After five years at his post, Secretary Duncan indicates he is now “listening to teachers on testing.” His statement, released this morning, offers a thorough repudiation of teaching to the test, but little substance regarding federal policies, beyond offering states the chance to request a year’s delay in …
By Anthony Cody When critics such as myself point out the very bad effects the Common Core tests are having, as they label more than two thirds of our children unready for college and career, we are accused of “conflating tests with standards.” UFT president Michael Mulgrew was making this argument on the AFT …
By Anthony Cody and Alan Aja. From the very beginnings of No Child Left Behind, the strongest argument for attaching stakes to tests has been Civil Rights. This phrase is shorthand for equity in education, an end to the systemic neglect of children of color. And proponents of corporate reform have become adept at …
Guest post by Paul Thomas. Before the Common Core debate reached the fevered public debates of the past year, I took a stand against standards-based reform represented by Common Core, Why Common Standards Won’t Work: A call for national standards ensures that we continue doing what is most wrong with our …
We all know that the chief arguments for the Common Core revolve around making our workforce “more competitive,” by “raising the bar” to “global standards.” A few weeks ago, Diane Ravitch posed this very important question. “What happens to kids who don’t …
This weekend we have heard some controversy over corporations forcing low-wage employees to work on holidays such as Thanksgiving. Many of us are disturbed by this encroachment on time traditionally allowed for family. It feels as if every aspect of life is being bent towards maximum extraction of profits for the …
A recent book described the “Reign of Errors” we have lived through in the name of education reform. I am afraid that the Common Core continues many of these errors, and makes some new ones as well. The Business Roundtable announced last month that its #1 priority is the full adoption and …
