Lies, Damned Lies, and the TAKS

{Scheduled for publication March 6, 2012}

The Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS) tests are a set of standardized tests that public school children in Texas must take, and ultimately pass, to graduate from high school.

The stated purpose of the TAKS is “to provide an accurate measure of student achievement in reading, writing, mathematics, social studies, and science.” A huge debate rages throughout Texas, and the nation for that matter, as to whether such standardized tests can accurately measure student achievement. This debate is moot. It is moot because the stated purpose of the TAKS is not at all the true purpose of the TAKS.

The true purpose of the TAKS, conceived by corporate reformers and their puppet politicians, is to discredit public schools and teachers. The hope is that public schools cannot get sufficient numbers of students to pass the tests, thus implying they are incompetent, and leaving the door open to takeover by privately owned charter management organizations (CMOs).

Did you like HMOs? You’re gonna love CMOs.

While the TAKS has inflicted serious injury on our public schools, it has ultimately failed in its mission. More and more students are passing the TAKS each year and more and more “Exemplary” schools are appearing across the state. Unfortunately, schools have beaten back the TAKS threat by resorting to “teaching-to-the-test.” The curriculum has been dumbed-down and lessons have been narrowed to focus on material covered by the TAKS. Extra classes have been added to do nothing but teach-the-test. Thus we have raised a generation of children whose primary skill is taking multiple choice tests.

The defeat of TAKS is a pyrrhic victory at best.

As a result of its failure, TAKS will be phased out by the State of Texas Assessment of Academic Readiness (STAAR) tests beginning this school year. These are so-called “end-of-course” tests meaning that a separate test is administered for each subject (e.g., Algebra I, English I, Biology, Geography). Theoretically, these end-of-course tests will put an end to teaching-to-the-test. All teachers need do is teach their subject matter and their kids will pass. Theoretically.

I know of one school (not in Stephenville) that administered mid-year benchmark (practice) STAAR tests to its students. Half of the students in the school failed the math tests. Panic city. Personally, I would see the glass as half full. To have half of your students pass a test containing material they haven’t yet been taught is remarkable.  But school officials do not see it that way. They have hired outside tutors to pull students from elective classes such as art, music, and theatre to provide them extra tutoring in math. I’m sure this will soon be a common practice across the state.

So much for not teaching-to-the-test.

What is seldom mentioned about the STAAR tests is that the degree of difficulty has been raised significantly over TAKS. Also, students must take and pass many more STAAR tests than TAKS. Currently, students must pass four comprehensive TAKS tests to graduate high school. Beginning with the class of 2015, students must pass 12 STAAR tests to graduate. Harder tests and more tests lead to more failures, and make it all the easier to discredit schools.

By the way, did I mention that, during this time of economic hardship, the state of Texas is paying upwards of $500 million to Pearson Education, Inc. of London, England to prepare the STAAR tests? That’s a great deal for Pearson; not such a great deal for our kids.

On the bright side there is a growing movement across the Texas and the nation against standardized testing. This movement is led by parents who are beginning to realize that their children have been set up to fail. You can find one such group on Facebook at Texas Parents Opt Out of State Tests. This is a group definitely worth checking out.

Teachers, it’s time to join parents the resistance against the standardized testing scam. Write, phone or email your State Representative and Senator. Write, phone or email your U.S. Representative and Senator.  Tell them it’s time to stop the testing madness. Every voice helps.

In the meantime, I’ll keep writing.

Lessons Learned, part 2

{Scheduled for publication 02/06/12}

This month I promised to discuss the “cons” of the corporate education reform movement. I would discuss the “pros” but there aren’t any.

The “corporate reform” movement in education is predicated on the idea that schools should be run more like corporations.  I spent 20 plus years in the corporate world and have a pretty good idea how they operate.  Many of our biggest corporations are little more than organized crime syndicates. They pay their top executives big salaries and bonuses, squeeze the life blood from their employees, and cheat their customers. I’d say some schools, especially many charters, are already operating like corporations.

During my corporate career, I spent a few years as a Process Engineer. My job was to help design engineering and manufacturing processes that would allow said corporations to produce their widgets as efficiently and profitably as possible.  We spoke the language of TQM and Six Sigma. We were “data-driven” and made sure every step was “value added.” Malcolm Baldrige was our god. In short, we had no idea what we were talking about.

Now I’m in the education world and its déjà vu all over again. The so-called “corporate reformers” want to apply the same principles to our schools. They want us to believe that “data driven instruction” and “value added assessments” will save education. And they tell us that we can accomplish this by making our children take endless, mind-numbing, multiple-choice, standardized tests. In short, they have no idea what they’re talking about.

“Repeatability” is a key word to corporations. It means that they strive to produce identical widgets with a high degree of predictability. Widgets that are “out of spec” are bad. They must be discarded or reworked and therefore reduce profitability. This is all well and good for big business, but it has one major flaw when applied to the classroom…children aren’t widgets.

In the United States, every child should receive an equal opportunity at a quality education. But to expect equal results from each child is ludicrous. To strive for the “repeatability” of corporations is to dehumanize children and treat them as widgets. This is what we do when we say that, in order to graduate, every child must pass a standardized test written by some ivory tower REMF (Rear Echelon Meddling Fool) who hasn’t seen the inside of a classroom in a decade, if ever.

Contrary to what many corporate reformers would like you to believe, public schools try, to the best of their ability, to meet the needs of each student. Public schools offer highly qualified, certified, motivated teachers. Public schools offer individualized instruction plans for children who need them. Public schools offer a strong curriculum in academic and vocational studies. Public schools offer programs for special needs children. Public schools offer free transportation to and from schools. Public schools offer free meals to kids who can’t afford them. (These are often the only meals the kids receive.)

Public schools offer hope. No other entity offers more to the future of our children, our communities, and our nation than our educational system.

Do you believe that charter schools go to the same effort to address the needs of every child? I don’t Charter schools are businesses. (Have you noticed how many charter schools have suddenly incorporated?) My Finance 101 textbook says: “The goal of every business is to maximize shareholder wealth.” (In other words: to make the ownership rich.) Children with individual needs are “out of spec” and unprofitable. They must be discarded. Call it Socialism if you will, but to turn a profit of the backs of our children is morally reprehensible.

Of course, all of this reform talk is really just a vast smokescreen.  Ten years ago I favored charter schools. They seemed like a viable alternative (emphasis on alternative) for kids who struggled in mainstream schools. Unfortunately, the corporate gurus realized that there were billions of your tax dollars that could be funneled away from public schools , into charter schools, and ultimately into their pockets. This isn’t about reform, this isn’t about choice, this is about money.

People who stand against corporate education reform are accused of favoring the status quo. I favor neither corporate reform nor the status quo. Did not the United States have the best schools system in the world before all of this “reform?” Was there not a time when we entrusted the education of children to teachers? Do you remember a time when “independent school district” really meant independent?

 I favor a return to those times. I favor ending the micromanagement of our schools by Austin bureaucrats. I favor returning the classroom to the modern classroom teacher, equipped with modern teaching techniques and a smattering of modern technology. When we do this the United States will once again have the preeminent education system in the world.

I have more to say on Facebook at One Texas Teacher. I also recommend Save Texas Schools and Texas Parents Opt Out of State Tests. These pages are worth your time.

In the meantime, I’ll keep writing.

Lessons Learned, Part 1

{Published in the Stephenville (Texas) Empire-Tribune January 2, 2011 }

I’ve often wished that I was blessed with the so-called “gift of gab.”

 It has always been difficult for me to engage someone in idle conversation much less a healthy discussion on a topic as important as education. Writing, on the other hand, has served me well. For some reason it is easier for me to get thoughts from my brain to the tips of my fingers than from my brain to the tip of my tongue. Besides, it takes me weeks to compose one of these columns, and I’ve never found anyone patient enough to converse with me for that long.

Writing also let me earn a pretty good living. I was a Technical Writer for seven years. That was a terrific gig. I got paid for doing something I love, worked mostly at home, traveled occasionally, and, on the side I could work on that “Great American Novel.”  Alas, the tech writing business eventually dried up and the great novel turned out not so much.  So, the writing years served as my transition years into teaching.

Despite my advanced age, I have been a teacher for only nine years. Prior to teaching, I performed my military duty and then spent over 20 years in the corporate world; stories for another time. The last nine years have been a roller coaster ride. My rookie year as a teacher went relatively (emphasis on relatively) smoothly, but my second year was a disaster.  I nearly quit teaching and teaching nearly quit me; also a story for another time. Since then, I’ve taken it one year at a time, tried to learn from my mistakes, and, a few years ago, received a Teacher of the Year award. Go figure.

There are many reasons for the ups and downs of my teaching career, but two mistakes that I made really stand out as lessons learned. First, I entered the teaching profession with the notion, that many people have, that teaching is an “easy” job. Second, I thought my “real-world” corporate experience would serve me well in the classroom. Boy was I wrong on both counts.

 I could easily write an entire column on each of these lessons … so I think I will. This month I’ll discuss the “easy” teaching profession. And next month I’ll do a number on the “corporate reformers” who want to help us “fix” our schools.

