Reading Between the Lines: on Public Education

[LWolf]

The Nation published a great article, and a long one, back in 2002. It gives some much needed background on the political movements influencing public schools, as well as some very interesting tidbits about the Bush family connections to ed publishers. I started a thread about it later that year, or early in '03, lost in old DU archives. I thought it would be a good time to pull it back out and take another look.

It's 4 pages long, and I can only <snip> 4 paragraphs, so please take the time to go to the link, read, and share your thoughts. I'm going to post a little about the ed testing and publishing industry; there is much, much more there to peruse. While some of it is dated, being 5.5 years old, it's still good stuff:

Reading Between the Lines
Stephen Metcalf
posted January 10, 2002 (January 28, 2002 issue)

<snip>

While critics of the Bush Administration's energy policies have pointed repeatedly to its intimacy with the oil and gas industry--specifically the now-imploding Enron--few education critics have noted the Administration's cozy relationship with McGraw-Hill. At its heart lies the three-generation social mingling between the McGraw and Bush families. The McGraws are old Bush friends, dating back to the 1930s, when Joseph and Permelia Pryor Reed began to establish Jupiter Island, a barrier island off the coast of Florida, as a haven for the Northeast wealthy. The island's original roster of socialite vacationers reads like a who's who of American industry, finance and government: the Meads, the Mellons, the Paysons, the Whitneys, the Lovetts, the Harrimans--and Prescott Bush and James McGraw Jr. The generations of the two families parallel each other closely in age: the patriarchs Prescott and James Jr., son George and nephew Harold Jr., and grandson George W. and grandnephew Harold III, who now runs the family publishing empire.

The amount of cross-pollination and mutual admiration between the Administration and that empire is striking: Harold McGraw Jr. sits on the national grant advisory and founding board of the Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy. McGraw in turn received the highest literacy award from President Bush in the early 1990s, for his contributions to the cause of literacy. The McGraw Foundation awarded current Bush Education Secretary Rod Paige its highest educator's award while Paige was Houston's school chief; Paige, in turn, was the keynote speaker at McGraw-Hill's "government initiatives" conference last spring. Harold McGraw III was selected as a member of President George W. Bush's transition advisory team, along with McGraw-Hill board member Edward Rust Jr., the CEO of State Farm and an active member of the Business Roundtable on educational issues. An ex-chief of staff for Barbara Bush is returning to work for Laura Bush in the White House--after a stint with McGraw-Hill as a media relations executive. John Negroponte left his position as McGraw-Hill's executive vice president for global markets to become Bush's ambassador to the United Nations.

And over the years, Bush's education policies have been a considerable boon to the textbook publishing conglomerate. In the mid-1990s, then-Governor Bush became intensely focused on childhood literacy in Texas. For a period of roughly two years, most often at the invitation of the Governor, a small group of reading experts testified repeatedly about what would constitute a "scientifically valid" reading curriculum for Texas schoolchildren. As critics pointed out, a preponderance of the consultants were McGraw-Hill authors. "Like ants at a picnic," recalls Richard Allington, an education professor at the University of Florida. "They wrote statements of principles for the Texas Education Agency, advised on the development of the reading curriculum framework, helped shape the state board of education call for new reading textbooks. Not surprisingly, the 'research' was presented as supporting McGraw-Hill products." And not surprisingly, the company gained a dominant share in Texas's lucrative textbook marketplace. Educational Marketer dubbed McGraw-Hill's campaign in the state "masterful," identifying standards-based reform and the success of McGraw-Hill's "scientifically valid" phonics-based reading program as the source of the company's eventual triumph in Texas.

Is the pattern repeating itself at the national level? On the day he assumed the White House--the day he invited Harold McGraw III into his office--Bush called on Congress to help him eliminate the nation's "reading deficit" by implementing the "findings of years of scientific research on reading." Bush would loosen the purse strings on one condition: Instructional practices must be "scientifically based."

Much, much more at:

http://www.thenation.com/doc/20020128/metcalf/3

How do people feel about the destructive manipulation of public education to benefit publishing conglomerates with strong ties to the Bush family?

