You can visit the web article HERE , or below is the full text of the
article. Read and understand how the Florida Standards violate age
appropriate teaching practices and are damaging kids minds.
Wendy Bradshaw, Ph.D., is a mother, a teacher and a scholar. She specializes in working with children and families living with disabilities
and has worked with children aged infants through fifth grade to help improve their educational and life experiences. She is also a tireless advocate for public education and an administrator for the Opt Out Polk group in The Opt Out Florida Network .
She writes:
I consider it baffling that telling parents the truth about the harm being done to their children in the public education system is
considered an ethical violation of my teaching license, but making their
children cry and hate school is not. This affects students and teachers even
more so in my field of specialization, Exceptional Student Education (ESE),
with our most vulnerable students. Today, I resigned from my school
district. I would like to share with you my letter of resignation:
To: The School Board of Polk County, Florida
I love teaching. I love seeing my students' eyes light up when they grasp a
new concept and their bodies straighten with pride and satisfaction when
they persevere and accomplish a personal goal. I love watching them practice
being good citizens by working with their peers to puzzle out problems,
negotiate roles, and share their experiences and understandings of the
world. I wanted nothing more than to serve the students of this county, my
home, by teaching students and preparing new teachers to teach students
well. To this end, I obtained my undergraduate, masters, and doctoral
degrees in the field of education.
I spent countless hours after school and on weekends poring over research so
that I would know and be able to implement the most appropriate and
effective methods with my students and encourage their learning and positive
attitudes towards learning. I spent countless hours in my classroom
conferencing with families and other teachers, reviewing data I collected,
and reflecting on my practice so that I could design and differentiate
instruction, that would best meet the needs of my students each year. I not
only love teaching, I am excellent at it, even by the flawed metrics used up
until this point. Every evaluation I have received has me rated as highly
effective.
Like many other teachers across the nation, I have become more and more
disturbed by the misguided reforms taking place, which are robbing my
students of a developmentally appropriate education. Developmentally
appropriate practice is the bedrock upon which early childhood education best practices are based, and has decades of empirical support behind it. However, the new reforms not only disregard
this research, they are actively forcing teachers to engage in practices
which are not only ineffective, but actively harmful to child development
and the learning process. I am absolutely willing to back up these
statements with literature from the research base, but I doubt it will be
asked for. However, I must be honest. This letter is also deeply personal. I
just cannot justify making students cry anymore. They cry with frustration
as they are asked to attempt tasks well out of their zone of proximal
development.
They cry as their hands shake trying to use an antiquated
computer mouse on a ten year old desktop computer which they have little
experience with, as the computer lab is always closed for testing. Their
shoulders slump with defeat as they are put in front of poorly written tests
that they cannot read, but must attempt. Their eyes fill with tears as they
hunt for letters they have only recently learned so that they can type in
responses with little hands which are too small to span the keyboard.
The children don't only cry. Some misbehave so that they will be the 'bad
kid,' not the 'stupid kid', or because their little bodies just can't sit
quietly anymore, or because they don't know the social rules of school and
there is no time to teach them. My graduate work focused on behavior
disorders, so I can say with confidence that it is not the children who are
disordered. The disorder is in the system which requires them to attempt
curriculum and demonstrate behaviors far beyond what is appropriate for
their age. The disorder is in the system which bars teachers from
differentiating instruction meaningfully, which threatens disciplinary
action if they decide their students need a five minute break from a
difficult concept, or to extend a lesson which is exceptionally engaging.
The disorder is in a system, which has decided that students and teachers
must be regimented to the minute and punished if they deviate. The disorder
is in the system which values the scores on wildly inappropriate assessments
more than teaching students in a meaningful and research based manner.
On June 8, 2015 my life changed when I gave birth to my daughter. I remember
cradling her in the hospital bed on our first night together and thinking,
"In five years you will be in kindergarten and will go to school with me."
That thought should have brought me joy, but instead it brought dread.
I will not subject my child to this disordered system, and I can no longer,
in good conscience, be a part of it myself.
Please accept my resignation from Polk County Public Schools.
Best,
Wendy Bradshaw, Ph.D.
