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

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

Wednesday's Warriors Diane Ravitch's blog 

A site to discuss better education for all

Betsy and Randi Visit Rural School in Ohio

4by dianeravitch / 2h

Will Betsy DeVos have a better understanding of public schools after visiting one? Or is she measuring it as a potential charter school? DeVos, Weingarten lay down arms for first-ever joint school visit 

Math Professor: Why Our Freshmen Need Remediation

1by dianeravitch / 23min

One of our regular readers, who is a member of a college mathematics faculty, sent this following comment about the state of math education today: “I teach at a small four year college in NY. We administer a mathematics placement test to all incoming freshmen. The test we use was created in house and covers basic skills from algebra, trigonometry, and pre calculus. Questions are asked in a straig

Colorado Senator Michael Bennett Struggles to Distance Himself from Betsy DeVos

1by dianeravitch / 16min

Colorado Senator Michael Bennett was previously superintendent of schools in Denver. There he set off the school choice frenzy and led the parade to open charters. Now he finds himself trying to explain that he is different from Betsy DeVos. He is a Democrat, one of DFER’s champions. She is a Republican, Trump’s pick as Secretary of Education. He sold out public education. She wants to privatize

Joseph Batory: America is Great Again (But Not Really!)

5by dianeravitch / 1h

Joseph Batory, a retired superintendent in Pennsylvania, told me that he has tried everything to distract him from the events taking place in the nation: Walking in the woods, cutting down news consumption, exercise, mood music. It hasn’t worked. So he has finally given in and admitted all the ways in which America is “great” again (note the air quotes, as in “wiretapped”): He writes: America Is

Albuquerque May Cut Middle School Sports to Save Money

7by dianeravitch / 2h

The public schools of Albuquerque, New Mexico, plan to save money by eliminating middle school sports teams. Be it noted that Republican Governor Susanna Martinez has refused to raise taxes and has threatened to defund state universities. The one potential cut that gets parents’ attention is sports teams. New Mexico doesn’t want to pay for educating its children. “Parents reacted with dismay to 3

Author of Texas Bill to Promote Transparency in True Costs of Testing Speaks Out

72by dianeravitch / 3h

Michael Messer is a parent activist in Texas. He wrote this comment in response to Sara Stevenson’s post about the true cost of testing in Texas. I am glad to see people writing about my bill. I am the original author of HB 1336 (aka, “Transparency in Testing”), and the person who Mrs. Stevenson saw speak at the Save Texas Schools rally. Representative Leach is the legislative sponsor. I am not a

Latest Charter Farce from Pennsylvania

6by dianeravitch / 3h

From a correspondent in Pennsylvania: “The latest charter reform farce is on its way to the House floor in Pennsylvania before lunch. “Among all the poor elements, tied for the dumbest are: “1. Families with multiple children enrolled in a cyber-charter may now opt not to receive a second or third computer. I mean really, what wouldthey do with them. They don’t really devote any time to learning.

YESTERDAY

California: Eli Broad and Betsy DeVos Agree that Charter Schools Trump Local Control

38by dianeravitch / 19h

On the day before the vote on Betsy DeVos’s nomination, billionaire Eli Broad announced that he opposed her nomination to be Secretary of Education. It was a joke. He knew that his statement was meaningless and that she would be confirmed, but he was pretending to be a Democrat. The reality is that Broad and DeVos are on the same page when it comes to privatization. He is trying to grab control o

Politico: Will US Supreme Court Clear the Way for Vouchers for Religious Schools?

16by dianeravitch / 22h

News for those who stayed home on Election Day 2016 or voted third party because Hillary was “just as bad as Trump.” The first casualty of Trump’s election might be the state bans on vouchers for religious schools. Politico re ports today: SUPREME COURT COULD CLEAR ROADBLOCKS TO SCHOOL VOUCHERS: The Supreme Court on Wednesday is set to hear a case that could have huge implications for school vouc

Rick Perlstein: Historians Failed to Understand American Conservatism

3by dianeravitch / 23h

Rick Perlstein is a historian who has written about American conservatism. He says, “we got it wrong.” In this very interesting and provocative article, he reflects on why American historians failed to understand the persistence of the radical fringe right or anticipate its rise from the fringe to the mainstream of American politics. Since most historians are liberal, they tended to believe that

Edward F. Berger: Is Screen Addiction Damaging Our Children’s Brains?

23by dianeravitch / 1d

Edward F. Berger, retired educator now living in Arizona and fighting the good fight against the forces of reaction, writes here about screen addiction. Having reviewed the research, he questions whether addition to screens damages frontal lobe development. Actually, the link will take you to his podcast , which is gaining international recognition.

A Note to Senator Lindsey Graham About Hypocrisy

24by dianeravitch / 1d

Dear Senator Graham, I hope someone on your staff sees this. If not, I hope that readers in South Carolina send it to you. This is an important message from one of your constituents. She writes: I had an opportunity to listen to Senator Lindsey Graham talk about how he lifted himself up and became the Senator from SC he is today. He said both his parents died before he began college. But he faile

Gene V. Glass: Scams and Lies in Arizona

36by dianeravitch / 1d

Gene V. Glass, one of our nation’s most eminent education researchers, writes here about the Big Lie embedded in Arizona’s voucher program. http://ed2worlds.blogspot.com/2017/04/what-goes-around-comes-around-voucher.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed:+EducationInTwoWorlds+(Education+in+Two+Worlds)&m=1 The program began as vouchers for students with special needs (althou

Kelvin Smythe: When Pooh and Christopher Robin Went Searching for a 21st Century Education

26by dianeravitch / 1d

Kelvin Smythe is an educator and blogger in New Zealand who left the education system when the ideas of the New Right took over. He has since been a critic and an activist. A friend Down Under sent me one of his recent writings, in which Winnie-the-Pooh and Piglet and Christopher Robin go searching for a 21st Century Education. But first a bit about Smythe. He wrote this about his views: Kelvin S

Sara Stevenson: What Do State Tests Really Cost?

25by dianeravitch / 1d

Sara Stevenson, librarian at the O. Henry Middle School in Austin, says that Texans should calculate the true cost of state testing. It is not just the purchase price of the tests. It is also the cost of the time of teachers and others, like 

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

CPS and “Wrong-way” Claypool. | Fred Klonsky

CPS and “Wrong-way” Claypool. | Fred Klonsky:

CPS and “Wrong-way” Claypool

Is it a reach to compare Trump’s bizarre response to North Korea’s nuclear testing and Rahm’s response to the CPS budget crisis?

You know that Bruce Rauner vetoed a bill that would have sent $215 million to CPS. In response CEO Forrest Claypool, under apparent orders from Rahm Emanuel, has threatened to close schools June 1.

This is all the micro side of the macro problem of a state that hasn’t passed a budget for two years and probably won’t pass a budget until the current governor is gone.

It is a problem of a state that won’t raise sufficient revenue to pay its bills. There is too little revenue and too little spending on the real needs of the state.

It is also part of the bigger problem of national, state and political leaders, Democrats and Repugs, that don’t give a crap about public schools, especially public schools that Black, Brown and poor kids go to.

For parents, teacher and students, it is not so much the macro issue that is immediately important.

Students and teachers need to be in school for a full school year.

Pretty simple.

Back to the comparison to Trump and North Korea.

Friday, Trump threatened North Korea with a naval fleet led by an aircraft carrier, the Carl Vinson.

The only problem was that Trump’s general, “Mad Dog” Mattis sent the Carl Vinson in CPS and “Wrong-way” Claypool. | Fred Klonsky:

Connecticut remains committed to unfair SBAC Testing Scam in new federal plan - Wait What?

Connecticut remains committed to unfair SBAC Testing Scam in new federal plan - Wait What?:

Connecticut remains committed to unfair SBAC Testing Scam in new federal plan

Earlier this month, with no legislative oversight and limited public input, the Connecticut State Department of Education become one of a handful of states to submit its proposed action plan under the new Every Student Succeeds Act.

Although the Trump administration has postponed the date states must submit plans until September 2017, the Malloy administration decided – for reasons that remain unclear – to jump the gun and submit a plan that fails to adequately utilize much of the flexibility contained in the new federal law.

One of the most noticeable and absurd aspects of Connecticut’s new ESSA plan is despite proposing record cuts to Connecticut’s public schools, the Malloy administration claims that it will ensure that 100 percent of all students will be proficient on the state’s standardized tests by 2029-2030.

The truth is that while the Every Student Succeeds Act continues much of the test and punish elements of the No Child Left Behind Act and the Race to the Top Program, the federal law does provide states with greater flexibility when it comes to how it relies on the use of unfair, discriminatory and inappropriate standardized testing schemes.

However, Connecticut, one of only 12 states to submit a plan to the U.S. Department of Education, informed federal officials that it remains Connecticut remains committed to unfair SBAC Testing Scam in new federal plan - Wait What?:

LAUSD board endorses proposals to tighten charter school regulations | 89.3 KPCC

LAUSD board endorses proposals to tighten charter school regulations | 89.3 KPCC:

LAUSD board endorses proposals to tighten charter school regulations

The Los Angeles Unified School Board narrowly voted Tuesday to endorse three teachers union-supported bills in the California Legislature that would subject charter schools to stricter oversight and regulation.



 Board members' 4-3 decision — again — put them in the middle of the political tug-of-war between teachers union leaders, who termed the bills' contents as "common sense;" and their rivals in the California Charter Schools Association, who said the proposals would impose "draconian" new rules and jeopardize efforts to open new charter schools.

It’s a familiar back-and-forth, and on Tuesday night, L.A. board member Mónica García sounded exhausted with it.

"We get dragged into this us-versus-them things," said García, who was one of three votes against the board's resolution. "That makes me uncomfortable."

"I'm just gonna say it: kids of color and kids of poverty have relied on this organization [L.A. Unified] for 160 years and we have yet to come through for them. We have made a lot of improvements … but we need to do more," García said, arguing some students need the option to attend a charter school while all public schools work to improve.

But board member George McKenna — who authored the measure in support of Assembly Bills 1360 and 1478 as well as Senate Bill 808 — said he felt the district needed more regulatory tools to curb charter schools' rapid growth.

McKenna said the spread in L.A. of charter schools — which are publicly-funded schools run by outside organizations — poses a risk to the district's enrollment, and therefore, its funding.

"Do not believe that the L.A. Unified School District would not be vulnerable to being economically insolvent," McKenna said, "if in fact we continue to allow and help others to come in."

Each of the bills L.A. Unified endorsed would, if not discourage charter schools from opening, at least add to their regulatory burden.

Assembly Bill 1478 would apply several open government and open records laws to the handful of charter schools not already following them, which is fine with the California Charter Schools Association.

But the bill also would subject charter schools to Government Code 1090, a state law that currently prevents officials in other government agencies from having a financial stake in any contracts or deals involving the government entity for which LAUSD board endorses proposals to tighten charter school regulations | 89.3 KPCC:

Big Education Ape: SB 808 Scares the Hell Out of CCSA and Of Course It Was Pulled | EdSource - http://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2017/04/sb-808-scares-hell-out-of-ccsa-and-of.html

Student Loan Debacle: What Will Be Response from DeVos Department of Education? | janresseger

Student Loan Debacle: What Will Be Response from DeVos Department of Education? | janresseger:

Student Loan Debacle: What Will Be Response from DeVos Department of Education?

The Obama administration had planned to revamp completely the system by which the U.S. Department of Education administers and collects $1.3 trillion in college loans. The service has been terrible and confusing, say consumer advocates, and some of the contractors have been overcharging borrowers with big fees.

Last week the NY Times editorialized: “Education Secretary Betsy DeVos is inexplicably backing away from rules that are meant to prevent federal student loan borrowers from being fleeced by companies the government pays to collect the loans and to guide people through the repayment process. On Tuesday, she withdrew a sound Obama administration policy that required the Education Department to take into account the past conduct of loan servicing companies before awarding them lucrative contracts—and to include consumer protections in those contracts as well.”  What this all means is that the federal government, as the enormous provider of loans to help students pay for college, contracts out the servicing of those loans to for-profit companies, which can charge fees for their services. The Obama administration had planned to restructure this process, but the Trump administration has now abandoned the Obama administration’s plan.

The NY Times has been investigating, and here is one of its reports on DeVos’s recent action: “With the stroke of a pen… Betsy DeVos, President Trump’s new education secretary, thrust the future of the government’s system for managing federal student loans into confusion. It was a high-stakes move: Her department administers $1.3 trillion in loans on behalf of nearly 43 million student borrowers.  At issue is which companies will handle the bulk of those loans in the future, and how they will do it. Under the Obama administration, the Education Student Loan Debacle: What Will Be Response from DeVos Department of Education? | janresseger:

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: What did Rahm and DeVos meet about? No one seems to know.

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: What did Rahm and DeVos meet about? No one seems to know.:

What did Rahm and DeVos meet about? No one seems to know.

File under #Transparency #Accountability

Rahm Emanuel met with Betsy DeVos a week ago. But we still don't know what the meeting was about.Why not? 

All we saw was this cryptic press release from the D.O.E.:

U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos met with Mayor of Chicago Rahm Emanuel at the Department of Education’s LBJ Building, 400 Maryland Ave., S.W.

The Secretary and Mayor had a wide ranging discussion on Chicago’s education system, rising graduation rate and the Mayor’s reform plans.

The Secretary thanked the Mayor for visiting the Department and for sharing his thoughts, and issued the following statement:

“I want to thank Mayor Emanuel for today’s conversation and for sharing his vision for education in the city of Chicago. I look forward to continuing to find ways in which the Department can work with the Mayor’s office to ensure the Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: What did Rahm and DeVos meet about? No one seems to know.:

CURMUDGUCATION: PA: Let's Arm Teachers?

CURMUDGUCATION: PA: Let's Arm Teachers?:

PA: Let's Arm Teachers?

Apparently it's education crazy season in Harrisburg, with one ill-advised ed bill after another. But fear not-- at least one PA legislator wants some of us to start packing heat in school.

Senate Bill 383 intends to amend the school code, with the intent of "providing for protection and defense of pupils.

Sponsor Donald C White, who was an insurance salesman back before his 2001 election, explains the reasoning here:

In the aftermath of a number of tragic school shootings, the debate continues across the country on how we can better protect our children. While most of this discussion surrounds whether or not more gun control measures are needed, I believe we must look at all options when it comes to improving the safety and security of our children, teachers and school staff....

My bill would allow school personnel to have access to firearms in school safety zones if they receive authorization from the school board of directors, are licensed to carry a concealed firearm and have met certain training requirements in the use and handling of firearms (as outlined in my proposal)...

As we weigh our options, I believe we need to consider providing school employees with more choices than just locking a door, hiding in a closet or diving in front of bullets to protect students. With the legal authority, licensing and proper training, I believe allowing school administrators, teachers or other staff to carry firearms on the school premises is an option worth exploring. 

No. No, it's not. Here's why I don't think it's an idea worth considering.

1) The window of opportunity is tiny. 

From start to finish, active shooter events are short, short things. Chances are mighty slim that a CURMUDGUCATION: PA: Let's Arm Teachers?:

Arne Duncan Designed Rahm Emanuel’s Latest Attack on Poor Students of Color | gadflyonthewallblog

Arne Duncan Designed Rahm Emanuel’s Latest Attack on Poor Students of Color | gadflyonthewallblog:

Arne Duncan Designed Rahm Emanuel’s Latest Attack on Poor Students of Color

Sometimes an idea is just too stupid to keep it all to yourself.

Ask Arne Duncan.

Sitting at his lonely desk as managing partner of the Emerson Collective, a limited liability corporation pushing school and immigration policy, he must have missed his days as President Barack Obama’s Education Secretary.

After all, he was the architect of Race to the Top, a federal policy that at best wasted billions of tax dollars without helping students learn – at worst it enriched private charter school operators, standardized test and publishing corporations and private prison operators without helping kids learn.

At the dawn of 2017 with Donald Trump just beginning to flush public education down the toilet in favor of school vouchers, Duncan took to the Internet wondering how he, too, could bring harm to inner city students.

On Jan. 11, he sent an email to Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel with a suggestion that was pure Duncan – let’s help poor children of color by making it harder to graduate!

Chicago Public School students have suffered from decades of budget cuts, teacher layoffs and even the closure of 49 schools almost exclusively in poor, black or Latino neighborhoods. A former district CEO even plead guilty to a $23 million kickback scheme.

As a result, the more than 400,000 students, 37.7% of which are black and more than Arne Duncan Designed Rahm Emanuel’s Latest Attack on Poor Students of Color | gadflyonthewallblog:

Hitting Left. | Fred Klonsky

Hitting Left. | Fred Klonsky:

Hitting Left

Hitting Left. | Fred Klonsky:

NaughtyBots Part 4: Researchbots, Bought, or Naught, Theoretically Speaking? | Truth in American Education

NaughtyBots Part 4: Researchbots, Bought, or Naught, Theoretically Speaking? | Truth in American Education:

NaughtyBots Part 4: Researchbots, Bought, or Naught, Theoretically Speaking?

This is the fourth part in a four-part NaughtyBots series about the #commoncore Project: How Social Media is Changing the Politics of Education.

Researchbots, Bought, or Naught

I tend to be linear, not millennial-ear, and had to read the pdf version of the #commoncore Project report. I found it difficult to follow the online format that has been lauded as an innovative interactive presentation. This is not a typical format for presenting research findings and adds to the notion of this being fake research as I have heard many refer to it. The interactive online presentation lost me until after I read much of the pdf version and gained an understanding of how the information is organized. Is this the way future research reports will be presented? What’s next? Is this a precursor to research reports being presented as interactive online video games? Research report gamification—kind of like the gamification of education?

There are actually two #commoncore Project reports. The citation for the first report says 2015 and the citation for the second says 2017. I used the 2017 report. Having heard a comment that the first report was more objective and interesting, I thought I ought to take at least a quick look. I found that the first report does not include theories brought up in the second report and appears to be more straight forward in presenting information not laden with so much opinion and ideology. Does the difference make you wonder why?

The first report shows a statement that says, “This project received no external funding from any source.” The second reports says, “This project received funding support from the Milken Family Foundation, the Gates Foundation, and the Consortium for Policy Research in Education. The analyses, findings, and conclusions are the authors’ alone.”

For many advocates, any sense of credibility is lost upon seeing all to familiar funding sources for the project’s second report. It can be enough to make one wonder. Was this research bot bought? Did funding bring on the opinions and ideology in the second report? Would researchers compromise standards of professional ethics that guide most academic research as a result of NaughtyBots Part 4: Researchbots, Bought, or Naught, Theoretically Speaking? | Truth in American Education:

Parent Coalition for Student Privacy Opposes Federal Data Matching Program | Parent Coalition for Student Privacy

Parent Coalition for Student Privacy Opposes Federal Data Matching Program | Parent Coalition for Student Privacy:

PARENT COALITION FOR STUDENT PRIVACY OPPOSES FEDERAL DATA MATCHING PROGRAM

The U.S. Department of Education proposes to extend the program in which it matches personal data of resident alien students with data from the Department of Homeland Security  and the US Citizenship and Immigration Services, for the purpose of establishing their eligibility for financial aid.

We oppose this proposal, as explained below, given the sensitivity of the personal  information involved, and the fact that the US Education Department has been repeatedly shown to have faulty data security protections.  Most recently the IRS pulled the FAFSA Data Retrieval Tool off the US Education Department website after discovering that the personal data of as many as 100,000 taxpayers may have been breached.  Until the Department’s data security protections can be significantly strengthened, this data exchange should not occur.

See the notice here: https://www.regulations.gov/docket?D=ED-2017-FSA-0034  We urge others to join us in opposing the extension of this program by posting your comments here. The new deadline to submit comments has been extended to May 19, 2017. Thank you!

Parent Coalition for Student Privacy Opposes Federal Data Matching Program | Parent Coalition for Student Privacy: