P E Y T O N W O L C O T T |
| h o w w e t a k e b a c k o u r c h i l d r e n ' s e d u c a t i o n -- o n e p e r s o n , o n e q u e s t i o n , o n e s c h o o l a t a t i m e . Copyright 1999-2006 Peyton Wolcott |
| Modern Minutemen: Donna Garner |
| Prolific teacher and writer, passionate supporter of sound curriculum practices-- including the Texas Alternative Document |
| Mike Moses Asks to be Removed from Donna's Distribution List Sent: Tuesday, February 10, 1998 8:07 PM Subject: Comm. Moses' Response My article "Putting the Cart Before the Horse" [published under the title "Systematic Way To Teach Kids English"] was printed in the WacoTribune-Herald on Thursday, January 19, 1998. I sent a copy of the article to Texas Commissioner of Education Mike Moses. I, as a Texas high school teacher, have always communicated very openly with my boss, the Commissioner, because I believe that open and honest communication are very important. Here is the reply which Commissioner Moses sent back: "Donna, I am aware of your displeasure with the TEKS [Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills -- the Texas Education Agency-produced standards]. I am sorry you prefer not to work in a more constructive way to help change the way we teach children to read. Please remove my name from your fax mailing list." This is my boss telling an employee not to communicate with him! Such a response is particularly ironic because I never even mentioned the TEKS in that article. The wording of his response also seems ironic because I have dedicated my entire teaching career and, in particular, the last four years of my life to help "teach children to read." We writers of the Texas Alternative Document (TAD) for English / Language Arts / Reading wrote our document at our own time and expense -- outside the school day. I wonder how much of his own time and how much from his own pocket the Commissioner has donated to "teach children to read." Evidently the article must have struck a nerve. |
| Donna Garner |
| Why I Do What I Do What has kept me motivated to focus on education reform? I would have to say that my love for students has been the driving force behind the hours per day that I spend reading, researching, and sharing quality education information with others. Since I was a young child, I have felt that I was called to teach. After having spent over 33 years as a teacher, I still find myself called to teach people important information. I have seen many ill-equipped individuals in society, and most of them could have experienced a much happier and more fulfilling life if they had had a large body of foundational skills established in their lives. As I read the newspaper and listen to the media, I am constantly reminded of the troubles which occur all around us because people have not been able to read, write, or speak clearly. Communication is the thread which holds our society together. When that communication is broken, chaos raises its ugly head. My heart's desire is to see every child attain a quality education and then go on to become a contributing member of society. The United States is a special country with a special heritage. Our forefathers died to make our country a place where freedom abounds. To make sure that our nation continues in its rich heritage, each generation must have the ability to read, write, and speak English capably so that the values and knowledge of past generations and the lessons learned by today's generation can be passed on to their children. As someone recently said, "We are not an independent Nation; we are indeed a dependent Nation -- dependent upon the mercy and favor of God." May God continue to honor our country in the challenging days which lie ahead. |
| FOLLOW UP FROM DONNA When I wrote this article above, I did not mention the fact that in 1997 alone my husband and I spent over $12,000 from our own savings account to promote the TAD. In the mid-90's to get people to read the TAD, we had to mail hard copies because the Internet had not yet saturated the country. Each time we Xeroxed a set of TAD rough drafts, it cost us $1,000 at Kinko's and hundreds of dollars in postage. We never recouped a single penny of this expense. We continued mailing out copies of the TAD to people in Texas and in other parts of the country because we understood the importance of what was happening. To us TAD writers, we knew this was a seminal moment when the fate of our Texas public schools would be decided: Would teachers lead their classrooms or would teachers merely become facilitators where students spent most of the school day fixated on computers? Would teachers emphasize traditional foundational curriculum based upon deep content which could be objectively tested, or would we see our schools turned into classrooms where subjectively assessed projects became the norm, where grade inflation would abound, and where multiculturalism/political correctness/diversity would reign? Almost ten years later, we see the results of the English / Language Arts / Reading (ELAR) education standards (TEKS) which arose out of the bowels of the Texas Education Agency. Students are no longer reading the traditional classics and building their abilities to read complex text; they cannot write nor speak using correct grammar; students' spelling and vocabulary skills have disintegrated; graphic images have replaced substantive content in textbooks; multicultural authors have taken the place of the time-honored classics in students' textbooks; students spend class time reading teen genre which is replete with violence, sexual content, and abusive language; "diversity" now includes homosexuals; the gay lifestyle is being heavily promoted in our public schools; schools cannot afford to hire enough policemen to control student violence; cheating has become the norm instead of the exception; and the TAKS tests which control every entity in the schools present a constant frustration because no one knows for sure what needs to be taught/learned at each grade level. |
| Donna's Thoughts on Teaching and Curriculum As a classroom teacher for over 30 years, I can tell you that discipline and curriculum are the most important components to any school in any part of the United States. When allowed to control what goes on in the classroom, all but the most self-disciplined children will elect for the easy way out. Children are not little adults; they are simply children who need careful structure and guidance from the adults around them. Any thinking person realizes that to build a strong house, you have to set the foundation in place first. In school much of that foundational knowledge is acquired through memorization and drill. Through creative methods, good classroom teachers can make that acquisition fun and exciting; and the self-confidence which comes to children who have learned the basics cannot be measured. Success breeds success, but a false sense of success based upon fluff breeds children who overestimate their abilities. These are the very students who drop out of school once they get into the more sophisticated courses in high school. |
| Since 1997, Texas public schools have labored under the English / Language Arts / Reading (ELAR) education standards (TEKS). When I say "labored," I do mean "labored." Because the standards were a product of the Texas Education Agency staff rather than real classroom teachers who worked with real students on a daily basis, most Texas teachers could not figure out how to meet the impossible TEKS mandate. If teachers spent enough time helping their students actually master basic ELAR skills, the teachers did not have time to cover the myriad of TEKS, numbering way over 100 per grade level. If the teachers tried merely to "check off" each of the TEKS, then students did not have enough time to master the important skills they needed to become automatic and fluent readers or careful writers and speakers. What was a teacher supposed to do? When the released versions of the TAKS tests (tied to the TEKS) surfaced in the spring of 2003, Texas teachers quit paying attention to the TEKS and turned their attention to the TAKS tests, further narrowing the curriculum. Teaching students from Pre-K through Grade 12 "how to take the TAKS tests by choosing from four answers" became the driving force behind almost everything teachers taught. To the rescue has come the Texas State Board of Education. On June 14, 2006 the SBOE held a work day where they invited three expert witnesses, Dr. Sandra Stotsky, Dr. Barbara Foorman, and Dr. Reid Lyon, to dialogue about the ELAR/TEKS. The result is that the Texas Education Agency has been charged with the responsibility of reading through the present ELAR/TEKS, eliminating all the repetitious and unmeasurable statements. When that first step has been completed, the SBOE will look to see what is left in the TEKS; and hopefully the end result will be ELAR standards which are clear, measurable, and specific to each grade level. Links to the TAD: http://www.educationnew s.org/Curriculum/TAD/ta d_grammar_introductio n_grade_6.htm http://www.educationnew s.org/Curriculum/TAD/ta d_grammar__introducti on_grade_7.htm http://www.educationnew s.org/Curriculum/TAD/ta d_grammar_introductio n_grade_8.htm |
| It is so ironic to me that the print media has led the fight to inundate our country in multiculturalism and to de-emphasize our country's historical foundation in Western civilization. With that has come a resistance in our schools toward teaching primary historical documents and the traditional classics which immerse students in deep vocabulary and higher-level thinking skills -- the very skills which the Atlanta-Constitution editorial board now laments have been lost by a large percentage of Americans (please see article posted below). When whole language was exposed after damaging at least two generations of students and lowering their reading levels, the print media along with concerned Americans should have insisted that the public schools teach children to read through research-based methods and then to make sure that students are immersed in high-quality literature. Instead, the media has aligned themselves with the very organizations which have promoted the dumbing down of America (e.g., NEA, NCEE, NCTE, IRA, NCTM, NBPTS, NCATE, etc.). It is only recently that the print media has come to realize they are losing their readership; now they are getting worried. Where were they when we classroom teachers who wrote the Texas Alternative Document (TAD -- ) tried to bring back quality literature to the children in our state? I don't remember the media fighting alongside us to force the education establishment to respond to the TAD's attempts to implement the time-honored classics into our state's standards. With the power to persuade which the print media has utilized for many years, if the TAD had had the print media's full support, every child in our Texas public schools would now be reading quality literature and historical documents which would provide that much-needed foundational knowledge that helps children increase their skills and reading levels each year. Instead, our students are reading multicultural, politically correct drivel which has been chosen because of its social agenda and the ethnicity of the author instead of being chosen based upon the author's superior writing skills. Our textbooks are filled with distracting graphics which de-emphasize the written word, and students are wasting away their precious classroom minutes by playing on computers rather than on reading the time-honored literary pieces of the world. The result will be an ever-growing slump in reading abilities which will eventually have dire ramifications for the future of our nation. It will also mean that the print media, to stay in business, will be forced to lower the reading level of its articles. This will mean shallower coverage, more bias, shorter articles, non-engaging depth, more sound bites, and less sophisticated writing style in their articles. If the print media were smart, they would use their tremendous ability to influence the public; and they would lead in the fight to get the public schools to require students to read the cherished works which have linked each generation of Americans with past generations. Instead, multicultural/politically correct pabulum reigns supreme in most public schools; and the print media will continue to lose its readership. |
