Randi Weingarten: Trump’s Dystopian Vision for Schools — Medium

Trump’s Dystopian Vision for Schools — Medium:

Trump’s Dystopian Vision for Schools

I frankly was shocked that Donald Trump finally mentioned children and schooling in a speech Tuesday night; these days, educators are used to dealing with the toxic climate he has created with his bullying and bigotry. So I stopped what I was doing and listened to his speech.

Imagine my surprise that Trump recognized — or someone noted it for him — that too many kids don’t get a fair shot to pursue their dreams, especially in poor urban and rural communities.

Unfortunately, the things he proposed would just make the situation worse.

Trump is dead wrong on the root causes of some kids’ failure to succeed. And rather than propose even one proven strategy that would help kids, he dusted off the status quo Republican playbook of worn-out establishment ideas that simply would destabilize neighborhoods and schools and make it harder and harder to attract, retain and support great teachers.

We have a shared responsibility to ensure all children can receive a high-quality public education, regardless of their ZIP code or background. But nearly two decades of the market-based solutions Trump peddles have overpromised and underdelivered, and in places like Detroit they’ve left kids even worse off.

Trump calls for “school choice” — marketer code for private charters, vouchers and selling off our schools to private firms. While there are some exceptional charters, charters on average perform about the same as traditional public schools, and the sector is rife with fraud and corruption, often discriminatesagainst high-needs students, and has undermined public districts in cities likePhiladelphia, Detroit and Chicago.

That’s part of why social justice groups like the NAACP and Black Lives Matterare speaking out against charter school proliferation and the privatization of our public schools, going so far as to propose a moratorium on charters in a recent NAACP resolution.

And Trump’s other big “choice” idea — vouchers? Voucher programs simply don’t work. They’ve been ruled unconstitutional in multiple states, includingColorado and Florida. Students who attend schools using vouchers often do worse than those who stayed in their neighborhood public schools.

Real school choice is a public system with options that give kids multiple pathways to pursue their passions and learn critical skills like creativity, problem solving and teamwork. We need thriving traditional public schools that anchor neighborhoods, powerful instruction that engages kids, and supports that address students’ and families’ well-being. That can includemagnet schools with specialized programs; community schools that support children and families in hard-hit areas; charters that are part of — not in place of — a public district; and robust career and technical, IB, early college and other programs to prepare kids for college, trades and careers. This starts with an investment in what works, not cutting educational spending as Trump Trump’s Dystopian Vision for Schools — Medium:

Union Busting board ousts member who was accused of breach of loyalty on union comment | The Lens

Lusher board ousts member who was accused of violating policy on union | The Lens:

Lusher board ousts member who was accused of violating policy on union

The divisions created at Lusher Charter School during a spring union drive re-emerged Saturday when the board re-elected all but one member.

All nine board members were present Saturday. Secretary Rachel Wisdom made a motion to re-elect eight — excluding Chunlin Leonhard.

It was a break from the agenda, which called for the “reelection of current board members.” Generally, Lusher elects all of its board members in one vote.

Leonhard asked Wisdom to explain why she was left out.

“Despite our passing a neutrality resolution you went to the press and advocated acceptance of a union here,” Wisdom said.

Wisdom was referencing the board’s resolution to remain neutral on the union drive, passed in April, and a May 10 letter she wrote to Uptown Messenger.

Leonhard said her letter did not endorse a union.

“To argue that was breach of loyalty to the board and to Lusher, I strongly disagree,” Leonhard said.

Member Alysia Loshbaugh stood with Wisdom: “To me that was a violation of the neutrality agreement.”

“I respectfully disagree,” Leonhard said. “Because the neutrality resolution does not mean I give up my right to free speech.”

Leonhard said Wisdom called her prior to Saturday’s meeting and asked her not to seek re-election. Wisdom further outlined her reasons for leaving Leonhard off the slate in front of about 30 members of the public, some parents, others Lusher staff.

