In my opinion, many unwise actions are taking place in the name of accountability. I’d like to highlight three recent ones:
Educators are now being told in Memphis and in other areas that student evaluations of them and their classes will be included as part of the teacher evaluation process.
Several state legislators and other officials want to start grading and punishing parents who don’t come to parent/teacher conferences and other school events.
I’m not a fan of the word “accountability” when it is related to schools. It comes from the Latin roots meaning “calculate,” and it reinforces the view that everything that happens in schools is countable. I prefer the word some
Charter schools have become such a flash point in the U.S. Educational debate and a real red flag of sorts for a lot of progressive folks who see the “charter school movement” (as some supporters frame it) as forwarding a more conservative anti-union, pro-privatization agenda. I, as a progressive (I’m calling myself “left-libertarian” these days) and advocate for “many educational paths”, am drawn to charter schools as the “only game in town” when it comes to trying to (take baby steps at least to) move away from an OSFA (one size fits all) public school system.
As a parent (and not a teacher) I am sympathetic to the union issue in particular, not because I think that adult school staff should be divided into “labor versus management” but because I think teaching is a very important profession and that teachers need to create professional associations so that they are seen as such and have the appropriate clout in school governance and larger societal questions. I think most charter schools, like
bigeducationape.blogspot.com - Who I Am :: Sabrina Stevens ShupeGreatest Hits"Please Stop!": The 5 Dumbest Tropes in the EdReform Debate "Rhee the Reformer: A Cautionary Tale" A Letter to Arne Duncan Demagogues vs. Democracy: F...
bigeducationape.blogspot.com - Cancer: Education may play role - latimes.comCancer deaths and education: Exploring the linkShare1Comments1The effects of higher education may play a role in much-discussed cancer statistics. (Gena...
ny1.com - To view our videos, you need toenable JavaScript. Learn how.install Adobe Flash 9 or above. Install now. Then come back here and refresh the page. Though New York City schools are being slammed w...
nytimes.com - Occasionally, without warning, the drunken wreckage of my father would wash up on our doorstep, late at night, stammering, laughing, reeking of booze. Bang! Bang! Bang! Beating on the d...
nydailynews.com - Marc Hermann for News Schools Chancellor Dennis Walcott said glitches with a new special ed computer system caused a delay in placing 2,500 kindergarteners. Schools Chancellor Dennis Walcott is bla...
bigeducationape.blogspot.com - Bera for Congress | MedicareGOP’s Medicare plan is misguided treatmentPosted on 06-18-11 via The Sacramento BeeGlaringly absent from the current debate about Medicare is the doctor's perspective. A...
blogs.edweek.org - States would be encouraged to set up more high-quality charter schools, under a measure just introduced by Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., who oversees the House subcommittee dealing with K-12 policy...
bigeducationape.blogspot.com - 4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit: By the numbers: HOW TO TELL IF YOUR SCHOOL DISTRICT IS INFECTED BY THE BROAD VIRUSBy the numbers: HOW TO TELL IF YOUR SCHOOL DISTRICT IS INFECTED BY THE...
bigeducationape.blogspot.com - Battle Erupts Over the Future of Special Education - The Bay CitizenBattle Erupts Over the Future of Special EducationTensions rise as district plans to shutter a Bayview school, with more cutbacks...
theatlanticwire.com - Martin Campbell's Green Lantern, starring the somewhat smarmy if occasionally amusing Ryan Reynolds, could use all the positive reviews it can get, as it is currently being panned by critics. It's ...
blog.angryasianman.com - For folks in Southern California, check out the Songs for Souls Benefit Concert happening this weekend on behalf of Simply Savant, a non-profit organization that aims to eliminate educational inequ...
bigeducationape.blogspot.com - Saturday coffee « Fred Klonsky's blogSaturday coffeeby Fred KlonskyI had some good strong coffee in New Orleans this morning.Then we went over to the Juneteenth celebration in the Treme.I remembere...
michiganradio.org - School is out for the summer in Detroit. And for several schools in the cash-strapped district, classes are done forever. Until today, that was the story at Catherine Ferguson Academy – an award-wi...
bigeducationape.blogspot.com - School Tech Connect: ISTE PreflectionsISTE Preflectionsby effacethefacade@yahoo.com (Tim)Ok, "preflections" really should be a word. I hereby declare it to be one.Putting my technology hat back on ...
my.firedoglake.com - (image: Dean Mougianis) I was so disgusted to read today that AARP now supports cutting Social Security benefits that I wrote the following email to them cancelling my membership. To: member@aarp.o...
bigeducationape.blogspot.com - On the line: Health care for 1 in 3 kids! « MomsRising BlogOn the line: Health care for 1 in 3 kids!by Ashley BoydSummer is heating up and so are the politics in Washington. Right now, Congress is ...
theuptake.org - Lt. Dan Choi was kicked out of the military for coming out of the closet, and he leant his West Point graduation ring to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid at last year’s Netroots Nation — until Rei...
mediaite.com - video This week marked the 40-year anniversary of the “War on Drugs” launched by President Richard Nixon, and Lawrence O’Donnell “celebrated” by highlighting the alarming statistics on inmates in t...
bigeducationape.blogspot.com - Our Children Must Have Plenty of Clean Water at School « MomsRising BlogOur Children Must Have Plenty of Clean Water at Schoolby Anisha Patel, M.D.As the parent of a newborn and a 4-year-old, I wan...
wepartypatriots.com - Jun 2011 18 A Washington Post story about asbestos victims in Libby, Montana, many of whom merely reside in the town and have never worked in a mine or directly with the lung-destroying chemical, h...
democraticunderground.com - Source: Agence France PresseA lot of green tea from Japan, containing twice as much cesium as the maximum permissible level, was intercepted at the airport of Roissy in Paris, and must be destroyed...
nation.com.pk - Breaking Taliban evoke a Vietnam flashback: WSJ | Read More US orders news blackout over crippled Nebraska Nuclear Plant: report | Read More US naval, troop movements toward N Africa, ME as Syrian ...
deciminyan.org - The Republican quest to destroy the American Dream has many components. One of the most insidious is the notion that somehow tax cuts for the wealthy creates jobs. Another is their crusade to deny ...
bigeducationape.blogspot.com - 4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit: By the numbers: HOW TO TELL IF YOUR SCHOOL DISTRICT IS INFECTED BY THE BROAD VIRUSBy the numbers: HOW TO TELL IF YOUR SCHOOL DISTRICT IS INFECTED BY THE...
bigeducationape.blogspot.com - Battle Erupts Over the Future of Special Education - The Bay CitizenBattle Erupts Over the Future of Special EducationTensions rise as district plans to shutter a Bayview school, with more cutbacks...
bigeducationape.blogspot.com - On the line: Health care for 1 in 3 kids! « MomsRising BlogOn the line: Health care for 1 in 3 kids!by Ashley BoydSummer is heating up and so are the politics in Washington. Right now, Congress is ...
schooltechconnect.com - Ok, "preflections" really should be a word. I hereby declare it to be one. Putting my technology hat back on for a moment, let me say that I'm looking forward to ISTE, although mainly just for the ...
coopmike48
leoniehaimson
DianeRavitch
mikeklonsky
tbfurman