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DIANE RAVITCH'S BLOG
Michael Brocoum on the Wreckage Caused by Mayoral Control
Michael Brocoum recounts his experience as a New York City public school teacher: “I was a teacher at the Bayard Rustin High School for the Humanities in NYC from 1990 – 2010 and taught before at several other schools in NYC. I also taught Economics as an adjunct at the State Univ. of NY at Farmingdale before that (1975-77). “BRHS was an excellent school with students opting to attend that didn’
Vultures Circle Detroit Art Museum
Watch the billionaires scoop up the treasures of the Detroit Institute of Art. Is ours a society where the public sector can be ransacked for gain, where legislatures and governors walk away from any responsibility to protect the common wealth?
Weston: Why Grading Schools Is a Fraud
Michael Weston, a teacher in Hillsborough County, Florida, explains here why giving letter grades to schools is a phony and a fraud that does nothing to improve education. It may be former Governor Jeb Bush’s proudest accomplishment and the linchpin of the “Florida miracle,” but it is still utterly worthless. Weston, who is running for school board (and who was recently fired for being outspoken)
Joshua Starr Searches for Néw Measures
Superintendent Joshua Starr in Montgomery County, Maryland, is searching for ways to measure students other than test scores. The district has commissioned Gallup to develop measures of social and emotional factors. Sounds good but why not do what Sidwell Friends, Exeter, Andover, Lakeside Academy, and schools in Finland do: Trust professional judgment. HuffPost reporter Joy Resmovits tweeted th
Stop Bullying Now
I just learned from a reader about a new group in Pittsburgh to stop bullying. It reminded me to share with you my thoughts about a current movie called “Bully.” I saw it on a cable station as an “on demand” movie. A friend urged me to see it. He was right. It is gripping and heart-breaking. It tells the story of several children who were bullied, taunted, teased, ridiculed on a daily basis by o
YESTERDAY
When This Reader Heard President Obama Discuss Trayvon Martin
A reader posted this comment: “Listening to President Obama’s speech about Trayvon Martin in which he said regarding young black men,”And is there more that we can do to give them the sense that their country cares about them and values them and is willing to invest in them?” the thought struck me: “How about not closing their schools and undermining their neighborhoods; how about providing them
The Game in Detroit: Pensions
In a series of legal maneuvers, Governor Snyder of Michigan and his emergency manager rushed to plunge Detroit into a historic bankruptcy. The judge was not pleased. “Prior to her ruling on Friday, she criticized the Snyder administration and Attorney General’s Office for what appeared to be hasty action to outflank pension board attorneys. “It’s cheating, sir, and it’s cheating good people who w
Inside Story: Why Louisiana Joined inBloom
Thanks to tireless bloggers and parents, who FOILed the emails, you can now read about how and why Louisiana State Superintendent John White decided to turn over confidential student data to the Murdoch-Gates collaboration. Do you want to know what the powerful say to each other? Read this fascinating account of The Art of the Deal.
Rahm’s Plan: Another 2,000 Teacher Layoffs
Mayor Rahm Emanuel continues with his plan to downsize public education in Chicago, while privately managed (mostly non-union) charters proliferate. Rahm recently told Charlie Rose that school reform was his highest priority as mayor. Here is a statement from a Chicago organization created to fight the endless budget cuts: Raise Your Hand Coalition: Press Statement in Response to Layoff Announceme
Columbus, Ohio: Cutting Parents Out of Public Education
A blogger in Columbus updates us on recent developments there. First the mayor decided to get involved, which everyone thought would be a good thing. Then the mayor appointed a panel of “experts,” many of whom do not live in Columbus and 96% of whom are not public school parents. Then the panel released its plan: “And when the panel came out with suggestions that included eliminating the intern
David Kirp: Frequent Turnover of Superintendents Is a Bad Idea
David Kirp writes that the frequent firing and turnover of coaches in the National Basketball Association is destabilizing, and the same is true in the superintendency of school districts. Of course, bad superintendents should be removed, but when the superintendent is doing a good job, they should have time to get something accomplished. The bottom line is that school districts need stability, no
Prince George’s County: No Democracy for Us
Prince George’s County, Maryland, will become the first county in the nation where the county executive controls the schools. The executive will appoint the schools’ superintendent and several board members. No doubt the Maryland legislature was impressed by the success of mayoral control in Chicago and Cleveland. Or was it Néw York City, where Mayor Bloomberg doubled the budget without narrowing
