JEFF BRYANT: A Florida School Improved Reading and Math Scores With Streetlights—And Joe Biden Is All For It | Ed Politics

A Florida School Improved Reading and Math Scores With Streetlights—And Joe Biden Is All For It | Ed Politics

A FLORIDA SCHOOL IMPROVED READING AND MATH SCORES WITH STREETLIGHTS—AND JOE BIDEN IS ALL FOR IT

“What I’m working on—like making sure students have access to food, clean clothing, and streetlights—may not look like what I’m working on,” Catherine Gilmore told me over a phone call. Gilmore has worked as an educator in Hillsborough County, Florida, for 13 years, and has spent the last six years at Gibsonton Elementary School where she was in the classroom for four years prior to spending the last two years as the community schools coordinator there. During our phone call, she explained to me how her school has addressed its low scores on the state’s school performance report card. And it seems to be working.

In the 2017-2018 school year, Gibsonton received a grade of “D” on the state’s annual report card that assesses elementary schools on the basis of their scores on standardized achievement tests. In 2018-2019, Gibsonton raised its grade to a “C.”

While Gilmore welcomed the progress, she warned against overemphasizing these assessments, calling them “lagging indicators.”

“State standardized testing mostly just identifies student demographics,” she told me, an observation that is validated by research. “Sure, we use data, including test scores. But we use data to drive for the right things rather than letting data get in the way.”

The “right things,” in her view, are the factors—what she spends her time on—that she believes tend to correlate with test scores but are often ignored by school improvement approaches that tend to blame educators when test scores are low.

Often, what can lead to low test scores may have nothing to do with academics. For instance, making sure students are well-CONTINUE READING: A Florida School Improved Reading and Math Scores With Streetlights—And Joe Biden Is All For It | Ed Politics

Jeff Bryant on America’s Workforce Radio: “Charter schools are often nonprofit in name only.” | Ed Politics

Jeff Bryant on America’s Workforce Radio: “Charter schools are often nonprofit in name only.” | Ed Politics

JEFF BRYANT ON AMERICA’S WORKFORCE RADIO: “CHARTER SCHOOLS ARE OFTEN NONPROFIT IN NAME ONLY.”

How charter schools profit off the backs of taxpayers

Charter school management companies can make huge profits off operating nonprofit charter schools. Here’s how they do it.

Jeff Bryant on America’s Workforce Radio: “Charter schools are often nonprofit in name only.” | Ed Politics

Florina Rodov: Charter Schools Should Get Zero Federal Dollars | Ed Politics - https://edpolitics.org/?p=347

How the Federal Government’s Charter School Program Went Wrong | Ed Politics - https://edpolitics.org/?p=349

JEFF BRYANT: How the federal government’s charter school program went wrong - Alternet.org

How the federal government’s charter school program went wrong - Alternet.org

How the federal government’s charter school program went wrong

From the outset, charter schools were somewhat of a blind man's elephant—people saw in them whatever they wanted—but two competing theories that helped propel the charter movement were that the schools would serve as laboratories for experimenting with new education approaches that could be shared with public school districts, or that charters were created to disrupt the public school system by giving parents an alternative to district-run schools.

When the federal government got involved in creating new charter schools, beginning formally in 1994, it leaned into the former of those theories rather than the latter. The bill that led to the forming of the Charter School Program (CSP) under the Department of Education described charters as "a mechanism for testing a variety of educational approaches," and to this day, part of the mission of the CSP, as defined by the education department's Office of Innovation and Improvement that oversees it, is to "increase public understanding of what charter schools can contribute to American education."

Since its inception, the CSP has given out more than $4.1 billion to create and expand charter schools, according to a December 2019 report by the Network for Public Education (NPE).

Yet somewhere along the way, the CSP forgot its duty to create and oversee a charter sector that benefited the public system and instead has chosen to reward schools that give narrow slices of children and families a publicly funded alternative to their local schools. NPE has CONTINUE READING: How the federal government’s charter school program went wrong - Alternet.org

JEFF BRYANT: Biden Promised to End Standardized Testing in Schools—It Was Never Going to Be Easy | Ed Politics

Biden Promised to End Standardized Testing in Schools—It Was Never Going to Be Easy | Ed Politics

BIDEN PROMISED TO END STANDARDIZED TESTING IN SCHOOLS—IT WAS NEVER GOING TO BE EASY

Barely a month after President Biden was inaugurated, educators and public school advocates reeled in dismay when his administration announced it would enforce the federal government’s mandate for annual standardized testing in public schools. During the Democratic Party’s presidential primary, Biden had expressed strong opposition to the tests. In a video taken at a December 2019 forum for public school teachers, Biden, when asked, “Will you commit to ending the use of standardized testing in public schools,” replied, “Yes… You’re preaching to the choir.”

