I have handed out flyers at recent middle school basketball games in Edison...WELCOME to new visitors. Please read thru different posts - theres a lot of info here - but you may have to scroll back a bit! Some other resources... United Opt Out Save our Schools NJ Diane Ravitchs blog Mel Katzs blog Jersey Jazzmans blog Mercedes Schneiders edublog These are people and groups all dedicated to speaking the truth in our current chaotic world of education. I will try and simplify our positions and goals to get you up to speed: The belief that American schools are failing is false. Most are very good (most in NJ are excellent). American schools rank in the middle of the pack on std test scores because we have a very high child poverty rate and because we test all children, including those with disabilities. Top-ranking nations do not. When controlling for poverty, our students rock! We definitely have districts in need, and we should address those issues, but not with more standards and harder tests. The belief that American teachers are greedy and lazy and are costing too much (pensions, health care, etc) is an oft-repeated theme. Teaching is a solidly middle-class job that requires expertise, training, and professionalism. Pension crises, where they exist, come from years of states not funding them as they are required to by law. Common Core and PARCC were financed by Bill Gates and other millionaires, not educators. The standards were created by lots of folks that were not educators. Obama and Bill Gates who crafted this scheme send their children to private schools that wouldnt touch CC or PARCC with a 10-ft pole. Our children deserve a well-rounded education as well. The CC and PARCC (another test called SBAC is used in other states) were offered to states as an option to get out of NCLB, which stated that schools must be 100% proficient in ELA and Math by 2014 or face punishment (loss of funding). The tale is spun as 46 states voluntarily adopted CC. It wasnt much of a choice. The CC standards were not benchmarked against other nations and are not developmentally appropriate. The acceptance of CC and PARCC also came with a mandate that results be used in teacher evaluations, which is unfair, since most of what determines scores on standardized tests is a students socioeconomic status and the amount of test prep. Teachers who teach in affluent communities will do well; teachers who teach students with disabilities, English Language Learners, or lower level students will be labeled ineffective, regardless of their impact on their students. The federal government is prohibited by the Constitution from creating curriculum. CC standards and the PARCC test are an end-run around that principle. Additionally, threatening districts by withholding funding that comes from American taxpayers is unethical and undemocratic. Additionally, punishing poorly performing districts by removing funding is like withholding medication from the sickest patients. The standardization movement, along with the erosion of the reputation of American public schools and a war on public school teachers has been created by the wealthy who see education as a new market to be exploited. Standardization means lower costs for software companies and publishers since they can produce one set of materials. Creating a rigorous test and proving public schools are failures creates a demand for charter schools that promise better educations and take public tax money with no accountability. Our children are not a market. No one should be profiting with tax payer money. OK...I still missed stuff...but I am hungry and need to eat. So I will post this.... Again, welcome new folks! Please get educated and please consider opting out your children. Ask questions...tell your neighbors!
Posted on: Fri, 23 Jan 2015 23:48:19 +0000
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