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

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

Diane Ravitch's blog 

 A site to discuss better education for all

A Teacher in Arizona Reports on the Slow Strangulation of Public Schools

by dianeravitch / 10min

An Arizona Teacher left this comment: “I teach in an AZ public school–title 1 school. The poverty in this school is astonishing. This is my first year teaching in AZ after moving here from another state. I taught almost 20 years in a public school that was also a Title 1 school before moving to AZ. I have a lot of experience teaching in poverty schools. I have never seen anything as dysfunctional

John Merrow: Eight Fixes for the College Admissions Mess

by dianeravitch / 1h

John Merrow noted the intense media attention on the recent college admission scandal, where rich parents found ways to buy higher test scores or pay for guarantees of admissions by pretending they were star athletes or paying off coaches to ask for them to be admitted or hiring a ringer to take the SAT for them. He offers eight ways to repair the college admissions process. Here are a few of his

Tennessee Decides About Vouchers Today

by dianeravitch / 1h

Today is V-day in Tennessee. The Shelby County Board of Education (Memphis) opposes the plan, accurately protesting that the plan would divert dollars from their already underfunded schools. Meanwhile, six charter schools in Memphis have made a deal with the Catholic church to lease space, while pledging not to teach anything contrary to Catholic teaching. ”The Compass Community Schools network s

Texas: New Study Finds That Readability Levels on State Tests are Misaligned

by dianeravitch / 2h

A new study of the STAAR tests in Texas finds that the readability levels are far above the grade levels tested. Professor Susan Szabo and Professor Becky Barton Sinclair of the Texas A&M at Commerce reviewed STAAR tests and report that readability levels were 1-3 years above the grade level tested. Why is the state giving children tests that are above their grade levels? Is it trying to fail chi

YESTERDAY

Anthony Cody At DeVos Hearing

32by dianeravitch / 11h

Anthony Cody, co-founder of the Network for Public Education, arrived at the DeVos budget hearing very early. He was there at 7:30 am and chose a seat directly behind where the speaker would be. He was directly over her left shoulder, scowling. I remembered the guy in the plaid shirt at a Trump rally, similarly located, shaking his head no and making quizzical expressions. Anthony did not hear an

BREAKING: Los Angeles Times Exposes Charter School Fraud and Profiteering

27by dianeravitch / 21h

Anna Phillips of the Los Angeles Times has written a powerful expose of California’s “Wild West” charter industry. This is the first of three articles. The article is titled: “How a couple worked charter school regulations to make millions” The article begins: “The warning signs appeared soon after Denise Kawamoto accepted a job at Today’s Fresh Start Charter School in South Los Angeles. “Though

DeVos Wants to Defund Special Olympics, Boost Funding for School Choice

29by dianeravitch / 22h

Betsy DeVos was grilled yesterday in Congressional hearings about her budget proposals. She was repeatedly questioned about her desire to increase charter school funding from $440 million to $500 million a year. The Network for Public Education report on the waste, fraud, and abuse in this program was cited. While increasing the charter budget, DeVos wants to cut $18 million from the Special Olym

Muncie, Indiana: Voucher School for 6 Students Condemned, Deplorable Conditions

100+by dianeravitch / 23h

Fire and building inspectors condemned the Delaware Christian Academy after entering the building and finding its six students huddled around a heater for warmth. Betsy DeVos always says that parents always know best, but why did these parents send their children to school in an unsafe building? ”Fire and building inspectors say they found six students at the private Delaware Christian Academy “h

Kentucky: Parents and Teachers Confront a Hostile GOP Legislature and State Commissioner

22by dianeravitch / 1d

Gay Adelmann, Parent Activist in Jefferson County and Leader of Save Our Schools Kentucky, writes about the hostile actions of the Kentucky Legislature: Privatization or Potential Punishment: Are Louisville Teachers Being Forced To Choose The Lesser of Two Evils? “The beatings will continue until morale improves,” seems to be the mantra of the Kentucky GOP when it comes to public education. In th

Tom Ultican: Atlanta School Board Votes for Privatization

42by dianeravitch / 1d

Tom Ultican has been writing about differentcities where the Destroy Public Education Movement has made extraordinary gains. Atlanta has fallen into the clutches of the DPE as a result of Teach for America’s success in electing its alumni to the school board, which hired a superintendent committedto the DPE agenda. Ultican writes : “On March 4, the Atlanta Public School (APS) board voted 5 to 3 t

Valerie Strauss: Is It Time to Dump the SAT and ACT?

by dianeravitch / 1d

Reflecting on the recentmassive scandal of rigging college acceptances, Valerie Strauss discusses the debate about whether the SAT and ACT are necessary. Research indicates that a student’s four year record reveals more about his or her college readiness than either of the two big standardized tests. Wealthy parents have always had advantages, including the ability to pay tutors to help their chi

