They Only Win When You Give Up

This is depressing:

When it came time yesterday for the question-and-answer session at state Education Commissioner Chris Cerf’s now-annual convocation with school superintendents, there was an awkward moment: nobody stepped to the microphone.

“Oh, I know you have questions,” Cerf said wryly, aware of the challenges facing school leaders and their districts in a momentous year of change.

And while a few school superintendents did ultimately wander forward, the hesitation spoke to a different tenor – some would call it calm, others resignation -- that is coming over this group in the fourth year of Gov. Chris Christie’s tenure and the third year for his education commissioner.

Compared with previous convocations at which tensions were high and questions were plentiful, the more than 300 school leaders gathered yesterday at Jackson Liberty High School appeared to be getting used to the new world order under Cerf and his boss.

Gary McCartney, the South Brunswick superintendent and president of the state’s superintendents group, which hosted the event, said he saw the three years of convocations with Cerf as a period of evolution.

“I think people are beginning to assimilate,” he said. “In the first year, it was kicking and screaming, hoping (the initiatives) would go away. The second was wringing your hands and whining, thinking they would go away. Now you say, I don’t have any more tantrums, I think we’re going to do this.” [emphasis mine]

With all due respect to Dr. McCartney and the other fine public servants at this convention who serve New Jersey's children, this is the wrong attitude to take at this critical juncture.

Dr. McCartney has a long and distinguished career as an educator and school leader. He, and the vast majority of New Jersey's superintendents, have forgotten more about public education than Chris Cerf and his Broad-paid interns fellows ever knew. So it's not "kicking and screaming" to challenge the highly questionable policies that have been foisted on to New Jersey's excellent public schools; in fact, I would say that these school leaders not only have the right to challenge the nonsense Chris Christie is pushing, they have a duty to stand up and resist it.

The primary function of this blog over the past three years has been to catalog the many sins Christie and Cerf have committed against New Jersey's public schools, including:

• A failure of state control in Newark, Paterson, Jersey City, and now Camden.
• Cerf's insistence on bringing unqualified, poorly-trained staff into the NJDOE and the large urban districts.
• A despicable retreat from funding equity in our schools.
• The imposition of an innumerate teacher evaluation system that has never been properly field tested.
• The imposition of bizarre schemes that have never worked, like merit pay.
• The imposition of curricular and testing changes that have never been properly vetted.
• A rampant expansion of privatization that both undermines democratic control of our schools and rewards poor educational and fiscal practices.
• The lowest morale of the NJ teaching corps seen in a generation, precipitated by Christie's blatant lies to educators about their compensation, his truly reprehensible behavior in public appearances, and his personal hypocrisy regarding his own children's education.

I've known several superintendents in New Jersey over the years, and I've worked for some exceptional ones. In the main, these are good people who truly care about the students and staff in their charge. I certainly appreciate that they might feel they are in an impossible position, and that they should just calm the waters, try to get along, and wait out the end of the Christie regime when, hopefully, some sanity will return to our state.

But our school leaders have got to understand that they are not powerless -- far from it. New Jersey's superintendents know Christie and Cerf have been bad for their schools, bad for their staffs, and bad for their students. They ought to stand up and say so -- politely, respectfully, but loudly and clearly. 

People will listen.

Accountability begins at home.

The Shafting Of the American Teacher

Well, isn't this just lovely:

New Jersey teachers are returning to their classrooms this month with smaller pay increases than in previous years.

The state schools boards association said the average pay increase in settled contracts as of this past spring was about 2.25 percent for the 2013-14 school year. That’s down from 2.37 percent last year and half of the average pay hike of almost 4.5 percent five years ago, according to the association. [emphasis mine]

Ah, the good old days of 4.5% pay raises... when everyone else was getting more than that! The truth is that teacher pay in New Jersey has historically never kept pace with the rest of the workforce:

Look at that: less than 80% of the hourly wage of all statewide workers, down from about 93% back in 1990, before the jihad against educators began. The truth is that teachers have never enjoyed "big" raises:

Meanwhile, a look at data from several decades shows that while average teacher pay is higher than the average of all workers salaries -- everyone from landscapers to surgeons, for example -- it grew at a slower rate than all workers' pay grew.

