Sunny Side Up 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:

Sunny Side Up With Diane Ravitch's blog 

A site to discuss better education for all

Fred LeBrun: Charters Schools Are “a Costly Distraction”

by dianeravitch / 1h

Fred LeBrun writes a column for the Albany Times-Union on politics. He is one of the most insightful journalists in the nation on the subject of education. The New York state budget was late this year because of disagreement over a tax break for real estate developers, whether to raise the minimum age for criminal responsibility from 16 to 18, and how much money to throw to charter schools. The S

Humor: Alec Baldwin Shows Why People Love Trump

by dianeravitch / 2h

This is a good skit. I think we need to teach more critical thinking in the schools.

Ira David Socol: Why “Instructional Tolerance” Matters

by dianeravitch / 2min

Ira David Socol wrote a provocative post that ties together how we educate children on a daily basis with how we live in a democracy. At heart, he argues against the adult authority structure that imposes control over children. His argument echoes John Dewey, the progressive education movement, and the free-school reformers of the 1960s.

Mercedes Schneider: The Secrets of Profiteering with “Tax Credits” for Vouchers

1by dianeravitch / 1h

Mercedes Schneider explores a paper published by Carl Davis of the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, in which he explains how tax credits for vouchers allow the rich to cut their taxes and make a profit. With such an alluring inducement by the states and the federal government, people of great means are able to reduce their taxes and undermine public schools at the same time. And, as the

Nancy Bailey: Poor Memphis! The Guinea Pig District of Tennessee

1by dianeravitch / 1h

Nancy E. Bailey, who teaches in Tennessee, posted a blog about the legislature’s habit of using poor Memphis as its experimental district, where disruption is the rule and failure is persistent. Jim Gifford, a high school English teacher in 

Jennifer Berkshire and Jack Schneider Explain “Tax Credits,” the Neo-Voucher as a Money Laundering Scheme

by dianeravitch / 12min

In this illuminating podcast, Jennifer Berkshire (formerly known as EduShyster) and Jack Schneider (historian of education) explain how the tax credit programs work. They are proliferating as a way to adopt vouchers without using the V 

Maine: Trump Plan for “School Choice” Would be a Disaster for Rural Schools

by dianeravitch / 39min

The Bangor Daily News in Maine reports that Trump’s push for school choice in Maine would be a disaster for rural schools. This article helps to explain why rural legislators are not enthusiastic about school choice. It would destroy the schools they have and leave everyone worse off. Mt. Abram Regional High School, north of Farmington, is a small school, with only around 150 students. But the te

Joshua Starr: The American Public Opposes Vouchers

by dianeravitch / 1h

Joshua Starr, a former school superintendent who is now chief executive officer of Phi Delta Kappa, reports that the American public opposes vouchers. They like the idea of “charters,” but most don’t know what charters are, that they may be run by for-profit or run by national corporations. They like the generic idea but they are not asked what they know about it. Perhaps they have nmagnet school

YESTERDAY

Question: How Many People Are Guarding Secretary of Education DeVos?

1by dianeravitch / 12h

The Washington Post reported that the government is spending about $1 million per month for Betsy DeVos’s security. How many people are assigned to protect her? The government already owns the vehicles. Assume the full amount is the cost of personnel. Assume that a security guard earns $48,000 per year. One month of his or her time is $4,000. How many security guards are protecting her? This is n

Arthur Goldstein: I Will Be Rated as a Teacher Based on a Test My Students Don’t Take

2by dianeravitch / 20h

Arthur Goldstein has been teaching for more than 30 years in the New York City public schools. He has a terrific blog about teaching in New York City. Here, he describes how he will be rated as a teacher by an insane system. He begins here: NY City’s brilliant and infallible Engage system has mandated that I be rated on a test the overwhelming majority of my students will not be taking. As far as

Wag the Dog? Syria Bombs Same Town Again

1by dianeravitch / 21h

Did Trump order the strike against a Syrian airbase to boost his sagging poll numbers? Did he do it to divert attention from the glacial investigation of his ties with Putin? Did he do it to show he is not colluding with Putin? Reports today say that Syria war planes bombed the same town again, taking offfrom the airfield that our missiles allegedly destroyed. Syria strikes: Site of chemical atta

Which Religious Schools Are Allowed to Participate in the Arizona Voucher Program? Not All

3by dianeravitch / 22h

A reader posted a comment yesterday asking why I had a problem with religious schools receiving public funding. Aren’t there good religious schools. I pointed out that most of the religious schools that are funded by vouchers are not very good schools. The very good religious schools don’t have many seats available. The ones that do have seats available and need the money tend to be a certain typ

The Cost of Betsy DeVos’s Security Detail: $1 Million Per Month

3by dianeravitch / 23h

I worked for Lamar Alexander when he was Secretary of Education. He had a car and driver. He did not have a security detail. The cost of Betsy DeVos’s security team is $1 million per month. She is protected by federal marshals, whose agency is reimbursed by the U.S. Department of Education. This outlay comes as DeVos and Trump seek a multi-billion dollar reduction in the budget of the Department.

