TechCrunch article, which discusses how the Gates Foundation has invested $100 million in inBloom,  which in turn  will "unleash" all this valuable data into the open marketplace of software developers and for-profit education technology companies:

Considering that public spending on education has hovered around 6 percent of the country’s total GDP — in other words, considering the fact that billions are spent every year on education — the declining academic performance (outcomes and graduation rates, etc.) of American students is disappointing to say the least. Thus, the size of the problem is readily apparent — as is the opportunity — for students, businesses and the economy......

The CEO says that he wants inBloom to offer a comprehensive view into each student’s history, their progress and help startups, developers, companies and schools create the tools that will give them greater insight into how students can improve their learning outcomes and personalize their learning paths....

Today, 21 education technology companies have already announced plans to develop apps that will work with inBloom’s open API, including Agilix, BloomBoard, CaseNex, Clever, Compass Learning, ConnectEDU, CPSI, Ellevation Education, eScholar, Global Scholar, GoalBook, Gooru, KickBoard, Learning.com, LearnSprout, LoudCloud, PBS, Promethean , Scholastic, Schoology and Wireless Generation.

All this confidential information will be stored and disseminated from a data cloud run by Amazon.com; meanwhile, a survey of IT corporate leaders was just released showing that 88% believe that data hosted in clouds can be lost, corrupted or accessed by unauthorized individuals, and 86% don’t trust clouds for sensitive data.

According to inBloom Inc.'s privacy and security policy, the company "cannot guarantee the security of the information stored...or that the information will not be intercepted when it is being transmitted" to third party vendors.  I wonder if NY state and the other states involved realize that they may be vulnerable for multi-million dollar class action lawsuits if and when this highly sensitive data leaks out, especially since Gates and inBloom appear to have disclaimed all responsibility for its safety.

Here is a updated fact sheet you can share with parents and citizens concerned about the unprecedented risks this project poses to the privacy rights of public school students and their families.  Even if your state is not on the list currently, do not relax; the Gates Foundation is busily trying to recruit even more states that will send their confidential student information to  inBloom Inc., with an operating system devised by Wireless Generation of NewsCorp, and stored on a data cloud run by Amazon.com.  Below is the press release from today.

To view an online version of this message, please click here.

February 7, 2013 Contact: Josh Golin, CCFC (617-896-9369; josh@commercialfreechildhood.org) Dr. Erik J. Champy, Mass PTA (617-861-7910; info@masspta.org) Ann O'Halloran, Citizens for Public Schools (617-448-3647; ohalloran.ann@verizon.net) For Immediate Release Coalition Urges Massachusetts Education Officials to Reconsider Controversial Gates Foundation Partnership; New Shared Learning Collaborative Will Hand Over Confidential Student Data to For-Profit Corporations. BOSTON -- February 7 -- Advocates for privacy, children, and education are demanding that the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education reconsider a controversial plan to share confidential student data with the Gates Foundation’s Shared Learning Collaborative (SLC). The Gates Foundation is building a national “data store” of personally identifiable information including student names, test scores, grades, disciplinary and attendance records, and most likely, special education needs, economic status, and racial identity as well. Today, the ACLU of Massachusetts, Citizens for Public Schools (CPS), the Massachusetts PTA, and the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood (CCFC) sent a letter to the Massachusetts Board of Elementary and Secondary Education urging the Board to make public its contract with the SLC, require parental consent before any data is shared with the Gates Foundation, and pledge that data will never be used for commercial purposes. "This program forces public school students to trade their personal privacy for access to education — even without their knowledge or their parents' consent. Students in the Commonwealth should be able to trust that state officials will not quietly hand over intimate information about them en masse to private corporations or other third parties," said Kade Crockford, director of the Technology for Liberty program at the ACLU of Massachusetts. Added Dr. Erik J. Champy, president of the Massachusetts PTA, "We have deep concerns about a commercial entity having access to private information about students and teachers and potentially using it for profit, and encouraging others to do the same. This data should never be used for commercial purposes and this matter should be investigated very carefully." The Gates Foundation intends to turn over its trove of student data information to inBloom Inc., a newly formed corporation which plans to make that information available to commercial vendors to help them develop and market their “learning products.” “Parents trust schools to safeguard their children’s confidential and sensitive data,” said CCFC’s associate director Josh Golin. “Sharing that data with marketers and commercial enterprises is a clear violation of that trust.” Advocates’ concerns about the partnership include inBloom’s statement that it “cannot guarantee the security of the information stored in inBloom or that the information will not be intercepted when it is being transmitted” to third party vendors. These concerns are heightened by the fact that the data store’s operating system is being built by Wireless Generation, a subsidiary of the News Corporation, which has been investigated for violating the privacy of individuals both here in the United States and in Great Britain. "CPS members are concerned about the privacy of our student information and the use of that information by private outfits for profit-making ventures,” said CPS president Ann O'Halloran. “We seek clear information and assurances that private student information will be protected, and that parents will have the right to consent before their information is shared with such databases.” Massachusetts is one of nine states, including New York, North Carolina, Colorado, and Illinois that have agreed to turn confidential public school student records over to the Gates Foundation as part of Phase I of the Shared Learning Collaborative. Phase II states that have agreed to pilot the system starting in 2013 include Delaware, Georgia, Kentucky, and Louisiana. Parents in New York expressed outrage when they learned that the New York State Education Department planned to give their children’s private information to the Gates Foundation without their consent. “This entire project represents an unprecedented violation of the privacy rights of children and their families,” said Leonie Haimson, the Executive Director of a New York-based organization, Class Size Matters. “New York parents who are aware of this plan are horrified. I think it’s absolutely crucial that the Massachusetts Board of Elementary and Secondary Education widely publicize their plan, disclose the contract with the Gates Foundation, and give parents the right to consent before this highly sensitive information is shared with any organization or corporation that intends to provide it to commercial vendors.” The organizations’ letter to the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education can be found at http://www.commercialfreechildhood.org/sites/default/files/mass_bese_letter.pdf.

