The reader who signs in as Chiara asks a pertinent question: Where do Democrats stand on what is now known as “Ed reform” but is actually better understood as the Standardization Movement, the Testocracy, or the Privatization Movement. It attacks collective bargaining and tenure, as well as teacher education programs. It admires alternative programs for those who enter teaching with minimal preparation and with no intention to make a career in teaching. We know that President Obama and Secretary Duncan have fistered and applauded standardization, privatization, and teacher-bashing. Where do the Democratic candidates for President in 2016 stand?
Chiara writes:
“Has there been any pushback on Cuomo from the national ed reform “movement”?
“I’m told again and again that ed reform is not lock-step, that there’s debate and discussion within “the movement” but they never seem to call out any of their own members.
“I’d be interested to get some fellow Democratic ed reformers on the record on vouchers, for example. Do Democratic ed reformers now support vouchers? Do they agree that local public schools are a “monopoly” that must be busted up by the private sector? If they do, what is the substantive difference between Democrats and Republicans on public schools? Why would one vote for one over the other? Is there some substantive reason I should support the Democrats over the Republicans on public education? “
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Let me call Mr. Gates, and I’ll get right back to you on that, Diane.
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As, if they could, Republicans would probably abolish the federal Department of Education, there is no reason for teachers voting in national and state elections to support the Democratic Party and every reason for teachers to support the Republican Party. It is a question of survival.
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if I may correct one of your sentences:
“. . . there is no reason for teachers voting in national and state elections to support the Democratic Party and EVEN LESS reason for teachers to support the Republican Party.”
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“North Carolina sides with South Carolina.”
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I think you have to look at local elections to see the dissent amongst Democrats on education “reform.” The Working Families Party refers to my city’s mayor, Rahm Emanuel, as a “right wing ‘Democrat’ ” and, in a debate between his Democratic contenders for the upcoming mayoral primary election, all of them seemed to agree, saying they were against his privatization agenda for schools and other public services, and that they opposed his policies which benefit mostly billionaires. I think that’s a compelling turn of the tide, since this is the home of Obama and Duncan, but I have yet to see these kinds of opinions expressed on a national level.
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I found this web page: http://www.ontheissues.org/celeb/Hillary_Clinton_Education.htm
This is a compilation of quotes, public addresses and statements by politicians on a variety of subjects (education, included). The particular link above is for Hillary Clinton.
What is becoming very clear is that EDUCATIONAL REFORM knows no specific political party. There seems to be disagreement among potential 2016 presidential candidates on a variety of educational reform initiatives. Politicians are very smart. Though many of them have stood on specific issues in the past, what they REALLY stand for will not be shaped until the field and race for the White House narrows down.
Democrats / republicans? Who knows where they stand?
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I’ve given up on DC completely. They’re gone. Other than testing and strutting around scolding us about “accountability!” and “rigor!” they got nothing.
What baffles me is Democrats at the state level. I don’t understand going to war with the public schools in their own freaking districts.
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Chiara, the state level hostility to public education is especially puzzling when you consider that kids in public schools are usually 85-90% of all pupils in the state. They have parents and they vote.
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Oh C’MON!!!!!
Nearly all democrats have thrown public schools and teachers and parents and kids under the bus. They are spineless, indifferent, corrupt, and uninformed.
Diane, I wish you would realize that the blue guys are just as bad the the red guys for the most part. You have this “thing” about democrats being this and the GOP being that . . . .
Joe Biden and Barack Obama are pure filth. Sorry. I know that is harsh, and perhaps injudicious way to couch things in those terms, but let’s call a rotten stinky rodent a rotten stinky rodent. It is what it is and it can no longer be dressed up to seem like something we want it to be, like Lassie.
And I have never voted GOP. There are indeed very few very decent people on both sides of the aisle.
Maybe you are starting to change your views about that?
The line is blurred between both parties.
But we constituents are not fuzzy at all as to what we want and what is right . . . .
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You would think well-intentioned Common Core supporters would call Cuomo out. He’s using the Common Core scores to declare the whole system is failing. That’s exactly what public school supporters were afraid would happen.
As long as they get charters and vouchers it’s all no harm, no foul? Wow. Maybe they should let their constituents know they made this side deal then next time they’re begging for votes.
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Given the stealth Gates funding of Common Core, it’s development (at least the ELA standards) by people who’ve never taught a day in their lives, it’s inseparability from endless high stakes testing, I’d suggest that “well-intentioned Common Core supporters” would better be described as either “dupes” or “opportunists.”
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Robert where is this coming from? I can’t believe what I just read. I like it and by the way it was spot on. There is no difference between the two parties both are beholden to the same masters and sell us out at every turn imaginable. I am just glad more people are starting to see them for what they are.
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What do you mean, The Real One?
Where is it coming from? It comes from the facts and the voting records.
Doy.
On this blog, I have been saying this for a thousand years. Since Clinton. But I make exception for Bernie Sanders, Liz Warren, Barbara Boxer, and Dennis Kucinich.
Joe Biden is virulent and dirty, dirty, dirty.
I’d rather shove my face with my mouth open into a batch of roadkill on Route 66 then call Joe Biden a democrat. Ditto for Obama and his dead-end wife.
And then there’s the DFER . . .. Another heinous group of tricksters and opportunists. Let’s not forget about Andrew-I-hate-my-father’s-guts Cuomo.
Democrats?
They are all an insult to progressives and collectivists. And to the whole aura of what it means to be a democrat and at least balance out the overclass GOP. But their karma will come back to bite them in the swelled head, sooner or later . . . . .
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And one more thing about the democraps:
Everyone is a liberal and a social progressive UNTIL it comes to the pocketbook and election campaigns . . . .
Manhattanites like to think they are not GOP, but democrats. . . . .
HA!
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The political literature I receive from Democrats seeking money does not even mention education as an issue.
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I think the plan is to follow the GOP plan for K-12 completely and promise something or other on pre-k and college.
I don’t even buy the pre-k. Ohio puts money towards pre-k and pulls it directly from K-12 schools. They’re just switching funding from one area to the other. It’s not a net gain.
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It’s unfortunate most Democratic politicians continue to be influenced by the same Rubinite policy advisors (partially) responsible for bringing about our current economic malaise.
It’s a shame because there are economists out there with a track record of accuracy (and honesty) who understand schools/teachers cannot be reasonably expected to solve the pressing issues of inequality/poor social mobility:
https://www.jacobinmag.com/2014/04/unremedial-education/
We certainly need K-Tertiary Education reform, but it should only be one component of a comprehensive economic plan to address our long-term socioeconomic challenges. It’s also clear that privatization/standardization are completely counterproductive.
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Robert don’t fall for Warren she is Corporate stooge. The minute she failed to support a bill to audit the Fed because it would be meddling in private affairs I knew she was compromised. The Fed is the single most destructive financial barrier for families today. The Fed’s policies enslave us all under a perpetual cycle of debt. Furthermore, it is a private entity that manipulates and controls the wealth of most of the world and charges the US interest for printing it’s own currency. Interest that we as Americans have to pay. There was a time where we printed our own currency for free but now we pay interest to print our own currency and then that money is lent to the public and then hit with additional round of interest all in the name of making a handful of wealthy individuals richer all while keeping us all indebted. The funny thing is the money is backed by zilch its essentially just paper. Oh how far we have fallen in such a short time.
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I’m with you on Senator Warren. I’ve seen nothing to suggest she’s any different than the Gates/Duncan/Obama party line.
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I don’t disagree with the Real One’s basic premise. Adding a note, there was a time, before the federal government was politicized, when Americans could look to the Feds, for protection from the abuses of state government. At this point, the Kochs/Gates/Waltons, et. al., own the federal, and some state supreme court majorities, the national, and some state legislatures, and, the national, and a substantial number of state executive branches.
The death knell for democracy, about which Lincoln warned.
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Haven’t we been here before, though? With the trusts? How did that situation get resolved?
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werebat73
February 14, 2015 at 10:25 am
You said this:
Um… Jojo, you are saying that Raimondo won because Healey helped her (by stealing votes from Fung), and that the people who voted for Healey would never have voted for Raimondo. Something doesn’t make sense here.
Yes, werebat,
The people who voted for Healey did so because they could not vote for the witch who betrayed them. They could not vote for Fung either for he believes in getting rid of teacher unions like the jerk in Wisconsin did.
