To follow is the first in a series of posts describing what high stakes testing is, how it began, the ramifications of this type of testing and how it will affect every student. High Stakes Testing: A Little History “…I discovered then, in my early teaching career, that learning is best driven by ideas, challenges, experiences, and activities that engage students. My experience over the past 45 years has confirmed this. We have come far from that time in … →
After Secretary of Education Arne Duncan gleaned as much as he could out of the Race to the Top funding, such as it was, by putting a carrot in front of the donkey with potential money to the states, he decided to go from district to district selling his wares. The state of Washington did not seriously go after Race to the Top money, knowing what the price was, charter schools and the wasting of community schools through closures and … →
Our Schools Alliance presents: Tele-Town Hall with Diane Ravitch Wednesday, October 16th 8:00 PM EDT “[Diane] is America’s foremost historian in the areas of education policy, she’s a champion of public education, she’s a courageous speaker and she’s a truth-teller.” –Actor, Matt Damon You are invited to join Diane Ravitch for a tele-town hall discussion of the most challenging issues facing public education today. Diane’s recent book, Reign of Error, lights the way for communities to undo corporate … →
New statewide coalition calls on state board and Chicago schools for more information on inBloom program Chicago, IL: A new coalition of local and national parent and advocacy organizations today raised questions about how private student information is protected by school districts, after new revelations concerning a database vendor moving into Illinois. The groups sent letters to Illinois State Schools Superintendent Christopher Koch and Chicago Public Schools (CPS) Chief Executive Officer Barbara Byrd-Bennett expressing serious concerns about plans for … →
Reign of Error: The Hoax of the Privatization Movement and the Danger to America’s Public Schools Dr. Ravitch shatters one corporate reform myth after another with clarity providing excellent background information in the Notes and Appendix of this book. Because of her courageousness and direct approach, expect the corporate media to attack her because no one is left standing in this book, at least on the reform side, from President Obama’s support of school privatization to the machinations of … →
This past Tuesday, a group of North Carolina parents and educators asked our local school board to stop giving a set of federally mandated tests known as Measures of Student Learning (MSLs). Essentially, we are calling on our board members to consider civil disobedience. It is a lot to ask. But we believe the situation is dire enough to warrant it. The MSLs rolled out this past spring with disastrous results, especially at high schools, where the bulk of tests … →
Reprinted from Sharon Higgin’s Perimeter Primate blog On Saturday, August 31st, I was one of the speakers at the “Expose the Gulen Movement” protest rally held on a farm in the rural, rolling hills around Saylorsburg, PA. We assembled less than two miles from the compound where Fethullah Gulen lives. Gulen is considered to be one of the two most powerful men in Turkey. Those who attended the protest have a common interest in shedding light on the Gulen Movement’s … →
New affiliate member Lourdes Perez, leader of PAA Florida-based affiliate HispanEduca, shared the transcript of an Education Week webinar she recently participated in on the topic of facilities funding for charter schools. The discussion was apparently supposed to center on ways charter schools can access more capital funding (it was subtitled: “The Pursuit for Equity”…) but as you read the transcript, you will see that the participants, lead by our own Lourdes, took the discussion in a far more critical … →
PAA founding member Helen Gym, of Philadelphia’s Parents United for Public Education, was an analyst and commenter for the newest Phi Delta Kappa/Gallup poll showing some of the strongest public support in decades for public schools and teachers while rejecting many of the current education reform practices like high stakes testing, vouchers, and de-funding of schools. Helen’s comments, to be found on p. 23 of the PDK/Gallup poll report, are as follows: As a public school parent in Philadelphia, I’m … →
We were delighted when teacher/author John Owen asked for a book jacket blurb from PAA, and even more thrilled to see that he concludes “Confessions of a Bad Teacher” by recommending that people join Parents Across America as a first step in addressing the concerns raised in the book. He even includes our What Works/What Doesn’t Work statement (see page 232). The book went on sale on August 7. The publicity material calls it “The book ‘school reformers’ don’t want … →
