Section » K12
The Common Core: Whose Standards Are They?
Over the past decades, testing has played a central role in justifying and brining about some of the most controversial reforms, such as school choice via charter schools, merit pay for teachers, and military academies for inner city youth. But possibly the most politically significant reform of all is the adoption of national standards and assessments....
Clever rhetoric won’t save your undemocratic reform from failure: An open letter to Arne Duncan on the occasion of teacher appreciation week
Dear Secretary Duncan, I am sure many have read your May 2, 2011 Open Letter to teachers. I am impressed with its rhetorical slight of hand, how it gently yet forcefully pushes — with all apparent conviction —...
Bruce Baker: Smart Guy (Gates) makes my list of “Dumbest Stuff I’ve Ever Read!”
Bill Gates (clearly a very smart guy) has just topped my list of Dumbest Stuff I’ve Ever Read for the first few months of 2011. He did it with this post in the Huffington Post and with his talk to State Governors (in which he also naively...
Teachers have a right to unionize
The recipe is as follows: use “research” and phony evaluation systems to create a wedge between teachers and the public. Then, legally dismantle...
Stephen Sawchuk: States Aim to Curb Collective Bargaining
In this February 9 article, Sawchuck writes: First it was changes to pay, then evaluation systems, and then tenure laws. Now, lawmakers in several states are challenging collective bargaining, the foundation of teacher unionism. In Idaho and Indiana,...
Anthony Cody: Teachers Beware — They are Coming for Our Pensions
From Teacher Blogs, Living in Dialogue On Wednesday, listening to Talk of the Nation...
Detroit Free Press: MEAP may be replaced by national online test
Following the Common Core Standards Blitzkrieg, spurred on by ARRA funds used to bribe states into compliance with the monopoly agenda of Gates et al, national testing is here. “Michigan’s MEAP test could undergo a radical change...
Alan Singer: Charter Schools Don’t Do Miracles
Of course, I don’t believe in mircales, and so, this story is not a surprise. But what is bubbling underneath the rhetoric of the Obama/Duncan education reform agenda is more and more evidence of the dark side of so-called innovation. This “dark side” has grave implications for an education that serve the public good. And it is clear...
More Than Half of Students Tested Have Poisoning History
More than half of the students tested in Detroit Public Schools have a history of lead poisoning, which affects brain function for life, according to data compiled by city health and education officials. The data also show, for the first time in Detroit, a link between higher lead levels and poor academic performance. About 60% of DPS students who performed...
Charter Schools/Market Violence/Disruptive Innovation: Student Beating, Paying the Rich, and the Irrelevance of Facts
From Jim Horn. “Are you, like the President, a fan of the “No Excuses” charter schools for the children of the poor, the ones with no oversight except for what student camera phones can provide? Then you may enjoy Jamie’s...
"The Political Economy of Educational Restructuring: On the Origin of Performance Pay and Obama’s “Blueprint” for Education," in The Phenomenon of Obama and the Agenda for Education Can Hope Audaciously Trump Neoliberalism? (Information Age Publishing)
