Letters: How to choose a school for your child

NEIFPE member Susan Berry sent this letter to the editor. In it she gives a teachers point of view on choosing a school.

How to choose a school for your child

Published: October 30, 2015 8:01 AM

Choosing a school for your young child is one of the most important decisions you will make as a parent. This is a responsibility not to be taken lightly, and it’s best to not make a decision until you have visited at least one school in your area. Thanks to my experience as a retired teacher, a mom and a grandma, here are some questions to ask yourself during these school visits:

• Is the office staff friendly and welcoming? Is there a full-time school nurse?

• Is the library “kid-friendly” with lots of books, tables, small chairs and a computer?

• Do you see caring teachers who are attentive to all children?

• Are the children engaged — maybe at a desk or table or maybe working in a group on the floor? The classroom does not have to be quiet, but children should be on task.

• Is children’s work displayed?

• Are there computers in each classroom or in a computer lab?

• Are there music, art, and gym teachers? These classes are important (and may be eliminated during budget cuts), but be alarmed if the school doesn’t value these subjects.

• Do you see a play area with both playground equipment and grassy areas for outside play?

• Are the hallways and classrooms clean? Is the area outside the school clean, and is there space for drop-off and pickup?

• Can you picture your child — or even yourself — in this school setting? Does the environment feel secure yet stimulating?

No one can tell you the right school for your child. But as a parent you know the best fit for your young person and your family. Do not dismiss the idea of a public school until you have visited one. My bet is that your public school experience will be a welcome, pleasant surprise!

Susan Berry

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Everyday Advocates – Bertis Downs

Why is public education advocacy important to you?

Public education advocacy is important to me because I want our schools to be the best they can be for all of our kids— mine and everybody else’s. All children need quality schools which are the center of community, have active parental and community support, a dedicated, not-overly stressed-out corps of mostly experienced teachers, with reasonable class sizes, adequate facilities, and a rich and varied curriculum, as well as strong and effective leadership that makes all the parts work together for the good of every student, regardless of their needs or background. Politicians, sadly both D and R, tend to go for the “sounds good” easy answers, which are generally snake oil and do more to harm rather than strengthen our beleaguered public schools and the teachers and students striving within them.

Lately, I am heartened to see the local-that-is-national movement of parents and teachers and students and community leaders coming together to beat back the forces that would diminish and sell out our public schools and to do so with high- minded phrases like “Choice Cures All,” “No Child Left Behind” and “The Civil Rights Issue Of Our Time.”

If they need a slogan, they’d be better off with this one: Listen To Teachers! I can assure you that No Teacher Anywhere is asking for more standardized testing to help their children learn. No, what they are asking for is more support for their students to give them a decent opportunity to
learn.

#LSTNTOTCHRS.

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More Reactions to Teacher Shortage Hearing

A legislative committee met Monday, October 19, in Indianapolis to consider Indiana's looming teacher shortage. The Fort Wayne Journal Gazette reports that "several education experts spoke" to the committee. Unfortunately, the marathon of "several education experts" took about 5 hours for their part of the meeting. Those teachers and supporters of public education who were waiting for "public input" were forced to wait until late into the evening. By that time many of the legislators had left. At the end of the meeting only six of the sixteen legislators were listening to the public.

Several NEIFPE members spent hours in Indianapolis waiting for their turn to speak before finally giving up and returning home. We have published statements from three NEIFPE members in, Testimony for Teacher Shortage Hearing.

The following is NEIFPE member Terry Springer's reaction to the Teacher Shortage Hearing.

I also attended the hearing on teacher shortages on Monday along with Anne Duff, Phyllis Bush, Kathy Candioto, Julie Hollingsworth, and Becky Hill. I really appreciate school board members taking time to attend. Here is my reaction to that hearing:

Never have the words “supply,” “demand” and “data” been repeated more at any one time and in any one place than at the hearing before the Interim Study Committee on Teacher Shortage on Monday, 10/19. The House of Representatives Chamber was packed: sixteen committee members, 40 or more people waiting to testify, representatives of the press, and other interested observers like me. I did not go to testify before this committee. I went to observe, learn, and support my friends and fellow public ed advocates who planned to testify.

After Sen. Kruse convened the meeting at 1:00, it quickly became clear that the agenda was frontloaded with “experts” in data collection. For nearly five hours, I listened as the “experts” presented data to show whether Indiana has a teacher shortage or not and the reasons it might if it does. With the exception of three speakers – Superintendent of Public Instruction Glenda Ritz, Commissioner for Higher Education Teresa Lubbers, and Angela Minnici of Center for Great Teachers and Leaders, the testimony was all about the numbers – supply and demand as if teachers are a commodity and as if education is an industry rather than an institution that is made up of and serves people – children to be exact. And as I listened to the data spew from the experts – some from outside Indiana and some calling for even more data – I wondered how some of those people came to be on the agenda. I assume the expert from Georgia didn’t just decide on his own to fly to Indiana and testify, nor the woman from Washington D.C. either. So who brought them and who paid their way? I also thought about the kids and teachers in classrooms around the state at that very moment who were doing school as usual in less than ideal learning situations. How quickly would this hearing affect any changes in the challenges they face?

To be fair, some committee member asked good critical questions. Hats off to Rep. Smith, Rep. Austin, Sen. Stoops, and Rep. Cook who asked pertinent questions to challenge the experts. But some members called for more data to be collected.

And so it went for nearly five hours. I waited to hear from the people truly engaged in the reality of the teacher shortage – parents, teachers, administrators, school board members. But these people were relegated to the end of the list and lumped together as a group under “public comments.” My companions and I had to leave before that testimony began. But some people did stay to testify after all the experts – after 6:00 and after most committee members had left the hearing. They had real stories to tell about the reality of teacher shortage and the reasons experienced and new teachers are leaving the profession and the reasons fewer people want to enter it. Hats off to FWCS Board Member, Julia Hollingsworth, to Rep. Ed Delaney and Rep. Melanie Wright, and to Cathy Fuentes-Rohwer and Jenny Robinson, parents from Bloomington for waiting more than six hours to testify and provide much needed perspective on teacher shortages. Unfortunately, most of their stories were not heard by a majority of the Committee.

This committee is scheduled to make recommendations about the teacher shortage. After Monday’s hearing, I have to question their ability to make well-reasoned recommendations.

We have a problem in Indiana. Our schools are in trouble thanks to reform legislation that is punitive and demoralizing for teachers, administrators, and students alike. Through their legislation, policy makers have made it clear that they do not trust teachers nor value teaching as a profession. They have made it clear that they do not see children as people but as products who can be trained to attain the same amount of knowledge and skill at the same time and to perform in the same way. Our children have become data points to measure not their individual growth and achievement but to evaluate the system created by reformers and profiteers. The number of teachers is now a data point as is the number of licenses issued and the number of students enrolled in teacher training programs.

Analyzing teacher shortage in terms of supply and demand will not solve the problem. Teachers are not commodities. If we want good, qualified teachers for our children, we have to pay them a decent salary, we have to show them respect and trust and treat them as professionals. We have to make the learning environment conducive to learning by eliminating the oppressive and punitive pressure of test performance and evaluation. Teacher shortage is but one of the consequences of ed reform in our state. Until we are ready to undo what has been done over the past decade, we will continue to face this problem. And at the end of the day, our children will suffer for our failure.

So while the Committee sits and hears hours of data from experts and considers recommendations, schools and our children experience the impact of teacher shortage every day right now.

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Testimony For Teacher Shortage Hearing

A legislative committee met yesterday in Indianapolis to consider Indiana's looming teacher shortage. The Fort Wayne Journal Gazette reports that "several education experts spoke" to the committee. Unfortunately, the marathon of "several education experts" took about 5 hours for their part of the meeting. Those teachers and supporters of public education who were waiting for "public input" were forced to wait until late into the evening. By that time many of the legislators had left. At the end of the meeting only six of the sixteen legislators were listening to the public.

Several NEIFPE members spent hours in Indianapolis waiting for their turn to speak before finally giving up and returning home. Phyllis commented,

What happened at that hearing today was yet another abuse of power with regard to public education. This is looking like a diversionary tactic to go ahead and do whatever they've intended to do all along. Even though I expected to have to endure at least an hour or two of "expert" testimony, I am appalled that the expert testimony (many from out of state shills) lasted for over 5 hours.

Please remember this the next time you vote.

Below are the written testimonies of our NEIFPE members. A comment from State Superintendent Glenda Ritz is also included.

Testimony by Phyllis Bush

Public education is so important; that is why I keep driving to Indianapolis to testify about various and sundry education issues. Sometimes it seems futile, but I won't give up. If I don't speak out when I see the consequences of misguided educational policies that are so fundamentally wrong, then I am complicit in the damage done to public education. Having said that, I will continue to speak out against what seems to be a legislatively orchestrated attempt to destroy public education. I’m tenacious by nature, so I’m in to stay. I’m in until Public Education is made whole.

Given the current teacher scapegoat climate both in Indiana and in the nation, it doesn't take rocket science to figure out why there is a teacher shortage. When our legislators and policy makers continuously demean and disrespect teachers, is it any wonder that teachers are leaving the profession faster than rats leave a sinking ship? Is it any wonder that young teachers would not want to stay in a profession where there is little chance for a salary increase based on spurious and often inaccurate data? Is it any wonder that good teachers don’t want to continue spending a great share of their time preparing kids for tests and teaching to the test? Is it any wonder that they don’t want to carry out state mandates which they know are instructionally inappropriate?

If we are to look for the causes of this supposed teacher shortage, the finger should point directly at the feet of government officials in this state and across the nation who have scapegoated, demeaned, and devalued the teaching profession.

When people are belittled or told that they are worthless or inadequate, when the expectations are inappropriate and punitive, when the opportunities for expressing views are stifled, there is a toxic mixture of factors which border on abuse.

How many new teachers will be drawn to a profession where there is no respect, where there are few rights, and where they are viewed with the same lack of respect as minimum wage workers are?

Maybe this committee is asking the wrong questions.

Is there really a shortage of teachers or is it that teachers have fled the profession because of untenable working conditions?

Superintendent Glenda Ritz and her Blue Ribbon Commission have made a list of suggestions which target teacher retention and recruitment, and their list sounds much like what teachers have been asking for since the so-called reforms of Mitch Daniels and Tony Bennett. Our organization, the Northeast Indiana Friends of Public Education, is ready and willing to help by offering concrete suggestions.

Rather than discussing whether or not there is a teaching shortage, perhaps this committee needs to be discussing what is our legislature planning to do to repair the damage that has been done before it is too late?

Phyllis Bush

Testimony by Anne Duff

Testimony for Teacher Shortage Hearing

Good afternoon. My name is Anne Duff, and I have three children who attend our public schools. I am here today to speak to you, Senator Kruse and Representative Behning, to let you know how the causes for this teacher shortage affect my children and many other children in our public schools.

I know both of you believe in “choice” in one’s education, and you need to know we have chosen public education for our children. We want our children to be exposed to all kinds of children and cultures and there is no better place for that than a public school. Where else can my children see Christians, Jews, Muslims and Buddhists work peacefully together? My children have seen those who live in poverty and in wealth, those from single parent homes, homes with 2 moms, those in abusive homes and those in nurturing homes. My children have been exposed to probably more than they will encounter in the “real world” and this was by design. We love our public schools, but you have made us feel like public schools is a “bad” choice due to your legislation that ultimately sets public schools up for failure.

How do this shortage and the causes of it affect my children? There are several ways. First, with a teacher shortage come long term subs who, frankly, did not choose teaching as their profession and should not be in the classroom. My daughter had a long term sub in her Advanced Algebra class. He told them he was an “engineer” so they thought that would be a good thing. By the end of the semester, we found out that he was a music engineer, and they made it to Chapter 2. My husband had to tutor my daughter so she would be ready for pre-calculus because this substitute fell way behind. Most students aren’t as fortunate and are probably struggling now in pre-calculus.

This overuse of testing has got to stop. I am tired of teachers having to teach to a grade-level test for fear of low test scores costing them their jobs. I already know how my children perform. I know they are good students, and I don’t need a test to tell me they are at grade level. Drilling them to death doesn’t do a lot for them except to make them hate the tests and ultimately hate school. The way you use these tests are not what they were meant for – grading our schools, evaluating our teachers. My children experience the stress these inappropriate uses have caused. This is not a good education…text anxiety, pressure to do well and punishment when you don’t. You are wasting my children’s time with too much testing. Their learning could be enriched with a number of other innovative opportunities instead of pointless memorization and punitive measures all for a test.

Your decision to reduce teachers’ collective bargaining to salary, insurance, and benefits has affected my children. Do you realize that our former teacher contract had a maximum number of students a teacher could have in a classroom? Now my children see classes with numbers in the 40s. Because this no longer can be negotiated and because the money has been dwindling from public schools, my choice leaves my children with classrooms with more than twice the recommended number of students per teacher. I didn’t ask for this for my children and neither did our teachers.

In addition, recess time is limited so kids barely can eat and hardly play. Teachers need a break and so do our kids, but we focus on tests. Teacher morale is low and my kids sense this. I am worried of the quality of teachers my children will get because you have watered down the requirements for becoming a teacher and demean the ones who remain by taking away their rights and basing their raises on a test my child must pass. You no longer value our teachers. They are teaching to the hope of the nation, our future, our next generation of leaders…you need to put more value on that – I want my children to have teachers who want to learn more about what they teach and how to teach it, yet there is no longer value for education, no incentive for a Master’s degree or value for years of experience in the profession.
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These things need to change. The current conditions of the classroom and the teaching profession need to change. Please don’t put a Band-Aid fix on this by thinking a sign on bonus to a new teacher will help with the shortage. Fix the things that have made our current teachers quit and young adults seek professions other than teaching. I’m tired of worrying about the quality of teachers, the ridiculous demands from these tests, and whether or not my school will get enough funding to lower the student-teacher ratio. Please undo the harm you have done. Make our choice for our children the best choice as it once was. My kids deserve better. So does our community and the future of this state.

Anne Duff

Testimony by Donna Roof

Teacher Shortage Comment by NEIFPE Member Donna Roof

A few years ago when I was diagnosed with breast cancer, I thought that fighting for my life would be the hardest battle I would ever face. Little did I know then what awaited my teaching profession. As a career teacher, I never ever in my wildest imagination dreamed I would be battling to save my profession.

People ask me what teaching is like these days, so I tell them what I know: There are times these days that being a teacher is more challenging, more stressful, more worrisome, more physically and emotionally draining, more frustrating than my being a cancer patient ever was.

So now we have a teacher shortage here in our state and across the nation. In as much as my lump didn’t just magically appear one day, neither did this teacher shortage. It has been insidiously growing for years, mostly undetected. However, ever since the Daniels/Bennett tenure, legislators, teachers, administrators, parents, grandparents, and concerned citizens who support public education have been speaking out against the many ill-advised, inappropriate, and punitive educational legislative policies. Many of them have come before you numerous times to speak or have emailed you and warned you of the bad educational policies and their deleterious effects on teachers, students, schools, and districts.


My list of reasons for why there is a teacher shortage would be similar to those of others addressing you today: Race to the Top, lack of respect for public school teachers, siphoning off of public school funds for vouchers, charters, developmentally inappropriate curriculum, loss of recess time, financial costs of testing, loss of instructional time for test prep, harmful consequences for teachers, students, and schools, removal of collective bargaining, teacher evaluations tied to student scores, merit pay, but you already know all the reasons.

With my cancer diagnosis I worked closely with my team of doctors, my cancer experts. I always felt as though my input mattered. Together we made sound decisions. Yet teachers who support public education are left out of the decision-making process when it comes to public education. Those educational experts who support public education and are valued by teachers are dismissed by those making legislation in favor of individuals with business savvy and big bucks but no expertise—no experience—in the classroom.

If you really want answers to why there is a teacher shortage, plan one of your committee meetings on a Saturday when teachers from across the state can be here to speak in person. Better yet, go to a school and be a teacher for at least a week.

Witness what your legislation has done. This teacher shortage is a Frankenstein of your own creation.

Although I am now nine years out from my breast cancer diagnosis, I will continue to raise awareness of it in hopes that more lives can be saved like mine was. If I don’t, the cancer wins. Additionally, I will continue to speak up, speak out, and speak truth about public education because it’s the right thing to do. For the students.

Thank you,

Donna Roof

From Glenda Ritz:

"Today, I testified in front of the Indiana General Assembly’s Interim Study Committee on Education to bring them up to speed on the great work that is being done by the Blue Ribbon Commission for the Recruitment and Retention of Excellent Educators.

"The Blue Ribbon Commission is continuing to develop a legislative agenda in addition to other strategies in the hope of bringing about long-term systematic change.

"The Commission has done great work – in fact, the members have been focused on strategies to make sure that we are able to meet the demand of what is needed in our classrooms.

"The goal of this work is to be proactive. We know we’ve always had shortage areas in our schools; however we are now starting to see a dip in the number of those entering the field of education. I am committed to ensuring that, as a state, we are headed in a good direction." -- Superintendent Ritz

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Visiting Our Public Schools

Two members of NEIFPE participated in Fort Wayne Community School's Principal for a Day activity.


Phyllis Bush, representing NEIFPE, visited Nebraska Elementary School. Here is the note she wrote to the Nebraska school principal, Jayson Balsley, after her visit.

Dear Mr. Balsley,

Thank you so much for hosting my visit to Nebraska School today. While I was prepared to see a typical "dog and pony show" that most schools show visitors, I was pleased to see the real operations of your school. While there are clear and high expectations throughout the building, the care and concern that the staff and students show one another is apparent.

I really enjoyed spending the day at Nebraska school. Thank you so much for being so warm and welcoming, and more importantly, thank you so much for all that you and your staff are doing for children. You are principal and an educator of whom FWCS can be justly proud. You and the Nebraska staff rock.

Thanks again,
Phyllis Bush

NEIFPE member Anne Duff, representing Fort Wayne Community Schools Board of School Trustees, visited Ward Education center and the Allen County Juvenile Center. She blogged about her experience in Principal For a Day.

An excerpt...

I went to Allen County Juvenile Center or “ACJC.” At the end of the day, Mr. Pruitt sent me an email and wrote, “I hope the tour of ACJC was what you were expecting.” Well, I guess it wasn’t. I wasn’t expecting to see young people wearing orange prison uniforms in classrooms. I wasn’t expecting to see a 9 year old who was waiting for a decision to be made about his placement or release after entering ACJC earlier that day. I was not expecting to see the garage door where the police cars enter with the arrested young person. I did not expect this to be the last place these children will see “the light of day” once they are booked until and the time they are released. I did not expect to see a 6’x8’ jail cell made for two inmates, bunk beds attached to the wall with a pillow/mattress foam combo.
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So, what was I expecting? I don’t know. I guess I was expecting it to be less harsh. I guess I wanted to believe we don’t need a “real” prison for our young people. I wasn’t expecting a “scared straight” experience. But there are positives from my visit. The teachers said they loved their jobs. ACJC is a state of the art facility. In addition to continuing one’s education, the young people are given other opportunities after “school” - chess club, Youth for Christ, addictions counseling, plus other wrap around services to make this program something that will give our young adults the skills to be better citizens once they are back home. These children are fortunate to be surrounded by caring adults. Hopefully they will be touched by one of them who will make a difference in their lives. That is what I expect.

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Everyday Advocates – Rousemary Vega

Why is public education advocacy important to you?

Education advocacy is important to me because the more we educate the people who care for and about children, the more we keep moving the message forward. After being involved for nearly three years, I feel powerful, knowledgeable, and capable. By joining this movement, I have empowered myself.

As an advocate, what accomplishment have you found most satisfying?

The accomplishment of which I am most proud was the creation of our Neighborhood Schools Fair. This event was created by 16 mothers. Sixty three schools participated, and approximately 600 parents and children attended. What was most rewarding for us was the web of connections which we created across the city. That was inspiring and beautiful. The Fair was not about competition; it was about collaboration.

What are some of your frustrations or obstacles that you have met or overcome?

The biggest frustration that I encountered was to have been banned by the CPS Board of Education. My voice was silenced, and my issues were not allowed to be heard.

What keeps you going?

What keeps me going is the knowledge that if I don’t fight today, we won’t have public schools tomorrow.

What do you want parents to know about public education issues?

I want parents to know that public education is under severe attack. As parents it is our fight and our responsibility to stand up for our schools, our children, our teachers, and our neighborhoods. I fear that public education will become destroyed if we don’t stand up and fight for it. Parents can get involved by showing up at meetings, by signing up to speak at Board meetings, by being involved in rallies, by speaking to politicians. The list is as long as you want to be involved.

Why are public schools important to everyone in a community?

Schools are important to the entire community because schools are where the community begins. Schools are the anchors of our neighborhoods.

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Vic’s Statehouse Notes #233 – October 14, 2015

Dear Friends,

Despite the deep questions about too much testing raised by the General Assembly in the last session, the State Board of Education is poised to set new cut scores that will drive Hoosier schools to double down on the teaching and learning time needed to pass tougher math and English tests.

Expectations for Indiana students have been ratcheted upward, and lower rates of passing ISTEP+ are the result. Lower test scores will lower school letter grades and will impact teacher compensation linked to test scores.

At today’s meeting of the State Board of Education, recommendations for cut scores were presented but not passed pending additional information. The agenda materials presented to the board and to the public showed the impact of the proposed cut scores: Grade 3-8 pass rates would drop 12% to 18% in English/Language Arts from the previous year. In math the Grade 3-8 drops would range from 19% to 29%.

State Superintendent Ritz has called for a plan to prevent the change to more rigorous standards and tests from punishing our schools. Governor Pence and his appointees on the State Board have said no to her proposals to “pause” school letter grades during this transition. Public school advocates should look at the data and let our leaders know that raising standards should not be used as a tool to lower school letter grades and punish our schools or our teachers.

Consider the Data

In a memo attached to the State Board of Education agenda item on “ISTEP+ Standard Score Setting” available for all to see online, the pass rates (“Impact Data”) using the cut score final recommendations were listed as seen in the first column below. The second column shows pass rates from the previous year on the 2013-14 test, which are documented on pages 10-15 of the attached report entitled “A 25-Year Review: Improvement in Indiana’s Public Schools.”

................................Pass rates based on new.................Pass Rates 
........................recommended cut scores 2014-15......2013-14............Change

Grade 3 English/Language Arts..........71%........................83%....................-12%
Grade 4 English/Language Arts..........70%........................86%....................-16%
Grade 5 English/Language Arts..........63%........................81%....................-18%
Grade 6 English/Language Arts..........64%........................78%....................-14%
Grade 7 English/Language Arts..........63%........................77%....................-14%
Grade 8 English/Language Arts..........59%........................76%....................-17%

................  ............Grade 3 Math....................61%........................80%....................-19%
................  ............Grade 4 Math....................64%........................83%....................-19%
................  ............Grade 5 Math....................67%........................89%....................-22%
................  ............Grade 6 Math....................60%........................85%....................-25%
................  ............Grade 7 Math....................52%........................80%....................-28%
................  ............Grade 8 Math....................52%........................81%....................-29%

Important Questions Loom

• Did anyone consider the fiscal cost of investing more time and effort in getting students above ever higher cut scores in English and math?

• Will this redoubled effort in English and math continue the decline in time and attention paid to the arts, world languages, social studies and even science?

• Do these proposed cut scores reflect accurate judgments about what students must know or has the cut score process failed to get it right?

• Will lower pass rates punish schools and teachers through lower school grades and lower teacher compensation bonuses?

• During this transition to higher standards and higher expectations, should schools and teachers be “held harmless” to avoid the negative consequences of sharply lower test scores on this new test?

• Should adjustments be made since the 2014-15 test will only be used this one time to be followed in 2015-16 by a new test from Pearson?

Ever More Rigorous Tests: We’ve Seen it Before

Since the 1999 Accountability law was passed, more rigorous tests have been introduced with great fanfare two times, most recently in 2008-09 when the test was switched to spring. The 2008-09 change resulted in pass rates going down by an average of 5% per grade in Grades 3-8.

The figures released this morning which are seen above show a starkly greater impact than a 5% drop.

The average for Grades 3-8 in English/Language Arts is a 15% drop in the pass rate.

The average for Grades 3-8 in Math is a 23% drop in the pass rate.

I urge you to discuss these testing changes and these pass rates with your state legislators as well as your State Board of Education members.

Before they approve these cut scores, are they sure they have it right?

Are schools and teachers going to be punished as collateral damage to a policy effort to raise standards and tests in English and math to the most rigorous level we have ever seen in Indiana?

Do we need to step back and figure out a way to “hold harmless” the impact on schools and teachers in this huge change in testing?

Thanks for your advocacy for public education!

Best wishes,

Vic Smith

“Vic’s Statehouse Notes” and ICPE received one of three Excellence in Media Awards presented by Delta Kappa Gamma Society International, an organization of over 85,000 women educators in seventeen countries. The award was presented on July 30, 2014 during the Delta Kappa Gamma International Convention held in Indianapolis. Thank you Delta Kappa Gamma!

ICPE has worked since 2011 to promote public education in the Statehouse and oppose the privatization of schools. We need your membership to help support ICPE lobbying efforts. As of July 1st, the start of our new membership year, it is time for all ICPE members to renew their membership.

Our lobbyist Joel Hand continues to represent ICPE during the interim study committee meetings in September and October. Our work in support of public education in the Statehouse goes on. We welcome additional members and additional donations. We need your help and the help of your colleagues who support public education! Please pass the word!

Go to www.icpe2011.com for membership and renewal information and for full information on ICPE efforts on behalf of public education. Thanks!

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. In 2013 I was honored to receive a Distinguished Alumni Award from the IU School of Education, and in 2014 I was honored to be named to the Teacher Education Hall of Fame by the Association for Teacher Education – Indiana.

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Everyday Advocates - Shirley Deckard

Why is public education advocacy important to you?

Over the last 25 years that I have been a school board member in Wayne Township, I have seen our community continue to lose property value, to struggle to help our growing number of children in poverty, and to serve our ESL students. As we have grown rich in diversity, we have grown poor in education resources needed to support our most needy children. We share this situation with many of the districts in our state, as our Governors and Legislators continue to turn a blind eye, or worse, exacerbate the problems with willful ignorance.

As an advocate, what accomplishment have you found most satisfying?

MSD Wayne Township has, thus far, been able to maintain successes for all of our children, but our staff and our community have paid the price through slow salary gains, intense and determined work, and higher local taxes gained through a referendum. Watching our community learning to understand the problems that the law makers have/are creating for Public Education, seeing them come together as a true community to help, and noting the successes our schools have had in spite of the difficulties have been of the greatest satisfaction to me.

Why are public schools important to everyone in a community?

Statewide, which the Parents & Educators against the Daniels/Bennett Educational Reform Facebook page reaches (and beyond), I want to continue to educate parents about the inequities that Education Reform, as begun by both Daniels and Bennett and built upon by Pence and his Supermajority, force upon our communities and our children. I do understand the lure to send a child to a “private” school, especially to parents of generational poverty. I do understand the thinking that a beloved child deserves what is seen as a “special” school, as slickly advertised by Charters. I strive to make them understand that what they truly deserve is to send their children to an excellent school in their own neighborhood; that they are able to demand that their Public Schools be funded in such a way that they never fall to a point where “Choice” becomes necessary. I work to help all parents and all community members know (or, just remember from their own childhood) that Public Schools are the heart of their community. The shared experiences of people, the sports, the school pride, the geographic location of Public Schools define the community. Without them, communities cease to exist.

What keeps you going? Why is public education advocacy important to you?

I advocate for Public Education because it IS the foundation of our country, our Democracy. It has served both well for over 200 years by ensuring that all of our people can be educated and, therefore, informed. On the flip side of my advocacy is that the things that most aggravate me are: unfairness, greed, arrogance, and stupidity...all major elements of the Education Reform movement. When anyone of these characteristics are in motion, I have to fight back...it is my nature. All of them together in one movement…that’s what keeps me going, keeps me fighting. I’m tenacious by nature, so I’m in to stay. I’m in until Public Education is made whole.

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Everyday Advocates - Randy Harrison

Why is public education advocacy important to you?

Public Education is the cornerstone of our Democratic way of life and it should not be sold to the highest corporate bidder.

As an advocate, what accomplishment have you found most satisfying?

As a Vice Pres., COPE Chair and now President of Anderson Federation of Teachers 519 it has been my honor and pleasure to lobby, walk in campaigns, host campaign functions and help elect pro-public education leaders like Glenda Ritz and Melanie Wright. It has also been very rewarding to negotiate policies that benefit our children, our school district and our entire teaching /support staffs.

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Vic’s Election Notes on Education #27– October 6, 2015

Dear Friends,

This is the first “Vic’s Election Notes on Education” for 2015. Notes under this title contain my commentaries on election candidates and my personal candidate endorsements. There is no link between “Vic’s Election Notes on Education” and any organization.
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Public education advocates should know that John Gregg, candidate for Governor in 2016, has declared himself as a strong supporter of public education. In his 2012 race for Governor, his stance on public education seemed to be best characterized as non-involvement.

That has changed.

In the August 29th meeting of the Indiana Coalition for Public Education, held in Indianapolis at the Dean Evans Center, John Gregg spoke clearly and directly about his support of public education. He did so in the presence of the State Superintendent Ritz, who was described as his “go to person” on education and who also spoke at the meeting.

After I heard him speak and then reflected on it, I decided that John Gregg deserves my full personal support for Governor in order to restore public education in Indiana to a high priority. I recommend that you read what he said and then make your choice as well.

[Please note: Indiana Code 3-14-1-17 says that government employees including public school employees may not “use the property of the employee’s government employer to” support the “election or defeat of a candidate” and may not distribute this message “on the government employer’s real property during regular working hours.” Ironically, the law does not prevent private school employees from using computers purchased with public voucher money to distribute campaign materials. Private schools now financed in part by public voucher dollars have retained all rights under Indiana’s voucher laws to engage in partisan political campaigns.]

John Gregg’s Comments on Public Education

• John Gregg began his comments at the meeting by saying that when he is elected Governor, “the war on public schools will end”. He said that many “wanted to blame everything on public schools.”

• He said when he is elected, the war on the policies of the elected State Superintendent of Public Instruction Glenda Ritz will be over.

• He said during the eight budgets he worked on in the House of Representatives, there was more money for public schools every time.

• He said he is “100% against vouchers.” He said when he was Speaker of the House, several voucher bills were filed and he assigned them to the Rules Committee, well known as the committee where bills die.

• He said we would “stop expansion” of vouchers and that we should “audit the choice schools.” He said as Governor he would oppose any expansion of vouchers with a veto if necessary.

• He said we should separate voucher expenses as an independent line item in the budget.

• He said we should limit the income base for choice scholarships.

• He said that we should reform the Scholarship Granting Organization tax credit scholarships. While we should eliminate the tax credit program “altogether”, it will take several “steps along the way” to accomplish that.

• He said public schools are a source of “community pride.” He said that closing the public school “killed my home town.” He said he “hates to see what we’ve done” to our public schools.

• He said we should “expand civics and government” in our schools. He said Indiana was “dead last in voter participation” last year.

• He said we should “remove unnecessary testing.”

• He said he would follow the lead of State Superintendent Ritz on education policies such as parental opt out policies.

• He said he would ask for the resignation of all State Board of Education members appointed by the Governor to make sure we have a board willing to work with State Superintendent Ritz.

The Choice in 2016

These are unusual times. It appears that even before the November 2015 municipal elections, the candidates for Governor in November 2016 are clear. The incumbent Mike Pence will face the challenger John Gregg.

The choice for public education advocates is clear. Governor Mike Pence has favored policies sending ever increasing amounts of public tax dollars to private and religious schools through the voucher program. Candidate John Gregg supports public education and opposes vouchers.

As Governor, Mike Pence worked hard to pass a huge expansion to Governor Daniels’ voucher program in 2013, and then followed that up with pushing for more dollars going to private school vouchers in the 2015 budget. He is dedicated to giving more and more public money to private schools.

Governor Pence’s 2013 voucher expansion meant that many students no longer had to attend a public school first to get a voucher as Governor Daniels wanted. Governor Daniels gave a speech at Harvard after the 2011 voucher plan was passed saying that Indiana did it right by having families try public schools first. Then if they didn’t like their school, they could transfer with a voucher to a private school.

His plan saved the state money because vouchers were nearly all going to students transferring from public schools to cheaper private schools. This money saving feature helped sell the program to legislators in the original voucher battle in 2011.

Governor Pence threw Governor Daniels’ money-saving voucher plan under the bus in 2013.

With Governor Pence’s 2013 expansion, several pathways allowed students who had never attended a public school to get a voucher to pay for their private school. In other words, vouchers were no longer about funding a new choice.

Governor Pence arranged for taxpayers to start paying for religious school tuition for families that had already made the choice to go to private schools from the start. Each such student meant the state had to pay for the voucher as a new fiscal cost, approximately $5000 per voucher. IDOE fiscal analysts reported that the net fiscal cost to the taxpayers in 2014-15 was an astounding $40 million, up from $15 million in 2013-14, in the Choice Scholarship Annual Program Report, dated June, 2015.

If Mike Pence had campaigned in 2012 on a platform saying, “I’m going to get $40 million from the General Assembly to pay for the private and religious school tuition of 8379 current private and religious school students who have never tried a public school, but I’m only going to ask for $10 million for preschool and $0 for statewide teacher professional development”, I doubt if he would have been elected.

John Gregg has said he supports public education, as you have read above. He deserves the support of every public school advocate. He will need grassroots support from members of all parties who consider public education a high priority when they vote.

With the election over a year away and the stakes this high, it is time for public school advocates to go to work at the grassroots. Talk to friends and family about the clear difference in the two candidates on public school issues. Talk with them about the attacks on public schools and the need to stop them. Talk with them about the future of public schools in Indiana. It is time to go to work if a strong public education system is one of your priorities.

The stakes are high. We need a strong Governor who will reverse the low priority given to public education in recent years and stop the efforts to privatize our public schools.

Good luck in your work!

Thanks for advocating in support of public education!

Best wishes,

Vic Smith

There is no link between “Vic’s Election Notes on Education” and any organization. Please contact me at vic790@aol.com to add an email address or to remove an address from the distribution list.

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. In 2013 I was honored to receive a Distinguished Alumni Award from the IU School of Education, and in 2014 I was honored to be named to the Teacher Education Hall of Fame by the Association for Teacher Education – Indiana.

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Everyday Advocates - Ryann Hill

Why is public education advocacy important to you?

Public education advocacy is important to me because I want to keep the public more informed. Many legislators and news articles contain a lot of jargon that can be misinterpreted and often misunderstood. When I write my letters to the editor, I try to put what I say into words that everyone can understand. The public has a right to know where and how our tax money is being spent especially when it comes to education. I am a public school teacher and parent. Just like everyone else I want the best for my children and their education. Public education gets a bad rap too many times, and the public needs to know that we are here fighting for their children.

What has been your experience in dealing with legislators?

Every year I go to Indianapolis to lobby for public education through ISTA. When talking to legislators, I try to go at it with a parent’s perspective to first get them to talk to me. I have found that it’s frustrating talking to legislators because the number one answer I’ve received was “well I was told.” It seems that they are getting their information from another source instead of actually taking the time to talk to teachers, to parents, and to go into the schools. I have asked legislators numerous times to come to my classroom to visit with the students and see the miracles that we do each and every day. Public schools are literally making miracles each day, and it’s time legislators take notice!

What do you want parents to know about public education issues?

Parents need to know that these issues with the state and funding are real. I want parents to reach out to teachers and anyone involved with public education to find out how these education policies are affecting their children. Schools and teachers sometimes do a “too good of a job” masking the real struggle; therefore, parents don’t understand the whole picture. I also want parents to know that who they vote for has a deep impact on their child’s educational future.

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Vic’s Statehouse Notes #231 – October 1, 2015

Dear Friends,

Achieve President Michael Cohen played a nasty trick on the Indiana education system Tuesday and then left the state. He left behind a headline featured in a Fox 59 article entitled “Experts say Indiana students aren’t as smart as they’ve been led to believe,” which contained the following information:

“Recently Achieve looked at test results in all 50 states and compared them against the National Assessment of Education Progress, known as the Nation’s Report Card.
In Indiana, experts found one of the largest gaps in the nation between what ISTEP deemed proficient compared to national standards.

“What I told legislators is they’re basically misleading students and parents about their performance,” Cohen said. “They’re telling them they’re proficient when in all likelihood they’re not very well prepared to learn the material at the next grade level, nor are they prepared for success in post-secondary education.”

These are tough charges by Dr. Cohen, but his bashing of Indiana education results, and presumably those of other states, is misleading and inappropriate. Here is what he left out of his remarks to the legislators:

• He didn’t tell legislators that “Proficient” on the National Assessment is not the same thing as “Passing” on ISTEP. The numbers he cited for ISTEP are “Passing” percentages.
• He didn’t tell legislators that a careful definition of “Passing” is developed by the committees that guide the Indiana cut scores, and it is not the same as the definition of “Proficient” developed by the NAEP governing board.
• He didn’t tell legislators that National Assessment has another standard called “Basic” that better matches the “Passing” definition and is more commonly used to describe how a state is doing.
• He didn’t tell legislators that Indiana scores on the National Assessment are above the US national average on both the “Proficient” standard and the “Basic” standard at both grade levels.

A truly fair and balanced table of results would look like this, in place of Dr. Cohen’s table above:

Clearly, the basic standard fits closer to the definition of passing ISTEP in Indiana.

Education expert Diane Ravitch, in article entitled “The Myth of Charter Schools”, has called this interpretation of NAEP data a “distortion”:

“I served as a member of the governing board for the national tests for seven years… The highest level of performance, “advanced,” is equivalent to an A+, representing the highest possible academic performance. The next level, “proficient,” is equivalent to an A or a very strong B. The next level is “basic,” which probably translates into a C grade.”

Dr. Cohen is not the first to attempt to elevate NAEP “Proficient” scores from their current “A/B” to a level that all students are expected to pass. Governor Daniels, in his 2011 State of the State address, in pushing his voucher proposal to give public money to private schools, said: “The brute facts persist: only one in three of our children can pass the national math or reading exam.” Without explaining, he was talking about the NAEP proficient scores, using them to demean our school progress in the historic 2011 debate to begin to privatize public education with vouchers.

Dr. Cohen cherry picked only part of the data, did not even mention the Basic standard, and failed to tell our legislators that Indiana NAEP scores are above the national average on both the Proficient and the Basic standard. He has tried to turn a positive story of Indiana’s strong and improving performance on NAEP since 1990 into a negative. While he accuses Indiana educators of misleading students and parents, his omission of the context of NAEP is misleading our legislators and our state leaders.

Of course, everyone is trying to raise Indiana’s standards and improve our performance. That is happening in a steady manner, as documented in the attached report. Debates over our progress should include the full context of the data.

The entire record of Indiana’s performance and improvement on the National Assessment since 1990 can be seen on Table 6 (p. 8) of the attached report about improvement in Indiana schools. ISTEP data is detailed in Tables 7 and 8.

Thanks for your advocacy for public education!

Best wishes,

Vic Smith

“Vic’s Statehouse Notes” and ICPE received one of three Excellence in Media Awards presented by Delta Kappa Gamma Society International, an organization of over 85,000 women educators in seventeen countries. The award was presented on July 30, 2014 during the Delta Kappa Gamma International Convention held in Indianapolis. Thank you Delta Kappa Gamma!

ICPE has worked since 2011 to promote public education in the Statehouse and oppose the privatization of schools. We need your membership to help support ICPE lobbying efforts. As of July 1st, the start of our new membership year, it is time for all ICPE members to renew their membership.

Our lobbyist Joel Hand continues to represent ICPE during the interim study committee meetings in September and October. Our work in support of public education in the Statehouse goes on. We welcome additional members and additional donations. We need your help and the help of your colleagues who support public education! Please pass the word!

Go to www.icpe2011.com for membership and renewal information and for full information on ICPE efforts on behalf of public education. Thanks!

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. In 2013 I was honored to receive a Distinguished Alumni Award from the IU School of Education, and in 2014 I was honored to be named to the Teacher Education Hall of Fame by the Association for Teacher Education – Indiana.

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