Teachers average pay rose nearly 150 percent between 1985 and 2008.

The average wage for all workers in the state in 1985 was $21,107, according to state Department of Labor and Workforce Development data. The average pay for all workers in 2008, the last year currently available, was $55,282, an increase of 162 percent.

Overall, the rate of inflation over that same time period was 122 percent for an area including New York, Northern New Jersey and Pennsylvania. 

And Jersey, believe it or not, is one of the better states for teacher pay (of course, it's also one of the more expensive states in which to live). In North Carolina, the average teacher makes $45,933. If a that teacher tried to raise a family of five on that salary, they'd qualify for reduced price school lunches.

I should also point out that New Jersey teachers are paying more into their pensions and health insurance. This is Year 3 of the Pen-Ben law, and teacher contributions to health insurance at the same salary level are 50% higher this year than last. Pension contributions went up as well (and there's no plan in sight for how the state will meet the $5 billion pension obligation it will have in a few short years). So take home pay for New Jersey's teachers is actually decreasing, even when you add in the meager raises we are now getting.

Again: it's like this all over the country:

At the moment, the average teacher’s pay is on par with that of a toll taker or bartender. Teachers make 14 percent less than professionals in other occupations that require similar levels of education. In real terms, teachers’ salaries have declined for 30 years. The average starting salary is $39,000; the average ending salary — after 25 years in the profession — is $67,000. This prices teachers out of home ownership in 32 metropolitan areas, and makes raising a family on one salary near impossible.

The response to all this from the reformy right has been to point to merit pay. "Just pay the great teachers more!" they shout, neglecting to think the idea through: if every child deserves a great teacher, won't we have to pay every teacher more?

Given the meager merit pay raises in Washington and Newark, there's no reason to believe these schemes will lead to broad wage increases for teachers. Which means that teaching is increasingly becoming a dead-end, low-paid job with eroding benefits, little prestige, and capricious evaluation systems.

I, like millions of other educators across the country, love to teach. But I, like millions of other educators across the country, love my family even more.

Are we really going to ask teachers to choose between their careers and their families' financial well-being?

@jaredpolis: America's Worst Congressperson

What a schmuck:

Yes, 75 year old Diane Ravitch -- grandmother, author, and historian -- is "evil" in the eyes of this sitting member of Congress. Aren't you proud, Colorado?

This empty suit is the 7th wealthiest member of Congress. But Polis is really just another phony Democrat who pushes idiocy like Race To The Top so he doesn't have to have a serious conversation about income inequity. It's all part of the hard work of the rich and powerful, slaving away to protect their big piles of lucre from the hordes storming the gates of Versailles. "Let them eat charter school cake!" says Le Comte de Jared.

It's a very interesting dynamic we have going on right now in this country when it comes to economic justice. Folks like Polis have no problem with political, media, and financial systems that allow pirates to accumulate obscene amounts of booty -- so long as they get a chance to get in on the action. To them, social "progress" is a billionaire who's black, or gay, or female.

It never seems to occur to them, however, that someone needs to edge their perfectly manicured lawns. Someone needs to bus their salad plates at their favorite five-star eateries. Someone needs to pour the asphalt on the highways their limos cruise over. And maybe those people deserve health care and decent wages and dignified retirements that last longer than a few minutes between the time they stop working and the time they keel over from exhaustion.

Charter schools will do nothing -- nothing -- to help the people who do the hard, honest work that is demanded by our capitalist society. Maybe Jared Polis thinks charter schools are so awesome because they might give a rare poor kid from the inner city a chance to grow up and become an obscenely wealthy a-hole like him.

But that's not the real problem, is it?

Hey, stop it with the facts and stuff! Can't you see I'm trying to put on a patina of liberalism here?!

