Educational
Power. . .
These are troubling times
for public education and for supporters of free, equal, and integrated schools. There is news about budget cuts, increased
"accountability" and new initiatives for our public schools on a
nearly daily basis. The fact that so
many of these so called "reforms" are questionable in intent and in
validity make them even more troubling.
After all, we know that there are Achievement Gaps and other problems
that exist in our public school systems.
Educators and public school advocates don't want to stand in the way of
reforms that truly work in the best interest of all students. Yet, the "tools" that are offered
to our schools don't measure up to the simple standard of being "good for
kids."
This is a reality in
communities all around Wisconsin. Whether in urban or rural settings, in
Conservative or Liberal communities, wealthy or poor districts, the news is the
same. The attacks on public education
are taking a toll on educators, schools and are impacting public perception of
our schools.
As the public sees more
and more information about the problems in our schools, the solutions offered
by "reformers" seem increasingly reasonable. After all, if our students are failing
shouldn't we increase accountability for schools, gather more data about our
students and offer alternative programming to meet the needs of different
groups of students? On the surface
testing and privatization in our educational systems seem to provide needed
"reforms" that will help improve outcomes for students.
Cities nationwide are
watching the experiment to see if replicating its model might benefit students
alj.am
Common Core-aligned tests
will soon replace Wisconsin's
standardized tests in reading and math.
madison.com|By
Lee Enterprises
Yet, the increased
testing, efforts to privatize and initiatives that are imposed on educators are
simply a continuation of the policies designed to destroy our public schools
that started a few decades ago with legislation like No Child Left Behind. They are imposed by people who are not
invested in the children who are impacted by the "reforms." People who have limited, if any, classroom
experience and who frequently don't have children in the schools they are
"reforming." They limit the
ability of educators to use professional expertise and direct knowledge of
specific students to provide educational opportunities specifically aimed at
individual student needs. They force
educators to spend as much, or more, time filling out paperwork, as working
with students. In short, the
"reforms" too often intensify the very problems that they are
supposedly designed to eliminate.
Comedy Central host Stephen
Colbert eviscerated the always controversial Common Core, remarking that the
uniform education standards actually...
madworldnews.com
Tuesday's annual release of
state test scores of students attending private schools using vouchers included
scores from students in the statewide...
madison.com|By
Lee Enterprises
If people outside of our
schools really knew just how harmful many of these efforts to
"reform" our schools really are, they would be amazed and appalled at
what is being done to our students, educators and school systems. Whether it is the extra hours of work and the
impractical nature of the new Educator Effectiveness system, the
standardization of curriculum at the expense of quality educational
opportunities or the stifling of the voices of professional educators, the
results are the same for students. Those
who live in affluent, upper class neighborhoods receive a different education
than those in other areas. The
"reforms" that are being imposed are re-segregating our schools based
on race, and class.
Why does so much of our talk
about race and poverty leave us Americans spinning our wheels? One big reason
is etiquette. What is said often matters less than who says it.
Green Bay Press-Gazette
The general public is
caught between what they hear "educational experts" say about the
"reforms", and what they know about the educators in the schools in
their communities. Remember, most
Americans mistrust public schools in general, but respect and like the schools
in their immediate community. Those who
have students in school also have strong opinions about what they want their
own children to learn and how they want the learning to occur.
It may surprise you.
Washington Post
The problems that we face
are not unsolvable. The challenge is for
those who work, learn and support our public schools to stand up against a political
machine that seeks to profit from the educational process. It takes organization and courage to continue
to fight against the powerful forces who are moving education
"reform" processes. The task
is daunting, but one that isn't impossible.
Wisconsin had the worst achievement gap between black and white
students among states last year, and officials shouldered the blame Wednesday
while putting the onus on teachers to address the issue.
postcrescent.com
The opt out movement is
gaining momentum as more parents are opting their students out of standardized
testing. Here are a few actions that are occurring across the country made up
of many voices. ...
Now that the opt out season
is in full swing and the Testing Resistance has spread across the country, we
should take a minute to reflect and remember the purpose of opt out. Despite
what the "chan...
atthechalkface.com
Uniting families,
students, community members and educators together can help begin the process
of reclaiming power in education policy making.
Divided, we will be easy to defeat, but united these forces are
extremely powerful. The difficulty is in
finding time and venues to get many groups together to talk. It is only through conversation and debate
that common ground between these diverse groups can be found. Unless these conversations occur the gaps
between different parts of the educational community can seem wide and
insurmountable.
These gaps are exactly
what the "reformers" use to give power to their message of public
school failures. Yet, all the different
components of our educational community share some common interests and goals,
safe schools, high achievement, successful students, these things that every
educator, family and community wants. We
are all bound together in an effort to find the best ways to make these broad
goals become achievable. It is time for
us to recognize the power we have and the obligation we have to use that
strength for our students, our schools and our society.
Or unless you get organized.
Mother Jones
The
Good, The Bad and
The
Ugly. . .
The Good . . . Keeping with the theme of organizing in order to increase the power of
our message, here's an effort in Milwaukee
that is very promising on its own, but also as a model for future action.
Common Ground is demanding at
least $150 million for school athletic facilities before it will support public
funding to replace the Bradley
Center.
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel|By Don Walker
Madison educators joined together to raise money for a
great cause, and have fun at the same time.
People bowled for a good
cause in Madison Sunday.Dream Lanes hosted the MTI Bowl-a-Thon, along with
Madison Teachers, Inc.<br>
wkow.com|By
Jennifer Kliese
We also need to get the
message out about the reality of the ACA.
There is another narrative circulating among those who oppose more
Progressive legislation, or who simply hate our current president.
For this edition of Curbside
Consult, I Skyped with Dr. Jonathan Gruber, who is the Ford Professor of
Economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and director of the
health care program at the National...
healthinsurance.org
According to Rand, 8.2
million new people—7.2 million of them previously uninsured—have gotten
employer insurance since mid-2013.
Mother Jones
The Bad . . . Those on the Right will try and tell anyone who will listen that
Liberals are the ones who use government to enforce their values and who are on
crusades to attack any who oppose them.
However, there is plenty of that type of action coming from both sides
of the aisle.
A Wisconsin
state senator is asking the state to investigate the registration of one voter
who led a protest against a mine the senator supports.
Wonkette
In 2011, in response to a
conservative group’s request, Erpenbach turned over 26,000 emails but blacked
out the names of the senders.
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel|By Patrick
Marley
The Ugly . . . Everyone is entitled to an opinion, however, it would be great if more
opinions were rooted in fact, not propaganda.
The report finds that MSNBC
was the most accurate cable network in 2013, and CNN could be a lot more
accurate if it would stop hosting "debates"...
Mother Jones
No comments:
Post a Comment