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DIANE RAVITCH'S BLOG
Indiana Debates Dropping Out of Common Core
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 13 hours ago
Friends and foes of the Common Core standards packed a meeting room in Indiana to discuss its future. This issue creates strange alliances. The new state superintendent Glenda Ritz opposes them. So does the Tea Party. But other hard-right conservatives like former superintendent Tony Bennett and Jeb Bush are strong advocates for CC. Mike Petrilli [...]
A Rhee Puzzle
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 14 hours ago
With PBS preparing a documentary about her and investigators looking at the cheating scandal, Michelle Rhee hired a well-known criminal defense attorney. Jersey Jazzman wonders why.
The Mess in NYC
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 16 hours ago
This is a statement by Leonie Haimson, founder of Class Size Matters in NYC and a founder of Parents Across America on the collapse of negotiations over a teacher evaluation deal between the city and union: If the Governor goes ahead with punishing NYC children for the mayor’s failures by subtracting $250 million from state [...]
AFT Endorses Garfield Teachers’ Test Boycott
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 17 hours ago
AFT Stands with Garfield High School Teachers Washington—American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten issued this message of support to Seattle’s Garfield High School teachers standing up against the use of high-stakes testing. Dear Garfield High School Teachers: Thank you. Thank you for taking a courageous stand against the fixation on high-stakes testing and its [...]
Will a Bar Exam Improve the Teaching Profession?
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 17 hours ago
Randi Weingarten proposed a national bar exam for future teachers, and it stirred quite a reaction. Most worrisome is that the idea appeals to certain figures in the public eye who are known for making negative comments about teachers. Some on this blog complained that Randi was echoing the corporate reformers’ complaint that teachers are [...]
Who Torpedoed NYC Teacher Evaluation Deal?
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 18 hours ago
Leonie Haimson, head of Class Size Matters in New York City, explains why the teacher evaluation pact failed.
How StudentsFirst Puts Students Last
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 19 hours ago
The National Opportunity to Learn Campaign has one of the very best critiques of Michelle Rhee’s report card for the states. The states doing the least for children get the highest scores. The states enacting policies that ignore the needs of children do best by her logic. In the 990 form for StudentsFirst, it says [...]
Why Garfield Teachers Boycotted the MAP Test
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 22 hours ago
Jesse Hagopian a teacher at Garfield High School in Seattle, explains why every teacher in the school voted to boycott the MAP test. The teachers at Garfield are an inspiration to friends nd supporters of public education acros America. They are champions of students, and they are already on the honor roll for their courage [...]
A Superintendent in New Jersey Joins the Honor Roll
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 23 hours ago
I am pleased to add Michael A. Rossi, Jr., of Madison, New Jersey, to the honor roll as a hero of public education Superintendent has served long and faithfully in the public schools. He is proud of his district. He is a career educator. He is a leader. He is a hero for speaking out [...]
Walmart Made the Bushmaster the Most Popular Assault Weapon in US
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 1 day ago
Think of it. The biggest retail store in the US and maybe the world sells the weapon of choice for mass murderers, the Bushmaster AR-15. This was the weapon used to kill a dozen people in a movie theater in Aurora, Colorado. It was the weapon used to murder 20 children and six educators in [...]
Wake the Town and Tell the People
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 1 day ago
If we all speak out based on our knowledge and experience, we can turn this privatization movement around. It is led by people who know nothing about teaching or children. They are obsessed with data and incentives and punishments. Their bad ideas keep failing. From a reader: Hi Diane. This is the first time I [...]
Chaotic Situation in Muskegon Heights
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 1 day ago
The governor-appointed emergency manager who was put in charge of Muskegon Heights public schools decided to privatize the schools, fire the teachers, and hire a for-profit charter operator, Mosaica. The governor and his rightwing allies are certain that a for-profit corporation will succeed where public education failed. You might say that Govermor Rick Snyder is [...]
My Good News
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 1 day ago
As readers may recall, I started a new book last June. I finished it and turned it over to the editor on January 15. The manuscript was nearly 600 pages. In print form, it should be about half that length. If you have been reading the blog all along, you know what is in the [...]
