Wake Up, Ohio, Your Constitutional Right to High Quality Public Education is at Risk
This alert comes from Bill Phillis of the Ohio Equity and Adequacy Coalition. “Thorough and Efficient System of Common Schools”: A right given Ohio schoolchildren that must be protected by all citizens One hundred sixty-years ago, Ohioans voted to give schoolchildren the right to a thorough and efficient system of common schools. Ohio citizens must be alerted to the potential that this right embe
Los Angeles: While Bullets Fly, the Tests Must Go On
Read this disturbing article by Maggie Terry, who teaches at Locke High School in the Watts section of Los Angeles, and stop and think. She describes the day that the tenth grade students were scheduled to take the math portion of the state’s exit exams. The morning was disrupted by gunfire outside, and the school went into lockdown. The teachers immediately sheltered their students: “When my c
Peter Greene on the Failure of CCSS: It’s Not the Implementation, Stupid!
The states are roiled with pushback and rebellion against the Common Core, and wise heads say the problem is the implementation. If only the implementation had been slower; if only it had left out the testing until much, much later; if only, if only. But Peter Greene says the problem goes beyond implementation. He gives a multiple-choice question to explain why CCSS is in big trouble. It has nothi
Colorado Teacher: Is This Good for Kids? Why I Resigned
Colorado has one of the most punitive teacher evaluation systems in the nation, passed in 2010. It was written by State Senator Michael Johnston, ex-TFA. Contrary to the conclusions of the American Statistical Association, the American Educational Research Association, and eminent researchers such as Linda Darling-Hammond and Edward Haertel of Stanford, Colorado’s SB 191 bases 50% of teachers’ eva
How Corporate Interests Beat NYC’s Progressive Mayor and How He Can Recover
This article was written by an independent education researcher who requests anonymity. It is unfortunate that the politics of education have become so intermingled with powerful forces that researchers remain silent or hide their identities to escape retribution. In this case, everything in this article is carefully documented. Lessons Learned: How the Nation’s Most Powerful Mayor Lost His Firs
Ed Berger Returns to Write to President Obama and the First Lady
Our friend Edward Berger returned from a long period of rest, reading, and reflection, and he is back in fine form. He wrote a letter to President Obama and the First Lady to warn of the damage their education policies are inflicting on the nation’s children, teachers, and schools. He writes: “Prior to your administration, with few exceptions, public schools were not created as sources of inves
Jason Stanford: Who Is Leading the Civil Rights Movement Today?
Jason Stanford attended a conference in Austin to mark the 50th anniversary of passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. And don’t you know, the people who were responsible for No Child Left Behind think they acted in the tradition of civil rights leaders. He writes: “At the Civil Rights Summit celebrating the Civil Rights Act’s 50th birthday, everyone agreed that equal opportunity to education w
New York Wunderkind Opens Charters in Tennessee and Mississippi
Ravi Gupta is an ambitious young man who has boldly entered the booming world of charter entrepreneurship. He may even be planning his own charter chain. He opened one in Nashville, one of those “no excuses” charters designed especially for kids of color, with long school days and tough discipline. And now he plans to open another in Jackson, Mississippi. In this interview, he compares the educati
Pearson’s Errors Matter
The American public would be alarmed if they knew how often standardized tests are inaccurate. As a member of the National Assessment Governing Board, I saw questions whose wording was confusing. I saw questions that had more than one right answer. I even saw questions with no right answer. Sometimes the tests are scored incorrectly, but we seldom hear about it. This reader shares her experience:
LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH 4-16-14 Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all
Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all: How Many Hours Should It Take to Test Children in Grades 3-8 in Basic Skills?Principals, teachers, and parents in New York state complained that the Common Core tests for grades 3-8 were too long. The tests for math and reading together take about 7 hours. Commissioner John King responded in a recent speech at New York University t
