Archives for the month of: November, 2012
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Shadowy Group in Arizona Fights 1% Sales Tax for Education

By dianeravitch
November 3, 2012 //
3

A shadowy group called Americans for Responsible Leadership is spending $750,000 to fight a proposal to raise the sales tax in Arizona by 1% to fund education.

The group claims it favors accountability and “transparency,” but refuses to disclose who is putting up the money to fight Proposition 204, which would make permanent a currently temporary sales tax.

Prop 204 would provide stable funding of education in the state, which is badly needed.

If you live in Arizona, please go to the polls to protect your schools.

 

 

Categories Budget Cuts

Did NYC Close the Achievement Gap in a Decade of Mayoral Control?

By dianeravitch
November 3, 2012 //
7

Aaron Pallas of Teachers College asks the question and shows that the answer is no.

Despite a decade of relentless emphasis on testing, accountability and choice, the achievement gap has barely budged.

Pallas writes:

“My conclusion? There’s been no shrinkage in the test score gap between 2006 and 2012, a period in which many of Bloomberg and Klein’s reforms have begun to reach maturity. If the only purpose of their reforms were to close the achievement gap, this flat-lining would indicate that the reforms were dead on arrival.

“That’s probably too harsh a verdict for a complex package of reforms, some of which may prove beneficial in the long run. And the point here is not a referendum on what’s happened in New York City as much as it is a demonstration that racial/ethnic group differences in test performance are stubborn, even in the face of efforts intended to minimize them.

“We are about to enter an era with a new set of Common Core curricular standards and new assessments designed to measure students’ mastery of those standards. The combination of a more challenging set of standards, a lag in the development of curriculum and the professional development that teachers need to teach to those standards, and assessments that are widely proclaimed to be more difficult than existing NCLB-style tests will likely result in plummeting rates of student proficiency in English and mathematics in the near future. Significant closure of the achievement gap may be beyond the grasp of educators who will be struggling simply to keep their heads above water in the next five years.”

Categories Accountability, Bloomberg, Michael, Education Reform, Klein, Joel, NYC, Testing

The Very Expensive Mandates of Race to the Top

By dianeravitch
November 3, 2012 //
32

The states unlucky enough to “win” Race to the Top funding are arriving at a startling conclusion: Race to the Top mandates cost more than the money that was awarded to the state and the districts.

Ken Mitchell, a superintendent in Rockland County, New York, did the math.

Mitchell determined that school districts in his county are spending far more than they receive as they try to implement the mandates. When you consider that Governor Cuomo enacted rigid tax caps on every public school district in the state, it means that costs (for Race to the Top) are soaring at the same time that the district cannot raise new sources of revenue. The result: layoffs, program cuts, larger class sizes.

Mitchell writes that in six districts in his county, the cost of RTTT implementation will be $11 million, but the revenues will be only $400,000. This is a deficit of more than $10 million that must be covered by district funds. Where will the money come from?

When you consider that there is no research base to support the initiatives demanded by the Race to the Top, this is, as he puts it, “a grand and costly experiment that has the potential to take public education in the wrong direction…” That is putting it politely.

The word is getting out. Race to the Top has no research base. Race to the Top is a burden on the states that “won” the money.

It will be a burden on the districts that have the misfortune to “win” funding.

The United Teachers of Los Angeles were wise to refuse to sign on to their district’s application.

If they won, the district would soon by laying off teachers to pay for consultants and experimental programs of no value.

Race to the Top makes guinea pigs of the nation’s public schools and their pupils.

I will vote for Obama despite this terrible program.

Categories Budget Cuts, Education Reform, New York, Race to the Top

The Record of Privatization: Look the Other Way

By dianeravitch
November 3, 2012 //
6

G.F. Brandenburg is a retired teacher who keeps close watch on the D.C. Schools and national trends. He is the blogger who discredited Michelle Rhee’s claims about miraculous results when she taught for three years in the early 19902 in a Baltimore school run by a private firm called Educational Alternatives Inc. In a comment about “the KIPP challenge,” he points out that experiments in privatization have been tried and failed. In “the KIPP challenge,” I called on KIPP to take over an entire small district to show what they could do and erase all concerns about skimming and attrition.

This is from Brandenburg:

There was one experiment similar to what DR and AR propose: a baker’s dozen of Baltimore elementary schools were assigned either to Edison/Tesseract or to remain as BPS. A detailed study was done by some researchers at UMBC; links to the study are at my blog. I won’t pretend to recall all of the details, but I recall from what I wrote and graphed a few years ago that there was essentially no difference between the two groups of schools in performance on the tests they were using at the time.

Except at one school where the principal and one of the teachers (one Michelle Rhee) devised a two-fold way of producing a small increase in apparent test score results:
1. Push out enormous percentages of students from one year to the next, and
2. Take advantage of the fact that the testers simply disregard the score of any student whose scores are below a certain level.
At that school, Harlem Park, attrition was much higher than at any other school studied, and the numbers of students whose scores were set aside was much higher than in any other school studied.

We all know that Ms Rhee later rode this small, fraudulent blip in scores to fame and fortune.

And what about this Edison experiment?

The city of Baltimore canceled the experiment because Edison schools actually cost MORE than the regular public schools AND produced results equal to or worse than the regular public schools.

Categories Education Reform, Rhee, Michelle

The GOP Destruction of Public Education in Michigan Continues

By dianeravitch
November 3, 2012 //
17

The people of Michigan have received the report of the “Oxford Foundation” on the future of education in that state.

The authors of the report have nothing to do with Oxford University or Britain.

They are not part of a foundation.

They are Republican operatives carrying out the wishes of Governor Rick Snyder to destroy public education in Michigan.

The ideas the report advances are Governor Snyder’s plan to make education “any place, any time, any where, any how, any which way but up or down.”

The basic plan is that anyone can supply education. It is not a public responsibility.

What we now call public education will disappear, if Rick Snyder and the “Oxford Foundation” has its way.

It’s into the free market, with spoils and riches for all!

Good education for those who can afford it.

Boot camps for the rest.

 

Categories ALEC, Corporate Reformers, For-Profit, Global Education Reform Movement (GERM), Michigan, Privatization, US Education

Big $$$ to Convince Bridgeport Voters to Abandon Democracy

By dianeravitch
November 2, 2012 //
13

Connecticut blogger and political insider Jonathan Pelto broke the story:

Corporate reformers and privatizers have poured record amounts of campaign cash into Bridgeport, Connecticut, to persuade voters to turn control over their schools to the mayor.

One of the big givers was NYC Mayor Bloomberg, who gave $20,000 to help Mayor Finch gain control over the people’s schools.

Mayoral control in New York City did not narrow the city’s achievement gaps.

Mayoral control has not improved the schools in Cleveland, Chicago, or Detroit (Detroit tried it, abandoned, and one of its recent mayors went to jail for various reasons).

The mayoral-controlled public schools of Washington, DC, have the biggest achievement gaps in the nation, double the gaps in other big cities.

Will the voters of Bridgeport vote to relinquish their right to elect their school board?

Can the public be persuaded by big money to abandon democracy?

Categories Bloomberg, Michael, Connecticut, Corporate Reformers, Education Industry, Education Reform, Privatization, Rhee, Michelle

NYC Marathon Cancelled

By dianeravitch
November 2, 2012 //
20

Responding to growing outrage, Mayor Bloomberg reluctantly canceled the annual marathon scheduled for Sunday.

Hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers have no power, heat or water.

First responders are still recovering bodies of victims.

The city is not ready to celebrate.

Categories Education Reform

What Can We Learn from PISA?

By dianeravitch
November 2, 2012 //
10

Pat Buoncristiani raises interesting questions about what can be learned from PISA.

Some nations see the international tests as a giant race, and their leaders all want to be number 1. This leads to more and more testing, but not the kind of thoughtful education policies that prepare young people to live in the world. There are no jobs that require bubbling-in skills.

If we could forget the horse race, we might learn what top-performing nations do and sort through it.

Pat is alarmed that New York State is blowing away $32 million on testing. How do you think she would feel about Texas spending nearly $500 million for the same testing?

Categories Global Education Reform Movement (GERM), International, Testing

This Is What the Public Library Does in a Crisis

By dianeravitch
November 2, 2012 //
9

I recently met Tony Marx, the president of the New York Public Library (and former President of Amherst College).

As you know, New York City is in the midst of a terrible crisis following Hurricane Sandy. Hundreds of thousands of people are without heat, hot water, electricity, or food.

Guess where many are finding refuge?

I received the following email from Tony Marx just minutes ago:

“I am here at Mid-Manhattan [a major branch library] which like 61 branches is open for second day despite subway problems and no schools. You should see this scene: every chair and inch of floor and rug being used by rich and poor, black and white, young and old New yorkers to read and write and work. Admin staff volunteering to fill in for those who can’t get to work. Amazing. We did have to cancel our Lions gala as we don’t have electricity in the main building but we can donate all the food to folks in Staten Island, where the news is getting more grim, I am told.”

The Lions gala is the library’s biggest annual fund-raiser. How wonderful that the food that was destined for that lavish event will feed people in Staten Island, which was the borough that was hardest hit by the hurricane.

Just a reminder of how valuable our public libraries are.

Categories NYC

NYC’s Disrespect for Its Teachers and Principals

By dianeravitch
November 2, 2012 //
13

A reader in NYC writes:

Diane,

People in Staten Island, which is the borough with the greatest loss of life, is getting very little assistance compared to lower Manhattan. Some areas are not getting food or water. Those people are desperate. When Bloomberg said yesterday that temps in the low 50s is not cold, I wanted to slap him through the TV since this is the same man who had a window-sized air conditioner installed in his SUV so the interior can remain cool during the summer when it’s parked outside City Hall. But the marathon will go on. I suppose if people from around the world and other parts of the US are already here, then maybe it should. But I worry for the people in our city who need the assistance of the police department. Looting is on the rise.

But I think you should know how heartless the DoE is being. Today teachers are to report back to work. The fear is that it’s for useless PD which I hope is not the case. But many are without gas and transit is still running slowly and the crowds are huge.

So what did Walcott do??? Late last night, when most people are asleep or not checking their DoE email, he announced a 10am arrival time.. I am sure the majority of teachers did not see that notice. This late start time could have been announced yesterday or the day before. It made perfect sense given the overcrowding on highways, buses and trains. The lack of common courtesy and respect for teachers is so evident. I wonder if Walcott informed his own daughter??? Walcott does not act without the mayor’s permission since mayoral control. This was a deliberate slap in the face to teachers, many of whom have lost property, living without hot water and electricity, or stuck in their high-rise apartments. Many of whom cannot find enough gas to get them to and from work. There was nothing to “prepare” for. Teachers know how to conduct a lesson on a hurricane and its aftermath. I just hope the teachers who show up today are given the courtesy to decide for themselves what needs to be done since report cards are soon due, along with any other paperwork for the ending of the first marking period, parent-teacher conferences, and of course preparing their classroom for November which usually requires new bulletin boards.

I sincerely hope they take the time to find out if any other staff or members of their school community need assistance and what they can do to help. Common Core and testing be damned!!

Categories Administrators, superintendents, Bloomberg, Michael, NYC
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