Although the decision was made before he took office, Miguel Cardona, Biden’s secretary of education, confirmed the Biden administration would not allow states to skip the exams.

So what happened to “the choir”?

It’s not like there was a groundswell from across the country to resume the tests.

Prior to the Biden administration’s announcement, Chalkbeat’s national correspondent Matt Barnum reported, “Several states, including California, Georgia, Illinois, Michigan, New Jersey, and New York, [had] already asked for or said they planned to request a waiver from this year’s testing requirements entirely.” As of March 29, three states—Georgia, Oregon, and South Carolina—that had requested to offer alternatives to a statewide standardized test were denied, according to a later report by Barnum, but Colorado will be allowed to cut the number of tests it administers by half.

“The two national teachers’ unions—the National Education Association and the American Federation of Teachers—have urged that waivers be given,” Valerie Strauss reported for the Washington Post. “At least [11,000] people have signed a petition by the Center for Fair and Open Testing, a nonprofit organization known as FairTest, calling for waivers to be granted.”

A Backlash to the Biden Decision

The announcement on testing triggered an immediate backlash. “Critics reacted swiftly CONTINUE READING: Biden Promised to End Standardized Testing in Schools—It Was Never Going to Be Easy | Ed Politics

Florina Rodov: I Believed the Charter School Myth — Until I Learned About the Reality and Who Was Behind It | Ed Politics JEFF BRYANT

Florina Rodov: I Believed the Charter School Myth — Until I Learned About the Reality and Who Was Behind It | Ed Politics

FLORINA RODOV: I BELIEVED THE CHARTER SCHOOL MYTH — UNTIL I LEARNED ABOUT THE REALITY AND WHO WAS BEHIND

I fell for the charter school hype. I agreed with former President Obama’s education secretary Arne Duncan who advocated for “school choice.” I trusted the research that said charters “close [the] achievement gap” for Black and Latino students. When I saw “Waiting for ‘Superman,’” I rooted for the kids in the documentary to escape their failing public schools by snagging spots at charter schools. And though I encountered very few bad teachers in my four years teaching and 12 years learning at public schools, I never questioned why Time published stories about “Rotten Apple” teachers being swept out of classrooms by wealthy education “reformers.”

I believed the hype so much that in 2012, knowing almost nothing about charter schools and having no administrative experience, I joined a friend in submitting a half-baked petition to the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) with the intention of starting our own charter school. When LAUSD denied it, we presented it to the Culver City Unified School District, which also, rightfully, rejected it.

Still intrigued by charters, in 2016 I interviewed for an English teacher position with a woman I’ll call Ellen Peters, the principal and co-founder of Savior Academy, a charter school serving grades six through 12. (The names of the school, administrators and students have been changed for this story.) Her assertion that the close bond between students and staff made it feel “like a family” inspired me to sign a non-union contract on the spot, though the school had recently lost its co-founder Cathy Reynolds (name changed), who stepped down from the board, and several teachers, who resigned.

But the chasm between the hype and reality became evident to me immediately upon starting work. There were high attrition rates of students and teachers. Over the summer, more than half the faculty resigned and were replaced by new teachers. About three-quarters of the students hadn’t returned either, and though new kids had registered, the enrollment wasn’t CONTINUE READING: Florina Rodov: I Believed the Charter School Myth — Until I Learned About the Reality and Who Was Behind It | Ed Politics

Jeff Bryant in German News Weekly Die Zeit: The fixation on testing is deeply anchored in education officials in Washington DC | Ed Politics

Jeff Bryant in German News Weekly Die Zeit: The fixation on testing is deeply anchored in education officials in Washington DC | Ed Politics

JEFF BRYANT IN GERMAN NEWS WEEKLY DIE ZEIT: THE FIXATION ON TESTING IS DEEPLY ANCHORED IN EDUCATION OFFICIALS IN WASHINGTON DC

In an interview with Die Zeit’s United States correspondent Heike Buchter, Jeff Bryant explains what’s behind the decision by the Biden administration to enforce the federal mandate for student academic testing in a pandemic even before incoming education secretary Miguel Cardona took office. Excerpts:

“‘[Cardona’s]  life story must have played a big role in his nomination,’ says Jeff Bryant, chief correspondent for Our Schools, a project that promotes public education…Cardona’s options for combating this existential crisis with grants and orders are limited. As in the federal German system, education is a matter for the federal states and municipalities in the USA. But he could use the political influence of his office, says education activist Jeff Bryant…The effects of the pandemic are adding to the pressure. The Chamber of Commerce, the lobbying association of large corporations, is concerned about the learning deficits among many students. The fixation on metrics, as they are common in business, is now deeply anchored in education officials in Washington, says Jeff Bryant. This is shown, among other things, in the fact that the Biden government announced before Cardona’s inauguration last week that it wanted to hold the annual state exams to record the effects of the pandemic on school performance. DeVos suspended testing last year.”

https://www.zeit.de/2021/10/miguel-cardona-us-bildungsminister-schule-corona-pandemie/komplettansicht

Jeff Bryant in German News Weekly Die Zeit: The fixation on testing is deeply anchored in education officials in Washington DC | Ed Politics

School Openings: Political Gamesmanship Collides with Sound Educational Policy. | Ed In The Apple

School Openings: Political Gamesmanship Collides with Sound Educational Policy. | Ed In The Apple

School Openings: Political Gamesmanship Collides with Sound Educational Policy

President Biden set a target of school re-openings within his first hundred days in office; however, the decision to open schools is local; the 14,000 school districts across the nation have the authority to open and close schools. The national teacher unions (NEA, AFT) do not have the authority either; the local unions within school districts “negotiate” school openings.

The American Federation of Teachers (AFT) produced a “Roadmap to Safely Open Schools” (Read here)

Randi Weingarten, the AFT President favors reopenings, with safeguards..

Education Next, a widely read website was prescient, Schools will remain closed for the rest of the 2019–20 academic year but will reopen in the 2020–21 academic year (albeit with the potential of localized, rolling closures for 14–28 days triggered by additional waves of infection,

The Los Angeles School District has been closed since the pandemic hit in March, COVID positive rates in Los Angeles remain high as well as hospitalizations and deaths. The teacher union (UTLA) has been adamant, has threatened a strike and only in the last few days agreed to a phased reopening plan.

The conservative media has pummeled teacher unions.

The New York City teacher union (UFT) threatened a “safety strike” in August, CONTINUE READING: School Openings: Political Gamesmanship Collides with Sound Educational Policy. | Ed In The Apple

How a fight for an elementary school became a catalyst for positive change - Alternet.org

How a fight for an elementary school became a catalyst for positive change - Alternet.org

How a fight for an elementary school became a catalyst for positive change

As soon as Anna Grant's busy workday at Forest View Elementary School in Durham, North Carolina, ended, she would head toward the next school where she was needed. "I would get off work and immediately drive to meetings, press events, whatever we had organized [for the school]," she recalls. Her second school of concern was Lakewood Elementary, where Grant now works. In 2017, Lakewood was a flashpoint of grassroots protest due to a threat by the state to take over the school.

"Roughly 200 protesters, parents and neighborhood residents" rallied at Lakewood Elementary to keep the school out of the state's new Innovative School District (ISD), reported NC Policy Watch, a media project of the North Carolina Justice Center. The ISD was created by the state legislature to take over low-performing schools and transfer governance from the local school board to charter school management companies. Lakewood, along with Glenn Elementary in Durham and three other schools in the state, was on the shortlist of schools at risk of being transferred into the ISD.

"It's a takeover," NC Policy Watch quoted Bryan Proffitt, then-president of the Durham Association of Educators. "I don't intend to allow a terrible legislative idea to ruin our neighborhood school," Durham school board member Matt Sears told a reporter for the Herald-Sun.

Grant now calls the protests "a community effort" that united teachers with parents, community activists, and the Durham school board in an effort to stave off a transfer of CONTINUE READING: How a fight for an elementary school became a catalyst for positive change - Alternet.org

We Need a Democratic Approach to Reimagining Schools—Asking People, Not Billionaires and Ideologues, What They Want | Ed Politics

We Need a Democratic Approach to Reimagining Schools—Asking People, Not Billionaires and Ideologues, What They Want | Ed Politics

WE NEED A DEMOCRATIC APPROACH TO REIMAGINING SCHOOLS—ASKING PEOPLE, NOT BILLIONAIRES AND IDEOLOGUES, WHAT THEY WANT

As soon as Anna Grant’s busy workday at Forest View Elementary School in Durham, North Carolina, ended, she would head toward the next school where she was needed. “I would get off work and immediately drive to meetings, press events, whatever we had organized [for the school],” she recalls. Her second school of concern was Lakewood Elementary, where Grant now works. In 2017, Lakewood was a flashpoint of grassroots protest due to a threat by the state to take over the school.

“Roughly 200 protesters, parents and neighborhood residents” rallied at Lakewood Elementary to keep the school out of the state’s new Innovative School District (ISD), reported NC Policy Watch, a media project of the North Carolina Justice Center. The ISD was created by the state legislature to take over low-performing schools and transfer governance from the local school board to charter school management companies. Lakewood, along with Glenn Elementary in Durham and three other schools in the state, was on the shortlist of schools at risk of being transferred into the ISD.

“It’s a takeover,” NC Policy Watch quoted Bryan Proffitt, then-president of the Durham Association of Educators. “I don’t intend to allow a terrible legislative idea to ruin our neighborhood school,” Durham school board member Matt Sears told a reporter for the Herald-Sun.

Grant now calls the protests “a community effort” that united teachers with parents, community activists, and the Durham school board in an effort to stave off a transfer of school governance from the community to a private organization. The activists formed the group Defend Durham Schools to share research and talking points on state takeovers and started a Facebook page to recruit more community support.

“Our zoned school was Lakewood,” recalls Durham parent and current school board member Jovonia Lewis, “and when the CONTINUE READING: We Need a Democratic Approach to Reimagining Schools—Asking People, Not Billionaires and Ideologues, What They Want | Ed Politics

Michael Mindzak: Teacher-Volunteers: Unpaid Labor a Symptom of Precarious Work | Ed Politics

Michael Mindzak: Teacher-Volunteers: Unpaid Labor a Symptom of Precarious Work | Ed Politics

MICHAEL MINDZAK: TEACHER-VOLUNTEERS: UNPAID LABOR A SYMPTOM OF PRECARIOUS WORK

As we continue to contend with the various challenges surrounding COVID-19 one interesting result has been the pronounced decline in volunteerism. With increasingly stringent health measures such as social distancing and contact tracing, volunteerism at this time has decreased. This includes schools as well, where distance education and limited interactions have meant that volunteers can or else should keep away. Nevertheless, it might be interesting to consider how such volunteerism trends might impact education here in Ontario

VOLUNTEERING & LABOR MARKET TRENDS

Over the past decade, schools in Ontario have witnessed a significant shift in volunteerism. Schools in places such as Ontario have long embraced volunteers, typically consisting of parents and members of the community who seek to be further involved in the school. Anyone who has worked within a school setting readily sees the various ways

volunteers are involved in K-12 settings. Individuals, typically parents, often find the time to take part in their own children’s schools by CONTINUE READING: Michael Mindzak: Teacher-Volunteers: Unpaid Labor a Symptom of Precarious Work | Ed Politics

Joe Biden Has a Golden Opportunity to Strengthen Public Education | Ed Politics

Joe Biden Has a Golden Opportunity to Strengthen Public Education | Ed Politics

JOE BIDEN HAS A GOLDEN OPPORTUNITY TO STRENGTHEN PUBLIC EDUCATION

In picking Connecticut Commissioner of Education Miguel Cardona to be his nominee for U.S. secretary of education, President-elect Joe Biden appears to have made a Goldilocks choice that pleases just about everyone. People who rarely agree on education policy have praised the decision, including Jeanne Allen, CEO of the Center for Education Reform, a nonprofit group that advocates for charter schools and school choice, who called Cardona “good news,” and education historian Diane Ravitch, who also called the pick “good news” because he does not seem to be aligned with advocates for charter schools and vouchers. Sara Sneed, president and CEO of the NEA Foundation, a public charity founded by educators, called Cardona an “ideal candidate,” in an email, and hailed him for “his emphasis on the need to end structural racism in education and for his push for greater educational equity and opportunity through public schools.”

But as Biden and Cardona—should he be approved, as most expect—begin to address the array of critical issues that confront the nation’s schools, there’s bound to be more of a pushback. Or maybe not?

After decades of federal legislation that emphasized mandating standardized testing and tying school and teacher evaluations to the scores; imposing financial austerity on public institutions; incentivizing various forms of privatization; and undermining teachers’ professionalism and labor rights, there is a keen appetite for a new direction for school policy.

Due to the disruption forced by the pandemic, much is being written and said about the need to “restart and reinvent” education and a newfound appreciation for schools as essential infrastructure for families and children. With an incoming CONTINUE READING: Joe Biden Has a Golden Opportunity to Strengthen Public Education | Ed Politics

Sarah Lahm: Charter Schools Movement Sees a Growth Opportunity in Public School Funding Cuts | Ed Politics - https://edpolitics.org/?p=312

JEFF BRYANT: A Flood of New Charter Schools Shows How the Industry May Try to Thrive — Despite the Pandemic | Ed Politics

A Flood of New Charter Schools Shows How the Industry May Try to Thrive — Despite the Pandemic | Ed Politics

A FLOOD OF NEW CHARTER SCHOOLS SHOWS HOW THE INDUSTRY MAY TRY TO THRIVE — DESPITE THE PANDEMIC

As the COVID-19 pandemic began closing school buildings and forcing schools to quickly ramp up online learning programs in April, an op-ed by Alex Medler, the executive director of the Colorado Association of Charter School Authorizers, made an appeal to Betsy DeVos’s Department of Education to change the guidelines of her department’s grants for new charter school startups to allow the money to go to existing charter schools. Medler justified the request to address “immediate needs during the pandemic.”

But when Chalkbeat broke the story that DeVos would agree with Medler and approve Florida’s request to repurpose about $10 million in grant money for new charter schools to be redirected to existing charters, Medler made the curious admission to Chalkbeat reporter Matt Barnum that another reason for the need to change grant requirements was because “there aren’t enough new [charter] schools being created across the country to spend all the… money on the one purpose of funding the start-up of new charters.”

Is the charter school industry, even before the current crisis, really on the skids?

The annual rate of charter school growth nationwide from 2014 to 2016 was half of what it was between 2008 and 2014, according to CONTINUE READING: A Flood of New Charter Schools Shows How the Industry May Try to Thrive — Despite the Pandemic | Ed Politics

Jeff Bryant in The Progressive: Derek Black: We Need Public Schools Now More than Ever + WORSE THAN BETSY DEVOS | Ed Politics

Jeff Bryant in The Progressive: Derek Black: We Need Public Schools Now More than Ever | Ed Politics

JEFF BRYANT IN THE PROGRESSIVE: DEREK BLACK: WE NEED PUBLIC SCHOOLS NOW MORE THAN EVER

After such a polarizing election, as the nation grapples with how to deal with the coronavirus pandemic and its financial fallout, many people wonder what can bring us together.

In his new book, Schoolhouse Burning: Public Education and the Assault on American Democracy, Derek Black convincingly argues that, historically, public education can, and frequently has, unified a divided country.

Black’s deftly rendered historical account stretches from the nation’s founding to the Civil Rights Movement and into modern times. It describes how public education has long been the touchstone for the nation to recommit to its founding principles.

And though his book is mostly a historical account, Black is as concerned with the past as with the present, especially in anticipation of a post-Betsy DeVos world where public schools have been falsely portrayed as anachronistic. I recently talked with Black about his book and whether public schools are in danger of going away. The following discussion has been edited for brevity and clarity.

Q: You write in the book’s introduction that the nation is in the middle of a battle for the long-term viability of public education. How might this battle continue under a Biden presidency? 

Derek Black: There are multiple layers to that onion. But oh my God, it’s going to be great to be rid of Betsy DeVos, at least CONTINUE READIING: Jeff Bryant in The Progressive: Derek Black: We Need Public Schools Now More than Ever | Ed Politics

Worse than Betsy DeVos: The Disturbing Story of 2020 School Board Elections | Ed Politics - https://edpolitics.org/?p=303