Diane in the Evening 6-1-13 Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all

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

G.F. Brandenburg Deconstructs Rhee

by dianerav

In this post, blogger
and former math teacher G.F. Brandenburg dissects a speech by Michelle Rhee. What he finds especially amazing is that Rhee doesn’t acknowledge her own role as chancellor of the D. C. Schools as she rid into the flaws of public education. He notes that the achievement gap grew during her time in office.

Why Other Nations Fear Race to the Top

by dianerav

A reader writes about his experience at an international conference:
Last May I had the privilege to be invited to the Van Leer Education conference in Jerusalem with outstanding educational leaders from across the globe. Award winning Teachers, Principals, University Professors and Director Generals/Heads of State were there to discuss the topic “Regulation and Trust”.
As the receipient of the “New York State Outstanding Educator Award” from the School Administrators Assoc. of 

Who Needs PowerPoint?

by dianerav

Whenever I am going to lecture, someone asks if I plan to use PowerPoint. And I always say “no, I just need a microphone and a glass of water.”
I know that is retrograde, but to date I have found most PowerPoint presentations to be disruptive or simplistic. I hate it when someone puts up a screen and reads what is says, as thought he audience is illiterate. Sometimes the visuals are clever graphics that make you laugh. Sometimes the setup doesn’t work and the presentation is 

LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH 6-1-13 Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all

mike simpson at Big Education Ape - 5 minutes ago

Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all: [image: Click on picture to Listen to Diane Ravitch] Shame on TIME for Supporting Rahm’s School Closures by dianerav TIME magazine put Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel on its cover and praised him as a new kind of “pragmatic” Democrat, the kind that busts unions, ignores parents, and cultivates the approval of the business community. That is certainly a ne kind of Democrat. For a critique of TIME’s fawning coverage, read the article by Peter Hart of FAIR (Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting). This is my favorite part of... more »

Commissioner Pryor to Bridgeport Parents: DROP DEAD - Wait, What?

Commissioner Pryor to Bridgeport Parents: DROP DEAD - Wait, What?:

Commissioner Pryor to Bridgeport Parents: DROP DEAD

by jonpelto

Back when it was Dan Malloy, instead of Dannel, the candidate running for governor said that increasing parental involvement in schools, especially through the utilization of Connecticut’s school governance councils was a high priority.  In fact, candidate Dan Malloy even said he’d take the concept of school governance councils statewide, instead of just requiring them in poorer school districts.

When Governor Malloy pushed through his “education reform” bill, he failed to even try to make school governance councils a state-wide requirement but he did increase their role in the state’s 30 (poorer) Alliance School Districts.

Malloy’s bill required that school governance councils be given the opportunity to; (1) to review the fiscal objectives of the draft budget for the school and provide advice before it 

Targeting based on credit card use? Forget that – welcome to the new world of massive databases tracking our children’s school test results…

by jonpelto

Coming to your child’s school!

Parents are slowly learning about one of the most disturbing and, quite frankly, scary elements of the education reform movement….giant databases, managed by private companies, that will track our children and their test results.

Here fellow pro-public education columnist Wendy Lecker provides the latest with a column published in the Stamford Advocate and other Hearst Media outlets entitled,  Private data on children must stay that way

Many policymakers see technology as the cure-all for any education problem. Thus, states are rushing to test students online, expand online courses to “teach” students and use computers to “prepare” students for college. None of these efforts have been proven successful at improving student learning.

Besides the questionable effectiveness of technology to solve educational woes, the use of computers to collect a wide range of private student data is raising serious privacy alarms. These concerns have been heightened by two major developments: the U.S. 

Ed Notes Online: Video: Since You Asked, Mr. Walcott

Ed Notes Online: Video: Since You Asked, Mr. Walcott:

Video: Since You Asked, Mr. Walcott

by ed notes online

Excess'd - A Teacher Without a Room comes up with another in a series of videos this time spoofing Walcott's appearance at the principal's conference (Whining Walcott Misuses Public Funds and Public Space)  two weeks ago.

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NYC Educator: Highlights of Reformy John's New Decree

NYC Educator: Highlights of Reformy John's New Decree:

Highlights of Reformy John's New Decree

by NYC Educator

For third grade and above, 5% of your rating will come from students. Surveys will be piloted next year and will count the following year. While observations and whatever will count as 60% this year, they will be reduced to 55% the following year. So think twice before confiscating that cell phone, contacting parents, or demanding that homework assignment. A majority of the 55 or 60% must be based on observations from administrators.

20% to be determined at school level. Committee of 4 UFT and 4 admin will make recommendations and principal will get final say. However, Reformy John reserves the right to reject anything that does not suit his fancy.

NY State says principals' union agreed, though UFT did not, on a plan over last few days.

Teachers can choose observation make-up of either 1 formal + 3 informal (1 unannounced) or 6 informal (1 unannounced). These are minimums.

On Danielson--"22 components must be observed annually via observations and teacher artifacts" This enables a 

Jersey Jazzman: DFER's Misleading and Innumerate "Research"

Jersey Jazzman: DFER's Misleading and Innumerate "Research":

DFER's Misleading and Innumerate "Research"

by Duke

Bruce Baker has sort of cornered the market on critiquing stupid education policy graphs, so I feel like maybe I need to pay him a royalty or something when I say this:

Democrats For Education Reform has produced quite possibly the year's dumbest education policy graph.

Ladies and gentlemen, feast your eyes (p.4):

Let's go right to the text of the policy brief this comes from, written by Mac LeBuhn, and see if we can figure out what the young gentleman is trying to say:

The hypothetical graph above...

Whoa, whoa, WHOA, WHOA! "Hypothetical"?! You mean this graph doesn't actually show anything real? You just made this up? This graph is based on nothing?!

Yep. Keep that in mind as we continue:

The hypothetical graph above offers another way to visualize administrators’ frustration with 

Hackstastic Charter School Hackery

by Duke

Hacky charter school hackiness, courtesy - as always! - of the Star-Ledger's op-ed pages:

Charter schools are tuition-free public schools that provide many low-income and working-class parents with the freedom to choose a school that offers an education that best serves their students’ needs, regardless of where they live or their income level. Charters schools are nonselective and accept students through a random lottery. Recent reports by Newark Public Schools and CREDO/Stanford make clear Newark’s charter schools are producing significant achievement gains for students. It’s not surprising that families are demanding more charter schools, with 10,000 students already on wait lists.

So many reformy hits in one paragraph! Where to begin...

- Charter are not public schools: The Census Bureau, National Labor Relations Board, and legal scholars all agree that charters are not public schools.

- Charters are, in fact, selective:

Charter schools are limited public access in the sense that:

1. They can define the number of enrollment 

State releases outline of evaluation system it’s imposing on NYC | GothamSchools

State releases outline of evaluation system it’s imposing on NYC | GothamSchools:

State releases outline of evaluation system it’s imposing on NYC

by Philissa Cramer, at 5:29 pm;;

Student surveys, observation options for teachers, and a role for educators at each school are part of the city’s new teacher evaluation system, which State Education Commissioner John King is imposing today.

The plan appears to contain some elements that will please each of the Department of Education and the United Federation of Teachers, which were not able to agree on a system by a January deadline. The plan will be in place until 2017, unless the city and teachers union negotiate a different plan before then.

The actual plan won’t be posted until later this evening, but the state’s press release has the highlights:

COMMISSIONER KING RELEASES NYC TEACHER AND PRINCIPAL EVALUATION PLAN

New York State Education Commissioner John B. King, Jr. today released his teacher and principal evaluation plan for New York City.  Legislation enacted earlier this year mandated that King impose an Annual Professional Performance Review (APPR) plan for any district without an approved plan in place by May 29.  New York City is the only district in the state to fail to meet that deadline.  The APPR plan King announced today will remain in force through the 2016-2017 school year – and under state law, remains in place in perpetuity – unless and until a successor APPR agreement is reached through collective bargaining and is approved by the Commissioner.  King said the plan announced today following submissions and testimony from affected parties, will identify 

Student loans: The financialized economy of indentured servitude | DailyCensored.com - Breaking Censored News, World, Independent, Liberal News

Student loans: The financialized economy of indentured servitude | DailyCensored.com - Breaking Censored News, World, Independent, Liberal News:

Student loans: The financialized economy of indentured servitude

by Danny Weil

Get ready students!  Your college student loans are due to double on July 2013!  The cost of higher education is spiraling and with it the cost of student loans, one of the biggest Wall Street rackets currently in existence.  Both the Obama administration and the Republicans are seeking “market solutions” they say will staunch the bleeding (1) (http://www.washington.edu/federalrelations/files/2013/05/SAP-on-H.R.-19112.pdf ) (http://www.congressionaldish.com/h-r-1911-increase-interest-rates-for-students/).

Don’t be fooled: it is ‘market solutions’ that caused the crisis and with the financialization of education, students are seen as little more than commodities to be bought, sold and monetized for profit.  Education is now nothing more than a pernicious, seedy investment for those on Wall Street and vulture capitalists along with pension fund managers looking for high returns on their squalid investments.  College is no 

NYC Public School Parents: video: Diane Ravitch vs. Michelle Rhee

NYC Public School Parents: video: Diane Ravitch vs. Michelle Rhee:

Warning to parents and CECs considering DOE's proposals to dezone your district schools

by Leonie Haimson

At the end of the school year and towards the end of the Bloomberg reign,  DoE has been hurriedly

Hazel Dukes of the NAACP, who spoke up against dezoning District 5

proposing to dezone Districts 4, 5, 6 (twice), 7 (unzoned into two large preference zones this year), 12, 13, 14, 16, 17 and 23 (unzoned for MS this year).  In order to achieve this, theCommunity Education Councils in these districts have to approve.   

What does dezoning mean?  Eliminating the right of any child to attend a school near his home and implementing a system of “choice,” where parents would list preferences, and their child could be assigned by lottery to any school in the district.

Given parents’ understandable dissatisfaction with perpetual budget cuts, rising class sizes, the increased emphasis on test prep, the loss of art, music and after school programs, and deteriorating conditions at many neighborhood schools, such a system might seem at first glance appealing.  But dezoning will do nothing do improve the quality of education.  By forcing kids to attend schools far 

video: Diane Ravitch vs. Michelle Rhee

by Leonie Haimson

Great video with edited excerpts from a panel discussion at Martha’s Vineyard in 2011, with Diane Ravitch and Michelle Rhee.  Diane is at her best (though she is always terrific.)  For more on this forum and how Rhee has refused to debate her directly,  see Diane's comments here;  here is a video of the whole event.

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NPE Webinar: Uncovering the Truth About Education Reform – June 4, 2013 | The Network For Public Education ← NPE News Briefs

NPE Webinar: Uncovering the Truth About Education Reform – June 4, 2013 | The Network For Public Education ← NPE News Briefs:

NPE News Briefs

NPE Webinar: Uncovering the Truth About Education Reform – June 4, 2013 | The Network For Public Education

by NPE News Briefs

Learn from the Experts: Mercedes Schneider and Michael Corwin Are you frustrated when corruption goes on and nobody even seems to notice? Do you want to learn how to uncover the truth about what is happening to our schools? We are presenting a special webinar where two outstanding experts will share tips and techniques. Michael ...read more

NPE Endorsement: Marie Corfield for New Jersey State Assembly – Election June 4th. | The Network For Public Education

by NPE News Briefs

The Network for Public Education has endorsed another candidate. Marie Corfield is running for the state assembly, in an election that will take place on June 4th. Marie became an art teacher in 2001, and has taught at Robert Hunter Elementary School in Flemington since 2004. She Vice President-elect of the Flemington-Raritan Education Association and ...read more

Philly HS Senior Asks the Big Question | Jersey Jazzman

by NPE News Briefs

by Jersey Jazzman – I am increasingly convinced that the resistance to corporate reform that is most effective is being led by students. It certainly was in Newark, and it looks like it was in Philadelphia. Here’s a clip of the Philly walkout, including a senior who boils it all down to one important question: ...read more

Adventures in Late Koppitalism | EduShyster

by NPE News Briefs

by EduShyster – Creative destruction Creative destruction is basically a fancy way of describing the process of making expensive organic lemonade out of the ashes of a now shuttered lemonade stand. But Koppitalism also sees promise (and profit) where others see only despair. Take Philadelphia, for example, where 23 public schools are closing and the ...read more

On Common Core: The Leading Groups Are Wrong Again | Diane Ravitch’s blog

by NPE News Briefs

by a reader to Diane Ravitch’s blog; posted by Diane Ravitch – Yesterday I posted a statement endorsed by leading education organizations that endorsed the Common Core but called for more time to implement the new standards. ############## This reader disagrees. The reader commented: “The joint statement issued by the National School Boards Association, National ...read more

Homeschool Academy Launched to Teach Science From Biblical Worldview | toteachornototeach

Homeschool Academy Launched to Teach Science From Biblical Worldview | toteachornototeach:

Homeschool Academy Launched to Teach Science From Biblical Worldview

by aristotlethewise

Innovative New Home-school Academy
Launched to Teach Science From Biblical Worldview

