Diane Ravitch's blog
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Diane Ravitch's blog
The Most Important Book for Our Age
Reader Duane Swacker reminds me to tell you that the most important book for our age was written fifty years ago. It is Raymond Callahan’s Education and the Cult of Efficiency. It was published in 1962. It may be hard to find. Get it from the library. It describes the “efficiency movement” of the early [...]
Another Chance to Sell Stuff
A very interesting report by Maureen Downey on her blog in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution about a school in Washington D.C. that will try to raise its low test scores–fast–by turning the kids over to online instruction for half the day. The discussion about the glories of online learning was marred by technical glitches and miscommunication, but no [...]
Will Fitzhugh Believes in Student Accountability
Will Fitzhugh created a publication called The Concord Review many years ago. It publishes excellent student historical research. If you read these history papers, you would think that some of them had been written by scholars with many degrees. It is amazing the quality of work that students can write when they have the motive [...]
Grassroots Effort in Chicago for Elected Board
After nearly two decades of mayoral control in Chicago, it is clear that it doesn’t improve schools. The board is appointed by the mayor, and the public has nothing to say about who sits on the board and no way to contest its actions. As in New York City, mayoral control means that the public [...]
A World Without Public Schools?
This article was published in 2007. David Gelernter, a brilliant computer scientist at Yale with strong conservative views, asked why we could not have a world without public schools. Imagine every school run by private entrepreneurs, private managers, religious groups, whoever, whatever. Or every student with a voucher. Why have public education at all? Sometimes [...]
Rhee Supports Republican Candidates in Florida
I can’t understand Arne Duncan and President Obama’s infatuation with Michelle Rhee. Rhee says she is raising $1 billion, and we know that she is spending in state after state–to support Republican candidates. In Wisconsin, a swing state, she gave to Republicans. She gives to Republicans because they are likeliest to support her anti-union, anti-teacher, [...]
How NCLB Redefined Teachers
From an article in Salon (to which I linked yesterday). This is the passage that many people identified as most relevant to their own lives: “Since 2001, when, for the first time in the history of federal education policy, George Bush’s No Child Left Behind linked school and teacher assessment — and cash rewards — [...]
Is It 1984 Yet?
A friend works in the online industry. It’s a job. She sent me a copy of a high school graduation exam. The students learn at home on a computer. She said the kids can take the exam over if they don’t like their score. Because they take the exam online at home, they can google [...]
Yong Zhao on PISA
New York Times columnist Tom Friedman had a column a few days ago saying that PISA would soon make it possible for everyone to compare the scores of their school to schools all over the world. No one will be average anymore! Just being able to take tests and compare scores will drive us all [...]
The Inside Scoop on the Texas Miracle
Hey, I’m a historian and it’s my job to have a long memory, but I know that many people don’t remember how the whole nation got stuck with this crazy No Child Left Behind law. Back in 2000, when George W. Bush was running for president, he talked about the Texas miracle. There was a [...]
Reach Out to Bill Moyers
Bill Moyers understands the danger of destroying public institutions and handing them over to profiteers. Contact him and urge him to look into the privatization movement in education: http://billmoyers.com/contact-us/
Why This Teacher Has Not Ended Poverty Yet
This teacher admits that he has not ended poverty. But that doesn’t mean that he has been lazy or had nothing to do. This is what he does every day. This is typical of a teacher’s life today. I didn’t know I was suppose to end poverty. My bad. I’m already overwhelmed here in DC. [...]
A Nation That Dishonors Its Teachers Is…….(fill in the blank)
Just read this. You should too.
Here Come the Profiteers
Joe Bower is an educator who wants to reform education. But he has no sympathy for the rampant privatization that is now overtaking U.S. education with the support of the Obama administration. And it will only get worse under a Romney administration. In the post linked here, he has a video showing an advertisement for [...]
Outrage in Philadelphia!
The $2 billion William Penn Foundation has funded the Philadelphia Student Union for 17 years. However, the student union does not support the foundation’s radical plan to privatize large numbers of public schools in Philadelphia. Surprise! The William Penn Foundation will no longer fund the Philadelphia Student Union. William Penn, the large-hearted man for whom [...]
A Student Voice of Wisdom
I discovered Stephanie Rivera on Twitter. Ah, the power of social media. Stephanie took issue with Students for Education Reform, which is a mini-version of the Wall Street hedge fund managers group called Democrats for Education Reform. DFER thinks that charter schools will close the achievement gap, but sadly there is no evidence==other than an [...]
