Disgrace in Indiana
One of the few certainties to emerge from the intense effort to privatize public education is that giving A-F letter grades to schools is incoherent, punitive, and does nothing to help schools. Former superintendent Tony Bennett, a hard-right ideologue out to destroy public education in Indiana, imported the A-F grading system from his mentor Jeb Bush. No matter where it came from, it is useless.
Cody: Common Core Is Failing Because Developers Ignored Democratic Process
Anthony Codybexplains here why the Common Core standards lack legitimacy. The developers were in a hurry. They ignored the democratic process. They took shortcuts. Consequently, they lack buy-in and legitimacy. The democratic process is slow and messy but it works better in the long run than authoritarianism. It gains the consent of the governed. Without the consent of the governed, there is coe
EduShyster Academy Offers Degrees in Excellence
Here is your chance to get a graduate degree from an outstanding faculty that contains no scholars at all. That is the very best sort of university these days. Read the qualifications and see if your belong at EduShyster Academy. If Massachusetts and New York can allow new universities to be accredited without any faculty members who hold a Ph.D., without any faculty members with a record of schol
See You in Cambridge on October 24
You might even meet the brilliant, beautiful, elusive EduShyster! CPS Presents Diane Ravitch in Cambridge, Oct. 24 Citizens for Public Schools is proud to present Diane Ravitch, speaking on her new book, Reign of Error: The Hoax of the Privatization Movement and the Danger to America’s Public Schools. Reign of Error picks up where Diane left off with her ground-breaking book, The Death and Life of
Can You Advise This Parent?
I received the following comment this morning. I don’t have the answer to everything, and I am not sure what I would do in her place, but this is my advice. Organize the other parents of kindergarten children. Go as a group to the superintendent and tell him this is wrong. Get parents of children in first grade and second grade to join you. Others may as well. Speak on behalf of your child and oth
TFA Scores Big Win in Federal Debt Deal
One of the provisions of No Child Left Behind was a requirement that the neediest children would have “highly qualified teachers.” Most people would interpret that language to mean that poor kids would get teachers who are well-prepared and experienced. But through its political connections on Capitol Hill, Teach for America managed to get a special exemption carved out for their corps members wh
Who Raised Over A Quarter Million Dollars for Local School Board Races?
Jersey Jazzman has been digging and discovering a small number of people who are dropping large sums of money into local school board races. The catch is that these are not races where the donors reside. Somehow, they are finding relatively obscure races where a gift of $10,000 or $25,000 makes a huge difference. Why are out-of-towners and out-of-staters so eager to affect school board races dista
A Broadie Wreaks Havoc in Montclair, New Jersey
Starting in 2002, the unaccredited Broad Superintendents “Academy” has produced graduates who supposedly learned the management techniques to turn the nation’s schools around. The Academy consists of six weekends over a ten-month session, where aspiring leaders are immersed in Billionaire Eli Broad’s management philosophy, which apparently means top-down mandates, high-stakes testing, close school
TO LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH 10-17-13 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 Teacher in Hawaii Reviews “Reign of Error”Diane Aoki felt that something was wrong, terribly wrong, as No Child Left Behind changed the schools. It felt even worse when Race to the Top came in. Everyone told her, “don’t worry, this too will pass,” but it only got worse every year. When she read “Reign of Error,” it all made sense