Diane Ravitch at NCSS 2011

“If enough people care, the public may learn the course is not wise, not reform and backed by no evidence.  Public Education is a precious resource that must be preserved and improved for future generations.” 

-Diane Ravitch, NCSS 2011

Diane Ravitch is a voice of reason and sanity in the politically charged and reckless world of education policy and so-called reform.  The Teaching Underground had the privilege of hearing a lecture from Dr. Ravitch at the NCSS national convention this weekend in Washington, D.C.

Conventional wisdom might brand her “anti-reform,” but in reality the term educational reform has been high-jacked and turned into “testing, accountability, and choice” at the exclusion of meaningful reform seeking appropriate ways to “develop qualities of heart and mind and character to sustain our democracy for future generations.”  The Teaching Underground is ready to steal the term back and label Diane Ravitch as the voice of true reform in American education.

After hearing Ravitch’s talk we jokingly said to each other, “she stole all of her material from the Underground.”  Since our arrival in the blogging world in October 2010, we’ve learned that every challenge we’ve faced at the local level is rooted in the national education landscape.  Like Ravitch, our primary hope is that people would care, and by caring, the public will learn that our present course of educational policy in the United States often guised as reform is really no reform at all.

Ravitch’s lecture at the NCSS Convention centered around a dozen or so questions.  (I was typing fast, if you were there and see that we missed a question let us know.)  Below are the questions Ravitch addressed.  We've included a few links to related posts on the Teaching Underground.  Feel free to offer your reactions to the questions, and if you were at the talk, let us know what you thought.  We'll post about some of these topics in the months to come.

Are we in crisis?
-one of the very first posts on TU: Are We Failing?

Should public schools be turned over to private management?

Why not have a free market of choices for parents and students?
-these two questions were addressed in our post Breaking the Public Schools

Should public funded schools be allowed to make a profit?
-in April we discussed The Education Marketplace

Should teachers get a bonus for higher test scores?

Will test scores go up if teacher evaluations are tied to them?

Should student test scores ever be a part of teacher evaluation?
-each of these three questions remind me of the post Why You Should Care

Should NCLB be reauthorized?
-among other posts addressing NCLB, here is 2012 or 2014

Will Race to the Top transform?
-it will certainly transform something, here's a post on NCLB Waivers and Race to the Top

Should teachers and principals have professional training?

Will competition improve schools?

NCSS National Conference Day 2

 The day began early began with a pleasant jog with friends.   Got to see the mall by dawn with no one else around.  Highly recommended.  Then off we went to the convention center.  Shortly before arrival we saw something unexpected when a woman tripped and fell on the sidewalk.  Hard. Those nearby helped her up and I was relieved because I was pretty sure she was dead.  It led to some interesting conversation about the effect cities have on people and their behavior.  For the record, this TU member does not enjoy cities much. 

So as we made our way through our sessions on our second day of “Dimensions on Diversity” it seemed a common topic mentioned by many presenters was poverty.   It is a topic not addressed often enough in educational conversations but one that is confronted daily by classroom educators, education reformers, and most sensible people.  One would think it would rarely leave our collective conscience but it seems the opposite is true.  The problem is hard to ignore walking the streets of our nation’s capital where you are never far from those living within its grasp.  We are fortunate that our own community suffers to a far lesser degree but suffers none the less. 

Other less profound reflections on our visit:

-Another day of presenters.  Some great, some good, and some not so great.  Glad we went.

-Unlike yesterday, there was no bounding up the stairs it like I did a day earlier.  The convention center is big and we saw all of it.  Lots of up and down.

-When the 10th presenter told me they ran out of materials because they were told to make 25 copies, it got annoying.

-Many people in the exhibitors section are only there to promote and push their products.  We learned quickly to avoid the flashier booths as those people are not teachers and have far less in common with ourselves.   Target the plain with more substance.

-Perhaps next year we'll attend a conference and pass out cards promoting the TU as some did for their sites.   That would seem out of character. 
-Dyson Air Blade.  Whoa.

-The C-SPAN bus was pretty sweet.  

-If we go a few months without seeing a flashy TV screen Kiosk, that's OK with us.

-Escalators are big scary monstrous inventions.  Maybe that's why we like them better than stairs. 

We'll use tomorrow to regroup and then share some more thoughtful insights of what went on.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Yd3ouQsPFY

No visible cracks

DC Convention Center. 

Mr. Dyson...nice work.

Cards for self promotion

2012 is  a long ways away.

"Of course we'll ride the escalator"

The "secret staircase"

Hard to tell what this was until its dark

NCSS National Conference Day 1

So as you may know we are attending the NCSS conference in DC.  Given we are pretty worn out we will simply provide a summary of the days events.  In no particular order here are some highlights and some of what we learned...

-TU appreciates having a point person to get us registered(Thanks Jen)
-Don't wear any attire with your school logo when traversing the vendor section...it's like wearing a bullseye.  "Hey ...AHS....Right"  Quickly annoying and makes avoiding eye contact nearly impossible.
-There is no clear delineation between the NCSS and the Washington Craft Show. Be careful out there.
-We sadly missed the "Using Yoga to Teach History" session.  Probably for the best.
-There are lots of great ideas among the sessions. 
-Some people don't turn their ringer off during sessions....no names mentioned but they know who they are.
-Diane Ravitch is the man.  I mean ...well her talk was spot on.  More on this in the future.
-Geoffrey Canada was quite inspiring.  He's practical, understands his community well and is willing to do what it takes to help kids in a sensible way.  Whether the establishment is on board or not.
-Kareem Abdul Jabaar is not only a great basketball player but also funny, knowledgeable and creative.
What we saw of his film On the Shoulders of Giants was memorable. 
-Pierre L'Enfant was a genius.  A maniacal genius. 

So that's about all we can muster but we'll leave you with this lasting image.

A meeting of the minds

Mr. Underground Goes to DC

Recently we got a call from some folks up in DC indicating they were interested in what we here at the Underground had to say.  Actually it was just an E-mail, and it was not a request to hear what teachers think about education it was only a confirmation that we were registered for the National Coouncil for the Social Studies(NCSS) Conference in Washington, DC.

So we packed our bags(a bag each actually) and headed north.   TU along with a handful of other teachers in our division were going national.  I mean we went past National, now Reagan National on our way here.  We also passed the Occupy DC site, the Washington Monument and our Hotel twice before we stopped.

Diane Ravitch.  Honorary TU Member.

Harlem Children's Zone Founder Geoffrey Canada

The conference is loaded with great topics and boasts an impressive list of speakers.  We anticipate the highlight of those being the speech by Diane Ravitch.  Also looking forward to hearing from Philip Zimbardo, Judy Woodruff, Geoffrey Canada, and Kareem Abdul Jabaar.  After registering, we learned Secretary of Education Arne Duncan would also be giving a speech.    (When I heard that I wanted to register under the name "R. Neese Tinks" but thought better of it.)  It wouldn't have mattered in the end as Mr. Duncan ducked us, indicating he had been called to the White House.  His appearance would be limited to the ticketed "President's Breakfast" where the Teacher of the Year Awards were given out. Oh well.  Mr. Tinks will not be in attendance and I will. 

Secretary of Education Arne Duncan

That said we are pretty sure our attendance is an elaborate ruse to get us out of our building.  When we return we fully expect to to find all of our stuff gone from our classroom and a new teacher there who has replaced us.

We are hoping to learn a lot and perhaps leave with some ideas and tools to better serve our students.   Look for an update that covers our first full day in DC  soon.  We'll leave you with this NCSS link to some useful social studies classroom resources keep you busy.