A Manifesto in Response to Tom's Tired Rhetoric.

 

I'd like to believe that I take a philosophical approach to any success I may have had as an educator. My students are ultimately the best judge of any of that. I believe that I am a teacher who is constantly seeking improvement, and on a good day can help students facilitate connections to content, develop their skepticism and critical thinking skills, as well as encourage them to expand their worldview and develop the skills necessary to work with diverse populations. Having been at the business of education for 20 years, I believe I know some things. Not all things, but some things. Education is a collaborative effort, a community undertaking, and should be treated as such. I am interested in developing as a teacher through this collaboration in order to help develop the potential of my students.

However, I will not have a man with negligible experience in education lecture me on what is best for students. Nor will I accept a lecture on hard work from a guy whose current job exists because of nepotism (the family business), and his last job was acquired because his family made sizable donations to political campaigns, and the governor (state school board).

I know, I thought we were rid of him as well, but it appears that former Ohio School Board President Tom Gunlock hasn't had enough of hearing himself spout off about things he hardly understands. Earlier this week, he graced the pages of the Dayton Daily News with an op-ed riddled with the same bullshit argument about his crusade to increase rigor through assessments.

As I've said before, the fundamental difference between myself and Gunlock's opinions on the matter of graduation lie in his belief that the only measure of value in a student's education is a score on a standardized test, while I believe education is the sum of the process of a student's education, their coursework K-12, grades, projects, interactions, involvement, collaboration, etc. In other words, the entire experience.

In this "new" op-ed, Gunlock takes us on a tour of the same shit he said before he quit the school board, a host of tired talking points and baseless claims utterly devoid of credible support. Here's some of my favorites...

Tom Gunlock: "The dirty little secret, though, is that the Ohio Graduation Test is a test of eighth-grade knowledge." 

Testing Window: Something is not a dirty little secret if you keep talking about it. It also isn't true just because you keep saying it.

Those who've paid attention have heard this one used before by Gunlock, Todd Jones, and Governor Kasich as the lead-in for why they, and other champions of rigor, decided to change Ohio's standards to better prepare students. The second part of this myth is typically that they did so without the support of educators who, in their minds, are lazy, shiftless, selfish bastards.

I asked Mr. Gunlock for evidence to corroborate his grade 8 claim after he sent me a nasty email in January , but he failed to respond with any data to document his claims regarding the developmental level of the OGT.

TG: "In 2010, Ohio set in motion higher standards, and the expectation that in order to earn a diploma students should demonstrate at least a 10th-grade level of learning to earn a diploma. Our districts and schools have known this for six years..." 

TW: The state is always right, however awkward the phrasing, the problem is teachers.

It's funny because we did a lot of Professional Development in my district beginning in 2010 to adjust our curriculum to meet the standards, and when we asked how the assessments would look, nobody knew, not even ODE people. Every six months we asked, and every six months nobody knew. We knew the adjusted standards, and worked accordingly, but have had no indication of how the assessments would be constructed, graded, etcetera, which is to say, we didn't know shit.

Again, Gunlock provides no documentation regarding how he knows this is a "10th grade level of learning." He is a Centerville businessman who spent 6 years on the state board, so apparently he anticipates we will blindly believe. Unfortunately, most people know that the cut scores are set after the tests are taken, and other members of the board have admitted that the process has little to do with assuring any measure or "level" of learning, but rather arbitrarily assures that a certain percentage of students pass, and a certain percentage fail.

TG: "What happens if we decide it’s just too hard? Businesses will continue to struggle to find workers with the knowledge and skills to do the increasingly complex work that represents the new normal."

TW: More smoke and mirrors, no legitimate research or data.

Gunlock and his peers insist that the demand for this increase in standardized testing comes from businesses who lament the caliber of student arriving on their doorstep with an Ohio diploma. Two problems... First, I have never heard from a business leader, chamber of commerce, or otherwise that what we need in Ohio is more standardized tests to assure a qualified workforce. Second, as I have indicated often  including in frequent correspondence to Mr. Gunlock and other school board members, the skills needed for success in the workforce (and college) are generally not items that can be measured on a standardized test.

OK, three problems. If the issue is, in fact, the necessity to pursue further education outside of high school in order to qualify for career quality jobs, as is suggested elsewhere in the op-ed, then how on earth is preventing graduation with tests accomplishing that goal. Without a diploma, a student will find it impossible to get student loans, and terribly difficult to pursue skills-based, or vocational training.

TG: "At the other end of the spectrum are districts that say, “The sky is falling! Forty percent of our students won’t graduate... They’ll go on to tell you that the tests are too hard, and they simply don’t know what to do to help students reach these higher levels. They might even suggest that students simply can’t reach this higher bar. Not everybody needs algebra, right? Who really uses geometry, or biology?"

TW: Nobody is saying those things, Tom, except that 40% won't graduate in some districts because it's true.

Now, in the interest of full disclosure, prior to this quote, Gunlock did point out that some districts have not suggested a problem. Gunlock loves those guys because they shut the hell up, don't disagree with him, and he assumes they're all on board (not necessarily true), and will simply put their shoulder to the wheel, nose to the grindstone, and pull themselves and their students up by their bootstraps in the greatest, grittiest story of Ohio accomplishment since the son of a mailman got elected governor, and started scouring his list of donors for potential school board members.

Unfortunately, I fall into the category of those "at the other end" who would dare to disagree with Mr. Gunlock's wholehearted belief that the only measure of value in education is a score on a standardized test. I don't believe that test performance necessarily indicates some "higher level." The thing is, I disagree because I have worked in education for awhile now, taught in a tested subject through the duration of the OGT, and from what I have seen, the proof of the value of a student's education comes through a million moments, most of them far from the context of a single test.

With that in mind, as a professional, I will maintain the mentality that I am improving as a teacher, and seek to better myself in the interest of my students. I will not, however, simply swallow whatever shit system is handed down by those in power. I will continue to advocate for something more humane, an educational process interested in developing human potential, not stifling it through punishments associated with standardized tests. I will do so despite the ire of those whose position or wealth provide them with a misguided sense of superiority over me, my students, and my fellow teachers.