The Washington Post editorial board chastised Democratic gubernatorial candidate Ralph Northam for admitting that the NCLB reforms have failed, and Virginia needs to find a new paradigm for school improvement.
Lt. Governor Northam’s opponent, GOP functionary Ed Gillespie, is running on a Trump kiss-up platform, calling for the protection of Confederate statues and accusing Northam of having ties to a violent gang of Latinos, MS-13.
No doubt Gillespie will endorse the NCLB approach beloved by the Washington Post editorial board.
The Post is dead wrong. A new book by the eminent Harvard testing expert Daniel Koretz says in no uncertain terms that NCLB test-based accountability was a failure that seriously damaged American education. It is titled “The Testing Charade: Pretending to Make Schools Better.” The high-stakes testing mandated by NCLB and now the Every Student Succeeds Act, produced, in Professor Koretz’s words, score inflation, cheating, and teaching to the tests. Any “gains” are an illusion, because they represent test prep, not learning. (My review of the book will appear in “The New Republic” in the next few weeks.)
Lt. Gov. Northam is right. The Washington Post is seriously out of step on education. It supported Michelle Rhee’s punitive, test-focused regime and never admitted its error, long after John Merrow revealed the D.C. cheating scandal and long after Rhee slipped quietly into oblivion.
What’s the ideal accountability system? Northam admitted to the editorial board that he doesn’t know. Professor Koretz admitted he doesn’t know either. He throws out some ideas drawn from Finland, the Netherlands, and Singapore. There may be others as well, but frankly no one knows. For sure, the Washington Post editorial board doesn’t know, and the little it knows is wrong.
What doesn’t work is one-size-fits-all standards like Common Core. What doesn’t work is promising rewards or threatening punishment to teachers and principals, tied to test scores. Yet that is what the Washington Post advocates: Test-based accountability has failed, but the Post says, “stick with it.” The Post is wrong.
If you live in Virginia, vote for Northam for Governor, not the guy who has wrapped his arms around Donald Trump, Jeff Sessions, Scott Pruitt, Betsy DeVos and the others in the Trump Clown Car.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
My comment at the article thread:
Wow. Unbelievably hackneyed, low-info, obsolete NCLB-style mouthful of hollow, evidence-absent memes– from no less than the editorial board of the WaPo! Your paper just slipped WAY down in my esteem.
WaPo is one of the official mouthpieces of establishment power. What else does anyone expect?
Yes, it’s shocking that Jeff Bezos supports so-called education reform and the hostile takeover of public education.
There is one thing that actually IS a bit surprising: that the Post has not yet fired Valerie Strauss, who does not toe the Bozos line.
Then again, Bezos may just figure that because she is a woman, no one in a power position will pay any attention to what she writes. And he might be right.
Very true: Valerie Strauss is wonderful, and I’ve been pleasantly surprised for years that she’s survived at the Post, even when it was still owned by the Graham family, which as you may recall also owned Kaplan test prep.
Bill Turk also did good reporting on education, unlike the propagandist Jay Mathews, whose verbal groveling before Michele Rhee and KIPP were a disgrace.
Let’s recall that Northam was running against a so-called “progressive” in the primary who was a favorite of DFER and the educational reformers. I have no doubt at all that this editorial is part of the same so-called “progressive” view that educational reform is an issue that is “progressive”.
Let’s recall which so-called non-Democratic “progressives” endorsed the DFER candidate in the primary.
It’s hard to attack the Post on this when so-called progressives have refused to denounce the reform movement as a complete fraud.
Can somebody please engage NYCPSP because I have just about had it with the Hillbot . I do not want to use language that the teachers on this site may find offensive .
The Washington post is not a progressive Newspaper hasn’t been since Wartergate when shortly there after they engaged in breaking the pressman’s Union . Providing a model for Reagan to follow a few years later .
Education reform is not a progressive issue it is a Rt wing issue backed by rt wing money . I will not go into the dynamic that had all too many Democrats going down the toilet on too many issues . Except to say that it went into overdrive with Bill Clinton the NDC defined as the New DemoRatic coalition. Not Progressives.
The progressive Washington post as Dienne 77 says is and was long before Bezos the thoroughly establishment mouthpiece of the Center right establishment on everything but social issues . The paper that wrote 21 hit pieces on Sanders in one day is not progressive . The Paper that sought to discredit almost all of smaller center left publications is not progressive. The paper that supports every Jobs destroying trade agreement is not progressive . The paper that has come down with Neo cons on every military adventure Is not progressive .
“It seems the real reason The Washington Times has never been able to make any money may be that its hard-right editorial stance is redundant in a city that already has Fred Hiatt’s Washington Post.”
https://www.mediamatters.org/research/2010/02/19/the-myth-of-the-liberal-washington-post-opinion/160657
So yes in the 60s the Washington Post was a liberal paper, but then in the 60s the NY Post was a liberal paper as well.
You are welcome to write a guest post for my education blog and use offensive language that defines the frauds that are corporate reformers of public education.
Joel,
Instead of going on a rant against the Washington Post (and me), why don’t you explain why the so-called “progressive” running against Northam in the primary was given so much money by the same people who underwrite educational reform?
Want to tell me that those “educational reform” billionaires were donating to the Joel-approved candidate running against Northam in the primary because deep down they are really just progressives who happen to also love education reform?
You have a lot of chutzpah writing “Education reform is not a progressive issue it is a Rt wing issue backed by rt wing money.” when YOUR preferred candidate in this race was the recipient of all the education reform money. Not to mention a favorite of DFER.
There is a difference between the tech progressives from Silicon Valley and traditional progressives just like there is a difference between Koch libertarians and traditional libertarians.
All progressives are not cut from the same cloth.
^^^”In 2010, as a congressman from rural Virginia, Perriello supported an initiative to create a model for charter schools, but it never opened. This was noted by Michele Boyd, an attorney who has two children in Virginia public schools and is a public education activist, who wrote a post that was published on DailyKos.com.
Boyd wrote that Perriello has ties to a pro-choice organization known as the Democrats for Education Reform, which supports charter schools and pro-charter candidates. In June 2010, Perriello was named as “DFER’s Ed Reformer of the Month” in a statement noting that he “was a strong supporter of Rep. Jared Polis’s (D-Colo.) All-STAR Act, which helps to replicate high-performing charter schools that serve at-risk students.” Perriello now does not talk on the campaign trail about DFER or its policy goals.
Boyd also wrote about a recent $25,000 donation to Perriello from the Emerson Collective, an organization based in California which was co-founded by Laurene Powell Jobs and is dedicated to social reform efforts in the United States and abroad. A managing partner at the collective is Arne Duncan, education secretary under the Obama administration and a strong proponent of charter schools. Boyd wrote, “What interests could this Silicon Valley Limited Liability Company (LLC) have in Virginia’s public schools?”
Arne Duncan’s Emerson Collective gave $25,000 to the so-called “progressive” Democrat who was opposing Northam in Virginia.
So contrary to your claims, there apparently are so-called “progressives” like Tom Perriello who was the recipient of that “right wing money”.
NYCPSP
Should I explain to you that your candidate the fiscal conservative Democrat threatened to cross over and vote Republican . Till he was bought off with the Lieutenant Governors position.
.
So people change. But would it really be surprising that a rising young star in the Clinton/ Obama democratic party would tow the party line .
That like we saw on the Pharma Opioid bill ,too many politicians just go along with the party leadership .
Of course “my candidate” who bucked that party establishment on most issues supported a reformed reformer.
But your constant attacks on progressives are tiresome
Enjoy
Joel,
The teachers of Virginia are all-in for Northam.
Gillespie is running on the white supremacy line.
The race in Va is a referendum on Trump.
Do you have a better candidate in mind who is on the ballot?
Sigh.
Joel and NYCPSP are arguing – essentially – about perfection, and there are no “perfect” candidates.
Their argument about Perriello and Northam echoes the squabbles over Bernie and Hillary. (We now know that some of the ‘information’ used to fuel those squabbles came from Russia.)
Either one — Perriello or Northam — would be vastly superior to Gillespie. But Northam won the Democratic primary, fair and square (just like Hillary…and again, we now know that Russian-created ‘information’ fed the cries that Bernie was robbed, that the primary was ‘rigged.” Nope.)
Northam is the Democratic candidate. Perriello supports him. Northam is FAR the better choice for governor than Ed Gillespie.
There are changes coming to public education in Virginia. Less state testing, for example. But also an increased emphasis on and use of technology, like Chromebooks and iPads. And more emphasis on STEM. Sigh.
No matter. There’s just little question that Northam will be better for public education than will Ed Gillespie.
democracy,
I agree with you 100% that there are no perfect candidates. The reason I am arguing with Joel is he doesn’t like it when I point out the hypocrisy among some progressives in which they are happy to look the other way when a so-called “progressive” is not progressive when it comes to public schools. But they don’t give other Democrats that same courtesy when it is another issue they disagree on in which case they don’t just disagree but they smear them as being crooked actors for rich billionaires.
If the “progressive” education sells out public education, that is somehow okay as long as they are progressive on other issues. I don’t have a problem with that. I do have a problem with those same self-described “progressives” hypocritically smearing another Democrat when their own candidate has feet of clay and they pretend it was in the distant past. I will not agree with hypocrites that it is “progressive” to support the so-called “progressive” candidate who Arne Duncan’s organization just donated $25,000 to when Virginia is one of the very last state’s left that doesn’t have a pro-reform Dem from either party. It is not progressive to turn Virginia over to the DFER Dem candidate. Period.
democracy
No that is not what Joel and NYCPSP are arguing about what I am saying is that NYCPSP uses every opportunity to slam progressives . Northam won the primary and the piece was on the Washington Posts
support for NCLB and thus the ed reform movement. Yet time after time she goes back to reinvent the Hillary legacy . She must feel guilty .
The narrative that the media is liberal being as false as the narrative that ed reform is a progressive project.. Just follow the money in both cases.
Your assertion ; (We now know that some of the ‘information’ used to fuel those squabbles came from Russia.) Is absurd not because Russia did not interfere in the election but because you are implying that somehow many Bernie supporters were fooled by Russians .
The complaints of Bernie supporters were real ,as real as the Russian attempts to capitalize on them . But the serious complaints were not that the DNC stole the election . They were complaints about the nature of power in this country . As a New Yorker I laugh at the complaints that somehow the Primary voting restrictions stole NY . I am skeptical that much of the complaints of voter irregularity in heavily young and progressive Brooklyn were anything more than incompetence.
Sanders lost the Primaries because of the relationship between the Clinton’s and the political machinery of the democratic party . Where few if any of the parties insiders were willing to risk going up against the Clinton Machine that had taken hold of the party . John Lewis even saw Hillary in DC in 63 when she was a HS. Goldwater Girl ( we all have our faults I was in YAF as a HS sophomore in 67).
When none of the Black Leadership was willing to risk their futures on a relative outsider he was doomed . But that is kind of the way Political parties are supposed to work .
What was not incompetence was the collusion between the daily News Editorial Board and the Clinton Campaign. Where the transcripts were handed to the Clinton team for suggestions before a damaging editorial was written.
What was not incompetence was the softball knee slapping interview between Hillary and Chris Mathews vs his blood curdling confrontation with Sanders at a Town Hall. Was 21 hit pieces on Sanders in one day by the WAPO……
That is what this piece was about wasn’t it . How the Washington Post editorial board and the editorial boards of many of the Nations News Papers are solidly behind the Education reform movement regardless of what the data says. Regardless of obvious failures . Regardless of the realities in the classroom .The same applies to trade , Foreign policy. ……. Just follow the money . And with that I will re post this .
“I despise these “yellows”; they are utterly without honor, they are vulgar and cruel; and yet, in spite of all their vices, I count them less dangerous to society than the so-called “respectable” papers, which pretend to all the virtues, and set the smug and pious tone for good society — papers like the “New York Tribune” and the “Boston Evening Transcript” and the “Baltimore Sun,” which are read by rich old gentlemen and maiden aunts, and can hardly ever be forced to admit to their columns any new or vital event or opinion. These are “kept” papers, in the strictest sense of the term, and do not have to hustle on the street for money. They serve the pocketbooks of the whole propertied class — which is the meaning of the term “respectability” in the bourgeois world. On the other hand the “yellow” journals, serving their own pocketbooks exclusively, will often print attacks on vested wealth, provided the attacks are startling and sensational, and provided the vested wealth in question is not a heavy advertiser.”
Upton Sinclair
An example of the hypocrisy:
Joel above describes Perriello as a “reformed reformer” so he overlooks that in 2010 Perriello was the DFER “Ed Reformer of the Month!!” which doesn’t happen unless you have worked hard to advance their agenda. Seven years ago. And THIS year the candidate Joel describes as the “reformed reformer” received a $25,000 donation from Arne Duncan’s organization.
But Joel still cites events from her pre-1992 time in Arkansas along with whatever her husband did from 1992 – 1999 to attack someone else as having no redeeming factors other than “well a rabid dog would be better so vote for her over Trump”.
Pure hypocrisy.
That “Clinton machine” was so powerful that a relative outsider with almost no national experience defeated it in 2008.
Oh yes, I forgot that there was a DIFFERENT corrupt political machine that didn’t want the obvious corrupt Clinton machine to win and they had no problem getting their candidate Obama to win.
It’s hard to keep all these machines straight.
However, 8 years later, those two different corrupt machines combined together to elect Clinton against the wishes of 99% of Democrats who vastly preferred Bernie Sanders. Especially all the African-Americans who were so taken with how he and his supporters couldn’t be bothered to understand anything about the issues that were greatly affecting them and not most Bernie voters. Nope, the Bernie supporters told them it was all the economy, stupid and forgot about worrying about racism which they should realize should NOT be mentioned for fear some admirable white working class voters in Wisconsin didn’t like it. Same with gays and any other marginalized groups. Shut up and don’t say anything that would bother those wonderful white voters in Milwaukee.
NYC public school parent
Yes what her husband did from 92-99 and what Obama did from 2008-2016 . She has wrapped herself in both .
That is called policy and it is all that counts and every one of those politicians who went along with both were doing so because they were backing the head of the party,for their own political carriers or there being no alternative . Yes there were some who OPPOSED BOTH ON MANY ISSUES sadly not on enough and education was one of them that fell through the cracks.
But you are a broken record . You did not respond to me, you first took the opportunity to slam progressive as you always do (are you a Russian Trump Bot) . I barely responded to you in a response that pointed out the false narrative of the “Liberal Media” . And you went on with one of your long winded tirades against progressives accusing me of slandering the good people at the center right Washington Post .
As Donald Trump says Hillary lost!!!!!!!!!!!!! and as much so as I would like to see him in front of a firing squad with several others for treason . It was her fault!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!.
Go make some calls for big Bird today you never know what will happen to a 40 point spread
Joel, Northam didn’t “threaten” to switch to the Republican party in the Va Senate. The R’s tried to coax him (& I think another Senator) to flip and he said no. He has an impeccable voting record on public education issues and as Diane says, why Va teachers and parents are in his corner (one of many reasons, I might add).
“Policy” is what the so-called “progressive candidate” did to make him the DFER Ed Reformer of the month.
This isn’t about a policy difference. If it was “policy”, you wouldn’t compare Hillary to a “rabid dog” as in “both are better than Trump”.
Here’s a lirttle bit of what happened when too many self-described white progressives decided to make it about how much they focused their hatred on a woman instead of on what was going on. Even now, they want to put all the blame on Hillary and ignore what is truly dangerous to democracy:
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2017/10/voter-suppression-wisconsin-election-2016/
“The state, which ranked second in the nation in voter participation in 2008 and 2012, saw its lowest turnout since 2000. More than half the state’s decline in turnout occurred in Milwaukee, which Clinton carried by a 77-18 margin, but where almost 41,000 fewer people voted in 2016 than in 2012. Turnout fell only slightly in white middle-class areas of the city but plunged in black ones. In Anthony’s old district, where aging houses on quiet tree-lined streets are interspersed with boarded-up buildings and vacant lots, turnout dropped by 23 percent from 2012. This is where Clinton lost the state and, with it, the larger narrative about the election…………..Voter suppression efforts were practically ignored, when they weren’t mocked.” ““Hillary Clinton Blames Voter Suppression for Losing a State She Didn’t Visit Once During the Election.”
Maybe if people like Joel weren’t so focused on hating Hillary Clinton they might realize that the reason that both she AND Russ Feingold lost a state they should have won might be more than “if only we had Bernie” and “Hillary personally was responsible for Feingold’s loss because people hated the democrats so much they didn’t turn out.”
Instead of pandering to the white racists that liked Trump’s scapegoating of immigrants and minorities, Joel, maybe the Democrats should be fighting to make sure that the Democrats who were disenfranchised can actually vote.
^^And before Joel decides to rewrite history to attack me:
I responded to Michael Fiorillo’s comment:
“Yes, it’s shocking that Jeff Bezos supports so-called education reform and the hostile takeover of public education.”
My point was to mention that Northam’s primary opponent, a so-called progressive, ALSO supported education reform and received a big donation right before the primary from Arne Duncan’s organization.
You were the one who called me a Hillbot when I had not replied to you at all (unless you and Michael Fiorillo are the same person).
So you responded to me, not the other way around. It’s all clear to anyone reading above.
dianeravitch
I am in with Northam too. It is tiring hearing every minute that it is the progressives fault for the election and for education reform . Neither candidate was perfect I get that . Follow the thread and see what I responded to. Are we according to NYCPSP no longer permitted to criticize our papers of record just because the are not owned by Murdoch .
Virginia Parent
That,s interesting and not un-true . I suspect there is a little bit more to the story .
Why was he the Senator approached by Republicans .
Why did the Senator approached by Republicans get offered the Lieutenant Governors slot in the Democratic party .
I will not dispute that Northam has supported public schools . Even though both had not disavowed charters . Either candidate would have been better than Republicans . Why vilify one.
Focus on the race at hand, not last spring or fall. It is Northam vs. Gillespie.
I have sent money to Northam.
Joel,
It is very aggravating to listen to you making up things about me.
You say – “It is tiring hearing every minute that it is the progressives fault for the election and for education reform . Neither candidate was perfect I get that.”
As I have said over and over again when you make that nasty attack on me, I have NEVER said “it is the progressive’s fault for the election and for education reform.”
What I did say is that progressives held Hillary Clinton to an outrageous standard – and smeared her as corrupt or “as much better than Trump as a rabid dog” for not meeting it — and that did great harm to Hillary Clinton’s campaign. And it is especially galling for me when those same Hillary attackers who demanded perfection from Hillary somehow make every excuse in the book for a progressive who is a favorite of education reformers. I don’t like that kind of hypocrisy and I will call it out. I’m sorry it hurts your feelings.
You say – “Are we according to NYCPSP no longer permitted to criticize our papers of record just because the are not owned by Murdoch .”
Again with the dishonesty. Show me where I said no papers of record can be criticized. I criticize the papers of record all the time myself! I despise some of the inept and co-opted reporting of so-called journalists.
I posted not to say “no one should criticize the Washington Post”, but to point out that how hypocritical it was for someone to say all education reformers were right wingers when some of those ed reformers have been endorsed by progressives as being preferable to Northam who has been a very strong supporter of public education.
Your answer to that seems to be to deny the reality rather than discuss how people can have progressive views on some issues and right wing views on other issues like education and figure out how we get them to change instead of ENABLING them by simply denying the reality.
Tom Perriello is both an education reformer and supposedly a progressive. Instead of denying that reality, we need to address why too many progressive leaders don’t seem to care very much about preserving public education and why that is. If we continue to deny that reality by making comments like “education reformers are all right wingers” and ignore the progressives’ abandonment of public education then we just enable progressives to continue to give PROGRESSIVE legitimacy to the ed reform movement. That needs to stop. Not enabled by people insisting that it doesn’t exist. It does. Progressive leaders don’t care much about public education. Why?
@ New York Parent: I get it. I understand your disagreement with Joel, who does indeed seem locked into the ‘progressivism at all costs’ narrative, even though the Clinton platform was – in fact – pretty progressive. And yeah, in Virginia, Perriello was the ‘progressive’ candidate, even though Northam has been consistently pro-choice (Perriello has not). And as you note there’s the DFER thing.
@ Joel, your contention that some Bernie supporters were NOT taken in by Russian fake news and meddling is – to use your term – “absurd.” Actually, it’s worse than absurd. It’s absurdly myopic and downright, flat-out wrong. They were. And some of them still are.
It’s fair to criticize Clinton for her campaign. But it’s incredibly UNfair to discount the influence on voters’ perceptions that came from Russian meddling, especially in the swing states.
It’s also fair to criticize the Post for its editorializing. On education, The Post has been horrific, slobbering over Michelle Rhee and then disregarding the Rhee cheating scandal. The Post editorial page under Fred Hiatt is quite different from what it was earlier. Hiatt still hasn’t apologized for or retracted that lame endorsement of W’s war in Iraq.
I’m happy to see that Joel is “in” on Northam. Like I said earlier, Northam is a far, far better choice than Ed Gillespie. Just like Clinton was a far, far better choice than IQ45.
Democracy, I’d like to add that if Northam wins, the WaPo editorial board will use its platform to regularly chastise him on public education, in particular on his efforts to rein in standardized testing and thwart charter school expansion. (Virginia has only 8-9 charter schools statewide. This is because the decision remains at the local level and, wth few exceptions, locals don’t want them. As Diane likes to say, we love our public schools!)
The WaPo editorial board will try to turn public opinion against Northam through smear, mischaracterization and misinformation, just like they did in this instance. The gloves are off. It’s therefore important that published c school supporters in Virginia (or residents of any state for that matter who wish us success in our effort to loosen the power grip of the testing industry & the harm it causes our children) become vocal in supporting Northam and like-minded legislators in their efforts. For the next four years we will need to push back hard against the WaPo editorial board & others who try to derail this train. This means swarming them with comments in opposition to their editorials and writing letters to the editor. We also need to support Valerie Strauss as much as possible and reward her efforts for telling it straight through clicks, comments & letters.
It is my belief that Virginia has a unique opportunity to be a leader in the anti-testing, anti-corporate reform movement and show how it can be done. And, if we prove successful, then other states will follow and we can finally start to return education to to the educators and much-needed sanity.
Virginia Parent, agreed!
The Network for Public Education Action Fund has endorsed Ralph Northam for Governor of Virginia.
Now it is up to you and other parents to knock on every door and get your friends, neighbors, and family to vote.
His opponent’s platform is Confederate statues.
We are working hard, Diane! We are out canvassing every weekend. We are signed up for phone banking these final weeks. We are still hosting candidates to speak…a friend is working on securing a location for Lt. Gov Justin Fairfax to speak to teachers and parents here in Prince William County next Friday.
We are fighting against the Koch Brothers who set up shop in our county. Today’s WaPo reports the Kochs are pouring in another $1 million (in addition to the $1.5 million they have already spent) these last weeks in negative mailers & digital ads against Northam, including his non-support for school choice!
https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/virginia-politics/koch-group-launches-new-million-dollar-anti-northam-push-in-va-governors-race/2017/10/19/0ff20336-b4f4-11e7-be94-fabb0f1e9ffb_story.html?utm_term=.15e0734dbb70
The Kochs have created a video against Northam in education. The link should be in the story above. An excerpt from the WaPo article:
“Americans for Prosperity is also launching a digital video featuring a charter school administrator criticizing Northam for voting against a bill to establish “educational savings accounts” that allow parents who remove children from public schools to receive 90 percent of the state funding that would have been spent on their child. They would be able to use the funds for private-school tuition, tutoring, books and other educational costs. Critics say such accounts are similar to vouchers in that they drain resources from public schools.”
Correction re: my above comment. Justin Fairfax is the Democratic candidate for Lt. Gov. & not the Lt. Gov. (yet).
Virginia Parent,
Thank you for all the hard work you and everyone else in Virginia are doing!
They wouldn’t train a dog that way! It’s a jihad against the poor.
This comes as no surprise from the WaPo editorial board. It has been spewing this nonsense for decades. It refuses to look at the evidence. Good for Dr. Northam in being honest about not knowing what accountability system would work. That’s what I like about him, he isn’t a big-mouthed know-it-all. He will look at the evidence, listen to others such as scholars, teachers & parents (he is a professor himself having taught courses at a med school) and will make informed decisions. He is a man of science. As a pediatric neurologist he understands children’s brains and how they learn best. He knows that high stakes testing isn’t learning!
I gave him copies of Pasi Salhberg’s Finnish Lessons and Tim Walker’s Taught by Finland at an education town hall last spring during the Democratic primary. I asked him if he’s willing to learn from other countries with successful education systems and he said absolutely. He admitted that he didn’t know about Finnish education and asked if they tracked students (because he is opposed to tracking). I told him no & he said he would be receptive to learning what Finland does.
I saw him recently at another event and he was honest in that he hasn’t had time to read the books (he’s been kind of busy!) but he assured me that he is absolutely willing to learn best practices from other countries with successful education systems.
If Dr. Northam wins he will need a pro-public education legislature to implement further change in Virginia. I cannot stress enough how important it is that we flip as many House of Delegates seats as we can from red to blue. Our Democratic candidates are pro-public education, want to further reduce std testing and are opposed to charter schools.
Yep…
“Astonishingly, after almost four years as lieutenant governor and a month away from the election, Mr. Northam had no answer.”
This alone makes him worthy of a vote. I’m tired and disgusted by the so-called experts having all the answers, consistently being proven wrong, ducking any and all responsibility and accountability, and insisting on more faulty policies.
Wishing this candidate the best!
Spot on, Ohio Algebra II Teacher! Dr. Northam is not an egotistical know-it-all who thinks he has all the answers. He understands that students, teachers & parents are fed-up with standardized testing and he listens to us instead of the corporate ed reformers. He will try to further rein in our wasteful “accountability” system of test & punish and replace it with one based on common sense and what’s best for kids. He has been an advocate for children most of his career and has their best interests at heart, not Pearson’s and the WaPo Editorial Board’s! It’s also noteworthy that his wife is a grade 5 science teacher and is an advocate for public schools. Dr. Northam is a breath of fresh air!
That is exactly WHY I was appalled that Bernie Sanders was fighting for the DFER candidate to defeat Northam. Because Sanders’ so-called “progressive” candidate had about as much interest in taking a strong stand to support public schools as Bernie himself does.
There are far too many so-called “progressives” who have made it clear they are very willing to sell public education down the river if they can get some other progressive goal they find more “worthy” in place. I’m not sure what that progressive goal is because once you destroy public schools, you have pretty much destroyed any real chance at a more progressive country. But they insist that other issues are far more important.
I can’t tell if those people willing to sacrifice public education to some so-called more important “progressive agenda” really think public education NEEDS reform, if they just are too lazy to learn about it, or if they are self-involved enough not to care at all whether or not public education in America continues.
But I do know that if the progressive movement keeps pretending public schools are LESS important than some other parts of the so-called “progressive agenda”, then they are part of the problem, not the solution.
They change the scoring systems so often in Ohio these measures don’t mean anything to anyone.
I think it comes out of the narrowness of ed reform- ed reformers themselves describe the “movement” as “accountability and choice”
How that translates to a state legislature is the lawmakers focus exclusively on accountability for public schools and then push for charters and vouchers.
From the public school parent perspective all we get is tests. It’s literally all they offer public schools- various measurement systems. They don’t HAVE anything else so they change the measures every 20 minutes because if they didn’t do that they wouldn’t be doing anything.
My only quibble with your post is the final paragraph. Rather than wrap his arms around the Clown Car, Gillespie was the key designer of the frame upon which it was built.
As for The Washington Post, that article could have been written by Michelle Rhee or Jeb Bush. Absolutely disgusting.
A good comment on the article:
aiellokl
10/14/2017 9:26 PM EDT
In northern Virginia many parents hate SOLs because many schools teach to the test rather than teach. So much emphasis is put on for-profit SOLs instead of creating an assessment that takes into account the quality of teachers, whether a creative and rigorous curriculum is offered and whether or not all benchmarks of childhood learning are met including social and emotional development. I grew up in a world without high stakes testing. Many parents like myself would like to return to an education system that thought beyond test scores on SOLs.
This year I got Common Core scores for my son in English- they supposedly repealed Common Core but that is 100% political gibberish- so I got the english score and then I got a science score from a different test and then a math score from a different test, because 8th graders would have been doubling up had they done the Common Core math- they used the 8th grade algebra test instead.
I don’t know that any of these scores are valid or worthwhile but I am sure of one thing- they’ll change them next year because it’s the only thing they do “for” public schools-measure them.
This is my youngest thru public schools and I’m glad he’s nearing the finish line. The ed reformers who dominate my state get more ridiculous every year.
Not an ounce of accountability exits for the framers and marketers of failed policies.
I hope that Valerie Strauss has not been fired for having some unorthodox and often sound observations against the grain of the Washington Post Editorial board. I am glad that you have called them out. I hope they are getting other blasts.
“The Washington Post Clown Car”
A car that’s full
Of circus clowns
With Bozos’ bull
And Bozos’ hounds
Diane Don’t you know that truth is just another liberal cause? So disappointed in WAPO.
All the major newspapers seemed to be bought at this point. Looking forward to the next Op-ed in the NY Times penned by someone heading a “think tank” funded by Gates, Eli Broad, or Devos. Feels like democracy is inching closer and closer to a failed experiment.
Mickey and all: In the New Yorker (October 16) under “Postscript,” S. I. Newhouse, Jr. writes about the history of the magazine’s owners and their relationships with the editorial board and the magazine’s artistic contributors. Basically, it’s been a “hands off” relationship–at times informative, but only then as post-printer. This relationship was contrasted with many other magazines’ and newspapers’ owner-editor relationships where owners regularly import their own political intentions on the content, while omitting contradictory material (to their own politics), and making “political propaganda rags” out of those “news outlets” and puppets out of the writers who write for them.
It seems to me that, the whole idea of a ‘free press’ in a working democracy, where the financial ground is capitalism, REQUIRES such a hands-off relationship, or a clear separation of the Press from the the King, the Oligarch, or the president cum fascist.
Otherwise there are only superficial differences between the United States, on the one hand, and Russia, North Korea, or China on the other.
Clown car?
Clowns are supposed to make us laugh and have some fun. These guys only lead to anger and more thinking of Thomas Jefferson’s advice, a bloody revolution to eradicate these cockroaches (no insult to cockroaches intended).
What is worse than a cockroach? The answer is Donald Trump and his mob of deplorables.
A bit harsh:
Cockroaches are an important source of food for a number of organisms, such as arthropods, birds, and mammals. As such, they are an important part of the food chain. Cockroaches also play an important role in nutrient recycling. Most species of cockroach are detritus feeders and with the help of endogenous cellulases play an important role in degrading plant material. Some species, such as Cryptocercus, feed directly on wood and play a major role in lignocellulose digestion in temperate forests. (from Biology Stack Exchange)
I can’t think of one thing Our Dear Leader does to benefit the world. Cockroaches: 1, Dear Leader: 0.
GregB One thing cockroaches have in common with Our Dear Leader, however, is that you don’t want them crawling ANYWHERE nearby; and if you are a woman, . . . at least outside of arm’s reach.
I did say no insult intended for cockroaches.
You are correct, Lloyd, I forgot to delete my first sentence before clicking post. My intent was to add to your argument.
Actually, my default thinking is that they are terminal cancers or an Ebola virus.
Having lived through the NCLB and he onset of test prep, I can say that my experience validates what Koretz is quoted as saying. Test prep has taken over all other goals, and the result is a lot more pitiful than it sounds like Koretz thinks. I recall being taug that you only test over about ten percent of what you teach. This way a student does not really know what will be on the test and will be responsible for much more material.
So many students today would completely fail the tests I used to give. Granted, our kids are graduating when they used to drop out, but we still lose some despite giving away credits like candy.
Some things are better. I think we try a lot harder for the kids who are dysfunctional with regards to education, and that is a good thing. But we could have done that without eroding instruction.
It isn’t just that Ralph Northam will be better for public education in Virginia than Ed Gillespie. He will. LOTS better.
It’s also that Northam represents democratic character and ethos FAR, far better than Gillespie, who has now made racism and white nationalism core elements of his campaign.
The election in Virginia is a microcosm of the Clinton-Trump campaign. Imperfect candidates, with one being far more open and honest and dedicated to core democratic values than the other. And the other candidate’s entire campaign is focused on fear of “the Other.”
I’m hoping that the turnout in the ‘Golden Crescent’ — Washington-area suburbs, down the Richmond and its suburbs, east to Tidewater — is high and that well-educated voters turn out in droves, because the goobers love their Confederate statues and what they represent.
The nation will be watching to see if Virginian’s favor Trumpism, or the Commonwealth.
I’m thinking it will be the Commonwealth.
I have reason to believe this is the member of the WaPo editorial board who led the charge against Ralph. No surprise here…a longtime fan of ex-DC Mayor Adrien Fenty & Michelle Rhee.
https://www.washingtonian.com/2012/11/30/washington-post-writer-i-dont-need-to-be-fair/
Her name is Jo-Ann Armao & has been on the board since 2012:
“Jo-Ann Armao has stepped into the breach when it comes to DC reporting. Writing on the editorial page, she has become a crusading investigative reporter, opinion writer, and executioner all in one. In the process, she has rankled Post reporters, who say she has usurped their turf. Former education writer Bill Turque accused her of providing ex-DC schools chancellor Michelle Rhee “a print version of the Larry King show.” One District official, who declines to be named out of fear, says of Armao: “She’s permanently outraged and thinks she runs the city. She will take down anyone she can.”
Jo-Ann Armao is seriously uninformed about schooling.
I could give her a reading list.
All she has to do is read Valerie Strauss’s column for the reading list! Amazing how she has been at the Post since 1984 but apparently hasn’t bothered to read Valerie!
“Oftentimes I can get closer to the truth in writing editorials,” Armao says. “I don’t need to be fair and balanced. If something is fundamentally wrong, I don’t have to pay phony homage to something that is not true.”
Jo-Ann Armao, WaPo editorial board
Well, I’m glad we’ve finally settled the whole Hillary v. Bernie thing.
It’s a black Hilabern Hole sucking in everything that comes close enough.
Best to keep a safe distance lest you find yourself spaghettified.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spaghettification
“It’s a black Hilabern Hole sucking in everything that comes close enough.”
Don’t worry, SomeDAM Poet. FLERP! rarely (if ever) wants to chime in to offer a comment or opinion on whatever the main subject of Diane’s post is. But when it comes to offering an opinion about the commentators themselves, then FLERP! feels ready to offer his snide remarks.
I’m trying to imagine what kind of person would read a blog about education issues and almost never participate in the discussion topic itself but instead chooses to comment only when he (or she) can allude disparagingly to the other people commenting.
I have my own theories about what motivates that kind of person. Obviously it is not a concern with the issues of public education. I guess it is a concern with the people who comment on blogs about the issues of public education. Carry on, FLERP!
Hello spaghetti lady!
Case in point! : )
I am a resident of Fairfax County VA. A recent poll (announced this morning) has the two major candidates in a statistical dead heat.
I will proudly vote for the pro-choice candidate.
I think that the “referendum on Trump” theme is somewhat overplayed. There is very little to do with the President, and this state election.
Sorry to say, the election is a referendum on the moron in the White House. Pence has campaigned for Gillespie. Ed is the candidate of confederate statues and white nationalism.
I live in Fairfax VA. Some of the polls, Monmouth Univ, for example, show a statistical dead heat. There is a lot of frustration and “burn out”, here in the Commonwealth, people are tired of the bombasts, and the vulgar tones of politics at the federal level. There is also a lot of apathy, I predict that turnout will be very low.
And the Quinniac poll has Northam up by 14 points.
https://poll.qu.edu/virginia/release-detail?ReleaseID=2493
“Virginia likely voters disapprove 62 – 35 percent of the job President Donald Trump is doing. Republicans approve 81 – 15 percent and white voters with no college degree approve 55 – 41 percent. White men are divided 49 – 49 percent. Every other party, gender, education and racial group disapproves.”
Quinniac poll dated Oct 18, 2017 with Northam up by 14 points
10/18/17 Quinnipiac poll shows Northam beating Gillespie 2-1 with Independents.
“One number says it all. Lt. Gov. Ralph Northam’s 14-point lead among independent voters is all you need to know about the race to be Virginia’s next governor,” said Peter A. Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Poll.
(Sorry for typos above, misspelling Quinnipiac)
see
http://www.politico.com/story/2017/10/17/poll-virginia-governor-race-243869