This is the kind of result you expect to read in a red state.
85% of teachers voted to show their opposition to Commissioner Gist.
The business community supports her.
The students oppose her.
Civil rights groups oppose her.
How do you improve schools when the people who work in them don’t support or respect you?
This is like a general heading into battle without the support of his troops.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
LA School Report just sent an article saying our new Mayor Eric Garcetti’s wife was active with Richard Riordan in his school reform group. If true, this bodes poorly for LA and thus the Mayor may support the Villaraigosa/Deasy policy of closing schools rapidly. Hope not.
Sorry this had nothing to do with your post. Must leave for my university teaching gig and am rushing. Please go to LA School Report for the info.
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This report will be turned around to prove teachers are not “on board” and are against reform. The next step will be to remove the teachers
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Again…
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Not to be a pill or anything, but don’t we now have to write 500 posts about whether this misleadingly suggests this “vote” is representative of all Rhode Island “teachers” (as opposed to union members), whether the sample methodology is sound, whether the actual sample drawn is in fact representative, etc.?
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The more telling poll is on the Providence Journal website. Of the 21,124 votes, 73% don’t support giving her a contract renewal. This is a poll in which any reader can vote.
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That percentage was 80% at one time, and has been steadily decreasing as time goes on. Also, the unions WERE informed of the poll and members were urged to vote in opposition to Gist’s contract renewal. I’m just saying, to be fair.
There are about 14,000 teachers in RI. If we assume that half of them voted “no” on Gist’s contract renewal, and remove all of those teacher votes, we still get 60% of the rest of the voting population voting against Gist’s contract renewal.
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Very sound poll, paid for by the unions, but done by an outside group. Even right-wingers have acknowledge its legitimacy.
Diane, Rhode Island is a blue state but many, many Dems are DINOS. Lots of right-wing policies: pension theft, flat tax for wealthy, ed reform. Many policies are leftovers from past GOP governor Donald Carcieri.
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Boycott those businesses that support her! Send a message!
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It’s not just the troops. There is a growing dissent among the Officers. Apparently, there is a strong faction at RIDE who have come out (almost) publicly against her contract renewal.
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Hello, “edu-reformers” …
The strategy of ” do it because the “edu-experts” say so is NOT WORKING!
Repeat … It is NOT WORKING!
Hello?
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Amen! This DEFORM stuff is reprehensible.
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She says, “I base every decision I make on what is in the best interest of our students.”
The students don’t think so. The parents don’t think so. The teachers don’t think so…But apparently the business community does.
The adults who took the NECAP offered by the Providence Student Union implied that the test has little or nothing to do with career readiness or future success but she insists that it will be used to determine whether or not students get a high school diploma even though the State already knows that a large percentage of students, primarily urban, will not “nearly meet” proficiency.
I like the idea of high standards and “student” learning objectives. Parents, teachers, and schools should develop them with enough flexibility to meet the needs of their students.
I just don’t understand her internal logic. She has indicated that it is in the best interest of students to get a HS diploma, so how can it also be in their best interest NOT to get a HS diploma?
When questioned about increased failures or poor graduation rates because of high-stakes testing she says that a diploma has to “mean something.” Does that mean that all diplomas in RI before high-stakes testing are meaningless?
I base my decisions on reason, ethics, and feelings. Standardized tests aren’t reasonable or ethical and don’t care about the interests of the students.
I don’t think there’s a “skills gap” holding students back. There’s an opportunity gap which is exacerbated by a distraction divide as wide as the grand canyon. Maybe the Common Core focus on excerpts and lack of context has something to do with it.
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I teach in RI. It’s micromanaged. The evaluation rules constantly change throughout the evaluation process.
How can schools improve when the workers do not support her? Schools won’t improve with reform. We’ve been reforming for over 10 years. It’s getting worse. She will keep her “throne”, and everyone will keep doing as she says. Why? She instills fear.
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Repression fanned by fear does not work in the long run and only disheartens. Again, follow the money.
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What many people who are not residents of RI might miss in this is that the business roundtable that is supporting Gist’s contract renewal is the same cadre of assclowns who pushed the state’s investment of $75 million a year ago on Curt Schilling’s video game company (38 Studios), which produced one game and then flopped — leaving the state holding the bag.
Their track record leaves a lot to be desired.
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Hah…there, you have it. I ask, “where else?”
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