NPE News Briefs ← from The Network for Public Education:
NPE News Briefs
from The Network for Public Education
Your Common Core Marketing Overlords | National Review Online
By Michelle Malkin \They’re everywhere. Turn on Fox News, local news, Animal Planet, HGTV, the Family Channel, or talk radio. Pro–Common Core commercials have been airing ad nauseam in a desperate attempt to persuade American families to support the beleaguered federal education standards/testing/technology racket. Who is funding these public-relations pushes? D.C. lobbyists, entrenched politician
Fred Smith: Parents Should Say NO to Field Tests | Diane Ravitch’s blog
Fred Smith is a testing expert in New York City who has been advising parent organizations about their rights and explaining the technicalities of the tests to laymen. He writes here: “There are many reasons to refuse to participate in the field tests. They are summarized here–concerning New York State’s stealthy field testing practices, but ...read more
What’s Wrong with Teacher Education? | the becoming radical
I belong to two communities that are central to my life—educators and cyclists. So when a cyclist and friend sent me an article on the importance of how cyclists conduct themselves as groups on the roads, I was struck by the opening quote included by the writer, Richard Fries: “We have met the enemy and ...read more
TALLAHASSEE: School voucher bill suffers serious setback | MiamiHerald.com
KMCGRORY@MIAMIHERALD.COM TALLAHASSEE — The Senate sponsor of the school voucher bill withdrew his proposal Thursday, making it unlikely that the measure will pass this year. Sen. Bill Galvano, R-Bradenton, said he pulled the bill because there wasn’t enough time to develop a testing requirement that everybody could agree on. “I thought it would be better ...read more
“Social Welfare Agencies” Spending Millions to Push Privatization of Education | janresseger
While states continue to spend less money on public education than they did in 2007 prior to the Great Recession, lots of people are spending lavishly to promote what is frequently called the corporate school reform movement that features various forms of privatization. It is virtually impossible to follow and master all the details of ...read more
Good News! TEA Sues Governor, Commissioner re Junk Science VAM | Diane Ravitch’s blog
The Tennessee Education Association filed a second lawsuit against the use if value-added assessment (called TVAAS in Tennessee), this time including extremist Governor Haslam and ex-TFA state commissioner Huffman in their suit. The teachers rightly say that the evaluations are unfair, a point on which most reputable researchers are in their corner. “TEA’s lawsuit was ...read more
Parents livid over CPS investigators questioning kids over ISAT boycott | Chicago Sun-Times
Furious Bucktown elementary school parents said CPS investigators yanked their children out of classrooms Thursday for individual interviews about this month’s ISAT boycott — without parental permission. “I was absolutely furious and I really still am,” said a parent who asked not to be named whose daughter was interrogated. “It’s really scary now that I ...read more
MAR 20
Bill Gates’ Sobering 2009 Speech to Legislators | deutsch29
On March 13, 2014, Bill Gates had dinner with 80 senators and other elected officials. Given his keynote the following day to members of the National Board of Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS), make no mistake that Gates used his time with the senators and other officials to push the Common Core State Standards (CCSS). However, Gates is more than ...read more
Breaking News: Worcester, Mass., Supports Parents Right to Opt Out! | Diane Ravitch’s blog
Although Mayor Joe Petty lobbied hard to reverse the school committee’s decision to allow parents to opt out, the school committee stuck with their original decision. Parents mounted a “say no to Joe” campaign, and the school committee agreed with the parents who elected them. Parents are free to opt their children out of PARCC ...read more
Big Business Bullies Americans into the Machinery of Common Core | The Daily Beast
If The LEGO Movie taught us anything, it’s that today’s corporate interests view the ideal world as one in which commercial employment means excellence. But really, the only boss that should reign supreme is the boss named You. As The LEGO Movie told us, through the story arc of its villain, Lord Business, the biggest ...read more
Jeb Bush’s Fingerprints on Florida’s New High-Stakes Tests and His Sudden Arrival to the Common Core Wars | Scathing Purple Musings
Scathing Purple Musings wrote yesterday that the next FCAT is going to parachute in just like the last one. Only this time, fresh off a field test of predominately white kids in Utah. Brevard Federation Teachers President Dan Bennett adds more in a letter to the editor in Florida Today: It’s no surprise that Florida Secretary ...read more
In NYC, Charters May or May Not “Backfill” Students; Public Schools Take Everybody | janresseger
Posted on March 20, 2014 by janresseger Who knew that New York City has a name for what lots of charter schools do or fail to do: accept new students when students drop out. Backfilling students. In NYC, “backfilling students” is a practice that is chosen or rejected by particular charter school operators. Right now ...read more
Did StudentsFirst Buy Facebook “Likes” in Bangladesh? | Diane Ravitch’s blog
The Tennessee Mama Bears did some research. They wanted to know who was giving all those “likes” to the StudentsFirst Facebook page. Here is what they found. It is hilarious. Check out the graphics. via Did StudentsFirst Buy Facebook “Likes” in Bangladesh? | Diane Ravitch’s blog.
EXCLUSIVE: Charter school group spends $3.6m on TV ads attacking de Blasio | NY Daily News
An pro-charter school group has spent $3.6 million on TV ads over the past three weeks attacking Mayor de Blasio — the amount candidates typically spend in three weeks of a heated mayoral primary, an insider with knowledge of the ad buy revealed Wednesday. Families for Excellent Schools — founded by a deep-pocketed group of ...read more
So how overblown were No. 1 Shanghai’s PISA results? | The Answer Sheet
BY VALERIE STRAUSS March 20 at 9:50 am In December, I wrote a post questioning the No. 1 ranking of Shanghai in the most recent Program for International Student Assessment, known as PISA. Shanghai came out with the No. 1 international ranking in the 2012 administration of PISA in math, reading and science, while 15 year olds in ...read more
Shocker! North Carolina Does Not Deserve Duncan’s Congratulations for Improving Teaching | Diane Ravitch’s blog
As I reported earlier today, Arne Duncan reviewed the results of the $4.3 billion competition called “Race to the Top,” and he lauded four states for making the most progress: Hawaii, Delaware, North Carolina, and Tennessee. Note that two of the four states are controlled by legislatures and governors that are to the far-far-far right: ...read more
What Applying to Charter Schools Showed Me About Inequality | Conor Williams – The Atlantic
By the time we arrived—five minutes late—the school’s basement was packed. As I turned my eyes to the lectern, I wondered at the speed of childhood. My son turns three this summer, and yet, here we were, jammed into this basement to hear one of D.C.’s best charter schools explain why we ought to send ...read more
MAR 19
Is America ready for another Pres. Bush? | Behind Frenemy Lines
Went on MSNBC this morning to talk about Jeb Bush’s prospects in 2016. Back in 1994 when George W. Bush beat Ann Richards and Jeb lost to Lawton Chiles in Florida, we always joked that we lost to the dumb Bush. The Republican Party has changed a lot since then, and I’m not sure there’s ...read more
School reformers love ‘choice,’ except when … | The Answer Sheet
BY VALERIE STRAUSS March 19 at 1:19 pm School “reformers” love to promote “choice.” Charters. Vouchers. Tuition tax credits. It’s all about giving parents choices, right? Well, not always. Reformers don’t actually like choice quite so much when: * Parents decide they want to opt their children out of taking a high-stakes standardized test that ...read more
Jersey Jazzman Dissents from Cami Anderson’s Paean to Herself | Diane Ravitch’s blog
In a post called “This Is You Brain on TFA,” Jersey Jazzman scrutinizes an article written by Cami Anderson about her moral courage. He writes: “I often get the sense that something happens to the brains of people who do their two years or less at Teach For America and then, rather than continue to ...read more
A different way to give college admissions tests | The Answer Sheet
BY VALERIE STRAUSS March 19 at 4:21 pm Now that the announcement about big SAT changes is behind us, it’s time to look at what it all means. Not so much, apparently. To explain why, and suggest a better way to give a college admissions test is John Kaztman, founder of Princeton Review, a test ...read more
Cami’s bad week | Bob Braun’s Ledger
US Education Secretary Arne Duncan met last Saturday with Cami Anderson, the state-appointed superintendent of Newark schools, and suggested she might be moving too fast to privatize the city’s schools with her “One Newark” plan. To which, according to sources at the meeting, Cami told Duncan he was wrong. A few days later, just hours ...read more
PRESS RELEASE: Member of Congress joins with The Network for Public Education and calls for public hearings on the misuse and abuse of standardized tests
PRESS RELEASE March 19, 2014 Contact: Robin Hiller phone: 520-668-4634 email: robin@networkforpubliceducation.org Anthony Cody phone: 510-917-9231 email: anthony_cody@hotmail.com Member of Congress joins with The Network for Public Education and calls for public hearings on the misuse and abuse of standardized tests. Massive social networking campaign to be waged in coming days. On March 2, 2014
The Devil’s Dictionary of Education Reform | Russ on Reading
As a teenager one of my favorite books was The Devil’s Dictionary by Ambrose Bierce. His satirical definitions of words struck at the heart of hypocrisy in the early 20th century. For example Bierce defined absurdity as a “statement or belief manifestly inconsistent with one’s own opinion.” The humor struck a chord in my snarky ...read more
An Opt Out Letter for Parents in New York | Diane Ravitch’s blog
A reader submits a model opt out letter for parents in New York: “If anyone is interested in refusing the state assessments or know someone who is: REFUSAL LETTER: Dear Board of Education, Superintendent, Principals, and Teachers of ________________ school district, We are writing today to formally inform the __________ school district of our decision ...read more
MAR 18
Help NPE Stop Testing Abuse! Join Us! Change the World with Us! | Diane Ravitch’s blog
The Network for Public Education needs your help tomorrow!!! As you know, The Network for Public Education’s first Conference culminated with a major announcement by the NPE Board about the board’s press release to call for formal Congressional hearings “to investigate the over-emphasis, misapplication, costs, and poor implementation of high-stakes standardized testing in the nation’s ...read more
The Vergara Trial: Read All About It | Diane Ravitch’s blog
The Vergara trial in California is a calculated effort to remove due process protections from teachers. The plaintiffs claim that the superintendent must be able to dismiss teachers at will, without the bother of a hearing. The billionaires sponsoring this attack on teachers’ job protection insist that any protections for teachers in the workplace violates ...read more
MAR 17
These Seattle Teachers Boycotted Standardized Testing—and Sparked a Nationwide Movement | Diane Brooks – YES! Magazine
Parents, students, and teachers all over the country have joined the revolt to liberate our kids from a test-obsessed education system. by Diane Brooks posted Mar 14, 2014 Kris McBride, Garfield’s academic dean and testing coordinator, at left, and Jesse Hagopian, Garfield history teacher and a leader of the school’s historic test boycott. Photo by ...read more
Are American students grossly unprepared for college? The Answer Sheet
BY VALERIE STRAUSS It has become a common refrain from school reformers that a very large percentage of high school graduates must take remedial classes when they get to college. Are they right? Award-winning Prinicipal Carol Burris of South Side High School in New York looks at this issue in the following post. She has ...read more
The Florida Voucher Cap Cost Limit Allows for a Stunning Rise to Almost $1 Billion | Scathing Purple Musings
When a Florida superintendent of schools said last week that the expansion of Florida’s voucher program would rise to $1 billion in five years, he knew what he was talking about. From the text of SB 1620: Scholarship Funding Tax Credit Cap Limits.—The Department of Revenue may approve annual tax credit amounts under s. 1002.395 ...read more
Legislature votes to ax Common Core as new standards pondered |INDYSTAR
Indiana policymakers made several changes Wednesday to education rules, from changing K-12 standards to modifying ISTEP exam dates. In the Indiana Senate, lawmakers approved legislation that would void as of July 1 the national Common Core standards the state adopted in 2010. An hour after Senate Bill 91 was sent to Gov. Mike Pence for ...read more
Jack Hassard: Why Bill Gates Defends the Common Core | Diane Ravitch’s blog
We have long known on this site that Bill Gates’ foundation underwrote every aspect of the Common Core standards. Mercedes Schneider has documented nearly $200 million in grants specifically for the writing, evaluation, review, implementation, and advocacy for the Common Core standards. Jack Hassard, a retired professor of science education, has scoured the Gates search ...read more
Finnish Education Chief: ‘We Created a School System Based on Equality’ | The Atlantic
Finnish education often seems paradoxical to outside observers because it appears to break a lot of the rules we take for granted. Finnish children don’t begin school until age 7. They have more recess, shorter school hours than many U.S. children do (nearly 300 fewer hours per year in elementary school), and the lightest homework ...read more
