Saturday, October 20, 2012

UPDATE: Diane in the Afternoon 10-20-12 Diane Ravitch's blog

Diane Ravitch's blog:





Short Memory Alert! About that Parent Trigger

With all the national publicity about the world’s first parent trigger in Adelanto, California, you would think someone might have noticed that the new charter is not the first charter in this town.
Only a little more than a year ago, the Adelanto Charter Academy had to close because of multiple operational and fiscal problems. The biggest problem was that the operators of the charter were involved in questionable self-dealing.
As the local newspaper put it, “The Sentinel has learned that much of the academy’s academic imperative was



What Does Tony Bennett (Not the Singer) Call “a Beautiful Day”

Read here to learn Indiana State Superintendent Tony Bennett’s description of “a beautiful day.”
I can think of so many other ways to describe a beautiful day.
I’m going out to take a walk and experience one of those beautiful days in Brooklyn. I want to forget about the 


Breaking News! VAM in Florida County is a Disaster

The Tampa Bay Times reports that teachers are baffled, confused, and outraged by their value-added ratings, which will determine their evaluation, their longevity and their career.
The story begins like this:
Geoffrey Robinson is a National Board certified teacher at Osceola High School in Pinellas County who says 60 percent of his upper-level calculus students last year tested so well they earned college credit.
But this week Robinson received his teacher evaluation, based on a controversial new formula being rolled out 


Enrollment at For-Profit Colleges Shrinks, Stock Price Drops

Here is a bit of good news.  Enrollment is declining at for-profit colleges and growing at non-profit colleges.
The University of Phoenix is closing 115 of its campuses, as enrollments dropped as did its stock price.
Could it be an outbreak of common sense?
Time will tell.