Charter School Fictions and Grandstanding | Dissident Voice Charter School Fictions and Grandstanding It is no secret that charter school advocates become disingenuous and belligerent when endless problems in the scandal-ridden charter school sector are exposed, criticized, and opposed with greater depth, sophistication, and regularity. For nearly 30 years charter school promoters have been reluc
Schott Convenes Funders to Help Grow the Grassroots Education Justice Movement This week the Schott Foundation held a funder's briefing and reception at the Ford Foundation in New York City. More than 30 funders attended a panel discussion and group conversations with our partners about the importance of grassroots organizing for education justice. Kicked off with framing remarks by Schott Presi
"YEAH, I PUSHED YOU": ANTI-VAXXER ASSAULTS CALFORNIA LAWMAKER An anti-vaccine activist was cited for misdemeanor assault Wednesday after shoving a California lawmaker who has worked to tighten the state's laws for childhood vaccinations. 'Yeah, I pushed you': Anti-vaxxer cited for assaulting lawmaker while live-streaming on Facebook 54-year-old Kenneth Austin Bennett livestreamed the confrontati
11 Problems Facing Students as They Return to School If you support our students, the next generation, and a democratic public education system that we all own, it’s tough to watch the changes corporate reformers have caused in schools. They’re not the ideas that most parents and teachers support, so we wonder why they’re implemented. Most of the problems that exist in public schools started yea
DeVos Falsely Suggests That Student Loans Were Federalized to Pay for Obamacare n an interview with Politico, Betsy DeVos, the education secretary, falsely suggested that the federal government had taken control of the student-loan market to help pay for the administration of the Affordable Care Act. The statement reinforces the impression that Ms. DeVos is not schooled in the basics of higher-e
SENATOR IRIS MARTINEZ, THE IEA AND THE END OF THE ILLINOIS CHARTER COMMISSION. Big Education Ape: SHOCKER: Walton Funds Illinois State Charter Commission, Which Blocks Closure of Failing Charter Schools Funded by Walton | Diane Ravitch's blog - http://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2016/06/shocker-walton-funds-illinois-state.html In April of 2018 we tried to meet with our State Senator Iris Martin
Are “Gifted and Talented” Classes Responding to Political Needs of Parents and Politicians? Should We Be “Segregating” Gifted Students? Are gifted classes a surrogate for creating segregated classes? Are gifted classes an affirmation of perceived parenting skills? Are gifted classes a strategy for preventing white flight or embedding gentrification? The debate around whether the Specialization H
Former KIPP CEO Michael Feinberg Is Now President of a Nonprofit That Doesn’t Exist As noted in the August 22, 2019, Houston Chronicle , KIPP charter school chain co-founder Michael Feinberg is suing KIPP for defamation related to his 2017 firing related to allegations of sexual misconduct. According to the article, Feinberg’s goal is to clear his name. Also according to the article, Feinberg ha
Clapping Harder For the Merit Pay Fairy UPDATE BELOW Earlier this week, I wrote about the death of the Merit Pay Fairy in Newark, New Jersey. Hey, Jazzman, you bum -- I ain't dead yet! Back in 2012, Newark began an experiment in teacher merit pay, fueled by funds from Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg. Teachers were promised up to $20 million over three years in extra incentive pay -- but in the first
Artificial Intelligence and Magical Thinking (HAL Knows How You Feel) From the moment you read the title, you know this article from Inside Higher Ed by Ray Schroeder is going to be a corker-- Affective Artificial Intelligence: Better Understanding and Responding to Students . Schroeder opens with "As a longtime professor of communication, I am fascinated with the cognitive characteristics of ar
Flawed Algorithms Are Grading Millions of Students’ Essays Fooled by gibberish and highly susceptible to human bias, automated essay-scoring systems are being increasingly adopted, a Motherboard investigation has found Every year, millions of students sit down for standardized tests that carry weighty consequences. National tests like the Graduate Record Examinations (GRE) serve as gatekeepers t
Six ways Trump’s new ‘public benefits’ immigration policies could hurt children and schools Earlier this month the Trump administration announced that it was planning to change the way the United States decides who can receive visa extensions and permanent residency — known as green cards — based, essentially, on how wealthy the immigrant is. The Washington Post reported on Aug. 12: The new crit
Education Research Report THIS WEEK Education Research Report Can play tutoring stimulate children’s social pretend play level? by Jonathan Kantrowitz / 20h Social pretend play may have a positive impact on children’s social development because it involves positive peer interactions and challenges their social-cognitive abilities. The current study aimed to investigate whether variations in play
Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... | The latest news and resources in education since 2007 This Week With Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... The latest news and resources in education since 2007 August’s Most Popular Posts From This Blog by Larry Ferlazzo / 9h As regular readers know, at the end of each week I share the five most popular posts from the previous seven days. I thought peo
Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all KEEP UP/ CATCH UP WITH DIANE RAVITCH'S BLOG A site to discuss better education for all Jersey Jazzman: The Death of the Merit Pay Fairy in Newark by dianeravitch / 45min Jersey Jazzman has posted an obituary for the Merit Pay Fairy. He says it died in Newark, when teachers negotiated a new contract, deep-sixing a Merit Payplan that
A Charter Founder Defends His For-Profit Charters in the Wall Street Journal The Wall Street Journal editorial pages has been promoting school choice—charters and vouchers—for many years. It sees public education as a government monopoly, not a public service. It has published article after article explaining away the failures of school choice and re-interpreting negative evidence. A few days ag
Teachers’ Unions Develop Curriculum to Deal with Trauma of ICE Raids Earlier this month, a record-breaking ICE raid detained over 600 immigrant workers at several meatpacking plants in Mississippi. Quickly, images of small children stranded at school, after learning that their parents’ detention by immigration authorities, began appearing on TV. “I need my dad,” one 11-year-old girl Magdalena cr
Crime is down at LA schools. But there’s a caveat There were 2,014 crimes reported at school campuses in the city during the 2018-19 school year, a 10.1% drop from the previous year, according to Crosstown, which is based out of the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism. LOS ANGELES — With Los Angeles schools back in session, parents should find comfort in police statistics showi
Repairing the Damage to Science ANTI-INTELLECTUALISM The Growing Partisan Divide in Views of Higher Education In 2012 53% of Republicans and Republican-leaning Independents in the U.S. believed that higher education was a net positive for the nation and 35% had a negative view. Now, in 2019, those numbers have reversed. 59% of Republicans and Republican-leaning Independents have a negative view
It's A Structural Thing I'm sure it will surprise absolutely no one to learn that I'm not naturally the strict, by-the-book authoritarian type. In fact, I traditionally hate doing things that way – I really do. That doesn’t mean I think those who manage their classrooms (or families, or companies) that way are necessarily doing anything wrong. I’ve worked with teachers who care deeply about each
A Gates-funded program meant to keep low-income students pushed them out instead - Vox A Gates-funded program meant to keep low-income students pushed them out instead The failure of a college advising program shows why education reform is so hard — and how we can get it right. Many low-income and first-generation college students don’t graduate from college. One thing that seems to change that?
How the Koch brothers co-opted minority groups in a push for a profit-based approach to education Under the mantra of civil rights, billionaires such as Eli Broad, Bill Gates and the Koch Brothers and the powerful corporate-funded lobby group the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) are using venture philanthropy and the political process to press for school reforms in the United States.
MGT Consultants: Profiting from the School Crisis in Gary, Indiana and Taking Over Three Colorado School Districts This blog will take a late summer break. Look for a new post on Wednesday, September 11, 2019. In a blog post on Monday, Diane Ravitch warned : “Colorado be very afraid.” She is commenting on a decision by the state board of education in Colorado to hire a for-profit education manag
SEA Contract Update From the SEA Blog : Aug. 21 was SEA’s initial deadline for a tentative contract agreement. There is no agreement at this point. Bargaining continues today (Thursday, Aug. 22). Saturday afternoon is the next deadline for the district administration to agree to a tentative agreement (TA). SEA’s bylaws require a TA to be shared with SEA members 72 hours prior to voting, and our
Free Kids From 180 Days Of Stress A recent article in The New York Times claims that our children and adolescents are under great stress because we, as a society, have given up on childhood. While economic, racial, and familial factors contribute to that stress, the education given to our children and adolescents every school day through the application of the Common Core Standards can be a majo
The Utility of Student Perception Surveys to Give Teachers Feedback : An Introduction to the My Teacher Questionnaire This is another guest post for the followers of this blog. In short, Rikkert van der Lans of the University of Groningen’s Department of Teacher Education, emailed me a few months ago about an article I published with one of my PhD students titled “ Student perception surveys for
KIPP charter school co-founder sues after being fired for alleged sexual misconduct A founder of the KIPP charter school network who was fired in 2018 after being accused of sexual misconduct is suing the organization, saying the allegations were false and that his career and reputation have been destroyed by the actions of KIPP. KIPP executives called the lawsuit filed by Mike Feinberg “baseles
THE ANSWERS FOR SCHOOLS AREN’T JUST IN FINLAND OR SINGAPORE. I spent some time talking with Linda Blackford, the local column writer for the Lexington Herald Leader. She wrote a piece based on our conversation entitled The answers for Kentucky schools aren’t in Finland or Singapore. ‘You just have to go to Beaumont.’ Last year, University of Kentucky professor Wayne Lewis took an unpaid leave of
TFA is Bad for America by Thomas Ultican Originally posted at: TFA is Bad for America | tultican - https://wp.me/p2txw0-QE By T. Ultican 8/19/2019 Teach For America (TFA) has become the billionaire financed army for privatizing public education. It is the number one source of charter school teachers and its alumni are carrying a neoliberal ideology into education leadership at all levels. TFA un
Tracking turnover in the Trump administration T he rate of turnover among senior level advisers to President Trump has generated a great deal of attention. Below, we offer four resources to help measure and contextualize this turnover. The first set of resources tracks turnover among senior-ranking advisers in the executive office of the president (which does not include Cabinet secretaries), wh
EnrichED, the National Charter Substitute (Sort Of) Service You've had to miss a day of school, so you cross your fingers and put in for a sub. You prepare a whole lesson, run off materials, tag everything, put them in neat piles and arrange them on your desk. The day after your absence, you walk through your door and get a sinking feeling--the stacks of planned materials have been pushed to one
The Technology Cheating Problem Is Still a Problem While many were appalled at the celebrity college entrance scandal, there’s another scandal that gets minimal attention. Students cheat with technology! Cheating has always been a problem in school but with technology it runs rampant. In the classroom, teachers curtail cheating by supervising students in person. They learn about students and bec
Teaching in the Age of Trump (Andrea Rinard) ANDREA RINARD: “I’M A WIFE, MOTHER OF THREE, HIGH SCHOOL ENGLISH TEACHER, WRITER OF THINGS, AND NATIVE FLORIDIAN.” THIS ARTICLE APPEARED IN MEDIUM , JULY 13, 2018. Full disclosure: I’m not a Trump fan. I woke up on Wednesday, November 9, 2016 with a sense of dread and foreboding. I wondered how I was going to get up, go to school, and be a responsible
The One Thing School Leaders Must Do During Their Welcome Back Presentation One of my favorite education writers, Peter Greene, recently wrote two articles about back to school PD presentations. One, titled Six Unforgivable Sins of Teacher Professional Development , describes the missteps too many speakers take, including my personal pet peeve, the reading aloud of slides to people who are going
OSBI conducts second search in Epic investigation The OSBI has seized new evidence in an embezzlement investigation into Epic Charter Schools. In a search warrant affidavit filed Wednesday, agents raised new allegations of forgery and willful neglect against Epic, the state’s largest virtual charter school system. The OSBI searched the home of Kurt Talbott, of OKC Storm Athletics, an Epic vendor
