Foundation Stats: Aggregate Fiscal Data of Grants from FC 1000 Foundations, for Education, 2012 - Foundation Center

Foundation Stats: Guide to the Foundation Center's Research Database - Foundation Center:

Aggregate Fiscal Data of Grants from FC 1000 Foundations, for Education, 2012

Top 50 Recipients of Grants from FC 1000 Foundations for Education, 2012

	Recipient Name	Location	No. of Grants	Dollar Value of Grants
1 |	Emory University	GA	48 <1%	$75,203,240 2%
2 |	Teach for America	NY	112 <1%	$54,014,312 1%
3 |	Stanford University	CA	233 1%	$51,055,775 1%
4 |	Davidson College	NC	15 <1%	$46,864,500 1%
5 |	Duke University	NC	96 <1%	$43,744,513 1%
6 |	Columbia University	NY	132 <1%	$42,041,244 1%
7 |	Foundation for Newarks Future	NJ	15 <1%	$39,688,593 1%
8 |	Charter Fund	CO	19 <1%	$38,449,500 1%
9 |	New York University	NY	78 <1%	$37,816,639 1%
10 |	Yale University	CT	113 <1%	$35,084,768 1%
11 |	Scholarship America	MN	82 <1%	$34,448,884 1%
12 |	Brown University	RI	60 <1%	$33,971,504 1%
13 |	Harvard University	MA	167 1%	$32,023,626 1%
14 |	University of Chicago	IL	91 <1%	$31,626,362 1%
15 |	University of Nebraska Foundation	NE	14 <1%	$31,575,729 1%
16 |	Independent Colleges of Indiana	IN	6 <1%	$31,381,076 1%
17 |	University of Southern California	CA	93 <1%	$28,521,777 1%
18 |	Massachusetts Institute of Technology	MA	57 <1%	$25,425,443 1%
19 |	Princeton University	NJ	69 <1%	$22,223,486 <1%
20 |	Johns Hopkins University	MD	78 <1%	$21,719,565 <1%
21 |	Bard College	NY	23 <1%	$21,585,850 <1%
22 |	University of California	CA	103 <1%	$21,383,596 <1%
23 |	Fund for Public Schools	NY	26 <1%	$20,507,814 <1%
24 |	Stony Brook Foundation	NY	6 <1%	$20,106,429 <1%
25 |	University of Texas	TX	58 <1%	$18,492,603 <1%
26 |	George W. Bush Foundation	TX	43 <1%	$18,194,184 <1%
27 |	Philadelphia Schools Project	PA	5 <1%	$18,024,210 <1%
28 |	Achieve, Inc.	DC	17 <1%	$17,561,352 <1%
29 |	KIPP Foundation	CA	26 <1%	$17,428,352 <1%
30 |	Success Charter Network	NY	16 <1%	$15,555,000 <1%
31 |	University of California San Francisco Foundation	CA	40 <1%	$15,442,304 <1%
32 |	Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation	WI	2 <1%	$15,107,500 <1%
33 |	inBloom, Inc.	GA	2 <1%	$14,833,334 <1%
34 |	Georgetown University	DC	49 <1%	$14,804,094 <1%
35 |	Northwestern University	IL	66 <1%	$14,661,153 <1%
36 |	University of Pennsylvania	PA	89 <1%	$14,340,919 <1%
37 |	Washington University	MO	42 <1%	$14,218,915 <1%
38 |	Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute	NY	24 <1%	$13,855,357 <1%
39 |	University of California	CA	35 <1%	$13,819,468 <1%
40 |	University of Missouri	MO	25 <1%	$13,708,888 <1%
41 |	University of Michigan	MI	87 <1%	$13,653,675 <1%
42 |	Baylor College of Medicine	TX	19 <1%	$13,631,855 <1%
43 |	Brandeis University	MA	30 <1%	$13,627,178 <1%
44 |	Ounce of Prevention Fund	IL	10 <1%	$13,529,446 <1%
45 |	Young Harris College	GA	10 <1%	$13,391,500 <1%
46 |	New College Foundation	VA	3 <1%	$12,904,230 <1%
47 |	Colorado Legacy Foundation	CO	14 <1%	$12,770,230 <1%
48 |	California Institute of Technology	CA	20 <1%	$12,474,736 <1%
49 |	Case Western Reserve University	OH	16 <1%	$12,416,487 <1%
50 |	Rice University	TX	28 <1%	$12,190,584 <1%

Foundation Stats: Guide to the Foundation Center's Research Database - Foundation Center:

NBC’s Harris-Perry Blames Charter Schools for New Orleans Problems

NBC’s Harris-Perry Blames Charter Schools for New Orleans Problems:

NBC’s Harris-Perry Blames Charter Schools for New Orleans Problems

On Sunday’s Meet the Press, MSNBC’s Melissa Harris-Perry blamed the growth of charter schools in New Orleans post-Katrina as one of the reasons the city has not improved since the storm. 

The MSNBC host proclaimed “for many who are African-American it's not a better city in part because this so-called success story in the schools also included charterizing the entire system, which also meant deunionizing all teachers.”

While Harris-Perry stressed her assessment had nothing to do with “[w]hatever people feel about teachers unions” she made it clear that she had a negative view of the growth of charter schools in New Orleans: 

One important thing to remember is that it is the heart of the black middle class, particularly in New Orleans. And so, that loss of income and of economic stability for the black middle class there has been meaningful, so it's not just the schools but also the people who work in schools.

The MSNBC host never explained why New Orleans should continue to pay poorly performing teachers solely because it is a major source of “economic stability for the black middle class” but seemed to have no problem placing the success of teachers above the children of the city as a major factor in why the city has not recovered. 

Harris-Perry also made sure to throw some cold water on increased investment in New Orleans since Katrina and argued that only certain neighborhoods could benefit from such growth:  

I would say is, yes, there are some ways in in which the city has had a huge amount of federal investment it deserved before the storm, but also remember that that -- that stands on whether or not you are living in a community and a neighborhood that can take advantage of it. 

See relevant transcript below. 

NBC’s Meet the Press

August 30, 2015

CHUCK TODD: I want to bring in Melissa Harris-Perry here, longtime New Orleans resident. When I told you about Malcolm Gladwell’s interview you had a sort of visceral reaction because you digested that New Yorker article. But let me ask you some of the basic questions here. New Orleans today, is it a better city than it was pre-Katrina? What do you say to that? 

MELISSA HARRIS-PERRY: Maybe the only thing I agree on with Malcolm Gladwell in this assessment is that's a tough question to answer and depends on where one is standing. So the answer is if you're a Ninth Ward resident, whose home was destroyed, whose community was not rebuilt, and whose home was destroyed, importantly as you point out, not by Katrina, but, rather, by the federal levees that failed in the context of Katrina, then, no, it simply is not better off. 

I would also suggest that for many who are African-American it's not a better city in part because this so-called success story in the schools also included charterizing the entire system, which also meant deunionizing all teachers. Whatever people feel about teachers unions, one important thing to remember is that it is the heart of the black middle class, particularly in New Orleans. And so, that loss of income and of economic stability for the black middle class there has been meaningful, so it's not just the schools but also the people who work in schools. 

And I think -- the final thing I would say is, yes, there are some ways in in which the city has had a huge amount of federal investment it deserved before the storm, but also remember that that -- that stands on whether or not you are living in a community and a neighborhood that can take advantage of it. 

- See more at: http://newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/jeffrey-meyer/2015/08/30/nbcs-harris-perry-blames-charter-schools-new-orleans-problems#sthash.MnchFobd.dpuf

Charter schools would boost grades in Australia: new report

Charter schools would boost grades in Australia: new report:

Charter schools would boost grades in Australia: new report

US-style privately-owned public schools should be rolled out in Australia to boost academic standards, a new report by libertarian think-tank, the Centre for Independent Studies argues.

Privately-run public schools, or charter schools as they are known in the US, are funded by the government and run by private entities, which have full autonomy over the schools' finances, staffing and curriculum.

