A.B. Thomas, DIBELS and Canadian School Marms

[grainnerhuad]

subversify.com/2009/08/07/the-problem-with-dibels/

Thanks to his article about standardized testing our very own A.B. Thomas has made waves in his school system. But now they are wanting a retraction of their name, so I thought it best if we were all in on the decsision making process.

Here's what He said:
It turned out that I didn't need any luck; they were exceedingly nice to me. It appears that I may have had them on the ropes about a few of their policies that were quite illegal and they wished to "mend the fences" and that the principal and teachers have "learned" about their inappropriateness. It should be quite a kudos to Subversify that it has been read at least by the leadership of the Catholic School Divisions of Alberta - they brought up my article on DIBELS; a parent at one of their schools used my article as the basis of her argument. The school was the one the prinipal's children attend so the article made its rounds there and then here to Innisfail as well. The superintendent was also concerned about my article "Thou shalt not kill"; she actually did a threat assessment on me based on that article. Though I do not recall my name ever being on Dr. Phal, she and the other triad of big shots were aware that I did him as well. By the end, it turned out all right for my part, DIBELS will not be done on those students who have hearing/behavioural/speech problems and the teachers will be apologizing the the parents for 'omitting' the tests were being done on their kids. The only thing that the school board requested was that I speak to someone about changing the DIBELS article so that prinicipal's, the teacher's and the school's name does not appear on the article as it is an "embarrassment". This would require deleting the first paragraph or putting initials for that and I would say that I would try. Would it be you or Karla that I talk about it about, or can I access the article and do it myself?

Here's what I said:
I am inclined to not change it as it is our policy not to apologize and especially not for truth. The very fact that the article called attention and effectively made people change their thought is a strong point for keeping it the way it is. How about we put it to all the editorial staff and see what everyone else thinks. I am glad that our little start-up has made a stir in the school system there.

What say Ye?

[grainnerhuad]

Just to clarify. A.B. is asking not to completely take names out but change to initials. I'll leave it to group consensus.

[The Late Mitchell Warren]

AB owns his copyright, so it's up to him. If he doesn't have access to old articles, G or K can do it.

[neonorth]

I should add that legally I am in no danger as it was factual, this is more or less a 'good will' gesture as the evil was exposed, and having no choice, was dealt with. It is not a retraction or an apology nor do I see changing it to initials or eradication of the specific people and school as alteration of the crux of the article. These people have been administratively punished for their actions so I can see the school board's choice of the word 'embarrassment' as apt and I think in the long run by keeping the specifics up adds salt to the wounds as thre are other issues that I will be dealing with the school board on coming up in the future. To be frank, I was quite surprised that article was even known about up here and that Subversify had been 'scoped' out by the Catholic School Division in regards to my activity here, however I see that since I am being monitored by them here it would be in my advantage to give in slightly to their request.

[grainnerhuad]

Well, I am totally excited that we came into their radar and that it effected change. If it is your desire, I shall go and change the names which shall not be named to initials.

[grainnerhuad]

All names have been changed to initials. Oh and did you want something done with the name of the school. I should add that you should encourage anyone who takes issue with an article to join the discussion. We love discussion!

[karlsie]

A quiet pause. I am relishing the moment. Tony, i'm pretty sure you have full access to the site, which means you can place articles into draft or alter your publishing any time. I've been watching your DIBELS article for some time in our reader tracking area and noticed it was the second longest running research article, and also took note of where the hits originated from. This aspect of our magazine is what intrigues me most; which articles will draw the attention of the academicians. DIBELS has been very successful.

The second largest number of viewer hits next to the United States is Canada. I'm sure we have you to thank for this. I'm glad our magazine became the kind of tool it's meant to be; one that tells the truth and doesn't back down. We need to put the hypocrites, the shysters, the carpet baggers, the spin doctors on the run. It's our duty as writers. Congratulations, Tony. Let's build that reputation as the most controversial magazine on the net.

[neonorth]

I suppose the name of the school should be masked, Innisfail is a small town so having the school unnamed in the Red Deer region should suffice. And thank you - the next item the informal parent's group wants me to tackle is on when is councelling not councelling. The learning resource teacher has been pulling out small groups of children and running social 'plays' with them without speaking to the parents about it first, a lot of the parents have been quite surprised to learn that this has been occuring. I know it sort of feels 'wrong' to change the guilty to initials when the guilty actually were 'caught' and I appreciate that you did so.

I doubt that I have had anything to do with the Canadian interest in the magazine but the overall concern with DIBELS that many others have, though surely it would be a boost to the old ego. I think it is more of the attitude that the majority of people happen to think things are wrong as well but feel they are isolated. What will make my article choices harder is knowing that I am being watched by the Catholic school boards and not selfishly using this as a forum to force change - by the way, they really, really hate the term 'e-duh-cators'! I just hope that the other issues that have been covered by Subversify have been having the same result as in my little neck of the woods that DIBELS had. It will be interesting to see whether the Alberta Human Rights Commision will rule it as a discrimintory test or not...

[grainnerhuad]

Yes Tony, you should be able to get in there and change it howsoever you want. If you run across any problems let one of us know and we will be happy to walk you through it. I did change the initials but I will leave the school name change to you.

[neonorth]

I tried to do the edit thing however I could only view it - but I think the initials are a good enough sign of 'good intentions'. The name of the school should probably stay anyway, if the school board tries to push that they really are embarrassed by the school being still mentioned, I will simply tell them to provide me with exactly the course of action they took with the prinicipal and the three teachers and I would gladly add an update to it.

[grainnerhuad]

Okay Tony, but if you would like I will go in there and change the name to whatsoever you desire. I don't understand why you can't edit it as you can put up the Dr. Phal's and edit them. If you want me to work with you on it, let me know.