What Should We Do About Cell Phones? It's happening in some schools, and I know a lot of my colleagues will love the idea . I've got mixed feelings. Certainly I spend more time than I'd like to looking out for cell phone use, and certainly I also have more phones confiscated than I'd like to. (Ideally, it would be zero). For me at least, most cell phone use is stopped with a word or a look. Stud
5 Ways to Avoid Burning Out As a Teacher Burnout is a real threat, not just for high-profile businessmen but for teachers, parents, schoolchildren and more. In fact, burnout can affect anyone from any walk of life, and we all need to be aware of our feelings and to be able to spot the warning signs before burnout becomes a problem. For teachers, it’s particularly important to avoid burnout becau
Harrisburg schools leader makes it clear she has no time for charter schools At 3:30 p.m. Monday afternoon, a line of parents stood outside of Premier Arts and Science Charter School waiting to pick up their children after their first day of classes in the 2019-20 school year. A little less than three hours later, the district’s new receiver Janet Samuels held a public meeting, where she announc
Educators Actually Do “Work” in the Summer I love what I do. Being an educator is interesting, creative, and rewarding. And it is also hard work. That’s why it is offensive as we head back to school to hear people say “must have been nice to have the summer off to do nothing.” Surely most do not intend to offend. I get that. But comments such as that are indicative of the low status educators ho
Alaska’s Public-Education Crisis Sets a Dangerous Precedent On June 28, Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy vetoed the budget passed by the state’s legislature and announced a staggering $444 million in cuts to social-service programs and public education, including $135 million from the University of Alaska system. The legislature could have overridden the veto in Juneau, but failed, as far-right Rep
AFT PRESIDENT RANDI WEINGARTEN: TRUMP ADMINISTRATION’S NEW FLORES RULE “CRUEL” AFT's Weingarten: “In another cruel move, the Trump administration has chosen to once again target immigrant children, making it easier to hold them in detention indefinitely and under inhabitable conditions. The White House’s goal is quite clear: to prevent anyone from majority nonwhite countries from seeking refuge
SACRAMENTO PROGRESSIVE ALLIANCE YUGE NEWS SACRAMENTO! As you know, Bernie is coming to town on August 22. He will be at Caesar E. Chavez Plaza at 910 I Street in Downtown Sacramento. Parking will be scarce, so you need to get there early. We encourage you use alternate transportation if possible! You can follow this link to find a public transit route to get you there on time! Please be aware of
You Belong Here When school started this year in Mississippi, a child went to kindergarten on a Tuesday. Just imagine how excited and nervous she must have felt to meet her new teacher, to sit at a table with new friends, to take the first steps on this awesome adventure in education—and how proud and nervous her parents felt, too. On Wednesday, during the second day of school, maybe while the 5
Study: Charters in California Enroll Fewer Students with Disabilities, Fewer with Severe Disabilities It has been widely reported that charter schools enroll fewer students with disabilities and few of the students they enroll have severe disabilities. The California Teachers Association and the United Teachers of Los Angeles reviewed public records to document the enrollments of students with d
Bernie’s labor plan includes restoring pension rights undone by Obama/Biden in 2014. – Fred BERNIE’S LABOR PLAN INCLUDES RESTORING PENSION RIGHTS UNDONE BY OBAMA/BIDEN IN 2014. Campaigning in Iowa, Bernie Sanders released a comprehensive labor plan today as he and other Democratic presidential candidates addressed the Iowa Federation of Labor’s annual convention in Altoona. Included in Sanders’ p
Gov. Wolf Tries to Stop Charter Schools Gorging on Public School Funding Sooey! Here Pig Pig Pig! No one minds that healthy call at the hog farm when it’s time to feed the sows. But taxpayers do take issue with it when it’s the call of the state legislature gathering a different kind of swine around public tax dollars . Pennsylvania’s 180 charter schools gobbled up $1.8 billion last year from th
La. PAC Used to Funnel $3M in Out-of-State Billionaire Cash into 2015 BESE Election Disbands In 2015, six out-of-state billionaires from four families contributed a combined $3M to influence the outcome of Louisiana’s Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE) election. For the October 24, 2019, primary , out-of-state billionaire spending totaling $2.1M was as follows: John and Laura Arn
New Study Reveals Privately-Run Charter Schools Under-Enroll Students with Disabilities A new first-of-its-kind report released today proves the theory advocates for students with disabilities and public schools have been saying for years: charter schools are enrolling fewer students with disabilities. Those they do enroll generally have less severe – and therefore less costly – disabilities, an
Here are the average classroom sizes for all 50 states Class Size Matters | A clearinghouse for information on class size & the proven benefits of smaller classes - https://www.classsizematters.org/ More students are graduating from high school in the United States than ever before. Increased student enrollment and lackluster public school funding have led to overcrowding in classrooms across th
Texas: The IDEA Charter FlimFlam Betsy DeVos has awarded more than $200 million to the IDEA charter chain to expand in Texas and beyond. IDEA plans to swamp San Antonio, El Paso, and other cities. IDEA promises that all students will graduate and go to college, but it doesn’t promise that all students will make it to senior year, or that they will make it in college (earlier studies by Ed Fuller
Women of #RedForEd Closing the Pay Gap By Cindy Long Rosa Jimenez, the daughter of Mexican immigrants, is a single mom who shares a bed with her daughter in a one-bedroom apartment in Los Angeles. She holds a bachelor’s and a master’s degree, but she’s still just scraping by in a city with one of the highest costs of living in the nation. Jimenez is a high school history teacher. Fellow Angeleno
California Schools May Be Banned From Suspending Students For ‘Willful Defiance’ SACRAMENTO (CBS13) – Starting next school year principals and administrators may be banned from suspending students for “willful defiance” of teachers, staff, and administrators. Senate Bill 419 bans schools from suspending students in grades 4-8 for disrupting school activities or willfully defying school authoriti
Not Funding Schools or Paying Teachers? That’s a You Problem, Right? In the school district next to mine—and where I live, all the schools are small and rural—there was an unpaid collective lunch debt in June. As a goodwill gesture, a local craft brewery paid off the debt, $2700, so all the students in Suttons Bay will start the year with a clean slate. There are about 525 kids, PK-12, in the di
Ohio’s New State Budget Is a School Voucher Expansion Bonanza at the Expense of Public Education Ohio has five voucher programs. Two of them are for students with autism and other disabilities, and their enrollment depends on the incidence of these conditions and parents’ awareness of the availability of voucher funds to pay for private programs. A third voucher program—the Cleveland Scholarship
NewBlackMan (in Exile) NewBlackMan (in Exile) Virgil Abloh: ‘Figures of Speech’ by Mark Anthony Neal / 14h 'In this video produced for the exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Abloh discusses his wide-ranging influences and the creative philosophy that has shaped his career in fashion and beyond.' -- Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago This Is What the Early Days of Digital Were L
Can Teachers Afford a Home in the Nation’s Largest Metros? According to recent statistics from the U.S. Department of Labor, there are around 4.2 million preschool, primary, secondary and special education teachers in the United States, making teaching one of the most popular careers in the country. Teachers are also among the most trusted professionals in the nation, with at least 60% of Americ
The Thirteen Presenters Who Will Ruin Your First Day Back It's been a great summer. You've had a chance to recharge and reflect. You've developed some new ideas, units, and materials, and most importantly, away from the dailiness of the job, you have gotten back in touch with all the reasons you love the work. You cannot wait to get back to it., take a couple of in service days to get fully up t
STUDENTS SPEAK ON DC SCHOOLS, SBOE ROLES 8/15/19 Before DC students head back to school later this month, Education Town Hall was privileged to have in studio three DC public school students serving in a variety of roles both at their schools as well as with the DC State Board of Education (SBOE). Show begins at 6:20 mark on this recording — Valerie, Shayla, Alex, Maya, Thomas Shayla Dell is a r
State of Our Schools: Rudderless State of Our Schools: Rudderless That’s it?” – Audience member’s reaction to Austin Beutner’s speech As parents were making their final preparations to send their children back to school, Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) leadership was gathering downtown last Thursday for the annual “State of Schools” event. After a breakfast in Grand Park provided by t
Long Discredited, Merit Pay Dies in Newark I'll leave it to Jersey Jazzman, who's followed this far more closely than I have, to fill you in on chapter and verse . He does mention, though, that only 20% of those with a choice opted into the system, and that highly rated teachers were mostly found in the opt-out pool. I'd argue well-informed, smart people make the best teachers. Diane Ravitch has
JEFFREY EPSTEIN, APOLLO GLOBAL MANAGEMENT AND IL TRS INVESTMENTS Pensions and Investments is reporting this morning: CalPERS is pressing Apollo Global Management LLC, one of its private equity managers, over co-founder Leon Black’s relationship with registered sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. “CalPERS takes this issue very seriously. The actions our general partners take, both in professional and p
High levels of lead in water still at many NYC schools; check to see if your child's school is on the list! In all the news about peeling lead paint in schools, there has been little attention given to the fact that there were more than 500 NYC public schools and/or preK centers in which lead was found in the water above the “action” level of 15 parts per billion. The DOE spreadsheet showing the
Hollywood Insiders Battle Over Charter Schools It's industry creatives vs. Reed Hastings as California bills restricting new options are up for vote: "The people backing charters [are] really problematic." When LAUSD board member and charter school advocate Ref Rodriguez pleaded guilty in July 2018 to a felony count of conspiracy, it seemed that Los Angeles' charter school movement had hit a cri
Educating Voters About Jessie Ryan's Lack of Transparency For the past several weeks, SCTA educators and other community allies have been talking to voters in School Board District, Area 7, currently represented by School Board President Jessie Ryan. The flyer being distributed is below. Over the weekend, there were some questions raised about including the telephone number used to contact Ms. R
Slavery still shapes all of our lives, yet students aren’t taught its history Glossing over America’s original sin means we can never overcome it I had been taught, in school, through cultural osmosis, that the flag wasn’t really ours, that our history as a people began with enslavement and that we had contributed little to this great nation.” Nikole Hannah-Jones wrote those words in her introdu
School’s Open! Cartoons Yep, it’s that time of year for buying school supplies, getting up early, and returning to school. Parents, children, principals, and teachers are preparing for that glorious first day of school. Here are some cartoonists’ jabs at the annual ritual of returning to school. Enjoy! MORE CARTOONS: School’s Open! Cartoons | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice
Breaking the Gender Codes of Dress Codes A popular meme in the wake of even more mass shootings makes a powerful, if somewhat hyperbolic, point: DAVID MACK/BUZZFEED NEWS via TeenVogue With most formal schooling restarting now, the dramatic consequences of gun violence is more likely to overshadow the more subtle negative and disproportionate impact of dress codes, especially on girls and young w
The Merit Pay Fairy Dies in Newark Hey, youse bums -- get back to the teachin' already! One of the long-running characters on this blog is the Merit Pay Fairy. The Merit Pay Fairy lives in the dreams of right-wing think tanks and labor economists, who are absolutely convinced that our current teacher pay system -- based on seniority and educational attainment -- is keeping teachers from achievin
DeVos-Linked Adoption Agency Exposed Highly Sensitive Children's Medical Data Bethany Christian Services left information about prospective adoptees' "intellectual development" as well as their medical histories and lab results online. An adoption and foster care non-profit linked to the family of Department of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos exposed highly sensitive personal and medical informa
Q&A Collections: Education Policy Issues During the summer, I will be sharing thematic posts bringing together responses on similar topics from the past eight years. You can see all those collections from the first seven years here . Here are the ones I've posted so far: This Year's Most Popular Q&A Posts Race & Gender Challenges Classroom-Management Advice Best Ways to Begin the School Year Bes
KY: Starting the New Year With Threats Against Teachers Sadly, it's not unusual for teachers to start their new school year by being threatened, but even the worst administrators understand that it's useful to at least pretend that they think of teachers are respectable grown-up professionals. But in some districts, bosses go straight to thinly veiled warnings. And then there's those special rar
New Orleans: An Amazing Feat of Spinning Poor Results! The Education Research Alliance at Tulane University has accomplished a spectacular feat with its latest report about the “academic progress” (or lack thereof) of the all-charter district in New Orleans. The report claims that the disruption strategy of school takeovers and closures is responsible for the academic improvements in the distric
Legislators ask 50-plus firms to explain how they use the 'vast amount of data’ they collect on students. (Which ones? Facebook, Google, Blackboard, etc.) By Valerie Strauss August 20 at 7:00 AM A year ago, the FBI issued a warning that the rapid expansion of education technology in America’s schools and the collection of student data could “present unique exploitation opportunities for criminal
Colorado: Be Afraid. Be Very Afraid. The state board of education in Colorado has decided to turn over schools in three districts to a for-profit management corporation that claims it can turn the schools around, at a cost of millions of dollars. Where there the firm has ever turned any schools around before isin doubt. The political connections of the firm are not. Read here about the story and
