Denver: So Much Reform. So Little Success.
Jeannie Kaplan is an elected member of the Denver Board of Education. She has been critical of corporate-style reform and of the heavily-funded effort to persuade the public that it is successful. When she heard that Jonah Edelman of Stand for Children told an audience in Tulsa recently that Denver was a national model of success, she decided to review the score card for the district. (Stand for Children boasts of its civil rights credentials but supported a slate of Republican candidates for the state legislature in 2012, as part of its campaign for corporate reform).
Kaplan wrote for this blog:
So Much Reform. So Little Success
Denver, Colorado is a poster child for much of what reformers like to see: standardized testing, teacher accountability, charter schools, choice, co-location, and oh, did I mention testing? Denver Public Schools is
Kaplan wrote for this blog:
So Much Reform. So Little Success
Denver, Colorado is a poster child for much of what reformers like to see: standardized testing, teacher accountability, charter schools, choice, co-location, and oh, did I mention testing? Denver Public Schools is
Good News from Texas, At Last!
Abby Rappaport is one of our best education journalists, and she is mostly covering Texas politics these days.
In this article, she explains the escalating revolt against testing in Texas, where it all started.
The bottom line: Texas has been obsessed with testing for the past two decades, and people are just plain sick of it. The last legislature cut $5.4 billion from the schools’ budget, but managed to find $500 million for Pearson. Abby estimates that in the next few years, Pearson will collect over $1 billion from Texas taxpayers.
That’s a lot of money by anyone’s reckoning.
The school boards are sick of it. More than 80% have passed resolutions against high-stakes testing.
Parents are sick of it. Legislatures are getting complaints in the grocery store and wherever they run into parents
In this article, she explains the escalating revolt against testing in Texas, where it all started.
The bottom line: Texas has been obsessed with testing for the past two decades, and people are just plain sick of it. The last legislature cut $5.4 billion from the schools’ budget, but managed to find $500 million for Pearson. Abby estimates that in the next few years, Pearson will collect over $1 billion from Texas taxpayers.
That’s a lot of money by anyone’s reckoning.
The school boards are sick of it. More than 80% have passed resolutions against high-stakes testing.
Parents are sick of it. Legislatures are getting complaints in the grocery store and wherever they run into parents
Oprah: Don’t Participate in This Fraud!
A teacher in New Orleans sent this letter to me. My promise to him or her: we will all use whatever tools are at our command to stop the destruction of public education and the exploitation of students to benefit corporate interests. We will not give up.
I wanted to bring to your attention the trailer for the upcoming Oprah network series about John McDonogh high school here in New Orleans.
http://www.oprah.com/common/omplayer_embed.html?article_id=41375.
It is a vicious misrepresentation of what is going on at the school- merely propaganda for the brand new charter management organization that makes our students out to be thug primitives who need taming by clean cut out of
I wanted to bring to your attention the trailer for the upcoming Oprah network series about John McDonogh high school here in New Orleans.
http://www.oprah.com/common/omplayer_embed.html?article_id=41375.
It is a vicious misrepresentation of what is going on at the school- merely propaganda for the brand new charter management organization that makes our students out to be thug primitives who need taming by clean cut out of
Read Gary Rubinstein’s Open Letters to “Reformers”
Many people have written to ask for a link to Gary Rubinstein’s “open letters to ‘reform’ leaders.”
Those who read them say they are brilliant, and indeed they are.
As you may know, Gary was one of the first alums of TFA. He became a career teacher.
He teaches mathematics at Stuyvesant High School in New York City.
He blogs regularly and whatever he writes is worth reading.
He is one of the best informed and reasonable critics of corporate-style reform in the blogosphere.
Those who read them say they are brilliant, and indeed they are.
As you may know, Gary was one of the first alums of TFA. He became a career teacher.
He teaches mathematics at Stuyvesant High School in New York City.
He blogs regularly and whatever he writes is worth reading.
He is one of the best informed and reasonable critics of corporate-style reform in the blogosphere.
Denver: So Much Reform. So Little Success.
Jeannie Kaplan is an elected member of the Denver Board of Education. She has been critical of corporate-style reform and of the heavily-funded effort to persuade the public that it is successful. When she heard that Jonah Edelman of Stand for Children told an audience in Tulsa recently that Denver was a national model of success, she decided to review the score card for the district. (Stand for Children boasts of its civil rights credentials but supported a slate of Republican candidates for the state legislature in 2012, as part of its campaign for corporate reform).
Kaplan wrote for this blog:
So Much Reform. So Little Success
Denver, Colorado is a poster child for much of what reformers like to see: standardized testing, teacher
Kaplan wrote for this blog:
So Much Reform. So Little Success
Denver, Colorado is a poster child for much of what reformers like to see: standardized testing, teacher
G.F. Brandenburg Asks: Are They Afraid of Going to Jail?
G.F. Brandenburg is the unofficial watchdog for the D.C. public schools.
In this post, he includes a link to the court documents that contains Adell Corthorne’s account about the cheating that she saw, what happened when she reported it, and her belief that the district received Race to the Top funding based on inflated test scores.
This is a jaw-dropper.
In this post, he includes a link to the court documents that contains Adell Corthorne’s account about the cheating that she saw, what happened when she reported it, and her belief that the district received Race to the Top funding based on inflated test scores.
This is a jaw-dropper.
Indiana Legislature Plans to Expand Vouchers
Vic Smith sends out bulletins about statehouse politics in Indiana. This is his latest, which includes a good summary about the current plan to expand vouchers in Indiana.
Dear Friends,
The Senate Education Committee will vote on the voucher expansion bill, Senate Bill 184, on Wednesday afternoon, Jan. 16th. Please contact the Senators on the committee before the vote to express your
opposition.
The hearing on Senate Bill 184 sponsored by Senator Yoder revealed a division within the committee. Even
The Best Education Book of 2012?
The conservative journal Ednext has a poll that may be of interest to readers of the blog.
The last time the editors had a poll, it was for best education book of the decade (2000-2010), my book won the contest, much to the consternation of the editors.
This time, almost every book on the list promotes corporate reform, except for two: Diana Senechal’s “Republic
The last time the editors had a poll, it was for best education book of the decade (2000-2010), my book won the contest, much to the consternation of the editors.
This time, almost every book on the list promotes corporate reform, except for two: Diana Senechal’s “Republic
Diane in the Evening 1-14-13 Diane Ravitch's blog
Diane Ravitch's blog: Connecticut District Devoured by Edu-Vultures by dianerav Jonathan Pelto has unearthed a shocking story of a school district in Connecticut that is being pulled apart, privatized, and spit out by pseudo-saviors. Windham, Connecticut, was in academic trouble so the state board of education appointed a “special master” to oversee school reform and the legislature appropriated $1 million per year extra. The district of 3,500 students Memphis Families Outraged by School Takeover by dianerav Parents in the Binghampton district in Tennessee are furious that the... more »