Naison: Obama’s Scorched Earth Policy is Destroying Public Education in the Cities
Perhaps someday historians will figure out how the Obama administration pulled the wool over the eyes of so many people about its plans for urban schools. As a presidential candidate, Barack Obama named Professor Linda Darling-Hammond as his senior education advisor. She went on national television to describe the progressive policies he would pursue if elected. Soon after the election, President
David Brooks’ Amateur Cheerleading for the Common Core
The pundits of the New York Times are united in their love of the Common Core standards, and none seem to understand why anyone questions the standards. In order to explain a point of view, one must make the effort to hear the voices of critics without caricaturing them. Unfortunately, David Brooks has no idea why anyone would not embrace the Common Core standards. All he knows is what Arne Dunca
L.A. Times: Cheating Rampant on High-Stakes Exams in India
The Los Angeles Times tells us what we should already know: The higher the stakes on exams, the more bad consequences will follow. In India, there are crucial exams, and cheating is a persistent problem. Ingenious students us their ingenuity not to answer the questions, but to find ways to get the right answer, either electronically by remote device or by sneaking in old-fashioned crib sheets. I
Laura H. Chapman: The Desperate Search for a Science of Teacher Evaluation
Laura H. Chapman left the following comment. The word “desperate” to describe this quest for a scientific, data-based means of judging teachers is mine. Something about it smacks of anti-intellectualism, the kind of busywork exercise that an engineer would design, especially if he had never taught K-12. This is the sort of made-up activity that steals time from teaching and ultimately consumes a l
Shepherd: How to Be an EduPundit, Made EZ
Here is a guide to setting yourself up as a pundit who writes for major newspapers and is called for quotes by reporters: Robert Shepherd writes: Becoming an “EdDeform” EduPundit Made EZ The nineteenth century was the era of the traveling medicine show. Grifters slithered from town to town in rural parts of the country, peddling magical elixirs. John D. Rockefeller’s father was one such. He woul
Mercedes Schneider Explains Common Core to Sol Stern, Again
Sol Stern of the rightwing Manhattan Institute is a fierce advocate for the Common Core Standards. He is a journalist of great rhetorical skill, not a classroom teacher or a scholar or researcher. Stern is a devotee of E.D. Hirsh Jr.’s Core Knowledge curriculum, and he thinks that Common Core will install CK in every school in the nation. He cant accept the reality that CCSS is not the vehicle to
Chiara Duggan: How to Educate the Community about Impossible Unfunded Mandates
Chiara Duggan, a teacher in Ohio and regular contributor to our blog’s discussion, writes the following, which is a great example of educating the public: I did two full days of community discussion on our local schools this week. It’s amazing how many new ed reform mandates they have, just this year. School grading system, A-F (replaces the old grading system) teacher grading system, Third Grad
Jack Hassard (Citing Tom Loveless): Common Core Had Insignificant Effect on NAEP Math Scores
Professor Jack Hassard of Georgia State University concludes, after reviewing Tom Loveless’s report for Brookings, that the Common Core Standards have had little or no effect on NAEP math scores, as Loveles predicted a few years ago. The states most aligned with CCSS had the smallest gains. Overall, eighth grade math scores show very little improvement since the Common Core was rolled out in 2
Peter Greene: The Worst Sentence Ever Written About CCSS
Peter Greene nails it with this post. Students are not assets. Students are not global competitors. Students are… well, children? People? On a Gates Foundation website, seeking to persuade bussinesses how much America needs the Common Core–even though it has never been field-tested to gauge its real-world consequences–Alan Golston wrote this execrable sentence: “Businesses are the primary consum
LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH 4-17-14 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 Corporate Interests Beat NYC’s Progressive Mayor and How He Can RecoverThis 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 retrib