Teacher Letter to Obama

Anthony Cody is collecting letters from teachers to President Obama--perhaps our voices can be heard. http://www.facebook.com/inbox/readmessage.php?t=1155581610692

My letter is below.

Dear President Obama

With many challenging years in school reform under my belt, I am thankful to work for the last four years in a small urban 6-12 urban school that is not based on a prescribed model but rather on a big vision for every student's active participation and positive contribution to the 21st century world. While our school is imperfect, everyone is dedicated and with a 100% graduation and college acceptance rate as well as portfolio presentations providing evidence of student learning and skills tied to a graduate profile, we have data to support our own anecdotal evidence of student development and achievement.

The measures on the standardized tests are inadequate to assess the internalized habits, dispositions, skills and knowledge that we see our students developing, namely their capacities for leadership, creativity to overcome constraints, taking action to help others, seeing issues through multiple perspectives, belief in their responsibility and agency in the world, ability to build a case or analyze another's argument. It is not easy or simple, nor could it be taken to scale and standardized to hold teachers and students who were not committed to this particular vision, "accountable."

As an educator with a background in qualitative assessment, it breaks my heart to see children's abilities and potential reduced to test scores, their days in schools reduced to preparation to do well on a test, teaching reduced to scripted lessons and canned curricula. Not because I do not believe in accountability, rigor or quality teaching, but precisely because I do.

Several years ago I worked in a school with generally high test scores (even 100% proficient for third grade readers one year) with relatively weaker numbers in writing. So for years, this data "drove" their district mandated school wide focus on writing and they gave the kids the message that as a community they were weak in writing and had to work hard to improve these scores. One year, the district paid for the testing company to release a few test items to the school for information. When we analyzed these few items, we learned that the students' scores were proficient and advanced in the actual writing samples. It was on the multiple choice questions where they had to choose an answer with no context that they lost points.

We were left with sobering choices to make. Would we choose to spend less time on teaching them to be writers in order to work on how to take a multiple choice test to ensure our data would satisfy district requirements for growth measured by the test? What would our choice do to or for them in their lives as writers?

I have seen students challenged and inspired to work hard, investigate, create, strive for greatness in all subjects and still not reliably score well on the state test. We need to learn from the meager results we've seen these past ten years to develop an innovative and realistic alternative for gathering evidence of student progress aligned with a clear vision of who our students will be, what they will know and be able to do as a result of their years with us in schools. With sufficient resources and support (probably a fraction of what goes to testing), every school could institute a rigorous system for students to demonstrate their relevant knowledge and skills.

In small schools, we say we will ensure that each child is known well and seen by at least one adult. it has always struck me as sad that this is such a hard thing to accomplish in the buildings where our children spend at least half their waking hours. Standards and tests barely scratch the surface of what we need to provide for and foster in our children if we are to engage rather than alienate them in becoming active responsible citizens and if we are to include everyone in, as you say Mr. President, forming a more perfect union.

Let's expand rather than reduce the vision of what our children and our country can achieve.

Thank you.

Marjorie Larner
University Partnership Site Coordinator
Denver Center for International Studies
Denver, Colorado

Education Week: Duncan Sounds Starting Gun on ESEA Renewal

Education Week: Duncan Sounds Starting Gun on ESEA Renewal

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Spread the Word: Sherrod Brown's action

Senator Sherrod Brown of Ohio promised not to accept his congressional health insurance until his constituents have the same access to coverage for quality care. I read this some time ago in a dailykos diary which I couldn't relocate now and I had a hard time believing it was true so I called his office and confirmed it: he really did this!

Why is this information not more widely known and why isn't it serving to put pressure on everyone else in Congress and the Administration?

We could do that.

One of my favorite Rules for Radicals from Saul Alinksy, father of community organizing, is "A tactic that drags on too long becomes a drag." For months, we've made repeated calls and written emails with the same message of supporting the public option, or single payer, or Medicare for all. If Alinsky were alive, I think he'd be telling us "Its time for a new tactic, folks."

Let's change the pressure to a new action by urging our elected officials to follow Sen. Brown's example that shows individual commitment to those whose interest they are supposed to represent. At worst, they could afford private health insurance. Then they can see what the degrading experience of applying (and often being denied) is like. Let them feel what it is like to be out here at the mercy of these for-profit corporations.

At this point, the results of deals and compromises can remain abstractions to those in power. They can hide behind all kinds of obfuscations and excuses and let meaningful reform for us slip away once again. They don't know the kick in the gut I felt when I heard Obama say the reform wouldn't go into effect for 4 years. That is 4 more years of worrying and relying on good luck.

This reform needs to matter to them and their families as much as it matters to our's. It needs to impact them personally if they fail or succeed. I would bet they would have thought twice about August recess if their own children weren't covered for pre-existing conditions.

Let's call and write our Senators, Congressional Representatives and the White House with this message: I urge you to follow Senator Sherrod Brown's example of refusing his Congressional health insurance benefits until you pass legislation for reform that provides access to quality health care for every one of us you represent. Show us we are all in this together.

