Diane Ravitch's blog
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Diane Ravitch's blog
Who Cares about Privacy Rights?
Sheila Kaplan’s organization “Education New York & Information Policy Watch” is zealously devoted to protecting the privacy rights of students. In response to a post about whether the U.S. Department of Education was overreaching with the latest expansion of its regulatory power, she sent the following comment: The US Department of Education is overreaching in [...]
Bobby Jindal vs. Science
Bobby Jindal, the governor of Louisiana, knows a good bit about science. He was a biology major at Brown University, one of the nation’s finest universities, and a Rhodes Scholar. An excellent article in Slate explains how Jindal has sacrificed the principles of science for political expediency. As the author notes, “…in his rise to [...]
A Better Way to Improve Schools
Our education leaders are in love with ideas that are proven not to work and they ignore evidence that their preferred strategies don’t work. After a decade of No Child Left Behind, Congress won’t admit that it failed. There are still many millions of children left behind–not “no child”–yet Congress can’t bring itself to ditch [...]
This is What People Will Say in 20 Years, I Predict.
When we look back 100 years, or even 50 years, we can see things that people did that seem bizarre to our modern eyes. How could they have done that? That’s so cruel, that’s so inhumane, that’s so barbaric! The thought occurred when a friend sent this article from the archives of the New York [...]
A New Contest: Teacher Survivor!
A comment by a reader suggests a new contest. Who would you like to see assigned to teach for a year and under what conditions? What are the terms of the contest and how would you determine the winner? Put your thinking caps on. The contest lasts for 24 hours only and may be shortened [...]
The Common Core Is Not the Problem
A reader proposes a way to make the Common Core work for students: I would use the Common Core standards a bit differently. I’d expand on what I did a couple of years ago when I was in the classroom teaching with Moodle and Google.docs and a variety of devices. See-http://dangerouslyirrelevant.org/2010/09/writing-the-elephant-in-the-living-room.html where I wrote about it. [...]
Teachers: Make Your Voice Heard
Ralph Ratto, the author of the blog admonishing Campbell Brown for her unfortunate and ill-informed editorial in the Wall Street Journal has advice for other teachers: These are trying times for those of us who love teaching. I refuse to sit back as we get pummeled in the media and on political platforms. We need [...]
What Happens Now in Detroit?
The Michigan Supreme Court decided that the petitions for a referendum on the emergency manager law are valid, and the referendum will happen in November. In the meanwhile, the judges said, the EM’s powers are suspended. Detroit has an emergency manager. What happens there, this teacher wonders: (I’m a teacher in Michigan.) It also leaves [...]
Campbell Brown and Michelle Rhee: Another Odd Couple
Leonie Haimson is a leading parent activist in New York City and a co-founder of Parents Across America, which keeps tabs on the depredations of the corporate reformers. Here is Leonie’s take on l’affaire Campbell Brown. One would think that Michelle Rhee and her organization StudentsFirst would be wary of getting too deep in the [...]
Michigan Court OKs Referendum on Emergency Manager Law
Opponents of Michigan’s emergency manager law want the law repealed as anti-democratic. Well, it does allow an appointed person to overrule any decisions made by elected bodies, which does seem anti-democratic on its face. They gathered 200,000 signatures, 40,000 more than the law requires to get a referendum on the ballot. Supporters of the emergency [...]
Common Core: A Bonanza for E-Corps
A story in the New York Times says that the e-corporations are salivating over the Common Core State Standards. They foresee the opening up of a multi-billion industry, with more tests, more online resources, more stuff to sell to schools complying with the Common Core. The standards are indeed a boon for the edu-biz entrepreneurs. [...]
A Teacher Explains It All to Campbell Brown
Campbell Brown, as we have recently learned, doesn’t like the teachers’ union. She wrote an opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal asserting that the union protects sexual predators in the classroom. She thinks that the arbitration process, by which an accused teacher gets a chance to defend against accusations, is rigged to favor the [...]