Carol Burris on grants for charters to share their "successful" practices

Carol Burris has been the principal of South Side High School in Rockville Centre, N.Y., for 12 years. South Side is ranked as one of the top high schools in the country by Newsweek every year, and in 2010, she was named the NYS Outstanding Educator by the School Administrators Association of New York.  She is one of the co-authors of the principals’ letter against evaluating teachers by test scores, which was signed by more than one third of all New York State principals, and more recently, a petition asking Governor Cuomo to end highstakes testing, which has received over 9500 signatures.  She has written many opeds in the Washington Post Answer Sheet, including Why “school reform” is a misnomer.

Today she received an email from the NY State Education Department charter school office, publicizing a $500,000 competitive grant program for charter schools to disseminate their “best practices” to public schools.

You can check out her reply below.

From: NYSED CHARTERSCHOOLS [mailto:CHARTERSCHOOLS@MAIL.NYSED.GOV]
Sent: Wednesday, February 06, 2013 4:49 PM
To: PUBADMIN@listserv.nysed.gov
Subject: 2013-2016 New York State Charter School Dissemination Program 

Dear District School Leaders:

We are pleased to announce that the New York State Education Department has launched a competitive grant program called the 2013-2016 New York State Charter School Dissemination Program.  The purpose of this grant competition is to provide funds to support the dissemination of effective practices and programs that have proven successful in New York charter schools.  Up to $500,000 will be awarded to charter schools that are willing to partner with a district school or schools. While district schools are not eligible to apply as the lead applicant, they are able to apply in partnership with a charter school, and all funding must be used to directly support the district school.     

Information regarding the application process can be found here:  http://www.p12.nysed.gov/funding/currentapps.html#nycs_dissemination. A direct link to the application portal can be found here: https://nysed-cspgrants.myreviewroom.com. An optional, but recommended, Letter of Intent is due February 22, 2013, and the full application is due March 15, 2013 at 3 p.m.

All questions about this RFP must be emailed to csdissem@mail.nysed.gov no later than February 27, 2013.  A questions and answers summary will be posted on February 15, 22, and March 1, 2013 to the following website:  http://www.p12.nysed.gov/funding/currentapps.html.   

From: BURRIS, CAROL
Sent: Wednesday, February 06, 2013 4:55 PM
To: 'NYSED CHARTERSCHOOLS'
Subject: RE: 2013-2016 New York State Charter School Dissemination Program 

I am the principal of an outstanding public high school. I would be happy to share what I know with a charter. Does the grant go both ways, or do you assume that only charters have something to teach?

Panel to Revisit Controversial Tutoring Contract

The resolution below will be considered at the February 6th Panel for Educational Policy meeting on Staten Island.  It is my attempt to put an end to the controversy over the controversial contract for Champion Learning approved at the November 2012 meeting.  For background on the contract, see the Daily News coverage by Juan Gonzalez here.

Resolution Regarding the Rescission of Approval for Champion Learning Center Contract Approved at the November 8, 2012 Panel Meeting

WHEREAS, pursuant to Education Law § 2590-g the Panel for Educational Policy has the power and duty to approve certain contracts awarded by the City District or the Community Districts; and

WHEREAS a proposed contract for Champion Learning Center was submitted to the Panel for Educational Policy for approval at the November 8th 2012 meeting of the Panel described as contract item 8 listed in the contracts agenda; and

WHERAS the contract was approved over the objections and dissenting votes of the Queens (Fedkowskyj), Brooklyn (Diamond) and Manhattan (Sullivan) representatives who cited previous substantiated investigations into improper billing practices of Champion by the NYC Comptroller; and

WHEREAS Daily News reporter Juan Gonzalez reported on January 16^th that the NYC Comptroller had refused to register the Panel-approved contract citing "sufficient reason to believe that the proposed contractor is involved in corrupt activity" and that the Comptroller also noted in a letter to DOE that Champion had revealed a federal probe into its billing practices in an October 9th update to the VENDEX system used by DOE procurement staff to track disclosures regarding vendors; and

WHEREAS the Panel for Educational Policy in its role to provide governance over procurement must now act to maintain the integrity of that process; therefore be it

RESOLVED, that in accordance with Education Law § 2590-g, the Panel for Educational Policy hereby rescinds its prior approval of the contract with Champion Learning and rejects the contract.

Two new proposals to revamp mayoral control; about time!

State Sen. Velmanette Montgomery on  steps of City Hall today

State Senator Velmanette Montgomery of Brooklyn and Assemblymember David Weprin of Queens announced today they would introduce a new bill that would end mayoral control, by taking away his supermajority on the Board of Education, now called the Panel for Educational Policy.

The Board (or Panel) would continue to have 13 members:  five appointed by the borough presidents, all public school parents, as now; and four appointed by the mayor, one a public school parent.  Four members would also be appointed by the City Council: One a representative of a college or university; one a member of a parent's organization; one a member of a Parent's Educational Council [CEC?]; and one at large. 

The Chancellor would be appointed by the Board rather than the mayor.  

Expect howls of protest by the tabloids tomorrow, saying this is a teacher union plot but nothing could be further from the truth.  The outrage and frustration among parents has never been more intense, resulting from the mayor's brutal steamrolling of his policies, sticking it in our faces , and continually implementing policies that damage our kids and our schools.   As Mike Reilly of CEC 31 put it today, "Instead of parental engagement we have parental estrangement."

Just two examples:  every year parents say their top priority on the DOE's own survey is smaller classes;  yet every year class size increases, and the mayor has the nerve to say he would double class sizes if he could.  Meanwhile, corrupt multi-million dollar contracts are renewed and rubber-stamped by the PEP for companies that are either under investigation for having stolen from DOE  or have been proven already to have overcharged DOE in the past. The latest outrage is Bloomberg's rejection of the teacher evaluation deal which will cost our schools $250 million, because he wouldn't allow for a two year sunset. 

Speaking eloquently and passionately in support of the bill were Mona Davids of the NYC Parents Union, CMs Robert Jackson and Jumaane Williams, Santos Crespo head of Local 372/DC 37, Carmen Alvarez and Emil  Pietromonaco of the UFT, and Sam Pirozzolo, President of the Community Education Council 31 in Staten Island. The consensus among the legislators, parents and union officials is that we cannot wait until mayoral control sunsets in 2015; the devastation to our children and our schools is too great; and we need to make this an issue in the upcoming mayoral election as well.

Meanwhile, last week, City Comptroller John Liu, a mayoral candidate, came up with a different proposal to reform the PEP.  According to his proposal, a nominating committee made of stakeholder groups will select two or three candidates for each seat on the PEP  after going through a transparent public process.  The mayor would then appoint from the list of candidates chosen by the committee.  The members would serve fixed and staggered four year terms, and once appointed, they could not be removed without due cause, rather than fired by the mayor at will any time he or she pleases, as Bloomberg has done in he past.  The PEP members would have staff support and compensation as well, allowing the entire operation to be more professionally run.  And though the Mayor would continue to appoint the Chancellor, the Chancellor would have to be an educator and the PEP would have to approve his or her selection.

