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Press Release from Teachers

7/24/2014

Momma Bears just LOVE the BATs! In case you don't know who the BATs are, follow this link to get BAT knowledge. BATs bravely stand up for our children. On the front lines of battle, BATS are risking their jobs by fighting against harmful reforms like: Common Core, the excessive standardized testing of children, and the public school takeover by greedy investors wanting to turn our public schools into their private business with charter schools and vouchers.

BATs are where it is at! The National BATs group has about 50,000 members plus there are specialized BATs groups all over the place. Every state has a secret, closed Facebook group of BATs. There are BAT parents, BAT moms, and even BAT grandparents! BATs just celebrated their 1 year birthday. They've had a very busy year!

The BATs are making history next week by having a huge rally in Washington D.C.. The Momma Bears leaders were honored to be asked to attend the rally. Unfortunately, we can't be there, but we send a loud growl out to our BAT friends! Make some noise, BATs!!!

It is with great joy that Momma Bears share this kick-ass press release from the BATs:
(click the image below to see it better)

Thank you, BATs, for fighting for and protecting our children!

Take Action: Use your Momma Bear voice

7/17/2014

Please contact your Congressman and beg them to co-sponsor the
Student Testing Improvement and Accountability Act (Bill HR 4172)
(Click HERE for a link to U.S. House Bill 4172)

Purpose of Bill:
To roll back “Toxic High Stakes” K-12 mandated testing implemented by No Child Left Behind. The new legislation will convert to a system of “grade span testing” administered three times during a student's matriculation for diagnostic purposes. This bill would allow teachers, parents and the communities to have more control over testing and its alignment with the curriculum.

Why it is needed:

Too much time spent on testing and test prep: This takes away actual subject instruction time from the students and one on one and teacher prep time from the teacher as well as, financially “ tying the hands” of local school boards.
Too much money spent on testing and test prep: The cost of testing has resulted in the elimination of art, music and career vocational-tech classes as well as the loss of instructional time. Districts are forced to spend money to purchase technology to be compliant with testing requirements.
Improper use of test results: 70 % of the teachers in the USA job performances and evaluations are based on tests results of students they do not teach.
Stress on students: The federal mandate has pushed the states into a testing frenzy, causing great stress to students, teachers and parents. Special needs students are forced to take tests beyond their skill and capability levels.
Lack of proof that testing has helped students: There has been little or no proof that since the federal mandate of yearly testing that learning outcomes have improved. Excessive testing has changed the climate of education from one of joyful learning to one of intimidation and stress for both students and teachers.

Click here to find your Congressman: http://www.house.gov/ (enter your zip code)
then simply contact them via email, phone, or snailmail. Here is a sample email you can cut and paste:

Sample:

Dear Congressman ______________,

Please co-sponsor and support the bipartisan Student Testing Improvement and Accountability Act (Bill HR 4172). Please stop this toxic standardized testing caused by the Federal No Child Left Behind and Race to the Top initiatives. These are harming our public schools and our children.

Thank you,
(your name and town)

Of course, you can add more info if you want (like the reasons listed above, how testing has impacted your children, or a statement of how you voted for him/her). Personalized is always best, but if you don't have time, a quick email is better than nothing at all. Phone calls to your Congressman's office work magic, too!

*NOTE: If one of these awesome Congressmen below belongs to you, then don't send them the above message because they've already signed on as a co-sponsor! LUCKY, YOU!!! Send them a thank you message (or even a batch of cookies if you feel so inclined).

Sponsor: Rep. Christopher Gibson, R –NY
Co-sponsors:
Rep. Sinema, Kyrsten [D-AZ-9]
Rep. Joyce, David P. [R-OH-14]
Rep. Green, Gene [D-TX-29]
Rep. Reed, Tom [R-NY-23]
Rep. Sires, Albio [D-NJ-8]
Rep. Capuano, Michael E. [D-MA-7]

Petition warfare

7/9/2014

Momma Bears are flattered that our petition (Stop Hurting Our Schools: Remove Kevin Huffman as Commissioner of Education) is receiving so many new signatures in the past 48 hours! Apparently, it is now in a little petition popularity contest!

See, Kevin Huffman's fan club (people who wouldn't like him if they weren't getting so rich from his "leadership"... who would surely hate his guts if their own children attended public schools and were forced to do all these standardized tests and crazy common coreishness... or if their spouse worked in a real public school for an honest paycheck and was judged by that mathematical TVAAS cattle-growth formula to show her worth), well, they need to protect their pocketbooks. They know Huffman is in hot water after the whole TCAP mess, his tampering with the TCAP questions and cut scores, his illegally granting waivers to districts, and just last week his harsh announcement that there will be no mercy for SPED students when it comes to testing.

Rumors abound about Huffman's time left in Tennessee, but you gotta admit he's a tough booger for taking the heat for Governor Haslam's awful decisions for so long. (Governor Haslam is only doing what Jeb Bush tells him to do following the step-by-step list on how to ride on coat-tails to the White House.) The word that has trickled down to us common folks that Governor Haslam was so stinking mad at the 15 brave legislators who signed a letter to remove Huffman that Governor Haslam decided to keep Huffman around a little longer just out of spite.

Speculation about who will replace Huffman range from Freddy Krueger to Voldemort. The profitability of either villain bodes well for reformers (both did well in the movie Box Office), so the future looks bleak for public schools under Governor Haslam's leadership. Unless Haslam suddenly grows a heart and puts a real educator with compassion in that position, public education in Tennessee looks bleak.

By the way, we are hearing great things about 2 candidates for Governor! John McKamey (Democrat) and Shaun Crowell (Constitution Party) are both against Common Core and support strong public schools! They don't have nearly the war chest of campaign money that Governor Haslam has, but we Momma Bears believe in miracles, happy endings, and the power of voting parents.

Anyway, read all about the pathetic petition to save Huffman's neck at this link. You can see all the fancy-pants people that signed it who send their own kids to private schools and also about the naive young'uns at TN DOE, ASD, and TFA who are recently out of college and have nice, cushy jobs bossing hardworking teachers around.

My Children, and Their Teachers, are Guilty

7/2/2014

The following is a guest post from New Mexico parent, Wendy Small (originally posted by Kris Nielsen at www.atthechalkface.com, reposted with permission)

Let me start by telling you that my children are guilty. Guilty of being born to middle class–not wealthy–parents, guilty of having special needs, guilty of being the kind of poor test takers who falsely convict their teachers of being bad at their jobs. Most of all they are guilty of being children living in New Mexico.

Perhaps the most guilty among them is my daughter, Jennifer*. She has committed the most outrageous crime of having dyslexia. Despite interventions from teachers, and thousands of dollars spent on outside diagnostics and remediation, Jennifer, age 12, continues to test “not proficient”. She is guilty, and for this both she and her teachers must pay.

Nina, Jennifer’s next youngest sister, age 10, while bright and articulate, must pay. She is guilty. Guilty of wanting so badly to get a perfect score that she will do and redo her answers. Days will go by when Nina, in the fourth grade, will sit and write and erase her answers until she explodes. Nina’s explosions are harbingers for her classmates, who know her to be a steady and capable student. They become guilty of perceiving Nina’s anxiety and inflicting it upon themselves. “It must be really hard for me if it’s hard for Nina,” they think. Then, classmates of Nina’s explode too. They cry, they yell, they come home feeling frustrated and defeated. They are punished.

The youngest of our children are not exempt; they too must be punished. I know this because Ashley, my first grader, had to endure the punishment of standardized testing as well. For her criminal act of being a child in this state, Ashley was required to sit in her chair and interpret and respond to test questions that were abstract and completely inappropriate for her developmental age. Other students in Ashley’s class must be even more guilty because when I opted Ashley out of testing and sat with her in the school office, I could hear the wailing of her classmates begging their teacher to help them understand the questions. These students were being punished for wanting to do well on their tests. To warrant that kind of experience, they must have been deemed guilty.

I am certain that Ashley’s first grade teacher is guilty, too. She was the most punished of all of them. Tears were in her eyes, frustration in her voice. Her hands were tied and her voice silenced as she unwillingly inflicted this test on her students knowing it would forever alter the emotional safety they experienced in her classroom. Ashley’s teacher is guilty of loving her students, and for this crime she was punished.

As parents, my husband and I are guilty. We decided to raise our children here, and for that we must endure the horrific consequence of watching our children be punished. Together, we must watch while the happy childhoods of our children are replaced with anxiety. We are made to stand by while their curiosity is extinguished, while they learn to fear authority, while they learn that they are “not proficient”. We are punished. As we watch the promise of three bright futures fade, we are beaten.

The good news is that, while my children are guilty, they area not as guilty as the 29% of New Mexico children who commit the criminal act of being poor. For their criminal acts, poor children are the most punished. I know this because teachers, for many [these kids'] only reliable adults, are leaving at a rapid rate. Approximately 500 teachers will leave APS alone this year, many of them from schools with children who have committed the criminal act of being poor. [Seeing] the way they are being punished–these children and their teacher–they must be criminals.

Please free our children, offer them amnesty and, in so doing, liberate us all. This is a punitive system where schools, once safe havens, have become jails. Principals serve as unwilling wardens, and the [state education department] is the head of our prison system. Please shed light on this reality by paying attention, spreading the word and serving as advocates for children in our community. We are all called to be up to the task, our children are crying for the childhoods they deserve. The clock is ticking, and time is running out. Teachers are not speaking out because they are terrified that it will harm the job and schools they love. Ask them to speak, and listen. Use your voices and protect our schools, protect our teachers, protect our children.

*All names have been changed

Press Release from Teachers

Take Action: Use your Momma Bear voice

Petition warfare

My Children, and Their Teachers, are Guilty

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