New York Furor Over Common Core: Time to Hold the Regents Accountable
The New York Board of Regents has held hearings across the state. At all but one–in Brooklyn, which was dominated by StudentsFirst supporters, parents have spoken out against the botched implementation of Common Core and the testing. Parents assumed they were talking to a wall because they received the same non-responses at every meeting. And despite their outrage, Commissioner John King and Chair
Lee Fang: Obama Picks Prominent Privatizer for Key Role in Department of Education
Lee Fang is one of our most extraordinary investigative journalists. He is one of the few who has looked behind the rhetoric of the privatization movement that calls itself a “reform” movement. Unfortunately, the goal of “reform” is to dismantle the public sector and turn it over to entrepreneurs. In 2011, Fang wrote a blockbuster exposé about the online industry and its ties to politicians. In t
New York Legislators Call on State to Halt Invasions of Student Privacy
Leaders of the New York State legislature called on the State Education Department to put a halt to their plan to turn over confidential student information to inBloom, the controversial program funded by the Gates and Carnegie Foundation with technology supplied by Rupert Murdoch’s Wireless Generation. According to Gotham Schools: “Last week, Republican Senator John Flanagan introduced a bill t
EduShyster: 300 Million Ways to Support Excellence This Season
EduShyster has some fun with the crazy idea that Teach for America is a charity in need of your holiday gifts, your nickels and dimes and quarters.. She notes that TFA has an annual budget of $300 million plus; it also has a score of high-paid executives, and many hundreds of millions in assets. Let’s just say that this is not exactly like the Red Cross or the Salvation Army. Yet some of our natio
“Reign of Error” Honored by “The Nation”
The Nation magazine selected Reign of Error as the most valuable book of 2013, and named it to the magazine’s progressive honor roll for the year.
Plunderbund: Most Ohio Legislators Are Not Affected by the Mandates They Impose on Public Schools
Plunderbund is a blogger in Ohio whose mission is to speak truth to power. In this instance, he points out that Governor Kasich and the majority of the members of House Education Committee either have no children or send their children to non-public schools. Thus, they are quite willing to tie the public schools up in knots because it does not affect their own children. “Currently, students in Ohi
Tweed Insider: Where the Bloomberg Administration Went Wrong on Education
The following was written by an insider at the New York City Department of Education, who requests anonymity, for obvious reasons. “Bring This City To A Place Where Our Children Really Are Put First:” Implementing Mayor-elect de Blasio’s Education Platform in New York City The above quote by Mayor-elect Bill de Blasio captures his commitment to addressing the growing opportunity and income div
LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH 12-19-13 Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all
Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all: L.A. Teacher Breaks with Corporate ReformersLisa Alva Wood, a teacher in the Los Angeles public schools, belonged to an array of corporate reform groups. She belonged to Educators for Excellence and other corporate-sponsored groups. She participated in an E4E video, along with other teachers, supporting a group that promotes high-s