Latest News and Comment from Education

Monday, March 18, 2013

Diane in the Evening 3-18-13 Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all

Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all:








Breaking News: Providence Officials Oppose Graduation Test

The Providence Student Union has taken a stand against the NECAP graduation test. Last Saturday, a few dozen local leaders took the test, any said it was too hard for them, and they are nervously waiting for their scores.
When students take action, everything changes!
Here is the news:
“Providence City Council education committee opposes NECAP as graduation requirement”


Students in R.I. Punished for Their Tweets

The ACLU is protesting disciplinary actions taken against high school students in Warwick, Rhode Island.
The students tweeted something negative about State Superintendent Deborah Gist. Whatever they tweeted was not reported in this story.
The story said: “Several students called Gist names on Twitter following a story in the Journal in which about 35 adults took a portion of the New England Common Assessment or NECAP, deeming it very difficult. Several questioned if should be linked to high school graduation.”
Some of the students tweeted on school time. Some tweeted from home.
At a time when school officials are breaking the budget to put all students online, policing what they say online


Has the Train Left the Station?

Supporters of corporate reform have several phrases they favor to persuade skeptics that resistance is futile.
One is to say that “the train has left the station.”
In other words, you have no choice. (Even though they prattle on about why kids need choice and how choice is the civil rights issue of the decade, they don’t think any educator or citizen should be able to choose to say no 


The Best Model Law for Student Privacy

Sheila Kaplan of Education Néw York is a specialist in student privacy issues.
She recommends this model law to protect children from marketing of their personal data.


A Student Wants to Know….Can You Answer?

recent post reported that Rupert Murdoch’s Amplify business won a contract to develop the formative assessments for one of the two federally-funded consortia preparing tests for the Common Core standards. Joel Klein is head of Amplify. As in any conversation among knowledgeable adults, we often don’t explain every word to outsiders. Do you object to the Common Core? to the online assessments? to the contract going to Murdoch 


Carol Burris: Why I Oppose the Common Core Standards

Carol Burris, the principal of South Side High School in Rockville Center, New York, was an early proponent of the Common Core standards. She wrote a book about how to implement them to benefit students.
But as the standards are turning into reality, what she imagined is going sour. She recently wrote two articles (here and here) about why she has decided she cannot support the Common Core.
To her dismay, the Common Core has turned out to be a way to standardize curriculum and testing across the 


Sacramento Will Close Schools Serving Neediest Students

I am late posting about the school closings in Sacramento, but better late than never.
In Sacramento, the Hmong Innovating Politics (HIP) and the Sacramento Coalition to Save Public Education are working together to protest the closing of seven elementary schools. The closing of these schools will have a disparate impact on children of color and English-language learners. The “savings” to the district will be miniscule.
The HIP press release against the closings follows here:
For Immediate Release Contact

LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH 3-18-13 Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 7 hours ago
Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all: [image: Click on picture to Listen to Diane Ravitch] What You Have Been Waiting For: The Cla$$room of the Future by dianerav EduShyster has captured in one small post the essence of the classroom of the future. Here it is. We will go where no nation in the world has ever dared to go: Schools where happy teachers (all of them Excellent) have classes of 100 or more students, each one enjoying a customized, personalized education on their own tablet. This Is What School Reform Does Not Look Like by dianerav Once agai... more »