Ravitch Kicks Rhee's Book-Selling Tail

You'll remember earlier this year when Michelle Rhee's auto-hagiography, Radical, was published. I tracked the sales for a while on Amazon; maybe I missed a higher number, but this was the best sales rank for Rhee that I could find, a little less than three weeks after her book was released:

As I wrote at the time:

According to Amazon.com, Radical was released on February 5, 2013, almost three weeks ago. In that time, Rhee has been on what must be any author's dream book tour: The Daily Show, This Week, Charlie Rose, and many other outlets. She's been treated very gently, despite the cheating scandal that surrounds her and her mediocre record running Washington, D. C.'s schools. Given the extent of her book tour and it's fawning nature, you would think that Radical would be flying off of the shelves.

It didn't. In contrast, Diane Ravitch's Reign of Error was released to the public today. How's it doing on Amazon?

As far as I know, Diane hasn't done any national television; certainly, nothing on the level of the shows Rhee appeared on. And yet, after one day, Ravitch is kicking Rhee's tail in the book-selling game.

Aside from my obvious glee in watching Diane soar where Rhee crashed, I bring this up to make a larger point:

Micheel Rhee does not lead a "grassroots" effort. Her wealthy backers bought her a place in the education reform debate -- a place she didn't earn through achievements, nor by speaking for parents, teachers, or students. 

The anemic sales of Radical are proof that Michelle Rhee's grassroots support is nonexistent. So it's time for the press to stop giving Rhee an outsized place in the media, and to start giving Diane Ravitch and those like her a chance to make their case.

America has voted: more of this...

...and less of this.

ADDING: Hey, some crazy music teacher/blogger wrote a review of Reign of Error for the NEA blog EdVotes.

Chicago Mayor Emanuel Closes New School Before It Opens! [parody]

CHICAGO -- Rahm Emanuel has become the first big city mayor to close a school before it has even been built.

"When I announced I was building this new [expletive deleted] school yesterday, I thought you [expletive deleted] in the press would leave me alone!" yelled Emanuel, shouting in front of a group of parents gathered in the Far Southeast Side.

"Then the [expletive deleted] Tribune has to go remind everyone the [expletive deleted] school site is contaminated!" screamed Emanuel. "'Fast Eddie' Vrdolyak didn't say dog [gross expletive deleted] about that to me, the [particularly nasty and personal expletive deleted]!"

At Emanuel's press conference yesterday, neighborhood parents -- to whom Emanuel would not speak -- wondered why the mayor wouldn't commit to fixing the current local elementary school, Gallistel:

"Because of (a lack of) air conditioning, they're not learning properly," said Robert Veloz, who has three grandchildren at Gallistel. "We need to invest money here."

Martha and Isaias Posada, who have two daughters at Gallistel, said through an interpreter that they were concerned about contamination at the new school and not sure whether they'd send their younger child there. At the same time, they worried about the aging facilities at Gallistel. Their older daughter, fifth-grader Yesenia Posada, said it was sometimes 100 degrees in her classrooms.

Today, when asked about Gallistel, Emanuel said: "[expletive deleted] it -- I'll close that one, too! And I'll close the nearest school down the [expletive deleted] street! [Completely unnecessary expletive deleted], I closed fifty [expletive deleted] schools this year already, and I'll close every [expletive deleted] school in this [expletive deleted] city if I have to, 'cause that's what I do, you [unbelievably offensive and disgusting expletive deleted]!"

When asked about his 19% approval rating, Emanuel became uncharacteristically silent.

[Expletive deleted] you, Chicago!

(You guys know this a parody, right? And halfway through writing I realized I was stealing from Gary Trudeau. Ah, [expletive deleted] it...)

Hilarious Ode to Charlotte Danielson!

If you are a teacher, trust me on this one:

Danielson, oh Danielson,

I still hear your domains calling,

My data's down, my numbers falling,

I became a "one"

When I met Danielson.

