Tomorrow evening USC will host a panel discussion featuring John Legend (Grammy award-winning artist and philanthropist), John Deasy (superintendent of LAUSD), Ana Ponce (CEO of Camino Nuevo Charter Academy) and Hrag Hamalian (Founder and Head of Valor Academy).
But is John Deasy really the best person to
deal out information on effective education reform?
Deasy
has been a strong force in education reform since the issue regained popularity.
He has earned the support of Mayor Villaraigosa, NYC Mayor Bloomberg, and the endorsement
of the five top mayoral candidates in LA (the big budget team). His big push for teacher accountability via testing data has made him a big enemy to the teacher’s union and a hero to other reformists.
Deasy’s track record so far is not pretty.
From an allegedly fake Ph.D to accusations of title I, II, III funds theft to
his suspicious involvement with big corporations that run Charter schools such
as the Gate’s and Board Foundations it appears that Deasy took on the role of superintendent
with his own agenda in mind. His is an agenda that seeks to maximize profits by
selling off public schools to private corporations (Charters). These Charters
have access to federal funds but are subject to much less scrutiny as to how
they handle that money. This means that while they may collect money for let’s
say special needs students if they do not have any special needs students (and
they more often than not do not accept these students) that money could go
right into the board’s pocket. There is no oversight when it comes to Charterfunds. With this in mind it makes sense that Deasy would support such institutions.
Many of these companies fund Deasy’s agenda. They support him financially and
in return he dismantles poor inner city schools giving the companies access to
more students.
NCLB and other standardized test regimes gave
Deasy the ammunition he needs to take out teachers and entire schools. From the
beginning he made it clear that he was fueled by standardized test data and
clung tightly to the belief that data should drive instruction. He refused to spend time and money on
programs that did not directly affect test scores. As a result, many children said
goodbye to recess. He has gotten rid of early childhood programs, adult
education, and cut art and music programs in hundreds of schools. His next goal
was to get rid of ineffective teachers relying solely on test scores. However, test
scores alone are not very reliable indicators of teacher effectiveness.
Regardless, since his term Deasy has sent out well over 9,000 layoff notices to
LA school facility members.
Those that remain are forced to adhere to
the “teach to the test” method. While
this method may reflect well on the tests it severely limits the amount of
knowledge a child actually absorbs. It restricts critical and creative thinking
and instead focuses on teaching kids to fill in the bubble the test wants them
to. This method in the long run may cause more harm than good because it is
producing a generation of children that are not able to think outside the box,
or in this case bubble.
Recently
his attempt to seek No Child Left Behind waivers and create a new data-based accountability
system for his district and nine others did not succeed because
the resistance to evaluate teachers based on test scores has started to push
back. Union members also look unfavorably towards
Deasy because of his mass closing and breaking up of high schools.
It
will be interesting to see what kind of policy changes Deasy speaks about at
USC especially in regards to school closings. In all likelihood Deasy will
remain the superintendent after the upcoming elections. Similar to what has and
is happening in New York City the effects of Deasy’s reform tactics may fully
emerge once extensive damage has been done.
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