Today: More than 6 Millions Page Views on This Blog!
Today the blog reached a new milestone: 6 million page views in not quite 16 months. I started the blog on April 24, 2012. Since then, I have published more than 5,000 posts and received more than 100,000 comments. A word to readers about the rules of the blog: Rule 1: Please do not use curse words. When you enter my blog, you enter my virtual living room. Curse somewhere else, not here. I try to
A Startling Message for Reformers
How many times have we heard “reformers” like Duncan, Rhee, Klein, Gates, etc. say that the way to “fix poverty” is to fix schools. By that, they mean that “no excuses” schools and Teach for America will solve the poverty problem. That’s a lot less costly than using government programs to change the tax code or create good jobs or do anything that directly reduces poverty. Better to open charter s
When the Major Media Are in a Few Hands, Then….
This article reflects on the future of news outlets in the U.S. There have always been a few fabulously wealthy men and families who owned large media outlets. But there were also thousands of small-town, small-city newspapers and even local radio and TV stations. The small papers and media have been snapped up by the big fish, and many have folded outright. The spread of the Internet has been dis
California Teacher on Common Core Test
From a teacher in California: “Our class had the “privilege” of taking the ELA SmarterBalance test for common core 4th grade. It was horrible. There were split screens, essays to type (our students have no keyboarding experience) and things to click and drag. So in addition to getting students ready for the CC standards, we will need time for computer and keyboard lessons AND we will need the upda
Kentucky is one of only eight states that have not passed a charter law. That means that the state has been unwilling to turn public money over to private entrepreneurs, who will operate schools with little or no oversight. The privatizers can’t tolerate the possibility any state refuses their wares or their opportunity to operate in the dark with public dollars. So now the full-court press is on.
Meet the Broad Superintendents
Several readers asked for more information about the Broad Superintendents Academy. In a sense, information is scarce, since it has no printed curriculum, nor any published description of its course of study. However, there is plentiful information about its graduates, who are found in many of the nation’s urban districts and state education departments. It is important to recognize that this “aca
Rhee Begins National Tour
Michelle Rhee announced that she is launching a national tour of “town halls” to discuss how to make every school a great school. She will invite union leaders and teachers to attend as she stops in such cities as Los Angeles, Philadelphia, and Birmingham. She will be joined by Steve Perry, ex-CNN commentator, and George Parker, ex-president of the DC teachers union and now a member of Rhee’s sta
Teacher in New York: It’s Time to Fire John King
Yesterday I called for John King’s resignation. This teacher says John King should be fired. Here are her reasons: “A New York Teachers Letter on the Failed Leadership of John King I am dismayed by the leadership provided by John King, Education Commissioner of the State of New York. He is deliberately creating a testing and curriculum that penalizes children – especially children with emotiona
Black Agenda Report: “A Scab Is a Scab is a Scab”
Black Agenda Report is a fierce critic of the privatization and dismantling of public education. Some of their rage must be due to the fact that the privatizers claim they are doing it to “save” minority children. In this post BAR rages against Trach for America as a union-busting organization. Bruce Dixon of BAR writes: “Back in the days of organizing meat packing, steel and auto workers, empl
Chile: Students Fight Privatization, Inequality, Segregation
Chile is the poster nation for free market education reform. Dictator Pinochet installed Milton Friedman’s free market ideas into education. Chile has vouchers, and it also has vast income inequality. Vouchers have destroyed free public education. Now Chile has an angry student movement demanding free public education and an end to privatization. To learn about the damage wrought by the free mar
Diane in the Evening 8-14-13 Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all
Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all: NY Regents: Release the Test Questions!The best use of tests is for diagnostic purposes, to help teachers learn what students got wrong and where they need more instruction. Students learn too from their errors. But if the results take months to score, they arrive too late to matter. And if the questions and answers are never relea
