Saturday, March 30, 2013

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Diane Ravitch's blog

LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH ALL WEEK LONG 
DIANE RAVITCH'S BLOG


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NYC Official Responds to Parent

dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 46 minutes ago
I posted earlier today a letter from a parent to a high-level NYC official, complaining about the city’s threat to cut the school’s funding if too many children opted out of state testing. What do you think the official replied: we must follow the law. We must do as we are told. Don’t you long [...]

Di Carlo: The Camden Takeover

dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 1 hour ago
Matt D Carlo evaluates Néw Jersey’s decision to take over the Camden school district. Di Carlo says it may have been justified or not. But state officials did not make their case. Sounds like Chris Cerf should hire a statistician.

The Atlanta Investigation: The Documents

dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 1 hour ago
Erich Martel of D.C. posted the documents from the Atlanta investigation. “These are the four Atlanta Public School (APS) Investigation Report documents: There are some unexpected surprises. Supt. Hall hired two “experts” to do a review of a few schools in response to concerns. One is a well-known consultant, author of “Unpacking the Standards.” His [...]

Rochester Teachers Union: Common Core Sets Us Up for Failure

dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 1 hour ago
The Rochester Teachers Union is running an ad campaign against the Common Core testing. The state education department predicts that scores will drop by 30 percent. “It’s a setup for failure,” said John Pavone of the Rochester Teachers Association. Teachers are worried they will be evaluated based on a curriculum that was rolled out this [...]

Parent to NYC Official: Stop the Intimidation!

dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 1 hour ago
Last year, Jeff Nichols and his wife Ann Stone wrote an article that appeared in the New York Times about taking the “practice” version of the third-grade English language arts test. The test was sent home with one of their children as “vacation homework,” an oxymoron in itself. Both college professors, they did it for [...]

Astonishing Details of Atlanta Indictments for Cheating

dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 10 hours ago
The New York Times has an extended story on the indictments of educators for their alleged participation in cheating on tests. Ex-superintendent Beverly Hall was one of 35 Atlanta educators indicted in the biggest cheating scandal in public school history. A third-grade teacher agreed to wear a wire for the investigators: She “admitted to Mr. [...]

G.F. Brandenburg Asks: If Indictments in Atlanta, Why Not D.C.?

dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 11 hours ago
G.F. Brandenburg is a retired math teacher who has a habit of plain speaking and a math teacher’s ability to get right to the point. His ability to dissect false claims using data is almost unparalleled; I say “almost,” because another math teacher, Gary Rubinstein, is good at this too. In this post, he asks [...]

Breaking News: Former Atlanta Superintendent Indicted

dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 15 hours ago
A report in the New York Times says that Dr. Beverly L. Hall was indicted by a grand jury for her role in the Atlanta cheating scandal. The story says, in part: “Investigators laid blame for the biggest standardized-test cheating scandal in the country’s history on the superintendent, Dr. Hall, who led the 50,000-student school system from [...]

Beware of Self-promotion When Your Stats Are Bad

dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 21 hours ago
Julian Vasquez Heilig is one of the bloggers I enjoy enormously because he has the statistical smarts and energy to vet dubious claims. Follow his blog. He always has smart insights, with the data to back them up. It is called cloakinginequity.com. The other day I put up a post about an opinion piece in [...]

Is Michelle Rhee a “Public School Parent?”

dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 22 hours ago
The Los Angeles Times is trying to figure out why Michelle Rhee is so evasive about being “a public school parent.” Rhee lives in Sacramento. Her daughters live in Nashville, where her ex-husband is State Commissioner of Education (having been communication director for TFA). He is a major proponent of charters and vouchers. In Tennessee, [...]

My Non-Debate with Marc Tucker: My Response

dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 23 hours ago
Marc Tucker has published what he says will be the final round in his debate with me. He noticed that I never actually responded to his first two posts. I printed the views of others. I have not debated him because I don’t see how it is possible to debate a hypothetical. OK, we can [...]

Naison: Why I Won’t Let TFA Recruit My Students

dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 23 hours ago
Mark NAISON is a professor of African-American Studies at Fordham University. In this article, he explains why he will not permit TFA to recruit in his classes. First, he became angry when he discovered that the organization gave preference to Ivy League graduates over his own students, who had grown up in many of the [...]

Vouchers Don’t Work: Evidence from Milwaukee

dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 23 hours ago
Now that 17 states have authorized vouchers to “save kids from failing schools,” it is time to review the evidence from Milwaukee, which has had vouchers for 22 years. The “independent evaluator” of the Milwaukee and D.C. voucher programs is Patrick J. Wolf of the University of Arkansas. As we learned during school choice week [...]

Why I Admire Rod Rock

dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 23 hours ago
Last year, I placed Rod Rock of the Clarkston school district in Michigan on the honor roll. A member of his staff sent me his latest letter to his colleagues, and I realized I not only respect Rod Rock, I admire him. He represents the highest values of American education. He reminds us how adults [...]

Deshotels: Oprah Inadvertently Reveals Charter Secrets

dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 1 day ago
Mike Deshotels is one of Louisiana’s tireless bloggers who demand old-fashioned things like honesty and integrity. In this post, Mike says that the Oprah show on Steve Barr’s takeover of a New Orleans high school inadvertently reveals charter secrets of success. Barr no longer runs Green Dot. He had some financial issues a few years [...]

How the Gates Foundation Undermines Teachers’ Rights

dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 1 day ago
I often re-read this amazing article in the New York Times to remind me of the agenda of the Gates Foundation. It has a double agenda, like all the corporate reform groups it supports. It publicly speaks of support and collaboration with teachers, but it funds organizations that actively campaign against any job protections for [...]

Does New York State Care About Education?

dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 1 day ago
Jere Hochman, superintendent of the Bedford Central School District, describes the outrageous pressure on schools. Governor Cuomo put a 2% cap on new taxes, and it requires a super-majority of 60% to lift the tax cap. Many schools are cutting the budget, cutting programs, laying off librarians. More mandates keep coming from the state and [...]

The Mystery of the $18,000 in Alabama Solved

dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 1 day ago
A reader did some sleuthing when presented earlier with the question of who was paying for an ad buy of at least $18,000 to support the Alabama Accountability Act: He writes: Oh, what a tangled web we weave… So, alabamaaccountability.com/ is owned by Domains by Proxy LLC, a company that has already been identified as [...]

Which Entrepreneur Will Get Camden’s Kids?

dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 1 day ago
Jersey Jazzman has done his usual spectacular research job and discovered that a new charter operator is poised to enter the Camden “market” of school choice. It happens to be the same for-profit charter operator who runs the Chester Community Charter School, who happens to be the single biggest campaign contributor to Pennsylvania governor Tom [...]

Who Are These Ideologues? Fill in the Blanks

dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 1 day ago
Ed Berger has written a wise blog about the damage that ideologues do. In this post, he describes two people but does not identify them by name. He writes about how their narrow experience, their arrogance, their certainty, and their inability to learn from their mistakes do serious damage to other people. Who are they?

Response to Absurd N.C. Charter Proposal

dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 1 day ago
A reader comments on the post this morning about a Republican proposal to give a new state charter board authority over charter schools, to low charters to hire as many uncertified teachers as they wish, to eliminate criminal background checks for charter staff and operators, etc.: He writes: So let’s get this straight…the same GOP [...]

An Insider Reveals What Happens in Cyber Charter Schools

dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 1 day ago
I have written many posts about the scam and sham of cyber charters. They are highly profitable for their owners and investors, but study after study shows that they provide a poor education. Whatever their value for adults, whatever the value of an online course for a rural student, the cyber charters are a pitiful [...]

Hype, Spin, and Deception: The Reform Narrative

dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 1 day ago
Have you heard about the latest miracle school? Have you heard about the school that graduate all students regardless of zip codes? Want to learn more about their success? EduShyster explains it here.

Camden, NJ, School Board Member: I Quit

dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 1 day ago
After Governor Christie announced his intention to take control of the public schools of Camden, this school board member resigned in protest. The state has controlled three other impoverished urban districts, some for more than 20 years, without improving them. Paterson, for 24 years; Jersey City for 22 years; and Newark for 18 years. Based [...]

NY Times Reports Spread of Vouchers, Ignores ALEC, RTTT

dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 2 days ago
A story today in the New York Times gives an overview of the rapid advance of voucher programs, now found in various forms in 17 states. What is missing from the article is context. The defenders of unlicensed education quoted are the heads of the unions and spokesmen for LLC school boards. The advocates for [...]

Who Dropped $18,000 into Alabama to Endorse Controversial Law? UPDATE! Link fixed!

dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 2 days ago
Somebody put up at least $18,000 to run ads supporting the so-called Alabama Accountability Act. A newly formed group called the Foundation for Accountability in Education spent the money but won’t disclose the donors, nor are they legally required to. The act was rushed through by GOP legislators who had been negotiating with Democrats on [...]

Where Are the Progressives?

dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 2 days ago
Jeff Bryant decries the phony bipartisan consensus surrounding education “reform.” He wonders where are the progressives. He compares the bipartisan consensus around education reform to the bipartisan consensus that prevailed before the war in Iraq, when dissenters were marginalized and ignored. But he sees hope in the growing rebellion against high-stakes testing. More and more [...]

North Carolina Republicans Want Unregulated, Unsupervised Charter$

dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 2 days ago
North Carolina Republican State Senators have filed legislation that would remove oversight of charters by the State Education Board and turn it over to a new board hand picked by the governor. Charter schools would no longer be required to submit applications to local school boards. All meaningful supervision and oversight would be eliminated. Local [...]

Photos from Chicago Protests

dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 2 days ago
Fred Klonsky has an excellent assortment of photos from the Chicago protest today against school closings. Parents, students, and teachers will not go quietly. And they should not.

Bad Bill Alert in Texas!

dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 2 days ago
Raise Your Hand Texas ACTION ALERT Bad Bill Alert! Your Action Is Needed TODAY! March 27, 2013 Let the Senate Education Committee Know You Oppose SB 1263! SB 1263 by Senator Larry Taylor is the “Parent Trigger” bill. The “Parent Trigger” Is About Destroying Public Schools, Not Saving Them SB 1263 radically undermines efforts to [...]

Indiana Voucher Decision Allows Public Funding to Schools That Discriminate

dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 2 days ago
This is a thoughtful analysis of the dreadful voucher decision in Indiana yesterday. It says, “The plaintiffs in the voucher case alleged the program violates three sections of the Indiana Constitution: Article 8, Section 1, which requires a “general and uniform system of Common Schools”; Article 1, Section 4, which says citizens can’t be forced [...]

Breaking News: A Desperate Message from Memphis

dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 2 days ago
I received this email from a high school teacher in Memphis. Please read it and understand that we must organize against the destruction of public education in America. This, plus the court approval of vouchers in Indiana yesterday sends an ominous message: the radical reactionaries are determined to destroy public education. We must fight back. [...]

Will Florida Republicans Block Parent Trigger Again?

dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 2 days ago
Coach Bob Sikes wonders if Florida Republicans will learn a lesson from Georgia Republicans. In Georgia, the Republicans pulled back on a so-called Parent Trigger bill, which would enable a vote of parents to convert their community school into a privately managed charter school. In Florida, the Jeb Bush foundation and the Chamber of Commerce [...]

Mississippi Retreats from Public Education, Back to the Dark Ages

dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 2 days ago
In Mississippi, the speaker of the House of Representatives announced that he was appointing a proponent of charter schools to the state board of education that oversees public education. The nominee was home-schooled. Is Mississippi moving boldly forward into a world without public schools or dumbly backward into a world that predates the establishment of [...]

Should His District Ask for RTTT $$$$?

dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 2 days ago
A teacher writes to ask how test scores might be used wisely if his district gets Race to the Top funding. My advice: RTTT funding will cost your district far more than it receives from the federal government. Your district will have to increase class sizes, lay off teachers, and cut programs to meet all [...]

TeacherEd: Blaming Schools Instead of Taxing Corporations

dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 2 days ago
We have had a lively conversation on this blog about whether poverty matters in relation to test scores, whether it is a cause or merely correlated with low scores, and whether schools alone (as some “reformers”) claim, can end poverty. TeacherEd weighs in here: This is just a red herring. It’s been over 45 years [...]

Schneider Checks Out Chiefs for Change

dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 2 days ago
Mercedes Schneider, one of Louisiana’s fearless and intrepid bloggers, has been conducting research into the groups that together propel the corporate reform movement. In this post, she examines “Chiefs for Change.” This organization consists of several state superintendents who are aligned with Jeb Bush and his ideas. Who are these “chiefs”? What is their connection [...]

A Better Way to Evaluate Teachers–Without Test Scores

dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 2 days ago
A teacher from Montgomery County, Maryland, describes its innovative ad successful way of evaluating teachers in a professional way: with support and professional judgement, but not test scores. The state of Maryland had the misfortune to in Race to the Top funding, so the PAR program was found unacceptable because Arne Duncan demands test scores [...]

The Hoax of Closing Schools to Save Money

dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 3 days ago
District officials say they are closing schools to save money, but experience has shown that the savings seldom occur. They claim the schools are under-utilized even as they open charters to compete with the public schools for which the officials are responsible. The officials help the charters to grow and simultaneously harm the public schools. [...]

How Texas Legislators Debated Graduation Requirements

dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 3 days ago
This is a good summary of the debate about high school graduation requirements in the Texas House of Representatives. I couldn’t help but think back to my own experience in Texas public schools many years ago (to be exact, I graduated from San Jacinto High School in 1956). To the best of my knowledge, the [...]

Breaking News! Texas Reins in High-Stakes Testing!

dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 3 days ago
The Texas Legislature heard the voices of parents, students, teachers, and employers. The Texas House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly, 145-2, to reduce high-stakes testing. Under the legislation, the number of tests required for high school graduation would be reduced from 15 (the highest in the nation) to five. The Texas Senate earlier passed a bill [...]

Florida: Shameless Conflicts of Interest

dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 3 days ago
State legislatures make decisions about funding formulas, so that is where lobbyists spend their time and energy. In Florida, the legislature is very charter-friendly when it comes to money for operations, facilities, and capital sending. When you read this article, you will see why. Here’s a pithy quote: “A growing number of lawmakers have personal [...]

A Voice of Reason in Chicago

dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 3 days ago
Toni Preckwinkle, the president of the Cook County board, deplores the closing of 54 public schools in Chicago. She said it was a terrible idea. She said: ”You know, schools are community anchors. They’re social centers. They’re part of a community’s identity. And often kids go half a dozen blocks and they’re in different gang [...]

Anthony Cody and I Weigh In on the Weingarten-Gates Article

dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 3 days ago
In this post, Anthony Cody takes issue with Randi Weingarten’s decision to write an essay with Vicki Phillips of the Gates Foundation about teacher evaluation. Here is the essay. The fundamental problem with the Gates Foundation is that they have directed the entire national conversation to blaming teachers–instead of poverty and segregation– for low test [...]

Would You Take the Test?

dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 3 days ago
How great is the Providence Student Union? The students persuaded 50 accomplished professionals to take a test made up of released items from the math test. 60% of these brave and successful people would have failed to get a high school diploma if they were high school students. The Providence Student Union made a video [...]

Chicago Principals Told to Spy on Protestors Tomorrow

dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 3 days ago
In Chicago, the corporate reformers who claim to be leading “the civil rights movement of our time” are closing down schools in black communities. How this enhances the civil rights of the children is a mystery known only to the elites. This is a news bulletin from the Chicago Teachers Union about tomorrow’s protest demonstration: [...]

Did Chicago Tribune and Joyce Foundation Do Push Polling?

dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 3 days ago
Several weeks ago, a Chicago website reported that the Chicago Tribune, the Joyce Foundation, and the University of Chicago were engaging in “push polling.” This is a telephone poll that literally “pushes” the listener in a certain direction, with questions designed to have pre-determined conclusions. Read the transcript. Do you think this was a push [...]

Researchers and Professors: Sign Petition Against Chicago School Closings

dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 3 days ago
This just in, and don’t forget tomorrow’s big rally at Daley Plaza to protest the closing of more than 50 public schools: CReATE has a petition that we are asking university researchers and education professors to sign on to. After reading our brief on School Closings (url below), they can go [...]

Republican Legislator in Louisiana Wants Elected State Superintendent

dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 3 days ago
This is funny. Bobby Jindal and John White have ruled the state education system with an iron hand since Jindal won control of the state board of education. They have pushed vouchers and charters on the theory that parents need “choice” and the public schools should have no priority. Now a Republican legislator has proposed [...]

Less than Half Our Schools Have a Full-Time Nurse

dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 3 days ago
Matt Di Carlo examines the latest data about the availability of school nurses, and it is disturbing. For many children, the school nurse is the only medical care they will get. Only 41% of schools have a RN on staff. The data are none too new. They are from 2006, before the economic collapse. Very [...]

Indiana Court Endorses Vouchers

dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 3 days ago
The first organization out of the box to salute today’s Indiana court decision endorsing vouchers is the Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice, which exists to support vouchers. As you learned in an earlier post today, vouchers in Sweden have been concurrent with growing social stratification (in the U.S., we would call it growing segregation by [...]

Parent: The Inside Story of Venice High School

dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 3 days ago
I have tried to stay informed about what was happening to Venice High School in Los Angeles. It was confusing. The community, with no notice, was offered a choice: take Steve Barr’s pilot school or you will get a charter school. Remember Barr, the founder of the Green Do charters, an entrepreneur, not an educator. [...]

What Happened at Venice High School

dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 3 days ago
LA Times reporter Teresa Watanabe gives a good accounting of what happened at Venice High School in Los Angeles. The LAUSD board approved an “incubator school” to teach middle school students how to start their own business. How cool is that!? However, the Venice community–parents and students–reacted negatively and the business school for pre-teens may [...]

Report from EdWeek’s Rally for the Common Core in Indianapolis

dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 3 days ago
A friend who works for a major education association attended the EdWeek sponsored event about the Common Core express in Indianapolis (you know, get on it now before it leaves the station). He was aware of my concern that Education Week, which is supposed to be a nonpartisan source of news and information, has become [...]

Just Look at Malloy Nominee for State Board of Education

dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 3 days ago
Jonathan Pelto reminds us of the national publicity about a homeless woman who was arrested and fined for the crime of enrolling her child in the Norwalk public schools when she was not a resident of that city in Connecticut. Now Governor Dannell Malloy has nominated a woman to the state board of education even [...]

Who Owns Your Child’s Data?

dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 3 days ago
Be afraid. Be very afraid. Leonie Haimson of Class Size Matters in New York City has prepared the following report about threats to the privacy of children, families, and teachers. She reports as follows: “The Gates Foundation and Wireless Generation (owned by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation) have formed something called “Shared Learning Collaborative,” which has [...]

Mother Crusader: How Cerf Picked Charter Operator for Cmden

dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 4 days ago
Darcie Cimarusti–aka Mother Crusader–has become a scourge to the New Jersey State Education Department. She has taught herself to be a sleuth. And she has mastered the Open Public Records Act to dig for information and connect the dots. This post is a good example of a parent doing the job of an investigative journalist. [...]

Vouchers in Sweden: Scores Fall, Inequality Grows

dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 4 days ago
Professor Henry M. Levin is a distinguished economist and director of the National Center for the Study of Privatization in Education at Teachers College, Columbia University. He recently participated in a conference in Sweden convened by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences to review the evidence about the effects of vouchers, which were initiated in [...]

EduShyster: The Minnsanity of School Reform

dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 4 days ago
You must read EduShyster’s description of “reform” in Minneapolis, which she calls “Minnsanity.” Folks, you can’t make this stuff up. Is there a method in their madness? Do they have any evidence for what they are doing? If it fails and fails, and they do the same thing over and over, what do you call [...]

My Debate with Chas Roemer in Baton Rouge

dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 4 days ago
I was invited to debate a state leader in Baton Rouge on March 14. The leader who accepted was Chas Roemer, president of theBoard of Elementary and Secondary Education. Chas is a strong supporter of Governor Bobby Jindal’s “reforms” of massive privatization through vouchers nd charters and outsourcing students and taxpayer to for-profit corporations. Chas [...]

Network for Public Education Deplores Mass Closings in Chicago

dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 4 days ago
The Network for Public Education has released a statement condemning the Rahm Emanuel administration for the outrageous school closings in Chicago. Parents, teachers, administrators, and concerned citizens must speak up and act out against this horrendous and arrogant action by Mayor Rahm Emanuel.

Mass Protest Rally in Chicago

dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 4 days ago
The Chicago Teachers Union is planning a mass protest rally on Wednesday. The schools closings in Chicago are the largest in American history. Never has any district closed so many schools at the same time. Only since the passage of George W. Bush’s No Child Left Behind and Arne Duncan’s Race to the Top has [...]

An Astonishing Revelation

dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 4 days ago
I earlier posted about the decision by Governor Christie to take control of the public schools of Camden, New Jersey. The state has controlled three other districts without “fixing” them. What will be different now? Or in those three other districts still under state control. This teacher in Florida knows what should be done: “I [...]

The Chalkface Interviews Karen Lewis

dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 4 days ago
This just in: We had an amazing interview with Karen Lewis last night. Powerful. If you didn’t have a chance to listen here is the link. Karen Lewis stops by to talk to Shaun and Tim. Why? Because we’re good looking of course. http://www.blogtalkradio.com/chalkface/2013/03/24/at-the-chalk-face-progressive-edreform-talk Tim Slekar

What Harry Truman Learned in the Library

dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 4 days ago
After I posted this morning about libraries, I received the following from Will Fitzhugh, who is publisher of The Concord Review. The Concord Review has been publishing exemplary history papers by high school students for many years. You never know what students will get interested in, what they will pursue on their own, what passion [...]

Do Schools Need Libraries?

dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 4 days ago
Libraries and librarians are on the chopping block in some districts in Maryland. This is personal for me. I love libraries. I always loved browsing the stacks and finding a new book, a new author, a new topic. For me, the library was a place of reverence, a place of quiet contemplation, a quiet place [...]

How Closing Schools Blights Communities

dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 4 days ago
This writer explains why closing schools blights communities and causes economic Decline. Officials in Chicago assert that hey are saving money by closing 50+ schools,but the ripple effect of school closings will leave devastated communities behind, costing taxpayers far more than any allied savings. Unfortunately, Chicago officials are looking on the schools as if they [...]

Bad Timing for a Report Lauding Mayoral Control

dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 4 days ago
The Center for American Progress is supposedly a liberal organization, but it is a cheerleader for corporate reform. It has published report after report endorsing the main ideas of No Child Left Behind and Race to the Top. It just released a new report that lauds mayoral control. Those of us who live in cities [...]

Randi Weingarten and Gates’ Phillips on Teacher evaluation

dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 4 days ago
Randi Weingarten and Vicki Phillips of the Gates Foundation have jointly written an article bout teacher evaluation. At a time when teachers and the teaching profession and teachers’ unions are under attack in states across the nation, how important is teacher evaluation? What do you think?

Chicago Tribune Continues Its Assault on Public Schools

dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 4 days ago
In an editorial today, the Chicago Tribune says it is time to “unchain the charters” because they have along waiting list. The “waiting list” is sheer propaganda. No one knows if it exists. No one knows how many duplications there are. No one acknowledges that charters spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to generate demand [...]

The Most Brilliant Post of the Day

dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 4 days ago
If you read nothing else today, read this post by the blogger who calls himself Crazy Crawfish. In a blinding flash of insight, he sees the pattern on the rug of the corporate reform movement. I won’t say anything more. Just read it.

Can We Stop the Disaster in Chicago?

dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 5 days ago
Robert George, former classroom teacher and currently national director of Save Our Schools, lives in the Chicago area. Here he urges everyone to join the March 27 rally against the mass school closings. Thoughts on a disaster… Have you ever witnessed a disaster? Where you troubled, shaken to your core, reminded of the need to live [...]

Occupy the DOE: See You There!

dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 5 days ago
Contact: United Opt Out National FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Email: unitedoptoutnational@gmail.com Website: http://unitedoptout.com OCCUPY THE US DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION 2.0 The Battle for Public Schools Administrators of the public education advocacy group UNITED OPT OUT NATIONAL are hosting the second annual event on the grounds of the US Department of Education in Washington, DC on April [...]

Susan Ohanian Responds to Marc Tucker re Common Core

dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 5 days ago
Twice MarcTucker wrote blog posts saying that I was wrong about the Common Core. In his second post, he challenged my assertion that parts often standards were developmentally inappropriate, and he cited experts (but not teachers) who agreed with him. Here, Susan Ohanian responds to Tucker: : Arguing about the content of the Common Core [...]

Should the Common Core Standards Have Been Field Tested?

dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 5 days ago
Marc Tucker and others scoffed when I said that the Common Core standards should have been field tested in a few districts and states before they were imposed on the 46 states. No one knows whether they will improve achievement. No one knows if they will widen or narrow the gaps between different groups. No [...]

When Democracy Died in Camden, NJ

dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 5 days ago
Jersey Jazzman reports that Governor Christie has decided to take control of the Camden school district. Camden is the fourth school district in the state to be taken over. Paterson, Newark, and Jersey City are already controlled by the state. JJ writes: “Let’s be clear: Paterson has been under state control for 24 years, Jersey City for [...]

NYC Parents and Students Mobilizing for Real Reform

dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 5 days ago
As the mayoral election of 2013 approaches, New York City parents and students are speaking up about what is most important to them. They got hold of an old school bus, painted it blue, and are driving around the city to raise awareness among other parents and students. The article linked here shows how parents [...]

Do Americans Believe in Equality of Opportunity?

dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 5 days ago
Governor Jerry Brown of California gave a brilliant state of the state speech in January, where he pledged to change fundings of public schools so that more money went to children with the greatest needs. It sounded reasonable. It costs more to educate a child who can’t speak English than one who can. It costs [...]

The Chicago Tribune’s Phony Poll Numbers on Reform

dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 5 days ago
Yesterday I ran a post about an editorial in the Chicago Tribune. The editorial touted the results of a poll which the newspaper conducted in partnership with the Joyce Foundation. The poll purportedly supported privatization, merit pay, evaluation of teachers by test scores, and every other failed nostrum of the Rahm Emanuel-ALEC crowd. But a [...]

Rahm: I Did It for the Children

dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 5 days ago
Fresh from his skiing vacation in Utah, Mayor Rahm Emanuel says he is closing 54 public schools because he wants all the children in Chicago to get a quality education. So he closing the schools of 30,000 children. May we see a show of hands? How many people believe that at the end of Emanuel’s [...]

Mayor Emanuel Returns from His Skiing Trip in Utah

dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 5 days ago
Mayor Rahm Emanuel, fresh from his skiing trip in Utah, and showing a bit of windburn on his face, held a press conference to explain that it was a “difficult” decision to close 54 public schools and disrupt the lives of 30,000 children. Mayor Emanuel’s children will not be affected, fortunately. They attend the elite [...]

A Wonderful Editorial Supporting Teachers: Please Read It

dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 5 days ago
When I was in North Carolina last week, I spoke in Raleigh at an event pulled together on short notice by NC Policy Watch, a state watchdog for the public interest. As it happened, I spoke just a few days after State Senator Phil Berger introduced a horrendous piece of legislation that he claimed would [...]

One of the Strangest Articles Ever

dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 5 days ago
An article in the Wall Street Journal goes on a rant against critics of standardized testing. It was written by a charter school advocate in Texas and a professor at ultra-conservative Hillsdale College in Michigan. The authors are shocked that so many parents and local school boards in Texas want to reduce the number of [...]

Chicago: A Disaster of “Seismic Proportions”

dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 5 days ago
Mike Klonsky describes the devastation that will befall communities in Chicago as their schools are abandoned. What will happen to the children? Mayor Rahm Emanuel decided to be in Utah when his plan to devastate black communities was released.

Celebrated Charter Loses Its Charter

dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 6 days ago
Few charter schools have received as much attention and accolades as the American Indian Model Schools of Oakland, California. Politicians and pundits flocked to the school to sing its praises and to heap honor and recognition on Ben Chavis, its leader. Chavis flaunted his “no excuses” style and his disdain for liberal softies. His schools [...]

Where are the Civil Rights Lawyers ?

dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 6 days ago
Have you noticed that the vast majority of public schools that are being closed enroll disproportionate numbers of black students? Even in districts that are majority black, the closing schools are even more segregated than the district. What will happen to these children? Jersey Jazzman noticed. He calls it the Néw Apartheid .

Chicago Tribune Abandons Public Education

dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 6 days ago
The Chicago Tribune says that the public is ready for “reform.” What they mean by reform is that it is time to blame teachers if kids don’t learn, and punish the teachers, like, fire them. What they mean by reform is that the editorial board wants the public schools to be put into private hands. [...]

Those Wacky Teacher Evaluation Schemes

dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 6 days ago
Matt Di Carlo is a careful social scientist. He combs through the data on teacher evaluation and tries to understand whether they make sense statistically. In his latest blog, he reports that the the results so far seem to show that most teachers are getting very good ratings. This is a huge disappointment to the [...]

A Teacher’s View of a Closing School in Chicago

dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 6 days ago
From a teacher: “I worked at one of the CPS schools that is going to be closed and, contrary to the administrative determination, it is not an “underutilized” school. “The school is truly an anchor in the community. Many teachers have worked there so long that their students today are the children of their former [...]

A Frank Letter from the Principal of Venice High School

dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 6 days ago
The Venice High School in Los Angeles has been offered a choice by the district administration: accept a pilot school or a charter school to share your space. The community was not asked for its input nor offered the choice to say no to a pilot school and a charter school. The first pilot school [...]

News from the Network for Public Education

dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 6 days ago
Here is the most recent newsletter of the Network for Public Education. It contains a clear statement of principles: what we are for and what we oppose. Please read and forward to your friends. If you belong to a group that is fighting for public schools, send them a copy of the newsletter and ask [...]

TFA Mentor Speaks Out

dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 6 days ago
David Greene mentors many young TFA recruits in the New York City public schools. They need his help because they are assigned to some of the city’s toughest schools. He made this comment in response to an earlier post about how Nevada hopes to replace some of its career teachers with TFA youngsters. David Greene [...]

Social Studies Teacher: Common Core Threatened by Hasty Implementation

dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 6 days ago
Stephen Lazar, a National Board Certified Teacher in New York City, was an early and enthusiastic supporter of the Common Core. He is worried now about the speed other which the standards are being pushed into the schools.

Governor Malloy Abandons Equitable Funding Plan in Connecticut

dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 6 days ago
In this important article, civil rights attorney explains how Governor Malloy switched sides on the funding formula for Connecticut public schools. What hypocrisy! As mayor of Stamford, he was a plaintiff in the lawsuit. As governor, he now opposes the views he once espoused. Lecker writes: “As Stamford’s mayor, Dannel Malloy was an original plaintiff [...]

How ALEC Influenced Legislation in New Jersey

dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 6 days ago
This article gives an excellent overview of the ALEC education agenda and shows how states–in this case, New Jersey–copy the ALEC model legislation almost verbatim.

Venice High School: How Do You Choose to Die?

dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 1 week ago
Yesterday I wrote a post about a decision by the Los Angeles school board to reject Steve Barr’s request to put a “pilot school” in Venice High School. Presumably the rejection was influenced by a massive outpouring of opposition by parents and students. Barr is an entrepreneur, not an educator. He started Green Dot charter [...]

An Open Letter to Governor Scott

dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 1 week ago
The recent MetLife survey of the American teacher showed a high level of demoralization among the Marion’s teachers. For those wondering why, read on. John Louis Meeks Jr. Is a Florida social studies teacher. He is a veteran of the U.S. Air Force. He wrote an open letter to Governor Scott to protest the disrespect [...]

The Mysterious “Network Leaders” of Louisiana

dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 1 week ago
Louisiana teacher Mercedes Schneider has uncovered a curious puzzle. When five veteran administrators are hired by the state superintendent as “network leaders,” at high salaries, then disappear from view, where did they go? What do they do?

Why Steve Barr Did Not Get Venice High School

dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 1 week ago
I received an urgent message from a parent of a student at Venice High school in Los Angeles. She was desperate because had just learned that the privatization-friendly LA school board was about to vote on whether to give half of Venice High School to Steve Barr, eduentrepreneur (founder of Green Dot charters but now [...]

Rhee Buddies Still Run DC Schools

dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 1 week ago
Most observers of the DC political scene think that Adrian Fenty lost to Vincent Gray because of the unpopularity and divisiveness of Michelle Rhee. A month after Gray wi, Rhee resigned and went on to create StudentsFirst, which has collected millions of dollars, mostly spent to elect Republicans in state legislatures. Rhee may be out [...]
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