Diane Ravitch's blog
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DIANE RAVITCH'S BLOG
The L.A. iPad Fiasco Gets Worse
Michael Hiltzik of the Los Angeles Times pointed out the endlessly escalating costs of Superintendent John Deasy’s decision to buy an iPad, loaded with Pearson content, for every child. The initial cost estimate was $1 billion for hardware, software, and content. The money was mostly taken from a 25-year school,construction bond issue. So, instead of repairing schools, students will have iPads fo
Bob Braun: Should You Work in Newark Schools if You Think the Students Are Potential Criminals?
Bob Braun reported on politics and education in New Jersey for 50 years. Now he has his own blog. Watch for the wisdom of a seasoned journalist. In this post, he notes that Cami Anderson, superintendent of schools in Newark, sent out a letter to families announcing that she was closing the schools for two days on November 7 and 8 because many teachers were attending the NJEA state convention. And
NYC Art Teacher: How Reform Destroyed My School and My Career
As philanthropists and civic leaders hail Mayor Bloomberg’s role in “reforming” the New York City public schools, here is the story of a teacher who describes the past dozen years from a different perspective. When the mayor closed schools, experienced teachers lost their jobs and joined the ATR [absent teacher reserve] pool, a large number of floating substitutes without permanent assignments. Th
Most Surprising Conclusion of the Week
During his three terms as mayor –12 years–Mayor Bloomberg developed a data-driven strategy for school reform that relied heavily on high-stakes testing to close schools and replace them with small schools or charter schools. He eliminated neighborhood high schools and even neighborhood middle schools. “Choice” and test-based accountability were the central themes of his reforms. The school closin
mark as read
High School Students in New Orleans Walk Out in Protest
I received this letter from a teacher who taught in Louisiana until recently. I am posting anonymously for her sake: Dear friends, I am not writing you from New Orleans, and I do not know these students, but I taught in this area for 9 years, and after 3 schools that I worked in were taken over by charters with no relationship to the community, I left my state and moved to Atlanta to go to graduate school. Thus, it is so encouraging that students from two high schools have protested fake school reform and the “No Excuses Model.” Both schools have staged walk-outs over the past week. If you
Firedoglake: Arne Doubles Down on “White Suburban Moms” Gaffe
Blogger Firedoglake deconstructs Arne Duncan’s flawed effort to explain why he castigated “white suburban moms.” Duncan, he says, does not understand basic economics. Nor does he know that grading teachers has nothing whatever to do with improving schools. How many nations in the world are grading teachers by the test scores of their students? None that I know of. Instead, they have built a strong teaching profession that is judged by their peers and their expert supervisors, not by student test scores. Firedoglake writes of the putdown: It is the kind of condescending attitude one expects fro
What I Told Educators on Long Island About Common Core
On Monday, my first outing since I was hospitalized, I went to a meeting of superintendents and school board members on Long Island to discuss the Common Core. I explained why I was uneasy about the hasty implementation of the Common Core in New York, especially the inappropriate rush to test the Common Core standards before teachers had a chance to learn about them, before resources were available to teach them, and before students had had a chance to learn them. I warned that the Common Core testing was designed to fail 70% of the students. New York Commissioner of Education John King predi
I received this letter from a teacher who taught in Louisiana until recently. I am posting anonymously for her sake: Dear friends, I am not writing you from New Orleans, and I do not know these students, but I taught in this area for 9 years, and after 3 schools that I worked in were taken over by charters with no relationship to the community, I left my state and moved to Atlanta to go to graduate school. Thus, it is so encouraging that students from two high schools have protested fake school reform and the “No Excuses Model.” Both schools have staged walk-outs over the past week. If you
Blogger Firedoglake deconstructs Arne Duncan’s flawed effort to explain why he castigated “white suburban moms.” Duncan, he says, does not understand basic economics. Nor does he know that grading teachers has nothing whatever to do with improving schools. How many nations in the world are grading teachers by the test scores of their students? None that I know of. Instead, they have built a strong teaching profession that is judged by their peers and their expert supervisors, not by student test scores. Firedoglake writes of the putdown: It is the kind of condescending attitude one expects fro
On Monday, my first outing since I was hospitalized, I went to a meeting of superintendents and school board members on Long Island to discuss the Common Core. I explained why I was uneasy about the hasty implementation of the Common Core in New York, especially the inappropriate rush to test the Common Core standards before teachers had a chance to learn about them, before resources were available to teach them, and before students had had a chance to learn them. I warned that the Common Core testing was designed to fail 70% of the students. New York Commissioner of Education John King predi
YESTERDAY
President John F. Kennedy, R.I.P.
I remember the day President Kennedy died. I was 25 years old. I was living on East 86th Street in Manhattan. I was walking home to my apartment. A shopkeeper ran out on the street and shouted, “They killed the President.” More people started coming out of shops, looking stunned, weeping and in shock. I ran home. My husband was at work, my one-year-old was napping. I told the babysitter to go home
@thechalkface: Here is Where You Learn about Education Today
Tim Slekar and his colleague Shaun Johnson have been recording interviews and frank talk about school reform for three years. Here is a roundup of some of their top conversations: Karen Lewis, Nancy Carlsson-Paige, Peter DeWitt, and me. If you want to hear something different from the mainstream media, listen in.
Why Do We Rank and Rate Students, Teachers, and Schools?
I have been wondering lately why we are so obsessed with giving every student, every teacher, and every school a ranking, rating, and/or grade. It seems to me that we are thinking about children, teachers, and schools the same way we think about sports teams. In every league, there are winners and losers. But if we think about education as a culture that is very different from that of a competitiv
Financial Report: Charter Schools Strangling Public Schools in Michigan
Moody’s Investors Service downgraded the bond ratings of 53 school districts in Michigan. Public schools are losing enrollment to charter schools, and losing the ability to balance their budgets. More than 80% of the charter schools in Michigan are operated for-profit. According to the linked article, Justin Marlowe, a professor at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee who has written about local
EduShyster: Exploitation of Cheap Tutors by Charters
EduShyster has a guest post written by a young college graduate who took a job as a teacher at a “no excuses” charter school in Boston. When you read it, you understand what it means to have no protections, no one to fight for you. The young people banded together, and the best they could get from their employer was minimum wage, barely covering their living expenses. The post exemplifies why many
How Do You Spell Disaster? A Round-Up of Bloggers on Duncan’s Gaffe About the Moms
Jonathan Pelto has collected a long list of posts by bloggers around the nation, reacting to Duncan’s amazing statement that “white suburban moms” are opposed to Common Core because they were disappointed to discover that their child is not so brilliant after all. This is one of those remarks that just does not fade away and can’t be explained away as a misquotation or taken out of context. The me
Steve Perry Loses a School and His Cool
Valerie Strauss here reports on the travails of Steve Perry in Hartford, Connecticut. Two bloggers, Jonathan Pelto of Connecticut and Jersey Jazzman of New Jersey, have investigated Perry’s boasts about the magnet school he runs and found that his school serves very small proportions of children who are poor, who have disabilities, and who are English language learners. Perry is a “reformer” of th
NY Times: Many College Graduates in Europe Are Unemployed
This is a sad story, and there is a warning here for us. College graduates in Europe are having a hard time finding jobs. The story in the New York Times begins like this: “Alba Méndez, a 24-year-old with a master’s degree in sociology, sprang out of bed nervously one recent morning, carefully put on makeup and styled her hair. Her thin hands trembled as she clutched her résumé on her way out of
President John F. Kennedy, R.I.P.
I remember the day President Kennedy died. I was 25 years old. I was living on East 86th Street in Manhattan. I was walking home to my apartment. A shopkeeper ran out on the street and shouted, “They killed the President.” More people started coming out of shops, looking stunned, weeping and in shock. I ran home. My husband was at work, my one-year-old was napping. I told the babysitter to go home
@thechalkface: Here is Where You Learn about Education Today
Tim Slekar and his colleague Shaun Johnson have been recording interviews and frank talk about school reform for three years. Here is a roundup of some of their top conversations: Karen Lewis, Nancy Carlsson-Paige, Peter DeWitt, and me. If you want to hear something different from the mainstream media, listen in.
Why Do We Rank and Rate Students, Teachers, and Schools?
I have been wondering lately why we are so obsessed with giving every student, every teacher, and every school a ranking, rating, and/or grade. It seems to me that we are thinking about children, teachers, and schools the same way we think about sports teams. In every league, there are winners and losers. But if we think about education as a culture that is very different from that of a competitiv
Financial Report: Charter Schools Strangling Public Schools in Michigan
Moody’s Investors Service downgraded the bond ratings of 53 school districts in Michigan. Public schools are losing enrollment to charter schools, and losing the ability to balance their budgets. More than 80% of the charter schools in Michigan are operated for-profit. According to the linked article, Justin Marlowe, a professor at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee who has written about local
EduShyster: Exploitation of Cheap Tutors by Charters
EduShyster has a guest post written by a young college graduate who took a job as a teacher at a “no excuses” charter school in Boston. When you read it, you understand what it means to have no protections, no one to fight for you. The young people banded together, and the best they could get from their employer was minimum wage, barely covering their living expenses. The post exemplifies why many
How Do You Spell Disaster? A Round-Up of Bloggers on Duncan’s Gaffe About the Moms
Jonathan Pelto has collected a long list of posts by bloggers around the nation, reacting to Duncan’s amazing statement that “white suburban moms” are opposed to Common Core because they were disappointed to discover that their child is not so brilliant after all. This is one of those remarks that just does not fade away and can’t be explained away as a misquotation or taken out of context. The me
Steve Perry Loses a School and His Cool
Valerie Strauss here reports on the travails of Steve Perry in Hartford, Connecticut. Two bloggers, Jonathan Pelto of Connecticut and Jersey Jazzman of New Jersey, have investigated Perry’s boasts about the magnet school he runs and found that his school serves very small proportions of children who are poor, who have disabilities, and who are English language learners. Perry is a “reformer” of th
NY Times: Many College Graduates in Europe Are Unemployed
This is a sad story, and there is a warning here for us. College graduates in Europe are having a hard time finding jobs. The story in the New York Times begins like this: “Alba Méndez, a 24-year-old with a master’s degree in sociology, sprang out of bed nervously one recent morning, carefully put on makeup and styled her hair. Her thin hands trembled as she clutched her résumé on her way out of
NOV 21
Greg Anrig: Why Universal Pre-K Makes Sense
Greg Anrig of the Century Foundation here refutes the criticisms of universal pre-K, particularly those published by Grover Whitehurst of Brookings, who was George W. Bush’s research director. If you were reading this blog in 2012, you may recall that Whitehurst fired me as an unpaid senior fellow at Brookings–a position I had held for 15 years, on grounds that I was “inactive.” At the time, my b
Claudio Sanchez: The Crisis in Philadelphia Public Schools
Claudio Sanchez of NPR did an excellent analysis of the tragedy unfolding in the Philadelphia public schools. The schools have been under state control for a dozen years. When Paul Vallas was in charge, he implemented a bold privatization experiment, which failed. Now the schools are vastly underfunded by the state of Pennsylvania. Governor Tom Corbett can find any amount of money to give corporat
This Blog: Over 8 Million Page Views in 18 Months!
Thanks to all those who read the blog on a daily basis! The number of page views on the blog passed 8 million just a few hours ago. The blog started in late April 2012, so this is an amazing response, which demonstrates that there was a need for the discussion that happens here. My goal for the blog was that it would provide the information that supporters of public education need so they see that
Brilliant Analysis of US DOE Silly Plans to Re-Engineer Higher Education
Patricia McGuire, president of Trinity Washington University, has written an outstanding analysis of the Obama administration’s shockingly uninformed plans to redesign higher education. McGuire notes that Arne Duncan has an annoying habit of trying to marginalize critics by calling them “silly.” If there is anything silly, it is his ill-conceived program to make college more affordable by gatheri
Leonie Haimson Catalogues Mayor-Elect Bill de Blasio’s Campaign Promises on Education
Leonie Haimson created a list of the promises that Mayor-Elect Bill de Blasio made about education while campaigning. She draws upon various public statements, including his answers to a survey sent to all candidates. Here is another source. This was the forum held by Parent Voices NY at PS 29 in Brooklyn. Mr. De Blasio pledged to eliminate the A-F grading system borrowed fro Jeb Bush. The subject
Anthony Cody: Is Common Core a Fiasco?
Another insightful essay about Common Core by Anthony Cody. His earlier essay–10 Reasons to Oppose Common Core–was widely reposted and tweeted. This is how a fiasco begins, he writes: “The fiasco begins with a grand idea, planned with a bold vision. People set their sights on a goal beyond any they have ever achieved before. They look at failed efforts of the past, attempted by lesser beings, and
What Is It About Billionaires and Privatization?
This is a long article but well worth your time. It seems that EBay billionaire Pierrer Omidyar is underwriting a major new media venture. While he is widely hailed as a “civic-minded billionaire,” authors Mark Ames and Yasha Levine see him as a standard-bearer for what is called neoliberalism, in which free markets rule our lives. Since this will shortly go behind a paywall, read it now. Here’s
Greg Anrig: Why Universal Pre-K Makes Sense
Greg Anrig of the Century Foundation here refutes the criticisms of universal pre-K, particularly those published by Grover Whitehurst of Brookings, who was George W. Bush’s research director. If you were reading this blog in 2012, you may recall that Whitehurst fired me as an unpaid senior fellow at Brookings–a position I had held for 15 years, on grounds that I was “inactive.” At the time, my b
Claudio Sanchez: The Crisis in Philadelphia Public Schools
Claudio Sanchez of NPR did an excellent analysis of the tragedy unfolding in the Philadelphia public schools. The schools have been under state control for a dozen years. When Paul Vallas was in charge, he implemented a bold privatization experiment, which failed. Now the schools are vastly underfunded by the state of Pennsylvania. Governor Tom Corbett can find any amount of money to give corporat
This Blog: Over 8 Million Page Views in 18 Months!
Thanks to all those who read the blog on a daily basis! The number of page views on the blog passed 8 million just a few hours ago. The blog started in late April 2012, so this is an amazing response, which demonstrates that there was a need for the discussion that happens here. My goal for the blog was that it would provide the information that supporters of public education need so they see that
Brilliant Analysis of US DOE Silly Plans to Re-Engineer Higher Education
Patricia McGuire, president of Trinity Washington University, has written an outstanding analysis of the Obama administration’s shockingly uninformed plans to redesign higher education. McGuire notes that Arne Duncan has an annoying habit of trying to marginalize critics by calling them “silly.” If there is anything silly, it is his ill-conceived program to make college more affordable by gatheri
Leonie Haimson Catalogues Mayor-Elect Bill de Blasio’s Campaign Promises on Education
Leonie Haimson created a list of the promises that Mayor-Elect Bill de Blasio made about education while campaigning. She draws upon various public statements, including his answers to a survey sent to all candidates. Here is another source. This was the forum held by Parent Voices NY at PS 29 in Brooklyn. Mr. De Blasio pledged to eliminate the A-F grading system borrowed fro Jeb Bush. The subject
Anthony Cody: Is Common Core a Fiasco?
Another insightful essay about Common Core by Anthony Cody. His earlier essay–10 Reasons to Oppose Common Core–was widely reposted and tweeted. This is how a fiasco begins, he writes: “The fiasco begins with a grand idea, planned with a bold vision. People set their sights on a goal beyond any they have ever achieved before. They look at failed efforts of the past, attempted by lesser beings, and
What Is It About Billionaires and Privatization?
This is a long article but well worth your time. It seems that EBay billionaire Pierrer Omidyar is underwriting a major new media venture. While he is widely hailed as a “civic-minded billionaire,” authors Mark Ames and Yasha Levine see him as a standard-bearer for what is called neoliberalism, in which free markets rule our lives. Since this will shortly go behind a paywall, read it now. Here’s
NOV 20
NC Voucher School Bars Gay Students and Children from Gay Families
NC Policy Watch reports that Myrtle Grove Christian School will not admit students who are gay or who come from gay families. The school is now eligible to receive public funding under North Carolina’s new voucher program.
The Obama-Duncan Plan to Redesign High Schools
The Wall Street Journal had an article today about a new plan from the U.S. Department of Education to bring Race to the Top (such a glorious success!) to the redesign of the American high school. Unfortunately the article is behind a paywall, but I will summarize. President Obama will announce a competition to find new way to prepare high-school students for the global economy. It will of
Carol Burris: Who are the “Enemies” of Common Core?
Carol Burris has written an article for Valerie Strauss’ The Answer Sheet in the Washington Post in which she reviews the effort by Arne Duncan and New York’s John King to identify the “enemies” of Common Core. First, Duncan and King agreed it was the Tea Party. Then, as protests grew in New York, King said the enemies were “special interest groups,” but didn’t name them. Now Duncan says the enemy
Rhee Cancels Debate at Lehigh University
I earlier posted that Michelle Rhee and I would debate at Lehigh University in Pennsylvania on February 6. As you may recall, Rhee first demanded that we have two people on each team, then three people on each team. I readily assented and selected a wonderful second and third for the debate. Early on, Rhee said her second would be Rod Paige. My choices were the Finnish educator Pasi Sahlberg (a vi
What Happened When LA Gave iPads to Anti-Technology Waldorf School?
Waldorf schools do not use technology until sixth grade. They want their students to experience nature, “A strict, private Waldorf school might not have even accepted the devices. For more than 100 years, Waldorf schools have emphasized child development over skill development. “Instead of plastic dolls with detailed faces, for example, young children in a Waldorf environment play with toys made
Justice Departments Abandons Effort to Block Vouchers in Louisiana
The U.S. Department of Justice abandoned its effort to block the Louisiana voucher program in districts where it undermined federal desegregation orders. Republicans were jubilant. Millions of state funds will now be spent to send children to fundamentalist religious schools that teach creationism and have no curriculum or certified teachers. This is called “reform.”
Outstanding Teacher in North Carolina Reluctantly Quits
Chris Gable is a beloved teacher of language arts and social studies in Asheville, North Carolina. People consider him not just a good teacher, but a great one. And he is leaving North Carolina. Teachers’ salaries have sunk so low that Gable can’t afford to stay in North Carolina. Yet Gable, whose low salary qualifies his family for Medicaid and food assistance, finds himself on a path toward fi
As Students Are Buried in Debt, US DOE Pulls in $42.5 Billion in Profits
This is an astonishing article. The US Department of Education is making profits from student loans while the kids go deeper into debt. This is 21st century entrepreneuralism at its worst. Shahien Nasiripour of the Huffington Post writes: The U.S. Department of Education says it has been working to help borrowers who are struggling under the weight of crushing student loan debt. But as Washington
North Little Rock Turns Down Charter As Unnecessary
Arkansas is the home of the Walton Family Foundation, which gives heavy support to charters and Small change to local public schools. But even in Arkansas, there is local pushback. The North Little Rock School District turned down a charter application from the Capitol City Lighthouse Charter School, in North Little Rock. “North Little Rock officials said the school wouldn’t meet a need not alrea
NC Voucher School Bars Gay Students and Children from Gay Families
NC Policy Watch reports that Myrtle Grove Christian School will not admit students who are gay or who come from gay families. The school is now eligible to receive public funding under North Carolina’s new voucher program.
The Obama-Duncan Plan to Redesign High Schools
The Wall Street Journal had an article today about a new plan from the U.S. Department of Education to bring Race to the Top (such a glorious success!) to the redesign of the American high school. Unfortunately the article is behind a paywall, but I will summarize. President Obama will announce a competition to find new way to prepare high-school students for the global economy. It will of
Carol Burris: Who are the “Enemies” of Common Core?
Carol Burris has written an article for Valerie Strauss’ The Answer Sheet in the Washington Post in which she reviews the effort by Arne Duncan and New York’s John King to identify the “enemies” of Common Core. First, Duncan and King agreed it was the Tea Party. Then, as protests grew in New York, King said the enemies were “special interest groups,” but didn’t name them. Now Duncan says the enemy
Rhee Cancels Debate at Lehigh University
I earlier posted that Michelle Rhee and I would debate at Lehigh University in Pennsylvania on February 6. As you may recall, Rhee first demanded that we have two people on each team, then three people on each team. I readily assented and selected a wonderful second and third for the debate. Early on, Rhee said her second would be Rod Paige. My choices were the Finnish educator Pasi Sahlberg (a vi
What Happened When LA Gave iPads to Anti-Technology Waldorf School?
Waldorf schools do not use technology until sixth grade. They want their students to experience nature, “A strict, private Waldorf school might not have even accepted the devices. For more than 100 years, Waldorf schools have emphasized child development over skill development. “Instead of plastic dolls with detailed faces, for example, young children in a Waldorf environment play with toys made
Justice Departments Abandons Effort to Block Vouchers in Louisiana
The U.S. Department of Justice abandoned its effort to block the Louisiana voucher program in districts where it undermined federal desegregation orders. Republicans were jubilant. Millions of state funds will now be spent to send children to fundamentalist religious schools that teach creationism and have no curriculum or certified teachers. This is called “reform.”
Outstanding Teacher in North Carolina Reluctantly Quits
Chris Gable is a beloved teacher of language arts and social studies in Asheville, North Carolina. People consider him not just a good teacher, but a great one. And he is leaving North Carolina. Teachers’ salaries have sunk so low that Gable can’t afford to stay in North Carolina. Yet Gable, whose low salary qualifies his family for Medicaid and food assistance, finds himself on a path toward fi
As Students Are Buried in Debt, US DOE Pulls in $42.5 Billion in Profits
This is an astonishing article. The US Department of Education is making profits from student loans while the kids go deeper into debt. This is 21st century entrepreneuralism at its worst. Shahien Nasiripour of the Huffington Post writes: The U.S. Department of Education says it has been working to help borrowers who are struggling under the weight of crushing student loan debt. But as Washington
North Little Rock Turns Down Charter As Unnecessary
Arkansas is the home of the Walton Family Foundation, which gives heavy support to charters and Small change to local public schools. But even in Arkansas, there is local pushback. The North Little Rock School District turned down a charter application from the Capitol City Lighthouse Charter School, in North Little Rock. “North Little Rock officials said the school wouldn’t meet a need not alrea
NOV 19
Vasquez Heilig: Arne’s Top 10 Gaffes
Julian Vasquez Heilig has helpfully assembled Arne Duncan’s ten most outrageous mis-statements. His sneering comment about “white suburban moms” was the latest, but far from the worst of what happens when Arne doesn’t stick to a script.
A Superintendent Writes a Letter to Secretary Duncan About Those “Moms”
Following State Commissioner John King’s “listening tour” and Secretary of Education Arne Duncan’s insulting remarks about “white suburban moms,” Long Island Superintendent Joseph Rella wrote the following letter to Duncan: “Who You Callin’ a White Suburban Mother??? The Commissioner’s “Listening Tour,” launched after open, public meetings did not produce the results he desired, was replaced by “O
Common Core Is Big Business!
No wonder the big corporations and tech companies are so enthusiastic about Common Core. The education industry is an emerging market! Look at this Oregon-based company’s website, and you will see the possibilities. It will be supplying cloud-based resources for New York and other states. And what a team! Fabulous corporate experience. Wow! No wonder these business guys look down on teachers. You
EduShyster on John Arnold’s Hurt Feelings
EduShyster here recounts the sad tale of billionaire John Arnold, who apparently did not like my apology to him for a factual inaccuracy in an earlier post. I made a factual error in a post on October 10. I said that he left Enron with $3 billion. That was an honest error on my part. I wrongly assumed that is where he became a billionaire. But he made his billions after he left Enron. Imagine th
Another Hedge Fund Billionaire Who Wants to “Save” the Public Schools
Paul Tudor Jones was featured in an article in Forbes magazine. Raised in Tennessee, he is now worth $3+ billion and has decided that his new mission in life is to save the public schools. He has decided to start his mission in New York City. He has so many misconceptions about public education that I hardly know where to begin. Please, dear readers, is there one of you who will send Mr. Jones a c
Fordham Institute: Ohio Charters Fare Poorly on NAEP
The Thomas B. Fordham Institute is a conservative think tank based jointly in DC and Dayton, Ohio. I was a founding board member and served on its board for many years until 2009, when I decided I could no longer support its central focus on school choice and testing. I had tried to resign earlier, but was persuaded by personal friendships to remain as an internal dissident. One of the qualities I
Alert: White Suburban Moms Declared a Terrorist Threat!
Thanks to the warning issued by Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, white suburban moms have been declared a terrorist threat, according to satirist Students Last. “Citing national security concerns, “white suburban moms” have been classified as a terrorist group. Time to get a belly laugh from the national madness! http://studentslast.blogspot.com/2013/11/white-suburban-moms-not-very-bright.htm
Vasquez Heilig: Arne’s Top 10 Gaffes
Julian Vasquez Heilig has helpfully assembled Arne Duncan’s ten most outrageous mis-statements. His sneering comment about “white suburban moms” was the latest, but far from the worst of what happens when Arne doesn’t stick to a script.
A Superintendent Writes a Letter to Secretary Duncan About Those “Moms”
Following State Commissioner John King’s “listening tour” and Secretary of Education Arne Duncan’s insulting remarks about “white suburban moms,” Long Island Superintendent Joseph Rella wrote the following letter to Duncan: “Who You Callin’ a White Suburban Mother??? The Commissioner’s “Listening Tour,” launched after open, public meetings did not produce the results he desired, was replaced by “O
Common Core Is Big Business!
No wonder the big corporations and tech companies are so enthusiastic about Common Core. The education industry is an emerging market! Look at this Oregon-based company’s website, and you will see the possibilities. It will be supplying cloud-based resources for New York and other states. And what a team! Fabulous corporate experience. Wow! No wonder these business guys look down on teachers. You
EduShyster on John Arnold’s Hurt Feelings
EduShyster here recounts the sad tale of billionaire John Arnold, who apparently did not like my apology to him for a factual inaccuracy in an earlier post. I made a factual error in a post on October 10. I said that he left Enron with $3 billion. That was an honest error on my part. I wrongly assumed that is where he became a billionaire. But he made his billions after he left Enron. Imagine th
Another Hedge Fund Billionaire Who Wants to “Save” the Public Schools
Paul Tudor Jones was featured in an article in Forbes magazine. Raised in Tennessee, he is now worth $3+ billion and has decided that his new mission in life is to save the public schools. He has decided to start his mission in New York City. He has so many misconceptions about public education that I hardly know where to begin. Please, dear readers, is there one of you who will send Mr. Jones a c
Fordham Institute: Ohio Charters Fare Poorly on NAEP
The Thomas B. Fordham Institute is a conservative think tank based jointly in DC and Dayton, Ohio. I was a founding board member and served on its board for many years until 2009, when I decided I could no longer support its central focus on school choice and testing. I had tried to resign earlier, but was persuaded by personal friendships to remain as an internal dissident. One of the qualities I
Alert: White Suburban Moms Declared a Terrorist Threat!
Thanks to the warning issued by Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, white suburban moms have been declared a terrorist threat, according to satirist Students Last. “Citing national security concerns, “white suburban moms” have been classified as a terrorist group. Time to get a belly laugh from the national madness! http://studentslast.blogspot.com/2013/11/white-suburban-moms-not-very-bright.htm
NOV 18
Schneider: Arne Tries for Damage Control But It Doesn’t Work
After Arne Duncan made the grievous error of speaking frankly, his remarks set off a firestorm. So he tried today to walk back his comments, reinterpret them, spin them, remove the memory of what he had said, and make everything right. But it didn’t work. People are still buzzing about his original tasteless remarks about “white suburban moms” who discover that their child is not so brilliant and
Mom to Arne: My Concerns Are Not About Race, Class, or Gender
This mom was taken aback by Arne Duncan’s put down of “white suburban moms” who are disappointed to learn that their child is not so brilliant. This mom has actually read the Common Core standards and has serious doubts about them. She can’t understand why Duncan disrespects her ability to think and reason for herself.
Mother Crusader Comes to My Defense
On November 11, right before I fell ill, I gave two lectures in Princeton. The first was held at Princeton High School and open to the community. After dinner I lectured as part of a series at Princeton University. Two different speeches, but the message was the same. The High School speech was focused on New Jersey, the evening speech on national trends. Within a few days, I noted that someone fr
Commissioner King Makes Clear That He Doesn’t Care About Public Opinion
The New York Times summed up the universally hostile response that Commissioner King has received from parents and educators in New York at an ongoing series of forums about Common Core and its botched implementation. King should use these meetings to apologize for setting absurd cut scores (passing marks), aligned with “proficient” on NAEP, which is not a pass-fail mark, but represents solid achi
Guest Blog: Rachel Levy Questions Why Richmond, VA, Hired TFA
Editor’s note: While Diane is on a somewhat reduced blogging schedule, she has invited members of the Education Bloggers Network, a consortium of people who blog about education issues on the national, state or local level to contribute to her blog. If you are a blogger who supports public education and would like to join the Education Bloggers Network, contact Jonathan Pelto Jonpelto@gmail.com.
A Parent’s Letter to Arne Duncan
TeacherKen, aka Kenneth Bernstein, posted this statement by a parent on his blog at the Daily Kos. Arne Duncan unleashed a firestorm when he asserted that parent opposition to Common Core testing stemmed from the disappointment felt by “white suburban mothers” when they found out that their child was really not brilliant and that their public school was not so good after all. The mother who wrot
Anthony Cody: What Happens After Common Core Is Ousted?
Anthony Cody follows up his brilliant analysis of the flaws of Common Core with this thoughtful projection of what to do next. Cody believes that the standards are fatally flawed by the absence of any democratic process or review or trial. There is also the indisputable fact that the standards were adopted by 45 states without their review but because the federal government made the adoption of “
Everything You Wanted to Know about inBloom But Didn’t Know How to Ask
This is from Leonie Haimson, who has been the national leader in the fight to derail the collection of confidential student data via inBloom, the Gates and Carnegie-funded program. Read this: http://nycpublicschoolparents.blogspot.com/2013/11/nyseds-new-scary-data-dic tionary-with.html They are not collecting blood type, voter status, and religious affiliation (of course.) They are collecting: Stu
Schneider Deconstructs Arne Duncan
The Internet is buzzing about Arne Duncan’s condescending and insulting comment about white suburban moms who oppose the Common Core because they discovered their child was not so brilliant after all and their local public school was not very good. But meanwhile Mercedes Schneider found Arne’s message to the first Moms Congress, where he defined parental engagement in ways that would make ALEC an
Schneider: Arne Tries for Damage Control But It Doesn’t Work
After Arne Duncan made the grievous error of speaking frankly, his remarks set off a firestorm. So he tried today to walk back his comments, reinterpret them, spin them, remove the memory of what he had said, and make everything right. But it didn’t work. People are still buzzing about his original tasteless remarks about “white suburban moms” who discover that their child is not so brilliant and
Mom to Arne: My Concerns Are Not About Race, Class, or Gender
This mom was taken aback by Arne Duncan’s put down of “white suburban moms” who are disappointed to learn that their child is not so brilliant. This mom has actually read the Common Core standards and has serious doubts about them. She can’t understand why Duncan disrespects her ability to think and reason for herself.
Mother Crusader Comes to My Defense
On November 11, right before I fell ill, I gave two lectures in Princeton. The first was held at Princeton High School and open to the community. After dinner I lectured as part of a series at Princeton University. Two different speeches, but the message was the same. The High School speech was focused on New Jersey, the evening speech on national trends. Within a few days, I noted that someone fr
Commissioner King Makes Clear That He Doesn’t Care About Public Opinion
The New York Times summed up the universally hostile response that Commissioner King has received from parents and educators in New York at an ongoing series of forums about Common Core and its botched implementation. King should use these meetings to apologize for setting absurd cut scores (passing marks), aligned with “proficient” on NAEP, which is not a pass-fail mark, but represents solid achi
Guest Blog: Rachel Levy Questions Why Richmond, VA, Hired TFA
Editor’s note: While Diane is on a somewhat reduced blogging schedule, she has invited members of the Education Bloggers Network, a consortium of people who blog about education issues on the national, state or local level to contribute to her blog. If you are a blogger who supports public education and would like to join the Education Bloggers Network, contact Jonathan Pelto Jonpelto@gmail.com.
A Parent’s Letter to Arne Duncan
TeacherKen, aka Kenneth Bernstein, posted this statement by a parent on his blog at the Daily Kos. Arne Duncan unleashed a firestorm when he asserted that parent opposition to Common Core testing stemmed from the disappointment felt by “white suburban mothers” when they found out that their child was really not brilliant and that their public school was not so good after all. The mother who wrot
Anthony Cody: What Happens After Common Core Is Ousted?
Anthony Cody follows up his brilliant analysis of the flaws of Common Core with this thoughtful projection of what to do next. Cody believes that the standards are fatally flawed by the absence of any democratic process or review or trial. There is also the indisputable fact that the standards were adopted by 45 states without their review but because the federal government made the adoption of “
Everything You Wanted to Know about inBloom But Didn’t Know How to Ask
This is from Leonie Haimson, who has been the national leader in the fight to derail the collection of confidential student data via inBloom, the Gates and Carnegie-funded program. Read this: http://nycpublicschoolparents.blogspot.com/2013/11/nyseds-new-scary-data-dic tionary-with.html They are not collecting blood type, voter status, and religious affiliation (of course.) They are collecting: Stu
Schneider Deconstructs Arne Duncan
The Internet is buzzing about Arne Duncan’s condescending and insulting comment about white suburban moms who oppose the Common Core because they discovered their child was not so brilliant after all and their local public school was not very good. But meanwhile Mercedes Schneider found Arne’s message to the first Moms Congress, where he defined parental engagement in ways that would make ALEC an
NOV 17
NY: “We Are Listening but Going Full Steam Ahead Anyway”
New York is not known as a Tea Party state, but it does have large numbers of suburban moms and dads who care about their children and who are well-educated. Here is an account of State Commissioner John King’s public forum in Mineola, Long Island, where hundreds of angry parents and educators turned out to reject the state’s Common Core testing. How many more public beatings will John King subj
Mercedes Schneider Refutes Silly StudentsFirst Blast at Me
Some guy who works for StudentsFirst–the organization that promotes vouchers and charters and wants to strip teacher of all due process–wrote a criticism of me on Huffington Post because he doesn’t like the way I interpret NAEP data. This is silly because I served on the NAEP board for seven years and know its strengths and limitations. NAEP was designed to serve an audit function, never to be use
Bill Mathis On the Vermont Success Story
Remember the song, “Kids! What’s the Matter with Kids Today?” from “Bye, Bye, Birdie?” Watch this. It’s wonderful, and it reminds of how every generation thinks that the younger generation is rotten and declining. Bill Mathis is a former superintendent in Vermont and now serves as a member of the state board of education. He has steadily opposed the Bad News Club, which constantly bashes the schoo
Chronic Stress Is Not Good for Children
A mother writes: Environments of chronic stress are not exclusive to Title I schools in Texas. My daughter attends 3rd grade an Exemplary school in a university area of highly educated and involved parents. We are beginning to observe the over emphasis on rewarding performance, fear of making mistakes, perfectionism, and a lack of nurturing social and emotional development. Work is mostly independ
Nancy Carlsson-Paige and Randi Weingarten: Stop Testing Little Children!
Nancy Carlsson-Paige and Randi Weingarten have co-authored a terrific article about why little children should not be subjected to standardized testing. They write: Young kids learn actively, through hands-on experiences in the real world. They develop skills over time through a process of building ideas. But this process is not always linear and is not quantifiable; expecting young children to kn
Note to Arne from an Angry White Suburban Mom
A comment from a reader in response to Arne Duncan’s statement that white suburban moms are angry because the Common Core tests just showed them that their child is not so brilliant and their school is not so good: “This angry, white, suburban mom IS angry–but it’s not because I was delusional that my children are “brilliant” or that our suburban public schools aren’t that good. We have funding is
Tom Loveless: Be Wary of Ranking States by NAEP Gains
Tom Loveless of the Brookings Institution doesn’t like it when politicians play games with education statistics. In this post, he gives a lesson in the interpretation and misinterpretation of NAEP scores ranking the states.
Arne Duncan to White Suburban Moms: Your Kids Are Not As Smart As You Thought
Secretary of Education Arne Duncan told a meeting of the Council of Chief State School Officers that the suburban revolt against Common Core has a simple explanation: white suburban moms are discovering that their children are not as brilliant as they thought, and their schools are not as good as they thought. Here is a description of his remarks and the rationale behind them. According to blogge
NY: “We Are Listening but Going Full Steam Ahead Anyway”
New York is not known as a Tea Party state, but it does have large numbers of suburban moms and dads who care about their children and who are well-educated. Here is an account of State Commissioner John King’s public forum in Mineola, Long Island, where hundreds of angry parents and educators turned out to reject the state’s Common Core testing. How many more public beatings will John King subj
Mercedes Schneider Refutes Silly StudentsFirst Blast at Me
Some guy who works for StudentsFirst–the organization that promotes vouchers and charters and wants to strip teacher of all due process–wrote a criticism of me on Huffington Post because he doesn’t like the way I interpret NAEP data. This is silly because I served on the NAEP board for seven years and know its strengths and limitations. NAEP was designed to serve an audit function, never to be use
Bill Mathis On the Vermont Success Story
Remember the song, “Kids! What’s the Matter with Kids Today?” from “Bye, Bye, Birdie?” Watch this. It’s wonderful, and it reminds of how every generation thinks that the younger generation is rotten and declining. Bill Mathis is a former superintendent in Vermont and now serves as a member of the state board of education. He has steadily opposed the Bad News Club, which constantly bashes the schoo
Chronic Stress Is Not Good for Children
A mother writes: Environments of chronic stress are not exclusive to Title I schools in Texas. My daughter attends 3rd grade an Exemplary school in a university area of highly educated and involved parents. We are beginning to observe the over emphasis on rewarding performance, fear of making mistakes, perfectionism, and a lack of nurturing social and emotional development. Work is mostly independ
Nancy Carlsson-Paige and Randi Weingarten: Stop Testing Little Children!
Nancy Carlsson-Paige and Randi Weingarten have co-authored a terrific article about why little children should not be subjected to standardized testing. They write: Young kids learn actively, through hands-on experiences in the real world. They develop skills over time through a process of building ideas. But this process is not always linear and is not quantifiable; expecting young children to kn
Note to Arne from an Angry White Suburban Mom
A comment from a reader in response to Arne Duncan’s statement that white suburban moms are angry because the Common Core tests just showed them that their child is not so brilliant and their school is not so good: “This angry, white, suburban mom IS angry–but it’s not because I was delusional that my children are “brilliant” or that our suburban public schools aren’t that good. We have funding is
Tom Loveless: Be Wary of Ranking States by NAEP Gains
Tom Loveless of the Brookings Institution doesn’t like it when politicians play games with education statistics. In this post, he gives a lesson in the interpretation and misinterpretation of NAEP scores ranking the states.
Arne Duncan to White Suburban Moms: Your Kids Are Not As Smart As You Thought
Secretary of Education Arne Duncan told a meeting of the Council of Chief State School Officers that the suburban revolt against Common Core has a simple explanation: white suburban moms are discovering that their children are not as brilliant as they thought, and their schools are not as good as they thought. Here is a description of his remarks and the rationale behind them. According to blogge
NOV 16
Ohio Charter Schools: Are They Accountable?
The invaluable blogger Plunderbund in Ohio posted a description of the 150 state education laws from which charter schools are exempt. Are charter schools more accountable than public schools? Well, that depends on how you defend “accountable,” and how you define “public.” The question remains for Ohio’s leaders: If exemption from state laws and regulations and mandates is such a good thing, why d
Anthony Cody: 10 Reasons to Worry About the Common Core Standards
Anthony Cody summarizes here the ten major reasons to be concerned about the Common Core standards. Cody describes the closed-door process for writing the standards and the extremely limited review of them, which he rightly calls undemocratic. He notes the exclusion of early childhood education experts (and might have also added the exclusion of language acquisition experts, disability experts, a
Schneider on the Federal Demand for Student Data
Mercedes Schneider here examines the Data Quality Campaign. Why is there so much demand for student data? Why now? As she explains, Corporate education reform is designed to turn profits for privatizers. That said, in corporate reform, there are two huge money makers that will ”outprofit” all other profiteering: standardized testing, and data sales and storage. The two are inextricable. Consider t
Retired Principal: Deconstructing School Reform in New York City
William Stroud was the founding Principal of the Baccalaureate School for Global Education and is now Assistant Director for the Consortium for Policy Research in Education (CPRE) at Teachers College–Columbia University. He sent me this explanation of what he saw during this time as principal of a small school in New York City. Given the results of the recent mayoral election, and the arrival of a
Rob Miller, Hero Principal in Oklahoma, Reviews “Reign of Error”
I previously praised Rob Miller for standing up to Oklahoma’s Superintendent of Education Janet Barresi, who was once a speech pathologist but more recently a dentist. The parents in Miller’s school decided to boycott the state field tests, and apparently Miller did not do enough to discourage them. The state launched a massive investigation to collect every possible piece of evidence to find him
New York’s Teacher of the Year Is Not Rated “Highly Effective”
New York’s Teacher of the Year testified to the State Senate Education Committee that the education evaluation system made it impossible for her to be rated “highly effective” because of the “dysfunctional implementation” of the Common Core standards. Kathleen Ferguson, the New York State Teacher of the year, was also the teacher of the year in her school district, and has won several awards for e
Ohio Charter Schools: Are They Accountable?
The invaluable blogger Plunderbund in Ohio posted a description of the 150 state education laws from which charter schools are exempt. Are charter schools more accountable than public schools? Well, that depends on how you defend “accountable,” and how you define “public.” The question remains for Ohio’s leaders: If exemption from state laws and regulations and mandates is such a good thing, why d
Anthony Cody: 10 Reasons to Worry About the Common Core Standards
Anthony Cody summarizes here the ten major reasons to be concerned about the Common Core standards. Cody describes the closed-door process for writing the standards and the extremely limited review of them, which he rightly calls undemocratic. He notes the exclusion of early childhood education experts (and might have also added the exclusion of language acquisition experts, disability experts, a
Schneider on the Federal Demand for Student Data
Mercedes Schneider here examines the Data Quality Campaign. Why is there so much demand for student data? Why now? As she explains, Corporate education reform is designed to turn profits for privatizers. That said, in corporate reform, there are two huge money makers that will ”outprofit” all other profiteering: standardized testing, and data sales and storage. The two are inextricable. Consider t
Retired Principal: Deconstructing School Reform in New York City
William Stroud was the founding Principal of the Baccalaureate School for Global Education and is now Assistant Director for the Consortium for Policy Research in Education (CPRE) at Teachers College–Columbia University. He sent me this explanation of what he saw during this time as principal of a small school in New York City. Given the results of the recent mayoral election, and the arrival of a
Rob Miller, Hero Principal in Oklahoma, Reviews “Reign of Error”
I previously praised Rob Miller for standing up to Oklahoma’s Superintendent of Education Janet Barresi, who was once a speech pathologist but more recently a dentist. The parents in Miller’s school decided to boycott the state field tests, and apparently Miller did not do enough to discourage them. The state launched a massive investigation to collect every possible piece of evidence to find him
New York’s Teacher of the Year Is Not Rated “Highly Effective”
New York’s Teacher of the Year testified to the State Senate Education Committee that the education evaluation system made it impossible for her to be rated “highly effective” because of the “dysfunctional implementation” of the Common Core standards. Kathleen Ferguson, the New York State Teacher of the year, was also the teacher of the year in her school district, and has won several awards for e
