Frank Bruni Wonders Whether American Kids Are Too Coddled
For many years, Frank Bruni was a wonderful restaurant reviewer for the New York Times. But now he is a regular opinion writer for the New York Times, and when he writes about education, he is way over his head. He was one of the few to write sympathetically about the corporate reform turkey “Won’t Back Down,” which opened in 2,500 theaters to bad reviews and disappeared a month later. His latest
Missouri Commissioner Works with Outside Group to Destroy Teacher Tenure
The Kansas City Star reports that State Education Commissioner Chris Nicastro collaborated with anti-public education forces to draft legislation to eliminate teacher tenure. Emails obtained through the state’s Sunshine Law revealed the commissioner’s relationship with the group. The group is associated with Rex Singuefeld, a local hedge fund manager who co-founded a firm that manages more than $
Architects of Bloomberg’s Accountability Plan Back Off
A little late in the day, with only six weeks left in the Bloomberg administration, the two key figures in designing New York City’s school accountability measures have declared that it is time for a change. Now they have decided that they leaned too much on test scores. Now they tell us! Please read the comments that follow the article. They remind us how many schools were closed based on the app
E.L. Doctorow on Technology in Our Lives
Every once in a while, I read something that sticks with me and reverberates in my mind. That was my reaction when I read E.L. Doctorow’s remarks at the National Book Awards. These are words to savor, chew on, and ponder. “Victor Navasky, publisher emeritus of The Nation magazine, introduced E. L. Doctorow, the recipient of the Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters. Mr. Navasky
LA Times Plans to Post Teacher VAM Ratings Again
In her blog, VAMboozled, Audrey Amrein-Beardsley reports that the LA Times plans again to publish teachers’ value-added ratings. When they did it in 2011, a teacher committed suicide. Researchers discredited the results. Since then, researchers have demonstrated that these ratings are unstable and inaccurate. They bounce around from year to year. The Times doesn’t care whose career or reputation t
Schneider: CCSS Backlash in 17 States
Mercedes Schneider has identified 17 states where protests against Common Core standards are heating up, in some cases leading to a slowdown or cancellation of implementation. She writes: “Over one-third of the states whose governors and state superintendents signed the CCSS Memorandum of Understanding as part of US Department of Education Race to the Top (RTTT) funding are now percolating with
Lecker: Toxic Stress Hurts Children
When I visited Finland, which is widely recognized as one of the top performing nations in the world, every educator spoke of their goals. They want their students to be happy, healthy, and enthusiastic learners. They did not care about test scores. The years from the beginning of school (at age 7) to high school graduation is considered a “standardized-testing-free zone,” as Pasi Sahlberg put iti
More Charters for Idaho?
A reader sends this comment: “Dr. Ravitch refers to a “push to introduce charters to Idaho.” Idaho has had charter schools since 1991, though the initial legislation authorizing them has been so often revised by the Legislature that Idaho’s Office of Performance Evaluation recently reported that there is little difference between Idaho charter schools and traditional public schools, and that Idah
Jason Stanford on John Kuhn: How Texas Hoaxed the Nation
The next President should select John Kuhn, superintendent of schools in the little Perrin-Whitt District in Texas as Secretary of Education. Why? Because John Kuhn has the heart, the vision, the love of children, the courage, the honesty, and the integrity that the position requires. The Department is the kind of bureaucracy that runs itself, no matter who is the Secretary. Like any big organiza
LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH ALL WEEK LONG Diane Ravitch's blog 11-23-13 -13 #thankateacher #EDCHAT #P2
Diane Ravitch's blogLISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH ALL WEEK LONGDIANE RAVITCH'S BLOGmark as readHigh School Students in New Orleans Walk Out in ProtestI received this letter from a teacher who taught in Louisiana until recently. I am posting anonymously for her sake: Dear friends, I am not writing you from New Orleans, and I do not know these students, but I taught in this area for 9 years, and after 3 s