Thursday, February 14, 2013

MORNING UPDATE: LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH 2-14-13 Diane Ravitch's blog

Diane Ravitch's blog:

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Indiana Will Not Drop Out of Common Core

Despite protests from parents and teachers, the Indiana Legislature agreed to continue rolling out the Common Core standards, which have already been rolled out for kindergarten and first grade, and will soon be released for second grades (these are the grades in which early childhood experts say the Common Core standards are developmentally inappropriate).
The state board of education, which is staunchly Republican, is firmly and unanimously committed to the 

Gary Rubinstein on the Union City Story

This is one of the most interesting education stories on the web this week.
David Kirp wrote a very good article in the New York Times about how the Union City public schools have improved over the years without charter schools or TFA. The Times gave it the headline “The Secret to Fixing Bad Schools.”
Gary Rubinstein decided to subject it to careful analysis, as he has done on other occasions when Arne 

School Board Races in Los Angeles Heat Up with Big Bucks

Here is a good overview of the political situation in Los Angeles by Howard Blume of the LA Times. Two billionaires have assembled a campaign chest of $2.5 million to make sure that Superintendent John Deasey has a board that supports his agenda.
Los Angeles has more charter schools than any city in America, and more are on the way.
Mayor Bloomberg’s contribution of $1 million to the pro-Deasey forces is called “a game-changer.”

What Was Wrong with Obama’s State of the Union Address

In this article, which appeared on Huffington Post, Alan Singer of Hofstra University in New York, nails the empty promises and misleading claims in President Obama’s State of the Union address. He calls it “Obama’s Mis-Education Agenda.”
I am a lifetime teacher, first in public schools and then in a university-based teacher education program. I think I do an honest job and that students benefit from being in my classes. I was hoping to hear something positive about the future of public education in President Obama’s State of the Union speech, I confess I was so disturbed by what Obama was saying about education that I had to turn him off.  In the morning I read the text of his speech online, hoping I was wrong about what I thought I had hear. But I wasn’t. There was nothing there but 

Did EdWeek Sell Its Soul?

Timothy Slekar here writes a scathing condemnation of Education Week, our K-12 journal of record, for acting as an uncritical mouthpiece for the Common Core State Standards.
Slekar says:
“Other than some of the blogs, EdWeek’s so called “news” is nothing more than propaganda for the corporate reformers. I pointed it out before, EdWeek and its reporters either are clueless about the difference between advocacy organizations that push propaganda and peer review research outlets or they (EdWeek and its 

Schneider Finds Three Educators on NCTQ Board: Part 12

Mercedes Schneider continues her patient and painstaking dissection of the Bational Council on Teacher Quality board.
In earlier posts, she reviewed the qualifications of Wendy Kopp, Michelle Rhee, Joel Klein and others. In this post, she discovers some real educators on the board of this organization. NCTQ is especially important because it is rating the nation’s teacher education programs.

Send a Valentine Now to Your Favorite Teacher!

Happy Valentine’s Day!
When I was a child in public school in Houston, we had an annual ritual of sending handmade valentines to everyone else in the class, so that no one was left out. It was a day to express not only love but friendship and kindness.
These days, teachers don’t get the love, kindness, respect, and gratitude they deserve. A lot of tinhorn 

Preparing Walmart’s Workforce of Tomorrow

EduShyster has a hilarious post about how to prepare Walmart workers of the future.
You know, the ones who conform and obey without question.
These are the children who work to meet the demands of a stopwatch, getting ready to punch a time clock.
Better yet, they are learning in an environment where there are no unions, long days, and white authority figures.

Diane in the Evening 2-13-13 Diane Ravitch's blog

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 4 hours ago
Diane Ravitch's blog: What’s Happening in Hawaii by dianerav A reader just informed me about her blog, which describes the changes in Hawaii. Justice Louis Brandeis long ago referred to states as “laboratories of democracy,” where new ideas could be tried out, to succeed or fail. Each state could try out social or economic experiments without peril to other states. Now, a stifling blanket of standardization and conformity is covering the land. Read about Hawaii and you will be shocked and saddened to see the same tired ideas that are in your own state. Big Business and the Com... more »