So22% voted for Healey. No way would he have won. They threw away their vote because we don;t have run off elections so the fraud won with 40% of the votes and with the help of Planned Parenthood Emily’s List, Bloomberg, the hedge fund investor John “Let’s get rid of public pensions Enron engage RI Arnold- Obama Administration money and lawyers/polticians around the country as she tooted her pension reform around the country instead of doing her Treasurer job thus putting RI with a 200 million dollar deficit she blames on the past governor.
Yes there is something definitely wrong. Raimondo is pro-charter and anti union. She ran on putting in private sector workers in jobs when elected and adding more charters.Is that a democrat? NO.
She made her millions with Point Judith her investment equity firm started with borrowed money from the RI state pension fund. Then she passed anti pension reform throwing the retirees under the bus in 2011 with a law that we currently will fight in court.
She is not a democrat- she like the Gen Asembly are DINOs.
Her husband is Andy Moffit, a 2 million salaried ed consultant and privatization pusher for McKinsey.
YES YOU ARE CORRECT ON BOTH POINTS>>I HAVE SAID IN BLOGS FOR YEARS THAT THEY IN BOTH PARTIES ARE IN BED WITH ONE ANOTHER..There is no distinction anymore because the Dems here are just like the Repubs…
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Are you aware that Newark, NJ’s embattled corporate reform superintendent Cami Anderson has the same connections to Raimondo that the recently hired Stefan Pryor does? She was hired by senator Cory Booker when he was mayor of NJ. Booker, as you probably know, is a corporate reform player who was college roommates with Moffit and remains good friends with him.
Before I learned all of this, I used to joke that Anderson might be chosen to replace Gist when she finally leaves.
Now I wonder if it’s a laughing matter at all.
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i had heard rumors but nothing substantial..if she replaces Gist we are doomed
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I don’t trust Warren either.
In fact, based on what I have seen in recent years, I don’t trust anyone with a Harvard law, economics or business school connection.
Despite their rhetoric, they seem to be a very elitist and shifty bunch.
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RI has a democratic gov, a lieu gov who was a mayoral school charter CEO/director till he won the election- and both Houses of state gov are all democratic…Guess what? They are all pro charter and privatization. And they all ran under the party “Democratic.”
I think your definition of democrat is really one called DINO, at least that ‘s what it is in RI. NO way does a real Democrat not be pro pubic ed but we have a Wall St shill anti union pro charter governor who holds the Democratic label, her privatization, $2 million a year salaried McKinsey Ed consultant, a former TFA hubby who believes in privatization and a lieu governor tooting school choice and charters! The derfinition of Democrat has changed over the years. These “Democrats are really closeted Republicans and DINOs but they say they are Democrat to get the national and lcoal Democratic money.
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Remember that we also have a DINO president, and regular Jurassic Park of other DINOs in high profile offices around the nation.
I know we’ve all been hearing it for years, but I think we really may be on the verge of a political moment when both major parties end up getting rolled into one, as they are really serving the same people. All it will take is a few charismatic third partiers who are savvy enough to start stumping for the voiceless folks who the Democrats used to actually fight for, and then following through.
It’s no accident that Rhode Island’s recent gubernatorial election had third partier Bob Healey win a shocking 22% of the vote — more than half of the winner’s 40%. This was a man who spent about $75 on his entire campaign and had the hair and beard of a hippy (respect to him, though, as he’s a bright guy who accepted the copy of Diane’s “Reign of Error” that I mailed to him and seemed to agree with most of her points).
Had Bob gotten a shave and a haircut, and actually made an attempt to get a modicum of funding — who knows? His campaign may well show us all some shadows of the future.
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Getting rolled into one? They have been rolled into one for decades! Nader warned you of it and nobody listened.
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I mean FORMALLY.
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He handed fraudmondo the election. RI cannot do third party elections and because he was there not to fight against Raimondo but to save the Moderate Party(his only reason to run was to save this party since the guy who was supposed to run got very ill) -so make sure you get your facts straight.
The 22% were people making a statement. They were dissatisfied democrats- teacher and union members who were told by their corrupt leaders to vote for Healey to make a statement.-being unhappy with both the Republican Alan Fung and democ-rat Raimondo who is really a DINO -closeted republican millionaire Wall St shill. Healey is intelligent, I grant you that…however, if he wanted to be governor, he would have gotten in on the ground floor. He chose not to..and when The Moderates asked, he could not say NO.
