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John White Pulls Louisiana Student Data Out of Gates Warehouse
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 2 hours ago
John White, Louisiana State Superintendent, announced that he was recalling all confidential student data from inBloom, the massive data warehouse funded by the Gates Foundation with $100 million. Is this for real? Time will tell. Parents in the state loudly protested the release of their children’s identifying information to the data warehouse, which was developed [...]
A Fawning Interview with Bill Gates
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 16 hours ago
Read this and prepare to gag unless you are the president of your regional Bill Gates Fan Club. Did you know that Bill is warm and cuddly when he talks about how he plans to make US education the very best in the world without spending more? Don’t doubt for a minute that he knows [...]
Who Created Rhee? Don’t Blame the Unions.
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 18 hours ago
Earlier today, John Merrow posted a blog in which he asked, “Who Created Michelle Rhee?” From the context, I assume he means who was responsible for making her the face of the corporate reform movement? Why was she praised by both Barack Obama and John McCain in their 2008 debate only a year after she [...]
Handwriting Expert to NC and SC: Don’t Mandate Cursive Writing
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 19 hours ago
In their eagerness to drag the schools and children of their states back to the early 20th century, legislators in North Carolina and South Carolina want to mandate the teaching of cursive writing. (North Carolina Los wants to pass a law mandating that all children memorize the multiplication tables.) these legislators usually spend their time [...]
Secret Group in Michigan Plans Voucher-Style “Reform”
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 20 hours ago
A secret group commissioned by reactionary elements in Michigan crafted a plan to voucherize education funding. The plan will be submitted to Governor Snyder. Note that the purpose of the plan is not to provide better education, but to cut costs. The article describes the plan as “reform,” but as usual, the real intent of [...]
DC City Council Will Hire Law Firm to Reform Schools
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 20 hours ago
Every once in a while, I read an article that convinces me that education policymaking in this country is insane. This is one of those articles. The head of the DC City Council education committee has found the answer to fixing the city’s still troubled school system: He will hire a law firm to find [...]
Michigan Debates Common Core
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 22 hours ago
Michigan is debating the Common Core, which it already agreed to adopt. The curious thing in the debate and in the article is the repeated claim by “experts” that the Common Core will fix all the disparities and problems in American education. It will close the gap between low-perming and high-performing students and lift the [...]
How Ordinary People Get Good Results
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 23 hours ago
David Kirp recently led a discussion of his new book “Improbable Scholars” at the Center for American Progress in Washington. One of his findings is that schools can be improved by collaboration and sound ideas. No charters. No school closings. No TFA. Here Esther Quintero of the Shanker Institute explores the social science that supports [...]
Will TFA Be Able to Meet California’s High Standards?
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 1 day ago
The California Commission on Teacher Credentialing has raised the standards for those who teach English language learners. No one get will uncertified interns be allowed to teach these students who need well-prepared teachers. This is a problem for Teach for America because California has a huge number of ELLs. Will TFA fight the higher standards [...]
Teacher: Report from Inside a Cyber Charter
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 1 day ago
A reader sent this comment: “I work at a cyber charter. It is ironic that the administrators at these charters make us work twelve hours a day doing inane busy work, and yet the quality of education is much worse than in public schools. I just got home from doing state testing. At one point [...]
Karen Lewis Teaches Torah in Evanston
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 1 day ago
Karen Lewis taught a powerful lesson from the Torah at a synagogue in Evanston. This is the rabbi’s account of her moving reading of Numbers, in which she connects the Biblical story to recent events in Chicago. “Her portion, Shelach Lecha (Numbers 13:1-15:41) relates, among other things, the story of the twelve scouts send by [...]
Merrow: Who Created Michelle Rhee?
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 1 day ago
John Merrow asks the question: How did this woman with little experience and meager accomplishment and a penchant for braggadocio become a major media figure? She did, by burnishing her resume. The media did, by basking in her harshness. Merrow did, by broadcasting 12 segments on national TV about her. And unions did, by their [...]
Billionaires and Wall Street Target Denver School Board Race
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 1 day ago
This November, the Denver school board will be up for grabs. As you will see in this article, the privatization movement has decided to make a play to take control of the board. You know what they want. If the Denver race plays out like the one in Los Angeles, billionaires and Wall Street hedge [...]
Jersey Jazzman On Merryl Tisch
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 1 day ago
Jersey Jazzman read Merryl Tisch’s comments about how she understood test anxiety. He wondered how she might identify with such feelings because she never attended a school with high-stakes. Nor did her children.
Rhee Discounts Merrow’s “Smoking Memo”
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 1 day ago
In an interview with the Los Angeles Times, Michelle Rhee responded to questions about John Merrow’s “smoking memo,” the one that showed that she and other top officials were aware of allegations of widespread cheating but failed to investigate. Howard Blume of the Times reports that Rhee met with the editorial board of the paper. [...]
Parent on the Common Core: Here It Is, Ready or Not
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 1 day ago
This article in The Economist recounts the anxiety and confusion surrounding the adoption of the Common Core. Officials say it is a great thing, but parents are not so sure. He writes: “Why has New York decided to subject students to these exams well before the standards have been fully implemented in the classrooms? (Most [...]
When School Officials Bully Students
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 1 day ago
A mother writes this story of harassment by school officials: “My daughter, who is in the 11th grade, was victimized by her principal and teacher today because she submitted an opt out letter. She was made to feel wrong and unsupportive of her school because she wasn’t going to take the test. “She is currently [...]
Raleigh, NC: Show Your Support for Public Schools This Saturday
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 1 day ago
A teacher in North Carolina contacted me to let me know that Students for Education Reform, an offshoot of DFER, will hold a rally this Saturday from 2-5 pm at Halifax Court in downtown Raleigh, North Carolina. No doubt they will mimic their parent group in demanding more high-stakes testing, more privatization, more evaluation of [...]
When Is a Class of 23 Underutilized, When Is It Just Right?
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 1 day ago
Matt Farmer, Chicago public school parent, asks an important question: when does Mayor Rahm Emanuel consider a class of 23 to be underutilized? When does he think it is just right? A public school in Chicago can be closed down if it has a class size of 23. But where is it just right?
How Pearson Cheats on State Tests
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 1 day ago
A teacher in upstate New York wrote me to say that the state English language arts test for 8th grade (written by Pearson) contained a passage that his students had read a week earlier—in a Pearson 8th grade textbook! The story is “Why Leaves Turn Color in Fall,” by Diane Ackerman. The story appears on [...]
Tennessee Legislature Back on Track to Gut Local Control
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 2 days ago
Last year, the Metro Nashville school board rejected Great Hearts Academy four times because it insisted on locating its charter school in the city’s most affluent neighborhood, with no plans for diversity. The rejection was entirely appropriate inasmuch as the new charter would be the equivalent of a publicly-funded private school for affluent white students. [...]
Florida: Now the Lawsuits Begin
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 2 days ago
Teachers in Florida are suing because they are being evaluated on the basis of students they didn’t teach and subjects they don’t teach. This is manifestly unfair. Imagine being fired because the scores didn’t go up in someone else’s class. Let the lawsuits begin. In time, the madness will end, and those who created it [...]
Walton Family Foundation Supporting Mass School Closings in Chicago
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 2 days ago
The Walton Family Foundation has an overriding interest in school pro privatization. They commit about $160 million each year for charters, vouchers, Teach for America, think tanks, and media. Everything they do has the singular goal of dismantling public education and opening the schools to untrained, uncertified teachers. Here is news from the Chicago Teachers [...]
High-Stakes Standardized Testing: A Zombie Policy
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 2 days ago
Ilena Ewen and Pamela Grundy are parents in North Carolina. They say that the standardized tests are like zombies. “How are standardized tests like zombies? They’re mindless, and they just keep coming. For more than a decade, North Carolina schools and students have suffered from an onslaught of high-stakes standardized tests. These zombie tests have [...]
When Students in New Orleans Got a Chance to Speak
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 2 days ago
NBC’s “Education Nation” has proved to be a forum for the advocates of high-stakes testing, closing schools, privatization, and charter schools. When they filmed in New Orleans, students got a chance to be heard, and their views were illuminating. Despite the drumbeat of Race to the Top and Bobby Jindal in support of evaluating teachers [...]
Duncan Urges US Chamber of Commerce to Defend Common Core
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 2 days ago
Arne Duncan is concerned about the backlash against the federal government’s heavy-handed imposition of the Common Core. At a speech to business leaders in the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, he urged their support for Common Core. He probably forgot that the U.S. Department of Education is legally prohibited from being involved in any matters that [...]
Investigative Reporter: The Stories Behind the “Parent Trigger” UPDATE
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 2 days ago
Yasha Levine is an investigative reporter. He became interested in the “parent trigger” and wanted to see what was going on in Adelanto, California, the only place in the United States where the parent trigger has been “fired” to turn a public school over to a charter operator. Just as an aside, I find the [...]
Mother Crusader Opted Out! LINK ADDED
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 2 days ago
News from parent activist Mother Crusader: Wednesday, April 17, 2013 I’ve Opted Out And You Can Too! This morning I spoke with the Assistant Superintendent of my district, and was told it’s no problem to opt my 1st graders out of the NJPASS. This is not a mandated test, and the results are not reported [...]
“Don’t Cut Down the Tree of Knowledge”
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 2 days ago
Jewish leaders in Chicago stand in solidarity against mass school closings: FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Release date: April 15, 2013 Chicago, IL Contact: Miriam Grossman, Jewish Solidarity and Action for Schools miriamlevia.grossman@gmail.com (609) 273-4932 JEWISH COMMUNITY RALLIES AGAINST SCHOOL CLOSINGS WITH LETTER TO MAYOR RAHM EMANUEL Jewish community members will gather on Thursday, April 18th at [...]
Governor Hunt, Where Are You?
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 2 days ago
Governor Jim Hunt spent years persuading the North Carolina legislature to reduce class size. Now he is out of office, and the radicals in the legislature want to abolish all limits on class size, allegedly in the interest of “flexibility.” It is certainly not in the interest of improving education or helping kids. The research [...]
Fifth-Grader: I Don’t Want to be a Test Slave
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 2 days ago
This comment was posted recently. Jenny, you don’t have to take the tests. Your parents can say, “I refuse.” Keep learning. Believe in yourself and be glad that you have such dedicated teachers. Jenny writes: Hi, Dr. Ravitch. My name is Jenny. I’m a fifth-grade student in New York State and feel that the NYS [...]
Kasich Budget Cuts Ohio Public Schools Again
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 2 days ago
This just in from Bill Phillis of the Ohio Education and Adequacy coalition. Bill served as Deputy Commissioner of Education in Ohio and is a stalwart advocate for adequate funding for public schools. He helped create a community-based organization called Strong Schools, Strong Communities. If you live in Ohio, you should join the movement to [...]
Chetty-Friedman-Rockoff Nonsense
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 2 days ago
Nonsense=makes no sense. Last year, when the Chetty-Friedman-Rockoff study of teacher effects was published on the front page of the Néw York Times, it created a sensation. It seemed to say that the “quality” of a single teacher would raise lifetime earnings, reduce teen pregnancy, and have other dramatic effects. The story said: “Replacing a [...]
Killing Public Education in North Carolina
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 2 days ago
The Legislature in North Carolina is determined to wipe public education out in that once-progressive state. Read this parent newsletter. It is sad. It is outrageous. North Carolina is near the bottom of the national barrel in funding its public schools. Teacher salaries are near the bottom nationally. Legislators want charter schools, tax credits, vouchers [...]
Opt Out. Don’t Let Them Sort and Label Your Child.
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 2 days ago
Many parents in New York have spoken out against the state tests in recent days, and there is much buzz about opting out. State officials have advised parents to expect a big drop in passing rates. These tests are really hard, they warn. They have even given parents advice about how to calm their students [...]
Former Lt. Gov. Ratliff of Texas Joins the Honor Roll
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 2 days ago
Former Lieutenant Governor Bill Ratliff has spoken out loud and clear for the 5 million children in public schools in Texas. He knows the state cut the budget way too much. He knows that the state must put its money into improving education–not by “throwing money” at it–but by doing the right things. And he [...]
Comparing Thoreau and Coleman
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 3 days ago
This blogger is not happy with the Common Core. He says it discourages creativity. He thinks it is about preparing workers and consumers, not thinkers. And there is this too: “The Common Core is one reason my sixth-grade daughter has yet to read a novel in ELA. It’s also a reason she no longer has [...]
When Smart Academics Say Silly Things
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 3 days ago
A teacher in Nevada sent me this article, which was printed in the Las Vegas Review-Journal. He said he would have laughed at how clueless this Harvard professor was but for the fact that the local opinion makers no doubt would read it and take it seriously. I started reading it and the first statement [...]
Breaking News! Tennessee Legislature Cool to Statewide Charter Authorizer
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 3 days ago
One of the main strategies of the privatization movement is to create a statewide charter board that could override local school boards. That way, if a local school board turns down a charter applicant, they can go to the state charter board for approval. Or just bypass the local board altogether. In short, it destroys [...]
Poor ALEC! Someone Disagrees with Their Radical Agenda
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 3 days ago
ALEC has operated in the background since 1973, funded by major corporations who want to advance a corporate-friendly agenda into state legislatures. Some 2,000 state legislators belong to ALEC and attend its posh conferences, where they hobnob with corporate lobbyists. ALEC suffered a PR setback when Trayvon Martin was killed last year in Florida by [...]
LA Times Defends Wall Street Hedge Fund Reformers
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 3 days ago
Last weekend the California Democratic Party passed a resolution that forthrightly criticized corporate education reform, including high-stakes testing and privatization. The resolution specifically singled out Michelle Rhee’s StudentsFirst and the Wall Street hedge fund managers’ Democrats for Education Reform as organizations that are fronts for corporate interests and Republicans. But this upset the Los Angeles [...]
Who Is Paying to Privatize Public Schools in Los Angeles?
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 3 days ago
Howard Blume has an excellent article in the Los Angeles Times describing the corporate money that poured into the recent Los Angeles school board race. He never quite pins down why all these moguls and titans want to control the LA school board, but he provides a useful dance card of the corporate reform movement. [...]
John White’s Budget Tricks in Louisiana
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 3 days ago
John White is pulling some fast tricks with public school funding in Louisiana. Fortunately the state has smart bloggers who protect the public interest and blow the whistle. There is no end to White and Jindal’s efforts to transfer public dollars into private hands. He wants to eliminate a requirement that high schools have one [...]
Will Public Education Survive in Wisconsin?
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 3 days ago
Public education is at risk in several states, where extremists want to tear it up and replace it with privatization. One of the states where the privatizers are in charge is Wiscondin, where Governor Scott Walker hopes to demolish public education. To get a sense of what is happening in Wisconsin, read this article. Written [...]
CTU: District Leadership Abandoned Struggling Schools in Chicago
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 3 days ago
The Chicago Teachers Union reports that the system leadership starved the schools it wanted to close, depriving them of the resources and personnel they needed to succeed. Those at the top should be held accountable when schools fail. It doesn’t happen accidentally. They are responsible. New Report Cites Past Disinvestment By CPS in Schools Targeted [...]
Roundup: Indiana Legislation to Smash Public Schools, Lower Standards
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 3 days ago
Indiana legislators have passed so much anti-public school legislation this year that they are feeling “reform fatigue.” Of course, they expanded the state voucher program. That way, as many children as possible can escape going to a community school, even if they are in kindergarten. The good news is that 10 Republican senators voted against [...]
EduShyster to TFA: Enough Is Enough
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 3 days ago
EduShyster writes a personal letter to Teach for America. Please, she says, we know you are excellent. We know you are beyond excellent. We know that there is no one more excellent than you. Please, we get it. Enough. But consider what all this self-praise does: “Every time you toot the horn of triumph, alerting [...]
Problems with Common Core Tests
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 3 days ago
Technical issues plague the tests. Not ready for prime time.
How to Prepare Children for Common Core Failure
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 3 days ago
This is a parody but it is uncomfortably close to reality. The humorist known as Students Last has compiled a reading list to prepare children for failure on the tests. Just listen to all the bigwigs warning about high failure rates, ripping off the Band-aid and sink-or-swim in the deep end of the pool. That’s [...]
An 8th Grader Writes a Test Question: Hilarious!
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 4 days ago
An 8th grade student in New York State wrote a brilliant parody of the state ELA exam. Please read it. It is very funny. It does leave you wondering why students are so much wiser than state education officials.
Pallas: What the Power Quartet of New York Left Out
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 4 days ago
Aaron Pallas, a sociologist at Teachers College, is a sharp observer of educational issues. In this article, he comments on a joint statement by the leaders of education in New York City and State, hailing the Common Core and the new Common Core tests. Their article appeared in the New York Daily News, where they [...]
Puzzle: Hall Faces Jail Time, Rhee Does Not
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 4 days ago
This article asks the obvious question: Why does Atlanta’s disgraced superintendent Beverly Hall face serious jail time for the cheating that happened on her watch–which she ignored or encouraged by demanding higher test scores–while Michelle Rhee continues to fly from state to state, urging legislatures to follow the DC model? The article says that Rhee [...]
Be Inspired: Watch 3 Minute Video of Newark Students
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 4 days ago
EduShyster first skewers the new Chief Operating Officer of the Néw York City Department of Education, a young man of 27. After the Cathie Black debacle, nothing from this zany department surprises anymore. Then treat yourself by watching the video created by the neglected, discounted,derided students of Newark, NJ., which is embedded in the post.
Washington Post: Anti-Testing Movement Grows
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 4 days ago
From the local school boards in Texas to the teachers at Garfield High School in Seattle to the Providence Student Union, the movement against high-stakes testing is growing everyday. The Washington Post reports here that the public is rising up against the Bush-Obama education agenda. Across the nation, students, parents, and teachers have had it. [...]
A Teacher’s Pledge for the Ethical Use of Test Data
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 4 days ago
Anthony Cody met teacher Michelle Gunderson at Occupy the DOE. When he heard her ideas about testing, he invited her to write a guest blog. Gunderson explained that she has seen test used to sort children, to punish children, and now–to privatize schools. She has developed her own credo for the ethical use of tests. [...]
Terrible News: Terrorist Attack on Boston Marathon
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 4 days ago
Just unspeakably awful.
A Bit of Beauty Today
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 4 days ago
A regular reader shared this stunning video. She said we need some beauty today.
SUNY Educators: Teachers Should Speak Out Too
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 4 days ago
This letter comes from three teacher educators at the State University of New York In the assault on public education, New York State is in the midst of a battle. The growing movement to opt out of state testing has caught the attention state leaders and school administrators, who have a stake in supporting assessments. [...]
Why the Hateful Talk about Children?
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 4 days ago
In the past few days, education officials in New York have made some breathtakingly hostile comments about children. Merryl Tisch, the chancellor of the New York Board of Regents, responded to reports about test anxiety by saying that it was time to jump into the deep end. By that, she meant that it was time [...]
Will Democratic Stand Against Corporate Reform Affect L.A. Mayoral Race?
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 4 days ago
This comment asks an important question. With billionaire money flooding state and local school board races in California, what will the Democratic candidates for mayor of LA do or say? Will the Democratic parties in other states have the gumption to renounce those who are destroying public education and attacking teachers? The comment: Too bad [...]
Breaking News! California Democratic Party Blasts Corporate Education Reform: UPDATE
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 4 days ago
The California Democratic Party passed a resolution opposing corporate education reform. It specifically criticized Michelle Rhee’s StudentsFirst and the Wall Street hedge fund managers’ group called “Democrats for Education Reform” as fronts for Republicans and corporate interests. See the story in the Los Angeles Times here. The headline repeats the “reform” claim that they just [...]
NYC Official: “It’s Time to Rip Off the Band-Aid!”
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 4 days ago
Dennis Walcott and other city and state officials in New York announced that they expect test scores to fall by 30% this year because of the switch to the Common Core. They keep saying, almost too gleefully, how hard the test is. (Reader, remember that the test is “hard” only because state officials decided to [...]
Best Comment of the Week: The Washington Post and Rhee
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 4 days ago
The same reader wins two straight weeks! In this article, he writes about the Washington Post’s internal dissent about covering Michelle Rhee. Jo-Ann Armao, the editorial writer, was a Rhee fan. Bill Turque was the reporter who covered Rhee, fairly and without bias. He writes: I won “COMMENT OF THE DAY (SO FAR” last Saturday, [...]
Rhee: SC Teachers Riding a “Gravy Train”
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 5 days ago
Undeterred by the release of John Merrow’s report of widespread cheating on her watch, Michelle Rhee traveled to South Carolina to attack teachers. She said they were defenders of the status quo. She said they were protecting their self-interest. She said they ride a “gravy train.” The average teacher’s salary in SC is $46,306.67. Rhee [...]
The Man Who Launched the Anti-Testing Movement in New York
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 5 days ago
Who deserves credit for creating the anti-testing movement in New York State? Governor Andrew Cuomo. He is so devoted to standardized testing that students in third grade in New York will have “six straight days of tests, 90 minutes a day.” Cuomo loves standardized testing and high stakes, though not for his own children, of [...]
Charters in Ohio: Succeeding or Failing?
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 5 days ago
Maureen Reedy wrote an opinion piece criticizing charters in Ohio. The Thomas B. Fordham Institute, which sponsors charters in Ohio, published a blog post criticizing Maureen Reedy for her negative views about charters and defended the record of charters in that state. Stephen Dyer, a former state legislator who works for Innovation Ohio, a think [...]
Reedy: Ohio Charters Are Floundering
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 5 days ago
Maureen Reedy, a veteran teacher and a teacher of the year in Ohio, has been fighting valiantly against the privatization movement in Ohio. In this article that she wrote in the Columbus Despatch, she demonstrates how charters of low quality have diverted billions of dollars from the state’s public schools. Consider: “While 77 percent of [...]
School Board Member Opts Son Out of State Tests
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 5 days ago
Willa Powell, a member of the school board in Rochester, New York, will keep her child home on testing day. Buried in this story is a very strange comment by State Commissioner John King. “As we looked at flat test scores in New York and across the country, it was impossible to ignore a few [...]
Is Your Pension Managed by Someone Who Wants to Eliminate It?
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 5 days ago
Matt Taibbi in Rolling Stone has a hilarious article about a hedge fund manager who manages pension funds, but is also a board member and co-founder of StudentsFirst in New York, which advocates against defined benefit pension plans. You will enjoy reading the exchange between Dan Loeb, the hedge fund manager, and Randi Weingarten, who [...]
Tony Bennett’s Useless $1.7 million Gift to Glenda Ritz
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 5 days ago
When Glenda Ritz took over outgoing Superintendent Tony Bennett’s office, she was surprised to find some very expensive teleconferencing equipment. But it didn’t work, because it was only partially installed. Turns out that Bennett was so sure of his re-election that he installed a system costing $1.7 million from Cisco. Unfortunately it is incompatible with [...]
Children in NYC Suffer Bouts of Test Anxiety, Officials Shrug
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 5 days ago
As this article in the New York Times explains, elementary schoolchildren are frightened by the tests that start this week, based on the Common Core. The article points out that neither the students nor the teachers are prepared. Some of the material was never taught. “But the standards are so new that many New York [...]
Celebrated California Charter School Implodes in Dissension
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 5 days ago
The American Indian Model Schools has turned into a long-running drama. This week it took a sharp turn for the worse, as the board fired top administrators, some board members denounced other board members, and everyone was angry. All this followed the revocation of the charters due to fiscal improprieties. For years, it was the [...]
Rachel Levy: Who Will Investigate? What Happens Next?
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 5 days ago
Rachel Levy is a well-informed blogger who keeps a close watch on DC and Virginia education politics. Here she wonders why anyone is surprised by the latest revelation about Rhee. Who will investigate now that the two official bodies that previously investigated cleared Rhee without managing to dispel doubts about what happened? And what about [...]
Why Are the Néw Tests Harder?
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 5 days ago
School officials across the nation keep warning that the new tests are “harder,” and passing rates will drop by 30% or more. Why? The passing mark–or cut score–on tests is not determined by science. It is a judgment call. Those who are in charge decide where to place the passing mark. If the scores go [...]
Huffington Post: Ho-Hum to Rhee Smoking Memo
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 5 days ago
Huffington Post reporter Joy Resmovits notes renewed calls for investigation of cheating under Rhee but then points out that the issue has been thoroughly investigated, at least to the satisfaction of Rhee, Henderson, Duncan, and the Huffington Post. She notes the latest cheating “audit” by Alvarez & Marsal and even refers to the fiirm as [...]
New York Parents Are Opting Out
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 5 days ago
The movement to opt out of state testing is spreading in Néw York. State leaders are threatening parents and schools with loss of funding; teachers are threatened with disciplinary action if they encourage parents. PARENTS, DO NOT BE INTIMIDATED. It is your choice. If everyone stands together, the petty tyrants in Albany can’t do anything. [...]
CTU: Turnaround Schools Remove Veteran Black Teachers
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 5 days ago
This just in from the Chicago Teachers Union: NEWS RELEASE Turnarounds and the Systemic Assault on Experienced Black Educators CHICAGO – In addition to 54 elementary schools slated for closure this year, the Chicago Public School district wants to “turnaround” six other neighborhood school campuses. The management contract will most likely be awarded [...]
Bronx Charter with the Right Connections
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 5 days ago
New York City just approved the ssle of $23 million in bonds for a charter run by a politically powerful Bronx family. The story begins thus: “The city approved a politically connected charter school — whose founder went to prison and principal was once accused of fixing grades — to issue up to $23 million [...]
Good News About Alabama Public Schools
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 5 days ago
Larry Lee travels the back roads of Alabama and sees the daily miracles in rural schools, where principals, teachers, and communities work together to support their children and their under-resourced public schools. These schools are the anchor of their community. Lately, Alabama has been besieged by out-of-state organizations who knock Alabama schools, trying to create [...]
This is the “Smoking Memo”
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 6 days ago
This is the memo leaked to John Merrow by an official at the D.C. Public Schools. It answers some of the questions; What did Rhee know? When did she know it? What did she do about it? She says she got lots of memos. Do you think this one was so unimportant that she forgot [...]
Robert Shepherd: A Closer Look at the Common Core Standards, 2
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 6 days ago
Robert Shepherd explains his negative view of the Common Core standards: One topic that rarely gets discussed in the debate about the new standards [sic] is their poor quality. If these had been handed me by a graduate student as, say, a thesis project, I would have told her that they were not yet of [...]
The Takeover Generation Takes Over NYC Public Schools
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 6 days ago
An earlier post noted that a very extraordinary 27-year-old named Andrew Buher had been named as Chief Operations Officer of the New York City public schools, where he will have a salary of $202,000. Then a few people noted that he is part of the Education Pioneers, young people coming up through charter schools and [...]
Teacher Ken Shows Creativity
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 6 days ago
Please check out Teacher Ken’s post on the Daily Kos. Scroll down through the comments and you will see some creative reworking of the covers of Time and Newsweek, as well as the “Waiting for Superman” poster, now renamed “Waiting for Eraserhead.”
Jersey Youth Will Run NYC School System
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 6 days ago
Dennis Walcott, the chancellor of the Néw York City Department of Education, has announced the selection of Andrew Buher, age 27, to be Chief Operating Officer of the 1.1 million student school system. Buher graduated from college in 2007. He came to wirk for the DOE in 2010. He started at $75,000 but soon doubled [...]
Daily Howler on “Cherry-Pick Hall of Fame”
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 6 days ago
The Daily Howler has a few choice words for today’s opinion piece about how to reform teaching, by a Harvard professor. The writer of the Daily Howler happens to be a former teacher and cares a lot about education. Today he begins to dissect the NY Times article that I described as one of the [...]
One of the Dumbest NY Times’ Opinion Pieces Ever
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 6 days ago
Today, the New York Times gave a lot of column inches to an article by a Harvard professor who claims to know how to fix the teaching profession. He begins with the assertion that despite the many reforms of the past 30 years, the performance of our K-12 education system “remains stubbornly mediocre.” His “evidence” [...]
Why the Tennessee Bill to Punish Welfare Families for Low Test Scores Was Wrong
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 6 days ago
Kay McSpadden writes frequently about education issues in North Carolina. Here she explains why the Tennessee bill to cut welfare benefits to families if their children didn’t get high test scores was a disaster. Fortunately, key Republican legislators put a halt to it and it never came to a vote. I try not to read [...]
A Reformer’s Dilemma
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 6 days ago
EduShyster ponders the plight of a reformer trying to figure how to pay for an elite private school. What to do? The tuition is just the beginning. All those fancy clothes and vacations and SAT prep. Could she use an Opportunity Scholarship? Not likely. The school won’t take them. See how she solves her problem.
TeacherKen: Who Are the Cheaters?
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 6 days ago
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 [...]
Julian Vasquez Heilig: Parent Trigger and the Big $$$
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 6 days ago
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 [...]
This Rhee Scandal Can’t Be Silenced with Spin
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 6 days ago
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 [...]
What John Merrow Told Education Writers
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 6 days ago
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 [...]
A City Council Hearing Is Not Enough
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 6 days ago
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 conducted in Atlanta. Rhee deserves the same scrutiny as Hall. Given the fear and intimidation reported by John Merrow, hearings will not get to [...]
Are the Data Scrubbed and Cooked?
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 1 week ago
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 [...]
Voodoo Education or Zombie Education?
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 1 week ago
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. [...]
John Merrow on Chris Hayes Discussing Rhee
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 1 week ago
A reader sent this comment and a link to Chris Hayes’ interview with John Merrow: “MSNBC’s Chris Hayes had John Merrow on his 4/12 evening show, ALL IN and the conversation was simply brutal towards Rhee….Chris very articulately pointed out how M Rhee rose to the top of the Ed Reform movement with only 3 [...]
Strauss: Time to Subpoena Witnesses in DC Cheating Scandal
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 1 week ago
Valerie Strauss writes that it is time for a thorough investigation of allegations of cheating during the tenure of Michelle Rhee as chancellor. The leaking of the “smoking memo” to John Merrow shows that Rhee apparently was informed of likely cheating but chose not to investigate it. Many questions are unanswered: what did she know [...]
How a School Board Candidate Beat the Billionaires
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 1 week ago
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 billionaires’ candidate. He believes that the LAUSD school board should have another independent voice. [...]
USA Today on Rhee Cheating Scandal: LINK ADDED, BLAME MY STAFF
dianerav at Diane Ravitch's blog - 1 week ago
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. Eventually, the allegations were investigated by the DC Inspector General, who decided not to look at the erasure analysis or to interview many people. It [...]