A holiday greeting from Diane Ravitch

A holiday greeting from Diane Ravitch:

A holiday greeting from Diane Ravitch

Dear Friend of Public Schools,

Holiday greetings from the Network for Public Education! We wish you and your family a joyous season and a healthy New Year.

We hope you will join with us in 2016 to continue the battle for better education for every American child and for policies that address the needs of children, instead of policies that label them, punish their teachers and principals, and close their schools.

With a new federal law in place, those of us who want better schools and better education have to organize and push hard to make sure that state officials act to help children and schools rather than to maintain the failed policies of the past 15 years.

Your voice is needed more than ever to protect the children of this nation. Join with us, join the organizations in your state and district that together are fighting for what is right for children.

Visit our new website and support us! We have great plans for 2016, but we can’t make them happen without your help. Ask a friend to join NPE and help our ranks grow!

We are many; they are few. Together we will transform our public schools so they are right for every child.

Thanks for all you do,

Diane Ravitch

President, Network for Public EducationA holiday greeting from Diane Ravitch:

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There will be a lot happening at Network for Public Education in 2016

We have a new design for our website.

During 2016 our new website will expand, providing grassroots organizations and friends of public schools with the information and educational tools they need to make a difference in their communities and states.

We will issue our first national report card

What is your state doing to keep public education vibrant and strong? We will be issuing our first national report card, Valuing Public Education: A 50 State Report Card, which will evaluate states on their support for public schools. Look for it in February.

We will be expanding our organization.

NPE Action will launch. As we reorganize in the coming month, we are

Our twitter feed and Facebook page are temporarily dormant. Get ready for exciting things to come when we re-launch in 2016.

Teachers speak out about the “reform” evaluations

NPE will issue a national study on teacher evaluation based on an extensive survey of teachers. You will hear, in the words of classroom teachers from across the nation, how the new evaluations are affecting their work and their students.

Come join us in April!

NPE’s 3rd Annual National Conference, “And Justice for All: Strengthening Public Education for Each Child,” will take place April 16 – 17, 2016. Registration for the conference will open on January 1, 2016.

On Friday night, April 15, 2016, education advocates from around the country will begin gathering in Raleigh, North Carolina for NPE’s 3rdAnnual National Conference which will run from Saturday morning, April 16th until Sunday afternoon, April 17, 2016.

Aligned with the theme, “And Justice for All: Strengthening Public Education for Each Child”, keynotes and workshop presenters will tackle the challenges facing our students and schools as we all work towards a more just system of public education in America.

As previously announced, Saturday morning, April 16th will kick off with an inspirational welcome from our President, Diane Ravitch and a keynote address by Rev. William Barber, the President of the NC NAACP and co-founder of the Moral Mondays Movement.

Additional Keynote Speakers Announced!

We are now able to confirm two additional exciting keynote presentations by two friends of public schools: Bob Herbert and Superintendent Phil Lanoue.

Bob Herbert is an award-winning reporter, and author of LOSING OUR WAY: An Intimate Portrait of a Troubled America, which courageously speaks about the need to better fund and support our public schools.

You can read more about Mr. Herbert here.

Dr. Phil Lanoue is the Superintendent of the Clarke County School District in Athens, Georgia, and was recently named the 2015 AASA National Superintendent of the Year for his work in building community and school relationships as they work to close the achievement gap. He is an outspoken opponent of high stakes testing and corporate reforms.

You can read more about Dr. Lanoue here.

An agenda and initial workshops will be announced in January. At that time we will solicit workshop proposal submissions from the public as we continue to make this a conference for and about our members.

Be sure to check back on January 1 to register during our Early Bird special and reserve your spot so you can join other advocates from around the country. As Diane always says, “We are many. There is power in our numbers. Together we will save our schools.”

But to do that, we need YOU there.

Happy Holidays and thanks for all you do,

Carol Burris Executive Director, Network for Public Education

 A holiday greeting from Diane Ravitch:

How Business Got Schooled in the War Over Common Core Standards - Fortune

How Business Got Schooled in the War Over Common Core Standards - Fortune:

How Business Got Schooled in the War Over Common Core Standards 

When Exxon Mobil, GE, Intel, and others pushed for the education standards, they incurred the wrath of Tea Party conservatives and got a painful lesson in modern politics.

In February 2014, two of the world’s richest men, Bill Gates and Charles Koch, dined together at a West Coast restaurant.

They made quite the odd couple: the Seattle Microsoft  MSFT 0.58%  co-founder, now devoting his time and fortune to changing the world, and the Kansas industrialist, still running his private conglomerate while working to shrink government to the size of a pea.

The two discussed many subjects and even touched, diplomatically, on topics they disagree about, such as climate change. There was a second sensitive subject that Gates broached, and it didn’t come up by chance. His team at the Gates Foundation had engaged in a process it calls a “faction analysis” and identified Koch as a key opponent on a crucial issue. Gates had a mission that night: He wanted to persuade Koch to change his mind about Common Core.

The two men were bankrolling opposite sides in a raging war over the future of American education. Through his charitable foundation, Gates has spent more than $220 million on the Common Core education standards, aimed at boosting the dismal performance of American children. Starting in 2010, 45 states adopted the benchmarks—which spell out what kids from kindergarten through high school should learn in reading and math—with little controversy. But a backlash ensued, and by early 2014 the standards were under fierce political attack, facing repeal in many states. Koch and his brother David were sponsoring several Tea Party–aligned groups that were fueling the rebellion.

The ABCs of Common Core

• Replacing a hodgepodge of separate guidelines in 50 states, Common Core aims to provide a rigorous, more focused nationwide blueprint for what students should know at each grade in math and English language arts.
• It seeks to improve the U.S.’s poor educational performance relative to other countries’, making graduates “college- and career-ready” and assuring the nation’s economic competitiveness.
• It’s paired with new standardized tests to measure progress in meeting the new standards and to allow comparisons among states.
• Though developed without government funds, Common Core received a boost from race to the top, a competition for federal education grants, prompting unexpectedly rapid adoption.

Now Gates tried to convince his dinner companion that opposing Common Core was bad both for Koch Industries, which employs 60,000 Americans, and the rest of U.S. business. “Bill talked to Koch to understand what his concerns were and to explain what he thought was the potential and the promise for the Common Core,” says Allan Golston, president of the U.S. program for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. “When someone doesn’t believe in what you’re doing, it’s important to engage with them.”

But Koch wasn’t willing to engage with Gates on the issue. Instead, like a senator politely brushing off a constituent, he gave Gates the name of one of his staffers who focuses on the subject and suggested Gates call the staffer. The Microsoft billionaire left empty-handed. (Both men declined to discuss their dinner.)

This extraordinary tête-à-tête is just one example of how the war over Common Core has personally engaged—and bedeviled—some of America’s most powerful business leaders. Hugely controversial, it has thrust executives into the uncomfortable intersection of business and politics.

In truth, Common Core might not exist without the corporate community. The nation’s business establishment has been clamoring for more rigorous education standards—ones that would apply across the entire nation—for years. It views them as desperately needed to prepare America’s future workforce and to bolster its global competitiveness. One measure of the deep involvement of corporate leaders: The Common Core standards were drafted by determining the skills that businesses (and colleges) need and then working backward to decide what students should learn.

Organizations such as the Business Roundtable have devoted considerable effort to the initiative. The education chair for that association of CEOs, Exxon Mobil  XOM 2.58% chief Rex Tillerson, has played a particularly prominent role. A stern, commanding figure with an Old Testament glare and a chewy Texas drawl, Tillerson is an unlikely person to lead a campaign of persuasion. (Never a fan of the press, he declined to speak to Fortune for this article.)How Business Got Schooled in the War Over Common Core Standards - Fortune:

Teachers won't be judged on end-of-year tests under revamp | The Herald

Teachers won't be judged on end-of-year tests under revamp | The Herald:

Teachers won't be judged on end-of-year tests under revamp

COLUMBIA, S.C. 

Teachers won't be judged by their students' scores on end-of-year tests under a proposed revamp of South Carolina's educator evaluation system.

State Superintendent Molly Spearman announced her proposal this week following Congress' overhaul of the No Child Left Behind education law, signed last week. The new federal approach to accountability no longer ties teacher evaluations to results on statewide testing, allowing South Carolina to change course.

Spearman wants to work with educators to develop a new evaluation system that instead incorporates tests taken throughout the school year. Districts would have leeway in which tests they use.

The idea is to design an evaluation process that's helpful to teachers instead of one written to meet federal requirements, said Kris Joannes, director of the agency's office of educator effectiveness.

"The intent is to give ongoing feedback to teachers instead of a system that invokes fear in high-stakes tests," she said Tuesday. "Looking at student growth is right, but we're going to do it thoughtfully" and develop useful training.

Teacher advocates said the proposal provides relief after years of angst over evaluations that over-emphasize results on end-of-year standardized tests.

"Evaluations should not be based on how a child does on one test on a particular day," said Kathy Maness, director of the Palmetto State Teachers Association. She said the proposal benefits students too by easing pressure on them "to do well on one particular test. It's better to look at the whole student than a snapshot."

The evaluation system's statewide implementation this school year coincides with new education standards as well as new statewide tests, adding to anxiety over the evaluations'Teachers won't be judged on end-of-year tests under revamp | The Herald:

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Even under new law, Common Core still impacts curriculum

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Even under new law, Common Core still impacts curriculum:

Even under new law, Common Core still impacts curriculum

Abandon the notion of subject-matter as something fixed and ready-made in itself, outside the child's experience. -- John Dewey

Remember back a couple of years ago when Common Core critics were being raked over the coals by Arne Duncan, Peter Cunningham and others for calling CCSS a curriculum?

Here's Duncan in 2013:

The Common Core has become a rallying cry for fringe groups that claim it is a scheme for the federal government to usurp state and local control of what students learn. An op-ed in the New York Times called the Common Core “a radical curriculum.” It is neither radical nor a curriculum. … When the critics can’t persuade you that the Common Core is a curriculum, they make even more outlandish claims.

"It's not a curriculum," they scolded. "It's merely standards." Such a dichotomy! Supposedly, Common Core wouldn't tell schools what, when, or how to teach. Rather, it would only create performance goals and, of course, the battery of tests to go with them.

Well, Duncan was right about Common Core not being "radical." But Common Core sure as hell is curricular. If not, why, for example is there something called Common Core algebra as opposed to just algebra? Or Common Core U.S. History?

A year later, it was Duncan's former deputy, Peter Cunningham, now writing forMike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Even under new law, Common Core still impacts curriculum:

Education Department Asks 12 States to Address Low Test-Participation Rates - Politics K-12 - Education Week

Education Department Asks 12 States to Address Low Test-Participation Rates - Politics K-12 - Education Week:

Education Department Asks 12 States to Address Low Test-Participation Rates

If you've been wondering how many states had significant issues with test participation last spring, there's an answer from the U.S. Department of Education.

Twelve states have received letters from the Education Department in recent months asking them to address lower-than-required participation rates on state exams for groups of students or districts, or statewide.

The states to receive these letters are: California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Idaho, Maine, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Washington, and Wisconsin. (Click the individual link to see each state's letter from the department.) Some of the copies of the letters are undated, but several were sent in either early November or early December.

The Education Deparment's letters ask states to specify how they will address their local or state participation rates for the 2015-16 school year. The department includes possible examples of how states could act, such as lowering a school or district's rating on state accountability systems, and counting non-participating students as not proficient for accountability purposes. 

On Tuesday, the department also released guidance for states in which it said that under the Every Student Succeeds Act, states need plans to address situations in which participation rates that dip below the required 95 percent. 

The testing opt-out movement became a prominent story in education this year, particularly in some of the states listed above, like New York. Reasons for skepticism and opposition to the test included backlash to the Common Core State Standards, concerns about the amount of testing, and teacher evaluations that factored in test scores.

So what were some of the various statewide and other test-participation issues encountered by each state?

• California reported that it did not assess at least 95 percent of its students, or individual student subgroups, on both the English/language arts and math exams.Education Department Asks 12 States to Address Low Test-Participation Rates - Politics K-12 - Education Week:

Random thoughts. Averages. | Fred Klonsky

Random thoughts. Averages. | Fred Klonsky:
Random thoughts. Averages.

This clip of Hillary is making the social media rounds this morning.

I will tell you whose Facebook news feed it’s on.

Every teacher I know.

They are NEA and AFT members who may well be wondering why our leadership rushed their endorsement of her.

They are math teachers who wonder what Hillary was doing when she attended math class at nearby Maine South High School in suburban Park Ridge.

They are shaking their heads by her misuse of averages.

On the one hand, this is just a case of Trump Mouth.

“Closing schools that aren’t performing better than average,” is a practical impossibility since as soon as you close the ones below the average  you have created a new group that are below the average.

On the other hand, it is red meat to the corporate reform crowd in the Democratic Party.

The truth of the matter is that labeling public schools, teachers and students Random thoughts. Averages. | Fred Klonsky:

Merry Christmas, Ramone. You Represent Hope in a Seriously Messed-Up Education Nation

Merry Christmas, Ramone. You Represent Hope in a Seriously Messed-Up Education Nation. - Teacher in a Strange Land - Education Week Teacher:

Merry Christmas, Ramone. You Represent Hope in a Seriously Messed-Up Education Nation

It's a touching and gut-wrenching story, well-told. Ramone Williams, 26, of Flint, Michigan (yes--that Flint, Michigan) is living out of his aging mini-van, because he can't afford both tuition and a place to live. He sleeps in Eastern Michigan University's computer lab, when it's cold. He agonizes over whether to spend $4.00 on a Wendy's lunch. And he's carrying a solid GPA, on track to graduate, after years of community college, Pell grants, and dropping out to care for the grandmother who raised him.

In fact, it's the kind of story that causes people to open their hearts and wallets to a deserving stranger. A GoFundMe account for Ramone Williams has overshot its $10,000 goal (enough to find him a home and meals for his final semesters, and give him a head start on repaying the $10K he owes in student loans). More than $25,000 dollars has been donated. Merry Christmas, Ramone. Go see your grandma, tell her the good news. Virtue is--sometimes, anyway--its own reward.

The most heart-cracking passage in this tale:

Williams is far from alone. With colleges not required to identify and track homeless students on their campuses, the federal financial aid form (FAFSA) provides the only indication of the scope of the problem. About 56,000 students nationally checked a box on the FAFSA indicating they are homeless.

"We think there are a lot more," said Barbara Duffield, director of policy and programs for the National Association for the Education of Homeless Children and Youth, a national advocacy organization for homeless students. "Many are embarrassed to admit it or don't think they're homeless because they haven't stayed in a homeless shelter. A lot are staying in cars or sleeping in libraries." They're the most invisible of vulnerable groups on campus, said Cyekeia Lee, director of higher education initiatives for the same organization.

Williams tries to keep it that way, avoiding drawing attention to what he calls "my situation." He thinks fewer than 10 people at the university, staff and students combined, know he is homeless.

"I don't want to be a distraction," Williams said. "I feel like if I were to tell someone higher up, it might be detrimental to the school, for them to have knowledge that someone is homeless going to their school. Maybe it's against the rules or something. Maybe I'd get in trouble."

How can we live in a nation where someone like Ramone Williams doesn't want to be a "distraction" to his fellow scholars? Where Michigan is hailed as a leader in providing services for homeless students, and those who are pursuing a college education after being raised in foster care? Where campuses find it necessary to provide guidance in filling out the required FAFSA form to students who have no address, let alone accurate tax records?

It's gratifying to read about all the families who offered Ramone a safe, warm place to stay over the holidays--and to think that, temporarily, he has enough money to finish a college degree and launch his adult life. But what about the other 56,000 students patching together their holiday "vacation" around donated food and temporary shelters--are they also trying to avoid being a distraction to the American academic conscience? Aren't we supposed to be Education Nation?

Ramone's narrative is layered with ironies and deep questions about what it means to be well-educated, about the value of a university degree. His university, EMU, recently voted to continue, at least for a time, supporting Michigan's utterly failed Education Achievement Authority (EAA) school "district"-- the government initiative that, rhetorically only, offers "opportunity" to students whose neighborhood public schools reflect the kids in poverty who attend them.  And his home city, under the "leadership" of an emergency manager send by his governor, knowingly poisoned its citizens.

Ramone Williams' college degree will be no guarantee of a good job, as it might have been two generations ago. And institutions like his--a regional public university, once the mainstay for educating a growing middle class--were recently belittled as the perfect fit for minorities and other academic lesser lights by Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia.

And yet--here he is, doggedly determined to do his grandmother proud, to take his place as productive, educated citizen. The light glowing at the center of this story is not charity, "grit" or "achievement"--it is love, persistence and faith. You go, Ramone.

Wishing all readers of Teacher in a Strange Land a peaceful, meaningful holiday.Merry Christmas, Ramone. You Represent Hope in a Seriously Messed-Up Education Nation. - Teacher in a Strange Land - Education Week Teacher:

An Early Christmas Gift for the Common Core Naysayers » Missouri Education Watchdog

An Early Christmas Gift for the Common Core Naysayers » Missouri Education Watchdog:

An Early Christmas Gift for the Common Core Naysayers 

The Jacksonville Florida Superintendent says otherwise.

Parents who have been concerned about Common Core standards dictating curriculum, take heart.  You’ve been called delusional by those teachers, administrators, legislators, and choice architects who need Common Core because they have to compare states to each other and the only way to accomplish such a task is to use common standards and assessments.  Parents have been assured and scolded that the standards are just that: standards.  Leave the educational decisions to the professionals and if you are so cheeky as to be concerned that the standards do/will drive curriculum and assessments, you run the risk of being publicly shamed and ridiculed.

Or apparently, outright lied to by private NGO talking points:   http://www.corestandards.org/about-the-standards/myths-vs-facts/

The cat’s out of the bag.  The parents were correct in their concern about the standards dictating curriculum.  The Jacksonville, Florida superintendent, Nikolai Vitti, confirmed that worry in a recent article from the Jacksonville Times Union.  http://jacksonville.com/news/metro/2015-12-21/story/parents-question-age-appropriateness-world-religions-lessons?page=3

He was defending why 1st graders were learning about comparative religion and the need for them to ‘understand the world’.  Learning to read has moved from primers and ‘Dick and Jane’ to learning how religions have shaped the world. First graders must now understand these concepts at age 6 to be successful in vocabulary development and reading comprehension.  Phonics, fables and fiction have been replaced by learning world history through religious/cultural references:

Superintendent Vitti confirms the standards are driving the curriculum and *shocker alert* they are heavily scripted.  Of course they are, An Early Christmas Gift for the Common Core Naysayers » Missouri Education Watchdog:

Malloy gives Charter School Industry another seat on the CT State Board of Education - Wait What?

Malloy gives Charter School Industry another seat on the CT State Board of Education - Wait What?:

Malloy gives Charter School Industry another seat on the CT State Board of Education

A News Update from Jonathan Pelto and Wendy Lecker

While Connecticut’s public schools continue to suffer from inadequate state funding and Governor Dannel Malloy and his administration strive to undermine, dismiss and destroy the CCJEF school funding lawsuit that would finally ensure that Connecticut meets its State Constitutional obligation to provide all students with a quality education, Malloy’s corporate education reform initiative has fueled an unprecedented growth of charter schools in Connecticut.  The Charter School Industry now collects in excess of $100 million a year from Connecticut taxpayer.

Privately owned and operated, but funded with taxpayer dollars, Connecticut’s Charter Schools have consistently failed to educate their fair share of students that require special education services and English Language Learners who aren’t fluent in the English Language.

Achievement First, Inc., the large charter school chain with schools in New York, Connecticut and Rhode Island, earned national notoriety when news broke about theshocking number of kindergarten and first graders suspended at their schools.  The charter school company’s failure to provide special education students with appropriate services has generated investigations in both Connecticut and New York.

The truth is that while the Connecticut State Board of Education is legally obligated to regulate charter schools but have had a very shoddy track record when it comes to fulfilling those duties.

After taking office, Malloy’s Commissioner of Education (a co-founder of Achievement First, Inc.) and the Governor’s political appointees to the State Board handed Malloy gives Charter School Industry another seat on the CT State Board of Education - Wait What?:

With A Brooklyn Accent: Will Hillary Clinton Throw Teachers in High Poverty Schools Under the Bus?

With A Brooklyn Accent: Will Hillary Clinton Throw Teachers in High Poverty Schools Under the Bus?:

Will Hillary Clinton Throw Teachers in High Poverty Schools Under the Bus?

When I was doing community history projects in Bronx schools -they were all pushed out when the testing mania struck and the Bloomberg Administration started assigning schools letter grades - I met some incredible teachers in schools whose test scores marked them as troubled or "failing." Most of them were women; many of them Black and Latino; quite a few were products of neighborhoods similar to theones they were teaching in. When presented with an opportunity to add excitement and energy to their classes with innovative history research; they took what I put before them and reinvented it in creative projects that reached students and their families in ways I could never have imagined. 

So, when I hear that Hilary Clinton plans to close public schools throughout the nation whose performance is "below average," I think of those Bronx teachers. Basically, she is willing to throw them, and teachers like them under the bus because they chose to teach in high poverty schools. Nothing could be more unfair or more counterproductive. Some of the best teachers in the country work in schools where students don't test well. They nurture; they inspire; they protect and guide students whose lives are filled with hardship. Punishing them for their choice is the height of cynicism.With A Brooklyn Accent: Will Hillary Clinton Throw Teachers in High Poverty Schools Under the Bus?:

A free speech and student rap case is at the Supreme Court - Yahoo News

A free speech and student rap case is at the Supreme Court - Yahoo News:

A free speech and student rap case is at the Supreme Court

Can a public school high school student be suspended for critically rapping about teachers outside of school? A case heading toward a Supreme Court private conference early nextyear could draw a new First Amendment boundary

The case of Bell v. Itawamba County School Board has been in the court system since 2011, when aspiring student rapper Taylor Bell appealed his punishment for rap lyrics that school officials believed were threatening to the teachers.

Several high-profile rappers have jumped into the case involving the former Mississippi high school student. On Sunday, the New York Times’ Supreme Court correspondent Adam Liptak profiled the case and gave readers an advance look at a brief filed by rappers such as Killer Mike and T.I. with the Supreme Court.

Killer Mike, said Liptak, argues the First Amendment permits expression, no matter how uncomfortable some people are with language used in rap music. “I see a kid who saw wrong happening and was outraged about it,” the rapper said. “He wrote a poem about it over a beat.”

But in a broader legal sense, observers have been watching the case and its appeals process for some time, because a core issue is about where is boundary the limits student free speech – inside the school or outside of school in the world of Facebook and YouTube.

In his brief to the Supreme Court, Bell and his attorneys outline how Bell, then a high school senior in 2011 at Itawamba Agricultural High School, received a suspension and was sent to another school. Bell claimed he was told by several female students that they were being sexually harassed by two male teachers who were also sports coaches. The aspiring rapper composed and performed two songs confronting the teachers about the accusations, using rap language that was perceived as vulgar, profane and rhetorically threatening. The songs were posted on Facebook and YouTube, and composed and performed outside of school.

School officials were alerted to Bell’s activities, and they determined there were four instances of “threatening, harassing, and intimidating language against the two coaches” in his performances. The school board upheld the punishment and the legal appeals process started.

The U.S. Third Circuit Court of Appeals, with three judges hearing arguments, ruled 2-1 against the school district and for Bell in December 2014 on his First Amendment claim, citing the famous 1969 Tinker v. Des Moines decision.

“Contrary to the district court’s conclusion, the Supreme Court in Tinker did not hold that theA free speech and student rap case is at the Supreme Court - Yahoo News: 

These Presidential Candidates Flip-flopped in the War Over Common Core - Fortune

These Presidential Candidates Flip-flopped in the War Over Common Core - Fortune:

These Three Presidential Candidates Flip-flopped in the War Over Common Core

Republican candidates have shifted positions—or waffled—on this key educational issue.

Illustration by Arian Behzadi; Original Photos, Christie: Nicholas Kamm—AFP/Getty Images; Cruz: Mandel Ngan—AFP/Getty Images; Bush: Charles Ommanney—The Washington Post/Getty Images; Trump: Scott Olson—Getty Images; Fiorina: Daniel Acker—Bloomberg via Getty Images; Huckabee: Joe Raedle—Getty Images; Carson: Mark Wilson—Getty Images

Numerous politicians—particularly Republicans—have executed breathtaking reversals in their positions on Common Core as the political head over the education standards intensified. To see how the conflict has played out, read Business Gets Schooled.

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Chris Christie

Yes! “We’re doing Common Core in New Jersey, and we’re going to continue … I think that part of the Republican opposition … is a knee-jerk reaction … that if the President likes something, then the Republicans in Congress don’t.” —August 2013, at an education conference, Las Vegas

No! “We must reject federal control of our education and return it to parents and teachers. We need to take it out of the cubicles of Washington, D.C., where it was placed by the Obama administration, and return it to the neighborhoods of New Jersey.” —May 28, 2015, speech at Burlington County College, N.J.

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Jeb Bush

Yes! “Because people have a different view of what Common Core is, am I supposed to back away from something that I know works?” —May 2015, Nashville

Er, I think so: “The term ‘Common Core’ is so darn poisonous, I don’t even know what it means. I’m for higher standards—state created, locally implemented—where the federal government has no role in the … content or curriculum.” —Aug. 14, 2015, Iowa

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Carly Fiorina

Yes! “Internationally benchmarked standards and assessments help ensure our students graduate high school prepared with the skills necessary to succeed in the our 21st-century economy.” —November 2009, “Carly on Education,” position statement for senatorial campaign

No! “I think Common Core is a really bad idea. It is a giant bureaucratic program, and we have demonstrated over 40 years that the Department of Education can get bigger and bigger and bigger, and the quality of education continues to deteriorate.” —May 6, 2015, CNBC interview

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Mike Huckabee

Yes! “Rebrand it, refocus it, but don’t retreat.” —November These Presidential Candidates Flip-flopped in the War Over Common Core - Fortune:

Best and worst education news of 2015 — a teacher’s list - The Washington Post

Best and worst education news of 2015 — a teacher’s list - The Washington Post:

Best and worst education news of 2015 — a teacher’s list

Larry Ferlazzo is a veteran teacher of English and social studies at Luther Burbank High School in Sacramento, California.  Every year he writes a list of the best/worst education news of the year — and here’s what he has come up with for 2015. Ferlazzo has written eight books on education, writes a teacher advice blog for Education Week Teacher and has his own popular resource-sharing blog. See if his list resembles your own. What did he miss?

By Larry Ferlazzo

It’s time again for an annual recap of education news. As usual, I don’t presume to say it’s all-encompassing, so I hope you’ll take time to share your own choices. I’ll list the ones I think are the best first, followed by the worst. It’s too hard to rank them within those categories, so I’m not listing them in any order.

The Best Education News Of 2015

* Seattle teachers went out on strike and won an exceptional list of changes, including guaranteed recess for elementary school students and an in-depth examination of equity issues such as the disproportionate number of suspensions handed out to students of color.

* Momentum continues to build for increasing use of restorative practices in school over punish-and-suspend. Similar momentum continued for increasing the use of Social-Emotional Learning  (two new excellent reports on SEL were issued over the past year), but there’s a negative to that found in the “bad” section of this post, too.

* The Washington State Supreme Court decided that taxpayer-funded charter schools are unconstitutional. The case might provide a blueprint to opponentsin other areas. I, and many others, are supportive of charters the way they were originally intended to operate — as laboratories for, and not “creamers” from, public schools. Perhaps this case and others might force charter advocates to reflect on that original purpose.

* States have begun concluding that high school exit exams are destructive to the education and to the lives of students, and have eliminated them. In my own state of California, Gov. Jerry Brown signed a bill into law that could allow 40,000 students who had denied diplomas to receive them retroactively.

* U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan, the architect of many policies thatnegatively impacted students, families and teachers, resigned. That’s the good news. The bad news is that, though everybody should be given a chance to Best and worst education news of 2015 — a teacher’s list - The Washington Post: