KEEP UP/ CATCH UP WITH DIANE RAVITCH'S BLOG A site to discuss better education for all

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

KEEP UP/ CATCH UP WITH DIANE RAVITCH'S BLOG 

A site to discuss better education for all

Denis Smith: Is Andrew Brenner the Dumbest Politician in Ohio?

by dianeravitch / 13min

Perhaps you have never heard of State Senator Andrew Brenner. Read Denis Smith’s recent post about Brenner, and you will learn about an elected official who is “radioactive,” “disingenuous,” tone-deaf, and possibly the dumbest elected official in Ohio. While chairing the education committee, he described public education as “socialist.” But that’s only a small part of his infamy. Smith writes: Ye

Washington Post: 34 Days of Indecision, Panic, Confusion, Politics–Inside the White House

by dianeravitch / 1h

A team of reporters from the Washington Post interviewed 82 sources, including administration officials, advisors, and outside experts to tell the story of what happened inside the White House during a crucial period in responding to the pandemic. Trump was indecisive, he vacillated, he consistently put politics over science. He was more willing to listen to FOX News hosts and political advisors

Seattle: Beware Coronavirus Capitalism!

by dianeravitch / 2h

Dora Taylor, parent activist in Seattle, warns of the dangers of coronavirus capitalism. She notes that some elected boards have granted unusual powers to their superintendents to make contracts. Seattle’s superintendent, she says, has signed some doozies. It is especially sad to see Seattle in this trouble, as the parents and educators there have been unusually vigilant in protecting their publi

Naomi Klein: Beware the Tech Billionaires and Their “Pandemic Shock Doctrine”

51by dianeravitch / 3h

Naomi Klein coined the iconic book Shock Doctrine, about the way that the powerful elites use emergencies to expand their power because of the crisis. New Orleans was one of her prime examples of “disaster capitalism,” where 

Excellent Source of Information about Spread of COVID-19: Worldometer

by dianeravitch / 37min

This is a valuable source of information a bout the occurrence and consequences of the coronavirus and governments’ response to it. It is called Worldometers. It provides excellent graphs about the spread and intensity of the virus. Most interesting to me are the country figures (their accuracy depends on reporting, and I suspect some nations may undercount occurrences and fatality rates). Consid

Dana Milbank: Our “Wartime” President Declares Victory After Two Months and Gives Up

by dianeravitch / 17h

During the Vietnam War, some critics used to say, “Why don’t we just declare victory and go home.” That’s what Trump is doing after declaring himself a “wartime president.” Two months of battle was enough for him. Dana Milbank writes that the United States has decided to abandon the war on COVID-19. Now is the spring of our disgrace. Around the world, countries are winning the battle against the

Arthur Camins: We Need a Government Accountable to the American People!

by dianeravitch / 21h

Arthur Camins writes here about the disastrous consequences of governmental incompetence and failed leadership. We need a government that is accountable to the people, one that protects us from catastrophes like the present, one that looks forward and prepares. What we have instead is indifference and incompetence at the highest levels. Recently Trump mused aloud about the value of ingesting pois

A Rap About Betsy DeVos: RESIGN BETSY

97by dianeravitch / 21h

Watch this video by Jeff Grossi, a high school math teacher in Buffalo, who loves rap music. His rapping name is MC ZiLL.

Karen Tumulty: Spare Us All from Jared Kushner

22by dianeravitch / 22h

As we all know, Jared Kushner is Trump’s son-in-law. He is also a boy-wonder. At the start of the administration, he was tasked with find a solution to the Middle East impasse; so far, nothing. He was also supposed to reorganize the entire federal government; so far, nothing. He was in charge also of building the wall that Mexico would pay for; the Wall is moving forward, but smugglers have sawed

Michigan: District Votes to Turn Alternative School into Virtual School

100+by dianeravitch / 23h

Maybe this won’t seem like a big deal to you, but it’s a portent of the future. It’s not a lot of students or teachers, but it signifies what’s coming down the pike. A small alternative school in Avondale, Michigan, is going to be converted to a full-time virtual school. All seven teachers will be replaced. The district pretends that the decision was for the sake of the students, but in reality,

Doyle and Hynes: We Welcome Bill Gates to New York if He Agrees to Three Conditions

28by dianeravitch / 1d

Author William Doyle and Superintendent Michael Hynes—both known for supporting whole-child education—- say that they would welcome Bill Gates to New York if he agrees to meet three conditions. They suggest that Gates has a chance to redeem his reputation after 20 years of failure in education. They write: The Gates Foundation has been a driving force behind nearly 20 years of consistently failed

MAY 07

Remember the Tradition of Bipartisanship in National Crisis? Trump Doesn’t

by dianeravitch / 1d

Veteran journalist Mark Liebovich notes in this opinion article In the New York Times how Trump has ditched the long-time tradition of bipartisan unity in the face of national crisis. There used to be a tradition that politics stops at the water’s edge, meaning a bipartisan foreign policy. That’s gone. In the aftermath of 9/11, politics was replaced by shared mourning. Liebovich notes the failure

Nancy Bailey: How Betsy DeVos Fostered Squalid Learning Conditions in Detroit

34by dianeravitch / 1d

Nancy Bailey just keeps getting better and better as she points her pen and her blog at malfeasance in education. In this post, she points to the recent landmark decision that recognized that the children of Detroit have a right to literacy, a right not previously acknowledged by any court (or overturned on appeal). The court quite correctly decided that young people cannot exercise their rights

Arthur Goldstein: Andrew Cuomo is a Cynical Liar

92by dianeravitch / 1d

Arthur Goldstein is a New York City high school teacher. He is currently teaching by distance learning. He noted that Governor Cuomo wants to work with Bill Gates to make distance learning a major feature in the public schools, and Goldstein is outraged. He writes: It doesn’t take a genius to know that remote learning is a pale echo of the real thing. I’ve been trying to reach my kids for six wee

Daniel Katz: What Cuomo Really Said About Reinventing Schools

200+by dianeravitch / 1d

Daniel Katz sets Governor Cuomo’s pursuit of “reinventing schools” in perspective. He invited Bill Gates to reimagine schools in post-pandemic New York because he shares Gates’ oft-expressed view that schools are obsolete (a view shared by Betsy DeVos). Forget the fact that most parents and students are dismayed, bored and frustrated by distance learning. When you call in a tech guy to hsndle you

New York: Cuomo’s Pathetic Attempt to Pretend He is Not Really Asking Bill Gates to Reinvent Education

100+by dianeravitch / 2d

When Governor Cuomo got the blowback from parents and educators who were outraged at the idea that he invited Bill Gates (and now Eric Schmidt of Google) to “reinvent” education in the state, he pretended he didn’t say it. He (or someone on his staff) wrote a message yesterday on his Facebook page: “Teachers are heroes & nothing could ever replace in-person learning — COVID has reinforced that. T

MAY 06

What George Conway Wrote About Trump, the Loser-in-Chief

100+by dianeravitch / 2d

Since the Washington Post is behind a paywall, and since I teased you with Teacher Ken’s brief summary, I thought I would share what Mr. Conway wrote. It was scathing. No matter how low your opinion is of the man who sits in the White House, his is even lower. He sees Trump as the loser and phony that he is. The bottom line is that Trump doesn’t care how many people die. He only cares about himse

Teacher Ken Calls Attention to George Conway’s Latest Blast at Don the Con

by dianeravitch / 2d

Teacher Ken (aka Kenneth Bernstein) writes here about George T. Conway’s latest article ripping his wife’s employer, aka Donald J. Trump. Some strange arrangement here where Mr. Conway rips Trump to shreds, while his wife Kellyanne supports her boss. Wouldn’t it be interesting to be a fly on the wall at the Conway dinner table?

Rep. DeLauro Denounces DeVos Rule to Water Down Protection for Rape Victims

26by dianeravitch / 2d

Predictably, Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos took a stand against the victims of sexual violence, and did it while the world was distracted by the pandemic. Count on her to identify with predatory lenders, for-profit colleges, and anyone who exploits students. Rep. Rosa DeLauro called out DeVos’s latest regulatory guidance that affects rape victims. FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE May 6, 2020 CONTACT: W

Tell Governor Cuomo and Bill Gates: Hands Off Our Public Schools!

300+by dianeravitch / 2d

Governor Andrew Cuomo has asked billionaire Bill Gates to “reimagine” New York’s schools. We have had more than enough of Bill Gates’ ideas in New York. Remember the infamous inBloom, which was meant to collect personally identifiable student data and store it in a “cloud”? Thanks to parent protests, inBloom collapsed. Remember the rollout of the Common Core standards and testing, which launched

NY: Cuomo Adds Another Billionaire To His Team to “Reimagine” Education Post-Pandemic

500+by dianeravitch / 2d

Governor Andrew Cuomo just announced that he has tapped a second billionaires to “reinvent” education in New York state after the pandemic. According to the New York Post , Cuomo sees distance learning as “the wave of the future,” so who better to enlist as his advisers than Bill Gates and now Eric Schmidt of Google. Reporter Rebecca C. Lewis of “City and State” just tweeted this report: Cuomo ha

Take a Tour of the Luscious Cherry Blossom Trees in the Brooklyn Botanic Gardens

by dianeravitch / 2d

Right now, the cherry blossoms are at their peak . Usually, the Brooklyn Botanic Gardens would have large crowds of people, who want to see this wonderful explosion of color. Now the gardens are empty. But open the link and enjoy the splendor.

Bill Becker: What Is Joe Biden’s Vision for Climate Change and Energy?

by dianeravitch / 2d

Bill Becker worked for two decades in the U.S. Department of Energy. Bill is the executive director of the Presidential Climate Action Project. I had the good fortune to meet him at a conference at Oberlin College a year or so ago. I have been on the mailing list for his blog ever since. He wrote: Wanted: A Vision for America By William S. Becker Joe Biden has just released an updated clean-energ

Shawgi Tell: Charter Entrepreneurs Cash in on Public Funding During Pandemic

39by dianeravitch / 2d

Shawgi Tell, professor at Nazareth College in New York, describes the multiple ways in which corporate charter chains are cashing in during the pandemic. He begins: While private businesses like non-profit and for-profit charter schools have been seizing enormous sums of public money for decades,1 they continue to seize hundreds of millions of public dollars during the “COVID Pandemic”—a move tha

A Brief History of Anti-Government Rhetoric

by dianeravitch / 2d

Donald Cohen of the nonpartisan “In the Public Interest” has assembled a brief history of anti-government rhetoric. He has assembled quotations from the anti-government crowd. It is only 12 pages and a quick, enlightening read. It is called The Anti-Government Echo Chamber . Here is the introduction on the ITPI website: “They play to your fear, government plays to your fear.” “Will you resist the

Steven Singer: Save Our Schools from the Biggest Budget Cuts in History

49by dianeravitch / 2d

Steven Singer warns that public schools are facing deep cuts in state funding due to revenue losses caused by the pandemic. Hey, it’s Teacher Appreciation Week, just the time to start mobilizing against cuts that could cause the layoff of nearly 300,000 teachers. That means larger class sizes, fewer electives, cuts to the arts, to everything that is not tested. Don’t expect Trump to stand up for

How New Zealand Effectively Eliminated Coronavirus

by dianeravitch / 3d

An article in the National Geographic describes how New Zealand effectively eliminated coronavirus. New Zealand has had a small number of infections and fewer than two dozen deaths. Travel journalist Aaron Gulley was in New Zealand when the pandemic was recognized. He writes: If there is a bright spot in the global response to the pandemic, it is surely New Zealand. While governments worldwide ha

