Oops — May Day Was Yesterday & I Forgot To Share My Updated “Best” List
Yesterday was May Day, or International Workers Day, and I forgot to post my updated “Best” list on the holiday. You might still find The Best Resources For Learning About May Day useful…
Just Updated List Of Best Online Teleprompters
When you, or your students, are making a videocast, having a script or notes appear on your screen could come in handy. I’ve just updated The Best Online Teleprompters, and people might find it handy.
New York City Parents: Join Press Conference on May 6 to Protest Lack of Charter School Accountability
Class Size Matters Please distribute to all parents! Parents and elected officials are holding a press conference Tuesday May 6 at Tweed to speak out against the new state law that gives any new and/or expanding charter free space either in our public school buildings or in private space paid for by the city . Meanwhile, many thousands of NYC public school students are sitting in vastly overcr
Leonie Haimson Corrects the Origin of ConnCAN
In an earlier post, I noted that the original branch of the rapidly growing 50CAN, NYCAN, and other charter-advocacy groups stemmed from ConnCAN. I said that ConnCAN, in Connecticut, was started by hedge fund managers, who are its usual supporters wherever it launches. I also pointed out (correctly) that in the psychiatric literature, the term CAN refers to “child abuse and neglect.” Leonie Haim
My Reply to Alexander Nazaryan of Newsweek
I received a tweet from Alexander Nazaryan, the author of the Newsweek piece rebuking Louis C.K. and defending the Common Core standards, asking me for a substantive critique of his article. OK, here goes. He begins by saying that Louis C.K. has a professional habit of being angry, which I suppose is meant to scoff at his anger and say that he should not be taken seriously. But then we get i
Randi: Without Major Corrections, the Common Core Standards Will Fail
Randi Weingarten sent representatives to the Pearson shareholder meeting in London to complain about the gag orders that keeps the tests secret, after they are administered. In a wide-ranging interview with Josh Eidelson in Salon, Rani reaffirmed her support for the Common Core but predicted that the rush to implement it has generated an anti-testing backlash that could cause it to fail. She als
Mike Rose Has Six Questions for Arne Duncan about Teacher Education
Secretary Arne Duncan recently announced his plan to judge teacher education programs by their “results,” including the test scores of the students taught by their graduates. If the Ed Schools can’t produce teachers who can raise test scores, Duncan said, they should go out of business. Spoken like a true businessman. Mike Rose, celebrated author and professor emeritus at UCLA, has six questions
Thank You, Louis C.K.!!! Just Posted on Huffington Post
Please read my commentary on what Louis C.K. has done to expand the debate about Common Core. It was just posted on Huffington Post at the top of the page. In my view, he has just smashed the carefully crafted narrative that the only critics of Common Core standards and tests are extremists of the right and left. Being a comedian with 3.3 million followers on Twitter gave him a platform. B
New York Parent-Educator Groups Call for Resignations of Commissioner John King and Regents Chair Merryl Tisch
This just in: FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: May 2, 2014 More Information Contact: Eric Mihelbergel (716) 553-1123; nys.allies@gmail.com Lisa Rudley (917) 414-9190; nys.allies@gmail.com New York State Allies for Public Education (NYSAPE) http://www.nysape.org NYS 3rd Grade Test Invalid, Chancellor Merryl Tisch & Education Commissioner John King Must Resign The leaders of the New York State Allies fo
Bruce Baker: Meet Arne Duncan’s Latest Nutty Idea
Bruce Baker can’t believe that Arne Duncan admires the Relay “Graduate” School of Education, where charter teachers grant masters’ degrees to their colleagues. This demeans the very concept of professionalism and graduate study. But it reveals Duncan’s essential contempt for education. What if Duncan were in charge of medical education (heaven forbid). Here is the Duncan model of medical educati
Robert Shepherd: The Comment that “Newsweek” Won’t Post
Robert Shepherd, experienced writer of curriculum, assessments, and textbooks, left the following comment on the “Newsweek” site in response to an attack on Louis C.K.’s critique of the Common Core standards. Instead of covering the commentary over Common Core, as one would expect of a newsmagazine, “Newsweek” has decided its role it to defend the standards and attack their critics. Shepherd has p
Audrey Amrein-Beardsley’s New Book on VAM Is Available
Audrey Amrein-Beardsley has just published a new book that explains value-added measurement (VAM). It is now available for pre-order. Having been a classroom teacher and now a university scholar, Beardsley takes a highly critical view of simplistic approaches to teacher evaluation. Here are her chapter headings. “Paperback: 256 pages; Chapters: 8 and titled as follows: Socially Engineering the
Why Powerful and Greedy Elites Scapegoat the Schools
Our economy is changing in ways that are alarming. Income inequality and wealth inequality are at their highest point in many decades; some say we are back to the age of the robber barons. Most of the gains in the economy since the great recession of 2008 have benefitted the 1%, or even the 1% of the 1%. The middle class is shrinking, and we no longer have the richest middle class in the world. Th
LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH 5-1-14 Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all
Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all: FairTest: Protests Against Testing Madness Continues to GrowThe following report comes from FairTest, which keeps track of news about testing a Ross the nation and advocates for sensible testing policies: This week’s stories about test protest and reform activities — as well as a few victories — come from more than a third of the s