Ravitch on Accountability

The Death and Life of the Great American School System

"One problem with test-based accountability, as currently defined and used, is that it removes all responsibility from students and their families for the students' academic performance. NCLB neglected to acknowledge that students share in the responsibility for their academic performance and that they are not merely passive recipients of their teachers' influence."

I'll be posting more of her thoughts from her book on this blog from time to time.

thom

Concerns Abound

The RCEA held its first representative meeting of the year today at Northside High School. Reps from most of the county's schools were there. Meeting at NHS was a refreshing change of pace from our previous meeting place, NMS. We appreciate all the years that NMS allowed us the use of the facility, and we look forward to our times at NHS this year.


Without a doubt the over-riding concern expressed at today's meeting involved the institution of so many new academic and clerical initiatives. The group created a list of related concerns and that list will be brought before the superintendent. In a nutshell, the group is concerned that teachers are being stretched beyond thin and that the educational program will suffer. The common perception out there among educators in the classrooms is that we are taking a proud, successful school program and turning it upside-down in our attempt to capture those last few NCLB children. We may win those battles, but we risk losing a greater war. Hopefully, we will be able to have serious, professional dialog with the administration over these related concerns.

Speaking of dialog, as part of its week long "Education Nation" summit, NBC News is hosting a Teacher Town Hall with Brian Williams. The Teacher Town Hall is an opportunity for teachers from across the country to share ideas about how to improve education in America. The Town Hall will be aired live on MSNBC at 12:00pm (EST) on Sunday, September 26th. Make your voice heard. To participate in the virtual Town Hall open forum and live voting, please register today at: http://tiny.cc/szsp5.

At the meeting today, Pat Wood-Uniserv director of our region, shared with us that the county schools will receive just over $3 million from the latest federal stimulus package. The money is specifically earmarked to use for education salary, benefits, or positions. The last we heard, the school board was discussing the best way to utilize these funds. Hopefully, they will trickle down to us sooner than later as the intent of the emergency legislation was to get the funds out pronto at the beginning of THIS school year.

We are experiencing challenging times both financially and professionally. Only by voicing our concerns and remaining resolute and true to our beliefs will we be able to move forward in a positive direction.

Rep Meeting Next Monday

Next Monday, September 20, the RCEA will hold its first regular representative meeting of the year. The meeting will start at 4:10pm at a new location: Northside High School's cafeteria.


All reps are encouraged to attend, as we have some very important new information to discuss. The meeting is open to any bonifide member of the RCEA as well.


Also, we want to find out how it's going out there. Frankly, we're concerned about what we are hearing regarding the bevvy of new initiatives being propagated this year. Please let your building rep know how you're doing: what's working, what's not; where any stress is originating. You can also contact a member of our executive committee: Tammy Wood (president), Tim Summers (vice president), Sarah Hollett (treasurer), Kenya Huffman (secretary), Linda Hogan (high school rep), Theresa McGuire (middle school rep), or Thom Ryder (elementary school rep).

"Experiments that crash atoms together could start a chain reaction that erodes everything on Earth." ~Sir Martin Rees

Who and What

Who is Your RCEA President and What are We Doing This Year?

I feel the need to get this information out as we dive in to this upcoming year of change. I look over membership lists and there are many names that I can connect a face to but there are more and more that I have not been able to meet or connect with. I believe that the same can be said about many members who do not know who I am. So, here goes…

I am originally from Damascus, Virginia (about two hours south of Roanoke). Damascus is a small town that is known for the trails that run through it. Main Street is on the Appalachian Trail and the Virginia Creeper (bike trail) also goes through town. I have a house there that I often retreat to on weekends and long breaks. I cannot get the mountains out of my system and my family is there keeping me grounded.

My college background is Virginia Tech. I came out of a very small high school and even though Tech is huge by standards that I was used to, it allowed me to be a comfortable distance from home. I started out in engineering but decided my fourth year that I wanted to follow in my beloved uncle’s footsteps and be a teacher. I like to think that my uncle “fathered” me every way except biologically and he continues to be a huge influence on me today. (I was also in the Marching Virginians at VT, along with Thom Ryder…small world!)

I was married for twenty two years and my husband and I are currently separated. I relocated to Roanoke in January and brought one of my daughters with me. She will be a 7^th grader at Northside Middle and she loves it there. If you are a part of the Northside Middle staff, thank you for everything you do to make my daughter’s experience such a positive one!! My oldest daughter will enter Radford University at the end of this month. She wants to be a middle school teacher and I discussed that decision with her. Her response to my concern was that no matter what I have to face as an educator, she knows that I love the students and I love my career. I discovered that I have absolutely no argument for that statement! Go Highlanders J

This year will be my 23^rd year as an educator and my 23^rd year as a member of the Education Association. Wow, how time flies. I teach at Northside High School and this year my assignment will be CB Chemistry, Advanced Chemistry and AP Chemistry. I am also Science Department Chair. I have taught science down through sixth grade. I have done long term substitute work at the elementary level. I have taught in several systems in SW Virginia before finally settling in Roanoke County.

Why did I join the Education Association? When I was a student at Virginia Tech, the Science Foundations teacher (who was also my advisor) told us that we needed to join a professional organization, it would look good on a resume and it just needed to be an active part of our career. He told us the best organization was the Education Association. Our membership would involve a local, state, and national organization (so actually three instead of one). He told us we probably would not always agree with the politics of the national level but the most important work would be achieved at the state and local level. I joined and have never looked back or have never said “I can’t afford it”.

Twenty three years later, here we are….

I give tremendous credit to the entire staff of Roanoke County Schools. The hard work that takes place here takes my breath away. We face economic change that is changing the face of everything that we have grown comfortable with. Unfortunately our careers are driven by a testing system that is changing on top of the socio-economic change we are challenged with in our everyday lives as well as in the lives of our students. The schools and staff are assuming more of the parenting roles than ever before, while dealing with less funding or more strings attached to existing funding….I know I am “preaching to the choir” but we must “sing loudly.”

Where are we headed this year????

Pat Wood (our devoted Uniserv Director) and Thom Ryder (past president and current exec board member and techno guru, gardener extreme….) have been meeting with Board of Supervisor members and School Board members driving home the point that raises are LONG OVERDUE and we absolutely, without a doubt, have to do something to generate funds. That is the only way we can move forward and continue to deliver high quality instruction to our students. MEMBERSHIP is our top priority and we want to see it climb. The RCEA has a great working relationship with our current School Board and Central Office. We are working on the Board of Supervisors. During the year we push out email information encouraging members to be vigilant about emailing local, state, and national legislators. This is becoming an excellent means of helping make a difference because we heard this past year that elected officials really do take notice (if nothing else they figure there must be something going on when they receive 1000+ emails).

You will be receiving information from the organization throughout the year and I would like to thank our BUILDING REPS for distributing the information. They do a GREAT JOB and I know that everyone has a full load, family schedule, and life in general so THANK YOU for everything!

Thom (techno guru…) has a blog that everyone needs to check out. He is a fantastic writer and understands all that computer stuff…For those of us who are on Facebook, Thom has set up a group that we can also get going with….you can search it out and I encourage all of you social networkers to check it out!

OK, this is enough from me….I would much rather leave the writing to Thom…I would like to encourage everyone to welcome the new people (yes there are some new people on board). Get caught up with existing membership….and invite a non-member to join. Everyone is welcome to check out our rep meetings (I have sent a separate schedule). Please note the location has changed to the Northside HIGH School Cafeteria. The Uniserv Office is downtown in the Jefferson Center (you can check out some amazing artwork). We attend School Board meetings and work sessions, and Board of Supervisors meetings. If you have never attended those meetings they get interesting! There are also opportunities to attend trainings, conferences and to serve on committees. If you are interested, let one of our building reps know or you can let me know directly. Please let us know of any concerns or suggestions you have!

Let’s have a great year!

Tammy Wood

RCEA President

Our Newest Member

New member Dallas Washburn and executive board member, Kenya Huffman, became famous today! They were featured on the special VEA blog: Our Next Member. Check it out! Welcome Dallas and way to go Kenya!

It's not too late to join us. We are the largest and most active professional education association in the Roanoke area. In fact, we are the largest employee group of any kind in the valley and surrounding area from here to Timbuktu. Join us! We can make a positive difference if we stick together.

New Calendar

The calendar on the right side panel is up to date. If you click to a particular month, you can print out a calendar of RCEA events. Viewing the calendar on the blog won't yield you great viewing results. We'll be working to upgrade the view-ability.

All known rep and exec board meetings are already on the calendar.

The Shrinking State Share

Richard G. Salmon, , an education professor at Virginia Tech, has recently published a historical look at state funding for education. The 12 page article is extremely educational. He goes into the development of the Literary Loan program, which helped establish public schools in Virginia after the War of 1812. Salmon traces education support through the entire 200 year history of funding for public schools in Virginia. I've copied his observations and conclusions here for you. I would suggest that you take the time to read the entire piece.

His observations are truly disconcerting. Be sure to click on the table at the end to enlarge it.

thom



Observations and Conclusion

A substantial part of the current crisis is due to the fiscal decisions made by previous administrations, General Assemblies, and many local governing bodies. It is unfortunate that long term tax policy often has been based on highly energized national, state and local economies that inevitably forces reexamination of policy during the most difficult times. The most obvious example is the so-called car tax relief that biennially forces the transfer of $1.9 billion state revenue to the localities. The transfer of these replacement revenues from the state to the localities should be phased out, perhaps over two or more biennia. Under current fiscal conditions, this would be a painful political process, both for the state and the localities. It is also unfortunate that when the commonwealth substantially increased state funds for public schools for FY 2005, most localities either decreased or level-funded their local appropriations for public schools. If the localities had followed this seldom-seen lead of the state, fiscal disparities among local school divisions would have been reduced and the current budget reductions would not have been as devastating to the public schools. On the other hand, it is fortunate that Virginia has the potential, without the need to make extraordinary fiscal effort, to remedy the current fiscal plight confronting public schools and other governmental agencies.

The state budget reductions for public schools have affected negatively the quality of public schools throughout the commonwealth and especially in the lower fiscal capacity school divisions. Not all of the local responses to budget reductions have been harmful, and in some instances likely have increased cost efficiency without affecting educational quality. However, freezing personnel salaries for several years could well prove harmful to public schools Although reductions have been determined through the LCI, the equalization component of the state formulae, the lower fiscal capacity school divisions suffer the most. Since the lower capacity school divisions depend primarily on state aid to fund their budgets, reductions in state aid inevitably result in larger total budget reductions for the lower fiscal capacity school divisions.

Both the executive and the legislature have relied exclusively on cost containment and have implemented massive budget reductions for virtually all state agencies in order to balance the state budget. The reductions have fallen particularly hard on public education, both higher education and elementary and secondary schools. Neither the current executive nor the legislature has considered seriously modest tax increases in order to remedy the budget shortfall. Both have attempted to convince the public that their constitutional obligation to provide and maintain a high quality system of public schools has been fulfilled by engaging in a series of charades. These charades include use of federal stimulus funds to fund Basic State Aid and reductions in the caps for the number of support personnel to lower the costs required to fund the SOQ. History continues to repeat itself as the General Assembly has again completely stripped funds from the 200-year-old Literary Fund.

[Click to enlarge]