This Teacher Did Not Remain Silent
Thanks to a reader who sent this story in his comment about an earlier post. When students falsely accused a teacher in Portland, Oregon, of inappropriately touching them, the teacher decided not to remain silent. That was in 2000. He sued the students and their families. He won a $70,000 judgment and apologies. Of course, his [...]
Why Stability Matters to My Students
I have posted a few times about the importance of stability. This is because we have public officials in Washington and in the states, as well as think tank pundits, who think it is a good idea to close schools, open schools, repeat again and again, fire teachers and principals and call it a “turnaround.” [...]
The Odd Couple
Blogger Jonathan Pelto in Connecticut read about the “school reform plan” proposed by conservative Republican Governor Chris Christie and realized that it was virtually identical to the one proposed earlier this year by Connecticut Governor Malloy. Under this plan, the Legislature was asked to authorize a Commissioner’s Network, “a system in which Stefan Pryor, Malloy’s [...]
What Tabloids Know about Education
This story proves that it is dangerous to get your information about American education from New York City’s tabloids. Campbell Brown, journalist extraordinaire. has now apparently become an education expert, based on her close reading of New York City’s tabloids. To be precise, the story says she read “the headlines.” If you are a regular [...]
What We Can Learn from Japan
The New York Times had a front-page story about a generational divide in Japan. The article begins, “As Japan has ceded dominance in industry after industry that once lifted this nation to economic greatness, there has been plenty of blame to go around. A nuclear disaster that raised energy costs. A lack of entrepreneurship. China’s [...]
What’s the Purpose of TFA?
A teacher in Chicago asked this simple question in an article on Huffington Post. He noted that TFA was created to fill “chronic teacher shortages,” and he quotes Wendy Kopp saying so. He asks why Chicago is hiring TFA when 2,000 certified teachers have been laid off and remain jobless. He notes that some of [...]
Privatization, Profits, and Politicians
A reader noted the similarity between Governor Chris Christie’s plan to privatize low-performing public schools, and Governor Rick Snyder’s reform plan in Michigan. Other readers have commented on the irony of conservative Republican governors–allegedly committed to small government–aggressively using the powers of government to undermine local control and privatize schools. The similarity goes beyond Christie [...]
A Debate about U.K. Education
A reader in the U.K. Offers a dissent to a previous post: I think that the current British Government are seeking to emulate the worst travesties present in the US system. This is largely because emulating the best practice in more successful education systems will cost money and as such is the last thing they [...]
Is the Department of Education Over-reaching?
I posted about the Department of Education’s plan to rate the teacher preparation programs in colleges and universities by the test scores of the children taught by their graduates–that’s a stretch, if you think about it. One reader saw the absurdity of it and wondered if others saw it too: Going after universities – Yowzer! [...]
Why Does StudentsFirst Deceive?
A reader posts a particularly egregious example of the deceptive tactics used by StudentsFirst to enroll new members. I long ago reported that Change.org had decided not to allow Michelle Rhee’s organization to lure the unsuspecting into signing a petition that seemingly supports teachers, but actually enrolls them as in an effort to eliminate collective [...]
Is This the True Christie Plan?
A reader suggests the real purpose of the Christie “school reform” plan. Or could it be to introduce private markets to public education, with profits for some, losses for others? Chris Christie, like many Republicans, main goal is to break the teacher union; it has nothing to do with education. He has no real interest [...]
Chris Christie’s Plan to Privatize NJ’s Low-Performing Schools
The Education Law Center, an independent organization that advocates for the children of New Jersey, obtained a copy of a proposal that the Chris Christie administration made to the Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation in Los Angeles. The plan calls for aggressive state intervention in the state’s lowest performing schools. Acting Commissioner Chris Cerf wants [...]
Profiteers Circling the Schools, Looking for $$
So here it is folks. Stephanie Simon of Reuters attended that private equity investors’ conference at an elite Manhattan setting and the boys are looking to make money from selling their stuff to the schools, running schools, teaching math, investing in new ventures of all kinds. This is what many suspected but found hard to [...]
What If We Had Medical Reformers in Congress?
Gary Rubinstein has played with an analogy. What if Congress and the Administration and the governors became alarmed about life expectancy rates? What if they decided that we need a serious dose of med reform? What if they followed the same principles as school reform? What if these policymakers knew as little about medicine as [...]
Georgia Straw Poll: No to Charters
In a straw poll, voters in Georgia turned down a constitutional amendment to permit the state to open charters over the objection of local school boards. Democratic voters, perhaps remembering that school choice was always the banner of segregationists, voted down the proposal. In Georgia as a whole, 56% of voters opposed the proposal. The [...]
When Talking and Listening Are Not Enough
A reader responds to another post: I agree we need to do all of what you say, god knows I do, but I’m worried that we may exchange the support we give to each other and ourselves for a quiet waiting, a further hunkering down. Make no mistake, teaching is a gender issue for all [...]
Should You Game the System?
in response to a post about the meaning of fiction in our lives today, a reader sent this advice: To my dear teachers of America, I ask you to game the system. Yes, you must teach how to tackle the test, you must teach how to use elimination to solve multiple choice questions. But you [...]
Campaign Contributions Matter
A reader reports on the campaign contributions of a major charter school owner in Ohio. Okay, here’s some more numbers that will astound you: David Brennan founded White Hat Management Company in 1998. The company is a charter school management group with approximately 30 schools, mostly in Ohio, including an online charter and numerous “dropout [...]
Teachers: Keep Talking, Keep Listening
In response to the discussion about why teachers are silent, this reader writes: The climate of fear and distrust can undermine a teacher’s self confidence – can make a person begin to doubt his/her own competence and perceptions about what students need to succeed. With the teachers around us trying to keep their jobs and [...]
Time for Roland Fryer to Give Back His Pay
Today, Rupert Murdoch’s New York Post has an editorial simultaneously praising the New Teacher Project report called “The Irreplaceables” (those fabulous young teachers who know how to raise test scores [in one year] but are leaving the classroom) and the Roland Fryer study on loss aversion. The Post says that if New York City took [...]
Investigating The E-Scam in Ohio
Ohio is utopia for sham reform. In that state, two major charter operators have given generously to politicians, and their campaign contributions have been ilke yeast in an oven. A small amount goes a long, long way in returns to them. The good news is that the word is getting out. This article in a [...]
Teachers, Be Silent No More
This reader says–in response to an earlier post– there is a way for teachers to get involved in fighting for public education without risking their jobs. Perhaps it would be easier to contact their publicists, agents, or managers: 1. Dave Grohl – Foo Fighters – Agent: Don Muller – WME 1325 Avenue Of The Americas, [...]
How Reform Destroyed My School
This reader will not be silent. I had a principal who stood up for teachers and students. She had 29 years experience, 11 years as a principal at this school. She was forced to “retire” one year short of full vestment or face firing because we failed to meet our AYP goal by 7 points [...]
The “Confessions of a Teaching Fellow” Were Spot On
A previous post recounted “The Confessions of a Teaching Fellow” who described her revulsion at what she was expected to do. Soon after that post went up, another came from someone who said the writer of the original post was absolutely wrong. Here is confirmation for the teacher who spoke out: I worked for the [...]
Advice to a New Teacher
I never tell teachers how to teach. But I listen when experienced teachers offer good advice. Here is some that just was posted as a comment to an aspiring teacher: …absolutely keep listening to those mentors. You learn so much in your education preparation program, and then you learn so much more on the job. [...]
Why I’m On Your Side
I was asked to contribute to a blog collection about teachers. This is what I wrote: http://teacherpoetmusicianglenbrown.blogspot.com/2012/07/im-on-your-side-by-diane-ravitch.html
How Can We Cure Very, Very Sick Public Policy?
A teacher in Philadelphia wrote a terrific article explaining why her school is “incredible.” The state labeled it “low-performing.” Now her students will be allowed to “escape” to another school. But, she points out, A staggering 95 percent of our students come from poor families, nearly 30 percent are learning English, and at least 16 [...]