Based on Glen Campbell's "Galveston"; how these guys came up with that choice I have no idea, but well done, folks!

My sense is that Charlotte Danielson is a sincere educator who wants to make schools and teachers better. But I must have missed the vote when we all decided she has the last word on what works in the classroom.

And it appears even she is beginning to have doubts about the teacher evaluation nightmare that is unfolding...

Multiple measures... multiple measures...

On the New TFA Study: People, Calm Down!

I really don't have time to take a long, hard look at the new Teach For America study, which "confirms" that TFA "works" because its randomized design is the "gold standard," and anyone who doubts this is "quibbling."

There's been some good reporting on this: start with Dana Goldstein and Stephanie Simon, two journalists who regularly stop and think for a minute before they write. Would that all education writers follow the same advice; they might realize that...

- Effect sizes matter. The study shows a difference of .13 standard deviations in high school math and .06 standard deviations in middle school math. That is equivalent to moving a student from the 27th percentile to the 30th. The study uses the "x months of learning" conversion to say that's 2.6 months of learning; I find that to be misleading at best. Having four TFA teachers in a row isn't going to mean that a student will take calculus in their senior year instead of pre-calculus: these effects aren't necessarily cumulative.

What really should be reported is how many more questions the TFA students got right on the final tests. And it can't be many when an effect size is that small. Statistically significant? Sure. But practically significant? Come on. And I'm not even going to deal with the scaling problems here...

In addition, TFAers come from elite schools, which means they generally have good test-taking abilities. Are they able to impart those abilities on to their students? And is that "real" learning, or simply learning how to beat the system?

In any case, the results here seem like a great candidate for a treatment from the Mountain-Out-Of-A-Molehill-INATOR: there's just not that much here to get excited about.

- Some randomness isn't full randomness. OK, so the kids are randomly assigned -- but the teachers weren't. The TFAers aren't going up against the entire population of "regular" math teachers; they are matched only with those teachers who:

• Teach the same subject,
• In the same school,
• To which only TFAers are assigned.

That is a very, very limited control group from which to draw broad conclusions about the effectiveness of TFA. There is plenty of reason to suspect that many districts do not distribute teachers across their schools equally; and that's not even addressing the distribution between districts. 

So the students may be randomly assigned, but the teachers in the control group most certainly are not. That is a big hit to the generalizability of this study. And speaking of those teachers...

- Heterogeneity of the control group. The study tries to account for some differences between the control group teachers, but it is a very limited description. That's not a criticism; it's simply pointing out the limitations of the study. Colleges are reported dichotomously as "selective" or "not selective," as if there isn't a whole world of difference between programs in "not selective" colleges (for example: state schools with scholars as faculty vs. crappy, on-line, for-profit "universities"). Interestingly, TFA teachers were more likely to have degrees in secondary math education than comparison teachers (18.8% vs. 15.9%).

I also found this telling: 70 percent of both the TFAers and the comparison teachers had 20 or fewer days of student teaching in math. That says as much, to me, about the quality of training of the comparison teachers as it does about the TFA group.

Again, I just don't have the time to look at this deeply (besides, there are people who vet these things really well, like NEPC -- I'll wait for their update). But even a cursory look says that the policy implications of this study are limited.

Were I a principal at one of these schools, would I want to give TFAers preference in making my hiring decisions? Would I want the power to be able to fire my veterans and bring in TFAers? Based on the small effect size, I'd be far more concerned about how changing personnel policies to give TFA preference would affect the qualifications of the rest of my hiring pool and the morale of my current staff.

So maybe there's another question worth asking: is staffing the schools that TFA serves with inexperienced, barely trained neophytes who provide only marginally more value than current staff really the best we can do for the deserving students who attend these schools?

In any case, my advice to those who are leaping to praise TFA on the basis of this study is to calm down. TFA is not working miracles, it's not a viable long-term solution, and its role in staffing charter schools is causing some very serious issues for urban school districts. Further, it's morphing into a political organization, and its role in big money urban renewal deals can't possibly be justified by a study that is so lacking in generalizability.

