I came up with an idea quite a while ago to develop products around the concept of Yes I am... With the educational climate being what it is, and being an educator, I decided I wanted to make a statement. I came up with a T-Shirt that says Yes I am... on the front, and more than a test score! on the back. I have been wearing mine proudly to school and will continue to, everyday. I seriously plan to wear my shirt EVERYDAY. I am mad as hell, I am not going to take it anymore, and I am more than a test score, and this is my way of shouting it! I believe teachers need to wear this shirt, and students of all ages need to wear this shirt until those mandating that testing define us get that it doesn't! I am so much more than a test score! Every student is so much more that a test score! We need to stop the nonsense that is going on in Lansing and in Washington. We need to stop this madness, and that is what it is. I used to think that it was just ridiculous, the idea that a test score, a number that tells nothing about what a student actually understands or what he or she doesn't, was causing so much havoc in the world of education, but it has gone beyond being just ridiculous, it has become damaging. The idea that a test score, a number, that gives no information concerning what an individual student really understands or doesn't understand, has become the way we decide which teachers are good and which teachers are not, has become the way we determine which students are "college and career" ready and which are not, is unconscionable. What does an ACT score of 16 tell you? What does an ACT score of 24 tell you? It tells me that overall, the student with the 16 tested less well than the student who scored 24, but it doesn't tell me why. It gives me no indication of how "ready" the student is for life after high school. I know students who scored quite high on the ACT and I know students who scored low, I also know which of these students are more prepared to be successful after high school based on many factors that have nothing to do with their test score, but you can't put that information into any data machine. So if you agree that a test score does not define you, does not define any student, than order one of my shirts. The cost of the shirt is $13.00 which includes tax. I am only just beginning this start-up so I will need you to leave me contact info at rose42benn@comcast.net You can order most any color, sizes are small, med. lrg, & XL, men's or women's. Shipping charges for orders of 10 or more - free, so get with your colleagues, otherwise shipping in the U.S. is $3.00. Yes I am... more than a test score!

This is an open letter to Governor Rick Snyder and the Michigan Legislature. I am a public school teacher, and when I walked out of my building at the end of the 2011-2012 school year I felt battered, abused, confused and angry. I knew that myself and my peers were professional, resourceful, hard working, diligent, knowledgeable, caring, and committed yet we had just spent a year trying to do our jobs while the educational system was in complete disarray thanks to your work at “reforming” and “reinventing,“ and we were being told that it was all our fault. I hoped that over the summer sanity would return to Lansing and those making the decisions as to how public education should be reformed would see the mess they were creating and stop the nonsense. Alas, no sane person materialized and things only got worse. I spent the 2012-2013 school year trying to make sense out of a complete breakdown of this glorious institution that was created to form a knowledgeable citizenry able to benefit from the right to pursue happiness. I know what you are doing. I know that you do not care about the children of this state, so when you utter the words “it’s all about the children” you make me want to throw up. When you say that giving more money to the schools is not the answer I want to slap you up side the head and yell “You lying sack of doo doo, of course you know that adequately funding school districts will improve them and make it possible for all students to have the opportunity to achieve!” How do I know this? Well first of all, and probably the most in your face example is the fact that Governor Snyder, your children attended Greenhills, a private school in Ann Arbor that cost 18,000 dollars a year. It was acknowledged that that amount was not enough to provide the education that your children and their classmates deserve so fundraising takes place to get the additional money necessary to educate them in the way you, and the parents of their peers, want them to be educated. How can you tell the people of Michigan, with a straight face, that its not about the money? Glad I could work that in, now to continue with how I know that you all don’t give a damn about the kids you profess in your speeches to be working for. If you cared about the children of this state you would not be cutting the programs that directly aid the ones whose parents need assistance. If you cared about the children of this state you would be acknowledging that there is a crisis in mental health care and much needed facilities to help those suffering from problems that the schools are not equipped to fix. If you cared about the children of this state you would care about their mothers and not be circumventing their ability to get the medical care they need. If you cared about the children of this state they would not be considered “human capital” and therefore just another cog in the wheel of capitalism. If you cared about the children of this state you would be consulting those who are educated in child and adolescent development as well as those of us who teach these children everyday, as you seek to improve the educational system and not those who will profit from the additional testing you advocate for and the increased reliance on technology in schools that will also bring profits to those in that industry. If you cared one bit about the children of this state you would be doing everything in your power, and boy do you have power, to eradicate the villain that is the root of all of the educational problems, POVERTY. But you don’t care, not about the children of this state. I feel it is important to point out that with all of the quick changes, the lives of teachers have been greatly impacted. I am trying to remain articulate here, but my inner voice is demanding to be heard and is screaming “You are decimating people’s lives and you do not give a damn! How do I know you don’t give a damn? Because you keep passing laws that wipe out teachers’ jobs and put them in the unemployment lines creating stress that transfers to their children who now will have their ability to learn impacted and their tests scores will go down and it will be the teachers’ fault so you will have more reasons to point your fingers, close more schools and put more money in the pockets of the vultures waiting to pounce and reform their way to prosperity. So I am about to begin a new school year, I know that it will not be better than the last school year, it will in fact most likely be far worse. It will be worse because we are again faced with legislation that will demand things of us that we cannot produce because it is all happening too fast, and those at the top are more confused than those of us in the trenches. Those of you who are legislating know nothing about the daily job of educating the children you profess to care so deeply about, so you cannot begin to comprehend how your laws will impact their educational future, but then you just don’t care either. You are on a mission to make public education obsolete, to further divide students economically, to create opportunities for those with money to profit in the arena of education, and because your children will find success because money produces opportunity, you simply do not care about the rest of the children of this state.

Okay, I tried to have this make sense but it is all backwards. I believe it is worth the effort of reading backwards though. The post that follows this is Stephen Henderson's reply to the post about my granddaughter. Next is my reply to him and the one after that is what started it all! So, scroll down to the post about my granddaughter if you haven't read it yet, then Henderson's reply, then mine. I promise you it's worth it. Your comments are welcome and appreciated. Having fun again!

Stephen Henderson, Free Press Editor, responds to my communication to him.

Good grief. What a ramble. I’ve covered schools, and reform, for 20 years – in Kentucky, Detroit, Chicago and Baltimore. I’ve spent more time writing about education than anything else, that’s for sure. The most pernicious untruth I’ve ever come across is the idea that “poor kids can’t learn,” or kids without stable parents can’t learn. The second most pernicious untruth is that test scores don’t matter. Or that they matter less than other measures of learning. Bubkus. And if you believe that, then you ought to believe that we should get rid of public schools altogether. I do have kids, and I expect the schools they attend to teach them whether I’m rich or poor, whether I read to them or not. That’s the point – public schools were invented as a great equalizer in this society. I agree we don’t fund them properly to achieve that, and they aren’t structured the right way, either. But the idea that we expect too much of schools is infuriating. The idea that we expect too much of teachers is infuriating. We expect too little – of everyone..

Bubkus? I can only guess the meaning of the word. Where do I begin? Well, first what I wrote may have been lengthy, but it was not a ramble. I did not digress but stayed on point. Secondly, writing about education is not the same as being an educator, so please do not confuse the two. I can write about doctoring until the cows come home, but you wouldn't want me prescribing for your ills. Thirdly, where did I write or even insinuate that poor kids or kids without stable parents can't learn? I wrote no such thing. I made the point that children enter school with different backgrounds and some beginnings are more advantageous to learning than others and this fact needs to be recognized and accounted for. Those who would dismiss this reality are the ones who embrace pernicious untruths. Fourth, I never said that test scores don't matter. I wrote that legislating that teachers be evaluated as being effective or not based on standardized test scores will not "reform" education. Give me meaningful test data that actually tells me what a student can or cannot do and I will run with it! And yes, standardized test scores do matter less than other measures of learning. It would be like a doctor (to go back to my previous analogy), looking at the weight of a patient and declaring him or her to be unhealthy and in danger of expiring without the additional data of the previous weight of the patient, the cultural expectations of weight for the patient, the current life situation of the patient, or the overall health of the patient. Fifth, I am totally lost when you state "And if you believe that, then you ought to believe that we should get rid of public schools altogether." What is the 'that' you are referring to? Sixth, I too expect schools to teach kids whether they are rich or poor. I am not sure what in my writing gave you the idea that I didn't believe this, please do me the courtesy of pointing it out. Seventh, children who are read to will (and statistics backs this up), have an edge up on children who are not read to. The Free Press I believe, does a book drive for children who have little access to books and for good reason. And teachers do endeavor to teach all children in their class. I have never seen a teacher tell a child, who appeared to be unread to, to leave the room. Eighth, yes public schools were created, not invented, to be the great equalizer of society. Created means to cause to exist, to bring into being, to originate. The purpose of public schools when they originated was to produce knowledgeable citizens of good character with leadership abilities. Today's politicians would invent, which can mean to fabricate or make up, schools that do no such thing. Ninth, we agree! You say that schools are not funded properly to achieve all that needs to be achieved. So why don't you take our elected officials to task for that? Hasn't Governor Snyder cut funding to public education drastically? You go on to say that public schools aren't structured the right way either, meaning I think, structured to be an equalizer. How are all of the "reforms" being pushed on public schools equalizing anything? Asking all children to do the same thing on the same day and get the same results or be deemed a failure, is I think, asinine. Finally, you say that the idea that we expect too much of schools and teachers to be infuriating, well I find that infuriating! I will tell you that everyday I witness teachers who give all they have to help their students succeed. I have held crying teachers in my arms as they wonder how they have been unable to help some of "their kids." I have stopped by teacher's rooms long after the day has ended and said "go home, you have a family." I have watched teachers collaborate on lessons in order to make sure they are reaching all kids and giving all kids a chance to be successful. I have prayed for teachers whose health has suffered due to the pressure they find themselves under. And the idea that you find that we should expect too much from our schools to be infuriating, I will go on record to say that a public school is only as good as the community it supports and is supported by. You want a good neighborhood public school, then be an advocate for what it wants to achieve and make your children measure up to its expectations. Now to end this, let me post a link to a very interesting article that will be well worth your time. http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2013/05/15/what-if-finlands-great-teachers-taught-in-u-s-schools-not-what-you-think/

My Granddaughter and Educational Reform

My granddaughter is really smart. I am not saying this to brag, but I repeat, my granddaughter is really smart. I am saying this to try and make the point that what matters when it comes to how well a child will do in school has everything to do with how that child approaches the task of learning. Children who have been born to mothers who were able to provide them with nine months of nourishment, protection and a sense of comfort, will undoubtedly enter the world better equipped than children who lack this while in the womb. Children born to parents equipped intellectually, emotionally and financially to care for them will be kept from physical and emotional harm, and will have the provisions necessary for physical and mental growth. Children who have been given the opportunity to explore their world, to have their natural thirst for knowledge quenched and to therefore seek more learning, to have felt safe on this journey, will upon entering school have a greater chance of finding immediate academic success then children who have not been so lucky. To have immediate success fosters the desire for more success, and this transfers to a feeling of accomplishment that enhances self-esteem. Having a good feeling about yourself allows you to take risks, taking risks results in learning. So why is my granddaughter really smart? Well she definitely was well taken care of while she developed beneath her mother’s heart. She came out healthy and strong. Her parents are educated, mature, and have enough financial security to provide her with the necessities of life; food, shelter and clothing. Her parents and her extended family also know the importance of books, music, talking, playing, hugs, kisses, questions, answers, seeking, finding, laughter, comfort, boundaries, feelings, caring, and literally can’t get enough of her and she us. At five, she has a sense of self that is allowing her to soar as she enters the world of school. She had her Kindergarten screening the other day and yes siree, she is ready to begin. Her status at this point has everything to do with the fact that she was born into a family with the means to foster her development. She is ahead of the game, ahead of her same age peers who haven’t been as fortunate. I am not bragging. I am trying to make the point that our government refuses to recognize the fact that a child’s beginnings plays a vital role in how well that child will perform academically in Kindergarten, and if nothing damages them, all through school. Perhaps I should say that our government refuses to legislate so that all children will have the beginnings that my granddaughter has had. It is far easier for them to sell our children and grandchildren to the highest bidder and let special interest groups who will then finance the campaigns of the current officials who would let our children and grandchildren be sold down the river, make a profit than it is to do the right thing. It is always harder to do the right thing. When you hear those in power say that our children come first, don’t you believe them because if they did, all of the children of this state, of this country, would have their Kindergarten screenings show them ready to begin. Instead, our state and our country, have more and more children not ready to begin and if their circumstances don’t change they will most like always struggle to just catch up. Our legislators would have you believe that if they just mandate a more “rigorous curriculum” (which by the way is creating a profit for numerous business people), and give parents more choices for their children’s educational experiences (like charter schools that make money for numerous business people and on-line opportunities which again are providing a profit to numerous business people), and evaluate teachers based on their students’ tests scores (which provides a profit to testing companies, evaluation consulting firms, and software moguls while it decimates careers and wrecks havoc in schools on a daily basis), that the achievement gap will close and all children will graduate high school college or career ready. None of these “reforms” will make up for poverty, a lack of parenting skills, basic needs not being met, or living in an environment that is unable to stimulate a child’s natural curiosity and enable the child to gain the sense of self needed to soar. Now here is the real frightening part about the changes taking place in education today that those in power would have you believe are in the best interest of our children, they will, in my opinion, do the greatest harm to those children ready to begin! How? By making school not a place of discovery and exploration on a path to formulating thinking skills but factories whose only goal is to turn out “human capital,” thus taking the brightest of our children and reducing them to automatons. This is how I perceive so many of the reforms being pushed on today’s students, I see George Orwell’s 1984 happening fast in 2013. It scares me to death and it should scare you. I am not going to let some politician, who has come to like his job too much, sell my granddaughter down the river. If you have children or grandchildren, I hope you will really educate yourself and not be blindly led down the reformers’ path. Rosemary

Dian Ravitch

Well, I made Diane Ravitch's blog, pretty exciting! So I do have a business. I have a T-shirt idea, actually it is more than an idea, it is being made. The front says: Yes I am... and the back says: More Than A Test Score! I figure teachers and students will want to wear it to exclaim our dismay at being reduced to data that doesn't encapsulate us. Let me know if you would want one as I need to order in bulk. I don't have a payment method yet, really a novice here! Rosemary

Postal Worker Analogy

Do me a favor and scroll down to and read the other post first! Thanks. Another whimsical look at stupid legislation regarding how teachers may be paid. The postman walked into his house, dejected, kissed his wife and sat down. “What’s wrong?” his wife asked. “Well, I didn’t get much of a paycheck again this week.” “Oh, no.” his wife lamented. “What went wrong this time?” Now a neighbor was visiting and piped in “Didn’t you deliver the mail? If you delivered the mail then you should get paid.” “Of course I delivered the mail.” the postman answered. “I am very good at my job and deliver the mail through rain, snow, sleet, and even hail, but it isn’t enough to deliver the mail, I only get paid if the people get their mail.” “For crying out loud, what sort of sense does that make?” Of course the people get the mail if you deliver the mail, and your pay should be based on that.” Do your job and the people will get their mail and you will get your pay, for Heaven’s sake.” The postman looked at his wife and they both just shook their heads. What the neighbor said would of course seem to make sense to anyone but a postman, but a postman knows there is a huge difference between delivering the mail, and the people actually getting their mail. The former is completely in the postman’s control, but the latter he can do nothing about. “Tell me what happened.” his wife said as she sat down beside him. “Yes,” the neighbor sneered, “tell me how the people didn’t get the mail that you delivered.” “Well,” began the postman, “On Monday, because of the heavy snowfall, Mrs. Smith couldn’t get from her porch to the mailbox, you see her son was sick and didn’t get our to shovel her drive. Had I known, I would have taken the mail up to her door, but her son is so good about keeping a path to the mailbox shoveled that I didn’t think he wouldn’t get it done.” I did take the mail up to her door on Tuesday, but on Monday, although I delivered her mail, she didn’t get her mail.” “But that’s not your fault” said the neighbor. “You shouldn’t not get paid because the old lady couldn’t get to her mailbox! You delivered the mail to her mailbox for crying out loud!” “Doesn’t matter. The legislature passed a law that says we only get paid if the people get their mail.” “Well that’s just asinine!” “Oh never mind,” the wife stammered, “What else went wrong dear?” The postman looked sadder than ever and continued. “Remember Mr. Jones, the young man who found out he had cancer? Well, he had been in remission, and he seemed to be getting stronger. I was so happy he was doing well. I noticed on Tuesday that the mail hadn’t been picked up since Friday, so I got out of my truck and trudged up to his door. I knocked and knocked but no one answered. Finally the lady next door peeked out and told me that poor Mr. Jones had been taken to the hospital, she was getting his mail, but hadn’t stepped out since Saturday. So even though I delivered Mr. Jones’s mail, he didn’t get his mail. I told his neighbor that as long as the weather was bad, I would bring her mail and Mr. Jones’s mail up to her door. She was very grateful but said that that wouldn’t be necessary as she was leaving for Florida at week’s end and she had put a hold on her mail. She didn’t know what Mr. Brown planned to do about his mail.” The neighbor was incensed. “So you aren’t getting paid because someone you delivered the mail to can’t get his mail because he is in the hospital? And he won’t be able to get his mail for some time, so you won’t get paid for delivering the mail to his house?” What kind of a world are we living in for crying out loud?” The postman and his wife looked at each other and shrugged. “A damn crazy one.” They both uttered, and the postman continued. “On Wednesday I delivered the mail as I always do to the office complex on the corner of 5th and Main. Tuesday’s mail was still in the box and I just hung my head, thinking here’s another one who didn’t get the mail I delivered, why? I felt so inadequate, I didn’t know how else to deliver the mail to this office so they would get it. I looked into the window of one of the rooms in the complex and saw no signs of life. Just then a maintenance person came out of the door and I asked him why the mail hadn’t been picked up. “No one’s here anymore. They’ve all up and left.” And with that he left and so did I. More mail delivered that the people didn’t get because they couldn’t stick around long enough to get it.” “You’re tired.” the postman’s wife said. “I will get you some dinner, just go relax.” “Relax?” the neighbor screamed. “How can he relax? Why are you putting up with this? You’re delivering the mail, it isn’t your fault that some people aren’t getting their mail.” “No, it isn’t his fault, but if he raises a stink he puts himself at risk of getting an even worse evaluation than what he will be getting based on the percentage of people who aren’t getting the mail. It’s bad enough that he loses pay because even though he diligently delivers the mail, some people just can’t get it right now. He needs to keep this job, every post office is the same right now, there is nowhere else for him to go.” The neighbor now was the one shaking his head, “I had no idea. I thought you had such an easy job, just get up, go to work and deliver the mail and if you do it right the people will get it. I didn’t realize there were so many factors involved in people getting what you deliver that you simply can’t control.” The postman hung his head, but then brightened a bit. “It could by worse. He said. “I could be a teacher.

More legislation impacting how teachers may get paid.

So there is yet another bill being considered by Michigan's legislatures that will impact how teachers are paid. If passed, new teachers will see their salary based solely, yes solely, on student growth. Nothing else will matter, not how long the teacher has taught, not the advanced degrees the teacher possesses, not the teacher's effectiveness in any other area, only test data will be used to determine pay scale. Pretty damn scary. Thought I would compare this idea to the old doctor analogy, and then after this little post I have compared the situation to another much loved government employee, the postal worker! The doctor told his receptionist that he would no longer see sick people. Astounded, the receptionist asked “Why?” The doctor’s response was short and to the point “Because if I see sick people and they don’t get better, then I won’t get paid.” He continued. “You see our legislatures just passed a law that makes me not only responsible for my treatment of my patients, but holds me accountable for everything they do in life and everything others to do them. So I may diagnose their ailments correctly, and I may implement the proper course of treatment, and they will start to get better, but so many factors that are out of my control could be detrimental to their continued progress. The receptionist couldn’t quite figure out what could possibly stand in the way of a patient’s improvement if indeed the doctor was a highly effective doctor and diagnosed correctly and then put the proper course of treatment in place. The doctor explained. Well, I am highly educated and keep current on all of the research and best practice in my field. I am thorough when I examine my patients and take care in my recommendations for treatment. I engage my patients in their own recovery, and make sure they understand the importance of following through on what I have told them. I even make sure they come back to see me regularly so I can monitor their progress.” The receptionist was more confused than ever by the doctor’s explanation because if he did all of this, how on earth would his sick patients not get well! The doctor continued “Once the patient leaves my office, I have no control over what they do, or what others do to them. If I have an obese patient and his partner likes to cook highly caloric food, I can’t swoop in and throw his plate in the garbage. If I have a patient who needs rest but her children are ill and up all night, I can’t send her a substitute to stay by their side all night. If my patient would benefit from exercise but sees that to mean walking from the couch to the refrigerator, I can’t make him join a gym.” The receptionist was beginning to understand and said “Why would our legislatures pass a law that holds you accountable for what you cannot control?’ The doctor just smiled, shook his head and sadly said “I do not know. I have been trying to make sense of this assault on my profession. I can’t believe that our elected officials, those who have the interest of our public at heart, would want doctors to be no more, to be replaced with imposters who might stay in practice for only a year or so, never becoming seasoned and thus able to diagnose and treat the most difficult cases. But what is really hard for me to understand is that so many people know that what is being done will so harm patients for years and years yet they say and do nothing, perhaps thinking that because they are not sick, none of these laws will have an impact on them. I want to ask them, remember when we had teachers?” Rosemary