An L.A. Teacher on Deasy’s Enactment of Hamlet: To Be or Not to Be
A teacher in Los Angeles who calls himself Geronimo left the following comment on hearing that Superintendent Deasy planned to resign, then declared that he was only thinking about resigning and might not resign after all: “If the saga of LAUSD wasn’t soap opera-y enough, the Number One Diva of LA–no, not Kim Kardashian, but Superintendent John Deasy–is forcing the entire city this weekend to witn
NY Principal: These “Reforms” Destroy Love of Learning
Tim Farley is a principal. His wife Jessica is a veteran teacher. They are also parents. In the letter here that Tim wrote, he speaks as an educator and a parent of the damage done by today’s ill-conceived policy changes, mistakenly called “reform.” Tim Farley writes: My wife and I are the proud parents of four school aged children. They are in grades K, 3, 5, and 7. I happen to be a building Pr
Bombshell: Eli Broad Secretly Funded Anti-Public School, Anti-Union Initiatives
A state investigation revealed the identities of donors to a secret fund to oppose an initiative that would increase funding to public schools and to support an initiative to weaken the unions’ political influence. Among the donors to the $11 million secret fund was billionaire Eli Broad. He publicly supported Governor Jerry Brown’s measure to raise taxes to help the state’s struggling public sch
Students Leaving New Charter School in Florida in “Droves”
University Preparatory Academy in Pinellas County claimed it would outperform all the local public schools. But 69 students have left the school in the early weeks of school, complaining of bullying and other problems. They are returning to their local public schools. The Tampa Bay Times writes: Children are leaving University Preparatory Academy, the charter school that promised to do better than
Paul Karrer Writes an Open Letter to Hillary, Apologizing
Paul Karrer teaches fifth-grade students in an impoverished community in California. Here, he apologizes to Hillary because he voted for Obama in 2008. He realizes now that he made a terrible mistake. His students gained nothing from NCLB or Race to the Top. He wishes the president would understand the stress in his students’ lives. Testing is not helping them. It diminishes their lives. He write
Deasy Resignation Not So Certain After All
Although the Internet and my email box was ablaze within announcements that Los Angeles Superintendent John Deasy had announced his resignation, and that it was reported by the Los Angeles Times, the resignation was less certain and more conditional by this morning. Did he resign or just threaten to resign or just suggest that he might resign? Or was it part of a negotiation? Stay tuned. 42.368
I Repeat: Vermont Is the Best Education State in the Nation
Yesterday, it was my pleasure to visit Vermont and New Hampshire, and to experience that wonderful bracing feeling of New England in the fall. It brought back long ago memories, when I was a naive young Texan, freshly arrived from the Houston public schools, and got my first sight of giant trees turning gorgeous shades of red, yellow, and orange, and breathed in the cool, crisp smell of fall. My
“Smaller Is Better” When You Exclude OTC Kids
A new study hails the success of Mayor Bloomberg’s small schools initiative. The mayor closed hundreds of schools and opened hundreds of schools. This study follows soon after the release of a study by the Annenberg Institute of School Reform showing the Bloomberg small schools excluded large numbers of the “over the counter” students, the late arrivals who often have the highest needs, such as n
Advice to the Opt Out Movement
A reader with knowledge of testing says: “If the opt-out movement wants to stop the testing they should focus on getting people to boycott the field tests. If the field tests don’t get enough student responses then there will be no questions for the operational tests.”
LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH 10-24-13 Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all
Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all: Sandra Korn, Harvard ’14, Says No to TFASandra Korn, class of 2014 at Harvard, was invited to join TFA. She said no. She explains why here. “For one, I am far from ready to enter a classroom on my own. Indeed, in my experience Harvard students have increasingly acknowledged that TFA drastically underprepares its recruits for the re