Message in a Bottle Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all

Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all:

Message in a Bottle Diane Ravitch's blog

A site to discuss better education for all

Texas: Special Session of Legislature Opens Tomorrow, to Restart Voucher Debate

5by dianeravitch / 2h

Governor Greg Abbott has called a special session of the Texas legislature, beginning tomorrow, which will consider a school finance reform bill and vouchers, among other things. The public schools of Texas are underfunded. In 

Betsy DeVos and ALEC in Denver This Week

by dianeravitch / 3min

Betsy DeVos will be the keynote speaker at the ALEC annual meeting in Denver this week. Protestors will be there to greet her, although the U.S. Department of Education is keeping silent about which day she will appear. ALEC has been 

Trump and the Russian Mafia: A Cautionary Story

1by dianeravitch / 49min

Craig Unger, a contributing editor at Vanity Fair, published an article about Donald Trump’s relations with the Russia mafia. It is called “Trump’s Russian Laundromat.” Remember when Trump said he had no connections to Russia? 

Betsy DeVos Tells Senators She Will “Return” Office for Civil Rights to a “Neutral” Role

by dianeravitch / 3min

A group of Democratic Senators wrote a letter to Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos to express their concern that she was abandoning civil rights enforcement. DeVos wrote back to say that she was “ returning” the Office for Civil Rights to its role as a “neutral” investigative agency. It is at a time like this that DeVos’s ignorance of education policy and history becomes embarrassing. OCR is the

Gary Rubinstein: Does KIPP Deserve to Expand in Philadelphia?

2by dianeravitch / 1h

Gary Rubinstein learned that KIPP plans to add more schools in Philadelphia and nearly triple its enrollment. So Gary did what he always did: he checked the public data for KIPP in Philadelphia. He found that KIPP has one high school in the city. “ That school got the lowest possible rating, essentially an F. Not only were their test scores low, but they also got the lowest possible rating in ‘gr

Philadelphia: KIPP Gets Whatever It Wants, Despite Poor Performance

17by dianeravitch / 2h

Despite lackluster results at some of its Philadelphia schools, KIPP plans to increase the number of itsschools in the city and more than double its enrollment, from 1,770 to 4,400 students. Current plans call the growth of K-12 networks of KIPP schools. Apparently, the KIPP Network will accept students in the early grades but not in middle school or high school. KIPP wants to create its “culture

New Jersey: Linda Weber, Candidate for Congress, Thanks You for Your Help!

3by dianeravitch / 3h

Linda Weber is running against a Republican incumbent in New Jersey. Hers is one of the districts that Democrats hope to flip, so as to gain control of the House in 2018 and stop ztrump’s plans to defund public schools, environmental protection, Medicaid, and every other social program. I put out an appeal to raise money for Linda when she needed to meet a June 30 deadline, and many of you respon

YESTERDAY

Bridge International Academies: A Dutch Perspective

7by dianeravitch / 21h

Dutch journalist Maria Hengeveld reviewed the claims and business plans of Bridge International Academies and found much not to like. She is clearly irked that the Dutch Ministry of Affairs has invested in this plan. Shannon May, a founder, says that BIA is all about “social justice.” Hengeveld adds: “And for profit. According to her husband, the “global education crisis” is worth about US$51 bil

Nicholas Kristof Defends For-Profit Takeover of Schools in Africa

11by dianeravitch / 22h

In this column , Nicholas Kristof defends the takeover of schooling in Africa by Bridge International Academies. Kristof says that since the government failed to provide basic education, it is welcome news that BIA is doing it, for a fee. The investors include Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg. He writes that American liberals should get over their squeamishness about privatization and for-profit op

Massachusetts: How to Kill a Successful School

500+by dianeravitch / 23h

Pelham, Massachusetts, is a small town in the western part of the state. It contains about 1,300 residents. It has only one school, an elementary school that enrolls about 130 children. The Pelham school is part of the Amherst district; when children leave elementary school, they move on to the Amherst-Pelham Regional Schools for junior and senior high. Three school committees, three budgets, one

Jennifer Berkshire: Watch What Betsy DeVos Does, Not the Nonsense She Says

14by dianeravitch / 1d

Jennifer Berkshire writes about Betsy DeVos’s radical agenda, which she cloaks in platitudes. She has become the mistress of not speaking to the press. When invited to address the annual meeting of the Education Writers Association in D.C., she skipped out, claiming she was too busy. She briefly appeared on a network news show, speaking about the only subject she cares about: choice. When asked a

Florida: Parents Fight Corporate Takeovers of Public Money!

31by dianeravitch / 1d

Parents in Alachua County in Florida have created an organization to fight the opening of a for-profit charter school run by Charter Schools USA in their community. Their organization is called Parents Against Corporate Takeovers (PACT) . The charter will drain students and money from their local community public schools. In addition to hurting public schools, the new charter will have poor overs

Massachusetts Professor Identifies Dark Money Funding Parent Group, Sets Off Twitter Controversy

36by dianeravitch / 1d

Maurice Cunningham is a professor of political science at the University of Massachusetts. During the heated battle over a referendum to expand charter schools (Question 2), Cunningham wrote about the funding of both sides. The Massachusetts Teachers Association spent heavily to oppose Question 2, but they were far outspent by the many millions poured into the state to support charter schools. Mo

The Correct Link for “Fake News” about Vesilnitskaya

6by dianeravitch / 1d

The story appeared on the CNN WEBSITE. http://money.cnn.com/2017/07/14/media/trump-russian-lawyer-veselnitskaya-theories-obama/index.html

Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all: