Resisting Mandates in Connecticut

2002 failing policy: NCLB
2008 failing policy RTTT,
2012 Common Core State Standards, and the test to measure our compliance.
Now Ed refromers it's three strikes and you are out.

Fighting that third strike

Tough luck getting passed the CC if you are a priority school district, (poor district). State funding often requires these districts to blindly follow all DOE initiatives. In reality state initiatives are really Federal mandates that since NCLB was implemented come without the real resources to implement them out.
After 12 years of NCLB/RTTT some school districts in Connecticut have began to question reform policies. Thus Connecticut has Special Masters to oversee them, (Windham and New London), and in Bridgeport people like Paul Vallas.
My opinion is their mission is to remove any administrators or teachers who question state initiatives.
At this point in urban districts more and more teachers don't believe any of their hype. This cuts across length of teaching experiences. Especially teachers with advanced degrees, they are required to know education research. Something people like Vallas, Duncan, and Rhee know little about. Research is important, because it helps us avoid doing the same stupid things over and over again.

One peice of research Ed Refomers missed

One of the most important literacy research studies in the history of American Education is:
"The First Grade Studies" (Guy Bond and Robert Dykstra, 1964-67). These comprehensive studies researched how young children begin to learn how to read. (27 different individual projects coordinated by7 27 different directors in which a cadre of researchers compared first-grade reading programs from 1964 to 1967. (A recap from (www.weber.edu)

They research 3 basic questions:

1. To what extent are various pupil, teacher, class, school, and community characteristics related to pupil achievement in first-grade reading and spelling?
Answer: Negligible. “To improve reading instruction, it is necessary to train better teachers of reading rather than to expect a panacea in the form of methods and materials”(p.416).

Too bad our NCLB policy makers did not pay attention to this research. They went on to spend billions of dollars on Reading First Schools that force prescribed literacy programs on schools. 6 years later the findings indicated third graders in these schools actually lost comprehension. Plus the only group to show any comprehension gains was the control group, (these are the groups that did what they already were doing). Now you why, the Reading First Schools experiment ended. Of course, no one was fired, no one was repremanded, no one was held accountable for the 6 billion dollars spent on this U.S. DOE reform experiment. These edunation reformers operate across the nation without repricussions, they are above accountability, and in the case of Paul Vallas even the law in Connecticut.

Getting back to the questions

2. Which of the many approaches to initial reading instruction produces superior reading and spelling achievement at the end of the first grade?
Answer: classrooms using an integrated approach, which combined systematic phonics with reading for meaning and writing, far surpassed those using mainstream basal programs. “No one approach is so distinctly better in all situations and respects than the others that it should be considered the one best method and the one to be used exclusively “ (p. 416).

Once again too bad our NCLB Policy did not review the literature before they wasted 6 billion dollars over 6 years on non-integrated basal programs. These education reformers are above the research, we are told they operate like CEO(s). Funny, I know of no sucessful private scetor ventures that operate with paying close attention to research. 

3. Is any program uniquely effective or ineffective for pupils with high or low readiness for reading?
Key finding the persistence of project differences in reading achievement, even after adjustments were made statistically for differences in pupil readiness for reading. Reading achievement is influenced by factors peculiar to school systems over and above differences in pre-reading capabilities of pupils. (1997, p. 415).

Now, what might two of those differences be? Poverty, and quality preschool experiences, you know two of the things Finland when after as it moved from the bottom to the top of international education rankings.

Secretary Rod Paige who opened up our National journey into NCLB said poverty doesn't matter, and was no early childhood advocate. With A trillion dollars they could have easily made Early-Childhood Education free and universal without raising one single tax dollar. Instead America’s public schools were handed new standards and testing. Something that has no historical data to indicate it has ever been effective anywhere in the world.

America's leading Ed Reformers have for over a decade done what no serious researcher would do. They cherry pick their studies, and over looked the "First Grade Studies" one the most respected research studies in education. They overlooked research studies on retention, correlations between high stakes assessments and drop out rates. They ruled out the ones that indicated a connection between heavy emphasis on high stakes assessments, and behavior problems and higher rates of special education identifications. It appears they overlooked anything that might question their objective of increased testing. 

A decade of massive failures later, they don't even cite any research, they enter in board untested experiments. This means they are turning more and more to people with little or no experience and knowledge of education research. Thus the former semi pro basketball player with no teaching experience, no school administrative experience is made U.S. Secretary of Education. Duncan's fellow reformers Paul Vallas, Michelle Rhee, and a host of others given the keys to the kingdom. 

WHY?

This leadership quickly realized that it does not take long for them to realize that even new teachers quickly lose faith in their reform policies. Thus, the reformers push for more TFA(s) in our public schools. TFA(s) perfect people to deliver DOE policies, because they won't stay around long enough to understand they are being used.

