Ravitch Friends Randi, Fiorillo and Many Others Object

Randi is just the mirror image of Michelle Rhee.  ... Mike from Texas, comment on Ravitch blog, My Friend, Randi Weingarten

Randi Weingarten is no friend of teachers, and has been at the center of virtually every catastrophe that has befallen us and public education in the past fifteen-plus years. ...She is part of the problem, and there will be no effective opposition to the hostile takeover of the public schools until she and her disastrous policies are repudiated by working teachers. ,,,, Michael Fiorillo, comment on Ravitch blog, My Friend, Randi Weingarten.

This comment is interesting in what it doesn't say: "who would folks prefer has Randi Weingarten’s ear: Diane Ravitch or ArneRhee&Co?" Randi as head of the AFT  should be leading the fight. Why should Diane have to compete for Randi's ear over ArneRhee? The very nature of the question is a condemning one. I too trust Diane who along with people like Leonie Haimson, a parent not a teacher, have led the fight that our supposed union leaders have abdicated. ... Ed Notes, comment on Ravitch blog.

Yes I do trust Diane and I have no problem with her being friends with Randi. Even now if I see Randi I am friendly. This is not personal as I always used to tell Randi but political.

Diane's post has gotten loads of comments, almost all unfavorable to Randi, from all over the nation. And for those who mistakenly think that her chosen successor Mike Mulgrew is trying to distance himself from Randi, those are just words, not action, designed to give a false impression.

Randi is triangulating, straddling the fence between ed deform and union leader, unwilling to fight them on every front. Witness the difference from the Chicago teachers.

Here is Michael's full comment - check all of them out and leave your own.

Michael Fiorillo
July 10, 2013 at 9:20 am
With all due respect, Diane, as a NYC public school teacher who has had to live under the consequences of her leadership, local and national, I must disagree with you about Randi Weingarten.

In 2002, the UFT under Randi’s leadership agreed to mayoral control of the schools, a policy it maintains to this day. Mayoral control has been the primary vehicle for destabilizing, taking over and privatizing public education in NYC, and has provided a national media stage for the untruths and deceptions based upon it. Towards that end, Weingarten frequently appeared at dog and pony shows where Bloomberg/Klein’s spurious test scores were touted to the public.

In 2005, Weingarten negotiated a contract that eliminated seniority transfers, whereby excessed teachers or teachers at closing/reorganizing schools were guaranteed positions at other schools based on seniority. It was that contract – which also eliminated teacher’s right to grieve letters to their personnel files – that led directly to the epidemic of school closings in recent years, since Bloomberg and his DOE apparatchiks could now close a school and compel teachers to re-apply for their jobs, and which has led to an army of senior teachers, many of them racial and ethnic minorities, being professionally destroyed.

The destruction of the neighborhood public school, one of the primary objectives of so-called education reform, was enabled and accelerated by this.

In 2009, Weingarten said and did nothing while Bloomberg used his fortune to overturn a term limits law that had twice been approved by NYC voters.

Later that year, she convened a union governance committee, on which I served, to develop alternatives to mayoral dictatorship of the schools, which was scheduled to either sunset or be re-authorized that year. While I and others developed a minority plan that involved much greater community involvement in the running of the schools, the leadership-approved plan would have been a marked improvement over what we have now.

But it was not to be, because Randi Weingarten, without consulting what is nominally the Union’s highest body, its Delegate Assembly, casually threw out that plan and unilaterally endorsed the re-authorization of mayoral dictaorship of the schools virtually unchanged. She actually had the nerve to publicly state at the time that mayoral control had brought stability to the schools.

Shortly after, she and her protege Michael Mulgrew sat on their hands and made no endorsement in the mayoral election, allowing Bloomberg to be re-elected when he was vulnerable to defeat. I assume they thought that by shutting up, they’d get a contract for us. But Bloomberg correctly read their weakness, and four years later we still have no contract, despite her protege’s having enshrined VAM, Common Corporate Standards and evaluation checklists in state law. Her protege and vizier in NYC, despite his faux tough guy persona, got nothing for those concessions.

Dozens and dozens of schools have been closed since then, affecting thousands of children and teachers.

I could go on and on: her coziness with Eli Broad, AFT-sponsored seminars on for-profit opportunities in education at the Aspen Institute, helicoptering in to cities and negotiating contracts, as in Newark, that use the pseudo science of VAM in teacher evaluations, doing nothing while politically-connected charter operators cannibalize public school facilities, egging on her own apparatchiks to boo teachers who opposed having Bill Gates as the keynote speaker at the 2010 AFT convention, while Gates returned the favor the following week by attacking our pensions.

Sure, Randi will write a letter, or get special treatment when arrested at a ritualistic, photo op demonstration protesting policies that she has enabled. Alll of that is misdirection and political triangulation, permitting her to point to a few chosen sound bites when overwhelmed teachers look to her for support.

It’s obviously not my place to question your personal friendships, Diane, but Randi Weingarten is no friend of teachers, and has been at the center of virtually every catastrophe that has befallen us and public education in the past fifteen-plus years.

She is part of the problem, and there will be no effective opposition to the hostile takeover of the public schools until she and her disastrous policies are repudiated by working teachers.

Lisa North adds:

That is she has done nothing to mobilize parents, students, teachers, and community members to organize the fight back it will take to push the privatizers out of public education and really create a strong well functioning school system. The AFT and NEA do have some of the resources to help make that happen. Missing in action.

Michael Pat D:

I would choose Ravitch also and basically trust her leadership and reproach of the ed deformers. BUT we are not out from under Randi. She is as powerful as ever. She has helped to procure some very bad contracts around the country as the President of the AFT as well as the disastrous ones here in NY. She has a strong finger, still, in NYC’s pie and she makes sure she keep Mulgrew in line. She is not our friend. Friends strengthen each other. They don't stab you in the back looking for their moment in the lime light. as Randi does by courting some of the major ed deformers. A friend fights alongside you for what is right. She is not “in our court.” Damage is still being done and Weingarten, unfortunately, is a major player in the cause.

Did CNN's Randi Kaye Ask Rhee About the DC Cheating Scandal Coverup Under Her Watch?

[Randi Kaye] and her researchers are totally uninformed. And they feed their uninformed views to the American public. This is what is frightening! --- Diane Ravitch

Biased journalism 101

See the Kaye/Rhee Interview. What any person who considers herself a journalist would ask when Rhee brought up the term "effective" teacher. Define an effective teacher? Then didn't that definition result in a major cheating scandal under your watch as head of DC schools? What about the level of alienation of people that led to the mayor losing the election due to the impact of your policies? That was the type of interview Randi Kaye did with Ravich while letting Rhee off the hook.

I thought Diane had an opening when talking about the failures of merit pay and the testing used to measure it by pointing to the Rhee regime in DC and how it lead to a cheating scandal that was covered up (as even a former Rhee fan Jay Matthews points to).

See my last post earlier in the day: Biased CNN's Randi Kaye Does Not Deserve Merit Pay

And Diane Ravitch's follow-up post today: What Readers Said About CNN and Randi Kaye

I went to CNN assuming I was invited to express my differences with Rhee, who gets far more airtime than I to present her agenda of attacking US education, smearing teachers, calling for an end to tenure and seniority, and demanding merit pay, charter schools, vouchers, for-profit charter schools, for-profit virtual schools, and more testing.
But there was no discussion of my views, no opportunity to present them. Instead I faced a series of loaded questions intended to put me on the defensive (some of the worst were left out of the televised version). They were “gotcha” questions. What do you say to this? And what about that?

Last year at Education Nation, another biased reporter, Raheema Ellis, had Rhee on a panel with a former Atlanta school board member but only talked about the Atlanta cheating scandal. I got to the mic and asked Ellis why she was letting Rhee off the hook.

Rhee almost choked. One of the fun moments although all too brief.

Biased CNN's Randi Kaye Does Not Deserve Merit Pay

[Randi Kaye's) question was nonsensical and made CNN look stupid. Journalists have an audience in millions. That's why US public is so misinformed. Shame on CNN. There was no effort to elicit my views, only a determination to prove me wrong and to assert that US education is terrible.
... Diane Ravitch on her appearance on the CNN Interview: What They Dropped Out

... who needs to read about lack of homework preceding interview.- Tweet from Arthur Goldstein regarding @RandiKaye interview.

Compare how Randi Kaye questioned Diane Ravitch (I can't find the video yet) with her gentle interview where she allowed a grotesque-looking Michelle Rhee to bloviate.

Perdido Street School posted this before the interview but he was totally right:

 CNN Does "Gotcha" Interview With Ravitch After Softball Interview With Michelle Rhee (UPDATED)

Diane Ravitch posts the following:

I taped the interview a few minutes ago.

It airs tomorrow at 9-10 am EST.

It was a gotcha session.

This is the letter I sent to my contact at CNN.

This was one of the most biased interviews I have ever done, and I have done many.
Randi Kaye asked me about NAEP scale scores, which was technically a very dumb question, and I was stunned.
She thinks that a scale score of 250 on a 500 point scale is a failing grade, but a scale score is not a grade at all.
It’s a trend line.
She asserted that the scale scores are a failing grade for the nation.
That is like saying that someone who scores a 600 on the SAT is a C student, because it is only 75% of 800. But that’s wrong.
The scale is a technical measure. It is not a grade, period.
Then she asked me about an issue in Michigan, which fortunately, I had written about. But it was clear she was trying to blindside me.
The point of her question was to blame teachers, and I refused to be pushed into her trap.
Then she read two hostile comments about my CNN post and asked for my response.
Was that supposed to be a balanced or fair interview?
There was no effort to elicit my views, only a determination to prove me wrong and to assert that US education is terrible.
Shame on CNN.

I have already called and expressed my disgust that CNN did a hit piece on Ravitch after doing a softball interview with Rhee.

I also noted that since CNN's ratings are in the toilet and nobody really watches the channel anymore, if Ms. Ravitch goes on another news network and responds to the CNN attack, more people will hear and see her anyway.

You can leave feedback about Randi Kaye, the CNN "journalist" who conducted the attack interview here:

http://www.cnn.com/feedback/#cnn_FBKCNNTV

You can call and leave feedback here about the interview verbally here: 404.827.1500 option 1. That's the "News Tip" line, but they'll transfer you.

Shame on CNN indeed.

Some tweets after the interview:

Arthur Goldstein ‏@TeacherArthurG

At @CNN, since they know nothing about merit pay, they let Rhee blather on about it, and are shocked when @DianeRavitch calls them on it.

1h Diane Ravitch ‏@DianeRavitch

@TeacherArthurG @CNN Share your comments with @randikaye

53m Arthur Goldstein ‏@TeacherArthurG

@DianeRavitch Over at @CNN, @RandiKaye is shocked and stunned that an electronics industry lobbying group supports outsourcing.

RAVITCH ROCKS @AFTConv12

I included Randi's intro which is pretty good but you can move the slider if you want to skip it. I didn't even have to bother as I saw Randi tweeted the official speech which is better video since mine is from the screen. http://bcove.me/58x81rug

Diane Ravitch at the AFT from Grassroots Education Movement on Vimeo.


https://vimeo.com/46556439

Here are my tweets for some of her great quotes - in reverse order:

Norm Scott ‏@NormScott1

#aftconv2012 Stop Walmartization of pub education. U will persist, your cause is just and u will win. Thank u. Standing O. 

#aftconv2012 bad things don't go on forever and when it collapses u will be there to celebrate the end of reign of error.

#aftconv2012 Louisiana props, Texans school bds oppose high stakes testing. Deform in Tex and will end there.

#aftconv2012 Florida - parents/tchrs beat parent trigger law - calls it parent tricker law. Props to Fla.

#aftconv2012 Stay strong UTLA

#aftconv2012 props to Chicago TU for beating Rahm - 98% yes strike. Way to go CTU. HOPE

#aftconv2012 Carrots and sticks for donkeys not professionals. Props to UFT for beating Bloomberg on 24 schools. Best - took judge 7 minutes

#aftconv2012 tchr need to be eval by prof principals not by those who took one yr course. Loudest cheers.

#aftconv2012 ravitch -do most to fix schools: open health clinic in every school

#aftconv2012 Merit pay- as it you aren't trying. Never worked, doesn't work. Raise scores if threaten to cut off tchr fingers

Here is what I wrote before the speech and notes I took until I got tired.

@AFT Convention: Thursday July 26

Nothing much went on today other than registration and caucus meetings. By the way, as I write this at midnight, Gloria hasn't arrived yet -- not even sure if the plane took off. She's been stuck since 4:30PM. And she is on a plane with lots of Unity people. They better get here so they can get to their assigned mics tomorrow in time to call the question.

Debate over secret vs open ballot
I joined Randi's Progressive Caucus for $25 and this time no one tried to throw me out as opposed to 2 years ago in Seattle. A bunch of Unity Caucus people were still trapped back in NYC as were people from many other places so attendance was sparse. One of the interesting issues was the discussion on the open vs secret ballot since there is a resolution being presented that a secret ballot is democratic given the tight control the AFT leadership exercises and that the current open ballot allows the leadership to punish dissenters.

How ironic that the Unity/Progressive Caucus machine (which controls the AFT) stands for holding elected delegates accountable to the people who elected them while when it comes to the UFT local delegate assembly in NYC they take the opposite position --- that the chapter leader and delegate do not have to be held responsible to the staff that elected them. Thus your average Unity Caucus slug can vote for mayoral control every single time and never have to be held accountable to the staff.


One guy argued that the open ballot was a hindrance to an NEA/AFT merger -- calling it an "AFT refusal to endorse basic stumbling block in promoting democracy."

Dick Iannucci – pres of NYSUT – the largest merged state  - said the "issues separating us in merger do not stem from this. There is no discussion of merger going on right now. The fabric of AFT is about being a rep body [oh, yeah!]. We don’t define ourselves to meet others’ definition." 

Interesting how there is no hint of merger talks. I imagine the strategy is to do this state by state. Michael Mendel, looking fit, was at the mic when Keith Johnson, Pres of the Detroit TU called the question to close debate. I called to Mike "he beat you to it" but Mike said he was going to speak. (He liked the Ranger trade).

The caucus then went through the various resolutions they were supporting that will come out of various committees which will be meeting all Friday afternoon to recommend the top 3 resolutions. Non delegates like us are barred from attending those meetings so we will have Friday afternoon free. This process is rather complex to explain but is is key to controlling the convention. Unity makes sure to have its people in control of these committees and the convention debates which begin on Saturday are controlled by the decisions made in committee. And Progressive Caucus controls all the committees and the meeting today went through the key resos they support.

Randi made a rousing speech about the attacks, etc. Interesting point- she said the AFT has grown in membership though they would be saying it is stable. That's very interesting given the major drop the NEA reported a few weeks ago -- so major it made headlines. (I can't find the link right now.)

I then went over to the Peace and Justice Caucus meeting afterwards where Lisa and Gloria have been major organizers over the years. With Gloria still on the tarmac in NYC, Lisa chaired the meeting. Lots of Chicago people were there and I have lots to report in my follow-up tomorrow. We went over the resos they will push, some coming head to head with Unity/Progressive. Again I will do that tomorrow.

Interesting that I got an email from an ed notes reader while I was at the meeting. She surmised that Obama sat in Rahm to settle some of the issues with the CTU until the elections and then he would hammer them. (See Lee Sustar's great reporting for the Socialist Worker - Rahm blinks first in battle with teachers and Can the AFT meet the challenge?)

I asked that question and the CTU people were adamant that it was their pressure that forced Rahm. But earlier I had run into a CTU official who actually said there might have been pressure from the Democratic machine to tone it down.

P and J have snagged CTU president Karen Lewis, the unquestioned rock star of this convention, for their Friday night meeting which I am taping. Karen has to speak and run off to the CTU party and I'm going to run over there too with my camera to get the rank and file CORE people for some interviews. They have over 90 people here.

P and J meeting ended late -- around 8:30 and a whole bunch of us -- NYC, Chicago, Baltimore --- to the Marriott HQ at Renaissance for a bite. We went there because there are just so few restaurants around and where there are they are closed. We walked on some dark streets --- lights cost money and met up with some people on the street who shouted out hearty greetings. With everything closed we were forced to eat on the rooftop Marriott bar. A few tables off were a bunch of Unityites and I made sure to speak loudly and clearly when we discussed Randi. Gloria called and was still on the tarmac with the other Unity slugs.

Lisa, myself, a Baltimore teacher and Leo, her partner headed back through the weird Detroit landscape. We passed one open bar but otherwise, nada. A police car (one of the few we saw) stopped --"Are you lost," he asked, on his face a look of concern -- like why are you out walking in this area? Well, we were only 2 blocks from the hotel. Leo had attended a major rally of Detroit police and fire over the cuts and forced contract earlier in the day. We should high fived the cop as a message of solidarity. Detroit managers are attacking every public worker and I hear Rahm did the same in Chicago. When the CTU held its big march with 10,000 people the cops were totally supportive.

Tomorrow, Randi is leading a major march of AFT delegates to protest the enforced contract. Here is an excerpt from the AFT press office (see Norms Notes).

The convention opens with AFT President Randi Weingarten’s keynote address introducing “solution-driven unionism,” a redefinition of unionism that advances solutions focused not just on members, but also on the people they serve and the communities in which they live. Solution-driven unionism will advance creative solutions to unify members and their communities around issues important to all working people.

After delivering her keynote address on Friday, Weingarten will join members of the Detroit Federation of Teachers as they gather at the Detroit Pubic School headquarters to tell Detroit Public Schools Emergency Manager Roy Roberts to stop dictating and start working collaboratively to ensure the students of Detroit have what they need to succeed.

 2:30AM, Friday - Gloria is knocking on the door. Gotta go let her in.

Friday I'll report on the competing testing reso from the AFT and Chicago. Lots on that and there may even be a floor fight on Saturday or Sunday.

Meanwhile I have to cross post this awesome piece from NYC Educator -- we will report further on the Ravitch Sat 2PM speech and whether she might touch issues Randi doesn't want raised.

If Diane Ravitch Were UFT, She Wouldn't Be at AFT Convention

This week we've been examining precisely what it takes to represent the UFT at a national or state convention. The prime requirement, of course, is to be an invited member of the elite Unity Caucus, and to do that you must agree to support all union positions in public. Ravitch, though I like her very much, fails to meet the standard. Here's why.

1. She publicly opposes mayoral control. UFT supports it, and this alone would disqualify her. It's a long tradition to expel Unity members for failure to conform. In fact, Albert Shanker used to expel people for opposing the Vietnam War. Mayoral control is what brought us the rubber-stamp PEP, and I've seen high-ranking UFT officials get just as frustrated with them as most of us are. Power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely, and placing all that power in the hands of the richest man in New York was a huge error. We ought to stop pretending otherwise.

2. Ravitch vehemently opposes VAM, and has publicly labeled it for the junk science it is. She does not support using it for teacher evaluations, not at any percentage. Standard union argument is that principal's judgment can be flawed, and therefore other measures are needed. I cannot really argue that point, nor the one that there are plenty of crazy principals out there, but adding random nonsense to the mix hardly helps. In fact, if you have a small-minded principal, it's likely this person could work to see your value-added scores scour the depths of whatever underworld whatever remains of the soul of Joel Klein has been relegated to.

3. Ravitch fails to support Common Core. Ravitch says it should be tested before use. This makes perfect sense to me. In fact, with the AFT circulating a petition against excessive testing, before supporting it, wouldn't it be a good idea for us to find out precisely how much testing it will entail? The spectre of nine tests a year, to me, hardly bodes well. I'm upset by Common Core in that it does not differentiate between ELA for American-born kids and ESL for my students. To me, that's patently idiotic. Issues like these ought to be addressed before we throw our support to any program.

4. Ravitch is highly critical of union-endorsed President Barack Obama, going so far as to say he's given GW Bush a third term in education. UFT members won't be talking any of that when Vice President Joe Biden addresses the crowd in Detroit. When Obama's people applaud entire teaching staffs being fired, when Arne Duncan states Katrina was the best thing to happen to NOLA education, Obama says nothing, but Ravitch is not impressed.

I could go on, but you get the point. I congratulate the AFT for selecting Ravitch this year, She's a much better choice than Gates.

On the other hand, it's not particularly admirable that UFT leadership has excluded absolutely every New York City teacher who publicly supports her ideas.

=============
The opinions expressed on EdNotesOnline are solely those of Norm Scott and are not to be taken as official positions (though Unity Caucus/New Action slugs will try to paint them that way) of any of the groups or organizations Norm works with: ICE, GEM, MORE, Change the Stakes, NYCORE, FIRST Lego League NYC, Rockaway Theatre Co., Active Aging, The Wave, Aliens on Earth, etc.

Ravitch on Chicago

Sorry, Jonah. You don't know what mass action means. You have no idea what happens when working people organize and mobilize and stand together against the powerful financiers and politicians that you now represent. Karen Lewis showed that the teachers of Chicago stand together against mayoral authoritarianism.

Karen Lewis and the CTU are the new leaders of the labor movement. Time for us to follow in their footsteps, rather than more pointless and counter-productive engagement with “reformers” and their absurd notions. 

--- Arthur Goldstein, NYC teacher comment on Ravitch Blog 

Today at the Delegate Assembly (look for some of my notes in the morning posting) Mulgrew talked about Chicago and bragged about what good friends he was with Karen Lewis in Chicago. I also heard from people in Chicago that Karen and Mulgrew seem to get along. We'll see how that all plays out in Detroit this July at the AFT convention. In Seattle two years ago the Chicago CORE crew didn't always mesh with the UFT/Unity gang -- I heard more than a few "they're a-holes" as Chicago watched in disbelief how Unity people used the same manipulative tactics --- that I saw at today's DA.

But anyway, Mulgrew talked about the game the deformers have tried to play in limiting the union's ability to strike by requiring a 75% vote. So they got 90%. Mulgrew was careful to point out that there is no Taylor law making strikes illegal. Interesting that Mulgrew compared Rahm Emanuel and Bloomberg and said he'd rather have Bloomberg while also pointing to the fact Emanuel is a Democrat. Maybe Karen Lewis having chats with Mike is having an impact.

But I'll let Diane Ravitch pick up the story on her new blog, which has become so prolific. Too bad she doesn't go into how the UFT/Unity Caucus/AFT leaders match up with the Chicago people in terms of accountabilty to the members, deomocratic procedures. how far the union has gone to throw monkey wrenches into the works of the ed deformers.


Ravitch on Chicago

A few days ago, the Chicago Teachers Union voted overwhelmingly to strike.

This wasn't supposed to happen. Just a year ago, Jonah Edelman of Stand for Children boasted at the Aspen Ideas Festival how he had outsmarted the teachers' union. He described how he had shaped legislation not only to cut back teachers' job protections but to prevent the Chicago union from ever striking. He told the nation's elite, 'if it could happen in Illinois, it could happen anywhere." Stand for Children was once a grassroots group but has now become one of the active leaders in the corporate reform campaign to advance privatization and bring teachers to heel.

Speaking to a gathering of the nation's elite at Aspen, Edelman offered a template to beat back public employees in other states. Armed with millions of dollars supplied by wealthy financiers, he hired  the top lobbyists in Illinois and won favor with the top politicians. He shaped legislation to use test scores for evaluating teachers, to strip due process rights from teachers, and to assure that teachers lost whatever job protections they had. In his clever and quiet campaign behind the scenes, he even managed to split the state teachers' unions.

More of the Ravitch piece here.

UPDATE: Mike Klonsky nails Rahm

Rahm's anti-union spin machine is spinning in reverse. Even though his pals now own the Sun-Times and even with a big-bucks propaganda campaign bankrolled by corporate "reformers", nothing seems to be spinning the mayor's way.

S-T political reporter Fran Spielman, can't quite hide her disdain for Rahm's assault on the CTU.

Emanuel pushed for a change in state law that raised the strike authorization threshold to 75 percent, a benchmark so high, at least one education advocate [SFC's Jonah Edelman--mk] with ties to the mayor predicted that it could never be met. Instead, the Chicago Teachers Union roared passed that benchmark, fueled by their anger against a mayor who stripped them of a previously-negotiated, four percent pay raise and tried to muscle through a longer school day.

"Stripped" and "muscled" is a long way from the usual Civic Committee-style rhetoric of "union thugs" and "greedy teachers." Spielman then asks the mayor, "whether the showdown with teachers threatens to turn Chicago into 'another Wisconsin?'” It's a question no Democrat dare ask and one that answers itself.

S-T columnist Carol Marin, writing a day earlier couldn't make the case any better or clearer.

If I had been a Chicago public school teacher last week, I would have done as 90 percent of them did — and voted “yes” for a strike authorization...Teachers in this town have been demonized, demoralized, and disrespected. No profession is beyond criticism and no public school system is without significant problems. But taking a sledgehammer approach to CPS teachers and their union has backfired on the Emanuel administration and his schools CEO, Jean-Claude Brizard.

And all the radio ads and robo calls funded by out of town, union-busting billionaires doesn’t alter that fact.

===========

The opinions expressed on EdNotesOnline are solely those of Norm Scott and are not to be taken as official positions (though Unity Caucus/New Action slugs will try to paint them that way) of any of the groups or organizations Norm works with: ICE, GEM, MORE, Change the Stakes, NYCORE, FIRST Lego League NYC, Rockaway Theatre Co., Active Aging, The Wave, Aliens on Earth, etc.

Videos: FairTest Honors Diane Ravitch with the Deborah W. Meier Hero in Education Award, June 7, 2012

 Ravitch and Meier and Monty Neill plus Weingarten and Mulgrew in the same space, Plus lots of super attendees. So far the ed social event of the season for me.

Love was in the air to such an extent at this event, I even gave Randi Weingarten a hug. And smiled at Mulgrew. After all, being in the same space with Debbie Meier and Diane Ravitch is a very special occasion, especially as it was a fundraiser for a worthy organization. You know I just found buried in my archives a book by Debbie that I was reading around 1971 when I gave up my dream of an open classroom in frustration. I have followed her career since then but only got to meet her 5 years ago.

FAIR TEST has been leading the battle against high stakes tests for a quarter of a century and  its director Monty Neill has been a major voice in the struggle, which if you have been following this blog you know has been heating up (Police Estimate 400 at Pearson Field Test Protest). It was the best $75 I've spent in a long time.

It was just a few short hours before we found out Walker had won in Wisconsin. And though I think that big labor bears part of the responsibility, the evening of good feeling transcended it all. Feeling a great deal of labor solidarity I had a brief but nice chat with Randi.




The entire video is worth an hour of your time and you can watch it at https://vimeo.com/43587373.

I also cut it into 4 chunks for those short on time.

I'm embedding this 19 minutes piece when Deb and Diane did a version of their Edweek (Bridging Differences) blog to end the evening. Just priceless stuff.

Meier and Ravitch in Conversation

https://vimeo.com/43759101

FairTest Award - Meier and Ravitch in Conversation from Grassroots Education Movement on Vimeo.

Here are other segments:

Deborah Meier Introduces Diane Ravitch
https://vimeo.com/43747985
Diane Ravitch Acceptance Speech
https://vimeo.com/43748488
And in this segment I collated all the other speakers:
Michael Mulgrew, Ann Cook, Monty Neill, Randi Weingarten
https://vimeo.com/43759471

The battle against high stakes tests has been in the forefront of Ed Notes from way back to our print publishing beginnings in 1996 when I was still working at a school that had been led since 1979 by a test/data driven principal (yes, even in those days) and I saw first hand what that did to deform education as the ability of teachers to control what they taught was being taken out of their hands. Thus, the issue was a key when ICE, followed by GEM were formed. The GEM committee, Change the Stakes, which began as a teacher dominated group has shifted into much of a parent/teacher group, with the sensibilities of both points of view making it stronger. Of course many teachers are also parents.

Also, on June 7, the afternoon of the Pearson rally, the education committee of MORE, the new caucus in town, held a great session on chapters 8 and 9 of Ravitch's book, with a depth of analysis that delved into what Ravitch left out and what she nailed with an intellectual rigor I haven't experienced in a while. In the room were some new teachers and some veteran ICE people, along with some NYCORE and GEM. Quite a mix -- the next meeting is June 21 (which I can't attend because we are having a party in honor of my dad where we will serve samples all of his favorite foods -- and have a barf bag ready just in case).

One major group we have to convince to get involved are the very people we work with. Organized, teachers can fight back against this testing mania and while the UFT/AFT make noises, they do nothing at the school level to get some pushback --- like how about getting a movement going to boycott some of the crap teachers have to do that has little relation to the children -- the waste of time monitoring crap?

One on One With Diane Ravitch and Deb Meier

Diane Ravitch and Deb Meier knock it out of the park in an interview with GEM for the upcoming film, The Inconvenient Truth Behind High Stakes Testing.

Diane Ravitch will be on Brian Lehrer today to counter the infomercial interview he did with Michelle Rhee last week. I'm a fan of Lehrer and though he did toss in a few tough comments, there was no real challenge to Rhee, though a parent and principal did get in a few shots. At one point Brian called her Dr. Rhee, maybe confusing her with Dr. MengeRhee, the German butcher of WW II.

Well anyway, when I heard she was going to be on, I rushed to edit the interview I did last week with Diane for our new movie (The Inconvenient Truth Behind High Stakes Testing).

What a treat! building Bridges one-on-one with Diane Ravitch and Debbie Meier, the two rock stars of the real reform movement within a few days of each other. (One dream is to get them next to each other and just turn on the camera.) Both interviews cover a lot of ground with Deb talking about the impact on kids and Diane on policy, really the essence of what they both do so well.

Diane was between trips for a day or two and was so gracious in giving us time last Monday morning. Our meeting was scheduled at Brooklyn Borough Hall for 10AM so I got there 20 minutes early. It was a beautiful day and there were little green tables in front of the steps so it made sense to not waste her time searching for an indoor location (when Debbie and tried it at Starbucks the noise was impossible). Besides, the setting with a park in the background looked so good.

It didn't take me long to notice it was a bit windy. And not much longer before a 40 mile an hour gust practically blew me away. OMG! The film crew will kill me if I mess this up. I pulled a table over to the side of the steps to give us some shelter and I also had a remote mic - luckily since I often use a mic mounted on the camera. You can hear the wind, but most of the interview is clear except for a few spots where the wind gusted.

Diane arrived promptly at 10 wearing a cool leather jacket and jeans. She truly did look like a rock star. She said we should have done the interview in front of 110 Livingston St., the old DOE HQ and a major topic of one of her books but we figured we would have to buy a condo first.

With the wind tousling her hair she shakes, rattles and rolls through 20 minutes of comments on high stakes testing. (I tried to edit out my whiny voice where possible.) See below for the Deb Meier interview. where she nails what education should be about. I also had the treat of talking to her off camera about open classrooms as Deb was a hero of mine when I was teaching and struggling with that concept in the 70's.

https://vimeo.com/40501011



And in case you missed it, here is my 10 minutes with Deb Meier a few days before which I wrote about previously here.


http://youtu.be/owi2SKa4EA8

Why Does Diane Ravitch Hate Children?

Just brilliant satire---

America's education reform movement -- the most significant reform movement in the history of this planet -- is just concluding another amazing school year.  Politicians of all stripes and parties have come together to say, "We will not accept inferior teachers destroying the lives of our children anymore".


With grim budget cuts necessitating layoffs, we are reminded once again that seniority based layoffs make as much sense as saying that U2 should have to keep Bono as their lead singer just because he's been with the band for 30 years and has tenure.


For the past 30 years, education reformers have had to fight the forces of the status quo, but in that time we have agreed that certain changes must be made to education:

• The business principles that have made our economy great should be applied to our schools as well.
• We need a common curriculum 
• We need frequent standardized testing
• We need a longer day and school year to allow more time for increased test prep
• We need a rich curriculum focused like a laser on only math and reading
• We need an end to tenure and LIFO policies
• Younger perkier teachers are superior to the old saddle horses who too often dominate public education.
• The best teachers for poor inner city students are young, preferably Ivy League educated young people from well to do families.
• Charter schools are superior to public schools because they can council students into leaving and public schools must teach everybody.
• We should fire the bottom 1/3 of all teachers every year.

These points are the hallmark of true education reform. They bind together Joel Klein, Michelle Rhee, Chris Cristie, Arne Duncan, and myself.  Several forces of the status quo have naturally opposed these moves, but lately one of the worst critics has been Diane Ravitch.

READ ENTIRE PIECE AT: http://laststand4children.blogspot.com/
Why Does Diane Ravitch Hate Children?

Hot Stuff for Today

I'm off to the city to do a video shoot for this Manhattan Neighborhood Network TV show - Active Aging - that I work on. An artist in the Village. What else is new? I need to take a shower first- still feel dirty after seeing a great performance by Mark Rylance in Jerusalem last night - but 3 hours of watching people who are basically despicable? My wife is trying to find the meaning behind it. I don't really care that much. Worst part of the evening? The long line at Junior's at 10pm. I had spent the entire 3 hours dreaming of that cheese cake.


Diane Ravitch nails 'em again in this op ed in the NY Times:

OPINION   | June 01, 2011 Op-Ed Contributor:  Waiting for a School Miracle  By DIANE RAVITCH Be skeptical of stories of rapid educational transformation. Also check out this video recommended by Diane: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=55fhCi2dBag ------------ Michael Paul Goldenberg illustrates the Ravitch piece Please read the latest post at Rational Mathematics Education: An Open Letter to US Secretary of Education Arne Duncan "According to news reports, press releases, and other records, from 2003 through late 2006 you lent your support to Spizzirri's organization in various ways, including appearing as an animated cartoon character on SALF's website. Subsequently, a November 2006 ABC7 I-Team story reported that SALF and Spizzirri engaged in a variety of serious misrepresentations. In that broadcast, you yourself raise doubts about SALF's claims. Since then, the organization has been the subject of dozens more media exposes including an October 11, 2010 article in The Hill reporting that SALF was under investigation by the Illinois Attorney General's Charitable Trust Bureau. An investigation by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also appears to be underway. MORE at http://rationalmathed.blogspot.com/2011/06/open-letter-to-us-secretary-of.html ---------------- Here is Susan Ohanian's daily digest for today, stuff that will keep you busy: I know you'll want to see the two cartoons. One of them is related to Gus Garcia-Roberts' experience with a Florida diploma mill. This will be a classic: http://susanohanian.org/show_nclb_cartoons.php?id=697 And the other one is laugh-out loud funny: http://susanohanian.org/show_nclb_cartoons.php?id=696 What a relief to find something funny in these days of constant outrage and horror that pose as public education. Susan \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ To the editor Stephen Krashen New York Daily News 2011-05-30 http://susanohanian.org/show_letter.php?id=1360 This letter is a wowser!! \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  I Cheated My Way Through High School Last Week  Gus Garcia-Roberts Miami New Times 2011-05-31 http://susanohanian.org/outrage_fetch.php?id=959 How is it that a student attending a legitimate high school for four years cannot get a diploma without passing the FCAT but this for-profit outfit can hand over a diploma with the only requirement being payment of $399? Take a look at exams that qualified him for the diploma. \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ Standards Supports for Teachers Eyed Stephen Sawchuk Education Week blog 2011-05-27 http://susanohanian.org/outrage_fetch.php?id=958  Another Gates-funded standards delivery system. \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ Avoiding the Poverty Issue Paul Thomas New York Times Online Room For Debate 2011-05-30 http://susanohanian.org/outrage_fetch.php?id=957 New York Times online forum Room for Debate asked the question  What do we know about using student achievement tests to judge teacher performance? Paul Thomas was the only respondent who addressed the real issue.

Goin' to a Party

What could be a better birthday gift for a Real Reformer than going to a viewing party later tonight for Diane Ravitch's appearance on Jon Stewart's "The Daily Show?" Well, it wasn't all too easy to make this happen and required more delicate negotiations than a Bloomberg/UFT contract. Or a settlement of the Arab-Israeli conflict.

You see, birthdays are a big thing for my wife and tonight she is taking me out to "One if by Land, Two if by Sea" on Barrow St. where I get to nibble on my yearly dose of Beef Wellington.

So, when Leonie announced Class Size Matters was hosting a viewing party tonight from 9:30-11:30 [NOTE CHANGE OF VENUE BELOW] with Diane as the guest at the Hotel Benjamin and since we'll be in the city anyway and since dinner will be over by 9 - hmmmmm.

I opened up negotiations with a woman who I am about to celebrate our 40th wedding anniversary with - a woman who has had it up to here over my ed obsession even 9 years after I retired.

I was forceful: "It's my birthday," I whined.

I tried bribery: "You don't even have to get my birthday eclair this year." (I got 4 of them - yum.)

I was persuasive. "Leonie needs me to tape it."

I was suave. "Think how much more romantic I will be on our upcoming anniversary trip to Paris."

Finally, I used charm: "I'm spending 2 hours each way driving to Philly to visit your brother's daughter and granddaughter on Saturday. Don't I get something for doing it?"

See you tonight.

Ahhhh, the art of negotiation.

CHANGE OF VENUE TONIGHT:

The Club Room, Affinia Hotel

155 East 50th Street
New York, NY 10022
50th and 3^rd

An updated map is located here: http://www.nycharities.org/events/EventLevels.aspx?ETID=3295

Related:
Alexander Russo tries to take down Ravitch - over changing her mind- but doesn't address the content of what she is saying.

Sharon left a comment:

At least Ravitch is willing to talk about the exceedingly high U.S. child poverty rate and its effects, and understands that urban public schools are dealing with an even higher proportion of suffering children from that group -- more now than ever before.
For some reason, Duncan, Obama, and the others don't seem to be willing to utter one meaningful word about the topic. Talk about having one's head in the sand!
Just under the warped, manipulative, and undemocratic approach of the big education "venture philanthropists" (Ravitch's Billionaire Boys Club framing is perfect), the biggest problem I have with the reformers is how they seem to live in a fantasy world where the effects of poverty don't matter. They seem to think public schools and their teachers are somehow powerful enough ("if they only tried!" - stomp feet, stomp feet, stomp feet) to overcome those effects. They come off as silly romantics who believe, in their heart of hearts, that EVERY single American child who suffers from the nightmare consequences of lifelong and generational poverty could become upper-middle class -- if only the teacher unions were all dead and charter schools reined the world. And if isn't happening fast enough, too many of these are people perfectly willing to resort to expressions of contempt.
I am so sick of Gates, Bloomberg, Rhee, Canada, Duncan, Oprah, Kopp, John Legend, etc. being given so much primetime airtime to spout off their side. At long last, tonight the world will get to hear a different point of view.
Maybe TDS should get started on lining up Richard Rothstein next.

I left this comment:

Content, content, content Alexander. I saw you at Ravitch's appearance at the Parents Across America event where she spoke for 38 minutes. She laid out a blueprint on the failures of the ed deform movement - boom, boom, boom. one after another. Now in this post you have not one word about the content but it's all about her changing her mind and how certain she is. Where do you stand on what she was saying? Why not address those points - What if I said the same things Diane does - which I do and I was a critic of hers before her conversion. I have always been certain. But so what if Ravitch saw the light? I put up a video of her at PAA - http://vimeo.com/19755379 maybe watch it again and address what she was saying, not her certainty in saying it.
And by the way, maybe I missed it but I didn't notice anything posted by you about that event. How about the Seattle, Chicago (which you should know) or the New Orleans story where parent "choice" has come down to KIPP or KIPP? Which by the way, many of we critics of charters have been predicting with much certainty is what the charter game is all about.

UPDATE Parents Across America

Last Update - Weds, Feb. 9, 9:45PM
NOTE UPDATED BROAD LIVING DEAD POSTER TO INCLUDE MORE TWEEDIES:

I found last night's PAA event organized by Leonie Haimson and parents from, well, across America, a powerful experience and a sense that the resistance to ed deform is growing.

Diane Ravitch, introduced by Leonie Haimson: 38 strong minutes:
http://vimeo.com/19755379

Here is an excellent 5 minutes from Julie Menin, chair of Community Board 1 in lower Manhattan with some comments from Leonie Haimson.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gieAYxCIC2I

More videos in this space as they are processed. I have to leave Diane Ravitch till tomorrow because it is almost 40 minutes and take hours.

I extracted some stills from the video.

Sharon Higgins, of awesome Perimeter Primate blog, Oakland

Karran Harper Royal, New Orleans

I am processing the video as fast as I can and will put up links in this post over the next day or two - I'll put a link at the top of the sidebar. I forgot to mention that our pals from Rochester who are battling former Klein slug and Broad Academy grad Jean Claude-Brizard were in the house last night - I met a bunch of them when they came to town on July 5 to protest mayoral control and held a demo at Malcolm Smith's Queens office. This time they were joined by teacher Mark Friedman who blogs at the Colorado-based Failing Schools blog.

And guess who was in the house? Remember that great blog Chancellors New Clothes? Both of them were there and it was to nice to see them. They are thinking of restarting the blog. Hope they do.

As I was watching one parent after another present the horror story of ed deform going on in their city, I felt I was watching a version of the Night of the Living Dead, starring graduates of the Broad Academy. A quick email to David Bellel and Voila:

Diane Ravitch Wins Moynihan Prize

Leonie Haimson Reports

Diane Ravitch was just selected as the 2011 recipient of the Daniel Patrick Moynihan Prize, created by the American Academy of Political and Social Science to honor those individuals whose careers in the academic or public arena have been dedicated to the use of social science research to improve public policy.  The $20,000 prize was awarded in recognition of her long career of distinguished work on urban education as a researcher and public official.   More on the Prize here: http://www.aapss.org/the-moynihan-prize

Diane is a true public intellectual, someone who has engaged fully in the public arena in order to ensure that local, state, and federal education policy is informed by history, social science research and good sense.  She has also passionately advocated for the parent and teacher voice to be recognized in the national debate over education reform.   I can think of no one else in any field of public policy who is more esteemed, or who has made more of a contribution to the wider understanding of the history of public education and what should be done to ensure that all children receive a quality education.

Over the past few years, she has tirelessly written and travelled the country, cogently and persuasively arguing that the current craze for privatization and high-stakes accountability is neither research-based, nor an effective means to improve our public school system. Rather, she has pointed out how the imposition of these policies will further degrade opportunities for children, particularly the most disadvantaged students who reside in inner cities and other high-needs areas.

If it is indeed true that education is the civil rights issue of our generation, Diane is one of our most esteemed leaders in the struggle for the right of all children, no matter where they attend school, to be provided with a well-rounded and rich curriculum, high standards, small classes and experienced teachers – indeed, the same conditions as the elite have long demanded in the schools that their own children attend.

As John Dewey once wrote, "What the best and wisest parent wants for his own child, that must the community want for all of its children".  Through her eloquence, vision, and scholarship, Diane has passionately and convincingly argued that our public school system should be strengthened, rather than undermined – so that it can provide for all the nation’s children the kind of education that the best and wisest parent wants for his or her own child.

I cannot imagine a more deserving candidate for this award.  Like Daniel Patrick Moynihan himself, Diane’s vision is entirely non-partisan, transcends ideology, and is based on the best evidence and scholarship, as opposed to the latest political fads or fancies. Her immense courage and honesty has impelled her to speak truth to power, whereas lesser individuals would keep quiet or repeat the delivered wisdom. 

More personally, Diane has been a mentor and a friend to me, as well as a personal inspiration, when I sometimes feel overwhelmed by the immense power and money of the oligarchy that has come to control education policy in this country.

She will receive the prize at an award ceremony in New York on June 2, 2011.

Check out Norms Notes for a variety of articles of interest: http://normsnotes2.blogspot.com/

Did Ravitch Review Derail the Waiting For ‘Superman’ Oscar Campaign?

And just like that, we have an Oscar knife fight on our hands. Fun! I’ll bring the nachos.
----Movie Line, by by S.T. VanAirsdale

Diane Ravitch’s essay is the most important public-relations coup that Sony Pictures Classics, director Charles Ferguson and the rest of the Inside Job team will have at their disposal all year? Ravitch even points out the connection between the pro-charter camp and Wall Street, citing three New York Times stories “about how charter schools have become the favorite cause of hedge fund executives.” in language virtually borrowed from Ferguson’s excellent financial-meltdown exposé, she goes on to conclude:

Waiting for “Superman” is a powerful weapon on behalf of those championing the “free market” and privatization. It raises important questions, but all of the answers it offers require a transfer of public funds to the private sector. The stock market crash of 2008 should suffice to remind us that the managers of the private sector do not have a monopoly on success.

Whoop Dee Do! I love that connection to the Ferguson "Inside Job." If only we could get him to do the ed deform exposure movie? The full piece is below but first time out for a commercial:
_________________________

The NYC DOE goes begging to give away free tickets to WfS as I posted at Norms Notes with the letter a DOE official sent out:

Psst, Hey Buddy, Want a Free Ticket to Waiting for Superman?

The DOE can't even give them away. As one pundit wrote:

This is odd. Why is the NYC Department of Education promoting a film that claims the public schools managed by DOE are failures and children must flee DOE schools to enroll in a charter. I don't understand.

Another says:

Why is an administrator with the NYC Department  (Board) of Education offering to make tickets available (her words)  "to those council members whom were unable to attend the movie previously"?

And this:

Why is it the same "crew" who support centralization (Mayoral control,  control by test scores, etc) and libertarian decentralization (charters)??

Commercial break over
_______________________

Blockbuster headline at Movie Line regarding the Oscar push for Waiting for Superman.

Did Scorching Critic Just Derail the Waiting For ‘Superman’ Oscar Campaign?

I haven’t seen Waiting For “Superman”, director Davis Guggenheim’s documentary about America’s failing public school system — and the possible solutions that may be found in more exclusive, smaller charter schools, particularly in urban areas. But Lord knows I’ve heard about it, from rhapsodies at the Toronto Film Festival to stratospheric praise at Rotten Tomatoes to Oprah Winfrey’s two — two! — WFS showcases. Even the President is on the bandwagon, which has careened toward next February’s Oscar finish line at the front of the documentary pack. At least until this week, anyway.

Education historian Diane Ravitch takes Guggenheim and Co. to school (oof, sorry) at the New York Review of Books, where a meticulous reading of “Superman” yields a devastating takedown of the film roundly picked by many observers to sweep the year’s most coveted doc prizes — up to and including the Academy Award. Some of the film’s blind spots are alluded to in Michelle Orange’s cautious endorsement here at Movieline, but Ravitch goes deep — way deep — on what “Superman” not only elides but simply gets wrong [and I quote at length for maximum context]:

The proportion of charters that get amazing results is far smaller than 17 percent.Why did Davis Guggenheim pay no attention to the charter schools that are run by incompetent leaders or corporations mainly concerned to make money? Why propound to an unknowing public the myth that charter schools are the answer to our educational woes, when the filmmaker knows that there are twice as many failing charters as there are successful ones? Why not give an honest accounting?

The propagandistic nature of Waiting for “Superman” is revealed by Guggenheim’s complete indifference to the wide variation among charter schools. There are excellent charter schools, just as there are excellent public schools. Why did he not also inquire into the charter chains that are mired in unsavory real estate deals, or take his camera to the charters where most students are getting lower scores than those in the neighborhood public schools? Why did he not report on the charter principals who have been indicted for embezzlement, or the charters that blur the line between church and state? Why did he not look into the charter schools whose leaders are paid $300,000-$400,000 a year to oversee small numbers of schools and students?

Guggenheim seems to believe that teachers alone can overcome the effects of student poverty, even though there are countless studies that demonstrate the link between income and test scores. He shows us footage of the pilot Chuck Yeager breaking the sound barrier, to the amazement of people who said it couldn’t be done. Since Yeager broke the sound barrier, we should be prepared to believe that able teachers are all it takes to overcome the disadvantages of poverty, homelessness, joblessness, poor nutrition, absent parents, etc. […]

Perhaps the greatest distortion in this film is its misrepresentation of data about student academic performance. The film claims that 70 percent of eighth-grade students cannot read at grade level. This is flatly wrong. Guggenheim here relies on numbers drawn from the federally sponsored National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). I served as a member of the governing board for the national tests for seven years, and I know how misleading Guggenheim’s figures are. NAEP doesn’t measure performance in terms of grade-level achievement. The highest level of performance, “advanced,” is equivalent to an A+, representing the highest possible academic performance. The next level, “proficient,” is equivalent to an A or a very strong B. The next level is “basic,” which probably translates into a C grade. The film assumes that any student below proficient is “below grade level.” But it would be far more fitting to worry about students who are “below basic,” who are 25 percent of the national sample, not 70 percent.

Guggenheim didn’t bother to take a close look at the heroes of his documentary. Geoffrey Canada is justly celebrated for the creation of the Harlem Children’s Zone, which not only runs two charter schools but surrounds children and their families with a broad array of social and medical services. Canada has a board of wealthy philanthropists and a very successful fund-raising apparatus. With assets of more than $200 million, his organization has no shortage of funds. Canada himself is currently paid $400,000 annually. For Guggenheim to praise Canada while also claiming that public schools don’t need any more money is bizarre. Canada’s charter schools get better results than nearby public schools serving impoverished students. If all inner-city schools had the same resources as his, they might get the same good results.

And on… and on… and on. “Waiting for ‘Superman’ is the most important public-relations coup that the critics of public education have made so far,” Ravitch writes. “Their power is not to be underestimated.” Ouch. More importantly for our admittedly frivolous purposes, though, can I just say Diane Ravitch’s essay is the most important public-relations coup that Sony Pictures Classics, director Charles Ferguson and the rest of the Inside Job team will have at their disposal all year? Ravitch even points out the connection between the pro-charter camp and Wall Street, citing three New York Times stories “about how charter schools have become the favorite cause of hedge fund executives.” in language virtually borrowed from Ferguson’s excellent financial-meltdown exposé, she goes on to conclude:

Waiting for “Superman” is a powerful weapon on behalf of those championing the “free market” and privatization. It raises important questions, but all of the answers it offers require a transfer of public funds to the private sector. The stock market crash of 2008 should suffice to remind us that the managers of the private sector do not have a monopoly on success.

And just like that, we have an Oscar knife fight on our hands. Fun! I’ll bring the nachos.
· The Myth of Charter Schools [NY Review of Books via The Awl]

_______________

Read Ravitch's full review: http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2010/nov/11/myth-charter-schools/?pagination=false

Deborah and Diane

Check out this wonderful piece by Diane Ravitch addressed to Deb Meier at their blog.

Did We Bridge Our Differences?

http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/Bridging-Differences/2010/11/did_we_bridge_our_differences.html

Deb was a hero of mine from my early days as a teacher as I experimented with an open classroom. I wanted to check out her work in the early 70's but never got to do it. I only got to meet her at a symposium at NYU on the Shanker bio in Sept. 2007. Diane was also on that panel (interesting that it was Shanker who introduced Diane and Deb in the 80's). I had been introduced to Diane by Leonie at the big St. Vartas church rally in Feb. 2007. I was taken aback since I had heard she was on the other side.

While I was not too aware of Diane as a controversial figure, my friends in the anti-testing community had viewed Diane Ravitch as being in the enemy camp. Indeed, when I posted that she was to receive the John Dewey Award at a UFT Spring conference I received an email from the late Jerry Bracey asking if we were going to picket.

Now, of course, Diane has become a major hero for so many teachers. But Deb as part of this remarkable blogging duo has also maintained her status as a major progressive educator. (Diane's post touches on many of the issues that divided them but I will comment in a follow-up to this post.)

Interesting that it took watching many of her ideas put into effect and distorted for Diane to see where things could lead, while people like Deb could see it coming from the classroom perspective years before.

I know so many teachers that Diane has reached out to and they have been thrilled to hear from her.
One thing I noticed as I read the introduction to Diane's book and how she saw the light: I knew that stuff 30 years ago from seeing the impact of high stakes testing on my school, my students and my colleagues. How does such a smart lady miss that? But she answers that as looking from an airplane can distort things. Diane deserves credit for seeing that research alone isn't enough but day-to-day teacher experience - the much maligned anecdotal - are never to be discounted.

Yes, I am from the "Don' need no stinkin' research school."

______________

Also read Diane's great review of Waiting for Superman:

The Myth of Charter Schools

___________________

Don't forget to check out tonight's radio show (unfortunately I have rehearsals for The Odd Couple). I hope you heard last week's show with Leonie. Both Arthur Goldstein and Diane Ravitch called in. Congrats to South Bronx Teacher who has gone from totally snarky to a major force in the anti-ed deform blogging and now radio world, while maintaining his humor and snarkiness. His continued growth and influence has been a pleasure to watch.

Fidgety Teach will be guest on South Bronx teacher radiocast Tuesday night at 9pm

She is Rubber Room inmate and now in purgatory at Court St. due to the vindictiveness of Kristine Mustillio.

Fidgety is a menschette.

The story about what was done is here:

http://southbronxschool.blogspot.com/2010/10/very-special-internet-radiocast.html

The link to the radio show is here:

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/bronx-teacher/2010/11/03/the-mind-of-the-bronx-teacher


http://southbronxschool.blogspot.com