Governor Cuomo: Listen to the Students of Middletown High School Sing “No Mo Cuomo”
This is a video made by students at Middletown High School in New York. It is addressed to Governor Cuomo, who once called himself “the students’ lobbyist.” The students know he is not their lobbyist. He is the lobbyist for the 3% of children in New York state who attend charter schools. He is not the lobbyist for the students in Middletown High School. Contrary to what Governor Cuomo thinks, o
You Are Invited to Join the Leaders of the Privatization Movement at a Special Event!
Wow! How cool is this? You, me, and all of us are invited to join today’s thought leaders of education “reform” (aka, privatization and segregation) at a philophers” retreat. I wish I were a thought leader in education, but apparently my thoughts don’t lead in the right direction (e.g., handing public money over to privately managed schools with no transparency or accountability, smashing unions,
What These American Educators Learned in Finland
Dr. Hunter O’Hara and Dr. Merrie Tinkersley visited Finland, and this is what they learned: “American Educators Find Surprises in Helsinki and at Home in the United States” On the basis of Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) scores, Finnish public schools have ranked at the top, or very near the top in the world in the areas of mathematics, reading and science. Seven teacher educat
Call Albany Now To Stop Corporate Takeover!
Leonie Haimson of Class Size Matters wrote the following call to action. In New York State, the legislature is providing generous subsidies to charter schools in New York City, which enroll 6% of students, at the expense of the 94% whose schools will lose funding to subsidize the rent of the charters. The charter cause is backed by billionaire hedge fund managers who spent $5 million on attack ads
Brooklyn Parents Opting Out of State Testing
PRESS ALERT Contact 1: Elizabeth Elsass, 917-605-3640, rinelsass1@gmail.com Contact 2: Dani Liebling, 347-218-3107, daniliebling@yahoo.com GROUNDSWELL OF BROOKLYN PARENTS FROM BROWNSVILLE TO CARROLL GARDENS REFUSE STATE TESTS WHAT: To mark the first day of State-mandated standardized tests, Brooklyn parents from schools with unprecedented rates of test refusal will hold a playground press confere
Reader: Why Is the Democratic Party Alienating Its Base?
A reader responds to Jeff Bryant’s article by wondering why so many Democrats in office are ignoring their base by aligning themselves with the free-market GOP ideology: “Yes, yes, yes. Lately Democratic operatives have been moaning and groaning about lack of excitement among their voters. Supposedly this is a law of nature. Democrats just don’t get excited about midterms. Yet, “school reform” i
In Ohio, Will There be an Education Spring?
Ohio has been under the thumb of Governor John Kasich and his merry band of privatizers and profiteers. But this Ohio teacher came to Austin to join the Network for Public Education jamboree and left feeling inspired. Dan Greenberg of the Sylvania Education Association enjoyed not just the Texas weather but the chance to meet activists from across the nation. He caught the contagious spirit of opt
A Hero Superintendent in Massachusetts Speaks Out Against the Madness
Todd Gazda, superintendent of schools in Ludlow, Massachusetts, posted a blog that expresses the outrage that so many educators feel today as a result of federal and state meddling in the work best left to educators. Gazda writes: ENOUGH IS ENOUGH! For his courage and wisdom, I am naming him to the honor roll as a champion of public education. If there were hundreds more Todd Gazda, no thousands
Ohio: Denis Smith: Who Will Clean Up the Charter School Mess? Part 4
Denis Smith is a retired school administrator who worked both as a sponsor representative for charter schools as well as a consultant in the state charter school office. In this five-part series, he offers his perspective about charter school governance and how this mechanism designed to provide transparency and accountability for public entities is sorely lacking and may in fact be the “fatal des
Steven R. Cohen: The “New” SAT Has the Same Faults as the “Old” SAT
Steven R. Cohen, the superintendent of the Shoreham-Wading River School District in Long Island, is unimpressed by the changes to the SAT. They will still strike fear and terror in the hearts of students. They will still be arbiters of access to higher education. They will still be graded and normed on a bell curve, so that the same proportion of students are at the top and at the bottom. They wil
Why Peter Greene Hearts Common Core
Up until now, Peter Greene has been a skeptic of Common Core. But then he realized that Common Core really was written by a bunch of teachers and parents. He realized that he never knew what critical thinking was until now. He realized that one size really does fit all. So this post explains how he came to love the Common Core. You too will be convinced if you follow his train of thought.
LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH ALL WEEK LONG Diane Ravitch's blog 3-29-14 #thankateacher #EDCHAT #P2
Diane Ravitch's blogLISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH ALL WEEK LONGDIANE RAVITCH'S BLOGExperts: (Sir) Michael Barber Is Wrong about MassachusettsAndy Hargreaves, Pasi Sahlberg, and Dennis Shirley are noted for their scholarly, articulate, and outspoken opposition to the Global Education Reform Movement (GERM), which is spreading like a virus. Now, one of the chief exponents of GERM–(Sir) Michael Barber–has