NPE News Briefs ← from The Network for Public Education:
Flow Chart Exposes Common Core’s Myriad Corporate Connections | truth-out.org
Friday, 06 September 2013 00:00 By Candice Bernd, Truthout | Report Elementary school students at a school in Los Angeles, Feb. 27, 2013. (Photo: Monica Almeida / The New York Times) U.S. education reform isn’t so much a “Race to the Top,” because no matter which schools climb to the top of the ladder first, ...read moreThe post Flow Chart Exposes Common Core’s Myriad Corporate Connections | truth
Indiana Chamber: Rely less on standardized tests | The Journal Gazette
Statement, verbatim, as issued Friday by the Indiana Chamber of Commerce: September 6, 2013 (INDIANAPOLIS) — The Indiana Chamber of Commerce offers reaction to the report released today by noted policy analysts John Grew and Bill Sheldrake that examined Indiana’s A-F School Accountability Model. The examination was requested by House Speaker Brian Bosma and Senate ...read moreThe post Indiana Cham
Rothstein: A Critique of Duncan’s View on Racial Integration | Diane Ravitch’s blog
Richard Rothstein of the Economic Policy Institute was part of a radio program that began with an interview of Secretary of Education Duncan. Rothstein, who has written extensively about how government policies created and preserved segregated neighborhoods, was taken aback by what Duncan said. He called it “backsliding.” Rothstein says that Duncan doesn’t understand why ...read moreThe post Roths
YESTERDAY
Mexico: Teachers Block Airport Access to Protest Education Overhaul | Democracy Now!
In Mexico City, protesting teachers blocked access to the airport for the second time in three weeks Thursday to protest an education overhaul backed by President Enrique Peña Nieto. The Mexican Senate passed a measure Wednesday to base teacher hiring and promotions on standardized evaluations. For weeks, tens of thousands of teachers have occupied the ...read moreThe post Mexico: Teachers Block A
Clio father legally takes loaded gun into elementary school | MLive.com
By Gary Ridley | gridley@mlive.com on September 06, 2013 at 11:53 AM VIENNA TWP, MI – A father walked into Edgerton Elementary in Vienna Township on Wednesday to pick up his daughter with a loaded gun strapped at his waist. It was perfectly legal – albeit unnerving for school officials who asked Kenneth Herman, 31, ...read moreThe post Clio father legally takes loaded gun into elementary school |
Replacing AIMS test may cost Arizona additional $9 million per year | azcentral.com
Wed Sep 4, 2013 9:41 PM Arizona’s new student assessment will likely cost $9 million more a year than the current AIMS test, triggering questions among education advocates about who will pay for it. The new test will measure how well Arizona students are mastering the Common Core Standards and is expected to replace Arizona’s ...read moreThe post Replacing AIMS test may cost Arizona additional $9
Challengers have what it takes for school board | Connecticut Post
Published 7:20 pm, Friday, September 6, 2013 On Tuesday, Sept. 10, I will vote for Andre Baker Jr., Howard Gardner and David Hennessey to become the Democratic nominees for November’s Board of Education election because I know what it takes to be a good Board of Education member and these gentlemen will do an excellent job ...read moreThe post Challengers have what it takes for school board | Conn
Why New York’s Super Wealthy Oppose de Blasio’s Universal Pre-K Plan | Diane Ravitch in the Huffington Post
Bloomberg News reports that the city’s corporate leaders and super-wealthy are offended by mayoral candidate Bill de Blasio’s plan to raise taxes on those earning over $500,000 a year to fund universal pre-K and after school programs for middle school kids. The head of the business leaders’ group was astonished by de Blasio’s indifference to ...read moreThe post Why New York’s Super Wealthy Oppose
The Educational Racism of Chris Christie | Jersey Jazzman
Yeah, I went there. But you tell me how else to honestly describe this: Gov. Chris Christie plans to reappoint Newark School Superintendent Cami Anderson to another term. And if some in the city don’t like it, too bad. During a public appearance Wednesday at a school in Beach Haven, Christie was asked whether he ...read moreThe post The Educational Racism of Chris Christie | Jersey Jazzman appeare
What the Public Thinks vs. What the Media Says about Public School Reform | janresseger
In a short, readable reflection, Going the Wrong Way? What the Public Says about Education Reform, Bill Mathis, managing director of the National Education Policy Center, former Vermont school superintendent, and educational researcher, explores the disconnect between the state of public education reform and the concerns of the public. His reflection was written to mark ...read moreThe post Wh
Dog Bites Man | NYC Educator
Teacher dissatisfaction with Bloomberg lackey Dennis Walcott is at 57%, and Gotham Schools calls it an all-time high. I can only marvel at the other 43%. It’s entirely feasible they were too paranoid to answer honestly. Teachers have repeatedly asked me whether or not the surveys could be traced to them. After all, they’re numbered, ...read moreThe post Dog Bites Man | NYC Educator appeared first
Mercy! A Skunk!?: Traditional Schools versus Charter School Achievement | Cloaking Inequity
A mercy rule, also well known by the slightly less polite term slaughter rule (or, less commonly, knockout rule and skunk rule), brings a sports event to an early end when one team has a very large and presumably insurmountable lead over the other team. It is called the mercy rule because it spares the ...read moreThe post Mercy! A Skunk!?: Traditional Schools versus Charter School Achievement | C
More Merit Pay Flimflam From Newark | Jersey Jazzman
A commenter makes a very good point about the Newark merit pay scam program: 20% were rated below effective, which means (.2*3200) 640 teachers did not increase in step. Using the average step increment on the Universal guide 13-14, ($2652) this means they saved approximately $1,697,280. If the bonuses cost them 1.4 million then they ...read moreThe post More Merit Pay Flimflam From Newark | Jerse
Tony Bennett Grading Scandal: New Report Offers Lessons for Other States | Politics K-12 – Education Week
By Michele McNeil on September 6, 2013 11:27 AM A new report commissioned by legislative leaders in Indiana finds that the changes made to the state’s grading system, which benefited a charter school run by a political donor to former Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Bennett, were “plausible.” But the report goes on to showcase ...read moreThe post Tony Bennett Grading Scandal: New Report
Rothstein on Duncan: Test-Based Accountability Has Failed | Diane Ravitch’s blog
Here is the transcript from the Diane Rehm show and its interview with Arne Duncan. This is the interview where Duncan said he was “not familiar’ with the Justice Department lawsuit seeking to block vouchers in Louisiana because they will undermine court-ordered desegregation. Two others were interviewed about Duncan’s policies: Mike Petrilli of the conservative ...read moreThe post Rothstein on D
Connecticut Democratic Party subsidizes Mayor Finch’s Bridgeport Board of Education Slate | Jon Pelto – Wait What?
And you thought your campaign donation to the Connecticut Democratic Party went to support Democratic candidates and Democratic principles…? Well think again because it turns out that Bridgeport’s pro-corporate education industry, pro-charter school, anti-teacher, party-endorsed slate is using Connecticut State Party resources to push their anti-public education agenda. Truth be told, the Connecti
A Great New Tool in Fight Against Corporate Reform | Diane Ravitch’s blog
Progressive 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. And to keep Public School Shakedown alive, subscribe to the reborn Progressive Magazine, which understands what is .
What Arne Duncan’s comments on racial integration reveal | The Answer Sheet
By Valerie Strauss, Published: September 6 at 4:30 pm Earlier this week Education Secretary Arne Duncan was on a radio show panel and made some remarks on racial integration that the author of this post finds illustrative of the problems with the way Americans now look at the issue. This was written by Richard Rothstein, ...read moreThe post What Arne Duncan’s comments on racial integration reveal
Why Do People View Teaching as a ‘B-list’ Job? | Alternet
By Ilana Garon Why Do People View Teaching as a ‘B-list’ Job? Educating children deserves more respect if we want to attract the best and brightest to be teachers. September 5, 2013 | It happens a lot: I’ll introduce myself to a group of people I don’t know well, explaining that I’m a high school ...read moreThe post Why Do People View Teaching as a ‘B-list’ Job? | Alternet appeared first on NPE
Student Calls Out Michelle Rhee at Teacher Town Hall [VIDEO!] | Teacher Under Construction
