Why a Threatened Teacher Walkout Points the Way to Reverse America’s Underfunded Public Services In the early morning of February 26, a chill hung in the air as a line of teachers and school support staffers clad in bright red union hats, jackets or some combination thereof stood on a busy street corner outside of Highland Park Middle School in St. Paul, Minnesota. As cars sped past, some with h
A Teacher on Classroom Praise (Steven Singer) “Steven Singer is an 8th grade Language Arts teacher in western Pennsylvania. He is a Nationally Board Certified Teacher and has an MAT from the University of Pittsburgh. He is Director of the Research and Blogging Committee for the Badass Teachers Association…. He ran a successful campaign through Moveon.org against the since repealed Voter ID law i
An experienced educator shares thoughts on Restorative Practices in SFUSD As you may have heard there has been a LOT of discussion surrounding school safety and district implementation of its Safe and Supportive Schools Policy . For the record, Restorative Practices (one of the main focuses of this resolution) was originally piloted in 2009. Later, in 2016, an official policy was drafted and ult
“Teachers Are Being Vilified” in Providence, Says American Federation of Teachers’ Weingarten American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten will be in Providence on Saturday for a "Strengthening Local Public Schools" community event at the Juanita Sanchez Education complex -- and said that she believes Providence teachers are being "vilified" in the state takeover of Providence publ
AMERICAN FEDERATION OF TEACHERS CELEBRATE PUBLIC SCHOOLS WEEK 2020 BY RANDI WEINGARTEN Public Schools Week AFT President Weingarten: "We need strong public schools now more than ever...Our public schools are not simply places of opportunity but also places where we can embrace our diversity and forge a common identity." Photo: Facebook In honor of Public Schools Week, a national celebration dedi
US schools rushing to update emergency plans for coronavirus Multiple school systems are taking advanced precautions in the event of an outbreak. Story at a glance U.S. schools are preparing for prolonged closures due to COVID-19. This follows news of the first case of community spread in the U.S. With the first case of community spread detected in the U.S., schools across the country are taking
First woman of color elected to lead L.A.'s largest teachers union The L.A. teachers union has elected the first woman of color, Cecily Myart-Cruz, to lead the organization, part of a familiar and experienced team that will include outgoing union President Alex Caputo-Pearl, who was elected as a vice president. “I’m proud of the way we have worked with members to create a union that is inclusive
File This in the Department of “Some People Never Learn” Say this for Eric Hanushek: He never gives up on his obsession with paying teachers more if their students get higher test scores. Arne Duncan built this concept into the requirements of his disastrous Race to the Top” program, which caused almost every state to adopt a teacher evaluation plan in which student test scores played a signific
Grassroots Education Network- February 2020 Newsletter The NPE Grassroots Education Network is a network of over 140 grassroots organizations nationwide who have joined together to preserve, promote, improve, and strengthen our public schools. If you know of a group that would like to join this powerful network, please go here to sign on. If you have any questions about the NPE Grassroots Educat
Council hearings on class size so overcrowded that scores of parents and advocates are turned away Today, from 10 AM to 3:45 PM, the City Council Education Committee held hearings on class size at City Hall. So many people showed up to testify that it was standing room only in the Committee hearing room. It was so overcrowded that City Hall guards did not allow many of the parents and advocates
What Ever Happened To AltSchool? You remember AltSchool, the miraculous Silicon Valley technoschool that was going to Change the Game. We've checked in on them from time to time, and it's time to see what has happened since the Altschool ship ran aground on the shores of reality a while ago. After two years of tinkering and tweaking, AltSchool burst on the scene with a flurry of PR in 2015 . Fou
NewBlackMan (in Exile) Afro-Feminist Resistance in Brazil's Carnival by Mark Anthony Neal / 3d 'In Southern Brazil, the all women's carnival block Cores de Aide is marching for political resistance and in defense of women, who have been particularly under attack during the far-right presidency of Jair Bolsonaro.' -- The Real News Network Poor People's Campaign: How Rev. William J. Barber Uses Hi
Education Research Report THIS WEEK Education Research Report Adequate sleep can help teens navigate challenging social situations by Jonathan Kantrowitz / 1d A new Michigan State University study found that a good night's sleep does adolescents good -- beyond helping them stay awake in class. . The study, which focused on ninth grade students, found that adequate sleep allowed students to cope w
Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... | The latest news and resources in education since 2007 This Week With Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... The latest news and resources in education since 2007 What Another Group Of Our Teachers Learned About Teaching ELLs by Larry Ferlazzo / 17min I’ve been sharing posts about the professional development sessions we’ve been doing with all our teacher
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 Order NOW File This in the Department of “Some People Never Learn” by dianeravitch / 24min Say this for Eric Hanushek: He neve
Four especially testy moments when Betsy DeVos testified on Capitol Hill At a hearing Thursday on Capitol Hill, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos was asked a question: Should a charter school receiving federal funding be allowed to lease a jet? The Democratic legislator who posed the question — after a charter chain backed off plans to spend millions on a private jet — asked her for a “yes” or “no
6 Things To Know About The Trump-DeVos Education Freedom Plan As expected, Trump used a chunk of his State of the Union Address to plug a voucher-style program that Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos has been pushing for months under the name “Education Freedom.” The Houston Chronicle reports that Ted Cruz pitched the plan to Trump ; Cruz has taken the lead on trying to turn DeVos’s dream into a
Schools And Other Shared Public Spaces One of my first jobs in education was minding the cassette player. The actual job was assistant marching band director, and my duties included chaperoning the freshman/sophomore bus to away games. It was the mid-80s, and the "good" schoolbuses in our district had built-in cassette players, and the students brought their favorite music, vying for control of
2020 Medley #6: Public Schools Week PUBLIC SCHOOLS FOR THE PUBLIC GOOD Public Schools Week ends today, though for ninety percent of American schoolchildren the celebration of public education takes place every day during their local school year. Why do the vast majority of our K-12 students choose public schools? Because public schools don’t choose their students. Every child has a place in publ
CDE Currents: February 2020 The Monthly Newsletter for the California Department of Education. Be Prepared (Emergency Info) The Value of Art Education Stephanie Farland CDE Press Online Store Recognizing Exceptional Schools Event Innovating for Equity Summit Closing Achievement Gap Panel Discussion Be Prepared (Emergency Info) As the situation with the 2019 novel coronavirus (COVID-19) unfolds,
Hechinger Report Criticized by Scholars for Bending to Trolls The Hechinger Report invited two eminent scholars to write about how public schools might respond if the Supreme Court rules in favor of the plaintiffs in the Espinoza v. Montana case. In this case, rightwing libertarians seek to eliminate Montana’s constitutional prohibition on spending public money for tuition in religious schools.
Bloomberg Defends His NYC Education Legacy: Here is What He Neglects to Mention In Tuesday night’s debate, Mike Bloomberg defended his education legacy in New York City. He was the city’s mayor, and the state-appointed leader of the city’s schools for over a decade from 2002 until 2013. In Tuesday’s debate, he repeated his support for charter schools—and by extension the imposition of universal
How Do High Expectations Change A Classroom Teachers know that expectations matter. They know that having high expectations in a classroom can both support (“I know you can do this”) and spur (“I’m not going to accept your bare minimum effort”) students. The power of teacher expectations is part of every college’s Teacher 101. But modern education reform has weaponized the term. “The soft bigotr
One-Time, Two-Year Teacher Jessica Baghian Wants to Be LA’s Next State Superintendent Jessica Tucker Baghian wants to be Louisiana’s next state superintendent. No surprise here. According to the February 27, 2020, Advocate , Baghian, who currently holds a state assistant superintendent position, officially applied for the state superintendent job being vacated by John White effective March 11, 2
Testing dust-up at CPS misses the point. SCHULER : “I think it would basically be naive to not mention the possibility of cheating or gaming,” Schuler said. “I think we’ve been pretty fair that it’s in the mix, we can’t quantify it. ... I think what we reported is very measured.” BOARD MEMBER SOTELO: “If you can’t [prove it], don’t make those assertions. Because now you are taking away the credi
Paid Lunch Equity: Guidance for School Year 20–21 Nutrition Services Division Management Bulletin Purpose : Policy, Action Required, Beneficial Information To : All School Nutrition Program Sponsors Attention : Food Service Directors, School Business Officials Number : SNP-10-2020 Date : February 2020 Reference : Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010, Section 205; Title 7, Code of Federal Regula
Education in the Age of Globalization » Blog Archive » What If Schools Are Closed for More than a Year Due to the New Coronavirus (COVID-19)? What If Schools Are Closed for More than a Year Due to the New Coronavirus (COVID-19)? The outbreak of the new Coronavirus (COVID-19) has already forced schools and universities to close in China. It has also resulted in increased difficulties for internati
