Michelle Rhee’s Teacher Town Hall: A Students Stands Up and Disagrees
Michelle Rhee has started her three-city “teacher town hall” meetings, where she will meet with teachers. She is accompanied by George Parker, former head of the Washington, D.C., teachers union, who now works for Rhee’s StudentsFirst, and by Steve Perry, the former education commentator at CNN who runs a no-excuses magnet school in Connecticut. She held her first town hall in Los Angeles. Apparen
Why Are Hedge Fund Managers So Interested in School Reform?
A few years ago, as the charter movement began to grow and get stronger, it became clear that it had attracted the enthusiastic support of a large number of super-wealthy hedge-fund managers. The New York Times noticed this in 2009 and 2010 and published two different prominent articles ( see here and here )about how charters had become the hottest charity in the hedge fund world. One of these art
Principal in Louisiana: They Force Us to Help Them Destroy Public Education
Bridget, a frequent commenter, added this thoughtful note. She reminded me of how often I have wondered whether President Obama or Secretary Duncan care about public schools and whether they are determined to standardize children and call it “reform”: Part of this problem, as I have stated before, is that we as educators are being forced by legislators to participate in this demise of public edu
Cody to Van Roekel: Standardization=One Size Fits All
Anthony Cody chastises Dennis Van Roekel, president of the NEA, for his enthusiasm for the Common Core standards. Cody warns that standardization does not enhance teacher autonomy. One size fits all is not a recipe for professionalism. He writes: Mr. Van Roekel seems to want us to inhabit some alternative universe where teachers can teach according broad guidelines, and high stakes tests are on h
Robert Shepherd: How Corporate Monopolies Control What Students Learn
Robert Shepherd posted this explanation of how the publishing industry has changed and how a small number of corporate giants control what students learn: I think it important to distinguish between entrepreneurs attempting to bring new products to market that will succeed or fail in the market based on the merits of those products and monopolistic corporate giants attempting to rig the market fo
Robert Rendo: Why Are We Destroying Education? For What?
Now here is a first for this blog. A comment that appeared on the blog by Robert Rendo was picked up and posted by blogger Jonathan Pelto. It was indeed a brilliant statement, and somehow I failed to turn it into a post. So I am taking the post from Jonathan Pelto’s blog and posting it here so everyone can read it. Rendo explains how Common Core and the high-stakes testing mandated by No Child Lef
Rothstein and Carnoy: A Re-analysis of International Tests
One of the favorite complaints of the corporate reformers is that we are “losing” the international test score race. Richard Rothstein and Martin Carnoy put that canard to rest in a report released earlier this year. It did not get the attention it deserved because it challenged the conventional wisdom. Since the Obama administration’s education policy rests on the conventional wisdom, and since
Jersey Jazzman: How Is Merit Pay Working in Newark?
In an impressive analysis, Jersey Jazzman pulls apart the numbers associated with the Newark merit pay plan. He is no fan of merit pay. Neither am I. Merit pay has been tried again and again for nearly 100 years, and it has never made a significant difference, nor have merit pay plans lasted. The Newark merit pay plan is funded by Facebook billionaire Mark Zuckerberg, and we may safely assume that
Diane in the Evening 9-6-13 Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all
Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all: A Great New Tool in Fight Against Corporate ReformProgressive Magazine has created a wonderful new website called Public School Shakedown to cover the news about the privatization movement. Please subscribe to stay informed about the shams, scams, frauds, boondoggles, and assorted scandals connected to today’s faux-reform movement.
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Diane Ravitch's blogLISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH ALL WEEK LONGDIANE RAVITCH'S BLOGTODAYRobert Rendo: Why Are We Destroying Education? For What?Now here is a first for this blog. A comment that appeared on the blog by Robert Rendo was picked up and posted by blogger Jonathan Pelto. It was indeed a brilliant statement, and somehow I failed to turn it into a post. So I am taking the post from Jonathan Pel
