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

KEEP UP/ CATCH UP WITH DIANE RAVITCH'S BLOG 

A site to discuss better education for all

Slaying Goliath

 The Passionate Resistance to Privatization and 

the Fight to Save America's Public Schools

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File This in the Department of “Some People Never Learn”

by dianeravitch / 24min

Say this for Eric Hanushek: He never gives up on his obsession with paying teachers more if their students get higher test scores. Arne Duncan built this concept into the requirements of his disastrous Race to the Top” program, which caused almost every state to adopt a teacher evaluation plan in which student test scores played a significant role. Harvard economist Raj Chetty wtote a highly-publ

Randi: Providence Takeover Demonizes Teachers, As Rhee and Klein Did

by dianeravitch / 1h

Randi Weingarten will be in Providence on Saturday to discuss the role of teachers in the state takeover engineered by neoliberal Governor Gina Raimondo. The governor is openly hostile to teachers and unions and a major supporter of privately managed charter schools. She hired Angelica Infante-Green as State Commissioner, although Green (ex-TFA) was never a principal or superintendent. She is a m

YESTERDAY

Hechinger Report Clarifies Dispute about Baker-Green Article on Voucher Case

by dianeravitch / 18h

I posted at 10 AM EST today about an article in the Hechinger Report, written at its request by scholars Bruce Baker and Preston Green, each of whom is an expert in his field (school finance, constitutional law and education). A reader identified with the pro-voucher Reason Institute complained that an earlier Supreme Court decision forbade private schools from practicing racial discrimination, a

Teresa Hanafin: Another Whistle Blower

by dianeravitch / 20h

Teresa Hanafin writes the Fast Forward daily column for the Boston Globe. She writes today: Even as the Ukraine scandal whistle-blower continues to suffer insults, vilification, and threats from Republicans desperate to protect Trump at all costs, a woman who is a top Health and Human Services official has stepped forward to raise an alarm about a coronavirus-related situation. Talk about [big ov

California: Vote YES on Prop 13

20by dianeravitch / 22h

California spends less per pupil than most states. Its schools have been underfunded for decades. Reverse the many years of neglect and support the children by voting YES on Prop 13. Editorial : Yes on Prop. 13 “Prop 13 is a statewide bond measure that will raise $15 bllion to use for immediate costs, to fix crumbling schools, upgrade emergency response equipment and basically make the structures

Is It Time to Say Farewell to Pearson EdTPA?

21by dianeravitch / 23h

https://www.educationdive.com/news/is-edtpa-standing-in-the-way-of-getting-more-teachers-into-classrooms/572969/ Educators disagree about the value, validity, and reliability of the Pearson EdTPA, which is mandated in many states as the gateway to entering teaching. Some states have lowered the passing score. Some are wondering whether to abandon it. The debate occurs at a time when enrollments i

Hechinger Report Criticized by Scholars for Bending to Trolls

20by dianeravitch / 1d

The Hechinger Report invited two eminent scholars to write about how public schools might respond if the Supreme Court rules in favor of the plaintiffs in the Espinoza v. Montana case. In this case, rightwing libertarians seek to eliminate Montana’s constitutional prohibition on spending public money for tuition in religious schools. In effect, they want to eliminate the line separating church an

Howard University Dean: Charters and “Ed Reform” Are Really About Gentrification

200+by dianeravitch / 1d

This article by Leslie T. Fenwick, dean emeritus at Howard University, was published in Valerie Strauss’s Answer Sheet blog in 2013, yet it remains even relevant today. I was in Washington, D.C., a few weeks ago and was astonished to see the dramatic gentrification of the city. My son was in New Orleans, having left a week before Hurricane Katrina in 2005, and he was astonished by the pace of gen

FEB 27

Rep. Rosa DeLauro to Secretary DeVos: No Privatization!

200+by dianeravitch / 1d

The House Subcommittee on Appropriations for Labor, Health, Human Services and Education opened hearings this morning, with Secretary DeVos as witness to testify about the Trump administration’s budget proposal. She. Wants to combine the funding for 29 programs and send the money to states as a block grant, to be used as they wish, she wants deep cuts in overall spending but a new $5 billion fede

The Controversy Over the Orange County School of the Arts

by dianeravitch / 1d

The Orange County School of the Arts is one of the most popular, most sought after, and most elite charter schools in the nation. Now it is locked in a battle with the local board of Educatuon about its admission policies. Its students are whiter and more affluent than the surrounding community. The Santa Ana Unified School District had made demands for change. Last fall, OCSA applied to renew it

