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

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

Just Try to Catch Diane Ravitch's blog 

 A site to discuss better education for all

Prominent Evangelical Magazine Says It’s Time for Trump to Go

by dianeravitch / 4min

Christianity Today was founded by the late Reverend Billy Graham, the leading figure in evangelical Christianity. Its publication is Christianity Today. CT published an editorial today saying that it was time for Trump to leave. it received national attention. The editorial was signed by its editor-in-chief Mark Galli: Let’s grant this to the president: The Democrats have had it out for him from

ProPublica: Donald Trump Jr. Visits Mongolia, Gets Special Treatment, Kills an Endangered Sheep

by dianeravitch / 1h

Someday we won’t have to think about the Trump family and their misadventures. I look forward to that day. Donald Trump Jr. went to Mongolia in the summer of 2019, and ProPublica explains what he did there. What did you do on your vacation? Did you slaughter a creature who is part of an endangered species? The rocky highlands of Central Asia, in a remote region of Western Mongolia, are home to a

Houston: Founder of Houston Charter Chain Indicted and Arrested

by dianeravitch / 2h

For the fourth time in only five years, the leader of a charter school has been arrested for siphoning money away from the school. The Houston Chronicle reports : The founder of a now-closed Houston charter school network failed to properly disclose more than $1 million in payments to his brother’s companies and used taxpayer funds to cover costs associated with a timeshare in Hawaii, federal pro

YESTERDAY

Dana Milbank: Trump’s Deepening Demagoguery

by dianeravitch / 15h

Dana Milbank of the Washington Post wrote about Trump’s reaction to being impeached: Rage, Ridicule, Denial. Can you hold this man up as a role model for your children? He writes: It was 9:05 Wednesday night. Seven minutes earlier, President Trump received word, in the middle of a campaign speech, that he had been impeached by the House on the second of two articles. And how did he observe this s

Politico: Who Is Raising Money for Mayor Pete?

81by dianeravitch / 18h

In response to challenges from Elizabeth Warren about his funders, Mayor Pete Buttigieg released a list of his major donors, including his “bundlers,” the people who raise money from others for him. The list included some interesting names. One of them was Wall Street hedge fund manager John Pertry, who serves on the board of Eva Moskowitz’s Success Academy charter chain in New York City. Petry w

Trump’s Most Eloquent Critic Warns that Trump Will Shame the Republicans Who Defend Him

by dianeravitch / 20h

George T. Conway III is Trump’s most eloquent critic. If you follow him on Twitter, you will know that he has been consistent in calling out Trump for his outrageous behavior and his illegal actions. (He is the husband of Kellyanne Conway, Trump’s senior advisor, and some speculate that she is Anonymous, the inside whistleblower.) He writes today in the Washington Post that Republicans have lashe

Teresa Hanafin: The Impeachment Aftermath and Trump Derangement Syndrome

by dianeravitch / 21h

Teresa Hanafin wrote in the Boston Globe feature called “Fast Forward” about the aftermath of the impeachment vote and about Trump’s bizarre attack on Rep. Debbie Dingell in her home state of Michigan. Usually, when people use the term “X Derangement Syndrome,” they refer to people who become deranged thinking too much about X. In this case, it is Trump who displays his own derangement syndrome,

Miami: A School Choice Dream or Nightmare?

by dianeravitch / 22h

Sue Legg is a leader of the League of Women Voters in Florida and a member of the board of the Network for Public Education. She writes here about Miami, a district that is “all in” for school choice. Miami seems to have taken the place of Denver as their favorite district, now that the choice Majority was booted out of power. Legg writes: Miami is the school choice capital! According to this Edu

John Merrow: Winners and Losers in Pittsburgh

by dianeravitch / 23h

Veteran journalist John Merrow attended the Public Education Forum in Pittsburgh. I n this post , he reports his views about the candidates. Which ones did best, which ones were disappointing. And which one was the biggest surprise of the day and, in his estimation, “the biggest winner of the day.”

Nashville: Amy Frogge Tells the Chamber of Commerce Why Public Schools Are Great!

by dianeravitch / 1d

Amy Frogge is a member of the elected school board in Metro Nashville. She is a parent activist and a lawyer. She is also one of the heroes of my new book SLAYING GOLIATH: THE PASSIONATE RESISTANCE TO PRIVATIZATION AND THE FIGHT TO SAVE AMERICA’S PUBLIC SCHOOLS (Knopf), which will be published January 21. When Amy ran for the school board, the Disruption movement funded her opponents. Groups like

Andrea Gabor: How Schools Can Help In Getting an Accurate Census Count in 2020

by dianeravitch / 1d

Andrea Gabor writes here about the importance of an accurate Census in apportioning Congressional representatives and federal resources. She shows that California leads the way in relying on schools to make sure there is an accurate head count of those who live in the state. Fears are running high that the 2020 U.S. census could result in a costly undercount in a number of states and communities.

IDEA Charter Chain Drops Plan to Lease a Private Jet for $2 Million a Year

25by dianeravitch / 1d

Owning a charter chain is very lucrative, especially when it is one of Betsy DeVos’s favorites. Just this year, she gave the Texas-based IDEA chain $116 million from the federal Charter Schools Program to expand in Texas and Louisiana.* Feeling flush, the IDEA board of directors approved a plan to lease a private jet and pilot at a cost of $160,000 a month for eight years, nearly $2 million a yea

“Democracy Now” on the Public Education Forum

by dianeravitch / 1d

Amy Goodman, host of “Democracy Now,” interviews Carol Burris, Keron Blair, and Jitu Brown about the Public Education Forum and the fight for equity and justice. We are educating the public about the importance of changing the 

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

ProPublica: Donald Trump Jr. Visits Mongolia, Gets Special Treatment, Kills an Endangered Sheep | Diane Ravitch's blog

ProPublica: Donald Trump Jr. Visits Mongolia, Gets Special Treatment, Kills an Endangered Sheep | Diane Ravitch's blog

ProPublica: Donald Trump Jr. Visits Mongolia, Gets Special Treatment, Kills an Endangered Sheep

Someday we won’t have to think about the Trump family and their misadventures. I look forward to that day.

Donald Trump Jr. went to Mongolia in the summer of 2019, and ProPublica explains what he did there.

What did  you do on your vacation? Did you slaughter a creature who is part of an endangered species?

The rocky highlands of Central Asia, in a remote region of Western Mongolia, are home to a plummeting population of the largest sheep in the world, the argali. The endangered species is beloved for its giant curving horns, which can run over 6 feet in length.

On a hunting trip this August, Donald Trump Jr. shot and killed one.

His adventure was supported by government resources from both the U.S. and Mongolia, which each sent security services to accompany the president’s eldest son and grandson on the multiday trip. It also thrust Trump Jr. directly into the controversial world of Mongolian trophy hunting — a polarizing practice in a country that views CONTINUE READING: ProPublica: Donald Trump Jr. Visits Mongolia, Gets Special Treatment, Kills an Endangered Sheep | Diane Ravitch's blog

Eli Broad Spends $100 Million to Buy a Yale Home and the Yale Name for His Education Leadership Center | janresseger

Eli Broad Spends $100 Million to Buy a Yale Home and the Yale Name for His Education Leadership Center | janresseger

Eli Broad Spends $100 Million to Buy a Yale Home and the Yale Name for His Education Leadership Center

This blog will take a two week holiday break. Good wishes to you for Christmas and the New Year.       Look for a new post on Monday, January 6, 2020.

Eli Broad just donated $100 million to Yale University’s School of Management. The gift came with a quid pro quo: Yale University’s School of Management will now house the Broad Superintendents’ Academy and Broad Residency in Urban Education. What this means is that mega philanthropist, Eli Broad is buying a prestigious institutional home for a training program he alone devised.  Eli Broad’s personal philosophy of education management will receive the imprimatur of Yale University even though there is no academic, peer-reviewed research endorsing Eli Broad’s theories of education management.

Who is Eli Broad and what are the Broad Academy and Residency in Urban Education?

In her 2010 book, The Death and Life of the Great American School System, Diane Ravitch describes Eli Broad and his background: “Eli and Edythe Broad attended Detroit public schools. He received a degree in accounting from Michigan State University. With his wife’s cousin, Broad entered the home-building business and later bought a life insurance company that eventually became a successful retirement savings business called SunAmerica. That business was sold to AIG in 1999 for $18 billion, and Eli Broad became one of the richest men in the nation. He promptly created the Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation, which invests in education, the arts, and medical research… Having been trained as an accountant and having made his fortune as an entrepreneur, Broad believes in measurement, data, and results. He created training programs for urban superintendents, high level managers, principals, and school board members, so as to change the culture and personnel in the nation’s urban districts…  In 2006, Broad invited me to meet with him…. He explained his philosophy of education management. He believes that school systems should run as efficiently as private sector enterprises. He believes in competition, choice, deregulation, and tight management. He believes that people perform better if incentives and sanctions are tied to their CONTINUE READING: Eli Broad Spends $100 Million to Buy a Yale Home and the Yale Name for His Education Leadership Center | janresseger

Betsy DeVos’ “Backpack Full of Cash” Portable Funding Flop | deutsch29

Betsy DeVos’ “Backpack Full of Cash” Portable Funding Flop | deutsch29

Betsy DeVos’ “Backpack Full of Cash” Portable Funding Flop

In 2016, Stone Lantern Films released “a film exploring the real cost of privatizating America’s public schools,” Backpack Full of Cash.

The movie’s title derives from a comment made by Center for Education Reform (CER) founder Jeanne Allen as Allen was being interviewed for the film:

Our children have a backpack full of cash, and the school should vie for the privilege of having that backpack turned over to them.

Allen was not pleased to have her quote transformed into a pro-public-school film title, responding in part,

“This movie is all about smearing us as anti-public education,” Allen said. “It’s a backpack full of hypocrisy.

 Center for Education Reform (CER) founder Jeanne Allen 

Even so, Allen’s image of each student toting “a backpack full of cash” conjures the image of market-based ed reform seeing children not as human beings but as a means of income and profit.

Perhaps US ed sec Betsy DeVos is unaware of the Backpack film and the Allen-angering origin of its title, for DeVos herself invoked the very same image in her December 12, 2019, remarks to the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC):

ESSA (Every Student Succeeds Act) represents an important step in respecting the role of education in this country. For the first time in modern history, politicians on both sides of the aisle realized federal overreach in education had failed.

ESSA affords your states and your communities more flexibility to CONTINUE READING: Betsy DeVos’ “Backpack Full of Cash” Portable Funding Flop | deutsch29

CURMUDGUCATION: Would Medicare-For-All Come With An Education Bonus?

CURMUDGUCATION: Would Medicare-For-All Come With An Education Bonus?

Would Medicare-For-All Come With An Education Bonus?

This is the least-read thing I've ever written for Forbes, but I still wonder about the issue. So let  me put it out there again.

The expansion of Medicare coverage as a path to universal healthcare for the U.S. has unleashed a great deal of debate from think tanks to water coolers. One of the biggest questions remain—how much would it actually cost, and what would the average citizen pay?


The answer to the first question is “a whole lot (but remember--we currently pay a large number of whole lots. The second part-- well, there are many possible plans floating around at the moment. Some argue that the overall cost of healthcare in the U.S. would come down, meaning savings for some folks and fewer profits for others. The government costs would go way up, necessitating increased taxes for everyone. But, argue supporters, the increased tax burden would be offset by the end of deductibles and co-pays; there’s also the hope, under some versions, that employers would save on healthcare costs and some of those savings could be passed on as wage increases. Plus, the extra wrinkle that businesses would no longer be able to use health care as leverage against striking workers.

There is one other wrinkle that seems to draw little or no discussion.

Public school employees, like other citizens, get their healthcare from their employers. But unlike CONTINUE READING: CURMUDGUCATION: Would Medicare-For-All Come With An Education Bonus?

Would Parents Win a NYC School Board Election? or, a Billionaire? or, Charter School Supporters? | Ed In The Apple

Would Parents Win a NYC School Board Election? or, a Billionaire? or, Charter School Supporters? | Ed In The Apple

Would Parents Win a NYC School Board Election? or, a Billionaire? or, Charter School Supporters?

In my last blog post I included my testimony to the Education Committee of the NYS Assembly and showed up bright and early on Monday to wait turn to testify.

The mayoral control law is not scheduled to sunset until 6/30/22; however, as Committee Chair Benedetto explained the members wanted to explore how the law is working, and, intends to hold further hearings and perhaps appoint a commission to explore in depth.

I suggested in my oral testimony that additional hearings are held in the poorest neighborhoods of the city; on Monday the testimony came from the most active communities in the city, i. e., the Upper West Side (District 3) of Manhattan, the Lower East Side (District 1) and Brownstone Brooklyn (District 15), the poorest districts were not represented.

Chancellor Carranza lauded mayoral control and listed achievements and had a “professional” back and forth with the committee members. Mark Treyger, the Chair of the City Council Education Committee mirrored my testimony: change the law to give the board (Panel for Education Policy) fixed terms and can only be removed for cause, add a seat for the City Council and increase the powers (unspecified) of the local boards (Community Education Councils).

A number of the speakers were Asian and were sharply critical of the mayor’s policy to end G & T classes as well as the specialized high school admittance CONTINUE READING: Would Parents Win a NYC School Board Election? or, a Billionaire? or, Charter School Supporters? | Ed In The Apple

Mitchell Robinson: "How will we know how our kids are doing if we don't test them?" Here's how… | Eclectablog

"How will we know how our kids are doing if we don't test them?" Here's how… | Eclectablog

“How will we know how our kids are doing if we don’t test them?” Here’s how…

Attending the recent Public Education Forum in Pittsburgh last weekend was a wonderful experience in many ways…getting a chance to hear what many of the presidential candidates had to say about public education; meeting some of my favorite education reporters bloggers, and activists; and finally seeing public education receive the attention it deserves as one of the most important issues facing our nation. All in all, it was a terrific weekend…except for one nagging question, left largely unanswered by any of the candidates, and now lingering and looming over the next several months of debates, analyses, and discussions.

This question was asked many times, and in a variety of ways, but in its most essential form it looks pretty much like this:

“How will we know how our kids are doing if we don’t test them?”

On its face this looks like a perfectly legitimate question. After all, isn’t that what “tests” are for? To determine what and how much students know? Didn’t all of us have to take tests when we were in school? We turned out ok, so what’s the big deal? Why do so many teachers have such strong feelings about testing all of the sudden? What’s going on???

Well, first–a little context.

That was then, this is now…

A lot has changed when it comes to testing, and how it’s done in our schools today as compared to CONTINUE READING: "How will we know how our kids are doing if we don't test them?" Here's how… | Eclectablog

LGBTQ Students Need Help, and Philanthropy Needs to Step Up | Schott Foundation for Public Education

LGBTQ Students Need Help, and Philanthropy Needs to Step Up | Schott Foundation for Public Education

LGBTQ Students Need Help, and Philanthropy Needs to Step Up

A new infographic highlights the challenges facing LGBTQ students and analyzes trends, gaps, and opportunities in funding for LGBTQ education issues.

Produced in partnership between Funders for LGBTQ Issues and Schott, we hope this infographic will help both those in philanthropy and LGBTQ advocates to chart a better course toward a future where all LGBTQ youth attend well-resourced, supportive and safe public schools. Schott is proud to be a longtime supporter of grassroots LGBTQ youth organizing as a crucial component of the education justice movement.

Key Findings:

• For every $100 awarded by U.S. foundations to education, only 15 cents were devoted to funding for LGBTQ education and safe schools.
• More than 6 in 10 LGBTQ students experience discriminatory policies or practices at school.
• While LGBTQ youth make up 7-9 percent of youth nationwide, they account for 20 percent of all youth in juvenile justice facilities (and 85 percent of them are youth of color).
• Funding for LGTBQ education and safe schools has fluctuated over the past five years, but has never exceeded $9 million in a given year.
• The top ten funders of LGBTQ education and safe schools issues account for nearly three-quarters of the funding.

Clearly there is much work for us to do. The infographic identifies four key opportunities:

FUND ACROSS SILOS FOR INCREASED IMPACT

Racial justice funders and those supporting boys and girls of color, criminal justice funders concerned about the school-to- CONTINUE READING: LGBTQ Students Need Help, and Philanthropy Needs to Step Up | Schott Foundation for Public Education

BIRTHDAY OF THE DAY: Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers - POLITICO

BIRTHDAY OF THE DAY: Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers - POLITICO

BIRTHDAY OF THE DAY: Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers

How/where are you celebrating your birthday and with whom? “I am celebrating with my wife, Rabbi Sharon Kleinbaum, and friends. We always try to do something that neither of us has done yet -- so we’re going to the new MoMA and seeing ‘Fiddler on the Roof’ -- in Yiddish!”

How did you get your start in politics? “Canvassing door to door when I was in the 11th grade at Clarkstown High School North in New City, N.Y. The school district had cut music, art, drama and other programs, and we were trying to save them. We didn’t want teachers let go or the programs we loved to be eliminated, so we joined together with students at the other high school to protest and create a ballot initiative to change the budget process. As a result, we averted some cuts. Three decades later, one of the music teachers saved by the action was at a school meeting I did as her national union president.”

What’s an interesting book/article you’re reading now or you’ve recently finished? And why? “Like my predecessor Al Shanker there are always 10 to 20 books on my desk. I’m making my way through Steve Greenhouse’s ‘Beaten Down, Worked Up,’ which explains why unions are still the best way to fight inequality in this country. Another is the amazing ‘Desk 88’ by Sherrod Brown, which shows how the pulse of economic justice runs CONTINUE READING: BIRTHDAY OF THE DAY: Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers - POLITICO

Exclusive: Betsy DeVos' family foundation funnels money to right-wing groups that boost her agenda | Salon.com

Exclusive: Betsy DeVos' family foundation funnels money to right-wing groups that boost her agenda | Salon.com

Exclusive: Betsy DeVos' family foundation funnels money to right-wing groups that boost her agenda
Trump's education secretary is "effectively funding an outside propaganda operation," says watchdog group

The family foundation of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos and her billionaire husband, Dick, gave more than $1 million to purportedly “independent” right-wing groups that have helped boost her assault on public education, according to a recent tax filing obtained by the government watchdog group Allied Progress and shared with Salon.

The 2018 filing shows that the couple put $5 million into the Dick and Betsy DeVos Family Foundation while doling out more than $11.6 million in contributions and pledges. As in previous years, much of the funding went to Christian charities and local initiatives in and around Grand Rapids, Michigan, and the couple’s home. But more than $1 million went to supposedly independent right-wing think tanks and groups like the American Enterprise Institute and the National Review Institute, which have heaped praise on Secretary DeVos and helped promote her agenda.

“Secretary DeVos is effectively funding an outside propaganda operation to help her bash teachers’ unions and promote private voucher schemes that undermine public education,” said Jeremy Funk, communications director for Allied Progress, a nonpartisan watchdog organization.

