Archive for March, 2007

More, More, More!

Monday, March 26th, 2007

Many politicians, district administrators, and school leaders around the country are implementing or considering longer days and extended school years for those schools that have been labelled failing or whose test scores are lower compared to other schools.

Here’s a link to a New York Times article, March 26, 2007. (requires logging in)

This misguided and dangerous proposition seems to follow the principle that if something isn’t working, it just needs more of the same. This policy is wrong in any field – business, politics, medicine, etc. – but it is especially detrimental when we are talking about the development and lives of young people.

Most of the schools that have already made this transition or are now considering it are located in inner cities, and are populated by students from largely low-income and minority families. Subjecting young people in this demographic to additional coercive educational practices can only increase the negative effects of the current conventional system, leading to greater and deeper alienation, dislike of learning, rebellion, and stifling of creativity and personality for the majority of students.

While it is possible that some, perhaps even most, students may show a gain in test scores, the question that MUST be asked is, “At what cost?” This plan attempts to force dubiously-valuable gains in test scores at the expense of students’ curiosity, interests, individual differences, enjoyment of learning, and true intellectual, personal, and social development.

We must engage with legislators, school officials, and others to assert that instead of more of the same damaging educational practices, young people need an education that follows a different paradigm – an empowering educational approach in which students have the opportunity to experience self-direction and take control of their lives and learning with the guidance and support of caring adults and other students.

Posted in Education Policy, General Education News | No Comments »

Republican Proposal to Modify NCLB

Thursday, March 22nd, 2007

On both the left and the right of the political spectrum there is unfortunately vast support for the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) legislation that is up for renewal this year. However, there are pockets of resistance that have been growing over the years as the increased testing and accountability measures begin to have more and more of an effect on students, teachers, parents, and school districts.

NCLB critics on the left may be surprised to learn that it is not Democrats but Republicans in Congress who have thus far expressed the strongest critique and put forward the most clear proposals to modify the education law. Republican Rep. Peter Hoekstra of Michigan has introduced legislation in the House (called the A-PLUS Act – Academic Partnerships Lead Us to Success) that would provide states with flexibility on how to use the federal funds dedicated to education, thus freeing the states from much of the federal mandates including the testing provisions. Over fifty representatives have co-sponsored the bill, while five senators have co-sponsored a companion bill introduced in the Senate by Jim DeMint, Republican of South Carolina.

Hoekstra makes important points about the oppressive effects of testing and standardization on children. From his Congressional website: “No Child Left Behind has created more testing, more paperwork and has cost schools more money to comply with federal mandates. . . . No Child Left Behind has created a one-size-fits-all approach to education when students and schools are very unique with very different needs that require very different approaches.”

However, there are significant concerns I have with these proposals, especially the motivation for the legislation as well as the extent of the freedom and flexibility. Hoekstra is clear when he says, “The A-PLUS Act will restore accountability to parents and schools as states advance individually tailored academic policies.” However, it is not only parents to whom schools are accountable, but also to the students. Those who focus only on the freedom of parents to choose the kind of education for their child might be doing a disservice to the children themselves, who are the ones directly impacted by schools and educational approaches. The logical extension of flexibility and freedom for states, schools, and parents, is flexibility and freedom for students to choose and have a voice in the design of their own education.

Nonetheless, Republicans like Hoekstra can be key allies in reducing the extent of federal control of educational practice and assessment and promoting more individualized and less standardized educational approaches.

More articles on these proposals:
- Education Week article
- Washington Post article

Posted in Education Policy | No Comments »

Website for IDEC 2007

Thursday, March 22nd, 2007

The 2007 International Democratic Education Conference (IDEC) organizing committee in Brazil has put together a website for the event. It’s a wiki interface, meaning everyone can add information, workshops, questions, etc. to the site. Check it out:

IDEC 2007 Website – www.idec2007.org

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Environmental Justice

Thursday, March 15th, 2007

I want to share some reactions to a powerful event I had the opportunity to attend on the topic of Environmental Justice. Several of the leaders of the New York City environmental justice movement spoke at The Calhoun School on March 13, including:

- Elizabeth Yeampierre of UPROSE – a Latino community-based organization in Brooklyn focusing on organizing, advocacy and developing intergenerational indigenous leadership through activism

- Yolanda Gonzalex of Nos Quedamos – a nonprofit community development corporation of the the South Bronx, committed to preserving their voice and vision for their community and its future.

- Mathy Stanislaus of New Partners for Community Revitalization – brings together diverse stakeholders to advance the revitalization of New York’s communities, with a particular focus on brownfield sites in and proximate to low and moderate income neighborhoods and communities of color.

- Cecil. D. Corbin-Mark of We Act – West Harlem Environmental Action – a non-profit, community-based, environmental justice organization dedicated to building community power to fight environmental racism and improve environmental health, protection and policy in communities of color.

- Rico Bautista, a senior at Calhoun School and a youth organizer with Youth Justice

The panelists were clear in distingiushing environmental justice from the general environmentalist movemement due to the civil rights perspective of environmental justice, focusing on how environmental issues disproportionately effect people of color and people of low-income. The facts the panelists shared about the gross preponderance of asthma in low-income communities including the South Bronx and Harlem, the unequal distribution of bus depots and waste management facilities into low-income communities, and the continual development of land and waterfront by developers and government without including the voice of the people in local communities.

I was particularly struck by the Principles of Environmental Justice, which were drafted in 1991 at the First People of Color Environmental Leadership Summit, and which provide a framework for future development and efforts toward environmental sustainability. Environmentalists who fail to consider how climate change, overdevelopment, and other issues disproportionately affect people of color and low-income are ignoring a vital aspect of reality.

I hope the connection between the issue of environmental justice and the movement for democratic education is clear. Both approaches value the voice of each individual person and maintain that we must listen to all people and include all those effected by decisions in decision-making processes. But most importantly, both approaches are grounded in the principles of respect, equality, and open communication, and both perspectives are guided by a strong vision of a caring, sustainable, and interdependent community.

Posted in NYC Education, Sustainability | No Comments »

Margaret Spellings and the U.S. House

Tuesday, March 13th, 2007

U.S. Education Secretary Margaret Spellings testified before the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Education on March 12, broadcast on C-Span and viewable at this link. It was a telling reminder of the close-mindedness and corruption that seems to pervade the Education Department and the administration overall.

Committee members grilled Spellings as to the funding cuts proposed by the administration. More than once, Representatives compared these cuts and the administration’s overall 2008 funding request for education ($56 billion) to the recent request for an additional $100 billion for the occupation of Iraq.

The most dynamic part of the hearing featured a dialogue between Committee Chairman Dave Obey (D-WI) and Spellings regarding the controversial Reading First initiative, which supports a strict form of phonics instruction to the exclusion of more progressive whole language approaches. Obey presented evidence from the education department’s Inspector General, among other sources, alleging favoritism and conflicts of interest between the administration and the Reading First program. Many states and cities describe the Department of Education’s attempts to pressure the jurisdictions to implement the Reading First program, even rejecting grant proposals that do not include the Reading First curriculum.

Susan O’Hanian, who has been tracking the Reading First issue and other “Outrages” of the No Child Left Behind law, has catalogued much of the evidence described by Obey at the hearing on the 12th. The Inspector General’s report also maintains that officials who haveadvocated for the Reading First initiative have personal ties to publishing companies such as McGraw-Hill and Pearson, companies which have and will continue to reap profits from governmental support for this program. More about this can be found here.

Also striking at the committee hearing was Spellings’ insistence that education programs and methods be scientifically-proven, and the lack of critique of this position by the House Representatives on the committee. Yet while it may make sense to base our work in the hard sciences on numerically-proven data, it becomes exponentially more complicated and problematic to base our work in the social fields on numerical data. This is especially true for education, when we are dealing with the learning and growth of young people, all of whom are different and unique. Any attempt to base what we do solely on quantitative data will be a gross generalization that serves to reject the individual differences of people and how we learn.

Research does have a role to play, but research based on high-stakes standardized tests (the data typically used by educational officials) is wrought with problems, including judging students on only one score, reducing education to a number game, and narrowing the definition of what it means to be educated. Instead, we need more research on the extent to which schools support students in becoming self-directed individuals, developing creativity, growing in self-confidence, developing compassion, deepening critical thinking skills, etc.

Imagine a society in which education officials and politicians have hearings in Washington D.C. discussing the extent to which schools enable the development of these qualities, rather than discussing the apparent corruption resulting from an over-reliance on testing and the greed of companies for more money.

Posted in Education Policy | No Comments »

IDEAS study program

Monday, March 12th, 2007

The Institute for Democratic Education (IDE) in Israel is beginning a year-long study program for educators and activists from around the world to learn about democratic education, entrepreneurship in education, peace processes and sustainability, and educational change.

After spending a month in Israel with the IDE back in 2004 visiting schools around the country and participating in workshops with the IDE staff and education students, I can not recommend this program strongly enough. It is an amazing opportunity to learn more about and see in action the pioneering work in democratic education going on in Israel every day.

From the IDE website:

“Dear friend,
We invite you to join us and be a part of the creation of new program to be opened here in Israel, on the end of this coming October 2007, under the supervision of the IDE (Institution of Democratic Education). A new academic, one yearly program will be opened for many people like you from all over the world. We call it – IDEAS: International Democratic Education Academic Studies. IDEAS aims to have a strong international focus. The program is taught in English and will be held in “Hakibutzim-College” – the biggest teacher’s training college in the Israel, where IDE is based. It is a program that meant for educators and activists, who seek to know and experience more about Democratic-Education, and Global Changing Processes. We are looking for open-minded people keen to interact with others like them.”

Check out their website for a PDF flyer and more information.

Posted in Democratic Education, International News | 1 Comment »

Gates and the U.S. Congress

Monday, March 12th, 2007

Unfortunately, it seems that every day Bill Gates and the Gates Foundation get further and further away from their educational roots. Just this past week, as picked up by the Associated Press, Gates testified to the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, largely regarding educational issues. However, instead of emphasizing the deep significance of small schools, personalization, and relevancy in education, as was Gates’s powerful stance until recently, he spoke mainly about the need for higher national standards:

“We simply cannot sustain an economy based on innovation unless our citizens are educated in math, science and engineering,” said Gates.

Yet once again Gates doesn’t reconcile the inherent conflict between higher standards/required coursework and the qualities of innovation and discovery. While increasing requirements for students may sound right at first glance, the result of such an exansion of coercive practices in education is to expand the stifling of children’s learning that is already happening to such a large degree in conventional educatinal practice. Simply because we want something to happen (i.e. have young people learn science and math well enough to become innovators in this field), it does not follow that we should require the completion of certain classes or work. Often the act of mandating something causes an individual to dislike or rebel from whaveter it is we are requiring.

Perhaps Gates and others advocating a push for more standards in math/science education and otherwise should listen to the advice of preeminent scientist Albert Einsten, who famously said:

“It is, in fact, nothing short of a miracle that the modern methods of instruction have not yet entirely strangled the holy curiosity of inquiry; for this delicate little plant, aside from stimulation, stands mainly in need of freedom; without this it goes to wrack and ruin without fail. It is a very grave mistake to think that the enjoyment of seeing and searching can be promoted by means of coercion and a sense of duty.” (emphasis added) (in Goodman, 1962, p. 6)

Gates had it right initially, when most of his foundation support went to helping large schools convert into smaller schools, and to the start-up and strengthening of small schools around the country. Such notable schools included the Met Schools in Rhode Island and The Liberty School in Maine, both of which feature self-directed learning and democratic practices.

But we may yet have a chance to influence Gates. After speaking of personalization, relationships, relevance, smallness, and innovative schools for so long, he can’t switch over to his new higher standards mantra for too long before realizing the hypocrisy of trying to mandate innovation, and the sterility of educational practice without the “holy curiosity of inquiry” that can only flourish in freedom.

Reference:
Goodman, P. (1964). Compulsory mis-education and the community of scholars. New York: Vintage Books.

Posted in Education Policy, General Education News | No Comments »

Proposal for IDEC 2008

Monday, March 12th, 2007

David Gagnon and a group from Vancouver have submitted a proposal to host the 2008 International Democratic Education Conference (IDEC). The organizing group would be the Society for the Advancement of Non-coercive Education (SANE), a group affiliated with Windsor House School, the longest-running democratic school in Canada.

This would be the second IDEC held in North America since the IDECs began in 1993, and first held on the West coast of the continent. The proposal, which is the first and only proposal thus far for 2008, will now be discussed through the IDEC listserve by educators and students from around the world, and could be approved before the 2007 IDEC in Brazil this September.

The complete proposal is presented here. For more information or to contact David, email him at countplatypus@gmail.com.

March 11, 2007

Friends,

We submit this letter to formally request approval to host the 2008 International Democratic Education Conference (IDEC) in Vancouver, Canada. We look forward to bringing our resources, skills, passion and hard work to this endeavour.

Who we are:

We are The Society for the Advancement of Non-Coercive Education (SANE); we have been organizing under this title since 1992. Our mandate is to support democratic, non-coercive learning environments.

SANE grew from the Windsor House School parents group in order to support Windsor House Democratic School with a broadly mandated advocacy group. The members of SANE bring with us, the experience of growing and learning with Windsor House throughout its 35+ years history. We are a collaborative group of former and current Windsor House teachers, students, parents, founders, researchers, and supporters. Windsor House is Canada’s longest running democratic school; it is distinctive in the international democratic school community for having a combination of parent participation, public funding, little academic coercion, a democratic government and multi-age groupings.

Our involvement with IDEC:

Of our current organizing committee, 1 of our members attended IDEC at Summerhill in England (1999), 4 members attended in Berlin, Germany (2005), and 14 attended in Albany, New York (2003); we intend to take part in IDEC 2007 in Sao Paulo, Brazil. We look forward to bringing the knowledge gained from these experiences home to Vancouver in 2008.

Our motivation to host:

As a location:
This will be the first Canadian IDEC and the first conference to be hosted on the West Coast of North America. Due to the social and cultural makeup, amenities and natural resources, Vancouver is a highly desirable destination for people from around the world. Additionally, Canada’s comparatively accessible border facilitates the attendance of many international visitors.

As an organization:
SANE is in a time of transition. As with transitions generally, this is rich in both rewards and challenges. We are excited to be broadening our goals and directing our energies towards imagining and planning a broad-spectrum democratic educational institute. Simultaneously, Windsor House School is currently in crisis. As a community, we have creatively negotiated many challenges through the generations; our past, present, and hoped for futures will work together to inform this conference. We feel this is a powerful time to invite members of the international democratic education community to share our strong and distinctive history and to collectively strategize for our uncertain and exciting futures. We are motivated by the conversations and connections that we expect to develop, by the task of working together to create such an exciting event, and by the anticipation of raising our profile locally and internationally.

As a group:
We are well positioned to take on this project. As our history of working together attests, we are skilled at creating success by overcoming seemingly insurmountable obstacles. We have a strong collaborative relationship, have successfully worked on many other committees and projects together, enjoy working with one another, and trust each other’s competencies. Additionally, we have a large community of people to assist with supporting this conference.

Our goals for the 2008 IDEC conference are to:

• Incorporate a profoundly interactive, flexible, and exciting democratic program for young people as a central part of the conference; this will be modeled on Windsor House and organized and run by alumni and students.
• Foster dialogues across locations, experiences, and approaches within democratic schooling.
• Network and strategize internationally regarding issues facing democratic schooling including the benefits and dangers of public funding.
• Provide a forum to discuss models of how to raise our children given the many crises we face in the world.
• Conduct a conference as carbon neutral and as environmentally friendly as possible.
• Facilitate workshops and events that enrich schools and help them grow in strength.
• Help people experience other democratic schools around the world.
• Generate and increase interest in democratic education in our region and internationally.
• Raise the profile of SANE both within our region and internationally.
• Have a great deal of fun, meet new people, increase allies, and inspire creative strategies for our futures.

Thank you for your consideration and support. We look forward to bringing our commitment, experience, energy and skill to creating a vibrant, fun, and informative IDEC 2008.

Vancouver IDEC Organizing Committee; SANE

Posted in Democratic Education, International News | No Comments »

IDEC 2007 Info

Saturday, March 10th, 2007

Democratic educators, students, and supporters around the world can breath a sigh of relief as information about the next International Democratic Education Conference (IDEC) has finally appeared from the Brazil organizing team. Read on…

IDEC-BRASIL. INFO Nº1/2007

Dear community,

After some time without news, now we have some good ones!

Venue

Our partnership with the World Education Forum is set and we have the venue of the conference, the Nautico College, offered its space for us to our meetings. For some pictures and information in portuguese http://www.nautico. edu.br/ at Histórico.

Website

Now the website www.idec2007.org is under construction, it is a colaborative website organized in wiki, like wikipedia. If you want to colaborate, mainly with translation, please let us now.
We want to thank Mike Weiman from KRATZA, that helped us with the domain and some tecnical issues.

Interested people

We would like to know how many of you want to attend IDEC 2007. Put your names, institution, things you need to come, difficults at the website at Are you interested in coming?
So we can have an innitial perspective about how many people want to come.

Fees

To calculate the fees we have to know all of our costs, mainly with accomodations and food, that we still don´t have. So, we ask for patience ;-)

Financial Support

We are writing a project for a Finacial Support to a Research centre for that kind of conferences, for that we need to know from the Organization of previous IDECs eventual financial support that you had.

As soon as possible, we´ll send new information.

Thank you,

Carol Sumie and OrgTeam

[To contact Carol, email her at casumie@gmail.com]

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