Bob Braun: Cry, Cry for Newark
Bob Braun has written one of the most moving, powerful critiques I have ever read of the heartless destruction of neighborhood public schools. What is it all about? To quote Braun: “money and power and greed.” He writes: “Sad. There’s a word rarely heard in the context of the state’s war on Newark’s neighborhood public schools. Sad. Yet the story of how a cruelly tone-deaf state bureaucrat named
NY Passes Law to Limit Test Prep. What a Joke!
New York passed a law to limit test prep, but it won’t make any difference. Because high-stakes are attached to the tests, who will dare to limit test prep? Teachers and principals will be evaluated and possibly fired based on the scores. Schools may be closed based on the scores. The test prep will go on, as frenzied as ever. Only the NY legislature would be so naive as to believe that passing a
Mercedes Schneider’s New Book on Corporate Reform Now Available
Mercedes Schneider’s new book on corporate reform is now available. Its title is “A Chronicle of Echoes: Who’s Who in the Implosion of American Public Education.” This is the description on amazon: “”Corporate reform” is not reform at all. Instead, it is the systematic destruction of the foundational American institution of public education. The primary motivation behind this destruction is gre
Seven Houston Teachers Suing Over Flawed VAM Ratings
Seven teachers in Houston are suing the district over the use of test-score-based evaluations. Good for them! As a K-12 graduate of HISD, I am proud of these teachers for standing up for their profession. I hope they will introduce as evidence the recent statement of the American Statistical Association cautioning about the limitations of VAM, as well as the joint statement of the National Acade
Help Ras Baraka Now!!!!
Ras Baraka is in a tough fight for Mayor of Newark, New Jersey. The hedge fund managers have poured into the campaign more than $1 million–that has been reported–to defeat him and to turn over more public schools and children to corporate charter chains. Please help save public education in Newark by supporting Ras Baraka. Ras is a high school principal and a member of the Newark City Council. P
TeacherKen Writes a Letter to President and Mrs. Obama (LINK ADDED)
TeacherKen is a veteran social studies teacher who has a passion for teaching and a passion for justice. He wrote a letter to the President and Mrs. Obama, politely asking them to reflect on what they want for their own children and what they are inflicting on the nation’s children. I don’t think he used the word “inflict,” but how else to describe the federal mandates that impose endless hours o
Peter Greene Explains Why Cami Hates Democracy
Peter Greene, a man of infinite patience, watched a video in which Cami Anderson explains why she has the right to tell everyone in Newark what to do without listening to their opinions. She compares herself to her sister, who is a surgeon. Her sister doesn’t ask the opinion of nobodies; she does what she has to do to save the patient’s life. Greene points out to Cami that her sister is a highly
Jersey Jazzman: Did NPR Sell Out to the Walton Family Foundation?
Jersey Jazzman heard NPR describe the reason that Washington State refused to bow to Arne Duncan’s demand that the sate use test scores to evaluate teacher quality. It wasn’t because the methodology has no evidence behind it. It wasn’t because the method has been questioned by theNational Academy of Education, the American Educational Research Association, the American Statistical Association, a
How Charter School Managers Succeed Fabulously in Busine$$
A few years ago, I was alerted to the phenomenal success of an entrepreneur-lawyer in Pennsylvania named Vahan Gureghian. With a bit of googling, I learned that he had opened a charter school in Chester County, Pennsylvania, that enrolled 2,600 students, half the district’s children. Consequently, the district was plunged into bankruptcy, unable to make its payroll, and Governor Corbett appointed
HS Teachers Will Boycott NYC Test May 1
This just in: FOR PLANNING PURPOSES: April 29, 2014 CONTACT: Emily Giles, e.giles@ihsph.org, (917) 575-2936 Emily Wendlake, emilywendlake@gmail.com, (413) 657-7255 Rosie Frascella, r.frascella@ihsph.org, (917) 767-1001 Anita Feingold-Shaw, afeingoldshaw@gmail.com, (510) 872-1712 ############ **Media Advisory** ############ 26 Teachers and Staff of International High School at Prospect Height
Carol Burris: The Danger Done by “Fools with Tools”
Carol Burris here explains the deep, dark secret of standardized testing. Whoever is in charge decides what the passing mark is. The passing mark is the “cut score.” Those in charge can decide to create a test that everyone passes because the cut score is so low and the questions so simple, or they can create a test that everyone fails. In fact, because of field testing, the test makers know with
John Thompson: Who Does More Damage to Public Education: The Tea Party or Arne Duncan?
John Thompson raises a provocative and important question: who is inflicting more damage on teachers and students? Tea Party extremists like North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory or Secretary of Education Arne Duncan? Thompson, a teacher and historian, describes the assault on teachers in North Carolina, whose governor and Legislature seem determined to destroy public education by expanding voucher
Teacher: I Will NOT Resign!
A letter from a teacher. He echoes my sentiments exactly. Stay and fight. Resist. Don’t let the teacher-bashers win. Not only are teachers “in the trenches,” but now teachers are engaging in trench warfare, holding on to their professional ethics and fighting for their students against powerful forces. Be there when the whole phony “ed reform” ideology collapses, as it will. Here is good advice:
LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH 4-29-14 Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all
Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all: Who Wrote the Common Core Standards. part 2Mercedes Schneider continues in her task to determine who wrote the Common Core State Standards. The first work group had 24 members; the second had 51. Very few in either group were teachers. The standards were produced in remarkably short order. Typically, it takes years to write state s