Never should have been the spoiler…Gossip has it that Raimondo couldn’t wait to have another 3rd person in the race–just like Pell was in her primary..Again, 3rd party candidates don’t make it in RI
Teachers and pension people who got screwed by raimondo would never vote for her…Raimondo got in with outsider influence. $8 million bought her the election and now she and her lawu=yers are asking to delay the April 20, pension lawsuit date to january 26, 2016 of next year.
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Um… Jojo, you are saying that Raimondo won because Healey helped her (by stealing votes from Fung), and that the people who voted for Healey would never have voted for Raimondo. Something doesn’t make sense here.
And in the end, you are reiterating my original point. The two major parties are both working for the same people, and the people they are NOT working for are getting sick of it. The Dem’s original power base has been scorned to the point where it is ready to look somewhere else for candidates to back.
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” These “Democrats are really closeted Republicans and DINOs but they say they are Democrat to get the national and lcoal Democratic money.” A LOT of that money comes from the NEA and AFT. The unions are a part of the problem, and they are no better than the politicians.
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One smart Fl teacher…you get it…now convince the many morons in my state who are clueless here! They think the Dems they keep putting in year after year after year are real democrats-they are 6 figure salaried lawyers
Minus 1 here. and another storm coming this afternoon (Sat PM-another 8-10 inches besides the three ft we have already within the last 3 weeks!) … High taxes and corruption should be enough to make me sell and move to your state where there is sun and warm temps and where they do not tax colas/pensions– what illegally the fraud gov took away from retirees and why I am in a lawsuit suing her and the state of toxicity…
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Obama’s strategist, Axelrod, found employment with the private University of Chicago.
Milton Friedman’s freshwater economists are, I’m sure, a welcoming lot.
Axelrod and his wife couldn’t stop patting themselves on the back for what he had done for the country. Unfortunately, the interviewer found no need to mention the 46% decline in Black and Hispanic family wealth and the, 27% decline in White family wealth, during the past 6 years.
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The problem with the question is trying to decide who the Democrats are here. Unlike the GOP, it’s a pretty broad tent with no litmus tests.
The DNC, the Hillary people, Obama, Cuomo, Kos, all those. Then there’s us – the actual Democrats, the real folks.
So I dont think you can give any kind of general answer to “where do Democrats stand on Ed Reform”.
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“Where do Democrats stand?”
Where do Democrats stand
On current ed reform?
In Arne’s chartered band
With seventy-six VAMbones
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Where do Democrats stand?
Hand in hand with the party of Rand
Together they roll as one merry band
When will we realize that both are just one
It better be soon or we will be done
I told you before you better vote green
The hope and the change is yet to be seen
The oligarchs order while they sit on their tush
You voted for a Dem but what you got is a Bush
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Excellent, both of you!
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What organization was it that did the recent poll on the top populist agenda items? Education was NOT in the top ten. Too many people are ignorant of or indifferent to the destruction of the public education system. We have seen the evident lack of knowledge of people sitting on the committee to reauthorized ESEA. Even with the testimony of real teachers I didn’t see any real shift in opinion. Teachers really are NOT respected. Can anyone think of another profession whose practitioners are ignored?
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Where do Democrats stand? As close to your neck as they can get their jackboots. Republicans too.
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The Republicans prefer the guillotine, and a substantial number of Democrats apparently prefer the pendulum. Take your pick…
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Off with our heads!
Same cut!
Same bucket!
Same blood!
The writing has been in the wall for years and we did not pay close attention, because it was ‘unbelievable’. How could that be?
We think children, they think $B.
To get to their $B, and the longer we stand in their way…off with our heads!
Real Teachers cannot protect the children and public education, unless parents are willing to step up by the millions.
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I was talking about this issue commenting on the Cuomo article….I thought Chiara made an excellent point…..I had said ”but there has to be more political pressure on democrats to be democrats. In many ways…” I thought this was a good response….
The only way you’re going to reach them is thru a state legislature. They have public schools in their districts.
I write my state legislator and list the schools in his district. I tell him I will tell as many public school parents as I can that he is not working for their public school. Show harm. List how his approach is harming existing public schools. You don’t have to go into principles or ideology or motives.
It is the one and only approach that gets their attention. They can’t hold those seats without public school supporters and parents. That’s just a fact, and they know it.
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Excellent plan of action. If multiplied across the nation, there is hope.
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The Democrats not surprisingly probably side with David Coleman and Bill Gates. They tend to be more gullible and probably believe what these leaders are telling them, i.e. That the Common Core with bridge the achievement gap between minorities and whites. When in reality The Common Core is about big money and special interests making loads of money from the selling of new technologies and textbooks. Thankfully there are more savvy and more skeptical Republicans who are going to try to fix things. Jeb Bush is not among these more savvy Repubs. This time the Democrats stand on the wrong side of education reform which is quite revealing of their number one
weakness, i.e. naivete.
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Watching David Axelrod’s sincerity, and his wife’s fawning, in a recent interview, I might be convinced about the naivete angle but, the batch in Wash., are products of Chicago, Illinois politics.
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It is very confusing. Here in Pennsylvania, thanks to Tom Corbett, democrats like our new Governor, Tom Wolf, uniformly ran last year as pro-public education candidates. Wolf’s proposed Education Secretary wants to review current teacher evaluation policies, has expressed concern about over testing, and is an advocate for urban districts and a former PFT activist in Philadelphia. Wolf sought the support of the teachers unions in the state. Yesterday he proposed taxing the frackers (after years of Corbett’s refusal) to pay for public schools and today he announced a moratorium on the Pennsylvania death penalty. Still, one of the leading democrat candidates for mayor in Philadelphia (there has not been a Republican elected mayor here since 1948), is taking money from pro-charter school PACs, wants more charters approved in Philadelphia (which Wolf opposes), and is anti-union.
If the national Democratic Party leadership had any brains, they would learn from Tom Wolf about how to give people reasons to vote and move their education policies out of the lock-step they are caught in with Republicans. But I have my doubts. Many of them, like Ed Rendell, Biden, and Debbie Wasserman-Schultz just spent the past several weeks visiting Philadelphia, being wined and dined and touring the city before announcing that their 2016 convention will be held here. Did any of them take even a moment to visit the Philadelphia public schools and see for themselves how their constituents’ children being denied the resources for a proper education because of “reform” policies they have instituted and continue to senselessly enforce? No, because for most of them, the DINOs, money is their only concern and motivation.
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I am from Florida and I will be the first to tell you that Debbie Wasserman Schulz is nothing but an Obama cheerleader and apologist. i wouldn’t listen to a word that imbecile has to say. Of course she did not visit the schools of Philly, she is too busy boycotting businesses who don’t offer contraceptives though their insurance policies. Maybe if she was busy tackling the real issues we are facing today we would actually see some progression in this Country. How do these idiots become these so called leaders? You are actually lucky that woman stayed away you saved yourself a massive headache and you are probably smarter because of it.
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Cynically, it seems the only issue left in the Democratic platform is reproductive rights for women of means.
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You need to hold ALL candidates accountable for their positions. Bernie Sanders is looking better all the time.
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Bernie is the real thing. He’s just as pissed and you and me. I hope the CIA leaves him alone . . . . He does threaten the establishment at least with his rhetoric and voting record.
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Bernie is indeed the real deal. Here’s his wonderful take on Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address.
http://www.sanders.senate.gov/newsroom/video-audio/of-the-billionaires?utm_source=berniebuzz&utm_medium=email&utm_content=Bernies+speech+at+The+Brookings+Institution+prompt_url&utm_campaign=National+Bernie+Buzz+02-13
If he could get his message out to the masses, Gates and company wouldn’t stand a chance. But, alas, our Supreme Court won’t let that happen.
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Bernie Sanders is actually better than 90% of the field.
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Come to CO! We Democrats are fighting the Tea Party because a new school board has inserted all those things. If only the Lazy Ds would have voted in the last election. Elections do have consequences. Mary Patee
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I agree!
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Thank you for bringing this up. Is there a site anywhere that almost impossible to get clear answers regarding the positions of Democratic Senators and Representatives on charter schools and vouchers. We really need to get them all on record.
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Oops-my previous comment got accidentally sent before complete. Please excuse the jumbled and incomplete sentences. I meant to say it’s very difficult to find out where elected Democrats stand on charters and vouchers. The “On the Issues” site is helpful regarding leading national candidates, but we also very much need a “go to” source that finds out and clearly reports the positions of all our Senators and Representatives. Does such a site already exist or perhaps is in process somewhere?
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Chiara and all:
Good point! I follow all the conversations here and elsewhere about ed reform. All the places that speak about reform to the confused public, do not offer any insight to the truth…like we see here.
