Happy New Year! | Diane Ravitch's blog

Happy New Year! | Diane Ravitch's blog

Happy New Year!

To everyone who reads this blog, I thank you and wish you a happy, healthy New Year!

Thank you being part of this wonderful community of people who care passionately about children, education, and the common good.

May you find many reasons for joy, many reasons to celebrate, many reasons to feel happiness in your work and your daily life!

Look around you and find the goodness and the beauty in one another and in nature.

Dedicate this year to supporting the common good and helping others to have a fulfilling life.

Stand up for justice, equity, and decency. Be not afraid.

Work for a world without hunger, disease, tragedy, and want.

Find the good and praise it!

Diane

Happy New Year! | Diane Ravitch's blog

CURMUDGUCATION: The Ground Level Ed Reform Decade Retrospective

CURMUDGUCATION: The Ground Level Ed Reform Decade Retrospective

The Ground Level Ed Reform Decade Retrospective

Yeah, it's time for everyone to do decade lists (including "Ten Reasons The New Decade Doesn't Start For Another Year") from the list of education faces that Alexander Russo is doing on Twitter to this absolutely-the-only-list-you-need-to-read from Audrey Watters, "The 100 Worst Ed Tech Debacles of the Decade."

I'm not going to try to sum up the decade in education. Or rather, I'm going to sum up my decade. Because while most of these lists will take a look-from-the-stratosphere view, balancing policies and historical nuance etc blah blah blah, I want to talk about what it all looked like on the ground. We can talk about the decade in policy all day, but from the perspective of a classroom teacher, it was ten years of worsening train wreck. So this is my story. It matters not because it happened to me, but because it's one example of what happened to many many classroom teachers.

By 2009, there was a feeling in the air, a sensed that the earth under our teacher feet was becoming wobbly.

First and foremost, there was No Child Left Behind and the testing regimen attached to it. For the first several years the growth requirement (average yearly progress) was almost attainable, but by decade's end we were looking at targeted gains that were insanely high, culminating in 2014, when all students were supposed to be proficient on the test. There was no question that we were all going to fail-- was this what our leaders wanted?

In 2009 I sat through a state workshop about PVAAS, the value-added model that was being implemented to judge us as teachers. I described it at the time for my local newspaper audience:

PVAAS uses a thousand points of data to project the test results for students. This is a highly complex model that three well-paid consultants could not clearly explain to seven college- CONTINUE READING: CURMUDGUCATION: The Ground Level Ed Reform Decade Retrospective

2020. Pensions and the minimum wage. – Fred Klonsky

2020. Pensions and the minimum wage. – Fred Klonsky

2020. PENSIONS AND THE MINIMUM WAGE.

It’s the first day of the new decade and I wish you a peaceful year and an end to the reign of Donald Trump.

Convict him or beat him at the polls.

I’m good either way.

Illinois state retired workers will see their state pensions increase by 3% over what it was in 2019. The first check that will reflect that increase will be in February.

No thanks to Illinois legislators in Springfield, led by Democratic Party boss Michael Madigan.

If they hadn’t been stopped by the unanimous decision of the Illinois Supreme Court in 2015, retired public employees would have lost a huge part of their planned for retirement benefit that had been contractually and constitutionally guaranteed.

So, while they have been stopped from cutting current benefits, the debt remains. Seven cents on the dollar goes CONTINUE READING: 2020. Pensions and the minimum wage. – Fred Klonsky

How Have Teachers Taught: A Look Backwards | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

How Have Teachers Taught: A Look Backwards | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

How Have Teachers Taught: A Look Backwards

So much policy making aimed to improve classroom lessons is anchored deeply in myth and memory. Both morph into one another as policymakers (aka “reformers) filter their children’s tales of what occurs in classrooms festooned with iPads and Chromebooks through their recollection of what went on in their elementary and secondary classes. Oh yeah, policy makers consult with researchers and look at classroom studies, and ponder the changes that new technologies have made in how teachers teach but these results, again, are sorted through memories of writing an essay for that English teacher or the 5th grade quizzes that constricted one’s intestines. So I do not discount the power of myth and memory to shape policies aimed at getting teachers to teach better even after a decade of new technologies being tamed by teachers to become part of their instructional repertoire.

What is too often missing from the mix of data, Golly Gees over new software and remembrances are accounts by historians of education who have documented–albeit in fragmentary ways–what actually went on in classrooms over the past century. Some historians, including myself, have tried to recapture yesteryear’s classrooms (see here, here, and here). This post initially published in 2009 has been updated.

In How Teachers Taught (1984) and Hugging the Middle (2009), I collected CONTINUE READING: How Have Teachers Taught: A Look Backwards | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

KUUMBA Today is the sixth day of Kwanzaa – Parenting for Liberation #P4LKWANZAA

KUUMBA – Parenting for Liberation

Habari Gani?  Kuumba!

Today is the sixth day of Kwanzaa, a week-long celebration that honors African heritage of the Black Diaspora. We will be highlighting the importance of the seven core principles of Kwanzaa, how you can practice in your families and communities, and share how Parenting for Liberation work embodies the tenets of each principle. 

Today, on the sixth day of Kwanzaa, we celebrate Kuumba (Creativity) which is to do always as much as we can, in the way we can, in order to leave our community more beautiful & beneficial than we inherited it.  CONTINUE READING: KUUMBA – Parenting for Liberation

Dana Goldstein: Cheating Scandals, Charters and Falling Test Scores: 5 Takeaways From the Year in Education - The New York Times

Cheating Scandals, Charters and Falling Test Scores: 5 Takeaways From the Year in Education - The New York Times

Cheating Scandals, Charters and Falling Test Scores: 5 Takeaways From the Year in Education
Five big trends, from stagnant student performance to declining faith in colleges.

There was no shortage of news about American education in 2019. Presidential candidates debated school segregation, college costs and charter schools. Federal courts considered the future of college admissions and sentenced wealthy parents to prison for cheating on behalf of their children.

Here are five of the biggest education stories of the year — and a look ahead to the issues that will drive 2020.

Stagnant Student Performance and Widening Achievement Gaps

The year ended with disappointing results on two big tests of student achievement. The National Assessment of Educational Progress, the gold-standard federal test of fourth and eighth graders across the country, found that only one-third of students were proficient readers, and that student achievement in both reading and math had stalled over the past 10 years.

Separately, according to the Program for International Student Assessment, an international exam, American 15-year olds have been stagnant in both math and reading for two decades.

Perhaps most troubling, on both tests, the gap between low-performing and high-performing students has grown, despite decades of education reforms meant to close those divides.

The results have led to a vociferous debate over what to blame, from subpar reading instruction to poverty to uneven implementation of the Common Core, the decade’s most ambitious school reform effort. Expect that debate to continue in 2020, especially as several cases travel through the federal court system arguing that schools are failing to adequately prepare American CONTINUE READING: Cheating Scandals, Charters and Falling Test Scores: 5 Takeaways From the Year in Education - The New York Times

Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... | The latest news and resources in education since 2007

Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... | The latest news and resources in education since 2007

It's Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... A VERY BUSY DAY 

The latest news and resources in education since 2007

Quote of the Day: I’m Going To Keep “The Stonecutter’s Creedo” In Mind This Year

by Larry Ferlazzo / 29min

This year, as in all years past, there will be times when I’m feeling frustrated, disappointed, or impatient when I’m in the classroom. I’m going to try and keep “The Stonecutter’s Creedo” more in mind when that happens. I’m adding this to The Best Resources For Learning About “Grit”

Ed Tech Digest

by Larry Ferlazzo / 12h

Six years ago, in another somewhat futile attempt to reduce the backlog of resources I want to share, I began this occasional “” post where I share three or four links I think are particularly useful and related to…ed tech, including some Web 2.0 apps. You might also be interested in THE BEST ED TECH RESOURCES OF 2019 – PART TWO , as well as checking out all my edtech resources . Here are this we

A Look Back: “Let’s Do Less ‘Fire, Ready, Aim'”

by Larry Ferlazzo / 12h

I thought that new – and veteran – readers might find it interesting if I began sharing my best posts from over the years. You can see the entire collection here . Today, I’m sharing an article I wrote for The Huffington Post years ago where I take issue with advice from Seth Grodin where he basically says that if you have an idea you want to try, and it meets some resistance, you should just do

New BBC Video: “Transhumanism: Will humans evolve to something smarter?”

by Larry Ferlazzo / 12h

Alexas_Fotos / Pixabay I’m adding this new video from the BBC to The Best Sites For Learning About Human Evolution :

“In what ways can writing support reading instruction?”

by Larry Ferlazzo / 12h

The new question-of-the-week at my Education Week Teacher column is: In what ways can writing support reading instruction? Please leave responses in the comments section….

Video: “Confirmation Bias”

by Larry Ferlazzo / 21h

johnhain / Pixabay I’m adding this new video from Sprouts to THE BEST VIDEOS EXPLAINING CONFIRMATION BIAS:

The Best Tools That Show “Parallel Text” – Same Sentences Translated Into Different Languages Side-By-Side

36by Larry Ferlazzo / 23h

skeeze / Pixabay When teaching English to older students, they sometimes – and understandably – get tired of reading books designed for much younger children. One way I deal with this challenge is by find more age-appropriate 

Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... | The latest news and resources in education since 2007

NANCY BAILEY: A Review of Daisy Has Autism: In 2020, a Commitment to Students With Disabilities!

A Review of Daisy Has Autism: In 2020, a Commitment to Students With Disabilities!

A Review of Daisy Has Autism: In 2020, a Commitment to Students With Disabilities!

Daisy Has Autism by Aaron J. Wright should be mandatory reading for every school board member, school administrator, and teacher. It’s a book that will help parents of children with disabilities know they’re not alone. It’s an interesting story for anyone.

The book details the struggles of Arthur and Annie Russell, whose daughter has autism. The challenges they face getting her services in their local public school are overwhelming.

As I read this book, I repeatedly asked why? How could this happen? Our public schools are supposed to serve all children.

In 1975, P.L. 94-142 guaranteed a free appropriate public education to each child with a disability. This law had a dramatic, positive impact on millions of children with disabilities in every state and each local community across the country.

So, what happened?

The Individuals With Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), which CONTINUE READING: A Review of Daisy Has Autism: In 2020, a Commitment to Students With Disabilities!

NYC Educator: Happy 2020!

NYC Educator: Happy 2020!

Happy 2020!

I want to wish every reader of this blog a happy, healthy and prosperous 2020. It's a new decade. Let's start clean and look forward.

Danielson is not the end-all be-all, especially if you're gifted with a Boy Wonder supervisor who wouldn't know a competent teacher if one were beating him over the head. Look at your interactions with kids and see who you're helping. Your help, in fact, is not limited to making kids pass tests.

I always recall my friend, a Chinese teacher, telling me about a conversation she heard in her classroom.

"I don't know what I'm going to do. I can't pass the English Regents exam."

"Why don't you take Goldstein's class?"

"Why? Is it good?"

"No. It's terrible. You will hate it. But you'll pass the test."

That was a kind of sideways compliment. Back then, the English Regents exam entailed writing. I made the students write until their hands were about to fall off at the wrist. What did they learn? Well, hopefully they learned how to pass that English Regents exam. Of course, they didn't learn how to pass the current Regents exam. More importantly, they CONTINUE READING: NYC Educator: Happy 2020!

Breaking: Our class size lawsuit will be heard Jan. 13 & last chance in 2019 to support our efforts | Class Size Matters

Breaking: Our class size lawsuit will be heard Jan. 13 & last chance in 2019 to support our efforts | Class Size Matters 

Breaking: Our class size lawsuit will be heard Jan. 13 & last chance in 2019 to support our efforts

Dear Friend:

I wanted to let you know that we just heard yesterday that the appeal of our  class size lawsuit vs the DOE Chancellor and State Education Commissioner, Agostini vs. Elia, will be heard on Monday, January 13 at 1 PM in the Appellate Court in Albany.

We filed the lawsuit originally in April 2018, along with nine NYC parents and AQE, when then-Commissioner Elia refused to make DOE comply with the Contracts for Excellence law in response to our complaint.  Wendy Lecker of the Education Law Center will be in court representing us, as she has from the beginning, defending the rights of NYC children to be provided with their constitutional right to a sound, basic education which, according to the state’s highest court, depends upon far smaller classes than the DOE currently provides.

All of you are invited to witness the court proceedings; we’ll be taking the train on Monday morning.  If you’d like to come, please reply to this message. I have written more about the lawsuit and the current class size situation on my blog here.

This is also the last day in 2019 that you can donate to the goals of achieving smaller classes and protecting student privacy.  If you believe that all children deserve class sizes where they can be truly known and supported by their teachers, rather than taught via commercial software and machines, making it more likely that their personal data will be misused and/or breached, please consider making a tax-deductible contribution to Class Size Matters.

If you want your donation to be used specifically to protect student privacy, please indicate that on the online form.

Happy New Year to you and your families,

Leonie Haimson
Executive Director
Class Size Matters
124 Waverly Pl.
New York, NY 10011
phone: 212-529-3539/917-435-9329
www.classsizematters.org
info@classsizematters.org

Breaking: Our class size lawsuit will be heard Jan. 13 & last chance in 2019 to support our efforts | Class Size Matters 

CURMUDGUCATION: OH: Ohio Excels and the Hostile Takeover of Education

CURMUDGUCATION: OH: Ohio Excels and the Hostile Takeover of Education

OH: Ohio Excels and the Hostile Takeover of Education

Ohio is one of many states in which business leaders have appointed themselves education overseers. The most recent version of this phenomenon is Ohio Excels, a lobbying group that believes that Ohio's education system owes them better meat widgets for job fodder. "improving the quality of education will give students a better chance to succeed and will help Ohio businesses grow and innovate, fueling a robust state economy."

Their board includes a few heads of city-level "partnerships" or "committees," a method by which some CEO types form up a group and declare themselves civic leaders. There are some foundations like the Farmer Foundation and the Peters Foundation, an ed reformster "philanthropic" group. The Ohio Business Roundtable is here, represented by GOP Congressman-turned-business advocate Pat Tibiri. They also get funding from the usuals-- Gates, Walton. They belong to the PIE network with a long list of very reformy groups. You will be unsurprised to learn that their ideas for improving education include advocating for school choice.

If you pay any attention at all to Ohio education policy politics, you know the name Lisa Gray. Gray is the president of Ohio Excels since October of last year (the group actually "launched" in March) This newest job comes after a career in consulting and working with a list of clients that includes the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Achieve, Inc., Philanthropy Ohio, Battelle for Kids, Ohio Business Roundtable, and Teach for America.

Gray appears to be well-connected; her name often pops up in discussions of what's going on in the CONTINUE READING: CURMUDGUCATION: OH: Ohio Excels and the Hostile Takeover of Education

Jersey Jazzman: Blogging Resumes

Jersey Jazzman: Blogging Resumes

Blogging Resumes

It's been a while...

I won't get into the details, but suffice to say I had to take some time off from blogging. Too much stuff on my plate, and I was running the risk of doing it all badly. Something had to give.

During the time off, I thought about shutting the blog down. I've got a place to do my Jersey-specific work, another place to do descriptive analysis and other similar research, another place to preach the gospel of equitable and adequate school funding, and a bunch of other things in the works for 2020 -- including a few partners some of you will probably be shocked to see me working with (heh, heh)...

So why keep blogging? It's way more time-intensive than you probably think, it doesn't get me any accolades, it certainly doesn't make me new friends (usually it's quite the opposite). Many times blogging has distracted me from doing paid work, or work that would up my cred in academic circles, or work around the house that keeps my marriage happy.

So why keep blogging?

The simplest answer is that I think there are analyses to be conducted or data to be CONTINUE READING: Jersey Jazzman: Blogging Resumes

Arguably the two most appalling stories about the standardized testing obsession of the 2010s - The Washington Post

Arguably the two most appalling stories about the standardized testing obsession of the 2010s - The Washington Post

Arguably the two most appalling stories about the standardized testing obsession of the 2010s

Of all of the absurd and appalling stories that emerged from the standardized test-based school reform movement in the 2010s, there were two that, arguably, best revealed to me how bankrupt and even cruel some of the things policymakers foisted on children could be.

There were, to be sure, plenty of stories in the past decade to choose from — even without going back to the start of the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) era in 2002, when President George W. Bush (R) signed his signature education law that ushered in an era of school reform based on the scores of standardized tests.

No teacher had been asked to help write NCLB, and the results showed: Schools were labeled as failing and penalized unfairly; many schools sharply limited or dropped teaching key subjects such as history, science and the arts because only math and reading were tested; and test preparation became the focus of the school day in many classrooms. Recess for young kids? No time.

Arne Duncan, education secretary for President Barack Obama from 2009-2015, knew that NCLB had been a failure, but he pursued policies that made standardized testing even more important than before. He wanted states to use the scores to evaluate teachers and principals. And he once proposed evaluating colleges of education in part on how well the students of their graduates performed on — you guessed it — standardized tests.

There were stories about teachers being evaluated on the test scores of students they didn’t have and CONTINUE READING: Arguably the two most appalling stories about the standardized testing obsession of the 2010s - The Washington Post