The problem, some might argue, may be that American teachers are tirelessly overworked and hopelessly embedded within a culture that, quite often, fails to practice what it preaches to its students: lifelong learning, reflection, and civic engagement. 

While teachers are not necessarily to blame for this, it is important that we, as the saying goes, "be the change we want to see in the world" by taking advantage of the multitude of opportunities that abound for us to tell our stories-the real stories-of the difficult yet rewarding work we do of nurturing the development, the engagement, and the curiosity of our future citizens.

  The news reports say that the test scores of American students on the latest PISA test are "stagnant," "lagging," "flat," etc.

The U.S. Department of Education would have us believe-yet again-that we are in an unprecedented crisis and that we must double down on the test-and-punish strategies of the past dozen years.

The myth persists that once our nation led the world on international tests, but we have fallen from that exalted position in recent years.

Wrong, wrong, wrong.

Here is the background history that you need to know to interpret the PISA score release, as well as Secretary Duncan's calculated effort to whip up national hysteria about our standing in the international league tables.

The U.S. has NEVER been first in the world, nor even near the top, on international tests.

The Lost Purpose of School Reform  by Diane Ravitch in the New York Book Review of the New York Times

  Fifty years ago, Congress passed a federal education law to help poor children get a good public education: the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) of 1965. Revised many times, it is still the basis for federal education policy today. When it was last reauthorized in 2001, it was named "No Child Left Behind," which was President George W. Bush's signature education initiative. Both the House and the Senate are now debating a reauthorization of the law, which has been pending since 2007. Since the law gives Congress the power to determine how federal dollars will be spent, it is crucial to understand its origins and how it has evolved over time. Much is at stake.

   The social scientist Donald T. Campbell offered an insightful analysis of American education in his 1976 paper, "Assessing the Impact of Planned Social Change." One quote in particular stands out-a finding known as "Campbell's Law" that has been used to explain the impact that high-stakes testing is having on the nation's schools:  The more any quantitative social indicator (or even some qualitative indicator) is used for social decision-making, the more subject it will be to corruption pressures and the more apt it will be to distort and corrupt the social processes it is intended to monitor. Wednesday's conviction of 11 former educators in Atlanta on charges related to their involvement in a conspiracy to alter student test scores is an example of Campbell's Law in action. And this wasn't an isolated scandal.

  A nationwide rebellion to K-12 education policies that emerged in the spring of 2013 brought to the fore widespread grievances that students, parents, teachers, and citizens have with top down mandates that are ruining public schools.

This Education Spring was fueled by unified concerns arising from every corner in the country that neighborhood schools are being deprived of essential resources, low-income children are being victimized by unequal distribution of education supports they need, parents and voters are locked out of school governance, and new education policies being put in place are driven by corruption.

Public schools aren't failing  by Kay McSpadden on the Charlotte Observer site

  In a stroke of whimsy or irony, two new studies about American education have been released in time to get the most media coverage during School Choice Week. The first, from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), looks at the international tests that rank students worldwide in reading, math, and science. 

The second is a report from the Horace Mann League and the National Superintendents Roundtable that looks at the international tests but also compares economic equity, social stress, support for families and schools, and student and system outcomes in nine G-7 countries.

 

 

Superintendent William Cala: "We Can No Longer Remain Silent"  by Diane Ravitch

  Watch Superintendent William Cala, as he eviscerates the so-called reform movement, including charter schools, the private money that shapes the politics of education, the reformers' indifference to poverty, their refusal to acknowledge the root causes of low test scores, and the mandate that we all have to raise our voices and take action to stop the takeover of our schools. Education "reform," he says, is not about educating children, it is about money and power.  (Cala's comments start at the 7:10 point of the video.)

 

 

Teacher Evaluation: What Really Matters for Effectiveness and Improvement by Linda Darling Hammond

   As part of the Dean's Lecture Series at the University of Melbourne, Linda Darling-Hammond, the Charles Ducommun Professor of Education at Stanford University, gives a presentation on "Getting Teacher Evaluation Right," and what elements an effective teacher evaluation system needs.

 

 

 

 

 

Ingraham High School Faculty Speaks 

By a vote of 48 to 1, Ingraham staff passed the following resolution:

A RESOLUTION OF DISAPPROVAL OF THE SMARTER BALANCED ASSESSMENT

 

WHEREAS Ingraham High School strives to provide an excellent education to every student;

WHEREAS the Smarter Balanced Assessment is not required for graduation;

WHEREAS this computer-based assessment will take approximately eight hours for each 11th grader to complete and its confusing format is unlike anything students will experience outside the testing environment;

WHEREAS there are not enough computers to test the students in a reasonable amount of time and it is unacceptable for computers to be unavailable to non-testing students for such a long period of time;

WHEREAS the failure rate of the assessment is going to be extraordinarily high (possibly 60%) for the general population and even higher for students of color, ELL students, and students on individualized education plans;

WHEREAS student performance on this test will in no way be indicative of their learning and instead this test must be given to meet arbitrary, antiquated and poorly considered state and federal mandates;

WHEREAS graduation and standardized testing requirements in Washington State are confusing and poorly communicated;

WHEREAS the sheer number of state-mandated standardized tests is unacceptable;

WHEREAS in addition to other assessments during the last seven weeks of school, we must administer one month of International Baccalaureate exams, several weeks of AP testing, many weeks of 11th grade SBA testing, the 10th grade ELA exit exam, the Biology EOC exam, the Geometry EOC exam, and the Algebra 1 EOC exam, many of which are required for graduation or could possibly earn students college credit;

WHEREAS during this time we are also required to teach our students and administer year-end finals and projects; and

WHEREAS the detrimental impact on the school schedule and more importantly student learning cannot be justified simply to meet a superfluous bureaucratic requirement;

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED the members of the Seattle Education Association at Ingraham High School object to the administration of the 11th grade Smarter Balanced Assessment for spring 2015 as an unacceptable obstruction to providing an excellent education to every student.