Category Archives: research ethics

The Malfunction of US Education Policy: Elite Misinformation, Disinformation and Selfishness [book review]

Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, April 2023, 196 pages, ISBN 9781475869941 With scholarly precision, Phelps details the collection of actors that have driven and continue to propel U.S. education policy and preferred narratives. In doing so, he has laid out a … Continue reading

Posted in Common Core, Education Fraud, Education journalism, Education policy, Education Reform, information suppression, K-12, partisanship, research ethics, Richard P. Phelps, US Education Department | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Back to school means education news stories …for a while

It’s that time of year again. As millions of youngsters return to school, thousands of journalists cast about for a once-a-year education-themed story. As one might expect with such sporadic attention, many of the August/September stories will be light and … Continue reading

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Letter to NPR’s Ari Shapiro and producers of their “individualized learning” podcast

From: Erich Martel Sent: Sunday, November 25, 2018 To: ‘mediarelations@npr.org’ Dear Ari Shapiro and Individualized Learning (and Project Based Learning) Podcast Producers, I want to make three points re “Individualized Learning” and all claims pertaining to education: 1) Always look … Continue reading

Posted in Censorship, constructivism, Curriculum & Instruction, Education journalism, Education policy, Erich Martel, information suppression, K-12, research ethics | Leave a comment

Common Core Collaborators: Six Organizational Portraits

New in the Nonpartisan Education Review: https://nonpartisaneducation.org/Review/Articles/CommonCoreCollaborators.htm Phelps, R. P. (2018). Common Core Collaborators: Six Organizational Portraits. Nonpartisan Education Review/Articles, 14(3–7). – The Organization Named Achieve: Cradle of Common Core Cronyism – The Council of Chief State School Officers and … Continue reading

Posted in Censorship, College prep, Common Core, Curriculum & Instruction, Education journalism, Education policy, Education Reform, Higher Education, information suppression, K-12, partisanship, research ethics, Richard P. Phelps, Testing/Assessment | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

There are Only Two Sides to US Education Policy (Thanks to the Parties)

https://ivn.us/2018/04/03/two-sides-us-education-policy-thanks-parties/ …at the Independent Voter Network website, https://IVN.us

Posted in Censorship, Education policy, information suppression, K-12, partisanship, research ethics, Richard P. Phelps | Tagged , | Leave a comment

What I learned at the ResearchED (US) Media Panel

For those still unfamiliar with it, ResearchED is “a grass-roots, teacher led organisation” founded in the UK whose mission is to “raise research literacy, bring people together, promote collaboration, increase awareness, promote research, and explore what works.” It has also … Continue reading

Posted in Censorship, Curriculum & Instruction, Education journalism, Education policy, Education Writers Association, information suppression, K-12, research ethics, Richard P. Phelps | Tagged | Leave a comment

New in the Nonpartisan Education Review: Dan Koretz’s Big Con

The Testing Charade: Pretending to Make Schools Better, by Daniel Koretz [book review] Reviewed by Richard P. Phelps http://nonpartisaneducation.org/Review/Reviews/v13n1.htm

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Surprise! SBAC and CRESST stonewall public records request for their financial records

Say what you will about Achieve, PARCC, Fordham, CCSSO, and NGA— some of the organizations responsible for promoting the Common Core Initiative on us all. But, their financial records are publicly available. Not so for some other organizations responsible for … Continue reading

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Close all USED-funded research centers: Evaluation of existing regulations: My two bits

My comments below in response to the USED request for comments on existing USED regulations. To submit your own, follow the instructions at:  https://www.regulations.gov/document?D=ED-2017-OS-0074-0001 MEMORANDUM To:  Hilary Malawer, Assistant General Counsel, Office of the General Counsel, U.S. Department of Education … Continue reading

Posted in Censorship, Common Core, Education policy, Education Reform, Ethics, information suppression, K-12, OECD, research ethics, Richard P. Phelps, Testing/Assessment | Tagged | 2 Comments

Yes, President Trump can do something about Common Core

For starters, he can shut down the federal funding of organizations that have supplied the misinformation that begat and continues to propagandize Common Core. While the Gates Foundation gets the most attention, government-funded entities play their part. For example, our … Continue reading

Posted in Common Core, Education policy, K-12, research ethics, Richard P. Phelps, Testing/Assessment | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

John Hopkins flawed report on Kentucky

It looks like a recent, very problematic report from Johns Hopkins University, “For All Kids, How Kentucky is Closing the High School Graduation Gap for Low-Income Students,” is likely to get pushed well beyond the Bluegrass State’s borders. The publishers … Continue reading

Posted in College prep, Common Core, Education journalism, Education policy, Education Reform, K-12, research ethics, Richard Innes | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

101 Terms for Denigrating Others’ Research

In scholarly terms, a review of the literature or literature review is a summation of the previous research conducted on a particular topic. With a dismissive literature review, a researcher assures the public that no one has yet studied a … Continue reading

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‘One size fits all’ national tests not deeper or more rigorous

http://www.educationnews.org/education-policy-and-politics/one-size-fits-all-national-tests-not-deeper-or-more-rigorous/ Some say that now is a wonderful time to be a psychometrician — a testing and measurement professional. There are jobs aplenty, with high pay and great benefits. Work is available in the private sector at test development firms; … Continue reading

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Some Common Core Salespersons’ Salaries: DC Edu-Blob-ulants

Linked are copies of Form 990s for Marc Tucker’s National Center for Education and the Economy (NCEE), Checker Finn’s Fordham Foundation and Fordham Institute, and Bob Wise’s Alliance for Excellent Education (AEE). Each pays himself and at least one other … Continue reading

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Censorship at Education Next

In response to their recent misleading articles about a fall 2015 Mathematica report that claims to (but does not) find predictive validity for the PARCC test with Massachusetts college students, I wrote the text below and submitted it to EdNext … Continue reading

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Hard Work by Students

In my ten years of HS teaching I saw good (hard-working, interested in learning) students do well with good teachers, and ALSO do pretty well with poor teachers… I saw poor (not working, not interested in learning) students do poorly … Continue reading

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The Education Writers Association casts its narrowing gaze on Boston, May 1-3

The Education Writers Association casts its narrowing gaze on Boston, May 1-3 Billions have been spent, and continue to be spent, promoting the Common Core Standards and their associated consortium tests, PARCC and SBAC. Nonetheless, the “Initiative” has been stopped … Continue reading

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Fordham Institute’s pretend research

The Thomas B. Fordham Institute has released a report, Evaluating the Content and Quality of Next Generation Assessments,[i] ostensibly an evaluative comparison of four testing programs, the Common Core-derived SBAC and PARCC, ACT’s Aspire, and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts’ MCAS.[ii] … Continue reading

Posted in College prep, Common Core, Education policy, Education Reform, Ethics, K-12, Mathematics, Reading & Writing, research ethics, Richard P. Phelps, Testing/Assessment, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Fordham report predictable, conflicted

On November 17, the Massachusetts Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE) will decide the fate of the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS) and the Partnership for Assessment of College Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) in the Bay State. … Continue reading

Posted in Common Core, Education policy, Education Reform, Mathematics, Reading & Writing, research ethics, Richard P. Phelps, Testing/Assessment | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Common Core’s Language Arts

It is often said that scientific writing is dull and boring to read. Writers choose words carefully; mean for them to be interpreted precisely and, so, employ vocabulary that may be precise, but is often obscure. Judgmental terms—particularly the many … Continue reading

Posted in Common Core, Education policy, Education Reform, Ethics, K-12, research ethics, Richard P. Phelps, Testing/Assessment, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment