John Jackson Interview on SchoolHouse Podcast | Schott Foundation for Public Education

John Jackson Interview on SchoolHouse Podcast | Schott Foundation for Public Education:

John Jackson Interview on SchoolHouse Podcast

Schott President & CEO John H. Jackson was interviewed on a recent podcast on education organizing, the election, and what direction education justice movements should take over the next four years. Dr. Jackson was interviewed by Allison R. Brown, Executive Director of the Communities for Just Schools Fund for CJSF's SchoolHouse podcast.

The silver linings of the 2016 election were found at the state and local levels:

"What you saw in Georgia is voters voted to ensure that their educational systems are not void of a democratic process. They voted against the state’s desire to takeover several of the school districts across the state. In Massachusetts you saw voters push back an effort to increase the number of charter schools across the commonwealth. I think voters are in a place where they would like to see the state make substantive investments that are going to impact all students regardless of what type of school they exist within, but mainly those students that exist within the public educational system. And to your point we have seen that education is more of a bipartisan issue."

"I think voters are recognizing that you can’t have a broken economic system, you can’t have a broken health care system, and expect to have a highly effective educational system, all exist within the same ecosystem. I think its also important to note that voters do recognize that the public education system can work and that we have to invest in it so that it can work for all students. And that’s the major hurtle that many of the bond initiatives to increase resources, to increase taxes, were designed to do – to begin the types of supports so that regardless of where the student is located, regardless of what zip code the student lives within, that they will have the supports that will provide them a fair and substantive opportunity to learn."

The far right wants to dismantle the Federal Department of Education, but to do so would be an immense undertaking that isn't likely in the short-term.

"There is a long-term threat of perhaps losing the Department of Education. That threat I don't view as immediate, because even if you get rid of the Department of Education you would still have to identify where they're sending Title IX complaints, where they're sending the Civil Rights portion of the work the Department of Education does — how then do you provide the grant support that the Federal government provides to the states? Will that be block grants that the states receive directly every year? Who's going to administer that process? And then there's this thing called the student college loan system, where there's a trillion dollars of college loans that some institution is going to have to manage.

"We have to be able to map out, ‘what are some of the more immediate threats’ and what are some of the ways that we can push back those immediate threats. And what are the opportunities that exist? There are many opportunities at the state and local level, where we see individuals who are willing to make decisions on education who are not necessarily along party lines, but are looking at the value of the issue."

"To pull back and take a broader look: if you look at the history of the fight for justice, it has never been a linear track. It's always been three steps up, one step back. Two steps up, one step back. While we had emancipation, around the corner were Jim Crow laws. While we had Brown v. Board of Education, around the corner was the Bakke decision that said you can’t use race in higher education. While we’ve had opportunities to move legislation like the Civil Rights Act, like the Voting Rights Act, we also had the Reagan administration, which pushed back on that... I do think it's important that for this generation and generations to come, we put this struggle in context... It’s going to be our efforts during this season that determine how many steps back we take, and how many steps forward. And that’s where I’m hopeful, because we’re still in the game."

Listen to the entire podcast here:

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John Jackson Interview on SchoolHouse Podcast | Schott Foundation for Public Education:

Catch up with CURMUDGUCATION: Smarick: How It Could All Go Wrong + Book Banning and Gaslighting America

CURMUDGUCATION:

Catch up with CURMUDGUCATION: Smarick: How It Could All Go Wrong +   Book Banning and Gaslighting America

Smarick: How It Could All Go Wrong

4by Peter Greene / 2h

Regular readers know that Andy Smarick is on my short list of folks from The Other Side whose writing I generally respect. Smarick is often a thoughtful voice for what I think of as "old school conservatives" or "traditional conservatives" or even "real conservatives." And he's comfortable with nuance. None of which is to say that I don't totally disagree with him on many subjects. But he makes an

Book Banning and Gaslighting America

15by Peter Greene / 4h

Here we go again. A family in Virginia has apparently scared a school district into banning Huckleberry Finn and To Kill a Mockingbird . If you have been an English teacher for longer than a week, this is well-trod ground. American literature is a field full of land mines because American culture is a field full of land mines; as I tell my students every year, it is impossible to talk about Americ

DEC 01

Measuring Charter Success

12by Peter Greene / 1d

The charter business is going to boom soon. Let's imagine how we could become really successful in that industry. Let's imagine a world where schools are judged on how healthy their students are. And since overall health is a complicated metric, let's choose an easily-measured metric as a proxy. We'll say that the students' height will be the measure of student achievement. We'll start advertising

Unionizing Charters (PT. 3)

9by Peter Greene / 1d

So I've been working my way through the newly-launched conversation about how teacher unions and charter school fans could become BFFs. (Here are Part 1 , Part 2 , and a sort of Prelude ). After plowing through all that, I'm going to try to articulate what I think we're looking at and how I feel about it. The Need This is all in reaction to the Ascent of Herr Trump and his Secretary of Education-i

Unionizing Charters (PT. 2)

5by Peter Greene / 1d

As I noted in Part I, Peter Cunningham and others from the Why Of Course We're Liberal Democrats Who Support Charter Schools crowd have been trying to rustle up a new conversation about unions and charters and why they should be BFFs. This newly minted conversation has cropped up and there, but Ed Post has whipped a whole little flurry of discussion on its own millionaire-charter-lover-backed web

Unionizing Charters (PT. I)

7by Peter Greene / 1d

A curious conversation is unfolding over at Education Post, kicked off by this piece by Dirk Tillotson , founder and executive direct of Great Schools Choices, a charter advocacy group. It's a "provocative" piece simply because it is a charter fan writing in favor of unionizing charter work forces. Tillotson kicks off his conversation by using classic passive voice weaseling to get around a fundam

NOV 30

Revising Reform for Trumplandia

8by Peter Greene / 2d

If reformsters are good at anything, it's revising the narrative to match current conditions. They are masters of the retcon (a comics term referring to retroactively altering character continuity, like when Frank Miller introduced Elektra into Daredevil continuity and we suddenly learned that a character we had never heard about before had actually been-- oh, shut up. You're a nerd!). Anyway, ref

NOV 29

Slowing Down

26by Peter Greene / 3d

For the past several years, I have sometimes felt like Indiana Jones just a few feet in front of the damn giant boulder. This is not entirely the result of various education reforms. We've been through some changes locally, including but limited to some schedule changing that has resulted in slightly shorter periods, and some changes in staffing that have led to slightly larger classes. But of cou

Christmas Curmudgushopping

7by Peter Greene / 3d

If you want a little something for the fan of education blogging in your life (because don't we all know dozens of such people), I'm going to make a quick pitch here for Curmudgucation gear. It almost physically pains me to say "Hey, buy my stuff," but 1) helpful people keep telling me to build my brand and 2) I've got twins on the way. Here's a book! Featuring almost 100 hand-picked blog posts fr

NOV 28

Online Teaching Credentials

20by Peter Greene / 4d

Want to be a teacher, but just don't have the time or money to do all that, you know, college degree getting stuff? Well, you're in luck. Meet Teach-Now ! It's the Teach-Now Educatore difference (no, I didn't mistype "educator")! "Become certified to teach in virtually every subject, at virtually every level, in virtually every state" though it's more than that, because the company is internationa

FL: Testing Students Into Oblivion

300+by Peter Greene / 5d

Friday the Tampa Bay Times reported on a great new program being pursued by Pinellas County schools to raise school ratings. The program could best be described as "Just stop having school and devote your time to test prep instead." The article focuses on differences that are emerging between biweekly test results for 3-6 grade students and K-2 students. In doing so the article completely breezes

NOV 27

ICYMI: Post Turkey Edition (11/27)

12by Peter Greene / 6d

I briefly toyed with the idea of collecting all the articles that explain how awful Betsy DeVos will be as Secretary of Education, but it just made my computer sad, so I just picked a couple and selected some other pieces to help us all remember that there are other things to pay attention to. Higher Education in Pennsylvania 101 William Boggs in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette explains what some legi

How Bad Is DeVos? So Bad...

2Kby Peter Greene / 6d

The nomination of Betsy DeVos to the post of Secretary of Education is such a bad choice that we don't even have to talk about actual policy ideas to understand how unsuited she is for the position. Consider-- John King was a terrible choice for Secretary of Education. But John King has worked in a classroom with students and run a school, even if the classroom and school were charters. John King

NOV 26

Spotting Fakes and the Death of Reading

85by Peter Greene / 6d

I've looked once before at the Stanford study which found that students-- middle school, high school and college-- can't tell the difference between real news and advertisements, fake news, or just general detritus on line . The researchers themselves called the results shocking; that may be only becaus

CURMUDGUCATION:

National teachers’ union claims Trump’s action adds to ‘climate of fear’ • Caribbean Life

National teachers’ union claims Trump’s action adds to ‘climate of fear’ • Caribbean Life:

National teachers’ union claims Trump’s action adds to ‘climate of fear’

The president of the American Federation of Teachers, Randi Weingarten, says that, after a bitter campaign, and an election in which Donald Trump won the electoral vote but Hillary Clinton won the popular vote, “our nation remains deeply divided,” with the president-elect “only adding to the climate of fear.”

In an email message to members, Weingarten warned that “the division seems to be worsening,” stating that, in the 10 days immediately after the election, “the hateful rhetoric of the campaign has spread and even turned violent.”

Weingarten noted that in Trump’s victory speech and during his “60 Minutes” interview, he urged Americans to come together as one united people “to take on the challenges before us.

“But his actions tell a different story,” she said, adding that, by appointing Steve Bannon, Jeff Sessions and retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn — “three men with long and disturbing records of bigotry and racism — Trump is only adding to the climate of fear.

“It is our moral imperative to fight the normalization of hate, and while we will take actions in our schools, work sites and communities to protect our kids and fight bigotry and bullying, as so many of our members already have, Trump has a unique and moral responsibility to denounce these hateful and intimidating actions,” said Weingarten, disclosing that, last week, she sent Trump a letter signed by the AFT and the Southern Poverty Law Center calling on him to speak “clearly and loudly against the hate.” She said more than 100 groups, representing millions of people, have also signed the letter.

“In the months leading up to the election, Trump’s campaign rhetoric found an audience with those who would use our differences to divide us,” Weingarten said. “And in the days following the election, we have seen people — seemingly emboldened by his victory — committing harassment, vandalism, property destruction and even assault based on those differences.

“We know that millions of his supporters would never participate in these actions, but the campaign rhetoric has created an environment that enables and encourages those who wish to harm others,” she added.

Personally, Weingarten said she is “especially troubled by incidents taking place in schools and on college campuses—places where we do everything we can to ensure our children are safe and nurtured, and have the opportunity to grow and learn free of intimidation and hatred.

“But now we are hearing reports of disturbing behavior: children chanting ‘build the wall’ at their Latino classmates, Muslim students and educators harassed for their clothing, male students intimidating their female classmates, LGBTQ [lesbian, gay, bi-sexual, transgender and queer] kids threatened and harassed, and swastikas being painted on classroom doors,” she continued. “Many of these hateful acts have been carried out in his name. And while Trump may not condone this behavior, his silence gives tacit permission to those who carry out these acts.”

The teachers’ head that while Trump has said he will be the president for all Americans, “we ask that he keeps that promise by loudly, forcefully, unequivocally and consistently denouncing these acts and the ideology that drives them.

“We must all send a clear message that hate has no place in our public discourse, in our public policy or in our society, starting with our next president,” she said.National teachers’ union claims Trump’s action adds to ‘climate of fear’ • Caribbean Life:

AFT Pledges to Support Immigrants in Face of Trump Presidency

AFT Pledges to Support Immigrants in Face of Trump Presidency:

AFT Pledges to Support Immigrants in Face of Trump Presidency

In the wake of Donald Trump winning the presidency after a campaign that often targeted and scapegoated immigrants, Latinos and Muslims, the AFT has pledged to take concrete action to assist these groups, with a particular emphasis on assisting and defending undocumented students. AFT President Randi Weingarten said AFT will "do everything in our power to stop any kind of action against our immigrant families, our Muslim families, our Latino families and especially our undocumented students."

Specifically, she said that the AFT will:

• Support cities such as Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco and others as they reaffirm sanctuary status for immigrants and, in some cases, establish municipal ID programs to protect immigrants with no identification from being detained unnecessarily.
• Help members establish and maintain sanctuary status in schools, colleges and communities.
• Provide guidance and resources for teachers, staff and faculty to support and prepare undocumented students and their families for changes in immigration law—including basic "know your rights" advice on how to handle a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement raid and what to do if family members are detained.
• Provide lesson plans to address the social, emotional and mental health needs of all children and promote diversity and inclusion.
• Urge the government to reaffirm that children cannot be barred from enrolling in public schools based on their or their parents' immigration status.
• Participate in a national week of mobilization, education and action Jan. 9–14, spearheaded by United We Dream and other immigrant advocates, and in a day of action Jan. 19, organized with the Alliance to Reclaim Our Schools.

Read more.

 AFT Pledges to Support Immigrants in Face of Trump Presidency:

Truth Bomb: Democrats Need to Embrace Progressivism or Else Move Out of the Way | gadflyonthewallblog

Truth Bomb: Democrats Need to Embrace Progressivism or Else Move Out of the Way | gadflyonthewallblog:

Truth Bomb: Democrats Need to Embrace Progressivism or Else Move Out of the Way

“Democrats: Are we the party of the donor class or the working class? This is value clarification time. It’s now or never!”

–Nina Turner, former OH State Senator

Democrats, liberals and progressives of every stripe – you’re not going to want to hear this, but hear it you must.

We’ve gone around for too long thinking we’ve got all the answers, but obviously we don’t.

Hillary Clinton lost. Donald Trump won. There’s something seriously wrong with what we’ve been doing to get that kind of result.

There are some hard truths we’ve got to understand, that we’ve got to learn from. Hearing them may be painful. Many of us will fight against it. But we can’t keep fooling ourselves anymore. All that “hope” and “change” we’ve been waiting for – it has to start with us, first.
We’re stuck in a loop and we’ve got to break ourselves out of it. And the only way to get there is to break the track wide open.

It’s time to stop mourning.

Trump is President-elect.

Yeah, that sucks. Hard.

He’s going to protect us by enacting policies to hurt brown people. He’s going to make it harder to get healthcare. He’s going to trample the Constitution. He’s going to offer up our schools to private companies to do with as they please in secret using our tax dollars. He’s going to legitimize white nationalism and embolden racists, bigots, sexist, xenophobes, homophobes and every kind of hate group imaginable. He’s going to hand out tax cuts to his megarich campaign contributors and tax us with the loss of government services. He’s going to use the office as an opportunity to enrich himself and his billionaire buddies and then go on social media and tweet about how he’s fighting for working people.

I don’t like it any better than you. But it’s time to face it.

Sure, Clinton won the popular vote. Sure, there’s a recount going on in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. I’d love for it to overturn Trump’s victory. But I have zero confidence that it will. And I refuse to let it blind me to the urgent need for change.

The first thing we have to do is own up to one essential thing: Hillary Clinton was a bad candidate.

The people were crying out for a populist champion. We had one in Bernie Sanders. Truth Bomb: Democrats Need to Embrace Progressivism or Else Move Out of the Way | gadflyonthewallblog: