WAKE UP CALL IN WISCONSIN
What we are doing in Wisconsin, other than freezing our back sides, is clearly a wakeup call to the nation. Of course it is a wakeup call for unions and middle class workers. However, it is time to look at the big picture relating directly to education:
The sabotage of the education system by the wealthy began shortly after the No Child Left Behind bill was passed. The immediate move was to find an easy, singular measurement of artificial skills in order to rank and file kids, schools and teachers. These tests were not devised to see where children are and take them forward. That concept was not even a glimmer in the eye of the business round table hiding disguised as educators. It is clear that if kids, teachers and schools were ranked, it would be easy to manufacture failures making rich test mongering pseudo educators extremely happy.
Although the emphasis is artificially on those “book learned” students who score best, they try to hide the reality of when there is a first, there is a last. And these deemed to be last are, in the words of educator Steve Orel, “pushed out of school”. Remember that when kids are pushed out of school, they are destined for the sub class for the rest of their lives. I will say it again. They are destined for the sub class for the rest of their lives.
The results of these tests are now in. Kids are failing in record numbers, schools are failing in record numbers and educators are forced to march in Wisconsin to save their souls. This has allowed radio talk entertainers to bash public educators, break us down to allow the rich establishment the power, ego and control they desire. They now control this Republic. They control the media, the sleeping majority of citizens as well as the wealth of income no longer allotted to the working people.
NCLB has created the atmosphere that has led to the attempt at breaking the will of educators. But guess what? WE WILL NOT BE MOVED! Wisconsin is alive and the rest of the nation and the world community have joined us. Unless we want this atrocity to continue, it is time to REPLACE NCLB with real assessment that is meaningful to kids. I became aware of a student that scored at the pre primer level in reading on Wisconsin’s WKCE. This information was available four months after the test. He also took the MAP, a computerized assessment that gives immediate feedback to teachers. He scored approximately at the 5th grade level. And he took the QRI given one on one to eliminate distraction and truly test reading. He scored on his 7th grade level. Kids are totally disconnected from the state tests. They see no reason for them and since they take so long to return, they have no value for the student or the teacher. Being totally disconnected, students score lower. This makes pseudo educators happy because the can pat themselves on the back and say how stupid public schools are. This is the “set up”
Notice that I say “replace the artificial test”. We must have true assessment and we must be accountable. To understand this better read the two books I co authored “Saving Students from A Shattered System” and “Quashing the Rhetoric of Reform”. These books are available on line at www.barnesansnoble.com, www.amazon.com www.rowmaneducation.com and many others. The battle is in Wisconsin, the war is across the nation and the world. Unless we change this artificial system of education we, as educators, will continue to be demonized and eventually broken. And kids will continue to be pushed out of school into the eternal subclass.
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