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Saturday, November 24, 2012

MORNING UPDATE: LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH 11-24-12 Diane Ravitch's blog

Diane Ravitch's blog:

Click on picture to Listen to Diane Ravitch



Walmart and the School Reform Movement

EduShyster celebrated Black Friday not by shopping but by thinking about ways that Walmart could really make a difference in the lives of children.
For example, it could provide their parents a living wage and decent benefits or allow them to join a union.
Instead, the Walton family is a big funder of charters and vouchers and other aspects of the conservative reform movement to privatize public education and break teachers unions so that teachers can be treated like Walmart


Justice Sotomayor on Sesame Street Explains that Teaching Is a Career

Thanks to Jersey Jazzman for discovering this gem from Sesame Street.
Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor explains to fuzzy character Abby Cadabby that there are good careers for girls like her.
Like teaching.
To have a career, you have to have training.
By “training,” she didn’t mean five weeks of training.
She was referring to a “career,” not a job.


Charter Schools Where Insiders Flourish

As part of its wide-ranging investigation of the financial practices of the state’s booming charter sector, the Arizona Republic identified numerous instances where board members and family members were self-dealing.Here are a few prime examples.
Of those highlighted here, this is the most startling:
$42.3 million for curriculum
Primavera Technical Learning Center
City:Chandler | Grades: 6-12 | 2011 enrollment: 3,160
Number of schools: 2 | Year opened: 2001
Payments: Damien Creamer and Vanessa Baviera Rudilla run one of the largest online schools in Arizona, and 


Checker Finn Opposes the “For-Profit Model in Education”

Back when I was a conservative, I was a founding member of the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation, which is now the Thomas B. Fordham Institute.
TBF was a continuation of work that Checker Finn and I started in the early 1980s as the Educational Excellence Network.
We advocated for liberal education and for higher standards for all students.
Checker was always more enthusiastic about choice than I was, but we worked together harmoniously in our 


Student in San Antonio Objects to Electronic Tag

A high school in San Antonio initiated a bizarre requirement this fall.
Every student is expected to wear an electronic badge, presumably so the district knows how many students are in school and can track their movement.
When a student objected on religious grounds to wearing the tag



LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH 11-23-12 Diane Ravitch's blog

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 9 hours ago
Diane Ravitch's blog: [image: Click on picture to Listen to Diane Ravitch] A Wonderful Article About Destructive Reforms by dianerav The New York Times has a terrific article today by Michael Brick about the destructive policies that are called “reforms.” This is the first time in my memory that an article in the newspaper of record–albeit an opinion piece–has acknowledged that both political parties share the same demented and punitive approach and that their ideas are hurting, not helping. Please read it. It gives me hope that our message is breaking through the elaborate public... more »