| The Stink Test by Donna Garner July 18, 2004 Again, the public owes Scott Parks a big "thank you" for his excellent investigative reporting. If I am reading the following article correctly, school administrators are taking an all-expense paid trip to a luxury resort plus earning $2,000 per conference. Some administrators attend at least two similar conferences per year -- $4,000 added to their already lucrative administrative salaries. Administrators are going to these conferences where the vendors of education ware hold focus groups. Supposedly, for their input at these focus groups, the superintendents are paid as consultants. In other words, administrators are moonlighting on the side. Are these administrators using their own personal vacation time for these conferences? After the vendors pay administrators $2,000 plus expenses, do administrators feel obligated to buy the vendors' products? If the administrators do not recommend to their districts the purchase of the vendors' products, will the administrators be invited back to the next luxury-resort conference? Who is "minding the store" while the administrators are off at these conferences earning extra money as consultants? This article also explains why so many administrators end up recommending the same expensive, unproven programs to their districts (USA Distance Learning Network, The Flippen Group, Diana Day Discipline Management Program, Voyager, and an endless line of the latest technology gimmicks which districts "simply must have" no matter how much they cost). I also wonder how many of these administrators retire and end up working for the very same vendors whose products the administrators pushed their districts to purchase. School board members need to hold administrators accountable. Board members need to question conflict of interest consultancies which are performed on school time. What happened to the days when an administrator was sent by the district to one meeting a year? His expenses were approved and monitored by the business office. At this yearly meeting, all vendors had an equal chance to sell their wares by displaying them on the showroom floor. Vendors would talk to administrators in a public setting rather than in private meetings held behind closed doors in expensive resorts where the vendors pick up the tab. Please be sure to notice that Supt. Mike Moses, who earned $400,000 per year and just resigned from the Dallas ISD, has been an active participant in such vendor conferences. Scott Parks' article should encourage school board members to apply the "stink" test. If something smells like a conflict of interest situation, then it probably is. |
| Texas State Board of Education Members Smell a Rat by Donna Garner July 23, 2004 "I smell a rat." This statement and other similar comments were made during the recent Texas State Board of Education (SBOE) meeting on July 15. Members on both sides of the aisle were unified in their concern over the questionable choice of only one vendor who was awarded $12 million for a reading-intervention program. That vendor is Voyager Expanded Learning which has very close ties to two past Texas commissioners of education -- Mike Moses and Jim Nelson. According to state law, Texas SBOE members are charged with oversight of curriculum and instruction in the public schools of Texas, yet the SBOE members were the last to know about the TEA's (Texas Education Agency) decision to approve Voyager. Before last Thursday, the SBOE members had not been told about Rider 51(a) which had been attached to House Bill 1 during the last regular Legislative session (Spring 2003). Under close questioning by SBOE members, the TEA said they did not know which Legislator(s) had authored the rider nor which lobbyists had influenced the author(s). TEA staff also admitted that the specifications for the vendors were written by a paid-consultant who used to work at the TEA while Jim Nelson was the Commissioner of Education. Nelson left the TEA to go to work for Voyager where he remained until this last month when he became the Richardson ISD superintendent. Rider 51(a) calls for the TEA to solicit applications from companies which want to compete for the $12 million to provide a reading intervention program for Grades K through 5. Only one vendor was selected by the TEA even though eight vendors applied. Voyager also has very close ties with another ex-commissioner of education, Mike Moses. Moses recently submitted his resignation as the Dallas ISD superintendent after The Dallas Morning News ran a story about his moonlighting job with Bracewell & Patterson law firm. Even though Dallas ISD was paying Moses over $400,000 per year (the highest-paid superintendent in the nation), he continued to do consultancy work for Bracewell & Patterson law firm. While Moses was the Dallas superintendent, Bracewell & Patterson was paid over $700,000 for its legal services. Recently Moses helped Bracewell & Patterson to conduct a superintendent search for the Richardson ISD. Moses recommended only one person, Jim Nelson; and for that service, Moses was paid $10,000. The SBOE, knowing of Voyager's close ties with both Moses and Nelson, voiced their concerns during last week's meeting. The following is information which was revealed: The TEA staff said that eight vendors filled out applications for the $12 million grant. When asked why only one vendor was chosen [Voyager Universal System for Grades K-3 and Voyager Passport System for Grades 4-5], the TEA said that the other applications were inferior. One of the other publishers is the biggest publishing company in the world, Pearson Publishing Company; and the SBOE questioned whether such a large company would have filed a sloppy application. TEA staff also admitted that the seven companies whose applications were excluded did not have a chance to change any line-items on the application, and this resulted in only one company being selected as the approved vendor -- Voyager. Eight people reviewed the applications: two TEA employees, three University of Texas employees who have worked very closely with the TEA; one ESL/Reading Instruction specialist; and two employees from the Austin Region 13 Education Service Center. [Interestingly, Carmyn and Joe Neeley are two of Moses' best friends. Joe was hired by Moses to be a deputy commissioner at the TEA. Carmyn was hired during that same time to hold a high-level position at Austin's Region 13 Education Service Center. Just before Moses resigned his job at the TEA, Carmyn and her husband moved to Dallas to work for Voyager. A couple of years after Moses became the Dallas ISD superintendent, Carmyn was hired as an assistant superintendent in the Dallas ISD.] None of the reviewers was a classroom teacher, principal, or supervisor. All were from the Austin area. No avenues for input into the review process were made available to practitioners. When the SBOE asked whether the Voyager contract could be put on hold, the TEA legal counsel said that since the RFP had been submitted, the scoring process had been completed, the contract had been awarded to the vendor, and all eligible schools in Texas had received a TEA notice dated June 8, 2004, he felt any hold would lead to possible litigation by the vendor. Voyager has never before been awarded a contract by the TEA and, therefore, has no proven record of success. The expense per-pupil to use Voyager is very costly. SBOE members felt too much money was being poured into a single vendor which may or may not have a program that is superior to other vendors. An SBOE member said the schools in her area of the state would have preferred that the $12 million be spent to pay for reading academies rather than to pay for Voyager. When asked whether Voyager had submitted actual hard copies of their program, the TEA responded that only sample pages in paper format had been submitted with the application. One SBOE member asked what a school is supposed to do if it has already been using Voyager, its students have performed badly on the TAKS, and now because of TEA's decision, there is only one vendor from which to choose an alternative intervention program. Should the students be "Voyagered" again? Another SBOE member asked about the involvement of Richard Powell, the consultant who wrote the specifications for the grant application; he had previously worked for the TEA under Commissioner of Education Nelson. The SBOE member pointed out that if the specifications on a grant application were pre-selected to fit a particular vendor, a felony violation has occurred, particularly if federal monies were involved. A TEA spokesperson said Voyager was not on the official Texas Commissioner's List of Reading Instruments. One of the SBOE members produced a document entitled "New York City Office of the Public Advocate, Betsy Gotbaum, Investigative Report, May 2003." The document questioned the selection process which was used to choose Voyager for the New York City Schools. Diana Lam, who was superintendent of the San Antonio ISD during the time that Moses was the commissioner and then became the deputy commissioner in New York City, had aggressively strong-armed NYC to adopt Voyager. In Gotbaum's report, she questioned the fact that Voyager has no long-term, independent, longitudinal research to prove its effectiveness. In 2001, Birmingham, Alabama, became the first city in the country to use Voyager's reading program, and Fran Perkins, an adjunct professor at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, described Voyager as "the best example of the worst reading program for young children...Voyager grades children too optimistically -- children who understand almost nothing are considered 'emerging' readers." Gotbaum's report went on to say, "Research on Voyager programs is rare. When it is done at all, it is almost never conducted by evaluators with no connections to, or financial interest in, the company. The research and claims made by Voyager have been cited to be flimsy and unscientific by several university scholars who specialize in reading curriculum." Gotbaum's report stated that in 2001, Voyager replaced a program in Wake County, North Carolina. However, Voyager produced similar academic results as the program it replaced. Students who participated in Voyager did about the same on the end-of-grade tests as similar students who did not participate in Voyager. Only about ¼ of the Voyager students passed the retests. The Texas State Board of Education members did indeed "smell a rat." The problem is that because of Senate Bill 1, which was authored by Sen. Bill Ratliff in 1994, the elected SBOE has no real authority over the unelected Texas Education Agency and/or the Commissioner of Education. Actually, nobody exercises any clear authority over them. The SBOE has no real power to call in the "exterminator" in order to deal with the "rat"; and, therefore, the questionable practices are allowed to continue. _____________________ Donna Garner wgarner1@hot.rr.com |
How we take back our children's education: one person, one question, one school at a time. |
AASA - American Association of School Administrators ASA - Association of School Administrators CSD - Consolidated School District DOE - Department of Education ES - Elementary School HS - High School ISD - Independent School District JHS - Junior High School MS - Middle School MSM - Mainstream media NSBA - National School Boards Association NSPRA - National School Public Relations Association PS - Public School(s) SBEC - State Board for Educator Certification SD - School District Sup't - Superintendent TAKS - Texas Assessment of Knowledge & Skills TASA - Texas Association of School Administrators TASB - Texas Association of School Boards TASBO - Texas Association of School Business Officials TEA - Texas Education Agency TEKS - Texas Essential Knowledge & Skills USD - UnifiedUnited School District |
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| QUOTES |
