Monday Morning Latte with Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all

Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all:

Monday Morning Latte with Diane Ravitch's blog 

A site to discuss better education for all

NYSAPE Calls on Board of Regents to Remove Commissioner Elia

3by dianeravitch / 26min

NYSAPE, the New York State Alliance of Parents and Educators, is a coalition of 50 parent and educator groups across the state. The board of NYSAPE has called on the New York Board of Regents to demand the resignation of State Commissioner MaryEllen Elia. Here is the statement: “New Yorkers Call on the Board of Regents to Remove Commissioner MaryEllen Elia for Failure to Protect Children “For the

Secret Meeting between DeVos’ Brother and Putin Surrogate

12by dianeravitch / 1h

The Washington Post reports a secret meeting between Erik Prince–brother of Betsy DeVos and owner of private militia Blackwatwer–and a close ally of Putin, after the election, to develop a back-channel means of communicating. https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/blackwater-

Anti-Clinton Zealot Named to Head ED Office of Civil Rights

8by dianeravitch / 1h

Emma Brown of the Washington Post reports that Candice Jackson has been selected to lead the Office of Civil Rights in the U.S. Department of Education. Jackson, a lawyer, gained notoriety for attacking Hillary Clinton for defending a 

Beware the SAT and ACT: They Sell Confidential Student Data

3by dianeravitch / 30min

PSAT/SAT day is Wednesday April 5 this week in NY schools and many other public schools in states around the country. These exams are now required in at least 9 states, but are given in many more states and districts, including NYC. The College Board is unethically if not illegally amassing a huge amount of personal student information through the administration of these exams and selling it for

While Trump Tries to Revive Coal Power, Other Countries Turn to Solar Power

by dianeravitch / 30min

In Chile, solar power is the wave of the future. “On the solar farms of the Atacama Desert, the workers dress like astronauts. They wear bodysuits and wraparound sunglasses, with thick canvas headscarves to shield them from the radiation. “The sun is so intense and the air so dry that seemingly nothing survives. Across vast, rocky wastes blanched of color, there are no cactuses or other visible s

Sara Stevenson, Librarian, Corrects Wall Street Journal Choice Zealots

4by dianeravitch / 59min

If there is one issue where the WSJ is fanatical, it is school choice. It published an editorial this morning (behind a pay wall) declaring that all the recent negative studies of the effects of vouchers must be wrong, because the Milton Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice says so, and whatever the Friedman Foundation says on the subject of vouchers must be right. Right? Wrong! The Friedma

Vanity Fair: The Story Behind the Infamous Steele Dossier on the Trump-Putin Connection

by dianeravitch / 1h

Vanity Fair tells the inside story of the Steele dossier, the one that was taken seriously by the FBI and CIA and shared with the President and the President-Elect. Drip, drip, drip.

California: Legislators Press for Charter School Accountability, Transparency

by dianeravitch / 11min

Legislators in California have filed four bills that would hold charter schools to the same standards as public schools. http://www.utla.net/news/new-legislative-push-charter-school-accountability Expect powerful resistance from the California Charter School Association, which prefers no regulations at all, no accountability, total freedom to choose their students, to exclude the ones they don’t

Gary Rubinstein: Was There a NAEP Miracle in Louisiana?

by dianeravitch / 11min

Gary Rubinstein has a somewhat startling habit of insisting on accuracy. He gets very annoyed when educators or pseudo-educators make claims that are false or only half-true or embellishments. I have worked with him on several occasions 

Arizona: Legislators Want to Expand Vouchers, Despite Audit Showing Misspent Funds

4by dianeravitch / 52min

Arizona Republicans are renewing a drive to expand that state voucher program, despite a recent state audit reporting misspent funds and despite a survey showing that most voucher students are leaving high-performing schools in wealthy districts. In last year’s legislative races, Betsy DeVos’s lobbying group spent heavily to elect pro-voucher candidates, more than any other independent political

Conservatives Warn Trump Not to Make School Choice a Federal Program

6by dianeravitch / 1h

At a recent meeting at the Heritage Foundation, conservatives warned that federal control of school choice would be very dangerous. “A panel of education policy experts agree the Trump administration appears to be moving toward some form of federal management of school choice, but warns that attempts to influence school choice policy from Washington, D.C. could undermine the president’s stated go

Los Angeles Editotial: “Our Dishonest President,” Part 1

19by dianeravitch / 2h

The Los Angeles Times is publishing a series of editorials about Donald Trump. This is the first . It was published yesterday. It was no secret during the campaign that Donald Trump was a narcissist and a demagogue who used fear and dishonesty to appeal to the worst in American voters. The Times called him unprepared and unsuited for the job he was seeking, and said his election would be a “catas

YESTERDAY

When PBS Sold Airtime to Bill Gates to Promote the Common Core

100+by dianeravitch / 19h

After I posted the story about the forthcoming PBS Series called School Inc. , which promotes privatization, reflecting the views of the privatization movement, I shared the story with investigative journalist David Sirota. He recalled the time that his journalism compelled PBS to return millions of dollars to billionaire financier John Arnold for a program he funded about “the pension crisis.” A

David Kirp: With Great Public Schools Like This, Who Needs Charters?

35by dianeravitch / 20h

David Kirp, professor of public policy at Berkeley, often contributes articles to the New York Times about successful public schools and districts. His latest is a terrific article that you will enjoy about an innovative public school district in Oklahoma. At the Union Public Schools district in the eastern part of Tulsa, Okla., “more than a third of the students are Latino, many of them English

Help Florida Parents of Third Graders Fight for Their Children

97by dianeravitch / 21h

I just contributed $200 to this just cause. If we crowd source our support, parents in Florida can fight the unjust law that prevents their children from advancing to fourth grade unless they take and pass the state test. Children who opt out will be retained. Children who received all A’s all year will flunk. Support the parents fighting this stupid state mandate: Dear Friends of Public Educatio

Why the FBI Can’t Tell All About Trump

40by dianeravitch / 22h

I posted this article a few days ago with the warning that I could not vouch for the source. I have since checked out the website–WhoWhatWhy–and conclude that it is a highly reputable source for honest investigative journalism. I think if you scan the website, see who writes for it, who edits it, who is on the board of directors, you will agree this is not fake news. Here is the mission statement

Mercedes Schneider on the Pahara Institute, Which Trains True Believers in Privatization and Testing

10by dianeravitch / 23h

Mercedes Schneider wrote an excellent study–“A Chronicle of Echoes”–of the echo chamber of corporate reform. In this post , she reviews one of the entrails in the belly of the beast. It is called the Pahara Institute, which claims to train leaders who will create the high-quality, high-performing schools that all children need. If you look at the list of big-name participants, which includes loca

Trump-DeVos Suck Up Watch: PBS Is Showing a Series Attacking Public Schools

200+by dianeravitch / 1d

Laura Chapman wrote the following expose of a new series that will appear on PBS. It must be public television’s effort to curry favor with the Trump administration, as it reflects the extremist agenda of Betsy DeVos, who is intent on creating a free market in publicly-funded schooling. Since Trump’s budget has proposed to eliminate funding for public television, this series may be a demonstratio

Darren Walker: How the Arts Changed My Life and Enrich the Nation

57by dianeravitch / 1d

Darren Walker is president of the Ford Foundation. He was recently honored at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., and used the occasion to explain how his exposure to the arts changed his life. He said, “As a little boy, I lived with my 

Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all:

All Things Education: Podcast: Racial Disproportionality in Disciplinary Practices

All Things Education: Podcast: Racial Disproportionality in Disciplinary Practices:

Podcast: Racial Disproportionality in Disciplinary Practices

A big topic in educational policy and practice right now is disparate disciplinary practices. Essentially, black students, especially males, and students with disabilities are subject to disproportionally high rates of exclusionary discipline practices (suspensions and expulsions) and what they are being disciplined for is often subjective behaviors, such as disrespect, versus objective behaviors, such as smoking cigarettes on school grounds. This is an especially big topic in the state of Virginia and in the region of Virginia--central Virginia--where I live and study. See this recent article about it in the Richmond Times-Dispatch.

A congressman has called for a federal investigation of disparities in student treatment within the Richmond region’s schools.

U.S. Rep. A. Donald McEachin, D-4th, requested an investigation by the Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights on Monday, the same day that a Richmond Times-Dispatch article detailed higher suspension rates and over-identification of African-American students with disabilities.

The Virginia Department of Education cited Henrico and Chesterfield counties for suspending black students with disabilities at a disproportionately high rate over several years. The department cited Richmond because the city’s African-American students with disabilities have been more likely to be identified as having an “other health impairment” than other students with disabilities.

Chesterfield, Henrico and Richmond are among seven Virginia school districts mandated to set aside federal money received under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act this year to combat the pattern.

This problem is not new at all, for example, see this article from 2012. And, there's lots more where that came from.

How do I know so much about this? How is it that I have read almost every single report, news and journal article about this? Well, I am part of a MERC research team studying the issue in the Richmond, Virginia, area. The Metropolitan Educational Research Consortium (MERC) comprises "a partnership between seven Richmond-area school divisions and the VCU School of Education" that "plans, conducts, and disseminates community-engaged action and applied research."

A few months ago, I took part with other team members in a MERC podcast about the study. If you want to learn more, I encourage you to take a listen.

 All Things Education: Podcast: Racial Disproportionality in Disciplinary Practices:

Memphis. Racism, violence, displacement and the riots of 1866. | Fred Klonsky

Memphis. Racism, violence, displacement and the riots of 1866. | Fred Klonsky:

Memphis. Racism, violence, displacement and the riots of 1866.

Anne and I are here in Memphis, enjoying what the city has to offer in great barbecue and blues.

Last night we enjoyed both. I had the dry-rubbed brisket and we danced to Preston Shannon’s guitar while his band played 70s funk. He’s a local Memphis guy who is great. Anne bought his CD.

The main reason we decided to come to Memphis was to take part in tomorrow’s commemoration of the murder here of Dr. Martin Luther King 49 years ago.

Rev. William Barber will be the featured speaker. Barber leads the Moral Monday Movement in North Carolina.

There is a plaque on what is now a bank building a block off the tourist mecca of Beale Street. It marks the spot where a Reconstruction school, created by the Freedmen’s Bureau, for Black students once stood and was burned to the ground in the anti-Black riots of 1866.

Following the war and as a result of Reconstruction former slaves and African American soldiers who had fought for the Union began to settle in Memphis. Tensions ran high, particularly between white Memphis police and the former soldiers.

After an altercation between the police and soldiers, mobs of white civilians and policemen rampaged through African American neighborhoods. Their Memphis. Racism, violence, displacement and the riots of 1866. | Fred Klonsky:

Like Many Before Him, Trump Mistakes School Reform for School Improvement - Education Law Prof Blog

Education Law Prof Blog:

Like Many Before Him, Trump Mistakes School Reform for School Improvement

Rather than setting a new education agenda, the Trump administration is repeating the mistake of its predecessors.  The administration promises to improve education through innovative reform while ignoring the basic building blocks of education: teachers and funding.  The specifics are new—charter schools and voucher expansion—but are little more than additions to a long line of gambles.  President Bush bet on standardized testing and accountability. President Obama pushed the Common Core and statistical teacher evaluations. 

Each of these reforms damaged schools in their own unique way.  The No Child Left Behind Act narrowed the curriculum, led to test score manipulation, and authorized punitive sanctions.  NCLB also fueled the narrative of a failing public education system, undermining the commitment to public education itself.

Secretary Arne Duncan used states’ failure under NCLB to demand Common Core standards and new teacher evaluation systems.  That shift brought chaos with no payoff for students.  Teachers and parents in several states quickly sued to block these policies.  Claims of federal overreach eventually led Congress to scrap the NCLB, Common Core standards, and teacher evaluations, replacing them yet again with another scheme—the Every Student Succeeds Act.

The Trump administration’s expansive agenda for charters and vouchers threatens to be just as disruptive.  School choice has its value but is no more a silver bullet solution than standardized testing.  School choice will prove even more dangerous if not accompanied by common sense limits.  The last few years offer numerous examples of how unregulated choice opens the door to segregation, profiteering, incompetence and marginal educational opportunities.

Debating the merits of these federal reforms, however, distracts public attention from the simple things that we Education Law Prof Blog:

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: WEEKEND QUOTABLES

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: WEEKEND QUOTABLES:

WEEKEND QUOTABLES

“It is impossible to know where his presidency will lead or how much damage he will do to our nation.” -- LA Times 

Bernie Sanders

"It wasn't that Donald Trump won the election, it was that the Democratic Party lost the election" -- CNN

Editorial

No one wants a return to Ohio's Wild West days when failing charter schools were propped up by taxpayer dollars. That was a scandal that should never be repeated. -- Cleveland.com

Betsy DeVos

Even if you didn’t use a ridesharing service, I’m sure most of you at least have the app on your phone. Just as the traditional taxi system revolted against ridesharing, so too does the education establishment feel threatened by the rise of school choice. -- WSJ

Missouri League of Women Voters

There is an unfounded belief that charter schools are superior to traditional public schools and therefore provide parents with an advantageous choice. Studies of charter school academic achievement do not demonstrate that they are better than traditional public schools. Parents expect superior outcomes when placing their children in charter schools. Unfortunately, such is often not the case, and all too often charter school outcomes are actually inferior to those of traditional public schools. -- No to charter expansion 

War mongering from former DNC Chair, Donna Brazile

“I’ve never agreed with Dick Cheney in my entire life, but when he said this was an act of war, I have to agree with the former vice president. It was an act of war..If this is the modern warfare that we have to all participate in, we all better get ready for it.” -- The Hill

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: WEEKEND QUOTABLES:

Badass Teachers Association: ABCs of LGBTQs by Kristi Jackson

Badass Teachers Association: ABCs of LGBTQs by Kristi Jackson:

ABCs of LGBTQs 

by Kristi Jackson

While LGBT is still a popular term used to describe the queer community, it has grown to LGBTQQIP2SAA. For this reason, I will often simply use LGBT+ or LGBTQ+ in my writing as a way to be inclusive of everyone. But just what DO all of those letters stand for?

L – Lesbian: Female identified person who is romantically and/or sexually attracted to other women.

G – Gay: Male identified person who is romantically and/or sexually attracted to other men. Gay has also been adopted by some people as a general term referring to themselves as LGBTQ+ in some way, especially among younger generations.

B – Bisexual: Once defined as romantically and/or sexually attracted to both men and women, many bisexuals today say they can be attracted to all genders and/or sexes.

T – Transgender: A person whose gender identity and/or gender expression differs from the sex they were assigned at birth.

Q – Queer: An umbrella term that includes all sexual and gender minorities, including those who do not fit into, or reach beyond the LGBT terms… used to be a slur, and may still be used as such. One should not use that term to refer to someone unless that's how they have explicitly said they identify.

Q – Questioning: Someone who is exploring their sexual orientation and/or gender identity.

I – Intersex:  People born with anatomy or chromosomal makeup that doesn’t correspond to male or female.

P – Pansexual: Can be attracted to members of all gender identities and biological sexes.

2S – 2 Spirit: A term used by many indigenous groups to describe the gender, sexual, or spiritual identity of those not identifying fully as either male or female.

A – Asexual: Experiences little to no sexual attraction, but can have romantic, emotional, or aesthetic attraction to another person. Asexuality is a spectrum. For instance, some may only experience sexual attraction to people they already have a strong romantic bond to.

A – Ally: Does not identify as LGBTQ but supports the rights and safety of those who do.

So, how do we go about supporting our students, friends, family members, neighbors, coworkers Badass Teachers Association: ABCs of LGBTQs by Kristi Jackson:

In Defense Of Our Dreams | The Jose Vilson

In Defense Of Our Dreams | The Jose Vilson:

In Defense Of Our Dreams

Testing season always feels like a surreal time-out from normal proceedings. Covered bulletin boards and gridded desk alignments make every classroom feel still, like an overextended ceremony of allegiance to standardized tests. Before they begin, a student asks me questions like “Why do you have to cover up your charts and boards?” to which I reply “Because they’re in English, and this is an English test.”

Logic also takes a vacation, too. For hours on end, both the test-takers and the reluctant proctor stunt their imaginations for the explicit purpose of state assessment.

While the students’ pencils gentle scratch against their exams, however, I dream of a world where their evaluators will see their value as human beings. Their test scores wouldn’t matter as much as their intellect, their wit, and their youthful joy. The state would grant them opportunities to show these qualities off. The students would feel less like their school holds them captive, but that their ambition and passions move the institution to love them for them. Yes, their school would make them feel safe, and we would find to adjust our ways and means to get every student to learn.

And, what’s more, higher-ups in our district would see my children as equally capable of success as full-fledged citizens in this country, worthy of the fullest gifts our Earth bears. In defense of our dreams, we must keep dreaming. 

Yet, I’m also reminded that the dream so many of us celebrate every third Monday of every January and every April 4th does not happen without dream makers. We cannot wait for a benevolent person in power to create equity for our students. We must fight. We cannot wait for people who’ve been tucked under the safety blanket of our institutions’ benefits to suddenly wake up. The more I bang my head against the brick wall of intentional ignorance to the plight of our children, the more I realize we need to deconstruct the wall, brick by brick.

Any movement that suggests we build more walls is a movement I can’t be a part of.

Part of my fortune is that, when I’m not teaching students math, I get to speak to dozens of people across the country, either digitally or in person. In each instance, I go in to ask “why not?” when the rest of the world demands a why. My secondary role is to speak ever-present truths, conjuring and pointing out the shapes and sizes of the ghosts in the room. The third, and perhaps most vital, is to spark or validate the communities gathered in front of me. I am usually not the In Defense Of Our Dreams | The Jose Vilson:

First Round of ESSA State Plans Are Due April 3rd to a USDOE Severely Lacking in Senior Officials | deutsch29

First Round of ESSA State Plans Are Due April 3rd to a USDOE Severely Lacking in Senior Officials | deutsch29:

First Round of ESSA State Plans Are Due April 3rd to a USDOE Severely Lacking in Senior Officials

According to a March 13, 2017, letter that US ed sec Betsy DeVos sent to chief state school officers, states are able to submit their plans for the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) for two possible deadlines: April 03, 2017, or September 18, 2017.

In that letter, DeVos writes that the state plans will be peer reviewed and that the US Dept of Ed (USDOE) will be in contact with state officers as the applications proceed through the peer review process.

But she does not detail who, exactly, will be in charge of the applications. Who will be responsible for coordinating this peer-reviewed process?

 Betsy DeVos

I suppose that is difficult to detail at this point since DeVos has almost no USDOE senior officials in place in her Department. (I’ll return to this point.)

However, according to the ESSA legislation, here is what is supposed to happen (see pages 20-22):

(4) PEER REVIEW AND SECRETARIAL APPROVAL.—

(A) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall—

(i) establish a peer-review process to assist in the review of State plans;

(ii) establish multidisciplinary peer-review teams and appoint members of such teams—

(I) who are representative of—

(aa) parents, teachers, principals, other school leaders, specialized instructional support personnel, State educational agencies, local educational agencies, and the community (including the business community); and

(bb) researchers who are familiar with—

(AA) the implementation of academic standards, assessments, or accountability systems; and

(BB) how to meet the needs of disadvantaged students, children with disabilities, and English learners, the needs of low-performing schools, and other educational needs of students;

(II) that include, to the extent practicable, majority representation of 

First Round of ESSA State Plans Are Due April 3rd to a USDOE Severely Lacking in Senior Officials | deutsch29: