Schools Matter:
Schools Matter All Week
Hey--another smart, female, progressive professor running to replace the seedy, corrupt neoliberal good ole boy! Wonder if Warren will come campaign for her.In 2008 Microsoft founder Bill Gates, one of the world's richest men, decided that he should take charge of education policy. He promoted a single set of standards to measure our children's achievements in school. Since then Gates has spent m
The following was posted at SM as a comment to the Attacking Diane Ravitch? . . . post. It is by teacher, Sean Crowley, who blogs at B-LoEdScene:I think to take on St. Diane one must truly be uninvested in the business of advancing one's career outside of the classroom as a blogger, union hanger on, teacher book writer or any of the various forms of Celebucators we now see in this desperate scram
Beware of Youth Entrepreneurs (YE) Right Wing Indoctrination System
If the Education Writers Association ever gives an award for REAL education reporting, this piece at Huffington Post by Christie Wilkie and Joy Resmovits has to be the winner!Wilkie and Resmovits do a terrific job exposing the Bircher-inspired and Koch funded Youth Entrepreneurs (YE) indoctrination system that is worming its way into public school curriculum around the country. This is a must rea
Doug Martin Guest on the War Report on Public Education Radio Show
By Doug MartinI will be spending an hour with BATS member Dr. James Avington Miller Jr. this Sunday, July 20, on his radio show, the War Report on Public Education, speaking about my book Hoosier School Heist which focuses on the corporate-theocratic school movement in Indiana and across the country. The show starts at 2 pm Pacific California Time. If you are listening in Indiana, the show start
YESTERDAY
Understanding Why the TURN Cancer Has to Be Cut Out of AFT and NEA
Posted at @theChalkace July 18, 2014With a concerted effort among AFT and NEA misleadership shills to make TURN appear be a kinder and gentler form of corporate union takeover, it's important to "replay the tape" in order to understand the history that has been made and the history that is being made. There are some who pretend to believe that TURN cannot be all bad if they invite Karen
JUL 17
Attacking Diane Ravitch? Or Questions Too Uncomfortable for the Comfortable?
"When Horn read Carroll’s post and realized it provided an opening for him to attack Diane Ravitch, I wonder if he wet himself from glee." --Mercedes SchneiderNo, Ms. Schneider, I did not wet myself from glee when I read Kathleen Carroll's commentary, but I am pretty pissed right now after reading your uncharacteristically bitter attack on anyone who raises questions about what Diane Rav
Broadie McIntyre Demotes Top Ranked Principal to Make Room for Corporate Leadership Trainees
With an anonymous gift (is that a Broad smell or Gates?) and RttT money, UTK and Knox County Schools have been churning out corporate-trained school administrators since 2011. Jim McIntyre, KCS Broad-trained Superintendent, needs to place these new and inexperienced administrators in order to satisfy the oligarch who is funding the "leadership academy." Here is pic of Tennessee's oil e
Charter Cap in Massachusetts Will Not Be Lifted
It is gratifying to know that the legislature of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, where public schools were born, took a significant step this week to support Horace Mann's notion of quality public schools for all children. As Mann said some 160 years ago, "agitate, agitate, agitate, but always for a good cause." The good cause that MA citizens agitated for most recently was to keep t
JUL 16
Ken Derstine Commentary
From Defending Public Education: Which Side Are You On? by Ken Derstine July 14, 2014 The union movement of today has been transformed from what the unions were when most started in the 1930’s, increasingly taking on the characteristics of company unions. Ever since the PATCO strike in 1981, when air traffic controllers who refused an order from the Reagan administration to return to work or be f
Andre Carson's Wife and the Mind Trust/Indy Chamber
By Doug MartinIn an attempt to privatize more schools and train students for future jobs that don't exist, the Indy Chamber of Commerce wrapped up its Pancakes and Politics education panel event yesterday in Indianapolis with the Mind Trust and Teach Plus. US neoliberal Democrat Andre Carson's wife highlighted the event. Andre, as I mention in Hoosier School Heist, is friends with school privati
TURNcoat, Mary Ricker, to Serve as Exec VP for Weingarten
With Ricker's election, Weingarten, Gates, and Broad are building the next generation of misleaders. Google "TURNcoats" and "AFT" and you will get the links to understand what I'm talking about.You might start here. Principal Members are the primary liaisons & spokespersons for each local in matters related to the Teacher Union Reform Network. Name Title Organization K
JUL 15
Ravitch Lashes Out at Union Misleadership Critique
"Hope. It is the only thing stronger than fear. A little hope is effective. A lot of hope is dangerous. Spark is fine, as long as it's contained."--President Snow, The Hunger Games When Diane Ravitch spoke at the National Association of School Psychologists in February 2012, her hefty speaking fee was paid for by none other than Pearson. Yes, that Pearson. When challenged on one of th
Picket the Koch Heads Education Privatization Meeting in Nashville July 22
The Badass Teacher of Tennessee need to saddle up, along with any other folks in Tennessee that care about public education. 6 PM at the Renaissance Hotel July 22. If you need pamphlet ideas or one page handouts, let me know. Can't be there--teaching that week. Be sure to contact the TV stations for coverage.From Joey Garrison:A group led by one of the conservative Koch brothers, increasingly
Doug Martin's Letter to Gordon Hendry and the Indiana State Board of Ed
By Doug Martin Once again the Indy Star has given space to complete unreality, this time by you, Gordon Hendry, the new state board of education member all goo-goo eyed over your neoliberal heroes Bill Clinton and Bart Peterson. In fact, your piece, in many ways, is an attempt for Mike Pence and the state board to do damage control over a recent Journal and Courier guest editorial by Dr. Lynn Ne
JUL 14
Chicago City of Murder (CCOM)
As violence in poor Chicago neighborhoods reaches epidemic proportions, with 84 people shot in an 82 hour window in July, Mayor Rahm has a new initiative to encourage young people to spend more time coding. Perhaps Microsoft will provide bullet-free bunkers for children to work in as they come up with new ideas to make Silicon Valley whales even fatter.Mayor Rahm Emanuel launched the Chicago City
JUL 13
Compelling evidence
Sent to the Wall Street Journal, July 13, 2014In "Test scores may move, learning doesn't" (July 12), Jo Craven McGinty says that there is "compelling evidence" that the US education system is inadequate, because American students "score below average in math and average in reading and science" when compared to other countries on international tests. Not mentioned is
JUL 12
Open letter to Ellie Herman, or how Green Dot's Marco Petruzzi's special education policies hurt everyone including their own administrators
"It is not legally or morally acceptable that these so-called "schools of choice" that are concentrated in urban communities and supported with public funds, should be permitted to operate as segregated learning environments where students are more isolated by race, socioeconomic class, disability, and language than the public school district from which they were drawn." — COPA
Following Rhonda's Advice: Be a "Little Badass"
With salary and benefits at $550,000 a year, it won't be easy to pry Weingarten from her offices at AFT. But following the advice she offered teachers at the convention, here are a few ways teachers might be a "little BadAss":1) Place pickets outside AFT and NEA headquarters until policies and leadership change to protect children, teachers, and parents, rather than exploit them.2) Disr