MAR 26

Join the Network for Public Education: It Is Free and Gives You Power

24by dianeravitch / 1d

If you liked the NPE report ASLEEP AT THE WHEEL, released today by the Network for Public Education, please consider joining. It is free. We rely on donations. We believe in the power of numbers, combined with a small but amazing staff. If you sign up, you will get alerts about what is happening in DC and in your own state, where your participation can make a difference. You will be asked to send

John Rogers: School and Society in the Age of Trump

by dianeravitch / 1d

John Rogers and his research team at UCLA have completed a valuable study of the effect of Trump and his ideology on schools, students, and society. If you go to the link, you can open the report. Here is a summary: “This study examines how a broad set of social issues at the forefront of the Trump presidency are felt and affect students and educators within America’s high schools. We look closel

A Student in Kansas Writes about How Standardized Testing Makes Her Feel

58by dianeravitch / 2d

Kevin Bosworth, a teacherat Olathe East High School in Olathe, Kansas, wrote to tell me about a class discussion of grades and tests. A student sharedher poem with the class, and Kevin shared it with me. The reformers and disrupters now say they are intrigued with social and emotional learning. Let them read this and see what they have learned. Hello my name is worthless Name number and date Stat

Jose Luis Vilson: NYC’s Exam for Specialized High Schools Is Racist

by dianeravitch / 2d

New York City has a peculiar high school admissions system. To gain admission to the city’s five most elite high schools, one must excel on a highly competitive examination called the Secondary High School Admissions Test. Nothing else counts but that one score on one test. I am not aware of any selective institution in the nation that relies on only one score for admission. Every year, the media

Bombshell Report: Congress Wastes Nearly $1 Billion on Defunct Charter Schools

400+by dianeravitch / 2d

The Network for Public Education released a shocking report about waste, fraud, and abuse in the federal charter school program. This year, Congress handed out $440 million to charter schools, many of which will never open or quickly close. Trump and DeVos want to increase the annual sum to $500 million. The Washington Post covered the findings. Valerie Strauss writes: ”The U.S. government has wa

MAR 25

Rhode Island: About the Charter School That Will Offer a Master’s Degree

21by dianeravitch / 2d

How great is a Charter School that is given permission by the state to offer a master’s degree in education? I decided to check out the Learning Community Charter School in Central Falls, which just got the go-ahead and $500,000 to train teachers and award master’s degrees. Surely this must be an extraordinary school, or you would expect the Providence Journal to let you know whether it’s up to t

Rhode Island Allows Charter School to Award Master’s Degrees

100+by dianeravitch / 2d

The Providence Journal asked me to remove this story because it is copyrighted. I was asked to replace it with a summary. Summary: A charter school called The Learning Community is creating a phony graduate school of education, where students will pay $35,000 to get a phony master’s degree. Philanthropists have agreed to underwrite scholarships. First the charters undermine public schools by comp

Philadelphia: It Takes Years and Millions to Close Failing Charter Schools and the Public Pays for Everything

200+by dianeravitch / 3d

Lisa Haver, Parent Activist in Philadelphia, writes here about how it takes years and millions of dollars to close failing charter schools. The public must pay the cost of challenging the charter and pay the cost of defending the charter. The charter operator gets a free ride for failing. Only the taxpayers and students lose. Why is it easy to close a public school but hard to close a charter sch

Public Schools Week Starts Today! Support Our Public Schools!

52by dianeravitch / 3d

Public Schools Week is March 25-29. Download the toolkit of the Network for Public Education and do your part to support public schools! The forces of privatization are rising up, making promises and failing to keep any of those promises. Public schools are the bedrock of democracy, doors open to all. Certified teachers in every classroom. Public schools strive for equality of educational opportu

Stephen Dyer: Ohio’s Failing Charter Sector Wants a 22% Funding Increase

100+by dianeravitch / 3d

I remember when the charter idea was first launched, in 1988. Al Shanker thought charters would be schools-within-schools, that they would be started by teachers, that they would be approved by the other teachers in the rest of the school and the local board, that they would be unionized, and that they would collaborate, not compete, with the existing schools. More than three decades later, we kn

MAR 24

NPE Action Endorses Pam Harbin for Pittsburgh School Board

29by dianeravitch / 3d

The Network for Public Education Action fund is happy to endorse Pam Harbin for Pittsburgh school board! She is running in District 4. Pam has a long history of supporting public school students and public schools. She has been working on the ground for twelve years in the fight to improve and save public education in Pittsburgh as a parent, community organizer and a long-time disability rights a

California: An Alert for Supporters of Public Schools!

40by dianeravitch / 3d

A reader in California asks for help to fix one of the charter reform bill that has a big loophole. He writes: “Thank you for all you do for public education. In California right now are 4 assembly Bills – AB-1505 – AB-1508. “AB-1508 in particular is intended to enable local school districts to consider the financial, program and facilities impacts when approving/denying new charter petitions. Th

Billionaire Charter Founder Michael Steinhardt Accused of Sexual Harassment

23by dianeravitch / 4d

Billionaire Michael Steinhardt, founder of a charter school chain called “Hebrew Language Academies,” was accused by multiple women of sexual harassment. A story in the New York Times began: “Sheila Katz was a young executive at Hillel International, the Jewish college outreach organization, when she was sent to visit the philanthropist Michael H. Steinhardt, a New York billionaire. He had once b

Tony Thurmond: “Without Public Schools, I Might Not Be State Superintendent Today”

23by dianeravitch / 4d

TonyThurmond, elected as California’s State Superintendent of Public Instruction last fall, spoke out strongly on behalf of public schools at a recent public event. He also insisted that the state must fund its pension promises and invest more in education. Competition doesn’t work in education, he said. The goal of education must be to help every student must develop his talents, not to spur com

Stuart Egan: Sanders’ EVASS Has Lost in Court, But NC Won’t Let It Go

94by dianeravitch / 4d

William Sanders was an agricultural statistician who developed a secret, patented formula for measuring teacher effectiveness. It’s call EVASS. It was tossed out by a Houston judge who said it was wrong to judge teachers by a secret algorithm that they could neither examine nor question. As Stuart Egan reports , North Carolina clings to EVASS, no matter how many times it has been discredited (by

MAR 23

SomeDAM Poet on the Rallying Cry of the California Charter Schools Association

22by dianeravitch / 4d

The California Charter School Association recently held a rally in front of the State Capitol and declared that its motto was “Stand for All Children.” Only 10% of children in California are enrolled in charter schools. Our blog poet, SomeDAM Poet, wrote a poem to go with the CCSA slogan: “Stand for All (10% of) Students” (SAP) Stand for ten percent Stand for self-dealt rent Stand for charter sca

Arizona Republic Wins Prestigious George Polk Award for Education Reporting for Expose of Charter School Corruption

44by dianeravitch / 4d

A crack investigative team at the Arizona Republic won the prestigious George Polk Award for their fearless expose of charter school corruption in the state . Now we might wonder where are the think tanks like the Center for American Progress and the Brookings Institution, which never utter a critical word about charter school corruption and malfeasance. CAP and Brookings are supposedly “liberal”

Steven Singer: Accountability Begins at the Top, not in the Classroom

100+by dianeravitch / 5d

Steven Singer has a straightforward and sensible proposition: accountability should begin with the people who make the rules and allocate resources. Instead they have created a blame game for those who try to play by the rules they created, not matter how wrong those rules are. Read the following and read his post to learn the Code of Conduct he has devised for those who make the rules. He writes

Texas: Can the State Afford to Buy One Snickers Bar Per Student?

27by dianeravitch / 5d

This is a clever and short video explaining the magnitude of Texas’s school finance problem. Texas has more than 5 million students. Its schools are perennially underfunded. They took a big hit in 2011 when the legislature cut their budget by more than $5 BILLION dollars, which the schools have never recovered from. For the past several years, the State Senate and Lt. Governor Dan Patrick have tr

Defending the Early Years: Kisha Reid Explains How Little Children Learn Best

99by dianeravitch / 5d

As the tentacles of Ed Reform reachdown into the earliest years, forcing standardized tests on young children, Defending the Early Years is there to block the monster from strangling the children’s loveof learning. In this short video , early childhood educator Kisha Reid explains what young children need most to thrive. Play. When children play together, they collaborate. They solve problems. No

MAR 22

Watch the Videos of the Jackson Heights Parents for Public Education (and Meet AOC)

by dianeravitch / 5d

Michael Elliott, professional videographer and ally of every New York parent group that opposes high-stakes testing, filmed the events on March 16, when AOC joined a community discussion in Jackson Heights, Queens, about public education. With the help of Kemala Karmen, he has broken up the day into segments that you can watch at your leisure. Each of them is short–mostly 3-5 minutes. PUBLIC EDUC

Karen Francisco: Portait of a Lifelong Teacher

54by dianeravitch / 6d

Karen Francisco, editorial page editor of the Fort Wayne Journal-Gazette, wrote a moving tribute to our dear friend Phyllis Bush. She called Phyllis “a lifelong teacher.” She taught for 32 years. When she retired, however, she never stopped teaching. Francisco quotes some of Phyllis’s former students, who describe how Phyllis Bush changed their lives. The editorial includes a photograph that catc

Arizona: Acclaimed BASIS Charter Schools Are $44 Million in Red, Audit Shows

by dianeravitch / 6d

US News & World Report and Newsweek ranked BASIS charter schools in Arizona as the best high schools in the nation, without noting their dramatic attrition rates and demographics that heavily favor whites and Asians. But a new audit shows that BASIS is in deep financial trouble. “The globally renowned BASIS charter school system is nearly $44 million in the red, according to a recent report from

Fred Smith Explains That AOC was Right, and I Was Wrong, About the Test She Took

20by dianeravitch / 6d

At the meeting of Jackson Heights Parents for Public Schools on March 16, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortes said that she took a high-stakes standardized test, and her teacher told her she was in the 99th percentile. I thought she must have taken an Iowa Test of Basic Skills since NCLB test scores are not reported as percentiles but as 1-4 or “below basic, basic, proficient, advanced.” That sent the far-r

Mercedes Schneider On Campbell Brown’s Short But Rewarding Life as an Education Reformer

by dianeravitch / 6d

Ah, Campbell Brown, we hardly knew ye! Brown blazed across the Deform firmament like a shooting star, fighting sexual predators in the classroom, unions, tenure, and all other things that crossed her fevered brow. She raised millions, and now she’s off to a new life at Facebook. Gone and forgotten. Mercedes Schneider tells the story here.

MAR 21

Right-Wing Blogs Spread Lies about AOC Appearance in Jackson Heights Public Education Forum

77by dianeravitch / 6d

I wrote a post about my very pleasant experience meeting the wonderful, charming, brilliant Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in Jackson Heights, and I described her as “warm, comfortable in her skin, somewhat taken aback by her sudden fame, and unpretentious.” I said that she paid attention, and that she came to listen and learn. Everyone at the meeting was thrilled to meet her, and she took the time to

Rhode Island: New Commissioner Pledges Dramatic Improvements

by dianeravitch / 6d

Governor Gina Raimondo selected the deputy commissioner from New York to lead Rhode Island. She is a Reformer, already chosen by Jeb Bush’s Chiefs for Change as a future member of their group. “PROVIDENCE, R.I. — When Gov. Gina M. Raimondo began her search for the state’s next Education Commissioner, her conversations with experts, teachers, and other leaders in the field of education kept coming

California: Parent Opposes Berkeley’s Choice of Wendy Kopp as Commencement Speaker

46by dianeravitch / 6d

Jane Nylund is a Parent Activist in Oakland who has fought the privatization machine. She wrote an open public letter opposing Berkeley’s selection of Wendy Kopp as its commencement speaker. UC Berkeley should not support and condone school privatization : Rescind your offer to TFA Wendy Kopp as commencement speaker As a public school advocate, and a product of California public schools (father a

Do You Want an Out-of-State Billionaire to Put Money into Your Local School Board Election?

100+by dianeravitch / 7d

Three political scientists have written a book about billionaires putting money into local school board elections. Typically, the wealthy are not writing checks for their own school board elections, but even if they were, they are able to swamp the spending of others. The book is titled Outside Money in School Board Elections: The Nationalization of Education Politic s. It was published by Harvar

Julian Vasquez Heilig: The Real Scandal Over Buying an Education

by dianeravitch / 7d

Julian Vasquez Heilig writes in The Progressive about a scandal bigger than buying seats in college. What we read about in the headlines was illegal. What we don’t see in the headlines is education that is legally purchased. He writes: “Research is catching up to what is not exactly a well-kept secret: the nicer house an American family can buy, the better public school that family will have acce

Leonie Haimson: Why Is NYC Chancellor Carranza Sending Struggling Schools into a Death Spiral?

by dianeravitch / 7d

Leonie Haimson questions why NYC Chancellor Carranza sent a letter to every parent in schools rated CSI (Comprehensive Support & Improvement) by the state to let them know that they could transfer to another school. Although he claimed otherwise, he was not required to do so. Some schools are on the list because of opt outs. Carranza is destroying schools instead of supporting them. No school eve

MAR 20

New Zealand Bans Military Assault Weapons

23by dianeravitch / 7d

The latest news: New Zealand will ban military style semi-automatics and assault rifles and establish a nationwide buyback of the weapons in the wake of a terrorist attack on two mosques that left 50 people dead. The ban takes immediate effect to prevent the stockpiling of weapons while the legislation is being drafted, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern told reporters Thursday. “I strongly believe th

Shawgi Tell: The Issue Is Not Standardized Test Scores But the Theft of Public Property

68by dianeravitch / 7d

Shawgi Tell is a professor of education at Nazareth College in Rochester, New York. In this post , Shawgi Tell describes the massive misuse of standardized tests created by mega-corporations. He writes: Charter school supporters and promoters have long been severely obsessed with comparing charter school and public school students’ scores on expensive curriculum-narrowing high-stakes standardized

AOC Did Not Disappoint

100+by dianeravitch / 8d

Last Saturday, I attended a forum on public schools organized by Jackson Heights Parents for Public Schools. Thanks to the appearance of superstar Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortes, the event drew some of the city’s leading education stars, such as State Senator Robert Jackson, who has been leading the fight for increased state funding for the city’s public schools for many years. There were

Edward Johnson: Does the Atlanta School Board Know Who Dr. Alonzo A. Crim Was?

by dianeravitch / 8d

Ed Johnson fights day after day to try to budge the Atlanta School Board, which is following the disastrous path of corporate reform, which has failed everywhere. The Atlanta School Board is controlled by individuals who formerly were part of Teach for America, and it is their dream to turn Atlanta in a portfolio district with many privately managed schools. He writes: Does pursuing “Excellent Sc

Education Law Center Criticizes Equity Practices in Philadelphia Charter Sector

47by dianeravitch / 8d

The Education Law Center is one of the nation’s leading legal organizations defending the civil rights of students. In this important new report, it presents a critical analysis of Philadelphia’s charter sector and its indifference to the civil 

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

CURMUDGUCATION: What To Look For In A Teacher School

CURMUDGUCATION: What To Look For In A Teacher School

What To Look For In A Teacher School

Robert Pondiscio just reviewed a new NCTQ book for high school students about how to become a teacher. I haven't seen the book, so I'm in no position to comment on it, but it does remind me that we don't spend nearly enough time talking about teacher prep, not from a policy point of view, but the point of view of high school students who want to end up teaching some day.

I am not the person to come to for a spirited defense of traditional teacher prep programs. I've sent students off to them and hosted student teachers from them, and the fact is that some are fine and some suck with the suckage of a thousand black holes. There are many current alternative paths to the classroom that also suck, but dammit, we asked for it by letting North Shmeretown State Teachers College get away with doing a terrible job. I've written before about fixing that, but this time, let's talk about your teen should be looking for when she goes teacher school shopping.

If you (or your child) want to become a teacher, what qualities should you look for in a teacher prep program?

1) Emphasis on content. 

My own program prepared me to be an English teacher by requiring me to be an English major, so I was shocked to discover that some teachers were arriving in the classroom with no more subject matter knowledge in some areas than they remembered from their own high school classes. CONTINUE READING: CURMUDGUCATION: What To Look For In A Teacher School

What Has Betsy DeVos Accomplished? Part I | janresseger

What Has Betsy DeVos Accomplished? Part I | janresseger

What Has Betsy DeVos Accomplished? Part I

The other day I had the opportunity to talk with a U.S. senator’s staffer who told me that opposition to the appointment of Betsy DeVos early in 2017 was unprecedented as measured by the number of calls—tens of thousands against DeVos’s confirmation and only three or four thousand in favor.  Those of us who made those calls and marched in the streets and made formal visits to the offices of our U.S. senators were terrified about what it would mean if one of the biggest opponents of our society’s system of public schools were confirmed to be the U.S. Secretary of Education.

Of course, DeVos was confirmed, but only after the Vice President, for the first time in history, was called in to break a tie on the Senate’s confirmation of a President’s appointee.

Now two years have passed.  So… how’s it going?

On Tuesday, DeVos went before the House Appropriations Committee to defend her department’s request in the President’s recently proposed fiscal year 2020 federal budget. This is Trump’s third annual budget proposal, and it declares DeVos’s values and priorities for the third consecutive year.

This week DeVos defended an education budget proposal that is $8.5 billion lower than last year’s allocation. She made no attempt to justify freezes to Title I and IDEA funding, and the elimination of several programs including the popular the 21st Century Learning Centers after-school program, along with Title II and Title IV grants to support professional development for teachers, smaller class sizes, and curricular enrichment—and even her department’s contribution to the Special Olympics.

DeVos’s comments at the recent hearing betray her lack of concern for the kind of improved classroom conditions striking teachers  have been demanding all year and her failure to care deeply about long running programs that help schools serve the needs of poor children and students with special needs. The Detroit Free Press‘s Todd Spangler quotes DeVos’s reasoning: “We are not doing our children any favors when we borrow from their future in order to CONTINUE READING: What Has Betsy DeVos Accomplished? Part I | janresseger

Wild Wild West: Arizona’s Charter School Experiment – Have You Heard

Wild Wild West: Arizona’s Charter School Experiment – Have You Heard

Wild Wild West: Arizona’s Charter School Experiment

Did you hear the one about the Arizona state legislator who made a cool $14 million from selling his network of charter schools to a nonprofit that he set up, which then inked a lucrative lease deal with him, hired him as a consultant, and hired his brother as the chief executive? That’s just one of the stories of charter school fraud and corruption that Craig Harris and his colleagues at the Arizona Republic exposed in their award-winning series “The Charter Gamble.”

In the latest episode of Have You Heard, we talk to Harris about how charter schools became Arizona’s new cash crop. You can read a full transcript of the episode here. And if you’re a fan of Have You Heard, please consider becoming a supporter on Patreon.

Wild Wild West: Arizona’s Charter School Experiment – Have You Heard

Betsy DeVos vs. the disabled: What is wrong with this woman? - New York Daily News

Betsy DeVos vs. the disabled: What is wrong with this woman? - New York Daily News

Betsy DeVos vs. the disabled: What is wrong with this woman?

Lost amid the swirl of post-Mueller analysis and gloating, the Jussie Smollett case and Donald Trump’s renewed push to gut Obamacare, on March 26, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos went before a House panel to discuss her proposed 10% cut to her department’s overall budget. Along with cuts to school-improvement funding and the use of technology in the classroom, the administration proposes cutting $17.6 million in federal funding to the Special Olympics, suggesting programs like it would best be funded by private donors.

Oh, come on — the Special Olympics? What is wrong with this woman? Does it come naturally, or is she simply trying way too hard to be evil?

I can’t say I was terribly shocked to hear this. Even before she took office, DeVos made it abundantly clear she had a real problem with the disabled. Maybe we frighten her. Maybe we just make her a little uncomfortable. Maybe she considers us an unsightly burden. Who knows? Whatever the case, she clearly wishes we’d just go away. Lord knows she doesn’t want to turn on ESPN one Saturday and see a bunch of kids with Down’s Syndrome playing basketball.

While proposing major cuts to seemingly fundamental programs, she also proposed funneling another $60 million into her pet charter school program. That didn’t surprise me either.

One of the unspoken side effects of that plan is it could potentially leave disabled students out in the cold.

In theory, publicly funded but privately run charter schools are supposed to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the adjunct Individuals with Disabilities in Education Act (IDEA), the latter of which guaranteed accessibility and civil rights protection for disabled public school students.

Some charters do comply, others don’t. With DeVos, it’s apparently all about choice.

During her Senate confirmation hearing, Trump’s pick to become education secretary openly CONTINUE READING: Betsy DeVos vs. the disabled: What is wrong with this woman? - New York Daily News

As Purdue Pharma Settles Oklahoma Lawsuit, Those Receiving Sackler Money Need to Make a Decision | deutsch29

As Purdue Pharma Settles Oklahoma Lawsuit, Those Receiving Sackler Money Need to Make a Decision | deutsch29

As Purdue Pharma Settles Oklahoma Lawsuit, Those Receiving Sackler Money Need to Make a Decision

On Tuesday, March 26, 2019, the drug company Purdue Pharma has agreed to settle with the State of Oklahoma, which sued Purdue Pharma, Johnson & Johnson, and Teva Pharmaceutical for the state’s opioid crisis. The $270M settlement appears to have been in the works for months, with the help of a court-appointed mediator.

All three companies were scheduled to go to trial on May 28, 2019; only Purdue Pharma decided to settle thus far.

Purdue Pharma is owned by the billionaire Sackler family, of which ed reformer Jonathan Sackler is a member. The Oklahoma lawsuit (see here also) did not name the Sacklers as defendants.

Tracking the Sackler fortune has been difficult; in this March 08, 2019, post about Purdue Pharma, the Massachusetts lawsuit, Jonathan Sackler, and his spending his opioid profit-derived fortune on ed reform organizations, I reference a Wall Street Journal article that notes Purdue Pharma profits have largely landed in Sackler family pockets.

One way for Purdue Pharma to escape liability via hundreds of lawsuits for its role in America’s opioid crisis is to file for bankruptcy. However, according to May 26, 2019, Politico, Oklhoma’s $270M settlement with Purdue Pharma is “bankruptcy proof”:

[The Oklahoma settlement] is the first major settlement to result from all those lawsuits and comes as Purdue officials mulled bankruptcy protection. Filing for Chapter 11 could stop litigation and make it hard to collect on any judgment, which [Oklahoma Attorney General Mike] Hunter admitted played into his decision to reach this accord.

“We had to take into account that they were modeling bankruptcy,” he said. “That was a serious exercise with them.”

He said his office has made “extensive efforts” to ensure this settlement is “bankruptcy proof.”

“We’ve got a commitment they are not filing bankruptcy in the near term,” he said. “We’ve gone to great lengths to ensure this is real money, that it’s not at risk in the event Purdue declares bankruptcy.“

In its press release on the settlement, Purdue Pharma paints the issue as a “landmark agreement… to advance the treatment of addiction.”

One day later, on March 27, 2019, Rhode Island Governor Gina Raimondo is facing criticism for refusing to return a $12,500 campaign donation from Jonathan CONTINUE READING: As Purdue Pharma Settles Oklahoma Lawsuit, Those Receiving Sackler Money Need to Make a Decision | deutsch29

Sell Your Soul to the Testocracy: Kamala Harris’s Faustian Teacher Raises | gadflyonthewallblog

Sell Your Soul to the Testocracy: Kamala Harris’s Faustian Teacher Raises | gadflyonthewallblog

Sell Your Soul to the Testocracy: Kamala Harris’s Faustian Teacher Raises

I love the idea of Kamala Harris’ plan to give teachers a pay raise.

But once we get past ideas, it’s way more troubling.

The California Senator and Democratic Presidential hopeful is proposing a $13,500 pay increase for the average teacher, with the exact number based on the size of each state’s pay gap.

That’s $315 billion more over a decade through federal matching funds, which amounts to a 23 percent salary increase for most educators.

Yes, please!

I could certainly use a raise.

But as Joe Moore said, “You can’t trust a promise someone makes while they’re drunk, in love, hungry, or running for office.”

And Harris IS running for office.

With this policy she’s wooing the national teachers unions and filling the neoliberal seat left by Hillary Clinton in 2016.

I love my union, but its leadership is like a college kid during spring break – ready to jump into bed with anyone who says the right words.

The fact of the matter is this plan also is favored by the people out to destroy my profession from the inside out.

Arne Duncan likes it.

Yes, THAT Arne Duncan!

Obama’s first Education Secretary. The guy who thought Hurricane Katrina was the best thing to happen to New Orleans because it allowed the government to close the CONTINUE READING: Sell Your Soul to the Testocracy: Kamala Harris’s Faustian Teacher Raises | gadflyonthewallblog

California School Accountability Report: Sign this petition to hold charter schools accountable – In the Public Interest

California School Accountability Report: Sign this petition to hold charter schools accountable – In the Public Interest

California School Accountability Report: Sign this petition to hold charter schools accountable

Here’s our pick of recent news about the ongoing effort to privatize public education in California. Not a subscriber? Sign up here.

Sign this petition to hold charter schools accountable. Educators for Democratic Schools has launched a petition calling for “an immediate moratorium on certifying new charter schools in California, as they are draining funds from public schools and destabilizing school districts.” Sign it here.

“A microcosm of the state’s charter school debate.” Palo Alto Online digs deep into the history of California’s charter school battles, concluding that rapid charter school growth has left school districts scrambling for funding and students. Palo Alto Online

It’s time to limit charter schools. Our own Jeremy Mohler weighs in on growing concerns about the fiscal impact of too many charter schools: “Charter schools have become a politically complicated issue in recent years—highly contentious yet sometimes a little overblown. But there’s no question it’s time to slow their growth.” San Francisco Chronicle

ICYMI. Gov. Gavin Newsom signed into law a bill that requires charter schools to be as transparent to the public about how they operate as traditional, neighborhood public school districts. This brings California on board with the 38 other states that do so. The Washington Post

And at the national level… According to a new report from the Network for Public Education (NPE), the federal government has wasted up to $1 billion on charter schools that never opened, or opened and then closed because of mismanagement and other reasons. The Washington Post

California School Accountability Report: Sign this petition to hold charter schools accountable – In the Public Interest

Dr. Jackson Speaks in Support of the Education PROMISE Act | Schott Foundation for Public Education

Dr. Jackson Speaks in Support of the Education PROMISE Act | Schott Foundation for Public Education

Dr. Jackson Speaks in Support of the Education PROMISE Act

The following is testimony in support of the Education PROMISE Act (S.238/H.586), which aims to provide public schools the funding they need to deliver high-quality, equitable education across Massachusetts.

Members of the committee,

My name is John Jackson and I am the President & CEO of the Schott Foundation for Public Education, whose national headquarters is in Quincy.

I speak today in strong support of the Education PROMISE Act—and want to share Schott’s research and extensive experience working to ensure that all children, regardless of zip code, race, or family income, have an equitable and substantive opportunity to learn.

The lens of race gives us one measure of educational inequity in Massachusetts.  Our state is often celebrated for its statewide high school graduation rate—but Schott’s 2014 report documented the stark reality that Massachusetts has the second highest gap of any state in the nation, behind only New Jersey, between graduation rates for Black and Latino males compared to white males. (www.blackboysreport.org)

This is only one snapshot.  I don’t have time in this hearing to present all the statistics for children of color and low-income communities in Massachusetts.  But I want to underscore that inequities in educational supports can create an insurmountable chasm that consigns them to intergenerational cycles of poverty and limited chances to succeed in life.

Failure to act to correct these inequities does irreparable harm to our children—and it is not a legacy worthy of the state that can claim to be the birthplace of publicly-funded education in the U.S.

The only way to close the achievement gap is to close the opportunity gap.  And closing the gap can only be accomplished through a comprehensive approach to equitable school financing.  It requires the state working in partnership with localities to help ensure that education funding dollars for low-income, low property tax base communities—those where students experience the greatest need for supports—are brought into line with Massachusetts more affluent communities’ per pupil expenditures.

The Education PROMISE Act lays this groundwork—to level the playing field and improve educational opportunity for children of color and those from low-income families.  I urge the committee—and the Massachusetts legislature—to take this important step.
Among many highly effective components of the PROMISE Act is that the revised formula addresses healthcare costs, one of the most critical supports needed for a student to have the opportunity to succeed, indeed to thrive.

Dr. Jackson Speaks in Support of the Education PROMISE Act | Schott Foundation for Public Education

Webinar: What if We Used Wealth to Heal, not Harm? | Schott Foundation for Public Education

Webinar: What if We Used Wealth to Heal, not Harm? | Schott Foundation for Public Education

Webinar: What if We Used Wealth to Heal, not Harm?

What if we used wealth to heal, not harm? What if money was spent trying out concepts that challenge or shatter the structures and systems that have created inequity and disparity?

This is the core argument explored by author and nationally-recognized philanthropy expert and Schott Foundation Vice President Edgar Villanueva in his new book Decolonizing Wealth: Indigenous Wisdom to Heal Divides and Restore Balance. Using his own personal experiences as a Native American grant-maker and foundation executive (along with field data and dozens of funder interviews) Villanueva reveals the racial and colonialist dynamics at play in philanthropy and finance, including banks, investment funds, and aid organizations.

Join Schott as we continue to engage in lively conversations about how foundations can lead with racial equity and better serve the needs of communities of color. Speakers for this webinar include Chicago-based funders Megan Bang (Spencer Foundation), Bruce Boyd (Arabella Advisors), and Angelique Power (Field Foundation).

Come with questions, insights, and calls to action!
Join the conversation on Twitter using the hashtag #GrassrootsEd.

Our speakers will include:

• Megan Bang, Senior Vice President, Spencer Foundation
• Bruce Boyd, Principal and Senior Managing Director, Arabella Advisors
• Angelique Power, President, The Field Foundation of Illinois
• Edgar Villanueva (moderator), Vice President of Programs & Advocacy, Schott Foundation for Public Education

Webinar: What if We Used Wealth to Heal, not Harm? | Schott Foundation for Public Education

AFT President Randi Weingarten Celebrates Public Schools Week | American Federation of Teachers

AFT President Randi Weingarten Celebrates Public Schools Week | American Federation of Teachers

AFT President Randi Weingarten Celebrates Public Schools Week

WASHINGTON—March 25-29 is Public Schools Week, a time when the nation comes together to celebrate one of our greatest values: the promise of public education. The AFT is proud to join educators, parents, community advocates, businesses and others in celebrating the schools that 91 percent of American students attend. We celebrate not just to lift up the great things happening in our public schools, but to call for strengthening all of them, including providing the necessary investment.

AFT President Randi Weingarten issued the following statement:

“Public schools in America are foundational to our democracy, and to our economy. They are the only institution that promises to help all children—regardless of who they are or where they’re from—realize their dreams and aspirations. And every day, educators across this country devote themselves to making our public schools safe, welcoming spaces where kids can learn and thrive.

“Our public schools prepare the next generation of artists, engineers, linguists and athletes; our schools sit at the center of our communities, bringing people together to make life better. Over the last year and a half, while educators around the country have walked out of their classrooms to demand more investment in public schools, a record number of parents and allies have stood with them.

“That’s why the AFT has launched the Fund Our Future campaign, a nationwide effort to build on the momentum of educators, parents and communities coming together to demand adequate and sustainable investment in our public schools. Neither demography nor geography can dictate destiny. Opportunity must.

“And it’s why we fight, so that students—particularly our most vulnerable and at-risk children—have the resources they need to succeed, and schools where they feel nurtured and safe. We fight so that every school in this country has access to appropriate and up-to-date textbooks and instructional resources, counselors and nurses, and manageable class sizes. And we call on federal legislators to fulfill the promises made by Congress, including supporting the bipartisan Full Funding for IDEA bill being introduced by U.S. Sens. Chris Van Hollen and Pat Roberts, and led by Rep. Jared Huffman in the House.

“This week, and every week, we fight to fund our future, so every public school can be a place where parents want to send their kids, teachers want to teach, and children are engaged.”

AFT President Randi Weingarten Celebrates Public Schools Week | American Federation of Teachers