Watch CNN on August 18 in morning
Thanks to your letters, emails, comments, and tweets, I have been invited to appear on CNN on Saturday August 18. Stay tuned for what I hope will be an informative interview. And never lose hope. Your voice matters. Our millions of voices make a difference. We will end this reign of error. Diane
Ola! What About Those Teachers in Brazil!
The teachers in Brazil said they would not give tests that did nothing to help their students. They would not give tests that harm their students by giving them demeaning labels. Testing is not teaching. They said they are professionals and cannot be driven to do things that are wrong and violate their professional ethics. [...]
What Makes a Public School Public?
And now we step into a debate about charter schools and public schools: Pulling public funds together to run public systems, such as public schools, is what communities do. By taking out the “per pupil” funds for the children going elsewhere, the community suffers. The public school IS the community’s for better or worse. Therefore, [...]
In China, the Cost of High Test Scores
New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman and Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and billionaire Bill Gates and gadfly Michelle Rhee wring their hands over American students’ test scores. They look enviously at Shanghai and wonder why we can’t be like them. But the Los Angeles Times had a story explaining that Chinese educators have mixed [...]
Why the Koch Brothers Are Disappointed with Corbett
A columnist in Pennsylvania reports that the billionaire Koch brothers are disappointed by Governor Tom Corbett. They feel that he didn’t push his voucher bill hard enough, so they are planning a major advertising campaign to put pressure on legislators. There is no reason for them to pay attention to the unimpressive results of twenty-one [...]
Aaron Pallas on Why Teachers Leave
I like to introduce readers of this blog to people I respect, to scholars and writers who are thoughtful and insightful. Here is someone you should read. Aaron Pallas of Teachers College, Columbia University, is one of the wisest, most perceptive observers of trends in American education. He just finished a study of why middle-school [...]
Another Charter Disappointment
Indiana has been in the forefront of pushing school choice and ignoring the needs of its public schools. Indiana was once known nationally for its great public schools, but now it is known as a national leader in vouchers and charters and high-stakes testing. The news from Fort Wayne, the second largest city in the [...]
What Do Teachers Do?
One reader–obviously not a teacher–has expressed his disdain for teachers and public schools repeatedly. Apparently he thinks teachers don’t work hard enough. Since public schools have not ended poverty, he asks why we should bother to pay for them. This is a site for discussion, and several readers have responded. This teacher explains here what [...]
The Secret of School Reform
Matt Mandel is a National Board Certified Teacher in the Philadelphia public schools. He has figured out reform. He explains it here for those who were puzzled. The most important thing you need to know is this: “It’s not about the children.” The reason reformers keep saying that it is “for the children,” is because [...]
About that DC Cheating Investigation
The investigators of the D.C. cheating scandal of 2011 finally reported in and said there was cheating in only one school, the Noyes Campus. Since the principal of that one school has already resigned, the investigation is closed. Here’s the funny thing. The investigators decided to investigate only one school. The USA Today series that [...]
Reform Beat This Teacher
This New York City teacher has been beaten down and out by ten years of reform that ended in more segregation and demoralizing actions by those at the top. My advice to you: Don’t leave. There will be a new mayor. Maybe it will be someone who recognizes the damage of the past decade of [...]
Michelle Rhee Is Wrong and Misinformed
My article with the title above appeared this morning on CNN.com. They heard from you. They invited me to respond and this is the article I wrote. I think that if we all speak up again and again and again and again, and tell the truth, supported by facts and experience, our voices will be [...]
After Ten Years of Reform in New York City….
This is what school reform looks like in New York City after ten years of mayoral control. In nearly 200 of the city’s 1,500 schools, at least 90 percent of the students are below the poverty line. Four out of five of these schools have disproportionate concentrations of students who are limited English proficient or [...]
What’s Wrong with Privatization?
This could be a very long post, but this is a blog so I’ll keep it short. Almost every day there is a new scandal about a public service that was privatized: prisons, hospitals, schools, preschool programs. Today it is the prison half-way houses in New Jersey, which were privatized and are now plagued with [...]
Mr. and Mrs. Rhee Lecture on Ethics
I received the following description of the appearance of Michelle Rhee and her husband at the University of Hawaii, where they lectured on “Ethics and Education.” Rhee paused briefly from her national campaign to raise $1 billion to remove teachers’ collective bargaining rights, to strip them of tenure and seniority, and to promote vouchers and [...]
Alabama Governor: No Charter Schools
Alabama is a deep red state. The governor and the legislature are Republican. Yet this past spring, they rejected charter legislation, and the governor announced that he would not raise the issue in the next session. What happened? Veteran political observer Larry Lee explains it here. Although charters have their strongest appeal to conservatives, they [...]
When Teacher Inservice Goes Ridiculous
It is always important to keep your sense of perspective and not be swept along by bad ideas imposed by superiors. Be reasonable but do not accept the unacceptable. (The Will Smith video was first mentioned here.) When I read the following, I was tempted to suggest that the local superintendent might order one of [...]
Cherokee County Parents Support Their Public Schools
Over 250 parents in Cherokee County, Georgia, signed an ad directed at their legislators to tell them: We support our public schools. Stop the budget cuts. The Cherokee County public schools took a budget cut of $26.5 million this year. If the Legislature approves charter schools, parents will fight with one another over dwindling resources [...]
Jindal Administration Will Not Release Voucher Records
The Jindal administration will not release any public records explaining its decisions about which schools will get vouchers and which will not. Considering that the voucher program has made the state of Louisiana into an international laughing stock, that might be the best they can do. Best not to let the world hear or read [...]
Teachers Are Still Leading NBPTS
A reader writes to set the record straight: My comments are simply to state facts and correct the misconceptions in the responses.I was a founding member of the National Board in 1987–a classroom special education teacher from Michigan. (Yes, serving with 62 other board members like Deborah Meier, Al Shanker and Mary Futrell but mostly, [...]
A Slight Correction to the Duncan Interview
A reader writes to offer some corrections of a minor sort to the interview with Secretary Duncan: “When I was in high school in the South Side of Chicago, my friends could drop out and get a decent job in the stockyards or steel mills, and own their own home and support a family.”For the [...]
When Parents Support Their Public Schools
A reader said that public school parents in Athens, Georgia, created this ad and put it in the local newspaper. Would your parents do this for your school? Now, that’s parent support!
Privatizers Bare Their Faces Without Shame
Last week we saw a report from Reuters about the conference for equity investors held at the posh University Club in Manhattan. And we learned there about the many new frontiers for making a buck by jumping into the public education marketplace. Here is another article from the same conference, this one in Education Week, [...]
Who Should Be Accountable?
This administrator calls for greater accountability —at the top. Yes, there are many of us in administration who stand with our teachers. The shame is that the people who are causing the real damage are never held accountable. We continue to allow elected officials to erode public education while conveniently blaming teachers. They allow public [...]
Voucher Carnival Gets Even Wilder in Louisiana
This one takes the cake. John White has approved the Light City Church School of the Prophets to get vouchers, nearly $700,000 a year. The man who runs it describes himself as an apostle or a prophet. Whatever. People can call themselves whatever they like. Please read the linked article to see how low the [...]
A Good Idea for StudentsFirst
This reader has some good ideas for StudentsFirst’s next campaign, now that the Olympics is over: It really disgusted me how Rhee compares education in the US to being in the Olympics and how we wouldn’t want countries like Luxembourg and Hungary to get more gold medals than us, yet they are beating us in [...]
Why and How to End the Misuse of Testing
A reader comments, with more wisdom than anything now coming from the U.S. Department of Education. He also explains how to end the reign of error: The flawed testing approach continues to be pushed without debate because open honest discussion, involving true experts in the fields of child development, education (and ed-research), and valid data [...]
Maybe Jindal Is Right
Here is proof that dinosaurs and humans lived at the same time. This could help to support Louisiana’s voucher plan and could even be useful for revisions of the state curriculum. Be sure to send this to John White, Bobby Jindal and Mitt Romney.
The Gates Foundation Defends Its Agenda
Anthony Cody, the exemplary science teacher-mentor (NBCT), from Oakland, California, has engaged the Gates Foundation in a dialogue about its agenda. Anthony was concerned that the foundation has propelled the frenzy to test more, to blame teachers for low scores, and to ignore poverty. Vicki Phillips of the foundation responded here to his challenge. And [...]
Read This, TNTP, and Learn Who is Really Irreplaceable
A principal sent this comment. TNTP used to be called The New Teacher Project; it was founded by Michelle Rhee. They released a report last week saying that the average first-year teacher is more effective than 40% of teachers with seven or more years of experience: In my school and district we are losing some [...]
