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Stand Up for North Carolina Schools
ACTION ALERT! Public Schools Matter - Get Your Facts Straight! publicschoolsfirstnc.org Get Your Facts Straight! Education Rallies Across the State Join Public Schools First NC, Progress NC and the NCAE as we head across the state to rally in support of our public schools. We need to set the record straight and hold lawmakers accountable for what they did to public education this year. The public
Paul Horton: Why Gatopia Will Never Work
Paul Horton teaches history at the University of Chicago lab School. He has been writing brilliant critiques of corporate reform. In this post, he reviews the history of efforts to make education rational, predictable, and measurable. A few nuggets: “Have you ever read Dr. Seuss’, The Butter-Battle Book? It made perfect sense to me, a Cold War military brat. The “boys in the backroom” were very sm
Lace to the Top on Trial by Test
From a reader: The media reported 31% of students passing, but seemed to miss the story. The story is not the result, but what happened along the way. Students became ill during tests and pushed themselves to the point of vomiting. They broke down and cried. They sought refuge in bathrooms. They went through countless pencils as they erased answers and any trace of self -esteem. They lost sleep a
What Jeb Bush Said to ALEC
ALEC has established its reputation as the organization funded by major corporations to promote deregulation, privatization, and whatever else benefits the big corporations. In this speech, Jeb Bush spells out his agenda, which closely aligns with that of ALEC: Vouchers, charters, deregulation of teaching, virtual charter schools, for-profit charters, and Common Core. The only particular where ALE
Peter DeWitt Is Outraged by New York State Tests
Peter DeWitt is a wonderful elementary school principal in upstate New York. He is sensitive, caring, kind, and devoted to his students. He is outraged by what the State Education Department has done to his students and their teachers. You can feel his barely contained rage in these words: I don’t want to sound arrogant but most school leaders know more than the state education department does…whe
YESTERDAY
Anthony Cody: Accountability Is Designed to Set Schools Up to Fail
In a hard-hitting essay, Anthony Cody describes how accountability has been turned into a weapon to create demoralization, failure, and privatization of public schools. He reviews the recent fiascos involving Tony Bennett and New York’s Common Core testing. He notes that both the AFT and the NEA are trying hard to meet the demands of the corporate reformers. Both are trying to help teachers prep
NY Parent: The Kids Didn’t Fail, the System Did
Tim Farley and his wife opted their children out of the state testing. They don’t care to know whether their young children are college-and-career-ready. They know their children are doing well in school. They think the system is sick. They know the tests will inflict unnecessary pain on children who have disabilities and children whose native language is not English. They are doing what they c
Who Set the NY Cut Scores—and What We Still Need to Know
In this post, teacher Maria Baldassarre-Hopkins describes the process in which she and other educators participated, setting cut scores for the new Common Core tests in New York. She signed a confidentiality agreement, so she is discreet on many questions and issues. At the end of the day, Commissioner King could say that educators informed the process but in reality they made recommendations to h
Jersey Jazzman: “College and Career Ready” Standards Are a Fraud
Jersey Jazzman noticed that the proportion of students rated as proficient by New York’s State Education Department is very nearly identical to the proportion in the population of the state with a four-year degree. It occurs to him that the phrase “college and career ready” is phony. It really means “ready for a four-year college degree.” Should students be failed unless they are ready to get a fo
The A-F Grading System: A Politically Motivated Fraud
Jeff Bryant writes a comprehensive review of what he calls “Bennett-gate,” and shows that the A-F grading systems initiated by Jeb Bush is itself a phony way to judge the quality of schools. He cites Matt Di Carlo, who reviewed Indiana’s grading system, and determined that the grades reflect the characteristics of the students in them: “Di Carlo’s analysis showed, “Almost 85 percent of the schools
Letters to NY Times: When Failure Is the Norm
Read these letters written in response to the New York Times’ terrible editorial favoring the test score debacle and the collapse of scores across the state. But why listen to educators and parents? What do they know as compared to an editorial writer who sits in an air-conditioned office and ponders every day?
Schneider: Who Created Common Core?
