A detailed critique of a PBS-run education documentary - The Washington Post

A detailed critique of a PBS-run education documentary - The Washington Post:

A detailed critique of a PBS-run education documentary

This is a detailed critique of a three-part documentary called “School Inc.,” which was aired recently by some PBS stations across the country. Written by Diane Ravitch and Carol Burris, the critique looks at some of the claims made in the documentary about traditional public schools — which they say presents a distorted view — and explains why this debate matters at a time when President Trump and Education Secretary Betsy DeVos are pushing school choice policies.

“School Inc.” was created and narrated by Andrew Coulson, the late director of the Cato Institute’s Center for Educational Freedom and a researcher and author who promoted the idea that free markets and the profit motive would improve education in the United States. He was a strong proponent of school tax credit programs that use public money to fund private education. The three hours of programming was funded by foundations that support the same thing.

I ran a short post about the programming last month, which you can read here, and at that time, a PBS spokesman said in an email that “School Inc.” is “an independent production that reflects the personal viewpoint of series creator Andrew Coulson” and that it was part of the mission of the network to “offer programs that reflect diverse viewpoints and promote civic dialogue.” The email also said that PBS has “high editorial standards” that ensure “that the creative and editorial processes behind the programs offered on PBS are shielded from political A detailed critique of a PBS-run education documentary - The Washington Post:

CURMUDGUCATION: What Is Test Prep?

CURMUDGUCATION: What Is Test Prep?:

What Is Test Prep?

Yesterday I fell into a discussion of test prep on Twitter where a participant tossed forward the notion that test prep actually decreases test results. Others asserted that test prep doesn't really help. I'm pretty sure that both of those assertions are dead wrong, but I also suspect part of the problem is that "test prep" is an Extremely Fuzzy Term that means a variety of things.

The research itself is not exactly stunning. A study that turns up from time to time is a study from Chicago from 2008 that looks at test prep and ACT results (in Illinois, everyone takes the ACT, so congrats to whatever salesperson/lobbyist from ACT's parent company that landed that contract-- ka-ching! We'll skip over all the reasons that's a bad idea for now). A quick look at the summary shows that this study didn't exactly prove that test prep is a bust:

CPS students are highly motivated to do well on the ACT, and they are spending extraordinary amounts of time preparing for it. However, the predominant ways in which students are preparing for the ACT are unlikely to help them do well on the test or to be ready for college-level work. Students are training for the ACT in a last-minute sprint focused on test practice, when the ACT requires years of hard work developing college-level skills.

That's a nice piece of sleight of hand there. Test prep wasn't failing-- just one particular type was. There are, of course, many other test prep alternatives, but the study ignores those, shrugs, and says, "I guess our only alternative is to believe the ACT PR about how the test measures 'years of hard work' on college level skills."

Meanwhile, the College Board has been touting how their special brand of test prep totally works on CURMUDGUCATION: What Is Test Prep?:

We cannot teach dead children. | Reclaim Reform

We cannot teach dead children. | Reclaim Reform:

We cannot teach dead children.

Education issues are healthcare issues.

Children with birth defects, children requiring special education, and other children with special needs are now being denied their basic needs because they don’t “deserve” them and are a financial and academic drain. Fully qualified teachers have been scapegoated as being greedy, antiquated, immoral, and responsible for bankrupting school districts and states. An infant with a hole in her heart is not cost effective for a “new and improved” healthcare program. Expensive, state-mandated, high stakes testing provided by private for-profit corporations who insist on same-testing severely disabled and dying children are supported by various state laws. Now, we face a so-called healthcare bill that will cause children to die before they become eligible for public education by dedicated and accredited teachers.

No, these are not exaggerations; these are examples of the so-called “new normal” in Washington D.C. under President Donald Trump and the Republican majorities in the Senate and the House of Representatives.

One wealthy old man, Senator John McCain, is hospitalized; he has superb, full healthcare coverage which is paid for by our federal government. Our U.S. Senate postponed the vote that will deny healthcare to a child with a hole in her heart because McCain is in the hospital and cannot vote. McCain, the son of an American admiral, has received government healthcare coverage his entire life. He went to Annapolis as the son of an admiral via a legacy preference, was an officer in the navy, a prisoner-of-war and then became a senator for decades. Even though he has been married to a very wealthy woman for many years, he has always had full healthcare coverage paid for by the government. Of We cannot teach dead children. | Reclaim Reform:

Key Democrat calls for ouster of DeVos’s civil rights chief in light of ‘egregious’ remarks about sexual assault - The Washington Post

Key Democrat calls for ouster of DeVos’s civil rights chief in light of ‘egregious’ remarks about sexual assault - The Washington Post:

Key Democrat calls for ouster of DeVos’s civil rights chief in light of ‘egregious’ remarks about sexual assault

Sen. Patty Murray of Washington, the top Democrat on the Senate education committee, is calling for the ouster of the Education Department’s civil rights chief, saying she has shown herself to be unfit for the job.

Candice Jackson, the acting head of the agency’s Office for Civil Rights, triggered fierce criticism last week when she told the New York Times that “90 percent” of campus sexual-assault complaints “fall into the category of ‘we were both drunk,’ ‘we broke up, and six months later I found myself under a Title IX investigation because she just decided that our last sleeping together was not quite right.’”

Jackson apologized publicly, disclosing that as a survivor of rape herself, she believes “all sexual harassment and sexual assault must be taken seriously.” She also apologized privately to assault survivors in a meeting to discuss the department’s role in enforcing Title IX, a federal law that prohibits sex discrimination at federally funded schools.

[DeVos: Too many college students treated unfairly under Obama-era sexual-assault policy]

Murray said Monday that apologizing for such “callous, insensitive and egregious comments” is not enough. Jackson’s words “crossed a serious line and highlighted her clear biases in this area in a way that, to me and many women and men across the country, should disqualify her from service in the position of top Department of Education protector of students’ right to be safe at school,” the senator said in a statement.

A spokeswoman for Education Secretary Betsy DeVos did not immediately respond to a request Key Democrat calls for ouster of DeVos’s civil rights chief in light of ‘egregious’ remarks about sexual assault - The Washington Post:

Why Americans Think So Poorly of the Country's Schools - The Atlantic

What Is the Quality of America's Schools? - The Atlantic:

Why Americans Think So Poorly of the Country's Schools
Are public schools generally meeting Americans’ expectations? Or are they teetering on the brink of failure?

Each year, parents responding to the Phi Delta Kappan poll report high levels of satisfaction with their kids’ education. Asked to assign letter grades to their children’s schools, the vast majority of parents—generally around 70 percent—issue As and Bs. If those ratings were compiled the way a student’s grade point average is calculated, the public schools would collectively get a B.

When asked to rate the nation’s schools, however, respondents are far less sanguine. Reflecting on public schools in general, a similar share of respondents—roughly 70 percent—confer a C or D. Again calculated as a GPA, America’s schools get a C or C-.

 So which is it? Are public schools generally meeting Americans’ expectations? Or are they teetering on the brink of failure?

This may seem like an academic exercise. After all, school quality is what it is, regardless of perception. But, as it turns out, this gap in perceptions is a matter of tremendous importance.

Consider the impact on policy. If the nation’s schools are generally doing well, it doesn’t make much sense to disrupt them. But if they are in a state of decline, disruption takes on an entirely new meaning. Seizing on the presumed failures of the education system, reform advocates have pushed hard for contentious policies—expansion of charter schools, for instance, or the use of value-added measures of teacher effectiveness—that might have less traction in a more positive policy climate.

Perception also shapes the decisions people make about where to enroll their children. If the quality of public education is generally poor, then parents must What Is the Quality of America's Schools? - The Atlantic:

CURMUDGUCATION: Building a Better Charter Authorizer

CURMUDGUCATION: Building a Better Charter Authorizer:

Building a Better Charter Authorizer

There has been a bit of a kerfluffle going on in reformsterland over charter accountability. Kicked off by the Center for Education Reform's book about how there should be less accountability, followed by Chester Finn  (Fordham Emeritus) calling their ideas names. That conversation eventually led to this piece by Rick Hess, considering the different levels of regulation by charter authorizers, which itself leads to this question:

I think the more relevant question for charter authorizing is how authorizers can deliver meaningful oversight without descending into kludgeocracy.

Okay-- so what would a better charter authorizer look like. Acknowledging that I am, in fact, a modern charter skeptic at best, let me go ahead and see if I can describe what we'd need in order to build a better charter authorizer.

The Beer Goggles Problem

Pat's had too much to drink and it's last call, so Pat takes home a person who, in  the cold morning light, turns out to be ugly and unpleasant. The problem is not the alcohol or the late hour. The problem is not even that the pickup was ugly and unpleasant. The real problem is that Pat felt it necessary to take someone whom, no matter what.

The charter industry has a beer goggles problem. Particularly in states like Florida and Ohio, folks CURMUDGUCATION: Building a Better Charter Authorizer:

Teacher Pay Penalty Driving Educators Away From Profession

Teacher Pay Penalty Driving Educators Away From Profession:

Teacher Pay Penalty Driving Educators Away From Profession

Randy Pontius makes less money now as an Indiana social studies teacher than he did when he started 15 years ago.

“I know of no other profession where you have that many years of experience and have consistently received evaluations of highly effective or effective and your pay goes down rather than up,” he says.

After eight years in the classroom in Hamlet, Indiana, Pontius was laid off because of budget cuts. When he began teaching at his current school he was offered a first year teacher salary of $34,000 despite his prior experience. He now earns just $40,000 a year after 15 years in the classroom and a masters degree.

“With three kids ages 9, 10 and 11 and my wife to support, I have definitely thought of leaving the teaching profession to better support my family,” Pontius says.

The average teacher salary in Indiana is $45,841 according to the latest research, one of the lowest in the nation. The rate of teacher attrition is also among the highest with 18 percent leaving the profession during the 2015-1026 school year.

But low pay isn’t the only reason educators leave. Pontius says he and his colleagues are fed up with the enormous pressure they are under to have their students perform on unreliable, high-stakes tests. Job stress on top of the stress of making ends meet becomes overwhelming resulting in educator burn out.

The Teacher Pay Penalty

“Wages for teachers have been falling relative to comparable workers all over the country for many years,” says Lawrence Mishel, president of the Economic Policy Institute. “Teachers were paid two percent less [than comparable workers] in 1994, Teacher Pay Penalty Driving Educators Away From Profession:

DeVos: Civil rights office will return to being a 'neutral' agency - POLITICO

DeVos: Civil rights office will return to being a 'neutral' agency - POLITICO:

DeVos: Civil rights office will return to being a 'neutral' agency

Education Secretary Betsy DeVos said she is "returning" the Office for Civil Rights "to its role as a neutral, impartial, investigative agency."

In a July 11 letter to Democratic Sen. Patty Murray, DeVos asserted that the department's civil rights arm under the Obama administration "had descended into a pattern of overreaching, of setting out to punish and embarrass institutions rather than work with them to correct civil rights violations and of ignoring public input prior to issuing new rules."

 As part of the changes she is implementing, the civil rights office would no longer issue "new regulations via administrative fiat," as the Obama administration did, she wrote.

DeVos' letter, which lays out a far less activist philosophy for the civil rights office, came in response to a letter sent late last month by 34 Senate Democrats, who blasted her for a series of actions they said had "diminished" civil rights enforcement. The lawmakers asked DeVos for a host of information by July 11, including a list of civil rights investigations that have been closed or dismissed since the Trump administration began. DeVos didn't provide any of the information in her response.

Murray sent DeVos another letter on Friday repeating her request for the information. She did not address DeVos' assertions about the actions taken by the Obama-era civil rights office.

DeVos wrote that the agency is "unwavering in its commitment" to defend students' civil rights. But during the Obama administration, the office "all too often handled individual complaints as evidence of systematic institutional violations," she wrote. Candice Jackson, the acting assistant secretary for civil rights, told the office's regional directors in June to stop doing just that.

The Obama administration's approach "forced" OCR staff "to expand the scope of DeVos: Civil rights office will return to being a 'neutral' agency - POLITICO:

The Quest for Inclusive Sex Ed - The Atlantic

The Quest for Inclusive Sex Ed - The Atlantic:

The Power of Inclusive Sex Education
LGBTQ students say they need programming that speaks to them, and some school districts are finding ways to deliver.

The night the cable channel Freeform aired an LGBTQ sex-education-themed episode of its teen drama The Fosters earlier this spring, Madison Russell spent the evening in front of her television with tears rolling down her face. A high-school junior, Russell has identified as a lesbian since age 11, but when she took a school-mandated sex education class at her Hiram, Georgia, high school, she couldn’t see herself in the curriculum. “We were informed on the types of protection for heterosexual couples, but never the protection options for gay/lesbian couples,” Russell said. LGBTQ kids weren’t even mentioned.

Russell’s experiences aren’t unique to rural Georgia. According to a 2013 survey by GLSEN, a national nonprofit focused on providing safe educational spaces for LGBTQ students, just 5 percent of LGBTQ students reported having health classes that included positive representations of LGBTQ-related topics. And a 2015 study by the Public Religion Research Institute found just 12 percent of millennials said their sex education classes covered same-sex relationships at all.

But sex ed is changing in America, and not just on teen TV shows. An increasing number of school districts from Washington state to Washington, D.C. are revamping their sexual-education courses to look more like the student populations they serve.

Currently, 12 states require discussion of sexual orientation in sex education, The Quest for Inclusive Sex Ed - The Atlantic:

Sex Ed Without the Sex

Sacramento City schools look to Philippines to hire teachers | The Sacramento Bee

Sacramento City schools look to Philippines to hire teachers | The Sacramento Bee:

Sacramento district can’t find enough teachers, so it turns to Philippines for help

Teacher Pay Penalty Driving Educators Away From Profession - http://wp.me/p5kbFE-a2t via @NEAToday

Officials at the Sacramento City Unified School District took an international field trip to the Philippines this year – to hire teachers.

The district says it has no choice but to look abroad to fill vacancies, as schools around California and the nation face a shortage of employable teachers.

Sacramento City Unified is the only district in the greater Sacramento region hiring from the Philippines through a program that began last year.

In the Philippines, English is widely taught in schools and is an official language, along with Tagalog. The country, which was governed by the United States before World War II, retains a similar school system, which is why teachers can easily transfer their credentials to the U.S., according to Ligaya Avenida, CEO of AIC Inc., the consulting firm that brings teachers over.

“The teachers from the Philippines, they have a strong desire to do the best they can,” Avenida said. “They have a high level of commitment.”

Avenida, who charges the teachers $2,500 for a placement in the U.S., completes all of the paperwork, including transcript verifications and visa applications. The process can take a couple of months. There is no cost to the district, except for hotel rooms in the Philippines for its staff.

Jake Hansen, personnel specialist for Sacramento City Unified, flew to the Philippines last year for the first time to hire 12 special education teachers. After three days of interviews, he flew back to Sacramento.

“We couldn’t fill our needs locally,” Hansen said. “We always have a need for special education teachers.”

The teachers are able to work in the U.S. through the J-1 non-immigrant visa program, which promotes cultural and educational exchanges. Legally, they can stay for an initial three-year period and then apply for a two-year extension. However, each district has its own contract with the Filipino teachers.

In Sacramento City’s case, each teacher is evaluated annually. The district is required to treat the teachers the same way as local hires, offering commensurate pay and equal benefits based on the contract with the teachers’ union.

American salary levels are the biggest motivating factor for the Filipino teachers, who can earn 10 times what they make at home.

“Obviously it pays a lot here,” said Paolo Legaspi, 35, who came to Sacramento last summer from the Manila area.

Legaspi is the only man in the cohort of 12 teachers that arrived last year to teach special education in elementary, middle and high schools. His salary is $5,700 a month in Sacramento, compared to $500 in the Philippines. Each teacher also has to pay roughly $12,000 in startup costs to get placed in the U.S.

Even accounting for the higher cost of living, Legaspi said he still comes out ahead and plans to save up so he can open a catering business back home.

“There was some hesitation from my wife,” said Legaspi about the decision to share an Sacramento City schools look to Philippines to hire teachers | The Sacramento Bee:

Message in a Bottle Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all

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

Message in a Bottle Diane Ravitch's blog

A site to discuss better education for all

Texas: Special Session of Legislature Opens Tomorrow, to Restart Voucher Debate

5by dianeravitch / 2h

Governor Greg Abbott has called a special session of the Texas legislature, beginning tomorrow, which will consider a school finance reform bill and vouchers, among other things. The public schools of Texas are underfunded. In 

Betsy DeVos and ALEC in Denver This Week

by dianeravitch / 3min

Betsy DeVos will be the keynote speaker at the ALEC annual meeting in Denver this week. Protestors will be there to greet her, although the U.S. Department of Education is keeping silent about which day she will appear. ALEC has been 

Trump and the Russian Mafia: A Cautionary Story

1by dianeravitch / 49min

Craig Unger, a contributing editor at Vanity Fair, published an article about Donald Trump’s relations with the Russia mafia. It is called “Trump’s Russian Laundromat.” Remember when Trump said he had no connections to Russia? 

Betsy DeVos Tells Senators She Will “Return” Office for Civil Rights to a “Neutral” Role

by dianeravitch / 3min

A group of Democratic Senators wrote a letter to Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos to express their concern that she was abandoning civil rights enforcement. DeVos wrote back to say that she was “ returning” the Office for Civil Rights to its role as a “neutral” investigative agency. It is at a time like this that DeVos’s ignorance of education policy and history becomes embarrassing. OCR is the

Gary Rubinstein: Does KIPP Deserve to Expand in Philadelphia?

2by dianeravitch / 1h

Gary Rubinstein learned that KIPP plans to add more schools in Philadelphia and nearly triple its enrollment. So Gary did what he always did: he checked the public data for KIPP in Philadelphia. He found that KIPP has one high school in the city. “ That school got the lowest possible rating, essentially an F. Not only were their test scores low, but they also got the lowest possible rating in ‘gr

Philadelphia: KIPP Gets Whatever It Wants, Despite Poor Performance

17by dianeravitch / 2h

Despite lackluster results at some of its Philadelphia schools, KIPP plans to increase the number of itsschools in the city and more than double its enrollment, from 1,770 to 4,400 students. Current plans call the growth of K-12 networks of KIPP schools. Apparently, the KIPP Network will accept students in the early grades but not in middle school or high school. KIPP wants to create its “culture

New Jersey: Linda Weber, Candidate for Congress, Thanks You for Your Help!

3by dianeravitch / 3h

Linda Weber is running against a Republican incumbent in New Jersey. Hers is one of the districts that Democrats hope to flip, so as to gain control of the House in 2018 and stop ztrump’s plans to defund public schools, environmental protection, Medicaid, and every other social program. I put out an appeal to raise money for Linda when she needed to meet a June 30 deadline, and many of you respon

YESTERDAY

Bridge International Academies: A Dutch Perspective

7by dianeravitch / 21h

Dutch journalist Maria Hengeveld reviewed the claims and business plans of Bridge International Academies and found much not to like. She is clearly irked that the Dutch Ministry of Affairs has invested in this plan. Shannon May, a founder, says that BIA is all about “social justice.” Hengeveld adds: “And for profit. According to her husband, the “global education crisis” is worth about US$51 bil

Nicholas Kristof Defends For-Profit Takeover of Schools in Africa

11by dianeravitch / 22h

In this column , Nicholas Kristof defends the takeover of schooling in Africa by Bridge International Academies. Kristof says that since the government failed to provide basic education, it is welcome news that BIA is doing it, for a fee. The investors include Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg. He writes that American liberals should get over their squeamishness about privatization and for-profit op

Massachusetts: How to Kill a Successful School

500+by dianeravitch / 23h

Pelham, Massachusetts, is a small town in the western part of the state. It contains about 1,300 residents. It has only one school, an elementary school that enrolls about 130 children. The Pelham school is part of the Amherst district; when children leave elementary school, they move on to the Amherst-Pelham Regional Schools for junior and senior high. Three school committees, three budgets, one

Jennifer Berkshire: Watch What Betsy DeVos Does, Not the Nonsense She Says

14by dianeravitch / 1d

Jennifer Berkshire writes about Betsy DeVos’s radical agenda, which she cloaks in platitudes. She has become the mistress of not speaking to the press. When invited to address the annual meeting of the Education Writers Association in D.C., she skipped out, claiming she was too busy. She briefly appeared on a network news show, speaking about the only subject she cares about: choice. When asked a

Florida: Parents Fight Corporate Takeovers of Public Money!

31by dianeravitch / 1d

Parents in Alachua County in Florida have created an organization to fight the opening of a for-profit charter school run by Charter Schools USA in their community. Their organization is called Parents Against Corporate Takeovers (PACT) . The charter will drain students and money from their local community public schools. In addition to hurting public schools, the new charter will have poor overs

Massachusetts Professor Identifies Dark Money Funding Parent Group, Sets Off Twitter Controversy

36by dianeravitch / 1d

Maurice Cunningham is a professor of political science at the University of Massachusetts. During the heated battle over a referendum to expand charter schools (Question 2), Cunningham wrote about the funding of both sides. The Massachusetts Teachers Association spent heavily to oppose Question 2, but they were far outspent by the many millions poured into the state to support charter schools. Mo

The Correct Link for “Fake News” about Vesilnitskaya

6by dianeravitch / 1d

The story appeared on the CNN WEBSITE. http://money.cnn.com/2017/07/14/media/trump-russian-lawyer-veselnitskaya-theories-obama/index.html

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