One Courageous Teacher Says No to Test Madness
Yesterday I heard from a teacher in New Jersey, who read my blog about giving tests in the arts and physical education. I said in no uncertain terms that giving state tests in the arts is wrong. It diminishes teacher professionalism. It has nothing to do with improving education. It’s just the mindless need to test [...]
A Major Charter School Scandal
Over the past few years, the American Indian Charter School in Oakland, California, was celebrated again and again for its achievements. Journalists, pundits, and television commentators fawned over its founder Ben Chavis. His school (he actually has three schools, but the middle school is the one that gets the plaudits) became the poster school for [...]
Questions for the Candidates
As I watch President Obama and Mitt Romney compete, I am appalled by the absence of any substantive analysis of education issues. When Romney released his education agenda, it was reported with impartiality, as it should have been. But no one asked questions about his claims. I reviewed his proposals in the New York Review of [...]
How Reformers Dumb Down Education
It’s hard to count all the ways that reformers dumb down education, but here is a good example of catching them in the act. State Superintendent Tony Bennett is a celebrated reformer. He won the Thomas B. Fordham award as the “reformiest” reformer of them all. That means he loves vouchers and charters, he promotes [...]
Miracle Watch: Harlem Village Academy
A year ago, I wrote an article about “miracle schools” in the New York Times. My beef was with politicians who pointed to a school and said that it had achieved dramatic test score gains and amazing graduation rates despite the poverty in which the children live. The usual “remedy” was to fire the teachers, [...]
Oh, No! Yet Another Arts Assessment
Oh, no! Dana Goldstein visited Memphis, where she found that arts teachers are using portfolio assessments. I suppose that is a step up from online standardized tests and the old-fashioned machine-scored computerized tests, but it is still a very bad idea. The whole premise of testing is that teachers cannot be trusted to reach responsible [...]
Defunding Public Education in Texas
In recent years, the governor and legislature in Texas have cut billions of dollars from the budget for public education. They have shown their priorities. By keeping taxes low, they can grow new jobs, or so they say. But at the same time, they are destroying the public schools that prepare the next generation for [...]
Why Test the Arts and PE?
As I read Dana Goldstein’s article about the advance of standardized testing into subjects like the arts and physical education, I began to get a queasy feeling. “This isn’t right,” I mumbled to myself. I thought of my grandchildren taking standardized tests in music and gym, and I shook my head. This isn’t right. Race [...]
I’m Convinced
Dear Readers, Thank you for your instant feedback. Some readers say they like having my blogs early in the morning, before they leave for work. A few said they liked the spacing. Some said do what works for you. What resonated with me was my preference for plain vanilla. Post them as you write them. [...]
The Joys of Blogging
I have written a lot of articles for publication in newspapers and magazines. If I publish in the New York Times or the Washington Post or the New York Daily News, my writing will reach hundreds of thousands of readers. Of course, many of their readers will pass right over your article, will not read it. [...]
Stand for Children Does Not Stand for Public Education
Stand for Children has moved its campaign for privatization and against experienced teachers to Massachusetts. Stand’s politically savvy, well-connected, and well-funded leader Jonah Edelman threatened an anti-teacher ballot initiative unless the unions negotiated away their seniority and tenure. Governor Deval Patrick agreed with Stand for Children that teacher evaluation (based to some extent on standardized [...]
A Note to Readers of This Blog
Dear Friends, One of the readers of this blog told me that I should space the entries. Typically, my cat wakes me at 5 am and I start writing and posting, sometimes four or five blogs. The reader said that his tendency was to read the last one first, missing some of the earlier ones. [...]
Welcome to Readers Overseas
I don’t know if the term “overseas” is factually accurate, since some of the people reading this blog are part of the same continent as New York City, where I live. But I wanted to express my appreciation to readers in other countries who are logging on to read the blog: Most readers, of course, [...]
What If the Chicago Teachers Union Loses?
A reader asked an important question in response to my blog about the Chicago Teachers Union decision to authorize a strike: What if they strike and they lose? What if Mayor Emanuel fires them all and replaces them with TFA? Won’t it prove that striking is futile? Won’t unions everywhere lose heart? I responded that [...]
Brookings Responds to My Blog about Being Terminated
On Monday, I posted a blog called “The Day I Was Terminated.” In that blog, I recounted that I received an email on June 5 from Grover (Russ) Whitehurst of Brookings telling me that I was being terminated–after a 19-year association with Brookings–because I was “inactive.” That’s a pretty abrupt way to finish off a [...]