The schools, which do not charge fees, could boost innovation in the sector by giving schools more freedom, and givingdisadvantaged students more choice, writes the report's lead author,  Trisha Ja.

"Disadvantaged families are not currently catered for, either because their choice of public school is restricted by zoning, or because they cannot afford school fees, or they do not want a religious education for their children," the report said.

The think tank is also controversially lobbying all state and territory governments to consider allowing for-profit private companies to run the charter schools.

A for-profit school would attract more capital than non-profits, and would run more efficiently, the authors said.

"There is no objective reason not to allow for-profit companies to operate non-government schools ... especially if they have a proven track record of successful school provision and a stable company structure," the authors said.

"Almost all other forms of education provision have a for-profit sector – early childhood education, after-school tutoring services, disability support services, technical education and training, and universities … the exception is actual management of schools."

Privately-owned public schools are becoming increasingly prevalent in the US, while similar models have been rolled out in the UK, Chile, Sweden and New Zealand.

Studies show the average impact of charter schools range from "null to small positive effects", the

Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/charter-schools-would-boost-grades-in-australia-new-report-20150830-gjb5f2.html#ixzz3kJtW1Tfn
Follow us: @theage on Twitter | theageAustralia on Facebook

#FightForDyett : Standing Strong With the Dyett Hunger Strikers Oregon Save Our Schools

Oregon Save Our Schools: Standing Strong With the Dyett Hunger Strikers:

Standing Strong With the Dyett Hunger Strikers

Oregon SOS values several ideas about public education.  Two that are very important are honoring parent voice and supporting neighborhood schools. We are also supportive of social justice issues.  All these issues have convened at Dyett High School in Chicago where parents and community members have been holding a hunger strike to demonstrate the fact that their voices are being ignored and the neighborhood school is being set up for takeover by corporate interests.  We at Oregon SOS support the Dyett 12 who are protesting and standing up for their schools. Here is our official statement with links for more information about this issue.

"Oregon Save Our Schools supports the Dyett 12, who are now entering their second week of a hunger strike to save their local school in Chicago’s Bronzeville neighborhood. It is the last neighborhood high school in this community. Bronzeville, on Chicago’s South Side, was historically a major destination for African-Americans who moved north during The Great Migration. The neighborhood has been home to many illustrious African-Americans, such as Ida B. Wells and Louis Armstrong. The school is named for Walter Dyett, an Black music teacher who worked for Chicago Public Schools for 30 years between the 1930s and 1960s and whose students included, among others, Nat King Cole and Bo Diddley. 

The Dyett community has banded together and worked with education experts over a period of four years to develop a Oregon Save Our Schools: Standing Strong With the Dyett Hunger Strikers:

Did the Achievement First Charter School Chain Cheat on the Connecticut SBAC tests? - Wait What?

Did the Achievement First Charter School Chain Cheat on the Connecticut SBAC tests? - Wait What?:

Did the Achievement First Charter School Chain Cheat on the Connecticut SBAC tests?

The case has been repeatedly made that that the Common Core SBAC testing scheme is unfair, inappropriate and discriminatory.  Designed to fail students, many of the questions on the SBAC test covered material that students had not even been taught.

However, from day one, the charter school industry has been among the SBAC testing programs greatest champions.  The Achievement First Charter School Chain, along with Connecticut’s two major charter school advocacy groups, ConnCAN and CCER, have spent millions of dollars lobbying in favor of the Common Core SBAC testing system and Governor Dannel Malloy’s “education reform” agenda.

In recent days, both charter school lobbying groups have written commentary pieces lauding the SBAC testing scam.

See:  For the sake of Connecticut’s children, embrace the SBAC data (By ConnCAN’s Jennifer Alexander) and Connecticut’s students must be challenged in school (By CCER’s Jeffrey Villar)

Now that Governor Dannel Malloy’s administration has finally released the results of the 2015 SBAC testing, parents, students and teachers and taxpayers can see just how unfair and discriminatory the massive and expensive SBAC testing program is.

But beyond the major underlying lying problem with the SBAC tests, an incredible issue immediately stands out when reviewing the SBAC test results.

The results “achieved” by the Achievement First charter schools chain of charter schools are Did the Achievement First Charter School Chain Cheat on the Connecticut SBAC tests? - Wait What?:

With A Brooklyn Accent: What Happened to Education Strategies that Promoted "Community Centered Pedagogy?"

With A Brooklyn Accent: What Happened to Education Strategies that Promoted "Community Centered Pedagogy?":

What Happened to Education Strategies that Promoted "Community Centered Pedagogy?"

 In the late 1980's and early 1990's, responding to a wave of violence sweeping through urban America, educators of color began proposing that public schools transform their pedagogy to enhance the self esteem and historical undersanding of young people in the hardest hit communities. They called for the transformation of social studies curricula to incorporate more Black and Latino history, to the creation of new public schools in which Black and Latino history were integral parts of the school culture, to the development of strategies to recruit more Black and Latino teachers, especially from communities that were most at risk.

There was a tremendous amount of energy and idealism accompanying this vision of Urban Education, and controversy as well. Supporters claimed these measure were necessary to save a generation of youth at risk; critics claimed they would intensify racial divisions, promote hostility to white  teachers and administrators and, in the most extreme cases, undermine patriotism and national unity.

 Fierce debates about such strategies occurred all through the 90's, but by the time  George W Bush had taken office, the critics had largely won the day. When No Child Left Behind was passed, its architects decided to base their vision of compliance and equity entirely on conformity to  National Standards which allowed little if any adaptation to community traditions.  The same approach was incorporated, in even more restrictive form, by
Barack Obama's "Race to the Top" which called for mandatory closing of schools which did not perform well on standardized tests as a condition for receiving federal grants.  Not only were inner city schools not rewarded or honored for adapting pedagogy to the cultural traditions of the communities they were located in, they were penalized for doing so if their efforts did not raise scores on standardized tests.

   The rise of  "standardization" as the centerpiece of national education policy, had a powerful impact on the charter school movement, which in its early stages, had proponents who tried to create schools incorporating community centered  pedagogy, and went out of their way to try to recruit teachers and administrators of color.  With startling rapidity, charters with that approach began losing ground, and most importantly losing funding, to charter chains such as K.I.P.P., and With A Brooklyn Accent: What Happened to Education Strategies that Promoted "Community Centered Pedagogy?":

A new casualty of high-stakes testing: student teachers - The Washington Post

A new casualty of high-stakes testing: student teachers - The Washington Post:

A new casualty of high-stakes testing: student teachers

And now, a new casualty of high-stakes standardized testing has been identified: student teachers. This post, by Jennifer Wallace Jacoby, explains why and how some college and university teacher training programs are trying to find solutions so that student teachers get the vital classroom training they need. Jacoby is an assistant professor of psychology and education at Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, Massachusetts.

By Jennifer Wallace Jacoby

As children return to K-12 classrooms, some will find that the emphasis on standardized testing that has caused stress for teachers and students now has a new casualty: student teachers. Teacher education programs around the country are beginning to feel the impact of testing standards, as master teachers pull back from their traditional role as trainers. Many of them feel that the pressures of “teaching to the test” mean they no longer have time to manage new teachers in their classrooms.

A future when seasoned teachers are no longer able or willing to mentor pre-service teachers due to testing and teaching constraints is a grim prospect. This situation does a disservice to student teachers, teachers, schools and, most importantly, children.

There are plenty of published critiques of the U.S. model of teacher preparation and education that reveal why this trend could be damaging to our nation’s education system: better-trained student teachers serve as a foundation for better schools. Detailed reports from all sorts of stakeholders, including policy makers, administrators and teachers themselves reveal that one of the most authentic and valuable experiences pre-service teachers take part in is the student teaching placement.

We see this challenge emerging in a number of school districts in Massachusetts. Campus education programs here place students in the classrooms of many school districts where jobs are at stake—some that are A new casualty of high-stakes testing: student teachers - The Washington Post:

CURMUDGUCATION: Why Trump Is Not Sanders

CURMUDGUCATION: Why Trump Is Not Sanders:

Why Trump Is Not Sanders

Warning: this piece is about the Presidential race and only tangentially about education. You've been warned. Also, I use a rude word repeatedly, and while many of you won't mind, my mom often reads here, and she doesn't like it when I use bad language.

