Sarah Sparks writes in Edweek about a curriculum company that is suing a parent in Wake County, North Carolina, for criticizing its math program. The company says the parent is defaming its product. The parent’s lawyer says the company is attacking the parent’s First Amendment rights. As the story notes, this is a SLAPP suit, a suit meant to silence public criticism. The last time I encountered t
This is an interview with Dr. Julian Vasquez Heilig, the scholar who was recently named dean of the University of Kentucky School of Education. JVH’s scholarship focuses on equity. He has written about charter schools and Teach for America. https://progressive.org/public-school-shakedown/segregation-worse-charter-schools-vasquez-heilig-miller-190909/ From the Progressive: Vasquez-Heilig and his c
Jack Hassard Taught science education for many years. He used to write a blog called “The Art of Teaching Science,” but became so upset about current events that he renamed his blog “Jack Hassard’s Blog.” In this post, he excoriates Trump’s war on science. He begins: Science was under assault last week by an un-educated President and his staff who believe that they can supercede the findings of s
I posted Gay Adelmann’s account of her efforts to see the financial records of the Kentucky PTA. Both sides ended up in court. https://dianeravitch.net/2019/09/09/kentucky-what-is-the-state-pta-hiding/ I heard from S. Coy Travis, whose law firm represents the Kentucky PTA. He wanted readers to know both sides. I invited him to write a commentary, and he did. He wrote: Isn’t Kentucky PTA subject t
Steven Singer, a teacher in Pennsylvania, has concluded that there are no good charter schools. The problem, he says, is not implementation but the concept , which, he insists, is wrong. He writes: The problem with charter schools isn’t that they have been implemented badly. Nor is it that some are for-profit and others are not. The problem is the concept, itself. Put simply: charter schools are
Four years ago, the Hechinger Report described a third-grade class in an affluent suburb of New York City where children spend 75% of the day on their iPads. Is this the future? It is not a cost-saver, since there is still one teacher and a class of 20+ students. In most tech-infused projections, this is called “personalized learning,” and it is pitched as a way to cut costs by increasing class s
Republican legislators in North Carolina pulled a fast one on the Democrats. After assuring them that no votes were scheduled, the Republicans took advantage of the Democrats’ absence to override Governor Roy Cooper’s veto of the Republican budget. https://apple.news/ARwmvDp7KQ1O0PQfx-alHAA NBC reported: “North Carolina House Democrats are calling foul on their Republican colleagues for voting to
Purdue Pharma and the Sackler Family have reached a settlement that will leave the family with many billions of dollars. The company is expected to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy imminently. The settlement, which was described by two people involved in the negotiations, involves the dissolution of Purdue Pharma as it now exists, the formation of a new company that will continue to sell its signat
Ann Cronin posted about the efforts of some Americans to heal divisions instead of widening them. She writes here about one of those Americans who sought to bridge differences. Grief doesn’t ever go away, but Manal Ezzat, a Muslim woman and engineer with the U.S. Army who was present at the attack on the Pentagon, took her grief and used it to connect with others in need. She was the project mana
Robert Kuttner writes and edits “The American Prospect.” He reminds me of myself. I am a patriot but since the 2016 election, I have not felt patriotic. I have been ashamed of my president and my nation. Hateful, crazy people had taken control of our government. It seemed like every ounce of compassion and respect for the rule of law had been stamped out. Kuttner explains why we must recapture ou
The public schools of Providence have been taken over by the state because of very low test scores. The interim superintendent Frances Gallo is the same person who threatened to fire the entire staff of Central Falls High School in 2010 because of its very low scores. Central Falls was taken over by the state. It still has the lowest scores in the state. From the Boston Globe, which is behind a p
Why do teachers’ pension funds invest in stocks of corporations that are actively undermining public schools and their teachers? K12 Inc. manages a chain of online charter schools that are noted for low performance, high attrition rates, and low graduation rates. Their teachers never meet students. They have large classes, no union. New York State Teachers Retirement System Makes New $100,000 Inv
I have read “Harold and the Purple Crayon” for many decades. First to my children, then to my grandchildren. Dana Milbank of the Washington Post re-imagines the iconic children’s book brilliantly. The best commentary I have read in a long time on our national nightmare. https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/donald-and-the-black-sharpie/2019/09/06/44202240-d0b9-11e9-b29b-a528dc82154a_story.html
This is a powerful documentary about the Great Boatlift on 9/11/01. Boats of every type and size converged on Lower Manhattan to rescue half a million people who were trapped after the Twin Towers fell. It reminds us of the power of good that brings people together in common purpose.
My friend Bernadette Hoban was attending a business meeting at 120 Broadway, near the World Trade Center, when the first plane hit the first building. She worked for a large insurance company. She never told the full
