Schneider: Arne Tries for Damage Control But It Doesn’t Work
After Arne Duncan made the grievous error of speaking frankly, his remarks set off a firestorm. So he tried today to walk back his comments, reinterpret them, spin them, remove the memory of what he had said, and make everything right. But it didn’t work. People are still buzzing about his original tasteless remarks about “white suburban moms” who discover that their child is not so brilliant and
Mom to Arne: My Concerns Are Not About Race, Class, or Gender
This mom was taken aback by Arne Duncan’s put down of “white suburban moms” who are disappointed to learn that their child is not so brilliant. This mom has actually read the Common Core standards and has serious doubts about them. She can’t understand why Duncan disrespects her ability to think and reason for herself.
Mother Crusader Comes to My Defense
On November 11, right before I fell ill, I gave two lectures in Princeton. The first was held at Princeton High School and open to the community. After dinner I lectured as part of a series at Princeton University. Two different speeches, but the message was the same. The High School speech was focused on New Jersey, the evening speech on national trends. Within a few days, I noted that someone fr
Commissioner King Makes Clear That He Doesn’t Care About Public Opinion
The New York Times summed up the universally hostile response that Commissioner King has received from parents and educators in New York at an ongoing series of forums about Common Core and its botched implementation. King should use these meetings to apologize for setting absurd cut scores (passing marks), aligned with “proficient” on NAEP, which is not a pass-fail mark, but represents solid achi
Guest Blog: Rachel Levy Questions Why Richmond, VA, Hired TFA
Editor’s note: While Diane is on a somewhat reduced blogging schedule, she has invited members of the Education Bloggers Network, a consortium of people who blog about education issues on the national, state or local level to contribute to her blog. If you are a blogger who supports public education and would like to join the Education Bloggers Network, contact Jonathan Pelto Jonpelto@gmail.com.
A Parent’s Letter to Arne Duncan
TeacherKen, aka Kenneth Bernstein, posted this statement by a parent on his blog at the Daily Kos. Arne Duncan unleashed a firestorm when he asserted that parent opposition to Common Core testing stemmed from the disappointment felt by “white suburban mothers” when they found out that their child was really not brilliant and that their public school was not so good after all. The mother who wrot
Anthony Cody: What Happens After Common Core Is Ousted?
Anthony Cody follows up his brilliant analysis of the flaws of Common Core with this thoughtful projection of what to do next. Cody believes that the standards are fatally flawed by the absence of any democratic process or review or trial. There is also the indisputable fact that the standards were adopted by 45 states without their review but because the federal government made the adoption of “
Everything You Wanted to Know about inBloom But Didn’t Know How to Ask
This is from Leonie Haimson, who has been the national leader in the fight to derail the collection of confidential student data via inBloom, the Gates and Carnegie-funded program. Read this: http://nycpublicschoolparents.blogspot.com/2013/11/nyseds-new-scary-data-dic tionary-with.html They are not collecting blood type, voter status, and religious affiliation (of course.) They are collecting: Stu
Schneider Deconstructs Arne Duncan
The Internet is buzzing about Arne Duncan’s condescending and insulting comment about white suburban moms who oppose the Common Core because they discovered their child was not so brilliant after all and their local public school was not very good. But meanwhile Mercedes Schneider found Arne’s message to the first Moms Congress, where he defined parental engagement in ways that would make ALEC an
LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH 11-17-13 Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all
Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all: Note to Arne from an Angry White Suburban MomA comment from a reader in response to Arne Duncan’s statement that white suburban moms are angry because the Common Core tests just showed them that their child is not so brilliant and their school is not so good: “This angry, white, suburban mom IS angry–but it’s not because I was delu