Atlanta Test Scandal, or the Lumps Under the Rug

The brouhaha in Atlanta doesn't surprise me a bit.  The "erasuregate" scandal in DC was pretty much forgotten, swept under the rug, I suspect in part as a response to pressure from those monied individuals who still hold hope for the future political aspirations of Michelle Rhee, under whose leadership erasuregate occurred.

Remember the Texas miracle schools?  High poverty schools in which a vast percentage of high schoolers passed the rigorous graduation exams?  Only later did we discover the freshman bulge.  And that went under the rug.  See, school administrators can decide which students actually sit down and TAKE the test by finagling who enters the grade level in which the test is administered.  So if Johnny can't read, and we know Johnny can't read because we've tried all kinds of interventions and spent a gazillion dollars on the program du jour, and you better believe it's scientifically based and there are lots of pretty graphs that prove it works, then just make sure Johnny flunks 9th grade again and again and his scores won't jeopardize the school's Federal funding.  Sooner or later, Johnny gets the hint and drops out. 

We are doing this to help the KIDS, after all.

Meanwhile, down in elementary school, high stakes doesn't really begin until third grade.  Besides about a dozen pages of legalese penalties for anyone who discusses the test, cheats on the test, communicates by pointing, gesturing, making faces, etc. up to and including imprisonment, right there at the bottom it says if a child vomits on a test booklet, that booklet is to be sealed in a ziploc bag and submitted with the rest of the school's test booklets.  I think they need to revise that to explain the proper procedure for what to do if a teacher defecates on the test administration booklet. 

Remember, this is done to comply with NCLB and HELP KIDS.

Is teaching to the test cheating?  If so, I have cheated.  In fact, every one of my peers has cheated as well, from kindergarten on up.  Just Google "nonsense word generator".   Now when I was learning to read, way back in the 60s, we didn't have nonsense words.  I was never asked to read as many words as I could in one minute.  And there I was, on the mustard yellow SRA level by December and reading everything I could get my hands on, from the school library and the public library, plus devouring Troll books with all the money I could beg from my parents, this by grade 4.  Reading was not something my teachers drilled.  We took the Iowa tests once a year for a few days, and I actually enjoyed them like some people enjoy crossword puzzles or sudoku.  Even the less academically apt pupils enjoyed them, since we always got to color and have extra recess when we were all finished.  To be continued....

How Did We Ever Get So Gullible?

There's really something wrong with us.  Maybe the education bashers are right.

Here is the Flat Earth Society. 

There's a dangerous substance poisoning us.

Elvis is alive and well and successfully eluding the papparazzi.

Nuf said.

Florida’s Testing Success: An Inflated Reputation?

Question research. Question numbers. Look for bulges. Data proves nothing, statistics was once known as "political arithmetic". There's a reason.

Florida’s Testing Success: An Inflated Reputation?

Ohio's McVouchers: Buying Votes with Taxpayers' Dollars

Yesterday I received a message from the OEA expressing incredulity that the new budget bill would result in a pay cut for school employees across the board, since the money that was originally contributed to pensions by the BOE would now be deducted from employees instead.  Duhhh.  I've been jacking my jaw on this issue since SB5 first reared its ugly head from the abyss that Columbus has become.

Well, here's another good one, for anybody who can connect the dots.  School Choice.

Vouchers have had a long history since Milwaukee and Cleveland experimented with them shortly after the release of "A Nation at Risk".  Families can enroll their children at a private school, including parochial schools, and receive "up to $4,250 per year at the elementary and middle school level and up to $5,000 per year at the high school level."   

Average cost of tuition for an elementary student in a Catholic school:  $3383.  Actual cost of education:  $5436.  One little-known secret is that parochial schools DO receive state and federal funding per-pupil.  The US Department of Education reports tuition as such:


For the 2003-2004 school year, private school tuition* averages were:

• $5,049 for elementary schools;
• $8,412 for secondary schools; and
• $8,302 for combined schools.

* Tuition weighted by the number of students enrolled in schools.