I think that most parents would agree that either of these proposals, though not a complete fix of the governance problem, would be a significant improvement over the absurdly dictatorial system we have now.  On our NYC education list serv, Patrick Sullivan, the Manhattan member of the PEP (whom at the press conference today Robert Jackson called the "ideal member" for his independence and sharp questioning of DOE officials) wrote  that "best and most appropriate choice" would be  an elected board." And:

I don't see any justification for denying urban parents this avenue of participation while allowing it for everyone else. Are we somehow less competent to oversee educational policy and budgets?  Short of that Liu's proposal for fixed terms is good.

I don't see a lot of benefit to switching around which electeds make appointments.  I've been fortunate to have been appointed by Scott Stringer but I think many electeds would be swayed by influence of big money especially those interests who don't send their own children to public school but have a lot to say about how our children are educated.

It is true that many of the other borough appointees have been constrained in voting their conscience, and have gone along with the mayoral majority because their patrons, the borough presidents, have too often been manipulated and controlled by Bloomberg's power and money; except that is, Manhattan Borough President Stringer and the Bronx BP Ruben Diaz Jr.  Yet while an elected school board for NYC would be ideal, it seems very far off and too often, elections are themselves often "swayed by the influence of big money."

Anyway, I think it is our job as parents to support any and all efforts to limit the destructive one-man rule , and demand that the mayoral candidates let us know what their positions are on this issue and whether they would support more checks and balances in the system.  What do you think?  Please leave your comments below.

Journey for Justice and "School choice" week; just whose choices are being respected??

Last week was “School choice” week.  The entire concept of “school choice week” was invented by Jeb Bush  to promote the expansion of charter and vouchers,  supposedly to allow for more parental choice in selecting their children's schools.  Meanwhile, it was just revealed that Bush's organization, Foundation for Excellence in Education (FEE), promotes the business of for-profit companies, including several that donate to the organization and at least one corporation in which Bush has stock.

The reality is that the corporate reformers pushing “school choice,” including Arne Duncan, Jeb Bush, Bill Gates, Michael Bloomberg and Michelle Rhee, are not interested in the real-life choices of parents;  but instead in privatization.

When thousands of parents repeatedly turn out across the country to oppose the closing of their neighborhood schools, are their choices listened to?  No, they are ignored, or else the people in charge, like Bloomberg, say that parents are too uneducated to understand the value of a good education.

When parents say that their first priority for their children’s schools is reducing class size, are their choices listened to?  No, instead, the same people who say they believe in parent choice vehemently oppose  lowering class size: Bill Gates insists that class size doesn’t matter, Michelle Rhee pushes for eliminating any caps on class sizes, and Bloomberg say he would double class sizes if he could.

When parents say their children are over-tested and they should be allowed to opt out, do the authorities listen?  No, instead they plan to subject them to even more frequent and longer tests.

Let’s all admit it; “school choice” is a myth,  meant not to give public school parents the choices they want for their children, but instead represent the choices of corporate raiders who want to give our public schools to private interests, like hostile takeover artists who took over companies in the 1970’s and 1980’s, in order to dismantle them and sell them off piece by piece.

Coincidentally during “School Choice” week, on Tuesday, as part of the "Journey for Justice" campaign, parents, students and activists from 18 districts all over the country traveled to DC, testified at the US Department of Education, and demanded a moratorium on the mass school closings that are occurring with the encouragement of the federal government, on the grounds that  their children’s civil rights were being violated.  See videos below by Jaisal Noor of The Real News of Tuesday's events. See also this week’s Village Voice, about the invasion of charter schools in Williamsburg, Brooklyn run by Eva Moskowitz and her husband, despite the vehement opposition of parents in that community.

Journey for Justice: Parents and Students from 18 Cities Demand Nationwide Moratorium on Schools Closings and demand US DOE investigate Civil rights violations

Part 2: Chicago Parent and Activist Jitu Brown at "Journey for Justice" Hearings in DC 

Part 3: New Orleans Parent and Activist Karran Harper Royal at "Journey for Justice" Hearing in DC