Retired PJSTA member Philip Tamberino wrote a letter to the editor that appeared in Newsday…
Supporters of the Common Core seem to believe that teachers and administrators don’t want the accountability connected to testing. They foolishly think that this opposition is just a roll-out problem, people will get used to it, and we will be better off. They refuse to recognize the revolution occurring right in front of them.
Teachers put their students first. The overwhelming majority were graded effective or above even with a faulty, inappropriate and invalid test. So the premise that teachers have a self-serving motive is nullified. Teachers oppose these tests because they are not developmentally aligned to the students on their grade level.
Administrators understand that tying test scores to teacher evaluations creates an atmosphere that poisons schools. When your job depends on a score based on an invalid test, and students who have given up because it is just above their ability, you cannot get an accurate depiction of a teacher’s proficiency.
As a veteran, retired teacher, I cannot recall a time when teachers, administrators, superintendents and parents have been so aligned. That has to mean something. Yes, there is a revolution occurring, and the next step is to keep our children home on testing days.
The Albany Times Union published a comprehensive report about how wealthy “donors” in New York State use their money and influence to essentially run the New York State Education Department. The major donors include the Gates Foundation, the GE Foundation, and many of the other plutocrats who we typically see funding education reform in the United States. The most egregious name on the list, however, is none other than Regents Chancellor Merryl Tisch.
Via the Times Union…
A team of two dozen well-paid analysts embedded in the State Education Department is having a dramatic impact on a reform agenda that’s causing controversy throughout New York.
None are public servants.
Supported with $19 million in donations from some of the nation’s wealthiest philanthropists, the Regents Research Fund team makes up a little-known think tank within the education agency. It is helping drive reforms that affect the state’s 3.1 million public school students and employees of almost 700 school districts.
So people paid for by private entities, not NYSED, are making policy decisions about education reform in New York State.
Barely heard of outside education circles and a mystery even within them, the “Regent fellows” are paid from entities such as the Gates Foundation and some salaries approach $200,000 a year. The arrangement is stirring concern in some quarters that deep-pocketed pedagogues are forcing their reform philosophies on an unwitting populace, and making an end run around government officers.
“We’re a public education system,” said Carol Burris, principal of South Side High School in Long Island’s Rockville Centre. “Having the wealthy pay for it, you’re seeing an agenda that is being pushed … at a rapid pace, and outside the system of public accountability.”
As Burris correctly points out, this is how the plutocrats get their way in regards to New York State education without having to be held accountable by the public as normal operatives of the state would. Sean Crowley from B-LoEdScene describes it quite nicely as well…
The idea of creating a merry band of edupolicy wankers and dressing them up as helper elves who operate outside of the state, the law and any real department is yet another of those clever shuck and jive maneuvers our oligarch class likes to use to put them and their wealth in a position to call the shots with no annoying checks, balances or any of that other quaint democratic process nonsense. They are charitably called the Regents Fellows and they are none of your business thank you very much. Tisch and her hubby kicked in the first million or so and soon after came the flood of cash from all the usual selfless altruistic billionaires. In short they work the will of Tisch and Co. and are accountable to nobody in State Ed or Washington or in any of the local school districts.
The Times Union continues…
What was envisioned as a short-term, relatively small augmentation to SED staff has grown exponentially. Fellows operate independently and communicate regularly with King and many interact regularly with state workers, but are not bound by Public Officer’s Law or ethics rules imposed on government officials.
The Regents appear serious about expanding the group. Fellows who signed on for two-year stints have been extended, new research and policy analysts have been hired, and state officials cannot say if or when the experiment will end. Fellows say they don’t know when they’ll be done, but expect their assignments will run their course.
So things are progressing so swimmingly here in New York State that Merryl and her minions want to expand this group!
What have these “fellows” been responsible for?
The fellows have been involved in mapping teacher and principal evaluations, redoing student exams and working through the state’s implementation of the Common Core standards — reforms that have moved with a speed that many parents and teachers across the state have protested as hasty and harsh.
Ah yes, successful reforms such as teacher evaluations, standardized testing, and Common Core implementation… all the hallmarks of what is wrong with public education today.
So what does Queen Merryl think about all of this?
“Any state would be proud to have people of this capacity working as an arm of the state education department,” said Tisch, emphasizing her regard for staff staffers. “They couldn’t do it without the leadership, without the people who work for the department.”
Yes, we should be proud to have these people pushing an agenda that abuses children and aims to destroy public education! After all our primary goal for education in New York State should be to further line the pockets of the Tisch family and their cronies. Who are those people you may ask? Let’s refer back to this 2009 article from the New York Times, titled “Advancing Education, Through Work Ethic and Connections”…
… her rank in New York’s ruling class as the wife of James S. Tisch, the chief executive of the Loews Corporation, a conglomerate that includes hotels, insurance and oil-drilling operations.
She has enjoyed a decades-long friendship with her Upper East Side neighbor Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg. She has celebrated Passover Seders with Schools Chancellor Joel I. Klein. She counts among her closest friends Iris Weinshall, the wife of Senator Charles E. Schumer.
And then there is this…
It is such social connections that make Dr. Tisch’s influence difficult to quantify.
“When she needs something, she’ll pick up the phone and call the mayor or governor,” Mr. Fliegel said. “Merryl is not reluctant to intercede if she thinks it’s the right cause.”
Those aren’t the only people she calls. Who does Queen Merryl call when her refrigerator isn’t working?
“When my refrigerator is broken, I don’t call the service department,” said Dr. Tisch, the newly elected chancellor of the New York State Board of Regents and, by marriage, part of one of New York’s wealthiest families. “I call the head of G.E.”
Oh right, the head of GE. That’s who I typically call too.
So what do the other members of the Board of Regents think about these fellows? This New York Timesarticle from 2011 gives us a look…
“Private people give money to support things they’re interested in,” said Roger B. Tilles, a lawyer and longtime education administrator who has been a regent for six years.
…
Betty A. Rosa, who spent 23 years as a teacher and principal before becoming a New York City regional superintendent and a regent, said it was “absolutely wrong” that the fellows had spent what she considered to be so little time working in schools. Six of the 11 have never taught. The five others have a total of 10 years in the classroom and one as a principal.
…
Saul B. Cohen, a former president of Queens College who retired in December after 18 years as a regent, is angry that the board was not consulted about selecting the fellows. “They’re supposed to be advising us, but we had no role,” he said.
Dr. Cohen was also upset that the state’s Race to the Top application — which included major policy decisions like using student test results to evaluate teachers and principals — was not shown to the Regents before it was submitted to Washington. “The board had to rubber-stamp it after the fact,” he said.
Dr. Rosa said the Regents saw only “bits and pieces” of the application beforehand.
Several board members said they had been marginalized under Dr. Tisch, who took over in 2009 and is widely considered to be the most powerful, controlling chancellor in memory.
Tisch’s agenda has become crystal clear. Use private money to hire outside “help”. Use that help to marginalize the people who New York State has appointed to handle matters of public education. Allow the “help” to recommend and push a reform agenda that makes considerable amounts of money for the very people who “donated” money that pays for the help. Laugh all the way to the bank.
So tonight, if you are attending Senator LaValle’s dog and pony show at Eastport High School, speak your mind. Let Dr. Tisch know how you feel about her actions as Regents Chancellor. LaValle, King, and Tisch think they can control the agenda by pre-selecting the speakers and questions. It is a situation that begs for civil disobedience. Tisch has skated away for too long without having to answer to anyone. Make her answer to you tonight.
We are entering an important period of time in the push back against the education reforms in New York State. Fearing for their jobs next November, we are beginning to see some movement from state legislators on the school reform agenda. This is to be expected, as they have been hearing more about this agenda than anything else. Recently Senator Flanagan indicated that when the legislature convenes in January we should see quick action on the student privacy issue. Make no doubt, this is excellent news and it shows that finally legislators are starting to listen.
This, however, is not nearly enough. It became fairly predictable a couple of weeks back that there would be some movement in this direction. Legislators are fearing for their jobs and Commissioner King has had enough vitriol directed towards him that the state is now willing to throw us a bone. But as we have stated time and again, nothing but a full withdrawal from Race to the Top in New York State is acceptable. That is the message our legislators should continue to hear until they have delivered it.
There is a danger that with the passage of legislation restricting the data sent to inBloom people will be appeased. That is what John King and Merryl Tisch are hoping. That is what Andrew Cuomo is hoping for. That is what John Flanagan, Ken LaValle, and the rest of the legislature is hoping. That they can offer up the privacy issue in the hopes that the public will thank them, jump into their holiday season, and forget all about the rest of the abusive reform agenda.
There have been signs that some people are ready to head down this road. Here is No Kids Data NY:
Thank you Senator Flanagan…. The late night hours are starting to pay off! We have been heard http://t.co/8r4BAKcnTA
Again, let me be clear, limiting student data that is passed on is a win for our movement. It is something to be thankful for and a feather in our cap. But I am not ready to throw too many plaudits in Senator Flanagan’s direction yet. Keep in mind, Senator Flanagan is a major reason we are in this mess to begin with. Along with Andy Cuomo, puppet John King, and puppet master Merryl Tisch, he has been at the forefront of pushing the abusive reform agenda in New York State. Senator Flanagan has a long way to go before I am sending him a thank you card. A lot needs to be accomplished before I can be assured that the money that his chief campaign contributor, Michelle Rhee, gave him is not being spent to continue to harm students and teachers in New York for the benefit of private corporations.
The Smithtown News recently published a great editorial, titled “Change course on King/Flanagan agenda”, about Flanagan’s role in harming public education in New York State. It’s behind a pay wall so I’ll only give you the highlights. All bolded emphasis is mine.
On the organized opposition against the reform agenda…
Call it the King/Flanagan agenda, and it stinks.
The opposition has become so angry that wherever Senator Flanagan, SED Commissioner Dr. John King and Regent Chancellor Dr. Merryl Tisch go from one end of the state to the other, people start screaming at them.
On what may be part of Flanagan’s motivation (though the Rhee bucks help too)…
Ever since NYSUT refused to endorse him for re-election in 2010, Mr. Flanagan has been out to get public school teachers and he is hell-bent on taking the public school system down with them. He has jumped to the center of the charter school bandwagon, which drains money from public schools, he has fostered implementation of an inherently unfair and flawed APPR system, he has ushered in the misguided and premature implementation of the Common Core Learning Standards and he has allowed the implementation of the abusive testing of students.
After commenting on the $1 billion in state aid that Long Island districts have lost while Flanagan has either been the ranking Republican or Chairman of the Senate Education Committee…
Never has Long Island faired so poorly in terms of state aid as it has under the educational leadership of John Flanagan, and now his failed policies are threatening to destroy the quality educational system that we have enjoyed here on Long Island for generations.
On Flanagan’s hearings around the state that are dedicated to the reform agenda…
The hearings should have been held before implementing these new policies, not after. The intent now is only to act as political cover for Mr. Flanagan, who will try to emerge as if he resolved this difficult problem.
Remember though, he is the root cause of the terrible situation facing public school education right now. He needs to be replaced whether the problem is ultimately solved or not.
It really was a great article that reminds us that John Flanagan is one of the primary reasons we are in this mess. So I will hold my thank you until the entire agenda is repealed.
“I critique food, therefore I know all about your jobs too.”
The New York Times, like much of the mainstream media, has continuously shilled for the corporate driven Common Core State Standards. This weekend they posted this op-ed from food critic Frank Bruni. Mr. Bruni quotes Beth Dimino in it and then suggests that the anxiety Mrs. Dimino spoke about may becoming more from their parents than the endless amounts of standardized testing that is done in school these days.
Here is Mrs. Dimino’s response to Mr. Bruni…
Mr. Bruni, it comes as no surprise to me that as a food critic you believe that you are uniquely qualified to comment on the ramifications of the high stakes testing portion of the Common Core on New York’s children. You’re not a parent or an educator and you weren’t at the forum where I spoke, but you believed that you could write an informed article for the New York Times and insert my speech without bothering to ask me why I made the comments or to familiarize yourself with the topic. It seems like so many intelligent people, even New York Times writers, just don’t get it. Or is it that you don’t want to get it? Teachers give students tests to evaluate what the child has learned and to better inform themselves about their pedagogy. These tests are not administered for those reasons. Are you aware that the students who are tested in the spring do not receive their grades until the fall? Did you know that Commissioner King created a test that he accurately predicted 70% of the State’s children would fail? Does it matter to you that children as young as 4 years old are required to take these tests? I have some suggestions for you Mr. Bruni. Buy and read Diane Ravitch’s book, Reign of Error, if you want a different perspective about American Public Education. Investigate why more than half of the States are now reevaluating whether or not to withdraw from Race To The Top. Contact me if you would like to know what’s really going on in a New York State public school classroom. Count your lucky stars that your English teachers prepared you for your New York Times gig!
Diane Ravitch, the outspoken education historian, policy analyst and author, called on educators across Long Island Tuesday to boycott Common Core-related curricula and refuse to administer state tests as an act of defiance against the state and federal governments.
“Your community is your boss, and you do what’s best for children,” said Ravitch, speaking at a Hauppauge meeting that drew about 175 school superintendents and administrators from Suffolk and Nassau counties.
“Do not take the Common Core tests. Stop the testing,” said Ravitch, of Southold, who wrote the critically acclaimed “Reign of Error,” which defends the American education system and criticizes privatization moves as a drain on public schools. “Neither teachers or students are prepared for these tests. Stand together and there will be no punishment.”
This idea has been bubbling for some time now. Just waiting for the right person to put it out there. There is no better person to suggest the idea than Diane Ravitch. This is the year to do it. It is the perfect storm. Parents will be refusing in droves. Teachers are finally feeling emboldened enough to speak out about the reforms that are killing their school. It’ll be the spring of an election year. Legislators wouldn’t dare impose consequences on a district (or districts) who boycott the tests as a way of protecting the children in their communities. We’ve already seen the governor in an all out sprint, attempting to distance himself from the reform agenda. All it will take is for one school district to take the courageous step. To say, “No. Not to our children. You will not continue to abuse our children. No state testing in our schools this year.” Middle Country School District Superintendent Roberta Gerold was quoted in the Newsday article saying, “I would really have to think about it. I would love us to have the courage.”
Once a district takes that step others will follow. At that point the entire reform agenda crumbles. So now the question is, who? Who is going to be the courageous first district to take that step? Whoever it is will have the strength of all of our state’s teachers and an enormous number of parents behind it.
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