http://www.addictinginfo.org/2015/10/24/obama-announces-end-of-no-child-left-behind-era-education-is-more-than-tests/

Obama Announces End Of ‘No Child Left Behind’ Era: Education Is More Than Tests

October 24, 2015 • By Jameson Parker

One of the worst legacy of George W. Bush’s presidency is also one of least talked about, but American children feel its effects every day. Bush’s sweeping educational reforms known as “No Child Left Behind” has left in its wake a dysfunctional school system, demoralized teachers, and stressed out, over-tested children. Unsurprisingly, educators have long been saying that the “teaching to the test” mentality of No Child Left Behind is causing serious damage to the nation’s educational aspirations.

All the way back in 2006, educators were frantically warning the Bush administration that an obsession with test scores over other measures of success was a recipe for disaster.

Education sociologist David Labaree once posited that an overreliance on testing causes students to care only enough to ask, “Will this be on the test?” NCLB seems to have transferred this problem from students to teachers, who may well approach teaching with the same attitude: “Whatever is not on the test is not worth knowing, and whatever is on the test need be learned only in the superficial manner that is required to achieve a passing grade” (Labaree, 1997, p. 46). Under NCLB, teachers feel great pressure to focus their energies solely on preparing students to excel on standardized tests.

And unlike Bush’s recession, No Child Left Behind seemed stubbornly persistent well into the Obama administration. Even in recent years, policymakers have hardly seemed motivated to redirect education away from the nearest multiple choice answer sheet. Until now.

In an announcement which is sure to cause celebration among America’s educators, the Obama administration called for an end of the era of over-testing and back to more sensible, informed approaches to education. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan didn’t mince words.

“I can’t tell you how many conversations I’m in with educators who are understandably stressed and concerned about an overemphasis on testing in some places and how much time testing and test prep are taking from instruction.

It’s important that we’re all honest with ourselves. At the federal, state and local level, we have all supported policies that have contributed to the problem in implementation. We can and will work with states, districts and educators to help solve it.”

While Duncan admitted testing isn’t going away completely – it’s still necessary to have some standardized rubric for ensuring children are where they need to be – the role of testing in the classroom should be greatly diminished. In a recent survey by the Council of the Great City Schools, researchers found that the average student will take around 112 mandatory standardized tests during their school career. With so many tests, it’s a wonder that any student makes it through with even a speck of passion for learning left. To combat this test fatigue the proposal the White House sent to Congress specified that in order to reduce “over-testing” school districts should ensure that no more than 2 percent of classroom time is devoted to taking tests.

For teachers who have long been complaining that their lesson plans no longer allow for inspired teaching and instead feel like an endless bullet list of test questions, giving them their classroom back (or at least 98 percent of it) could be huge.

In a way, Obama isn’t just reversing Bush’s actions, but his own. During his first term, Obama seemed content to simply continue along with Bush’s education plans, despite signs that they weren’t working. In the last few years, things have changed. Perhaps Obama was informed by his experience watching his own daughters go through school, or maybe enough educators spoke out, but whatever the reason, Obama is showing signs of a radical new approach towards education. Holistic, teacher-inspired, and child focused, this new way of doing things couldn’t be more different than the No Child Left Behind era.

Feature image by Pete Souza/White House via New York Times

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Early Child hood Education and A More Educated Work Force

Fri, 23 Oct 2015, 11:19 PM

Early childhood education has a big economic effect in Georgia, said state officials, scholars and advocates in Athens on Friday.

But the state should find ways to boost the industry lest Georgia fall behind in its quest to produce a more educated workforce, some said in the morning briefing in the University of Georgia’s Seney-Stovall Chapel.

The industry’s economic impact is about $4.7 billion in Georgia, said Georgia State University economic analyst Sally Wallace - a $2.5 billion direct impact, $910 million indirect and $1.3 billion “induced,” she said. Direct is money that goes directly into child care, such as salaries for teachers, while indirect includes such things as transportation and janitorial services associated with early child care. “Induced” means things like the economic effect when employees buy household goods with money they’ve earned in child care, which supports other businesses.

The industry employs 67,000 people and helps create other jobs for 17,000 more; provides care for 337,000 children, which helps nearly 552,000 parents; and generates hundreds of millions in tax revenue for state and federal governments, she said.

“Early childhood education is a viable economic engine in our state,” said Amy Jacobs, commissioner of the Georgia Department of Early Care and learning since 2014.

Some child care is based in public schools, but most are not, said Kristie Lewis, deputy commissioner of the Georgia Department of Early Care and Learning.

Its value extends far beyond immediate benefits such as allowing parents to work at jobs while knowing their children are in safe care, she said - better educational outcomes follow, and even reduced costs for health care and for remedial education as students move on.

Meanwhile, Georgia is facing big educational challenges, said Dana Rickman, policy and research director for the nonprofit Georgia Partnership for Excellence in Education.

Some of its educational statistics are respectable; some 34 percent of Georgia fourth-graders scored at the proficient level on the National Assessment of Educational Progress in 2013, right at the national average but below the 37 percent mark that separates the top 20 states from others.

“There’s nothing in our schools that makes them worse than other schools,” she said. Georgia’s problem - just a third of its students scoring proficient - is a national problem, she said.

In eighth grade math, 29 percent of Georgia students scored at proficient or better compared to the U.S. average of 34 percent, she said.

The numbers are troubling, Rickman said, because most of the new jobs the state will add over the coming years are going to require education beyond high school - such as jobs in the health care industry.

Meanwhile, the state’s demography is changing - Georgia’s Hispanic population grew by 49 percent from 2001 to 2010, while the Asian population increased 45 percent.

But what’s troubling is the dramatic 38 percent increase in children living in poverty during that time - up by 38 percent, she said.

“That’s almost unheard of,” Rickman said.

The industry took a big hit in the economic downturn that began in 2008. Enrollment dropped, and though enrollment is on the rise again as the economy recovers, many fewer child care centers or family care operations are open on weekends, according to a statewide survey of child care operations conducted by UGA’s Carl Vinson Institute of Government.

Average salaries in the business are low - $12.30 an hour for lead teachers, $8.85 for assistant teachers, said Theresa Wright, director of the institute’s survey research and evaluation unit.

“This is something we need to pay attention to,” she said.

Another speaker asked those in the audience to tell others what they’d heard in Friday’s briefing, one of several similar meeting state officials scheduled around the state.

“We really need you to help spread the word - perhaps under the Gold Dome (the state capitol building in Atlanta) - that early education is important not just for the children and families of Georgia but for economic development,” said Hanah Goldberg, director of research for the Georgia Early Education Alliance for Ready Students. 

Follow education reporter Lee Shearer at www.facebook.com/LeeShearerABH or twitter.com/LeeShearer

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http://emilytalmage.com/2015/10/14/how-bad-is-it-going-to-get/

How Bad Is It Going to Get?

Less than a year ago, I really didn’t know much about Common Core or Smarter Balanced.

I know.  I’m a teacher.

How is that possible?

But let me tell you that when you work in a field where those with the cash and political influence are constantly “reforming” your profession, without ever asking what those who actually work with children think about the changes they are making, you realize pretty quickly that there’s really not much you can do about any of it anyway. And so all the new stuff that comes your way starts to become…. well, all the new stuff that’s always coming your way.

As we got closer to having to administer the new Smarter Balanced test, however, and began hearing things that really didn’t make much sense – that, for example, this test was going to be the most powerful teaching tool we had (Better than books, pencils, and my own trusty eyes and ears? How could that be?) – I decided it was best to do some research.

And so the first thing I wanted to find out was what information I was going to get back at the end of it all.

Side-note: I have not yet gotten anything back at all. And, even if I had, my fourth-graders from last year are now fifth-graders, so it wouldn’t do me much good anyway.

