Parent Groups in New York Call for Commissioner John King to Resign
Commissioner John King made the mistake of treating parents with disrespect. He doesn’t listen. He cannot lead. He was hired to serve the public. He can’t and he won’t. A statement just released by parent groups in New York: New York State Allies for Public Education Calls for the Resignation of NYS Commissioner of Education John King Billed as an opportunity to “gather information, ask questions
Aaron Pallas Rates NY Commissioner John King: Zero
Aaron Pallas, one of our best sociologists of education, looks at the terrible scores of teachers in Syracuse. “The summary evaluations reported by Superintendent Contreras [of Syracuse] were striking: Just two percent of Syracuse teachers were rated highly effective, and an additional 58 percent were deemed effective. Seven percent were classified as ineffective, and 33 percent as developing, ca
John King: My Charter Schools Don’t Need My Invalid Evaluations
State Commissioner John King of Néw York has created an educator evaluation system that is untested, one if those planes built in mid-air by uncertified mechanics and unlicensed engineers. If the plane crashes, too bad. But not every teacher will be subject to King’s burden of paperwork and test-based evaluation! If you happen to work on the boot-camp no-excuses charter chain that King founded, k
EduShyster Interviews Joanne Barkan About Plutocrats
We previously posted Joanne Barkan’s stunning article about the way our plutocrat philanthropists are undermining democracy. In this post, EduShyster interviews Barkan about her central theme of plutocrats-gone-wild. An excerpt. EduShyster asks whether the billionaires–surrounded by sycophants– understand that they are not getting much ROI [return on investment] from their failed ventures, and Bar
NAISON: Time for Commissioner King to Resign
When John King was booed at his first parent meeting, he got angry. He expected parents to listen to his wisdom, gleaned from his three years in a no-excuses charter school that is known for kicking out non-conforming students. Most state superintendents understand that they are public servants, meaning they serve the public. John King thinks he was chosen to give orders to schools, teachers, prin
New Jersey Taxpayers Underwrite Nepotism, Profiteering in Private Schools for Disabled Students
New Jersey has 180 private schools that receive public funding for students with disabilities. They operate with little or no state oversight. Governor Chris Christie and his State Commissioner Chris Cerf are big supporters of privatization. They rant about the high salaries of public school superintendents, but say it is none of their business if the publicly-funded private schools have even high
Bruce Baker: Should Economists Be Paid by Their Hair Color?
Bruce Baker continues to be one of our most valuable academic scholars of educational madness. In this post, he explores and explodes the claim by certain economists that teachers should not get a pay increase for anything except higher test scores. This is the only value that they ever add to a school. On the basis of this absurd claim, states are now passing laws to deny teachers any salary incr
States Don’t Want to Pay Teachers for Earning Masters’ Degrees
This article appeared in the Wall Street Journal. It reports a trend among states to pay teachers for “performance,” meaning student test scores, not for masters’ degrees. So a history teacher who wants to get a degree in history gets no salary increment. The science teacher who wants to learn more about science will get no salary increment. The message to teachers: More education doesn’t make you
LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH 10-13-13 Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all
Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all: Dr. Joseph Ricciotti: How CCSS Ruins KindergartenDear Diane, As an outgrowth of reading your new book, “Reign of Error” and reading your blog, I have written the op-ed piece below to the Connecticut Post. Thank you for all you do in your support of public education. Regards, Joe Ricciotti The Developmental Inappropriateness of the