Diane Ravitch's blog
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DIANE RAVITCH'S BLOG
It is not bad enough that Governor Tom Corbett and the Pennsylvania legislature are starving the Philadelphia public schools of basic necessities. Here comes the charter lobby to launch an expensive media campaign to persuade parents to pull their kids out of the public schools and put them into charters. Politico reports: “SCHOOL CHOICE HITS THE AIRWAVES: Proponents of school choice have launch
New Educator-Parent Group in Colorado Speaks Up
A new group called Voices for Public Education has organized in Douglas County, Colorado. This is a district whose elected board favors market reforms and hired Bill Bennett to speak before the last election ($50,000), as well as paying Rick Hess to write a laudatory paper about its policies. FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Innovation Schools Do Not Mean Less Testing Highlands Ranch, Colorado -September 1
Parents in Douglas County, Colorado, Oppose Latest Local Board Policies
Another Douglas County group–the Douglas County Parents– objects to the local school board’s proposals. FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE ++++++++++++++++ September 15, 2014 Today, Douglas County Parents (DCP) announced their concerns regarding the resolution passed by the Board of Education (BOE) on September 2, 2014, authorizing the submission of Innovation Waiver requests to the State Board of Education (S
Anthony Cody: Reformers Want Happy Talk Now
Anthony Cody writes that the corporate reformers have decided that it’s time to shift the narrative. Having spent the past few years ginning up a crisis climate about our “failing schools” and the need to fire “bad” teachers, the reformers realize the public is tuning them out. There’s an old line about npt wanting to listen to a broken record but there aren’t too many people left who remember wha
What the PDK/Gallup Poll Says About Teachers: Not Good News for TFA
The October 2014 Phi Delta Kappan/Gallup Poll says the following about what the public thinks about teachers. The big news here, in my view, is the dramatic shift in public opinion from favoring to opposing the use of standardized test scores to evaluate teachers. Only 1% was undecided on this question. Those favoring such a policy dropped from 61% to 38%. The public, if this poll is right, unders
Lloyd Lofthouse, a frequent commenter, offers advice about how to beat the SAT and ACT: Apply to a college or university that does not require applicants to present scores from either examination as a part of the admission process. There are good reasons to do this: First, it is unfair Here is Lloyd Lofthouse’s advice: All is not lost to the SAT/ACT profit monger machine. There are colleges and u
Frank Breslin, retired teacher of foreign languages and history, calls for Congressional hearings about the cost and misuse of testing. He points out that test scores are used to close public schools, fire teachers, and privatize schools, even though charters do not get better results than public schools. He warns that the federal government has used testing to impose its failed ideas on schools
Peter Goodman Predicts that Vergara East Will Be Tossed Out
Peter Goodman, long-time observer of Néw York politics, predicts that local and state politics will play a large role in the anti-tenure case that was recently filed in Staten Island. Why Staten Island? It was chosen because it is the most conservative borough in Nee York City. But it is also home to large numbers of public employees. Follow Goodman as he goes through the politics of Vergara East
YESTERDAY
Breaking News: San Diego Schools Will Return Armored Vehicle to Military
San Diego’s Superintendent of Schools Cindy Marten announced that the district would return the armored vehicle that the Pentagon had given the district. “Superintendent Cindy Marten announced the decision in a statement Thursday night. “Some members of our community are not comfortable with the district having this vehicle,” Marten said. “If any part of our community is not comfortable with it,
Breaking News: N.C. Court of Appeals OKs Vouchers While Appeals Considered
The North Carolina Policy Watch reports on the latest turn in the battle over vouchers, which were declared unconstitutional in August by a Supreme Court judge. “The N.C. Court of Appeals ruled today that the 1,878 students who have already been granted school vouchers can now use those taxpayer dollars at private schools while the fate of the program is decided. “Students enrolled at private sch
Florida’s Biggest Districts Call for Suspension of High-Stakes Testing
The Greater Florida Consortium of School Boards unanimously passed a resolution calling for a suspension of high-stakes testing. “The Greater Florida Consortium of School Boards is comprised of 11 of Florida’s coastal school districts — Collier, Lee, Broward, Miami-Dade, Palm Beach, Monroe, Charlotte, Sarasota, Pinellas, Indian River and St. Lucie. Together, the districts represent more than 42 p
Marc Tucker Picks a Quarrel Where None Exists
On September 4, I posted two things about Marc Tucker’s latest accountability proposals. One was a brief summary of his ideas. I was especially impressed by the point he made that no other advanced nation tests as much as we do. The second was a critique of Tucker’s accountability plan by Anthony Cody. Cody wrote the following: ““We need to learn (and teach) the real lesson of NCLB – and now th
Peter Greene Defends Carol Burris Against Low Blows from Edpost
Peter Greene was offended by the graceless attack on Carol Burris, published by billionaire-funded Edpost, which loudly proclaimed its intention to elevate the tone of the discussion, and now this. Burris is a respected principal in New York, admired by her peers as an inspirational leader. Yet here is a woman who worked at the U.S. Department of Education on Arne Duncan’s team, with nerve enough
Mercedes Schneider Flays a CCSS Supporter Who Challenged Carol Burris
A warning to the world: If you try to make the case for the Common Core Standards, and your evidence is flawed or non-existent, you will be called out by Mercedes Schneider.Here’s the thing: If you plan to go into the ring with Mercedes Schneider, you better be fully prepared. In this case, someone named Ann Whalen, who is a former assistant to Arne Duncan decided she would attack Carol Burris for
A Teacher in Los Angeles Has a Message for Karen Klein, Editorial Writer of the LA Times
As a general rule, to which I have never seen an exception, classroom teachers know more about what is happening in the schools than editorial writers and pundits. Yesterday, the Los Angeles Times published an editorial chastising critics of Superintendent John Deasy and accusing them of wanting to go back to the “good old days” when the teachers’ union–United Teachers of Los Angeles (UTLA)—had
Carol Burris: What I Learned at “The Great Debate” about Common Core
Carol Burris was the only actual on-the-ground educator to participate in the Intelligence Squared debate about Common Core. Unlike the other three debaters, Burris is principal of a high school. She is also a crack researcher, who has published and done research on education issues. She recently wrote in Valerie Strauss’s Answer Sheet blog about the four big “Flim-Flams” at the heart of the claim
Mercedes Schneider Reviews “The Great Debate” About Common Core
Mercedes Schneider here reviews half of the Great Debate about Common Core sponsored by Intelligence Squared and titled “Embrace the Common Core.” The half that she reviews is the side that favored Common Core: Mike Petrilli of the conservative Thomas B. Fordham Institute and Carmel Martin, former Obama administration official, now at the Center for American Progress. Schneider spent the summer w
Harper’s: Why Doesn’t PBS Care About the Assault on Public Education?
Ken Previti alerted me to the appearance of this story in Harper’s, called “PBS Self-Destructs.” Unfortunately, the article is behind a paywall, so you will either have to subscribe or run out and buy a copy. Aside from Bill Moyers, PBS has paid little attention to the astonishing, destructive, breath-taking assaults on the very principle of public education. Nor, with the exception of an occasion
WOW! Punk Rock Education Style!
WOW! Read this! The revolution is beginning. The reformers are in trouble. People are waking up and catching on. “Dad Gone Wild” writes about how he loved Punk Rock. He thought he was the only one. No one understood. That was back in 1977. Now he found himself wondering about education reform. It didn’t feel right to him. He started looking, and he discovered he was not alone. He writes: “Then
SEP 18
New York Takes First Step Towards Assessing the Arts
New York’s State Education Department never runs out of bad ideas. It announced the creation of an arts advisory panel to begin planning for assessments of the arts. Of course, these assessments would determine whether students are “college-and career-ready.” In the future, arts teachers will learn how to teach to the state test instead of teaching the discipline that unleashes creativity and imag
LA Times on the Botched Implementation of iPads
Howard Blume of the Los Angeles Times wrote a scathing description of the failed implementation of the $1.3 billion iPad boondoggle, which shows poor planning, a thrown-together program that amounted to buying gadgets with no preparation for using them. “In the first formal evaluation of the troubled iPads-for-all project in Los Angeles schools, only one teacher out of 245 classrooms visited was
Palm Beach County School Board Passes Resolution Calling for Testing Overhaul
Faced with unfunded mandates by the Legislature that require the creation and use of hundreds of new tests, deployed primarily to evaluate teachers, the Palm Beach County school board passed a resolution that basically says “Whoa!” The PBC school board will be sharing its resolution with other members of the Greater Florida School Board Consortium, which includes the state’s largest districts and
AIR report on Los Angeles’ Botched iPad Pilot Project
American Institutes for Research released a study of how iPads were used in a subset of schools that adopted them. This is the first phase of Superintendent John Deasy’s $1.3 billion plan to give an iPad or similar device to every student and staff member in the district. Things are not going well so far. AIR found a need for more technical support. “School staffers working on the project that s
Chicago: Guess Who Endorsed the Privatization of Custodian Jobs?
Mike Klonsky reports on the deal that preceded the privatization of the jobs of custodians in Chicago. It’s a shocker. “It was SEIU Local 73 leader Christine Boardman who first signed onto Rahm’s $340 million sub-contracting deal with Aramark and SodexoMagic (magic, my ass) in the first place. These two contracts combined make it one of the largest privatization moves of any school district in th
LA Times Again Defends Deasy, Accuses Critics of Fronting for Union
In an editorial, the Los Angeles Times again defended Superintendent John Deasy from critics who were appalled by the appearance of rigged bidding on a $1.3 billion tech contract. The editorial shifts the debate, saying that somehow the disgruntled members of the school board are actually stooges for the teachers’ union, which the editorial writer obviously despises. “At L.A. Unified, tensions a
Larry Lee: Guess Who Is Bashing Alabama’s Teachers?
Larry Lee is a writer in Alabama who has studied rural schools. He writes: “Teacher bashing” has become as common as bugs on a car windshield. It’s just something we’ve come to expect from the misguided and uninformed. However, I do not understand why universities, like Troy University in Alabama, spew venom at educators. Troy has been around for nearly 130 years and like many regional college
Milwaukee: Rocketship Scales Back Expansion Plans
Rocketship had planned to open 8 new charters in Milwaukee, but, according to this report from the Milwaukee Teachers’ Union, the expansion has been scaled back dramatically due to low enrollment. The company’s financial plan shows only one charter school in the year 2019. Teachers opposed the introduction of 8 Rocketship charters because they would drain more resources from the public schools, an
Nashville: Parents Complain that Rocketship Charter Is Grabbing Students’ Records
A post in the Tennessee Parents blog complains about the “Rocketship Charter School Nightmare in Tennessee.” Parents say that anyone who attended an informational session about the Rocketship Charter School discovered that their child’s records were pulled and moved to Rocketship. When they went to their zoned school, they were told that they had enrolled in Rocketship, even though they had not.
Dienne Anum Reviews Whitmire’s “On the Rocketship”
Dienne Anum, a parent and a regular contributor to the blog discussion, read and reviewed Richard Whitmire’s “On the Rocketship,” about Rocketship charters. She posted her review on Amazon and shares it with us. She writes: In his own words: “arrogant, elitist, myopic and willfully naïve” Back when Rocketship was little more than a twinkle in John Danner’s eyes, author Richard Whitmire was b
Join The Network for Public Education for Our Historic Event: Public Education Nation!
The Network for Public Education will hold a major event on October 11 in New York City called “Public Education Nation.” This is not to be confused with NBC’s annual Gates-sponsored “Education Nation.” Nope, this will be a low-budget, high-interest opportunity to meet education activists who are fighting corporate education “reform” and working for better public schools. The event will be live-
Advice to Fellow Floridians
Chris in Florida writes in response to the news that Broward County may give as many as 1,500 tests to satisfy a new law that requires tests in every subject and every grade—to evaluate teachers: “The Florida Legislature is famous for making poor, spur of the moment decisions when passing laws, never thinking through the longterm results and implications. “If ALEC says do it, they do it and smil
Teachers as Conscientious Objectors
A group of teachers at a progressive public school in Néw York City have formed “Teachers of Conscience” and written the Chancellor of the school system to say that they could no longer administer the state tests to their students. For their willingness to act on the demands of their conscience rather than serve as compliant enforcers of actions intended to rank and rate their students, I place th
SEP 17
Mike Klonsky’s: Deasy Gets 61 M16s and 3 Grenade Launchers from the Pentagon
The Pentagon has been giving military equipment not only to police departments, but to school districts. In Los Angeles, Mike Klonsky reports, “Supt. John Deasy has stocked up 61 M16 assault rifles, three grenade launchers, and a mine-resistant vehicle from the Pentagon.” These things might prove useful, Mike speculates, if something bad happens. “like an ISIS attack or a sharp decline in test s
Florida: Broward County May Give as Many as 1,500 New Tests
Let the madness begin in Florida where the politicians’ zeal for evaluating teachers by student test scores has created a Frankenstein monster of testing: brainless and lacking in sense or self-control. Broward County is said to be developing 1,500 new tests in every subject and grade. “The abundance of new tests – up to 1,500 could be introduced in the Broward school district, according to Supe
Palm Beach County Goes Test-Berserk, Planning 400 New Tests
The testing madness in Florida has finally gone over the edge into full-blown lunacy. End-of-course exams will be given to every student in every grade and in every subject, including kindergartens. “The new end-of-course tests are needed to meet the demands of Florida’s controversial 2011 teacher merit pay law, which requires student test data to be used in public school teachers’ evaluations. “
StudentsFirst Hires Ousted Republican Legislator as Lobbyist in Michigan
Yesterday, we remarked on the candid remarks of the StudentsFirst executive director in Ohio, who said that most charters in his state “stink” and should be closed down. That was a hopeful sign that at some part of the reform movement might be willing to bend on its anti-teacher pro-privatization agenda. But today we learn from Eclectablog in Michigan that StudentsFirst has fired an ex-state legi
Fairtest: Growing Momentum to Roll Back Testing Madness
Here is the weekly Fairtest report on new developments in the public’s efforts to roll back the testing frenzy that has been imposed on our nation’s children by Congress, the Bush administration, and the Obama administration: Bob Schaeffer of Fairtest writes: It’s only the middle of September but assessment reformers have already recorded an initial set of “wins” for the new school year: Pittsbur
Nevada: Big $$$ for Tesla, No $ for Schools
Nevada is giving more than $1 Billion in tax breaks to woo automaker Tesla to build a huge factory to produce electric batteries. The deal is controversial but not among Nevada legislators, who expect it to produce economic benefits and 6,500 jobs. Education also produces economic benefits and jobs, but legislators don’t mind underfunding their schools, increasing class sizes, and short changing
Jersey Jazzman: Governor Christie Should Be Held Accountable for Failure in State-Controlled Districts
Jersey Jazzman says Governor Christie has complete control of education in four urban districts in his state, and his appointees have haughtily introduced changes without community consultation or consent, sowing chaos and dissension, and protests by students and parents. In Newark, as much as half of the students are boycotting Cami Anderson’s “One Newark” reorganization. In Camden, the distric
Gary Rubinstein: A Miracle in Tennessee–NOT
Gary Rubinstein, myth buster, takes a hard look at Tennessee’s Achievement School District and finds less than it claims. Gary has a brilliant way of pulling data apart and finding manipulation and tricks. He does it here, slowly and methodically Tennessee’s State Commissioner Kevin Huffman (ex-TFA, Michelle Rhee’s first spouse) brought Chris Barbic to Tennessee to create a statewide districts mad
