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Saturday, April 23, 2022

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 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




Florida: Which Was the Only Publisher to Win the K-5 Math Textbook Market?
Only one publisher met all of Florida’s requirements for K-5 math textbooks . The winner was Houston-based Accelerate Learning. The Carlyle Group, a global investment firm, acquired Accelerate Learning on Dec. 20, 2018, according to the firm’s website. During that time, Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin was the co-CEO of the firm. After 25 years with the company, Youngkin resigned in 2020 to run for o
Ron DeSantis’ Abuse of Government Power to Impose His Hatreds Is Dangerous
Yesterday, the Florida Legislature passed legislation enacting Governor DeSantis’ personal vendetta against the Disney corporation, dissolving the special district status it enjoys, where it supplies all its own services, such as security and sanitation. Disney is a huge economic boon to the state, drawing millions of tourists to Florida every year. DeSantis wanted to punish Disney for criticizin
Florida Officials Reveal Why They Rejected Math Textbooks
Allie Pitchon of The Miami Herald reported that state officials told some publishers of math textbooks why the state would not buy their books. The initial announcement said that some math books were too “woke,” contained “critical race theory,” or included concepts from Common Core, which Governor Ron DeSantis turned against because former President Obama endorsed it. Former Florida Governor Jeb
Florida: Who Selects Textbooks?
The Miami Herald says that districts have the final say over which textbooks are used in their classrooms. However, Governor Ron DeSantis is trying to compel all districts to adopt only the textbooks approved by the state. Sommer Brugal writes that under current law, the districts will decide. Despite the chatter among district leaders about the announcement, and confusion about why certain title

APR 21

Today at 2:30 PM EST: South Carolina “Anti-Truth” Town Hall
This should be a fascinating event, and it starts in only 2 1/2 hours! Educators and concerned citizens in South Carolina are holding a Town Hall zoom at Furman University about the new legislative mandates that criminalize teaching the truth about race and gender. I asked for and received permission for readers of this blog to join the zoom. To register for the zoom, sign in here: https://furman
AFT Endorses Regulatory Reform of Federal Charter Schools Program
The American Federation of Teachers released the following statement about the U.S. Department of Education’s proposals to reform the federal Charter Schools Program, which grants $440 million annually to open or expand charter schools. Authorized in 1994, when there were a small number of charter schools, the CSP has never been reformed in its nearly three decade history. The industry captured t
Oklahoma: A State with a Severe Case of Schizophrenia
The Oklahoma legislature just passed a bill guaranteeing the free speech rights of professors and students in Oklahoma higher education. It has been sent to Governor Kevin Stitt for his signature. The sponsor of HB 3543, Rep. Chad Caldwell, (R)-Enid, said the goal is to protect students who may not have the same viewpoints as their classmates and professors. “We shouldn’t have a professor worried
Frank Adamson: School Choice in the U.S.: Who Chooses? Who Loses?
Frank Adamson, an assistant professor of educational leadership and policy studies at California State University in Sacramento, wrote this paper for UNESCO. He asks: Who wins? who chooses? State responsibility in the United States This third issue, state responsibility, starts with the acknowledgement that the pursuit of market-based approaches in the United States has exacerbated inequity and s

APR 20

Michigan: A Star Is Born
State Senator Mallory McMorrow gave a speech of four minutes to her colleagues in the Michigan Legislature. A Republican State Senator accused Senator McMorrow of wanting to “groom” and “sexualize” kindergartners, a charge right out of the QAnon cuckoo playbook. Senator McMorrow replied with a powerful speech that has gone viral. Watch it.
Fight Big Pharma! Here Is How
A group called Public Citizen has advice about how to bring down the high cost of prescription drugs: Asthma. COVID-19. Diabetes. Hepatitis C. HIV. Prostate cancer. Millions of Americans who suffer from these conditions (and others) can’t afford the medicine they need. Why? Because of sheer greed on the part of pharmaceutical companies. For the 20 top-selling drugs, Big Pharma made more in the U.
North Carolina: Whining by Charter Schools Is Proof They Need to Be Reformed
Kris Nordstrom of the NC Policy Watch notes the loud whining by charter advocates who are outraged by the common sense reforms proposed b6 the Biden administration’s Department of Education. They are whining, writes Nordstrom, because they are guilty of every malpractice that the reforms aim to cure. Nordstrom begins: Advocates for charter schools have long justified the existence of charters by
Jane Mayer: A Dark Money Group That Is Trying to Block Every Biden Nominee
Jane Mayer is a brilliant and meticulous journalist for The New Yorker . She is the nation’s leading expert on “Dark Money,” the money funneled into politics whose donors are anonymous. In this article , she details the group that was behind the effort to derail the Supreme Court nomination of the highly-qualified Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson. The smear campaign was ultimately unsuccessful, becaus

APR 19

Florida Rejects 54 Math Textbooks, Claiming Many Contain “Critical Race Theory”
Florida is spinning downward into a pit of political ignorance. The state rejected 54 math texts on grounds that some contained critical race theory, others referred to Common Core concepts. The rejected books make up a record 41% of the 132 books submitted for review, the Florida Department of Education said in a statement. Of them, 28 were rejected because they “incorporate prohibited topics or
Dr. Charles Luke: Will Texas Politicians Keep Promoting Vouchers Despite Years of Failure?
The subject of vouchers—public money for religious and private schools—has been proposed in every legislative session since 1995. Vouchers have gone down to defeat every time. Dr. Charles Luke of Pastors for Texas Children wonders whether the voucher lobby —led by Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick—wants another showdown. How many times do you have to fail before you get the message? Dr. Luke writes: Vouchers
Mercedes Schneider: Ripping Off the Hmong Community in Minnesota and Wisconsin
Mercedes Schneider writes here about an outrageous financial scam in Wisconsin and Minnesota that was inflicted on members of the Hmong community. The Securities and Exchange Commission announced charges against a Hmong woman who had made extravagant promises to investors, then defrauded them. On April 13, 2022, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed charges against Wisconsin resident

APR 18

Dana Milbank: The Revolt of the Gentry
Dana Milbank noticed a strange phenomenon : some prominent members of the GOP who graduated from Ivy League colleges are denouncing Democrats who graduated from the same colleges as elitists.
Who Is Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro?
Have you lost faith in our elected officials? Let me introduce you to my personal hero. Rosa DeLauro. I have met with her several times, and she was always attentive and thoughtful. I love her values, and I love her too. It’s a very small tribute to this great woman, but I take this opportunity to add her to the blog’s honor roll for standing up forcefully to the bullying of the charter lobby. Co
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Rosa DeLauro and me in 2018
The Full Text of Cong. Rosa DeLauro’s Letter Endorsing Reforms for Federal Charter Schools Program
Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut is one of the most important members of the U.S. House of Representatives. She is chair of the House Appropriations Committee. She sent the following letter to Education Secretary Miguel Cardona, endorsing the Department’s proposed reform of the federal Charter School Program and criticizing the charter lobby for spreading lies: Dear Secretary Cardona, In
Good News! Cong. DeLauro Lambastes Charter Lobby, Endorses Federal CSP Reforms
Carol Burris, executive director of the Network for Public Education, wrote about the letter that Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut sent to Secretary of Education Cardona. Congresswoman DeLauro is chair of the powerful House Appropriations Committee: Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro, Chair of the House Appropriations Committee, issued a blistering reproach of how “the national trade organizatio
Missouri: Legislator’s Fiery Speech Goes Viral
Ian Mackey, a Democratic state representative whose district includes St. Louis, gave a blistering speech in the Missouri legislature that scorched a Republican colleague who proposed a bill to ban trans athletes from all school sports. Mackey knew the bill would pass easily in the overwhelmingly Republican legislature. And it did. But as a matter of conscience, he spoke out against it. Mackey’s
What Proportion of the Population is Transgender?
There is a sort of hysteria about transgender people that has gripped the minds of (mostly) Republican legislators. They claim that teachers are “grooming” children to be gay or transgender. We used to think of the word “groom” to refer to a male who was getting married and the word “grooming” as a description of one’s manner of dress (“good grooming” or “bad grooming”). Now the word has a sinist
The First Woman to Run in the Boston Marathon, in 1967
Today is the world-famous Boston Marathon. It is a good time to remember Kathrine Switzer. Kathrine Switzer was the first woman to enter the Boston Marathon, in 1967. She applied to run by using her initials instead of her first name. For the previous 70 years, the famous marathon was open to male athletes only. She ran with her coach and her boyfriend alongside her. They were both students at Sy

APR 17

Happy Easter! Happy Passover! Happy Ramadan!
Three major religious events converge this weekend: Easter, Passover, and Ramadan. To readers who celebrate these holy days, I send good wishes. To those who are non-religious, I also send good wishes. To everyone, I send my personal hope that we can share a world without war, a world of kindness, a world of plenty, a world in which we can share the bounty of a healthy earth, and a world in which

APR 16

Ukraine: Mariupol “Has Been Wiped Off the Face of the Earth”
The Washington Post reports on the fierce battle for Mariupol, which has been under siege for weeks: As Russia appears poised to capture Mariupol more than six weeks into the invasion, the governor of Ukraine’s Donetsk region said Friday that while Ukrainian troops remain in control of the strategic port city, Mariupol “has been wiped off the face of the earth” by Russian forces. Pavlo Kyrylenko,
Gary Rubinstein: Whatever Happened to TFA?
You might think that, with teacher shortages in many districts, this would be a golden moment for Teach for America. But it is not. Gary Rubinstein, one of the original members of TFA in the early 1990s and now a career teacher in New York City, surveys the current woes of Teach for America in this post . He identifies three reasons for the downturn in TFA’s fortunes. He begins: Teach For America

APR 15

Andy Spears: How Will Tennessee Spend Its $2 Billion Surplus?
Andy Spears of the Tennessee Education Report informs his readers that the state has a budget surplus in excess of $ 2 billion . It also has public schools that are perennially underfunded. How will the state spend the surplus? He writes: A state with one of the lowest investments in public education in the country now has a record budget surplus. This, of course, means Tennessee could make great
Far-Right Hillsdale College Runs a Charter Chain, Which Tennessee Governor Wants to Expand
Stephanie Saul is a crack investigative reporter at the New York Times. In this story , she took a close look at Tennessee Governor Bill Lee’s request to ultra conservative Hillsdale College to open 50 charter schools in Tennessee. She begins: With only 1,500 students on a small-town campus in southern Michigan, Hillsdale College is far from the power corridors of government and top-ranked univer
What and Who Is Behind the Attack on Critical Race Theory??
Watch this short video and learn who is promoting and funding the attacks on “critical race theory.” Very few of its critics can define CRT. Most seem to think it means teaching about racism today. They prefer to believe that racism ended with slavery. They are wrong. Numerous states have passed laws banning the teaching of critical race theory, even though they can’t define what it is. It’s mea

Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all