Vic’s Statehouse Notes #146 – June 28, 2013

Dear Friends,

A review of 23 consecutive years of data for Indiana’s public schools show that they are currently performing at or near their historic high on eight of ten key indicators. While there remains plenty of room for further improvement, claims that Indiana’s public schools have declined or failed are clearly not based on facts, as a review of the attached data will show. The legislative push to dismantle public education and use state tax dollars for vouchers to send students to private schools is clearly based on beliefs and ideology and not on performance data.

A 23 Year Review: Improvement in Indiana’s Public Schools

To rebut charges that Indiana’s public schools were failing, I issued the first data report data for the decade of the 1990’s in May of 2000, showing year by year ups and downs on ten common measures. After adding additional data each year, the ten tables have now grown to 23 years.

Once again, I updated this report for presentation at the annual IUPUI/ IUSA Summer Conference on Urban Education, held this year on June 12, 2013. The full 16-page report is attached.

Here are a few findings from data for the most recent year, showing changes from the 2012 report to the 2013 report:

1) Indiana’s graduation rate shows that 88.4% graduated in four years or less in the Class of 2012, up from 85.7% in the Class of 2011 and up from 76.1% in the Class of 2006 when the new 4-years-or-less cohort definition was initiated.

2) Hoosier public schools successfully raised the daily attendance rate to in 2011-12 to 96.1%, tied with the highest level ever recorded in 2008-09.

3) Performance on the SAT, both quantitative and verbal measures, taken by 69% of Indiana’s students, lagged behind the past performance of Indiana’s students and comprise the two key indicators out of ten in which Indiana students are not at their historic high.

4) Performance on the ACT, taken by 32% of Indiana’s students, continues to exceed the national average and to stand at the high point in Indiana’s longitudinal record with a composite score of 22.3, well above the national average of 21.1.

5) No additional National Assessment scores were released during the past year. Indiana has outperformed the national average on the basic standard on all 41 NAEP assessments since 1990.

6) Hoosier public school students improved their passing percentages on ISTEP+ English/Language Arts in Grades 3, 5 and 6 compared to the previous year. Grades 4 and 8 remained the same, and Grade 7 went down.

7) On ISTEP+ Math, Hoosier public school students improved their passing percentages in Grades 3, 6, 7 and 8 compared to the previous year. Grades 4 and 5 remained the same. No grade went down.

8) Academic Honors Diplomas reached a record high of 32.3% of all diplomas in the Class of 2012, and Core 40 diplomas tied the record set the previous year at 49.6% of all diplomas. Added together, a record total of 81.9% earned either the Academic Honors diploma or the Core 40 diploma.

Significance

This is not a failing record. While great improvement is still needed and tremendous needs still exist in many locations, the steady improvement seen in these statewide data undercut arguments made by some that public education needs to be dismantled and privatized through vouchers and for-profit ventures.

Check out the data for yourself on the ten tables in the attached report. The tables are designed for transparency, showing year-by-year data and whether each year went up, went down or stayed the same.

The last page summarizes 23 years in a glance. If you have limited tolerance for numbers, just look at this page, which is also reprinted below. It summarizes the 23-year range on each indicator, gives the current mark and then answers the question of whether Indiana is near the historic high.

The conclusion is that on eight of the ten measures, Indiana’s public school students are performing at or near the historic high for that indicator.

This improvement is unrelated to the two years that Indiana has given out vouchers, undercutting the argument that voucher proponents are fond of making that vouchers improve public schools. The longitudinal charts show that steady improvement has occurred throughout the 23 year span.

This record of improvement is the result of the hard work of thousands, even millions, of educators, students, parents and community members. Public schools need the broad support of the entire community to maintain this record of improvement.

Thanks for your continuing support of public education in Indiana!

Best wishes,

Vic Smith

ICPE is working to promote public education and oppose privatization of schools in the Statehouse. I keep hearing reports that some public school supporters read these “Notes” with great interest but don’t translate that interest into joining ICPE. We had an outstanding lobbyist Joel Hand working hard to support public education throughout the session. We need additional members and additional donations to pay off our expenses for the General Assembly session. We need your help! Please join us! Thanks to all who have joined or sent extra donations recently!

Go to www.icpe2011.com for membership and renewal information.

