Charter Disgrace: NY State Senate Writes Blank Check for Charter Schools
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 effort by Mayor de Blasio to reverse decisions made by the lame-duck Bloomberg administrat
Money Rules: Cuomo Seeks Gubernatorial Control of Charter Funding and Co-Locations
Governor Cuomo has received about $800,000 from charter supporters in the financial and real estate sectors. To protect their favorite hobby, the governor now proposes to take control of funding charter construction and co-locations. This would effectively nullify mayoral control in New York City and assure that Cuomo’s sponsors in the charter sector can expand at will into other people’s public s
Full YouTube video for Dr. David Hursh on Neoliberalim and “Reform”
I earlier posted afire-minute video presentation in New Zealand by Dr. David Hursh. Here is the full presentation.
My Interview with Salon about Education Reform Today
This is a wide-ranging interview with Salon that started as a discussion of the Network for Public Education, then went on to discuss budget cuts, high-stakes testing, Common Core, Race to the Top, privatization, and much more.
New Survey: North Carolina Parents Oppose Legislature’s Attacks on Teachers and Public Schools
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 with removing extra pay for getting a master’s
Teachers in Connecticut Perplexed by NY’s First Grade Common Core Modules
For reasons unknown, Connecticut appears poised to endorse New York state’s odd lesson plans for Common Core. This Connecticut blogger pulls apart the first grade lessons, previously discussed on this blog. The blogger refers to a small portion of what first graders are supposed to learn (subjects that might well fit better in high school and/or college, that is, if one expects depth of understa
Report from D.C.: When Test Scores Are Not Enough
David Tansey and Elaine Weiss collaborated to write this very insightful article about what happens to young black men in the District of Columbia public schools. Tansey learned how to connect with his students on a human level, to talk about the issues that matter in their lives, to discuss the purpose of education. With all the boasting about test score gains in D.C., the article reminds us that
Meet the Néw Undersecretary of Education!
Ted Mitchell, CEO of the NewSchools Venture Fund, was selected by the Obama administration to hold the #2 job at the U.S. Department of Education. Mitchell is a strong proponent of privatization. The NewSchools Venture Fund exists to promote privatization. Of course, we should not be surprised that Arne Duncan chose the CEO of NSVF for the second most important job in the Department. After all, he
David Hursh: How Corporations and Neoliberals Use the Education Issue
Professor David Hursh of the University of Rochester visited New Zealand, where he explained so-called “education reform” in the United States. He very bluntly describes the bipartisan agenda that is proving to be harmful to students, teachers, and public education. Hursh met with educators in Australia and New Zealand over a five-week period, encouraging them to resist the high-stakes testing mo
Deasy Gets Amended Contract, Néw Goals
The board of Los Angeles Unified School District amended the contract of Superintendent John Deasy and set new goals. “Deasy originally accepted the job in 2009 with the understanding that he would be able to advance his own aggressive reforms. These included revamping teacher evaluations to include student test scores as one measure of effectiveness. Deasy also has pushed, with limited success, t
Ohio: a Contrast Between Charter Schools and Public Schools
Bill Phillis of the Ohio Coalition for Equity and Adequacy here contrasts the governing structure of public schools and charter schools. The implicit questions: how transparent is their governing structure? How “public” are charter schools? “Governance of school districts compared to governance of charter schools. “School district board members are visible and scrutinized when they run for a seat
A Great New Blogger Disagrees with Corporate Reform–and with Me Too
This new blogger dissects Gerald Graff’s defense of the Common Core standards,and his second post says that I can learn a lot from Saul Alinsky. The writer is a retired high school teacher, who taught for many years in the Chicago public s hools. Among other trenchant comments, he writes about Graff: “Graff reduces education reform to a set of standards, but he’s not alone in doing so. He’s in g
Paul Thomas: The SAT Redesign Is Nonsense, All Nonsense
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.” He writes: “…this reboot is just another publicity move by the College Board/SAT that fa
LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH 3-12-14 Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all
Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all: North Carolina to Pearson: We Want Our Money Back!North Carolina officials are trying to get a refund from Pearson because of flaws in the data system that Pearson is running for the state. Pearson is charging the state $7.1 million for its information system but it doesn’t work. Here are some of the problems with Pearson’s PowerSc