No Good Metrics??!!
The Ed Week account of a snippy meeting between Randi Weingarten, Dennis van Roekel, and the CCSSO included one quote that came roaring out at me.Melody Schopp, South Dakota Ed Secretary, was bemoaning the lack of press coverage for positive CCSS success stories. Mike Cohen, from Achieve (the accountable-to-nobody organization that helped birth, groom and market CCSS) chimed in that too much of th
Duncan Checks in with Race Results
The US DOE released reports Wednesday, March 19, to update us on how well the Race to the Top winners are doing (because in US education, we only want some states to be winners). The full collection of reports is here, but Arne wanted to let everyone know about his four superstars in Top Racing.This year is the final year for implementing RTTT, and at this point we might expect to see some payoff
Inauthentic Assessment
One more factor that highlights how artificial and inauthentic the current testing regimen has become is the proliferation of rules for proctors.Faced with the spreading realization of just how invalid the tests are, testmakers and state officials have issued a truckload of proctor leash laws.Some rules are no-brainers. "Don't erase wrong answers and replace them with the correct ones" (
CURMUDGUCATION: Who Is Diane Ravitch?
CURMUDGUCATION: Who Is Diane Ravitch?: Who Is Diane Ravitch?At Reclaiming Public Education 101 (my website for ed reform neophytes), I'm trying to create and collect materials to answer some of the questions newby ed reform students might have. I'm not a fan of cults of personality-- any time I'm in a group that drops its mission to sing a hymn of praise to its leaders, I get itchy. But I also kno