High-stakes standardized testing. Why now? Why again? Why ever? Was The Education Trust (EdTrust) involved in the decision? Who is EdTrust, and why would President Biden listen to them?
EdTrust is a pro-school-reform group that carries clout, and they’ve been vocal about schools reopening during the pandemic.
John B. King, Jr., who was education secretary after Arne Duncan for a short time, is now the President and CEO of EdTrust. King was involved with charter schools and became the New York Education Commissioner before becoming education secretary in the Obama administration.
King has been on TV numerous times stating how schools should run during the pandemic. The EdTrust is often cited in the mainstream media, including during the pandemic, like this USA Today report. Reopening schools has been expensive. Making up for student learning losses may be worse.
It’s rare to find one of their headlines referring to public schools in a positive light. Here’s a subheading example: Michigan schools are failing special needs students. But we can fix it.
EdTrust has a long list of corporate sponsors, including the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. They lean heavily towards charter schools and promote themselves as school experts.
President Biden promised teachers an end to high-stakes standardized testing during the campaign. This move to test students during the pandemic may become a turning point in his thus far good relationship with teachers.
President Biden chose Dr. Miguel Cardona as education secretary, a real teacher, and education administrator. He also chose well-qualified Cindy Marten to be the undersecretary of education. But before either Cardona or Marten could get confirmed and their names chiseled on their office doors, we learn high-takes standardized testing will go on during the pandemic.
Here’s the letter stating the testing protocol. The assistant secretary of education announced this decision, and his name is Ian Rosenblum. He came from EdTrust, New York.
Ian Rosenblum is no teacher. Although his grandma and mom were teachers (where have we heard that before), he has a degree in government. EdTrust is no friend to public schools. Why is Rosenblum the assistant secretary of education in the Biden administration?
EdTrust lobbied heavily for testing. Here’s their letter to Dr. Cardona.
Here’s a highlight.
. . . we urge you to refrain from issuing waivers to states that would allow them to bypass student assessment requirements for the 2020-21 school year and instead ask that you call on all states to administer summative statewide assessments.
High-stakes standardized testing at this time is an insult to the teachers more than capable of informally assessing and evaluating student progress, as qualified teachers do. Teachers actually work with students. They have been teaching remotely, in-person and in-class, and online by hybrid.
The same people who claim school buildings should reopen due to the mental anguish students feel from the pandemic are the same folks calling for high-stakes standardized testing. The last thing children need at this time is a standardized test.
They’re the same armchair corporate school reformers who have damaged public schools throughout the years, using high-stakes standardized tests, who want to end these schools and the teaching profession.
Many wanted to believe that President Biden and Dr. Jill Biden were refreshingly different when it came to the old education reforms. Here’s the list of the education appointments in the new Biden administration. If EdTrust is running the show, then it looks unfortunately like Race to the Top 2 is where the nation is headed.
Here’s the list of those wanting the tests.
Education Trust is part of that accountability infrastructure that has built up over the past four years. Combined with the fact that annual testing in grades 3-8 is still the law, and will not go away forever unless the law itself is changed, waivers or no waivers, I’d say the ED is sending out mixed messages. I certainly wasn’t surprised to see that the Deputy who will be the target of all teachers’ wrath was an EdTrust alum. They may have done this to keep his confirmation out of jeopardy.
We could see this as a window for making permanent beneficial changes to a ESSA / NCLB, one chunk at a time.
I worry about the backers. And why would an EdTrust alum have such a position?
DeVos, despite her awful agenda, at least provided testing waivers to the states. It seems like the pandemic calls for additional waivers.
I can’t see anything good coming from this testing. If students do well, tech will take credit, if they do poorly teachers will be blamed.
But I hope you’re right, Nancy, and I always value your ideas. Thanks!
This is the biggest reason that I think that the Dept of Ed needs to be abolished. DeVos should have done it when she had the chance. The few departments that are necessary, could be absorbed by other gov’t departments doing the same type of work. Until the lobbyists are forced out, the problem will persist. Get rid of the department and you solve a very big problem for a whole lot of people.
State departments and local school districts are not always run well either. Would you get rid of them too? The U.S. DOE can be helpful and runs some serious programs like Title I and IDEA. All federal, state and local ed. departments need to keep a check on each other and work to help public schools run efficiently and fairly. The problem with schools right now involves undemocratic outside interference.
Anyone think there’s a chance Cardona could override this? Why are they even letting a non-Senate confirmed Deputy Assistant Secretary (performing the duties of Assistant Secretary) make the decision and not the Acting Secretary Phil Rosenfelt or why don’t they hold off on decisions till Cardona is confirmed?
Good questions. Thanks, Ethan.
Decentralization may be an easy answer but it doesn’t work for federal protections attacked most recently like special needs and civil rights. Lobbyists for the oil companies need to be forced out, and holdovers Dixiecrats need to as well. The Department needs to function without a privatization agenda so that it exists to promote public education, not as a gentrification tool.
Well said! Thank you, Sue.
My thanks to Diane Ravitch.
https://dianeravitch.net/2021/02/26/nancy-bailey-is-edtrust-behind-the-renewal-of-standardized-testing/