What Your Child Should Do This Summer
It is almost too late for these great ideas because school starts soon, along with test prep and the certainty that the test will slap a label on your child and a number. G.F. Brandenburg has a list of activities that will help your child develop as a resourceful human being. If it is too late for this year, there are always weekends and holidays and next summer. Protect your child’s childhood!
Do Parents Support High-Stakes Testing?
A reader posted this AP story about parent support for standardized testing and the Common Core. If you read the story carefully, it shows that parents have no idea how test results are being misused and are unfamiliar with the Common Core. The headline says parents support “high-stakes testing,” but nothing in the story supports that assertion. One parent quote in the story below thinks the test
ALEC Owns the Ohio Legislature
ALEC, the extremist group that is funded by major corporations to protect corporate interests, has an amazing number of members in the Ohio legislature. That explains why the Ohio’s legislature keeps passing laws to privatize public schools. Education is a top priority for ALEC. ALEC strongly supports charter schools and vouchers. ALEC loves virtual learning, because it diverts public dollars to p
Teacher: I Am Not Alone
A teacher in Connecticut will lose her job because she teaches the neediest kids. If she can get a job in an affluent district, she will get a high rating. She writes: “I have been reading your flurry of blog posts and the excellent comments from teachers and other concerned citizens all at once this morning, and while I must say, they are very cathartic, my stomach is all in knots because they s
I Recommend This Book
This is a book you will enjoy. Michael Edwards, Small Change: Why Business Won’t Save the World. Edwards demonstrates what the title says: that business methods don’t work in the social sector. He says that the only meaningful change comes about when civil society organizes from the grassroots up to demand change. Edwards led the Ford Foundation’s program on governance and civil society. His boo
Shepherd: Instead of Mandatory Standards for All
Robert D. Shepherd answers a fundamental question about the Common Core: “Question: What should we have instead of a single set of mandatory standards for all? “Answer: Competing, voluntary standards that can serve as guidelines to be followed, or not, by independent, site-managed schools in which teachers make their own decisions about what should be taught, when, and to whom.”
The Attacks Begin
Because of my new book, which won’t be available until September 18, I fully expect the corporate reform attack machine to come after me. They have invested a lot of energy in charters, vouchers, merit pay, stripping teachers of tenure, collective bargaining rights, pensions, etc. despite the lack of any evidence that these strategies improve education. It makes them angry to be reminded that thei
Paul Thomas: The Power of Social Media to Give Voice
Paul Thomas is a professor at Furman University in South Carolina. Before that, he was a public school teacher for 18 years. He is one of the most passionate and eloquent writers of our time on the subject of poverty and education. In this blog, he mentions my transformation from conservative to whatever I am now, but more importantly he talks about how social media offers all of us a way to make
David Sirota: What Drives the Privatization Movement? LINK ADDED
David Sirota, Denver journalist and talk show host, has been trying to figure out the push for privatization. He thinks he has it: profits. He recounts the tawdry Tony Bennett scandal, in which he rigged school grades to protect a political donor, then moved on to Florida, where his wife was hired by a for-profit charter corporation that Bennett favored in Indiana. And he recites a few more chapte
Diane in the Evening 8-17-13 Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all
Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all: Alan Singer: What’s Missing from Common CoreAlan Singer of Hofstra University has written positively about the Common Core. But he realizes that something very important is missing from them: Any interest in education for democracy. The a core is heavily focused on skills, not content. The skills of citizenship are not among them.b
LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH ALL WEEK LONG Diane Ravitch's blog 8-17-13 #thankateacher #EDCHAT #P2
Diane Ravitch's blogLISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH ALL WEEK LONGDIANE RAVITCH'S BLOGWhat Chris Cerf Did Not Admit About Democracy PrepJersey Jazzman has done his usual thorough job of researching the New Jersey Department of Education’s job of importing Democracy Prep to Camden. Here is his conclusion (but read what leads up to his conclusion): Democracy Prep’s practices includes more spending per pupil,
