KEEP UP/ CATCH 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

KEEP UP/ CATCH UP WITH DIANE RAVITCH'S BLOG 

A site to discuss better education for all

Harley Litzelman: Cops Don’t Keep Kids Safe at School

by dianeravitch / 4min

Harvey Litzelman, a teacher in California, explains why police don’t make schools safe. When he first entered teaching, before he ever got any lessons about teaching, he was shown a video about how to handle a school shooter. The video was called “Run Hide Defend.” It made clear that the teacher was the first line of defense for students. He writes: Having taught in Oakland for several years afte

Pence Puts a Happy Face on Rise in COVID Cases

by dianeravitch / 34min

While other nations such as Spain and Italy have seen an overall decline in new cases of COVID, the US is reporting a new high in the number of those infected. Other nations have followed the advice of public health officials. The US has not. Mike Pence looked for good news in the rising number of COVID cases in the south and west. The spike is only happening in certain counties, he said, and it’

Alexandra Petri: Mike Pence Reassures the People of Troy

by dianeravitch / 21h

Alexandra Petri is the brilliant satirist for The Washington Post. She wrote this column, titled: “ The Greeks Are Gone from Troy, for Sure,” by Mike Pence. “In recent days, the media has taken to sounding the alarm bells over a ‘second wave’ of coronavirus infections. Such panic is overblown. Thanks to the leadership of President Trump and the courage and compassion of the American people, our p

Eugene Robinson on Confederate Statues and Where to Draw the Line

20by dianeravitch / 22h

Recently there have been public debates about which statues should be removed, if any, and which should remain. The question naturally arises: where to draw the line? Eugene Robinson, columnist for the Washington Post, addresses that question here. He writes: The solution to the problem of Confederate memorials is simple: Tear them down, all of them. If a few must be left standing for practical r

Peter Greene: Trump Supports DeVos’ Efforts to Punish Students Who Were Scammed

78by dianeravitch / 23h

Peter Greene explains here how Trump came to Betsy DeVos’ rescue when Congress tried to stop her from punishing students who had been scammed by predatory colleges. DeVos wanted to withdraw an Obama-era program that helped students who incurred debts to fraudulent colleges. A court intervened to stop her. DeVos considers the students buried by debt to be free-loaders. Congress rebuked DeVos in a

Memphis: Two KIPP Charters Close Suddenly, Stranding Students

100+by dianeravitch / 1d

David Pettiette is a CPA who volunteered at a KIPP elementary school in Memphis. He was shocked when two KIPP schools suddenly closed their doors and left their families scrambling for a new school. He wrote: In April, it was announced that KIPP Memphis Preparatory Elementary and KIPP Memphis Preparatory Middle on Corry Road would be permanently closing without notice. Between the two schools, ov

Trump Administration Seeks to Toss Out Obamacare

23by dianeravitch / 1d

In the midst of the pandemic, with Americans subject to a deadly disease, the Trump regime filed yet another court effort to invalidate Obamacare. This would strip millions of people of health insurance. How cruel. Do Trump voters know?

JUN 25

Trump: Testing for COVID is Cause of Surge in Cases

by dianeravitch / 1d

Trump is the biggest fool ever to be elected president. He says stupid things proudly. The number of coronavirus cases detected is surging, mostly in the south and west, and Trump says it’s because there’s is more testing. Other nations are testing and seeing a decline in cases. Trump said in Wisconsin today: “If we didn’t test, we wouldn’t have cases,” he said later at a shipyard in Marinette, W

Michigan: Join This Virtual Town Hall on Racial Equity

by dianeravitch / 1d

Media Advisory June 25, 2020 Contact: Pamela L. Pugh pamela@urbanregenerationllc.com 989-992-6353 Prominent Civil Rights Attorneys, Political Pundit, Public Education Advocates and Activists to Hold Education Justice Virtual Town Hall Amid National Uprising in Support of Racial Equity WHAT: A virtual town hall about the state of public education and a call to end systemic racism and inequities in

National Education Policy Center: Thumbs Down for Summit Learning

32by dianeravitch / 1d

The National Education Policy Center reviewed Summit Learning Program, which has been heavily subsidized by the Chan-Zuckerberg Initiative and the Gates Foundation, is spreading, but careful review shows no evidence for its success. The Summit Learning Program: Big Promises, Lots of Money, Little Evidence of Success Key Takeaway: Despite a lack of evidence that it is effective, the Summit Learnin

David Berliner: The Value of a College Education in the Humanities

100+by dianeravitch / 1d

David Berliner is one of the nation’s most eminent researchers of education. I am delighted that he sends original posts to me. I have informed him that “mi casa es su casa,” and he is always welcome here. Why Universities Need Support, Need to Stay Open, and Need to Have Their Students on Campus David C. Berliner Regents Professor Emeritus, Mary Lou Fulton College of Education, Arizona State Uni

