Education News for 01-25-2013

State Education News

• State auditor: School data system broken (Cincinnati Enquirer)

Ohio Auditor Dave Yost is expected to recommend multiple changes to the way school districts and the state report attendance data…Read more...

• ‘Hitler’ reference offensive (Columbus Dispatch)

The Anti-Defamation League is calling on Ohio School Board President Debe Terhar and other critics of gun-control legislation to stop referencing Adolf Hitler…Read more...

• Galion ponders armed teachers (Mansfield News Journal)

Come February, Galion schools could be among the first in Ohio to discuss arming teachers after the tragic shooting in Connecticut…Read more...

Local Education News

• Sycamore students follow passions, earn high school credits (Cincinnati Enquirer)

If you think high school is boring and irrelevant, you need to talk to Sycamore High School students Mitchell Bie and Matt Rickert…Read more...

• Schools need to get online (Columbus Dispatch)

More online learning could be coming to a school near you, based on a meeting yesterday of Columbus Mayor Michael B. Coleman’s Education Commission, which is examining how to improve education in the city…Read more...

• Washington-Nile School switches to natural gas (Portsmouth Daily Times)

The Washington-Nile Local School Board voted during their meeting…Read more...

• Berea, Olmsted Falls schools exploring alternative approaches to keep kids safe (Sun Newspapers)

As a parent, Sarah Fox was amazed to learn her son’s school practices a lockdown drill that includes remaining in rooms, essentially hiding from an active shooter…Read more...

• Still no response from CMSD on outrageous violence videos (WOIO)

Still no response from Cleveland Schools on outrageous videos of violence at John Adams High School. Two weeks and counting…Read more...

Editorial

• This H-bomb is a dud (Columbus Dispatch)

State school-board President Debe Terhar, if she hasn’t given up social media entirely, likely is getting an education this week in what the Internet-savvy know as Godwin’s Law of Nazi Analogies…Read more...

• Ms. Terhar must go (Toledo Blade)

State Board of Education President Debe Terhar apparently doesn’t have the decency or good sense to resign. So it falls to Gov. John Kasich to make that happen…Read more...

StudentsFirst is an anti-tax group

StudentsFrist, the lobbying organization ran by Michelle Rhee, puts itself forward as an education reform organization, but when one carefully looks at their agenda it is clear what they really are is another extreme right wing anti-tax group.

Their goal is to transfer as much money from public schools to private enterprise, while eroding public schools themselves. Let's look at the clear evidence.

The NYT reports

In just a few short years, state legislatures and education agencies across the country have sought to transform American public education by passing a series of laws and policies overhauling teacher tenure, introducing the use of standardized test scores in performance evaluations and expanding charter schools.

Such policies are among those pushed by StudentsFirst, the advocacy group led by Michelle A. Rhee, the former schools chancellor in Washington. Ms. Rhee has generated debate in education circles for aggressive pursuit of her agenda and the financing of political candidates who support it.

In a report issued Monday, StudentsFirst ranks states based on how closely they follow the group’s platform, looking at policies related not only to tenure and evaluations but also to pensions and the governance of school districts. The group uses the classic academic grading system, awarding states A to F ratings.

With no states receiving an A, two states receiving B-minuses and 12 states branded with an F, StudentsFirst would seem to be building a reputation as a harsh grader.

Ohio received a C-. StateImpactOhio talked to StudentsFirst about this report.

You mentioned that we’re a C but there are things in action that – according to your standards – will improve education in Ohio. What are those things?

A: Currently we have a system where regardless of how a child performs, teachers’ evaluation, pay, performance is pretty much divorced from the students’ outcomes. When you evaluate teachers you have to factor in student performance in those evaluations, and so Ohio has now passed legislation saying that student performance has to play a role in terms of teacher pay and promotion. We think it needs to go further, we think tenure decisions need to be based on student performance.

This comes as no surprise. StudentsFirst supported SB5 which had similar goals. What should be eye opening is this policy goal itself. If the goal is to put students first, why would this organization choose to pursue a failed policy?

In Washington DC where Michelle Rhee was head of the schools, she implemented this system, and as we reported last year it has been an unmitigated disaster.

Washington DC has purged a vast number of experienced teachers pursuing the policies of Michelle Rhee and the results have been terrible for students

D.C. public schools have the largest achievement gap between black and white students among the nation’s major urban school systems, a distinction laid bare in a federal study released Wednesday.

The District also has the widest achievement gap between white and Hispanic students, the study found, compared with results from other large systems and the national average.

The study is based on the 2011 National Assessment of Educational Progress, federal reading and math exams taken this year by fourth- and eighth-graders across the country.

