The Expert Witnesses for the Plaintiffs in the Vergara Trial
According to the text of the Vergara decision, two expert witnesses for the plaintiffs were Professor Raj Chetty of Harvard and Professor Tom Kane of Harvard. Professor Chetty, the judge said, testified that “a single year in a classroom with a grossly ineffective teacher costs students $1.4 million in lifetime earnings per classroom.” Dr. Kane testified that students in LAUSD taught by a teacher
The Text of the Vergara Decision
Here is the text of the Vergara decision, ruling the laws governing tenure and seniority unconstitutional.
New York Times: Gates Foundation Calls for a Moratorium on High Stakes Attached to Common Core Tests
Now, as we all know, Bill Gates paid over $2 billion for the Common Core standards. They are supposed to be the linchpin of a coordinated system: standards, tests, teacher evaluations based on test scores, school closings, turnarounds, etc. but a funny thing happened on the way to the millennium. Parents and educators got angry. Some hated the tests. Some hated the standards. Some hated the federa
Peter Greene: How Can the Corporate Bullies Lie with a Straight Face?
Peter Greene doesn’t understand how the corporate bullies are celebrating their victories over teachers. He can’t understand how they lie about doing it “for the kids.” They talk about equity and social justice as they attack teachers’ hard-won rights, and they know they are making it up. He writes: “I mean, bloody hell, guys? Do we all have “stupid” written on our foreheads? Can you not even do
Peter Greene Deconstructs Arne Duncan’s Statement on Vergara Decision
Peter Greene explicates for you what Arne Duncan really meant in his statement about the Vergara decision. He concludes: “God, just when I think the Obama administration has found every conceivable way to signal that they consider teachers vermin to be stepped on and crushed, they find one more way to drive that point home. At this point, I think the GOP would have to run a convicted ax murderer
Arne Duncan Hails Vergara Decision
Here is Arne Duncan’s statement on the Vergara decision that tenure and seniority are unconstitutional. Not a word about the real causes of unequal opportunity: poverty and segregation.. Who would have believed that a Democratic administration would stand by silently as collective bargaining rights are rolled back (Wisconsin) and would hail a court decision removing due process from public school
The Vergara Verdict: Tenure and Seniority Laws Ruled Unconstitutional in California
Here are two accounts of the decision in the Vergara trial. This one appears in politico.com. This one appears in the New York Times. The plaintiffs argued that poor and minority children suffered because they had ineffective teachers who could not be fired. Lawyers for the teachers unions maintained that the causes of low performance were poverty and inadequate school funding. The plaintiffs pre
Gates Foundation Wants to Delay High-Stakes for Common Core
Realcleareducation.com reports that the Gates Foundation favors a moratorium on the consequences of Common Core testing. Since the standards were bought and paid for by the Gates Foundation, it is only right that it should call the shots. Now we know who is in charge of American education. Perhaps the foundation hopes that a delay will defuse the growing movement against Common Core. Realcleareduc
Breaking News: California Judge Strikes Down Tenure Laws
A judge in California struck down three laws protecting teachers’ job security. This is a big win for the Billionaire Boys Club. Name a state that has no due process rights for teachers and excellent public schools. One?
Texas: Test Scores Flat, Where Is That Bush “Miracle”?
Jeffrey Weiss and Daniel Lathrop report that test results on the state’s STAAR tests have been flat. In addition, they report in the Dallas Morning-News that the STAAR test results show widening gaps between the lowest performing students and their peers. The great puzzle is why state officials expect scores to go up every year, especially after sustained and large budget cuts. The legislature cu
Sue Legg on the Search for the Perfect Test
Sue Legg used to be in charge of assessment for the state of Floridea, before the current reign of educational inanity took hold. She writes: QUANTITY VERSUS QUALITY IN TESTING Back in the late 90s, psychometricians were searching for ways to counter attacks against multiple choice testing. Opponents argued that essay exams were needed to measure higher order thinking skills. Too often multiple
In Kentucky: A School Without Standardized Tests
Kentucky was the first state to implement the Common Core standards, and the first state to test them. The state has another distinction: It is one of the few states that has no charter schools. Communities in Kentucky are committed to their community public schools–so far. Kentucky has a school that is very different from most other public schools: this school has no standardized testing. Bate
Jonathan Lovell on Creative Disruption, the Jabberwock, GERM, and Liberation
What would Lewis Carroll say if he were alive today about the corporate education reform movement? What would he say about the contemporary effort to destroy childhood in the name of “standards”? How would he respond if a learned pedant told him that “as you grow up in this world, you will learn that no one gives a s–t what you think or feel”? How would he explain this to Alice? Would he even try?
Peter Greene: Which Part of the Reform Hydra-Headed Monster is Worst?
Peter Greene asks: if you had your choice, which head of the hydra-headed reform monster would you lop off first? Hint: one of those heads is essential for all the others. I agree with his choice.
Pennsylvania Blogger Has an Idea: Transparency
Keystone State Education Coalition Pennsylvania Education Policy Roundup for June 3, 2014: In God We Trust? How about a bill that would require charter and cyber schools to post their PA School Performance Profile scores prominently in any advertising paid for with public tax dollars? Blogger Rant: At a recent school board meeting I voted against authorizing a payment to Agora Cyber Charter School
LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH 6-9-14 Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all
Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all: Jeff Bryant: The Unwinding of “School Reform”Jeff Bryant demonstrates that “school reform” (aka privatization) has hit a rough patch. Despite the giant publicity machine of the well-funded “reformers,” their claims are falling apart. Louisiana’s all-charter Recovery School District is in fact one of the lowest performing districts