It is one thing for an administration to grant waivers to states to respond to unrealistic conditions on the ground or to allow experimentation and innovation. Similar waiver authority has been used to advance welfare and Medicaid reform going back to the Reagan administration, and to allow a few districts and states to experiment at the margins of NCLB in the Bush administration. It is quite another thing to grant state waivers conditional on compliance with a particular reform agenda that is dramatically different from existing law. The NCLB waiver authority does not grant the secretary of education the right to impose any conditions he considers appropriate on states seeking
Just heard an interview with Arnie Duncan, Secretary of Education. He was commenting on states and districts that might apply for No Child Left Behind waivers. He was also commenting on the cheating scandal in Atlanta, and he made assorted other statements about testing under NCLB. Then he said something that nearly knocked me out of my chair. He said, “we don’t want anyone teaching to the test.”
OH MY ! Arnie, you can’t really be that out of touch, can you ? Here’s a news flash for him, EVERY SCHOOL
gothamgazette.com - Better than Buffalo The yearly releasing and parsing of students test scores took place Monday with Mayor Michael Bloomberg finding lots of good news among the reams of data. To sum up, the scores ...
nycpublicschoolparents.blogspot.com - Yesterday, the state finally released school test scores; for NYC schools they are posted here. Individual student test scores will only be made available August 17 – through the ARIS system, for...
nypost.com - The city's plan for more than $255 million in federal Race to the Top funds has something for everyone -- especially educrats, data analysts and consultants, a Post review has found. The 32-page do...
trice25.edublogs.org - "Welcome to White Swan, where you can teach whatever you want – even if it's nothing at all." ~ anonymous former colleague ——— "If you can teach here, you can teach anywhere" ~ anonymous colleague...
nypost.com - Barely one in three city eighth-graders met the bar for reading standards on state tests this year -- the lowest mark for that group since tests were changed in 2006, new data show. The alarming 35...
americasfutureinsidestory.blogspot.com - As we all know, the word "accountability" is thrown around like a baseball at a little league game. It's like this new mantra that we hear from the mouths of policy makers and common people quite o...
blog.coreknowledge.org - Ask a high school student – any high school student – when they were last required to submit a research paper. Not a five paragraph essay or a “personal response,” but a paper – an in-depth piece ...
minnpost.com - Yesterday, Gov. Mark Dayton made it official: Minnesota will apply for a waiver from compliance with No Child Left Behind. In fact, even though they know only the broad parameters of U.S. Education...
thecrimereport.org - Sunday, February 07, 2010 09:08 More than 100 retired New York Police Department captains and higher-ranking officers told surveyors that the intense pressure to produce annual crime reductions led...
exiledonline.com - Malcolm Gladwell has described himself as a “conversation starter” who likes to “ask questions” and “follow-up” with more questions. Well, here’s a question for Malcolm Gladwell: When you wrote all...
nytimes.com - WASHINGTON — In an unusual break with the White House, the Democratic leaders of Congress told the Supreme Court on Monday that President Obama was pursuing a misguided interpretation of federal Me...
frederickhess.org - by Frederick M. Hess • Aug 9, 2011 at 7:57 amCross-posted from Education Weekhttp://www.frederickhess.org/2011/08/after-the-debt-deal-it-gets-tougher-from-hereLast week, while I was on blog hiatu...
latimes.com - Reporting from Milwaukee— Republicans and Democrats were locked in a furious and expensive battle for control of the Wisconsin Senate on Tuesday as voters went to the polls in a series of recall el...
bloomberg.com - Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada plans to appoint Senators Patty Murray of Washington, Max Baucus of Montana and John Kerry of Massachusetts to a special committee charged with finding $...
kimbleforcongress.blogspot.com - Staying in Washington long enough to insure that the Democrats promised to cut the budget and not raise taxes was very difficult for me because it meant delaying getting to know little Ayn Reagan K...
bigeducationape.blogspot.com - What We Talk About When We Talk About School ReformWhat We Talk About When We Talk About School Reformby SamWith all due respect to Flannery O’Connor, my vote for greatest American short-story writ...
forbes.com - If you’ve got a mug-shot from some previous run-in with the law, your face may show up at Florida.Arrests.Org, an online site founded by ex-con Rob Wiggen. The site exploits Florida’s lax public-re...
ctj.org - On Sunday, 45,000 Verizon employees went on strike to protest the company’s push for employees to give back $1 billion in health, pension, and other contract concessions. What makes these demands p...
nytimes.com - The Department of Justice and four states on Monday filed a multibillion-dollar fraud suit against the Education Management Corporation, the nation’s second-largest for-profit college company, char...
nytimes.com - The Department of Justice and four states on Monday filed a multibillion-dollar fraud suit against the Education Management Corporation, the nation’s second-largest for-profit college company, char...
wpix.com - Highlights A collection of news and information related to Health and Safety at School published by this site and its partners.Displaying items 1-12 of 17154 » View wpix.com items only Aug 4, 2011 ...
boston.com - BOSTON—A new study indicates that the Boston public schools' ban on sugary drinks has paid off, with high school students drinking less of such beverages even when they're not at school.In 2004, Bo...
momsrising.org - Early in my pregnancy I developed a bloodhound’s sense of smell: even the faintest of odors overwhelmed me. It’s a common phenomenon during the first trimester of pregnancy, yet my new nasal superp...
bigeducationape.blogspot.com - Save Seattle Schools Community Blog: Preparing Future TeachersPreparing Future Teachersby Melissa Westbrook From the Grand Rapids, Michigan Press, comes a story about Arne Duncan and what he thinks...
bigeducationape.blogspot.com - What We Talk About When We Talk About School ReformWhat We Talk About When We Talk About School Reformby SamWith all due respect to Flannery O’Connor, my vote for greatest American short-story writ...
bigeducationape.blogspot.com - This Week In Education: Thompson: Targeted Class-Size Reduction For Toughest SchoolsThompson: Targeted Class-Size Reduction For Toughest Schoolsby john thompsonIn "Does Class Size Really Matter?,"b...
nytimes.com - The New York Fire Department office that handles discrimination complaints shrank during a period when the federal government was suing the agency on the grounds that its hiring tests were biased, ...
Why I oppose Common Core standards: Ravitch (click picture)
Education historian Diane Ravitch, the leading voice in the movement opposing corporate-based school reform, has for several years said she has no definitive opinion on the Common Core State Standards. Now she has come out against them, in this post, which appeared today on her blog.
Translate Big Education APE
The Network for Public Education (click picture)
WE ARE MANY. THERE IS POWER IN OUR NUMBERS. TOGETHER, WE WILL SAVE OUR SCHOOLS. THE NETWORK FOR PUBLIC EDUCATION
Stop Closing Schools
Say NO to Privatization!
Who Supports democratic, free, Main Stream Public Schools?
A compilation of news articles about charter schools which have been charged with, or are highly suspected of, tampering with admissions, grades, attendance and testing; misuse of funds and embezzlement; engaging in nepotism and conflicts of interest; engaging in complicated and shady real estate deals; and/or have been engaging in other questionable, unethical, borderline-legal, or illegal activities. This is also a record of charter school instability and other unsavory tidbits.
Couldn't Find Your Own Special Charter School Scandal
Just Type the name of your city or charter school in the box below
SOS Save Our Schools
SOS Save Our Schools
contact your state legislators about school privatization
The New BTA Association: Are You One?
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I received the following communication and think it will appeal to some
readers of this blog. Your move. Dr. Ravitch – Dr. Mark Naison began a
Facebook p...
Reflecting on Technology
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Taking time to recharge our social, emotional, and physical "batteries"
just may make us better at our jobs. Principal Chuck Bloch reflects on how
technolo...
The 1% Rules Through Corporations
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NSA’s PRISM The 1% Rules Through
Corporations Edward [...] The post The 1% Rules Through Corporations
appeared first on ...
Newsela Provides “Leveled” News Articles & Quizzes
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Newsela provides several “levels” of the same newspaper articles, along
with accompanying online quizzes, that students can read and take. Teachers
can cre...
Afternoon Video: Classrooms Of The Future (Again!)
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Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy The TODAY show scans the "future" of education, featuring Knewtown, Kahn Academy,...
Halo in the Sky
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I was told that there was a bright halo-like rim around the sun around
noon today. I got my point-and-shoot camera and made sure I set my aperture
at th...
The Madman blinks.
-
There will be no votes taken on any pension bill tomorrow. Let’s take a
second and review what happened leading up to today. In the General
Assembly sessio...
Don’t just test … Don’t just teach #BeABadAss
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Back in 67, the year I was born, there were some bad ass young folks
speaking up all around the streets of America – this song represented the
resistance. ...
UFT on Evaluation System
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On Sunday I posted about the new evaluation system, and about how effective
ratings started at 9 according to NYS statute, but started at 15 in Reformy
J...
Another attack aimed at colleges of education
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That great "revolutionary" thinker Arne Duncan, set the stage back in '09,
when he discredited all colleges of education, labeling them as "mediocre"
and c...
Why the NCTQ teacher prep ratings are nonsense
-
The National Council on Teacher Quality, an organization that is funded by
organizations that promote a corporate-influenced school reform agenda,
just iss...
Many Local Ed Schools Are Weak
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The Gates-funded nonprofit NCTQ has finally released its report rating the
nation's ed schools, predictably slamming most of them for being mediocre
if not...
The Cabin in the Woods
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Here’s a unique real estate opportunity: The listing boasts, “Seclusion &
privacy like no other parcel on the lake! 820 feet of Canandaigua lake
frontage. ...
Debunking the ‘Reform’ Agenda
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*By Thomas J. Gentzel, Executive Director, National School Boards
Association (NSBA)*
No human enterprise is perfect, and we all are capable of improving...
"Avalanche" of Lawsuits Hit DSC Over Bay Delta Plan
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*[image: Dan Bacher]By Dan Bacher*
The North Coast Rivers Alliance, Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen's
Associations, San Francisco Crab Boat Owners ...
There Are Good Schools Out There
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"The only innovative thing left to do in education reform is to stop innovating and find the experienced educators already succeeding."
The Common Core Loses This Teacher's Support
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By attaching them to government initiatives such as high-stakes testing and teacher evaluation, the standards are being used as an instrument to standardize ...
Riding Lessons
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Eh? What's that, sonny...?
Funny thing happened in first day of summer session. My students went
around the table and introduced themselves and said the u...
Help Advocate for Children in Virginia!
-
Today marks the kickoff of a statewide campaign by Strong Kids, Strong
Virginia, which is an effort by Every Child Matters Virginia, the state
effort of ...
On Teaching (Elliot Eisner)
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Too few policymakers have ever taught in public schools. Even fewer can
articulate what it is about teaching young children, youth, and adults that
binds t...
Another Breakthrough! Hurrah!
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Surprise surprise. Sunday’s NY Times had two very good editorials. More
surprising however is that one is about education! “There are many reasons
to im...
Newark's Charters: Perception Is NOT Reality
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Apparently, the hue and cry in Newark against state control of the schools
(coming from the *elected* school advisory board, the *elected* city council,
th...
TP for CPS
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As an organization, Last Stand for Children First, is thrilled to stand
behind the TP for CPS campaign. If you have extra toilet paper sitting
around t...
Short Notes: What Fathers Watch
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A few notes: Chris Lehmann wants people to get the difference between
authoritative and authoritarian. Here’s a primer. [Practical Theory] John
Spencer h...
FATHER’S DAY
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I could almost always tell which of my students didn’t have a father at
home. If we want to solve the so-called “education crisis” in America,
let’s start ...
A New framework for Working and Learning
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For many of us the rules of engagement at work are changing, from the
traditional approach of being told what to do by “bosses”, to a new more
egalitarian ...
Do Not Shake Hands with #commoncore
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Some days it is terribly overwhelming to read the comments of despair and
desperation from parents who are trying to figure out how to help their
children ...
Career Diploma Promoted
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Superintendent White has just launched a major effort to breathe life into
the Career Diploma. Why is this necessary when Louisiana is in the middle
of imp...
The Common Core and the End of the World
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In case you haven’t been paying attention, the arrival of the Common Core
apparently means the end of the world as we know it. In fact, the Common
Core--do...
Teaching Career Pathways: Leadership Certification
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Note: In 2012, Accomplished California Teachers published Quality Teaching
in Every Classroom: New Approaches to Compensation and Career Pathways. Our
team...
(Extra)Ordinary People
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There’s an anecdote the Calhoun School’s Steve Nelson likes to share when
he speaks to teachers and parents about the purpose of education. “We
should th...
Poor Bastard on a Plane
-
Like a lamb to the slaughter… Last night I was with my family in the
Minneapolis airport, waiting for a flight back home to Washington, DC. Of
the many peo...
Angry Moms are Rising Up Against Common Core
-
Anne Gassel, co-editor of Missouri Education Watchdog was quoted in USA
Today about her opposition to Common Core. From* Include parents in
standards deba...
Voucher Schools: Inherently Unequal
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*State Senator Tim Cullen is one of Wisconsin's finest. He consistently
provides reasoned, historical perspective on state matters. This is Sen.
Cullen'...
New Posts Coming – End of Year Madness
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Hey guys, sorry I haven’t been as productive as before. The usual
end-of-year wrap ups and such are keeping me extremely busy. It also
doesn’t help that ...
How to Support My Teachers with our 1:1 Initiative?
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Image from teach.com post In my last post I shared that we are going 1:1
with iPads in all of our preschool through 5th grade classrooms in our
building. N...
THE 99 CENTS STORE EDUCATION FOR THE 99%
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In the old world from which most of our ancestors came, America served as a beacon, because unlike this stratified world of our origin, America was a place w...
What’s An Education Thought Leader?
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The position of education thought leader is not a job that someone applies
for. There is no “thought leader certification”, nor is there a license
required...
Week 36: The end is, well you know…
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Not much time is left now, and I thought I’d share pictures from Open
House, which technically happened in Week 35, but, oh well enjoy! Photo
Credit: The E...
We need you to speak up for our little DREAMers
-
Call this number: 1-866-632-6057 Just call it. Really. Just do it. You
call, and something amazing happens. You call, and the National Education
Associatio...
Massive Spending Plan Approved for UConn
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The Connecticut General Assembly has given final approval to a plan to two
major spending initiatives for the University of Connecticut. One part
would p...
Moral Education
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This is my fiction writing, and not related to student loans. However, the
sentiment, my deep care for my fellow human being most certainly influences
my w...
Baby-faced Blackmailers
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NYC's youngest criminals
major in reading, writing
and extortion*New York -* Sometime on Thursday several elementary school
students, who thought they wer...
Principal removal and REAL parent empowerment
-
Last week, a Parent Revolution-backed petition drive collected enough
signatures to force out the well-respected principal of Weigand Avenue
Elementary Sch...
Test Teaching
-
On a recent road trip, I listened to the audiobook *Moneyball. *It made me
wonder if anyone has written on the clear connection between ideas
presented in ...
Nuestra Belleza Latina 2013, genera descontento
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Univisión es la mayor cadena hispana de televisión en los EE.UU. Eso mismo
ha hecho que el reality show Nuestra Belleza Latina tenga tanta sintonía y
la ve...
Let’s Build a Lemonade Stand, Kids!
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Students’ Response to School Budget Cuts Notes from the Field Submitted by
Angela Chan When I decided to teach, I believed that the betterment of our
natio...
UNO Charter Schools
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“More money from clout-heavy Hispanic group UNO went to insider.” Chicago
Sun Times (IL), 4/22/2013
Weeks after Federico “Fred” d’Escoto stepped down fro...
We Have Moved!
-
NOTICE: On April 22, 2013, *SM* merged with @the chalkface. Find us at our
new home: atthechalkface.com. All *Schools Matter* previous posts are
archived t...
What’s up in Digital Media class?
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I’ve been teaching English language arts for over 20 years, and as much as
I love it, I have always wanted to add some variety to my work load by
teaching ...
An Open Letter
-
Dear Editors:
I am writing in response to your recent article about McKinley Elementary
School, where a teacher was recently accused of giving answers to...
This Isn't Goodbye-Goodbye...
-
...but it's goodbye for now.
And so we have come to the end of School TechConnect. It's been a hell of a
ride.
I'm taking a few months off.
I'll still b...
On a road trip to Florida
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It's my spring break and we'll be driving to Florida today with my
husband and 2 kids (age 8 and 5)....well, first to Georgia, then to Florida
the n...
An open letter from a Centennial parent
-
Last night’s Board of Education meeting was a wild ride,and there’s so much
to tell you. First, this open invitation from one of the dads of
Centennial, t...
Song of the — Martin Luther King Jr — Day
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Solomon Burke — “Now Is The Time” (click to listen or download) See also
“Quotes of the — Martin Luther King Jr. — Day.” Thomas J. Mertz
Your 2012 Education Political Primer
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[image]As the election plays itself out this coming week, we as educators
continue to work on behalf of children and our communities as a whole.
Whatever t...
Abolition Was A Con...
-
I have often said that the oligarchs were very clever in abolishing
slavery...
In business, the biggest cost is labour; with slavery, profits were wei...
My Review of Freshwaterboys by Adam Schuitema
-
Well, Litstack went live on Monday and my first review went live today. You
can find my review of Adam Schuitema's wonderful collection of short storiesh...
Bravo, Joel!
-
I say, it’s bold of Joel to write this piece, pointing out how billionaires
have managed to influence the politicians to finally represent their point
of v...
May 14th, Standing with Whittier Mothers
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Dear friends,
There is a buzz in Chicago among people striving for a city that works
together. Inspired by Wisconsin and our immigrant youth, Chicagoans ar...
College & Careers, No More Cuts! (Video)
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Governor Cuomo is proposing a $1.5 billion cut to public school funding,
the largest cut in New York State History. In this entry to the Alliance
for Quali...
Overcrowded Schools and Student Learning
-
At this time of the year, schools in my district begin planning the
teaching assignments for the following year. As we worked on the teacher
matrix we too...
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