While Protesting School Closures and Conversions in Philadelphia, Weingarten Begs Congress for Expanded Support for Charter Schools
"It is critical that you adopt proposed amendments providing important safeguards to ensure that all students have equitable access to charter schools, and that charters are held to similar standards of accountability and transparency as traditional public schools." See the letter here.
Reading for points vs. reading for pleasure
Sent to the Christian Science Monitor, May 9, 2014The book popularity data from "What are kids reading? Books like 'Hunger Games,' but classics, too," (May 8) comes from reading done in preparation for tests, not reading for pleasure. The data comes from reading done as part of the Accelerated Reader (AR) program. AR sells tests that students take after reading a book. Students are award
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12th grade NAEP scores: Does the common core deserve the credit?
Sent to the Hartford Courant, May 7, 2014It is a premature to give the "new academic standards" of the common core credit for Connecticut's good performance on the 12th grade NAEP reading test ("State Students Excel On 'Nation's Report Card'," May 7). First, the improvement was not uniform: Grade 8 scores increased less than grade 12 scores, and grade 4 scores stayed the same a
Where Do TN Schools Stand After Two Decades of the Sanders VAM Fertilizer Treatment?
After two decades of value-added nonsense posing as a school improvement plan, 70 percent of Tennessee teachers are being evaluated based on test scores that belong to someone else, and the state's 12th graders are ranked one step from the basement in terms of proficiency in math and reading. With Bill Sanders now out to pasture, will his flawless algorithm for diverting attention away from educa
SPLC says don't read tacit support for Common Core into their condemnation of reactionary hate groups
"In short, the real literacy crisis occurs whenever we deploy a pedagogy that asks our students only to consume texts and not to produce them as well." — Richard E. Miller Profiteering members of the testing industrial complex, and right-of-center Democrats were quick to embrace the release of the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) report that correctly takes issue with right wing extrem
5-8-14 Schools Matter
Schools Matter: Where Do TN Schools Stand After Two Decades of the Sanders VAM Fertilizer Treatment?After two decades of value-added nonsense posing as a school improvement plan, 70 percent of Tennessee teachers are being evaluated based on test scores that belong to someone else, and the state's 12th graders are ranked one step from the basement in terms of proficiency in math and reading. With