Julian Vasquez Heilig Adds Graphics to the NEPC Story
Read here to see the illustrated version of the Wolf attack on me and NEPC.
What do we need to protect us from future Wolf attacks? Garlic? A mirror?
Maybe just common sense and concern for the commonweal.
But what do I know. I am but a humble blogger with a doctorate in history, not a statistician.
What do we need to protect us from future Wolf attacks? Garlic? A mirror?
Maybe just common sense and concern for the commonweal.
But what do I know. I am but a humble blogger with a doctorate in history, not a statistician.
Texas Leads the Nation in Testing, But Not in Education
A great post here by Carolyn Heinrich of the University of Texas.
She explains that Texas spends more than any other state in the nation on testing, but is seeing no returns on its heavy investment.
The cost is not just in dollars, but in the amount of time that students spend preparing for tests and taking tests, not to mention the distortion of the purpose and content of education.
This is a great analysis of how a well-meaning state can make disastrous decisions that hurt the quality of education.
She explains that Texas spends more than any other state in the nation on testing, but is seeing no returns on its heavy investment.
The cost is not just in dollars, but in the amount of time that students spend preparing for tests and taking tests, not to mention the distortion of the purpose and content of education.
This is a great analysis of how a well-meaning state can make disastrous decisions that hurt the quality of education.
Occupy the DOE: The Song
Matt Farmer is a public school parent in Chicago. He is also a lawyer. If you have not seen his cross-examination in absentia of Penny Pritzker, the billionaire member of the Chicago Board of Education, you should.
Now Matt is in his way to the rally in DC this week, from April 4-7, and he wrote a great song, which is here.
Watch, listen, and think. Who is closing the schools? Why? Who benefits?
Now Matt is in his way to the rally in DC this week, from April 4-7, and he wrote a great song, which is here.
Watch, listen, and think. Who is closing the schools? Why? Who benefits?
New Orleans: What If Most of the Choices Are Bad Ones?
Parents in New Orleans are likely to learn that their child is enrolled in an F school. Under federal law, they have a right to transfer to a higher-performing school.
But here is New Orleans’ dirty little secret: Most of he choices available to parents are also F rated schools.
This stunning article takes you inside the story that has been mythologized in the national media.
Consider this:
“More than seven years into the New Orleans choice experiment, documents and interviews reveal the schools
But here is New Orleans’ dirty little secret: Most of he choices available to parents are also F rated schools.
This stunning article takes you inside the story that has been mythologized in the national media.
Consider this:
“More than seven years into the New Orleans choice experiment, documents and interviews reveal the schools
NEPC: Patrick Wolf Should Apologize
Yesterday, Patrick Wolf published a vitriolic attack on me and on the National Education Policy Center.
This was in response to a post I had published saying that vouchers had failed in Milwaukee. They are supposed to “save minority students from failing schools,” but they do no better and sometimes worse than public schools. I cited Wolf’s evaluation, state test scores (which showed no edge for voucher students), and the fact that 75% of the voucher students in his study did not remain in the voucher schools to graduate. The 75% attrition rate appears in Wolf’s report. I did not know that he subsequently lowered the attrition rate to 56%, although that too is a pretty staggering attrition rate. I also noted that Wolf recently wrote an editorial in the Minneapolis Star-Tribune chastising his home state of Minnesota for not requiring more school choice. This caused me to
This was in response to a post I had published saying that vouchers had failed in Milwaukee. They are supposed to “save minority students from failing schools,” but they do no better and sometimes worse than public schools. I cited Wolf’s evaluation, state test scores (which showed no edge for voucher students), and the fact that 75% of the voucher students in his study did not remain in the voucher schools to graduate. The 75% attrition rate appears in Wolf’s report. I did not know that he subsequently lowered the attrition rate to 56%, although that too is a pretty staggering attrition rate. I also noted that Wolf recently wrote an editorial in the Minneapolis Star-Tribune chastising his home state of Minnesota for not requiring more school choice. This caused me to
Jindal Poll Rating Plummets
Bobby Jindal is the poster boy for the radical assault on everything that belongs to the public.
He has attacked public education, public hospitals, public higher education, and anything else that is in the public sector. He wants to outsource, give away, rent, lease, or sell whatever he can at bargain prices to the corporate sector.
A few weeks ago, he released his tax reform plan, in which he eliminates the personal income tax and the
He has attacked public education, public hospitals, public higher education, and anything else that is in the public sector. He wants to outsource, give away, rent, lease, or sell whatever he can at bargain prices to the corporate sector.
A few weeks ago, he released his tax reform plan, in which he eliminates the personal income tax and the
Why The Business Model Is Not Right for Children
A reader comments:
The profitization of public education on the backs of students, parents & teachers is obscene to the spirit of the human being business we call Education. Families raise the children, educators prepare them for the free world as American citizens armed with knowledge and compassion to contribute to the good of this planet.
No matter how critical the corporate deformers think testing should be to the rest of us, WE educators have something they do not…experience.
The business model just doesn’t work quite the way they think it should in education. We aren’t manufacturing
The profitization of public education on the backs of students, parents & teachers is obscene to the spirit of the human being business we call Education. Families raise the children, educators prepare them for the free world as American citizens armed with knowledge and compassion to contribute to the good of this planet.
No matter how critical the corporate deformers think testing should be to the rest of us, WE educators have something they do not…experience.
The business model just doesn’t work quite the way they think it should in education. We aren’t manufacturing
Connecticut Principal of the Year: Advice to Politicians about High-Stakes Testing
Tom McMorran was named Connecticut’s principal of the year in 2012. Here he offers a lesson to our nation’s politicians about the Common Core standards and high-stakes testing. Send this to your state legislators and your member of Congress and the Senate.
