NPE News Briefs
from The Network for Public Education
Christie’s charter school nightmare: “White flight, and they’re bankrupting us” | Salon.com
While New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie deals with burgeoning scandals surrounding accusations he used the Port Authority and development deals for political ends, he now finds himself in a flap surrounding charter schools in Hoboken. As charters in the city have exploded in number and size, “they’re fostering white flight, and they’re bankrupting us,” the ...read more
MAR 13
VAM Margin for Error Exceeds 50%; Meanwhile, Florida GOP Senate Wants to Give BOE More Control Over School Grades | Scathing Purple Musings
The editors of the Bradenton Herald pointed out just how flawed that teacher Value Added Metrics (VAM) based on test scores have proved to be: Florida’s teacher evaluation system bears too many flaws to be worthy of setting standards for performance pay. But the fact that the Florida Department of Education intended to seal those teacher ...read more
DFER Idiocy on New York School Finance | School Finance 101
This may just be among the most ludicrous proclamations I’ve read in quite some time, and it’s brought to us by none other than Dimwits doofuses/doofi? …well something with a “D” For Education Reform: “Contrary to what you may hear from certain special interest groups, the best way to fix our schools is not just ...read more
For special ed, One Newark is two Newarks | Bob Braun’s Ledger
Newark’s charter schools–especially those with money and national backing like KIPP (TEAM Academy) and Uncommon Schools (North Star)–will be the big winners in Cami Anderson’s “One Newark” plan. If Anderson pulls it off, even she may be a big winner, leaving Newark with the reputation as the biggest privatization advocate since Michele Rhee and all that will ...read more
The link between charter school expansion and increasing segregation | The Answer Sheet
BY VALERIE STRAUSS March 13 at 4:00 am (freepik.com) One thing that proponents of the broad expansion of charter schools never talk about is the evidence of how charters are leading to increasing segregation by race, ethnicity and income. Here George Washington University Research Professor Iris C. Rotberg explores this connection. She is the co-director ...read more
Paul Thomas: The SAT Redesign Is Nonsense, All Nonsense | Diane Ravitch’s blog
Paul Thomas is not impressed by the ballyhoo over the redesign of the SAT. He predicts that it will continue to be a test that stratifies students by family income and that means far less than the students’ grade point average. He says that the SAT is “possibly the oldest and longest running education scam.” ...read more
Segregation and Charter Schools: A Reader | the becoming radical
In The link between charter school expansion and increasing segregation, Iris C. Rotberg highlights that problems exist in both re-segregation of schools in the U.S. and the rise of charter schools as separate and interrelated forces. Schools in the U.S. are re-segregating, regardless of type—public, private, and charter. And charter schools are not creating the education reform charter advocates
CURMUDGUCATION: The Conservative Defense of CCSS
Over at the Daily Caller, Robby Soave and Rachel Solzfoos wrote a story in which Michael Brickman of the Fordham Institute labors mightily to construct a conservative defense of the Common Core. It’s a heroic struggle to be sure, as the very first sentence acknowledges, “Conservatives remain deeply skeptical of the Common Core education standards.” ...read more
Improve Democracy, Not Tests | Deborah Meier – Bridging Differences
By Deborah Meier on March 13, 2014 9:03 AM Deborah Meier continues her conversation with Robert Pondiscio of Democracy Prep. Dear Robert, It’s not and never will be a perfect world. You’ve hit upon one example. Is profiteering off school materials not legit? Should teachers get paid less than the market rate because they are ...read more
Charter Disgrace: NY State Senate Writes Blank Check for Charter Schools | Diane Ravitch’s blog
The New York State Senate has written a budget bill that opens the public coffers to charter schools and guts mayoral control in New York City. If the Republican-controlled Senate has its way, the charters will get more money, will not pay rent, will get new slots for pre-K, and will be protected against any ...read more
Pushing for Public Education | David Safier – Tucson Weekly
by David Safier Being pro-public school doesn’t seem like a controversial notion. But at a time when Arizona’s superintendent of public instruction lends his voice to a robocall pushing vouchers (“You may be able to send your child to private school for free!”) and charters, a public-private hybrid, are all the rage, advocating for preserving ...read more
New Survey: North Carolina Parents Oppose Legislature’s Attacks on Teachers and Public Schools | Diane Ravitch’s blog
