About Author: Bob Valiant

Website
http://valetc.com

Posts by Bob Valiant

  • A Letter to President Obama Two grandparents on opposite ends of the continent each had a concern about the direction of education reform and its effect on their grandchildren.  Through a chain of improbable circumstances they found each other on Facebook and conjured up a letter to President Obama expressing their concerns. Mark Naison, from Brooklyn, NY and a Fordham professor prepared a draft of the letter.  Bob Valiant, retired school administrator from Kennewick, WA, edited the letter and Bob Valiant Jr. developed a survey form and website, http://dumpduncan.org.  The letter calls for the removal of Education Secretary Arne Duncan and the inclusion of parents, teachers, and school administrators in all administration policy discussions.  It insists on the immediate end to penalties and incentives to compel using student test scores to evaluate teachers, require school closures, or install charter schools. ...

    Press Release

    Posted on February 13, 2012 | 5 Comments
    A Letter to President Obama Two grandparents on opposite ends of the continent each had a concern about the direction of education reform and its effect on their grandchildren.  Through a chain of improbable circumstances they found each other on Facebook and conjured up a letter to President Obama expressing their concerns. Mark Naison, from Brooklyn, NY and a Fordham professor prepared a draft of the letter.  Bob Valiant, retired school administrator from Kennewick, WA, edited the letter and Bob Valiant Jr. developed a survey form and website, http://dumpduncan.org.  The letter calls for the removal of Education Secretary Arne Duncan and the inclusion of parents, teachers, and school administrators in all administration policy discussions.  It insists on the immediate end to penalties and incentives to compel using student test scores to evaluate teachers, require school closures, or install charter schools. ...

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  • Our friend from Arizona, Mike Martin,  posted the following on EDDRA2. a listserv we are part of.  It was in response to an article in the Washington Post blog, The Answer Sheet.  Here, Mike takes on the kind of teacher evaluation proposed and being piloted in Washington State.  What is your verdict?  We post it here with Mike’s permission.   I call to the stand Professor James Popham, an expert on testing who noted that test construction requires that for a question to be valid it must be answered by only about half of the students.   Me: Professor Popham, would you please tell the court what you stated in a March 1999 Educational Leadership article:   Professor Popham: “Thus, the better the job that teachers do in teaching important knowledge, and/or skills, the less likely it is that there...

    Value-added teacher evaluation goes on trial

    Posted on February 6, 2012 | 3 Comments
    Our friend from Arizona, Mike Martin,  posted the following on EDDRA2. a listserv we are part of.  It was in response to an article in the Washington Post blog, The Answer Sheet.  Here, Mike takes on the kind of teacher evaluation proposed and being piloted in Washington State.  What is your verdict?  We post it here with Mike’s permission.   I call to the stand Professor James Popham, an expert on testing who noted that test construction requires that for a question to be valid it must be answered by only about half of the students.   Me: Professor Popham, would you please tell the court what you stated in a March 1999 Educational Leadership article:   Professor Popham: “Thus, the better the job that teachers do in teaching important knowledge, and/or skills, the less likely it is that there...

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  • The following is excerpted from an article by Richard Rothstein, a research associate at the Economic Policy Institute, a non-profit organization created to broaden the discussion about economic policy to include the interests of low- and middle-income workers.   “Education “reformers” have a common playbook. First, assert without evidence that regular public schools are “failing” and that large numbers of regular (unionized) public school teachers are incompetent. Provide no documentation for this claim other than that the test score gap between minority and white children remains large. Then propose so-called reforms to address the unproven problem — charter schools to escape teacher unionization and the mechanistic use of student scores on low-quality and corrupted tests to identify teachers who should be fired.”   Read the full article here: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/post/the-facts-that-school-reformers-ignore/2012/01/23/gIQABWQRMQ_blog.html  

    The facts that school reformers ignore

    Posted on January 25, 2012 | No Comments
    The following is excerpted from an article by Richard Rothstein, a research associate at the Economic Policy Institute, a non-profit organization created to broaden the discussion about economic policy to include the interests of low- and middle-income workers.   “Education “reformers” have a common playbook. First, assert without evidence that regular public schools are “failing” and that large numbers of regular (unionized) public school teachers are incompetent. Provide no documentation for this claim other than that the test score gap between minority and white children remains large. Then propose so-called reforms to address the unproven problem — charter schools to escape teacher unionization and the mechanistic use of student scores on low-quality and corrupted tests to identify teachers who should be fired.”   Read the full article here: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/post/the-facts-that-school-reformers-ignore/2012/01/23/gIQABWQRMQ_blog.html  

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  • Parents, you may not have noticed during your teacher conferences, school concerts, or encounters at the supermarket, but America’s teachers have about had it with the pressures of their jobs and the lack of respect they are getting from legislators, the media, corporate leaders, and even you.  I manage several Facebook accounts on public education and thought you might be interested in some comments on just one thread over a span of a couple of hours.  They are representative of what I am seeing every day from across the U.S.  I should mention that the people who post on this site are the fighters.  They are the ones not willing to let the mandated standardized tests dominate their teaching.  They still see children as individuals, each with special needs, and they are trying to prepare them for the real world,...

    Teacher Morale at Low Ebb

    Posted on January 20, 2012 | 1 Comment
    Parents, you may not have noticed during your teacher conferences, school concerts, or encounters at the supermarket, but America’s teachers have about had it with the pressures of their jobs and the lack of respect they are getting from legislators, the media, corporate leaders, and even you.  I manage several Facebook accounts on public education and thought you might be interested in some comments on just one thread over a span of a couple of hours.  They are representative of what I am seeing every day from across the U.S.  I should mention that the people who post on this site are the fighters.  They are the ones not willing to let the mandated standardized tests dominate their teaching.  They still see children as individuals, each with special needs, and they are trying to prepare them for the real world,...

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  • I am currently managing the 5 Facebook accounts listed below.  Each has a different focus and much of the content is similar but for a different audience.  You might particularly note Dump Duncan, which has rapidly become a national conduit for in-depth discussion of education policy issues.  Please check them out and join up if you find one (or more) of interest. And, of course, you can participate here by going to the “Write for Kennewick Citizens” button on the right side of this page. Parents Across America-Tri-Cities http://www.facebook.com/groups/listemail/?notif_t=group_activity   School District Citizens http://www.facebook.com/pages/School-District-Citizens/129808317079224   Kennewick School District Citizens http://www.facebook.com/KSDCitizens   Dump Duncan http://www.facebook.com/groups/194348523992014/   Robert Valiant http://www.facebook.com/  

    How the reader can participate in the education debate

    Posted on January 15, 2012 | No Comments
    I am currently managing the 5 Facebook accounts listed below.  Each has a different focus and much of the content is similar but for a different audience.  You might particularly note Dump Duncan, which has rapidly become a national conduit for in-depth discussion of education policy issues.  Please check them out and join up if you find one (or more) of interest. And, of course, you can participate here by going to the “Write for Kennewick Citizens” button on the right side of this page. Parents Across America-Tri-Cities http://www.facebook.com/groups/listemail/?notif_t=group_activity   School District Citizens http://www.facebook.com/pages/School-District-Citizens/129808317079224   Kennewick School District Citizens http://www.facebook.com/KSDCitizens   Dump Duncan http://www.facebook.com/groups/194348523992014/   Robert Valiant http://www.facebook.com/  

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  • We recently received a poignant article by a Facebook friend from Fordham University.  We are reprinting it here with permission of the author. If You Want to Know the Human Impact of The Current Recession, Ask America’s Teachers Mark Naison Fordham University One of the things I’ve discovered in recent years is that when it comes to education policy, the last people asked for input are America’s teachers. We have a President who holds an” education summit” that includes the nation’s top business leaders and foundation heads, but no teachers; we have billionaires lobbying to privatize education and break teachers unions; we have an organization that purports to work for educational equity that encourages its recruits to leave teaching after two years because they can influence policy more by moving into other, more prestigious careers, rather than spending a lifetime...

    Ask America’s Teachers

    Posted on January 12, 2012 | No Comments
    We recently received a poignant article by a Facebook friend from Fordham University.  We are reprinting it here with permission of the author. If You Want to Know the Human Impact of The Current Recession, Ask America’s Teachers Mark Naison Fordham University One of the things I’ve discovered in recent years is that when it comes to education policy, the last people asked for input are America’s teachers. We have a President who holds an” education summit” that includes the nation’s top business leaders and foundation heads, but no teachers; we have billionaires lobbying to privatize education and break teachers unions; we have an organization that purports to work for educational equity that encourages its recruits to leave teaching after two years because they can influence policy more by moving into other, more prestigious careers, rather than spending a lifetime...

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  • We are happy to welcome former KSD Board member, Kathy  White, as a regular correspondent on KSD Citizens.  She will be reporting on Board meetings and will provide features from time to time.  As a former Board member, Kathy brings insight into the inner workings of the Board and has become an expert, through training provided by the Washington School Directors, on the proper role of Board members.

    New Correspondent: Kathy White

    Posted on January 1, 2012 | 1 Comment
    We are happy to welcome former KSD Board member, Kathy  White, as a regular correspondent on KSD Citizens.  She will be reporting on Board meetings and will provide features from time to time.  As a former Board member, Kathy brings insight into the inner workings of the Board and has become an expert, through training provided by the Washington School Directors, on the proper role of Board members.

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  • I started a “Dump Duncan” Facebook page yesterday and we already have nearly 100 members across the U.S.  Take a look and join up if you like it.  http://www.facebook.com/groups/194348523992014/

    Dump Duncan on Facebook

    Posted on December 21, 2011 | 1 Comment
    I started a “Dump Duncan” Facebook page yesterday and we already have nearly 100 members across the U.S.  Take a look and join up if you like it.  http://www.facebook.com/groups/194348523992014/

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