Rep. Mark Pocan Questions Betsy DeVos on the Charter Schools Program Rep. Mark Pocan Questions Betsy DeVos on the Charter Schools Program - Network For Public Education
Project-Based Learning, #4 I am convinced that the very best schools ask the right question, “ How Is Each Child Intelligent? ” Moreover, the educators in these schools follow through by allowing students more control over what they are learning. Very often, this means project-based learning , where teams of students work together to create–not spit back–knowledge. You can find the first three p
Bloomberg’s Autocracy In Flower: What His Political Spending Tells Us About His Candidacy Donations to IECs are not capped and their funds are not, by law, under control of the candidate themselves. Consequently the enormous heaps of resources controlled by IECs fund the negative , nasty, dirty campaigning which has become standard operating procedure in LAUSD board races in this era of Public S
Human Capital Futures: Racial Capitalism on Blockchain – A Presentation Given at the Unitarian Society of Germantown I was grateful to be invited to participate in a day-long conversation about race and technology last week at the Unitarian Society of Germantown in Philadelphia. The morning’s discussion was centered on Clyde Ford’s wonderful memoir Think Black , which touches on family, corporat
NEA President: Public Schools are the Cornerstone of our Communities On Wednesday, the Learning First Alliance brought together a panel of educators and parents to discuss the pursuit of excellence in America’s public schools and how lawmakers and communities can support public education. The panel, “Faces of Success,” was moderated by Lily Eskelsen GarcÃa, president of the National Education As
City Council Hearings on Friday, Feb. 28 to feature testimony from elected and education leaders on need to lower class size in NYC public schools Media Advisory FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE February 27, 2020 CONTACT: Leonie Haimson, leoniehaimson@gmail.com ; 917-435-9329 City Council Hearings on Friday, Feb. 28 to feature testimony from elected and education leaders on need to lower class size in NYC
On Private Schools and Discrimination: Response to Hechinger Report Editorial Note Original Op Ed Preston C. Green III I am writing this post to alert my fellow professors about a situation I recently encountered after publishing a piece with the Hechinger Institute. This organization approached Bruce Baker and me to write an op-ed explaining the possible consequences of the Espinoza v. Montana
Standards in K-12 Education: A Reader Recently, Gerald Coles confronted the newest round of the Reading War that once again centers phonics instruction. One of Coles’s points is how keeping the education reform gaze on an instructional practice (phonics) allows reform to ignore the more substantial and causal elements surrounding teaching and learning—socio-economic, racial, and gender inequitie
The Coronavirus Could Be A Big Moneymaker for EdTech Companies There is a special place in Hell for people who cash in on tragedy. But that place is reserved for the super rich – and that’s all that matters in Donald Trump’s America. Federal officials are urging schools to prepare for possible disruptions due to the coronavirus – a disease that originated in China last month and has affected mor
Whatever Happened to Behavioral Objectives? (Second Time Around) With much interest on the part of school reformers, district administrators, and boards of education in “competency-based learning” or “outcome-based education” (also Common Core curriculum standards), wannabe reformers and school people should consider that these “innovations” depend heavily upon the introduction of behavioral obj
Bloomberg's education record; important for voters to know! The Indypendent just published a piece I wrote, called Michael Bloomberg's Disastrous Public Education Legacy . For those of you who live outside NYC or don't send your kids to public schools, you may be unaware of how destructive and arrogant his policies really were. If you are interested in learning more, you can check out this artic
Editorial : Yes on Prop. 13 Last week, we wrote about some confusion about what is, and isn’t, on the ballot in the ongoing spring primary ballot that closes next Tuesday.*** But let’s be clear: if you care about public education, you should vote yes on State Measure 13 or Prop 13 . As we noted last week , Prop 13 is a statewide bond measure that will raise $15 bllion to use for immediate costs
LAUSD School Board Candidate Silke Bradford: An ‘F’ on Charter School Oversight LAUSD School Board Candidate Silke Bradford: An ‘F’ on Charter School Oversight “Sexual abuse allegations are not something that can shut down a charter…under the law.” - LAUSD Board District 7 candidate Silke Bradford The North Valley Military Institute (NVMI) is one of the rare cases where a charter school’s renewal
Career And Technical Education Deserves A Resurgence. Let’s Not Mess It Up. Amidst all his slashing of the education budget, Donald Trump has proposed an e normous spending increase for one area —career and technical education. The Trump budget includes an increase of $900 million in spending on CTE. Of that, $680 million would be directed through the Carl D. Perkins program , the main conduit f
Standardized testing problems widespread in these New Orleans-area schools, report finds Public schools in Orleans and Jefferson parishes saw widespread irregularities with standardized testing last year, and many schools were forced to void the results of high-stakes exams for reasons ranging from administrative errors to cheating. An annual Louisiana Department of Education report found that i
Charter school politics still in play in LA Unified school board elections Pivotal races in Districts 3 and 7 likely to shape how board deals with charter schools. he majority of Los Angeles Unified school board seats are up for grabs next week, a pivotal election that will shape how the state’s largest school district approaches several key challenges. The next school board will have to grapple
Tell the House: No more funding for charter entrepreneurs. Fund Title I instead. Tomorrow February 27, Betsy DeVos defends her budget before the House Appropriations sub-committee led by Rosa DeLauro. This year, DeVos took the funding for the Charter Schools Program out of her budget and put it in a block grant. Our job is to make sure that the nearly half billion dollars to start up new charter
Public Education: a Love Story This is a very personal story. There are a thousand reasons to admire and support public education—beginning with the idea itself: a free, high-quality public good, offered to all children, a societal building block. There are community schools, with wraparound services and creative magnet schools to nurture special talents and interests. There are new pilot progra
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: Surprise, Surprise: Study Finds That Relationships Promote Perseverance & Cash Bonuses Do Not by Larry Ferlazzo / 11h I thought that new – and veteran – readers might find it
Songs of Innocence, Songs of Experience I am deeply indebted to the academic and personal kindness and mentoring afforded me during my undergraduate education by one of my English professors, Dr. Nancy Moore. Dr. Moore combined an admirable ability to challenge students academically while also being sincerely supportive and encouraging. I probably did not need or even deserve her praise, but Dr.
AFT Prez Weingarten Signals Support for Sanders over Moderates as Field Narrows Last week, the American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten signaled that their union would likely support Senator Sanders if the primary field were to narrow if Warren or Biden dropped out due to poor showing. On Thursday, last week, the union voted to encourage its members to vote for either Vice Pres
Ohio: Who Is Writing Education Policy? Not Educators. Joel Malin and Kathleen Knight-Abowitz of Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, write here about the forces determining education policy in Ohio. Ohio education policy is a train wreck. It is not benefiting students or teachers or society. So who is it benefiting? In our view, it pays to start asking larger questions about EdChoice to understand
Is the NYC School System Idling in Neutral? Have you ever coached a kid sports team? a dance group? a band or orchestra? Kids vary widely in talent and the effort they put into getting better. As a coach, you try and hone your coaching skills; maybe you use the camera on your phone to show the kids their footwork or instrument fingering. You may take a coaching course; what are the most effectiv
Michael Bloomberg’s Disastrous Public Education Legacy As of mid-February, Michael Bloomberg has spent over $400 million on his presidential campaign, including blanketing the air waves with ads and is on track to spend more than a billion dollars. As a result, he has risen sharply in the polls, and in turn, begun to receive critical attention regarding his record on certain issues, such as raci
Stalemate: Ohio’s Senate and House Reach Impasse on EdChoice Vouchers According to what is logical, what is constitutional, and what is moral, you would think members of Ohio’s legislature could come together to resolve Ohio’s voucher crisis and provide some relief for school districts going broke because that same legislature (in the final hours of the budget conference committee last summer) s
State Level Educational Outcomes of Foster Youth Students in foster care represent one of the most vulnerable and academically at-risk student groups enrolled in California schools. The California Department of Education (CDE) monitors the educational outcomes for foster youth and partners with multiple state agencies and non-profit organizations to ensure these students receive the supports and
Unannounced Active Shooter Drills Scaring Students Without Making Them Safer Although they account for only 0.2 percent of the approximately 36,000 annual gun deaths in the United States, school shootings have traumatized the nation and driven much of the gun violence debate. While the public has demanded action from lawmakers to protect students, school districts have too often resorted to meas
Mike Bloomberg was in charge of the country’s largest public school district. Here are 8 key questions for him. Mike Bloomberg, the former New York mayor, recently showed up for the first time on a debate stage with other leading candidates for the Democratic presidential nomination, and there were exactly no questions asked of him about education. It seems like a subject ripe for exploration, g
At the World Zionist Congress, election is a family affair Running as delegates to the World Zionist Congress is a family affair for a handful of American Jewish activists and leaders, with immediate family members and spouses running on opposing slates. At least three are from the Ellenson family, and two are a married couple : American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten and Rabb
Montana and the Wall Between Church and State Sarah Vowell is a fave of mine, with a fabulous grasp of US history and that special gift of being able to illuminate big ideas with the perfect specific detail, plus she has the gift of balance, of being able to recognize the god and the not-so-good, and most of, the gift of recognizing the humanity of the people she writes about. Her writing about
The More Things Change … As I have previously recommended Jeff McQuillan’s work on reading from the 1990s , I want to highlight briefly another example of the more things change, the more they stay the same. In 2007, the Thomas B. Fordham Institute released Whole-Language High Jinks: How to Tell When “Scientifically-Based Reading Instruction” Isn’t by Louisa Moats. This report includes on the co
Education Law Center Challenges Charter Expansion in New Jersey The Education Law Center is suing in New Jersey Supreme Court to challenge the negative effects of charter schools on public schools in Newark. ELC is asking the court to review the fiscal impact and segregating effects of charters on public schools. The bottom line is whether the state can afford to support two different school sys
Dehesa says Inspire charter schools corporation appears to be skirting transparency laws If the Inspire schools fail to remedy several issues, Dehesa says it may consider revoking the schools’ charters The Dehesa School District says a corporation that has been managing the Inspire charter schools across California appears to have been skirting transparency and conflict of interest laws. Dehesa
Call for Federal Charter Transparency Law We've been here before. For instance, in 2015 while Congress was wrestling with what would eventually become ESSA, Sherrod Brown introduced the Charter School Accountability Act , which had some modest goals-- require greater charter transparency, mandate some reporting from charter authorizers, and compel charter operators to talk to the community befor
TFA Is Expanding Its “Pipeline of Philanthropists.” Interested? Teacher temp org, Teach for America (TFA), is adding two “leadership gifts officers,” or fundraisers focused on enlisting more “seven- and eight-figure” philanthropic donors, or “ensur[ing] that Teach For America’s pipeline of philanthropists is ever-expanding and increasingly diverse.” Interestingly, TFA’s corresponding “VP, Leader
A very odd visit to a Shanghai preschool Would you believe… A class of twenty or so 2-year olds in Shanghai who are bilingual, AND reading, BOTH in Mandarin Chinese AND in English? Who, at circle time, understand and read the days of the week and of the month? Yes, two year olds. Is this for real ? My wife taught pre-school for about four decades. She tells me she has had some two-year olds who
LAUSD District 3 Endorsement — Lifetime Educator Scott Schmerelson I know this for you is personal.” – Marilyn Koziatek For a person asking for votes, LAUSD School Board candidate Marilyn Koziatek does not seem very willing to share information about her views with potential constituents. She was the only person running in Board District 3 to not answer the questionnaire that I sent out so that
The Dallas Model Episode 2: Who is Behind the Corporate Education Reform Agenda in Dallas Share this: The Dallas Model Episode 2: Who is Behind the Corporate Education Reform Agenda in Dallas | tultican
What Even One Day Bears: Charters Scrimmage For Majority Control Of The LAUSD Board In reports downloaded from LA City Ethics Commission records posted between 2/20/20 and 2/21/20 – just 24 hours – the California Charter School Association (CCSA) lobby anted up nearly ¾ of a million more dollars in the LAUSD board District 3 race. Despite being one of the most visible forces in school board lobb
Who’s Behind America’s Superintendents and School Transformation? The School Superintendents Association (AASA) recently met in San Diego. Superintendents from around the country gathered to discuss what they saw as important to school leadership and public education. The future of education was a prominent theme of the meeting, with the overall focus on one word, transformation. They saluted di
Lessons for Americans, From a Chinese Classroom )Perri Klass, M.D.) “Perri Klass is a pediatrician who writes fiction and non-fiction. She writes about children and families, about medicine, about food and travel, and about knitting. Her newest book is a novel, The Mercy Rule (Families! Children! Doctors! Pediatrics! Private schools! Crazy parents! Baseball!), and the book before that was a work
The Education Reform Movement Has Failed America. We Need Common Sense Solutions That Work. The education reform movement that started with George W. Bush’s No Child Left Behind law is dead. It died because every strategy it imposed on the nation’s schools has failed. From Bush’s No Child Left Behind to Obama’s Race to the Top to Bill Gates’ Common Core State Standards to Trump’s push for school
Democratic candidates seek a big and unprecedented K-12 funding boost Democratic presidential candidates are proposing new approaches to the federal government’s role in public education. Former Vice President Joe Biden and Sen. Bernie Sanders want to triple the US$15 billion spent annually on Title I , a program that sends extra federal dollars to school districts that educate a high percentage
Will Bloomberg’s Municipal Technocrats Undermine A Progressive Presidency? Pointed critiques of Bloomberg’s egregious behavior and the damaging policies he advanced as mayor of New York have filled media feeds for months. Many progressives are heartened by the results of the Nevada primary. Bernie Sanders’s star is rising, and Bloomberg, despite deep pockets and support from centrist insiders, s
New York Times: The Failure of Michael Bloomberg’s Choice Program in New York City This article appeared in the New York Times in 2017. It evaluated Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s legacy in high school admission. Mayor Bloomberg eliminated zoned high schools and instituted a policy of citywide choice. Students could apply to any high school in the city. This was supposed to reduce racial segregation,
DEMAND CHARTER TRANSPARENCY: Tell Your Representative to Cosponsor the COAT Act The Network for Public Education's Asleep at the Wheel report has exposed the waste and fraud of the federal Charter Schools Program (CSP). Washington has taken note. Michigan Representative Rashida Tlaib is introducing the Charter Oversight, Accountability, and Transparency (COAT) Act- -"commonsense legislation that
Billionaire Power? Two Decades of Education Policy Are a Cautionary Tale Anand Giridharadas’s NY Times analysis of the recent Democratic candidates’ debate is the week’s most provocative commentary. Giridharadas, author of the recent best seller about the role of venture philanthropy, Winners Take All: The Elite Charade of Changing the World , devotes his recent column to The Billionaire Electio
Amazon Is Coming To A School Near You | OurFuture.org by People's Action Amazon Is Coming To A School Near You This is the second of a two-part article by Jeff Bryant on Career and Technical Education (CTE). Click here to read part one. The national discussion about the movement to privatize America’s public schools has mostly focused on the issues of charter schools and school voucher schemes. B
DOING TOO MUCH IS NOT ENOUGH Last week, I had the privilege of doing a mini-residency as part of the Las Vegas Public Education Foundation Teacher Leadership Academy. It’s a solid chunk of time where I get to flex my pedagogical skills while building community with educators who I might not otherwise have a chance to work with. It’s weirder when I’m usually the only “current classroom teacher” f
Those Third-Grade Punishment Laws STATES RETAIN THIRD-GRADERS Michigan joined the Third-grade Punishment Club in 2016 during the administration of Rick, “ let-them-drink-lead ,” Snyder. The 2019-2020 school year is the first year that third graders can be retained-in-grade for failing a state reading test. Fewer than half the states in the US have laws that force the retention of third-graders w
SEN. GILLIBRAND’S PRESS CONFERENCE TODAY ABOUT HER BILL TO CREATE A DATA PROTECTION AGENCY This afternoon I spoke at a press conference in NYC to support Sen. Gillibrand’s new bill to create a new federal agency specifically devoted toward protecting privacy, called the Data Protection Agency. The bill is posted here ; more about it is here. The statement I gave is below; and below that is the p
CURMUDGUCATION: ICYMI: So Long, February Edition (2/22) So Long, February Edition (2/22) A reminder that you can help amplify the voices that you think need to be heard. Go to the original post and share with your network. Do your part to make sure folks are heard whose message speaks to you. Now for this week's list. Borrowing a Literacy Strategy from Band An interesting notion from Edutopia. Af
Charter School Forces Pour Money Into L.A. Elections About $3.5 million worth of attack mailers have targeted Jackie Goldberg and other LAUSD school board members. With majority control of Los Angeles Unified’s school board hanging in the balance , it has surprised no one that a flood of outside privatization money has put March 3’s Super Tuesday election on target to smash LAUSD’s 2017 record a
Blue Serials (2/22/20): Teacher Quality Edition We’re going to keep things simple this week , my Eleven Faithful Followers (#11FF). As much as I enjoy our time together and the hours you no doubt spend giggling over every clever phrase and admiring my poignant insights, I’m hoping you’ll take the time to actually go read and follow at least a few of this week’s featured players. Some you’re no d
California students who sued the state because they can’t read just won $53 million for troubled schools A group of students and teachers just won $53 million from California in a first-of-its-kind lawsuit arguing the state had not done enough to ensure students learned how to read. The settlement last week in Ella T. v. State of California, accepted by Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Ru
Book Tour Reaches Charleston, West Virginia: Meeting the Teachers Who Lit a Fire I wanted to go to Charleston, West Virginia, to thank the leaders of the Red4Ed Teachers Strike of 2018. Jay O’Neal of the NEA local and Fred Albert of the AFT local made it happen. I spoke on February 22, the second anniversary of the strike. The teachers themselves were amazed by what they had done. They were outr
The U.S. granted free tuition before, and it can do it again A 2019 survey shows 60 percent of Americans want tuition-free public colleges and universities When Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Pramila Jayapal submitted joint bills for the College for All Act in Congress last June, it sparked joy among the nearly 20 million attending or planning to attend public universities and colleges, not to men
EdAction in Congress February 23, 2020 Make higher education more affordable and accessible Members of the NEA Board of Directors met with lawmakers earlier this month and urged them to reauthorize the Higher Education Act (HEA) and address the urgent need to make college more affordable and accessible. The College Affordability Act (H.R. 4674), a comprehensive reauthorization of the law, cleare
Black Children Are Twice As Likely To Die By Suicide Than White Children 'Over the past decade suicide attempts among Black children rose 92%. The increase includes elementary aged children, some as young as 5 — and experts aren’t entirely sure why. We sat down with two mothers to hear their stories and how their sons’ suicides impacted their lives.' -- AJ+ Black Children Are Twice As Likely To
The complexity of seeking safe and orderly schools The complexity of seeking safe and orderly schools N othing in education is more complex than the quest for safe and orderly schools. However, the last two Oklahoma City Public School District board meetings have seemed to focus on simplistic and quick fixes, implicitly blaming teachers. The district would benefit from learning from the evidence-
Betsy DeVos is trying to buy herself a second term The worst cabinet secretary in U.S. history wants another shot at wrecking our schools — help us stop her If you were in need of a perfect metaphor for how the Department of Education operates when it’s being run by the nation’s foremost opponent to public education, check out this post by Eclectablog’s Mitchell Robinson . You’ll learn that a Be
INTERNATIONAL MARCH OF LIVING: SOLIDARITY AND REMEMBRANCE WITH MY JEWISH BROTHERS AND SISTERS I was honored to be asked by Professor David Machlis to join the College of Education Deans’ mission to Poland for the annual International March of the Living to visit historically significant holocaust sites with survivors and citizens from around the world in April of 2020. The march is at the same t
Audrey Watters: Is Our Democracy for Sale to the Highest Spender? Audrey Watters asks the question that we should all be asking: is our democracy for sale to the candidate with the most billions? Apparently our schools sold out years ago when money was dabbled before them. People who take money from that powerful education foundation — you know the one, the one that turns 20 years old this year
Stop overcrowding schools and classrooms Save our city: Stop overcrowding schools and classrooms Mayor de Blasio says he wants to save the city. As someone who’s spent years fighting ridiculous crowds at my workplace, I have a great idea. How about, instead of gallivanting around the country running for president or supporting your favorite candidates, you figure out a way to accommodate the thou
TX’s Kauffman Leadership Academy to Close with One Week’s Notice to Parents The Texas Education Agency (TEA) will be closing the Kauffman Leadership Academy (KLA) (Cleburne) charter school with one week’s notice, as reported in WFAA.com . In this February 13, 2020, letter to KLA leadership, TEA cites, “the [closure] order was issued as a result of the financial situation at the charter school ha
Choosing Democracy: SCUSD Not Insolvent- It Just Can't Count SCUSD Not Insolvent- It Just Can't Count Sacramento City Unified says due to its own financial crisis it will need to lay off 100 certificated employees ( teachers, counselors, etc). for 2020/2021. The district predicts a shortfall of $ 28 million dollars for next year. This is their fiscal recovery plan. Recall that the district predic
Big Education Ape TOP POSTS THIS WEEK 2/22/20 ‘Slaying Goliath’: Diane Ravitch argues in new book that public education advocates have beat back efforts to privatize schools - The Washington Post The real story of New
