Letter to Secretary of Education Arne Duncan 5/17/09
May 17, 2009
The Honorable Arne Duncan
Secretary of Education
400 Maryland Avenue, SW,
Washington, DC 20202
Dear Mr. Secretary:
On Election Day 2008 I was thrilled that Barack Obama had been elected, because I had volunteered in the campaign, donated my time and money (and my wife’s as well), and I knew how important it was to have him elected. In the interim, I have had been told that hope and change are on the way. But today, I am demoralized.
A few weeks ago, President Obama remarked that he didn’t make comment about the bonuses that were being paid out with stimulus money because he didn’t want to speak about that which you didn’t know. Why haven’t you or President Obama applied that same standard in your remarks about public education? Your remarks about public education demonstrate a clear ignorance about MY profession. I expected better from you and President Obama, and today, I am demoralized.
Many of the fellows of The Education and the Public Interest Center at the University of Colorado at Boulder and the Education Policy Research Unit at Arizona State University have written President Obama, and done so far more eloquently than I can. But it is clear from the path that you are pushing public education, that this information is being ignored. The term negligence comes to mind regarding the current trend in the political push regarding public education. You, sir, as well as President Obama have a duty to the public education establishment. The push to close “low performing schools and build charters run by private corporations are more of the same wrong-headed policies that your predecessor, George W. Bush, so loved. And making student achievement synonymous with test scores will require me and my fellow teachers to continue committing acts of educational malpractice. This is negligent. Thus today, I am demoralized.
Please, Secretary Duncan, I challenge you to educate yourself about the true state of public education, not listen to those who would privatize public schools, not those who want schools run like a business, not those who want a cheap worker delivery system, not those who wish to put a large portion of the $800 billion spent on public education in their own pocket at the expense of my students. Until public education policy-makers demonstrate a true understanding that public education is the cornerstone of our democratic republic, I will be demoralized.
Sincerely,
Sean Michael Black, M. A., Ed. S.
Letter to Congresswoman Virginia Foxx 4/29/09
Dear Ms. Foxx,
It is clear from your remarks about Matthew Sheppard that you have a rather fleeting association with the truth. I live less than fifty miles south of the Wyoming/Colorado border and your disingenuous remarks about Matthew Sheppard are an abomination. If your remarks about Matthew Sheppard are representative of how you represent the facts on an issue, you, ma'am, have NO business representing anyone in Congress. I realize that you represent people far away from my home in Greeley , Colorado , but to suggest that Matthew Sheppard was a criminal shows no regard for truth. You have my earned my disgust and contempt. In the future, would you please not sully the floor of the Congress with such blatant lies and disinformation as you did today when speaking about Matthew Sheppard? If you are not ashamed, then you have no conscience.
Sincerely,
Sean Michael Black
About Public Education
A few observations . . . First, a union exists because a group of workers choose to bargain together and the union's first responsibility is its members. Thus, a teacher's union does not exist for the transient population that is made up of students, but rather the permanent population of professional teachers. The union protects teachers so that the individual teacher can get to the work of providing students opportunities to learn.
Second, teachers don't really teach as much as they provide an opportunity to learn. Education is a participation sport (so to speak) and requires the active effort on the part of the student. Measuring teachers by standardized tests is ridiculous because ETS can predict with over 80% accuracy standardized test scores by considering the following: 1) single-parent status; 2) free and reduced lunch status; 3) attendance; 4) how much TV is watched; and 5) how much children five and under are read aloud to at home. Teachers have nothing to do with any of these.
Third, public education is the best thing ever invented in this country. It is wildly successful in so many ways, but the left bashes education to get more funding, and the right bashes education to push vouchers and charters. But the truth is this country should stop trying to educate everyone on the cheap and turn public schools into the palaces they ought to be.
Fourth, so many posts suggest that schools are in the "business" of creating a product called students. Schools aren't a business. They don't produce a product. If schools are going to be judged solely on the "product" called students, then give public schools the opportunity to reject the inferior raw material just manufacturers in the private sector do. Just a coincidence how charters manage to keep their students until October 1.
Finally, I don't think there is enough information in any of the articles to determine whether or not the "sickout" is the correct action or not. Push anyone into a corner, and the results usually aren't pretty.
The following letter was sent to several members of Congress, including George Miller, Buck McKeon, Dianna DeGette, Mark Udall, Ted Kennedy, Ken Salazar, Wayne Allard, Tom Tancredo, and Maryilyn Musgrave. Sent in September, there have yet to be any substantive responces.The United States Congress has a decision to make. Will public education continue to be a viable institution responsible for educating the masses for participation in our democratic republic, or will Congress reauthorize NCLB and turn public education into a privatized worker delivery system that assures the United States will be the land of economic apartheid?
As a public school teacher, I see first hand the devastating effects of NCLB over the last five years. There is a narrowing of the curriculum. Science and social studies get short shrift because they are not tested at every grade level every year. Other subjects that are getting lost include music, art, and physical education. It is among these electives that students find their passion and the most inviting reason to keep coming to school. It is also in areas outside of testing that students find their love of learning that will last a lifetime. However, when schools are turned into test-preparation factories, and teachers turned into Test Preparation Agents for the State, that love of learning doesn’t suffer, it is extinguished.
One of the scandalous aspects of the current “high stakes” testing culture is the targeting of specific students whose score is near the cut score for the next level of proficiency. In Colorado, those students whose score is just below the “partially proficient” receive particular attention so that a small improvement in these scores will result in dramatic increase in the entire school’s score as measured for “adequate yearly progress.” This is a sacrifice of the many for a meaningless standardized test score. The only thing accomplished so far with the current testing regime is higher test scores. There is no evidence of improved learning. According to education researcher Alfie Kohn, it is likely that higher scores mean less quality learning is taking place. Furthermore, I believe that public educators wish to create intrinsically motivated, life-long learners. According to basic motivation theory research, the environment currently present will eliminate the internal satisfaction of learning.
The entire “high-stakes” testing regimen that is now passing for school reform does nothing to improve education, but rather undermines quality learning. The requirement of schools to have EVERY child reading and doing math on “grade level” is unachievable. And despite teachers doing all they can do to provide quality learning opportunities for their students, not every child will demonstrate grade level proficiency (important to note that grade level originally was the average of all students at a particular level, and thus HALF were below grade level). But I expect that in 2014, when the ridiculous “100%” proficiency is not achieved, those who refer to public schools as “government schools” and other detractors of public education will scream that public education needs to be privatized.
Recently, Arthur F. Ryan, chairman and CEO of Prudential Financial, said that the business community is the primary consumer of the U. S. education system. His comment both makes me sick, and explains the draconian actions being foisted on the public education system by the Business Roundtable under the guise of “No Child Left Behind.” Public education is not a product to be consumed. The business community needs to understand that they are the benefactors of the education system that prepares students for participation in our democratic republic. The education system is not in place to provide multi-national corporations a minimum wage worker delivery system. It is rather the cornerstone of the creation of a well-educated electorate able to participate in our society.
“No Child Left Behind” treats teachers as second-class professionals not to be trusted. In addition to my education (a B. A. in English, an M. A. in Physical Education, and an Ed. S. in Education Leadership), my practice of the art of teaching has given me the skills, knowledge, and experience to make sound pedagogical judgments about my students’ skills and abilities and how best to proceed to enhance those skills and abilities. A set of standardized test scores are first not timely enough to help guide instruction. Second, they do not provide information I do not already know obtained from the wide and various activities that are completed in my class. I am with my students for approximately 180 days over the school year, and there is no possible way that a single standardized test can make a better judgment about my students than I can.
If public education is going to emerge from the Dark Ages imposed by NCLB, it must not be merely adjusted. The entire piece of legislation needs to be eliminated. This is the only way the United States will remain a leader in the world. I urge you to consider the ramifications of the reauthorization of “No Child Left Behind” and vote to repeal this hideous legislation.
I look forward to your earliest reply.
Sincerely,
Sean Michael Black, M. A., Ed. S.
A letter to George Miller, a response, and a reply to the response
-----Original Message-----From: Sean Black [mailto:seanmblack64@yahoo.com]Sent: Thursday, November 16, 2006 1:21 AMTo: Miller, GeorgeSubject: NCLB
To the Honorable Congressman Miller:
I am writing to express my disgust in the "No Child Left Behind" legislation. And I am writing to you as you I understand you'd like to re-authorize NCLB. I am a teacher of twelve years, I hold a Masters of Arts in Physical Education, and an Education Specialist Degree in Education Leadership. I also hold a Professional Teacher License and a Provisional Principal License. However, experienced and educated teachers like me are apparently the last people legislators consult in developing education legislation. The result is draconian legislation such as NCLB. It is a full-frontal assault on public education.
The authors of NCLB have put forth ridiculous standards that are impossible to reach. When we as public educators do fail to meet these impossible standards, those who push for privatization will stand upon their soap boxes and point the finger at public education and public educators and say, "You have failed, therefore we must privatize education." If you, as a Congressman, believe in public education, you must act to turn the tide against this assault.
Public education is not perfect (nor is anything I am aware of) and can certainly be the beneficiaries of appropriate and reasonable public policy. The first step must be the elimination of the use of standardized tests as the sole measure of a school's success. The results of standardized tests in my last building demonstrate the narrowing of curriculum. The middle school students in my building have two ninety minute blocks of both math and language arts each day. They have a third ninety minute block of either science or social studies, alternating to one or the other each day. Students also get daily two electives (art, band, technology, Spanish, French, or physical education) of forty-five minutes each. Due to the fact that social studies and science (except for our 8th graders) are not included in the school's "grade" they are after-thoughts. However, it seems to me that if the purpose of public education is to create an educated electorate able to participate in our democratic republic, then we should not give short shrift to social studies. If the United States wishes to continue to be the leader in scientific innovation, we must curb our single-minded fascination with test scores as THE measure of a school's success.
The next important step must be to fund education appropriately. I realize that federal funding of education is less than ten percent of all public school education funding, but the ridiculous strings attached to receiving federal funds require massive amounts of dollars to be spent from the local revenues in order to receive these funds. Wouldn't $45 million be better spent on instruction in Colorado instead of testing (did a cow ever get fatter from putting it on a scale)? Is it too much to ask for Congress to cease to passing legislation that amount to unfunded mandates? However, I understand that the there are those who in their desire to eliminate public education in their quest to eliminate the American middle class will ask the impossible of public educators (who are brave enough to try to reach the impossible, the truly impossible, because there is nothing that we think we can't do through education).
Finally, I think it is important for the federal government to recognize that we are a vast nation of diverse people. To expect every school to be like every other school is asinine. There are skills and abilities necessary at every level. But there is no reason that a school on the shores of Maine should look like a school on the plains of Colorado should look like a school in inner-city Los Angeles . The notion of "local control" has been given lip service, and nothing more.
I ask of you, Congressman Miller, to consult real educators, those of us that are actually practicing in the profession when considering legislation that affects education. Please, understand that I believe that the problem with most legislators regarding education legislation is that because they went to school, they think they are experts in education. That is like saying because I went to a doctor I am an expert in medicine. Ultimately, I am asking you to begin an end in the assault on public education and public educators. There is no better institution in the United States than public education, and there are no more dedicated professionals than teachers.
Sincerely,
Sean Michael Black, M. A., Ed. S.
"Miller, George"
wrote:
Thank you for writing me to share your comments about the No Child Left Behind Act. As I know you will agree, for far too long the public education system in this country has failed to ensure that all children have an opportunity to learn, regardless of their income, background, or race. Prior to enactment of the No Child Left Behind Act, the achievement gap between wealthy and low income students, African-American children and white children, English speaking and limited English proficient students, was growing in spite of numerous educational reform efforts over the past forty years.
The enactment of No Child Left Behind signified a commitment to reversing the status quo and closing the achievement gap. Make no mistake, the reforms are working and we are well on our way to making sure that all students-not just some students, but all students-improve their learning at school. According to the latest NAEP reading and math scores among nine-year-olds and math scores of 13-year-olds are the highest on record. Achievement among African-American and Hispanic students has surged in the last five years, helping to narrow the achievement gap between white and minority students.
The House Committee on Education and the Workforce, where I am the Senior Democrat, has held a series of hearings on the implementation of the law which will continue into next year. We also anticipate that there will be changes to the law as part of the reauthorization process. As the legislative process continues, I will be mindful of your comments and I invite you to continue to share with me your concerns.
Thank again for taking the time to share your concerns on this issue.
Sincerely,
GEORGE MILLER
Member of Congress, 7th District
Dear Congressman Miller,
It is painfully obvious to me that you did not read my letter, nor did any of your lackeys. Your response is an abomination and a joke. If you think NCLB is good for education, then I suggest you resign from Congress for a demonstration of TOTAL ignorance of the consequences of NCLB. I would appreciate a serious conversation about the legislation, rather than a spouting of Secretary Spellings talking points (which are at best exaggerations, at worst, blatant lies). In short, I am one public educator who is sick and tired of of the ignorance of our alleged leaders regarding public education.
NCLB is a full-frontal assault on public education as we know it. If NCLB is re-authorized in any kind of form it is now in, it will render public schools to being "worker delivery systems" for corporate America. The reform measures currently being put in place are not reforms. They are turning teachers into test preparation agents for the state. That is not why I became a teacher.
I have attached Gerald Bracey's article regarding the condition of public education. Perhaps reading it will enlighten you to what the effects of NCLB are, because your response to me demonstrates you are oblivious to the truth about public schools.
I hope that you will open your mind to the effects of NCLB. I hope you will seek to drastically alter NCLB. If NCLB isn't drastically altered, public education in the United States will cease to exist in any form that is worthwhile.
Sincerely,
Sean Michael Black
To Senator Edward Kennedy - March 2007
Dear Senator Kennedy,
“No Child Left Behind” isn’t educational reform. It is the destruction of public education. There is no doubt in my mind that NCLB is nothing short of a full, frontal assault on public education disguised as Trojan horse claiming to close the achievement gap.
The authors of NCLB have put forth ridiculous standards that are impossible to reach. When we as public educators do fail to meet these impossible standards, those who push for privatization will stand upon their soap boxes and point the finger at public education and public educators and say, “You have failed, therefore we must privatize education.” If you, as a Senator, believe in public education, you must act to turn the tide against this assault.
Public education is not perfect (nor is anything I am aware of) and can certainly be the beneficiaries of appropriate and reasonable public policy. The first step must be the elimination of the use of standardized tests as the sole measure of a school’s success. The results of standardized tests in my last building demonstrate the narrowing of curriculum. The middle school students in that building had two ninety minute blocks of both math and language arts each day. They had a third ninety minute block of either science or social studies, alternating to one or the other each day. Students also received daily two electives (art, band, technology, Spanish, French, or physical education) of forty-five minutes each. Due to the fact that social studies and science (except for 8th graders) are not included in the school’s “grade” they are after-thoughts. However, it seems to me that if the purpose of public education is to create an educated electorate able to participate in our democratic republic, then we should not give short shrift to social studies. If the United States wishes to continue to be the leader in scientific innovation, we must curb our single-minded fascination with test scores as THE measure of a school’s success. It would also help to have a Presidential administration that embraces science, rather than eschews it.
The next important step must be to fund education appropriately. I realize that federal funding of education is less than ten percent of all public school education funding, but the ridiculous strings attached to receiving federal funds require massive amounts of dollars to be spent from the local revenues in order to receive these funds. Wouldn’t $45 million be better spent on instruction in Colorado instead of testing (did a cow ever get fatter from putting it on a scale)? Is it too much to ask for Congress to cease to passing legislation that amount to unfunded mandates? However, I understand that the there are those who in their desire to eliminate public education in their quest to eliminate the American middle class will ask the impossible of public educators (who are brave enough to try to reach the impossible, the truly impossible, because there is nothing that we think we can’t do through education).
Finally, I think it is important for the federal government to recognize that we are a vast nation of diverse people. To expect every school to be like every other school is asinine. There are skills and abilities necessary at every level. But there is no reason that a school on the shores of Maine should look like a school on the plains of Colorado should look like a school in inner-city Los Angeles. The notion of “local control” has been given lip service, and nothing more.
I ask of you, Senator Kennedy, to consult real educators, those of us that are actually practicing in the profession when considering legislation that affects education. Please, understand that I believe that the problem with most legislators regarding education legislation is that because they went to school, they think they are experts in education. That is like saying because I went to a doctor I am an expert in medicine. Ultimately, I am asking you to begin an end in the assault on public education and public educators. There is no better institution in the United States than public education, and there are no more dedicated professionals than teachers.
Sincerely,
Sean Michael Black, M. A., Ed. S.
Greeley, Colorado
NCLB - EDUCATIONAL MALPRACTICE
NCLB is a full-frontal assault on public education. Democratic politicians are bad on public education, Republican politicians are worse. Follow the money. The money is going to test creators like McGraw-Hill (John McGraw of McGraw-Hill was one of the very first overnight guests of the Bush White House), to outside agencies to provide tutoring (doesn't matter if they help kids learn, it just matters that the money ends up in the hands of a person of the private sector), and funneled to select companies for Reading First grants (the scandal of these grants going to "politically" friendly allies of the Bush Education Department is easily documented - just Google it). And about the money, especially in D. C.: the Washington D.C. school district has one of the highest expenditures for administration of the 100 largest school districts in the country, and one of the lowest actual classroom expenditures per student of the 100 largest school districts in the country.
