Marie Corfield: In Honor of Retiring Educators Everywhere
Marie Corfield, tireless advocate for children and teachers, prepared a speech to honor her retiring colleagues in Hunterdon County, New Jersey. She noted that on that night, the schools of New Jersey were losing 500 years of experience. Too many good teachers leaving, retiring. She writes: “Within the first 6 months of Christie’s first term the number of public school employees who filed for
A Lovely Review of David Greene’s Néw Book
We have had our fill of books about what’s wrong with our schools, most written by non-educators with an ax to grind. Fortunately there is a new genre of books now appearing, mostly from publishers willing to take a chance with a new author. This new genre consists of books written by experienced teachers, who tell about real life in real schools and offer insights into realistic ways to improve
New Mexico: Another VAM Disaster
Thus far, the concept of VAM–or value-added measurement–has an unbroken record of failure. Wherever it has been tried, it has proven to be inaccurate and unstable. Teacher and student records are erroneous. Teachers are judged based on students they never taught. VAM demoralizes teachers, who understand they are being judged for factors over which they have little or no control. The major perpetr
Yong Zhao: Shanghai May Drop Out of PISA, Not Interested in Being #1
This is stunning news from Yong Zhao of the University of Oregon. Zhao, who was born and educated in China, reports that Shanghai education officials may stop participation in PISA. Zhao, a critic of the international race for test scores, writes on his blog: ““Not interested in #1 on International Tests, Focusing on Reducing Academic Burden: Shanghai May Drop Out of PISA” is the headline of a
Heidi Nance: I Am Teacher, Hear Me Roar!
Heidi Nance, a teacher in El Paso, Texas, tells the story here of a decision that changed her life. She decided to stop pretending that policy and politics had nothing to do with her. She would stop passively supporting policies that she knew were wrong. She made a decision to become an active advocate for her children and her profession. She made a decision to take an active role in shaping event
Step Right Up and Buy Higher Test Scores. You Will Laugh Your Head Off!
This is one of the funniest YouTube videos I have ever seen (excluding a few about dogs and cats). I promise you, you will not be disappointed. Watch it and forward it to your superintendent or your school board. Remember how I always say that VAM is Junk Science. Here is one of the world’s leading assessment experts, and his message mocks VAM as just plain Junk. It features the great assessment
LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH 5-26-14 Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all
Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all: How Rahm Emanuel Favors Campaign Donors Over KidsThis post by Ken Previti directed me to a hugely important story that I had missed. David Sirota of Pando and Ben Joravsky of The Chicago Reader unearthed a story of money, politics , and greed that is startling. The headline is that Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s top donor bought a big bloc o