Friday, March 22, 2013

LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH 3-22-13 Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all

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

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NYC Offers Tips About Test Anxiety

NYC officials prepared a guide
for parents to help their children survive the stress and trauma of the upcoming tests.
Please read it.
It sounds chilling.
It says the state is about to subject your child to an ordeal. Here is how you should deal with it.
What do you think?
http://schools.nyc.gov/NR/rdonlyres/745FABA2-C5B2-46AF-BD52-5687683F4D77/0/SupportingYourChild1pagerforParents22013FINALESEnglish.pd


Wharton Professor: The Skills Gap Is Bunk

How many times have you heard Arne Duncan or some corporate easer complain that they have to outsource jos because Americans lack the skills that their industry needs?
A new book by Wharton School of Professor Peter Capelli debunks th claim in his new book “Why Good People Can’t Get Jobs?”
Andrea Gabor reviews the book here. It sounds like a good read and sharp rebuke to those who continue to bash our public schools.

Chris Cerf Is Certain….and Wrong

New Jersey’s Commissioner of Education Chris Cerf has the good fortune to be leader of a state with some of the best schools and school districts in the nation. New Jersey also has some districts with high concentrations of poverty and racial segregation, where test scores are very low.
But New Jersey–inspired by the example of Arne Duncan’s Race to the Top–will attempt to raise test scores by imposing a teacher evaluation program. Will this address the root cause of poor academic achievement? Of course not.
In theory, it will identify the “best” teachers and the “bad” teachers

Ohio Charter Schools: A Bad Deal for Kids and Taxpayers

When Ohio first opened charter schools, advocates claimed they could “save poor kids from failing schools,” while costing less. They would be so effective that at-risk students would learn more, even close the achievement gap. And they would be so efficient that the state would pay less for education.
Of course, it hasn’t worked out this way. A new analysis by a public policy think tank in Ohio reveals that charters cost more than public schools, and with rare exceptions, get worse results.
Meanwhile, the charters siphon money away from more effective public schools.
Innovation Ohio reports:
“Innovation Ohio has analyzed data from the Ohio Department of Education that demonstrates that the way 

Stephen Krashen On Marc Tucker and the Common Core Standards

Marc Tucker has written two posts on his blog saying that I am wrong not to support the Common Core standards.
Stephen Krashen, the eminent literacy scholar, disagrees with Tucker. He posted this response on Tucker’s blog and shared it with me.
Krashen writes:
We need to distinguish discussion (1) of the content of the standards and (2) whether we should have standards.
The content of the standards
Contrary to Tucker’s assertion, it is easy to field-test the standards. If standards are simply “what we want

Diane in the Evening 3-21-13 Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 3 hours ago
Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all: Outrage! School Closings in Chicago by dianerav Guess whose schools were closed? The poorest, the neediest, the children of color. Now the charter operators will decide which ones they want. They will take the “strivers.” Who will take the others? Which children will be left behind in the era of No Child Left Behind? Which children come in last in Arne Duncan’s Race to the Top? How will the PR folks spin the mass closure of 50 public schools as a victory in “the civil rights issue of our TFA: Follow the Money by... more »