Thursday, April 11, 2013

Schools Matter: Tennessee's Latest Stupidity: Take Food Away from Hungry Kids for Not Passing the State Test

Schools Matter: Tennessee's Latest Stupidity: Take Food Away from Hungry Kids for Not Passing the State Test:


Tennessee's Latest Stupidity: Take Food Away from Hungry Kids for Not Passing the State Test

I was in my hometown of Erin, TN for their Irish Day Celebration in March, and I was talking to an old friend of mine, now a judge.  It occurred to both of as we were talking that when we were growing up there in the 60s, our town and our state was a much richer place with more to offer and more to gain.  Since then the state's politics and policies have become increasingly conservative as most people in the state have become poorer, less healthy, and more desperate.   And so today we see a kind of proto-fascist extremism in the state legislature and the Governor's Mansion that leverages its corporate power through hate, divisiveness, fear, resentment, 

Opt Out's Four Day Occupation Video Archive

In mid-livestream, you might say.  Find other speeches here.

Arne Duncan's Next $5 Billion Corporate Bonanza Based on Same Mythology

For years the ostensible guru of value-added testing, Bill Sanders, told anyone who would listen that teachers are the most important factor influencing student achievement.  When Richard Rothstein, Gene Glass, and others pointed out the obvious falsity of this lie, the language shifted among corporate ed reformers to argue that teachers are the most important school-based factor in raising student achievement.

Well, that is sort of accurate in a misleading sort of way, with some caveats and contextual factors to consider, which has led even the conservative Education Writers Association to conclude that
Research has shown that the variation in student achievement is predominantly a