Diane Ravitch's blog
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DIANE RAVITCH'S BLOG
Reformers like to tell us that they are in a hurry. They want everything reformed now, or yesterday. They can’t wait. They can’t even wait to find out if their reforms make any sense. Their motto might as well be, “Don’t just stand there, reform something.” But Andy Hargreaves explains here why the hurry up approach doesn’t work. Hargreaves is one of our most sensible thinkers about education. H
Jonathan Pelto is stunned. Despite Governor Malloy’s anti-teacher policies, the Connecticut Esucation Association endorsed him. “NEWS FLASH: The only Democratic governor in the nation to propose doing away with teacher tenure for all teachers and repealing collective bargaining for teachers working in the poorest district has received the endorsement of the Connecticut Education Association’s Boar
Politico.com reported that the National Urban League is aggressively supporting Common Core. Politico neglected to mention that the National Urban League has received more than $5 million from the Gates Foundation in recent years. Anytime that any group advocates for the Common Core, publications should report whether they are funded by the Gates Foundation. The oversight is comparable to giving t
Jane Slaughter describes what she calls the neoliberal assault on Michigan, and she adds in Wisconsin as well. The assault consists of a plan to end collective bargaining and to weaken the unions so they are unable to protect the benefits for working people. I am not sure why she calls this movement “neoliberal,” as it seems that the main movers and shakers are far-right conservatives who always h
A teacher left this thoughtful comment: “I recently participated in professional development on the Smarter Balance test (SBAC), the newest of the assessments to measure student proficiency in competencies aligned with the Common Core State Standards (CCSS). One of my responsibilities as a language arts teacher of high school juniors is to prepare students for this high-stakes assessment. I also p
Our political life is increasingly shaped by the Koch brothers, who are billionaires and own one of the most powerful mega-corporations in the world. They are philanthropists, and you will see their name on public buildings. That is good. But their businesses are major polluters wherever they operate. And they contribute to campaigns of those who want to roll social policy back to 1900, when ther
Yohuru Williams: Attacking Teacher Tenure Does NOT Promote Civil Rights
Yohuru Williams, a historian at Fairfield University, sharply rebukes those who seek to eliminate tenure and claim to be advancing “civil rights.” His article on Huffington Post is titled “Lies My Corporate Ed Reformers Told Me: The Truth about Teacher Tenure and the Civil Rights Movement.” He writes: “The champions of corporate education reform insist that efforts to strip teachers of the pro
YESTERDAY
Peter Goodman Watches as David Coleman Shows Off
David Coleman, as everyone knows, is the architect of the Common Core. He is hot stuff. Peter Goodman, observer of Néw York politics, saw Coleman strutting and preening. He says he wanted to be a high school teacher, but went to McKinsey instead. Then he became an eduentrepreneur and started the Grow Network, which was a way to track student performance data. The word on the street is that he sol
Missouri Education Watchdog: Someone, Please Tell US DOE about 10th Amendment
Missouri Education Watchdog is a wonderful blog that I discovered only recently. In this post, these questions are raised: why doesn’t the U.S. Department of Education know about the tenth amendment to the Constitution? Why, under Arne Duncan, is the DOE unaware of federalism? Why is the DOE constantly overstepping its bounds, trying to impose its ideas not only on states but on districts? Don’t
EduShyster: When Do Parents. Have No Choice But Choice?
EduShyster asks the curious but important question: What happens when parents are told that they must have school choice, whether they want it or not? What happens if they want a neighborhood public school but authorities tell them they are not allowed to have that choice? What if the elites decide that other people’s children must choose a “no excuses” charter school even if they don’t choose it?
Story of the Day: Education Entrepreneurs Set to Disrupt Our Schools for Their Profit
This is the most important article you will read this week, this month, maybe this year. Lee Fang, a brilliant investigative reporter at the Nation Institute, documents the rise and growth of the new for-profit education industry. They seek out ways to make money by selling products to the schools, developing new technologies for the Common Core, writing lucrative leasing deals for charter school
My Choice for Governor and Lt. Governor of New York: Howie Hawkins and Brian Jones
I am casting a protest vote for the first time in my life. I am voting for the candidates of the Green Party, Howie Hawkins and Brian Jones. I voted for Zephyr Teachout in the Democratic primary for three reasons: her position on education, on public integrity, and on the environment. And these are the reasons I will cast my ballot in November for the Green Party. I like their platform on the issu
SEP 25
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
SEP 24
Good News! Buras’ Book Soon Available in Paperback
Yesterday I reviewed Kristen Buras’ new book–the other side of the story–about Néw Orleans. I complained that the hardcover was priced at $125. Apparently the publisher got the message. The softcover was supposed to be out in 2015, but publication has been advanced. It will be available in a few weeks for $40, maybe less. The book is called “Charter Schools, Race, and Urban Space: Where the Marke
Sara Stevenson: Get Ready for the Big Teacher Exodus
Sara Stevenson, librarian at the O. Henry School in Austin and tireless defender of public schools and teachers, wrote this article, which was published in the Austin American-Statesman. Unfortunately, it is behind a pay wall. However, Sara solved that problem by posting it on her personal blog. Sara writes a letter to the editor of The Wall Street Journal whenever it bashes public schools or teac
Breaking News in Michigan: Shocking Expose of Governor Snyder’s EAA!
Curt Guyette, an investigative reporter for the ACLU of Michigan, published this story at Detroit Metro Times, based on an in-depth exploration of internal documents of Michigan’s Education Achievement Authority. The EAA was announced by Governor Rick Snyder in 2011 to “save” the lowest-performing children in Detroit. Governor Snyder said in 2011: In June of 2011, Gov. Rick Snyder stepped behi
FairTest Reports the Stunning Advances of Movement to Curb Testmania
Here is the weekly update from FairTest, which monitors the use and abuse of standardized testing. The movement to curb the abuses is multiplying. Bob Schaeffer of FairTest writes: Another incredible week for the assessment reform movement — school boards adopting strong resolutions calling for a suspension of high-stakes testing, candidates speaking out against standardized overkill, new Congres
Network for Public Education Endorses Michael Charney for State Board in Ohio
The Network for Public Education endorses candidates who share its values: supporting strong and better public schools, opposing high-stakes testing and privatization. We don’t know everyone running for office everywhere but endorse candidates who seek our endorsement, after a review of the records of all candidates in the race. We are ptoud to endorse Michael Charney, who is running for the state
EduShyster Reports on the Strange Case of the Disappearing Minority Teachers
EduShyster has been trying to crack the case of the mysterious disappearance of minority teachers in urban districts. She takes a close look at Boston, especially the prestigious Boston Latin School. Here is her beginning: “Today’s high-stakes question involves the demographics of our nation’s teaching force. When and where is it appropriate to discuss the urgent need to diversify the nation’s t
Sarah Darer Littman: The Gates Foundation as a Trojan Horse, Disabling Democracy
Sarah 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 four are elected by the public. But the Board is bound by its bylaws to act as a whole. The five are not supposed to hold secret meetings to make p
SEP 23
Mayor Rahm Emanuel: Don’t Close Dyett High School!
As I write, community activists in Chicago are demanding that Mayor Emanuel allow Dyett High School to remain open. The local community is fighting for the school. They want it to be a school dedicated to global leadership and green technology. Only 13 students remain in the school. They remain as a symbol that the community will not give up. They will not abandon a high school that they cherish
Jersey Jazzman Tries to Educate Editorial Writer Tom Moran About Charter Schools in Hoboken
Jersey Jazzman is not only a music teacher; he has been earning his doctorate in statistics at Rutgers University. In this post, he uses his knowledge of classroom and statistics to try to educate the chief editorial writer for the Star-Ledger, Tom Moran, about the difference between the public schools of Hoboken, New Jersey, and the charter school of Hoboken, New Jersey. As you can see from JJ’s
Matthew Di Carlo: The Fatal Flaw of the Reformers
Matthew Di Carlo of the Shanker Institute says that the reformers cannot succeed, despite their best intentions, because they over promise what they can accomplish. Whether it is a promise of closing the achievement gap in short order, turning around 1,000 schools a year for five years, college for all, or making every single child proficient by the year 2014, they set goals that might–if all goes
New York: Shame on the League of Women Voters
The League of Women Voters is sponsoring a debate between gubernatorial candidates in Néw York. For some reason, only Governor Cuomo and Republican challenger Rob Astorino have been invited. The Green Party and other qualified parties were not invited. This is not right. It is good that Cuomo agreed to debate at all. He refused to debate his primary opponent Zephyr Teachout or even to mention her
Worcester Educators Oppose PARCC testing
Educators in Worcester, Massachusetts, spoke out against the school committee’s decision to adopt the federally-funded Common Core test, at least partially, splitting the district between PARCC and the established Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS). PARCC was field-tested last year in Massachusetts. See what the teachers say about it. The Commissioner of Education in the state, M
Bloomberg News: Google Quits ALEC
Bloomberg News reports that Google will or has quit ALEC. Probably this means Google will not renew its membership in this radical extremist organization, which writes model laws to bust unions, privatize public education, restrict voting rights, oppose gun control, deny climate change, and eliminate regulations on corporations. Google was alarmed about climate change denial. Apparently the rest
My Review of Kristen Buras’ Counter-Narrative of the “New Orleans Miracle”
The first thing to be said about Kristen Buras’ new book is that the publisher overpriced the book ($125). As the author, she had nothing to do with that poor decision. This is a book that should be widely read, but at that price, it won’t be. There will eventually be a softcover edition, but probably not for a year. Urge your library to buy it, or get together a group of friends to pool the cost.
Providence Teachers Reject Contract
By an overwhelming margin, the Providence Teachers Union rejected a contract that would have eliminated all job security. “PROVIDENCE — The Providence Teachers Union on Monday rejected a three-year contract proposal that would have eliminated the job-security clause and allowed management to create a new compensation system that would have awarded extra pay for additional responsibilities. The 1
VAMboozled: Jesse Rothstein on VAM and Tenure
Audrey Amrein-Beardsley here summarizes and comments on a very enlightening interview with Jesse Rothstein in the Washington Post. Rothstein, an economist, conducts research on teacher evaluation and accountability. Rothstein, on teacher evaluation: “In terms of evaluating teachers, “[t]here’s no perfect method. I think there are lots of methods that give you some information, and there are lots
Alan Singer Does a “Close Reading” of the Great Common Core Debate
Alan Singer, a professor of social studies at Hofstra University on Long Island, New York, adopts the close reading strategy of the Common Core to critique the “great debate” about Common Core. You may recall that the debate pitted educator Carol Burris and Rick Hess of the American Enterprise Institute against Mike Petrilli of the Thomas B. Fordham Institute and Carmel Martin of the Center for Am
SEP 22
Did Google Quit ALEC?
ALEC is a super-conservative organization that writes model legislation for vouchers, charters, and every imaginable way to privatize public education, undermine unions, tenure, certification, and anything else that is associated with teacher professionalism. ALEC is supported by major corporations. It writes legislation on every topic of interest to its backers, reducing government regulation, r
Charter Schools in New York Sue for More Money
You probably don’t remember the claims made by charter advocates when they were starting this dual system of schools; they said they could get better results for less money, which would be a huge cost savings for taxpayers. As we have seen in state after state, charters usually get worse results than public schools, except when they cherry pick the students they want and kick out the ones with l
What We Learned from Watching Ken Burns on “The Roosevelts”
I recently criticized PBS for ignoring the corporate assault on public education (with the exception of Bill Moyers), but the current airing of Ken Burns’ monumental series on “The Roosevelts” is television at its finest. We would not expect to see this seven-part, fourteen-hour series anywhere but on PBS. I sat glued to the television for seven straight nights. What struck me most forcefully was
For-Profit College Chain Collapsing in Debt, Scandal
Politico reports this morning that the giant for-profit charter chain Corinthian College is in deep financial trouble and is under criminal investigation as well: “MORE CORINTHIAN INQUIRIES: Corinthian Colleges is facing two more criminal investigations, the dismantling for-profit giant reported in an SEC filing late Friday [http://bit.ly/1mwDAFi]. The company disclosed a federal grand jury subpo
Peter Greene: TNTP Shows How to Make Tenure Rare
Peter Greene has an endless willingness to read the steady deluge of think-tank reports on how to fix teaching, how to fix schools, etc. it is not necessary to be a teacher to write these reports. That’s what think tanks do. In this instance, he has read and dissected TNTP’s new report on how to fix tenure. Bear in mind that the original name of the organization, founded by Michelle Rhee (some cla
Norm Scott: Charter Warns Parents about Dire Consequences for Late Pick-Ups
Talk about “no excuses”! Blogger and retired teacher Norm Scott broke the story that Girls Prep Charter School in New York City posted a warning to parents about the dire consequences of arriving late to pick up their children. If the parent did not arrive by 3:45, the child would be taken to the local police precinct. Repeated failure to pick up on time would lead to a report to the city’s Admini
Joanne Yatvin: Let More Teachers Re-Invent the Wheel, Or Why We Don’t Need Standardization
Joanne Yatvin, now retired, wrote the following commentary in 1990, almost 25 years ago. It was published in Education Week. It remains as pertinent today as it was then. In fact, with the Common Core adopted by most states, it is even more pertinent today than it was in 1990. Special thanks to Education Week for granting permission to reprint the article in full. Published: September 19, 19
Hal Salzman: STEM Graduates Can’t Find Jobs
Hal Salzman, sociologist and professor of public policy at Rutgers University, says there is a shortage of jobs for graduates who have studied science and engineering. The so-called STEM jobs, he says, have an excess of applicants. Salzman wrote recently in U.S. News and World Report: “All credible research finds the same evidence about the STEM workforce: ample supply, stagnant wages and, by in
Camden, NJ: Target of Privatization
Egged on by Governor Chris Christie, the privatization movement has targeted Camden, Néw Jersey. PARENT ADVOCATES CALL ON LEGISLATURE TO HALT UNPRECEDENTED EXPANSION OF UNACCOUNTABLE CHARTER CHAINS IN CAMDEN NJ Senate President Stephen Sweeney is poised to pass S2264, legislation that amends the 2013 Urban Hope Act in order to accommodate illegally approved renaissance charter schools in Cam
SEP 21
Connecticut: Jumoke Academy Steered over $1 Million to Executive’s Husband
Jumoke Academy, once the star charter school of Governor Malloy and State Commissioner of Education Stefan Pryor, paid over $1 million to the husband of an executive for renovations, according to the Hartford Courant. “HARTFORD — The Jumoke Academy charter school organization, now facing a state probe into allegations of nepotism, directed more than a million dollars in construction work to the h
Ohio: Does Public Property Belong to Public or to Charter Organization?
This note of alarm comes from Denis Smith, a retired consultant in the Ohio Department of Education’s charter school office: On Tuesday, September 23, the Ohio Supreme Court will hear arguments in the notorious White Hat Management case, where the boards of 10 charter schools operated by White Hat Management have sued the operator to assert their right to control the physical assets of the sch
Ken Futernick: What California Needs Most After Vergara
Ken Futernick, a wise educator who has written about the improvement of the teaching profession for many years, has a brilliant article in the Los Angeles Times about “grand bargain” post-Vergara. Futernick testified for the state in the Vergara trial. He has long understood that schools in urban districts with low scores often have poor working conditions, inadequate resources, and high teacher t
Washington State Should Not Lose Its NCLB Waiver
In 2001, Congress passed a law called No Child Left Behind. It was signed into law by President George W. Bush in January 2002. It is the worst federal education legislation ever passed. It required that 100% of children in grades 3-8 must be proficient by 2014 or their schools are failing and subject to harsh sanctions. In no nation in the world are 100% of children proficient. This is an impossi
Laura H. Chapman: More on the Corruption of Education by Econometric Language
Laura H. Chapman gives more examples of the distortion and corruption of education practice amd policy by econometric language. Students are performing on grade level if their scores on a standardized test are at or above the median on a percentile scale (1-99). On a large-scale test, a score at or near the 50th percentile (the median) will usually classify a student as proficient in the skills an
Laura H. Chapman: When Economic Language Corrupts Educational Practice
Many years ago, I first heard the term “semantic infiltration.” It was used to refer to the way that words, when used often enough, can become reality, even when we don’t agree with the “reality.” LauraChapman describes the way that technocratic language has corrupted education by inserting its language into the ways we think about children and learning. She writes: An economic concept of growth a
The First Day of School on an Island in Maine
A friend who moved to Maine sent me this lovely post about the first day of school at the two-room Ashley Bryan school, where children from two neighboring islands join to form a tiny school. It is an exciting day for everyone, children, parents, and community members. Even Ashley Bryan, Maine artist, was there to greet the children. “It has become a tradition for parents and townspeople to gather
Yong Zhao: Why Marc Tucker Is Wrong: The Case Against High-Stakes Testing
Marc Tucker recently published a position paper arguing that our current system of test-based accountability, testing every student every year in grades 3-8, has failed and that we need a new approach. His approach, as Anthony Cody argued, would test at transition points but would still have high stakes and would test more subjects. Tucker wrote a post criticizing Cody and me and arguing that high
SEP 20
Charters Will Blitz Philadelphia with PR Campaign
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: How to Beat the SAT-ACT Obstacle Course
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: Time for Congressional Hearings About Testing
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