Separatists in India's north-eastern state of Manipur have shot six male teachers in the leg for allegedly helping students cheat in exams. Two women teachers were beaten with sticks for the same offence, the rebels of the Kanglei Yana Kan Lup group said. The teachers were abducted from their homes after an exam on Thursday. The rebels said the teachers took up to 5,000 rupees ($110) for helping students cheat and warned of further punishment if the cheating continued. The Kanglei Yana Kan Lup (KYKL) is one of many separatist groups fighting Indian administration in Manipur. It said it abducted the eight teachers from their homes in and around the state capital, Imphal, because of reports they had taken bribes. --By Subir Bhaumik - BBC |
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| Copyright 1999-2006 Peyton Wolcott |
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My New Book BY PEYTON WOLCOTT |
The question is not how to measure excellence at public schools and education agencies. The question is how to measure competence. -- Dianna Pharr |
| CONTACT: Peyton Wolcott P.O. Box 9068 Horseshoe Bay, TX 78657 peyton@peytonwolcott.com |
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| Bio Classroom Teacher -- English Teacher - Texas public schools (27 years), Texas private schools (4 years) Writer/Consultant - www.MyStudyHall.com Appointed to: Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) writing team -- English / Language Arts / Reading ([1995-1997) Lead Writer: Texas Alternative Document (TAD) -- English / Language Arts / Reading (1996-97) Presidential Appointee -- National Commission on Migrant Education (1988-92) Papers, Articles Presenter - Position paper, Lone Star Foundation - Public Education Reform in Texas: Comprehensive Progress Report, Austin, Texas (Dec. 7-8, 2000) Author - "Texas State Board of Education Members Smell a Rat" (see below) ALSO SEE: Letter from Mike Moses' attorney (below) Author - "Now the Print Media Is Getting Worried" (Jan. 1, 2006) www.educationnews.o rg/General_Commenta ries/Now_the_Print_M edia_Is_Getting_Worri ed.htm Author - "The Epitaph for the Public Schools P-16" (May 17, 2006)www.educationn ews.org/Commentarie s/The_Epitaph_for_the _Public_Schools_P-16 .htm Author - "The Stink Test" (July 18, 2004) (See below) Forums Donna publishes frequently in both EducationNews.org and BeLogical.com. To join her listserve, contact her at: wgarner1@hot.rr.com About Featured - "School for Profit" by Betty Brink in Fort Worth Star-Telegram (Jan. 18, 2006) Featured - Interview by Tammy Lynne Moore and Michael F. Shaughnessy in EducationNews.org (April 25, 2006) Donna-isms Whoever writes the tests controls what is taught in every public and private school, college, and university in the country. The battle is over what is taught and who decides what is taught. It is a control issue to see who is going to influence the minds of the next generation. The major media is aligned with the TEA and always has been. ++++++++ ["The Scheme To Make Money"] I am now convinced that one of the main reasons Mike Moses and his friends fought the Texas Alternative Document (TAD) for English / Language Arts / Reading so hard was that the TAD would have brought down their plan to make a fortune out of Voyager Learning Systems. If Texas had adopted the explicit, knowledge-based, grade-level-specific curriculum requirements of the TAD, then Voyager would not have been necessary for districts to purchase because each teacher would have had a clear, doable, goal-oriented document on his desk. What purpose would Voyager serve if teachers had clear goals to meet which could be objectively tested? Everyone would know what to teach and what children should learn, and there would be no need for these fancy tracking systems and their highly paid consultants. Vertical and horizontal curriculum alignment provided by Voyager would not be necessary because the TAD document would give everyone clear direction without anyone needing to "interpret" the standards. Children's grades would reflect their learning, and their tests would be fair because they would be formulated on specific course content for each grade level. Children, parents, teachers, administrators -- all would know how much progress a child has made at each juncture. Consultants and learning systems would not be needed, and taxpayers could save zillions of dollars. Voyager was in its early stages of formation when the TEKS vs. TAD battle occurred in 1997; and after that July 1997 State Board of Education board meeting at which Moses ruthlessly ignored Roberts' Rules of Order in order to get the TEKS passed, his best friends started leaving the TEA and going to Voyager. The company has since gone on to reap huge profits in many other districts such as New York City. I am afraid that places such as Arizona and many other states are now using their federal largesse dollars to bring in Voyager. The result will be that Voyager will make huge amounts of money through its costly contracts, yet the program will serve a comparatively small number of students. |
| Is your district stuck with Voyager-- and you're wondering why? |
| Former Texas Edu-missioner Mike Moses |
| Former Texas Edu- missionerJim Nelson (R) (PHOTO/TX Sci. Hall of Fame) |
| N E W ! |
| Raise your hand for a hand out by Donna Garner Copyright 2007 February 18, 2007 Ex-Texas Senator Bill Ratliff and Ex-Texas Commissioner of Education Mike Moses must believe that Texas citizens are all brain dead. These two men evidently think we have forgotten their role in Texas' public school problems. NEW SPECIAL INTEREST GROUP FORMED Ratliff and Moses are continuing to swill from the education trough by forming a new organization called Raise Your Hand to pressure the people for more tax dollars for Texas' public schools. Have these two gentlemen any credibility on the subject? William Murchison said it best in the 2.16.07 Lone Star Report, "...keep a country mile away from Raise Your Hand, and from Bill Ratliff, and from Mike Moses, whose solution for dealing with a sinking boat is to pour some more water in the gunwales." Before we citizens put our trust in Raise Your Hand, let's do a quick study of its leaders, Ratliff and Moses. RATLIFF: ROBIN HOOD, LOSS OF LOCAL CONTROL BY TEACHERS Not only did Ratliff author the failed and oft-maligned Robin Hood Plan, but he also drafted SB 1 in 1995 which stripped local teachers of control over what they taught. Due to SB 1, Texas teachers have lost control over their day-to-day instruction and instead must follow the poorly constructed Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) standards. The English / Language Arts / Reading TEKS are particularly egregious because they are not explicit, measurable, or specific for each grade level; and the curriculum requirements listed in the ELAR/TEKS are much too numerous for a teacher to cover thoroughly in a year's time. Therefore, teachers flit from one TEKS element to the next, never really having time to make sure students gain mastery. It is these poorly written standards (the opposite of back-to-the-basics curriculum requirements) upon which the much-despised TAKS tests are based. RATLIFF: LOSS OF CONTROL BY LOCAL SCHOOL BOARDS As the author of SB 1, Ratliff is also responsible for taking the authority away from elected local school boards and placing that power into the hands of unelected superintendents. No longer do locally elected school board members have any real control over the all-important issues of personnel hiring and district curriculum decisions. Local school board members' duties have basically been reduced to (1) hiring and firing the superintendent, (2) buying and selling property, and (3) setting board policy (e.g., those items which involve board members themselves -- elections, vacancies on the board, travel and reimbursement policies, etc.). RATLIFF: LOSS OF CONTROL BY ELECTED SBOE At the state level, Ratliff tried for years to replace the elected State Board of Education (SBOE) with an appointed one. Appointed boards really do not care what voters want. They will do the will of whoever appoints them and of the lobbyists who orchestrate from a distance. Ratliff's SB 1 reduced the authority of the elected SBOE and enhanced the power of the unelected Texas Commissioner of Education who at the time was Ratliff's joined-at-the-hip ally, Mike Moses. Ratliff always pretended that the SBOE had lost control over textbook content; and until Attorney General Greg Abbott's 2006 opinion, the SBOE was shut out of fulfilling its lawful responsibilities. For eleven years the Board labored under Ratliff's false interpretation; and during that time, numerous inferior textbooks were placed in front of our Texas students. Because of Ratliff's influence on SB 1, elected SBOE members cannot even elect their own chairperson; the Governor appoints one. RATLIFF: TAXPAYER-ENRICHED OPPORTUNIST Ratliff is a registered lobbyist (http://www.ethics.state.tx.us/dfs/l oblists.htm) and has made large sums of money from a number of clients including the Texas Association of School Boards (TASB). Having retired from the Texas Senate in 2003, he began representing TASB on May 10, 2004. That year he received up to $99,999.99 from TASB, and again in 2005, and 2006. We taxpayers paid Ratliff's rich lobbying fees because the membership dues that education entities pay to join TASB come from our taxpayers' dollars. Because the TASB dues come from public funds, we taxpayers are actually paying TASB to lobby Legislators for more school funding so that our taxes will increase. We are paying to lobby ourselves! MOSES: HIT-AND-RUN ARTIST As Texas Commissioner of Education, Mike Moses oversaw the creation of course standards (TEKS) which have proven dysfunctional, particularly in English / Language Arts / Reading (ELAR). Now the Texas State Board of Education and the Texas Education Agency are trying to undo the damage by rewriting these TEKS. MOSES: THE TAKS MONSTER The public tends to vent its wrath against the TAKS tests, but TAKS tests are based on the faulty TEKS. If the foundation (TEKS) is weak, then the house (TAKS) built upon that foundation cannot stand. Mike Moses was directly responsible for the entire TEKS process, thus making him responsible for the TAKS. Students, parents, and educators dislike intensely the unfair accountability system built on these tests. Parents, students, and educators are obsessed with the TAKS --TAKS units, TAKS practice tests, TAKS preparation tools, TAKS information booklets, TAKS activities, TAKS projects, TAKS data, TAKS testing strategies, TAKS benchmarks, TAKS tutors, TAKS tests. This constant emphasis on the TAKS is destroying teachers' creativity and students' interest in school, thus contributing to the drop-out problem. According to Jamie Story, education policy analyst at TPPF, "Every hour of every school day, 93 students drop out of Texas public schools." It is disingenuous of Moses to expect the taxpayers to pour more money into the public schools to fix the mess that he helped to create. MOSES: TAINTED ADMINISTRA- TION IN DALLAS ISD The Dallas Morning News has found multiple dubious behavior patterns during Mike Moses' watch as Dallas ISD superintendent. Allegations have surfaced about out-of-control spending with school credit cards, lost dollars for health plans, abuse of federal e-rate funds, irregular technology vendor contracts, misspent federal bilingual education funds, costly deals with Kinko's, apparent conflicts of interest involving Voyager Expanded Learning, contributions by computer vendors, questionable bond sales, multiple teacher grievances, eyebrow-raising private consultancies, lucrative Coca-Cola contracts, and special privileges for vendors participating in the Education Research and Development Institute (ERDI) conferences. MOSES: GOLDEN PARACHUTE Meanwhile, Moses received the highest superintendent's salary in the nation ($340,000 per year, excluding benefits) even though eleven school districts in the country were larger than Dallas ISD. When the DISD problems began to surface in 2004, Moses resigned and walked away with an additional $480,850. Along with his ongoing and lucrative superintendent search business, he now receives a yearly TRS pension of $224,400 per year. Note that Moses' wealth comes from