About that Digital Learning Council
Coach Bob Sikes put together a blog about the corporate supporters of Jeb Bush’s crusade for digital learning. If you go back and read the report of the “Ten Elements of Digital Learning,” I suggest you scan the acknowledgments and you will find a representative of almost every corporation trying to sell hardware or software to [...]
How Turnarounds Create Failure
Thanks to reader Linda for sending this important article: The Paradoxical Logic of School Turnarounds: A Catch-22 by Tina Trujillo — June 14, 2012 In the 1955 classic novel Catch-22, Joseph Heller chronicles the absurdity of the bureaucratic rules and constraints to which a conflicted Air Force bombardier and others are subjected. Each character lives [...]
Future Meetings of the Cuomo Commission
Educators of New York state. Make time to attend a meeting of the Cuomo Commission. As reported here, the meetings in New York City and Buffalo were stacked with charter school advocates, TFA, and StudentsFirst. But as principal Carol Burris notes below, it is important that you are there. Sign up to speak. Who knows, [...]
NYC Reformers Killing Another School
I recently wrote a post about how the NYC DOE kills schools. It does this because it wants their real estate. It wants to place four or five small schools or charter schools in its building or find another use for the building. So the DOE starts the killing process first by calling the school [...]
Good News and Bad News from Texas
First the good news. School boards in Texas continue to pass a resolution opposing high-stakes testing. As of this date, 610 school boards representing more than 3.6 million students have passed the Texas resolution. That 59% of all school boards in the state, representing 74% of all students in Texas public schools. Texas, as we know [...]
What You Need to Know about For-Profit Online Schools
This is a stunning article. A real journalistic achievement. It shows in remarkable detail how certain politicians and investors and entrepreneurs are working together to privatize public education and to generate huge profits for certain companies. Read this.
Another Way to Take a Stand
A group of principals in Long Island, New York, went to training sessions about the state’s evolving educator evaluation plan. When they realized that teachers would be graded on a curve and that half would be rated ineffective by design, they were horrified. When they realized that teachers who didn’t produce higher test scores would [...]
Another Phony Cuomo Commission Hearing
The Cuomo Commission held a “hearing” in Buffalo too. And once again, pride of place went to charter school leaders and their supporters. Charters enroll about 5% of the students in New York state. Why does Governor Cuomo think they should own the agenda? Why not listen to public school principals and teachers?
Read This. Share My Rage.
This story is heartfelt and it makes me very sad. It also makes me angry. What are the politicians and policymakers doing? Why aren’t they giving teachers the support and respect they need to do their work? When I read this, I wonder if the Rhees and Kleins and Gates and Broads and Waltons and [...]
Teachers and Principals Together
A wonderful comment by a principal. Build alliances: Please do not assume that administrators are not every bit as disheartened as teachers at what is happening in public education. I am a principal. I taught for over 20 years. I became a principal because I knew that teachers need administrators who know how hard they [...]
This Teacher Invites Michelle Rhee to Come Home to Ohio
This reader has some ideas for Michelle Rhee and an invitation: As a teacher from a small city in Ohio, I resent Michelle Rhee making statements about my teaching based on a small sample set from inner city schools hundreds of miles away. The next question is- What sort of administrative support did these “poor [...]
Andrew Cuomo, No Friend to Public Education
Principal Carol Burris is one of the co-founders of the Long Island principals’ revolt against high-stakes testing. When she heard that Governor Cuomo’s commission would be holding hearings in New York City, she joined up with fellow principal Harry Leonardatos and they headed for the hearings. Read their gripping account of the proceedings, where the deck [...]
Only in Education Would This Happen
A retired teacher writes: Education is the only field in which people (i.e., teachers) are moved around like chess pawns, often at the whim of administrators. Would a law firm tell a lawyer who specialized in real estate law to switch to labor law? Would a hospital or medical group tell a gastroenterologist to become [...]
Tell “Won’t Back Down” to Back Off
A reader writes about the new pro-privatization movie “Won’t Back Down.” This is a movie celebrating the ALEC-inspired “parent trigger,” encouraging the public to think that parents should seize control of their public school, fire the staff, and hand the school over to a charter corporation. The film is produced by Walden Media, the same [...]
Arne Duncan Says…
I hesitate to inflict this interview on my readers. You trust me to inform you and even on occasion to make you laugh with a good satire or parody. I try to shield you from pain and double-speak. But I must share this with you. Here is the latest interview with the Secretary of Education. [...]
Alert! Dinosaurs Were Spotted Yesterday!
Lance Hill writes from New Orleans, in response to this post: There are still dinosaurs on earth: they run the Louisiana education privatization movement.
Hilarious! What Kids Will Learn in Jindal Voucher Schools
One of the reasons I love Twitter is that I find it a great source of information and stories. People send me links to stories in newspapers across the country and to magazine stories they know will interest me. I got several tweets today with this story. It is one of the best portrayals of [...]
Texas Anti-Testing Revolt Reaches Business Leaders
There is a hugely important development in Texas. Tom Pauken, the former head of the state Republican party and a current state workforce commissioner representing employers told a meeting of business leaders that testing had gotten out of control in the state and was actually hurting the workforce of the future. “I’m really concerned we’re choking [...]
Spread the Word, Share the Blog
A retired teacher emailed me and said she found this blog to be extremely informative. She asked her union to put a link to the blog on its website. She thinks that other teachers will not only appreciate the opportunity to learn what is happening in other districts and states, but will find moral support [...]
Do First-Year Teachers Become Ineffective?
In response to the post about the “irreplaceables,” in which the New Teacher Project claims that an average first-year teacher is more effective than 40 percent of teachers with seven or more years of experience, teachers are asking the inevitable questions. Why is education the only field in which experience is undesirable? In what other [...]
Debating Testing
The New York Times recently ran a feature debating testing today. There were my favorites in the debate. This by Leonie Haimson. This by Pedro Noguera. Both make excellent points. Tests are overused and misused, as Leonie says; and accountability should be for those at the top, not just those in the classroom as Pedro [...]
The Future of National Board Certification of Teachers
Nancy Flanagan is a nationally known teacher and teacher-advocate. I am honored to post her comment here because she has deep authority. And what she has to say is alarming. Pearson has taken over the National Board Certification process! Will they align it with their tests and the Common Core, where they are funded by [...]
How Charters Prosper
This is a good one. Florida charter chain Charter USA is expanding into Indiana, where it will run three charter schools. It is a for-profit operator. The states where it operates don’t require it to spend any minimum on educating kids. So it has enough money left over in its profits to make political contributions. [...]
Who Is Really an Irreplaceable Teacher?
We have lately heard that certain teachers are “irreplaceable.” So was the conclusion of a report by The New Teacher Project, an organization founded by Michelle Rhee to place new teachers in the classroom. TNTP always thinks big ideas that will push out experienced teachers and make room for the new teachers they recruit. TNPT [...]
When Merit Pay Went Wrong
A thought-provoking comment by Jere Hochman, the remarkable superintendent of the Bedford, New York, school district: Merit pay existed well before the corporate interest in the ’80s / ’90s, the Governors’ attention in the ’90s, the Federal Intrusion in ’01, and the recent corporate takeover of politicians and state education. (Hopefully an unintended consequence of [...]
What Charters Do to Public Schools
There is a growing danger in the expansion of charter schools. Propelled by the Obama administration’s Race to the Top, charters are increasing wherever they are legal (they are not authorized in nine states). They are supposed to be fonts of innovation, but most are just focused on test scores, to prove they are better [...]
But He Didn’t Mention His Test Scores
An amazing exchange took place on this blog. I posted a comment by a reader who gratefully remembered four teachers in the Chicago public schools who literally changed his life. One of the four teachers responded. And the original writer wrote back: Wow! Thank you, Miss Schwartz!Of the teachers that I mentioned, you actually impacted [...]
Why Governor Christie Can’t Wait
As this article shows, Governor Chris Christie of New Jersey has decided that the state needs charter schools so badly that he can’t wait for the Legislature to act. He plans to do by regulation what the Legislature has thus far failed to do: To allow more charter schools and possibly an online charter school [...]
Teachers, Join with Parents
A reader writes–and I agree with him. A good place to start is to go to the website of Parents Across America. This is a national organization of activist parents who understand what is happening. They oppose high-stakes testing and privatization and they support teachers and professionalism. They are smart and they are fearless. Learn [...]
Note to New York Times: What Motivates Teachers
In response to our discussion about merit pay, this teacher writes: We become teachers for the rewarding feeling we get from touching childrens lives, not for the money. If that feeling is stripped from us, what or who will be left?
The Ten Elements of Digital Learning
Doing some research on for-profit virtual schools, I come across study after study about their poor performance, high attrition rates, and low graduation rates. But then I discovered a document produced by Jeb Bush’s Foundation for Excellent Education and Bob Wise’s Alliance for Excellent Education. It is called “the Ten Elements of Digital Learning” and [...]