The Negative Effects of Holding Kids Back in Third Grade
Jeb Bush goes across the nation boasting of the “Florida Miracle.” It consists of tough test-based accountability, charters, vouchers, and online charters, with plenty of profits to spur innovation. Remember the much-acclaimed Texas miracle? Here is a paper by Umut Ozek, a researcher at the American Institutes for Research, which debunks the value of holding back third-grade students, one of the
Watch This, You Will Love It: Nurturing Creativity
Forget data for a few minutes. Forget lockstep learning. Watch a Powerpoint about nurturing creativity and imagination among children. It is especially valuable for parents. It was created by Sheila Schlesinger, an experienced educator and a regular reader of the blog. Sheila has been teaching pre-K in Brooklyn for 15 years. We are very lucky to have teachers like Sheila. Enjoy! https://sites.goog
JUL 18
Louisiana Educator Speaks Out Against Privatization
Mike Deshotels is a retired educator in Louisiana who blogs at http://louisianaeducator.blogspot.com/. He sent the following letter to the media: “To the Editor As an experienced, retired educator I feel I must speak out about the serious damage being done to public education in Louisiana by Governor Jindal and State Education Superintendent John White. Many educators are shocked and disappointed
What Happens If NFL Listens to Arne
This is a very funny spoof of federal education policy. Imagine Arne Duncan and Roger Goodell, the president of the NFL, calling a joint press conference to announce a new program called Race to the End Zone. Imagine an agreement that all teams will use the same plays. Now the NFL will have no failing teams! “We in the NFL love the Common Core Curriculum that Mr. Duncan is pushing on schools here
Why The Silence in Newark?
Newark is another “ground zero” for corporate style reform. Test scores are low, poverty rates are high, but remember there are No Excuses! Cami Anderson was hired by the state to lead the turnaround. Mark Zuckerberg put up $100 million. A turnaround firm was hired to do the turnaround. Cory Booker says that Newark will be a national model. But when a reporter asked for basic information about th
Textbook Censorship in Indiana
Ten years ago, I wrote a book about the censorship of textbooks and tests by groups from every extreme of the political spectrum. Every group had its own political agenda, and the mechanism that made them successful was the state textbook adoption process. When the state board has the power to make publishers rewrite language that someone opposed. Texas and California were the worst offenders, bec
Bad News: Top Lawyer for Dems in Senate Comes from Gates Foundation
Millions of parents and teachers watch and hope that Congress will scrap the failed policies of the Bush administration called NCLB. It is this worrisome that the chief counsel for the Democrats on the Senate HELP committee was a senior policy person at the Gates Foundation. Gates is infamous for its religious devotion to measurement. “What cannot be measured cannot be controlled” is the line we
Not Too Late to Profit from Public Education $$$
There is still time to register for the big conference that will show you how to make big profits from the tax dollars supposed to be spent on children and teachers. Hey, those teachers are making out like bandits, with some of them hauling in $40,000 a year, even as much as $75,000 a year, and all they do is teach 35-40 kids at a time. Why shouldn’t you learn the secrets to extracting millions
A Shocking Display of Candor in Bridgeport
Ann Evans de Bernard is retiring as principal of a Bridgeport, Connecticut, K-8 school. She decided it was time to tell the truth about urban education. She explained that rises and falls on average test scores mean nothing because of the high mobility rate of her students. They move in and move out with stunning frequency. What do the scores mean? Nothing. The kids persevere despite many obstac
Following the Money Trail in Chicago
This investigative article by Steve Horn traces the money trail that ties together the major players in the corporate reform movement in Chicago. From President Obama to Arne Duncan to Rahm Emanuel, the thread that ties them all together is the Joyce Foundation. As the privatization movement advances, its path has been well prepared by the city’s power brokers, who have decided not to support publ
President Obama and the New Elitism
Paul Horton, a history teacher at the University of Chicago Lab School, wrote the following open letter to President Obama: July 12, 2013 Dear Mr. President, I am very concerned about how you decided to go the way that you did with your Education policies. I was recently told by a close friend of the yours that “Arne’s Team looked at all of the options” and decided to go with its current policies
How “Reform” Killed My School: The Tragic Story of Delmont Elementary School
The following account of Delmont Elementary School was written by Jill Saia, who was its principal. I have deleted the “Dream School” folder on my computer. I am hoping that enough time has passed since our school was closed that I can write about it clearly and rationally, even though what was done to us was neither clear nor rational. For the last ten years that folder on my computer has contain
JUL 17
Rally Against Bloomberg 4th Term
From the NYC Parent blog: Subject line: Join us Thurs 12 noon at City hall., July 18: No 4th term for Bloomberg! Dear Parents, grandparents and Education Activists, I hope that you can come and help turn out fellow parents for an important rally and press conference at noon tomorrow, Thursday, July 18, on the City Hall steps to protest Mayor Bloomberg’s attempt to effectively have a fourth term r
A Synonym for “Reform”
This reader says that reformers almost never protest budget cuts. Another word for reform these days is……….neglect. “I think the “abandonment” idea is really powerful. As the parent of a public school kid in Ohio, I really do feel abandoned by both my state government and the federal government. Ordinary local public schools need not apply! The crazy state and federal focus on the 5% of schools t
What You Need to Know About CPS Budget Cuts
As we learned in earlier posts (and see here), Chicago Public Schools cuts the central office budget every year. It is ruthless with the central office budget. No one works at headquarters except possibly Barbara Byrd-Bennett. This reader has studied the budget and offers an overview: “Since 2008, CPS has claimed $1.3 BILLION in central office budget cuts. That’s based on an annual budget of som
Outrage: How to Destroy Neighborhoods While Making a Profit
Wendy Lecker, civil rights attorney and director of the Campaign for Fiscal Equity, read an opinion article in the New York Times and was outraged by its recommendations. Here is her analysis: It seems like these days, one has to be wary of anyone claiming to “help” poor neighborhoods. An oped in the New York Times on July 13 by Michael Rubinger extolled the virtues of federal “new market tax cr
For Shame, Mitch Daniels
An earlier post described efforts by then-Governor Mitch Daniels to make sure that Howard Zinn’s leftist history of the United States was not taught in Indiana’s public schools. But even more alarming is his attempt to shut down Professor Chuck Little of Indiana University, a vocal critic. Little had the audacity to defend public education, which Daniels did his best to privatize. When governmen
Rudy Crew and Oregon Have a Messy Divorce
Rudy Crew left his job as czar of education for the state of Oregon after one year. He is the former chancellor of public schools in New York City and Miami. Crew will return to NYC to become president of Medger Evers College, part of the City University of New York. As he left Oregon, officials there complained about his travel expenses and vacation time. As czar, he had some good ideas, but the
Will North Carolina Abandon Public Education?
June Atkinson, the state superintendent in North Carolina, can’t remember a worse time for public education or a te when teachers were so disrespected. NC ranks 46th in the nation in teachers’ salaries. Teachers must teach 15 years to reach $40,000 a year. What a disgrace! It started, she says, 3-4 years ago at the national level. Let’s see, that would coincide with the launch of Race to Top. Thi
Philadelphia: Corporate Reform Takeover Nears
As Rahm Emanuel once memorably said, when he was President Obama’s chief of staff, never let a crisis go to waste. Naomi Klein surely agreed in her book “Shock Doctrine,” which showed how crises, both natural and man-made, are used to achieve other goal unrelated to the crisis. Hurricane Katrina made it possible to wipe out public education and the teachers union in New Orleans. The budget cuts an
EduShyster Welcomes You to Lake Wobegone Academy!
Read EduShyster as she takes you to the Lake Wobegon Academy of Excellence and Innovation. That is a school where every single student is excellent! Why? Because every single teacher is excellent! No more Bad teachers. No more “good” teachers. And that is why every student is excellent! No more median. At last, a school where No Child Is Left Behind, where every child Races to the Top and wins
Tennessee: The State Makes a Slight Mistake
This notice went to first- and second-grade teachers across the state of Tennessee. The state made a little error. This little error will count for 35-50% of each teacher’s evaluation. My first thought when I read it was that I was appalled that teachers of first and second grade are being evaluated by the test scores of their students. My next thought was to wonder whether anyone in the Tennessee
Alabama Debates the Common Core Standards
An interesting exchange about the pros and cons of the Common Core standards. First, the case for the Common Core by Chip Cherry, president and CEO of the Huntsville/Madison County Chamber of Commerce. Then, the case against the Common Core by a teacher named Russell. It is a sharp debate. Worth your time to read. Both short pieces.