The country already has a teacher attrition problem. We need policies that will retain experienced teachers, not drive them faster from the profession

In what other policy arena would a group be taken seriously by arguing for policies that eliminated experience? It is clear that what StudentsFirst aim is then, is to reduce the cost of teachers in order to pursue low taxes and siphon that saved money to private enterprise.

Furthermore, the recent 2012 elections demonstrated that ideology, not putting students first, is the main goal of Rhee's organization

Rhee makes a point of applauding “leaders in both parties and across the ideological spectrum” because her own political success — and the success of school reform — depends upon the bipartisan reputation she has fashioned. But 90 of the 105 candidates backed by StudentsFirst were Republicans, including Tea Party enthusiasts

Many of those endorsed candidates include legislators who cut Ohio public schools funding by by $1.8 billion - a move decried by the majority of public school supporters, but found StudentsFirst silent on the matter.

When you separate the rhetoric from the results and the goals, it becomes far easier to understand StudetnsFirst not as an education reform group but instead as a right wing anti-tax group - something all the available evidence demonstrates.

Racing to the bottom by firing experience

With Ohio on the verge of adopting the worst aspects of Washington DC's teacher evaluation and merit pay system, more concerning revelations continue to surface. It's no secret that DC public schools were embroiled in a test cheating scandal under the leadership of corporate education reformer Michele Rhee. Now those falsified test results might be causing good teachers to lose their jobs

Student test scores from 100 District of Columbia public schools still under investigation for cheating were used in value-added calculations that were incorporated into some teachers' evaluations this year, according to DCPS spokesperson Fred Lewis. More than 200 D.C. teachers were terminated last week on the basis of their evaluation results.

Previously inflated student achievements are now falling back to earth, and the teachers tasked with catching them are being held responsible for the lower scores now legitimately being measured. In some cases, this is causing teachers evaluations to fall into the dangerous categories of being ineffective - where they are subject to dismissal.

When asked whether there was any chance the appeal decision could be made before the 2011-2012 school year begins, Lewis said:

"No, unfortunately, the appeals decisions will not be made before the beginning of the year. While this would be ideal, the window to file an appeal must be at least 30 days, which is after the first day of school. We also want to make sure we have all necessary evidence in order to ensure the process is comprehensive and fair. We do not want to rush."

Now that Washington DC is a few years into it's regular mass firing of teachers, recently released data from Department of Education shows an alarming result

Almost half of Washington DC's teachers have 2 years or less experience! Does anyone still think corporate education reform and "teacher accountability" is about putting "Students First"? Or do we think administrators faced with harsh budget conditions are looking for any means possible to relieve themselves of more experienced and higher paid teaching professionals?

Left unchecked, Ohio's public education system will be in a race to the bottom, with students being served by teachers with little experience, few mentors, low pay, and all in a high pressure vocation. It may be a cheaper way to deliver "education", but at what true cost?

Super Who?

Michele Rhee is famous, or in a growing number of eyes, infamous, for implementing a corporate education reform agenda in Washington DC's schools. A significant part of her plan, as it is with corporate education reformers, was to fire teachers. Lots and lots of teachers.

NEWSWEEK did a cover story a few months ago asking why we can't fire bad teachers. Today Washington, D.C., Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee proved that you can, announcing plans to fire 300 of the district’s 4,000 teachers based on poor performance or licensing issues.

Another 729 teachers will be notified that they have been identified as "minimally effective," according to a new evaluation system Rhee put into effect, meaning that they will not get their scheduled step raise and will have only one year to take advantage of professional-development resources to pull up their performance score or face firing next year. If most of those teachers fail to significantly bump up their performance, the D.C. system could see as many as a quarter of its teachers fired within two years, a prospect Rhee described as "daunting."

We'll sidestep the observation that many have that it's "difficult to fire teachers", when this story demonstrates it was pretty easy to fire 6% of the DC schools teachers in one fell swoops and put another 20% on the chopping block. Instead, let's see what all this firing brought the district. In an Op-Ed this weekend, in the Washington Post, Michael Casserly, executive director of the Council of the Great City Schools, and former Rhee booster, mentioned the newly release NAEP scores for the district

The bad news, however, is that graduation rates are still low, and achievement gaps between the rich and poor sections of town remain vast. Despite the NAEP achievement gains, scores are still among the lowest in the nation’s major city school systems. An analysis by my organization also indicates that the D.C. public schools score well below what one would expect statistically, compared with other cities with similar poverty, language, race, disability and family characteristics. Students show unusual difficulty reading and interpreting texts, evaluating and critiquing information, identifying appropriate measurement instruments, and solving problems involving geometric shapes. There is much more work to be done.

Yes. Rhee fired a lot of teachers, ending their careers - for literally nothing.

It's too late Rheeby

Now that Michele Rhee's corporate reform agenda has been exposed for the partisan effort it always was, she's looking to rehabilitate her tarnished image by hiring yet more lobbyists.

Democratic National Committee national spokesman Hari Sevugan will move to a top post at the former Washington, D.C., school chief Michelle Rhee's new advocacy group, Students First, a move aimed at strengthening its hand in the complex and high-stakes politics of education policy.

The move is intended to bring "the reputation of the group back to a non-partisan place after being seen, undeservedly, as overly friendly with Republicans," the source said. "Students First has strong relationships with many Democratic establishment hands including [former White House Communications Director] Anita Dunn.. and has worked with Democratic and Republican officials on a number of issues. But because some of the more prominent work has been with Republican governors including scoring some stunning successes in unlikely states like Nevada, that partisan reputation has been thrust upon it," the source said.

It's also, a more skeptical Democrat said, a sign of the damage that's been done to her image since she left her post in Washington after last year's mayoral election.

Folks are right to be skeptical, as the Washington Post lists Rhee's recent partisan anti-teacher activities

FLORIDA

She is an unpaid adviser to the anti-union Florida Gov. Rick Scott, who has never met a voucher or a charter school he doesn't like. If Scott had his way, he would proceed with a program that would provide vouchers to every public school family in the state and allow them to use it at whatever school they wished. Such a scheme would decimate the public school system. (No, I'm not arguing that public education doesn't need big changes, so please don't tell me I am.)

Rhee is also allied with former Republican governor Jeb Bush, who has been a leader in corporate-driven education reform in Florida and the nation.

TENNESSEE

She played a role in persuading lawmakers in Tennessee (where her ex-husband, Kevin Huffman, is the new commissioner of education) to pass an anti-union bill that, among other things, eliminates collective bargaining for teachers. She co-authored an April op-ed in the Tennessean supporting the legislation with former Republican Sen. Bill Frist. Gov. Bill Haslam (R) recently signed the bill into law.

WISCONSIN

Republican Gov. Scott Walker, you will remember, pushed a budget that cut state worker pay, eliminated collective bargaining rights for public employees, and contained other measures to weaken unions. Massive protests followed. Rhee went on Fox News to support the plan to limit bargaining rights for teachers. Take a look at the video here.

And here's another video of Rhee, on a local news channel, talking about why it is important that teachers not have some collective bargaining rights.

OHIO

Republican Gov. John Kasich pushed through SB 5 -- a bill expected to face a ballot referendum -; that severely limits collective bargaining rights for public employees, including teachers, and StudentsFirst was there to lobby on behalf of the bill.

NEW JERSEY

Republican Gov. Chris Christie made overtures to Rhee about serving as the state education commissioner, but she didn't want to be constrained by a job that kept her in just one state. She has, though, expressed support for his budget-cutting policies.

INDIANA

Rhee joined forces with Republican Gov. Mitch Daniels, who pushed through the most extensive school voucher bill in the country. The law will provide public money for low- and middle-income families to help pay tuition at any private school. Here you can see Rhee attending a rally in support of the legislation.

Is it just me, or does it strike you as odd that a former public school chancellor supposedly dedicated to public education wants to use public money for private education?

NEVADA

Republican Gov. Brian Sandoval recently met with Rhee and said she supports his education policies, including a teacher quality bill that among other things supports vouchers for private schools and would eliminate teacher tenure.

Meanwhile, Rhee was nominated for the Public's Servant award by the Sam Adams Alliance. The other two nominees were Wisconsin's Walker and super conservative Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli. Alas, she didn't win. Cuccinelli did, for "challenging the constitutionality of the federal health-care law."

And the strongly conservative American Federation for Children -- which focuses on promoting school vouchers -- hosted a policy summit in Washington in March, where they gave awards to Michelle Rhee, Scott Walker and Republican Gov. Tom Corbett of Pennsylvania.

Well, you can say this for Rhee: She's been mighty busy.

How to fix our schools

Joel Klein, chancellor of the New York City public school system, and Michelle Rhee, who resigned October 13 as Washington, D.C. chancellor, published a “manifesto” in the Washington Post claiming that the difficulty of removing incompetent teachers “has left our school districts impotent and, worse, has robbed millions of children of a real future.” The solution, they say, is to end the “glacial process for removing an incompetent teacher” and give superintendents like themselves the authority to pay higher salaries to teachers whose students do well academically. Otherwise, children will remain “stuck in failing schools” across the country.{i}

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