Strongly enough to put an end to it?

[tomreedtoon]

1. America's educational system is more corrupt than Bush.

I had a teacher for a girlfriend for almost a decade. You know the old phrase "you should't watch sausage being made"?

The corruption starts at the bottom with teachers who don't give a damn about education, but who like dominating and intimidating their students - which I'd estimate at 90 percent of the teacher pool, and I'm feeling optimistic tonight.

One step up, remember the old phrase "those who can't do, teach"? Well, those who can't even teach, teach teachers. To keep up her teaching credentials, my ex needed my help to look up decades-old "research" in a teacher's college. She had to do papers on educational theories from 1947. What does this do for her real teaching abilities? Nothing, but it keep those rickety old educational colleges in business.

Then go to the school boards, usually full of poltical hacks, whose only real concern is keeping parents from being alarmed at anything. They don't mind strip-searches of students or stationing cops in a high school, or maybe even building jail cells into high schools, as long as it "looks" like they're keeping another Columbine from taking place.

Then go up to the publishers of textbooks, most of which get unnecessary "makeovers" every year or so, usually only changing the color of the cover or adding some new drawings. That means your school district has to spend more money to keep textbooks "current" even though it's a shell game. Did you know that the Texas school districts buy so many books that the textbook publishers have to cater to them? If the people in Dubya's backyard don't buy the books, the rest of the nation doesn't get them. Guess what that does to even-handedness in history and science textbooks.

And the only alternative to this pile of corruption is "home schooling," where frightened right-wing parents teach their kids that Jesus turned certain people black because they're sinners, and other lunatic fringe stuff.

Basically, unless a kid is smart enough to get an education on his own, rather than hoping that the system will give him one, he's screwed. As is our nation.

[LWolf]

3. Now that you've got all that off your chest,

Did you read the article? Do you have any thoughts to share about it? Anything to add to a discussion about political abuse of the public ed system?

[tomreedtoon]

29. Gee, wasn't it obvious? Of COURSE it's corrupt!

My point is that the entire public education system is corrupt. Why are you guys so surprised about discovering one tiny bit of it? You're shocked, SHOCKED that there is gambling in Casablanca?

I think it's perhaps because you consider educators "saints." Well, they are. This s'aint education. It's smoke and mirrors.

[LWolf]

31. I consider educators people.

Neither demons nor saints.

Education is a complex system. Attacking or treating symptoms instead of causes doesn't cure the system. Teachers are not the cause of the education system's dysfunction.

Fix the causes, and the symptoms clear up. Fix the sources of dysfunction, and poor teachers will improve and/or be moved on.

Or make teacher hating/blaming your cause, and allow the status quo to continue.

[proud2BlibKansan]

6. Oh, another 'I hate teachers and public education' post!!

Doesn't even begin to relate to the OP.

[checks-n-balances]

12. As a Title I middle school teacher working my butt off to support my child

and coming from a family of award-winning teachers, I am deeply offended by your off-base negative generalizations about our chosen profession.

However, I am thankful you're too old to be one of my students, and relieved that the odds of your having children in my district are miniscule. Since you're already prejudiced against teachers to begin with, my sympathies would be with those who ever do find themselves in that situation.

Oh, and on behalf of all of us public school teachers at DU, thanks so much for your your understanding and support!

[LWolf]

27. Understanding and support

is in pretty short supply these days, isn't it?

[tomreedtoon]

30. And you aren't mad that you aren't doing anything?

That you're turning out kids that can't read or add?

By the way, I'm not blaming teachers exclusively. My ex also taught Title 1, since there were no teachers qualified to teach it and she needed to keep her job. She wanted to teach, but because Title 1 is a federal program with moronic guidelines she had to follow, none of her kids learned anything either.

I spent many weekends cutting out pictures from stupid-ass discarded magazines to make "flash cards" as part of her teaching aids, which had to be an exact size and shape and all that nonsense. It didn't help those kids learn a damned thing, but it was "approved."