Billionaires are privatizing science too — not just public education | The Answer Sheet
BY VALERIE STRAUSS One of the distinguishing features of the modern school reform movement is the extent to which super-wealthy private philanthropists are leading the drive to privatize the public education system. Some of them believe the public system is inefficient, while others simply don’t believe in the public sector — but whatever the motive, ...read more
Education for everyone – Tide turning from reform back toward public schools | The Journal Gazette
On March 1 and 2, a group of education activists from Indiana attended the Network for Public Education National Conference in Austin, Texas. People from across the U.S. gathered, united by a single purpose – to support public education. What could have become a great deal of whining and gnashing of teeth about the sorry ...read more
Breaking News! Texas Democratic Party Condemns Stealth Privatization of Dallas Public Schools | Diane Ravitch’s blog
This just in. On Saturday, the Texas Democratic Party passed the following resolution: WHEREAS Houston billionaire John Arnold, a hedge-fund manager and former Enron trader, is bankrolling an effort to transform all of the Dallas Independent School District into a so-called “home-rule charter district” that would not be subject to essential safeguards in state law ...read more
Simone Ryals: I’m One of the Worst Teachers in My State
I didn’t think I’d like teaching, but instantly loved it when I gave it a shot; and was immediately acclaimed as having a natural affinity for it. I love the children, learning, and seeing them learn and grow. I work tirelessly to give them engaging experiences that bring learning to life. In the past decade, ...read more
Tennessee Education Report | TEA Files TVAAS Lawsuit in Knox County
by ANDY SPEARS Use of TVAAS is Arbitrary and Violates 14th Amendment, TEA Alleges The Tennessee Education Association (TEA) has filed a lawsuit on behalf of a Knox County teacher who was denied a bonus under that school system’s pay plan after Tennessee Value-Added Assessment System (TVAAS) data for 10 of her students was unknowingly attributed to ...read more
MAR 16
Parent to officials: ‘if you know it’s wrong but remain silent, you’re complicit in educational malpractice’ | The Answer Sheet
Here’s a letter from Massachusetts parent Ricardo D. Rosa to the New Bedford School Committee and Superintendent Pia Durkin about high-stakes standardized testing. Rosa explains why he wants to opt his children out of this month’s Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS) exams and all upcoming high-stakes test, including the Common Core-aligned tests being designed by ...read more
Arne Does Boston | EduShyster
Behind this week’s non-story is an interesting story… What a week, reader! The excellence express rolled into the Bay State, carrying some seriously career-ready cargo—none other than Arne Duncan himself. What do you mean you didn’t know anything about it??? Now ordinarily this is the point at which I would lambaste you for eschewing excellence ...read more
Opt out | Worcester Telegram & Gazette
The Worcester School Committee’s vote to allow parents to have their children opt out of field trials for the new Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers tests — in spite of the state’s position that there is no opt-out provision — is a reminder that when it comes to education, the real ...read more
Education reform and the invisible ones | Examiner.com
There is currently a battle for the sanctity of public education that seeks more transparency from the centralized school district, a more equitable funding formula, and the end of corporate influence. In Philadelphia, this battle is front and center. It continues to be a battle where the voices continue to rise and fight for their ...read more
MAR 15
Washington State Rejects Arne’s Junk Science Mandate, Will Be Punished | Diane Ravitch’s blog
Washington State legislators refused to accept Arne Duncan’s demand that teachers be evaluated by a flawed and erroneous method, and the state seems certain to lose its NCLB waiver. “That would mean that, starting in 2014-2015, school districts throughout the state would lose control over roughly $38 million in Title I funds designed to help ...read more
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