President Obama and Secretary Duncan frequently say that the Common Core was “state-led,” perhaps because it is illegal for the U.S. Department of Education to interfere with curriculum or instruction. Maybe it would be best to say that Common Core was hatched inside the Beltway and paid for by the Gates Foundation. Here is an interesting infographic. Mercedes Schneider calls it “an intricate plot
NY Superintendent: Trying to Make Sense of Common Core Test Results
Jere Hochman superintendent of the Bedford Central School District in New York, tries to make sense of the latest test results in this blog. He has a series of spot-on metaphors. The state’s policy is based, he writes, is best described as “Fire. Aim. Ready.” He adds: “Raising the bar? High expectations? Every student means every? Rigorous standards? Benchmark assessments? No problem. But do
David Steiner Defends Test Score Collapse, Critic Corrects Him
David Steiner, who preceded John King as New York Commissioner of Education, wrote an article defending the collapse of test scores in New York. Like Joel Klein and Arne Duncan, he agrees that we are finally telling the truth about the widespread failure of public schools (and, one might add, the even greater failure of charter schools, which had a higher fail rate than public schools). It’s amazi
What If the Common Core Standards Are a Huge Mistake?
The law specifically prohibits the U.S. Department of Education from interfering or directing curriculum or instruction.* There must be a hole in that law big enough to drive a truck through, and drive the Obama administration did. As we all know, the Obama administration used the $5 billion in Race to the Top funding, and its power (contested) to issue waivers, to push, prod, and bribe states in
The Error That Caused the New York Test Scores to Collapse
Here is the reason for the collapse of test scores in New York City and New York State. State officials decided that New York test scores should be aligned with the achievement levels of the federally-administered National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). This is an excerpt from a press release prepared by Mayor Bloomberg’s office: “The new State test results are in line with previous re
Gary Rubinstein: Dramatic Collapse of Charter School Test Scores
The corporate reform movement has spun an elaborate narrative in which charter schools are the solution to our nation’s allegedly dreadful public schools. “Waiting for Superman” became their message, used to win new converts. And the Common Core tests were supposed to put the nail in the coffin, demonstrating the utter failure of public schools. For the past several years, study after study has s
AUG 08
Why Should Parents Raise Money to Pay for Common Core Testing?
This comes from Jennifer Croslin Smith, a Tennessee parent and a founder of http://stoptntesting.com/. No more bake sales or raising money for school uniforms. Nope: “We were just told tonight at our Back to School night that our PTO is foregoing raising money for iPads this year so we can instead purchase computers for Common Core testing which will begin in 2014-2015. We are lucky if we raise $
Will Philadelphia Be Able to Afford to Open Schools This Year?
This letter was sent today by Superintendent William Hite to staff members in Philadelphia. The only conclusion to be drawn is that the leadership of Pennsylvania and Philadelphia don’t care about children and whether they get an education. What are they thinking? My child is okay, tough for yours. Shameful! Here is the letter: Dear Colleagues, For weeks, the District has been awaiting additio
Arthur Goldstein: Who Failed in New York?
Arthur Goldstein, a New York City high school teacher, has a great article in today’s Daily News lambasting the Common Core and the tests based on the Common Core. Goldstein writes that if he gave a test and 70% of his kids failed it, his principal would be outraged at him. He wonders why state officials predicted high failing rates and then–voila!–the failing rates were as high as they predicted.
Arne Duncan: Will He Resign?
In his comments at a press conference about the collapse of the New York test scores, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said, “Too many school systems lied to children, families and communities,” Mr. Duncan said. “Finally, we are holding ourselves accountable as educators.” Since he used the term “we,” it means that he too is accountable for the lying and debacle in New York, where it was reveale
Sue Peters Says Thank You and Outlines Her Vision for Seattle Education
Seattle just held its local elections, and Sue Peters won a spot in a run=off election for the Seattle school board. She won 41% of the vote, despite being vastly outspent, and her opponent won 47%. Sue wrote the following letter, thanking the Network for Public Education for providing its endorsement, which identified her as the real education supporter. Please send her support if you can. Her we
NYC Charters Bomb on Common Core Tests
Stephanie Simon reports that some of NYC’s most celebrated charter schools were outperformed by the city’s much maligned traditional public schools. KIPP and Democracy Prep had lower scores than the public schools with less funding. Only Eva Moskowitz’s Success Academy charters aced the tests. “Just 23 percent of charter students scored proficient in language arts, compared with 31 percent in pub
Why Tests Cannot Be Used Both to Measure Students and Teachers
Policymakers are mostly agreed that they can measure teacher quality by whether scores go up or down. Research does not support this simplistic notion. Mostly, researchers have found that teachers in affluent districts get bigger score gains on standardized tests than teachers who are in poor districts, who have many children who don’t read English or have special needs. And there is what I think
Why Is America Wasting Our Children’s Futures?
In a brilliant essay in the Los Angeles Times, Susan Ochshorn says that the United States is squandering its future by not investing in the well-being of children. Ochshorn, an advocate for early childhood education, cites an Urban Institute study showing that “federal spending on children fell by $2 billion from 2010 to 2011, the first dip in 30 years. The children’s share of the budget pie was r
Leonie Haimson: Don’t Believe the New York Scores
Leonie Haimson, executive director of Class Size Matters and administrator of the New York City parents’ blog, wrote this analysis of the new state test scores: Dear parents: As you may have probably heard, the new state test scores were released to the press and they are disastrous. Only 31% of students in New York State passed the new Common Core exams in reading and math. More than one third —
New York Times Loves High-Stakes Testing, No Matter How Absurd the Scoring
The New York Times editorial board, which has uncritically endorsed every bad piece of legislation or policy that is based on high-stakes testing, warmly endorses the absurd results of the Common Core tests in New York. It echoes Secretary Duncan in asserting that the tests prove how terrible US public education is. The Times displays its ignorance of the scoring rubric, in which Commissioner Joh
My Article in the NY Daily News about the Testing Fiasco
This was my effort to educate the public about the fiasco created by the Common Core testing in New York. The ending may surprise you. Or may not.
Heilig on Black Alliance for Educational Options: Follow the Money
Julian Vasquez Heilig has been posting an illuminating series of posts that he calls “The Teat.” Each of his posts follows the connection between advocacy groups and their funders. Some of these advocacy groups appear to do research, studies, and surveys, but they invariably reflect the priorities of those who supply the money. In this post, Heilig inquires into the activities of the Black Allian
In Plain English: Why “Reform” is the Problem, Not the Solution
Alan Brown, a professor in North Carolina, wrote this open letter to State Senator Berger, who has sponsored a series of destructive bills that were passed into law. It was published here. It is clear, informed, and coherent. The tone is friendly and non-confrontational. Brown invites Senator Berger to look at the evidence. This letter could serve as a model. Everyone should write to their elected
Those Phony, Misleading Test Scores: A NY Principal Reacts
Katie Zahedi is principal of Linden Avenue Middle School in Red Hook, New York, which is located in upstate Dutchess County. She is active in the association of New York Principals who bravely oppose the State Education Department’s educator evaluation plan based mostly on test scores. Zahedi has been a principal and assistant principal at her school for twelve years. The views she expresses here
AUG 07
Bloomberg Hails the Collapse of City’s Test Scores as “Very Good News”
Despite the fact that the new Common Core tests showed that only 26 percent of students in New York City “passed” the new state tests in reading, and only 30 percent in math, Mayor Bloomberg hailed the sharp decline in test scores as “very good news.” The scores were especially grim for black and Hispanic students, as well as students with disabilities. The achievement gaps on the tests were very
Please Support Sue Peters for School Board in Seattle
Sue Peters is a parent activist in Seattle who ran for school board in District 4. The election was yesterday. She had almost no money at all, but she had the endorsement of the Network for Public Education as a true supporter of public education. Some committee in Seattle ran attack ads against her–imagine that! wonder who?–yet she managed to make it into the run off with 41% of the vote. The oth
Detroit Emergency Manager: Union Workers Were “Dumb, Lazy, Happy, and Rich”
Electablog comments on an interview that Detroit’s emergency manager Kevyn Orr gave to the Wall Street Journal. Orr said that the union workers who built the city’s great manufacturing base were “dumb, lazy, happy, and rich.” This, apparently, is what he thinks caused the ruination of Detroit: All those dumb, rich working stiffs in unions. Nothing about those dumb, rich executives who sat on their
Arne Duncan: We Lied to Our Children and Now We Tell the Truth: “You Failed!”
The scores are out for New York, and they are devastating. The story in the New York Times reports: Across the city, 26 percent of students in third through eighth grade passed the state exams in English, and 30 percent passed in math, according to the New York State Education Department. The exams were some of the first in the nation to be aligned with a more rigorous set of standards known as Co
Conservative Activists File Lawsuit to Cripple Public Sector Unions
Last November, anti-union groups put a measure on the ballot in California called Prop 32, whose purpose was to reduce the political influence of unions by reducing their funding. Prop 32 was soundly defeated, but its proponents are back with a lawsuit to achieve the same purpose. If they win, they could cripple public sector unions across the nation. This is a major story in the movement to priva
That Fraud in Indiana
Mark GiaQuinta, a member of the Fort Wayne school board, responded to a local columnist with a searing critique of the state’s A-F grading system. I think you will enjoy Mark’s insightful comments: http://www.indystar.com/article/20130730/NEWS08/307300036/Matthew-Tully-Tony-Bennett-blows-his-bluster-emails Matt: Thanks for the article posted above. I appreciate your statement in the article that
Paul Horton: Stop the Devastation of the Common Core Tests!
Paul Horton teaches history at the University of Chicago Lab School, where President Obama, Rahm Emanuel, and Arne Duncan sent (or in the case of the mayor, send) their children. He is a passionate defender of common sense in education and an articulate critic of the current corporate reform movement. As a historian, he understands the nation’s historic commitment to support public education. He a
L.A. Times Listens and Hears Critics of TFA
This may be a first. Teach for America carefully manages its image as the Peace Corps of education, a high-minded organization that attracts “the best and brightest” from the nation’s top colleges and universities. But Howard Blume in the Los Angeles Times explains that TFA has a dark side and that it has critics, some of whom are alumni. Even the headline is carefully and timidly written, referri
Who Is Destroying Public Education in New York State?
Carol Burris, principal of the year in New York state, has written a devastating critique of the leadership of New York state. Let’s name names. State Commissioner of Education John King (who taught for 2 or 3 years and founded a “no-excuses” charter chain that has a high suspension rate) chose to set the passing mark on the new tests so high that the failure rate was certain to soar. Merryl Tisch
Hugh Bailey: Is the School Reform Movement Falling Apart?
Hugh Bailey, columnist for the Connecticut Post, takes a clear-eyed look at what is called “school reform” and finds that it is full of holes. The essential element of “reform” is that schools should be run by a non-educator. Paul Vallas is a poster boy for that theory. He didn’t think it was necessary to be an educator; he boasted that he was not an educator. But Connecticut law says that superin
Fred Klonsky: ALEC Meets Today in Chicago
Fred Klonsky writes to say that ALEC is holding its 40th annual conference today in Chicago at the Palmer House: The Palmer House is a hotel located in Chicago’s Loop where ALEC is holding their meeting. It is located at 17 East Monroe. A large protest is scheduled for Thursday at noon. Their phone number is (312) 726-7500.
