Obama and TFA

Wendy Kopp is apparently in the running for U.S. Education Secretary in the Obama administration.  What do you think?

See the news here.

I heard the tail end of an interview with Nilaja' Sun on NPR today.  Sun, who taught in the Bronx for nine years, wrote and stars in the production NO CHILD, which embodies all facets of public school education (from teachers to students to janitors) and comments on the effects of NCLB.  See the trailer below...

The (only) public high school in Ville Platte, Louisiana, may be forced to close its doors for good, as voters rejected a property tax increase that would have allowed for the rebuilding of the school. It is literally falling apart and needs serious renovation. If, in fact, the school shuts down, students will be dispersed to schools up to 30 miles away.  The Principal projects that many students might simply drop out instead of transferring.  It also so happens that the school is predominantly black, failing under NCLB and it has been suggested that white community members voted against rebuilding the school because they think its unfair to "pay for a school their children do not attend."

The NYTimes article (read it here) is written in true Buzz Bissinger fashion (read Friday Night Lights if you haven't) as it is told through the frame of the Ville Platte High School Bulldogs football season, giving the players a voice.  Bissinger may have been right when he compared Odessa, TX, to other pockets of small town America.  Do I see another football/education book in your future, Buzz? 

The New iPod Nano says...

Happy Halloween!

On Monday, Jay Mathews from the Washington Post facilitated a live online discussion about D.C. Schools Chancellor, Michelle Rhee, who is also a TFA alum.  Check it out here.

Palin in Pittsburgh

Sarah Palin was just outside of Pittsburgh this morning and spoke to an audience of invite-only guests about how a McCain/Palin administration would influence families with special needs children (her first policy-oriented speech so far).  She apparently didn't get the memo that a Pittsburgh-based writer (yours truly) is writing a book about Special Education and, thus, didn't put said writer on the invitation list.  I'll get over it.  Maybe.  But, clearly my phantom-book-that-might-take-yeeears-longer-than-this- MFA-program-to-finish is beside the point...

Palin promises to fully fund the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and redirect wasteful earmark spending to special needs funding.  The Washington Post noted that Palin's charge is inconsistent with McCain's past record in which he voted against fully funding IDEA among most other Special Education programs.  Salon.com pointed out that Palin's promise to fully fund IDEA contradicts McCain's latest and vigorously stated response to the current economic crisis: an "across-the-board spending freeze". Um, I'm confused.  Read the entire 20 minute talk here.

The New York Times also covered Palin's talk and included that her special needs funding would be exempt from McCain's spending freeze and that disabled students would be allowed (using state money) to choose to attend the private/parochial school of their choice when "our public school system fails..."  Others, including the current case law, argue that we must allow the public school system to attempt to educate these students, and if that education is deemed inappropriate the public-school-in-question must pay for student to attend private school.  Approx. 7 million students receive special education services, and according to Palin's plan, all of them could switch over to private/parochial schools if the public schools "fail".  Palin, I hate to break it to you, but our public schools have failed - all students.  What happens when "regular" education students and parents demand to switch to a private school?  Are we promoting the abandonment and eradication of the public school system instead of fixing it?  What are private schools doing better than public schools in terms of educating special needs students?  Why don't we adopt those strategies in our public schools and keep our children there?  I have so many questions.  I think I'll hold my breath until Nov. 4 to decide whether or not I need to air them and demand clearer answers...

9. Resist Immunity to Standardized Tests...

  

The College Board has invented yet another standardized test. It is the younger sibling of the SAT - a so-called "low stakes" assessment for 8th graders that will spit out a number. In turn, this number will inform parents and teachers whether or not students are "on track" with the skills necessary to graduate high school and competitively enter college (i.e. Is your student on track to produce an appropriate number which, in turn, will qualify him or her for higher education?). (Read the entire article from the NYTimes here) Don't get me wrong - I think diagnostic/benchmark testing is incredibly useful for strategic lesson planning and for informing necessary remediation.  But, what happens when teachers don't know how or just don't use these tests to better their instruction?  What happens when the medicine we're administering isn't being swallowed or followed up by a professional?

I'm starting to think the administering of standardized tests is becoming a lot like the administering of antibiotics.  A lot of antibiotics.  All the time.  What happens when a child continuously takes Penicillin for ear infections and the infection is never quite killed?  The infection starts to grow stronger and the body become resistant to the medicine.  What happens when a child week after week fills in bubbles with his number 2 pencil on his Scantron sheet?  What happens when we prescribe standardized tests to heal our broken school system (please see No Child Left Behind)?  Our students start to resist them, resent them and become immune to them.  So, when a sixth grader takes a standardized test weekly rather than yearly (because her school is in decline and forced to show adequate yearly progress), she freezes and/or becomes conditioned to the sheet of bubbles and her number 2 pencil.  And, when "high stakes" tests finally arrive (see Louisiana's 4th/8th grade LEAP exam that prevents students from promotion to the next grade and the SAT, ACT and all other high school exit exams...) she fills in bubbles and puts her head down because that's how she's learned to handle this medicine that is tiring her and not healing her.

I have a question.  And, I'm proposing that those interested in answering this question respond directly here...

HOW DO/HAVE YOUR STUDENTS PHYSICALLY RESPONDED TO STANDARDIZED TESTS?