Fooled Again?

Posted on April 1, 2013 by Victoria M. Young

“Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow. The important thing is to not stop questioning.” Albert Einstein

When did we stop questioning “the powers that be” in education reform? Or, did we ever stop?

Learn from yesterday. In every meeting I attended about “reform” since 1999, the authorities were questioned – even challenged – most often by multiple “un-associated” individuals. But the prevailing direction of “change” was never altered from that which officialdom had predetermined. The pretense of an “open” decision-making process prevailed and official “duty” was preserved — on paper. I don’t care to say what I learned, then. But now is the time to see things differently and question the lessons learned.

Live for today. Today presents another chance. That chance at setting things right means looking back at what did not work and why. Those that believe we can maybe get the political process to work this time might not have been fooled in the past; they may be new at this “game.” But those of us who have been-there, done-that have a duty to voice our distrust of the process and question the “powers” by asking that they prove us wrong – demonstrate that they even understand our view. Have you ever heard the powers talk about public opinion and how we see our own schools?

Hope for tomorrow? That depends on what we do today. I hope we don’t let ourselves be fooled the same way, again.

Happy April 1st.

What Lessons Were Learned?

FYI – Listening

Posted on March 21, 2013 by Victoria M. Young

If you want to listen so you really hear what others say, make sure you are not a:

Mindreader. You’ll hear little or nothing as you think “What is this person really thinking or feeling?”

Rehearser. Your mental tryouts for “Here’s what I’ll say next” tune out the speaker.

Filterer. Some call this selective hearing, hearing only what you want to hear.

Dreamer. Drifting off during a face-to-face conversation can lead to an embarrassing “What did you say?” or “Could you repeat that?”

Identifier. If you refer everything you hear to your experience, you probably didn’t really hear what was said.

Comparer. When you get side-tracked assessing the messenger, you’re sure to miss the message.

Derailer. Changing the subject too quickly soon tells others you’re not interested in anything they have to say.

Sparrer. You hear what’s said but quickly belittle it or discount it. That puts you in the same class as the derailer.

Placater. Agreeing with everything you hear just to be nice or to avoid conflict does not mean you’re a good listener.

Reading is silent listening.

Author – Unknown

Where are the Drop-Outs?

Posted on March 16, 2013 by Victoria M. Young

Today is by no means the first time I’ve thought about our dropouts, but, I was visiting with one yesterday and wanted to write about her. She is a very warm and delightful person. She is knowledgeable and seemed to possess great insight as to what is important in educating children and the practical wisdom that only years of practice can provide.

I’m not talking about our school dropouts; I’m talking about the people who have dropped out of the education “reform” effort. This wonderful woman was a retired kindergarten teacher. And in her own words, “After 30 plus years, I dropped out.” The year was 2004, three years after No Child Left Behind hit, and she was tired of seeing how kids were being pushed to “perform,” tested, and given limited access to the arts and a wide variety of activities.

She also went on to describe what had been her usual end-of-the-year activity which sounded to be a rather elaborate production by the students for their parents that included songs, poems, and a variety of other presentations. She said there was always an overflow crowd. And she went on to describe all the “lessons” involved in the planning and execution of this creation. But back then, she didn’t have to test the kids to prove the value of these lessons.

Not everything can be fun and games. But shouldn’t we at least do our best to ensure our curriculum is balanced with enough engaging and stimulating activities to keep kids wanting more, at all ages?

With so many teachers only knowing how and what they were taught (through test prep curricula), I’m afraid we have had too many of our “old-fashioned” educators dropout and our self-correction will be hard going without them.

If only the drop-outs would come back….

You can still make a difference.

What Failed?

Posted on March 10, 2013 by Victoria M. Young

A Mind is Too Beautiful to Waste

The beliefs — test-based accountability, financial flexibility, and “choice” — the principles — the pillars upon which No Child Left Behind (NCLB) promised “to close the achievement gap” — have FAILED.

The theory was hailed by state education officialdom prior to NCLB. So all-in-all this grand experiment, concocted by those unwilling to listen to people in the trenches, had decades to “work” to “close the achievement gap.” It failed; it’s a FACT!

People across America are waking up to the reality that testing itself is wasting instructional time and our money. Parents are seeing that test-based accountability led to a narrow and boring curriculum for their children. It is one of the reasons many left the traditional public system to home-school.

Many are also using the “choice” part of this failed equation. But the reality is that “choice-based reform” has not led to reform. And it must be remembered that test-based accountability was used to declare schools as failed thus trumpeting the need for “choice” through a charter system. Failed and double failed!

But what of “flexibility”? Ah, that began as a token gesture of local control. Giving the local people the ability to spend Title I money (federal education dollars for low-income students) in a manner they saw fit was actually part of the original 1965 law. But back then it was understood that the money would be directed to serve the needs of those low-income students. When the states became convinced that test-based accountability was the way to go, the stage was set for federal dollars to be spent on this new focus. The public was duped and double duped.

It is time to view education differently – accountability, flexibility, and choice have failed to deliver on what it promised. And in the process, it did damage. Face that fact. Riding on accountability, flexibility, and choice as reform strategies is like riding a dead horse. Have a little respect. Dismount and bury it!

Don’t Fail

Posted on March 7, 2013 by Victoria M. Young

Fail, failing, failed — “Don’t Fail Idaho” is the new theme of advertisements on radio and other media here in this state. For me, it is a risk to even use the word (especially in a title) because many people won’t read past that word. The education reform war has created hyper-sensitized people making it less likely that we can even have a casual conversation about education. And that is exactly what we all should be doing every chance we get.

In a waiting room yesterday, I ran across an old acquaintance I’d worked with on a fundraising committee for a youth project many years ago. Believe it or not, I did not broach the education topic – at first. We talked about agriculture, our food supply, our land, rodeo, and politics. When we did get to education, he admitted he didn’t know much of what was going on in that arena but said, “It sounds like what I’m experiencing.” He moved closer to hear what I had to say.

My point: If we can’t get past some obstacles, establish a connection and some common understanding that we share a problem, we can’t expect to establish the kind of public support needed to overcome the forces we must in order to reclaim the public school system and re-instill some sanity to a “reform” effort. A dissenting voice can’t compete with a moneyed interest any way other than with people power.

Will this person I talked with jump right in the fight? I doubt it, but the next time he hears the “Don’t Fail Idaho” propaganda, I can bet you he will think twice about which “side” they represent. He will doubt. He will question what the best way to improve our schools really is. I bet he will compare any further effort to privatize schools to what he knows was the outcome of privatization of the prison system and he will relate it to a further takeover of our land and food supply — and he will make the connection to children.

Failing to Make the Grade

Don’t fail to engage. Anyone know the rules for engagement?

Whoa on “Reforms”

Posted on March 5, 2013 by Victoria M. Young

The following story was anonymously left in the mailbox of Dr. Emory Cowen of the University of Rochester and relayed to us through Dr. Seymour Sarason:

Common advice from knowledgeable horse trainers includes the adage, “If the horse you’re riding dies, get off.” Seems simple enough, yet, in the education business we don’t always follow that advice. Instead, we often choose from an array of alternatives which include:

Stop the “reforms.” They failed and are killing US.

1. Buying a stronger whip.
2. Trying a new bit or bridle.
3. Switching riders.
4. Moving the horse to a new location.
5. Riding the horse for longer periods of time.
6. Saying things like, “This is the way we’ve always ridden this horse.”
7. Appointing a committee to study horses.
8. Arranging to visit other sites where they ride dead horses efficiently.
9. Increasing the standards for riding dead horses.
10. Creating a test for measuring our riding ability.
11. Comparing how we’re riding now with how we did it 10 or 20 years ago.
12. Complaining about the state of horses these days.
13. Coming up with new styles of riding.
14. Blaming the horse’s parents. The problem is in the breeding.

Dismount! As Dr. Sarason wrote: “Instead of doing any of these, we decided to dismount. We began to look at what we needed to do for kids and their families to help them help themselves.”

Shake Before Lifting

Posted on February 28, 2013 by Victoria M. Young

Now what?

The people that always do the heavy lifting of community and/or school improvement are those in the trenches. You can’t mandate them to do it. You can’t twist their arms, as much as we might like to. People need to see the need, know they share a common problem, see a way to solve it, and believe they can. Can that be put into reform law? Yes, I not only know think it can; I know that the philosophy of helping people help themselves was put into education law in 1965.

Our common problem is that the education reform laws now are designed to “do to us” instead of helping us to improve. In Idaho, there are clearly ten Title I (low-income schools) that are falling behind the other 93% of Idaho’s Title I schools. The law did make us identify and label theses schools but we — not the schools — continue to fail because society isn’t providing them with the help they need to improve. Recent laws actually make that process harder.

We fail to serve the neediest of our schools because there are no people adequately representing these schools at “the table” were decisions are being made for them. We toss them a bone now and then, occasionally allowing them three minutes to testify and sometimes even inviting them to a conference. This is not allowing them to be part of the solution; it only serves to pacify them, momentarily. This is not full and continuous engagement in the improvement process.

What we need from real “reform” laws — laws that address the needs of schools most in need of improvement — are laws that provide direction, guidance, and assistance in evaluating the problems on the ground, educating the community about those problems and the array of solutions available to them, and making sure the public feels welcomed into the process of being successful with the plan they themselves created. After all, ordinary Americans are the real doers and shakers.

Time to shake it up?

Dare You Face Facts?

Posted on February 27, 2013 by Victoria M. Young

If there are 3 million teachers (roughly) in the US, that’s 1% of the population. And frankly, you teachers out there are not all on the same “education reform” page!

So if teachers are fighting among themselves as to the need for “reform” and what the right way to go about “improvements,” what do you think is going on with the public in general? If the public cared enough about public schools and the children within them, how can they participate in the improvement process without being led down the wrong path —the one we are on right now?

People 18 years and under make up 24% of the population — some of them are living in two or more children households, are under school age, attend private or charter schools, are home-schooled or have dropped out. So the number of people directly associated with public schools at any one time is relatively small. And how many of these are struggling to just get by, daily?

My point is: how many people know about the condition of their local schools let alone the real story across the country? And, how many care?…Now that is something to ponder!

Then, think about who is watching the hen-house.

Setting the Right Priorities

Posted on February 24, 2013 by Victoria M. Young

“No task before our Nation is more important than expanding and improving the educational opportunities of all our people. The concept that every American deserves the opportunity to attain the highest level of education of which he is capable is not new to this Administration–it is a traditional ideal of democracy. But it is time that we moved toward the fulfillment of this ideal with more vigor and less delay.” President John F. Kennedy, February 6, 1962

Are we setting the right priorities? How many times will be put education on the back-burner?

Yes, we have allowed ourselves to be dragged down by debt — and the policymakers that took us there do need to take us out or get out.

Yes, immigration has been a long-neglected issue but we had better ask the experts why illegal entry continues, and ask American citizens what and how is an acceptable way and means to “fix” the problems BEFORE we send it into the political muck hole of the D.C. chambers.

Yes, we continue to allow “our” representatives to put large MULTINATIONAL corporate interests ahead of national well-being.

But excellent education for all? — No task more important — no task ignored longer.

Policy Ping-Pong

Posted on February 21, 2013 by Victoria M. Young

Wrongly, many people believe that excessive testing, narrowed curriculum, and wayward accountability schemes are the fault of federal policy. Most agree that the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) law is the main culprit. I most certainly am not defending NCLB, oh no, far from it. But the truth is that state-after-state was sold “Outcome-Based Education Reform” which morphed into test-based accountability. What No Child Left Behind did was to federalize the education trend that most states had already begun implementing on their own. So, why is this important to know?

If you play “The Change Game,” the first thing you need to know are the key players and the best places to play. When you know who and where to target with persuasion and propaganda, change comes at a relatively cheap price. And even though we should have a better view at the local and state level, the game hasn’t drawn much of a crowd.

So the wayward reforms began in the states, went to the federal level with NCLB, and now the ball is back on the states side of the table with NCLB waivers. Next stop? NCLB re-authorization? (Update as of 12/10/15: Yes, the law was changed to being called the Every Student Succeeds Act ESSA but the Outcome-Based foundation DID NOT CHANGE.)

Both state and federal lawmakers are for sale. With NCLB reauthorization done, the ball is in the state capitals.

Both state and federal policy writers are for sale. With NCLB reauthorization done, the ball is in state capitals.

And will the law once again follow the state’s trends – charter schools, fewer teachers, more technology, larger class sizes, and less real support for the public system (which means more privatization)? (Update as of 12/10/15: Answer, yes.)

The public is being played like a ping-pong ball. Now is not the time to sit on the sidelines and watch the ball (or the hammer) drop.

The Crucial Voice of the People

Shining Light on the Truth