NPE News Briefs ← from The Network for Public Education:
NPE News Briefs ← from The Network for Public Education
Kasich vows education reform – Governor says 1st graders to be introduced to employment ideas | Toledo Blade
BY TOM TROY Gov. John Kasich speaks with supporters in Findlay before he addressed the Wood County GOP’s Lincoln Day Dinner. THE BLADE/JEREMY WADSWORTH Enlarge | Buy This Photo BOWLING GREEN — Calling himself someone who shakes things up, and likes doing it, Gov. John Kasich promised a big emphasis on education policy during a ...read more
An Opt Out must read | @ THE CHALK FACE
BY CHRIS CERRONE I have been involved in the Opt Out movement for two years and have read many articles and opinion pieces about boycotting high-stakes standardized testing. This essay from the The New Yorker hits home on many levels, including the history of testing, is the best piece I have read to date. A ...read more
Tennessee Charter Leader: Diversity Is Not My Problem | Diane Ravitch’s blog
Across the south and elsewhere, charters are turning into a force for resegregation–not only by race but by language, class, and disability. They are the ultimate weapon today for those who hope to roll back the Brown decision. In Tennesssee, Chris Barbic said that diversity was not his problem. If society is segregated, there is ...read more
Why there’s no excuse for ‘no-excuse’ schools | The Answer Sheet
BY VALERIE STRAUSS January 24 at 7:00 am The “no excuses” brand of schooling is alive and well in this reform era. In this post Sigal Ben-Porath, an associate professor at the University of Pennsylvania’s Graduate School of Education, explains why that is unfortunate. Ben-Porath’s research focuses on the politics of education policy, citizenship education, and ...read more
Pennsylvania: Governor Corbett’s Attack on Higher Education | Diane Ravitch’s blog
In an article on Salon, writer James Cersonsky describes the state GOP’s attack on universities. He calls it “the Enron-esque Higher Ed Plan: Fire Tenured Faculty to Fund Students Dorms.” In Tom Corbett’s Pennsylvania, he says, if it’s public and it’s education, burn it down! The same can be said for K-12 education. Corbett is ...read more
#AskArne & Spleen Theater |Curmudgucation
#AskArne is a video series on youtube that features Arne Duncan spewing baloney answering questions from theoretical teachers and other interested folks. It generally features the sort of straight shooting we’ve learned to expect from the USDOE, but the newly released “The Role of Private Funds and Interests in Education” cold be used to fertilze ...read more
MAP Boycott Leader Jesse Hagopian Launches Campaign for Union Presidency | Seattle News and Events
By Nina Shapiro Back in October, when we saw Garfield High teacher Jesse Hagopian on NBC’s Education Nation Summit, and perused a blog he uses in part to promote his media appearances, we mused about whether he had higher aspirations. It appears he has. Hagopian, a leading figure behind the MAP test boycott that captured ...read more
Duncan: Bill Gates Has No Seat at the Education Policy Table | Anthony Cody – Living in Dialogue
By Anthony Cody January 24, 2014 1:37 PM Joiselle Cunningham and Lisa Clarke are Teaching Ambassador Fellows. That means they are teachers who have been relocated to Washington, DC, to work for the Department of Education for a year. Today they released a video in which they pose some questions to Secretary of Education Arne ...read more
Starr to Duncan: ‘I resent implication that we lifelong public educators are liars’ | The Answer Sheet
U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan wrote an op-ed in The Washington Post on Friday that talked about school reforms and praised both Tennessee and D.C. Public Schools for increased test scores. He wrote: We don’t know all the reasons why students did better in Tennessee and the District in 2013 than in 2011. But it ...read more
Duncan: Bill Gates Has No Seat at the Education Policy Table | Anthony Cody – Living in Dialogue
By Anthony Cody on January 24, 2014 1:37 PM Joiselle Cunningham and Lisa Clarke are Teaching Ambassador Fellows. That means they are teachers who have been relocated to Washington, DC, to work for the Department of Education for a year. Today they released a video in which they pose some questions to Secretary of Education ...read more
Shanghai: Where Are the Missing Children? | Diane Ravitch’s blog
Tom Loveless had the nerve and courage to publicly rebuke OECD for giving a distorted view of Shanghai’s test scores on the latest international test (PISA). He said that the tests excluded significant numbers of children from migrant families, and OECD ignored this practice. I posted both his articles on the subject. The director of ...read more
Ohio School Choice Leaves Behind Traditional Public Schools of Last Resort | janresseger
Posted on January 24, 2014 by janresseger Policy Matters Ohio has released Misleading Measurements: How Ohio School Ratings Foster False Comparisons, a new report on school ratings in Ohio’s large urban districts. The report examines demographic characteristics of students in Ohio’s highest rated urban district public schools (often special or magnet schools) and highest ranked ...read more