taxpayers' dollars. MY RECOMMENDATION Instead of expecting the taxpayers to pour more millions into our public schools, why not expect the schools to live within their means. Before the last legislative session, Texas was already spending over $10,400 per public school student (http://www.governor.state.tx.us/p riorities/education/facts_figures), and those figures have increased substantially since then. I agree with Peggy Venable of Americans for Prosperity who has said, "Texas schools do not have a funding problem. We have a spending problem." Case in point: The education dollars heaped upon Ratliff and Moses by our state. MY QUESTION TO RATLIFF AND MOSES Sen. Ratliff and Dr. Moses: Before we taxpayers decide to support Raise Your Hand with you two altruists at the helm, how about disclosing your lobbying contracts (and benefits) with the companies who stand to profit if more taxpayers' dollars are given to the public schools? Donna Garner is a retired Texas teacher and served on the TEKS writing team for English / Language Arts / Reading (ELAR). She is also the lead writer of the Texas Alternative Document for ELAR. She is presently the writer/consultant for an online tutorial to help people (ages 10 through 100) to improve their ELAR skills. She can be reached at (254) 666-2798; wgarner1@hot.rr.com. |
| From TAAS to TEKS: A Brief History of Texas' Standards |
| Performance- Based Projects Contributing to Grade Inflation by Donna Garner February 26, 2007 Last week the latest NAEP results were announced. The Education Trust has done an admirable job of graphing the latest 2005 NAEP results (12th Grade), Trends Over Time, and the High-School Transcript Study. (continued below in grey box) |
| During the 1990's there was a war raging between those policymakers who were proponents of the constructivist philosophy of education and those who believed in traditional learning. In most states the constructivists won out, and their philosophy is reflected in the state standards adopted during that time period. Most of those standards documents are still in force in our nation's schools today. Constructivism means students are required to create projects; these by definition must be graded subjectively based upon the value system of the grader and are subject to grade inflation. Projects also emphasize students' personal opinions, feelings, and emotions and normally do not emphasize deep knowledge-based content. On the other hand, knowledge-based, academic instruction emphasizes the right answers over the process; students' papers are graded objectively based upon right-or-wrong answers. The evaluator's personal feelings toward the student are immaterial. Objectively scored assignments and tests help to reduce grade inflation. Knowledge- based assignments and tests drive students to become individual learners who are then able to do higher-level thinking because they have a solid knowledge base upon which to perform their analyses. |
| ASSIGNMENT: It's All About Me! Autobiography Treasure Chest In order to complete this project, your students will need an ordinary box to house the contents; shoe-box size will do quite nicely. Students will also need an empty paper towel roll and and empty CD case. Of course, supplies like glue, ruler, dictionary, markers, colored pencils, and the like will be necessary. Your student will be thinking, writing, cutting, and pasting on this project through the third marking period, with presentations beginning in the fourth marking period. Students will also be given a calendar with all necessary due dates for each component of the box and exemplars are given for many assignments. The following is a brief overview of the box and its contents: 1) The box is to be, as it were, a "square" picture, word and poem collage about your student. Students create an "I am" poem for the box. 2) A student-created postage stamp dedicated to his/her hero with explanation. 3) A CD case that showcases a "theme" song for the student's life, including an explanation of the song's significance. 4) A Time Capsule (paper towel roll) showcases the up's and down's of the student's life. 5) A letter the student composes about him/herself to be mailed to the student at his/her discretion. 6) Life message spring eggs-students choose 2 quotes or life messages to insert in the eggs; one explanation will be written and the other will be oral. 7) "Who Are You Really?" Students answer 3 questions and compose their responses on tri-fold brochure stationary. 8) A map that indicates where students have lived. 9) Famous Firsts Ribbon - Student writes a narrative about one of his/her famous firsts ie. first visit to the dentist, on a ribbon. 10) Last, but not least, a recipe card with the student's favorite recipe and an explanation of what makes it so special for him/her. When presentations begin, students will receive bonus points for bringing in a sample to share with the class. |
| Because the state standards adopted through the 1990's contain large numbers of performance-based curriculum requirements, classroom teachers are forced to spend quantities of class time on such projects. Here are two curriculum requirements excerpted from English I Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills: |
| Constructivism means students are required to create projects |
| Performance- Based Projects (continued) http://www2.edtrust.org/ NR/rdonlyres/6A29A9C4 -0D7F-43E9-BFEC-1D2 1EF1F06AF/0/2005Grad e12NAEPandHSTS.ppt The Trends Over Time data is particularly important because the data is reported with no accommodations for students. Accommo- dations have somewhat skewed the other NAEP results. My only complaint with what The Education Trust has produced is that they did not go ahead and directly state that it is the performance-based projects which are contributing to grade inflation. Most organizations and even the media are now beginning to realize that our nation's schools have been dumbed down as revealed in the latest NAEP and the high-school transcript study, but I still have not heard a loud outcry about the performance-based projects issue. |
