NYC Parent Meeting on inBloom and Student Privacy Tomorrow
This notice just in:
“Parents, do you know your child’s confidential, personal school records are going to be shared with a corporation called inBloom Inc?
This highly sensitive information will be stored on a data cloud and disclosed to for-profit corporations to help them develop and market their “learning products”
The data will include your child’s names, address, photo, email, test scores, grades, economic and racial
“Parents, do you know your child’s confidential, personal school records are going to be shared with a corporation called inBloom Inc?
This highly sensitive information will be stored on a data cloud and disclosed to for-profit corporations to help them develop and market their “learning products”
The data will include your child’s names, address, photo, email, test scores, grades, economic and racial
What Happens When Skunks Bust Out of a Cage?
Nancy Flanagan, retired NBCT, has written a brilliant post about Governor Rick Snyder’s secret project called the Skunk Works. The goal of the project was to invent a brand-new cheap-cheap-cheap school called a “Value School.” Sort of like a discount store where you get a product that looks like the real thing, but it is a cheap copy.
Now that the Skunk Works is out in the open, people are stunned that the group consisted of entrepreneurs and software developers. The only teacher quit the group when he saw where it was going. Can you have education without teachers? It’s cheap but is it good education?
And the last line of her article is right on.
Now that the Skunk Works is out in the open, people are stunned that the group consisted of entrepreneurs and software developers. The only teacher quit the group when he saw where it was going. Can you have education without teachers? It’s cheap but is it good education?
And the last line of her article is right on.
What Did Albert Shanker Say and What Would He Say Now?
There is a new parlor game among the cognoscenti called “Albert Shanker Said This 20 or 30 Years Ago So It Must Be Right.”
Last fall, I had a tiff with New Jersey Commissioner Chris Cerf, who invoked Shanker’s name to support the Christie administration’s push for charters. I patiently explained that Al Shanker was indeed a founding father of the charter movement in 1988, but became a vehement critic of charters in 1993. He decided that charters and vouchers were the same thing, and both would be used to “smash” public education. This is not a matter of
Last fall, I had a tiff with New Jersey Commissioner Chris Cerf, who invoked Shanker’s name to support the Christie administration’s push for charters. I patiently explained that Al Shanker was indeed a founding father of the charter movement in 1988, but became a vehement critic of charters in 1993. He decided that charters and vouchers were the same thing, and both would be used to “smash” public education. This is not a matter of
Florida: Phony Video, Phony Names on Petition for Parent Trigger”
Investigative journalists in Florida are all over the last-minute effort mounted by Jeb Bush and Michelle Rhee to find parents who support the so-called “parent trigger.”
First they circulated a video allegedly made by a group called the Sunshine Parents,” supporting the trigger. Unfortunately, no one ever heard of this group and it has no website, unlike the PTAs and other parent organizations fighting the trigger bill. Maybe it is based in Jeb Bush’s offices.
Then a petition emerged in support of the bill, but some signatories say they never signed it. Score another trick at the hands of Michelle Rhee.
It seems there is no dirty trick that these pretend reformers won’t stoop to. They work with California-based Parent Revolution, which has received millions from the Walton Foundation, the Gates Foundation, and the Broad Foundation. Parent Revolution has sent a parent from Adelanto, California, to tell other state legislatures
First they circulated a video allegedly made by a group called the Sunshine Parents,” supporting the trigger. Unfortunately, no one ever heard of this group and it has no website, unlike the PTAs and other parent organizations fighting the trigger bill. Maybe it is based in Jeb Bush’s offices.
Then a petition emerged in support of the bill, but some signatories say they never signed it. Score another trick at the hands of Michelle Rhee.
It seems there is no dirty trick that these pretend reformers won’t stoop to. They work with California-based Parent Revolution, which has received millions from the Walton Foundation, the Gates Foundation, and the Broad Foundation. Parent Revolution has sent a parent from Adelanto, California, to tell other state legislatures
Robert D. Shepherd: Can We Find Common Ground on Common Core?
Robert Shepherd, experienced designer of textbooks and assessments, wrote the following:
“I believe in my heart of hearts that there are good, well-meaning people on both sides of the accountability debate. I also believe that there are certainly roles to be played by standards and evaluation systems and testing.
“I fervently hope that we shall see, over the coming years, prudence, vigorous but respectful debate, more caution than has been shown to date with regard to new implementations, and real innovation, INCLUDING competing, vastly differing models for what school looks like. It’s complete hubris for ANY OF US to think that he
“I believe in my heart of hearts that there are good, well-meaning people on both sides of the accountability debate. I also believe that there are certainly roles to be played by standards and evaluation systems and testing.
“I fervently hope that we shall see, over the coming years, prudence, vigorous but respectful debate, more caution than has been shown to date with regard to new implementations, and real innovation, INCLUDING competing, vastly differing models for what school looks like. It’s complete hubris for ANY OF US to think that he
Parents File Class Action Lawsuit Against State Testing
Parents in Rochester, New York, filed a federal class action lawsuit against the state and their son’s school, which punished him for refusing to take the tests in accordance with his parents’ wishes.
The school not only punished the boy, but sent the sheriff’s office to the ballfield to make sure he was not allowed to play baseball.
Good for them! I would sue too.
The story says:
The school not only punished the boy, but sent the sheriff’s office to the ballfield to make sure he was not allowed to play baseball.
Good for them! I would sue too.
The story says:
Hello, NY Daily News: Hold Bloomberg Accountable
The Néw York Daily News has been jumping for joy at the prospect that the Common Core tests will show just how hopelessly dumb the students of NYC are.
Its latest editorial practically gloats about what is surely (the editors think) bad news. The writer also seems to believe that the harder the tests, the smarter the students will be (someday).
But wait a minute! This is the same editorial board that has cheered every twist and turn of Mayor Bloomberg’s
Its latest editorial practically gloats about what is surely (the editors think) bad news. The writer also seems to believe that the harder the tests, the smarter the students will be (someday).
But wait a minute! This is the same editorial board that has cheered every twist and turn of Mayor Bloomberg’s
Michigan “Skunk Works” Goes Public
Members of Governor Rick Snyder’s administration have been meeting in secret since December with like-minded allies from far-right think tanks, hoping to develop a quasi-voucher in a state where the Constitution bans vouchers.
Thanks to publicity about the project, its future meetings will be held in public or at least have some public oversight.
Their goal, apparently, is to come up with a “value” school, with fewer teachers to save money. It will be the Michigan Model: Cheap education for the masses. Not better education, just cheap education.
Thanks to publicity about the project, its future meetings will be held in public or at least have some public oversight.
Their goal, apparently, is to come up with a “value” school, with fewer teachers to save money. It will be the Michigan Model: Cheap education for the masses. Not better education, just cheap education.
Diane in the Evening 4-27-13 Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all
Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all: John Thompson: What Did the Billionaires Know and When Did They Know It? by dianerav John Thompson understands that the big money has been betting heavily on testing and accountability. When did the billionaires realize that test score gains were the result of cheating? Did they care? Will they learn? Or will they continue to promote the same failed policies? Why? What do they hope to accomplish? *LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH 4-27-13 Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all* mike simp... more »