Schools Matter:
Schools Matter All Week
Support benefits for vets. Don’t support the common core
Sent to the Santa Monica Daily PressJune 20, 2014There is concern about a US Senate bill (S. 2450) that would expand medical coverage for veterans. The cost will be high, about $50 billion per year.I propose we pay for this important bill by dumping the common core state education standards. The standards will probably cost taxpayers close to $50 billion a year – all common core tests will be gi
Control Freak, Kevin Huffman, Told to Get Out by Republicans
from Joey Garrison at the Tennessean:Citing a "complete lack of trust" and alleging possible manipulation of test results, a group of 15 Tennessee Republicans has asked for the immediate resignation of state Education Commissioner Kevin Huffman in a letter sent to his boss, Gov. Bill Haslam, on Thursday."Our trustworthiness has continued to be jeopardized on education reform,"
Common Core testing: Asking the big questions.
Sent to the Washington Post, June 20, 2014According to "Field test of Common Core exams went well, officials say," (June 19), the "field-testing" was largely about how students react to online testing and what testing experts call "item-analysis," which means eliminating tricky items. These are low-level aspect of field-testing. There is no indication that the big que
The Gates Effect in Schools: Divisiveness, Inequity, and the Proliferation of Supercilious Know-Nothings
When Bill Gates left his $90 million calling card in Memphis in 2009, it was plenty to buy the fawning politicians who lined up for a handout in exchange for pushing the Gates Plan to Memphis schools.Now five years later, the effect has been that of a massive institutional fragmentation grenade. A failed consolidation scheme has left at least seven school systems to replace the two that operated
JUN 19
Louisiana Withdraws from PARCC and Jindal Moves to Block Pearson Test Purchase
In the latest bad news for the Oligarchs' Common Core enterprise, Bobby Jindal has moved to sever the head from the Common Core monster in Louisiana. He knows that without the Pearson tests that PARCC is force-feeding the states without the benefit of a bidding process, the Core will disappear within a couple of years. Jindal's office has notified the State Department of Education that purchasin
JUN 18
NPR Pretends NCTQ Is Not an Advocacy Think Tank
Posted as comment at NPR:NCTQ and Kate Walsh got their start with federal grant money from the Bush Administration to promote NCLB with misleading op-eds in leading newspapers and magazines under the guise of a research institution. Follow links here:http://www.schoolsmatter.info/...As a advocacy think tank supported by corporate ed reformers, NCTQ continues its pretense as a legitimate research f
#StopJebNow
A clip from the Wall Street Journal:Education policy was Jeb Bush’s political salvation. After his first bid for Florida governor in 1994 ended in defeat, he threw himself into founding the state’s first charter school in a blighted Miami neighborhood. He went on to serve two terms as the state’s “education governor” and become a national policy expert.Twenty years later, education policy has beco
JUN 17
Given a Real Choice, Weingarten Goes With the Proven Corporate Education Stooge
You have to love the way Weingarten apologizes for Malloy, who has been the consistent enemy of teachers for 4 years. A clip:Malloy . . . upset Connecticut teachers in 2012 when he said, “Basically the only thing you have to do is show up for four years. Do that, and tenure is yours.”In an interview outside the convention hall Tuesday, Weingarten said Malloy has privately expressed regret for tho
The Starbucks, ASU, and Pearson Scam
If you thought wow! yesterday when Starbucks announced that CoffeeCorp will fund its employees' college educations from here on out, look a little closer before you fill up your mug. First off, Arizona State has joined the state-run exploitation college model perfected by the University of Maryland, whereby overseas military personnel and the stateside poor pay for junk degrees while funding lavi
JUN 16
Charter School Strong-Arming Where No One Wants Charters: A Case Study
The Emerald Academy Charter School Application submitted to and approved by the Knox County Board of Education is signed by Steve Diggs, who is the Executive Director of the Emerald Youth Foundation (EYF), a Christian ministry with some of Knoxville’s and the State’s highest rollers onboard. This effort represents a prime example of corporate missionaries being joined by Christian missionaries to
Memphis: School Board Gets 360% Pay Raise and Indigent Juvenile Lawyers Get New Furniture
From the Daily News: And an ordinance that would raise the pay of Shelby County Schools board members from $4,200 a year to $15,000 a year, with $16,000 a year for the chairman, is on Monday’s agenda for third and final reading. . . . Another resolution includes $190,258 in funding for furniture and installation for the new Public Defender Juvenile Defense Unit at 600 Adams Ave.
What People Are Saying about Hoosier School Heist after the Dance Circus
By Doug Martin As I come off of my buzz from speaking to over 700 people as Dance Circus Ringmaster for the Nancy Sauer School of Theatrical Dancing's 60th Anniversary performances in Indiana (check out a few photos here: it was a great way to get the word out about corporate ed. reform to parents) and prepare for my talk at the IUPUI-Indiana Urban Schools Association's summer conference this week
JUN 15
NYT Finally Gets another Education Reporter who Gets It
Common Core, in 9-Year-Old EyesBy JAVIER C. HERNÁNDEZJUNE 14, 2014On that April day, Chrispin was determined. As one of the smallest children in the fourth grade, he had grown accustomed to being underestimated. With the right luck, he thought, he would earn high marks when test scores came back in August. “If I don’t pass the test,” he said, “I will feel miserable and never come out of my room.”T
JUN 14
We need to remember that the impediments to self-directed learning are by design
"When teachers are told exactly what and how to teach, when they feel pressured to produce results, they in turn tend to pressure their students. That is exactly what another study found: teachers who felt controlled became more controlling, removing virtually any opportunities for students to direct their own learning." — Alfie Kohn As always the wonderful Alfie Kohn is right on target