QUOTABLES

The Faces of School Reform

Led by a band of billionaires, the school-reform movement has gained increasing momentum during the past decade, spreading its reach into urban communities across the country. But instead of truly transforming public schools, private funders want to restructure them. They insist running schools like a business is the solution. At stake is not only control over hundreds of billions of dollars in local, state and federal funding, but also the future of the next generation of schoolchildren. (The Indypendent)

Apologies

President Barack Obama's tart-tongued chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, has apologized for using the word "r**arded" to describe liberal activists whose tactics on health care he questioned. In a separate incident, Education Secretary Arne Duncan apologized Tuesday for asserting that Hurricane Katrina was "the best thing that happened to the education system in New Orleans," calling the remark "a dumb thing to say." I have eliminated a word or edited it because I do not want it on my blog. It is not a word most people use today. And the way Mr. Emanuel used it is appalling. (Ruth's Report)

Deb Meier in response to: Will AFT Teacher Evaluation Effort Succeed?

But nothing stopped principals for judging teachers on the basis of their impact on student achievement. I know. I was a principal for 20 years. But to believe that test scores in ELA and Math tests are a synonym for achievement is either deliberate obfuscation or sad ignorance. But worse than that it drives schools further and further away from tackling the more important take--helping young people (as Ted Sizer put it) learn to use their minds well. (National Journal Online)