Mercedes Schneider: Kauffman Leadership Academy in Texas Closes with One Week’s Notice

28by dianeravitch / 1d

The charter industry is nearing a flection point. The number of schools that open each year is almost the same as the number that close. The charter industry is rushing to open new schools before the public is fully woke to the crisis of charter corruption. The Network for Public Education started a hashtag (#) on Twitter called #AnotherDayAnotherCharterScandal. Every day a new scandal, sometimes

Los Angeles: Charter School Advocates Continue to Pour Millions into School Board Races

100+by dianeravitch / 2d

By now, the California Charter Schools Association knows that they are harming public schools, where 80-90% of California’s students are educated. By now, the CCSA knows that charter schools do not get higher test scores than public schools. By now, they know that their industry is rife with corruption and fraud, and some of its leaders are serving jail time or on the lam. By now, they know that

Indiana: Key Employees of Failed Online Charter Join New Online Charter

100+by dianeravitch / 2d

Last year, two large online charter schools collapsed in Indiana at a cost of $86 million. Now a new online charter has opened and hired some key employees of those that defrauded they public. Last summer, as two large Indiana virtual charter schools collapsed under the weight of fraud allegations, a small new online program made its debut. Indian Creek Online Academy was launched by a 2,000-stud

FEB 26

NYCLU Blasts Cuomo’s Facial Recognition Technology

by dianeravitch / 2d

Statement on New High-Tech School Security Projects Approved Through Smart Schools Bond Act For Immediate Release: February 26, 2020 Media contact: Ben Schaefer, bschaefer@nyclu.org, 212-607-3372 NEW YORK, N.Y. – Today Governor Andrew Cuomo announced the approval of $111 million for 133 new Smart Schools Bond Act, including $51.5 million for high-tech security projects like the facial recognition

Act NOW to Stop Federal Funding of Charter Schools

100+by dianeravitch / 2d

Tomorrow February 27, Betsy DeVos defends her budget before the House Appropriations sub-committee led by Rosa DeLauro. This year, DeVos took the funding for the Charter Schools Program out of her budget and put it in a block grant. Our job is to make sure that the nearly half billion dollars to start up new charter schools is not restored. Nearly one billion dollars of waste on charter schools t

Thomas Ultican: Who Is Behind the Corporate Reform Agenda in Dallas?

22by dianeravitch / 2d

Naming names is very important when discussing the movement to privatize public schools. In my book SLAYING GOLIATH, I devote an entire chapter to naming names. It’s not good enough to you “business interests” or “foundations.” Name names. Tom Ultican names names. In this podcast, he describes the wealthy people who are determined to privatize education. Why do they do this? They profess their lo

Jake Jacobs: How Mike Bloomberg Trashed Public Education in New York

100+by dianeravitch / 2d

On Super Tuesday, we will find out whether the huge cash spent by Mike Bloomberg is enough to win any primaries. Current national polls show him number two, behind Senator Sanders. There is no reason for him to be polling high other than the many millions he has lavished on advertising and staff, outspending all the other candidates combined. The best we can say for Bloomberg is that he is not pr

Ohio: Who Is Writing Education Policy? Not Educators.

100+by dianeravitch / 3d

Joel Malin and Kathleen Knight-Abowitz of Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, write here about the forces determining education policy in Ohio. Ohio education policy is a train wreck. It is not benefiting students or teachers or society. So who is it benefiting? In our view, it pays to start asking larger questions about EdChoice to understand how education policy is made in Ohio. Why, for instance

Leonie Haimson: Mike Bloomberg’s Disastrous Education Record

100+by dianeravitch / 3d

Leonie Haimson, one of New York City’s leading people-public education advocates, has written a comprehensive appraisal of Mike Bloomberg’s education record as mayor. You will not read a more deeply knowledgeable article anywhere. In his multimillion dollar ad campaign, Bloomberg presents himself as a champion of children. If you read Haimson’s article, you will see that he was a champion of char

FEB 25

Ask Your Congressional Representative to Act!

30by dianeravitch / 3d

The Network for Public Education asks you to contact your Representative in Congress to co- sponsor this legislation: https://actionnetwork.org/letters/new-federal-charter-bill-ask-your-representative-to-cosponsor/

Teresa Hanafin on Trump in India

by dianeravitch / 3d

Teresa Hanafin writes the daily Fast Forward in the Boston Globe. She writes today: Trump heads home from India this morning, leaving behind his usual trail of exaggerations, misinformation, and dodgy answers. Prime Minister Narendra Modi played it smart, following the lead of other world leaders who have figured out that over-the-top flattery and ostentatious displays appeal to the man-child, wh

Mercedes Schneider Shows Off Her Student’s Poem

24by dianeravitch / 3d

This is a delightful post by Mercedes Schneider, whom we usually expect to write about scams, hoaxes, and frauds in the education biz. But this time she shows off a student’s work in her English class. What a delight! She reminds us that this is what education is all about. Not dollars, but the joy of learning!

Education Law Center Challenges Charter Expansion in New Jersey

39by dianeravitch / 3d

The Education Law Center is suing in New Jersey Supreme Court to challenge the negative effects of charter schools on public schools in Newark. ELC is asking the court to review the fiscal impact and segregating effects of charters on public schools. The bottom line is whether the state can afford to support two different school systems. The New Jersey Supreme Court has granted a petition filed b

Jan Resseger Recommends This Article as Essential Reading

47by dianeravitch / 4d

Jan Resseger, as you surely know, is oneof my favorite writers. I admire her deep moral values, her clarity, and her direct writing. In this post, she discovered an article that I missed. If you are going to read one article about public education this week, I recommend Derek Black’s commentary in last Friday’s USA Today, Trump’s ‘Education Freedom’ Plan Is an Attack on Public Schools. That’s Un-

Mark Green: How Bloomberg Beat Me in 2001

45by dianeravitch / 4d

Mark Green was a young, vigorous, popular progressive who won the Democratic primary for mayor in 2001. New York City is overwhelmingly Democratic, and usually the Democratic nomination is enough to assure election. But Mark Green faced an unusual Republican opponent, billionaire MIchael Bloomberg. No one knew much about Bloomberg, but he had the endorsement of Republican Mayor Rudy Guiliani, who

FEB 24

In the Public Interest: Why We Must Protect the Public Sector

100+by dianeravitch / 4d

Donald Cohen, executive director of “In the Public Interest,” explains a new direction that the organization will take. Not just to say that privatization is bad public policy, but to explain why the public sector can be more efficient and effective at the things it does best. In education, we have seen how privatization exacerbates segregation by race, religion, and social class; we have also se

New York Times: The Failure of Michael Bloomberg’s Choice Program in New York City

100+by dianeravitch / 4d

This article appeared in the New York Times in 2017. It evaluated Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s legacy in high school admission. Mayor Bloomberg eliminated zoned high schools and instituted a policy of citywide choice. Students could apply to any high school in the city. This was supposed to reduce racial segregation, but instead it increased it. Bloomberg, who had sole control of the New York City s

Florida: Investigation Shows That Charters Close Almost as Fast as They Open

200+by dianeravitch / 5d

Channel 10 in Florida conducted an investigation of the charter industry in Florida. It looked at the history of charters and examined the high rate of charter failures, usually because of financial issues. Florida is the State with the second highest rate of charter closures (California has the most charter closures). One part of the problem is that you don’t have to be an educator to open a cha

Texas: Poll Shows Respect for Teachers, Support for More Funding, Concern about Testing

100+by dianeravitch / 5d

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Tessa Benavides tbenavides@ryht.org (210) 445-3965 First-of-its-kind Poll Reveals Texans Trust Teachers, and Have Concerns About School Testing and Funding AUSTIN, TX (February 20, 2020) The Raise Your Hand Texas Foundation has released a first-of-its kind statewide poll about Texans’ attitudes toward public education. Notable findings include Texans appreciate teac

FEB 23

Happy Birthday, W.E.B. DuBois

39by dianeravitch / 5d

Garrison Keillor notes three happy events on this date in his daily “Writer’s Almanac.” Jonas Salk released his life-saving polio vaccine in 1954, which almost completely eliminated this scourge. How well I remember the terror all children felt in the early 1950s. We were warned not to go to movies or other public spaces. If we went, we were warned not to put our heads on the headrest. By this ti

Book Tour Reaches Charleston, West Virginia: Meeting the Teachers Who Lit a Fire

20by dianeravitch / 5d

I wanted to go to Charleston, West Virginia, to thank the leaders of the Red4Ed Teachers Strike of 2018. Jay O’Neal of the NEA local and Fred Albert of the AFT local made it happen. I spoke on February 22, the second anniversary of the strike. The teachers themselves were amazed by what they had done. They were outraged back then when the cost of their health insurance reduced their already meage

Audrey Watters: Is Our Democracy for Sale to the Highest Spender?

by dianeravitch / 5d

Audrey Watters asks the question that we should all be asking: is our democracy for sale to the candidate with the most billions? Apparently our schools sold out years ago when money was dabbled before them. People who take money from that powerful education foundation — you know the one, the one that turns 20 years old this year — always insist to me that they’ve never been compelled to change t

Jennifer Berkshire: Will DeVos’s Attacks on Public Schools Alienate Texas Voters?

