LINK FIXED: Beardsley’s Review of Mathematica Study of VAM
Audrey Amrein-Beardsley has started a valuable new blog where she reports the latest news on VAM and interprets the latest research. She is one of our best researchers on the topic and, time and again, she has put a pin in the inflated hope that teachers can be measured like potatoes or corn. n this post, she dissects Mathematica’s recent research on the value of moving highly experienced NBCT tea
Beardsley: The Problem with Mathematica’s Study of VAM
Audrey Amrein-Beardsley has started a valuable new blog where she reports the latest news on VAM and interprets the latest research. She is one of our best researchers on the topic and, time and again, she has put a pin in the inflated hope that teachers can be measured like potatoes or corn. In this post, she dissects Mathematica’s recent research on the value of moving highly experienced NBCT te
What the Tests Don’t Measure
Just received from a friend, Joan Baratz Snowden: My daughter’s new elementary school principal sent this to all the students as they received their state standardized testing scores this week: “We are concerned that these tests do not always assess all of what it is that make each of you special and unique. The people who create these tests and score them do not know each of you– the way your te
Tisch and King Explain Collapse of Scores Across the State
This is a brief, succinct presentation by Regents Chair Merryl Tisch and State Commissioner John King in which they explain why scores plummeted across the state. The state tests were aligned with the Common Core standards, for which teachers and students had little preparation or resources. Nor had the standards previously been field-tested anywhere to see if they were age-appropriate. It seems s
Is This How a Revolution Begins?
In this short video taken last night at the public forum on Long Island, a “highly effective” teacher demands that Commissioner John King be rated “ineffective” and fired based on the failure rate across the state on the tests he authorized. The crowd went wild. She said what the state is doing to children today is “child abuse.” Folks, this is the local community in East Setauket, Long Island, Ne
Pittsburgh Will Hire TFA, After Furloughing Experienced Teachers
The Pittsburgh Board of Education is about to hire its first Teach for America recruits, young college graduates with only five weeks of training. It appears to be ready to start with a small number, but the number is likely to grow as the districts realizes savings by letting senior teachers go and replacing them with entry-level teachers who are unlikely to stay longer than two years. In the pas
Glenda Ritz Comments on Governor’s Efforts to Dissolve Her Office
Glenda Ritz was elected State Superintendent in Indiana last fall. She won more votes than Governor Mike Pence. She was elected by a bipartisan group of citizens who rejected the policies of Tony Bennett, who outspent her 10-1. Since her election, Governor Pence and the state board appointed by him and his predecessor have whittled away the powers of the State Education Department. They created a
Why A New Teacher in Missouri Wants Out
A reader sent this comment: My daughter just started teaching in a Missouri School District known for being a very good school district. She is 2 months in and wants out. Paperwork, test goals IEPs, etc have made her an emotional wreck. If she quits in this state, her license is revoked. It makes me sick. She was so excited to begin teaching, but now she just wants out. And I have to say I can’t
“Institutional Investor” Recognizes Randi W. as #1 Leader Fighting to Protect Teachers’ Pensions
Institutional Investors is a business magazine that reports on issues for the investment and banking industry. In its current issue, it identified the top 40 people fighting either to defend defined benefit pension plans or to abolish them. It selected Randi Weingarten as the #1 figure who is fighting to protect teachers’ defined benefit pensions. That means, to teachers, that they will have a pen
David Sirota: How the Oligarchs Bought Education
David Sirota explains how a small number of very rich men bought control of American education. “But, then, as shocking as this let-them-eat-cake attitude may seem when it is evinced so brazenly by a national politician, it is the same oligarchic attitude that now dominates local education politics all over the country. Perhaps most illustrative of the trend is my home state of Colorado. This sta
YESTERDAY
NY: Forum for Common Core and Testing Brings Out Angry Parents and Educators
Commissioner of Education John King is conducting a series of hearings around the state on the subject of the Common Core and the testing. Each meeting has been a disaster. This evening, a large number of parents and teachers crowded into a high school auditorium on Long Island to speak out against the state’s heavy-handed imposition of the new tests and standards. The chancellor of the State Boar
LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH 11-12-13 Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all
Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all: Wendy Lecker: Common Core Violates Connecticut’s ConstitutionWendy Lecker is a civil rights attorney and an education activist. In this column in the Stamford Advocate, she argues that the Common Core standards violate the Constitution of the State of Connecticut. The state constitution clearly states (as most people once understoo