Tao of the Sockless Floor
High stakes testing is like saying to your child, “I want you to clean your room. But, at the very least, I want you to pick up your socks.” For twenty years we’ve been teaching kids to pick up their socks. Our entire system is designed around that minimal level of achievement: our discipline policies, our attendance policies, our curriculum maps, our basic understanding of how schools operate. Everything is designed to get our kids to do the minimum.
Is Our Population Standard Enough for Standardized Testing
We all wonder whether high-stakes standardized tests are “fair” to our students. Our students are unique individuals, yet on testing day with pencil in hand they are suddenly all the same. Whether they differ ethnically, racially, socioeconomically, no one seems to care. As an instructor in an urban school district, I see some of my students struggle greatly with terms and concepts on standardized tests that are not always directly related to the curriculum.
Quitting is for Quitters
Veteran teachers are resigning in the face of overwhelming opposition to what it is they hold most dear and they’re getting out while their integrity is still intact. It’s all very poignant, powerful, and I don’t want to see any more of them. Research says it’s better to get fired than quit. Plus, if they’re going to chuck it all anyway, why not go out in style or at least go down swinging. They should fight for the profession instead. They’ll have a better time doing it and may end up helping to save public schooling.
Part 3: Making the Most of your Community Power Study
A community power study can guide your local’s strategies and tactics during a campaign. This post examines how to make the most out of a power study and how to develop appropriate tactics to achieve your goals. It also develops a means of escalation that is tied to member involvement goals and the outcome of your tactical choices.
Right to Work: Don’t Trust It!
Whether it’s the “Workplace Freedom” initiative or so-called “Right to Work,” DON’T trust it! The words “freedom” or “right” may sound really positive, but they have completely different meanings for extremist legislators than they do for Ohio’s working families. Words have power. Important decisions are made on a daily basis, simply because of the choice of words, so people need to be careful not to be misled. Let’s look at this issue and see what it really means.
Fund Families Instead of the Common School System?
A member of the Ohio Constitutional Modernization Commission indicated on August 8 that he wants school funds to be sent to families rather than school districts. The money-follows-the-child approach has been touted as a reform measure for several years. This idea/slogan, no doubt, has gained momentum by its frequent repetition by those who attempt to justify carving away the public common school system into the wood chips of education choice programs. Unless there is immediate push back to this privatization movement, the traditional public school districts will become a mere shell of the past.
Support Those Who Support Us
If someone came to your door collecting money for a group that wanted to fight unions, hoping to create huge profits for corporations and keep worker pay low, would you get your wallet out? I know I wouldn’t, and I don’t think you would either. However, in a way, that ‘s what many of our members do every day when they shop at stores like Walmart.
Check Out Your School Library
You might be surprised to find that your library media center has jumped into the 21st century. While books still constitute the core element of any library, there are a variety of other items that can be checked out: Kindles, iPads, audiobooks, laptop carts, DVDs, class sets of books, ebooks, board games, math tools, and more. Your library staff is an excellent resource in itself.
We Are OEA — Our Education Association
When members ask what OEA is doing for them, it implies that OEA is an organization that provides a service for them in exchange for dues dollars. Certainly, OEA does provide services, like expertise in negotiations and labor disputes, as well as advocacy in political causes. However, that is not the essence of the relationship between OEA members and the organization itself. The “service model” is not OEA. OEA is not like a company that you hire to take care of your lawn, where you pay fees for mowing and fertilizing.
Flawed Logic: Literacy without Libraries or Librarians
Many librarians have stories about teacher librarians being laid off or riffed back into classrooms, and libraries being closed with entire collections pilfered and dismantled. Ohio is one of 13 states that require students to be proficient in reading by the third grade or be kept from advancing to the fourth grade, yet few states, including Ohio, provide extra funding to help those struggling students. Most do not require schools to have libraries, or certified librarians. The Strengthening America’s Schools Act includes a little known provision, called Improving Literacy and College and Career Readiness Through Effective School Library Programs, that simply must be included in the final version of the ESEA.
