Following the Yellow-Brick Road!!

2.6.11
Unlike these days of the Redbox, movies on demand, and downloading flicks instantly to your computer, unless one of the (3) networks decided to broadcast a film, you were out of luck and at the mercy of their schedule to see a movie at home in the comfort of your living room.

In a way, I suppose it made it seem just a little more special. It became a big deal to get out the cokes and the popcorn and cozy up under a blanket in front of the glowing screen when a movie was aired into your living room. It wasn’t everyday. It was a big deal.

And there was NO bigger deal than the annual showing of “The Wizard of Oz.” I think everyone of my vintage fondly remembers this yearly event: partly because the story had everything- from frightening flying monkeys to apple-throwing trees to terrifying twisters to witches (good & bad) to a wizard to munchkins; and partly because IF you had a color TV then when Dorothy’s house crashed down on the Witch, she opens the door to a wondrous and multi-colored world. I’m telling you- THAT, was SOMETHING!

Of course you know the story, “everyone” does. It’s how Dorothy (played by a tightly bound-in-gingham Judy Garland) in a concussive dream visits the land of Oz and meets up with a Scarecrow that needs brains and a Tinman that needs a heart and a Lion in dire need of some gumption and they skip off down a yellow-brick road to find the Wizard, perform some Wizard-appointed tasks, and return to claim their promised rewards from him, only to find out that the Wizard is not really a wizard, but instead a humbug- simply a Midwestern man pulling levers and throwing projections on a screen. Then in the end, the curtain is pulled back on the so-called Wizard and the truth is brought to light and everyone sees that they’ve had everything they’ve needed all along. What a WONDERFUL story!

Ah memories. I have to note that in the years before my family had a color TV, I remember being especially excited one year when taken in by the claims of the advertising, I danced around and announced “THIS YEAR it’s going to be IN COLOR!” only to be told lovingly by “Mr. Know-it-all” (aka my brother) that it didn’t matter what the commercials said- “We don’t have a color TV, you idiot.”

So yeah, I was kind of a stupid little kid. It took me years to catch on to the double casting of the characters of the Wicked Witch, the Wizard, the Lion, the Tinman, and the Scarecrow with their Kansas counterparts. I’d like to think however, that as an adult, I’ve got a few more brains.

And if you’re wondering what my little trip down the yellow-brick memory lane is about, It’s that it’s starting to appear to me that my Governor and the State Superintendent of Public Instruction here in Indiana are either glad or banking on that I am (and YOU are) still that ignorant kid who wouldn’t dare look behind a curtain to expose their lack of wizardry.

Today I went to my state’s education website to read about the new teacher evaluation rubric my Governor and State Superintendent want Indiana school boards to implement and read the following:

"Too often it’s not a lack of money or resources that keeps individuals, states and nations from achieving their goals—it’s a lack of courage. ( bolding is mine) This is the moment for Indiana to emerge as a national leader for innovative and aggressive education initiatives that put student success first. We cannot afford to keep doing what we've been doing. We must truly hold the best interest of students at heart, and we must not fail to act now."

I read those words and I’m suddenly angrier than Dorothy when the Wicked Witch takes Toto from her. If ONLY I had a bucket of water to melt the subject of my ire!

This man (Dr. Bennett) is throwing levers and projecting voices and hiding behind a curtain pretending to be a great wizard and helping the students in my state but really sending us all on wild goose chases trying to prove our worth, just as Dorothy and her friends were sent to fetch a broomstick.

Maybe you don’t see why this seemingly innocuous, supposedly inspiring passage about courage would set me off. Those of you that know me or have read this blog before will know it’s because I feel there is a different intent behind Dr. Bennett’s words. I feel that while putting in, once again, a “small” dig at the “inadequacy” of the state’s teachers, he’s trying to rally people around the implementation of proposed house and senate bills that he’s pretending will be the solutions to what he says are Indiana’s educational woes. He’s pulling levers and using his microphone diligently and furiously trying to influence public opinion to get his “reform” legislation passed. He’s trying very hard to control to obfuscate the public with erroneous propaganda, just like the Wizard in the beloved movie was trying to do to Dorothy and her friends to hide the fact that he didn’t really have the answers.

In so many words on the IDOE post, Dr. Bennett is citing that teacher resistance to his reforms are due not just to our lack of brains and heart, but also to cowardice. We educators are afraid of change. We’re cowardly. First, No heart, No brains, and NOW- No courage. Wow. That feels like quite a slam to me. Like a pelting of apples raining down on me and my colleagues.

If you follow Dr. Bennett and Mr. Daniels agendas, just like their compatriots in other states across the country, you might see that they have either insinuated or downright stated that many of us working in the PUBLIC schools are rotten- apples and incompetent. Never mind that his very own chart lists the top 10 schools in Indiana as “ISTA” schools and of the bottom 10, only ONE is.

Bennett and Daniel’s plans to remedy the supposedly dire situation is by weeding educators out- using take-over tactics with no respect to the staff or the real issues behind any failures of schools. What they really want is control so that they can more easily balance the state budget. They want to do this with no respect to the effects it will have on Indiana’s students. Under the guise of “putting students first” they plan to unleash more charter schools and implement a merit pay system with merit being based on the evaluation rubric http://www.doe.in.gov/puttingstudentsfirst/ (or one similar) that I went to look up, ignoring all unbiased research on the connection between teacher experience and education on student achievement. They plan to reduce collective bargaining rights to such innocuousness that they might as well not even exist even while the top ten schools in the state ARE what they term ISTA (Indiana State Teacher Association) schools. They to use PUBLIC education dollars for Vouchers for private interests, never-mind that this sucks away precious resources from PUBLIC schools who accept EVERYONE as surely as a tornado sucks objects up into it’s funnel.

But before you believe their pontifications, please listen to this man - Tony Lux, Superintendent of Merrillville Community School Corporation. In a guest editorial at nwitimes.com, he is standing up and calling the Governor and Tony Bennett- “Snake Oil Salesmen.” For the full text with real facts about the state’s agenda that they are trying to push through with legislation, please go to http://www.nwitimes.com/news/opinion/guest-commentary/article_7e1f20dd-08c6-5755-bb8e-fb030bea8b2b.html?mode=storyHere is a quote from his commentary: “Snake oil salesmen, like the Wizard of Oz in the Emerald City, don't want anyone looking behind the curtain to see their illusion. They also want to be out of town before the pubic realizes the illusion.”

Hmm. See how the theme of the Wizard of Oz is coming through here? And if you still don’t see it, let’s look behind that curtain a little bit. Here is a comment that was left on Mr. Lux’s commentary by a poster named Rat Region 11: said on: February 1, 2011, 6:38 am
“Heres a little data for everyone that was provided by the IDOE.
ISTEP
Per the IDOE data, 331 school corporations are listed as taking the ISTEP last year. Of the 331, 284 are Traditional Public schools and 45 are Charter Schools, 2 are State Run Schools.
Schools Scoring Greater Than or Equal to 70% Pass Rate
Charter Schools: 5 or 11.1% of total
Traditional Public: 138 or 48.6% of total
Schools Scoring 69% to 51% Pass Rate
Charter Schools: 15 or 33.3% of total
Traditional Public: 139 or 48.9% of total
Schools Scoring Less Than 50% Pass Rate
Charter Schools: 25 or 55.6% of total
Traditional Public: 7 or 2.5% of total
The numbers don’t lie. 97.5% of all Traditional Public School Corporations are scoring above a 50% Pass Rate compared to 44.4% of Charter Schools. If we need more Charter Schools to boost our scores and the education of our children shouldn’t these numbers be reversed.

End of Course Assessments

Algebra
Per the IDOE data, 1011 schools took the ECA for Algebra 1. Of the 1011, 981 were Traditional Public Schools and 30 were Charter Schools
The State Average for the ECA for Algebra 1 was 61%

Schools Scoring Greater Than or Equal to 60%
Charter Schools: 5 or 16.7% of total
Traditional Public: 602 or 61.4% of total

Schools Scoring Less Than 60% Pass Rate
Charter Schools: 19 or 63.3% of total
Traditional Public: 363 or 37.0% of total

Schools With No Scoring Due to Not Meeting Minimum Number of Participation
Charter Schools: 6 or 20.0% of total
Traditional Public: 16 or 1.6% of total

By this data for Algebra 1, you can see that the Charter Schools have in essence actually brought down the State average for the ECA in Algebra 1. I also looked at those schools scoring greater than or equal to 90% since the state likes to through that number around. Here are the results:

Schools Scoring Greater Than or Equal to 90%
Charter Schools: 1 or 3.3% of total
Traditional Public: 252 or 25.7% of total

Looks like yet again the numbers show that our Indiana Traditional Public schools, as a whole, are far out-performing our Charter School counterparts.”

Hmm. Isn’t this a horse of a different color than what Mr. Bennett and Mr. Daniels seem to be riding? Hmm. Do I see someone pulling back the curtains and opening the door to a more beautiful and multi-colored educational world?

Some other entities who are daring to look behind the curtain are the Indiana State Teacher’s Association http://www.ista-in.org/dynamic.aspx?id=304 and the Save Our Schools march and National Call to Action group at http://www.saveourschoolsmarch.org. Please join up with them and fight against the impending “reforms” if you want to follow a yellow-brick road a happy ending.

As you probably know, when the Wizard in the movie is revealed to be just a man and Dorothy chastises for being a very bad man. He corrects her and says “no, I’m a very good man, just a very bad wizard.”

Oh, if only real life were more like the movies! Then I’d truly be able to say “There is no place like home.” I might even click my heels together!