How Can Parents Fight School Closings?
Jersey Jazzman explains what is now obvious: School closings have a disparate impact on children and communities of color. Community schools are closed, destabilizing the neighborhood. Charter schools open, which choose and reject those they want or don’t want. Most charters don’t want the kids with the greatest needs.
A new parent group has formed in Newark, which has been a playground for the rich and famous, who move
A new parent group has formed in Newark, which has been a playground for the rich and famous, who move
Kasich Pulls a Fast One
A reader sent this notice of a major change in teacher evaluation in Ohio, slipped into legislation at the last minute, with little discussion. The governor is determined to follow the Rhee script and bombard teachers with test-based accountability, despite evidence to the contrary. I have a suggestion for Governor Kasich: How about if you take the students’ end of course exams and publish your test scores?
The bottom line:
If you’re not familiar with legislative language, here’s the summary
HB 555 radically changes the method of calculating evaluations for about 1/3 of Ohio’s teachers. If a teacher’s schedule is comprised only of courses or subjects for which the value-added progress dimension is applicable – then only their value-add score can now be used as part of the 50% of an evaluation based on student growth.
The bottom line:
If you’re not familiar with legislative language, here’s the summary
HB 555 radically changes the method of calculating evaluations for about 1/3 of Ohio’s teachers. If a teacher’s schedule is comprised only of courses or subjects for which the value-added progress dimension is applicable – then only their value-add score can now be used as part of the 50% of an evaluation based on student growth.
Equity Investors See Big Profit$$ in Ecucation
This is the end game of the current reform movement: financializing public spending on education.
Education is now seen as an emerging market, ripe for the picking.
Time to get in on the ground floor.
You don’t need to know anything about education.
What an opportunity!
Education is now seen as an emerging market, ripe for the picking.
Time to get in on the ground floor.
You don’t need to know anything about education.
What an opportunity!
Listen to this Radio Show Tonight
Tim Slekar is a battler for public education.
He has made videos, written articles, testified before every committee that will listen, and runs a weekly radio program.
He is dedicated to stopping the corporate reform assault on public education.
Listen to this program tonight (and browse his archives, because he has interviewed so many of the teachers,
He has made videos, written articles, testified before every committee that will listen, and runs a weekly radio program.
He is dedicated to stopping the corporate reform assault on public education.
Listen to this program tonight (and browse his archives, because he has interviewed so many of the teachers,
A Math Teacher on Common Core Standards
Stephanie Sawyer gives her view of the flaws of the Common Core math standards:
I don’t think the common core math standards are good for most kids, not just the Title I students. While they are certainly more focused than the previous NCTM-inspired state standards, which were a horrifying hodge-podge of material, they still basically put the intellectual cart before the horse. They pay lip service to actually practicing standard algorithms. Seriously, students don’t have to be fluent in addition and subtraction with the standard algorithms until 4th grade?
I teach high school math. I took a break to work in the private sector from 2002 to 2009. Since my return, I have
I don’t think the common core math standards are good for most kids, not just the Title I students. While they are certainly more focused than the previous NCTM-inspired state standards, which were a horrifying hodge-podge of material, they still basically put the intellectual cart before the horse. They pay lip service to actually practicing standard algorithms. Seriously, students don’t have to be fluent in addition and subtraction with the standard algorithms until 4th grade?
I teach high school math. I took a break to work in the private sector from 2002 to 2009. Since my return, I have
Who Is SFER?
An organization called Students for Education Reform is popping up on various campuses to advocate for corporate reforms.
This article by George Joseph in The Nation explores who they are and who funds them.
It is hard to understand why students would demand more standardized testing and why they would support a movement that attacks teachers and wants teachers to be held accountable for what students do. Shouldn’t students be held accountable for what students do?
All around the nation, brave students are saying “no” to the corporate reform movement that wants to turn them
D.C. Teacher: The Return of a Dual School System in D.C.
This article by George Joseph in The Nation explores who they are and who funds them.
It is hard to understand why students would demand more standardized testing and why they would support a movement that attacks teachers and wants teachers to be held accountable for what students do. Shouldn’t students be held accountable for what students do?
All around the nation, brave students are saying “no” to the corporate reform movement that wants to turn them
D.C. Teacher: The Return of a Dual School System in D.C.
Washington, D.C. has an articulate new education blogger. She knows more than the policy wonks at Brookings, AEI, Education Sector, Thomas B.Fordham Institute, the Center for American Progress, and the other guru shops. She teaches in the D.C. schools.
Florence realizes that the city now has a dual school system, one for the winners, another for the losers.
Sage Advice From Adam Urbanski, Rochester Teachers Union
Florence realizes that the city now has a dual school system, one for the winners, another for the losers.
Sage Advice From Adam Urbanski, Rochester Teachers Union
Adam Urbanski, head of the Rochester (NY) Teachers Union, offers this advice:
“In his letter from the Birmingham jail, Martin Luther King wrote, ‘There are just laws and unjust laws. And we are obligated to disobey the unjust laws.’ A nationwide movement of creative insubordination may be the only way to put a stop to the injustice now imposed on America’s public schools, teachers and especially students.”
“In his letter from the Birmingham jail, Martin Luther King wrote, ‘There are just laws and unjust laws. And we are obligated to disobey the unjust laws.’ A nationwide movement of creative insubordination may be the only way to put a stop to the injustice now imposed on America’s public schools, teachers and especially students.”
Diane in the Evening 1-12-13 Diane Ravitch's blog
Diane Ravitch's blog: *You Are the Leaders* Seattle Writer Challenges Bill Gates to Be Consistent by dianerav A reader sent the following observation: Here’s a devastating article that points up Bill Gates’ hypocrisy when it comes to the variation between what he demands for his own children, and what he subjects children from lower income communities: THE SEATTLE TIMES’ Danny Weastneat takes Gates to task for promoting policy all over the country that jacks class size sky high, with Gates using the common-sense-defying logic that kids will fare better in larger classes. You Are... more »