Wednesday, November 21, 2012

LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH 11-21-12 Diane Ravitch's blog

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Wake Up! Crisis in Michigan

Marcie Lipsitt writes from Michigan that the public must wake up to what their governor and legislature are doing to destroy public education:
Finally the Detroit Free Press and Detroit News are reporting on Governor Rick “Nerd” (a disgrace to Dr. Seuss) Snyder and the Republican-led legislature’s plan to destroy public education in Michigan and in record time and virtually no transparency. Most frightening is that Michiganders still don’t understand the immediate crisis MI children face with HB 5323 and HB 6004 moving through our House and Senate in the dangerously waning hours of the lameduck session. Should these bills pass the Michigan Public Finance Education Act “draft” will be legislation waiting for this Governor’s desk in late January/early February. I am urging our Democratic leadership in our MI House and Senate to draft an op-ed and send it to the USA Today (Gannett owns the USA Today, 


In Which I Agree with Andy Smarick

Andy Smarick believes that public schools can’t be fixed or turned around. He thinks that the only way to solve their problems is to close them down and replace them with privately managed charters. Andy served on the board of a KIPP school, so he is confident that KIPP can do what no public school can do.
In a previous post, I called on Andy to join me in “the KIPP Challenge.” This is the challenge for KIPP to take over an entire low-performing district and show what it can do. Prove that it doesn’t skim the best students, show what happens when it takes all the kids, prove the critics wrong. Given Andy’s experience as a member of a 


Michigan Parents Push Back Against Business Model

As I travel the country, I am often astonished to see how discouraged educators and parents are by the unproven schemes foisted on their schools by politicians.
The worst of these schemes come from radical politicians who think that government should get out of the business of providing public education.
They want education to be a commodity that you pick up whenever you want, wherever you want.
That is their ideal, though they are far from accomplishing it because it


Dallas Administrator to Teachers: Tell Me How Happy You Are!

The new leadership of the Dallas Independent School District loves positive thinking.
On this blog, we earlier reported that the superintendent, a graduate of the unaccredited Broad Superintendents Avademy, had hired a public relations team to write power words and power phrases for the staff. If asked what they thought of the new administration, the PR team crafted an upbeat response.
Now we learn that an administrator has asked teachers at every school to write a tiny essay on the good things 


Georgia DOE Blasts Cyber Academy, Threatens to Revoke Charter

The Georgia Department of Education issued a scathing report about the Georgia Cyber Academy for its handling of students with disabilities.
The state DOE warned that the online charter school might lose its charter.
The Georgia Cyber Academy is owned by for-profit K12.
K12′s stock price dropped recently after news of the poor performance of its Colorado Virtual Academy, whose


Diane in the Evening 11-20-12 Diane Ravitch's blog

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 6 hours ago
Diane Ravitch's blog: America’s Favorite Parlour Game? by dianerav What is America’s favorite parlour game? If you are talking about the average American, I don’t know though I would guess that parlour games have been replaced by watching TV. However, if you are talking about the wonks in conservative think tanks, a rare breed to be sure, I will share their secret: they are obsessed with trying to understand how their idol, Tony Bennett, got beat at the polls. He had everything going for him: the nation’s leading advocate of privatization. Chair of Jeb Bush’s Chiefs fo MORNI... more »