The Vote Tracker: Review the New Bills Introduced Last Week

The Vote Tracker: Review the New Bills Introduced Last Week

Representative John Kowalko pre-filed a couple of bills last week that are worthy of mention. First, House Bill 42 calls for the University of Delaware and Delaware State University to be fully subject to the state Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). House Bill 43 adds appointed members of the Cash Management Policy Board to the definition of “public officers.” This designation would subject the appointed members of the Board to annual financial disclosure requirements. Think of this as former Treasurer Chip Flowers’ legacy. House Bill 44 seeks to phase out the use of three controversial flame retardants in children's products or furniture sold in Delaware. But the granddaddy of them all, the bill that will bring down an Administration’s education agenda, House Bill 50. This bill would give parents or guardians the right to opt their children out of the Smarter Balanced Assessment System.
Clean Water Petition

Clean Water Petition

The Clean Water Campaign is a statewide effort to educate people about Delaware’s water quality and to secure support for dedicated funding. Clean water is critical to our economy, environment, wildlife, food source, and public health. So please consider signing a petition to the General Assembly to provide funding for Clean Water for Delaware. Come inside to learn more.
Begun, the Education Wars Have.

Begun, the Education Wars Have.

Today's News Journal Dialogue Delaware section dovetails nicely with the post I wrote on Friday. I've been told by multiple people, in and out of the education field, that it has the best headline ever. Sometimes cutting through the bullshit calling bullshit bullshit is the best way to garner attention to an important truth: all standardized testing is bullshit. At least in relation to the stated goal of helping students learn and gauging their learning progress. Representative Sean Matthews, himself a teacher, has penned a wonderful op-ed in the above Dialogue Delaware section, and he uses more polite language to make the same point.
There are many ways to talk about the role standardized testing plays in our public schools, but there's one question that we have to answer before we can debate the issue: Do these tests make our students smarter, more capable and more prepared to lead successful lives? After decades of testing at all levels, with different standards, methods, benchmarks and outcomes, the answer to that question is not what we thought it would be. Overwhelming numbers of scholars, parents, statisticians and legislators are starting to realize, with evidence, that standardized testing and the policies that flow from testing are doing more harm than good. Over the next three months, students in Delaware's charter and traditional community schools will be asked to take a standardized test called the Smarter Balanced Assessment. The stated goal of this test is to pinpoint strengths and weaknesses in our educational system. But that's not the whole story. Most standardized tests are designed by for-profit companies that market their materials to states, which are required by federal law to test public school students in return for federal funding. Under this business relationship, the best interests of the testing firm are not aligned with the best interests of students, teachers and schools. Instead, there is great incentive to make students and their educators look like they're "failing" so that these same firms can offer their own branded "reforms" and "solutions" to states and districts, for a worthy fee.
Moral Monday Prayer-In Tomorrow

Moral Monday Prayer-In Tomorrow

Tomorrow (March 16, 2015), the first Delaware Moral Monday will take the form of a Prayer-In on East Steps of Legislative Hall in Dover. From the press release: The issues facing our state are both deeply spiritual and social. In response to the hyper-criminalization of people of color and the evident disparities present within the state’s criminal justice system, participants will gather to pray that the God of justice would intervene on behalf of the marginalized during this legislative session. Both specific and general criminal justice concerns will be at the forefront. The repeal of the death penalty, one such matter that will be introduced in the Senate on March 18, will be advocated.

The Weekly Addresses

President Obama lays out his vision for quality, affordable higher education for all Americans. Governor Markell speaks on his effort to reduce school testing.
Testing. Performance. Assessment. It’s All Fucking Bullshit.

Testing. Performance. Assessment. It’s All Fucking Bullshit.

Governor Markell thinks that Delaware students are taking too many tests, probably because he required them to take too many tests, and so Governor Markell is going to reduce the number of tests so as to relieve the massive burden he placed on teachers and students. How nice of him. Of course, he is not eliminating tests immediately. He wants a review of the situation, another task force, to determine which state and district wide tests are redundant, and then we will do away with the duplicative tests. So it's not that tests are bad, or that many tests are bad, so long as they are not duplicative. So this is a delaying tactic to respond to the rapidly growing movement that is opposed to a lot of Markell-based and Federal-based efforts to reform education. People are upset, so maybe this announcement will placate some. To me, it ignores the core (no pun intended) of the issue. Why are we testing?

Friday Daily Delawhere [3.13.15]

The Tatnall House, on Market Street in Wilmington's Brandywine Village. The house was built in 1770, and was once the headquarters for Revolutionary War general Anthony Wayne. George Washington held…