Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog:
Schooling in the Ownership Society
Schooling in the Ownership Society
Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk
Schooling in the Ownership Society
Billionaire wing-nut throwing his money around Missouri 'school reform'
SinquefieldIt's hard to imagine that a wackadoo wing-nut like Rex Sinquefield could be the director of a St. Louis children's social service agency or a trustee at DePaul University (where I teach). But nevertheless, there he is -- the billionaire teacher hater, who once called public education, "an invention of the Ku Klux Klan" to hurt African American children -- still throwing his mo
JAN 01
The Ward Room: Chicago charters, "a tangle of insider dealing, cronyism and political favoritism"
NBC's Ward Room report on charters offers an unequivocal assessment.As charter schools continue to take root, however, one fact is clear: No process this steeped in political cronyism and insider dealing should be allowed to continue. The report recounts the way a politically-connected Chicago charter school operator, Concept Schools, Inc. (owned by Turkish billionaire Fethullah Gulen) used it's c
DEC 30 2013
Billionaire hedge-funder and charter supporter Cohen tops Forbes 2013 scandal list
Cohen tops Forbes Scandal ListNet Worth: $9.4 billionNationality: AmericanSource of Wealth: SAC Capital Advisors (hedge fund)What happened: Cohen’s SAC Capital Advisors in November pleaded guilty to insider trading violations while agreeing to pay a $1.2 billion penalty and to stop managing money for outside investors. The U.S. attorney in Manhattan, Preet Bharara, described insider trading at SA
DEC 29 2013
Common Core has turned into a testing fiasco
The education world is scrambling to avoid its own version of a full-scale HealthCare.gov meltdown when millions of students pilot new digital Common Core tests this spring, writes Caitlin Emma at Politico. The tests will be given on a massive scale: Roughly 4.2 million third through eighth graders will test the exams in math and English this spring, and 29 million students nationwide will use the
DEC 28 2013
Inner-city schools, students being bypassed by college recruiters
Colleges and universities are systematically avoiding recruitment of black, Latino and poor students and telling their recruiters to bypass urban public schools. This according to a report in the L.A. Times, "College recruiters give low-income public campuses fewer visits."A Times survey of public and private high schools across Southern California found that campuses with a high proport
Waiting for a Chicago de Blasio?
Interesting piece in yesterday's S-T, "Chicago lefties look for their own Bill de Blasio". Dan Mihalopoulos obviously has his ear to the ground.A nation — or at least the left-leaning activists of this one big city — is eager to turn its lonely eyes to someone who can take on the Chicago mayor whom lefties deride as “Mayor 1%” and the quintessential DINO (Democrat in Name Only).... Meanw
JAN 02
Why Duncan had it in for Starr
Starr opposed Duncan testing madnessHere's more on Arne Duncan's direct interference in de Blasio's selection of a schools chancellor. Duncan and his assistant, Jim Shelton (the man from Gates), pressured BdB against the selection of Montgomery County Schools Superintendent Joshua Starr. WaPo education writer Valerie Strauss explains why Duncan felt so threatened by Starr.Starr, who runs Maryland’
JAN 01
More on Fariña pick: You can't go wrong expecting the worse from Duncan.
In yesterday's post on de Blasio's appointment of Carmen Fariña as schools chancellor, I implied that pressure from Arne Duncan and his assistant, Jim Shelton (a Gates Foundation insert at the DOE), was being exerted on the new mayor to appoint a corporate reformer type. As it turns out, I was right on the money. I've learned long ago, that you're almost always on safe ground when anticipating une
DEC 31 2013
Thoughts on de Blasio's choice of Carmen Farina as his schools chancellor
The educators and activists I know and whose opinions I trust in N.Y. all think Mayor BdB made a great choice, and that Carmen Fariña will be a breath of fresh air in a school system stinking from Michael Bloomberg's corporate pollution.So do I, especially considering the other names that were being floated around. I'm sure the DFER hedge-funders, corporate reformers and charter profiteers like Ev
DEC 30 2013
On de Blasio's Choice
Pedro Noguera“Mayor-Elect de Blasio has made an excellent choice in picking Carmen Fariña to lead New York’s public schools. For the first time in many years the nation’s largest school system will be led by an educator with a keen understanding of curriculum and instruction, who is committed to actively supporting our public schools.” -- Gotham SchoolsDiane Ravitch It is a new day in New York Cit
Weekend Quotables
E.L. Doctorow (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)E.L. Doctorow at National Book AwardsWe in this room especially have to appreciate metaphor. We're the descendants of writers who saw the sun as Helios' chariot riding across the sky. And yet... when was the last time, hearing the word mouse, that you thought of a small gray rodent? Or heard the word web and thought of a spider? -- "The Promise—and Threat
DEC 27 2013
How about telling the Tale of 2 Cities in Chicago?
Lovely Warren (left) celebrates victoryThe two-cities movement is spreading beyond New York City, where it swept Mayor-elect Bill de Blasio into office. This same focus on inequality is also what led to the election last month of Lovely Warren as Mayor of Rochester.According to the New York Times:Warren won election as mayor of Rochester last month with a campaign lamenting what she called the “tw