Common Core Has an Image Problem, New Ad Makes It Worse
Lots of buzz on the Internet about the new ad that allegedly is trying to rebuild the image of Common Core. The reaction is overwhelmingly negative, not just on this particular website but in a flurry of emails that I have received for the past few days. Here is Peter Greene’s take on this truly bad piece of propaganda. The ad shows a grandfather who brings his grandson to school and asks abou
SEP 16
LA Times Blames LAUSD School Board for Deasy’s Mistakes
Howard Blume of The Los Angeles Times has done a remarkable job of reporting about Superintendent John Deasy’s huge problems in managing the school system, the most monumental of them being his decision to borrow from a construction bond issue to buy Apple iPads loaded with Pearson content for every student and staff member at a purported cost of $1.3 billion. Bad enough that he was raiding the bo
Ohio: Concept Charter Chain, Under FBI Investigation Gets $48.5 Million a Year
A message from Donald Cohen of “In the Public Interest,” which follows news about privatization of public services. “Cashing in on Kids, a joint project of In the Public Interest and the American Federation of Teachers, is working to ensure that parents, teachers, students and taxpayers continue to have a strong voice in how we run our schools and educate our nation’s children. Below is an action
Two More Ohio Charter Schools Under Investigation
An investigation of Concept Schools charter chain in Ohio was expanded, adding two more schools where allegations of test tampering and misuse of public funds have been made. Some 400 supporters of the schools rallied for them at the Statehouse. “COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — The state said Tuesday its inquiry into alleged misconduct inside an embattled charter school chain has expanded to two additiona
Ohio: CEO of StudentsFirst Says Most of Ohio’s Charters “Stink” and Should Be Closed
Stephen Dyer has some amazing news in his excellent blog. I recently reposted his analysis of charter school performance in Ohio, which is mostly dismal. Nearly half the charters in the state earned a grade of F on their state report card. Now he reports the following: “StudentsFirst Ohio’s Executive Director Greg Harris has made some pretty important statements. Last year, he said in the Akron
Poll: Americans Want Better Trained, Certified Teachers
The following was reported at politico.com: “AMERICANS CALL FOR STEPPING UP THE TEACHING PROFESSION: Americans want better prepared teachers in the classroom – and a vast majority think educators should be required to pass board certification and submit to licensure standards like doctors and lawyers. Those views come from a PDK/Gallup poll, released today. Seventy percent of respondents said new
Kristen Buras: Message to York City, Beware of For-Profit Charter Chains!
When Kristen Buras read that the leaders of York City, Pennsylvania, were considering turning their schools into an all-charter district, she didn’t think it was a good idea. When she read that all the students in Muskegon Heights, Michigan, had been turned over to for-profit charter operator Mosaica, she thought it was necessary to issue a warning. This is the comment she left on the blog: Hm
Anthony Cody Explains and Supports Peer Assistance and Review
Anthony Cody notes a rift among allies. Mark NAISON wrote critically about PAR–Peer Assistance and Review. Writing from his experience, Cody explains how PAR works. The bottom line is this: If choosing how to be evaluated as a teacher, would you rather be evaluated by the rise or fall of test scores (VAM); by the principal, acting alone; or by a committee of peers and administrators whose first
Ohio: Most Summit County Charters Rated F
The letter grades for Ohio schools were posted recently, and most charter schools in Summit County were rated F. Across Ohio, 47% of 251 charters saw a drop in scores. In Summit County, with 9 charters, only two improved. The only charter to receive an A grade is run by the county, not entrepreneurs. The other 7 charters in Summit County were rated F. “Charter schools managed by for-profit comp
Ohio: More Charters Failing than Public Schools
Stephen Dyer, education policy fellow at Innovation Ohio, has analyzed the latest state report cards. The state’s Governor, John Kasich, is pro-charter, pro-voucher, and pro-market forces. He is no friend to public education. The legislature is the same. They want more schools that are privately managed. As we saw in a post yesterday, Ohio has a parent trigger law, and (as I posted yesterday) the
Amy Prime Moore: Is There Evidence that Too Much Testing Hurts Children?
