Grading Rahm Emanuel
NPR says Rahm Emanuel gets a “mixed” grade at midterm. On education, his grade is not mixed. It is a big fat F. He will remembered long after his term ends as the mayor who closed 50 public schools. He will be remembered as the mayor who showed callous indifference to the children of Chicago. He will be remembered for putting Rich Investors First. He will be remembered for his contribution to
Time for a Laugh Out Loud Moment
Alright, boys and girls, time for a standardized test. Sharpen your #2 pencils. There is a time limit. There will be no accommodations for those with disabilities. If you do well, your teacher gets a bonus. If you fail, your teacher will be fired and your school will be closed. Here is the test. Good luck!
NYC UrbanEd Blogger Reviews “Reign of Error”
This teacher blogger decided to review the book by selecting his or her favorite quotes. What do you think? Do you agree with the method or the choices?
Teacher in L.A.: John Deasy is the Educational Equivalent of Dick Cheney
This teacher, who requests anonymity for obvious reasons, has noticed a peculiar tendency on the part of editorial boards and business leaders to shower praise on educational leaders who act brusquely, with a maximum show of contempt for those they lead. He calls this the “Dick Cheney” style of leadership. Those of us in New York have recently seen this kind of leader in our State Commissioner Jo
Mother Crusader: Open Schools, Close Schools, How Nutty
This is a puzzling story, reported by Mother Crusader. The Solomon Charter School was approved to open in 2012 and just announced a few weeks ago that it was closing. Just like that. It is a cyber charter. It teaches Hebrew and Chinese. Why was it approved to take taxpayer dollars? Why did it close? Follow the twists and turns of Pennsylvania’s powerful charter lobby. 41.049054 -72.494872
Louisiana State Board Passes Buck on Common Core
When faced with public demands about how Common Core would be implemented, about professional development and student privacy, the state board of education in Louisiana passed the problems off to local district. They ducked. Fact is, they don’t have a clue what to do, but they do know that Governor Bobby Jindal wants Common Core. He wants more evidence of failure so he can justify more vouchers,
Chicago’s UNO Charter Chain in Big Legal Trouble Again
There is no charter chain in Chicago with stronger political connections than UNO, whose founder Juan Rangel served as a campaign co-chair for the election of Mayor Rahm Emanuel. Rangel is widely viewed as a leading figure–if not THE leading figure–in the Hispanic community, the guy whose blessing delivers votes. Naturally, he runs one of the largest charter chains in the city, and the state and
Who Is Funding the Campaign to Defeat Sue Peters for Seattle School Board?
I noticed that in the past two or three years, a number of extremely rich people are bundling funds and pouring them into local school board races. Often the people making the campaign contributions do not live in the state or local community. I wrote about this strange and new phenomenon in my book Reign of Error. It is a deliberate and coordinated campaign to seize control of education at the l
Robert D. Shepherd on inBloom
Robert D. Shepherd, curriculum writer and author, left the following comment following Andrea Gabor’s post about the data collecting and data mining business called inBloom. He writes: “There were 55,235,000 K-12 public school students in the US in 2010. At $5.00 apiece for inBloom, that would amount to $276,175,000 a year. And if inBloom had a large existing database, it would become a monopoly
One of the “Best and Brightest” Has a Message for Jeb and Other Reformers
A comment on the corporate reformers who say they want to attract “the best and brightest” into teaching: “Attract the “Best and the Brightest” – please !!! I have 2 masters and have taught for 18years – in Miami – I make less than $44,000 … . Thanks Jeb – teachers are now starving and losing their homes in Miami * was told last week we may get a big $2000 – $4,000 dollar raise … Please, after FL
A Brilliant Post Wherein “Hamlet” Exposes the Guilty Conscience of NY’s King
We have heard numerous calls for NY’s Commissioner of Education John King to resign. He disrespects parents. He brooks no dissent. He accuses them of refusing to engage in dialogue after they sit patiently through his hour-plus monologue. And when they boo and hiss him, he storms away and cancels all future scheduled meetings with parents, fearing, no doubt, the same humiliating response. This blo
New York Study: Teacher Evaluations Are Flawed
A study commissioned by the Lower Hudson Council of School Superintendents found that the state’s educator evaluation system is flawed in multiple ways and does not produce reliable ratings. The state’s formula gave less credit to teachers serving disadvantaged students, judged some teachers on the performance of too few students, failed to measure key variables such as student mobility and did no
Bruce Baker: Teacher Evaluation Is Still Junk Science
Bruce Baker has watched the evolution of the effort to create that magical metric that will identify the best and worst teachers so they may be evaluated, rewarded, warned, and/or fired. He concludes that the great “value-added and growth score train wreck is here.” Despite the billions that Arne Duncan has thrown into them, and despite the hundreds of millions that Bill Gates has targeted on a fe
REIGN OF ERROR By Diane Ravitch - The Washington Post
REIGN OF ERROR By Diane Ravitch - The Washington Post: ‘Reign of Error’ by Diane RavitchBy T. Rees Shapiro, Published: October 18 E-mail the writerIn December 2008, President-elect Barack Obama picked former Chicago Public Schools chief Arne Duncan to be secretary of education and announced the decision at the Dodge Renaissance Academy in the city’s East Garfield Park neighborhood.Obama’s choice o
The Shame of Our Nation | Diane Ravitch
The Shame of Our Nation | Diane Ravitch: The Shame of Our NationPosted: 10/19/2013 1:09 pmRemember all the times that "reformers" like Arne Duncan, Bill Gates, Wendy Kopp, and Joel Klein have said that the answer to poverty is to "fix" schools first? Remember their claims that school reform (more testing, more charters, more inexperienced teachers, larger classes, more technolo
LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH ALL WEEK LONG Diane Ravitch's blog 10-19-13 -13 #thankateacher #EDCHAT #P2
Diane Ravitch's blogLISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH ALL WEEK LONGDIANE RAVITCH'S BLOGWhat Public Schools Do for CommunitiesA reader explains why public schools matter to the life of communities: “Public schools are not panaceas for poverty or crime or any of the other ills of our society, but they can provide a place for a community to come together, to learn to get along with each other, to watch out for