And in their case, they were mostly kids of migrant agricultural workers - or "field slaves" - who couldn't stay in any one school for very long, because their families had to follow the harvest. So they got the same crappy ineffective education nationwide. So they are kids condemned to follow their parents in serfdom - unless they go to die in Iraq because they can't get another job due to lack of education.

So don't think I'm singling you out. I would like to drop an atom bomb on the entire educational system, nuke every established theory and school district and teacher's college, and start from scratch. But that won't happen, nothing will improve, you'll keep trying to teach and you'll be prevented from doing it, and America is screwed again.

Does that make it clear to you? And does that make it clear that whatever McGraw-Hill or Pretense-Hall or the other people do is just a drop in the bucket of nonsense?

[G_j]

2. thanks!

bookmarked,

I plan to check it out tomorrow.

[LWolf]

4. You're welcome!

[LWolf]

5. kick

I know it's not Iran, impeachment, the primary races, or an abusive flight attendant, but the historical political connections of the Bush family, and the political history of the current public ed agenda is still relevant....

[proud2BlibKansan]

7. The former president of our local union went to work for McGraw Hill

when he left the union. And did he ever have horror stories to tell. It was 1999, they were on a roll in Texas and ready to take on every school district in America. At the time, I didn't get it, but I really respected him and listened carefully to what he was saying about this company. Now, nearly a decade later, McGraw Hill has proven to be as evil as he told us they were.

[LWolf]

9. They did a pretty good job

with that "every school district in America" thing.

Textbook adoption is a very political process. When a state dept of ed decides what texts are "approved" for adoption, you know there are funds and favors exchanged. TX and CA often have a big influence on what happens in other states, as they have some of the biggest student populations and text budgets.

For several years, I didn't talk to a single teacher from any part of my state, or from other states, that didn't have schools and whole districts using "Open Court."

My district never got that far. It was a big district. A few schools piloted "Open Court," a few schools piloted "Success For All," and they ended up with Houghton Mifflin, which was also identified as a "Bush stock" by Wall Street analysts.

[proud2BlibKansan]

13. We have Success For All

and it sucks. It's a scripted program. It is absolutely the worst reading program for special ed kids. Yet we can't opt them out of it. Even the very few sped kids we have opted out of NCLB testing are required to be in SFA.

[LWolf]

16. It's kind of an oxymoron, isn't it?

As if one program, method, or script can possibly provide "success" for "all."

I remember that one of our SFA schools had an admin that said this to teachers:

"When I walk down the hall, I'd better hear the exact same thing coming from every class at the exact same time. You will follow the script, you will follow our pacing schedule, and you will follow our daily schedule. Anybody deviating from the script will be written up and/or receive an unsatisfactory evaluation."

SFA was loathed by almost every teacher who had to use it. I met one teacher during that time that "loved" it. My take? She "loved" not having to think, not having to differentiate, not having to do anything but walk through the script.

It is obviously to any text publisher's advantage to convince people that their product is the "only." One-size-fits all sells more.

It's also obvious to those of us who teach, that there is no such thing as a "one-size-fits-all" program for anything; that the best of programs, texts, curriculums, etc., have to be flexible enough to allow diverse instructional strategies and differentiation for individual needs.

We have a new adoption coming up; we get a week's introductory training the week before school starts, and off we go. I've looked at it, and it doesn't look bad. I think it's a good starting point. I'm just glad that I'm currently working for a district that treats a text as a resource, not as "THE" curriculum.

[ulysses]

19. I meant to ask you what you thought of SFA

having worked with it now. It really does bite, dunnit?

[proud2BlibKansan]

22. It's really bad for sped kids

But there are some parts of it I like. I taught a beginning Roots group and I like the Phonics lessons. I also like the homework component. And I can't criticize putting kids in smaller groups for Reading instruction.

BUT, like I said, it is NOT good for SPED kids. They end up being in larger instructional groups for the most important subject they take. The transition of moving to another class for Reading is also a bitch for them and for a lot of regular ed kids as well. I also think SFA is far too weak on comprehension. And a BIG problem is it NEVER integrates reading and writing, and I think that is critical for kids who are just learning how to read. I hate the rush rush rush as well. Sometimes you need to spend more time on certain stories or themes.

A really bad part is the scripted curriculum. It is offensive to a teacher like me who has taught literally hundreds of kids to read. You don't need to tell me exactly what words to say. I usually don't even use teachers' manuals. And the part where SFA pretends to know what kids will say and how they will respond is ridiculous.

But, IMO, the worst part is the expense. My district spent $9 million in ONE YEAR. That is just sinful.

[CabalPowered]

23. SFA has very sketch research results

Your experience is quite common.

Here's the What Works Clearinghouse report on SFA..

http://www.whatworks.ed.gov/InterventionReportLinks.asp...

WWC is actually the one department of DoEd that I do trust. As far as I can tell, Bush and his cronies haven't been able to pull any strings here.

[proud2BlibKansan]

24. LOL There is no writing component in SFA

I have seen that same description several places. Where do they get this stuff?

[CabalPowered]

25. Developers get to write those blurbs

It's false advertising and SFA is not the only developer to indulge in the description. The remaining technical portions of the reports are all written by WWC staff. I'd encourage you to send them an email and let them know.. [e-mail] .

[proud2BlibKansan]

26. Thanks will do!

[ulysses]

8. you, my friend, are on fire.

K&R.

[LWolf]

10. Give me a few weeks of R&R,

& look what happens.

[pingzing58]

11. Bush's legacy. "No child left a dime."

[proud2BlibKansan]

14. or food or health care.

Screw the Children seems to be working well for him.

[CabalPowered]

15. Don't foreget Ignite!

Jeb has taken money from Russian mobsters, the Saudis and Rev. Moon. And then outsourced the technical development to a Mexican company.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ignite!

[LWolf]

17. Neil's just following the family tradition, lol.

What do you think of his characterization of ADHD students as "hunter-warrior" type kids?

While I don't advocate drugging them needlessly, and I agree that classroom structure is not set up to address their needs, calling them "hunter-warrior" types sounds to me like we are setting up our ADHD population to be cannon fodder for the next Bush/PNAC war.

His comment "Ignite! is designed to make learning fun for 'hunter-warrior' kids who don't like reading" seems to support my premise. Who needs to like reading? Reading won't prepare those hunter-warriors for their assigned roles.

[CabalPowered]

18. I think it's despicable

And I don't think a talking cow is going to resolve any of the structural barriers for ADHD kids.

[LWolf]

20. You nailed that one.

As a teacher, here's what I would like to resolve those structural barriers:

I would like fewer kids. Overcrowding overstimulates all kids, and is devastating to ADHD kids.

I would like larger classrooms. Roomy classrooms, with plenty of space to spread out and work, and plenty of room to get up and move when necessary.

I would like frequently scheduled breaks. Don't do away with recess; give us MORE recess. All kids think and function better given an opportunity to run, shout, move, jump, laugh, etc.. A classroom structure that allows movement and space, along with regularly scheduled breaks to allow them to let off steam, helps everyone with self-management during class, and is vital for ADHD kids.

Add regular, HEALTHY snacks to the breaks above, and copious water (and bathroom breaks) available at all times.

There are other things I can do specifically for individual ADHD kids in my room. But those things listed above are essential, imo.

I DON'T need to assume that because they are ADHD they won't like to read, or that they won't find learning engaging.

[CabalPowered]

21. All excellent points

In regards to facilities, I think all school buildings should be required to be LEED certified. The building itself should be a lesson in environmental education. I've visited facilities where outdoor space is allocated for student gardens. The teachers report that kids will work on the gardens while on recess even though garden time is included in their schedule. They report fewer negative behaviors, more attention in class and a higher level interest in learning. There's no doubt that kids just need to be outside more than is currently allowed. Some info on LEED..

http://www.usgbc.org/DisplayPage.aspx?CMSPageID=1586

In my own opinion and I'm not a psychologist, I think the field of psychology needs to reevaluate the standards leading to ADHD diagnoses. While there are some environmental and health factors for ADHD that could be contributing to an increase in ADHD diagnoses, the rapid rise in ADHD diagnoses is alarming.

[LWolf]

28. Interesting; thanks for the link! n/t