Big Education Ape

Saturday, July 16, 2016

Keeping retirement weird. Trumpence a bag. | Fred Klonsky

Keeping retirement weird. Trumpence a bag. | Fred Klonsky:

Keeping retirement weird. Trumpence a bag.

Mary Poppins sings Trumpence a Bag.

Recent polls show Donald Trump polling zero among African Americans.

He could be getting less than zero, if you count the margin of error. The poll suggests that not one African American in all of Ohio and Pennsylvania will admit that they are voting for Trump.

Indiana Governor Mike Pence is not positioned to improve on those numbers. What Pence brings to the ticket is the anger of retirees. Anger at Pence. See, Pence’s record in Congress is one of voting against Social Security and Medicare.

He calls them entitlements.

Entitlements is one of those loaded words that makes it seem as if we are getting a freebie.

The Alliance for Retired Americans is just one of the organizations who this week did a spit take when Trump finally, finally, finally decided on Pence.

The ARA gives Pence a 22% rating. They consider him anti-senior.

The good news for Trump is that Pence’s rating isn’t zero.

The conventional wisdom is that old angry white guys are Trump’s core constituency.

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Pension activists. Here you have (from left) Bob Zahniser, John Dillon, Bob Lyons, this blogger and Glen Brown celebrating the first anniversary of the Illinois Supreme Court’s broad ruling in defense of the constitution’s pension protection clause. Missing from the photo is Ken Previti. He lives in Florida.

There are many others missing from this photo as Keeping retirement weird. Trumpence a bag. | Fred Klonsky:

"Islands" That Separate Education Haves From Have-Nots : NPR Ed : NPR

"Islands" That Separate Education Haves From Have-Nots : NPR Ed : NPR:

"Islands" That Separate Education Haves From Have-Nots

A close look at New Jersey's school districts shows "island" districts with higher levels of poverty than the surrounding districts. EdBuild

The school district of Freehold Borough, N.J., has a 32 percent poverty rate. It is fully surrounded by another school district, Freehold Township, which has a 5 percent poverty rate.

Freehold Borough is what a new report calls an "island district" — and it's not alone. The report, from a nonprofit called EdBuild, maps 180 of these islands around the country: Districts that, by historical accident or for political reasons, lie completely inside other systems with a disparate poverty rate and often different funding levels.

And that can correlate with very different outcomes for students — something educators in Freehold Borough have long struggled with.

"Surrounding communities are able to provide a better education than we are," says Rocco Tomazic, superintendent of the K-8 district. "It's not supposed to be that way per the state constitution."

Source: Education Week, U.S. Census Bureau

SCHOOL MONEY

Why America's Schools Have A Money Problem

As we noted in our School Money project, around half of school funding in the U.S., on average, comes from local property taxes. That means districts with high poverty often struggle with limited resources, a one-two punch.

"We have a mismatch between the way we're funding schools and what we're expecting schools to deliver," says Rebecca Sibilia, the founder and CEO of EdBuild, which focuses on school finance.

Though they are rare, Sibilia argues that these island districts serve as vivid examples of a larger pattern that holds true in many places throughout the country: The resources available to your local public school may depend on your zip code, or sometimes even your specific address at birth.

In the late 19th century, New Jersey passed a series of laws to allow town centers to incorporate as "boroughs." These are separate from surrounding townships, with separate governments, separate tax bases and separate school districts.

Drawing those lines would prove fateful in Freehold. Back then, Tomazic says, townships tended to be agricultural and boroughs were more prosperous. Today, he adds, his small urban district has many county buildings, which don't pay taxes, and more existing density compared with the surrounding township, which makes it harder to build more housing to generate property taxes.

"We have surrounding communities that spend $22,000 per student and we're spending $11,600," Tomazic says.

