...Respect me as a human being

Today is Jackie Robinson's 99th birthday.

"A life is not important except for the impact it has on other lives."

"I'm not concerned with your liking or disliking me. All I ask is that you respect me as a human being."

QUOTES

Eulogy For Jackie Robinson/Steal Away (Piano) · Rev. Jesse Jackson
From Baseball A Film By Ken Burns - Original Soundtrack Recording

Today we must balance the tears of sorrow with the tears of joy. Mix the bitter with the sweet in death and life. Jackie as a figure in history was a rock in the water, creating concentric circles and ripples of new possibility. He was medicine. He was immunized by God from catching the diseases that he fought. The Lord's arms of protection enabled him to go through dangers seen and unseen, and he had the capacity to wear glory with grace. Jackie's body was a temple of God. An instrument of peace. We would watch him disappear into nothingness and stand back as spectators, and watch the suffering from afar. The mercy of God intercepted this process Tuesday and permitted him to steal away home, where referees are out of place, and only the supreme judge of the universe speaks.

Henry Aaron on Jackie Robinson...

I told my father when I grew up I was going to be a pilot. You know what he said? He said, "Ain't no colored pilots." So I told him I'd be a ballplayer. And he said, "Ain't no colored ballplayers." There were a lot of things blacks couldn't be back then. There weren't any colored pilots. There weren't any colored ballplayers in the major leagues. So it was hard to have those dreams. Then Jackie came with the Brooklyn Dodgers to Mobile for an exhibition game in 1948. I went to hear him talk to a crowd in front of a drugstore. I skipped school to meet Jackie Robinson. If it were on videotape, you'd probably see me standing there with my mouth wide open. I don't remember what he said. It didn't matter what he said. He was standing there. My father took me to see Jackie play in that exhibition game. After that day, he never told me ever again that I couldn't be a ballplayer. I was allowed to dream after that.

LINKS

• Jackie Robinson at the Baseball Hall of Fame

• Jackie Robinson at History.Com (Videos, speeches, shop)

• The Official Jackie Robinson Website

• Jackie Robinson's baseball statistics.

• The Jackie Robinson Foundation

VIDEO

Biography:

Jackie Robinson interviewed on Dick Cavett Show

Clip from Baseball A Film By Ken Burns

From MLB April 15, 2013

Trailer for the movie, "42" starring Chadwick Boseman and Harrison Ford.

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Public School Prayer and the Constitution – Conflict in Louisiana

Religion and Government will both exist in greater purity, the less they are mixed together. ― James Madison, Letter to Edward Livingston, July 10, 1822.

Teachers and administrators in a public school in Webster Parish, Louisiana, were sued by a student and her family for leading students in prayer, encouraging prayer and bible reading, and generally promoting the Christian God.

What happened when a public school student sued over prayer

The Coles [those who brought the lawsuit] say that prayer over the loudspeaker each morning is just the beginning of an unconstitutional indoctrination of students that is promoted and supported by teachers, the principal, the superintendent and the school board.

"Virtually all school events -- such as sports games, pep rallies, assemblies, and graduation ceremonies --include school-sponsored Christian prayer, religious messages and/or proselytizing," according to the lawsuit filed with the help of the American Civil Liberties Union.

This is clearly unconstitutional. Neither a public school nor its representatives (teachers, administrators, or any other employee) can legally promote religion or religious beliefs (see Abington School District v. Schempp).

One of the parents who favored continuing the religious instruction in the public schools was Greg Lee.

...Greg Lee's fifth-grade daughter was upset, not relieved. She and her friends took it upon themselves to pray anyway, Lee says.

Lee, a banker who also views himself as a servant of God, says he's instilled his sense of deep faith in his children. It has always been a part of their life. They have always prayed -- at church, at school, and whenever they feel the need to.

Lee's daughter's choice to "pray anyway," was completely legal, and in fact, it is what should have been happening all along.

Despite the protestations of some on the Religious Right, it is legal for students to pray in school, as we shall see in a moment, which is all Greg Lee claims to want.

That is all Greg Lee and others in Webster Parish say they want. To fight for their longstanding beliefs. For the rights and souls of their daughters and sons -- and America.

"If you begin to tell me that my children do not have the right to pray in school, then that's an attack upon the relationship I have with my God and the relationship that they have with our God," Lee explains.

If that's all he wants. It's true that every child, in every public school in America, already has the right to pray whenever they want to as long as they don't disrupt the learning process and as long as they don't harass their fellow students.

According to the Joint Statement of Current Law and Religion in the Public Schools, a document signed by 35 religious and civic groups,

Students have the right to pray individually or in groups or to discuss their religious views with their peers so long as they are not disruptive. Because the Establishment Clause does not apply to purely private speech, students enjoy the right to read their Bibles or other scriptures, say grace before meals, pray before tests, and discuss religion with other willing student listeners. In the classroom students have the right to pray quietly except when required to be actively engaged in school activities (e.g., students may not decide to pray just as a teacher calls on them). In informal settings, such as the cafeteria or in the halls, students may pray either audibly or silently, subject to the same rules of order as apply to other speech in these locations. However, the right to engage in voluntary prayer does not include, for example, the right to have a captive audience listen or to compel other students to participate.

In other words, Greg Lee's daughter has always had the right to pray in school.

Is that really what Lee and others who object to the lawsuit want? If so, then perhaps this is all just a misunderstanding about what the law requires and a careful reading of the Joint Statement of Current Law and Religion in the Public Schools will educate the parents and educators of Webster Parish, Louisiana.

It's more likely, however, that they actually want their own brand of Christianity taught in their local public school. They might be willing to let others, who do not have the same beliefs, attend the school, and sit quietly while the local version of Christianity is being taught, but even with that, it would not be legal.

No, people like Lee and others quoted in the article, seem to believe that they have the right to impose their religious beliefs on a captive audience. They consider anything else an attack on their religion.

Again, from What happened when a public school student sued over prayer

The questions spread far beyond this corner of Louisiana, and were raised by none other than President Donald Trump last summer.

"Schools should not be a place that drive out faith and religion, but that should welcome faith and religion with wide open, beautiful arms," Trump says during a Faith and Freedom Coalition conference. "It's time to put a stop to attacks on religion."

But this is not an attack on religion. It is, however, an attack on their right to use government facilities and spokespersons in the form of public schools and its employees, to proselytize.

It's clear that the President doesn't understand the law either (no surprise there). Students are welcome to pray. No one has attacked religion. But our laws don't allow a government entity to choose one religion over another, or to choose any religion over none. The Establishment Clause requires government, and its representatives, to remain neutral in the area of religion. That means no school sponsored prayer. No captive audience religious services.

I'm pretty sure they would be arguing the exact opposite if their child attended a public school which began each day with a prayer to Zeus, Marduk, or Allah.

---

Just as I was getting ready to post this blog entry, I read the following by Ed Brayton about the same lawsuit...

The Same Bad Arguments in Every Public School Church/State Case

So if your beliefs are so deeply rooted, why do they need the government to force others to go along with them for you to feel satisfied? Your kids already have every right to pray in schools. They can prayer [sic] any time they want as long as they don’t disrupt the functioning of the school. They can pray 100 times a day if they want. You know what they can’t do? Force others to listen to it or participate in it.

And you know how easy it would be to get you to recognize that reality? One single Muslim prayer would do it.

Exactly right!

Further Reading:

• Religion in the Public Schools: A Road Map for Avoiding Lawsuits and Respecting Parents’ Legal Rights

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Musical Interlude: A Concert of Mozart Concertos

(Edited and reposted from last year)

Today is Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's 262nd birthday.

Mozart was born in Salzburg, Austria in 1756. In past years, I showcased some of his early works...a piano piece he wrote when he was five, his first symphony written at age eight, and his first opera written when he was eleven!

Aside from being precocious, he was also versatile. Mozart wrote more than two dozen piano concertos, five violin concertos, four horn concertos, as well as concertos for bassoon, flute, clarinet, trumpet, cello, and various combinations of instruments. In all, Mozart wrote more than 600 pieces of music in his short life of 35 years...

Here are five of his concertos (some complete, some excerpts)...for Horn, Bassoon, Oboe, Clarinet, and Flute. The definition of "concerto" has changed over the centuries and continues to be loosely defined, but generally, a concerto has three movements in which one solo instrument is featured. Accompaniment is usually with an orchestra or chamber orchestra. [FYI, a symphony can resemble a concerto in style and format, however, usually a concerto highlights one solo instrument throughout.]

The nice thing about these videos is that they are of live performances. Enjoy watching the musicians – soloists, orchestra members, and conductors – dance in their own special ways to the music. Most are "head dancers" but quite a few of them move their arms or sway at the waist. Very few, if any, keep still while they play.

Mozart's four horn concertos rank among my favorites pieces of music...

Here is Horn Concerto #1 (here is a link to all four)

...the complete Bassoon Concerto.

The first movement of the Oboe Concerto...

...the first movement of the Clarinet Concerto...

...and the first Flute Concerto.

🎼🎼🎼

2018 Medley #2

Choice, Accountability, Preschool

WHOSE CHOICE?

Americans United for Separation of Church and State supports keeping public money in public schools. Here are two articles about so-called "school-choice".

Don’t Fall For the School Choice Week Hype: Private School Vouchers Are Bad For Everyone

Starting this week, proponents of private school voucher schemes will be touting National School Choice Week – but what they won’t be touting is all the ways that vouchers harm public education and religious freedom.

We’re Fighting Private School Voucher Programs To Keep Public Money In Public Schools

Public schools are open to all students regardless of race, religion or ability. They are a unifying force in our society. Private school vouchers undermine our public schools by funneling desperately needed public resources away from them to fund the education of a few students at private, religious schools.

Selling Choice

Supporters of so-called "school-choice" generally neglect to tell parents that the school chooses the student, not the other way around.

...what people support in voucher policy is not what voucher fans are prepared to offer. Voucher programs don't offer nearly enough money for families to send their children to top private schools-- assuming those schools are even interested in accepting their child in the first place. Private schools are not flinging wide their doors to enroll students that offer any sort of expensive challenge (or they may discriminate for other reasons), and while voucher advocates can brand themselves champions of choice till the cows come home, the fact remains that it is the schools that get to choose-- not the parents. And while folks from many subgroups (minorities, millennials, rural folks) say yes to major changes in public schools, the only major change to come from vouchers would be public schools that are more strapped for resources. Meanwhile, the voucher schools are accountable to nobody-- if you think they need changes, you are welcome to just walk out the door. Shut your mouth and vote with your feet.

Weekly Privatization Report 1-22-2018

In the Public Interest provides information about privatization throughout the country. In this week's edition they report on a charter school that "chooses" to exclude a student due to medical issues.

13) Arizona: A Phoenix mother is suing a public charter school that she says illegally turned away her daughter because she had Type 1 diabetes. “‘Everybody was on the same page,’ says Kohnke. ‘It seemed like it was only the principal that saw the stuff and was like, “No, no, no, no.” Kohnke says the principal sent her away with a yellow Post-it note with a list of other schools. ‘Once she handed me this I was like, OK, so I kind of understood where we were standing at that point,’ says Kohnke.”

