The Scum at the Top of the Private Prison Empire for the Young
An amazing piece of reporting by Chris Kirkham at HuffPo reveals a seedy empire of corporate welfare bottom feeders preying on juvenile offenders. Find Part One here with intro clip below, and at left is James Slattery, Chief Executive Scumbag of the worst offender, Correctional Services Corporation.From a glance at his background, one might assume that James F. Slattery would have a difficult ti
Does Chinese literacy need to be "revived"?
Sent to the Wall Street Journal, Oct 22 As is the case in the US, China thinks that literacy is declining and that part of the solution is a TV spelling bee in Chinese ("Chinese TV's Latest Hit Features a Character-Driven Plot: Show Aimed at Reviving the Country's Written Language Explodes."October 20). There is no evidence of a decline of literacy in China and no evidence of a decline i
The Mismeasure of Education Recalls the Coleman Report in Explaining Today's Reform Errors
It has been a great year for education scholarship with masterpieces like David Kirp’s Improbable Scholars and Diane Ravitch’s Reign of Error. Jal Mehta’s The Allure of Order provides a timely review of a century of failed top down reforms and, now, Jim Horn and Denise Wilburn offer an equally timely and profound history of the failure of test-driven reform. Horn’s and Wilburn’s The-Mismeasure-Edu
From Consolidation to "Decoupling" in Memphis, and the Costs of Corporate Reform
The Memphis Commercial Appeal has another no-news story today on questions remaining about how much it will cost to operate nine school systems in Shelby County, rather than one. Let's see, we have six leafy boutique municipal systems, a Shelby County non-municipal system, the Achievement School District downtown, a high-rolling hedge fund backed charter system with KIPPs and Rocketships, and a l
FedEx Offering TFA Holiday Joy
FedEx has a thing for Teach for America:20092008And now for the holidays in 2013:Starting Nov. 1, FedEx will kick off the “FedEx One Rate, Countless Possibilities Through Education” promotion, giving customers across the United States a simple way to give the gift of education. Through Dec. 23, $1 from every FedEx One Rate transaction will be donated to Teach For America, up to $200,000, helping t
10-21-13 Schools Matter
Schools Matter: The cost of the CC$$Sent to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, October 20Poorer districts will be hit the hardest, but every district in the country will suffer financially from the common core standards. Not mentioned in "Poorer schools districts feel at a loss over new common core standards," (October 20) is the fact that the common core will require an astonishing amount of