News, data and conversation about education in New York.
Sunday, February 26, 2012
Today's Big Education Ape - PostRank Top Late Nite Posts 2-26 #soschat #ReclaimingReform
presumption of guilt? in an investigation of Washington schools under the direction of Michelle Rhee. - NYTimes.com
Amid a Federal Education Inquiry, an Unsettling Sight

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.
By MICHAEL WINERIP
Published: February 26, 2012
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
- last edited 3 months, 1 week ago
- content history
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
Education Today - The Battle Rages 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
Resolution opposing common core standards and national tests
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