I believe that the NPE is going to be the authoritative source with a following and a platform on which we — the teachers — can speak.
What would a teacher have to say? The professional pedagogue would speak out about what must be present __ i.e. What IS crucial and NECESSARY for the classroom professional to facilitate and enable children to acquire skills and knowledge. The teacher knows what principles of learning must be in play. The vocabulary would change in the conversations out there, from words about ‘schools’ and ‘teaching’ to vocabulary about LEARNING, AND THE SUPPORT SERVICES THAT WERE ONCE PROVIDED BY THE ADMINISTRATION.
The NPE’s directors and its president know the facts about the ‘reform’ movement, and can contrast the lies with the truth. The conversation can be turned to what works, instead of what FAILS to work.(more about the politics of shame, later, for that is the bottom line on this endless narrative about failing.
The NPE is not like the NEA or the UFT — which are older organizations with their own politics. If experiences is the teacher, I and all my friends who saw our profession destroyed, know that they have not offered ALL the facts about why the schools have failed, or the enormous conspiracy ongoing RIGHT NOW in the legislatures to end public education.
THE “P.E.” IN NPE, STANDS FOR Public education.
It is THE INSTITUTION of public education, not ‘schools’, not ‘teaching’, and certainly not testing, which needs to be the center of the narrative.
This network — the N — in NPE, is a network of educators.
The NPE network includes academic scholars like Diane, principals like Carol, writer/activists like Anthony, and the crucial voice… the classroom practitioner whom Duncan calls ‘teachers,’ but who are the ONLY ones who must face a room full of children, and meet the objectives for their age, and for the content.
The teacher at the bottom is the one who is blamed, and SHAMED, often and publicly by this testing process.
TED talks deepened the conversation about shame:
http://www.ted.com/conversations/10228/deepening_the_conversation_d.html
I heard Jennifer Jacqueta
http://www.randomhouse.com/book/218202/is-shame-necessary-by-jennifer-jacquet
in an NYC interview talking about the way shame is used these days as a tool, and it reminded me of conversations right here, about how these tests which appear to be addressing effectiveness’ have another side –the one that shames teachers and students for failure, with words — ‘ineffective’ . Shaming the professional so they can ‘fix’ the schools shames the kids too, calling them failures. No wonder they don’t want to go to school if their performance is rated by tests that do not demonstrate what they CAN do, but how they failed.
We ‘teachers’ are the voice of experience, and that is why we had to be shamed into silence, first. Now, VAM and PARCC are the second assault to ensure that no teachers get to voice their concerns when anti-learning mandates and agendas from the top-down.
I hope, at the NPE — like here at this blog — the classroom teacher has a voice that carries some weight. It is hard to be at the bottom, to know (WITTT) what it takes to teach, and to hear all the pundits and authorities, the experts and the academic speak about what is wrong and what needs to be done when– je suis ‘teacher’… the grunt on the line who takes the blame for everything, and has no platform to speak as a teacher about learning, and WHAT IT IS that we PROFESSIONALS actually do.
If the VOICE of the classroom practitioner does not enter the national conversation (about the PROFESSION AND WITTT) then people will believe the insanity espoused by GOP morons like Wisconsin governor Walker.
“His view of teaching is apparently that anybody can do it. His plan would be to let people with ‘real-life experience’ just take a test to demonstrate that they knew their subject matter. It appears to require no training whatsoever in the actual art of teaching — ” ‘ We’re requiring more rigor of our students, but this certainly seems like a decrease in the rigor we require of our teachers.’ ”
As Gail Collins finishes that article by saying:
“if you believe that teaching is a skill that it takes years of practice to master, you also do not want to encourage politicians to save money by canning the most expensive and most experienced teachers.”
I say, well, if the public has some real talk about pedagogy, WITT, like they do when doctors explain complex practice of medicine, then maybe they could judge for themselves whether the teachers in their school are PROMOTING LEARNING in ways that KIDS LEARN!
It is time that the NPE introduces and PROMOTES the voice from the bottom-up, the professional pedagogue who KNOWS WHAT LEARNING LOOKS LIKE, and can explain to the public what Duncan cannot, and what all the academics talking about whats wrong with deform have not… the principles that underlie learning… or what needs to be in your kid’s classroom for him to acquire skills and knowledge!
Where is the conversation about what a lesson looks like, how a professional chooses materials and why that is crucial? A teacher is NOT a trained mechanic, or a trained medic, but an educated pedagogue who knows how the human brain works!
And that, by the way is ME!
Here is the question :How could this happen?
Think about this, to understand the reality for us at the bottom,: :NYC principal Denise Levine, and Superintendent Elaine Fink charged me with incompetence, a year after I was the NYS Educator of Excellence for the very years I was the Harvard choice for the NYC cohort in the Pew research — the Real (disappeared) standards research. So, if I was among the top six teachers studied for effective learning in a study of tens of thousands… what did I do wrong?
One of hundreds of letters from former students now adults: “ look back to the days in your class and know that you had such an enormous impact on or lives till this day. You encouraged us to be creative, patient and yet free, a most valuable lesson. We joke sometimes that your class was better than our sophomore year college literature class, but actually it’ not funny at all- its true. I still have the assignments you gave us and cherish them, and still remember the books you had us read. I remember feeling so confident in your class, a feeling no other teacher made me feel at that confusing time in a teenagers life. You combined a perfect balance of discipline and a genuine love of teaching young people, a quality which so many teachers lack in the public school systems and therefore deeply saddens me to hear that you are no longer teaching there.”
YUP! And there was no VAM in the nineties, just a powerless teacher and an entrenched, corrupt bureaucracy, and a public that has no idea WITTT, what supports learning and what professional knowledge it requires to enable a human brian to learn. Because ALL the conversations that the public hears is about deform and reform, and it leaves the average person stupefied.
Oh, and FYI, although I had a major publisher (before they shamed me out) asked me to write a book which explains how I did what I did, no one asks ME to speak about what I did, or what I know. Not at the NPE or anywhere! And THAT says it all!
Susan Lee Schwartz
Feb 13, 2015
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I will not vote for any Democrat at any level who promotes or goes along with the reform movement. I know that’s risky, and a reason that Republicans may win, but it is a matter of both self-respect and politics: If teachers keep voting for these people, they will not stop.
I hope that one outcome of this war on public education will be the development of a third political party, or more. We obviously need more. We need more choices. We need more choices. Give us choice. The reformers ought to understand that, right?
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You said this:
I will not vote for any Democrat at any level who promotes or goes along with the reform movement. I know that’s risky, and a reason that Republicans may win, but it is a matter of both self-respect and politics: If teachers keep voting for these people, they will not stop.
We teachers in RI tried this in last election here in RI but it didn’t work..there was a third party candidate that was the spoiler and so the democrats elected fraudmondo the DINO who ran as a democrat. Had it been just 2 candidates the republican who is workable would have won. #rd party candidates become spoilers and they help the one you don’t want to see win!
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The spoilers are the horrendous Repubs and Dems. Your strategy backfired because too many morons voted for the lesser of the two evils in order to remain loyal to the farce that is the two party monopoly. If more people stopped the ass backwards logic of viewing viable third parties as throw away votes instead of actual alternatives then things would change, until then continue to put up with your Bush’s and Clinton’s both of which are identically the same in the long run.
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You’re wrong… the spoilers are not the Dems and Repubs..they are the greedy “in bed together “hypocrites that promise favors to voters and then renegs when elected. You’re correct saying people voted for the lesser of 2 evils with Healey getting the 22% third party vote and also because if the Master Lever the democrats gave Raimondo the election. The illegals bussed in to the polling places by the scumbag Congressional rep in my state does not help the situation either. They voted her and all the Democrats running in this past elections all in.
In reality & in RI the third party vote will always be a throw away vote regardless of your correct assumption (view 3rd party as an actual alternative) because the third party candidate entered late and not for the right reasons. In fact rumor has it that her own handlers and people put these guys in to take away votes from the republican candidate. In fact this race was so divisive and polarizing that the double digit votes received by the third party candidate was unheard of in the history of voting because most 3rd party get less than 10%…Unless you live in this small state where everybody knows everybody and where the cronyism in the state house and in political state jobs is rampant, only can you understand that Democrats here in this state regardless if they are heroes or thieving scumbags, they are here to stay.
I voted for Ross Perot when he was a third party candidate many many moons ago! I knew then that my vote was just a statement vote and nothing more and the same with the Bob Healey vote..His vote came because of the pension screw job fraudmondo did to the teachers, the state workers and to the ACI guards, police and ff when she passed her illegal and unconstitutional pension reform in 2011. But she had outsider money from around the country and they bought her the election for $8 million. so if you think a third party guy was going to get in, you are very much naive and mistaken…Dems own this state for generations to come..and that’s most unfortunate and the reason as to why over 4000 (statistically) Rhode islanders move out of the state every year and that number will increase with this new ruthless regime in place.
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It sounds like you believe that there truly is no hope.
Your best alternative in the last election was to vote for Fung, with his ties to RI-CAN and Achievement First. No hope.
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actually what you attribute to Fung can be attributed to the DINO female fraud.
You said this: Your best alternative in the last election was to vote for Fung, with his ties to RI-CAN and Achievement First. No hope.
You are correct. The corrupt state is so mismanaged and full of incestuous political relationships there is no hope. Her first executive order was ethics in government. Then she turns around after campaigning on pay equality for men and women, one discovers she has paid the men on her staff more than the females doing equal jobs. The woman is not only a lousy money manager who lost millions in the pension fund but she is a hypocrite.
So when you speak of Fung, you can just as easily insert her name in the same republican agenda slot.
And by voting for fraudmondo you pretty much have insured a pro charter state and probably pro charter new commissioner of ed. You have a privatization ed consultant TFA turned pro charter 2 million a year McKinsey consultant hubby, Andy Moffit, to the pro charter anti union schemer Gina, ( she won with private sector union support-not public sector) and with a Lieutenant gov-Dapper Dan McKee, who was chief honcho/CEO/Director of Blackstone Valley Prep-the charter of Cumberland who is advocating school choice and public money to charters…and then you have fraudmondo’s hiring of the unemployed Conn con artist, Stefan Pryor who destroyed public ed in Conn with his 3 tumultuous years there. He was hired by Raimondo for payback loyalty by their privatization-pro charter governor Malloy.
At least Fung was honest and workable. He may believe in 50 Can but he is a Republican and that is their agenda. What’s Raimondo’s excuse? She has 4 members of her Administration pushing charters and privatization and with Gist gone as Commissioner, I bet she will pick a Stefan Pryor -Cory Booker type relationship crony like perhaps Cami Anderson down New Jersey.
So you see, in this state, fraudmondo turned out to be worse than Fung with her distortions, half truths and lies. At least he came clean. She did not.
I have often said the nickname of this state which is HOPE with the yellow anchor needs to be changed to Hopeless.
You now have a DINO -not Democrat Wall Street/hedge fund governor run the state with a democratic State house and her Administration full of outsiders she hired who have stains on their jacket that she will not tell the residents of RI about. Like the pension fiasco she created, she is one secretive, non transparent exploiter who uses people and then throws them under the bus.
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A third MAJOR party, that is.
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Wow we are deleting comments on this site now. I can’t believe it! Sad no problem I won’t post anymore I just thought this was America and not Cuba. Shocking!
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What comment was deleted? Not by me.
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The Washington State Democratic Central Committee rejected the Common Core. How sweet this is especially in Bill Gates backyard! Check it out here http://www.livingindialogue.com/washington-state-democratic-party-committee-vote-rejects-common-core/
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It was weird Diane. When I checked it through my phone is was outright deleted I even took a screenshot of it. However, when I logged in through my laptop it was there but it said awaiting moderation just above it. Also, the usual color of my avatar was blue instead of yellow. Weird glitch I guess. Sorry for the rant and mixup. I am referring to the comment above about the spoilers being the Dems and Repubs. Again my apologies.
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It’s interesting to watch Democrats on CCSS. When the CCSS were first pushed, by Republicans and business, Democrats were leery. Now that the Tea Party (and the GOP dog wagged by that tail) has condemned the CCSS as “big gummint control”, Democrats find themselves defending the CCSS, in their forlorn hope for stronger support for public education.
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Democrats are better at FUNDING education, but when they divert a lot of that money to Wall Street scams or attach strings that are more like nooses that will let the scammers hang us, the difference is about as much as someone cutting out your organs to sell them WITH anesthesia or without. Either way, you’re going to end up missing a kidney or two.
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These young adults have put together quite an editorial on why they opted out. Spot on! Also, kudos to the student newspaper advisor(s) and building administrator. AGAHST will be able to use this editorial in our advocacy.
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