Monthly Archives: October 2013

POWER

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By using what has historically worked for America — a balance of power with the ultimate authority resting with the people — we can reclaim our public schools. To do so, we must uproot what holds us down.

The roots:
(1)    control of government by big-money, and

(2)    an uninformed public.

In this toxic climate, we have allowed power-hungry leadership to open the doors for education investors who couldn’t care less about the children of ordinary Americans. If they did care, they would quit doing things that make children cry, deprive them of the love of learning, and create stress in families.

What is happening in our public education system is running parallel to what is happening in all aspects of our political system. Moneyed interests have divided us by tapping into our frustrations, values, and passions — through effective marketing and propaganda techniques — and the coercive nature of laws of their making, not ours. They “move us” to do their bidding; we are pawns in their game. I imagine they feel very powerful.

Our move.

Our move.

People, we must rediscover our power. The allocation of power is not meant to be “them” allowing “us” some power; it is us granting them the privilege of representing OUR interests.

Who should govern American schools?

We have a choice.

We are NOT powerless.

Learn more about becoming politically active and effective. Tools for Change has a guide for the powerless…that shows you how we are far from being powerless.

And, TEACH – educate another person today. Learn more about Common Core Testing and who will control what is taught.

A Common Enemy of Public Schools

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Common Core, and its foreign and domestic associates, has become the common enemy of American public schools.

This is not a conspiracy theory; this is our reality.

There is nothing right about our public school children’s education standards being set and controlled by a private, non-profit organization that holds the copyright. “Associations” are not public institutions.

There is nothing right about a foreign entity like Pearson Education Corporation (with all its many “divisions” and names) lobbying Congress for passage of laws that benefit them — it shouldn’t matter if they do have their own 501(c)(3) non-profit, tax-exempt Pearson Foundation to dole out trinkets as part of their public relations campaign.

Check out the chart on the Center for Responsive Politics site and think back to the major education laws passed. The pattern indicates that the heavy lobbying occurs just before and even harder after the major laws “make it.” Think it might get harder once more people actually get a chance to read the laws Congress passes?

The year 2009 is of particular interest; it is the claimed birth date of Common Core. Out of the ashes of financial ruin — the seed money for Common Core testing was ours. H.R. 1 Act is the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.

This is the education-industrial complex at work on the federal level. The states are targeted also.

It has become a dirty business but worth doing.

The testing addiction is killing education. FORCED to pick our poison?

The testing addiction is killing education. FORCED to pick our poison?

I found this comment from Joanne:

“Scripture states that ‘The LOVE of money is the root of ALL evil.’ 1 Tim. 6:10 (Caps mine for emphasis.) And so it is and easily seen in our education system, that same system being used to brain wash America’s children en mass.

I’m amazed and disheartened by parents who choose to remain uninformed concerning these issues, who are so busy being entertained by electronics & social media to watching television nearly non-stop or perhaps extremely involved in their kids extra-curricular activities to the point of being UNINTERESTED or uninvolved with the very heart of the system forming their children’s impressionable minds. Our children are the FUTURE. If the direction in which our nation is being taken isn’t halted and REVERSED soon I’m concerned that America’s future will be very bleak indeed.

America…. what has HAPPENED to you?” (Thanks for asking Joanne)

When people know about what is happening, how can they not get it? I think they will…share what you learn with those that may not know what you know.

Answer for yourselves, is Common Core a Tool or Weapon?

To the Success of The Education Movement

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CHEERS!

CHEERS!

“What are the ingredients that any successful movement needs?” asked John Blake in his article Why some movements work and others wilt. Here are excerpts from the paper:

“Remember four rules:

1.  Don’t get seduced by spontaneity. Spontaneity is sexy. Yet spontaneity is overrated… Successful movements are built on years of planning, trial and error, honing strategies for change. A good movement should already have an organizational structure set up to take advantage of a spontaneous act that grips the public…William Barber’s advice for movement builders: Don’t wait for the right spark to organize. Do it now. ‘No matter where you are now, now is the time to build coalitions,’ Barber says. ‘You do it now because when the moment comes, the only thing that will be able to save you is to be together.’

2. Make policy, not noise. Successful movements just don’t take it to the streets. They elect candidates, pass laws, set up institutions to raise money, train people and produce leaders, observers say…. A successful movement is filled with people who know that it is wise at times to compromise…. Cast a vision of America that appeals to all types of people.

3. Redefine the meaning of punishment. The belief that modern Americans lack the right stuff to rise up is ‘hogwash.’… ‘As dark as things may seem at a given moment,’ Sam Pizzigati says, ‘things can change very rapidly when a social movement takes off.’… The redefinition goes like this: ‘No punishment anyone can lay on me can possibly be any worse than the punishment I lay on myself by conspiring in my own diminishment,’ says Parker Palmer.

