Haimson: The Best and Worst of 2014

December 31, 2014 //

Leonie Haimson lists here the best and worst education events of 2014.

She cites the demise of inBloom as one of the best and the Vergara decision as one of the worst.

What would you add to her list?

Categories New York, Parent Groups, Privacy and Privacy Rights, Privatization, Students, Teacher Tenure, Technology, Computers

13 Comments Post your own or leave a trackback: Trackback URL

TeacherFromTheWest says:

December 31, 2014 at 7:45 pm

The disappearance of Michelle Rhee from the ed reform scene ranks right up there for me. Then, to have her show up as a board member for a fertilizer company? PRICELESS.

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- LLC1923 says:
  
  January 1, 2015 at 9:32 am
  
  Joe and Mika don’t mention her name. That’s PRICELESS!
  
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Robert Rendo says:

December 31, 2014 at 9:12 pm

The best of 2014: Diane Ravitch’s blog reaching milestone page hits and her readership base growing and getting more educated while getting more organized and mobilized!

The worst of 2014: Still no national single payer healthcare system and the Vergara Decision.

The best of all years starting with 2015 and into the future: we cannot, will not, don’t have the ability to, and never will stop our fight against injustice, inequity, privatization, the 1%, and the plutocratization of American democracy . . . . .

Put up your dukes, everyone; the fight is just starting . . . . . . . .

(credit: Janine Sopp and Fred Smith of Change the Stakes, Robert Rendo)

/Users/rachelcohn/Desktop/t-copy-8-page-001.jpg

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Dienne says:

December 31, 2014 at 9:47 pm

I’m kind of partial to Peter Greene’s 2014 highlights: http://curmudgucation.blogspot.com/2014/12/the-biggest-ed-win-of-2014.html

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- John Ogozalek says:
  
  January 1, 2015 at 7:57 am
  
  Nice recommendation. It’ wonderful to start off 2015 reading such thoughtful comments. I particularly liked the back and forth with the parent who had posted a comment. It was respectful and informative. It’s the type of communication that should be going on all the time in our schools….among everyone.
  
  Arne Duncan? Andrew Cuomo? David Coleman? Bill Gates? This is what is called a dialogue. D – I – A – L – O – G – U – E
  
  Best for the new year.
  
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  - jcgrim says:
    
    January 1, 2015 at 9:31 am
    
    John, You don’t get it. The rest of us should remain silent and deferential as our sages mansplain their brilliant plans.
Cosmic Tinker says:

January 1, 2015 at 8:14 am

I don’t live in New York, but I think Leonie Haimson is a truly remarkable parent advocate for children and teachers and she should be on the very top of every list of notables and their actions supporting public education. In my book, Leonie should be emulated and is right up there along with Diane.

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Laura H. Chapman says:

January 1, 2015 at 9:32 am

I tried to find the Dallas semester test for Kindergarten in art. This appears to be a “course” tes. This makes me wonder what counts as a “course” in art, who teaches it, for how long children are being engaged in lessons, how many sessions comprise a course and perhaps most important, what the aims of instruction are. The introduction of any testing at this level strikes me as absurd. I hope that someone can point me to one of these tests, to the “course” description, and answer the other questions.

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LLC1923 says:

January 1, 2015 at 9:48 am

Closing the inBloom national child data mining operation was definitely the top reformer take down in 2014. Leonie is admired for listening to the critics of Wireless Generation in Texas (where the corporate education mess started with funding from the Texas Education Agency). She connected the Wireless Generation, Shared Learning Collaborative and Amplify dots by following the millions in contracts to New York via Joel Klein, Rupert Murdoch and Bill Gates.

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LLC1923 says:

January 1, 2015 at 10:03 am

Parents are the reformers’ nightmare. TAMSA continues to stand up to reformers like Sandy Kress, NCLB architect and Wireless Generation, Amplify, and Pearson lobbyist.

http://www.tamsatx.org

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LLC1923 says:

January 1, 2015 at 10:14 am

It’s interesting that Texas was NOT selected for Obama’s recent Preschool Expansion Grants (PEG). That’s a win-win for Texas early childhood education and a lose-lose for Sandy Kress, Rupert Murdoch and Amplify.

Here’s a must read for those connecting the cash, grants and contracts –

Jason Stanford: Cashing in on pre-K testing
http://www.gazettextra.com/article/20140217/ARTICLES/140219722/1034

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jcgrim says:

January 1, 2015 at 11:05 pm

http://mediamatters.org/research/2014/11/20/report-only-9-percent-of-guests-discussing-educ/201659

My New Year’s wish is to see more of Leonie & Diane as MSM guests when discussing education.

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drext727 says:

January 5, 2015 at 7:47 am

Reblogged this on David R. Taylor-Thoughts on Texas Education.

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