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Friday, April 26, 2013

MORNING UPDATE LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH 4-26-13 Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all

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

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Louisiana and Reverse Parent Trigger

Louisiana educators have joined in unison to endorse a bill to permit parents in failing charter schools to return their school to public control.
Two-thirds or more of the Recovery School District charters are graded D or F.
This is a bold recognition that charter schools are not a silver bullet. They are most successful when they exclude the neediest children.
Hey, folks, could we agree to stop using the term “parent trigger?” After Newtown, it is an obscenity.


Why We Will Win This Battle for Our Future

A reader comments:

We shall win this. Of that I am certain. And we shall do so because the failures of this insanely misguided test-and-evaluate mania become clearer and clearer with each passing day. This terrible idea is self-defeating.
The question is, how long will it take? How much damage will be done before local schools and teachers will once again be given the autonomy to put learning and the particular needs and propensities of their students first?
(I cringe every time I read of the organization Students First, which has worked tirelessly to put students, with 

Breaking News! Illinois Stops $$$ to UNO Charters

The state of Illinois has cut off funding to the politically powerful UNO charter chain because of conflicts of interest, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.
The head of UNO, Juan Rangel, was co-chair of Rahm Emanuel’s mayoral campaign in 2011.
According to the story, millions of dollars of a $98 million construction grant went to contracts with two brothers of a high-ranking UNO official.

NC: Vouchers Are Opportunity for Fraud, Not Better Education

Legislators in North Carolina are on track to create a voucher program that would divert $90 million from the state’s underfunded public schools.
NC Policy Watch says beware. Deregulation in other voucher programs has left at trail of fraud, corruption, and abuse of taxpayer dollars, with no benefit to the students. Despite the claims of voucher cheerleaders, students in voucher schools perform worse than their peers in the public schools.
Going for vouchers means an abandonment of accountability, for students and for taxpayer dollars.
Public Schools First NC summarizes the legislation as follows:


Girl Scouts Offer Common Core Badges

It looks like no part of American life will be left untouched by the Common Core.
The Girl Scouts are now offering badges for Common Core.
What marketing firm dreamed this up?
Will we one day look back and ask who will be held accountable?

Billionaires Try (Again) to Buy Key L.A. School Board Race

The billionaires and moguls and titans are at it again.
They desperately want to buy the last seat on the Los Angeles school board, which will be decided in a run-off on May 21.
The contenders are Monica Ratliff, a teacher, and Antonio Sanchez, who used to work on the staff of L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa.
The Big Money wants Sanchez. Just as they assembled a war chest to beat Steve Zimmer, they are now piling 

We Are Winning! The Coming Revolution in American Public Education!

Dear Friends,
Never despair! We are winning.
John Tierney just published an article about “The Coming Revolution in Public Education.”
Tierney sees what we see. The insane obsession with bubble-guessing is out of control. The profiteers have over-reached. The Billionaire Boys Club do not own us nor can they buy our schools. They are losing. We are winning. We are winning because we are fighting for children and for better education for all. We are not fighting 

John Thompson: “The Party’s Over” for Corporate Reform

John Thompson confidently predicts that corporate reform has passed the high-water mark.
The collapse of the Rhee story is the tip of a melting iceberg.
The “reformers” are facing a genuine popular revolt.
Nothing they advocate works.
All their alleged reforms are a sham.

Diane in the Evening 4-25-13 Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all

mike simpson at Big Education Ape - 4 hours ago
Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all: Randy Turner Explains His Suspension by dianerav Randy Turner was suspended not for his Huffington Post article but for his book. This is why teachers need tenure: Academic freedom. He sent this comment: “Thanks for the kind words from everyone. My suspension coming at almost exactly the same time as my Huffington Post blog was a coincidence. Basically, it happened because I wrote a novel, No Child Left Alive, criticizing many of the practices in education today, particularly those done by overambitious admini... more »