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
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
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;
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
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
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
Earlier this evening I received a comment from a staunch Trump supporter claiming that Natalia Vesnilskaya was a Democratic Party plant, and the whole story about Donald Jr., Jared Kushner, and Paul Manafort meeting with her was part of a well-planned plot to embarrass the President. I was puzzled, since it did not seem consonant with reality. After all, the meeting was arranged by a trusted Trum
Senator Lamar Alexander took great pride in the Every Student Succeeds Act, passed at the end of 2015 to replace the failed and rancid No Child Left Behind law of 2002. ESSA explicitly prohibits the Secretary of Education from telling states what to do to meet their obligations under ESSA. SAlexander was taken aback when he read in the New York Times that Betsy DeVos’ aide Jason Botel had warned
Martin Longman, web editor for The Washington Monthly, gives a valuable explanation of the Russian lawyer Natalia Vesilnitskaya and why she wanted to meet with the highest levels of the Trump campaign. We were told that she was lobbying to remove the American sanctions that provoked Putin to suspend the adoption of Russian orphans by Americans. What a touching story. It was all about the children
Remember Preet Bahara? He was the fiercely independent U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York. He was fired by Trump. Remember the Russian lawyer who met with Don Trump Jr., Jared Kushner, and Paul Manafort (and others) at Trump Tower in June 2016. They said she promised dirt about Clinton but only talked about sanctions and Russian adoptions. What do you think Preet Bahara and Natal
In his retirement, John Merrow has turned into a tiger, pulling apart the frauds that are regularly reported by the mainstream media. In this marvelous post , he punctures the great hot air balloon of “reform” in the District of Columbia under Michelle Rhee and Kaya Henderson. It begins like this: The current issue of The Washington Monthly contains an article by former journalist Thomas Toch, “H
A regular reader uses the pseudonym. He/she posted this comment about high school rankings: “It isn’t just the US News & World Report school rankings that are dubious. It’s also Jay Mathews Challenge Index rankings at The Washington Post, which have been discussed on this blog. “But there’s another set of rankings that are equally suspect. And no one is saying anything much about them. These are
Jennifer Berkshire released this podcast about the Oklahoma Teacher of the Year who left his job to teach in Texas. It is part of the Have You Heard series. Here is an excerpt: When Oklahoma Teacher of the Year Shawn Sheehan decided to