Why the ACLU Is Suing Michigan
The ACLU has filed suit against the agencies and people who, they claim, have failed the children of Highland Park. This is one of three districts where a state emergency manager was sent to take charge because of fiscal distress. He shut down the public schools and will turn the students over to charter operators. [...]
Why Are Teachers Silent?
Many readers have noted that their colleagues go along with policies they know are wrong. They comply because compliance is easier than resistance. They comply because they fear losing their job or being seen as a troublemaker. This is sad but understandable. People need to feel secure, they need to feed their family and pay [...]
Recommended Reading for Roland Fryer and His Colleagues
A reader suggests some reading for Professor Fryer and his colleagues. Fryer has spent years searching for the incentive that works. This reader says he should stop searching and read an article by Frederick Herzberg. No, it did not appear in the Teachers College Record or the Harvard Educational Review or Phi Delta Kappan or [...]
VAM Madness in Florida
A reader describes the madness of value-added assessment as practiced in Florida: I teach English in a Florida high school. Although I taught all juniors last year, my VAM score was based on the school average for 9th and 10th grade. Why? Because they cease testing in 10th grade except for those who don’t pass. [...]
Are Charter Schools Public Schools?
A school district review in Philadelphia determined that many of the charters set up significant obstacles to students who want to enroll. In one school, applications are available only one day in the year. “Another unnamed charter required applicants to complete an 11-page application, write an essay, respond to 20 short-answer questions, provide three recommendations, [...]
Fearful of an Election
I read an editorial in the Wall Street Journal this morning about Bridgeport, Connecticut, where the Connecticut Supreme Court has ordered a special election for the city’s school board. Read this editorial. What is amazing about it is the palpable fear of an election. The Wall Street Journal says that an election is a “blow” [...]
Arne Duncan Is Imposing NCLB on Teacher Education
The U.S. Department of Education is trying to compel institutions of higher education to accept regulations that judge the quality of teacher-training institutions by the test scores of students taught by their graduates. If Johnny gets a low score on standardizedtests, Arne Duncan wants to punish his teacher, his principal, his school, and the university [...]
How Valuable Are Standardized Tests?
A recent post noted a story in the New York Times that described a design flaw in the Texas tests created by Pearson (at $100 million per year). It reported that the state tests did not reflect the improvements observed in connection with an outside intervention because the tests are designed to show improvement only in [...]
Attention, Policymakers! A Teacher Speaks!
Policymakers are busy writing laws in every state to evaluate teachers. They think they can create a system that will spot the best and fire the worst. So far, none of those systems is working, and none has made any difference, other than to make teachers nervous and make them wonder what these guys will [...]
Texas Conservatives Turning Against Pearson
The Texas testing system is a pot of gold for Pearson–a five year contract worth $500 million. Pearson has a problem. More than half the school boards in Texas have passed a resolution against high-stakes testing. The parents and citizens have watched the stakes go up and up for the past 20 years and they [...]
A Visit from Renowned “Last Stand for Children First”
This blog has received a late entry into an already closed contest. Once I realized that the National Lampoon had already threatened to kill the dog on its cover in 1973, I recognized that loss aversion had reached its apogee forty years ago. Nonetheless, this entry was posted by a blogger-tweeter who goes by the [...]
How to Beat “Loss Aversion” Techniques
A reader says that if Roland Fryer tries loss aversion in her classroom, she would follow the advice of this song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wYW44WD792Y
Is There Nothing New Under the Sun?
Just when I thought we had a winner for the loss aversion contest–the proposal that the teacher threaten to kill the children’s favorite pet–another reader sent this magazine cover from 1973. How ever will we motivate teachers now, if neither incentives nor threats work? We might try reading Daniel Pink or Edward Deci or Dan [...]
Attention, Roland Fryer, This May Be a Winner!
So we are having this “loss aversion” contest. The idea is that teachers will work hard to avoid loss than they will to win a bonus. Roland Fryer and colleagues say that this works. Offer teachers a bonus at the beginning of the year and take it away if the scores don’t go up. I [...]
