Education
In mid-May, education reformer Diane Ravitch visited Rhode Island to speak with Governor Lincoln Chafee. We do not know precisely what she wanted to tell him, but we do know that she does not feel that she was afforded the opportunity to fully express herself. After her meeting with the Governor, Dr. Ravitch posted an…
The ProJo reports that that reformed education reformer Dianne Ravitch had apologized to RI Ed. Commish Deborah Gist for her actions following their recent meeting (which included a demand that Gist apologize to her). Ravitch issued the mea culpa on her blog after a visit to the Franciscan-founded Sienna College over the weekend. Apparently, the…
National education reformer Rick Hess recently spoke to a group of RI superintendents and school district business officers about how NOT to respond to shrinking budgets. He outlined four common mistakes:”excuse-mongering”; “imagining that progress only comes with new dollars”; “thinking that any budget cut will be debilitating”; and “countenancing rather than condemning unacceptable employee responses.”…
An interesting tidbit from over the weekend is that college professors appear to grade differently based on political affiliation: We study grading outcomes associated with professors in an elite university in the United States who were identified — using voter registration records from the county where the university is located — as either Republicans or…
Much has been made of the peculiar meeting of flip-flopped-to-union-friendly education writer Dianne Ravitch and RI Commissioner of Education Deborah Gist, but Ed Fitzpatrick highlighted something from Ravitch’s latest book that points to a more substantive debate: In her book, Ravitch raises valid concerns, saying, “The question for the future is whether the continued growth…
Both sides in the debate over educational reform at Hope High School in Providence have made reasonable points. Those associated with the school note improved scores and a vitalized environment when reforms were under way. Those associated with the district cite the need to educate all of Providence’s students and a need for consistency across…
Education reformer Diane Ravitch (mentioned in recent Anchor Rising posts here, here, and here) is publicly asking for an apology from Rhode Island Education Commissioner Deborah Gist (h/t Jennifer Jordan)…Last week, I went to Providence, R.I., to give a lecture. Before my arrival, I was invited by Gov. Lincoln Chafee to meet privately with him.…
GoLocalProv released their 2nd annual school ranking list and, setting aside the specific rankings, the fact that fairly well-off suburban communities rated at the top of the list and urban schools at the bottom is really no surprise. However, the way that GoLocal formulated their rankings by weighting expenditure/pupil and teacher/student ratio more (15% each)…
Education reformer Dianne Ravitch was in town the other day. Ravitch, a reformed school reformer, claims that the reform ideas she once espoused don’t work and, as a result, has risen like the phoenix and hailed by groups in favor of maintaining the status quo. Expanding charter schools isn’t the answer, she says. Nor is…
Imagine there was a Shaw’s 1 mile away from you but that you preferred to shop at Dave’s, which was 3 miles away. Now imagine the government had put a system in place that basically forced you to shop at Shaw’s simply because it was geographically closer to you. What a ridiculous system: Residents of…