Schools Matter:
Schools Matter All Week
I met reactionary Fernando Espuelas' challenge, now will he demand the same of Gates, Zuckerberg, and Dell?
"Another issue involves concerns that charter schools may be screening students by requiring parents to provide information related to special education eligibility and services on the lottery application. Over the past two years, a review of applications has found a considerable number of schools requiring such information despite efforts by the District to eradicate this through oversight o
APR 24
Most Biased Poll Ever
The AP reported that according to a recent poll, 7 out of 10 Californians support the common core. Those who took the poll first read a description of the common core:“The Common Core State Standards are a single set of K–12 English language arts and math standards that most states, including California, have voluntarily adopted. The state leaders who developed the standards say they are designe
APR 23
Great Test Refusal Information Video for Parents
Much to learn here for New York parents as well as parents from other states:
Tamara Shepherd for Knox County School Board
Among those running for school board this year in Knox County where I taught for 15 years, Tamara Shepherd stands head and shoulders above her opponents as an informed, articulate, and forceful voice for sane and humane public schools in Knox County. Over the years, I have watched Tamara research the issues and take principled stands on education policy issues that reflect the best interests of c
Amy Frogge Leads Effort in Nashville Metro to Save Schools from the Charter Zombies
The people of Metro Nashville have stopped listening to the CorpEd PR machine, and thanks to Board Member, Amy Frogge, they are getting some facts about the school privatization that is being led by the billionaires and hedge funders of Wall Street. Below is a clip from the Tennessean and below that is Ms. Frogge's speech referred to in the piece:The Metro school board’s fiercest charter school c
APR 22
The brave new technology
Sent to the Wall Street Journal, April 22, 2014I do not share the enthusiasm about new digital technology in education ("Founding principles in the digital age," April 22). There is no evidence that the brave new online tests that promise "real time testing" will be any better than those we have now. In fact, we have not even seen them in action: According to Fair Test (fairtes
KIPP Counts on Teach for America for a Reliable Supply Chain of Expendable Teachers
Teach for America plays a crucial role in providing a never-ending supply of disposable teachers for KIPP and the other corporate welfare charter reform schools that are so popular among the cultural sterilization advocates and the vampires of Wall Street. In the interview segment below, a survivor of KIPP discusses the ongoing teacher sacrifices to CorpEd's Great Maw.INT: Let me ask you this qu
How Much Will Shelby County Slash to Pay for the Increasing Burden of Charter Schools?
During this school year now winding down, Shelby County Schools will give up $67 million to corporate charter schools in Memphis. Next year that amount will increase almost 16 percent to over $78 million, so that almost one dollar of every ten spent will be for charter schools. That's $145 million in two years.The 39 charter schools will get more, then, than all monies in the budget for student
APR 21
Former Teacher Describes KIPP's Special Ed Program as "a lawsuit waiting to happen"
The following excerpt is from another interview with a former KIPP teacher who was hired to solve the special education problem at one KIPP school. This teacher served for two years at KIPP, and it was the day she ran into another car as she went to sleep on the way home after another 12 hour day that she finally decided to leave KIPP. She offers many details about life at KIPP, including the cu
Will Harry Be Held Back in Kindergarten?
Back in December I reported on Harry, a little boy I have come to know who goes to kindergarten in the leafy suburbs of Germantown, TN. I talked with Harry's dad yesterday and got an update on how school is going, with only 4 weeks left in the year. Harry's dexterity has improved since December, so that now he is not being downgraded for not clicking in the answers on the computerized bubble shee
APR 20
Cherry Blossoms
There's nothing like being in Washington, DC during Cherry Blossom season. The Jefferson and Lincoln Memorials, the Capitol Building, the Washington Monument and the new World War II Memorial. There's the Vietnam Memorial, the Martin Luther King Memorial, the Holocaust Museum and so much more. The city is a shining light on the hill but the Congress is dysfunctional, ineffective and embattled in
APR 19
Harvard Re-Kindles Its Eugenics Past with Embrace of KIPP's Richard Barth
In the 1920s Harvard was a beehive of activity aimed at segregation and sterilization of those deemed mentally and socially defective, based principally on classist and racist assumptions about the poor and the those of different ethnic backgrounds. One of the Eugenics Movement rock stars, Charles Davenport, was a graduate of Harvard and instrumental in assuring the forced castration of a number