News Channel 3 in Memphis is reporting that Shelby County Schools is cutting the PreK programs out of 40 schools next year. “They’re closing schools and it looks like they’re taking them out of communities where they need to be,” said Mary Shipp, a neighborhood activist. When asked about the cuts, SCS Superintendent Dorsey Hopson said, “Our board and administration have to make some tough decisions we’re sensitive to people’s particular needs but we also have to think about how whatever decision we make fits within the great theme of things." This comes as little surprise to one pre-school teacher in Shelby County who sent us the following:

The Pre-K classes at my school received NOTHING from SCS this year.  We were supposed to get $500 in August but we are still pleading for supplies -- construction paper, glue, crayons, tape, etc. We have ALWAYS gotten this funding before classes started. This year, we were overlooked.  Other classes got their supplies but we did NOT.  Months and months of emails getting NO RESPONSES from our "superiors" or "directors." We were told LAST WEEK to ask yet another person in central office about our supplies.  After FOUR emails, NOTHING.  No reply.  This is what is the matter with Shelby County Schools.  NO ONE in central office will take responsibility for the kids or admit there is a problem and try to rectify it. We were also supposed to get discretionary funds but those were denied by the school financial secretary. Meanwhile, the teachers and assistants are buying supplies out of our pockets. This becomes costly with 20 students who use lots of paper EVERY DAY. But I'll do it for my kids.

Without adequate supplies and cuts in Pre-K programs, is anyone surprised that over 60% of SCS third graders are not proficient in reading? At the January school board meeting, Superintendent Dorsey Hopson told the board.  ”We’re serious about improving student achievement and we want to hear from the board, community, principals, teachers – all of the stakeholders.” 

Among other important things, Pre-K teaches children to listen. Maybe there should be Pre-K for adults too... 

After attending the first TNCore Math Common Core training the summer of 2012, I completely bought into teaching Common Core.  I believed the trainers when they told us that students instructed in this way would easily pass any test, even TCAP, due to it's "rigor." 

I met with the other teachers in our fifth grade team.  They, too, delved head-first into Common Core, spending additional hours researching and planning to fully implement it during the 2012-13 school year.  We all drank the Common Core kool-aid. 

As far as CC math went, I had all of my students "do the dew." This meant to solve a problem they had to Draw a picture, write a horizontal number Equation, and a Word solution sentence. 

While there is nothing wrong with these expectations, they should not be mandatory.  Some students can "see" the answer in their heads and do not need to do all this work.  Some math problems do not require all of this work.  It is more difficult to draw the picture than solve the problem.  Actually, many of the students worked backwards and solved the problem before drawing the picture.  

When the TCAP tests were administered, all of our students did as we trained them to do.  They drew pictures to solve problems.  I do not know what the problems on the test were, but I'm sure they did not all require them to "do the dew".  Solving their problems in this manner slowed them down so none of the students in my classroom completed the test in time.  They were very frustrated and disheartened. 

I know my students did their best.  They did as they had been taught.  I taught Common Core fully and rigorously, as I was trained to do.  This did NOT transfer to TCAP, even with all the so-called rigor.  Most of these students scores dropped from the previous year.  This reflected harshly in my TVAAS score.  I was rated a level 1 this year.  The previous two years I had been a level 4 and a level 5.  Hmmm... this says something.  

The teacher that I co-team teach with had the same TVAAS scores as I did.  Her scores dropped from 5 to 1 as well.  She taught Common Core wholeheartedly for English Language Arts that year.  It obviously did not transfer to any test.  Actually, most of the other teacher's TVAAS scores in our school dropped to 1s, as well. 

This year, we analyzed why we has such a drop on scores.  The main consensus was that we taught to the wrong test.  Why should we teach to a test?  Why shouldn't the test match what we teach?  Why were we told that teaching the "rigorous" Common Core would allow students to excel at any test??? 

We learned from our mistakes and we are teaching the old SPIs to prepare the students for TCAP this year.  So, this school year, we have not taught Common Core at all.  This was a decision made by teachers and administrators.  We made this decision in hopes that the students scores would improve, for their sakes, as well as for our TVAAS scores.  