Anna Allanbrook: How Our School Became “the Opt Out School”

3by dianeravitch / 1d

Anna Allanbrook is principal of the Brooklyn New School in Brooklyn, New York. She explains here how her elementary school became “the Opt Out School.” Very few children in New York City opt out. Some are afraid they won’t get into a good middle school or a good high schools if they don’t have scores. Some are afraid the Immigration Police will come for them. Some are intimidated by administrator

Law Professor: Arizona’s New Voucher Program is a Farce

2by dianeravitch / 1d

Derek Black, law professor, writes that Arizona is a state that funds its schools poorly and inequitably. It is one of the lowest-spending states in the nation on education. Worse, the kids who need the most get the least. So, instead of fixing 

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

Tax Credit Scholarships: “Neovoucher” Profiteering Disguised as Philanthropy | deutsch29

Tax Credit Scholarships: “Neovoucher” Profiteering Disguised as Philanthropy | deutsch29:

Tax Credit Scholarships: “Neovoucher” Profiteering Disguised as Philanthropy

In October 2016, Carl Davis of the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy published a paper entitled, “State Tax Subsidies for K12 Private Education.” Below is Davis’ introduction:

One of the most important functions of government is to maintain a high-quality public education system. In many states, however, this objective is being undermined by tax credits and deductions that redirect public dollars for K-12 education toward private schools. Twenty states currently divert a total of over $1 billion per year toward private schools via special tax credits and deductions. These tax subsidies are essentially backdoor voucher programs, or “neovouchers,” as they use the tax code to provide what amount to private school vouchers even when traditional voucher programs are unpopular with the public or outright unconstitutional.

Because of the ways that state and federal tax law interact, the subsidies offered in ten of these states turn the concept of a charitable “donation” on its head by offering upper-income taxpayers a risk-free profit on contributions they make to fund private school scholarships. In these cases, even taxpayers who would not ordinarily be interested in contributing to private schools may find the incentive too strong to ignore.

Some states have seen an entire year’s allotment of tax credits claimed within days, or even hours, of being made available as wealthy taxpayers seek to capture their share of the profits associated with convoluted “neovoucher” systems.

In effect, states that have encountered political or constitutional obstacles to spending public dollars on private schools have instead set up a system that 

Tax Credit Scholarships: “Neovoucher” Profiteering Disguised as Philanthropy | deutsch29:

Chicago Mayor's Plan To Update H.S. Graduation Has A Fatal Flaw : Code Switch : NPR

Chicago Mayor's Plan To Update H.S. Graduation Has A Fatal Flaw : Code Switch : NPR:

Chicago Mayor's Plan To Update H.S. Graduation Has A Fatal Flaw

In recent years, the fate of the Chicago's public schools is increasingly driven by Mayor Rahm Emanuel, a former Obama Administration top advisor and Chicago native. Some community activists and a growing number of black and Latino parents are expressing anxiety and unhappiness over what they see as his disregard for their needs, and the barriers they face due in part to historic institutional discrimination.

For many, alarms went off last week when he announced proposed new high school graduation requirements.

Dubbed "Learn. Plan. Succeed. — A Degree for Life," the plan will require the Class of 2020 to meet at least one of the following metrics in addition to existing class completion requirements in order to graduate: a college acceptance letter; a military acceptance/enlistment letter; acceptance at a job program (e.g. coding bootcamp); acceptance into a trades pre-apprenticeship/apprenticeship; acceptance into a "gap-year" program; or current job/job offer letter.

Some advocates say Emanuel's new plan will create another barrier for the city's most vulnerable students, in particular, black and Latino students already struggling to graduate from under-resourced, overcrowded schools.