Amy Prime Moore taught second grade in Iowa. Now she teaches fifth grade. She believes too much testing hurts her students. Then a friend asked, How do you know? And she wrote this article for the Des Moines Register. She writes: “But then I began to get resentful of the idea that I should even need to offer this proof. Why should I have to do this? Why is it that we can’t take the word of our e
Business Leaders Grade Louisiana: Great on Choice, Poor Academics
A new report from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce gives Louisiana high marks on providing choice but low marks for academics. It should be noted that Louisiana has higher levels of child poverty than other states, but the U.S. Chamber of Commerce does not go into that. “A new U.S. Chamber of Commerce report gives Louisiana’s public education system very low marks on academic achievement, internation
Bob Braun: Newark’s Barringer High School in Chaos
Bob Braun, veteran education reporter, says that Barringer High School is in chaos, due to poor planning by the district leadership, i.e., Cami Anderson. The school, intended to hold 600 students, has been divided into two schools, each with 700 students. The principal of one school was fired by Anderson, and the principal of the other quit before school started. He writes: “Barringer High
SEP 15
Breaking News: Missouri Education Commissioner Retiring
State Commissioner of Education Chris Nicastro is retiring at the end of the year. I don’t know whether that means the end of 2014 or the end of the school year, but it doesn’t matter. We will know more tomorrow.
Breaking News: Florida Suspends Online Standardized Tests for K-2, Temporarily
Bedeviled by technical glitches and the growing parent revolution against high-stakes testing, the Florida Department of Education announced it would suspend certain standardized tests for grades K-2, at least for this year. The announcement came after school systems, including Miami-Dade, ran into technical troubles administering the Florida Assessments for Instruction in Reading to students in
What Is It Like to Work in a Public School Where Success Academy is Co-Located?
In this post, Daniel Katz, director of secondary education and secondary special education teacher preparation at Seton Hall University in New Jersey, interviews Mindy Rosier about what it is like to work in a public school that shares the same building with one of Eva Moskowitz’s Success Academy charter schools. Rosier is a teacher at PS 811, the Mickey Mantle School, which serves children with s
NYC Parents and Teachers Criticize Omissions, Distortions in Times’ Article About Moskowitz
The New York City Parents Blog compiled the many complaints of parents and teachers about Daniel Bergner’s article about Eva Moskowitz. Bergner interviewed many critics, but he quoted only two: me and Michael Mulgrew of the UFT. Unlike the magazine article, the post explains that the main reason Mayor de Blasio rejected Moskowitz’s efforts to expand within PS 149 was that it would cause the displ
York City, Pennsylvania, Protests Attempted Corporate Takeover of Public Schools on Wednesday
For further information contact: Clovis Gallon, 717-487-2530, clo95@hotmail.com Lauri Rakoff, 717-577-8327, lrakoff@psea.org YORK CITIZENS TO SCHOOL BOARD: STOP THE CORPORATE TAKEOVER OF OUR SCHOOLS Community members will march outside School Board, Community Education Council meetings York, Pa. (Sept. 12, 2014) – Parents, educators, and members of the York community are calling on York City Schoo
Laura H. Chapman on Creativity
Laura H. Chapman, a reader who is an expert curriculum consultant in the arts, wrote the following in response to studies that say that “grit” is unrelated to creativity: “This discussion about creativity should include mention of theoretical and empirical work from the 1950s and 1960s such a J.P. Guilford’s broad view of human intelligence, reworked by Howard Gardner; Getzels & Jackson, “Cre
Ohio: Where For-Profit Charter Schools Flourish
Bill Phillis founded the Ohio Equity and Adequacy Coalition, which advocates for public schools and exposes for-profit scams. He writes here: ” Imagine Schools, Inc.: For-profit, out- of- state business operation took $44.9 million of Ohio school districts’ funds last school year Imagine Schools, Inc., based in Arlington, VA, has 18 Ohio business centers, authorized by eight different charter s
Amy Frogge: A Novel Idea for Real Education Reform!
Everyone wants to reform education. Everyone went to school, so everyone has ideas. But Amy Frogge, a member of the Metro Nashville School Board, has a truly novel idea: Let experienced educators lead the way. Think of it. Who knows best what children need? Experienced teachers. Who knows best what’s needed to make schools run more efficiently? The people who have been working in them. Frogge al
Frank Breslin: Dickens and Standardized Testing
Frank Breslin, retired high school teacher, considers the current obsession with standardized testing in reading and mathematics and laments the neglect of history, foreign languages, science, and everything else that is not tested. He writes: “Reading and math, indeed, must be taught, but much more besides — literature, history, science, world languages, music, art, and, in an age of childhood
Anthony Cody: Is It a Problem When Gates Funds the Media?
Anthony Cody noted a very interesting exchange of comments about the Gates Foundation on Mercedes Schneider’s blog. Schneider wrote about a perceived conflict of interest when the Gates Foundation funds media and even meets with their representatives. One of her examples was a grant to establish the “Education Lab” at the Seattle Times. The Lab is supposed to report on “success” stories. Focusing
SEP 14
Chicago: Privatized Custodial Services=Filthy Schools
Rahm Emanuel wants to privatize public education as much and as fast as he can. Aside from closing down 50 schools in one fell swoop, the mayor privatized custodial services to two companies for $340 million over three years, promising cleaner schools and cost savings. But, as reported by Catalyst, a respected journal that covers education in Chicago, principals complain that their schools are fi
Tom Ratliff: Public Schools in Texas Outperform Charter Schools
Tom Ratliff, a member of the Texas state Board of Education, wrote this article for the Longview News-Journal. It is a warning to parents not to assume that charter schools are better than public schools. On average, he says, the opposite is true. Public schools ranked higher for financial accountability: During the 2012-13 school year (the most recent year of the rating), Texas’ traditional p
Cast a Vote to Help Student Leaders Win $100,000 for Organizing
The Providence Student Union Is an inspirational group of high school students who have shaken up Rhode Island. Due to their creative protests against high-stakes testing, especially the use of a normed, standardized test for graduation, they won the support of the Boston Globe and then the state legislature, which declared a moratorium on using tests for high stakes purposes. Take a moment and h
Bertis Downs: Jason Carter is the Real Deal in Georgia
Bertis Downs, a member of the board of directors of the Network for Public Education, lives in Georgia. He sent the following comment, which gives hope that the citizens of Georgia will support their local public schools and vote for a Governor who wants to improve them. An earlier post described Governor Nathan Deal’s desire to create a statewide district modeled on the failed RSD in New Orleans
Amazing Story of the Day: Ohio Department of Education Hires StudentsFirst as “Neutral” Third Party
From reader Chiara: This is absolutely amazing. [Ed: read the story in the link] The Ohio Department of Education has chosen a lobbying group. StudentsFirst, to direct efforts to “inform” parents on whether to turn over a bunch of public schools to private contractors under the Parent Trigger: “Columbus Superintendent Dan Good said yesterday that the district is working to understand all the
A Gift for You from Mother Teresa
This was sent to me as a gift by George McLaughlin. George was one of the teachers at Central Falls High School in Central Falls, Rhode Island, who was summarily fired along with the rest of the staff, without due process or evaluation. “People are often unreasonable, irrational, and self-centered. Forgive them anyway. If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives. Be kind a
Peter Greene on Frederick Douglass and “No Excuses”
Peter Greene read the preceding piece by EduShyster about the strategy, tactics, and philosophy of “no excuses” charter schools. He was troubled, alarmed, repulsed by the behaviorist methods. I was reminded of what we use to call “brainwashing.” He thought of Frederick Douglass.
EduShyster: The High Cost of “No Excuses”
This is, quite frankly, an alarming post. EduShyster learns about the techniques, strategies, and philosophy of “no excuses” charter schools by interviewing Joan Goodman, who directs the Teach for America program at the University of Prnnsylvania. Goodman describes how the “no excuses” charters program young children to obey authority without question. ” To reach [their] objectives, these schools
Charter Schools Expand Rapidly in Central Falls, R.I.
Remember Central Falls? That is the small district in Rhode Island where the superintendent Frances Gallo decided to fire every staff member at the high school in spring 2010 because of low test scores. Gallo got the support of State Commissioner Deborah Gist, and the firings got the approval of Arne Duncan, who was supported by President Obama. The Rhode Island firing squad was hailed as heroes,
New York Educators Struggle to Make Sense of Teacher Evaluations
Educators in Néw York are trying to make sense of the state’s evaluation system. The formula is supposed to consist of observations (60%); state scores (20%); and local assessments (20%). Yet the results don’t line up with common sense or common knowledge. Some principals seem to be giving higher observation scores to teachers they want to protect because they believe they are valuable and don’t
SEP 13
Annie Tan Explains What’s Wrong with TFA
The most potent criticism of Teach for America comes from recruits who joined the corps, then discovered they were ill-prepared for the challenges of a high-needs classroom. This letter from Annie Tan was posted on the blog “Cloaking Inequity,” which is Julian Vasquez Heilig’s blog. She writes: “I have had my gripes about TFA from sophomore year of college. Learning about the neoliberal educati
Peter Greene Explains How Education Got Politicized
Peter Greene has been following the conversation at EducationPost, the blog funded by Broad, Walton, Bloomberg et al for $12 million, he says that the new spin from reformsters is that education is too politicized. He agrees but asks how it got that way. Who took the decision making power away from educators and gave it to legislatures, governors, the President, and Comgress? Not educators. Peter
LA Times: Will Deasy Survive the iPad Fiasco?
Howard Blume and Teresa Watanabe of the Los Angeles Times describe the storm clouds gathered around Superintendent John Deasy. The problem is rooted in the peculiar bidding process for what will eventually be a $1.3 billion effort to give a computer to every student and staff member. Released emails showed that Deasy and his close associate Jaime Aquino (a former employees of Pearson) were in disc
Jeannie Kaplan: School Starts Too Early
Jeannie Kaplan says that the best reform would be a later start to school. Why? Because teenagers biologically need to sleep later, and she has the research to prove it. She writes: “American teenagers suffer from a lack of sleep. Middle and high school students are chronically affected by this health risk. Obesity, depression, absenteeism and tardiness rise, academic performance and public safe
Paul Karrer: Who Will Stop the Mandates and the Madness?
Paul Karrer, who teaches in Castroville, California, writes a scorching review of what is laughingly called “reform.” He begins: “Arne Duncan and his patron President Barack Obama have gotten themselves in a bit of an educational bind. Big news came out of the White House on Aug. 21 but a lot of America missed it. It seems a collision course of: 1. sunsetting of the year 2014 and the imbecilic i
Bob Braun: Finally, Some Heroes in Newark: The Students
Bob Braun has been writing about the abusiveness and insensitivity of Cami Anderson’s “One Newark” plan. He has written that it has disrupted the lives of children and families, with no goal other than to sweep away neighborhood schools and impose charter schools. Newark has been under state control for nearly 20 years. In short, the people of Newark have had no say in the governance of their city
Teaching in the Schools of Ferguson, Missouri
Inda Schaenen is an eighth grade English language arts teacher at Normandy Middle School in Ferguson, Missouri. She writes in Education Week about how students were affected by the death of Michael Brown and how she as a teacher was affected. School started nine days after the shooting. “Even before the shooting and the dramatic aftermath broadcast around the world, our district was accustomed t
The New Yorker Explains Cuomo’s Embarrassment
John Cassidy of The New Yorker wrote a fascinating article on the national implications of Zephyr Teachout’s strong performance against Andrew Cuomo. With little money, little name recognition, and no television ads, she managed to capture a third of the Democratic primary vote. Cassidy says: “The strong showing by Teachout and Wu was a victory for progressive voters who warmed to their message a
