Diane Ravitch's blog
LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH ALL WEEK LONG
DIANE RAVITCH'S BLOG
On the very eve of the weekend celebrating the birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Newark’s state-appointed superintendent showed the citizens of Newark that they have no votes and they have no voice when it comes to the fate of their schools. The Newark public schools have been under state control since 1995. Cami Anderson, the current Newark Superintendent is a former Teach for America teac
Readers of this blog know that I have repeatedly argued that standardized scores on international tests predict nothing about the future. Now comes an article in Forbes–Forbes!–saying that the international scores don’t mean much. Scott Gillum quotes sources such as Sir Ken Robinson, Carol Dweck, and Yong Zhao to argue that what matters most–creativity, originality, initiative–is not captured by s
This reader shares memories of a different time. I can vouch for what he or she writes. I remember those days too. The time after school was spent riding bikes or playing pick-up games of baseball or playing in someone’s backyard. Homework was for after dinner. There was always time for play with friends. The family ate dinner together. I went to a high school with about 1,200 students. None of th
Peter Greene, an English teacher and blogger in Pennsylvania, reviewed the wild and wacky video made by the staff at the conservative Thomas B. Fordham Institute. Apparently the kids there wanted the world to see them as fun-loving buddies who can laugh at themselves, but Greene thinks it didn’t work. Despite the high production values, there is something unfunny about Fordham’s policy ideas (no t
Caleb Rossiter on KIPP and the Challenge of Educating All
When we talk about educating all, we usually mean educating all. But as Caleb Rossiter points out, educating all is a mighty challenge when so many children are so woefully unprepared and unmotivated. Caleb quit his job in a charter school because he was asked to raise scores that were undeserved. But now he has a habit of speaking with candor about kids who have no interest in what is happening i
Jersey Jazzman on Governor Chris Christie
Those of us who care about public education and who respect teachers have known for a long time that New Jersey’s Governor Chris Christie was a bully. We have seen him bullying teachers since he took office. Now he has this mess on his hands because his closest staff–with or without his knowledge–bullied a Democratic mayor who failed to endorse Christie in his re-election campaign. So the governor
Maryland: Common Core Testing Will Cost $100 Million
According to a report by Valerie Strauss of the Washington Post, Maryland will spend at least $100 million for Common Core testing. The testing is wreaking havoc in states like Néw York, where absurd failure rates have outraged parents across the states. Now we learn that the cost of all-online testing are likely to cause fiscal strain, larger classes, and cuts to necessary programs and courses.
My Speech about Common Core to MLA
On January 11, I spoke to the annual meeting in Chicago of the Modern Language Association about the Common Core. My talk was titled “Common Core: Past, Present, Future.” I think readers of this blog will find it of interest. It is about 17 pages long, so sit down. I explain the background of the standards and explain why they have become so controversial, with critics and supporters on all points
YESTERDAY
Governor Corbett Runs Away from Visit to Philly High School
There was much buzz on the Internet yesterday because Governor Tom Corbett announced his intention to visit a public school in Philadelphia! Imagine that! But today, after hearing that protestors might show up, he canceled the visit and retreated to the local Chamber of Commerce. He boldly announced that he never runs away from anything as he ran away. Jake Blumgart reports: ““I don’t run from
Mercedes Schneider on Duncan: Why Does He Blame Everyone But the DOE?
Mercedes Schneider has a terrific post in which she reviews Arne Duncan’s interview with U.S. News, in which he claims that American teachers “often come from the bottom of the academic barrel.” His ideal of academic excellence? Examination hell in South Korea. Schneider explains what Duncan finds so admirable. For one hing, his only way to think of education is test scores. Nothing else matters
Who Funded Campbell Brown’s Campaign Against Pervy Teachers?
