Latest News and Comment from Education

Monday, December 16, 2019

NANCY BAILEY: 7 Concerns About the MSNBC Public Education Forum

7 Concerns About the MSNBC Public Education Forum

7 Concerns About the MSNBC Public Education Forum



It was nice to watch the MSNBC Public School Forum online. Finally, Democratic candidates answered questions about education. But here are seven concerns.
For the record, I was trying to multi-task which I’m rarely good at, so I may have missed something. Corrections are welcome.
Billionaire Takeover
Candidates talked about making the wealthy pay their fair share of taxes to help schools, but no one mentioned Bill Gates, the Waltons, Eli Broad, Mark Zuckerberg or any of the corporate reformers who are taking control of public schools.
They didn’t mention Common Core or the failure of the initiatives funded by the Gates Foundation and taxpayers. Nor did they speak about portfolio schools, the latest corporate endeavor to push choice and charters.
No one mentioned using Social Impact Bonds or Pay for Success to profit off of public CONTINUE READING: 7 Concerns About the MSNBC Public Education Forum

Just in Time for Your Holiday Shopping: Slaying Goliath! | Diane Ravitch's blog

Just in Time for Your Holiday Shopping: Slaying Goliath! | Diane Ravitch's blog

Just in Time for Your Holiday Shopping: Slaying Goliath!




IT WON’T BE OFFICIALLY PUBLISHED UNTIL JANUARY 21, BUT YOU CAN PRE-ORDER YOUR COPY FROM YOUR BOOKSELLER OR AN ONLINE BOOK DEALER (PLEASE PATRONIZE INDEPENDENT BOOKSTORES, IF YOU STILL HAVE ONE NEAR YOU!).
I PROMISE YOU WON’T BE DISAPPOINTED!
IF YOU COME TO THE ANNUAL MEETING OF THE NETWORK FOR PUBLIC EDUCATION IN PHILADELPHIA MARCH 28-29, I WILL PERSONALLY INSCRIBE YOUR COPY OF THE BOOK!

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

EDUCATION

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

Knopf. Jan. 2020. 352p. ISBN 9780525655374. $27.95. ED
COPY ISBN
 In this incisive, meticulously researched book, Ravitch (education, New York Univ.; The Death and Life of the Great American School) argues persuasively that the U.S. school privatization movement has resulted in poor test scores, the closure of public schools, and attacks on the teaching profession. Ravitch blames the so-called school reformers, whom she renames the disruptors, such as Bill Gates, Alice Walton, Michelle Rhee, Mark Zuckerberg, and Eli Broad, who spend millions to replace public schools with charter schools and private institutions that are run like businesses. Though disruptors view themselves as opposing the status quo, Ravitch contends that they are doing everything they can to maintain it. She devotes most of her book to the resisters, or the teachers, parents, and union leaders who have taken on the disruptors and are working to keep their local public schools open. Through this lens, Ravitch discusses the Common Core teaching standards, standardized testing, the Obama administration’s Race to the Top grant program, and Teach for America.
VERDICT This extensive analysis is required reading for anyone concerned about American education. [See Prepub Alert, 7/8/19.]

Essay: Supervising the sheriff • SN&R Extra

Supervising the sheriff • SN&R Extra

Essay: Supervising the sheriff



New Sacramento County inspector general is only a first step
By Patrick Kennedy
There is no secret in Sacramento County about the controversy surrounding the county’s Inspector General and the Sheriff over the past 16 months. It has been a festering wound ever since Sheriff Scott Jones terminated the then-IG’s access to Sheriff’s Department facilities in August 2018, virtually making it impossible for the IG to conduct his work.
Since then, the Board of Supervisors has taken steps to enhance the duties of the IG and to avoid a situation where the sheriff will take such actions in the future. Among other things, a new scope of work was approved giving the IG clearer investigative authority over department policies and procedures, incidents involving officer-involved shootings or violence and other community concerns.
The board also maintained its right of subpoena power should that be necessary to secure evidence in dispute. Additionally, at our meeting on Dec. 10, the board approved language for a memorandum of understanding between the board and the sheriff intended to provide an avenue for dispute resolution to avoid any future IG lockout.
At the same time, I as chairman of the Board of Supervisors have overseen the national recruitment process for a new IG, as well as candidate interviews. This process resulted in the board authorizing the county CEO to negotiate a contract with the chosen candidate, and those negotiations are underway.
He is Mark Evenson, who has 32 years of law enforcement experience, including 10 as the police chief in Brentwood. I expect to CONTINUE READING: Supervising the sheriff • SN&R Extra

Randi Weingarten on Democrats and Campaign 2020 | C-SPAN.org

Randi Weingarten on Democrats and Campaign 2020 | C-SPAN.org

Randi Weingarten on Democrats and Campaign 2020
Randi Weingarten talked about the role her American Federation of Teachers union will play in the Democratic presidential primaries and general election.





Randi Weingarten on Democrats and Campaign 2020 | C-SPAN.org

Shawgi Tell: No Justification For The Existence of Any Kind of Charter School | Dissident Voice

No Justification For The Existence of Any Kind of Charter School | Dissident Voice

No Justification For The Existence of Any Kind of Charter School




Charter school promoters are skilled at promoting disinformation about charter schools and public schools; they have decades of experience.
One of the most worn-out forms of disinformation deployed repeatedly by charter school promoters is to pressure people into thinking that the problem is not that privately-operated charter schools run by unelected individuals and funded by the public exist, but that some charter schools are “high-quality” while others are “low quality,” and that the real issue is purging “low-quality” privately-operated charter schools while increasing the number of “high-quality” privately-operated charter schools.
In other words, not only is the public supposed to automatically accept the legitimacy of the existence of charter schools, everyone is also supposed to spontaneously and permanently forget that all charter schools are privatized contract-based performance arrangements that have no valid claim to public wealth. This is all the more significant given that, according to the Network for Public Education, for years billions of public dollars have been funneled to privately-operated charter schools that never even opened0.1
This is accompanied by intense pressure to also ignore the fact that charter schools are actually deregulated, segregated, union-free, unaccountable, crisis-prone, pay-the-rich neoliberal schemes constantly mired in controversy. Charter schools cannot seem to escape scandal.
We are also pressured to forget that thousands of privately-operated charter CONTINUE READING: No Justification For The Existence of Any Kind of Charter School | Dissident Voice

Mitchell Robinson: Rating the Presidential Candidates at the Public Education Forum…with the Danielson Teacher Evaluation Rubric! | Eclectablog

Rating the Presidential Candidates at the Public Education Forum…with the Danielson Teacher Evaluation Rubric! | Eclectablog

Rating the Presidential Candidates at the Public Education Forum…with the Danielson Teacher Evaluation Rubric!



I just got home from Pittsburgh where Chris Savage and I were covering the Public Education Forum for Eclectablog, and have been looking forward to sharing my thoughts on what transpired. Before we get to the candidates’ performances, I want to make sure to congratulate the organizers of this event, especially Randi Weingarten of the American Federation of Teachers, and Lily Eskelin-Garcia of the National Education Association.
Each of the presidents of the two major national teachers’ unions gave excellent opening speeches. Both of these women showed why they were such strong leaders for their respective organizations; they were powerful, passionate, and inspirational as they summarized the issues facing the profession, and targeted the subjects they hoped each of the candidates would be addressing during the forum. It was a great way to start the day.
A few of my really smart friends (I see you Carol Burris, and Steven Singer, and Peter Greene) who were also at the event have already beaten me to the punch and posted their reviews, and I encourage you to check them out. While all of us agree on most of what we heard, each of these master teachers and writers has put their own touch on the happenings in the Steel City, and each of their reports is well worth reading. Even though I was “in the room where it happened” along CONTINUE READING: Rating the Presidential Candidates at the Public Education Forum…with the Danielson Teacher Evaluation Rubric! | Eclectablog

8 Education Trends and Ideas Worth Leaving Behind in 2019 - NEA Today

8 Education Trends and Ideas Worth Leaving Behind in 2019 - NEA Today

8 Education Trends and Ideas Worth Leaving Behind in 2019


For public education, 2019, like previous years, brought its share of the good, the bad, and the ugly. On balance, there was plenty of good news, made largely possible by the 2018 mid-term elections that swept pro-education candidates into office. Much of that energy was drawn from the #RedforEd movement, which continued to generate momentum in calling for greater investments in public schools. As a result, educators and their unions head into 2020 stronger than ever.
Students are counting on it, because, as always, obstacles stand in the way of continued progress. Below we’ve listed a few that have undermined public education for too long. Some of them seem to be on the verge of receding completely from view. Others are more resilient, but educators and their allies will be working in 2020 to ensure the prominence of these lousy ideas, destructive policies, and outdated notions continues to fade.

Betsy DeVos’ Voucher Plan


(AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)
In her three years as U.S. Education Secretary, Betsy DeVos has focused on cutting education spending, championing school privatization, and weakening oversight into everything from civil rights protections for students to fraudulent student loans. DeVos has to be disappointed, however, that her pet project – a federal school voucher program called “Education Freedom Scholarships” – hasn’t won much support on Capitol Hill.
But DeVos isn’t giving up. She continues to travel the country pushing the proposal, which would allow individuals and companies to earn tax credits by donating CONTINUE READING: 8 Education Trends and Ideas Worth Leaving Behind in 2019 - NEA Today

NewBlackMan (in Exile) TODAY

NewBlackMan (in Exile)



NewBlackMan (in Exile) TODAY


NBA's Andre Iguodala on Investing, Kaepernick and Legacy

'Former Golden State Warrior Andre Iguodala talks to WSJ 's Lee Hawkins about being an active tech investor, his commitment to opening doors for other athletes and people of color, and the benefits of having a "strict" mother.' -- Wall Street Journal
On Sleep, Time, Trauma and Dissent in the Waking World

'Historian Franny Nudelman explores the radical work of anti-war Vietnam veterans using sleep -- as a setting to understand the traumatic effects of violence on the human psyche, and as a weapon of direct action against the government that pushed them into the waking nightmare of warfare. Nudelman is the author of Fighting Sleep: The War for the Mind and the US Military from Verso.' -- This is He

YESTERDAY

Dollar Stores Continue to Boom as More Cities Implement Measures to Prevent Further Developments

'Forth Worth, Texas, has become the most recent city to pass an ordinance that will limit the number of dollar stores that can be developed. Birmingham, Tulsa, New Orleans, Kansas City, Oklahoma City, and Mesquite, Texas have all crafted policies that limit the number of dollar stores that can be developed. Kelly Allen Gray , a Councilmember for District 8 in Fort Worth, Texas who spearheaded the
'Busted in New York and Other Essays': A Conversation with Essayist Darryl Pinckney

'Author Darryl Pinckney joins us to discuss his new book of essays, Busted in New York and Other Essays. This segment is guest-hosted by Jenna Flanagan.' -- All Of It
An 'Ode' To Victims Of Gun Violence — From Alvin Ailey Dancers

' The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater , the dance company dedicated to African American culture premieres a new work Ode . Jamar Roberts , its first resident choreographer, says he was inspired by the deaths of Trayvon Martin and others.' -- Morning Edition
In 'Parker Looks Up,' A 2-Year-Old Shares A Moment With Michelle Obama

'In 2018, a photo of Parker Curry looking at a portrait of Michelle Obama went viral. Within a week, she got to meet the first lady. The experience has inspired a picture book — Parker Looks Up — written by Parker and her mom, Jessica Curry Morton , and illustrated by Brittany Jackson .' -- Weekend Edition Sunday
Solange - When I Get Home (Director's Cut)

The extended director’s cut of Solange ’s interdisciplinary performance art film When I Get Home . Directed Solange Knowles with contributing directors include Alan Ferguson , Terence Nance , Jacolby Satterwhite , and Ray Tintori.
Sophia Chang Speaks on the Process Of Creating Her Audible Memoir, 'The Baddest Bitch in the Room'

' Sophia Chang is a badass of the music industry. As the daughter of Korean immigrants in predominantly white suburban Vancouver, she grew up shunning the "model minority" myth. Armed with a fierce sense of independence, she 
NewBlackMan (in Exile)