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Tuesday, March 26, 2013

Diane in the Evening 3-26-13 Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all

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





Anthony Cody and I Weigh In on the Weingarten-Gates Article

In this post, Anthony Cody takes issue with Randi Weingarten’s decision to write an essay with Vicki Phillips of the Gates Foundation about teacher evaluation. Here is the essay.
The fundamental problem with the Gates Foundation is that they have directed the entire national conversation to blaming teachers–instead of poverty and segregation– for low test scores. They have put hundreds of millions of dollars into evaluating teachers, finding good teachers (and rewarding them), finding “bad” teachers (and firing them).
For the past four years, since Gates dropped his small high school obsession, the foundation has been 


Would You Take the Test?

How great is the Providence Student Union? The students persuaded 50 accomplished professionals to take a test made up of released items from the math test.
60% of these brave and successful people would have failed to get a high school diploma if they were high school students.
The Providence Student Union made a video of the event. It is less than three minutes

Chicago Principals Told to Spy on Protestors Tomorrow

In Chicago, the corporate reformers who claim to be leading “the civil rights movement of our time” are closing down schools in black communities. How this enhances the civil rights of the children is a mystery known only to the elites.
This is a news bulletin from the Chicago Teachers Union about tomorrow’s protest demonstration:
NEWS RELEASE
March 26, 2013
StephanieGadlin@ctulocal1.com
Secret Memo: CPS warns principals about possible civil disobedience in response to massive school closings
School officials asked to spy on demonstrators, take note of media
CHICAGO – The day before educators from the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) intend to join with parents, students, clergy, community leaders, civil rights activists and the rank-and-file members of SEIU Local 1 and Unite HERE Local 1; the union released a confidential memo sent to the city’s public school principals warning 

Did Chicago Tribune and Joyce Foundation Do Push Polling?

Several weeks ago, a Chicago website reported that the Chicago Tribune, the Joyce Foundation, and the University of Chicago were engaging in “push polling.” This is a telephone poll that literally “pushes” the listener in a certain direction, with questions designed to have pre-determined conclusions.
Read the transcript. Do you think this was a push poll?

Researchers and Professors: Sign Petition Against Chicago School Closings

This just in, and don’t forget tomorrow’s big rally at Daley Plaza to protest the closing of more than 50 public schools:

 


CReATE has a petition that we are asking university researchers and education professors to sign on to.  After reading our brief on School Closings (url below), they can go to
createchicago@gmail.com and put SIGN SCHOOL CLOSING PETITION in subject line.  In your message, include your name, university affiliation, and an email address where you can be contacted (this will not be included on the petition).
DEADLINE –  MONDAY, APRIL 1ST at NOON. The signatures will be brought to a Chicago school closings 

MORNING UPDATE LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH 3-26-13 Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 6 hours ago
Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all: [image: Click on picture to Listen to Diane Ravitch] Just Look at Malloy Nominee for State Board of Education by dianerav Jonathan Pelto reminds us of the national publicity about a homeless woman who was arrested and fined for the crime of enrolling her child in the Norwalk public schools when she was not a resident of that city in Connecticut. Now Governor Dannell Malloy has nominated a woman to the state board of education even though she was in the same dispute with the Windsor schools a decade ago. But it is ... more »