I attended a community meeting at Jere Baxter Middle School tonight to hear discussion of the East Nashville "Third Way" plan. Jere Baxter is located just off Dickerson Pike and only a few blocks away from the new Rocketship charter school (which is directly across the street from Jenna's Adult Toy Box, but that's an entirely different issue). 

Jere Baxter boasts a beautiful new building, but is severely underenrolled at only 53% capacity. Dr. Register said hundreds of students in the area are now attending new charter schools, which have oversaturated the East Nashville market. (See the correlation here?) 

Jere Baxter serves a population of 97.9% free and reduced lunch students. It has a mobility rate of 58% and a chronic absence rate of 18%. To no one's surprise, this school is struggling. This year, only 15.8% of its students were reading on grade level.

Dr. Register led off the discussion with Jere Baxter's dismal performance and said that no child should be subjected to a "failing" school. A parent responded with the question I had in mind: What actually makes Jere Baxter a "bad" school? Although Dr. Register didn't really answer this question, staff members complained about the lack of continuity - with constantly rotating students, teachers and principals. Teachers asked for greater supports. A parent noted that many students at the school are desperately seeking teachers' attention, and the school needs more staff. One teacher who had taught at both a charter and traditional schools pointed out that guidance counselors at traditional schools are too tied up with testing to actually offer counseling. (This is definitely the case at my child's school.) No one mentioned the elephant in the room - the impact of poverty and mobility on student performance.

The most disturbing part of the discussion for me, however, was the new focus onrecruiting students, rather than discussion of how to best address the huge challenges at the school. According to Dr. Register, the need to compete for students is just a reality now, and traditional schools need to step it up. He went on: Because charter schools are "out recruiting us" (despite the fact that our traditional schools provide more offerings than MNPS charter schools), we must become better recruiters at traditional schools. Other MNPS officials also spoke about the need to "sell" and market our schools and go door-to-door looking for students (like our charter schools). One teacher pointed out that charter schools often host huge BBQ dinners to recruit families and (only somewhat jokingly) asked for a budget for BBQ! 

This focus on recruitment and competition is all a direct result of the national, state, and local attacks on public education, created by those who view our schools as markets, our families as consumers, and our children as mass-produced commodities. 

Then, a voice of reason spoke up. A teacher said, "I went to school to be a teacher. Not a business person. Not a marketer. Not a recruiter." She asked: When can I do my job and teach? Where are my supports?

So after tonight's meeting, here are my questions: Is it really a good idea to require parents to compete for spots at coveted "choice" schools and ask teachers to become recruiters for the best test takers? Where is community in all this "choice," competition and winning? 

What has happened to the ideal that we will work together to build healthy communities and ensure that every neighbor is welcomed and accepted? We should make sure that children who have special needs, immigrant children who can't speak English, those with behavioral problems, and those who simply struggle in school are just as welcome as children who perform best in school, and that our struggling students will receive the extra support that they require. We should work together to support our schools in addressing these difficult issues and never give up on a single child.

In the end, this all seems to be a numbers game. Last year, Memphis closed down several of its "failing" schools, which increased Nashville's number of "failing" schools. We can now respond by shutting down our own "failing" schools (poof- no more "bad" schools!) and play the game of competing to win. Or we can take the brave step of not buying into all of this market-driven insanity. 

In short, we can choose to educate children, or we can sell out by "marketing" our "product" to "customers." 

We can have chaos, or we can have community.

What would happen if MNPS refused to play the "reform" numbers game anymore? What if we just decided to stand up to the bullies? Instead of merely shuffling students around to make our numbers look better, we, as a district, could decide that shuffling struggling students around is not the answer, even though it may momentarily make MNPS look better on the State Report Card. We could decide that we value each individual student and recognize that just moving "failing" students from school to school does nothing to address their academic problems. Instead of rubber-stamping military-style schools that get great scores, but don't offer healthy social/emotional learning opportunities, physical activity or enrichment, we could demand a focus on best practices. We could acknowledge that there are no miracle school cures, just like there are no miracle diet cures, and invest time, energy and long-term resources into our existing schools. We could create a budget that allows for extra support staff in the schools with the most challenging populations.
We could acknowledge that real school reform takes time. 

I believe these are the discussions we need to undertake. Who's with me?

The old website had an overcast, almost foreboding, grayish blah color scheme.  Kevin Huffman's name and Governor Haslam's picture were both prominently displayed at the top of every page.  Photos on the page included important people posing with other important people.  Like the other government pages, the watermark at the top and bottom of the webpage showed mountains, which could imply the federal Race to the Top program that everyone hates, or it could be interpreted to mean that East Tennessee is more important than the flat land in the western part of the state.  Take your pick.

As you can see, the new website has lots of changes.  There are large pops of happy colors and candid pictures of cute kids.  There's a tab for "community".  Gone are the banners with Kevin Huffman's name and Governor Haslam's smirk on every single subpage because maybe that expensive PR firm realized that people's blood pressure skyrocketed every time they saw it. Or maybe, just maybe, this is a foreshadowing that Kevin Huffman may not be around much longer?  Momma Bears can only hope!  Also missing from the new webpage are the smoggy mountain images.  We guess we are not racing to the top anymore now that the entire $500 million prize we won is spent?  

It is kinda funny how the new website says, "We've redesigned and reorganized our site from the ground up with you in mind."  Gee, thanks, for keeping me in mind, when in all honesty, we are sure that the only thing on your mind was: "How On Earth Do We QUICK Fix This Awful Image Problem That Governor Haslam and His Appointed Commissioner of Education, Kevin Huffman, Have Created Before Election Time in November So That The Governor Gets Re-elected And We All Keep Our Jobs?"

And, of course, this dishonest image is still on both websites: 

Because that is the ONLY thing that the Governor has to cling to.  TCAP scores this year were flatter than a puddle of water on Tennessee asphalt in August.  There is no miracle, not from Common Core, not from this new RTI2 mandate, not from the awful teacher evaluation rubrics or TVAAS system, and most certainly not from giving a chunk of our poorest public schools to charters through the ASD because those schools are lower than ever.  

TCAP scores weren't even released in time for student's final report cards in the spring because they had to adjust the cut scores, take out the non-common core questions to boost scores, and figure out a way for this new PR firm to triage the massive outrage and somehow put a positive spin on the dismal results.

Here is why that claim of "Largest Growth on 2013 NAEP" is not truthful:  
The Governor and Huffman keep saying it everywhere they go, and probably even mutter it in their sleep, but they neglect to mention one ginormous fact:   TN passed a new law the year before the 2013 NAEP test which drastically changed the pool of students eligible to be tested for NAEP.  This new law prohibited 3rd graders in Tennessee from being promoted to 4th grade if they were not proficient.  So, for the first time in TN history, 3rd graders were not socially promoted to 4th grade.  The low-scoring students were left behind in 3rd grade!  Voila!  Don't let the non-proficient kids in to 4th grade to take the test and you magically lift the whole state's average score compared to other states in the nation!  
(A note about NAEP tests in case you don't know:  the NAEP is given every 2 years to randomly selected 4th and 8th graders in every state in the nation.  It is required by the Federal Government to get our federal tax dollars for our schools.  Click HERE and HERE to read more about the NAEP and how is manipulated to suit politicians).


Next, NEW Emails from TNDOE: 
          I Heart You soooooooo much!!!

Subscribers to the TNDOE weekly emails noticed a big difference in the weekly emails, too.  Prior emails were cold, factual, and condescending.  The paragraphs were blocky and had the attitude of "Do This New Policy Or Else".

The new email sent to subscribers last week had hearts, smiles, friendships, relationships, unicorns, and rainbows.  (Okay, so not the last 2, but we're not exaggerating about the difference being night and day.)  Here's an excerpt from the new email:

See? They are not meany-pants dictator bullies...  They are a "team" wearing cute matching shirts and holding signs of love!  (Bonus points to those who can pick out the former Teach For America overpaid staff).

Another big change to the emails is that they are now being sent through Mailchimp, which is an email service that allows the sender to track opens, clicks on links, reports, etc.  The TNDOE loves, loves, loves data so they are probably in data heaven.  

Tennessee teachers were shocked - SHOCKED, I tell you! -  last week to receive personalized emails from the Governor himself.  These letters were addressed to their first names, which left some wondering if they are now considered friends with the Governor.  Bill (we can call him by his first name now, right?) wrote about the way he traveled across the state and had 12 secret meetings with pre-screened teachers and how he listened, oh how he listened, and he just loves teachers and wishes he could pay them more but he has to take care of corporations first.  Okay, so Bill didn't blatantly say that in the letter, but if you read between the lines and know the recent news, it is what our friend, Bill, really meant. 