There has been a tendency, both in the media and in casual conversation, for people to see a parallel or even equivalency between the runs of Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump. This is a mistake. The two candidates have one shared feature-- they are both benefiting from near-universal disgust with politics as usual in the US. Past that, Sanders and Trump are exact opposites.

American politics run on bullshit. Loads and loads and loads of bullshit. The Sanders candidacy is what a Presidential run would look like stripped of bullshit, without the slick, pretty candidate and the focus-group-crafted messages. The Trump canpaign is what a Presidential run would look like if you cranked the bullshit up to twelve.

Regular politics are that one kid in your class-- the one who punches the kid in the next seat or throws paper wads across the room or passes abusive notes, and does it all when your back is half-turned, and then when you call him on it, shrugs and says, "What? I didn't do anything. That kid just CURMUDGUCATION: Why Trump Is Not Sanders:

ICYMI: This Week's Readings from the Edusphere

Chris Thinnes ran a back-to-school parent's night speech by Rachel Thinnes that is a great reminder that school is not just about students getting ready to live their lives -- their lives are going on right now. She also references Excellent Sheep, which is always bonus points as far as I'm concerned.


EdTPA and TFA Are Two Sides of the Same Coin 

Fred Klonsky spent a chunk of his week fending off feverish defenders of Pearson's teacher certification baloneyfest, EdTPA. Klonsky wrote several good take-downs of the program, but this one put it in the context of another favorite reformster program.
 
10 Years of Corporate Media Celebrating Disaster

You'll need a strong stomach for this look back at some of the decades most notable cheerleading for death and destruction in New Orleans. Because who cares how many people have to die, neighborhoods have to be destroyed, and citizens have to be permanently displaced if, when it's all done, privatizers can make some money and test scores go up, a little, in some places, for some people.

Message from Bethlehem Superintendent

The superintendent of Bethlehem Area Schools in PA wrote in the local paper a piece to show that he gets it, and that he regrets "a different world we are now in where a teacher potentially risks a negative evaluation because she is committed to helping her students develop their passions, gifts and talents."

NC Teachers Being 'Voluntarily Exploited' 

Brief but powerful profile of three North Carolina teachers and how they make it work. These ladies are inspirational-- wait till you read about how one turns the experience of not being able to buy groceries into a growth experience for her own practice.

Russ on Reading: Irony, Education Reform and Teacher Shortages

Russ on Reading: Irony, Education Reform and Teacher Shortages:

Irony, Education Reform and Teacher Shortages

I love irony. Irony makes me laugh. I look for it in my daily life and seek it out in my reading and in my television viewing. Just today I was leaving the local car wash when I noticed the cemetery across the street was called Riverview Cemetery. I had to wonder how many of the residents of the Riverview Cemetery were enjoying that river view. I pictured the cemetery plot salesperson telling a grieving widow that her dead husband would be able to enjoy a pleasant river view in his final resting place.

Irony is, of course, the discrepancy between reality and appearance or the discrepancy between what is said and what is done. I would imagine that like me you studied irony in high school. Perhaps you encountered irony through The Rime of the Ancient Mariner lost at sea:

                                Water, water everywhere
                                Nor any drop to drink.

Or perhaps it was in Hamlet, when that old blow hard Polonius declares:

My liege, and madam, to expostulate
What majesty should be, what duty is,
What day is day, night night, and time is time,
Were nothing but to waste night, day, and time;

Therefore, since brevity is the soul of wit,
And tediousness the limbs and outward flourishes,
I will be brief. 

Or perhaps you remember the plight of poor Hester Prynne in The Scarlet Letter, reviled and literally marked for life because of her out of wedlock Russ on Reading: Irony, Education Reform and Teacher Shortages:

Nearly Half of States Opted to Hit Accountability Snooze Button - Politics K-12 - Education Week

Nearly Half of States Opted to Hit Accountability Snooze Button - Politics K-12 - Education Week:

Nearly Half of States Opted to Hit Accountability Snooze Button

Test scores from new Common Core State Standards assessments are just beginning to trickle in. But in nearly half of the states, the results won't have an effect on school ratings on state accountability systems, at least not for school year that just ended.

Here's why: Last year, the U.S. Department of Education gave states that are transitioning to new tests the option to "pause" state-level accountability during the 2014-15 school year, when the exams were coming online. The idea was to give schools some breathing room as they adjust to new tests and more rigorous standards.

The option was really popular—24 states and the District of Columbia took the department up on it. And everyone has been approved, except for Colorado (which is still waiting for the greenlight on its No Child Left Behind Act waiver renewal).

Receiving the option are: Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, the District of Columbia, Delaware, Florida, Idaho, Kansas, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Maryland, Maine, Mississippi, Montana, North Dakota, New Hampshire, Nevada, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Vermont, Washington, and West Virginia. (A handful of those states don't have waivers.)

The change means that a school that had a high rating last year, but maybe didn't perform so well on new assessments, won't necessarily have to worry about suddenly dropping from say, an "A" to a "D."

But "the pause" is not a total and complete pass from all accountability. For instance, states with waivers from the NCLB law (that's 42 states and the District of Columbia) will still have to identify new "priority schools" (the wonky waiver name given to the absolute lowest performing) and "focus schools" (other struggling schools), if they were scheduled to do so this year. (It's Nearly Half of States Opted to Hit Accountability Snooze Button - Politics K-12 - Education Week:

Practicing feminism: Sacramento area students rally for social change | The Sacramento Bee

Practicing feminism: Sacramento area students rally for social change | The Sacramento Bee:

Practicing feminism: Sacramento area students rally for social change

In classrooms across Sacramento, Inga Manticas and dozens of her fellow high school students are taking on the feminist fight and updating it for the 21st century.

The C.K. McClatchy High School senior has helped build a regional alliance of Sacramento high school feminist clubs, including at least five that have started only in the last year. In their meetings, students talk about the challenges facing women today, such as online shaming and continued barriers to equal pay in the workplace. They also widen their discussion to the challenges facing all races and sexual orientations.

Although women have made gains, Manticas said, the next generation of young women still has much hard work to do. Corporate boards and legislative bodies across the country remain largely male and white, while social media and other digital tools have ignited an explosion of sexist slurs.

When Manticas brought up women’s rights in her debate class, for instance, she said she got what she felt was a patronizing pat on the head from a male classmate – an episode that she said typifies the attitudes toward women she often encounters in school.

“I think people have this misconception that feminism isn’t necessary anymore because we have the right to vote, we have our own finances, we can own property,” Manticas said. “But really when you start to look at the social aspect of the way women are treated, we don’t have full equality.”

In April, the alliance organized its first conference, which featured Megan Seely, author of the book “Fight Like a Girl: How to be a Fearless Feminist,” as well as appearances by local transgender advocate Rachael Hudson and representatives of Community Against Sexual Harm, which serves victims of sexual exploitation. The conference also helped students design feminist “zines,” which the alliance and several high school clubs already publish.

Alliance members plan to organize another convention and put on a prom for women atPracticing feminism: Sacramento area students rally for social change | The Sacramento Bee:

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/news/local/education/article32463849.html#storylink=cpy

NC teachers being ‘voluntarily exploited’ | News & Observer

NC teachers being ‘voluntarily exploited’ | News & Observer:

NC teachers being ‘voluntarily exploited’

Former Wake County teacher of the year Angela Scioli recently lacked money to buy her own groceries. “In a strange way, I was glad for the experience. It’s a gift if it helps me understand what my kids face.” PHOTOS BY CHRIS FOWLER

Read more here: http://www.newsobserver.com/opinion/op-ed/article32670861.html#storylink=cpy

The level of commitment, professionalism and selfless dedication demonstrated daily by heroes like NaShonda Cooke, Angela Scioli, Brendan Fetters and the other teachers they represent and inspire can barely be comprehended. They instruct with generosity, patience and passion. They lift up children who face our society’s most impenetrable barriers. They push back against unrelenting tides – unwilling to surrender, or retreat, in what might be life’s greatest mission. They move beyond the classroom into troubled and threatened communities – looking our boldest problems in the face, rather than turning from them like the rest of us do.

They do all this, too often, without real compensation, support and appreciation – at least appreciation beyond the parents and students who worship them. They work for basic salaries that embarrass both them and North Carolina, in an education system dramatically stacked against the poor children to whom they have dedicated their lives. They are teachers who, as Jesse Jackson used to say, “teach because they can’t help it.”

I think Cooke, Scioli and Fetters knew what they were signing up for. This path has never been strewn with rose petals. I know they didn’t expect, however, to be officially derided for their efforts. “The elephant in the room,” Fetters explains, “is the constant claim that we are failing our students.”

The politicians who accuse them, of course, never go to their schools, never talk to the teachers. They do, though, “take away our teaching assistants, run good teachers off to other states, give us bigger classes, cut our budgets and disparage our schools,” Cooke says.

It’s not lost on teachers of high-poverty children that all the current political energy is directed toward vouchers and charter schools, draining already inadequate resources. They “evaluate us on matters outside of our control,” Cooke says, “pronounce us broken, and then make it tougher to do our work.”

Cooke’s own daughter attends one of the high-poverty Durham schools receiving an F on the state’s new scorecard. “I know the greatness of what they do in that school. I’d never move her,” Cooke says. She gets angry when her daughter’s teachers are maligned by people who don’t know what they’re talking about.

It’s one thing, I suppose, to wage war on public education. It’s another to shamelessly defame in the process.

To do her job with commitment, oddly, Angie Scioli has to be willing to work for free at her Wake County high school. That’s hardly the American way. “We lost our longevity pay this year. I would have gotten $2,000 in June,” she says. But last month, master’s degree, national board certification and past recognition as Wake County’s teacher of the year notwithstanding, she didn’t have the money to go to the grocery store. She is 44 and has been teaching in Raleigh for over two decades.

“In a strange way, I was glad for the experience,” Scioli says. She was able to see, more directly, what her high-poverty students live with every day. “It’s a gift if it helps me understand what my kids face,” she told me. But, “I’m counter-cultural, you won’t findNC teachers being ‘voluntarily exploited’ | News & Observer:

Read more here: http://www.newsobserver.com/opinion/op-ed/article32670861.html#storylink=cpy

Back to ALEC, Back to (Private) School | Rep. Chris Taylor

Back to ALEC, Back to (Private) School | Rep. Chris Taylor:

Back to ALEC, Back to (Private) School

On the heels of a newly passed state budget that again leaves our K-12 public schools behind without ample and consistent funding, I recently headed back to where the school privatization push all began -- the American Legislative Exchange Council, or ALEC.

ALEC and its members, including the American Federation for Children (AFC), have become more powerful than our citizens' voices at the State Capitol. Despite massive public urging from Wisconsin school superintendents, principals, teachers, parents and students for consistent and adequate K-12 public education funding, Republicans legislators chose to dump more money into an unaccountable private voucher school system.

Since Republicans took over our state Capitol in 2011, they have cut $1.2 billion from public K-12 education. Under this latest budget, 55 percent of school districts will get less general student aid than they did last budget cycle and Wisconsin is spending $1,014 less per public school student than it did in 2008.

Yet for the private school special interests, this budget was like Christmas morning, with presents that blew the student enrollment caps off the statewide private school voucher program, diverted an additional $600-800 million from public schools over the next decade and increased per-pupil spending in the statewide private voucher system more than what even Governor Walker had proposed. The cherry on top was the last-minute, late-night passage of the special needs voucher program, which funds private schools for special needs students without requiring specialized instruction, teacher training or current legal protections.

At ALEC's recent conference, I saw firsthand how these successes have emboldened Back to ALEC, Back to (Private) School | Rep. Chris Taylor: