Politico: Duncan Backs Away from Common Core, Maybe
Stephanie Simon writes in Politico.com that Arne Duncan is not really in favor of Common Core. Common what? Common who? Never heard of it. Ah, how soon politicians forget what they said last week, last month, last year. And they expect us to forget too. She writes: “COMMON CORE LOSES ITS BIGGEST CHEERLEADER: It was less than a year ago that Education Secretary Arne Duncan delivered a no-holds-bar
NYC Parent Rally Against Cuomo Charter Giveaway
Parent leaders from across Néw York City are rallying tomorrow at 4 pm to protest Governor Cuomo’s deal to give more space, more money, and free rent to the charters that enroll 6% of the children in the city’s schools. This giveaway to billionaire-funded charters occurs at the same time that many public are overcrowded, and class size is at its highest point in 15 years. BREAKING: Rally at NY P
Skeels Rebukes LA Times’ Klein for Late Awakening; I Disagree
Yesterday I gleefully reported that Karen Klein, who writes editorials about education for the Los Angeles Times, had opted her own daughter out of the state test. The Los Angeles Times has supported most aspects of what is called “reform ,” so I was glad to see that Klein had realized how the current overuse of testing had undermined the love of learning , not only for her child, but for all chil
Charter Students Used as Political Pawns in Illinois’ Legislative Battle
Charter schools regularly mobilize students and parents, put them on buses, and ship them to legislative hearings dressed in identical tee-shirts to lobby for more charter schools or more funding. This works to the benefit of the billionaire hedge fund managers who control these charters, as it expands their power to create even more racially segregated schools while boasting of their leadership i
NYC: Farina De-Emphasizes State Tests
In a big step forward for real school reform, Néw York City Schools Chancellor Carmen Farina announced that promotion would no longer be based in a single standardized test, but on multiple measures. This is a major change from the Bloomberg era, when test scores were the single most crucial determinant of whether students would be promoted or failed. Here is the announcement: CHANCELLOR FARIÑA A
Jersey Jazzman: Camden’s Disgraceful Exclusion of Special Education Students from Charters
Jersey Jazzman reports on Camden’s portfolio district plan. What does that mean? More charters. What is the secret of their success? Excluding children with disabilities. Excluding the kids with the highest needs. Doesn’t federal law prohibit this? Apparently this is not a priority for the U.S. Department of Education or the Obama administration. As hedge funders will sometimes acknowledge,
No $ for Newark Kids, But Lots of $$$ for Friends of Cami
Veteran journalist Bob Braun obtained a copy of Newark’s administrative payroll, and it is a shocker. Braun writes: “A third of Newark’s public school teachers face layoffs. The contracts of seven employee unions, including nurses, cafeteria workers, and laborers, have expired and the administration of state superintendent Cami Anderson refuses to settle. Counselors were laid off. Public schools
Brooklyn Teachers Saw the Common Core Tests, and They Say NO!
Parents are not allowed to see the Common Core tests. Teachers do see them. Here is what the teachers at PS 29 in Cobble Hill, Brooklyn, say about the tests. Dear Diane, WOOHOO! Don’t you feel we’ve reached a turning point? It is amazing to see all of the incredible acts of resistance bubbling up all over the country! Thank you, Michelle Kupper CEC 15 member Parent, PS 29 Brooklyn —- At PS 29 in
Ohio: Charters Keep Secrets Like….Who Runs Them, Where $$ Go
The mainstream press in Ohio is starting to take a closer look at charter schools, many of which are money pits for big donors to Governor John Kasich and the legislature. The Akron Beacon-Journal published a remarkable, three-part series on charters, looking closely at the peculiar financial operation of the for-profit White Hat management company. In this article, the reporter discovered that
John Thompson: Chetty and Kane Are Out of Touch with Real World
John Thompson, teacher and historian, here reviews the testimony in the Vergara trial of economists Raj Chetty and Tom Kane. They are believers in economic models for judging teacher quality. Thompson concludes they are seriously out of touch with the real world of teachers. Thompson reviews their testimony and writes: “Chetty, Kane, and other expert witnesses are assisting in an all-out assault
Anthony Cody on the False Promise of Standardization
Anthony Cody connects the dots. Bill Gates has invested more than $2 billion in promoting Common Core because he sees the need for a standard curriculum. When speaking to the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards, Gates explained that the standard electrical plug in all 50 states facilitated innovation. Cody shows how the Common Core makes possible a standard platform for all kinds o
Am I a Bad Teacher?
Arne Duncan, Raj Chetty, Eric Hanushek, John King, Kevin Huffman, John White, and Michael Johnston, and the other evaluation hawks did not think about this teacher when they said full steam ahead on evaluating teachers by student scores: Beth writes: “As Diane points out, teachers are already, and always have been, evaluated. Here is the problem: I am a special education teacher in an alternativ
New Group, Affiliated with Rhee’s StudentsFirst, Defends Common Core in New York
You know Common Core is in deep trouble when Michelle Rhee’s StudentsFirst creates a group to rally round the cause of high expectations. Somehow this new organization pretends to be antagonists to the union but the teachers’ unions have been generally supportive of Common Core. The criticism of the state’s rushed rollout has been nearly universal. Exactly what the demonstrators are supporting is
Songer: Why Common Core Is Wrong about What Students Should Read
Gerri K. Singer maintains that the Common Core standards misunderstands how students learn to read. In a previous post, she demonstrated that the reading levels of PARCC were set so high and were so unrealistic that they would cause a very high failure rate. New Research on Text Complexity – CCSS vs. Sound Educational Practice By: Gerri K. Songer, Education Chair – Illinois Township High School D
Yong Zhao: How PISA Misleads the World
In this fourth installment in his series of posts criticizing PISA, Yong Zhao examines the claim that low-income children in China outperformed the children of professional in the rest of the developed world. He begins with the shock value of the headlines, which are guaranteed to stir nationalistic fervor: “China’s poorest beat our best pupils”—The Telegraph (UK), 2-17-2014 “Children of Shangha
LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH 4-8-14 Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all
Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all: exas Superintendent Asks for Help in Stopping Failed VAMThis superintendent posted a request for help. I will be posting a summary of research on value-added-measurement later today. I think it is fair to say that while economists like VAM (they measure productivity), education researchers overwhelmingly oppose VAM because they kno