Latest News and Comment from Education

Wednesday, August 21, 2013

8-21-13 Perdido Street School

Perdido Street School:



Christine Quinn Plays The Victim Card
Quinn is clearly getting desperate:A comment by Bill de Blasio’s wife that appeared to imply Christine Quinn could not relate to woman voters because she doesn’t have children drew ire from Quinn Wednesday - but the de Blasio campaign produced an audio tape showing she was misquoted. The original article by New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd, which has since been corrected, quotes Chirlane McCr


  Returning The Phrase "High Stakes Standardized Tests" Back To The Education Vernacular
Politicians learned long ago that how you frame an issue goes a long way toward how the public feels or thinks about something.For a long time, the GOP used to fight against the "estate tax."But the word "estate" conjured up images of Mr. Howell from Gilligan's Island in people's heads, so getting rid of the "estate tax" faced some headwinds. Then they discovered that if they renamed the "estate t

What These Latest Polls Mean For Standardized Testing And Teacher Evaluations
Two polls out recently show conflicting results over public support for standardized testing and teacher evaluations tied to test scores.The AP-NORC poll got a lot of press the other day because it seemed to show vast public support for testing:WASHINGTON — Often criticized as too prescriptive and all-consuming, standardized tests have support among parents, who view them as a useful way to measur


Someone Tell Merryl Tisch - The Public Doesn't Hate Teachers
Regents Chancellor and testing doyenne Merryl Tisch used the following argument to support tying teacher evaluations to test scores:Merryl H. Tisch, chancellor of the Board of Regents, said that because of the new “scientific, objective” evaluation system, the public would see that teachers were being held to a rigorous standard and would not dislike them so much. “I’m seeing a much more positive

8-20-13 Perdido Street School
Perdido Street School: Needing To Quantify EverythingDiane Ravitch:The other day, I was involved in an extended online discussion about proficiency and accountability with about 50 people, mostly inside the Beltway. These are big names, people who make decisions that control your child’s life in school. I got more and more exasperated as the various think tank experts waxed on about how and why pa