Glenda Ritz upset Tony Bennett.
She stands for genuine education reform. She believes in teachers. She was a teacher for 33 years.
She opposes vouchers, merit pay, letter grades for schools, and evaluating teachers by test scores.
She is a breath of fresh air.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
The results tonight nationwide are encouraging.
Congratulations, Glenda! Now that the President’s been re-elected, perhaps you could gather the rest of the state superintendents, go to the White House, and DEMAND an end to “standardized” testing, Arne Duncan, Race to the Top and Pearson!
Yes WE can!
Glad for some good news!
Need closure?
Watch Tony Bennett concede!
http://www.wishtv.com/dpp/video/video-tony-bennett-concedes
Based on that speech, Glenda needs to replace damn near the whole staff at the IN DOE. If she does not, IN will continue to suffer as they are clearly blinded Bennett acolytes.
I’ve watch education erode for 40 years. It will continue do so.
When teacher evaluations first came to be, I watched as they were used to reward those that suck up to the boss and punish those that were interested in teaching.
I’ve seen state tests used as drawing paper. Yet these tests are used to evaluate schools and now teachers. Bah!
If I was taking a long test for no credit or no other form of recognition, I would blow it off too.
Now we should work for Ravich to replace Duncan! Who agrees?
I do!
Congrats to Indiana!
Here’s hoping WA State gets good news with the charter initiative when the next round of ballot counts are released tomorrow. It’s failing in the most populous county – King County – with less than half of the ballots counted, but has a narrow lead in other counties. Too close to call as of yet.
As of now, the charter-school initiative is passing at 51%.
http://seattletimes.com/html/localnews/2019621664_elexcharterschools07m.html
Happy for IN, terrible, terrible day for America’s schools as we face 4 more years of Obama-Duncan
4 years of Romney would be even worse for America’s schools.
… Romney would be even worse …
MOUSEBENDER: Explain the logic underlying that conclusion, please.
President Obama owns “NCLB on steroids.”
Romney’s stint as Massachusetts Governor left that state’s improvements largely in place.
Whatever happened to “First, do no harm?”
yep, but doesn’t mean these four will be anything other than just as awful as his first four. Simply put, a disaster that will continue.
Hooray!
As an Indiana teacher, I am excited that Glenda Ritz will be our new superintendent of public instruction and looking forward the changes that she enacts. I believe that Tony Bennett and the reformers sincerely believe their reforms are in the best interest of students, and I do not believe he actively intended to dismantle public education in Indiana. Nonetheless, I think his reforms have overwhelmingly increased educational instability in the lives of our most struggling students and demoralized many amazing teachers. I think that bad teaching is largely the result of poor coaching and support, not inadequate incentives. I think that the same goes for “failing” schools. I am happy to see that we have increased the feedback mechanisms for teachers, and I hope to see a transition from a feedback model of penalty and finger-pointing to one of collaborative problem-solving and support. Within this framework, we can increase teacher retention, build long-term parent and community partnerships, and foster a stable academic environment for our students. And when a student asks, “you’ll be there to see me graduate, right?” I and my colleagues can answer with a confident, “yes.”
This one was worth a quote! https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=464506346925412&set=a.132992836743433.12039.132987906743926&type=1&relevant_count=1
I am very pleased with Glenda Ritz’s victory. There was much energy expended here in the South Bend area to highlight this race. Educators (of all stripes) in particular were highly engaged.
But let’s not kid ourselves. Mike Pence – a front man for ALEC and Engulf & Devour (Koch Industries) is the Governor-Elect. His party controls the state Assembly. As a teacher I worked beside yesterday said to me, “Mitch Daniels kept Tony Bennett on something of a leash. Mike Pence would take the leash off”.
So we’ll have a Governor who will make things very difficult for the new Superintendent of Public Instruction. And a legislature capable of starving her department of funds.
The bottom line is that while we citizens of Indiana dodged a serious bullet, we’ll need to be extraordinarily vigilent and engaged to promote policies which will truly benefit our youngest citizens. Fellow Hoosiers, I hope you’ll join me in dedicating your efforts to that.
Don Wheeler
South Bend, IN
I wish her well and sincerely hope she is able to maintain her position over time.