Breaking News! Colorado Teachers Will Sue to Stop Failed Law
The Colorado Education Association, which represents the overwhelming majority of teachers in the state, will sue to block further implementation of SB 10-191. That law, written by ex-TFA State Senator Michael Johnston in 2010, wiped out due process for teachers and tied evaluations of teachers and principals to student test scores. This method, called VAM, has failed wherever it was tried. Most
5 Newark Principals Sue for Freedom of Speech
The five Newark principals who were suspended for daring to question Superintendent Cami Anderson’s plan to close their schools have sued her for violating their First Amendment rights. They were joined by a Parent-TeCher organization whose president was barred from his child’s school. Anderson was appointed by Governor Chris Christie’s administration. Newark has an elected school board but has b
Houston Learned from Los Angeles What NOT to Do with Technology
The Los Angeles iPad program has become a national lesson in what NOT to do. Other districts, watching the slow-motion disaster in L.A., are taking heed and planning their purchases and implementation of technology with greater care than was exercised in the nation’s second largest district. L.A. committed to spend $1 billion on iPads, pre-loaded with Pearson content. The controversies about cost,
Sarah Darer Littman: What Will Connecticut Pay to Implement Common Core Testing?
Sarah Darer Littman, a journalist in Connecticut, read that Maryland will spend $100 million for Common Core testing. This led her to wonder what the Common Core testing will cost in her own state. She asked the State Education Department to fill in the blanks about costs and about what district will receive, and she was surprised by what she learned: When I looked at the dollar grant per student
Lamar Alexander Proposes Sweeping Voucher Legislation
Lamar Alexander, Republican Senator from Tennessee, will propose voucher legislation today in a speech at the American Enterprise Institute. According to politico.com, “The Tennessee Republican will roll out a school choice bill at the American Enterprise Institute today. It consolidates dozens of federal programs that make up about 41 percent of all federal education spending, with an incentive
Math Teacher Explains What Is Wrong with the Common Core
Roy Turrentine, an experienced teacher of mathematics in Tennessee, explains why the Common Core standards are misdirecting the teaching of his subject. The creators of the CCSS did a disservice to the standards and to American education by refusing the test the standards in real classrooms with real teachers and real students. By failing to field test the standards, there was no feedback from the
Peter Greene: Do Choice Schools Need Testing?
Peter Greene, a teacher in Pennsylvania, has emerged as a favorite blogger of mine. He is on top of the news with sage observations, and he is pithy. In this post, he looks closely at University of Arkansas’ professor Jay Greene’s argument that schools of choice do not need testing. Jay Greene, a professor in the “department of education reform,” thinks that the marketplace provides accountability
Paul Thomas Rebuts Jay Greene: No Escape Route from Testing for Choice Schools
Paul Thomas here critiques Jay Greene’s claim that schools of choice should not be subject to the same regime of standardized testing as public schools. Thomas warns about the numerous academics and “think tanks” that are financed by interested parties and thus do not offer disinterested advice. Greene is a strong advocate of charters and vouchers; his “Department of Educational Reform” at the Un
Whitehurst: Test More, Not Less
Grover (Russ) Whitehurst is worried that the public is turning against standardized testing. As George W. Bush’s director of education research, he was and is a true believer in testing. As head of the Brown Center at Brookings, once known as a bastion of liberal thought, Whitehurst wants to see the programs he tended under Bush’s NCLB survive. Yet they are, as he puts it, “in a bit of trouble.”
LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH 1-27-14 Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all #EDCHAT #P2
Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all: Debate about Cost of Pre-K Grows in NYElected officials in NY are debating the cost of universal pre-K. It was a central plank in Mayor Bill de Blasio’s campaign. He won in a landslide. He wants to pay for it by a tiny tax increase on incomes over $500,000. This would add about $1,000 a year in new taxes, less than dinner for 2 at