Over the past three years, Emanuel's involvement in Chicago Public Schools board decision-making and budget allocations has angered activists and parents, who accuse him of carelessly engineering an inequitable distribution of school closings that Chicago Mayor's Plan To Update H.S. Graduation Has A Fatal Flaw : Code Switch : NPR:

Education in 2017 and The American Eugenics Movement

Education in 2017 and The American Eugenics Movement:

Education in 2017 and The American Eugenics Movement

Pleas e join Internet radio host Dr. James Avington Miller Jr. for a deep look into the connections between high stakes standardized testing, failing schools, teachers, students, VAM, I Q Tests, Inferior and exceptional students and the American Eugenics Movement. 

Dr. Miller has studied this topic for decades. After last week's show, some listeners wanted to know about the eugenics movement and education yesterday and today. This show will go into the history of this movement and its evil impact.

The motto on the iconic poster we used in this week's promo reads:
"Eugenics is the self-direction of human evolution
Like a tree – EUGENICS -
Draws its material from many sources and organizes them into an harmonious entity "
We must war against this thinking especially as it seeps into our schools and our communities.

Please listen in to our show this week and learn the ugly truth about education in 2017 and the American Eugenics Movement.

Knowledge is power !

RESISTANCE MATTERS
RESISTANCE IS NOT FUTILE
RESISTANCE IS THE HIGHEST FORM OF EXPRESSION OF DEMOCRACY
RESISTANCE IS SURVIVAL
Please click on the website below to listen live:
http://bbsradio.com/thewarreport
2:00 PM PDT
4:00 PM CDT
5:00 PM EDT
or
A direct listen-in line only
Station 1 - 716-748-0150
To call-in and interact live
Station 1 888-627-6008 toll free



Education in 2017 and The American Eugenics Movement:

Sunday follies. | Fred Klonsky

Sunday follies. | Fred Klonsky:

Sunday follies.

Nursing home workers demand living wage on Friday. Logan Square, Chicago. Photo: Fred Klonsky

Faced with an expiring supply of a controversial sedative, the state of Arkansas plans to execute eight men over 11 days — a pace that is unprecedented in recent U.S. history and that has been criticized by lawyers and former corrections officials.

The state is set to carry out the executions two a day on four days between April 17 and April 27. Multiple lawsuits have been filed over the schedule, citing concerns about the speed. Arkansas’ governor and attorney general say the deaths will bring closure to victims’ families.

Arkansas carried out a triple execution in 1994 and another in 1997. (Those executions were also unusual at the time, compared with other states.)

But it’s been more than a decade since Arkansas killed any death row inmates. And the state has never before used midazolam, one of the three drugs used in the state’s lethal injection protocol. NPR

One video shows Schneider and Crooms perched on a concrete platform taking turns with a bullhorn and leading chants of “Hands off Syria!” and “No justice, no peace, U.S. out of the Middle East” when a counter-protester who goes by Gary Snow, waving a Donald Trump flag and a bullhorn of his own, climbs up alongside them.

The two sides jaw back and forth briefly before a scuffle ensues over the flag. At one point, Snow is seen shoving Crooms, who later lunges at him as Snow reaches over an officer to flash an obscenity. Officers nearby swarm the pair and can be seen placing Crooms in a chokehold and bringing him to the ground.

Crooms, whose police report lists him at 5-foot-7 and 155 pounds, can be seen flailing while face down on the ground as several officers pin him down. An officer, identified Sunday follies. | Fred Klonsky:

Russ on Reading: Teacher Evaluation: It's About Relationships Not Numbers

Russ on Reading: Teacher Evaluation: It's About Relationships Not Numbers:

Teacher Evaluation: It's About Relationships Not Numbers

In an article this week in Education Week, Van Schoales, CEO of A+ Colorado, an education reform think tank, declared that Colorado's model for teacher evaluation was a failure. This was a model that seemed to possess all the "right stuff" of teacher evaluation that corporate education reformers hold dear (VAMs, growth models, standardized tests, removing teachers who were not performing based on these scores). This is the same model that was supposed to make Colorado "ground zero" for education reform. This is the same model that was lauded by Arne Duncan and the Obama administration as a blueprint for the nation. Schoales says the model, rolled out with much fanfare and hoopla, has failed. He blames implementation (you know all those messy things like trying to implement all this when only about a third of teachers actually teach tested subjects and that teachers were never actually included in the planning).

Yes, Schoales says this was a great idea, implemented badly. While I praise Schoales for admitting the scheme doesn't work, he has learned the wrong lesson. The very idea upon which this evaluation scheme was built was so flawed that there was never any hope of it being successful. Others have recounted in great detail how value added measures (VAMs) are hopelessly flawed. Both the American Education Research Association and the American Statistical Association have declared VAM a hopelessly Russ on Reading: Teacher Evaluation: It's About Relationships Not Numbers: