Why are Republicans suddenly so obsessed with school choice?

Why are Republicans suddenly so obsessed with school choice?

School Choice Was the Main Policy Mentioned at Monday’s RNC. Why?

Almost every speaker mentioned school choice by name.

The first night of the Republican National Convention was extremely light on policy talk. The party put together no platform this year, opting instead to draft a simple resolution declaring its intent to support whatever Donald Trump decides he wants to do. So, instead of mounting an argument in favor of a sweeping policy agenda on Monday night, the convention’s cast members spent most of their time painting Trump as an empathetic leader who loves Black people—but will also keep Black people from moving to the suburbs where you, white voters, live.

One of the few exceptions was the topic of school choice, which was raised by almost every speaker on Monday’s docket. California public school teacher Rebecca Friedrichs, who has been fighting for years to prevent teachers unions from compelling members who oppose their union’s politics to pay union dues, appeared at the beginning of the evening. In her speech, Friedrichs accused teachers unions of “trapping so many precious, low-income children in dangerous, corrupt, and low-performing schools” by opposing policies that divert money from public schools to charter, private, and parochial schools. Friedrichs praised Trump for “empower[ing] kids to escape dangerous, low-performing schools” with a proposed tax credit program that would encourage funding for private and home-school education.

Trump himself showed up to promise he would “rescue kids from failing schools by helping their parents send them to a safe school of their choice.” Kim Klacik, a congressional candidate from Maryland, said Democrats have “neglected” Black voters, who “want school choice.” Two other Black Republicans, Georgia state Rep. Vernon Jones and South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, suggested that their party’s school choice policies could provide a counterweight to the racism and poverty that close off opportunities for children of color. Donald Trump Jr. agreed. “It is unacceptable that too many African American and Hispanic American children are stuck in bad schools, just because of their ZIP code,” he said in his Monday night speech. “Donald Trump will not stand for it. If Democrats really wanted to help minorities in underserved communities, instead of bowing to big money union bosses, they’d let parents choose what school is best for their kids.” On Tuesday morning, Trump Jr. followed up his speech with an op-ed on Fox News’ website, titled “President Trump defends school choice from attacks by Democrats and teachers’ unions.”

School choice wasn’t a major winning issue for Trump during his last campaign, and it hasn’t been a significant focus of his first term. Education isn’t a determinative issue for the vast majority of presidential voters. So what’s with this sudden emphasis on school choice?

The first reason is that party conventions—and, CONTINUE READING: Why are Republicans suddenly so obsessed with school choice?

Without Physical Connection to School - LA Progressive

Without Physical Connection to School - LA Progressive

Without Physical Connection to School

How Do Large School Districts Check On Kids During Virtual Learning?

Across the country, the school year is fast approaching or has already arrived. Some students will set foot in a classroom for the first time since mid-March, but for far more of America’s youth, the fall term will begin on a computer screen in their bedroom.

Virtual learning has academic limitations, and obvious devastating consequences for the social progress of children. But it also cuts kids off from a more personal relationship with teachers and other school staff, who are the largest source of reports to child protection hotlines in the country.

The vast majority of those reports, about 90% according to federal data, are not substantiated as abuse or neglect. But for many youth living with their parents or even with foster parents, school can be an oasis from turbulent times at home.

Virtual learning has academic limitations, and obvious devastating consequences for the social progress of children.

Keri Richmond, now a co-host of the FosterStrong podcast, entered foster care after a daycare worker reported suspected abuse in her father’s home. She was adopted at age 5, into a family where she would come to be abused by someone in the household.

Richmond chose never to talk to her teachers or school officials about what was happening. “I didn’t want to go back to foster care,” she said. “I was very involved in extracurriculars. I found rest and comfort and encouragement when I was at school.”

What she worries about most in the pandemic are kids like her “who may have similar tumultuous home lifestyles, but were finding some comfort” on campus.

“I saw one news article about teachers going around doing reading time in driveways,” Richmond CONTINUE READING: Without Physical Connection to School - LA Progressive

The Webinar You’ve Been Waiting For: Alison McDowell, Joseph Gonzalez, and Incite Seminars Present “Level-Up” – Wrench in the Gears

The Webinar You’ve Been Waiting For: Alison McDowell, Joseph Gonzalez, and Incite Seminars Present “Level-Up” – Wrench in the Gears

The Webinar You’ve Been Waiting For: Alison McDowell, Joseph Gonzalez, and Incite Seminars Present “Level-Up”

This past Saturday Joseph and I facilitated a 3.5 hour seminar about a possible future where the masses are forced to navigate a gamified militaristic panopticon as human capital impact commodities. This shift is being triggered by the mass immiseration resulting from the global response to Covid. We’re now living through Klaus Schwab and World Economic Forum’s “Great Reset.” The Davos billionaires want us to submit and become playable characters ruled by the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals, tiny dots in a real time horror show they call the “Internet of Bodies.”

This was a paid seminar, sliding scale. Joseph and I donated our services. Evidently this was one of the highest- grossing seminars yet. It is extremely heartening to know that even in difficult times, the mutual aid model resonates. Proceeds were split between Incite Seminars and food growing efforts on Lakota land in South Dakota. I am pleased to say we’ve been able to direct $500 so far to Chas Jewett of Cheyenne River Reservation. If you CONTINUE READING: The Webinar You’ve Been Waiting For: Alison McDowell, Joseph Gonzalez, and Incite Seminars Present “Level-Up” – Wrench in the Gears

NYC is not ready to open schools – It’s not just about testing | JD2718

NYC is not ready to open schools – It’s not just about testing | JD2718

NYC is not ready to open schools – It’s not just about testing

Mayor de Blasio insists schools will open for students September 10.

The UFT says not so fast.

The CSA (principals union) has called for a remote opening.

The UFT wants to open, but only if a safety checklist gets met.

Mulgrew:

We have a responsibility to try to reopen school buildings because the infection rate in New York City is so low.

OK, but…

I mean I would rather teach in a classroom than in a Zoom. It’s not even a close call. Face to face teaching is actual teaching. Zoom is a pale imitation.

But a “responsibility to reopen”? I don’t know. I think we met the “responsibility to try” and it didn’t work.

We had a “responsibility to try”, we did try,  and it did not work.

There are limits. When the UFT proposed “blended learning” it sounded tricky. After working with schedules for weeks, it was pretty clearly a mess. I am talking about programmers, schedulers. Not politicians. Not union officials.

We tried. Blended will not work.

Today? Blended learning creates more questions than answers. Who is teaching the students when they are at home? How do we maintain continuity if different parts (cohorts) in the same class get different in-person lessons? How do we maintain similar content for some classes that are occasionally in person (blended) and some that are fully remote? How do we prepare lessons that are remote for some students and in person for others?

These questions are exhausting. All-remote in the Spring was exhausting for teachers. Some nearly CONTINUE READING: NYC is not ready to open schools – It’s not just about testing | JD2718

Teachers Organize As States And Counties Conceal COVID-19 Outbreaks At Schools - PopularResistance.Org

Teachers Organize As States And Counties Conceal COVID-19 Outbreaks At Schools - PopularResistance.Org

TEACHERS ORGANIZE AS STATES AND COUNTIES CONCEAL COVID-19 OUTBREAKS AT SCHOOLS

Using the fraudulent pretext of “protecting medical privacy,” a growing number of states and school districts across the United States are deliberately concealing information from the public on COVID-19 outbreaks in schools that have reopened. These include the states of Maine, Virginia and Oklahoma, as well as Camden County, Georgia, and Orange County, Florida. In Tennessee, Louisiana, and many other states, the decision is left to each individual county, and an unknown number of county officials are concealing outbreaks in schools from the public.

Following an outbreak in Camden County in early August, Deputy Superintendent Jon Miller sent a districtwide email to administrators, writing, “Staff who test positive are not to notify any other staff members, parents of their students or any other person/entity that they may have exposed them.” The district has not publicly confirmed a single case, while the virus is raging throughout the state, and there have been rumors of infections at multiple schools.

