ANDRE PERRY: A new test that no student would dread — one that leads to citizenship - The Hechinger Report

A new test that no student would dread — one that leads to citizenship - The Hechinger Report:

A new test that no student would dread — one that leads to citizenship

Why we should honor undocumented students’ hard work with a pathway to citizenship

n you imagine how much louder the families of undocumented students would cheer if their graduates became citizens at their graduation ceremonies? With a diploma and shiny new passport in hand, they could declare that not only could they apply for college, they had also earned the right to stay in the country of their schooling.

For an estimated 65,000 undocumented students who graduate from high school each year, though, it’s hard to be that enthusiastic. Those who cannot show proof of citizenship or an active visa are not eligible for federal financial aid, which many undocumented students need in order to afford college. And without citizenship, the threat of deportation looms.

“It would be wonderful to get a diploma and citizenship,” said Cleveland Cordova, 16, in his native Spanish, responding to a growing movement to increase the routes to citizenship. He is a member of the Latino education advocacy group Nuestra Voz and a student at Cohen College Prep in New Orleans. Students need access to quality high schools, citizenship and real pathways to gainful employment, he added.

If President Donald Trump is serious about strengthening the country from within as his “America first” rhetoric conveys, he should grant citizenship to members of our communities who by graduating high school have substantively fulfilled U.S. naturalization requirements. This rite of passage is also a natural path to citizenship and Trump would do well to recognize that.

Join the conversation later on Andre Perry’s radio show, “Free College,” hosted Tuesdays on WBOK1230 in New Orleans at 3pm Central/4pm Eastern 504.260.9265.

The 1982 U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Plyler v. Doe that public elementary and secondary schools couldn’t consider immigration status when a student seeks to enroll. The court believed that denying undocumented children access to education punished them for their parents’ behavior and that the children of undocumented A new test that no student would dread — one that leads to citizenship - The Hechinger Report:

OPINION: Why diversity in schools is critical to our democracy

1by Mark Anderson / 12h

I had a pretty hard time relating to my students eight years ago, when I began teaching fifth-grade special education in a “self-contained” classroom in the East Tremont neighborhood of the Bronx. These students had a hard time 

The game is over for Illinois Democrats for Education Reform. | Fred Klonsky

The game is over for Illinois Democrats for Education Reform. | Fred Klonsky:

The game is over for Illinois Democrats for Education Reform

In December of 2014 Greg Hinz reported in Crain’s:

A group that hopes to counterbalance the financial weight of the Chicago Teachers Union in upcoming aldermanic races has received its first big campaign donation.

Democrats for Education Reform-Illinois on Dec. 4 reported receipt of a $100,000 check from a unit of its New York-based parent.The donation ends a dry spell for the group, which last spring had talked about pulling in up to $1 million to put donate to candidates for aldermen who agree with the group’s pro-reform, pro-charter school views.

Still, $100,000 buys something in Chicago, and if the group reaches the “mid-to-high six figures” that spokesman Owen Kilmer expects, it will have an impact.

Look for the group to make its first endorsements—and donations—in about a week.

“One of our goals is to make sure the CTU does not have a monopoly on the schools debate,” Kilmer says. “We already have a couple of races we’re looking at,” including contests in the 16th, 37th and 45th Wards, he notes.

Meanwhile, CTU has begun to make its endorsements, so it looks like the fight is on.

But on March 6th, DFER reported to the Illinois Board of elections that they are shutting down their PAC.

As for their focus in the last election on defeating Tony Foulkes in the 16th The game is over for Illinois Democrats for Education Reform. | Fred Klonsky:

Karen Lewis: If Takiya, Kanari and Lavontay are to be more than just names on an endless list, then we will need to do much more. | Fred Klonsky - http://wp.me/p4C3g-jMf 

Full House On Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all

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

Full House On Diane Ravitch's blog 

Russ Walsh: Vouchers Are for the Rich, the Racists, and the Religious Right

by dianeravitch / 19min

Russ Walsh, literacy expert, describes the Three are of vouchers: They are for the Rich, the Racists, and the Religious Right. http://russonreading.blogspot.com/2017/03/school-vouchers-welfare-for-rich-racist.html Russ writes: “Our new Secretary of Education, Betsy DeVos, is rich, white, and a proselytizing supporter of the Christian religious right. DeVos is also an outspoken champion of school

Red Queen in LA: Why Can’t Public Schools and Charter Schools Get Along?

2by dianeravitch / 1h

Sara Roos, aka the Red Queen in LA, explains here why public schools and charter schools are bound to clash. To begin with, they are competing for a finite amount of public dollars and a finite number of students. It is a zero-sum competition. To make matters worse, the needs of both entities is not reciprocal, nor is the distribution of these commodities without impact on the other entity. That

The Florida Corporate Tax Credit Program: A Statewide Scam

15by dianeravitch / 2h

A nonprofit parent-led group called Fund Education Now created a fact sheet about Florida’s Corporate Tax Credit plan , which was designed to evade the state constitution’s explicit ban on using public money to fund religious or private education. In 2006, as governor, Jeb Bush pushed through a universal voucher plan, which was subsequently ruled unconstitutional by the Florida Supreme Court. In

Paul Thomas: Unpacking the Lies Behind the “Failing Schools” Narrative

24by dianeravitch / 3h

Paul Thomas of Furman University taught high school in rural South Carolina for 18 years before becoming a college professor. He happens to be one of the nation’s leading authorities on the effects of poverty on children and schooling. Recently, he has been writing about the flaws of education journalism. In this post , he unpacks the claim that public schools are “failing,” that (some) charter s

Mother Jones: Why Did Trump and DeVos Choose Florida as Their National Model for School Reform?

6by dianeravitch / 3h

Kristina Rizga, the veteran education journalist at Mother Jones, explains why Trump and DeVos love Florida. Although the state has a constitutional ban on the use of public money for private and religious schools, although the state’s voters rejected Jeb Bush’s effort to change the state constitution in 2012, Florida has figured out numerous DeVious ways to circumvent the state constitution and

YESTERDAY

Trump is the “Distractor-in-Chief”

29by dianeravitch / 13h

Jane McAlevey writes in Alternet that there is method to Trump’s seeming madness. Whenever things get rough, he changes the subject. This past week, as the media was roasting Jeff Sessions for lying to Congress under oath, Trump changed the subject by tweeting that Obama was wiretapping his phones at Trump Tower. The Sessions matter was dropped, and all the weekend talk shows were obsessed with T

Mike Klonsky: While Trump Tweets, the GOP is Dismantling Our Social Safety Net

48by dianeravitch / 13h

Mike Klonsky wants us to stop talking about the Russians and pay attention to what the Republicans are doing while we are not looking. While we’re consumed 24/7 with the Trump/Russia psychodrama, Republicans are quietly, under the cover of darkness and diversion, introducing these new bills in the House: HR 610 Vouchers for Public Education — (The bill also repeals basic nutrition standards for t

Norm Scott: The Battle to Save JHS 145 from Eva Tonight

6by dianeravitch / 18h

Retired teacher Norm Scott writes: While closing schools is not as widespread as it was under former Mayor Michael Bloomberg, it is still occurring and it is very troubling. The Department of Education still fails to provide proper resources for schools and then calls them failures… James Eterno, ICE blog I’m taking the subway up to Yankee Stadium tonight, not for a Yankee game, but to take the l

Carl Petersen: Employees of Scandal-Ridden Celerity Charter Chain Donated to Monica Garcia, Their Cheerleader on LAUSD Board

24by dianeravitch / 21h

Carl Petersen is running against Monica Garcia for the LAUSD seat in District 2. Garcia has long been one of the most vociferous and aggressive proponents of charter schools expansion in the district. So it is not surprising that she has received campaign contributions from the owner and employees of the Celerity Educational Group, the charter chain currently under investigation by the district a

Los Angeles Rocked by Another Charter School Scandal: State Awards Two New Schools to Ethically Challenged Charter Chain

24by dianeravitch / 22h

The Los Angeles Times ran a first-page story about the latest charter school scandal , only a day before the school board election that will decide whether charter advocates will take control of the Los Angeles school board. There will likely be a low voter turnout for this special election, and the question is turnout: Will enough parents vote to save their public schools, or will the profligate

Mercedes Schneider on the State Blaine Amendments That Block Vouchers

35by dianeravitch / 23h

Mercedes Schneider offers a history lesson on the Blaine amendments found in most state constitutions, which require that public money go only to public schools. Some states–like Indiana–have found creative ways to interpret the Blaine amendment, by saying that the public money goes to parents, not to religious schools, but most states continue to interpret the amendments as they were written in

Peter Greene: Corporate Reformers Launch Three New Websites

15by dianeravitch / 1d

Are you missing Arne Duncan and John King? There are some nostalgia websites created just for you. Just in case you don’t have enough to do, Peter Greene tells us about three new education-related websites launched by corporate reformers. Remember the good old days of Race to the Top, VAM, teacher-bashing, Central Falls, and lectures about bad teachers? They are preserved on these websites. One i

Should We Protect the Environment?

16by dianeravitch / 1d

This post is about pollution and the environment. Please don’t say it is unrelated to education or children. Many children have asthma or other illnesses that are caused or aggravated by pollution. This damages their health, their well-being, even their performance in school. It wasn’t so long ago that the idea of protecting the environment was considered absurd or too expensive. Smoke came pouri

Lousiana Voucher School Program Graded D by the State

60by dianeravitch / 1d

Students who wanted to sign up for the Louisiana Voucher Program had to make their decision by February 24. But that was before the state released the grades for the participating schools. Overall, the voucher schools performed very poorly, as reported by Danielle Dreilinger writing in the New Orleans Times-Picayune. Please open the story for the links and for the data charts. Louisiana parents i

Psychiatrists: How Should Trump Be Assessed?

25by dianeravitch / 1d

Every day brings new surprises and new tweets from the president. Most recently, he tweeted that President Obama was tapping his phone lines during the campaign without offering any evidence. Then he tweeted that Arnold 

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

Give Me Your Soda, Your iPhone, Your Sick Yearning for Healthcare | radical eyes for equity

Give Me Your Soda, Your iPhone, Your Sick Yearning for Healthcare | radical eyes for equity:

Give Me Your Soda, Your iPhone, Your Sick Yearning for Healthcare

The public is stunningly misinformed about issues and concepts that are essential to understand if a democracy is going to thrive.

The Trump candidacy and presidency have exposed a powerful example of that problem since many who support Trump believe that the Affordable Care Act and Obamacare are different programs.

This important policy confusion is grounded, I believe, in larger concepts about which most in the U.S. are just as misinformed: race and social class.

Even among my college students who are well educated, few are aware that race has no basis in biology, but is a social construction. And people in the U.S. routinely over self-identify as middle-class, while also associating ethical and moral qualities to the classes (the poor as deserving their poverty due to character flaws; the wealthy as earning their wealth due to superior work ethics).

Further complicating the national beliefs about race and class is how the two overlap, specifically how lingering racism lurks beneath negative stereotypes about the poor.

Political leadership in the U.S., then, includes two powerful facts: most of Give Me Your Soda, Your iPhone, Your Sick Yearning for Healthcare | radical eyes for equity:

Decision Making among Jazz Musicians, Basketball Players, and Teachers | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

Decision Making among Jazz Musicians, Basketball Players, and Teachers | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice:

Decision Making among Jazz Musicians, Basketball Players, and Teachers

From time to time, I will re-visit earlier posts that have resonance to recent debates about classroom teaching. Teacher decision-making, particularly how frequent and improvisational during the lesson (as opposed to all the decisions made in planning the lesson) is often misunderstood by policymakers, educational pundits, and researchers whose last visit to a classroom was when they were students. I wrote this post about decision-making across professions in 2011.

I have revised and updated it because state and local policymakers who make consequential decisions about school budgets, professional development, and evaluating teachers need a deeper understanding of teaching and student learning in classrooms. Part of that deeper understanding requires a look at teacher decisions including questions they ask), their frequency, scope, and ad-libbing during a lesson. I also offer this revision for those teachers who practice expert decision-making during lessons and simply consider it part of the job not fully realizing they are kissing cousins of  jazz musicians and professional basketball rebounders.

When top jazz musicians select notes from a chord to improvise a melody,  stellar basketball players drive toward the basket on a pick-and-roll, and effective teachers ask questions of students, the cascade of  instantaneous micro-decisions that occurs in the heads of trumpet player Wynton Marsalis, the Dallas Mavericks’ Dirk Nowitzky, and kindergarten teacher/author Vivian Paley would stun most non-musicians, non-basketball players, and non-teachers.

Consider jazz and the swift decisions a Wynton Marsalis makes as he improvisesDecision Making among Jazz Musicians, Basketball Players, and Teachers | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice: