Latest News and Comment from Education

Monday, May 13, 2013

Diane in the Evening 5-13-13 Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all

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






The Bathroom Crisis at Locke High School in L.A.

The Green Dot charter chain took over Locke High School in 2008.
It received $15 million of mostly private funding to overhaul the school and completely change its culture.
But the one challenge that Green Dot has been unable to overcome is to provide a safe, clean place for boys to go to the bathroom.
After the stalls were vandalized, the school ripped them out, leaving no privacy.
When you read the article, you will note that teachers were afraid to 


Michigan Officials Abandon Students in Buena Vista

The school district of Buena Vista, Michigan, is out of money. The schools are closed for the year. The district will offer “skills camp” to students.
The state of Michigan, which has a responsibility to provide a free public education to all children, has abandoned the students and their schools. The town and the schools are predominantly poor nd black. The town once thrived but started to die when the automobile industry collapsed. Nw those left behind have been betrayed 


If You Are a Graduate of Teachers College, Read This Petition

If you are a graduate of Teachers College, Columbia University, please read this petition and consider signing it.

Gates Foundation Spends $150 Million for Common Core

Valerie Strauss of the Washington Post has published an overview of the munificent support provided by the Gates Foundation to promote the Common Core standards.
The foundation expended $150 million to a wide variety of state education departments, think tanks, universities, 

NY Daily News Rebukes Pearson and Walcott

In a rare break from its established stance of applauding whatever Mayor Bloomberg’s Department of Education does, the New York Daily News published an editorial ridiculing both Pearson and the schools’ chancellor Dennis Walcott.
Only
Sat week the News had an editorial defending the Pearson Common Core tests, even though the vocabulary and 

LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH 5-13-13 Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all

mike simpson at Big Education Ape - 2 hours ago
Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all: [image: Click on picture to Listen to Diane Ravitch] *LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH ALL WEEK LONG Diane Ravitch's blog 5-11-13 * Surprise! Florida High-Stakes Accountability Promotes Gaming the System by dianerav The Federal Reserve Bank of New York released a study of Florida’s accountability system–the one that Jeb Bush brags about–and concludes that the system promotes behavior to game the system. Schools are assigning children to categories where they will not lower the school’s letter grade. Here is a succinct summ... more »