Fool Me If U Can..Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all

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

Fool Me If U Can..Diane Ravitch's blog 

A site to discuss better education for all

BREAKING NEWS: Julian Vasquez Heilig Has Won OK to Open Five For-Profit Charter Schools in Michigan!

8by dianeravitch / 4h

Julian Vasquez Heilig has deep ties to the state of Michigan, as he is from Lansing, and he graduated from the University of Michigan. He has made his mark as a scholar of education policy at the University of Texas and now 

Future: A Student Thanks “Misses DeVos for My Real Good Education”

by dianeravitch / 1min

This post is satire. It appears in The New Yorker as a letter written in 2040 by a student whose education was shaped by Betsy DeVos. Without saying so, it acknowledges her avid support for school choice that includes schools where 

Trump Puts Kushner in Charge of Innovation Across the Federal Government

by dianeravitch / 1h

This should be an April Fools Day joke but unfortunately it is real. Trump announced that he was putting his son-in-law Jared Kushner in charge of introducing innovation into the federal government, especially the values of American business. The Office of American Innovation will have a huge portfolio. As the White House announced: ““The Office of American Innovation will bring a creative and st

ALERT: Secretary Betsy DeVos Holds Secret Meeting with Russian Grizzly Bear!

4by dianeravitch / 1h

The National Education Policy Center reports that Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos held a secret meeting with a Russian grizzly bear! There is an actual photograph of the meeting included in the post! BOULDER, CO (April 1, 2017) – As part of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos’s campaign to promote educational vouchers, she held a secret meeting last week with Boo Boo Medvedev, a Russian bear who i

Humor Day: Mike Pence Asks Waiter to Remove Mrs. Butterworth from the Table Until His Wife Arrives

3by dianeravitch / 1h

Thanks to Duane Swacker for this hilarious piece from the Onion! Mike Pence asks the waiter to remove Mrs. Butterworth from the table until his wife arrives. Her comely shape embarrasses him. Someone on Twitter said that Mike Pence seems to be obsessed with the sanctity of marriage, but obsessed with 

Satire: The Betsy DeVos Standardized Test: Are You Smarter than a Billionaire?

by dianeravitch / 13min

This is a very funny parody of a standardized test, one that reflects the issues and concerns of our new Secretary of Education. Only question left out: Is there anything funny about having a Secretary of Education who knows nothing about education? Answer yes or no. Another one: What kind of president would appoint someone to lead the U.S. Department of Education who wants to get rid of public s

The Onion: Crisis at the Audubon Society

by dianeravitch / 1h

This one made me laugh out loud. I hope you have the same reaction. We all need some humor these days.

Fred Smith: Yertle the Trumpster

3by dianeravitch / 2h

Now we have two poets. Fred Smith, testing expert, no longer associated with the New York City Board of Education, sent the following rumination about our national Yertle the Turtle. The Faking of the President 2016 I sit with my pen signing off on my themes, Watch the world shake its head at my speed and extremes; What some said wouldn’t happen, this mad man’s sick dreams, Now they see me delive

Arthur Camins: Don’t Be Fooled: In a Democracy, Public Schools Are Better than Private Schools

18by dianeravitch / 3h

Arthur Camins, scientist and specialist in innovation, kicks off our celebration of April Fools Day with his timely warning not to be fooled by Trump and DeVos: in a democratic society, public schools are better than private schools. They are the only path to a better education for all. We need them. We do not need to resurrect the segregation that existed before the Brown decision. We have not a

Alt_DeptofEd on DeVos

11by dianeravitch / 4h

Time to start the April Fools Day festivities. Betsy DeVos said at Brookings that she is “not a numbers person,” to explain her ignorance of research about the poor results of charters and vouchers. Dissident employees within the U.S. Department of Education have a Twitter account, where they responded to her comment: “ Or a letters person, or a schools person, or a teachers person, or an educati

YESTERDAY

Carol Burris: The Secrets of Arizona’s High-Performing Charter Schools

40by dianeravitch / 22h

Carol Burris has been conducting an investigation of charter schools in many states, beginning with her series on California. In this post, she analyzes the remarkable test scores of certain high-performing charter schools in Arizona. https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.washingtonpost.com/amphtml/news/answer-sheet/wp/2017/03/30/what-the-public-doesnt-know-about-high-performing-charter-schools-in-ari

Court Approves Settlement of Trump University Lawsuit, Thousands Will Recover $$$

7by dianeravitch / 22h

Thousands of students of the defunct Trump University will recover most of the money they paid for phony courses. The $25 million settlement was approved by Judge Gonzalo Curiel, the jurist attacked by Trump during the campaign as biased and racist because of his Mexican-American heritage. http://money.cnn.com/2017/03/31/news/trump-university-settlement/index.html In advertisements for Trump Univ

North Carolina’s Largest Voucher School Embroiled in Financial Scandal, Files Incomplete Returns

17by dianeravitch / 23h

Veteran journalist Lindsay Wagner writes that Fayetteville’s Trinity Christian School–the state’s largest recipient of taxpayer-funded vouchers– is involved in a major financial scandal. North Carolina places no accountability for how taxpayer money is used or whether students make academic progress. The voucher schools get taxpayer money with neither accountability nor transparency. North Caroli

Municipal Analysts Ask Whether Charter Schools Make the Grade

6by dianeravitch / 23h

I received an invitation to a meeting of municipal analysts in New York City. MID-TERMS ARE JUST AROUND THE CORNER … CAN CHARTER SCHOOLS MAKE THE GRADE? Date: Friday, April 7, 2017 Time: 11:30 am – 2:00 pm Location: Yale Club, 50 Vanderbilt Avenue, NYC Summary: Can charter schools achieve investment grade status? Despite failures and successes, charter school debt has grown rapidly as facilities’

Will Pinkston: The Charter Industry is Unraveling in Nashville

19by dianeravitch / 1d

Will Pinkston, a member of the Metro Nashville school board, has long been suspicious about the ability of the charter industry to keep its grandiose promises. Now, he says, charter schools in that city are in crisis. http://www.tennessean.com/story/opinion/2017/03/29/nashvilles-charter-school-industry-unraveling/99747782/ He writes: “It was just a matter of time before the wheels came off Nashvi

The Network for Public Education Endorses Steve Zimmer for Re-Election in Los Angeles

23by dianeravitch / 1d

The Network for Public Education enthusiastically endorses Steve Zimmer for Re-Election to the board of the public schools of Los Angeles. In the primary, he received nearly half of all the votes, barely missing the majority he needed to avoid a run-off. His opponent is funded by the Billionaire Boys Club. They are pouring millions into the race in an effort to gain control of the school board an

Texas: The Resistance Movement Against Vouchers is Growing and Looking Good

25by dianeravitch / 1d

On Tuesday evening, I flew to Texas to keep a promise to myself. Three years ago, I was chosen for the annual award of the Friends of Texas Public Schools. The day I was supposed to fly to Austin, there was a huge blizzard in New York City and my flight was canceled. All flights were canceled the next day as well. I skipped in to the event the next evening, and a few weeks later received a beauti

Bruce Baker: Why #PublicGoodsMatter

19by dianeravitch / 1d

Bruce Baker employs a series of tweets t o demonstrate the fallacy of “the money follows the child.” Public money is collected for the public good. Public money supports services and institutions for future generations, not just for those now using them. The oft-heard demand that “the money follows the child” is fallacious. It is used to privatize institutions created for all. https://schoolfinan

Ex-Charter School Leader Charged with Fraud, Money Laundering: What Would DeVos Say?

23by dianeravitch / 1d

Until 2012, the most celebrated figure in the charter school industry was Ben Chavis of the American Indian Model Schools, a group of charter schools in Oakland, California, that got phenomenal test scores and major national 

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

The masquerade of school choice: a parent’s story - The Washington Post

The masquerade of school choice: a parent’s story - The Washington Post:

The masquerade of school choice: a parent’s story

President Trump and Education Secretary Betsy DeVos say their primary focus in education policy will be to expand school choice, providing alternatives to traditional public schools. DeVos has been clear about her view of traditional public schools, calling them “a dead end” in 2015 and this past week saying that student outcomes at U.S. schools are so bad that she isn’t  “sure how they could get a lot worse.”

[DeVos: Outcomes at U.S. schools are so bad, they probably can’t get much worse]

Though championed by Trump and DeVos, school choice is highly controversial around the country. Choice supporters say that parents have a right to send their children to any school they want and the public should pay for it, especially for those families fleeing troubled traditional public schools. Supporters of the traditional system say that charter and voucher schools don’t on average perform any better than public schools, and often do worse; are not held to the same standards; are not transparent about their operations; often pick and choose the students they want; and drain vital resources from traditional schools that accept all students.

For those who support school choice, Arizona is seen as a big success, with virtual schools; hundreds of charter schools. which are funded by the public but operated privately; magnet schools; and private and religious schools, which enroll students with public dollars made available through tax credit and voucher-like programs. Some 20 percent of Arizona’s students are educated through school choice programs, most of them in charter schools.

This telling essay details an Arizona parent’s story about trying to wade through the “choice” system to find the right school for her daughter. She is Patricia MacCorquodale, a sociologist and professor of gender and women’s studies at the University of Arizona. Her research focuses on women’s careers in science, engineering and legal professions, gender and human sexuality and educational aspirations and achievement. She stepped down last year as the inaugural dean of the Honors College at the University or Arizona. MacCorquodale  is also a Tucson Public Voices Fellow with the Op-Ed Project.

[What the public isn’t told about high-performing charter schools in Arizona]

By Patricia MacCorquodale

My adventure with school choice began with a search for a school for our daughter entering first grade.

I started at a highly regarded private elementary school. Armed with a list of questions, I went to the school, toured the facility, visited a classroom and met with the principal. She assured me that they had plenty of spaces open in first grade and suggested that I bring my daughter to The masquerade of school choice: a parent’s story - The Washington Post:

CURMUDGUCATION: Inactive Data

CURMUDGUCATION: Inactive Data:

Inactive Data

Active Data

So about that actionable data...

One of the frequently-offered reasons for the Big Standardized Tests is that they are supposed to provide information that will allow classroom teachers to "inform instruction," to tweak our instruction to better prepare for the test better educate our students. Let me show you what that really means in Pennsylvania.

Our BS Tests are called the Keystones (we're the Keystone State-- get it?). They are not a state requirement yet-- the legislature has blinked a couple of times now and kicked that can down the road. Because these tests are norm-referenced aka graded on a curve, using them as a graduation requirement is guaranteed to result in the denial of diplomas for some huge number of Pennsylvania students. However, many local districts like my own, make them a local graduation requirement in anticipation of the day when the legislature has the nerve to pull the trigger (right now 2019 is the year it all happens). The big difference with a local requirement is that we can offer an alternative assessment; our students who never pass the Keystones must complete the Binder of Doom-- a huge collection of exercises and assessment activities that allow them to demonstrate mastery.  It's no fun, but it beats not getting a diploma because you passed all your classes but failed on bad standardized test.

Why do local districts attach stakes to the Keystones? Because our school rating and our individual teacher ratings depend upon those test results.

So it is with a combination of curiosity and professional concern that I try to find real, actionable data in the Keystone results, to see if there are things I can do, compromises I can make, even insights I can glean from breaking that data down.

The short answer is no. Let me walk you through the long answer. (We're just going to stick to the ELA results here).

The results come back to the schools from the state in the form of an enormous Excel document. It CURMUDGUCATION: Inactive Data: