This article by Kim Allender was published in the "Benchmark" the newsletter of the Burbank Teachers Association. Kim is co-president and has been working to make the CTA and teachers aware of the real threats to our profession. 

AMERICA'S OTHER WAR DEFENDING PUBLIC EDUCATION 

By Kim Allender, BTA Co-President 

What America is fighting for in the war on terrorism are basic principles of our democratic way of life -- freedom of choice, freedom of religion, freedom of speech, and freedom of association, to name just a few. Throughout our history Americans have rallied and unified, as they have now, when our basic rights and freedoms are under attack. But another hard won right of American democracy has been under attack for almost twenty years and Americans are largely unaware of its creeping impact. The right to a free and equal public education has been under siege since the publishing of A Nation At Risk during the Reagan Administration in 1983. At the time, the commission that produced the report was criticized by many as being predisposed to find something wrong with public education, although most educators accepted the report as one more turn in the road in the long history of public education reform movements in the U.S. 

With the perspective of almost twenty years it is now clear that "A Nation At Risk" was the linchpin of an evolving social and political attack to dismantle public education, not just reform it. In 1996 David Berliner and Bruce Biddle published their book, The Manufactured Crisis, in which they point out the many distortions of data and intentional misinformation which became part of the presidential commission1s report. It has become clear that the main purpose of the report was to so damage public confidence in our education system that people could be persuaded to replace it with a privatized, free market education system. 

In California we have twice worked to defeat one of the favorite "nose under the tent" methods of the privatization movement --- voucher initiatives that would give public money to private schools and home schooling parents. But now, under the mantra of accountability, the following, more subtle tools of the movement to dismantle public education have found their way into the daily lives of teachers in Burbank and throughout California

€ Excessive testing (stealing instructional time away from science, social studies, and fine arts) 
€ Unrealistic academic content standards (politically motivated and often developmentally inappropriate) 
€ Endless assessment paper work (ILP1s, etc. for students failing to meet standards) 
€ Dubiously formulated API scores (supporting unfair school awards and sanctions) 
€ Unfair teacher bonus awards (promoting competition and inhibiting collaboration) 
€Teacher-proof scripted instruction (one size fits all instruction which can be delivered by paraprofessional teachers) 
€ Public state and federal money for hiring private consultants (unregulated privatization of of education) 
€ Unfair high school exit exams (an assumption that all students must fit an academic track for career preparation) 

At the dawning of the 21st Century it is clear that one of the things at risk in America is the future of universal public education. Beginning with the intentionally distorted "facts" of A Nation At Risk, the enemies of universal public education have been finding each other and combining forces to get the government out of education. They have relied heavily on media disinformation, creating a false perception that our education system is failing. The irony of this public misperception is that a vast majority of people give high marks to their local public school while acquiescing to the view that the rest of the system is in shambles. This apparent contradiction is lost in the media hysteria which feeds on promoting doom. 

Amazingly, the public perception of a failing educational system persists in spite of the emergence of the U.S. in the past twenty years as the main thrust-engine of the global economy with (until the recent downturn) less than 5% unemployment. This, in spite of the fact that the U.S. is the only remaining super power with unequaled military technology. This, in spite of the fact that the U.S. leads the world in computer literacy with a majority of households now owning a computer. This, in spite of the fact that on a recent international test of literacy U.S. students ranked the same or better than 29 out of 32 participating countries, including the United Kingdom, Austria, France, and Germany. Only Canada, Finland, and New Zealand scored higher than U.S. students.* These facts beg the question, "Where is this crisis in American education?" 

Since a false crisis requires a false"solution" the government has produced the 1999 report of the National Reading Panel (NRP) to implement its predetermined agenda. The NRP is central to the Bush Education Plan, as well as the legislative mandates in California which reward or punish school districts for their compliance or non compliance with the NRP's "scientific research." It is important to note that while the NRP addresses reading, its implications are important to all levels and all disciplines in teaching. 

Writing in the March, 2001 issue of the Phi Delta Kappan, Dr. Elaine Garan (CSU, Fresno) assails the NRP as being highly biased and inaccurate. In her article, "Beyond the Smoke and MirrorsA Critique of the National Reading Panel Report on Phonics", Garan exposes the inaccuracy of the NRP data.** She and numerous other researchers have documented that the NRP is fatally flawed research. Furthermore although the findings have been misrepresented, education policy in California and elsewhere is being based on these false claims. 

The state of California and the federal government claim the NRP results represent a strong endorsement for teaching systematic, isolated phonics as represented by commercial programs such as Open Court. Actually, Garan says, the true findings of the NRP show the exact opposite! Phonics skills, as they are taught in Open Court and similar programs do NOT transfer to comprehension or spelling at any grade level. In fact, the results are actually NEGATIVE! Nevertheless, the NRP is being touted even though it is a false solution to a false crisis. Why? What is the true agenda? 

In his newest book entitled The War Against America1s Public Schools, research psychologist Gerald W. Bracey says that the so-called crisis is a concerted push to dismantle public education by political and religious conservatives, big business interests (such as textbook and test publishers and private consultants), and by some higher education researchers. It1s one way, he says, to grab educational dollars for charters, vouchers, for-profit alternatives, and even academic research. 

In a review of his book in the January, 2002 NEA Today, Mary Anne Hess quotes Bracey. 3Although most for-profit education firms have failed to emerge from the red, there1s great money making potential, especially with the ongoing effort to erode confidence in public schools." Hess goes on to say, 3Since our schools impart a common idea of good citizenship, [Bracey] is concerned that for-profit schools, lacking public scrutiny of curriculum and finances, might pose Œa threat to democracy1. And, he has no faith that the private sector will treat education any differently than manufacturing where, he says, neglect of standards and quality in favor of profits is the order of the day.2 I would add to that concern my own doubt that the private sector would demonstrate any diligence in teaching low income and ELL students. Teaching the students in our high priority schools is likely to be considered non cost-effective. 

Closer to home, the California State Board of Education has used the NRP to justify its decision to approve only two elementary language arts textbooks for new adoptions throughout the state. Both publishers have used phonics-based, scripted instruction as the basis for their texts. In Burbank a decision has been made not to implement a new elementary language arts adoption in the 2002-2003 school year. But important decisions do have to be made soon by the adoption committee, as well as administration and school board members, as to what we will adopt and whether or not it will be implemented through scripted instruction. These choices are too important to be made on the basis of an ideology rooted in flawed research --- the results of which will deliver huge new profits to publishers and private consultants. 

In Burbank it is an important time for us to stay rooted in balance and common sense. We can continue to fine tune our language arts curriculum while maintaining our traditional strength in classroom literature and creative teaching strategies, all of which support real literacy --- reading comprehension and development of critical thinking skills.