DID YOU MISS DIANE RAVITCH'S BLOG TODAY? A site to discuss better education for all

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

DID YOU MISS DIANE RAVITCH'S BLOG TODAY?

A site to discuss better education for all

Trump Will Promote Ted Cruz’s Voucher Plan

by dianeravitch / 27min

The Houston Chronicle reports that Trump will promote Ted Cruz’s school voucher plan, which aligns nicely with the DeVos “Education Freedom” vouchers. Texas does not have vouchers, thanks to the concerted efforts of Pastors for Texas Children and a large number of local civic groups. Despite the fervent advocacy of top Republicans, a coalition of rural Republicans and urban Democrats have stopped

Economic Policy Institute: How Much Would It Cost to Supply High-Quality Early Childhood Education?

by dianeravitch / 1h

The Economic Policy Institute has created an interactive state-by-state analysis of the cost of high-quality early childhood education. At present, most ECE workers/teachers are grossly underpaid, some well below the poverty line. It is fair to assume that policymakers today are unlikely to pay the cost of high-quality ECE. In many states, and at the federal level, policymakers do not believe in

Indianapolis: The Resistance Is Fighting the Well-Funded Disruptors

40by dianeravitch / 2h

Professor Jim Scheurich read a recent article in the rightwing, anti-public school journal “Education Next” about Indianapolis, which he thought was fundamentally flawed. He sent the following analysis of what’s really happening in Indianapolis: A RECENT ARTICLE IN EDUCATION NEXT COMPLETELY MISREPRESENTS THE RECENT HISTORY OF INDIANAPOLIS K12 EDUCATION Dr. Jim Scheurich Urban Education Studies Do

Send This Post to Every Ohio Legislator

by dianeravitch / 3h

The Ohio Legislature has created a royal mess in its rush to give vouchers to almost every student in the state. They can’t decide whether the vouchers will be paid by taking money away from the state’s underfunded public schools and how to decide which children get public money to attend private schools. Jan Resseger untangles the mess in her lucid way. Read the whole post, not just this excerpt

Valerie Strauss: Founder of IDEA Charter Chain Apologizes for Spendthrift Ways

21by dianeravitch / 4h

Valerie Strauss writes here about the abject apology by Tom Torkelsen of the IDEA corporate charter chain for his company’s lavish spending. The head of a Texas-based charter school chain publicly apologized for “really dumb and unhelpful” plans that included leasing a private jet for millions of dollars and spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on San Antonio Spurs tickets. It’s not the firs

YESTERDAY

University of California Decides to Keep SAT/ACT as Admission Requirements

by dianeravitch / 23h

The University of California’s faculty leaders have recommended retaining the controversial SAT and ACT as admissions requirements, despite concerns that the standardized tests are rigged against students of low income. Wealthy parents pay huge sums for tutoring their children. Standardized tests by their nature are rigged against disadvantaged students, which has encouraged more than 1,000 colle

Dcps: Do Not Close This School!

by dianeravitch / 23h

Parents, students, and local officials plead with Chancellor Lewis Ferebee: DO NOT CLOSE WASHINGTON MET! No student was ever helped by closing schools! Stop the mayhem. Stop the pointless disruption! Support the school, don’t kill it. Do not pave the way for gentrification and more charter schools.

Two Gems from “A Writer’s Almanac”

by dianeravitch / 1d

While you are enjoying the previous post, which you should really print out and read carefully, here are two gems from Garrison Keillor’s delightful daily “A Writer’s Almanac.” I have been warned never to refer to him or his work, but I believe in redemption. And I post what I want. You may have to be as old as me to remember the first item. We mourn today for the legendary sports star Kobe Bryan

For Your Browsing Pleasure: Who Got Walton Money for Education Disruption in 2018?