“I did not speak to the press other than to tell them it was not a letter that reflected the position of the board,” Wisdom said. “And you indeed violated our neutrality resolution by doing that.”

Loshbaugh bolstered her side with a pop culture reference to the neutrality agreement.

“The first rule about fight club is you don’t talk about fight club,” she said.

After further discussion, Loshbaugh said she’d prefer to move on to public comment as nothing would change her mind.

Board President Blaine LeCesne offered an amendment to add Leonhard to the slate.

“I really had hoped the entire board would be re-elected,” LeCesne said. “She has been a zealous advocate for Lusher throughout her tenure here.”

Wisdom did not accept the amendment.

The board then took public comment.

Parent Jana Lipman said she thought the board as a whole violated the neutrality resolution by arguing to include a jurisdictional challenge against the union when it filed for recognition by the National Labor Relations Board.

“That is not a neutral position,” she said.

Touching on a larger topic, she questioned the method by which all charter boards are chosen.

“I’m concerned about the idea that the board chooses the board and that the board elects the board,” Lipman said.

Union organizer and Lusher teacher Jerome White said he’s seen some of his union-supporting colleagues lose their jobs at Lusher. To have Leonhard ousted brought back similar feelings, he said.

“What the intent is I don’t know, but it’s sending a loud and clear message,” White said.

Another man thought the action was just: “I think as a board this is something that is perfectly appropriate for you to do.”

Leonhard questioned why she was being singled out.

“That neutrality policy was not enforced,” she said, citing the jurisdictional challenge and a letter from the administration to teachers regarding the union.

Wisdom fired back.

“They had permission to do what they did,” she said.

The discussion continued and member Kiki Huston said it illustrated a board division.

“I think this is a perfect example of how damaged the relationship is,” she said. “But I feel like the trust moving forward has been damaged.”

Member Reuben Teague said he thought everyone should have the benefit of the doubt.

“I think those disagreements were good faith disagreements, not bad ones,” he said.

Parent Sue Kohn said Leonhard shouldn’t be singled out for violating the policy

“To me it was violated by almost everyone on this board,” she said.

Board member Paul Barron said he would make a motion to re-elect Leonhard so the board could move on and vote on the motion at hand.

The motion to re-elect eight members passed 8-1. LeCesne voted against it due to Leonhard’s exclusion.

Barron then moved that Leonhard be re-elected.

Lusher teacher Julie Sanders said she thought Leonhard was wrongly targeted. “I think your problem, Ms.Wisdom, is with a policy not with a person.”

Another teacher chimed in with a sincere speech.

“I just want all the people at this table…whether they’re staff or parents or the press to just have at the forefront of whatever they’re doing or thinking to be in the best interest of this school,” she said. She described the last few months as a trauma, and said it was hard for her to come to work now.

“Stop all the focus on finger pointing please,” she said. “I can’t stand all the accusations.”

Another audience member offered a final comment, “I hope that we keep our entire family together.”

Members called for a vote.

Members LeCesne, Leonhard and Teague voted in favor of re-electing Leonhard.

Loshbaugh, Huston, Ann Salzer, Richard Cortizas, Barron and Wisdom voted against.

The vote to re-elect Leonhard failed 3-6.

The board then elected Wisdom as its new president, Cortizas as vice president, Loshbaugh will continue to serve as treasurer and Salzer will serve as secretary.Lusher board ousts member who was accused of violating policy on union | The Lens:

John Thompson: What If Reformers Had Paid Attention to Research-Based Solutions Instead of Billionaires’ Preferences? | Diane Ravitch's blog

John Thompson: What If Reformers Had Paid Attention to Research-Based Solutions Instead of Billionaires’ Preferences? | Diane Ravitch's blog:

John Thompson: What If Reformers Had Paid Attention to Research-Based Solutions Instead of Billionaires’ Preferences?

Teacher and historian John Thompson writes here about the reflection that seems to be occurring among “reformers” as they realize that their test-and-punish reforms produce limited gains and limited outcomes. He wonders how different our federal and state policies would be had reformers strived to implement research-based reforms instead of ideas that had intuitive appeal.

He writes:

Something important is stirring in terms of education research. We’ve always gone through cycles, mostly notably in the aftermath of the Coleman Report, during debates over the so-called “culture of poverty,” and during the contemporary data-driven, market reform era, where scholars have had to think twice when analyzing where the evidence leads. This last month, however, a variety of social scientists have candidly expressed the facts that corporate reformers deride as an “excuse.”

Heather Hill’s Hechinger Report review of the Coleman Report recalls the seminal study’s finding, “One implication stands out above all: That schools bring little influence to bear on a child’s achievement that is independent of his background and general social context.” Hill reviews the subsequent analyses of Coleman, and the findings of Tony Bryk and Stephen Raudenbush, who “show that differences among schools accounted for about one-fifth of the variability in student outcomes.” The bottom line, she reports is that “schools still pack a weaker punch than many imagine.”

Neither did the Hechinger editors pull any punches. Its subtitles clearly convey the message that has been condemned as heresy over the last two decades:

Meanwhile, evidence mounted for one central conclusion: schools matter – but not as much as people might think; and

The logical conclusion: You can’t fix schools without trying to fix broader social inequality, too.

Similarly, Stephen Dubner’s begins his recent Freakonomics Radio program with the words, “in our collective zeal to reform schools and close the achievement gap, we may have lost sight of where most learning really happens — at home.” Dubner concludes, “Most of us probably think too much about cognitive skills and not enough about non-cognitive. Most of us probably put way too much faith in the formal education system, when, in fact, the path to learning begins way before then, at home.” In between, we hear from economist John List, “Schools only have kids for a handful of hours per day, but who, really, will mold kids through their lives are the parents.” Also, early education expert Dana Suskind concludes, that we need preventive, not remediative programs. “About the only way” that we can “move the needle,” she says, is through science-based programs which begin the learning process at birth or before.

Even the most steadfast true believers in accountability-driven, competition-driven reform seem to finally be facing reality. The first words of a NBER paper by John List, Roland Fryer and Stephen Levittare President Barack Obama’s 2009 statement that, “There is no program or policy that can substitute for a mother or father who will John Thompson: What If Reformers Had Paid Attention to Research-Based Solutions Instead of Billionaires’ Preferences? | Diane Ravitch's blog:

Following the charter school cash in the Washington State Primary: The latest money scheme | Seattle Education

Following the charter school cash in the Washington State Primary: The latest money scheme | Seattle Education:

Following the charter school cash in the Washington State Primary: The latest money scheme

Nowhere is the chasm between the hard reality of our political system and the American ideals of merit, choice, and freedom more on display than during an election cycle.

Money matters – a lot.

The challenge for large money donors is how to spend big on your candidate(s) without offending the voters you’re trying to persuade. Voters understand politics is a dirty game, but they still believe in the idea that democracy should work for everyone.

Big donors have come up with a practical two step solution to this problem:

1. Keep the money moving through various PACs.
2. When it’s time to spend the money, use independent expenditures to further mask the source.

Openly supporting charter schools is a still a risky position for many politicians in Washington State. Let’s take a look at how pro-charter PACs supported their preferred candidates through the use of a PAC with a different name and independent expenditures.

The Name Game

Between July and August of 2016, three PACs contributed $265,500 dollars to Voters for Washington Children. They were:

Stand for Children Washington PAC

7/14    $76,000

7/25    $10,000     

Total: $86,000

Washington Charters PAC

7/15   $70,000

7/25   $27,500

7/25   $10,000

8/03   $15,000    

Total:$122,500

Democrats for Education Reform (DFER) Washington PAC

7/14   $40,000

7/18   $  7,500

7/25   $10,000    

Total:$57,000

The Independent Expenditure Shell Game

Voters for Washington Children contracted with a group called RALLY in San Francisco to produced digital ads and mailers for the candidates Stand for Children, DFER, and Following the charter school cash in the Washington State Primary: The latest money scheme | Seattle Education:

As Flint Water Crisis “Emergency” Ends, Bigger Heads Need To Roll | PopularResistance.Org

As Flint Water Crisis “Emergency” Ends, Bigger Heads Need To Roll | PopularResistance.Org:

As Flint Water Crisis “Emergency” Ends, Bigger Heads Need To Roll

This week, the emergency is officially over following the Flint Water Crisis. One year ago, the city of Flint, Mich., joined the ranks of Sandy Hook, Ferguson and other previously obscure cities that became a metaphor for man-made tragedy. In Flint the trauma came not at the barrel of a gun but through the faucet of a sink, as the infrastructure that was meant to provide life-sustaining water was made toxic through a negligent cost-cutting measure that altered water sources and treatment procedures. Flint entered a Federal State of Emergency to respond to the crisis, and that emergency expired this week.

First, the good news. Reports have showed significant improvements to water quality in a large number of Flint homes. State money amounting to $25 million and additional federal money is under consideration to address the temporary and long-term needs of residents, while charges have been brought against nine past and current state employees for their involvement in the crisis.

However satisfying one’s reaction to this might be, the reality is that the water emergency in Flint continues. The ending of the state of emergency and the felony charges have a mollifying effect on the accumulated outrage, but no amount of federal appropriations or scape-goated employees can begin to address the root of the crimes that transgressed human rights in Flint.

Before considering the charges now being brought again Michigan employees, consider the true crimes of the Flint Water Crisis. First, there was the poisoning of the water itself, which involved switching from treated Detroit water to improperly treated water taken out of the industrial and highly polluted Flint River. Second, there was the failure of local and state governments to identify the problem or heed the immediate vocal outcries coming from residents and local businesses for over a year. Third, there was the capitalization of government that started with “emergency management” and ended with single-bottom-line decisions like the water conversion.

The charges brought against these individuals address a small aspect of issue number two: specifically, that government officials destroyed emails with incriminating evidence of lead level tests. Those emails revealed that the information about the low water quality was As Flint Water Crisis “Emergency” Ends, Bigger Heads Need To Roll | PopularResistance.Org:

Teacher Competency, Complete with Digital Badges! | BustED Pencils

Teacher Competency, Complete with Digital Badges! | BustED Pencils:

Teacher Competency, Complete with Digital Badges!

Yes, now you too, Incredibly Educated Houston Teaching Professional, can build confidence and competence with PowerUp! PowerUp is a new district-wide initiative that will transform teaching and learning! Earn micro-credentials through our unique competency-based professional learning model! Created in conjunction with the University of San Diego, the Houston Independent School District wants YOU to take advantage of our personalized professional learning for teachers. You can improve in personal growth, recognition, and clarity of structure and expectations- and share your growth on social media! FitBit competitions aren’t hip enough, so challenge your colleagues to a digital badging contest and show your administration who the most bestest teacher is!

Through the PowerUp Initiative (read about it here!), Digital Promise has helped to provide all high school students and teachers with 1:1 laptops and access to digital content- so challenge your students to a digital learning contest as you access our more than 140 micro-credtials!

(Disclaimer: Digital Promise created this program used on the HISD teacher profile. Do you fit the Houston teacher model? Read about that here!) Teacher Competency, Complete with Digital Badges! | BustED Pencils:

Los Angeles: Will the LAUSD School Board Actually Revoke a Charter Because of Financial Shenanigans? | Diane Ravitch's blog

Los Angeles: Will the LAUSD School Board Actually Revoke a Charter Because of Financial Shenanigans? | Diane Ravitch's blog:

Los Angeles: Will the LAUSD School Board Actually Revoke a Charter Because of Financial Shenanigans?

We have read earlier ( see here and here) about the principal of El Camino Real Charter High School. The school is very popular and academically successful. But its principal played fast and loose with the school’s credit card. While he was moonlighting as a talent scout for a professional basketball team, he flew around the country and charged hotels, first-class air tickets, and meals to his credit card. According to stories in the Los Angeles Daily News, the principal charged about $100,000 to the school’s credit card.

A Daily News investigation published in May found that El Camino’s Executive Director David Fehte had made numerous lavish charges to his school-issued American Express card, including $15,500 at Monty’s Prime Steaks & Seafood in 2014 and 2015, and several personal expenses, such as first-class airfare and luxury hotel rooms. Fehte’s charges also included more than $6,700 for a four-day trip to the Michigan headquarters of Herman Miller, the designer furniture manufacturer, for himself and two other school employees when there was a showroom 25 miles from the school. Fehte has denied doing anything wrong.

My favorite credit card charge: that four-day trip to the Herman Miller showroom when there was a showroom only 25 miles from the school.

Kind of embarrassing. If he were in a public school, he would have been brought up on charges and fired.

The school, which converted to an independent charter in 2011, would have until Sept. 23 to remedy all the alleged violations if the notice is issued, district officials said. If it fails to do so, the LAUSD board could issue a “notice of intent to revoke” the school’s charter and then hold another public hearing. If the board ultimately approves revocation, the school would be forced to cease operations pending an appeal.

The school has been given “multiple opportunities” to review and improve its policies but “has failed to implement such improvements to this day,” leading to “an inability to determine how public funds are being used and identify specific instances of their use for personal expenses,” according to a district staff report on the alleged violations.

Now the board of the Los Angeles Unified School District is givingserious thought to revoking the school’s charter. It seems the principal, David Fehte, was not the only one who used charter funds for personal expenses.

Potential management issues involving El Camino came to light last year. In its latest documents, L.A. Unified accuses El Camino of demonstrating “an inability to determine how public funds are being used and identify specific instances of their use for personal expenses,” adding that “fatal flaws in judgment … call into serious question the organization’s ability to successfully implement the charter in accordance with applicable law and district requirements.”

According to L.A. Unified, a sampling of 425 credit card expenses by five El Camino employees, including Fehte, revealed that “countless expenses were incurred without adherence to any uniform procedure, and without verification of the necessary details.”

The school system also accused El Camino’s board of improperly conducting public meetings by, for example, taking action on items that were not listed on the agendas to be voted on.

In a series of articles, the Los Angeles Daily News reported on Fehte’s spending for such things as wine, first-class air travel and pricey hotel rooms.

Fehte has denied wrongdoing and said he inadvertently charged about $6,100 in personal expenses on his school credit card. He said he reimbursed the school as soon as these charges were pointed out to him.

Some of the expenses were incurred while Fehte was moonlighting as a college basketball talent scout for the San Antonio Spurs, according to the Daily News.

Public school parents might feel some resentment, because while Mr. Fehte was jetting around the country in first class, their own schools were underfunded.

They will just have to get over it. Charter schools are special, and they Los Angeles: Will the LAUSD School Board Actually Revoke a Charter Because of Financial Shenanigans? | Diane Ravitch's blog:

 

Russ on Reading: Some Real (Estate) Data for Education Reformers

Russ on Reading: Some Real (Estate) Data for Education Reformers:

Some Real (Estate) Data for Education Reformers

Education reformers love their data. It is the desire for data that has driven the entire test and punish reform movement from the outset. The idea seems to be that if we get the right data we can identify the problem and if we identify the problem, we can fix it. And so we get more and more standardized tests being used for high stakes purposes like promotion, graduation, teacher evaluations, and school closures. The data extends down into the hallways of schools where "data walls" show student test scores for the world to see, in a mean-spirited attempt to shame students into doing better work.

All this data, we are told, provides us with the information we need to fight the "civil rights issue of our time": the failing urban education system.

As a public service, I would like to offer some data to the education reformer that they seem to be ignoring. This data will tell them more about the plight of urban schools than any test they can give and any data wall they can post.

Each week my local newspaper, The Trenton (NJ) Times, runs a list of real estate transactions. The list includes the sale price of properties in Mercer County, NJ, divided by community.

Here are this week's prices of homes sold in the poverty ridden city of Trenton, a city with very low test scores: $32,000, $32,000, $119,000, $64,000, $44,500, $13,900, $30,000, $39,500, $63,000, $80,000, $315,000, $35,000, $32,000, $38,500, $51,000.

Next on this listing was West Windsor, an affluent suburb 10 miles from Trenton, with very high test scores. Here are the prices of West Windsor homes: $652,000, $362,000, $612,000, $333,500, $676,000, $525,000, $410,000, $845,000, $999,000, $335,000, $270,000.

It seems to me that any neophyte statistician could look at these numbers and determine that the major issue facing public schools in urban areas is Russ on Reading: Some Real (Estate) Data for Education Reformers:

When School Preempts Summertime: An Open Letter To LAUSD Board President Zimmer (LAUSD4) – redqueeninla

When School Preempts Summertime: An Open Letter To LAUSD Board President Zimmer (LAUSD4) – redqueeninla:

When School Preempts Summertime: An Open Letter To LAUSD Board President Zimmer (LAUSD4)

I’m agin’ it. Really, really against it. I oppose force-marching our school-aged children back inside any Institution Of Learning during their traditional months of summer-break. Our kids deserve a rejuvenating summer and the LAUSD BOD should vote to recess school until after Labor Day.

How many ways can I justify my adamancy?

Preparation: There’s this argument that our kids “have” to be in school ever-earlier in the school-year in order to allow our AP-taking, uber-achieving, uber-scared HS upper-classmen more time to study for their AP tests.

But wait a minute. Weren’t we assured six ways to Sunday that no-one is going to “teach to the test”? This is the definition of “teaching to the test”, and from the very get-go. You’re structuring the very calendar of school to accommodate a test, and a test-taking paradigm, and a system of testing via a private, commercial, test-selling enterprise, constituted exclusively for the purpose of ginning our kids’ mental and emotional status into near-constant, hyper-jitterified, test-mediated terror. And it’s not enough that they feel this way in real-time, we have to extend their state of utter-anxiety ever deeper into the prequel-summer of their schoolyear. These are tests that aren’t even their own teachers’ doing, their own course-work’s material. These are tests created for a class, which is wholly and entirely constituted for the purpose of taking – which is to say “buying”, or “taking from parents (or school systems) the money for” … these AP tests.

These aren’t tests used to assess mastery of a body of material. These are tests created for the purpose of giving and taking these tests.

And now not only is the test, the curriculum and the class itself supposed to kow-tow to the Test, but the entire structure of the kid’s school year is too.

And more, the stricture applies not just to the kid taking the test, but to the kid’s When School Preempts Summertime: An Open Letter To LAUSD Board President Zimmer (LAUSD4) – redqueeninla:

Field Trip Reflections - Badass Teachers Association

Badass Teachers Association:

Field Trip Reflections

by Becca Ritchie, BAT Leadership Team and Washington State BAT

The year was 1978. I went to school at McNeil Island Elementary School. It was a remote necessary school in Steilacoom that was a two room school house. In the picture is Mrs. Harris, the k-2 teacher and Marta the only other 4th grader (Picture was taking our fifth grade year). 

One of the fond memories I have of my fourth grade year was a field trip we took. You have to understand, there were 70 houses on the island. They were inhabited by the families of the guards and lieutenants that lived on the island and worked with the federal prisoners who were incarcerated there. For the children who lived on the island, getting off the island and seeing the world was a huge dream. 

When we were told that we were going to take a field trip to Seattle to go to the Seattle Center we were all beyond the moon excited. We got up early, caught the foot ferry and then got on a bus that awaited us on the "other side." We sang songs on the bus ride to Seattle. Most every girl who was age eligible was a Girl Scout so we knew songs. (Our parents can attest to the hours of songs after camp that were graciously shared with them over, and over and over again.) There were no boys in our fourth grade just Marta and me. 

It was so exciting going to the "city". We got there and I remember my first time looking at the Badass Teachers Association: