Michael Kolhaas is going through his treasure trove of leaked emails and discovered some that are very embarrassing to Nick Melvoin of the Los Angeles Unified School District board. He says that Melvoin as a member of the board was privy to the LAUSD legal strategy in its perennial struggle with the charter lobby. He says that Melvoin shared this strategy with the charter lobby. Very ugly. He beg
Jeff Bryant wrote a must-read overview of the disastrous effort to privatize the public schools in Puerto Rico (the New Orleans of the Caribbean?), and the role of teachers in ousting the government. He writes: Puerto Rico’s school teachers have been a constant nemesis to the Rosselló regime, and the island’s largest teachers’ union, the Asociación de Maestros de Puerto Rico (AMPR), united with o
This is a puzzling case. One of the founders of the Starshine Academy in Arizona is being sued to egregious misuse of the school’s money. The school was closed in 2018 because of misuse of its money. Now the founder is in court, where she is being sued to replenish the money she misused. But there are no criminal charges for embezzling taxpayers’ money. Ryan W. Anderson, an attorney representing
Carol Burris wrote this article about the confluence of charter schools and greed in Florida. Just when you think you have heard it all, there is yet another story of cupidity associated with “nonprofit charter schools.” The corruption never ends. Burris begins: The original mission of the federal Charter Schools Program of the U.S. Department of Education was to help new charter schools get on t
Sometimes you have to use plain words to describe a theftin broad daylight. Read Kentucky teacher Randy Wieck’s description of the broad-daylight theft of teachers’ pension funds and what this means, not only to teachers, but to school districts across the state. The Kentucky public pension “deform” abomination signed by Governor Bevin July 24, 2019 – opposed by all Senate Democrats and 9 Republi
Will Huntsberry is the investigative reporter who untangled the $50-$80 million scam that led to the indictment of eleven people associated with a virtual charter chain in California (“Inside the Charter School Empire Prosecutors Say Scammed California for $80 Million”). In his latest investigation , he details the complicated business dealings that are enriching the owners of a “nonprofit” chain
My favorite daily commentator, Teresa Hanafin of “Fast Forward” at the Boston Globe, (sorry, I have no link–if you have one, please send it) wrote this morning: Trump isn’t doing much today (I could write that quite often) other than holding another campaign rally, this one in Cincinnati. With the help of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Trump did get his UN ambassador nominee, Kelly Craft
Democratic Governor Roy Cooper vetoed legislation to allow the state’s two low-performing virtual charters to expand enrollment. Republican legislators complained that Cooper was interfering with the family’s right to choose a failing school. State lawmakers passed a bill in July lifting the enrollment cap on the state’s two virtual charter schools so that they could grow by 20% a year. Cooper an
Stephen Singer explains the ways that technology impedes learning. He is not opposed to technology. He is opposed to its overuse and misuse. Way #1: 1) It Stops Kids from Reading I’m a language arts teacher . I want my students to read. I could simply assign readings and hope students do them, but that’s not practical in today’s fast-paced world. When kids are bombarded by untold promises of inst
Gary Rubinstein has a keen eye for teacher-bashing disguised as research. In this post, he takes apart a new paper from Michelle Rhee’s old outfit TNTP, which blames teachers for “low expectations.” He begins: Before Michelle Rhee was a board member for Miracle-Gro she was the founder and CEO of StudentsFirst. Before that, she was Chancellor of Washington D.C. schools from 2007 to 2010. Before th
I n this post, Mercedes Schneider does her trademark “deep dig” into the career of one Jon Schnur. It turns out that he is the quintessential corporate reform careerist. If you have ever wondered why some people make tons of money in education without ever teaching, study Schnur’s opportunistic and profitable career. He did it all while working for Clinton, Gore, and Obama, demonstrating the prof
Frances Gallo, who was Superintendent of Central Falls, the state’s lowest performing district, was made interim superintendent of the state-controlled Providence District. She will be replaced in 90 days. When Gallo led Central Falls in 2010, she threatened to fire every employee of the high school, even the lunchroom employees, to punish them for the district’s low scores. After a time of natio
I hate the Democratic debates. They turn potential allies into enemies. They make it harder for candidates to share the same ticket. They set up minor policy differences as deep rifts. They generate animosity among people who must eventually unite to defeat an insane and criminal president who runs a rogue regime. They help Trump, whose party is united by fear and hatred, while sowing divisions a
African education leaders spoke out against privatization of their schools, which means Western corporations and taking control of their future. Privatization, they know, is the new colonialism. You can assume that a few well-chosen local leaders have been hired to argue on behalf of privatization. Abidjan Principles recognised in resolution on privatisation of education and health by African Com
Peter Greene points out in this post that legislatures have a nasty habit of overlooking the central question about charter schools: their funding. They pretend that they can run two publicly funded school systems without any additional cost. They pretend that the funding for charters is not subtracted from the funding for public schools. Public schools are getting hammered by the loss of public
Andrea Gabor, The Bloomberg Professor of business journalism at Baruch College of the City University of New York, is one of the nation’s worthy and thoughtful education writers. Her book about W. Edwards Deming has the best refutation of merit pay that I have read (chapter 9, The Man Who Invented Quality). Her latest book book, Education After The Culture Wars, gathers stories of districts where
Just in: Teachers in Orange County, Florida, defeated a contract proposal by a vote of 4-1. The contract would have raised wages but increased health care costs which would have left many teachers with less income overall. The average teacher pay in the county is $49,000. It is outrageous that teachers are paid so little, and that the state continues diverting public money to charters and voucher
What do you call a political figure who opposes protecting our elections from foreign interference? Read what Dana Milbank of the Washington Post said. Mitch McConnell is a Russian asset. This doesn’t mean he’s a spy, but neither is it a flip accusation. Russia attacked our country in 2016. It is attacking us today. Its attacks will intensify in 2020. Yet each time we try to raise our defenses to
This is a model of a letter to a Senator or Member of Congress. It was written by Laura Chapman of Cincinnati to one of her Senators. It is clear and based on evidence. Dear Senator Brown, I recently received an email from you, intended as a response to my prior effort to understand your position on federal funding for charter schools and so-called “choice” programs beloved by Secretary DeVos. Yo
Ed Johnson of Atlanta is a devotee of the Deming philosophy, which is the opposite of test-and-punish, compete-or-close, no excuses discipline. He shared an example of Deming in kindergarten. What?! Kindergartners learning Deming’s PDSA to solve their “big problem?!” Ha! Well now, some kindergarteners have a “big problem” on their hands and it is a problem of their own making, apparently.What is
The Connecticut State Board of Education hired a new state commissioner who pledged to raise the graduation rate, close the achievement gap, and “Ensure that all students have increased access to opportunities and advantages that they need to succeed in life.” What’s wrong with that? Isn’t that what every new commissioner promises? Has any new commissioner in any state achieved those goals? Ann C
At graduation, the top students at Universal Academy in Detroit spoke critically of the school, and now their diplomas arebeing withheld. The school might have been proud of their graduates for showing independence and critical thinking, but no. A piece of certified mail arrived for Tuhfa Kasem this week. Kasem hoped the envelope contained her long-awaited high school diploma. What she found inst
Our blog poet wrote a poem about DFER (Democrats for Education Reform). DFER is a group of wealthy hedge fund managers who may or may not be Democrats, but who are committed to charter schools, test-based evaluation of teachers, high-stakes testing, merit pay, and Teach for America. The Dream DFERed (with apologies o Langston Hughes) What happens to a dream DFERed? Does it disrupt Like a test in
Bernie Sanders recently was invited by the United Teachers of Los Angeles to speak to its Leadership Conference. I was invited to make a tape introducing him. I did but you won’t see it or hear it. Technical problems. Just wait. You will hear Bernie loud and clear. He is still the only candidate with a thoughtful education agenda.
Tom Ultican has written many posts about the failure of privatizing public education. In this one, he takes the long view and concludes that what we see today is the culmination of fifty years of attempts to turn education into a business. He starts from two recent books: Nancy MacLean’s Democracy in Chains and Anand Giridharadas’ Winners Take All . These are good lens through which to understand
There are many reasons why I would like to support Mayor Pete Buttigieg. He’s young, he is well-educated, he is smart, he has an admirable record of service to his country, he’s brimming with ideas. I find him very attractive on many levels. But on education, he is a stealth corporate reformer. I had an inkling of this when I read a review of his autobiography, which described his formative years
Jersey Jazzman knows that the leaders of the Disruption Movement are always on the hunt for proof that their theories work. One model district after another has had its moment in the sun, then sinks into oblivion. The district of the moment, he writes, is Camden, possibly the poorest in the state. Most people might look at Camden and think that what’s needed most is jobs and good wages. Disrupter
Mercedes Schneider has been watching the slow train wreck in New Orleans. As she puts it in her latest post, “Add another car.” School closings, graduation scandals, confused parents. The great experiment in complete privatization is going into a ditch. There are thousands of children. Who will save them now?
This is a puzzlement. Andy Stern was once one of the nation’s most important labor leaders as head of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU). After he stepped down, he became close to Eli Broad and joined the billionaires’ fight against teachers’ unions! Hamilton Nolan writes: Andy Stern spent 14 years as the head of the SEIU, America’s most politically active labor union. He was perhap
The State Education Department is taking over the Providence School District but thus far it has not released any hint of a plan. The only thing that seems sure is that the state will not put any new money to the district where schools are in disrepair. Despite having been working towards a Providence School takeover for more than three months, Rhode Island’s Commissioner Angelica Infante-Green i
Mercedes Schneider posted a review of the meteoric rise of a young alumna of TFA. West Virginia Public Radio asked this young woman for her opinion of the new charter law in that state. She sharply criticized West Virginia for letting districts act as authorizers, which goes against charter school gospel that the best laws have multiple authorizers that compete to open multiple charter schools. I
Robert Pondiscio works at the conservative Thomas B. Fordham Institute, which authorizes charter schools in Ohio. He left a career in journalism to teach, then worked for E.D. Hirsch’s Core Knowledge Foundation, and is soon to publish a book explaining the success of Eva Moskowitz’s controversial Success Academy charter chain. In this article called “No Apologies for No-Excuses Charter Schools,”
Higher education rests on the backs of ill-paid adjunct professors, who spent years getting a Ph.D., then learned that full-time positions were nearly impossible to find. This article describes a revolt by the adjuncts in Florida. “ Two half-time adjunct jobs do not make a full-time income. Far from it,” Ximena Barrientos says. “I’m lucky that I have my own apartment. I have no idea how people ma
When we consider the charter industry, it’s hard not to notice how it has become fertile territory for entrepreneurs with no education experience. Take a case in point: The meteoric career of Ron Packard. Begin by reading this dated
