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From a reader in Chicago: Teachers at 2nd Chicago school bravely boycott State ISAT tests Also 1,000 parents in 57 schools opt out http://www.wbez.org/news/education/teachers-2nd-school-boycott-isat-109797 Here’s a petition to share with your supporters on the “ICE the ISAT” movement. They need 500 more signatures. http://petitions.moveon.org/sign/support-the-testing-boycott
Newark Plans to Lay Off More than 1,000 Teachers
Teachers, students, and parents protested the decision by Superintendent Cami Anderson to lay off about a third of the teachers in Newark, NJ, more than 1,000. Anderson plans to close many public schools and replace them with charter schools. Anderson did not attend the meeting of the elected advisory board –and has announced that she will no longer attend such meetings–because she did not like t
KrazyTA Sets the Record Straight on VAM of a Different Sort
One of the blog’s regular contributors writes from California. I am sorry to say that I have never met him, but he can be counted on to write some of the wittiest comments on the blog, almost always punctuated by maxims and axioms gleaned from his reading. Everyone who is a regular reader knows his writings and commentary. Here are his thoughts on the brouhaha about salaries for school leaders: Kr
The state of Tennessee, led by State Commissioner Kevin Huffman, whose education experience was limited to his brief tour of duty in TFA, wants to tie teacher pay to evaluations based on test scores (50%) and observations (50%). This method (known as VAM) has been thoroughly discredited by research and by years of failed experience. The Tennessee acronym (deceptive, of course) is TEAM, as if all t
Breaking News: Durham, NC, May Join Opposition to Anti-Tenure Law
The school board of Durham, North Carolina, is planning to join Guilford, NC, in opposing a state law intended to remove any due process rights from teachers. “The board was unanimous in its decision authorizing Chairwoman Heidi Carter to work with the attorney for the N.C. Association of Educators and to provide an affidavit supporting the association’s lawsuit to maintain the tenure rights of te
How Test-Based Reform Will Ruin Lives and Our Society
Time to be data-driven! Carol Burris decided it was time to test the extravagant claims of the New York Board of Regents and Commissioner John King by checking the numbers. The Regents and King made a grand pretense of delaying the date when the Common Core tests will be used for graduation. It is all a charade, she writes. Consider what would have happened if they had used the Common Core tests
Robert Shepherd’s Reformish Lexicon
Robert Shepherd, a frequent contributor to this blog, has started his own blog. Our of our brilliant friend’s first contributions is a “Reformish lexicon ” in which he attempts to translate the language of “reform” into plain English. If you have more words for him, send them in. There are many more. He has only scratched the surface.
Peter Greene Knocks the Highly Qualified Teacher Talk Outta the Park
Peter Greene has a ball with the U.S. Department of Education’s latest fantasy plan: Every child has a civil right to a “highly qualified teacher.” Who is a “highly qualified teacher”? Any teacher who can raise test scores or anyone who belongs to Teach for America and leaves before the third year of test scores are reported. It is all super but here is the laugh-out-loud deconstruction of Dunca
Bruce Baker: De Blasio Is Right; Charters Can Afford to Pay Rent
During his mayoral campaign in 2013, candidate Bill de Blasio said that he would charge rent to charter schools using public school space, in relation to their ability to pay. Bear in mind that charters in New York City enroll 6% of children, while the public schools enroll about 1.1 million children. The charter schools cried foul, and the rightwing Manhattan Institute issued a study with dire
YESTERDAY
A Note about Success Academy’s Data
An earlier post this morning offered advice about how to read reports about charter school data. A commenter complained that the data in the post specifically referring to Eva Moskowitz’s Success Academy was incomplete and therefore misleading.I asked the author of the post, who works at the headquarters of the Néw York City Department of Education, to respond. The author worked at Tweed during th
Louisiana Auditor Criticized for Finding Fault with Voucher Schools
Auditors are supposed to audit, but when the auditor for the voucher schools said they had some serious problems, the voucher advocates said he had overstepped his bounds. They don’t want no stinking audits. They just want to keep diverting public money to unaccountable schools. Once again, the Louisiana legislative auditor’s December report on the state’s school voucher program has come in for cr
