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TN's Governor buys Astroturf for the Super Bowl!

1/30/2015

 
After our blog posted yesterday, we were tipped off that there will be ASTROTURF at the SUPER BOWL this year!  Governor Haslam's faux-parent astroturf group we just wrote about, Tennesseeans for Student Success, is footing the bill for the most expensive prime-time commercial spot on Television of the year... a Super Bowl commercial!  

How badly do these education marketplace investors want you to believe their plans for Common Core, charter school "choice," and vouchers are necessary?  Bad enough they will pay a ton of money for a Super Bowl Commercial instead of funding teacher raises and classroom resources.  Crazy, isn't it?

Governor Haslam can certainly afford it.  After all, he was just crowned "The Richest Politician in America" by Forbes.

Wondering what the video will say?  You can see it below.  (Warning: it is rather Stepford Wife-ish.)

But, wait! They're not done spending money!  
The Tennesseeans for Student Success astroturf group is apparently so $ucce$$ful, they just hired another "grassroots" staff person!  Every grassroots advocacy group needs a Coalitions Director, right???  Their new Coalitions Director, Weston Burleson, not only isn't a public school parent, he's apparently not even a Tennesseean.  He's from North Carolina and Georgia where he was a Deputy Political Director for NC Republicans and an Account Executive with Stoneridge Group.  Stoneridge's motto on their website says: "We serve conservatives who want bleeding-edge campaign know-how combined with an avant-garde approach to campaign execution. Our record speaks for itself.  We're story cultivators, with a world-class technical edge."  Yikes.  Bleeding-edge story cultivators for a grassroots parent group?  Stoneridge Group has handled high-profile big-dollar political campaigns including: Speaker Beth Harwell, Americans For Prosperity, and SCORE.  His bio on their website says:
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Over a year ago, one of the Momma Bears blogged about "grassroots" organizations and included a checklist.  This is the perfect time to share that list again (and update it): 
If you see a "grassroots" organization with these:
  • a slick marketing campaign, 
  • professionally-printed signs, 
  • free t-shirts, 
  • glossy pamphlets, 
  • pens with their logo,
  • squishy balls with their logo, 
  • frisbees with their logo, 
  • beer can cooshies with their logo, 
  • billboards with their logo, 
  • television or radio advertisements,  
  • fancy charter busses full of their supporters,
  • glowing newspaper articles from their professionally-written press releases,  
  • copy machines that cost more than your minivan, 
  • staff members that make 6-figure salaries, 
  • a rented office located in an office-park,
  • a lawyer on retainer,
  • if they pay parents $ and give them a free t-shirt to attend school board meetings,
  • if they take charter bus-loads of cute children wearing their free t-shirts to legislative events, and drill those children on exactly what to say to the politicians,
  • if they give campaign contributions to elected officials,
  • if they host fancy luncheons, dinners, or retreats for elected officials,
  • if their organization's members are in your Superintendent's cabinet (despite having little or no experience in education or classrooms)
  • if their organization's members are strangely appointed to positions of authority (despite having little or no experience in education or classrooms),
  • if they only answer emails and calls about their organization during business hours.
  • if they buy a freaking Super Bowl commercial spot!!!

They are definitely NOT grassroots! 

Momma Bears Swat the Fakes and High Five the Real Edu Bloggers!

1/29/2015

 
Maybe you have heard their slick, expensive radio spots? They claim they are Tennessee moms.  Hmmm... Why, then, is Haslam's former campaign manager the Executive Director?  LOL!  We have a hunch they were paid voice-over actors reading a script written by their professional PR department.  

Take a look at the rest of the TN Success team and you'll notice that not a single person on their "team" (aka. paid grassroots staff) is actually a real honest-to-goodness parent of a child currently in public schools.  But, hey, at least they didn't forget to include which sports teams they root for because that is what really matters, right?  (Maybe with politicians, at least.)  Here are their biographies as shown on their website:
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Momma Bears is proud of our growing parent network across the state of Tennessee.  Our connections with public school activists continue to grow.  And we are always on the look out for more parent groups, teacher groups and parent and teacher bloggers.  They just keep popping up.  We will gladly keep passing great information along.

We can tell you it is wonderful mental therapy to blog and organize activism for your kids, especially when sometimes you just don't know what to do to fight big government money and power.  Blogging and networking help express the many wrong turns we see reform taking in our children's classrooms.  It is even more exciting to read about what parents and teachers DO want in our classrooms. (Hint- it is not more testing or common core.)

We are proud to share a great blog roll and website list of all the authentic parent and teacher groups in TN.  But first, before we share, we feel we must point out the latest AstroTurf attempt at a parent group in Tennessee.

Say "hellno" to plastic networking, just in time for Tennessee's 2015 legislative session:  http://tnsuccess.org/
Yes, Tennessee Success is another bought & paid for mouth piece for the 1%, corporate interests, and Governor Haslam (just like SCORE, StudentsFirst, and Stand For Children).  Tennessee Success is conveniently registered as a 501c4 nonprofit, which means they can give politicians thousands of dollars (and, thereby, influence their vote).  Yep, another check writing pass-through for the governor and corporate interests.  This is dark money being used to influence the public education system in TN.  This organization specifically exists to push charter schools (aka: "choice"), vouchers, testing, and common core in our state. 

Hey Governor, our children's classrooms could use some of that dark money for copy paper.  Kleenex is really low with flu season, too.  But, I suspect they don't want that cash to really raise more than enough to pay for a reading or math specialist, another ELL teacher, or a desperately needed raise for teachers in TN?  No, instead, it will buy radio ads to convince Tennesseans that the Governor's next four years of education policy will be the same as his first.  Disgusting.

So don't be fooled by another Haslam money funnel. Support these real grassroots parent and teacher groups we are about to list for you.  Read & share these blogs.  Because they ARE making a difference and our voices ARE being heard.  Proof: the Governor had to buy his own "team" to combat our advocacy!  Keep it up, parents & teachers!!!

These parents and teachers have the Momma Bear "stamp of approval" as the real deal telling the stories inside the classrooms of public education:
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List of GREAT blogs, websites, & facebook groups in TN:
  • Dad Gone Wild (a TN Dad's blog about education matters)
  • East Nashville Unites (Nashville activists fighting the ASD & charter takeover of their neighborhood schools)
  • Mama Thoughts (a Nashville Mom who blogs about the ASD charter takeover of her neighborhood school)
  • Nancy E. Bailey (Retired teacher, author, & expert on all things educational.  We LOVE her blog!)
  • Rocky Top Politics (sometimes has tidbits regarding education that you won't find in the media)
  • Schools Matter (excellent, insightful, well-researched blog by Dr. Jim Horn)
  • Screams from the Porch - (witty Knoxville blogger with political insight)
  • SPEAK (Knoxville activists who are really making an impact in their school district)
  • Stop TN Testing Madness and on Facebook (find allies + answers in fighting standardized testing)
  • Teachers Advocating for Children (Facebook group for teachers who support public education)
  • Tennessee Against Common Core (fighting against Common Core)
  • Tennessee Parents (blog that shares anonymous voices of real TN teachers & parents with elected officials)
  • The Dyslexia Spot (a must-read for parents with Dyslexic children)
  • TN BadAss Teachers (for teachers who bravely stand up for children and public education)
  • TN Education Matters (a great legal blog about education matters in TN)
  • TN Education Report (education politics and policy in TN)
  • TREE - Tennesseeans Reclaiming Educational Excellence (rooted in fighting for strong, equitable public education and is committed to growing child-centered education policy)
  • United Opt Out Tennessee (the info to know to refuse standardized testing for your kids)
Do a search for your city/county on Facebook. There are many parent groups discussing reform and specifics going on at the local level. Some groups are private, some public. There are so many, we can't list them all here.

List of GREAT national blogs, websites, & Facebook groups:
  • Cloaking Inequity (blog by Julian Vasquez Heilig, an award-winning researcher, teacher, and professor in California)
  • Curmudgucation (witty, insightful blog by Peter Greene, a teacher in Pennsylvania who must not sleep because he writes so much awesome stuff)
  • Diane Ravitch (Do we seriously even need to tell you who she is?  She relentlessly shares education news from across the U.S. on her blog.  It is like an encyclopedia of reform-crap.).
  • Education Talk New Orleans (because TN's ASD is modeled after Louisiana's Recovery School District)
  • Edushyster (Oh, her sarcasm is absurdly wonderful!)
  • Gary Rubenstein (a teacher and incredible researcher who writes about TN sometimes)
  • Mercedes Schneider (Superpower blogger and teacher in Louisiana) 
  • National BATs (50,000+ Badass teachers fighting for public education)
  • Network for Public Education (a collaboration of superheroes for public education)
  • Parents Across America (Parents fighting for public education)
  • The War Report on Public Education (blog & online radio show that focuses on the rising public resistance movement against the corporate war on public education)
  • United Opt Out (The encyclopedia of fighting Standardized Tests)
  • What is Common Core?  (3 Amazing Moms in Utah)

PS - Momma Bears has not received a penny from our blogs.  In fact, we intentionally did not include ads on our website.  We specifically went the cheapskate route with our website (a FREE Weebly site).  Please don't send us any money.  We don't want it or need it.  Your priceless advocacy is all we really want.  Keep it up, Momma Bears!
UPDATE 1/30/15:  Be sure to read our next about how this brand new "astroturf" organization, Tennesseeans For Student Success, bought itself a commercial spot for the 2015 Super Bowl.  Because nothing says "grassroots movement" than the most expensive commercial spot on public television, right?  Click HERE to read it.

Belief Gap, Tennessee?

1/6/2015

 
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There's Bull's Gap and the Cumberland Gap but Momma Bears have looked high and low and we can't find Belief Gap anywhere. It is simply not on the map, no matter how much ASD Superintendent, Chris Barbic talks about it. 

Maybe, Belief Gap is one of those magical places, like Brigadoon? It appears long enough to take on the ASD's shortcomings, poor achievement scores, and lack of accountability then "poof" all those things just disappear into thin air. All you have to do is simply believe.

"During this season of hope, please know that we at the ASD believe —and we partner with school leaders, teachers and parents who also believe—that every single student can realize their full potential, regardless of ZIP code or circumstance. We believe that our schools have both the ability and responsibility to unlock this potential," says Barbic. But an on-line review of Gestalt Community School, an ASD charter school in Memphis indicates that at least one teacher isn't a believer. The former GCS teacher claims that: 

"Actual company practices are not aligned with mission that is portrayed to the public. [Gestalt Community] School is actually run and operated like a company with no regard for students and their well-being. Inconsistencies between charter management office and school leadership causes a great deal of confusion for teachers who do not know whose directives to follow. Teachers are not provided any support or feedback to help improve instruction and quality of lessons. Teachers are also not respected by school leadership or charter management office. Most teachers fear reporting concerns to human resources due to lack of confidentiality and fear of retaliation. Teachers have extremely long work days with no flexibility or concern for personal obligations i.e doctor appointments, leaving for lunch, parental obligations, etc."

The ASD could dismiss the negative review on glassdoor.com as just sour grapes from a former employee. But its doesn't explain this scathing review from a current teacher:

"Leadership is ill-equipped and ill-prepared for their roles in a turnaround school, specifically at Humes Preparatory Academy. When members of the CMO are on campus, the lines of authority are blurred, leading to mass confusion. Teachers are terminated without regard to consistency from school-year to school-year. Teaching positions receive permanent substitutes for more than 50% of the school-year (7th grade science, 8th grade social studies - 2013-2014) leading to low-scores on state tests in traditionally "easier" core subjects. Teachers are not given autonomy in their classrooms and the school-wide behavior/consequence matrix is not implemented. Scholars are suspended without cause or allowed back into class when they should be suspended, contrary to network policy. For the 2013-2014 school year, Humes Preparatory Academy was rated a level 5 school; however, 90% of the teachers were non-renewed, with a handful choosing to leave the school."

Another review warns: "AVOID AT ALL COSTS"

"Constant top down reform implementation without consideration to feasibility of implementation, inconsistent and hypocritical implementation from charter and admin as to school and charter policies, no respect for teachers, extremely long work day."

Then, there is this laundry list of criticisms from someone who worked at Gestalt Community Schools full-time (more than 3 years):

- The roadmap is constantly changing and never properly communicated to essential stakeholders in the process for fear of leaking to the media.

- The leadership play ping pong with who managed what depending on how they feel about the project at hand and do the same thing with the blame if something falls apart.

- So much time in the CMO office is left to petty banter and gossip about competition and name dropping as a way of one upsmanship while the organization continues to suffer from the bottom up as no one in the CMO office has a grasp on the pulse of the schools.

- Prioritiziation of work that's spread amongst a minimal team is non-existant as leadership changes priorities on the tasks to be completed on a day to day or (legitimately) hour to hour basis throughout the day.

- Leadership is only honed in on what they specifically find interesting and if something falls outside of that scope it will not be taken seriously or invested in even if it's seen as a necessary evil. This has consistently been the case with technology in the schools.

The reviewer adds, "The current structure that GCS maintains on a leadership level requires those who want to have opportunities for growth to become YES men and women and to sacrifice their talent in order to avoid making leadership uncomfortable or to feel like their perceived understanding of an area of the organization is not as informed as they believe it to be."

Speaking of YES people, they are coming to Memphis. The ASD's website has news of adding three more charter school operators for the 2015-2016 school year including Yes Prep which was co-founded by Chris Barbic in Houston, Texas. 

So, what do teachers have to say about Yes Prep in Texas? 

The glassdoor reviews started off with high ratings in 2012 and 2013. But by 2014, the bloom was off the rose and the reviews turned ugly:
  • District-wide micromanagement.
  • Inexperienced school leadership and instructional coaches - 2 years of classroom experience does not make a "great" teacher, despite what I was once told.
  • Lack of teacher recognition outside of the almighty "continuum" and no respect for content knowledge.
  • Lack of professionally-developed curricula.

Chris Barbic says, "The Belief Gap is the persistent and deep divide between what parents believe their children are capable of and what some elected leadership, through word and deed, believe the very same kids can do." But while Barbic insists that elected officials give the ASD a break, the reviews indicate that Yes Prep does not extend that same courtesy to their teachers:

"The responsibility of learning is on the teacher, not the student, so expect to blamed if a student isn't performing or passing your class. Also expect to work 60+ a week and give up weeknights for variety of school functions that aren't "required" but "recommended" strongly."

"Unrealistic expectations lead to high rates of burnout/turnover; baited reviews in order to collect employee satisfaction information to make decisions upon retention/advancement; the organization states the continuum for advancement is based on objective grading, however, it is completely subjective and counterintuitive; management frowns upon employees with family or religious obligations."

Rather than blaming teachers for the lack of success, maybe Yes Prep should just believe more in their students? 

If only it were that simple. 

But for those of us who live in reality and not in a make-believe world, we know that no matter how much Supt. Barbic would like us to believe otherwise, things aren't going so well for him and the ASD. You can read the details on the protests against the ASD in both Nashville and Memphis; rats and moldy food in a Memphis ASD school cafeteria, the ASD using Happy Hours to recruit teachers, and much more in our recent blogs. 

Who Loves Ya, Baby
Everybody Hates Chris
You Dirty Rat
If Only the ASD came with a Money Back Guarantee
Once a Rat, Always a Rat





The Blurry Road to Special Education in Tennessee

1/5/2015

 
The following post was written by a group of parents who have children with Dyslexia.  Momma Bears is happy to share the information with our readers:

This year, Tennessee adopted Response to Instruction and Intervention, better known as RTI-2. The idea behind it is a good one – catch the kids who need intervention early, before they fail, and provide enrichment to students who are advanced. But is it really working that way for Tennessee students?

First, the Tennessee RTI 2 framework is a three tier system. All advanced and regular education children are automatically placed in the first tier, called Tier 1. This happened at the beginning of this school year.

Then, three times per school year, fall, winter and spring, students are given a universal screener (test).The screeners may vary per districts, so check with your district to see what universal screener they are using. This screener is meant to catch students who are at risk of failing in math or reading and places them in the appropriate intervention tier. All students who score at the 25th percentile or below on this screener are placed in Tier 2. And students who score at the 10th percentile or below are placed in Tier 3. Tier 2 and 3 are considered intervention tiers. The interventions should be designed to match all of the student's deficit areas and progress monitoring is done throughout the RTI-2 process.

What about students who need more services? When are they identified? Where does special education fit in?

We, Parents of Tennessee Children who have Learning Disabilities, were concerned about that, so we started digging deep into the TN RTI-2 framework. After talking with numerous experts in the field, we think it's important to understand the mindset behind RTI. In a nutshell and in parent friendly terms, the RTI-2 framework in TN is blurring the lines of Special Education and General Education.

We have been told by numerous people that the thought process behind this move is to reduce the number of Individual Education Plans or IEPs, which is what most special education parents cherish. IEPs give us legal backing to push for an education for our children who have different needs than the general education setting provides.

Here’s where the lines blur – The creators of TN RTI-2 believe that if general education was made stronger (via Tiers), then there would be no to little need for special education in High-Incidence Disabilities. Yes, you read that right – no to little need for special education in High Incidence Disabilities.

What is a High Incidence Disability?

Students with high-incidence disabilities make up 80% of all students with disabilities. Friend and Bursuck (2012) says students with High-Incidence disabilities share these characteristics:

1. Often hard to distinguish from students without disabilities, especially in non-school settings,

2. Often display a combination of academic, behavioral and social problems.

3. Can meet same standards as students without disabilities when highly structured interventions are put into place.

Point three is telling. Is the 30 to 45 minutes of RTI per day enough to be considered a highly structured intervention? Some schools are using computer programs as their intervention time. Is that a highly structured intervention? What about accommodations? Some of these children do have unidentified learning disabilities, which are not going away even with RTI. It doesn’t work that way.

So, what’s a parent of a child who does truly need an IEP to do? How do you qualify with this new blurry-lined system?

In Tennessee, RTI-2 has become the "new" test for determining a disability, so a child has to show unresponsive to the interventions being used in tier 3 before being considered for special education services. Here is the kicker -- NO ONE can agree on what equates to "responsiveness" to instruction. There is "NO" universal definition of responsiveness. No one has a handle on what responsiveness means and yet it is the new benchmark and now the only criteria for establishing a specific learning disability (SLD) and thus special education services.

Parents, we encourage you to read the following article in its entirety and then reread the TN RTI-2 Framework manual and see if it makes more sense now that you have some background information to the mindset behind RTI. We would also recommend talking with your district to make sure they aren't developing their own version of RTI framework that they will be following. Bottom line - ask as many questions as you can and stay informed.

We are not against RTI, but once it becomes a means to deny IEPs to children who truly need them, we need to re-evaluate the system and make our voices heard.

Signed,
Parents of Tennessee Children who have Learning Disabilities

  • Article on RTI -> http://www2.emich.edu/coe/porterchair/documents/douglas-fuchs-blurring-of-special-education.pdf
  • RTI 2 Manual -> http://tn.gov/education/instruction/docs/RTI2_Manual.pdf
  • RTI 2 Implementation Guide -> http://www.tncore.org/sites/www/Uploads/RTI2%20Implementation%20Guide-FINAL-08.22.13.pdf
  • RTI 2 State Contact Info -> http://www.tnspdg.com/pdf/RTIContactInfo.pdf
  • RTI Federal Memo: RTI Federal Memo 2011 -> https://www2.ed.gov/policy/speced/guid/idea/memosdcltrs/osep11-07rtimemo.pdf
  • The IDEA State Complaint Resource Center is designed to provide parents, advocates and attorneys with information and resources to assist in using the State Complaint process effectively. We believe the IDEA State Complaint process is underutilized as a tool for improving the compliance. Check out: www.ISCRC.org
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    Momma Bears

    Just some moms who realize their children's public school systems in TN, as well as public schools across the country, have major threats to their survival.  We research, we write, we share, and we advocate.

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