| If the teacher requires students to do these projects outside of class, then many students cheat. If the teacher requires students to complete the projects under his supervision, then valuable class time is sucked away from other instruction; and there is no time to teach important core knowledge. Oft-times these projects represent major grades which then become a large part of a student's semester average. So long as teachers are forced by the state standards to assign numerous projects, grade inflation will continue. Projects must be graded subjectively and in our litigious and grade-conscious society, teachers cannot withstand the pressure from students/parents/administrators to justify giving a student a low grade on his project. What do teachers do? They generally lower their standards and assign high grades for even trivial accomplishments (e.g., turning the project in, putting name on project, showing minimum effort, demonstrating diversity, etc.). Thus, grade inflation is perpetuated. I know a school board member who makes it a practice after viewing a performance-based presentation by students to ask individual students pertinent questions. He is astounded by the numbers of students who completed their projects but who cannot explain what concepts they actually learned. Numerous articles and reports have surfaced lately regarding the value of homework. Parents typically dislike it because they know all too well that they and their children are involved in producing meaningless projects which are time consuming and expensive to produce. Some parents also question the depth of content of these projects; and working closely with their children, these parents are shocked by how shallow their children's basic foundational knowledge really is. Following is an example of an assignment given by a real teacher to real middle-school students. (I do not know the name of the teacher nor the name of the school.) Will the individual components of the assignment actually be graded for content and for correct grammar/spelling/punctuation/ capitalization? Please think how much time students will spend on this project and how much classtime will be used for individual presentations. What is the total focus of this assignment? The student. Is it wise to encourage students to become any more focused on themselves than they already are, coming from a "me-driven" society? Would it not be much wiser to have students study a historical or literary figure and then have students prepare a type of more limited and structured presentation in which all students in the class benefit by increasing their core knowledge? Here is the assignment from the teacher: [See grey box at left, "ASSIGNMENT: It's All About Me! Autobiography Treasure Chest] I believe it is performance-based projects which are contributing to grade creep and to a false sense of accomplishment among our students. A limited number of projects can be motivational to students, but the majority of a student's grades should come from objectively graded assignments. |
| "Create media products to include a billboard, cereal box, short editorial, and a three-minute documentary or print ad to engage specific audiences." "Create, present, test, and revise a project and analyze a response, using data-gathering techniques such as questionnaires, group discussions, and feedback forms." |
| Looking for more information on state content standards for English Language Arts Reading (ELAR) for Alabama, Florida, Kentucky, Michigan, Tennessee and Texas? Email Donna Garner |
| The Importance of Teaching Phonemic Awareness By Donna Garner, April 2, 1999 Because many children in the U. S. are coming to school from language-impoverished homes, many of them have never even tried to "target" sounds. They have heard gutteral language or languages other than English used around them and have not had the interaction of sentence structure and dialogue that once occurred in the average home. (In a country where we have "babies" having babies, what can we expect in the area of language development?) We also have many children who are "crack" babies and whose parents have practiced unhealthy lifestyles to the extent that there are more learning disabled children. Premature babies have been on the rise for years largely because of sexual activity committed at too young an age. In the U. S. we have a large percentage of migrant children who have lived in Third World conditions which have produced terrible health problems with many of them having ear infections. For these children, the teaching of phonemic awareness is a must because they could not hear clearly during their most formative years of brain development. All of these problems and more have combined to produce a much larger percentage of disabled youngsters. That is why the Texas Alternative Document (TAD -- http://www.htcomp.net/tad) in Pre-K starts out with the simplest listening/speaking exercises. Our Pre-K students are usually children who are dubbed Title I, and they are usually the children who come from homes that are considered language impoverished homes. Used to, in days gone by, the public school teachers could start with "blending" of sounds; now we have to start with the most minute, basic skills. We cannot assume anything anymore with the type of students that are coming into our public schools. Yes, many of them are ready for more advanced reading skills; but the only way to make sure that all of them can move on successfully is to start with phonemic awareness and to make sure that they can even "hear" the subsounds of English before they are introduced to any "blending" skills. The NIH reading researchers have found that phonemic awareness is the entire basis for future success in reading, and they have done their scientifically replicated research in various parts of the U. S. To see Dr. Reid Lyon's research, go to http://www.readbygrade3.com. Donna Garner Lead Writer - Texas Alternative Document for English / Language Arts / Reading |
| LOOKING FOR DONNA GARNER'S PHONEMIC AWARENESS ARTICLE? ----------- It's third down in this column. |
| ACTUAL ASSIGNMENT (SEE DESCRIPTION AT RIGHT) |