67by dianeravitch / 5d

Jennifer Berkshire went to Texas to try to learn whether DeVos was helping or hurting the GOP. You may be surprised by her answer. She writes: The big question that fascinates me these days is whether GOP voters who care about their public schools will abandon their party as it embraces a Trump/DeVos education freedom agenda. And the answer in Texas is yes, at least when it comes to moderate subu

Los Angeles: Charter Allies Pour Millions into School into School Board Races—And Lies

67by dianeravitch / 6d

Bill Raden of Capital and Main writes here about the charter school advocates’ frantic efforts to pour millions of dollars and tons of lies into the race for four school board seats in Los Angeles. They are churning out scurrilous and defamatory lies about Jackie Goldberg and Scott Schmerelson, both of whom are veteran public school educators. Schmerelson has received a heavy dose of filthy flier

Indiana: How Much Charter Graft Will Taxpayers Tolerate?

500+by dianeravitch / 6d

This editorial appeared in the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette, a newspaper that has paid close attention to the scandals and frauds in the charter industry. It begins: Operators of two Indiana charter schools spent nearly $86 million in tax dollars at businesses in which they had ties. The money came from state tuition support for students who, in some cases, were never enrolled in the schools. This

FEB 22

Happy Birthday, George Washington and Edna St. Vincent Millay

30by dianeravitch / 6d

Today is George Washington’s birthday. I expect he would be weeping to see the caliber of the man who is now president and is engaged in destroying the federal government and our democracy. Imagine tossing out a highly qualified director of national intelligence and replacing him with a totally inexperienced loyalist who will purge the CIA of anyone who does not display loyalty to Trump, not the

Mississippi: The Shame of a Nation

41by dianeravitch / 6d

Mississippi boasts about its gains on NAEP reading scores, but those “gains” were largely the result of holding back students who didn’t pass the third grade reading tests. It’s a form of “gaming the system,” aka cheating. This article by Bracey Harris for the Hechinger Report tells a different story, a story of unequal opportunity for black children in the state, a history of racism and segregat

Detroit: Why Are School Closures Concentrated in Black and Brown Communities?

38by dianeravitch / 6d

In this study of school closures in Detroit , the authors note that the closures were concentrated in black and brown communities. Terrance L. Green, Joanna D. Sanchez, and Andrene J.Castro note this spatial concentration of closures and point out that it typically has negative effects on students. It reads in part: Between 2006 and 2013, >1,200 traditional public schools were closed across 26 st

G.F.Brandenburg Reviews SLAYING GOLIATH

by dianeravitch / 7d

G.T. (Guy) Brandenburg is a retired teacher who taught for many years in the D.C. Public Schools. He has a sharp eye and digs deep before he writes. He achieved a measure of fame when Michelle Rhee was chancellor. She boasted that as a young TFA teacher she had brought her students’ scores from the 13th percentile to the 90th percentile. A number of national publications quoted this remarkable fe

Susan Edelman: Bloomberg’s Test Score Con

64by dianeravitch / 7d

Strange as it may seem, the best education reporter in New York City works for Rupert Murdoch’s New York Post. Her name is Susan Edelman, and she regularly reports on what is happening in the city’s schools without fear or favor. 

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

Four especially testy moments when Betsy DeVos testified on Capitol Hill - The Washington Post

Four especially testy moments when Betsy DeVos testified on Capitol Hill - The Washington Post

Four especially testy moments when Betsy DeVos testified on Capitol Hill

At a hearing Thursday on Capitol Hill, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos was asked a question: Should a charter school receiving federal funding be allowed to lease a jet? The Democratic legislator who posed the question — after a charter chain backed off plans to spend millions on a private jet — asked her for a “yes” or “no” answer. That’s not what he got.

It was one of a handful of testy moments during DeVos’s appearance before the House Appropriations Committee’s Subcommittee for Labor, Health, Human Services, Education and Related Agencies where she defended the Trump administration’s proposed 2021 Education Department budget.

She did make some news: During the hearing, DeVos announced she had set up a task force headed by Mitchell “Mick” Zais, her top deputy, to oversee the department’s response to the spreading coronavirus. And she said she had opened an investigation into a college that appears to have no faculty or students but was approved to operate by a controversial accrediting agency still in business after DeVos saved it in 2018. USA Today reported on the school, Reagan National University, and DeVos said Thursday she was “not happy to read the story” and had ordered a probe. “We’re on it,” she said.

