Big Money Ready to Attack Tennesee Public Schools
Rightwing groups have targeted Tennessee as ripe for privatization on next year’s election. Last election, Michelle Rhee’s StudentsFirst pumped more than $200,000 into Tennessee races, mostly to Republicans but also to a pro-voucher Democratic legislator. The pro-privatization groups Democrats for Education Reform and Stand on Children are also likely to add funding to candidates who oppose public
Jeff Bezos: Another Billionaire for Privatization of Public Education
Last fall, Bill Gates collected $10 million from his friends to push through approval of a referendum to permit privately managed charter schools in Washington State, which voters had turned down three times previously. Among the friends of Bill Gates who helped make charters possible was the Bezos family, the parents of Jeff Bezos. Jeff Bezos is the founder of amazon.com. He is a billionaire many
Moral Monday: The North Carolina Protest Movement Spreads
The message from North Carolina: We can defeat the power if we organize and stand together. The Moral Monday idea started in North Carolina but it is spreading: It’s heartening to see that word of North Carolina’s Moral Monday events are inspiring others, just as we have been inspired by the actions occurring in other states across this nation. http://www.carolinamercury.com/2013/08/thousands
Who Got Pink Slips in Chicago?
In Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s budget cuts, the ax fell most heavily on teachers of the arts, physical education, bilingual education, foreign languages, special education, and librarians. The next time the Chicago mayor goes on a national television talk show to boast of his dedication to children and education reform, remember his priorities and if you have the chance, ask if he would want this kind o
The Dissidents of TFA
A few weeks ago, critics of Teach for America met in Chicago to look critically at what TFA is doing, to air their complaints, and to shape a different path for the future. See, TFA recruits very smart, idealistic young people, and they can figure out what is happening and recognize when they are used as pawns. This post is one of the fruits of that meeting. It is a description of TFA’s leading d
Protests in Chicago Against ALEC
A coalition of civil rights groups, clergy, unions, and supporters of public education began protests against ALEC at the Palmer House, where ALEC plans to hold its 40th annual conference on Wednesday. The coalition is called the Chicago Moral Monday Coalition. ALEC sponsors model laws that are anti-immigrant, anti-union, anti-public education, and supportive of corporate interests. Go to this w
A State Without Ethics
Which state has the lowest ethics in the nation? Without question, it is Louisiana. This is the state where the “ethics board” ruled that members of the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education could vote on contracts for campaign contributors, because they did not work for them as employees. This is the same “ethics board” that saw no conflict when Kira Orange Jones, the director of Teach for
Dallas: Teachers Flee, Superintendent Mike Miles Under Investigation, His Family Moves Back to Colorado
Since the arrival of Superintendent Mike Miles a year ago, the Dallas Independent School District has been in constant turmoil. Of course, Miles wanted it that way, as he is a Broad-trained superintendent and he apparently believes that disruption is good. He started off with ambitious goals, some of which seemed wildly unrealistic, including a goal that by 2015, 75% of the staff and 70% of the co
An Open Letter to Tom Torlakson
A teacher in California sent this letter to State Superintendent Tom Torlakson. California recently announced that it was prepared to spend $1 billion implementing Common Core, although the state’s public schools have not recovered from the billions of dollars cut during the Schwarzenegger era. Here is the letter: August 1, 2013 Dear Superintendent Torlakson, Thank you for your commitment to incr
Warning: NY Aligns Scores to NAEP
New York City’s chief academic officer–a testing zealot–here announces that scores will plummet on the new Common Core tests administered last spring for the first time. They will plummet because the state decided to align its standards to NAEP, which are far more demanding than those of any state. Over the years, many researchers have maintained that the NAEP achievement levels are “fundamentall
What Will This Charter School Teach This Public School?
New York State has this really big idea. It will spend $4.5 million so that top charter schools can teach ordinary public schools how to succeed. What secrets will the charter schools share with the less fortunate, less successful neighborhood public schools? Consider the example in the article linked here by Ben Chapman in The Daily News. The Bronx Charter School for Excellence will help nearby
Robert Putnam on the Crumbling American Dream
This is one of the most powerful articles I have read in a long time. Robert Putnam describes life in his home town of Port Clinton, Ohio, population 6,059, as he was growing up in the 50s. Port Clinton was “ a passable embodiment of the American dream, a place that offered decent opportunity for the children of bankers and factory workers alike.” But today, “wealthy kids park BMW convertibles in
Diane in the Evening 8-5-13 Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all
Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all: What is the Goal of Common Core Testing?For months, school officials in many states have warned parents to expect proficiency rates on Common Core-aligned tests to plummet. They have warned that the proportion of students rated proficient was likely to drop by as much as 30%. When this happens, it will make public education in Amer