I am by no means trying to single out or persecute any type of private school, but the text below raises a red flag and some uncomfortable questions.  I copied this from Sandusky Central Catholic's website. (My bold)


We appreciate the sacrifice you make to provide a quality Catholic Education for your children. While we make every effort to control costs and "do more" with less, the cost of education per student is significant. It is important for you to know that Sandusky Central Catholic School receives generous support from our three Sandusky Parishes as well as our Education Foundation. In addition, we receive state funds for certain programs, and community support for our students and parent fundraisers, including the Scrip program, also help defray the cost of education our children.  

Because of this generous support and additional funding, our parents are never asked to pay the actual cost of educating their children at SCCS. When reductions made possible by the above mentioned programs are taken into account, your "family responsibility" may be as little as 35% of the actual cost of education. There are also programs available to finance the amount due over a period of time and Tuition Assistance is also available based on need.
 
Simply put, combining the sacrifices our families make with the support of programs we have established, cost should never be an obstacle to attaining the educational experience at Sandusky Central Catholic School. We believe SCCS provides a superior academic education that is faith-based and supports the Gospel values you share with your family. We will continue to strive to make it convenient for your family to be a part of our family. 

  But that's not all.  This is the demographic data for the students enrolled at SCC from the National Center for Educational Statistics.  Please note the ethnicity table at the bottom. 

My point being, private schools cater to WHITES.  I may raise some hackles by saying it, but it looks true.  Many of the southern "Christian" schools were started not as a form of religious indoctrination, but as a way to avoid desegregation.  While Catholic schools are present in many urban areas, their population is still at least 68% white.  Again, their stated purpose may be to help students become spiritually closer to God, but their actual impact is to shield those students whose parents choose to pay tuition from mingling with their peers of color.

So who cares if people want to send their kids to private schools?  It's their money, right?

Well, not any more. 

See, some of that voucher money is mine.  My tax money.  Yours, too.  We pass levies to support our local PUBLIC schools, but our "leaders" have figured out how to give their loyal tea-drinking supporters a raise on OUR dime.


Here's a little parable.  Once upon a time, there was a greedy public school teacher, shame, shame.  Her neighbors, devout Catholics, could never get that rhythm thing figured out and had 10 kids.  Since they were also quite wealthy and voted for Republicans every time, they naturally wanted to protect their children from encountering the common rabble, so they sent them to the Acme Catholic School.  They sold candy bars, magazines, wrapping paper, tulip bulbs, and all the other fundraisers to subsidize their childrens' souls.  And there was that public school teacher next door, who never had to beg people to buy things because her two kids went to public school and she just said no when they brought home Christmas card catalogs.

One day a savior named John came unto Ohio.  (His last name rhymes with stick.)  (And other things.)  He was wise enough to see the injustice of making people pay for a religious school for their children.  Everyone makes mistakes, thought John, even the framers of the United States Constitution. 

So to set things straight, John decided to take from the rich.  Apparently,in John's view, the rich include public school teachers, nurses, firefighters, police, Medicare and Medicaid recipients, practically everyone is just too rich!  If they could just give a little, like take a 10% salary cut or pay for their own medicine, then John could balance the budget. 

Random thought: Crocodiles cry to lubricate their eye sockets before they swallow a zebra.

So what John did was to offer vouchers.  Any family who opted for anything other than a public school for their offspring could receive a voucher of $4250 per child in elementary or $5000 in high school. 

The teacher's neighbor with 10 kids just received a pay raise of $42,500.  And lived happily ever after, voting Republican each and every time.

Meanwhile, the "rich" had to try to augment their reduced incomes by selling magazines and candy bars in airport parking lots.  Until they were arrested for soliciting in a restricted zone.





Further reading:

Private vs Public debate
Wikipedia Private Schools
             In many parts of the United States, after the 1954 decision in Brown Board of Education that demanded US schools desegregate "with all deliberate speed", local families organized a wave of private "Christian Academies". In much of the US South, white students have migrated to the Academies, while public schools have become in turn more heavily concentrated with African American students. See List of private schools in Mississippi. The academic content of the Academies is College Preparatory
Sandusky St. Mary NCES Data

Cooking the Books: The "New Normal" in Education

Even though the "Texas Miracle" was outed as a myth, teachers have still been pressured to slice and dice the curriculum into dishomogenized fragments, then to measure growth with such tools as "nonsense words" like some nightmare of jabberwocky...