MAY 05

New Evidence That Children Transmit the Virus

200+by dianeravitch / 3d

The New York Times reported two studies that found that children transmit the virus. Among the most important unanswered questions about Covid-19 is this: What role do children play in keeping the pandemic going? Fewer children seem to get infected by the coronavirus than adults, and most of those who do have mild symptoms, if any. But do they pass the virus on to adults and continue the chain of

New York: Parent Groups Denounce Cuomo Outreach to Gates

13Kby dianeravitch / 3d

Well, that was fast! Only minutes after news broke that Governor Cuomo had asked Bill Gates and his foundation to help “reimagine” education in New York, parent groups responded with a loud NO! Don’t mess with New York parents! Remember, they started the biggest opt-out from state testing in history. Here is their public letter: May 5, 2020 To Governor Cuomo: As educators, parents and school boar

Trump and Conway Have a Slugfest on Twitter

20by dianeravitch / 3d

If you are ready for a hilarious read, read this. Kellyanne Conway’s husband George is a conservative lawyer. He despises Trump. He is now leading an anti-Trump group of prominent Republicans called the Lincoln Project. They recently aired an ad called “Mourning in America,” on FOX News. Trump saw it and went crazy. He began tweeting insults at George Conway, who fielded them with grace and wit,

Nightmare Vision for New York Schools Post-Pandemic

54Kby dianeravitch / 3d

Governor Andrew Cuomo announces that he is working with Bill Gates to re-imagine education in New York after the pandemic. @ ZackFinkNews .@NYGovCuomo says New York State will be working with @gatesfoundation to develop a blueprint to “reimagine education” in New York State in post-COVID19 world. Obviously Cuomo knows that Gates is one of the richest men in the world. Obviously he does not know t

Washington Post: Trump Blocks All Oversight by Congress

56by dianeravitch / 3d

James Hohmann of the Washington Post summarizes Trump’s calculated effort to destroy all oversight of his administration, including firing independent Inspectors General and refusing to send anyone to testify in hearings conducted by the House of Representatives. He believes he rules by divine right. He has all the makings of a fascist dictator. Do not be surprised if he cancels the November elec

“The Economist” Says Schools Should Reopen Immediately

25by dianeravitch / 3d

The Economist is an influential publication based in London. It writes, as its name suggests, about world economic affairs. In its current issue, the publication makes the case that the schools must quickly reopen in order to restart the economy. The Economist contends governments across the world should open schools as soon as possible. It argues that so long as schools are closed, the achieveme

Mercedes Schneider: Why is Eva Moskowitz Laying Off Staff While Hiring New Staff?

by dianeravitch / 3d

Mercedes Schneider describes a great puzzle at Eva Moskowitz’s celebrated Success Academy charter chain. Moskowitz laid off staff, allegedly because of state budget cuts, which cost her chain $60 million. At the same time, she is hiring new staff. And the chain has $60 million in reserves. And if it is austerity time, why didn’t Eva cut her own compensation of $889,000 a year? You know, as a gest

Study: Watching Sean Hannity Contributed to Spread of Coronavirus

32by dianeravitch / 3d

A new study reported in VOX contends that viewers of the Sean Hannity program on FOX News were likely to spread the coronavirus because of his assurances that it was not dangerous. Throughout the coronavirus pandemic, media critics have warned that the decision from leading Fox News hosts to downplay the outbreak could cost lives. A new study provides statistical evidence that, in the case of Sea

Joe Biden and Elizabeth Warren: There’s No Oversight of Coronavirus Relief–Because That’s What Trump Wants

20by dianeravitch / 4d

Presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden and Senator Elizabeth Warren wrote this opinion piece, which appeared in McClatchy newspapers across the country, including the Miami Herald. Please open the link and read it in full. Biden and Warren write: Relief legislation passed by Congress provides critical support for hospitals, families, small businesses and local governments — efforts that will sa

MAY 04

Tennessee: Details About the Ruling Against Vouchers

1Kby dianeravitch / 4d

Media Contacts: Ashley Levett, SPLC, ashley.levett@splcenter.org / 334-296-0084 Sharon Krengel, ELC, skrengel@edlawcenter.org / 973-624-1815, x24 Lindsay Kee, ACLU-TN, communications@aclu-tn.org / 615-320-7142 Christopher Wood, Robbins Geller, cwood@rgrdlaw.com / 615- 244-2203 Judge Strikes Down Tennessee School Voucher Law NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Public school children in Tennessee won today when Dav

BREAKING NEWS: Tennessee Judge Declares Voucher Law Unconstitutional

500+by dianeravitch / 4d

The Education Law Center, a legal group that litigates on behalf of civil rights, just tweeted this: @EdLawCenter: Breaking: Judge declares Tennessee voucher law unconstitutional, enjoins State from implementing program @pfpsorg @splcenter The tweet was copied by ELC to Public Funds Public Schools and the Southern Poverty Law Center. As soon as I learn more about this decision, I will post it.

Justin Trudeau Bans All Military-Grade Weapons in Canada

30by dianeravitch / 4d

After a massacre that took 22 lives, Justin Trudeau announced a complete b an on all military-grade weapons in Canada. Assault-style weapons are banned in Canada effective immediately, the country’s prime minister said Friday. The move comes less than two weeks after Canada’s deadliest rampage in modern history, when a gunman in Nova Scotia killed 22 people after a 12-hour reign of terror. “You d

Denis Smith: The Mystery of the Memorial to Governor Rhodes

68by dianeravitch / 4d

Denis Smith wrote the following, to commemorate a date that is notorious to those of us who recall the Kent State Massacre, when the Ohio National Guard opened fire on unarmed college student protesters: May 4, 2020, marks the 50th anniversary of the deaths of four students at Kent State University. The shootings by a contingent of the Ohio National Guard, which were ordered into the city by Ohio

Valerie Jablow: Why Does D.C. Government Give Away Public Property?