Freehold Borough has seen a recent surge of students due to immigration, even as state aid has been held flat for the past three years. It must pay rent to its more "Islands" That Separate Education Haves From Have-Nots : NPR Ed : NPR:

Mississippi’s Charter School Funding Challenged in Court | deutsch29

Mississippi’s Charter School Funding Challenged in Court | deutsch29:

Mississippi’s Charter School Funding Challenged in Court

Charter Schools - Dividing Communities since 1991

On July 11, 2016, the Southern Poverty Law Center backed a lawsuit by several parents (also on behalf of their children) against Mississippi Governor Phil Bryant, the Mississippi Department of Education, and the Jackson Public School District; the suit challenges the constitutionality of using ad valorem tax money and per-pupil funding to fiscally support charter schools in Mississippi (as per the Charter Schools Act of 2013, or CSA).

The gist of the suit involves giving public money to schools that are not overseen by the state and district. An excerpt from the suit:

Section 206 of the Mississippi Constitution provides that a school district’s ad valorem taxes may only be used for the district to maintain its own schools. Under the CSA, public school districts must share ad valorem revenue with charter schools that they do not control or supervise. Therefore, the local funding stream of the CSA is unconstitutional.
Section 208 of the Mississippi Constitution forbids the Legislature from appropriating money to any school that is not operating as a “free school.” A “free school” is not merely a school that charges no tuition; it must also be regulated by the State Superintendent of Education and the local school district superintendent. Charter schools– which are not under the control of the State Board of Education, the State Superintendent of Education, the Mississippi Department of Education, the local school district superintendent, or the local school district– are not “free schools.” Accordingly, the state funding provision of the CSA is unconstitutional. …
The CSA heralds a financial cataclysm for public school districts across the state. … The future is clear: as a direct result of the unconstitutional CSA funding provisions, traditional public schools will have fewer teachers, books, and educational resources.

The suit refers to three charter schools already open in Jackson and an additional 14 planning to open– with 11 of the 14 intending to set up shop in Jackson.

The CSA language is clear in its intent that the “money should follow the child,” so to speak, with the state department of education being directed to pay the charter schools “for each student in average daily attendance at the charter school equal to the state share of the adequate education program payments for each student in daily average attendance at the school district in which the charter school is located.” Mississippi’s Charter School Funding Challenged in Court | deutsch29:

Big Education Ape: SPLC lawsuit: Mississippi charter school funding violates state constitution | Southern Poverty Law Center - http://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2016/07/splc-lawsuit-mississippi-charter-school.html

Big Education Ape: In Southern schools, segregation and inequality aren’t just history -- they’re reality | PBS NewsHour - http://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2016/06/in-southern-schools-segregation-and.html

Big Education Ape: After Being Ordered To Consolidate, District Argues It Would Create White Flight | ThinkProgress - http://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2016/07/after-being-ordered-to-consolidate.html

Russ on Reading: Five Ways to Fight Summer Reading Loss

Russ on Reading: Five Ways to Fight Summer Reading Loss:

Five Ways to Fight Summer Reading Loss

I am sitting at my computer this morning looking outside at an absolutely sweltering mid-July day in southeastern Pennsylvania. The weather people are warning us that the combination of heat and humidity makes it dangerous to go outside. So, I am thinking that this is a great opportunity to keep the kids inside and have a family reading day (and for me to avoid the needed garden work).

These days most elementary schools provide dedicated in class time for kids to read from books they have selected because of their interests and reading abilities. Unfortunately, for many kids summer is not a time when books are readily accessible or reading time a part of a daily routine. This lack of practice in reading often leads to a phenomenon that reading researchers call summer reading loss or summer reading setback. Kids who don't read over the summer, lose reading gains they made over the school year.

There is plenty of research documenting summer reading loss and you can access some of it here and here. Not surprisingly, summer reading loss impacts children in low income families more than in middle income and high income families. While there is less research on how to combat summer loss, there are some common sense ways that parents and teachers can use to help fight summer loss.

Give Access to Books

When kids have access to books that they want to read and that they can read, their reading improves. There is actually some good research to demonstrate this. In many lower income families access to books is limited. In order to combat summer loss we must get books in kids hands. Schools can play a role in this. Research has shown that just getting high interest books in the homes of low income children can make a difference in summer loss. Simply by giving kids books to take home at the end of the school year, schools can make a difference. Different schools have found Russ on Reading: Five Ways to Fight Summer Reading Loss:

A Teacher in LAUSD Explains the Affair Rafe Esquith | Diane Ravitch's blog

A Teacher in LAUSD Explains the Affair Rafe Esquith | Diane Ravitch's blog:

A Teacher in LAUSD Explains the Affair Rafe Esquith

A 20-year veteran of the Los Angeles public school district, who is also NBCT, explains the Rafe Esquith situation here. The writer has the nom de plume of Geronimo. I know who he is; I have met him. But I am not telling.

ON RAFE ESQUITH’S SUIT AGAINST LAUSD

Education has been on trial for a long time in Los Angeles.

We have seen it in many forms, most notably in how business interests in education trump pedagogical interests on many fronts…corporate technology, standardized testing, Charter Schools and billionaire influence on public policy.

The Los Angeles Unified School District is misnamed. It is not a “unified” entity. It can be divided in two using hoary Edu-Marxism (apologies, but I beg your indulgence!). There is the 1% at the top of the District apparatus (or apparatchiks) who control and set policy and then there are the actual educators who are supposed to be the reason for the season–but have been demonized by the structure that ostensibly is supposed to support their efforts.

On Wednesday, a Los Angeles Superior Court judge Wednesday denied LAUSD request to dismiss a defamation lawsuit brought by the internationally renowned fifth-grade teacher Rafe Esquith, whom they fired last October.

A veteran of the district for over 30 years, Esquith filed the defamation lawsuit against the district in August after he was placed on paid leave and assigned to “teacher jail” pending an internal investigation after a fellow teacher complained that Esquith made a joke about nudity in front of his students in regards to the production of “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” the students were performing.

Huck Finn began the entire sorry process that led to Esquith’s dismissal and the current class action suit against LAUSD; it is a top level farce that Twain would have ridiculed in his day but would not have been the least surprised about.

It is most helpful to think about the people who actually run LAUSD as proprietors of a brand that should be called LAUSD, Inc.

LAUSD, Inc. is not interested in good teaching. It is not interested in good pedagogy. It is not interested in what inspires students to want to learn.

LAUSD, Inc. is interested only in LAUSD, Inc. itself.

LAUSD Inc’s greatest concern is for its brand. The apparatus set up in LAUSD headquarters functions only to propagate a self-serving system. In Ken Kesey’s famous “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest”, Chief, the deaf-mute Indian narrator, calls this system “The Combine.” Not that many of the people who run LAUSD have actually read that novel, but their day-to-day priorities are very different from what Education SHOULD and COULD be; it is much more mundane–the business of Education is the Business of education.

Alas, I also can not say with any confidence that many of the District’s top brass have actually read America’s most famous novel, Mark Twain’s “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn”–the literature that got him into trouble in the first place. They would insist that it wasn’t part of their job description and irrelevant to their duties.

Without going down the rabbit hole of all the anti-education, anti-teacher, anti-student policies that LAUSD, Inc. has championed over the years, let us examine this one emblematic case that sort of sums up all that is wrong with how education is viewed by the LAUSD Corporation.

Rafe Esquith’s case should give people who are interested AND vested in true, meaningful education great pause.

Depressing as this telling fact is, I will not go into how completely unsurprising that not any single District Big Shot ever could make it down to Hobart Elementary School to watch Esquith’s magic in action. The author of many acclaimed bestselling books on teaching and an A Teacher in LAUSD Explains the Affair Rafe Esquith | Diane Ravitch's blog:

Illinois high school PARCC testing violated federal law, Education Department says - Chicago Tribune

Illinois high school PARCC testing violated federal law, Education Department says - Chicago Tribune:

Illinois high school PARCC testing violated federal law, Education Department says

linois' move to get rid of a hodgepodge of high school PARCC exams and give a college entrance exam to 11th-graders was praised by educators who had pushed for change and felt their voices were heard.

But new details show there was more to the story: The testing decision announced Monday came after the U.S. Department of Education determined that Illinois had run afoul of federal law and threatened to withhold federal education dollars because of the controversial way the state tested high school students in 2015 and 2016, records show.

Not all high school students were given the same state exams in reading and math, and the Tribune reported earlier this year that some students were left off the testing rosters, including kids in special education, limited English and even gifted and honors classes.

In April, the USDE placed Illinois in what the agency calls "high-risk status" for not complying with federal testing requirements, according to correspondence provided to the Tribune Friday by the Illinois State Board of Education. That status jeopardizes student poverty-related funds that states receive from the federal government.

"My decision to place Illinois on 'high-risk' status was based on the fact that Illinois did not administer the same assessment to all high school students," said USDE official Ann Whalen in a June 14 letter.

"This ... resulted in districts throughout Illinois holding high school students to different academic content and achievement standards in reading/language arts and mathematics ... based solely on their zip code, and afforded inconsistent information to parents and the public about student achievement among districts in Illinois."

The testing problem is not related to the PARCC test given to students in grades 3-8.

Federal law requires that states give reading and math exams at least once in high school, and beginning in 2014-15, Illinois launched PARCC, short for the Partnership for Assessment in Readiness for College and Careers.

PARCC is a Common Core based exam that focuses on critical thinking and problem-solving and is designed to prepare students for college and work. Test scores have been dismal and the state tests have drawn opposition from families who questioned the amount of testing at school — part of a national movement Illinois high school PARCC testing violated federal law, Education Department says - Chicago Tribune:

What California Kids Will Learn About LGBT History | TakePart

What California Kids Will Learn About LGBT History | TakePart:

What California Kids Will Learn About LGBT History

The Golden State is the first in the nation to include prominent LGBT facts and figures in its public school curriculum.

Along with learning how to add two-digit numbers and construct intelligible sentences, second graders in the state of California will soon learn about all kinds of family structures—including those with gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender parents.

This week, the California Board of Education unanimously approved a history and social studies curriculum that includes prominent LGBT figures and milestones—from the Stonewall riots of 1969 to the legalization of same-sex marriage in 2015—for public school students.

“An LGBT-inclusive curriculum helps create an environment where all students can thrive,” Rick Zbur, the executive director of Equality California, said Thursday in a press release. Zbur noted that LGBT students face higher rates of bullying and depressionthan do other kids. “By seeing themselves reflected in lessons and materials, students’ experiences are validated and their sense of self-worth reinforced, creating the opportunity for students to be able to achieve academically,” he said.

In the new curriculum, LGBT milestones will pop up in history and social studies lessons multiple times throughout elementary, middle, and high school. After the initial introduction about diverse families, fourth-grade students will learn about the emergence of gay rights advocacy groups in the 1950s and one of the nation’s first openly gay public officials, Harvey Milk. In eighth grade, students will learn about traditional gender norms and groups that rebelled against them when settling out West in the first half of the 20th century.

A more in-depth analysis comes junior year of high school, with a history curriculum that looks at attempts to weed out gay and lesbian service members from the military; surveillance of suspected gay and lesbian government officials in the 1950s; and police raids on gay bars in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and New York City in the 1960s. Students will also learn about the U.S. Supreme Court decision to legalize same-sex marriage in 2015.

The changes to the state syllabi have been a long time coming. Equality California cosponsored the Fair, Accurate, Inclusive, and Respectful (FAIR) Education Act, which was signed into law in 2012. Its implementation lagged as conservatives argued that it should be each family’s choice if and how they teach their children about the LGBT rights movement.