Politicians have made numerous attempts to de-professionalize the teaching profession by ending teacher certification. Their primary argument for this has been “anyone can be a teacher.” In a way, I agree them. Anyone can be a bad teacher.

It is easy to be a bad teacher. What makes a bad teacher is not caring whether students learn. It is easy to make assignments from a book or pass out a worksheet, prop your feet up and wait for the bell to ring. Yes, there are teachers like that, but they are the 1% and, fortunately, they don’t last very long.

It is not easy to be a good teacher, but I am proud to say that they are the 99%. I am privileged this year to work with a very impressive and dedicated team of teachers who teach freshman Algebra. This is not an easy subject to teach. These teachers get to work early and leave late. They meet weekly to collaborate on lessons. During our “duty-free” lunch, they compare notes and make adjustments to daily lessons. They tutor students before and after school. They go home exhausted, but stay up late grading papers. Parts of their weekends are spent preparing for the next week.

But, what impresses me most about these teachers is that they haven’t given up. Their classroom sizes have nearly doubled and they face an uncertain future (the real cuts begin next year), and yet they keep on trying. Also, they haven’t succumbed to the “teach the test” mentality. Even though they are the first group of teachers whose students face TAKS’ demon spawn, the dreaded STAAR test, they have continued to teach their subjects to the best of their abilities. Why? Because, they genuinely care about their student’s learning.

So why do the myths against teachers prevail? Because many people drink the Kool-Aid.

Mixed by politicians and pundits, this potion has been designed to poison minds against teachers and public education. They have administered it in ever increasing doses for decades until the general public has come to believe that teachers and schools are responsible for the ills of society. Their goal is to undermine public schools to justify the transfer of your tax dollars into their pockets.

As a teacher, I have been accused of self-interest in writing these articles. I can live with that. Personally, I think teachers do themselves and their students a disservice by not speaking out more. But if you are the parent or grandparent (as I am) of school age children, ask yourself to whom you want to entrust their educations: teachers or politicians? I am around teachers literally 24/7, and there is no group of people I would trust more with my grandchildren.

I would love to hear your comments. I have received some nice feedback and had some lively conversations along the way. (Shout out to Wade – I never agreed with you, but I enjoyed the debate.) All of my previous columns and blogs are at http://onetexasteacher.blogspot.com/ and I have a Facebook page called One Texas Teacher. If you’d like to debate the plight of public education, please drop by.

In the meantime, I’ll keep writing.

Happy Tuesday!

{Published in the Stephenville Empire-Tribune 12/06/11)

I’m going to stray from my usual monthly essay on education to take this opportunity to wish everyone Happy Holidays!

Thanksgiving has just passed. Thanksgiving is my personal favorite holiday because it has been set aside for no other reason than to just be grateful. What a great reason for a holiday! Despite all of the problems we face in this country (and I, for one, think we face many) we still have so much to be grateful for.

Thanksgiving is also the most relaxing holiday. It is free from the stress and commercialism of Christmas and it lacks the bitter sweetness of New Year’s Day which usually marks the end of the holidays. Besides gratitude, Thanksgiving at my house is also dedicated to family (love those grand-daughters), food (yes I like to cook), and football (Gig ‘em Aggies! Go Cowboys!). It doesn’t get any better than that.

Traditionally, Thanksgiving marks the beginning of what is euphemistically called the Holiday Season. I suppose it is a sign of our times that calling this the Holiday Season, or wishing someone ”Happy Holidays” gives a few people heartburn. Last year the student council of my high school put a poster in the school lobby proclaiming “Happy Holidays!” I happened to overhear several teachers grouse about the “political correctness” of the poster. Now I am a writer, not a debater, so I kept my mouth shut. But at that moment I wanted to paraphrase the immortal words of Rodney King and shout out, “People can’t we all just lighten up?” I have never understood how wishing someone happiness, of any kind, could be considered offensive.

My column is published on Tuesday, so if you are reading this it must be Tuesday. If someone were to pass me today and say “Happy Tuesday,” I know I would automatically feel a little bit better. As a matter of fact I would like to declare today as Happy Tuesday. We already have “So happy its Thursday” and “Thank God it’s Friday.” Why shouldn’t we celebrate Tuesday?  Anytime you pass someone today, wish them a “Happy Tuesday.” I guarantee you will get a smile. A somewhat puzzled smile maybe, but a smile nonetheless.

I’m aware that some people believe that the phrase “Happy Holidays” is an attack on Christmas and an assault on their faith. To my knowledge this is a relatively recent phenomenon. I am in my 60^th year, and somehow my faith has endured six decades of vicious happiness wishes. I didn’t even know I was under attack, so my faith must have prevailed because I have always given as good as I have received.

