A few days ago I noticed a new pop-up ad that I hadn’t seen before. It read: “Don’t balance the budget on my back,” featuring a sad boy, bogged down by an enormous backpack. Here’s what the ad looked like: Clicking on the link sent me to the Connecticut Education Association’s (CEA) web page. That’s where… Continue reading Who Gets To Speak For Parents? Hint: It’s Not The Teachers Union
I wanted to share with my readers a recent blog post published by parent advocate Gwen Samuel. (If you haven’t already, you should check out her other blog posts too – she writes at RealTalkGwenSamuels.com) In her most recent post, she reflects on Fredrick Douglas’ famous July Fourth speech, “What To The Slave Is The… Continue reading A Parent Reflects On Fredrick Douglas’ Fourth of July Speech: Gwen Samuel Calls Out Status Quo For Their Silence
In the face of investigations into the chronic failure of school employees to report child abuse, it appears the state’s largest teachers union has been working behind the scenes to scrub records that could aid in tracking patterns of abuse. Back in 2016, around the same time that Hartford’s Mayor insisted the Office of the… Continue reading The Connecticut Education Association’s Long Quest To Scrub Public Information On Alleged Child Abuse
Connecticut Teachers Union Launches Extremely Misleading (And Transparent) Attack On Charter Schools
Thursday, the state’s largest teachers union, the Connecticut Education Association (CEA), published a report conducted by Rodriguez Data Solutions, LLC, an independent research firm — in layman’s terms: probably a paid consultant — that calls out charter schools for “diverting” funds meant for children to charter management organizations (CMOs). The document specifically targets Achievement First, one of… Continue reading Connecticut Teachers Union Launches Extremely Misleading (And Transparent) Attack On Charter Schools
Who is the opt-out movement? As it turns out, the people promoting opting out of state assessments are exactly who you’d expect. A recent survey conducted by Assistant Professor at Teacher’s College at Columbia University Oren Pizmony-Levy and Teachers College Research Associate Nancy Green Saraisky found that an overwhelming majority of opt-out activists are white… Continue reading Who’s Opting-Out? Recent Survey Results Show It’s Exactly Who You Think
I hate to break to everyone, but John Bestor is wrong. Leaving the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium (SBAC) isn’t likely to save Connecticut money — far from it. In his recent Op-Ed for CT Viewpoints Bestor, a former school psychologist and anti-reform activist, makes the extraordinary claim that Connecticut could save money by designing a… Continue reading No, Leaving The Smarter Balanced Testing Consortium Would Not Save Connecticut Money
On Monday, the Connecticut Post published Deputy Communications Director for Northeast Charter School Network (NECSN) Michael Shulansky’s response to Wendy Lecker’s latest anti-school choice hit piece. His response is great, in that it calls Lecker’s commentary out for what it is — intellectually dishonest. Lecker, an attorney for the Education Law Center and columnist for… Continue reading How About Wendy Lecker’s Void Of Intellectual Honesty?
Here’s a great question for the Connecticut Education Association (CEA): How will eliminating student achievement data from teacher evaluations help close achievement gap? How will it help “every child succeed?” The reason I ask this question is because, incredibly, the CEA is trying to cast their opposition to teacher accountability as promoting equality. Two… Continue reading Connecticut Education Association Latest Attack On Teacher Evaluation System Fails to Mention How Lack Of Accountability Will Lead To Equity
On Friday afternoon, the Connecticut General Assembly’s Education Committee voted 23-10 to push forward Senate Bill 380, which if passed, would ban the use of state assessments in teacher evaluations, including for schools currently using the assessment data. That would mean schools districts like New Haven, which has been using state exam data in evaluations… Continue reading CT Education Committee Choses Unions Over Children: Votes To Cut State Assessment from Teacher Evaluations
The Performance Evaluation Advisory Council (PEAC), the advisory council tasked with reviewing state assessments and evaluations, has decided to backslide on teacher accountability — again. Last Wednesday, PEAC voted 8-1 to recommend the state hold off on requiring districts to link state assessments with teacher evaluation until the 2017-2018 school year, according to the Connecticut… Continue reading State Education Leaders Pushing Off Linking Teacher Evaluations To State Exams Again – But At What Cost?