This criminal policy of concealment has become the modus operandi across industries—including in logistics, auto, meatpacking, health care, and more—and serves as a primary mechanism for implementing the homicidal return-to-work campaign of the ruling class. If cases are concealed and no one knows whether their coworkers have been infected, the powers-that-be can justify reopening while the pandemic spreads even more rapidly.

The American ruling class, like its counterparts in Sweden and many other countries, is actively seeking to develop “herd immunity” based on infecting huge sections of the population, which will produce further mass deaths. Already, over 180,000 Americans have been killed as a result of this murderous policy. In Sweden, authorities deliberately kept schools open in pursuit of “herd immunity,” producing a per capita death rate nearly 10 times that of its neighbor, CONTINUE READING: Teachers Organize As States And Counties Conceal COVID-19 Outbreaks At Schools - PopularResistance.Org

Bill Phillis: Vouchers Fail in Ohio | Diane Ravitch's blog

Bill Phillis: Vouchers Fail in Ohio | Diane Ravitch's blog

Bill Phillis: Vouchers Fail in Ohio

Bill Phillis, founder of the Ohio Coalition for Adequacy and Equity and a vocal supporter of public schools, writes here about an investigation of vouchers by the Cincinnati Enquirer. The report echoed the findings of academic research: students in public schools get higher test scores than those in voucher schools. Vouchers don’t “save” children. They don’t “save” black children. Ohio officials shifted hundreds of millions of dollars away from public schools to support vouchers. Even with the loss of funding, the public schools were superior to the voucher schools. Why don’t Republican politicians in Ohio care about effectiveness and prudence? Why do they continue to fund failure?

Phillis writes:

Cincinnati Enquirer investigation confirms that vouchers do not enhance academic success

The voucher campaigners will have to change their pitch to entice students to their private school classrooms. Confirming what other studies have revealed, the Enquirer research indicates there is a definite public school advantage. “Yet five of the largest districts—Cincinnati, Toledo, Cleveland, Akron and Canton—fared better academically than their local private school rivals, by margins ranging from slight to decisive, according to CONTINUE READING: Bill Phillis: Vouchers Fail in Ohio | Diane Ravitch's blog

Teacher Tom: Why I Worry About "Loose Parts"

Teacher Tom: Why I Worry About "Loose Parts"

Why I Worry About "Loose Parts"

I suppose I'm happy that the concept of "loose parts" play has taken the early childhood world by storm these past few years. It seems like not a day goes by that I don't discover a website dedicated to loose parts play, or a loose parts workshop for teachers, or a new book that will help us better understand it. Of course, it's an idea that's been around since the advent of children, one that was once just implied in the standard understanding of play: when left to their own devices kids tend to pick up whatever is at hand and goof around with it. Then, over the course of modernization and commercialization, we came to understand the idea of "toys" manufactured specifically for children's play, and many of us adopted those things as the hub around which play necessarily revolved.

Children, of course, still continued to play with loose parts, some of which were these toys, broken, modified, or otherwise, but we adults lost sight of that amidst the bright colors, flashing lights, and annoying noises of those objects that came from toy stores. And as toys became cheaper and more prevalent and better marketed, our homes and classrooms have come to be overwhelmed with them. But even then, children continued their loose parts play. Who among us, for instance, hasn't joked that our kids prefer the boxes the toys came in over the toys themselves?

So yes, I'm please that there is a renewed focus on the open-endedness of things like rocks and sticks and pinecones, of toilet paper tubes and mint tins and yoghurt containers, of old tires and planks of wood and house gutters, but I worry that we are on the edge of turning those into just another commodity to be bought and sold. I worry that in our CONTINUE READING: Teacher Tom: Why I Worry About "Loose Parts"

Republican Plutocrats Hold a Convention that Fans Fear, Racism and Rage | janresseger

Republican Plutocrats Hold a Convention that Fans Fear, Racism and Rage | janresseger

Republican Plutocrats Hold a Convention that Fans Fear, Racism and Rage

Despite its sensational title, Jacob Hacker and Paul Pierson’s new book, Let Them Eat Tweets, is a basic and thorough examination of what we are watching in this week’s Republican Convention. Hacker is a respected professor of political science at Yale and Pierson at the University of California at Berkeley. Their new book, published on July 7, is important for its careful analysis of what has happened to today’s Republican Party.

