Black Friday Blues
“Consistent only with his own warped and peculiar brand of logic, he was prepared to take measures with such far-reaching consequences for the German population that the very survival he claimed to be fighting for was fundamentally threatened. Ultimately, the continued existence of the German people – if it showed itself incapable of defeating its enemies – was less important to him than the refusal to capitulate.”
― Ian Kershaw, Hitler, Vol. 2: 1936-1945 Nemesis
In the wake of his electoral victory, President-elect Trump has been tossing out names for cabinet positions and policy priorities to mixed reactions. How much of all it is a bluff, and how much he'll be able to pull off, is debatable.
Based on his previous stint at the wheel, I'm tending to think most of it is posturing and hot air, That's not necessarily a bad thing.
For example, he's talking a whole lot about tariffs and his commitment to putting them in place. Economists, are calling the idea seriously flawed. Maybe it is, and maybe he knows that, but having a reputation for being unhinged comes in handy here. How much will the fear of tariffs influences the behavior of other countries. Mexico while pushing back with its own threats, has also promised to slow down the migrant caravans heading to the U.S. border.
Let's look at his nominee for Secretary of Education and his promise to end the Department of Education. We'll start with the former.
Donald Trump has proposed that former co-head of the WWE, Linda McMahon serve as his Secretary of Education. Kinda ironic if you think about it. He's petting a wrestler in charge of education two year before Tennessee will consider putting a wrestler in charge of the state - Knoxville Mayor Glenn Jacobs (Kane) is currently the presumptive frontrunnerto replace current Governor Bill Lee.
By all accounts, McMahon is a skilled executive. Don't confuse her with Trumps previous choice, Betsy DeVos. As one education policy insider told me, "McMahon will ensure that the trains always run on time, while DeVos often seemed incapable of delivering on that promise."
McMahon co-founded the WWE with her husband, Vince McMahon. While she held her position, Linda McMahon oversaw the WWE's transformation from a small wrestling entertainment company into a publicly traded media empire. She stepped down as CEO in 2009.
After stepping down as CEO, she twice ran unsuccessfully for the US Senate in Connecticut, losing in 2010 and 2012. She self-funded those campaigns, spending $50.1 million in 2010 and $48.7 million in 2012, according to Open Secrets, a nonprofit organization that tracks campaign financing. Trump donated $5,000 to her campaign in 2012.
As educator Peter Greene points out, "unlike former secretary Betsy DeVos or some of the contenders like Tiffany Justice and Erika Donalds, McMahon has not spent most of her adult life trying to devise and implement ways to dismantle and privatize public education. (And at age 76, she is a decade older than DeVos--one more aging boomer in this administration). I'm not saying that won't be part of her policy objectives. It's just that she won't enter office with a whole suitcase of explosives already packed."
I find it hard to get too worked up over the nomination because I'm hard pressed to name a Secretary of Education in recent memory who's actually made a dent.
Every time I want to mention the current occupant of the office I have to stop at Google first.
Arne Duncan, is still out there trying to convince us that his turn at the wheel was ineffective.
The best thing John King ever did was convince EdTrust to pay him his half million dollar annual salary while he ran for Governor of Maryland - he got shellacked.
We've already talked about DeVos.
So the bar is already pretty low. How much expectation or fear can you still have?
If she is confirmed, McMahon will quickly become an indicator of what Trump really intends to do with his education policy. Again quoting Peter Greene, "He can pursue either 1) the culture panic goal of using federal funds as leverage to force schools to follow culture war edicts or 2) dismantling the department and sending the federal funds out to states as no-strings block grants. Well, #2 was always the less likely (it requires Congress to go along), and McMahon seems like a better fit for #1, though of course her long-time minimal interest in education may mean it's easier for her to walk away from the ruins of the department."
When it comes to the dismantling of the DOE, color me skeptical.
Like ending Social Security, rolling back Obamacare, or any other plethora of regurgitated Republican talking points, the concept seems better suited to serve as a fundraising tool than an accmplishment. Give us an extra $50 and next term I promise, that federal department is out of here!
I don't see a change in that during the next four years.
What will likely happen is the dividing up of some responsibilities. Some of the current federal funding overseen by the DOE, will come under the purview of a different department. In an effort to slow the train down on SEL, some regulations may be ended.
That might not be a bad thing. People will ridicule the idea of indoctrination by public schools, but as someone that has kids in public schools...the issue is real. Perhaps it is not done in a devious man behind the curtain way, but through a combination of curriculum, text books, and policies, there are ideas being taught in schools that don't jibe with what's taught at home.
Some of that may be good, some of it troubling, but it is arguably a power that districts have come to assume is their right.
I wouldn't be surprised if Trump uses the Department to finance and encourage greater school choice options. Maybe he implements a program where the Feds match whatever the states invest in school choice opportunities. Maybe it's a building fund for private institutions.
There are multitudes of ways that Trump could use the Department of Education to leverage his goals, if he is so inclined.
Which is why I am confused about Governor Lee and his cronies at the Tennessee General Assembly rushing off and rejoining the state debate on school choice this upcoming session. Might be more prudent to wait a year, put your finger in the air, and see how the federal wind is blowing, before rushing off to slay a dragon that might not need slaying. Why do it for free, when there is potential to get paid for it?
About the best answer I can get, from anyone that might know, is that it is ego and legacy driving the train. The former doesn't surprise me, but the latter makes me fallout in laughter.
I hate to break it to Lee, but his legacy as Governor is already scripted, and it doesn't include words like competent, brilliant, or successful. Ain't nobody going to say, "I thought he was a putz until he passed that school choice bill..now I love the man."
Trump's already made it clear that despite all of Lee's casting crowns at his feet, he's got little use for the Governor of Tennessee.
Anyway, it's all speculation until after January 20th and Trump is elected. So we need to employ a little temperance.
The best advice I've heard on dealing with what Trump may or may not do comes from Senator John Fetterman(D-PA).
"We’re not even at Thanksgiving, and Democrats just can’t stop losing our minds every fifteen minutes. We really need to pace ourselves, or, you know, FFS [for f---'s sake], just grab a grip." The Democratic Senator has further advised, "“We really need to pace ourselves, or ... just grab a grip. Realize that this is how elections go,”
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Somewhere former Metro Nashville Public Schools Superintendent Shawn Joseph has got to be shaking his head when he looks at the current status of MNPS.
While he was in charge he regularly faced a herd of reporters sticking a microphone in his face over some misstep, led by the award winning investigative reporter Phil Williams. Current Director of schools Dr. Battle has made her share of mistakes, yet they rarely seem to spark a reporters interest. Hell, once firmly established as a Central Office precense, I'm not sure Williams could find Bransford Avenue without his GPS tracker at this juncture,
While here, Joseph was under continual fire for employing 4 chiefs in his cabinet. Battle is up to 9 and still counting. Joseph's peeps earned $180K per, Battles $200K.
Joseph's potential contract extension was followed daily by the media, until he withdrew his desire to continue, Dr. Battle received an extension of her contract with a salary increase to $385K - double that of the mayor - two years before expiration of the current contract, and only one TV station thought it notable for coverage. Well, them and The Firefly.
As superintendent, Joseph had to fight board members who were continually critical of his actions. When it comes to Battle, the only battles they fight is over who gets to clap her on the back first.
Both superintendents have had multi-million dollar lawsuits filed on their watch. Joseph's always made the papers. These days lawsuits are quickly forgotten and easily ignored, even when they read like an episode of Peyton Place. (You younger readers might have to Google that reference.)
Dr. Joseph took a beating in 2018 because Nashville had 21 schools in the bottom 5%. Currently MNPS has 18 schools that reside in the bottom 5%. Many of the schools have been there since 2018, but the new list has 4 high schools as opposed to the previously listed 2. That means that roughly a quarter of Nashville's high school students are attending an underperformiong high school. The only high schools on the "Reward School" list are the magnet schools, including Nashville School of the Arts. All of which have a limited number of seats.
One of those High Schools on the low performing list is Pearl-Cohn High School. Last year they were State Champions in Football. This year they are in the semi-finals and favored to repeat. MNPS leadership got miles of ink from last years championship, but while heaping praise on coaches at the board meeting, nobody thought to ask, "Why can't you replicate this kind of success in the classroom?"
Pearl Cohn serves 605 students, 95% of whom are Black or Hispanic and 68% are economically disadvantaged. What is the message sent when the athletic is celebrated and the academic ignored?
Joseph and his defenders used to cry racism to mitigate the criticism leveled at him. Battle is a Black female, so that waters some of that down.
I think it's more a case of us vs them. Dr Battle is a product of MNPS and has spent her entire career here. She is an "Us".
Joseph? He was from Maryland with little ties to the city, obviously he's one of "them".
Whatever the case, at some point MNPS supporters need to direct a similar energy and scrutiny towards Dr. Battle. If she's as good as the board members say, and worthy of that inflated salary, she'll be able to handle it.
But blind obedience, does nobody any favors.
What is good for the goose, should be good for the gander.
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Speaking of lawsuits, the proverbial streets are a buzz with speculation that a new lawsuit against MNPS is about to land. If so, this could be a biggie. No evidence whether it is true or not, but Christmas season is speculation season.
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Remember all the hand ringing over the number of students that would be held back because of the state third-grade retention law? Two years later, it appears all of that concern was for naught.
According to the TDOE's Chief Academic Officer Kristy Brown, fewer than 1 percent of third grade students were held back under the state’s controversial Third-Grade Retention Law. Brown recently present retention information to the State Board of Education:
This year’s third graders had the option to advance to the fourth grade by showing proficiency on an additional test, through legislation that passed last year. Brown said that most of the 44,000 third graders who were at risk of being held back used other pathways to advance to the fourth grade, while others were able to retake the test. Some students advanced with the help of summer camps or tutoring programs.
“Of the 44,984 that were eligible for a retake, 22,745 did [retake the test], and then that resulted in an additional 3,274 third grade students that reached proficiency to be promoted into the fourth grade,” she said. In case you are doing the math at home, that's 14% of those who retook the test.
According to Brown, nearly 27 percent of students were exempt from retention for various reasons, including being previously retained, having a disability that impacts reading, or being an English language learner.
Of the 12,260 fourth grade students that participated in tutoring during the previous school year, about 14 percent achieved proficiency in the spring, while over 32 percent showed adequate growth based on testing measurements designed to predict whether a student will achieve proficiency by the time they take their last TCAP exams in eighth grade.
In addition, the data noted, 44 percent of at-risk fourth graders benefitted from a new pathway approved by lawmakersthis year that allows students to advance with the approval of their parents, teachers, and administrators. Under this pathway, fourth graders who make it to the fifth grade must receive tutoring moving forward.
Not sure how that data adds up, but I do reach the conclusion that the third-grade retention law has been rendered worthless.
Remember that when this up coming General Assembly, you hear all the talk about how voucher schools are not held to the same level of accountability as public schools.
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My favorite education policy canard is the one that argues against a teacher shortage. Last week TDOE's Assistant Commissioner of Human Capital Brooke Amos gave an overview of the department’s recent Educator Vacancy Report to the Tennessee State Board of Education meeting,
According to the report districts reported 1,434 vacancies, with an average of approximately 10 vacancies per district. In addition, she said, the overall statewide vacancy rate for 2023-24 school year was just under 2 percent. That number was 2.5 percent for vacancies in “critical shortage areas,” such as English as a second language, world languages, special education and pre-K classrooms.
Those numbers are consistent with previous years.
Impressive, no?
Let's dig a little deeper.
Many districts have had to fill vacancies with the help of endorsement exemptions and temporary permits in recent years, Amos said schools are now working to create more pathways for full licensure moving forward.
“We've seen relatively stable numbers of vacancies within the 1,000-1,400 range, but we are seeing the number of waivers and endorsement exemptions increased by about threefold, and the numbers of permits have increased by about 150 percent over the last three years,” she told the board during her update.
That's not so impressive. Especially when you consider that individuals on permits are “less effective in year one as folks might anticipate,” as admitted by Amos. She believes this underscores the critical role of professional development resources, mentorship, and educator preparation programs.
Me? I think it underscores the need to higher qualified people and make the job more tenable.
So how long does it take to go from permit to say, "limited license"?
Amos told the board that most individuals who come into positions on a permit are usually able to transition to a “limited license” within two or three years depending on their effectiveness, moving them to a permanent licensure pathway.
That is if they don't quit.
“We do find that individuals on permits, especially in year one, have higher attrition than other individuals in the workforce. I think one of the things that we are cognizant of is that it is a local decision at that point, whether the individual is paired with a mentor. We also know that individuals paired with a mentor have a greater likelihood of retention,” Amos said.
Yep, nothing to see here.
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