Blaming teachers. I am a “negative demographic change.” I ain’t dead yet. | Fred Klonsky

Blaming teachers. I am a “negative demographic change.” I ain’t dead yet. | Fred Klonsky:

Blaming teachers. I am a “negative demographic change.” I ain’t dead yet

Standing among the Chinese Terra Cotta Warriors at the Field Museum, created for the Chinese emperor Qin Shi Huang, who died in 210 BCE. He’s dead and I’m not, making me a negative demographic change

I had some time on my hands this afternoon after coming back from seeing the amazing terra cotta warriors from China at the Field museum.

Because of that extra time I got into a Twitter debate with some folks about teacher blaming and shaming.

Three of them blamed teachers for electing Trump. We were blamed on two counts: We don’t teach civics well enough.

And 1 in 5 teachers are estimated to have voted for Trump.

I agree that the 20% of our profession that voted forBlaming teachers. I am a “negative demographic change.” I ain’t dead yet. | Fred Klonsky:

THE 10 IDEAS TO FIX PUBLIC EDUCATION TRUMP APPOINTEE BETSY DEVOS IS LEAST LIKELY TO PROPOSE - Perdaily.com

THE 10 IDEAS TO FIX PUBLIC EDUCATION TRUMP APPOINTEE BETSY DEVOS IS LEAST LIKELY TO PROPOSE - Perdaily.com:

THE 10 IDEAS TO FIX PUBLIC EDUCATION TRUMP APPOINTEE BETSY DEVOS IS LEAST LIKELY TO PROPOSE

After rereading Naomi Klein's The Shock Doctrine in the context of Trump's recent election as president with incessant ultra-conservative appointees, it occurred to me that the social and ecomomic subversion and conspiracy she so aptly describes in the context of Chile, Argentina, Brazil, and elsewhere under the guise of free market laissez faire Milton Friedman Chicago School economics is something that Americans are now going to experience first hand. What follows is a more rational and far less expensive alternative vision of what could be done to fix public education, short of bringing American imperialism home to America, while privatizing the root organization necessary for a true democracy of, by, and for the people.

1. The failure of discipline is a major factor in schools inability to educate students. Since schools are financed by the state based on Average Daily Attendance, school administrators are loathe to suspend students who not only disrupt their own education, but also the education of other students who want an education. In an article published January 14, 2007 in the Los Angeles Times, a Title I school in Compton, California, that was half Black and half Latino and had only recently been taken over by the state for malfeasance, was able to achieved 868 API scores- comparable to Beverly Hills and San Marino- because the principal did not hesitate to suspend 100 from the 467 student body until they could comport themselves in a manner that would allow them to be educated. It is amazing how quickly parents can get their children to behave when they can no longer dump them on the schools.

2. The major difference between the successful private schools that now accommodate 92% of the Whites that have abandon public education in Los Angeles and the Los Angeles Unified School District is the teacher to student ratio. Private schools have 15 to 20 students per class, while LAUSD permits 43 to 1. If a teacher has five classes with 43 students in each, it is unrealistic to think that rigorous writing assignments will be given by teachers who cannot reasonably be expected to grade 215 essays a week- 75 is THE 10 IDEAS TO FIX PUBLIC EDUCATION TRUMP APPOINTEE BETSY DEVOS IS LEAST LIKELY TO PROPOSE - Perdaily.com:

Yong Zhao » Don’t Read Too Much Into It: What Brexit and U.S. Election Surprises Can Teach Us about PISA

Education in the Age of Globalization » Blog Archive » Don’t Read Too Much Into It: What Brexit and U.S. Election Surprises Can Teach Us about PISA:

Don’t Read Too Much Into It: What Brexit and U.S. Election Surprises Can Teach Us about PISA

The results of the Brexit referendum and U.S. presidential election will go down in history as the biggest surprises of 2016. The final results defied all predictions. The polls were wrong, as were the pundits. Though they predicted that the majority of Brits would vote to remain in the EU, more ended up voting to leave. Though they predicted a win for Clinton, Trump is the one moving into the White House this January. “From the US election to Brexit…the polls set voters and pundits up for a fall,” writes Siobhan Fenton, a correspondent for the UK newspaper The Independent.

There is plenty of head-scratching and hand-wringing over the fact that so many experts got it so wrong, but a generally agreed-upon conclusion is that the data these experts had absolute confidence in somehow fooled them or simply “died.” “I’ve believed in data for 30 years in politics and data died tonight. I could not have been more wrong about this election,” said GOP strategist and NBC analyst Mike Murphy the about the U.S. election on Twitter.

These two back-to-back spectacular failures of data-driven predictions remind us that data can be deceiving, misleading, and sometimes just quits working. Blind faith in data can have disastrous and long-lasting consequences; “…it [the failure of polls] serves as a devastating reminder of the uncertainty in polling, and a warning about being overconfident even when the weight of surveying evidence seems overwhelming,” writes the Economist shortly after the U.S. presidential election.

We are presented with two huge sets of data about education in the world as well as myriad interpretations. We saw the 2015 TIMSS data last week. And the influential international assessment program PISA has announced to release its 2015 results on December 6^th. Without any doubt, pundits, journalists, and policy makers around the world will be commenting on the results, attempting to draw conclusions and make recommendations for educational policy and practices. For example, the Alliance for Excellent Education (the Alliance), a D.C.-based national policy and advocacy organization, has already declared December 6^th PISA Day and created a website covering the results. It has planned a Deep Dive event the following day to discuss “PISA and the Global Economy.” Bob Wise, Alliance president and former governor of West Virginia, writes on the website:

PISA Day not only provides a look at student performance through an international lens, it focuses on what lessons can be learned from other high-performing nations to ensure U.S. students, especially those who are underserved, are prepared to compete in today’s global economy.

But if the PISA data, like most of the Brexit and presidential election data, is no good, would any conclusions Education in the Age of Globalization » Blog Archive » Don’t Read Too Much Into It: What Brexit and U.S. Election Surprises Can Teach Us about PISA:

The Evidence is In: 'Happy' Schools Boost Student Achievement

The Evidence is In: 'Happy' Schools Boost Student Achievement:

The Evidence is In: ‘Happy’ Schools Boost Student Achievement

A positive climate, most education stakeholders agree, is on most schools’ wish-list. Schools do not aspire, after all, to create environments that are detrimental to students and educators. But the No Child Left Behind era – a decade plus of “test and punish,” a stripped down curriculum, and narrow accountability measures – decoupled school climate from student achievement, in effect imposing a “nice schools finish last” credo. Sure, a “happy” school would be nice, but … about those test scores.

School climate and student achievement should never compete with each other, according to Ron Avi Astor, a professor of social work and education at the University of Southern California.

“By promoting a positive climate, schools can allow greater equality in educational opportunities, decrease socioeconomic inequalities, and enable more social mobility.”

Astor and three colleagues recently combed through research dating back to 2000 – 78 studies of school systems in the U.S. and overseas – and found substantial evidence that positive school climates contribute to academic achievement and can improve outcomes for students, especially those from lower socioeconomic backgrounds. The report was published in Review of Educational Research, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Educational Research Association, in November.

In their analysis, the authors also found no correlation between socioeconomic status and perceptions of school climate. Students in high-poverty schools were not necessarily more likely to be in adverse environments than their more affluent peers.

“It makes little sense to guage whether a student feels safe at school but not ask the teachers or administrators the same question. Everybody’s perspective matters, and that includes bus drivers, custodians, school secretaries, and, especially, parents”- Ron Avi Astor, University of Southern California

This suggests that lower-income schools can nurture more positive climates, which, explains co-author Ruth Berkowitz, “have the potential to break the negative influences that stem from poor socioeconomic backgrounds and to mitigate risk factors that threaten academic achievement.”

As a caveat, the researchers note that an obstacle to more detailed analysis is the absence of a clear and uniform definition of school climate. Without it, “the ability of researchers and stakeholders to evaluate school climate growth over time is restricted,” Astor concedes.

Despite the inconsistencies, certain attributes emerge more than others. Many educators, for example, instinctively tie school climate to school safety. But a positive school climate can also The Evidence is In: 'Happy' Schools Boost Student Achievement:

Another Education Blog Sells Out - Big Education Ape for Sale!

Another Education Blog Sells Out - Big Education Ape for Sale!

Blog For Sale by Owner  | No Agent

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Jeff Bryant: Tar Heel Heist: How the Charter School Industry is Hijacking Public Education | Alternet

Tar Heel Heist: How the Charter School Industry is Hijacking Public Education | Alternet:

Tar Heel Heist: How the Charter School Industry is Hijacking Public Education
North Carolina offers a harrowing preview of what American classrooms might look like under President Trump

If the American Dream is still alive – the one that includes a good job and a house with a yard, kids, and a two-car garage – you can see it taking shape in Wake County in the heart of the state of North Carolina. Signs of surging prosperity are everywhere this morning as I make my way to West Lake Middle School in Apex, NC, on the outskirts of Raleigh. 

What were once sleepy two-lane country roads are now teaming with impatient commuters, school busses, and mini-vans. New housing developments, shopping centers, and office buildings are transforming the rolling Piedmont landscape.

Wake County is home to five of the fastest growing cities in the Tar Heel State, which is the state with the nation's fastest growth in economic output in 2015 at 13.4 percent. 

At West Lake Middle this morning, cars and busses in the drop-off lane back up out to the main road, where commuter traffic pushes impatiently to get by. I angle my car to a visitor spot because I'm not here to drop off a child. I'm here for a protest rally.

The protest is happening because the rising tide of North Carolina's economic resurgence has yet to raise all boats. Outside the school's entrance, a gathering of students, parents, and teachers, many carrying signs declaring they are "All In for Public Schools," listen to a speaker from the state teachers' association call Tar Heel Heist: How the Charter School Industry is Hijacking Public Education | Alternet:

Once Again, Bruce Springsteen Inspires Hope And Courage | The Huffington Post

Once Again, Bruce Springsteen Inspires Hope And Courage | The Huffington Post - Linkis.com:

Once Again, Bruce Springsteen Inspires Hope And Courage

Once again, as our nation deals with Trumpism, Bruce Springsteen’s poetry and prose can bring courage. When returning to the United States in 1982, I was stunned by the way the Reagan administration had sped up deindustrialization, expanded the arms race, escalated the dirty wars in Central America, and ignored the first signs of AIDS. My best friend had just bought Springsteen’s newly-released Nebraska but he had been waiting for just the right time to ceremoniously open the album and share the first-listen. Reassurance was found in his words, “Man turns his back on his brother, he’s no friend of mine.”

And, yes, the “Boss” continued to provide the wisdom and inspiration that helped guide us through Supply Side Economics, Iran-Contra, the crack and gang years, followed by the War on Drugs and, in general, Americans retreating from the values that had made our democracy great.

Years later, we were challenged and comforted by Springsteen’s “The Streets of Philadelphia,” “American Skin,” “The Rising,” and his recent incorporation of music that drew from Pete Seeger to Irish balladeers and New Orleans jazz to help us grapple with bigotry, the Iraq War, and Hurricane Katrina. As we come to grips with the Trump election, Springsteen’s autobiography, Born to Run, may contain more insight into the roots of our political crisis than anything I’ve read.

Springsteen starts with the “Pax Americana” of the 1950s. Speaking for so many Baby Boomers, he begins his life story, “Here we live in the shadow of the steeple, where the holy rubber meets the road, all crookedly blessed in God’s mercy, in the heart-stopping, pants-dropping, race-riot-creating, oddball-hating, soul-shaking, love-and-fear-making town of Freehold, New Jersey.”

Working class kids (or, at least, white youth) during “the American Century” were “destined to live the decent hardworking lives of their parents ... if they could scoot through these years of wild pounding hormones without getting hurt or hurting someone else.” Bruce was acculturated into a value system where you “remain true to your crew, your blood, your family, your turf, your greaser brothers and sisters and your country. This was the shit that would get you by when all of the rest came tumbling down.”

However, Springsteen doesn’t romanticize the so-called “Greatest Generation.” Despite all of his family’s and neighbors’ strengths and the cross-cultural fertilization Once Again, Bruce Springsteen Inspires Hope And Courage | The Huffington Post - Linkis.com:

Is Educational Research Validating Corrupt Practices in New Orleans? - Living in Dialogue

Is Educational Research Validating Corrupt Practices in New Orleans? - Living in Dialogue:

Is Educational Research Validating Corrupt Practices in New Orleans?

By John Thompson.

In the aftermath of the Trump election, and as our “post fact” politics becomes even worse, it will be interesting to see what school reformers do. Will they double down on their truth-challenged spin on charter schools, or will they become more circumspect in using evidence?

The latest report by the Education Research Association on New Orleans school reform, “Extreme Measures: When & How School Closures & Charter Takeovers Benefit Students” stresses the benefits of charter takeovers of failing schools. This is the third in a series of posts on the way that those so-called student performance gains have been exaggerated.  The first two posts are here and here.

The technical appendix to the Education Research Association  report of school closures and takeovers in New Orleans states its “main theory” that “the effects of these interventions are driven by the changes in school quality experienced by students.” The ERA’s other theory, I would add, is that quantitative analyses that mostly rely on test scores can assess changes in the quality of actual schools, full of flesh-and-blood educators and students, often without qualitative research into what actually is happening in those buildings.

My big complaint with the ERA’s work is that this assumption is especially dubious in a district with an unflinching focus on rising test scores. As the ERA acknowledges, “Research on the authorization decisions of the RSD suggests that the decisions are based almost entirely on test scores.” I suspect it underestimates the way that such a policy can corrupt so many aspects of schooling.

The ERA acknowledges, “Based on theory and prior evidence, we expect the effects to be dynamic, starting with an initial disruption around the time of announcement and followed by null or positive effects as students settle into new schools.” After all, it is implausible that the quality of education and the amount of Is Educational Research Validating Corrupt Practices in New Orleans? - Living in Dialogue:

“You can call a dog a pig, but you can’t get no bacon from a dog.” | DCGEducator: Doing The Right Thing

“You can call a dog a pig, but you can’t get no bacon from a dog.” | DCGEducator: Doing The Right Thing:

“You can call a dog a pig, but you can’t get no bacon from a dog.

Bertrand Russell said. “We have, in fact, two kinds of morality side by side; one in which we preach but do not practice, and one in which we practice, but do not preach.” This quote speaks to the current education issues nationwide and to New York City in particular. The powers that be preach that no child is being left behind and that the changes they are making are ensuring that students are receiving “a world class education”, but what they are practicing is another matter entirely.

For example, what world-class education reduces the access to challenging, higher order thinking courses such as physics, or AP courses, calculus or trigonometry? What world-class education ensures students a passing grade on state authorized exams for answering only one-fourth of the answers on the exam correctly? What world-class education is more concerned with the number of passing students in a cohort, or the success of a cohort than the actual knowledge those students possess? What world-class education values a lack of experience and wisdom more than the expertise borne of experience and practice? What world class education has a high graduation rate at its high school level, the level responsible for preparing students to have success at the college level, yet has a high drop out rate on the next level which is the college level because the students are simply unable to perform at that level?

These examples all speak to the idea of “preaching without practice. You can preach anything you want, but saying that it’s true, doesn’t make it true. “You can call a dog a pig, but you can’t get no bacon from a dog.” Saying that you care about education, about the children who are being “left behind”, about the poor performance levels of school, doesn’t prove anything. It’s what you do that speaks volumes. In my career, I always made it “difficult” to get a grade of ninety in my classes. I was always demanding and challenging and uncompromising. I preached excellence, especially in one’s effort, (which is the only thing a person can truly control). I preached it and I demanded it of my students because I understood that without the will to demand the best from themselves, to challenge themselves and to demand excellence of themselves, their chances for success, (unless one truly believes in luck or serendipity), would be severely limited. What sense does it make to practice or say one thing, but when it comes time to do that thing, you do something totally different?

While the solutions to this problem may not be easy, it is most certainly obfuscated, exacerbated, and blurred by people who “talk a good game” and sound like they know what they are doing, but who really are merely preaching without practice. Our communities, our society, and our country cannot afford the luxury of preaching without practice. In fact, it just might be just the right time to add another type of morality to Russell’s quote, one in which reformers actually practice what they preach.“You can call a dog a pig, but you can’t get no bacon from a dog.” | DCGEducator: Doing The Right Thing:

 “Ain’t Nothin’ New Under The Sun” | DCGEducator: Doing The Right Thing - http://wp.me/p4qzB1-sk via @dcgmentor

Seattle Schools Community Forum: Contact the Governor NOW

Seattle Schools Community Forum: Contact the Governor NOW:

Seattle Schools Community Forum: Contact the Governor NOW

I'm going to offer the simplest advice I can on the levy cliff. There is NO reason it has to happen. 

 

I urge everyone to call 360-902-4111 or,

email https://fortress.wa.gov/es/governor/ or 

tweet @GovInslee 

 

and tell him to put pressure on the Legislature to have a one-day special session to extend the levy deadline from 2017 to 2018.

Remind him that until the Legislature completes McCleary work, districts should not suffer even more from a lack of fully funded schools.

Yes, contact your own legislator as well but I'm hoping that if the Governor feels the full force of citizens begging for this, he can make it clear that whatever the Legislature wants to get done when they do convene their regular session, nothing will get his signature.

 

Big Education Ape: Seattle Schools Community Forum: Understanding the Dire State of SPS' 2017-2018 Budget - http://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2016/12/seattle-schools-community-forum.html

Big Education Ape: Seattle Schools Community Forum: Legislature Needs to Act Fast - http://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2016/12/seattle-schools-community-forum_3.html

Demand the Impossible!: A Radical Manifesto Book Tour: Up the Left Coast | Bill Ayers

Book Tour: Up the Left Coast | Bill Ayers:

Demand the Impossible!: A Radical Manifesto Book Tour: Up the Left Coast

Bill Ayers -- Demand the Impossible!: A Radical Manifesto | Haymarket Books -http://www.haymarketbooks.org/pb/Demand-the-Impossible

Book Tour: Up the Left Coast

The Rainbow Queer, Abolition/Disarm, Free Mumia, Pardon Peltier/Lopez/Manning/Snowden, Fight Fascism, Resist and Rise Up West/Left Coast Book Tour this week:

 

San Francisco Dec. 5: https://www.facebook.com/events/566977023493910/

 

Mendocino Dec. 7: https://www.facebook.com/events/626981714150906/

 

Arcata Dec. 9: https://www.facebook.com/events/1817012875250635/

 

Eugene Dec. 11: http://www.tsunamibooks.org/events-calendar/2016/12/11/u5tknvlmwhukd2t64qchcurllr7e6f

 

Portland Dec. 12: http://www.powells.com/eventdetail?popup=true&eventID=748&rwndrnd=0.6031029589631716

 

Seattle Dec. 13: https://www.facebook.com/events/226558511108464/

Join us as we welcome Bill Ayers, here on a national tour to celebrate the release of his latest book, Demand the Impossible!: A Radical Manifesto.

In an era defined by mass incarceration, endless war, economic crisis, catastrophic environmental destruction, and a political system offering more of the same, radical social transformation has never been more urgent. We must imagine a world beyond what this rotten system would have us believe is possible.

In critiquing the world around us, Ayers uncovers cracks in the system, raising our sights for radical change, and envisioning strategies for building a movement to create a more humane, balanced, and peaceful world.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"For Bill Ayers, it is the freedom of our collective imagination that links the contemporary world—ensconced as it is in pervasive militarism, racist violence, and environmental devastation—to the flourishing of our planet. This is a manifesto that should be read by everyone who wants to believe that “another world is possible.” — Angela Y. Davis, author of Abolition Democracy and Freedom is a Constant Struggle

"With huge numbers of us recognizing the need for transformative change, this ambitious and exuberant book perfectly matches its historical moment. Ayers fearlessly confronts the intersecting crises of our age—endless war, surging inequality, unchecked white supremacy and perilous planetary warming—while mapping emancipatory new possibilities. From the first page, his courage is contagious." — Naomi Klein, author of This Changes Everything and The Shock Doctrine

"Demand the Impossible is more than a book, more than a manifesto. It is a torch. Bill Ayers’ vision for a humane future is incendiary—fire that incinerates old logics and illuminates new paths. If we do not end the violence of militarism, materialism, caging, dispossession, debt, want, ignorance, and global warming, our very survival is impossible. Read aloud." — Robin D. G. Kelley, author of Freedom Dreams

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Bill Ayers is a social justice activist, teacher, Distinguished Professor of Education (retired) at the University of Illinois at Chicago, and author of two memoirs, Fugitive Days and Public Enemy.

>>> More Info Here: http://www.booksmith.com/event/bill-ayers-demand-impossible-radical-manifesto

 

"For Bill Ayers, it is the freedom of our collective imagination that links the contemporary world—ensconced as it is in pervasive militarism, racist violence, and environmental devastation—to the flourishing of our planet. This is a manifesto that should be read by everyone who wants to believe that “another world is possible.” — Angela Y. Davis, author of Abolition Democracy and Freedom is a Constant Struggle

"With huge numbers of us recognizing the need for transformative change, this ambitious and exuberant book perfectly matches its historical moment. Ayers fearlessly confronts the intersecting crises of our age—endless war, surging inequality, unchecked white supremacy and perilous planetary warming—while mapping emancipatory new possibilities. From the first page, his courage is contagious." — Naomi Klein, author of This Changes Everything and The Shock Doctrine

"Demand the Impossible is more than a book, more than a manifesto. It is a torch. Bill Ayers’ vision for a humane future is incendiary—fire that incinerates old logics and illuminates new paths. If we do not end the violence of militarism, materialism, caging, dispossession, debt, want, ignorance, and global warming, our very survival is impossible. Read aloud." — Robin D. G. Kelley, author of Freedom Dreams

Cyber Charter Schools Fail to Provide Much of an Education

Cyber Charter Schools Fail to Provide Much of an Education:

CYBER CHARTER SCHOOLS FAIL TO PROVIDE MUCH OF AN EDUCATION

This article originally was published on The Conversation.

What President-elect Donald Trump and the Republican sweep of government will mean for K-12 education priorities over the next four years is not entirely clear yet. However, policy statements and administration selections so far indicate “school choice” will top the agenda.

Betsy DeVos, Trump’s nominee for education secretary, has been known to be an advocate of school choice initiatives: DeVos has supported voucher programs that allow families to use taxpayer money to enroll in private and religious schools. She also promoted charter school legislation that offers students choices outside of traditional public schools.

Vice President-elect Mike Pence also has a history as governor of Indiana of promoting school choice policy. Indiana not only is ranked as having the most favorable policy provisions for charter schools by a prominent charter schooling advocacy group, but it is among the 25 states employing a type of charter school unfamiliar to many folks across the United States: the cyber charter school.

Unlike the usual charter school, the cyber version is typically delivered to students online wherever they may live, so long as they are residents of the state in which the cyber charter school operates. Cyber charter schools have been growing in states that have school choice policy.

Our research, along with a body of academic work, suggests that the public should be concerned about an expansion of the cyber charter schooling model.

Here’s why.

What is a cyber charter school?

Charter schools are privately managed K-12 schools that utilize public money. The funds for charter schools are removed from regular public schooling budgets and paid to various private firms and organizations (and sometimes other parts of a state’s education system) to provide a wider choice of schools.

In the cyber version of the charter school, instruction is typically delivered to the students online wherever they may live, so long as they are residents of the state in which the cyber charter school operates. The model of these schools could vary—some use a hybrid delivery model (online and in person), although most are entirely online. Students receive course material, lessons and tests on their computer at home (usually the computer is also provided with state funds).

As with traditional charter schools, the general idea behind cyber charter schools is to allow families and students to have a choice other than their local public school.

A 2015 annual report prepared by a consulting group that tracks online school practice and is often cited by scholars to describe cyber charter school enrollment shows that in 2014-15 there were 275,000 students in cyber charter schools across 25 states. In some states, tens of thousands of students enroll in cyber charter schools. In Pennsylvania, for example, more than 36,000 students enrolled in cyber charter schools during 2014-2015.

Where do the students come from?

One of the goals of recent scholarship has been to understand who are the students who enroll in these schools and why do they do so.

The National Education Policy Center (NEPC) conducts an analysis of cyber charter school students every year. The most recent report shows that in 2013-14, cyber charter schools, compared to the national average, had higher percentages of white students and lower Cyber Charter Schools Fail to Provide Much of an Education:

An Anti-Trump Agenda For American Education | The Huffington Post

An Anti-Trump Agenda For American Education | The Huffington Post:

An Anti-Trump Agenda For American Education

It is not enough to be a critic. If educators, parents, and students, and progressive citizens are going to transform public education in the United States we have to develop an Anti-Trump Agenda and build an Anti-Trump social movement.

Periodically I am asked, somewhat suspiciously, “What would you do if educational decisions were up to you?” In the Wizard of Oz, the Cowardly Lion sings about all the great things he would do “If I were King of the Forest.” I am even less likely to be in a position to reshape education in the United States any time soon than let’s say Donald Trump was going to be elected President or the Cubs to win the World Series, but these things happen, so let me lay out what I see as a starting point for an anti-Trump education agenda.

These are twelve broad ideas to transform education in the United States as part of a broader movement for progressive social change. To borrow from Bernie Sanders, these changes would be “huge” and they will probably require a political revolution.

1. The United States needs a national educational system. Nations with the most successful schools, South Korea, Japan, Finland, all have national systems. A national system makes it harder to ignore the education of students from racial and ethnic minority groups, inner-city youth, and underserved geographic regions. This does not mean all local curriculum and teaching variation will be discarded. It does mean that states and localities that want to go a different path will have to justify decisions.

2. The United States needs a national dialogue about the purpose of education. The American people have had bad experiences with Common Core and high-stakes testing because they were imposed from above by politicians aligned with publishers, testing companies, wealthy corporate “reformers,” and hedge fund managers looking to make a buck off of kids and the schools. Democratic Party support for Common Core and high-stakes testing was one of the factors feeding into pro-Trump anti-federal hysteria.

Before we have another wave of “reforms,” bottom-up ground level education assemblies across the country must discuss what school should look like for our children. We should examine things like: “How do children learn to read?” “What does ‘college and career ready’ mean?” “What is important to know and why?” “What makes a good citizen?” “What are the 21st century jobs students are preparing for?”

Education assemblies can become models for all sorts of community-based decision-making. I would invite educators and require politicians to participate in the assemblies, but bar anyone on a corporate or foundation payroll who was not a local resident. I am not a big technology fan, but we could probably include live streaming and interactive programs.

3. The United States needs a universal school funding system. Right now in richer school districts more money is spent per student than in poorer school An Anti-Trump Agenda For American Education | The Huffington Post:

With Trump’s Title IX stance unknown, video aims to educate about sexual harassment at school | EdSource

With Trump’s Title IX stance unknown, video aims to educate about sexual harassment at school | EdSource:

With Trump's Title IX stance unknown, video aims to educate about sexual harassment at school

tional experts on sexual harassment in K-12 schools have teamed up to create a new educational video about gender equality, intended to inform students that they have a legal right to attend a school where nobody is harassed because of
 their gender.

The timing couldn’t be better, said Esther Warkov, cofounder of the nonprofit group Stop Sexual Assault in Schools, which produced the free video for use by schools, clubs and parent groups. President-elect Donald Trump, who boasted in a 2005 video about his ability to sexually assault women, has “normalized” traumatic harassment, Warkov said, and sent a disturbing message to children and teenagers. And the Republican Party platform has stated its opposition to the Obama administration’s decision to apply legal protections from harassment to students who are gay, transgender or gender nonconforming — including the right of transgender students to use the bathroom that corresponds to their gender identity.

“Our video explains how detrimental sexual harassment is to students,” she said, “and why schools must take complaints seriously and compassionately.”

The video features well-known gender equality researchers, including Keasara Williams, director of equity and Title IX compliance for the San Francisco Unified School District, and Caroline Heldman, associate professor of politics at Occidental College, who created the popular TED talk “The Sexy Lie” about the objectification of women.

In the 44 years since Title IX of the Education Act of 1972 prohibited discrimination in schools based on sex, the law has come to be understood to applyto students who are being discriminated against because of the way they present themselves in regards to gender stereotypes. With students increasingly coming out at school as gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender or “gender fluid,” bullying may be defined as discriminatory harassment, which is a civil rights violation. Warkov explained that the video, “Sexual Harassment: Not in Our School!”, is an effort to provide the information that most schools do not provide to students, parents and staff.

Trump’s election has some students concerned about an uptick in harassment. “It’s upsetting because I’ve had family members who have been harassed sexually,” said Jasmin Melendrez, 14, a freshman at Fremont High School in Oakland. “It will be easier for men to do that.”

“He’s definitely sexist,” said Max Burk, 15, a Berkeley High School student.

“I’m scared because I’m gay,” said Clementine Gunter, 16, a junior at Berkeley HighWith Trump’s Title IX stance unknown, video aims to educate about sexual harassment at school | EdSource: