On Esquire Blog, Charles P. Pierce Explains What Campbell Brown Wants
Charles P. Pierce posted an astonishing piece about Campbell Brown on the Esquire politics blog that delves into her devotion to transparency, except where her donors are concerned. I cannot reveal the title of his article because it would violate one of the very few rules of this blog. I do not use certain four-letter words of ancient origin on the blog, nor do I permit others to do so. So, if yo
Rhode Island: Why Deborah Gist Kept Her Dissertation Under Wraps
State Senator John C. Sheehan was one of many people in Rhode Island who wondered what State Commissioner of Education Deborah Gist wrote in the dissertation she completed in June 2012. It was about creating a new teacher evaluation system for the state, and Gist would not allow anyone to read it. Sheehan eventually got a copy of the embargoed dissertation, and he understood why she wanted to kee
Levi B. Cavener: Hello, NGA! Students and Teachers Are Not Widgets
Levi B. Caener, a special education teacher in Idaho, happened to read a publication by the National Governors Association “A Governor’s Guide to Human Capital Development.” Really. People who work for the NGA think of children as “human capital.” Do they have children? When they come from the office, do they say, “hello, my little human capital?” On the weekends, do they play ball or go to the zo
Allie Gross: Detroit and the Charter School Profiteers
Allie Gross arrived to teach in Detroit as a Teach for America recruit. Her three years in a charter school opened her eyes. She saw classrooms without supplies, children promoted who were not ready and did not get the intervention they needed, she saw feckless leadership promoted to larger roles. And she saw the growth of an industry. In this article, she describes what she learned about “the cha
What Really Happened in New Orleans?
The mainstream media love to point to New Orleans as the national exemplar of the new brand of “reform”: replace public schools with privately-managed charter schools and get rid of the teachers’ union. Success! Many cities, especially those with high concentrations of poor African-American majorities, such as Detroit, Newark, and Philadelphia, seek to copy the New Orleans model. What really happ
LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH 8-5-14 Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all
Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all: Peter Greene: Pick Your Fights CarefullyPeter Greene regretfully, apologetically disagrees with Susan Ohanian, who recently expressed disappointment that the two national unions did not call on teachers to boycott testing. He says it would do no good because they would be fired and replaced by teachers happy to give tests and have