Diane Ravitch's blog
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Diane Ravitch's blog
Disgrace in Detroit
The city of Detroit is a city with high levels of poverty. The Detroit public school system has an emergency manager who has imposed a new contract. This contract will allow class sizes in the upper grades (6-12) to rise to as many as 61. In grades 4-5, class size might go as high as [...]
Can You Teach a Great Curriculum by Command?
I am a fan of Core Knowledge as a concept. I believe in a rich and deep curriculum. I would love to see all students immersed in the study of the great ideas in history, literature, science, mathematics and other fields. I understand that a curriculum doesn’t teach itself. It needs teachers who are well [...]
Transforming Education into a Marketplace
This reader scrutinized the website of the Capital Roundtable. This is what he learned: Although I am not a middle-market investor, I sure did learn a whole bunch over at the Capital Roundtable website. You see, I did not know this: “Education is now the second largest market in the U.S., valued at $1.3 trillion. [...]
Is This the Best Lesson Ever?
Susan Ohanian reports what she describes as possibly the best lesson ever. Read it for the sheer pleasure of watching a master teacher inspire his students. Hey, Mike Petrilli and Robert Pondiscio, this is great teaching, great curriculum, and great student engagement. The teacher is not snapping his fingers, the students are not waving their [...]
What Is “Addition Through Subtraction”?
Critics of No Child Left Behind and Race to the Top have long warned that the federal government’s demand for ever higher test scores would lead to perverse consequences. There would be narrowing of the curriculum, teaching to the test, cheating, and gaming the system. All of these things have happened, but the advocates of [...]
Whistleblower in DC Is Suing Rhee, Principal Who Fired Him
A U.S. District Court judge ruled that a special education teacher who was fired for complaining about cheating may sue former Chancellor of Schools Michelle Rhee and his former principal Donald Presswood. The teacher, Bruno Mpoy, complained that the principal directed him to falsify test scores. He refused to do so, and he said he was [...]
Can You Bake a Cake Without Flour, Sugar, Eggs or Butter?
A reader reacts to an earlier post and comments on the Common Core State Standards: I agree that CC standards alone aren’t the game changer. These types of efforts to rename, reframe, polish, market and sell new initiatives from the top down have a temporary success when some grant-style funding and enthusiasm accompanies it. In [...]
A Bipartisan Consensus for Bad Ideas
If you want to see a demonstration of the bipartisan consensus around bad ideas, read this interview with former Florida Governor Jeb Bush. Bush talks about his great success in Florida and his strong support for Governor Rick Scott, who has been wreaking havoc with the lives of Florida’s public school teachers. Of course, Bush [...]
Growing Up in the South, 2
Another reader shares memories of growing up in the South, before the Brown decision was implemented. And by the way, I don’t mean to suggest by reprinting these accounts that segregation no longer exists. In some places today, de facto segregation is even more extreme–and unnoticed–than the de jure segregation of the pre-Brown era. As [...]
New Investments Needed in Technology for Common Core
A survey in Louisiana finds that most schools do not have the technology to support the Common Core online testing that will begin in 2014-2015. This will require a major investment in hardware and infrastructure. Here is part of the article: BATON ROUGE — A survey of Louisiana schools shows most lack the technology and [...]
Will Common Core Standards Matter?
A reader in Indiana makes a prediction about the Common Core standards: The common core standards will not fundamentally change teaching and learning in this country. If improving instruction COULD ever be accomplished by handing out a new set of standards, wouldn’t we have already seen great improvements in teaching and learning? Traditions in schooling [...]
Those Cyber Charter Cash Cows in Ohio
The Ohio Virtual Academy is making lots of money. And why not? It has a teacher student ratio of 51:1 even though the state pays it for a ratio of 15:1. Only 10% of its state funding went to teachers, and they cleared a profit of 31.5%. What a cool business! Corporate headquarters is bullish; [...]
Growing Up in the South
A reader writes about growing up in the South. She brings back memories to me of growing up in Houston when it was segregated: I don’t think PUBLIC schools should be catering to one ethnic or religious group either and I don’t think that schools that do so should receive public money. I grew up [...]
