Tuesday, May 7, 2013

Diane in the Evening 5-7-13 Diane Ravitch's blog | #thankateacher

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Bruce Baker Teaches Civics to Jeanne Allen

Bruce Baker of Rutgers is one of my favorite education analysts. He is adept at sorting through claims and demanding evidence.
In this post, he gives Jeanne Allen a civics lesson.
Jeanne Allen founded the Center for Education Reforn twenty years ago to advocate for charters and vouchers, anything but public schools. She was formerly the education personat the Heritage Foundation. The media often call her for quotes, thinking that the center is nonpartisan and independent.
Allen reacted with fury to the decision by the court in Louisiana to declare unconstitutional the funding of 


Teachers: You Must Not Internalize the Blame

This teacher realized that she could not be free to think for herself until she stopped internalizing and accepting the reproaches of the corporate reformers. She was free when she realized that her training and experience as an educator mattered. She was free when she realized that when she did not attain perfection every day, it was not her fault.
She wrote:
“Can’t speak for everyone, but the way it worked for me was this way… initially, there was this vague sense of confusion when the NCLB legislation went through. “How can we defy the Bell Curve?” I asked myself. I chuckled thinking, “Ha, just wait ’til ‘they’ figure out that it can’t be done!” I was teaching special education at the time.

Yes, the Girl Scouts Do Have Common Core Badges

An earlier post on the blog reported that Girl Scouts was now offering a badge or badges for meeting Common Core objectives. Some readers insisted that was not true. According to this reader, who provides a link, it is true. The question for me is why Girl Scouts is tying its merit badges to school work and why it is endorsing an initiative that is not yet proven or established. Isn’t scouting about scouting and hands-on experience and service?
The reader comments:
“I am a longtime Girl Scout and have been a leaders for several years and I cannot for the life of me understand 

Battling Press Releases on Louisiana Voucher Decision

After the Louisiana State Supreme Court ruled that the public school fund could not be used to pay for vouchers for religious and private schools, both sides–the winners and the loser–called the decision a victory.
The court ruled 6-1 against the funding of the vouchers and “course choice,” which would use public funds to pay private providers for a variety of courses.
The National School Boards Association hailed the decision as a victory for the LSBA and public schools, which won the case:
“Scott Richard, Executive Director of the Louisiana School Boards Association, issued this statement today following the ruling today by a Louisiana Supreme Court that the state’s school voucher scheme is 

LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH 5-7-13 Diane Ravitch's blog | #thankateacher A site to discuss better education for all

mike simpson at Big Education Ape - 3 hours ago
Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all: * #thankateacher* Ripping Off Taxpayers in Pennsylvania by dianerav A new report from the state auditor general shows how charters and cyber charters are overpaid, while the public system–which most children attend–get the short end of the stick. “PA cybercharters avg cost of $10,145 was $3,500 more than national average of $6,500. “PA charters spent avg $13,411 per student, about $3K more than Why VAM Doesn’t Work: A Short Tutorial by dianerav In this video of 23 minutes, you will get a synopsis of why value-a... more »