NJ Plans to Punish High-Poverty, High-Minority Schools
New Jersey has announced the schools that are targeted for aggressive intervention.
It will not surprise readers of this blog to learn that most of these schools serve children of color and children of poverty. Many, most or all of these schools will be closed. If Governor Christie has his way, many new charters will open to replace public schools.
According to the Education Law Center of New Jersey:
In early April, NJDOE released the list of schools in the new classifications. An ELC analysis of the list shows:
Kids Know How to Game the System
It will not surprise readers of this blog to learn that most of these schools serve children of color and children of poverty. Many, most or all of these schools will be closed. If Governor Christie has his way, many new charters will open to replace public schools.
According to the Education Law Center of New Jersey:
In early April, NJDOE released the list of schools in the new classifications. An ELC analysis of the list shows:
- 75 schools are classified as Priority Schools based on low scores on state standardized tests; 97% of
Kids Know How to Game the System
A reader sent this comment:
Here is my take. Our school in NYC used an online, computer based reading program for the first time last year. Some of our students were clocked in as reading 600 articles and having their lexile scores increase by 4 grade levels. At the end of the year, the representatives from the program came to the school and gave an assembly for all of the students who participated; giving out prizes and accolades to the most prolific readers. One student in particular kept going up to the stage to receive accolade after accolade. NYS’s ELA and Math
Here is my take. Our school in NYC used an online, computer based reading program for the first time last year. Some of our students were clocked in as reading 600 articles and having their lexile scores increase by 4 grade levels. At the end of the year, the representatives from the program came to the school and gave an assembly for all of the students who participated; giving out prizes and accolades to the most prolific readers. One student in particular kept going up to the stage to receive accolade after accolade. NYS’s ELA and Math
Let the Lawsuits Begin
Mark Naison has written a passionate plea: It is time to start suing to stop the harm inflicted on children, teachers and schools.
The political parties have abandoned them and use well-honed PR rhetoric to paint abandonment as “reform.”
The media swallow the rhetoric.
The foundations have an open wallet for those who are destroying public education.
The Republicans want to intensify the harm. Arne Duncan boasts of bipartisanship with a party that hates public
The political parties have abandoned them and use well-honed PR rhetoric to paint abandonment as “reform.”
The media swallow the rhetoric.
The foundations have an open wallet for those who are destroying public education.
The Republicans want to intensify the harm. Arne Duncan boasts of bipartisanship with a party that hates public
How the Online Industry Moves the Goalposts
A reader sent the following comments about the online for-profit schooling industry (by the way, that line about “current performance is no prediction of future performance” comes right from the prospectus of investment funds):
Interesting story about the K12 schools performance in Tennessee: http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/2012/aug/31/andy-berke-criticizes-dismal-scores-of-for/?politics
What’s truly stunning is that, according to the article, the K12 schools performed in the bottom 11% of all TN
Interesting story about the K12 schools performance in Tennessee: http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/2012/aug/31/andy-berke-criticizes-dismal-scores-of-for/?politics
What’s truly stunning is that, according to the article, the K12 schools performed in the bottom 11% of all TN
Alan Singer Corrects His Pearson Post
Alan Singer wrote an article about Pearson and its leaders in Huffington Post.
I linked to it in a post yesterday about the high attrition rate of teachers.
In his original article, Singer pointed out that Susan Fuhrman is a director of Pearson. She is the president of Teachers College. Singer said she had $20 million in Pearson stock. As he notes here, he misread the British currency by a multiple of 10.
He made the correction, and I reprint it here.
There remains the question of conflict of interest when the president of the nation’s most prestigious
Poverty in the U.S. Today
Teachers know more about increasing rates of poverty than most people.
Teachers see the children who come to school without decent clothes or shoes.
They know the children who are homeless.
They teach children who are sick but never get .
Thanks, NCLB. Thanks, Race to the Top
Teachers see the children who come to school without decent clothes or shoes.
They know the children who are homeless.
They teach children who are sick but never get .
Thanks, NCLB. Thanks, Race to the Top
A reader described the start of the new school year. It began on a sad note:
School started for me yesterday. We had twos of professional development which meant our principal and a few other suits lecturing us about what we needed to do to keep our school from closing. At one point the principal said, “if you have a problem with what I’m telling you, maybe this isn’t the right school for you” very nice on the 2nd day of the new school year.
Today our local superintendent came for a minute. He seems very sad. He looked defeated. He came to wish
School started for me yesterday. We had twos of professional development which meant our principal and a few other suits lecturing us about what we needed to do to keep our school from closing. At one point the principal said, “if you have a problem with what I’m telling you, maybe this isn’t the right school for you” very nice on the 2nd day of the new school year.
Today our local superintendent came for a minute. He seems very sad. He looked defeated. He came to wish
What Clinton Didn’t Mention
I first met Bill Clinton in Little Rock in 1984.
When he was President, I heard him speak on many occasions.
I never heard anyone speak as eloquently about the challenges in K-12 education.
Tonight, I watched his boffo performance and was once again wowed by his ability to get deeply substantive and
When he was President, I heard him speak on many occasions.
I never heard anyone speak as eloquently about the challenges in K-12 education.
Tonight, I watched his boffo performance and was once again wowed by his ability to get deeply substantive and
Are Young Teachers OK with Test Obession?
A post described an article in USA Today about the high attrition of teachers in recent years. The article quotes people who say that new young teachers must be comfortable with endless testing because it is all they ever knew. As one person says, these new teachers were 11 years old when NCLB passed. They have lived with test, test, test all their lives as students, so they must be okay with inflicting test, test, test on their students.
This teacher disagrees:
I am a young and inexperienced teacher, I am not afraid to admit it! I yes I did grow up with NCLB and
This teacher disagrees:
I am a young and inexperienced teacher, I am not afraid to admit it! I yes I did grow up with NCLB and
Deborah Meier on Reform Strategies and Democracy
Deborah Meier comments on a post about efforts in Philadelphia to weaken or eliminate collective bargaining:
INTERESTINGLY, ALMOST NO ONE FEELS OBLIGED to defend their strategies, etc in terms of its impact on a democratic society! IF, just suppose, it raised test scores we seem prepared to dump democratic norms on the behalf of test scores. The grand old USA is–might we mention–an experiment in democracy! (It was not primarily founded on the principles of the market place–that was true, after all, of the decadent European nations we were breaking away from as well.)
INTERESTINGLY, ALMOST NO ONE FEELS OBLIGED to defend their strategies, etc in terms of its impact on a democratic society! IF, just suppose, it raised test scores we seem prepared to dump democratic norms on the behalf of test scores. The grand old USA is–might we mention–an experiment in democracy! (It was not primarily founded on the principles of the market place–that was true, after all, of the decadent European nations we were breaking away from as well.)