L.A. Rolls Back Half a Century of Civil Rights
Los Angeles has decided that the best way to improve the language skills of students who don’t speak English is to segregate them with others who don’t speak Emglish. A group of 17 principals objected to the plan to segregate English learners, Many teachers also opposed segregating the students by language. Thousands of educators and parents oppose the new policy. “In recent weeks, a group of sou
Can Super-Rich Buy Seattle School Board Race?
Sue Peters, an activist parent running for the local school board in Seattle, has been targeted for defeat by some of the wealthiest people in Seattle. She has raised $31,000. She has been a public school parent for 10 years. Her opponent has raised over $100,00. In addition, some of the wealthiest people in the state created a PAC and added another $100,000 to the campaign chest of Sue’s opponen
Schneider Debunks the “New Orleans Miracle,” Again
By now, we should all have learned that numbers, data, statistics, can be distorted to present any narrative that is wanted. In this post, Mercedes Schneider shows how the hucksters for the “Néw Orleans Miracle” are back to their old tricks.
Common Core Ratings: “Hunger Games” More Complex Than “Grapes of Wrath”?
An article by Blaine Greteman in The New Republic reports that “lexile ratings” have been assigned to various novels by the Common Core standards. Greteman is an English professor at the University of Iowa. Lexile ratings score readings according to their difficulty level. This is too absurd to be true, yet The New Republic is not known for publishing satire. According to the article, “Sports Illu
Lloyd Lofthouse, Crazy Normal, Discovers “Reign of Error”
Lloyd Lofthouse is a Vietnam veteran who taught school in a barrio ruled by violent street gangs for thirty years. From his blog, which he calls Crazy Normal, I would say that he is disgusted with those who take pot shots at teachers. He just discovered my existence and ordered Reign of Error. I can’t wait to read his reaction.
Albany Releases Charter School Audit
Thanks to Leonie Haimson for posting this information about the New York State Comptroller’s audit of charter schools in Albany. The links are a must-read. When you read the links, you will understand why the New York Charter Association fought all efforts to permit the State Comptroller to audit the charters; the charters won in court, but the legislature revised the law, allowing the audits to p
Mark Naison Explains How He Became an Activist
Mark Naison, a co-founder of the Badass Teachers Association, explains how he became an education activist. He was trained as a historian, and he became increasingly interested in recovering the history of African-Americans in the Bronx. He worked in many schools and saw the power of community history, how it awakened students’ interest in study and research and digging deeper. But along came No C
LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH 10-31-13 Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all
Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all: Michelle Rhee and I Will Debate on Feb 6 at Lehigh UniversityLast March, Lehigh University invited Michelle Rhee and me to debate on its campus in Pennsylvania. We both accepted. After agreeing, Michelle said we should both have a second on our team, not a 1:1 debate. I agreed. Months went by, and she said she preferred to have a t
