The Answer Sheet: Ravitch and book


Posted at 06:30 AM ET, 10/06/2010

Ravitch: Why teachers should never be rated by test scores
By Valerie Strauss
Education historian Diane Ravitch writes: "...Value-added assessment should not be used at all. Never. It has a wide margin of error. It is unstable. A teacher who is highly effective one year may get a different rating the next year depending on which students are assigned to his or her class. Ratings may differ if the tests differ. To the extent it is used, it will narrow the curriculum and promote teaching to tests. Teachers will be mislabeled and stigmatized. Many factors that influence student scores will not be counted at all."

By Valerie Strauss  |  06:30 AM ET, 10/06/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Diane Ravitch, Diane Ravitch, Diane Ravitch, Diane Ravitch, Diane Ravitch, Diane Ravitch | Tags:  diane ravitch, how to assess teache, l.a. times, l.a. times database, los angeles times, ravitch book, rigoberto ruelas, school reform, teacher and suicide, teacher assessment, teacher commits suicide, teacher database, teacher evaluation, teachers, test scores, value added

Posted at 06:00 AM ET, 09/29/2010

Ravitch: The long, failed history of merit pay and how the Ed Department ignores it
By Valerie Strauss
Education historian Diane Ravitch writes: "Few people realize that merit pay schemes have been tried again and again since the 1920s. Belief in them waxes and wanes, but the results have never been robust." And a day after a big study was released showing that performance pay made no difference, the Education Department handed out millions of dollars for the development of merit pay programs.

By Valerie Strauss  |  06:00 AM ET, 09/29/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Diane Ravitch, Diane Ravitch, Diane Ravitch, Diane Ravitch, Diane Ravitch | Tags:  $1.2 billion and merit pay, diane ravitch, education department and merit pay, merit pay, merit pay study, performance pay, ravitch book, study on performance pay, vanderbilt study

Posted at 08:00 AM ET, 04/24/2010

Straight talk about charter schools
By Valerie Strauss
A hearing held in New York City this week about sounded more like a brawl than the information-gathering session it was intended to be. Read some of the testimony given by education historian Diane Ravitch, which was received by charter advocates as heresy.

By Valerie Strauss  |  08:00 AM ET, 04/24/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Charter schools | Tags:  Death and Life of the Great American School System, Diane Ravitch, Ravitch and book, bill perkins and charters, charter schools, charter schools and hearing, new york city charter schools