Latest News and Comment from Education

Friday, May 31, 2013

Does Anyone Care? | Diane Ravitch’s blog ← NPE News Briefs

Does Anyone Care? | Diane Ravitch’s blog ← NPE News Briefs:

With fifth-grade test now revealed, New York’s tougher new reading exams set students up to fail, critics warn | Susan Ohanian Speaks Out

by Corinne Lestch and Ben Chapman; posted by Susan Ohanian – If you think you’re smarter than a fifth-grader, consider yourself lucky you don’t have to take this exam. A concerned educator leaked the Daily News a copy of a new, more challenging state reading exam for fifth-graders, and it’s as much of a doozy ...

A Bad Week for Anti-Union Education Reformers | Living in Dialogue | Education Week

by John Thompson; posted by Anthony Cody – I first recoiled at Arthur Levine’s tired old vision of schools in his Education Week Commentary “The Plight of Teachers’ Unions.” Levine seemed to argue that resistance against high-stakes testing is doomed. He seemed to believe that the future belongs to a new generation of standards-driven schooling. ...

Does Anyone Care? | Diane Ravitch’s blog

by Diane Ravitch – Two mothers meet at a rally to protest the school closings in Chicago. One mother shows the other her cell phone. It has pictures of children on it. It is a Facebook page. The second mother explains, these children will be killed if they cross the line into another neighborhood. That’s ...

Denver Public Schools teachers speak out againstlosing jobs | The Denver Post

by Zahira Torres – Emotions ran high Thursday night at the Denver Public Schools board meeting as dozens of speakers raised concerns about the district’s decision not to renew contracts for about 250 teachers. “In no place in the teacher evaluation system is parent perception considered,” Sarah Young, who has three children at Teller Elementary ...

Over a Half-Million Viewers Share Rubenstein’s Resignation Speech – @ The Chalk Face knows Schools Matter

by Jim Horn – Captured in 10 minutes here are so many of the truths known by teachers everywhere during these Dark Days. When teachers begin to speak this way while still employed, rather than as they walk out, only then will we see progress in rolling back the influence of the oligarchs to create ...

Los Angeles public education events for the first weekend of June 2013 | @ The Chalk Face knows Schools Matter

Los Angeles public education events for the first weekend of June 2013 Click here to see the list of events via Los Angeles public education events for the first weekend of June 2013 – @ The Chalk Face knows Schools Matter.  

@rweingarten has some explaining to do re: #AFT #commoncore survey | @ The Chalk Face knows Schools Matter

At the Chalk Face was joined by intrepid researcher and educator Mercedes Schneider for an interview in January of this year as she demolished the state of LA’s flawed school evaluation data. You can listen to that here. My, how time flies. Today, she really dug into the March 2013 survey of teacher attitudes towards the ...

I get these things from @educationsector – @ The Chalk Face knows Schools Matter

by Chalk Face, PHD – I get some emails about new reports from this tank of thinkers. Back in the day, man, I loved me some Sara Mead. But now, oy, some trifling neoliberal nonsense. Example from a recent message touting a new report on keeping “top talent,” or some other consultant terminology. Here’s an ...

The way out of the black poverty cycle | The Answer Sheet | The Washington Post

by Michael Holzman, a consultant to the Schoot Foundation for Public Education and author most recently of “The Black Poverty Cycle and How to End It”; posted by Valerie Strauss – It is becoming fashionable to argue that the low education achievement levels of African-Americans and Hispanics are caused by poverty.  This is tantamount to an ...

NYC Parent Explains Why Parents DislikeBloomberg’s “Reforms” | Diane Ravitch’s blog

by a New York City parent; posted by Diane Ravitch – This reader echoes a frequent complaint expressed by parents in New York City. Mayor Bloomberg’s choice program gives choice to schools, not students. Sometimes one wonders if he is literally aiming to drive middle-class parents out of the school system and into charters, which ...