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Friday, May 31, 2013

Diane in the Evening 5-31-13 Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all

Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all:






Leading National Groups Support Common Core But Insist on Better Implementation

A joint statement by the American Association of School Administrators, the National Association of Elementary School Principals, the National School Boards Association, and the National Association of Secondary School Principals expressed support for the Common Core standards, but called for more time to prepare teachers, students, and schools for the new standards. Their polling showed growing concern about lack of resources, lack of professional development, lack of public understanding, and an unnecessary pressure to assess students online without adequate preparation. A sizable number reported declining support in their state for the Common 

Should This Parent “Shut Up”?

This parent posted a comment expressing her outrage about tests that no child passed. She was told to “shut up.” Aside from the fact that this is rude language, it’s bad advice. Parents should speak up. They should organize. Alone, they are powerless. When they organize, like the parents in Texas who created Texans Advocating for Meaningful Student Assessment, they can turn a whole state around.
She writes:
“My first grader failed a 72 question benchmark test as did the ENTIRE FIRST GRADE. I begged for something to be done about all the testing. I begged for them to make any testing to be age appropriate. I begged for 

Dare They Send Their Child to the Neighborhood School?

Andy Hines, a writer and stay-at-home dad, describes his family’s debate about where to send their child to school. They live in San Diego, one of the nation’s best urban school districts, but most advantaged parents shun the neighborhood school. Instead they seek out magnet schools, charter schools, religious schools–anything but the neighborhood school.
Michael Petrilli wrote about the same soul-searching process in his book “The Diverse Schools Dilemma.” Should advantaged parents take a chance on the neighborhood school, where most children are poor and 

LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH 5-31-13 Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all

mike simpson at Big Education Ape - 1 hour ago
Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all: [image: Click on picture to Listen to Diane Ravitch] How Will inBloom Help Students and Schools? by dianerav As everyone’s personal, confidential information joins that big data warehouse in the Cloud, what are the gains? What are the losses? A reader sends this comment: ********************************** According to professor Jason Frand of UCLA Anderson School of Management: http://www.anderson.ucla.edu/faculty/jason.frand/teacher/technologies/palace/datamining.htm “Data mining consists of five major elements: E... more »