Some readers have asked about my background in Indiana public schools. Thanks for asking! Here is a brief bio:

I am a lifelong Hoosier and began teaching in 1969. I served as a social studies teacher, curriculum developer, state research and evaluation consultant, state social studies consultant, district social studies supervisor, assistant principal, principal, educational association staff member, and adjunct university professor. I worked for Garrett-Keyser-Butler Schools, the Indiana University Social Studies Development Center, the Indiana Department of Education, the Indianapolis Public Schools, IUPUI, and the Indiana Urban Schools Association, from which I retired as Associate Director in 2009. I hold three degrees: B.A. in Ed., Ball State University, 1969; M.S. in Ed., Indiana University, 1972; and Ed.D., Indiana University, 1977, along with a Teacher’s Life License and a Superintendent’s License, 1998.

Action for the Week - June 23, 2013

Talk to 10 new people to inform them about what is happening in public education.

If you need more information, please check out our INFORMATION AND FACT SHEETS on the right side of this blog.

Then let us know what happened.

The Impact of Education Reform: What Next?

Northeast Indiana Friends of Public Education

with

Parents Across America

Present

The Impact of Education Reform: What Next?

Join supporters of public education from Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, and Ohio for the second four state conference on organizing to stop the dismantling of public education.

The conference will provide an opportunity to share experiences and strategies with others from your state and from neighboring states. The conference will feature a panel discussion focused on examining the impact of the current reforms. Panelists include

• Vic Smith, Indiana educator and legislative watchdog
• Rob Glass, Superintendent of Bloomfield Hill Schools, Michigan
• Kathy Friend, Chief Financial Officer, Fort Wayne Community Schools, Indiana
• Stephanie Keiles, Teacher/Parent, Plymouth Canton Community Schools, Michigan
• Cathy Fuentes-Rohwer, Parent/Advocate, Chairperson, Indiana Coalition for Public Education--Monroe County and South Central Indiana.

~~~

Event Details

Where:

Plymouth Congregational Church
501 W Berry St.
Fort Wayne, IN 46807

When: Saturday 20 Jul 2013 from 9:45am to 3:15pm (US/Eastern)
            (Registration and Coffee from 9:00am to 9:45am)

Registration Due by: Thursday 18 Jul 2013 12:00pm (US/Eastern)

TO REGISTER AND RESERVE YOUR TICKET CLICK HERE.

Updated Proposed Schedule

~~~

Additional Information:

Parking: Across from the church on Berry Street; additional handicap parking on west side of church.

Lunch: On your own. Bring your own and continue discussion with other attendees at the church or visit one of the nearby fast food restaurants (Arby's, McDonald's, Taco Bell, Rally's, Wendy's, Subway, Starbucks).

~~~

A Glimmer of Hope

NEIFPE member Anne Duff offers us this description of the recent visit to Fort Wayne by State Superintendent of Public Instruction, Glenda Ritz.

After Glenda Ritz beat Tony Bennett last fall for the position of Superintendent of Public Instruction for the state of Indiana, those of us who had been advocating for public education and had been working diligently spreading her name through mailing postcards, changing our Facebook profile pictures to her logo, and talking about her to friends, family and even strangers at the grocery store, were elated by her victory. Most people know by now that this was not only big news for Indiana, but for the country as well. Bennett had ten times the amount of money for his campaign, yet Glenda won 52% of the votes, earning more than even the governor, as often stated in the news.

But once the race was won, we didn't hear much. We didn't notice many changes, and as the legislative session began, it seemed to be a huge attack on public education. Vouchers were expanded, budgets were cut, programs were cut, and grading our schools A-F became law. Those of us who had been writing letters and talking to legislators in support of public education felt powerless as our voices had not been heard and our words written out of passion for our schools had not been read.

Last Wednesday a small glimmer of hope shined over those of us working so hard to effect change for public schools. Glenda Ritz spoke about her work as Superintendent of Public Instruction at the Future of Education conference held in Fort Wayne, IN. Her words inspired us to continue the fight even though this last legislative session made us feel as if all of our efforts had been ignored. She is working on eliminating the high-stakes, pass-fail assessments that we are currently using and working on implementing a true growth model assessment so teachers and students know how they are doing and what grade level they are working at; not just whether or not students can pass or fail a grade level test. She is coming up with a new teacher evaluation model instead of RISE that bases part of teacher evaluations on the high stakes tests. She is focusing on student centered learning instead of market-based education. She is a hero for public education. Slowly, yet deliberately and thoughtfully, she is trying to undo Tony Bennett's iniquities. There is definitely light at the end of the tunnel; there is hope for public education. What is right for our children and for public education shall prevail.

~~~

See also, The worm is turning: Momentum gathers to counter school reforms

An Education Declaration to Rebuild America

On June 11, the Campaign for America’s Future and the Opportunity to Learn Campaign released An Education Declaration to Rebuild America printed below.

Please take a few minutes to read the seven core principles that frame the Declaration’s vision followed by a “supports-based reform agenda” that rejects test-and-punish and rejects today’s system where opportunity depends “on zip code or a parent’s ability to work the system.” Click here to sign the Declaration.

An Education Declaration to Rebuild America

Americans have long looked to our public schools to provide opportunities for individual advancement, promote social mobility and share democratic values. We have built great universities, helped bring children out of factories and into classrooms, held open the college door for returning veterans, fought racial segregation and struggled to support and empower students with special needs. We believe good schools are essential to democracy and prosperity — and that it is our collective responsibility to educate all children, not just a fortunate few.

Over the past three decades, however, we have witnessed a betrayal of those ideals. Following the 1983 report A Nation at Risk, policymakers on all sides have pursued an education agenda that imposes top-down standards and punitive high-stakes testing while ignoring the supports students need to thrive and achieve. This approach – along with years of drastic financial cutbacks — are turning public schools into uncreative, joyless institutions. Educators are being stripped of their dignity and autonomy, leading many to leave the profession. Neighborhood schools are being closed for arbitrary reasons. Parent and community voices are being shut out of the debate. And children, most importantly, are being systemically deprived of opportunities to learn.

As a nation we have failed to rectify glaring inequities in access to educational opportunities and resources. By focusing solely on the achievement gap, we have neglected the opportunity gap that creates it, and have allowed the resegregation of our schools and communities by class and race. The inevitable result, highlighted in the Federal Equity and Excellence Commission’s recent report, For Each and Every Child, is an inequitable system that hits disadvantaged students, families, and communities the hardest.

A new approach is needed to improve our nation’s economic trajectory, strengthen our democracy, and avoid an even more stratified and segregated society. To rebuild America, we need a vision for 21st-century education based on seven principles:

• All students have a right to learn. Opportunities to learn should not depend on zip code or a parent’s abilities to work the system. Our education system must address the needs of all children, regardless of how badly they are damaged by poverty and neglect in their early years. We must invest in research-proven interventions and supports that start before kindergarten and support every child’s aspirations for college or career.
• Public education is a public good. Public education should never be undermined by private control, deregulation and profiteering. Keeping our schools public is the only way we can ensure that each and every student receives a quality education. School systems must function as democratic institutions responsive to students, teachers, parents and communities.
• Investments in education must be equitable and sufficient. Funding is necessary for all the things associated with an excellent education: safe buildings, quality teachers, reasonable class sizes, and early learning opportunities. Yet, as we’ve “raised the bar” for achievement, we’ve cut the resources children and schools need to reach it. We must reverse this trend and spend more money on education and distribute those funds more equitably.
• Learning must be engaging and relevant. Learning should be a dynamic experience through connections to real world problems and to students’ own life experiences and cultural backgrounds. High-stakes testing narrows the curriculum and hinders creativity.
• Teachers are professionals. The working conditions of teachers are the learning conditions of students. When we judge teachers solely on a barrage of high-stakes standardized tests, we limit their ability to reach and connect with their students. We must elevate educators’ autonomy and support their efforts to reach every student.
• Discipline policies should keep students in schools. Students need to be in school in order to learn. We must cease ineffective and discriminatory discipline practices that push children down the school-to-prison pipeline. Schools must use fair discipline policies that keep classrooms safe and all students learning.
• National responsibility should complement local control. Education is largely the domain of states and school districts, but in far too many states there are gross inequities in how funding is distributed to schools that serve low-income and minority students. In these cases, the federal government has a responsibility to ensure there is equitable funding and enforce the civil right to a quality education for all students.

Principles are only as good as the policies that put them into action. The current policy agenda dominated by standards-based, test-driven reform is clearly insufficient. What’s needed is a supports-based reform agenda that provides every student with the opportunities and resources needed to achieve high standards and succeed, focused on these seven areas:

