Julian Vasquez Heilig has deep ties to the state of Michigan, as he is from Lansing, and he graduated from the University of Michigan. He has made his mark as a scholar of education policy at the University of Texas and now
This post is satire. It appears in The New Yorker as a letter written in 2040 by a student whose education was shaped by Betsy DeVos. Without saying so, it acknowledges her avid support for school choice that includes schools where
This should be an April Fools Day joke but unfortunately it is real. Trump announced that he was putting his son-in-law Jared Kushner in charge of introducing innovation into the federal government, especially the values of American business. The Office of American Innovation will have a huge portfolio. As the White House announced: ““The Office of American Innovation will bring a creative and st
The National Education Policy Center reports that Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos held a secret meeting with a Russian grizzly bear! There is an actual photograph of the meeting included in the post! BOULDER, CO (April 1, 2017) – As part of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos’s campaign to promote educational vouchers, she held a secret meeting last week with Boo Boo Medvedev, a Russian bear who i
Thanks to Duane Swacker for this hilarious piece from the Onion! Mike Pence asks the waiter to remove Mrs. Butterworth from the table until his wife arrives. Her comely shape embarrasses him. Someone on Twitter said that Mike Pence seems to be obsessed with the sanctity of marriage, but obsessed with
This is a very funny parody of a standardized test, one that reflects the issues and concerns of our new Secretary of Education. Only question left out: Is there anything funny about having a Secretary of Education who knows nothing about education? Answer yes or no. Another one: What kind of president would appoint someone to lead the U.S. Department of Education who wants to get rid of public s
Now we have two poets. Fred Smith, testing expert, no longer associated with the New York City Board of Education, sent the following rumination about our national Yertle the Turtle. The Faking of the President 2016 I sit with my pen signing off on my themes, Watch the world shake its head at my speed and extremes; What some said wouldn’t happen, this mad man’s sick dreams, Now they see me delive
Arthur Camins, scientist and specialist in innovation, kicks off our celebration of April Fools Day with his timely warning not to be fooled by Trump and DeVos: in a democratic society, public schools are better than private schools. They are the only path to a better education for all. We need them. We do not need to resurrect the segregation that existed before the Brown decision. We have not a
Time to start the April Fools Day festivities. Betsy DeVos said at Brookings that she is “not a numbers person,” to explain her ignorance of research about the poor results of charters and vouchers. Dissident employees within the U.S. Department of Education have a Twitter account, where they responded to her comment: “ Or a letters person, or a schools person, or a teachers person, or an educati
Carol Burris has been conducting an investigation of charter schools in many states, beginning with her series on California. In this post, she analyzes the remarkable test scores of certain high-performing charter schools in Arizona. https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.washingtonpost.com/amphtml/news/answer-sheet/wp/2017/03/30/what-the-public-doesnt-know-about-high-performing-charter-schools-in-ari
Thousands of students of the defunct Trump University will recover most of the money they paid for phony courses. The $25 million settlement was approved by Judge Gonzalo Curiel, the jurist attacked by Trump during the campaign as biased and racist because of his Mexican-American heritage. http://money.cnn.com/2017/03/31/news/trump-university-settlement/index.html In advertisements for Trump Univ
Veteran journalist Lindsay Wagner writes that Fayetteville’s Trinity Christian School–the state’s largest recipient of taxpayer-funded vouchers– is involved in a major financial scandal. North Carolina places no accountability for how taxpayer money is used or whether students make academic progress. The voucher schools get taxpayer money with neither accountability nor transparency. North Caroli
I received an invitation to a meeting of municipal analysts in New York City. MID-TERMS ARE JUST AROUND THE CORNER … CAN CHARTER SCHOOLS MAKE THE GRADE? Date: Friday, April 7, 2017 Time: 11:30 am – 2:00 pm Location: Yale Club, 50 Vanderbilt Avenue, NYC Summary: Can charter schools achieve investment grade status? Despite failures and successes, charter school debt has grown rapidly as facilities’
Will Pinkston, a member of the Metro Nashville school board, has long been suspicious about the ability of the charter industry to keep its grandiose promises. Now, he says, charter schools in that city are in crisis. http://www.tennessean.com/story/opinion/2017/03/29/nashvilles-charter-school-industry-unraveling/99747782/ He writes: “It was just a matter of time before the wheels came off Nashvi
The Network for Public Education enthusiastically endorses Steve Zimmer for Re-Election to the board of the public schools of Los Angeles. In the primary, he received nearly half of all the votes, barely missing the majority he needed to avoid a run-off. His opponent is funded by the Billionaire Boys Club. They are pouring millions into the race in an effort to gain control of the school board an
On Tuesday evening, I flew to Texas to keep a promise to myself. Three years ago, I was chosen for the annual award of the Friends of Texas Public Schools. The day I was supposed to fly to Austin, there was a huge blizzard in New York City and my flight was canceled. All flights were canceled the next day as well. I skipped in to the event the next evening, and a few weeks later received a beauti
Bruce Baker employs a series of tweets t o demonstrate the fallacy of “the money follows the child.” Public money is collected for the public good. Public money supports services and institutions for future generations, not just for those now using them. The oft-heard demand that “the money follows the child” is fallacious. It is used to privatize institutions created for all. https://schoolfinan
Until 2012, the most celebrated figure in the charter school industry was Ben Chavis of the American Indian Model Schools, a group of charter schools in Oakland, California, that got phenomenal test scores and major national
