Detroit Emergency Manager: Union Workers Were “Dumb, Lazy, Happy, and Rich”
Electablog comments on an interview that Detroit’s emergency manager Kevyn Orr gave to the Wall Street Journal. Orr said that the union workers who built the city’s great manufacturing base were “dumb, lazy, happy, and rich.” This, apparently, is what he thinks caused the ruination of Detroit: All those dumb, rich working stiffs in unions. Nothing about those dumb, rich executives who sat on their
Please Support Sue Peters for School Board in Seattle
Sue Peters is a parent activist in Seattle who ran for school board in District 4. The election was yesterday. She had almost no money at all, but she had the endorsement of the Network for Public Education as a true supporter of public education. Some committee in Seattle ran attack ads against her–imagine that! wonder who?–yet she managed to make it into the run off with 41% of the vote. The oth
Arne Duncan: We Lied to Our Children and Now We Tell the Truth: “You Failed!”
The scores are out for New York, and they are devastating. The story in the New York Times reports: Across the city, 26 percent of students in third through eighth grade passed the state exams in English, and 30 percent passed in math, according to the New York State Education Department. The exams were some of the first in the nation to be aligned with a more rigorous set of standards known as Co
Conservative Activists File Lawsuit to Cripple Public Sector Unions
Last November, anti-union groups put a measure on the ballot in California called Prop 32, whose purpose was to reduce the political influence of unions by reducing their funding. Prop 32 was soundly defeated, but its proponents are back with a lawsuit to achieve the same purpose. If they win, they could cripple public sector unions across the nation. This is a major story in the movement to priva
That Fraud in Indiana
Mark GiaQuinta, a member of the Fort Wayne school board, responded to a local columnist with a searing critique of the state’s A-F grading system. I think you will enjoy Mark’s insightful comments: http://www.indystar.com/article/20130730/NEWS08/307300036/Matthew-Tully-Tony-Bennett-blows-his-bluster-emails Matt: Thanks for the article posted above. I appreciate your statement in the article that
Paul Horton: Stop the Devastation of the Common Core Tests!
Paul Horton teaches history at the University of Chicago Lab School, where President Obama, Rahm Emanuel, and Arne Duncan sent (or in the case of the mayor, send) their children. He is a passionate defender of common sense in education and an articulate critic of the current corporate reform movement. As a historian, he understands the nation’s historic commitment to support public education. He a
L.A. Times Listens and Hears Critics of TFA
This may be a first. Teach for America carefully manages its image as the Peace Corps of education, a high-minded organization that attracts “the best and brightest” from the nation’s top colleges and universities. But Howard Blume in the Los Angeles Times explains that TFA has a dark side and that it has critics, some of whom are alumni. Even the headline is carefully and timidly written, referri
Who Is Destroying Public Education in New York State?
Carol Burris, principal of the year in New York state, has written a devastating critique of the leadership of New York state. Let’s name names. State Commissioner of Education John King (who taught for 2 or 3 years and founded a “no-excuses” charter chain that has a high suspension rate) chose to set the passing mark on the new tests so high that the failure rate was certain to soar. Merryl Tisch
Hugh Bailey: Is the School Reform Movement Falling Apart?
Hugh Bailey, columnist for the Connecticut Post, takes a clear-eyed look at what is called “school reform” and finds that it is full of holes. The essential element of “reform” is that schools should be run by a non-educator. Paul Vallas is a poster boy for that theory. He didn’t think it was necessary to be an educator; he boasted that he was not an educator. But Connecticut law says that superin
Fred Klonsky: ALEC Meets Today in Chicago
Fred Klonsky writes to say that ALEC is holding its 40th annual conference today in Chicago at the Palmer House: The Palmer House is a hotel located in Chicago’s Loop where ALEC is holding their meeting. It is located at 17 East Monroe. A large protest is scheduled for Thursday at noon. Their phone number is (312) 726-7500.
Joel Klein Admits His Failure, Says It is a Good Thing
In this article, Joel Klein acknowledges that scores across New York state, obviously including New York City, will be devastatingly low. He was in charge of the New York City public schools from 2002, when he was selected by Mayor Bloomberg, until January 2011, when he was succeeded by the ill-fated publisher Cathie Black. During his tenure, Klein boasted every year of “historic gains.” The mayor
George Clooney Slams Hedge Fund Guys Who Don’t Know His Business
In this article, George Clooney lets hedge fund manager Dan Loeb have it. Loeb has bought a piece of Sony Films and is now telling Sony what to do, and Clooney will have none of it. His words will sound eerily familiar to all those who are fed up with the hedge fund managers who are pouring millions into charter schools and who think they know how to reform the nation’s public schools (testing, co
Diane in the Evening 8-6-13 Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all #Cheats4Change
Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all: Jeff Bezos: Worse Than We ThoughtLee Fang, brilliant investigative journalist for The Nation, has looked closely at Jeff Bezos’ interest in education, and the news is bad. (Fang wrote this classic article about influence-peddling and corruption in the reform movement.) Bezos is throughly smitten with the idea that the way to improv