Testing Expert Calls on NYC Chancellor Farina to Say No to Pearson Field Tests
Testing expert Fred Smith explains here why New York City Chancellor Carmen Farina should say no to the Pearson field tests. The field tests waste instructional time. They benefit the publisher, not the students. “Here are some arguments the chancellor could use: *Because students know the stand-alone field tests don’t count and are of no consequence to them, they are not motivated to do well, e
Parents at Philadelphia School Vote Overwhelmingly Against Charter Takeover
Parents at the Luis Munoz Marin public school in Philadelphia voted overwhelmingly to oppose a charter takeover of their school. “After a bitterly fought battle, parents at Luis Muñoz Marín Elementary have voted to keep their school a part of the Philadelphia public school system, rejecting a charter organization’s takeover proposal. “According to results announced Thursday night by Philadelphia
LAUSD Board Refuses to Reappoint iPad Critic to Independent Board
The Los Angeles school board has thus far refused to reappoint Stuart Magruder to the Bond Oversight Committee. Magruder, who was appointed to the committee by the American Institute of Architects, was booted largely by the opposition of board member Tamar Galatzan, a close ally of Superintendent John Deasy. She accused Magruder of interfering wit instructional authorities when he criticized the i
New Orleans: The Biggest Scam in the History of Public Education?
New Orleans will soon be the first urban district in the nation that is all-charter, the first district where public education has been completely extinguished. Because so much money has been invested in the privatization of the schools in New Orleans, there is a media machine that cranks out favorable stories about it. The state board of education, the state department of education, and the Gove
New Orleans: “Appalling Academic Performance”
One day, perhaps, the nationaledia might admit that they were taken in by the purveyors of the Néw Orleans story. Or maybe they will keep saying the same things again and again, without regard to facts. Mike Deshotels, veteran educator, blows up the carefully manufactured tale of success by privatization. What a lesson for the nation: close down every public school; turn every school into a priva
Bruce Baker: How Is New Jersey Doing?
After four years of Governor Chris Christie, we are used to loud complaints about how terrible New Jersey’s schools are, how poorly they perform compared to Tennessee (Arne Duncan’s favorite), how expensive they is, how large the achievement gaps are. Bruce Baker shows that none of this is true: New Jersey’s schools perform very well indeed, and they exceed expectations. Baker documents what he
Beardsley: Another Critic of VAM & Chetty et al
Audrey Amrein Beardsley invited an economist to review Raj Chetty & Co’s effort to take down the statement of the American Statistical Assosociation. Chetty and friends are the leading advocates for using test scores to rank teachers and fire those whose students have the lowest scores. The ASA report was inconvenient for their thesis, as it pointed out that teachers account for a small perce
Pando Investigation: Gates Foundation Underwrote PBS Series Without Disclosing Possible Conflict of Interest
Pando reporters Nathaniel Mott and David Sirota write that the Gates Foundation underwrote a PBS series to promote the Common Core standards without revealing that Microsoft has financial interest in the success of the Common Core standards. They write: “The discovery that the Gates Foundation is funding PBS programming that supports its political agenda comes only a few months after Pando first
LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH 6-5-14 Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all
Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all: Michigan: A Very Curious Story of Charter Management TechniquesThis is an astonishing story from Michigan. There, a persistent blogger named “Miss Fortune” discovered that a charter manager was indicted on multiple charges, including tax evasion and bank fraud. His wife and brother plus a local contractor and his wife diverted near