Hacker and Pierson explain that Republicans have, for years now, been pursuing an agenda that promotes extreme economic inequality—a political strategy unlikely to be popular with voters. But they have figured out a way to win elections by divisively hyping rage, racism and fear: “This book is our answer to the ‘how’ question. As the GOP embraced plutocratic priorities, it pioneered a set of electoral appeals that were increasingly strident, alarmist, and racially charged.  Encouraging white backlash and anti-government extremism, the party outsourced voter mobilization to a set of aggressive and narrow groups: the National Rifle Association, the organized Christian right, the burgeoning industry of right-wing media. When and where that proved insufficient, it adopted a ruthless focus on altering electoral rules, maximizing the sway of its base and minimizing the influence of the rest of the electorate through a variety of anti-democratic tactics, from voter disenfranchisement to extreme partisan gerrymandering, to laws and practices opening the floodgates to big money… In short Republicans used white identity to defend wealth inequality.  They undermined democracy to uphold plutocracy.” (Let Them Eat Tweets, p. 4)

Hacker and Pierson remind us: “The tax cuts of 2017—passed after a presidential campaign in which the Republican standard-bearer suggested he would turn the GOP into a ‘worker’ CONTINUE READING: Republican Plutocrats Hold a Convention that Fans Fear, Racism and Rage | janresseger

Confessions of a Reformer (Part 5) | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

Confessions of a Reformer (Part 5) | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

Confessions of a Reformer (Part 5)

This series of posts is called “Confessions of a School Reformer,” a book I am now writing. Parts 1, 2, 3, and 4 describe my entry into classroom teaching beginning in 1955 and ending in 1972. So this post continues Part 4.

The King assassination

On April 4th, the murder of Martin Luther King, Jr. in Memphis (TN) where he was supporting sanitation workers’ demands for higher wages and better working conditions triggered explosive anger across the country. Civil unrest broke out in over 100 cities across the U.S. Protests, looting, fires swept the nation.

In Washington, D.C., the 14th St. business corridor, a few blocks from Roosevelt High School where I taught, was picked clean and burnt.  A news article described the scene.

As night fell, angry people began to pour from their houses into the streets. Headed by the black activist Stokely Carmichael, crowds surged along 14th Street, ordering businesses to close. Carmichael tried to keep control, but things quickly got out of hand. A rock was thrown through a store window. Then a trash can was hurled. Someone used lighter fluid to start a small fire in a tree. As firefighters doused it, someone in the crowd yelled, “We’ll just light it again!”[i]

Over four days of violent disturbances, 13 people died and damages or destruction occurred to nearly 1200 residential and commercial buildings. The President called in the National Guard. Just barely a 100 yards from our house, CONTINUE READING: Confessions of a Reformer (Part 5) | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

The devaluation of assets in black neighborhoods

The devaluation of assets in black neighborhoods

The devaluation of assets in black neighborhoods

The case of residential property

Homeownership lies at the heart of the American Dream, representing success, opportunity, and wealth. However, for many of its citizens, America deferred that dream. For much of the 20th century, the devaluing of black lives led to segregation and racist federal housing policy through redlining that shut out chances for black people to purchase homes and build wealth, making it more difficult to start and invest in businesses and afford college tuition. Still, homeownership remains a beacon of hope for all people to gain access to the middle class. Though homeownership rates vary considerably between whites and people of color, it’s typically the largest asset among all people who hold it.

If we can detect how much racism depletes wealth from black homeowners, we can begin to address bigotry principally by giving black homeowners and policymakers a target price for redress. Laws have changed, but the value of assets—buildings, schools, leadership, and land itself—are inextricably linked to the perceptions of black people. And those negative perceptions persist.

Through the prism of the real estate market and homeownership in black neighborhoods, this report attempts to address the question: What is the cost of racial bias? This report seeks to understand how much money majority-black communities are losing in the housing market stemming from racial bias, finding that owner-occupied homes in black neighborhoods are undervalued by $48,000 per home on average, amounting to $156 billion in cumulative losses.

In analyzing the devaluation of black homeownership, this report finds:

Majority-black neighborhoods hold $609 billion in owner-occupied housing assets and are home to approximately 10,000 public schools and over 3 million businesses. We find that in the average U.S. metropolitan area, homes in neighborhoods where the share of the population is 50 percent black are valued at roughly half the price as homes in neighborhoods with no black residents.

According to our analysis, differences in home and neighborhood quality do not fully explain the devaluation of homes in black neighborhoods. Homes of similar quality in neighborhoods with similar amenities are worth 23 percent less ($48,000 per home on average, amounting to $156 billion in cumulative losses) in majority black neighborhoods, compared to those with very few or no black residents.

In U.S. metropolitan areas, 10 percent of neighborhoods are majority black, and they are home to 41 percent of the black population living in metropolitan areas and 37 percent of the U.S. black population. Though most residents are black (14.4 million non-Hispanic blacks) by definition, approximately 5 million non-black Americans live in majority black neighborhoods.

Metropolitan areas with greater devaluation of black neighborhoods are more segregated and produce less upward mobility for the black children who grow up in those communities. This analysis finds a positive and statistically significant correlation between the devaluation of homes in black neighborhoods and upward mobility of black children in metropolitan areas with majority black neighborhoods.

CONTINUE READING: The devaluation of assets in black neighborhoods

PDK Poll: Majority of Public Wants Greater Federal Support for Education

PDK Poll: Majority of Public Wants Greater Federal Support for Education

Poll: Majority of Public Wants Greater Federal Support for Education

The U.S. general public is sharply divided over most public policy issues, including education. Still, according to the just-released 2020 PDK International Poll of the Public’s Attitudes Toward the Public Schools, a strong majority say they want the federal government to take on more active role in helping school districts hire and retain quality teachers, make college more affordable, and fight discrimination in school.

“Americans tend to agree that we need to support our public schools,” said Josh Starr, CEO of PDK International “Right now, we’re all struggling to respond to the coronavirus. But even in the midst of the immediate crisis, we can’t afford to lose sight of our long-term goals and commitments. Public education is the cornerstone of our democracy.”

The PDK survey, now in its 52nd year, is conducted annually to gauge the general public’s opinions on a variety of issues affecting public education. More than one thousand adults, including 206 parents of children in K-12 public schools, were surveyed this year.  It’s important to note that the survey was conducted back in March, just as the nation’s schools began to close down due to the coronavirus pandemic. Accordingly, rather than “revealing immediate reactions to the pandemic,” Starr said, the survey “sheds light on gradual changes in Americans’ beliefs and attitudes about the public schools.”

Because the survey was conducted during COVID-19’s earlier stages, when asked to name the most pressing issue facing public schools, only 5 percent of the public (and 6 percent of parents) named the pandemic. School funding, bullying, and substance abuse were the top three. The percentage  for funding was only half of what is was in last year’s survey – 13% compared to 27%. Obviously, as schools face crippling budget cuts from the recent economic collapse, concerns over funding have grown exponentially since March.

“There’s no doubt that the coronavirus pandemic has thrown public education into a tailspin, but we can’t lose sight of what’s important to parents and the public in the long term, and that’s having a quality teacher in a great school for every child,” said Starr.

A slim majority of respondents say they disapprove of President Trump’s performance in the area of education policy. Looking head to the election, six in 10 respondents said education will be “extremely or very important” in deciding how to vote, including a quarter who call it “extremely important.” Among parents, that number rises to 7 in 10. For communities of color, education will especially important as they cast their vote.  Seventy-nine percent of Black and 71% of Latino respondents said it was highly important issue, compared to 52% of white respondents.

Additional highlights from the 2020 PDK survey: CONTINUE READING: PDK Poll: Majority of Public Wants Greater Federal Support for Education