1. Early Education and Grade Level Reading: Guaranteed access to high quality early education for all, including full-day kindergarten and universal access to pre-K services, to help ensure students can read at grade level.
2. Equitable Funding and Resources: Fair and sufficient school funding freed from over-reliance on locally targeted property taxes, so those who face the toughest hurdles receive the greatest resources. Investments are also needed in out-of-school factors affecting students, such as supports for nutrition and health services, public libraries, after school and summer programs, and adult remedial education — along with better data systems and technology.
3. Student-Centered Supports: Personalized plans or approaches that provide students with the academic, social, and health supports they need for expanded and deeper learning time.
4. Teaching Quality: Recruitment, training, and retention of well-prepared, well-resourced, and effective educators and school leaders, who can provide extended learning time and deeper learning approaches, and are empowered to collaborate with and learn from their colleagues.
5. Better Assessments: High-quality diagnostic assessments that go beyond test-driven mandates and help teachers strengthen the classroom experience for each student.
6. Effective Discipline: An end to ineffective and discriminatory discipline practices, including inappropriate out-of- school suspensions, replaced with policies and supports that keep all students in quality educational settings.
7. Meaningful Engagement: Parent and community engagement in determining the policies of schools and the delivery of education services to students.

As a nation, we’re failing to provide the basics our children need for an opportunity to learn. Instead, we have substituted a punitive high-stakes testing regime that seeks to force progress on the cheap. But there is no shortcut to success. We must change course before we further undermine schools and drive away the teachers our children need.

All who envision a more just, progressive and fair society cannot ignore the battle for our nation’s educational future. Principals fighting for better schools, teachers fighting for better classrooms, students fighting for greater opportunities, parents fighting for a future worthy of their child’s promise: their fight is our fight. We must all join in.

Signatories

Greg Anrig
The Century Foundation

Kenneth J. Bernstein
National Board Certified Social Studies Teacher

Martin J. Blank
Director, Coalition for Community Schools

Jeff Bryant
Education Opportunity Network

Dr. Nancy Carlsson-Paige
Co Founder, Defending Early Years Foundation

Anthony Cody
Teachers’ Letters to Obama, Network for Public Education

Linda Darling-Hammond
Professor of Education, Stanford University

Larry Deutsch, MD, MPH
Minority Leader (Working Families Party), Hartford City Council

Bertis Downs
Parent, Lawyer and Advocate

Dave Eggers Writer

Matt Farmer
Chicago Public Schools parent

Dr. Rosa Castro Feinberg, Ph.D.
LULAC Florida State Education Commissioner; Associate Professor (Retired), Florida International University

Nancy Flanagan
Senior Fellow, Institute for Democratic Education in America (IDEA); Blogger, Education Week; Teacher

Andrew Gillum
City Commissioner of Tallahassee, Florida
National Director of the Young Elected Officials Network

Larry Groce
Host and Artistic Director, Mountain Stage, Charleston, West Virginia

William R. Hanauer
Mayor, Village of Ossining;
President, Westchester Municipal Officials Association

Julian Vasquez Heilig
The University of Texas at Austin

Roger Hickey
Institute for America’s Future

John Jackson
Opportunity To Learn Campaign

Jonathan Kozol Educator & Author

John Kuhn
Superintendent, Perrin-Whitt School District (Texas)

Kevin Kumashiro, Ph.D.
Incoming Dean, University of San Francisco School of Education; President, National Association for Multicultural Education

Rev. Peter Laarman Progressive Christians Uniting

Chuck Lesnick
Yonkers City Council President

Rev. Tim McDonald
Co-Chair, African American Ministers In Action

Lawrence Mischel Economic Policy Institute

Kathleen Oropeza
Co-Founder, Fund Education Now

State Senator Nan Grogan Orrock Georgia Senate District 36

Charles Payne University of Chicago

Diane Ravitch
New York University, Network for Public Education

Robert B. Reich
Chancellor’s Professor, University of California at Berkeley; Former U.S. Secretary of Labor

Jan Resseger
United Church of Christ, Justice & Witness Ministries

Nan Rich
Florida State Senator

Hans Riemer
Montgomery County Council Member; Montgomery County, MD

Maya Rockeymoore, Ph.D.
Center for Global Policy Solutions

David Sciarra Education Law Center

Rinku Sen
President and Executive Director, Applied Research Center

Theda Skocpol
Harvard University, Director, Scholars Strategy Network

Rita M. Solnet
Co Founder, Parents Across America

John Stocks
Executive Director, National Education Association

Steve Suitts
Vice President, Southern Education Foundation

Paul Thomas, EdD Furman University

Dennis Van Roekel
President, National Education Association

Dr. Jerry D. Weast
Former Superintendent, Montgomery County (MD) Public Schools; Founder and CEO, Partnership for Deliberate Excellence

Randi Weingarten
President, American Federation of Teachers

Kevin Welner
Professor, University of Colorado Boulder School of Education; Director, National Education Policy Center

Movement Against Corporate School Reform and Privatization

Today's Fort Wayne Journal Gazette has a hopefull editorial -- The worm is turning. Editorial page editor, Karen Francisco, provides encouragement to supporters of public education and features thoughts from one of NEIFPE's founding members, Phyllis Bush.

Click here to read the entire editorial.

Momentum gathers to counter school reforms

...The signs of reform pushback come as no surprise to Phyllis Bush, who retired from South Side High School as an English teacher and department chair in 1999. She became a vocal critic of the school reform movement about two years ago after attending a town hall meeting by an area legislator who seemed to know little about the bills being pushed on schools and instead deferred to one of Bennett’s assistant superintendents to respond.

“A roomful of teachers asked some pretty good questions about charters and vouchers,” Bush said. “I was completely appalled by his smugness.”

After attending a Washington rally for public schools, she mobilized a group of Fort Wayne residents to establish the Northeast Indiana Friends of Public Education. Energized by education historian Diane Ravitch’s appearances in Bloomington and at IPFW’s Omnibus Lecture, the group jumped in to help elect a new state superintendent. Since Ritz’s election night upset, they have continued to monitor so-called reform measures and kept up a relentless letter-writing campaign.

“Whether it’s vouchers or charters or ISTEP, people are beginning to see it’s all about money,” Bush said. “I think that’s where some are missing the boat. Hoosiers care about taxes. If you put the emphasis on the fiscal responsibility – how the reformers are sending money to out-of-state corporations, how they are using our kids to make money – that’s how you get people’s attention.”

Bush, the retired Fort Wayne educator, is involved in its undoing [market-based education reforms] at the national level. Her grassroots activism here caught the attention of Ravitch and Anthony Cody, a California educator and Education Week blogger, who asked her to serve as a director for their newly formed Network for Public Education, established to “protect, preserve, promote and strengthen public schools.”

...Instead of rejecting the concerns of experienced educators like Bush, Jacobson and many more who have pointed to flaws, state and federal policymakers would be better served by listening to and incorporating their ideas.

If they don’t, overreach by the reformers and the growing resistance is likely to stop all changes dead in their tracks.

Karen Francisco, editorial page editor, has worked at The Journal Gazette since 2000 and for Indiana newspapers since 1982. She can be reached at 260-461-8206 or by email, kfrancisco@jg.net.

~~~

Glenda Ritz Speaks in Fort Wayne

Glenda Ritz, Indiana's Superintendent of Public Instruction was in Fort Wayne yesterday (June 5, 2013) and spoke to the community.

The Journal Gazette reported...

Ritz, who has been an educator since 1978, talked about topics like accountability and high-stakes testing. She also talked about how she hopes to get the department back on track supporting high quality and equity in education through a support system for schools.

Teachers must devote too much of their time teaching certain standards in a certain way to pass one test, Ritz said, referring to the state’s pass-or-fail ISTEP+ standardized exam. The test, and the accountability tied to it, she said, forces teachers to stray from the goal of educating the whole child, complementing math and reading with responsibility and tolerance.

“I believe in less assessments and more time for teaching,” Ritz said. [emphasis added]

NEIPFE members and friends were present.

Anne Duff wrote,

"Dinner with Glenda Ritz last night and listening to her talk at the Future of Education conference last night was inspiring. She is definitely not a politician. What she talked about during her campaign she is actually making a reality. She is working on eliminating high-stakes, pass-fail assessments we are currently using and working on implementing a true growth model assessment so teachers and students know how they are doing and what grade level they are working at; not just whether or not students can pass or fail a grade level test. She is coming up with an new teacher evaluation model instead of RISE that bases part of teacher evaluations on the high stakes tests. She is focusing on student centered learning instead of market-based education. So, basically, she is trying to undo everything that Tony Bennett messed up. There is definitely light at the end of the tunnel!"

Pictured L-R: Anne Duff, John Stoffel, Glenda Ritz, Donna Roof, Phyllis Bush, Kathy Candioto, Susan Stahl, and Susie Berry

~~~

Vic’s Statehouse Notes #145 – June 3, 2013

Dear Friends,

Unbelievably, the Indiana General Assembly again deleted funding for Professional Development in the biennial budget. Then for the first time since it was passed 14 years ago, the 1999 accountability law known as Public Law 221 was revised by the General Assembly, but the high priority given to Professional Development in the historic 1999 reform effort has been forgotten.