We bet someone from that fancy new PR firm wrote the letter anyway.  Bill doesn't write letters.  He certainly won't respond to any of ours.  Of course, he has staff that sends out blanket responses because Bill does not have the time to correspond with commoners unless you are pre-screened and agree with Bill's views.  

Not all teachers were fooled by the use of mail-merge fields or by the use of their school email address to try to gain their vote for Bill in November. Other candidates for Governor certainly don't have the luxury, ability, or staffpower to send personalized blanket emails to teachers using their school email addresses, but Bill does.  (Click HERE if you want to see one of those blanket letters Bill sent to a TN teacher)

The same people are still doing the same jobs at the TNDOE and they have the same intentions of forcing Common Core on our children, requiring high-stakes tests on our children, punishing and firing our children's teachers based on our children's test results, and crushing our children's public schools to expand more charter schools in TN so their friends can make big bucks.

The difference is that our tax dollars are now being spent on the best Public Relations Firm our tax money can buy with the goal of fixing the horrible image of the TNDOE, Commissioner Kevin Huffman (for as long as Bill keeps him around as a puppet), and the person who just happens to be up for re-election in November: Bill.  

Hide & Seek:  TNDOE hides Common Core
08/19/2014

Our last Momma Bear blog focused on the external makeover of the TNDOE: website, email, and Bill's staff's letter to teachers. However, there was one huge difference that deserved its own blog.  Did you catch it? Take a look at their new website, again, in the previous blog and see if you can tell what is missing:

Do you notice anything "common"? 
Bingo!!!  All references to Common Core have been removed!   

You'll see plenty of the word, "CORE," because of TNCORE.  They can't really eliminate "TNCORE" because they have a whole different website devoted to it with its own logo and all.  Obviously, the TNCORE website hasn't gotten a makeover yet because Bill's picture is still at the top along with Kevin Huffman's name just like on the old website: 

But notice that even this TNCORE website doesn't even mention the word, "common," on its main page. You have to play hide & seek with your mouse to find the actual words, "Common Core," anywhere at all on the subpages.  There is also no ketchup-mustard-onion-swirl Common Core logo: 

Does that mean we aren't doing Common Core in Tennessee??? 
Oh, don't we wish!  Unfortunately, there are lots of people making lots of money on this Common Core gravy train, so it is still chugging along the tracks full-steam ahead whether parents and teachers like the direction the train is heading or not. 

Here is what the TNDOE has sneakily done, they have renamed the Common Core standards to: 

          "Tennessee State Standards"

Teachers told us that this renaming quietly happened over the past year. Teachers and Common Core coaches have been told to call it by the new name from now on and not to use the words, "Common Core" to avoid controversy or conflict.  The name is toxic.

Wait, can they do that???
Now, everyone knows that Tennessee didn't write these standards.  Even so, our state is branding them as their very own, which any English teacher can tell you is plagarism.  Some would even consider it "stealing," "theft," or "lying" to take someone else's property and put your name on something you didn't write.  Whatever you call it, it is undeniably sneaky and underhanded.  If the owners of the Common Core don't object to it, (and why would they? they just want the standards implemented no matter what it takes) Tennessee can do it.  

The TNDOE thinks that by not using the toxic name people won't be so upset.  Think again.  It is even more infuriating to know they are blatantly trying to trick us, isn't it?
 

From a parent in Tennessee:

I received an email from my daughters choir teacher. He has been teaching for 20 years and is an excellent CHOIR TEACHER in Tennessee. He was going to retire this year but had such a great group of 7th and 8th graders, he decided to stay. This is what he was told:

I learned I have been categorized as a “non-re-elect” teacher. The justification for this is my reading, language, math, history and science scores are low after two years of TCAP testing. They don’t show sustained growth, and based on this, I am accused of being a bad teacher. Actually, I don’t recall teaching these subjects.
 
Welcome to the Common Core Initiative which, indeed, does tell teachers how and what to teach.  Here’s the link for music educators to learn how to incorporate Common Core standards.

Common Core is NOT “just standards”.  It is part of the Common Core State Standards Initiative which includes the four assurances contained in the State Fiscal Stabalization Fund given to the states with these strings:

What does increasing teacher effectiveness really mean?  It can mean that teachers who teach English literature must incorporate math standards, math teachers must incorporate ELA standards,  and even music teachers must incorporate ELA standards….in music.  

