U.S. Department of Education Rejects Charleston Request to Delay VAM
VAMboozled reports here that the U.S. Department of Education rejected a request by the school district of Charleston to delay implementation of value-added measurement of teachers. District officials asked for an extra year to phase in the evaluation of teachers by the test scores of their students, but the DOE said no. District officials thought it was better to wait until 2016-17, when they mig
New York Parent to Mrs. Obama: Save Our Children!
Jill Berardi is the parent of a child in kindergarten in New York. She is also the assistant principal of a middle school in Red Hook, New York, in the Hudson Valley. Here she appeals directly to Michelle Obama to take action to help children like her own. Please feel free to share this letter on Facebook, Twitter, and other social media sites. Maybe The First Lady will read it. Mrs. Obama: Save
Jersey Jazzman: Why Would Arne Duncan Try to Block Joshua Starr’s Appointment in NYC?
According to a report by Valerie Strauss in the “Washington Post,” Secretary Duncan urged Mayor-elect Bill de Blasio not to appoint Joshua Starr, superintendent in Montgomery County, as chancellor of the NYC public schools. This allegedly was Duncan’s revenge for Starr’s public call for a three-year moratorium on standardized testing. Testing, of course, is the linchpin of Duncan’s Race to the To
The Myth of the Hero Superintendent: Don’t Wait for Superman
This is a fascinating article from the Texas Observer that explores the myth of the hero superintendent, the popular delusion that one transformational leader can “save” a school district. The idea was shaped by the Rhee story, the TIME cover I plying that she held the secret to “fixing America’s schools,” a myth that persists despite the absence of any objective evidence. The focus of the articl
John Hechinger Exposes the Terrors of Fraternity Hazing
John Hechinger is one of the most brilliant investigative journalists now writing. His specialty is higher education. This harrowing in-depth article describes fraternity hazing. A young man who suffered weeks of cruelty, degradation, and humiliation dropped out of the initiation process, told his story to university officials, and spoke to Hechinger. The story reads like something out of a horro
LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH 1-2-14 Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all
Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all: Timothy Pratt: The Walmarts of Higher Education?Over the past decade or more, we have seen and heard a lot of duplicitous rhetoric about rhetoric: we have heard politicians speak about the importance of education as they cut the budget and increase class size and slash the jobs of teachers, librarians, social workers, and others. W