Those complaints appear to have fallen silent. During an hours-long public forum this week, several families and educators objected to the ways religious groups were presented in the proposed educational plans, The Associated Press reports. No one protested the inclusion of the history of LGBT rights.What California Kids Will Learn About LGBT History | TakePart:

Education board in California include richer content on ancient India and Hinduism for the first time | India Live Today

Education board in California include richer content on ancient India and Hinduism for the first time | India Live Today:

Education board in California include richer content on ancient India and Hinduism for the first time

Washington, July 16: Education board in California in the US has approved a new school curriculum framework which will include richer content on ancient India and Hinduism for the first time and remove text inaccurately depicting Islam.

The framework, which will update and upgrade history and social science instruction in California, was developed over a period of last two years went through several rounds of public hearings and saw many controversies including the push by a group of top academics to rename ancient India with South Asia.
Much to the disappointment of a section of academicians, theboard decided in favour of India.

“While much needs to be done to bring content on Hinduism and Indian civilisation on par with other religions and civilisations, we believe that great progress has been made in the last two years,” said Sandeep Dedage, director, Hindu Education Foundation USA, expressing satisfaction over the completion of the process.

The framework now has mention of Vedic sages, Hindu teachings and philosophy, bhakti saints, music, dance, art and scientific contributions of India.

Ahead of the final hearing, Congressman Tulsi Gabbard and California Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsom batted for their causes.

The State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson in a separate statement said the new framework will improve the teaching and learning of history and social science.

“It will give our students access to the latest historical research and help them learn about the diversity of our state and the contributions of people and groups who may not have received the appropriate recognition in the past,” he said.

In addition, information was added about financial literacy; voter education; genocide; and the contributions of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) Americans and people with disabilities to the history of California and the United States, the California Department of Education said.

Many topics in the Framework sparked spirited debates, including “comfort women” in World War II, the Bataan Death March and the Battle of Manila, the roles of LGBT Americans in US and California history, the Armenian Genocide and discrimination faced by Sikh Americans, it said.

The move by a group academician to replace India with South Asia generated heated discussion among various sections and was vehemently opposed by Hindu Americans.

“We have a long way to go. But we are on our way to a bright future for a more equitable representation of Hinduism in California textbooks,” Barbara McGraw, convener of the Social Sciences and Religion Faculty Group.

While Hindu-Americans can rightly claim victory on many fronts, Hindu American Foundation senior director Samir Kalra voiced disappointment that the board was not swayed to make even a few more changes requested by Hindus.

“The board showed much sensitivity to activists representing Islam and Muslims, by adjusting the frameworks slightly to show the religion in a more positive light.”

Kalra went on to note, however, “We only wish they had shown the same empathy when discussing further changes on the presentation of Hinduism.
On the other hand, the South Asian Histories for All

(SAHFA), a multi-faith and inter-caste coalition of 8 religions and 25 organisations across California and the US, celebrated significant improvements to California’s new history and social science textbook curriculum.

The group said that despite some opposition from Hindutva groups, it managed to convince the board on several key issues.

These include the word “Dalit” is used to describe communities formerly known as “Untouchable”, caste is depicted as both a religious and social/cultural practice, caste is described as being based on birth, rather than professional ability and the Indus Valley Civilization will not be renamed “Saraswati”.

“In retaining the term ancient India, the text now defines at the start that ancient India is shorthand for the full list of nations in modern South Asia,” SAHFA said.

Muslim community groups appreciated that the B]board corrected three of the five major errors.

For example, the board decided to remove text inaccurately depicting Islam as an inherently war-mongering religion.Education board in California include richer content on ancient India and Hinduism for the first time | India Live Today:

State lawmakers suspend charter school law reform - The Philadelphia Tribune

State lawmakers suspend charter school law reform - The Philadelphia Tribune: News:

State lawmakers suspend charter school law reform

Charter school advocates will wait out the summer before renewing efforts to add new layers of transparency and accountability for the privately run, publicly funded schools.

Charter school alliances across the commonwealth blamed hard-ball politics and stalling tactics for delays in reforming how charter schools operate, including new mechanisms for oversight, monitoring, appeals process and criteria for public education dollars. The charter school bill was intended as a part of an approved state budget before both sides agreed to postpone talks on charter school reform until after the summer recess.

Pennsylvania’s Republicans wanted more avenues for charter school expansions, especially in the Philadelphia public school system, which is slowly recovering from a major budget crisis. Legislation stalled when Democrat Gov. Tom Wolf and Democratic state Sen. Vincent Hughes, who represents Philadelphia County and part of Montgomery County, opposed it.

Robert Fayfich, executive director of the Pennsylvania Coalition of Public Charter Schools, believes there was strong push-back from the leadership in Philadelphia public schools, which serves in the role of authorizing quality charter schools.

“There was some language regarding enrollment caps,” Fayfich said. “The school district wanted unilateral control and charter schools say no, it’s inconsistent with state law.”

In a statement released by the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers union, union President Jerry Jordan called the legislation, “a very problematic piece of pro-charter school legislation” because it would essentially compromise the school district’s authority to limit charter school growth and weaken its ability to manage its budget.”

“Passage of HB 530 would have given charter school companies even more freedom to expand,” Jordan said. “PFT members have first-hand knowledge of how charter school growth has resulted in fewer resources for their students. That’s why, when HB 530 was introduced, thousands of educators wrote or called their state legislators and urged them to vote no.”

The legislation includes auditing and accountability provisions advocates have wanted for years and it would clear the way for a 10-year charter school renewal and allow multiple campuses to merge under governance of a single board, according to PennCAN, which advocates for research-based reform and school choice.

A statement released last week by the Pennsylvania Coalition of Public Charter School laid blame on politics in Harrisburg.

“The contentions that HB 530 would allow any charter to unilaterally expand or make changes to its charter or that the legislation would loosen enrollment cap limits are simply not true, and have been created as a distraction State lawmakers suspend charter school law reform - The Philadelphia Tribune: News:

Big Education Ape: 20 reasons to vote no on Pa. HB 530 charter school reform STOP #hb1606! #phled #pabudget #hb530 - http://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2016/07/20-reasons-to-vote-no-on-pa-hb-530.html

Fethullah Gulen: The Islamic scholar Turkey blames for the failed coup - The Washington Post

Fethullah Gulen: The Islamic scholar Turkey blames for the failed coup - The Washington Post:

Fethullah Gulen: The Islamic scholar Turkey blames for the failed coup

The man that Turkey’s leaders have blamed for a failed coup attempt by a group of army officers is an Islamic scholar named Fethullah Gulen, who lives in self-imposed exile in Pennsylvania and who has inspired a network said to include more than 160 charter schools in the United States.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says that the coup attempt on Friday was the work of army officers who are followers of Gulen, who had once been an ally but whose movement has become critical of the increasingly authoritarian regime.

The Gulen movement denied involvement in the coup, but Secretary of State John F. Kerry on Saturday was quoted as saying the United States would support investigations to determine who instigated the attempted coup and where its support originates. He said he anticipates questions will be raised about Gulen.

[Turkey foils bloody coup attempt, closes in on remnants of renegade forces]

Although Gulen lives on a secluded compound in Pennsylvania, he has maintained influence in Turkey through followers in the judiciary and police. Turkish media reported Saturday that 2,745 judges had been removed because of suspicions they have links to the Gulen movement.

His followers have also opened many private schools around the globe, including more than 160 science, math and technology-focused public charter schools with different names in numerous states around this country.

The publicly funded charter schools — unofficially known as the Gulen charter — are believed to be operated by people, usually Turks, in or associated with the Gulen movement. Among the leading schools in the network are the Harmony schools in Texas, which have won millions of dollars in grants from the U.S. government and are among the highest-achieving in their communities. (There is also a Harmony charter school in Washington D.C.)

