{"id":36729,"date":"2013-05-28T08:16:11","date_gmt":"2013-05-28T07:16:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/breaking-news\/signs-of-the-coming-revolution-in-americas-education-system\/36729\/"},"modified":"2013-05-28T08:16:11","modified_gmt":"2013-05-28T07:16:11","slug":"signs-of-the-coming-revolution-in-americas-education-system","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/breaking-news\/signs-of-the-coming-revolution-in-americas-education-system\/","title":{"rendered":"Signs of the Coming Revolution in America&#039;s Education System"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"story_images\">\n      <!-- All divs have been put onto one line because of whitespace issues when rendered inline in browsers --><\/p>\n<div class=\"story-image-sourcing\">\n<div class=\"story-image-source\">\n<p><cite>Photo Credit: Shutterstock.com\/Eugene Ivanov<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><em><span class=\"field field-name-field-date field-type-date field-label-hidden\"><span class=\"field-items\"><span class=\"field-item even\"><span class=\"date-display-single\">May 21, 2013<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><br \/>\n<\/em> \u00a0|  <\/p>\n<div class=\"article_insert_container\">\n<div id=\"insert_ilikethis\">\n<div id=\"block-altsubscription-subscribe-node-inline\" class=\"block block-altsubscription first odd count-1\">\n<div class=\"content\">\n<div id=\"insert_ilikethis\">\n<p>Like this article?<\/p>\n<p>Join our email list:<\/p>\n<h3>Stay up to date with the latest headlines via email.<\/h3>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><!-- \/.block -->\n\t      <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>    <!-- BODY --><\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s always hard to tell for sure exactly when a revolution starts,\u201d wrote John Tierny in <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/www.theatlantic.com\/national\/archive\/2013\/04\/the-coming-revolution-in-public-education\/275163\/\">The Atlantic<\/a>\u00a0recently. \u201cI\u2019m not an expert on revolutions,\u201d he continued, \u201cbut even I can see that a new one is taking shape in American K-12 public education.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>Tierney pointed to a number of signs of the coming \u201crevolution:\u201d <\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Teachers refusing to give standardized tests, parents opting their kids out of tests, and students boycotting tests. <\/li>\n<li>Legislators reconsidering testing and expressing concerns about corruption in the testing industry. <\/li>\n<li>Voucher and other \u201cchoice\u201d proposals being strongly contested and voted down in states that had been friendly to them. <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Tierney linked to a blog post by yours truly, <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/blogs\/answer-sheet\/wp\/2013\/02\/02\/the-inconvenient-truth-of-education-reform\/\">\u201cThe Inconvenient Truth of Education Reform,\u201d<\/a>\u00a0explaining how the movement known as \u201ceducation reform\u201d has committed severe harm to the populations it professes to serve while spreading corruption and enriching businesses and political figures. <\/p>\n<p>Echoing Tierney, on the pages of <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/www.slate.com\/articles\/news_and_politics\/science\/2013\/05\/cheating_scandals_and_parent_rebellions_high_stakes_school_testing_is_doomed.single.html\">Slate<\/a>,\u00a0<a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/www.thenation.com\/sites\/default\/files\/nation20130527.pdf\">The Nation<\/a>, and <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/host.madison.com\/ct\/news\/opinion\/column\/david-l-kirp-balloon-bursts-on-test-driven-school-reform\/article_cef6a6a8-a577-5f8c-b1b3-d8086e816681.html\">elsewhere<\/a>, David Kirp, education professor and author of a popular new book casting doubt on competitive driven, market-based school reform, declared that cheating scandals and parent rebellions over high stakes standardized testing were proof that much ballyhooed reform policies championed by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Education Secretary Arne Duncan are not \u201ca proven \u2014 or even a promising \u2014 way to make schools better.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>Kirp declared that mounting evidence from school reform efforts in major U.S. metropolitan areas reveals \u201cit\u2019s a terrible time for advocates of market-driven reform in public education. For more than a decade, their strategy \u2014 which makes teachers\u2019 careers turn on student gains in reading and math tests, and promotes competition through charter schools and vouchers \u2014 has been the dominant policy mantra. But now the cracks are showing.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>In a legislative view, the <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/progressivestates.org\/news\/dispatch\/backlash-brews-against-corporate-education-reform\">Progressive State Network,<\/a>\u00a0which supports left-leaning state legislators and monitors legislative policy in state houses, noticed \u201ca backlash is brewing in many states as more and more parents and legislators alike start asking questions about corporate education reform.\u201d The post on PSN\u2019s website referenced Tierney\u2019s article and highlighted a Minnesota bill that eliminates testing requirements for graduation and several states that are embroiled in battles to defeat measures known as the \u201cparent trigger,\u201d which enables private takeovers of public schools. <\/p>\n<p>These observations are not alarmist chatter but well-reasoned, valid conclusions that anti-government collectivist actions related to public school policy are scaling up from isolated protests to a nationwide movement of unified resistance. <\/p>\n<p>The movement is widespread among teachers, students, and parents. It is grassroots driven and way out in front of most journalists and political leaders. And it\u2019s scaling up in intensity. <\/p>\n<p><strong>A Teacher-Student-Parent Movement<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>For quite some time now, education historian and reform opponent Diane Ravitch has written about the ever expanding discontent among teachers over the emphasis on standardized testing and test-based teacher evaluation and school rating systems. <\/p>\n<p>As proof of this discontent, Ravitch has closely followed and commented on a boycott against standardized testing among <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/dianeravitch.net\/2013\/04\/29\/seattle-teachers-expand-testing-boycott\/\">teachers in Seattle,<\/a>\u00a0an ongoing protest among <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/blogs.edweek.org\/edweek\/Bridging-Differences\/2011\/11\/hooray_for_the_long_island_pri.html\">principals in New York state<\/a>\u00a0against new teacher evaluations, and objections to the \u201ctesting beast\u201d among <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/dianeravitch.net\/2013\/04\/30\/the-moms-that-stopped-the-testing-beast-in-texas\/\">educators and parents in Texas<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>In ever-greater numbers, however, students are also leading the resistance. A recent article in <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/www.thenation.com\/blog\/174268\/philadelphia-raleigh-students-resist-racism-and-austerity#\">The Nation<\/a>\u00a0reported on the growing student resistance movement driven by grievances over austerity budgets and systemic racism. <\/p>\n<p>From all corners of the country \u2014 North Carolina to Philadelphia to Louisiana to Chicago \u2014 <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/ricksmithshow.tumblr.com\/post\/49811487725\/today-students-as-young-as-8-walked-out-of-school\">students as young as eight years old<\/a>\u00a0are organizing and taking part in a variety of actions including <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/news.providencejournal.com\/breaking-news\/2013\/02\/student-zombies-march-on-ri-department-of-education-in-protest.html\">zombie protests<\/a>, school walkouts and sit-ins, and acts of defiance like the recent rant by <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/www.huffingtonpost.com\/2013\/05\/09\/jeff-bliss-teacher-rant-duncanville-texas_n_3245992.html?ncid=edlinkusaolp00000003&amp;ir=Education\">a high school student in Texas<\/a>\u00a0that went viral over the Internet when he castigated a seemingly indifferent teacher for dispensing education in \u201cpackets\u201d rather than engaging the class in meaningful, relevant learning. <\/p>\n<p>This article originally appeared on: <a href=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedblitz.com\/~\/41451402\/0\/alternet~Signs-of-the-Coming-Revolution-in-Americas-Education-System\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Signs of the Coming Revolution in America&#039;s Education System\">AlterNet<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Photo Credit: Shutterstock.com\/Eugene Ivanov May 21, 2013 \u00a0| Like this article? Join our email list: Stay up to date with the latest headlines via email. \u201cIt\u2019s always hard to tell for sure exactly when a revolution starts,\u201d wrote John Tierny in The Atlantic\u00a0recently. \u201cI\u2019m not an expert on revolutions,\u201d he continued, \u201cbut even I can [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[487],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-36729","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-breaking-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36729","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36729"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36729\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36729"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36729"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36729"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}