(The above excerpt was printed with permission from The Missouri Watchdog)

Dear Gov. Haslam,

I am writing to let you know that my fourth-grader will not be taking the TCAP test. This is unfortunate for her school because she scores in the advanced range every time.
Auria is in fourth grade at Northfield elementary in Murfreesboro, TN. This is our fourth year at this school, and between her and her sister, I have fallen in love with numerous teachers there. Murfreesboro has the best school system in the state (according to Google), and I have been highly impressed with the people and their level of care for my children.

Third grade changed, though. My highly-intelligent, confident kid became a wreck - early in the year - over the pressure associated with the TCAP. I was confused, as I took the TCAP every year as a child and have nothing but fond memories of bubbling in the little circles. I started to notice the growing intensity leading up to the test, and I became a little disgusted. That was last year. This year it was worse. The teachers I have had the pleasure of working with are so wound up that I feel sorry for them. The teachers, the staff, the administration...everybody.

These are obviously brilliant and creative people, and this test has taken over like a life-sucking monster. Teaching isn't an exact science, just like parenting. Every child is different, and this terrible system is stifling all the joy and creativity that is required to really make an impact. 

Now, if I love this school and staff so much, and I know her test scores would attribute to an average boost ($$$), why would I pull her from this?  She wants to be a teacher when she grows up. These teachers are already being grossly underpaid for such an important role.
 "Pearson is America's largest corporate maker of standardized testing. It has a multiyear contract with our Department of Education: For creating and implementing the TCAP and the end-of-course tests for high schoolers, we pay more than $150 million.  (That's three times what it would have cost to give Tennessee teachers a 2 percent raise.)  The deepest cut of all? Teachers aren't able to preview the test. They are neither editor nor author of the single most influential test of the whole year. It's the educational equivalent of a slap in the face." 
- David Cook (Times Free Press)

Auria can already make better decisions than this.

My child's job is to learn. The teacher's job is to teach. But my role as her parent is more complicated. I also have to teach her when standing up for something is necessary. This system is stupid and unfair. She will be accepting a 0 as 15% of her grade for the year. But she will also be standing up for teachers and students all over the state. She will be taking steps toward bettering her future right now, and I think that's better than just a memory of all those bubbles.

Thank you for your time reviewing this matter,

Alicia Maynard
Murfreesboro, TN

The above letter has been shared on Facebook over 1,140 times in the past 48 hours.  Here are some of the many comments on it:

• Amen!
• As a teacher in metro, I love you!
• Wow! Seems I'm not alone about my TCAP feelings! Kuddos to this mom!!!
• The pressure for students, teachers, and parents is so unfair. It makes me so sad.
• This is so beautiful. It's a must read for all parents and students.
• Maybe more parents should jump on this bandwagon!!! I would love to shake her hand and meet her in person!
• Incredible parent and letter! Hope someone listens! Something to think about where we are heading for the future of education for the little ones. Lets put Common Sense back in Education and worry bout the little ones not which pocket is getting thicker!!!!
• How many letters like this will it take to change things?
• Simply the truth. I am forbidden by law from seeing, asking or being told what is on the test my kids take. Ever. We never see the old tests. We cannot challenge bad questions...and trust me, the practice tests have bad questions. Parents can also never see the tests. Just try and ask, even after it is given. I have yet to have a teacher's edition grammar book that did not have a wrong answer or horribly confusing practices. It happens, but now who is double checking? My kids will do well...they always do me proud in a pinch, but this is beyond ridiculous. Pearson controls education in Tennessee. Get over the outrage over the feds/Common Core (for now) and ask why in the Hell a private company gets to determine kids' grades and teachers' fates with ZERO oversight.
• May do this next year. Zac is flipped out about TCAP.
• This sums up my feelings on standardized testing word for word!!!!!!!
• I love how you just stand up for things that are unjust without ANY hesitation and I respect the heck out of that! TCAP tests and the like are the reasons why I did not complete my certification as a secondary educator. It's an unfair system that pigeon-holes children into measurable data. You, Alicia Maynard, are a beautiful soul and a wonderful mother. Thank you for standing up for teachers and for teaching your children to stand up for their generation of learners.
• I applaud this mother and think it would be awesome to boycott this stupid standardized testing

This issue is not going away.  This movement will to continue to grow in TN, as it has in other states as parents realize that their children are being needlessly and expensively over-tested.