School choice reality much less appealing

Can we afford to fully fund a dual system of education? Phyllis Bush, a co-founder of both the Network for Public Education (NPE) and Northeast Indiana Friends of Public Education (NEIFPE), explains what's wrong with "school choice".

The expansion of choice is creating two separate school systems. In this parallel system, one pathway will be for those who can afford quality choices. The other pathway will be an underfunded, separate-but-unequal road, marked by poverty and by ZIP codes. As most people know, public schools are required to accept all students, while “choice schools” have the option of choosing the students who fit their agenda. Choice schools are allowed to reject students with behavior issues, students with low scores, students with disabilities, and students who don't speak English.

The probable result of this further expansion of choice schools will be that the children with the most difficulties will be housed in the least well-financed schools. Sadly, many legislators have chosen to be willfully unaware of the consequences of “school choice.”

School choice no substitute for well-funded schools

Instead of funding a dual system of schools by using public funds to pay for private schools, religious schools, and privately run charter schools, states should fully funded public schools, based on the needs of the students. This would allow every public school to provide an excellent education for their students.

The mantra for privatization is that students of poverty deserve an equal chance for a better school. The deception here is that it's not the parents who choose, it's the charters and private Schools who choose. The neediest and most underperforming students are not being selected or kept by charters and private schools. In fact, more than half of all vouchers go to students already in private schools, not the poorest from public schools. Private schools are allowed to discriminate in their selection/retention of students resulting in intensified segregation — all with public tax dollars.

What do schools need to provide their students? Fully funded, fully supported education with wrap-around services where needed. Here's an excellent model still waiting for implementation:

• The Schools Chicago’s Students Deserve: Research-based Proposals To Strengthen Elementary And Secondary Education In The Chicago Public Schools

MISSING: SHARED ACCOUNTABILITY

Public schools are not responsible for the child poverty rate in the communities they serve. Legislators and policy makers have abdicated their responsibility for childhood poverty and dumped it on schools. When the schools are unable to overcome the effects of poverty they get labeled as failures.

All community stakeholders must accept their share of responsibility and be held accountable for the success or failure of schools – including legislators and policy makers.

Test-and-Punish Just Hangs on as Failed Education Strategy

...If our society were intent on helping the children who have been left behind, we would invest in ameliorating poverty and in supporting the hard working teachers in the schools in our poorest communities. Things like reauthorizing the Children’s Health Insurance Program would help! The ESSA plans being submitted to the Department of Education aren’t having much impact at all. The old, made-over NCLB jacket is slowly slipping to the back of the closet.

PRESCHOOL

Why Are Our Most Important Teachers Paid the Least?

Increasing access to high quality preschool is on the ESSA list of things-to-do. Yet, we still consider the job of preschool teacher to be akin to that of babysitter – and preschool salaries show it.

Preschool is important. We need to invest in well trained teachers. We need to invest in our future.

...But if teachers are crucial to high-quality preschool, they are also its most neglected component. Even as investment in early-childhood education soars, teachers like Kelly continue to earn as little as $28,500 a year on average, a valuation that puts them on par with file clerks and switchboard operators, but well below K-12 teachers, who, according to the most recent national survey, earn roughly $53,100 a year. According to a recent briefing from the Economic Policy Institute, a majority of preschool teachers are low-income women of color with no more than a high-school diploma. Only 15 percent of them receive employer-sponsored health insurance, and depending on which state they are in, nearly half belong to families that rely on public assistance. “Teaching preschoolers is every bit as complicated and important as teaching any of the K-12 grades, if not more so,” says Marcy Whitebook, a director of the Center for the Study of Child Care Employment at the University of California, Berkeley. “But we still treat preschool teachers like babysitters. We want them to ameliorate poverty even as they live in it themselves.”

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American Selfishness: Sabotaging Our Own Future.

THE CURRENT OUTRAGE

The government of the United States appears to be in chaos. The citizens of the United States are in an uproar. The U.S.-based broadcast media is reaping the benefits of its self-invented short-attention-span news cycle.

It seems insignificant, then, to focus on something as mundane as "where will we be in 20 years" or whether our leaders 30 years hence be able to guide us through a crisis. It's much more exciting to focus on the latest outrage from Washington which, at the moment, is the President's 's**thole countries' comment.

Eventually, however, this outrage will morph into the next outrage...and we will turn our attention back to the day to day. We'll go back to work, selling goods, providing services, or, in the case of America's public school teachers, supporting every child who enters our classrooms. It won't matter where they or their ancestors came from. It won't matter what problems they bring with them. We accept them all.

As teachers, we know the importance of every child. We understand that we are educating the citizens of tomorrow. The classrooms we work in today hold the first responders, doctors, teachers, and leaders of the future. Every national, state, or municipal leader in America is someone's child, and the majority of those children grew up attending public schools.

"I BELIEVE THAT CHILDREN ARE OUR FUTURE"

It would seem logical, then, for us to recognize that the children in our public schools are the key to the future of our nation. It would seem logical that we would do everything in our power to provide all of them with the best education we can – for the common good. The nation's future depends on the quality of our leaders, and our leaders of tomorrow are sitting in our classrooms today.

Unfortunately, not all humans are logical.

Nations with high achieving schools, such as Finland, secure their future by investing heavily in education. They focus on equity...providing for all the needs of all their children. The small number of Finnish children who live in poverty (less than 5%) also have free medical care and other national safety nets to support them as they grow.

But here in the U.S. (child poverty rate – greater than 20%) we tend to focus more of our attention and more of our investment on rich children than poor children (See HERE and HERE). That might be good for our rich children, but with the increase in economic inequity in the U.S. and the removal of the few social safety nets we have, we're shortchanging a greater and greater percentage of our children.

WHY ARE WE IGNORING THE MAJORITY OF AMERICAN CHILDREN?

We're hurting ourselves and our future because we're so focused on those in power getting the most for themselves (and money equals power, so those with money get the "best" for their children), keeping poor kids poor, keeping black and brown kids poor, and keeping black and brown kids in separate schools. We're writing off a huge percentage of American children...among whom may be the people we need to lead us through the problems of the 21st century.

And for some reason...we just don't care. Oh, individually we might, and for sure, politicians will give lip service to "better education" and "opportunity for all." But as a nation? No, we don't care about public schools – at least not as much as we care about the Super Bowl, the new iPhone, our Facebook profile, getting as much for ourselves as we can...etc.

Can We Be Serious?

Poverty and racism and pedagogy and curriculum and standards and infrastructure and a plethora of threads tied up to the question "Why can't we make our schools better?" But if we dig past all of these, we get to a fairly simple answer.

As a country, we aren't serious about it.

SEGREGATION: SCHOOLS FOR THE WEALTHY, SCHOOLS FOR THE POOR

What would wealthy parents do if their children went to school and had to spend the day with their coats on because the heat didn't work on the coldest day of the year?

Right...we all know that would never happen. We all know that we wouldn't allow schools for the wealthy to be in such disrepair. Schools for the wealthy don't have to choose between support staff and heat. They don't have to choose between a well stocked library and toilet paper.

But, when the children attending the school are low income children, now a majority in America's public schools...and mostly children of color...there doesn't seem to be enough money to take care of building maintenance that children of the wealthy would never have to worry about. Low income children are the children who are exposed to lead in their drinking water. Low income children are the children whose schools don't have libraries or trained librarians. Can you imagine a school for wealthy children having the same problems?

‘Kids are freezing’: Amid bitter cold, Baltimore schools, students struggle

Jeffrey San Filippo, a teacher at Calverton Elementary/Middle School, said that when he arrived at work Tuesday morning, the building was “extremely cold.” Later in the morning, the temperature in his classroom was in the mid-40s. After lunch, students gathered in the cafeteria to finish the day “because the classrooms were entirely too cold,” he said.

Students were wearing gloves and winter coats, San Filippo said. Some called their parents and asked to go home.

“I think this really just shows Baltimore City’s facilities have been underfunded for years, and this is what happens when you have a cold spell,” he said. “The boilers can’t keep up, and students are made to suffer.”

A fact/reality check on Gov. Hogan's Baltimore schools claims

Years of deferred maintenance projects left city school students shivering in classrooms with temperatures below 50 degrees — again. This news is not exactly, well, news. Six years ago, I was also a Baltimore City teacher forced to decide between upholding the uniform policy (no coats or hats!) or letting students freeze in my classroom. It was precisely the necessity of purchasing my own space-heaters or copy paper or books that pushed me to leave the classroom and commit to ensuring resource equity through education finance innovation.

SELFISHNESS: SELF SABOTAGE

Why are other countries able to take care of all their children...to prepare properly for the future...but we're not?

Simple...it's good old American selfishness. "I've got mine and if you don't have yours it's not my problem."

This is the individual equivalent of "America First." We're going to close the door on immigrants because whatever's happening to their country isn't our problem. People fleeing from war, famine, and disease...not our problem.

It's how we do things in the U.S. My kid goes to the best school in the state. Your kid's school has no heat, no books, no toilet paper? Not my problem. The new tax law...which provides for the permanent well being of the corporate sector, but expires for the middle class and low income Americans...is an example of this. The wealthy have theirs...if you don't have any, too bad, but it's not my problem.

We're living through a national epidemic of selfishness and stupidity.

As Jim Wright at Stonekettle station said,

“Fuck you, I got mine” is a lousy ideology to build civilization on.

We're too selfish...too stupid...to understand that what happens to my neighbor has an impact on me. What happens to the poor in America, has an impact on all of us. What happens in "s**thole countries" has an impact on the United States. To think otherwise is to live in ignorance and displays a monumental lack of foresight.

It seems we would rather sabotage our own future than help others.

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2018 Medley #1

Shortchanging Our Children and our Future,
Retention-in-Grade, Struggling Readers,
Why Teachers Quit, Chalkbeat

SHORTCHANGING OUR CHILDREN...AND OUR FUTURE

Missing an S for Science in the STEM Frenzy

Like other aspects of America's infrastructure, our public education system is being systematically dismantled. We're shortchanging the future of the nation by not providing a full curriculum for all our students.

Two in 5 schools don’t offer physics! In both Alaska and Oklahoma, about 70 percent of high schools don’t offer the course. Florida and Utah are close behind, with nearly 60 percent of high schools lacking physics. Iowa, New Hampshire, and Maine do much better, with only about 15 percent of schools not offering the subject.

Small schools are hurt worse, raising questions about the quality of science instruction in charter schools.

Ninety percent of America’s kids attend public schools, so dwindling science instruction is troubling. But it’s not surprising. Defunding public education is intentional, meant to transform schools into technology hubs—charters for the poor.

What message are we sending to the future?

RETENTION-IN-GRADE

Held back, but not helped

Yet another state discovers that retention-in-grade doesn't help students.

Louisiana is one of the states where you have to pass a test to move on to the next grade (in fourth and ninth grades). After a retention rate of around 25%, they've found that the process doesn't really help.

Retention is a problem that even educators contribute to...not just legislatures, school boards, or politicians. It's true that the legislatures and politicians are the ones who pass the "third grade punishment" laws (fourth grade in Louisiana), but rarely do teachers or administrators object beyond the "we need to make those decisions" stage. Those voices shouting "retention-in-grade doesn't work" are drowned out by the crowd shouting "we have to do something" followed by "what else can we do?" And therein lies the problem.

Teachers can't solve the problem of retention-in-grade on their own. Retention is ineffective as a method of remediation, as is passing a child to the next grade without any intervention. Intervention takes time and costs money.

States should stop wasting millions on testing, and, instead, spend that money on remediation. Struggling students need extra help, not another year doing the same thing over again. Research has repeatedly shown that intensive intervention works...but it costs money.

Only when we decide that our children are worth the cost will we be able to provide the education that each child needs.

Students who fell short were assigned mandatory summer-school classes, after which they took the test again. If that second attempt wasn’t successful, students couldn’t move on to fifth or ninth grade. The practice of retention in Louisiana also extended beyond the high-stakes grades. In 2015-16, more than one-third of all retained students were from grades K-3. In that same year, 10 percent of all ninth graders were held back. In a presentation a few years ago, a top education-department administrator, Chief of Literacy Kerry Laster, wrote, “We retain students despite overwhelming research and practical evidence that retention fails to lead to improved student outcomes.” Laster’s presentation, based on 2010 data, reported that 28 percent of Louisiana students did not make it to fourth grade on time.

WHY TEACHERS QUIT

Why Good Teachers Quit Teaching

Teachers are leaving the profession faster than they're entering. The non-educators in statehouses and legislatures are forcing teachers to do things that are not educationally sound. This has been going on for too long.

In what other profession do outsiders dictate practice? Who tells your attorney how to practice law? Who tells your plumber how to fix a leak? Who tells your doctor how to diagnose an illness?

Let teachers teach.

Bonnie D. left after 30 years of teaching because she felt the system was no longer acting in the best interest of all students. “Everything became all about passing the ‘almighty test,'” she says. “Decisions were made by the administrators to concentrate only on those students who could perform well. Call me old fashioned, but I always did my best to reach and teach every student in my room, not simply the ones who had the best chance of passing a test.”

In addition, many teachers worry about the effect high-stakes testing has on kids. “Sometimes tests coincide with a bad day,” Michelle S. tells us, “or a day when a student is just not feeling it. That is an incredible amount of stress on kids—especially those classified as ‘bubble kids.'”

Why It’s So Hard to Be a Teacher Right Now

Many legislatures are still relying on test scores to tell them which schools are "good" and which are "failing." That continued stress, added to the attitude out of the U.S. Education Department that public schools are a "dead end" means that being a teacher is not getting easier.

...test-prep stressors haven’t gone away, Weingarten says they started to abate late in 2015 when President Obama signed into law an act that gave states more power to determine public school curricula without the threat of federal penalties tied to standardized test scores. “There was hope things would get better,” she says.

But then a new source of stress emerged: the 2016 election, and President Trump’s appointment of Betsy DeVos to the post of Education Secretary. DeVos is a prominent charter-school advocate, and at times has been highly critical of America’s public schools. (She once said America’s public schools are “a dead end.”)

CHALKBEAT'S GREAT AMERICAN TEACH-OFF

Watch Out Padma, Here Comes Chalkbeat!

Chalkbeat accepts money from the forces of DPE (Destroy Public Education) such as the Gates Foundation, the Joyce Foundation, the Anschutz Foundation, EdChoice, and the Walton Family Foundation. They claim that their supporters (complete list here) don't impact their editorial decisions.

Here's what I do know--teaching is not a competition. It's not a reality show. If it were a reality show, it would be judged by experts like Diane Ravitch and Carol Burris. The thing is neither of them would deign to participate in an exercise like this one by reformy Chalkbeat. More likely it will be an exercise in determining who can best read the Moskowitz Academy Scripted Lesson Plan, or who can make the Most Kids Pass the Test, or some other reformy nonsense.

I'm personally offended that Chalkbeat deems itself worthy of judging teachers. I've been reading Chalkbeat since it started. I rate it biased, reformy, ineffective, and totally unqualified to understand our jobs, let alone judge our work. We do not cook meals. We do not just do test prep. We deal with real people, and they have many more layers than the artichokes they prepared three ways on Top Chef last week.

A QUICK PEEK

There are always many more articles I'd like to post than I have room for (I try to keep the Medleys to between 4 and 8 articles). Here, then, are some that I recommend...without comments.

When Readers Struggle: Background Knowledge

This is the first in a series on struggling readers by Russ Walsh. As of Jan 7, there is a second post, When Readers Struggle: Oral Language

Whenever I ask a group of teachers to identify areas that seem to cause difficulty for struggling readers, lack of background knowledge is sure to be near the top of the list.

Liking Those We Don’t Like: The Dissonance Involved with Supporting Public Schools

It’s one of the most exasperating issues for parents and educators, but education goes relatively unmentioned in each campaign.

We can draw school zones to make classrooms less segregated. This is how well your district does.

Is your district drawing borders to reduce or perpetuate racial segregation?

American kids are 70 percent more likely to die before adulthood than kids in other rich countries

A new study ranks 20 wealthy countries on childhood deaths. The US comes in last.

Lawmakers want more research before they spend big on preschool. When it comes to vouchers, there’s no such hesitation.

Lawmakers have demanded lots of proof to determine whether preschool helps kids...

Yet they’ve requested no long-term study of another similarly designed, tuition support program — vouchers for private schools...

The Lasting Payoff of Early Ed

The benefits of early education are found to persist for years, bolstering graduation, reducing retention, and reducing special education placements.

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Resolution #4: Do Something

The last in a series of resolutions for 2018...

NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTION #4

• Speak out for public education.

FIND YOUR VOICE

Now that you've educated yourself about public education and have learned what the forces of DPE (Destroy Public Education) are doing to privatize schooling and end public education, what can you do about it?

You can speak out.

Find your voice. Become a vocal supporter of, and activist for, public education.

WHO GETS HEARD?

Example 1: Have you ever seen a news show on the topic of public education? Who are the "experts" frequently brought on to discuss "what's wrong with our schools?" They are...

• Lawyers

• Businessmen

• Politicians and other policy makers

• Pundits

Who is often missing from those discussions?

• Teachers

• Parents

Example 2: Take a quick look at the history of the office of the U.S. Secretary of Education. Betsy DeVos, the current Secretary, has never attended a public school. She never worked in a public school. Her children never attended a public school. Yet, she is responsible for policy affecting the 90% of American children who attend public schools.

And she's not the first unqualified person to have that position.

There have been eleven U.S. Secretaries of Education. Only three of the eleven had training and experience in K-12 education. A few were public school students as children, but for most of them, that's the extent of their public school experience.

Add your voice to the voices supporting public education. The voice of public education is rarely heard by non-educators and the general public. Public education needs voices to compete with billionaire privatizers like Betsy DeVos, Bill Gates, and Eli Broad. Public education needs voices to compete with political privatizers like (in Indiana) Bob Behning and Dennis Kruse.

Public education needs your voice. Speak out on behalf of your students/children and local public schools.

TELL YOUR STORY

Parents (and grandparents) and teachers (active and retired) are the most important voice in public education. We are the ones who know public education the best. We are the ones who are involved in the schools every day of the school year. We are the ones who see the drain that vouchers and charter schools have on our neighborhood schools. We are the ones who see the loss of programs, the increase in class sizes, and the negative impact that the overuse and misuse of testing has on children and adults.

Tell your story. Tell the stories of the children in your classroom. Tell the stories of your children at home. Let the public know what's happening to our schools.

MAKE SURE YOUR VOICE IS HEARD

You already know what to do...

• Write to your legislators. Once you know the issues, tell your legislators how you feel about what they're doing.

• Call and visit your legislators and tell them how you feel about that they're doing.

Indiana residents use the links below to find your legislators.

State Legislators

United States Representative

United States Senate

• Educate your friends, family, and neighbors.

• Promote public education and supporters of public education on Social Media.

• Write letters to the editor of your local newspaper. Write to national newspapers. Start your own blog and write about public education.

• Join with others in your city, county, or state who are working to support public education.

• Let your local school board members know about your concerns for public education.

• Testify at state legislative committee meetings and state school board meetings.

• Work for candidates who promise to support public education. Once they're elected, hold them to their promises.

• Run for public office.

Family and work responsibilities might restrict what you can do. Personal finances might restrict what you can do. Physical limitations might restrict what you can do. But, everyone can do something.

Once you have the knowledge, teach others.

Do Something.

YOU ARE THE VOICE FOR STUDENTS

• Vote. Make sure you're registered.

Indiana voters, you can register (registration deadline, April 8, 2018) or check your registration online, here: Indiana Voter Portal

• Your vote matters.

• Vote for candidates who support public education.

• Vote for candidates who support public education in every primary and regular election.

• Vote for candidates who support public education in every primary and regular election, during off-year elections as well as every four years.

• Vote.

You are the political voice for your students/children.

NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTION #1

• Read aloud to your children/students every day.

NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTION #2

• Teach your students, not "The Test."

NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTION #3

• Educate yourself.

NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTION #4

• Speak out for public education

🎤📡🎤

Resolution #3: Educate Yourself

A series of resolutions for 2018...

NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTION #3

• Educate yourself.

BUT I DON'T HAVE ENOUGH TIME

Teachers are overworked and overstressed. Often teachers go home after a difficult day at school and spend an hour or two on planning, assessing student work, or on piles of mostly meaningless paperwork.

A few hours later, after a rushed meal, minimal time with family, and a night of not-enough-sleep, it starts over again.

Weekends are a bit better...time to catch up on everything.

It's no surprise, then, that teachers feel like they don't have time to find out what's happening in the politics of public education. They only know that it seems like each year there are more and more restrictions on what and how they can teach, more tests for their students, fewer resources, and larger classes.

Meanwhile, the forces of DPE (Destroy Public Education) continue to move forward increasing funding for charter schools and unaccountable voucher schools by diverting public money from public schools.

THE ARGUMENT FOR EDUCATING YOURSELF

Make the time.

I know...I'm retired. I don't have to get up and face a classroom of kids every day. It's easy for me to say. I get it.

But things have changed since I retired. I can write letters and blog posts, and argue with legislators in support of public education and public educators, but I'm out of date. A lot has changed since I last had my own classroom in 2010. I don't know what today's classrooms are like in your school.

Teachers, this is your profession, and it consists of more than just the time you spend with your students. I would ask you to think of time spent educating yourself about what's happening in education as one part of your professional development.

The political world of public education will

• affect your students and your children, if you have any, as they progress through school

• affect you and your economic status while you're working and in retirement

• affect how many more years you will be able to teach

• affect how large your class sizes are

• affect your academic freedom

• affect what you teach, how you teach, and how often your students have to pause their learning to take a standardized test.

Right now, legislators, most of whom haven't set foot in a classroom since they were students, are making decisions which will affect you, your students, and your classroom.

