All Your Pi News, Kopp V. Ravitch, Rhee Up On The Air, And Is That A TNTP Guide In Your Pocket Or…?

It’s Pi day! So check out this music video by some LA math teachers.  It’s not their only one…

Changing the tone? Wendy Kopp seems to have had enough of the distortions – hard and must-read pushback on Diane Ravitch’s frankly ridiculous article in NY Review of Books.  Significant.

TNTP has a pocket guide for various education policy questions – free to your email box via this link.  Whitmire has the 411 on the Students First ad buys.

Chuck Edwards dives into the New York Reading First decisions – what happens on controversial issues after the chattering caravan moves onto other things?

Keep an eye on Washington State and teacher evaluations – a deal struck but a lot of work going forward.  And keep an eye on Louisiana and the leg session there.

2 Replies to “All Your Pi News, Kopp V. Ravitch, Rhee Up On The Air, And Is That A TNTP Guide In Your Pocket Or…?”

  1. When Wendy was asked for teacher data on her TFA recruits as to their effectiveness in the classroom she declined saying that it would “be unfair.”

    Of course it would. Her ivey kids are not looking to help. They are looking to PUNCH THEIR CARD on their way to bigger and better jobs. They cannot concern themselves with the day to day, grubby, hard work of teaching.

    Wendy, dear, as soon as your get recruits who KNOW math and science let me know. Plugging an anthro major from Rutgers into an AP Calculus slot, or an English major into high school chem, JUST DOES NOT CUT IT.

    Wendy, put up or shut up.

    We do not have time for loooooonnnngggg protracted arguments about how special you are. We want results, YESTERDAY.

  2. The only ridiculous article is Kopp’s “Kopp Out” piece. Ravitch was right on in her article on TFA. Kopp did not even begin to address all of Ravitch’s criticisms. This fluff piece is damage control, as is your characterization of Ravitch’s article as “ridiculous”.

    Kopp says she thinks Finland’s method of training teachers is worth exploring, while her organization gives people 5 weeks of training before putting them into classrooms. It is laughable.

    Ravitch has been calling for solutions for decades, despite Kopp trying to paint Ravitch as nothing more than a nay-sayer. The only problem with Ravitch’s solutions is that the money required to carry them out would not flow into the pockets of billionaire “reformers” and instead flow into the classroom. It would be cheaper and more efficient to have smaller class sizes, a higher barrier of entry into teaching (and, of course, educational leadership) and investment in the poorest communities.

    But of course, none of these things would benefit DFER, Students First and the litany of self-styled reformers who want corporatize education. Not to mention, raising the bar to enter the teaching profession would mean that people like Michelle Rhee, Arne Duncan and Joel Klein wouldn’t get anywhere near school leadership positions. The last thing the reformers want are empowered communities and empowered teachers. That is why they love TFA.

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