I was going to stay out of this one. I was going to let it all pass because I was tired of the contention and combat. This fight has been taxing. After all, sometimes I’m fighting for people who won’t even fight for themselves; I was getting tired. So I took a little break from Lee County and focused more on national education issues.

Then I heard your comments and the subsequent laughter of Florida School Board Members at the FSBA.

I listened to the whole thing and some of what you said I agree with. You said there are lots of different groups with different objectives – that is accurate. As you know, I am against high-stakes testing. That is my main objective. Yes, other groups are against Common Core and I know that it is impossible to untangle the Common Core/Florida Standards from high-stakes testing. I also know that under these new standards high-stakes testing has increased exponentially. However, I choose not to focus on the standards and instead zero in on the publishers and test makers profiting off of the failure of our students.   

I also agreed with your comments when you said some groups are pulling back because of the entanglement of issues. Yes that is true.

When I saw the movement I was participating in become entangled with anti Common Core groups, I backed off. Not because I don’t appreciate their fight, but because it is not my focus (you and I both know there will be a different set of more “rigorous” standards in 2-3 years). However, I am simply regrouping and becoming more strategic. Backing off is not me quitting – don’t get it twisted. I will NEVER quit.

One of my favorite lines in your speech, and there were many, was when you talk about the “silent majority” in our district – those who have no problems with what’s happening in the district. You called them “the more informed group of citizens and business people.”

I guess, Dr. Graham, you feel that only those who do not question you and other leaders are “more informed.” So does that mean those who do question what is happening in this district are less informed 

But then my very favorite part of the speech, and I knew it wouldn’t take long for you to become condescending:  

“What’s been amazing to me is how someone can speak with absolute conviction and passion and nothing they say is accurate. But it becomes believable because they say it so passionately. And so that’s kind of what happened. And so the board – by the way, the pretend grandmother comes to every meeting…”

I think the laughter after these remarks was even more disturbing than the remarks themselves. To hear Florida School Board members laughing at the community they were elected to serve, turned my stomach and reaffirmed my disdain for politicians.

Click below to hear the audio.

 

A few things regarding your remarks (and the laughter):

  • Yes we speak passionately about our children and what the system is doing to them. And what I’m saying is accurate and I assure you, I am very informed. You know that I am a doctoral student in educational leadership.   My dissertation research is focused on the consequential validity of standardized testing. While conducting this research I have spoken to many psychometricians about the practices used when making the tests. Did you know these very smart and informed quantitative analysts say that there is absolutely NO WAY to control for the infinite amount of variables happening before, after and during test day regarding students? Perhaps you should speak to some people who actually construct these assessments. Your perspective might shift and you, yourself, may become more informed.
  • I think it is pretty messed up that you refer to only those who do not question you or other leaders imposing bad educational policy on our children as informed. I assure you, I am very informed and I intend to challenge you and any one else who continues to impose ineffective, and detrimental education policy on our children.
  • I believe you to be misinformed or maybe more misguided. You have said it yourself many times in other speeches that you are a “system-based, standards-based girl”. Perhaps you are so systems oriented and have been in the machine so long, that you, Dr. Graham, have lost sight of the children. You would NEVER disrupt the system or go against the state. And that isn’t just you; most people would rather operate in the machine rather than challenge it. I don’t expect anything different from you or your staff.
  • Rule number one in leadership – don’t alienate the community you serve. While you refer to “fake grandmothers” and tout the so-called silent majority who are the “more-informed” group, you are ignoring the real silent majority. In fact, I believe the silent majority to be the poor, minority students who are disproportionately negatively affected by these exams. But what do I know? I’m just one of those passionately, misinformed and extremely convicted community members.

I do not think this is entirely your fault. Like our unique students, I think your circumstances are shaping your reality. I believe the fact that you have NEVER had to teach in this type of crazy accountability has impacted your perspective. How long has it been since you have taught in a classroom? I know you left for leadership way before NCLB and the accountability madness that is now our normal setting.

I also believe the fact that you have never had one of your own children affected by this system, makes you less sensitive to the passionate mothers and “fake grandmothers” out there.

I am disappointed but not at all surprised by your comments at the FSBA. After all, you are acting no different than our national education leaders do. In fact, Arne Duncan has continually mocked mothers and community members when they push back against his policies. But I am hoping you and those laughing along with you at the FSBA, might see how your insensitivity and the fact that you were making a joke out of our efforts would anger some of the community you have been hired to serve.

14 Responses

  2. Angie salender

    Thank you! Let’s see if she responds. I’d don’t like being made a mockery of for standing up. The fact that these are our representatives and they found it amusing is just disheartening.

    Reply
  3. Bob Schaeffer, FairTest

    Bravo for you spot-on critique of the condescending arrogance with which Superintendent Graham (and her supporters on the Board) dismiss the many parents, educators and community leaders who disagree with them.

    Reply
  4. Darina

    She is a disgrace! More spew comes out of her mouth than from the sanitation department. I am disgusted by these popinjays.

    Reply
  5. charles

    The idea that the majority of stakeholders remain silent BECAUSE THEY ARE THE MOST INFORMED is simply wishful thinking. Most parents are simply too busy to get too far into school board issues. They trust their board members.
    The idea that because kids may not take one more high-stakes test each year they will not be able to compete in the global 21st century is interesting. What exactly do they learn from taking this single test that will give them 21st century skills? Easy to see where Supt. Graham is coming from. My concern would be that the board members seem all too eager to follow her lead. They must think for themselves.

    Reply
    • Bruce William Smith

      Superintendent Graham is misinformed if she believes high stakes testing of the Common Core standards is likely to yield a competitive 21st century workforce. The United States has used a strategy of increasingly high stakes testing since 2001, when No Child Left Behind passed, and during that time young Americans’ competences, as measured by the OECD’s PIAAC (Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies), have declined to the point where they are now in last place in the developed world; and the Common Core standards, despite their advertising, are not internationally competitive, particularly in mathematics, since, even if they are perfectly implemented, they will leave American students three years behind the Chinese and two years behind most of the other leading competitors in Asia and Europe.

      Reply
  6. Maguire

    This was a fantastic read Kathleen, some very good points if I must say so myself. I love that you will stop at nothing to make sure that people are made aware of what these leaders are doing, all behind our backs. I also took one part of her speech rather personally. After her meeting with me at my school at the beginning of the year, she said I was very passionate for what I am doing but I am simply misinformed. Which must mean I am another one of these misinformed leaders. Ugh, this stuff is so frustrating.

    Reply
  7. Laurie

    Great piece, Kathleen. I too have separated the issues of testing and standards for the same reasons you explain here. I find NG’s “performance” disgraceful, and laughing at the community you serve, mocking them and undermining their right to be active citizens and participate in their communities defies everything we try to teach our children in school. You have hit the nail on the head with this one.

    Reply
  8. Marian

    Thank you Kathleen Jasper, that was a great article. As I assume that she is referring to either Mary or myself as the ” fake grand-mother” , I am there on behalf of my children who can not attend. High Stake testing and Common Core are hand in hand. If the kids are frustrated with this bizarre learning process they will of course be extremely stressed during these test. What the school board is doing is without any doubt “Child Abuse” and it is the parents right to protect them. I gave her the benefit of doubt with the media until I read the article from the journalist at the Tampa paper and listened to the audio. I am outraged by her condescending words about the parents who are only looking out for the best interest of the their children. To them this is a joke and I’m not laughing …. If we did this to our kids, DCF would be all over us. Therefore, The time has come for all of us to demand her resignation and she can take Morgan with her as her severance

    Reply
  9. R0y

    I believe this board is not much different from many boards around the country (education, civil leadership, etc) in that they simply do not believe they could ever be wrong, and anyone who dares point out that possibility MUST be a kook (and laughed at).

    A disturbing national/local trend, indeed.

    Reply
  10. Choon Dho Olmsted

    Thank you Kathleen. A note worthy response. I want to thank your effort in this fight….and it is a fight!

    Reply
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