I Am Really A Dog Person Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all

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

I Am Really A Dog Person Diane Ravitch's blog

A site to discuss better education for all

More on the New Charter Operators Moving from Chicago to Indianapolis

3by dianeravitch / 1h

An earlier post this morning said that two young TFA had run a “successful” charter school in Chicago and were invited to open a charter in Indianapolis. They are both under 30. https://dianeravitch.net/2017/07/09/indianapolis-as-

Laura Chapman Exposes the Billionaires Behind GreatSchools, Inc. and Redlining

7by dianeravitch / 1h

Laura Chapman posted this comment, which I hope you will read: Readers should know that GreatSchools.org website supports redlining. This is a non-profit website and organization in name only. Zillow, for example, pays a fee to 

Why Do National Democrats Forget About the Threat to K-12 Schools?

2by dianeravitch / 17min

Every day I get fund-raising appeals from Democratic and progressive national organizations. They usually include a list of critical issues and ask me which one I care most about. They never include K-12 schooling, which is now being 

DeVos: Tough Accountability for Public Schools, Not for Charters or Voucher Schools

8by dianeravitch / 33min

Erica Green of the New York Times wrote that Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos has “surprised” everyone by insisting that the state accountability plans must be more demanding, more “ambitious,” stronger in setting goals. Please note that DeVos spent over a million dollars rewarding the Michigan legislature in 2016 for blocking accountability standards for low-performing charter schools in Michi

Florida Charter Scandal: You May Think You Have Heard It All!

19by dianeravitch / 1h

This is unbelievable but true. A convicted felon who had served four years in prison for grand theft and arson was chosen as president of the board of a small Florida charter school, where she was convicted of stealing from the school. She is heading back to prison. You can’t make this stuff up. “Despite spending four years in prison for arson and grand theft, and having multiple arrests for writ

Indianapolis: As School Board Plans to Close Public Schools, Interlopers Arrive to Open New Charters

20by dianeravitch / 2h

I wrote a few posts last week (see here and here ) about the devastation of public schools in Indianapolis by corporate reformers. Their short term goal is to close public schools and replace them with privately managed charters. In the meanwhile, they are eliminating the neighborhood high school concept and requiring students to choose a high school based on its programs, not its proximity to ho

YESTERDAY

Here is the Link to MAD Magazine’s Betsy Poster: “We the Unqualified”

3by dianeravitch / 21h

In case you want to print out your very own Betsy poster, here is the link.

Jeff Bryant: Why Democrats Should Unite For a Charter Moratorium

6by dianeravitch / 22h

Jeff Bryant argues cogently in this article that Democrats should unite on behalf of a charter school moratorium. If the Democratic party wants to revive its base–labor and civil rights–it should heed Jeff’s sound advice. Charters and school choice were never a natural fit with the public philosophy of the Denocratic party, which recognized the power of government to advance the common good, beca

Jersey Jazzman: Chris Christie Show His True Colors, on the Jersey Shore

8by dianeravitch / 23h

Jersey Jazzman notes that Chris Christie will soon leave office as the most unpopular governor in the nation. He loved to ridicule those who disagreed with him, and one of his favorite targets was the state’s public schools and teachers, most especially their union. He never acknowled that the state is one of the three top-performing states on national tests (NAEP), the other two being Massachuse

Indiana Voucher Study: Students Fall Behind, But Do They Really Catch Up After Four Years?

33by dianeravitch / 23h

Indiana has one of the nation’s largest voucher programs (34,000 students) and has been in operation long enough to collect four years of data. The latest voucher study reached the conclusion that students who get vouchers fall behind in the first two years, notably in math, but eventually catch up to their public school peers. But do they? Steve Hinnefeld reported on the release of the study, bu

MAD Magazine “Honors” Betsy DeVos With a Poster of Her Own

500+by dianeravitch / 1d

A reader sent me the link to this poster, which appears in the current issue of MAD Magazine. I don’t customarily engage in ridicule, but what DeVos is doing to the public schools of America, what she is doing to civil rights enforcement, and what she is doing to college students struggling to pay for their education is beyond ridiculous.

19 State Attorneys General Sue DeVos for Delaying Rules Protecting College Students from Predatory Colleges

26by dianeravitch / 1d

Led by Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healy, the state attorneys general in 19 states sued Betsy zdezvos, who is failing to protect the interests of college students who are preyed upon by for-profit colleges, like the defunct Trump University. This Secretary has carved out a unique role as the defender of corporate interests against the rights of students. Her motto might as well be “Let t

U.S. News Kicks KIPP NYC School Off Its List of “Best High Schools” Due to Gary Rubinstein’s Analysis

100+by dianeravitch / 1d

Let’s begin with the stipulation that the lists of “America’s Best High Schools” based on test scores or AP coursetaking encourage schools to game the system and are invalid on their face. Then, congratulations to Gary Rubinstein! He not 

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

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

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

Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day…

…For Teaching ELL, ESL, & EFL

Privilege & Chief Justice Roberts’ Commencement Speech

by Larry Ferlazzo / 1h

Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts gave a speech at his ninth-grade son’s graduation, and it’s been receiving rave reviews across the land. It really is a good speech, and you can watch it in the video embedded below, and you can read the transcript here . But, ever since I heard about it last week, something has been bothering me. His son’s school is an exclusive one (its six week summer s

YESTERDAY

“Author Interview: ‘Making Evaluation Meaningful'”

by Larry Ferlazzo / 8h

Author Interview: ‘Making Evaluation Meaningful’ is the headline of my latest Education Week Teacher column. In it, PJ Caposey agreed to answer a few questions about his new book, “Making Evaluation Meaningful: Transforming the Conversation to Transform Schools.” Here are a few excerpts:

This Week’s “Round-Up” Of Useful Posts & Articles On Ed Policy Issues

by Larry Ferlazzo / 9h

© 2011 CGP Grey , Flickr | CC-BY | via Wylio Here are some recent useful posts and articles on educational policy issues (You might also be interested in The Best Articles, Videos & Posts On Education Policy In 2017 – So Far ): 18 States Sue Betsy DeVos And Education Dept. Over Delay Of Borrower Defense Rule is from NPR. Reform Lessons from Skeptical But Not Cynical Veterans is by Larry Cuban. I’

SEL Weekly Update

by Larry Ferlazzo / 15h

I’ve recently begun this weekly post where I’ll be sharing resources I’m adding to The Best Social Emotional Learning (SEL) Resources or other related “Best” lists: I’m adding this video from the Harvard Business Review to Best Posts On “Motivating” Students (it’s about this article ): HOW CAN TEACHERS DEVELOP THEIR OWN SOCIAL-EMOTIONAL SKILLS? is from Ed Week. The power of givers:They boost auto

July 18th Is “Nelson Mandela International Day” – Here Are Related Resources

by Larry Ferlazzo / 15h

This is from The United Nations : Every year on 18 July — the day Nelson Mandela was born — the UN asks individuals around the world to mark Nelson Mandela International Day (18 July) by making a difference in their communities. Everyone has the ability and the responsibility to change the world for the better, and Mandela Day is an occasion for everyone to take action and inspire change. You mig

Easily Create Vocabulary Quizzes With “Wordsmyth”

by Larry Ferlazzo / 15h

Wordsmyth seems like an exceptional online dictionary that lets you create several different types of vocabulary quizzes. Teachers can get accounts for free. The site has many other features, as well. I’m adding it to The Best Ways To Create Online Tests . However, Bob Parks (its creator) tells me that they “are developing new functionality for teachers, including a full vocabulary study system.”

JUL 07

The Best Resources On Co-Teaching With ELLs – Please Suggest More

by Larry Ferlazzo / 1d

The only time I’ve co-taught a class was an ELL Beginners/Intermediate combo that my co-author and colleague Katie Hull and I did several years ago. I do know, however, that many ELL teachers are in situations where they either go in to a class to support students when the content teacher is teaching, or pull ELLs out to support content instruction. I thought it would be useful to start a list wi

New Study Finds That Punishment May Encourage The Behavior Being Targeted

by Larry Ferlazzo / 1d

In no surprise to teachers and parents everywhere, a new study finds that punishing someone for their behavior may actually result in an increase in the behavior that’s being targeted. Science Daily published a summary of the study under the headline Motivation through punishment may not work . Here’s an excerpt: The experiment itself was a series of experiments where participants would get elect

Classroom Instruction Resources Of The Week

by Larry Ferlazzo / 1d

© 1970 Pip R. Lagenta , Flickr | CC-BY-ND | via Wylio Each week, I publish a post or two containing three or four particularly useful resources on classroom instruction, and you can see them all here. You might also be interested in The Best Articles (& Blog Posts) Offering Practical Advice & Resources To Teachers In 2016 – Part Tw o and The Best Resources On Class Instruction In 2017 – So Far .

Video: “Why Seeing A Total Solar Eclipse Is So Rare And Where It’ll Be In The U.S.”

by Larry Ferlazzo / 2d

I’m adding this new TIME video to The Best Resources For Learning About The 2017 Total Solar Eclipse :

Interactive Map Of The World’s Most “Sacred” Places

by Larry Ferlazzo / 2d

Sacred Places, Sacred Ways is a nice interactive map to five places “revered” by some of the world’s key religions. I’m adding it to The Best Websites To Learn About Various Religions & English .

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

Sunday’s week in review. | Fred Klonsky

Sunday’s week in review. | Fred Klonsky:

Sunday’s week in review

 Sunday’s week in review. | Fred Klonsky:

With A Brooklyn Accent: How Charter Schools Have Stifled Educational Innovation and Fought the Opt Out Movement

With A Brooklyn Accent: How Charter Schools Have Stifled Educational Innovation and Fought the Opt Out Movement:

How Charter Schools Have Stifled Educational Innovation and Fought the Opt Out Movement

Although charter schools were originally promoted as a vehicle to encourage educational experimentation, their meteoric growth in influence has actually coincided with a REDUCTION in innovation in schools because those promoting them most have also pushed for national testing and test based accountability measures for rating schools. In New York City, for example, the largest charter chains have fiercely opposed the opt out movement, and used their political influence to support state testing at all grade levels and the continued use of testing to rate teachers and schools. They have also virtually eliminated all instruction outside ELA and Math and used high test scores as a selling point, putting pressure on local public schools to raise their test scores to compete with them. They have helped create a political climate, in New York City and New York state, where teachers and principals in high poverty communities feel they might be subjecting themselves to a state takeover and eventual closing if they do anything to serve their students that doesn't translate into higher test scores. Make no mistake about it, the Charter Lobby welcomes such an atmosphere. It is their version of educational entrepreneurship, even though its results are toxic in high need communities which need arts, sports, community history, and caring teachers and counselors to help students stay and thrive in schools.With A Brooklyn Accent: How Charter Schools Have Stifled Educational Innovation and Fought the Opt Out Movement:

More Truth in Teacher-Written Education Blogs Than Corporate Media | gadflyonthewallblog

More Truth in Teacher-Written Education Blogs Than Corporate Media | gadflyonthewallblog:

More Truth in Teacher-Written Education Blogs Than Corporate Media

Let’s get one thing straight right from the get go: I am biased.

But so are you.

So are the parents, students, principals and school directors. So are the policymakers, the corporate donors and professional journalists.

Everyone involved in education policy is interested in one side or another of the debate. It’s just that some pretend to practice a kind of objectivity while others are open about their partiality.

It’s unavoidable. I’m a public school teacher. Not merely someone who’s taught in a public school for a few years – I’m an educator with more than 15 years experience in the classroom. And I’m still there.

I’m not a Teach for America recruit who committed myself to three years in front of children after a few weeks crash course. Where I am now was my goal in the first place. I’m not doing this to get the credentials for my real dream job, being an education policy advisor for a Congressperson or Senator. Nor do I plan to become a Superintendent, Principal or school administrator someday.

All along, my goal was to have a classroom of my own where I could help children learn.

Moreover, I’m a public school parent. My daughter goes to the same public school my wife and I both attended as children. We could have sent her to a charter or private school. But we made the conscious choice not to, and we’ve never regretted it.

Our local district serves a mostly high poverty population. More than half of the students are minorities. The facilities aren’t as up to date as you’ll find in richer neighborhoods. Class sizes are too large. But we decided that being a part of the More Truth in Teacher-Written Education Blogs Than Corporate Media | gadflyonthewallblog:

CURMUDGUCATION: What They Deserve

CURMUDGUCATION: What They Deserve:

What They Deserve

Before we get started, let me be clear-- this is not ALL conservatives, and in many cases not ONLY conservatives. But there is a thread that runs through current aspects of conservatism that ties many issues, from education to health care, together.

As has been noted to the point that we are flogging the marrow inside the stripped bones unearthed from beneath the dead equine flesh, there are a lot of people who are angry. There is a full range of sources for this anger, but I want to focus on one-- the anger that some people are not getting what they deserve. Specifically, those people are getting far more than they deserve while escaping the suffering they should be experiencing. This anger about just deserts, about people escaping the consequences their shoulders should be rightfully bowed under.

Take the arguments about reproduction. There are points on which reasonable people can disagree, but some opponents of abortion and, in fact, birth control are well beyond that. Peel back their rhetoric, and you find this rationale-- sex is dirty and only a dirty nasty woman would ever have sex for any reason other than to provide children for her husband. Women who enjoy recreational sex are Bad People, and allowing them to have abortions or even birth control is enabling their bad behavior. They should be made to suffer the consequences of their slutty activities, i.e. pregnancy and childbirth. Anything that allows them to escape pregnancy is allowing them to get off scott free, and that's just not what they deserve. 

When we want to talk about getting people what they deserve, the free market often comes up. Again-- not all free market fans are righteously angry true believers. But for many the free market is a perfect mechanism for getting people what they deserve-- and no more. When some advocates for free market health care insurance start talking about choice, it can seem nuts to suggest that poor folks get crappier insurance as a consequence of their freedom-enhanced choice rather than their financial inability to buy the good stuff. But the idea here is that your socio-economic status is the result of your own choices and behavior. Rich people have more choices; that's supposed to be the point of being rich. To use government support or subsidies or tax dollars to give poor folks those same kinds of choices as rich folks is giving them something they don't deserve, that they didn't earn fair and square. (Besides, good and virtuous people who live right don't need much health care, anyway.)

The same is true for education. When (some) angry folks declare that we are spending too much CURMUDGUCATION: What They Deserve: