You are the Future Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all

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

You are the Future Diane Ravitch's blog

A site to discuss better education for all

Chris Christie Closed the State Beaches for the Holiday Weekend, but Not for Him and His Family

2by dianeravitch / 28min

Soon we can forget about Chris Christie. He is term limited. He will be gone. But here is typical Christie. All state beaches are closed because of a stalemate on the state budget. But Chris Christie went to a state beach with his family because the state owns a beach house. The beach was gloriously empty. Just for him and his 

KIPP-Houston Rips Off Poor Parents

8by dianeravitch / 37min

Charter schools lain they are public schools. They are not. What public school is part of a corporate chain? What public school operates for profit? What public schools charges fees for service? The KIPP schools in Houston have been 

Charles Pierce: “Education Is Not A Damn Marketplace!”

1by dianeravitch / 9min

There is one super-smart columnist writing in Esquire, and his name is Charles P. Pierce. He gets it. Unlike the editorial boards of the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, and the Washington Post, he understands that schools don’t get 

This High School Adopted (De)personalized Education for All, Thanks to Laurene Powell Jobs

4by dianeravitch / 1h

A California public high school received a grant of $10 million from Laurene Powell Jobs to redesign itself. Guess what? They have gone whole hog for “ personalized learning. ” Known on this Blog as Depersonalized Learning. This is where the computer mines your data all day long and you develop a close relationship with the computer. Meanwhile the giants of Silicon Valley send their own children

“Democracy”: What Does Research Say About AP Courses?

23by dianeravitch / 1h

We have had an interesting conversation on the blog about the value of AP courses. It was tied to Jay Mathews’ use of AP courses to rank the quality of high schools: the more AP courses, the better the high school. I have made clear two points: One, when I was in high school in the 1950s, there were no AP courses, so I have had no experience with them; and my children graduated high school withou

Roy Turrentine: The Trouble with AP

6by dianeravitch / 3h

I often hear AP lauded because it enables students to get through college in only three years, thus saving a year of tuition. What if college were free? Would there be such a rush to get it over with? What’s the purpose of college? Why four years? Why not three or two or one or none? A few years ago, a very rich guy offered 10 students $100,000 not to go to college. I haven’t heard how that turne

YESTERDAY

Lily Eskelsen Garcia Blasts DeVos and Trump at NEA convention

100+by dianeravitch / 13h

At the NEA representative Assembly in Boston, President Lily Eskelsen Garcia brought some 8,000 delegates to their feet as she denounced Betsy DeVos and Donald Trump for their abandonment of America’s most vulnerable children and public education. ““This is not a drill,” NEA President Lily Eskelsen García told the 2017 NEA Representative Assembly. “We stand in a dangerous place. We stand between

The Bipartisan Establishment at Play in the Hamptons

3by dianeravitch / 20h

Who owns the world? The Establishment at play, as reported by Politico. Frenemies. “OUT AND ABOUT IN THE HAMPTONS — LALLY WEYMOUTH held her annual summer party last night at her house in Southampton. There was a long gold carpet entrance from where the parking was to a big tent next to her house. She served champagne, rare filet, fried chicken, cornbread, a big chocolate cake, ice cream and cooki

Trump Tweet Threatens Violence to Journalists, Undermines First Amendment

31by dianeravitch / 22h

This morning, Trump tweeted an old video of himself pummeling a wrestler after the wrestler was thrown out of the ring. The wrestler taking Trump’s blows is labeled CNN. Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) 7/2/17, 9:21 AM #FraudNewsCNN #FNN pic.twitter.com/WYUnHjjUjg I see this as a direct incitement to violence against the media and anyone who dares to criticize King Donald. I reported this tweet

Michael Hynes: Our Insane Obsession with Testing

17by dianeravitch / 23h

Dr. Michael Hynes, superintendent of the schools in Patchogue-Medford on Long Island (New York) really knows what “whole child education” is. I wish he were advising Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan, who throw the term around, as in “whole child personalized learning.” Hynes could set them straight. They could start by reading this article, which appeared in Newsday. Hynes recommends this start

The Absurdity of Applying Industrial Lingo to Schools

44by dianeravitch / 23h

I recently read a post by Larry Cuban about the difficulty of “scaling up successful reforms,” and I was reminded how much I dislike the application of industrial terminology to schooling. Larry offers some examples of successful efforts to “scale up,” but I question the effort itself. While it is possible for schools to adopt and adapt a program or a practice that has worked out for others, the

Mike Klonsky: Most Schools in Chicago Violate Rights of ELL Students

12by dianeravitch / 1d

Mike Klonsky reports that most schools in Chicago are violating the right of English language learners to mandated services they need. The worst violators, naturally, were charter schools. Fifteen were run by the UNO Network of Charter Schools; nine were run by the Noble Network of Charter Schools. (One of the Noble Network schools is named for its patron, Governor Bruce Rauner.) In 2009, U.S. Di

D.C.: 100% of the Graduates of Struggling High School Accepted into College

15by dianeravitch / 1d

NPR reported that 100% of the graduates of a struggling high school are going to college. Usually, we hear this about charter schools, but they usually forget to tell you how many students dropped out before reaching 12th grade or graduation. Nor do they refer to test scores. Urban Academy in Chicago, for example, is celebrated in the media for getting 100% of its graduates into college but the s

James C. Wilson: The Intellectual Arrogance of So-Called Reformers

11by dianeravitch / 1d

James C. Wilson reflects here on the intellectual arrogance of people who know nothing about education but decide they should reinvent it. The list of the arrogant would include certain foundations and philanthropists, certain 

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

TEACHER VOICE: Raising the bar on high school diplomas slams the doors on the weakest students - The Hechinger Report

TEACHER VOICE: Raising the bar on high school diplomas slams the doors on the weakest students - The Hechinger Report:

TEACHER VOICE: Raising the bar on high school diplomas slams the doors on the weakest students
A Maine teacher of struggling readers expresses her concern for the state’s disenfranchised

Who isn’t in favor of high standards?

The recent three-part series on proficiency-based learning in Maine by The Hechinger Report’s Lillian Mongeau (which appeared in both The Report and the Portland Press Herald) is very informative on this topic. However, to make it necessary for a student to achieve “proficiency,” (defined as 80 percent or a grad of B or better) on eight high school exit exams in order to earn a diploma seems like an idea fraught with problems.

I’m sure a majority of our students can accomplish this, but my fear is for the students who cannot.

Related: How diplomas based on skill acquisition, not credits earned, could change education

Let’s look at why this law was proposed: Then-Education Commissioner Stephen Bowen, who helped usher in proficiency-based diplomas, said that flat test scores were the reason for this regulation.

What that means is he wanted to help more students pass standardized tests.

It seems to me that these are the very children who will be harmed by this law.

Related: Why Maine’s new high school graduation rules could hurt more than help

As Response to Intervention teacherworking with struggling readers in Maine, I can tell you that there is always a percentage of students who work hard but cannot obtain above a “C” in all subjects.

If the aim of the proponents is to help these students, how is raising the bar going to help?

Wouldn’t a focus on proven ways to work with these students help more than a paradigm shift for all education in Maine?

Related: The future of proficiency-based education

Another problem is consistency. A stated reason is always that this will ensure that an A in northern Maine is the same as an A in southern Maine. However, as every district is creating its own assessments, this alone calls the law’s existence into question.

It also seems that it could increase the dropout rate, as students couldn’t see any end to retaking courses. I don’t think raising the number of young people with no job prospects because they have no diploma was what Stephen Bowen had in mind.

So why has Maine jumped in as the first state to mandate this ill-defined “experiment”?

Who is guiding these decisions?

What educators are being included?

It seems as if we should take a step back and provide the professional TEACHER VOICE: Raising the bar on high school diplomas slams the doors on the weakest students - The Hechinger Report:

Votes coming on teacher tenure, for-profit charters, other key bills | EdSource

Votes coming on teacher tenure, for-profit charters, other key bills | EdSource:

Votes coming on teacher tenure, for-profit charters, other key bills

Between now and July 21, when they take a month off, state legislators will have to decide the fate of bills that passed one chamber of the Legislature and await action in the other. Among those are key education bills that would lengthen teacher probation periods, require more accounting for spending under the Local Control Funding Formula, mandate a later start time for middle and high schools and further restrict student suspensions. What follows is a summary of the bills EdSource is following.

