KEEP UP/ CATCH UP WITH DIANE RAVITCH'S BLOG A site to discuss better education for all

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

Slaying Goliath: The Passionate Resistance to Privatization and the Fight to Save America's Public Schools

CLICK HERE TO Pre-order NOW

Jeff Bryant: How Billionaires Corrupted the School Leadership Pipeline

by dianeravitch / 45min

Jeff Bryant writes here about the billionaires who corrupted the school leadership pipeline. Chief among them, of course, is billionaire Eli Broad, who created an unaccredited training program as a fast track for urban superintendents. Bryant has collected stories about how superintendents who passed through the Broad program hire other graduates of the program and do business with others who are

YESTERDAY

New York City: Educators Puzzled About XQ-Robin Hood “Innovation” Competition

by dianeravitch / 20h

Chalkbeat reports on a meeting in New York City where educators gathered to learn about the XQ-Robin Hood competition for “innovative” schools. First they watched a flashy video claiming that American high schools haven’t changed in 100 years, the usual disrupter claptrap. Then, after hearing that schools are obsolete, they were urged to reinvent them. But XQ and education department officials in

Andrea Gabor: Big Philanthropy Wants to Privatize Public Education

45by dianeravitch / 21h

Andrea Gabor is a professional journalist who has the skill to tell the story that readers of this blog know very well and bring it to a larger audience. The public needs to understand the squalid theft of our public goods that is being carried out in broad daylight by so-called philanthropists. This article by Gabor was published by Harper’s, where it will reach a large public audience that does

Betsy DeVos Floods North Carolina with Charter Cash

300+by dianeravitch / 22h

Betsy DeVos just dropped $36 million on North Carolina to lure children out of their public schools and into charter schools. The state is not sure it can spend the money. North Carolina will now have more than $36 million in federal funding to help increase enrollment in charter schools, particularly for children from low-income groups. The N.C. Department of Public Instruction announced Tuesday

Tennessee: Don’t Copy Alabama’s Mistakes!

25by dianeravitch / 23h

Andy Spears, editor of the Tennessee Education Report, says that Tennessee should learn from Alabama’s mistakes when authorizing charter schools. Tennessee Governor Bill Lee wants to disrupt public schools and throw open the public treasury to anyone who wants to open a charter school. He wants charters to open without the approval of local school districts, a recipe for disruption and an attack

Mercedes Schneider and I Review Mike Petrilli’s Claims About “Dramatic Progress”

32by dianeravitch / 1d

Mike Petrilli, the CEO of the rightwing Thomas B. Fordham Institute, published a report about the “dramatic achievement gains” of the 1990s and 2000s. Surprisingly, he attributes most of these gains to improving economic conditions for poor families of color, not to standards, testing, and accountability, a cause that TBF has championed for years. But, not to worry, TBF has not changed its stripe

Chicago Teachers Union: The Status of the Strike

38by dianeravitch / 1d

Day 2 of CTU strike will bring educators, allies to City Hall at 1:30 pm Some movement at bargaining table Thursday, but no agreement on special ed needs, classroom overcrowding, salary floor for low-wage teaching assistants, staffing shortages. CHICAGO —Educators and frontline staff will hit the picket lines for a second day today, as rank and file union members attempt to bargain a fair contrac

Mike Klonsky: On the Chicago Teachers’ Strike

58by dianeravitch / 1d

Mike Klonsky just posted this as he was leaving to bring coffee and donuts to striking teachers, including his daughter. I hope this strike has a good outcome for both the teachers and the new mayor. She is not Rahm Emanuel. She inherited the debt for Rahm’s two terms of hostility to the city’s public schools and their teachers. Mike included this quote: Yesterday, the parent group, Raise Your Ha

OCT 17

Teresa Hanafin: Why Gordon Sondland is a Person of Interest

by dianeravitch / 1d

In her Fast Forward news summary for the Boston Globe today, Teresa Hanafin writes: Today’s witness in the hot seat on Capitol Hill is Gordon Sondland, the hotelier who donated a million bucks to Trump’s inauguration and in exchange, got to be the US ambassador to the European Union. He’s neck-deep in the Ukraine mess because Trump pushed aside the experienced diplomats and tapped the naif Sondla

Peter Greene: Beware, Kentucky! Here Come the Charter Hucksters!

by dianeravitch / 1d

Peter Green e notes that Kentucky passed a charter law but has http://curmudgucation.blogspot.com/2019/10/ky-pushing-old-charter-myths-in-new.html so far wisely refused to fund them. Along comes a local marketing consultant to explain why charters are a great idea. Greene explains why charters are a very bad idea indeed. The arguments for charters are bogus, he shows. The marketing consultant say

Cathy Frye: Inside the Shadowy World of the Arkansas School Choice “Movement,” Part 6

by dianeravitch / 1d

After a long career as a journalist, Cathy Frye worked for the Walton-funded “Arkansas Public School Resource Center,” an organization funded by the Waltons to hoax rural school districts and suck them into the Waltons’ plan to eliminate public education in the state. She has been posting about what she learned as communications director for the APSRC during her three years in the organization. T

Randi Weingarten: How AFT Helped Teachers in Puerto Rico

by dianeravitch / 1d

Randi Weingarten, who is both president of the American Federation of Teachers and a veteran lawyer, describes the AFT’s efforts to save the pensions and benefits and dignity of teachers in Puerto Rico as the Island faced bankruptcy and predatory lenders.

Rachel M. Cohen: When Bernie Sanders Stood Up to Teach for America

100+by dianeravitch / 1d

Rachel M. Cohen tells an important and powerful story of the time when Senator Bernie Sanders stood up to Teach for America. His efforts were ultimately defeated by Arne Duncan, Senator Michael Bennett of Colorado, and Eli Broad. In 2011, the Obama administration and TFA’s friends in Congress were eager to call the program’s inexperienced and ill-trained recruits “highly qualified,” to meet the r

SCANDAL! Tennessee: Fake “Reform” Group Endorses Annual Testing

200+by dianeravitch / 2d

A Corporate Reform group in Tennessee released its own poll claiming that most voters in the state approve of annual testing. The group called SCORE was created in 2009 by former Republican Senator Bill Frist to promote the Common Core State Standards. Being fast to accept CCSS before they were finished or even released put Tennessee in an advantageous spot for Race to the Top funding. The state

If You Live Near Boston, Come Hear Eve Ewing Tonight!

by dianeravitch / 2d

If you live anywhere near Wellesley College in Wellesley, Massachusetts, I hope you will join me to hear Eve Ewing speak tonight, October 17, at Jewett Arts Center at 7:30 pm. Eve taught in the Chicago Public Schools, where teachers are going out on strike today. She is speaking tonight at Wellesley in an annual lecture series that I established a few years ago to bring some of the most important

Elijah Cummings: This Is What Greatness Looks Like

200+by dianeravitch / 2d

The following story appeared in the Washington Post. Elijah Cummings was a man of conviction. We will miss him. Rep. Elijah Cummings, Democratic leader and regular Trump target, dies at 68 His office cites ‘complications concerning longstanding health challenges’ Elijah E. Cummings, a Democratic congressman from Maryland who gained national attention for his principled stands on politically charg

OCT 16

Chicago Teachers Union Will Strike Starting Thursday

82by dianeravitch / 2d

The Chicago Teachers Union announced that it would begin a strike on Thursday. Mayor Lori Lightfoot is paying the price for years of neglect under Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Mayor Richard Daley. Teachers in Chicago announced Wednesday evening that they would go on strike, forcing the cancellation of classes for more than 300,000 public school students in the nation’s third-largest district starting T

Trump Says the Kurds Are on Their Own Now: Happy Birthday, Vlad!

by dianeravitch / 2d

Trump announced his decision to pull U.S. troops out of Syria and abandon our allies, the Kurds, on Putin’s birthday, October 7. Happy birthday, Vlad! From today’s New York Times: President Trump on Wednesday distanced the United States from the conflict between Turkey and America’s Kurdish allies in Syria, saying that the battle “has nothing to do with us” as he defended his decision to withdraw

Did Lindsay Graham Just Endorse Impeachment?

by dianeravitch / 2d

Teresa Hanafin, who writes “Fast Forward” for the Boston Globe, posted the following: The latest in the impeachment inquiry, aka “Through the Looking-Glass.” Today congressional investigators hear from Michael McKinley, former senior adviser to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. The career diplomat resigned last week, reportedly because of objections to how Ukraine policy was being handled. Yesterda

DeVos to Judge: “Don’t Lock Me Up”

92by dianeravitch / 2d

Politico reports that the Trump administration is apologizing profusely for hounding students whose loans for attending the predatory (now closed) Corinthian Colleges should have been forgiven. The judge in the case had threatened to punish Betsy DeVos for violating her court order. This is a case of “accountability for thee, but not for me.” MAKING THE CASE AGAINST CONTEMPT FINDING: The Trump ad

Bill Phillis: Never Thought This Would Happen in America

38by dianeravitch / 2d

Bill Phillis, retired deputy superintendent of schools for the state of Ohio, finds it hard to believe that a state legislature would seize control of a school district and remove its elected school board from office. When did Republicans become diehard enemies of local control? It has become clear that the state has no ideas about how to help low-scoring districts. None. He writes: Never thought

Jan Resseger: State Takeover Fails in Youngstown, Ohio, So State Kills Elected Local Board

100+by dianeravitch / 2d

The State Legislature and Governor in Ohio must be the dumbest in the nation. They responded to low test scores in Youngstown by imposing state control of the district. Needless to say, the state did not have a clue about how to improve the schools, so the state is now replacing the powerless elected local board with mayoral control. Jan Resseger writes here about this absurd turn of events. Offi

ProPublica Reviews Trump’s Tax Documents and Finds Troubling Practices

by dianeravitch / 3d

Heather Vogeli of ProPublica reports on property tax documents of Trump properties and reports some troubling discrepancies. The story begins: Documents obtained by ProPublica show stark differences in how Donald Trump’s businesses reported some expenses, profits and occupancy figures for two Manhattan buildings, giving a lender different figures than they provided to New York City tax authoritie

OCT 15

Trump Acts on “Gut Instinct”

by dianeravitch / 3d

James Hohmann of the Washington Post writes that Trump makes consequential decisions without consulting people who are deeply knowledgeable about the consequences. IDEA: President Trump tweeted last week about his own “great and unmatched wisdom” as he defended his controversial conversation with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. It was a window into his certitude and self-confidence that b

Teresa Hanafin: British Couple Arrested, Sent to Detention Center

49by dianeravitch / 3d

Teresa Hanafin of “Fast Forward” of the Boston Globe wrote the following: While you were sleeping: The BBC reported a stunning story about a British couple, their 3-month-old baby, and their relatives on vacation in Vancouver who accidentally crossed the border into the US back on Oct. 3. They were pulled over by a cop, arrested, separated, put in freezing cold cells at a detention center, and fo

Arkansas: Inside the Shadowy World of the School Choice Movement, Part 5

by dianeravitch / 3d

Cathy Frye continues her tell-all report on working in a Walton-funded organization called the Arkansas Public School Resource Center. APSRC enlisted 85% of the state’s rural school districts with offers of help but its real purpose was to promote the Walton agenda of eliminating public schools and replacing them with private choices. In this post , she describes the hostile, sexist, secretive wo

California Foolishly Trusts Charters to Hire Their Own Auditors

26by dianeravitch / 3d

Will Huntsberry of the Voice of San Diego has covered the scandals blighting California’s Charter Industry, especially the A3 online scandal, the largest in American history. In this article , he goes straight to the heart of the scandals: the flawed audit process. California lawmakers created a system that places just one process at the forefront of detecting fraud and mismanagement in the state

Utah: Two New Charter Schools May Close by End of Year

by dianeravitch / 3d

Two new charter schools in Utah have been warned that they may have to close by the end of the year, due to low enrollments. The Utah State Charter School Board voted Thursday morning to begin the process of closing two financially troubled charter schools. St. George Academy in Washington County and Capstone Classical Academy in Pleasant View are now on a watch list and have 14 days to ask for a

Jan Resseger: Why Democrats Should Fight for Public Schools and Oppose Charter Schools

100+by dianeravitch / 4d

Jan Resseger is a profound thinker and a clear writer. I love reading what she writes. Jan is one of the Resistance leaders in my new book SLAYING GOLIATH: THE PASSIONATE RESISTANCE TO PRIVATIZATION AND THE FIGHT TO SAVE AMERICA’S PUBLIC SCHOOLS. In this post, she explains to Democratic candidates why they should not waffle in their support for public schools. Her explanation is a rallying cry fo

OCT 14

Charles Foster Johnson: Public Schools Preserve Religious Liberty

94by dianeravitch / 4d

Charles Foster Johnson, executive director of Pastors for Texas Children, delivered a powerful lecture at Baylor University on the importance of public schooling. PTC has been an important advocate on behalf of public schools in several states. It has led the successful effort to block voucher legislation in Texas by forging a coalition of urban Democrats and rural Republicans. An account of the

Peter Greene: Are Corporate Reformers Taking New York City for a Ride?

21by dianeravitch / 4d

Peter Greene took a look at New York City’s decision to go into a public-private partnership with well-known Corporate Reform groups and asked whether the Reformers were helping out or the City was selling out. After a fruitless pursuit of “innovation” for 20 years, Mayor DeBlasio has turned to two organizations that have no track record of success. He writes: Last week the de Blasio administrati

Tom Ultican: Will Inspire Charters Be the Next Big Scandal?

58by dianeravitch / 4d

California is paying a high price for its notoriously lax law for authorizing charter schools, which was revised in recent weeks. Tom Ultican sees a striking similarity between the Inspire charter chain, which enrolls home schoolers, and the A3 chain, which went up in flames with a loss to taxpayers of at least $50 million. Inspire Charter School mirrors the methods of A3 Education. It employs pr

Mercedes Schneider: A New Movie Celebrates a Failed Voucher Program

29by dianeravitch / 5d

A new movie will be released in a few days, telling the story of the D.C. voucher program. The movie is called Miss Virginia, and the purpose of the movie is to persuade movie goers to love the idea of vouchers as a way to escape their”failing” public schools. This is a bit reminiscent of the movie called “Won’t Back Down,” that was supposed to sell the miracle of charter schools. It had two Holl

OCT 13

Teacher Ken Muses About Trump

20by dianeravitch / 5d

This is a very provocative post by Teacher Ken Bernstein, who blogs at Daily Kos. Ken has been teaching government for decades. When he muses about Trump, it’s worth reading.

Politico: Another Not Busy Week at the White House

by dianeravitch / 5d

Lots of executive time for watching FOX News and tweeting. Lunch with lackeys. Plenty of time for golf. His favorite lunch Partners: Pence and Pompeo. Will they discuss the slaughter of our Kurdish allies? Probably not. Not important to the Stable Genius, he with “unmatched wisdom.” SNEAK PEEK … THE PRESIDENT’S WEEK AHEAD … Tuesday: THE PRESIDENT will have lunch with VP Mike Pence and will meet w

Is the President Above the Law? Read the Constitution.

by dianeravitch / 5d

This is a good time to teach the U.S. Constitution. Trump has often said that, as president, he can do whatever he wants. He believes he is above the law. He has said that Article 2 of the Constitution assures him complete immunity from any prosecution. In addition, his lawyers asserted in a case in New York that he cannot even be investigated for breaking the law, and that this immunity shields

The House of Representatives Has the Sole Power to Impeach the President. Read the Constitution.

by dianeravitch / 5d

This is a good time to teach the Constitution. Since we are in the midst of a historic impeachment proceeding, I have highlighted the sentences referring to impeachment. I am citing this source . Just yesterday, Trump threatened to sue Adam Schiff, chairman of the intelligence committee, and Nancy Pelosi, speaker of the House , because he doesn’t think they have the right to impeach him or even t

Trump’s Quid Pro Quo

by dianeravitch / 5d

Democrats in the House of Representatives have opened an impeachment inquiry because a whistleblower warned that the president offered to release $400 million in financial aid to Ukraine if its government investigated Joe and Hunter Biden. The whistleblower’s warning was verified when the White House released the contents of a conversation in which Trump asked the president of Ukraine to investig

New York Times Reveals Bill Gates’ Friendship with Jeffrey Epstein

by dianeravitch / 6d

The New York Times published a lengthy article about Bill Gates’ friendship with convicted sexual predator Jeffrey Epstein. Gates visited Epstein’s lavish townhouse in Manhattan on several occasions. He hitched a ride on Epstein’s private jet. They engaged in lengthy discussions about philanthropy. All of this hobnobbing happened after Epstein was convicted for soliciting prostitution from a mino

OCT 12

Mercedes Schneider: Louisiana State Board of Education, Bought and Paid For

by dianeravitch / 6d

Mercedes Schneider reports that the deluge of out-of-state money into the election of the state board of education was sufficient to elect a board amenable to the failed strategies of testing and choice. No fresh ideas to be expected from Louisiana. Just the same tired nostrums that were written into federal law nearly 20 years ago. Schneider wonders if the new board will reappoint State Superint

Rudy Guiliani’s Two Indicted Friends

32by dianeravitch / 6d

John Cassidy of The New Yorker wrote about the indictment and arrest of two men who were leaving the country with one-way tickets. Photographs of these men have been published showing them having a meeting at the White House with Trump and on another occasion, dining with Rudy G. at a Trump hotel and also a photo of them with Don Jr. Cassidy writes: What’s the most arresting detail that’s been un

Arkansas: Inside the Shadowy World of the School ”Choice” Movement, Part 3

33by dianeravitch / 6d

Cathy Frye was a journalist for 21 years, then changed careers and eventually landed a job as communications director of a Walton-funded organization called the Arkansas Public Schools Resource Center (APSRC), which was actually a covert front for the school choice movement. I previously posted her Part 1 and Part 2 . In this post, she reveals more about the deceptive organization that existed to

Steven Singer: Testing More Means Learning Less

99by dianeravitch / 6d

How often have you learned something for a test, then promptly forgot it? One of the goals of education surely is to instill a love of learning and to build a foundation of knowledge that one can draw upon and increase in future learning. Steven Singer notes that a steady diet of standardized testing may actually undermine learning. He begins: The main goal of schooling is no longer learning. It

Mississippi: Teacher Activism Is Making Red State Governor Races Competitive

55by dianeravitch / 6d

Bracey Harris writes in The Hechinger Report that teacher activism is making the governors’ races in red states competitive. This is great news. Paula Howard teaches in a Republican stronghold in north Mississippi, along the Tennessee border. She usually votes Republican and is closely following the campaign of Jerry Darnell, a Republican educator running to represent Howard’s home district in th

The Richest People in America Pay at a Lower Rate than the Bottom 50%

45by dianeravitch / 7d

Two articles were published recently about a new book that makes the point that billionaires pay at a lower tax rate than middle-class Americans. The book is The Triumph of Injustice: How the Rich Dodge Taxes and How to Make Them 

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