Common Core and the inseparable requirements of the Race to the Top contract require even MORE testing, including benchmark tests and probably the PARCC (which is a much more difficult, time-consuming, and stressful test than TCAP is).


Legislators:  Parents need a law that gives us the legal option to protect our children by Opting-Out of standardized tests.  Other states have this law.  Tennessee needs it, too.  Parents should be able to decide what is best for our children.  Private school and home-school students don't have to take these tests, so why are our public school children forced to do them?

School Board members & Superintendents:  Some districts in TN (like Metro Nashville) allow parents to refuse standardized tests for their children without penalizing the child, teacher, or school.  Even though TN does not yet have an Opt-Out law, the state, at this time, allows districts to decide without penalty (See this document and see how the Metro Nashville School District handles parents who wish to refuse testing for their children).  Locally elected school boards have the authority to set policies regarding testing and the rights of parents to refuse these tests for their children.  Please, listen to the parents.  

Parents know what is best for their children.  We know better than the Pearson corporation, better than the government, and better than any standardized test ever created.  We trust our children's teachers to fairly assess our children's progress.  

STOP bullying teachers!

and while we're at it, we demand that politicians:

STOP giving away our public schools!!!
 
We elected you to PROTECT and STRENGTHEN our communities, 
not weaken give them away to private interests to profit from.

Never before have parents become so politically involved.  We've been busy raising our families without any inclination to become involved in politics.  However, Common Core, excessive testing, school takeovers, the bullying of teachers, and greedy mismanagement by our elected officials has turned ordinary parents into political activists.  Don't be surprised by what happens during future elections when lifelong legislators find themselves out of jobs.  Parents know exactly which buttons to push in the ballot boxes: the names of servant leaders who will strengthen our world for future generations.

While I agree that standards are a good thing, I cannot support these standards that were developed in secret, and without a single expert in the area of Early Childhood Development. As a result my own young children are being submitted to participate in a "rigorous" curriculum that is DEVELOPMENTALLY INAPPROPRIATE and being forced to sit for hours at a time and take computerized assessments. Kindergarten and Elementary schools should be fun places that spark creativity and love of learning… this has not been our experience. My kids attend MNPS and they are miserable!
- A mother in Nashville, TN

CCSS is not what fits Tennessee! It is experimental and unsound, especially in K-2. I am one of Tennessee's 2 National Teachers Hall of Fame inductees. I vote NO!
- a teacher in Murfreesboro, TN

I am a teacher. I am very familiar with Common Core and its deficiencies. It is the worst idea in education in history. It is nothing but a political football and a cash cow for testing and textbook companies.
- A teacher in Shelbyville, TN

As an educator and a parent of school-age children, I am opposed to so much corporate testing. My children deserve better: less testing, teachers who can spend time teaching valuable skills and concepts rather than teaching to the test, and an environment that values the love of learning over data. I certainly hope that my students and my own children survive this "educational" scam. It is so disheartening to see the looks of frustration and disappointment on my students' faces because they continue to subjected to more and more meaningless tests. I hope that by the time my own children are in high school, that this madness will be a thing of the past.
- A Mother & Teacher in Memphis, TN

I am opposed to Common Core and do not want my children exposed to it nor do I want them to participate in it.
- A mother in Bartlett, TN

I am a licensed teacher and administrator. Common Core is causing teachers to have to get away from teaching and making them have to teach to the test.
- a teacher & administrator in Murfreesboro, TN

Children do not learn from being tested, they learn from being taught. Teachers do not have the time to teach what children need to know because they have to teach to the test.
- A teacher in Fayetteville, TN

My children are NOT learning with these new "higher standards". Instead they are being untaught the simple steps they've built upon since starting school which enabled them to learn and grow throughout their educational career. In short, Common Core is only working against our kids, effectively dumbing them down.
- A Mom from Roan Mountain, TN

This is vital to me as a teacher. I am tired of using valuable class time to teach "to the test," and to teach how to take a test. My students want to learn real material--not how to take tests. They are burned out from the constant testing & assessing, as are we. Literally, there has not been a single day in February or during the month of March (except for spring break) when our students have not been testing or assessing for something. Methinks Pearson and perhaps some state government folks are making a fat bundle of money from this--at the mental and educational expense of our children. Stop this now!! Let our students really learn! Let us teach!
- A teacher in Memphis, TN

After reading the course and what it teaches in history it scares me that they are trying to teach this craziness to my kids. It's another government failure.
- A father in Mount Juliet, TN

Dollars should be used to make SMALLER class sizes, Pre-K for every child (it proven unlike common core), libraries fully stocked, Vocational Training (not all students are headed to corporate america) not putting it into the pockets of wealthy corporations who don't care about the students.
- A teacher in Knoxville, TN

I have 4 grandchildren in school and I disagree with the text books used for Common Core.
- a Grandmother in Lebanon, TN

I would like to protect my child's personal information as well as let our individual state and school district decide what's best for our curriculum. A "one size fits all" approach never works, especially when children are involved.
- A Mother in Germantown, TN

I am a mother of 3 and a public school employee. Common Core is a violation of the 10th Amendment and several federal laws. It is a curriculum of empty skill sets written by non educators and used to make money for corporations. My children deserve better. Their education is NOT FOR SALE!
- a mother in Hendersonville, TN

The Federal Government and for profit revisionist history companies are killing education in the USA. It should be up to the individual States as to the core standards that are applied. Also, I completely reject the data mining that is attached to Common Core. Furthermore, testing has become the only thing teachers have time for. They no longer teach for academic excellence, they teach for the test. This will continue to stifle creativity and dumb down our nation. Students are not robots, they are humans. Hence they need to be treated as humans with dignity and respect. 
- Collierville, TN

First, Common Core was not state-led, it was only state implemented. It was done in secret, without research-based evidence of improved outcomes, and to be frank - I remember no out-cry that our kids were not learning! I believe this has been in the making for decades, comes from the United Nations to bring the US into the global economy, and in order to do this, a non-existent crisis was manufactured.
My children's teachers cannot speak out, so I will. They believe it is a watered-down set of standards with no research or teacher input, too much instruction time used for teachers to give formative tests on Mondays and summative tests on Fridays, and the H.S. EOC raw test scores (published by Pearson) "are hugely inflated and do not match the scores given on report cards" - done in an effort to pass students who otherwise failed the test to make it "appear" that Common Core is wonderful. I pray parents in TN wake up to the real Agenda!
- A Mother in Old Hickory, TN

I'm a teacher who sees the constant testing in our schools. We are testing so much students are not getting enough instruction time. The CC standards are not helping. A student can not teach themselves after only 5 minutes of teacher instruction time. These tests are also asking personal questions that are no one's business but the family's.
- A teacher in Memphis, TN

I teach; I see the children losing their love for learning. EVERYTHING they do is for the purpose of data. Learning has lost it's lure. When I actually get to do something with my children that is a little off kilter from common core, they LOVE it and in turn, they LEARN from it. We are raising a whole generation of test takers so they can all go to college. NOT ALL STUDENTS SHOULD GO TO COLLEGE!
- a teacher in Knoxville, TN

I disagree with the lack of quality instruction, spelling, grammar, science. I think it's ridiculous to label a teacher as "failing" because last years' bright kids scored a 98 percentile and this years equally bright kids score a 97 percent. I also wish the social ethics issues were left for parents to teach at home. My child has learned very little this year. I'm moving to private school as fast as I can. The data mining and cameras in the classroom and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation funding of pushing this agenda is sickening. We need to take control of our educational system in TN!!
- A father in Gray, TN

The 1% created this financial crisis with their greed and mismanagement, flogging schoolchildren is not the way out of it.
- Sewannee, TN

I work for Head Start and I am seeing kids going to Kindergarten who are doing great developmentally according to the Head Start standard but still failing. I see parents who cannot help their kids because they have no idea how to do the work the way it has to be done. I see kids who can get the right answer in the way their parents showed them or kids who can just think for themselves but getting it wrong because it was not done the "right way." There are also kids who cannot get the right answer even thought they are doing it the way they are taught, but still getting more credit than those who actually get the right answer. I see teachers who don't want to be teachers anymore.
- Johnson City, TN
 

These are just a handful of comments Tennessee Parents & Teachers wrote as to why they are against Common Core.  You can read them, and hundreds more just like them, by clicking HERE.
 

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.   
 

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 

Some brave teachers, who are also Moms & Dads, have made the difficult choice to defy their district administration and the TN Department of Education.  These teachers have REFUSED testing for their OWN children.  Teachers are required by the state and district to administer the tests to students in their classes.  However, the state and district cannot trump their parental rights to do what is best for their own children.


Why did they do it?  One teacher tells why...
As a teacher, I made a decision for my own children, as their parent. I am most fortunate to be very involved in my children's education. I'm sure most parents feel the exact same way. Unless you are a teacher, you really aren't as involved as you think you are. I teach for the same system my children are educated in. I know things that I'm grateful to know, but at the same time the wind is often knocked clean out of me because of what I know. Because of what I know, I chose to opt my children out of unnecessary testing.

• I chose to opt my children out of computerized testing as a means of determining intervention needs.
• I opted my children out of tests that contain material they haven't been taught yet according to the curriculum maps teachers follow.
• I opted my children out of tests written for the sole purpose of assisting the developers of PARCC test which will replace TCAP next school year.
• I opted my children out of feelings of failure when material is placed in front of them that they haven't been exposed to yet, in the form of a test. I opted their teachers out of feelings of betrayal because that's how we feel when we do this to the children we teach.
• I opted my children out of the DEA, given three times per year as a predictive measure to determine how they might perform on TCAP. The DEA is also full of skills not introduced according to the curriculum maps. Test A - 18 of 32 skills not introduced yet. Test B - 19 of 32 skills not introduced yet.  
• I opted my children out of the CRA which is an assessment used for the sole purpose of assisting the developers of PARCC, and is written in a form that children are not capable of being successful on.
• I opted my children out the practice writing assessment for the practice writing assessment which I opted them out of too. Really? Practice for practice? Not to mention, it is computerized and children as young as 8 are expected to sit at a computer for two hours to analyze informational texts and write an essay through typing their responses. Our children do not know how to type.
• I opted my children out of IStation computerized testing to determine if they have a need for intervention.
• I opted my children out of all computerized programs designed to determine their needs. I chose to leave that up to their highly qualified teachers. 

As a teacher, I must endure the guilt and shame I feel each time I test my students on material they haven't been yet exposed. As a parent, I will not tolerate such with my children.
- A teacher and mother in Shelby County
 

How did they do it?
It is simple.  These brave parents simply sent letters and emails of refusal  to their sons' and daughters' teachers and principals stating that they will not allow their child to take the tests. (Note the wording says "refusal" and not "opt-out" since TN does not have an "opt-out" law, yet, and the attorney general seems to be forcing parents into testing their children against their wishes by saying it is not "legal" to "opt-out")

Some states have laws and policies that allow parents to opt their children out.  Tennessee does not.  Yet...  
There is currently a Bill in the Legislature that, if it passes, would allow parents to legally Opt-Out of testing for their children without penalties (HB 1841 / SB 2221) .  The Bill's sponsor, Rep. Gloria Johnson, is also a teacher.  (Unfortunately, a half a BILLION dollar fiscal note has been attached to the bill, and the bill has been rolled to the final calendar to prevent it from passing.  Contact Governor Haslam if you're not happy about that.  His phone # is 615-741-2001 and his email is: bill.haslam@tn.gov). 

What are the repercussions of REFUSING tests?
In TN, refusing or opting a child out of the TCAP test counts as a zero on the child's final report card (state mandated 15%-25%).  In some districts, this means that 10% of a child's final English grade will be a zero, and 10% of a child's final Math grade will be a zero.  (Check with your local school district to find out).  Despite the lower report card grades, having to keep their children at home on testing days, and having unexcused absences on their child's records, parents feel strongly enough that the tests are inappropriate for their children to REFUSE the tests for their children.  
(This could work: Parents in other states have gotten around the testing by un-enrolling their children from school to "homeschool" before the mandated test and then re-enrolling them after the testing window is completed.  This method works to avoid hurting the child's report card grade and attendance, but, gosh, it sure is a hassle!)
 

Links to Opt-Out testing websites & groups:
United Opt-Out website
United Opt-Out in Tennessee website
Stop TN Testing website
Stop TN Testing Madness facebook group
Stop TN Testing facebook page
Knox County Parents Against Testing facebook page
Williamson County Parents Concerned about Common Core & Testing facebook group

 
These brave teachers and parents are sending a clear message that they do not agree with the tests and that their child is more than a test score.