WARNING : TRY TO KEEP UP WITH DIANE AT YOUR OWN RISK: Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all

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

WARNING : TRY TO KEEP UP WITH DIANE AT YOUR OWN RISK: Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all

Slaying Goliath: The Passionate Resistance to Privatization and the Fight to Save America's Public Schools

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Rob Schofield: The War on Public Education in North Carolina

by dianeravitch / 28min

There was a time when Norh Carolina was widely seen as the most progressive stTe in the South. That time ended abruptly when the Tea Party took control of the state in 2010 and began to decimate public services, especially public education. The Tea Party introduced charters and vouchers, killed the state’s successful NC Teaching Fellows Program for career teachers (giving its funding to Teach for

Michael Kohlhaas: The California Charter School Association’s Secret, Reprehensible Goals

by dianeravitch / 1h

Last June, blogger Michael Kohlhaas received a huge trove of documents from the Green Dot Charter Chain in response to his request filed under the state’s Public Record Act. He has been reviewing these documents and releasing them. In this post, he summarizes a Powerpoint presentation (and provides a link to the actual document) in which the California Charter Schools Association lays out its goa

Jan Resseger: Ohio Reduces Oversight of Failing Charter Operators and Gives More Money to Attend Low-Performing Voucher Schools

by dianeravitch / 2h

Jan Resseger reports here on Stephen Dyer’s astute analysis of Ohio’s state budget. Dyer is a former legislator who is now an Education Policy Fellow at Innovation Ohio. This is Dyer’s report. Read it and weep. Ohio’s rightwing Republicans care more about campaign contributors than they care about the state’s students or the quality of education. In looking at the plums for charters and vouchers,

Timothy Snyder: On Tyranny: The Road to Unfreedom

44by dianeravitch / 3h

During the protests in Hong Kong, demonstrators carried placards of Timothy Snyder’s lessons about losing democracy. On Tyranny: the Road to Unfreedom Timothy Snyder – Yale University – Nov 15, 2016. Americans are no wiser than the Europeans who saw democracy yield to fascism, Nazism, or communism. Our one advantage is that we might learn from their experience. Now is a good time to do so. Here a

NPE National Conference: Last Day to Get Early Bird Rate!

by dianeravitch / 4h

Register today for the Network for Public Education’s National Conference in March 2020 in Philadelphia. Today is the last day to get early bird discounted rate. Great speakers, great panels, and a chance to meet the leaders of the Resistance! Including you!

YESTERDAY

A New Year’s Greeting from Around the World

by dianeravitch / 20h

This is a lovely way to usher in the New Year 5780! Thanks to my dear friend David Berliner for sharing! And a happy New Year, L’Shana Tova, to all!

ProPublica: Trump Has Been Working the Ukraine Story in Plain Sight

by dianeravitch / 23h

ProPublica documents that Trump has been proclaiming his interest in the Ukraine investigation on Twitter for months. Why are we surprised when he has told the story out loud for months ? Conspiracy theorists convinced him long ago that Ukraine—not Russia—interfered in the 2016 election, to aid the hated Hillary. He also telegraphed his belief that Ukraine leaked damaging information about Paul M

Andrea Gabor: The Demand for A New Kind of Civics

by dianeravitch / 1d

Andrea Gabor wrote this article for Bloomberg News. Andrea Gabor, a former editor at Business Week and U.S. News & World Report, is the Bloomberg chair of business journalism at Baruch College of the City University of New York and the author of “After the Education Wars: How Smart Schools Upend the Business of Reform.” The College Board, which administers college entrance exams to high school st

Red Queen in L.A.: No, We Do Not Need a Yelp for Schools

37by dianeravitch / 1d

The charter Industry faction on the Los Angeles School Board wants to introduce a Jeb Bush-style evaluation system to rank and rate schools. It hasn’t worked anywhere else in the nation, so why not introduce it in Los Angeles. Every other state has demonstrated that the school grading system ranks schools by the income of parents. Schools that enroll the poorest children get the lowest grades. Sc

John Thompson: Can Online Learning Survive the Profiteers and Frauds?

