Solidarity on a Sunday Night

Not enough time to blog lately but I get in a few short FB messages from time to time. From my FB tonight:

Many thanks to everyone that continues to help with the Twitter storm (search hashtag #NPAF #rejectrelay for more info) against Relay fake Graduate School during the National Principal Academy Fellowship in NY this weekend. There are lots of folks out there watching quietly who appreciate your help. For those of you headed back to work tomorrow in a Relay environment please remember that you are not crazy - stay in touch with your humanity and your pedagogy. There is no research stating that standards, targets, and/or success criteria correlate with student achievement. None. So, you are not crazy to think that plastering this BS on your wall every day is a waste of time. It is a waste of time.

However, there is a clear correlation between compliant learners and test-taking for schools that use this technique combined with a no-excuse discipline model (Teach Like a Champion - which demands bad ideas like cold call, snapping, and barking orders at children in a militant way). All of this is done in order to demand "perseverance" and "fidelity" to the tests and therefore increase test scores. Test scores do not equal learning. And ultimately, all of this is done to drive out experienced teachers who know what children need because THAT does not bring in the cold hard cash to the corporations. Truly, the big picture is so twisted and corrupt that the children are nothing but laborers for the corporations - and the harshest measures are inflicted on our children of color in urban diverse schools. The passing of ESSA last week will unfortunately increase the number of fake graduate schools - we have our work cut out for us - more on this topic later I promise. 

The reformers who know nothing about teaching (aka Relay and more) will not look at the research that tells them what needs to be done to support and improve our schools - that research demonstrates a very high correlation between student achievement and feeding children, providing children with healthcare, and stocking their libraries at home and at school with books. That correlation is crystal clear. 

It's important for us to remember what is true and good for children when we are placed in an environment which feels like an alternate reality where the majority of what we are asked to do is NOT best for children. Remember what is true because the end goal is to make you forget. 

Solidarity on a Sunday night.