Breaking News: NEA delegates Pass Resolution Calling for Arne Duncan’s Resignation
Delegates to the national convention of the National Education Association passed a resolution calling for the resignation of Secretary of Education Arne Duncan. Similar resolutions did not pass in 2011 ad 2012. The resolution was proposed by the California Teachers Association. Teachers are angry at Duncan because of his support for the controversial Vergara decision, which ruled against teache
Governor Malloy of Connecticut: No Friend to Teachers
I am repeating this post because I left out the crucial word NOT in the original post. Malloy’s SB 24 thrilled “reformers” like ConnCAN, but not teachers. He also made the insulting comment that teachers get tenure just for showing up for four years. Some people in Connecticut want to keep Jon Pelto off the ballot. That is not democratic. Let the people decide. Governor Malloy has NOT been a fa
Connecticut: Why Keep Pelto Off the Ballot? Is This Democracy?
Some people in Connecticut want to keep Jon Pelto off the ballot. That is not democratic. Let the people decide. Governor Malloy has been a faithful friend to teachers. He has been a faithful friend to charters and plutocrats. Let them vote for him. Pelto has been a faithful friend to public schools, to teachers, and to kids. Let him run. Kevin Rennie of the Hartford Courant doesn’t think it is
Schneider: Showdown Between Louisiana Governor Jindal and Commissioner White Gets Amusing
On June 18, Governor Jindal announced that Louisiana was pulling out of Common Core and dropping PARCC testing. State commissioner of education John White disagreed. The state board of education supports White. Wow! The Governor versus the state commissioner! Mercedes Schneider brings us up to date on this epic struggle between the governor and the state commissioner he once strongly supported.
Show Your Patriotism! A Reminder to Sign the Petition for Gus Morales in Holyoke
I signed the petition to support Gus Morales, who was unjustly fired a few weeks after he was elected as head of the union in his school in Holyoke, Massachusetts. Gus spoke out vigorously against high-stakes testing and privatization. He opposed the posting of student scores on a public “data wall,” which he thought was humiliating. Let’s help Gus get at least 3,000 signatures, then aim for 5,000
Jefferson on the Need to Diffuse Knowledge to the General Public
Thomas Jefferson advocated for a system of public education. He proposed “A Bill for the More General Diffusion of Knowledge.” Whereas it appeareth that however certain forms of government are better calculated than others to protect individuals in the free exercise of their natural rights, and are at the same time themselves better guarded against degeneracy, yet experience hath shewn, that even
What Dennis Van Roekel Said in Denver
I just received a copy of Dennis Van Roekel’s speech to the NEA RA in Denver. It is his last, as he is retiring as President. He waxed nostalgic but he hit out appropriately at the toxic culture of the corporate reformers. He lambasted NCLB. He is a mild-mannered and kindly gentleman, so it is hard to imagine him getting really angry. He said: In all of our history, we have always advocat
A Reading List on Testing
Bob Shepherd posted this reading list on testing. The list was compiled by Alfie Kohn. I have a few additions: Todd Farley, Making the Grades Banesh Hoffman, The Tyranny of Testing Phil Harris, The Myth of Standardized Testing Jim Horn and Denise Wilburn, The Mismeasure of Education Daniel Koretz, Measuring Up Diane Ravitch, The Death and Life of the Great American School System: How Testing and C
Lloyd Lofthouse: Public Schools Made America Great
Reader Lloyd Lofthouse submitted this comment: “The U.S. public schools are part of the infrastructure of the country. They are as vital—if not more so—than the highways, bridges, waterways, airports, electric grid, water and gas lines, etc.—-infrastructure built mostly by hard working Americans and not by billionaires, who often take credit for what they never sweated or toiled to build. “Regardl
Peter Greene: I Will Not Quit; They Will Not Win
Peter Greene, a high school teacher in Pennsylvania, describes the present moment–in which powerful people are tearing apart public education and attacking the profession of teaching–as either a passing storm or the apocalypse. “A far-reaching network of rich and powerful men is working to take the public education system as we know it and simply make it go away, to be replaced by a system that
Be a Patriot: Support Gus Morales!
Defend a brave teacher! Defend students! Sign the petition to reinstate Gus Morales! Gus Morales was elected head of his school union in Holyoke, Massachusetts, as an outspoken opponent of high-stakes testing and privatization. Children’s test scores were posted in a data wall. Morales objected. Only weeks after his election, he was fired. “As I started speaking out, I was targeted with negative
Joseph Stiglitz: Inequality Is Not Inevitable
Joseph Stiglitz, a Nobel Prize-winning economist at Columbia University, writes that the increasing inequality in the U.S. is neither inevitable nor necessary. Other nations have experienced economic growth while assuring greater equality. We could as well, but the super-rich have managed to capture control of enough politicians to prevent any legislation that might increase their tax rates and as
LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH 7-3-14 Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all
Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all: Rocketship Charter Chain’s Big Plans in TexasA note from a reader in Texas, where Rocketship charter schools have big expansion plans: Rocketship has re-applied for charters in Texas, 8 each in San Antonio and Dallas. Last cycle, in spite of support from San Antonio group, Choose to Succeed (along with the promise of million(s) in