by dianeravitch / 4d

Valerie Jablow, parent activist in the District of Columbia, posts often about the D.C. government and its passion for giving away public property. In this post , she questions what happened to the playing field of a Duke Ellington High School of the Arts. Some time in February, Ellington Field–the field that belonged for most of a century by court order to DCPS’s Duke Ellington High School of th

John Ewing: We Should Listen to the Real Education Experts: Teachers

100+by dianeravitch / 4d

John Ewing, a mathematician and president of Math for America, wrote in Forbes about a conference he recently attended about education. He noticed that none of the experts at the conference were teachers. When he asked the conference leader, his question was dismissed. He remembered that Mike Rose had done a check of articles in the “New Yorker.” Most of the articles about medicine were written b

Texas: Parent Complains to State Superintendent About Approval of Unwanted Charter School

100+by dianeravitch / 4d

Dr. Theresa Trevino, a public school parent in Austin, wrote to Texas Commissioner of Education Mike Morath to complain about the insertion of a BASIS charter school into a community where the school is neither wanted nor needed. BASIS is owned by a couple who pay themselves $10 million a year. Their charter schools require students to pass multiple AP exams, which effectively winnows out low-per

Social Justice Catholics Speak Out Against Cardinal Dolan’s Support for Trump

33by dianeravitch / 5d

I thank reader Catherine King for pointing out this protest by social justice Catholics against New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan’s pledge of support for Donald Trump. The letter they signed can be found here. The strong tradition of social justice within the Roman Catholic faith is at odds with Trump’s craven disregard for human life and human dignity, with his racism and xenophobia, with his pref

MAY 03

Seven Northeastern States Form Consortium to Buy PPE

33by dianeravitch / 5d

In the complete absence of federal leadership, governors have been required to make do and find medical equipment and supplies on their own during the national emergency. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo announced that seven states would form a regional consortium to ensure that they were ready for any future emergency with a 90-day supply of personal protective equipment. LONG ISLAND, NY — On Sund

New York City: Don’t Cut the Budget of Our Public Schools!

by dianeravitch / 5d

Parents in New York City are pleading with Mayor DeBlasio NOT to cut the budget of the public schools. Please add your name to their petition to Corey Johnson, Speaker of the City Council. All – Please help NYC public school students by signing and circulating this petition directed to Corey Johnson, Speaker of City Council, to stop Mayor DeBlasio’s proposed 827 million dollar budget cut to NYC p

Stephanie Jones: Which Part of the Pandemic is a Real Crisis?

by dianeravitch / 5d

In this excellent article, Stephanie Jones, Distinguished Teaching Professor at the University of Georgia, draws a contrast between a real crisis–the pandemic–and the scare rhetoric of children “falling behind” in some mythical race. The only beneficiaries of the fake crisis are the testing corporations. Jones writes: Some crises are real and extremely difficult to prevent and respond to, like a

Peter Greene: Catholic Leaders Make a Deal with Trump

100+by dianeravitch / 5d

Peter Greene reports here on a conference call that Catholic leaders held with the execrable Trump. He promised them unparalleled financial support for Catholic schools, and they promised their support to the man who separates families and puts children in cages. It was a nasty, revolting transaction. Greene links to the National Catholic Education Reporter, which says that the transaction was re

California: Charter Leaders Charged with Breaking Securities Law; No Criminal Charges

45by dianeravitch / 5d

As the old saying goes, better to steal a million dollars than to steal a loaf of bread. The former is smart thinking, the latter is a crime. In Livermore, California, the leaders of a charter chain were charged with securities fraud. But they got off without any criminal charges or jail time. When you read this story, you realize what clever guys they were to figure out such a complex scheme. Yo

Elite Private Schools Collect Federal Aid, Including Barron Trump’s

200+by dianeravitch / 6d

Barron Trump’s elite private school collected federal coronavirus relief aid , as did several other private schools with multi-million dollar endowments. That includes the private school that Stephen Mnuchin’s children attend in Los Angeles. The elite Maryland private school attended by Donald Trump’s son Barron is collecting taxpayer stimulus aid — and Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin is demandi

Gary Rubinstein: What Percent of Success Academy’s Students Graduated?

25by dianeravitch / 6d

Gary Rubinstein saw an article in Rupert Murdoch’s New York Post claiming that 100% of the 98 students in the graduating class of Success Academy’s high school had been accepted into college. Based on Success Academy’s long history of high attrition, he knew this claim was likely false. So he checked and his hunch was right. He asked: Is 98 really all the students in the class of 2020? The answer

MAY 02

NPE Grassroots Education Network Invites You to Join!

by dianeravitch / 6d

The monthly newsletter of the Grassroots Education Network of the Network for Public Education is out! Connect with grassroots organizations fighting for public schools, their students, and their educators! Learn what they are doing in the newsletter. Together we will have to fight the budget cuts that are in the horizon. Let’s stand together and demand that the states and federal government inve

GregB.: Do We Really Care About Life?

26by dianeravitch / 6d

In the midst of the pandemic, with the death toll rising, there are insistent calls to reopen the economy and get back to work, to reopen schools so parents can leave home to go to work, to return to business as usual. The president himself has encouraged his supporters to “liberate” their states (but only in states with Democratic governors) from restrictions meant to save lives. Recently a larg

Norman Solomon: Trump is a Neo-Fascist

41by dianeravitch / 6d

Progressive activist Norman Solomon was a Sanders delegate to the Democratic convention in 2016. He now is national director of RootsAction. In this article in LA Progressive, he warns that Trump is a neofascist and that his re-election will end all hope for progressive change. He quotes Noam Chomsky: But here’s a key point: People who deny or downplay the real threat of neo-fascism consolidating

Mercedes Schneider: Jeb Bush Wants Relief $$ for Private Schools

by dianeravitch / 6d

Mercedes Schneider reports that Jeb Bush has staked a claim on Coronavirus relief dollars to benefit private schools. When it comes to supporting voucher schools, including those that openly engage in discrimination, no dollar will be left behind.

Sahlberg and Doyle on the Play Revolution on Long Island

35by dianeravitch / 7d

Pasi Sahlberg and William Doyle celebrate the importance of play in their new book, Let the Children Play: How More Play Will Save Our Schools and Help Children Thrive , published by Oxford University Press. This article, excerpted from their book, features the work of Superintendent Michael Hynes and the Patchogue-Medford school district on Long Island in New York. The article appears in Kappan

MAY 01

Congressional Leaders Rebuke DeVos for Excluding 7.5 Million Students from Emergency Aid

52by dianeravitch / 7d

Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos is a hard, cruel woman. We all knew she is a billionaire. What was not yet clear is that she is utterly heartless. She drew up a list of students who would not get any federal assistance during the pandemic, although Congress did not authorize her to exclude anyone. FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE May 1, 2020 Contact: Madeleine Russak: 202-224-5398 (Murray) Will Serio: 20

Boston Globe: New Report Details Harvard Ties to Jeffrey Epstein

by dianeravitch / 7d

Jeffrey Epstein received very special treatment at Harvard, according to a new report. He even had his own office, in recognition of his donations to the university. Disgraced sex offender Jeffrey Epstein had his own office in a Harvard University department and visited there more than 40 times after he was released from jail in 2010 up until 2018, according to review of the university’s ties to

Twice Denied Testing, Young Black Teacher Dies of COVID-19

100+by dianeravitch / 7d

This is a tragic story. A 30-year-old woman, the first in her family to go to college, felt sick and sought testing in Brooklyn. Both times she was rejected. The hospital gave her Tylenol and sent her home. She died of COVID-19. Rana Zoe Mungin was a black woman. Was she brushed off because of her race? She must have been a remarkable young woman. She was a graduate of Wellesley College, where ad

Luxury Hotel Provides Free Housing for Health Care Workers

by dianeravitch / 7d

The New Yorker describes an act of civic generosity : The New York Four Seasons is not the most welcoming hotel, architecturally speaking. Designed by I. M. Pei and situated on East Fifty-seventh Street, between Madison and Park, it greets visitors with an intimidating slab of limestone façade and a metal awning that seems to want to clobber you. Reviewing the building in the Times when it opened

Edweek: A Third of Teachers Are at Risk of Severe Illness from COVID-19

9Kby dianeravitch / 7d

Education Week warns that almost a third of teachers are at risk of severe illness if schools reopen before COVID-19 is contained. Madeline Will writes: As states begin to consider what reopening schools might look like, a new analysis of federal data warns that teachers could be more susceptible to severe illness from COVID-19. About 29 percent of teachers are aged 50 and older, federal data sho

Dana Milbank: Can the Coronavirus Be Defeated by Lies?

by dianeravitch / 7d

Dana Milbank is an opinion writer for the Washington Post. In this recent column, he suggests that Trump hopes to defeat the pandemic by lying about how successful he is in responding to it. In his “whole of America” approach to fighting the pandemic, President Trump has begun clinical trials testing his most promising antidote: Can the novel coronavirus be killed with a lie? Trump has at times s

John Merrow: What’s Needed Now: Think Like a Librarian!

91by dianeravitch / 7d

John Merrow has some good suggestions in this essay about the month of May and how to use it wisely and well: May has been an educational ‘dead zone’ for years. Because of our national obsession with standardized test scores, teachers–particularly in low income areas–spend class time showing students how to guess at answers, giving practice tests, and even teaching children how to fill in bubbles

Peter Greene: What Happens to “Accountability” After the Pandemic?

22by dianeravitch / 8d

Peter Greene thinks that we should use this respite from the pressure of high-stakes testing to rethink accountability. Our current accountability system was cobbled together hastily in 2001 during the writing of George W. Bush’s No Child Left Behind law. The NCLB law was based on a hoax, a fallacious cl

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Code Acts in Education: Edtech, Coronavirus, and Commercialization in Public Education | National Education Policy Center

Code Acts in Education: Edtech, Coronavirus, and Commercialization in Public Education | National Education Policy Center

Code Acts in Education: Edtech, Coronavirus, and Commercialization in Public Education

While the opening months of 2020 have been marked by huge disruptions to education at an international scale, some organizations have thrived during the coronavirus pandemic. According to the education markets consultancy HolonIQ, the first three months of the year ‘delivered $3B of Global EdTech Venture Capital, nearly 10% of the prior decade’s total, in just the first quarter of the new decade.’ April even saw the largest-ever venture capital investment in an edtech company, with Beijing-based  Yuanfudao receiving $1billion USD for its AI-based online tutoring and homework platform. The company has become the first coronavirus crisis edtech unicorn, during a remarkable quarter of a year for commercial edtech and education markets.

The rapid expansion of commercial edtech during the large-scale closure of schools and universities is the focus for a new project supported by Educational International, the Global Union Federation that represents organizations of teachers and other education employees around the world. The project is a collaboration with Anna Hogan at the University of Queensland. We’ll be bringing together Anna’s research expertise in education policy, marketization, privatization and commercialization with my experiences of researching edtech over the last decade. The project will help inform EI’s response to the COVID-19 crisis, but also its longer-term work on commercialization in public education internationally.

We’ve started initial work already, gathering evidence of commercial edtech activity over the last few months. It includes:

• global tech businesses offering free access to resources for schools and parents (including CONTINUE READING: Code Acts in Education: Edtech, Coronavirus, and Commercialization in Public Education | National Education Policy Center

Not all kids have computers – and they’re being left behind with schools closed by the coronavirus – Raw Story

Not all kids have computers – and they’re being left behind with schools closed by the coronavirus – Raw Story

Not all kids have computers – and they’re being left behind with schools closed by the coronavirus

The Research Brief is a short take about interesting academic work.

The big idea

Since 2014, the Dornsife Center for Economic and Social Research, located at the University of Southern California, has been tracking trends in health economic well-being, attitudes and behaviors through a nationwide survey for its Understanding America Study, asking the same individuals questions over time.

The nationally representative survey is now assessing how COVID-19 is affecting U.S. families. This includes their health, economic status and, for the first time, educational experiences. With two other education researchers Amie Rapaport and Marshall Garland, we analyzed the educational experience data that have recently been added to the study.

What we did

We worked with the broader Understanding America Study team to ask Americans about the effects the pandemic is having on students and their families.

About 1,450 families with children answered these questions between April 1 and April 15.

We found that nearly all – about 85% – of families with at least one child between kindergarten and their senior year of high school have internet access and a computer they can use for distance learning while school buildings are shuttered.

However, we found large disparities in technology access based on family income. Among the 20% of American households who make US$25,000 or less a year, just 63% of schoolchildren have access to a computer and the internet. In comparison, essentially all students from the most affluent families – those whose parents make $150,000 annually or more – do. CONTINUE READING: Not all kids have computers – and they’re being left behind with schools closed by the coronavirus – Raw Story

K-12 school districts warn of ‘disaster’ from covid-19-related budget cuts - The Washington Post

K-12 school districts warn of ‘disaster’ from covid-19-related budget cuts - The Washington Post

K-12 school leaders warn of ‘disaster’ from huge coronavirus-related budget cuts as layoffs and furloughs begin

Just as they face unprecedented challenges and financial costs, leaders of K-12 public school districts around the country are warning of dire consequences from sharp budget cuts from state legislatures attempting to deal with the economic fallout of the novel coronavirus pandemic.

The alarm was sounded by school superintendents in 62 cities, who sent a letter to Congress through the nonprofit Council of the Great City Schools asking Congress for billions of dollars in new federal education assistance and warning that some 275,000 teachers could be laid off in their districts alone because of budget cuts caused by a drop in state and local revenue during the crisis. (You can see the letter in full below.) Those would add to existing shortages in virtually every state.

“Dark clouds are forming on the educational horizon that will spell disaster if Congress does not intervene,” the letter said. “Significant revenue shortfalls are looming for local school districts that will exacerbate the disruption students have already faced. Some 40 to 50 percent of school district revenue, in fact, come from local sources that are expected to drop precipitously in the months ahead. This revenue decline will come on top of revenue losses in the months to come from state sources that have been more widely reported. Several big city school districts are now projecting 15 to 25 percent cuts in overall revenue going into next school year.”

In California on Thursday, Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) released a budget analysis showing a $54.3 billion budget deficit through summer 2021, with projections that the K-12 public schools could lose some 20 percent of their state funding. The superintendents of the two largest school systems in California — Austin Beutner of the Los Angeles Unified School District and Cindy Marten of the San Diego Unified School District — warned that “irreparable harm” would be done to children if that happened.

Meanwhile, some districts around the country have already started furloughing and even laying off some employees.

The Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District in California has begun laying off dozens of employees, as has New Jersey’s Lawrence Township Public Schools, which let go 22 full-time employees and 80 school aides; and the Randolph Public School District in Massachusetts, where dozens of workers — including teaching aides and food service staff — were told they will be furloughed full time CONTINUE READING: K-12 school districts warn of ‘disaster’ from covid-19-related budget cuts - The Washington Post

Doyle and Hynes: We Welcome Bill Gates to New York if He Agrees to Three Conditions | Diane Ravitch's blog

Doyle and Hynes: We Welcome Bill Gates to New York if He Agrees to Three Conditions | Diane Ravitch's blog

Doyle and Hynes: We Welcome Bill Gates to New York if He Agrees to Three Conditions

Author William Doyle and Superintendent Michael Hynes—both known for supporting whole-child education—-say that they would welcome Bill Gates to New York if he agrees to meet three conditions.

They suggest that Gates has a chance to redeem his reputation after 20 years of failure in education.

They write:

The Gates Foundation has been a driving force behind nearly 20 years of consistently failed federal and state attempts at education reform, including the widely reviled “Common Core” state standards. In that time, little-to-no system improvement has occurred, despite the squandering of vast sums of money by the Gates Foundation and by taxpayers. In a blog post noting the flaws of Common Core and announcing plans to re-focus their funding, Gates announced, “As we have reflected on our work and spoken with educators over the last few years, we have identified a few key insights that will shape our work and investments going forward.”

The Gates Foundation now has a historic chance to CONTINUE READING: Doyle and Hynes: We Welcome Bill Gates to New York if He Agrees to Three Conditions | Diane Ravitch's blog

A Rap About Betsy DeVos: RESIGN BETSY | Diane Ravitch's blog

A Rap About Betsy DeVos: RESIGN BETSY | Diane Ravitch's blog

A Rap About Betsy DeVos: RESIGN BETSY

Watch this video by Jeff Grossi, a high school math teacher in Buffalo, who loves rap music.

His rapping name is MC ZiLL.

A Rap About Betsy DeVos: RESIGN BETSY | Diane Ravitch's blog

Take the poll! – Educate Louisiana

Take the poll! – Educate Louisiana

Take The Poll!

In its quest to hire a new superintendent of education, the Louisiana Board of Elementary and Secondary Education conducted a survey to gather input from the public in regards to the priorities that should be considered.

More than 7000 responses were received on the BESE poll which asked participants to indicate their priorities under three basic categories: Actions, Skills, and Characteristics possessed by the candidates with the following results.

Actions: 51% of the participants indicated “Providing every student with enriching experiences and a well-rounded education that is recognized in the state’s accountability system” was most important to them.

Skills: 88% of participants indicated that “Deep knowledge of K-12 policy and practice, and experience working in the field” was the most important skill desired in a future superintendent.

Characteristics: 63% of participants indicated that it was important for the next superintendent to “Inspire the educational system through leadership, and setting the right tone through leading by example.”

To see the public results of BESE’s survey, click here —-> BESE Superintendent Search Public Survey

BESE has also provided links to lengthy interviews with the individual candidates, along with resumes and cover letters at this link—->Superintendent Candidate Interviews

Thanks to the diligent work of Cynthia Posey, Louisiana Federation of Teachers, the candidate information has been summarized in an easy to compare graph, below.

Illustration by Cynthia Posey, Louisiana Federation of Teachers. CONTINUE READING: Take the poll! – Educate Louisiana

CDC Guidance For Reopening Schools, Child Care And Summer Camps Is Leaked | 89.3 KPCC

CDC Guidance For Reopening Schools, Child Care And Summer Camps Is Leaked | 89.3 KPCC

CDC Guidance For Reopening Schools, Child Care And Summer Camps Is Leaked

No field trips. No game rooms. No teddy bears. These are some of the CDC's guidelines for reopening schools, childcare centers and day camps safely in places where coronavirus cases are on the decline.

The guidance, which also covers restaurants, churches and other public places, was obtained by The Associated Press, which reports that the White House tried to keep it from coming to light. The New York Times quoted Mark Meadows, the chief of staff, as being concerned that the guidelines were "overly prescriptive."

The CDC does not have authority to enforce its guidance, which is intended for public information only; the actual policy decisions are up to state and local governments. Schools are closed through the end of the school year throughout much of the country, with the exception of Montana, which welcomed a handful of students back this week. Child care protocols are different in different states.

But millions of parents need child care so they can work, and socialization and stimulation for children who have been confined to home by lockdowns for weeks on end. This is the guidance that summer camps and day cares have been waiting for to make decisions about reopening safely.

The guidance says that where coronavirus is spreading rapidly, child care should only serve the children of essential workers. This is the case today in much of the country, which the guidelines refer to as "Phase 1".

In Phase 2, programs can expand to serve all children with enhanced social distancing measures, and in Phase 3, with a lower risk, social distancing will continue.

Recommended measures include:

• Handwashing;
• Cloth masks for staff;
• Regular disinfection of all surfaces;
• Six-foot distance "if possible," head-to-toe positioning with bedding;
• As much outdoor air as possible — open windows, fans;
• Restricting mixing of groups;
• Restricting visitors, and staggering dropoffs and pickups to reduce contact among parents;
• Limiting sharing of materials like art supplies or toys. Disinfecting them in between use.;
• Avoiding soft toys that can't be easily disinfected;
• Not using common areas like dining halls or playgrounds if possible. If it is necessary, stagger visits and disinfect in between;
• Adjust operations based on local health data;
• Monitor absenteeism.

The guidelines also emphasize keeping attendance at such programs local, to limit children bringing the disease from high to low transmission areas.

Copyright 2020 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

CDC Guidance For Reopening Schools, Child Care And Summer Camps Is Leaked | 89.3 KPCC

Teacher Tom: What Does the Word "Education" Mean?

Teacher Tom: What Does the Word "Education" Mean?

What Does the Word "Education" Mean?

Yesterday, I made an assertion that I suspected was true, but upon reflection I began to wonder. What I wrote: 

For most of the experience of Homo sapiens, work, family, and play were inseparable, an aspect of the human survival strategy that allowed our species to thrive. For ninety-five percent of our existence we've been evolving brains that function best in the context of communities that include the whole family, many families, young and old, work and play. And one of the results of living in these communities is what we could have called, had we the word for it, education. But we didn't need a word because what we today call education was, as John Dewey wrote, "life itself."

Specifically, what I began to wonder about was the actual origins of the word "education." It appears that there are two distinct roots of the word, both from Latin: educare and educere. Educare means to train or mold someone, and specifically refers to a process of passing along knowledge from one generation to the next, with the goal of shaping youth in the image of their parents through rote learning and future employment in the economy. Educere, in contrast, means to "lead out," in the sense that we are preparing youth for an unknown future, which calls for thinking, questioning, and creating. That these two very different concepts have merged into the single thing that we today call "education" is only really understandable in the sense that they are similar sounding words, because the intended results -- preservation of knowledge v. creation of new ideas -- are really quite different things.

Anyone conversant in Latin can probably quibble with my CONTINUE READING: Teacher Tom: What Does the Word "Education" Mean?

Ohio Governor Cuts $300 Million from FY 2020 Education Funding. Crisis Across State Budgets Demands Immediate and Long Term Federal Help | janresseger

Ohio Governor Cuts $300 Million from FY 2020 Education Funding. Crisis Across State Budgets Demands Immediate and Long Term Federal Help | janresseger

Ohio Governor Cuts $300 Million from FY 2020 Education Funding. Crisis Across State Budgets Demands Immediate and Long Term Federal Help

At the end of April, Bruce Baker of Rutgers University and Matthew Di Carlo of the Albert Shanker Institute published a new report, The Coronavirus Pandemic and K-12 Education Funding.  They begin: “The most terrible and lasting effects of the coronavirus pandemic will of course be measured in loss of life. But a parallel tragedy will also be unfolding in the coming months and years, this one affecting those at the beginning of their lives, an unprecedented school funding crisis that threatens to disadvantage a generation of children. It currently is difficult to make any precise predictions about the magnitude of the economic recession caused by the coronavirus pandemic, except to say that it has already started and is likely to be severe. The revenue that funds public K-12 schools—almost 90 percent of which comes from state and local sources—will see large decreases. There will be cuts. Making things worse, school districts in many states have yet to recover from the last recession….”

Oh Tuesday, the magnitude of immediate cuts to K-12 education in Ohio became clearer. The Columbus Dispatch‘s Randy Ludlow explains: “The ordered closure of nonessential businesses during the pandemic and the accompanying loss of nearly 1.1 million jobs has devastated Ohio’s economy while also increasing demand for social services such as Medicaid.”

Ludlow describes the impact of business shutdowns and job losses on the tax revenues needed for the state to provide necessary services: “State tax revenue through April was $776.9 million below the fiscal year estimates on which the state budget was built.”  Consequently, “Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine announced immediate cuts in state spending totaling $775 million on Tuesday as the financial fallout from the coronavirus pandemic devastates state tax collections… Among the cuts, basic state aid for K-12 schools will be reduced by $300 million. That’s a 6% cut out of the total annual foundation funding for public, charter and private schools… The first year of the biennial $69.8 billion state budget must be balanced by the end of the fiscal year on June 30.”  The state has $2.7 billion in a rainy day fund. Ludlow reports CONTINUE READING: Ohio Governor Cuts $300 Million from FY 2020 Education Funding. Crisis Across State Budgets Demands Immediate and Long Term Federal Help | janresseger

NYC Educator: Why Can't We All Teach Live During the Apocalypse?

NYC Educator: Why Can't We All Teach Live During the Apocolypse?

Why Can't We All Teach Live During the Apocalypse?

Somehow this story in the Post got past me. The headline declares teachers across the city have abandoned live instruction. While it goes into the fact that some students lack the necessary technology to keep up with their peers, much of it is about people bemoaning the lack of available live streaming.

There's more to this story. For example, it was only yesterday that the DOE finally renewed the use of Zoom. But they did so with some crippling limitations.

For one thing, you can only use it with DOE email. How many city students actually have DOE email? Our school has a proprietary school email, and we signed every student up so as to enable remote instruction. However, my students with city-supplied iPads will still not be able to get on Zoom with our school address. Depend on the DOE to make things as difficult as possible.

There are other reasons why live instruction might not be ideal. I don't know how much experience Post readers have with it, but I've been doing it since the beginning. Imagine being a PE teacher, and demonstrating exercises for your students. Now they do it with you. Or maybe they don't, since all you can actually see is the avatars they've chosen for themselves. Who knows what they're doing on the other side of the screen?

Then you come to the undeniable fact that we do not, in fact, live in classrooms. I know a teacher who shares an apartment CONTINUE READING: NYC Educator: Why Can't We All Teach Live During the Apocolypse?

I want YOU to enroll in my course. Help me choose the topic! | Cloaking Inequity

I want YOU to enroll in my course. Help me choose the topic! | Cloaking Inequity

I WANT YOU TO ENROLL IN MY COURSE. HELP ME CHOOSE THE TOPIC!

Have you ever had the opportunity to tell a professor what course you want to take? I am taking suggestions for a course in the new University of Kentucky College of Education’s Professional Learning Series that I will teach this summer online that will be open for anyone in the public to register.

When I came to Kentucky, I realized that our world-class faculty in higher education rarely have the opportunity to teach courses for the general public. We want to make that happen. We think it is a way to expand for Kentuckians and beyond to expand their knowledge about the currently education research and public debates. It could also level up your professional skills and maybe even upgrade your job performance. Or maybe you are wondering if you are Ph.D. material and want to test out your theory?

As a result, I am pleased to announce that the University of Kentucky’s College of Education is launching  a new Professional Learning Series. We have many courses that are already available. Register by Saturday, May 30th to level up your skills from a selection of self-paced and LIVE workshops—all online this summer.

When you successfully complete a workshop, you earn a digital badge to add to your resume, email signature, LinkedIn or website to represent your new proficiency and marketability in the professional and public arena.

Our world-class faculty will cover topics in Health & Wellness, Teacher Enhancement, Education Policies, and Early Childhood Education. Designed to be enriching and affordable, the series draws on the expertise of faculty in a college ranked number one in Kentucky and among the top 30 public colleges of education in the nation by U.S. News and World Report.

Workshops in the series are for anyone who has a passion for lifelong learning. Topics offered this summer are ideal for pre-service or in-service teachers (PK-12 ), nonprofit educators, parents/guardians, community professionals, activists, and business leaders. Workshops in the series do not lead to college credit, but can build toward a micro-credential if you so choose.

While the launch is a few weeks away, I still have not decided what course I should teach. Send me ideas at COElearningseries@uky.edu and I’ll choose the course I will teach from the topics submitted or perhaps even teach an educational politics course that covers all of the topics that are submitted. The course that public asks for will be entered in the database in June and will start in July.

Explore workshop offerings and choose your path today. Register by Saturday, May 30, 2020. We look forward to having you join us. Questions about the Professional Learning Series? Contact Program Coordinator Mariama Lockington at COElearningseries@uky.edu

Please Facebook Like, Tweet, etc below and/or reblog to share this discussion with others.

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I want YOU to enroll in my course. Help me choose the topic! | Cloaking Inequity

CURMUDGUCATION: "I Didn't Learn Anything"

CURMUDGUCATION: "I Didn't Learn Anything"

"I Didn't Learn Anything"

Two stories for Teacher Appreciation Week.

Story One:

At the very beginning of my career, I taught middle school students. Then one year I finally moved down to the high school and, to make the transition a bit easier, I taught many of the students as ninth graders that I had also taught as middle schoolers.

At the beginning of units, I often did a quick-and-dirty check for understanding. I'd mention the topic and then ask for a show of hands-- who thinks they already know a bunch about this stuff? who remembers going over it in class, but doesn't really remember much? who's never heard of this stuff before?

Time after time, I would get, "Mr. Greene, we never covered this stuff in middle school at all."

"Of course you did," I replied, crankily. "I'm the one who taught it to you." Thirty seconds of review, a practice sheet later-- "Oh, yeah. This stuff. I guess I did know something about this."

Story Two:

Later in my career, I taught downstream (the next graded after) from a newer hire. Her students would always insist that she had never taught them a thing. Then they would laugh and reminisce about how easily they could get her off track, or how they'd spend days of class just doing goofy stuff.

Then I would do some quick introductory quizzes about the material. Grammar, elements of short CONTINUE READING: CURMUDGUCATION: "I Didn't Learn Anything"