NPE News Briefs ← from The Network for Public Education:
NPE News Briefs ← from The Network for Public Education
Why No Common Core at the School The Obamas Chose for Their Children? | Diane Ravitch’s blog
This is a description of the philosophy of the lower school the Obamas chose for their children. Here is the academic program. No mention of the Common Core. Sounds like a wonderful school. Wouldn’t you want this for your child? via Why No Common Core at the School The Obamas Chose for Their Children? | ...read moreThe post Why No Common Core at the School The Obamas Chose for Their Children? | Di
YESTERDAY
Students protest new state tests | KOB.com
We’ve heard from administrators like Kathy Korte. We’ve heard from parents, like Kris Nielsen. Now, students who are against the End of Course exams are using them to speak out. Emma Lathrop, a senior at Los Alamos High School, says that students should “go into the end of course exams that do not affect their ...read moreThe post Students protest new state tests | KOB.com appeared first on NPE Ne
UPDATE: Common Core Unrest in 22 States | deutsch29
On November 23, 2013, I wrote a post briefly detailing the 17 states in which officials (legislators, governors, state superintendents) have formally registered some anti-Common Core (CCSS) intention (e.g., legislation, resolution). Today I will repost the original 17 states and add another 5, to yield now 22 states in which CCSS questioning might well lead ...read moreThe post UPDATE: Common Core
School at Heart of Grade-Change Flap Drops to ‘F’ | ABC News
By TOM LoBIANCO Associated Press The Indianapolis charter school at the center of Indiana’s grade-changing scandal dropped from an “A” to an “F” in school grades released Friday. The Christel House Academy benefited last year from changes to the grading formula made by former schools Superintendent Tony Bennett. But grades released for the 2012-2013 school ...read moreThe post School at Heart of G
State Deal To Give Media Organizations Student Data Alarms Privacy Experts | KUOW News
KUOW has learned that the Washington state education department has signed agreements to share non-public student data with media organizations including The Seattle Times and the Associated Press. The agreement states that student and staff names and Social Security numbers may be shared with the Times, although the state schools office and the Times told KUOW that those have ...read moreThe post
Best Education Books of the Year | Russ on Reading
Looking for a last minute gift for an educator in your life? Let me suggest the following. Reign of Error: The Hoax of the Privatization Movement and the Danger to America’s Public Schools, by Diane Ravitch. The one book that all people who care about public education must read now. You can find my review ...read moreThe post Best Education Books of the Year | Russ on Reading appeared first on NPE
How Online Learning Companies Bought America’s Schools | The Nation
Lee Fang If the national movement to “reform” public education through vouchers, charters and privatization has a laboratory, it is Florida. It was one of the first states to undertake a program of “virtual schools”—charters operated online, with teachers instructing students over the Internet—as well as one of the first to use vouchers to channel ...read moreThe post How Online Learning Companies
New York Legislators Call on State to Halt Invasions of Student Privacy | Diane Ravitch’s blog
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 ...read moreThe post New York
Evaluating the evaluations of teacher education programs | The Answer Sheet
BY VALERIE STRAUSS December 20 at 9:00 am Donald E. Heller is dean of the College of Education at Michigan State University who, in this post, describes a recent written encounter with the National Council on Teacher Quality, an organization created by the conservative Thomas B. Fordham Foundation in 2000 in order to promote alternative teacher ...read moreThe post Evaluating the evaluations of te
Michele Rhee’s StudentsFirst rally to support Steve Perry; Board fails to take up Perry’s threatening tweet | Wait What?
