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Sunday, October 21, 2012

Diane in the AFTERNOON Diane Ravitch's blog

Diane Ravitch's blog:




Florida’s Race-Based Academic Goals

Florida, in its wisdom or lack thereof, has adopted different standards for different racial groups.
Quite frankly, this is abhorrent.
Every child is a child, period.
We should look at each one as an individual, not as a racial representative.
This is NCLB thinking squared, cubed, and absurdist.
It is racist, it is insulting. It should stop. Now.


The Upside of the Florida VAM Disaster

A reader called my attention to this comment by an anonymous teacher in Florida. It appears following an article in the Tampa Bay Times about the disastrous implementation of the value-added methodology in Pinellas County.
I was reminded when I read this comment about a conversation with an economist in Austin, Texas, who wondered if it might be fruitful to study the question of why “reformers” assert they are improving education when everything they do demoralizes teachers. How can one improve the profession, she asked, by making it unattractive. I hope she follows through, because this is a crucial issue.
Teachers in Florida, Tennessee, and other states are suffering under the inaccuracy and invalidity of value-added