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Several readers asked whether my reply to Alexander Nazaryan of Newsweek would be reposted where more readers might see it. Nazaryan took Louis C.K. to task for criticizing Common Core. I explained patiently to Alexander why I agreed with Louis. Happily, Valerie Strauss saw the post (which I spend a few hours writing at a time when I should have been icing my damaged knee), and she reposted in on
Mercedes Schneider’s hard-hitting new book–A Chronicle of Echoes: Who’s Who in the Implosion of American Public Educations–which explores the persons and organizations behind the attacks on public education– was officially published on April 22 by Information Age Publishing. She has no public relations campaign, no marketing budget, no press release, no press conferences, no webinars, no flyers, j
In an earlier post, I referred to ConnCan, the organization that was the inspiration for 50CAN and lots of state CANS. I said it was founded by hedge fund managers. Leonie Haimson then wrote in and corrected me, saying it was founded by Jonathan Sackler. Now comes Jonathan Pelto of Connecticut to set us both straight. He says we are both right. Here is the story of the origin of ConnCAN: Jonat
This article by Emma Sokoloff-Rubin, posted at NY’s Chalkbeat, describes a course where students debate a proposition. They are asked to argue about ideas and explain their views. The course has been taught for nearly two decades at Urban Academy, one of the two dozen or so New York City Performance Assessment Consortium high schools that are exempt from most state tests. The argument of the day:
Mercedes Schneider reports the news: Pearson has won the contract for the Common Core test called PARCC. Remember all the promises about how national standardization would clear the way for competition and innovation? Why does it look instead like monopolization? Why are we not surprised? She writes: “Here is the reality of “free market competition” in this time of unprecedented education pro
Bias in Reporting at Chalkbeat?
Chalkbeat is a news organization that covers New York City and recently expanded to Memphis. It was previously called Gotham Schools. Daniel Katz of Seton Hall University recently complained that Chalkbeat is biased in favor of charter schools. He notes that it is funded by the Gates Foundation and the Walton Foundation, both of which are strong supporters of charter schools. Katz quotes a letter
Teach for America: Is the Magic Gone?
This article in The Hechinger Report looks at the current turmoil surrounding Teach for America. It is sending young people to take jobs away from experienced teachers. There is a growing movement to resist TFA on college campuses, started by young people who aim for a career in teaching, not a bullet point on their resume. Meanwhile, the key staff jobs in Congress are held by former members of TF
What Happens When a Retired Superintendent Has Common Sense
Howard Malfucci is a retired superintendent. On his blog, which he calls “Common Sense NY,” he deconstructs the claims of an active superintendent who is defending Common Core. Are we really swamped by failure? Isn’t it important to look closely at who is failing to finish high school and why they are not? Why assume they are failing to graduate because the standards were too low? To the cla
YESTERDAY
Louis C.K. Sounds Off Against Common Core Testing on Letterman Show
This is hilarious. Comedian Louis C.K. was interviewed about the Common Core by David Letterman. This is my favorite line: “He told Letterman he’s trying to help his daughters with their math work, but the questions are just nonsense like “Bill has three goldfish. He buys two more. How many dogs live in London?” When Common Core becomes a national joke, you know it is in serious trouble.
A Triumphant Return to Professionalism in New York City
A New Contract, A New Beginning The other day the largest teacher union in the nation (New York City’s United Federation of Teachers) and the New York City Department of Education reached a ground breaking agreement on a new contract. Subject to approval by union members, this agreement should explode many of the myths that corporate education reformers like to spread about teacher unions. It show
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
MAY 01
Peter Greene Knocks Newsweek for Mocking Louis C.K.
Peter Greene, in his inimitable style, takes apart a Newsweek writer who mocks the comedian Louis C.K. The aforementioned Mr. C.K. had the nerve to criticize Common Core. As is well known by now, the Common Core supposedly teaches critical thinking. But the one thing you are not allowed to think critically about is the Common Core. If you dare to do so, you will be called an extremist of right or
More on Houston Lawsuit Challenging VAM Methods to Evaluate Teachers
As readers of this blog know, using value-added-assessment is a very poor way to gauge teacher quality. The research and evidence do not support this methodology. Teacher quality cannot be judged by computers. Test scores reflect only a small part of what teachers do. And as the American Statistical Association recently said, teachers account for about 1-16% of the variation in test scores, yet th
Rebecca Mead: Why Louis C.K.’s Complaints about Common Core Matter
Thank goodness at least one prominent journalist in the mainstream media sends her child to public school! At Rebecca Mead’s public school, two-thirds of the children opted out of the state tests aligned to Common Core. So Mead understands the frustration of the comedian Louis C.K., whose tweets about the Common Core tests went viral. Louis C.K. had more than 3 million Twitter followers so w
State-Appointed Superintendent of Camden: I Represent the People of Camden
Professor Stephen Danley of Rutgers has been attending the school board meetings in Camden. Camden has been under state control for many years. Its new, young, inexperienced Superintendent Paymon Rouhanifard wants to turn Camden’s public schools into charter schools. There is no evidence that the people of Camden want him to give their children and schools to charter corporations, but no one can s
Why the Tech Industry Loves Common Core
A teacher sent the following comment in reference to the requirement that all Common Core testing must be done online. Schools will lay off teachers and cut programs and services to pay for technology for testing: “My campus has 1200 students and 32 computers in the lab. You do the math. We have to buy HUNDREDS of new computers, so that our primary-aged kids can take a test in the spring. Our dis
FairTest: Protests Against Testing Madness Continues to Grow
The 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 states, as the movement continues to spread, intensify and gain more clout. Four Reasons Why Alabama Parents Want to Opt Their
Jersey Jazzman: New Jersey Sends Bradford to New York
New Jersey is sharing its riches. Darrell Bradford, formerly of a billionaire-funded group called B4Kids, will move to New York to become CEO of NYCan. This is another of those fake “reform” groups that advocates for privatization as the cure for poverty and the surefire way to get rid of unions. Jersey Jazzman knows him well and describes his role in advocating for vouchers. The origin of these C
The Story of Houston Teachers Suing District’s Test-based Evaluation System
Here is the story of the Houston Seven, the teachers suing to invalidate the evaluations based on student tests scores. How nutty is this? “Andrew Dewey is an award-winning history teacher at Carnegie Vanguard High School in Houston. In 2011-12, he earned the top merit pay award that his school district gives out and had “most effective” teacher status through a controversial evaluation system t
Michael Teitelbaum: STEM and American Hysteria
Michael S. Teitelbaum, author of a new book called “Falling Behind? Boom, Bust, and the Global Race for Scientific Talent,” writes in the Los Angeles Times that claims of a shortage of scientists and engineers are exaggerated. He reminds us that there have been at least five cycles of hand-wringing since the end of World War II about our alleged technological decline. The reality, he argues, is th
APR 30
Bob Braun: Cry, Cry for Newark
Bob Braun has written one of the most moving, powerful critiques I have ever read of the heartless destruction of neighborhood public schools. What is it all about? To quote Braun: “money and power and greed.” He writes: “Sad. There’s a word rarely heard in the context of the state’s war on Newark’s neighborhood public schools. Sad. Yet the story of how a cruelly tone-deaf state bureaucrat named
NY Passes Law to Limit Test Prep. What a Joke!
New York passed a law to limit test prep, but it won’t make any difference. Because high-stakes are attached to the tests, who will dare to limit test prep? Teachers and principals will be evaluated and possibly fired based on the scores. Schools may be closed based on the scores. The test prep will go on, as frenzied as ever. Only the NY legislature would be so naive as to believe that passing a
Mercedes Schneider’s New Book on Corporate Reform Now Available
Mercedes Schneider’s new book on corporate reform is now available. Its title is “A Chronicle of Echoes: Who’s Who in the Implosion of American Public Education.” This is the description on amazon: “”Corporate reform” is not reform at all. Instead, it is the systematic destruction of the foundational American institution of public education. The primary motivation behind this destruction is gre
Seven Houston Teachers Suing Over Flawed VAM Ratings
Seven teachers in Houston are suing the district over the use of test-score-based evaluations. Good for them! As a K-12 graduate of HISD, I am proud of these teachers for standing up for their profession. I hope they will introduce as evidence the recent statement of the American Statistical Association cautioning about the limitations of VAM, as well as the joint statement of the National Acade
Help Ras Baraka Now!!!!
Ras Baraka is in a tough fight for Mayor of Newark, New Jersey. The hedge fund managers have poured into the campaign more than $1 million–that has been reported–to defeat him and to turn over more public schools and children to corporate charter chains. Please help save public education in Newark by supporting Ras Baraka. Ras is a high school principal and a member of the Newark City Council. P
TeacherKen Writes a Letter to President and Mrs. Obama (LINK ADDED)
TeacherKen is a veteran social studies teacher who has a passion for teaching and a passion for justice. He wrote a letter to the President and Mrs. Obama, politely asking them to reflect on what they want for their own children and what they are inflicting on the nation’s children. I don’t think he used the word “inflict,” but how else to describe the federal mandates that impose endless hours o
Peter Greene Explains Why Cami Hates Democracy
Peter Greene, a man of infinite patience, watched a video in which Cami Anderson explains why she has the right to tell everyone in Newark what to do without listening to their opinions. She compares herself to her sister, who is a surgeon. Her sister doesn’t ask the opinion of nobodies; she does what she has to do to save the patient’s life. Greene points out to Cami that her sister is a highly
Jersey Jazzman: Did NPR Sell Out to the Walton Family Foundation?
Jersey Jazzman heard NPR describe the reason that Washington State refused to bow to Arne Duncan’s demand that the sate use test scores to evaluate teacher quality. It wasn’t because the methodology has no evidence behind it. It wasn’t because the method has been questioned by theNational Academy of Education, the American Educational Research Association, the American Statistical Association, a
How Charter School Managers Succeed Fabulously in Busine$$
A few years ago, I was alerted to the phenomenal success of an entrepreneur-lawyer in Pennsylvania named Vahan Gureghian. With a bit of googling, I learned that he had opened a charter school in Chester County, Pennsylvania, that enrolled 2,600 students, half the district’s children. Consequently, the district was plunged into bankruptcy, unable to make its payroll, and Governor Corbett appointed
HS Teachers Will Boycott NYC Test May 1
This just in: FOR PLANNING PURPOSES: April 29, 2014 CONTACT: Emily Giles, e.giles@ihsph.org, (917) 575-2936 Emily Wendlake, emilywendlake@gmail.com, (413) 657-7255 Rosie Frascella, r.frascella@ihsph.org, (917) 767-1001 Anita Feingold-Shaw, afeingoldshaw@gmail.com, (510) 872-1712 ############ **Media Advisory** ############ 26 Teachers and Staff of International High School at Prospect Height
Carol Burris: The Danger Done by “Fools with Tools”
Carol Burris here explains the deep, dark secret of standardized testing. Whoever is in charge decides what the passing mark is. The passing mark is the “cut score.” Those in charge can decide to create a test that everyone passes because the cut score is so low and the questions so simple, or they can create a test that everyone fails. In fact, because of field testing, the test makers know with
John Thompson: Who Does More Damage to Public Education: The Tea Party or Arne Duncan?
John Thompson raises a provocative and important question: who is inflicting more damage on teachers and students? Tea Party extremists like North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory or Secretary of Education Arne Duncan? Thompson, a teacher and historian, describes the assault on teachers in North Carolina, whose governor and Legislature seem determined to destroy public education by expanding voucher
Teacher: I Will NOT Resign!
A letter from a teacher. He echoes my sentiments exactly. Stay and fight. Resist. Don’t let the teacher-bashers win. Not only are teachers “in the trenches,” but now teachers are engaging in trench warfare, holding on to their professional ethics and fighting for their students against powerful forces. Be there when the whole phony “ed reform” ideology collapses, as it will. Here is good advice:
APR 29
Offensive TV Program “Bad Teacher” Canceled
Good news! Obnoxious TV program –”Bad Teacher”-/slandering an entire profession was canceled. One reader described it as the TV equivalent of “Waiting for Superman.” ******** Randi put out this statement, which is how I learned about it. For Immediate Release April 29, 2014 AFT’s Weingarten on Discovery’s Decision to Cancel ‘Bad Teacher’ Washington—Statement of AFT President Randi Weingarten on D
Celebrity Comedian’s Common Core Rage on Twitter Goes Viral
Louis C.K. Is a comedian with a huge following. He has more than 3 million followers on Twitter. More important, he has two young daughters in the New York City public schools. He vented his rage against the Common Core tests in. Series of tweets that have now been reported in many new après. This one appeared in Salon Here is a story in the New York Daily News. Here is the New York Post. I noti
Student Power in Providence!
There are two groups that can’t be attacked by corporate reformers as greedy and self-interested: parents and students. The fake reformers automatically dismiss the voices if educators, but they can’t dismiss parents and students. No, wait, Arne Duncan ridiculed parents in Néw York as “white suburban moms” who were disappointed to find out their children weren’t so bright after all. But so far h
Thank You! Vivian Connell’s Trip is Fully Funded!
The blog has had a few posts about Vivian Connell (see here and here and here,) who left teaching in North Carolina to go to law school; graduated with honors, then learned she had ALS (Lou Gehrig’s Disease) and only a few years to live. Vivian has returned to teaching and decided that she wanted to make her time count. She started a fund to take a class of 32 children to the U. S. Holocaust Mem
Who Wrote the Common Core Standards. part 2
Mercedes Schneider continues in her task to determine who wrote the Common Core State Standards. The first work group had 24 members; the second had 101. Very few in either group were teachers. The standards were produced in remarkably short order. Typically, it takes years to write state standards when major stakeholders are part of the process. So was ther. Secret 24? A secret 101? Or, as some t
Bruce Baker: The Magical Secrets of Awesomeness
The charter sector is riddled with fraud. The fraud gets uncovered whenever you see a charter claiming a miraculous success with poor, inner-city kids who are identical to the kids in the neighboring failing public schools. When they boast of their 100% graduation rates or their 100% passing rates on state tests, look behind the curtain. Watch a master at work as Bruce Baker pulls back the curtai
Why is Greenwich Lying to Its Parents?
Sarah Darer Littman is a journalist in Connecticut who writes frequently about education. She is a public school parent. She wrote this post in response to an email sent to all public school parents by the superintendent of schools in Greenwich: “When I was growing up, my parents had Dorothy Law Nolte’s poem Children Learn What They Live hanging in the wall in our house. A few lines: If children
Kindergarten Show Canceled so Children Can Get “College-and-Career-Ready
Yes, you read that right. School officials in Elwood, Néw York, canceled a kindergarten play scheduled for May 14-15 because it would take time away from getting the little tykes “college-and-career ready.” Washington Post journalist Valerie Strauss called the school for confirmation. It sounded too crazy to be true. But it is factual. The interim principal sent a letter to parents of children i
APR 28
Anthony Cody: It Is Time for Bill Gates to Throw in the Towel
Anthony Cody points out that for the past dozen years or so, Bill Gates has had his fun experimenting with education reform. Obsessed as he is with measurement and data, he imagined that he could impose his narrow ideas on American public schools and bring about a magical transformation. Does American education need reform and improvement? Absolutely. Stuck as it is in the paradigm of testing and
Politico: Rightwing Authors Warn: Watch Out for Teachers, They Are Obstacles to Our Reforms
Politico reports this morning: “WATCH OUT FOR TEACHERS: Harvard professor Paul E. Peterson is out with a new book urging Americans not to be lulled into thinking of teachers as regular folk. On the contrary, he writes in “Teachers versus the Public,” they’re part of a large and powerful special interest group — and their interests often diverge from the public’s. “We tend to think of teachers as
EduShyster: The Waltons Love Little Children, Not Their Parents
After reading in the New York Times about how many gazillions the Walton family has given to create charter schools (and vouchers) so that poor children can escape from failing public schools, EduShyster was deeply moved by their charitable impulses. And then she thought about their parents, the ones who work for Walmart. She writes: “Tough love “I will stop briefly for a moment, reader, to all
Will Jonathan Pelto Run for Governor of Connecticut?
On issues related to education, Connecticut’s Governor Dannell Malloy is one of the worst governors in the nation. Jonathan Pelto, who served in the state legislature, is considering a run against Malloy. Pelto knows that Malloy has repeatedly let down students, parents, teachers, and communities. Malloy has followed the money–the hedge fund money–which supports charter schools for the few. Pelt
Jeff Bryant in Salon: Why Common Core Is in Deep Trouble
Jeff Bryant is a marketing and communications expert, and he understands why Common Core is in deep trouble. The “education reform movement” is not really a movement. It has no mass base. It is a public relations campaign created by a very small number of people with deep pockets. They thought they could pull a fast one. But the American public is not buying. The fake “reformers” made claims
Randi Weingarten on the Real Retirement Crisis
In one of her very best articles, AFT President Randi Weingarten names the real retirement crisis. Many American workers, having paid into pension funds, will retire into a life of poverty because of a campaign to wipe out defined benefit pension plans. Randi writes: “America has a retirement crisis, but it’s not what some people want you to believe it is. It’s not the defined benefit pension pl
Mercedes Schneider: Who Are the 24 People Who Wrote the Common Core Standards?
A few days ago, I posted the names of the members of the “work groups” that wrote the Common Core standards. There was one work group for English language arts and another for mathematics. There were some members who served on both work groups. Altogether, 24 people wrote the Common Core standards. None identified himself or herself as a classroom teacher, although a few had taught in the past (
Susan Ochshorn: Will Little Children Be Sucked into the Academic Vortex?
Susan Ochshorn rightly worries that the current policy craze for universal pre-kindergarten will push developmentally inappropriate practices into the early years. Kindergarten will become what first grade used to be, and four-year-olds will be expected to read and take standardized tests. Ochshorn writes: “Fast-forward to the polar vortex of 2014. Nerissa Ediza’s tweet, on February 1, says it a
APR 27
Breaking News: For-Profit Charter Corporation Out in Muskegon Heights, Michigan
It seems like only yesterday that Governor RickSnyder appointed an emergency manager for the public schools of Muskegon Heights, which were running a deficit. The emergency manager turned the district over to Mosaica, a for-profit charter chain. But Mosaica didn’t make a profit, instead they ran a deficit, and their contract has been canceled“. “Muskegon Heights Public Schools Emergency Manager
Michael Fiorillo: Reformers’ Game Plan
Reader Michael Fiorillo deciphers the corporate reformers’ game plan: The Final Solution to the Teacher Question: - Proclaim austerity for the public schools, while continuing to expand charters. - Create incentives for non-educators to be in positions of power, from Assistant Principal on up. - Maintain a climate of scapegoating and witch hunting for “bad teachers,” who are posited as the cause o
NY Times: Walton Family Foundation Funds Charter Movement
Readers if this blog have long known that the Billionaires Boys Club has pledged its allegiance to the privatization of American public education. Among the Billionaires Boys Club, we include the Gates Foundation, the Broad Foubdation, the Walton Family Foundatioon, and hedge fund managers. They are allied with ALEC and other rightwing “think” tanks, all of which are in live with charters and vouc
Another Charter School Failure in Philadelphia
Philadelphia has experienced a long string of charter school failures. Here is another one, in trouble both financially and academically. Yet The business and civic leadership, egged on by the Boston Consulting Group, wants to close more public schools and open more charter schools. Haven’t they figured out that deregulation and lack of supervision are not strategies for education reform, but o
Does Anyone Still Believe in VAM? The “Center for American Progress” Does.
Despite the fact that major scholarly organizations have debunked value-added measurement as a way of identifying and quantifying teacher quality, there are still a few lonely defenders of VAM. There is the U.S. Department of Education, which bet nearly $5 billion on VAM. There is the Gates Foundation, which has bet hundreds of millions on VAM. There are stragglers here and there. And then there i
Robert Shepherd on Apathy about the Death of Competition for Education Materials
It is curious that duo many supporters of the Common Core standards want choice among schools but celebrate the standardization and lack of choice among suppliers of education materials. They want to multiply choices of schools while standardizing learning and standing back while only two, perhaps three at most, mega-publishers create nearly identical products for the nation’s students and schools
Product Placement on Pearson Exams: Coincidental?
Lace to the Top, an activist group of educators and parents in New York opposed to high-stakes testing, became curious about the appearance of certain commercial products on the state’s mandated exams. Edith Balthazar, a New York City public school parent and freelance editor, thought the product placements were too blatant to be an accident. The exams were created by Pearson, the giant British
Bill Phillis: Past Time to Investigate the Ohio Virtual Academy
The NCAA recently announced that it would not recognize credits from 24 virtual charters, all run by K12. One of them is the Ohio Virtual Academy. Bill Phillis of the Ohio Equity and Adequacy Coslition writes: National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA): Will not accept credits from Ohio Virtual Academy after 2013-2014 school year The credits from Ohio Virtual Academy, (OVA) operated by Michae
APR 26
The Two-Year Anniversary of This Blog: Today!
Today, April 26, marks the two-year anniversary of this blog. When I began, I was not sure who would read it or how it would evolve. In these past two years, the blog has received some 11,645,000 page views. I have put up nearly 8,000 posts, and you have registered nearly 200,000 comments. My purpose when I started was to create a space where parents, students, teachers, principals, superintenden
New York Poll: Voters not Enthralled with Cuomo or Common Core
A new poll from Siena College of voters in New York State produced some unsettling news for Governor Andrew Cuomo, who has presidential ambitions. While most see him as “effective,” only about 50% say they expect to vote for him in the fall election. When matched against his Republican challenger Rob Astorino, Cuomo has a lead of 58-28%. But when a third-party challenger from the left is added t
Bruce Baker Explains the Logic of Arne-ology
Arne Duncan and Barack Obama have this unbelievably incredible idea: grade teachers’ colleges by the test scores of the students taught by their graduates. Got that? It’s a stretch but where our Secretary of Education is involved there is no time or place where test scores don’t matter more than anything else. He loves test so much that I wish he would take the new SAT and publish his scores. Or h
Update on My Health
I took a fall on April 5 and had the misfortune to land full-force on my left knee. At first the knee surgeon thought I wouldn’t need surgery, and that was reassuring. However, when he saw the MRI, he changed his mind. I had managed to tear not only my ACL but the meniscus ligaments in my knee. The surgeon recommended a total knee replacement. So that’s what I will do. The date for surgery is May
The New York Times Publishes Heidi Reich, a Voice for Teachers!
Believe it or not, the Public Editor of the New York Times–the newspaper’s ombudsman–published a letter by teacher Heidi Reich about the flaws of the Common Core. This was amazing and gratifying to see because up until now the “newspaper of record” has failed to print a single story critical of the Common Core or that reflected the views of informed critics, especially teachers. Instead the Times
The Real News Reports on the Resegregation of America’s Schools
Jaisal Noor and Nikole Hannah-Jones report on the alarming return of segregation in the schools of the south. Hannah-Jones describes a high school in Tuscaloosa that was successfully desegregated but then resegregated as the result of political decisions intended to attract white students by isolating black students. For many black students in Alabama, it is as though the Brown decision never happ
Schneider Corrects Ezra Klein about PARCC
Ezra Klein has set up a new website, vox.com, wherein he praises the federally-funded test Common Core test called PARCC—which is now being field-tested–and declares that it is “working.” Mercedes Schneider begs to differ. She says the main way it is working is to make millions for Pearson and ETS and to bleed public schools of funding. “If “working” is the cutting of non-tested (and therefore,
EduShyster: A Letter to TFA in Newark Who Are Replacing Veteran Teachers
This post was written for EduShyster by guest blogger Owen Davis, a former corps member of Teach for America. It is firmly tongue-in-cheek. He advises members of TFA headed for Newark not to back down. So what that Cami Anderson, one-time leader of TFA-New York, plans to lay off 1,000 experienced teachers–most of whom will be black–and replace many of them with TFA? He writes: Your ability
Laura H. Chapman: ALEC Provided Models for Kasich’s Agenda
Reader Laura H. Chapman looked at Governor Kasich’s education agenda in Ohio and recognized its source. What is startling is to see the overlap between ALEC and the Obama administration’s Race to the Top: “This is important work, and ALEC needs to be exposed as the source of Governor Kasich’s policies, along with the legislature’s eagerness to approve the Department of Education’s uncritical use
Will Camp Philos Exclude Public School Parents and Teachers?
Three public school teachers and parents signed up for “Camp Philos,” the meeting in the Adirondacks where Governor Cuomo plans to meet next week with other politicians committed to privatizing our nation’s public schools. The three say they were turned away. By limiting attendance at this event to those with deep pockets and to political sympathizers, the sponsors of the event— Democrats for Educ