Organization

Loudspeaker Films is a new, independent media production company focused on social justice issues. Its first project is TEACHED, a short film series that candidly addresses long-standing race and income-based inequalities in the American education system.

Please visit www.teached.org to learn more.

Position

Loudspeaker Films is looking for an experienced professional to create and implement a strategic outreach, marketing and impact plan for the TEACHED film series. The consultant will help ensure that the TEACHED films are effectively reaching target audiences and making an impact at the national, state and local levels.

Responsibilities

• Work with the Producer/Director to develop and implement a national, comprehensive outreach and marketing strategy that will broaden the reach and deepen the impact of the TEACHED film series.

• Create an impact measurement system to ensure TEACHED is making a difference through its film content and interactive screening model and providing value to one-the-ground education equality advocacy groups. 

• Identify and collaborate with relevant non-profit, educational and philanthropic organizations to develop relationships that will be mutually supportive and help further the fight for education equality in the near and long-term future.

• Help develop the TEACHED website, social media presence and databases to support the outreach, marketing and impact strategy.

• Work with the Producer/Director to improve and implement TEACHED fundraising, distribution and long-term sustainability strategies.

Qualifications

-Significant (10+ years) of outreach, marketing and/or communications experience.

-Strong understanding of K-12 education issues and a passion for education equality.

-Proven track record of positioning an organization to determine and achieve tangible

goals.

-Ability to work independently in a virtual office, highly self-motivated and organized.

-Successful development and fundraising experience a plus.

Location

Loudspeaker Films is located in the San Francisco Bay Area but works virtually with film production professionals and other contractors located in Washington, DC, New York City, Los Angeles and elsewhere. Bay Area residency not required.

Terms

This position will be offered on a contract basis, starting with a three-month contract at 20-25 hours/week. Hourly fee of $50-70/hour will reflect experience, ability and track record. Possible travel in the first few weeks of work (depending on location) and occasionally thereafter for meetings and TEACHED screenings. 

Contact

Please send your cover letter, resume and two references to info@teached.org.

###

In honor of UCLA's "Academic Inequality Awareness Week" and our TEACHED Vol. I screening there tonight, I will share some links below to a few organizations that are doing amazing work in Los Angeles and state-wide (and a few national groups).

YOU CAN BE THE CHANGE by following, supporting and joining these organizations (there are many more, but this would be my initial go-to list):

Democrats for Education Reform - LA

Students for Education Reform - Various

Teacher groups:

Educators for Excellence - LA

Teach Plus - LA

Teach for America - LA

National groups (but hopefully venturing into CA sometime soon):

Black Alliance for Educational Options

Hispanic Council for Reform and Educational Options

Stand for Children 

Great place for education reform analysis:

Dropout Nation

When you ask education leaders in Omaha why the achievement gap is so glaring, you get the usual answers, "Those kids don't care, they're too poor to achieve at high levels, their parents don't get involved, etc. etc." Fortunately we know that when schools expect ALL students to achieve, and give them great teachers who believe in their ability, students can beat the odds and rise above the challenges.

This week, the Nebraska state legisature is considering a bill that would create a charter school program for Omaha. It would start small--just five schools--but they would be created in the neighborhoods that most desperately need better school options. (And we know from research that opening a great school in a typically underserved area helps improve/motivate the existing schools around it to do better. = win-win).

Here's the letter I am submitting for the record today as the Nebraska legislature's Education Committee begins consideration of the bill:

Read her op-ed on the notion of introducing a teacher "bar exam" to the field: 

Seriously, A Bar Exam for Teachers? This is Not the Answer

IF YOU THINK SEGREGATION IS OVER THINK AGAIN

So I'm going to start my response to this review of TEACHED Vol. I: "TEACHED Documentaries Offer Glossy Propaganda" with: Thank you for calling me glossy!

I mean, these are my very first films, and they actually took an amazing amount of work and time to make, so I am claiming the right to take "glossy" as a compliment. Especially when there is so much unnecessary animosity in the review itself.

Moving on....

The "glossy propaganda" review was written by David Cohen, a high school teacher and blogger for Accomplished California Teachers. He happened to see TEACHED Vol. I at a Stanford University screening that was organized by and for graduate students in the schools of Law, Business and Education (but open to the public).

Some of the remarks in his review simply reflect that he is not a professional movie reviewer, no big deal. Others reflect the typical knee-jerk reactions I hear all the time from those who can't quite believe that you can be both pro-teacher AND outraged by the fact that the teaching profession--as it is structured today--rarely supports great teachers and very often protects bad ones. Here are responses to some of his criticisms:

#1. The identifying "lower-thirds" (ie speakers' names and titles written on the screen) do not appear in the films until the person is on screen long enough for viewers to both hear what they are saying AND read the titles (without losing the information of one or the other). This does not reflect a conspiracy to trick you, David Cohen, into actually listening to what the person on the screen has to say without knowing in advance whether this person fits into your ideological camp or not.

Hopefully you are a more independent thinker than that remark implies. The notion that everyone involved in education reform is either a "good guy" or a "bad guy" (and you want to know upfront which one a person is, dammit!) -- that polarization is really not helpful. 

Sidenote: Diane Ravitch (with whom I used to work) loves to separate everyone and every group involved in education reform into two groups, basically the "good guys" vs the "evil-doers" (my terms). The evil-doer list started with former NYC Schools Chancellor Joel Klein and everyone else in NYC that pissed her off; then she added Bill Gates, Whitney Tilson, John Walton (may he rest in peace, I knew him and he was a GREAT man, regardless of where his $$ came from, HE was a GREAT man) and other philanthropists working to improve education for low-income kids; of course Michelle Rhee would be right up on the top (as she seems to be on your own sh*t list -- did you even listen to the story she tells in The Blame Game?), and I guess Cory Booker must be on it, and probably Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa too. And I can only assume the second-term President of the United States and his Education Secretary are on it. The idea that all these people are "anti-teacher" and pro-"privatization" of the public education system is RIDICULOUS.

But there's no in-between for Diane (or for many of her supporters/followers), which is quite sad and, again, not helpful. If you haven't seen evidence of this insane bifurcation yourself, just let me know and I will send you examples. But I'm sure you are familiar with who's on her sh*t list...even Howard Fuller is on it! If you are not familiar with Dr. Fuller, please watch this: https://vimeo.com/46828126. 

My point is, there are a LOT of people who believe all children can learn, and that all public schools can be thriving environments where both children AND teachers experience success and joy on a regular basis. The myriad perspectives represented by all these people cannot and should not be summarily divided into two artificially-created camps. Try to think outside the (two) box(es).

#2. These are short films. They are obviously not going to cover every opinion on every topic they address. They are meant to 1) provoke thoughtful conversation around education issues that are important, challenging and timely, and 2) document the primary issues and conflicts in American education today, capturing today's terrible state of affairs (so many kids on a trajectory to prison, so difficult to fire teachers even when they have abused children, etc.) so that hopefully, in the future, we do not repeat our mistakes. 

#3. You state that the films "offered very little analysis, certainly nothing that would advance a serious policy discussion or aid the work of graduate students." Perhaps to you, David, immersed in these issues every day, the information provided is nothing new (you simply choose to ignore it or argue against its relevance). From my experience, however, the information shared in the films is NOT common knowledge. This is how/why most documentary films are made: to reveal and share truths and injustices that are not generally known or understood by the general public. 

I don't believe that the general public is aware of the extent to which we, as a society, are relegating huge populations of children to continuing cycles of poverty, crime and incarceration, and that one way we are doing this is by not providing them with access to great schools and great teachers. We have a system that gives the kids that could most benefit from a great education the worst facilities, fewer resources and, often, the worst teachers. Impoverished kids start at a disadvantage that we then exacerbate by how we run our public education system. 

If you can't admit that it has become unreasonably difficult to fire a tenured teacher nor that the teachers who should be fired--but aren't--are regularly funneled into schools serving low-income, minority students (at least in big cities), then YOU are not prepared to have a serious policy discussion. Yes, Los Angeles has been taking steps to improve the situation there since I made the film; at the same time, this happened recently (even with photos of the abuse, LAUSD had to PAY this teacher to leave). I also notice than in the news you shared, the majority (853) of the 1,000 teachers fired "in recent years" were, it says, actually fired in just the last year (well after we finished filming The Blame Game).

#4. Your assumptions speak for themselves. You write, about The Blame Game: Teachers Speak Out, that "the real problem, we’re told, is that you can’t fire a bad teacher because unions have a stranglehold on schools." Go watch that film again. The unions are barely mentioned in it; the film is examining the unintended consequences of tenure, seniority, lock-step pay, etc. Furthermore, while I commend you for fixing the error in your original piece--that the teachers in The Blame Game were "charter school teachers"--I hope you have reflected on why you assumed that in the first place.

What you saw on screen in The Blame Game were several public school teachers, all unsung heroes (I hope you could tell by the footage that they are great teachers) who believe that the way the teaching profession is structured is severely flawed. The fact that you assumed these well-spoken, engaging teachers must be from charter schools says a lot. 

Sadly, two of those wonderful teachers have since been pushed out of the system due to lack of seniority. The first, Steve, who started teaching as a second career (bringing all kinds of expertise and enthusiasm with him to the classroom), was laid off this year. He told me in an interview over a year ago that he wanted to teach for the rest of his life. He loved it. But he hasn't found another teaching job yet.

The other, Amber, told me in her interview three years ago that all she ever wanted to do was teach low-income children (as she had been one herself). Then Amber got kicked around from school to school (laid off and then rehired several times, never knowing if she would have a job in the fall, and then having to accept one an hour's drive away). She finally left to teach in a private school. Our system should be bending over backwards to keep these teachers in the system and instead we are pushing them out! 

The TEACHED films are meant to show some of these ugly truths --and dispel some of the myths -- around the American education system so that maybe we can ALL pull together to make the changes that must be made if we're ever going to have a system that serves all children equally and well. 

#5. The research mentioned by Michelle Rhee and others in The Blame Game: Teachers Speak Out is available in this report: Good Teaching Matters...A LOT. Hopefully you are relying on more than the Coleman Report (written before I was born...before bussing even began!) to argue against current research?

Regardless, isn't the real question: what is the most important factor to student achievement that WE CAN IMPACT THROUGH PUBLIC POLICY? Either you believe that all teachers out there, right now, should be in the classroom and are doing a fantastic job, or you recognize that in far too many schools, especially those serving low-income and minority students, ineffective teachers remain in the classroom year after year, and this is a problem that we should try to solve. (You know the old adage, if you aren't part of the solution.....).

By the way, it was interesting to me that your colleague, Lisa Alva, commented on your review of TEACHED in a way that was sort of personally attacking me. Unless I am mistaken, we were given Lisa's classroom in which to film our interview with Los Angeles Mayor Villaraigosa, and I could tell just walking into it that she was a good teacher.

After the interview, I got a tour of the school, and through one classroom window watched an entire classroom in chaos as the teacher sat at his desk chewing gum and doing a crossword puzzle. In a school across town from that one, I saw two teachers showing movies to their classes (an Adam Sandler movie in one case, in the other case I couldn't tell because the teacher was standing outside of the classroom door talking on a cell phone). This was just a regular school day. Then I arrived at Pearl's classroom (unannounced, unscheduled) and she was teaching a class on Greek mythology. She had at least thirty students in the room, every single one of them following along with the reading. Every single one of them (I have it on film if you don't believe this is possible in a low-income, Hispanic school). 

David Cohen, we are both teachers at heart (yes I will teach in a classroom again, right now I only have my fabulous interns-- and the general public-- to teach). This means we both personally know the incredible level of power a teacher holds in the classroom. I am sure you are using your power for good in the classroom, why not use your voice in the public realm to work for change instead of protecting the status quo? 

What We Need to Ask is: Does Unionization Still Make Sense?

Read it here: TAKE PART Op-Ed 9-18-12 

A system that can't keep and retain the best teachers hurts children (and society) far more than a few lost days of school. Whatever you think about Chicago in particular (every battle is nuanced), strikes are a tool workers use to ensure fair wages and working conditions. What other leverage do you think teachers have to do this besides leaving the field?

My response was:

The question is: are teachers "workers" that need this type of protection/unionization, or has this heavy unionization of teaching (a few decades old) actually led to where we are now, a situation where it is so hard to get and keep great teachers because they want "professional" jobs, in a professional environment, that holds them--and their colleagues--accountable?

Friendship Schools prove that it's possible to serve both students and teachers well. We knew the students were doing well, but WOW at this convocation did we some happy, joyful teachers! This is what teaching is supposed to be! Sometimes I think we all forget that. These days it seems like it's all arguing about how bad the job is, how hard the kids are, how terrible the parents are, etc. Hopefully schools like Friendship will light a fire to treat all teachers like professionals, let them work together and bring out their passion and JOY. 

Ok, off my soapbox to let our fabulous new INTERN Josh Saunders tell you about his experience at the convocation. We are so happy to have Josh on board! 

INTERNS SPEAK! From Joshua Saunders

The tenth Annual Friendship Public Charter School Convocation was held on August 22, 2012. It was a wonderful experience. While I learned a great deal on the errors in the school systems and observed everyone's appreciation for education, I also had a great time.  I enjoyed the music and the entertainment. This event was a fun learning experience. I met Donald Hense, chairman of the Friendship Schools, and Kenneth L. Campbell, founding member of the Black Alliance for Educational Options. The speeches made, especially by Howard Fuller, opened my eyes to the reality of educational issues and how they affect students all over America including me. I also had a great time with Ms. Kelly Amis.  I'm really glad I went to the convocation.

Check out photos from the Convocation HERE.

How can anyone deny that the profession is SERIOUSLY screwed up when it is impossible to fire people who have sexually abused children? We can have absolute proof of a teacher's indefensible actions and still not be able to fire him/her. It is great to see the media finally bringing these often-ignored issues to the forefront. Some articles on this issue, including an op-ed by former CNN analyst Campbell Brown:

Campbell Brown: Teachers Unions Go to Bat for Sexual Predators

Miramonte teacher was paid $40,000 to drop dismissal challenge

A California State Senator introduced a bill to stop the insanity and make it easier to dismiss teachers who sexually abuse children...but the bill was killed by Democrats (my political party, btw) who presumably are more concerned with keeping teachers unions happy than taking even the most obvious and basic steps to protect children. How did we get to this point? And, more importantly, how do we get out?

One thing you can do is VOTE. Follow your elected officials and vote them out of office if they choose adult interests over childrens'. Who killed this bill in California? Names included in this article:

Why California Democrats Protect Sex Abuser Teachers

Also read:

Why Is It So Hard to Do the Right Thing?

 "He hates these cans!"

To learn more, read our background hand-out from the event here.

To see photos of the event go here and here.

Read a review of the event here: TEACHED Film Series Cracks Open L.A.’s School-to-Prison Pipeline

And, most importantly, watch the video of Dr. Howard Fuller's keynote speech:

Please join us in thanking the sponsors for this wonderful, inspiring event:

COMMUNITIES FOR TEACHING EXCELLENCE & STUDENTS MATTER

Here's one of the latest I came across in an USAToday article about the "Stand Your Ground" law, which is getting more scrutiny in the wake of the tragic Trayvon Martin shooting. From the article:

"According to the FBI, "34% of cases involving a white shooter killing a black person were deemed as a justifiable homicide. Meanwhile, in similar situations, when the shooter was black and the victim was white, the homicide was ruled justifiable only 3.3% of the time."

Here are a few more you may not know:

"Studies show that people of all colors use and sell illegal drugs at remarkably similar rates. If there are significant differences in the surveys to be found, they frequently suggest that whites, particularly white youth, are more likely to engage in drug crime than people of color. (Yet) in some states, black men have been admitted to prison on drug charges at rates twenty to fifty times greater than those of white men." (emphasis mine). -- Michelle Alexander, The New Jim Crow (a MUST-read)

Unequal treatment begins early and is perpetrated in our most "democratic" institution--the public school:

Black Students Face More Discipline - from the New York Times. (There are many studies showing that black students in particular are given much harsher, life-impacting punishments-- like expulsion or arrests--than white students for the exact same behaviors). 

Thought for the day: What kind of America do you want to live in, and how can you help create it?

One of the recent articles I've read that I would test in my fancy new translator service would be this article by Diane Ravitch, which is truly asking for a good dose of dissection.

Ask yourself, do all "education reformers" you know (or know of) believe in privatizing education (as the author would have you believe)? Of course not. Do all "education reformers" think standardized tests are fabulous and flawless? No (does anybody?!). Do "education reformers" think all teachers are bad, or the only ones in the system that need to be held accountable? So ridiculous. Many of us have been teachers ourselves, hence the passion for improving the system.

This whole notion of lumping together everyone who is fighting for change and equality in the system as one cohesive "education reform" group with one agenda (to destroy public education!). Well, folks, that's called PROPAGANDA. Don't buy it.

I find it fascinating that the term "education reformer" is being used in such a pejorative way by Ravitch and others (though the strategy is obvious: lump together everyone fighting to change the status quo in hopes of getting the public to dismiss them en masse. Sadly, it appears to be working rather well). I also find it fascinating that education philanthropists like Bill Gates have become such targets of antipathy. I mean, this is the same man (couple, really, his wife is right there with him in all of their massive philanthropic activity) working to eradicate malaria and AIDS, provide vaccines to poor children and microloans to women and families. But he's a "corporate" reformer when it comes to education in America? If he was providing funding to improve schools and teacher quality in a developing country, instead of our own, no one would get away with this ridiculous rhetoric.

But to the point of this blog: the FINLAND obsession.

Here is the diversity of Finland (from Wikipedia, feel free to challenge if you have better data):

• Finn 93.4%
• Swede 5.6%
• Russian 0.5%
• Estonian 0.3%
• Sami 0.1% (Hi Masha!)

Are Finland's education answers really going to solve OUR education problems? Finland did do very well in the most recent PISA reading test. You know who did better? White and Asian American girls (and white and Asian American boys were very close). The U.S. as a whole performs below Finland because we are not educating ALL American students well. 

Notice that you don't hear the same pundits who talk up Finland putting Australia or Canada or New Zealand on the marquee, and these countries all did better than the U.S. on PISA too. Ravitch actually mentions Australia as a negative example of a nation plagued by the "global education reform movement". Why?

Australia provides significant government funding to independent schools in addition to their traditional public schools; the idea is that all parents should get to choose what kind of school their children attend (and they do, so Australia has a huge independent school sector). This has been ongoing for decades in Australia. I believe New Zealand provides government funding to independent and semi-independent schools too (correct me if I'm wrong).

Australia (where I lived and studied the education system for a year) or Canada or New Zealand seem to me to be culturally more similar to the U.S. (more diversity/immigration) than Finland. And they are doing better than we are on PISA too. (Meanwhile, I think we all can agree that Singapore and Korea are quite dissimilar, yes?). So why is Finland getting all the love over these countries?

(By the way and for the record, I am part Finnish and have been to Finland. My grandmother-- who was a public school teacher -was Finnish. So my new joke is: just as Sarah Palin was an expert on foreign policy because she could see Russia from her back porch, I am an expert on Finnish education because my Nonnie was a Finnish educator. See photo of my awesome grandparents to the left.) My "Nonnie" & Papa Jake

One thing I do agree with in this Ravitch article is that the U.S. is unparalleled in its success; we are still, for now, the world's only "superpower." But that success, I would argue, is mostly a reflection of our enterpreneurial spirit and democratic values (better than most, but we've still got work to do). We are also the world's most prolific jailer, with more people (most of whom have low literacy skills) in prison than any other country on the planet. We have a higher percentage of black citizens in prison right now than South Africa did at the height of apartheid. (Read The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander.)

The massive incarceration (and crime leading up to it) will continue -- and our status as the world's "leader" will end --  if our education system doesn't catch up to the 21st century AND hold everyone in that system accountable for teaching EVERY SINGLE CHILD that walks into a school. That's right Diane: NO excuses. Whether the child is poor, whether the child's parents are working two jobs or whether the child's parents are in jail, there is NO EXCUSE not to provide that child with the same high expectations for learning and access to quality teachers that children lucky enough to be born into better circumstances enjoy. 

There are lessons to be learned from other education systems, sure, but I don't think the nearly all-white, tiny nation of Finland is going to provide much guidance in how to solve our nation's biggest education problem, which is inequity. We need to BECOME the model that shows how a truly democratic, incredibly diverse and relatively large country gives everyone a chance to achieve their potential and thereby fulfills its own.

Over the last few months, we've had the opportunity to try out our interactive screening model at three different venues in front of three very different audiences:

• A prestigious film festival; 
• A community screening organized by friends at their local public library; and,
• A screening and panel discussion organized by and for college students.

At each event, we brought "stars" from the films and/or other guest speakers to present their views and answer questions from the audience. I also shared some of my background and described how the project came to be.

The feedback on all three events has been over-whelmingly positive. Audience members tell us they learned much they did not know before, and we in turn have learned a lot about how these events can have the greatest impact. We plan to fine-tune our model every step of the way.

But there has been one surprise. I wasn't prepared for the feeling of hopelessness audience members would share with me, their frustration in the belief that our education system can't be changed. BUT IT CAN, and in fact, it must be. So what can you--what can we--do?

- VOTE. 

The number one thing you can do to improve our education system and, especially, make sure every student receives the same opportunities, is to VOTE FOR CANDIDATES who are not owned by the powers-that-be, that are independent-minded and that believe that all children can learn. THiS STARTS AT THE SCHOOL BOARD LEVEL. If more people would vote in school board elections, there would be a greater diversity in those who get elected and serve. 

For whatever reason, many school board elections are held at off-times (in the spring), not along with the other big races you would probably never ignore (ie, the President!). MAKE IT HAPPEN. Find out who's running, what they are promising to do, ask questions of and about them (especially where their funding comes from), AND VOTE. (If you need help finding information about candidates and elections in your area, feel free to contact us, we will help.)

- READ.

...especially between the lines. There is so much misinformation out there, so many people who benefit from the system remaining exactly as it is, that you must apply commonsense to the opinions you read and hear.

Compare what you hear -- the excuses-- to the statistics: do you really believe that ALL the parents of ALL those kids don't care? Do you really think that in today's world, THAT many kids believe dropping out of school is a great idea? Why might so many students decide it's not worth it to stay in school?

Also think about how you and your family are impacted by the realities behind the outrageous statistics. Do you think our nation is able to remain a global leader if THAT many children aren't finishing high school? How does it impact our economy, your personal saftey, the nation's progress? And what kind of potential are we missing out on when so many kids aren't even close to realizing theirs? 

Keep up on the facts, and keep your commonsense at the forefront. If you find yourself getting caught up in the same old tired arguments others give for why the system can't be changed, don't accept them. This is America. We can vote, we can change policy, we can demand something better. And when we do, students, teachers, families and our national community will benefit.

- ORGANIZE.

It's becoming an overused phrase but one I love: BE THE CHANGE. Be the one in your circle of friends or community to keep the fight for educational equality alive, to make sure people are paying attention to the elections that matter and voting in them. Better yet, help find the best candidates to run for elected office and support them, or run yourself. Serving on a school board is rarely glamorous or well-compensated, but it can and will make a huge difference if more independent thinkers and activists for education equality run for elected office and serve. 

I created TEACHED to document the sad race and income-based injustices that continue to plague our education system and to inspire and motivate more people to demand change. Consider the TEACHED short films as tools you can use to bring people together to focus on and discuss thse issues. We are in the process of making the TEACHED VOL. I DVD available for public screenings; we hope you will organize a screening in your community and bring in your own speakers (for instance, invite you local school board candidates to present their views and take questions from your audience). Email us at screenings@teached.org if you are interested in organizing a screening event.

And don't give up.