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Under the dictator Pinochet, Chile became devoted to the free-market theories of libertarian economist Milton Friedman. It adopted a voucher system and embrace choice. Over the years, the schools experienced growing social segregation and little or no improvement. A vigorous and outraged student movement in Chile demanded changes. Just today, a news story appeared saying that Chile intends to end
Ras Baraka is a high school principal and City Council member in Newark. He is running for mayor of Newark against a candidate funded by hedge fund managers and corporate reformers. Baraka was endorsed by the Network for Public Education. Contact Frank Baraff (914) 469-3775 fbaraff@optonline.net For Release Friday, April 18th Baraka praises Ministers Fight for a Moratorium on One Newark School Reo
77 members of Newark’s clergy signed a joint statement to Cami Anderson, who was appointed by New Jersey Governor Chris Christie to run the schools of that city. Newark has been under state control for 20 years. Anderson’s “Ne Newark” plan will close many public schools and turn them over to charter corporations. Anderson refuses to attend meetings of the elected (but powerless) school board becau
Schneider to David Brooks: Common Core Does Not Encourage Opinion Writing Like Yours (UPDATE)
On Friday, Néw York Times’ columnist David Brooks wrote a column excoriating critics of the Common Core standards as “clowns.” He didn’t seem aware that his personal opinion piece, devoid of documentation other than anecdotes, is precisely the kind of writing that David Voleman abhors. In his most famous statement about the Common Core, Coleman said that when you grow up, no one gives a &$@&am
Abby White is a junior at Shaker Heights High School in Ohio and an editor at her high school newspaper. She researched the Common Core, read the standards, interviewed faculty, and developed her own views about their strengths and weaknesses. She wrote this article for her school newspaper, the Shakerite. She has done more research than many newspaper reporters, who like to quote what people sa
Advocates for school choice like to say they believe in a free market in education. They say, let the consumer choose, let the market decide. And with this ideology, they merrily seek to undermine public education. But is there a free market? I received this comment from a reader: “There is absolutely nothing “free market competitive” about the charter school movement. The only thing they are co
Did Brandeis Abandon its Commitment to Debate and Reason?
Jon Zimmerman is a colleague of mine at New York University and a fellow historian of education. He uses his deep knowledge of history to write on many topics. He is amazingly prolific. Zimmerman writes: NEWSDAY April 16, 2014 Brandeis Betrays its Educational Mission Jonathan Zimmerman In 1949, Wayne State University president David Henry blocked an invited speaker from appearing on campus. The
Robert Shepherd: A Tribute to David Coleman
From our friend Robert Shepherd, who may have watched the famous video in which David Coleman–architect of the Commin Core standards, now President of the College Board, which administers the SAT, original treasurer if Muchelle Rrhee’s StudentsFirst–uttered his immortal line about how no one “gives a &@(@” what you feel or think. This was his strong denunciation of personal expository writing.
Carol Burris: Please DON’T Stay the Course
Award-winning high school principal Carol Burris reports here on Arne Duncan’s latest foray into New York, where he highly praised the state’s controversial Commissioner of Education John King, disparaged disgruntled educators and parents as a mere distraction, and urged the state to “stay the course.” Burris, a leader in the effort to expose and reverse some of the worst aspects of Race to the T
YESTERDAY
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
APR 17
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:
APR 16
Elizabeth Warren and I
I have recently read that Senator Elizabeth Warren is a supporter of school vouchers. This made people who despise public schools, like certain hedge fund managers, tingle with joy. At last, a progressive who is as contemptuous of public education as they are! At last, someone who will support their efforts to dismantle our nation’s precious democratic institution whose doors are open to all. Abo
Peter Schrag Reviews the Vergara Case
Peter Schrag has written sensibly about education issues for many years. In this article, he analyzes the complexities of the Vergara trial, in which a rich and powerful coalition of corporate reformers are trying to eliminate due process rights for teachers. In the end, he argues, the outcome of the trial won’t change much for poor kids. If the plaintiffs win, some very good veteran teachers may
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 that students were spending “less than 1%” of the school year, which is sort of an odd way to explain (defend) 7 hours of testing for little chil
Kurt Vonnegut: How to Get a Real Education
In 2006, Xavier High School students wrote letters to their favorite authors, inviting them to visit their school. Kurt Vonnegut–then 84–was the only one to reply. He wrote a letter explaining that he was too old to make the visit, but he offered them sound advice about how to get a real education. Please read his letter. Among other things, it speaks to the current obsession with bonuses and
How Many Tests Must a High School Teacher in New Jersey Give?
In this post, New Jersey high school teacher Dan Ferat reflects on how many tests he is now required to give to his students, as compared to ten years ago. Here is a sample, read it all: So, in only ten years, we have gone from students taking five exams per year (six for juniors with the HSPA) to 34 exams per year (30 for seniors) with many more in sight because there will be a PARCC for EVER
What Would Cesar Chavez Say About the “Reformers”?
One of the most absurd conceits of the “reformers” is that they are leaders of the civil rights movement of our time. They bust unions. They strip teachers of hard-won due process rights. They include in their ranks the titans of Wall Street. How long can they pretend that they have any common ground with Martin Luther King Jr., who died while helping the sanitation workers of Memphis who wanted a
APR 15
Robert Berkman: Another Nail in the Coffin on VAM
A few days ago, I published a post about a paper by Kirabo Jackson, explaining that the non-cognitive effects of teachers are often more important than the test scores of their students. As it happened, mathematician Robert Berkman read the paper and explains here why it is another nail in the coffin of value-added measures, which judge teacher quality by the rise or fall of student test scores.
Mr. Gradgrind and the Common Core ELA Standards
Joanne Yatvin, who served for many years as a teacher and principal in Oregon, is a literacy expert. She here expresses her view of the Common Core English Language Arts standards. What the Dickens is Education All About? Did you know that Charles Dickens denounced the Common Core Standards more than 150 years ago and didn’t think much of the value of higher education either? In his 1854 novel
Matthew Di Carlo Disagrees with Michelle Rhee on Testing
A while back, Michelle Rhee had an article published under her name in the Washington Post criticizing parents who opt thir children out of state testing. Her main reason seemed to be that parents won’t know whether he school is doing a good job unless they see standardized test scores. Matt Di Carlo, no fan of he opt out movement, here takes issue with Rhee. She doesn’t understand the purpose of
Jack Schneider: Teachers Are Not the Problem
Jack Schneider, a historian of education at the College of Holy Cross, deconstructs the claim that the biggest problem in education today is the quality of teachers. The clarion s of the Status Quo never tire of telling us that “great” teachers can turn every student into college-bound scholars. For a time, they said that the teacher was the most important influence on student test scores. Then, a
Matt Taibbi and David Sirota: Why Is Your Pension in Jeopardy?
We hear the same refrain across the nation: public sector pensions are destroying our economy. The modest pensions paid to teachers, police officers, firefighters, and social workers are a threat to our future. Matt Taibbi examined these claims in this article in Rolling Stone. Read it and weep or rage or get active to stop the zillionaire’s from looting the hard-earned pensions of public sector
David Gamberg: At a Crossroads for Education
David Gamberg, superintendent of two neighboring school districts in Long Island–Southold and Greenport–has taken the lead in trying to forge a vision for the renewal of public education. He is one of the brave superintendents who have organized meetings with his peers, with fellow citizens, with other educators, to think about how to improve the public schools. He, along with his fellow superinte
Rocketship Charters Have a Bumpy Ride in Nashville: Follow the Money
Rocketship Charters are planning to open in Nashville and Memphis, but there have been a few problems along the way. Lisa Fingeroot of the Nashville Ledger writes that the for-profit corporation,which relies on computers to cut costs, has experienced a dramatic decline in its test scores in the past few years. Once hailed as the “next big thing” because of its high scores, that reputation has melt
APR 14
Corporate Reformers in L.A. Try Agsin for Mayoral Control
A commission by a group called Los Angeles 2020 called for mayoral control of the public schools, blaming low test scores on the elected school board. The commission seems to think that getting rid of democracy will solve the children’s academic problems. In z curious contradiction, the commission commended Superintendent John Deasy, the official most responsible for policies that affect test scor
BREAKING NEWS: Experienced Teachers Get Better Results!
An editorial in the Los Angeles Times says that experienced teachers get better results than inexperienced teachers! It might seem too obvious to be a headline, but the fake reformers have railed against “last-in-first-out” and veteran teachers for years. Those “reformers” insist that the veterans are burned out while the new teachers are great on Day One. There is even a lawsuit in Los Angeles t
D.C.: Will Neighborhood Schools Become Obsolete?
This thoughtful article by Emma Brown in the Washington Post shows the debates in the District of Columbia about the future or the demise of neighborhood schools. Some see the neighborhood school as a relic of the past, with school choice being the wave of the future. Others think of the neighborhood school as the heart of the community, where children and parents walk to school together, plan tog
Peter Greene: How a “Reluctant Warrior” Can Stand Up and Fight
Peter Greene, high school teacher in Pennsylvania, read Anthony Cody’s article about teachers taking action, and he remembered why he had been reluctant when he should have spoken out. Then he realized that the time had come to speak up and not allow his profession to be diminished by uninformed critics. In this post, he gives practical advice about how teachers must overcome their reluctance and
Paul Thomas: The War on Teachers in the Age of Value-Added
Paul Thomas follows Anthony Cody’s previously cited post by describing the unrelenting attack on teachers, which has intensified with the use of statistically inappropriate measures. He writes: “As Cody notes above, however, simultaneously political leaders, the media, and the public claim that teachers are the most valuable part of any student’s learning (a factually untrue claim), but that hig
Anthony Cody: Teachers, It is Time to Wake Up and Fight Back Against the Machine
Anthony Cody here describes teachers as “reluctant warriors,” as men and women who chose a profession because they wanted to teach, not to engage in political battles over their basic rights as professionals. The profession is under attack, as everyone now knows. Pensions are under attack. The right to due process is under attack. The policymakers want inexperienced, inexpensive teachers who won
Valerie Strauss: the Real Losers in the de Blasio-Moskowitz Charter Battle
Valerie Strauss clearly explains who were the losers in the bruising battle between the billionaires and de Blasio: students with disabilities.
Dallas: “Support Our Public Schools” Does Not Mean Support Our Public Schools
In Dallas, billionaire John Arnold is supporting an initiative to turn the whole district into a “home rule district” or a “charter district.” The organization that is collecting signatures has a typical reformer name: “Support Our Public Schools.” When today’s reformers say they want to “support our public schools,” it usually means the opposite. Buyer beware. But what is a home rule district
New Study Finds That Early Childhood Care and Education Has Lasting Effects
This article reports on a long-term study of the lasting effects of early childhood education. The article is misleadingly titled “Project to Improve Poor Children’s Intellect Led to Better Health, Data Shows.” But the study involved far more than improving young children’s intellect. “In 1972, researchers in North Carolina started following two groups of babies from poor families. In the fi
APR 13
A Note About My Schedule
In an earlier post, I shared with you the fact that I took a bad fall, landed on my knee, and tore the ACL ligament. The MRI showed the damage was even more extensive than it first seemed. I not only tore my ACL, I managed to take out several other ligaments as well that provide stability. So much for enthusiasm and striving boldly into the challenges of life. As a result, this is the new schedul
Please Help Send EduShyster to Camp Philos!
EduShyster needs our help to go to Camp Philos to hear the great thoughts of such brilliant educational philosophers as Governor Andrew Cuomo, Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson (Michelle Rhee’s husband), Senator Mary Landrieu of Louisiana, and Whatz-is-name the mayor of Denver. She has raised $600. She needs $400 more. I made a contribution. Will you? EduShyster promises to share with us all she le
Sara Stevenson: Watch Out, Texas: VAM Is a Sham
Sara Stevenson, librarian at O. Henry Middle School in Austin, published an article in the Austin American-Statesman, written as a warning to Texas Education Commissioner Michael Williams. The article appeared on April 11, amd it is behind a paywall is I have no link. Stevenson did an excellent job of reviewing the research literature on value-added measurement and warned Commissioner Williams tha
Paul Thomas: Cynicism or Skepticism about the Obama Education Agenda?
Paul Thomas has been a consistent critic of the Obama education policies of standards, testing, accountability, choice, competition. Rightly so, since those policies are no different from those of the Bush era, only worse. He now wonders if the administration’s criticism of zero tolerance might be a hopeful turn. But he does not note that the administration does not associate “zero tolerance
Vivian Connell Asks for Your Support
A while back, I posted a moving statement by Vivian Connell about her discovery that she has ALS (Lou Gehrig’s Disease) and a limited life-span. I called it “Vivian Connell: The Face of a Hero,” recognizing the grace and dignity with which she was facing a dread diagnosis. She wrote about her plans to do good works in whatever time was left to her, and one of her goals was to take a group of stude
Peter Greene on Arne’s Néw Message
Peter Greene has a large appetite for listening to our educational leaders. In this post, he describes speeches given by Arne Duncan and John King, defending the status quo. They want all children tested, they all teachers evaluated by test scores. They want everyone to stop making so much noise. They want everyone to listen to them. Now. As Greene puts it, Arne’s new message is: “Shut up.”
Billionaires Rule! How Governor Cuomo and Hedge Fund Managers Protected Charter Schools
I am late posting this article because it appeared about the time I started dealing with health issues (a bad fall that took out the ACL in my left knee). It deserves wide reading because it is an accurate portrait of the money and power behind the charter school movement. I commend the writers, Javier C. Hernandez and Susanne Craig for getting the story that took place behind closed doors in Alb
Ohio: Extremists in Legislature Seek to Change Constitution
Just when you think the attacks on public education can’t get worse, some rightwing legislature has a new bad idea. It is probably intended to pave the way for more money for charters, vouchers, and the online industry, which make generous campaign contributions to the GOP. Did this come from ALEC? The following report comes from Bill Phillis of the Ohio Equity and Adequacy Coalition, which fight
Leo Casey: Is New York the Mississippi of Our Time?
Leo Casey, director of the Albert Shanker Institute, writes here about the recent report of the UCLA Civil Rights Project. That report found that Néw York has the most racially segregated schools in the nation. Casey writes: “Last month saw the publication of a new report, New York State’s Extreme School Segregation, produced by UCLA’s highly regarded Civil Rights Project. It confirmed what New
APR 12
Florida Teacher Donates $400 Bonus to NPE to Fight VAM and Ither Failed Reforms!
Kim Cook, a first-grade teacher in Florida, received a bonus of $400. She donated it to the Network for Public Education to fight the failed ideas of corporate reform, which prevail in her state. She is the second teacher to donate their bonus to NPE to fight fake reforms that demean teachers and distort education. Not long ago, Kevin Strang, an instrumental music teacher from Florida, donated hi
BREAKING NEWS: American Statistical Association Issues Caution on Use of VAM
The central feature of the Obama administration’s $5 billion “Race to the Top” program was sharply deconstructed and refuted last week by the American Statistical Association, one of the nation’s leading scholarly organizations. Spurred on by the administration’s combination of federal cash and mandates, most states are now using student test scores to rank and evaluate teachers. This method of ev
David Berliner on PISA and Poverty
Since there is always a lot of chatter about what international tests scores mean, I invited David Berliner to share his views. Berliner is one of our nation’s pre-eminent scholars of education. Dear Diane, A few weeks ago you asked me a question about recent PISA test results and the role that is played by poverty in the scores of the USA and other countries. As I understand it PISA doesn’t
EduShyster: What if the “Solution” Turns Out to be a Problem?
In this post on EduShyster’s always enlightening blog, goest blogger Sarah Lahm in Minneapolis examines one of the central claims of the Status Quo Reform crowd: They say that teachers should have no job protections so that it is easier to get rid of veterans (who are presumably burned out and lazy) and replace them with fresh-faced, inexperienced teachers whose expectations are supposed to produc
Advice for a Parent Confused about the Testing
A reader explains how the states’ demand for standardized testing may do harm to gifted children: “For highly gifted children, sometimes called highly sensitive children, who have high spatial intelligence, this testing is a nightmare. They will usually have signs of ADD or ADHD by 2nd or 3rd grade. That does not mean they have a disorder, but are just wired differently. They are the ones who will
Peter Greene: Do Not Eat That Poop Sandwich!
Peter Greene tries in this post to understand how “reformers” market bad ideas wrapped in good rhetoric. It is what he calls a “poop sandwich.” He thinks a bit more about grit, which everyone thinks is a good thing. But he recognizes that something else is being marketed and sold with an attractive wrapper. This is typical of what is deceptively called “reform” today. The privatizers couldn’t go t
