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Welcome to the April 27th edition of the HML POST
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(Editorials and research articles are selected by Dr.
Jack McKay, Executive director of the HML. Suggested editorials and related research are always welcomed. McKay is Professor Emeritus from the University of Nebraska-Omaha in the Department of Educational Administration and a former superintendent in Washington state.)
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 For the last dozen years, waves of idealistic Americans have campaigned to reform and improve K-12 education.
Armies of college graduates joined Teach for America. Zillionaires invested in charter schools. Liberals and conservatives, holding their noses and agreeing on nothing else, cooperated to proclaim education the civil rights issue of our time.
Yet I wonder if the education reform movement hasn't peaked.
The zillionaires are bruised. The idealists are dispirited. The number of young people applying for Teach for America, after 15 years of growth, has dropped for the last two years. The Common Core curriculum is now an orphan, with politicians vigorously denying paternity. (submitted by Janie Mathews)
 External peer review-in which educators use rigorous criteria to assess neighboring school districts-is a better way to measure quality.
Two crucial misconceptions have framed recent efforts to improve the quality of U.S. schools: (1) the conflation of achievement with learning accompanied by the misuse of achievement data, and (2) the erroneous belief that meaningful changes in school quality can be coerced through a national regimen of testing and accountability. Let's look at each misconception in turn-and at a more fruitful way some districts are assessing the quality of their schools. (submitted by Martin Brooks)
An examination of the education reforms of the last six decades in FInland and the United States.
The Daily Show - Fraud City by Jon Stewart on Youtube
When a cheating scandal rocks an Atlanta school system, Jon notices eerie similarities to the 2008 U.S. financial crisis brought on by Wall Street.
Big education firms spend millions lobbying for pro-testing policies by Valerie Strauss on the Washington Post site
 The four corporations that dominate the U.S. standardized testing market spend millions of dollars lobbying state and federal officials - as well as sometimes hiring them - to persuade them to favor policies that include mandated student assessments, helping to fuel a nearly $2 billion annual testing business, a new analysis shows.
The analysis, done by the Center for Media and Democracy, a nonprofit liberal watchdog and advocacy agency based in Wisconsin that tracks corporate influence on public policy, says that four companies - Pearson Education, ETS (Educational Testing Service), Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, and McGraw-Hill- collectively spent more than $20 million lobbying in states and on Capitol Hill from 2009 to 2014.
Iowa West partners with other foundations, schools to make Pottawattamie Promise by Scott Stewart on the Nonpareilonline site
 The Iowa West Foundation wants to make a promise to Pottawattamie County students who may not see themselves going to college.
A new initiative called Pottawattamie Promise was announced Thursday morning and will send 45 students to Iowa Western Community College next year with all expenses covered and additional services at the college to keep them on track toward graduating with a post-secondary credential, either a two-year degree or a certification program. (submitted by Martha Bruckner) Woodinville investor gives $20M to help 6,800 students get to college by Katherine Long on the Seattle Times site  A Woodinville investor has given $20 million to expand a college-scholarship program to help students studying science, technology, engineering, math and health fields.
He never went to college himself, but he never doubted its impact to change lives.
Now Gary Rubens, a Woodinville investor, has given $20 million to expand the reach of a college-scholarship program to an additional 6,800 low-income Washington students.
Rubens, his wife, Jennifer, and the Rubens Family Foundation announced the gift this week. It will go to the Washington State Opportunity Scholarship, a public-private partnership. Under the terms of the scholarship, created in 2011, Washington state must match Rubens' donation, bringing the total amount to $40 million.
Lessons from Scarsdale about School Reform and School Leadership: Implications for Schools of Tomorrow by Michael V. McGill
In short, the accountability movement that began in the 1990's, then became codified in NCLB, is not what America needs. Considering the human and financial resources that have been poured into the approach, its results are at best unimpressive and often worse. Instead of trying to improve education by the numbers so that performance converges on a low average, we need to establish 'schools of tomorrow' that will redefine what and how students learn in order to lift all of them up.
