Advocacy a Waste of my Time

This is the last post on the BuildBetterSchools blog that will disappear on October 26th. Most of its contents is now available here at The School Buzz, but this post was my last one there, to voice my opinion on how advocating/fighting for quality schools that serve the common good will remain a dream, because not enough people are united for the cause, and many are misguided about what quality education is. 

After advocating for my own, and then also for other kids for twenty years , I have come to the sad conclusion that my time was utterly wasted. Why did it take me so long to realize that no matter what committee a parent serves on, and no matter what useful information or research they bring to the table, their opinions are simply ignored. Is it because of the infinite hope we cling to that surely some day things will be different?

Is school today really that much different, never mind better, from when you were 'educated'? I bet not, especially not right now with all the testing, the lock-step schedules and the scripted lessons that quash authentic learning in classrooms across the nation! Thankfully my kids escaped that fate while they were in elementary school. Thankfully they played in kindergarten, had recess, and were lucky to be able to learn through projects, not just books and computers.

I wanted my children's  school experience to be much better than it had been for me, so I became an involved parent. But, all my time invested in attending school accountability meetings and schoolboard meetings, was for naught. If anything, schools are now worse for kids, toxic even!

One positive thing came out of my involvement.  I got passionate about education. I felt like I was in hog heaven each time I visited my local university's library. I had access to many good and interesting books by notable authors and experts. I became knowledgeable about education, but how many others do? Certainly not the people who serve on schoolboards and in the legislature who make policies and laws, and who heed the wishes and demands from business and corporations rather than the advice from education experts whose warnings and suggestions are willfully ignored! Their books are collecting dust on library shelves. Some had never even been checked out,  others just a handful of times, and this at a university that focuses on teacher education!

A few other longtime advocates and activists I know, also see that improving education is  a near impossible feat. They fear though that showing their discouragement will dash the hope of others. But, should we keep ignoring the fact that no one in charge of public education, at any level, really cares about what child development experts and neuroscientists say that children need to learn best and thrive holistically?

Only a paradigm shift in education will truly benefit the common good, but will not happen unless a critical mass of people demand it. Almost all of us were raised to unquestioningly respect authority, so it is uncomfortable to request changes. Many parents are apprehensive of going into a school to talk to the principal as memories  from their own school days  of being subjugated may resurface. Few adults reach the level of self-esteem and self-confidence to dare advocate for their own child. Fewer still dare question the whole concept of mandatory education!

The intent of  education is believed by many to give children broad experiences so they can become literate in the truest sense, to learn to think , question, analyze, conclude, and  to help make their own life and society better for all. But, John Taylor Gatto argues  that public schools were  meant to serve the needs of the ruling elites, by teaching the kids of lower socioeconomic classes to conform.  I agree!

Many times I heard teachers talking about the importance of instilling "work ethic" in high school students, and, to my amazement, many parents agree with that! It is instilled by means of meting out punitive grades for homework not done (or handed in just one minute late) which result in a lowered GPA even if the scores on tests and quizzes are all A's.

Work ethic, as a major goal of schooling, likely stems from the beginning of the 20th century when schools already were heavily influenced by the nation's first industrialists who needed skilled laborers to work in their factories. When Frederick W. Taylor introduced his principles of scientific management which were to increase production with less waste and fewer costs, those were also used to make schools run more efficiently. Learning had to be done for a specific purpose inside strict parameters, and that concept has not changed over the decades. Kids still have to learn this, and disregard that, even if they are interested more in that than this. It is a good way to ensure that many dislike school and do not learn much substance. The situation is worse now with the many standardized tests kids need to take each year.

One mom, who has tried tirelessly to inform parents that opting their kids out of the state testing is possible, said:

"I've been trying for more than 7 years here ... to convince parents to band together against testing but schools are closing right and left and charters springing up everywhere in my home district. I and a teacher here in town hosted an opt out event, put out flyers, advertised on the radio, invited everyone we knew and absolutely NO ONE showed up. I cannot tell you how discouraging that was. I've given out leaflets at schools. I don't know what else I can do. I'm tired. So I have a public Facebook page and I post. ..I don't want anyone to think I'm giving up; though I think it's a David and Goliath battle."

"We're winning small battles here and there but it's going to be years; as many as it took us to get this far.... There are more and more parents opting out every year but no one seems to want to band together; at least not here. They don't want to call attention to themselves. So, whenever I get the opportunity, I spread the word; while my kids and my husband roll their eyes and find the door."

I told her I admire her for her tenacity, and that a bit of her discouragement should be shared.

Perhaps it will shake some awake!

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Some of the many good books I have read:

• All work and no play..How educational Reforms are harming our Preschoolers by Sharna Olfman


• Education's Missing Ingredient by Victoria M. Young


• Educational Genocide by Horace (Rog) Lucido


• Endangered Minds by Jane M. Healy


• Free to LEARN; Why Unleashing the Instincts to Play Will Make Our Children Happier, More Self-Reliant, and better Students for Life by Peter Gray,


• Insult to Intelligence - Frank Smith

• Life in Schools - An Introduction to Critical Pedagogy by Peter McLaren (Life in Schools has been named one of the 12 most significant writings worldwide in the field of educational theory, policy and practice by an international panel of experts)


• Seeds of Tomorrow by Angela Engel


• Wounded by School by Kirsten Olson


• The Education of Sam Sanders by T.S. Poetter

And many others by Diane Ravitch, John Holt, Alfie Kohn, John Taylor Gatto, and more!

Learning is Knowing what Questions to ask.

By Angela Engel 

"....As the business community delves into the complexities of education, they may want to look a little more deeply at the tests that are driving everything in education.

I first administered the Colorado Student Assessment Program (CSAP) test to my fourth grade students in 1997. High stakes testing was the reason I left the classroom and the reason I have not returned.  Why? Because I knew that a year’s worth of “Joe’s” writing is a much greater indicator of his writing ability than one CSAP essay graded by a temp worker.

Hearing “Lisa” discuss character development in a literature discussion with her peers or reading her annotated notes is far more revealing than how she answered the question, “Who is the main character in this paragraph?”

A: Dick

B: Sally

C: Rover

D: All of the above

Reviewing questions that “Mike” generated on his own from a science experiment on volume tells much more about his understanding than how he answered question number thirteen on the state assessment.

In real life, the questions aren’t given to us. The most important part of learning is knowing what questions to ask. 

What we learned from the recently released CSAP scores was the same thing we learned from the first tests: That students who have more opportunity and resources do better than students who do not. Socio-economic-status is the number one correlating factor to test scores.

We also learned that high-stakes testing does not better prepare our children for college. Remediation rates are three times higher than when No Child Left Behind was signed by Congress.

The class of 2011 — the first class to graduate under high-stakes testing — showed an 11 percent increase from the previous year in the need for college remediation, according to the Colorado Commission on Higher Education.

It is simple, really. The students who have been educated under the umbrella of high-stakes testing did not get the opportunity to fall in love with books or to develop their own writing style and voice. They were too busy memorizing testing terminology and mastering test-taking strategies to engage in serious reading or writing on interesting concepts that have meaning in their own lives.

State assessments did not close the achievement gap as promised. Instead, we traded educational opportunity for data spreadsheets, and now there are twice as many children in poverty. The number of homeless schoolchildren in this state has more than tripled in the past 10 years — from 7,000 to more than 23,300 students last school year.

Meanwhile, the majority of our elected representatives continue to insist that learning can be forced on students with the “right” test. They argue that teachers will do better if their evaluations are tied to the tests, as if educators care more about their own ratings than they do about the kids they serve day in and day out.

While Colorado spends another year choking on the data, classrooms grow larger and teachers and school counselors become fewer. Test prep and remediation courses have replaced music, art and PE, after-school programs, and field trips. Still we wonder why kids will not stay in school and more are diagnosed with anxiety and depression. Students are now being tested in preschool and kindergarten, despite all evidence that standardized tests in early grades is developmentally inappropriate.

Now, the Colorado state Board of Education  has adopted the Common Core, yet another set of standards now being implemented in schools where some haven’t been able to afford new text books for decades.

Standardized tests are not an accurate measure of what students and teachers can do. Even if they were, the purpose of education is not to measure human capabilities, the purpose is to advance them. Millions of taxpayer dollars have been wasted on testing reforms that have diverted our time, attention and resources away from addressing the opportunity gap and infusing innovation.

Parents do not need school performance ratings based on a test; they need schools that are safe, happy, holistic, and promote personal, real learning. Teachers do not need a test to tell them how they or their students are performing; they need tools, resources and time.

And business does not need future employees who are experts at shading bubbles.

Test Prep! Watch and Weep!

"Worksheets don't grow dendrites" ~ Marcia Tate

Watch and share this video by Kaydonna Wolfcale,  a teacher who quit because of the rigid education reforms, and weep for all kids in public schools today!



Texas STAAR test prep

If this example is not enough reason to sign the White House petition to stop standardized testing in America's public schools, I don't know what will be persuasive.

Direct the Department of Education & Congress to Remove Annual Standardized Testing Mandates of NCLB and RttT

https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/direct-department-education-congress-remove-annual-standardized-testing-mandates-nclb-and-rttt/1lSSvnYK

Also see: Do You Care about Kids or Data?

Reforms Fail to Help Disadvantaged Children

The future looks bleak for all of us! For all the youth that teachers still may help to think  critically, there will be an ever growing number of children who will be born into poverty and/or dysfunctional families; usually the result of poverty, but not always. For those children it may very well be too late to ever learn how to think!  It reminds me of what Dr. Bruce Perry said; most mental retardation is caused not by a birth defect, but by neglect of the child's needs in the early years.

I talked to a kindergarten kid last night who looks bright, but who is intellectually disadvantaged because he was born to a mom who used Meth. She stopped using when the boy was born, but she did not become, nor is she now, an attentive mother.

The boy's  11 yr-old brother, is also intellectually stunted. These kids clearly did not get the proper foundation in their early years, and as a result, do not even have the vocabulary (in number of words at least) that my 3 yr-old grandson already has.

These kids will never be able to catch up; certainly not in today's schools with the Common Core being taught, and testing taking priority over actual great, learning experiences!

It breaks my heart, and these two kids are the tip of the iceberg I normally never see, and many others not either! These are the kids that schoolboard members, and other education policy makers, need to meet to understand that what they offer in school to bring these kids up to speed is woefully lacking and even contrary to what such children really need for their brains to  develop further so that they can even begin to think critically!

Toxic Stress Damages Developing Brain

Draw Kids Out, Make it Safe!

Current Education Reforms Ignore Neuroscience

Schoolboards Utterly Useless Looking Out for Kids

"What happens when the Commissioner of Education comes to town? Does your local school board become more responsive to parent/teacher concerns, or LESS ? A Wappingers Falls NY mother is prohibited from giving a 20-minute Common Core speech, that she was initially granted by the schoolboard, after Commissioner King's appearance. One board member walked out of the meeting.-- Wappingers Falls, NY. October 15, 2013"

Here you have it; something I have long suspected, namely that it is useless to attend schoolboard meetings. Up until now I thought it was perhaps only my local  schoolboard's stance to ignore public input on important education issues, but it is likely true for most!

Wappinger schoolboard member John Lumia says:

"There are certain things that we cannot , as a schoolboard, change. There are certain things that are mandated to us...our function isn't exctly to evaluate the common core and pass judgment on it. Our job is to execute education and policy and government finances of the district, and we are kind of limited as to what we can do...we're very limited as to what we can do. So, hearing all these opinions is nice, it's great to see engaged members of the community, but there's not much we can actually do to influence the legislature from here. It's just a little far out of our reach here." Watch the segment here.

About his decision not to have a Common Core presentation by a parent he says,

"I wrestled with this issue for a while, and called fellow board members so I would have their opinion. I cannot vote to allow this presentation [because] we have..presentations given to the board, and they are done by administrators and staff, and they are done by experts, sometimes consultants that we hire for various projects, and we look to certain individuals for guidance, mainly experts like I say like consultants or administrators. Although I applaud a parent coming to the board, the appropriate method of addressing the board would be during the public comment session."

In case you missed his point; most schoolboard members do believe that it is the administrators, and consultants (working for the curriculum publishers) who are the experts. That is why they ignore research and statements by the real education and child development experts. It is the reason why schools have become so toxic for kids!

Lumia said:

 "As to whether someone is qualified to provide this information. I frankly think that...only qualified individuals should be given that liberty."

Board president Ved Shravah BOE asked the superintendent if he can stop teaching Common Core in schools, if the board had voted against it. His answer: "We cannot stop it." Watch the segment here.

Ved Shravah:

"It is inconsequential what we say here...You can have 24 hour presentations; it is not going to change the fact that our children will have to learn Common Core Standards, they will have to take the tests. Our teachers have to teach, no matter what their opinion is, no matter what they think. It is mandated, it has to be done, and I don't see why we're having an argument around this issue."  Watch the segment here.

Do You Care About Kids or Data?

Kaydonna Wolfe, a former teacher in Texas where the standardized testing fad began, says "We have let it happen", and by that she means teachers. She is right!

Because teachers are afraid of losing their jobs when they speak out against testing, most parents and community members remain in the dark about what's happening in their children's schools. Parents blindly trust that how their children are taught, must be good for their kids.

They do not expect that teachers condone child abuse and neglect, and yet...what do you call it when kids live in fear of scoring poorly on the test? What do you call it when kids in kindergarten are taught by script that does not allow the teacher to respond to a question or comment? What will it do to the child's psyche to be ignored? What do you call it when kids in kindergarten can no longer play?

Kaydonna says, "We are putting school data which leads to funding, over the needs of children, and this must stop...I'm begging our educators to take a stand....Did you become a teacher for data and funding, or did you become a teachers to do what's best for children? We've got to stop and think about what we're doing to children, and do what's right...The first thing you can do is to tell your story...What we have to do is tell the truth!"

Colorado Bill Seeks Waiver for Testing

If you live in Colorado, please support HB 14-1202. Use this form to contact any or all of the legislators listed. It's easy! Here is what I wrote them:

"School reforms should be driven by education and child development experts, with input from parents and community members, not by corporations which profit from the materials they hawk to school districts to 'improve' the 'performance' of students.

It is appalling to see where the reforms are leading! On-line learning inside our schools under the euphemism of "Blended Learning" whereby in some schools kids will spend 50% of their school day behind a screen! 

It is time to put the large sums of money used for testing to better use by bringing true and excellent learning opportunities back into the classroom! Kindergartens without time for play! In our district for eight years already!! That is not what child development experts condone, but their voices are ignored...willfully! Why?

Please have a care for kids and listen to the true experts!"

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The Time for Talk is Over!

From the Facebook page of a retired school teacher.

"I've nearly completely extricated myself from my daily reading and commenting on Facebook and Twitter. I'm a retired public school teacher. I've virtually stopped writing about education and the continuing destruction of our public schools. I live it everyday now as a consultant in the classrooms. I've been traveling a lot over the last few months. Now and then I see the same great and not so great stories, links, and comments. Brilliant people making brilliant observations. Making effulgent, even quite luminous and pithy remarks.

Progressives are aware of Achieve Inc. Michael Cohen has been around the education game in the Beltway for some time. They know Intel and IBM. They know Bill and Melinda Gates. Progressives are aware of a poll in Georgia showing a cooking show host as being more popular than Martin Luther King Jr. But they are living within the corporate dominant body politic.

Notice will be served to all those regardless of which side they take when all the commenting and daily reporting regarding this group or that, this small protest or that, change tenor. That is, the time for talk is over. Speak truth to power? The power already knows the truth. They discourage media from reporting on what's real. Like an interview of a career politician, there are few sources that don't deflect each question, each remark. Defying the truth. The time for talk is over.

Teachers. Stay in your classrooms if you must. What's happening in Chicago is clearly a harbinger of what's to come for teachers---nationwide. What's happening in Detroit is a message like some kind of back to the future Orwellian time machine. Corporate control beyond the atrocities of buying children for placement and profit. Like some John Hersey novel ("The Child Buyer") gone even more insanely dystopic as Wall Street and its largest beneficiaries concoct "no excuses" institutions for the poor to stay poor, and increase insulation from the new feudalism for the progeny of the wealthy.

The authoritarian power elite know that people are not truly defined by numbers. But they do know that the complete corporate occupation of schools requires a facade of unproven benchmarks and testing so it appears that they are preparing people for a future. Indeed.

Until there is a movement of such insane capaciousness, linked together throughout all stratum of people and groups, all of one accord and in motion against the tyrannical private-corporate-government complex and its will to seize all that can be profitized and measured, leveraged by indebtedness. Then will there be meaningful action beyond the words and mien of a scattered, austeritized public. Each interest group appending a whole. With singularity and solidarity in commitment. Truly revolutionary.

Not a million or two people marching upon Washington, D.C., but 50 million or more. Susan Ohanian said it in one word: Revolution. Put thought into action or live the regret of continuance in a gone world."

iPads ~ Causing Intellectual Devolution

Trying to find what Jane M. Healy, author of "Endangered Minds" would have to say about the harm that digital devices have on young children, I came across this Blog Post "Gadgets Are the Root of All Evil ~ NOT!" and felt the need to respond with this:


I feel like you use Sesame Street as a straw man to distract from computers, and now easily accessible portable gadgets like the iPad, that are much more harmful. Watching Sesame Street is a much slower paced activity than games played on the computer.

You talk about balance, but from what age on? Harmful digital distractions should be kept at a minimum during the early years when the brain is developing. It is best to not subject babies and toddlers to any of it.

"..Research psychologist Jane Healy, author of Endangered Minds, recommends that children remain TV-free well into elementary school."

Take a look at this video (18 month old IPad Genius) of a girl doing spelling "work" on an iPad. Now that is definitely harmful.

You said,

"I wouldn’t suggest hampering your children, by NOT encouraging them to learn new technologies. To do so could reduce their future chances of success in modern life. There are so many good applications of new technologies; they far outweigh the bad."

If you let a child learn through appropriate developmental activities, that child will be intelligent enough to catch on to any electronic tool later on. Besides, it is high time for society to redefine success. Look where focus on material success has gotten us! If we want a more compassionate and just society, kids in preschool and kindergarten need to play with real toys and with each other instead of using computers and iPads.

DigiKids will have a hard time with slow activities like reading, and thinking; still the pathway to wisdom.

Here is a good interview with Matt Damon's mom, an early childhood professor, about The Disastrous Impact of Education reform on Young Children.