This is your profession. You owe it to yourself, your students, your future students, and your community, to educate yourself. Be the lifelong learner you wish to see in your students.

[If you're not a teacher, you owe it to yourself, your children, your grandchildren, your nieces and nephews, and students of the community, to educate yourself. What happens to public education affects your children – and all of the above – and your community.]

WHERE TO START

Here are some places to start (feel free to add more in the comments)...

• If you're in Indiana, join the Indiana Coalition for Public Education and subscribe to Vic's Statehouse Notes.

• Join the Network for Public Education.

Read Books (in no particular order)

• These Schools Belong to You and Me: Why We Can't Afford to Abandon Our Public Schools, by Deborah Meier and Emily Gasoi

• Cutting School: Privatization, Segregation, and the End of Public Education, by Noliwe Rooks

• Reign of Error: The Hoax of the Privatization Movement and the Danger to America's Public Schools, by Diane Ravitch

• See also NEIFPE's Public Education Bibliography

Read Blogs (in no particular order)

• The Answer Sheet

• Diane Ravitch's Blog

• Curmudgucation

• Gadflyonthewall Blog

Listen to Podcasts

• Have You Heard

NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTION #1

• Read aloud to your children/students every day.

NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTION #2

• Teach your students, not "The Test."

NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTION #3

• Educate yourself.

NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTION #4

• Speak out for public education

📚📡🚌

Resolution #2: Teach Your Students, Not "The Test"

A series of resolutions for 2018...

NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTION #2

• Teach your students, not "The Test."

NO, DON'T TEACH TO THE TEST

I taught third grade in the mid-1970s. At that time the State of Indiana didn't require standardized testing for evaluation of teachers or promotion of third graders. Nevertheless, my school system used standardized tests in grades three, six, eight, and ten. The purpose of the test was to see how our students were progressing, and to diagnose any specific problems. Oh, and we were specifically told by the administration not to teach to the test. It just wasn't professional!

When the results came back (always within a couple of weeks) we were able to see how each of our students was doing in particular areas, and plan our instruction accordingly.

10 years later, Indiana started the ISTEP. We were still told to remain professional and not to teach to the test.

YES, TEACH TO THE TEST

In 2001 everything changed. No Child Left Behind shifted the attention from students to test scores. No longer were we told not to teach to the tests. Teaching to the tests was now encouraged because, of course, the test covered everything the students needed to learn (No, it didn't). The school's success depended on the test scores. Individual students were only important insofar as they contributed to the success of the school. It was time to teach so that test scores rose. Nothing else mattered. Teach test taking skills. Teach test-like questions. Teach skills the students wouldn't normally get to until later in the year because it will be on the test. Focus on the "bubble" kids. Why are you teaching kids about dinosaurs...it's not on the test!

WHY NOT TEACH TO THE TEST?

What happens when you teach to the test, instead of teaching to your students' needs?

1a. It skews the curriculum.

When you spend your day (or most of it) teaching to the test, other content gets lost. Elementary teachers, especially, teach all subjects. If, in a 6 or 7 hour instructional day, most of the instruction is how to take a test and drilling on presumed test content, then there won't be much time left for non-tested content such as social studies, science, health, or read aloud (see Resolution #1). If the goal of public education is a well-rounded education, then a well-rounded curriculum is the logical route to take. Focusing only on test content is not the way to get there. FairTest says,

High-stakes testing often results in a narrow focus on teaching just the tested material (test preparation). Other content in that subject as well as untested subjects such as social studies, art and music are cut back or eliminated. High-stakes testing also produces score inflation: scores go up, but students have not learned more. Their scores are lower even on a different standardized test. This undermines the meaning of test results as well as education.

1b. It redirects a teacher from curriculum-teaching to item-teaching (aka it skews the curriculum).

Testing expert James Popham defines this as follows...

In item-teaching, teachers organize their instruction either around the actual items found on a test or around a set of look-alike items...

Curriculum-teaching, however, requires teachers to direct their instruction toward a specific body of content knowledge or a specific set of cognitive skills represented by a given test...In curriculum-teaching, a teacher targets instruction at test-represented content rather than at test items.

1c. It creates a one-size-fits-all curriculum instead of allowing teachers to focus on students’ individual interests and abilities (aka it skews the curriculum).

It forces teachers to focus on state (or national) standards instead of the needs of his/her students. Standards are important, but sometimes individual students need something else.

1d. It excludes the affective domain (aka it skews the curriculum).

A child is more than a reading and/or math test score. The school day, and instruction, should reflect that. A well-rounded curriculum includes the arts, civics, play, and other content.

2. It promotes convergent, rather than divergent thinking – excludes higher order thinking skills.

How much creativity is extinguished by focusing on one right answer? How is problem-solving improved?

3. It makes the test an end in itself, instead of a means to an end.

Not all students learn at the same rate. Some students take longer. When a standardized test-based curriculum is forced on a classroom there will be some students who aren't ready for some of the content. This is why many states have required the educationally unsound practice of in-grade retention to punish third graders who cannot pass the test.

Instead of a test-based curriculum or in-grade retention, students should receive high quality instruction and, when needed, intervention using best practices at their instructional level.

Student learning, not a test score, should be the goal of education.

4. When teachers are evaluated by test scores, it incentivizes a conflict of interest.

Ethical and professional problems can occur when a teacher's livelihood is dependent upon student achievement.

New Year's resolution #2 depends, of course, on where and what you teach. It might be easy for one teacher (an art or foreign language teacher, for example) not to teach to the test, since there aren't state required tests for all subject areas. English and Math teachers might have more difficulty. If you're a classroom teacher who is forced to "teach the test" you'll have to adjust this resolution to meet your own circumstances.

NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTION #1

• Read aloud to your children/students every day.

NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTION #2

• Teach your students, not "The Test."

NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTION #3

• Educate yourself.

NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTION #4

• Speak out for public education

✏️📓✏️

Resolution #1: Read-aloud + Access to Books = Reading Achievement

A series of resolutions for 2018...

NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTION #1

• Read aloud to your children/students every day.

If you want your kids to be fully literate, start reading to them when they're babies.

That statement is the title given to a letter to the editor of the LA Times dated December 30, 2017. The letter was written by Allen and Adele Gottfried, professors at Cal State Fullerton and Cal State Northridge respectively and is in reference to a study the Gottfrieds did (with others) investigating adult success and early life predictors. Their letter, in response to an LA Times editorial, includes the following [emphasis added]...

If you want your kids to be fully literate, start reading to them when they're babies

Research from the Fullerton Longitudinal Study, contained in a paper we recently published in a peer-review journal, showed that the amount of time parents read to their infants and preschoolers correlated with their children’s reading achievement and motivation across the school years, which in turn correlated with higher post-secondary educational attainment...

The research, in other words, reinforces what the Report of the Commission on Reading reported in the publication, Becoming a Nation of Readers, way back in 1985.

The single most important activity for building the knowledge required for eventual success in reading is reading aloud to children. This is especially so during the preschool years.

Parents are their children's first reading teachers. They teach by reading aloud to their children beginning the day their children are born.

What happens, however, if parents and children don't have access to books? Stephen Krashen has the answer.

Read alouds lead to reading, reading requires access to books

...Having a reading habit only happens if children have access to books. A number of studies, including our own, have shown that access to libraries correlates with reading proficiency, and our recent work suggests that availability of libraries can balance the negative effect of poverty on literacy development.

Public libraries are an important resource for parents who might have no other means of acquiring books. School libraries, staffed by qualified librarians, are a necessity for every public school.

NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTION #1

• Read aloud to your children/students every day.

~ ~ ~

More on Reading Aloud

- Read Aloud: 15 Minutes

- Jim Trelease's Home Page

- Information on Reading Aloud to Children

Click the image above for a larger version

More on the Fullerton Longitudinal Study

- Fullerton Longitudinal Study

- The Fullerton Longitudinal Study: A Long-Term Investigation of Intellectual and Motivational Giftedness by Allen W. Gottfried, Adele Eskeles Gottfried, and Diana Wright Guerin

- Schools Are Missing What Matters About Learning: Curiosity is underemphasized in the classroom, but research shows that it is one of the strongest markers of academic success.

- W.K. Kellogg Foundation to support the investigation of adult success based on early life predictors

NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTION #1

• Read aloud to your children/students every day.

NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTION #2

• Teach your students, not "The Test."

NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTION #3

• Educate yourself.

NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTION #4

• Speak out for public education

📖📖📖

Isaac Asimov, January 2, 1920

On the anniversary of Isaac Asimov's 98th birthday, I offer some quotes relevant to today's political and cultural environment.

ON IGNORANCE

A Cult of Ignorance,  by Isaac Asimov. Newsweek, January 21, 1980

It’s hard to quarrel with that ancient justification of the free press: “America’s right to know.” It seems almost cruel to ask, ingenuously, ”America’s right to know what, please? Science? Mathematics? Economics? Foreign languages?”

None of those things, of course. In fact, one might well suppose that the popular feeling is that Americans are a lot better off without any of that tripe.

There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there always has been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that “my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.”

The complete article, A Cult of Ignorance, by Asimov, may should be read here.

ON DENIAL

From The Gods Themselves

The easiest way to solve a problem is to deny it exists.

From Isaac Asimov’s Book of Science and Nature Quotations

It is the easiest thing in the world to deny a fact. People do it all the time. Yet it remains a fact just the same.

ON WISDOM

From Isaac Asimov's Book of Science and Nature Quotations

The saddest aspect of life right now is that science gathers knowledge faster than society gathers wisdom.

ON SCIENTIFIC LITERACY

From Combatting U.S. Scientific Illiteracy in The Los Angeles Times, March 31, 1989

Increasingly, our leaders must deal with dangers that threaten the entire world, where an understanding of those dangers and the possible solutions depends on a good grasp of science. The ozone layer, the greenhouse effect, acid rain, questions of diet and heredity. All require scientific literacy. Can Americans choose the proper leaders and support the proper programs if they themselves are scientifically illiterate? The whole premise of democracy is that it is safe to leave important questions to the court of public opinion—but is it safe to leave them to the court of public ignorance?

ON RIGHT AND WRONG

From Foundation

Never let your sense of morals prevent you from doing what is right.

ON VIOLENCE

From Foundation

Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent.

ON SCIENCE, EVIDENCE, AND TRUTH

From an Interview by Bill Moyers on Bill Moyers' World Of Ideas

Science doesn't purvey absolute truth. Science is a mechanism. It's a way of trying to improve your knowledge of nature. It's a system for testing your thoughts against the universe and seeing whether they match. And this works, not just for the ordinary aspects of science, but for all of life. I should think people would want to know that what they know is truly what the universe is like, or at least as close as they can get to it.

From The Roving Mind

I believe in evidence. I believe in observation, measurement, and reasoning, confirmed by independent observers. I'll believe anything, no matter how wild and ridiculous, if there is evidence for it. The wilder and more ridiculous something is, however, the firmer and more solid the evidence will have to be.

📡📝📖