Becoming a Public Education Activist: Jennifer's Story

The Short Version

Even an average, ordinary mom can make a difference.

The Highlights

• One year ago I knew almost nothing about education policy or political activism.
• Then my daughter started to suffer heightened anxiety due to STAAR test prep stress.
• I began to learn more about standardized testing and corporate education reform and decided I had to take action.

My Story

One year ago, I knew next to nothing about education policy. One year ago, I had never written a letter to my state or federal representatives. In fact, I’m not even sure I could have told you their names. One year ago, I had never given public testimony before lawmakers or been interviewed for a TV news story about education. This wasn’t even on my radar. One year ago, I had not been to Washington, DC—not even as a tourist. My how things can change in one year.

One year ago, I was just a mom of two elementary-aged kiddos—first and third graders at the time. I had always been involved with their schools, helping out in their Kindergarten classrooms, working at the school book fair, helping with homework. We were just a typical family in a typical neighborhood. Then I started to notice a change in my third grader. She had always loved school and had been enthusiastic about heading out the door to school each day, but not anymore. She didn’t want to go to school, homework was becoming a battle, and she spent hours—yes, hours—after school each day in her room in tears. She was having trouble sleeping, didn’t want to participate in activities she normally enjoyed, and just wasn’t her bubbly self anymore. As I talked to her, I learned that the source of her new-found dislike for school was the upcoming STAAR test. She said that STAAR was a really important test and that all they did at school anymore was work to get ready for it. I asked her what would happen if she didn’t pass the STAAR. She didn’t know but she was sure it was something really bad.

Thus began my journey into education activism. I started by talking to a friend who is a former elementary school teacher. This conversation got me reading blogs, and then books, and watching documentaries. If it had to do with education policy, I devoured it. I learned all that I could about standardized testing including the fact that it is just one part of the complex “education reform” machine that includes charter schools, vouchers, teacher evaluation (VAM), the de-professionalization of teachers, parent trigger laws, online schools, school turnarounds, and the privatization of public education. Through my journey, it became clear to me that I could not, in good conscience, allow my daughter to participate in the STAAR testing, and we refused testing and kept her home on testing days. But it also became clear that this was not enough. I could not stop with just shielding my daughter from one test. I had to help every child by helping to change the system. And so, I became an education activist.

In the last year, I have written letters, spoken with school superintendents, administrators, and teachers about education issues, testified twice before the Texas Senate Education Committee, organized community forums and documentary screenings, and been interviewed by television and print news reporters for stories on education. I have made valuable connections within my district, across the state, and around the country. I founded Parents Across America-Northeast Texas (PAA-NETX) and attended the PAA national conference in Washington, DC. My goal is to change education policy by educating other parents and the community at large about education issues and encouraging activism on these issues. Let’s give our children the education they deserve.

Lessons Learned (and still being learned)

• Don’t be afraid to take a stand. It’s not always easy to speak up. My voice trembled the entire two minutes during my first public testimony. But I wouldn’t trade that experience for anything.
• You may find allies in unexpected places. Once you begin speaking out, you may be surprised how many people feel the same way as you.
• Ask “what makes it good?” When someone says something—a school, a teacher, a policy—is good, ask him, “What makes it good?” This can be a great starting point for a conversation about what is truly valuable in education.

ETP Recommends: When Can You Trust the Experts? by Daniel Willingham

The Short Short Version

It seems as if every discussion of education policies includes claims that those ideas are “research based.”  If you want to feel more comfortable discussing education research, whether to support your own point or argue with someone else’s, this book is a good introduction.

The Highlights

• We believe things we shouldn’t for all sorts of reasons, such as others believe it or the point supports something we already think.  These biases are something everyone should think about, and they also show you ways others might try to manipulate you.

• There are a number of problems in educational research that researchers sometimes gloss over. Call people out when they use studies that are weak in these ways.  For example, the impact of the environment (whether the inner mind of a student or the outer home or school environment) is difficult to measure, so some studies will downplay or ignore this important aspect of the real world.  

• There isn’t universal agreement on the goals of education, so question what researchers mean when they say something improves education.  Does their definition of "good schools" agree with your own?

• Willingham provides a four-step approach to evaluating research claims, a useful short-cut method for analyzing research.

 Top Five Quotes

• Measurability is an important factor in how susceptible something is to scientific investigation.  Measurability does not speak to importance.  Importance is determined by our values.

• People try to get the benefit of the cloak of science on the cheap.

• When things are described as losses, we are more likely to take a risk.  So when a persuader emphasizes again and again that things are really bad, what is she really saying?  She's saying that the current situation means a certain loss!  The persuader is egging you on to take a risk.

• If the change calls for modifications in practice that are quite distant from the student's mind -- a change in district management, for example -- I'd be suspicious that the Change may not "trickle down" to impact student learning.  Changes in district management might make the district more efficient or its workers happier -- worthy goals -- but it's less likely to make kids learn more math.

• My hope is that in the future, the way that teachers and parents think about the relationship of science and education will change.  Science will be seen not as a field that discovers "the right thing to do" but rather as the field that identifies a few must-haves (given typical goals), leaving multiple ways to "have" them, and identifies helpful tools to reach the goals that we select for education.

 Buy it on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/When-Can-You-Trust-Experts/dp/1118130278/

Why I'll Keep Picking on Dan Patrick (or at least his policy ideas)

The Short Short Version

Dan Patrick’s education policy ideas are bad for Texas' public school kids, and he just got elected as arguably the most powerful legislator in the state.

The Highlights

• Patrick is for vouchers (though he calls them tax credit scholarships because, hey, who’s not for giving kids scholarships?). 

• Tax credit scholarships subsidize private schools at the expense of public schools, and research of over two decades of voucher programs show they do not raise overall student outcomes.

• His support for vouchers is part of his overall bend toward privatization and charter schools and away from traditional public schools.  His answer to the problems public school students face is to divert some of them to other schools.  What about the rest of them?

Why Does This Matter?

Patrick will push for a tax credit scholarship program this session, and legislators who will try to argue against it need our support.   Patrick is banking on most people not being informed enough about the history of these policies to notice that they will harm public schools.  It’s up to us – it’s up to you – to be able to make the arguments against bad policies and for real alternatives.

A tax credit scholarship program will be attractive to legislators in part because it will save the state money.  In the bill that Patrick proposed last session (SB23 in 2013), the scholarships were not to exceed 80% of the state average per-pupil expenditure.  In other words, every kid who gets a scholarship saves the state, on average, 20%.  This would be great news if 1) there were evidence that voucher recipients see improved outcomes at their new schools and 2) there weren’t a negative impact on public schools.  Neither of those conditions is true.  So the state would be saving money at the expense of public school children, all while claiming it is best for the kids.

What Can You Do?

• We’ll keep writing about the problems with Patrick’s tax credit scholarship idea (and some of his other bad ideas, too).  Keep reading, ask questions, and tell us what you want us to write more about.

• Start talking to your state representative and senator as soon as you can.  Help them understand why they should not support this plan, and let them know you and all your friends will hold them accountable for their decisions.

•  You can look up your rep & senator here: http://www.fyi.legis.state.tx.us/Home.aspx

Why Texas Education is at a Tipping Point

The Short Short Version

We’ve seen positive movement away from the state’s testing obsession but dangerous disinvestment trends threatening our public schools.  If current voting trends continue, we’re pretty much doomed.  If everyone who values public education gets involved, we can make a difference. 

The Highlights

• In 2013, the 15 tests the state was requiring for graduation were reduced to 5.  Grassroots actions by parents (namely the group TAMSA) played a part in that important change.

• Joining a national opt-out movement, Texas groups (such as Texas Parents Opt Out, among many others) have been educating parents about their rights regarding state testing.  While opting out can be controversial, it is a tool parents can use to express their opinions about state testing.

• 95.8% of the $4.1 billion in local school bonds were approved by voters on Nov. 4^th.  Local voters support their local schools.

• Texas voters don’t seem to vote for state leaders and legislators who fight for public education.  The Republican Party platform includes spending cuts in education.  State party platforms aren’t binding – legislators can and do disagree with them all the time – but the fact that they put this in writing is disconcerting: “we support reducing taxpayer funding to all levels of education” (page 27, go here for the whole document).

Why Does This Matter?

The opt-out movement is increasing parents' awareness of and involvement in public education policy, and that is nothing but good news.  The more parents learn about public education at a system level, instead of just what’s happening to their own children, the more empowered they will be to make changes that will help all Texas public school students.  If we can harness the passion of parents on the testing issue and broaden it out to other public education issues, look out, Austin!

The news regarding funding is more mixed.  On the one hand, over 95% of the $4.1 billion in local school bonds up for election this November were approved.  Clearly, Texans believe in investing in their local schools.  On the other hand, those same Texans just voted in state leaders and legislators who by and large are not for increased funding.  In fact, a number of them have come out with plans that will decrease school funding.  Why this seeming paradox?  We need to make sure public education voters are state-wide public education voters, not just local school voters.

The history of school funding at the state level in Texas isn’t great.  We’ll talk about this history and current trends in more detail in coming posts, but here’s our favorite example: the last time the state legislature made a massive change to how they funded schools (in 2006), they left a structural deficit of about $5 billion – that’s $5B less in revenue every year since 2006 – and THEY’VE NEVER FIXED IT.  Every politician alive will claim to support public education.  We can’t trust them.  We have to be smarter than that and act on what we learn.

What Can You Do About It?

• If you are a parent or educator, learn about the current testing landscape.  Speak up about the impacts on your children and students, and help legislators find a good middle ground between assessing our schools and doing right by our kids.

• Get educated about how Texas’ education funding and policies work.  We’ll help you with that in the coming months.

• Learn who’s who in Austin, especially your local rep & senator, and hold them accountable.  Tell them what's going on in your schools and help them make the right decisions.

• When the next election comes around, vote to support public education.

Why Texas Education is at a Tipping Point

Well, there’s this:

Data notes for detail nerds like me:

• These percentages are based on registered voters.  We’re not even counting all the people who are eligible to vote but haven’t registered.  Are you one of them?  Fix that here: http://votetexas.gov/register-to-vote/

• I used the vote totals from the governor’s race as a proxy for party affiliation.  Those percentages held constant for nearly all state-wide and state-level (state representatives & senators) races.

• “Other” includes votes for third-party candidates for governor.

• See all the state-wide/state-level voting totals here.