4. Divide the elites. ‘Elites help movements when they feel their own interests are threatened,’ says Pizzigati.

There is one final lesson for anyone who wants to join a movement. Victory is fleeting and setbacks are inevitable. At times, it can seem like it was all a waste.”

Now knowing what makes movements successful, can those of us that fight for strengthening public schools by doing what is best for students see why the standards, testing, and accountability movement has come so far?

In The Crucial Voice I wrote, “The modern standards movement politically overpowered, but did not destroy, the modern community education movement.” And I will tell you that when I read that the Mott Foundation now supports the Common Core National Curriculum movement, my heart sank a bit because it was Charles S. Mott who originally supported Frank Manley in his efforts to develop and spread the community education concept — setbacks? Yes, a few.

“Let’s have faith that right makes might; and in that faith let us, to the end, dare to do our duty as we understand it.” — Abraham Lincoln

Business Model of Education Reform: The Real One

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Understand the real business model? You may not have heard the whole story.

“The best-run companies start with their people, trusting them as human beings and trusting their capability and their potential. In essence, ‘they are people sensitive.’ They understand the importance of training your people well and letting them do their jobs.”

To be “people sensitive” starts with individual attitudes.

The process of educational improvement begins in the minds of those that desire to do what is best for the nation’s children. It requires being open-minded and cooperative.

Has the business world applied what they know and become a good team player?

Has the business world applied what they know and become a good team player?

And there are some business model rules we might do well to follow. “We must learn not to tamper with success,” not in practice and not in policy.

We need to remember that most school districts in this country have settled the question of what to teach and how to best go about it. So in the 43rd Annual Phi Delta Kappa International (PDK)/Gallup poll on education, we shouldn’t be surprised that 71 percent of Americans say they…

“have trust and confidence in the men and women who are teaching in public schools.”

And that poll titled “Betting on Teachers,” also found 73 percent of Americans preferred education policies that “give teachers flexibility to teach in ways they think best” over those that “require teachers to follow a prescribed curriculum so all students can learn the same content” (Bushaw).

For immediate impact in the schools that need our help, we need to look at “the people side of schooling.” And if we believe that “organizational management should be based on observing problems from the bottom up and not from the top down” then isn’t it the teacher in the classroom and the family at home that should be managing the education of public school children?

Can a business model serve us well?

In any given classroom, the teacher becomes their own manager. They plan the lesson, guide the students, and evaluate themselves and their students. And as the business model points out,

“The highest form of self-management is intrapreneurship” and “if teachers are to become intrapreneurs, “they must be given the freedom to act on their own.”

“To achieve excellence, one focuses not on the mission, but on the culture.”

And it is “freedom factors” that “are the foundation for enabling school people to satisfy their higher-level needs. Only when we are able to produce a school environment that meets these needs will we be able to achieve excellence.” This is not what we have created with a test-based, competitive culture. And parents that are out to “give their child every advantage” have added fuel to the fire of competition while modeling a culture of selfishness for their own children.

But now ask yourselves — if training of teachers and leaders is the key to success, who is doing the training? Who set the standards for professional development? What principles are they based on? Are those in charge following the will of the people? Did “they” move forward with “reforms” with our consent?

Excerpts taken from James Lewis, Jr., book Achieving Excellence in Our Schools…by Taking Lessons from America’s Best-Run Companies published by J.L Wilkerson Publishing Company in 1986.

Where We Fail

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As people, we fail when we react to words rather than trying to understand what is meant by them.

Sometimes it is good to start with a blank slate.

Sometimes it is good to start with a blank slate.

Business, political, educational, and civil rights leaders jumped on the idea that outcomes in the form of test scores were the way to go for education reform partially because the words made the idea sound good – “close the achievement gap.”

The idea was sold to the public, and many, many very intelligent people bought it. The end result was the federal testing law called No Child Left Behind.

Achievement, judged by standardized tests, is the basis of the “accountability” mechanism that has yet to hold the system itself accountable for the high cost and little results of the last eleven years—let alone the damage. “Flexibility” disappeared from classrooms whose children most needed it, and “choice” didn’t leave many options for improving all schools.

During this whole fiasco, we failed to keep an open mind that would allow us to accept the evidence and our mistakes. Denial is a human defense mechanism. But it is time for adults to put aside their own stance and do the right thing — admit that testing is not what improves schools.

Our education dollars, time, and efforts will be better spent developing an understanding of school improvement and what it will take to fulfill our obligation to provide equal access to quality education; setting excellence as the norm, understanding change, the importance of school culture in the change process, and how change can lead to improvement and lasting progress.

But who is asking us? Certainly not open-minded people ready to hear and accept solutions.

To all those who were wrong; do the honorable thing, accept your failure, and open your mind.

To all those wanting to help the effort to do the right thing for public school children, share this with someone outside your circle of like-minded associates. Start a conversation.