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Wednesday, June 5, 2013

Diane in the Evening 6-5-13 Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all

Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all:




More about Michael Weston on This Teacher-Run Site

by dianerav
This website was created by teachers for teachers.
It alerted me to Michael Weston’s firing by his principal in Hillsborough Country, Florida.

Should Teachers Have Freedom of Speech? Hillsborough County, Florida, Says No

by dianerav
Teacher Mike Weston is running for school board.
He teaches math at Freedom High in Hillsborough County, Florida.
That is, he used to teach math at Freedom High.
He was fired by his principal.
Freedom High doesn’t think highly of Weston’s freedom of speech.

Third Graders to Governor Cuomo: “We Are Only in Third Grade, for Heaven’s Sake”

by dianerav
A third-grade class of children in upstate New York were upset by the Common Core exams.
Their teacher and principal encouraged them to write to the Governor.
Many complained that they didn’t have enough time to finish.
One wrote, “”I know the governor wants us to be ‘college ready,’ but we are only in third grade for heaven sakes.”
Out of the mouths of babes, more wisdom than one hears from the

New Common Core Tests Will Require Up to 10 Hours

by dianerav
Catherine Gewertz reports in Education Week that the new Common Core tests created by the PARCC consortium of states will require up to ten hours, depending on grade level.
Here is the projection:
“The amount of time students will have to complete both the performance-based and end-of-year components in math and English/language arts:
Grade 3: 8 hours
Grades 4-5: 9 hours, 20 minutes
Grades 6-8: 9 hours, 25 minutes
Grades 9-10: 9 hours, 45 minutes
Grades 11-12: 9 hours, 55 minutes”
Reminds me of the song in “Gigi” sung by Maurice Chevalier, “I’m Glad I’m Not Young Anymore.”
But I do worry about my grandchildren.

Come to the Skinny Awards in NYC on June 18 to Honor Two Great Teacher Bloggers

by dianerav
Please attend our Fifth annual “Skinny Awards” Class Size Matters fundraiser
And enjoy a four-course dinner with wine
When: Tuesday June 18 at 6 PM
Where: FAGIOLINI ON 40TH, 120 E. 40th St.  (betw. Lexington and 3rd Ave.)
Purchase your tickets here.
Each year we give an award to the individuals who provide the real “Skinny” on NYC schools. Past recipients of the award include Diane Ravitch and Juan Gonzalez.  This year, our “Skinny” award will go to two brilliant teacher/bloggers: 
Arthur Goldstein, who writes the NYC Educator blog and is an ESL teacher
at Francis Lewis High School in Queens
Gary Rubinstein, who blogs at Teach for Us and is a math teacher
at Stuyvesant HS in lower Manhattan
 This dinner is always a highlight of the year, with delicious food, good wine, and great company.
This year, it is especially important to attend and/or contribute to our work.  As always, Class Size Matters relies on your donations to keep our organization going.  We have continued to advocate for smaller classes and an end to school overcrowding, as class sizes swell throughout the country.  We also have become leaders in the fight against high-stakes testing, privatization, and the violation of student privacy.
Nationally, we spearheaded the battle against the sharing of confidential student data with a corporation called inBloom Inc.  inBloom Inc. plans to put children’s personal information on a vulnerable data cloud, and share it with private vendors without parental notification or consent.
If you believe that class size matters, and that it is important to keep our public schools and children’s personal information out of the hands of private corporations, please make tax-deductible contribution now to Class Size Matters and/or purchase a seat at our fundraiser dinner June 18 by clicking here or here: http://www.nycharities.org/events/EventLevels.aspx?ETID=6292 .
Please forward to others who care and hope to see you there, Leonie

Teacher to Iowa Media: Stop Bashing Teachers and Schools

by dianerav
Amy Prime teaches second grade in Iowa. She writes strong opinion pieces and in this one, she lambastes the Des Moines Register (which publishes her articles) for its most recent editorial blasting the schools. In this case,the newspaper complained that Iowa schools did not have test scores as high as Maryland.
Have Iowa’s test scores “stagnated”? Whence came the belief that they must go up every year, like stock prices?
She writes:
“Even if our scores have “stagnated,” as the Register article asserts, then Iowa teachers should be praised for maintaining such high scores with that added challenge. I’d like to see a feature congratulating teachers for not

LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH 6-5-13 Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all

mike simpson at Big Education Ape - 3 hours ago
Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all: [image: Click on picture to Listen to Diane Ravitch] North Carolina: Public Schools First Rallies Against Cuts by dianerav ACTION ALERT! publicschoolsfirstnc.org Help Us Deliver 15,000+ Signatures to Governor McCrory on Thursday! It’s time to wake up the people of North Carolina and let them know that our public schools are in danger! Pending bills in the General Assembly could devastate our schools as we know them — lifting the cap on classroom sizes, eliminating classroom positions, slashing eligibility for Pre-K, ... more »
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