Indiana: Parents and Educators Stand Together for Better Public Schools
Education activists from both political parties are trying to save public education in Indiana. They created a Facebook page called “Parents & Educators against the Daniels and Bennett Education Reforms.” It presently has 6,000 followers but expects that number to grow as more people learn about it. Remember that it was a bipartisan group of voters who turned out corporate reform leader Tony
Peter Greene: Ouch! Dennis Walks Back Last Week’s CC Critique
Peter Greene reports on a debate where Michelle Rhee and Dennis Van Roekel, among others, team up to defend the Common Core standards. They are, he notes, the sharpest minds of our generation. Oh dear. The best criticism emanates from some of the CC defenders, as when Charles Barone of “Democrats for Education Reform” (the hedge fund managers’ advocacy group for charters and high stakes testing of
Watch How CPS Turns Adults into Chanting Children
A reader in Chicago passed only a YouTube video of what might laughingly be called “professional development” in Chicago, sponsored by the Chicago Public Schools. Grown men and women chant in unison the very words of the “staff developer.” I can’t believe the school system pays for such foolishness, nor that it subjects teachers–who went to college and in most cases have earned advanced degrees–to
Bernard Fryshman: Why College Courses Taught in Person Are Superior to MOOCs
What a beautiful essay this is! Bernard Fryshman teaches physics. He describes the magic of the classroom, the anticipation of the young people looking to him for guidance, knowledge, wisdom, insight, discussion, and, yes, humor. What he describes cannot happen by sitting in front of a computer watching someone lecture or seeing videos. MOOCs are allegedly the wave of the future, and surely they h
Houston’s Apollo Program Faces Tough Questions
With any experimental program, the question is always “is it replicable and affordable?” If the program works only on a small scale, it may not be replicable or scalable. In this discussion of Houston’s Apollo program , we learn that the program started with mass firings and intensive tutoring in math. The designer of the program said it might close the achievement gap in three years, but that se
Sirota: Brookings, Your Pension, and the Man Behind the Curtain
This may be the most important article you read this week or month or year. Crack investigative journalist David Sirota, who blew open the story of the financing of the PBS series on pensions, now demonstrates the five rules of what he calls “native advertising.” In this case, the same John Arnold Foundation that underwrote the PBS series with $3.5 million, underwrote a report by the Brookings I
EduShyster: How to Make Your Toddler College and Career ready
It is never too soon to start Racing to the Top. It is never to soon to warn your toddler about the utter irrevance of studying useless subjects like Art History, Philosophy, or Literature. Ask EduShyster. She will explain it to you. “Chetty, chetty bang bang “Chances are, your career-ready kindergartner LUVS his or her teacher. [Brief pause while writer shakes her head slowly and dramatically f
LAUSD Heads for Fiscal Cliff
The Los Angeles school district is making short-term and long-term decisions that are fiscally and educationally irresponsible. Having committed to spend $1 billion to give an iPad for Common Core testing to every student and staff member, the district is short changing or eliminating essential programs. The money for the iPads is mostly from a bond issue intended for construction and facilities.
Parents, Eva Angry about de Blasio Co-Location Decisions, But for Different Reasons
Mayor de Blasio and Carmen Farina approved most of the Bloomberg administration’s charter co-locations, to the outrage and dismay of public school parents whose schools will lose space to the new charters. Parents at the schools that will receive co-locations are furious and issuing press releases denouncing de Blasio for betraying them. Of 49 co-locations rushed through in the dying days of the B
The Shame of Los Angeles
Due to budget cuts, half the elementary and middle schools of Los Angeles have been forced to close their libraries due to a lack of librarians or aides. This is a disgrace. The district committed to spend $1 billion for iPads for Common Core testing but can’t staff its libraries. “In the sun-filled space at the Roy Romer Middle School library, thousands of books invite students to stimulate the
Jonathan Pelto: Why Is Connecticut a Sick State?
Jonathan Pelto points out that Connecticut is one of the wealthiest, best educated states in the nation, yet its politics and government are increasingly dysfunctional, driven by greed and indifference to the public weal. Citing an article by Connecticut journalist Sarah Darer Littman, Pelto shows how state officials have been pushing to build a high school in Bridgeport on a polluted brownfield
How to Analyze False Claims about Charter Schools
An experienced researcher saw a story in the Economist about charter schools. It was, as is typical among news stories, incredibly naive. The writer didn’t ask the right questions. Maybe he already believed in the charter “miracle” story and didn’t ask any questions. So my correspondent–who requires anonymity– decided that it would be helpful to reporters and members of the public to explain how t
FEB 27
Obama Picks Leader of Privatization Movement to be #2 in U.S. Department of Education
Ted Mitchell is CEO of the NewSchools Venture Fund, one of the best funded and most aggressive organizations promoting charter school chains and for-profit ventures in public education. He is a key figure in the corporate reform movement to transform public education and transfer public funds to private management, as well as to spur entrepreneurial activity and the involvement of the for-profit
Watch the Network for Public Education Conference Livestreamed
The Network for Public Education national conference will meet in Austin, Texas, on Saturday and Sunday, March 1 and 2. You can join us by livestream. The direct link to the site hosting the livestream is here: http://www.schoolhouselive.org/ The conference hashtag is #npeconference. Nearly 400 activist parents, educators, legislators, and other supporters of public education from across the nati
Dueling Rallies in Albany on Tuesday
Albany, Néw York, will be the scene of two competing rallies on Tuesday. Eva Moskowitz is closing her charter schools on NYC and will bus thousands of children and parents to lobby for her charter chain. On the same day, allies of Mayor de Blasio will assemble to urge the legislature to permit NYC to tax the richest–those who earn more than $500,000 annually–to pay for universal pre-K. Place yo
New York Parents and Educators Plan Opt-Out Rally, March 29
Parents, teachers, administrators, and elected officials on Long Island in New York will rally to encourage families to opt their children out of the state tests. If the children don’t take the tests, the state can’t rank and rate them; their teachers won’t be evaluated based on their test scores; their principals won’t be evaluated based on their test scores; their schools won’t be rewarded or c
Linda Darling-Hammond: A Better Future for Assessments?
Linda Darling-Hammond describes the possibilities for the transformation of assessment in the Common Core era. Embodied in her analysis is a devastating critique of value-added measurement, which has been enacted by many states under pressure by the US Department of Education.
What Richard Rothstein Told NAGB About the History of NAEP
Did you know that the National Assessment Of Educational Progress used to test much more than reading and math, much more than academic subjects? Did you know that it was designed originally to assess student cooperation and behavior as well as skills? Did you know that the narrowing of NAEP testing is fairly recent? Richard Rothstein knows what NAEP was supposed to be and he explained its histor
The Mayoral Race in Newark: How to Fix Education is a Central Issue
The race for mayor of Newark, New Jersey, has narrowed to two candidates: Ras Baraka and Shavar Jeffries. It has become a referendum on the direction of school reform and whether Newark’s public schools will be turned over to private charter organizations. Baraka, a city councilman and high school principal, has received the endorsement of the Network for Public Education, based. On his support f
Momma Bears of Tennessee Salute a Valiant Teacher
The Momma Bears are one of the potent forces that will drive the corporate-style reformers out of business. You see, the Momma Bears are not in it for the money or the fame or the power or the control. They are Mamma Bears, and they don’t back down. They protect their cubs. They don’t particularly care whether Arne Duncan calls them names or whether the Governor likes them. They are in it for thei
Paul Horton: Common Core Standards Are Not About Education but About Profits
The next time that a supporter of the Common Core standards says there are no critics on the left, tell them to read this post by Paul Horton. Arne Duncan says that the opposition to the Common Core standards emanate from the Tea Party and other rightwing extremists. The media have bought that line, and in some states it is surely true. But recently the media have noticed that the Common Core has
FEB 26
Randi to Christie: Give the People of Newark Their Schools
Cami Anderson, the state-appointed superintendent of Newark public schools, has grown increasingly high-handed in recent weeks. In driving through her so-called “One Newark” plan, she suspended principals who dissented, she stormed out of a meeting of the elected advisory board, and now she has announced she will no longer meet with the board. Read Politico’s account here. Randi Weingarten sent t
YES! Reaching the Public with “The Myth of Our Failing Schools”
YES! Magazine devotes a special issue to public education and its findings will not surprise readers of this blog. The lead article by executive editor Dean Paton is “The Myth Behind Public School Failure,” demonstrating that our public schools are NOT failing. Here is the line that follows the title: “In the rush to privatize the country’s schools, corporations and politicians have decimated sch
Will 2014 Be “The Year of Action”?
Jeff Bryant here describes the unprecedented wave of activism that is ready to launch in spring 2014. This is the year that parents, teachers, students, and concerned citizens mobilize to stop the juggernaut of high-stakes testing and privatization. This is the year we demand that Race to the Top go away, to be replaced by genuine concern for education, children, and equity for purr neediest chil
Act Now! Michigan Proposes to Gut Special-Education Regulations
With the peculiar disregard for children that characterizes the current state government of Michigan, the state hopes to reduce legal protections for children with disabilities. According to Marcie Lipsett, the time to speak up and organize is NOW. She writes: “The Michigan Department of Education is proposing catastrophic changes to the rules that govern how students with disabilities and “Ind
Who Is the Man Funding the Vergara Trial?
David Welch is a Silicon Valley entrepreneur who is spending millions of dollars in legal fees to try to strip teachers of any due process rights or job security. Who is he and who are his allies? This investigative report provides some answers, though no one can truly explain the animus towards teachers that blames them for poverty, inequitable funding, large classes, poor leadership, racism, i
Breaking News: New Data Show High Expulsion Rates from Charter Schools in Chicago
Mayor Rahm Emanuel once praised the Noble network of charter schools in Chicago as having a “secret sauce” for success. Part of its “secret sauce” was fining students $5 for every disciplinary infraction. Some families owed the school hundreds or even thousands of dollars. That was one way of pushing out difficult students. It works. But that’s not all. A new report from Chicago Public Schools sho
What Candidates SHOULD Say About Education
Our good friends in Pennsylvania writing at the Yinzercation blog have developed an excellent checklist by which to judge gubernatorial candidates. Their own Governor Tom Corbett has been a determined foe of public education, and his approval rating hovers around 20%. Many candidates are challenging him. Read this post to learn what friends of public education should demand from those who seek
Rahm, You Forgot About Arts Education!
Mayor Rahm Emanuel is known for his love of the arts. But not for children in Chicago Public Schools. FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Wendy Katten, 773-704-0336 Raise Your Hand Survey Reveals Arts Instruction Sorely Lacking in CPS 65% of reporting schools do not offer two hours of weekly arts instruction, as stated by Mayor Emanuel CHICAGO, February 20, 2014 — In a recent survey regarding arts ins
Jonathan Pelto: Steve Perry’s School Performs Below Hartford Public Schools
It is a strange world we live in, when schools are compelled to compete for “customers” and when some chain schools hold themselves up as owners of a “secret sauce” to produce high test scores, and some individuals market themselves as savants. We have a plethora of savants, individuals who claim that they alone have cured vexing educational problems. They boast, and their boasting naturally draws
FEB 25
Newark Superintendent Cami Anderson Will No Longer Attend Newark School Board Meetings
Only a few hours before a school board meeting scheduled for this evening, Newark’s state-appointed Superintendent Cami Anderson announced that neither she nor her leadership team would attend the meetings or any other meetings of the school board. Apparently, she thinks the board is too unruly and she prefers to engage with parents in other (controlled) settings. This is quite a show of contempt
Eva Moskowitz Plans to Fight Mayor de Blasio in Albany
Eva Moskowitz, the combative CEO of the Success Academy charter school chain (previously called Harlem Success Academy), anticipates that new Mayor Bill de Blasio may charge rent for her use of public space or may deny some of the co-locations offered in the waning days of the Bloomberg administration. Moskowitz enjoyed preferential treatment when Michael Bloomberg was mayor and had immediate acce
CTU Supports School That Opts Out of State Tests; More Likely to Join Test Boycott
Teachers at a Chicago elementary school voted to boycott the next round of state testing, and their union supported them. CTU SUPPORTS TEACHER BOYCOTT OF LOW-STAKES ISAT CHICAGO – The Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) supports teachers and parents at Maria Saucedo Scholastic Academy who announced today their intent to boycott the Illinois State Achievement Test (ISAT). Teachers have collected more tha
Michelle Rhee Spends Freely for Anti-Teacher Lobbyist
Michelle Rhee is on a national vendetta against teachers. According to an investigation by a special unit of Al Jazeera, Rhee has poured large sums into a campaign to attack unions and teachers in California, using the services of a politically powerful lobbyist in Sacramento. Since there is no research to support her campaign to destroy unions and to eliminate due process from teachers, her crus
New Jersey: Time to Investigate Christie Administration’s Failed Reforms
Jim O’Neill, interim superintendent of West Orange, New Jersey, did something remarkable, something we expect from retired educators, not those in the field. He spoke up. He denounced the failed reforms of the Christie administration whose purpose is not to improve education but to open up the school budget for privatization. For his courage and candor, based on experience and wisdom, he joins the
“Democrats for Education Reform” Oppose de Blasio Plan to Fund Universal Pre-K
This morning, Joe Williams, the executive director of the hedge-fund managers’ “education reform” front group (“Democrats for Education Reform”) published an opinion piece in the New York Daily News opposing Mayor Bill de Blasio’s plan to fund universal pre-kindergarten by taxing incomes over $500,000. As Mayor de Blasio has pointed out, the incremental tax to pay for U-PK would be the equivalent
Edushyster: When the Excellence Brigade Came To Minneapolis
On February 6, Michelle Rhee preferred to speak to the Minneapolis business leadership instead of debating me. But fortunately, I got a first-hand report from someone who attended the event and explained who spoke and what they said. Rhee, as is her custom, advised the audience that the path to excellence begins with eliminating tenure or due process for all teachers. That way, they can be fired
Obama Invites Dr. James Comer to Join Advisory Panel
This is really good news. President Obama appointed famed Yale child psychologist Dr. James Comer to join an advisory panel, where he will be “one of 15 appointees to a new President’s Advisory Commission on Educational Excellence for African Americans. The commission is tasked with “improving educational outcomes for African Americans to ensure that all African Americans receive an education th
The Vergara Case and Other People’s Children: A Teacher’s View
The Vergara trial in Los Angeles prompted this National Board Certified Teacher to reflect on the power dynamics in LAUSD. And how it affects the students. The trial is funded by a very wealthy tech entrepreneur whose legal team claims that due process rights for teachers denies the civil rights of minority students because it is harder to fire teachers if they get a hearing. Superintendent John D
Help These Kids Go to Finland!
A friend passed along this email. What an awesome threesome! The Boston Consulting Group (whose reports always recommend privatization, as in Philadelphia); the Harvard Business School; and the Gates Foundation. Lots of bright young men and women, probably graduates of our finest private schools. They will redesign public education for other people’s children. They need some good ideas. I propose
New York: Time for Accountability for State Board of Regents
The New York Regents have embraced the Common Core standards and testing with the fervor of zealots. They brook no opposition, and they only pretend to listen to critics. Only two Regents, Kathleen Cashin and Betty Rosa, both of whom are experienced educators, have consistently and publicly dissented from the Regents’ failed agenda. The Regents are appointed by the New York Legislature, which in p
Berliner and Glass: A Great New Book Exposes the Myths and Lies About US Education
A New Book Just for You http://store.tcpress.com/0807755249.shtml ANNOUNCING—An Important New Book by David C. Berliner, Gene V Glass, and Associates Special Pre-publication Discount! Use coupon code 50MYTHS2014 “50 Myths and Lies is a powerful defense of public education…. It is a timely and hard-hitting book of scholarly but passionate polemic.” —Jonathan Kozol
Beardsley: New York’s Teacher Evaluation System Is Useless
Noted VAM expert Audrey Amrein-Beardsley explains why New York’s teacher evaluation system doesn’t work and why the release of results has been delayed: She writes: “One of the biggest drawbacks of such teacher evaluation systems is that they have literally no instrumental value; that is, no states across the country have yet figured out how to use these data for instrumental or change-based pur
FEB 24
This Friday: Privacy Hearings in Manhattan: inBloom Will Testify
The New York City parent blog reports that there will be Legislative hearings this Friday in lower Manhattan on student privacy, a matter of great concerns to parents (and grandparents!). “The hearings will take place Friday, Feb. 28 at 10:30 AM at 250 Broadway in Lower Manhattan; livestream here. More info and a form you can fill out if you want to testify is here. See also the RT video interv
Another Anti-Charter Petition in New Jersey: Will Chris Cerf Do the Right Thing as He Leaves?
A group of superintendents in New Jersey drafted a petition to Commissioner of Education Chris Cerf, asking him to block the expansion of the Hatikvah Charter School. The charter school has consistently been underenrolled. It plans to expand by drawing students and funds from their districts, impoverishing their already struggling public schools. A decision is likely by Friday. Will State Commissi
Indiana Alert! Another Legislative Sneak Attack on Teachers
Call (don’t email) the Senate switchboard and tell your senator and any others you know to oppose Sen. Carlin Yoder amendmenment (dues deduction) Call to OPPOSE It only applies to school employees. Senator Yoder has an amendment on HB 1126 –the Wage Payment Act bill to remove dues deduction for school employees. Offering it as a second reading amendment to HB 1126. This is a direct attack on
Hoboken to Christie Administration: Please Stop Charter Expansion!
The Hoboken, New Jersey, Board of Education has appealed to the State Education Department in the Chris Christie administration to stop the privatization of their public schools. The DOE is likely to render its decision by Friday about the expansion of the Hola Dual Language Charter School. Please be sure to read the link with the letter to Commissioner Chris Cerf (now leaving to work for Rupert M
California Leads Nation in Charter Growth; Charter Board Member Charged with $750,000 Theft
California continues to outpace the nation in the growth of charter schools and charter enrollment, with 104 new schools and 48,000 additional students, according to a report by the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools. California now has 1,130 charter schools serving 519,000 students. “The state figures represent a 6.1 percent increase in schools since 2012-13 and a 10.3 percent rise in
New Mexico Teacher: Skandera Is No Friend of Education
David Aram Wilson offered this testimony at the confirmation hearings of Hanna Skandera, who is acting secretary of education in New Mexico and chairperson of Jeb Bush’s Chiefs for Change. Skandera has been importing “the Florida model” of high-stakes testing and accountability to New Mexico. She worked for Bush when he was governor of Florida and for Arnold Schwarzenegger in California. At the he
Florida Outrage! Junk Science Ratings Will be Released to Media
The following notice was sent to all teachers in Florida from the State Commissioner of Education, letting teachers know that their names and evaluations will be released to the media. Most teachers do not teach tested subjects and grades, so their ratings are based on the test scores of children they never taught. This is Junk Science at its worst, another front in the battle to destroy public e
Schneider: Why Is NEA Joining Forces with Teach Plus?
NEA, the larger of the nation’s two teacher unions, never ceases to surprise. In December 2011, Dennis Van Roekel co-authored an article in USA Today with Wendy Kopp of Teach for America, expressing their agreement on how to improve the preparation of teachers. Needless to say, the article provoked outrage among some NEA members, especially those who rightly see TFA as a placement agency for inex
Indiana: The Voucher Shell Game
Mark Giaquinta here explains the hoax of vouchers in Indiana. He served as president of the Fort Wayne school board. It was my privilege to visit some of that city’s excellent public schools when I lectured there a couple of years ago. Vouchers were sold under the pretext of “helping poor kids escape from failing public schools.” So said the sponsors of the legislation. In fact, the vouchers are
Another Step Forward by Chancellor Farina in New York City
New York City’s Chancellor Carmen Farina is step-by-step reassembling the essentials of a functional public school system after a dozen years of Mayor Bloomberg’s “creative disruption.” The Bloomberg regime quickly established its preference for inexperience over experience and its distaste for veteran educators. It created a “Leadership Academy” to turn teachers with one or two years of classroom
FEB 23
New York Post Reveals Another Part of the Bloomberg-Klein “Failure Factory” Legacy
Over the past dozen years, former Mayor Michael Bloomberg and his schools’ chancellor Joel Klein had total control of the New York City school system. The Mayor controlled the “school board,” which dared not ever vote no. They could do whatever they wanted, and their PR team cranked out press release after press release. The news of the “New York City miracle” spread around the world, buoyed by ph
Teacher Exposés Graduate of Bloomberg “Leadership Academy”
The New York Post has been a vocal cheerleader for the hacksaw education policies of the Bloomberg administration, yet its reporters are usually first-rate journalists, and they exposed terrible conditions at PS 106. Now, it published an article by an experienced teacher who left the school. The Post exposed dreadful conditions at P.S. 106, where the principal ruled with an iron hand when she was
What I Read on Vacation
I took two books with me on vacation. One was Nicholas Carr’s The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains. The other was Walter Kiechel III, The Lords of Strategy: The Secret Intellectual History of the New Corporate World I also brought a copy of the New York Review of Books, which had a good article about data mining and what a big business it is. The thesis of Carr’s book is that the
A Teacher’s Advice to Bill Gates
A teacher sent me this letter offering helpful advice to Bill Gates. He hopes that someone will see it on the Internet and pass it along to Bill. Dear Mr. Gates, “I don’t know many business leaders who are satisfied with America’s schools. In fact, just about every CEO I know is worried that this country simply isn’t producing enough graduates with the skills they need to compete globally.” – Bill
Will Florida Pass Law to Exempt Severely Disabled Children from High-Stakes Testing?
Andrea Rediske appealed to Florida officials to exempt children who suffer extreme pain from high-stakes testing. This post contains her moving testimony about the ordeal her son Ethan experienced when he was compelled to take the state’s exam. Even when he was dying in hospice, the state harassed him to take the test. The state imposed cruel and unusual punishment on this child, violating his C
This Crazy Week and a Few Weeks More
I just returned from a wonderful, relaxing vacation in Turks and Caicos, a beautiful part of the West Indies, and I am now raring to go, with a schedule of events for the next week plus ahead. On Wednesday evening, I will join John Merrow in conversation at the JCC in upper West Side of Manhattan, 7:30-9:30 pm. On Friday, I will be in Indianapolis at Butler University, watching a showing of a scho
Instructions to Teacher in Chicago about Which Kids Count Most
This letter from a teacher in Chicago public schools shows how gaming the system has become more important than helping each and every child achieve their best. Data matter more than students. Data matter more than learning. Numbers trump education and equity. The advice: focus on the kids closest to passing. Forget those at the top and the bottom: They don’t matter. Here is the message: Today w
Newark: 700 Teachers May Be Laid Off and Replaced by TFA
Veteran journalist Bob Braun reports that Cami Anderson–the Christie administration’s state-appointed superintendent in Newark (and a graduate of Teach for America)–may lay off 700 Newark teachers and replace many or most of them with TFA. He writes: “The state administration of the Newark Public Schools (NPS) is expected to lay off hundreds of experienced city teachers and replace many with new
What Kids Are Reading These Days (Not)
These are fabulously witty tweets from @SpEdChat Enjoy! http://t.co/3n4gNyPx3X http://t.co/UA8YUDOmaX http://t.co/hE7cRI6yhY http://t.co/WrhV02LxfL http://t.co/stP6259Xwd
Schneider: What Is ALEC and Are They Writing the Laws of YOUR State?
