Opinionator Sara Mosle learned both teaching and politics from Teach for America, and now she is a favorite at the NYTimes to express the positivized neoliberal edu-position without having to think about it. Sara wonders in her latest column if children in air conditioned classrooms have an advantage over children who must swelter in school […]
NY Columnist Worries About Global Warming from School Air Conditioners as State Prepares to Punish Teachers in Hot Classrooms
June 2, 2013 By 8 Comments
We’re Going on a “DIG”!
May 8, 2013 By 8 Comments
It’s time to do some “digging for artifacts”! In order for my District to evaluate my performance on Domain 4 of the Danielson Rubric. I must produce 2 pieces of EVIDENCE of each of the following: 1. Reflection on Teaching 2. Maintaining Accurate Records 3. Communicating with Families 4. Participating in a Professional Community 5. […]
@rweingarten is trying to drive that bus…
March 27, 2013 By 4 Comments
AFT President Randi Weingarten tried to throw us all under the bus with this abhorrent collaboration with a member of the Gates Foundation. Here’s the original piece with response from Anthony Cody and Diane Ravitch. Proximity to power and self-preservation are very persuasive. But this bus can’t run over everyone finally starting to stand up […]
Gates and AFT: Together At Last
March 25, 2013 By 14 Comments
This article needs a few, okay, a lot of edits. So, I’m taking the liberty of rewriting it. Go ahead and read the original article first, and then let’s see if we can clarify the real message here. Randi Weingarten, president of the national teachers union, American Federation of Teachers, has famously been praising the Common […]
Test Prep: Take it, or….?
February 1, 2013 By 7 Comments
Unlike so many schools in New York City (including both schools where I taught previously), my current school is not under the gun in terms of raising test scores. So why did I just receive two stacks of New York State test prep books? Let’s end the illusion that standardized tests are authentic measures of […]
Another reason why #teacher #evaluation is a S-H-A-M
October 1, 2012 By 11 Comments
Can this be happening in any merit-based society that proclaims to care about education? The LA evaluation system is headed by a 27 year old with a BA and two years of teaching experience out of TFA. Apparently, her actual license is expired and she justifies it thusly: Horstman, who spent two years in a […]
In Search of An Accountable Education Editor at the New York Times
September 17, 2012 By 2 Comments
Brent Staples has long been the education editorialist at the New York Times, and his function as a rubber stamp for corporate education reform has assured his continuing tenure there. His opining never fails to parrot the Business Roundtable talking points on education, a subject for which the privatizers are the least prepared to talk […]
Check out this vid of @m_rhee on the BBC, doesn’t look too happy
August 13, 2012 By 1 Comment
#REACS in #CPS is a turd pill covered in peanut butter
April 6, 2012 By Leave a Comment
A new evaluation system rammed through Chicago Public Schools may launch a strike. So, here’s the skinny: The new system, Recognizing Educators Advancing Chicago’s Students, will now count student performance as 25 percent of a teacher’s assessment, with the intention to raise that rate to 40 percent in five years. Let me get this straight: […]
Why Colorado #teacher #evaluation is like Rocky IV
March 9, 2012 By Leave a Comment
There’s a great piece out there on generation test from journalist Dana Goldstein at the American Prospect. It’s a pretty comphrensive look at an intense evaluation system in Colorado, where every adult in the building, art teachers to counselors, are subjected to accountability measures. I think somewhere in the article the author refers to the […]
The vaunted(?) TEP #charter #school not abiding by its no excuses ethos, so why is the principal still gainfully employed?
March 6, 2012 By Leave a Comment
I feel bad. I visited TEP. I saw the kids, the conditions, I’ve reflected on this before. I’ll say it again: the inmates are running the asylum. The TEP Charter School is now embroiled in the NYDOE teacher evaluation data kerfuffle. Its “star” teacher received a pretty terrible rating despite the very high compensation, which […]
NY’s Rube Goldberg Plan for Teacher Evaluation
When you have news that is too toxic even to go into the Friday afternoon news dump, you save it for Saturday when everyone is at the beach or at the park. That’s just what NY’s Broadie Ed Commish, John King, did Saturday, with the release of another anti child and anti teacher battle plan […]