Hello Dystopia

We are witnessing a potentially cataclysmic shift in education, that is already having disastrous effects on learners, from babies all the way up to teacher educators. In college I played the role of Cassandra in a Hasty Pudding rejected musical production at Harvard based on the Trojan War called “Hold Your Horses” and I have an embodied memory of what it feels like to stand on a public platform forecasting doom and gloom to the masses who simply won’t listen.

Let me try to elevate your sense of pressing concern and worry for our future.

TRUMP

If elected president, Donald Trump would essentially bleed our public schools to death. By the way, If you need good reasons to support Hillary Clinton, read this by Daniel Katz.

TECH

Silicon Valley and the tech industry have plans for your children. Goodbye privacy. Know your rights. 

THE FUTURE

Some people are provoking us to envision the future, where ten years from now, "learning is earning." And what’s really scary is the technology is already in place, the funding is in place, this is not science fiction, it's real. 

SCREEN TIME

The psychological, neurological, and physical fallout of technology on developing brains and bodies is more than troubling, yet we are in denial. Take the time to listen to author and expert Dr. Catherine Steiner-Adair. 

DISCIPLINE

For too many children living in poverty, school is not providing preparation for life, but for prison. Suspension rates are disproportionately high in some charter chain schools such as KIPP and Achievement First. 

INFRASTRUCTURE

Above and beyond contaminated water problems over half of our public schools are in need of repair and modernization, at an estimated cost of almost $200 billion. 

TEACHER PREP

The coalition of “teacher prep” academies and programs is out to disrupt and replace teacher education in institutions of higher education. So far the verdict is they contribute to the use of punitive measures in schools with high concentrations of students living in poverty and to the inequitable distribution of professionally prepared teachers.

TEACHER TURNOVER
Schools with high concentrations of students living in poverty suffer from high rates of teacher turnover and attrition. Those preparation programs that provide pedagogy, adequate practice opportunities, and feedback to teachers lead to less attrition than those with little content and substance.

TEACHER LICENSURE

It's turning out to be very expensive and messy to evaluate teachers in terms of their readiness to teach and their "core competencies" so virtual reality and digital badging are on the horizon. Only problem: avatars are not humans, online modules are not courses or workshops. 

 

PARCCopalypse

Since my last post on the Lederman lawsuit victory, in which I included a link to Celia Oyler's blog, Outrage on the Page, the PARCC police went after her with legal threats of personal liability if she did not take down information about their 4th grade language arts test, calling her an "infringer" of copyrights. They also hit all tweets mentioning the post, including a few of mine. As Peter Greene tweeted about the #PARCCopalypse that ensued, he wrote, "You know what kind of test needs this sort of heavy security? A crappy test." Outraged by the idea that they could be successful in these intimidation tactics, educational bloggers rallied over the weekend and began a campaign of protest. To know more, you might start with Diane Ravitch's site, then Leonie Haimson's, and Anthony Cody's. But I'm pretty sure if you try a Google or Twitter or Facebook search for PARCC you will find the story has gone viral. Dr. Julian Vasquez Heilig thinks it would even make a good dissertation topic. 
5/24/16 update: The story has been published in the New York Times and USA Today. Here's what they left out.

Good News About the Lederman Lawsuit on APPR

Today Judge McDonough ruled that Sheri Lederman had met the burden of proof for showing that her APPR VAM-based "ineffective" rating was "indisputably arbitrary and capricious." The recent actions of the New York State Regents to impose a four year moratorium on the use of VAM in teacher evaluations had led the state to seek a settlement with Lederman, but she held on for this important victory. The judge did rule that the second category of relief was moot by the actions of the Regents. What will be most useful moving forward is the language about inherent bias in the use of VAM. Judge McDonough wrote in his 15 page summary posted by Leonie Haimson that he found:

"...convincing and detailed evidence of VAM bias against teachers at both ends of the spectrum (e.g. those with high-performing students or those with low-performing students)....and most tellingly...a 'bell curve' that places teachers in four categories via pre-determined percentages regardless of whether the performance of students dramatically rose or dramatically fell from the previous year" (p. 11). 

I wrote about the hearing and Judge McDonough's difficulties with bell curve logic back in August. It seems increasingly that the public is understanding the many problems with standardized, normed testing and the inappropriate ways it is being used. Evidence is mounting that national tests such as PARCC are created to produce high rates of failure and are not even aligned with the common core standards. See for example this recent account of a teacher revealing in detail inappropriate content and questions on the 4th grade PARCC posted by Teachers College professor Celia Oyler on her blog.  Alan Singer also reported on his Huffington Post blog about high numbers of parents and students opting out  of the state tests, and outrage about the content and difficulty level.

This is a day for celebrating, but the truth is, this testing nonsense is not going away anytime soon. Time to open our eyes and make our outrage known.