These Countries Respect Teachers The Most, New Survey Finds | Huffington Post
By Rebecca Klein Posted: 10/03/2013 8:35 am We may leave our children with them every day, but do we actually respect them? A new survey released Wednesday by the Varkey Gems Foundation — a group that seeks to improve education for underprivileged youth — looked at how citizens around the world view the social standing ...read moreThe post These Countries Respect Teachers The Most, New Survey Find
Cyber Schools Fleece Taxpayers for Phantom Students and Failing Grades | truth-out.org
By Mary Bottari, PRWatch | News Analysis The data is in and K12 Inc.’s brand of full-time public “cyber school” is garbage. Not surprising for an educational model kicked off with a $10 million investment from junk-bond king Michael Milken. via Cyber Schools Fleece Taxpayers for Phantom Students and Failing Grades.The post Cyber Schools Fleece Taxpayers for Phantom Students and Failing Grades | tr
PPS spends tax dollars on “exorbitant” consultants while teachers make do with less | Teachers and Parents Together
OCTOBER 4, 2013 BLOG Over the past several years, our school teachers have worked to provide a quality education with less staff, less funding and less support. The Portland Public Schools District has chosen not to replace retiring teachers, eliminate electives, increase overall student loads in upper grades and allow class sizes to balloon in ...read moreThe post PPS spends tax dollars on “exorb
What de Blasio Told NYC’s Power Elite | Diane Ravitch’s blog
This is what Democratic nominee Bill de Blasio told the Association for a Better New York. This is an organization of powerful people, many in the real estate industry. They have been cool to him in the past. This speech won a standing ovation, according to this morning’s New York Times. How many elected officials ...read moreThe post What de Blasio Told NYC’s Power Elite | Diane Ravitch’s blog ap
The Tale of Two Students, Or how can you possibly blame the teacher? | Ed Notes Online
by Loretta Prisco Published in Staten Island Democratic Association, Nov. 2012, It was the best of times, it was the worst of times… In one of the richest cities in the world, live two children, though a few miles apart, they might as well live in two different worlds. via Ed Notes Online: The Tale ...read moreThe post The Tale of Two Students, Or how can you possibly blame the teacher? | Ed Notes
The Corporate Reform School First Grade | Schools Matter
Does this need commentary? via Schools Matter: The Corporate Reform School First Grade.The post The Corporate Reform School First Grade | Schools Matter appeared first on NPE News Briefs.
Is Free Speech Dead in Oklahoma? | Diane Ravitch’s blog
I just learned that Rob Miller, principal of the Jenks Middle School in Oklahoma, is under investigation for possibly encouraging parents to opt out of a field test. According to the Tulsa World: Jenks Public Schools participated in and encouraged a movement to opt students out of field tests last April, an Oklahoma State Department ...read moreThe post Is Free Speech Dead in Oklahoma? | Diane Rav
The influence of new philanthropy on democracy | The Answer Sheet
By Valerie Strauss, Published: October 5 at 4:00 am Education reform has been heavily influenced in recent years by massively wealth philanthropists who fund their own favored school reforms and then bring public policy along with them. How this is affecting the democratic process is the subject of a piece in Dissent Magazine titled, “Plutocrats at Work: How ...read moreThe post The influence of n
Arne Duncan’s Terrible, Horrible, Very Bad Day | Diane Ravitch’s blog
Are the supporters of corporate reform coming unglued? Mike Klonsky thinks so. Of a sudden, Secretary Arne Duncan says his critics are “inhabitants of this alternative universe.” What has happened to make him angry? Why would he mischaracterize critics as people who insist that we can’t fix the schools until we fix poverty. I don’t know ...read moreThe post Arne Duncan’s Terrible, Horrible, Very B
YESTERDAY
All In : Hoax driving the school testing movement | Chris Hayes – MSNBC
Diane Ravitch says education reformers like Michelle Rhee have based their claims on faulty data. via All In : Hoax driving the school testing movement.The post All In : Hoax driving the school testing movement | Chris Hayes – MSNBC appeared first on NPE News Briefs.
Education Shutdown Update: What’s Arne Duncan Doing? | Politics K-12 – Education Week
By Alyson Klein on October 4, 2013 4:01 PM So are those 4,000 Department of Education employees on furlough getting paid during the shutdown? For now, they’re not, but they could be eligible for back pay under a bill authored by a cadre of Republican and Democratic lawmakers from the Washington area. The Obama administration supports the ...read moreThe post Education Shutdown Update: What’s Arne
How Congress flunked basic Schoolhouse Rock lesson | The Answer Sheet
By Valerie Strauss, Published: October 4 at 3:45 pmE-mail the writer With the federal government shut down because Congress failed to fund it, it seems reasonable to ask just how far astray our lawmakers have gone from doing what school children learn as being its basic job. In this post, Stuart Kasdin, assistant professor of public policy ...read moreThe post How Congress flunked basic Schoolhous
TeacherBiz Reviews “Reign of Error” | Diane Ravitch’s blog
Ani McHugh, who blogs as TeacherBiz, wrote about the book after she heard me speak in Philadelphia on September 16. She was impressed that despite my age, I still spoke with “the energy and passion of a much younger woman.” She doesn’t realize that 75 is the new 55. via TeacherBiz Reviews “Reign of Error” ...read moreThe post TeacherBiz Reviews “Reign of Error” | Diane Ravitch’s blog appeared firs
EdWeek Takes Note of NBC’s “Education MisinforNation” | Diane Ravitch’s blog
I have said in the past that I am dismayed that Education Week takes money from the foundations it covers, like Gates and Walton. I have said that I am dismayed at its shameless advocacy for the edtech shlock and profiteering now inundating the schools. But Education Week has great reporters, who tell it like ...read moreThe post EdWeek Takes Note of NBC’s “Education MisinforNation” | Diane Ravitc
A retired Bridgeport principal speaks: Leaving the “Education Reform” movement in tatters | Jonathan Pelto – Wait What?
Ann Evans de Bernard, Ph.D recently retired as principal of Waltersville School in Bridgeport. In a two part commentary piece, she asks When is school reform not reform? And then, with the power and authority that only comes from having served on the front lines of the effort to provide Bridgeport’s children with a quality education, ...read moreThe post A retired Bridgeport principal speaks: Lea
Good student Laela Gray held back over 1 point on test | The Answer Sheet
By Valerie Strauss, Published: October 4 at 9:43 amE-mail the writer The story of an 8-year-old girl in Orlando offers a perfect illustration of what “high stakes” standardized testing means. Bay News 9 reported that Laela Gray was held back in third grade this fall — despite a fine report card — because she missed ...read moreThe post Good student Laela Gray held back over 1 point on test | The A
Another Reformy Practice Not Grounded in Research: SGOs | Jersey Jazzman
Like all teachers around New Jersey, I have been attending workshops and working with my administrators and colleagues on a new, reformy project: Student Growth Objectives. My SGO will count for 15% of my annual evaluation – a percentage mandated by state code – because I teach an “untested” subject: in other words, I don’t ...read moreThe post Another Reformy Practice Not Grounded in Research: SG
“Follow the money” PART ONE of THREE | Parents of Christina
Those of you who have seen the movie “All The Presidents Men” or read the book of the same name will remember a confidential source then known as “Deep Throat” and later identified as Mark Felt, Associate Director of the FBI. His advice to reporters Woodward and Bernstein of the Washington Post was simple, “follow the ...read moreThe post “Follow the money” PART ONE of THREE | Parents of Christina
The civics test native Americans flunked — but immigrants passed | The Answer Sheet
By Valerie Strauss, Published: October 4 at 8:30 am The failure of Congress to accomplish the basic task of funding the federal government — thus forcing it to close down this week — provides us with a new opportunity to look at the miserable state of civics literacy in the country. via The civics test ...read moreThe post The civics test native Americans flunked — but immigrants passed | The Answ
Mole in Success Academy Speaks | Diane Ravitch’s blog
I received an email from an anonymous teacher in Eva Moskowitz’s charter chain called Success Academy (formerly known as Harlem Success Academy until Eva decided to move into other neighborhoods in New York City). When everyone else in the state bombed on the Common Core tests, Eva’s schools had high scores. I asked the teacher ...read moreThe post Mole in Success Academy Speaks | Diane Ravitch’s
City numbers push area Catholic grade school enrollment up – Chicago Sun-Times
Updated: October 4, 2013 2:21AM The number of kids going to Chicago area Catholic elementary schools inched up this year for the first time since 1965 — and turmoil within Chicago Public Schools may have helped fuel the increase. via City numbers push area Catholic grade school enrollment up – Chicago Sun-Times.The post City numbers push area Catholic grade school enrollment up – Chicago Sun-Times
Class in the Classroom: Why Middle-Class Students Are Being Left in the Dust | Alternet
October 4, 2013 | While America’s rich are getting richer, evidence seem to indicate they are getting smarter—or at least better in school—as well. Nationwide, until around 1980, middle- and upper-income students performed at around the same level in schools. The gap that existed then was between them and students from low-income families. Now, though, ...read moreThe post Class in the Classroom:
Moi Naturale: My Bad Experience with KIPP | Diane Ravitch’s blog
Moi Naturale is a new blogger. She is Evan Seymour, who worked for KIPP in New Orleans until she learned that had a disability and was unceremoniously abandoned, including losing her health insurance. This is her report on her disenchantment with charter schools. via Moi Naturale: My Bad Experience with KIPP | Diane Ravitch’s blog.The post Moi Naturale: My Bad Experience with KIPP | Diane Ravitch’
The Broad Foundation and Broadies: Kings of “Distruptive” and “Unreasonable” Trickle-Down Reform | Cloaking Inequity
Eli Broad is infamous for his book The Art of Being Unreasonable. Broad is also know for venture philanthropy, the approach billionaires have taken to influence and direct educational policy by inserting billions of dollars. Is the Broad “disruptive” and “unreasonable” trickle-down approach to school reform the right fit for the United States? For your ...read moreThe post The Broad Foundation and
Researchers: Literary Fiction Is Excellent Preparation for Real World | Diane Ravitch’s blog
There have been many debates since the promulgation of the Common Core standards about the appropriate balance between literature and “informational text.” The writers of the Common Core think that American children spend too much time reading fiction, not enough time reading “informational text.” But the New York Times reports a new study, published in ...read moreThe post Researchers: Literary F
The Id, The Ego, and The Super-Rhee-go | Gary Rubinstein’s Blog
by Gary Rubinstein Reformers have been obviously working on re-vamping their public images. People are tiring of their empty promises, their overly simplistic remedies, and their unwillingness to engage in an honest discussion about what is and isn’t working. So the reformer’s reformer, Michelle A. Rhee, my old acquaintance from when I worked with her ...read moreThe post The Id, The Ego, and Th
Case study: The false promise of value-added teacher assessment | The Answer Sheet
By Valerie Strauss, Published: October 4 at 4:00 amE-mail the writer Value-added assessment is all the rage in school reform these days. It involves the use of complicated formulas that plug in student standardized test scores to try to determine how much “value” a teacher has added to that result. Assessment experts say it is a ...read moreThe post Case study: The false promise of value-added tea
A Good Discussion at Stanford | Diane Ravitch’s blog
I spoke at Stanford on September 30, and afterwards there was a panel discussion with Stanford’s Linda Darling-Hammond and Hoover Institution economist Eric Hanushek, moderated by veteran journalist Peter Shrag. There was a commentary afterward by doctoral student Channa Mae Cook, who had been a charter principal in New Orleans. I have known all of ...read moreThe post A Good Discussion at Stanfor
The failures of for-profit K-12 schools | The Answer Sheet
By Valerie Strauss, Published: October 4 at 5:00 am Here’s a smart look at the spotty record of for-profit schools, by Larry Cuban, a high school social studies teacher for 14 years, a district superintendent (seven years in Arlington, VA), and professor emeritus of education at Stanford University, where he has taught for more than ...read moreThe post The failures of for-profit K-12 schools | Th