Latest News and Comment from Education

Thursday, November 29, 2012

MORNING UPDATE: LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH 11-29-12 Diane Ravitch's blog

Diane Ravitch's blog:

Click on picture to Listen to Diane Ravitch



J. Crew Raising $$$ for Rich Kids

J. Crew is raising money to help Teach for America, which has $300 million in assets and many high-level employees with six-figure salaries.
Why don’t they use the proceeds to hire nurses and librarians for public schools in cities like Chicago, Philadelphia and Cleveland.
Like, you know, poor kids?



What Does the NJ Charter Report Overlook?

Count on Jersey Jazzman to catch the flaw in the CREDO study of charters in his home state.
It purports to study schools but in fact it compares matched students, not taking into account the peer effects.
Like, if you go to a school that has weeded out or excluded the troublemakers, you learn more. Where do we go with that?




Live Debate about Michigan on Friday

Listen on Friday to a live debate about the future of education in Michigan, featuring State Board member John Austin and Richard McLellan of the right wing Oxford Foundation.


Parsing the Florida “Miracle”

Jeb Bush claims the mantle of King of Education Reform.
He touts the Florida Miracle.
His ingredients for success: testing, testing, testing, school report cards, privatization, charters, vouchers, and big investments in online learning.
Here is one careful review of the Florida “miracle.”
Here is yet anothergood analysis of the Florida Miracle.
Bush is pushing the digitization of schooling pretty hard. His Foundation is funded by technology companies. Tony Bennett of Indiana and Tom Luna of Idaho carried the Bush banner in the November elections, and both got


Online Schools Spend Millions of Tax Dollars to Advertise

USA Today has done it again. Last year, an investigative team of reporters broke open the cheating scandal during Michelle Rhee’s tenure.
Now, Greg Toppo reveals that the virtual charters are wasting millions of dollars on advertising to boost their enrollment and their coffers.
He has identified about $100 million of lost taxpayer dollars.
They recruit for two reasons: one, to add more dollars to their bank account. Two, because they have a high 


Kaya Henderson’s Plan to Close Public Schools, Open More Charters

Valerie Strauss here writes about DC Chancellor Kaya Henderson’s plan to close more DC public schools and hand off more students to charter operators.
Ironic that one of the possible charters is K12, the online for-profit charter corporation that has a 22% graduation rate in its Colorado Virtual Academy and may lose its charter in Georgia for the poor services it provides to special education students.
It’s clear that Henderson, a protege of Michelle Rhee, is not competing with charters. She is throwing in the 



DC Parent: End Mayoral Control, Fire Kaya Henderson

In Washington, D.C., where charter schools now enroll over 43% of the public school population, DCPS Chancellor Kaya Henderson recently announced her plan to close 20 more public schools at the same time that charter school operators were seeking fast-track approval for up to 10 new campuses.
Peter MacPherson, the former president of the Capitol Hill Cluster School PTA (DC Public Schools), wrote the following letter to Mayor Gray, calling for Chancellor Henderson’s resignation. Like many public school parents who volunteer for school improvement committees, he lobbied Chancellors Rhee and Henderson and former DC Council chair, now mayor, Gray for school modernization and technology upgrades. This past spring, he


Funny Business in Massachusetts Charter Schools

EduShyster invites tips, and she got a big one.
An official at one charter school made a usurious loan to another charter school.
When stuff like this happens, it reminds you that charter schools are not public schools.
Public schools are regulated and supervised.
They could never get away with stuff like this.

How Walmart Could Do Good Work

The Walton family has made billions of dollars as owners of Walmart. Some family members use this vast wealth to promote privatization of public education and union-busting in US schools.
The Walton family could find better uses for its wealth
This came in my email:
If you already received this, sorry. As I’ve been reading about Walmart & the Waltons in your respective blogs, I’d been thinking about this–I saw it once on the news, & nothing in our newspapers. 100 years ago–Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire–146 dead.
This is why we have unions.
———- Forwarded message ———-
From: Claiborne D., SumOfUs.org
Date: Tue, Nov 27, 2012 at 6:50 PM
Subject: Walmart could have prevented this horror
To: C
112 workers died brutal deaths in a massive fire in a Bangladesh textile factory. The emergency exits were 



Diane in the Evening 11-28-12 Diane Ravitch's blog

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 2 hours ago
Diane Ravitch's blog: Judge Halts Voucher Program Temporarily by dianerav A Federal judge in Louisiana put a halt to the state voucher program and the new teacher hiring laws in one parish, saying they was likely to undercut the desegregation program. The State Department of Education will appeal. TFA Commissioner John White believes that choice and privatization matter more than desegregation. Podesta: how to help privatization movement by dianerav John Podesta, who heads the Center for American Progress and headed the 2008 Onama transition team, was a keynote speaker at Jeb ... more »


MORNING UPDATE: LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH Gangnam Style 11-28-12 Diane Ravitch's blog

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 9 hours ago
Diane Ravitch's blog: [image: Click on picture to Listen to Diane Ravitch] *Diane Ravitch Gangnam Style* Personalize funny videos and birthday eCards at JibJab! What You Need to Know About Play by dianerav From a reader who is passionate about child’s play: Let’s talk to Arne about Play Science? We have schools in Asia setting up Play Science Institutes. They know that they need to innovate. The teacher is the one who can identify and scaffold upon the innate talents of the child. No computer program can see, feel, connect and mentor that deeply. Data is not knowledge. Metaphoric ... more »