540 days without learning for the love of money

In the old days

Remember a public-school child for people over 50 had only 6 days of testing. The children of the wealthy, the powerful, and the connected don't attend our public schools, so standardized testing never really mattered much to them. For Public school students previous to the 1970’s testing happened 3 times during their K-12 years. Testing happens once in elementary school, once in middle school, once in high schools, and each time for no more than 2 days. We lost 6 days of learning.

These days

As NCLB and RTT came into full swing teachers began to inform me that we're spending 8-12 weeks of school taking, preparing, and practicing for these tests every year. That means Children today spend 540 days not learning. 540 days equals 3 years of learning. Trust me for Black, Brown, Special Education, and Poor children 540 days is a low estimate. Many schools are so obsessed with testing they were reducing and eliminating PE, Art, Music, and history. Schools in our poorest communities began focusing on isolated reading, writing, and math almost exclusively under No Child Left Behind, and under Race To The Top they increased that focus.

Love of Money drives this madness

As a Literacy expert, my thinking is this overemphasis on testing, isolated literacy and math will actually turn children off reading and writing. This over-emphasis on testing demoralizes teachers and harms our children. It is one of the major reasons for many of our growing behavior problems in our public schools in my professional opinion.

We need education leaders walking and talking With children, parents, and teachers about abusive testing

I have spoken out at every chance I could find since 2002. I have lobbied policymakers and legislators to end this testing madness that took away 3 years of learning. None of them listened. So I decided to walk from Connecticut to DC to protest high-stakes testing in 2010. Some 40o miles over 40 days. On that walk, I met teachers, parents, and students who confirmed, the loss of learning time, and the harm it was doing to children and teachers. In 2015 I walked again to protest ESSA, because it changes nothing, and again teachers and parents reported the problems under ESSA have exacerbated the problem. Three things learned from fighting this insane testing policy: 1. First the only time, policymakers and politicians force draconian school policies on our public schools is when money is pouring into their campaign chests. 2. The reason it continues is too many parents, teachers, and students have remained silent and apathetic. 3. None of this is about our children, it is 540 days of not learning for the love of money! Rise up parents, Rise up teachers, Dr. Jesse P. Turner

Professor of Literacy, Elementary, and Early Childhood Education Barry Lane’s We Found Defiance link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oRffCk8cRNQ

No More Lord

Every day the focus of education reform is on competition.
It's gives cover to inequity and injustice in our poorest and most vulnerable public schools.
Every day the focus of education is on turning children into data points.
It gives cover to policies that dehumanize our children and their teachers.

Every day, the focus of education reform steals away art and music from Black, Brown, Special Education, and Poor Children.
It crushes the hopes and dreams of our most vulnerable children.
Every day education reform pushes programs that place the most inexperience teachers with our most vulnerable children.
It crushes hope, and harms children, and makes a mockery of teaching.
Every day we close a local public school to replace it with a for private charter school.
We help destroy a neighborhood.
Every day we let politicians, policy makers, and billionaires tell us poverty doesn't matter.
Our poorest children lose.
Every day we let politicians, policy makers, and billionaires tell us money doesn't matter.
Our poorest children lose.
Every day we let politicians, policy makers, and billionaires call forcing our poorest schools to compete against each other for limited resources.
Our poorest schools, children, and teachers lose.
Every day we remain silent and apathetic.
God sees us.
Every day children are reduced to test scores.
We lose a bit of our souls.
Trust me on this one thing. Children grow up, and they are going to ask us why we let this happen?

It's time to draw our lines in the sand.
Opt Out Parents,
March Teachers,
Preachers Preach,
No more lord.
Jesse The Walking Turner

If you like to listen to the tune that inspired my morning walk this gray cold icy rain soak last day of march...its that old prison spiritual "No More Lord" cover by Melody Gardot
Singing and walking...

"Tell me where, Tell me where
Tell me where he can be found
And I'll never turn back no more.

Down on my knees, down on my knees
Try and love if you please
And I'll never turn back no more.

ooh, ooh,
ooh,
ooh, oh, ooh

No more, no more
No more, no more
And I'll never turn back no more.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LBLuh1pwh5M

America does not have an Achievement Gap, it has a Moral Gap

Robert Fulghum the author of "All I Really Needed to Know I Learned in Kindergarten said:
“I believe that imagination is stronger than knowledge. That myth is more potent than history. That dreams are more powerful than facts. That hope always triumphs over experience. That laughter is the only cure for grief. And I believe that love is stronger than death.”

Walking Man why fight these NCLB, RTTT and ESSA education reforms?
Fight because, reforms pushing Charter Schools, Vouchers, the Common Core, and endless Standardized Testing harm our children.
Fight because, for 15 years these reformers have failed our children, parents, teachers, and our most needy public schools.
Fight because, these reformers provide cover for injustice and equity in our public schools.
Fight because, these reformers have turned our children in to data and profits for CEO vulture profiteers.
Fight because, placing emphasis on High-Stakes Testing labels and tracks Black, Brown, Poor, and Special Education children into failure.
Fight because, education reform history and data have always demonstrated new rigorous standards and new high-stakes testing are merely more of the same old failed 100-year-old promises. Promises that have always done more harm than good.
Fight because, they limit imagination.
Fight because, they reduce a child myths, dreams, and hopes to data.
Fight because, their push for endless rigor is killing laughter and love in our public schools.

