The Education-Industrial Complex

Below is the first piece I had written concerning the Common Core State Standards. I was inspired to write this piece following an eye-opening and extremely informative conversation with Kris Nielsen of, "I (used to ) Love Teaching" fame. After posting a comment on Facebook, I received a request to publish my thoughts for The Chronicle, a local weekly newspaper. Here it is:

The Education-Industrial Complex
August 19, 2013

On August 7th, the New York State Department of Education released the first round of student scores using the Common Core Standards based tests in English and math. Statewide, the passing rate for these tests was abominable with just a 31% passing rate. That represents a drop of nearly 25% since last year. This overall drop in passing rates has led to a mixture of reactions. The most dominant theme coming from the politicians and corporate leaders promoted the test was an expectation for failure. How can it ever be beneficial to create a system with expectations of failure? The problem lies in the way these tests have been developed- without any empirical data to support the tests- and the nature of the motivations behind such testing.

Failure and disappointment can oftentimes be beneficial. In fact, I would say they are necessary for proper growth and development. I would even go so far as to say that our society has mistreated failure by insulating our children from many negative impacts. However, I will say that constant failure, despite proper and studious preparation, can have devastating impacts on students, teachers and communities alike. Our children are guinea pigs in a great educational experiment with high stakes for them and their teachers. But once again, why would we expose our students to such a failure and the stress that accompanies it?

In 1961, President Dwight D. Eisenhower warned of a growing military-industrial complex.  Over the past 50 years, we have seen his warning of a political and industrial behemoth come to fruition. Today, we face a growing educational-industrial complex with similar warnings coming from both ends of the political spectrum. For some, public education is the final frontier; the last stronghold of public control that is ripe for privatization and profiteering.

Here’s how such a system is meant to work:

STEP ONE- Make false claims about the “failing American educational system”. Many of the proponents of the Common Core Standards are corporate leaders who claim American education is in crisis when compared to international competition. However, when viewed through value-added measures for poverty and ethnicity, American students actually end up ranked among the top tier of global students. In addition, in the most recent TIMMS tests for math and science (2011) American students continued to show growth in these areas. In the case of math, students have shown continuous and progressive growth since the test was first introduced in 1995. We don’t have an education crisis per se; we have a poverty crisis.

STEP TWO- Create a test that proves you're right. In this case, politicians and corporate leaders heralded a new curriculum tied to college and career readiness. What business leaders want most, are workers with the ability to collaborate, use of oral and written communication skills and critical thinking skills. Much of the Core curriculum does just that.  However, the tests that were administered don’t assess these skills. These multiple choice tests are inappropriate when compared to the goals of the curriculum.

STEP THREE- Use the disastrous test scores to claim there is a need for further reform.  As the state tests result in high failure rates, many proponents of privatization will inevitably cry for more private access to educate our children. Forget that such experiments have shown little result of improved academic performance when compared to public school performance. In this case, it’s about the money. There is big money to be made in testing, curriculum materials and privatization. Corporations such as Pearson, McGraw, Apple, The College Board, and many others stand to make billions of dollars through materials and development.

STEP FOUR- Kill the unions. Quite simply put, teachers unions are powerful. They collect massive amounts of money from tens of thousands of members who are politically active and highly motivated. These unions represent the last vestige of resistance to these privatization overhauls while maintaining their professional ranks, promised benefits and middle class wages. This group represents “lost” capital to the government and corporate powers and they don’t like it. Oddly enough, the two major teachers unions have partnered in this endeavor thanks to large endowments for collaboration from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

STEP FIVE- Create a permanent working class. In the end, the worst thing that may come out of this is the actual dumbing-down of American students. Due to the weight of the test results toward teacher evaluation and school success, teachers are forced to focus their time and efforts into assessment achievement rather than the college and career readiness skills the Core curriculum calls for.  Spending 4-6 weeks of the academic year preparing for a test is unacceptable. Who benefits from an uneducated populace; one that can’t actually think critically about the political, social and economic world that affects them?

Unfortunately, this is the culture we have allowed to thrive. As we move forward, there will certainly be continuing discussion about where we go from here. As an educator, I welcome rigorous curriculum and a goal of high achievement for all our students. College and true career readiness (including vocational training) should always be a goal for our public education system. Yet, it is also important that we achieve these goals responsibly and with the best interests of our children at heart. Unfortunately, the Common Core State Standards, and in particular, the tests being developed through consortiums like PARCC and SMARTER Balanced simply do not help us achieve these goals. Our children, our families and our communities deserve better.