The Achievement School District of Tennessee, or ASD, was modeled after the Louisiana Recovery School District, or RSD.  The superintendent of the ASD is a friend of mine from my days as a TFAer in Houston, Chris Barbic.  The goal of the ASD is to take over the schools in the bottom 5% in terms of test scores in the state and within five years get the scores up so those same schools are in the top 25%.  The schools, as I originally understood it, would have the same zoned students after the were taken over by (they use the euphemism ‘matched with’) the usual suspects of TFA charter chains, like KIPP and Rocketship.  The first cohort of the ASD was 6 schools started in the 2012-2013 school year.  This grew to 17 schools in 2013-2014, and now 23 schools for 2014-2015.  I was skeptical of this plan from the beginning.  As I wrote to Chris in one of my open letters, still unanswered, I felt like this was a goal that can only be achieved by some sort of cheating or lying.  One cheat that is happening is that many of the charter schools did not take over existing schools but became new schools which phased in one grade at a time.  This makes it pretty hard to say that a school that never existed was originally in the bottom 5% of schools.

As reformers are all about accountability and data, the ASD, of course, issues yearly reports about the progress that it is making toward the goal of moving the schools in the bottom 5% to the top 25% in five years.  This year Tennessee has been very slow in releasing their state test scores.  In early July they first released data for the State.  On these, the average scores in the state were not very good.  On average, as I wrote about here, 3-8 math scores went up by a percent while 3-8 reading scores went down by a percent.  At the end of July they released the data for the individual districts.  In that release, we learned that the ASD scores increased more than the state averages.  I wrote here, about how that really wasn’t saying very much, particularly since the 4% the ASD reading scores had gone up by still meant that the 2013-2014 reading scores were lower than the 2011-2012 ASD reading scores.  Then, in August, they finally released the final part of their data, the ‘growth’ scores of the districts and the test scores and growth scores for the individual schools.

A year ago the ASD, despite the fact that their reading scores dropped by almost 5%, somehow scored the highest possible score, a 5 out of 5 on the Tennessee ‘growth’ metric.  This was, they said, a sign that things were moving in the right direction.  This year, however, despite the fact that at the end of July we learned that the ASD ‘grew’ better than the state did in general, the final report in mid-August revealed that the ASD didn’t get another 5 in ‘growth.’  For the 2013-2014 school year, they got the lowest possible growth score, a 1.

You’d think that this would damper their spirits, but as they’ve got to show that they’re still on track to reach the goal of moving the schools from the bottom 5% to the top 25%, they released a report highlighting some of their successes.  It turns out that some of the schools are doing quite well while others are bringing down the growth average.

They even produced this nifty scatter plot showing how some of the schools are well on their way to cracking the top 25%.

So, according to this graph, there are four schools that are really moving up the charts, and one of them, oh my! Frayser 9GA is way up there, having moved from the bottom 5%, apparently, to nearly the top 50%!  Most of of the other schools haven’t made much movement, however.  In the ASD report, there were some graphs showing how different schools ‘grew’ from last year to this year.

So there are schools getting it done, like Frayser 9GA, and other schools that are still failing, like, say, Westside Achievement Middle School, with its declining scores in both categories.

So I did what no Tennessee education reporters have the ingenuity to do, I did some research and analysis.  The first thing I noticed was the fine print at the bottom of the scatter plot showing the movement of some of the schools.

Notes:  1-yr success rates; 2014 percentile calculations based on 2013 data;  Carver and Frayser HS used for historical data for GRAD and F9GA, respectively.

Hmmmmm.  What does that mean?  So I investigated further.  What I learned is that Frayser 9GA isn’t, technically, a school for which it is possible to calculate the growth between 2013 and 2014.  Also, it is debatable, if it can be counted as a school at all.  Here’s why:

Westside Achievement Middle school, the one that had the dropping scores in the bar graphs above, serves students in grades 6-8.  They were one of the original 6 ASD schools in 2012-2013.  Rather than send their eighth graders to Frayser High School in 2013-2014, they decided to expand Westside Achievement Middle school to have a 9th grade in their building.  They enrolled 99 students and called the ‘school’ Frayser 9GA for ‘9th Grade Academy.’  2013-2014 was the first year that this school existed, which is why comparing their scores for their 99 9th graders to the scores of already existing Frayser high school is not a fair comparison.  This article from the local Memphis newspaper explains that 85% of the 8th grade class at Westside Achievement Achievement Middle School wanted to continue at that school for the new 9th grade program.

Now in the 2013-2014 school year, Westside Achievement Middle School dropped from a 5 on their ‘growth’ to the lowest possible 1.

But the ASD decided to call the 9th grader program at Westside Achievement Middle School, all 99 students there, its own ‘school’ rather than what it actually is, a grade in the school.  It is not playing by the rules to pick a grade out of a school, call it its own school and then plot it on a graph as if it was an actual school that was once in the bottom 5% of schools and that with the help of the ASD catapulted to the top 50%.  So the question is, how is it that this school is failing to grow their 6th, 7th, and 8th graders in 2013-2014, yet they are getting miraculous results with their 9th graders?  And what would the score for this school be if they counted the four grades as one school rather than pulling out the 9th grade class and calling that its own school? Arne Duncan was in Tennessee today and spent time with Chris Barbic and even took a selfie with him.  Tennessee and the ASD are favorites of Duncan to tout his success.

It is fortunate for Duncan that he will be out of office when the house of cards that is the ASD comes tumbling down, three years from now.  I’ve noticed that many reformers have been going into hiding lately:  Wendy Kopp stepped down from being CEO of TFA.  Michelle Rhee stepped down from being CEO of StudentsFirst.  Others will surely follow into the safety of their underground bunkers.  Duncan will leave office and will surely find a safe place to hide from all the questions as the reform movement continues to collapse.  What will happen to my old friend Chris Barbic when this all goes down?  He’s always been a decent guy.  I worry he might be the only one with enough principle to go down with the ship while the others cowardly abandon it.

We apologize if it is difficult to read the above letter from a TN school asking families to do a fundraiser to pay for Common Core instructional materials.  The parent was so disgusted that she crumpled the letter up and threw it in the trash.  Then she thought better, took it out of the trash, snapped a picture, put it on Facebook with an angry message, tore the letter into tiny pieces, and then threw it away.  

PTAs and PTOs used to do fundraisers to pay for special things for their schools like playgrounds, field trips, and outdoor classrooms.  Now, many school organizations are fundraising to purchase Common Core materials and computers for Common Core testing.  This is so sad for those children.

Conversations and Facebook posts from fed-up parents about fuzzy, frustrating common core math and Islam homework assignments are multiplying.  And the school year just started!  This Common Core commotion is not going away.  

Common Core is not rigorous, it is ridiculous... 
Meaning, it is making some people ridiculously rich. 

This week's Education Summit that Governor Haslam is hosting in Nashville is one of those exclusive events for ridiculously rich people to attend.  The people invited to Haslam's exclusive event are mostly all supporters of his reforms and of Common Core.  They are "invested" as "stakeholders" in public education, and many of them make six-figure salaries from these reforms.  In fact, some of these "stakeholders" (such as SCORE) would not have jobs without Common Core in Tennessee (thanks to money from Bill Gates).  According to SCORE's tax return, Jamie Woodson, CEO of SCORE and former TN Senator, made a sweet salary package of $328,361 (including a $25,000 bonus) and SCORE COO, Sharon Roberts, made over $160,000.  It is an obvious case of the Governor is stark naked, but nobody wants to say anything because they are all making big bucks from selling him the invisible clothes.

It is also very important to notice that there are no public school parents included at the table of the Governor's Summit.  The only parent representation is the TN Parent Teacher Association (PTA).  But, did you know that the TN PTA executive board members do not even have children currently in school? and that the National PTA has accepted millions of dollars from Bill Gates to support Common Core, some of  which was given to PTA before the Common Core standards were even finished?  

If you are lucky enough to be invited to Haslam's dog & pony show, be sure to stop and talk to the protesting parents and grandparents outside.  Ask them how Common Core is affecting their children.  Ask them why they are refusing to allow their children to take the tests.  If you're wondering where all the teachers are, they are at school teaching because notice that this summit was strategically scheduled on a school day at a time that teachers are unable to attend.  (Although, there may be some teachers there who take one of their precious personal days to bravely protest for their students).

Follow the money, and you'll find the motives.  That is what TN Parents does for free.

A MULTI-MILLION DOLLAR CIVIL LAWSUIT HAS BEEN FILED AGAINST KEVIN HUFFMAN, CHRIS BARBIC, TENNESSEE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION, TENNESSEE ACHIEVEMENT SCHOOL DISTRICT, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF CHARTER SCHOOL AUTHORIZERS AND YES PREPARATORY ACADEMY

Rodney O. Ursery, J.D. and Clara D. West, Ph.D. are the Plaintiffs Who Filed the Lawsuit In Pro Se

Memphis, TN (September 8, 2014) – Rodney O. Ursery and Clara D. West, two former applicants for a charter operator’s authorization for the 2014/2015 school year, have filed a multi-million dollar lawsuit against Kevin Huffman, Commissioner of Tennessee Department of Education (“TDOE”); Chris Barbic, Superintendent of the Tennessee Achievement School District (“TASD”); as well as the TDOE and TASD; along with two other defendants: the National Association of Charter School Authorizers (“NACSA”) and YES Preparatory Academy (“YES Prep”).

Among the thirteen causes of action, the complaint alleges unfair business practices, violations of Tennessee Consumer Protection Act, civil conspiracy, and violations of constitutionally protected rights. The lawsuit seeks a court order prohibiting YES Prep, a charter school enterprise headquartered in Texas, from opening schools that it illegally obtained in Memphis, Tennessee. The civil action, which also requests a jury trial, was filed in the 30th Judicial District Chancery Court, Shelby County, Tennessee.

Ursery states, “For far too long, it has been recognized and stated in the court of public opinion that Huffman and Barbic have utterly abused the power of their positions when it comes to regulating the Tennessee's school system. Now, I’m confident that their reign of terror, which has been plagued with conspiracies among crooks and cronies, will finally be revealed in a court of law, that is, if justice prevails.” West added, “It's as if we have to fight Brown v. Topeka Board of Education again. Our proposal offered equity in education through student-centered learning using individualized learning plans and iPads, just like the countries that consistently outrank the U.S. in education. We were unfairly denied the opportunity to help educate the lowest-performing students, who the system has already left behind and identified as the future prison population. It's all about leveling the playing field.”

According to the complaint, the defendants deliberately designed and implemented discriminatory selection and approval practices, customs and procedures to deny Plaintiffs’ application. The lawsuit further alleges that during the time when TASD solicited Requests for Qualification to apply for a charter operator’s authorization for the 2014/2015 school year, Barbic, TASD and NACSA conspired to approve charter operator’s authorization(s) for the 2015/2016 school year, an opportunity, which was made available only to YES Prep. It is alleged that Barbic, founder and former Chief Executive Officer of YES Prep, illegally authorized YES Prep to seize nearly 6,000 elementary school students in Memphis, TN.

Moreover, the lawsuit alleges that NACSA, who “partnered with” TASD to provide support and management services for the application process, is not a “professional” organization. NACSA does not have any government-approved, professional standards of operations; nor state licensing or certification; and it is not subject to any government agency, review board or code of ethics to govern its acts. Finally, the lawsuit states that Huffman and TDOE enacted a regulation which granted Barbic and TASD carte blanche to deny due process to applicants who are denied charter operator’s authorizations as there is absolutely no redress, grievance or appeal process to review any of the defendants’ actions.

For more information, contact the plaintiffs at: ru4justice@facebook.com or 901.300.0162.

This lawsuit is brought by two individuals claiming $10 million in damages because they were denied charter operator authorization by the ASD. $10 million dollars!!!  Those damages are a clear-cut case for how profitable a charter operator authorization can be.

Interesting how a potential charter school is suing some big guns in TN over unfair business practices, isn't it?

We've heard for years how there is a severe case of the good ol' boys club, "I'll scratch your back if you scratch mine," nepotism within the TN DOE between other self-serving high-dollar organizations like the Chamber of Commerce and SCORE.  

It is hard to ignore the evidence of that nepotism when you read how:

• TN pays more than any other state for Teach for America temporary teachers through a $6+million NO-BID contract signed by Kevin Huffman, who formerly had a cushy job at Teach For America.  
• Our public schools are strangled, teachers and administrators are cut, and then the students, buildings, and tax dollars are handed over on silver platters along with generous grant dollars and tax incentives to their buddies' charter chains (like YES Prep, where ASD Superintendent Chris Barbic has very close ties and has richly profited from).
• The ASD schools have worse results than the public schools they killed ever did, but the ASD schools aren't feeling the wrath of the TNDOE's micromanaging and bullying like the public schools.
• Charter schools are making some people very, very rich. 
• Charter schools get preferential treatment within districts and the state:
• charters are exempt and/or given waivers from TCAP score accountability (especially if they are friends and/or donors to politicians)
• charters are exempt from giving the expensive and time-consuming benchmark RTI2 assessment tests that public schools are now being forced to do by the TNDOE.

When we allow corporate greed to infect public education, it is to be expected that profiteers will attack each other over business practices. We hope that this lawsuit will shine a light on these shady practices.

Perhaps this isn't "dog eat dog" but more like a pack of dogs attacking public schools.  If the plaintiffs win, where will that $10 million come from?  Public school funding???

On August 14th, Governor Bill Haslam sent a “Welcome Back” letter to teachers across the state. In the letter, he thanked teachers for their hard work in helping Tennessee improve its student achievement scores. He said he appreciated what they did for Tennessee students every day.

Apparently, some teachers haven’t forgotten that this is the same Bill Haslam who promised to make Tennessee the fastest improving state in the nation in teacher pay in October of 2013 and included a teacher pay raise in his 2014 budget address … only to break that promise in April.

Some teachers sent responses directly back to Haslam. And some of those same teachers sent their responses to TN Ed Report under the condition we keep their names anonymous.  Here are some of the responses we received:

Teacher Response #1:

I appreciate your attempt to understand the inner workings of a classroom and appreciate your words of appreciation for those of us who chose to serve others through teaching. However, I am highly disappointed at the turn of events in which you announced that teachers would not receive pay raises. We already make much less than other TN State employees and much less than teachers of other states.

It is easy to make promises and to break them:
http://tnreport.com/2013/10/04/raising-teacher-pay-a-top-budget-concern-for-haslam-administration/   

I am personally insulted in your lack of support for the teaching profession. My colleagues and I work hard for the families we serve. A normal day for most of us is  7:45 a.m. until 5:00 p.m. Though we are only paid to work 8:00 until 3:15, our jobs cannot be completed in those hours. Many times we take student work home with us and are constantly looking for ways to improve our teaching on our own time.

Teachers are generally told “no one teaches for the money”. TRUE, but teachers never expected to be put on the “budget cutting” chopping block each time raises are considered. We feel betrayed with popular campaign promises and rhetoric.

In closing, make no mistake that our hard work is not completed for you or any elected official. Our hard work is for the children we PROMISED to educate when we accepted our jobs. Your letter of appreciation proves that WE have not failed those who have put their trust
in us, including you.


Teacher Response #2

Please tell the PR firm that suggested you send these letters that we teachers are well educated and therefore insulted that they would believe a letter full of empty words could ever make up for what you and your administration have done and are doing to ensure the destruction of public education in Tennessee.

Teaching is more than a job to me. Teaching is my calling. I sincerely love all of my students and work tirelessly for them. I most often work six full days a week to ensure that they have exactly what they need to succeed. I spend hundreds sometimes more than a thousand dollars of my own limited income every year to make sure that their needs are met. I was always proud to be a teacher but, not so much these days. Mostly these days my heart aches for my children. I spend many hours crying for them. Your administration has stripped our classrooms of all joy. Teacher morale is low because we are working in hostile conditions.

Finally, please keep your empty words. This letter is too little, too late.


Teacher Response #3

I am in receipt of your letter of August 14, 2014.
 
I appreciate the welcome back to school. And it is nice to hear the words “thank you.”
 
In your letter, you note that Tennessee is the fastest improving state in the nation in terms of student achievement. You attribute this success directly to teachers.
 
I seem to remember that in October of 2013, you also promised to make Tennessee the fastest improving state in teacher pay — an acknowledgement of the hard work so many Tennessee teachers are doing every single day.
 
Your budget, proposed in early 2014, also indicated at least a nominal raise for teachers was forthcoming.
 
Then, in April, you abandoned that promise.  When the state revenue picture changed, the budget was balanced on the backs of teachers. Not only did your new budget take away promised raises for teachers, but it also reduced BEP funding coming to school districts. Now, teachers are being asked to do more with less.  And students suffer.
 
Your words ring hollow when your actions make it clear that teachers don’t matter. That our schools can wait just one more year for the resources students need to succeed.
 
As for your “thank you” for the work I do, I’d note that I can’t send it to the bank to pay my mortgage. A thank you isn’t going to fix my car when it needs repair. When the price of groceries goes up, I can’t simply use your thank you letter to cover the increase. And when my health insurance premium inevitably rises in January, your letter won’t put money back in my paycheck to cover the cost.
 
The raise you promised but failed to deliver would have helped with all of these things. But your letter does nothing but remind me that you say nice words and shortchange our schools.
 
In my classroom, I place a high value on integrity. That means doing what you say you’re going to do. On that scale, sir, you rate an F.


We received copies of other responses that mentioned the poor communication style of Commissioner of Education Kevin Huffman and the loss of collective bargaining rights. While teachers may not have a viable alternative to Haslam on the ballot in November, those sending us copies of their responses made it clear they won’t be supporting Haslam.

For more on education politics and policy in Tennessee, follow@TNEdReport

The TN Department of Education notified schools last week that were placed on one of 3 of their lists:

• Priority: bottom 5% of schools in TN (TN DOE gives these to the Achievement School District to turn around)
• Focus: 10% of schools with largest achievement gaps (regardless of overall performance)
• Reward: schools with highest growth

But this week, some of these schools were told there had been a big mistake.  Apparently, the TN DOE was going against what was written in the NCLB waiver and ended up having to take about 40 schools off the focus list and add some that were originally reward schools. 

From an anonymous teacher in Washington County:

Public schools can be extremely political places, especially when combined with the weight of the legal system.  In fact, when combined, politics and the law can take an ideological turn that may even thwart the will of its own citizens. This can both be positive and negative, depending upon your view the particular issue.  Nonetheless, placing the responsibility of political decisions upon the representation of another person or group is indeed uncertain, and perhaps dangerous.  
 
This is a major reason we must pay close attention to our elections, and must ensure the people we trust hold elected offices. This is also why our US and Tennessee Constitution include numerous checks and balances. If a person is elected or appointed that did not represent the public, other officials could and are able to impede various actions.
 
Recently, our General Assembly has begun to identify that Tennessee is lacking some checks and balances. Apparently, Tennessee is the only state where the attorney general is appointed by the Supreme Court.   This is further complicated by the fact that the Supreme Court is appointed by the Governor. In forty-three states, the attorney general is elected, and the remaining six states have some combination of legislative, executive, and judicial input. Normally, this may have little bearing on public education, if any. However, Tennessee again is an anomaly.
 
Recently, Attorney General Robert Cooper released a statement upholding the actions of Commissioner of Education Kevin Huffman, (also appointed by the Governor) about whether he had the legal authority to waive regulatory or statutory requirements related to federal and state student assessment and accountability.  Cooper cites TCA 49-1-201(d)(1), which states that the commissioner of education may waive some state laws that impede the department’s goals or missions if districts request a waiver. There were also specific prohibitions that were mentioned.
 
Many legislators, analysts, and citizens questioned the Attorney General’s ruling. Cooper uses the very language in the Federal “No Child Left Behind” law and calls them “terms of art” in order to reach the conclusion that the waiver by Huffman does not affect or involve evaluations at the State and Federal levels.  The use of the words “terms of art” by the Attorney General in his ruling was interesting, as was failure to mention that Tennessee has been issued a waiver of many of the No Child Left Behind requirements.  Tennessee is among 34 states that were granted exemptions from punitive measures of that law.
 
This is a subject that is expected to continue to be scrutinized and perhaps further debated.  If the Tennessee General Assembly feels the Cooper ruling is in error, as do many people that work within education law, and realize the contradiction by the Attorney General in his ruling, expect state legislators to recognize the necessity for tweaks to existing state law for clarification. 
 
Essentially, the AG Ruling and his legal opinion allowed appointed - not elected - officials the opportunity to bypass legislation - created by elected officials - if the commissioner deems it more efficient to do so. In this case, the cost for efficiency is public input, and legislative intent is muted. Little consideration was apparently given to the fact that the delay in receiving TCAP scores by districts impacted individual schools and district closing operations and interrupted the decision-making process they utilized in planning for the upcoming school year.  There is a danger that by silencing the public through the legal hammer at the disposal of the state and utilization of appointed officials becomes a much more progressive force than the will of parents, educators and even legislators in shaping public education policy in Tennessee. 
 
The remedy of course, is to change the method of selecting the Attorney General, and or the Commissioner of Education.  This of course will require much more debate and discussion, and perhaps legislative action.  We expect this matter will continue to be questioned among educators and policymakers.  Cooper’s ruling raised more questions than it answered. 
 
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Kyle Mallory is a classroom teacher in Stewart County.  She was VFW Middle School Teacher of the Year.  
Samantha Bates is Director of Member Services for Professional Educators of Tennessee.