These schools deny any relationship to Gulen — who is said to adhere to a moderate form of Islam — and the movement denies any relationship to the schools. But Sharon Higgins, an independent researcher on the Gulen movement who has written extensively about it, has said that it is common for officials at the charter schools to deny any connection. She said there are more than 160 Gulen-inspired charters in the country now, making it one of the biggest U.S. charter school networks.

The charter schools have sparked controversy over the years, with accusations that the Turkish Fethullah Gulen: The Islamic scholar Turkey blames for the failed coup - The Washington Post:

Big Education Ape: Coup in Turkey: Is Fetullah Gulen Behind It? | Diane Ravitch's blog - http://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2016/07/coup-in-turkey-is-fetullah-gulen-behind.html

Big Education Ape: KILLING ED: 120 American Charter Schools and One Secretive Turkish Cleric -http://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2016/01/killing-ed-120-american-charter-schools.html

Big Education Ape: Update: Gulen Harmony charter school network accused of bias and self-dealing Dallas Morning News - http://go.shr.lc/1qV85Hm

Big Education Ape: Turkey Links Texas Charter Schools to Dissident - WSJ - http://go.shr.lc/1OW1ZfV

Big Education Ape: Magnolia Science Academy - A Gulen Charter School: Gulen Magnolia Science Academy links discussed at LAUSD board meeting -http://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2016/06/magnolia-science-academy-gulen-charter.html

Friday, July 15, 2016

Coup in Turkey: Is Fetullah Gulen Behind It? | Diane Ravitch's blog

Coup in Turkey: Is Fetullah Gulen Behind It? | Diane Ravitch's blog:

Coup in Turkey: Is Fetullah Gulen Behind It?

The news channels report that there is a military coup underway in Turkey.

The prime minister accuses Fetullah Gulen of staging the coup “from Pennsylvania.

Gulen sponsors one of the biggest charter chains in the U.S. and is one of the biggest recipients of HB-1 visas for Turkish teachers to staff his charter schools.

One report:

Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said Friday evening that an attempted military coup was underway. In Istanbul, bridges were immediately blocked and jets were flying low above the capital city of Ankara. Reports indicated that Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube were shut down in the country. Turkish TV showed footage of military tanks at Istanbul’s Atatürk International Airport, where suicide bombers killed more than 40 people last month. Additionally, gunfire was reportedly heard in Ankara.The Turkish Army said in a statement that it had taken over the government, however that does not mean the entire military participated in the coup attempt. “Turkish Armed Forces have completely taken over the administration of the country to reinstate constitutional order, human rights and freedoms, the rule of law and general security that was damaged,” the army said. “All international agreements are still valid. We hope that all of our good relationships with with all countries will continue.”The Turkish government denies those claims. Turkey’s justice minister says followers of a U.S. imam, Fethullah Gulen, are staging the coup. U.S. military officials seemed as surprised by the actions of their NATO partners as everyone else. A defense official told The Daily Beast: “We are watching events on television just like you are.”

Another.

Erdogan believes that the Gulenists are behind the coup.

Who knew that “public schools” would be backers of a coup in Turkey, a key ally?Coup in Turkey: Is Fetullah Gulen Behind It? | Diane Ravitch's blog:

Latest News and Comment from Education

Saturday, July 16, 2016

Keeping retirement weird. Trumpence a bag. | Fred Klonsky

"Islands" That Separate Education Haves From Have-Nots : NPR Ed : NPR

SCHOOL MONEY

Why America's Schools Have A Money Problem

Mississippi’s Charter School Funding Challenged in Court | deutsch29

Russ on Reading: Five Ways to Fight Summer Reading Loss

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A Parent's Guide to Public Education in the 21st Century

by Russ Walsh

A Parent's Guide to Public Education in the 21st Century is now available.

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