Some Parents Think Segregation Is Wrong. Me Too.
This post contains one of the comments on the Minnesota charter story that I missed while my Internet service was down. It contributes more to the discussion earlier about whether segregation is okay if it is voluntary. Let me add that I have never supported the creation of public schools (are charters still public schools?) [...]
Those #%$$$&* Cyber Charters
As time goes by, as I learn more about cyber charters, I become more convinced that they are legal fraud. The last time I wrote something critical about cyber charters, a day or so ago, it was because Pennsylvania approved four more, even though the ones it has get terrible ratings, terrible test scores, terrible [...]
Merit Pay, the Undead Policy Idea
I just finished writing about the history of merit pay and I was struck by a simple fact: Merit pay has been tried again and again and again and again, and it died again and again and again and again. Study after study says it made no difference. Teachers don’t like it. It doesn’t raise [...]
Perils of Life in the Age of the Internet
About 7 pm EST yesterday, my Internet service died a quick death. When it went down, it took out my access to the Internet, the telephone, and the television. That happened as I was trying to post the news about Camika Royal’s article on Huffington Post. I had to use my cell phone to get [...]
Where the Jobs Are
Thanks to Sharon Higgins for supplying the latest estimate from the Bureau of Labor Statistics about where the jobs are for the next several years. She sent this comment: Here’s more evidence of the mismatch between “College-for-All” and the STEM push and what the Bureau of Labor Statistics projects. A huge number of upcoming jobs [...]
Is Segregation OK if It is By Choice?
I received a long response from Joe Nathan in response to my post about segregation in the charter schools of Minnesota. My post included a link to an article by John Hechinger of Bloomberg News about charter schools in that state that are one-race or one-ethnic group. The question Joe Nathan’s response raises is this: [...]
Do You Want to See Camika’s Great Speech?
If you are following the saga of Dr. Camika Royal, you will remember that Gary Rubinstein posted a video of her addressing the Philadelphia summer institute of TFA, some 700 young people who will work in the Philadelphia public schools (which is laying off teachers). Gary sent the video to me, and I wrote a [...]
Wisdom from an Experienced Urban Teacher
A reader comments with hard-won knowledge. I would summarize it as being prepared with a variety of approaches and strategies and knowing when to apply the one that is right for the situation. No single approach is right for all. Diane, I’m an inner city teacher with 14 years of experience.The guiding principle I see [...]
Real Life in a “Turnaround” School
Mayor Bloomberg and Secretary Duncan like to describe the firing of teachers and the closing of schools as a wonderful reform strategy. Something magical is supposed to happen because of clearing out half or all of the staff and starting over with a new team, or half a new team. The public knows nothing about [...]
When a Teacher Loves Teaching
In response to a post asking why politicians are scapegoating teachers, I received this inspiring comment from a teacher in Louisiana: Teacher bashing is an integral part of the reform movement. It’s almost as if these republican governors were coached or told that this was the plan. Here in Louisiana it was as if the [...]
How Bill Gates’ Ideas Taint Other Nations Too
Under the influence of wrong-headed economists, Bill Gates has publicly stated that teachers should not be paid more for experience or education because such things do not raise test scores. This is really a terrible set of ideas. I have never met a teacher who said that experience doesn’t matter. Every teacher I know says [...]
Why Are So Many STEM Graduates Unemployed?
How many times have we heard the President, the Secretary of Education, and leaders of corporate America tell us that we must produce more scientists? That there are thousands of jobs unfilled because we don’t have qualified college graduates to fill them? That our future depends on pumping billions into STEM education? I always believe [...]
Hoosiers Speak Out for Public Education
Indiana is one of the states where the governor and the state commissioner of education seem determined to put public education out of business. They are implementing vouchers, expanding charters, and given the green light to for-profit online charter schools. They do not have a shred of evidence that any of this will improve the [...]
Camika Royal Speaks Out
The other day I blogged about a TFA leader who spoke at the opening ceremonies of the TFA summer institute in Philadelphia. Before my blog was posted, the Youtube video was taken down. Just a few hours ago, I received a tweet saying that Dr. Camika Royal had posted an article at Huffington Post. The [...]
What Kind of Teaching Do Students in Poverty Need?
In response to today’s ongoing discussion about teaching and specifically what kind of teaching is right for urban students, this comment came from Ira Shor. Shor teaches at the City University of New York. He has written extensively about critical pedagogy. Our discussion began with the proposition that poor kids need a tightly disciplined environment, [...]
Who Knows Naomi Klein?
A reader thinks that Naomi Klein should revisit the Louisiana story and see how the “shock doctrine” has progressed: Diane, I too have a passion for Louisiana, and a couple of friends there who also keep me in the loop.Your tireless efforts to tell the truth about what has happened in Louisiana since Milton Friedman [...]
My Friends in Louisiana
Readers may notice that I often post about what is happening in Louisiana. There are several reasons for this. One is that Louisiana is truly an important site for what is now called school reform. It became important after Hurricane Katrina wiped out most of the public school system, and New Orleans became a closely-watched [...]
Chicago Parents Are Sick and Tired of Their School Board
We in New York City know about a school board appointed by the mayor with orders not to listen to anyone but him. We know about a school board that treats parents and teachers as nuisances. Chicago parents know it too, and they aren’t going to take it without speaking out, as they are not [...]
More About the Boston Consulting Group: Read It and Weep
In an earlier post today, I wondered about the Boston Consulting Group. I knew this was a major management consulting organization, one of those companies that helps corporations do strategic planning. I knew that they advised the Philadelphia School Reform Commission to privatize a large number of its schools and gave the same advice to [...]
What It Takes to Teach in an Urban School
As I said in an earlier post, I am not sure if the teaching techniques and curriculum should be tailored to urban students, whether this is a form of racism or sensitivity. I’m listening and learning from teachers who know far more than I do. I worry about the danger of segregated schools and segregated [...]
What Is the Boston Consulting Group?
There is a new scandal in New York City. It seems the New York City Housing Authority paid $10 million to the Boston Consulting Group to write a report that is not available to the public that paid for it. According to the article in the New York Daily News, the report was commissioned by [...]
Tips for New Teachers
A reader responds with his ideas about how to succeed in the classroom: Tips for a new teacher:Above all else RESPECT your students, if you respect them for who they are they will respect you. 1. Be knowledgeable about your subject matter. If you don’t know something a student asks say “I don’t know, let’s [...]
How to Create Throwaway Teachers
A teacher writes in response to the Match guide for teaching: As a teacher of 23 years, I find this is absolutely an appalling disregard for the professionalism of the profession of education. It is also a very scary notion for teacher preparation. These authoritative, autocratic beliefs are not what makes for good teaching and [...]
Without Content Mastery, The Teacher is a Goner
After reading about the Match “graduate school of education,” this reader shares the wisdom born of experience: As a high school classroom teacher with over fifteen years experience, this type of graduate preparation is ludicrous! There is nothing more important, especially in the HS classroom, than a teacher who is an expert in his/her respective [...]
I Know the Answer to This Question
A reader writes, in response to a post this morning about what constitutes good teaching: Diane, the relationships we build with students make all the difference in student learning. Understanding student needs, interests, and abilities gives us the keys for learning with each individual student. I believe we always treat students with respect and understanding. [...]
The Common Core Standards: I Remain Agnostic
The Thomas B. Fordham Institute –a conservative think tank in D.C. where I was a trustee for many years–is a staunch defender of the Common Core State Standards. It has received a lot of money from the Gates Foundation to evaluate the standards. I know my former colleagues, and I know they would not be [...]
Is This a Good Guide for Teaching?
I am a historian, I have spent years (decades) studying and writing about American education. I know my limitations. Aside from teaching graduate students in courses about the history of education and controversies in current education policy, I have not been a classroom teacher. That may be why I respect classroom teachers so much. I [...]
98% of Eligible Students Say No to Vouchers
Have you ever wondered what would happen if a state offered vouchers to more than half its students? The Louisiana Department of Education just learned the answer to that question. It made the offer to 450,000 students. Not quite 9,000 students applied to enroll in the voucher program that begins in September. That’s 2% of the [...]
Why Does Ohio Governor Kasich Treat Teachers as Public Enemy #1?
A reader writes in response to the post about New Jersey Governor Christie: When you solve this mystery please come and help us in Ohio to uncover why Gov. Kascich has made teachers public enemy number one. We may have defeated his infamous House Bill 5, but he and his cronies are managing to slip [...]
An Exchange with a Reader about Charter Schools
An exchange with a reader this morning: Diane, I thank you for calling attention to the challenges of public schools working well with public charter schools. (when i say public charters, i’m referring to those I’m familiar with where the local school district is the authorizor and the transparency and accountability measures are in place). [...]
About Those Minnesota Charter Schools
Joe Nathan, who was a leading figure in the development of the charter movement, has spiritedly defended charters on this blog. He points to charters in Minnesota to show that the original ideals of the movement survive there. Unlike New York City, for example, where the charters are aggressively entrepreneurial, glory in pushing public schools [...]
Is This a Real Graduate School of Education?
Evidently the Relay Graduate School of Education is not the only “graduate school of education” in which charter school leaders award masters’ degrees to charter school teachers. There is also a “graduate school of education” in Boston organized by charter schools to train charter teachers to get “jaw-dropping” test scores. Not surprisingly, this one acknowledges [...]
Note to Jeb Bush: Florida Loses Its Bragging Rights
Coach Bob Sikes blogs about Florida, where he teaches. He just sent me his latest post, which shows that Florida has lost ground in its national rankings in both business and education under Governor Rick Scott. Of course, Governor Scott listens closely to whatever former Governor Jeb Bush says, since he is now seen as [...]
Are Charter Schools Public Schools?
A reader from Pennsylvania asks whether charter schools are public schools if they seek to avoid transparency and if their teachers are not subject to the same evaluation scheme as public school teachers: Charters insist on being called “public” schools. Yet in Pennsylvania charters are in court trying to prevent laws requiring them to be [...]
When Romney Speaks in Louisiana on Monday
A reader tells me that Mitt Romney will be speaking at the Press Club in Baton Rouge on Monday. I hope that journalists in Louisiana are ready to ask him some tough questions. Ask him if he approves of using taxpayer dollars to send children to religious schools. Ask him if he approves of spending [...]
The Partnership for 19th Century Skills
Yesterday the National Research Council released a report supporting the need to develop what it calls “deeper learning,” drawing on cognitive skills, interpersonal skills, and interpersonal skills. All of this sounds swell, excellent, worthy of doing and endorsing. I’m for it. Yes, yes, yes. But I could not help but be reminded of something I [...]
Romney Loves Charters
A reader writes: I just finished watching Mitt Romney’s speech to the NAACP. I would say that more time was spent talking about education, and he used charter schools as the solution to the problem. It was essentially a “why charters are great” speech. I wish his people would read this post by you. If [...]
An Important P.S. to the “Schools-Are-Too-Easy” Claim
I posted a very important commentary this morning by researcher Ed Fuller of Penn State University about the Center for American Progress’ “study” claiming that American schools are “too easy.” Fuller is an expert at statistical analysis and he pulled the study apart to show that the best students said it was “too easy” and [...]
How to Make Big Money in Education
It’s not too late to register for a full-day conference where you can learn how to get rich investing in education. You can still register to find out how big equity investors are making profits in education and plan to make even more. Of course, you must come up with $1,395 if you want to [...]
More about the SOS March and Convention in DC
I received this comment from one of the active members of SOS. I am glad she mentioned that Jonathan Kozol will be speaking at the SOS event, which takes place from August 3-5 in D.C.. Jon was riveting last year. And the great thing about hearing Jon is that he will make clear who is [...]
The Save Our Schools March
Last year I participated in the first Save Our Schools March in D.C. It was a wonderful event. This year, there will be another Save Our Schools March in D.C. Some of the same speakers will return: my wonderful colleague Deborah Meier and the great teacher-educator Nancy Carlsson-Paige will speak, along with many others. I [...]
Does It Help Schools to Fire Half Their Staff?
The story below appeared this morning in the NY Post. It refers to a judge’s decision not to overturn the ruling of an independent arbitrator who stopped the Mayor from firing half the staff at 24 “turnaround” schools. The Mayor has had one very simple strategy to “help” schools and “save” students: He closes them. [...]
Are U.S. Schools “Too Easy”?
Yesterday a report appeared by the Center for American Progress asserting that “schools are too easy.” It was widely reported in the national media. See here, here, here, here, and here. For some reason, the media love stories that say either that our kids don’t know anything or they aren’t working hard enough. We have to [...]
Ongoing Drama at Central Falls High School
Remember back to the spring of 2010, when the district superintendent Frances Gallo in Central Falls, Rhode Island, threatened to close the high school and fire the entire staff because performance was so poor? Gallo was vigorously supported by State Superintendent Deborah Gist, and the threat of mass firings won the praise of Secretary of Education [...]
Governor Scott Walker Said, “It’s Not Personal”
This teacher in Wisconsin disagrees. When your class sizes grow larger, it’s personal. When the classroom lacks the resources it needs, it’s personal. When this teacher’s family must make do with less, it’s personal. When the governor takes advice from businessmen but not educators about how to fix schools, it’s personal. It just isn’t personal for [...]
Teachers at Green Dot Charter Schools OK Merit Pay
In a close vote, teachers at the Green Dot charter school chain endorsed a merit pay plan tied to test scores. Although test score-based evaluation is highly unstable, the teachers decided to go along in hopes of qualifying for a bonus. A teacher rated effective one year may be rated ineffective the next year, because [...]
Judge Says No to Bloomberg in 40 Minutes
The city of New York appealed to a judge to overturn the the decision of an independent arbitrator, who said that the city should keep open 24 schools it planned to close. After only 40 minutes, the judge said that she would not enjoin the arbitrator’s ruling. This means, for now, that the city must [...]
Who Benefits from Cyber Charters? Part 2
A little while ago, I posted a statement by a mother of a high-functioning autistic child who said she did not want him to be in a cyber charter; she wanted him to be in a school to have contact with other children and to learn social skills. Bear in mind that cybercharters have a [...]
Who Benefits from Cyber Charters?
The question often arises: Who are cyber charters for? I have gotten emails from people in the industry saying that children with special needs should be home in front of a computer, where a parent can help them. Or they say that cyber charters are good for sick children. Certainly they are attractive to home [...]
Should We Be Like Sweden?
A while back, a reader wrote that we should try to be like Sweden, because it is among the “best in the world.” Sweden now has for-profit schools and choice, so presumably the choice-based reforms of our day will make us more like Sweden. I pointed out that on the latest PISA, Sweden does not [...]
Brooks, Petrilli, and Murray: Conservatives Confront Class Realities
There is one fact about America today that has not been mentioned in the political debates: nearly 25% of our nation’s children are growing up in poverty. This nation leads the advanced nations of the world in child poverty. Two articles today by conservative writers suggest that some hint of realism may enter the national [...]
David Brooks Knows Nothing about Schools Today
Peter DeWitt, who is an elementary school principal in upstate New York, got very ticked off by a column written by David Brooks in the New York Times. DeWitt has written a post in which he takes Brooks to task for his confusion and ignorance about schools today. He sees it as just another example [...]
Good Old Boys Prevail (for now) in Louisiana
Judge Tim Kelly turned down a request to block the implementation of Governor Bobby Jindal’s voucher plan. The judge said that Commissioner John White and Commissioner of Administration both said in affidavits that an injection would blow a $3.4 billion deficit in the state budget. So the case will proceed as will the vouchers, charters, [...]
How to Marginalize Dissent While Pretending to Listen
A reader sent in this recommended website, which explains the Delphi Technique, how it works, and how it silences dissent while pretending to elicit opinions. Diana Senechal reminds me that in Left Back, I described how social psychologists figured out how to manufacture consensus and how to exclude dissenting voices back in the 1950s. That [...]
This Is Unbelievable
Pennsylvania just approved the operation of four new cyber-charter schools, bringing the number of online charter schools in the state to 17. This is literally unbelievable. We constantly hear lectures from “reformers” about data-driven decision-making and focusing only on results. They like to say “it’s for the children.” “Children first.” “Students first.” The existing cyber-charters [...]
Emergency Manager in Muskegon Heights Picks Charter Corporation
The emergency manager in Muskegon Heights school district in Michigan has decided to turn the public schools over to for-profit charter operator Mosaica Learning of Atlanta. Mosaica schools in Michigan do better than the schools of Muskegon Heights, but have low performance in comparison to schools in the rest of the county. Test scores in Muskegon [...]
Now It Can Be Told! The Secrets to Success and Riches
Bruce Baker has distilled the qualities of successful charter schools. In this post, Baker looks at the reasons that some NYC charter schools succeed. The reason for creating charters in the late 1980s was that they would have the freedom to try new ideas and thereby to help public schools improve. As the charters tried new [...]
Common Core Standards: A Boon for Edu-Biz
Whether the Common Core standards are good or bad, one thing that is clear is that they have opened up multiple opportunities for entrepreneurs. The textbook industry is retooling, at least adding stickers that say their products are aligned with the Common Core. Pearson is developing a complete curriculum package in mathematics and reading, for [...]
Can TFA Save Itself from the Impending Disaster?
Gary Rubinstein told me a year or so ago that the corporate reform movement was living on borrowed time. He believes that its ideas are so destructive and ill-conceived that it is certain to implode as failure after failure drags it down and as the public realizes that its public schools are being ruined. In [...]
LAUSD Balks at Giving Public School Space to Charters
We have reached such a low point that it is a news story if a school district resists turning its space over to charter operators. In the past, one might have expected district leaders to fight for the students in their care, not to support privatized entities that want public space at no charge. Surprise [...]
More on Meaningless Meetings
In response to my post on meaningless meetings, where people break into small groups, speak up, but no one ever hears what they said or recommended, I received two similar comments. Both said that the ultimate method of listening without hearing is the Delphi Technique. As one commenter put it: This group manipulation is often [...]
Ten Years of “Reform” and Still So Much Failure
The New York Daily News has an editorial this morning complaining about an arbitrator’s decision to stop Mayor Michael Bloomberg from closing 24 schools. As usual, the editorial lambastes the teachers’ union, which is supposedly the font of all evil in education. The editorial writer forgets that the city Department of Education agreed to enter [...]
Remember “Separation of Church and State”?
A blogger in Louisiana calls out State Rep. Valerie Hodges for expressing shock about the possibility that voucher funds might go to Islamic schools. I have already done that in an earlier post and won’t do it again here. I repost this commentary because it lists many of the Christian academies that will be getting [...]
How to Run a Meaningless Meeting
A reader writes: The tactic of breaking meeting attendees into small groups with one staff member per group who runs the group discussion and writes the comments on chart paper is commonly used at the system level in the county where my children attend. They did it for controversial redistricting plans, and when they were [...]
Memphis: Is Anyone Listening?
When the Transition Planning Committee rolled out its plan, based on the recommendations of the management consultants, the Boston Consulting Group, and led by Stand for Children, teachers were not sure if the public hearings would be genuine and if their voices would be heard. In a comment posted here, this teacher describes her experience [...]
A Field Report on New York’s Educator Evaluation System
The principals of New York State have been up in arms in opposition to the “educator evaluation” system that the New York State Education Department has designed. More than one-third of the principals across the state have bravely signed a petition in protest. The reason for the evaluation system is that New York had the [...]
My View of the Common Core Standards
I have neither endorsed nor rejected the Common Core national standards, for one simple reason: They are being rolled out in 45 states without a field trial anywhere. How can I say that I love them or like them or hate them when I don’t know how they will work when they reach the nation’s [...]
A Charter Battles for Right to Remain Open
In Florida, where charters spring up like wildflowers in shopping malls, the Miami-Dade School Board voted to close down Rise Academy charter school. Rise appealed to the state board, and the state board reversed the local board’s decision. The Miami-Dade board went to court, and the court overturned the state board’s decision. That is, the [...]
Teachers in Memphis Speak Out
I have published several posts (see here, here, and here) about Memphis, where a “Transition Planning Committee” devised a plan to merge the Memphis public schools and the Shelby County Schools. The planning was based on work by the Boston Consulting Group; the director of the TPC is the executive director of Stand for Children [...]
Arne Duncan: “We Don’t Know”
At a recent meeting in New York City, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said that “we as a country don’t know” how much student test scores should count as part of teachers’ evaluation. He said it shouldn’t be zero, and it shouldn’t be 100%. But it should be somewhere in between. As to what the [...]
Billionaires Want Charters in Washington State, Again
Three times the question of charter schools has been put to a referendum in Washington State, and three times the voters have said no. Undeterred, the charter-lovers of the technology sector are putting another couple million into a campaign to take it back to the voters again. Bill Gates put in $1 million, chump change, [...]
Why Does Governor Christie Have a Grudge Against Teachers?
One of the best bloggers in New Jersey, if not the whole northeast, is Jersey Jazzman. He has gathered statements that Governor Christie has made about teachers that are quite negative. His teachers remember him fondly. By all accounts, he had an idyllic childhood and experienced great public schooling. Now he is pushing privatization as [...]
Carol Burris on the Art of Teaching
This morning I posted Carol Burris’s essay about the Relay Graduate School of Education. Carol Burris is the principal of South Side High School in Rockville Center, Long Island. Many people wrote comments and discussed what they thought of Relay’s method of teaching as represented by a video embedded in Burris’s essay, taken from the Relay [...]
Step Right Up, Teachers, and Buy Your Own Value-Added Program
Diana Senechal is having fun with the metrics business. In this post, she manages to combine data mania with the consumer-driven mentality of our current education policymakers. All in one short article, you get a free parody of choice, value-added assessment, competition, stack ranking, and the Broad Superintendents Academy.
Stack Ranking in Memphis
I wrote a blog about the culture at Microsoft, where employees are evaluated by “stack ranking,” meaning that everyone in every unit is assigned a weighting–best, average, worse. I printed comments by people who had been subject to this system, who said that it stifled creativity and collaboration. I discovered that many major corporations have [...]
A Very Bizarre Graduate School of Education
Carol Burris is the principal of an outstanding public high school on Long Island, in New York State. She often writes about education for The Answer Sheet. Burris has won awards for her leadership and her school has been recognized for its achievements. Burris just published an article about the Relay Graduate School of Education. [...]
Is 11 Days of Training Enough for TFA?
A friend shared this post by a young member of Teach for America. This young teacher wants to teach social studies, for which he or she feels adequate, but will be expected to teach math, for which he or she feels inadequate. What comes through as you read the post is a sense of sheer [...]
About Those Superintendents on Broad Board
At the suggestion of a reader, I posted a list of the board of directors of a Broad Center for the Management of School Systems, dating from 2009. It included several school superintendents. Readers have commented on the track record of the superintendents on that board. Let’s see: Joel Klein: Resigned in 2010, after NY State [...]
Shoppers: Aisle 1 to Pick Your School
The City University of New York is offering courses in “how to pick a charter school” ($75) and “how to pick a public school” ($75). See page 26 of the link. So this is what “choice” means. You have to take a course at a public university to figure out how to choose a school [...]
Why Is Governor Christie Angry?
How many times have I read stories about New Jersey Governor Chris Christie blowing his stack when the subject is education or teachers? Just yesterday he blew up when a stranger made a passing remark about his education policy. Is it a sign of a guilty conscience? Governor Christie is doing everything possible to privatize [...]
Where Power Resides
A reader sent this list of the board of directors of the Broad Center for the Management of School Systems for 2009. The center is part of the Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation, which runs a training program for urban school superintendents. Some (many?) Broad-trained superintendents have been involved in controversy, due to their non-collaborative [...]
Legislator in Louisiana Is Shocked, Shocked
A Louisiana legislator who voted for Governor Bobby Jindal’s “reform” legislation is shocked to learn that students will be able to take their state vouchers to Muslim schools. She voted for the voucher plan on the assumption that students could take them only to Christian schools. Now, she is worried. She had “no idea” that [...]