The most important lesson may be that quality education isn't the result of additional testing, more AP courses or doubling down on charter schools. It can be compatible with tenure laws and unions. Basically, it is the product of five factors. (submitted by Michael McGill)
The Teaching Brain: An Evolutionary Trait at the Heart of Education
by Vanessa Rodriguez and Michelle Fitzpatrick on the New Press site
 In The Teaching Brain, Rodriguez and co-author Michelle Fitzpatrick draw on the science of human development to redefine teaching as an evolutionary cognitive skill that develops in all people over time. On a journey through the inherently interactive nature of teaching, the book marshals a wealth of research and experience to construct an entirely innovative framework for thinking about, talking about, and supporting this essential social endeavor. Familiar classroom examples are punctuated by rarely discerned glimpses into teaching. Bored and cooped up, Thomas, age seven, teaches his four-year-old brother how to play Mouse Trap; Eva's father, during a typical before-school routine, must teach her to button a coat because she's only ever snapped one; and Claire, a veteran classroom teacher, skillfully turns a student's witty remark into an engaging way for her students to choose summer reads: speed-dating their books.
 Education reform is one of the most troubled areas of U.S. domestic policy. As politicians on both sides debate the reauthorization of No Child Left Behind, they should keep in mind that some of the most vexing problems they struggle to solve are caused by the very strategies for reform they are now reviewing. For more than 20 years, governments have been yanking firmly on the reins of public education, telling schools what to teach, imposing systems of testing to hold them accountable, and levying penalties if they don't make the grade. It hasn't worked.
 The decline in music and arts courses in our schools is shocking. Even the most stressed-out classroom teacher will admit music and arts teachers have it worse than the rest of us. All teachers face the constant pressure of mandates that force us to dumb down education and center on teaching-to-the-test.
All of us work in an environment of cronyism where teachers who speak out on the real problems in education are the target of intimidation and bullying by administrators to be silent. Teachers across the nation cringe every time we see an administrator change a failing grade to passing, because we know how much that hurts the child.
Longer School Days and Years Catching On in Public K-12
by
Kathryn Baron on the Education Week site
A growing number of American schools are ditching the 19th century-when it comes to the school calendar that is. Twice as many schools today have a longer school day or year than just two years ago and, for the first, more of them are traditional public schools than charter schools, according to a
joint report released Thursday by the Boston-based
National Center on Time and Learning (NCTL) and the Denver-based
Education Commission of the States. Of the 2,009 schools that had expanded learning time last year, 1,208-or 61 percent-were regular public schools.
 Teachers and support staff should be given a choice as to whether or not they would want to work the extra hours of an extended school day. I think students too should have a say.
Students are at the mercy of legislators. I hope that policymakers and other adults involved will study every positive and negative aspect of an extended school day before making it a law. Listed below are six points to consider.
First, the cost.
Second, No Child Left Behind.
Third, more teaching and learning time.
Fourth, teachers less rushed.
Fifth, 12-hour days for rural districts.
Sixth, parents.
 There is a deep and yawning chasm between the world of tests and testing practices as they ought to be and the actual tests and testing practices now imposed on American students, educators, and schools. That chasm of theory and practice is a function of the dominant paradigm of educational reform, with its theory of action that schools must be remade in the image and likeness of a corporation. Conclusions: Since standardized tests provide data for a "bottom line," they have been widely embraced in some circles as a basis for making "high stakes" decisions that hold individuals and schools accountable. In the market model of education reform, questions about the validity and reliability of the tests and of their use for "high stakes" decisions are dismissed as efforts to avoid accountability. America's real education scandal: Teachers go to jail while dysfunctional charter schools get a pass by Jeff Bryant on the AlterNet site  No one likes a cheater.
So you'd think plenty of people would be pleased to hear that educators in Atlanta, on trial for cheating on standardized tests, were found guilty of those charges and sentenced "harshly," according to the New York Times. As CNN reports, of the 12 educators who went on trial for "inflating test scores of children from struggling schools," 11 were convicted of racketeering-a crime normally associated with mob bosses-and other lesser crimes. Of those who have been sentenced so far (one sentencing has been postponed), eight have been given jail or prison time and three will serve at least seven years. Only those who admitted guilt and waived appeals were spared.
 Warning! What you are about to read may be a criminal act.
I may have broken the law by putting this information out there. Edward Snowden leaked data about civilian surveillance. Chelsea Manning released top secret military documents. And me? I'm leaking legal threats and intimidation students and teachers are subject to during standardized testing. Not exactly a federal crime is it? No. I'm asking. Is it? Because teachers are being fired and jailed. Students are being threatened with litigation. All because they talked about standardized tests.
The US government mandates public school children be subjected to standardized assessments in reading and math in grades 3-8 and once in high school. Most schools test much more than that - even as early as kindergarten.
Want Reform? Principals Matter, Too by Will Miller on the New York Times Opinion site
 Politicians and education reformers are fixated on the performance of teachers, but they often overlook another key ingredient for improving student achievement: principals. The problem is that great principals often don't end up in the schools that need them most - those with poor and minority students. School districts, states and universities need to do much more to get outstanding principals into these schools.
A generation ago, good principals were efficient middle managers. They oversaw budgets, managed complicated bus schedules and delivered discipline. That started changing in the mid-1990s. Today's principal needs to be much more focused on the quality of teaching in the classroom.
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Summary Report, click here.
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Political Cartoon for the Week
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Superintendent Vacancies
Multnomah Education Service District, Portland, Oregon, Contact
Dennis Ray
Waterford, Public Schools, Waterford, CT, Contact
Joseph Wood
Horace Mann Prints
The 11 * 18 inch print is available for individual or bulk purchase. Individual prints are $4.00. Discount with orders of 50 or more.
For additional information about this or other prints, please check here.
 In 1840 Mann wrote On the Art of Teaching. Some of HML members present
On the Art of Teaching to new teachers as part of their orientation program. On the inside cover, some write a personal welcome message to the recipient. Other HML members present the book to school board members and parental organizations as a token of appreciation for becoming involved in their schools. The book cover can be designed with the organization's name. For more information, contact the HML (
Jack McKay)
All the past issues of the HML Posts are available for review and search purposes.
Finally, 7 links that may be of interest to you.
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About Us
The
Horace Mann League
of the USA is an honorary society that promotes the ideals of Horace Mann by advocating for public education as the cornerstone of our democracy.
Officers:
President: Dr. Charles Fowler, Exec. Director, Suburban School Administrators, Exeter, HN
President-elect: Dr. Christine Johns-Haines, Superintendent, Utica Community Schools, MI
Vice President: Dr. Martha Bruckner, Superintendent, Council Bluffs Community Schools, IA
1st Past President: Mr. Gary Marx, President for Public Outreach, Vienna, VA
2nd Past President: Dr. Joe Hairston, President, Vision Unlimited, Reisterstown, MD
Directors:
Dr. Laurie Barron, Supt. of Schools, Evergreen School District, Kalispell , MT
Dr. Evelyn Blose-Holman, (ret.) Superintendent, Bay Shore Schools, NY
Mr. Jeffery Charbonneau, Science Coordinator, ESD 105 and Zillah HS, WA
Dr. Carol Choye, Instructor, (ret.) Superintendent, Scotch Plains Schools, NJ
Dr. Brent Clark, Executive Director, Illinois Assoc. of School Admin. IL
Dr. Linda Darling Hammond, Professor of Education, Stanford U. CA
Dr. James Harvey, Exec. Dir., Superintendents Roundtable, WA
Dr. Eric King, Superintendent, (ret.) Muncie Public Schools, IN
Dr. Steven Ladd, Superintendent, (ret.) Elk Grove Unified School District, Elk Grove, CA
Dr. Barry Lynn, Exec. Dir., Americans United, Washington, DC
Dr. Kevin Maxwell, CEO, Prince George's County Schools, Upper Marlboro, MD
Dr. Stan Olson, President, Silverback Learning, (former supt. of Boise Schools, ID)
Dr. Steven Webb, Supt. of Schools, Vancouver School District, WA
Executive Director:
Dr. Jack McKay, Professor Emeritus, University of Nebraska at Omaha,
560 Rainier Lane, Port Ludlow, WA 98365 (360) 821 9877
To become a member of the HML, click here to download an application.
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