Ohio: Charter Schools Cost Twice As Much As Public Schools
Innovation Ohio is a nonpartisan think tank that studies public policy in the state. Its reports are carefully researched and documented.
It’s latest study finds that charter schools, a favorite “reform” of Governor John Kasich and the Republican-dominated legislature, cost taxpayers twice as much as public schools and hurt the public schools that enroll the other 90% of the children in the state.
It’s latest study finds that charter schools, a favorite “reform” of Governor John Kasich and the Republican-dominated legislature, cost taxpayers twice as much as public schools and hurt the public schools that enroll the other 90% of the children in the state.
Jeb Bush Hits a New Low
I read on Twitter just now that I compared “school choice” to a Nazi invasion.
.@DianeRavitch likens school choice to Nazi invasion. Yes. You read that correctly. http://bit.ly/Y7svLC“
To say the least, I was taken aback because I had never written or implied any such thing.
But consider the source.
It comes from Jeb Bush’s Foundation for Excellence in Education (“excellence” in this case meaning the
.
To say the least, I was taken aback because I had never written or implied any such thing.
But consider the source.
It comes from Jeb Bush’s Foundation for Excellence in Education (“excellence” in this case meaning the
Jay Mathews: Why Did Two Inspector Generals Ignore Cheating in DC?
Jay Mathews wrote a great column on the failure of two inspector generals to probe the DC cheating scandal.
Michelle Rhee is traversing the nation, selling her big “success” story in DC, but the cheating scandal continues to fester. The testing company reported a remarkable number of wrong-to-right erasures in a large number of schools. As Mathews reports, neither IG took the erasure evidence seriously.
As Mathews points out, the only genuine hero in the DC mess was Adell Cothorne, the new principal at Noyes who reported the cheating and got frozen out by top administrators for her integrity.
The failure to get to the bottom of the testing scandal is itself a scandal. Someday, hopefully, a serious
Michelle Rhee is traversing the nation, selling her big “success” story in DC, but the cheating scandal continues to fester. The testing company reported a remarkable number of wrong-to-right erasures in a large number of schools. As Mathews reports, neither IG took the erasure evidence seriously.
As Mathews points out, the only genuine hero in the DC mess was Adell Cothorne, the new principal at Noyes who reported the cheating and got frozen out by top administrators for her integrity.
The failure to get to the bottom of the testing scandal is itself a scandal. Someday, hopefully, a serious
An Outrage in Sacramento
The Sacramento school board is rushing to shut down 11 elementary schools. That’s 20 percent of the elementary schools run by the Sacramento City Unified School District.
The process has been indefensible. Board members and the Superintendent have short-circuited the usual decision making process on school closure in order to jam these through. The California Department of Education recommends a 6 month process, which includes formation of a citizen advisory committee. But the district has given just five weeks between announcing the list of schools on the chopping block, and the final vote on Thursday. There is no citizen committee.
The fierce urgency of now requires immediate action, and no democratic process whatever.
The district has wildly exaggerated the under-enrollment numbers at these schools, cherry-picked numbers
The process has been indefensible. Board members and the Superintendent have short-circuited the usual decision making process on school closure in order to jam these through. The California Department of Education recommends a 6 month process, which includes formation of a citizen advisory committee. But the district has given just five weeks between announcing the list of schools on the chopping block, and the final vote on Thursday. There is no citizen committee.
The fierce urgency of now requires immediate action, and no democratic process whatever.
The district has wildly exaggerated the under-enrollment numbers at these schools, cherry-picked numbers
Mercedes Schneider on the NCTQ Board
This is the sixteenth installment of Mercedes Schneider’s analysis of the board of the National Council on Teacher Quality.
Mercedes is a teacher in Louisiana who holds a Ph.D. in statistics and research methods. As a teacher, she wanted to know about the organization that is now evaluating teacher preparation programs around the nation.
Tomorrow she will release her overview of the entire series.
Mercedes is a teacher in Louisiana who holds a Ph.D. in statistics and research methods. As a teacher, she wanted to know about the organization that is now evaluating teacher preparation programs around the nation.
Tomorrow she will release her overview of the entire series.
Nashville Leaders Fight GOP Plan to Kill Local Control
Republican leaders in the Tennessee legislature are pushing ALEC model legislation to strip the Metro Nashville school board of its power to authorize charters. This is intended to punish Nashville for refusing to support Arizona-based Great Hearts Academy, a corporate chain that wants to open in an affluent white neighborhood. Memphis is also included in the proposal.
Nashville leaders, excepting the corporate-friendly mayor, oppose the legislation. The mayor believes that the power to expand charters is more important than local control. .
The ALEC bill has the support of Michelle Rhee’s StudentsFirst,
Nashville leaders, excepting the corporate-friendly mayor, oppose the legislation. The mayor believes that the power to expand charters is more important than local control. .
The ALEC bill has the support of Michelle Rhee’s StudentsFirst,
Information About Save Texas Schools Rally
Click here to learn details about rally on February 23 in Austin.
Last year, the rally drew 13,000 people.
I am looking forward to joining with my fellow Texans on behalf of the schools that educated me from kindergarten through twelfth grades.
Last year, the rally drew 13,000 people.
I am looking forward to joining with my fellow Texans on behalf of the schools that educated me from kindergarten through twelfth grades.
Turning Gym Class into Test Prep
Remember the obesity crisis? Guess not.
In the mad obsession to raise test scores and to outcompete the world, physical education classes are being turned into opportunities to teach reading, math, geography, and almost anything that might be on the test.
The story reads:
On a recent afternoon, the third graders in Sharon Patelsky’s class reviewed words like “acronym,” “clockwise” and “descending,” as well as math concepts like greater than, less than and place values.
“Ms. Patelsky, the physical education teacher at Everglades Elementary School here, instructed the students to
In the mad obsession to raise test scores and to outcompete the world, physical education classes are being turned into opportunities to teach reading, math, geography, and almost anything that might be on the test.
The story reads:
On a recent afternoon, the third graders in Sharon Patelsky’s class reviewed words like “acronym,” “clockwise” and “descending,” as well as math concepts like greater than, less than and place values.
“Ms. Patelsky, the physical education teacher at Everglades Elementary School here, instructed the students to
Diane in the Evening 2-19-13 Diane Ravitch's blog
Diane Ravitch's blog: What About the Good Charters? by dianerav This parent takes issue with Mark Naison and Bruce Bernstein, who wrote a post about how to tell whether your local charter school is avaricious. The few “good charters” are used by the corporate charter chains to clear the path. Superb list. Very true. However, I must disagree with this sentence: “We will not categorically write off charter schools because there are some great ones.” Maybe. But the privatizers declared war on our schools, our kids, our teachers, our parents and our taxpayers. We didn’t start thi... more »