Special Nite Cap: Catch Up on Today's Post 1/29/15

CORPORATE ED REFORM

Black Michigan lawmakers demand that Rick Snyder fire Detroit school system appointee

Black Michigan lawmakers demand that Rick Snyder fire Detroit school system appointee: Black Michigan lawmakers demand that Rick Snyder fire Detroit school system appointeeThe Michigan legislative black caucus voted on Friday to ask Governor Rick Snyder to fire Darnell Earley, the controversial Detroit Public Schools’ emergency manager who had formerly presided over the city of Flint and its lead-

by mike simpson / 0min 

CHARTER SCHOOL CRIME WATCH: ReNEW Sci Tech used special-ed designation for cash, state report finds | The Lens

ReNEW Sci Tech used special-ed designation for cash, state report finds | The Lens: ReNEW Sci Tech used special-ed designation for cash, state report findsReNEW SciTech Academy violated special education law, robbing some students of special education services, and also committed state testing violations last school year, according to a state-issued report released Friday afternoon.The improprieti

by mike simpson / 14min 

Stakes are high for a teacher/parent fighting for better conditions in Detroit Public Schools - The Hechinger Report

Stakes are high for a teacher/parent fighting for better conditions in Detroit Public Schools - The Hechinger Report: Stakes are high for a teacher/parent fighting for better conditions in Detroit Public SchoolsTeacher who commutes to one of nation’s worst districts explains why she sends her kids to DPS schools and why she participated in sick outDetroit Public School teacher Alise Anaya drives c

by mike simpson / 1h 

Latino students, parents should beware school choice ‘panacea’ #SCW – Cloaking Inequity

Latino students, parents should beware school choice ‘panacea’ #SCW – Cloaking Inequity: Latino students, parents should beware school choice ‘panacea’ #SCWThe wealthy have poured millions of dollars into “school choice” causes over the last decade. Under the mantra of civil rights, billionaires such as Eli Broad, Bill Gates, the Koch Brothers and the powerful corporate-funded lobby group the Amer

by mike simpson / 1h 

Teacher of the Year :America really doesn’t care what happens to poor people and most black people

Matt Driscoll: The uncomfortable truth of Nathan Gibbs-Bowling | The News Tribune: Matt Driscoll: The uncomfortable truth of Nathan Gibbs-BowlingNathan Gibbs-Bowling, a teacher at Lincoln High School, was named Washington State Teacher of the Year in 2015.David Montesino dmontesino@thenewstribune.comRead more here: http://www.thenewstribune.com/news/local/news-columns-blogs/matt-driscoll/article56

by mike simpson / 1h 

California AG s Opinion Targets School Bond Practices | The Bond Buyer

California AG s Opinion Targets School Bond Practices | The Bond Buyer: California AG's Opinion Targets School Bond PracticesAn opinion from California Attorney General Kamala Harris says some common school bond campaign and finance practices violate state law.PHOENIX - School and community college districts violate California law if they hire outside firms to campaign for bond ballot measures or

by mike simpson / 3h 

CURMUDGUCATION: USED: Dear Colleague

CURMUDGUCATION: USED: Dear Colleague: USED: Dear ColleagueTO: State and Local School OfficialsFROM: Faceless Federal Bureaucrat at US Department of EducationI hope that our recent letter about participation rates in accountability testing has clarified the department's stance on the 95% participation requirement. This most recent threat of Dire Consequences should be heeded, and should not be conf

by mike simpson / 4h 

What Could Be Wrong With School Choice? | The Progressive

What Could Be Wrong With School Choice? | The Progressive: What Could Be Wrong With School Choice?This week marked the annual National School Choice Week with events across the country promoting "education options" such as charter schools and vouchers.Everyone loves “choice,” right? In a country where every year brings us 100 new choices for how to brush our teeth, maximizing “choice” ap

by mike simpson / 4h 

What’s that smell? A defense of Pay for Success from the White House. | Fred Klonsky

What’s that smell? A defense of Pay for Success from the White House. | Fred Klonsky: What’s that smell? A defense of Pay for Success from the White HouseWhite House Director of Social Innovation, David Wilkinson and Department of Education Secretary of Policy and Early Learning, Libby Doggett.When the Elementary and Secondary Education Act was recently reauthorized as the Every Student Succeeds A

by mike simpson / 4h 

BustED Pencils Trending News: Phony; Punish; Please | BustED Pencils

BustED Pencils Trending News: Phony; Punish; Please | BustED Pencils: BustED Pencils Trending News: Phony; Punish; PleaseGrass roots rebellion growing.We’re onto the phony education reformers: Charter school charlatans and faux reformers take it on the chinhttp://www.salon.com/2016/01/09/were_onto_the_phony_education_reformers_charter_school_charlatans_and_faux_reformers_take_it_on_the_chin/Simply

by mike simpson / 4h 

IMPORTANT ALERT - Students, Parents, Teachers are being bullied about opting out of testing madness - Wait What?

IMPORTANT ALERT - Students, Parents, Teachers are being bullied about opting out of testing madness - Wait What?:IMPORTANT ALERT – Students, Parents, Teachers are being bullied about opting out of testing madnessReports are coming in from around the state that under pressure for Governor Malloy’s Commissioner of Education, some local school officials are, once again, engaged in underhanded efforts

by mike simpson / 5h 

Zimmer backs arts, warns against standardization | Park Labrea News/ Beverly Press

Zimmer backs arts, warns against standardization | Park Labrea News/ Beverly Press: Zimmer backs arts, warns against standardizationLAUSD board president Steve Zimmer discusses the education challenges that Los Angeles faces. (photo by Gregory Cornfield)Mid City West Community Council (MCWCC) and Mid City West Community Councilleaders welcomed LAUSD board president and 4th District representative

by mike simpson / 5h 

What in the World is Slave-Tag? - Student Voice

What in the World is Slave-Tag? - Student Voice: What in the World is Slave-Tag? Yesterday we convened a group of students from around the city of Philadelphia in a Student Voice Convention to launch our national tour.  We didn’t choose the city by accident—Philadelphia was the birthplace of our nation.  It was here, 227 years ago that another convention created an American government for the peop

by mike simpson / 6h 

Obama Administration Enables Billionaire Takeover of US Public Schools

Obama Administration Enables Billionaire Takeover of US Public Schools:Obama Administration Enables Billionaire Takeover of US Public SchoolsWith the Walton billionaires doubling down in their efforts to accelerate the charter school industry and with the Netflix CEO, Reed Hastings, throwing in $100 million to privatize traditional public schools, one might think that the U.S. Department of Educat

by mike simpson / 6h 

KILLING ED: 120 American Charter Schools and One Secretive Turkish Cleric

Trailer for KILLING ED on Vimeo:KILLING EDTrailer for KILLING ED from Visual Truth Projects on Vimeo.Trailer for the feature-length documentary, KILLING ED, about charter schools, corruption and the rise of the Gülen Movement in America. Coming March, 2016.Trailer for KILLING ED on Vimeo:120 American Charter Schools and One Secretive Turkish ClericThe FBI is investigating a group of educators who

by mike simpson / 6h 

Louisiana Educator: False Advertising: It is used to Steal Public School Taxes!

Louisiana Educator: False Advertising: It is used to Steal Public School Taxes!: False Advertising: It is used to Steal Public School Taxes!This is an article by The Brookings Institute describing the results of their study of voucher students'  performance in Louisiana. The study shows that the academic performance of voucher students drops dramatically after students transfer to a voucher school

by mike simpson / 7h 

An Exchange with the Charlotte Observer About the ASD | Diane Ravitch's blog

An Exchange with the Charlotte Observer About the ASD | Diane Ravitch's blog: An Exchange with the Charlotte Observer About the ASDA few days ago, I wrote a post about the determination of North Carolina’s Tea-Party dominated legislature to allow charters, including for-profit ones, to take over low-scoring schools, a proposal modeled on Tennessee’s Achievement School District. My post was a refut

by mike simpson / 7h 

Report Decries State Takeovers through “Opportunity” and “Achievement” School Districts | janresseger

Report Decries State Takeovers through “Opportunity” and “Achievement” School Districts | janresseger:Report Decries State Takeovers through “Opportunity” and “Achievement” School DistrictsYou might imagine that the morass in Michigan—the tragedy of Flint’s water poisoning under a state-appointed emergency fiscal manager, the dilapidated condition of Detroit’s public schools under a state-appointe

by mike simpson / 7h 

Public employees face a day of reckoning in Newark | Bob Braun's Ledger

Public employees face a day of reckoning in Newark | Bob Braun's Ledger: Public employees face a day of reckoning in NewarkA Superior Court judge in Newark is expected to hear arguments today in a labor dispute that has implications for the future of all public employee unions.  Although the case deals only with the Newark Teachers Union (NTU),  the central issue—the so-called “management prerogat

by mike simpson / 8h 

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: After more than a year of stalling, finally a serious contract offer to the CTU

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: After more than a year of stalling, finally a serious contract offer to the CTU: After more than a year of stalling, finally a serious contract offer to the CTUA SmallTalk Salute goes out to Karen Lewisand the CTU for forcing Rahm/Claypool's hand and finally getting a serious contract offer. This comes after a year of CPS stalling and forcing teachers to work without

by mike simpson / 8h 

John Thompson: Where Are the Scholars in This Age of Disruption? | Diane Ravitch's blog

John Thompson: Where Are the Scholars in This Age of Disruption? | Diane Ravitch's blog: John Thompson: Where Are the Scholars in This Age of Disruption?John Thompson, historians and teachers, assesses a discussion about the role of scholars in the current era of tumult in education.He writes:Education Week published essays by four scholars, Jeffrey Henig, Jay Greene, Jeannie Oakes, and Rick Hess,

by mike simpson / 8h 

21 Concerns about Special Education and Competency-Based Education

21 Concerns about Special Education and Competency-Based Education: 21 Concerns about Special Education and Competency-Based Education As most know, Competency-Based Education (CBE) is being pushed into schools for all students, including those who have special needs.Before I go on, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development looked at 15 –year-olds and their computer use in 31 natio

by mike simpson / 8h 

The Supreme Court Case Against Teachers' Unions Could Have a Far-Reaching Impact - Pacific Standard

The Supreme Court Case Against Teachers' Unions Could Have a Far-Reaching Impact - Pacific Standard:The Supreme Court Case Against Teachers' Unions Could Have a Far-Reaching ImpactIf the Supreme Court overturns Abood, will the middle class suffer?People for and against unions hold up signs in front of the Supreme Court building on January 11, 2016, in Washington, D.C. (Photo: Mark Wilson/Getty Ima

by mike simpson / 8h 

Perdido Street School: Goodbye And Good Luck

Perdido Street School: Goodbye And Good Luck:Goodbye And Good LuckThis will be the last post at Perdido Street School blog.I have been blogging for ten years at various sites.For reasons that have been brewing for some time now, I have decided ten years is enough.I can no longer give the blog the kind of attention I have given it in the past and so, I've decided it's time to shut it down and move

by mike simpson / 8h 

Detroit's troubled schools fight to write a new chapter - Yahoo News

Detroit's troubled schools fight to write a new chapter - Yahoo News:Detroit's troubled schools fight to write a new chapterTeachers and parents filed a lawsuit Thursday over the state of the schools. They're seeking local control after years under a state-appointed emergency manager.The pictures of Detroit schools infested with patches of mold and dead rodents, with crumbling buildings sporting l

by mike simpson / 8h 

Education reform’s devious blame game: The charter school movement doesn’t want you to know it’s failing - Salon

Education reform’s devious blame game: The charter school movement doesn’t want you to know it’s failing - Salon.com: Education reform’s devious blame game: The charter school movement doesn’t want you to know it’s failingInsiders finger Wall Street for misspent funds and schools' poor performance. It's all part of a new PR strategyCharter schools, which have been criticized for grabbing billions 

by mike simpson / 8h 

Why The Simple Solution To Academic Success Might Be More Recess

Why The Simple Solution To Academic Success Might Be More Recess: Why The Simple Solution To Academic Success Might Be More RecessPlay is so important.As schools look for more time to squeeze in math, reading and other academic subjects, a long-time cornerstone of elementary school life has taken a hit: recess.According to national estimates, first graders in U.S. public schools in 2005 averaged j

by mike simpson / 9h 

When it comes to K-12 education, goals of GOP contenders are moot - The Washington Post

When it comes to K-12 education, goals of GOP contenders are moot - The Washington Post: When it comes to K-12 education, goals of GOP contenders are moot To hear the top-tier Republican presidential candidates tell it, on their first day in office, they will shift power over education from the federal government back to states and local communities.Problem is, Congress already took care of that.I

by mike simpson / 9h 

Feds remind Connecticut: Test students or risk losing funding | FOX 61

Feds remind Connecticut: Test students or risk losing funding | FOX 61: Feds remind Connecticut: Test students or risk losing fundingHARTFORD -- Thousand of students opted out of the statewide achievement tests for the 2014-2015 school year and now millions of dollars in federal funding could be at stake for Connecticut if the downward trend continues when it comes to mandated testing requirements

by mike simpson / 9h 

The Five R's: Teacher drought hurts

The Five R's: Teacher drought hurts: The Five R's: Teacher drought hurtsDo I need to run down the figures in the California teacher shortage? Like the drought, it’s been coming for a few years now. And like the drought, we stood by and watched and did little to nothing as the teacher pool dried up.Most sources seem to think the recession that forced the state to raid the education budget in 2008 o

by mike simpson / 9h 

ESSA unlocks teacher prep innovation | Brookings Institution

ESSA unlocks teacher prep innovation | Brookings Institution: ESSA unlocks teacher prep innovation A less-noticed new provision in the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) may be critical to unlocking business model innovation in teacher preparation. For decades, voices from both outside and withineducation schools have called for reforms such as greater admissions selectivity, curriculum that is gro

by mike simpson / 9h 

Pearson exec slams opponents of Common Core as supporters head to court to prevent Mass. vote | NewBostonPost

Pearson exec slams opponents of Common Core as supporters head to court to prevent Mass. vote | NewBostonPost: Pearson exec slams opponents of Common Core as supporters head to court to prevent Mass. vote A video in which a former textbook publishing executive defends the controversial federal Common Core educational standards and says that its creators aim to marginalize teachings of America’s fo

by mike simpson / 9h 

YESTERDAY

Students Eligible for Free School Meals - Year 2016 (CA Dept of Education)

Students Eligible for Free School Meals - Year 2016 (CA Dept of Education): State Schools Chief Tom Torlakson Reports Large Increase in Students Automatically Eligible for Free School MealsSACRAMENTO—State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson today reported a 32 percent increase in the number of students automatically approved to receive free meals in California schools as a result o

5 by mike simpson / 18h hide  //  save

Why “Innovation” is Ed Reformers’ Favorite Word – Save Maine Schools

Why “Innovation” is Ed Reformers’ Favorite Word – Save Maine Schools: Why “Innovation” is Ed Reformers’ Favorite Word The Council for Chief State School Officers runs the Innovation Lab Network. The recent reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education act allows Innovative Assessment Systems. Bellwether Education encourages states to create “Offices of Innovation.”The word “innovative”

1 by mike simpson / 22h 

Special Nite Cap: Catch Up on Today's Post 1/28/15

CORPORATE ED REFORMCURMUDGUCATION: OH: Opt Out Under AttackCURMUDGUCATION: OH: Opt Out Under Attack:OH: Opt Out Under AttackWord came from a high-ranking official through Facebook today that somebody is gunning for those mean old Ohio Opt Outers.The vehicle is Ohio House Bill 420, a bill "to amend sections 3302.01 and 3302.03 of the Revised Code to prohibit the Department of Education from in

4 by mike simpson / 22h 

Black Michigan lawmakers demand that Rick Snyder fire Detroit school system appointee

Black Michigan lawmakers demand that Rick Snyder fire Detroit school system appointee:

Black Michigan lawmakers demand that Rick Snyder fire Detroit school system appointee

The Michigan legislative black caucus voted on Friday to ask Governor Rick Snyder to fire Darnell Earley, the controversial Detroit Public Schools’ emergency manager who had formerly presided over the city of Flint and its lead-contaminated water system.

“Conditions have only worsened under Earley’s tenure, as the city of Flint worsened with his involvement,” said Representative Sheldon Neeley, a Flint Democrat and the caucus’ first vice chair. “He is the problem, not the solution.”

Detroit Public Schools is under state oversight and pressure from declining enrollment. Heavy pension and debt obligations have left the district in danger of running out of cash in April.

Earley was appointed as emergency manager for Detroit Public Schools in January 2015. The union for Detroit public school teachers sued the district on Thursday demanding Earley’s immediate removal and a return of local control with a plan to repair the district’s crumbling buildings.

Under Earley’s leadership as emergency manager of Flint, the city separated from the Detroit water department and switched its water supply to the Flint River in April 2014. Earley has said he is not to blame for the problem since the decision was made before his tenure.

The city switched its water supply back to Detroit last October, after tests found high levels of lead in blood samples from Flint children. Lead is a neurotoxin that can damage the brain and cause other health problems.

The Detroit Public Schools union has said teachers are frustrated over crumbling walls, rats, mold in classrooms and student overcrowding, combined with a teacher shortage and low pay.

Detroit Public Schools spokeswoman Michelle Zdrodowski said in a statement that Earley has worked to make the system more financially secure. “Mr. Earley remains focused on preparing DPS for long-term financial sustainability and a return to some form of local control,” she added.

Earley said in a statement this week that plans to address building disrepair are part of a financial investment proposal before the legislature. He did not immediately return a Black Michigan lawmakers demand that Rick Snyder fire Detroit school system appointee:

CHARTER SCHOOL CRIME WATCH: ReNEW Sci Tech used special-ed designation for cash, state report finds | The Lens

ReNEW Sci Tech used special-ed designation for cash, state report finds | The Lens:

ReNEW Sci Tech used special-ed designation for cash, state report finds

ReNEW SciTech Academy violated special education law, robbing some students of special education services, and also committed state testing violations last school year, according to a state-issued report released Friday afternoon.

The improprieties have put the organization at risk of losing its six schools if it doesn’t meet the state’s specific reform goals by mid summer.

In short, the leaders of the school said some students needed extra help, which comes with extra money in the state formula. But they then didn’t provide those students with the benefits, using the money instead to shore up a $300,000 budgeting problem.

The Lens first reported trouble at the 750-student elementary school on June 1, days after two SciTech leaders abruptly resignedamid questions over testing procedures.

The Louisiana Department of Education began an investigation into the school shortly thereafter, and over the course of six months, made four primary findings. The department found ReNEW SciTech fraudulently obtained funds, failed to comply with many aspects of federal IDEA law, and violated testing procedure in the 2014-15 school year. The department also found ReNEW’s internal processes failed to identify and address the violations.

The school received its charter through the Recovery School District. Patrick Dobard, the superintendent who leads that district, said the department did not find that the violations were systemic across the ReNEW network.

The network is now under a corrective action plan that includes providing make-up special education services to dozens of students who did not receive appropriate instruction last year.

The report states SciTech school leaders inflated the amount and type of services those students needed, in an effort to bring in ReNEW Sci Tech used special-ed designation for cash, state report finds | The Lens:

Stakes are high for a teacher/parent fighting for better conditions in Detroit Public Schools - The Hechinger Report

Stakes are high for a teacher/parent fighting for better conditions in Detroit Public Schools - The Hechinger Report:

Stakes are high for a teacher/parent fighting for better conditions in Detroit Public Schools

Teacher who commutes to one of nation’s worst districts explains why she sends her kids to DPS schools and why she participated in sick out

Detroit Public School teacher Alise Anaya drives children Victor, 10, and Analise, 8, to a public school in Southwest Detroit from their home in a nearby suburb. Photo: Erin Einhorn

Thousands of people have fled the Detroit public schools, but Alise Anaya decides every day to do the opposite, commuting from the suburbs to teach in one city school and drop her children off at another.

It’s a surprising choice. Anaya grew up in Southwest Detroit, but many of the families she was raised alongside have left the city’s public schools in part because of conditions like those Anaya and hundreds of her colleagues have highlighted in a recent series of protests and sickouts — dead rodents, rotting floors and overcrowded classrooms.

The sickouts have shuttered dozens of schools on several days this month including on Jan. 20 – the day President Obama was in town – when 88 of the city’s 100 schools were closed. The teacher’s union took their complaints even further on Thursday, filing suit against the district to demand building repairs and the removal of the state-appointed emergency manager who runs the system.

The teacher’s frustrations reflect the alarming realities of a district struggling to survive after losing the bulk of its students. As Detroit’s population has plummeted and its schools have faced new competition from suburban and charter schools, the city’s public schools have gone from educating nearly 300,000 students in 1966 to just under 48,000 today. The district now carries an estimated $515 million dollars of debt.

And families are not the only ones leaving. Many of Detroit’s teachers have left, too, in search of better pay and cleaner, safer conditions in charter schools or the suburbs.

But Anaya, 32, is among those who’ve doubled down. Not only has she remained committed to the school system where she and her mother have both taught for years, she has chosen Detroit schools for her own kids, driving them in every morning from her home in suburban Allen Park.

Her son, Victor, 10 and daughter Analise, 8, attend the Academy of the Americas in Southwest Detroit, where classes are taught in both English and Spanish. Anaya teaches English as a Second Language Stakes are high for a teacher/parent fighting for better conditions in Detroit Public Schools - The Hechinger Report:

Latino students, parents should beware school choice ‘panacea’ #SCW – Cloaking Inequity

Latino students, parents should beware school choice ‘panacea’ #SCW – Cloaking Inequity:

Latino students, parents should beware school choice ‘panacea’ #SCW

The wealthy have poured millions of dollars into “school choice” causes over the last decade. Under the mantra of civil rights, billionaires such as Eli Broad, Bill Gates, the Koch Brothers and the powerful corporate-funded lobby group the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) are using venture philanthropy and the political process to press for top-down neoliberal school reforms focused on private control and privatization in the United States. Recently, the Koch brothers and others have targeted their millions on the Latino community via Libre.

Libre was founded in 2011 and claims to be a “non-partisan, non-profit grassroots organization that advances the principles and values of economic freedom to empower the U.S. Hispanic community.” Media Matters reported that Libre’s senior staff are almost all Republican Party campaign veterans and has been backed over $10 Million in Koch funding— suggesting that Libre is neither non-partisan nor grassroots.

In their op-eds placed in newspapers in states where the Latino population is substantial, Libre representatives make simplistic— yet convincing— claims about the benefits of school “choice” for underserved communities of color. The predominance of the peer-reviewed literature does not support the grandiose claims that Libre makes and instead demonstrates that school choice, on average, does not produce the equity, social justice or student success that proponents spin.

No one is claiming that there are not examples of high quality charter schools or traditional neighborhood schools. However, several decades ofpeer-reviewed charter school and voucher research have demonstrated that choice is not a panacea. In fact, school choice has in many ways Latino students, parents should beware school choice ‘panacea’ #SCW – Cloaking Inequity:

Teacher of the Year :America really doesn’t care what happens to poor people and most black people

Matt Driscoll: The uncomfortable truth of Nathan Gibbs-Bowling | The News Tribune:

Matt Driscoll: The uncomfortable truth of Nathan Gibbs-Bowling

Nathan Gibbs-Bowling, a teacher at Lincoln High School, was named Washington State Teacher of the Year in 2015.David Montesino dmontesino@thenewstribune.com

Read more here: http://www.thenewstribune.com/news/local/news-columns-blogs/matt-driscoll/article56911033.html#storylink=cpy

Nathan Gibbs-Bowling is kind of a big deal right now.

An advanced-placement government and human geography teacher at Tacoma’s Lincoln High School, he’s the most recent recipient of the state Teacher of the Year award and one of four finalists for 2016 National Teacher of the Year.

Matt Driscoll staff File

When China’s President Xi Jinping visited Lincoln in September, it was Gibbs-Bowling and his students who helped roll out the welcome mat.

The young, black education leader is on the cover of the most recent South Sound Magazine. He’s also been prominently featured in this paper four times in the last few months. And when the latest issue of my Evergreen State College alumni magazine arrived in the mail, there he was — the 2004 and 2006 graduate highlighted for all his accomplishments.

But this week, it’s just over 1,000 words on his typically under-the-radar blog — A Teacher’s Evolving Mind — that really has people talking.

“I want to tell you a secret,” the post, which went online Sunday, begins. “America really doesn’t care what happens to poor people and most black people.

“There I said it.”

He sure did. Call it his Kanye West moment.

Gibbs-Bowling’s post, which he tells me he pounded out on the flight home from a Teachers of the Year conference in San Antonio last weekend, can be broken down into two main points, both of them worth discussion and thought. That’s especially true for a family like mine, who lives on Hilltop but, despite reservations, sends our daughter to school in the North End.

“As a nation, we’re nibbling around the edges with accountability measures and other reforms, but we’re ignoring the immutable core issue,” he writes, contending that talk of things such as “teaching evaluations, charter schools, test refusal, and (fights over) Common Core,” distract from a much larger societal problem that we’re content to ignore.

“Much of white and wealthy America is perfectly happy with segregated schools and inequity in funding,” he continues. “We have the schools we have, because people who can afford better get better.”

It’s a reality Gibbs-Bowling says his pessimistic side fears is too deep and entrenched to change. After all, he contends, nationally the political will simply doesn’t exist for radical moves toward full integration, or busing, or the redrawing of school or district boundaries so poorer students of color can attend school in wealthy, predominantly white enclaves. While he says the Tacoma School District is doing “a better job than most” when it comes to paying attention to “what’s happening on this end of town,” what he sees in places such as Detroit, Chicago and even south Seattle helped push him over the edge.

In response, he writes, he’s dedicating himself to a goal he believes he can help attain — a goal he believes can change the lives of students in the neighborhoods and school districts across the country that white flight has forsaken.

And it’s something he knows a little bit about.

“If you ain’t talking about the teacher in the classroom, I ain’t listening,” he writes, arguing for national policies and incentives that help keep our best teachers where they can do the most good: in our neediest schools.

“Better teaching is the one thing we never really talk about,” the blog continues. “Better teaching is the only mechanism we have left.”

All that’s missing from the post is a mic drop, but perhaps it’s implied.

“I’m overwhelmed,” Gibbs-Bowling told me by phone Tuesday of the growing reaction, which by Monday included a write-up on the Washington Post’s website, invitations from the New York Observer and The Guardian to run similar pieces or excerpts from the original and over 300 new Twitter followers.

“Foresight’s not really my thing,” he says, admitting that he didn’t see the buzz around theMatt Driscoll: The uncomfortable truth of Nathan Gibbs-Bowling | The News Tribune:

Read more here: http://www.thenewstribune.com/news/local/news-columns-blogs/matt-driscoll/article56911033.html#storylink=cpy

Read more here: http://www.thenewstribune.com/news/local/news-columns-blogs/matt-driscoll/article56911033.html#storylink=cpy