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Sunday, February 10, 2013

MORNING UPDATE: LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH 2-10-13 Diane Ravitch's blog

Diane Ravitch's blog:

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Cody to Gates; What Should We Measure?

Anthony Cody advises Bill gates that test scores are not the best measure of effectiveness.
Here he tells Gates
what really matters.


Bridget, Don’t Give Up!

An administrator in Louisiana writes about how the Jindal administration tries to strike fear in the hearts of all educators while boasting of their great success.
Dear Bridget, here is my advice: “Illegitimi non carborundum.”
Be there when their pathetic regime is toppled by the good and great citizens of Louisiana.
Bridget writes:
It definitely is getting more and more difficult for teachers to stay. As an administrator, I see the panic on 

Could Mark Zuckerberg Please Fix This Newark Problem?

Mark Zuckerberg paid out $100 million to fix Newark’s schools. Millions have been spent on consultants. Probably lots more charters too, free to push out kids they don’t want.
But couldn’t some of Mark’s millions be spent to


Great News: How to Succeed without Corporate Reforms

In this superb article in the New York Times, David Kirp shows how the public schools of Union City, New Jersey,succeeded despite all the obstacles of poverty.
The article summarizes his fine book “Improbable Scholars.”
Union City created excellent schools without charters and without Teach for America. And without Cory Booker or Mark Zuckerberg.
Let’s celebrate the good work of the teachers and principals of Union City!

More About Vouchers in Wisconsin

A reader who is a parent in Wisconsin notes that the far-right group American Federation for Children is reaching out to disability groups to get their support for vouchers. AFS is committed to privatization, and they know full well that vouchers for special education students is a first step. It is also high on ALEC’s agenda. It arises not from concern for the students, whose rights are protected by federal law in public schools, but out of concern for their own political agenda, which is anti-public education, anti-union, and anti-professionalism.
Writes the reader:
More about Wisconsin and vouchers — I and two other parents of students with disabilities have just had a 

Holding Education Hostage

A few days ago, I published a post on the blog of the New York Review of Books about the battle over teacher evaluation by test scores.
Unlike this blog, whose readers are mostly educators, the NYRB blog goes to hundreds of thousands of highly literate non-educators. So my challenge was to briefly explain Race to the Top and the bitter struggles over how teachers should be evaluated and by whom.
Please take the time to read this post, read the comments and–if you are so moved–add your own comment to help explicate the issues.

Can You Believe This?

In Florida, a criminal record is no barrier to collecting public dollars, if you are not in a public school.
Ain’t deregulation wonderful?

Diane in the Evening 2-9-13 Diane Ravitch's blog

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 2 hours ago
Diane Ravitch's blog: How Teachers Can Stop the Organized Attack on Teaching by dianerav Teachers often feel powerless in the face of the assaults against their profession. Often they are directed to do things that they know are educational malpractice, and they have no choice but to comply. The best way to resist is through collective action, like the testing boycott of the Seattle teachers. One person standing alone is admirable but will be fired. What is necessary is for entire faculties to speak as one. Think of the Chicago Teachers Union. Their detractors changed the state l... more »