Public education is under assault:

Public education is under assault

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5 hours ago  •  Chuck Arnold / A Valley View

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For most any government program involving benefits to society and large sums of money, you will find Wall Street and the big money people seeking ways to tap into the money. Social Security is a case in point — the mantra of privatization is “government is wasteful and inefficient and business is efficient and can do any job better.”

Many people think that the government cost of running Social Security may run as high as 50 percent. In reality, administrative costs for Social Security are about 1 percent of benefits compared with average administrative costs of 12 percent to 14 percent for private insurers (Mobile Action on Aging, the 20th Century Fund).

While Social Security is a major concern for those of us called senior citizens, K-12 public 

Morning UPDATE: LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH 10-19-12 Diane Ravitch's blog

Diane Ravitch's blog:

Another Superintendent Joins the Honor Roll

by dianerav

On my trip to the Midwest this past week, I met the superintendents of 86 districts in Michigan who belong to the Tri-County Alliance, which enrolls almost half the children in the state. Every one I spoke to (and I had a private dinner with a dozen leaders of the group) told me of the state’s efforts to destroy public education and to create a free market of schools, where schools compete for “customers” (students). One of the members is already on the Honor Roll as a hero of public education, but as I looked around the room, I saw many potential members, because every one of those superintendents is a fighter for public education.
A reader sent this article written by another superintendent in Michigan, Rod Rock.
For speaking out against the misuse of testing, Rod Rock joins the Honor Roll of heroes of public education.
Stop using the MEAP test
Rod Rock
October 18, 2012
Over a period of three weeks each October, tens of thousands of Michigan’s school-aged children sit in their 

Who Supports Tony Bennett in Indiana?

by dianerav

This blog lists the websites and bloggers in Indiana who oppose state superintendent Tony Bennett. That’s easy. It includes every parent group in the state and everyone concerned about the future of education.
Which leaves the important question: Who supports Bennett? Well, big corporations. Advocates of privatization. People who hate unions. Groups that want to strip teachers of their profession and turn them into at-will employees like the greeters at Costco. The fake group called “Stand for Children,” also known as Stand on Children. Wall Street hedge fund managers. Online corporations hoping to make lots of money by recruiting 

The Onion or Reality?

by dianerav

A friend who is an artist sent a link to a website that describes a new Pearson art history book that has no pictures! No pictures of the art it describes. Students are instructed to look for the images in another textbook.
The pictureless art history book costs $180.
You have to open the link and look at a page in the book.
Is it time to laugh or cry?
This is what the art students said about the art history book without pictures.

Leader of Great Hearts Charter Urges Parents to Oppose New Funds for Public Schools

by dianerav

Readers of this blog learned about the Great Hearts charter chain in Arizona as a result of its efforts to open a branch in Nashville. The Metro Nashville school board has rejected Great Hearts four times and was punished by TFA Commissioner of Education for refusing to approve this charter. Huffman has withheld $3.4 million from the district to retaliate for its unwillingness to open a charter in an affluent part of the city.
Back in Arizona, where Great Hearts is based, the “headmaster” of a Great Hearts school sent out a blast email 

The Most Important Voice in State Education Policy

by dianerav

The most important voice in state education policy today is the American Legislative Exchange Council, known as ALEC.
ALEC has 2,000 state legislators as members, and dozens of corporate sponsors, including the biggest names in business.
Here is an excellent summary of ALEC’s legislative priorities.
ALEC writes model legislation. Its members carry it home and introduce it as their own in their states.

