Latest News and Comment from Education

Thursday, August 30, 2012

Daytime Diane 8-30-12 Diane Ravitch's blog

Diane Ravitch's blog:




More from Maine Showdown

A reader sends this update from Maine:
Follow up: Superintendent Perzanoski apologized Tuesday for putting his comments in an official school letter, but he did not back away from his actual comments:



Will You Give Your Students to Pearson for an IPad?

Pearson has sent a solicitation to principals: If you allow us to use your students to field test items, we will give you an IPad or another electronic device of your choice. The principal who sent this to me put it somewhat more plainly: Should I turn my kids into guinea pigs in exchange for a free IPad?
Field Study November 2012
Program Information and Participation Form – Grades 3-7
Dear Principal,
ACT has engaged Pearson in a national effort to try out new test materials. ACT and Pearson have worked 



This Teacher Loved Working in NYC Consortium School

An earlier post described the excellent results obtained by the schools in the NYC Performance Standards Consortium, where standardized tests were replaced by performance assessments.
This teacher taught in one of these schools:
In fall 2008, I student taught at one of those schools, after a prior student teaching gig in one of the ‘small-school’, test-is-king high schools elsewhere in Manhattan. The difference is overwhelming. I am a history