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Wake up! Federal Secretary of Education to "phase out the authority of the States"

11/25/2014

The heavy-handedness of the Federal Government to control States and take away the constitutional authority of the States is getting worse. Through waivers for No Child Left Behind (which some affectionately call "No Testing Company Left Behind") and Race To The Top (that states were bribed into agreeing to for money that is long gone), the Federal Government is clearly bullying the States, especially Tennessee.

But it is about to get worse. The Federal Department of Education doesn't even pretend to hide the fact any longer. Take a look at this new rule from Arne Duncan, the appointed U.S. Secretary of Education. It specifically says their intention is to "phase out the authority of States" in regards to modifying the standards and the testing of disadvantaged students. For a limited period of time, they will graciously allow certain States to have a transition period to comply with their new mandate.

How can this be legal? The General Education Provisions Act, the Department of Education Organization Act, the 10th Amendment, and the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, as amended by the No Child Left Behind Act, ban the Federal Department of Education from directing, supervising, or controlling elementary and secondary school curriculum, programs of instruction, and instructional materials. But they are doing it anyway...

Arne Duncan has not been quiet about the fact that he intends to force every child to take the same standardized tests, regardless if those children have disabilities, handicaps, are developmentally delayed, sick, dying, or whether their parent wants to refuse testing for their child or not. Arne Duncan is very loyal and devoted to the tests (and testing companies).

Without exception, all children will suffer under hours and hours of standardized tests. These tests are not diagnostic, even though they cost a LOT of money. Parents and teachers never see the test questions or actual results. The scores aren't returned until the following school year. These scores are statistically manipulated to push a PR agenda that is used to control education policy. And, now, states will have even less control over these tests. Testing is no longer a tool for teachers to use, it is a tool for those in power to manipulate our public education system. Testing has become a weapon.

This should make parents in every state boiling mad! This should make homeschooling parents fearful. This should make local school board members furious! This should make our elected State legislators livid! We must demand a stop to this top-down bullying and control! Arne Duncan does not know what is best for our children in Tennessee. Tennessee's authority over educating our children is being stolen from us.

Nashville's "Third Way" Plan = Wrong Way

11/19/2014

On Tuesday, September 9, 2014, Metro Nashville Public Schools Director Jesse Register stunned the community when he proposed turning East Nashville (a group of historic neighborhoods with a strong tradition of pubic education) into an "all choice" zone dominated by charter schools. If approved by the Nashville School Board, Register's radical plan could end up being Tennessee's most extreme example of dismantling public education and moving toward an all-charter, New Orleans-style school system (which has been a disaster for students and communities in New Orleans, but a profitable business venture for unaccountable charter operators and private contractors. Click HERE, HERE, and HERE for proof).

What was most confusing about Register's announcement on September 9 was his branding it the "Third Way," harking back to former Governor Phil Bredesen's 2003 inaugural address calling for an end to partisan state politics. Co-opting Bredesen's language from 11 years ago seems like a head-scratcher, particularly for a plan that has pitted entire neighborhoods against each other in East Nashville. As it turns out, Register apparently has one of Bredesen's former staff members advising him.

Through an open-records request, East Nashville United (a group of parents and community leaders opposing Register's plan to destabilize public education in their neighborhoods) unearthed a series of emails about the so-called "Third Way" plan. One email in particular jumped out.

On August 28, some 11 days before the bombshell announcement, Register received an email from Nashville School Board member, Jill Speering, expressing concern about the apparent lack of turnaround strategy for the city's low-performing schools. About an hour later, Register forwarded Speering's email to Drew Kim, an education policy consultant, with the comment: "See below! Smile." An hour later, Kim responded by saying, "Great. The 9th will be your time!," obviously referring to the upcoming announcement on September 9.

So who is Drew Kim and why does this email exchange matter?
Kim is the founder of P3 Consulting, one the many shadowy consulting firms that popped up after Tennessee's 2010 Race to the Top win of millions of dollars. Kim (no relation to Nashville School Board member Kim) also happens to be the former policy advisor for Bredesen. Hence, the Third Way connection.

Kim's client's list, proudly displayed on the home page of his firm's web site (www.p3tennessee.com), reads like a "who's who" of organizations that want to dismantle public education:

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation,
Teach for America (Kim is an alumnus),
the Hyde Family Foundation (the Memphis arm of the charter school movement, and the lead proponent for the first charter laws in TN)
and SAS (the company that maintains the TVAAS data in Tennessee's controversial teacher evaluation system using William "Bill" Sanders' secret mathematical formula for agriculture growth).

Drew Kim was a registered lobbyist for Aspire (a chain of charter schools that operates in California and Memphis). He was also a lobbyist for Tribal Education (the same UK company that MNPS contracted with for an assessment of their system). Should Drew Kim add Metro Nashville Schools' logo to the list of clients on his website???

So let's get this straight...
Jesse Register, who for most of his career was a defender of public education, apparently, has caved under political pressure. He is now scheming with, and taking advice from, a former Bredesen aide and for-profit consultant who's loading him up with bad ideas on behalf of his anti-public education clients.

This, in a nutshell, is what's wrong with the radical reform movement and weak leaders like Register. If the Nashville School Board votes to dismantle East Nashville's public schools based on Register's and Kim's radical plan, then school board members across Tennessee should be on the lookout for "all choice" proposals to destabilize their schools, too.
Third Way? No way.

UPDATE: More seats open for Ravitch event!

11/18/2014

Here is updated information about our earlier post regarding tomorrow's event with Diane Ravitch:

EXCITING UPDATE: All 500 seats were reserved for the Ravitch event, plus there was a waiting list! It is a truly wonderful thing that so many people from across Tennessee are concerned about public education and want to hear Diane Ravitch's words of wisdom! Fortunately, the hosting facility has more space available in their expandable ballroom. This will open the seating to 800 total guests. If you wish to attend on Wednesday, be sure to get your ticket through the link below.

We encourage that you come early and stay late to network with attendees. It will be an exciting event!

(as posted by the Momma Bears)

from the TREE website:

TREE Hosts Diane Ravitch This Wednesday

Join us as we welcome public school champion Diane Ravitch at Vanderbilt University’s Commodore Ballroom this Wednesday, November 19, at 6:30 p.m. The Commodore Ballroom is located on the first floor of the Student Life Center at 310 25th Avenue South. Parking is available in the 25th Avenue garage.

Diane Ravitch, an author, historian, and former U.S. Assistant Secretary of Education will speak and discuss the hoax of public school education reform. This event is proudly sponsored by Tennesseans Reclaiming Educational Excellence (TREE), the TN BATs, and Momma Bears of TN.

Please go to our EventBright page to RSVP.

We are now able to offer VIP upgrades to your current RSVP.

If you would like a close-up VIP seat go to the TREE Donation page, donate $40+ and we will have your name on the VIP seating list when you arrive.

NOTE: Check-in begins at 4:45. Doors open at 6:00 p.m. Please arrive no later than 6:15 p.m. to guarantee entry. This event is limited in space. Once we sell out, you may add yourself to a waiting list that will provide entry to the event in the place of any reservation that does not arrive by 6:15 p.m. The waiting list is first-come, first-served. This event is FREE of charge, but premium seats are available with a TREE donation of $40 or more. See the RSVP link to Eventbright for details. We encourage you to come early and stay late to network with attendees.

Click HERE to get tickets to this event

How exciting! Diane Ravitch will be in TN this Wednesday to speak to a full house!

11/17/2014

from the TREE website:

TREE Hosts Diane Ravitch This Wednesday

Join us as we welcome public school champion Diane Ravitch at Vanderbilt University’s Commodore Ballroom this Wednesday, November 19, at 6:30 p.m. The Commodore Ballroom is located on the first floor of the Student Life Center at 310 25th Avenue South. Parking is available in the 25th Avenue garage.

Diane Ravitch, an author, historian, and former U.S. Assistant Secretary of Education will speak and discuss the hoax of public school education reform. This event is proudly sponsored by Tennesseans Reclaiming Educational Excellence (TREE), the TN BATs, and Momma Bears of TN.

Please go to our EventBright page to RSVP.

NOTE: Check-in begins at 4:45. Doors open at 6:00 p.m. Please arrive no later than 6:15 p.m. to guarantee entry. This event is limited in space. Once we sell out, you may add yourself to a waiting list that will provide entry to the event in the place of any reservation that does not arrive by 6:15 p.m. The waiting list is first-come, first-served. This event is FREE of charge, but premium seats are available with a TREE donation of $40 or more. See the RSVP link to Eventbright for details. We encourage you to come early and stay late to network with attendees.

Update from TREE: This event is now full. There is a waiting list for the free tickets. There are still some VIP front section tickets left for $40 each. See the link for details.

Big anti-Common Core meeting in Johnson City this week

11/17/2014

Fox News is rumored to be covering this anti-Common Core meeting in Johnson City, TN this week...

This meeting is open to anyone interested in learning about Common Core and Islam in schools. Laurie Cardoza-Moore, president of Proclaiming Justice to the Nations, will be the guest speaker.

Click HERE for more information

Huffman resigned (finally). Who is next?

11/13/2014

With the surprising, yet long-awaited, announcement of Kevin Huffman'sdeparture, conversation now turns to who will be his successor. Social media and bloggers are abuzz with speculation. We are hearing some possibilities include:

Jamie Woodson: CEO of SCORE who was elected to be a TN Senator representing the Knoxville area, but resigned during her term to work for a nonprofit organization (SCORE). Even though SCORE is a "nonprofit", it pays her a whopping $325,000 a year to push mostly Common Core, but also standardized tests, harmful teacher evaluations, and charter schools. She has no educational experience whatsoever other than her brief stint on the Senate Education Committee. In all honesty, a kindergarten room mom has spent more time in the classroom than she has. We think she is too smart to take a whopping $150,000 paycut to be the Governor's whipping post to push reforms that profit rich people. She knows where her bread is buttered, and that is with SCORE, which gets the bulk of its funding from out-of-state corporate interests.

Jim McIntyre: Knoxville's current Superintendent, but not for long. He went through an unaccredited program called the Broad Academy which is basically a training program created by a billionaire, Eli Broad, whereby Superintendents are trained to create churn in public schools, close them, and hand them to charter school investors to get rich from. Even the million dollar PR department devoted to polishing McIntyre's image can't hide the fact that Knox County has worst teacher morale in history of that district, the recent news of Knox School District's unpaid bills, and questionable, if not illegal, practices under his watch.

Lyle Ailshie: Superintendent of Kingsport City Schools. His district recently won the SCORE prize (see above info about SCORE) which makes a big deal out of people and districts who march in-step with SCORE's agenda to privatize and profiteer from public schools. He is a huge Common Core cheerleader.

Possibly one of these brown-nosing Superintendents: who formed a small club and a website (that hasn't been updated since March) to support Haslam, Huffman, and their reforms:
- Jerry Boyd (Putnam Co.)
- Neel Durbin (Dyersburg)
- Dorsey Hopson (Shelby County)
- Vicki Kirk (Greene Co.)
- Clint Satterfield (Trousdale Co.)
- Jubal Yennie (Sullivan Co.)
  NOTE: If any of the above Superintendents get the position, we will know that Governor Haslam is all about trying to push the same exact things that Huffman did.

"Tennessee will never see real, lasting change until we stop blaming teachers and start addressing root problems. Our schools are underfunded, our teachers are underpaid and we aren't talking about poverty and parental involvement--two key factors in student improvement. Our hope is that Governor Haslam's new Commissioner of Education understands these issues and shares our commitment to addressing them going forward."
- Rep. Fitzhugh

12,000 young students saved from unnecessary test in Knox County

11/4/2014

The Knox County school board voted on Monday night to discontinue giving the state's SAT-10 test to their Kindergarten through 2nd graders. This test is not a mandated test, even though the cost of it is paid for by the state (yes, it is still our tax dollars paying for it).

Over-testing is an issue that parents and teachers are deeply concerned about for many reasons:

The TIME spent testing takes away from meaningful learning time.
The COST of these tests mean other important things are cut like staff, extra-curricular sports, music, art, etc. (Did you know that Chattanooga schools do not even have Art teachers? Their parent organizations must raise funds every year to hire real Art teachers and purchase art supplies!)
The INAPPROPRIATENESS of these tests, especially for young children. Developmentally, children younger than 3rd grade should not be standardized tested.
- According to the National Association for the Education of Young Child, the odds that a test at the kindergarten level will give inaccurate results are about 50/50 — the same odds as flipping a coin.
- Relying on standardized tests to make important decisions about a young child’s education violates professional standards and National Academy of Sciences recommendations.
- Academic pressure in kindergarten has not produced better results. On the contrary, experts believe it contributes to failure, retention, and behavior problems. (Sources: Alliance for Childhood, NAEYC)
The SAT-10 test is NOT ALIGNED with the curriculum or standards in Tennessee, according to Dr. Kathleen Airhart, TN's Deputy Commissioner of Education. In fact, the SAT-10 test has only a 75% alignment with the curriculum as presented in a presentation to the Knox County Board of Education. As a parent logically points out:
- "Would 75% alignment with curriculum be acceptable for End-of-Course (EOC) assessments and Advanced Placement (AP) exams? Those criterion-referenced tests currently in use were written with course content in mind. What would be the reaction from high school students (and their parents) if those tests were replaced by assessments that were only generally aligned to the curriculum? Would they be willing to risk grade-point averages and scores for college applications on assessments that were only aligned to 3/4 of the curriculum studied? If such jeopardy is unacceptable in high school, what makes it more acceptable in the primary grades, especially when the main purpose is to evaluate teacher effectiveness?"

Testing is used to HURT our children's teachers on their evaluations. Low scoring children who are having a bad day, sick, upset about their lost puppy, who didn't eat breakfast, whose parents were fighting into the night, who got lucky last year and scored unusually high... all of those factors are out of the teacher's control, but she is unfairly judged by them. This is not fair and it is wrong. That burden should never be on our children's shoulders.
Testing is used to HURT our public schools, by using the low-scoring schools in high-poverty areas as an excuse for charter chains to take over public schools. This is wrong. Public schools belong to the public. Citizens elect school board members to govern their community's schools. This sacred trust should not be given to profit-seeking investors.

What is the SAT-10 used for?
A parent who spoke during public comments at the Knox County School asked that very valid question. She was told that it gives the schools and the district "summative, systemic data." But the parent then questioned what the SAT-10 gives the schools that the STAR and AIMSweb assessments don’t. One of the answers she received was that it gives a "summative look at the curriculum." But she then asked, "Why don’t we just ask our teachers how the curriculum is? Wouldn’t they know the answer to that? Wouldn’t a teacher be able to see what isn’t working in their classrooms?" Her logic continued, "Our universal screeners that we are required to do by the state (which are STAR and AIMSweb in Knox County) are given three times a year, and these screeners are more summative than the SAT-10 given once a year, I just need to ask, WHY???"

WHY are districts giving this test??? Use your critical thinking skills. TN Parents wonder whose bread is getting buttered to get the lucrative state contract for this unnecessary test.

Wake up! Federal Secretary of Education to "phase out the authority of the States"

Nashville's "Third Way" Plan = Wrong Way

UPDATE: More seats open for Ravitch event!

How exciting! Diane Ravitch will be in TN this Wednesday to speak to a full house!

Big anti-Common Core meeting in Johnson City this week

Huffman resigned (finally). Who is next?

12,000 young students saved from unnecessary test in Knox County

Authors:
real parents & real teachers
from TN

Categories

Archives

Wake up! Federal Secretary of Education to "phase out the authority of the States"

Nashville's "Third Way"﻿ Plan = Wrong Way

UPDATE: More seats open for Ravitch event!

How exciting! Diane Ravitch will be in TN this Wednesday to speak to a full house!

Big anti-Common Core meeting in Johnson City this week

Huffman resigned (finally). Who is next?

12,000 young students saved from unnecessary test in Knox County

Authors: real parents & real teachers from TN

Categories

Archives

Nashville's "Third Way" Plan = Wrong Way

Authors:
real parents & real teachers
from TN