What Eva Won. Thanks, Billionaires!
Now that the New York state legislature has passed a law written specifically to permit Eva Moskowitz to expand her elementary school–presently co-located inside PS 149 in Harlem–into a middle school, students with disabilities will be removed from PS 149. No one knows yet where they will go, but the city has to find a place for them. That $5 million ad campaign attacking Mayor Bill de Blasio wa
Top-Scoring NYC District Will Protest ELA Tests This Friday
District 2 in New York City–one of the city’s highest scoring districts–plans protests this Friday against the poor quality of the ELA tests given last week. State officials tried to dismiss concerns from other districts, specifically from Liz Phillips, a respected Brooklyn principal who wrote a letter to all the parents in her school saying the tests were.”terrible.” More than 500 parents and tea
Congratulations to Anthony Cody!
The Education Writers Assiciation awarded first prize to Anthony Cody for his series of posts questioning the Common Core. This is a recognition of Anthony’s excellent research and writing. In addition, it is a recognition that criticism of the Common Core exists among thoughtful and reflective educators. Anthony taught for more than 20 years in the high-poverty public schools of Oakland, Califo
BREAKING NEWS: Charters in Chicago Do Not Outperform Public Schools
A stunning article in the Chicago Sun-Times demonstrates that charter schools in Chicago do not get better results than public schools. Where differences exist, they are small. Last year, Mayor Rahm Emanuel closed 50 neighborhood public schools, which will be replaced eventually by privately managed charter schools. But this article suggests that the results of the chaos and heartbreak in fragment
BREAKING NEWS: Kansas Eliminates Due Process for Teachers, Expands Privatization
Responding to the extremist group Americans for Prosperity, funded by the Koch brothers, the Kansas state legislature enacted legislation that strips teachers of due process and expands “school choice” (aka privatization of public schools and their funding). In the future, teachers may be fired without a hearing. The legislature used the pretext of a court ruling to equalize funding to enact prop
Federal Officials Warn Florida Not to Exempt More Students from Testing
Andrea Rediske is perplexed. After the death of her son Ethan, she thought the Florida legislature would pass a law named in his honor as “Ethan’s Law” to allow local school officials to grant waivers so that children like Ethan, in medical emergency, would not be required to take the state test. Then Pam Stewart, the state commissioner, accused Andrea of trying to advance her “political agenda,”
Chicago’s Noble Charters Are Ignoble
A reader sent a brief summary of a story in today’s Chicago Tribune. I was unable to read more than the first paragraph because it is behind a paywall. Anyone who wishes to supply greater detail about the story, please send your summary or details. I have read elsewhere that the chain collects hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines every year from poor families for minor infractions. This is t
Florida Politicians Dishonor Ethan’s Memory
Florida politicians have hearts of stone. When 12-year-old Ethan Rediske lay dying in hospice, the state wanted him to take a mandated test. After his death, his mother Andrea sought passage of a law to protect children like Ethan from harassment by state bureaucrats. Ethan’s Law would have allowed local officials to waive the testing requirement for severely impaired children, instead of seeking
Florida: League of Women Voters Finds Charters Do Not improve Achievement
A study of s charter schools by the League of Women Voters in Florida found that they spend more on administration than public schools and they don’t get better academic results. “In Hillsborough, three charter schools that have opened since 2011 are owned by Charter Schools USA, a for-profit corporation, and these three alone enroll more than 20 percent of all charter students. In 2011, Woodmont
Hoover, Alabama: “I Just Want to Teach”
I encountered this article on Twitter, and a reader was kind enough to forward it in the comments section. http://ow.ly/vcl92 I Just Want to Teach…..Not Give Useless Tests: The Current Plight of Alabama’s Hoover City School Teachers Part One: Changes in the Elementary Program by Deborah G. Camp, Ph.D K-5 teachers at Hoover City Schools began the 2013-2014 with not only a classroom of new stu
Yong Zhao: The Secrets of China’s Success on PISA
In this post, Yong Zhao chastises Marc Tucker for admiring Chinese authoritarian education methods. Tucker, he says, praises China for its high standards and excellent exams, but he is wrong. This is part 2 of Yong Zhao’s critique of PISA. He calls this one “Gloryifying Educational Authoritarianism.”. His first was called “How Does PISA Put the Word At Risk? Romanticizing Misery.” The secret of C
What Do We Call Our Side? The Resistance
For the past decade or more, a bevy of very powerful people have savaged our nation’s public schools while calling themselves “reformers.” It is perfectly clear that they have no desire to “reform” our public schools but to privatize and monetize them. The Bush-Obama era of “measure and punish” has not reformed our public schools but has plunged them into unending disruption, demoralization, and u
A Message from a Teacher in Mexico
This comment came from a teacher in Mexico who read the post by a charter school teacher in a “no excuses” charter school. . She writes: “I am a kindergarten teacher in Mexico we belong to the so called third world and what you have described as a bad experience is what is happening here too. This kind of teaching has led us to a lack of values and a general violent citizenship. This is a wrong w
Why Are Ohio Charter Schools Different from Those in Other States?
Stephen Dyer, a former legislator, explains here why charters in Ohio are very different from those in some other states. The question he does not address is whether charters in other states operate as secretively and non-transparently as those in Ohio. Don’t expect to get an answer from the Obama administrations’ Department of Education, which loves the charter industry. We will have to wait for
LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH 4-6-14 Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all
Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all: Good News: You Will Never Need to Think for Yourself Again!Deborah Meier brought to my attention this series of workbooks that contain 180 days of Common Core worksheets in math and English. What a relief for anxious teachers! No more worrying about what to do. Here are the daily activities you need. No more planning or thinking. A