Tom sent the following comment:
It is time to school our politicians about CCSS and High-Stakes testing.
Here is a day in course level 101.
Tom McMorran
2012 High School Principal of the Year NASSP
Philosophy 101:
In order for an argument to carry weight and cause one not only (1) to believe it, but also
Tom sent the following comment:
It is time to school our politicians about CCSS and High-Stakes testing.
Here is a day in course level 101.
Tom McMorran
2012 High School Principal of the Year NASSP
Philosophy 101:
In order for an argument to carry weight and cause one not only (1) to believe it, but also
Is This the Goal of “Choice”?
When ALEC and its faithful friends in think tanks and state legislatures promote “choice,” what do they really mean? When the Walton family and their family foundation attack public sector institutions and advocate choice, what do they really want? When they push the Parent Trigger and call it “empowerment,” who do they want to empower?
This reader left a comment in which he sees a strategy and a goal in the laws and policies pushed by ALEC, the Waltons and others intent on privatizing the public sector.
He writes:
“It is a tenet of ALEC that charter schools should be completely
This reader left a comment in which he sees a strategy and a goal in the laws and policies pushed by ALEC, the Waltons and others intent on privatizing the public sector.
He writes:
“It is a tenet of ALEC that charter schools should be completely
Lawsuit Filed in Connecticut, Claims Vallas Contract Illegal
Jonathan Pelto reports that Connecticut State Commissioner Stefan Pryor, Paul Vallas, and the Bridgeport Board of Education are being sued for illegally hiring Superintendent Paul Vallas.
Pelto writes:
“The CTMirror story goes on to report, “State law requires all superintendents in Connecticut to be certified by the State Department of Education, which requires a candidate have a master’s degree plus 30 credits in courses relating to becoming a superintendent and eight years of teaching or administrative experience. These requirements can be waived for up to one year by the state’s education commissioner while the candidate
Pelto writes:
“The CTMirror story goes on to report, “State law requires all superintendents in Connecticut to be certified by the State Department of Education, which requires a candidate have a master’s degree plus 30 credits in courses relating to becoming a superintendent and eight years of teaching or administrative experience. These requirements can be waived for up to one year by the state’s education commissioner while the candidate
How ALEC Is Changing the Face of Charters
When the charter school movement began in the early 1990s, the promise of advocates was that charters would be held accountable for results. There were two promises, really: one was that there would be accountability; the other was that there would be results. If the results didn’t happen, the schools would close.
Now there is a new approach to charters, sponsored by ALEC (American Legislative Exchange Council). To learn more about ALEC and to see its model legislation for education and other issues, look here.
It is a tenet of ALEC that charter schools should be completely unregulated, unsupervised, and unaccountable. The goal is choice, not accountability or results.
ALEC pretends to be conservative but pushes model legislation to give the governor and sometimes his allies the
Now there is a new approach to charters, sponsored by ALEC (American Legislative Exchange Council). To learn more about ALEC and to see its model legislation for education and other issues, look here.
It is a tenet of ALEC that charter schools should be completely unregulated, unsupervised, and unaccountable. The goal is choice, not accountability or results.
ALEC pretends to be conservative but pushes model legislation to give the governor and sometimes his allies the
A Miracle in Maryland?
Matt Di Carlo is a cautious social scientist who looks at education policy from every possible angle.
Like me, he does not believe in miracles in education. Education is a steady, slow, incremental process of development that is hard work. Changes comes slowly.
Yet here is Di Carlo on the dramatic gains that Maryland has made on NAEP, outpacing the nation.
How did they do it?
Maryland has charters, but not very many, and they are unionized.
Maryland has high per pupil spending.
Maryland did not implement any of the market-based
Like me, he does not believe in miracles in education. Education is a steady, slow, incremental process of development that is hard work. Changes comes slowly.
Yet here is Di Carlo on the dramatic gains that Maryland has made on NAEP, outpacing the nation.
How did they do it?
Maryland has charters, but not very many, and they are unionized.
Maryland has high per pupil spending.
Maryland did not implement any of the market-based
Virginia Launches Bold Attack on Public Education
The Virginia Legislature passed legislation proposed by the governor that opens the door to privatizing any school in the Commonwealth that is found to be “failing.”
Rachel Levy has the details here
Governor McDonnell’s “Opportunity Education Institution” is an ALEC-inspired dream.
It creates a governor appointed commission that will take over schools with low test scores.
Levy writes:
“The Institution will be run by a board of gubernatorial appointees, which includes the executive director. There is
Rachel Levy has the details here
Governor McDonnell’s “Opportunity Education Institution” is an ALEC-inspired dream.
It creates a governor appointed commission that will take over schools with low test scores.
Levy writes:
“The Institution will be run by a board of gubernatorial appointees, which includes the executive director. There is
Diane in the Evening 4-1-13 Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all
Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all: Louisiana Teacher to NBC: Not for Sale! by dianerav Just got this in the email. It was posted on Facebook: Deborah Hohn Tonguis posted in LA Public Teachers: Our Classrooms are Not for Sale! Here is my email response to Holly Boffy, who sent an email request to all of the Louisiana Teachers of the Year to participate in an upcoming visit by NBC. She has no shame… From: Holly Boffy Sent: Wednesday, March 27, 2013 9:53 PM Subject: Unique opportunity in the New Orleans area Dear Teachers of the Year, If you live in ... more »