WEEKEND QUOTABLES

Deep pockets

When Diane Ravitch, was asked whether the Kauffman Foundation’s plan to start a charter school is a positive development, she quipped in an e-mail message to Edweek: 

“And what will they prove? That lots of resources make a difference and that every school should have someone with deep pockets to keep classes small and keep the school well-supplied with the best of everything...If they succeed, perhaps they will prove that we should do the same for every school.”

TFA grad, Marguerite 

"My students need experienced teachers who know what works and can implement it effectively. Instead, they have me, and though I am learning quickly, I am still learning on them, experimenting on them, working on their time." (TeacherKen's review of Learning on Other People's Kids)

Victory in Puerto Rico student strike

Students on strike at the University of Puerto Rico declared victory on Wednesday after signing an agreement with the system's board of regents, according to news reports on the island (link in Spanish). The strike (see "University Student Strike Engrosses Puerto Rico") lasted almost two months and paralyzed the 11 campuses in the UPR system. In a statement sent to La Plaza, the students' negotiating committee said:

The accord grants the central demands of the students represented by the NNC: the continuation of tuition waivers for meritorious students, the cancellation of a planned special fee that would have raised the cost of study by 50 percent, the rejection of initiatives to privatize the university and a commitment not to enact summary sanctions against strike participants. (L.A. Times)

Shopping for candidates

“In the last few weeks two separate ‘political fundraisers’ promised to raise between $100K and $200K for my campaign if I changed my position to favor charter schools,”(Queens Assembly candidate Steve Behar)

Will the education reformers ever learn?

Charter schools can be a piece of the school improvement process, but they are by no means the panacea many would have you believe. One has only to read through the many recent reports on the problems of Philadelphia's charter schools to know that calling a school a charter doesn't create success. (Teacher James Sando in the Philadelphia Inquirer)