Louisiana Federation for Children: Out-of-State Money Buys 26 Out of 30 Seats | deutsch29

Louisiana Federation for Children: Out-of-State Money Buys 26 Out of 30 Seats | deutsch29

Louisiana Federation for Children: Out-of-State Money Buys 26 Out of 30 Seats

Anyone who doubts that ueber-wealthy ed reformers are purchasing elections in other states need only consider this November 10, 2019, campaign finance report for the Louisiana Federation for Children (LFC) Action Fund PAC. Even so, as one quickly realizes when following ed reform money, the connections readily become numerous and complicated.

Let’s see how concise I can keep this this post centered on a single, LFC campaign finance report.

LFC is a state-level tentacle of the American Federation for Children (AFC), the school choice vehicle formerly chaired by US ed sec, Betsy DeVos. Louisiana gubernatorial challenger, Eddie Rispone is the former LFC chair. and also the former treasurer of the LFC Action Fund PAC.

According to LFC Action Fund PAC’s November 10, 2019, filing, three out-of-state donors (two individuals and one PAC), donated a combined $825K in October 2019. The same three donated a combined $2.6M in 2019 alone. They are Arkansas billonaire and Walmart heir, Jim Walton; California billionaire William Oberndorf, who succeeded DeVos as AFC chair, and a school choice PAC, Public School Allies:

• William Oberndorf (CA): $275K in 10/19; $550K YTD (year to date).
• Jim Walton (AR): $350K in 10/19; $912K YTD.
• Public School Allies (VA): $200K in 10/19; $1.2M YTD.

Public School Allies lists as its address “6312 Seven Corners Center #354
Falls Church, VA 22044,” which is a UPS drop box. However, the October 24, 2019, Chlakbeat reports that Public School, Allies is the “political arm” of the City Fund, created in 2018 to spread school choice by three individuals, including CONTINUE READING: Louisiana Federation for Children: Out-of-State Money Buys 26 Out of 30 Seats | deutsch29

Who is the right-wing American Federation for Children? | Educate All Students: Larry Miller's Blog - https://wp.me/pBWTO-1nZ

Fighting the misinformation pandemic: Here’s help teaching students to distinguish real news from what’s fake - The Washington Post

Fighting the misinformation pandemic: Here’s help teaching students to distinguish real news from what’s fake - The Washington Post

Fighting the misinformation pandemic: Here’s help teaching students to distinguish real news from what’s fake

If you don’t know what the News Literacy Project is and does, it’s time you do.

Founded over a decade ago by Alan Miller, a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter at the Los Angeles Times, the News Literacy Project aims to do something that schools everywhere should be doing: teaching students how to distinguish what’s real and fake in the age of digital communication — and at a time when the president of the United States routinely denounces real news as “fake,” and Americans will be voting on a new president in 2020.

Miller’s enterprise grows every year as teachers increasingly look for resources to teach their students how to evaluate the credibility of information. It has become the leading provider of news literacy education in the country, if not around the world.

The project creates digital curriculum and other resources and works with educators and journalists to teach middle school and high school students how to recognize news and information to trust — and provides them with the tools they need to be informed and engaged participants in a democracy. It uses the standards of quality journalism as an aspirational yardstick against which to measure all news and information. And, just as important, it provides the next generation with an appreciation of the First Amendment and the role of a free press.

“As a result,” Miller said, “NLP is on the front lines combating the misinformation pandemic that threatens to undermine civic life in the United States and around the globe.”

A sample of the project’s work is below, and I plan to publish some every week as a resource for teachers and anybody else who wants to become news literate.

The reach of the News Literacy Project is vast. It has had national success with Checkology virtual classroom, an innovative, award-winning, cutting-edge online platform featuring interactive, real-world lessons. Since launching in May 2016, more than 20,000 educators have registered to use Checkology in social studies, history, government, English and journalism classes with more than 133,000 students in every state. Educators in 110 other countries have registered to use it, as well.

The New York Department of Education has purchased 68,000 student licenses for use this year in 174 middle schools as part of a five-year agreement with the project. And West Virginia is seeding Checkology in school districts in five counties, while Columbia, Mo., has purchased 3,000 licenses and Miami-Dade County is using 1,000. The Los Angeles Unified School District will pilot the platform in 20 middle schools in early 2020. You can see short videos that capture Checkology’s impact in one CONTINUE READING: Fighting the misinformation pandemic: Here’s help teaching students to distinguish real news from what’s fake - The Washington Post

Houston Federation of Teachers files lawsuit over state takeover of HISD | FOX 26 Houston #HFT2415 #TexasAFT #UnionmanTX #rweingarten #HISDProud #HFT #HISD

Houston Federation of Teachers files lawsuit over state takeover of HISD | FOX 26 Houston

Houston Federation of Teachers files lawsuit over state takeover of HISD

HOUSTON - The Houston Federation of Teachers filed a federal lawsuit in Austin on Tuesday, saying the proposed state takeover of the Houston ISD is "unconstitutional under U.S. and Texas law because it disenfranchises and discriminates against people based on race and national origin."

"Gov. Greg Abbott and Education Commissioner Mike Morath claim the state takeover of the entire Houston school district, which earned an 88 (out of 100) academic accountability rating, was triggered due to one chronically failing school, Wheatley High School, which is attended by predominantly black and brown students," a statement released by the organization says.

HFT goes on to say that "The takeover decision was made just days after voters elected new school board members in Houston, who would not be able to take their seats under the takeover, effectively silencing the democratic electoral process."

“The state’s action to take over the HISD is flagrantly unconstitutional and has nothing to do with giving kids a strong public education,” said Zeph Capo, president of HFT and Texas AFT.

“Gov. Abbott and Education Commissioner Mike Morath will do just about anything to give private charter operators a chance to get their hands on our schools—even violate the state and U.S. constitutions. We can’t allow our government officials to unconstitutionally marginalize black and brown children, deny them their right to a quality public education, or defy the voice of voters who have just elected new school board members,” he said. CONTINUE READING: Houston Federation of Teachers files lawsuit over state takeover of HISD | FOX 26 Houston

Pennsylvania: Low-Performing Charter School Demands Charter Takeover of Elementary Schools in Entire School District | Diane Ravitch's blog

Pennsylvania: Low-Performing Charter School Demands Charter Takeover of Elementary Schools in Entire School District | Diane Ravitch's blog

Pennsylvania: Low-Performing Charter School Demands Charter Takeover of Elementary Schools in Entire School District

One charter school in the Chester-Upland district in Pennsylvania enrolls 60% of the district’s elementary schools. It is owned by one of the richest men in the state, a lawyer who was Republican Tom Corbett’s biggest campaign donor. That charter school, the Chester Community Charter School, has asked the county to turn all of the district’s elementary students over to charters. 

CCCS is not just any charter. It has received special treatment, despite its poor performance.

More than 4,300 students in kindergarten through eighth grade are already enrolled in Chester Community Charter, which is managed by CSMI. The for-profit education management company was founded by Vahan Gureghian, a Gladwyne lawyer and major Republican donor. It manages another charter school in Atlantic City that was placed on probation by the New Jersey Department of Education this year. A third charter in Camden was previously closed due to poor academic performance. 

In an earlier post, I described how CCCS made a deal in 2017 to win authorization until 2026, which is an CONTINUE READING: Pennsylvania: Low-Performing Charter School Demands Charter Takeover of Elementary Schools in Entire School District | Diane Ravitch's blog

NYC Public School Parents: Is it accurate to say that charter schools are the "boogeymen" of progressive Democrats, as Corey Booker and some reporters claim?

NYC Public School Parents: Is it accurate to say that charter schools are the "boogeymen" of progressive Democrats, as Corey Booker and some reporters claim?

Is it accurate to say that charter schools are the "boogeymen" of progressive Democrats, as Corey Booker and some reporters claim?

In a NY Times oped this week, Senator Corey Booker argued that the expansion of charter schools had a positive role in improving Newark’s school system and by extension, nationwide.  In the process, he described charters as "boogeymen" for other Democratic politicians:
 

“The treatment by many Democratic politicians of high-performing public charter schools as boogeymen has undermined the fact that many of these schools are serving low-income urban children across the country in ways that are inclusive, equitable, publicly accountable and locally driven."

One could easily challenge his claim that in Newark, the expansion of charters was “locally driven” since Newark’s locally elected school board was disempowered and their schools were being run by Gov. Chris Christie at that time.

But in any case, the main point of this op ed appeared to be to allow Booker to strongly reconfirm his commitment to privatization after some ambivalent statements this summer,  presumably in an attempt to strengthen his lagging campaign.  In the process, Booker was implicitly criticizing rival Presidential candidates Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders, who have both come out publicly against the continued funding of charters by the federal government:

Yet what struck me the most was his use of the word “boogeymen” in connection with charter schools, which rang a bell. 

Indeed. this was the second time this same analogy has been used in the New York Times in the context of the presidential campaign.

Earlier this spring, on May 23, reporters Dana Goldstein and Sydney Ember used the term “boogeyman” in describing the teacher unions’ position on charters,  in an article on Sanders’ education agenda:

Many Democrats and progressives send their children to charter schools, work within the sector or donate money to the movement. Teachers’ unions, an important constituency to Democrats, have long considered them a boogeyman, arguing that charter schools draw students and funding away from traditional public schools.

There is no evidence presented for the claim that many “progressives” work within the charter sector or donate money to the charter movement.  

Just six days later, on May 29, Michelle Hackman, a reporter for the Wall Street Journal used the term  again, describing how charter schools had become “a boogeyman of CONTINUE READING: NYC Public School Parents: Is it accurate to say that charter schools are the "boogeymen" of progressive Democrats, as Corey Booker and some reporters claim?

NYSAPE Update Data Privacy - NYS ALLIES FOR PUBLIC EDUCATION

NYSAPE Update Data Privacy - NYS ALLIES FOR PUBLIC EDUCATION

NYSAPE Update Data Privacy - NYS ALLIES FOR PUBLIC EDUCATION

Dear NYSAPE Friends,

Thanks to the advocacy of you and hundreds of other parents, we convinced the NY State Education Department not to revise the student privacy regulations so that the College Board and the ACT could continue selling student data.  NYSED has now posted the regulations for a third round of comments, due Dec. 9.  If you’d like to comment, you do so by sending them to REGCOMMENTS@nysed.gov.

Please sign this petition today, urging the NY State Attorney General Letitia James to investigate the College Board’s illegal and unethical selling of personal student data.  Also check out the one-pager with advice on how to avoid having your child’s data sold for profit when they take the ACT, PSAT, SAT or AP exams.
​
On Nov. 5, the Wall Street Journal published an excellent article about this egregious practice, showing that one reason colleges purchase the data from the College Board is to market to more students and increase their rejection rates, which then raises their own ratings and reputation for selectivity.  And last week, WCBS news ran a segment on how the College Board routinely violates student privacy through their “Student Search” program in this way.
​
If your child signed up for the “Student Search” program in the past and mistakenly allowed their data to be sold, and you’re interested in potentially taking legal action to force the College Board into ceasing this practice, please email info@studentprivacy.org to find out more. 

More updates coming soon on the discussions around the state regarding revising graduation requirements, state testing, the impact of the common core standards, choosing the next state Ed Commissioner, filling Regent Judith Johnson's position and other issues.

Thank you! NYSAPE

NYSAPE Update Data Privacy - NYS ALLIES FOR PUBLIC EDUCATION

Education Through Friendship: One Man’s Story (Part 3) | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

Education Through Friendship: One Man’s Story (Part 3) | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

Education Through Friendship: One Man’s Story (Part 3)

Parts 1 and 2 of this series describe the origin of a group of teenage friends in Pittsburgh (PA) in the late-1940s. It is also a story of my education outside of schools I attended in living a full life with people I loved.

Deciding to Stay Together

The idea of a group of close friends who worked at staying together did not emerge among us until after college when many of us left Pittsburgh to attend graduate school, work in other cities or serve in the U.S. military. While we had already begun annual New Year’s Eve parties in the early ‘50s while in college (much food, little liquor and awfully amateurish but hilarious entertainment staged by ourselves with the obligatory game of charades after midnight), the notion of a cohesive group beyond annual parties had not taken hold.

By the early 1960s, most of have us had been married a few years.* Children arrived. We were building careers. Some of us lived in Cleveland and Youngstown (OH) and Elizabeth (NJ). A few of us in Pittsburgh and Cleveland got together to establish a book discussion group. As to who would join, a core of seven couples who had kept in touch by phone, letter, visits, and being at each other’s weddings became the book club (Yus, Sam, Dave, and I along with our wives were among those founding couples).

We had no name. No president, dues, or business meetings. No rules save those agreed upon by consensus. Intellectual and social interests had merged.

Once the book club formed and met monthly, even traveling to Barbara and Larry’s home in Cleveland on a few occasions, the idea and its existence grabbed our imaginations. We began to pride ourselves in sticking together even though our careers diverged, a few of us lived out of town, and each of us had created other networks of acquaintances and friends at work, in schools our children CONTINUE READING: Education Through Friendship: One Man’s Story (Part 3) | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

It's Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... A VERY BUSY DAY | The latest news and resources in education since 2007

Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... | The latest news and resources in education since 2007

It's Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... A VERY BUSY DAY | The latest news and resources in education since 2007

A Look Back: New Study Finds That Specific Ninth-Grade Intervention Very Effective & It’s Remarkably Similar To What We Do At Our School

by Larry Ferlazzo / 4h

I’m beginning to republish posts that made it onto my A LOOK BACK: 2019’S BEST POSTS FROM THIS BLOG – PART TWO list. Kunnasberg / Pixabay The American Institutes of Research just released a study finding that a program called Building Assets, Reducing Risks (BARR) was very effective at improving academic progress for ninth-graders and enhancing their connection to school. Here’s how Ed Week summa

Most Popular Posts Of The Week

by Larry Ferlazzo / 4h

I’m making a change in the content of the regular feature. In addition to sharing the top five posts that have received the most “hits” in the preceding seven days (though they may have originally been published on an earlier date), I will also include the top five posts that have actually appeared in the past week. Often, these are different posts. You might also be interested in IT’S THE TWELFT

YESTERDAY

The Best Resources, Articles & Blog Posts For Teachers Of ELLs In 2019 – Part Two

by Larry Ferlazzo / 13h

This is another end-of-year “Best” lists. I’m adding list list to ALL MY 2019 “BEST” LISTS IN ONE PLACE! You can find previous editions of this list, along with all “Best” lists related to ELL instruction, here. Here are my choices: To start off, you want to follow all these folks on Twitter and, if you’re not on Twitter, go to their Twitter page and then click on links to their blogs. They share

A Look Back: “If You Want Engaged Employees [or Students], Offer Them Stability”

by Larry Ferlazzo / 14h

I’m beginning to republish posts that made it onto my A LOOK BACK: 2019’S BEST POSTS FROM THIS BLOG – PART TWO list. TuendeBede / Pixabay If You Want Engaged Employees, Offer Them Stability is an interesting new article in The Harvard Business Journal. The author, Marla Gottschalk, makes lots of points that are directly applicable to the classroom. She highlights three main features, based on res

New CBS Video: “Documentary explores why black girls are punished more at school”

23by Larry Ferlazzo / 14h

waldryano / Pixabay Check out this video from CBS This Morning. You might also be interested in this three-part series Dr. Terri Watson guest-hosted at my Ed Week column on this very topic , as well as this previous post: Good USA Today Feature On How Black Girls Are Treated Unfairly.

Depressing Statistic Of The Day: The U.S. Has World’s Highest Rate Of Children In Detention

by Larry Ferlazzo / 14h

U.S. has world’s highest rate of detained kids; should be ‘last resort,’ says U.N. is a depressing article appearing at NBC News. It says: The United States detains an average of 60 out of every 100,000 children in its justice system or immigration-related custody, Nowak said, the world’s highest rate, followed by countries such as Bolivia, Botswana and Sri Lanka….The U.S. rate compared with an a

“Student Differences Are Not Deficits”

by Larry Ferlazzo / 15h

Student Differences Are Not Deficits is the headline of my latest Education Week Teacher column. Today’s commentaries on the difference between treating students “equally” and “fairly” come from Kelly Capatosto, Gina Laura 

Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... | The latest news and resources in education since 2007