Mike Klonsky: Rahm Won’t Name New Selective High School for Obama
Mike Klonsky reports on Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s latest faux pas. Rahm is opening another selective enrollment high school –in upscale Lincoln Park–while leaving less fortunate neighborhoods without a public high school. He decided to name the $60 million high school for President Obama, but the President’s team didn’t like that idea. “Rahm’s dream of a two-tiered public school system — one tier for
Connecticut: To Understand “Reform,” Read This Letter
This is an excellent letter to the editor that asks the right questions about charters: Why do they get public money yet refuse to submit to public audits? Why do they enroll fewer children in poverty? Why do their leaders refuse to aid struggling public schools? Why do they claim that the only way to help poor children is to move them to their privately managed schools? Why do they refuse to a
New Mexico: Cody Reports on Effort to Intimidate Parent Activists
Anthony Cody writes here about a new low in efforts to silence parents who oppose corporate reform. Kathy Korte is a member of the Albuquerque school board who is active in an organization called Stand4KidsNM. This group has a Facebook page and a Twitter account. It opposes high-stakes testing and supports public schools. The group held a demonstration and invited political candidates from all pa
Judges Rule that Washington State Funding Is Inadequate
The Education Law Center reports on a major ruling in Washington State: WASHINGTON SUPREME COURT HOLDS LEGISLATURE IN CONTEMPT ON SCHOOL FUNDING Orders State to Comply in 2015 Legislative Session On September 11, 2014, in McCleary v. State, the Washington Supreme Court held the State in contempt for failing to obey a court order for a phase-in schedule for fully funding the components of “basic e
Wendy Lecker: Governor Malloy’s Empty Words About Testing
Wendy Lecker, civil rights attorney, takes Connecticut’s Governor Dannel Malloy to task for his empty rhetoric about testing. He has consistently been a fervent support of standardized, high-stakes testing. Yet now he wants to roll back one test, in the 11th grade. Who is he fooling? Throughout his administration, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s education policies have been characterized by a disdain
Here are the Colleges and Universities That Do Not Require the SAT
I had a message from a relative who works in a program helping youngsters in Harlem apply to college. The kids are wonderful, she says: bright, ambitious, and energetic. Their biggest stumbling block, she says, is the SAT. I contacted Bob Schaeffer of Fairtest, which maintains a database of colleges and universities that do not require the SAT. He wrote: “A complete database of the more than 83
How You Can Support the Network for Public Education
You can support the Network for Public Education by joining and becoming a member. Join us for our historic event, “Public Education Nation” on October 11 in New York City at the Brooklyn New School or watch it live-streamed. You can support our work by sending a check to: Network for Public Education P.O. Box 44200 Tucson, AZ 85733 Your organization can affiliate with the NPE. If you are a bl
Ladd and Fiske: NC Legislators Quietly Alter Public School Funding
Professor Helen Ladd of Duke University, internationally renowned economist of education, and her husband Edward Fiske, former education editor of the New York Times, recently wrote about a sneaky move by the North Carolina legislature to undermine the funding of children in public schools. Not content to fund charters and vouchers, the legislature is directly attacking the basic funding formula f
Laura H. Chapman: Marketing the Danielson Rubric
Our regular reader and commenter Laura Chapman offers us another nugget of informed analysis and wisdom: She writes: A press release dated NEW YORK, Oct. 28, 2013 /PRNewswire/ announced that The Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust was investing $3 million “to establish a rigorous research project to modify and align the Framework for Teaching with the Common Core State Standards (CCSS
Vicious Attack on Randi by Paid Shill for 1%
Lyndsey Layton reports in the Washington Post that Richard Berman of the Center for Union Facts has sent out 125,000 letters attacking Randi Weingarten for ruining American education. Berman’s usual stock in trade is defending tobacco companies against allegations that smoking causes cancer. He is a hired gun who says whatever corporations want said. As the article says, he has rented billboards
LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH 9-24-14 Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all
Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all: Sarah Darer Littman: The Gates Foundation as a Trojan Horse, Disabling DemocracySarah Darer Littman, who writes about education issues in Connecticut, tells a shocking story here of power and money. The Hartford, Connecticut, schools are under mayoral control; the mayor appoints 5 of 9 members of the board of education. The other f