There are some people who come into your life who remind you that the fight for public education is one to be won. Hannah Nguyen is one of those people. I “met” Hannah over the summer after she e-mailed me after she came across my blog. She shared how she went through almost the same ...read moreThe post Student Calls Out Michelle Rhee at Teacher Town Hall [VIDEO!] | Teacher Under Construction app
FairTest Fact Sheet About Common Core Tests | Diane Ravitch’s blog
FairTest released the following fact sheet about the Common Core tests: Common Core Assessment Myths and Realities: Moratorium Needed From More Tests, Costs, Stress Under No Child Left Behind (NCLB), each state set its own learning standards and developed tests to measure them. But NCLB’s failure to spur overall test score gains or close racial gaps ...read moreThe post FairTest Fact Sheet About C
Mexico Passes a Weakened Bill to Evaluate Teachers – NYTimes.com
By KARLA ZABLUDOVSKY Published: September 4, 2013 MEXICO CITY — Mexico took a major step this week toward instituting evaluations of public schoolteachers and ending their practice of buying and inheriting their posts, but analysts said violent protests by teachers had led Congress to include provisions in the new legislation that might undermine the overhaul. ...read moreThe post Mexico Passes a
Chris Christie, Hell Bent On Destroying Public Education, Courts The Voucher Vote | Mother Crusader
Is anyone actually surprised that Governor Christie is chomping at the bit to ram vouchers through the legislature in the lame-duck session after the election? (Which he arrogantly to assumes he will win…) “It will be after the election, I don’t see it happening before then,” he said. “Miracles happen in lame-duck after elections, so ...read moreThe post Chris Christie, Hell Bent On Destroying Pub
What’s missing from education policy debate | The Answer Sheet
By Valerie Strauss, Published: September 6 at 4:00 amE-mail the writer Reformers and policymakers talk a lot about how to recruit teachers with higher GPAs, higher standards, better standardized tests, big data and more. In this post, Jack Schneider, an assistant professor of education at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Mass., writes ...read moreThe post What’s missing from education
A Brave Superintendent in Long Island | Diane Ravitch’s blog
Steven Cohen is superintendent of the Shoreham-Wading River Central School district on Long Island in Néw York. At a time when others quietly acquiesce, Superintendent Cohen spoke out in “Newsday.” He wrote that the schools are being swamped by a tsunami of untested “reforms,” at the same time that their budgets are restricted by Governor ...read moreThe post A Brave Superintendent in Long Island
SEP 05
Reflections on Amplify’s Core Knowledge Profit Potential | deutsch29
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 ...read moreThe post Reflections on Amplify’s Core Knowledge Profit
Do Charter School Students Have First Amendment Rights? | Education Week
Seven-year-old Tiana Parker is attending a new school in Tulsa this week – and the rest of us would be wise to understand why. Tiana’s father pulled her out of Deborah Brown Community Charter School earlier this week when school officials barred his dreadlocked daughter from entry because of a policy that forbids “faddish hair ...read moreThe post Do Charter School Students Have First Amendment Ri
Michelle Rhee Comes to Los Angeles; The City Shrugs | K-12 News Network
Michelle Rhee’s StudentsFirst group is holding a “Teacher Town Hall” meeting in Los Angeles on September 5, 2013, as part of a multi-city tour. I can’t fathom why anyone would be excited. As a Californian (since 1990), as an Angeleno (since roughly 2001), and as the parent of a public school-attending fourth grader, I’m hard ...read moreThe post Michelle Rhee Comes to Los Angeles; The City Shrugs
Philadelphia Student Union – Back-to-Sch…What? This isn’t a school.
The 2013-14 school year begins in a few days for the students of the Philadelphia School District. But we can be certain that this school year will be a far cry from what we imagine school to be. Schools will be missing the bare essentials, like counselors and nurses. Schools will not be ready to ...read moreThe post Philadelphia Student Union – Back-to-Sch…What? This isn’t a school. appeared firs
What the Hell is going on: Pryor and State Board of Education make Adamowski a State Employee | Jon Pelto – Wait What?
At yesterday’s State Board of Education meeting Governor Malloy’s Commissioner of Education, Stefan Pryor, recommended that the Board of Education grant Steven Adamowski a one-year extension in his role as the Special Master for the Windham and New London school systems. And then, in a surprising and extraordinary turn of events, Pryor announced that Special ...read moreThe post What the Hell is g
K12, Inc. online schools: a view from the inside | Examiner.com
K12, Inc., a publicly-traded, for-profit online charter school company, has flooded the Kansas airwaves with advertising this summer and into fall. While K12’s sales pitch might seem attractive, it’s advertising leaves out a lot of key information about the company. For-profit companies like K12, and the politicians they work to elect, tout online education as ...read moreThe post K12, Inc. online
Why charter schools need better oversight | The Answer Sheet
By Valerie Strauss, Published: September 5 at 11:00 am Charter schools were designed to allow founders the freedom to design and run schools as they wish outside the traditional school system bureaucracy. Here’s a case for why some of that freedom needs to be reined in. This was written by Jeff Bryant, an associate fellow ...read moreThe post Why charter schools need better oversight | The Answer
Crazy Crawfish Says CREDO New Orleans Study Is Not Credible | Diane Ravitch’s blog
Jason France, aka Crazy Crawfish, used to work for the Louisiana Department of Education.,he worked in research and statistics. He helped to assemble the data on New Orleans charter schools before he left. He has concluded that CREDO is not credible. First, he realized that CREDONis a pro-charter organization. Then, he looked at the methodology, ...read moreThe post Crazy Crawfish Says CREDO New O
Rich Néw Yorkers Offended by de Blasio Plan to Fund Pre-K Education | Diane Ravitch’s blog
Bloomberg News reports that the city’s corporate leaders and super-wealthy are offended by mayoral candidate Bill de Blasio’s plan to raise taxes on those earning over $500,000 a year to fund universal pre-K and after school programs for middle school kids. The head of the business leaders’ group was astonished by de Blasio’s indifference to ...read moreThe post Rich Néw Yorkers Offended by de Bla
Louisiana Data=Berlin wall— What do they have to hide? | Cloaking Inequity
September 5, 2013 | Julian Vasquez Heilig CREDO has produced new research on charters in Louisiana. Looks like they want to disavow themselves of their prior claims about the poor performance charters relative to neighborhood schools— only 15% of charters in 16 states performed better than the neighborhood public schools. This time they have published ...read moreThe post Louisiana Data=Berlin wal
Connecticut Charter School Front Drops $50,000 into Bridgeport Democratic Primary | Jon Pelto – Wait What?
A case study on how the Corporate Education Reform Industry is trying to buy up American Democracy A Better Connecticut, the charter school advocacy group formed by the present and previous CEOs of ConnCAN, the charter school lobby group, has spent $50,708 so far in support of the endorsed slate of candidates for the Bridgeport ...read moreThe post Connecticut Charter School Front Drops $50,000 in
Not Very Giving | Op-Ed NYTimes.com
By ROB REICH Published: September 4, 2013 STANFORD, Calif. — AS school gets rolling across the country, many parents will be asked to make a large financial contribution to their children’s school. In Hillsborough, Calif., for example, parents receive a letter from the Hillsborough Schools Foundation in which the amount requested is $2,300 per child. ...read moreThe post Not Very Giving | Op-Ed NY
Workers Hired For CPS ‘Safe Passage’ Routes Already Quitting: Chicagoist
Chicago Public Schools CEO Barbara Byrd-Bennett declared before the new school year started that Safe Passage routes for students traveling from 50 shuttered schools to their new receiving schools would be “ready by Day One.” They were but it’s Day Two and beyond that are proving to be a problem. A CBS 2 report indicates ...read moreThe post Workers Hired For CPS ‘Safe Passage’ Routes Already Quit
Republican hits on Ritz keep coming | NWI Politics
Dan Carden dan.carden@nwi.com, (317) 637-9078 INDIANAPOLIS | Despite a majority of Hoosiers electing her to lead their schools, the governor-appointed State Board of Education appears determined to push aside Glenda Ritz, the Democratic state superintendent of public instruction. On Wednesday, the 10-member board voted unanimously to embark on a strategic planning process led by Daniel ...read mor
School Vouchers Not Dead Yet, At Least in Governor Christie’s Eyes – NJ Spotlight
JOHN MOONEY | SEPTEMBER 5, 2013 Teacher evaluation framework for tenure reform hardly a surprise as second priority for education agenda Credit: Governor’s Office/Tim Larsen Defeated again in his latest try for a school voucher program, Gov. Chris Christie yesterday said he isn’t giving up just yet on the proposed Opportunity Scholarship Act, even if ...read moreThe post School Vouchers Not Dead Y
Grand Rapids schools lose 80 teachers, professional staff at the start of school year | MLive.com
By Monica Scott | mscott2@mlive.com RAND RAPIDS, MI – Superintendent Teresa Weatherall Neal said about 80 staffers, primarily teachers, have recently retired or resigned creating staffing and scheduling challenges in Grand Rapids Public Schools. She said she will need to hire more teachers, school psychologists and paraprofessionals but they are still crunching numbers. “We worked ...read moreThe
Charters schools and vouchers: Decimating the case for privatizing public education | Slate Magazine
By David L. Kirp|Posted Wednesday, Sept. 4, 2013, at 1:16 PM The case for market-driven reforms in education rests on two key premises: The public school system is in crisis, and the solution is to let the market pick winners and losers. Market strategies—high-stakes teacher accountability, merit pay, shuttering “failing” schools—are believed to be essential ...read moreThe post Charters schools a
Testing Is the New Learning: Do the Math | SCHOOLS MATTER @ THE CHALK FACE
BY PLTHOMASEDD While Orange Is the New Black continues to garner a wide range of reactions from the public and critics, let’s do a little math and confront something that is not receiving the media attention that it should: Testing is the new learning. Back in 2005, when the SAT introduced with much fanfare a ...read moreThe post Testing Is the New Learning: Do the Math | SCHOOLS MATTER @ THE CHAL
FairTest: Common Core Tests Are Same Old Standardized Tests | Diane Ravitch’s blog
At the same time, plans call for more high-stakes tests with even greater costs. “Despite proponents’ claims that the Common Core would lead to a new breed of assessments that focus on higher-order, critical thinking skills, the planned tests are predominantly the same-old multiple-choice questions,” explained Dr. Monty Neill, Executive Director of the National Center ...read moreThe post FairTest
Pearson’s ReadyGEN: May the Farce NOT be with you | Critical Classrooms, Critical Kids
Are there any NYC elementary schools NOT using ReadyGEN’s ELA Common Core curriculum? Yasmeen Khan, education reporter for WNYC and SchoolBook.org, recently informed me that 86% of New York City public schools (grades K-8) have adopted at least one of the NYC DOE’s “recommended” Core Curriculum programs. As I mentioned in a previous post, due to ...read moreThe post Pearson’s ReadyGEN: May the Fa
Duncan: “Not Familiar” with Voucher Lawsuit | Diane Ravitch’s blog
When questioned about the U.S. Department of Justice’s lawsuit against Louisiana’s voucher program, Secretary of Education Duncan said he was “not familiar” with it. DOJ is suing to block vouchers in districts that are under desegregation orders. DOJ recognizes that vouchers will exacerbate racial segregation. This was reported on politico.com’s morning education edition, a valuable ...read moreTh
Please Join My Anti-CREDO Crusade | Crazy Crawfish’s Blog
After posting my critique of CREDO’s funding sources and shoddy statistical work and unfounded conclusions I was contacted by a few folks who had published critiques of these CREDO frauds earlier. At first I was chagrined that I had not found my fellow bloggers posts and reports earlier – I consider myself relatively up-to-date on ...read moreThe post Please Join My Anti-CREDO Crusade | Crazy Craw
Devaluation Of Teachers Evident In Newark Merit Pay Debacle | Mother Crusader
Devaluation Of Teachers Evident In Newark Merit Pay Debacle Here’s something I’ve been chewing on that I’ll just put out there, and let you guys make of it what you will. I have been reading a lot about what my friend Jersey Jazzman is calling “The Newark Merit Pay Experiment.” If you haven’t been keeping ...read moreThe post Devaluation Of Teachers Evident In Newark Merit Pay Debacle | Mother C
How to Manipulate Everyone to Buy in to #CCSS | SCHOOLS MATTER @ THE CHALK FACE
BY KRIS NIELSEN 1 COMMENT From Sara Wottawa’s Blog: Holy Corruption Batman! In a nutshell this publication is a directive on how to manipulate teachers, parents, administrators and even legislators to buy into the CCSS! On pg. 48 in the publication Implementing Common Core State Standards and Assessments: A Workbook for State and District Leaders it states: In ...read moreThe post How to Manipulat
Bronx charter school named in whistleblower suit | NY Daily News
Alexis Riley, formerly a project manager at South Bronx Classical Charter, said she was fired for reporting financial and academic improprieties. BY JOHN MARZULLI / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 4, 2013, 10:01 PM The ex-project manager of a Bronx charter school has filed a $1 million lawsuit alleging she was fired in retaliation ...read moreThe post Bronx charter school named in whistle
Indiana Governor Determined to Make Elected State Superintendent Powerless | Diane Ravitch’s blog
Governor Mike Pence was elected last fall with fewer votes than State Superintendent of Public Instruction Glenda Ritz. Ritz, you may recall, beat Tony Bennett, despite his 10-1 advantage in money. Bennett was the author of the state’s A-F grading system, which fell into disrepute when it was revealed by the Associated Press that Bennett ...read moreThe post Indiana Governor Determined to Make Ele
Not as We Remember It: Public Education Is Being Gutted | Soapbox | School Library Journal
By John Owens on September 3, 2013 Leave a Comment It’s called “school reform” with a focus on “student achievement,” but I shudder to think where we have come as a nation that many public schools don’t have a library, and won’t ever get one unless someone can beg a grant from a foundation or ...read moreThe post Not as We Remember It: Public Education Is Being Gutted | Soapbox | School Library Jo