What School Segregation Looks Like in the US Today

What School Segregation Looks Like in the US Today

What School Segregation Looks Like in the US Today

Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris, a senator from California, has spoken about how she benefited from attendingBerkeley’s desegregated schools.

“There was a little girl in California who was part of the second class to integrate her public schools and she was bused to school every day. And that little girl was me,” Harris said in the first Democratic debate to candidate Joe Biden. “So I will tell you that on this subject, it cannot be an intellectual debate among Democrats. We have to take it seriously. We have to act swiftly.”

School segregation is the separation of students into different schools by race. In 1954, the Supreme Court declared segregation was unconstitutional. Desegregation efforts since then have used a variety of tools to try to overcome patterns of segregation that persist.

Studies have shown that school desegregation has important benefits for students of all races. Recent research illustrates that its positive impact on the educational attainment, lifetime earnings and health of African American families persists for multiple generations.

Yet, despite years of government desegregation efforts and the proven benefits of integrated schools, our recently published research shows that U.S. school segregation is higher than it has been in decades, even if there are no longer overt laws requiring racially segregated schools.

Racial Makeup of Public Schools

In the civil rights era, nearly 80% of public school students were white, and African American students were the largest group among students of color.

I have been studying school segregation and desegregation for more than a decade and also assist communities in addressing segregation.

In the last school year for which my group had data, 2016 to 2017, the U.S. public schools no longer had a majority of any racial group.

Despite an increase in the number of public school students since the late 1960s, there are almost 11 million fewer white children in public schools nearly 50 years later. However, white students are still the largest group of students at 48%.

Latino students continue to increase nationally and in every region of the country. There are also 1 million more Black students since the civil rights era, or approximately 15% of students. In some states, Asian students are increasing. Multiracial students – a group not even part of the official federal classification until 2008 – are also nearly 4%.

Exposure to Other Racial Groups

However, white students and students of color are unevenly distributed across schools, and these differences affect their experiences in schools and classrooms.

If a school were perfectly integrated, students’ exposure to students of CONTINUE READING: What School Segregation Looks Like in the US Today

CATCH UP WITH CURMUDGUCATION

CURMUDGUCATION

CATCH UP WITH CURMUDGUCATION

AND DON'T FORGET PETER GREENE ON FORBES CLICK HERE 

Eight Weeks Of Summer: Getting It Done

25by Peter Greene / 5d

This post is week 6 of 8 in the 8 Weeks of Summer Blog Challenge for educators . I've been doing this challenge because why not. I answer the prompts as my pre-tirement self. Here's this week's question: How are you planning to implement change next school year? This often depended on the change. For lots of changes, I just did it. Changing how I approached vocabulary? Just did it. Changing the r

JUL 14

ICYMI: House Painting Edition (7/14)

45by Peter Greene / 7d

Yes, we're getting the house painted. If that's not fun, I don't know what is. But in the meantime, here's some reading for you. How Did We Miss This? The story of the Indiana cyberschool collecting money for ghost students. Palm Beach Real Estate What can you do when you're a charter school entrepreneur? Sell one mansion you never actually lived in and then buy another one. Common Core Tests Are

JUL 13

The New Koch Ed Reform Rebranding Astroturducken

100+by Peter Greene / 8d

The billionaire Charles Koch has launched another adventure in astroturf, this time aimed at rebranding ed reform while still pushing reformy ideas, playing the reform greatest hits and-- well, it's a little unclear what else is going on. But every layer is more special than the last. This has been coming for a while. Back in January Koch announced that they were going to increase their level of m

JUL 12

Are These Lessons To Learn From Cyberschools?

63by Peter Greene / 9d

At this stage of the game, there's no reason to keep imagining that cyberschools are a viable option for education on any sort of scale. There's a small group of students with specialized needs that they can serve well, but mostly they've failed big time. But they are also excellent money-makers, and so we periodically find folks trying to rehabilitate the cyberschool image. Here comes another suc

JUL 11

Eight Weeks of Summer: Big Hairy Say What Now?

73by Peter Greene / 10d

This post is week 5 of 8 in the 8 Weeks of Summer Blog Challenge for educators . I've been doing the Hot Lunch Tray eight week challenge. Unlike other challenges, it does not require me to eat responsibly or beat myself up with ice water or plastic gerbils. I'm answering the questions as my old pre-retirement self. You can see what other folks are writing by checking out the #8WeeksofSummer hasht

JUL 10

Does The Most Interesting Teacher Pay Proposal Belong To A Billionaire Friend Of Trump?

by Peter Greene / 11d

Stephen Schwarzman might have an idea. Schwarzman, cofounder of the Blackstone Group , has been named a Bloomberg Most Influential person of the year more than once, and in 2007 he was one of Time's 100 Most Influential people of the year. He is a long-time friend and advisor of Donald Trump, including help set up Trump's Strategic and Policy Forum . He has given away a great deal of money and pu

Whom Do We Trust

100+by Peter Greene / 11d

One of the unending underlying challenges in education is that parents and taxpayers have to trust somebody. Back In The Day, the default was to trust teachers and administrators. That would be back when the default was to trust authority figures as a whole-- but that pendulum has swung far in the other direction (on behalf of all the Boomers, let me just say, "You're welcome"). Heck, even within

JUL 07

ICYMI: Really Really Summer Now Edition (7/6)

21by Peter Greene / 14d

Hot and steamy here, which still makes us better off than some corners of the world. Here's some reading for the day. Remember-- share the stuff that really speaks to you. The Teaching Machine Imaginary I do miss Audrey Watters, but here's a new Hack Education post that, in typical Watters fashion, links book editing, the Jetsons, teaching machines, and pigeons. Education Reformers Still Don't Und

NANCY BAILEY: Force and Flunk, Tougher Kindergarten Lead to Parental Dissatisfaction with Public Schools

Force and Flunk, Tougher Kindergarten Lead to Parental Dissatisfaction with Public Schools

Force and Flunk, Tougher Kindergarten Lead to Parental Dissatisfaction with Public Schools

NANCY BAILEY'S EDUCATION WEBSITE

When children aren’t reading according to the corporate time frame set by Jeb Bush and his ilk (non-educators who want to privatize public education), parents become dissatisfied, even angry with public school officials and teachers when their children fail.

The goal of many corporations is to end public education. They want privatization. To do this, they must make parents dislike public schools so they will not only leave them, but will buy into unproven vouchers, charters, and online programs.

But most of today’s accountability measures are enforced by corporate reformers outside of the public school. Teaching children to read is no exception.

Here’s an example.

Due to former Governor Jeb Bush’s push for flunking, 19 states now make children repeat 3rd grade if they don’t pass a test.

Strong research indicates flunking is harmful, and that there are other viable solutions to help children learn to read. Most parents and teachers recognize this. Here’s another list of better solutions.

It’s difficult to believe Jeb Bush and his corporate friends have not heard about this CONTINUE READING: Force and Flunk, Tougher Kindergarten Lead to Parental Dissatisfaction with Public Schools

Peter Greene: What Does 'Personalized Learning' Even Mean?

What Does 'Personalized Learning' Even Mean?

What Does 'Personalized Learning' Even Mean?

Personalized learning is all over the educational landscape these days, even though nobody can offer a clear and consistent explanation for what it might be. The field encompasses everyone from teachers designing more effective methods to businesses with a new edu-product to sell. Assuming for the moment that there is no solid, universal definition, let's consider the different aspects of instruction that could be involved when someone is pitching personalized learning.

Pace

Personalized learning can refer simply to pace. All students cover the same materials in the same order, moving at whatever speed seems to best suit them. If you're old enough to remember doing SRA reading exercises out of the box in your elementary classroom, you have experienced this type of personalization.

Timeline

A more extreme version of pace. Some versions of personalization involve flexible time, with the student allowed as much (or as little) time as is required for them to show mastery of that particular unit. This often requires changes to the traditional rules in order to CONTINUE READING: What Does 'Personalized Learning' Even Mean?

JEFF BRYANT: Why won’t the charter school industry acknowledge its failures? | Salon.com

Why won’t the charter school industry acknowledge its failures? | Salon.com

Why won’t the charter school industry acknowledge its failures?
Nationwide, the litany of charter school outrages continues to grow. Why won't the industry reform?

News broke recently about what may be the single biggest charter school scam ever in which an online charter school organization is alleged to have bilked the state of California for $80 million by enrolling tens of thousands of students into their programs, often without the students’ knowledge, and charging the state for nonexistent education services and bogus expenses related to operating the schools.

Nationwide, the litany of charter school outrages continues to grow — the Network for Public Education tallied 43 negative reports on charter schools from local and national news outlets in June alone. After a recent report I coauthored with NPE executive director Carol Burris found a federal government grant program had likely wasted as much as $1 billion on charter schools that never opened or were viable for only short periods of time, Burris and her colleagues followed up with yet more research that found $1 billion is likely an underestimate.

Charter advocates continue to dismiss these scandals as products of a few “bad apples,” but negative news about charter schools is landing blows to the industry’s image in California and nationwide.

Charter-friendly candidates in the Golden State have been trounced in recent elections, and in the Democratic Party presidential primary, campaign rhetoric surrounding the schools has been uniformly negative.

The charter industry is feelinga growing anxiety about public opinion turning against their schools. But recent developments both in California and at the national level show that rather than taking up an honest conversation about real reform, the industry is responding to criticism with behind-the-scenes CONTINUE READING: Why won’t the charter school industry acknowledge its failures? | Salon.com

Shawgi Tell: Charter Schools Fetishize Parents and “The Kids” While Ignoring the Role of Education in a Modern Society | Dissident Voice

Charter Schools Fetishize Parents and “The Kids” While Ignoring the Role of Education in a Modern Society | Dissident Voice

Charter Schools Fetishize Parents and “The Kids” While Ignoring the Role of Education in a Modern Society

The role of education in a society is to consciously pass on the accumulated knowledge of humanity to the next generation so that society keeps moving forward.

This is especially true in a modern society based on mass industrial production where all sectors of the economy are interdependent and large-scale in character.

Millions of highly-educated and skilled people are needed today to operate, organize, and develop a modern society and economy. Education is indispensable to the extended reproduction of society and the economic system, and goes beyond parents and “the kids.”

One of the key ideological devices used often by charter school advocates who embrace individualism, consumerism, competition, and Skinnerian ideology is that schools are mainly, if not entirely, about parents and “the kids.” Parents and “the kids” occupy center-stage in charter school discourse. It is as if nothing else exists or matters. There is little or no mention of the necessity for education to serve the economy, the nation, and the broader society. A big-picture view of education is generally missing. Charter school advocates rarely talk about education from the perspective of the general interests of society and a modern large-scale industrial economy. This is why charter school supporters constantly and self-servingly over-use the rhetoric of “empowering parents,” while saying nothing about the broader and deeper reasons for education in a modern society. CONTINUE READING: Charter Schools Fetishize Parents and “The Kids” While Ignoring the Role of Education in a Modern Society | Dissident Voice

A defining moment for democracy - AFT Voices

A defining moment for democracy - AFT Voices

A defining moment for democracy

Teachers have always had a huge responsibility for the next generation: To teach and nurture students so they have the opportunity to live fulfilling lives. To make our classrooms and schools safe and affirming. To help young people develop the skills, confidence and sense of responsibility to be engaged citizens.

Today the role of America’s teachers is even bigger — they are called on to be defenders of decency and guardians of democracy because, while our democracy has never been perfect, today its very existence is threatened.

President Trump has trampled rights enshrined in the Constitution. He has waged a war on truth and scoffed at the rule of law. He has incited people to fear others for absolutely no good reason. He is enamored of despots, and distances our allies. He has put commerce and greed over human rights. He has stoked America’s divisions in order to exploit them.

Our freedoms are under attack by a president who threatens to imprison his political opponents, who openly wishes he could “get rid” of journalists, and who props up white nationalism.

Our elections are undermined by widespread voter suppression, by extreme partisan gerrymandering (which was just upheld by the Supreme Court), and by open invitations to foreign interference — with Trump even joking  CONTINUE READING: A defining moment for democracy - AFT Voices

Laura Chapman on the Center for American Progress Plan to Return to the Bush-Obama Agenda | Diane Ravitch's blog

Laura Chapman on the Center for American Progress Plan to Return to the Bush-Obama Agenda | Diane Ravitch's blog

Laura Chapman on the Center for American Progress Plan to Return to the Bush-Obama Agenda

Laura Chapman has been doing research on the Center for American Progress, which the media views as the voice of the Democratic Party. This may be the most depressing thing you read today. It calls for a return to the principles of No Child Left Behind and Race to the Top. Both failed. CAP wants to resuscitate the worst features of both. Maybe CAP can persuade Arne Duncan to return as Secretary of Education. Then the disaster would be complete.

And here we go with the new progressive agenda for schools.

Almost every week Neera Tanden, President of the Center for American Progress (CAP) appears on television to opine about the presidential elections. Tanden is a former aide to Hillary Clinton. CAP is supposed to function as a think tank for Progressives, especially Democrats. On July 2, 2019, CAP published: A Quality Education for Every Child: A New Agenda for Education Policy.” The press release asserted: “The Next President’s Education Agenda Must Center Racial Disparities in Educational Opportunity.”

I have been studying this report. It is highly critical of K-12 education. It is also calculated to mislead casual readers. The authors claim the report is “a bold and comprehensive approach to K-12 education.” I think not. Many of CAP’s favored policies endorse two decades of federal demands for accountability. Think Arne Duncan and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (B&MGF).

CAP is on record as favoring teacher unions and higher pay for teachers, especially for those who work in low- CONTINUE READING: Laura Chapman on the Center for American Progress Plan to Return to the Bush-Obama Agenda | Diane Ravitch's blog

Laura Chapman: Who Are the K-12 Education Experts at the Center for American Progress? | Diane Ravitch's blog - https://wp.me/p2odLa-mbZ via @dianeravitch