Northeast Indiana Friends of Public Education Year in Review

Dear Readers,

As another new year of public school advocacy begins across our state and country, the words of Margaret Mead come to mind:

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has.”

The year 2014 was, like previous years, unfriendly to public education. Although Indiana has educational concerns unique unto itself, there are similarities that exist in education reform from state to state. NEIFPE, like many other public education advocacy groups, continued to speak up and speak out against education reformers and the deleterious effects of their reform.

As a public school advocacy group, NEIFPE’s mission statement is thus:

We are citizens, teachers, administrators, and parents united by our support for public education and by concerns for its future. Recent federal and state reform measures have created an over-emphasis on testing and have turned over public education to private interests. We believe that these reforms threaten the well-being of our children and jeopardize their futures. Our goal is to inform ourselves and to start community discussion about the impact of these measures on our public schools and, more importantly, on our children.

In relation to our mission statement, here are a few 2014 highlights:

• We met with area legislators so that we could get to know them and to build working relationships. While we often didn’t agree on education policy, we feel that listening to one another is the beginning to understanding issues and solutions.

• We attended the screening of Rise above the Mark at Butler University in March, which led to our collaboration with the Fort Wayne Cinema Center for a screening in August. In September we partnered with ICPE (Indiana Coalition for Public Education) for a screening at IPFW (Indiana-Purdue Fort Wayne).

• At the same time, several of us went to the Network for Public Education Conference in Austin, Texas where we were energized by meeting with nationally recognized public education advocates. This led us to write an op-ed about our experiences.

• Throughout the year we worked on messaging to parents, teachers, and concerned citizens about the issues concerning public education.

• As the primary election loomed, we began messaging about the importance of voting.

• Subsequently, we created a questionnaire which asked candidates about their positions on education issues.

• We met with Allen County Labor Council to broaden our outreach.

• We testified at the State Board meeting that was held at Ivy Tech in Fort Wayne.

• We attended the Moral Mondays rally led by Rev. William Barber in Indianapolis.

• We created a survey about the purpose of education, which we subsequently shared on our blog, our Facebook page, and with our mailing list. After we tabulated the responses, we wrote an op-ed about what we had learned.

Looking back over this past year and the past 3 years, we can see where we have been and what we have done. Although what we are fighting for and against continues to be the same, we know that we still have much work to do. Now more than ever, we will to continue to reach out to people across our community, across our state, and across our country to impress upon them that saving public education is an imperative. If we are ever to have a good and just society, public education must be one of its building blocks.

As we continue to fight the good fight, we must always remember why we continue to advocate for those who cannot advocate for themselves. In the words of educator John Kuhn,

"Public education is a promise we make to the children of our society, and to their children, and to their children.”

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NEIFPE 2014 Survey Summary

Poll finds value in public schools

printed in the Fort Wayne Journal-Gazette, December 1, 2014

by Phyllis Bush
with Michelle Bandor,  Judith Beineke, Susie Berry, Stu Bloom, Ron Crosby, Anne Duff, Lucy Hess, Terry Springer

Policy makers, politicians and the media love data, so the Northeast Indiana Friends of Public Education (NEIFPE) decided to create a survey directed at the people whose lives are affected by the recent and ongoing education reforms. The goal was to gather data from parents, from grandparents, from taxpayers, and from the community to learn what people really think.

NEIFPE spent a great deal of time constructing the questions so as not to bias the answers. We purposefully left a place for comments after most of the questions so that respondents could clarify their responses if they wished. After reading 2,121 comments, we realized that people had a great deal to say and that they wanted their thoughts to be known.

A brief summary of the responses we received.

The majority of respondents were taxpayers (87%), public school employees (50%), and parents and grandparents of public school students (46%). They are major stakeholders in public education. We realize this is not a scientific survey; however, we believe that these respondents, particularly educators and parents, offer a significant voice not usually heard by policy makers.

The majority of respondents oppose the current policies governing schools. Their responses stress the lack of fairness in the way public schools are funded and evaluated in comparison with charter and voucher-accepting schools. The majority (86%) emphatically stated that charter schools and voucher-accepting schools receiving tax revenues should be held to the same standards as traditional public schools to help level the playing field; 86% oppose the A-F grading of schools; 97% said test scores are an inaccurate way to evaluate schools, teachers, and students; 96% felt that if private and charter schools receive tax dollars, they need to accept all students.

As one respondent commented, “Public schools should be funded by public dollars. Any other education system, whether it be charter, private, or home schooled, should be funded by the people that use that system.”

Other questions that elicited strong reactions focused on evaluation of schools and teachers using standardized tests. Since the State Board of Education recently released the school letter grades, these questions seem particularly significant. Respondents concluded that standardized test scores are inadequate measures and reflect a school’s demographics rather than a school’s quality or success. In addition, respondents said that such evaluations are both “demoralizing and demeaning.”

When answering the question, “As a taxpayer/voter, what do you expect of the schools in your community,” this comment summarizes the thoughts of the majority of the respondents about public schools.

“I expect the schools to prepare our children to live, work in, and enjoy our world, and to understand their role in being a citizen in our democracy --their rights and privileges of having a voice, and using it, through communicating with and questioning elected officials and voting to choose those officials.”

We learned:

• The community cares about the quality of the public schools

• Children and schools cannot be accurately evaluated by only test scores

• Children’s growth, creativity, and knowledge are being restricted due to the emphasis on high-stakes tests.

• All schools that receive tax dollars should be held to the same guidelines and accountability.

To see the complete survey, please visit neifpe.blogspot.com/2014/11/neifpe2014survey.html

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NEIFPE 2014 Survey Results

Decisions by law makers and policy makers affect the success and failure of local public schools yet often they don't take time to listen to parents, teachers or community members. Our 2014 Public Education Survey was an opportunity for respondents to express their opinions about some of the pressing issues facing local, state and national public schools.

The survey ran from October 5th through October 25th, 2014. Results can be accessed through the links below. All links are to pdf files. All comments are unedited.

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QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

NEIFPE Survey Results. Bar graphs for all survey questions except those which were open ended.

OPEN ENDED RESPONSES AND COMMENTS

Responses to the question: What is the highest level of school you have completed or the highest degree you have received? Answer: Skilled trades apprenticeship or other post-secondary education (please specify). Click here to see the specified answers.

Responses to the question: How are you involved with public education (choose as many as are appropriate)? Answer: Other (please specify). Click here to see the specified answers

Comments for the following questions

1. Are American public schools today...

2. Are your local public schools...

3. Should tax dollars support private (including parochial) education?

4. Do you agree charter and voucher-accepting schools should be held to the same standards as traditional public schools?

5. If charter and private (including parochial) schools accept tax dollars, should they be required to accept all students including students with special needs, English Language Learners, and children of all faiths?

6. Indiana spends nearly 50 million dollars every year on high-stakes testing. Do you think standardized test scores are an adequate measure of a child's learning?

7. Do you think standardized test scores should be the primary factor in evaluating schools, teachers, and students?

8. State law mandates that all public and voucher receiving schools receive a letter grade based primarily on standardized test scores. Do you think your neighborhood schools should receive a letter grade?

9. Have any programs been cut or minimized in your neighborhood school that you want to see restored?

10a. As a taxpayer/voter, what do you expect of the schools in your community?

10b. As a teacher, what do you think is the most important thing for you to teach and for your students to learn?

10c. As a parent, what do you hope your children will learn by the time they have finished school?

11. Additional Comments

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Facts about NEIFPE's Survey

On October 5 we announced a survey about public education on this blog and on our Facebook page. The survey will be running for another 2 weeks, and will end on October 25.

Survey respondents are anonymous. We don't know who you are when you answer; therefore, there will be no follow up contact or phone call to you about your answers. The only information we have about about you after you fill out the survey is contained in your answers.

The survey asks questions about local schools, testing, charter schools, and vouchers. At the end of the survey there is an open-ended question asking for your comments. A few days ago one of those comments caught our attention. It read...

How much money was spent on this political survey? Who funds NEIFPE? Are any public resources used by NEIFPE? (Funds, facilities, personnel?)

HOW MUCH MONEY WAS SPENT ON THIS POLITICAL SURVEY?

The online survey tool we use is Survey Monkey (click HERE to see their rates). The survey was written by members of the NEIFPE Leadership Committee, who are all volunteers. No one was paid any money to write, edit, or post this survey.

WHO FUNDS NEIFPE?

The Northeast Indiana Friends of Public Education (NEIFPE) is non-partisan and 100% self-funded. We receive no money from any political party, for-profit or non-profit corporation, or governmental agency.

When we need funds for anything -- business cards, handouts, snacks for a meeting, tee shirts -- the members of the NEIFPE Leadership Committee chip in to pay for it. The fee to Survey Monkey for our survey was paid out of our own pockets.

ARE ANY PUBLIC RESOURCES USED BY NEIFPE? (Funds, facilities, personnel?)

We meet at the home of one of our members. Each member provides his or her own transportation to meetings (though car-pooling is encouraged). We provide our own paper, snacks, and energy. NEIFPE does not accept any funds from anyone other than our members, nor do we use any public resources save those which are available for any citizen to use (such as the public library).

Our mission is as follows:

We are citizens, teachers, administrators, and parents united by our support for public education and by concerns for its future. Recent federal and state reform measures have created an over-emphasis on testing and have turned over public education to private interests. We believe that these reforms threaten the well-being of our children and jeopardize their futures. Our goal is to inform ourselves and to start community discussion about the impact of these measures on our public schools and, more importantly, on our children.

Our survey was written and posted to support and continue our mission. The results will be shared after October 25th.

Please feel free follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, or on this blog. Links are in the column on the right.

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Participate in our survey

Decisions by law makers and policy makers affect the success and failure of local public schools yet often they don't take time to listen to parents, teachers or community members. This survey is an opportunity for you to express your opinion about some of the pressing issues facing local, state and national public schools.

This survey will remain open through October 25th or until it has been completed by 1000 respondents, whichever comes first.

Thank you for participating in our survey.

CLICK HERE to participate in our survey.

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