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Tuesday, February 5, 2013

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How to Fix Oklahoma’s Report Cards

A group of scholars in Oklahoma have reviewed the state’s simplistic A-F report cards for schools and proposed a better way to look at school effectiveness. The Tulsa World provided a link so perhaps many people in the state will see it.
Jeb Bush pioneered this grading system on Florida. It puts far too much emphasis on test scores.
Three worthy parts of the review:
1. The fact that these scholars did this report matters
2. Good bibliography
3. Conclusion:
“The work of schools and school leaders might be compared to gardening, that is, tending to the growth of a 


Mercedes Schneider on NCTQ and Wendy Kopp: Part 7

Mercedes Scneider continues her dissection of the nonpartisan National Council on Teacher Quality. This post examines the qualifications of Wendy Kopp.

Let Them Eat Cake!

EduShyster has generously written a guest post for readers of this blog.
She has timed this post with the release of Michelle Rhee’s memoir, which makes its debut today. (No one knows who wrote Rhee’s book, but some Washingtonians think they know.)
In honor of the day, EduShyster has collected a recipe from Adell Cothorne, the brave principal who filed a whistleblower lawsuit about the cheating that she saw in the D.C. public schools. Cothorne is now baking cupcakes for a living, having temporarily stepped away from a toxic

What You Need to Know About ALEC

Want to know who is pulling the stings of he corporate reform movement?
Keep your eye on ALEC, short for the American Legislative Exchange Council.
This is a secretive group of about 2,000 state legislators, major corporations and far-right think tanks.
The goal of ALEC is privatization and advancing the interests of corporations.
ALEC drafts model laws and its members introduce them in their state, sometimes verbatim.

Teacher: There Is No Florida Miracle

You may have heard that former Governor Jeb Bush regularly parades the “Florida miracle,” perhaps preparing for a 2016 run at the presidency. The formula, we hear, is testing and accountability, grading schools, charters and vouchers, and of course, online courses and schools.
This Florida teacher wrote a comment and gives a different view from the trenches:
I will go out on a limb here and argue that there IS no “Florida miracle.” I taught in a Miami-Dade high school for 6 years and I watched our school grade go from a C to a D back to a C, stay a C, and then up to a B…I think it was also an F at some point in there. During that time, did I see any change in the “quality” of student? Nope. Did I see any change in the quality of the teachers? Nope. Did I see any change in the quality of the 

MORNING UPDATE: LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH 2-4-13 Diane Ravitch's blog

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 10 hours ago
Diane Ravitch's blog: [image: Click on picture to Listen to Diane Ravitch] Is This What Bill Gates Means by Good Education? by dianerav Last week, Bill Gates wrote an opinion piece for the Wall Street Journal in which he explained how to solve the world’s biggest problems. The article was titled, modestly, “My Plan to Fix the World’s Biggest Problems.” The answer is simple: Measurement. To prove his point in education, he pointed to the Eagle Valley High School, near Vail, Colorado. He said that the school adopted his recommendations about measuring teacher quality, and test score... more »