Diane Ravitch's blog
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DIANE RAVITCH'S BLOG
Teacher: Why Abolishing Tenure in Missouri Is Wrong
In response to an earlier post about the $750,000 gift by financial Rex Sinquefield to a campaign to abolish teacher tenure in Missouri, a reader wrote this: Tenure makes it possible for teachers to be fair. I have known parents to go directly to an administrator who is a close friend of theirs and demand a certain grade or special favor. I have known teachers to be threatened to give favors to
New York Superintendent: Regents “Reform” Agenda Is Wrong
Superintendent Steve Cohen of the Shoreham-Wading River School district on Long Island in New York is an outspoken and clear-thinking critic of the state’s “reform” policies, all of which are derived from Race to the Top. Since the state won $700 million, the Regents have wreaked havoc in every district with their data-based and destructive policies. This article appeared in the Riverhead News-Re
New court documents surfaced in the investigation of financial fraud at a D.C. charter school, showing a widespread ring of Emma Brown of the Washington Post writes: “A senior official at the D.C. Public Charter School Board allegedly received $150,000 to help the former managers of Options Public Charter School evade oversight and take millions of taxpayer dollars for themselves, according to a
This is a terrific article about the elite prep schools and the fact that they do not follow the “reforms” that are now pushed by the U.S. Department of Education, the Gates Foundation, the Broad Foundation, and other corporate reformers. Here are some quotes from the article: Go ahead and do an online search of the country’s top prep schools, or check out this list from Forbes. Peruse some of the
Julian Vasquez Heilig: A TFA Alumna Tells All to Julian
Julian Vasquez Heilig recounts the story of a graduate of his university who reported plans to enter Teach for America. The University of Texas, he says, sends more students to TFA than any other university. This young person was filled with idealism and hope about making a difference. Two years later, Julian received a letter, which he reprints in this post. She said she felt unprepared; she did
North Carolina: The Politics of Intimidation
Rob Schofield of NC PolicyWatch wrote this alarming editorial about a disgraceful effort to silence a critic of Governor McCrory. North Carolina was once the most progressive state in the South, but in the short time that Governor McCrory has been in office, abetted by a reactionary legislature, North Carolina has adopted some of the most anti-education, anti-social, regressive policies in the nat
Missouri: Billionaire Donates $750,000 to End Teacher Tenure
Conservative billionaire Rex Sinquefield does not believe that teaching should be a career. He doesn’t think that teachers should have any job security. He thinks that teachers should have short-term contracts and that their jobs should depend on the test scores of their students. He has contributed $750,000 to launch a campaign for a constitutional amendment in Missouri to achieve his aims. The
Helen Gym, Philadelphia’s Parent Hero
Helen Gym is a model parent for all those who hate the status quo. Please read this article about her. I hope you will be inspired by her example. She lives in a city (Philadelphia) and a state (Pennsylvania) where the politicians have written off the children. They don’t matter to Mayor Nutter and Governor Corbett. They have written off the schools and children of Philadelphia. But these children
YESTERDAY
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 implying 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
JAN 02
What Matters More Than Test Scores?
A reader comments: “I do the alumni newspaper for Normandy High School in suburban St. Louis, a school which has lost its accreditation and gotten nothing but grief from the state education folks and certainly no realistic help. I think, however, that is about to change. The state people finally brought in experts who told them no school district serving needy communities anywhere in this country
Should Duncan Meddle in Local Issues?