Joel Klein Admits His Failure, Says It is a Good Thing
In this article, Joel Klein acknowledges that scores across New York state, obviously including New York City, will be devastatingly low. He was in charge of the New York City public schools from 2002, when he was selected by Mayor Bloomberg, until January 2011, when he was succeeded by the ill-fated publisher Cathie Black. During his tenure, Klein boasted every year of “historic gains.” The mayor
George Clooney Slams Hedge Fund Guys Who Don’t Know His Business
In this article, George Clooney lets hedge fund manager Dan Loeb have it. Loeb has bought a piece of Sony Films and is now telling Sony what to do, and Clooney will have none of it. His words will sound eerily familiar to all those who are fed up with the hedge fund managers who are pouring millions into charter schools and who think they know how to reform the nation’s public schools (testing, co
AUG 06
Amazon in Culture Clash in Germany Because of Anti-Union Policies
The New York Times reports that Amazon is involved in labor disputes in Germany, one of its biggest markets, because of Amazon’s antipathy to union labor. Germany has strong unions. Amazon eventually plans to bring in robots to do the work of people and fears that unions will be an obstacle. Robots never form a union and don’t ask for higher wages, health care or pensions. The article says: Last
ALEC Has a Stranglehold on Pennsylvania Legislature
Jodi Hirsh of Pittsburgh writes that ALEC has forty members in the Pennsylvania legislature, and many hold key positions. ALEC is the voice of major corporations, who oppose any sort of government regulations. She writes that: “House Majority Leader Mike Turzai, Senate Judiciary Chair Stewart Greenleaf, and House State Government Chair Daryl Metcalfe, as well as the Republican chairs of the Health
Michigan: Snyder Declares Financial Emergency in Pontiac
Governor Rick Snyder declared a financial emergency in Pontiac, setting a course to name an emergency manager, with the powers to cancel all contracts and–if he or she chooses–to privatize the public schools and give them to charter corporations.
Jeff Bezos: Worse Than We Thought
Lee Fang, brilliant investigative journalist for The Nation, has looked closely at Jeff Bezos’ interest in education, and the news is bad. (Fang wrote this classic article about influence-peddling and corruption in the reform movement.) Bezos is throughly smitten with the idea that the way to improve education is to privatize public schools and to eliminate teachers’ unions. Fang writes: —The Bezo
Big Money Ready to Attack Tennesee Public Schools
Rightwing groups have targeted Tennessee as ripe for privatization on next year’s election. Last election, Michelle Rhee’s StudentsFirst pumped more than $200,000 into Tennessee races, mostly to Republicans but also to a pro-voucher Democratic legislator. The pro-privatization groups Democrats for Education Reform and Stand on Children are also likely to add funding to candidates who oppose public
Jeff Bezos: Another Billionaire for Privatization of Public Education
Last fall, Bill Gates collected $10 million from his friends to push through approval of a referendum to permit privately managed charter schools in Washington State, which voters had turned down three times previously. Among the friends of Bill Gates who helped make charters possible was the Bezos family, the parents of Jeff Bezos. Jeff Bezos is the founder of amazon.com. He is a billionaire many
Moral Monday: The North Carolina Protest Movement Spreads
The message from North Carolina: We can defeat the power if we organize and stand together. The Moral Monday idea started in North Carolina but it is spreading: It’s heartening to see that word of North Carolina’s Moral Monday events are inspiring others, just as we have been inspired by the actions occurring in other states across this nation. http://www.carolinamercury.com/2013/08/thousands
Who Got Pink Slips in Chicago?
In Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s budget cuts, the ax fell most heavily on teachers of the arts, physical education, bilingual education, foreign languages, special education, and librarians. The next time the Chicago mayor goes on a national television talk show to boast of his dedication to children and education reform, remember his priorities and if you have the chance, ask if he would want this kind o
A State Without Ethics
Which state has the lowest ethics in the nation? Without question, it is Louisiana. This is the state where the “ethics board” ruled that members of the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education could vote on contracts for campaign contributors, because they did not work for them as employees. This is the same “ethics board” that saw no conflict when Kira Orange Jones, the director of Teach for
Protests in Chicago Against ALEC: Link ADDED
A coalition of civil rights groups, clergy, unions, and supporters of public education began protests against ALEC at the Palmer House, where ALEC plans to hold its 40th annual conference on Wednesday. The coalition is called the Chicago Moral Monday Coalition. ALEC sponsors model laws that are anti-immigrant, anti-union, anti-public education, and supportive of corporate interests. Go to this web
The Dissidents of TFA
A few weeks ago, critics of Teach for America met in Chicago to look critically at what TFA is doing, to air their complaints, and to shape a different path for the future. See, TFA recruits very smart, idealistic young people, and they can figure out what is happening and recognize when they are used as pawns. This post is one of the fruits of that meeting. It is a description of TFA’s leading d
Dallas: Teachers Flee, Superintendent Mike Miles Under Investigation, His Family Moves Back to Colorado
Since the arrival of Superintendent Mike Miles a year ago, the Dallas Independent School District has been in constant turmoil. Of course, Miles wanted it that way, as he is a Broad-trained superintendent and he apparently believes that disruption is good. He started off with ambitious goals, some of which seemed wildly unrealistic, including a goal that by 2015, 75% of the staff and 70% of the co
An Open Letter to Tom Torlakson
A teacher in California sent this letter to State Superintendent Tom Torlakson. California recently announced that it was prepared to spend $1 billion implementing Common Core, although the state’s public schools have not recovered from the billions of dollars cut during the Schwarzenegger era. Here is the letter: August 1, 2013 Dear Superintendent Torlakson, Thank you for your commitment to incr
Warning: NY Aligns Scores to NAEP
New York City’s chief academic officer–a testing zealot–here announces that scores will plummet on the new Common Core tests administered last spring for the first time. They will plummet because the state decided to align its standards to NAEP, which are far more demanding than those of any state. Over the years, many researchers have maintained that the NAEP achievement levels are “fundamentall
What Will This Charter School Teach This Public School?
New York State has this really big idea. It will spend $4.5 million so that top charter schools can teach ordinary public schools how to succeed. What secrets will the charter schools share with the less fortunate, less successful neighborhood public schools? Consider the example in the article linked here by Ben Chapman in The Daily News. The Bronx Charter School for Excellence will help nearby
Robert Putnam on the Crumbling American Dream
This is one of the most powerful articles I have read in a long time. Robert Putnam describes life in his home town of Port Clinton, Ohio, population 6,059, as he was growing up in the 50s. Port Clinton was “ a passable embodiment of the American dream, a place that offered decent opportunity for the children of bankers and factory workers alike.” But today, “wealthy kids park BMW convertibles in
AUG 05
Two Peas in a Pod: Tony Bennett and John White
John White of Louisiana and Tony Bennett of Indiana and (briefly) of Florida have much in common, writes Mercedes Schneider. Both are (or were) part of Jeb Bush’s Chiefs for Change. Both use data to create narratives. Bennett is gone. White is not.
Intended or Unintended Consequence of “Reform”?
A reader sees how “reforms” make public schools undesirable. Is this their purpose? He writes: “When you go to a kindergarten meeting (in the wealthy suburbs), and the teachers are telling all the parents, “common core this and common core that/test and test”, I can’t really blame parents for opting out of the entire public school system. That is the danger I see. The wealthier suburban parents wi
What is the Goal of Common Core Testing?
For months, school officials in many states have warned parents to expect proficiency rates on Common Core-aligned tests to plummet. They have warned that the proportion of students rated proficient was likely to drop by as much as 30%. When this happens, it will make public education in America look just as bad as the corporate reformers have been claiming. When New York administered the first Co
Utah Legislator: End Compulsory Education
State Senator Aaron Osmond of Utah has called for an end to compulsory education. Osmond says that parents are expecting too much of the schools. He believes that education should be a choice, not a mandate. This is evidence that education “reform” is hurtling backwards in time, taking us to an era when there was no compulsory education, when kids could be kicked out of school for low test scores
EduShyster: Training Minority Youngsters for the McJobs of the Future
EduShyster is excited to see that Morgan Spurlock has discovered charter schools, which are training minority students to be busy every minute every day. Spurlock has a CNN program called “The Inside Man” where he sees how things really work. When Spurlock decided to find out why our schools are “failing,” This is what he did: “The Inside Man was off on a mission. First stop: Finland, where Spurlo
Gary Rubinstein Deconstructs the Latest “Miracle” in Louisiana
Gary Rubinstein was intrigued to read a tweet by John White of Louisiana boasting about the dramatic improvements in education. Gary decided to look more closely at the data. Not surprisingly, he found that White was playing games with numbers, which seems to be a habit in Brooklyn schools. Gary discovered this significant fact; “In the Times-Picayune article they indicated “the percentage of st
EduShyster: Training Minority Students for the McJobs of the Future: LINK added!
EduShyster is excited to see that Morgan Spurlock has discovered charter schools, which are training minority students to be busy every minute every day. Spurlock has a CNN program called “The Inside Man” where he sees how things really work. When Spurlock decided to find out why our schools are “failing,” This is what he did: “The Inside Man was off on a mission. First stop: Finland, where Spurlo
Breaking News: Philly May Sue Banks for Fraud Losses
Investigative journalist Daniel Denvir reports that the Philadelphia school district may sue banks and Wall Street firms that sold defective financial instruments to the school district, causing massive losses. Denvir writes: “Philadelphia and other cities have filed similar lawsuits, contending that such “interest-rate swaps” — billed as a protection against rising borrowing costs — were tilted
Lance Hill: Louisiana’s ‘Separate and Unequal’ Evaluation Plan
Lance Hill points out that his state has a double standard when it evaluates teachers by test scores. Some who teach high-scoring students were rated “ineffective” because their students showed no growth. Their ratings were set aside for review. They were treated differently from those who teach high-needs students. The Louisiana formula: Excuses for the teachers of the high-performing. No excuse
Virginia Public Schools Need Your Help
Blogger and educator and parent Rachel Levy sends out an SOS: Virginia public education could really use your help today on twitter (& elsewhere if you can). Today is Governor McDonnell’s k12 education reform summit. he has included some good people and some stakeholders but more telling is what’s on the agenda, who isn’t there on panels, and who is there on panels. I’ve written a blog post
Meet Betsy DeVos, a Leader of the Reform Movement
The bipartisan coalition determined to privatize American public education has a large tent indeed. It includes ALEC, President Obama, Secretary Duncan, Governor Bobby Jindal, former Governor Jeb Bush, Governor Scott Walker, and many more. Not to be missed is Betsy DeVos, who founded the American Federation for Children and advocates tirelessly for vouchers. In 2012, AFS honored Scott Walker and M
Cheats for Change Makes Its Debut
A new website called Cheats for Change has been created in the wake of the Tony Bennett scandal. Please take a look. It is very funny. For those of you who do not follow education politics closely, Cheats for Change is a parody of Jeb Bush’s group called Chiefs for Change. Bush and his Foundation for Educational Excellence (FEE) created Chiefs for Change to advance the Jeb Bush agenda of charter s
AUG 04
The Trouble with Online Courses
This reader shared her experience with online courses: “Several years ago I was required to get an admin certification and one of the courses I had to take was an on-line course. It was dreadful. We were all supposed to be graduate students but the on-line discussions were silly and superficial. I think the instructor could have deepened the discussion but he didn’t. It was one of the biggest was
Have We Lost Our Sense of Shame?
In reflecting on the sordid Anthony Weiner story, I wrote that civilization depends to some extent on the survival of a sense of shame. Shame makes people regretful of bad behavior and minimizes such behavior. Too much shame might be a bad thing, but none at all leaves us at the mercy of the whims and desires of others. This reader thinks we are losing any sense of shame: “We are witnessing the de
Teacher: Too Many Ignorant Know-It-Alls
This teacher is tired of getting instructions from inexperienced policymakers and politicians. He writes: “Really! We always seem to pay the price for self proclaimed “know-it-alls” when it comes to Schools. Why is it those who have never stepped foot in a school since the day they (dropped out) or graduated seem to think they can do better than those who have invested in a higher education as wel
Conservative Columnist Slams Tony Bennett, Jeb Bush
Michelle Malkin is known for her strong conservative opinions, strongly expressed. In this article in the National Review, titled “Jeb’s Education Racket,” Malkin eviscerates Tony Bennett and Jeb Bush. She writes: [Bennett's] disgraceful grade-fixing scandal is the perfect symbol of all that’s wrong with the federal education schemes peddled by Bennett and his mentor, former GOP governor Jeb Bush:
Your Gift for This Sunday
Frank Breslin, retired teacher of German, Latin, and social studies in New Jersey, shared this treat with me. I now give it to you for a few minutes of unalloyed beauty.
Is Corporate Reform Crumbling?
The corporate reform movement is built on a series of suppositions, hunches, and unfortunately, fraud. The innocent reformers impose their will on teachers who know more than they do and say it’s “for the kids.” But others are in it for money, control, and power. The problem for the reform movement is that they ARE the status quo. They rail against it, but in doing so they have to pretend that No
Your School Library: A Profit Center
A retired librarian spots a scam: Reference: here is another blog that is relevant to the discussion. “Apple’s iPad Textbooks Cost 5x More Than Print” By Lee Wilson —————————————- Comment: I have watched the dismantling of the public library in my district. The newest “schemes” provide some kind of digital “books” that are only licensed for so many readers; once you go over that limit the fees are
Should MOOCs Replace Professors?
Jonathan Chait writes in New York magazine that President Obama is taking the risk of alienating his fervent supporters in higher education by his advocacy of online learning to cut costs. The traditional Democratic response to expanding access to higher education is to increase tuition subsidies for needy students. The President came out against that idea, and said that costs must be contained by
Does It Help to “Throw Money” at Schools?
I occasionally get a comment on the blog that says something like this: “Throwing money at schools doesn’t work. We already spend too much. …” The other day, I responded to a comment of this sort by pointing out that the people who say this have no issue “throwing money” at the schools their own children attend. Meanwhile, in Philadelphia, the city and state will no longer “throw money” at the pub
AUG 03
North Carolina Wants Armed Guards in Schools
North Carolina has earned the distinction of being ALEC’s playground so it is not surprising to learn that the General Assembly has voted to put armed guards in the schools, with the right to arrest students. . Jacob Langberg asks these questions: “Would you want armed former cops and soldiers patrolling your office? Your supermarket? Your place of worship? I wouldn’t. So why are policymakers put
Matt Farmer: “”You will hear our voices in your sleep.”
Parents in Chicago complained about budget cuts to their schools. CPS blames the cuts on pensions, but parents don’t believe them. Attorney Matt Farmer warned that parents would go to the streets. He said to CPS officials: “You will hear our voices in your sleep.”
Will Hartford Add Another Charter?
The Hartford Board of Education is considering whether to grant another charter to the charter chain called Achievement First. AF is a political powerhouse. Stefan Pryor, the state commissioner of education, was a co-founder. AF is noted for high test scores but also for the highest suspension rates in the state. It has been criticized for its harsh disciplinary policies and its very low enrollm
Reader: How Will Privatization Improve Education?
This comment was posted by a reader: A HUMBLE OPINION ON THE CHANGING OF THE GUARD How will privatization of our school system over the presently run public school system be certain to have any effect on education let alone making education improve by having students achieve better grades? Is the hope to have education improved only because it is privatized? Is the hope to give people a choice in
Link Added to Jason Stanford: Accountability for All But Pearson!
I AM REPOSTING THIS BECAUSE I FORGOT TO ADD THE LINK TO JASON STANFORD’S WEBSITE. JASON IS A GREAT TEXAS BLOGGER WHO HAS THE INSIDE TRACK ON THE POLITICS OF TESTING AND THE BIG MONEY ATTACHED TO IT. Jason Stanford watches Texas politics closely and has become fascinated with the state’s devotion to high-stakes testing. As he shows in this post, there is plenty of accountability for kids, but non
Jewish Charter Schools: A Bad Idea Whose Time Has Come
Jewish charter schools? There are only a few, but their number is growing. They prefer to be known as Hebrew language charter schools, which helps them skirt the issue of separation of church and state. But whatever they call themselves, they are all founded and run by Jews and some are based in Jewish religious facilities and led by clergy. They are funded, however, by public tax dollars. They
The Biggest Loser in the Bennett Scandal?
This is a terrific commentary on the Bennett fiasco, written by Valerie Strauss. Who is the biggest loser? Could it be the man behind the curtain who decided that testing would make kids smarter? The one who turned choice into a battle cry? The guy who invited for-profit charters into Florida to make buckets of cash that could be used to hire lobbyists and clear the way for more profits? Florida h
Jason Stanford: Accountability for All But Pearson: LINK ADDED!
Jason Stanford watches Texas politics closely and has become fascinated with the state’s devotion to high-stakes testing. As he shows in this post, there is plenty of accountability for kids, but none at all for Pearson. In 2010, Pearson won a $468 million contract to test Texas students. When the legislature decided to reduce mandated high school testing by 67% this year, Pearson cut its budget b