Mercedes Schneider here reviews the extensive agenda that ALEC has for reshaping education in the audited States. Unlike Bill Gates, who works in tandem with the United States Department of Education to direct national policy, ALEC works through state legislators. ALEC writes model legislation, working through its committee structure, and its members submit them in their states. If the states are
FEB 22
Where the Koch Brothers Give Money
Thanks to reader Lloyd Lofthouse for citing this article. It shows which academic think tanks get money from the Koch brothers to advocate for privatization of the public sector.
Who Robbed the Children?
A reader comments: “It’s rather ironic and infuriating that our schools have been robbed of necessities under the catchy phrase “No Child Left Behind” and the more straight foward one, “Race to the Top” ( or push to the bottom) I have been teaching for over 30 years and have watched as the robbing and eventual exploitation of our children has become the norm. The bad old days before any of this be
Representative Glazier of North Carolina Explains Why Vouchers Are Unconstitutional
Representative Rick Glazier explains the court decision today that invalidated the General Assembly’s voucher plan. The State Constitution clearly says that public funds are for public schools. Representative Glazier writes: The lawyers who put together this case for the plaintiffs, including Burton Craige and his firm, lawyers for the NC Justice Center, Eddie Speas, and former Supreme Court J
School Choice: Not for Students with Disabilities
Charter schools and voucher schools –unless they are one of the few created specifically for students with disabilities–are noted for excluding them. A Gulen charter in Minneapolis took over a public school and immediately kicked out 40 autistic students. In this article, the parents of students with special needs in Wisconsin explain how their children are cheated by voucher schools and lose the
A Third Grade Teacher in North Carolina: What It Is Like To Teach in My State
This third grade teacher responded to the post and comments about the heavy emphasis on testing students in third grade. She wrote: I thought that maybe a third grade teacher in NC should weigh in on this. I can only speak for what is occurring in my county, but here is what I am up against: I have to complete all reading 3D data within an approximate 2 week period. This involves a three minute fi
In Honor of Terry Stetson Wilson
Colleen Wood, parent leader in Florida, active in 50th No More, and board member of the Network for Public Education, here remembers a true champion of children and public education, Terry Stetson Wilson, who died suddenly a few days ago. Colleen asks that we all Tweet a comment to honor Terry’s good life and work for others. Write your words on Twitter, marked #ForTerry. For her dedication to our
Stephanie Simon: The Voc-Ed Backlash Against Common Core
Politico’s crack reporter Stephanie Simon discovered a growing backlash among states against the presumption in the Common Core that all students are college-bound. She writes: “Florida students no longer need chemistry, physics or Algebra II to graduate from high school. Texas just scrapped its Algebra II requirement. And Washington state has dropped its foreign language mandate. “A standards r
NC Charter is Living Proof of Need for Regulation and Oversight
Charter school advocates predict the great benefits that flow from deregulation, freedom from oversight. For more than 20 years, they have boasted that great education benefits would flow from the removal of state supervision: The deal, they said, was give us freedom and hold us accountable. While the charter industry boasts of its successes, no one has kept track of the number of charter schools