Losers in the Loss Aversion Contest
A reader enters the loss aversion content with these ideas: 1. If your students get low scores, the New York Post puts your picture on the first page and says you are the worst teacher in New York City. Uhhh, too late, that already happened. 2. If your students get low scores, they take away [...]
Hey, An Idea for a Bestseller
A reader has a suggestion for Doug Lemov: Could you imagine this: “Nurse Like a Champion” or “Doctor Like a Champion” and a program that asks us to pay $6000 so that they can train us to be master doctors and nurses in 5 weeks?? I wonder if that would fly. The New Doctor Project…sounds [...]
Loss Aversion Contest: First Dropout
This reader warns about the danger of the loss aversion contest: I would enter, but I’m worried someone would think it was a good idea and make it a law. At least in Louisiana……where I teach! Supposing we agreed that teachers would produce higher test scores if we cut off their fingers or took their [...]
The First Entrant Is A Strong Contender
In the contest to see who can come up with the best form of loss aversion to motivate high test scores, we have a first entrant that looks incredibly strong. Supposing you say to teachers, get those scores up or we take away your first born. Don’t you think those scores are going up? Supposing [...]
The Loss Aversion Contest: You Can Win!
Economist Roland Fryer has been trying for years to find the magic incentive that would produce higher scores. He tried merit pay, and that didn’t work. He tried paying students to get higher scores, but that didn’t work. Now, he has at last found the key: He and his colleagues have perfected a technique called [...]
Where Teachers Learn
Diana Senechal is a brilliant writer. She wrote a fascinating book titled “Republic of Noise.” She teaches in the summer at the Dallas Institute of Culture and the Humanities. Who knew that Dallas has a vibrant learning center where teachers read the great books? I did, because I visited a couple of years ago and [...]
The “Confessions” Are Wrong
Marcus sent a comment and disagreed with the “Confessions of a Teaching Fellow”: This is absolutely a misrepresentation of the summer training. Diane, I have a lot of respect for you and have followed you for many years. If you can push this out with such disregard for the truth, I have to question the [...]
Pop Quiz about “The Irreplaceables”
This just in from California educator Robert Skeels: POP QUIZ: What do you call plutocrat funded “research” that isn’t peer reviewed and is conducted by an organization that has already drawn a priori conclusions? Answer: A policy paper. Pretty much everything one would ever need to know about The new Teacher Project (TNTP) is summed [...]
Confessions of a Teaching Fellow
This just arrived in my email box. The writer signed her name: There has been so much debate about educational reform and about Michele Rhee and her Students First organization. I am compelled to describe my experience this past June with the Rhode Island Teaching Fellows Program, a Rhee brainchild. The Teaching Fellows work along [...]
Should Schools Act “in loco parentis?”
A thoughtful comment by a reader about consultants, parents, and the responsibility of schools: Amazing that so many private and parochial schools work well with NO consultants.Ditto that! Our typical son graduated from his Jesuit high school in June….a brilliant school with no consultants. Disagree, though, that public schools have become parents, medical facilities, etc. [...]
Who Is Irreplaceable?
A new report was released by The New Teacher Project, asserting that our schools were losing the very best teachers. They are the “irreplaceables.” The report got the red treatment, with Secretary Duncan there to salute its findings. And it was funded by three billionaire foundations: Gates, Walton, John and Laura Arnold (big supporters of [...]
Creationism in UK Schools, Too: UPDATE
I got a tweet from Britain saying that Michael Gove, the minister of education, has approved three new schools for state funding that teach creationism as science. We know that Gove has been consulting with Joel Klein and the leaders of KIPP and has expressed great interest in charter schools. This seems to be the [...]
Not the Tiger Mom
A new book that explains how demanding parents ruin their children’s lives with unbearable pressure to be the best at everything: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/29/books/review/teach-your-children-well-by-madeline-levine.html?_r=3&smid=fb-share An antidote to the Tiger Mom complex.