One point I think needs to be made right now is to clarify the lies the state board of Ed is making.  They are saying it's too late to stop Common Core because it has been implemented for 3 years.  Not true.  We have received training on it over a three year period of time, but very few teachers have implemented it because TCAP is still the test being used.  Technically, we are still teaching the SPIs we always have.  I haven't taught any Common Core standards at all this year.  I have asked others across the state and they said the same thing.

I just hate that they are using this as an excuse to say why we need to keep going with Common Core.  It's a bunch of lies.  

- A teacher in Tipton County, TN


FYI:  Indiana just completely withdrew from Common Core.  They didn't have any fiscal notes attached to their decision.


Question of the day...

If Common Core is supposed to be "VOLUNTARY" and "STATE-LED", then why can't we VOLUNTARILY LEAD ourselves out of it???

Do the math...  no matter which math method you use to arrive at your answer, a $10 million dollar fiscal note on the bill would prevent a $40-50 million dollar wasted expense!  Clearly, it is the better situation for our state and students!

Hey, Legislators: How about letting the voters decide?  Pause Common Core and hold a state-wide Referendum to let voters make that choice.  That would totally be "state-led" and "voluntary."  


"Stopping Common Core would cost millions of dollars, but implementing it will cost Tennessee millions of scholars."  - a TN parent

While our local school districts are in survival mode with shoestring budgets, the Tennessee Department of Education has plans to hire a Public Relations Firm to spread its propaganda:

"The State desires to procure media marketing/advertising including design, production, reports and administrative reconciliation services to assist in efforts to inform and educate the public on education issues."

Contract period:  May 15, 2014 through April 30, 2019
 
(Click HERE to see the job details and contract)
 

Lovely... our tax dollars used to "sell" us more you-know-what to cover up the smell of unqualified leadership.


We do NOT need:
any more logos, slogans, TV commercials, radio ads, billboards, videos, social media advertisements, or targeted mail in our state.  

Our schools DO need:
funding to fix leaking roofs, 
funding for more teachers & smaller class sizes,
funding for more assistants in schools,
funding for more guidance counselors,
and funding for technology to meet the state-mandated testing.  


No amount of marketing or advertising will fix the very real and loud problems of Common Core, PARCC, and the TVAAS teacher evaluation system.
No amount of marketing or advertising will erase the mediocre results of charter schools or hide the fat paychecks of the charter school leadership.  
No amount of marketing or advertising will camouflage the failure of vouchers (in the unfortunate event that they become legalized in TN).  
No amount of marketing or advertising will silence the growing awareness of parents & educators that these reforms stink.
 
This is just more money not making it to where it matters... in the classrooms.

In the spring of 2011 I received a receipt for the sale of my children.  It came in the form of a flyer that simply notified me that my state and, thereby, my children’s school would comply with the Common Core. No other details of the transaction were included. The transaction was complete, and I had no say. In fact, it was the very first time I’d heard about it.

I know what you’re thinking. That’s outrageous! Common  Core has nothing to do with selling things, especially not children!

Okay, so the idea that the State School Board and Governor who’d made this decision could be described as “selling” my children is hyperbole. It is an exaggeration intended to convey an emotion regarding who, in this land of the free, has ultimate authority over decisions that directly affect my children’s intellectual development, privacy, and future opportunities. It is not even an accurate representation of my initial reaction to the flyer. I say it to make a point  that I didn’t realize until much, much later… this isn’t just an issue of education, but of money and control. Please allow me to explain.

That first day my husband picked up the flyer and asked me, “What is Common Core?” To be honest, I had no idea. We looked it up online.  We read that they were standards for each grade that would be consistent across a number of states. They were described as higher standards, internationally benchmarked, state-led, and inclusive of parent and teacher in-put. It didn’t sound like a bad thing, but why hadn’t we ever heard about it before? Again, did I miss the parent in-put meeting or questionnaire… the vote in our legislature? Who from my state had helped to write the standards? In consideration of the decades of disagreement on education trends that I’ve observed regarding education, how in the world did that many states settle all their differences enough to agree on the same standards? It must have taken years, right? How could I have missed it?

At first it was really difficult to get answers to all my questions. I started by asking the people who were in charge of implementing the standards at the school district office, and later talked with my representative on the local school board. I made phone calls and I went to public meetings. We talked a lot about the standards themselves. No one seemed to know the answers to, or wanted to talk about my questions about how the decision was made, the cost, or how it influenced my ability as a parent to advocate for my children regarding curriculum. I even had the chance to ask the Governor himself at a couple of local political meetings. I was always given a similar response. It usually went something like this:

Question: “How much will this cost?”