How School Choice Works in New Orleans
Mercedes Schneider attempts to explain here how school choice works in New Orleans. It is complicated, confusing, and messy. More often than not, the schools choose, not the parents. More often than not, students leaving a “failed” and closing school may “choose” to go to another F-rated school. The one choice that is not available is the choice of a neighborhood school. They don’t exist any more.
Will Mitch Daniels Protect AcademicFreedom at Purdue?
As Mitch Daniels was leaving the governorship of Indiana, he was named president of Purdue–a major research institution–by a board that he had appointed. Since Daniels was a politician with no scholarly credentials, the appointment must have raised some eyebrows. The release of emails during Daniels’ governorship shows him to be petty, vindictive, opinionated, and intolerant of views he does not
Now the Gates Foundation Is Destroying Higher Education
With $36 billion, the Gates Foundation has too much money, too much power, and not enough common sense nor willingness to listen to those who warn that they are doing harm to basic social institutions. Now the foundation has decided to destroy the civilizing and humanizing mission of higher education, and turn it into a process for acquiring job skills and degrees. Read this article in The Chroni
JUL 16
Connecticut Supreme Court Will Rule on Vallas Matter
The fate of Paul Vallas will be decided by Connecticut’s highest court. An earlier court decision ruled that he lacked the qualifications specified in state law.
FAIRTEST: Florida Grading System Is a Scam
A statement today from FAIRTEST: National Center for Fair & Open Testing for further information: Bob Schaeffer (239) 395-6773 cell (239) 699-0468 for immediate release, Tuesday, July 16, 2013 FLORIDA SCHOOL GRADES ARE “POLITICALLY MANIPULATED SCAM” ASSESSMENT REFORM LEADER CALLS FOR END OF “FAILED EXPERIMENT IN BOGUS ACCOUNTABILITY” Today’s Board of Education vote to again change the state
Sorry About the W Post
I accidentally hit the send button and posted a mysterious W Think of it as a question: Why?
Bruce Baker on Charter Parasites in Newark
Bruce Baker added these thoughts to his earlier post about charter schools in Newark: “So then, imagine if you will, an entire district of North Stars? Or an entire district of those who strive to achieve the same public accolades of North Star? That would sure work well from a public policy standpoint. They’d be in constant bitter battle over who could get by with the fewest of the lowest income
Paul Thomas: Why Education Does Not Trump Poverty
Paul Thomas here explores this question: is it better to be born rich or to get a college degree? Can a “no excuses” school overcome poverty? Can 1,000 such schools change South Carolina?
Outrage! Pontiac Teachers Lose Health Insurance
Teachers in Michigan are getting hit from all sides. Teachers in Pontiac will lose their health insurance because the district used the money paid by the teachers for the general fund to balance the books and didn’t pay the premiums. The insurance company is canceling the policy, and the teachers are suing the district.
Study: High-Stakes Testing Increases Incarceration Rate
A new study published by the National Bureau of Economic Research says that high-stakes testing leads to an increase in the incarceration rate. Olesya Baker and Kevin Lang conclude that the use of high-stakes tests as a graduation requirement leads to a lower graduation rate and a higher incarceration rate. Anthony Cody has an excellent column about this study here. As he puts it, “exit exams boos
Edison Charter in KC Goes Broke, Stiffs Teachers
One of the few remaining Edison charter schools went broke, leaving teachers without a pay check. No one knows if the teachers will ever be paid. Most of Edison’s business now is online, not direct management of schools. Derrick Thomas Academy charter school in Kansas City, which opened in 2002 with great promise, lost its charter and left behind a massive financial mess, with Edison demanding pay
Review of CREDO Charter Study: Charters No Better Than Public Schools
The National Education Policy Center commissioned a review of the 2013 CREDO charter study, the one that allegedly discovered big gains for charters. In its 2009 study, CREDO found that only 17% of charters outperformed public schools. Now, reviewers concluded that the differences between charter schools and public schools are “significantly insignificant.” The reviewers were Andrew Maul and Abby
Bruce Baker: Newark Charters Succeed at Skimming
Bruce Baker has studied Newark charters repeatedly. As he shows in this post, their greatest success is their ability to skim the students who are most likely to succeed. Some if his findings about their academic growth–or lack thereof-may surprise you. Charters are parasites, he concludes, that harm their host. Making the entire district charter does not change that: “But sadly, those who most
Indianapolis Plan for Privatization
Indianapolis have developed a plan that they call “neighborhoods of educational opportunity.” Every child in the future will go to a high-quality school, which is sure to be a charter school that destabilizes the neighborhood and excludes students who are not likely to get high scores. It is the usual Reformy con job. Promise the moon, shutter public schools, hand the money off to private operato
Steve Rhodes: CPS Cuts Central Office Again and Again and…
Steve Rhodes tries to understand how the Chicago Public Schools claims $600 million in cuts to “central office.” Rhodes says the claims defy both mathematics and physics. In fact, the cuts are not cuts, and “central office” does not mean central office. He writes: “But this is CPS make-believe land, which is a quasi-quantum place where the rules of earthbound mathematics do not apply. “[T]he en
Sarah Karp: CPS Claims Amazing Budget Cuts
In a brilliant piece of investigative journalism, Sarah Karp tries to understand the claim by the Chicago Public Schools that it cut $600 million from central office when the entire budget for central office is $233 million. Furthermore, the budget for central went up, not down. By now, there must be no one still employed at central offices of CPS.
JUL 15
Andy Borowitz on the Next Big Idea in Florida
Andy Borowitz at his best today. He has figured out what ALEC really wants in Florida and everywhere else.
The Appeal of Charters to Families Besieged by Fear and Want?
A reader explains the appeal of charters to communities fearful for their children in a world fraught with danger: “Perhaps this site can be a venue for discussing the manner in which racial segregation and military discipline are packaged so as to market charter schools to families legitimately concerned with the dangers their children face growing up in communities that lack good jobs, good heal
Tom Torlakson Shows What Leadership Is
This comment just arrived in response to the post about California having the nerve to defy all-wise, all-powerful Arne Duncan: “State Superintendent Tom Torlakson is a former teacher. When he gathered a group of educators to hammer out the blueprint for the future of CA schools, he wisely selected classroom teachers to be on the task force. I was honored to be co-chair of the Teacher Evaluation c
NJ Teacher to Booker: Change Before It’s Too Late
A reader writes: yes, yes! As a black educator and unfortunately a TFA alum who has now been a teacher for 15 years, I don’t understand why Obama and Booker have embraced this corporate style of reform. I worked tirelessly to elect Obama but I continue to find his governance particularly his stance on education and civil rights disappointing. I will not do the same for Booker and I hope that the t
Bravo, California!
The Los Angeles Times explains today that California has stubbornly resisted Arne Duncan’s demand that teachers be evaluated by junk science. Despite the fact that researchers overwhelmingly agree that “value-added assessment” is flawed and unstable, that it reflects whom you teach, and that good teachers may be rated ineffective, Duncan blithely insists that it is essential. Was Duncan successf
Cory Booker: Champion of Privatization
Cory Booker, mayor of Newark, is heavily favored to win the race to replace the late Senator Frank Lautenberg. Booker doesn’t like public education. He is an avid proponent of charters and vouchers. He is active in Democrats for Education Reform, the Wall Street hedge fund managers’ advocacy group for privatization. As Jersey Jazzman points out, there is a credible alternative: Rush Holt, a memb
Find Contact Info for Your Congressman
Here is the contact information for your Congressman or Congresswoman. http://www.congressmerge.com/onlinedb/
Heilig: Feds Want to Reduce Collection of Data That Affect Civil Rights
This is an astonishing post by Julian Vasquez Heilig. He has a passion for equity, and he bridles when reformers lower the standards for becoming a teacher and claim they are doing it “for the kids.” He asks, Would you rather fly with an experienced pilot or fly with one who had only five weeks’ training? Or how about one with 30 hours of training? If the answer seems obvious, and if you prefer t
The Failure of Market-Based “Reform”
The Broader Bolder Approach to Education has steadfastly opposed the high-stakes testing and privatization “reforms” that have done so much to undermine public education. Now it has published a major analysis of the failure of these reforms. Here in clear, graphic images is a report card on districts like New York City and the District of Columbia. These are not models for other urban districts or
Call Your Representative Today! And Tomorrow Too!
Friends of Education! Congress debating the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, which is the basic legal framework for federal aid to education. In 2001, in response to the proposal by the new President George W. Bush, Congress added high-stakes testing as a requirement for federal aid. Congress wrongly believed that high-stakes testing had produced a miracle in Texas. We have had a dozen yea
JUL 14
The Zimmerman Verdict
When I heard the news last night that the jury in Florida found George Zimmerman innocent of any crime and that he was free to walk away, I felt literally ill. As an American who respects the rule of law and the jury system, I felt disillusioned. This verdict seemed to manifestly unfair that I found it hard to bear. This burly guy Zimmerman is a neighborhood watch volunteer, under instructions to
The NY Times Tires of Testing
For the past dozen years, there has been no louder cheerleader for No Child Left Behind, Race to the Top, and their demand for test-based accountability than the Néw York Times’ editorial board. Despite the fact that greater test score gains were recorded before the implementation of NCLB than since; despite the finding of the National Research Council that test-based accountability was ineffectua
The Selling of the Common Core
This post by Peter Smagorinsky is spot on. He is a professor at the University of Georgia, and he is amazed at the shrewd marketing of the Common Core. Think of it. Schools and teachers are overwhelmed by budget cuts, still reeling from the economic crisis of 2008, and are now trying to absorb new and flawed systems of teacher evaluation. In many states, teachers have lost all job security. At the
Lewis Carroll: Professional Development for the Common Core
This poem was suggested to me by a friend who does professional development for the Common Core in New York City. This past week, by coincidence, Jason Griffiths, the founder of the Brooklyn Latin School quit his job and went to work for a controversial charter school, because he was tired of being compelled to go to professional development for Common Core when his school already was the top ran
Crooks & Liars Asks: Why Is StudentsFirst Nonprofit?
Blogger Crooks & Liars asks why Michelle Rhee’s StudentsFirst is a nonprofit. He writes: “If ever there was an organization that stands out as one that should never have been granted nonprofit status and doesn’t deserve to continue having it, it’s StudentsFirst. One look at their 2011 tax disclosures reveals a fat, political, ideological organization. StudentsFirst not only crosses the line,
Must Be Election Time: Chris Christie Belittling Teachers Again
Jersey Jazzman notes that Governor Chris Christie is back with his favorite lines, ridiculing teachers for being overpaid and underworked. That means, of course, that he is running for re-election and who better to kick around that the state’s teachers? Here is Christie: “[NJ Governor Chris] Christie said parents must stand up to organizations who he said care more about pensions, wage increases,
A Grassroots Group Grows to Fight Corporate Takeovers
Ellen Lubic and other education activists have formed a new organization called Joining Forces to help parents fight off corporate takeovers of their public schools. Imagine this: an earnest young man or woman comes to your neighborhood, even rents a house there, and button-holes parents to collect their grievances against the neighborhood school. What about that principal? Is there a teacher you
When Joel Klein and Condi Rice Accused Public Schools of Endangering National Security
A reader who goes by the name “Democracy” reminds us of the much-hyped report by a task force of the Council on Foreign Relations, whose co-chairs were Joel Klein and Condoleeza Rice. It blamed the public schools for endangering national security and for the nation’s economic problems. I reviewed it here. This is “Democracy’s” comment: “Aah, Joel Klein. Klein was a recent co-author – with Condalee
NYC Educator: Who Should Be Blamed for Low Scores?
Arthur Goldstein reviews StudentsFirst’s charge that Mayor Bloomberg and his Department of Education were assigning poorly-rated teachers to high-minority schools. It is mildly amusing to imagine that StudentsFirst and Mayor Bloomberg are adversaries, as Goldstein points out. They have a shared interest in demonizing teachers, demanding that they be held accountable for test scores, no matter wha
JUL 13
Steve Zimmer on Why Class Size Matters
At a recent meeting of the Los Angeles school board, newly re-elected member Steve Zimmer spoke passionately about the reasons to reduce class size. Watch here to see Zimmer’s address to the board. Zimmer was a TFA teacher who taught in the L.A. schools for 17 years before he ran for school board. Los Angeles has some of the most crowded classrooms in the nation. The board passed a resolution t
Why Los Angeles Is Now Ground Zero for Corporate Reform–and Pushback
In this post on the New York City parent blog, activist Leonie Haimson explains the hard-fought battle for control of the Los Angeles public schools, and what is at stake. The reform crowd doesn’t care about class size; the anti-status quo board members do. The reformers do nothing to slow the pace of privatization. We will see if the new board majority is able to create true accountability standa
L.A. Community Activists Seek Role in Recruiting Néw Superintendent
Received this morning: Short: http://j.mp/12nVmuG http://www.laschoolsmatter.info/2013/07/venceremos-join-community-search-for.html ¡Venceremos! Join the community search for a new LAUSD superintendent! An open letter and call to action to our LAUSD community and national education experts regarding the urgent search for a new LAUSD Superintendent If the union is sound and the teachers voted of th
More than TFA Dissidents Meet Tomorrow
A reader comments on an earlier post about a conference tomorrow in Chicago that will discuss TFA and the privatization movement. She writes: “Diane, it is not only ex-TFA members. I am also one of the presenters at the conference, representing traditionally trained teachers in New Orleans who now struggle to find employment. We also have parents, students, and community members who have suffered
The Problems That Federal Legislation Studiously Avoids
The commenter who calls himself or herself “Democracy” says the following about the Reauthorization of the federal Elementary and Secondary Education Act (currently known as NCLB): “Bill Mathis correctly points out that education legislation pending in the Congress “would still ‘disaggregate’ test results by ethnic affiliation and income levels so as ‘to shine a light’ on the disparities and inequ
TFA Dissenters Organize Conference for Reform of TFA
It was bound to happen. Teach for America recruits thousands of very smart young men and women and trains them to think like members of TFA, believing that high expectations and high energy will suffice to close the achievement gap. With so many well-educated TFA corps members, there was bound to be a movement to think differently about TFA’s methods, its claims, and its ambitions. On July 14, dis
Jeff Bryant: “No Excuses” for Abandoning Kids and Public Schools
Jeff Bryant of the Education Opportunity Network congratulates Arne Duncan for saying that there was “no excuse” for states that fail to fund their schools. Jeff was quick to point out that the “no excuse” mantra is customarily used by Duncan and other corporate reformers to blame teachers for low test scores. It is refreshing to hear the same rhetoric directed at governors and legislatures that
David Sirota: IPads Cannot Replace Teachers
The holy grail for corporate reformers is cost-cutting that produces profits. Their hope is that if schools replace teachers with technology, the districts save money, and the tech companies strike it rich. As David Sirota writes, districts (especially those with Broad-trained superintendents) are pouring millions into iPads, tablets, etc., in hope that students will learn online and be tested onl
NYC Parent: Let the Hunger Games Begin
New York City parent activist Natalie Green Giles saw an uncanny resemblance between the Hunger Games and the city’s education policies. She writes: The Hunger Games in the NYC Public Schools June 2013 By Natalie Green Giles We have just finished the annual rite of our Hunger Games here in our New York City public schools. Our games go on for six days, not counting the weeks (in some cases months
Reform as Crony Capitalism
Responding to another reader, Robert Shepherd challenges the claim that reformers want a free market in schooling: “We are NOT seeing the emergence of free market alternatives to public schools. We are seeing is crony capitalist alternatives dependent upon federal and state regulation and the public dole that could not possibly survive in truly free markets. It doesn’t matter whether it originate
Does John White Care About Voucher Fraud?
Robert Mann, a professor of communications at Louisiana State University, tries to imagine how Bobby Jindal and John White would react if they heard that Headstart centers kept sloppy records and couldn’t pass an audit. He writes: “Imagine if almost every one of those schools could not produce any records to prove that their expenditures did not constitute “gross irresponsibility or gross indivi
Mercedes Schneider Grades John White’s Letter to the Editor: F
John White wrote a letter to the editor to defend his record and praise the sweeping, bold, innovative reforms that he has led. Mercedes Schneider subjected White’s letter to a severe fact check and found it deficient, especially in relation to basic accuracy. She cuffs him about the head and says: “Reformers like White thrive on promoting the false dichotomy that “disagreeing with me” equals “a