Susan Ohanian - Substance News

All articles by Susan Ohanian

Avoiding Deenan's crap

I often read the other side and thank Szalai for helping me avoid Deneen's crap. I live 25 miles from the Middlebury College he so decries – in a rural village, where, I'd tell him, . . .

|

Three Cheers for Fred Rogers and May Day 1969

Fifty years ago today, May 1, 1969, PBS faced a 50 percent funding cut. Addressing a Congressional committee, Fred Rogers told them a little about his show, including the very small amount it cost. . . .

|

Safe At Last

Hoorah! Safe at last!
"Let no man boast himself that he has got through the perils of winter till at least the seventh of May."
Anthony Trollope, in his journal . . .

|

College humanities studies are their own reward

The following piece was printed as a letter to the editor in the Washington Post on May 24, 2023. Regarding the May 22 front-page article “Colleges face major change as humanities fall, tech rises.”
. . .

|

Chicago Connections

Eons ago, Learning Magazine asked me to leave my long teaching career in New York and move to the San Francisco area to become their first staff writer. As a charter subscriber, I eagerly looked . . .

Money Controls Everything: Education Week Finds Corporate Pals to Spread a Message

Today the USPS delivered a slick 20-page booklet titled Game-Changing Research Fuels Life-Changing Literacy from Education It is listed as a Special Report: The Science of Reading and Writing. The word “Advertisement” appears at the . . .

U.S. Department of Education Speaks

Our new boss at the U.S. Department of Education recently released

Volume 2—2021 ED COVOID-19 HANDBOOK Roadmap to Reopening Safely and Meeting All Students’ Needs

Roadmap to Reopening Safely and . . .

Trump Talks

At the March 2017 Town Meeting, I introduced an Advisory Motion to impeach Donald Trump based on the U.S. Constitution prohibition of emoluments. This motion was successful.

The news traveled a bit. A bank . . .

|

Trump Talks

At the March 2017 Town Meeting, I introduced an Advisory Motion to impeach Donald Trump based on the U.S. Constitution prohibition of emoluments. This motion was successful.

The news traveled a bit. A bank . . .

Letter to the NYT editor regarding 'School Reforms Fail to Lift U.S. on Global Test'

I taught through various eras of so-called education reform. Very early in my career, as a beginning New York City teacher, I received an award to spend the summer studying special methods for teaching children . . .

|

Letter to the NYT editor regarding 'School Reforms Fail to Lift U.S. on Global Test'

I taught through various eras of so-called education reform. Very early in my career, as a beginning New York City teacher, I received an award to spend the summer studying special methods for teaching children . . .

|

Getting the last laugh on impeachment

From the time he gave his second grade music teacher a black eye to “make his opinion known,” to lying about his academic standing at the University of Pennsylvania, to overall campaign outrage and Oval . . .

|

HISTORY LESSON II: American Federation of Teachers gave support to Barbara Byrd Bennett long before Karen Lewis joined up to back BBB... AFT pushed so-called 'innovation' -- which meant Common Core and other reforms pushed by Gates and Broad...

Chicago Teachers Union President Karen's Lewis's current support of Barbara Byrd Bennett is in line with American Federation of Teachers (AFT) history. Below is just one detail revealing a closeness between BBB and the AFT. . . .

Faux May Day and historical revisionism are part of a long tradition of duplicity in AFT... UFT has always censored words the leadership didn't like...

I read Rich Gibson’s April 23, 2017 Substance analysis “May Day... False Flags Flying: Fake unions plan Faux Mayday” with great interest and gratitude. Rich offers words in the long Substance tradition—information. In Chicago, of . . .

Beware of Solutions, Final or Otherwise... Hillary Clinton's dubious Silicon Valley supporters...

Hillary Clinton laid out an extensive technology and innovation agenda Wednesday in a briefing document that amounts to a giant valentine to Silicon Valley. (--Dawn Chmieleski, Recode, June 30, 2016). Dawn Chmieleski points . . .

MEDIA WATCH: Disgraceful editorial in The New York Times on the last day of 2015...

One has to ask if the front page phony "diploma crisis" story in The New York Times at the end of December 2015 was just a set up for a truly disgraceful New York Times . . .

What we can learn from The New York Times football hoax...What We Can Learn From a 1941 Football Hoax...

"How to Lie with Statistics," written in 1954, and a standard college text for the introduction to statistics, offers a lot of useful warnings about numbers: Correlation does not imply causation, how statistical graphs can . . .

MEDIA WATCH: New York Times front page article damns schools that improve 'graduation rates' charging that -- maybe -- 'standards' have been 'lowered'...

[Editor's Note: The following article was originally published at Susan Ohanian's website in response to the nonsense that appeared on the front page of The New York Times reporting on the rise in high school . . .

MEDIA WATCH: Who They Gonna Call? Bias at the New York Times on Education Reform...

On Sept. 6, 1871, The New York Times published Karl Marx's obituary,[1] even though Marx was very much alive at that time-and didn't die for another eleven years. Whether it was obstinacy or wishful thinking, . . .

Byrd Bennett in Detroit... The truth about her self-dealing was exposed years and years ago...

[Editor's Note: We reprint this as a reminder that it has taken Chicago corporate media a long time to begin publishing all the facts of the corrupt career of Barbara Byrd Bennett, which began further . . .

AFT Secretary Treasurer Toni Cortese was one of the many 'educators' who served on the group pushing Common Core and funded by Bill Gates.... Barbara Byrd Bennett was one of the group's trustees...

[Editor's Note: Susan Ohanian originally published the following article on her website in August 2010, one month after American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten feted Bill Gates at the AFT national convention in Seattle. . . .

MEDIA REVIEW: As a 'sleuth', Merrow misses important clues about the virtues of 'virtual learning'...

Although the hokey frame of John Merrow's The School Issue We Aren't Paying Attention To quickly gets grating (If you enjoy Guy Noir, then maybe you'll think Merrow's Sleuth persona is . . .

MEDIA WATCH: Ugly and Uglier: One Year of Common Core at the NewYork Times... Common Core -- propaganda as 'news' and The New York Times...

[Editor's Note: As most Substance readers know, The New York Times generally sets the ruling class's agenda of (a) important topics and (b) how to think about those topics. Usually, the Times's propaganda on behalf . . .

The Chicago Teachers Union and its 'Quest Center' ... Solidarity or Sellout?....

Judging from what landed in my e-mail on Aug. 25, I have to assume that CTU is tone deaf -- or worse. On the same day that Twitter was booming with messages of solidarity with . . .

Philantropreneurs are really Plundrpreneurs... 'When the Feds bolster GatesBroadWalton handouts with RttT rules and CCSS tests and unions hold out their hands and grovel for a seat at the money table, kids suffer...'

[Editor's Note: Thanks to Susan Ohanian (www.susanohanian.org) for reminding us how propaganda often comes disguised as good works... With Chicago obsessed about Easter and Passover (and no one thinking about elections on this "Holy Saturday" . . .

Who Loves Barbara Byrd-Bennett more -- the American Federation of Teachers, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Harcourt School Publishers, or Jean-Claude Brizard?

[Editor's Note: The following article was published by Susan Ohanian three years ago, at the time that Chicago was first hiring Barbara Byrd Bennett. There was no excuse for anyone in Chicago to miss the . . .

ED WRITERS: Substance story from 2003 shows that the hypocrisy of 'Ed Writers' was nothing new in 2015...'the EWA conference room had plenty of wattage; what it lacked was intellectual illumination....' (Susan Ohanian).

[Editor's Note: We were happy to be reminded that our friend Susan Ohanian was in Chicago for the 'Ed Writers" meeting back in 2003, and that little has really changed since then. The Ed Writers . . .

Thirteen years old and still building the resistance... 'And so I committed an act of civil disobedience by boycotting the administration of the test....' Colorado resistance group still at it after all these years -- on a shoestring budget

In February 2001, Colorado middle school teacher Don Perl became the first teacher in the country to refuse to give the mandated state test. In his 19th year of teaching in a school where the . . .

Standardized Schools article from The Nation (1999) appeared at the end of the last century and is still on target today

[Editor's Note: Today our history lesson is the article "Wielding high-stakes tests, a noisy alliance of politicians, corporate CEOs and media pundits seems intent on standardizing education, proclaiming that every kid in America should . . .

MEDIA WATCH: How The New York Times censors critical comments about its corporate ed reform propagandists

Ohanian Comment: On October 29, 2014, The New York Times published an opinion column by Frank Bruni, repeating most of the old and some of the new propaganda claims from corporate education reformers. The New . . .

MEDIA WATCH: A Once-Respected Education Journal Goes Rah Rah for Whatever Bill Wants... How Eli Broad and Bill Gates compromised the integrity of the Phi Delta Kappan

Whatever Bill Gates wants,
Bill Gates gets.
And America,
Bill Gates wants your kid.

Recline yourself, resign yourself,
you're through.
He always gets what he pays for.
And kids' heart'n . . .

COMMON CORE... Follow the money to the Common Core's 'policy entrepreneurs...' With the Help of the US DOE, Policy Entrepreneurs Used Business Roundtable Toolkit Tactic to Hornswaggle the States on Common Core

The old saying goes that school curriculum is the only thing harder to move than a graveyard. The implementation of the Common Core seems to disprove this point. The politics involved is outlined below. The . . .

An update on Datapalooza at the U.S. Department of Education

Although I posted information about the Datapalooza on January 11, 2013, I now offer an update, with more links to the actual presentations. Some have both text and video because I found the text first . . .

Common Core literary lessons... 'Common Core, light of my life, fire of my loins. . . . '

If the Business Roundtable, Bill Gates, and the US Department of Education had existed in the early 19th century, Jane Austen would have written: "It is a truth universally acknowledged, that public school teachers must . . .

New York Times spins the 'news' on NEA's call for Duncan to resign... Headline doesn't even mention that Arne Duncan is the U.S. Secretary of Education picked by the President of the United States

[Editor's Note: As some readers have heard, the National Education Association voted at its Represenative Assembly (RA) to call for the resignation of U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan. A fuller report is at the . . .

A Teacher�s Lifeline: The AFT Common Core Horoscope...

RESOLVED, that the American Federation of Teachers will continue to support the promise of CCSS. . . --AFT delegates, Los Angeles July 2014 ... "[W]e will continue to support the promise and potential of these . . .

Overwhelming majority of New York parents reject Common Core poll by Albany Times Union shows

'Over 80 PERCENT Of New York Residents Say Common Core Is A Disastrous Failure...' What are the chances of this report from the Albany NBC affiliate getting on NBC national news? News of the poll . . .

Colorado teacher refuses to give abusive test

"Dateline: Greeley, Colorado. Teacher Refuses to Give Abusive Test... " The story that follows may be considered as a reminder of the time we have spent building this movement and with the Opt Out growing, . . .

Drones and teacher unions... How far willthe AFT and NEA go in supporting Common Core?

[Editor's Note: Susan Ohanian's recent report -- �On 21st Century Drones, Destroyers and Teachers� compares the collaboration of the leaders of the National Education Association and the American Federation of Teachers with the national expansion . . .

Data-- The Devil is in the Overview AND the Details

Elsewhere [and see below], I've deconstructed Arne Duncan's presentation of the 2015 Education Budget to the House Subcommittee on Appropriations. Here, I bring notice to the phraseology Duncan uses to present the numbers. . . . .

National petition to remove annual standardized testing mandates

We the People petition the Obama administration to: Direct the Department of Education & Congress to Remove Annual Standardized Testing Mandates of NCLB and RttT. . . The petition is now being signed by thousands . . .

Why CEOs support Common Core

With the recent Corporate Delta Force effort to defend the Common Core--most notably Bill Gates in USA Today and the New York Times Editorial Board -- those of us in the resistance community . . .

Data madness versus childhood wonder, or why should you want to 'Reflect a Birth through Grade 3 continuum that incorporates the Common Core State Standards'...... Vermont Won a RTTT Early Childhood Grant & I'm As Mad As Hell

Vermont provides a good example of how Race to the Top Money comes at very high cost -- to children and to democracy (and to taxpayers, who have promised to add $62 million to the . . .

How AFT sells out to 'Common Core'... AFT Announces 'Top Contributors' Resources for Common Core State Standards

First, a Recap: The AFT has a Share My Lesson Information Center for the Common Core State Standards. I've covered this before. Here's a press release AFT issued to justify its goofy . . .

COMMON CORE WATCH: 28 Questions about Common Core

[Editor's Note: The following articles was originally published on Susan Ohanian's website and then re-published elsewhere a couple of months ago, but as 2014 dawns the cold winds are also blowing against the idiocy of . . .

MEDIA WATCH: U.S. News and World Report provides propaganda for Duncan... Barrelgate and Ripleygate? Arne Duncan's slanders against American teachers (the 'bottom of the barrel') gets mendacious reportorial support

Does it matter whether Arne Duncan said that America's teachers are "the bottom of the battle." A bigger question than the spurious "bottom of the barrel" attribution is why Arne Duncan quotes Amanda Ripley incessantly. . . .

Drinking the Technology-Enhanced Kool-aid

Lior Klirs, Coordinator of English Language Arts Content and Resources in the Division of Curriculum and Instruction at the Tennessee Department of Education, offers an explanation (http://thescoresheet.org/2013/11/25/how-were-building-parcc-ela-and-literacy) of how the Common Core-aligned tests will be . . .

Unions gave $671,000 to The Speaker over the past ten years... Madigan an example of biting the hand that feeds you

The dramatic revelation in the December 23, 2013 Chicago Sun-Times that Chicago is being forced to open two new charter schools even though the Chicago Board of Education has rejected them focused on the clout . . .

Education Week relegates Common Core critics to its bloggers

[Editor's Note: Substance works tirelessly to keep up with the news both from Chicago and around the USA, but it is now impossible. The reason is good news: The Resistance has spread from coast to . . .

COMMON CORE MONSTERS: When 'Common Core' overcomes teacher professionalism and common sense...

[Editor's Note: The following originally appeared at Susan Ohanian's website (www.subanohanian.org) as "Third Graders Get a Common Core Debriefing." We share it to help further the discussion of the odiousness of Common Core as Chicago . . .

'Research' on Common Core largely faith-based -- 'And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch...' States' citizens learning they did not participate in 'Common Core' development... Vermont officials dodge straightforward Common Core questions

North Carolina Lt. Gov. Dan Forest asked his state Department of Public Instruction 67 questions about the Common Core State Standards (CCSS). Now he’s on YouTube showing what he got in reply: 12 boxes with . . .

Gates Pours Millions in New Grants to Change Teaching Profession

I'm glad that the way Gates money deforms public education is finally making its way into mainstream media, like the Washington Post commentary below. I've posted plenty of info on this site (www.susanohanian.org), and I've . . .

| Article | Analysis |

Cunningham challenged... Huff Post writer rebuts 'Peter Cunningham's whiny attack on Diane Ravitch

Writing in the dreaded Huffington Post, Kent Brockman speaks for MANY of his fellow teachers in his powerful statement rebutting Peter Cunningham's whiny attack on Diane Ravitch. Cunningham seems to be trying to refute Diane . . .

NEA pushing the Common Core Kool-Aid

The National Education Association (NEA) seems to be competing with the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) for the Who-Loves-Common-Core-the-Most Award from the Bill and Melinda Gates enterprise, the National Governors Association, the Chief Council of . . .

COMMON CORE, REALLY? A Plea for More Disorderliness ... or How Common Core tries to ruin Amelia Bedlia

The first time I ever attended an International Reading Association (IRA) annual conference, Learning magazine sent me to report on the goings-on in Chicago. I worked hard at taking in as much as possible, and . . .

'No legal basis for Vallas to remain in his $234,000 a year job...' Connecticut judge orders Paul Vallas to vacate Bridgeport schools chief office now

While former Bridgeport Schools Supt. Paul G. Vallas continues to vow to remain, a Connecticut judge has ordered Vallas to vacate his office now. The order came on Wednesday, July 10, 2013, but Vallas looks . . .

Report on poverty in Illinois highlights problems

Hopefully, Chicago teachers, students, and parents will get a chance to read Jim Broadway's report on the recent study on the impact of child poverty on children in Illinois. As Broadway notes, despite a constitutional . . .

Paul Vallas! Power Point proof of leadership abilities? Social promotion and grade inflation?... Connecticut Superior Court Judge Orders Vallas Removed from Superintendency of Bridgeport publlc schools.

Seventeen years after he was plucked from the obscurity of his post as budget director for Chicago's mayor (then Richard M. Daley) to become the first "Chief Executive Officer" of a large urban public school . . .

The ABCs of 2013... What Gates, Broad, the Business Roundtable and Race to the Top have wrought

What the US Department of Education, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Edythe and Eli Broad Foundation, and Business Roundtable Have Wrought. Publication Date: 2013-06-24, By Susan Ohanian, first published at susanohanian.org.

. . .

Billionaire bankster breaks into Obama's Cabinet (Greg Palast)...

Just when you thought Obama's appointments couldnt get worse, the President appoints Penny Pritzker to the Cabinet. Substance has had ongoing coverage of Penny Pritzker's behavior as a member of the school board in . . .

Arne Duncan and the AERA controversy

[Editor's Note: The following materials appeared first on Susan Ohanian's website and are published here with many of the notes that have been following the first publication. The protests against Duncan's speech to the AERA . . .

SUBSCRIPT: Confiscated Plan Books Languish in Death Valley Repository. Gates Foundation, Duncan, & Weingarten explain...

Death Valley--At 282 feet (86 m) below sea level in the Mohave Desert, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation maintains the Substation for Confiscated Lesson Plans. It is a secure site that bears all the . . .

COMMON CORE WATCH: Whoo-Hoo! Occupy the Schools... 'The Common Core (sic) reality is about as far from Mom and apple pie as a zombie invasion.'

In response to a poverty rate that tops 90% in many urban and rural schools -- and 1.6 million homeless children, many in schools with no libraries -- education reformers at the White House, the . . .

Follow the bouncing Edelman... Josh Edelman -- former Chicago 'New Schools' chief -- helped cover up Michelle Rhee's D.C. test cheating scandal according to federal lawsuit and ongoing investigations by reporters

Anyone who cares about public education should care about the D. C. cheating scandal, but there's a special hook for parents and teachers in Chicago. In a federal complaint filed against the D.C. government, former . . .

Common Hard Core?... David Coleman, architect of 'Common Core' and now President of the College Board, just loves dropping tough-guy F-bombs on staid audiences

Did anybody listen to the College Board's David Coleman's keynote address at the Brown Center on Education Policy at the Brookings Institution on Nov. 29, 2012? It hasn't gotten any notice in the . . .

NPR WTF are you doing... NPR, are you out of your #*%@- mind????

[Editor's Note: The following was posted by: Susan Ohanian November 05, 2012 in the news blog Daily Censored.

"The real political task in a society such as ours . . .

'Common Core' and CORE? Has the Chicago Teachers Union sold out too cheaply to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation on 'Common Core' nonsense?

The Chicago Teachers Union Drinks the Gates Kool-Aid? On November 12, 2012, the Chicago Teachers Union sent out an announcement, via its website www.ctunet.com, celebrating the 12th Annual Teachers for Social Justice Curriculum Fair. The . . .

COMMON CORE REALITY CHECK: Here's How Common Core Assessments Plan to Certify Workers for the Global Economy (with pix)... Let's make sure the children read ALL of Ovid while we're at it!

This 10th grade test item is a sample of the type of passage provided by PARCC (The Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers, a consortium of 23 states plus the U.S. Virgin . . .

REVIEW: Schools That Change Communities

Schools That Change Communities a film by Bob Gliner is worth watching by everyone who is concerned about the future of public education in the USA. This is about good things that are happening in . . .

Chicago teachers hit Penny Pritzker's hypocrisy

In Chicago, Hyatt heiress Penny Pritzker (who hates being called an “heiress,” so: heiress Penny Pritzker, heiress heiress heiress), the 719th richest person in the world according to Forbes, has been showered with tax breaks . . .

National union leaders still 'on the bus' (NEA, literally) with Arne Duncan despite Chicago... Randi, Randi every tweet... How often did the real Randi Weingarten every stand up on Twitter during the Chicago strike?

Seeing that America Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten got her picture taken on the picket line outside Fulton Elementary School early on in the Chicago Teacher Strike, I started watching her on Twitter. I . . .

Georgia teachers publish 'Thank you Chicago' in Atlanta Journal Consitution

The following letter appeared on the Atlanta Journal-Constitution "Get Schooled" blog by Maureen Downey, Sept. 23, 2012. http://blogs.ajc.com/get-schooled-blog/2012/09/23/a-thank-you-letter-to-chicago-teachers-from-some-georgia-colleagues/?cp=1#comment-228735. The Georgia Writing Collective, is a group of educators, parents, and citizens . The collective defines its . . .

Another mercenary from the 'Billionaire Boys Club' and the Broad Foundation... Barbara Byrd-Bennett? What qualified this outsider to become 'Chief Education Officer' for the third largest school system in the USA?

The growing interest in Chicago's public schools from outside Chicago requires more details from Chicago than many informed people will ever have access to without a lot of work. A few months ago, after losing . . .

|

All Bad Ed Reform Starts in Chicago

Providing a few notes on Louisiana Superintendent of Education John White turned into one of those cases of uncovering a whole lot. I leave it to the reader to decide just how this pile of . . .

Outsourcing censorship -- 'Bluecoat' helping school districts block critical views like substancenews.net?... Censorship more widespread

News of Substancenews.net being unavailable to computers in all 660 Chicago public schools and from the school system's central and "network" offices, is, for me, déjà vu all over again. As despicable as this specific . . .

Common Core and Business Week... In 2002, Business Week Revealed Why Common Core Disdains Fiction

[Editor's Note: This article was originally posted by Susan Ohanian at Daily Censored and on her own Website on June 19, 2012 and is reprinted here with Susan's permission in pursuit of more englightenment about . . .

MEDIA WATCH: All the news that fits, they print. How The New York Times handled the Common Core controversy in its May 16, 2012 report on David Coleman

The story in the May 16, 2012 New York Times was headlined "Backer of Common Core School Curriculum Is Chosen to Lead College Board" and it quoted Stephen Krashen. Here is Stephen Krashen's Comment: "...Not . . .

'Common Core standards' for pre-K?! They're serious... New York’s Common Core Pre-K Standards: They’re Not Kidding Around

An angry New York City parent of a preschooler got my attention on Twitter. “Are you f**king kidding me?” she wrote. “I may just quit my job and home-school my daughter.” I wondered what on . . .

Duncan double- and triple-talks on 'The Daily Show' with Jon Stewart

This short piece of excerpts from Arne's appearance on Daily Show yesterday (February 16, 2012) may be of interest. Arne, very experienced at soundbites, offers robo-responses to some good questions by Jon Stewart. When . . .

School Reform, Chicago Style... A close look at Donald Fraynd and the Chicago School of 'Turnaround'

School Reform, Chicago Style, By Susan Ohanian, first published summer 2011. Ohanian Comment: Reading the first paragraph or so of this Wall Street Journal piece, I thought I'd be posting this item in the "Good . . .

The rise to power of Broad Fellow and Chicago protegé Hosanna Mahaley-Johnson-Jones... Some ugly details about the Daley - Duncan - Obama connection

(January 16, 2012) It is not my custom to spend time on an article from American Thinker, a conservative publication whose political editor brags about appearances on the Dennis Miller show, but "Unsolved Mystery: . . .

COMMON CORE: Pooh's Little Instruction Book for Teachers

LESSON PLANS
If possible, try to find a way to write your Common Core Lesson Plans that doesn't involve going bump, bump, bump, on the back of your head. Or send a knife into your . . .

Common Core hucksters... We're being steamrolled into one-size-fits-all

NOTE: I am one of six "experts" invited to comment on the Common Core, the only one criticizing the document, at the Learning Matters blog. Of note is the Learning Matters subtitle: Reporting You Can . . .

Real Estate 'values' at year's end... Reading Articles about Real Estate Sales in the Wall Street Journal

There’s no quicker way to get a look at income disparity in this country than to look at Wall Street Journal articles gushing over luxury real estates deals. Here are two items appearing in the . . .

Nobel Prize Winning Economist Refutes David Colemen's Crackpot Literacy Theory... Krugman refutes crazy 'Common Core' version of children's literacy

Common Core Curriculum Standards entrepreneur David Coleman is barnstorming the country claiming that schools need to de-emphasize fiction and obliterate any semblance of reader response. No feelings, no imaginations, no speculations: Just the facts, kid. . . .

On the eve of bringing its 100th anniversary conference to Chicago's hotbed of teacher activism, National Council of Teachers of English — NCTE — has been censoring its internal debate over supporting 'Common Core'

As members of an online forum called NCTE Connected Community Open Forum, longtime NCTE member Steve Krashen and a handful of other concerned members have posted items critical of NCTE's refusal to issue a statement . . .

Sharon Schmidt's testing testimony goes viral on the Internet (?) through Undernews

Just when it was time to rest for the day, along comes the latest edition of UNDERNEWS Since 1964, the news while there's still time to do something about it (THE PROGRESSIVE REVIEW, 96 Maine . . .

The Crocodile in the Common Core Standards

“[A]s you grow up in this world you realize people really don’t give a shit about what you feel or what you think.” Thus, Common Core Standards architect David Coleman delivered [1] the core pedagogy . . .

Chamber of Commerce keeps its 'education reformers' to a short and biased list

This is an excellent column (Valerie Strauss in the Washington Post, October 25, 2011), but I must point out that the U. S. Chamber of Commerce and the national press corps have a lot in . . .

Clippy must die... and Gates should get out of our classrooms' lives

Remember the obnoxious, hyperactive paperclip that popped up in Microsoft Word when you were trying to write a letter? As soon as you typed “Dear,” up popped up Clippy: "It looks like you’re writing a . . .

Teachers, the AFT is killing you... Chicago Teachers Union should not embrace 'Common Core'

Old news becomes news when you notice it for the first time. And it becomes news again when you revisit it a few years later and see new things. The information in the bottom part . . .

MEDIA WATCH: New York Times reporter looking for teachers critical of overuse of technology to go on the record and factually from the classroom

A New York Times reporter would like to talk to teachers who are feeling pressured to use more technology than they feel is useful, teachers who think whiteboards, Power Points, whatever are not quite the . . .

Pearson woos business by taking state school officers on 'educational' junkets (all approved, of course)

[Editor's Note: We've already apologized to Susan Ohanian for not posting the following article of hers here before we posted the information reported on the Pearson junkets from The New York Times. We hope that . . .

Save our Schools March & Rally: Parents speak out against standardized tests in Greeley Colorado one week before national march in Washington, D.C.

This march in Greeley, Colorado, reported in the local news story below, was one of many that went on throughout the country this summer with the hopes of reducing the amount of high-stakes testing in . . .

Wall Street Journal's puff piece on IBM needs close examination... Warning to Teachers and Students Whom IBM Wants to 'Friend'

This commentary is provoked by a puff piece from the Wall Street Journal, Aug. 1, 2011, which reads like a Press Release. I provide a bit of historical context, much of which is included in . . .

Another side to the SOS rally and march... Sex, Lies, and SOS

For all the music and praise of teachers, the SOS march had a more troubling side. We all know that Superman isn't going to rescue public schoolchildren. But let's face it: Neither is Action Hero . . .

Common Core and the American Federation of Teachers... Teachers, the AFT is Killing You

Old news becomes news when you notice it for the first time. And it becomes news again when you revisit it a few years later and see new things. The information in the bottom part . . .

Aspen Institute Session on SB7... How the Ruling Class works against public schools and teacher unions...

Ohanian NOTE: Probably I should offer a prize to anybody who follows all the links here. Just think about what it took out of my hide to provide all the links. Back in 2008, I . . .

Partial transcript of Edelman remarks at the Aspen Institute

Jonah Edelman on outfoxing teachers’ unions: Transcribed remarks. Note: As Substance has reported in considerable detail. . . for months, Stand for Children is: "...a front group for the wealthiest people in the USA, the . . .

Cracking a System in Which Test Scores Were for Changing

"Investigators described how Dr. Hall had humiliated principals who didn't reach their targets. Every year she gathered the entire district staff at the Georgia Dome. Those from schools with top scores were seated on the . . .

The Democrats do it again... Bennet, Alexander, Mikulski Introduce Bipartisan Bill to Create Academies that Prepare Great Teachers and Principals

First, we have a press release from Colorado Senator Michael Bennet. On the strength of his political connections and a Yale Law School degree, Bennet was appointed superintendent of the Denver Public schools in 2005, . . .

MEDIA WATCH: Hyping the 'Chicago Model' as Race to the Top goes into high gear despite growing resistance

School Reform, Chicago Style, is the title of an article that was published in The Wall Street Journal. Chicago colleagues tell us that the reporter, Stephanie Banchero, wrote for the Chicago Tribune before she was . . .

Why I Stopped Writing for Huffington Post

I stopped writing for Huffington Post when they ran a big ad for
"Waiting for Superman" above my columns.

I started writing them so I could publish Gerald Bracey's last column,
one . . .

Gates and Pearson Foundations Join to Offer Online Courses for Schools as 'Mapping' and other gimmicks gain...On Line Common Core?

Ohanian Comment: With its support of the Curriculum Mapping Project, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation was already in the curriculum business. See here and here and here. If you can stand . . .

MEDIA WATCH: IS THE NEW YORK TIMES FINALLY GETTING IT? Gates funding and behind-the-scenes manipulation of 'reform' voices finally exposed on Page One of The New York Times

"Mr. Gates is creating entirely new advocacy groups. The foundation is also paying Harvard-trained data specialists to work inside school districts, not only to crunch numbers but also to change practices. It is bankrolling many . . .

'Edupreneurs' now the way for U.S. Department of Education to waste billions on 'innovation'... Duncan and Harvard team up to push toxic 'innovation models' on public schools

Readers who want to know the next step in the Education Department's strange inversion of reality need to read the recent Harvard Business Review blog article — The Innovation Mismatch: Smart Capital and . . .

Seattle parents to protest hiring of 50 TFA novices... Why is Gates pushing 'Teach for America' on Seattle?

Of course outrage inspires this action, but the action is very Good News. Parents are showing educators how to get things done. This is both breathtaking and important. Join this action. The following first appeared . . .

SUBSCRIPT: Barack Obama, our Republican president on education reform... 'They [Duncan and Obama] sound very Republican-ish on education reform

NOTE: Duncan Hunter is new chair of the House Education & Workforce Committee's Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education. Please take the time to follow more closely what will soon be done in . . .

Black Agenda Report calls out Obama for the last time... A moderate Republicrat corporate lawyer

{Susan Ohanian's note: As the Black Agenda Report below makes clear, there is nothing left of Barack Obama, except the “moderate Republicrat corporate lawyer” that he has always been. He refuses to fight in . . .

Betrayal: The Common Core, Liberals, NCTE, BYOB, and the Media

While Rome burns, Nero fiddles, the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) makes hay, and and Chicago teachers bring their own booze (the Substance story about the field trip to work on 'Common Core'). . . .

While Chicago still has 160 public schools without school libraries... Delightful Video features Stephen Krashen interview

Recently, a California State University (Dominguez Hills) television program featured Stephen Krashen, who has commented regularly at numerous sites, including www.substancenews.net. The show, "People making a difference," lasted nearly a half hour, and includes . . .

MEDIA WATCH: A few questions reporter Sam Dillon might have asked but didn't... New York Times continues to tout Arne Duncan's version of reality

I'm not going to comment on Sam Dillon's reportorial skills but I will say this: He lacks curiosity. As careful readers of The New York Times know, reporter Sam Dillon got another front page story . . .

BOOK REVIEW:

Citation: Ohanian, Susan. (2011 February 12) Review of The Gates Foundation and the Future of U.S. “Public” Schools by Philip E. Kovacs. Education Review, 13. Retrieved [Date] from http://www.edrev.info/reviews/rev1042.pdf
Kovacs, Philip E. (Ed.) (2011) The . . .

Big Brother plugging into teachers' ears, thanks to Gates Foundation... The Gates Foundation Gives and Earful

BZZZZZ. Big Brother calling: Bill and Melinda Gates want to put coaching earbud headphones on teachers across the country. The Gates Foundation gives Memphis schools barrels full of money. And look at what happens next. . . .

Colorado Opt Out information... Parents have the right to keep their children out of the CSAP tests

Students not required to take CSAP tests. Editor Note: This parent research was conducted by a Colorado parent who is part of grassroots activism in Colorado. It appeared on Build Better Schools (http://www.buildbetterschools.com/?p=486) , . . .

'Chinese Mothers' courtesy of The Wall Street Journal

The Internet is buzzing with comments about this piece. On Twitter, Greg Toppo (USA Today) called it "batshit crazy." He's right. I admit I couldn't get through the 2,395 comments on the Wall Street Journal . . .

Teachers bashing based on 'value added' escalates... Judge rules in favor of Freedom of Information release of teacher test scores information from New York

The following is posted on my website: http://susanohanian.org/show_research.php?id=390
I tried to put the red to show where my comments end, but I wasn't able to do it. So here goes: On Monday, Norm Scott from . . .

THE EGGPLANT: Gates Foundation announces drone-driven teacher evaluation

[Editor's note. As the writer notes below, 'The Eggplant' is a third cousin to its more famous public relative, The Onion. Readers who want more information along these lines — and other recent reports from . . .

NCTE to meet in Chicago November 2011, so planning begins now... Chicago: the place to change education

On Nov. 19, 2010, a remarkable thing happened at the 99th annual convention of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) in Orlando. A motion was brought to the assembled house by Stephen Krashen, . . .

Michelle Rhee plans her future with the help of Oprah, Newsweek, and The New York Times

I post this because I want to remind myself that the wife of the publisher of The Atlantic has chipped in $100,000 to help Michelle Rhee reshape her image. And who did they hire? . . .

What will that billion dollars buy?... Michelle Rhee's new group -- 'Students First' — will do direct lobbying for the corporate version of 'school reform'

I consider this Action Research, the kind of research academics should undertake before we are totally buried. Recently, Chester Finn (former Republican operative with ties to Gates Foundation who works at the Thomas B. Fordham . . .

MEDIA WATCH: An editing experience with The New York Times... All the news that's fit to print, or 'All the news that fits we print'?

Think about how you'd feel if you had an invitation from the New York Times, putting you among "experts" offered to contribute 300 words. Apparently, the Times has noticed that there are enormous stresses associated . . .

Stand for Children documented at Susan Ohanian's website

Stand for Children Mentions on my site. Don't Just Get Mad Get Even--Sentate Bill 191 Passes Colorado Legislatures
http://susanohanian.org/
show_atrocities.php?id=9339

Schools' "broad" Agenda--see letter at end
http://susanohanian.org/show_atrocities.php?id=5989
Another Portland contact is Anne . . .

Speech to the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) in Orlando 2010

[Editor's note: The writing below was a featured speech at the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) Convention in Orlando, Florida, November 20, 2010. Not all of the poems quoted are in verse format, . . .

Watch Out Chicago! Rahm's got a 'curriculum' just for you

The Fixer? In a headline in the New York Times, Nov. 28, 2010 (Emanuel Vows Fix For Math and English) Rahm Emanuel proclaims his role as Fixer. Watch out, Chicago! The curriculum Rahm Emanuel is . . .

SEX APPS, HEGEMONY, AND TODAY'S BELL RINGER COURTESY OF CATHIE BLACK... A satiric view on New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg's attempt to put Cathie Black in charge of the New York City Public Schools

In 1957 chain-store president, Maxwell H. Gluck was nominated to be ambassador to Ceylon. Mr. Gluck had contributed, by his own estimate, $20,000 or $30,000 to the Republican campaign of 1956, but, like many such . . .

'Waiting for Superman' reflects Obama's school views

A couple of months ago I tracked how close this is to Obama. I'll paste it in here but there are interesting hot links on the website. http://susanohanian.org/show_atrocities.php?id=9425

Fewer than . . .

Peter Cunningham takes to the road for Arne Duncan... NCTE Waxes Enthusiastic Over Duncan Media Handler Appearance at Convention

Some of us National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) stalwarts have agitated long and hard for NCTE to make a statement:

against the LEARN Act

against Common . . .

Vermont surrenders education policy to Bill Gates

[Editor's Note: The following was originally published at the Huffington Post and is here with permission of the author. Readers are encouraged to purchase and read Susan Ohanian's books, which are available through on line . . .

The next financial crisis is now waiting in the wings as the Obama administration refuses to push real controls on the financial giants

Susan Ohanian's Comment: I'm posting the article below because Matt Taibbi is so on-target with this comment about the poseurs in Congress. Their lack of knowledge about education is just as stunning and, in the . . .

Latest U.S. Department of Education 'Reading' program will be DIBELS on Steroids

On June 22, 2010, the US Department of Education announced the appointment of its 'Reading Institute.' I regard this as a MUST Read. Below you will find a cast of characters traveling the country for . . .

The 'Tantalizing Vagueness' of Teaching...

[The following essay was posted by Susan Ohanian on her website — www.susanohanian.org — on July 11, 2010, so we apologize at Substance for just getting around to it today. Many of our staff were . . .

Delaware's Race To The Top application — Appendix A

Posted: 2010-04-05 at www.susanohanian.org... Update on riddle from my childhood: Question: And what did Delaware? 21st Century Standardisto Answer: She wore Emperor ObamaDungates New Clothes, which meant she was naked to the world. . . . . .

April 13 forum at Chicago's King High School features Lois Weiner on the attack on public schools and teacher unions

Lois Weiner, co-editor The Global Assault on Teaching, Teachers, and their Unions: Stories for Resistance, is doing necessary work reframing the education debate and helping activist teachers who are trying to revitalize their unions. See . . .

Telemarketers will be screening 'turnaround' teachers by phone for Chicago's AUSL... Picking the next generation of 'turnaround teachers' requires no experience or qualifications

Can telemarketers pick the next generation of superteachers? It seems so, at least if Chicago and the "Academy for Urban School Leadership" (AUSL) are concerned. The following advertisement appeared on line beginning on April 8, . . .

Data Warehousing will destroy your soul

[Editor's Note: As soon as the following piece by Susan Ohanian — Data Warehousing Will Destroy Your Soul, Publication Date: 2010-03-08 — was published, we can republish it here. Hopefully, readers will have the time . . .

Arne Duncan's March 17 Congressional testimony, with commentary by Susan Ohanian

OHANIAN COMMENT: We in Vermont just had an example of Increased local control and flexibility while maintaining the focus on equity and closing achievement gaps. The U.S. Department of Education requires states to rank all . . .

Berliner, Ohanian deliver lectures in Philadelphia March 20... New DEEL (Democratic Ethical Educational Leadership) conference

David Berliner, Regents Professor of Education at Arizona State University, delivered the Donald L. Walters lecture at the 4th annual New DEEL (Democratic Ethical Educational Leadership) Conference at Temple University, Philadelphia, March 18, 2010.
. . .

MEDIA WATCH: Chicago's Public Schools Seek a Bit of Serenity... New York Times covers what Chicago's bosses tell them to cover... 'Culture of Calm' story is nonsense

Chicago's Public Schools Seek a Bit of Serenity

Ohanian Comment: The outrage here is two-pronged, sparked by the non-coverage of the Chicago public school chief executive's new venture called the "culture . . .

Ridiculous 'Common Core Standards' give another example of how Arne Duncan's silly Race To The Top has become a mindless attack on teaching, learning, children — and simple common sense

[Editor's Note: The following piece was submitted to the Burlington [Vermont] Free Press ("My turn" section) by Substance Resistance News editor Susan Ohanian and addresses how the governors, and specifically Vermont Governor Douglas, is giving . . .

Fact Checking Arne Duncan could prove to be a full-time job

Fact Checking Arne Duncan could prove to be a full-time job

Susan Ohanian - December 31, 2009

Maybe it's time to reread Chicago Public Schools Arne Duncan's July 2008 testimony to the House . . .

Kindergarten teacher shares horrors with Susan Ohanian... I teach kindergarten and I hate what I'm doing in my classroom

I teach kindergarten and I hate what I am doing in my classroom

Ohanian Comment: I received this e-mail in response to my outrage — and grief — at New Books for Kindergarten . . .

AFT's Randi Weingarten joins management on testing, teacher bashing

[Editor's Note. The following comment and article and press release was posted by Susan Ohanian yesterday on here Website, and is the most we can get up about this important speech and event at this . . .

Ohanian at Huffington Post warns about LEARN legislation... Congress sponsoring disastrous 'literacy' bill

Stephen Krashen, noted educator and Professor Emeritus, University of Southern California, has conducted an intensive investigation of new legislation pending in both chambers of Congress (Senate Bill 2740, House Bill 4037). Introduced by Sen. Patty . . .

MEDIA WATCH: Education Week adds to Duncan puffery and piffle on First Anniversary of the appointment of Barack Obama's teacher bashing privatizing Secretary of Education

[Editor's Note: The following was originally posted at www.susanohanian.org and is getting additional posting here]. NCLB Outrages

Ohanian Comment: The opening sentence gives you a snapshot of the duplicity involved in the . . .

New Yorker magazine runs major piece of Arne Duncan puffery... '[Arne Duncan's] ... is a Republican agenda '

Profiles: Class Warrior.. The New Yorker piece on Arne Duncan

Comment: Pete Farruggio Assistant Professor, Bilingual Education, College of Education, University of Texas Pan American co-founder of CalCARE (calcare.org) and a classroom and . . .

Requiring a college degree for a waitressing jobs at Applebee's ... and other idiocies of the 'Global Economy' attack on educational sanity

[Editor's Note: The following was Susan Ohanian's Christmas present to her readers, posted on December 25, 2009, at the "Outrage of the Day" at Susan's wbesite -- www.susanohanian.org (click on the Big Link on the . . .

Fact Checking Arne Duncan could prove to be a full-time job

Maybe it's time to reread Chicago Public Schools Arne Duncan's July 2008 testimony to the House Education and Labor Committee. As Duncan offers bribes to the states that agree to deform the very roots of . . .

Raise Test Scores or Die!

[Editor's Note: The following was originally published on the Huffington Post and is republished here with the permission of the writer. George N. Schmidt, Editor, Substance, December 14, 2009].

Raise Test Scores or Die . . .

The future of teaching in America: Teachers as Human Capital

The Future of Teaching in America: Teachers as Human Capital

By Susan Ohanian

Google "SMHC" and you learn that it stands for Southern Mountain Horse Company, breeders of miniature Shetland ponies, miniature . . .

Chicago Lies go National thanks to National Public Radio's Arne Duncan interview June 9, 2009

[Editor's Note: From Susan Ohanian's Web site. The following transcription of U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan's interview on National Public Radio (NPR) on June 9, 2009, is reprinted here in full with commentary by . . .

New Yorker Profile of Charter School Chief Steve Barr is Propaganda, not Reporting

The May 11, 2009 New Yorker magazine offers a profile of Green Dot (charter schools) founder Steve Barr written by Douglas McGray, a newcomer to The New Yorker.
The technical aspects of accessing this article . . .

PDK Publishes a Love Letter to the Broad Foundation... Why was a large portion of the April 2009 Phi Delta Kappan magazine turned over to a contractor for the Broad Foundation?

Just call this the Broad Foundation takeover of Phi Delta Kappan magazine.
Ledyard McFadden, founder and president of SchoolWorks, had four articles in the April 2009 issue of the journal Phi Delta Kappan, published by . . .

The Corporate Roots of NCLB

Prepared for The Peace and Justice Caucus of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) Chicago, July 13, 2008, and delivered in part during the session sponsored by the Peace and Justice Caucus.

. . .

Farewell "Goodnight Moon" -- Pre-school reading for the global economy is now The Wall Street Journal

My neighbor is teaching her two-year-old to read the Wall Street Journal

It all began when she woke up one morning
and heard on NPR that US kids are behind.
And there was her . . .

It's time for a closer look at the education policies and advisors of the candidates

http://susan ohanian. org/show_ research.html?id=216??

The following was originally posted on Susan’s website on December 12, 2007. [Those Who Would Be President Pontificate on Education, 2007-12-21].

Susan Ohanian Notes:

Okay, I admit that . . .

Angry Vermont teachers tell senator: End No Child Left Behind and NECAP

A powerful article appeared at the end of November in the local newspapers here in Vermont, reflecting what every lawmaker who is listening to constituents is hearing about No Child Left Behind. As lawmakers spend . . .

Washington group needs dollars for legal challenge to high school graduation test based on WASL

Please take the time to write a check to Parent Empowerment Network (PEN) of Washington state. Everyone who has a quarrel with standardized tests must join in this effort to stop Washington State from implementing . . .

KneeCAP the tests in Vermont? Testing Season in Vermont

The NECAPs are coming, the NECAPs were coming. Oh, wait, they’ve passed, already.

From Monday, October 2 through Friday, October 19, NECAPS ruled. NECAP, the New England Common Assessment Program, is the standardized . . .

'Eliminate NCLB Task Force'... Another group forms calling on Congress to 'Eliminate No Child Left Behind' now

A new group is organizing out of the National Education Association locals in California and is demanding that the NEA oppose the reauthorization of No Child Left Behind. What this group is trying to do . . .

NCLB activism starts in your own back yard... Now is the time to fight NCLB

Now is the time to spend real energy fighting NCLB. We need people to sign on to distribute 100 copies of a booklet offering a straightforward description of NCLB.

Elizabeth Jaeger’s booklet, “What Every . . .

| Article |

A call for slow schools... Rethinking public education in the Green Mountains

This call to Vermonters to take back their schools appeared in Vermont Commons, April 4, 2007.

Concerned citizens in every state should take a look at what the Feds are doing to their schools . . .

| Article |

Vermont Independence Convention speech on "scientific" [sic] literacy

I gave this speech in 2008. Alas, it is as current as ever.

The Second Vermont Republic's Vermont Independence Convention at the Statehouse November 7, 2008. Part 4 has presentations by Susan Ohanian, . . .

|

Recent Comments

"canadian pharmacies online...",
   By canadian pharmacies-24h
"canadian pharmacy...",
   By canadian pharmaceuticals online
"online pharmacies legitimate...",
   By list of canadian pharmaceuticals online
"online pharmacies uk...",
   By online pharmacies canada

Back to Top

Home
Web Updates
Back Issues
Blogs
Links
Subscribe
Buy Online

Copyright 2006-2020 by Substance News. All rights reserved.