Tag: reform

New Year, New Reforms

by Kimberly Frey, posted in Education, Uncategorized

Hello, and Happy New Year! The Roaring 20’s is one of my favorite time periods in history, and I look forward to what this new decade has in store for us. It’s been awhile since my last post, but now that the hustle and bustle of the holiday season is over, I’m ready to get back to work and am focused on my goals for the year.

Interestingly enough though, this post is NOT about my 2020 goal agenda. I was actually inspired to write this post because of events that unfolded during our mid-year standardized testing that occurred upon our return from winter break.

I have been teaching for almost 20 years, and I have spent the majority of this time teaching special education. Even during the years I taught high school, although I wasn’t specifically teaching special education classes, as a dual-licensed faculty member of the English department, if you were a student with an Individualized Education Plan (IEP) that qualified you for special education services, I was your English teacher. So as a teacher who has had to administer standardized tests to students with special needs every year, I am intimately aware of the fact that the overabundance of standardized testing, and the subsequent reliance on their results, has wreaked damage to a population of students who already have a plethora of obstacles hindering their educational success.

Just to be clear, standardized testing is not new. Ever since Alfred Binet developed an intelligence test in 1905, there has been standardized testing designed to determine if you are smart enough, performing to certain measures, and/or the right fit for the job (or school). However, when then-President George W. Bush’s No Child Left Behind Act was passed in 2001, the use of standardized testing proliferated, and is now present across all grade levels, even amongst our youngest students in preschool and kindergarten and our most fragile populations of students with special needs.

Going back to our school’s recent testing window, our district was conducting Middle-of-the-Year NWEA MAP testing. Within my district, this same test is given at the end of the year as well. If you are in certain “benchmark” grades and you don’t pass the test, it is mandatory for you to be retained.

The MAP test in and of itself is not the worst test out there. It is an adaptive test. It is designed to either increase or decrease the rigor depending on the student’s performance. However, it also purposefully gives students questions on topics they haven’t been taught yet (supposedly to determine the student’s readiness for those topics). It is an untimed test, and students are allowed to take a break, pause the test, or even suspend it until a later time. All of this sounds great in theory. Until you have a student in the third grade on the Autism Spectrum who has extreme testing anxiety or a fifth grade student who has been diagnosed with significant emotional disabilities and is currently living with his aunt as his foster parent due to the emotional trauma he suffered when living with his mother. Both of these students are below-grade level. Their teachers already know that. Their cognitive and academic testing that was completed in order for them to qualify for special education services has proven that. The progress monitoring that is completed all throughout the year to determine whether or not they are on-track to meet their IEP goals shows their progress and keeps all of their teachers accountable. But yet, these students, and thousands like them, are required to take a test that creates undue stress and negatively impacts their self-esteem. My third grade student with autism was so frozen with fear all he could do was sit and cry. My fifth grade student had a complete breakdown in the testing room and had to be removed altogether. Why are non-educators so intent on forcing kids who already know what they don’t know (and feel inferior to their peers because of it) to prove on a test what exactly they don’t know?

For the parents who are reading this blog, please know that this unhealthy pattern of over-testing and developmentally inappropriate testing will continue until you band together and demand change. Teachers will support you if you demand testing policy overhauls, because teachers know that all this testing isn’t in the best interest of any of our students, not just those with special needs. The testing craziness began in earnest with politicians who didn’t have any teaching experience of their own trying to hold teachers accountable. (Oh, the irony, I know.) It is time to tell our current, and future, politicians that the harm we are causing our children must be put to an end. Let’s put policies in place that ensure that no student has to walk out of a room feeling broken and defeated. Now that would truly ensure that no child is left behind.

Waiting for a Truly Good Deal

by Kimberly Frey, posted in Chicago, Education, politics, Uncategorized

This week, approximately 94% of Chicago Public School educators, clinicians, paraprofessionals, and school-related personnel voted in favor of authorizing the Chicago Teachers Union to authorize a strike if a satisfactory contract cannot be reached with the Chicago school district, and ultimately the newly elected Chicago mayor Lori Lightfoot.

Mayor Lightfoot campaigned under the banner of eliminating old-school politics. On her own campaign website, lightfootforchicago.com, the then-candidate stated that, “We must do better to halt the declining conditions of our neighborhood schools. We must do better to change an education policy that does not view parents, teachers, principals, staff or other stakeholders as valued partners. We must do better by insisting on a comprehensive plan to invest in families and neighborhoods, and to end the violence that plagues too many communities.” The contract that the CTU is currently fighting for is wanting to do just that. With their overwhelming vote this week, teachers are saying that it is time to eliminate the inequity that exists in Chicago schools, and it is time to prioritize agendas that research has proven will help children be more successful in school.

Let’s start with class sizes. Although there is a plethora of research proving that smaller class sizes are a fundamental piece of the academic success puzzle, schools all across the city are grossly over-crowded. I personally know of elementary school classrooms where anywhere from 32- 35 children are sitting in one room with one teacher and up to 37-38 middle school students are doing the same. If Mayor Lightfoot is serious about wanting students to achieve, then there should not be any hesitation on her part to include language in the contract that assures the district will begin taking steps to address overcrowded classrooms.

The next item on the agenda? School nurses. I personally do not know of a school on the south side that has a full-time nurse at their school every day with the exception of schools that have a large population of students with special needs who require medical assistance during the day. I currently have students with a myriad of medical conditions such as allergies, asthma, and seizure disorders. If one of these students has a medical emergency, we basically know to call 911 and hope for the best. Medical conditions aside, if a student falls and hits his/her head on the playground, we do not have a nurse to determine if a severe head injury has occurred. However, talking to parents of students on the north side, many of those schools have the discretionary funds due to parent and community donations to pay for a nurse themselves. Instead of stating that there is a nurse shortage all over the state, why won’t the mayor show her commitment to finding solutions to the problem by including language in the contract that addresses the situation?

Let’s also talk about those social workers the union is calling for. Currently, most schools on the south side do not have a full-time social worker. In fact, most of these schools have a social worker who only comes one day a week, with maybe a second day every other week. These are the very schools that are serving students who experience trauma, violence, and the effects of gang violence along with that of drug and alcohol abuse. It is very difficult for students to focus on their education when they are worried about whether or not they will be shot on their way home from school. To truly be committed to ending violence in this city means that we must truly be committed to helping support the students’ social/emotional and mental health in the very communities where the violence has caused the most damage.

Lastly, let’s bring to light a little-known fact about the current “good deal” that is being offered to Chicago teachers. The current proposal is calling for a reduction of planning time for teachers, who already often lack the proper planning time necessary to adequately teach students. However, this proposal is being buried by both the mayor’s office and the news media who are endorsing her deal.

The very fact that Mayor Lightfoot, the Chicago Tribune, and the Chicago Sun-Times are all urging teachers to just take the deal because the financial terms are “generous” (Chicago Tribune editorial, 9/13/19) shows the lack of understanding as to what this fight is all about. It’s not about money (although more money would be nice). Chicago teachers, so by default the Chicago Teachers Union, are not strike-hungry as those in the media are stating. In fact, the overwhelming majority of teachers do not want a strike. We want to be in our schools with our students. To be honest, having just come back from the summer break (which to make very clear to the public – we DO NOT get paid for; nor do we even collect a check….for about two months), teachers really can’t even afford to strike. However, we cannot support a deal that continues to put our most disadvantaged students at an even greater disadvantage and has no real plan for how to remedy the situation. That is how important this struggle is to us as champions of our youth. We are willing to risk financial strain and the possibility of negative opinions from the public as we fight for what our students so rightly deserve.

If you are serious about halting the declining conditions of neighborhood schools and changing educational policies, then address these issues, Mayor Lightfoot. Be willing to be the mayor that the overwhelming majority of Chicago citizens believed you were going to be when you won the election. Then, and only then, will we truly have a “very good deal.”

For further opinions on this topic, please read my colleague’s editorial which can be found at https://chicago.suntimes.com/2019/9/26/20885381/chicago-teachers-union-strike-vote-class-sizes-social-workers-librarians-letters-to-the-editor

Thanks, Matt Damon

by Kimberly Frey, posted in Education, Parenting, Uncategorized

In a recent blog post for The Washington Post, Valerie Strauss discusses actor Matt Damon’s most recent defense of teachers. Damon has had a history of speaking out on behalf of educators in America. I had the privilege of being at the 2011 Save Our Schools rally in Washington D.C. when he gave an impassioned speech defending teachers and attacking the current trends that are threatening public education today. In that speech, he mentioned “corporate reformers” who had never taught a day in their lives making decisions about what happens in classrooms across the country. In his most recent speech, he states, “I’ve always believed that they have to invite teachers into the discussion to help design policy. We would never let business men design warheads, why would you cut out educators when you’re designing education policy?” This is approximately the same question I ask consistently, to anyone who will listen. This is the same question that the American public needs to start asking as well. And not just who is guiding educational policy, but why? Why are wealthy private citizens and corporations trying (and often succeeding) to shape the future of public education? Why are they so determined to paint teachers as money-hungry, over-compensated, and only in education because it is a cush job? Have any of them ever spent a day with a room full of 5 year olds? Or adolescent, hormonal middle schoolers? I dare any of them to live a teacher’s life for one week. However, until the American public stands up for public education, these private entities will continue to yield an unreasonable amount of power and influence. After all, education is funded by public dollars, politicians determine where public dollars get spent, and private corporations bankroll politicians’ careers. In the meantime though, I do appreciate Matt Damon’s efforts on our behalf.
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Save Our Schools

Those Who Can, Teach

by Kimberly Frey, posted in Education, Uncategorized

Today I read a Washington Post article titled, “What if Finland’s Great Teachers Taught in U.S. schools?” For those of you unfamiliar with Finland’s educational system, it is consistently ranked one of the best in the world. It wasn’t always that way. In fact, Finland’s surge to the top of international educational rankings has caused many nations (America included) to take notice. Everyone wants to know what is Finland’s secret to success. Well, I will tell you that it is not their standardized testing systems for students. Quality education comes from having quality teachers, and that is where Finland has focused its efforts. However, they have not focused their efforts by tying teacher evaluations to students’ standardized test scores, like our current political forces are attempting to do here. Instead, Finland has focused its attention on how teachers get into the classroom, versus what they do once they are in one. To become a teacher in Finland is a rigorous process. Instead of hundreds of varieties of teacher preparation programs, there is only one. This is true for many countries where there are students who outperform American students on international testing. There is no fast-track to becoming a teacher in these countries. For example, all teachers in Finland complete the same coursework and earn master’s degrees from research universities. The competition for entering into one of these programs is on par with a student attempting to get into law school or study medicine. Therefore, the teachers in Finland ultimately earn the same degree of respect as lawyers and doctors. While Finland has shunned standardization in schools, it embraces standardization when preparing its teachers. Thus assured that only the the best and brightest are entering the profession, these same teachers are then given the freedom to practice their craft once they have secured a teaching position. In contrast, here in the United States, the common belief is that anyone can be a teacher. Even more damaging to the profession is the underlying thought that teachers are individuals who were not able to be successful in their first career choice. We’ve all heard the saying, “Those who can, do. Those who can’t, teach.” What an awful statement to make about men and women who have chosen to spend their lives educating the youth of this country. However, perhaps if there was more quality control on the front-end, people would have more confidence in the teaching profession. If getting accepted into an education program was as difficult as being accepted into law school or a med program, maybe there would be more credibility and respect for the teaching profession as a whole. Then, maybe we would be trusted to know what’s best for our students instead of having outside sources-who have absolutely no teaching experience whatsoever- tell us what we should be doing for them. http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2013/05/15/what-if-finlands-great-teachers-taught-in-u-s-schools-not-what-you-think/