DID YOU MISS DIANE RAVITCH'S BLOG CATCH UP NOW - Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all

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

 

DID YOU MISS DIANE RAVITCH'S BLOG  CATCH UP NOW

 Diane Ravitch's blog 

 A site to discuss better education for all

California: Appeals Court Rules That Non-Profit Charter Schools Are Not Exempt from Taxation

32by dianeravitch / 2h

This decision was announced on March 11 : Metropolitan News-Enterprise Wednesday, March 11, 2020 Court of Appeal: Nonprofit Chartered Schools Are Not Exempt From County Property Taxes, Assessments By a MetNews Staff Writer The Court of Appeal for this district yesterday affirmed Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Monica Bachner’s determination that a nonprofit charter school is not impliedly exempt

Florida: Republican State Senator is Tired of Micromanaging Public Schools While Focusing Only on School Choice

30by dianeravitch / 3h

Now here is a refreshing story from Florida. Republican State Senator Tom Lee says he is fed up with the legislature’s micromanagement of education policy. Moreover, he actually noticed that the Legislature spends most of its time on 20% of the state’s students while ignoring the other 80% who attend public schools. “As I talk to members, I don’t think there’s anyone quite where I am yet, but I’m

Florida: House Passes Bill to Protect “Parents’ Rights” vs. School System

by dianeravitch / 4h

The Florida House passed a bill to protect “parents’ rights” against decisions by the school system. The House advanced sweeping, if aspirational, legislation codifying a parent’s “bill of rights” on Monday. The vote in favor was 77-41. The House version (CS/HB 1059), sponsored by Rep. Erin Grall, now includes a technical amendment that reaffirmed parental rights to any type of school (public, pr

Florida: House Rejects Bill to Ban LGBT Discrimination in Voucher Schools

24by dianeravitch / 5h

On January 23, the Orlando Sentinel published an investigative report that nearly 160 religious schools receiving public money for vouchers openly discriminated against LGBT students, families, and staff. The Florida House just rejected a bill to make such discrimination in publicly funded schools illegal. To make it plain, the Florida House sent a message to religious schools that it is just fin

YESTERDAY

Trump Speaks to the Nation from the Oval Office about the Coronavirus

100+by dianeravitch / 15h

I don’t know about you but I found tonight’s speech by Trump about the coronavirus to be extremely vapid. He praised the response of his administration to the crisis but didn’t say exactly what it was doing in real time. He did not mention the federal government’s failure to supply tests for the virus, which is a critical issue. Every major country in the world is testing more people per day than

Bipartisan Senate Votes to Reject DeVos’s Effort to Restrict Debt Relief for Defrauded Students

23by dianeravitch / 20h

In a surprising turn, a bipartisan majority of the Senate voted to overturn Betsy DeVos’s rule to restrict debt relief to students who were bilked by colleges that defrauded them. The House already rebuked DeVos and passed the legislation. The bill will go to Trump, who may veto it or sign it. Will he protect Betsy DeVos or the students who were cheated? The Republicans who voted with Democrats w

Teresa Hanafin on the Latest Madness from D.C.

by dianeravitch / 22h

Teresa Hanafin writes the daily “Fast Forward” for the Boston Globe. Here is a part of today’s commentary: The number of reported Covid-19 infections — that’s the respiratory illness caused by the coronavirus — has zoomed past 1,000 in the US, doubling just since Sunday. At least 1,050 people in 38 states and D.C. have tested positive; at least 29 people have died. That’s a very high death rate,

Trump Allies Got Virus Tests, But Not the Public

55by dianeravitch / 23h

Apparently you have to be a friend of Trump to be tested promptly for the novel coronavirus. All others must stand in line for tests that are seldom available. Two close congressional allies of President Trump underwent coronavirus testing in recent days in apparent defiance of federal recommendations reserving those tests for patients exhibiting symptoms of infection — and amid growing concerns

Happy Birthday, Mary Shelley and Ezra Jack Keats!

by dianeravitch / 1d

Garrison Keillor included these birthday notes today in his daily “Writer’s Almanac,” which is online and free. It was on this day in 1818 that Mary Shelley’s novel Frankenstein was published (books by this author). Two years before she had spent the summer in a cabin on Lake Geneva with her lover, Percy Bysshe Shelley, her sister Claire, and Claire’s lover, the poet Lord Byron. It rained a lot t

Oklahoma: When Public Money Goes to a Charter School, Does the Money Belong to the Public?

100+by dianeravitch / 1d

EPIC virtual charter school is locked in a battle with state auditors over the question of whether public money belongs to the public or to the owners of the school. Face-Off Between Epic, State Centers on Controversial ‘Learning Fund’ EPIC is a charter school but it’s defense is that it is a private business, not a public agency. How refreshing! The story: The state is drawing a hard line: Publi

Oklahoma: EPIC Charter Graduates Zip Through Classes but Are Not College Ready

by dianeravitch / 1d

Online charter schools are an “epic” fail, as proved by the disaster of the EPIC online charter school in Oklahoma. Here is the latest EPIC story: Like many teenagers, Maggie Waldon caught a sort of senioritis halfway through a traditional high school. She was ready to be done. With two years left, she enrolled in Epic Charter Schools, the Oklahoma City-based online public school that is now one

Another Study: Students Experience Academic Decline in Virtual Charter Schools

59by dianeravitch / 1d

I have posted repeatedly here about the dismal academic results of virtual charter schools. Students have high attrition rates, low test scores, and low graduation rates. This finding has been reported again and again. In 2015, CREDO at Stanford said that students lose almost a year of learning in math when they attend virtual charter schools . In many states, the virtual charters are the state’s

New York: Cancel the State Tests NOW!

100+by dianeravitch / 1d

A reader made this sensible proposal. In the midst of a public health crisis, with various schools and districts closed, the state tests should be cancelled. The writer says: Here’s something else that must be cancelled: NYS 3-8 ELA and Math tests set to start in two weeks. I called NYSED today to share my concern about testing amidst a health emergency. The kind gentleman on the phone said I sho

Gary Rubinstein Debunks TFA Claims of “Turnaround Schools” in Baltimore

20by dianeravitch / 1d

For a few years, Gary Rubinstein was our nation’s leading debunker of “miracle school” claims. He found that the so-called miracle schools usually had high attrition rates but somehow forgot to mention them or some other manipulation 

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

Charter School Oversight Remains Weak | Dissident Voice

Charter School Oversight Remains Weak | Dissident Voice

Charter School Oversight Remains Weak

In 2016, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) called for a moratorium on new charter schools, citing many problems with these privatized schools, including poor performance, extensive waste, widespread segregation, and inadequate accountability.

Oversight, transparency, accountability, and good governance have never been the strong suits of charter schools or charter school authorizers. Both have been poor stewards of the public interest for more than a generation.

A new report confirms what many already know about chronically poor oversight in the segregated charter school sector.

The report, titled “Improving Oversight of Michigan Charter Schools and Their Authorizers,” was released February 2020 by the Citizens Research Council of Michigan (founded in 1961).  It reminds the public that charter school authorizers in Michigan are essentially useless, despite years of scandalous news about charter schools coming out of Michigan.

Quality charter schools are elusive in Michigan. Poor performance is widespread. And parents and government officials are constantly overwhelmed by the chaos and anarchy unleashed by the presence of hundreds of charter schools competing with each other and with public schools. Competition has brought out the worse in everyone and everything. It has lowered the level for everyone and left communities worse off.

Michigan, however, is not unique with its endless charter school problems: “market accountability” has undermined democratic accountability and quality education across the entire charter school sector. Thus, for example, waste, fraud, and corruption plague not only Michigan but the entire charter school sector.¹ Every day, news reports expose racketeering, insider deals, CONTINUE READING: Charter School Oversight Remains Weak | Dissident Voice

Human Capital Markets, Digital Identity, & the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals – Wrench in the Gears

Human Capital Markets, Digital Identity, & the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals – Wrench in the Gears

Human Capital Markets, Digital Identity, & the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals

The following is a presentation that I had planned to make as an invited guest at Big Ocean Women’s Many Waves, One Ocean gathering in coordination with the 2020 United Nations Commission on the Status of Women. Due to the pandemic, the conference and all related events were cancelled. A decision was made for those who had been asked to present to create a presentation that could be shared online. The video below was created for that purpose.

Below is the text I read from during the above presentation.

Hello everyone. Welcome to “Many Waves, One Ocean Cross Movement Summit.” I’m Alison McDowell, a mom and independent researcher in Philadelphia who blogs at wrenchinthegears.com. I started my activism around public education, first fighting standardized testing, then ed-tech, and eventually realized the push by global finance to turn everything into data for the purpose of digital surveillance and profit meant I had to expand my work beyond schools and start digging into the global poverty management complex.

I organize with the Poor People’s Economic Human Rights Campaign, an independent anti-poverty group that is led by the poor and does not take CONTINUE READING: Human Capital Markets, Digital Identity, & the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals – Wrench in the Gears

More than 1.3 million K-12 students in U.S. now affected by school closings related to coronavirus - The Washington Post

More than 1.3 million K-12 students in U.S. now affected by school closings related to coronavirus - The Washington Post

More than 1.3 million K-12 students in U.S. now affected by school closings related to coronavirus

The number of K-12 students in the United States whose schools have closed or are scheduled to be because of the spread of the novel coronavirus is now more than 1.3 million, according to one comprehensive tally.

Around the world, the number of students whose education has been interrupted by the virus has soared to nearly 377 million students, according to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, or UNESCO.

The World Health Organization says that the number of confirmed cases of covid-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, has surpassed 126,000 people, and that more than 4,600 have died. The death toll in the United States had reached 38 by early Thursday, with more than 1,3000 cases diagnosed and experts warning that they expect the crisis to worsen in the next few weeks.

As of Thursday, UNESCO reported, 26 countries have shuttered schools and universities, impacting almost 376.9 million children and youths. That was several million more students than the day before, showing the continuing impact from the spread of the coronavirus.

An additional 20 countries have had localized school closures to prevent or contain the spread of the virus, UNESCO said, and if they all went to nationwide closures, more than 500 million more students would be affected.

The United States has seen a rapid rise in the number of students affected by school closures as a result of the spread of the coronavirus, according to a tally being kept by Education Week.

On Wednesday, the number of K-12 students affected by schools that have closed or were scheduled to CONTINUE READING: More than 1.3 million K-12 students in U.S. now affected by school closings related to coronavirus - The Washington Post

How to keep students learning and communities calm — from Harvard experts https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2020/03/11/how-keep-students-learning-communities-calm-harvard-experts/

As coronavirus spreads, so does misinformation — a news literacy lesson  https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2020/03/11/coronavirus-spreads-so-does-misinformation-news-literacy-lesson/

St. Paul Educators are Striking Because their Students are Suffering | Schott Foundation for Public Education

St. Paul Educators are Striking Because their Students are Suffering | Schott Foundation for Public Education

St. Paul Educators are Striking Because their Students are Suffering

The dedicated educators in St. Paul, MN that went on strike Tuesday know full well that it takes wraparound supports for the city’s neediest children to have a fair and substantive opportunity to learn. They’ve gone on strike after ten months of failed contract negotiations because their students are suffering—and their #1 demand is more mental health supports. We see their fierce determination as an act of love.

Unicorn Riot@UR_Ninja

St Paul, MN: public #schools are closed today, March 10, due to the @SPFE28 teacher's union strike.

We spoke with some of the strikers, who told us their #1 demand is more #MentalHealth support for their students, some of whom "face tremendous trauma in their day-to-day lives."

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7:37 AM - Mar 10, 2020

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As Labor Notes reports:

“There are so many kids with so many issues,” said middle school teacher Leah Van Dassor. “Kids are depressed because they have problems at home. They don’t have anyone to talk to.”

St. Paul Federation of Educators (SPFE) Vice President Erica Schatzlein sees a wide range of needs in her work as an elementary teacher with English language learners.

“A students that had a parent pass away, instead of acting out, becomes completely withdrawn,” she said. A newly homeless student “has a meltdown, and I have to evacuate the classroom.”

In addition to its mental health demands, the union is asking for more bilingual teacher’s aides and limits on class size for special education.

“It’s too bad that all these important social services fall on the shoulder of the schools, but they do,” said Van Dassor, who is also on the bargaining team. “We have to try to figure out a way to help.”

To systematize this greater, holistic understanding of public schools and movements working to improve them, Schott released the Loving Cities Index. The Index measures access to 24 community and school-based supports, from clean air to unemployment, from healthy food to public transit.

Key measures in the Loving Cities Index include in-school support staff and mental health supports — and it's going to take broad and dynamic grassroots movements to move the needle.

Demands like these are part and parcel of a longstanding grassroots effort to create CONTINUE READING: St. Paul Educators are Striking Because their Students are Suffering | Schott Foundation for Public Education

Florida: House Passes Bill to Protect “Parents’ Rights” vs. School System | Diane Ravitch's blog

Florida: House Passes Bill to Protect “Parents’ Rights” vs. School System | Diane Ravitch's blog

Florida: House Passes Bill to Protect “Parents’ Rights” vs. School System

The Florida House passed a bill to protect “parents’ rights” against decisions by the school system.

The House advanced sweeping, if aspirational, legislation codifying a parent’s “bill of rights” on Monday. The vote in favor was 77-41.

The House version (CS/HB 1059), sponsored by Rep. Erin Grall, now includes a technical amendment that reaffirmed parental rights to any type of school (public, private, and even home schooling).

Another Grall amendment vouchsafed parental rights to spike objectionable instructional material “based on beliefs regarding morality, sex, and religion or the belief that such materials are harmful.”

The amendments offered reassured some Democratic critics of the bill, but not enough to earn their votes.

Parents already have the right to home school or send their children to private schools.

This bill would give parents the right to “protect” their children from topics that are objectionable to their CONTINUE READING: Florida: House Passes Bill to Protect “Parents’ Rights” vs. School System | Diane Ravitch's blog

Is Penn Foster High School Diploma Legit ?

Is Penn Foster High School Diploma Legit ?

Is Penn Foster High School Diploma Legit ?

Let us discuss few most asked questions like Is Penn Foster good, Is it’s High School Diploma legit and how about the legitimacy of other online courses it offers.

Penn Foster is your online education partner that helps you learn on the go. We know you want to learn but something or the other pulls you away from the thought. Well, not anymore! Whether it is your current work responsibility or family liabilities, Penn Foster allows you to learn and grow while you cater to all other things on your plate.

Online Education – An Alien Concept?

It is 2020 and we all have at least heard about online education. The phrase “online education” is as luring as it is scary.

There is a prevailing idea that suggests online education is not as good as education from a traditional setting. Though, the idea is fading away but quite gradually. This myth needs to be broken.

Today, more and more youngsters wish to rely on online education. And although, they want to depend on flexible options, fear of investing in an illegitimate option CONTINUE READING: Is Penn Foster High School Diploma Legit ?

Big Education Ape: Another Study: Students Experience Academic Decline in Virtual Charter Schools | Diane Ravitch's blog - 
https://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2020/03/another-study-students-experience.html

Why It Might Matter To Close Your School – Los Angeles Education Examiner

Why It Might Matter To Close Your School – Los Angeles Education Examiner

Why It Might Matter To Close Your School

It’s understandable to look at the fatality and even incidence rate of Covid-19 here in Los Angeles and think:

“Huh?  Why the panic; far, far more people die of the flu annually, and we’re all healthy here. A little cold’s no big deal, most people will survive, particularly kids, and besides, I have no way to care for (or feed) the kids during the daytime.”

There are a lot of issues in there to unpack, but most importantly, the considerations surrounding school closure are not about individual risk or anyone’s personal chance of survival. At issue is a sensible, effective public health response to a local health emergency and a global pandemic.

The concern is that those who do suffer adverse effects from the novel coronavirus will need access to hospitals, hospital beds, ventilators and a sizable medical staff. With huge estimates of the ultimately infected population, if transmission happens too rapidly, the health infrastructure could be overrun and vital care unavailable when a lot of people need it.

That is why slowing the spread of Covid-19 is so important. Public health CONTINUE READING: Why It Might Matter To Close Your School – Los Angeles Education Examiner