The Coalition for Louisiana Public Education has announced its endorsements for BESE Candidates. Endorsements were made in 5 of the 8 election districts. They are as follows:
District 1 - Sharon Hewitt - Includes the parishes of St Tammany and northern Orleans and northern Jefferson.
District 3 - Lottie Polozola Beebe - Includes the parishes of St Bernard, southern Jefferson, Lafourche, Terrebonne, St Mary, Iberia, St Martin, west Iberville, southeast St Landry, south Pointe Coupee, and west Assumption
District 5 - Keith Guice - Includes the parishes of Claiborne, Union, Morehouse, West Carroll, East Carroll, Lincoln, Ouachita, Richland, Madison, Jackson, Caldwell, Franklin, Tensas, Grant, LaSalle, Catahoula, Concordia, Rapides, and most of Evangeline.
District 6 - Donald Songy - Includes the parishes of east Ascension, southeast and northern East Baton Rouge, Livingston, Tangipahoa, and Washington
District 7 - Dale Bayard - Includes the parishes of Beauregard, Allen, Calcasieu, Jefferson Davis, Cameron, Vermilion and southwest Lafayette.
Please take the time to inform yourself about the backgrounds and positions of these candidates by going to their web sites and facebook pages.
The Coalition’s member organizations include a comprehensive group of top state education stakeholders. They are:
LA School Boards Association (LSBA);
LA Association of School Superintendents (LASS);
LA Association of School Executives (LASE);
LA Association of Special Education Administrators (LASEA);
LA Association of Chief Technology Officers;
LA Association of Child Welfare and Attendance Professionals (LACWAP);
LA Association of School Personnel Administrators (LSASPA);
LA Retired Teachers Association (LRTA);
LA Association of Computer Using Educators (LACUE);
LA Association of Educators (LAE);
LA Federation of Teachers (LFT);
National Board of Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS);
National School Board Association, immediate past president;
Representatives of Save Our Schools;
Representatives of Parents Across America;
Independent researchers specializing in education data analysis.
The Coalition for Louisiana Public Education includes groups representing the great majority of education professionals and elementary/secondary education boards in Louisiana. I believe it is time that we listen to the advice of our professional educators in choosing our representatives to this important Board. I hope all educators and their families and friends will strongly consider the endorsed Coalition candidates.
Thursday, September 29, 2011
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
Bad Assumptions; Bad Policy
The Obama administration took action last week to allow waivers to states of some provisions of the No Child Left Behind law. These waivers would allow states to avoid some of the severe sanctions that the law required for schools that did not meet the annual requirements for progress to proficiency for all students in reading and math. Read a good analysis of the waiver plan at this link. The requirement that all students become proficient in reading and math by the year 2014 was ridiculous to begin with and could not be achieved by any school system that served a cross section of regular students.
So what will be required of those states that ask for waivers of the NCLB? Those states will be required by Arne Duncan to remove limitations on the creation of new charter schools, require the adoption of college and career standards for graduation, and require teachers to be evaluated partially based on student scores, and basically do whatever Arne Duncan says. This new waiver policy just puts more power over local school systems in the hands of the U.S. Education Secretary. In exchange for the waiver, we can expect more unreasonable untested mandates to be imposed. And yes, the testing mania will only get worse!
The idealistic goal that all students become proficient in certain subjects was an unrealistic criteria that was sure to create failures out of most of the schools in the country. That's because no government can successfully mandate a Lake Wobegon Effect. (Lake Wobegon is the mythical town invented by radio host Garrison Kheillor where supposedly "All women are strong, all men are good looking, and all children are above average.") It is statistically impossible for all children to be above average, but that's basically what the federal government attempted to require with NCLB.
Another example of a bad or unrealistic assumption is the statement by some politicians that "If our schools are doing their jobs, all children should be on grade level in reading and math". Grade level is really just an average performance determined by testing a cross section of students nation-wide to determine the typical reading level or math performance for a particular age group. Statistics show that a certain percentage of students perform above grade level and a similar percentage perform below grade level. If we could successfully mandate that no student will perform below grade level, the next time the national testing in that subject is done, the measurement of grade level would be re-calibrated upwards, again resulting in some students being below grade level. Children are all different. They are not like widgets built on an assembly line. Bad assumption; bad policy!
