Archives for category: Corporate Reformers
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Jeb Bush: There Should Be No Public Sector Unions

By dianeravitch
September 20, 2012 //
9

Jonathan Pelto reports on Jeb Bush’s recent visit to Connecticut. While there, he saluted the “reforms” pushed through the legislature by Governor Dannell Malloy, especially his efforts to curb teachers’ tenure and seniority. And he boasted about Florida’s achievement (he didn’t mention the class size reduction initiative, which voters approved and he tried to roll back). And choice, choice, choice!

Funny that no one mentioned that Connecticut is one of the top two or three states in the nation on NAEP, even though it has strong teachers’ unions, seniority and tenure. It is far ahead of Florida. Since when does a state whose students are ABOVE the national average (8th grade math, NAEP) take lessons from one that is well below the national average?

Categories Bush, Jeb, Charter Schools, Connecticut, Corporate Reformers, Florida, Malloy, Dannel, NAEP

Karen Lewis Explains How CTU Won

By dianeravitch
September 19, 2012 //
11

Amy Goodman of Democracy Now interviews Karen Lewis and other CTU teachers about the strike. Lewis explains how the union patiently built alliances with parents and communities, fighting school closings and agreeing on the needs of children.

Karen Lewis reminds us that the great victory of the union was that teachers stood together in solidarity instead of compliantly accepting whatever was dealt out to them. The very fact that the union went out on strike reminded teachers that they are in the same boat and that together they are powerful.

The message that CTU sent the nation was that so-called “education reform” is a fraud. It does not have the support of teachers. It is all about testing, carrots and sticks. And it is not in the best interests of students.

Ultimately what the CTU wanted was a rich curriculum for all children, with the social services and small classes that children nee.

The news from Chicago: The union is alive and well, is unified and strong, and is ready to stand up for the needs of students and for teachers, not only in Chicago but across the nation.

Want a laugh? Watch her take down equity investor Bruce Rauner, who was “a few classes behind her” at Dartmouth. Yes, Bruce, the union is the teachers, and the teachers are the union. They are not separable. Don’t forget: 98% of the teachers voted to authorize the strike, even though Jonah Edelman’s Stand for Children [aka, Stand on Children] said it would never happen.

Categories Arts Education, Chicago, Corporate Reformers, Curriculum, Education Reform, Unions

Edushyster Takes Down the New York Times

By dianeravitch
September 19, 2012 //
7

Edushyster writes brilliant satirical pieces about those wacky reformers.

In this essay, Edushyster asks whether why so many New York Times columnists have swallowed (or inhaled) the elixir of reformy ideas.

Categories Corporate Reformers, Education Industry, Education Reform, Humor

Did President Obama Embrace the GOP Agenda?

By dianeravitch
September 19, 2012 //
23

The conservative think tank American Enterprise Institute has published a paper commending President Obama for standing up to teachers’ unions.

The paper compares President Obama’s support for school choice and evaluation of teachers by test scores as a “Nixon-to-China” paradigm shift.

In other words, the paper suggests, Obama’s education policy has done a full pivot, aligning it with the traditional GOP agenda.

Can anyone explain this?

Categories Charter Schools, Corporate Reformers, Democrats, Education Industry, For-Profit, NCLB (No Child Left Behind), Obama, Privatization, Race to the Top, Unions

What Is Lean Production?

By dianeravitch
September 19, 2012 //
8

This teacher worked in a New York City public school that won high marks because of its use of teams.

It was an exemplar of “lean production.”

It did all the right things.

Teachers were constantly conferring.

Only problem: the kids weren’t learning.

Read this article and learn about lean production.

With the expanded use of business thinking in education, it’s coming your way.

Categories Accountability, Budget Cuts, Corporate Reformers, Education Industry, NYC

What Is The Mind Trust?

By dianeravitch
September 19, 2012 //
11

When I first read that The Mind Trust had proposed a sweeping reorganization of the Indianapolis public schools, I assumed it was another reform scheme to dismantle and privatize public education.

But I didn’t want to jump to conclusions, so I held my tongue. I decided to wait and see.

Today I received an invitation from The Mind Trust to hear one of the nation’s leading voucher advocates and all doubt was dispelled.

When I saw that the event was co-sponsored by the anti-teacher, anti-public school group “Stand for Children,” as well as Education Reform Now (the Wall Street hedge fund managers’ front-group), no further question remained.

Something tells me that Howard Fuller, the speaker, won’t acknowledge that the children in voucher schools do no better than those in public schools. Nor will he admit that black children in Milwaukee schools, whether public, charter or voucher, have NAEP scores about the same as black children in Mississippi. That’s the result of 21 years of competition, with public dollars divided three ways.

Indiana, once so proud of its tradition of public schooling, is now the playground for privatization, for-profit charters, TFA, and entrepreneurs of all stripes.

Time for Hoosiers to wake up before the reformers sell off or give away the public sector.

Categories Black Alliance for Educational Options, Charter Schools, Corporate Reformers, Education Industry, Education Reform, For-Profit, Indiana, National Council on Teacher Quality (NCTQ), Privatization, Teach for America TFA, Vouchers, Wisconsin

Huffman Punishes Nashville for Defying His Order

By dianeravitch
September 18, 2012 //
31

Tennessee Commissioner of Education Kevin Huffman is withholding $3.4 million from the Nashville public schools as punishment for the defiance of the school board. The board voted four times to deny a charter to an Arizona company called Great Hearts, even though Huffman ordered the board to approve the application.

Clearly, Huffman does not believe in local control.

This seems to be an attitude of today’s reformers. Arne Duncan decided to rewrite NCLB to meet his own specifications. He likes mayoral control, where the mayor need not listen to parents or communities. ALEC has model legislation where governors can appoint a commission to authorize charter schools and override local opposition.

One begins to suspect that the reform movement is anti-democratic to its core.

Categories ALEC, Charter Schools, Corporate Reformers, Tennessee

These Ed School Professors Spoke Up

By dianeravitch
September 18, 2012 //
7

This reader is grateful to the 88 education scholars who protested the misuse of test scores in Chopicago. They told Mayor Rahm Emanuel he was wrong. That takes guts. And it matters. It’s important for teachers to know they are not alone. And they are not wrong.

The reader writes:

Let’s not forget the CReATE group of 88 professors who sent a letter “to Mayor Rahm Emanuel, CPS CEO Jean-Claude Brizard and the Board of Education signed by 88 faculty members from 15 local universities warning that using student test scores in teacher evaluation could do more harm than good. The universities included the University of Illinois Chicago, DePaul University and the University of Chicago.” (http://www.catalyst-chicago.org/notebook/2012/03/26/19951/professors-caution-cps-using-tests-evaluate-teachers )

I think it is no coincidence that Chicago is now the epicenter of the fight against corporate education reform.  With teachers, Ed professors, community groups, and parents all united…it is a powerful force loud enough to actually change the conversation!

I hope other ed professors around the county unite and speak out like our activist profs here in Chi-town did!  It makes a difference.

Categories Chicago, Corporate Reformers, Teacher Evaluations, Testing

The Foundation of Current Reforms Is Weak and Beyond Repair

By dianeravitch
September 18, 2012 //
13

An earlier post predicted that the faux reforms of the day will collapse like a house of cards when the public realizes the damage done to children and the quality of education. This reader says that the tests that are the foundation for all of the current education reforms–like merit pay and evaluation by scores–are fundamentally and irreparably flawed.

Queue the Kafka indeed! I’ve worked in the educational publishing industry for years, and I have had occasion to read hundreds of state tests. Almost every test that I have read has been RIDDLED with errors–was so full of errors that it looked like some sort of rough draft. Often, the errors on the state tests are such that the officially correct answer is actually incorrect. Here’s an example:

“There are 8 apples on a table. If you take away 2 apples, how many apples do you have?”

The answer is supposed to be “six,” but, of course, the answer to the question that was actually asked is “two.”

I have a standing bet that I can take any one of these state standardized tests and find at least ten errors in it. It’s a bet I’ve never lost. These tests are really sloppily prepared, and as the experience of the teacher in this video indicates, there is little accountability for their quality.

However, the problem runs much deeper than the editorial vetting of the exams. The biggest problem with them is that the supposed research adduced by the testing companies to support the validity and reliability of their tests is a lot of smoke and mirrors. A test of reading ability is like a test on “ability to make one’s way in the world.” What’s being tested is extraordinarily vague, broad, and complex. Suppose that one tested driving ability by giving people an exam that looked at their ability to identify car parts–to distinguish, say, a hub cap from a windshield wiper. Such a test would be very like the state exams that we give to test reading ability.

Categories Corporate Reformers, Merit pay, Teacher Evaluations, Testing

Spread the word: Stop School Closings!

By dianeravitch
September 18, 2012 //
1

A note from a friend:

Attached you will see our media advisory that we are just about to get out. We are part of a national alliance of youth, parent and community groups who have joined to fight against school closures. We believe they have displaced our communities, in some places like Chicago increased the violence and are a violation of our civil rights.

Cities like Detroit, Chicago, NOLA, Boston, Philly just to name a few will ride to D.C. on what we are labeling our “Journey for Justice”. 500 youth and parents will converge on D.C. on the 20th of September and send a message to the President and Duncan.

Can you help us? We are really trying to get the #journey4justice hashtag to trend. We have already begun to tweet using it and are working to create a strategy behind this. We have a powerful video of rallies and protests over the years from different cities around school closure. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o6X5rRI7MyE&feature=youtu.be

Would love any ideas you might have about getting others to participate on Twitter or FB?

Zakiyah Ansari
Advocacy Director
ALliance for Quality Education
 
233 Broadway
New York, NY 10279
212 328 9266
917 309 5742
 
Twitter @zansari8
 
Human progress is neither automatic nor inevitable… Every step toward the goal of justice requires sacrifice, suffering, and struggle; the tireless exertions and passionate concern of dedicated individuals.
Martin Luther King, Jr.

Categories Corporate Reformers, Education Reform, Parents, Privatization, Students
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