Rick Ayers: Taking Back the Narrative from Arne Duncan

Rick Ayers: Taking Back the Narrative from Arne Duncan

Taking Back the Narrative from Arne Duncan

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Read More: Arne Duncan , Education Reform , Poverty , Waiting For Superman , Education News

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Secretary of Education Arne Duncan had one of those high concept PBS interviews with Gwen Ifill the other day. What struck me is how the reactionaries have seized the narrative, taken over the points of arguments that we -- progressive teachers, social justice activists and critical students -- developed in the first place.

For example: Nothing was more irritating in a faculty meeting than to hear the old-line, do-nothing elitists declare that they could not make African-American and Latino urban students succeed. It was, after all, a problem of the home, of poverty, of broader problems than we could deal with. These arguments, and their barely disguised racism, were proffered as a reason we should do nothing. After all, they seemed to say, we simply need to find the "talented" and "smart" kids, the ones like ourselves, and work with them. Ugh.

We would fight back. No, school does not have to be a sorting mechanism, it does not have to reproduce class and racial stratification. We can teach all kids and can make them successful -- but we have to rethink curriculum, we have to build community, we have to change our whole approach to school structure. As Michelle Fine argued, schools are the one place where the

Tea Party vs. The Department Of Education

Tea Party vs. The Department Of Education

Posted: 12-10-10 11:03 AM

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Read More: Arne Duncan, Department Of Education, Homeschooling, No Child Left Behind, Rand Paul,Tea Party, Education News

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The Daily Beast:

When it comes to school reform, President Obama and his secretary of Education, Arne Duncan, intend to spend 2011 pursuing more federal influence over local schools -- particularly in the areas of curriculum standards and teacher evaluation and pay. "Am I hopeful? Absolutely," Duncan told Politico last month. "Am I optimistic? Yes. Do I think it's the right thing to do for children, for the country? Absolutely."

Read the whole story: The Daily Beast

Proposed UC Regent Pension Deal is Bad for Workers | California Progress Report #UCDavis

Proposed UC Regent Pension Deal is Bad for Workers | California Progress Report

Proposed UC Regent Pension Deal is Bad for Workers

by christine

By Tanya Smith
University Technical and Professional Employees at UC Berkeley

The press has seen a flurry of letters to the editor and opinion pieces lamenting the fact that public employees have pensions. As unionists representing public employees at the University of California, we argue that all workers, not just those in the public sector, should retire with dignity, with enough income from their pensions to keep them fed, sheltered, and clothed. The current University of California Retirement System is about to be dismantled by the UC Regents. They propose to change it Monday, Dec. 13, 2010, so that the lower paid employees will no longer be assured of modest pension income when they retire after decades of service.

Instead of working with unions and the public to find ways to maintain a healthy retirement system, the regents are shredding the post employment benefits for the lower paid employers.

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Education Week: Study Finds Community Schools Boost Low-Income Students

Education Week: Study Finds Community Schools Boost Low-Income Students

Study Finds Community Schools Boost Low-Income Students

By Andrea Eger, Tulsa World, Okla. (MCT)

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Community partnerships are helping some elementary schools level the playing field for students affected by poverty, according to a new study.

Curt Adams, an assistant professor in the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies at the University of Oklahoma, found that students in six fully developed community schools in the Tulsa, Okla., and Union school districts "significantly outperformed" students from low socio-economic households who attend schools with more affluent student enrollments overall.

"This shows that community schools are indeed having an effect on the achievement gap attributable to poverty," Adams said. "That's profound because the school choice policy would seem to suggest if parents have a choice to send their children to schools in more affluent areas, then they can obtain a higher quality education. The performance of students in these schools actually is higher than the free and reduced-rate lunch students in the other schools."

Community schools provide a web of support and resources to improve the academic, emotional, physical and social development of children. They are funded through a

Lugar Back On Board With The DREAM Act « Student Activism

Lugar Back On Board With The DREAM Act « Student Activism

Lugar Back On Board With the DREAM Act

by Angus Johnston

Indiana’s Dick Lugar has confirmed that he will be supporting the DREAM Act if and when it’s brought up for a vote in the Senate’s lame duck session. Lugar, a longtime sponsor of the DREAM Act, surprised many in recent days when he announced that he was having second thoughts about the bill.

The Senate was slated to hold a crucial procedural vote on the DREAM Act yesterday, but Majority Leader Harry Reid pulled it from the floor. Supporters now intend to bring it back next week, in a revised version designed to duplicate the one that the House of Representatives passed recently.

The White House has said that they anticipate needing seven Republican votes to secure the DREAM Act’s