The research is clear: schools in rural and semi-rural districts work best when they have the support of the entire community. Cheatham County, Tennessee, doesn’t need competing schools–one that picks its students, the other legally required to accept all students. Stick together. Act as a community. Don’t divide your community. When your board meets on August 18, tell them you support public e
Washington State: An Example of NCLB Absurdity
Washington State declined to ask Arne Duncan for a waiver from NCLB because the legislature thought that the price was too high. In exchange for gaining freedom from NCLB’s demand that 100% of students would be proficient by 2014, the state would have to agree to endorse Arne Duncan’s inane idea that teachers should be evaluated by the test scores of their students. Apparently some wise policy mak
David Kirp: Why Teaching Is Not a Business
In a truly wonderful article in Sunday’s New York Times, David Kirp of the University of California at Berkeley lays waste the underpinnings of the current “education reform” movement. Kirp not only shows what doesn’t work, he gives numerous examples of what does work to help students. Kirp explains in plain language why teaching can never be replaced by a machine. Although the article just appear
Edward Berger on the Tenets of Education in a Democracy
I posted a blog by Edward F. Berger a few days ago, and as is my occasional failing, neglected to add the link. He said much that was wise and ended on a thoughtful and provocative note, which bears repeating. As you can readily tell from his writing and thinking, Ed is a veteran educator. These are the tried-and-true tenets of education in a democratic society: • We do not experiment on childre
Crazy Crawfish: Bait-and-Switch in New Orleans
Blogger Crazy Crawfish (aka Jason France) writes that the Recovery School District is a failure. Residents of New Orleans were promised that the RSD would improve schools and return them to their home parishes. It has not returned a single school. Why weren’t the reformers honest at the outset, he wonders? Why didn’t they say that their goal was to privatize the district, get rid of the union and
Peter Greene: How Conservatives Are Reacting to Loss of Public Support for Common Core
Remember when promoters of Common Core tried to present it as a done deal and said it was too late to stop it? Remember when they demonized the critics of Common Core as extremists who should be ridiculed or ignored? Peter Green writes that the age of realism is beginning to change the conservative tune. CATO. Never swallowed the belief that national standards were needed. Fordham, which ran from
Ohio: As Charters Flourish, Accountability Disappears
A reader sent me to this article at The Daily Kos, which asked the simple question: when are students more important than free markets? The author’s argument is that the governor and the legislature are so head over heels in love with free markets that they have exempted charter schools from most of the state’s laws. Charters must follow the state curriculum and take the state tests but are freed
LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH ALL WEEK LONG Diane Ravitch's blog 8-16-14 #thankateacher #EDCHAT #P2
Diane Ravitch's blogLISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH ALL WEEK LONGDIANE RAVITCH'S BLOGPaul Thomas: Time for Phase 3 in the Resistance to the Corporate TakeoverPaul Thomas says that events are moving swiftly, and we must move with them. When the corporate reform movement started, educators were taken by surprise and treated by children. When did it start? Was it the accountability movement that began after
