On this Thanksgiving, I am remembering parents and teachers, Republicans and Democrats, who work together to create public schools that serve all children. This relationship is sacred and critical for children to learn. Without this bond there’s little hope for public education and America’s future.
The corporate reform, dystopian goal is to destroy public education for a privatized system. This will mean the end of democratic public ownership of public schools. Schools will be owned and marketed by outsiders who collect tax dollars for their own pursuit of profit on the backs of America’s students.
But parents and teachers working together goes a long way to push back the harmful corporate reforms making many troubling changes to schools.
Here are examples of threats to the parent-teacher relationship.
Astroturf Parent Groups with a Charter School Agenda.
Charter schools are mostly run by outside organizations who hire alternatively trained individuals like those from Teach for America. Parents usually have little say as to how these schools are run. They must follow the rules created by the owners.
Recently parents from a Memphis organization funded by the Walton Family Foundation showed up at a rally for Elizabeth Warren at Clark University in Atlanta and interrupted her speech. Warren has called for making charter schools more transparent.
This astroturf group and others like it, have parents who are convinced that charter schools will serve their children well, even though there’s little proof. They don’t seem concerned about who is teaching their children in charter schools. This particular group comes from Memphis which has the Achievement School District, consisting of many charter schools which aren’t doing well.
The Parent Teacher Association (PTA)
The PTA is been on board for corporate school reform. They used to be a great organization to bring parents and teachers together. But, in 2009, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation gave the national organization $1 million to buy their support for Common Core. This was in addition to $3.7 million they’d already received. The standards have been a cash cow for publishing companies but have not improved learning.
The PTA is for harmful policy changes to education like high-stakes testing, critical of parents who opt their children out of tests. And they’re supportive of teacher evaluations based on these policies.
Some local PTAs have ignored the national PTA’s support of Gates’s ideas and have written their own bylaws. Many parents have recognized that the organization was bought off.
The Science of Reading Controversy. Reading education has been controversial for years, and the debate has been used to cast teachers as failing. The lack of respect for professional teachers is especially vicious with the recent agenda.
Some parents whose students have learning difficulties have been convinced that teachers failed their children. But many of these parents have children who have not been able to obtain the services they deserve through IDEA.
Those critical of how teachers teach reading also provide podcasts for Amplify. Here you’ll find Emily Hanford, Robert Podiscio, Natalie Wexler and more individuals who cast public schools as failing to teach students how to read. They look at one variable, decoding.
Amplify stresses the “science of reading” which will ultimately lead students online. The Amplify CKLA is online instruction is an unproven program with a poor track record, a program that began with Rupert Murdoch’s News Corps $1 billion partnership with AT&T.
From Valerie Strauss and the Washington Post’s Answer Sheet, “Rupert Murdoch’s leap into education technology business ends badly.”
With a News Corp. investment of $1 billion and a partnership with AT&T, Amplify was set to sell 4G tablets to school districts and provide digital curriculum and instruction learning products to schools. With its website boldly saying, “Amplify is reimagining the way teachers teach and students learn,” it promised to make big waves in the education technology world, and some well-known figures jumped on board.
These groups work to bring parents and teachers together.
Groups where parents support teachers and teachers stand with parents include:
Parents Across America
Parents recognize and tackle the problems facing public schools. Parents Across America believes in:
- Proven Reforms: We support the expansion of sensible, research-based reforms, such as pre-K programs, full-day Kindergarten, small classes, parent involvement, strong, experienced teachers, a well-rounded curriculum and evaluation systems that go beyond test scores.
- Sufficient and Equitable Funding: Resources do matter, especially when invested in programs that have been proven to work.
- Diversity: We support creating diverse, inclusive schools and classrooms.
- Meaningful Parent Involvement: Parents must have a significant voice in policies at the school, district, state and national levels. We are not just “consumers” or “customers” but knowledgeable, necessary partners in any effective reform effort.
Red for Ed Movement
Last January, I marched with the Red for Ed movement in Richmond, Virginia. At my side was a parent who, I’m honored to say, is one of the most well-versed and highly-respected public school advocates in the nation.
Red for Ed involves mostly teachers, but many parents have signed on to advocate for public schools with teachers. They recognize the democratic ownership they have of their public schools, that should hire well-prepared teachers to instruct America’s students.
Teachers’ Union
During the Chicago Teachers Union strike several weeks ago, a picture circulating on social media. A teacher, a mom herself, carried a child who belonged to another mother, a parent who was marching with teachers in Chicago during the teachers’ strike. The mom had carried her child for blocks in support of teachers who were fighting for better conditions for children in their schools. When the child’s teacher saw this, she ran to her and took over carrying her child. As was pointed out, that’s what good teachers do.
I know many parents who blog and stand up for public schools across the country. They do careful research and speak eloquently at school board meetings. They write letters to the editor, letters to Congress, and work closely with teachers at their local schools.
Teachers and parents together, fighting for public education and great public schools are a formidable force. They cement the bond that’s necessary for good teaching to occur. They work to save public schools in America.
On this Thanksgiving, let’s give thanks for the American spirit found in those teachers and parents.
That’s a useful list, thanks, Nancy. Happy Thanksgiving.
Thanks, Mate! Happy Thanksgiving to you!
Make all public schools great again. Quit defunding them as has been done in my state of Michigan since 1994. Guess what you can see the steady decline from that time on. Gov. Engler was one of the GOP republicans to start this concerted effort to bring down education by blaming the teachers. This attack on teachers has been steady and achieved its task with the Koch brothers and all others. The demonization of the profession made teachers look like evil folks sucking off the public trough to become millionaires. Really, when most teachers just wanted to teach . Sadly the negative portrayal of teachers worked. Now folks out there are seeing what all this charter and profiteering has done to education. We even have a Sec. of Education in Betsy DeVos a $$bazillionaire who never attended a freakin public school promoting christian education and for profit schools.. This abuse of student testing is so ridiculous and so way to often it only satisfies politicians of the GOP who want privatization and all the money behind it. We can do better as….. E. Cummings just pronounced before his untimely death. Let us all make Public Education once great again. It is for a better for America.
Amen, James. It started with Engler and has never stopped. You’re correct. Thanks!
As a founding parent of Decoding Dyslexia Maryland I and thousands of Maryland parents (and teachers) have no problem with teachers. In my case, every teacher my children encountered had the best of intentions across the multiple states where we were stationed. Unfortunately our teachers were not provided the tools they needed to address struggling readers and dyslexia to prevent severe difficulties. Please don’t put words in my mouth.
Teacher education pipelines are partly to blame. Add to that the blatant disregard of the evidence on how students learn to read. School system administrators — not well versed in early literacy — throw good money after bad year after year attempting to purchase programs to replace good teachers and teaching.
We need to get back to our roots — my grandmother was an elementary school principal and a first grade teacher for 30 years. She graduated with honors from Madison Teacher’s College. Although she was not allowed to teach “phonics” in her schools, she did so after school for hundreds of students who were not learning to read. Today though, we know we need more than phonics — we need phonemic awareness, language comprehension skills (knowledge building, vocabulary) to build reading comprehension and automaticity.
It’s very simplistic to vilify “science of reading” people against everyone else. America needs to take a hard look at teacher prep and dig in. According to teachers, it’s a mess out there. And perhaps teachers should start demanding their money back.
The science of reading is based on the flawed NRP results. Have you read the history of the NRP and Reading First?
If it’s a mess out there, it is likely due to the conditions teachers face teaching.
I might add that many parents with students who have reading disabilities reject resource classes.
You don’t mention online instruction like Amplify and other online programs. You don’t mention Common Core State Standards which expect kindergartners to read before many are developmentally ready.
I don’t know where your grandmother taught, but phonics has been around for years. I taught phonics (remediation) in the 70s, 80s and 90s, Although phonics was sometimes done in third grade.
I never remember anyone restricting my use of phonics. My school district often had professional development involving phonics.
But thanks for commenting. You’re not alone in your concerns.
I’m one of those horrible teacher education people
Guess what’s on my syllabi: phonemic awareness, phonics, comprehension, fluency, building background knowledge and writing. What do you think we teach? All teachers say they don’t think they were prepared in college. I did as a young teacher. It’s because being a teacher is complicated and hard, you have to learn on the job. You have to make a million decisions at once while your decision making is questioned and often taken away from you. Another group of people organizing to spread misinformation and say teachers don’t know what they’re doing does not help!
While I’m encouraged that you learned to teach PA/phonics & the essential components of reading in your teacher prep coursework, and that you can apply them to students, it’s not status quo. Perhaps other colleges will follow your preparation program — which undergrad prep program prepared you to teach these concepts?
This is not misinformation about teaching or teachers — it’s not “one group” saying “something” about educators. It’s students not learning to read and write. It’s educators saying “I didn’t get what I needed to be effective.” See The Reading League’s You Tube Channel—it’s full of teacher testimonials and they are powerful. Parents are at the bottom of the food chain — we want to support students, teachers and schools, but we are often left in the dark about reading. Help us help you — share good prep programs and practices and get other schools onboard.
I think teachers are feeling vilified by parents who don’t respect them as professionals. It is difficult to know what individual schools are and are not doing for the students who have reading disabilities. But the idea that phonics has been left out of reading instruction is preposterous. This controversy goes way back to NCLB. I learned how to sound out words in my third grade class in the late 1950s. What I think we’re really talking about here is inclusion.
I can understand why teachers might feel vilified. In my experience, parents are very frustrated that their child is not learning to read, write and spell. That can create tension and I’ve seen parents lash out at teachers as “part of the system” – it takes time for a parent to address their child’s needs and then join in solution-finding vs complaining.
Many states have acknowledged there’s a problem with reading instruction and are taking steps to find solutions to help all students, including students w/ dyslexia. Many state’s have adopted screening protocols that not only helps students, but also helps schools root out poor practices in first instruction (core/tier I).
In MD, we work with our teachers – they are the key to change and they are the loudest voice standing next to parents asking for solutions. I’m happy to connect you with these teachers, school psychs, SPL paths, etc., if you are interested.
During a school board meeting, one of our largest school districts explained the need for additional reading PD for inservice teachers and admin.
The problem with reading isn’t “just phonics.” I’d love to. hear more about how inclusion solutions might help with reading.
Laura,
I can’t believe how much of an expert you are in all of this.
What will you do when your mandates fail MY children? Why do you have the right to force your beliefs on MY children?
Nancy knows my story but because of you, my children are being forced to have a rigid phonics program. Every child in 5th grade because of your push has 30 minutes of this phonics program. She’s a reader but hates 30 minutes of this program that is doing NOTHING for her. Fortunately, she has me to help her understand these 2 1/2 hours a week have nothing to do with reading. But to all of the other children who are learning to HATE reading due to your push that has been done before and has failed before.
Due to your push my daughter would have been labeled dyslexic as a 5 year old had I allowed it. Because I know of the research and best practices I didn’t allow for them to do this. I did not allow for them to pull her out of the classroom to do another intensive phonics program because I knew it wouldn’t work for her. But yet. . . she reads and more importantly understands what she is reading.
Do you ever worry that your push (that has been done before but now with social media’s ability to push lies even more) will fail millions of children?
Do you also tell medical doctors how to practice medicine for ALL children?
Tutucker,
I think it’s wonderful your child was given what he or she needed to be successful.
Many children need explicit, systematic, teaching in the essential components of reading instruction — ESSA stipulates those components — see section 6368 and sec. 2221.
Those students who need more intensive interventions than typical learners may need a little extra help with phonemic awareness, phonics, background knowledge — it’s different for every kid. Some students with dyslexia need more intensive intervention to learn to read, write and spell and typically this is done in a special education setting. Why would you be outraged by this?
More often than not, these students don’t get what they need and parents are forced to pay out of pocket for additional instruction/tutoring or private schools. Others, who can’t afford intensive dyslexia remediation, are left without choices. This is not the fault of teachers, but is a system-wide problem in Maryland that the state is addressing.
If you want to know more about teacher preparation in reading, join the Twitter chat #elachat — that’s what my original post was about. There are teachers who want to know how to help kids learn to read and how to help students with dyslexia succeed. Twitter chats are free — Wednesday’s at 8pm, weekly.
tutucker says You might want to really think about what reading means today versus 137 years ago. Mediocre standards today.
https://www.facebook.com/posie.boggs/posts/2914791648540287
Would like to see Parents for Public Schools added to the list of orgs that support public schools/teachers