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Sunday, April 7, 2013

MORNING UPDATE LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH 4-7-13 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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Who Cares About the Children in Atlanta?

The Daily Howler notes that most of the mainstream media completely ignored the Atlanta events or barely mentioned them.
Only Chris Hayes had a panel on the subject, and two of the three panelists were a waste of air time.
One was a clueless parent, and the other was a paid mouthpiece for the hedge fund billionaires of New Jersey.


Jersey Jazzman: Why Leonie Haimson Is a True American Hero

As readers know, the corporate reform smear machine went after activist Leonie Haimson last week.
She has been an outspoken champion for class size reduction. She has been NYC’s leading critic of the Bloomberg administration’s policy, most especially, its love of testing and closing schools. She has also been relentless in challenging charter school co-locations in public space.
Last week, Gotham Schools ran an article questioning whether she can continue to be an advocate because her son is entering a private school. The next day, a story about the flap appeared in the Wall Street Journal.
Jersey Jazzman puts an end to the speculation. He say Leonie is an American hero. Her hundreds of followers have said the same.
Game over. Reformer smear machine failed.


Parents Defeat Parent Trigger in 3 States

Parents mobilized to defeat the so-called “parent trigger” in three states.
They referred to it as the “corporate empowerment” bill.
It could also be called the Corporate Enrichment bill.


Is inBloom Engaged in Identity Theft?

The Gates Foundation spent $100 million along with the Carnegie Corporation to create a massive database consisting of confidential information about students. The database will be created by Rupert Murdoch’s subsidiary Wireless Generation. It will go onto a “cloud” managed by amazon.com.
Several states and districts have agreed to turn over their student data. Last year, the U.S. Department of Education quietly changed the FERPA regulations so that the data could be released. According to this article, the data will be available to entrepreneurs to market stuff to children’s.
Here is one New York parent’s view:
“I have emailed and called [State Commissioner] John King’s office over 40 times the past month refusing to 

How to Close Public Schools: A Guide

Just in case you have been wondering what is the best way to shut down your local public schools, the Broad Foundation has thoughtfully provided a guide to help you.
It has assembled all sorts of useful information about how to deal with community opposition, how to engage stakeholders, how to make your case, how to get the right leadership, and how to pack up and move out.
Some well-known school districts–perhaps yours?–contributed to the writing of the guide.
Presumably some of the many superintendents who were trained in the unaccredited Broad Superintendents Academy have this guide in their desk.
Read it and be forewarned. Your own public school may be next.

Alabama: Hold Football Coaches Accountable for Failure!

Larry Lee, an Alabama native and a member of the board of the Network for Public Education, has a great idea.
He decided that the best way to demonstrate the foolishness of the Alabama Accountability Act was to translate it into terms every Alabama reader would understand. He wrote a satire in which he urged accountability for high school football coaches. He said that the failure of high school football teams was a major scandal.
He strongly recommended that coaches be held accountable. Some 13% of teams won one game or less last 

LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH 4-6-13 Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 8 hours ago
Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all: [image: Click on picture to Listen to Diane Ravitch] The Myth of Charter Waiting Lists by dianerav One of the arguments advanced to expand charter schools is that they have long waiting lists. Or so they say. But no one knows how many are on those lists. This reporter in Chicago started digging and discovered that the list is not real. The Chicago charters say there Best Comment of the Day (So Far) by dianerav The comment below draws attention to a debate that followed Dr. Mercedes Schneider’s methodological di... more »