Rocketship Charter Chain Withdraws Proposal in Morgan Hill, California
Earlier today, the Rocketship charter chain, known for saving money by putting kids in front of computers and using Teach for America, has withdrawn its proposal to open two charter schools in Morgan Hill, a town of 40,000. Credit goes to local activists, who organized to support their local public schools. Meanwhile, Rocketship has targeted Memphis, Milwaukee, and other cities with their specia
Tom Loveless Answers Critics about Shanghai and PISA
Tom Loveless wrote an article criticizing OECD for allowing Shanghai to exclude the children of migrants from PISA testing, thus artificially boosting their scores. His article hit a hornet’s nest. Loveless writes: Andreas Schleicher of OECD-PISA wrote a response to my essays, as did Dr. Zhang Minxuan, President of Shanghai Normal University. Marc Tucker, President and CEO of the National Center
Rocketship Charter Chain: Preparing the Telemarketers of the Future?
This article suggests that Rocketship charter schools is preparing a new generation that has mastered the art of learning online and interacting with computers. Students spend two hours daily at the computer, supervised by aides, not teachers. This saves money. These instructors monitor up to 130 kids at a time in cubicles in the schools’ computer labs. Rocketeers, as students are called, sit look
Schneider Responds to Honig on California and the Common Core
Mercedes Schneider has been an outspoken critic of the Common Core standards. After she read Bill Honig’s explanation about why California educators support the standards without the testing or market reforms, she wrote the following: Should California Embrace Common Core? My Response to Bill Honig deutsch29.wordpress.com Yesterday, California Instructional Quality Chair Bill Honig published a let
Richard Rothstein: Time for the Truth About Racial Segregation
In this article, Richard Rothstein is critical of high school textbooks–and of our media in general–for failing to identify the true causes of de facto segregation. Either they barely mention the role of government in segregating neighborhoods by race or they imply that it happened naturally (de facto), without any government intervention. He writes: One of the worst examples of our historical bli
Montclair Public Schools: Under Siege
Montclair, New Jersey, has long been proud of its fine public schools. But these days, not even good schools and good districts are exempt from the corporate reform steamroller. At present, a substantial part of the community is at war with the school board and the Broad-trained superintendent. A group of dissident parents, who happen to be among leading scholars of education —–including Ira Shor,
Joanne Barkan: How Rich Folks Will Overcome (Public Education)
Joanne Barkan has written a series of brilliant articles about the corporate reform movement and its wealthy supporters for “Dissent” magazine. She wrote this article for this blog. In it, she reflects on the venture capitalists’ belief that they are leaders of a new civil rights movement. Joanne Barkan writes: They Shall Overcome Rooted in the gospel tradition, the song “We Shall Overcome” beca
LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH 1-7-14 Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all
Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all: Will Fight Against Common Core Encourage Charters, Vouchers?As readers of the blog know, critics of the Common Core span the political and ideological spectrum. So do supporters. Many who consider themselves liberals oppose the imposition of grade-by-grade standards that are inflexible and take away teachers’ ability to tailor inst