Latest News and Comment from Education

Sunday, February 26, 2012

presumption of guilt? in an investigation of Washington schools under the direction of Michelle Rhee. - NYTimes.com

Education Dept.’s Washington Schools Inquiry - NYTimes.com:

Amid a Federal Education Inquiry, an Unsettling Sight

Pablo Martinez Monsivais/Associated Press; Alex Wong, via Getty Images

A spokesman for Education Secretary Arne Duncan, left, cautioned against the presumption of guilt in an investigation of Washington schools under the direction of Michelle Rhee.

What was Arne Duncan doing sharing the stage with Michelle Rheeat a recent education conference?

Readers’ Comments

Share your thoughts.

Mr. Duncan is the education secretary.

Ms. Rhee was the chancellor of schools in Washington from 2007 to 2010.

Since last summer, the Office of the Inspector General in Mr. Duncan’s department has been investigating whether Washington school officials cheated to raise test scores during Ms. Rhee’s tenure.

You would think Mr. Duncan would want to keep Ms. Rhee at arm’s length during the investigation. And yet there they were, sitting side by side last month, two of four featured panelists at a conference in Washington about the use of education data.

Resolution on Challenging Current Education Policy and Affirming Literacy Educators’ Expertise

Resolution on Challenging Current Education Policy and Affirming Literacy Educators’ Expertise:

Resolution on Challenging Current Education Policy and Affirming Literacy Educators’ Expertise

2011 Annual Business Meeting in Chicago, Illinois

Background

The National Council of Teachers of English has a long history of taking strong positions on the best practices in the teaching of literacy. It has a long history as well of voicing its opposition and proposing alternatives to educational reform based primarily on so-called “standards” of performance as measured by high-stakes testing. That approach has become the de facto law of the land as both state and federal government have pressured school districts and teachers to submit to accountability measures based on a narrow range of criteria.

In particular, the “standards” approach fails to include myriad conditions of education, including the gap between rich and poor, public support for education, and the day-to-day conditions of teaching. From the Reagan administration through the Bush, Clinton, and Bush administrations, key elements of educational reform have been ignored.

The consequences of the standards-and-tests approach have been exacerbated by the policies of No Child Left Behind and Race to the Top. These policies run counter to the great body of NCTE position statements and have been further reinforced by the actions of the National Governors’

Seattle Schools Community Forum: Education Today - The Battle Rages On

Seattle Schools Community Forum: Education Today - The Battle Rages On:

Education Today - The Battle Rages On

So the on-going battle for the education soul of the Democratic party in Washington State goes on.

Over at Publicola, WEA President Mary Lindquist shot back at heavy Dem donor Nick Hanauer over his e-mail to her. (She is right on one point; he made it sound like every single change put forth in the Legislature has been blocked by the WEA. That's just not true.)

What puzzles me is who gave the e-mail to Publicola? At the end of the e-mail, Hanauer says "share this with the gang." But you'd think he might not have wanted it shared publicly or, just maybe, he did. Maybe he wanted to test the waters of public opinion. The problem is that he wants to make this about the WEA versus ed reformers and that's sure leaves out a lot of other interested parties.

The Times then writes an article that puts this all on display. What's interesting is they have Hanaeur, Lisa

Schools Matter: Resolution opposing common core standards and national tests

Schools Matter: Resolution opposing common core standards and national tests:

Resolution opposing common core standards and national tests

Resolution submitted to NCTE opposing common core standards and national tests. Did not survive NCTE Resolutions Committee, was not presented to NCTE members for voting.

Resolution on National Standards and Tests
Submitted to National Council of Teachers of English, Committee on Resolutions, via e-mail, on October 10, 2011, for consideration during the Annual Convention in Chicago, Illinois.

The movement for national standards and tests is based on these claims: (1) Our educational system is broken, as revealed by US students' scores on international tests; (2) We must improve education to improve the economy; (3) The way to improve education is to have national standards and national tests to reveal whether standards are being met.

Each of these claims is false. (1) Our schools are not broken. The problem is poverty. Test scores of students

Big Education Ape: 2-26-12 PM The Great Charter School Conspiracy #edition

Big Education Ape: PARENTS CAN!:
Big Education Ape: PARENTS CAN!

Published by Coopmike48 – 6 news spotters today

Analyzing Released NYC Value-Added Data Part 1

garyrubinstein.teachforus.org - The New York Times, yesterday, released the value-added data on 18,000 New York City teachers collected between 2007 and 2010. Though teachers are irate and various newspapers, The New York Post, ...

DianeRavitch

The Teacher Tea Leaf Reports on SchoolCrock: An Explanation

allthingsedu.blogspot.com - SchoolCrock has published the teacher tea leaf reports using a new tool that was created by interactive journalists at The New Hack Times and WNLIC. The goal of the tool: to make the tea leaves eas...

DianeRavitch

The Great Charter School Conspiracy « Wait, What?

jonpelto.wordpress.com - February 24, 2012 jonpelto Achievement First/ConnCAN, Charter Schools, Education, Malloy, Stefan Pryor Achievement First, ConnCAN, Education Reform, Malloy, Stefan Pryor The Hartford Courant headli...

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EducationSee all

Universities to be tested to distraction

universityworldnews.com - US schools policy has been all about accountability and measurement. This has led to demoralisation among teachers and a narrowing of what education means. Now higher education is about to be subje...

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World's Oldest Holocaust Museum, in London, Gets New Life

nytimes.com - LONDON — In a sun-drenched room overlooking Russell Square, a visitor’s eye is immediately drawn to a display of cheerful coloring books, a brightly colored board game and photographs of laughing c...

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Breaking News: Mayor Rahm returns to the Democratic Party!

chicagoreader.com - Election day’s coming, so, naturally, I get a mailing from the Democratic Party, telling me who to vote for. Not that I’m going to be heeding their endorsements, even though I’m a lifelong Democrat...

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Scott Walker's Koch Connection Goes Bad

thenation.com - Billionaire campaign donor David Koch has rarely spoken in public about the central role he has played in the election of Scott Walker as governor of Wisconsin, the defense of Walker's embattled go...

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Shameless. « Fred Klonsky

preaprez.wordpress.com - Here is some truth: Every time some bureaucrat, administrator or principal comes up with some hair-brained scheme, they will justify it as being for the kids. In fact, I will go a step further and ...

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Rick Santorum's home-school hokum - Home Schooling

salon.com - Here’s where the fun starts.My son and daughter regard me in grave silence, faces stuffed with processed meat and fried potato product. They field this question themselves fairly often, but they’re...

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BronxNet - On Bronx Media

bronxnet.org - Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz, Jr. deliver his annual State of the Borough address. The speech was delivered on February 23, 2012 in the beautiful auditorium at Truman High School, in front of...

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Four Philly-area Catholic high schools to stay open

articles.philly.com - But students at St. Hubert Catholic High School for Girls in Holmesburg, Conwell-Egan in Fairless Hills, Monsignor Bonner-Archbishop Prendergast in Drexel Hill, and West Catholic who watched a live...

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Featured at Truthout

wrestlingwithwriting.blogspot.com - Having trouble viewing this email? Click here to view it online. Saturday 25 February 2012Bill Moyers | How Pop Culture Influences Political Expectations Bill Moyers, Moyers & Co.: "Film historian ...

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Teacher Evaluation in New Haven « JD2718

bigeducationape.blogspot.com - Teacher Evaluation in New Haven « JD2718:Teacher Evaluation in New Havenby jd2718New York City’s “teacher improvement plan” will look like New Haven’s? Makes you want to cut through all the fancy l...

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