Julian Vasquez Heilig: Parent Trigger and the Big $$$
This is Julian Vasquez Heilig’s continuing series called the Teat, in which he follows the money behind corporate reform. This one focuses on the so-called parent trigger. Previous installments have looked at TFA and KIPP.
I posted Gary Cohn’s excellent analysis of the funding behind Parent Revolution, the group created by charter advocates to trick parents into turning their public school over to charter corporations.
The name of the organization is the first hoax: Apparently the Walton family, the Broad family, and the Gates family want to start a “revolution.”
What kind of revolution would billionaires foment?
I posted Gary Cohn’s excellent analysis of the funding behind Parent Revolution, the group created by charter advocates to trick parents into turning their public school over to charter corporations.
The name of the organization is the first hoax: Apparently the Walton family, the Broad family, and the Gates family want to start a “revolution.”
What kind of revolution would billionaires foment?
TeacherKen: Who Are the Cheaters?
Ken Bernstein, retired teacher, posted this comment:
“There are other issues that need to be included, even if there are no problems with erasures. States report scaled scores. They can and do change the conversion rate from raw to scaled in order to show “improvement” year to year. The year before I taught in Virginia the school in which I taught had a 58% pass rate on the Middle School American History test. The year I was there the pass rate was 81%, my own was 89%. Sounds great, right? Except they had lowered the cut score and changed the conversion. If the previous year’s raw scores had been converted using the same matrix, the score would have been 71% or so. Thus we showed “improvement” but not that much.”
“There are other issues that need to be included, even if there are no problems with erasures. States report scaled scores. They can and do change the conversion rate from raw to scaled in order to show “improvement” year to year. The year before I taught in Virginia the school in which I taught had a 58% pass rate on the Middle School American History test. The year I was there the pass rate was 81%, my own was 89%. Sounds great, right? Except they had lowered the cut score and changed the conversion. If the previous year’s raw scores had been converted using the same matrix, the score would have been 71% or so. Thus we showed “improvement” but not that much.”
This Rhee Scandal Can’t Be Silenced with Spin
John Merrow’s bombshell investigation of cheating in DC is seeping into the mainstream media. There is no way that polished statements and well-honed rhetoric will stop the suspicions and speculation. It’s time for a thorough and professional investigation.
Here is a blogger for Esquire magazine, who goes to the heart of the matter. What did Rhee know and when did she know it and what did she do in response?
The money quote:
“And, of course, there is the inevitable Weaselspeak.
“As chancellor I received countless reports, memoranda and presentations. I don’t recall receiving a report by
Here is a blogger for Esquire magazine, who goes to the heart of the matter. What did Rhee know and when did she know it and what did she do in response?
The money quote:
“And, of course, there is the inevitable Weaselspeak.
“As chancellor I received countless reports, memoranda and presentations. I don’t recall receiving a report by
What John Merrow Told Education Writers
This was in my email:
From: Education writers forum. [mailto:EWA-L@PO.MISSOURI.EDU] On Behalf Of John Merrow
Sent: Thursday, April 11, 2013 3:31 PM
To: EWA-L@PO.MISSOURI.EDU
Subject: [EWA-L] Michelle Rhee and the Missing Memo—which has turned up
Listers,
Below are the first few paragraphs of what I am posting in a few minutes. The piece runs 4300 words is fully
From: Education writers forum. [mailto:EWA-L@PO.MISSOURI.EDU] On Behalf Of John Merrow
Sent: Thursday, April 11, 2013 3:31 PM
To: EWA-L@PO.MISSOURI.EDU
Subject: [EWA-L] Michelle Rhee and the Missing Memo—which has turned up
Listers,
Below are the first few paragraphs of what I am posting in a few minutes. The piece runs 4300 words is fully
A City Council Hearing Is Not Enough
Will the cover up succeed?
Read this in the New York Times.
The DC City Council will hold hearings. But hearings are not the same as a professional investigation as was
Read this in the New York Times.
The DC City Council will hold hearings. But hearings are not the same as a professional investigation as was
Are the Data Scrubbed and Cooked?
A reader wonders about whether the data can be trusted when there are so many reasons to inflate the numbers.
She writes:
“Merrow finally points out the most explosive point in this memo, one that’s being passed over in commentaries. Fay noted that specific erasure patterns occurred across many classrooms. That would indicate that systematic cheating occurred at the building level, and point toward the principals.
“Massachusetts has never requested erasure analyses, so far as I know. I wish they would. My own district is in
She writes:
“Merrow finally points out the most explosive point in this memo, one that’s being passed over in commentaries. Fay noted that specific erasure patterns occurred across many classrooms. That would indicate that systematic cheating occurred at the building level, and point toward the principals.
“Massachusetts has never requested erasure analyses, so far as I know. I wish they would. My own district is in
Voodoo Education or Zombie Education?
The Chalkface blog says that we have had a steady diet of “miracles” for at least the past dozen years, starting with the “Texas miracle.”
He call this Voodoo Education Reform.
I tend to see the ideas of the past dozen years, which were percolating the previous 20 or so years, as Zombie Education Reform.
I use the term advisedly to refer to policies that have no evidence to support them, that fail and fail again and again, but that are imposed repeatedly by powerful people, despite their failure.
He call this Voodoo Education Reform.
I tend to see the ideas of the past dozen years, which were percolating the previous 20 or so years, as Zombie Education Reform.
I use the term advisedly to refer to policies that have no evidence to support them, that fail and fail again and again, but that are imposed repeatedly by powerful people, despite their failure.
Diane in the Evening 4-12-13 Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all
Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all: How a School Board Candidate Beat the Billionaires by dianerav Please read this statement by Bennett Kayser. He ran against a heavily funded candidate for the Los Angeles school board, and he won. He is a public school parent. He is endorsing Monica Ratliff, because she too is running against the USA Today on Rhee Cheating Scandal by dianerav USA Today was first to report the cheating scandal in the District of Columbia. Here is the follow-up story by Gregg Toppo, about the memo first leaked to John Merrow. E... more »