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Breaking News: L.A. Officials Met with Apple, Pearson a Year Before Taking Public Bids
Annie Gilbertson of KPCC in Los Angeles reports that internal emails show that district officials met and emailed Apple and Pearson a year before the bidding process for new technology and software began. “Emails obtained by KPCC show Los Angeles Unified School District Superintendent John Deasy personally began meeting with Pearson and Apple to discuss the eventual purchase of their products sta
Breaking News: Internal Report Says L.A. iPad Purchase Was Poorly Planned, Deeply Flawed
Howard Blume of the Los Angeles Times reported today the leaked results of an investigation of the district’s plan to purchase $1 billion of iPads loaded with Pearson curriculum. It begins: “The groundbreaking effort to provide an iPad to every Los Angeles student, teacher and school administrator was beset by inadequate planning, a lack of transparency and a flawed bidding process, according to
Unfair to Cluster TFA Rookies in Schools with Needy Kids, Says NCTQ
Politico.com reports that “African-American students in Miami-Dade County are more likely than their peers to be assigned rookie teachers – and their teachers are also more likely to be uncertified or unlicensed, according to a study by the National Council on Teacher Quality.” This inequity is a result of “the district’s decision to cluster Teach For America recruits in low-performing, high-pover
Is Eva Moskowitz the Lance Armstrong of Education?
This commentary was written by an employee of the Néw York City Department of Education who specializes in data analysis. He/she requires anonymity. An opinion piece in the New York Daily News wondered, “Is Eva Moskowitz the Michael Jordan of education reform, or is she Mark McGwire?” To give some context- New York State recently released the results of the 2013-14 grades 3-8 exams in English and
How to Have a Racially Fair America
In an article in Dissent magazine, four authors argue that the notion of America as a “post-racial” society is wrong. The public and politicians tend to blame blacks for the conditions in which they live, as though racism were a thing of the past and the doors of opportunity are wide open for all. Even the election of a black President has not wiped out historic disadvantages that a significant pr
Andrea Gabor On Elizabeth Green’s New Book on Teaching
Elizabeth Green, one of our leading education journalists, has just published a book titled “Building a Better Teacher.” In this thoughtful post, Andrea Gabor points out the strengths and weaknesses of Green’s book. Gabor believes that Green makes a strong case for those who are doing a god job of teaching teachers. Gabor writes: “I picked up Elizabeth Green’s new book, Building a Better Teache
Cody and Greene Dissect Duncan’s Critique of His Own Policies
I apologize to you, dear readers, in advance, but I must ask you to read the latest balderdash written by someone who works for Secretary of Education Arne Duncan. From my days working in the U.S. Department of Education in 1991-93, I know full well that Cabinet Secretaries have several writers and don’t actually write anything themselves. Okay, so this latest statement from Duncan says that there
Nearly $1 Million from Gulen-related Charters Went to Firms Named in FBI Probe
The Chicago Sun-Times reports on FBI investigation of Gulen-related schools, which awarded large contracts to firms without competitive bidding. The firms as well as the schools appear to be related to the Turkish Gulen movement. “In June, the FBI raided 19 Concept Schools locations in Illinois, Indiana and Ohio, including the group’s Des Plaines headquarters. Search warrants showed they were seek
LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH 8-21-14 Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all
Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all: Schneider: When Are Common Core Polls AstroTurf?Mercedes Schneider analyzes the recent polls on Common Core and spies an effort to rescue the CCSS from the wreckage. The bottom-line, she says, is that the development of Common Core was top-down, not state-led. “Here’s the reality: CCSS was conceived, organized, produced, monitored,