Traveling to the Network for Public Education convention in Chicago last weekend threw me off my weekly routine, but I still have select cuts for you from this week at Curmudgucation, from NPE reports to the problems of being a reformster booster and the disaster-in-the-remaking of NY teacher evaluations.
Diane Ravitch sat down at NPE to talk to the heads of the top two teacher unions in the country. Did anyone say anything interesting?
The Resistance Meets on Weekends
There are some fundamental differences between the supporters of public education and the well-paid corporate reformsters.
WSJ: Fordham’s Four Kinds of Wrong
Fordham unveiled a report this week claiming to show that having a school closed out from under them is awesome for students. I think they may have missed a point.
New Teacher Attrition Report: Better Than You Thought
Also in new report news, a report showing that teacher attrition might not be as bad as we’ve been thinking.
Yong Zhao at NPE: Must See Video
Yong Zhao presented at the NPE convention, and the video is available. Perfect for explaining the issues to your friends who aren’t up on them.
Testing Minorities: Hard Lessons for Public Ed Supporters
Public ed defenders keep being surprised at some of the people who back Big Standardized Testing. Perhaps we should open our ears a bit.
Some disaster capitalists have been sniffing the Baltimore air, and they smell opportunity.
Edushyster: Peter Cunningham’s Woes
It’s not easy being the media counselor for sad, isolated millionaires. Edushyster has a great interview with the head of Education Post.
Choice: Real Problems, Fake Answers
Choice advocates like the head of NYCAN have a clear grasp of the problems of some public schools. So how do they arrive at choice as a solution?
Newark: Students Stand Up Again
The Newark Students Union once again gave a master class on how communities can stand up and speak out.
Why choice-charter systems have to be wastefully expensive.
NY: Eval Overhaul In Scary Hands
We’ve seen the line-up for Andrew Cuomo’s fix-the-teacher-evaluation-toot-suite squad, and it’s not good news for teachers and other lovers of fact based non-junk science.
TFA 5.0: Charters for Children
It looks like TFA is re-inventing itself as full-on charter fodder.