NCLB has absolutely impossible goals. AYP disaggregates test-score data for any group with a pre-determined number of students (30 or 40 is the usual, but unless you have a group of at least 70 you have too small a group for any reliability). EVERY single group must demonstrated AYP in order for a school to stay off the list of "failing schools." That means if a school district has 68 groups, meets AYP in 67, it is considered a failing school, even if that group is identified as "special education" students. But teachers being teachers will attempt the impossible. But when there is failure to have EVERY student demonstrate that they can earn a successful score in a standardized reading, writing, and math test for every grade from 3-10, the creators of NCLB (see the Business Roundtable) will step and say, "See, we told you public education is a failure. Therefore, we must privatize public education." They will then be looking to put as much of the $800 Billion spent on K-12 education in this country into the smallest number of corporate CEO pockets as possible.
If teachers were required to take an oath as doctors are, they would have to decline to implement the tenets of NCLB (particularly District 6 teachers) because they would be violating the first part of the oath: “Do no harm.” NCLB does tremendous harm. It is bad legislation from the top down. It has narrowed curriculum, raised the dropout rate, and done absolutely nothing to encourage students to become active participants in their learning, or able participants in our democratic republic. NCLB is a failure for the United States and its public school students.Labels: EDUCATIONAL MALPRACTICE
TO Jonah Goldberg . . . L. A. columnist
Dear Mr. Goldberg,
"Private, parochial and charter schools get better results." Your words. And you are wrong that charter schools get better results. In Gerald Bracey's book Setting the Record Straight: Responses to Misconceptions About Public Education in the U. S., it is pointed out that charter schools are not getting better results, particularly when you compare demographically similar charter schools and public schools. Perhaps part of your own education should be to read more instead of regurgitating more of the media spin machine anti-public school nonsense.
Seeing that you cite Milton Friedman, I can't help but imagine you are among those who believe that schools should be run like a business. How sad and misguided. Schools exist to educate children and in the United States they exist to create an educated electorate to participate in our democratic republic. Students are not widgets to be manufactured.
One advantage that private, parochial, and charter schools have over public schools is control over their student population. Public schools take all comers. And for some reason, the highest correlative to test scores is the socio-economic status of the students. How about some attempt to close the income gap, then perhaps there would be some close on the achievement gap? However, if it weren't for public schools, the achievement gap would be far greater than the income gap.
For the record, I am a public school teacher in Denver, Colorado. The current political climate makes it difficult to make a difference in the lives of the kids I teach. The pressure to perform on "high-stakes" tests that have no proven value whatsoever is extreme. But the parents of a majority of the kids I teach have faith in me and my colleagues. Too bad the rest of the country, particularly the pundits and politicians don't. Despite teachers being highly-trained professionals, our judgment about students, with whom we spend an extraordinary amount of time, is relegated to the the shelf of insignificance. It seems that too many individuals, especially politicians, think that because they went to school they are experts on education. That just isn't so, and it would be nice if the policy makers and pundits would ask professional educators their opinions once in a while.
Sincerely,
Sean Michael Black, M. A., Ed. S.
Sent to Lou Dobbs in response to his comments about Detroit education:
Dear Lou,
Do you think the public education opportunities are responsible for the economic situation, or are the economic situation responsible for the education opportunities? From this public school teacher, I make the request for YOU ALL in the media to stop bashing public schools, especially for situation for which we have no control. Do you think that those responsible for hiring teachers, especially math and science teachers, look to hire unqualified teachers? There simply is not enough qualified math and science teachers available. And who could blame anyone if they chose to do ANYTHING else than teach. According to much of the mainstream media I read, teachers are to blame for the fall of Western Civilization as we know it. If we teachers are that powerful, how is it that we received NONE of the credit for the largest economic expansion in the history of the United States that occurred in the '90's, but all we hear now is that we teachers are failing to provide an adequate education for our students to compete in the 21st Century. To be honest, I think that our job isn't to prepare students to compete in the 21st Century; our job is to prepare our students to participate in our democratic republic.
Sincerely,
Sean Michael Black, M.A., Ed.S.