TFA is very good at tooting their own horn. But this is a little tune with a limited range; they're going to have to do better to justify the outsized place they taken in the education "reform" debate.

ADDING: JVH is on the case:

1) Mathematica TFA study does not say much about TFA writ large

The sample is large and covers an adequate number of students, schools and states. However, there are clearly some issues in the TFA sample that calls into question whether it really represents TFA and the profession more broadly.

The sample only contains secondary math teachers. However, in most communities, the majority of TFA teachers teach elementary, not secondary (See Houston example below).

The sample is heavily weight toward middle school, 75% of the classroom matches were middle school. Middle school teachers are much rarer in TFA assignments in districts like Houston (See below).

Not only is the sample secondary, but it is focused specifically on math teachers in middle and high school.

Although there is of course variation by site, relatively few TFA teachers teach secondary math. For example, around82% of TFA teachers in Houston teach subjects other than secondary math. 

And so on. My fav part?

In sum, you will be a better airline pilot (teacher) if:

• You do not have ongoing pilot training, it will hurt your flying skills.
• You do not study to become a pilot before piloting a plane. Just rev the engines. Wohoooooooo.
• Using a flight simulator to test your ability to fly a plane before hand will have no relationship to your ability to fly a plane.

Oh, my...

 

Preview: Short Excerpt from @DianeRavitch's "Reign Of Error"

I wrote a review of Diane Ravitch's new book, Reign of Error, this weekend. I was honored to receive an advance copy, and I'll let you know when and where my review appears. Diane's book is available to the public September 17th.

As part of the review, I transcribed a paragraph:

“But the wounds caused by centuries of slavery, segregation, and discrimination cannot be healed by testing, standards, accountability, merit pay, and choice. Even if test scores go up in a public or charter school, the structural inequity of society and systematic inequities in our schools remain undisturbed. For every “miracle” school celebrated by the media, there are scores of “Dumpster schools,” where the low-performing students are unceremoniously hidden away. This is not school reform, nor is it social reform. It is social neglect. It is a purposeful abandonment of public responsibility to address deep-seated problems that only public policy can overcome.”

Imagine another 350 pages or so just as well-written, just as fearless, just as dead-on accurate. That's Reign of Error.

Trust me on this one: pre-order it now.

New Depths of Ignorance For the Star-Ledger

ME (speaking with mouthful of muffin): Would it be wrong for me to write a post entitled: "Star-Ledger Editorial Board: the Stupidest People on Earth!"

MRS. JAZZMAN (looking up from sipping smoothie): Yes, it would. Not only is it unnecessarily provocative, it's untrue. They're not the stupidest people on Earth.

ME: But they wrote this!

For perspective, know that the reforms [NJ Democratic gubernatorial candidate Barbara] Buono opposes are supported not just by our Republican governor, but by President Obama and Education Secretary Arne Duncan, who have defied the teachers unions on these issues despite the political cost. Buono is positioning herself to the left of that bipartisan coalition.

MRS. JAZZMAN: Are you telling me they are actually arguing a policy must be correct just because Chris Christie and Arne Duncan both support it?

ME: Yes!

MRS. JAZZMAN: (pause) Yeah, that is really stupid.

ME: And what about this?

Begin with the new teachers’ contract in Newark. It provides bonuses to the best teachers while freezing the pay of those who perform poorly. It eases the path to get rid of persistently bad teachers. It brings the kind of accountability that the NJEA has always resisted as it seeks to protect its members, good or bad.

Buono opposes merit pay, and is skeptical about the use of tests to help assess teacher performance. She would slam the brakes on this kind of change.

ME: I just wrote several posts about the merit pay plan in Newark (here, here, and here). Not only are the Newark teachers getting gypped out of the Facebook millions they were promised; a teacher is more likely to be rated "Highly Effective" if she isn't in the merit pay-eligible pool!

MRS. JAZZMAN: Really?

ME: Haven't you been reading the blog?

MRS. JAZZMAN: Like I have time for that. Anyway, that paragraph is dumb even without the merit pay: why does the Star-Ledger always think the NJEA wants to protect "bad" teachers? All they want is for evaluations to be fair.

ME: Well, once the former president of the NJEA said one sentence Tom Moran didn't like. He can't let that go. Besides, he loves calling teachers "liars," even when they aren't.

MRS. JAZZMAN: Why would his publishers think it was a good idea to insult teachers? Don't they teach people how to read? Don't newspapers need readers?

ME: Exactly my point! These people are stupid! Look at this!

On charter schools, she is even worse. She would require a municipal referendum on each new charter school, turning what is now a sober and professional screening process into a political dogfight that the union would probably win every time. It is a poison pill, plain and simple.

In Newark, roughly 10,000 families are on waiting lists to get their children into charter schools, and for good reason. A study by Stanford University’s Center for Research on Education Outcomes found that charter students exhibited almost twice the achievement gains of students in Newark’s traditional schools.

Why halt a promising reform that is in such high demand?

MRS. JAZZMAN: So what Moran is saying is that if a charter came to our town, even if we all voted that we didn't want it, we should still be forced to take it and drain money away from the Jazzboys' schools to fund it?!

ME: That's exactly what he's saying. And I know you've read my posts about the CREDO study.

MRS. JAZZMAN: I did, but I'm glad you linked to Darcie Cimarusti and Bruce Baker and Julia Sass Rubin. Bruce's post really explained it well:

The kids in the charters aren't the same as the kids in the public schools. Why don't you make more fun cartoons like this?

ME: Because you made me spend all afternoon yesterday searching the attic for the car carrier.

MRS. JAZZMAN: That took maybe five minutes!

ME: Whatever. What about this?

Finally, she wants to fully fund the education formula, which is plainly unrealistic in these tight budget times.

MRS. JAZZMAN: But the funding formula is the law! It HAS to be funded! And the gap between spending out here in the suburbs and the cities has gotten worse under Christie! Shouldn't the Star-Ledger be outraged that Christie is giving away tax gifts to wealthy people while the students in the cities get less funding and wind up in crumbling schools?!

ME: You would think so -- but the Star-Ledger Editorial Board members don't know any of that because they're stupid! The "Stupidest People on Earth!" Why can't I say that?

MRS. JAZZMAN: Look, you've got a point. But saying that sort of thing is beneath you. You can't expect people to listen to what you're saying when you start throwing words like "stupid" around. No one's going to take you seriously.

ME: (pause) Can I say: "ignorant"?

MRS. JAZZMAN: (pause) Yeah, OK. After you weed the front walk.

ME: You gonna finish that smoothie?

MRS. JAZZMAN: Yes.

Star-Ledger Editorial Board

(This conversation, like most of our conversations, may exist slightly differently in my mind than in reality...)

Three Years Ago a Star Was Born: Marie Corfield

It's hard to believe, but it was three years ago this very day when an art teacher from Flemington stood up to a bully named Chris Christie and gave him a piece of her mind:



Keep in mind, this was before we had heard Christie compare teachers to drug dealers and tell reporters to "take a bat out" on a 76-year-old state senator and call an Iraq War veteran an "idiot." Marie Corfield was among the first, if not the first, of us to stand up to this loudmouth and tell him to step off.

That she did it in a scripted, phony "town hall" full of the governor's sycophants speaks volumes to this woman's bravery. That she wasn't a career politician, yet took on the difficult task of running for the legislature, speaks volumes about her integrity.

Marie is going to make a great assemblywoman: smart, tough, compassionate, and practical, she has all the qualities a great teacher (and a great mom) develops on the job. She's in a contested district, but she's got the backing of her party and a great staff of volunteers. It's a real grassroots candidacy -- one that will put one of our own in office to finally fight for us.

Help Marie win so she can represent us. You know what to do.

Marie Corfield for NJ Assembly!