If the growing groundswell against the country’s so-called “education reformers” has a philosophical leader, it is Dr. Diane Ravitch, a gray-haired, soft-spoken and mightily armed education historian and author.

Earlier this week in New Brunswick, Ravitch — now research professor of education at NYU and author most recently of “The Death and Life of the Great American School System” — brought her audience to its feet more than once as she quietly, but with deadly force, demolished the cause and case of “education reform” in America.

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Let’s stop the hype and the hypocrisy: a nice note, a flower, a Starbucks card, and a week when we all go smooshy over Miss Brody or Mr. Escalante can’t possibly counter 51 weeks of official disdain and a continuing frontal assault from the powerful.

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By their actions, these ”leaders” have made it obvious that they neither appreciate, admire, respect nor comprehend the jobs of the people who spend their days with the nation’s children.

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Let’s show our unsung heroes and heroines some appreciation next week. I’ll be sending my mother, a special teacher, a message on Twitter. What about you?

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In 1984 the National PTA designated the first week in May as Teacher Appreciation Week.

A quarter of a century later, voters in Wisconsin have the chance to help that week actually mean something.

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Help defend our public schools from privatization and the proliferation of high stakes tests.

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We will find out that the Common Core Standards, after billions of dollars, millions of hours of teacher time, and numerous PD sessions, alignment task forces, is not the cure to American’s education ill

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Underfunded. Overburdened. About to be sold for scrap.

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The results are in! There’s too much testing.
May 3, 2012 by rethinkingschoolsblog
by Stan Karp

Maybe we’re finally reaching the tipping point.

After more than a decade of accelerating damage fueled by NCLB, the standardized testing regime that is the engine of corporate school reform is running into growing opposition from all directions.

Last week Rethinking Schools joined nearly 200 other organizations and thousands of individuals who, in less than a week, signed on to this National Resolution on High Stakes Testing.

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Since the 2010 elections, when Republicans took control of many states, there has been an explosion of legislation advancing privatization of public schools and stripping teachers of job protections and collective bargaining rights.

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This spring, the West Side Highway’s typical advertising fare also includes a political message that seems aimed at teachers unions.

A billboard advertising Kenneth Cole — the clothing company owned by Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s brother-in-law — puns to southbound commuters, ”Shouldn’t Everyone Be Well Red?” In smaller lettering, the billboard says, “Teachers’ Rights Vs. Students’ Rights …”

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Yesterday I went to Philadelphia to speak to the annual meeting of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics. Before I left New York City, the local spokesperson for Parents Across America, Helen Gym, asked if I would meet with some journalists to talk about the “reform” plan just released the day before. She sent me a link to the plan, and as I read it, it sounded just like the plans recently proposed or adopted in such cities as Detroit, St. Louis, Kansas City, Indianapolis, and Cleveland: Close public schools, open privately managed charter schools, cut the budget. That’s the basic formula, and it is always accompanied by impressive promises of glory to come: higher test scores, higher graduation rates.

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If some racist made an inappropriate remark about the First Lady or her children our national “civil rights leaders” Obama fans all of them, would be all over that. But standing up for ordinary black children is something our leaders just don’t do much any more. When was the last time you heard Sharpton, Jealous or any of that tribe inveigh against school closings and the creeping privatization of our schools?

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Race to the Top’s wholesale dismantlement of public education and the scattering of public school workforces will have profound consequences well beyond education for inner city communities.

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This resolution is modeled on the resolution passed by more than 360 Texas school boards as of April 23, 2012.

We encourage organizations and individuals to publicly endorse it (see below). Organizations should modify it as needed for their local circumstances while also endorsing this national version.

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