Those announcements were not what sparked fireworks.

DeVos took questions about the proposed budget, which would cut the department’s discretionary spending by 7.8 percent. It would also lump nearly 30 elementary and secondary education programs — including support for homeless students, civics education and charter schools — into a single $19 billion block grant for states and local districts to use as they want.

The administration’s top education priority, which appears in the Treasury Department’s proposed budget as a line item, is $5 billion to give tax breaks for a program called the Education Freedom CONTINUE READING: Four especially testy moments when Betsy DeVos testified on Capitol Hill - The Washington Post

CURMUDGUCATION: 6 Things To Know About The Trump-DeVos Education Freedom Plan

CURMUDGUCATION: 6 Things To Know About The Trump-DeVos Education Freedom Plan

6 Things To Know About The Trump-DeVos Education Freedom Plan

As expected, Trump used a chunk of his State of the Union Address to plug a voucher-style program that Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos has been pushing for months under the name “Education Freedom.” The Houston Chronicle reports that Ted Cruz pitched the plan to Trump; Cruz has taken the lead on trying to turn DeVos’s dream into actual legislation. In fact, the Trump budget proposal favors this approach over charter schools.

Say what now?

If you haven’t been following DeVos’s school choice initiative, or if you could use a quick explainer for a friend, here are a few basic takeaways to help follow what the fuss is about.

How Does It Work?

It’s a tax credit scholarship plan, and many states already have one.(Pennsylvania is one of those states. An unsuccessful attempt to expand the program was referenced by Trump in his speech.) Here’s how they work. Corporations or individuals can contribute to the plan instead of paying their taxes. They hand their money to a scholarship organization, which in turn issues scholarships to students. The money can be used to pay for transportation, remedial programs, homeschooling materials, or, most commonly, private school tuition. 

Isn’t This Another Kind Of Voucher? 

Yes, but “voucher” hasn’t worked out well politically for anyone, so Secretary DeVos would be CONTINUE READING: CURMUDGUCATION: 6 Things To Know About The Trump-DeVos Education Freedom Plan

CURMUDGUCATION: Schools And Other Shared Public Spaces

CURMUDGUCATION: Schools And Other Shared Public Spaces

Schools And Other Shared Public Spaces

One of my first jobs in education was minding the cassette player.

The actual job was assistant marching band director, and my duties included chaperoning the freshman/sophomore bus to away games. It was the mid-80s, and the "good" schoolbuses in our district had built-in cassette players, and the students brought their favorite music, vying for control of the stereo that everyone had to listen to. My job was to arbitrate those arguments (I quickly learned that the big hammer of such conflict was, "If you guys can't work this out, I've got a cassette here in my pocket that I brought from home..."). It was actually cool to watch them negotiate and settle these arguments.

Of course, the really rich kids had Walkmans, and by the end of my tenure, the cassette debates were over, and the bus looked more like they look today-- several dozen students each wired into a personal musical universe. It was peaceful,  but it was also without any of the interaction and cooperative decision-making displays of the earlier era. The students had found the technological means to carve a public space into several dozen private places.

That process has, of course, been paralleled throughout many of what were our previous shared spaces. I grew up in a small town, with one radio station that everyone listened to because that was the choice; only folks in big cities had choices between different formats. Top 40 was a mix of many styles, all jammed together on one list.

You know the litany. Everyone used to choose from among the same three tv networks. Three! They CONTINUE READING: CURMUDGUCATION: Schools And Other Shared Public Spaces

2020 Medley #6: Public Schools Week | Live Long and Prosper

2020 Medley #6: Public Schools Week | Live Long and Prosper

2020 Medley #6: Public Schools Week

PUBLIC SCHOOLS FOR THE PUBLIC GOOD

Public Schools Week ends today, though for ninety percent of American schoolchildren the celebration of public education takes place every day during their local school year.

Why do the vast majority of our K-12 students choose public schools? Because public schools don’t choose their students. Every child has a place in public schools. No child is turned away. All children are welcome: children with different gender preferences, children of any color, any or no religious affiliation, rich, poor, athletically or academically gifted, or physically or academically challenged.

We support public schools because it’s important for us to have a society in CONTINUE READING: 2020 Medley #6: Public Schools Week | Live Long and Prosper

CDE Currents: February 2020 - CDE Currents (CA Dept of Education)

CDE Currents: February 2020 - CDE Currents (CA Dept of Education)

CDE Currents: February 2020

The Monthly Newsletter for the California Department of Education.

