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.

TS Gold - A Child's Report Card

I have written two previous blogs on Teaching Strategies Gold, an assessment that is used to assess children from birth through third grade. My previous blogs explained the teacher's perspective in regard to entering the data (literally thousands of data points per class of children - robbing children of instructional time) and the second blog was a refusal letter for parents wishing to opt their children out of TS Gold.

Today I want to share a child's TS Gold report card.  This particular district sends out a TS Gold report card to the parents or guardians every trimester. This child's report card is 11 pages long. The child's name was listed 121 times on the document. There are 60 indicators assessed with accompanying bar graphs. Each bar graph includes a statement about "where" the child is currently, in terms of mastering that indicator, and also lists a next step. You will notice that many of the indicators assess soft skills - skills that are not academic, but rather, deal with a child's emotion, interaction with others, and more.

See the report card below.  Please check my previous two blogs for more information, and I will be doing a follow up blog to share more on the data mining component of TS Gold.

Who wants a report card like this? Not parents. Not teachers. Corporations who like data?  The new gold? Yes. And, finally, why does a five year old need an 11 page report card? I can't fathom anyone needing an 11 page report card, can you?

Here it is. It's crazy long and crazy in general. Click on each picture for best visibility. I'm not going to comment anymore on it because I think the best way to view it is like a parent might, a parent who was expecting a one page report card with a few notes from the teacher. Join this FB page to meet other teachers and parents who are fighting back against TS Gold.

Harassment Lawsuit Anyone?

When your school is being destroyed by the dictatorial advice of fake teacher programs (Relay) aided and abetted by the Colorado Department of Education all under absolutely fear mongering mandates that force you into silence what is one to do? Do you stay quiet and simply let it all go down as they have planned? Or, do you speak up, refuse to do as asked, and risk getting fired? And when you speak up, you do so knowing that there is absolutely no one there to stop this train as it has left the station. It's guaranteed you'll get knocked down and run over on the tracks. You will be a casualty. That's the hard cold truth facing many teachers today. And then, you'll be replaced. And will these replacements care for the children like you did? Or will they be products of fake teacher programs and will they force your children to walk in lines without moving their arms and spend days on end doing online test prep? Perhaps Dawn Neely Randall is on the right track here? Neely-Randall vs. State of Ohio? Peer Discriminatory Harassment?

Sounds damn good to me. Email me at writepeg@juno.com after reading this if it sounds good to you too. 

She writes:

Neely-Randall vs. State of Ohio

Peer Discriminatory Harassment:

This past week, as I was completing an online training module assigned by the Ohio Department of Education via a required harassment/bullying video (so we could know the state laws within the classroom context), the definition of harassment given included to 1) have an intent to harm; 2) be directed at a specific target; and 3) involve repeated incidents. I learned that legally, harassment focuses on how the behavior affects the victim.

As a teacher in the State of Ohio, I suddenly realized that I am being harassed by the Ohio Department of Education's own legal definition as well as from legislators who are passing harmful laws to hurt me as well as many harmful laws that hurt my students, which totally, unequivocally knock the wind right out of me.

The state is asking teachers to educate and test students in ways that many of us do not feel is morally correct or developmentally appropriate. For instance, very shortly, some districts will test 3rd graders (a test they must pass in order to pass third grade; another form of harassment) for three hours straight. So, eight year olds, will sit at a computer for THREE HOURS STRAIGHT taking a high-stakes (high-pressure situation) English Language Arts test so they can pass third-grade, even though, they are only beginning their second quarter of third-grade. Harassment, much?

In addition, "preliminary" raw data was finally released by the state from PARCC. A woman could have conceived, grown, and birthed a baby in less time than it took for students to have received their scores from the state based on their LAST year's testing. Oh, wait. Students STILL have not received their scores and the school's "grade card" is not due out until at least the end of January. Yet, the media is already reporting these raw, preliminary numbers, which, in effect, label teachers and schools. Districts in poverty zip codes are looking like failures whereas schools in more affluent zip codes look like they have better teachers. The scores also do not account for if a student made tremendous growth from the time he/she walked into the classroom and instead, labeled the child as "Basic" or "Limited" aka, failures. Labels hurt. Labels don't go away. Labels on children is a form of harassment.

Our Ohio Department of Education is a mess. State superintendents do not stick around long. Even when I called the ODE to ask about the new AIR tests, the person answering the phone asked me, "Is that spelled A-I-R?" Um, yes, yes it is. It seems that everyone there should know PARCC and AIR by now; especially at the state level.

The charter scrubbing scandal is also a mess. Urban public schools are constantly being told they are FAILING and being threatened with state takeover while the Ohio Department of Education falsified charter information not only to the citizens of the state, but also to the United States Department of Education, and continued to label schools and did nothing to press charges against the person(s) falsifying the data, even though teachers in another state are IN JAIL for doing the same thing.

And on and on and on and on. (I haven't even mentioned the Ohio Teacher Evaluation System where it took me eight hours to write one lesson plan and a process in which teachers are labeled at the state level based in large part on test scores.)

Bottom line: I feel harassed by the Ohio Department of Education. I feel abused. I feel heartsick with what they are asking us to do in education and the hoops they are requiring us to put our students through. When a special ed student pulls out every eyelash during testing, that's a problem. When a fifth-grade student breaks down blubbering during a high-states test, that's a problem. When a child on an Individualized Instruction Plan calls the State of Ohio HIMSELF (with his parents' help) THREE times because he feels so convicted about how wrong he is being treated and the Ohio Department of Education does not have the decency to return his message, that's a problem.

And during the high school years, in which it should be a students' glory days and life preparation time, they are putting students, who are already being slammed by society, under tremendous stress and pressure by making teenagers the guinea pigs for their constant shifting of requirements for graduation.

Yes, I feel harassed and finally, I'm going to do something about it.
I will be looking for an attorney to represent me in a lawsuit against anyone harming the children, and thus, me, on my watch.
If you, too, feel harassed, please feel free to send me a note. (I've already heard from several people.)

If you know of an attorney, legislator, anyone who can help me to get this process off the ground, I'd really appreciate it.

I will be calling my union for help first. However, this is not on behalf of my amazing school or my supportive superintendent. This is on behalf of me, myself, and I. The state has crossed the line many times in the past few years, but their Peer Discriminatory Harassment online module taught me that I, too, am a victim of abuse. I will use their words in this lawsuit, not mine.

On behalf of teachers all across the state, I'm not going to let them blacken my reputation or bruise me any longer. Feel free to join me.

Stay tuned.

Read more about Dawn Neely Randall here. Many thanks Dawn and I'll be in touch.

Competency = Sheeple: My comment on EdSurge

Learn anything anywhere, you say? 

Not so much. The learning you describe is clearly confined to the "efficiency" that comes with the pared-down learning found via online modules that must gather data ever so efficiently in order to meet the demands of the market - NOT the demands of learners. In essence, what you are describing is a dumbed-down education system that is void of real, authentic messy learning that comes with democratic thinking among children and teachers - a democratic curriculum that is derived by watching and observing children and determining how to best support them using their strengths and their passions. 

This sort of learning (via modules) ultimately creates sheeple - learning is directed by the modules - and the modules are directed by the corporations - who need a workforce that is obedient and compliant. Observing a child click and stare at a screen in no way supports a child emotionally, academically, socially and physically - and the child clicking away is typically missing out on developmentally appropriate learning experiences that demand much more than sitting quietly staring at a screen. 

Online modules are unable to replicate the human interaction and relationships that are necessary to support the development of problem-solving productive citizens. Online modules cannot replicate eye contact, conversation,and the learning that is derived via play, children hovering over a picture book together, children singing, kids developing rules for a game on the playground, students working on a poster board to plan their presentation for their science inquiry, and more. However, online modules gather a ton of data which can be used to create great profit for the corporations.http://www.pegwithpen.com/.../us-dept-of-ed-and... #optout

Digital Badging & Hickenlooper: The Emperor Has No Clothes

I am spending my Halloween morning reading through all the docs related to a digital badge grant application here in Colorado (however this is moving nationwide so I recommend everyone take a look).

Beware the "Commission" - as they will be referred to in the near future. Our corporate governor Hickenlooper has signed an executive order for creating the Business-Experiential Learning Commission. The Commission will launch the Digital Badges initiative statewide, more or less creating a complete overhaul of our public education system and community colleges by tying data to the needs and future profits of the corporate community using our statewide longitudinal database to funnel your child's data.

The data will be used to document your child's skills (including "soft" skills) and the data will guide the curriculum of the public schools based on the market's demands. Note that the term "competencies" is used as you review the executive order - this goes back to the competency-based learning - therefore competency-based badges. Also note that there is not a SINGLE EDUCATOR appointed to the Commission.

I'd be lying if I didn't say this has completely overwhelmed me. I knew digital badging was coming. But to see it all in writing and to know what we must fight and where we are headed is just brutal at times.

But then Michael Peña, one of my fellow admins at United Opt Out​ said to me: The more we push, the more they push back.  The more they push back, the more extreme they have to get. They'll fail under the weight of that, Peggy. Have faith. Keep fanning the fire. Just when you think you can't possibly fight anymore, they give you something more extreme so you get up, breathe, get angry, and fight again.

I needed that reminder. Remember our role as activists. As they attempt to consume our schools and our children the absurdities at first unseen - will become publicly known. It is our job to expose them, mock them, find their weaknesses and tear them wide open. Have faith.

I will blog more on this Commission at a later date. I figured this one doc was enough of a fright to launch your Halloween. Don't let it scare you. Laugh in its face. Speak the truth about what is really happening here - a complete corporate takeover at all levels using data to direct and control the future lives of our children - keeping the profit with the privileged and creating a workforce  that is standardized, easy to manage, and paid little. We will expose this. And Hickenlooper will be the emperor who has no clothes. 

U.S. Dept. of Ed. and Educational Warfare

Obama has done a stellar job of launching a mainstream campaign to alert the public to his deep concerns around too much testing, the need for better testing, and testing that we embrace and love. Please remember, those who have destroyed your public schools won't suddenly do an about face to save them.

All of us however, have done a stellar job of creating the People's Movement - the Opt Out Movement. Hold how that makes you feel - and remember it. Remember the power you have, the relationships you have built, and keep that feeling strong and those relationships strong - as you will need it. 

But back to the new mainstream "testing" campaign.......

In HuffPost's Open Letter to America's parents and teachers Obama states: First, our kids should only take tests that are worth taking -- tests that are high quality, aimed at good instruction, and make sure everyone is on track. Second, tests shouldn't occupy too much classroom time, or crowd out teaching and learning. And third, tests should be just one source of information. We should use classroom work, surveys, and other factors to give us an all-around look at how our students and schools are doing.

It's interesting to see the choice of language being used in the Testing Action Plan as well as in his Open Letter. Much of the language alludes clearly to a shift to quick and snappy online daily testing as I mentioned in my post here earlier this week. The language is really about redirecting the conversation to usher in a new and better form of cash crop testing - testing that will be renamed I am sure - but for now it's best known as competency based testing, mastery testing, or proficiency testing. The idea being that children test daily and/or do homework online daily, moving seamlessly from one lesson to another - all orchestrated online by a computer program that gathers massive data (and surveys - data goldmine - which Obama was sure not to leave out) and requires minimal teacher support, minimal teacher training and allows for very large class size. And ultimately, it doesn't require the child to even be at a school. In the Testing Action Plan and the peer review letter (more on this below) I was unable to find the words "career ready" - we wouldn't want folks to know that the Common Core standards still exist under a variety of names across the country, allowing for frenzied data tagging to manage and control your child, our schools and ultimately our country. The language is shifting to a nicer, kinder, happier world of testing. Beware.

As Obama discusses the report by The Council of the Great City Schools he states: The report shows how much opportunity there is to eliminate redundant and uncoordinated tests -- and free up more classroom time for teaching and learning. 

As the U.S. Dept. of Ed. ushers in their Testing Action Plan and plugs mainstream media to make sure the masses and Opt Out , the People's Movement - believe we have been heard  - they almost simultaneously launch the previously suspended federal peer review process for state testing. 

State education officials received a letter from the U.S. Dept. of Ed. on Sept. 25, 2015 which shares a quick overview of the peer review process. They state that the "peers" reviewing each state's assessment system will NOT be U.S. Ed. Dept. folks - but rather, experts in the field. It will be fascinating to see the teams of "experts" in each state that join in to decide if a state's assessment system passes the federal ESEA requirements. There are three windows for states to submit their information for peer review - January, March and May. There is a new focus on participation data (see EdWeek) and it appears that they have a six month timeline to get all their info. in - however, if your state has the same test as another state  - you can work together to compile all your info. in order to get it done asap - sweet deal, right (incentive to save PARCC and/or SBAC consortium)? 

EdWeek states, "Importantly, states that are participating in one of the two consortia—or are using another test that's common to a significant number of states, can work on their peer-review submissions together.  That could give states that are using tests from either the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers or the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium an easier road, especially given the relatively tight timeline for peer review, said Scott Marion, the associate director of the Center for Assessment."

Six months. Six months to rush through your peer review of your state system. Under that kind of pressure, what might states do and what assistance might they take, to just get it done within the pressure cooker time frame? 

Well no worries. Assistance standing by. 

The Testing Action Plan as well as the letter regarding peer review to state school officials both share how the CCSSO will be available to help with resources. The peer review letter states: In addition, I know that the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) has developed a plan to provide technical assistance to support you in preparing for peer review and will be providing that information to you shortly. The Testing Action Plan states: The Department will also share tools already available to do this work, including The Council of Chief State School Officers’ (CCSSO) Comprehensive Statewide Assessment Systems: A Framework for the Role of the State Education Agency in Improving Quality and Reducing Burden and Achieve’s Student Assessment Inventory for School Districts.

Damn these folks are nice. 

Morna McDermott sums it clearly here on her UOO post: Remember CCSSO? They are the ones who crafted the Common Core State Standards. The standards were developed to create a “standardized” system that allows third-party companies to develop systems for outsourcing education. Now with a set of “national” standards as benchmarks, instruction can be metered out by online edu-tech companies who provide new “competency” based instruction and assessment. No teacher required.

To find out more about the Peer Review process check it out here and here and here. On page 32 they discuss policy and procedure for sharing student level data with assessment consortias and vendors - well, because the bottom line is this - our children's data is making folks buckets and buckets of money and creating a societal structure that allows them to control and manage our children in order to make MORE MONEY. This was never about the kids. 

Between the elections, the Testing Action Plan, the Peer Review process for state assessment systems and the potential ESEA reauthorization, all working simultaneously to support the dismantling of our public schools, everyone should expect an absolute flood of new more "creative, less redundant" testing and bonanza data sharing - coming to your district soon - all laced with language that is kinder, softer, and literally reaches out and tries to hold your hand. 

And this process is quietly being guided by the federal government/corporations, CCSSO, and supposedly expert peer review teams which we can be certain will include our reformy friends from various foundations and god knows where else. Of course, there will be federal funds to assist the states in getting rid of those pesky, awkward, repetitive tests that plague our schools. These new daily tests will not take much time because they will actually be embedded within the instruction and often - children won't even know it's happening. When online curriculum is testing and testing is online curriculum all tied to student grades and eventually digital badging there will be no way to gauge the amount of testing that even exists. It's all one and the same.

Regarding Obama and the whole conversation around limiting testing - there won't be less testing. The federal testing remains and now the feds will help the states implement the final blow - the testing that cannot be clearly seen or truly understood - like a stealth bomber - moving slowing and without sound through our public schools - and yes, engaging us - their enemy - as they blend in and take us out data point by data point until our public schools have vanished.  The states will finally seal the deal in taking full ownership and full leadership in destroying their own public schools.  A few years from now folks will look around at the destruction, the charter schools with 150 kids in a classroom being facilitated by a person with no teaching experience and/or REAL teaching degree - folks will wonder - how did this disaster occur? How did we not see it happening? 

It's happening now.

Folks will say....but I thought they were with us ?? 

No. They were never with us. Never. The privileged and the powerful will not stand with The People. It would defeat their entire purpose in being - to maintain and preserve and INCREASE their power and privilege.  

Revolution continues to be the only answer. If the test and punish system remains in any shape or form - then the structure remains for them to move silently forward with a new paradigm shift that will appear - at first - almost invisible to the public. Any sort of weak stance on our part that accepts any part of their plan allows them to move more quickly. The current federal dept. of ed. mainstream media testing campaign - which is occurring just in the nick of time - to support the peer reviewed state testing system process, is their latest attempt to cause us to hope and be appeased. 

Don't. 

Educate. Revolt. And remember. Remember what you know about public schools and the true possibility of a paradigm shift that includes fully-resourced public schools with democratic classrooms for ALL children and social policies which support our families and our communities. Remember that it is possible. Remember. Because right now, they are doing everything they can to make us forget. Solidarity. 

Opt Out Revolution: The Next Wave

I keep getting texts, phone messages and emails telling me how happy folks are that Obama is now listening to us - and that Opt Out has been heard. This is heartbreaking for me - because this tells me that mainstream media has done a stellar job of co-opting Opt Out. We saw it happening. We warned that it was happening - and it indeed did.

Now, the country embraces Opt Out and folks are listening to Obama's words and thinking that we have a clear victory here. We do not. We are on a very slippery slope - one in which Opt Out can continue to drain them of their precious data but also one in which Opt Out must be ready for the next wave of this revolution. It will be a hard fought win - and it will require stamina like never before.

The next wave involves the U.S. Dept. of Ed's recommendations for testing reduction which also comes with funds to support states in getting there. And the scariest part is this - the GROUNDWORK IS COMPLETE. The feds/corporations did exactly what they came to do - they dangled carrots. They got high stakes testing systems in place with longitudinal data bases to carry the seamless productivity of the data. They loosened privacy regulations.  They got common standards out there which are essential for easy data tagging. They pushed and pushed and pushed to support charters and alternative teacher certification. They set the groundwork for the STATES to now lead the way - and they (feds/corporations) have their people in place on school boards, schools of education, depts. of ed., district admin., local gov't., "foundations", unions, and more.

And now, they simply have commiserated with the masses and said we need to reduce testing and make sure the testing that occurs is meaningful and does not take away from classroom instruction. This is accomplished so easily. It's called online daily computer based testing. Followed by online daily computer based instruction. Call it mastery testing. Competency based testing. Proficiency testing. Whatever you like. It will begin to fall in place very quickly as states move away from the hated interim testing and massive amounts of end of year testing. There will be less need for these large tests with quick, tidy, END OF DAY testing TIED TO STUDENT GRADES and STUDENT PROMOTION to the next grade/digital badge - whatever it may be - and of course testing which tells the teacher what the next day's online instruction must be. It's already happening. And now the federal gov't. is simply nudging it into the states' hands with a resounding message of support, an apology for overstepping their boundaries and a few bucks along the way to make it happen.

Opt Out was heard. Loud and clear. We are powerful. And so they have strategically planned their next step by co-opting/embracing Opt Out to get there. They've upped the ante. We knew they would. And I doubt I will see this revolution won during my teaching career - but I sure as hell won't let them trample me or our children now.

We have the power to take down this next wave as well - we, the people. There is a reason that UOO has always played hardball with absolutely no negotiations and with absolute understanding that this revolution requires tearing down the entire test/punish system - no matter what it morphs into - we do this because it is the ONLY WAY to be certain that children and public school communities receive everything they deserve - and let me tell you right now - it's the only damn way to win. 

The question is - are we ready? #optout #uoo16philly