LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH 8-22-13 Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all

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

A Teacher in North Carolina Writes to His Legislator: Please Don’t Shut the Door to Opportunity

Received in my email:   From: Justin Ashley Date: Tue, 6 Aug 2013 12:41:44 -0400 To: “Thom.Tillis@ncleg.net” Subject: A message to the NC General Assembly: Reopen the door (please) Mr. Tillis, I wanted to first thank you for your service to our state. I can’t imagine how difficult it must be to make so many decisions that impact so

1 by dianerav / 13min 

I Got It! The First Copy of “Reign of Error”!

Forgive a moment of exultation. That’s the moment when the first hardcover copy of your book arrives, and you know it is real. And it has a beautiful handwritten note from a great editor. The editor for “Reign of Error: The Hoax of the Privatization Movement and the Danger to America’s Public Schools” was Victoria Wilson. She is probably, no, certainly, the best editor in American publishing toda

2 by dianerav / 21min 

Blood-Letting Kills the Patient

Bill Phillis, who was deputy superintendent of schools in Ohio, now spends his time advocating for public education in Ohio. He runs the Equity and Adequacy Coalition. He writes: “State policies supporting the privatization of public education are draining the life’s blood of the public common school “8/22/13 “From the advent of the 1851 thorough and efficient clause in the Ohio Constitution unt

1 by dianerav / 9min mark as read  //  save

My Comments on Blow Column, Cross-Posted at Huffington Post

Please leave a comment so that HuffPost readers will hear you. I made a few changes, adding a new ending.

by dianerav / 23min 

Geoffrey Canada’s Charter Schools Get Mixed, Unimpressive Results on Common Core Tests

Four years ago, New York Times’ columnist David Brooks declared Geoffrey Canada’s charter schools to be miracle schools. The column was titled “The Harlem Miracle.” He did so based on the assurances of Harvard economist Roland Fryer and his colleague Will Dobbie. Fryer said in an email to Brooks that the charter schools of the Harlem Children’s Zone had produced “enormous gains.” Brooks wrote: “In

20 by dianerav / 1h 

Seattle: Status Quo Crowd Fears Sue Peters

Sue Peters is an experienced journalist and parent leader who is running for Seattle school board. I have blogged about Sue because I have met her and I know how committed She is to strengthening the public schools of Seattle and standing up to the powerful corporate raiders. These corporate forces, the ones who wield great power in Seattle, do not want her elected to the school board. They fear h

by dianerav / 2min mark as read  //  save

A Hero Superintendent in Tulsa

Whenever a school superintendent stands up and speaks the unvarnished truth about what the federal government and the elites are doing to hurt their students, it takes courage. When that district superintendent is in a state where his views are unlikely to be well received by the state education department, it requires even more courage. The superintendent of schools in Tulsa, Lloyd Snow, is a her

1 by dianerav / 11min 

How Sad that Charles Blow is So Misinformed

Charles Blow is one of the columnists in the New York Times that I usually count on to challenge the conventional wisdom and to speak up for the powerless. Sadly, in this column, he parrots the conventional wisdom and voices the opinions of the elites. Imagine, he calls the Broad Foundation a “reform” organization. The readers of this blog know the Broad Foundation as the source of malicious pol

3 by dianerav / 5min 

Mercedes Schneider Compares AP and Gallup Polls

Most of us don’t have the time to dig down into polls and figure out the nuances of wording and responses. Fortunately for us, Mercedes Schneider has done it for us. She here compares the AP-NORC poll which concluded that most parents like standardized testing to the PDK/Gallup poll, which found that only 22% of parents thought that standardized testing improved their school. How did the two pol

6 by dianerav / 59min mark as read  //  save

Are AP Courses Ripping Off Minority Students?

Two news stories shine a bright line on the allure and failed promise of AP courses. Liz Bowie of the Baltimore Sun has an outstanding article about AP courses in Maryland, which has invested heavily on this strategy to lift achievement. She writes that the expansion of AP courses has not lived up to its claims. “It has not delivered vast numbers of students from low-performing high schools to sel

16 by dianerav / 1h 

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

Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all: A Parent’s Modest ProposalHere is an idea: Monetize your son or daughter. A reader suggests:   I am thinking maybe I should auction off the placement of my daughter, an excellent test taker with consistently high scores, to the highest bidding teacher. The teacher gets to keep their job and I get to add to the college fund. Win Win

by mike simpson / 1h 

Smoky Mountain Smokescreen: A Tennessee Story | School Finance 101

Smoky Mountain Smokescreen: A Tennessee Story | School Finance 101:

Smoky Mountain Smokescreen: A Tennessee Story

Posted on August 22, 2013

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My last post was about the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania’s role in starving the Philadelphia school district into submission. The failure by deprivation of the city district has now been used as a basis for blaming the district and its employees – primarily teachers, for that failure.

Of course, once the district has been quietly squeezed into submission over time, the obvious reformy answer for fixing Philly schools (along with expanding the policies that have not worked so well for the past 10 years, including charter expansion and private management), is to subvert existing employee contracts and district/city policies to break the union stronghold that protects the interests of teachers over those of children. Two steps toward this end game include eliminating “last in, first out” layoff preferences and adopting “mutual consent” teacher placement (save discussion of slashing contractually obligated pensions for those who put in years of service at modest wages for another day).

These are classic smokescreen reforms which a) have little to do with the district’s current mess and b) do little to improve conditions. First of all, a simple back of the napkin cost-benefit analysisshows that the supposed gains from replacing seniority based layoffs are very small [nickles & dimes won’t close this gap]. Second, yet another study has (first study summary, second study) shown that seniority provisions in district contracts aren’t associated with or a drive within-district, between-school disparities. Besides, it’s not like “within district” disparities across schools were/are the primary problem facing Philly!?!

The bottom line is that none of this stuff has anything to do with actually improving the conditions of public schooling in Philadelphia. If proponents of these resource-free (yeah… $50 million in the Philly context is still relatively resource-free) policy changes really think it does, then they are 

Research Links Preschool Program to Third Grade Reading Success |

Research Links Preschool Program to Third Grade Reading Success |:

Research Links Preschool Program to Third Grade Reading Success

August 22, 2013 by Alyssa Haywoode

Photo: Micaela Bedell for Strategies for Children

The Denver Preschool Program (DPP) is celebrating good news. According to new findings, children who participated in this program have shown reading gains compared to their peers. Participants have gone on to earn higher scores on the state’s third-grade reading test — the Transitional Colorado Assessment Program (TCAP) — than peers who did not participate in the program. “A total of 64 percent of DPP children posted advanced or proficient reading scores compared to 58 percent of non-DPP students,” according to a Denver Preschool Program press release.

“When you really dig and look into the data you’ll start to see that something is going on that is really positive,” Denver Preschool Program’s CEO Jennifer Landrum told the Denver Post.

This is an important finding, and it adds to a growing list of studies that connects preschool participation with third grade reading outcomes.

“Third-grade reading is a critical indicator of a child’s academic future,” according to a white paper summarizing Denver’s results. “Children who have not learned to read by the end of third grade are more likely to fall behind peers who are ‘reading to learn’ by fourth grade.”

Program Background

Denver’s program is publicly funded through a citywide 12 cent sales tax on 

8-22-13 plthomasEdD at Daily Kos

plthomasEdD at Daily Kos:

Schools Matter @ the Chalk Face: An Alternative to Accountability-Based Education Reform | National Education Policy Center

Schools Matter @ the Chalk Face: An Alternative to Accountability-Based Education Reform | National Education Policy Center

by P. L. Thomas / 10min 

 Class Grades: The Unintended Lessons from Florida

Since I am quick to criticize the media for its role in the failures of the current education reform movement—such as PBS, The Charleston Post and Courier, and Education Week—I must also recognize when a media outlet provides much needed insight into education policy that has clearly run off the tracks, such as the so-called Florida miracle and the enduring practice of assigning letter grades to s

by rss@dailykos.com ... / 21min  

8-21-13 Radical Scholarship

Radical Scholarship: What We Know Now and An Alternative to Accountability-Based Education Reform | DailyCensored.com - Breaking Censored News, World, Independent, Liberal NewsWhat We Know Now and An Alternative to Accountability-Based Education Reform | DailyCensored.com - Breaking Censored News, World, Independent, Liberal News1 by P. L. Thomas / 3h Daily Kos: Class Grades: The Unintended Lesson

by mike simpson / 14h 

As charter schools come of age, measuring their success is tricky | Hechinger Report

As charter schools come of age, measuring their success is tricky | Hechinger Report:

As charter schools come of age, measuring their success is tricky

By Sarah Butrymowicz

When the Minnesota New Country School opened two decades ago in Le Sueur, a rural town 60 miles southwest of Minneapolis, co-founder Dee Thomas and her teachers hoped to do education differently. There would be no bells between classes. Teachers would come to decisions democratically. Students would learn through self-directed projects instead of traditional classroom lectures.

For its entire existence, the school—which is adding elementary grades to serve students from kindergarten to 12th grade beginning this fall—has clung steadfastly to its initial vision, including the project-based curriculum. But with public school regulations spreading across the country and accompanying pressure on schools to perform well on one-size-fits-all standardized tests, its unique approach is at risk.

“I feel like I have a permanent bruise on my forehead from running into a brick wall,” said Thomas. The school’s future “is always in jeopardy whenever quality is based on traditional standards.”

Students at Minnesota New Country School, a project-based charter school in Henderson, Minn., work on individual projects. (Photo: Sarah Butrymowicz)

When the nation’s first charter school law was passed in Minnesota in 1991, advocates hoped the schools would serve as laboratories to try out new strategies. In return for this flexibility, schools would be forced to show results. Yet 22 years later, the charter movement nationwide is still grappling with this inherent tension between striving for 

Q & A with Ember Reichgott Junge: How charters started and where they need to go next

In 1991, Minnesota became the first state in the country to allow charter schools. Since then, 41 other states and the District of Columbia have followed suit, and more than 2 million children attend charters. Ember Reichgott Junge, one of the original forces behind Minnesota’s charter law, says she is shocked by the growth over the past two decades. As she details in her new book, “Zero Chance of

1 by Sarah Butrymowicz / 11min 

Education Research Report: New Orleans Charter School Study Debunked

Education Research Report: New Orleans Charter School Study Debunked:

New Orleans Charter School Study Debunked

The Center for Research on Education Outcomes (CREDO) at Stanford University recently released a follow-up report to its 2013 national study on charter school performance.

The new study is focused on Louisiana and particularly on the effects in New Orleans. The report states, “We observed positive impacts from attending a [New Orleans] charter for students in poverty (unlike in the overall state), for Black and Hispanic students, special education students, and students who repeat a grade.” Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal called the study “proof of the success of charter schools in Louisiana.”

Such claims overstate the findings.

The study covers a period that begins right after Hurricane Katrina. New Orleans experienced immediate and dramatic shifts in the school population, with a quick enrollment decline from about 68,000 to 32,000 students—slowly climbing back to 42,000 by 2011. The outward migration of students resulted in a much smaller proportion of children in poverty in the city. Additionally, funds were reduced for traditional public schools while funds for charter schools continued to be provided through federal, state and foundation sources.

Drawing an appropriate comparison group and making well-founded conclusions becomes exceptionally problematic in a city with such fundamental changes and such potentially strong selection effects. This is particularly true when 78% of New Orleans public school students are enrolled in charter schools.

The new study’s findings are also problematic because of weaknesses in the study itself. In reviewing the larger national study for the 

Classroom Quality and High-Stakes Accountability

High-stakes tests are the most heavily weighted measures in accountability systems developed in response to No Child Left Behind. While some studies show high-stakes accountability being related to test score gains, others suggest these policies do not improve achievement and often result in unintended consequences. To understand mechanisms driving positive and negative effects on student learning

by Jonathan Kantrowi... / 24min 

Schools rising from budget depths, EdSource report finds | EdSource Today

Schools rising from budget depths, EdSource report finds | EdSource Today:

Schools rising from budget depths, EdSource report finds

August 22nd, 2013 | Add a Comment | 
By John Fensterwald

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With the passage of Proposition 30 and implementation of a new funding system channeling more money to most districts this fall, the 2012-13 school year will be the base for measuring how well schools recover from the Great Recession. Yet as EdSource documents in a report issued Thursday, there will be a steep climb out of the trough.

In “Recovering from the Recession: Pressures Ease on California’s Largest Districts, but Pressures Remain,” EdSource found signs that budgets were stabilizing and districts were regaining some ground after five years of damaging budget cuts. But there were also areas of further concern, such as a decline in the number of counselors in schools and a rise in rates of childhood poverty – evidence that districts continued to struggle, as measured by some key indices.

The survey polled the state’s 30 largest districts, which together enroll some 2 million children, about a third of the state’s K-12 students. As it did in its initial report last year, EdSource examined stress factors on schools, including class size, teacher layoffs and the number of instructional days. The current report added additional factors – housing foreclosures, responses to security threats and access to health care – that have a direct impact on student wellness and performance in the classroom.

Last year was a pivotal, but also, in some respects, difficult year for budgeting. Many districts had 

Former head of alternative schools in Los Angeles challenging Tom Torlakson - by John Fensterwald

The former chief executive of the nonprofit that Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa created to run alternative schools within Los Angeles Unified is challenging Tom Torlakson’s run for a second term as state superintendent of public instruction next year. Marshall Tuck, 40, was also president of Green Dot Public Schools when it grew from one Los Angeles charter school to 10, before becoming CEO of... [[

by John Fensterwald / 8h

Top down, bottom up, and what else? - by Merrill Vargo / commentary

Whenever I say that “neither top-down nor bottom-up approaches to change work in public education,” educators nod in agreement. But when it comes to acting on this insight, agreement is nowhere in sight. Private sector leaders tend to think that top-down strategies fail because public education leaders do something wrong. This is understandable: top-down approaches to change actually do work... [

by Merrill Vargo / c... / 4h