Professors Robert Scott and Scott Imig of the University of North Carolina at Wilmington released a new survey showing strong parent opposition to recent legislation affecting public schools and teachers. They found that over 94% said that education was headed. In the wrong direction. Over 94% think that teachers should be paid more. 96% disagreed ...read more
“Education Spring” is right around the corner | Behind Frenemy Lines
n the state where high-stakes testing began, a few hundred teachers, academics, and activists came together last weekend to hasten what one leader called an “Education Spring.” The Network for Public Education gathered in Austin to plan the resistance to the status quo of high-stakes testing and an encroaching corporate privatization movement. This first-of-its-kind convention ...read more
Diane Ravitch, FUD, and you | Reclaim Reform
As a child Diane Ravitch must have been a wiz at those connect-the-dots pages. Today she is dedicated to teaching us as all how to connect-the-dots. First, Diane tells us to try to see the whole picture to get a general idea of where things are and where they are going. In one of her ...read more
AFT Says It Will No Longer Accept Gates Funding | Teacher Beat – Education Week
The American Federation of Teachers, to date the recipient of more than $11 million in Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation largesse, will no longer accept Gates funding, Politico has reported, citing increasing criticism from members. AFT officials said the union’s President, Randi Weingarten, made the announcement at the Network for Public Education conference last week in ...read more
MAR 12
On Vouchers In General and Particularly the 2014 All-voucher Arizona Push | deutsch29
Over the past year, I have received three glossy mailouts telling me that I can “enroll my child in private school for free.” The last one included the message, “Time is running out!” and added, “Is your child stuck in a failing school? Send them to a private school for FREE.” Nothing is “for free.” ...read more
Test boycott support grows. Berrios takes a vow of silence | Mike Klonsky’s SmallTalk Blog
There’s 3 good letters and one crappy one in this morning’s Trib. Julie Woestehoff writes re. the ISAT test boycott calling on Rahm, BBB, the Board and ISBE to “respect parents’ rights to direct our children’s education, to treat students who opt out respectfully and ethically, and, most important, to change the fundamental values in this district ...read more
Chicago Teacher Explains the Infamous Viral PD Video She Shot | Anthony Cody – Living in Dialogue
By Anthony Cody on March 11, 2014 11:34 PM About two weeks ago I saw a video of a Chicago “professional development” session posted on Facebook. Shortly thereafter, it appeared here in Valerie Strauss’ Answer Sheet blog, and has been viewed more than 126,000 times since then. Today, for the first time, I share the ...read more
Mayor de Blasio and Education: Fact-Checking Eva Moskowitz’s Claims | Diane Ravitch in The Huffington Post
By Diane Ravitch and Avi Blaustein The battle between NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio and Eva Moskowitz, CEO of the Success Academy charter chain, has blown up into a national controversy, covered on national television, the New York Times, and the Wall Street Journal. Mayor de Blasio had the nerve to award the Moskowitz chain ...read more
Why Are We Easily Distracted in School Reform Debate? Follow the Money | janresseger
Posted on March 12, 2014 by janresseger Our most urgent educational priority as a society must be to invest in improving the public schools in our urban communities rather than punishing them, punishing their teachers, closing these schools or privatizing them. Jeff Bryant, writing for the Education Opportunity Network this morning, points out that we ...read more
Philly Schools Offer Parents a Choice: Go Charter or Stay in Schools with No Resources | Diane Ravitch’s blog
The Philadelphia public school district is being aggressively starved of resources by Governor Corbett and the Legislature, and its Broad-trained superintendent now proposes to shrink the district still farther to save money. He is offering parents a choice of converting to charter status or remaining in the district, where they cannot count on having a ...read more
Millions Spent, No Results | Yinzercation
Last night over 120 people came together to watch the new movie, “Standardized.” We had parents from the Northside to Hazelwood, Duquesne to Mt. Lebanon, and everywhere in between; teachers from Pittsburgh to Steel Valley; principals from Cannonsburg in Washington, County; at least four school board members; leaders of several community organizations; and many others. ...read more
United Opt Out Will Meet in Denver March 28-30: Join Them! | Diane Ravitch’s blog
If you want to learn about the growing movement to opt students out of mandated state and federal testing, go to this meeting in Denver. Parents, scholars, and educators will convene in one of the nation’s most test-driven, test-obsessed cities and states, where the fate of teachers, principals, and schools depends on standardized test scores, ...read more
Why NYC mayor is getting unfairly bashed over charter schools
BY VALERIE STRAUSS March 12 at 1:15 pm The level of discourse over New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio’s decision not to allow several charter schools to co-locate in the buildings of traditional public schools has reached a hysterical pitch. He is, if you listen to his many critics, a bad man who doesn’t ...read more
Bipartisan Bill Proposes Curbing Federal Testing Mandates | Diane Ravitch’s blog
Two Congressmen–a Democrat and a Republican–proposed legislation to cut back on federally mandated testing. This is great news! The legislation was immediately endorsed by the NEA. “Today the National Education Association endorsed HR-4172, introduced last week by Reps. Chris Gibson (R-NY) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ). The bill would amend the Elementary and Secondary Education Act ...read more
MAR 11
Understanding the Propaganda Campaign Against Public Education | Diane Ravitch’s blog
A few years ago, when I was blogging at Education Week with Deborah Meier, a reader introduced the term FUD. I had never heard of it. It is a marketing technique used in business and politics to harm your competition. The term and its history can be found on Wikipedia. FUD stands for Fear, Uncertainty, ...read more
This took Teach For America 24 years to figure out?
BY VALERIE STRAUSS March 11 at 9:42 am This took Teach For America 24 years to figure out? The nonprofit organization — which was founded in 1990 and is famous for recruiting young people, giving them five weeks of summer training and then placing them in high-needs schools in low-income communities — has decided that ...read more
Strategies to Reduce High-Stakes Testing | Yinzercation
News flash: I am not against testing. Most parents, teachers, and even students agree that we ought to assess what students learn. Quality assessments help children learn and provide meaningful information to teachers to help them meet the needs of individual students. Tests ought to align with the curriculum (and ideally be designed by teachers) ...read more
Florida’s Released Albeit “Flawed” VAM Data | VAMboozled
The Florida Times-Union’s Lead Op-Ed Letter on Monday was about why the value-added data recently released by the Florida Department of Education has, at best, made it “clearer than ever that the data is meaningless,” made even more unfortunate by the nearly four years and millions of dollars (including human resource dollars) spent on perfecting ...read more
Exclusive: AFT shuns Gates funding — Success Academy lawsuit simmering — Defenders of the Common Core — Feds grant California a testing pass – POLITICO Morning Education – POLITICO.com
EXCLUSIVE: AFT SHUNS GATES FUNDING: The American Federation of Teachers ended a five-year relationship with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation after rank-and-file union members expressed deep distrust of the foundation’s approach to education reform. AFT President Randi Weingarten told Morning Education the union will no longer accept Gates money for its Innovation Fund, which ...read more
What really matters? Equitable & Adequate Funding! | School Finance 101
Below is a section of a paper I’ve been working on the past few weeks (which will be presented in Philadelphia in April) Some of the content below is also drawn from: http://www.shankerinstitute.org/images/doesmoneymatter_final.pdf =============== Over the past several decades, many states have pursued substantive changes to their state school finance systems, while others have not. ...read more
How billionaire-funded ‘ed reform’ groups push charters, vouchers | The Answer Sheet
BY VALERIE STRAUSS March 11 at 2:10 pm Michelle Rhee (by Sarah L. Voisin/The Washington Post ) How powerful are organizations such as Michelle Rhee’s StudentsFirst and other like-minded groups that support charter schools, voucher programs and the weakening of teachers unions.? The Center for Public Integrity, a nonpartisan, nonprofit investigative news organization that works ...read more
Better Living Through Mathematics: How Moskowitz Plays Moneyball with Students | Diane Ravitch’s blog
This blogger–Better Living Through Mathematics–has a problem with the games played by charters, specifically by Eva Moskowitz’s Success Academy. Not one willing to suspend his disbelief, he wrote that he has a problem with charters in general and was mightily disappointed by Governor Cuomo standing up for the 6% of children in New York City ...read more