Even though we know that children's environments have a lot more to do with their achievement than curriculum or who their teachers are...

Even though we can read about suspicious erasure patterns occurring in DC schools, causing test scores to "rise", well, suspiciously...

Where are the superintendents who defend their dedicated teaching staffs from all the bullying that is going on?  So far, I have found exactly one in the whole United States with the testicular fortitude to stand up for his teachers.

Why?  Didn't most superintendents begin their careers in the classroom?   Don't they feel uncomfortable about seeing their teachers burnt at the stake, day after day, state after state? 

Or are the quiet ones in cahoots with the attackers?  I wonder.

Hypocrisy in Education Reform

From the Washingtron Post:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/post/school-reformers-hypocritical-blame-game/2011/04/07/AFDRZFyC_blog.html

But here’s the hypocritical part of this blame game: While reformers like to blame outside forces for their own problems, they still want to hold teachers responsible for outside forces that contribute to a student’s lousy performance on a standardized test.

Today’s school reform is all about using standardized tests to grade schools, students and teachers. It started with former president George Bush’s No Child Left Behind, and has continued with President Obama’s Race to the Top. States are changing laws to make sure that a good part of a teacher’s evaluation and pay is linked directly to how well their students do on the tests, even if the kids come in hungry, or sick, or exhausted, or mentally ill.

What are the chances that reformers might see the hypocrisy in their positions?

As my kids like to say when I ask about the chances that they will clean their rooms: Slim and none.

We need to get used to the "New Normal"  and we need to change the way we do business. 

A quote from a superintendent. 

I feel like I'm tottering on the precipice of a volcano. Oh, and here comes a guy with a bone through his lip.  Is he going to push me over or save me? 

Money talks.  The other stuff walks.  Unless it's supported by scientifically based research paid for by...money.  Anyone else connecting the dots here?

How Big is a Billion?

The state of Ohio has a budget shortfall of 8 billion dollars.  (Gasp.)  To close this gap, our esteemed elected representatives have signed Senate Bill 5.  Busting the unions in the chops will bring prosperity to the masses, they assume.

Remember driver's ed?  Never assume.

Just what is a billion, anyway?  A public school teacher in the middle of his or her career probably makes about $50,000.  Every 2 years, that's $100,000.  In 20 years, a teacher can make a cool million. 

A minimum wage worker can earn about $20,000 a year, if he or she never gets sick or goes on vacation.  The kids qualify for free or reduced lunch.  To make a million, this person would have to work for 50 years.  Till death do us part.

To make a billion, the teacher would have to work for 20,000 years.  The minimum wage person would have to work for 50,000 years.

Let's say a wealthy relative departs the physical realm and leaves you a billion dollars.  You want to be cautious with your money, so you decide to put it in a bank savings account.  Your first problem is that each bank only guarantees your deposits up to $500,000.  So you will have to distribute your money among 2,000 different banks. 

Each year, your deposits yield a paltry 2% interest.  You have to report this on your tax return as income, even if you use Turbo Tax.  Well, 2% of a billion is 20 million dollars.  Uh-oh.  How can you stop the greedy IRS from getting your hard-earned interest income?  After all, you had to visit many states to find 2,000 different banks.  Different branches of the same bank don't count.

What might the government do if it took 43% of your 20 million?  Why, it might approach solvency, especially if it made a habit of doing this to you and those like you who possess vast wealth.  The government might even come up with a scheme to repair decrepit schools and pave crumbling highways, or provide affordable health care to all.  But those aren't your responsibilities.  Certainly, if people are unhappy with their neighborhood schools and streets, they should just move to a neighborhood with nicer schools and smoother streets.  Why should the wealthy be expected to bear more than their share of social burdens?

There is one easy way to avoid paying tax on your interest income.  Form a "foundation".  Be a philanthropist.  But only give to those who share your particular worldview. 

It works for these guys.