Walking Man why are you fighting these education reformers?
I have fought against these reformers under three Presidents: Bush, Obama, and now Trump.
I have fought against the education reforms of the five United States Secretaries of Education, Page, Spellings, Duncan, King, and now Betty DeVos?
I fight because their "Achievement Gap Policies" are a moral rejection of that first and foremost fundamental truth to "Do No Harm".
We Americans need to start asking our leaders; why school choice policies without equity have become the core of their education reforms?

Walking Man, how can we recognize harmful education reform?
Any education reform insisting that school resources do not matter?
Harms our children.
Any education reform insisting that class sizes do not matter?
Harms our children.
Any education reform insisting that poverty does not matter?
Harms our children.
Any education reform insisting that classroom resources do not matter?
Harms our children.
Any education reform abandoning and forcing our nation's poorest schools to close; while giving billions and special treatments to private entities to replace those schools with for profit schools.
Harms our children.
Any education reform that supports programs that place new teachers with less training and preparation in our poorest and most needy schools.
Harms our most vulnerable children.
Any education reform that spends hundreds of billions on reform programs to promote higher test scores as the solutions to childhood trauma, inequity, poverty, and the "School to Prison Pipeline".
Harms our children.
Any education reform that fails to powerfully support Music, Art, and Physical Education for all in our public schools.
Harms our children.
Any education reform that blames children, parents, teachers, and local public schools as the problem.
Harms our children.
Any education reform that fails to stalwartly support our nation's public school "First Responders", Parents, School Nurses, School librarians, Counselors, Special Educators, Literacy Specialists, Classroom Teachers, Music and Art Teachers, Para-Professionals, Custodians, Principals and Vice Principles.
Harms our children.
Any education reform that tracks and labels children.
Harms our children.

Walking Man isn't this a political fight?
This struggle isn't Red States vs Blue States.
This isn't urban vs rural communities.
This isn't wealthy vs poor schools.
This is not a political fight.
It is the MORAL fight of our lifetime.
Anyone Fighting to uphold that first and foremost fundamental truth "Do No Harm" in our public schools is engaged in a Moral fight.
America does not have an Achievement Gap.
America has a Moral Gap.

Are there education reforms we should fight for?
We should fight for education reforms that demand equity and justice for all children.
We should fight for reforms that demand art for all.
We should fight for reforms that demand music for all.
We should fight for reforms that demand physical education for all children every day.
We should fight for reforms that demand we reduce class sizes.
We should fight for reforms that demand special education services for every child in need.
We should fight for reforms that demand more Librarians, Media specialists, Literacy Specialists, Counselors, Math Tutors, and School nurses.
We should fight for reforms that demand that all schools be modern, clean and safe.
We should fight for reforms that demand wrap around services in poor public schools.
We should fight for reforms that demand summer education and recreational programs for all children.

Walking Man, have an idea Walking Man in mind?
Let us all walk out.
Let us all Walk Out, Walk back in, and hold an all day Teach-in?
Imagine every parent, every student, and every educator walking out, then walking back in, and then skipping those old lessons, and holding a Teach-in Day across America in 2017.

What would such a Walk Out/Teach-in look like Walking Man?
First it means, no one stays home, no one abandons our public schools, or fails to educate our students. It would be a symbolic walk out, a walk right back in to teach about our nation's long struggle for equity and justice in our public schools. This walk out/teach-in requires parent organizations and community grass roots activist groups be deeply involved in the planning of all walk out, and the teach in events. To be not just supporters, but active participants from start to end.
We should "Walk Out" again at the last school bell sounds, and go rally for education reform that respects children, teachers. and our public schools at our state capitols.
It's just one idea.
It's not perfect.
To be honest any idea rooted in action are worthy ones.

But, what if everyone walked out?
These education reforms that reduce children to data and profits would crumble.
A simple democracy truth to power. The people hold the key to change not policy makers or legislators.
When we the people act together our children win.

What if no one walks out?
It does not matter as long as one parent is fighting back against education reforms that are harming our children.
Truth to power matters.
It does not matter as long as long as one teacher is fighting back against education reforms that are demoralizing and harming our teachers.
Truth to power matters.
It does not matter as long as one citizen is fighting back against education reforms that harms public education.
Truth to power matters.
As long as one person is fighting back hope lives.

Walking Man what can I do?
Coretta Scot King said: “I must remind you that starving a child is violence. Neglecting school children is violence. Punishing a mother and her family is violence. Discrimination against a working man is violence. Ghetto housing is violence. Ignoring medical need is violence. Contempt for poverty is violence.”
You can reject the violence of:
Hunger,
Public school neglect,
Punishing mothers,
Discrimination,
Ghetto housing,
Lack of health care, and
Finally you can reject the violence of poverty at every step.

What should we call people who are indifference to school reforms that reduce children to test scores?
George Bernard Shaw Irish author, humanitarian, and Nobel Prize winner said:
"The worst sin toward our fellow creatures is not to hate them, but to be indifferent to them: that's the essence of inhumanity."
If we are silent?
We are sinful.
If we are apathetic?
Then we are sinful.
When education reforms are indifferent to inequity and injustice?
Education becomes inhumane.
Inhumane education reforms are sinful violent acts against our most vulnerable children.
Such reforms cannot be labeled the moral actions of a nation who cares for all children.
The time to stop talking Achievement Gap, and start talking Moral Gap is now.

Called me one moral man looking for a million moral others,
Jesse The Walking Turner

If you like to listen to the song that inspired my walk this morning its Steve Earls Steve Hammer > https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wx9SGI97wu