Gender, name changes could be required on California high school diplomas after graduation California school districts could soon be required to update records if graduates have changed their name or gender since leaving high school. Introduced by Assemblyman David Chiu, D-San Francisco, AB 711 would ensure that transgender and nonbinary individuals who are no longer in school can have their leg
For Educators: Supporting Undocumented Students & Their Families Overview There are many things that you can do to create educational environments in which students of all backgrounds can thrive socially, emotionally, and academically. Teachers, in particular, can create inclusive and safe learning environments for all students by incorporating lesson plans and classroom activities that are desi
New pilot program among 9 school districts aims for student success from cradle to career What if a student's academic data could be tracked from their first day of school all the way until they graduate college in a way that was not available before? A Kern County pilot program is on its way to do just that. Nine local school districts are participating in a two-year Kern Integrated Data System
Questions swirl as fate of HISD board remains uncertain. Here are a few answers. Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath came to and left the Greater Houston area Thursday without addressing one of the biggest issues on his agenda: the fate of Houston ISD’s school board. In the coming weeks, Morath likely will be forced to decide whether to replace all trustees governing Texas’ largest school d
Economics of racism and neglect: Flint, Newark and a generation of children at risk Flint and Newark are only the tip of a massive, poisoned iceberg: Lead contamination threatens an entire generation The images of long lines of residents in Flint, Michigan, and Newark , New Jersey, lining up for bottled water because their city water was contaminated with brain-damaging lead resembled what we on
The Politics of Wealth and Power Celebrated author of the graphic novel Maus , Art Spiegelman, and former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick may seem to have little in common except for their respective fame and success in their fields. But Spiegelman’s recent experience with Marvel Entertainment has exposed a much more significant parallel, as Spiegelman concludes about having his work excluded b
Lessons for Democratic 2020 presidential primary voters from your pals in Michigan Strong women, practical promises, voting rights and weed. You know that winning Michigan, the state the Republican nominee carried by the slightest margin in 2016, is essential to defeating Donald Trump in 2020. You also know that our state is not Wisconsin, which is “ the pivotal battleground state .” But Democra
Hey, Illinois Tier 2 Teachers! Don’t Forget You Are Subsidizing Everyone Else “…The Tier 2 system… covers all employees hired after 2010. The precise details of the Tier 2 benefit program differ for each of the 5 state retirement systems (for teachers, state employees, university employees, judges, and legislators), and variations exist for the retirement programs for City of Chicago employees,
White House Imposes “Public Charge Rule” but 1982 Supreme Court Decision Blocks Efforts to Deny Public Education to Undocumented Children On the front page of yesterday’s NY Times appeared, How Stephen Miller Seized the Moment to Battle Immigration , and yesterday’s Washington Post featured, The Ghostwriter: The Adviser Who Scripts Trump’s Immigration Policy . These stories profile one of Presid
Has the Personalized Learning Hype Worn Off? Many, if not most, public school educators recognize the pattern. A new education buzzword or trend enters the conversation about public education. Proponents say it is nothing less than a “game-changer” that will “revolutionize” student learning. The hype surrounding this new idea is usually borderline messianic, but is backed by enormous amounts of
How to Organize Your Child’s IEP Binder Download all IEP binder resources ( View / Download ) Or download resources individually: IEP binder checklist ( View / Download ) School contact sheet ( View / Download ) School communication log ( View / Download ) IEP goal tracker ( View / Download ) Making an IEP binder is a great way to keep information organized and at the ready when you need it. An
TFA is Bad for America | tultican TFA is Bad for America By T. Ultican 8/19/2019 Teach For America (TFA) has become the billionaire financed army for privatizing public education. It is the number one source of charter school teachers and its alumni are carrying a neoliberal ideology into education leadership at all levels. TFA undermines education professionalism and exacerbates teacher turnover
Homestead to reopen; the struggle continues - YouTube Homestead to Reopen; The Struggle Continues In the struggle against greed and racism, there are no victories. We celebrate milestones. A first black president. Marriage equality. We move the national discourse forward. Make no mistake. The struggle is real, where billionaires and corporations control vast a propaganda machine that uses fear an
Six Unforgivable Sins Of Teacher Professional Development Six Unforgivable Sins Of Teacher Professional Development The beginning of the school year is here in many districts, and that means teachers have entered the first big season of professional development. Many districts are not really sure what to do with these days. In many districts, an ever growing stack of in-service days is an artifac
Who’s Trading Public School Funding for a Tax Credit? Ever wonder why our roads and public school buildings are crumbling ? Ever wonder why schools can’t afford books, buses and nurses ? Ever wonder why classroom teachers are forced to buy paper, pencils and supplies for their students out of pocket? Because businesses like Giant Eagle, American Eagle Outfitters, and Eat’n Park aren’t paying the
Freedom from fear Presidents set a tone for our country. Franklin D. Roosevelt guided the United States through the Great Depression at home and a war against tyranny and genocide abroad, reassuring the country that “the only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” Subsequent presidents set the nation’s sights on the moon, strove to regain trust after Watergate, called for unity after the 9/11 at
It's A New School Year. What Should Be The Big Education Policy Issues? It's the beginning of a new school year, and a good moment to take stock of the major policy issues, controversies and problems that we can expect to be (or ought to be) wrestling with in the coming year. Which issues are on the rise, which have lost a little steam and which should we be addressing? Common Core For years, th
CURMUDGUCATION: ICYMI: Spousal Back To School Edition (8/18) ICYMI: Spousal Back To School Edition (8/18) This week my wife heads back to it, with a new grade assignment. I am excited for her and putting on my supportive pants. In the meantime, here's some reading from the week. Remember to share the good stuff-- that's how the word gets around! S.C. teacher files class action lawsuit demanding p
Trump White House tried to stop immigrant kids from attending public schools Led by President Donald Trump’s xenophobic top adviser Stephen Miller, the White House reportedly spent months attempting to devise a way to stop undocumented immigrant children from attending public schools in the United States. According to Bloomberg , which first reported on the effort on Saturday, top Trump aides so
Medley #15: A Poisoned Environment – A Side-Effect of Poverty Let’s review. Lead in the environment damages children…permanently. It lowers their school achievement, causes behavior and growth problems, and can increase criminal behavior . Educational Researcher David C. Berliner discussed the impact of environmental toxins such as lead in his 2009 paper, Poverty and Potential: Out-of-School Fac
Blithering Baloney from Politico on MORE was in Texas, heading toward a detention center when someone emailed me this piece from Politico. The headline blares, "Democratic Socialists look to take over New York's powerful labor unions." I found that pretty interesting. I'm not all that familiar with Democratic Socialists, but I know quite a bit about MORE, having run twice and won once with their
Chancellor Carranza's Cronies Grab Salary Raises As High As 35% Chancellor Richard Carranza approved raises as high as 35% for his cronies while the teachers negotiated raises of a messily 2% this year. How can the Chancellor justify such outrageous raises when he shortchanges school budgets by only funding 90% of their fair student funding? Susan Edelman has an article that tells all and is a m
La. BESE Member Kira Orange Jones: Sloppy at Best; Deceptive at Worst. On August 11, 2019, I posted about Louisiana Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE) District 2 member, Teach for America executive director, Kira Orange-Jones, who does not file timely annual disclosure reports with Louisiana’s ethics board. As of my August 11, 2019, writing, Orange-Jones had yet to file annual di
NYC Chancellor Richard Carranza: Assessing His Performance in a Mayoral Control Environment Richard Carranza, the New York City school chancellor walks a tightrope; the leader of a 1.1 million student school district in a mayoral control city in which the mayor is running for president as the candidate furthest to the left. The mayor is appealing to Afro-American voters and the most progressive
Nick Melvoin LAUSD Board Member - 10 Photos & 27 Reviews - Public Services & Government - 333 S Beaudry Ave, Westlake, Los Angeles, CA - Phone Number - Yelp Nick Melvoin LAUSD Board Member 10 Photos & 27 Reviews - Yelp Nick Melvoin LAUSD Board Member - 10 Photos & 27 Reviews - Public Services & Government - 333 S Beaudry Ave, Westlake, Los Angeles, CA - Phone Number - Yelp
Big Education Ape Top Posts This Week 8/17/19 Big Education Ape: BACK TO SCHOOL: A parent’s guide to K-12 school success - http://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2019/08/back-to-school-parents-guide-to-