The DeVos Foundation contributed $500,000 to the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) for public policy research last year and pledged another $250,000 in future payments to the organization, according to the filing.

AEI, whose board includes Dick DeVos, is a libertarian think tank that maintains a “close relationship with incoming Republican administrations," according to The Guardian, and assists them with “staff and readymade policies CONTINUE READING:Exclusive: Betsy DeVos' family foundation funnels money to right-wing groups that boost her agenda | Salon.com

Seven Reasons Teachers Trust Each Other More Than…Well, Anyone | Teacher in a strange land

Seven Reasons Teachers Trust Each Other More Than…Well, Anyone | Teacher in a strange land

Seven Reasons Teachers Trust Each Other More Than…Well, Anyone

When I was a relatively young and inexperienced teacher, it became obvious to me that my school (which I liked and where I wanted to continue teaching) would not ever be providing me with professional learning commensurate with my aspirations—or my intelligence. I wanted to be a better music teacher—better ideas about music literature, better tips on improving my students’ skills and understandings, better insights into classroom management. Better everything.

There were two other band teachers in my district, neither of which was a satisfactory role model. And the professional development my district offered was so generic it was useless. Or worse.

For example, all secondary teachers in the district were subjected to mandated workshops on the Canter Assertive Discipline method, wherein we were supposed to put check marks next to unruly students’ names on the blackboard and send home weekly discipline reports on check-marked outlaws.  At the time, I saw over 200 students a day, in huge classes, with one tiny blackboard already preprinted with music staves.

I was also smart enough to have figured out that I wanted kids to behave responsibly for reasons other than fear, record-keeping and retribution. Other teachers in my building hated the Canter method, too, but brought papers to grade during the CONTINUE READING: Seven Reasons Teachers Trust Each Other More Than…Well, Anyone | Teacher in a strange land

“Democracy Now” on the Public Education Forum | Diane Ravitch's blog

“Democracy Now” on the Public Education Forum | Diane Ravitch's blog

“Democracy Now” on the Public Education Forum

Amy Goodman, host of “Democracy Now,” interviews Carol Burris, Keron Blair, and Jitu Brown about the Public Education Forum and the fight for equity and justice.

We are educating the public about the importance of changing the status quo.

Ahead of the last Democratic presidential debate of the year this Thursday, seven candidates appeared Saturday at the historic Democratic Presidential Forum on Public Education in Pittsburgh, an event organized by public education organizations, unions, civil rights organizations and community groups. We play highlights from the forum and get response from Keron Blair, director of the Alliance to Reclaim Our Schools in Atlanta; Jitu Brown, national director of the Journey for Justice Alliance; and Carol Burris, executive director of the Network for Public Education Action. She recently authored a report titled “Still Asleep at the Wheel: How the Federal Charter Schools Program Results in a Pileup of Fraud and Waste.”

“Democracy Now” on the Public Education Forum | Diane Ravitch's blog

Education may be pivotal in the 2020 election. Here’s what you need to know.

Education may be pivotal in the 2020 election. Here’s what you need to know.

Education may be pivotal in the 2020 election. Here’s what you need to know.
Highlights from the Brown Center Chalkboard in 2019

As 2019 winds down, all eyes will soon turn to the 2020 U.S. presidential election. The cycle promises to dominate the news throughout next year, covering everything from the ongoing impeachment proceedings to health-care reform and more. While education traditionally may not be considered a top-tier issue in national elections, as Brookings’s Doug Harris has previously noted, times have certainly changed.

Whether it’s the ongoing debate over free college, the unique politics surrounding charter schools, or the power of teacher strikes, education promises to play a vital role in determining the outcome of the Democratic primaries and the 2020 general election. To help readers understand these often-complex topics, we’ve collected relevant Chalkboard posts from the past year that discuss the big ideas in education that are likely to be prominent next year.

We’re looking ahead by looking back—with the goal of helping you make a make a more informed decision at the ballot box.

CHARTER SCHOOLS AND SCHOOL CHOICE

Charter schools have become one of the most divisive issues within the Democratic Party. Does that spell doom for them in America? Doug Harris broke down where each candidate stands on charters, writing that “the next 12 months will be very uncomfortable for charter supporters.” Despite this, he argues that charter schooling is likely to continue its steady expansion in the new decade.

The public opinion around charters is also nuanced. Support for charters among white Democrats is plummeting according to recent poll data, but many Black and Hispanic Democrats remain in favor. Brookings’s Jon Valant argued that the growing opposition to charters among white Democrats could have significant consequences for families of color.

A frequent question around charters is how they affect traditional public schools. Do charters weaken them via financial losses, or does the added competition spur traditional public schools to improve? Paul Hill dissected conflicting studies to find the answer.

EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION

Early childhood learning has also figured in the 2020 campaign so far. Reacting to Joe Biden’s “meandering response” on the word gap during a Democratic debate in September, Dana Suskind explained why the public discussion around the word gap needs to evolve: “All parents … must understand that a word is not simply a word; it is a building block for a child’s brain.”

Debate over the federal Head Start program continues into 2020 as well. In 2019, Congress authorized more than $10 billion on the program, and it CONTINUE READING: Education may be pivotal in the 2020 election. Here’s what you need to know.

Can changing school funding formulas help the most vulnerable students?

Can changing school funding formulas help the most vulnerable students?

“Kids who have less, need more”: The fight over school funding
A child who shows promise struggles to make it in middle school as state and national leaders debate if the country is doing enough to educate vulnerable students.

WILMINGTON, Del. — Taheem Fennell, 12, loves to ride his bike. He taught himself when he was 4 years old while visiting older cousins in Pennsylvania. He remembers running and jumping on, feeling his feet going around and testing the brakes.

“I never rode a bike with training wheels,” he says.

Taheem wants to ride his bike to the park more, but his mother worries about him venturing too far from the one-bedroom apartment in the Quaker Hill neighborhood that they share with his stepfather and four siblings, and sometimes other relatives. Earlier this year, Taheem witnessed a shooting as he was walking to school. And in the summer of 2017, Taheem’s 16-year-old sister, Naveha Gibbs, was shot and killed in a city a 20-minute drive to the north. She was with a 26-year-old man thought to be in a gang.

So Taheem spends much of his free time inside, reading. His favorite books are in the “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” series, about a kid who’s starting middle school. Novels help him focus his mind on something positive, his mother, Charmaine Jones, says.

He started fifth grade about a month after his sister was killed. He clutched the program from her funeral in class. He had angry outbursts. The staff at Bancroft Elementary School suggested counseling, and his mother eagerly accepted the help. Taheem learned coping strategies from a family crisis therapist at the school, whom he came to trust and rely on. She taught him how to help CONTINUE READING: Can changing school funding formulas help the most vulnerable students?

Andrea Gabor: How Schools Can Help In Getting an Accurate Census Count in 2020 | Diane Ravitch's blog

Andrea Gabor: How Schools Can Help In Getting an Accurate Census Count in 2020 | Diane Ravitch's blog

Andrea Gabor: How Schools Can Help In Getting an Accurate Census Count in 2020

Andrea Gabor writes here about the importance of an accurate Census in apportioning Congressional representatives and federal resources. She shows that California leads the way in relying on schools to make sure there is an accurate head count of those who live in the state. 

Fears are running high that the 2020 U.S. census could result in a costly undercount in a number of states and communities. Politicians and policy makers in the parts of the country with large hard-to-count immigrant and minority populations are particularly worried.

They should be. This will be the first time that the census, carried out every 10 years, is conducted online. Court battles and funding cuts have delayed the production of backup paper forms and shortened the time for testing online portals and rural surveys. Although the courts blocked the administration’s efforts to include a citizenship question, President Donald Trump’s anti-immigrant rhetoric and orders to round up undocumented residents may discourage many from taking part in the census.

California is especially aware of these challenges. With both vast rural areas and a large immigrant population, the nation’s most populous state faces an undercount CONTINUE READING: Andrea Gabor: How Schools Can Help In Getting an Accurate Census Count in 2020 | Diane Ravitch's blog

IDEA Charter Chain Drops Plan to Lease a Private Jet for $2 Million a Year | Diane Ravitch's blog

IDEA Charter Chain Drops Plan to Lease a Private Jet for $2 Million a Year | Diane Ravitch's blog

IDEA Charter Chain Drops Plan to Lease a Private Jet for $2 Million a Year

Owning a charter chain is very lucrative, especially when it is one of Betsy DeVos’s favorites. Just this year, she gave the Texas-based IDEA chain $116 million from the federal Charter Schools Program to expand in Texas and Louisiana.*

Feeling flush, the IDEA board of directors approved a plan to lease a private jet and pilot at a cost of $160,000 a month for eight years, nearly $2 million a year, for a total of $15.3 million.

The pushback from Texas AFT, the attention from Texas newspapers, and the heavy ridicule on Twitter led to a quick reversal of the decision. IDEA’s well-compensates executives will have to fly commercial, to their great disappointment!

The Houston Chronicle reported:

Texas’ largest charter school network abruptly grounded its plan to spend millions of dollars leasing and operating a private jet Monday, hours after the Houston Chronicle and a state teachers union raised questions about the arrangement.

IDEA Public Schools officials reversed course Monday evening, saying the organization will not sign an eight-year lease on an eight-passenger aircraft, an agreement CONTINUE READING: IDEA Charter Chain Drops Plan to Lease a Private Jet for $2 Million a Year | Diane Ravitch's blog

The PISA Problem – Have You Heard

The PISA Problem – Have You Heard

The PISA Problem

The sky is falling! The sky is falling! That was the reaction when the PISA results were announced – the global ranking of 15-year-olds. But scholar Oren Pizmony-Levy tells Have You Heard that he thinks it’s time to junk the test, and that the opt-out movement in the US may point the way forward. And Have You Heard announces big plans for 2020. Full transcript of the episode here.

 The PISA Problem – Have You Heard

Some Thoughts on Math and A Culturally Relevant - Sustaining Education | The Jose Vilson

Some Thoughts on Math and A Culturally Relevant - Sustaining Education | The Jose Vilson

SOME THOUGHTS ON MATH AND A CULTURALLY RELEVANT – SUSTAINING EDUCATION

In case you missed the news, the NYC Department of Education adopted a definition of culturally responsive / sustaining education inspired by several parts scholarship, stakeholder voice, and surveys done across the city. The writers included a coalition of parents, students, educators, and other concerned citizens, including yours truly. While the media concentrated on the virulent response to the definition, which was really another anti-Richard Carranza protest, the proponents for the definition saw it as a pivotal moment in the direction of our children’s education.

Up to this point, the definition hasn’t gotten the publicity it deserves in pulling us towards a more inclusive foundation for our children.

I’ll attempt to make an argument for its proliferation through the lens of math, perhaps the most hotly contested subject area with respect to our academic core. Unlike the humanities, people love treating math as a set of absolutes, a content area apart from the human experiences we inject into the rest of our scholarship. Even though more people are starting to see how their mathematical experiences are connected to the subject area itself, we still have a way to go.

When we say “Amy can’t read,” we don’t dismiss this claim from just an academic viewpoint, but also from a moral one. Illiteracy has been treated as a scourge we ought to ostensibly destroy, even when our structures perpetuate illiteracy in our most marginalized spaces. Innumeracy rarely gets this treatment, partly because of its complexity, but also because of the narratives we tell ourselves about CONTINUE READING: Some Thoughts on Math and A Culturally Relevant - Sustaining Education | The Jose Vilson