By Garrett Haley
DAYTON, Tenn. – In 1925, a historic court case forever changed the way many Americans view science and religion. Today, nearly 90 years later, two professors are launching a new Christian science organization less than a mile from where that momentous trial unfolded all those many years ago.
In the early 20th century, as the theory of evolution was gaining popularity, several states passed bills that banned the teaching of evolution in state-funded schools. One such state was Tennessee, where lawmakers decreed that the teaching of any origin theory other than Creation was unlawful in public schools.
This law was challenged by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), who persuaded John Scopes, a part-time science teacher in Dayton, to defy the law by using pro-evolution science textbooks in his class. Scopes was arrested for his offense, but immediately the ACLU hired prominent atheist lawyer Clarence Darrow to lead an aggressive defense team. In the trial, later nicknamed the “Scopes Monkey Trial,” Darrow went head-to-head with prosecutor William Jennings Bryan—a staunch Christian politician.
Even though the anti-evolution team led by Bryan technically won the trial, the proceedings were generally seen as a major victory for evolutionists, because Darrow publicly posed several key questions about the Bible’s 

Saturday coffee. | Fred Klonsky

Saturday coffee. | Fred Klonsky:

Saturday coffee.

by Fred Klonsky

The sun rose over a partly cloudy Illinois this morning and teachers still had their pensions intact.
The attempt to allow Chicago to short their obligation to the teacher pension fund failed in spite of the attempts by both Madigan and Cullerton to pass a bill allowing another so-called pension holiday. 
That would be a holiday for the political hucksters. Not the teachers.
Illinois public employees keep their constitutionally guaranteed benefits.
What a David and Goliath battle that was.
On the one side were the forces of the Civic Committee, the corporate media (led by the financially and morally bankrupt Chicago Tribune) and the leadership of the Republican and Democratic Parties. Included among those 

Adventures in Late Koppitalism | EduShyster

Adventures in Late Koppitalism | EduShyster:

Adventures in Late Koppitalism

by edushyster2012

Like its better known elder sibling, Koppitalism is increasingly global and relies upon a vast army of foot soldiers.

No doubt you are familiar with capitalism, the economic system that has more Facebook likes than any other. But another powerful profit-making system is also making some waves. Known as Koppitalism, it has much in common with its better known elder sibling. Like capitalism, Koppitalism has a well-known figure head at its helm, is guided by an invisible hand and directs its benefits primarily to the less fortunate among us. The currency at the heart of Koppitalism is “excellence,” which is accumulated by individuals at the top of the excellence scale and then trickles down upon those who have the misfortune of living in a zipcode on the wrong side of the excellence gap. Now, like capitalism, Koppitalism is poised to go global, leveraging scalability on a global scale. Here’s a look…
Murky back story
Capitalism’s back story, with its unpleasant detours through slavery, child labor and environmental destruction is quite a downer. But Koppitalism also has a back story that is rarely discussed in polite reform circles.
Creative destruction
Creative destruction is basically a fancy way of describing the process of making expensive organic lemonade out of the ashes of a now shuttered lemonade stand. But Koppitalism also sees promise (and profit) where 

Jersey Jazzman: Philly HS Senior Asks the Big Question

Jersey Jazzman: Philly HS Senior Asks the Big Question:

Philly HS Senior Asks the Big Question

by Duke

I am increasingly convinced that the resistance to corporate reform that is most effective is being led by students. It certainly was in Newark, and it looks like it was in Philadelphia.

Here's a clip of the Philly walkout, including a senior who boils it all down to one important question:

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(1:24) If you are unable to take care of us now, how do you expect us to take of you later?

Word.

Blue Jersey:: NJ Education News Round-Up, 6/1/13

Blue Jersey:: NJ Education News Round-Up, 6/1/13:

NJ Education News Round-Up, 6/1/13

by Jersey Jazzman

Here's this week's NJ education news round-up:- NJ School Funding Getting Increasingly Unequal
This is disturbing: according to Bruce Baker at Rutgers, New Jersey's school funding system - once considered one of the "fairest" systems for addressing the funding gap between rich and poor districts - is getting increasingly unequal:

We may or may not begin to see the fallout - the real damages - of these shifts this year, or even next. But there will undoubtedly be consequences. Current policy changes, such as the use of bogus metrics to rate and remove mythically bad teachers will not make it less costly for high poverty districts to recruit and retain quality staff.  In fact, it may make it more expensive, given the increased disincentive for teachers to seek employment in higher poverty settings, all else equal. Nor will newly adopted half-baked school performance rating schemes. Nor will the state's 

The Pedagogy-Public Opinion Gap | Connected Principals

The Pedagogy-Public Opinion Gap | Connected Principals:

The Pedagogy-Public Opinion Gap

by Johnny Bevacqua

This post was originally published by J. Bevacqua on Figuring It Out
I contend that there is a Pedagogy-Public Opinion Gap in education.  For the sake of this post, I would define this Pedagogy-Public Opinion “gap” as:
The gap in understanding between what professional educators and researchers, who work with students on a daily basis, see as “best practice” in education (teaching, learning and schooling) and those “outside” the world of professional education – whose ideas, understanding and opinions about teaching (pedagogy), learning and school are formed, primarily, from their own personal experiences and memories.
I also wonder if this “gap” is widening.
I invite you to read some of these examples and draw your own conclusions:

• The “No Zeros” Debate – check out these articles and comments –  here and here

• Check out these public opinion comments on the Homework Debate?

• Should we stop giving grades to students when reporting learning?  Check this on-line “vote” and comments on the CBC website

• Awards in School?  Check out the hundreds of comments related to the story of a high school principal 

CHICAGO TRIBUNE, ILLINOIS GENERAL ASSEMBLY, NAZI GERMANY, AND THE NATIONAL DEBT | Teachers Fight Back

CHICAGO TRIBUNE, ILLINOIS GENERAL ASSEMBLY, NAZI GERMANY, AND THE NATIONAL DEBT | Teachers Fight Back:

CHICAGO TRIBUNE, ILLINOIS GENERAL ASSEMBLY, NAZI GERMANY, AND THE NATIONAL DEBT

by alkleen

I want to thank the Chicago Tribune for contributing to the many reasons that “pension reform” didn’t happen during this recent Illinois General Assembly.  I believe the Tribune’s constant bullying and belittling of Illinois legislators helped to defeat “pension reform”.  The Tribune wrote dozens of editorials blasting legislators and trying to intimidate them into passing a pension law which would have deprived teachers of their full pensions and would have done nothing about the millions of dollars in stolen pension money. I believe several legislators who would have voted for “pension reform” failed to do so just out of spite because they were so tired of being bullied and humiliated by the Tribune.  Go ahead, Tribune, keep characterizing the legislators as cowards and incompetent fools for not passing “pension reform”.  We need all the help we can get.
If I was like the Tribune, I might compare the Illinois General Assembly to Nazi Germany before World War II.  Nazi Germany owed money to several nations and just decided they were not going to pay what they owed. The debt holding nations did little or nothing about the German actions. The Illinois General Assembly “borrowed” 

solidaridad: Right-wing groups stand behind Parent Revolution and Ben Austin—The FreedomWorks Teabaggers

solidaridad: Right-wing groups stand behind Parent Revolution and Ben Austin—The FreedomWorks Teabaggers:

Right-wing groups stand behind Parent Revolution and Ben Austin—The FreedomWorks Teabaggers

by Robert D. Skeels * rdsathene

Right-wing groups stand behind Parent Revolution and Ben Austin—The FreedomWorks Teabaggers. #LAUSD #parenttrigger twitter.com/FreedomWorks/s…
— Robert D. Skeels (@rdsathene) June 1, 2013

While the community and social justice activists protest Ben Austin and his neoliberal wrecking crew, the birchers, birthers, and teabaggers have lined up behind them and their deceptive, divisive, and duplicitous charter trigger law.
Arch-reactionaries FreedomWorks bill themselves as supporting "Lower Taxes, Less Government, More Freedom! Educating and equipping a grassroots army for liberty." FreedomWorks joins a bevy of extreme right-wing groups supporting the Walton Family Foundation backed Parent Revolution and their Parent Trigger law, including The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) and The Heartland Institute. The link to their pro-

The in box. What a pack of Wily Coyotes. | Fred Klonsky

The in box. What a pack of Wily Coyotes. | Fred Klonsky:

The in box. What a pack of Wily Coyotes.

by Fred Klonsky

From my pal, Mark Stefanik:

The war for our rights is far from over, but the GA’s salvo of dud bills did more damage to that chamber’s prestige than any session in recent memory.

Schemes to excuse their malfeasance and renege on pension covenants failed.

What a pack of Wily Coyotes.

A bill to recognize same sex marriages fails in the House after passing in the Senate.

What a flock of poliboobs.

And yet, they still manage to pass a bill allowing concealed weapons in a state rife with violence.

What a shame for Illinois.

They’re reloading already.

Senator Danny Bisstake gives fair warning.  He’ll re-submit his bill “57″ times to get it passed.