NPE News Briefs ← from The Network for Public Education:
Test and Punish, by John Kuhn Reviewed: An American Horror Story | Russ on Reading
Kuhn, J. (2013) Test and Punish: How the Texas Education Model Gave America Accountability without Equity. Austin, TX. Park Place Publications John Kuhn has a story tell. It is a horror story worthy of Stephen King made even more horrible because it is true. It is the story of how Texas released the “test and punish” ...read moreThe post Test and Punish, by John Kuhn Reviewed: An American Horror S
Testing Resistance & Reform News: October 31 – November 7, 2013 | FairTest
Submitted by fairtest on November 7, 2013 – 4:28pm assessment authentic assessment high stakes k-12 national news other Another week of escalating assessment reform organizing and action around the country. Journalists, both local, regional and national, are hearing the movement’s message and conveying it to even broader audiences! via Testing Resistance & Reform News: October ...read moreThe
We thought we were done with Vallas but… he’s back | Mike Klonsky’s SmallTalk Blog
We tried to finish him off back in 2001 but… No sooner had I finished posting about how the Working Families Party and allies were running Paul Vallas out of Bridgeport, than I get the news that he has been selected as Gov. Quinn’s running mate here in Illinois. Yes, the master of the disaster ...read moreThe post We thought we were done with Vallas but… he’s back | Mike Klonsky’s SmallTalk Blog a
San Antonio Goes for Charters for Affluent | Diane Ravitch’s blog
San Antonio has committed to a dramatic expansion of charters, the emerging growth industry of our time. San Antonio has welcomed BASIS and Great Hearts Academy, which are known for their appeal to affluent white students. Rocketship will serve the low-income Hispanic students by keeping them in front of a computer a large part of ...read moreThe post San Antonio Goes for Charters for Affluent | D
Newsflash: Illinois Gov. Quinn taps Paul Vallas for running mate | Wait What?
Breaking News…from Crain’s Chicago Business Gov. Pat Quinn apparently has made an unexpected choice for his running mate for lieutenant governor: Paul Vallas, the former Chicago Public Schools chief and an ex-candidate for governor himself. The surprise development first was reported by political blog Capital Fax in a subscribers-only alert, and it’s being confirmed by Dean Vallas, Paul Vallas’ ..
From Spellings to Duncan: Using NAEP as Policy Propaganda | the becoming radical
While Secretary of Education (2005-2009), Margaret Spellings announced that a jump of 7 points in NAEP reading scores from 1999-2005 was proof No Child Left Behind was working. The problem, however, was in the details: During President George W. Bush’s tenure, NCLB was a corner stone of his agenda, and when then-Secretary Spellings announced that test ...read moreThe post From Spellings to Duncan:
The Secrets of Arizona’s Most Successful Charter Schools | Diane Ravitch’s blog
Amanda U. Potterton, a doctoral student at Arizona State University, analyzed the success stories of two of Arizona’s most celebrated charter chains: BASIS and Great Hearts Academies. The myth of charter miracles is built on stories generated by chains like these two. This myth has been celebrated repeatedly by President Obama and Secretary Duncan. Therefore ...read moreThe post The Secrets of Ari
A brief summary of the record of Andres Alonso, possible candidate for NYC Chancellor | NYC Public School Parents
Many names have been floated as possible candidates to be the next Chancellor, in Gotham Schools and the NY Post. Among the possibilities offered are several who seem unlikely, including Bob Hughes of New Visions, given that he has never been educator and has focused on expanding the New Visions charter school network, all of ...read moreThe post A brief summary of the record of Andres Alonso, pos
Transparency Watch: NAEP Governing Board’s Puzzling Media Access Policy | Politics K-12 – Education Week
By Michele McNeil on November 8, 2013 9:18 AM Within media circles, the NAEP governing board’s decision to ban journalists from certain online news organizations from early access to test data and media briefings caused a bit of a stir. The board that oversees the National Assessment of Educational Progress has always been tight-lipped with its ...read moreThe post Transparency Watch: NAEP Governi
Learning and Teaching in Scarcity: How High-Stakes ‘Accountability’ Cultivates Failure | Alternet
November 8, 2013 | Recent reports on Southern and urban schools are disturbing harbingers about the growing weight being shouldered by U.S. public education: the rise in segregation and a new majority in public school—students living in poverty. These in-school patterns reflect similar conditions of inequity in the wider society. As Harvard professor of the ...read moreThe post Learning and Teach
Where 4th graders are forced to take 33 standardized tests a year | The Answer Sheet
BY VALERIE STRAUSS November 8 When you hear people talk about the explosion of standardized testing in public education in the No Child Left Behind/Race to the Top era, it may be hard to understand just what that means to a student sitting in a classroom. This may help explain: Fourth graders in the Pittsburgh ...read moreThe post Where 4th graders are forced to take 33 standardized tests a year |
A few quick thoughts and graphs on Mis-NAEP-ery | School Finance 101
Posted on November 8, 2013 Yesterday gave us the release of the 2013 NAEP results, which of course brings with it a bunch of ridiculous attempts to cast those results as supporting the reform-du-jour. Most specifically yesterday, the big media buzz was around the gains from 2011 to 2013 which were argued to show that ...read moreThe post A few quick thoughts and graphs on Mis-NAEP-ery | School Fin
2013 NAEP Scores Show (Again) That Test-and-Punish Hasn’t Worked | janresseger
Posted on November 8, 2013 by janresseger Yesterday the National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP) scores from 2013 were released. According to Education Week, eighth grade math scores rose by one point with a three point gain in reading. Fourth graders gained a point in math with no significant change in reading. The NAEP is ...read moreThe post 2013 NAEP Scores Show (Again) That Test-an
Common Core implementation called ‘worse’ than Healthcare.gov launch | The Answer Sheet
BY VALERIE STRAUSS November 8 at 6:00 am (Photo by Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg) Whether you support the Common Core State Standards or don’t, it’s hard to argue that the implementation so far has been smooth. I’ve posted some pieces about just bad the implementation of the Common Core State Standards and related testing has been going ...read moreThe post Common Core implementation called ‘worse’ than
Bad News from Me | Diane Ravitch’s blog
Dear Friends, I wanted to share some not very good news about my health. This week, my hyperactivity and age caught up with me. It turns out I am not Wonder Woman but mortal me. I have been in a hospital for two days in Brooklyn, where they determined I have blood clots in one ...read moreThe post Bad News from Me | Diane Ravitch’s blog appeared first on NPE News Briefs.
Teacher: What I can’t do for students | The Answer Sheet
We hear a lot about the responsibility of teachers in the effort to help students achieve, but what about students themselves? In this post, a public school teacher (who asked not to be identified because she fears she could be targeted by her bosses), writes about the complexities of her job and what frustrates her ...read moreThe post Teacher: What I can’t do for students | The Answer Sheet appe
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NPE News Briefs Podcast: Phyllis Bush on A-F School Grading in Indiana
Education activist and retired teacher, Phyllis Bush, discusses the practice of grading schools using an A-F system as exists in Indiana and fourteen other states. The post NPE News Briefs Podcast: Phyllis Bush on A-F School Grading in Indiana appeared first on NPE News Briefs.
No One Manipulates the Press Like TFA | Jersey Jazzman
In general, I like Leslie Brody of the Record: she’s smart and fair and usually does a good job. Which is why I found this puff piece on Teach For America in New Jersey so frustrating: Teach for America got a major public relations boost in September when a federally funded study found that on ...read moreThe post No One Manipulates the Press Like TFA | Jersey Jazzman appeared first on NPE News Br
In Public Education, Edge Still Goes to Rich | NYTimes.com
“There aren’t many things that are more important to that idea of economic mobility — the idea that you can make it if you try — than a good education,” President Obama told students at the State University of New York in Buffalo in August. It is hardly a partisan belief. About a decade ago, ...read moreThe post In Public Education, Edge Still Goes to Rich | NYTimes.com appeared first on NPE News
Suzanne Dale Estey concedes Seattle school board race to Sue Peters | Seattle Times
Posted by John Higgins Seattle school board candidate Suzanne Dale Estey has conceded to Sue Peters for one of two open seats. Dale Estey announced the concession late Wednesday night on her campaign’s Facebook page: It appears that the votes aren’t there to win this election, and I just called Sue Peters to congratulate her ...read moreThe post Suzanne Dale Estey concedes Seattle school board rac
Editorial: Chartered bust – philly.com
hursday, November 7, 2013, 3:01 AM WHEN authorized by the state Legislature in 1997, charter schools were seen to be high-performing alternatives within the public-education system that would operate with public money but without the bureaucracy of the larger systems. Charters were intended to be a booster shot of megavitamins to bolster the existing public ...read moreThe post Editorial: Chartere
District in New York Votes to Opt Out of Race to Top | Diane Ravitch’s blog
t the recommendation of its superintendent, Dr. William M. Donohue, the board of education of the Byram Hills School District in New York unanimously passed a resolution to withdraw from the state’s Race to the Top. Dr. Donohue demonstrated his willingness to think independently, to express his candid views without fear, and to act in ...read moreThe post District in New York Votes to Opt Out of R
A Columnist at the Toledo Blade Supports Public Education | Diane Ravitch’s blog
At any previous time in American history, I can’t imagine writing a column with this title. Almost every American understood that public education is one of the most important democratic institutions in our society. There were a few curmudgeons here and there who didn’t want to pay to educate other people’s children, but their numbers ...read moreThe post A Columnist at the Toledo Blade Supports P
Steve Perry Tworking (Tweeting while working) on teachers and unions | Wait What?
State and local laws, ordinances, regulations and work rules prohibit public employees from engaging in politics while at work. Public employees have lost their jobs for violating these policies. Steve Perry is the principal of Capital Preparatory Magnet School in Harford, Connecticut. As a public employee, Perry is collecting a six figure, taxpayer funded salary. ...read moreThe post Steve Perry
Momentum Grows Against Zero Tolerance Discipline and High-Stakes Testing Anthony Cody – Living in Dialogue
By Anthony Cody on November 7, 2013 10:25 AM Guest post by Judith Browne Dianis, Rhonda Brownstein, Jessica Feierman, and Monty Neill. Across the country, resistance is growing against public education’s increased dependence on high-stakes standardized testing and on exclusionary discipline, such as suspensions, expulsions, and school-based arrests. Whether from grassroots demonstrations, test bo
Failure and Lobbying and Profits: The $$$ World of NCLB Tutoring Industry | Diane Ravitch’s blog
Want to know why spending on public education has mushroomed? Look no farther than the booming education industry that federal dollars have created through No Child Left Behind and Race to the Top. Hundreds of millions, if not billions, are siphoned away from schools to pay for consultants and services that have no track record ...read moreThe post Failure and Lobbying and Profits: The $$$ World o
Arne Duncan ‘Encouraged’ By NAEP Results | Politics K-12 – Education Week
By Alyson Klein on November 7, 2013 10:00 AM U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said yesterday that the 2013 National Assessment of Educational Progress results show “encouraging but modest” signs of progress. (Quick take: 8th graders’ average score in math increased 1 point since 2011, the last time the test was given, and 3 ...read moreThe post Arne Duncan ‘Encouraged’ By NAEP Results | Pol
Princeton: Do Suburban Charters Increase Segregation? | Diane Ravitch’s blog
Bruce Baker of Rutgers has found many examples of urban charter schools that cherrypick their students, leaving out the students who are costliest to educate and boasting of their success when they enroll notably more advantaged students than the local public schools. He decided to do a similar check on the Princeton Charter School, located ...read moreThe post Princeton: Do Suburban Charters Incr
Seattle School Board Update: Sue Peters is ahead | Seattle Education
In spite of the record-breaking amount of money that was poured into Suzanne Estey’s campaign by a moneyed few and DFER who want to see the corporatization of our public schools through charter schools, online learning enterprises and schools staffed by the cheap labor of Teach for America, Sue Peters has pulled ahead in the ...read moreThe post Seattle School Board Update: Sue Peters is ahead | S
Teachers union leader urges Chris Christie to apologize to teacher he yelled at | The Answer Sheet
BY VALERIE STRAUSS November 6 at 9:42 pm American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten sent a letter to New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R), asking him to apologize to a teacher whom he yelled at during a campaign event a few days before he won re-election this week and saying that he had no ...read moreThe post Teachers union leader urges Chris Christie to apologize to teacher he yell
Marie Corfield: An American Hero | Jersey Jazzman
There’s a lot to say after yesterday, and a lot to do starting tomorrow. But before all of that, let’s get one very important thing out of the way: Marie Corfield – proud to be a mother, a teacher, and a real Jersey girl – is a genuine American hero. We teachers are generally not ...read moreThe post Marie Corfield: An American Hero | Jersey Jazzman appeared first on NPE News Briefs.
Does Common Core Align with Danielson? | NYC Educator
I look at the Danielson Rubric and I see an awful lot about engaging the students. Active, happy kids are a big plus if they’re using the Danielson Rubric. You want them to be asking questions on their own, to know there are procedures in place, and to remind one another what they are. You ...read moreThe post Does Common Core Align with Danielson? | NYC Educator appeared first on NPE News Briefs.
