Our Schools Are Not For Sale is the story of Philadelphia's teachers

Our Schools Are Not For Sale on Vimeo:

Our Schools Are Not For Sale from Media Mobilizing Project TV on Vimeo.

Our Schools Are Not For Sale

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Public education is under attack. Will we learn to live with a two-tier education system where money comes first, or will we come together to guarantee a quality education for every child and young person?

Our Schools Are Not For Sale is the story of Philadelphia's teachers, parents, students, and communities who are fighting for public schools that are well-resourced, high-quality and available to all. Watch how local communities are responding to a year of unprecedented attacks, including the closing of 24 schools, layoffs of hundreds of teachers and counselors, and the elimination of school libraries, art, music, and sports programs.

This video is a message to everyone who cares about the future of public schools. Now more than ever, we need to reach out and begin conversations with neighbors, friends, coworkers, and students about how each of us can contribute to the fight for public schools. Contact Media Mobilizing Project to host a community screening today!

Closing Gaps?: Addressing Privilege and Poverty | the becoming radical

Closing Gaps?: Addressing Privilege and Poverty | the becoming radical:

CLOSING GAPS?: ADDRESSING PRIVILEGE AND POVERTY

New ways of thinking about public education must occur before the U.S. can fulfill its obligation to the promise of universal public schools:

1. We have failed public education; public education has not failed us.
2. Education has never, cannot, and will never be a singular or primary mechanism for driving large social change.
3. And, thus, public education holds up a mirror to the social dynamics defining the U.S. In other words,achievement gaps in our schools are metrics reflecting the equity and opportunity gaps that exist in society.

One aspect of these new ways of thinking about public education that is rarely discussed is that seeking laudable goals (such as closing the achievement gap in schools and the income and upward mobility gaps in society) requires that we address both privilege and poverty—the top and the bottom. Historically and currently, our gaze remains almost exclusively on the bottom.

Richard Reeves in the “The Glass-Floor Problem” poses a provocative and necessary admission about the polar ends of class in the U.S.:

When it comes to the economic malaise facing America, the biggest problem is not the widening gap 

Secret Corbett poll proposing teachers union attack funded by PennCAN :: Blogs :: The Naked City :: Philadelphia City Paper

Secret Corbett poll proposing teachers union attack funded by PennCAN :: Blogs :: The Naked City :: Philadelphia City Paper:

Secret Corbett poll proposing teachers union attack funded by PennCAN

By Daniel Denvir 
Published: 06/19/2013 | 0 Comments Posted

A secret report, based on a poll of Pennsylvanians, proposing that Gov. Tom Corbettmount a high-profile attack on the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers was funded by the self-described school reform group PennCAN, according to pollsters at Public Opinion Strategies.

The , which suggested that Corbett exploit the to attack the teachers union in an effort to boost his faltering reelection prospects, was first reported by City Paper Wednesday afternoon.

Notably, PennCAN supports school vouchers, which use taxpayer dollars to pay for private school tuition.

PennCAN, which has not yet responded to requests for comment, is part of an expanding universe of corporate-inspired "school reform" groups in Pennsylvania. PennCAN, like many such groups, has deep-pocketed donors.

PennCAN funders include: the William Penn Foundation, which was heavily criticized for its support of "school choice" during the , and Michael O'Neill, who contributed $100,000 to pay for for transforming Philly schools.

PennCAN has also received funding from Janine and Jeff Yass, the latter being one of three partners at the Bala Cynwyd-based hedge fund Susquehanna International Group and major givers to causes supporting school vouchers and similar free-market inspired 

WTF Wealthy donors move schools decision-making behind closed doors :: Blogs :: The Naked City :: Philadelphia City Paper

Wealthy donors move schools decision-making behind closed doors :: Blogs :: The Naked City :: Philadelphia City Paper:

Wealthy donors move schools decision-making behind closed doors

By Daniel Denvir 
Published: 09/29/2013 | 3 Comments Posted

Promotion for this week's "All of the Above" conference.

On Monday, wealthy donors interested in the future of public education will gather for atwo-day conference at the Union League: "All of the Above: How Donors can Expand a City's Great Schools."

Attendance is restricted to those who make $50,000 in charitable donations per year. One might hope, given the apocalyptic state of Philly's resource-starved public schools, that they are here to plot a campaign to reverse deep state budget cuts — or, at the very least, to cut a check to rehire some laid-off school counselors.

Instead, they will meet with self-described school-reform activists who want to move yet more students out of the same "government schools" they have defunded and into privately-managed charters — and even straight-up private schools. The entirely broke School District of Philadelphia estimates that each student who attends a charter costs it an additional $7,000. That existential fiscal challenge posed by charter expansion will not, it seems, be on the agenda. Nothing about the sector's rampant corruption and lack of state or local oversight either.

No matter.

The visitors are here to learn from Philadelphia. Not as a cautionary tale, but as a roadmap for the privatization of public education. This is a city that shows what can happen when 

Global Corruption Report: Education:

GLOBAL CORRUPTION REPORT: EDUCATION

Corruption can be found at all levels of our education systems, undermining the right to education.

From ghost schools and fake diplomas, to undue corporate influence in university research, explore the many faces of corruption in education, and learn about ways it is being challenged.

Let's get started!

Press releases

Blog posts

Read our series of blog posts supporting the Report

Past editions

REPORT AND TRANSLATIONS

• Global Corruption Report: Education 
  
• Rapport mondial sur la corruption: l’éducation
  
• Informe Global de la Corrupción: Educación
  Resumen ejecutivo
  
• تقرير الفساد العالمي: التعليم

POLICY POSITIONS

• Ending corruption to ensure basic education for all
  
• Ensuring the integrity of higher
  education through accreditation
  
• Preventing undue influence and
  preserving academic integrity
  
• Protecting education sector
  resources from corruption
  
• Schools and teaching lay the
  foundations for fighting corruption

Our Schools Are Not For Sale | WeArePCAPS

Our Schools Are Not For Sale | WeArePCAPS:

Our Schools Are Not For Sale

Posted on October 1, 2013by wearepcaps

Yesterday at the Union League, long a bastion of privelege and wealth, billionaires met to further their aims of privatizing education, imposing austerity, and busting unions, all carefully packaged as “school choice” and “reform.”    Meanwhile outside students, joined by teachers and parents, made it clear they were not going to stand for schools without adequate staff and materials and were deadset against turning public education over to the coroporate reformers to be run as a business.

Mother Crusader: Could The Next Generation Of Philanthropy Actually SAVE Public Education?

Mother Crusader: Could The Next Generation Of Philanthropy Actually SAVE Public Education?:

Could The Next Generation Of Philanthropy Actually SAVE Public Education?

I've been having a very telling back and forth with some Anonymous Charter Cheerleaders on my blog the last couple of weeks, mostly in reference to a post I wrote back in January about Hatikvah International Academy Charter School, which is bankrolled by demi-billionaire hedge fund guru Michael Steinhardt. 

And then yesterday a dear friend sent me this link. 

A group of young heirs in the Philadelphia chapter of Resource Generation has released a statement that decries any reliance on philanthropy for the funding of public schools; instead, they say, rich people should pay more in taxes.

Well, that sure got my attention.

Here's the original letter in its entirety.

With our severely underfunded public schools now open, it is important to examine the causes of this crisis.

We are a group of people in our 20s and 30s with inherited wealth and class privilege who believe that philanthropy has played a role in contributing to the crisis. Current forms of 

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: It's come to this...

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: It's come to this...:

It's come to this...

Beggar schools
Chicago school children may be able to wipe themselves at school again, thanks to toilet paper donations from Proctor and Gamble. Rahm's budget cuts have left many schools going without. Parents' thanks go out to Ald. Nick Sposato who organized the TP drive after CPS cut about $3 million from budgets for six schools in his ward. The Daily Caller reports that schools in Venezuela are also facing a TP shortage.

Cruz, T-Party victory
800,000 govt. workers go without pay. Food programs for poor kids threatened. Student loans in trouble. But drones keep flying. NSA keeps spying. Deportations continue.

Testing Madness
Good guest post in Monday's Seattle Times by Trish Millines Dziko, "The endless rounds 

10-1-13 Schools Matter

Schools Matter:

ASD in TN Makes State Test the Only Grade that Counts

We have known for a long time that school grades are better indicators of later student success than standardized test scores, and we have known, too, that many parents have complained and continue to complain when their children get passing marks and are held back for failing the state test. Well, both of those possibilities have just been eliminated in Memphis schools under the control of Supt. 

by Jim Horn / 1h 

Indiana BATS: Take Action Now Against Mike Pence's Public Education Power Grab

By Doug Martin UPDATE:  Fellow Schools Matter blogger Douglas Storm will be speaking with Vic Smith, Phil Harris, and Gary Crow (IU School of Ed) at 6pm tonight live on his radio show.  You can stream it live at WFHB.  As I’ve mentioned before, if Hoosiers want to slow down the attacks of the corporate-theocratic-government school movement against public education in Indiana, we must take action. 

by Doug Martin / 6min 

The Assault on Public Education in SC Continues: More Innovation!

How much education innovation can a high-poverty state take?Apparently, according to former-general-without-a-second-of-experience-as-a-teacher Superintendent Mick Zais, just a little more.As reported by Patrick Hayes at EdFirstSC (and not reported at the Charleston Post and Courier because the P&C is all about endorsing the worst possible policies for SC public schools, such as merit pay and

4 by P. L. Thomas / 9min 

9-30-13 Schools Matter

Schools Matter: Mike Pence’s Faith-Based Quest to Corporatize PreschoolBy Doug MartinEven though Indiana does not fund preschool and even failed to pass a law for a preschool pilot program recently, Mike Pence has a newly-formed early childhood learning advisory committee which doesn’t seem to be meant to help the situation. In fact, the advisory committee reflects a free-market biblical capitalis

by mike simpson / 2h 

Democracy Is an 'Idea,' Not a Recipe - Bridging Differences - Education Week

Democracy Is an 'Idea,' Not a Recipe - Bridging Differences - Education Week:

Democracy Is an 'Idea,' Not a Recipe

By Deborah Meier on October 1, 2013 8:52 AM

Deborah Meier continues her conversation with Michael J. Petrilli today.

Dear Mike,  

The two are inextricably connected: democratic education and education for democracy.  But, you are right; they are not necessarily the same.  Example: If my agenda were first and foremost to produce a generation of good carpenters, I'd be sure students were  immersed in a culture of craftsmanship, keeping company with masters of the craft.  It's no wonder that so many musicians come from families of musicians, etc.  It might be different if I were interested in providing carpentry or music as an "add on"—like a good civics course.  Agreed?

If this is true of carpentry or musicianship, the same goes for the arts and craft of democracy.  Defining the D-word is hard to do in words,  all the more reason then to go beyond words.

The kind of give-and-take it requires to maintain an adult community of equals, respect for the need to make compromises, to negotiate, to be open to the possibility of ... being wrong are not innate.  Not to mention the shifting alliances needed to keep the whole thing aloft.  Our schools can be labs for learning all of the above, or we can hope these lessons are learned somewhere else ...?

So, if democracy is something that we want to pass on to the next generation, at the very least young people should be surrounded by adults who are practicing democracy among themselves.  How they operate as citizens of a school community carries a lesson in 

10-1-13 @ THE CHALK FACE

@ THE CHALK FACE:

For New Mexico…and Every Other Bush-Bought State

This is a letter to the editor for New Mexico newspapers, but if you have a Jeb Bush lackey in your state, then perhaps you should put the pressure on your leadership as well. A recent report was released that suggested that the Federalization of public education is not doing our schools, students, teachers, or […]

6 by Kris Nielsen / 14min mark as read  //  save

Deasy, Apple, Pearson, and Gates: A Post Worth Hacking Into

Thirty million dollars is a lot of money for a single school district to shell out for the sake of Common Core. That is what the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) under the direction of reform-minded, unaccredited Broad Superintendents Academy graduate John Deasy decided to do in June. The purchase: Apple iPads. The $30 million […]

by deutsch29 / 26min 

The Assault on Public Education in SC Continues: More Innovation!

How much education innovation can a high-poverty state take? Apparently, according to former-general-without-a-second-of-experience-as-a-teacher Superintendent Mick Zais, just a little more. As reported by Patrick Hayes at EdFirstSC (and not reported at the Charleston Post and Courier because the P&C is all about endorsing the worst possible policies for SC public schools, such as merit pay an

1 by plthomasedd / 2min 

9-30-13 @ The Chalk Face

@ THE CHALK FACE: David Coleman Runs The Voodoo Psychometrics DownA late August HuffPo article by Joy Resmovitz entitled, “David Coleman, Common Core Writer, Gears Up For SAT Rewrite,” has been making the rounds on many of the Facebook groups I follow that focus on high-stakes testing, the Common Core Standards, and other issues of concern to teachers, parents, administrators, students, and other

by mike simpson / 10h 

Covered California Your destination for affordable, quality health care, including Medi-Cal

Covered California:

Covered California Your destination for affordable, quality health care, including Medi-Cal

https://www.coveredca.com/es/

El "Profesor de lo Simple" explica los cambios en el Cuidado de la Salud

El 1 de enero de 2014 comenzará la nueva cobertura médica para millones de californianos. Covered California ayudará a individuos a comparar planes de salud y a elegir el plan que mejor se ajusta a sus necesidades y presupuesto. Habrá ayuda económica disponible para ayudarle a la gente que califique a reducir sus costos. Adicionalmente, las pequeñas empresas podrán adquirir seguros de salud a precio competitivo, ofrecerles a sus empleados la posibilidad de elegir...