The future is now: No wonder they can't tell time

I'm old enough to remember Cracked when it was an actual magazine, a not-very-subtle ripoff of Mad that redeemed itself by being almost as good, and sometimes better. These days, of course, it's metamorphosed into a website, where it has, surprisingly, become a go-to page for trivia, odd history and list-based humor. Where most people over twelve are now only dimly aware that Mad is still being published, Cracked has become a Name. Go figure.

One of their featured lists today is 5 Things Our Kids Won't Have In School. I won't spoil the whole article for you, but I will spoil it to the extent that I'm going to tell you what those five things are, and (in a word or two) what Cracked author Evan T. Simon blames their demise on.

We're losing...		...because...
Recess and gym		No Child Left Behind
Summer vacation		Our kids forget everything in three months
Textbooks		Who reads anymore? Besides, e-books are cheaper
Valedictorians		We can't all be valedictorians
Failing grades		Failure makes students feel bad

Most of these ideas come as no surprise to me. Although Simon here blames summer vacation on a historical need for kids to help with the crops at home, in another Cracked list Paul Jury attributes it to theories that the little darlings just can't hold up to year-round teaching. And we aren't really losing valedictorians, we're just losing the concept that there can only be one "best".

I'm expecting academic consistency from Cracked? It doesn't really matter. Simon and Jury both conclude that year-round school is probably a good idea.

But the thing that really takes me aback is that Simon attributes the loss of recess to George Bush. I'll summarize: Thanks to the cruel oppression of testing (and the teacher bonuses that high test scores bring), schools no longer have time to let the kids go out and play. This theory is just flatly wrong.

We are losing recess, that's true enough, but the reason we're losing recess is financial liability. It's an article of faith at all levels of education that there isn't enough money. That every school at every level is just one paycheck away from homelessness. Schools therefore welcome opportunities not to spend money. Liability insurance costs money, as does playground equipment, and most educational administrators can easily convince themselves that recess is not a core part of their mission. Many new schools, and many newly-renovated schools, do not have playgrounds at all. Even if the president of a well-funded PTA offers the school a check to build a playground, the school often will turn it down. If the principal is imaginative, she may suggest instead that the PTA build a garden.

And even when they do have playgrounds, they don't use them during school hours. Only after-schools and daycares (which, even if housed in the school building, are owned and run by private firms) will let the kids go outside.

"We had to cheat..."

The "We-had-to-cheat-because-the-standards-were-a-pain" defense [ajc - Get Schooled blog]
Is academic achievement impossible in disadvantaged communities? Many educators argue, at least in private, that very few low-income children and children of color are capable of reading and doing math at grade level.

Are they right?

Read it. Read it. Read it!

Unfair? Imbalanced? Unleveled?

APS will move teachers to balance enrollment [ajc]
Atlanta Public Schools this week will begin reassigning teachers to balance enrollment. But the process, referred to as “leveling,” has upset some parents who worry class sizes will be too large as a result. The district is using a headcount taken on Sept. 2, a month into the school year, to determine which schools have too many teachers and which have too few. Teachers are moved based on performance and seniority. The process is expected to be completed by Oct. 4.

It sounded so benign. It happens every year in all school systems. And, after all, they have suspended 178 educators (as a consequence of the ongoing CRCT cheating scandal), overwhelmingly from the southwest part of town. Budget concerns make it impossible to hire enough teachers quickly enough to replace them seamlessly. A larger-than-usual number of transfers and larger-than-usual class size are inevitable.

Leveling is usually achieved quietly over the summer break, before children return to class. Obviously Atlanta Public Schools has had other things on its mind.

APS decision on moving teachers is delayed [wsbtv]

Verdallia Turner, the president of the Atlanta Federation of Teachers, is still not satisfied. She told [Channel Two's Richard] Elliot she's been trying to get more information on the criteria used to decide which teachers may or may not be moved, but she hasn't received any clear answers. "We're not getting enough information, and it's coming in too slow," Turner told Elliot. "They're trying to do a catch up, but we can't do a catch up with the children. The children are there. They have to learn, and we need all the support that we can get."

Ms Turner, you're right that it's not good that leveling is still going on. You're certainly right that the children shouldn't be penalized because it's been delayed. But what, exactly, are you asking for? Right of approval over teacher transfers? That seems unrealistic. Immediate halt to teacher transfers? Even less realistic. Reinstatement of those 178 accused educators to bring the workforce up to size? Only if the lesson you want the children to take home is that there are no consequences to lying.

But then, you are a union rep, and your only concern is keeping these educators' jobs. Not your concern whether they're actually guilty of anything they should be fired for. I think reinstatement is your goal. You'll get no sympathy from me if that's true.

Schools, parents weigh in on overcrowding and class sizes in Buckhead [Reporter Newspapers]
"As I received your emails and met with PTA presidents today, it was apparent that the numbers the board approved and the numbers that Human Resources was working off of were very different," [District 4 School Board Member Nancy] Meister wrote. "To the best of my knowledge, this discrepancy has been identified and although there will be an increase in class size, it will not be as severe and will be what your principals anticipated."

[Superintendent Erroll] Davis said the numbers that were released were preliminary ones released Sept. 12. He said he did not know who released those numbers to the public, but said the firestorm it generated should be a lesson in patience. "It’s an example of moving too quickly on erroneous information and if you don’t believe we have the children’s best interest at heart you might react that way, but the only thing I can say is we do have their best interests at heart and you should perhaps wait for official decisions before you gear up your machines," Davis said.

I'm sympathetic, Superintendent Davis, but you have to admit that historically APS has not given parents much reason to trust them. In the past, once a statement has been made, it's been too late for any degree of public outcry to affect it. We can't afford to wait.

Money for nothing

Texas district pays ex-Atlanta school official Augustine $188,000 for day's work
[ajc] A former deputy superintendent for Atlanta Public Schools received $188,000 for the day of work she put in as head of a Texas school district before a test cheating scandal derailed her contract. The DeSoto Independent School District board of trustees canceled Kathy Augustine’s contract as superintendent in July ... While on paid leave she received $31,333. The DeSoto district added to that $156,666 to complete the severance package, the district said in a release this week. The package was equal to what would have been Augustine’s annual pay, officials said.

Remember, dozens of teachers and administrators are on paid leave in Atlanta, awaiting dismissal and / or prosecution. This isn't the last story of its kind we are going to see. I wish I could take comfort that at least the financial payoff will be smaller for most of them... but that's the same pay range as those four Atlanta SRT Directors make. (I wish I could use past tense.)

State panel to consider lighter punishment for educators who cooperated in cheating probe
[ajc] The Professional Standards Commission, which licenses Georgia educators, took the first steps Wednesday to begin its inquiry into test tampering in the city's public schools. ...Commissioners, relying extensively on evidence from the state investigation, will look into each case and decide over the next few months whether the educators named in the report are guilty of cheating or other ethical violations. Those found guilty could face sanctions ranging from a reprimand to loss of a teaching license. But educators found guilty who cooperated with the probe could receive suspensions of 20 to 90 days if commissioners agree to recommendations from the state's Attorney General Office. For those who did not cooperate and are found guilty, state attorneys are recommending a two-year suspension for teachers and license revocation for principals and administrators. ...The commission expects to start deciding cases next month and hopes to have all the cases resolved by January.

Santa had better start stocking up on lumps of coal. So, by January the 90 days will have passed, so I suppose at that time both the "innocent" and "guilty but cooperative" teachers can be back at work. I'd feel better about revoking guilty administrators' teaching licenses if I was certain that one actually needs a license to hold a non-teaching position in the first place.

It cheers me to remember that the Professional Standards Commission inquiry is only the first step:

In addition to sanctions by the commission, those named in the report could be fired by APS or charged criminally by a Fulton County grand jury. The district is paying about a $1 million a month to employees on administrative leave while it decides when to begin termination hearings. A grand jury is waiting on documents from APS requested in an expansive subpoena.

APS educators and administrators face potential charges of giving false statements to investigators or altering public documents, both of which are felonies with punishment of up to 10 years in prison. School officials who submitted test scores that they knew were false also could face felony charges with penalties of up to five years in prison.

If I were one of these accused teachers, and I were actually honest, I would want the full weight of the law to verify that, openly and publicly. Back-room deals are going to look suspicious, and presumed guilt is almost impossible to dispel.

A Scandal of Cheating, and a Fall From Grace
[New York Times] “I will survive this,” said Dr. Hall, 65, in her first public interview since a scathing 800-page report by state investigators outlined a pervasive pattern of cheating at 44 schools and involving 178 educators. During her reign, scholarship money delivered to Atlanta students jumped to $129 million from $9 million. Graduation rates, while still not stellar, rose to 66 percent, from 39 percent. Seventy-seven schools were either built or renovated, at a cost of about $1 billion.

Does the New York Times not know what "falsified test data" actually means? Do they think that being paid well to lie makes the lies true?

Dr. Hall maintains that she never knowingly allowed cheating and does not condone it, but acknowledges that people under her did.

You hear that, you four SRT Directors? That's the sound of you being thrown under the (school) bus to save Beverly Hall's reputation.

Still, the scope of the report — which she and others argue was overreaching and contained inaccuracies — shocks her. “I can’t accept that there is a culture of cheating,” she said. “What these 178 are accused of is horrific, but we have over 3,000 teachers.”

That's the same flawed defense U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan made on her behalf. Most of those 3,000 teachers weren't interviewed. The entire Atlanta Public Schools system wasn't investigated: Only a handful of schools were targeted. 178 implicated teachers over 44 schools works out to damned near all of the teachers working the grade level at which the CRCT is given. All.

The teachers who had those same children the year before and the year after knew what was going on. And they knew what it would cost them to speak up.

She pointed to a June retreat with principals. “The principals who were [supposedly] so intimidated and couldn’t reach me gave me three standing ovations,” she said. “I always felt that the principals respected me but also had a real connection to me.”

Or, they feared for their jobs, just like they told the GBI investigators. Maybe they felt they didn't dare not applaud. Or maybe they actually meant it. Goodness knows Hall can talk purty when she wants to.

She remains personally stung by how she is being portrayed by the local news media, especially The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, which began investigating potential cheating in 2008 and has continued to dig deep into Dr. Hall’s performance.

She did her best, she and her friends on the Chamber of Commerce. They tried to "finesse" the Governor with a hand-picked "Blue Ribbon Commission" of investigators. But those damned numbers still didn't add up.

She was taken to task for her car and driver, an Atlanta police officer on the school district payroll who made nearly $100,000 a year, including overtime. (“You can’t get around this system and do what’s asked of you if you are thinking about parking,” Dr. Hall said.)

Here's a radical notion: How about putting your offices in a neighborhood where you don't have to pay to park? (Like every other Board of Education in the state does?) There's no particular reason APS has to be across the street from City Hall and the State Capitol, other than an inflated sense of your own prestige. Let's see, where are we going to find a building with enough room and parking...? Say, I know. How about one (or two) of those empty buildings you aren't using and can't sell? The ones that used to be full of students? The schools you closed because families were abandoning the City of Atlanta by the thousands? Those buildings not good enough for you?

Dear me, I'm getting too excited. Where's my masseur?