The Other Kids Growing Up in the Bronx
Mark D. Naison is a professor at Fordham University, where he teaches African-American studies. He is principal investigator of the Bronx African American history project. He writes a blog, “With a Brooklyn Accent.” This is his latest: Not Every Bronx Tale Has a Geoffrey Canada Ending In his memoir, Fist, Knife Stick Gun, Geoffrey Canada describes growing [...]
Best Way to Eliminate Public Education
Lance Hill of New Orleans responded to blogger Mike Deshotels, who noted the double standard for charter schools and public schools. Public schools must meet standards, but voucher schools do not? Lance writes: Mike, excellent post on the contradictions of the Louisiana accountability plan. This isn’t even a policy debate: it’s a debate on [...]
When StudentsFirst Came to Alabama
Earlier this year, there was a big push to get charter legislation passed in Alabama. It failed. One of the pronents for charter legislation was StudentsFirst, which sent in an organizer from Florida to build support. She said that StudentsFirst has 17,000 members in the state, but when SF called a meeting in Montgomery, only [...]
A Florida Teacher Writes a Letter to Parents
I received a letter from a teacher in Florida. He explains how the evaluation system works and why it is absurd: Dear Florida Parents, I want to call your attention to a serious and destructive policy that will have dire consequences for your children. Due to Florida’s ill-conceived merit pay evaluation system, your children may be subjected to inferior [...]
Join This Webinar Today
When they talk about “customized” and “personalized” instruction, do they mean sitting in front of a computer that provides questions at the level of the student? Is this cost savings by removing teachers? Tune in, join the conversation and ask questions. The Alliance for Excellent Education Invites You to a Webinar on the Working [...]
In Politics
In the political arena, all eyes are on the Presidential race. But in New York City, candidates for Mayor are lining up supporters. The election is 2013, when Mayor Bloomberg’s rocky third term ends. It appears that the favorite of the charter school hedge fund crowd is Christine Quinn, City Council speaker. Quinn, a close [...]
My Speech to AFT Convention, Detroit, July 28, 2012
Isn’t technology amazing? I spoke at the AFT national convention at 2:30 pm Saturday, and within a few hours, it was posted on YouTube. Here it is. Enjoy!
What If We Had Another $20 Billion for Schools?
The cost of standardized testing has increased by many multiples in the past decade. By the estimate in this article, our nation now spends $20-50 billion on testing and preparing for testing. Texas, for example, spends almost ten times as much on testing as it did a decade ago. What has that money produced? Let’s [...]
Let the Children Play!
In response to Stephen Krashen’s post about the likely expansion of testing in the near future, as well as federal interest in tests for “infants, toddlers, and preschoolers,” a reader sent this urgent plea: LET THE CHILDREN PLAY!!!!! There was a time when children went to school for kindergarten to learn how to learn. They [...]
How to Create Failing Schools
Mike Deshotels of Louisiana has figured out how the scheme works. Create a program that rates all schools by a standard that assures that half will be above the standard and half will be below. Of course, schools that enroll affluent students will appear largely in the top half, and schools that enroll poor students [...]
The Largest Charter Chain in the U.S. Is…?
I bet you think that the largest chain in the U.S. is KIPP. If you did, you are wrong. KIPP gets the most publicity, but it does not have the largest number of charter schools. The largest charter chain in the nation is the Gulen network of charters. You probably never heard of them. All [...]
Beware! Sneaky Reformer Trick in L.A.
On August 14, there will be a benefit concert in Los Angeles to “honor” teachers. The concert is a promotion for a new “Superman”-style film that vilifies public schools and promotes privatization. The film celebrates the “parent trigger” law, which gives parents the power to seize control of their school, fire the staff, and turn it [...]
Are Standardized Tests Worthless?
All of U.S. education policy is now firmly hitched to standardized test scores. Although the President said in his last State of the Union address that teachers should not teach to the test, he surely knows that federal policy demands teaching to the test. Test scores determine teacher evaluation, teacher salary, teacher tenure, teacher bonuses. [...]
