NC Teachers, Among the Best in Nation, Under Fire
Imagine this weird scenario: a state that has more Nationally Board Certified Teachers than any other state in the nation; a state where 96% of the teachers are rated proficient; a state where the legislature is coming up with every trick in the book to demoralize and harass their excellent teachers. That is North Carolina. As Yevonne Brannan, chairman of Public Schools First NC, explains it, Nort
Academic Standards and a Boy with Autism
This is a letter written by a mother in Louisiana. She sent it out widely. “Academic Standards and Individualized Education Programs” How are schools supposed to get every student to meet the same academic standards and meet the individualized education programs (IEP) for children with disabilities — both are required by federal law? The following is a letter written from the heart of a mom with
Link ADDED: LI Superintendent Says NO to inBloom
David Gamberg, the enlightened and thoughtful superintendent of the Southold school district in Long Island, New York, wrote a letter to the president of inBloom and asked that the corporation remove any data pertaining to the students of his district. For his willingness to say “no, not with our students,” David Gamberg is hereby added to the honor roll as a champion of American education. He has
Long Island Superintendent: No to inBloom
David Gamberg, the enlightened and thoughtful superintendent of the Southold school district in Long Island, New York, wrote a letter to the president of inBloom and asked that the corporation remove any data pertaining to the students of his district. For his willingness to say “no, not with our students,” David Gamberg is hereby added to the honor roll as a champion of American education. He has
Douglas County: Is This the Future of Public Education?
Today, voters in Douglas County, Colorado, will decide the future of public education for the children of their county. In response to an earlier post about the election battle for control of the schools in Douglas County, where the school board is eager to privatize the schools, this reader made the following comment: We should be courageous and move in the opposite direction from the so-called c
Mark Zuckerberg! Spend Your Millions Here!
Mark Zuckerberg dropped $100 million into Newark, which is being used to open more charter schools and facilitate the privatization of public education in that impoverished district. If there is one lesson we have learned from charter schools in New Jersey, it is that privatization works best when the charters are free to exclude students who might get low test scores and to kick out those who can
A Mother: Common Core or Common Sense?
This appeared originally in Newsday on Long Island. Long Island is becoming the epicenter of the Opt Out of Testing movement. Parents who are vocally opposed to standardized testing are running for school boards. Long Island parents are furious at the state’s deluge of tests, especially the most recent Common Core tests, which claimed that most of their children were “failing,” even students who w
LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH 11-4-13 Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all
Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all: Mother Crusader: Chris Christie’s Education Policies “Wildly Unpopular”Mother Crusader writes that the confrontation between Governor Chris Christie and teacher Melissa Tomlinson called attention to the governor’s Achilles’ heel. His education policies are “wildly unpopular.” He wants vouchers and charters, not public schools. And