The Big Lie about the “Science of Reading”: NAEP 2019 Edition | radical eyes for equity

The Big Lie about the “Science of Reading”: NAEP 2019 Edition | radical eyes for equity

The Big Lie about the “Science of Reading”: NAEP 2019 Edition

After the release of the 2017 NAEP reading scores, states such as Mississippi launched a campaign to celebrate the success of their reading legislation. This effort coincided with a recent explosion in states adopting reading legislation driven by dyslexia advocates who promote systematic intensive phonics for all students.

The claims coming from Mississippi didn’t seem credible, so I began what turned into a very long (and maybe endless) examination of the growing power of dyslexia advocates to drive what are essentially very bad forms of reading legislations, notably third grade retention and systematic intensive phonics for all students.

In my initial analysis of 2017 NAEP reading scores for 4th and 8th grades, I addressed the use of “the science of reading” as veneer for ideological advocacy; I also focused on the misuse by dyslexia/phonics advocates and the media of the National Reading panel and flawed claims about and definitions of “balanced literacy” and “whole language,” including mostly ahistorical understandings of how reading has been taught and discussed in political and public forums.

With the release of 2019 NAEP data, as we should expect, the same folk are back at over-reacting and misunderstanding standardized reading test data (mostly mainstream media), and dyslexia/phonics advocates are cherry CONTINUE READING: The Big Lie about the “Science of Reading”: NAEP 2019 Edition | radical eyes for equity

THURSDAY'S CHILD - CATCH UP WITH DIANE RAVITCH'S BLOG | A site to discuss better education for all

Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all

CATCH UP WITH DIANE RAVITCH'S BLOG

 A site to discuss better education for all

TODAY

Nancy Bailey: The Haunted Third Grade Classroom That Traps Children

by dianeravitch / 13min

Nancy Bailey writes here about a zombie polic y launched by Jeb Bush called third grade retention. Students who can’t pass a third grade reading test are flunked and held back. Nineteen states have adopted this practice despite a large body of research showing that it hurts kids and leads to future failure, even dropping out. Children who are held back feel humiliated. There is one big benefit to

Pennsylvania: Speaker of the House Who Hates Public Schools and Teachers Will Have Electoral Challenge

by dianeravitch / 1h

Remember Pennsylvania Speaker of the House Mike Turzai, who denounced public schools as a “monopoly, and expressed his contempt for public school teachers as a “special interest group”? He will have a Democratic challenger in the next election. Emily Skopov is the daughter of a public school teacher and an activist. Read her biography and learn about her project called “No Crayon Left Behind.” Em

Chicago: CTU Explains Terms of Tentative Agreement

by dianeravitch / 1h

Tentative Agreement Tonight’s Vote to Conditionally Suspend the Strike CTU’s House of Delegates met tonight to consider a new tentative agreement. The terms of the tentative agreement can be downloaded from the MemberLink Portal . Delegates voted 364 to 242, with four abstentions, to accept the revised tentative agreement on the condition that Mayor Lightfoot agree to make up the days lost in the

Africa: World Bank Ombudsman Expresses Concern about For-Profit Bridge International Academies

by dianeravitch / 2h

In recent years, I have posted several times about the issues raised by the efforts of for-profit Bridge International Academies to supply low-cost schools in Africa. These schools are staffed by teachers equipped with iPads reading a script written in Boston or someplace similar. Most African families can’t afford the cost. BIA aims to disrupt and replace African nations’ underfunded, ill-equipp

Alexandria Millet: The Charter School-to-Prison Pipeline

by dianeravitch / 3h

Alexandria Millet writes in The Progressive about the consequences of the harsh discipline at “no excuses” charter schools. She begins by telling the recent story of two six-year-old girls who were arrested in school for having a temper tantrum. They were taken to the police station, where their mug shots were taken. Eventually, in response to public outrage, the charges were dropped, and the sch

YESTERDAY

Chicago Teachers Union Reaches Tentative Agreement, But Strike Not Over Yet!

35by dianeravitch / 11h

The CTU reached a tentative agreement with Chicago Public Schools. The CTU House of Delegates voted 364-242 to suspend the strike pending resolution of final issues. The settlement, which meets most of the CTU demands, will be voted on by the full membership within 10 days. But the strike is not yet over. The sides are very close but the union wants an assurance that there will be no loss of inst

Peter Greene on DeVosian Nonsense

43by dianeravitch / 17h

Peter Greene skewers Betsy DeVos’ unsubstantiated claims about the meaning of the disappointing NAEP scores. Don’t believe her when she says that 2/3 of students are “below grade level” in reading. NAEP proficiency is not “grade level.” NAEP even posts that statement on its graphs. This is what NAEP says as a note attached to its graphs: “The NAEP Proficient achievement level does not represent g

The NAEP Results: A Powerful Statement by Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro

78by dianeravitch / 19h

Rosa DeLauro is one of the most significant members of Congress. She oversees Congressional appropriations for education. She is a strong supporter of public education and a critic of privatization of public funding. FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE October 30, 2019 CONTACT: Will Serio: 202-225-3661 DeLauro Statement on 2019 National Assessment of Educational Progress Results WASHINGTON, DC — Today, Congres

Matt Barnum at Chalkbeat: Betsy DeVos Uses Disappointing NAEP Scores to Call for More Charters and Vouchers

by dianeravitch / 20h

In a thoughtful article, Matt Barnum writes in Chalkbeat that Betsy DeVos used the disappointing results of the NAEP 2019 national tests to call for her “Education Freedom” plan, which would further disinvest in public schools and divert funding from the federal government, states, and local school districts to charters and vouchers. Barnum writes: But the call for more school choice — which, alo

Weingarten on NAEP Results

20by dianeravitch / 20h

This is a strong statement by Randi Weingarten. Please note that 10% of New York City’s public school students are homeless; students in many other districts suffer trauma, including homelessness, lack of access to medical care 

Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all

CURMUDGUCATION: Solnit, Books, Rand, and Young Readers

CURMUDGUCATION: Solnit, Books, Rand, and Young Readers

Solnit, Books, Rand, and Young Readers

If you are not a regular follower of Brain Pickings, you should be. Thoughtful and erudite and really, really human, the site has for over a decade presented Maria Popova's essays spun off the works of others. I've met many authors I was glad to know on her site.

This post focuses on author Rebecca Solnit and A Velocity of Being, a collection of 121 illustrated letters written to young readers. Periodically something wakes up my teacher brain, and like an amputees phantom limb it leaps up to say, "Ooo! You should get that for the classroom" before I remember that I know longer have a classroom into which I can out such things (I do, however, have children and grandchildren.) It's about why we read and how books transform us, and Popova quotes from Solnit's letter about how books helped through a difficult childhood.

The books of my childhood were bricks, not for throwing but for building. I piled the books around me for protection and withdrew inside their battlements, building a tower in which I escaped my unhappy circumstances. There I lived for many years, in love with books, taking refuge in books, learning from books a strange data-rich out-of-date version of what it means to be human. Books gave me refuge. Or I built refuge out of them, out of these books that were both bricks and magical spells, protective spells I spun around myself. They can be doorways and ships and fortresses for anyone who loves them.

"A strange data-rich out-of-date version of what it means to be human" might be my new favorite CONTINUE READING: CURMUDGUCATION: Solnit, Books, Rand, and Young Readers

Louisiana Educator: John White's Pitiful Record as Louisiana's Education Reformer

Louisiana Educator: John White's Pitiful Record as Louisiana's Education Reformer

John White's Pitiful Record as Louisiana's Education Reformer

After over 7 years of John White as Louisiana's education reformer, Louisiana ranks 47th on national reading and math tests, and 49th on the ACT.
John White's propaganda mill had the unmitigated gall to put out this press release Tuesday claiming that Louisiana was "number one in the country in 8th grade math improvement" as measured by The Nations Report Card. This tiny bit of data selection is insignificant compared to overall achievement of our students in reading, math and college readiness. The press release neglected to mention that despite all this "improvement" Louisiana still ranks third to last compared to the 50 states in 8th grade math. There is also no mention that Louisiana ranks 47th out of the 50 states in overall performance on all the latest NAEP tests. No mention was made that the latest ACT tests now rank Louisiana second to last in the country in college readiness! Our ACT test score averages have been declining significantly for the last 3 years. White's press release trying to portray total stagnation in student performance as "nation leading outcomes" is pathetic.

An analysis of White's record as measured by objective NAEP and ACT testing
The example of selective data analysis in the press release above to find just one little nugget of apparent success while ignoring all of the overwhelming data indicating total stagnation in education results is a shameful attempt to mislead the public. Here is an CONTINUE READING: Louisiana Educator: John White's Pitiful Record as Louisiana's Education Reformer

Party Pivot: Why Democrats Are Rethinking School Choice – Have You Heard

Party Pivot: Why Democrats Are Rethinking School Choice – Have You Heard

Party Pivot: Why Democrats Are Rethinking School Choice

From the Sanders plan to the Warren plan to Cory Booker’s reluctance to talk about education reform on the campaign trail, the Democratic Party seems to be backing away from its decades-long embrace of charter schools. While pundits cite the influence of teachers unions within the party, our guest Jon Valant says more complicated forces are at play, starting with the unraveling of the liberal/conservative coalition that brought charters into being. Complete transcript of the episode is here.

And in our special extended play version for Patreon subscribers, Jennifer and Jack tackle the edu-wars that just keep flaring up between Sanders and Warren supporters.

Party Pivot: Why Democrats Are Rethinking School Choice – Have You Heard

Chicago Teachers Union Reaches Tentative Agreement, But Strike Not Over Yet! | Diane Ravitch's blog

Chicago Teachers Union Reaches Tentative Agreement, But Strike Not Over Yet! | Diane Ravitch's blog

Chicago Teachers Union Reaches Tentative Agreement, But Strike Not Over Yet!

The CTU reached a tentative agreement with Chicago Public Schools. The CTU House of Delegates voted 364-242 to suspend the strike pending resolution of final issues. The settlement, which meets most of the CTU demands, will be voted on by the full membership within 10 days.

But the strike is not yet over. The sides are very close but the union wants an assurance that there will be no loss of instructional time for the students. They want to make up the instructional time, possibly by extending the school year. Thus far, Mayor Lightfoot says no.

The union made no concessions. For the first time ever, they have won enforceable guarantees about class sizes, though the agreed-upon limits are still too large: no more than 32 students in K-3. No more than 35 in upper grades. $35 million has been pledged for class size reductions, which will be lowered as funding permits. The agreement commits the city not to authorize any new charters, nor add to the current enrollment of students in charter schools.

No school tomorrow while the bargaining continues.

The settlement contains not only caps on class sizes, but guarantees about school nurses, and other important CONTINUE READING: Chicago Teachers Union Reaches Tentative Agreement, But Strike Not Over Yet! | Diane Ravitch's blog

What Is This Charter School Hiding?

What Is This Charter School Hiding?

What Is This Charter School Hiding?

ECRCHS has determined that your request seeks records that are privileged and protected, and thus not subject to disclosure.”– Daniel H. Chang, Chief Compliance Officer

El Camino’s Governing Board meets during the scandal

It has been three years since El Camino Real Charter High School’s (ECRCHS) former Principal, David Fehte, was forced from his position and given $215,000 in taxpayer funds as a golden parachute. A year earlier, the Los Angeles Unified School District’s (LAUSD) Charter School Division (CSD) had issued a “Notice to Cure” to the school noting, in part, that “there were charges on the [school’s] credit card statements where it was indicated as ‘personal use’ which is inappropriate and does not align to the purpose for use of the public credit card.” A followup by the Los Angeles Daily News found that “over the two years, Fehte charged more than $100,000 to the card”, including “$15,500 at Monty’s” Prime Steaks & Seafood and “first-class airfare and luxury hotel rooms”. This included an $885.96 payment for an itinerary made out to “Mr. David Patrick Fehte/San Antonio Spurs” so that Fehte could perform scouting activities for the NBA team.

In the wake of the Daily News reports and a threat by the LAUSD to revoke ECRCHS’ charter, the school’s governing board voted “to approve contracting with Oracle [Investigations Group, Inc.] to investigate issues on LAUSD’s Notice to Cure and the credit card statements.” While the Daily News investigation uncovered a detailed CONTINUE READING: What Is This Charter School Hiding?

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