Engineers for America
Here is an idea: Engineers for America. Five weeks of training and you too can design and build bridges. So what if the other engineers had years of education and practice? Experience is SO yesterday! I mean, really, why shouldn’t young people have a chance? End LIFO in engineering! Embrace youth and enthusiasm. And good [...]
How Markets Fail in Public Schooling
We have had animated discussions on this blog about whether the market model works for public education, whether parents should be smart shoppers, when business practices make sense (and don’t). I just read an interesting piece on salon.com that covers some of the same grounds but offers some useful insights about why the market model [...]
How NYC Department of Education Kills a School: Update!
The New York City Department of Education decided a few years ago that Jamaica High School, with its grand building and long history, deserved to die. Its test scores were too low. There was no point in trying to figure out why or to offer help. And so the DOE announced that Jamaica was a [...]
Crazy Days in Oregon: SECOND UPDATE!!
An educator in Oregon sent the following message: To get a waiver from NCLB the state of Oregon promised that 100% of students will graduate from high school and 80% will complete college. I’m not sure if this is madness or deliberate deception because the date set for reaching these goals is 2025. By then,the [...]
Why Budget Cuts Matter
A reader explains precisely how four straight years of budget cuts have hurt his school and limited the education of its students. As regular readers of this blog know, I do not usually print the names of commenters because teachers typically worry about reprisals, and in most cases, I don’t know the name of the [...]
This Teacher Gave Her Life to Save Her Students
Whenever I hear a corporate reformer complaining about teachers, I will think of Laura Recco of Cleveland. And it won’t be because of her students’ test scores. It will be because she was a brave and selfless woman who gave her life to save her children. See here.
Why the School Marketplace Fails
A reader responded to a post about Michigan with the following comment. I perked up because I was reminded of something I heard on CNN recently. Fareed Zakaria was interviewing Steven Rattner about hedge funds, equity investors, and outsourcing. Zakaria asked why so many capital investors end up sending jobs overseas, and Rattner answered very [...]
Should Superintendents Be Educators?
This is a rhetorical question. After many years studying education, I will tell you my view: Superintendents should be educators. Superintendents should be experienced educators who understand teaching and learning, curriculum and special education. There is much more, of course, but the starting point is to understand education and students. We are always looking wistfully to [...]
How Budget Cuts Hurt Real Children
Joy Resmovits of the Huffington Post is quickly becoming established as among the very best education journalists in the nation. She is thoughtful, clear, and gathers the facts judiciously. In this article, she shows the immense damage done to children by budget cuts. Budget cuts invariably mean laying off teachers, since teachers’ salaries are a [...]
A Different Perspective from England
A reader in the U.K. points out that education issues in the U.S. and U.K. have evolved differently. I am not sure that other readers in the U.K. would agree. There, as here, we have debates about how to educate, what to teach, and who should be in charge. When I visited London a few [...]
Michelle Rhee’s Shameless Ad, Again
I recently wrote a post about Michelle Rhee’s “Olympics” ad, in which she shows a flabby man doing rhythmic gymnastics and falling down because he is in such bad shape. This is supposed to be American education, in her view. I wrote that she was ridiculing obesity and insulting our students, our teachers, our schools, [...]
Remember When Charters Were Supposed to Cost Less?
If you are a historian, you have to have a long memory or know where to find out what you need to know. I remember when charters first started. One of the arguments that charter advocates made was that they would cost less; they would be more efficient and would save the taxpayers’ money. After [...]
Why Stability Matters
When I was interviewed on the Charlie Rose a while back, the interviewee who preceded me was the CEO of a major corporation in the high-tech sector. As I listened to him, I headed him say again and again, “We have to constantly re-invent ourselves. We re-invent ourselves every few years, or we die.” I [...]
Minneapolis Charter Doesn’t Want Special Needs Students
The Minneapolis School Board closed down Cityview, one of its public schools whose test scores were too low, it replaced Cityview with a charter school, Minneapolis School of Science. The charter school has told the families of 40 children with special needs–children with Down Syndrome and autism–that they are not wanted at the school. Clearly [...]