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New Diploma Requirements: Creating Pathways OUT of Workforce for Special Ed?

10/27/2015

 
Tomorrow (10/28) the state board of education will meet to look at the new requirements for high school diplomas (here are the old ones). There appears to be multiple concerns about what they have proposed. If we set aside the offensive idea that we are condoning a caste system of education with the names "College and Career Ready" versus "Workforce Ready" for the types of diplomas, just the idea of sequencing or potential tracking the requirements for diplomas is concerning. An important question is if they don't require the arts, will financially-strapped schools be required to provide art/music teachers and classes? The arts education community is very concerned; see their blog post here. But it is most upsetting for the students with special needs. Please read this post in The Arc here.  But don't just read this post. Share it, email it, and write to the state board of education members.

Use these wonderful letters from our friends Shelly Scott-Harmon and  Penny Githens for inspiration for your own.  Here is Shelly's:  

​
Dear Members of the State Board of Education,

This is what I know:

As a former Academic Advisor at Indiana University Bloomington for nine years, I know the level of preparation with which high school graduates enter college. I know the strengths and weaknesses of in-state students as well as those coming from high schools in other states. Comparatively, Indiana students are at no disadvantage under the current diploma requirements.

As a Career Development Course faculty member, I know what employers look for in hiring college students for internships and college graduates for entry-level positions. I know what it takes to prepare high school students for successful college experiences, and I know what it takes to prepare college students for successful transitions into the careers of their choice. The current diploma requirements are effectively preparing Indiana students to begin the journey.

This is what I don't know:

As a mother of two elementary school children, I wonder how they will be affected by the new diploma scheme. My third grader has diverse interests that I expect will need to be narrowed down significantly if he is to complete the proposed track for a “College and Career Ready” diploma. I do not know the price he will pay for losing choices. My fifth grader has an Autism Spectrum Disorder and ADHD. He already talks about college and career as if it his choice which college and which career path he will follow. I do not know that he will have any choice at all if the proposed diploma tracks are adopted; it appears likely that IEP kids stand to lose the most if the new standards are actually adopted. I do not know what will be accomplished by forcing my son into high-level mathematics courses just to earn something called a “Workforce Ready” diploma.

This is what I fear:

As an Indiana resident, I will have to watch these proposed changes be adopted in the name of progress and see the choices for my children narrowed to an unimaginably small margin.

This is what I request:

Allow my children to learn and to choose. Give BOTH my boys a fair chance. Reject the proposed diplomas and focus on the real problems in Indiana education: standardized testing, teacher shortages, and lack of funding for public (not charter) schools.

​Sincerely,
Shelly Scott-Harmon, Ph.D.

​
And here is Penny's:
 I am rarely at a loss for words when I truly care about something, but at the moment I am afraid that I will not be able to truly convey what I feel. I hope I will be able to find the words needed to convince you to reverse your current position on the requirements for the new Workforce Ready Diploma.

Please understand that I have no problem with renaming what is currently called the General Diploma, especially if the requirements really do prepare high school students to enter the workforce. I am a former high school math teacher and the mother of a former special education student, and what I question are the new requirements. Let me be clear, however, that my sons have completed high school, so I am not asking for changes on behalf of my own children.

I would like to know how the proposed requirements for the new Workforce Ready diploma were generated. Did someone from the Indiana State Board of Education (SBOE) go to a wide variety of employers and ask if requiring students to pass geometry and advanced algebra meet their needs? Engineers, economists, scientists, statisticians and a host of other professionals need to have a firm grasp of mathematics, but do those who seek a Workforce Ready Diploma need such training? Think about it, does someone teaching high school history or English need this training? In fact, when was the last time members of the SBOE used skills taught in advanced high school math courses for something related to their work? I believe these courses are being used as proxies for whether or not individuals can learn job-specific skills, when they are not predictors of who will and will not be a good employee. I know, too, that employers complain about needing to provide additional training to employees, but what type of training are they providing? If they are not teaching advanced math skills, then we should be asking if the training is, in fact something that could not be predicted because it is specific to either that employer or that industry.

People may argue that not all high school students know what they want to do in life, so we should not short-change them. I am not disagreeing with that, and my hope is that we challenge all students. But, not taking geometry and advanced algebra in high school does not mean one can never study those subjects: Students can take these courses later in life through Ivy Tech Community College. Please remember that you are hearing this from a former math teacher.

According to Teresa Lubbers, the head of the Indiana Commission for Higher Education, less than 10 percent of high school students will be getting the Workforce Ready diploma. As the mother of a former special education student, I suspect that a majority of those obtaining the Workforce Ready diploma will
be special education students. If my own son were still in school and I wanted him to obtain a high school diploma via this track, the first goal I would want written into his Individualized Educational Program would be that he earn this diploma. Special education students are eligible to remain in school – at public expense – through the end of the school year in which they turn 21. For some students that would mean an additional four years beyond when they might have “graduated” from high school. Does the State of Indiana really want to pay for a student to stay in school an additional four years as he or she attempts to pass a meaningless course or two? Do we really want that additional burden on our schools, especially if (a) the student does not have the capacity to master such a subject, and (b) it is not valued by a potential employer?

My son who was a special education student took advanced algebra, and due to his work ethic, summer tutoring and nightly help from his mother, he passed this course. My son works as a part-time dishwasher and he is happy in his job. He does not need advanced algebra skills to do his job. Another young man I know, who shares many of my son’s characteristics, takes care of waste disposal at a hospital. A third bags groceries. A fourth rolls silverware at a restaurant. My point is that all of these individuals are contributing members of society who earned a general diploma which did not require advanced math courses. If these individuals possessed only a certificate of completion, they may not have been considered for the jobs that they have held for several years. As the SBOE determines what the requirements are for the Workforce Ready diploma, I would ask that you inform the public what percentage of those who leave high school with only a certificate of completion have any type of employment outside of a sheltered workshop and how changes in the diploma requirements might impact the employability of those who cannot meet these requirements.

We also cannot let where a student lives within Indiana determine their ability to earn a high school diploma. To do so would be discriminatory.

In short, I ask that you drop the advanced math requirements for the Workforce Ready diploma. Instead, please focus on the skills that employers value while simultaneously ensuring that students have the opportunity to learn those skills at all Indiana high schools. Thank you.

Penny Githens
Write to the state board members individually:

Dr. Vince Bertram:  [email protected]
Dr. Byron Ernest:  [email protected]
Dr. David Freitas:  [email protected]
Gordon Hendry:  [email protected]
Lee Ann Kwiatkowski:  [email protected]
Eddie Melton:  [email protected]
Sarah O'Brien:  [email protected]
Superintendent Ritz:  [email protected]
B.J. Watts: [email protected]
Cari Whicker:  [email protected]
Dr. Steve Yager: [email protected]

And they are asking for submission of comments to this address: [email protected]
Picture

Teacher Shortage Hearing, Part 3: Michelle Smith's testimony

10/23/2015

 
Perry township teacher Michelle Smith sat on a bench on the side of the House Chamber for over seven hours in order to give her thoughts on the teacher shortage. To watch Michelle deliver her powerful testimony, go to about 7:09:37 in the archived video here (select the October 19 meeting from the drop-down menu).

Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen,

I greatly appreciate having the opportunity to speak to you concerning the issue of whether or not there is a “teacher shortage” here in Indiana. I am an educator as well as a citizen of the US and served my country as a US Army soldier in military intelligence as a Korean linguist. After serving, I could have gotten any number of jobs in government or corporate America, but purposefully chose to be an educator for life because I believe that education is the true practice of freedom in a living democracy.

I thought that perhaps you would like to hear from an actual educator about who our students are. Of my 104 students, 64% are English language learners, 36% are special education, 12% have medical disabilities,  and all 104 are in intensive math and English intervention programs because of their inability to perform on the ISTEP. These kids are more than just a number and I feel it is my civic responsibility to advocate for them.

You dictate that my teaching effectiveness be judged based on one test with students who come to school with more than just a desire to learn, yet you expect them to sit down and focus on an exam that has absolutely no bearing in their real scheme of life.

I have had students who have been shot, strangled, tortured, beaten, starved, and burned. I have had students who have seen their parents, their siblings, and their entire families massacred, hacked to pieces with machetes. I have had students who fled their country with only the clothes they were wearing when they were attacked by rebel forces. I have had students who were raped, physically dismembered or altered simply because they were born female. I have had students who lived in garbage dumps, begged for food and have eaten dirt.

All of this before even entering the United States.

I have had students living in automobiles, homeless shelters, in tents and on the streets under doorways.
Students living in foster care, with grandparents, cousins, and older siblings because their parents never came home. Students whose only source of food is the meager breakfast and lunch served by the school. Students who have walked to school, in 15-degree weather wearing nothing but jeans and a t-shirt because they do not have a coat or winter shoes.

This sort of thing is a daily occurrence where I work and have worked. It is always something, and usually something you don’t see coming or can plan for.

Professional development now is only about how to obtain a better score on the teacher evaluation so that I can keep my job. I am rated on a scale of Regularly, Sometimes and Rarely, all this based on the 4 45-minute observations made by an administrator.

Those of you who think you know what is best for the penurious have yet to realize that you are dealing with the lives of people without ever asking them what it is they need or want.

Unlike in private schools, public educators accept, appreciate and educate each and every student who walks in the door. Public educators will not and cannot turn students away because they have a pre-existing condition, behavioral or social disabilities, lack of money, lack of family connections, lack of political power, lack of academic skills and background or cultural knowledge, lack of internal desire to learn, lack of external desire to learn, do not speak the language, or are physically or mentally challenged.

One can always find fault with public entities.  And you, as a legislative body should be the last to cast stones.
If you want to know why teachers are leaving or are going to leave the profession, it is because you, the political representatives, have enacted legislation that is undemocratic and you know it.

It is because of these punitive policies that people like me will be leaving the profession. I am not threatening you; I am just telling you the facts of the matter.  We will not take it anymore. THIS IS NOT DEMOCRACY!

Rather than tear down public education, why do you not try to support and uplift one of the greatest unifiers in democratic history? Regardless of private and religious affiliations, you were elected to protect the integrity of the constitution and promote the welfare of all your constituents.

Thank you for your time.

Indiana Teacher Shortage Public Hearing Part 2: Cathy's Commentary/Testimony

10/20/2015

 

As Jenny said in Part 1, we were kept waiting for nearly five hours before we heard from the public. Our public education advocate friends from Fort Wayne, Northeast Indiana Friends of Public Education, had to leave without speaking (read their powerful testimonies here). Highlights of those 5 hours-I-will-never-get-back-of-my-life:
  • We started off with hearing how our time on testing isn't really that bad compared to Florida and Colorado according to the Legislative Services Agency presenter, Chuck Mayfield ( my interpretation: "stop whining and suck it up").
  • that many experts think we need more data (SURPRISE) to show that, yes, indeedy, there IS a teacher shortage (and the survey with a 97% return rate of Indiana state superintendents doesn't count apparently--there may have been "bias"). Conservative reformy group NCQT said that the data wasn't conclusive. ( interpretation: What do we need? #moreDATA!)
  • Ben Scafidi of the Friedman Foundation (an ALEC affiliated group intent on privatizing public education) explained how in Georgia (where he traveled from) they love their uncertified teachers and that test scores went up with more "staffing" of alternative teachers. The bonus? It saves us MONEY! And cuts down on class sizes. Wow. What a sell. Did he really not work for Teach for America?
  • Then we got to hear an economics professor Michael Hicks from Ball State tell us that IF there's a teacher shortage in Indiana, "it's the best news for teachers in a long time." He went on to paint the picture that there's actually a "teacher glut." His data apparently shows that the demand for teachers is going down. 

Somewhere in these five hours, our state superintendent Glenda Ritz presented the position of her Blue Ribbon Commission on the teacher shortage and refreshingly stated that they were going forward on the assumption that there IS a teacher shortage and looking into solutions. 

After seven hours of waiting, my friends Michelle Smith (a teacher) and Jenny Robinson (a fellow parent) and I were able to speak. When I got up to the mic, I told these men that they really needed to change this procedure. I was speaking to a now-empty room with maybe 12 people at 8:40 pm.  I said something like, "At this point I have missed after school time, dinner, and now tucking him into bed-time. If you need your consultants, they should be in a separate meeting or something.There were passionate voices that should have been heard." And then, fully angry at this point, gave this speech:

I am a mother of four children in public schools.

I know that my children’s learning conditions are their teachers’ working conditions.

This educational environment has become a pressure cooker for our kids and teachers because the legislature has decided that somehow educators weren’t accountable enough. The learning and teaching process has been transformed into a test-taking, data collecting nightmare to somehow prove accountability... at the root of which is an apparent deep distrust of teachers.

​We’ve had standardized tests for a long time. But it is what is at stake when the kids take the test now that has transformed their experience.

In the past, standardized tests were just one aspect of an overall assessment of how our kids were doing. We trusted teachers to relay to us how our kids were learning. Now it has become the end-all be-all. If my eleven year-old doesn’t score well on a test, it could affect his teacher’s job, his school’s letter grade, the label on his district, property taxes, and the community as a whole.

This intensity of pressure comes down and lands right on the shoulders of my child.

Who stands between my child and that weight of the world? Buffering him and protecting him from this stress?

His teacher. And for teachers whose students have special needs, live in poverty, or are learning English as a new language, the pressure to perform is tremendous. The consequence is a stigmatizing F on their small heads—or in 3rd grade, flunking.

These policies are not brought about because parents clamored for them. Parents have not been begging for a better school than their neighbor’s child. They’ve been begging for a great school. Period.

Parents want equity. Instead, we get competition.

Competition involves winners and losers. No 6 year-old should be a loser when it comes to educational opportunity.

These recent changes in policy are occurring all over the country. And this is also why the teacher shortage is not unique to Indiana. Bills that have transformed our kids’ learning environment into a pressure cooker are all from the same source: ALEC (the American Legislative Exchange Council). The goal of this organization is to create more competition in education and to privatize it. There is even an Indiana Reform Package of model legislation on the ALEC website touting our reforms. Our governor has written the introduction to the ALEC report card on American Education. Many members of our education committee are or were ALEC members. In fact, you, Rep. Behning, our house education committee chair, were the ALEC chairperson for Indiana for several years.

The A-F grading of schools, teachers’ loss of voice in advocating for kids through the loss of collective bargaining, the draconian 3rd grade reading law, vouchers and charters creating a competition for funding, a developmentally inappropriate 90 minute block of literacy instruction, these are all ALEC laws. They were not backed by research of what are best practices in teaching. They were not created by teachers. Parents do not want this obsession with data.

We want funding for our public schools such that all children have smaller class sizes for individualized instruction. We want WHOLE CHILD accountability for our teachers and our schools. That means research-backed education. Kids learn through play. Are they getting recess? Kids need to have time to follow their interests and do hands-on projects. Are they getting the broad curriculum and what is NOT on the test: social studies and science? Many of these things are being squeezed out for test prep. Do our high schoolers have extracurricular activities—things that keep them connected and wanting to go to school?

We want our teachers to be paid as the professionals that they are and to have more time for teaching and less for testing. You cannot reduce the time on testing if you don’t reduce the stakes attached to it.

We want a multi-measure evaluation of teaching and success.

You cannot say you respect teachers when every single thing they do is micromanaged by having to prove themselves with data. You cannot quantify joy, creativity and critical thinking. My children are not numbers. 
They are unique human beings who are learning and growing. I don’t want my eleven year-old college and career-ready because he is a child. I don’t want him to have pressures to perform like an adult, because he is not one. His teachers know how to give him that childhood, they know what is developmentally appropriate for him, AND research (yes data!) shows that giving him these learning experiences will ensure that when the time comes, he will be ready to take his part in our society and our democracy.

So let teachers do their jobs. The best way to do this is to give them a voice, allow them to create policy, not business people and legislators who know nothing about it. Certainly not ALEC backers who make money off of it.

There is nothing more precious to me in this world than my children and every day I entrust them to the care of their teachers. I care more about what they tell me regarding my kids’ education than I do about any stinking ISTEP score. This is because they are the professionals. I trust them to do their jobs.

If you truly support teachers, you will, too.

Thank you.
Cathy Fuentes-Rohwer

​

Teacher Shortage Marathon Meeting, Part 1

10/19/2015

 
Cathy and I arrived at the statehouse today around 11:30 a.m. We made our way to the House Chamber, but it turned out that it was not possible to sign up for public comment yet for the 1 p.m. hearing. When we returned after lunch, it was 1 p.m. and we filled out cards indicating we wanted to speak. The chamber was full--every chair filled and benches along the sides holding the overflow. The hearing commenced. First were the invited (perhaps paid) speakers. Some of the committee members began to leave after several hours. Public comment (item M. on the agenda, which you can view here) commenced around 5:30, four and a half hours after the meeting began. At that point, it seemed that at least half the committee had left. So had many of those who had come to give public comment. Seven and a half hours after the meeting began, it was our turn. We were the last two speakers but one, whose request to give comment had been lost. Few committee members were left. The chamber was almost empty. I'll post my testimony below.--Jenny Robinson

I am a stay-at-home parent with three children in my local public schools. My kids have consistently had thoughtful, caring, and creative teachers. Many of these amazing teachers are now nearing retirement. Who will enter the profession to try to fill their shoes?

As a parent with young children, I want trained professionals to be in charge of my kids’ classrooms. I want people with teaching degrees—degrees that involve courses on pedagogy and child development as well as time spent student teaching with an experienced mentor teacher. I want people who, like the teachers my kids have had so far, are committed to teaching as their career, people who will be teaching for decades. I want people with adventurous minds and lots of initiative, people with expertise in their subject matter, people who are curious and intellectual and who like and relate to children, people who will actively pursue professional development. And I ask you, why would these people enter the teaching profession here in Indiana?

Teachers in Indiana lack autonomy. Good teachers do not want to be teaching to a test, but the high stakes that Indiana’s legislature has attached to standardized tests mean that schools are focused on those tests in order to survive. The focus on scores means that children with learning challenges are a liability for teachers. Children whose native language is not English or who come from poverty or abuse are a liability to teachers. That is unfair to teachers and unfair to children.

The top-down demand for more and more data to be gathered is stifling. It is crowding out active learning. It is crowding out library time, projects, field trips, and art. It is crowding out the ability of teachers to take time to get to know the kids in their classes as individuals and to shape lesson plans that respond to the interests of those individuals.

Our schools are under-resourced. Class sizes are too large. Many schools lack a certified teacher-librarian in the library.

The evaluation process imposed by the state is demeaning. I went to a panel a couple years ago on the RISE requirements. I came away with the conviction that I would never want to teach in this environment and that I would not encourage anyone in my family to do so.

Teachers are underpaid. I know a teacher, a fabulous, inspiring teacher, who felt financially compelled to be working another job on weekends and living at home with her parents. I know teachers who haven’t had a raise for five years.

As a parent of young children, I have a lot at stake in the quality of the environment in our schools. I want the state of Indiana to respect the teaching profession. We need highly trained and certified professionals in all areas, including art, music, library, and p.e.  Require that applicants have a teaching degree and appropriate specialized certification. Encourage and compensate teachers for additional coursework and degrees. Pay a salary that can compete with the salaries in other professional fields—and one that will increase predictably with years of experience. Encourage teachers’ autonomy in the classroom and collaboration with other teachers. Don’t tie teachers’ evaluations to standardized test scores. Get rid of our inane and punitive A-F grading system for schools. And give unions the power to bargain about all aspects of the school environment, not just salaries. Our teachers’ working conditions are our kids’ learning conditions, and I want the professionals who are with my kids every day to be able to advocate for an environment that will enable all children to thrive.


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