UK Teacher: Target-Driven Schooling Drives Cheating | Diane Ravitch’s blog
A teacher in the UK describes what happens when superiors demand that he or should hit their predicted targets, without respect to reality. It begins: “The Secret Teacher “Some years ago I was called by my head of department to discuss the grades I’d predicted for a year 11 class. They were aspirational and realistic. ...read more
A Teacher Asks: Are Readers Made Reluctant By Rigor? | Anthony Cody – Living in Dialogue
By Anthony Cody Guest post by Sabrina Crowley. I have worked as a teacher of English and a Reading Specialist for the past 14 years. In recent months, I have been confronted with the following question: Are we raising a society of potentially reluctant readers as a result of our current educational system and its ...read more
The Education of David Brooks | Diane Ravitch’s blog
In 2011, David Brooks heard me speak at the Aspen Ideas Festival, where I talked about a life course approach to improving the lives of children. Days later, he published an article criticizing me for saying that testing and choice were inadequate to overcome the problems of kids who live in poverty. At the time, ...read more
Why Kill Néw Bedford High School? | Diane Ravitch’s blog
EduShyster tells a sad story of the utter irresponsibility and–oh, I can’t think of a better word than “idiocy”–of Massachsetts officials. Local and state officials are “turning around” Néw Bedford High School by firing half the teachers. “Ahoy, matey! That great looming specter in the distance is not a mighty white whale but New Bedford ...read more
Bruce Baker on the Future of Independent Schools | Diane Ravitch’s blog
Bruce Baker, our nation’s pre-eminent truth-teller and statistical whiz-kid, here inquires into a gathering of researchers who assembled to help private independent schools chart their future course. The president of the National Association of Independent Schools, John Chubb, is a political scientist well known for his support for vouchers and his antipathy for teachers’ unions. ...read more
JAN 23
Rhode Island flubs diploma standards | Opinion – Providence Journal
BY RON WOLK With some 4,000 Rhode Island seniors said to be in danger of not graduating next spring because they did not get the required score on the New England Common Assessment Program test in their junior year, the Rhode Island Department of Education has decided to punt. RIDE has announced that diplomas will ...read more
Yinzers Toss Teach for America | In These Times
An embattled public school system fights back against privatization. BY THEO ANDERSON Critics argue that TFA’s untested teachers and the rapid turnover are unfair to students, and that the program is a stopgap, at best, for the problem of chronically underfunded and understaffed public schools. Advocates for public education scored a major victory in December, ...read more
The Defiant Parents: Opting Out of Testing | The New Yorker
POSTED BY REBECCA MEAD Anna Allanbrook, the principal of the Brooklyn New School, a public elementary school in Carroll Gardens, has long considered the period of standardized testing that arrives every spring to be a necessary, if unwelcome, phase of the school year. Teachers and kids would spend limited time preparing for the tests. Children ...read more
John Austin, President of the Michigan State Board of Education, Writes the Readers of This Blog | Diane Ravitch’s blog
I have posted several articles about Governor Rick Snyder’s all-out assault on public education, most recently, this one earlier today. Some 80% of charters operate for profit, fiscally troubled districts have been handed over to for-profit charter corporations (with poor track records) that extract as much in profit as the district’s deficit (this happens only ...read more
Developer in NC Gets OK for Charter At Entrance to His Gated Community | Diane Ravitch’s blog
North Carolina policymakers are putty in the hands of Art Pope, the zillionaire libertarian who funds the John Locke Institute and is also state budget director. Bill Moyers featured him in an exposé and Jane Mayer of the New Yorker wrote an article about his successful takeover of the state, in which he successfully defeated ...read more
Charter vote another reason why we need an elected school board and a new mayor |Mike Klonsky’s SmallTalk Blog
It wasn’t as if anyone doubted how yesterday’s vote on charter school expansion would go. Despite the claim by one board member that the decision was a “difficult one,” Rahm’s hand-picked CPS board rarely if ever has a dissenting vote and the vote is always predictable. This time, there was only a token no-vote from ...read more
On Public Schools and Common Core: Graff’s Critique of Ravitch | the becoming radical
Are U.S. public schools failing, and if so, will implementing Common Core and next-generation tests as part of school accountability correct those failures? At Valerie Strauss’s The Answer Sheet, Gerald Graff, an English professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago, has challenged Diane Ravitch’s stance on the both public schools and Common Core, which he ...read more
Jonathan Kantrowitz: A FACT based assessment of the Common Core | Wait What?
Jonathan Kantrowitz writes a great blog that can be found on the Connecticut Post and Hearst Connecticut Media Group websites. Kantrowitz is a self-described “Political activist and health nut.” You should read the blog for both the political content and his health news. Kantrowitz is also an expert on school curriculum and curriculum development. When ...read more
A challenge: Teach 8th grade Common Core before endorsing it |The Answer Sheet
This post is a response to this piece by Gerald Graff, which was itself a response to this speech about the Common Core State Standards by Diane Ravitch. This was written by educator Mercedes Schneider, who holds degrees in secondary education (English and German), guidance and counseling, and applied statistics and research methods. She is in ...read more
Teacher: My Experience in a Turkish Gulen Charter School | Diane Ravitch’s blog
The Gulen charter schools are the largest charter chain in the nation. To learn more about them, read Sharon Higgins’ blog. William Phillis of the Ohio Equity and Adequacy Coalition posted this story by a teacher in Ohio: Matt Blair, an Ohio teacher, with experience in a Turkish Gulen charter school, provides a glimpse into ...read more
New charter teacher training headed for Chicago? | catalyst-chicago.org
By: Rebecca Harris Noble Street Charter School, which had two new campuses approved at yesterday’s board meeting, could soon begin working with an alternative certification program that targets charter school teachers. The Relay Graduate School of Education, an outgrowth of a program previously at New York City’s Hunter College, has applied for operating approval and ...read more
EduShyster Takes a Ride on a Rocketship and Finds Miraculous Visions | Diane Ravitch’s blog
In this post, EduShyster surveys the progress of the Rocketship charter chain, which aspires to enroll 1 million children in its low-cost, high-tech fleet of schools. She writes: “The audacious exercise in audaciousness was off to an audacious start. Fueled by an explosive combo of Silicon Valley funding and free advertising from *journalists* who found ...read more
Smart ALEC – What’s the Fordham Institute doing hooking up with ALEC? | EduShyster
Today’s topic is relationships— specifically the recent hook up between the dirty dogs at the American Legislative Exchange Council or ALEC and a certain think tank known for straight laces, Educational Excellence™ and some seriously questionable dance moves. So just what institute has been getting busy with ALEC even as a growing roster of corporations dumps ...read more
Paul Vallas played pivotal role in case that could cost New Orleans and Louisiana $1.5 billion | Wait What?
Last week, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeal, which is located in Louisiana, ruled in favor of a class action lawsuit brought on behalf of about 7000 New Orleans public school employees who were wrongfully terminated when the State of Louisiana took control of 107 New Orleans public schools following Hurricane Katrina. The case will ...read more
Colorado Moms Push Bill to Delay Common Core | Anthony Cody – Living in Dialogue
By Anthony Cody on January 23, 2014 11:10 AM Guest post by Colorado Moms Like so many states in the union, Colorado’s 2014 Legislative Session is largely focused on education. The session opened with the introduction of eight education bills…and now there is one more. Senator Vicki Marble has presented the Colorado Mom’s Bill to delay ...read more
Peter Greene: John King Said What?? | Diane Ravitch’s blog
I didn’t plan to say anything at all about Néw York Commissioner John King’s tasteless commentary on Martin Luther King Day. He twisted logic and common sense to claim that adopting Common Core was somehow a fulfillment of Dr. King’s noble vision of justice and equality. I thought it best to let it pass unremarked. ...read more
The coming Common Core meltdown | The Answer Sheet
BY VALERIE STRAUSS January 23 at 4:00 am In the following post, veteran educator Stan Karp explains why the problems surrounding the implementation of the Common Core are less about the substance of the standards and more about the context in which they were introduced. Karp taught English and journalism in Paterson, N.J., for 30 years ...read more
JAN 22
Obama’s State of the Union Speeches and Education: A Scorecard | Politics K-12 – Education Week
By Alyson Klein on January 22, 2014 2:25 PM Set your DVRs: President Barack Obama will give his State of the Union speech next week, on Jan. 28. So that means a week from now, we’ll all be mulling over the education portion. After all, Obama (and most other presidents) typically use their annual address ...read more
Why BATS Fight the Common Core | With A Brooklyn Accent
CCSS- which I have renamed Common Core Stealth Standards because of how they have been introduced- should be treated as fruit of the poisoned tree. Given the undemocratic manner in which they were developed, rushed through legislatures, and are currently being implemented, teachers and parents should respond to them with the utmost wariness and suspicion. ...read moreThe post Why BATS Fight the Co
David Sirota: Who Is Thomas Friedman? | Diane Ravitch’s blog
esterday, Thomas Friedman published yet another article lambasting American public education. Every time he writes about public schools, it is a put-down. He said in one article that America is “in decline” because of low scores on international tests, because McKinsey & Co. said so. Google his name and “Teach for America,” and you will ...read moreThe post David Sirota: Who Is Thomas Friedman
Chicago: Rahm’s Demolition Derby for Public Schools | Diane Ravitch’s blog
An independent investigation found that nearly half of Chicago’s charter schools are under-enrolled, but the mayor-controlled school board plans to open more. This will drain more students and resources from the public schools. Mayor Emanuel hopes to destroy public education as his legacy to the city. The mayor’s hand-picked board will vote tomorrow on authorizing ...read moreThe post Chicago: Rah
Bragging About Broward’s Common Core Buy-In From Broad Grad Superintendent | Scathing Purple Musings
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt released a statement last week intended to attract investors by touting how much business they were going to be getting with their Common Core products. This Business Week story focused on what Broward Schools in Florida had purchased: Florida’s Broward County Public Schools, one of the largest public school systems in the ...read moreThe post Bragging About Broward’s Com
Cuomo on the Common Core: Another Committee | @ THE CHALK FACE
BY CHRIS CERRONE New York Governor Cuomo has finally started to address the Common Core elephant in the room after months of parent and educator complaints. Vague as usual, Cuomo has called for a committee to “fix the problems”. (another story here) We have been through this before. When a politician hears cries of protest, ...read moreThe post Cuomo on the Common Core: Another Committee | @ TH
Gov. Cuomo seeks changes to ‘flawed’ Common Core implementation | The Answer Sheet
New York Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo (D), who just a few months ago was defending the state Board of Regents’ implementation of the Common Core State Standards, now says it has been “flawed” and that he is creating a panel of education experts and legislators to review the problems and take speedy “corrective action.” He ...read moreThe post Gov. Cuomo seeks changes to ‘flawed’ Common Core implementation
Revisiting Florida Tea Party Influence on Common Core | Scathing Purple Musings
From Peter Schorsch’s ever useful Sunburn morning mail comes this William March story in the Tampa Tribune which revealed that Florida leads the nation in Tea Party membership: A study by a liberal advocacy group says Florida leads the nation in tea party members and organizations. The study, done by the Seattle-based Institute for Research ...read moreThe post Revisiting Florida Tea Party Influen
North Carolina: Greatest Insult to Teachers Ever Cooked Up in Backroom | Diane Ravitch’s blog
I thought this must be a joke. It is not. North Carolina legislators are considering a law that would demolish the teaching profession and encourage teacher turnover. Call it the “here-today-gone-next-year” policy. The goal is to cut costs by increasing class sizes, pushing out senior teachers, and using technology to “flip” classrooms. According to NC ...read moreThe post North Carolina: Greatest
47% of charters underenrolled, data show | catalyst-chicago.org
By: Cassandra West / January 22, 2014 In an independent investigation of Chicago Public Schools data from the 2013-14 school year compiled by the parent group Raise Your Hand has discovered that 47 percent of CPS charter and contract schools had student populations below the CPS threshold for ideal enrollment. This equates to 50 schools ...read moreThe post 47% of charters underenrolled, data sho
Braving sub-zero temps to stop the charter invasion | Mike Klonsky’s SmallTalk Blog
A SmallTalk Salute goes out to the dozens of protesters who demonstrated their commitment last night by holding an all-night vigil and sleeping out in sub-zero temps, outside CPS headquarters. They, along with hundreds of others, will pack today’s board meeting to try and stop Rahm’s hand pick board’s vote for further charter expansion. Another ...read moreThe post Braving sub-zero temps to stop t
Something’s Rotten at the Center of the Common Core | Alternet
This is a revised version of a talk on the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) delivered in Portland, Oregon, Sept. 20, 2013. The CCSS have been adopted by 46 states and are currently being implemented in school districts throughout the United States. The trouble with the Common Core is not primarily what is in these ...read moreThe post Something’s Rotten at the Center of the Common Core | Alterne
Oprah’s Star Charter School in New Orleans Is Closing Down | Diane Ravitch’s blog
It seems like only yesterday that the Oprah television network featured an exciting new charter school in New Orleans that promised to turn around the John McDonogh school. The new charter group was led by Steve Barr and his Future Is Now organization. “One year after the Oprah television network featured New Orleans’ John McDonogh ...read moreThe post Oprah’s Star Charter School in New Orleans Is
JAN 21
United Opt Out to hold annual spring event in Denver, CO | @ THE CHALK FACE
BY SHAUN JOHNSON Here are all of the official details, from United Opt Out National. UOO held its first two spring events in Washington, DC under the banner of “Occupy the DOE.” Occupations, unfortunately, are passe now, don’t you think? More than that, Washington is, honestly, an expensive and ugly place. The USDE building is ...read moreThe post United Opt Out to hold annual spring event in Denv
ALEC and Its (Reluctantly) Newly-created Jeffersonian Project | deutsch29
The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) has been in existence for over forty years– since 1973. In 1975, ALEC registered as a nonprofit organization. By the late 1980s, ALEC had begun to “actively solicit more input from private sector members” as the ALEC “task forces” became “model bill movers.” Thus, by 1990, the current ALEC practice of ...read moreThe post ALEC and Its (Reluctantly)
The Times Really Seem to be A Changin in NYC | janresseger
It seems hard to believe, but 21 days into the term of a new mayor of New York City, the conversation has shifted away from “corporate” school reform—from efficiency and privatization to what children need and how the public can provide it. New York’s new Mayor de Blasio has siezed the attention of the media. ...read moreThe post The Times Really Seem to be A Changin in NYC | janresseger appeare
