A New Perspective in Los Angeles
Up until now, Eli Broad and his minions have dominated education discussion in Los Angeles. But something pretty terrific happened over the last few days. New voices are being heard. The public is getting the word that “corporate reform” is not working and will not improve their children’s education. As educators, our job is to educate the public. We don’t have access to the mainstream media, but
Students Are Amazing at “Education Nation”
Even though the main events of Education Nation over the next two days will be packed with CEOs and anti-public education governors, I give NBC credit for an outstanding student town hall today. Melissa Harris-Perry interviewed four students who were selected for their activism: one from Philadelphia, who spoke out against Governor Corbett’s $1 billion budget cuts and explained how it stripped the
Are Teachers Superheroes?
I received this beautiful statement to honor teachers on World Teachers Day. That was October 5. Funny, the day passed unnoticed in the U.S. It was sent to me on Twitter by Pedro De Bruyckere. Read this, stand tall, and understand how lucky you are to be a teacher. It starts like this: “Teachers are no superheroes They won’t save the world. But they will save their children in case of emergency.
Peter Goodman Reviews “Reign of Error”
Peter Goodman is a former New York City high school teacher who blogs insightfully about state and local politics and education. In this post, he analyzes “Reign of Error,” noting that I am neither left or right, as those words are ordinarily used. He concludes: “I finished the book on an intellectual high – how could anyone not read the “Reign of Error” and be convinced of the idiocy of the cu
Crazy Crawfish on Arne Duncan
Crazy Crawfish blogs from Louisiana. His friends know him as Jason France. He worked in the assessment division of the Louisiana Department of Education until he couldn’t stand it anymore. He wrote a comment for this blog in which he critiques Arne Duncan’s critique of critics who live in “an alternate universe.” Crazy Crawfish writes: I may not know the secret to fixing every school, but I kno
My Trip to the West Coast…and Back
I have just returned from a multi-city trip to talk about my book and had a wonderful (though exhausting) time. On the flight from New York City to Denver, I wrote an opinion piece that appeared in the Los Angeles Times on October 2, the date of my first lecture there. I started in Denver, where I spoke at North High School to about 600 people, mostly teachers. I also met the brave insurgent candi
Your Gift for Today: Time to Laugh
This is one you should not miss: http://stockholdersfirst.org/ Very funny, with a catchy song too.
High-Performing District in Louisiana Votes to Abandon Common Core
The board of St. Tammany Parish, one of the high-performing districts in Louisiana, voted overwhelmingly to abandon both the Common Core standards and the tests. The board was responding to comments by educators and parents: “The committee’s adoption of the resolution – 13 of the board’s 15 members attended the meeting — comes after a series of public meetings during which board members got an ear
Make Them Stop, Make Them Go Away, Leave the Children Alone!
A teacher-blogger in New York City sent me this post. I have a grandson who just started second grade. I look at this techno-trash and pray that his teachers are not required to pay attention to it. If this is the kind of “work” that comes out of Tweed (the headquarters of New York City’s “Department of Education”), I have advice for the next Mayor: Clean out the whole bunch of people who make up
And Now, About My Critics
I have been more than thrilled by the response to my new book. Today it is #10 on the New York Times best seller list, next week it will be #15. My guess is that as more educators and parents read it, they will recommend it to others. I hope they will form study groups to discuss the issues it raises. My hope was to provide indisputable facts about where we are, and research-based evidence about w
What Happens When “Disruption” Fails?
It seems like only yesterday the New York Times magazine published a lengthy article about the powerful and transformative tablets that Joel Klein’s company Amplify had sold to the Guilford County, North Carolina, schools. The writer, Carlos Rotella, was appropriately cautious in assessing what it meant when students had most of their lessons on a tablet, but nonetheless there was a tone of “this
Meridian, Mississippi: Yes, The Tide Is Turning
No wonder the corporate reformers are nervous. The American people are wising up. The slanders against our public schools are being exposed. One by one, the Reformy House of Cards is coming down. Imagine this scenario: the editorial board of the Meridian Star toured Meridian High School. The students are 89% African American, and 80% free/reduced price lunch (the federal measure of poverty). Wh
My Conversation with Valerie Strauss
Valerie Strauss has been a beacon of light and hope for the nation’s educators during these years in which teachers and principals have been blamed for the social ills of the nation and treated with disrespect. That never happens on Valerie’s blog “The Answer Sheet” at the Washington Post. Not only has she been a trenchant critic of high-stakes testing and other misguided policies, but she has ope
LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH 10-5-13 Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all
Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all: Is Free Speech Dead in Oklahoma?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 Ap
LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH ALL WEEK LONG Diane Ravitch's blog 10-5-13 #thankateacher #EDCHAT #P2
Diane Ravitch's blogLISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH ALL WEEK LONGDIANE RAVITCH'S BLOGTODAYIs Free Speech Dead in Oklahoma?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 fiel