100+by dianeravitch / 1d

John Thompson is a historians and recently retired teacher in Oklahoma. For more than two decades I’ve mourned the loss of opportunities for online instruction to augment and enhance student learning, as opposed enabling a Social Darwinian competition where charters attack traditional public schools. Educators seeking meaningful choices, such as real personalized learning, have been shackled by t

Peter Greene: Watch RAND Play “Corporate Reformy Buzzword Bingo”

by dianeravitch / 1d

Peter Greene recognizes the RAND Institution’s adroit use of the Reformy vocabulary in its latest report. Almost all your favorite jargon and buzzwords are found there, he says. Check it out and see if they overlooked any of your favorite buzzwords. RAND Corporation, with its vision to be “the world’s mos

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

It's Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... A VERY BUSY DAY | The latest news and resources in education since 2007

Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... | The latest news and resources in education since 2007

It's Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... A VERY BUSY DAY | The latest news and resources in education since 2007

Diwali Takes Place Later This Month – Here Are Related Teaching & Learning Resources

by Larry Ferlazzo / 4h

bhuwanpurohit / Pixabay Diwali, the Hindu Festival of Lights, will start on October 25 this year. It concludes on October 29th. You might be interested in The Best Sites For Learning About Diwali.

YESTERDAY

New Animated Video: “NASA’s Guide To Black Hole Safety”

by Larry Ferlazzo / 12h

FelixMittermeier / Pixabay Check out this neat new video from NASA:

Infographic: “U.S. Slashes Refugee Limit To Historic Low”

by Larry Ferlazzo / 12h

GDJ / Pixabay I’ve previously shared about Trump Administration policies on refugees (see Trump Administration Cuts Refugee Number To Lowest Level Ever ). This infographic, though, makes it much more clear than any text article. I’m adding it to I’m adding this info to The Best Sites For Learning About World Refugee Day . You will find more infographics at Statista

ReadWorks FINALLY Lets Students Choose What Texts They Want To Read!

by Larry Ferlazzo / 13h

ReadWorks is one of the best educational sites out there – I’ve been posting constantly about it for years , and it’s on several “Best” lists. It has zillions of texts, audio support for many of them, annotation tools, and lots more. It’a always had one major drawback, however: in order for students to read their texts, teachers have had to “assign” them – they’ve never had the ability for studen

“Classroom Management ‘Is All About Relationships'”

by Larry Ferlazzo / 13h

Classroom Management ‘Is All About Relationships’ is the headline of my latest Education Week Teacher column. In it, Dr. Debbie Silver, Dr. PJ Caposey, Serena Pariser, Timothy Hilton, Dr. Beth Gotcher, Paula Mellom, Rebecca Hixon, and Jodi Weber offer their commentaries on how best to handle classroom management. Here are some excerpts:

My Latest BAM! Radio Show Is On Student Engagement

by Larry Ferlazzo / 13h

The Look, Sound and Feel of Effective Student Engagement is the topic of my latest ten minute BAM! Radio Show. I’m joined in the conversation by Cathy Beck, Kathy Dyer, Sarah Said and Samantha Cortez, who have also all contributed written commentaries to my Education Week Teacher column. I’m adding this show to All My BAM Radio Shows – Linked With Descriptions .

What Impact Will Trump Administration Policies Have On Future ELL Numbers? Here Is My Guess, & I Would Love To Hear Yours

by Larry Ferlazzo / 15h

OpenClipart-Vectors / Pixabay The number of English Language Learners in U.S. public schools has been growing steadily over the years (see The Best Ways To Keep-Up With Current ELL/ESL/EFL News & Research ). Those numbers have been expected to grow. Some statistics have said that by 2025, 25% of U.S. public school students will be ELLs, others say 40% by 2030 . Of course, none of these projection

SEP 29

Excellent – & Short – Overview Of Culturally Responsive Teaching’s Benefits

by Larry Ferlazzo / 1d

Jenny Muñiz has written a good – and short – piece over at New America reviewing the benefits of culturally responsive teaching. 5 Ways Culturally Responsive Teaching Benefits Learners contains lots of links to research, and is the perfect piece to share with administrators and colleagues who have questions about it and are open to learning. I’m adding it to The Best Resources About “Culturally R

Pins Of The Week

by Larry Ferlazzo / 1d

I’m fairly active on Pinterest and, in fact, have curated 19,000 resources there that I haven’t shared on this blog. I thought readers might find it useful if I began sharing a handful of my most recent “pins” each week (I’m not sure if you can see them through an RSS Reader – you might have to click through to the original post). You might also be interested in My Seven Most Popular Pins In 2018

The Best Sites Where Students Can Participate In Citizen Science Projects

by Larry Ferlazzo / 2d

markmags / Pixabay Plenty of research has found that students tend to become more motivated when their work will be seen by other people in addition to the teacher (see Best Places Where Students Can Write For An “Authentic Audience “). I’ve previously written about these kinds of opportunities for Social Studies students (see The Best Sites Where Students Can Transcribe Historical Texts ). I’ve

New Resources On Race & Racism

by Larry Ferlazzo / 2d

I’m adding these new resources to various “Best” lists. You can find links to all of those many lists that relate to race and racism at “Best” Lists Of The Week: Resources For Teaching & Learning About Race & Racism: ‘It Was Very Humiliating’: Readers Share How They Were Taught About Slavery is from The NY Times. I’m adding it to USEFUL RESOURCES FOR LEARNING ABOUT THE 400TH ANNIVERSARY OF BRINGI

My Most Popular Tweets Of The Month

by Larry Ferlazzo / 2d

PhotoMIX-Company / Pixabay I used to post weekly collections of my best tweets, and used Storify to bring them together. Unfortunately, Storify went under. Fortunately, however, Wakelet was a new tool that was able to import all 

Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... | The latest news and resources in education since 2007

California schools can no longer suspend K-8 students for using phones. Will this help or hurt learning? - Los Angeles Times

California schools can no longer suspend K-8 students for using phones. Will this help or hurt learning? - Los Angeles Times

California schools can no longer suspend K-8 students for using phones. Will this help or hurt learning?

In middle school, Anthony Avila would stand up in class, talk to friends when he wasn’t supposed to and sling his legs across a second chair. His disruptive behavior got him sent to the office a lot, where he would sit in silence, often stewing.

In high school, Avila’s math teacher used another tactic. She kept him in class when he acted up and opened her room early so they could talk. When other teachers still sent him to the office, the staff at Huntington Park Institute of Applied Medicine was kind. They asked him to run errands or make copies. Counselors helped him with school work.

“I ended up getting good relationships ... so I felt like I had to respect them and do my work,” said Avila, now 18, whose behavior and grades slowly improved.

This is the kind of scenario that educators and lawmakers hope will unfold across California as schools embark on a new era of student discipline.

A law signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom prohibits suspensions for “willful defiance” in grades four and five and bans it in grades six to eight for five years. Actions such as chewing gum, playing with a phone, tapping feet, napping, mouthing off or being out of uniform may still bring consequences — but it won’t be suspension.

Many educators and public interest groups pushed for the law because research shows that black, Native American and Latino students bore the brunt of harsh discipline practices. Suspensions failed to transform students’ behavior and they CONTINUE READING: California schools can no longer suspend K-8 students for using phones. Will this help or hurt learning? - Los Angeles Times

John Thompson: More accountability needed before capital funding for charter schools

More accountability needed before capital funding for charter schools

More accountability needed before capital funding for charter schools

The executive director of the Oklahoma State School Board Association, Shawn Himes, opened the first of the Sept. 11 House Common Education Committee’s interim studies on “Brick and Mortar Charter School Funding,” by explaining how Oklahoma is one of only four states that doesn’t fund capital expenses for its traditional public schools at the state level.

Although Oklahoma has a balanced funding formula for operations, our reliance on local dollars for capital needs could undermine that fair system.

Hime said we are stronger together and should unite, “put ego aside,” and help fund traditional public and charter school capital expenditures. But the day’s presentations underscored how the issue is more complicated. In my opinion, other accountability issues must be addressed before increased capital funding for charter schools should be contemplated.

Presentations draw contrasts

A second interim study, “Real Cost Per Student for Virtual Schools,” began with a presentation by Rebecca Wilkinson, the executive director of the Oklahoma Statewide Virtual School Board. Wilkinson referenced a paper making the incomprehensible claim, “The operating costs of online programs are about the same as the operating costs of a regular brick-and-mortar school.”

It found the per-student cost of a full-time virtual school is between 93 and 98 percent of a traditional school. Actually, this finding is based on a “cost model” — which I’d call a wish list — where, for instance, the teacher-student ratio is almost 80 percent more than the national average, and salaries and support services are far greater than what exist in CONTINUE READING: More accountability needed before capital funding for charter schools