New Haven Independent

posted by: Threefifths on November 29, 2010  5:10pm

I will be there.I can’t wait.I saw her speak at NYU.The people on the panel with her as the children say,They better have there skills ready.This women is no joke when it comes to this crooked so call school reform which is run by crooked bankers and hedge fund hustlers.

http://www.blackagendareport.com/?q=content/freedom-rider-charter-school-lobby-buys-elections

posted by: Truth Avenger on November 29, 2010  8:01pm

This promises to be one of the most important and interesting forums ever.  The nature of many current reform initiatives predicated on false assumptions will be challenged. Because New Haven is in the national spotlight, it will be critical that those who labor on the education front lines- the teachers, make their voices heard. The over- emphasis on testing,Data, hyper-focused curricular targeting (at the expense of the whole child)- attacks on teacher unions, tenure, and teacher rights are all strategies being employed to ostensibly close the achievement gap and raise standards.  They will all be discussed tomorrow, and will be found wanting. I read the book and understand that teachers need to take their profession back and stop ceding control to amateurs that know NOTHING about teaching, learning, or what is best for the future of education.

posted by: Threefifths on November 30, 2010  8:53am

Like I said this women is no joke.The panel better come with there skills.Look what she did to Bill Gates.

Posted at 5:00 AM ET, 11/30/2010
Ravitch answers Gates
By Valerie Strauss

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/answer-sheet/diane-ravitch/ravitch-answers-gates.html#more

posted by: FIX THE SCHOOLS on November 30, 2010  8:59am

Truth Avenger,  If the so-called education experts know so much then why is public education in such dire straits? 

Over the last 50 years, the increase in public education funding controlled by politically-run boards of education combined with the rise of the all-powerful teacher unions has resulted in a failed system, a system that has been built perfectly to suit the needs of adults but not children.

We have not fallen in the ranks globally because of charter schools, test taking, and a focus on outcomes.

posted by: Truth Avenger on November 30, 2010  10:56am

Fix the Schools:According to Ravitch, today’s prescriptions for restructuring schools, including privatization, standardized testing, punitive accountability (as in NCLB) and the feckless multiplication of charter schools are a recipe for disaster.  Tonight, she will explain why the “business model” of school reform is an appropriate way to improve schools.
Here are some of her recommendations:
-Leave decisions about schools to educators, not politicians or business people (As mayor Bloomberg’s appointment of the top education spot to a business woman (Ms. Black) with no teaching experience.
-Devise a truly national curriculum (an imperative step toward improving schools but which has been dodged repeatedly by administrations for decates) that sets out what every child should be learning.
-expect charter schools to educate kids that need help the most, not compete with public schools.
-Pay teachers a fair wage for their work, not “merit pay” based on deeply flawed and unreliable test scores.
-Encourage family involvement in education from an early age.
FIX SCHOOLS: The experts in education have been espousing reforms embodied in the mid-eighties Nation at Risk Report on school reform. Instead, we got mandates like NCLB which imposed punitive and unrealistic goals but was not grounded in improved curricula- only increased testing of targeted areas.  Teachers have been working for National Standards for decades, only to have the process repeately hijacked and deferred.
I leave you with this Ravitch statement: “The most durable ways to improve schools is to improve curriculum and instruction and to improve the conditions in which teachers work and children learn, rather than endlessly squabbling over how schools sytems should be organized, managed, and controlled.” 
There is much to discuss that is not appropriate to this forum- I hope you will have the courage of your convictions to come out to the forum at Co-op High where questions like yours will receive a fair hearing and a sound, informed, reply.

posted by: Threefifths on November 30, 2010  12:14pm

Truth Avenger on November 30, 2010 10:56am

-Leave decisions about schools to educators, not politicians or business people (As mayor Bloomberg’s appointment of the top education spot to a business woman (Ms. Black) with no teaching experience

I agree with you all the way.In fact this you tube speaks to the Truth.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1FYVsQ3i9fk

And in fact look at those who are making profit.

The Faces of School Reform
By John Tarleton

http://www.indypendent.org/2010/01/29/faces-of-school-reform/

Fix the banks.

posted by: Truth Avenger on November 30, 2010  1:48pm

Correction to last comment: Tonight, she will explain why the “business model” of school reform is an “INAPPROPRIATE” way to improve schools.

posted by: FIX THE SCHOOLS on November 30, 2010  2:51pm

TA,  Going down your list:

“Feckless multiplication” of charter schools is not the answer (we agree on that)but replication of the 20% that DO work should happen rapidly.  But unfortunately the “system” views the practices at high-performing charters as threatening it’s survival. 

