Re: URGENT

[CMWUNCHEEL@aol.com]

Alan et al. -
    In case you didn't already get this to add to your retention pile, check 
out
William A. Owings and Susan Magliaro, "Grade Retention: A History of Failure,"
Education Leadership ,Vol. 56, No.1  (Sept. 1998). Has a good list of sources 
at the end. Owings was a supt. in VA (Accomack Co.) and Magliaro was VA Tech. 
prof. If you don't have and can't find it, let me know and I'll post the 
whole thing.
    Also, Robert M. Hauser, "What If We Ended Social Promotion?" Ed. Week 
(Apr. 7, 1999).
Roxie

In a message dated 3/12/04 11:53:43 PM, alanyoung@mchsi.com writes:

<< I just want to thank all my friends who have responded to our sudden 
threat here in Iowa. With your help, we will put this fire out and save thousands 
of children from its grip. We have already flooded house member with research, 
especially on the education committee, and are pushing for a public hearing 
which will not only slow down the process but allow time and opportunity for our 
voices to be heard through systematic means. We have a new activist group 
here in Iowa with a growing statewide infrastructure of @200 activists. This was 
set up to lobby against inadequate school funding due to over 5 Billion 
dollars of tax cuts since 1996. But I am on the steering committee and we will use 
this group against this threat as well. The group is called Education First and 
can be accessed at educationfirst@mchsi.com. We already organized an 1 and 
1/2  rally outside the capitol with @ 2000 people . . . when it was -20 wind 
chill factor. We would have had many more if it was warmer. So with your help and 
our growing infrastructure, we have a chance.


You have really come through today and helped me almost instantaneously 
recreate my previous arsenal, with a few great new pieces as well. I am deeply 
grateful and vow to you that I will use all our resources here to fight this 
pernicious bill. So from those of you whom I know personally to those who are 
kindred spirits online, I thank you and will keep you posted as to the progress we 
are making. I would love to see the many of you I have met previously again 
and meet those of you whom I've yet to meet in person. This really is more than 
an argument or a fight, but is a labor of love that we share. I am proud to 
work along side you all. If you have any other ideas, strategies, research, or 
just want to say hey, please contact me. Thanks again.


Alan

  ----- Original Message ----- 

  From: alanyoung@mchsi.com 

  To: care@yahoogroups.com ; Ed&Democracy ; RScriticalteach ; 
ARN-state@yahoogroups.com ; ARN-L ; arn2-strategy ; ACTNOW2003@yahoogroups.com 

  Sent: Friday, March 12, 2004 8:59 AM

  Subject: Re: URGENT



  Hi all my wonderful activist friends. I really need your assistance. About 
a year and a half ago, I led an effort to put down a huge anti-social 
promotion/pro-retention push where I teach in the Des Moines Public Schools, Iowa's 
largest school district with over 30,000 students. I did so with a flood of 
email articles on the myth of social promotion and being on grade level and 
standardized tests as accurate measures of a child's growth, the facts the harms of 
retention and other research which showed the fallacy of even posing the 
question the way these simpletons do when they get involved in ed reform. Well, the 
over 25 articles that I sent via email (and did not make hard copies of) have 
been lost due to a computer virus and the phantom is rising again, except not 
in my district but in the state.


  Yesterday, while I was doing student-led portfolio conferences at my school 
until 9:00 p.m., our republican dominated senate snuck a bill through SF 2246 
which will hold all 3rd graders back in Iowa if they are more than 1 year 
behind grade level (whatever that means) in reading. This was not on the radar 
screen. It came out of nowhere. All our efforts here this year, which have been 
extensive, have been on massive tax cuts leading to the underfunding of our 
schools with major cuts for the 4th year in a row.  Didn't see this coming at 
all, so we are up against it and I lost all my ammunition. I have begun this 
morning to marshal some research, but would truly benefit from your help. The 
House has been voting on pure party lines and I have to sway just a few people to 
make this not happen. They will come out an talk with me and listen if past 
experience is an indicator. I have been successful in the past, but must have 
stuff in hand so that can have something to stand on.


  Do any of you have at your fingertips articles and research that could help 
me? I not only have the ability to email these folks with the database that I 
have set up, but am planning to go down to the capitol and lobby them later. 
I need these as soon as possible. I know there were some great ones from the 
Harvard Educational Letter, Phi Delta Kappan, etc, and I am beginning to 
recreate my library on this, but not as quickly as needed to address this particular 
problem today and Monday, Last time in Des Moines, the barrage worked quite 
well and the focus switched from a reactive, punitive, retention/test focus to 
a proactive, supportive, dropout prevention/authentic assessment focus. It was 
not just the content, board members said, but the sheer volume of research 
that I provided and how truly one-sided it was that changed their minds. Members 
said it worked, because they simply had not looked at the research. I truly 
think that I can do the same with a few House members in our 53-47 Republican 
dominated House. Thank god we have a decent governor, but I need to get things 
to him as well to assure a veto my efforts fail in the house. 


  So, Monty, Bob, Anne, Alfie, Susan, Jerry, Evans, George Sheridan, George 
Schmidt, Deb, Sue, Carol, Juanita, Larry, Jackie, Mickey, Kristina and whoever 
else in this fine resistance movement has a good article on the problems of 
retention, please forward to me ASAP so that I can slay this monster. I 
appreciate this, the schoolchildren of Iowa appreciate this. Many thanks.


  Alan

    ----- Original Message ----- 

    From: Monty Neill 

    To: care@yahoogroups.com ; Ed&Democracy ; RScriticalteach ; 
ARN-state@yahoogroups.com ; ARN-L ; arn2-strategy 

    Sent: Thursday, March 11, 2004 1:23 PM

    Subject: [care] radio on NCLB



    The radio show Democracy Now will do a show tomorrow on NCLB. Looks like 
I will be on it. I am being taped between 8 and 9 am EST. The show is aired on 
Pacifica stations and others at various times. You can listen on the Pacifica 
website http://www.pacifica.org/ - so sometime tomorrow it should be 
available - today's show is already up.


    Monty

    Monty Neill, Ed.D.

    Executive Director

    FairTest

    342 Broadway

    Cambridge, MA 02139

    617-864-4810    fax 617-497-2224

    monty@fairtest.org

    http://www.fairtest.org



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From: <alanyoung@mchsi.com>
To: <care@yahoogroups.com>, "ARN-L" <arn-l@interversity.org>,
        "arn2-strategy" <arn2-strategy@yahoogroups.com>,
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Subject: Re: [arn-l] URGENT
Date: Fri, 12 Mar 2004 23:04:35 -0600
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