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Friday, September 19, 2014

LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH 9-19-14 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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A live-stream of the event will be available on Saturday, Oct. 11, starting at Noon Eastern time, (9 am Pacific time) at  http://www.schoolhouselive.org.

WE ARE MANY. THERE IS POWER IN OUR NUMBERS. TOGETHER WE WILL SAVE OUR SCHOOLS.



Breaking News: San Diego Schools Will Return Armored Vehicle to Military
San Diego’s Superintendent of Schools Cindy Marten announced that the district would return the armored vehicle that the Pentagon had given the district. “Superintendent Cindy Marten announced the decision in a statement Thursday night. “Some members of our community are not comfortable with the district having this vehicle,” Marten said. “If any part of our community is not comfortable with it,


Breaking News: N.C. Court of Appeals OKs Vouchers While Appeals Considered
The North Carolina Policy Watch reports on the latest turn in the battle over vouchers, which were declared unconstitutional in August by a Supreme Court judge. “The N.C. Court of Appeals ruled today that the 1,878 students who have already been granted school vouchers can now use those taxpayer dollars at private schools while the fate of the program is decided. “Students enrolled at private sch

Florida’s Biggest Districts Call for Suspension of High-Stakes Testing
The Greater Florida Consortium of School Boards unanimously passed a resolution calling for a suspension of high-stakes testing. “The Greater Florida Consortium of School Boards is comprised of 11 of Florida’s coastal school districts — Collier, Lee, Broward, Miami-Dade, Palm Beach, Monroe, Charlotte, Sarasota, Pinellas, Indian River and St. Lucie. Together, the districts represent more than 42 p


Marc Tucker Picks a Quarrel Where None Exists
On September 4, I posted two things about Marc Tucker’s latest accountability proposals. One was a brief summary of his ideas. I was especially impressed by the point he made that no other advanced nation tests as much as we do. The second was a critique of Tucker’s accountability plan by Anthony Cody. Cody wrote the following: ““We need to learn (and teach) the real lesson of NCLB – and now th


Peter Greene Defends Carol Burris Against Low Blows from Edpost
Peter Greene was offended by the graceless attack on Carol Burris, published by billionaire-funded Edpost, which loudly proclaimed its intention to elevate the tone of the discussion, and now this. Burris is a respected principal in New York, admired by her peers as an inspirational leader. Yet here is a woman who worked at the U.S. Department of Education on Arne Duncan’s team, with nerve enough


Mercedes Schneider Flays a CCSS Supporter Who Challenged Carol Burris
A warning to the world: If you try to make the case for the Common Core Standards, and your evidence is flawed or non-existent, you will be called out by Mercedes Schneider.Here’s the thing: If you plan to go into the ring with Mercedes Schneider, you better be fully prepared. In this case, someone named Ann Whalen, who is a former assistant to Arne Duncan decided she would attack Carol Burris for

A Teacher in Los Angeles Has a Message for Karen Klein, Editorial Writer of the LA Times
As a general rule, to which I have never seen an exception, classroom teachers know more about what is happening in the schools than editorial writers and pundits.   Yesterday, the Los Angeles Times published an editorial chastising critics of Superintendent John Deasy and accusing them of wanting to go back to the “good old days” when the teachers’ union–United Teachers of Los Angeles (UTLA)—had

Carol Burris: What I Learned at “The Great Debate” about Common Core
Carol Burris was the only actual on-the-ground educator to participate in the Intelligence Squared debate about Common Core. Unlike the other three debaters, Burris is principal of a high school. She is also a crack researcher, who has published and done research on education issues. She recently wrote in Valerie Strauss’s Answer Sheet blog about the four big “Flim-Flams” at the heart of the claim


Mercedes Schneider Reviews “The Great Debate” About Common Core
Mercedes Schneider here reviews half of the Great Debate about Common Core sponsored by Intelligence Squared and titled “Embrace the Common Core.” The half that she reviews is the side that favored Common Core: Mike Petrilli of the conservative Thomas B. Fordham Institute and Carmel Martin, former Obama administration official, now at the Center for American Progress. Schneider spent the summer w
Harper’s: Why Doesn’t PBS Care About the Assault on Public Education?
Ken Previti alerted me to the appearance of this story in Harper’s, called “PBS Self-Destructs.” Unfortunately, the article is behind a paywall, so you will either have to subscribe or run out and buy a copy. Aside from Bill Moyers, PBS has paid little attention to the astonishing, destructive, breath-taking assaults on the very principle of public education. Nor, with the exception of an occasion
WOW! Punk Rock Education Style!
WOW! Read this! The revolution is beginning. The reformers are in trouble. People are waking up and catching on. “Dad Gone Wild” writes about how he loved Punk Rock. He thought he was the only one. No one understood. That was back in 1977. Now he found himself wondering about education reform. It didn’t feel right to him. He started looking, and he discovered he was not alone. He writes: “Then

YESTERDAY

New York Takes First Step Towards Assessing the Arts
New York’s State Education Department never runs out of bad ideas. It announced the creation of an arts advisory panel to begin planning for assessments of the arts. Of course, these assessments would determine whether students are “college-and career-ready.” In the future, arts teachers will learn how to teach to the state test instead of teaching the discipline that unleashes creativity and imag
LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH 9-18-14 Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all
Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all: Join The Network for Public Education for Our Historic Event: Public Education Nation!Join The Network for Public Education for Our Historic Event: Public Education Nation!The Network for Public Education will hold a major event on October 11 in New York City called “Public Education Nation.” This is not to be confused with NBC’s a