Punitive ONLY is wrong.  But with a carrot there must come consequences for failure.  We saw what a carrot-only approach did for us with the CT. Educational Enhancement Act 20 years ago.  We doubled our education funding and without any standards attached, the outcomes continued their descent into the educational cellar.

I agree that leaving the decisions to politicians has been a disaster! (yet another thing on which we agree.) But leaving decisions to professional educators has not gotten us anywhere either!  What has the education establishment done to improve public education in recent memory?  Arthur Levine, the former dean at the best ed. school in the country believes that there are NO good ed. schools, and that the the pervasive pedagogical theory today among educators is bankrupt! 

A national curriculum or better yet national STANDARDS is a good idea.  Why?  So that states like South Carolina cannot report that 80% of its students are proficient when if they had used the Massachustts standard, they would be at 30%. The designers of NCLB chickened out on that due to local politics!

Charters ARE public schools - and the best ones, the high performing charters, take children who were 2 grade levels behind in failed district schools and catch them up and get them back on track for college.  If after some appropriate amount of time, charters do not make an appreciable difference in outcomes over their peer district run schools then CLOSE THEM DOWN.  But the same standard ought to be applied to all public schools, not just charters.

- btw, the toughest school with the toughest population in the this city today is run by a CHARTER SCHOOL.  The kids who are at the Domus, formerly know as Urban Youth school have been kicked out by other district schools. 

- A dose of competition is what is needed to improve schools.  Competition is not a panacea and it certainly is not the answer by itself but those who believe that ANY competition is bad are greatly mistaken.

Merit pay, or differentiated pay based on performance and not longevity is a hallmark in every other field.  Why should schools be any different?  There is also a feeling that without a focus on identifying the good performers from the bad ones, this actually discourages high achieving young people from entering the field.  Whether or not the reward formula is right is important - but more important is signalling that the profession values and identifies competency!

By and large, great teachers, those that have had demonstrated success in moving kids up the skill ladder the fastest, EMBRACE tests and assessments.  Blaming the tests, some of which I agree are not great, is like arguing against using a thermometer to gauge fever because the poorly trained nurse kept on sticking it in the patient backwards!  Could tests be improved?  Of course.  But to avoid measuring because of bad teaching is illogical.

BTW, how hard is it to test adding and subtracting fractions?  And why would testing for this acquired skill be a bad thing if one wants to know if their students have mastered it?

Yes - encourage family involvement in education from an early age.

Before we go to improved curricula we need to trust that the leaders who choose the curriculum know what they are doing.  And better yet, that if they make a choice there will be a consequence for that choice.  Do you have any idea how many novel but completely ineffective curriculum changes have been introduced in NHPS over the last 20 years?

As to the quote, if Diane Ravitch is right about ignoring the basic organizational under-pinnings and going straight to curriulcum design and improvement to instruction then why over the years haven’t there been improvements to curriculum and instruction prior to the newly introduced NHPS accountability plan?  The district has been run by educators forever.  What happened?  And why is virtually every other urban district in the same dire straits?

posted by: FIX THE SCHOOLS on November 30, 2010  2:55pm

3/5,

She IS a formidable debater.  Perhaps she would consider debating Steve Perry, Howard Fuller, or Whitney Tilson. 

Then again maybe not.

FTS

posted by: Threefifths on November 30, 2010  4:49pm

She IS a formidable debater.  Perhaps she would consider debating Steve Perry, Howard Fuller, or Whitney Tilson. 

Then again maybe not.

FTS

Fix Fix Fix my main man.You got to come witj some real educates. I know all of them.Let start with this one.

Steve Perry.He has a CNN show he has never had her on.He is a social worker by trade who happen to go into education.I saw Al sharpton pin him down.

Howard Fuller.Did you know that his real name is Owusu Sadaukai Did you know that he is a Marxist.Look it up.Another who jump on the school reform train.

http://www.blackcommentator.com/poisoned_tree.html

Whitney Tilson. 

Fix He is a corporate vampire.

http://tilsonfunds.com/

Fix you got come better than this.How about your main man sell out the school chidren Joel Klein.

http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2010/11/11/2010-11-11_kleins_new_gig_a_sellout_of_everything_he_supposedly_stood_for.html

Or Maybe his replacement that need a wavier!!!  Hey check out her resume.

http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2010/11/17/2010-11-17_closer_look_at_cathies_reacutesumeacute___troubling_tie.html

http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2010/11/29/2010-11-29_cathie_black_may_be_a_superstar_manager_but_shes_still_no_educator.html

Hey fix bottom none of them could carry her gym bag.Look here I got run because I want a front row seat to watch her mop the floor with them.

P.S.

How come this person is not on the panel.You said Married to Dacia Toll one of the lovliest people you’ll ever meet, and finest educators in our country.Then how come she is not on the panel instead of her school principal.Hope you can make it.