Archives for category: Los Angeles
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Who Tried to Buy School Elections?

By dianeravitch
November 7, 2012 //
6

Robert Valiant has launched a website to gather information about who funded campaigns for charters and vouchers and against teachers, unions and public education.

If you have links to newspaper articles or other reliable sources, please post them to this website.

I hope that a law firm or investigative journalist will find out where Rhee collected money and which races she supported. She certainly influenced the legislature in Tennessee, where she helped Republucans gain a super-majority, enabling her ex-husband TFA State Commissioner Kevin Huffman to impose the full rightwing reform agenda.

http://dumpduncan.org/forum/discussion/42/registry-of-attempts-to-buy-education-elections-by-prizatizers.

Categories Bloomberg, Michael, Broad Foundation, Bush, Jeb, California, Charter Schools, Connecticut, Corporate Reformers, Democrats for Education Reform, Education Industry, For-Profit, Gates Foundation, Bill Gates, Indiana, Klein, Joel, Los Angeles, Louisiana, Luna, Tom, Merit pay, Privatization, US Education, Walton Foundation

Please Vote. Your Vote Matters.

By dianeravitch
November 6, 2012 //
20

If you live in one of the battleground states, I urge you to vote to re-elect President Obama.

Though many of us oppose his Race to the Top, please vote for him for other reasons.

We can’t allow a reactionary, backward-looking Republican Party to take charge of this nation’s future. We can’t allow a rightwing administration to shape the Supreme Court.

I urge you to vote for President Obama. Once he is re-elected, we will continue to pressure him to strengthen our nation’s essential public education system. He might hear us. Romney won’t.

If you live in Washington State, vote NO on 1240 and show the billionaires that you won’t let them start the process of privatization.

If you live in Georgia, vote against the ALEC initiative and preserve local control.

If you live in Bridgeport, Connecticut, vote against the Mayor’s attempt to take away your right to elect the school board.

If you live in Los Angeles, vote for Robert Skeels for LAUSD school board.

If you live in Ohio, vote for Maureen Reedy for the legislature.

If you live in Minneapolis, vote for Patty Wycoff for school board.

If you live in Idaho, vote NO on Props 1, 2, 3: Repeal the Luna laws.

If you live in New Jersey, vote for Marie Corfield.

If you are in Perth Amboy, NJ, vote the “New Visions” slate: Nina Perkins Nieves, Benny Salerno, Jeanette Gonzalez and Maria Garcia for Board of Education.

If you live in Pennsylvania, vote for Richard Flarend.

If you live in California, vote yes on 30 to support public education and no on 32, meant to hobble unions.

Wherever you are, support the candidates who believe in democratically controlled public schools.

Wherever you live, oppose privatization and diversion of public funds to private hands.

Strengthen our democracy by supporting public education.

Support the schools whose doors are open to all.

Support the candidates who will fight for equality of educational opportunity.

Categories Accountability, ALEC, Budget Cuts, California, Charter Schools, Corporate Reformers, Education Industry, Education Reform, For-Profit, Los Angeles, Pennsylvania, Privatization

More Evidence: Value-Added Assessment Is Junk Science

By dianeravitch
November 5, 2012 //
18

Linda Darling-Hammond and Edward Haertel of Stanford University explain why value-added assessment doesn’t work and how inaccurate it is.

Will John Deasy listen? Will the Gates Foundation listen?

Will the Los Angeles Times, which published their article, stop seeking names to publish inaccurate data about teacher “effectiveness”?

Categories Los Angeles, Teacher Evaluations

Why Robert Skeels Should Be Elected to LAUSD Board

By dianeravitch
November 4, 2012 //
1

A retired educator in Los Angeles writes:

Los Angeles is the only city in the big 3(New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago) that is not run by a mayor. It almost happened and is still a threat. Several years ago, when Mayor Villaraigosa did not get control of the schools, he threw money and support behind friendly board member candidates. This has been a disaster for Los Angeles children. One of the mayor’s favorites, Yolie Flores Aguilar, presented a plan to put LAUSD schools out to bid. This lead to disruption and more privatization. As a result, funding for traditional schools has been severely cut back with thousands of teachers laid off including librarians and nurses.

Robert Skeels has been a tireless advocate for all the children in LAUSD and if elected, would unseat Monica Garcia, one of the mayor’s favorites. This would end years of gridlock and political cronyism. It is even more important now because the candidates running for mayor next year have not shown independence from Villaraigosa’s failed policies, even though mayoral control in New York and Chicago has been an unmitigated disaster for the educational system in both these cities.

As an example, our mayor successfully pedaled the “Parent Trigger” law at a meeting of mayors from across the country even though the Parent Trigger has NEVER been implemented. It failed miserably in Compton, CA and now, in Adelanto, CA, a recent parent vote to pick a charter under California’s Parent Empowerment Act attracted only 53 voters, even though the school itself serves close to 700 students. And they call this Parent Empowerment?

Robert Skeels has revealed the true nature of the Parent Trigger whose two attempts in California were backed by Parent Revolution, which in turn is backed by the top school privatizers in this country. The tide is turning, with more and more members of the public realizing that there are hidden agendas within the privatization of our public schools. We need more potential board members, like Robert, to come forward and turn the tide all across the country to wrench control out of the hands of those whose only interest is to financially profit off of our public school children.

Categories Budget Cuts, California, Charter Schools, Los Angeles, Parent trigger

Vote For Robert Skeels for LAUSD Board

By dianeravitch
November 3, 2012 //
4

I am happy to endorse the candidacy of Robert D. Skeels for LAUSD school board.

He attended UCLA, is a veteran of the US Navy, and a staunch supporter of public education. He passionately defends the right of every child to a high-quality education.

His knowledge, experience and perspective would add a greatly needed new voice to the deliberations of the school board. He would stand up for children, parents and teachers.

The future of public education hangs in the balance, as the forces of privatization circle round it. I strongly urge voters to support Robert Skeels at this critical time.

Diane Ravitch

Categories Los Angeles

This Union Is a Hero of Public Education

By dianeravitch
October 30, 2012 //
17

The United Teachers of Los Angeles has steadfastly refused to allow its members to be evaluated by the test scores of their students. Unlike the district leadership, UTLA understands that scholars have found that value-added assessment is inaccurate, invalid and unstable. By this method, excellent teachers may be labeled “ineffective,” and poor teachers who teach to the test may be labeled “effective.”

Despite intense pressure by the Los Angeles Unified School District leadership and the federal government, UTLA has insisted that its members should be evaluated by evidence-based methods, not by “value-added assessment” that has not been proven to work anywhere.

UTLA refused to sign off on the district’s request for $40 million in Race to the Top funding, which would have subjected its members to value-added assessment.

UTLA recognizes that accepting $40 million for RTTT would eventually cost the district hundreds of millions of dollars to comply with the federal government’s mandates. This has been the experience of other districts, where teachers have been laid off and class sizes have increased solely because of compliance with RTTT requirements.

Because it has remained true to principle, because it insists on evidence-based evaluation, because it insists on honest accounting for the public’s dollars, UTLA is a hero of public education and joins the honor roll.

Categories California, Education Reform, Honor Roll, Los Angeles, Privatization, Race to the Top, Teacher Evaluations, U.S. Department of Education, Unions

Does Value-Added Assessment Ever Work?

By dianeravitch
October 29, 2012 //
27

The Los Angeles Times (!) has an outstanding article by reporter Teresa Watanabe about the new teacher evaluation system. It is based on growth in test scores and on computer modeling. The focus is on one teacher who seems to do all the right things: last year, he got a good rating but not this year. What changed? Nothing.

The United Teachers of Los Angeles has been fighting the LAUSD’s efforts to impose this flawed system on all teachers.

Eventually, after we have spent billions of dollars on these mechanical systems, the policymakers will figure out that the experts were right: the ratings reflect who is taught, not teacher quality.

Remember: no other nation in the world is judging teacher quality this way. This is our own nutty idea. It’s main accomplishment: demoralization of teachers.

Categories Education Reform, Los Angeles, Teacher Evaluations

Treasure the Whistleblowers

By dianeravitch
October 24, 2012 //
4

I posted earlier about a charter leader who was accused of orchestrating cheating, was fired, and was given a $245,000 settlement.

The whole sordid mess associated with Crescendo Charter Schools in Los Angeles might never have come to light were it not for teachers who were whistle-blowers.

Robert Skeels tells the story here.

Without tenure, without the protection of a union, whistleblowers get fired or never surface to blow the whistle.

Part of the faculty at the charter chain belonged to the United Teachers of Los Angeles.

They blew the whistle on a corporate culture that condoned cheating.

They thought it was wrong.

Imagine that. They thought it was wrong to give students the answers to the questions.

It was alleged that the founder of the chain ordered principals to break the seals on the standardized tests and direct teachers to teach the tests, all to get higher scores and create the illusion of miracle schools.

That is the route to fame and fortune.

But it wasn’t because there were whistleblowers.

The whole chain was shut down.

Deregulation has its perils.

Categories Charter Schools, Los Angeles, Testing

Charter Administrator Fired in Cheating Scandal, Gets $245,000 Settlement

By dianeravitch
October 24, 2012 //
8

This is a strange story from Los Angeles.

The leader of a charter school chain had to resign when confronted with evidence he encouraged principals and teachers to cheat on tests. Allegedly, I must add.

The schools were closed down.

But then he got a $245,000 going away gift..

Anyone understand this?

The perils of deregulation? The risks of high-stakes testing?

What’s with the bonus pay?

Categories Charter Schools, Los Angeles

LA Times Sues to Get Teachers’ Names

By dianeravitch
October 18, 2012 //
10

Remember that the LA Times created a firestorm in 2010 when it created value added ratings for teachers in the Los Angeles Unified School District and released the names and ratings of thousands of teachers. Arne Duncan said it was a good idea, but many researchers warned that the ratings were volatile, inaccurate, and unstable. And others saw a violation of confidentiality as well as ethical issues. In the aftermath, a teacher named Roberto Riguelas committed suicide, and his family said he was depressed to see what he thought was an unfair rating of his work.

New York City released the teacher ratings earlier this year, and again there were many complaints about inaccuracy. This time, Bill Gates published an op-Ed opposing the practice on grounds that it makes it impossible for supervisors to counsel teachers when their ratings are published.

Be all that as it may, the Los Angeles Times is now suing LAUSD for access to teachers’ names so they can release their ratings again.

I am still trying to understand what the newspaper thinks it is accomplishing, what purpose is served other than selling papers.

Categories California, Duncan, Arne, Gates Foundation, Bill Gates, Los Angeles, Teacher Evaluations
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