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Tuesday, January 29, 2013

Diane in the Evening 1-29-13 Diane Ravitch's blog

Diane Ravitch's blog:






Civil Rights Protestors to Duncan: Stop Closing Our Schools!

Protestors from across the nation journeyed to Washington, where they received 45 minutes of Arne Duncan’s time.
They told Duncan and President Obama’s education advisor, Roberto Rodriguez, that the closings in minority communities were harming the students and the communities, but Duncan said he had no control over the 


Ed Reformer Leads Campaign Against Chuck Hagel

Just when you thought politics could not get weirder, we learn that a public relations guy is running a campaign against President Obama’s pick for Defense Secretary, Chuck Hagel.
Turns out the campaign is run by Bradley Tusk, who has the following connections: Former Illinois Governor Rod 

The Ongoing Charter School Fiasco in New Jersey

How could it happen that New Jersey officials cut the ribbon at the opening of a new charter school facility in September, but the school just lost its nonprofit status?
Jersey Jazzman here reviews the nonstop administrative incompetence of the New Jersey Department of Education in relation to its failure to provide adequate oversight.
He concludes:
“I don’t think I’ve even covered it all, but you get the point: New Jersey’s oversight of charter schools under Chris

More on National School Boards’ Blast at Duncan

You earlier read the press release from the National School Boards Association here, reasserting the importance of federalism, a concept unknown to the U.S. Department of Education these days.
Here is a great summary and a link to the NSBA’s proposed legislation, which tells the federal government to abide by its federal role–not as the boss of the nation’s schools, but as a support.

Florida’s Nutty Accountability System

Between the two Bush brothers–George W. and Jeb–the nation’s education system is locked into a regime of endless testing, grading, evaluating, marking, measuring, etc.
It doesn’t seem to get us very far. After all, Texas has been in this business for as long as anyone can 

Australian Educators Thank Garfield Teachers

Our compatriots in Australia are watching the growing rebellion against high-stakes testing with interest and hope.
They are impressed by the courage and unity of teachers at Garfield High School. They are also encouraged by 

Endless Saga of Charter School Scandals

Jersey Jazzman has stitched together an amazing story of chicanery, some of it legal, some of it not.
The “not legal” part is the easiest to explain: the chief financial officer of the Brighter Choice Foundation in Albany was arrested on charges of embezzling some $200,000. Curiously, he was hired even though he was


CHARTER SCHOOL SCANDALS


Common Core Is Horrible for K-3

There is growing evidence that the Common Core standards are absurd in the early grades. They require a level of academic learning that is developmentally inappropriate.
Little children need time to pay. Play is their work. In play, they learn to share and to count, to communicate, to use language appropriately, and to figure things out.
A story in a NYC newspaper shows just how ridiculous the Common Core standards are when imposed on 5-year-olds: Here is a story, well worth reading, about how Common Core is being implemented in kindergartens

Citizens or Consumers or Taxpayers?

In response to an earlier post about how we have been changed from citizens to consumers:
Reading this post, i was reminded of these remarks by the
Nobel laureate Toni Morrison at fundraiser for my congressman, Rush
Holt.
These are courtesy of Andrew Tobias’s blog: “When I was young
we used to be called citizens—American citizens. Some of us

NJ Parents and Educators on School Choice Week

New Jersey Save Our Schools reminds us that “school choice” was closely associated with resistance to court-ordered school desegregation in the South. Not only vouchers but segregation academies (“schools of choice”) were havens for whites fleeing contact with blacks.
Save Our Schools NJ Statement on School Choice Week
This week, there will be a concerted national effort to use the idea of parental school choice to advance an entirely different agenda.
We want to remind our legislators and those marketing school choice that

LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH 1-29-13 Diane Ravitch's blog

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 2 hours ago
Diane Ravitch's blog: [image: Click on picture to Listen to Diane Ravitch] The Biggest Testing Scandal of All by dianerav Pearson has a contract with the state of Texas for five years that is worth close to $500 million. That ought to bring gold-plated service and products to the children of Texas, right? Wrong. Pearson is advertising for test graders in Texas on craigslist! The graders need only a bachelor’s degree, and they wil Special Education Teacher on Common Core by dianerav This NYC teacher of children with autism is having trouble teaching her students the Common Core.... more »