LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH 2-18-14 Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all

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

Thank You, David Sirota!

Intrepid and fearless journalist David Sirota broke open the scandal of PBS accepting $3.5 million from the foundation of a billionaire with a strong interest in “reforming” (away) the pensions of public sector workers. Here Sirota reviews how the story unfolded, how PBS and WNET stone-walled, how the Arnold foundation attempted to distance itself from its funder, and how social media changed eve

1 by dianeravitch / 11min 

New York Comptroller Releases Charter Audits: Not a Pretty Picture

The New York Charter School Association fought state audits in the courts and won. They said they were perfectly capable of auditing themselves. Some people assumed that where public money goes, public scrutiny follows. The law was changed to permit audits and State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli has been patiently auditing the charter schools.     Here are his latest reports. COMPTROLLER DiNAPOLI RELEA

1 by dianeravitch / 36min 

Peter Greene: A Teacher’s View Of Cybercharters

Peter Greene teaches in a small town in Pennsylvania. He hasn’t studied the research on Cybercharters but he can tell you which students they attract and how they are affecting the public schools in his town. If he read the research, he would find out that Pennsylvania is utopia for virtual charter schools, having 16 different companies advertising for students. Students drop out almost as fast as

by dianeravitch / 50min 

John Thompson’s Brilliant Analysis of the Vergara Case

Teacher John Thompson here brilliantly and cogently dissects the efforts of the Billionaire Boys Club to eliminate due process rights for teachers in California. This post examines testimony in the infamous Vergara case, where a fabulously wealthy tech entrepreneur has engaged a top legal team to argue that “bad” teachers are causing low test scores. Tom Kane of Harvard and Gates is a star witnes

by dianeravitch / 7min 

Prediction

I know, I know! I’m on vacation. But the hotel has wi-fi, and I have two devices and a serious addiction to this blog. Of course, I forgot to bring my able staff of 92 so you may spot more typos than usual, as the glare of the sun in the West Indies is pretty intense. As a matter of record, I am not sorry to miss today’s snowstorm in NYC. But I will be back in a few days, ready to don the boots

by dianeravitch / 5min 

Parent: Children With Disabilities Need a True Voice on the Regents

Children with disabilities have many struggles to deal with. Public officials should do their best to remove the obstacles these children confront, not add to them. This is a statement written by Bianca Tanis, a parent of a child with disabilities. Here is an excerpt: “As of Tuesday, 2/11, Members of the NYS Assembly completed interviews of both new and incumbent candidates for the 4 positions t

by dianeravitch / 9min 

Pennsylvania Cybercharters: The Pot of Gold at the End of the Rainbow

A reader offers this perspicacious view of Pennsylvania’s cybercharter industry. There are 16 of them in the state. The founders of two of the major cybercharters are currently under indictment for siphoning millions of dollars of public funds: The reader writes: “Running a cyber-charter in PA is as good as printing money. No oversight and a system that completely ignores the actual costs of the

by dianeravitch / 9min 

#resistTFA Tops Twitter Trend

The student-led movement to defend the teaching profession is off to a fast start: FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Press Contacts: Stephanie Rivera Rutgers University 1.732.485.0508 srrivera92@gmail.com Hannah Nguyen University of Southern California 1.408.644.9717 hbnguyen@usc.edu #ResistTFA (Resist Teach For America) Hashtag Tops Twitter Trend List February 18 – Chicago, IL – The hashtag, #ResistTFA (Res

by dianeravitch / 0min hide  //  save

How Cybercharters Cheat Taxpayers

Temple University law professor Susan deJarnett studied Pennsylvania’s 16 Cybercharters and found that they make huge profits while providing few services. “Parsing the tax documents for the 12 cyber charters for which information was available, she found that cyber charters carry large surpluses and spend what she considered a disproportionate amount of Pennsylvania tax dollars on advertising, t

1 by dianeravitch / 11min 

A Stunning Article About the Obama Administration’s War on Public Education

This article by Michael Brenner, a professor of international relations at the University of Pittsburgh, is a trenchant summary of the relentless attack on public education launched by the Obama administration and backed by billions of federal and private dollars. Brenner begins: “A feature of the Obama presidency has been his campaign against the American public school system, eating way at the

5 by dianeravitch / 34min 

Breaking News! Ras Baraka’s Campaign Bus Burned

Veteran journalist Bob Braun reports that mayoral candidate Ras Baraka’s campaign bus was burned soon after the launch of his campaign. As you know, the race for mayor of Newark represents a pivotal struggle over not only the future of Newark, but the future of its children and its public schools. And for that matter, the future of democracy. Newark’s citizens have been deprived of any role in go

1 by dianeravitch / 1h 

The Network for Public Education Endorses Ras Baraka for Mayor of Newark

The Network for Public Education enthusiastically endorsed Ras Baraka for the position of mayor of Newark, New Jersey. Baraka is an experienced teacher and administrator, now a city councilman, fighting school closings and privatization. He stands strong for the children and people of Newark, not for the Christie administration and hedge fund managers seeking to disassemble and privatize public e

by dianeravitch / 1h 

Forward Institute: Milwaukee Charter Study Shows Effects of Truancy, Poverty, and Experienced Teachers

The Forward Institute has released a study of charter schools in Milwaukee, comparing district charters, privately managed charters, and public schools. The findings are instructive. The 2R charter schools are the privately managed charters. The privately managed charters are skimming, doing grievous harm to the public school system. Any educational “gains” are the result of skimming, not educatio

6 by dianeravitch / 2h 

Why Isn’t Andre Agassi Building Tennis Camps Instead of Charter Schools?

Andre Agassi is one of our nation’s greatest tennis stars. In his heyday, he was one of the most exciting people in the game. Because he was a child prodigy, he dropped out of high school in ninth grade to concentrate on his game. It was a good decision for him. But now in his retirement, he has decided that he should open a chain of for-profit charter schools, despite his lack of education or exp

20 by dianeravitch / 3h 

LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH ALL WEEK LONG Diane Ravitch's blog 2-17-14 #thankateacher #EDCHAT #P2

Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all: Alfie Kohn on Grit and Its MisusesDue to the success of Paul Tough’s book “How Children Succeed: Grit, Curiosity, and the Hidden Power of Character,” the corporate reformers seized on the idea that what is needed for academic success is not just strict discipline and constant test prep, but GRIT. Grit, meaning perseverance. As Alfi

1 by mike simpson / 7h 

2-18-14 The Answer Sheet

The Answer Sheet:

Does Common Core’s focus on ‘close reading’ make sense?

Depending on whom you ask, the Common Core English Language Arts standards are either exactly what U.S. schools need, or exactly what they don’t need. Here’s an argument for the latter opinion, by Aaron Barlow, an associate professor of English at the New York City College of Technology. This was first published on the Academe Blog, […]    

7 by Valerie Strauss / 35min 

Teacher to 3rd graders: I apologize for having to ‘quantify you with a number’

Barnett Berry is the founder and chief executive officer of the Center for Teaching Quality,  a national nonprofit organization based in Carrboro, North Carolina aimed at transforming the teaching profession. He wrote to me about a colleague of his, Wendi Pillars, a teacher who wrote an apology to young students who are being forced to take […]    

26 by Valerie Strauss / 6h 

2-17-14 The Answer Sheet

The Answer Sheet: The 2014 Presidents’ Day quizHere it is: the 2014 Presidents’ Day quiz. How much don’t you know? 1) Which president was the first to be born a U.S. citizen? a) James Madison b) Martin Van Buren c) John Quincy Adams d) Andrew Jackson 2) The Monroe Doctrine, introduced in 1823, declared that no European nation should from then on […]    2 by Valerie Strauss / 35min hide  //  saveVe

1 by mike simpson / 7h

Thoughts From Detroit About Schools - Bridging Differences - Education Week

Thoughts From Detroit About Schools - Bridging Differences - Education Week:

Thoughts From Detroit About Schools

By Deborah Meier on February 18, 2014 10:16 AM

Deborah Meier writes again today to Robert Pondiscio of CitizenshipFirst.

Dear Robert,

I had you, and your last letter to me,  in mind as I arrived in Detroit last Thursday for the annual meeting of the North Dakota Study Group (NDSG).  What would Robert think?

The NDSG has been meeting since 1972 when Vito Perrone (then head of the North Dakota School of Education) brought some dozen educators together to discuss a problem that was presented to him by parents of the relatively new Head Start movement.  Vito and his colleagues were under pressure to assess Head Start by test scores, in part to find the one best model.  They were resisting.  His hope was that we could be useful to them, by supporting their contention that test scores were missing the point and that there might be some alternative more reliable assessment system.  My "mentor" from New York's City College,  Lillian Weber,  suggested my name to have a working early-childhood teacher present. 

We met again the next year and every single year after—although only one more time in North Dakota. We tried to keep our numbers under 100—so continuous face-to-face discourse would occur.  We've gone through many transformations, internal struggles, but we just couldn't give it up. 

"It's all talk," some complained.  "What about DOING SOMETHING?"  But we mostly resisted since we were all too busy "doing" at our particular locations around the country.  We needed a place to 

2-18-14 @ The Chalk Face

@ THE CHALK FACE:

Follow the money to understand education reform

Originally posted on Talking Union:by Deborah Meier Deborah Meier I’m returning to my roots! Marx occasionally had it right. Along with Horace Mann, John Dewey et al. This whole “new reform” movement in education is being fueled (the $$$$) by ordinary greed. Or second-hand greed—seeing a chance to destroy the political power of an…

by davidgreene207003... / 49min 

The Analogy, Hyperbole Problem: “With explanation kind” (Tone, pt. 5)

The Analogy, Hyperbole Problem: “With explanation kind” (Tone, pt. 5). via The Analogy, Hyperbole Problem: “With explanation kind” (Tone, pt. 5).

1 by plthomasedd / 3min  

2-17-14 @ The Chalk Face

@ THE CHALK FACE: A quick bite, using the new-new #commoncore math to calculate tips. Nicely done.Pretty funny!1 by Shaun Johnson / 3min All Week 2-16-14 @ THE CHALK FACE@ THE CHALK FACE: #Edreform is Omni Consumer Products #robocopI’m not too excited about the Robocop reboot. It seems like it lost the original’s wit, humor, and surprisingly serious commentary about a largely predicted dystopian f

1 by mike simpson / 7h 

2-18-14 Wait What?

Wait What?:

Malloy, Pryor, Superintendents – Stop lying about the Common Core Smarter Balanced Field!

Anger and frustration on the part of parents, teachers and supporters of public education is bubbling over. Rather than protect the rights of parents and local schools districts, elected and appointed officials are inappropriately using their positions to mislead, lie and scare parents and teachers into believing that parents DO NOT HAVE THE RIGHT to […]The post Malloy, Pryor, Superintendents – St

10 by jonpelto / 47min hide  //  save

A parent speaks out about Teach For America

There is a lot in corporate education “reform” that astonishes, but perhaps nothing is so astonishing as the strategic deployment of TFA. It’s counter-intuitive that untrained recent graduates will fare better in the classroom than seasoned teachers. And the reason that this notion feels counter-intuitive is quite simple: its contrary to common sense and cool […]The post A parent speaks out about

by jonpelto / 1h 

The voice of a teacher/parent on the Common Core Smarter Balanced Field Test fiasco

In a recent letter to the members of the Connecticut Education Committee, a concerned parent who is also a teacher laid out the issues surrounding the Common Core Smarter Balanced Assessment Field Test (SBAC). Members of the Connecticut Education Committee When is it ever appropriate to lie? My answer would be never. “The bitterest of […]The post The voice of a teacher/parent on the Common Core Sm

18 by jonpelto / 3h 

2-17-14 Wait What?

Wait What?: Weekend Re-cap – The battle against the Common Core Smarter Balanced Assessment TestMore than 500 New York State principals slam Common Core testing frenzy While Stefan Pryor, Governor Malloy’s Commissioner of Education, and the Connecticut State Department of Education are instructing Connecticut superintendents and principals to mislead and lie to parents in an attempt to scare paren

by mike simpson / 7h 

2-18-14 Schools Matter

Schools Matter:

Arizona Governor Campaigns for Private Schools

In 2011, SM posted on Arizona's John Huppenthal, who has come a long way since then.

by Jim Horn / 1h 

The White History We Ignore

From Alternet:February 14, 2014  |  Schools across the country are adorned with posters of the 44 U.S. presidents and the years they served in office. U.S. history textbooks describe the accomplishments and challenges of the major presidential administrations—George Washington had the Revolutionary War, Abraham Lincoln the Civil War, Teddy Roosevelt the Spanish-American War, and so on. Children’s

2 by Jim Horn / 1h hide  //  save

Obama's Continuing War on Public Education

A must read byMichael Brenner Become a fan Senior Fellow, the Center for Transatlantic Relations; Professor of International Affairs, University of Pittsburgh

by Jim Horn / 1h 

Magnet Schools as a Tool to End Socioeconomic Segregation

The NYTimes has a piece on the modest resurgence of magnet schools, which are public schools of choice that highlight a portion of the curriculum that is attractive to certain children and parents.  They are great alternatives to the corporate charter chains staffed with non-teachers and managed by non-educators. Unless a conscious effort to reduce segregation is included in their magnet planning,

2 by Jim Horn / 2h 

2-17-14 Schools Matter

Schools Matter: Will Bill Gates Take the Podium at AERA?It’s a tough time in higher education, with a growing army of exploited, part-time academic sharecroppers now driving from school to school to fill teaching slots that were once reserved for tenure track professors.  See chart below from AAUP:As full-time faculty numbers dwindle, so does the core university value of shared governance, which h

1 by mike simpson / 7h 

2-18-14 Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day… | …For Teaching ELL, ESL, & EFL

Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day… | …For Teaching ELL, ESL, & EFL:

February’s Infographics & Interactives Galore – Part Two

There are just so many good infographics and interactives out there that I’ve begun a new semi-regular feature called “Infographics & Interactives Galore.” You can see others at A Collection Of “The Best…” Lists On Infographics and by searching “infographics” on this blog. I’ll still be publishing separate posts to individually highlight especially useful infographics and interactives, but you

by Larry Ferlazzo / 1h 

My New BAM! Podcast: “How Can We Reduce Teacher Attrition at High-Poverty Schools?”

My latest nine-minute BAM! podcast tackles the question “How can we reduce teacher attrition at high-poverty schools?” My guests are Barnett Berry and Ilana Garon, who have both contributed a written response to a future column on this topic at my Education Week Teacher blog. It’s a Part Two to my podcast from last week, which was on Why Precisely Do Teachers Leave High Poverty Schools?

by Larry Ferlazzo / 10min 

Well-Done Interactive: “The Cost Of Living In The United States”

Produced By Online Accounting Degrees

by Larry Ferlazzo / 1h hide  //  save

Music Video: Jamaican Bobsled Team reggae song

I’m adding this new official Jamaican Bobsled Team song to The Best Sites For Learning About The Sochi 2014 Winter Olympic Games:

by Larry Ferlazzo / 1h  

2-17-14 Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day… | …For Teaching ELL, ESL, & EFL

Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day… | …For Teaching ELL, ESL, & EFL: Resources For International Mother Language DayFebruary 21st has been designated International Mother Language Day by UNESCO. You might be interested in The Best Resources For International Mother Language Day.by Larry Ferlazzo / 54min hide  //  saveThis Week’s Round-Up Of Useful Posts On Education PolicyHere are some recen

1 by mike simpson / 7h