Good News is No News

I just read Diane Ravitch's Reign of Error (and reviewed it for East Side Monthly's December issue, out soon). Hot on its heels, I am glad to read "Nobody Likes Good News About Education," teacher/educator Paul Bruno's back-up for Ravitch's assertions that the education crisis that many believe in is not indeed a widespread, long-term crisis after all.

I have found that aside from news about our own kids' schools, we really don't want good news about education writ large, because if we accept that there are bright spots and promising trends, then we have to accept the complexity of doing something about and with them. But we don't want complexity. We want to call it a disaster, rip it up, and start over - which of course we both should not and cannot do.

No Education, No Life - Zombie March against the NECAP('s use in high school graduation), 2/13 @ 4pm

I am delighted to be associated, however tangentially, with the Providence Student Union (am on their advisory board) and to share info about their Zombie March tomorrow, as follows:

Rhode Island's NECAP graduation requirement is taking away students' futures and chances at a good life. And our obsession with standardized testing is turning us into brainless zombies! 

So grab your fake blood and ripped pants and join the Providence Student Union on Wednesday, Feb. 13th to show the Department of Education what this policy will do to us. Meet at 4pm at Burnside Park (by Kennedy Plaza), and we will zombie-walk to RIDE by 4:30. It's ZOMBIE TIME!

To clarify, in case it's necessary, PSU is organizing to protest the use of the high-stakes standardized NECAP test as a factor for graduation for Rhode Island high school students - this is slated to start for the class of 2014. Bad idea - misuse of the NECAP and unfair way to measure meaningful learning and achievement. Hit me up here tomorrow for more about why the using NECAPs as a way to determine readiness for high school graduation is a deeply flawed prospect for our young people.

Full details and discussion on the Zombie March are here on Facebook. Spread the word and join if you can. You'll be in good company (Diane Ravitch!) and if you are able to attend tomorrow, that is great. Join the zombie ranks so students in the future don't have to.

Diane Ravitch at RIC tomorrow

Diane Ravitch, whom I have referred to in this blog from time to time, will speak tomorrow at Rhode Island College at 4:15. Full details of her talk, sponsored by Rhode Island Federation of Teachers and Health Professionals, are here. Great opportunity for those who can make it!

Let Diane Ravitch wake up your dozing skeptic

From the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University, read Diane Ravitch's "Miracle schools, vouchers, and all that education flim-flam" to become a more educated and skeptical education journalism consumer. Ravitch's overview of the questions reporters should ask when writing about standardized test scores within schools, districts, and states, as well as charter/school choice issues, and more tell us what we should expect from education journalism and should push you to question unresearched and unsubstantiated claims of the successes of any particular policy.

Ravitch demonstrates that education reporting is necessarily complex. The effects of disregarding that complexity have contributed to the current testing-centric policy conditions that have made it so difficult for meaningful teaching and learning to happen everywhere and e specially in schools that serve students most in need.

"Why Aren't Parents Rioting in the Streets?"

NYC public school parent Rebecca Levey asks, "Why aren't parents rioting in the streets?" Her post, and a slightly different version of the same that appeared in Valerie Strauss' Answer Sheet in the Washington Post online edition, provides specific examples of why New York City students, educators and families have been, in her view, ill-used, abused, and lied to.

Is it a call to arms? I'm not sure. I'm not there and while the specific instance that pushed her over the edge is indeed egregious, so are so many other instances of inequitable treatment in NYC and elsewhere. Ms. Levey's voice joins those on other forums, such as the NYC Public School Parents blog, Leonie Haimson's Class Size Matters, and Gotham Schools, that passionately detail what's not working in the NYC public school system and what parents and the public can do to demand and create change.

Toward the end of her piece, Ms. Levey asks what many of us have often asked herself:

I used to joke about a city where private school was not an option. How quickly would the schools change if those with the most power to change them had to be part of the system? 

No joke, Ms. Levey. I want all of us to have options to send our kids where we think is best - and among those options must be a range of strong, supportive, thriving public schools.

And related: a parent/family group worth keeping an eye on, and joining, is Parents Across America, which has gathered a strong group of activists from across the United States to assert the primacy of parents in education policy and practice. Their kickoff event featuring Diane Ravitch is happening right now in NYC. Right on. Wish I could be there. Maybe someday, Providence Schools and Beyond might be a part of such a national conversation and movement.