Coconspirators the Main Stream News Media

America's free press isn't so free these days, and they willingly supported every reform every step of the way. Why? Well, Judas betrayed Chirst with a kiss for 30 silver pieces. Our media these days owe it's soul to ALEC. Who do you think buys add time on our major news networks? You got it ALEC sponsors. If you are interested in more about ALEC: Dr. Morna McDermott has a nice utube video that connects ALEC to ed reform. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vvUMk1ro27E

WHY are Ed Reformers still force feeding these reforms on our schools : in my humble opinion MONEY! Our children, their teachers, and our public schools are for sale. 
I am fighting back,
I am rejecting their betrayal.
I am rejecting their "for sales' signs,
This is why I walked to DC,

This is why I marched with SOS,

This is why I am a BAT,

This is why I will join my SOSers brothers and sisters as they join the 50th MKL Anniversary March on August 24, 2013,

Still resisting and still marching,
Jesse The Walking Man Turner

On my walk over the mountain this morning I listened to one of Momma favorites : the Staple Singers "I'll take you there" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uY3vgBzgYn4

If you need to know the way to DC...I'll take you there

It was never about improving public schools

Bruce Fuller (2009) said in Standardized Childhood, “This framing accents the importance of building a tidier system, one that incorporates the array of existing child care centers, then pushes to make their classrooms more uniform, with a socialization agenda "aligned" with the curricular content that first or second graders are expected to know. Like the common school movement, uniform indicators of quality, centralized regulation, more highly credentialed teachers are to ensure that instruction--rather than creating engaging activities for children to explore--will be delivered in more uniform ways. And the state signals to parents that this is now the appropriate way to raise one's three- or four-year-old. Modern child rearing is equated with systems building in the eyes of universal pre-kindergarten advocates--and parents hear this discourse through upbeat articles in daily newspapers, public service announcement, and from school authorities.”

Ed Reform 101. Alexey was only in middle school when his Mom removed him. Today he is a smart young man who last summer helped the hospice center by identifying and fixing tech equipment donations for their summer tag sale. He is one smart young man.  I should know, we worked with him in our Literacy Center at the university when he was an elementary student. Reading is an obstacle he climbed over, and made it his strength. He is a special needs child with an IEP, (Individual Education Plan). He is also a good reader, creative, and funny. In elementary school on Crazy Hair Day he dyed his hair orange, and got a Mohawk. He is one heck of a kid.
I met his Mom last week; she told me he is doing well, and getting ready to graduate from the private school he now attends.
Why did the public schools lose Alexey? What did this affluent suburban public school system do to Alexy to make his Mom remove him frm their schools?

In elementry he prospered; he had music, art, P.E. and reading. But then in middle school, they came for the music.  Alexey plays the French horn among other instruments. He loves music. One day his school decided to give their district writing prompt during the music class. This was not the  mandated state test, it was a practice test for the test.  Alexy has an IEP that indicates his legal right to specific modifications. The teacher dutifully gave Alexey the assessment. Rather than honor his IEP he was asked in front of his peers "Do you need help"?  He is a proud kid, a good kid, who loves music.  Alexy said "no, and he took his test during music.  Alexy sat through the testing, and handed in a blank paper.  Alexy's grade for music became a failing grade because of the same blank paper.  His Mom could not understand how this happened.  She could not understad why Alexy was failing music, and was later told it was because of the writing prompt assessment where he had received a ZERO.  

Remember this, no matter how they twist it, reshape it, stretch it, or deny it, this is not about Ed Reform improving our public schools. It’s about all the Alexeys’ out there who are being hurt and humiliated in our public schools. Trust me it was never about the data, it is about power, money, and control. The only question is, how many children have to suffer before we give them back their childhood?
Still Walking,
Jesse The Walking Man Turner

If you are wondering what my whispered prayers on my morning walk were today? I prayed for change, I prayed for strenght, I prayed for an America whose leaders understand that children are more than test scores. If you are wondering what I was listening to it was Old Crow Medicine Show's "I hear them all" http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=987owXK3iPI#! And oh yeah it's about the music, the art, and respecting childhood. 

We should be saluting great teachers not beating them down

From Mr. Chuck Olynyk, one a brillant history teacher who brings history to life writes:
"Good Morning, World! Our last hurrah as the Humanitas Arts School at Roosevelt Senior High begins. Next year will begin the apartheid of public education: AP classes on one side, double-blocking of English and Math and elimination of any real enrichment of the curriculum, but plenty oof multiple choice questions answered on computers about articles kids read once and forget. Between Roosevelt and Fremont Highs, I've taught for 19 years in the Humanitas Program, linking History, English and Art, and for a really awesome year at Edison Middle School with Andrea Mordoh and Dwayne Turner doing likewise. Guess I'll just have to have a final project which involves creativity instead of recall, innovation instead of repetition. Because, as my friend Jesse Turner has observed, children are more than test scores"

Something is rotten in an America that crushes our learning and teaching spirits for test scores. The saddest piece of these efforts to focus on testing is that none of it has improved our nation's test scores. Our 17-olds are scoring lower on NAEP assessment than they did two decades ago, (NAEP 2009). We are now moving into further declines. In other words the data points to NCLB/RTTT as the biggest education policy failure in our nation's history.

Who is Mr. Olynyk?
To know this kind of teacher is to love him. Every child dreams of one day having a teacher like him. To get Mr. OLynyk in High School at the most cynical age is sheer bliss. Everyday in High School is like a holiday when Mr. Olynyk is in the house. You walk around what did he do today...OMG...can't wait until class...
To fully understand what it means to bring history to life for inner city Los Angeles high school students. You need to see Mr. Chuck Olynk teaching his students. Chuck's classroom is like no other classroom. He lives, he breathes, he empties his soul into his teaching. He is a 19-year vetran who has blogged this attacked on public education since 2010. He is not walking away, he is not giving up, but he is documenting this tragedy happening to his students and fellow teachers. After all this is what historians do. Chuck's story is a living primary source. I don't have to tell you this, but Mr. Olynk is loved by his students. That love keeps him going, and his teaching story inspires me. It reminds me of why I have to fight the power.
I salute you Mr. Olynk,
Jesse The Walking Man Turner
I can sleep at night peacefully, because Mr. Olynyk will not go quiet into that good night. 

If you are wondering what I am listening to on my walk today. It is Public Enemy "Fight The Power"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2WHe5fxS3dA