Wishing someone happiness, for any reason, in any season, is good. Knowing that someone cares enough to wish happiness upon you can’t help but brighten your day. I know it does mine. Take the time to wish someone happiness today.  I believe this is what The Reason For The Season would want us to do.

In this month’s column I have decided to follow my own advice and “lighten up.” This does not mean my passion for advocating for Texas public schools has abated in the least. The political campaign season is starting soon with the future of education on the line. I believe it will start out as a cold and bitter campaign and end with high heat and humility. So, after a pause for the holidays, I will return next month as outspoken as ever for public education.

But now is a time for rest, reflection, gratitude, and happiness. I hope everyone enjoys the holidays. Merry Christmas to all, Happy New Year, and oh, by the way… Happy Tuesday.

It's not easy being green

{Published in the Stephenville (Texas) Empire Tribune, November 1, 2011}

It’s time to admit that I’m a member of the Democratic Party. There…I said it and I feel much better. The three or four people who read my column are probably saying, “I’m not surprised.”  Others would probably be shocked to think that right here in the middle of Tea Bag land there exists even one member of that “other” party. Still others may be apoplectic over the fact that someone would mention the D-word, much less admit to being a D-word.

It is complicated being a Democrat. The strength of the Democratic Party is its diversity. We Democrats come in all shapes, sizes, colors and creeds.  Politically we run the gamut from liberal to conservative. We look out for the little guy. The Democratic Party is the party of inclusion. The weakness of the Democratic Party is its diversity. Wherever you find two Democrats discussing an issue (if you can find two Democrats in Erath County) you’ll hear at least three different opinions. The Democratic Party is the party of confusion.

To simply say I’m a Democrat does not begin to describe my political philosophy. There are many kinds of Democrats. There are your Yellow-Dog (Liberal) Democrats who would "vote for a yellow dog before they would vote for any Republican." Then there are your Blue-Dog (Conservative) Democrats. These Democrats are more bipartisan and even occasionally cross over and vote Republican. I used to be a Blue Dog Democrat.  I voted for Ronald Reagan …twice. I haven’t voted for a Republican since, but, then again, there hasn’t been a Republican like Ronald Reagan since.

 In recent years, I’ve moved a little to the left, politically, somewhere between a Blue and Yellow Dog. If you mix blue and yellow you get green, so I guess that makes me a Green Dog Democrat. I thought I was very clever coming up with the term Green Dog, but when I googled it I got 1.6 million hits. I even found reference to Orange-Dog Democrats. I have no idea what they’re about, but we Democrats certainly are a colorful bunch of curs. Regardless of my Democratic colors, Tea Baggers will always consider me a bugged-eyed, frothing-at-the-mouth liberal. I’m not, but that’s okay. If they want to hang a liberal sign around my neck, I’ll wear it proudly.

I’ve rambled on for four paragraphs now and haven’t yet begun to talk about my usual topic: education. What does my being a Democrat have to do with education? In a word… nothing. Education should not be a partisan issue. It doesn’t matter if you are conservative or liberal, or a Republican or Democrat (of any color), education is an issue we should all agree on. The future of our state depends on a first class public education system.

Many fellow Texans seem to agree. A survey, conducted in July by the non-partisan group The Texas Poll, found that 90% of Texans agree that public schools need more funding from the state. This number is up from 88% from a similar survey conducted a year ago. The same survey found that 85% of Texans say that the Legislature did not make education a priority in their last session. (Please excuse my lack of professionalism, while I take a moment to insert the word “Duh!” at this point.) The survey also found the 75% of Texans say that Lawmakers should not have cut funding to public education at all.

Given that Texas is 50-60% Republican, I’d say that the Texas Poll survey supports my assertion that support for public education crosses all party and ideological boundaries.

 I have admitted to being a Democrat, at the risk of great public scorn, to make a point. If there was one good, pro-education, Republican candidate out there, I would vote for him or her in a New York minute. Unfortunately, I don’t see one; certainly not our two current legislators. Both our State Senator and Representative voted to cut $5.4 from public schools and also voted away many teachers’ rights. They say they were being “fiscally responsible,” and had to cut school funding to cover a $27 billion dollar deficit. It’s a lie.

Both our lawmakers helped create this massive deficit (they blame it on the economy; another lie) so that they would have an excuse to cut school funding. Why do they want to cut school funding? Money. I have said it many times before, the name of the game is privatization. Public schools have been set up to fail so that lawmaker can funnel public funds to private schools to line private pockets. (By the way, a charter school is just a private school on the public dole.)

Unfortunately, the outlook is bleak. If Republicans are running the show in the next legislature, the devastation to public schools will be catastrophic. It only there were a few good Democrats to stand against them. Hmmmmmm.

Crunching the Numbers

(Published in the Stephenville (Texas) Empire-Tribune October 4, 2011)

I am a math teacher. Math is an important subject and I enjoy teaching it, but I probably have the heart and soul of an English teacher. I love to read and write. I read everything I can get my hands on, and my idea of a fun evening is curling up with a warm laptop to write an essay. But maybe it’s my love of readin’ and writin’ that’s been interfering with my ‘rithmetic. Lately, I’ve had trouble making certain numbers add up.

Take the number 15 for example; it’s a nice number. The Texas economy is the 15^th largest economy in the world. That means that if our secesh governor had his way, Texas would briefly be the 15^th wealthiest nation in the world. (I say “briefly” because our economy would quickly collapse from the loss of all those federal dollars.) Despite our high unemployment (8.4%) and budget deficits ($27 billion), Texas is still a great state with vast wealth and resources.

Now take the number 50; it’s not so nice. I can’t reconcile the number 15 with the number 50.Texas ranks 50^th in the United States in spending per student on education. Fiftieth? How can our great state, with all its resources, be dead last in providing education for its children? It doesn’t add up.

Here are some other examples of the number 50.Texas ranks 50^th in the nation in spending per person on all services (education, healthcare, infrastructure, etc.). And we are 50^th in the number of people under age 25 who have high school diplomas.

A few other noteworthy numbers include 47, our ranking on student SAT scores. Texas is 4^th in the nation in teen pregnancy rates. We are number one in the percentage of jobs that pay minimum wage. And, most disturbing of all, we are number one in the growth rate of children in poverty.

Speaking of poverty, did you know that nearly one out of every four Texas children is living below the poverty line? Did you also know that one out of every ten children in Texas is living in extreme poverty? (The World Bank defines extreme poverty as living on $1.25 or less per day.) Given our growth rate in poverty, our children won’t have to worry about corporations exporting jobs to third world countries. We are creating one right here in Texas.

There is no cure-all for all of our problems, but education comes close. I can’t think of a better way out of poverty than a good education. With all of our wealth and resources, Texas can, and should be number one in education.
At least we can rejoice that we are number one in football.

P.S. My math students needn’t be concerned. I still find relaxation in working through a nice Calculus problem.

P.P.S. Please visit the Save Texas Schools website (www.savetxschools.org) and sign the pledge to support Texas schools.

Save Texas Schools

“The most effective step a person can take toward a better life is getting a great education.”  - Rick Perry

This past weekend (September 23-24), I attended a conference in Fort Worth put on by the Save Texas Schools coalition. Save Texas Schools (STS) is a non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to constantly reminding our state’s elected officials about the importance of maintaining funding for Texas public education. The group is composed strictly of volunteers. There is no membership application and there are no dues. The only requirement for membership is concern for the future of Texas schools.

Allen Weeks, the founder of STS, strives to insure that the group remains non-partisan.  His well-taken point is that education is not about Republicans and Democrats or liberals and conservatives, it’s about children. As if to accentuate the non-partisan nature of STS, the keynote speaker at the conference was former Republican Lt. Governor Bill Ratliff.

Governor Ratliff, as a Republican, has long been a champion of public education. His address was both energizing and sobering. While he praised the work of the volunteer groups like STS, he bluntly stated that nothing is going to save Texas public education until “the mommas get angry.” He referenced Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) and how it was formed by a group of angry mothers fed up with the carnage caused by drunk driving. As a result of their work, we now have some of the toughest drunk driving laws ever.

Public education needs a group like MADD. When the “Momma Grizzlies” get fed up with their children sitting in overcrowded classes listening to overworked teachers then we’ll see action. When the “Momma Grizzlies” have to dip into their pocketbooks to pay for their children to ride the bus, or to participate in extra-curricular activities, then there will be hell to pay.

Unfortunately, I am afraid this may come too late. While schools have already seen the effects of budget cuts, the real cuts don’t kick in until next year. Next year will be a bloodbath. Thousands of teachers will be laid off. Classrooms will be twice as crowded and extra-curricular activities will be cut. But by that time, our state legislature will already be on the road to re-election to do the same thing again.

For now there are groups like Save Texas Schools. I am a member of the state advisory committee for STS. If you want to learn more about the organization you can contact me at william.k.norris@gmail.com, or you can go directly to the STS website at www.savetxschools.org. While visiting the website please sign the petition to support Texas schools. We want 60,000 signatures by December.