Funding formula transparency

The federal Every Student Succeeds Act requires that school districts provide data on state and federal spending by school in more detail than before. AB 1321, by Assemblywoman Shirley Weber, D-San Diego, would go further, requiring a school-by-school breakdown of state spending by the Local Control Funding Formula’s component parts: base, supplemental and concentration funding. The latter two components are allocated to a district based on the proportion of English learners and low-income, homeless and foster children enrolled.

Why it’s important: Weber and student advocacy groups argue the public needs to know if schools with large proportions of high-needs students are getting money intended to go to them. In some districts, that’s clear. In most, it is not. Gov. Jerry Brown and school management groups counter that detailing every dollar spent would add accounting expenses without much benefit — and divert focus from the funding formula’s overriding goal of figuring out how to improve outcomes for underserved students. They argue that it’s premature to change the funding law.

Status: The bill passed the Assembly unanimously. Brown is expected to fight the bill as it moves through the Senate — and may veto it.

Teacher tenure

The probationary period for new teachers in most states is three years or longer. In California, it’s technically two years, though realistically 18 months, since the deadline for notifying teachers in the second year is March 15. AB 1220, by Assemblywoman Shirley Weber, D-San Diego, would give districts the option of Votes coming on teacher tenure, for-profit charters, other key bills | EdSource:

“I make the trains run on time,” says Rahm. | Fred Klonsky

“I make the trains run on time,” says Rahm. | Fred Klonsky:

“I make the trains run on time,” says Rahm

No sooner had I pushed the publish button on my post about the stalled negotiations between the Mayor, the CTA and the transit workers union than I opened up the New York Times to find Mayor Rahm echoing the words of the Italian fascist, Benito Mussolini.

“In Chicago, the trains actually run on time,” the Mayor boasted.

What is the deal with the obsession with the fascist Mussolini and the Rahm administration?

A few years back the Tribune, which loved the fascist back when Benito was “I make the trains run on time,” says Rahm. | Fred Klonsky:

On Global Teacher Prize Winner Maggie Macdonnell and What Humility Looks Like | The Jose Vilson

On Global Teacher Prize Winner Maggie Macdonnell and What Humility Looks Like | The Jose Vilson:

ON GLOBAL TEACHER PRIZE WINNER MAGGIE MACDONNELL AND WHAT HUMILITY LOOKS LIKE

We met at a fancy hotel on Central Park South, a place that most native New Yorkers scurry past before they get priced out of the sidewalk. Whenever I meet teachers that gain acclaim on a macro-level, I always ask two questions: how are they affected by their newfound fame and do they still have the touch? The first is obvious. In American society, teachers who get large titles like “National Teacher of the Year,” “President of [insert large city here],” or, in this case, “Global Teacher Prize,” skyrocket to echelons where they meet heads of state, billionaire magnates, and hedge fund managers who can sneeze donations. They get peppered with gifts and four-to-five figure speaking gigs and, on occasion, get recognized for just being nice. It’s more than an honor; it’s the equivalent of getting a diamond-encrusted coat.

They might be the same “them,” but everyone else sees diamonds. They must be royalty. Everyone else says so now, but not before the coat. So it goes with the Global Teacher Prize winner Maggie MacDonnell, winner of the 2017 Global Teacher Prize.

I wouldn’t call this an interview, though. Interviews are often one-directional, so I insisted on talking through it. It’s also important to note that I met her the day after I finished classes. I still hadn’t unplugged from the person I was in the classroom. People might believe that one of the most notorious / renowned teachers in the largest city On Global Teacher Prize Winner Maggie Macdonnell and What Humility Looks Like | The Jose Vilson:

California school leaders fear GOP cuts to Medicaid could harm special education | 89.3 KPCC

California school leaders fear GOP cuts to Medicaid could harm special education | 89.3 KPCC:

California school leaders fear GOP cuts to Medicaid could harm special education

California education officials are sounding the alarm over Congressional Republicans' proposed health care overhaul bills, saying changes to Medicaid could leave the state or school districts scrambling to pay for critical special education services they don't have the option of cutting.

The health care bill the U.S. House passed in May would place a cap on Medicaid payments to states, a move that could trim states' Medicaid funding by 25 to 35 percent.

Funding from Medicaid, referred to in California as Medi-Cal, helps school districts cover the costs of serving special education students who are entitled to receive critical healthcare services in school — such as a child who needs a ventilator or a feeding tube.

If a child's "individual education plan" — the negotiated document spelling out supports a student with disabilities must receive a "free and appropriate" public education — calls for these services, California Department of Education spokesman Robert Oakes said districts are required to provide them at school, with or without Medi-Cal.

"If Medi-Cal funding drops because there’s a cap," Oaskes said, "the school districts are going to have to pay for it. We don’t know where that kind of funding is going to come from."

The current U.S. Senate health care bill also contains cuts to Medicaid. But Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) delayed a vote on the legislation before the July 4 recess — in part because members of his own caucus raised concerns about the Medicaid provisions.

Schools across the U.S. receive roughly $4 billion in Medicaid reimbursements, according to a national organization representing school superintendents, and nearly two-thirds of U.S. school districts use this funding to pay for not only health California school leaders fear GOP cuts to Medicaid could harm special education | 89.3 KPCC:

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: WEEKEND QUOTABLES

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: WEEKEND QUOTABLES:

WEEKEND QUOTABLES

Ken Franklin

Ken Franklin, Pres. of Local 308, Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU)

[Transportation workers] are like the vessels in the heart. We feed the economic engine of the cities. That allows hundreds of thousands of businesses to operate and gives the people in the cities a way of life. -- Hitting Left with the Klonsky Brothers 

Rich Miller (Capitol Fax)

What is most obvious...is Rauner's passion for what he calls "economic freedom," which roughly translates to: "Kill the unions." -- Crain's

Pope Francis tells Italian union leaders...

"There is no good society without a good union, and there is no good union that isn't reborn every day in the peripheries, that doesn't transform the rejected stones of the economy into corner stones." -- America, the Jesuit Revies 

Paul Krugman on GOP health-care bill

So it’s vast suffering — including, according to the best estimates, around Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: WEEKEND QUOTABLES:

KIPP Houston and Its “Etc.” Fees | deutsch29

KIPP Houston and Its “Etc.” Fees | deutsch29:

KIPP Houston and Its “Etc.” Fees

On June 29, 2017, the Houston Chronicle carried a story entitled, “KIPP Schools Charged Unallowable Fees, State Agency Finds.”

KIPP stands for Knowledge is Power Program– ironic given that the primary point of the article is that some parents who even advocated for Texas’ KIPP charter schools discovered that they had been paying fees that were supposedly optional– without being fully informed that such fees were not mandatory.

An excerpt:

Mary Courtney was one of KIPP Houston’s biggest advocates, even as she had to borrow money from relatives to keep up with payments to the charter school.

She drove to Austin during School Choice Week, talking to lawmakers about why they should better fund charter schools. She volunteered on campus. She paid thousands in fees so her boys and other students could have access to books and science materials.

But that was before she realized the fees she was paying were optional, something never mentioned by teachers or principals or on the fee agreement forms that the schools – KIPP Liberation College Prep and KIPP PEACE Elementary – tied to student registration. Now, Courtney and several other KIPP Houston parents are furious because they believe they were duped by the charter nonprofit system into paying for what they believe should be a free public education. …

Eric Kot, chief of operations and information technology services with KIPP Houston, said some – but not all – of KIPP’s 28 local campuses incorrectly told parents that the fees were mandatory or failed to explain they were optional. But since then, KIPP’s Houston-area schools have created uniform forms across its campuses that show the fees are optional and have worked with the TEA to ensure they are complying with state rules regarding student fees.

“A handful of schools got it wrong… and contradicted what was in the (KIPP schools’) handbook, while other schools got it right and made sure parents knew it was voluntary,” Kot said.

The article continues by noting that KIPP has no intention of addressing reimbursing KIPP Houston and Its “Etc.” Fees | deutsch29: