DIARY OF A PUBLIC SCHOOL TEACHER!: Fabulous Phone Call!: Go Ahead, Make Their Day!

DIARY OF A PUBLIC SCHOOL TEACHER!: Fabulous Phone Call!: Go Ahead, Make Their Day!:

Fabulous Phone Call!: Go Ahead, Make Their Day!

by Lisa M

While attending the 2011 PLC summit, one of the presenters told us about an experience he had while watching Family Feud. The question was, “What is the reason your child’s teacher is calling your house?” Not one of the “right” answers were positive, not one! Two of the answers were, “Your kid is failing” and "Your kid skipped school”. These answers only served to reinforce the stereotype of parent/teacher communication; we’re the bearers of bad news. 

About two years ago, we had an idea forced on us by our former principal. An idea I actually grew to like. We were required, every Friday, to call a parent or two, and let them know 

RPT-Obama, Romney spar over private-sector's role in education | Reuters

RPT-Obama, Romney spar over private-sector's role in education | Reuters:

RPT-Obama, Romney spar over private-sector's role in education

 By Stephanie Simon

Aug 26 (Reuters) - On the campaign trail during the past week, President Barack Obama talked a lot about education.

Making a bid for young voters and their parents, Obama accused Republican rival Mitt Romney of planning to slash aid to college students. Romney hit back by noting that Obama, a Democrat, has not been able to rein in the soaring cost of tuition.

But the differences between the two candidates on education policy extend far deeper than a war of sound bites over college costs. In an echo of their broader philosophical divide, Romney and Obama split sharply over what role the private sector should play in the U.S. education system.

Video of Mr. and Mrs. Rhee Lecture on “Ethics in Education” « Diane Ravitch's blog

Mr. and Mrs. Rhee Lecture on Ethics « Diane Ravitch's blog:

MR. AND MRS. RHEE LECTURE ON ETHICS

by dianerav

I received the following description of the appearance of Michelle Rhee and her husband at the University of Hawaii, where they lectured on “Ethics and Education.”
Rhee paused briefly from her national campaign to raise $1 billion to remove teachers’ collective bargaining rights, to strip them of tenure and seniority, and to promote vouchers and charters, to share her wisdom about American education.
One may assume that the issue of the cheating scandals in the District of Columbia was not covered in this 

Ethics in Education from Shidler College of Business on Vimeo.

UPDATE Diane in the Morning 8-26 LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH 8-26-12 Diane Ravitch's blog

Diane Ravitch's blog:

Does Connecticut Law Permit Opting Out?

by dianerav

A parent objects to Connecticut’s plan to test children in kindergarten, first and second grades and asks for your help:
Does anyone have any info on “opt out” procedures in CT? My daughter will not be subjected to this destructive nonsense during these crucial, early years.

Is This Institutionalized Child Abuse?

by dianerav

In response to a post about a new “reform” law in Connecticut that mandates standardized testing for kindergarten, first and second grades, a reader comments:
I have seen my students in first and second grade put their heads down on their tests and sob uncontrollably while taking district-wide assessments. I can only imagine what standardized tests will do to them. I keep 

A Teacher Is a Terrible Thing to Waste

by dianerav

This comment came from a retired and discouraged music teacher in response to a post about the damage done by data-driven instruction, in which focus is on raising those who score at 2 up to a 3, while ignoring the 1s (too low) and the 3s and 4s (they cross the barrier):
Yes, Diane, the focus is solely on raising the twos. It was the topic of staff meetings prior to my retirement as a music teacher–yes, we “specials” had to hear and contribute ways that we could do math and literacy in our 25 

A Shocking Story of Power Misused

by dianerav

Teacher Katie Osgood (Ms. Katie) sent this story:
There is a high school in Chicago called Social Justice High School. It was created after parents held a 19-day hunger strike under the reign of Paul Vallas. The teachers there create rich, relevant curriculum to engage their students. Unfortunately, Chicago Public Schools want the SoJo building–it is a beautiful space which was built in response to the demands of the hunger strike, one of the most expensive newer facilities CPS owns. And I’m sure the city’s charter schools would love a piece of that.
So, just a few weeks ago, the district decided to come in to purposefully destabilize the school this by getting 

Paul Thomas on KIPP Challenge

by dianerav

Paul Thomas of Furman University in South Carolina is so prolific and so well-informed (he taught high school for 18 years before he became a professor at Furman) that he has emerged as one of the most articulate voices in the education reform debates today.
This morning he posted an informative analysis of the ongoing discussion about KIPP on this blog and elsewhere. It is well worth reading.
I am aware that KIPP has a rapid response team, as noted in the first post. I don’t intend to keep this particular debate going. At a certain point, as a Monty Python skit once memorably said, back-and-forth becomes not a 

Connecticut Adds New Tests for Kindergarten, 1 and 2 Grades

by dianerav

Education reform is definitely found a home in Connecticut!
There, Democratic Governor Dannel Malloy wants to prove he is the biggest and baddest of education reformers.
Through his efforts, the Legislature passed a “reform” bill that mandates new standardized tests for kindergarten, first grade, and second grade.
No child in Connecticut will be left untested!
No, sirree!
Remember if  you will, that the three highest performing states in the nation on the no-stakes NAEP are: 

What Options Besides College?

by dianerav

Before you read this comment by a reader, let me say what I believe: Everyone should pursue as much education as they want and as they need. I believe that education is a human right and should be free through higher education, an investment by society in its future. Not everyone wants to go to college or feels the need to go to college; they may change their mind at a later date, and if they do, that’s okay. There is no reason that everyone should be expected to follow the same path to a degree. The average age of college students is somewhere in the mid-20s, reflecting the fact that many people start or drop back in when they want to do so. And that is as it should be. Higher education should be a matter of personal choice and readiness, not an 

A Teacher Writes the President about Merit Pay

by dianerav

A teacher in Boynton Beach sent me a letter he wrote to President Obama in 2010, trying to explain why merit pay doesn’t work. Obviously, no one at the White House or the U.S. Department of Education agrees with him. Since 2010, matters have gotten even worse, especially in Florida, where the Legislature mandated merit pay and provided no funding for it. No one at the White House or the U.S. Department of Education or the Florida legislature or any of the conservative governors seems to know or care that merit pay is not supported by 

What Parents Need to Know about “Reform”

by dianerav

Carol Burris has written an article addressed to parents, explaining what tests are good for and how they are being misused.
Send this to your friends, especially if they are public school parents.
She identifies three “reforms” that parents should be concerned about, involving the misuse of testing.
This is the “reform” that you should keep your eye on:
The amassing of individual student scores in national and state databases.
State and national databases are being created in order to analyze and house students’ test scores. No parental 

An Art Teacher Explains Why Class Size Matters

by dianerav

A retired teacher sent this post:
Larger Classes— Less Education
By Anita Getzler
 Listening to the public discourse on classroom size, it’s been suggested that the number of students in a classroom does not affect a student’s ability to learn. However, when I tell people that this can mean 45, 5

What Caroline Grannan Learned About KIPP

by dianerav

Caroline Grannan demonstrates what a parent activist can accomplish by diligence. Here she writes about her research on KIPP:
  I did the first known research on KIPP attrition in 2007 as an unpaid amateur blogger. I looked at attrition in all the then-nine California KIPP schools based on California Department of Education data. KIPP’s Oakland 

Paul Ryan and the Free Market

by dianerav

This reader makes an important observation about this post and Ryan’s celebration of the free market:
What I find most interesting is that in his own life, Paul Ryan has never made much attempt to succeed in the free market. He’s worked for the government for most of his adult life, and his family money is just that, money his family made, a lot from public investment in road building.

Elect This Man in Washington State

by dianerav

We who are concerned about the galloping trend towards privatization of public education often complain about the lack of public officials who pay attention or care about what happens to one of our essential public institutions.
I just found one.
He is running for office in Washington State. He is campaigning against the billionaire-funded charter initiative.

Video of Mr. and Mrs. Rhee Lecture on “Ethics in Education”

by dianerav

A reader sends the video of the event at the University of Hawaii in which Michelle Rhee and her husband Kevin Johnson lecture on “Ethics in Education.” We were fortunate enough to have a description of that lecture soon after it was delivered, and it was posted here.
http://vimeo.com/47902533

Video of Mr. and Mrs. Rhee Lecture on “Ethics in Education”

by dianerav

A reader sends the video of the event at the University of Hawaii in which Michelle Rhee and her husband Kevin Johnson lecture on “Ethics in Education.” We were fortunate enough to have a description of that lecture soon after it was delivered, and it was posted here.
http://vimeo.com/47902533

CNN Posts Interview with Me

by dianerav

A reader sent a link to the CNN interview, in which Randi Kaye pretends for a few minutes to be Michelle Rhee:
in case this has not yet been posted. CNN News Room posted the Randi Kaye interview with Diane Ravitch. There is a comments section which I’m sure we’ll use responsibly. 
http://newsroom.blogs.cnn.com/2012/08/24/randi-kaye-speaks-to-former-assistant-secretary-of-education-diane-ravitch-on-the-state-of-our-schools/

Institutionalized Child Abuse: A Lost Voice

by dianerav

Earlier this year a book was published titled Childism by the eminent psychoanalyst Elisabeth Young-Bruehl.
The subtitle is “Confronting Prejudice Against Young Children.”
Young-Bruehl argues that just as there is prejudice against other groups of people, there is prejudice against children, and she calls it “childism.”
Young-Bruehl describes the many ways in which young children are abused by parents and those who are 

Ms. Katie Explains What KIPP Does Wrong

by dianerav

Katie Osgood blogs as Ms. Katie.
Check out her blog. It’s terrific.
She is fearless and articulate.
In one of my earliest posts, I reprinted a great piece she wrote.

The KIPP Boast

by dianerav

I challenged KIPP to take over an impoverished district and to show how their methods could work for all children–the ELLs, the special ed, all kids–not just those whose parents entered a lottery. Jonathan Schorr responded by saying that would be abandoning their original mission. His snarky (and insulting) response appears as a comment on the original post. Schorr works for the billionaire-funded NewSchools Venture Fund.
This is a comment from Parents Across America activist Caroline Grannan in San Francisco, who has written 

Schools Matter: Defending the Indefensible: KIPP

Schools Matter: Defending the Indefensible: KIPP:

Defending the Indefensible: KIPP

by P. L. Thomas

Advocacy that remains blind to evidence is a dangerous thing—especially in the pursuit of equity and democracy.

Recently, Diane Ravitch addressed the misleading charter movement by challenging Knowledge Is Power Program (KIPP) charters:

If that is the lesson they want to teach, then I reiterate my challenge of two years ago: KIPP should find an impoverished district that is so desperate that it is willing to put all its students into KIPP’s care. Take them all: the children with disabilities, the children who don’t speak English, the 

Chester Upland board votes to work with school choice leader - Philly.com

Chester Upland board votes to work with school choice leader - Philly.com:

Chester Upland board votes to work with school choice leader

August 25, 2012|By Dan Hardy, Inquirer Staff Writer

• • Share on emailShare on printShare on redditMore Sharing Services

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Joe Watkins will guide the Chester Upland district.

The Chester Upland school board voted unanimously Thursday night to work with state-appointed Chief Recovery Officer Joe Watkins in crafting a recovery plan for the financially distressed Delaware County district.

Watkins was selected as chief recovery officer this month by Pennsylvania Education Secretary Ron Tomalis under new legislation that gives Watkins broad power to recommend closing schools, renegotiating the teachers' contract, making budget cuts, privatizing school management, and turning schools into charters.

Under state law, the board was required to vote on whether it would cooperate with Watkins in devising the proposal. If it had voted no, the law mandates that Tomalis would seek the appointment of a receiver who would help Watkins carry out the plan.

Story continues below.

Georgia makes parent volunteers in schools mandatory child abuse reporters. Is that a mistake? | Get Schooled

Georgia makes parent volunteers in schools mandatory child abuse reporters. Is that a mistake? | Get Schooled:

Georgia makes parent volunteers in schools mandatory child abuse reporters. Is that a mistake?

by Maureen Downey

Schools are informing parents of a law passed this year that broadens the list of people mandated to report child abuse to include volunteers at churches, colleges, clubs, summer camps or soccer fields or parents who chaperone a field trip. They could go to jail if they fail to report suspected abuse.
A Fulton parent sent me a copy of a letter she wrote to her legislator expressing  concerns about the law. A short excerpt is below. I asked the Fulton school system to explain this new policy, and the response is also here.
Like other systems, Fulton is following a state directive to notify all school volunteers that they must report any 

Schooling in the Ownership Society: "The creep of the marketplace"

Schooling in the Ownership Society: "The creep of the marketplace":

"The creep of the marketplace"

by Mike Klonsky

Larry Cuban was superintendent in Arlington schools for seven years, a former high school social studies teacher for 14 years and professor emeritus of education at Stanford University, where he has taught for more than 20 years. Here his take on changes in market influences since his days in VA schools.

My experiences in Arlington with businesses, while revealing tensions and occasional conflict, have been bland compared to current back-and-forth criticism among policymakers and practitioners about “corporate reformers” and “privatization of public schools.” What is more 

The Weekly Update: Word for the week- “Privatization” | Seattle Education

The Weekly Update: Word for the week- “Privatization” | Seattle Education:

The Weekly Update: Word for the week- “Privatization”

by seattleducation2011

The Weekly Update for the news you might have missed

“We spend lifetimes developing community assets, then give them away to a corporation for lifetimes to come.”

The same folks who brought economic disaster to the world as we knew it are now going after our public entities including public education.
We’ll start with this article by Paul Buchheit posted at AlterNet:
5 Ways Privatization Is Ruining America
A grand delusion has been planted in the minds of Americans, that privately run systems are more efficient and 

"As-Is"...Not "As-If"... - Woodbridge, VA, United States, ASCD EDge Blog post - A Professional Networking Community for Educators

"As-Is"...Not "As-If"... - Woodbridge, VA, United States, ASCD EDge Blog post - A Professional Networking Community for Educators:

"As-Is"...Not "As-If"...

It’s currently popular on social media to share memes that say something to th effect of, “Don’t expect anything and you’ll be grateful for whatever life sends your way!” I am taking issue with this sentiment.

If all you want to do is drift through life rolling with each bump and curve on the landscape, a “no expectations” outlook may be fine. No. Scratch that. Have you ever tried to drive with your eyes focused right where your hood ends and the road begins? Everything that your wheels encounter startles you. You’re not looking ahead to anticipate the traffic and potholes you will encounter in the next minutes. No one drives that way!
So why would anyone live their life that way?!

No. Living with no expectations is reckless and foolish. You’re not increasing your capacity to be grateful…you’re preventing yourself from appreciating the big picture by creating 

Pro-Choice - Teacher in a Strange Land - Education Week Teacher

Pro-Choice - Teacher in a Strange Land - Education Week Teacher:

Pro-Choice

by Nancy Flanagan

To live is to choose. But to choose well, you must know who you are and what you stand for, where you want to go and why you want to get there.

Kofi Annan

Back in the 1990s, we lived next door to a family with four children. Charter school legislation was new in my state, and "public school academies"--code for schools with fewer restrictions and public funding--were popping up everywhere. Including the middle of my traditional, middle-class, well-regarded district. The man who founded that school had some ideas that seemed fairly progressive: an ungraded structure with individual academic plans for every child, and an emphasis on Glasser choice theory. District leaders viewed the charter interloper with a mix of skepticism about its unconventional organizational model and anxiety over losing students.
Mom in the family next door confessed, in a backyard conversation before school started, that she had enrolled 

Most local school districts ignore state's anti-gay bullying law - First of two parts - LA Daily News

Most local school districts ignore state's anti-gay bullying law - First of two parts - LA Daily News:

Most local school districts ignore state's anti-gay bullying law - First of two parts

by By Phillip Zonkel, Staff Writer

Gay student Aly Mullenix at Lakewood High School on June 28, 2012. (Jeff Gritchen / Press-Telegram)

Editor's note: This is the first of a two-part series examining the bullying of gay students in area schools and how school districts address the issue.LONG BEACH -- For three consecutive years, Alyssa Mullenix, a 17-year-old senior at Lakewood High School, said she has been harassed with anti-gay slurs and physically assaulted by fellow students because she is a lesbian.
As a sophomore, Mullenix said she skipped her second semester because she didn't feel safe at school.
"I feel like a second-class citizen," Mullenix said. "It makes me feel less than human."
More than 70,000 California students are harassed because they are gay or lesbian or perceived to be, a 

Jersey Jazzman: Movies I Want To See: "Compliance"

Jersey Jazzman: Movies I Want To See: "Compliance":

Movies I Want To See: "Compliance"

by Duke

Wow - this looks like it was made for our times:

Popout

I really, really want to see this. What does it take to get a movie like this to come to Jersey?