Seated Left to Right-State Representative Greg Harris, State Senator Heather Steans, National Teaching Fellow and CORE member Xian Barrett, Robin Steans (Advance Illinois), moderator Cornelia Grumman(standing at podium)
Xian Barrett, CORE member and recently-named National Teaching Fellow represented rank-and-file teachers at a panel discussion held Sunday, August 30th, 2009 at All Saints Church (1757 W. Wilson Avenue).
The Panel Included State Representative Greg Harris (D-13th), State Senator Heather Steans (D-7th), Robin Steans (Advance Illinois), and Larry Joseph (who heads the Budget & Tax Policy Initiative at Voices for Illinois Children).
The panel discussed the state’s financial crisis and how it will affect education. The group discussed the state pension obligation, accountability in teaching, and the disparate education funding formula used in Illinois.
The sparks really started to fly during the Question-and-Answer session when CORE members took the lead and asked the bulk of the questions. One CORE member questioned the framing of Arne Duncan’s “Race to the Top” program as an “opportunity.”
“Just the thought of a program called Race to the Top that ties our money to our schools terrifies me,” said [CORE Steering Committee Member] Kristine Mayle, 31, a Chicago Public Schools special education teacher who was referring to the federal benchmark program…
Mayle suggested that school officials talk to teachers about their students to gauge their growth rather than examine a spreadsheet of test scores.
CORE member Debby Pope’s comments in the Chicago Tribune echoed Mayle’s thoughts about the testing agenda,
[Pope] who has been teaching for 20 years, said she feels that time she could have dedicated to students is slipping away because she has to evaluate them every few weeks. “It’s not even just the time,” said Pope, a Chicago high school teacher. “It’s not the focus of what we should be doing at all.”
Xian Barret, the consummate student-centered educator, ended with this thought,
[I am] disappointed a student wasn’t at the table to address school reform, [my] students have studied school policy.
“For too long, people with lots of money insist they know what’s best for students of color [and] poverty.”