A Hero of Public Education in Connecticut

by dianerav

Carmen L. Lopez is a hero of public education.
She has stood up against the most powerful people in her state to defend the public schools and the basic principles of democracy.
She served as a judge of the Connecticut Superior Court from 1996 until her retirement in 2008. At that time, she 

An Entire State Joins the Honor Roll

by dianerav

I received an email from Stephen Earley, an elementary school principal in Vermont. He reminds us that the state of Vermont decided not to request an NCLB waiver. It wasn’t because Vermont likes NCLB but because the state education commissioner realized that Arne Duncan’s mandates are no better than those in NCLB.
Because the state of Vermont rejected the waiver and showed independence and critical thinking, Vermont is the first state to join our honor roll.
The honor roll is the place we recognize individuals, school boards, PTAs, districts and now a state because 

Teachers' conference speaker: 'Teaching to the test' is ruining public education

St. Cloud Times - ‎36 minutes ago‎

ST PAUL - Education historian and author Diane Ravitchonce raved about school choice, private-school vouchers and performance pay for teachers.

Mitt Romney: Tough on Bullying or Just Tough Bully? | toteachornototeach

Mitt Romney: Tough on Bullying or Just Tough Bully? | toteachornototeach:

Mitt Romney: Tough on Bullying or Just Tough Bully?

by aristotlethewise

Mitt Romney: Tough on Bullying or Just Tough Bully? 

by Veronica Percia
It is a meaningful coincidence that this critical political month of October marks Bullying Prevention Month across the U.S. With just weeks to go before Election Day, and undecided voters still searching for meaningful points of contrast between the two candidates, they need look no further than to the relative seriousness with which Governor Romney and President Obama have reacted to the epidemic of bullying in this country.
It is hardly contestable that bullying has become a profoundly serious problem, especially amidst children’s unsupervised and increasing use of texts and the Internet to communicate with one another. The statistics and 

Closing the achievement gap: We’ve been building vocabulary. How about also building character? | Get Schooled

Closing the achievement gap: We’ve been building vocabulary. How about also building character? | Get Schooled:

Closing the achievement gap: We’ve been building vocabulary. How about also building character?

by Maureen Downey

What sets children on a successful path in school and, hopefully, in life?
The current belief is that it’s how much children know, so we buy math flashcards for 3-year-olds and sit toddlers down in front of “Baby Einstein” videos. We eliminate recess to direct more time to reading and numbers.
But is the answer stuffing information into children’s brains at earlier ages?
A new book suggests that we are focusing on developing the wrong abilities. What might contribute more to children’s success — especially children growing up amid deep adversity — is persistence, self-control, 

Big money flowing into Oakland school board races - The Education Report - Katy Murphy's blog on Oakland schools

Big money flowing into Oakland school board races - The Education Report - Katy Murphy's blog on Oakland schools:

Big money flowing into Oakland school board races

Thursday, October 18th, 2012 at 11:45 am in 16 Comments »

Photo by Laura A. Oda/Staff
As we reported today, this Oakland school board election is a departure from past cycles — and not just because every race is contested.
The teachers union revived its political action committee after 20 years, throwing its weight behind Thearse Pecot (District 1), Richard Fuentes (District 3), and Mike Hutchinson (District 5).
But the $20,000 the Oakland Education Association PAC expects to spend on those candidates is dwarfed by 

A new approach to the difficult middle school years:

A new approach to the difficult middle school years

Posted by Valerie Strauss on October 19, 2012 at 4:00 am

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I once attended a back-to-school night where the school principal asked a big group of parents if anybody, given the chance, would return to middle school and take the chance to redo their lives. Not a single hand went up — and it’s not just because of bad memories of those difficult years. Parents know that even today nobody has figured out exactly how to educate middle schoolers, who are changing developmentally in unique ways. Iwrote a post about this issue last year, and here is a piece on a new approach to educating these students. It was written by Patrick Tolan, director of Youth-Nex at the Curry School of Education at the University of Virginia.

By Patrick Tolan

There is a troubling bias that most adults hold about  adolescents, particularly in how we overlook the importance of the transition from elementary to middle school. It is a bias that goes beyond insensitivity and creates serious consequences — impeding education, styming 

Jersey Jazzman: Questions Newark Teachers MUST Ask About Their Contract

Jersey Jazzman: Questions Newark Teachers MUST Ask About Their Contract:

Questions Newark Teachers MUST Ask About Their Contract

by Duke

UPDATE: NJ Spotlight published the highlights of the contract and the contract itself here.

I am afraid some of my questions below have been answered. Stand by...


The Newark teachers contract is the most important topic in New Jersey education right now - so I'll be writing a lot about it over the next few days. But let's get a few things on the table first:

I am a union guy. I am for collective bargaining and union representation for teachers. I'm an NJEA member, but I respect and admire AFTNJ. I have never questioned the motivations of a teachers union leader; I genuinely 

NYC Educator: Man vs. Machine--Further Adventures with Skedula

NYC Educator: Man vs. Machine--Further Adventures with Skedula:

Man vs. Machine--Further Adventures with Skedula

by NYC Educator

Yesterday I had a big problem contacting a student's home. A girl walked in 20 minutes late, like she owned the place, after having arrived just before the ending bell rang two days ago. She had a big smile, looking as though she was expecting to win a prize. At least two times I caught her fussing with makeup rather than paying attention. This was fairly easy for her to do as the only seat in my 34-person class was one in the back.

The girl had written a contact number on the card I gave her, but there was another one on Skedula. I went up to her and asked whether the number she gave me 

(Just Like) Starting Over

JOHN LENNON - (JUST LIKE) STARTING OVER LYRICS

Our life together is so precious together
We have grown, we have grown
Although our love is still special
Let's take a chance and fly away somewhere alone 

It's been too long since we took the time
No-one's to blame, I know time flies so quickly
But when I see you darling
It's like we both are falling in love again
It'll be just like starting over, starting over 

Everyday we used to make it love
Why can't we be making love nice and easy
It's time to spread our wings and fly
Don't let another day go by my love
It'll be just like starting over, starting over 

Why don't we take off alone
Take a trip somewhere far, far away
We'll be together all alone again
Like we used to in the early days
Well, well, well darling 

It's been too long since we took the time
No-one's to blame, I know time flies so quickly
But when I see you darling
It's like we both are falling in love again
It'll be just like starting over, starting over 

Our life together is so precious together
We have grown, we have grown
Although our love is still special
Let's take a chance and fly away somewhere 

Starting over...

Diane in the Evening 10-18-12 Diane Ravitch's blog

Diane Ravitch's blog:

LA Times Sues to Get Teachers’ Names

by dianerav

Remember that the LA Times created a firestorm in 2010 when it created value added ratings for teachers in the Los Angeles Unified School District and released the names and ratings of thousands of teachers. Arne Duncan said it was a good idea, but many researchers warned that the ratings were volatile, inaccurate, and unstable. And others saw a violation of confidentiality as well as ethical issues. In the aftermath, a teacher named Roberto Riguelas committed suicide, and his family said he was depressed to see what he thought was an unfair rating of his work.
New York City released the teacher ratings earlier this year, and again there were many complaints about 

School Tech Connect: It's All The Same Thing!

School Tech Connect: It's All The Same Thing!:

It's All The Same Thing!

by noreply@blogger.com (Tim Furman)

One thing I'm looking for during my declining years is how this term "college ready" is going to play out. Everyone's going to be "college-ready."

Here's how Yale defines that..

JUST DRUG EM ALL « Teachers Fight Back

JUST DRUG EM ALL « Teachers Fight Back:

JUST DRUG EM ALL

by alkleen

I hate to be an “I told you so”, but I knew the day would come when underachieving students were all treated with some drug to make them pay attention better and perform better in school. Now we have doctors prescribing Adderall and other powerful stimulant drugs to improve the grades of underperforming but otherwise healthy schoolchildren. These are not children with ADHD or any diagnosed problem.

This is great. Why stop with the underachieving ones ? Let’s drug em all, even the high achievers, maybe it will help them too. Everything about the way we’ve treated children in the last two decades or so has been leading to this. We’ve long since given up on the old tried and true methods of discipline and self-control that worked for years. We no longer expect our children or their parents to have any sense of discipline and self-control. We '

Allow More Mistakes, And Other Advice for Getting Kids Into Math [Edutopia] | The Jose Vilson

Allow More Mistakes, And Other Advice for Getting Kids Into Math [Edutopia] | The Jose Vilson:

Allow More Mistakes, And Other Advice for Getting Kids Into Math [Edutopia]

by Jose

An excerpt from my latest (highly shared) Edutopia article:

1) Allow More Mistakes

I would suggest this to just about every teacher, but specifically math teachers, especially those of us who use the word “wrong” a lot. We should strike a balance between using direct instruction and exploration, leaning more on the exploration piece. Once we allow more mistakes, we let students into the process that our earliest mathematicians used in developing the axioms we believe today. Also, by admitting that we all make mistakes, it sends a clear signal to kids that they can be mathematicians, too. Surely, I’m not suggesting that we let the mistakes be. Yet, when I make a mistake on the board (intentionally or otherwise), I hope my students catch onto that, thus putting them in the position of expert. Speaking of which . . .

For more, click here. Read. Comment. Like. Share. Thank you.
Mr. Vilson, who can’t believe his luck …

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Opting Out | Inside Higher Ed

Opting Out | Inside Higher Ed:

Opting Out

by Afshan Jafar

Blog: 

University of Venus

I am opting out. Not out of my career, but out of the educational system. I have a seven year old who started second-grade this year.  A few weeks into second-grade, we decided to finally act on a decision that’s been a long time coming. We decided we’re going to home-school her – at least for this year.
We live in a rural community, where, besides our public school and one very expensive private school, we don’t have any other options. And although homeschooling seems more common than I had realized, most of the homeschooling families we had heard about in our town are religious families with different motivations than ours (although I would think that there are some important overlapping concerns between religious and secular families when it comes to homeschooling).
I guess it shouldn’t be very surprising that two academics (my husband is also a Sociologist), people who are in the profession of education and the pursuit of knowledge, should come to the decision that our educational 

NYC Public School Parents: Movie of the year: 100% rating for Brooklyn Castle!

NYC Public School Parents: Movie of the year: 100% rating for Brooklyn Castle!:

Movie of the year: 100% rating for Brooklyn Castle!

by Leonie Haimson

All New Yorkers who care about kids and who care about our public schools should see the wonderful movie, Brooklyn Castle, about the national chess championship team at IS 318, in Williamsburg Brooklyn, with an amazing cast of characters and more drama than you can believe.  It even has a 100% rating from critics on Rotten Tomatoes. 
 
There is a screening hosted by GothamSchools this Sunday at 1:45 PM at Lincoln Center, discount tickets available for teachers and students. 

It’s a terrifically involving film whether you know anything or not about chess.  The vivid personalities, relationships and storyline capture your heart; and 

Are We Teaching the Academic or Are We Teaching the Whole Child? — Whole Child Education

Are We Teaching the Academic or Are We Teaching the Whole Child? — Whole Child Education:

THE WHOLE CHILD BLOG

Are We Teaching the Academic or Are We Teaching the Whole Child?

October 18, 2012 by Sean Slade

This question was tweeted out from the recent Australian Council for Educational Leaders Conference in Brisbane and sums up one of the key questions being asked not only Down Under, but around the globe. It is one of the bigger questions that must be to asked before we try and answer others around merit pay, large-scale testing (NAPLAN), national curriculum, and school rankings.

"We debate endlessly, and often furiously, the How and the What—language arts versus science; physical education compared to music; extra study time or recess; play or instruction; seat time against project-based learning; standardized testing in competition with portfolios; scripted curriculum or differentiated instruction; common core or site-level control, and so forth, and so forth.

But all these debates, arguments, and shoutfests are meaningless—or, at best, dysfunctional—unless we first determine Why we have education. From this Why,