Monthly Archives: June 2013

The Unreliable Narrator

Posted on June 29, 2013 by garyrubinstein

An expression that has been popping up in many of the blogs by new TFA corps members is “behavior narration.”  This is, evidently, the big new ‘thing’ that the new TFAers are leaning as a classroom management tool. Back in … Continue reading →

Posted in Teach For America | 22 Comments

Debunking the latest NY Daily News ‘Miracle School’

Posted on June 28, 2013 by garyrubinstein

A ‘miracle school’ is one that purports to get extraordinary results with the ‘same kids’ as the nearby ‘failing’ school.  Sometimes the miracle is high test scores, sometimes it is a high graduation rate, sometimes it is a high college … Continue reading →

Posted in Debunking | 17 Comments

Randi Weingarten and I discuss miracle unionized charter school on Twitter

Posted on June 24, 2013 by garyrubinstein

Yesterday I noticed what I considered an unusual pair of re-Tweets by Randi Weingarten, president of the UFT. Weingarten is one of the few people on ‘my side’ of the ed reform debate who I have never met, personally.  She … Continue reading →

Posted in Research | 36 Comments

Join me ‘live’ tomorrow on my internet video talk show

Posted on June 23, 2013 by garyrubinstein

It has been a while since I’ve done an episode of ‘Talking Ed.’  Last year I did four episodes which, unfortunately, were wiped out when Spreecast’s server crashed.  Now, with the school year almost over, and with TFA inductions and … Continue reading →

Posted in Teach For America | 4 Comments

“those teachers are failures”

Posted on June 22, 2013 by garyrubinstein

It is nearly July which means that it is the time of year, again, where I offer my unsolicited, and generally unwanted, analysis of some of the blog entries by the newest cohort of TFA corps members.  I generally take … Continue reading →

Posted in Teach For America | 45 Comments

Wisdom from a 2012 CM “it doesn’t matter what their scores are”

Posted on June 17, 2013 by garyrubinstein

Throughout my teaching career, one thing has remained constant: what I’m trying to accomplish.  Back in the early 1990s there was no focus on test scores, thankfully.  My goal back then, as it is now, was for my students to … Continue reading →

Posted in Teach For America | 13 Comments

My Discussion with Matt Barnum Part 5

Posted on June 14, 2013 by garyrubinstein

Gary, That’s some fire-and-brimstone rhetoric you’re using, Gary. You’re absolutely right that pro-reform people like me are not doing a good job if we want to hide our tracks for when the reform-apocalypse is nigh. I’m not too worried though. … Continue reading →

Posted in Discussion With Matt Barnum | 13 Comments

Home Field Advantage

Posted on June 13, 2013 by garyrubinstein

In New York State, the high school standardized tests are called ‘The Regents’ exams.  Unlike the state tests for grades 3 through 8, which are graded externally, the Regents have always been scored by the teachers in the school.  After … Continue reading →

Posted in Research | 6 Comments

My experience at a #TFAListen event

Posted on June 8, 2013 by garyrubinstein

TFA has two new co-CEO’s, Elisa Villanueva-Beard and Matt Kramer.  Since they have started a few months ago, they have been going on a ‘listening’ tour around the country.  Based on Tweets I had read about the tour and also … Continue reading →

Posted in Teach For America, tfa rants | 23 Comments

The Illegal Trojan Horse In King’s Teacher Evaluation Plan

Posted on June 4, 2013 by garyrubinstein

The state education commissioner of New York, John King, recently imposed a teacher evaluation system on New York City after years of disagreement between the city and the teacher’s union. The evaluation system will consist of three components:  55 points … Continue reading →

Posted in Teach For America | 13 Comments