• Be Prepared (Emergency Info)
• The Value of Art Education
• Stephanie Farland
• CDE Press Online Store
• Recognizing Exceptional Schools Event
• Innovating for Equity Summit
• Closing Achievement Gap Panel Discussion

Be Prepared (Emergency Info)

As the situation with the 2019 novel coronavirus (COVID-19) unfolds, the CDE would like to reinforce that LEA preparedness is essential for unforeseen circumstances and emergency situations. Many school districts have also recently experienced wildfires, Public Safety Power Shutoffs (PSPS) and violent campus incidents. Unfortunately, it’s not a question of “if” when considering such future incidents, but “when.”

Coronavirus (COVID-19)

The CDE is monitoring the situation regarding the coronavirus and working closely with agency partners to determine best steps to be prepared.

Approximately two weeks ago CDE shared a guidance document from the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) with all County and District Superintendents, Charter School Administrators, and School Principals. The CDE strongly encourages all LEAs to follow the CDPH’s recommendations in this document.

The CDE also encourages LEAs to identify plans and protocols for communicating with families and to think about learning supports that could be provided during school closure, if necessary. More information can be found on the CDE’s Crisis Response page. 

Please note that there have been reports of students and others being stigmatized. We urge schools to ensure students’ and staffs’ privacy to help prevent discrimination.

The CDE will provide more information to LEAs as it becomes available.

School Safety Plans

All LEAs are required (EC 32280-32289) to have comprehensive school safety plans (CSSPs) revised, updated, and adopted by the school by March 1 and forwarded to the school district or county office of education for approval. If an LEA does not have an adopted CSSP, please do so as soon as possible.

It is critical that staff and students receive training related to the CSSP, and that each LEA maintains strong community partnerships with law enforcement, fire agencies, and first responders. School safety and preparedness resources, including a compliance tool, are available on the CDE Safe Schools Planning web page and the CDE Crisis Preparedness web page.
The California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services (Cal OES) provides valuable school safety and disaster preparedness resources and information that are available on the Cal OES for Schools and Educators web page. The CDE encourages everyone to become familiar with these resources.

Violence Prevention/Active Shooter Preparation

The CDE will be sponsoring two statewide trainings provided by the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Safe and Supportive Schools, Readiness and Emergency Management for Schools Technical Assistance (REMS TA) Center. A training session, School Behavioral Threat Assessments: An Introduction, will be hosted by the Sacramento County Office of Education on March 16, 2020; register online here: REMS Training. The second training date and location in Southern California will be announced at a later date.
Additional information on violence prevention, including a template message for parents/guardians regarding the safe storage of firearms, can be found on the CDE Violence Prevention resource page

Power Shutoffs

It’s expected more Public Safety Power Shutoffs are on the way for California’s schools in order to help prevent wildfires. The CDE has provided a list of school closure considerations for LEAs in the event of an unexpected power shutdown, natural disaster or other unforeseen circumstances. Health and safety is the priority, followed by issues of equity and instructional time. Additional information can be found on the CDE’s Public Safety Power Shutoff FAQs.

Wildfires

There are multiple resources available to help LEAs prepare for a wildfire incident. The CDE has a resource page containing information on what to do before, during, and after a wildfire. Also, check the CDE FAQ page for more detailed information on wildfire response and recovery.

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The Value of Art Education CONTINUE READING: 

CDE Currents: February 2020 - CDE Currents (CA Dept of Education)

Hechinger Report Criticized by Scholars for Bending to Trolls | Diane Ravitch's blog

Hechinger Report Criticized by Scholars for Bending to Trolls | Diane Ravitch's blog

Hechinger Report Criticized by Scholars for Bending to Trolls

The Hechinger Report invited two eminent scholars to write about how public schools might respond if the Supreme Court rules in favor of the plaintiffs in the Espinoza v. Montana case. In this case, rightwing libertarians seek to eliminate Montana’s constitutional prohibition on spending public money for tuition in religious schools. In effect, they want to eliminate the line separating church and state. The Trump-enhanced Supreme Court has already ruled that it is permissible to discriminate on religious grounds against same-sex couples in a Colorado case where a baker refused to bake a cake for two men. Homophobia is okay if it is based on deep religious convictions.

The Hehinger Report asked Bruce Baker of Rutgers, an expert on school finance, Preston Green III of the University of Connecticut, a constitutional lawyer, to consider the ramifications of this case if the Court favors the plaintiffs.

They wrote the article, then discovered that Corey DeAngelis of the libertarian Reason Foundation and the CATO Foundation (founded by the Koch brothers) objected to their views, basing his objection on an entry in Wikipedia. He insisted that an earlier Supreme Court decision forbade private schools from discriminating on CONTINUE READING: Hechinger Report Criticized by Scholars for Bending to Trolls | Diane Ravitch's blog

Bloomberg Defends His NYC Education Legacy: Here is What He Neglects to Mention | janresseger

Bloomberg Defends His NYC Education Legacy: Here is What He Neglects to Mention | janresseger

Bloomberg Defends His NYC Education Legacy: Here is What He Neglects to Mention

In Tuesday night’s debate, Mike Bloomberg defended his education legacy in New York City.  He was the city’s mayor, and the state-appointed leader of the city’s schools for over a decade from 2002 until 2013.  In Tuesday’s debate, he repeated his support for charter schools—and by extension the imposition of universal high school choice across NYC’s enormous school district, serving 1.1 million students.

One of NYC’s best known public school advocates, Leonie Haimson explains, “When I heard that he was running for president, it felt like the return of a bad dream.” Haimson personally lived through the decade when Bloomberg brought technocratic, corporate style disruption and marketplace policy to the NYC schools. She watched the process from the inside.  But even from far away, I will never forget learning about Bloomberg’s radical experiment: Bloomberg obliterated the city’s institutional infrastructure of regional and neighborhood high schools. Although overall the high school graduation rate rose, the high school closures, intensifying racial and economic segregation, and the school choice disruption undermined the whole endeavor. And once such an experiment is launched there is no going back.

At a Children’s Defense Fund conference eight or nine years ago, I found myself eating lunch with several NYC middle school guidance counselors, who described the impossible task of trying to help dozens of eighth graders—middle school students without any experience outside of their immediate neighborhoods—sort through a telephone book-sized high school choice guidebook to look for the best high school fit. These counselors told me that they believed NYC high school choice had been, in reality, designed to favor the children of savvy parents who knew how to get their children on the right track beginning in Kindergarten. These counselors were exhausted, overwhelmed, and worried about the effect on vulnerable CONTINUE READING: Bloomberg Defends His NYC Education Legacy: Here is What He Neglects to Mention | janresseger

CURMUDGUCATION: How Do High Expectations Change A Classroom

CURMUDGUCATION: How Do High Expectations Change A Classroom

How Do High Expectations Change A Classroom

Teachers know that expectations matter. They know that having high expectations in a classroom can both support (“I know you can do this”) and spur (“I’m not going to accept your bare minimum effort”) students. The power of teacher expectations is part of every college’s Teacher 101.

But modern education reform has weaponized the term. “The soft bigotry of low expectations,” coined by Michael Gerson for use by Bush II, was a powerful phrase that combined a couple of ugly ideas. It suggested that it wasn’t poverty or underfunded crumbling school buildings or a lack of resources that was the major factor in the struggles of some students; it was their teachers’ failure to believe in them (and that was probably because those teachers were a least a little racist). Then under Obama’s ed secretary Arne Duncan, teachers found themselves subject to the hard tyranny of ridiculous expectations. Duncan believed that expectations were magical, going so far as to suggest that all students with special needs really required was to have teachers who expected them to achieve, and their special challenges just wouldn’t matter. 

This has led to some spectacularly bad policy. In a 2014 conference call, Duncan and then-ed head of Tennessee Kevin Huffman explained that all students with special needs required was more expectations and more tests. Two years later Duncan found himself being roasted in a budget hearing because he could not answer a question about what the department was doing to support students with dyslexia (and he knew that “expect harder and test more” was not a good answer). We’ve seen a rash of states with third grade retention rules—third graders who don’t pass a standardized reading test are forced to repeat third grade, on the theory that setting this high expectation will force eight-year-olds and their teachers to stop slacking off. 

Add to that mix the repeated assertion by Duncan and others that schools are systematically lying to students and parents in order to hide their lazy use of lower standards and rigorless expectations. 

For much of the last twenty years, “expectations” have been a cudgel for clobbering teachers, one CONTINUE READING: CURMUDGUCATION: How Do High Expectations Change A Classroom

One-Time, Two-Year Teacher Jessica Baghian Wants to Be LA’s Next State Superintendent | deutsch29

One-Time, Two-Year Teacher Jessica Baghian Wants to Be LA’s Next State Superintendent | deutsch29

One-Time, Two-Year Teacher Jessica Baghian Wants to Be LA’s Next State Superintendent

Jessica Tucker Baghian wants to be Louisiana’s next state superintendent. No surprise here.

According to the February 27, 2020, Advocate, Baghian, who currently holds a state assistant superintendent position, officially applied for the state superintendent job being vacated by John White effective March 11, 2020. The application window closes on Friday, February 28, 2020.

Baghian’s resume is part of the Advocate article, and in true market-ed-reformer fashion, it is light on classroom experience: two years (2006-08). She holds two degrees: a bachelors in mass communication (LSU, 2006), and a juris doctorate (Harvard, 2011).

Louisiana native Baghian started teaching in 2006 under a one-year provisional certificate (2006-07). (To see Baghian’s teaching certificate, click here and search “Jessica Marie Tucker.”) Her highest teaching credential is an expired Level 1 teaching certificate that was issued for three years (2007-10). The note on her certificate indicates that “teacher assessment required for higher certificate,” which means in her top-heavy ed career, she has no experience in completing necessary requirements to renew a permanent teaching certificate.

Baghian holds no administrative certifications. She has no experience even as an assistant principal.

Baghain told the Advocate, “I have spent my career working on behalf of the CONTINUE READING: One-Time, Two-Year Teacher Jessica Baghian Wants to Be LA’s Next State Superintendent | deutsch29

Read Across America to “Celebrate a Nation of Diverse Readers”

Read Across America to “Celebrate a Nation of Diverse Readers”

Read Across America to “Celebrate a Nation of Diverse Readers”

What’s in a name? Everything, Alma Sofia Esperanza José Pura Candela would tell you. At first the title character in the picture book Alma and How She Got Her Name thought six names was far too long. “It never fits,” she complains to her father. But when he explains how her entire name honors the family’s history, culture and aspirations, she realizes it tells her not only where she came from but who she may become.

Oregon kindergarten teacher Gloria Pereyra-Robertson learned about Alma and How She Got Her Name from the NEA’s rebranded Read Across America program and calendar. She now regularly reads it in her kindergarten classroom to celebrate the diversity of her students from Central and South America, Vietnam, Laos, Samoa and other parts of the world. Along with books like The Name Jar and Renee Has Two Names she introduces her students to the many different names children have and how learning to appreciate and pronounce them teaches children the unique value every name and every student brings to school.

“We’ll have a discussion about how it can feel to be in a new school and a new country where nobody can say your name the way they did back home,” she says. “We talk about how lonely it can be to not know the language and how hard it can be to make friends.”

Pereyra-Robertson, the daughter of Mexican immigrants, knows what it’s like to grow up surrounded by books about white children and not see herself in them. She also knows the pain of having an unfamiliar name. Even today, people call her by her married name, Robertson, instead of attempting Pereyra-Robertson. Growing up, her sister, Taide, would come home crying from the constant teasing about her name. Kids called her Tidal Wave or Tidy Bowl. She wants her students to have a different experience and see the beauty in each other’s names. Like Alma, CONTINUE READING: Read Across America to “Celebrate a Nation of Diverse Readers”

Mike Klonsky's Blog: Testing dust-up at CPS misses the point.

Mike Klonsky's Blog: Testing dust-up at CPS misses the point.

Testing dust-up at CPS misses the point.

SCHULER: “I think it would basically be naive to not mention the possibility of cheating or gaming,” Schuler said. “I think we’ve been pretty fair that it’s in the mix, we can’t quantify it. ... I think what we reported is very measured.”

BOARD MEMBER SOTELO:  “If you can’t [prove it], don’t make those assertions. Because now you are taking away the credit of all the hard work of all the teachers...”

Outgoing Chicago Public Schools IG Nicholas Schuler is probably well-intentioned as he hassles with the CPS board about possible test "cheating." He's sharp on issues of security but clueless about the real role of high-stakes, standardized testing. And like all teachers, principals, and CPS board members themselves, he's caught up in a toxic system that misuses tests as a weapon for tracking and sorting children and for penalizing schools and teachers for the students that they teach.

Testing madness has once again moved to center-stage in Chicago's school reform debate, driven in recent years by national policies like No Child Left Behind and Race to the Top. Its corrosive and divisive effects are revealed in the current battle. The cost to cash-starved school systems like CPS, can't be measured in just payments to profit-hungry testing, security and textbook companies, but in teaching time wasted in test prep as well.

The Sun-Times reports:

Nearly every one of the board’s seven members peppered CPS Inspector General CONTINUE READING: Mike Klonsky's Blog: Testing dust-up at CPS misses the point.