Another bad assumption is that if the test performance of students in a particular school is below the government approved standard, then the teachers and the school administration must not be doing their job. Under NCLB, the remedies imposed would have the school authorities close such a school or convert it into a charter school or fire at least half of the faculty and administration. When those remedies were imposed in some schools across the country, no noticeable change occurred. When Arne Duncan closed schools in Chicago and sent the students to more successful schools the transferred students performed no better, but the parents were upset because the transfers resulted in cross community fights and the death of at least one transferred student. When some schools in Baton Rouge were converted into charter schools, the performance of students declined. Under the waiver requirements we will shift mostly to embarrassing or firing teachers based on student scores. But that won't work either because soon the schools serving high poverty students will run out of teachers! Converting schools to charters just allows non-educators to experiment on kids and encourages cheating, and attempts to use public relations in the place of basic schooling. (Just consider the Abramson Charter schools) Bad assumptions cause bad policy!
There are no miracle solutions to education. We know that the only real crisis in our schools is the under performance of students from high poverty backgrounds. Why not just take the millions that would be wasted on more testing, and more complex value added teacher evaluations and spend it on beefing up the programs in our poverty schools. Implement effective parent involvement programs. Add more days to the school year, provide reading specialists, provide incentives rather than disincentives for teachers who are trained to address the needs of disadvantaged students. Schools should be judged based on the learning environment, the culture of positive discipline and time on task in practical learning activities, not on the results of a one-size-fits-all high stakes test. It should not shock us to find that when we compare two excellent schools that have good learning environments, we may find that student scores can still vary greatly!
That's why we need to elect reasonable public education supporters rather than school privatizers and misguided "reformers" to BESE.
So what will be required of those states that ask for waivers of the NCLB? Those states will be required by Arne Duncan to remove limitations on the creation of new charter schools, require the adoption of college and career standards for graduation, and require teachers to be evaluated partially based on student scores, and basically do whatever Arne Duncan says. This new waiver policy just puts more power over local school systems in the hands of the U.S. Education Secretary. In exchange for the waiver, we can expect more unreasonable untested mandates to be imposed. And yes, the testing mania will only get worse!
The idealistic goal that all students become proficient in certain subjects was an unrealistic criteria that was sure to create failures out of most of the schools in the country. That's because no government can successfully mandate a Lake Wobegon Effect. (Lake Wobegon is the mythical town invented by radio host Garrison Kheillor where supposedly "All women are strong, all men are good looking, and all children are above average.") It is statistically impossible for all children to be above average, but that's basically what the federal government attempted to require with NCLB.
Another example of a bad or unrealistic assumption is the statement by some politicians that "If our schools are doing their jobs, all children should be on grade level in reading and math". Grade level is really just an average performance determined by testing a cross section of students nation-wide to determine the typical reading level or math performance for a particular age group. Statistics show that a certain percentage of students perform above grade level and a similar percentage perform below grade level. If we could successfully mandate that no student will perform below grade level, the next time the national testing in that subject is done, the measurement of grade level would be re-calibrated upwards, again resulting in some students being below grade level. Children are all different. They are not like widgets built on an assembly line. Bad assumption; bad policy!
Another bad assumption is that if the test performance of students in a particular school is below the government approved standard, then the teachers and the school administration must not be doing their job. Under NCLB, the remedies imposed would have the school authorities close such a school or convert it into a charter school or fire at least half of the faculty and administration. When those remedies were imposed in some schools across the country, no noticeable change occurred. When Arne Duncan closed schools in Chicago and sent the students to more successful schools the transferred students performed no better, but the parents were upset because the transfers resulted in cross community fights and the death of at least one transferred student. When some schools in Baton Rouge were converted into charter schools, the performance of students declined. Under the waiver requirements we will shift mostly to embarrassing or firing teachers based on student scores. But that won't work either because soon the schools serving high poverty students will run out of teachers! Converting schools to charters just allows non-educators to experiment on kids and encourages cheating, and attempts to use public relations in the place of basic schooling. (Just consider the Abramson Charter schools) Bad assumptions cause bad policy!
There are no miracle solutions to education. We know that the only real crisis in our schools is the under performance of students from high poverty backgrounds. Why not just take the millions that would be wasted on more testing, and more complex value added teacher evaluations and spend it on beefing up the programs in our poverty schools. Implement effective parent involvement programs. Add more days to the school year, provide reading specialists, provide incentives rather than disincentives for teachers who are trained to address the needs of disadvantaged students. Schools should be judged based on the learning environment, the culture of positive discipline and time on task in practical learning activities, not on the results of a one-size-fits-all high stakes test. It should not shock us to find that when we compare two excellent schools that have good learning environments, we may find that student scores can still vary greatly!
That's why we need to elect reasonable public education supporters rather than school privatizers and misguided "reformers" to BESE.
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
Good Choices for BESE Seats
Several experienced, and dedicated educators have qualified for election to BESE along with several incumbents who have already proven themselves to be friends of public education. Voters will have a choice of electing practical decision makers to the state's most critical school board and to remove those who would privatize our public schools. If elected, I believe the leaders I have highlighted will adopt only tested and effective polices that will move education forward in Louisiana.
The following are highly qualified educators and solid public school leaders who have qualified for election to BESE. Within the next week, this blog will inform you of any endorsements made by the Coalition for Louisiana Public Education for BESE elections. It is my understanding that the Coalition will recommend persons who are qualified, who are supportive of sound education improvements, and who truly believe that schools should be directed by elected school boards rather than self appointed privatization groups.
The following are highly qualified educators and solid public school leaders who have qualified for election to BESE. Within the next week, this blog will inform you of any endorsements made by the Coalition for Louisiana Public Education for BESE elections. It is my understanding that the Coalition will recommend persons who are qualified, who are supportive of sound education improvements, and who truly believe that schools should be directed by elected school boards rather than self appointed privatization groups.
- In BESE District 1, either Lee Barrios or Sharon Hewitt , should be considered. Ms Barrios is a retired teacher who has been active in testifying before BESE and the Legislature and has demonstrated a superior knowledge of education issues. Sharon Hewitt is a highly respected business and parent leader in the St. Tammany public school system. She is highly regarded and trusted by local St. Tammany School Board members. The incumbent, James Garvey, from District 1 has in my opinion blindly followed the dictates of former Superintendent Pastorek. He has been a poor representative of public education.
- In BESE District 2, the incumbent, Louella Givens has proven to be a strong supporter of public education. She is knowledgeable about what works in education, and is not swayed by the latest privatization schemes. She is opposed by Kira Jones, the director of Teach For America in New Orleans who would be the worst choice for public education.
- In BESE District 3, Lottie Beebie is a personnel director in St. Martin Parish schools who has extensive experience as a teacher and a principal who has served as a school board member in St. Landry Parish. She is very knowledgeable about the critical issues in education. The incumbent, Glenny Lee Bouquet, has not been responsive to the recommendations of public education leaders in her district and had not planned to run until encouraged to do so by Governor Jindal.
- In BESE District 4, Walter Lee, the incumbent who is a strong supporter of public education is unopposed.
- In BESE District 5, Keith Guice, the incumbent is also a strong supporter of public education. Mr Guice who is a former local superintendent has always been willing to make practical, educationally sound decisions on BESE. He deserves to be reelected!
- In BESE District 6, Donald Songy who has extensive experience as a teacher, principal and local Superintendent deserves the strong consideration of all educators and all voters wanting a practical yet innovative approach to public education. He has testified before BESE and the Legislature on critical education issues. He is a member of the Coalition for Louisiana Public Education. His opponent, Chas Roemer, the incumbent BESE member in District 6, has been an enemy of public education and has supported destructive BESE actions such as the new grading system for schools which I believe is very unfair to schools and will damage efforts to get positive parental support.
- In BESE district 7, Dale Bayard has been a fighter for public education. He is always willing to listen to the professionals in the field and is not swayed by the privatizers of public education. He deserves to be reelected! His opponent is supported by the Lane Grigsby PAC.
- In BESE district 8, outgoing BESE member Linda Johnson is not running for reelection. She has told the Coaltion that she will support attorney, Demoine Rutledge who has experience representing local school boards. Other candidates in the race are Russell Armstrong, Jimmy Guillory, and Carolyn Hill. I am not familiar with these other candidates.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