Why She Left Teaching
I don’t think teachers who are passionate about teaching should quit, no matter how awful the circumstances. I know it’s easy for me to say, because I am not there. But it is important to keep experience and wisdom in the profession. Don’t let them push you out. Do what you love and what you [...]
A Florida Teacher Describes A Plan That Worked
In response to another reader, this Florida teacher describes a plan for teacher professionalism that worked very well but was de-funded by the Legislature. In Florida, we used to have a system in place for such merit: It was pay for National Board Certification. Teachers went through a very rigorous process of evaluations, lesson planning, test-taking, [...]
A Nomination for Florida’s Commissioner
A reader has a suggestion for the next Comissioner of Education in Florida. I am mentioning this because he made me laugh out loud. More than once. I actually think that Bill Gates might like this job. He could try his bracelets on the kids, and use Florida as a kind of laboratory for reform. [...]
This School Took NY Times’ Advice: Carrots & Sticks for All
The New York Times was late in recommending carrots and sticks for teachers. Here is a school that is doing it already (satire alert!): http://studentslast.blogspot.com/2012/08/grin-and-bear-it-teachers-paddled-in.html
How to Incentivize Teachers
This is what teachers work for: knowing they made a difference in the lives of students. Have you thanked a teacher lately? I have every single note that a parent has sent me over the years and every card that my students, once old enough to actually write (i teach pre-) has sent me years [...]
Which Metrics Matter in Judging a Teacher?
A reader asks a question, and I ask the teachers who follow this blog to answer him. I suggest he read the earlier posts on the subject, but please feel free to give him your answer based on your experience: What if metrics could be established apart from testing? Does anyone have ideas as to [...]
This Made My Day
Yesterday I posted a comment by a reader who said that his teachers had saved his life and changed him for the better. He thanked four of his teachers in the Chicago public schools and he named them. One of the teachers he thanked just responded and thanked him! How cool is that? That is [...]
Who Should Be Florida’s Next Commissioner?
That was the question I was asked by a reporter from the Tampa Bay Times. It seemed that his last story on that topic had a list of names such as Michelle Rhee, John White, and Joel Klein. Someone suggested he contact me, and this is what I told him. Read the story as it [...]
Who Are Those “Fools with Sticks?”
On the topic of carrots and sticks, a reader writes: Carrots and sticks have nothing to do with what education needs-it’s about honesty-and oh yeah, a good pair of hedge clippers. Policymakers, in collusion with the “reform” industry had been searching for an opening for their attack on public education, and the financial crisis gave [...]
A NO to Sticks and Carrots
Sara Stevenson is the librarian at the O. Henry Middle School in Austin, Texas. She is an activist for public education. She is tireless. She scans the Internet, reads voraciously, and writes letters to the editor to set people straight about the facts. If every teacher and principal and superintendent and parent and librarian and [...]
Common Sense Advice to Reformers
I don’t know if reformers want to hear from an experienced teacher, but in case they do, here is a sound proposal: After 39 years in education and living through many policy changes I can tell you from personal experience that children’s standard of living influences their success with school curriculum more than ANYTHING else. [...]
When Students Awaken, Everything Will Change
I just got this post on Twitter by a student who wants no part of the DFER-like “Students for Education Reform,” created at Princeton to advance the corporate reform agenda. This student is amazing! Impressive research, real understanding about how words can be used to deceive, and a grasp of the issues. There is a [...]
News about the Best and the Brightest
Remember Howard Dean? He ran for President in 2004. He is a leader of the progressive wing of the Democratic party. His son was TFA and now runs charter schools. Who on the national scene supports public education?
Adam Smith Warns: Beware the Profit-Seekers
A faithful reader sent the following quotation from Adam Smith’s The Wealth of Nations: Merchants and master manufacturers are, in this order, the two classes of people who commonly employ the largest capitals, and who by their wealth draw to themselves the greatest share of the public consideration. As during their whole lives they are [...]
What Scholars Say about Merit Pay
The New York Times’ editorial is so unbelievably ignorant! There is by now a huge accumulation of knowledge and experience about the uselessness of merit pay or pay for performance. Daniel Pink (Drive), Dan Ariely (Predictably Irrational), Edward Deci (Why We Do What We Do) have explained why intrinsic motivation matters more than bonuses, and [...]
Who Will Reform the Schools? Entrepreneurs and/or Educators?
A number of eons ago, I had a Twitter debate with Justin Hamilton, who is Arne Duncan’s press secretary. I forget how it started, but the tenor of the exchange went something like this. I question whether education would be reformed by educators or entrepreneurs, and Justin, unbidden, sprang to the defense of entrepreneurs. Or [...]
Why Won’t Rahm Talk to Parents?
This parent activist in Chicago says that parents have good ideas about how to improve the schools but Mayor Rahm Emanuel won’t meet with them. Parents in New York City say the same about Mayor Bloomberg. Why won’t the mayor listen to the most informed and most committed stakeholders of all? Not the business community, [...]
The New York Times Editorial Is Clueless
The New York Times published an editorial calling for “carrots and sticks” for teachers and principals. What the editorial means is that professionals should get bonuses for higher test scores, and this would recognize high performance and get educators to work harder and produce more high performance (higher test scores). As I said in my [...]
Thanks to Teachers in Chicago for Saving Me
This reader writes about the teachers who changed his life: I had four CPS public school teachers to thank for recognizing and nurturing my strengths in English, writing and creativity, in 7th through 10th grades: Miss Fox, Mrs. Langdon, Miss Schwartz and Mrs. Gordon. Until middle school, I did not think I had any academic [...]
Andrea Gabor on Merit Pay
Andrea Gabor has followed our discussion of merit pay and sent the following post. Gabor is the Bloomberg Professor of Business Journalism at Baruch College of the City University of New York. She has extensive experience as a journalist who has written about business. I learned about her work when I stumbled upon one of [...]
The Perfect, Research-Based School
Bruce Baker of Rutgers has reviewed the research on effective schools and designed a “research-based” school that is guaranteed to produce higher test scores. He calls his school the “Econometric Academy of Achievement Test Excellence.” Every teacher will have exactly four years of experience, no more, no less, because research shows that is the point of [...]
Funniest Story of the Month
As I was doing some research about virtual charter schools, I came across an article that caused me to laugh out loud. It appeared in the Star-Ledger, the main newspaper in New Jersey. It was titled “State Has Virtually No Reason to Not Give Online Charter Schools a Shot.” It said the state should stop [...]
Spoof on Offensive Rhee Olympics Ad
Tim Slekar and his merry band of public education advocates have just released a spoof of the offensive Michelle Rhee/StudentsFirst ad. The Rhee ad ridicules the United States, students, teachers, public schools, obesity, and gays. The man in her ad is presented as flabby and effete, performing in an Olympic sport called rhythmic gymnastics that [...]
A View from New Zealand
As I have noted before, the idea of introducing a “free market” into education has strong appeal to conservative governments in other nations. Pasi Sahlberg of Finland calls this idea the “Global Education Reform Movement,” or GERM, characterized by testing, accountability, competition, and choice. GERM is now infesting New Zealand, which has a very successful [...]
Please Comment on CNN Interview with Michelle Rhee
Many readers have asked how they can contact CNN to respond to its interview with Michelle Rhee. CNN has invited comments: http://schoolsofthought.blogs.cnn.com/2012/08/05/rhee-on-saving-americas-schools/comment-page-1/ Bear in mind that the international rankings, which she loves to tout to embarrass America, its students and its teachers, predict nothing. When the first international assessment was given in 1964, our students came [...]
What Public Education Did for Me
The writer of this article sent it to me today. It is a testimonial to a teacher who changed his life. As he says, there are millions of stories like this, and they are all true. Do you have one to tell? Bret Wooten: The Value Of Public Schools Share Tweet E-mail 32 Comments and [...]
The Secret Trick Behind Merit Pay
Hardly a day goes by without another politician or businessman calling for merit pay, performance pay, incentivize those lazy teachers to produce higher scores! The Obama administration put $1 billion into merit pay, without a shred of evidence that it would make a difference. Merit pay schemes have recently failed in New York City, Chicago, [...]
What Is a Teacher’s Ethical Responsibiity?
Teachers and others have debated the post “Why Are Teachers Silent?” The post has generated more response than anything else I have posted, with (so far) 101 comments. Clearly, many teachers feel keenly that they should speak up against the policies they know are wrong, the practices they know are harmful to children, but many are [...]
How Charter Schools Divide Communities
Critics of charter schools have noted that they undermine neighborhood public schools and decimate communities. By offering a slot to a small proportion of students in the neighborhood, they break up any sense of community spirit centered on the community school and they simultaneously promote the free-market fetishizing of consumer choice. Add to the charter [...]
Rahm and Other People’s Children
One of the themes of the corporate reform movement is this: “We know what’s best for other people’s children but it is not what’s best for mine.” Many of the leading corporate reformers went to elite prep schools and/or send their children to them. Schools like Exeter, Andover, Deerfield Academy, Sidwell Friends, the University of [...]
What Albert Shanker Said About Merit Pay
In the early 1990s, I attended a meeting where the issues of education were debated. One of the attendees was Albert Shanker. I don’t remember where or when this meeting occurred. I can’t document it. But I remember what Al Shanker said that day about merit pay. After another member of the group predicted the [...]
One Reason Why Merit Pay Fails
The assumption behind merit pay is that teachers are not trying hard enough. The assumption is that a cash bonus will make them care and prod them to work harder and get those test scores up. For 100 years, school boards at the state and local level have tried merit pay and it has always [...]
Do Cities Need Virtual Schools?
Carly Berwick writes about K12′s plan to establish a virtual charter school in New Jersey. It was turned down, but only temporarily, to provide a year of “planning” time. The poor academic results of K12 cyber charters are well known. They were written about in the New York Times and the Washington Post. They were [...]
The Elusive Quest for Merit Pay
I have often noted that merit pay has been tried again and again for nearly a century. It never works and it never dies. There is a materialist strain in American culture that is certain that everyone will respond to a cash reward. Advocates claim that the chance to win extra money will make teachers [...]
Rahm Emanuel’s Financial Illogic
Chicago Public Schools have a large deficit. Mayor Rahm Emanuel is responding to the deficit by encouraging the growth of charter schools to carry the burden of educating the city’s children. One reason for the growing deficit is declining enrollment, caused in large part by the CPS promotion of charter schools. The more students leave [...]
Call or Write CNN
Call or write CNN and tell them that their coverage of U.S. education is one-sided and misinformed. While you are at it, tell CNN that their education “expert” is biased against teachers and unions and public education. That’s the unrenowned “Dr.” Steve Perry. Thanks to Linda, a regular commenter, for this information: CNN One CNN [...]
Bobby Jindal as Director of National Science Foundation?
A science teacher read the post about the textbooks used in some of Louisiana’s voucher schools. As we know, Governor Jindal is eager to pay public money to send children in Louisiana to religious schools that teach creationism as fact. So is Republican candidate Mitt Romney, who looks to Jindal as an education expert and [...]
Another Strong Contender in Teacher Survivor
Who do you think should be required to teach? We are watching the entries in the teacher survivor contest, and here is another strong contender: Im a fourth grade teacher in Texas. My contestants would be George W. Bush, Rick Perry, my micro managing principal, Bill Gates, President Obama, M. Rhee, and Duncan. They would [...]
Is CNN Shilling for ALEC?
A reader wrote this morning to complain about a biased and ill-informed CNN program. Teachers, parents: When you see shows like this, call the network’s 800 number and tell them you want to complain. Be specific. Next time Rhee is on a program complaining about the “failure” of U.S. schools, tell the network to ask [...]
Is This a Winner in Teacher Survivor Contest?
The contest: Nominate someone who should be a teacher and see what it is like. Here is a strong contender: I would nominate my superintendent. He would have to teach according to his allotment of minutes per subject area that he sends out every September. The only problem with his schedule is that it allows [...]
Teacher Survivor Contest: Rural Edition
Earlier today, I suggested a “teacher survivor contest” and invited readers to propose candidates to teach, as well as the rules of the competition. A reader suggests that teaching in an urban classroom is no more challenging than teaching in a rural classroom. I did not specify teaching either in an urban or a rural [...]
Science As Taught in Some of Bobby Jindal’s Voucher Schools
Some of the schools getting voucher students–not all, but a significant number–use textbooks that teach creationism. Jonathan Pelto posted what is found in a science textbook used to teach creationist “science”: “Biblical and scientific evidence seems to indicate that men and dinosaurs lived at the same time…. Fossilized tracks in the bed of the [...]
Is Compromise Possible? Wise?
Nancy Flanagan was a music teacher for thirty years in Michigan and a National Board Certified Teacher. She writes a smart blog at Education Week called “Teacher in a Strange Land,” which is an apt title for the disjointed and bizarre times we live in. Her perspective is rooted in her deep experience. I always [...]
