Ask NOT What the Standards Can Do for You…
Instead, make sure you’re reflecting on just how well you, dear teachers, are promoting the Common Core State [sic] Standards in your classrooms. Common Core-aligned lesson plan templates are starting to make an appearance, right alongside the Common Core-aligned lesson modules that are infiltrating ELA and math classes across the country. These templates don’t look […]
From Chris Lubienski: Do Charter Schools Promote Social Justice, Privatize Public Education (or both)?
Some liberals are quite enthralled with the social justice possibilities of school choice. While district and enrollment boundaries reflect segregated residential patterns in the US, in theory, choice allows families to select schools across these artificial barriers, eradicating an important institutional impediment to equity. Moreover, schools then must compete to attract students, just like b
John White Shoots Self in Foot with Loaded SLTs
Former-TFAer and Broad-trained Louisiana “Superintendent” John White must broadcast something data-ish to demonstrate that He Is Right and Reforms Are Working. Mind you, his reforms are not working; they are a repeatedly demonstrated con perpetrated on Louisiana’s education system. Nevertheless, White insists on issuing the following press release regarding the “usefulness” of Louisiana’s first st
John White Shoots Self in Foot with Loaded VAM
Former-TFAer and Broad-trained Louisiana “Superintendent” John White must broadcast something VAM-ish to demonstrate that He Is Right and Reforms Are Working. Mind you, his reforms are not working; they are a repeatedly demonstrated con perpetrated on Louisiana’s education system. Nevertheless, White insists on issuing the following press release regarding the “usefulness” of Louisiana’s first val
Reflections on Amplify’s Core Knowledge Profit Potential
In this post, I would like to offer my response to this information included as part of Diane Ravitch’s post on my exchange with Core Knowledge (CK) founder E.D. Hirsch. Regarding my strong statements on Amplify’s profit motive, Hirsch writes the following: The only way Amplify can make money from CK Pre-K-through 3 is if a school […]
Please welcome the inimitable and pollster’s worst nightmare Mercedes Schneider to @thechalkface
Check out her author bio and page here. Her great analysis joins our team. We are excited.
A Brief Tutorial on Reading “Miracle” Graphs
On August 8, 2013, Louisiana Association of Public Charter Schools (LAPCS) founder and director Caroline Roemer Shirley sent out an email announcement regarding the supposed superiority of the state-run RSD charter schools over non-charters. She even states that her child will attend a charter this year (no specifics provided). Roemer Shirley is the sister of Louisiana Board […]
The AP and Gallup Polls: A Commentary
The theme of this past several days appears to be the national education poll and how much one should (or should not) trust the results. On August 17, the Associated Press (AP) released a twisted version of what they would like for parents to want for their children– high-stakes tests– except that the term “high stakes” does not […]
Why Does a “Turnaround” District Need to Purchase Buildings?
When the Recovery School District (RSD) was formed, it was supposed to “turn around” schools and return the schools to the original districts: Intended as a mechanism for restructuring and reform, the RSD was never meant to be a permanent part of the public school governance landscape in New Orleans. Instead, the RSD was meant […]
What is John White Promoting as Common Core Sample Assessment Materials?
In the four brief videos below, “Dianne X” examines the content of the Louisiana Believes website, including excerpts from the Race to the Top (RTTT) agreement that contradicts White’s “mission in Louisiana to have every child achieve a college degree or professional career” and sample Enhanced Assessment of Grade Level Expectations (EAGLE) test items offered to the […]
A Brief Audit of Bill Gates’ Common Core Spending
This is a post about Bill Gates and his money, a brief audit of his Common Core (CCSS) purchases. Before I delve into Gates accounting, allow me to set the stage with a bit of CCSS background. A Bit of CCSS Background It is important to those promoting CCSS that the public believes the idea that CCSS is “state-led.” […]
Gates Money and Common Core: Part II
On August 27, 2013, I wrote a post about Bill Gates’ financial involvement in advancing the Common Core State Standards (CCSS). Though CCSS promotes itself as “state led,” in my previous post, I showed that all four major organizations responsible for CCSS from inception for its principal development– the National Governors Association (NGA), the Council of Chief […]
UPDATE: Core Knowledge, Amplify, and “Free” Materials
UPDATE 09-05-13: Don Hirsch, Core Knowledge founder, has provided this link for the free CK ELA K3 materials: http://www.coreknowledge.org/ckla-files#! Note: The links in my post are still live and do not lead to free downloads. These links also contain no message or redirect to the free downloads. They do, however, make it easy to locate […]
AACTE Endorses CAEP; Testing Companies Win.
Once again a major education organization has proclaimed its intention to grade teachers (this time, teachers in training) using student test scores. Talk about “status quo.” Allow me to begin this post by addressing this foolish notion. I realize this topic has been written about repeatedly, yet reformers (and those yielding to reformers) insist that grading teachers using student […]
Who Benefits from Ignoring Poverty and Race? | the becoming radical
Who Benefits from Ignoring Poverty and Race? | the becoming radical.
TEACH Documentary Delivers Same, Tired Infomercial
On the evening of September 6, CBS aired Davis Guggenheim’s latest tear-jerker hack job dedicated to public education: TEACH. While featuring four young and relatively inexperienced teachers, we were told much of the same nonsense we’ve been hearing for years, since the release of the anti-teacher and anti-public-education Waiting for Superman (another Guggenheim assault). The messages […]
All Week 9-7-13 @ THE CHALK FACE knows SCHOOLS MATTER
@ THE CHALK FACE knows SCHOOLS MATTER: All Week 8-10-13 @ THE CHALK FACE knows SCHOOLS MATTERA basic assumption about #commoncore that’s insufficient #edtechVery simple. I’ve heard many arguments about how stupendously awesome common core is and will be. Regarding the tests, I hear frequently that they’re better because, quite simply, they’re on the computer. So, on computer automatically means be