Preparing Kids for More Than College | Deborah Meier – Bridging Differences
By Deborah Meier Deborah Meier continues her conversation with Robert Pondiscio of CitizenshipFirst today. Dear Robert, Yes, I’m fixated on who decides what. That’s the fundamental dilemma of a democracy. Since we agree that schooling is about teaching kids respect for democracy and liberty, it can’t be brushed aside. But I see you’re fixated on ...read moreThe post Preparing Kids for More Than C
Pulling a Greene: Why Advocacy and Market Forces Fail Education Reform [Redux] | the becoming radical
Jay P. Greene, Ph.D., is Endowed Chair and Head of the Department of Education Reform at the University of Arkansas. The Department of Education Reform is heavily funded by Walton money, and it is important to understand that the Walton family (of Walmart) are strong school choice advocates. In 2011, not long after I published a ...read moreThe post Pulling a Greene: Why Advocacy and Market Forces
The Newark 5 Are Not Alone: NJ’s Reformy Bullying Epidemic | Jersey Jazzman
It’s gratifying to see the Newark 5 story getting the coverage it’s started to get. Five principals who spoke out against One Newark — the plan by the Newark Public Schools to close some schools, turn others over to charter operators, and “renew” others — were suspended Friday for the crime of exercising their First ...read moreThe post The Newark 5 Are Not Alone: NJ’s Reformy Bullying Epidemic |
Bottom of the Barrel | EduShyster
Plumbing the depths of elite disdain First off, let’s get this straight: Arne Duncan (Harvard ’87) did not say that the majority of American teachers come from the *bottom of the barrel.* What he actually said was that “In the United States, a significant proportion of new teachers come from the bottom third of their ...read moreThe post Bottom of the Barrel | EduShyster appeared first on NPE News
My Speaking Schedule This Spring | Diane Ravitch’s blog
My speaking schedule from now to mid-Summer. More details will be added as the date gets closer. January 22: Gainesville Fl – University of FL 7 pm lecture January 31: Showing of documentary “Rise Above the Mark” at Butler University in Indianapolis February 1: Louisville KY – Kentucky School Boards 9:45 a.m. lecture February 3: ...read moreThe post My Speaking Schedule This Spring | Diane Ravitch
Why teachers can’t reach every child: a case study | The Answer Sheet
BY VALERIE STRAUSS Larry Cuban, a former high school teacher and superintendent who now teaches at Stanford University, posted two pieces on his School Reform and Classroom Practice blog that are unusual because they are about students whom he tried to reach but could not. The posts are poignant and speak broadly to the extraordinary problems ...read moreThe post Why teachers can’t reach every chi
Special episode of @thechalkface radio: What’s happening in Newark? – @ THE CHALK FACE
BY TIMOTHY D. SLEKAR @the chalkface radio special episode-Thursday January 23rd 7:00 pm Eastern. Special Guest: Dr. Leonard Pugliese, Executive Director of the City Association of Supervisors and Administrators (CASA), the union that represents principals and vice principals in the Newark public schools. Shaun and Tim will spend time on Thursday speaking to Dr. Pugliese about ...read moreThe post
Mike Klonsky’s SmallTalk Blog: Prosser community resists charter invasion
The community knows the game may be rigged against them. The pro-forma community meetings are a sham with the process being run and controlled by a corporate-funded pro-charter group, Stand For Children. But in the face of all this, school communities and parent groups are determined to roll back the charter invasion and defend their ...read moreThe post Mike Klonsky’s SmallTalk Blog: Prosser comm
Arizona: 25 New Charters to Open in Phoenix | Diane Ravitch’s blog
Twenty-five new charter schools will open in Phoenix, targeting low-income Latino students. The project is funded mainly by the Walton Foundation. The schools will rely on Trach for America recruits. The story in the NY Times notes that charter schools in Arizona get more public funding than public schools and charter schools get lower test ...read moreThe post Arizona: 25 New Charters to Open in
Best Friends Forever: Chris Christie & Eli Broad | Diane Ravitch’s blog
The Eli Broad Foundation gave Néw Jersey $430,000 for Broad-style corporate reform. There was one strange string attached: the money would keep flowing only if Chris Christie remained governor. This is how Rick Cohen of the Non-Profit Quarterly described this cozy deal: “The Broad Foundation grant is in support of various educational reforms in the ...read moreThe post Best Friends Forever: Chris
JAN 20
Martin Luther King 2.0, Now with More Excellence | EduShyster
No one could lead a civil rights movement like Martin Luther King Jr. But let’s face it: the movement he led was old school. The civil rights issue of our time is the achievement gap, and closing it often requires doing the opposite of what Dr. King stood for. Which raises some important questions: if ...read moreThe post Martin Luther King 2.0, Now with More Excellence | EduShyster appeared first
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.: When Breaking the Law Is Just | Diane Ravitch’s blog
In Newark, several principals spoke out against closing schools. They were “indefinitely suspended.” Should they have spoken out? Should they have kept their views to themselves? Dr. King had some advice to those who feel that what was done to their community was unjust. The principals did not “break a law.” They were, in some ...read moreThe post Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.: When Breaking the Law
Paul Thomas: Ending Poverty Requires Community, Not War | Diane Ravitch’s blog
Paul Thomas has written a post to celebrate Martin Luther King Jr.’s legacy in which Paul explains that it is a great mistake to think that we can end poverty by making “war” on it. War always leaves victims and collateral damage. He writes: A big picture message offered in Michelle Alexander’s The New Jim Crow is ...read moreThe post Paul Thomas: Ending Poverty Requires Community, Not War | Diane
My MLK Post: An Assignment for Test-Driven Reformers | deutsch29
On this day dedicated to the memory of a remarkable man who gave his life (literally) for the sake of civil rights and social equity, I expect that education privatizers will use the opportunity to promote themselves as “overcoming” opposition to their self-serving, destructive policies. They might even go so far as to imply that Martin ...read moreThe post My MLK Post: An Assignment for Test-Driv
South Carolina Gov. Haley Vows State Will Ditch Common Core | Education Week
By Andrew Ujifusa In a clear signal that the Common Core State Standards are in hot water in South Carolina, Gov. Nikki Haley told a meeting of a local Republican Party women’s club that she was determined to ditch the standards this year because, she said, ”We don’t ever want to educate South Carolina children like ...read moreThe post South Carolina Gov. Haley Vows State Will Ditch Common Core |
Edward Johnson: What Does Dr. King’s Legacy Mean Today? | Diane Ravitch’s blog
Edward Johnson is a community activist in Atlanta who fights tirelessly for a wiser approach to education than the current ideology of competition. He is a devotee of Dr. Edward Deming, who taught that when things go wrong, it is because systems fail, and the systems must be fixed. He also taught that teamwork and ...read moreThe post Edward Johnson: What Does Dr. King’s Legacy Mean Today? | Diane
The New York Common Core Story That Frightens Florida GOP Lawmakers | Scathing Purple Musings
It’s come to this in New York: To say John King Jr. is New York’s embattled education commissioner is an understatement. A statewide teachers’ union is making plans to take an unprecedented no-confidence vote against him. New York State United Teachers represents more than 600,000 teachers. Union president Richard Iannuzzi said King’s failure to address ...read moreThe post The New York Common Cor
Legislative Alert: HB 2133 Student Privacy Bill: Contact the House Education Committee now | Seattle Education
What is the issue with student privacy? There are a few: It used to be that students’ grades, disciplinary records, teachers comments and test scores on standardized tests were kept in files that could only be accessed by personnel in the school or the district. Not so anymore. The requirements now, thanks to Race to ...read moreThe post Legislative Alert: HB 2133 Student Privacy Bill: Contact the
New Jersey Civil Rights Attorney Says School Reform Must Consider Real Issues: Segregation and Poverty | janresseger
On this day as we reflect upon the life and work of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, an article by New Jersey civil rights attorney Paul Tractenberg is a sobering reminder that in public education we have a long, long way to go. Tractenberg describes what he calls the two school systems of New Jersey: ...read moreThe post New Jersey Civil Rights Attorney Says School Reform Must Consider Real Issues:
Why Christie’s school ‘fix’ is misguided | The Answer Sheet
BY VALERIE STRAUSS New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie recently proposed extending the school year and school day in State of the State speech as reforms intended to improve student achievement, though he didn’t provide details or make any mention of how he would fund it. Here’s a piece questioning the notion that simply adding seat time works. ...read moreThe post Why Christie’s school ‘fix’ is misgui
JAN 19
Why VAM Is a Sham | Diane Ravitch’s blog
The centerpiece–and the most destructive element–of Race to the Top is the insistence that teachers must be evaluated to a significant degree by the test scores of their students, whether they go up or down. It is destructive because it makes standardized tests the purpose of education. The tests cease to be a measure and ...read moreThe post Why VAM Is a Sham | Diane Ravitch’s blog appeared first
The Gates Foundation and its “Strong Arm” Tactics | VAMboozled
Following up on VAMboozled!’s most recent post, about the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s $45 million worth of bogus Measures of Effective Teaching (MET) studies that were recently honored with a 2013 Bunkum (i.e., meaningless, irrelevant, junk) Award by the National Education Policy Center (NEPC), it seems that the Bill & Melinda Gates foundation are, ...read moreThe post The Gates Foun
Newark Charters: Let’s Please Get the Facts Right | Jersey Jazzman
Laura Waters: Look to our charters. At KIPP’s TEAM Academy Charter School in Newark students attend school from 7:30-4:00 Mondays through Fridays and also go to school two Saturdays a month. The school year begins in August and goes through June. TEAM’s students regularly outperform peers at other area schools despite similar demographics. [emphasis mine] Facts: TEAM ...read moreThe post Newark Ch
The LAUSD Needs An Operating System Upgrade, Not iPads | Los Angeles magazine
Why the district’s program to furnish every student with a high-end tablet is a case study in warped priorities by Ed Leibowitz This afternoon, the LAUSD board was supposed to determine the fate of the district’s embattled $1 billion iPad buy—but that agenda item has been shelved in favor of discussing Superintendent John Deasy’s future ...read moreThe post The LAUSD Needs An Operating System Upgr
A look at Steve Perry’s record of absenteeism and use of social media to bully others | Wait What?
