Sid Glassner & Barley(Hour 3b, c) Are public schools going to the dogs?  Common Core certainly is.

Senior Fellow Sid Glassner brought his best friend Barley with him this morning for our weekly segment on public education.

“Democracy is doing well, ” exclaimed Glassner, describing the significant grassroots movement against Common Core across America.  So well that Bill Gates is requesting a 2-year moritorium on Smarter Balanced testing results.

We discussed the growing list of Common Core opponents from New York to Louisiana, including the state of Tennessee.

Why is Tennessee so significant?  They were the first to sign on for Smarter Balanced money.  Now they’re signing off.

We’re even hearing about privacy concerns over Common Core data points from Massachusetts Senator Ed Markey.  We didn’t know Ed had a tin hat.

(Hour 3b) 06-26-2014 Hour 3b

Rich and Sid discussed the recent ruling in California against teacher tenure laws.  Superior Court Judge Rolf Treu struck down five tenure laws as violations of the CA Constitution.

Glassner believes the decision was not based on proper data and will be overturned.  He and Rich debated tenure and the “discouraging process” of firing teachers.

“The good intentions of tenure are being abused,” said Glassner, “the same kind of abuses we’re witnessing at the VA and the IRS.”

Foundational fixes that can be done according to Glassner.  Our humble host disagreed.  Debate is a healthy thing!

(Hour 3c) 06-26-2014 Hour 3c