On January 1, the Washington Post reported that Arne Duncan and at least one other aide pressured NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio not to choose Joshua Starr as the schools’ chancellor because of his opposition to high-stakes testing, the centerpiece of the Bush-Obama “reforms.” Politico reports the story and notes that this is not the first time Duncan has interfered in purely local decisions. It writes
Idaho: TFA Should Not Teach Students with Disabilities
Levi Cavener wrote this article about why young college graduates with only five weeks of training are not qualified to teach students with disabilities. Levi B Cavener is a Special Education teacher at Vallivue High School, Caldwell, Idaho. He wrote it after attending a local school board meeting, where a TFA representative claimed that TFA recruits are well prepared to teach students with high
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. We have learned to live with cognitive dissonance as our “thought leaders” say one thing but mean something else, of
Anthony Cody: A Remarkable Statement by a Chinese-American Student on Common Core, Testing, Pearson, and Standardization
Please open the link and read Anthony Cody’s blog about Kenneth Ye, a high school student in Tennessee who spoke to his local school board in Knox County against Common Core, PARCC testing, Pearson, and standardization. Kenneth pointed out that he has aced all the tests that have come his way. He has extraordinary scores. But he sees no value in making the American system like the test-driven Chin
Mercedes Schneider Eviscerates Fordham Grading System
Back in the 1990s, when I was on the board of the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation (now the Thomas B. Fordham Institute), we began rating state standards and assigning letter grades to the states. Much to our surprise and delight, the media ate up the ratings. Whenever we released our grades for the states, there would be big stories in the newspapers in almost every state, and it helped to put TBF on
JAN 01
Ten Big Wins for Public Education in 2013
Owen Davis, writing for Alternet, lists ten big victories for public schools in 2013. He begins: “If what’s past is truly prologue, there’s a good chance 2013 will be remembered as the year the free-market education reform movement crested and began to subside. After a decade of gathering momentum, reform politics began to founder in the face of communities fighting for equitable and progressive
Andy Borowitz: The 1% Will Miss Mayor Bloomberg
Andy Borowitz is a humorist who writes for “The New Yorker.” You can sign up for the Borowitz Report and receive it free in your inbox almost every day. Here is his latest, which demonstrates how close satire is to reality. PEOPLE WHO CAN STILL AFFORD TO LIVE IN NEW YORK PRAISE BLOOMBERG Borowitz describes a farewell dinner for Bloomberg, as follows: . Harland Dorrinson, principal owner of the he
NYC Educator Shares Woody Guthrie’s New Year’s Resolutions
Arthur Goldstein, aka NYC Educator and teacher at Frances LewisHigh School, shares Woody Guthrie’s New Year’s resolutions. They are better than mine. I just want to stay healthy, exercise, and eat heathy foods.
2013: A Very Bad Year for Teachers and Public Education in North Carolina
2013 was a horrible year for teachers and public schools in North Carolina. The legislature and the governor passed bill after bill intended to demoralize teachers, defund public schools, and expand the transfer of public funds to privately managed schools, private schools, and religious schools. Here, Lindsay Wagner of NC Policy Watch describes the nine actions that were intended to crush public
Did LA Schools Get Ripped Off by Apple?
Turns out the iPads purchased by LAUSD are way more expensive than what other districts are buying. And they have already been discontinued: obsolete already. No wonder tech vendors are thrilled with Race to the Top: Ca-Ching ! $$$$$$$$$$ Lots of dough for devices. Not so much for the arts, libraries, small classes.
At de Blasio Inauguration
I am waiting for inauguration ceremonies to begin and just received this disturbing news. According to Wash Post, Arne Duncan lobbied de Blasio to block choice of Joshua Starr, a vocal critic of high stakes testing.
John Kuhn: Five Resolutions for the New Year
Superintendent John Kuhn of the Perrin-Whitt school district in Texas is one of our heroes, for his passion, compassion, intelligence, and courage on behalf of his students and community. Here he writes his resolutions for the New Year. Some of his year-end observations are similar to mine, and I swear we did not communicate. We share common concerns about the future of our public schools, teacher
Reflections on the Year That Was—from a Personal Point of View
2013 had some surprises for me, both good and bad. This blog turned out to be a huge preoccupation. I spend 4-5 hours on it every day. You help me write it, as many of the blogs are your comments, explaining your experience as a teacher or parent or principal or superintendent. The blog is now approaching 9 million page views, and it started only in April 2012. I am not data-driven, as the numbers
The Best of 2013: The Great Awakening about the Status Quo
Farewell to 2013. It was a year of beginnings, a year that launched a fundamental change in the debate about what constitutes true education “reform.” More and more parents and teachers are awakening to the realization that the word “reform” has been hijacked by people who want to dismantle public education and the teaching profession. Those who have boldly named themselves the “reformers” are all
Happy New Year to All!
My wish for you and for me: a happy, healthy 2014. Here are my hopes for 2014: Let us rededicate ourselves to the principles of our democracy. Let us continue to act upon the belief that each one of us counts, and that each person has one vote, regardless of how wealthy he or she is. Let us continue to believe in the value of every child, regardless of his or her test score. Let us continue to ins
DEC 31
Time for a New Year’s Eve Laugh: Best Practices
Is Dilbert a staff developer? A consultant? What is he selling? http://www.dilbert.com/strips/
Will Mayor de Blasio Charge Rent to NYC Charters?
An article by Karen Matthews in Huffington Post says that Mayor-elect Bill de Blasio plans to charge rent to well-resourced charter schools, a pledge he made during his campaign. Most charters in New York City are co-located in public schools, where they pay nothing for their use of public space and they take away much-needed classroom space from regular public schools. Charter schools in New York
G.F. Brandenburg: What Do NAEP Scores Show about D.C.?
G.F. Brandenburg keeps a close watch on D.C. Schools. In this series of posts, he compares academic gains in D.C. before and after the chancellorship of Michelle Rhee. What he finds is a district that was showing steady improvement before Rhee arrived, and where the gains post-Rhee were continuous with earlier trends. He also compares the performance of public and charter schools in the district o
A Joke About the Common Core. It’s Not Funny.
Paul Thomas wrote this post about a video in which the authors of the Common Core joked about their lack of experience and qualifications for writing the nation’s standards. It is not funny. It is sad.
Robert Reich: Are We a Decent Society?
If we truly want better education for all, then we must be concerned about the high levels of poverty and income inequality in our society. Social scientists have long known that family income and education are highly correlated with academic performance and educational attainment. If we reduce poverty, we increase students’ chances of having good health, a secure home, and the conditions that sup
DEC 30 2013
The Wall Street Journal Gets It Backwards
The Wall Street Journal responded to Mayor-Elect Bill de Blasio’s choice of Carmen Farina as chancellor with bitterness. The editorial calls her “a competent steward of the failing status quo.” How could they overlook the fact that Mayor Michael Bloomberg has been the status quo for twelve years? How could they neglect that federal education policy–George W. Bush’s No Child Left Behind and Barack
Farina-de Blasio: The Sniping Begins
In a story in Huffington Post today, former NYC Deputy Chancellor Eric Nadelstern complained that New York City’s new Chancellor Carmen Farina has not spelled out exactly how she plans to raise the graduation rate or solve every other problem that the Bloomberg administration, in which Nadelstern served, left unsolved. Farina’s appointment was also met with a mixture of concern, skepticism, and g
Breaking News: Mayor-Elect Chooses an Educator to Lead NYC Schools!
For the past dozen years, New York City has had a procession of school chancellors who were not educators: a banker, a prosecutor, a publisher, a former deputy mayor. Mayor-elect Bill de Blasio made a daring–and wise– decision to select a professional educator to run the nation’s largest school system, which enrolls 1.2 million students. His search narrowed to three excellent candidates, all of w
Will Mayor de Blasio Grant Clemency to Doomed Schools?
Marc Epstein taught at Jamaica High School in Queens, New York City, for many years. The school is under a death sentence, which means the end of many programs that served children with different needs. Here he makes a plea to Mayor de Blasio to save some of the doomed schools. A De Blasio Clemency? This is the time of year that governors and the president issue pardons and clemencies. They a
Anthony Cody Reviews the Role of the Teachers Unions as Advocates in 2013 and 2014
Anthony Cody reviews his own sharp criticism of teachers’ unions during the past year for their support of the Common Core standards in 2013. Cody questions why teachers have no one to support them when they question the validity of the Common Core. He doubts that a one-year moratorium on high-stakes testing of the Common Core will matter much. In a column that he cites, he wrote: In effect, the C
California Governor Jerry Brown Blasts Test-Based Reform
Governor Jerry Brown is certainly the most interesting and thoughtful state leader on education. In 2009, when he was state attorney general, he wrote a blistering rebuke to Arne Duncan in opposition to Race to the Top. He has consistently opposed the overemphasis on standardized testing. In 2011, he vetoed legislation that didn’t go far enough to stop the misuse of test scores. Earlier this year
How Standardized Testing Destroys Creativity and the Joy of Learning
This post was written by Don Batt, an English teacher in Colorado: There is a monster waiting for your children in the spring. Its creators have fashioned it so that however children may prepare for it, they will be undone by its clever industry. The children know it’s coming. They have encountered it every year since third grade, and every year it has taken parts of their souls. Not just in the
Mark Naison for Governor in 2014!
Every state should have a write-in candidate–or a major party candidate–who shares the agenda of the Restore Recess Party. I pledge to support the candidacy of Mark Naison for Governor of New York in 2014. Let’s start a national movement that spreads everywhere and gets the attention of candidates who want the votes of parents, grandparents, and educators and everyone else who care about kids and
DEC 29 2013
Anthony Cody on Charter Schools: Public, Private or Parasitical?
Anthony Cody wrote a series of posts in which he reviewed some of the key events of 2013. In this one, he considers the changing perception of charter schools. He notes that some of their advocates frankly admit that they are for “strivers,” not for all. While he acknowledges that some charter founders really do aim to help the neediest students, he observes that charter organizations argue in cou
Douglas County, Colorado: Worse Than at First Glance
I reported yesterday that an administrative law judge found that the school board of Douglas County, Colorado, had violated the state’s fair campaign practices law by commissioning Frederick Hess to write a paper extolling the school board’s agenda of privatization. But when I read the story in the Denver Post, I realized that the school board had been even more active in promoting its agenda than
A Teacher’s Advice to Commissioner King: How Schools Are–and Are Not–Like Business
Beth Goldberg is a Middle School Mathematics Teacher at Linden Avenue Middle School in Red Hook, NY in the Mid-Hudson Valley. Beth has been teaching for eight years since obtaining her Masters of Arts in Teaching at Bard College. Prior to earning her MAT, Beth was a senior executive at JP Morgan Chase where she had global responsibility for a suite a payment services products. Beth holds an MS
Edward F. Berger on the Ignorant Mindset Destroying American Education
Edward Berger invites you to watch some important TED talks, which he uses to make a point about the appalling ignorance of some of our key “thought leaders.” Berger writes: To get the most out of this blog, view Ted Talks 2011 – Knowledge Is Power. #1: Sir Ken Robinson; and #5: Salman Kahn, and the Kahn Academy. I selected these two excellent presentations for many reasons, but the most important
Gates Invests in Urine-Powered Cellphone
When I heard about this, I thought it was a joke: The Gates Foundation is investing in the development of a urine-powered cellphone. Frankly, I have always harbored a secret wish that someone would develop a urine-powered engine for automobiles. No one would ever run out of fuel. Now, that would be a wonderful idea and would provide an endless supply of sustainable energy forever! But a urine-powe
Alan Singer’s Advice to Mayor de Blasio: Ignore the “New York Times”
Alan Singer, former public school teacher and current professor at Hofstra University, offers free advice to the new Mayor of New York City: Ignore the New York Times, especially when it writes editorials about education policies. In his post, he rebuts the New York Times’ editorial advice point by point. He explains why tenure and seniority are necessary and fair. He rejects merit pay and recomme
Battle Over Privacy of Student Data Heads to Court
Parents in New York are suing the State Education Department to block the release of their children’s confidential data to inBloom, fearing it ay be hacked or turned over to commercial vendors. New York is the only state that continues to insist that it will release all student data to the database created by the Gates Foundation and the Carnegie Foundation and developed by Rupert Murdoch’s compa
Schneider: Common Core Pushback in 23 States
Mercedes Schneider has been keeping track of the states where there is significant opposition to Common Core standards and/or testing. Initially, she identified 22 states where Common Core has encountered opposition. After that post appeared, she learned that California should be added to the list, for a total of 23 states where critics are rallying against the CCSS.
DEC 28 2013
Gerson: Why Common Core Won’t Work
Raymond Gerson teaches at Austin Community College. Will Common Core Produce Students Who Become Common? By Raymond Gerson Words can become like seeds for self-fulfilling prophecies because of the power of expectation. So let’s take a look at the words “Common Core.” One definition for the word “common” is “of no special quality.” In other words “ordinary.” According to Roget’s Thesaurus some syno
Alan C. Jones: What Knowledge Matters Most? Who Decides?
A reader added this insight into the debate about standards and which body of knowledge gets sanctified as “national standards” that everyone should know: I have made this comment before, but no domain of knowledge is neutral. Some group has to identify, categorize, organize, and interpret a discipline, a subject, a standard (although the term standard is a foreign concept in academia). What is
Anthony Cody on the Year 2013 That Was
This is a terrific overview of some of the high points and the low points of 2013, written by the brilliant and prolific Anthony Cody. Cody continues his critique of the activism of the Gates Foundation and its agenda to remake U.S. education.
Teachers: How to Survive in a Hostile Environment
Peg Robertson, one of the leading figures in the Opt Out movement, here writes movingly about her own experiences as a teacher, struggling to do her best for her students in an atmosphere dominated by corporate reform ideas. She writes about the family that shaped her views about education. She offers practical and wise suggestions for every teacher in the same predicament. This is an action guide
Judge in Douglas County, Colorado, Rules Against School Board for Buying Favorable “Studies”
A judge in Douglas County, Colorado, ruled that the school board had violated the state fair campaign practices law by hiring two conservative commentators to write papers praising the district’s privatization agenda. One paper was produced by Frederick Hess of the American Enterprise Institute and the other by conservative activist William Bennett. Hess was paid $30,000 (half from district coffer
Paul Thomas: Teachers Between a Rock and a Hard Place
Paul Thomas taught high school for nearly two decades befor he became a professor at Furman University in South Carolina. He understands the dilemma of teachers caught between Scylla and Charydis, now known as a rock and a hard place. The dilemma arises when federal and state mandates require teachers to act in ways that violate their professional ethics. Thomas has specific advice to help teacher
Common Core and the Myth of Neutrality
Bill Boyle has come to the conclusion that the Common Core standards are “one more step in the decimation of the common good.” He got into a Twitter debate with an advocate for the standards, then realized that this–like so many other controversial issues–has no neutral ground, no set of facts that will dispassionately settle the questions. There is a narrative surrounding the Common Core that h