This post is fifth in a series on the education planks of the 2010 Texas Democratic Party Platform.
This is an unofficial version published in advance of the final version from the Texas Democrats, but I expect very few changes.
SOLVING THE DROPOUT CRISIS
Rick Perry may be willing to write off more than a fourth of the school age children in Texas, but Texans can’t afford to pay the price for Perry’s complacency in the face of the dropout crisis. Solving the dropout crisis is a priority for Texas Democrats because it threatens the economic well-being of all Texans, and failure to solve the dropout crisis could write off economic progress for an entire generation. Texas already has more low-wage and minimum wage workers than any other state, and in Texas dropouts earn $7,000 less per year than high school graduates. According to the state demographer, if these trends persist, by 2040, the average annual Texas household income will be $6,500 less than in the year 2000, at a cost to Texas of over $300 billion per year in lost income.
More than one-fourth of Texas high school students fail to graduate on time. For African American and Hispanic students, the dropout rate is more than one-third. Out of all 50 states, Texas has the highest percentage of adults who have not completed high school. However, in response to the Governor’s call for across-the-board budget cuts to address an $18 billion state budget shortfall, his Texas Education Agency recommended cutting programs that have helped keep kids in school and off the street. The economic consequences of such shortsighted policies are stark. Rick Perry’s refusal to address this dropout crisis is making Texas poorer, less educated, and less competitive.
Proper funding of all our schools to meet the needs of students who are most at risk of dropping out is essential. Specific solutions include:
school-community collaboration that brings educational and social services together under one roof to help at-risk students and their families;
expanded access to early childhood education, targeting at-risk students;
dual-credit and early-college programs that draw at-risk students into college and career paths while still in high school;
equitable distribution of highly qualified teachers, to change current practices that too often match the most at-risk students with the least experienced and least prepared teachers;
enforce daytime curfew laws to reduce truancy;
providing access to affordable programs for adults who have dropped out of the education process.
Spread the word; friends don't allow friends to repeat history.
This post is fourth in a series on the education planks of the 2010 Texas Democratic Party Platform.
This is an unofficial version published in advance of the final version from the Texas Democrats, but I expect very few changes.
EXCELLENT SCHOOLS FOR EVERY STUDENT
To make public education our highest priority, we believe the state should:
provide universal access to pre-kindergarten and kindergarten;
provide universally accessible after school programs for grades 1-12;
provide free, accurate and updated instructional materials aligned to educationally appropriate, non-ideological state curriculum standards and tests;
provide free computer and internet access, as well as digital instructional materials;
provide early intervention programs to ensure every child performs at grade level in English Language Arts, Social Studies, Math, and Science;
ensure that students with disabilities receive an appropriate education in the least restrictive environment, including access to the full range of services and supports called for in their individual education plans;
provide appropriate career and technical education programs;
reject efforts to destroy bilingual education;
promote multi-language instruction, beginning in elementary school, to make all students fluent in English and at least one other language;
replace high-stakes tests, used to punish students and schools, with multiple measures that restore the original intent of the state assessment system–improving instruction to help students think critically, be creative and succeed;
end inappropriate testing of students with disabilities whose individual education plans call for alternative assessments of their educational progress;
enforce and extend class size limits to allow every student to receive necessary individualized attention;
support Title IX protections for gender equity in public education institutions;
ensure that every school has a fully funded library that meets state requirements;
provide environmental education programs for children and adults; and
oppose private school vouchers.
Spread the word; friends don't allow friends to repeat history.
This post is third in a series on the education planks of the 2010 Texas Democratic Party Platform.
This is an unofficial version published in advance of the final version from the Texas Democrats, but I expect very few changes.
PUBLIC EDUCATION FUNDING
Texas Democrats believe:
the state should establish a 100% equitable school finance system with sufficient state revenue to allow every district to offer an exemplary program;
the state should equitably reduce reliance on “Robin Hood” recapture;
state funding formulas should fully reflect all student and district cost differences and the impact of inflation and state mandates;
Texas should maintain or extend the 22-1 class size limits and expand access to prekindergarten and kindergarten programs; and
the federal government should fully fund all federal education mandates and the Elementary and [Secondary] Education Act.
Republicans have shortchanged education funding every session they have controlled the Texas Legislature. After cutting billions from public education in 2003, the 2006 Republican school funding plan froze per pupil funding, leaving local districts faced with increasing costs for fuel, utilities, insurance and personnel with little new state money. To make matters worse, that same plan placed stringent limits on local ability to make up for the state’s failures.
In 2009, Republicans hypocritically supplanted state support for our schools with the very federal “stimulus” aid they publicly condemned after state revenues plunged because of the Republican-caused recession and the structural state budget deficit they created. They reduced state funding for our schools by over $3 billion. Because our student population continues to grow, the combined reduction in state revenue per student was nearly 13%.
Most Texans support our public schools, yet now Republicans want to cut even more from education and also want to siphon off limited public education funds for inequitable, unaccountable voucher and privatization schemes. Texas Democrats believe these attempts to destroy our public schools must be stopped.
Spread the word; friends don't allow friends to repeat history.
This post is second in a series on the education planks of the 2010 Texas Democratic Party Platform.
This is an unofficial version published in advance of the final version from the Texas Democrats, but I expect very few changes.
EDUCATION
Texas Democrats strongly support our Constitution’s recognition that a free, quality public education is “essential to the preservation of the liberties and rights of the people.” Texas Democrats believe a world class education system is a moral imperative and an economic necessity that requires parents, educators and community leaders to work together to provide our children the skills needed to compete and succeed in a global economy.
Texas Democrats believe all children should be able to attend a safe, secure school and have access to an exemplary educational program that values and encourages critical thinking and creativity, not the “drill and kill” teach-to-the-test policy Republicans have forced on students and teachers. To fulfill this commitment, Texas Democrats continue leading the fight to improve student achievement, lower dropout rates, and attract and retain well-qualified teachers.
Democrats also believe it is essential that all Texans have access to affordable, quality higher education and career education programs, with a renewed emphasis on the importance of a full four year college education, and particular attention to science, technology and engineering.
Spread the word; friends don't allow friends to repeat history.
So, for the next several posts, Millard Fillmore’s Bathtub presents you the unofficial Preamble and education planks of the Texas Democratic Party Platform 2010. The Preamble includes mentions of general philosophy of Texas Democrats regarding education.
2010 Texas Democratic Party Platform
Report of the Permanent Committee on Platform
Preamble
“The Democratic Party is not a collection of diverse interests brought together only to win elections. We are united instead by a common heritage – by a respect for the deeds of the past and a recognition of the needs of the future.”
— John F. Kennedy, from a speech he was to deliver in Austin on November 22, 1963
Texas Democrats believe government can be as good as the people. We have faith that democracy, built on the sacred values of family, freedom and fairness, can afford every Texan, without exception, the opportunity to achieve their God-given potential.
We believe democratic government exists to achieve as a community, state, and nation what we cannot achieve as individuals; and that it must not serve only a powerful few.
We believe every Texan has inalienable rights that even a majority may not take away
…the right to vote
…the right to fair and open participation and representation in the democratic process
…the right to privacy.
We believe in freedom
…from government interference in our private lives and personal decisions
…to exercise civil and human rights
…of religion and individual conscience.
We believe in equal opportunity for all Texans
…to receive a quality public education, from childhood through college
…to have access to affordable, comprehensive health care
…to find a good job with dignity
…to buy or rent a good home in a safe community
…to breathe clean air and drink clean water.
We believe a growing economy should benefit all Texans
…that the people who work in a business are as important as those who invest in it
…that every person should be paid a living wage
…that good business offers a fair deal for customers
…that regulation of unfair practices and rates is necessary
…that the burden of taxes should be fairly distributed
…that government policy should not favor corporations that seek offshore tax shelters, exploit workers, pollute our environment, or spend corporate money to influence elections;
We believe that our lives, homes, communities and country are made secure
…by appropriately staffed and trained law enforcement and emergency agencies
…by retirement and pension security
…by encouraging job security where it is possible and providing appropriate assistance and re-training when it is not
…by the preservation of our precious natural resources and quality of life
…by compassionate policy that offers a safety net for those most vulnerable and in need.
We believe America is made stronger by the men and women who put their lives on the line when it is necessary to engage our military to secure our nation.
We believe America is made more secure by competent diplomatic leadership that uses the moral, ethical, economic assets of a powerful, free nation to avoid unnecessary military conflict.
We believe in the benefits derived from the individual strengths of our diverse population. We honor “family values” through policies that value all our families.
We believe an honest, ethical state government that serves the public interest, and not the special interests, will help all Texans realize economic and personal security.
We believe many challenges require national solutions, but talented and resourceful Texans, blessed with opportunities provided by agriculture, “old” and “new” energy sources, renowned medical and research institutions and high tech industries, should not need federal action to make progress in providing quality education, affordable health care, a clean environment, a strong economy and good jobs.
Based on our belief in a government of the people, by the people, and for the people, we recommend specific policy goals to establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty for ourselves and our posterity.
Education planks from the platform immediately follow the Preamble, a salute to the importance Democrats attach to education and students. Those planks follow in successive posts.
All of the education sections of the 2010 Texas Democratic Party Platform appear here at Millard Fillmore’s Bathtub , in eleven sections, listed in reverse chronological order of posting:
Stark differences show up in the resolutions and platforms of the Texas Democrats, compared to the Texas Republicans. Elections in Texas have great meaning and significance in 2010.
Messy and open to long and loud discussions as the Democrats are, final copies probably won’t be available on line until about Tuesday, after proofing and grammar editing. But you may want to be aware of a few items. In this post I offer only a very, very brief summary of the education planks, holding off on comment until I can analyze the planks further — except to note my delight at the name of the plank, “Reform of the Unbalanced State Board of Education.”
First, the convention passed at least three education resolutions guaranteed to please teachers and friends of education.
One resolution calls for stripping textbook approval authority from the State Board of Education, placing it instead with the education professionals at the Texas Education Agency.
Another resolution calls for fewer standard state tests, higher teacher pay, and repeal of the No Child Left Behind Act.
A third calls for outdoor education, to get students outside and to educate future citizens in conservation and recreation — the “No Child Left Inside Resolution.”
Some of these issues get double attention in the platform. Democrats provides four-and-a-half pages of support for education from pre-kindergarten through graduate school. It is the first series of planks in the Democratic platform, following the preamble immediately, under the major section “Education.”
Public Education Funding first calls for a “100% equitable school finance system with sufficient state revenue to allow every district to offer an exemplary program.” Democrats call for an end to reliance on the “Robin Hood” system, an extension of the 22-pupil-per-class limit, or lower limits, and asks the federal government to fully fund mandates including the Elementary and Secondary Education Act.
Excellent Schools for Every Student calls for universal access to pre-kindergarten and kindergarten, and after school programs for grades 1 through 12. Democrats want a focus on up-to-date instructional materials. One plank calls for opposition to “efforts to destroy bilingual education.” Another calls for all students to become proficient in English and “at least one other language.” This section also urges reduction in “high-stakes tests, used to punish students and school systems.”
Solving the Dropout Crisis includes an explanation that dropouts do not get jobs and pay they might otherwise get, and at a cost to all Texas households. Solutions suggested include community-wide efforts to serve at-risk students and their families, including expanded early childhood education to help at-risk students.
Effective Teachers for Every Student calls for a raise in teacher and support staff pay, “exceeding the national average.” Democrats suggest state-funded health insurance to all education employees. There are planks calling for certified teachers in every classroom, an encouragement of diversity in teachers, and teacher performance measures that look at everything teachers do. This is targeted at a Republican plank, described as “plans to use narrow test results instead.”
There is a call for beefed up pension support for retired teachers, and for the repal of “the federal government pension offset and windfall elimination provisions that unfairly reduce Social Security benfirts for educational retirees and other public employees.”
Reform of the Unbalanced State Board of Education offers few specifics, but does complain about the current SBOE’s having “made a laughingstock of our state’s process for developing and implementing school curriculum standards that determine what our students learn.” The plank specifically mentions recent fights on science standards, language arts standards, and social studies standards. Democrats also call for “sober fiduciary responsibility for the Permanent School Fund, exposing and prohibiting conflicts of interest.”
Making Our Schools Safe Havens for Learning calls for students and teachers to be safe from violence in schools, including bullying. Democrats support the Dignity for All Students Act.
Higher Education calls for opportunities to go to college to be available to all students who wish to pursue a higher education. Democrats complain about “tuition deregulation’s” effects, which they say has been to financially burden especially students from poorer families. Democrats want state support to help ease the burdens.
Community Colleges generally supports community colleges, with similar calls for funding, and support of student opportunities.
Diversity calls for support for diversity programs in schools, community colleges and universities.
A quick comparison with the platform Republicans passed at their convention in Dallas two weeks ago shows some clear lines of demarcation between the two Texas groups. The Texas Tribune, that already-great on-line publication, offers a copy of the Republican platform here. Won’t you join me in analyzing it, and the Democratic platform, and discussing the differences? Comments are open. Please do.
Spread the word; friends don't allow friends to repeat history.
The Education Department held a contest, funded by ARRA, to highlight good work being done by educators across the country.
They soon realized that there would be an even greater benefit if people weren’t simply competing with each other, but sharing ideas.
“In the run up to the competition and afterward [we realized] that there would be great benefit to all of the education community being able to hear about and see these ideas, for people to share information, find opportunities for partnership, [and] . . . for teachers and entrepreneurs to be seen by people who have funding and might be interested in supporting their work.”
Well I remember when Information Services at OERI had most the department’s automation innovation, and it was in an unlocked room with a 386 computer running a toll-free telephone bulletin board. Have we come a long way?
The true innovation was how Ned Chalker beat OPM at put a lock on the door to keep the computers from walking away.
Spread the word; friends don't allow friends to repeat history.
Judge Sam Sparks’ rebuke of the Institution for Creation Research (“Biblical. Accurate. Certain.”) appeared in a number of venues, in addition to those I mentioned earlier (go see here); for the record, you ought to go see:
Texas Tribune continues its award-winning coverage of education in Texas at their blog, with post by Reeve Hamilton; it’s good all on its own, and I don’t say that just because Reeve is a cultural nephew, with whose mother I did reader’s theater in Tucson back in the early Holocene. (Go, Reeve!) Included there is the only comment I’ve seen from ICR:
An ICR spokesperson sent the following statement via e-mail:
The Institute for Creation Research has received the ruling of Judge Sam Sparks from the U.S. District Court in Austin in the case ICR Graduate School v. Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board et al. The attorneys and leadership of ICR associated with this case are currently reviewing Judge Sparks’ ruling and we are weighing our options regarding future action in this matter. In addition to other options, ICRGS has 30 days in which to file an appeal with the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals. ICR has no further comment at this time.
Um, also there is disturbing news for Kermit the Frog.
They are x-rays. Are they still too risqué for use in, say, a senior physics class? Let’s stipulate that the images are sexist (did they do any nude males?). Could they serve any educational purpose? If a physics teacher used some of these in a presentation on x-rays, would the principal and school board complain? Would they get students — males students, especially — interested in studying x-rays?
Maybe the best way to get kids interested, in the best Tom Sawyer fashion, would be to tell them not to go to A Quantum of Knowledge to look at the x-rays. Does your school’s filtering block these pictures?
A Quantum of Knowledge found out about the pictures from Phil Plait at Bad Astronomy. Phil asks the question, “Are they racy?”
Look at the comments there — it sort of boils down to the shoes, doesn’t it? Well, that, and the series of the poses. Any one of the poses might be clinically interesting as an x-ray, but together, they spell “pornography.”
Do they?
In the comments at Bad Astronomy: A discussion of footbinding in China, complete with x-rays; links to more x-rays of feet (presumably female) in stiletto heels; a discussion about whether the calendar photos from EIZO might be photo-shopped or otherwise edited, and not straight up x-rays.
This hoary old fundamentalist institution moved from California to Texas, hoping to take advantage of the generally fundie-friendly environment, and continue a practice of granting masters and doctorate degrees in science education to people who would get jobs in schools and teach creationism instead. They had achieved that goal in California with a lawsuit the state regulators rather botched, and by setting up a special accreditation association that would give a pass to the teaching of non-science.
But when they got to Texas, the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB) had a couple of alert people who blew the whistle on the process of getting a permit to grant degrees. Real scientists and science educators were brought in to evaluate ICR’s programs. They said the programs were not scientific and do not deserve to be accredited.
And then God intervened. At God’s instructions ICR filed legal papers so bizarre that they would, by themselves, expose ICR as a wacko group. ICR’s loss came on the merits of their case, which were nil — it was summary judgment against ICR. Summary judgment means that, even with all the evidence decided in favor of the losing party, that party loses on the basis of the law.
The court took note of just how bizarre were the papers ICR filed. Frosting on the cake of embarrassment.
Judge Sam Sparks, in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas, Austin Division, stopped short of admonishing ICR for the briefs, and instead sifted the briefs to find judiciable claims — an act that will probably prevent ICR from getting a friendly hearing in any appeal. Sparks wrote:
Having addressed this primary issue, the Court will proceed to address each of ICRGS’s causes of action in turn, to the extent it is able to understand them. It appears that although the Court has twice required Plaintiff to re-plead and set forth a short and plain statement of the relief requested, Plaintiff is entirely unable to file a complaint which is not overly verbose, disjointed, incoherent, maundering, and full of irrelevant information.
Whom God destroys, He first makes mad.
Sparks ruled ICR has no free exercise right to grant non-science degrees, no free speech right, and no due process claim to grant them, either. ICR lost on every count of their complaint.
Education issues suffered here at the Bathtub over the past several months. Confession: I don’t like to write while angry, and thinking about education generally gets me there quickly. When I write in anger, I like to sit on the stuff and edit when I’m cooled down. But when I get back to edit, I get angry again.
If you watched the follies from the Texas State Soviet of Education over social studies standards, you might understand some of my anger. I’m fortunate in some ways that my students don’t track the news more closely — they tended to miss the Soviet’s gutting of Hispanic history from Texas history standards, and so they didn’t get angry. More than 85% of my students are Hispanic, many related to the Texas heroes dropped from the standards because they were brown (“What’s Hispanic Heritage Month for, anyway?” the Soviet probably wondered.)
Power of Bubbling -- for a scary story, click on the image and go read it at TweenTeacher
Plus, time for thinking about these issues evaporated during the school year. Summer isn’t much better, though a bunch of us had eight great days with members of the history department at UT-Arlington focusing on the Gilded Age, Progressive Era, Age of Imperialism . . . even though reminded every day that the Texas Soviet doesn’t want us to teach that period as it is recorded in the history books. (No, there are not plans for a translation into Texas Soviet Speak, at least not soon. Teachers will have to make do.)
In one of our (too) many testing/oath-signing sessions this spring, a colleague cynically wondered what would be a good job for a kid who does well on the tests, a kid who has “demonstrated mastery of bubble-guessing.”
Bubble-guessing. Wow. Is that an apt description for what many schools teach these days!
I have a few days to put up the periscope and see what is going on out there. A couple of things I’ve noticed, that you may want to follow:
Education has a new god: data. It is believed to have the power to save American education and thus everything in education must be about data—collect more data about our children, evaluate teachers and administrators based on data, and reward and punish schools using data.
Sound familiar?
Zhao points to serious analyses of the Race to the Top applications and rejections which show, among other things, Pennsylvania was penalized for focusing on early childhood education, instead of collecting data.
Why was it we got into this swamp in the first place, and where did all these alligators come from?
Go read Zhao’s analysis, and maybe cruise around his blog. It’s worth your while. He’s a professor at Michigan State — University Distinguished Professor of Education. (One thing you should read there: Zhao’s slides from a recent speech. E-mail the link to your principal. Somebody find a YouTube version of that speech, please.) [Checker Finn, do you ever get over to this backwater? Zhao’s on to something. Zhao’s on to a lot of things.]
Race to the Top is the worst thing the Obama administration has done, in my opinion. It is aimed, or mis-aimed to give us a nation of bubble-guessers. My guess is that aim is unintentional. But the road to hell, or a Republican majority . . .
While we’re looking around, pay some attention to David Warlick’s 2¢ worth. That’s where I found the links to Zhao.
I could have shared some of these new ideas with her, but it would not have helped. The last time I helped my daughter prepare for a test, it was 8th grade and the unit test on the Civil War. When she walked into that classroom, she could talk about and write about the reasons for the war, what the North and the South wanted to achieve, the advantages that the North held and those of the South, as well as their disadvantages. She could tell you who won and who lost and why.
She made a 52 on the test because she couldn’t give the dates of the major battles of the war.
One of our mantras in the old Transportation Consulting Group at Ernst & Young was to understand that “You’re always ready to fight the last war.” For what we were doing, generally we had to change the technology for each assignment.
That’s doubly true in education, in social studies, I think. I constantly remind myself that my students don’t need the same things I got in high school. We shouldn’t equip students to fight the last war, but instead prepare them to understand they need to get ready for the next one.
And what about your tags? Warlick wonders. No answers, but good wonderings.
Spread the word; friends don't allow friends to repeat history.
Cassie graduated from high school and has already moved on to college. College is where our young Diogenes get bigger and brighter lamps to search with.
No, seriously. Go read the transcript at Media Matters, it gets worse; he’s commenting on the report that a lot of kids will go hungry in America over the summer because they are not attending school where they get a good meal every day:
There are also things in what’s called the kitchen of your house called cupboards. And in those cupboards, most likely you’re going to find Ding-Dongs, Twinkies, Lays ridgy potato chips, all kinds of dip and maybe a can of corn that you don’t want, but it will be there. If that doesn’t work, try a Happy Meal at McDonald’s. You know where McDonald’s is. There’s the Dollar Menu at McDonald’s and if they don’t have Chicken McNuggets, dial 911 and ask for Obama.
And — you know, Dave Barry wouldn’t make this stuff up even if he could, because it’s not funny — Rush said this:
There’s another place if none of these options work to find food; there’s always the neighborhood dumpster. Now, you might find competition with homeless people there, but there are videos that have been produced to show you how to healthfully dine and how to dumpster dive and survive until school kicks back up in August. Can you imagine the benefit we would provide people?
A few of my students do that. They would be the first to tell Rush, it’s not a great way to get a good meal.
Rush should be ashamed of himself. Perhaps he has no sense of shame.
It’s not as if the signs of hunger in America were not clearly visible.
The refrigerator is empty. Image from David Osler
Yeah, I know: Rush is deaf. Really. I didn’t know he is blind, and heartless, too.
James is home for the weekend, then back to Wisconsin on Sunday for a summer of physics beyond my current understanding. He flew home to wish bon voyage to Kenny, who is off to Crete to learn how to teach English, and then (we hope) to find a position teaching English to non-English speakers somewhere in Europe.
I wondered: What about that volcano erupting in Iceland?
Little worry for the trip over, this weekend. Longer term?
So I turned to the Smithsonian to find a volcano expert, and came up with this video of Smithsonian Geologist Liz Cottrell who explains where the eruption of Eyjafjallajökull fits in history, and maybe some — with a lesson in how to pronounce Eyjafjallajökull’s name.
So:
Can teachers figure out how to use this in geography, and in world history? (Science teachers, you’re on your own.)
Life is a gamble if you live close to a volcano, and sometimes when just happen to be downwind.
In the past couple of hundred years, maybe volcanoes worldwide have been unusually quiet.
As to size of eruptions and the damage potential: We ain’t seen nothin’ recently!
Or, until that account is unsuspended by the forces supporting Donald Trump: Follow @FillmoreWhite, the account of the Millard Fillmore White House Library
We've been soaking in the Bathtub for several months, long enough that some of the links we've used have gone to the Great Internet in the Sky.
If you find a dead link, please leave a comment to that post, and tell us what link has expired.
Thanks!
Retired teacher of law, economics, history, AP government, psychology and science. Former speechwriter, press guy and legislative aide in U.S. Senate. Former Department of Education. Former airline real estate, telecom towers, Big 6 (that old!) consultant. Lab and field research in air pollution control.
My blog, Millard Fillmore's Bathtub, is a continuing experiment to test how to use blogs to improve and speed up learning processes for students, perhaps by making some of the courses actually interesting. It is a blog for teachers, to see if we can use blogs. It is for people interested in social studies and social studies education, to see if we can learn to get it right. It's a blog for science fans, to promote good science and good science policy. It's a blog for people interested in good government and how to achieve it.
BS in Mass Communication, University of Utah
Graduate study in Rhetoric and Speech Communication, University of Arizona
JD from the National Law Center, George Washington University
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