Anyway – here is what I did: When the kids were out at recess, I Googled: “Smarter Balanced reporting platform,” to find out what kinds of revolutionary graphs and data points this particular test was promising to deliver. And it was then only a few clicks before I had a photo of Joel Klein’s facing smiling back at me:

and with another click or two, discovered that the company that was planning to deliver the data points that would revolutionize my teaching practice, “Amplify,” was owned by Rupert Murdoch – the tabloid guy!

I actually ran down to my principal’s office to inform him of this.

No big surprise – there wasn’t much he was able to do about it.

And so I emailed our superintendent.

“The proof will be in the pudding,” he wrote back to me.

When I taught in New York, and discovered just how bad things were getting, I went into a flight mode of sorts. I left the classroom, did some work in educational research, got another degree, and eventually ended up back in Maine.

But now I had nowhere left to flee.

Joel Klein and everything creepy about ed-reform that he represented had followed me to Maine!

And so I wrote letters to the editor, including one that I sent to Valerie Strauss of the Washington Post that she actually posted. I went to our capital to testify.  I called into radio shows.  I started a blog.  I had our state commissioner visit my school.  I Facebook-friended anyone and everyone that seemed remotely interested in what was going on in our schools.

And as I did all this, it just kept getting worse. The more I researched, the more horrifying it became.

Not only were we administering experimental tests to our kids, but I also discovered that in Maine, we are on front-lines of yet another Common Core experiment – this time as part of an attempt on the part of the Council for Chief State School Officers, the Gates Foundation, and the Nellie Mae Education Foundation to generate proof-points for a “new” (but even that’s not true! It’s been tried before and failed!) model of education called “proficiency-based education.”

And even worse – despite the fact that the our poor state has yet to generate the “proof points” that these organizations so desire, competency-based (another name for proficiency-based) education has already been written into the Senate version of the ESEA rewrite!

This fall, I watched the presidential debates of both parties, hoping that at least one candidate would say something – anything? – to give me hope that soon things would begin to change … but I heard nothing.

Nothing!

And so now I ask, can anyone tell me how bad this is going to get?

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http://eagnews.org/parents-chaos-reigns-as-students-go-unpunished-to-compensate-for-white-privilege/

Parents: Chaos reigns as students go unpunished to compensate for ‘white privilege’

VERONA, Wis. – Last spring, dozens of parents and at least one prominent student in the Verona school district complained about lax student discipline, particularly for minority kids.

They said the lack of consequences for misbehavior resulted in even more violence and other types of unruly and disruptive student behavior.

They believe the problems are the result of radical district policies designed to curb the number of out-of-school suspensions for minority students.

Those new policies – the Nurtured Heart Approach (NHA) and Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (PBIS) – are described as an attempt to “emphasize positive behaviors and focus on rewarding positives rather than punishing negatives,” according to The Verona Press.

But as the local news service put it, “Some parents and teachers have complained that the emphasis on the positive has led to some students acting without consequence and led to safety issues.”

Many observers suspect that the controversial behavioral strategies were influenced by the Pacific Educational Group (PEG), a radical San Francisco-based organization that packages and sells the concept of racial victimization to public schools around the nation.

PEG claims that the American education system is built around white culture, tradition and social norms – aka “white privilege” – to the unfair detriment of black students.

PEG believes that black students will only achieve if school curricula are customized to meet their cultural specifications. It also rejects the concept of using suspensions or expulsions to discipline black or other minority students.

The Verona school district, like many others around the nation, contracts with PEG for consulting services. Many districts associated with PEG have had disciplinary problems similar to Verona’s.

RELATED: Teachers complain, chaos reigns as St. Paul schools spend millions on ‘white privilege’ training

But the complaints from parents last spring have apparently not been taken seriously by school district officials.

That recently became obvious when a fight between several black students that started at the high school turned into a community disturbance involving hundreds of people, including many adults, when the children got off the school bus at the end of the day, according to news reports.

The fighting apparently spilled over to a second day, with a girl who tried to break up the original fight was suddenly targeted for violence, The Verona Press reported.

While student fights occasionally occur, and the school district can’t be responsible for the behavior of adults, the school’s response to the situation has caught the attention of many critics.

Instead of responding to the incident with appropriate disciplinary measures, the district has reportedly decided to have a “restorative circle” with the three girls originally involved in the violence, according to a parent who has contacts in the district but declined to be identified.

The restorative circle was allegedly be led by Everett Mitchell, the director of public relations at the nearby University of Wisconsin’s Madison campus, according to the Press. Mitchell gained recent notoriety for suggesting that police should not arrest youngsters for shoplifting, particularly from “big box” stores like Wal-Mart.

“I just don’t think that they should be prosecuting cases or [unintelligible] up cases for people who steal from Wal-Mart,” Mitchell was quoted as saying at a local forum.

RELATED: School districts spending millions on ‘white privilege’ training for employees

“I just don’t think that, right? I don’t think Target or all them other places, them big box stores that have insurance. They should not be using justification, the fact that people steal from there as justification to start engaging in aggressive police practices, right?”

For some in the community, the “restorative circle” response to the latest violence – and the plan to have such a controversial figure lead it – is just further evidence that the school district is determined to avoid any sort of punitive action toward black students, regardless of their behavior.

“It’s ridiculous,” the parent who requested anonymity told EAGnews. “I don’t know what a restorative circle is – maybe getting in touch with feelings and helping people understand how it’s not their fault. It goes back to the fact that the school administration doesn’t take discipline seriously.”

The parent said leniency is clearly reserved for black students in the district, which is about 75 percent white.

“If you talk to students, they would say there are a set of rules that apply to white students and a set that apply to black students,” she said. “The teachers will say if a black kid doesn’t want to be in the classroom, they’re allowed to just go wander the halls.

“Our superintendent has told people that they don’t want to discipline African-American students because they have the whole world set against them because of white privilege, and it’s the school’s responsibility to help level the playing field.

“He’s more concerned with social justice than he is with educating kids.”

Many parents, and one well known student, stepped forward last spring to tell the Verona school board that the new approach to student discipline was doing nothing but convincing some kids that they don’t have to behave because there will be no consequences.

And that, they say, has resulted in constant disruption in the schools.

Michelle Marten, the parent of two students who has been an educational assistant in the school district, made the following statement to the school board, according to The Verona Press.

“There’s no discipline policy, and there is none for a certain group of children,” she said. We think all children should be treated equally and disciplined equally.”

Similar comments came from Lynn Vilker, the mother of elementary students in the district:

“My child is afraid to go to school,” she was quoted as saying in the Press story. “I worry about other schools and other children. I feel like we’ve stuck our head in the sand on this issue for too long, and I feel like we’re getting behind the 8 ball on it.”

One well-known high school student-athlete in the district, Noah Roberts, also approached the school board to share his concerns.

“I am the one who will live with the result of your system,” Roberts told the board. “If you are trying to help students become successful in life, make them accountable. The administrators have been undermining the teachers and empowering the students to believe they are entitled.”

Parents at one school in the district, Stoner Prairie Elementary, met with school officials to complain about troubling situations they’ve learned about through their children, including “inadequate responses to such incidents as swearing at staff or a student recently throwing a chair,” one news report said.

“Some of the recent incidents have led to lockdowns, and some parents said those lockdowns or other loud incidents end up affecting more than the classroom where the problems occurred.

A lockdown involves a school-wide announcement and classroom doors being closed,” the news service wrote.

“Multiple parents at the meeting said those lockdowns prompt increased stress and make their children uncomfortable at school.”

The principal, Mike Pisani, admitted those incidents occurred but denied that there were no consequences, according to the Press. But the principal still seemed to downplay the importance of punishment.

“Our approach is to try to figure out what’s happening,” the principal was quoted as saying. “What’s causing the behavior to happen? Consequences alone are not the answer.”

Pisani also admitted that some students have not been responsive to the softer approach: “There’s been a couple of kids that we weren’t having the success we want (with),” he said.

Dennis Beres, the president of the school board, promised to investigate the concerns expressed by parents and other residents at a June meeting, according to media reports.

Beres did not respond to detailed messages from EAGnews, seeking comment on the situation.

That’s not surprising, according the parent who requested anonymity. School officials are determined to pursue their radical disciplinary policies, and have been hesitant to respond to public inquiries regarding their strategies, she said.

“One thing they do in the Verona district is keep the castle walls up and make sure nobody scales them,” she said.

From Around The Web

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PUBLIC SCHOOL STUDENTS ARE THE NEW INMATES IN THE AMERICAN POLICE STATE

It has been said that America’s schools are the training ground for future generations. However, instead of raising up a generation of freedom fighters, John W. Whitehead warns, we seem to be busy churning out newly minted citizens of the American police state who are being taught the hard way what it means to comply, fear and march in lockstep with the government’s dictates.

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http://freedomoutpost.com/2015/10/chinese-immigrant-mother-common-core-is-same-communist-core-i-saw-in-china/

Chinese Immigrant Mother: Common Core is Same Communist Core I Saw in China

This is yet more evidence for the reason to remove your kids from the public indoctrination centers called public school and demand that your representatives abolish the federal Department of Education. A Chinese immigrant mother of three testified before the Colorado State Board of Education that what is being passed off as Common Core is actually the same Communist indoctrination that she experienced as a child in Communist China.

Lily Tang Williams, told the board, "Common Core, in my eyes, is the same as the Communist core I once saw in China. I grew up under Mao's regime and we had the Communist-dominated education — nationalized testing, nationalized curriculum, and nationalized indoctrination."

 

"I came to this country for freedom and I cannot believe this is happening all over again in this country," she continued. "I don't know what happened to America, the Shining City on the Hill for freedom."

She also warned against Americans comparing their children and their "education" to those being indoctrinated in China.

"I am telling you, Chinese children are not trained to be independent thinkers," she said. "They are trained to be massive skilled workers for corporations. And they have no idea what happened in Tienanmen Square in 1989 where government ordered soldiers to shoot its own 1,000 students."

She blasted and exposed the usurpation of the federal government in the area of education.

"Federal government holds the stick," she pointed out. "International corporations hold the money."

She then reminded the board of what we have stood for in the past, which drew her to America. "Individual rights," she thundered. "Individual liberty. That's what I came to this country for. Do you just want our kids to be test machines? Workers — cheap workers for corporations?"

"America is great," she continued. "Don't compare yourselves to China. That's why lots of Chinese are trying to come here — to try to be free. And they all tell you, 'Do not go after the Chinese Communist education.'"

She then pointed out exactly what China is turning out. She said that their indoctrination system is to make slaves of men. It is nothing more than to produce good test scores and machine workers, but also brainwashed minions who lack the ability to think critically.

"I was brainwashed so bad it took me ten years in this country to get out of it," she said.

Williams wrote a piece for FreedomWorks earlier this year. "I want to use my story as a Chinese immigrant to wake up Americans because this country is the Shining City on the Hill I came here for."

"From the NSA keeping records on us in massive databases to Common Core nationalization of exams and curriculum; what is happening now is very unlike the America I came to find," she wrote. "The worst, I fear, is that Common Core could be used by the government and corporations to do data collection and data mining on our children. What else could come to take away more of our rights and privacy? Our freedom is very precious and we must fight to keep it. Without freedom, you are just a slave, no matter how much money you have."

"Trust me to say this because I have lived under tyranny before and will never want to live in it again," Williams concluded. "I took a long journey from tyranny to liberty. I don't want to go back into tyranny."

I would say that America's parents would do well to open their eyes and ears to what Ms. Williams is saying. True education provides a learning environment in which the center of all knowledge must be the Creator, the Lord Jesus Christ (Jn. 1:1; Col. 1:16; Prov. 1:7). It is where true liberty begins, and yes, you can do it parents! I know you can because this is what God has commanded of us as parents in relation to our children. Plus, there is even a resource to help you get started today for free today! Break away from the Beast's indoctrination centers and set brushfires of freedom in the minds of your children today!

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