Thank You, David Sirota!
Intrepid and fearless journalist David Sirota broke open the scandal of PBS accepting $3.5 million from the foundation of a billionaire with a strong interest in “reforming” (away) the pensions of public sector workers. Here Sirota reviews how the story unfolded, how PBS and WNET stone-walled, how the Arnold foundation attempted to distance itself from its funder, and how social media changed eve
New York Comptroller Releases Charter Audits: Not a Pretty Picture
The New York Charter School Association fought state audits in the courts and won. They said they were perfectly capable of auditing themselves. Some people assumed that where public money goes, public scrutiny follows. The law was changed to permit audits and State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli has been patiently auditing the charter schools. Here are his latest reports. COMPTROLLER DiNAPOLI RELEA
Peter Greene: A Teacher’s View Of Cybercharters
Peter Greene teaches in a small town in Pennsylvania. He hasn’t studied the research on Cybercharters but he can tell you which students they attract and how they are affecting the public schools in his town. If he read the research, he would find out that Pennsylvania is utopia for virtual charter schools, having 16 different companies advertising for students. Students drop out almost as fast as
John Thompson’s Brilliant Analysis of the Vergara Case
Teacher John Thompson here brilliantly and cogently dissects the efforts of the Billionaire Boys Club to eliminate due process rights for teachers in California. This post examines testimony in the infamous Vergara case, where a fabulously wealthy tech entrepreneur has engaged a top legal team to argue that “bad” teachers are causing low test scores. Tom Kane of Harvard and Gates is a star witnes
Prediction
I know, I know! I’m on vacation. But the hotel has wi-fi, and I have two devices and a serious addiction to this blog. Of course, I forgot to bring my able staff of 92 so you may spot more typos than usual, as the glare of the sun in the West Indies is pretty intense. As a matter of record, I am not sorry to miss today’s snowstorm in NYC. But I will be back in a few days, ready to don the boots
Parent: Children With Disabilities Need a True Voice on the Regents
Children with disabilities have many struggles to deal with. Public officials should do their best to remove the obstacles these children confront, not add to them. This is a statement written by Bianca Tanis, a parent of a child with disabilities. Here is an excerpt: “As of Tuesday, 2/11, Members of the NYS Assembly completed interviews of both new and incumbent candidates for the 4 positions t
Pennsylvania Cybercharters: The Pot of Gold at the End of the Rainbow
A reader offers this perspicacious view of Pennsylvania’s cybercharter industry. There are 16 of them in the state. The founders of two of the major cybercharters are currently under indictment for siphoning millions of dollars of public funds: The reader writes: “Running a cyber-charter in PA is as good as printing money. No oversight and a system that completely ignores the actual costs of the
#resistTFA Tops Twitter Trend
The student-led movement to defend the teaching profession is off to a fast start: FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Press Contacts: Stephanie Rivera Rutgers University 1.732.485.0508 srrivera92@gmail.com Hannah Nguyen University of Southern California 1.408.644.9717 hbnguyen@usc.edu #ResistTFA (Resist Teach For America) Hashtag Tops Twitter Trend List February 18 – Chicago, IL – The hashtag, #ResistTFA (Res
How Cybercharters Cheat Taxpayers
Temple University law professor Susan deJarnett studied Pennsylvania’s 16 Cybercharters and found that they make huge profits while providing few services. “Parsing the tax documents for the 12 cyber charters for which information was available, she found that cyber charters carry large surpluses and spend what she considered a disproportionate amount of Pennsylvania tax dollars on advertising, t
A Stunning Article About the Obama Administration’s War on Public Education
This article by Michael Brenner, a professor of international relations at the University of Pittsburgh, is a trenchant summary of the relentless attack on public education launched by the Obama administration and backed by billions of federal and private dollars. Brenner begins: “A feature of the Obama presidency has been his campaign against the American public school system, eating way at the
Breaking News! Ras Baraka’s Campaign Bus Burned
Veteran journalist Bob Braun reports that mayoral candidate Ras Baraka’s campaign bus was burned soon after the launch of his campaign. As you know, the race for mayor of Newark represents a pivotal struggle over not only the future of Newark, but the future of its children and its public schools. And for that matter, the future of democracy. Newark’s citizens have been deprived of any role in go
The Network for Public Education Endorses Ras Baraka for Mayor of Newark
The Network for Public Education enthusiastically endorsed Ras Baraka for the position of mayor of Newark, New Jersey. Baraka is an experienced teacher and administrator, now a city councilman, fighting school closings and privatization. He stands strong for the children and people of Newark, not for the Christie administration and hedge fund managers seeking to disassemble and privatize public e
Forward Institute: Milwaukee Charter Study Shows Effects of Truancy, Poverty, and Experienced Teachers
The Forward Institute has released a study of charter schools in Milwaukee, comparing district charters, privately managed charters, and public schools. The findings are instructive. The 2R charter schools are the privately managed charters. The privately managed charters are skimming, doing grievous harm to the public school system. Any educational “gains” are the result of skimming, not educatio
Why Isn’t Andre Agassi Building Tennis Camps Instead of Charter Schools?
Andre Agassi is one of our nation’s greatest tennis stars. In his heyday, he was one of the most exciting people in the game. Because he was a child prodigy, he dropped out of high school in ninth grade to concentrate on his game. It was a good decision for him. But now in his retirement, he has decided that he should open a chain of for-profit charter schools, despite his lack of education or exp
LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH ALL WEEK LONG Diane Ravitch's blog 2-17-14 #thankateacher #EDCHAT #P2
Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all: Alfie Kohn on Grit and Its MisusesDue to the success of Paul Tough’s book “How Children Succeed: Grit, Curiosity, and the Hidden Power of Character,” the corporate reformers seized on the idea that what is needed for academic success is not just strict discipline and constant test prep, but GRIT. Grit, meaning perseverance. As Alfi