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Why I Apologized for Something I Did Not Say
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 25 minutes ago
A number of readers have written to ask why I wrote an apology to Michelle Rhee when I had not been the one to speak the offending words (“Asian bitch”). I wasn’t even present when the words were spoken. Frankly, the story focused on the negative, rather than the reasons that the rally was happening. [...]
Methodological Flaws in Milwaukee Voucher Study?
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 43 minutes ago
School choice advocates now stand on shaky ground. Their own funded evaluations show that students in voucher schools do not get higher test scores than their peers in public schools. So they fall back to the next line of defense, which is to say that the voucher students have a higher graduation rate. In the [...]
Keeping an Eye on Reform Leader ALEC
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 1 hour ago
ALEC, the American Legislative Exchange Council, is the key organization today in education reform. Forget party labels. ALEC–funded by big corporations and enrolling some 2,000 state legislators–is calling the shots on charter schools, vouchers, right-to-work legislation, online charter schools, and many other topics that are at the forefront of “reform” in such far-right states as [...]
Cody: Time to Hold Bill Gates Accountable
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 2 hours ago
For the past several years, three billionaires have foisted untested, unreliable, metrics-driven, in humane teacher evaluation policies onto our nation’s teachers. In this misguided effort to find a yardstick to reduce teacher quality to a number, no one has been more energetic than Bill Gates. As the anti-high-stakes testing movement grows, and as the wreckage [...]
Another Photo of Mitzi
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 10 hours ago
Mitzi was rescued from a kill shelter. http://t.co/IBP5PS8MHN
Here is Mitzi
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 10 hours ago
I don’t know how to import photos to the blog. Maybe someone will tell me how. So I took her picture, emailed it to Twitter, and copied the link. http://twitter.com/DianeRavitch/status/320168597035036674/photo/1
John White’s Deputy Stays Five Months and Leaves: a Broad Academy Story
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 12 hours ago
What happens in Louisiana is definitely different from what happens anywhere else. It is not Louisiana culture, which is definitely unique. It seems to be something about John White, who s not a native. With the support of Governor Jindal and the state board of education controlled by Jindal, John White answers to no one. [...]
NC Legislators Decide Not to Establish a Religion
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 14 hours ago
A group of Republican legislators in North Carolina decided against introducing legislation that would allow the state and its counties to establish an official religion. They planned to argue that the Constitution prevents Congress from establishing a religion, but not states or counties. There was enough outcry to persuade them to hold off.
An Apology to Michelle Rhee
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 18 hours ago
Yesterday I participated in the first day of Occupy the DOE, where parents and teachers spoke out against DOE policies that demand high-stakes testing and school closings. In my own presentation, I urged the DOE to stop its punitive policies and instead to follow the positive agenda of the Network for Public Education. According to [...]
Anthony Cody: Can We Trust Bill Gates?
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 20 hours ago
Anthony Cody read Bill Gates’ article in the Washington Post, in which he said it is time to reduce the emphasis on high-stakes testing. Anthony wondered if Gates means it. Anthony writes: “No one in America has done more to promote the raising of stakes for test scores in education than Bill Gates….You can read [...]
A Brilliant Analysis of the Failed, Punitive Ideas Called “Reform”
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 22 hours ago
Believe it or not, the Chicago Tribune published one of the best articles I have read about the disaster that is called education “reform,” but in fact is education destruction. I say, believe it or not, because the Tribune has been one of the nation’s loudest cheerleaders for the policies that this column decries. Robert [...]
Atlanta’s Lessons for Reformers
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 1 day ago
This smart blogger read all the investigators’ reports from the Atlanta cheating scandal. He or she realized that Atlanta was doing everything that reformers say is important. The educators there were focusing on test scores above all else. The teachers who got higher scores got bonuses and those who did not, got humiliated. Incentivizing the [...]
Indiana’s Zombie Schools
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 1 day ago
Back in the early 1990s, when the charter school idea first began to spread, there was a simple way of explaining the concept. The charter schools would be accountable for results. If they didn’t get the results, they would close. Period. The deal was called “accountability in exchange for results.” Advocates said it was impossible [...]
“I Cannot Live Without…”
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 1 day ago
Thomas Jefferson famously said in a letter to John Adams in 1815, “I cannot live without books.” (Ever the worker bee, he added, “but fewer will suffice where amusement, and not use, is the only future object.”) Neither can I. Yes, yes, I know we are supposed to read everything online, download books, and so [...]
Florida House Passes Corporation Enrichment Bill
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 1 day ago
The education industry won another battle in Florida, defeating solid opposition from every parent organization in the state. The Florida House of Representatives passed a “parent trigger” bill, allowing unsuspecting parents to turn their public school over to one of the charter corporations that have–shall we say– undue influence in the legislature. This is a [...]
Louisiana: Trust Me with Your Child’s Privacy Rights
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 1 day ago
Crazy Crawfish has a devastating critique of Louisiana’s plan to turn over confidential student data to inBloom, the company created by Gates and Rupert Murdoch to assemble a vast database for vendors. Superintendent John White sent out a letter to county superintendents, trying to assure them that there is nothing unususl or invidious about outsourcing [...]
The Missing Jeb Bush Link
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 1 day ago
Yesterday, I published a post about how critics were raising questions about Jeb Bush’s financial ties to certain corporations. I linked to an article in the Tampa Tribune. However, the link was dead. The article had disappeared. A reader found it. Not on the Tampa Tribune website but here, where it has been preserved for [...]
More: Texas Legislature Turns Down Vouchers
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 1 day ago
Read here for first summary. Will post again when new stories available.
Breaking News: Vouchers Fail in Texas!
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 1 day ago
Wayne Slater, senior political writer for the Dallas Morning News, tweeted this: @WayneSlater Put a fork in school vouchers in Texas — ban on taxpayer money for private schools passes overwhelming in conservative TX House I bet the rural Republicans balked at destroying their communities’ public schools.
Kevin Welner Responds (Again!) to Patrick Wolf
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 1 day ago
Patrick Wolf, the “independent” evaluator of the Milwaukee voucher program remains incensed that the National Education Policy Center did not notice that he dropped the attrition rate of students in the Milwaukee voucher program from 75% to 56%. I, the humble historian, still wonder what is so impressive about Milwaukee, one of the lowest-performing cities [...]
TeacherKen: on the Standardized Testing Racket
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 1 day ago
The Atlanta cheating scandal has caused some reflection on the system that incentivizes unethical behavior. It is important to say again and again that cheating is wrong. Those who cheat should be punished. But who will correct the system that cheats children of education? This reflection by TeacherKen on a column by Eugene Robinson raises [...]
Newspeak and Education Reform: What Would Orwell Say?
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 1 day ago
A reader sent these late-night reflections to me: “I drifted off to sleep last night, the phrase “No Child Left Behind” kept ringing in my ears. It sounds so noble… No – Child – Left – Behind – surely that is good for our country. Yet, at the same time my eyes were closing, the [...]
Tennessee: We Starve Families if Test Scores Don’t Rise
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 1 day ago
The Tennessee legislation to cut welfare benefits for families if kids don’t raise their test scores was passed by the committee and now goes to the House Government Operations Committee. It is scheduled for a vote in the State Senate on April 4. If adopted, Tennessee will let the starving begin. Will President Obama denounce [...]
Why the Tennessee Law to Punish Poor Families is Wrong
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 2 days ago
LG, a longtime reader, wrote a letter to Senator Stacey Campfield (R) in Tennessee, who sponsored the legislation to cut the welfare benefits of poor families by as much as 30% if their children don’t raise their test scores. The legislation is inherently discriminatory, she writes, because it singles out poor families for punishment. This [...]
A Parent Writes the New York State Education Department
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 2 days ago
Just received this: “Dear Department of Education, You should be proud of your Administrators and your principals. They are acting in full support of your harmful programs. They are choking out the words “these tests are very useful to your children”, and they “will not be able to determine the academic needs of your child” [...]
Did Bill Gates Just Reverse Course?
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 2 days ago
I read this article “by Bill Gates” with a growing sense of incredulity. I kept hearing echoes of many things I and others have written since Gates decided to make teacher evaluation the biggest crisis in American education. In 2008, he dropped the small schools movement and determined that teachers are our biggest problem. If [...]
Critics Question Ethics of Jeb Bush Foundation
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 2 days ago
Recently, the Foundation for Educational Excellence (FEE), created by Jeb Bush, has come under fire for mixing its programming with the financial interests of its backers while serving as a vehicle for Bush’s 2016 presidential ambitions. The Tampa Tribune ran a scathing article that pointed out problematic practices: “Lobbyists are not allowed to finance perks [...]
Drucker Vs. Deming: Who Is Right?
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 2 days ago
Ed Johnson writes: “Noted business consultant Peter Drucker famously said, ‘That which can be measured, can be managed.’” And W. Edwards Deming, Drucker’s contemporary, said: “The most important figures needed for management of any organization are unknown and unknowable.”
A Subtle Smear on a Public School Advocate
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 2 days ago
Gotham Schools ran a story that questioned why the city’s leading advocate for public schools had enrolled her son in a private high school after many years as a public school parent. The story subtly implied that she may have lost her right to advocate for public schools because she was no longer a parent [...]
John White and the Rise of the TFA Elite
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 2 days ago
Mercedes Schneider here recounts how Teach for Alumni manage to rise to six-figure salaries at a tender age, and her paradigmatic TFA graduate is John White. White, now the Commissioner of Education in Louisiana, arrived to do Bobby Jindal’s handiwork, that is, demolishing public education and dismantling the teaching profession. Quite a task for a [...]
“Why I Fight, Why You Should Too”
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 2 days ago
Crazy Crawfish is one of those amazing Louisiana bloggers who refuses to be bought, intimidated, or silenced. He used to work in the data division of the Louisiana Department of Education. He reached a point where his conscience told him he had to work somewhere else. Now he has a blog where he repeatedly shines [...]
How Finns View What Matters in Education
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 2 days ago
This is a very interesting read about how Finns think about education. They think about education, not just schooling. They think about how different institutions interact to shape young people. As Lawrence Cremin (my mentor and the author’s) taught, education is a network of institutions. Finns care about equality, not as an abstraction but a [...]
Broad Foundation Molding the Syracuse School Board
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 2 days ago
This article shows how the Broad Foundation has shifted gears. It used to train school boards to its way of thinking (it trained the Atlanta school board, for example, to believe that metrics and data matter more than anything les). Now it send school boards on tours to selected sites. The Syracuse superintendent, a product [...]
Where Does a School Chef Make More Than Teachers?
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 2 days ago
This is not a trick question. It is a real question. Jersey Jazzman has the answer right here.
Using Satire to Expose False Claims
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 3 days ago
Bruce Baker has a great post about Matt Di Carlo’s April 1 post on the Maryland NAEP scores. Baker knows that Di Carlo was using his post to mock the misuse of NAEP data, but Baker shows how people like Chris Cerf frequently use misleading graphs to make a point. When Di Carlo put up [...]
Another Celebrity Charter School
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 3 days ago
Kudos to Nancy Flanagan, for reporting on the mess at the Jalen Rose Academy charter school. Why do sports celebrities think they are qualified to run a school? At the Jalen Rose school, 100% of the teachers quit at the end of the first year. Nancy asks an obvious question: “Here’s my question: What would [...]
Who Is Funding the Attack on Public Schools?
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 3 days ago
Jersey Jazzman has done some amazing research to uncover the source of the money that is flooding local school board races. He has found a pattern. The same people are dropping thousands of dollars into key school board races around the country, into districts where they do not live. In Perth Amboy, NJ, school board [...]
Rhee To Face Federal Lawsuit Over Wrongful Termination
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 3 days ago
This just in: “http://www.prweb.com/releases/2013/4/prweb10586920.htm Federal Judge Orders Michelle Rhee Suit to Go Forward, will Broaden to Concealment and Fraud Claims A US federal judge has denied a Motion to Dismiss by former DC Public School Chancellor Michelle Rhee in a wrongful termination lawsuit over the mass firings of DC Public School teachers back in 2009. [...]
Julian Vasquez Heilig Adds Graphics to the NEPC Story
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 3 days ago
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 [...]
Texas Leads the Nation in Testing, But Not in Education
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 3 days ago
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 [...]
NEPC: Patrick Wolf Should Apologize
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 3 days ago
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 [...]
New Orleans: What If Most of the Choices Are Bad Ones?
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 3 days ago
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 [...]
Occupy the DOE: The Song
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 3 days ago
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 [...]
Why The Business Model Is Not Right for Children
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 3 days ago
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 [...]
Jindal Poll Rating Plummets
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 3 days ago
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 [...]
Connecticut Principal of the Year: Advice to Politicians about High-Stakes Testing
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 3 days ago
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 [...]
Is This the Goal of “Choice”?
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 3 days ago
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? [...]
Should Consumers Shop for Schools?
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 4 days ago
GreatSchools.org ranks and rates the nation’s public, charter and private schools. It aims to be a consumer’s guide for parents who are shopping for a school. I know some of those involved, and I know they mean well. But this sort of rating service, based on data and reviews, not only raises a basic question—how [...]
Lawsuit Filed in Connecticut, Claims Vallas Contract Illegal
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 4 days ago
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 [...]
Virginia Launches Bold Attack on Public Education
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 4 days ago
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 [...]
A Miracle in Maryland? UPDATE
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 4 days ago
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 [...]
How ALEC Is Changing the Face of Charters
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 4 days ago
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 [...]
Louisiana Teacher to NBC: Not for Sale!
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 4 days ago
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. [...]
SC: Just Say No to Florida “Miracle”
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 4 days ago
As Jeb Bush’s claims of miraculous powers of education reform spread across the land, South Carolina is considering legislation to flunk third-graders who don’t pass the state’s standardized test. The legislation, introduced by State Senate Majority Leader Harvey Peeler, would cause about 3,000 children to be held back. Research is clear that grade retention is [...]
Which Path? Finland or South Korea
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 4 days ago
This NPR program contrasts the different paths of Finland and South Korea. Too bad it relies only on results of PISA tests. US students did much better on the latest TIMSS. Frankly, I’m getting tired of the same old talk about international test scores. We live in the world’s most economically successful nation, with the [...]
Will Charters Bankrupt Nashville Public Schools?
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 4 days ago
Tennessee grows closer to allowing unlimited expansion of charters in its two biggest cities by negating the power of local school boards to grant charters. This, remember, is the ALEC plan for privatization of public resources. In Nashville, the Metro Nashville school board is worried about whether the growth of charters will bankrupt the district. [...]
Earth to Tennessee: Yes, Muslim Schools Will Get Vouchers
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 4 days ago
As we are learning, Tennessee legislators and education “leaders” operate in an alternate universe. They want to cut the welfare benefits of families if their children get low test scores. They want to attract for-profit corporations to drain taxpayer dollars out of the public schools, and never hold them accountable for bad results (see, Tennessee [...]
Sol Stern: The Cheating Scandals That Are Not Investigated
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 5 days ago
Veteran journalist Sol Stern looks at the Atlanta cheating scandal from a different angle. Pay for performance plans send big bucks to certain adults, he points out. And those plans lead some people to cheat. It is up to the people in charge to investigate. He shows how in one egregious example in New York [...]
The Ten Plagues of Testing: A Passover Tale
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 5 days ago
Fred Smith, a testing specialist and consultant, was an administrative analyst for the New York City public schools. He’s a member of Change the Stakes, an advocacy group of parents and educators concerned about the impact of testing in schools. In the following tale, “Tweed” is shorthand in NYC for the NYC Department of Education. [...]
Who Should Take the Tests?
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 5 days ago
Recently, the Providence Student Union persuaded 50 accomplished professionals to take a math test made up of items released from the test required for high school graduation. I think that anyone who demands more tests or that all students should take the same tests should take the same tests and release their scores. This reader [...]
Why Cities Should Not Close Schools
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 5 days ago
Jack Hassard explains here that public schools are part of the fabric of their communities. Closing them tears apart the fabric of their lives. It harms children, families, and communities. It does not save money. He cites the advocacy of Edward Johnson in Atlanta, a follower of W. Edwards Deming, who has diligently explained the [...]
How to Destroy the Public Schools of Baton Rouge
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 5 days ago
Readers sent me links to articles that show how a new superintendent in Baton Rouge is systematically destroying public education there. The superintendent worked previously in Grand Rapids, where he was put on leave and his contract was bought out. Before that he was in Kansas City, a district that has been afflicted with a [...]
Kevin Huffman Refuses to Meet Nashville School Board
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 5 days ago
Kevin Huffman, Tennessee’s State Commissioner of Education, taught for two years as a member of Teach for America. Then he was the TFA “communications director.” That is, the PR guy. Somehow he got picked to be head of education in a whole despite his minimal experience and his lack of any administrative experience. He certainly [...]
More Details on Tennessee Scrooge Plan
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 5 days ago
Here’s more about the Tennessee proposal to cut the welfare benefits of families if their children don’t make progress on state tests. 155,000 families will be affected if the bill passes. Is this value-added right-to-eat? The main sponsor of the bill has no children. I knew it was Ebenezer Scrooge.
Jindal Competes With Tennessee for Scrooge Award
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 5 days ago
Governor Bobby Jindal is one our most notable reformers. He wants to reform Louisiana’s tax code by abolishing income taxes and corporate taxes and replace them with an increase in the sales tax. This will shift the burden of taxation to poor and middle-income people. How clever to shelter the income of the rich. But [...]
Email the “Health” Committee of the Tennessee Legislature
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 5 days ago
Here are the names and contact number for the committee in the Tennessee legislature that will decide whether to cut the welfare benefits of families whose children get low test scores. Please contact them, in the name of decency.
Tennessee Wins Scrooge Award for Meanest Law Ever
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 5 days ago
Just when you think that things couldn’t get any worse, some legislator comes up with the meanest, cruelest, dumbest idea yet. Tennessee is considering legislation to cut the welfare benefits to families if their children get low test scores. Some exceptions are carved out, but the basic idea is that the kids need a carrot [...]
How Vouchers “Worked” in Cleveland
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 5 days ago
A reader in Cleveland comments on today’s post about vouchers in Cleveland. He is responding to a comment by another reader, who defended vouchers: “I’m from Cleveland. The vouchers worked! They raised the cost of per-pupil expenditures in our public schools and resulted in cuts to funding for arts and enrichment programs, making public schools [...]
Superintendent: Garfield Teachers Will Not Be Punished
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 5 days ago
Jose Banda, the Seattle superintendent of schools, will not discipline the Garfield High School teachers who boycotted the MAP tests as a waste of time and resources. He urged them to resume work as usual. They were heard, he said. This was a wise decision. Congratulations to the Garfield teachers for your courage and unity! [...]
Arthur Camins: What Happens in Schools When Despots Rule
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 6 days ago
Arthur Camins has written numerous thoughtful essays about the current ruinous trends in American education. Here he reflects on some important lessons from the Atlanta cheating scandal. He writes: “I’m waiting for the national editorials, leading policy makers and major foundations to speak out honestly about the lessons learned from the Atlanta cheating scandal. I’m [...]
David Sirota: Who Is Behind School “Reform”?
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 6 days ago
This video by David Sirota of Denver gives a clear and concise explanation of how school reform became big bu$ine$$.
Superintendent: Make This the Year We Said No
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 6 days ago
Bedford Central Superintendent Jere Hochman poses the inevitable questions: How did we let this happen? Could we have stopped it? What can we do now? It must end. It will end. What is happening in education today is nothing less than educational malpractice. It is not education. It is bad for students. Hochman writes: Absolutely [...]
Vouchers Failed in Cleveland Too
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 6 days ago
Three cities have had vouchers in recent years. Milwaukee, Cleveland, and DC. As I pointed out in an earlier post, vouchers did not improve test scores in either Milwaukee or DC. They also failed to make a difference in Cleveland. See here also. Voucher advocates should stop lying to poor parents. Vouchers do not increase [...]
The New York City Way of Monetizing School Buildings
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 6 days ago
Jonathan Pelto reflects on the latest educational reform: Tearing down schools and replacing them with luxury apartment buildings. He writes: Closing in on Rahm Emanuel’s title as “Emperor” when it comes to closing public schools… True, few, if any can compete with Chicago’s Rahm Emanuel when it comes to the unprecedented effort to destroy public [...]
The Latest Idea for Education Reform
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 6 days ago
EduShyster has noticed a brilliant new reform idea. Tear down the school, build a high-rise with luxury apartments on the site, then let the rich live right on top of the children. What a brilliant idea. As one young man says in the article quoted, “It’s a win-win.” Or a win-win-win.
Good Grief! Teachers Get High Marks on New Evaluations
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 6 days ago
This is an unintentionally hilarious story in the New York Times. Reformers are upset to discover that an astonishing proportion of teachers are getting high marks on the new evaluation systems that have just been set up. The evaluations were supposed to identify the best teachers (to get bonuses, even if no one has any [...]
Pedro Noguera on Atlanta Cheating Scandal
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 6 days ago
Pedro Noguera, my colleague at New York University, said the following in an email this morning: “How ironic. Not one banker in jail for ruining the economy but a superintendent is under indictment for cheating. Says a lot about our nation’s priorities. – pedro” I asked and got his permission to post this. He added: [...]
Teacher:Preparing My Students for Failure
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 6 days ago
By now, everyone has been duly warned that the new Common Core tests will be “harder.” The passing rates are expected to drop by 30%. Advocates of privatization are excited and hoping the bad news will encourage parents to abandon their community schools. Entrepreneurs are poised to sell stuff when everyone is desperate for the [...]
A Broad Connection to the Atlanta Scandal?
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 6 days ago
This commentary, written two years ago, connects the dots. The Atlanta school board was trained by the Broad Foundation. Key officials were trained by Broad. Beverly Hall was not a graduate of Broad’s unaccredited training academy but she was sufficiently in step to speak at Broad training conferences, get Broad funding, and Broad-trained helpers. And [...]
Where Does Michelle Rhee Live?
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 6 days ago
Michelle Rhee keeps raising interesting questions. It is hard to ignore her, because she is the face of the corporate reform movement, the one who goes on television to complain about the huge numbers of “bad” teachers and the importance of weakening or eliminating collective bargaining and the great value of privatizing public schools. Apparently, [...]
L.A. Teacher: Is Reform a “Rich Folks’ Hoax”
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 6 days ago
Barbara Stam describes what passes for “reform” as “the rich folks hoax.” The hoax is the idea that constant testing and test prep improves education. This is a hoax. It is not for their children. But it is good enough for other people’s children. So what if the teachers of art and music and PE [...]
A Wise Connecticut Journalist Figures It Out
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 6 days ago
Those who understand the dangers of privatization and the fraud perpetrated when charters claim they do a better job with “the same kids” can take heart whenever someone in the mainstream media sees what is happening. Here is a journalist in the Connecticut Post who has figured out what is going on. The charters are [...]
The Walton Story: Link Added
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 6 days ago
Thanks to a reader for pointing out that I forgot to add the link in this story about a brave columnist in Arkansas who dares to criticize the Walton hegemony. Here is the post. I added the missing link. Please read it.
In Texas, It is “Bidness As Usual”
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 6 days ago
One of the most adamant critics of the Texas legislation to reduce the number of tests that students must take to graduate happens to own franchises for Sylvan Learning Centers, which offer test preparation and tutoring. Was it a conflict of interest? No, he said, everybody votes on things that affect their self-interest. He was [...]
Proof That Independent Thought Survives in Arkansas: LINK Added!
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 6 days ago
The Waltons, with their vast fortune, dominate the political life in their home state of Arkansas. They use that vast wealth to promote market-based schooling and to undermine public education across the nation and even beyond. But here is proof positive that they don’t own everyone in Arkansas. Bravo to freedom of thought and expression! [...]
What Do Katrina, Camden, and Chicago Have in Common?
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 6 days ago
This just arrived in the morning email It is a question for a multiple-choice test. Write your own. Here goes: I am part of a small group of educators (hoping to grow teacher and parent awareness – via our facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/NJ-Educators-United-to-Protect-Public-Education/350194368424508 – where – among other articles – we have been transcribing and posting [...]
G.F. Brandenburg: Atlanta Details Remind Him of D.C. Details
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 6 days ago
Count on G.F. Brandenburg to read the fine print, have a long memory, and share what he has learned with his readers. The excerpts from the Atlanta indictments may remind you of the PBS Frontline special about Michelle Rhee. Remember how she interviewed each principal and asked, “How many points will your scores go up?” [...]
The Victims of the Atlanta Cheating Scandal
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 6 days ago
According to the story in the New York Times, the schools in Atlanta where the scores soared lost federal aid for struggling learners. One school where cheating is alleged lost $750,000 that could have been used for reduced class size and to provide enrichment classes and tutoring. And that was only one school among many. [...]
NYC Official Responds to Parent
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 1 week 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 week 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 week 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 week 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 week 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 - 1 week 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 - 1 week 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 - 1 week 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 - 1 week 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 - 1 week 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 - 1 week 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 - 1 week 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 [...]