65by dianeravitch / 1d

The Walton Family Foundation is the fruit of the Walmart chain. It was created by the Waltons, one of the richest families in the world. The three senior members of the Walton family–Alice Walton, Jim Walton, and Rob Walton–have a collective net worth in excess of $150 billion. There is a younger generation of Waltons whose wealth is not included in that total. The Walton family increases its wea

Los Angeles: Defeat the Charter Combine!

by dianeravitch / 1d

Jackie Goldberg, the dynamic progressive on the Los Angeles school board, send this request for help: FROM THE DESK OF JACKIE GOLDBERG Dear Friends and Family, First, I cannot thank each and every one of you enough for all you’ve done to support me over so many years. And I have another personal request for each of you because you are all important in the struggles for full funding for public edu

Dallas: Charter Operator Sentenced to 7 Years, Then Claims Bonus

100+by dianeravitch / 1d

The charter industry is overrun with scandals because charter laws do not require accountability and transparency. Theft, conflicts of interest, nepotism, and fraud are a feature, not a bug. A charter operator in Dallas was sentenced to seven years in jail for taking a kickback , but then convinced the board to give her a bonus of $20,000. Donna Houston-Woods was convicted of defrauding her own D

Florida: 2 Big Banks Abandon Florida’s Voucher Program Due to Anti-LGBT Policies

200+by dianeravitch / 1d

A free press makes a difference. Here is proof. On January 23, Leslie Postal and Annie Martin of the Orlando Sentinel wrote that nearly 160 religious schools receiving vouchers from the state of Florida openly discriminate against 

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

How Bernie Sanders Became Teachers' Favorite Candidate | HuffPost

How Bernie Sanders Became Teachers' Favorite Candidate | HuffPost

How Bernie Sanders Became Teachers’ Favorite Candidate
Far more teachers are donating to the Vermont senator than any other presidential candidate, new data shows.

Katie Nash has been a fan of Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) since she saw him speak at a local political rally in the lead up to the 2016 election, but she was careful not to get her hopes up. Though his worldview aligned with hers, she suspected others might find his progressive ideals unrealistic and lofty. She didn’t think he had a chance of gaining widespread support as a presidential candidate. 

That changed in 2018, when she and around 20,000 other teachers in Arizona participated in a statewide walkout over issues of school funding and low pay. Nash ― who had never previously donated to or caucused for a politician ― described it as a political awakening. Seeing thousands of fellow teachers fighting alongside her for better schools made her realize that maybe she and her neighbors had more in common than she thought. 

Ever since the walkout, Nash, a teacher of 14 years, told HuffPost she “hasn’t stopped doing something.” In the lead up to 2020, she has donated to the Sanders campaign, hosted a house party to drum up enthusiasm and participated in organizing calls. 

“Seeing what’s possible with grassroots allayed my doubts about his campaign,” said Nash, who is now president of her local union chapter.  

Nash is one of many teachers who seem to be “feeling the Bern.” Far more K-12 teachers are donating to Sanders than any other candidate. From Jan. 1, 2019, through Dec. 31, 2019, teachers have donated over $2 million to the candidate, according to data provided to HuffPost by the Center for Responsive Politics. They are his top group of donors by profession, followed by servers, bartenders and cooks, and then nurses and caregivers, according to his campaign. 

Sanders has also received notable endorsements from large, influential teachers unions, like United Teachers Los Angeles and the Clark County Education Association.

While former Vice President Joe Biden and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D - Mass.) previously led an internal poll conducted by the American Federation of Teachers, the nation’s CONTINUE READING: How Bernie Sanders Became Teachers' Favorite Candidate | HuffPost

Calling All Educators: Sign the #BlackLivesMatterAtSchool pledge today! – Black Lives Matter At School @BLMAtSchool #BlackLivesMatterAtSchool #BlackHistoryMonth

Calling All Educators: Sign the #BlackLivesMatterAtSchool pledge today! – Black Lives Matter At School

Calling All Educators: Sign the #BlackLivesMatterAtSchool pledge today!

On Monday, February 3, 2020, the third national Black Lives Matter at School Week of Action begins in schools all across the country. Educators will be teaching lessons about the 13 principles of the Black Lives Matter Global Network and teaching about intersectional Black identities and contributions to history. We have many free downloadable lessons available here to help you participate in the Week of Action.

We urge you to show your commitment to join this uprising for racial justice in the schools by signing this pledge created by the National Education Association. The Black Lives Matter at School Pledge reads:

Our Pledge

As educators and allies, we will work to address the inequities that result from institutionally racist policies and practices in our schools and the communities in which our students live. We choose not to accept these conditions as they exist, but to accept the responsibility for changing them.

We pledge to take actions that will address access and opportunity for all students, by highlighting inequities and increasing awareness, organizing for change, and growing the movement.

SIGN THE PLEDGE AND RECEIVE A FREE DOWNLOAD OF THE NEA EDJUSTICE BLACK LIVES MATTER AT SCHOOL POSTER.

Calling All Educators: Sign the #BlackLivesMatterAtSchool pledge today! – Black Lives Matter At School

Dogged Dilemmas in U.S. Classrooms | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

Dogged Dilemmas in U.S. Classrooms | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

Dogged Dilemmas in U.S. Classrooms

Over the past ten years I have blogged, I have written often about dilemmas facing teachers, principals, superintendents, and school board members. These dilemmas (as distinguished from “problems”) have to be managed since they cannot be “solved.” That distinction goes against the cultural belief that Americans are “problem-solvers” who can–often through technology– figure out ways to end hunger, cure any disease, and iron out inequalities. But dilemmas differ from problems. This post explains the differences and gives a classroom instance familiar to many teachers.

I have used the word “dilemma” in earlier posts since superintendents, principals, teachers, and, yes, students face situations that call for difficult choices among conflicting values. So for this post, I offer a thorny dilemma with which readers can wrestle.

By dilemmas, I mean situations where you have to choose between two or more competing and prized values. The choice is often hard because in choosing you end up sacrificing something of value to gain a bit of satisfaction on another value–what academics call “satisficing.”

An example of a common dilemma might help. One that each of us face is the personal/professional dilemma. You value highly your work and you value highly your family and friends. Those are the competing values. But your time and CONTINUE READING: Dogged Dilemmas in U.S. Classrooms | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

Indianapolis: The Resistance Is Fighting the Well-Funded Disruptors | Diane Ravitch's blog

Indianapolis: The Resistance Is Fighting the Well-Funded Disruptors | Diane Ravitch's blog

Indianapolis: The Resistance Is Fighting the Well-Funded Disruptors

Professor Jim Scheurich read a recent article in the rightwing, anti-public school journal “Education Next” about Indianapolis, which he thought was fundamentally flawed.

He sent the following analysis of what’s really happening in Indianapolis:

 A RECENT ARTICLE IN EDUCATION NEXTCOMPLETELY MISREPRESENTSTHE RECENT HISTORY OF INDIANAPOLIS K12 EDUCATION 

Dr. Jim ScheurichUrban Education Studies Doctoral ProgramIndiana University – Indianapolis (IUPUI) ProfessorPresident, IPS Community Coalition

Unfortunately, a recent article in the pro-charter, pro-neoliberal “magazine,” called Education Next, is a thorough misrepresentation of the recent history of Indianapolis K12 education (see https://www.educationnext.org/hoosier-way-good-choices-for-all-indianapolis/).  I know because, as a university professor and a community activist, I have spent the last seven years working against the pro-charter, pro-neoliberal efforts in Indianapolis, mainly through the IPS Community Coalition, a citywide CONTINUE READING: Indianapolis: The Resistance Is Fighting the Well-Funded Disruptors | Diane Ravitch's blog

CURMUDGUCATION: USED Pitches Privatization To Wyoming

CURMUDGUCATION: USED Pitches Privatization To Wyoming

USED Pitches Privatization To Wyoming

Mitchell Zais, Deputy Secretary of Education, last week visited Wyoming to stump for school choice. He wrote for the Wyoming Parent his version of the department's sales pitch for Betsy DeVos's Education Freedom vouchery program. Wyoming parents (and taxpayers), this is a bit of a snow job. Let me explain.

He opens by recognizing that humans are individuals, so that he can say this:

So why does American education group students by age, and expect them to learn the same material, on the same schedule, pretty much in the same way?

This guy

The answer is: they don't. In fact, they so much don't that about a decade ago some folks launched an audacious plan to make everyone learn the same stuff (you know-- kind of a common core) on the same schedule and the education establishment hasn't stopped kicking back about it since. Zais knows this-- he opposed the Common Core when he was head education honcho in South Carolina, and if he already thought that everyone in education was operating in lockstep, why would he bother? No, walk into any school and even in the Core era, you'll see differentiation and tracking and a host of ways to accommodate the individual nature of students. Perfect? No-- but then the private schools that he's touting here aren't known for broad ranges of tolerance, either.

Then he launches into that old favorite-- US schools are failing and costs too much. And test scores.

"Costs too much" is an interesting critique from a guy who's background is military. But the rest is CONTINUE READING: CURMUDGUCATION: USED Pitches Privatization To Wyoming

NYC Educator: Green Eggs and Billionaires

NYC Educator: Green Eggs and Billionaires

NYC Educator: Green Eggs and Billionaires

I do not like this Bloomberg guy,
I do not like to hear him lie.
I heard him say he fixed the schools,
I think he takes us all for fools.

I heard he bought the DNC.
So that in the debates he'd be,
I read that so he'd get his way,
He paid them just 300K.

From city teachers he'll get jeers,
That bastard tortured us for years,
He moved the kids and closed the schools,
A shell game, taking us for fools.

Term limits, said the voters, hey,
They said it twice, he said no way,
With cash he bought an extra term,
When will the voters ever learn?

On TV he'll shout and cry, 
Until the White House he can buy,
Will two terms even be enough?
They weren't last time. He plays rough.

He knows best what you should wear,
How you should eat and comb your hear,
Do you want to take the risk
That you're the one he'll stop and frisk?

He hates union, teachers too,
If he's elected, guess who's screwed?
His attitudes, CONTINUE READING: NYC Educator: Green Eggs and Billionaires

Choosing Democracy: LCFF is not currently serving Sacramento City Unified students well.

Choosing Democracy: CA's Fair Funding Formula Makes More Possible for Schools

CA's Fair Funding Formula Makes More Possible for Schools

Note; LCFF is not currently serving Sacramento City Unified students well.

Here is the LULAC (Sacramento)  demand.

Legal Services Department,

Sacramento City Unified School District                        Jan. 29, 2020

We are submitting this request pursuant to the California Public Records Act (Govt. Code§§ 6250 et seq.) for copies of certain records in the possession, custody, or control of SCUSD. Our request encompasses the documents falling within the specific categories set forth below.

Specifically, we request copies of the following documents:

1.     Documents showing the actual amount of funds received by SCUSD from LCFF funds, including supplemental and concentration funds designated for support of English Learners for 2016, 2017, 2018. Please disaggregate the indicated funding between LCFF support for base activities and LCFF funding for supplemental and concentration efforts.

2.    A list of the SCUSD budget categories (i.e. teacher salaries, teacher assistants, consultants, teaching materials and other services) that reveal the amount of dollars from the LCFF funds, including supplemental and concentration funds allocated and spent for services to English Language learners in the district. Include a document showing how the district decides on expenditures from supplemental and concentration funds. How does the district distribute the funds between designated target groups (i.e. English learners, Foster Children, Special education, low income students)?

3.    A listing of budget allocations and expenditures for each of the categories listed above (teachers, teacher assistants, administrators. consultants, as well as copies of the pages of documents where these allocations and expenditures are described.


More information to follow.

Choosing Democracy: CA's Fair Funding Formula Makes More Possible for Schools

Would You Trust LAUSD Candidate Marilyn Koziatek To Hold On To Your Wallet?

Would You Trust LAUSD Candidate Marilyn Koziatek To Hold On To Your Wallet?

Would You Trust LAUSD Candidate Marilyn Koziatek To Hold On To Your Wallet?

Also, the fiscal transparency of the district is vital”– Marilyn Koziatek

Even before starting its expansion into TK through 8th grade, Granada Hills Charter High School had more students than 86% of all school districts nationwide. However, unlike most school districts, the community that finances the school does not get to vote for its governing board. Instead of using the democratic process to appoint parent representatives to this board, they are handpicked by the administration. The result is a private school that spends money without any public accountability.

As an employee of Granada, LAUSD School Board District 3 candidate Marilyn Koziatek has been able to take advantage of the charter schools’ lax fiscal policies for her own personal benefit. On June 21, 2019, she signed a one year contract to serve as the charter school’s Director of Development and Communications. This was a $5,000 increase from the contract she signed the year before. Less than three months later, Koziatek decided to run for the school board. Granada found that because of this “her work for the School in outreach, engagement, and communication may be compromised and questioned, and, therefore, [needed] to be changed.”

Instead of requiring Koziatek to take a leave of absence during her CONTINUE READING: Would You Trust LAUSD Candidate Marilyn Koziatek To Hold On To Your Wallet?

Understanding the “Science of Reading”: A Reader – radical eyes for equity

Understanding the “Science of Reading”: A Reader – radical eyes for equity

Big Education Ape: David Labaree on Schooling, History, and Writing: Pluck vs. Luck

In one way, ground zero for the “science of reading” movement can be traced to Emily Hanford in 2018, but cognitive scientists (Daniel Willingham and Mark Seidenberg, for example) focusing on reading and advocacy for students with dyslexia (or struggling to read in ways that some label as dyslexia) have also played key roles in the movement.

The “science of reading movement” has not been simply a media event, however. That advocacy has resulted in state education/reading legislation that has included third-grade retention of students based on reading test scores, mandating systematic intensive phonics (phonics first) for all students, and new mandates for teachers of reading and teacher education programs.

What is absent in most of the media and political endorsement of the “science of reading” is a critical lens for the claims as well as historical context.

The “science of reading” narrative, at best, is incomplete, and at worst, is deeply misleading.

Below are the key elements and links to help anyone better understand the issues:

Historical Perspective

What Shall We Do About Reading Today?: Looking Back to See Now More Clearly CONTINUE READING: Understanding the “Science of Reading”: A Reader – radical eyes for equity

David Labaree on Schooling, History, and Writing: Pluck vs. Luck | National Education Policy Center

David Labaree on Schooling, History, and Writing: Pluck vs. Luck | National Education Policy Center

David Labaree on Schooling, History, and Writing: Pluck vs. Luck

This post is a piece I recently published in Aeon.  Here’s the link to the original.  I wrote this after years of futile efforts to get Stanford students to think critically about how they got to their current location at the top of the meritocracy.  It was nearly impossible to get students to consider that their path to Palo Alto might have been the result of anything but smarts and hard work.  Luck of birth never seemed to be a major factor in the stories they told about how they got here.  I can understand this, since I’ve spent a lifetime patting myself on the back for my own academic accomplishments, feeling sorry for the poor bastards who didn’t have what it took to climb the academic ladder.

But in recent years, I have come to spend a lot of time thinking critically about the nature of the American meritocracy.  I’ve published a few pieces here on the subject, in which I explore the way in which this process of allocating status through academic achievement constitutes a nearly perfect system for reproducing social inequality — protected by a solid cover of legitimacy.  The story it tells to everyone in society, winners and losers alike, is that you got what you deserved.

So I started telling students my own story about how I got to Stanford — in two contrasting versions.  One is a traditional account of climbing the ladder through skill and grit, a story of merit rewarded.  The other is a more realistic account of getting ahead by leveraging family advantage, a story of having the right parents.

See what you think.

 

Pluck vs. Luck

Occupants of the American meritocracy are accustomed to telling stirring stories about their lives. The standard one is a comforting tale about grit in the face of adversity – overcoming obstacles, honing skills, working hard – which then inevitably affords entry to the Promised Land. Once you have established yourself in the upper reaches of the occupational pyramid, this story of virtue rewarded rolls easily off the tongue. It makes you feel good (I got what I deserved) and it reassures others (the system really works).

But you can also tell a different story, which is more about luck than pluck, and whose driving forces are less your own skill and motivation, and more the happy circumstances you emerged from and the CONTINUE READING: David Labaree on Schooling, History, and Writing: Pluck vs. Luck | National Education Policy Center