Diane Ravitch's blog
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Diane Ravitch's blog
The Perils of Privatization
Nobel-Prize winning economist Paul Krugman has an important article in the New York Times. Krugman reflects on a major investigative series in the newspaper about privatized prisons in New Jersey, run by for-profit corporations.. The prisons described in the articles are akin to “hell on earth — an understaffed, poorly run system, with a demoralized work force...” [...]
Galvanic Humor
Okay, so I have posted a few blogs about the galvanic skin response monitors that measure one’s physiological level of engagement, and now I am getting into the swing of things. I understand that this “engagement pedometer” will be strapped to my wrist and called a bracelet. I understand it will know me better than [...]
Tax Cuts for Business, Austerity for Public Schools
Pennsylvania Governor Tom Corbett has preached a formula that warms the hearts of the far-right base of his party: Tax cuts for the big corporations, budget cuts for public schools and social services. Some districts in Pennsylvania are planning to eliminate kindergarten, and some are teetering into bankruptcy. The only positive outcome is that Corbett’s [...]
Do Tougher Tests Make Students Smarter?
Education suffers because of poor coverage by the media. For years, the media have been interested only in sensationalism and bad news. Many newspapers do not have regular education writers, so when they do publish a story about schools, they don’t have a deep understanding of education issues. I just read a story in the [...]
Deathwatch for Public Schools in Michigan, part 2
When I wrote about the end of public education in two districts in Michigan, I pointed out that the state’s emergency manager law is a mechanism to end democracy when there is a fiscal crisis. That strikes me as draconian. Surely we don’t want to see governmental entities running up deficits that they can’t pay, [...]
What Romney Reform Looks Like
We don’t have to wonder what Mitt Romney’s education plan would look like if he is elected. It would look like the Jindal legislation passed this spring in Louisiana. The Louisiana “reforms” represent the purest distillation of the rightwing agenda for education. First, they create a marketplace of competition, with publicly funded vouchers and many new charter [...]
Wall Street Money Backs Rahm
It’s no surprise to discover that the organization representing Wall Street hedge fund managers is putting big money into Rahm Emanuel’s war against the Chicago Teachers Union. The group, which calls itself Democrats for Education Reform, is a major contributor to political advocacy for charter schools. It raises money for influential candidates in local, state [...]
We Never Run Out of Truly Bad Ideas
Some days ago, I posted a blog about the decision by the Oklahoma Department of Education to post on its website the names and personal information of students who got a waiver and didn’t take the state tests. This was widely understood as a purposeful effort to humiliate the students. Now from a reader comes [...]
Does Anyone Know?
I am a historian of education and I should know these things, but I don’t. Does anyone know when for-profit schools first began operations? I am guessing it was Educational Alternatives Inc., in Baltimore, in the early 1990s (where Rhee was a teacher), but I am not certain. EAI pre-dated the arrival of Edison Schools [...]
Celebrity Policymaking
This morning I posted a blog about Governor Kasich appointing a former football star to the Ohio state board of education. I got this response from a reader in Michigan: This is part of a trend I’ve seen here in Michigan – celebrity policy-making. It’s an extension of the traveling shows of Michelle Rhee and [...]
Don’t Forget the Archives
I am thrilled when I see that readers are looking at earlier blog posts. I started the blog in late April and have posted about 275 blogs. The earliest ones are as timely as the latest ones, but they get buried by the weight of new blogs. I heard from a reader just now who [...]
When Students Awaken
The federal government’s heavy-handed, top-down policy of closing schools as a “turnaround” strategy fragments communities, particularly communities of color. Corporate reformers like Arne Duncan and Joel Klein count it as a badge of honor never to listen to the cries of parents and teachers and community leaders when they close schools and replace them with [...]
A Brilliant Idea: A Must-Watch
When I joined a webinar for #soschat recently on Twitter, the main topic of discussion was “what can we do?” How do we resist a well-funded campaign that makes parents, teachers and students feel powerless and helpless? What tools do we have? What is our counter-narrative? I have thought about that a lot because the [...]
The Detroit Story: Everyone Pretended to Care
The Detroit News reported the latest plans for the beleaguered Detroit Public School district. Under state control for three years, Detroit is now run by an emergency financial manager with dictatorial powers. First the good news: ”Detroit Public Schools’ proposed 2012-13 school year budget supports a system of schools focused on innovation and robust school choices, data-driven [...]
Massachusetts Story: How Stand for ? Sold Out
Every once in a while, I read an article that is so packed with insight and new information that I want to share it. In the past, I would use Twitter to send it out. Now that I have this blog, I can not only share it but tell you why I think it is [...]
Governor Kasich Appoints Sports Figure to Ohio Board of Education
In a demonstration of the importance that he attaches to the weighty work of the Ohio State Board of Education, Governor John Kasich appointed a former quarterback at Ohio State University to a seat on the state board. His choice, Stanley Jackson,plans to open a charter school for African American males. He played for Ohio [...]
Louisiana Breaks New Ground
With all the education reforms taking place in Louisiana, it’s clear that Governor Bobby Jindal wants to be a national leader in what is now called the “education reform” movement. Louisiana is leading the nation in the race to the bottom, having adopted every bad idea in ALEC’s catalogue of ways to tear up your [...]
The Shame of the College Board
I opened up my New York Times and was surprised to find a full-page ad sponsored by the College Board attacking American education. The ad showed a graphic in which “national security,” “jobs,” “healthcare,” and the “economy” rest upon a base of “education,” but the base is cracking. The ad says: “Our future depends on [...]
More re: GAO Report on Charters and Special Education
Matthew DiCarlo at the Shanker Blog is a careful social scientist who does thoughtful analysis of education issues. His blog today reviewed the GAO report on special education enrollments in charter schools. The report got lots of attention for finding that about 11% of students in the nation are special education, but charters enroll only [...]
Why Assess the Arts?
Nancy Flanagan is one of the nation’s premier teachers and bloggers. Unlike many who opine about education (I include myself in that category), Nancy knows teaching inside and out. She was a music teacher for thirty years and was deeply involved in creating National Board Certification for teachers. Now she blogs for Education Week and [...]
Oh No! I Am a Member of Students First
After I blogged about Change.org dropping Michelle Rhee and Jonah Edelman, I got an email from a representative of Change.org asking me to explain its policy on my blog. I told him my concern was not with its policy, but with the deception involved in signing people up as members of an organization they did [...]
Is Vermont the Best State?
I have received many comments from readers nominating their state as the worst in the nation for having enacted legislations that removes due process from teachers or reduces their status or connects their evaluation to student test scores or defunds public education or harms professional educators and the public weal in other ways. Vermont is [...]
Death Watch for Public Schools in Michigan
Governor Rick Snyder’s administration is closing down public schools in two districts in Michigan and turning the schools over to charter operators. Michigan has a draconian law that permits the governor to appoint an emergency manager whenever a municipality or school district or other governmental entity is in financial distress. All democratically elected officials are [...]
This Bridgeport Teacher Remembers His Elite Schooling, Wistfully
In response to my letter to Jill Biden, this teacher remembers the school he attended with one of the Biden’s children. He laments that current “reforms” make it impossible to maintain the standards of excellence that he experienced when he was lucky enough to attend a private Friends school as a youth. I attended a [...]
Why Do Doctors Make Excuses?
A reader sent in a comment about holding teachers accountable for test scores. He attended a “question and answer” luncheon hosted by the Lafayette, Louisiana, Chamber of Commerce, where Governor Bobby Jindal was the speaker. Jindal came late, spoke fast, and left without answering any questions. The reader, possibly the only educator in the audience, [...]
Debating Cuomo Plan for Teacher Ratings
Governor Andrew Cuomo has come up with a compromise on the issue of releasing teacher data rankings. He wants only parents to see the rankings and data reports for their children’s teachers, but to make public the data for individual classes and schools. This is a step in the right direction, but it doesn’t go [...]
The Perils of Teaching in California
A reader writes from California about the churn and instability caused by the toxic combination of annual budget cuts and an open door for unregulated charters. I met a teacher in Los Angeles recently who told me he had been “pink slipped” six years in a row, called back each time, then pink-slipped again. What [...]
Is Tennessee the Worst State?
A reader in Tennessee nominates his state as the worst in the nation in terms of implementing the usual stale ideas to “reform” the schools. How could it not be in contention to win the race to the bottom when it was one of the first states (Delaware was the other) to win the Race [...]
Will North Carolina Say No to K12?
A majority of school boards in North Carolina are opposing the opening of a K12 online charter school. They understand that the North Carolina Virtual Academy will drain millions of dollars from the budgets of the state’s public schools. K12, the nation’s largest for-profit online charter corporation, persuaded one school board to sponsor its operation [...]
Federal Study: Charters and Special Education
The General Accounting Office, which is the federal government’s watchdog agency, just issued a report concluding that charter schools are failing to enroll a fair share of students with disabilities. Advocates of students with special needs have complained about this for the past few years, and it is now confirmed. The report showed that special-education [...]
Are You For Sale?
The New York Times had an informative but frankly alarming article about the research that maps out every fact about each of us. The article is called “You For Sale: A Data Giant is mapping, and sharing, the consumer genome.” The article describes the vast “data-mining” business that collects, stores, and sells about 1,500 data [...]
How Are Police and Teachers Alike These Days?
Read this article, which documents how data-driven policing has caused police to report statistics wrongly, classify crimes as more or less serious depending on the quota needed to fill, and has created constructs of “productivity” that warp the goals of policing. What is the primary goal of policing? To keep our communities safe and crime-free. [...]
Change.Org Drops Rhee and Edelman
In an earlier post, I described how Michelle Rhee’s Students First collects “members” whenever anyone unwittingly signs a petition at change.org for a “kittens and puppies” cause or when they agree that they respect teachers. This is deceptive advertising. It turns out that Jonah Edelman’s Stand for Children also benefited by misleading people who signed [...]
Test Scores or Creativity?
An earlier post considered whether standardized tests were necessary or useful in the arts. Several arts teachers responded to say that they are not only NOT necessary and NOT useful, but they are actually harmful. They miss the point of arts education and they distort instruction. I agree. This comment makes the case even stronger. [...]
Mayors Gone Mad
The annual meeting of the U.S. Conference of Mayors unanimously passed a resolution endorsing the so-called parent trigger idea. The parent trigger means that 51% of parents at a school can sign a petition, and as the Reuters article about it said, “seize control” of the school. Once the parents have seized control, with the [...]
Freudian Slip?
In my post on whether Pennsylvania is the worst state, my original language referred to “teacher evacuation,” instead of “teacher evaluation.” I fixed my typo, but as I did, I realized that this was a meaningful slip. Is “teacher evaluation” in fact “teacher evacuation”? I keep hearing stories of excellent teachers who are retiring early [...]
IRS Examining Charter Schools
A reader sent the following article about IRS scrutiny of the financial management of charters, especially for-profit management companies. http://www.rothgerber.com/showarticle.aspx?Show=1627 Alert: Increased IRS Scrutiny of Charter Schools Operated by For-Profit Management Companies Author(s): Eric V. Hall, H. William Mahaffey, Christopher D. Freeman Published: 06/18/2012 In some cases, charter schools are managed by for-profit entities [...]
Oklahoma Is Not OK
I recently printed a blog about the Oklahoma Department of Education’s outrageous decision to publish personal information about some two dozen students who got waivers and did not take the state tests. This seemed like permission to publish their vital statistics on the department’s website, an outrageous and unprofessional action. Now we hear from a [...]
Is Rhode Island the Worst State?
Teachers in Rhode Island frequently write me to tell me that the state is rapidly deteriorating in its commitment to public education, especially after winning $75 million from the Race to the Top. Commissioner Deborah Gist is enamored of evaluating teachers by the test scores of their students, and she fought hard to increase the [...]
Is Ohio the Worst State?
As we scour the nation to identify the state that has reached the zenith in its efforts to destroy our public education system and to discourage its teachers, our eyes must necessarily turn to Ohio. Here a Tea Party Governor, John Kasich, is working in tandem with a Republican-dominated legislature to do their level best [...]
A Letter from Jill Biden to You
Some readers received an email signed by Jill Biden. They asked what I thought of her message. They asked me how I would respond if I were in their place. The letter says: Dear – I’ve been a teacher in public schools and community colleges for more than 30 years. Being an educator is about [...]
Vouchers in New York State?
Legislation was introduced on June 15 proposing to repeal the Blaine Amendment in the New York State constitution. Enacted by many states in the nineteenth century, the Blaine amendment prohibits the allocation of public money to religious schools. The proposed legislation would clear the way for vouchers for religious schools. This is an opportune time [...]
A Sickening Feeling in Philadelphia
I wrote a blog about the press for privatization in Philadelphia, and someone sent me the following email. For a minute, I felt as helpless as he does, then I took a deep breath, redoubled my resolve, and determined to fight back. We can’t let the elites take away what belongs to all of us. He [...]
Update on New Jersey’s Bad Idea
Earlier today, I posted a blog about a bill in the New Jersey legislature that would remove seniority and tenure from teachers in that state and require that they be fired after two consecutive negative evaluations.. I just received the latest report from a reader in New Jersey. You will notice two bad things about [...]
Greetings to Readers in Rwanda
I just checked to see where my readers are and saw that there were 8 readers in Rwanda today. That could be Tim Slekar of Pennsylvania, who is on an education mission in Rwanda, logging in 8 times–or I have a small core of friends there. Tim is the moderator on the radio show “the [...]
Is Louisiana the Worst?
Louisiana is a very strong contender for the worst state in the nation in relation to its treatment of teachers, students, and public schools. Governor Bobby Jindal has been hailed by rightwing privatizers for his bold plan to dismantle public education. And indeed, his legislation established vouchers, charters, and a punitive regime for teachers. If [...]
New Jersey Has a Bad Idea
A reader sends this note, relevant today, but relevant beyond today. It is part of the rightwing assault on the teaching profession. The state gets to define “effective,” then can take the right to due process away from those who don’t meet the benchmarks arbitrarily created by the state, which is eager to fire teachers [...]
Is North Carolina the Worst?
A reader writes from North Carolina, where far-right Republicans control state government and are more than willing to hand public schools over to the private sector to mine for profit: In North Carolina, the Republican dominated legislature lifted the cap on charter schools, provided a fast track approval process, and created a new certification board [...]
Is Michigan the Worst?
In the ongoing effort to learn what is happening in the states under the guise of “reform,” here are reports from readers in Michigan: This is a pretty good list. Let me expand a bit: as with much of the country, we had a huge wave of victories by “tea party” backed candidates in the [...]
Washington State: So Far, OK.
Readers of this blog are reporting on what is happening in their state, and the extent to which corporate reform has intruded into the schools. The toxic combination, when in full flower, consists of legislation to ban collective bargaining, so that there is no group strong enough to fight against budget cuts and anti-teacher legislation; [...]
Big Money Joins Chicago Fight
Education Reform Now, a corporate reform group funded by Wall Street and other financial elites, is now involved in the Chicago teachers’ collective bargaining issues. ERN spent millions in New York state last year to attack teachers’ job protections. In the linked article, the group says it is not coordinating with the Mayor’s office, but [...]
Is It “Hysterical” to Worry about Those GSR Monitors?
A reader, who is a professor of education, writes in response to the ongoing discussion on this blog of the galvanic skin response monitors: I encourage educators to be reflective practitoners, so I know that, to be authentic, it involves regular, honest, deep-seated self-inventories, and I appreciate those efforts. However, it’s an ongoing process and [...]
Is Wisconsin the Worst State?
This response to my request for information suggests that Wisconsin has the worst, most anti-teacher, anti-public education reforms: Wisconsin. No more collective bargaining. A line in WI Act 10 that specifically states “No local agency or school board shall enter into any collective bargaining agreement…” So much for local control. After that was passed, Gov [...]
Which State Has the Worst Reforms?
I asked readers to report on the destructive reforms imposed in their state. No one has tried to collect this information or to pull it all together into a national picture. Everyone seems to think that their own state is off on a binge of legislation that is anti-union, anti-teacher, and anti-public education. From what [...]
California Struggles to Recover
California has cut billions of dollars from its education budget over the past decade. There are classrooms with more than 40 students, with many of them non-English-speaking. It is very hard to teach a large class when there are children who don’t understand the language of instruction and when the students no longer have needed [...]
When Does the Achievement Gap Start?
We know the answer to that question. It doesn’t start in high school. It doesn’t start in middle school. It doesn’t start in elementary school. It starts before the first day of kindergarten. Yet our elites blame teachers for the very existence of the achievement gap. They think that teachers “cause” the gap. They think [...]
Calling Teachers of Special Education
I am no expert in special education. I would like to get the views of experienced teachers about what is the best means of assessing the progress of students with disabilities. My assumption would be that the range of disabilities is so broad that one-size-fits-all will fit no one. My assumption is that students with [...]
Philadelphia Vs. Privatizers
Philadelphia matters because it is a harbinger of privatization across the state of Pennsylvania. As the letter below notes, some 25 districts in the state would qualify as in need of dramatic action–i.e., privatization–under the terms of a bill now under consideration in the Legislature. This scenario reflects a process we have seen in other [...]
Is Hawaii the Worst State?
This reader provides an overview of what is happening in Hawaii. Those of us who live on the East Coast don’t hear much about education developments in Hawaii, so this is fresh information. It sounds like Obama and Duncan have brought all the worst ideas of corporate reform to Hawaii, via Race to the Top. [...]
This Art Teacher Knows What to Do with Bubble Tests
I have a visceral distaste for the very idea of measuring the arts with a standardized multiple-choice test. This strikes me the sort of technocratic thinking that is driving creativity and ingenuity underground and crushing it whenever it dares to appear in a schoolroom. We know that the only reason this idea is being considered [...]
Five Steps to Destroy Public Education
An earlier post described the four-step polka in North Carolina enroute to destroying public education, demoralizing teachers, and enriching the private vendors. Here is a suggestion by another reader, who says it actually is a five-step process. 1. Under-fund/STARVE the schools financially 2. Overcrowd the classrooms, reduce programs, supplies 3. Fail the public school using [...]
How Should Art Be Assessed?
In a piece in Education Week, Sara Mead maintains that art can be assessed through multiple-choice standardized tests. In defense of multiple-choice testing of the arts, she writes: The point of arts education shouldn’t be to teach children to simply “enjoy art”–we are, after all free to choose which art we enjoy, or whether we [...]
Is Pennsylvania the Worst State?
When I asked readers to tell me about the reforms in their own state, I received dozens of replies. It is hard to say which state has the most destructive reforms. By destructive, I refer to legislation that is anti-teacher, anti-public education, anti-education, and anti-child. This means legislation that strips teachers of any job protections [...]
This Teacher Says No Thanks to the Galvanic Skin Response Bracelet
Readers of this blog are aware of the controversy surrounding the Gates-funded research into the uses of a device to monitor students’ and possibly teachers’ physiological reactions in the classroom. The device is called a “galvanic skin response” monitor. It would be a bracelet with wireless sensor that students would wear to measure how engaged [...]
Four-Step Demolition Polka in North Carolina
An article describing the situation in North Carolina defines the four steps needed to attack and dismantle public education. It is a scenario based on ALEC model legislation, which is now being faithfully implemented in many states. Step one is to cut the budget of the public schools. Step two is to divert public school [...]
Is This a Conflict of Interest?
Last spring, Louisiana held a crucial election that determined who would control the state’s Board of Elementary and Secondary Education. Governor Bobby Jindal–the uber-conservative education reformer with a plan to replace public education with vouchers and charters–wanted to take control. He rallied his friends and allies to win the decisive seat on the board, which [...]
Add Your State to My List
Readers, I posted a blog a few minutes ago called “Reformers vs. Democracy.” It says that the current corporate reformers push their reforms through without listening to parents, educators or the public. They consider the democratic process to be a nuisance that slows them down. They like to say, “We can’t wait,” and “Children have [...]
Race from the Axe
A reader sent this animation. I think most everyone who reads this blog will find it humorous yet too true to be funny. It depicts the way teachers are evaluated now. Being “very good” is not good enough. Being “perfect” is not good enough. In what line of work are people expected to go higher [...]
Reformers vs. Democracy
One thing reformers don’t like is to hear from teachers or parents or the public. We see the same pattern repeated again and again. Reform can only be successful when power is consolidated in the hands of the mayor, preferably when the mayor has a puppet board appointed by him and that serves at his [...]
Idaho Has A Great Teacher
I got a comment from an elementary school teacher in Idaho. She sounds like the kind of teacher I would want for my grandchild, who starts first grade this September. She knows what matters most. She reminds me of Mrs. Ratliff, the high school English teacher whom I wrote about in my last book. I [...]
A Parent’s Advice to the CTU
During these stressful times, teachers sometimes think they are alone in their struggle to maintain the dignity of their profession. They may get the impression by listening to politicians and the media that no one cares about them or about public education. This is wrong. The American public does not want to turn its schools [...]
