NPE News Briefs ← from The Network for Public Education:
Bombshell: Eli Broad Secretly Funded Anti-Public School, Anti-Union Initiatives | Diane Ravitch’s blog
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 ...read moreThe post Bombshell: Eli Broad Secretly Fun
Common Core is failing the “parent test” in Louisiana | Crazy Crawfish’s Blog
You might not know this from reading the newspapers or tuning into your televisions programs that have been bought out by Common Core supporters, but if you’re a parent and you’ve been listening to your neighbors and teachers and using your eyes you know what you are seeing is not what you are being misled ...read moreThe post Common Core is failing the “parent test” in Louisiana | Crazy Crawfish’
“Smaller Is Better” When You Exclude OTC Kids | Diane Ravitch’s blog
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 ...read moreThe post “Smaller Is Better” When You Exclude
I Repeat: Vermont Is the Best Education State in the Nation | Diane Ravitch’s blog
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 ...read moreThe post I Repeat: Vermont Is the Best Education State in the Natio
Paul Karrer Writes an Open Letter to Hillary, Apologizing | Diane Ravitch’s blog
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. ...read moreThe post Paul Karrer Writes an Open Letter to Hillary
Someone Loves Us | NYC Educator
Last night we had parent-teacher conferences. I always like to meet parents face to face, even if I don’t speak their languages. As an ESL teacher, I spend half my conference time frantically searching for translators. I can speak Spanish, but that’s about it. Our school hires a bunch of translators, but some are in ...read moreThe post Someone Loves Us | NYC Educator appeared first on NPE News Br
My Life as a Double Agent | Diane Ravitch’s blog
Fred Klonsky has an excellent summary and hilarious critique of Mike Petrilli’s review of “Reign of Error.” Mike suggests that I was “a double agent,” hiding in plain sight in rightwing think tanks for thirty years, so I could one day exposé them. This is funny. Checker Finn and I founded the Educational Excellence Network ...read moreThe post My Life as a Double Agent | Diane Ravitch’s blog appea
Pork for America | EduShyster
When Teach for America scored a last-minute language change in the recent debt deal—and a huge windfall—not everyone was surprised. TFA alum Kristoffer Kohl has been keeping a close eye on the organization’s extensive lobbying effort and its seemingly insatiable appetite for government pork. Now Kohl is urging other alumni to join him in speaking ...read moreThe post Pork for America | EduShyster
Friday Story Time: Deconstructing the Cycle of Reformy Awesomeness | School Finance 101
Posted on October 25, 2013 Once upon a time, there was this totally awesome charter school in Newark, NJ. It was a charter school so awesome that its leaders and founders and all of their close friends decided they must share their miracle with the world in books on the reasons for their awesomeness, including ...read moreThe post Friday Story Time: Deconstructing the Cycle of Reformy Awesomeness
Sucking Up to the Rich, Reformy Style! | Jersey Jazzman
Much as I’d like to move on from the Star-Ledger’s - and its Op-Ed Editor, Tom Moran’s - immoral and stupid endorsement of Chris Christie for governor, I really can’t let the following incident pass without comment. Because it pretty much exemplifies the problems with how the plutocrats who own this country have taken over not only ...read moreThe post Sucking Up to the Rich, Reformy Style! | Jers
2013 Louisiana School Letter Grades: Recovery School District Gains Nothing | deutsch29
October 24, 2013 Today John White released the long-awaited, capriciously calculated 2013 Louisiana school performance scores (SPS) and letter grades. In this “official” LDOE graphic, he attempts to sell the public on the “new,” “simpler” SPS/ letter grade formula and “easy to understand scale”, all the while maintaining that this latest attempt to label Louisiana education is ...read moreThe post
OCT 24
After secret coup, it’s war between State Board Education and Ritz | Indianapolis Recorder Newspaper
By Amos Brown III | 0 comments Open warfare erupted Tuesday between Indiana’s State Board of Education (SBOE) and Indiana’s Superintendent of Public Instruction Glenda Ritz, who sued the board’s 10 members accusing them of violating Indiana’s Open Meetings Law. The war was sparked by last week’s SBOE coup to seize control of Indiana’s “A-F” grading ...read moreThe post After secret coup, it’s war
Washington Twp. rejects A-F grading system | wishtv.com
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) – Another school district is rejecting the state’s A – F grading system. Washington Township is the first Central Indiana district to vote to reject the way the state measures how schools are performing. The resolution was presented at Wednesday night’s board meeting. It follows similar votes in Fort Wayne and South Bend. ...read moreThe post Washington Twp. rejects A-F grading
Legislator, educator challenging ‘testing juggernaut’ | The Answer Sheet
BY VALERIE STRAUSS October 24 at 3:00 pm A New York state legislator and educator wrote this piece to express their concerns about the effects of high-stakes testing on schools and to urge a rethinking of the school accountability system. This was written by Arnold Dodge, associate professor and chair of the Department of Educational ...read moreThe post Legislator, educator challenging ‘testing
Parents Organize Boycott To End Standardized Testing of 4-year-olds | therealnews.com
JAISAL NOOR, TRNN PRODUCER: Welcome to The Real News Network. I’m Jaisal Noor in Baltimore. Parents at a New York City elementary school have taken the unprecedented move to boycott a new exam that would force students as young as four to take a multiple-choice test used to evaluate their teachers. Now 88 out of ...read moreThe post Parents Organize Boycott To End Standardized Testing of 4-year-ol
L.A. schools Supt. John Deasy to resign | latimes.com
By Howard Blume October 24, 2013, 6:27 p.m. Los Angeles schools Supt. John Deasy has told Board of Education members that he plans to resign in February, according to high-level district officials, including some who asked not to be named. The reaction from the office of board President Richard Vladovic left little doubt. “We are ...read moreThe post L.A. schools Supt. John Deasy to resign | latim
What Do International Test Score Comparisons Mean? | Diane Ravitch’s blog
Uh-oh! Another study has appeared warning that we are falling behind other nations on international standardized tests. The National Assessment Governing Board released the results of a study comparing the performance of U.S. states to nations that participated in the 2011 TIMSS. Students in most US states were above the international average but the nations ...read moreThe post What Do Internatio
Linda Darling-Hammond on the Common Core Standards | Diane Ravitch’s blog
Linda Darling-Hammond of Stanford University is a highly respected figure in American education. She was Barack Obama’s spokesperson during the 2008 campaign, and many educators expected and hoped that she would be selected as Secretary of Education. How different the scene would be if that had happened! I have been trying to persuade Linda to ...read moreThe post Linda Darling-Hammond on the Comm
Angela Engel: Support Your Child by Opting Out of State Tests | Diane Ravitch’s blog
What we have learned after thirty years or more of standardized testing, is that the tests mirror family income education: they measure gaps but do nothing to close them; our kids spend (waste) too much time preparing to take the tests; the test results are massively misused for rewards and punishments instead of for diagnostic ...read moreThe post Angela Engel: Support Your Child by Opting Out of
What Pittsburghers are Really Saying about Class Size | Yinzercation
This week we are looking at the results of the community survey our grassroots movement helped to create. We had nearly 1,000 people respond, mostly in person, with volunteers going door-to-door throughout the city to find out what Pittsburghers have to say about public education. For more on our survey design, how it differs from ...read moreThe post What Pittsburghers are Really Saying about Cla
Louisiana Releases new SPS school grade scale, in bright colors, to make easier for Louisiana parents to understand | Crazy Crawfish’s Blog
October 24, 2013 Baton Rouge, LA Today John White and the Louisiana Department of education have released a new grade scale they believe will make it easier to understand SPS, School Performance scores. Whereas in the past, the old, yucky score scale was printed out in monochrome grey, the new scale features the word “NEW” ...read moreThe post Louisiana Releases new SPS school grade scale, in brig
Record number of homeless children enrolled in public schools, new data show | The Answer Sheet
BY VALERIE STRAUSS October 24 at 11:21 am U.S. public schools are now enrolling a record number of homeless children and youth — over 1.1 million — with the largest populations in California, New York, Texas and Florida, new data from by the U.S. Department of Education show. The news comes on the heels of a new study showing that a majority of students ...read moreThe post Record number of homele
Big Ideas VS Big Money: Support Sue Peters for School Board! | I AM AN EDUCATOR
I first met Sue Peters at a gathering of the newly formed ESP Vision—Educators, Students, and Parents for a Better Vision of the Seattle Schools. When the investment banks and insurance companies sabotaged the global economy in 2008, we were told there wasn’t enough money to keep our schools open. Sue Peters didn’t believe it, ...read moreThe post Big Ideas VS Big Money: Support Sue Peters for S
KIPP Retooling? (Or Just a Nasty Piece at Education Next?) | Schools Matter
As the wheels appear to be coming off the education reform bus, many reformers are scrambling to change the narratives, shift the arguments, and even retool their foundational commitments. One such retooling may be Knowledge Is Power Program charters, if this piece at Education Next authored by Alexandra Boyd, Robert Maranto and Caleb Rose is ...read moreThe post KIPP Retooling? (Or Just a Nasty P
Harvard student: ‘Don’t Teach For America’ | The Answer Sheet
BY VALERIE STRAUSS October 24 at 5:00 am Year after year, Harvard University is one of the leading contributors of new graduates to the teacher corps of Teach For America. The latest statistics for the 2013 corps show Harvard and Vanderbilt University tying for No. 1 among medium-sized universities, with 45 each. (The University of ...read moreThe post Harvard student: ‘Don’t Teach For America’ |
OCT 23
Don’t Teach For America | Opinion | The Harvard Crimson
By SANDRA Y.L. KORN Last month, I got an email from a recruiter. An associate of Teach For America, citing a minor leadership role in a student organization as evidence that I “have distinguished [myself] as a leader here on Harvard’s campus,” asked me to meet with Harvard’s TFA representative on campus. Dropping phrases like ...read moreThe post Don’t Teach For America | Opinion | The Harvard Cri
The Testing Madness in Rhode Island | Diane Ravitch’s blog
Carole Marshall is a retired teacher in Rhode Island who explains how State Commissioner Deborah Gist’s insistence on standardized testing has discouraged educators and students across the state. The most pernicious effect of this policy, Marshall shows, has hurt poor and minority youngsters the most. In an article in the Providence Journal, Marshall writes: The ...read moreThe post The Testing Ma
New York Regent Kathleen Cashin Releases Statement About Testing Fiasco | Diane Ravitch’s blog
I received a copy of this statement by Regent Cashin, which was released to the media this morning. Unlike most members of New York’s Board of Regents, Dr. Cashin is an experienced educator, who was a teacher, principal, and supervisor over a long career: Dr. Cashin wrote: “Statement by Regent Cashin Monday, October 21, 2013 ...read moreThe post New York Regent Kathleen Cashin Releases Statement A
A Certified Teacher-Librarian Expresses Sympathy for Dr. John King | Diane Ravitch’s blog
Melissa Heckler, a certified teacher and librarian, wrote the following letter to the New York State Board of Regents. She feels sorry for Dr. King. She wonders why the Regents selected as state commissioner someone with so little experience as a teacher or administrator. She doesn’t blame him for his present predicament. She blames the ...read moreThe post A Certified Teacher-Librarian Expresses
Another Broad-trained Superintendent Sowing Discord | Diane Ravitch’s blog
Over recent years, I have received complaints from parents about superintendents “trained” by the uncertified, unaccredited Broad Superintendents Academy. Eli Broad is a multi-billionaire who freely admits that he knows nothing about education but everything about management. He firmly believes that when school systems have good managers, tests scores rise and the system gets better. ...read moreT
Testing companies hit the jackpot on Common Core | Schooling in the Ownership Society
Wednesday, October 23, 2013 Testing companies hit the jackpot on Common Core The market for testing products and services is booming and could continue to surge over the next few years, according to industry analysts and company officials, who say that growth is being fueled by the shift toward common-core tests. Federal education policy since ...read moreThe post Testing companies hit the jackpot
The Great Voucher Fraud | Alternet
Voucher plans don’t boost student performance — they harm public education. So why do they keep growing?October 23, 2013 | If you ask Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal about the next civil rights movement in the United States, he’ll tell you the battle will be for so-called “school choice.” “The next great civil rights fight is ...read moreThe post The Great Voucher Fraud | Alternet appeared first on N
Teacher to reformers: ‘Invite us to the table’ | The Answer Sheet
BY VALERIE STRAUSS October 23 at 9:00 am It is no secret that many teachers today are demoralized about the direction of modern school reform; in fact, a major poll taken earlier this year showed that their level of job satisfaction has dropped 23 percentage points since 2008 and is at its lowest in 25 ...read moreThe post Teacher to reformers: ‘Invite us to the table’ | The Answer Sheet appeared
Obama to Name NewSchools’ Ted Mitchell to Top Higher Ed Post | Politics K-12 – Education Week
By Michele McNeil on October 23, 2013 10:01 AM In an important move for the higher education community, it looks like Ted Mitchell, the CEO of the NewSchools Venture Fund, will become the under secretary nominee at the U.S. Department of Education, several sources told Politics K-12. He would replace Martha Kanter as the top ...read moreThe post Obama to Name NewSchools’ Ted Mitchell to Top Higher
An Answer to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Part 1 | Diane Ravitch’s blog
A regular reader who signs his (or her) posts “democracy” has a two-part response to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which dumbly continues to repeat the discredited claim about the crisis in American education, a crisis they have helped to perpetrate by crying wolf for thirty years. Here is Part 1: via An Answer to ...read moreThe post An Answer to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Part 1 | Diane Ravit
#2 Job at US DOE Goes to Charter Promoter | Diane Ravitch’s blog
According to Politico.com, the crucial #2 job at the U. S. Department of Education will go to Ted Mitchell, CEO of the NewSchools Venture Fund, the nation’s leading promoter of charter schools. NewSchools strongly supports private sector control of public schools with dollars. It is heavily funded by Gates, Broad, Walton, and technology entrepreneurs committed ...read moreThe post #2 Job at US DOE
New Refusal Movement Blossoms in New Mexico | @ THE CHALK FACE
OCTOBER 23, 2013 BY KRIS NIELSEN New Mexico has one of the masters of Chiefs for Change, Hanna Skandera, in the chief’s seat of their education department. They are under her thumb and trapped under her policies, which she brought with her, straight outta Florida and straight from Jeb. This week, Albuquerque BOE member Kathy ...read moreThe post New Refusal Movement Blossoms in New Mexico | @ THE
What Pittsburghers are Really Saying about School Closures | Yinzercation
It seems like everyone is talking about the Pittsburgh Public School district’s plan to close more schools. City Council. The Post-Gazette editorial board. The region’s leaders. But what about ordinary Pittsburghers? Where are their voices? What do they have to say? It turns out, local people have a lot to say. But you have to ...read moreThe post What Pittsburghers are Really Saying about School
K12 Inc. stock update (downdate?) | Blog For Arizona
For anyone interested in the financial well being of the for-profit, online-school corporation K12 Inc. (local school, Arizona Virtual Academy), after the stock plummeted 40% two weeks ago, it made a feeble attempt at recovery from its $17.60 low — it climbed all the way back to $19.01 — but today it ended at $17.90. ...read moreThe post K12 Inc. stock update (downdate?) | Blog For Arizona appeare
The Madness Continues: Another Co-Loco Hearing Oct. 23 – JOHN DEWY HS !!!!!! | Ed Notes Online
I was looking forward to an evening at home Weds night. Guess not. Those good ole boys and girls at Tweedle Dee keep ‘em comin’ like the Top 40 hits. But hey, no worries. Big Bill will just reverse the PEP rubber stamp on Oct. 30 — the day before Halloween — and please join ...read moreThe post The Madness Continues: Another Co-Loco Hearing Oct. 23 – JOHN DEWY HS !!!!!! | Ed Notes Online appeared
How About Some Rhee-lated Information from Tax Documents? | deutsch29
I have been reading tax forms. 990s– the form of the nonprofit organization (no 1040s for them). It might sound boring, but I guess that all depends upon whose tax forms they are. Two 990s are the subject of this post. The first is the 2011 (August 2011 to July 2012) 990 for Michelle Rhee’s reform lobbying ...read moreThe post How About Some Rhee-lated Information from Tax Documents? | deutsch29 a
Why community schools are a no-brainer | The Answer Sheet
BY VALERIE STRAUSS October 23 at 4:00 am This seems so obvious that it shouldn’t have to be said, but with standardized testing being the focus of school reform, here goes anyway: Children can’t become high achievers in school if they arrive in class hungry, sick, exhausted, traumatized. That’s why community schools should be a ...read moreThe post Why community schools are a no-brainer | The Ans