During the mayoral campaign in New York City, former CNN anchor Campbell Brown led a campaign against what she portrayed as a serious number of sexual perverts and deviants among the city’s teaching force. Mother Jones decided to investigate what was happening, who was behind the campaign, and here are its findings. “Shortly after it was launched in June, PTP [Parent Transparency Project] trained
Los Angeles: Deasy Refuses to Restore Arts Funding
Despite a board resolution in 2012 calling for a restoration of arts funding in Los Angeles, Superintendent John Deasy has refused to prepare a budget complying with the resolution. “In 2012, the Los Angeles Unified School District board voted to make arts education a core subject in its curriculum. “Four months ago, the board gave district officials a Dec. 3 deadline to produce a budget for the s
TFA’s Mighty Ambitions
Teach for America has created a spin-off called Leaders for Educational Excellence that quietly trains and supports the ambitions of former TFA and their ascent to positions of power. Teach for America, through LEE, hopes to take charge of the reins of power in many districts, states, and the halls of Congress. TFA, of course, is a mainstay of the corporate reform movement, supplying the ill-train
EduShyster: Broken Windows, No Excuses!
EduShyster commends President Obama and Secretary Duncan for their new initiative to lower the practice of suspending students, especially minority students, from school. But she wonders whether the new policy will apply to the “no excuses” charter schools that have sky-high suspension rates and win commendations from the Obama administration for having high expectations. In New Orleans, two cele
Texas Charter Chain Teaches Creationism
Zack Koppelin is a college student in Texas who grew up in Louisiana. He is determined to expose the publicly-funded schools that teach creationism. As a high school student, he drew attention to voucher schools teaching religious dogma as science. Now in Texas, he finds creationism taught in the state’s biggest charter chain: FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE January 16, 2014 Contact: Zack Kopplin (225)-715-
Why Outsourcing to For-Profit Enterprises is Bad Public Policy
An organization called “In the Public Interest” keeps tabs on the scams that private entrepreneurs foist on the public sector, often in collusion with public officials who contract out important public services. This report documents the coast-to-coast failure of handing public sector activities over to for-profit enterprises. Outsourcing promises savings that never materialize. Instead, “too ofte
Peter Greene: Why I Agree with Arne Duncan
Peter Greene, who teaches in Pennsylvania, read an interview in “US News” in which Arne Duncan claimed that our students fall behind those in other nations because we are “not serious” about education. Greene agrees with Arne that our country is not serious about education. If we took education seriously, he writes, teachers would be highly respected and well paid. “If we were serious about educ
Steve Nelson Predicts What 2014 Holds for Education Reformers
EduShyster, move over! Here comes someone writing in the same vein, though to be accurate, nobody tops EduShyster. Here is Steve Nelson with a hilarious account of the events that are in store for corporate reform. No one is spared! It is a month-by-month account. Here is his prediction for July: “In an otherwise slow month for school-related news, Pearson Education announces the acquisition of th
NC: Here Come the Corporate Charter Carpetbaggers!
Jessica B. Swencki of the Brunswick County schools in North Carolina knows a scam when she sees one. With the near total deregulation of charter schools in that state, the corporate charter chains are moving in to where it’s easy to run a school and skim huge profits. Here’s the deal. A big for-profit operation finds a local board to act as its front during the application process. One doesn’t hav
JAN 16
You Have 24 Hours to Read This Post, Then…
Then it goes behind a paywall. It was written by Caroline Chamberlin Hellman, who teaches remedial writing at City University of New York. I think you will find it interesting. Professor Hellman cares about her students. Here is the conclusion: All too often we hear the reductive narrative that these students are simply incapable of college-level work. Allow me to be clear: These students have pot
Paul Thomas: Time for AFT to Take Another Look at Common Core
Paul Thomas believes that the Common Core standards do not answer any of the most pressing problems in American education, most of which are economic and social, not pedagogical. In this post, he commends Randi Weingarten for turning against VAM but worries that states will push ahead with it anyway. He expresses the hope that AFT will take the next logical step and recognize that the Common Core
Where Does All That Spending on Education Go?
This teacher has an idea why the costs of American education are going up while teachers are being laid off, and teachers must pay for supplies out of their own pocket. It is no paradox to her. She left this comment: When I think of the money that has been diverted from classrooms to testing and teacher evaluation companies, it makes me sick. The extra supports (after school programs, counseling
Candidate Rauner in Illinois Supports Charters & Lower Minimum Wage
Bruce Rauner is a fabulously wealthy equity investor who is running for Governor of Illinois. He is also one of the most important financial backers of charter schools in Chicago. He even has a charter school named for him, part of the Noble network of charters. In his gubernatorial campaign, he recently made headlines when he broke ranks with the other Republican candidates on the issue of the mi
A Charter Teacher Writes in Response to Jeff Bryant
After reading Jeff Bryant’s article on abuses in charter schools, a teacher posted this letter on the site where it was originally posted: She writes: Charter schools suffer from the problems that this article highlights–gobs and gobs of public money with virtually no public supervision. That money is a magnet to profit motivated conmen/conwomen, simple disarmingly pious crooks, and megaloman
Jeff Bryant on “The Truth About Charter Schools”
Jeff Bryant, director of the Education Opportunity Network, here catalogues the abuses that have become all too common in the world of charter schools. Although there are responsible and caring charter schools, there is a growing number who take advantage of their freedom from supervision, from oversight, from audits, and from state laws governing public schools to engage in child abuse, corruptio
Mercedes Schneider: AFT Is Wrong About the Common Core
Like Tim Farley, Mercedes Schneider disagrees with the AFT about the Common Core standards. Schneider is a high school teacher of English in Louisiana who holds a Ph.D. In research methods. She has previously written extensively about the funding of the Common Core by the Gates Foundation.
Tim Farley: AFT Is Wrong about the Common Core
The latest issue of the AFT American Educator publication contains an article that presents “Myths of the Common Core” and responds to each one with “facts.” Tim Farley, principal of the Ichabod Crane Elementary/Middle School in Valatie, New York, did not agree with the publication’s definition of the facts. Here is his rebuttal: The magazine contains an “informational” article about the Common Co
The AFT Criticizes Myths about Common Core
The American Federation of Teachers is a strong supporter of national standards and has been for many years. Soon after the release of the Common Core State Standards, the AFT emerged as one of its strongest advocates. Randi Weingarten, president of the AFT, contends that the standards are valuable but the implementation has proceeded without adequate preparation. Last year, she called for a one-y
JAN 15
“New Hustler Voucher Academy” in Milwaukee Closes
Thanks to blogger TeacherKen for drawing my attention to this startling story about a failed voucher school in Milwaukee. A small religious school called LifeSkills Academy closed “in the dead of night” in December, after collecting $200,000 in taxpayer funds for the year. It became a voucher school in 2008 and had collected some 2 million dollars since then. By the time it closed, its enrollment
NY Times Debate: Should de Blasio Unravel Bloomberg “Reforms”?
This debate between Bruce Fuller of the University of California and me was just posted online by the New York Times. Bruce takes the position that de Blasio and Farina should maintain some or many of the changes that Bloomberg made. I argue that de Blasio has a mandate to stop closing schools, to get rid of the A-F grading system, to drop the failed Leadership Academy, and to drop the former admi
Does the ISTEP Measure School Quality and Teacher Effectiveness?
This post was written by Charles J. Morris, Emeritus Professor of Psychology at Denison University, who lives in Indianapolis. Does the ISTEP Measure School Quality and Teacher Effectiveness? Charles J. Morris1 While there appears to be general agreement that teachers can make a big difference in the lives of students, there is little evidence that performance on standardized tests provides a vali
Incredible: Louisiana Renews Gulen Charter Despite Ongoing FBI Investigation
Governor Bobby Jindal and John White are determined to keep protecting and expanding charter schools, as they press for the transfer of public funds to private entities.. That may explain why the state board of education renewed the charter of a Gulen-associated school that was under FBI investigation. “The state Department of Education showed little interest in an ongoing federal probe into a Ba
Paul Horton: The Cure for the Common Core
Paul Horton is a history teacher at the University of Chicago Lab School. He writes: The Cure for the Common Core The Common Core is like that insidious commercial that creeps into the darker recesses of our short-term memories: the jingle that we wake up hearing; the embarrassingly male enhancement ad that we wince at; or the little message that penetrates the space between the paragraphs
Bruce Springsteen on Chris Christie’s Traffic Jam
New Jersey’s embattled Governor Chris Christie has always made a deal of his love for Bruce Springsteen, hero troubadour of regular folk and the Garden State. But apparently it is not a mutual admiration society. Here is Bruce Springsteen singing about “Governor Christie’s Traffic Jam.” And kudos to Jimmy Fallon, who starts the song looking and sounding like the young Bruce S. This may become the
Marc Epstein: The Disaster of Bloomberg’s Control of the Schools
Marc Epstein, a teacher for many years at Jamaica High School (targeted for closure) here describes the Bloomberg years in New York City public schools and how difficult it will be to unravel the changes he imposed: Bloomberg’s School Disaster When Mayor-elect de Blasio announced Carmen Farina as his choice for schools chancellor and pointedly added that she was an educator, a metaphorical puff of
Bruce Baker: Kansas City Is About to Be Ripped-Off
Bruce Baker of Rutgers University is well known for his candor and scholarly acumen. Here he dissects the new plan to destroy public education in Kansas City and shows what an outright farce it is. He writes: This past week, the good citizens of Kansas City and Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education were graced with one of the most vacuous manifestos on education reform I’ve rea
EduShyster: Will 2014 Be the Year of the EduEntrepreneur?
EduShyster surveys the emerging controversies across the land and makes some bold and somewhat nutty predictions for 2014.
Tah-Dah: The Bunkum Awards for 2013 Are Revealed!
The National Education Policy Center has released the names of the winners of its annual Bunkum awards, which recognizes the most glaring exemplars of Bunkum, hokum, spin, and hype in the world of education research. Included in the link is a YouTube video in which the distinguished researcher David Berliner announces the winners. Be it noted that the Brookings Institution, once esteemed for the q
JAN 14
StudentsFirst Issues Another Ludicrous State Report Card
StudentsFirst, the organization created by Michelle Rhee to promote her ideas about fixing schools by high-stakes testing and choice, has issued its second state-by-state report card. The highest scoring states are not those whose students have the highest achievement on NAEP; that would be Massachusetts, New Jersey, and Connecticut. No, the highest scoring states are those that do what Rhee did i
Chicago Parents Rally Against More Charters
MEDIA ALERT: TUESDAY FORUM PARENTS DEMAND HALT TO CHARTER EXPANSION- Community Organizations across Chicago Urge CPS to Vote Against Proposed Charter Expansion and Refocus on Protection/Funding of Neighborhood Schools What: Following the closure of 50 neighborhood schools due to budget and a so-called “underutilization crisis,” parents and community members are furious at the proposal for the crea
Schneider Critiques Anti-Union Billboard in Times Square
Mercedes Schneider, who teaches high school English in Louisiana, saw a photo of an ominous 5-story-high billboard in Times Square, New York City, attacking teachers’ unions. She knew who paid for the ad: the so-called Center for Union Facts. Schneider had already written about this corporate public relations firm, and the billboard got her thinking about who might have funded this particular hit
Will a Court Decision in Kansas Hurt Your School?
In an important opinion piece in the New York Times, David Sciarra and Wade Henderson explain how a court decision in Kansas might have national reverberations. In 2009, Kansas, like many other states, slashed school funding while approving tax breaks that benefited mostly upper-income Kansans. Spending on education dropped far below 2008 levels, leading to larger classes, layoffs of teachers and
Teachers with Training Wheels?
Levi B. Cavener is a special education teacher in Idaho. He recently wrote an article arguing that Teach for America recruits with five weeks of training should not be assigned to special education students. A spokesperson for TFA responded that it was okay because they would be getting the training while they taught. Levi says that is like teaching with training wheels. He writes: It’s not ok for
Politico.com Slants Its Coverage
In an article about the retirement of veteran Democratic Congressman George Miller, a favorite of hedge fund managers (DFER) and other supporters of high-stakes testing and privatization, politico.com used language that showed a partisan bent. It wrote: “EDUCATION Miller exit leaves hole in ed leadership By MAGGIE SEVERNS and LIBBY A. NELSON and STEPHANIE SIMON 1/13/14 4:04 PM “Rep. George Mille
Why Philadelphia Can’t Afford to Pay for Public Education
Did you hear about the budget crisis that stripped Philadelphia’s public schools of teachers, nurses, librarians, supplies, and many other things? Did you read that the school district has a budget deficit of $300 million and that Governor Corbett wants teachers to take salary cuts and layoffs to save over $100 million? Did you read about the 12-year-old child who died because she had an asthma at
Two Anti-Parent Revolution Parents Accused of Vandalizing Charter School
Two parents who fought the takeover of their public school and its conversion to a charter school have been charged with vandalizing the school last June. They deny the charges. The vandalism occurred at the Desert Trails elementary school in Adelanto, California, which was the site of a bitter battle among parents after the state’s “parent trigger” law was invoked. The school is the first school
Julian Vasquez Heilig: Time to Look at Evidence About Teach for America
A new report by Julian Vasquez Heilig and Su Jin Jez reviews the evidence about the effectiveness of Teach for America. Their study, published by the National Education Policy Center, “challenges the simplistic but widespread belief that TFA is a clear-cut success story. In fact, Heilig and Jez find that the best evidence shows TFA participants as a group are not meaningfully or consistently impro
Columbus, Ohio: 17 More Charters Close
If schools were like shoe stores, they would open wherever there was a good location and close if they didn’t make a profit. Public schools, on the other hand, are community institutions, like parks and beaches. They should not be closed if they have low scores; they should get help. In Columbus, Ohio, charter schools are indeed like shoe stores. This year alone, 17 charter schools in that city cl
Gates Threatens to Yank $40 Million from Pittsburgh
According to Rick Cohen of the Nonprofit Quarterly, the Gates Foundation is threatening to take away $40 million from the Pittsburgh public schools if the district and union don’t agree on a plan to evaluate teachers by test scores, to reward the “best,” and retrain the rest. Does the Gates Foundation know that eminent researchers warn that VAM is inaccurate? Does it care that VAM has not worked
Outrage in Ohio: Charter Founder Paid Millions Without Any Invoices
How gullible are taxpayers in Ohio? How long will they remain willing to pay millions of dollars to a charter founder who is best known for campaign contributions? Why does Ohio’s ignore this outrage? Plunderbund documents the empire created by William Lager, founder of the Electronic Classroom of Tomorrow (ECOT) was paid $1 million in the first year his school opened. It is now the largest chart
JAN 13
Missouri: Draft Report Calls for Dismantling of Kansas City Public School District
Reporter Garrett Haake of KSHB In Kansas City reported that State Education Commissioner Chris Nicastro and the State Board commissioned a report that calls for a radical restructuring of the Kansas City school district. “It calls for replacing the top-down district structure with a much smaller, near purely administrative entity called a Community Schools Office (CSO). The CSO would retain some f
Principal of Troubled School is a Graduate of “Leadership Academy”
The principal of PS 106 in Far Rockaway, now in the news for its lack of curriculum or books, is a graduate of New York City’s vaunted Leadership Academy. When Joel Klein took charge of the New York City schools in 2002, one of his earliest “reforms” was the creation of the Leadership Academy, a fast-track program for new principals. Originally, it was funded for three years with $75 million from
The School the Bloomberg Administration Forgot
The New York Post ran a story about a public school in NYC that sounds more like a holding pen for hapless children than a school. According to the article by Susan Edelman: “Students at PS 106 in Far Rockaway, Queens, have gotten no math or reading and writing books for the rigorous Common Core curriculum, whistleblowers say. The 234 kids get no gym or art classes. Instead, they watch movies eve
The Untold Story of the Emails That Brought Down Indiana’s Tony Bennett
Adam Wren at Indianapolis Monthly writes a compelling account of the search for the emails that embarrassed star “reformer” Tony Bennett and caused him to resign as Commissioner of Education in Florida. As you may recall, Bennett was upset by Democratic educator Glenda Ritz in the fall elections in 2012, although he spent ten times as much as she. Bennett was a superstar in the rightwing privatiza
New Rochester Mayor Pledges More Charter Schools
Upstate New York has had its share of failed charter schools. Some years back, Edison Schools had a charter school in Rochester, which was a disaster and later shuttered by its state authorizer. Not far away another charter (acquired by Imagine Schools) in Syracuse was shut down due to poor academic performance, and county bond holders were left holding the bag for the closed school. In Buffalo
Invitation: First National Conference of Network for Public Education
The Network for Public Education, formed earlier this year, will hold its first annual conference in Austin, Texas, on March 1 and 2. Please register now! NPE was created to give voice to those opposing privatization, school closings, and high-stakes testing. It demands a positive agenda for change based on love of learning, respect for educators, and dedication to the healthy development of child
Parent to NC Legislature: Stop Assaulting Our Teachers!
Deborah R. Gerhardt, a parent of school-age children in North Carolina, is upset that her children’s teachers–including their best teachers–are leaving. They are leaving because the Legislature is driving the state’s best teachers away, she says. Ten years ago, she and her family moved to North Carolina because of its reputation for investing in its public schools. But that reputation has been squ
Mike Petrilli: 2014 as the Year of “Universal Proficiency”
Mike Petrilli of the conservative Thomas B. Fordham Institute in D.C. is the member of the “reform” movement for whom I continue to hold out hope. Mike is intelligent–as are other members of the “reform” movement–but unlike most of the others, he is known to question his assumptions from time to time. He occasionally challenges himself and takes a tiny step away from the other advocates of privati
JAN 12
Eric Cantor Rips de Blasio Over Charters, de Blasio Scoffs
Republican House Majority Leader Eric Cantor denounced Mayor Bill de Blasio’s announced plan to charge rent to charter schools using public space, if they can afford it. De Blasio responded sharply to Cantor’s criticism. “Our committees in the House will remain vigilant in their efforts to ensure no one from the government stands in the school house door between any child and a good education,” s
Private Firms=No Accountability
Morgan Smith of the Texas Tribune (published in thr New York Times) wrote about the secrecy that surrounds the finances of private corporations that manage schools and claim to be “public.” They are “public” when it is time to get the money but their finances are private when asked to account for taxpayer money. Basis, an Arizona charter chain, submitted an application to open a charter in San A
Why I Defend Randi
A reader who calls himself or herself “Democracy” left comments criticizing me for defending Randi Weingarten–or perhaps for not attacking her. Here is my response to Democracy: Democracy, you ask a good question, and I will answer as best I can.. As you know, I have criticized the Common Core in many posts. I have criticized the lack of transparency and the lack of educator participation in it
A Challenge to the Waltons in Arkansas
A new charter school is planned for Little Rock, Arkansas, to help poor black and minority kids stuck in failing schools. Unfortunately there are two obstacles. First, the school will open in a white neighborhood, far from the poor black kids stuck in failing schools. Second, the Texas operator of the charter has no transportation plans. Max Brantley, a local columnist, has a solution. “I have a
Blog Passes 9 Million Page Views! Thank You, Readers!
This morning, as I was flying home from Chicago, where I spoke to the Modern Language Association about Common Core, the blog registered more than 9 million page views. The blog started in late April 2012. Thank you for reading, thank you for tweeting, thank you for sharing with friends, thank you for commenting and joining the conversation. How to account for the interest in the blog? I attribu
What’s Behind the School Closure Epidemic?
Seth Sandronsky and Michelle Renee Mattison try to understand the logic behind school closures? Is it low academic performance? Under-enrollment? Right sizing? Why are the closures concentrated in neighborhoods populated by Frican Americans and Hispanics? What is their record? They write: “Will there be a time when the term “school to prison pipeline” becomes “the home to prison pipeline” or the
New Volume About Teacher Evaluation and High-Stakes Testing Now Available
A group of expert researchers have published a new collection of articles about teacher evaluation and high-stakes testing and their consequences. The collection appears online in the Teachers College Record. It is called “High-Stakes Teacher Evaluation: High Cost, Big Losses.” You will recognize the names of many of the contributors. (I wrote the foreword, the least significant part of the volu
Idaho Cancels Prison Privatization
Advocates of privatization of public schools, please take note: Governor Butch Otter of Idaho announced that the state was taking control of “the largest privately-run prison in the state after more than a decade of mismanagement and other problems at the facility.” “Nashville, Tenn.-based Corrections Corporation of America has contracted with the state to run the prison since it was built in 1997
Daniel Pink Explains Why Merit Pay Fails Every Time
Watch this great video. It explains in graphic language why merit pay always fails. If you won’t documentation, read Daniel Pink’s book, “Drive.” Where cognitive tasks are required, the larger the reward, the poorer the performance. What works to motivate people? Autonomy. Mastery. Purpose. Not profit.
JAN 11
Charter School Principal: Fired for Trying to Stop Child Abuse
Noelle Roni, who was principal of the Peak to Peak Charter School, says she was fired for trying to stop a practice that humiliated children. “Noelle Roni was the principal of Peak to Peak Elementary School for more than eight years before being abruptly fired last November. Roni says that higher-ups at the school became angry with her when she demanded that cafeteria workers stop stamping the ha
Study: NYC Charters Lose 80% of Students with Disabilities by Third Grade
A study by the city’s Independent Budget Office finds that charter schools have incredibly high attrition for students with disabilities. Ben Chapman writes in the New York Daily News: “A whopping 80% of special-needs kids who enroll as kindergartners in city charter schools leave by the time they reach third grade, a report by the Independent Budget Office released Thursday shows.” He adds: “Cr
Tweed Insider Reviews IBO Report on Charter Schools
The Tweed insider who sends occasional reports to this blog is still anonymous. Still too dangerous to step out in the open. Wouldn’t it be swell if the Department of Education actually had a research department, instead of a hyper-active public relations department? Insider here reviews the report on charter schools by the NYC Independent Budget Office. The report covered only the early grades,
Lafayette Parish, Louisiana, Parents Organize to Support Public Schools
Bobby Jindal thought he could launch the nation’s most sweeping privatization program in Louisiana but he has run into unexpected obstacles. First, the Louisiana courts struck down the funding for Jindal’s voucher plan, then they struck down Jindal’s multi-faceted plan to destroy the teaching profession. Then, The results from the voucher schools were disappointing–their scores were worse than the
Randi Weingarten: Decouple the Common Core from the Testing
Randi Weingarten believes in the promise of the Common Core standards, and she has strongly defended them. But she recognizes that the rushed implantation, notably in New York, jeopardized the standards. In this post, Randi says that the standards must be separated from the testing. They must not be used to rank and rate teachers or to apply value-added measurement, where teachers are judged by
John Kuhn: The Tyranny of Big Data
This is one of the best posts I have read in a long while. I have been thinking quite a lot about Big Data and trying to understand why so many Big Thinkers are in love with Big Data. This post by John Kuhn helps me figure out how this happened and what it is wrong. He refers to Campbell’s Law when he describes the principle that the more a measure counts, the more it distorts the very process it
Who Will Control Metro Nashville Schools in the Future?
Nashville is in the cross hairs of the “reform” (AKA privatization) movement. Here is a good overview of the situation. With a respected superintendent nearing the end of his contract, with a mayoral election in the offing, with the school board majority up for grabs in the next election, Nashville is looking like a tasty prize for the privatizers. And there are so many of them! Start with State C