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Bridging Differences
blogs.edweek.org/edweek/Bridging-Differences
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Deborah Meier and Diane Ravitch have found themselves at odds on policy over the years, but they share a passion for improving schools. Bridging Differences will offer their insights on what matters most in education.
#269541 in All

The People Shall ... Reinventing Schools as the Commons

Dear Diane, One more word about The New Jim Crow. Looking back, I wonder how many of my students had someone in their immediate family in prison or on parole or who was an ex-felon, without rights. P...

8 h ago

Are Charter Schools Public Schools?

Dear Deborah, I noted in my blog last week that the visionaries of the charter school idea—Raymond Budde of the University of Massachusetts and Albert Shanker of the American Federation of Teac...

2 days ago

The New Jim Crow

Dear Diane, Ive had a startling experience—even though "I knew it all" before. But it didnt add up until I read Michelle Alexanders The New Jim Crow. Everything connects with everything...

24 may 12

Wall Streets Investment in School Reform

Dear Deborah, You and I used to have lively debates about standards, curriculum, pedagogy, and a lot of other matters where we disagreed. Now those debates seem antique compared with the current unce...

22 may 12

The Danger of Mindlessness

Dear Diane, Sixty year ago, as a student at the University of Chicago, I met a wonderful man named Chick (Ernest) Callenbach. He moved westward and I moved eastward, and we gradually lost touch. Last...

17 may 12

Privatizing Public Education in Philadelphia?

Dear Deborah, Philadelphia is about to take a fateful step. Thomas Knudsen, the recently retired chief executive officer of the Philadelphia Gas Works and now temporary CEO of the school system, has ...

15 may 12

The Left Wing of the Possible

Dear Diane, How best to fight back? That is the question. The answer: Many ways. And maybe it includes people who arent left-wingers! SOS (Save Our Schools) is holding a "Peoples Convention" ...

10 may 12

So This Is Reform?

Dear Deborah, A few weeks ago, the state legislature in Louisiana passed Gov. Bobby Jindals education reform bill. Louisiana now goes to the head of the class as the state with the most advanced refo...

08 may 12

How To Counter the Counter-Revolutio n?

Dear Diane, Blue skies overhead, green leaves popping out daily, and yellow, blue, and white blossoms. It eases the pain of seeing the work of so many wonderful people over so many years get torn dow...

03 may 12

What You Need To Know About ALEC

Dear Deborah, 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 jo...

01 may 12

Pineapples, Police, and Trust in Schools

Dear Diane, When I got home from Ohio last week The New York Times called, as "pineapples" went viral. Of course, any time a group of people respond to the same cues we learn something. I eve...

26 apr 12

The Problem Is Bigger Than a Pineapple

Dear Deborah, The backlash against high-stakes standardized testing is growing into a genuine nationwide revolt. Nearly 400 school districts in Texas have passed a resolution opposing high-stakes tes...

24 apr 12

Sending Out an SOS

Dear Diane, HELP!!! SOS!!! "Reformed" schools are literally becoming reform schools for the poor. Its a sign of "the future" as some people envision it. Although, of course, these are...

19 apr 12

I Dont Understand Michelle Rhee

Dear Deborah, I am trying to understand Michelle Rhee. She has allied herself with the most right-wing governors in the nation, yet she claims to be a Democrat. She has worked with Republican Rick Sc...

17 apr 12

When Everything Is a Race

Dear Diane, My daughter and I were swimming in my pond one sunny summer day, and I said, "This is the best pond in the world." My daughter responded (sharply): "Why must it be the best? C...

12 apr 12

What Do Teachers Want?

Dear Deborah, We heard a lot last month about the MetLife Survey of the American Teacher. It showed that teachers across the nation are demoralized and that their job satisfaction has dropped precipi...

10 apr 12

Soft Science & Less Certainty

Dear Diane, Passing the playground at 77th and Amsterdam in 1995 I overheard a child in the sandbox say: "I have an idea!" with such enthusiasm that I stopped to watch and listen. Over the ne...

05 apr 12

Stalking the Vampire in Texas

Dear Deborah, As the national debate about school reform continues, new voices, new evidence, and new ideas are emerging to shape the debate. Something wonderful has started in Texas. For 10 long yea...

03 apr 12

So Much Policy Talk

Dear Diane, Im getting sick of policy talk! I know we have to STOP this corporate take-over of democracy. Its perhaps temporarily futile, but certainly exhausting, and in some ways boring. I hope to ...

29 mar 12

The Pattern on the Rug

Dear Deborah, There comes a time when you look at the rug on the floor, the one youve seen many times, and you see a pattern that you had never noticed before. You may have seen this squiggle or that...

27 mar 12

On Foreign Relations & Precious Gems

Dear Diane, Im going to borrow an idea from Mike Klonskys Small Talk blog. Ive too much Im bursting to say! Like ... Note that the four dissenters on the Council on Foreign Relations task force are n...

22 mar 12

The Lesson of Florida

Dear Deborah, Let us now praise the public school parents of Florida. They organized to oppose a bill known as the "Parent Trigger" or "Parent Empowerment." Under this proposed law, i...

20 mar 12

The Futile Search for "Trust-Proof& #34; Systems

Dear Diane, As the poor get poorer, and college tuitions keep rising, the media declare that no one without a B.A. qualifies for a living wage. Somethings rotten in this proposition. It isnt that way...

15 mar 12

Why Are Teachers So Upset?

Dear Deborah, By now, you have seen the latest Metlife Survey of the American Teacher. It shows that teachers satisfaction with their job has plummeted since 2009, from 59 percent to 44 percent. It i...

13 mar 12

Phony Stories About Schools

Dear Diane, Yes, Diane. Why? Why? Why are "they" doing it, and why are people buying it? I tend to speak to teachers, who are less inclined to buy into the idea that they are the source of th...

08 mar 12

Bobby Jindal vs. Public Education

Dear Deborah, I went to Lafayette, La., last week to speak to the Louisiana School Boards Association. These men and women, representing their local schools from across the state, are trying to prese...

06 mar 12

This Absurd Takeover of Our Public Life

Dear Diane, Ive spent the week fighting a cold of some sort, and it has worn me out. But not so badly that I didnt read your Tuesday blast on "How to Demoralize Teachers." Ive a lot to add to...

01 mar 12

How to Demoralize Teachers

Dear Deborah, Two weeks ago, New York states highest court ruled that the New York City Department of Education could release for public scrutiny the value-added ratings of teachers of mathematics an...

28 feb 12

Buyer Beware

Dear Diane, Three days with the North Dakota Study Group restores my spirits every year. Some great speeches, small "works in progress" workshops, presentations by students, and just food and...

23 feb 12

A Dark Day for New York

Dear Deborah, In New York, the politicians, the union leaders, and the media are all exchanging high fives over last weeks agreement about teacher evaluation. Gov. Andrew Cuomo took credit for forcin...

21 feb 12

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