At last night’s Hartford Board of Education meeting Hartford Superintendent Christina Kishimoto and Hartford Board of Education Chairman Matt Poland failed to address the status of the promised investigation into Capital Prep Steve Perry’s threatening email rant or the growing controversy surrounding the Capital Prep Scholarship Fund. Instead the meeting was dominated by a lobbying ...read moreThe
EduShyster: 300 Million Ways to Support Excellence This Season | Diane Ravitch’s blog
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 ...read moreThe post EduShyster: 300 Million Ways to Support Excellence This Season | Diane Ravit
Ted Mitchell, Nominee for Under-Secretary of Education, Is a Privatizer | janresseger
Posted on December 20, 2013 by janresseger Lee Fang, a respected investigative reporter for The Nation magazine, exposes ties of Ted Mitchell to private education contractors and a for-profit university. Mitchell is chief executive of NewSchools Venture Fund and President Barack Obama’s nominee as Under Secretary of the U.S. Department of Education. According to Fang, ...read moreThe post Ted Mit
The Progressive Honor Roll of 2013 | The Nation
MOST VALUABLE BOOK: Diane Ravitch’s Reign of Error Yes, she really did serve as an assistant education secretary for George H.W. Bush, and yes, she once supported George W. Bush’s “No Child Left Behind.” But Ravitch refuses to cling to failed strategies, as she explains in her groundbreaking new book, subtitled The Hoax of the ...read moreThe post The Progressive Honor Roll of 2013 | The Nation ap
De Blasio Launches Formal Campaign for Pre-K | WNYC
Thursday, December 19, 2013 – 05:57 PM By BETH FERTIG Mayor-elect Bill de Blasio is moving ahead with his pledge for universal pre-kindergarten, by announcing a formal campaign with its own website and a coalition of backers. It’s called UPKNYC and the mayor-elect unveiled its first video at the childcare center Friends of Crown Heights. ...read moreThe post De Blasio Launches Formal Campaign for
Test-score gap widens between white, black students in Chicago | Chicago Sun-Times
BY BECKY SCHLIKERMAN Staff Reporter December 18, 2013 12:02PM The performance gap between Chicago’s black and white students — and between its poorest students and their wealthier classmates — continues to widen, newly released data show. Black Chicago Public Schools students fell further behind whites in three of four key measures, according to the 2013 ...read moreThe post Test-score gap widens
Tweed Insider: Where the Bloomberg Administration Went Wrong on Education | Diane Ravitch’s blog
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 ...read moreThe post Tweed Insider: Where the Bloomberg
Worst Education Op-Ed of 2013? | @ THE CHALK FACE
BY PLTHOMASEDD 2 COMMENTS I know the competition is tense, but just under the wire, I am ready to suggest this is the worst education Op-Ed of 2013: Friedberg: Can American students get smart? I really don’t know what to say except that every point raised and every claim made by Friedberg are so incredibly ...read moreThe post Worst Education Op-Ed of 2013? | @ THE CHALK FACE appeared first on NPE
Are the RSD (Recovery School District) and LDOE (Louisiana Department of Education) actively covering up school wide test cheating that bolsters their performance? | Crazy Crawfish’s Blog
I have been told the RSD and LDOE are actively covering up cheating on student test scores so I have embarked on a quest to discover the truth. My quest is ongoing but I have learned some things from evidence presented to me and responses I’ve had to my Freedom of Information Requests to the ...read moreThe post Are the RSD (Recovery School District) and LDOE (Louisiana Department of Education) ac
DEC 19
Time to Investigate Pearson in Texas | Behind Frenemy Lines
Thanks to New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, the charitable arm of testing giant Pearson will pay $7.7 million to end his investigation into whether it was illegally helping its for-profit parent company. This comes as a shock to Texans, where Pearson has an eye-popping $462-million testing contract, as opposed to New York where Pearson ...read moreThe post Time to Investigate Pearson in
Harvard alumni reflect on their Teach for America experiences | Harvard Magazine
by Michael Zuckerman Class of 1999, Class of 2000, Class of 2010, Class of 2011, Class of 2012, education reform, Harvard Graduate School of Education, James E. Ryan, Teach For America “It’s like you’re the special ops team that’s coming in to rescue education because real teachers are terrible at their jobs. I’m not going ...read moreThe post Harvard alumni reflect on their Teach for America expe
Michelle Rhee’s consultant introduces California ballot measure | The Sacramento Bee
A ballot measure submitted by a political consultant for education advocate Michelle Rhee seeks to remove seniority as a factor when California school districts lay off teachers, requiring that they instead base decisions on performance ratings. Performance, under the proposal, would be determined in part based on student test scores. Those policy proposals have been ...read moreThe post Michelle
L.A. Teacher Breaks with Corporate Reformers | Diane Ravitch’s blog
Lisa 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-stakes testing, evaluation of teachers by test scores, charter schools, etc., ...read moreThe post L.A. Teacher
More lawmakers call for SED to halt data-sharing plans | GothamSchools
by Geoff Decker, at 3:38 pm The State Education Department is facing increased pressure to curb its student data-sharing plans. Last week, Republican Senator John Flanagan introduced a bill to address looming concerns around the plan’s data privacy and security. He also called for the state to halt the initiative, which is scheduled to begin ...read moreThe post More lawmakers call for SED to halt
Pittsburgh school board drops $750,000 Teach For America contract | The Answer Sheet
BY VALERIE STRAUSS December 19 at 4:43 pm Here’s some education news that you don’t hear every day: The Pittsburgh school board is rescinding a $750,000 contract with Teach For America, and keeping open an elementary school slated to be shuttered. The board’s four new members, taking a new reform tact, drove the decision to ...read moreThe post Pittsburgh school board drops $750,000 Teach For Amer
Common Core: A Bonanza for Vendors | Diane Ravitch’s blog
Education Week reports that 68% of districts plan to buy new instructional resources to meet the demands of Common Core. That is, some 7,600 districts plan to buy new materials. Most are planning to buy online resources, presumably to prepare for online testing. I wish some researchers would estimate the shift of resources to pay ...read moreThe post Common Core: A Bonanza for Vendors | Diane Ravi
On Short-Term Memory & Statistical Ineptitude: A few reminders regarding NAEP TUDA results | School Finance 101
Posted on December 19, 2013 5 Nothin’ brings out good ol’ American statistical ineptitude like the release of NAEP or PISA data. Even more disturbing is the fact that the short time window between the release of state level NAEP results and city level results for large urban districts permits the same mathematically and statistically ...read moreThe post On Short-Term Memory & Statistical Ine
College Students Form Group to Oppose TFA Recruitment | Diane Ravitch’s blog
A reader submitted this comment about a new group formed to push back against Teach for America. Join Resist TFA and spread the word to end this cult. Stephanie Rivera at Rutgers University started this program and she’ll send the materials on request. Spread the word. I print them and leave the flyers in ...read moreThe post College Students Form Group to Oppose TFA Recruitment | Diane Ravitch’
U.S. schools’ approach to student data threatens privacy – study | Reuters
BY MOLLY HENSLEY-CLANCY NEW YORK Fri Dec 13, 2013 5:42pm EST Dec 13 (Reuters) – School districts across the United States are failing to properly protect troves of sensitive student data as they rush to adopt new online systems pitched by private companies, a report released on Friday found. Most of the 23 school districts ...read moreThe post U.S. schools’ approach to student data threatens priva
Camika Royal: Would I Join TFA If I Knew Then What I Know Now? | Diane Ravitch’s blog
Camika Royal is an alumna of TFA and a critical friend. She knows what is wrong with TFA, but she is not sorry she joined. TFA helped to shape who she is today, even as she questions its efficacy and its boasting. What she does know for sure is that TFA does not address the ...read moreThe post Camika Royal: Would I Join TFA If I Knew Then What I Know Now? | Diane Ravitch’s blog appeared first on
The Biggest Lies of “We Won’t Back Down” | Schools Matter
The movie “We Won’t Back Down” was on television this week. It is a product of the corporate-sponsored Parent Revolution. With the help of financing by Walden Media and other business conservatives, the movie tells the fictionalized story of the California “Parent Trigger” law allowing the takeover of a failing school when 51% of parents ...read moreThe post The Biggest Lies of “We Won’t Back Down
School Board Santa | Yinzercation
It felt like Christmas came early last night for the education justice movement. The Pittsburgh school board, which includes four of nine newly elected members, presented students with two lovely gifts: instead of handing out turtledoves or partridges in pear trees (really impractical this time of year, if you think about it), the board voted ...read moreThe post School Board Santa | Yinzercation
State school boards say ‘no’ to InBloom | LIHerald.com
By Howard Schwach A survey of more than 600 school board members across New York state found that 75 percent overwhelmingly oppose the education department’s plan to provide student data to a third-party vendor, according to the New York State School Board Association. The poll also found that 78 percent of the school board members ...read moreThe post State school boards say ‘no’ to InBloom | LIH
Bloomberg on Dasani: “That’s Just the Way God Works” | Diane Ravitch’s blog
Readers around the world read the New York Times’ front-page series about a homeless girl named Dasani, who was called “Invisible Child.” They learned about the deplorable conditions in the shelter where she was living in a single room with her parents and seven siblings. They learned about the rats, roaches, and mold; about inspectors ...read moreThe post Bloomberg on Dasani: “That’s Just the Way
Maryland takes on new Common Core role as ‘favor’ to Obama, Gov. O’Malley says | The Answer Sheet
BY VALERIE STRAUSS December 19 at 12:43 pm President Obama campaigns for Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley at Bowie State University in 2010. (Nikki Kahn/The Washington Post) How’s this for messy? Top Maryland officials approved a contract making the state the “fiscal agent” for one of two multi-state consortia developing standardized tests aligned with the Common ...read moreThe post Maryland takes
What does rise in D.C. test scores really mean? Not much. | The Answer Sheet
BY VALERIE STRAUSS December 18 at 5:07 pm Public schools in D.C. just saw larger gains on 2013 math and reading tests on the National Assessment of Educational Progress — which is sometimes called “the nation’s report card” — than any other major urban school system in the country. Impressive, right? Well, maybe not so ...read moreThe post What does rise in D.C. test scores really mean? Not much.
New School Board in Pittsburgh Cancels Contract with TFA | Diane Ravitch’s blog
A newly elected school board in Pittsburgh voted to cancel a contract with Teach for America, reversing the vote of the previous school board, which planned to hire 30 TFA recruits. The motion passed with six affirmative votes; two opposed and an abstention. The outgoing board previously approved the contract, 6-3. This was remarkable because ...read moreThe post New School Board in Pittsburgh Can
Center for Union Facts… Yeah, Right. | deutsch29
On December 10, 2013, the deceptively-named Center for Union Facts (CUF) bought a full-page ad in the New York Times in order to tell the public that some of the 2012 US PISA scores are the “fault” of American Federation of Teachers (AFT) President Randi Weingarten. Right there, we begin with stupid. The CUF attacks ...read moreThe post Center for Union Facts… Yeah, Right. | deutsch29 appeared fir
DEC 18
Federal education reform is doomed | Salon.com
Secretary of Education Arne Duncan hastily walked back his comments recently after dismissing Common Core opponents as “white suburban moms” who had suddenly realized that their kids aren’t as bright as they thought. This sparked a furor amongst parents and educators and thrust the Common Core back into the spotlight. Although the controversy over standards-based education is nothing new, ...read
The NAEP for Urban Districts Was Released Today | Diane Ravitch’s blog
You can view here the results for the NAEP for urban districts, known as TUDA, or Trial Urban District Assessments. Five districts volunteered to take the NAEP in 2002. Since then, the number has grown to 21 districts. Test scores have generally risen, though not in all districts and not at the same rate. Demographics ...read moreThe post The NAEP for Urban Districts Was Released Today | Diane Rav
2013 in Review Part 1: Charter Schools: Public, Private, or Parasitic? | Anthony Cody – Living in Dialogue
By Anthony Cody on December 18, 2013 6:15 PM The year 2013 was when corporate reform truly unraveled. From John Merrow’s exposure of Michelle Rhee, to the revelations about Tony Bennett’s school grade-fixing scandal, to Pearson’s fine for illegal lobbying, a great many “conspiracy theories” were found to be true. I have been reviewing the ...read moreThe post 2013 in Review Part 1: Charter Schools
Wisconsin: Republican Legislators Seek Dramatic Expansion of Charters | Diane Ravitch’s blog
Wisconsin Republican legislators in the Assembly have introduced a proposal to open many more charters across the state, as well as to increase the number of authorizers of new charters. The new charters would take funding away from existing public schools and would be non-union. This legislation continues the radical assault on public education in ...read moreThe post Wisconsin: Republican Legisl
Common Core’s Not the Problem; It’s the “Other Stuff” | Scathing Purple Musings
New York is a step ahead of Florida. They have implemented Common Core and administered the state-wide tests that go with them. The roll-out proved to be a disaster. Politicians develop education policy after listening to lobbyists and folks who are paid by the testing industry. Lynne Erdle, the superintendent of schools in Canandaigua, New York does a good ...read moreThe post Common Core’s Not
What Veteran Teachers Should Do to Protect Themselves From Being Driven out of the Profession | With A Brooklyn Accent
The more I talk to teachers around the country, the more I am convinced that School Reformers and Government Officials are making a systematic effort to drive the best veteran teachers out of the profession, both to save money and destroy the historic memory of a time when teachers had real autonomy and input into ...read moreThe post What Veteran Teachers Should Do to Protect Themselves From Bein
Chicago’s Grand School Closing Cost Scandal | Mike Klonsky’s SmallTalk Blog:
Board will vote today to triple its payments to GWS Back in November of 2012, our CReATE research group began warning that the planned closing of more than 50 Chicago schools would not only fail to produce promised academic gains, but would not achieve the anticipated savings being touted by CPS. Then again in March ...read moreThe post Chicago’s Grand School Closing Cost Scandal | Mike Klonsky’s
What’s wrong with this headline? | The Answer Sheet
BY VALERIE STRAUSS December 18 at 4:00 am The New York Times published a story on Hanna Skandera, New Mexico’s highly controversial education secretary-designate (she’s been “designate” for three years because Democrats refuse to hold a hearing to confirm her) under this online headline: “A Push for Teacher Accountability Meets Resistance in New Mexico.” What’s wrong with this ...read moreThe po
One Third of NJ Urban Students in Unfit, Dilapidated Buildings | Schools Matter
As Chris Christie’s hopes for a presidential run diminish day by day, his record on education in New Jersey is enough to disqualify him as presidential material and should actually get him impeached. Another four years of gridlock on the George Washington Bridge, no infrastructure improvements on the rails to NYC or the tunnels but ...read moreThe post One Third of NJ Urban Students in Unfit, Dila
Local Activist Exposes How Ohio Charter Funding Undermines Traditional Public Schools | janresseger
Susie Kaeser, a long-time public school supporter and activist in Cleveland Heights, Ohio, just researched the way Ohio funds its public schools and siphons local as well as state funds away from public school districts to pay for children attending charter schools. She has published her conclusions in a local community paper, The Heights Observer. ...read moreThe post Local Activist Exposes How
Major Charter School Chain’s Classrooms Look Like Cubicles for Telemarketers | Alternet
December 16, 2013 | From Silicon Valley, the Rocketship chain of charter schools is hoping to expand across the country. It’s backed by some of the biggest names in the tech world and claims high test scores. Rocketship leaders brag that they think outside the box. Teachers, for instance—who needs them? The company ...read moreThe post Major Charter School Chain’s Classrooms Look Like Cubicle
RALEIGH: Teachers group sues over tenure law changes | WNCN
RALEIGH, N.C. - Public school teachers on Tuesday challenged a North Carolina law that eliminates more than 40 years of job protections in favor of employment contracts that supporters say will promote sharper classroom performance. The North Carolina Association of Educators and six veteran teachers filed a lawsuit that contends the law passed this summer ...read moreThe post RALEIGH: Teachers gr
Walton Foundation Invests to Double Number of Voucher Students | Marketplace K-12 – Education Week
By Michele Molnar on December 17, 2013 2:43 PM The Walton Family Foundation, based in Bentonville, Ark., today announced a $6 million grant that it says is aimed at doubling the number of students attending private schools with public funds by 2017. The Alliance for School Choice, which advocates for private school vouchers across the U.S., ...read moreThe post Walton Foundation Invests to Double
Republicans back away from Common Core as legislative roadblocks advance | The Washington Post
BY REID WILSON December 17 at 6:00 am Even as international studies show American students falling farther behind Asian and European students in math, science and reading scores, a group of Republican governors, mostly in Southern states, are distancing themselves from a set of education standards that most of their colleagues are embracing. The governors ...read moreThe post Republicans back away
Diane Ravitch and the Angry Rebellion against Common Core | Governing
Since the Common Core State Standards for education were first proposed in 2009, 45 states have adopted them. As major public-policy initiatives go, this has been a hurtling train, backed by powerful people and institutions, that has been roaring down the track a breakneck speed. Now, however, comes the backlash. In at least 17 states ...read moreThe post Diane Ravitch and the Angry Rebellion agai
Mercedes Schneider Studies Pearson’s Tax Returns | Diane Ravitch’s blog
n addition to holding a Ph.D. in research methods and teaching high school English in Louisiana, Mercedes Schneider has become infatuated with tax returns. She has discovered that corporate tax returns tell interesting and important tales. When she learned that the Attorney General of New York had fined the Pearson Foundation $7.7 million for becoming ...read moreThe post Mercedes Schneider Studie
Two-Headed Dragon of Education Policy | the becoming radical
Recently, I posted a chart highlighting that current “No Excuses” Reform (NER) claims and policies are no different than traditional problems and policies in public education.* The great ironies of NER include that NER perpetuates the inequities of society and the current education system and that NER does not seek a reformed and revolutionary public education system but a ...read moreThe post Two
Why Charter Schools Are Foolish Investments for States Facing Economic Challenges | Alternet
December 18, 2013 | A new report calling for South Carolina to increase the state’s investment in charter schools comes as the state still is struggling to recover from the economic downturn and continues to invest heavily in education reform driven by new standards and high-stakes testing. Before investing further in charter schools, ...read moreThe post Why Charter Schools Are Foolish Inves
U.S. Department of Education Still Not an Awesome Place to Work | Politics K-12 – Education Week
By Michele McNeil on December 18, 2013 10:35 AM The U.S. Department of Education ranked 18th out of 23 mid-size federal agencies in terms of the best places in the federal government to work, according to new 2013 rankings from the Partnership for Public Service. So, the agency certainly isn’t anywhere near the best place to ...read moreThe post U.S. Department of Education Still Not an Awesome Pl
New Mexico Chief Pushes Invalid Teacher Evaluation Method | Diane Ravitch’s blog
Hanna Skandera was appointed state commissioner in New Mexico three years ago by Republican Governor Susannah Martinez but has never been confirmed by Democratic legislators. She has never been a teacher, but has worked in policy positions for Governor Jeb Bush and Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. (I knew her slightly when she worked at the conservative ...read moreThe post New Mexico Chief Pushes
Charter school operator won’t say how it spent your tax dollars | Ben Joravsky – Chicago Reader
Mayor Rahm Emanuel keeps telling us that Chicago’s school system is too broke to adequately fund the schools it already has, but that hasn’t stopped him from gearing up to open as many as 21 new charter schools in the next two years. The mayor likes to say that he’s all about improving the choices ...read moreThe post Charter school operator won’t say how it spent your tax dollars | Ben Joravsky –
Teach for America plan opposed for Pittsburgh schools | Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
December 16, 2013 8:18 PM The board of Pittsburgh Public Schools heard from a dozen people Monday — most of them teachers — who oppose the district’s plan to bring in Teach for America teachers to take hard-to-fill jobs at its most challenging schools. The outgoing school board voted 6-3 in November to approve a ...read moreThe post Teach for America plan opposed for Pittsburgh schools | Pittsburg
The New York Times Editorializes on Teachers and PISA, with Multiple Errors | Diane Ravitch’s blog
Once again, we are treated to a New York Times editorial on education that is a mix of good and bad. Bottom line: The Times blames teachers for the U.S. scores on PISA. And once again, the Times assumes that the scores of 15-year-olds on a standardized test predict the future of our economy, for ...read moreThe post The New York Times Editorializes on Teachers and PISA, with Multiple Errors | Dian