Sherrod Brown offers an example of the kind of American character referred to by President Obama in his Wed. speech. He provides an example of the honest commitment to our nation's well-being that is possible to see in one of our elected officials. Lets pressure the rest of them to get out of the protective government-insured bubble.

"There will be a special schedule Tuesday....."

I was happy to get an email from the urban school, where I work, regarding arrangements to watch the President’s speech on Tuesday.

The White House announced that on Tuesday, September 8th at 10:00 am the President will talk directly to students across the country on the importance of taking responsibility for their education, challenging them to set goals and do everything they can to succeed. The President's message will be streamed live on WhiteHouse.gov/live, and broadcast live on C-Span The White House will make a downloadable video of the speech available on their page later that day as it becomes available.

[the school] will modify our daily schedule on Tuesday to participate in this educational opportunity. Our teachers and students will have a discussion in their advisement class in advance of the broadcast. Students and teachers will watch the broadcast and have a follow-up conversation with their advisement classes. [the school] has an alternative option available for any families who prefer that their student not participate.

How many schools and districts are welcoming an opportunity for students to join a national conversation about their education as opposed to the number making a case to fear that our children's hearts and minds will be controlled by one speech from the President of our United States?

Since this school is a magnet school with an international studies focus, and a mission to educate for global citizens who contribute to our local and global community in positive ways, right now in their lives, as well as when they become adults, I'd be surprised if there are families who are afraid of their kids being exposed to Obama's eloquence.

Just as with health care, where one falls in this issue relates to a whole set of assumptions including what we are raising our children to do and be. Are we raising our children to critically analyze and reason in the face of a wealth of ideas, information and diverse opinions? Or are we raising our children to accept and comply with what they are told to do and think?

Support for the latter priority has been dominant at the federal and state level of funding and policy relying on standardized tests as the sole measure of student, teacher and school success. This led to ever more pressure on teachers to reduce their visions for students to what can be measured by distant standards. Critical, creative or divergent thinking is not on the test. I would argue that the climate in public school districts has been increasingly accepting of the narrowed and reactionary points of view.

What does it say about people’s thought process, how they form their opinions about reality, when they fear that all it takes is one good speech to change the hearts and minds of children? I suppose if one's own views are not based in logic and evidence, there is a chance that one could be swayed by a single speech well delivered.

As a parent, taxpayer and educator in a supposedly democratic society, I am disturbed by acceptance of a low opinion about our young citizens' and future voters' capacity for critical thinking. And if you doubt my belief about their capacity, let me know because I could show you skillful and thoughtful work from a diverse group of urban kids that will knock your socks off.

Dear Mr. President

Change We Need

My name is Marjorie Larner and I am writing to you today as a volunteer and a donor to express my firm support for the passage of comprehensive health care reform including a robust public insurance option open to all Americans.

I shared the joy of your campaign in Boulder, Colorado, beginning with the Primary and eventually taking a leave from work to be able to say yes every time there was anything to be done--from neighborhood team leader, office worker, supporting my son as a fellow and then Boulder youth vote coordinator, opening my house for anyone who needed a place to stay or meet, etc. The hope, love and unity was worth every dollar and every minute.

Since the campaign, I have tried to help OFA-- hosted numerous house meetings, organized phone calls and canvassing, went through the training for community organizers. I have listened to an unending stream of health care horror stories that shouldn't go on one more day, much less years or decades.

The people I contact are worried because they are uncertain what we are trying to help you do. They are not sure how far you will go to meet the goal. We understand this is a bigger fight than just about health care.

I feel responsible for what we led people to hope and work for, including the promise of accessible, affordable, quality health care for all of us. I have watched friends and family lose the chance to get the care they need for survival because of health care cost. As an independent consultant in schools, I have to provide my own insurance coverage. The process of being denied was humiliating. I am now on a state program for Uninsurables---high premium, high deductible. I worry I will not be able to continue this indefinitely because of the impact of the economy on my finances. Young adults in my family do not have health insurance. I keep my fingers crossed.

This is the first battle against those you promised we would not let win again. Mr. President, please use your speech to the nation this Wednesday to lead Congress to deliver comprehensive health care reform that includes a robust public insurance option available to all Americans. If we are truly in this together, and if it is true that you need us, please be honest with us about the extent of this battle so we can know what we are fighting for and how best to contribute.

Mr. President, please fight for the real change that will make it possible for all of us to have real health care. I urge you to accept nothing less.

Thank you for your service on our behalf.

Marjorie Larner

Bury the Hatchet: Cass Epstein townhall musical accompaniment

There is a depth of emotion for many of us trying to stay engaged in what has come to feel like a battle that is the tip of an iceberg bigger than health care reform though that is the particular struggle we're focused on right now.

I am convinced this is another step in a long process that has been going on a long long time. We need to draw from lessons learned from what helped communities in the past. Music has always been a part of important human experience. If we are to stay engaged in the long haul we have ahead, we need more to support us than we seem to have right now.

The last week, I've been reminding myself of what I want to do in the face of self righteous anger, with this Cass Epstein song.
http://www.box.net/files#0:f:31169468/Bury_the_Hatchet

Finding Strength at Another Townhall

Finding Strength at Another Townhall

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