Anthony Cody: Common Core and Creation Myths
Anthony Cody has discovered that there are many organizations that have published a list of “myths and facts” about Common Core standards. There seems to be a concerted effort to convince educators and the public that the standards were written by educators, or by the states, or by a huge collaboration of educators and administrators and governors, all working together. As Cody shows, there was no
NY Daily News: KIPP in NYC Has “Padded Room” for Disobedient Students
Rachel Monahan and Ben Chapman of the New York Daily News (whose editorial board strongly supports charter schools) report that the KIPP Star School in Washington Heights (upper Manhattan) has a tiny padded room where students are sent to “calm down.” According to the story: A tiny padded room at KIPP Star Washington Heights Elementary School was a real-life nightmare for two young boys who were r
Is TFA Your Favorite Charity?
Teach for America is a powerful organization. It has collected hundreds of millions of dollars in the past few years. One of its most recent IRS forms showed $300 million in assets. Its board of directors includes some of the nation’s biggest corporate and media leaders. Yet TFA is considered a charity, and many corporate funders ask you to make gifts to it, as if were the Red Cross or a homeless
Pasi Sahlberg Explains Finnish Philosophy of Education to Rhode Island Policymakers
Rhode Island won a Race to the Top grant, so of course the state is obsessed with competition, accountability, and high-stakes evaluations of students, teachers, principals, and schools. Fortunately, the great Finnish educator Pasi Sahlberg was invited by the University of Rhode Island to describe an alternate universe where entering teachers meet the highest standards, students do not take stand
The Education Agenda of the Walton Family
This post is a comprehensive review of the education priorities of the Walton Family Foundation. The Walton family has made many billions of dollars from the Walmart stores. Walmart comes into a region and undersells every local retail store. In time, the mom-and-pop stores–beloved community institutions handed down in some cases from generation to generation– close their doors, and mom and pop be
A Parent Reports on John King’s Stacked Forum in Brooklyn
New York Commissioner John King held his first meeting in New York City on the rushed implementation of the Common Core and the tests whose cut score was set so high that only 31% of students across the state passed. Among English learners, only 3% passed. Among students with disabilities, only 5% passed. The pass rates among African American and Hispanic students was 15-18%. In NYC, the passing r
Eva’s Success in Getting Whatever She Wanted from Bloomberg Administration
Eva Moskowitz is a tough taskmaster. Lucky for her, the New York City Department of Education was willing to do whatever she demanded, no matter the cost. As this article reports, what Eva wants, Eva gets. That may explain why Eva closed her schools this fall and led a protest march across the Brooklyn Bridge to demonstrate her opposition to Bill de Blasio’s demand that her charter chain pay rent
Amy Prime: What Is the Right Answer to This Test Question?
Amy Prime teaches second grade in Iowa. She wrote this post about a confusing question. The following question appeared on a test for her students. She posted it on her Facebook page to see how adults would answer it. Here is the question: Read and answer the following: Animal Alley rescued Cloud and Clip. One night, a helper saw two baby animals. They were hungry. They were dirty. The helper fed
Thanks to StudentsFirst, John King Gets a Friendly Forum in New York
Commissioner John King finally got a friendly forum about Common Core. At the only hearing in Brooklyn, a borough in New York City with four million residents, every speaker but one praised Common Core and many accused its critics of racism. Reports from those on the scene (directly to me) as well as in the media said that the speakers’ list consisted of people who were affiliated with Michelle Rh
Tom Loveless: Does the Common Core Matter?
In the spring of 2012, Brookings scholar Tom Loveless set off a firestorm when he wrote a study of the Common Core State Standards and concluded that they would make little or no difference in student achievement. He did not pass judgment on the quality of the standards but on the question of how much standards matter. He wrote: “The finding is clear: The quality of state standards has not mattere
The Most Important Post of the Day: The Rightwing Assault on the Public Sector
Jan Resseger here links to a startling expose that appeared in the Guardian, a U.K. newspaper. The Guardian gained access to secret documents showing the ties that bind a far-right network of public policy groups called the State Policy Network. There is a public policy institute in almost every state, all sharing the same far-right ideology. This group, which operates in tandem with the ALEC agen
LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH 12-10-13 Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all
Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all: AFT Video: The Real Lessons of PISAThe AFT prepared an excellent video about the real lessons of PISA. It shows graphically what the high-performing nations are doing. It shows that poverty matters. It shows that equitable resources matter. It shows that teachers need to be supported and to work in a collaborative environment. It s