The following is a “readers response” I sent to the Baltimore Sun in response to a commentary posted in the newspaper. Sadly I have had no reply. I am not holding my breath. Silence and ignorance are tools of the oppressive reform movement. Informed community members are a danger to their efforts. Lost in Translation: A response […]
NY: Calling on You to Stop Field Testing
May 15, 2013 By 2 Comments
In three weeks, students at over 3,600 schools in New York State will receive a nasty surprise. They mistakenly believe that, for this school year at least, they are done taking tests. When they least expect it, the number 2 pencils and bubble sheets will reappear. When I was in elementary school, June brought Field […]
Student “Takes Aim” at Common Core Math
May 13, 2013 By 3 Comments
Pearson Protest in NJ Changed to Thursday May 23
May 9, 2013 By Leave a Comment
DEMAND CORPORATIONS PAY THEIR FAIR SHARE THURSDAY, MAY 23, 12:00PM Hoboken Ferry, 1 Hudson Place Hoboken, NJ Tell Governor Christie: Quit the corporate welfare and fund our public schools! Protest Governor Christie’s giveaways to corporate ed giant Pearson! High-stakes testing giant Pearson Education, Inc. was offered an $80 million payday from the state of […]
End NJ Tax Subsidies for High Stakes Testing “Monster” Pearson
May 6, 2013 By Leave a Comment
Pearson, Inc: Bad tax subsidies for bad education policies. End NJ Tax Subsidies for High Stakes Testing Giant Pearson, Inc. TUESDAY, May 14TH, 12:00PM Hoboken River Ferry, 1401 Frank Sinatra Drive, Hoboken NJ • End corporate welfare and fund our public schools! • Protest tax subsidy ‘payoffs for layoffs’ to test publishing giant Pearson! […]
Big data strikes again with Coursesmart, #highered take notice
April 9, 2013 By 2 Comments
According to the NYT, professors can now track how students are reading digital materials: Major publishers in higher education have already been collecting data from millions of students who use their digital materials. But CourseSmart goes further by individually packaging for each professor information on all the students in a class — a bold effort […]
At the Chalk Face’s #edreform #marchmadness, Round Two
March 24, 2013 By Leave a Comment
Some predictable results, and a few upsets. We now have Round Two: The Erroneous Eight. Gates defeats 16 seed Broad, no surprise there, for the Donor Division. ALEC and USDE emerge victorious for “Good” Government. No surprise that Pearson and Achieve would make it to the next round in All 4 Profit. But the most […]
Kindergarteners: Get Ready to “Confront the New Economy”
March 5, 2013 By 19 Comments
Earlier today, I had a short Twitter conversation with Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers. It went something like this: Randi: not the implementation or roll out, but the [Common] core is key to helping kids confront new economy Me: It will help them face the new economy. Not in a good […]
The School-to-Workforce Pipeline: At Least it isn’t Prison
March 5, 2013 By 2 Comments
Have you applied for a job online recently? I’m sure that at least some of the 12.3 million unemployed Americans have. Thank goodness for the Internet, right? Instead of “pounding the pavement,” as my mother used to call it, you can just click your way through a dozen job applications online each day. It sounds […]
A round-up of stories from friends and family @thechalkface #newtown
December 19, 2012 By Leave a Comment
From Alternet: Unionized Teachers, So Vilified By the Right, Are the Heroes of Sandy Hook. Do we continue reducing the “value added” of educators to test scores? Perhaps it’s important to reconsider the percentages. Diane Ravitch on the hero teachers of Newtown. Are we really sure the problem with education right now is indeed common curriculum and […]
Money, Test Prep, Money,Exams,Money
December 1, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Guest Post: Robert Rendo Nationally Board Certified Teacher, New York Public education has long become a billion dollar industry, according to a report put out way back in 2007 by Thomas Meldon, professor in the Benerd School of Education at the University of the Pacific in California, and editor of Teacher Education Quarterly, and Bruce […]
Pearson history text mimics art history textbook in same controversy
Remember that story from September where an art school was charging $180 for an art history text with no artwork? Yeah, that one. It’s published by Pearson. From Brent Ashley: There is no discount on the $180 price for an ART textbook that has NO PICTURES. Devoid of pictures. Bereft of art. If I am […]