Latest News and Comment from Education

Sunday, February 3, 2013

MORNING UPDATE: LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH 2-3-13 Diane Ravitch's blog

Diane Ravitch's blog:

Click on picture to Listen to Diane Ravitch




What Lies Ahead for Education in Obama’s Second Term?

Gerald Coles here analyzes President Obama’s inaugural speech to divine what the President has in mind when he thinks about education policy.
Coles unpacks the assumptions.
The President seems to think of education only in terms of economic needs.
He sees children as global competitors.
He thinks that schools can overcome poverty.
It makes for interesting readin

Jersey Jazzman Evaluates Governor Cuomo

Jersey Jazzman has been wondering whether governor Andrew Cuomo would copy the bullying tactics of New Jersey’s Governor Christie or would he adopt the collaborative style of Governor Jerry Brown.
Those of us who live in New York wonder why it took our brilliant friend in New Jersey to make his decision.

Why Does Minneapolis Have So Many Segregated Charter Schools?

Minneapolis is one of America’s prettiest cities in one of its most beautiful states. But it has an ugly secret.
It has a charter sector that has resurrected segregation. Myron Orfield of the University of Minnesota Law School regularly tracks segregation in the Minneapolis-St. Paul schools. He says that seeing the charters–one white, one black–in the same neighborhood, feels like the Jim Crow era in the Deep South. Orfield estimates that three-quarters of the charters are segregated schools. Orfield’s 2012 study found that charter schools in the Twin Cities are more segregated and get worse results than public schools.
As NPR put it, summarizing Orfield’s study, said: “Nearly 20 years after Minnesota passed the nation’s first 

A Letter to Senator Tom Harkin

This reader read the article by Professor Helen Ladd and Edward Fiske and decided to write to Senator Tom Harkin, the chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee.
I am so grateful for Helen Ladd’s voice and work.
Here is a letter I just sent to Senator Harkin, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Health and Education:
Senator Harkin,
I urge you to hold a senate hearing to investigate the closings of hundreds of public schools this year around our 

National day of action for Garfield High School and Seattle schools boycotting the MAP:

This coming Wednesday, February 6, 2013 educators, students, parents and supporters of public education nation-wide will take action in support of Garfield High School teachers and all teachers in Seattle Public Schools who are refusing to administer the MAP test.
Learn more at the Day of Action Facebook event page and on the Scrap The Map Blog.
Supporters of the boycott will be wearing red on February 6th to show solidarity for the historic effort to put an end to the inappropriate use of the MAP testing scheme.

Mercedes Schneider Continues NCTQ Inquiry: Part 5

Mercedes Schneider has been reviewing the board of the National Council on Teacher Quality.
NCTQ gives grades to teacher training institutions and has positioned itself as a nonpartisan voice on the subject of teacher quality.
But what

MORNING UPDATE: LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH 2-2-13 Diane Ravitch's blog

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 7 hours ago
Diane Ravitch's blog: [image: Click on picture to Listen to Diane Ravitch] Should Select Schools Be Compared to Non-Select Schools? by dianerav A New Orleans research group says comparing select and non-select schools is wrong. Yet boosters of select charters do it often. A Billionaire Obsessed by Union-Phobia by dianerav What do you say about a billionaire in Idaho who sees unions as the biggest threat to the American way of life? As most people know, the number of people who belong to unions has declined dramatically in recent decades. As manufacturing jobs were outsourced to ... more »