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Saturday, June 15, 2013

LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH 6-15-13 Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all

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What Ralph Waldo Emerson Might Say About School Reform Today

This arrived in my email. It came from a retired school teacher in Nebraska. He said the retired teachers will not sit by and watch the capture of our public schools by corporations. The retires helped to defeat a charter bill in Nebraska.
He wrote:
Hi Diane
Just received the following letter from Ralph Waldo Emerson with a request that I send it to the good people in 

Newark: The End of Neighborhood Schools

Newark Superintendent Cami Anderson has proposed the end of neighborhood schools.
All district schools and charter schools will be part of a pool. Or something.
Reformers don’t like neighborhood schools. They like a free market where everyone chooses and no one has any loyalties.
Michigan has boils he’d district lines and schools advertise for students.
This is the business approach. Typically, what happens is that students apply, but schools choose.
Karran Harper Royal, a parent in New Orleans, said this about the Newark plan:

How “No Excuses” Schools Deepen Race, Class Divisions

Experienced journalist Natalie Hopkinson is alarmed by the popularity of the idea that black children need a different kind of education than white children.
She is especially concerned about the KIPP model:
“As it built into a national network, KIPP students’ test scores soared, attracting media attention, and then millions in corporate and public support. It seemed, they had perfected the “formula” for student success– at 

How Great Is Choice?

One of the major “reforms” of the Bloomberg administration was to wipe out the idea of neighborhood schools for students in high school and middle school. The mayor believes in the free market.
It sounds better in theory than in reality.
In a city with 1.1 million students, this is no easy matter.
Read about it here.

Diane in the Evening 6-14-13 Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all

mike simpson at Big Education Ape - 3 hours ago
Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all: The Unfairness of the “Parent Trigger” by dianerav I earlier posted about Steve Zimmer’s resolution proposing a change in the Parent Trigger law to permit full information to parents, both pro and con, before taking a vote that might lead to firing the principal, the staff, or privatizing the school. An educator in Los Angeles sent the following explanation as to why this change is necessary. Under the law as it stands, Parent Revolution can advocate to make changes, but educators at the school are under a gag o... more »

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