Answer: “These are really good standards.”

Question: “I read that the Algebra that was offered in 8th grade, will now not be offered until 9th grade. How is this a higher standard?”

Answer: “These are better standards. They go deeper into concepts.”

Question: “Was there a public meeting that I missed?”

Answer: “You should really read the standards. This is a good thing.”

Question: “Isn’t it against the Constitution and the law of the land to have a national curriculum under the control of the federal government?’

Answer: “Don’t you want your kids to have the best curriculum?”

It got to the point where I felt like I was talking to Jedi masters who, instead of actually answering my questions, would wave their hand in my face and say, “You will like these standards.”

I stopped asking. I started reading.

I read the standards. I read about who wrote the standards. I read about the timeline of how we adopted the standards (before the standards were written.) I read my state’s Race to the Top grant application, in which we said we were going to adopt the standards. I read the rejection of that grant application and why we wouldn’t be given additional funding to pay for this commitment. I read how standardized national test scores are measured and how states are ranked. I read news articles, blogs, technical documents, legislation, speeches given by the US Education Secretary and other principle players, and even a few international resolutions regarding education.

I learned a lot.

I learned that most other parents didn’t know what the Common Core was either.

I learned that the standards were state accepted, but definitely not “state led.”

I learned that the international benchmark claim is a pretty shaky one and doesn’t mean they are better than or even equal to international standards that are considered high.

I learned that there was NO public input before the standards were adopted. State-level decision makers had very little time themselves and had to agree to them in principle as the actual standards were not yet complete.

I learned that the only content experts on the panel to review the standards had refused to sign off on them, and why they thought the standards were flawed.

I learned that much of the specific standards are not supported by research but are considered experimental.

I learned that in addition to national standards we agreed to new national tests that are funded and controlled by the federal government.

I learned that in my state, a portion of teacher pay is dependent on student test performance.

I learned that not only test scores, but additional personal information about my children and our family would be tracked in a state-wide data collection project for the express purpose of making decisions about their educational path and “aligning” them with the workforce.

I learned that there are fields for tracking home-schooled children in this database too.

I learned that the first step toward getting pre-school age children into this data project is currently underway with new legislation that would start a new state preschool program.

I learned that this data project was federally funded with a stipulation that it be compatible with other state’s data projects. Wouldn’t this feature create a de facto national database of children?

I learned that my parental rights to deny the collection of this data or restrict who has access to it have been changed at the federal level through executive regulation, not the legislative process.

I learned that these rights as protected under state law are currently under review and could also be changed.

I learned that the financing, writing, evaluation, and promotion of the standards had all been done by non-governmental special interest groups with a common agenda.

I learned that their agenda was in direct conflict with what I consider to be the best interests of my children, my family, and even my country.

Yes, I had concerns about the standards themselves, but suddenly that issue seemed small in comparison to the legal, financial, constitutional and representative issues hiding behind the standards and any good intentions to improve the educational experience of my children.

If it was really about the best standards, why did we adopt them before they were even written?

If they are so wonderful that all, or even a majority of parents would jump for joy to have them implemented, why wasn’t there any forum for parental input?

What about the part where I said I felt my children had been sold? I learned that the U.S. market for education is one of the most lucrative – bigger than energy or technology by one account – especially in light of these new national standards that not only create economy of scale for education vendors, but require schools to purchase all new materials, tests and related technology. Almost everything the schools had was suddenly outdated.

When I discovered that the vendors with the biggest market share and in the position to profit the most from this new regulation had actually helped write or finance the standards, the mama bear inside me ROARED!

Could it be that the new standards had more to do with profit than what was best for students? Good thing for their shareholders they were able to avoid a messy process involving parents or their legislative representatives.

As I kept note of the vast sums of money exchanging hands in connection with these standards with none of it going to address the critical needs of my local school – I felt cheated.

When I was told that the end would justify the means, that it was for the common good of our children and our society, and to sit back and trust that they had my children’s best interests at heart – they lost my trust.

As I listened to the Governor and education policy makers on a state and national level speak about my children and their education in terms of tracking, alignment, workforce, and human capital – I was offended.

When I was told that this is a done deal, and there was nothing as a parent or citizen that I could do about it – I was motivated.

Finally, I learned one more very important thing. I am not the only one who feels this way. Across the nation parents grandparents and other concerned citizens are educating themselves, sharing what they have learned and coming together. The problem is, it is not happening fast enough. Digging through all the evidence, as I have done, takes a lot of time – far more time than the most people are able to spend. In order to help, I summarized what I thought was some of the most important information into a flowchart so that others could see at a glance what I was talking about.

I am not asking you to take my word for it. I want people to check the references and question the sources. I am not asking for a vote or for money. I don’t expect everyone to agree with me. I do believe with all my heart that a decision that affects the children of almost every state in the country should not be made without a much broader discussion, validated research, and much greater input from parents and citizens than it was originally afforded.

If you agree I encourage you to share this information. Post it, pin it, email it, tweet it.

No more decisions behind closed doors! Let’s get everyone talking about Common Core.

Thanks to Alyson Williams for permission to publish her story.

Sources for research: http://www.utahnsagainstcommoncore.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/FlowchartSources.pdf

My 4th grade child is a typical 'A' student.  She's a confident writer and story teller. She's even won some poetry contests. Her teacher prepared her class for the PARCC test with assignments that mimicked the way the questions would be asked on PARCC. On the practice assignments using paper, my child felt she did very well comparing and contrasting two stories and writing about them. But when it came time to do the practice PARCC online, my child struggled.

The computer interface was a split screen and the editing tools were unfamiliar. My child came home crying. She was distraught that she only completed one paragraph because it took her too long to edit.

She was angry with the computer testing. "Why can't we just do this on paper so I can show them what I know?"

The anger and frustration at the tool is abusive.  Especially for little kids who are not prepared emotionally for the frustration.  What are we doing to our kids?

My kid is not your lab rat. 

- from a TN parent in Nashville, TN

A Mom in New York (who is actually PRO-Common Core) took a video of her child doing an easy PARCC math sample question on the PARCC website. The Mom wrote:

"The website has a link that allows you to, and I quote: “Try out sample test questions in their intended environment.”

So I did.

And I was frustrated.  Immensely frustrated.

But then I realized that no one is going to care about my descriptions of my frustration with “the sample test questions in their intended environment.”  But maybe someone will care about my daughter’s frustration.  After all, she’s 9.  She’s currently in third grade.  She will be taking these tests a year from now.  And she’s a good kid, she’s a strong student, and she is game to try new things.

So I asked her to try one of the sample questions.  A few minutes in, when I got a sense of how frustrating the process was for her, I asked her permission to video her attempts to get the interface to work.  

Click HERE to see the video of how it went for that Mom & child who had up-to-date technology and more patience than most.

This PARCC test is not rigorous, it is RIDICULOUS.
It is a ridiculous waste of our tax money.
It is a ridiculous waste of our children's time.

This does not show how much a child has learned, it shows how computer literate the child is to figure out this confusing, frustrating format.  Affluent children with a computers in their homes will have a clear advantage over children who do not.  This will widen the achievement gap even more than it already is.
 

Legislators:  If you vote against HB1129/SB1266 and its amendments to allow the TNDOE to give our children this expensive, ridiculous PARCC test, there will be a boatload of frustrated parents and teachers contacting you next year about getting rid of Common Core.  And even though you will try to tell them that Common Core "is just standards," they know better.  They won't believe you.  They will remember you allowed it to happen and they will campaign against you in your next election.  Education is a key issue to parents because our children mean more to us than anything else in this world.   
 

Tennessee Momma Bears uncovered a dirty little secret about a corporately-funded out-of-state organization in TN that claims to advocate for students.  All politicians should be aware of this, especially since many Senators, Representatives, and School Board members have accepted significant campaign contributions from this organization believing that it represented real people.  Read what the Momma Bears found:

Momma Bears has often wondered about the gullible people who fall for the StudentsFirst sales pitch.  StudentsFirst is an underhanded, astroturf organization funded by corporate billionaires (HERE and HERE).  This is Michelle Rhee's group.  Yes, the same Michelle Rhee that legislators don't want to be associated with because she has such a bad reputation. How on earth do they have over 75,000 "likes" on Facebook?  
The people commenting on their posts obviously don't agree with them (read them when you need a laugh, it is pretty funny).  They rarely get any "likes" at all on their posts despite having 75,000 "members" on their facebook page.

Well, we found the answer...  those gullible people were really not people at all!!!   

StudentsFirst's Facebook "likes" were bought from Bangladesh!!!   

We aren't kidding!  Look: 

See that their most popular city is Istanbul, Turkey?
See that their most popular age group is 18-24 year olds?
See how the graph lines were pretty low until it spiked the week of March 9?

Yep, apparently, someone bought themselves some cheap, overseas popularity... because informed parents sure don't "like" what StudentsFirst is pushing on our kids and schools in America!  

  No, we don't "like" their corporate donors profiting from our kids and our public schools.  
  No, we don't "like" their stinking vouchers or manipulative parent trigger law. 
  No, we don't "like" our kids doing common core.
  No, we don't "like" our public schools converted to charter schools for their profit at the expense of our children. 

Smart parents want strong neighborhood public schools in their communities,which is the total opposite of what StudentsFirst spends its millions of dollars on in our state to lobby our elected officials and fund campaigns to sway our politicians.  

StudentsFirst is, literally, buying votes in TN.  Unfortunately, their money in TN makes them very popular.  The TN legislators who received the most money from StudentsFirst (Senator Delores Gresham, Rep. John DeBerry, and the members of the Education committees) vote lock-step with what StudentsFirst wants. Every. Single. Time.  (That's a big reason that the TN House just circumvented those bought & paid-for committee members by hijacking a bill and adding amendments on it to delay PARCC & common core.)

FAUX Parents
This is what we Momma Bears now like to affectionately call, "Faux Parents."  See, when Commissioner Kevin Huffman told a group of rich Chamber of Commerce people that he couldn't possibly listen to parents because there are many "Faux Parent" groups in TN with ulterior motives, we thought he was talking about Momma Bears and groups like ours.  Obviously, we were wrong.  He was talking about his ex-wife's organization, StudentsFirst!  (Okay, he really was probably talking about us and trying to discredit our voices, but still, you gotta note the irony of his claim and the truth of StudentsFirst's purchased popularity!)   Check out the Twitter storm (#fauxparent) to see pictures of real parents holding signs about being a "faux parent."  Parents, sure do have great senses of humor!

The sad part of this can be stated by a mom who said this:

"StudentsFirst has lobbyists galore up on the hill telling our legislators that they are speaking on behalf of parents. They are just neglecting to mention that the parents are living in Bangladesh not the US and certainly not Tennessee."  

With tongue-in-cheek, she also says:

"Clearly Rhee (Michelle Rhee, CEO of StudentsFirst) is not on her "A" game because her home state of California only has 241 likes on it. Seems like someone needs to put a call in to the folks in Bangladesh and get that fixed."


Considering Michelle Rhee's cheating scandal and how her organization has paid big campaign bucks to gullible politicians, this Facebook debacle doesn't surprise Momma Bears one bit.

I had a kindergarten student who made it to school on average twice a week. We had a meeting with the parent and she explained that she was too close to the school for bus transportation and that she shared a car with her boyfriend and didn't always have access to it. She also worked nights and sometimes didn't get home in time to walk her four children to school. She was not comfortable allowing them to cross a busy four lane road without a crossing guard. Before I could think, I offered to pick the children up for school and bring them home each day. My principal commended my offer, but also warned this was a personal liability and that I was risking being late to work. She also explained she would not be able to excuse any late arrivals I may have. I told her I had faith in my decision and that I didn't forsee any issues. I explained we could cross that bridge if we even arrived at it. I was never late and thoroughly enjoyed my time with a most gracious family.
- A teacher in Shelby County, TN

This past fall a former student called me and told me that her grandmother had died. She wanted my help because her mother wanted to read a poem at her grandmother's service. At the end of the day I met with her and gave her a poem for her mother to read. I got a hug in exchange.  
- A teacher in Norris, TN

My strength as a teacher has always been developing relationships with my students. The most important thing I think I have ever done in my teaching career happened when a female student confided in me with a dark secret that she had been enduring for years. Her mom and stepdad had been molesting her for a number of years. She had never told anyone. I was shocked. I immediately talked to the right people to get her help. The parents went to prison. She went through many tough years due to all she had been through. She ran away several times. Whatever happened, we remained in touch. The bond we developed never ended. She is now in her early twenties in a serious relationship with soon to be stepchildren. She will be starting college soon. She still calls me and send me pictures of her and her family. She means so much to me. What we experienced together changed so much about me and how I view the world. I now am always looking for these kids and sadly, have found quite a few more in similar situations.
- A teacher in Tipton County, TN

A few years ago two former students invited me to go to the midnight showing of the opening of a Harry Potter movie. I taught them in 5th grade and they were college sophomores. Their invitation said, "Reading is the reason that we're still such good friends, and you reading Harry Potter to us is the reason that we both still love to read." 
- A teacher in Knox County

My Principal received an email from a parent saying how much they appreciated me for teaching their daughter the "love" of reading
- A TN teacher, district unknown

My daughter's teacher called my husband to let him know that our daughter broke down crying after not being able to answer questions on the constructed response assessment (a Common Core test). She, along with other teachers & guidance counselors, loved on our daughter and let her know her value isn't measured by ridiculous tests.
- A parent in Franklin County, TN

I have a group of 6-10 boys who don't like to eat in the cafeteria. They come to my room. No duty-free lunch for me, but I like these kids and appreciate that they don't like the crowd-scene in the cafeteria. I provide low-key counseling.
- A Norris, TN teacher
 
I teach all seniors- this student graduated last year- I mentored her the entire Spring semester when she was was cutting herself to deal with stress, anger, and emotional pain. She was also considering suicide. I was on call 24 hr for her to text me if she was in danger of cutting or going over the edge. We are still very close--I took her to get her first tattoo after graduation before she went to college in the fall. She also brought her boyfriend by my house- for me to meet- and approve of- this year. -she recently sent me this message. "S" is her boyfriend. "I'm really glad we're friends. S*** told me to thank you. He's 100% sure you saved my life." 
- A selfless TN teacher in Winchester, TN

I have a girl in one class whose mother died a couple of years' ago. She has never been clear about how her mother died. She says that she doesn't know. This girl is always at my side. Always wants to sit at the front of the class. Always wants lots of attention from me. I found her to be exhausting at first, but now I know why she is so needy. I give her lots of attention.  
- a teacher from Metro Nashville, TN
 
The best compliment I ever got......a parent told me that her daughter had said to her, "Mom, if I ever needed anything, I know I could go to Mrs. Hopson and she would help me out." 
- Teacher of the Year for 2013-14 in Knox County, TN
 
I read Darren Shan's series of Cirque du Freak books to my students. They liked them so much the librarian had to order more of them, and they asked for the books for presents. We even met one Saturday to watch the movie together
-teacher from Knoxville, TN

7 years ago the house of a student of mine burnt to the ground. She and her mother were both very large plus-sizes, so I guessed that most clothing donated to the family by the general public would not fit them. I am a plus size, so I immediately went home and cleaned out my closets and drawers and filled three extra large plastic bags with clothes and shoes and accessories. When the girl returned to school in a couple of days, I told her discretely during class that I had some donated clothes for to take home. Her mom met me in the pick up line after school to load the three sacks of clothes into her car, and she and her daughter were so appreciative of the bright, colorful and stylish plus-size clothes. For the rest of the semester, it made me feel warm and fuzzy inside to see the girl wearing some of my donations. She told me that her mother had chosen more of the clothes because the style was more for women than for teens, but she was thankful for all that i had given them since they had lost everything.
- A teacher in Murfreesboro, TN

I worked w/3 other amazing 6th grade teachers. We had a handful of kids we knew were pretty much on their own once they went home. Weekends were a terribly long time to these kids. We made sure that each one of them went home each Friday w/enough food to last them (and their siblings) the weekend. When winter came- they had coats, hats, gloves and anything else they needed. 
- A Teacher in Washington County, TN

I have volunteered my time to tutor my low kids in reading and math for the past 2 years... with NO PAY involved
- A selfless TN teacher
 
It is impossible to put a numerical rating on the value of teachers. 

Have you ever met a rich teacher???  We haven't.  They aren't in the teaching profession to get rich, they are in it to make a difference in children's lives.  Teachers are down-to-earth, hard-working, servant-leaders.  They deserve respect and admiration.

***Legislators: please vote YES for the Teacher Respect Act (HB 2263 / SB 2047) which prohibits the use of test scores for teacher license decisions.  Don't let the State bully teachers any more.

A plain ol' TN Mom connected the dots... and discovered something HUGE!!! She wrote us this:
 
I was reading this blog by Mercedes Schneider, and she wrote that Florida's NAEP gains were partly due to the fact that Florida stopped socially promoting 3rd graders, but it backfired on them because it was mostly their minorities that were being held back. Anyway, the blog said that "Jeb Bush tried to erase social promotion in the third grade by holding back number of third graders. Having these students repeat third grade offered the illusion of testing gains for fourth graders taking the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). In short, if more lower-performing students are kept out of fourth grade, then the resulting fourth-grade NAEP score improvement is misleading."

So that got me curious about TN. Do we socially promote 3rd graders? I searched online and lookie what I found!!!  

• http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2011/jun/13/new-state-law-ends-social-promotion-third-graders/
• http://timesfreepress.com/news/2011/may/18/tennessee-senate-passes-bill-forcing-schools-end-s/
• http://www.wsmv.com/story/16203480/lawmakers-want-to-eliminate-social-promotion-in-schools
• New LAW: http://www.tn.gov/sos/acts/107/pub/pc0351.pdf
• LAW Ammended to include 8th graders: http://wapp.capitol.tn.gov/apps/billinfo/BillSummaryArchive.aspx?BillNumber=HB3269&ga=107

Tennessee passed a law in 2011 that required Tennessee's 3rd graders to be held back if they aren't proficient.  So, beginning in the 2011-12 school year in Tennessee, no more social promotions to 4th grade! 

Why is this such a BIG DEAL?

The NAEP test is ONLY given to 4th and 8th graders!

And the NAEP test is only given every 2 years! (2011 & 2013)

BINGO!

So, those huge jumps for 4th grade Reading (5 points) and 4th grade Math (7 points) are, in large part, because there were no socially promoted students to take the test!  They were all still in 3rd grade!!!

So, as Governor Haslam and Commissioner Huffman have traveled across the state bragging about being the "fastest improving state in the nation" they don't tell you the whole truth. 

POP!  (That was the sound of their bubble bursting)
 
TN was "fastest improving" because we left our failing students behind a grade before the last NAEP test.
 

I am the Vice President of TREE.  https://www.facebook.com/TNExcellence?ref=hl 

Yesterday morning I was fortunate enough to be invited to attend an invitation-only speaker series that brings together CEOs of companies across Tennessee to hear from a wide range of individuals. Many of these CEOs are actively partnering with community schools and charter schools to help them with their needs.

The speaker on this occasion was Tennessee’s Education Commissioner, Kevin Huffman, so this event had great potential to get more CEOs and their companies involved in our schools. Mr. Huffman essentially talked about his history as our Education Commissioner and how it felt to be “a change agent.” He also talked about all the pushback he has received over his reforms. During the Q & A, a gentleman responded to the pushback commentary by asking Mr. Huffman if he felt like it was time for a listening tour. The Commissioner rattled off the various things he has done such as visiting districts and speaking to teachers and superintendents, but then stated that “there was no good way to get parent feedback."

As with many of the "problems" he pointed to during his talk, he didn’t offer up any suggestions on how to rectify the lack of parental input in his reform process, nor did he ask for ideas from the audience. He went on to give a very convoluted reason for not reaching out to parents which made my jaw drop in disbelief: He told the CEOs that “there are several faux parent groups that claim to represent parents but they don’t and they have ulterior motives and agenda.” 

Um. WOW! My hand shot up in an attempt to get the opportunity to ask what “faux parent groups” he was referring to exactly. One could argue that StudentsFirst could be labeled in such a way, but somehow I don’t think he was disparaging his ex-wife’s astroturf education group which has lobbyists on the Hill advocating for Huffman's reforms. I got the distinct impression he was talking about TREE and all the other parent groups that have popped up across Tennessee because parents have had enough of his "do-what-I-say-or-else" reforms.

I was never able to ask him my question because I was not called on and had to dash out the door to, ironically, meet and speak with five parent groups from across the state about our disapproval of the Voucher and For-Profit Charter Companies bills. We also talked about our frustration over having our education bills buried by the Administration. The powers that be are trying to sweep parents under the rug and are clearly willing to say whatever it takes in an attempt to discredit us. We will not stand by and allow Kevin Huffman or anyone else to malign us or any of our fellow parent groups that are focused on education issues in Tennessee.

Feel free to join us in our #fauxparent campaign. Tweet and or post on Facebook a picture of yourself holding a sign that reads “I am NOT a #fauxparent!” and then add any hashtag that applies to your fight for public education. (We suggest using these these hashtags: #fauxparent, #tnedu, #tnleg. You should also include Kevin Huffman's twitter handle in the tweet: @TNeduCommish. Here is an example tweet: "I am not a #fauxparent. #tnedu #tnleg @TNeduCommish")

We want the Governor, his appointed “change agent”, the legislature, and everyone else in Tennessee to know that we are, in fact, very real, incredibly determined Tennesseans with valid concerns about the reforms that are being pushed in our state and we will not be silenced. We are the parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and guardians of the almost 1,000,000 public education students in Tennessee and we have had enough.

Please join me in the effort make parents across TN aware that they are being marginalized by sharing this post on your personal Facebook pages and on Twitter. We must spread the word.

A locally elected school board member, who was also at that meeting, had this to say:

Yesterday, I attended an event where Commissioner Huffman spoke. I was amazed by the tone of his speech and by his version of what has transpired over the last few years. Many of the CEOs at the event chuckled along with him, apparently believing what he said. 

He insisted that most teachers in the state are happy. He told the crowd that they could listen to anecdotal stories about teacher complaints or they could consider the "evidence," meaning the TELL survey (and a Vanderbilt survey with which I'm not familiar). When I raised questions about this and pointed out that the vast majority of the teachers in the state are being rated on classes they don't teach, he maintained that our new teacher evaluation model is the "best thing that has ever happened in TN." 

He dismissed those who have questioned his decisions, saying there are many in TN who want to roll back our progress and higher NAEP scores. 

And my personal favorite: When asked what parents think, he said it's difficult to know what parents believe because there are so many "faux parent groups" in the state.

Takeaway: If you don't agree with Commissioner Huffman, (1) you're part of a fake organization, (2) you hope that our schools will get progressively lower scores over time, or (3) you're a whiny teacher who is in the minority of teacher ranks.

Why is this guy still in power? Because he is completely insulated. This event was sponsored by a CEO group and attended by a friendly Chamber of Commerce crowd who apparently have no idea what's actually happening in public education.

The problem with many of the elites, who have been trying to run the show, is that they've never spent any real time in a public school, so they buy this nonsense.

 
Why would TN Commissioner Kevin Huffman say that about parent groups?  Could it be:

• Because he thinks parents couldn't possibly be smart enough to research, understand, and see the gaping holes in manipulated data?  

NO, that's not it.  We're highly-educated, successful parents.

• Because he thinks we aren't smart enough to organize with other parents to form organizations to support our children's schools?  

Nooooo, that's not it, either.  We're great at organizing.  In fact, it has been easy to do as more and more parents learn of these awful tests, the Common Core mandates forced on our children, and the abuses their teachers are facing.

• Because he thinks people have time to create fake groups just because they don't like him? 

Nope, we are busy parents with jobs, schools to volunteer at, and kids to raise.  Believe us, we'd much rather spend the time that we devote to these parent organizations to supporting other needs in our schools, churches, and homes, but this is where we feel our voices need to be heard.

• Because he thinks people without children are really being paid to contact our legislators, school board members, Superintendents, and the media?  

HAHAHA!  Noooooooo, that sounds like a conspiracy theory, doesn't it?  We certainly aren't paid and we won't accept any money for our efforts.  

• Is he scared of the power we hold???

That could be it.  Because:
We aren't backing down.  
The more we learn, the more determined we get.
The more parents we talk to, the stronger our group becomes.
No amount of money motivates us.

Our "ulterior motives" & "agenda" = our CHILDREN

Parents who never thought they had a political bone in their body have become involved because their children are being harmed by excessive testing, Common Core, charter schools, and other reforms.  Now more than ever, parents are motivated to research and learn, to watch committee meetings online, to attend their local school board meetings, to contact elected officials, to ask in-depth questions.  Some are even running for elected office to make things better.

No, we won't reveal our names.  That would jeopardize the voices we've promised to keep anonymous through our TN Parent blogs and emails.  You can see the many groups we collaborate with and represent at our website:  www.tnparents.org