Latest News and Comment from Education

Saturday, August 25, 2012

Jersey Jazzman: More Like This!

Jersey Jazzman: More Like This!:


More Like This!

Now we're talking:

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As Digby explains, we are being presented with a false choice in this election: Romney's stark austerity vs. Obama's "grand bargain," which ain't so grand. There is a better way: a progressive growth strategy, based on investment in the country fueled by a real progressive tax structure. Nothing would be better for the free market, the middle class, or democracy.

Part of that strategy would be to fully fund public education to ensure that every child learns in a beautiful school 

Obama's Mixed Message on Education

Duke at Jersey Jazzman - 2 days ago
I'm voting for Obama, but it's stuff like this - which I'm told airs this Thursday in Virginia and Ohio - that makes it hard for me to do so without holding my nose: * (0:16) You can't do this just by shoving 30, 35 people in a class, and just teaching to some test.* * * Seriously?! The Obama administration - which includes the Racin' To The Top maniac Arne Duncan - is going to fault Mitt Romney for pushing education policies that "*just teach to some test*"?! The Arne Duncan who pushes what Diane Ravitch calls the "junk science" of test-based teacher evaluation? The Arne Duncan w... more »

Perth Amboy: Enough Is Enough

Duke at Jersey Jazzman - 3 days ago
A quick note on Perth Amboy, NJ, the new center of education reforminess in America: Janine Caffrey - hypocritical anti-tenure crusader and PA's superintendent - has been at war with members of her own Board of Education for months. Members of the PA Board of Education voted to remove Caffrey based on an evaluation of her performance she says was too late to count against her. The board counters that she was late (*around 11:00 on the video*) in submitting her portion of the evaluation. When the board took the vote, they had to invoke a "doctrine of necessity" because too many boar... more »

Education Experience Not Required

Duke at Jersey Jazzman - 3 days ago
The Broad infestation of our nation's schools is accelerating. Ken Libby and Stan Karp give us the latest news about billionaire Eli Broad's plans to buy up our nation's education policy: The Broad Foundation wants to step on the gas. The California-based foundation, built on the housing and insurance empire of billionaire Eli Broad, has made “transforming K-12 urban public education” a major priority. Its training and placement of top administrators in urban districts across the country and support for charter schools, school turnarounds, merit pay and other market-based reforms ... more »

Policy Based on FICTIONAL Movies

Duke at Jersey Jazzman - 5 days ago
This is so ridiculous, I had to post from the road. Frank Bruni of the *NY Times* apparently thinks we should make education policy based on *fictional * movies: “Our very best teachers ought to be treated much, much better than they are today,” said Joe Williams, the executive director of Democrats for Education Reform. “But in order to get there, we need to be able to say out loud that some teachers are better than others.” That’s precisely what “Won’t Back Down” says. Although the movie is bound, in this politically charged climate, to be analyzed solely in terms of the positi... more »