School Closings in Sacramento
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 1 day ago
Eleven elementary schools in Sacramento are going to close. All are in low-income, diverse communities. Some are high-performing re test scores. Please, someone, write and explain.
Key Republicans in Wisconsin Halt Voucher Expansion UPDATE! LINK ADDED!
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 1 day ago
Two key Republican state legislators in Wisconsin said they would not permit an expansion of vouchers unless there was a local vote. Voucher proponents oppose local referenda. No wonder. Vouchers are very unpopular and have never won a popular election. Supporters say children need choice to go to a better school, but there is no [...]
Mayor Bloomberg Has a Hissy Fit
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 1 day ago
Apparently it was Mayor Bloomberg who scuttled talks between the city and the unions. The unions wanted a sunset clause, the mayor demanded no sunset clause. According to Ernest Logan of the supervisors’ union, most districts have a sunset clause: ““The CSA and the DOE were closing in on a final agreement on January 16, [...]
Jersey Jazzman on Rhee’s Memogate
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 1 day ago
Jersey jazzman dissects John Merrow’s report on the Case of the Missing Memo. Why won’t DCPS release the memo? What secret does it contain? Will John Merrow keep digging? How many doors closed on him when he asked questions about the cheating scandal? How many people refused to talk to him? Why? Why did he [...]
Charter School Math in Connecticut
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 1 day ago
Connecticut has the misfortune to have a bad combination: a significant group of very rich hedge fund managers devoted to charter schools and a state commissioner of education who wants to open more charter schools. The charter schools in the state serve disproportionately small numbers of English language learners. So is it a good idea [...]
Can a Teacher in Sacramento Beat the Rhee Machine?
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 1 day ago
A seat opens up on a school board in West Sacramento. An employee of StudentsFirst decides to run for it. A teacher challenges him. One has big money. The other has experience as a parent and teacher in the schools. Who will win?
Corporate Reformers Waste over Half Million in Bridgeport Election
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 1 day ago
A reader in Connecticut links to Jonathan Pelto’s report of spending by wealthy supporters of corporate reform in Bridgeport, Connecticut, in their failed attempt to persuade voters to abandon their elected school board. The voters said no. “Did you see this yet? Over a half a million spent by corporate “education reformers” to persuade voters [...]
Value-Added Measurement Is Unstable
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 1 day ago
Data hounds continue to search for a measuring stick to identify teacher quality. They can’t believe they are on a fruitless hunt, like trying to find a barometer or yardstick to say which piece of art is best, which doctor is best, which…… as though human judgment means nothing. Here is Matt Di Carlo summarizing [...]
UFT Leader Blames Mayor for Failure to Reach Deal on VAM
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 1 day ago
Apparently the mayor and the union in NYC did not reach a deal on teacher evaluation. Too bad. VAM Is junk science. It should not be legislated or imposed anywhere. Here is the UFT press release. Count on seeing the mayor blame the union for not accepting a lousy scheme that has no basis in [...]
EduShyster Commends Prep School Grads Who Want to Reform Public Schools
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 1 day ago
Elitism may be a dirty word in some circles, but not to EduShyster. She here commends the graduates of tony private schools who work so hard to see that their lesser brethren can go to “no excuses” schools where they will learn to sit up straight and keep their eyes on the teacher.
Bush and Rhee Double-Team Tennessee
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 1 day ago
Jeb Bush and Michelle Rhee are working Tennessee, with grandiose claims about the great results that charters and vouchers can accomplish. The good news is that the reporter shows skepticism about thei claims. Why don’t they tell their audiences about Milwaukee, which has had vouchers and charters for 20+ years? On the NAEP, Milwaukee is [...]
Tennessee Legislature Purges Voucher Opponent
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 1 day ago
Yesterday I posted a comment from Linda Whittington, a member of the state Legislature in Mississippi who was removed from her assignment on the House Education Committee because she opposes charters. Today a reader in Tennessee posted a comment with these links from Memphis: http://schoolingmemphis.blogspot.com/2013/01/tn-state-rep-fitzhugh-forced-off.html http://schoolingmemphis.blogspot.com/2013/01/harwell-shenanigans-confirmed-in.html You will learn here that Tennessee House Democratic leader, [...]
D.C.: Why the Double Standard for Public Schools and Charter Schools?
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 1 day ago
D.C. Chancellor Kaya Henderson is set to decide how many public schools to close. A D.C. teacher and blogger reviews the shifting rationales for closing public schools. A public school closes if enrollment falls below 350. But more than 70% of charter schools have less than 350 students, and some have less than 50 students, [...]
NYC Voters Want to End Mayoral Control of Schools
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 1 day ago
When Mayor Bloomberg was elected in 2001, his first priority was to gain control of the schools. At the time, the schools had a central board with seven members, two appointed by the mayor. Now the mayor appoints a majority and they serve at his pleasure. In the last decade, the city’s schools have Ben [...]
John White Is #1, And So Is Louisiana
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 2 days ago
Crazy Crawfish has a regular blog where he skewers the mighty, the powerful, the phonies, and the masters of data manipulation. Like EduShyster, CC knows data, and he has humor. And he seems to know more about state school data–and the games people play–than most people. Read this brilliantly witty report of John White’s statistical [...]
Over 300 Schools Teaching Creationism with Public Funding
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 2 days ago
Zack Kopplin was honored earlier by this blog for his efforts to expose the teaching of creationism in voucher schools in Louisiana. He is a student at Rice University. He is not letting up on his efforts to expose the abuse of science by schools receiving vouchers. Here is a press release sent by him: [...]
When an Elected Official Opposed Charters in Mississippi…
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 2 days ago
Linda Whittington writes from Mississippi to explain what happened because of her opposition to chartre schools: As a member of the Mississppi House of Representatives, I agree and am doing what I can to stop the charters from coming into our state. So much so that the Speaker of the House removed me from the [...]
New Legal Challenge to Tax Credits in New Hampshire
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 2 days ago
Americans United for Separation of Church and State, the New Hampshire Civil Liberties Union, and the American Civil Liberties Union have filed a lawsuit challenging a state law that allows tuition tax credits, saying it subsidizes religious schools. Where are the lawsuits in Indiana, Ohio, Wisconsin, and Louisiana to challenge voucher programs that directly fund [...]
$50 Million. 3 Years. No Clue.
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 2 days ago
Gary Rubinstein, the brilliant math teacher at Stuyvesant High School in New York City, has done it again. He has dissected the Gates MET study–the one that says test scores are better at determining teacher quality than observations–and he says that the data in the study don’t make the point that has been widely reported. [...]
EduShyster Celebrates the Annual Liftin’ O’ the Cap Rituals
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 2 days ago
EduShyster continues to set the gold standard for reformy humor. In this post, she describes the annual campaign by charter operators in Massachusetts to pressure the state legislature to lift the cap so they can open more charter schools. She notes that the students most involved in demanding more charter schools are already enrolled in [...]
What Happened When a Researcher In Louisiana Wanted Answers
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 2 days ago
Mercedes Schneider has a Ph.D. In statistics. She teaches in St. Tammany Parish in Louisiana. Recently, she has discovered that the Louisiana Department of Education has engaged in fancy statistical manipulation of test scores and school grades. The bottom line is that the public is getting spin and hype from that agency, not trustworthy data [...]
Daily Howler on Washington Post’s Fawning Coverage of Rhee
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 2 days ago
Bob Somerby at the Daily Howler is a watchdog of American journalism. He regularly criticizes the media, and is especially good when he looks at education. He recently dissected the misleading and overly negative coverage of international tests. In the past few days, he has been on a roll. He was incensed by the Washington [...]
NC Teacher: This Is How Democracy Ends
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 3 days ago
Kris Neilsen wrote an amazing post (“NC Teacher: I Quit“) a few months back, which was opened by 150,000 people, at a minimum. He continues to teach and to write. He has recently written a series called “This Is How Democracy Ends.” In this post, he expresses his profound opposition to the Common Core State [...]
Hamburg Teachers: Stop Threatening Us
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 3 days ago
The Hamburg (NY) teachers union has refused to agree to a deal on teacher evaluations that would give all power to the superintendent; they want an independent person to make the final judgment when a teacher appeals a bad evaluation. Negotiations broke down when an administrator threatened that teachers would be fired if no agreement [...]
Indiana Legislators Hope to Silence Ritz
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 3 days ago
Karen Francisco, the fearless education writer at the Fort Wayne Journal-Gazette, describes here how Republican legislators are planning to hack away at the powers of the state superintendent. They are trying to reverse the defeat of Tony Bennett and negate the will of the voters, who overwhelmingly voted to Glenda Ritz as state superintendent. With [...]
Maine Charter School Commission: “Backbones of Titanium”
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 3 days ago
Maine Governor Paul LePage had a tantrum (or hissy fit) when the state’s Charter School Commission rejected four out of five applicants. He was especially annoyed because two of the four rejected were for-profit online corporations. As we learned from an exposé last fall in the Maine press, the state commissioner of education got help [...]
Why Students Need Financial Literacy
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 3 days ago
This post was written by Ohio teacher Brian Page @FinEdChat The curriculum ladder As teachers, we are all feeling the squeeze of tough economic times. States have cut education funding for a number of reasons. We are taking the cuts personally because we live a profession that strikes at the core of our [...]
Matt Damon and Nancy Carlsson-Paige to Garfield Teachers!
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 3 days ago
This is a personal message from actor Matt Damon and early childhood educator Nancy Carlsson-Paige, addressed to the teachers of Garfield High: We are writing to support all of the teachers at Garfield High School. We admire your strong and unified stand against the district mandated standardized test. Teachers, students, and parents do not have [...]
Philly Youth Do Zombie Flash Dance to Protest Closings
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 3 days ago
Members of the Philadelphia Student Union performed a Zombie flash dance in front of school district headquarters to protest school closings. The district leadership insists it needs to save money by closing schools. The students don’t believe it. The students are right. The district will open privately managed charters to replace the closed public schools.
DC Cheating Scandal: The Plot Thickens
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 3 days ago
John Merrow is still trying to get to the bottom of the DC cheating scandal. During his investigation, he discovered that Michelle Rhee hired a data coach who lives in California to advise her at $85 an hour or $1500 a day when he visited DC. This data expert reported to Rhee’s assessment director. Merrow [...]
Charters for Mississippi?
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 3 days ago
Here is the latest from Mississippi, which is considering charter legislation. Running through the comments of advocates for charters is the claim that charters will improve achievement for the lowest performing students. They need to know three things: 1. There is no evidence that charter schools know how to improve student achievement. 2. If the [...]
St. Louis Post-Dispatch Blasts Rhee Report Card
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 3 days ago
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch tore apart Rhee’s shoddy report card, recognizing tat it is nothing more than an effort to foist her personal political preferences on the nation’s schools. Unfortunately the newspaper admires some of her bad ideas–like evaluating teachers by test scores–and is unaware that her IMPACT program in DC hasn’t made a difference. [...]
Rhee: “Dozens and Dozens” of Schools Made Gains…Or Did They?
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 3 days ago
In the Frontline documentary, John Merrow confronted Michelle Rhee with statistics from certain schools showing dramatic increases in test scores followed by equally dramatic declines. And they had this exchange: JOHN MERROW: What’s your reaction to those numbers? That the gains are phony. MICHELLE RHEE Yeah. I mean, I—again, I—I feel like when you look [...]
Oprah: Don’t Participate in This Fraud!
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 3 days ago
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 [...]
Good News from Texas, At Last!
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 3 days ago
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 [...]
Denver: So Much Reform. So Little Success.
garyrubinstein at Diane Ravitch's blog - 3 days ago
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 [...]
Read Gary Rubinstein’s Open Letters to “Reformers”
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 4 days ago
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 [...]
Denver: So Much Reform. So Little Success.
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 4 days ago
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 [...]
The Best Education Book of 2012?
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 4 days ago
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 [...]
Indiana Legislature Plans to Expand Vouchers
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 4 days ago
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 [...]
G.F. Brandenburg Asks: Are They Afraid of Going to Jail?
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 4 days ago
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 [...]
NJ Charter School Draws Ire of Local Residents
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 4 days ago
Mother Crusader is angry again. Despite the success of parents in keeping a Hebrew charter school from opening in Highland Park, one opened in East Brunswick called the Hatikvah International Academy Charter School. Since there was not enough demand in East Brunswick for the school, it draws students from 17 other districts, including Highland Park, [...]
Connecticut District Devoured by Edu-Vultures
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 4 days ago
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 [...]
Memphis Families Outraged by School Takeover
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 4 days ago
Parents in the Binghampton district in Tennessee are furious that the state took over their school, changed the name and colors, brought in an inexperienced staff, and no one thought to consult them. Tennessee created the “Achievement School District” and put charter founder Chris Barbic in charge. Barbic, a graduate of the unaccredited Broad Superintendents [...]
A Disillusioned Ex-Parent at Rocketship
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 4 days ago
A comment from a reader: It is alarming that Rocketship can be allowed to grow as it is – they just received city approval for a contested area of public land in San Jose for another campus while they already have 7 running. Rocketship’s strag Rocketship says parents have a quota for volunteer hours – [...]
Michelle Rhee’s School Choice in Nashville
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 4 days ago
Michelle Rhee was interviewed by “The City Paper” in Nashville. The story describes her thus: “A Tennessee transplant, she is turning her attention to schools in her new state.” It also refers to the “roots” she is “setting” in Nashville. Apparently, she never told the reporter that she lives in Sacramento, not Nashville. She describes herself [...]
A Good Explanation of VAM for Non-Experts
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 4 days ago
Mercedes Schneider prepared a paper explaining value-added modeling, now widely promoted for evaluating teachers. She wrote it for legislators in Louisiana, who have been passing laws mandating VAM without understanding how inaccurate it is. This paper could be used to brief legislators in every state. Also policymakers at your State Education Department, also the U.S. [...]
Mississippi Newspaper: Let’s Focus on Good Schools for All Children
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 5 days ago
A good friend in Meridian, Mississippi, tweeted this article to me and he said, “Thank God for the Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal.” To which I add: “Amen!” Well, you won’t read this in the editorial columns of the New York Times or the Washington Post or the Los Angeles Times or the Chicago Tribune, or [...]
Do Affluent White Neighborhoods Need Charter Schools?
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 5 days ago
Jason Stanford lives in Austin, Texas, where he writes frequently about school issues. Here he gives us the latest in the school choice saga in Texas. Texas is crazy for school choice. The state legislature is about to take up the question of vouchers, and the state board of education has approved many charters. The [...]
Who Will Hold Charters Accountable in California?
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 5 days ago
Recently, I wrote a post about Steve Zimmer, a member of the board of the Los Angeles Unified School District. Zimmer proposed that the board develop a policy to hold charters accountable. He was picketed and jeered by charter advocates, who rejected any demands for oversight. The charter lobby is supporting someone to run against [...]
The Hidden Charter Scandal in D.C.
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 5 days ago
Retired teacher Erich Martel wrote the following letter to the Washington Post in response to its article about the sky-high expulsion rates of charter schools: DC Charter High Schools Quietly Transfer Far More Students Than They Expel The District’s Office of the State Superintendent of Education enrollment audits and the D.C. Comprehensive Assessment System [...]
Louisiana Educator: Don’t Believe the Hype!
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 5 days ago
Mike Deshotels is a veteran educator in Louisiana. He writes one of the best education blogs in the state. Knowing what is happening on the ground, Mike is astounded that Michelle Rhee named Louisiana as a leader of education reform. he says it is all a great sham. He is puzzled that no one in [...]
Los Angeles Community Fights to Block School Closing
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 5 days ago
Los Angeles Superintendent John Deasey plans to shut down Crenshaw High School, which has been making rapid strides with its school improvement plan. The school community is fighting back. Here is the exciting news: Community organizers from several cities (LA, Philly, New Orleans and others) are joining together to file a Civil Rights complaint against [...]
Save Lives: Gun Control Now
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 5 days ago
A great editorial in the San Jose Mercury News: What will it take? Sandy Hook massacre elicits strong opinions on changing gun laws America faces a defining moment. Twenty innocent children slaughtered. Six brave educators killed trying to save them. The immediate outcry has been unprecedented. But will anything change? Will America finally cast aside [...]
Time to Divest?
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 5 days ago
A reader sent along a story that the California teachers’ pension fund, the second largest in the nation, has decided to divest from corporations that manufactures weapons. That’s a good start. Now how about divesting in Walmart, which is the biggest retail outlet for assault weapons like the one used in the Newtown massacre? Another [...]
Breaking News: Astonishing Exchange about PBS on Rhee
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 5 days ago
This is a remarkable exchange of correspondence about the PBS program “The Education of Michelle Rhee.” Many readers on this blog thought the documentary was too favorable towards Rhee, recycling a lot of old footage in which she is shown as a courageous upstart who did it all “for the kids.” They thought it provided [...]
How Can Parents Fight School Closings?
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 5 days ago
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 [...]
Kasich Pulls a Fast One
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 5 days ago
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 [...]
Equity Investors See Big Profit$$ in Education
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 5 days ago
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!
Listen to this Radio Show Tonight
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 6 days ago
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 [...]
A Math Teacher on Common Core Standards
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 6 days ago
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 [...]
Who Is SFER?
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 6 days ago
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 [...]
D.C. Teacher: The Return of a Dual School System in D.C.
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 6 days ago
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 [...]
Sage Advice From Adam Urbanski, Rochester Teachers Union
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 6 days ago
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 [...]
Washington Post Reviews Rhee
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 6 days ago
Lyndsey Layton of the Washington Post has written a comprehensive review of Michelle Rhee’s moment on the national stage, presenting a balanced portrait. Rhee is still pretending to be a liberal Democrat, even though–as Layton points out–she has allied herself with the nation’s most rightwing governors and advocates for the privatization of public education. The [...]
Seattle Writer Challenges Bill Gates to Be Consistent
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 6 days ago
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 Westneat takes Gates to task for promoting policy all over the country [...]
Add Carnegie Corporation to Billionaire Boys Club
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 6 days ago
The Carnegie Corporation doesn’t have as much money to throw into the corporate reform movement as the Walton Foundation, the Broad Foundation, and the Gates Foundation but it is definitely on the same page as the big guys. Here is its report on 2011 spending. The education grants begin on p. 24. And there they [...]
You Are the Leaders
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 6 days ago
Spring is coming. People are standing up and speaking up. Teachers at Garfield High in Seattle say “no more.” Teachers at Ballard High School support their colleagues at Garfield. The Seattle Education Association supports the Garfield and Ballard teachers. Randi Weingarten tweeted her support. Superintendents, one after another, are saying the testing obsession is out [...]
Who Attends The Schools That the Mayor Will Close?
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 6 days ago
Mayor Bloomberg wants to close as many public schools as possible in this, his last year in office. So his Department of Education has announced that another 26 schools will close as soon as they can go through the formalities. All of these schools have low test scores and get poor marks on the DOE’s [...]
Kudos to the Teachers of Hamburg Central School District!
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 6 days ago
When teachers stand together and refuse to be bullied by the powerful, they deserve our commendation. The teachers in the Hamburg Central School District in New York voted overwhelmingly to reject a bad deal on teacher evaluation. In the plan at issue, the school superintendent would have been the sole arbiter on any appeals of [...]
EduShyster: The Secret Ingredient in the Secret Sauce (Link Fixed!!)
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 1 week ago
Mayor Rahm Emanuel memorably said on video that the Noble Street charters in Chicago have a “secret sauce” that makes them successful. They have high test scores and high graduation rates. They are each named for rich and powerful sponsors. Count on EduShyster to discover the secret in the secret sauce.. She gets many tips, [...]
Ohio Teacher: Bravo to Teachers of Seattle!
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 1 week ago
Maureen Reedy sends congratulations, praise, hugs, and high-fives to the teachers at Garfield and Ballard High Schools in Seattle. May their message resonate in schools across America. Dear Ballard and Garfield High School Teachers in Seattle, Your proclamations ring true as patriots of public education! Your proclamations proclaim our right as educational experts to independently [...]