If you are a BadAss Teacher, or if you want to be one, or if you want to learn about their activities, you will not want their fourth annual conference in Seattle this summer. BATs will be heading into summer with their 4th Annual Education
The Washington Post reports from a town in the Louisiana Delta. VACHERIE, La. — At the new public charter school in this Mississippi River town, nearly all the students are African American. Parents seem unconcerned about that. They just
I wrote this article for The New Republic. https://newrepublic.com/article/142364/dont-like-betsy-devos-blame-democrats It explains how Democrats set the stage for DeVos’ anything-goes approach to school choice by their advocacy of charter schools. Charters are the gateway to vouchers. We have seen many groups like Democrats for Education Reform try to draw a sharp distinction between charters an
One of the most heartening developments in recent years is the awakening of major newspapers in Ohio to the massive scandals surrounding their state’s charter industry. These scandals have come about because of the money nexus that connects charter operators and politicians. Charters in Ohio have a dismal academic record, and also a dismal financial record. This happens because the laws were writ
To those of us who have been around education for a while, we know that Howard Gardner of Harvard University was first to write about the idea of multiple intelligences. This has been the guiding idea of much of his work, recognizing that some young people are gifted in one area, but not in all areas. All of these intelligences are worthy and should be cultivated. His seminal book, Frames of Mind
Bruce Baker at Rutgers University created a valuable graph that shows the relationship between every states’ number of charter schools and its fiscal effort. Some states appear to think that opening charters relieves them of their responsibility to fund public schools. They choose to “reform” by handing schools off to private entrepreneurs, thus relieving the state of the duty to provide adequate
Pastors for Texas Children reports on the voucher battle in Texas. Vouchers were defeated overwhelmingly in the Republican-controlled House a few weeks back, but like a zombie, they have risen from the dead at the insistence of voucher zealot Lt. Governor Dan Patrick. Let’s hope that Speaker of the House Joe Strauss and Dan Huberty, chairman of the House Public Education Committee, both good Repu
Just when you think it can’t get worse, out comes another budget proposal that will harm public health. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/to-your-health/wp/2017/05/22/trump-budget-seeks-huge-cuts-to-disease-prevention-and-medical-research-departments/ “President Trump’s 2018 budget request to Congress seeks massive cuts in spending on health programs, including medical research, disease prevent
Politico’s Morning Edition posted this description of 50CAN, the pro-privatization organization that was started by hedge fund managers and big pharma in Connecticut: FIRST IN MORNING EDUCATION: 50CAN’S GROWTH PLAN: The national education reform advocacy group, 50CAN, hopes to hire 1,000 new advocates by the year 2023. That’s a key part of the organization’s new growth plan, the first of its kind
Our blog poet, who goes by the sobriquet Some DAMPoet (Devalue Added) responded to the story about the rankings of the best high schools in the country, which were notable for their high attrition rates and their selectivity. The very best high school, in one ranking, had only 24 graduates of the 43 that entered ninth grade; the number two high school had only 11 graduates of an entering ninth gr
Alan Singer pulls back the curtain to reveal the dirty little secret behind the high-stakes exams that determine the fate of teachers, students, administrators, and schools. http://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/us_5922bf13e4b0b28a33f62dcd Pearson hires minimally qualified people and pays them by the hour to determine whether you will be humiliated, fired, lose a promotion, or your school will be closed
We now know that William Sanders, the creator of Value-Added Measurement, which measures teacher quality with the methods of an agricultural statistician, is revered in the think tank world of D.C. But Peter Greene, who teaches in a Pennsylvania high school, doesn’t think much of VAM. He recounts how Sanders was inspired to think about measuring teachers based on his studies of radioactivity in c
The New York Times published a tribute by Kevin Carey of the New America Foundation to William Sanders, “the little-known statistician who taught us to measure teachers.” One hates to speak ill of the dead, but accuracy requires that we note that Sanders’ statistical model for “measuring” teachers was flawed, inaccurate, and damaged the lives of thousands of teachers based on Sanders’ obscure alg
Education Week is a paradox. On one hand, it has many excellent reporters who check facts and write lucidly without partisanship. On the other, the corporate entity has become a selling platform for technology and charter schools. I used to blog regularly at EdWeek, in a column called “Bridging Differences,” with Deborah Meier. No one ever changed what I wrote. I know that editorial independence
Larry Cuban posted this article by Benjamin Herold, who writes for Education Week about technology, on his blog. https://larrycuban.wordpress.com/2017/05/21/personalized-learning-what-does-the-research-say-benjamin-herold/ The term “personalized learning” has been captured by the technology industry to represent computer-based instruction. Some people think it would be justifiable to refer to com
Carol Burris, executive director of the Network for Public Education, has written a brilliant critique of the rankings of America’s high schools. She looks specifically at Jay Mathews’ list of “America’s Most Challenging High Schools,” but her critique applies equally to U.S. News & World Report’s ranking of “America’s Best High Schools.” As she points out, charter advocates jumped for joy when t
Do you want to know where YOUR state stands in the race to privatize public money for private schools? Alternet has an excellent summary of the Network for Public Education report on school privatization.