On Tuesday January 21, 2014 the Hartford Board of Education will hold a special executive session to discuss Capital Prep Principal Steve Perry. The public has the opportunity to address the Hartford Board of Education starting at 5:30 pm. The meeting is taking place that the Journalism and Media Magnet Academy located at 150 Tower ...read moreThe post A look at Steve Perry’s record of absenteei
Cami Anderson and the Unaccredited Broad Superintendents Academy | Diane Ravitch’s blog
In an earlier post about the indefinite suspension of several principals in Newark, who had protested the closing of their schools at a public meeting, I wrote that state-appointed superintendent Cami Anderson was a graduate of the unaccredited Broad Academy. Readers have informed me that she is not a graduate of said “academy,” but that ...read moreThe post Cami Anderson and the Unaccredited Broa
How Kids Dealt With the Stress of Desegregation | Jennie Rothenberg Gritz – The Atlantic
Fifty years ago, Look magazine published a Norman Rockwell painting of a small black girl walking into a newly desegregated New Orleans school. The wall behind her is smeared with racial slurs and splattered tomatoes, and the U.S. deputy marshals protecting her have tense shoulders and clenched fists. But 6-year-old Ruby Bridges is calm and erect. “She never ...read moreThe post How Kids Dealt Wit
Common Core’s Florida “rebranding and messaging is largely political.” | Scathing Purple Musings
Miami Herald reporter Kathleen McGrory spoke with Common Core’s opponents and she found out that they aren’t buying the FLOE spin: TALLAHASSEE — The state education department tried to distance itself from the controversial Common Core State Standards last week by recommending changes to the benchmarks and giving them a new name. “The proposed standards ...read moreThe post Common Core’s Florida “
Don’t drown in the education reform Sea. | @ THE CHALK FACE
BY ANGEL CINTRON JR. Do you show up to your classroom, every single day, ready to influence the lives of your students? Do you arrive at your school building, every single day, ready to change the trajectory of your students’ lives? Do you wish to become a teacher that some student…someday…somewhere will always remember? If so, ...read moreThe post Don’t drown in the education reform Sea. | @ THE
Colorado Parents Say “NO!” to High-Stakes Testing! | Diane Ravitch’s blog
The corporate types who hate teachers’ unions and public schools have been running a billboard and mass media campaign in New York and New Jersey. But they are not the only ones who know how to frame a message. Here is a fabulous billboard posted on a major highway in Colorado by critics of the ...read moreThe post Colorado Parents Say “NO!” to High-Stakes Testing! | Diane Ravitch’s blog appeared
JAN 18
Chamber of Commerce Strikes Back at George Will For Criticizing Common Core | Scathing Purple Musings
Boy, that was fast. It took only a few hours for US Chamber of Commerce CEO Thomas J. Donahue to respond to conservative columnist George Will’s shredding of Common Core and its proponents. Will called out the Chamber and others for engaging in “political dishonesty” intended to keep Core’s “nature and purpose to remain as ...read moreThe post Chamber of Commerce Strikes Back at George Will For C
Breaking News: Outrage in Newark as Christie’s Superintendent Fires Principals for Opposing School Closings | 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 ...read moreThe post Breaking News: Outrage in Newark as Christie’s Superinten
How The Common Core Became Education’s Biggest Bogeyman|Huffington Post
By Joy Resmovits Shortly before Thanksgiving, Arne Duncan made a glib remark about the Common Core that quickly blew up. Speaking before a gathering of state schools chiefs, the secretary of education dismissed growing opposition to the new national set of learning standards, saying “white suburban moms” were rising up against the Core simply because ...read moreThe post How The Common Core Becam
New York Wants To Give Special Education Kids Easier Tests Like ‘The Old South,’ Advocate Says | Huffington Post
Should students with disabilities be held to the same academic standards and tests as other kids their age? That decades-old question is being revived by a debate in New York. Some advocates charge that a proposed tweak to the state’s No Child Left Behind update may shortchange vulnerable students — and, if approved, could spread ...read moreThe post New York Wants To Give Special Education Kids E
Operators of Failed Wisconsin Voucher School Move to Florida | empathyeducates
By Joanne Juhnke | Originally Published at Stop Special Needs Vouchers. January 15, 2014 For parents of students with disabilities in Wisconsin, the Florida version of special needs vouchers has loomed large as a cautionary tale. In June 2011, the Miami New Times reported “McKay Scholarship Program Sparks Cottage Industry of Fraud and Chaos.” The ...read moreThe post Operators of Failed Wisconsin
Newark Principals Speak Out, Get Suspended by Christie’s Superintendent | Anthony Cody – Living in Dialogue
By Anthony Cody on January 18, 2014 12:10 PM New Jersey is making headlines this month as the bullying tactics of Governor Christie have gone beyond shouting down individual school teachers, which many in the media seemed to find amusing, and into the realm of political scandal as the “Bridgegate” emails came to light. Now ...read moreThe post Newark Principals Speak Out, Get Suspended by Christie
My first exposure to the DC IMPACT evaluation system | @ THE CHALK FACE
BY SHAUN JOHNSON From the very beginning, I’ve noticed that the DCPS teacher evaluation system fosters a mood of suspicion, confrontation, and anxiety. It doesn’t have to be that way. A lot of things don’t have to be that way. But they are, and it is. First, let me do a little math. So far ...read moreThe post My first exposure to the DC IMPACT evaluation system | @ THE CHALK FACE appeared first o
Arne Duncan: Why can’t we be more like South Korea? | The Answer Sheet
BY VALERIE STRAUSS January 18 at 10:01 am Education Secretary Arne Duncan (Jacquelyn Martin/AP) For years, Education Secretary Arne Duncan has lamented that the United States isn’t anywhere near as serious about educating its young people as the South Koreans. He did it in 2010, for example, in a speech in which he told the story ...read moreThe post Arne Duncan: Why can’t we be more like South Ko
Peter Greene Reviews Fordham’s Wacky Video | Diane Ravitch’s blog
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, ...read moreThe post Peter Greene Reviews Fordham’s Wacky Vid
Los Angeles: Deasy Refuses to Restore Arts Funding | Diane Ravitch’s blog
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 ...read moreThe post Los Angeles: Deasy Refuses to Restore Arts Fu
Everything you need to know about Common Core — Ravitch | The Answer Sheet
BY VALERIE STRAUSS January 18 at 8:45 am Diane Ravitch (Network for Public Education) Diane Ravitch, the education historian who has become the leader of the movement against corporate-influenced school reform, gave this speech to the Modern Language Association on Jan. 11 about the past, present and future of the Common Core State Standards. Here’s ...read moreThe post Everything you need to know
Maryland: Common Core Testing Will Cost $100 Million | Diane Ravitch’s blog
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 ...read moreThe post Maryland: Common Core Testing Will Cost $100 Million |
Michelle Rhee’s Report Card is In! | Invest in Our Schools
And guess which state she thinks is a failure: New Jersey. If you thought that New Jersey’s public schools and its students were among some of the best in the nation think again. This week, StudentsFirst released its annual State Policy Report Card, which says that New Jersey is on the verge of failing its ...read moreThe post Michelle Rhee’s Report Card is In! | Invest in Our Schools appeared fir
Do International Test Scores Matter? | Diane Ravitch’s blog
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, ...read moreThe post Do Interna
Parents United statement on Corbett SRC appointments | Parents United for Public Education
Parents United for Public Education will seek to work with any and all appointees to the School Reform Commission. As parents, however, we believe the appointment of any new individuals to the Commission does not change the fundamentally flawed nature of an entity which is ultimately beholden to politics over effective governance. The approval process ...read moreThe post Parents United statement
Philadelphia School Nurse Shortage Causing ‘Crisis,’ Says Documentarian | Huffington Post
When 12-year-old Laporshia Massey died this past October after not having the option of visiting a school nurse at her cash-strapped Philadelphia school, media outlets and education advocates were stunned. How could a school district, entrusted with keeping its students safe, fail to provide children with even the most basic of health care services? Philadelphia-based ...read moreThe post Philadel
Key tips for helping education activists spot ALEC legislation | Education Votes
It’s no secret that the tentacles of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) stretch far and wide—poking into conservative-led state legislatures and becoming entwined with right-wing politicians willing to do the bidding of the rich and wealthy. Those politicians who belong to ALEC are not going to tell you that they are promoting its agenda. ...read moreThe post Key tips for helping edu
Twelve Embarrassing Years of NCLB and RTTT: Time for Arne to Blame USDOE | deutsch29
Ever notice that the “problem” with American education appears to be everywhere except with the US Department of Education (USDOE)? I find this rather remarkable given that American education has been subjected to twelve years of a combination of No Child Left Behind (NCLB) and Race to the Top (RTTT). Seems like it is time ...read moreThe post Twelve Embarrassing Years of NCLB and RTTT: Time for A