Line Items in the Biennial Budget Passed on April 26th

Attached is a sampling of budget line items of interest to public school advocates, comparing the new budget to the previous budget passed in 2011. Tracking what went up, what went down and what stayed the same gives a good view of the priorities of the 2013 General Assembly.

It is telling that two items were dropped in the 2011 budget and remained gone from the new 2013 budget: Professional Development and the Circuit Breaker Grants. Both are apparently banished from the priorities of the legislature.

Professional Development Funding

With great fanfare, Public Law 221 was passed in 1999, with promises of funding for the resources needed to meet the lofty goals for accountability. One of those promises was the first state funding for Professional Development. The 2001 budget devoted $16.25 million for Professional Development in the 2002-03 school year to implement Public Law 221. It was distributed to local districts through formulas proposed by IDOE and approved by the State Board of Education.

When the post 9/11 recession hit and Indiana revenues fell, the O’Bannon administration reduced all categorical line items by 15%, so funding for Professional Development went down to $13.81 million, still a substantial priority.

Funding at that level continued from 2003 until Dr. Bennett’s first budget in 2009, when it was whittled to $5.5 million. Then in 2011, it disappeared altogether and was utterly forgotten again in 2013.

Has the need for Professional Development vanished simultaneously with new rules making it easier to get an initial teaching license? I think just the opposite is true. The General Assembly’s failure to fund Professional Development simply means that local districts must fund it from their General Fund, which is already inadequate. No district can update curriculum and operations without Professional Development for teachers.

Other Concerns about Specific Line Items

• Technology Funding It makes no sense to cut the Sen. Ford Technology Fund. Schools are expected to expand technology capacity to administer ISTEP online. That will take more money.
• Textbook Reimbursement Due to the recession, more students are now in the free/reduced lunch count, but funding for textbook reimbursement for free and reduced lunch students has been frozen for years. The excess percentage not paid by the state comes out of the General Fund of each local district budget. When districts have a high percentage on free or reduced lunch, this extra expense for textbooks becomes a budget burden that cuts funds which might help all students. In contrast, textbooks for home school and private school parents are tax deductible.
• Summer School Funding Much has been written recently about the summer learning loss. Better summer school programs could remedy that problem, but the summer school budget remains frozen at the same level it has had for years.
• Drop Out Prevention The February House budget listed $6 million for Drop Out Prevention, but that disappeared from the final budget. With all the lip service being given to preventing drop outs, it is hard to understand why the schools at the front line of the battle against drop outs, alternative schools, were cut in the 2013 budget by $180,000 each year.
• Teacher Performance Awards The February House budget set the budget for Teacher Performance Awards at $11 million each year, up from $9 million. Then in the final budget, that figure dropped to $2 million, a clear indication of a lowering of the priority for that program between February and April.
• Non English Speaking Fund Many districts teaching English to immigrant students have had to dip into their scarce General Fund dollars to pay for services to English Language Learners because the Non-English Speaking Program is funded so poorly. The need for more funding in this arena is clear, but the funding was frozen again at $5 million each year.

All in all, with the exception of the addition of $30 million dollars for a school performance awards program in 2014-15, categorical funding for school-related line items came out looking about as anemic as the 2% and 1% tuition support increases.

As you ask your legislators to support public education, ask them to include better support for these crucial programs such as summer school and gifted education that often get overlooked.

Thanks for supporting public education!

Best wishes,

Vic Smith

ICPE is working to promote public education and oppose privatization of schools in the Statehouse. I keep hearing reports that some public school supporters read these “Notes” with great interest but don’t translate that interest into joining ICPE. We had an outstanding lobbyist Joel Hand working hard to support public education throughout the session. We still need new memberships, renewals and donations to make the final payment on his contract for the session. We need your help! Please join us!

Go to www.icpe2011.com for membership and renewal information.

Some readers have asked about my background in Indiana public schools. Thanks for asking! Here is a brief bio:

I am a lifelong Hoosier and began teaching in 1969. I served as a social studies teacher, curriculum developer, state research and evaluation consultant, state social studies consultant, district social studies supervisor, assistant principal, principal, educational association staff member, and adjunct university professor. I worked for Garrett-Keyser-Butler Schools, the Indiana University Social Studies Development Center, the Indiana Department of Education, the Indianapolis Public Schools, IUPUI, and the Indiana Urban Schools Association, from which I retired as Associate Director in 2009. I hold three degrees: B.A. in Ed., Ball State University, 1969; M.S. in Ed., Indiana University, 1972; and Ed.D., Indiana University, 1977, along with a Teacher’s Life License and a Superintendent’s License, 1998.