Ravitch: “Just Say No to the Race to the Top”

On a blog at Education Week, Diane Ravitch advises that states should “Just Say No to the Race to the Top.” Ravitch notes: It might better be called the Race to Nowhere, or as some have dubbed it, the Race to the Trough or the Dash to the Cash. She notes the demoralization of teachers […]

US Educ Sec Arne Duncan on Colbert (Oct 5, 2009)

This weekend I saw Chris Hedges on BookTV’s “AfterWords,” and I thought “this is somebody that I need to see on the Colbert Report.” I decided to do some posting to encourage that encounter (that will be my next post after this one — see the post above this one, or the link with arrow, […]

NCLB “lying to children and parents” – U.S. Ed Sec Duncan, Sept. 24, 2009

According to an Ed Dept press release: In his speech, Duncan said that the NCLB law has significant flaws and that he looks forward to working with Congress to address the law’s problems. He said the law puts too much emphasis on standardized tests, unfairly labels many schools as failures, and doesn’t account for students’ […]

Kevin Welner “Obama’s Dalliance with Truthiness” (limited time public access)

“During his campaign, Barack Obama was adept at identifying the Bush administration’s failures to use research responsibly. He assured us that he would not misspend taxpayer dollars on projects that were ideologically appealing but unsupported by facts. No more would policy be based on imaginary or invented evidence at odds with the best knowledge available.

“But those who believed in this promise are now confronted with policy edicts from the Department of Education that are as ill-grounded, dogmatic, and heavy-handed as any that emerged from the prior administration. These edicts are tied to the Department’s “Race to the Top,” a $4.35 billion program that is part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act stimulus spending.”

Jonathan Kozol, 3-hr live call-in Sept 6 on BookTV

Jonathan Kozol will be featured on the three-hour In Depth program Sunday, September 6 on BookTV (CSpan2). The program airs noon-3pm US Eastern Time, and is then re-aired the same weekend and often later weekends. It is also available for online viewing shortly after the live event. September–Jonathan Kozol Author and education activist Jonathan Kozol […]

2007 Report on Schooling in Arne Duncan’s Chicago

It may be that Duncan will be somewhat different in Washington than in Chicago. Regardless, any positive changes will require continued great effort on
our part. As a friend remarked yesterday, “It’s what my husband said: If McCain is elected, might as well fold up the tent and go home. If Obama is
elected, it means a lot of hard work on our part.”

Obama team’s support for portfolio assessment

Thanks to Checker Finn’s shop (where they’re not wild about this), we have this news: Tuesday morning on the Diane Rehm Show … Obama staffer Melody Barnes expressed her candidate’s openness to using portfolios to assess student achievement under No Child Left Behind . I don’t have time to blog more now ( I’m turning around […]

principal apologizes for school’s Excellent test results

from The [Cleveland] Plain Dealer: Students pass state test, but at what cost to their education? by Regina Brett Tuesday July 22, 2008, 3:10 PM The school report cards came out in June. Rocky River Middle School passed the 2008 Ohio Achievement Tests, earned an Excellent rating from the state and met the requirements for […]

Texas GOP: NCLB “a massive failure, should be abolished”

Although my previous post highlights what the Texas 2008 Republican Platform says about “Theories of Origin,” the biggest headline in the Education pages of that platform is surely their statement that The No Child Left Behind Act has been a massive failure and should be abolished. Recall that this law was George W. Bush’s signature […]

TX GOP 2008 platform on Education

The Republican Party of Texas has now posted its State Party Platform for 2008. I have also excerpted and posted here the four pages of that platform with the Preamble, Principles, and positions on Education. As usual the Texas GOP takes interesting positions on many things, but in this post I’ll just quote their statement […]

anti-science in Texas

The following morning, I received a call from the principal. She confirmed that there is no retesting for the Science TAKS. But she also informed me that my son would not be retained in the fifth grade because Science TAKS is not required for promotion! Fifth grade students must pass the Reading and Math TAKS tests in order to be promoted, but they don’t even have to show up for the Science TAKS.

Tom Chapin: “IT’S NOT ON THE TEST”

Extra (Oct. 21, 2008): Breaking news on NCLB & assessment under President Obama ===================== You can play this video here, but be sure to visit Tom Chapin’s site for “It’s not on the test.” Includes Lyrics, Statement, Fact Sheet, Press Info, Advocacy …

Negative Implications Of No Child Left Behind: As Graduation Rates Go Down, School Ratings Go Up

ScienceDaily (2008-02-16) — Texas’ public school accountability system, the model for the national No Child Left Behind Act, directly contributes to lower graduation rates, according to new research. Each year Texas public high schools lose at least 135,000 youth prior to graduation — a disproportionate number of whom are African-American, Latino and English-as-a-second-language students. The […]

Creationist degree for science teachers: Trouble for Texas under NCLB?

Would Texas state approval of the creationists’ masters degree program in “Science Education” jeopardize its satisfaction of the NCLB requirement for a “Highly Qualified Teacher” in every classroom, and its reciprocity arrangements for teacher qualification in other states?

House NCLB chair Miller endorses Obama

As reported in the San Jose Mercury News, Veteran legislator Rep. George Miller, D-Martinez [CA], has endorsed Illinois Sen. Barack Obama for president. Not mentioned in most of the commentary is that Miller chairs the House committee with jurisdiction over reauthorization of NCLB.

Rod Paige v. Teachers Unions (BookTV)

  Remember when Bush’s Education Secretary Rod Paige called the NEA a terrorist organization? Well, he’s Baa-ack — with his new book: The war against hope: how teacher unions hurt children, hinder teachers, and endanger public education.Click the title (above) for detailed information on the book, and to check your local libraries on WorldCat (with […]

Teachers surveyed on NCLB

As we gear up for the reauthorization of NCLB, there may be some interest in surveys of teachers on what they have seen and experienced since passage of the law. Here are a few.