Louisiana Circus Continues!
Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal signed the agreement to adopt Common Core. But when Common Core turned toxic among conservative voters, Jindal declared he would pull his state out of Common Core and the federal test. State Commissioner of Education John White–who supports vouchers, charters, and Common Core– refused to go along. He and the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education said they
John Merrow Writes About the $2 Million Plus Spent on PR by Michelle Rhee
This is a must-read column by John Merrow. In it, he says that Michelle Rhee paid $2 million to a politically connected public relations firm in D.C. in a one-year period. He writes: “In just one year[1] Michelle Rhee spent about $2 million to buy the public relations services of Anita Dunn [2] and SKDKnickerbocker. It’s a continuing relationship that goes back to early in Rhee’s Chancellorship
Los Angeles: Court Rules that Public Has No Right to Know Job Ratings of Individual Teachers
Remember that the Los Angeles Times released the value-added ratings (made up by their own consultant) with the names of teachers in 2010? Recently, the paper sued to get the ratings for three years-=-2009-2012. The LAUSD said it would release the ratings but not the names attached to them. Yesterday a three-judge panel said the district did not need to release the names of the teachers with t
FAIRTEST: The Weekly Round-Up on Resistance to Testing
Parents, educators, students and activists in many communities are using the “quiet” summer months to plan campaigns that will build the assessment reform movement’s power once schools reopen. Across the country, more and more media outlets are reporting on the impact grassroots organizing already has made on policy-makers. Remember that archived issues of these weekly updates are online at http:
Slate: Sweden’s School Choice Disaster
Read this fascinating article in Slate by Ray Fisman, an economist at the Columbia Business School. In the early 1990s, the Swedish government fell for Milton Friedman’s ideas about school choice. More students in Sweden go to privately-run and for-profit schools than any other developed nation in the world. “Swedish school reforms did incorporate the essential features of the voucher system advo
The Network for Public Education Does a Victory Dance
Friends, when a small group of parents and educators formed the Network for Public Education in 2013, we had a singular goal: to mobilize the allies of public education against the powerful forces supporting privatization and high-stakes testing. To advance that goal, we hoped to create a force to counter the large amounts of money that were being dumped into state and local school board races to
Marion Brady: We Need the Right Kind of Standards, Not CCSS
Marion Brady is a retired teacher and administrator and prolific author. He writes: “In a commentary in the July 21, 2014 issue of Time magazine, columnist Joe Klein takes aim at one of the usual targets of today’s education reformers—unions. In a dig at New York City mayor de Blasio, he says, “A mayor who actually cared about education would be seeking longer school days, longer school years, m
LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH 7-23-14 Diane Ravitch's blog #thankateacher #EDCHAT #P2
Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all: Charter Schools: Do They Deserve Closer Scrutiny? Or Legitimacy?Andy Smarick, a partner at Bellweather Associates, a senior fellow at the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, a former deputy commissioner of education in New Jersey for Governor Christie, and a man with a long list of other affiliations with conservative groups and politicia