Marilee Coles-Ritchie: The Anti-Racist Policies and Practices We Need Now

300+by dianeravitch / 1d

Marilee Coles-Ritchie is a teacher educator in Utah. She wrote this advice for her fellow educators and other concerned citizens in Utah but it is good advice for everyone. Here are her recommendations: 1. Decrease standardized tests. They harm students who are Black, Indigenous, and People of Color. 2. Increase the numbers of teachers from these groups across the schools. 3. Eliminate all police

My Advice to Joe Biden: Run a “Front-Porch Campaign”

200+by dianeravitch / 2d

I have been watching the polls, and Joe Biden is ahead in all of them. He is ahead in all of the battleground states, except North Carolina. Biden leads in Wisconsin, Florida, Michigan, and Pennsylvania. Trump went berserk when CNN reported that Biden had a 14-point lead on June 5, and he assailed CNN reporters as fakes and frauds, etc. But then FOX News reported that Biden has a 12-point lead, a

JUN 24

New York: Jamaal Bowman Scores Upset Victory

by dianeravitch / 2d

While many primary races are too close to call, due to large numbers of uncounted absentee ballots, Jamaal Bowman scored a decisive upset in his race to replace veteran Cingresman Elliot Engel, chair of the House Foreigh affairs Committee. Jamaal is/was a middle school principal who was active in the opt out movement. He received the endorsement of AOC, Sanders, Warren, and many others, including

Tulsa School Board Extends Gist Contract One Week Before School Board Election

70by dianeravitch / 2d

The Tulsa school board went into executive session and talked until 1 am, then voted to extend Deborah Gist’s contract for two years. Two board members voted no. The vote occurred one week before an election runoff for two board seats. Gist is a member of Jeb Bush’s Chiefs for Change, which supports charters, vouchers, and high-stakes testing. As State Superintendent in Rhode Island a decade ago,

Providence: State Releases Plan to Make Schools High-Performing in Five Years

by dianeravitch / 2d

After Johns Hopkins University wrote a scathing critique of the Providence public schools, Governor Gina Raimondo and her new Commissioner of Education took control of the city’s schools. They just announced their turnaround plan and predicted that the low-performing schools of Providence would be on par with the top 25% of schools in the state in five years. Among the major points of the plan: I

New York City: Mayor De Blasio Inexplicably Invites Pitbull to Speak to 2020 Graduates

by dianeravitch / 2d

Mayor De Blasio—or someone in his Department of Education—invited the foul-mouthed, misogynistic rapper Pitbull to join luminaries who will speak to the graduating class of 2020. Here is the city’s announcement: Dear Students and Families, To celebrate the end of a school year like none before, please join us for a graduation celebration like none before the evening of Tuesday, June 30! We will b

New Orleans: Most Charters Are Double-Dipping into Federal Funds

36by dianeravitch / 2d

Della Hasselle of the New Orleans Times-Picayune describes how charter schools in New Orleans have collected coronavirus relief funds from money meant for public schools as well as federal funds meant for small private businesses. Most received money from the Payroll Protection Program, up to $5.1 million for a single school, even though they have suffered no loss of revenues. More than two-third

Nancy Bailey: Reimagine Education by Prioritizing the Arts in School

30by dianeravitch / 3d

We have heard many ideas for what schools should look like after the pandemic, or if they reopen while the pandemic is still around. Most of those ideas are centered on distance learning. Nancy Bailey has a different concept: Bring back the arts education that was sacrificed to high-stakes testing. She writes: Teachers teach remotely, and parents are helping students at home. Hopefully, children

What Trump Said About COVID-19 in Arizona

34by dianeravitch / 3d

Trump spoke in Phoenix yesterday to some 3,000 Students for Trump in a megachurch. Most of the students, packed in close quarters, were maskless, like Trump. The Arizona Republic noted that most recent polls have shown Biden leading Trump. Trump arrived as hospitalizations and deaths from the coronavirus were spiking. Some local physicians were unhappy about the rally: Two Arizona doctors told Th

JUN 23

Success Academy Spokesperson Resigns to Protest “Racist and Abusive” Practices

100+by dianeravitch / 3d

Alex Zimmerman of Chalkbeat wrote today that a spokesperson for Success Academy , New Tork City’s largest charter chain, resigned to protest “abusive” practices at the schools. A spokesperson for New York City’s largest charter network resigned in protest, stating she can no longer defend Success Academy’s “racist and abusive practices” that are “detrimental to the emotional well being” of its st

Today: The Introduction of the SAT in 1926 as an Experiment

29by dianeravitch / 3d

Garrison Keillor’s “The Writers’ Almanac” reports that today the very first SAT was administered on a trial basis. It was created by Professor Carl C. Brigham of Princeton, one of the founding psychologists of the IQ test. Brigham wrote one of the most notoriously racist, anti-immigrant books of the 1920s. Brigham asserted that wide scale IQ testing demonstrated that whites from Northern Europe w

Michael Klonsky: The Return of General Tata

by dianeravitch / 3d

Do you remember General Tata? After a career in the military, retired Brigadier General Anthony Tata entered the Broad Academy in 2009, launching a new career. He was soon hired as Chief Operating Officer of the District of Columbia Public Schools, when Michelle Rhee was chancellor. Then on to become Superintendent of Schools in Wake County, North Carolina, where a new school board hired him to d

Jesse Hagopian: Why Seattle Educators Demand Cut to Police Budget

by dianeravitch / 3d

Jesse Hagopian is a high school teacher and social justice activist in Seattle. He has been a leading force on behalf of Black Lives Matter Movement. He wrote this opinion article for the Seattle Times to explain why Seattle educators want money redirected from policing to social services. He writes: Seattle’s Education Association representative assembly — the union body that represents Seattle’

Jan Resseger: High-Stakes Standardized Testing Brings a Punitive Regime

21by dianeravitch / 3d

Jan Resseger read Valerie Strauss’s hopeful column about a possible end to America’s obsession with standardized testing, and wrote about how this testing has warped American education into a punishing regime , rather than an environment of nurturing , growth, caring, compassion, and human development. Jan reviews some of the most important ways in which test scores have been used to punish stude

Valerie Strauss: Is the Obsession with Standardized Testing Ending?

64by dianeravitch / 4d

Standardized testing has been used in American schools for a century, though never on the scale of the past twenty years. It first was introduced into some schools as IQ tests, which were used (wrongly) to judge students’ innate ability and to assign them to different tracks, which then determined their life outcomes. I wrote about the IQ tests in my 2000 book “Left Back: A Century of Battles Ove

JUN 22

Gary Rubinstein on Citizen Stewart and Eva Moskowitz

by dianeravitch / 4d

Gary Rubinstein writes here about podcasts in which Chris Stewart of Education Post interviews Robert Pondiscio and Eva Moskowitz. Gary has made a practice of scrutinizing the data that is available from the Success Academy charter chain, noting the high attrition rate from those who enter in the early grades to those who remain to graduate high school. There is attrition even in the final year o

Florida: Police Arrest 6-Year-Old at Charter School

100+by dianeravitch / 4d

Video was recently released of a police officer arresting a 6-year-old girl at her charter school in Orlando. Clearly the school called the police after the child engaged in unruly behavior. The charter school has 89 students and five teachers P. The students are 89% African American. This is “no excuses” at its worst. Newly released police body-camera video shows an officer in Orlando, Florida,

Julian Vasquez Heilig on Community-Based Schooling

by dianeravitch / 4d

I recently had a conversation with Julian Vasquez Heilig , the dean of the College of Education at the University of Kentucky. Dr. Heilig discusses his own background, a trajectory that took him from Michigan to Stanford, then to Texas, California, and now Kentucky. He is a scholar and an activist who now seeks to lead a new conversation about education in a Kentucky, bringing the community into

Mike Klonsky’s Father Was a Real Anti-Fascist

by dianeravitch / 4d

Yesterday, on Father’s Day, Mike Klonsky posted a tribute to his father , Max Robert Klonsky, who went to Spain in 1937 to fight fascism as part of the legendary Lincoln Brigade. He was a “premature anti-fascist,” the saying at the time. The Spanish Civil War was a rehearsal for World War II. Only genuine leftists understood that Franco and Hitler were preparing for a wider attack on the democrac

Virtual Charter Industry Expecting Big Growth and Profits Due to Pandemic

73by dianeravitch / 4d

The virtual charter industry is anticipating growth in enrollments and profits, thanks to the pandemic. The largest of the virtual charters is the K12 Inc. virtual charter chain, listed on the New York Stock Exchange, whose revenues exceeded $1 billion this year. Executives haul in big salaries (one of K12’s founders, Ron Packard, was paid $5 million a year but has since moved on to lead other ch

Trump Predicted 1 Million Fans in Tulsa. Fewer than 6,200 Appeared.

34by dianeravitch / 5d

Donald Trump intended to restart his campaign in Tulsa with a spectacular event. He confidently claimed that one million people had requested tickets for the event. It would be incredible! The plan was for Trump and Pence to speak at an outdoor rally for 40,000 people, then move indoors to the BOK Arena to speak to a packed house of 19,000 people. But the outdoor rally was canceled when only a fe

JUN 21

Indiana: Can the State Afford Vouchers?

400+by dianeravitch / 5d

Karen Francisco, editor of the editorial page of the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette, is grateful that Indiana Governor Eric Holcomb will not cut the budget of the state’s schools, but wonders whether the state can afford to maintain more than one system of publicly-funded schools. She might well have also asked whether the state can afford a third system of privately-managed charter schools. Currentl

Paul Horton: Violence Against Blacks During Reconstruction

25by dianeravitch / 5d

In response to the murder of George Floyd, as well as the murders of other African Americans in recent months, the media, historians, teachers, and others are reviewing the long history of vicious racism in this country and calling for structural changes. The challenge of our time is to look deeply into our institutions and not let this moment of reckoning with our racist attitudes and institutio

Victor Ray and Alan Aja: Education Won’t Save Us from Racism

100+by dianeravitch / 5d

Victor Ray and Alan Aja argue in this article that appeared in the Washington Post that racism can’t be “fixed” by more education. Plenty of highly educated people are racist. The root of racism, they argue, is systematic inequality of resources and access to power. Prescribing education as the cure for racism often confuses individual bigotry with a system of domination. As a system of dominatio

North Carolina: Join Jen Mangrum on June 25 to Learn About Her Campaign to Become State Chief

300+by dianeravitch / 6d

Please join Jen Mangrum in her important campaign for state superintendent of education in North Carolina, a post that has been held by an ineffectual Republican supporter of charters, vouchers, and other Tea Party policies for the past four years. Jen is an experienced educator and a woman with guts. She ran against state Senator Phil Berger, the most powerful politician in the state in the last

JUN 20

Harold Meyerson: Trump as the Nosferatu of Our Time

27by dianeravitch / 6d

In this brilliant column, Harold Meyerson of The American Prospect compares Trump to Nosferatu, the terrifying central figure in a silent German film of that name. Death—meaning Trump—stalks Tulsa, bringing with him terror, disease, racism, and chaos. Hallmarks of this man. Meyerson writes: Tonight, the presidency of Donald Trump reaches its apotheosis with the president’s first 2020 campaign ral

A Podcast with a Conservative Economist about SLAYING GOLIATH

by dianeravitch / 6d

This is an interview with Russ Roberts of the Hoover Institution about SLAYING GOLIATH. The Hoover Institution has a huge endowment, and it is committed to free markets. Its funders do not like public schools. They disparage them as “government schools.” They like vouchers and charters. Russ is a nice guy, and he believes in choice and charter schools. We disagreed. You might enjoy this podcast.

“America” from the Cast of Hamilton

by dianeravitch / 6d

This is a wonderful song and dance performed by the cast of HAMILTON in 2016. There is a bonus: Lin-Manuel Miranda performing “Alexander Hamilton” at the Obama White House in 2015. It’s perfect for the moment.

Federal Judge Denies Trump-Barr Request to Block Publication of Bolton Book

by dianeravitch / 6d

A federal judge in D.C. denied the Trump administration effort to block publication of John Bolton’s book. The book will be officially published on Tuesday. The publisher has already shipped hundreds of thousands of copies. The judge said he would hold more hearings, to what purpose it is unclear. The main effect of the effort to squelch the book will be to sell more copies. Censorship usually ba

G.F. Brandenburg: The U.S. Has Surrendered to COVID-19

by dianeravitch / 6d

G.F. Brandenburg writes in this post about the apparent abandonment of the fight against the global pandemic. Trump has completely lost interest. No good headlines for him, so he has ignored the pandemic altogether. His attitude—and his stubborn refusal to wear a mask—signals that the danger is past. He has made clear that the stock market means more to him than death rates, so no more attention

Virginia Heffernan: Trump’s Rally is a Really Bad Idea

by dianeravitch / 6d

Virginia Heffernan is a regular columnist for the Los Angeles Times, where this article appeared. President Trump’s zeal for rally mode is rising almost as steeply as coronavirus cases in Tulsa, Okla., where his campaign plans to hold a little get-together on Saturday. The weather in Tulsa is expected to be muggy and nearly 90 degrees, with a high chance of thunder and lightning. You don’t say. “

John Thompson: Trump in Tulsa: Come for the Racism, Stay for the Plague

300+by dianeravitch / 7d

John Thompson, retired teacher and historian in Oklahoma, is keeping a close watch on the Trump rally and its risks to public health. He reports from the front lines of a city that’s about to dare COVID-19 to show its stuff at 

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

SBE Agenda for July 2020 - State Board of Education (CA Dept of Education)

SBE Agenda for July 2020 - State Board of Education (CA Dept of Education)

SBE Agenda for July 2020

Agenda for the California State Board of Education (SBE) meeting on July 8-9, 2020.

Important Notice

Please note, the July 2020 State Board of Education meeting will be held as a teleconference; Room 1101 (board room) will be closed to the public. Please see SBE Meeting Logistics section below for options to view and participate in the meeting.

State Board Members

• Linda Darling-Hammond, President
• Ilene W. Straus, Vice President
• Sue Burr
• Matt Navo
• Kim Pattillo Brownson
• Patricia A. Rucker
• Ting L. Sun
• Brenna Pangelinan, Student Member
• Vacancy
• Vacancy
• Vacancy

Secretary & Executive Officer

• Hon. Tony Thurmond

Executive Director

• Karen Stapf Walters

Schedule of Meeting

Wednesday, July 8, 2020

8:30 a.m. Pacific Time ±

STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION

Public Session. Public Session, adjourn to Closed Session – IF NECESSARY.

Location

California Department of Education

1430 N Street, Room 1101

Sacramento, California 95814

916-319-0827

Please see the detailed agenda for more information about the items to be considered and acted upon. The public is welcome.

Schedule of Meeting

Thursday, July 9, 2020

8:30 a.m. Pacific Time ±

STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION

The Closed Session will take place at approximately 8:30 a.m (The Public may not attend.)

Location

California Department of Education

1430 N Street, Room 1101

Sacramento, California 95814

916-319-0827

The Closed Session (1) may commence earlier than 8:30 a.m.; (2) may begin at 8:30 a.m., be recessed, and then be reconvened later in the day; or (3) may commence later than 8:30 a.m.

CLOSED SESSION AGENDA

Conference with Legal Counsel – Existing Litigation: Under Government Code sections 11126(e)(1) and (e)(2)(A), the State Board of Education hereby provides public notice that some or all of the pending litigation will be considered and acted upon in Closed Session:

• California Parents for the Equalization of Educational Materials, et al. v. Tom Torlakson in his official capacity and members of the State Board of Education, in their official capacity, et al., United States District Court (No. Dist. CA), Case No. 4:17-cv-00635
• California School Boards Association, San Jose Unified School District v. California State Board of Education, State Department of Education, Promise Academy, Real Party in Interest, Sacramento County Superior Court, Case No. 34-2018-80002834
• Ella T et al. v. State of California, State Board of Education, State Department of Education, Tom Torlakson et al., Los Angeles County Superior Court, Case No. BC685730
• Emma C., et al. v. Delaine Eastin, et al., United States District Court (No.Dist.CA), Case No. C-96-4179
• I.L. v. Oakland Unified School District, State of California, State Board of Education, State Department of Education, Tony Thurmond, United States District Court (No. Dist. CA), Case No. 20-CV-2349-JST.
• Kerri K. et al. v. State of California, State Board of Education, State Department of Education, Tony Thurmond, Contra Costa County Office of Education, the Floyd I. Marchus School et al., Contra Costa County Superior Court, Case No. MSC19-00972
• Options for Youth, Burbank, Inc., San Gabriel, Inc. Upland, Inc. and Victor Valley, Notice of Appeal Before the Education Audit Appeals Panel, EAAP Case Nos. 06-18, 06-19- 07-07, 07-08 OAH Nos. L2006100966, L2006110025, L20070706022, L2007060728, Los Angeles County Superior Court, Case No. BC 347454
• Patel v. Santa Clara Unified School District, California Department of Education, Tony Thurmond, State Board of Education, Santa Clara County Superior Court, Case No, 20CV365010

Conference with Legal Counsel – Anticipated Litigation: Under Government Code sections 11126(e), the State Board of Education hereby provides public notice that it may meet in Closed Session to decide whether there is a significant exposure to litigation, and to consider and act in connection with matters for which there is a significant exposure to litigation. Under Government Code sections 11126(e)(1) and (e)(2), the State Board of Education hereby provides public notice that it may meet in Closed Session to decide to initiate litigation and to consider and act in connection with litigation it has decided to initiate.

AGENDA ITEMS DAY 1

PLEASE NOTE: Individual speakers will be limited to one minute each for public comment for all items on Wednesday, and should follow instructions provided above to do so remotely.

Item 01(DOCX)

Subject: STATE BOARD PROJECTS AND PRIORITIES.

Including, but not limited to, future meeting plans; agenda items; and officer nominations and/or elections; State Board appointments and direction to staff; declaratory and commendatory resolutions; Bylaw review and revision; Board policy; approval of minutes; Board liaison reports; training of Board members; State Superintendent of Public Instruction Report; State Board of Education's President's Report; and other matters of interest.

Type of Action: Action, Information

---

Item 02(DOCX)

Subject: Implementation of the Integrated Local, State, and Federal Accountability and Continuous Improvement System: Update on the California School Dashboard, the Possible Student-Growth Models to Communicate Smarter Balanced Results, and the Release of the Five-Year Graduation Rate Detailed Report.

Type of Action: Action, Information

---

PUBLIC HEARINGS

The following Public Hearings will commence no earlier than 8:30 a.m. on Wednesday, July 8, 2020. The Public Hearings listed below will be held as close to 8:30 a.m. as the business of the State Board permits.

Item 03(DOCX)

Subject: 2020 Arts Education Framework for California Public Schools, Transitional Kindergarten Through Grade Twelve: Public Hearing and Adoption.

Type of Action: Action, Information, Hearing

---

Item 04(DOCX)

Subject: 2020 World Languages Framework for California Public Schools, Kindergarten Through Grade Twelve: Public Hearing and Adoption.

Type of Action: Action, Information, Hearing

CONTINUE READING: SBE Agenda for July 2020 - State Board of Education (CA Dept of Education)

SBE Agenda for July 2020 - State Board of Education (CA Dept of Education)

Jersey Jazzman: What an Actual School Reopening Plan Looks Like

Jersey Jazzman: What an Actual School Reopening Plan Looks Like

What an Actual School Reopening Plan Looks Like

Several states, particularly in the Northeast, have begun releasing their plans to reopen K-12 schools. Connecticut, for example, just released a plan yesterday; New Jersey is scheduled to release one today.

I'm going to hold off commenting on any individual state's plans for now. Instead, I'm going to sketch out what I think a statewide plan for reopening schools should look like. I won't pretend this is comprehensive, and I'm happy to accept any comments or criticisms. But I do think we need to set some standards for what states need to do to help school districts get ready for reopening in the fall.

And so, here are the features at a minimum that I believe a real statewide school reopening plan must have:

- Minimal requirements for staff and student personal protective equipment (PPE), as provided by school districts (as a matter of equity, no plan should require staff and students to supply their own PPE).

- Clear guidelines and minimal standards for implementing social distancing, mask wearing, and other actions to mitigate Covid-19 spread. In other words, if there is social distancing in the plan, there has to be a minimal distance that must be maintained at all times. If masks are required, the plan should spell out the type of mask (N95, surgical, cloth, etc.).

- A separate set of guidelines and standards for students with disabilities, including medically fragile students and students with profound cognitive impairments. Obviously CONTINUE READING: Jersey Jazzman: What an Actual School Reopening Plan Looks Like

2020 Medley #13 — Scientific Ignorance and American Anti-Intellectualism | Live Long and Prosper

2020 Medley #13 — Scientific Ignorance and American Anti-Intellectualism | Live Long and Prosper

2020 Medley #13 — Scientific Ignorance and American Anti-Intellectualism

A VACCINE FOR CONSPIRACY THEORIES

Conspiracy Theories

The internet has opened the door for Americans to gain wide-ranging expanded knowledge…but, as Isaac Asimov wrote, “The saddest aspect of life right now is that science gathers knowledge faster than society gathers wisdom.”

With that expanded knowledge comes expanded falsehood…conspiracy theories. Teachers are tasked with teaching students how to read critically…to sift through massive amounts of information and learn how to tell truth from falsehood. The state of the nation today would indicate that we have failed. Conspiracy theories abound.

Take the current worldwide health crisis. According to conspiracy theories…

• the virus is spread by 5G towers,

• masks will starve your body of oxygen,

• Bill Gates is going to use the coronavirus vaccine to inject us with microchips,

• coronavirus is a Chinese bio-weapon

[For debunking information see Debunking COVID-19 Conspiracy Theories]

The National Center for Science Education a way to combat conspiracy theories with critical thinking…with the help of an acronym CONSPIR.

John Cook, a frequent NCSE collaborator who focuses on combating misconceptions, recently co-authored The Conspiracy Theory Handbook. During a recent conversation with Cook, he noted: “While we do not have a vaccine for COVID-19 at this time, we do have a vaccine for misinformation CONTINUE READING: 2020 Medley #13 — Scientific Ignorance and American Anti-Intellectualism | Live Long and Prosper

The Struggle for No Police in the Los Angeles Schools - LA Progressive

The Struggle for No Police in the Los Angeles Schools - LA Progressive

The Struggle for No Police in the Los Angeles Schools

A great leap forward and victory is in sight

On Tuesday, June 23, in Los Angeles, the decade’s long struggle for No Police in the Schools had a major breakthrough. Los Angeles School Board member Monica Garcia introduced the most structural and hopeful motion to make “defund the police” a reality. Her motion, expressing gratitude to the national Black uprising, called for cutting the $70 million budget of the Los Angeles School Police Department—with 350 armed officers—by 50% in 2021, 75% in 2022, and 90% in 2023—essentially phasing out the entire department.  We think “50%, 75%, 90%” is a model for the “Defund the Police” movement nationally. Any movement that gets to 100% first wins. Her Civil Rights motion did not pass but neither did any of the toxic compromises. That “50/75/90%” motion is still the centerpiece of our movement going forward and we have every intention of bringing it into reality.

Outside the LAUSD building it was the Black-led movement that was the driving force in history. There were more than 3,000 of us encircling the entire block. There was a great sound truck led by Black Lives Matter Los Angeles and Students Deserve—a Black led student organization in the LAUSD schools.  The program was a celebration of rage, creativity, rap, music, and the spoken word. Dr. Melina Abdullah, co-chair of Black Lives Matter L.A. spoke of how all three of her children suffered police abuse in the schools while her son’s first incident of anti-Black police brutality was at the age of six. She described in painful detail how every aspect of a Black child’s life is criminalized and why the demand for No Police in the Schools was a life and death issue for the Black community.

Niyah Henry from Westchester High School Students Deserve brought the crowd to their feet and me to tears when she read her poem that made it clear that for Black students, going to a school filled with police is not just a blow to student achievement, it makes you not want to go to school at all.

Channing Martinez of the Strategy Center said that when he went to Crenshaw High School 15 CONTINUE READING: The Struggle for No Police in the Los Angeles Schools - LA Progressive

Memphis: Two KIPP Charters Close Suddenly, Stranding Students | Diane Ravitch's blog

Memphis: Two KIPP Charters Close Suddenly, Stranding Students | Diane Ravitch's blog

Memphis: Two KIPP Charters Close Suddenly, Stranding Students

David Pettiette is a CPA who volunteered at a KIPP elementary school in Memphis. He was shocked when two KIPP schools suddenly closed their doors and left their families scrambling for a new school.

He wrote:

In April, it was announced that KIPP Memphis Preparatory Elementary and KIPP Memphis Preparatory Middle on Corry Road would be permanently closing without notice. Between the two schools, over 650 students have been displaced without so much as a plan or opportunity to rebut the decision.

The decision to close a school in an underserved community is not uncommon. It is however a decision that is typically given six months to a year’s notice, not April of the current school year. The Knowledge is Power Program (KIPP) is the largest network of public charter schools in the nation, with several schools in Memphis. With that size apparently comes unprecedented autonomy considering the schools’ primary funding is local and state money.

In an effort to limit bad press, KIPP offered a Q&A conference call to address the school closures so that the community’s voices could be heard. However, this CONTINUE READING: Memphis: Two KIPP Charters Close Suddenly, Stranding Students | Diane Ravitch's blog

Steven Singer: Standardized Testing Increase School Segregation - LA Progressive

Standardized Testing Increase School Segregation - LA Progressive

Standardized Testing Increase School Segregation

Let’s say your community has two schools.

One serves mostly white students and the other serves mostly black students.

How do you eliminate such open segregation?

After all, in 1954 the U.S. Supreme Court struck down school segregation in Brown vs. Board of Education as essentially separate and unequal.

It’s been nearly 70 years. We must have a recourse to such things these days. Mustn’t we?

Well, the highest court in the land laid down a series of decisions, starting with Milliken vs. Bradley in 1974, that effectively made school integration voluntary especially within district lines. So much so, in fact, that according to a report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office, from 2000 to 2014, school segregation more than doubled nationwide.

But let’s say you did find some right-minded individuals who cared enough to make the effort to fix the problem.

What could they do?

The most obvious solution would be to build a single new school to serve both populations.

So if you could find the will and the money, you could give it a try.

Unfortunately, that alone wouldn’t solve the problem.

Why?

Standardized tests.

Even when students from different racial or ethnic groups aren’t physically separated by district CONTINUE READING: Standardized Testing Increase School Segregation - LA Progressive

What’s The Alternative To Police In Schools? - PopularResistance.Org

What’s The Alternative To Police In Schools? - PopularResistance.Org

WHAT’S THE ALTERNATIVE TO POLICE IN SCHOOLS?

Restorative Justice.

Restorative justice programs have already proven effective at Chicago Public Schools, but lack the level of funding budgeted for the district’s contract with the Chicago Police Department.

Thousands of Chicagoans have rallied in the past couple weeks behind the demand that Chicago Public Schools end its relationship with the police department.

But a small group of advocates have been working on this issue for years, and they’ve won significant progress in recent months. We don’t know the impact of those changes yet — though we do know that alternatives to police in schools need much greater support.

A new Chicago Police Department policy implemented last August removed so-called school resource officers from involvement in day-to-day disciplinary matters. It requires screening of potential officers, including consideration of their disciplinary records and involvement with youth, and selection in consultation with school principals. It mandates training in youth development, de-escalation, restorative justice, crisis intervention and disability issues.

Those changes were spelled out in a memorandum of agreement between CPS and CPD last December — a move greeted as a “victory” that was “long fought for” by POWER-PAC IL, an organization of parents in low-income communities that has worked for school discipline reform for many years. The new policy and the MOA reflect recommendations by the city’s inspector general and by civil rights advocates, as well as requirements under the federal consent CONTINUE READING: What’s The Alternative To Police In Schools? - PopularResistance.Org

Pandemic Parenting Was Already Relentless. Then Came Summer. - The New York Times

Pandemic Parenting Was Already Relentless. Then Came Summer. - The New York Times

Pandemic Parenting Was Already Relentless. Then Came Summer.
A survey shows that parents feel increasing pressure to make up for children’s lost educational and enrichment time.

American parents spend more time and money on their children than ever — and that was before the pandemic. Now, with remote school ending for the summer and a far-from-normal fall expected, parenting is becoming only more demanding.

It’s not just that children need more supervision, with their usual activities closed. Unlike previous generations of parents, today’s feel pressured to use time with their children for active engagement and continual teaching. Now that pressure is compounded by fears about missing months of education, and about widening gaps between children whose parents can provide significant at-home enrichment and those whose parents cannot.

Three-quarters of parents of children under 12, and 64 percent of parents of teenagers, said it was more important to do parent-led educational activities with their children this summer than in previous summers, found a new survey by Morning Consult for The New York Times. Sixty-four percent of parents of children under 12 said they felt pressure to do this, an increase from 58 percent earlier in the pandemic. Just 17 percent said they did not feel this pressure.

These days, Madeleine Senger, 13, sets her alarm for 6:30 a.m. and begins the day reading, then practicing piano. Some days she has virtual classes from her home in Denver — online camps, book club and cooking class, in addition to online tutors for math, Spanish, piano and writing. Her parents hired a Spanish tutor based in Guatemala as well as several teachers from her school to do individual or small-group classes. Madeleine also joined a start-up children’s newspaper, the Corona Courier.

“We want her to be happy and at the same time learn and avoid the summer slump, and the slump from the end of last year and what we expect in the coming year,” said Madeleine’s father, Joel Senger, a school librarian.

Madeleine already excels at school, said her mother, Alexis Senger, a consultant and lecturer on higher education budgeting policy. But, she said: “We want to prepare her and keep her active and engaged. College is going to be the only way to survive in this future where none of us know what will exist.”

Social scientists call this intensive parenting. They have found it has become the expectation of most parents, across race and class divides (although richer parents are more able to carry it out). Unlike helicopter parenting, which was more about keeping children physically safe, intensive parenting is about enriching them with one-on-one attention and extracurricular activities.

Intensive parenting grew in part from discoveries about how much children’s early experiences shape their outcomes. It’s also fueled by financial anxiety, with more pressure to get a degree from a good college and land on the right side of the economic divide amid rising inequality — a competition the economists Valerie and Garey Ramey termed “the rug rat race.” CONTINUE READING: Pandemic Parenting Was Already Relentless. Then Came Summer. - The New York Times

Budgeting for the Public Good | janresseger

Budgeting for the Public Good | janresseger

Budgeting for the Public Good

Public schools—publicly funded, universally available, and accountable to the public, while imperfect, are essential for ensuring that all children are served.  Public schools are the optimal way to balance the needs of each particular child and family with the need to create a system that secures the rights and addresses the needs of all children. Our society has improved justice in our system of public education over the generations because the U.S. Constitution, the constitutions of the 50 states, and laws passed by Congress and the state legislatures protect the rights of all children including previously marginalized—African American, Native American, disabled, immigrant, and LGBTQ—children. Public schools will always need to be improved to do a better job, and public oversight under law is embedded into the very design of public education. If a student is poorly served, the family has the right to redress under the law.

Private schools, which accept publicly funded tuition vouchers, are neither required to protect the rights of disabled children by providing the necessary and appropriate programming, nor to provide services for undocumented children, nor to accept children of every religion. And while charter schools that contract with the government are charged with protecting students’ rights, many find ways to push out the students they don’t want or employ zero tolerance disciplinary practices that violate children’s civil rights. Oversight is supposed to be provided by state laws in the more than 40 states which have set up charter schools, but in many cases the laws are weak and enforcement is lax.

Private schools accepting publicly funded tuition vouchers and charter schools, which are paid tax dollars under government contracts, extract public funds from the public school system, which serves 90 percent of our society’s children and adolescents, roughly 50 million young people. While recently President Donald Trump, has been trashing “government” schools,” he and Education Secretary Betsy DeVos both support privatized alternatives which are, ironically, paid for by government. School choice creates a marketplace of privatized services, but the costs are absorbed by government at the expense of the public schools that serve most of our children. These publicly funded but privatized educational institutions pay CONTINUE READING: Budgeting for the Public Good | janresseger

Audio: Education Dept. Rule Limits How Schools Can Spend Vital Aid Money | 89.3 KPCC

Audio: Education Dept. Rule Limits How Schools Can Spend Vital Aid Money | 89.3 KPCC

Education Dept. Rule Limits How Schools Can Spend Vital Aid Money

In a new rule announced Thursday, U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos signaled she is standing firm on her intention to reroute millions of dollars in coronavirus aid money to K-12 private school students. The CARES Act rescue package included more than $13 billion to help public schools cover pandemic-related costs.

The move comes nearly two months after the Education Department issued controversial guidance, suggesting that private schools should benefit from a representative share of the emergency aid. Lawmakers from both parties countered that the aid was intended to be distributed based on how many vulnerable, low-income students a district serves.

While that guidance was nonbinding, Thursday's rule is enforceable by law.

"The CARES Act is a special, pandemic-related appropriation to benefit all American students, teachers, and families impacted by coronavirus," DeVos said in a statement. "There is nothing in the law Congress passed that would allow districts to discriminate against children and teachers based on private school attendance and employment."

The new rule gives school districts two choices about how to spend their aid money CONTINUE READING: Audio: Education Dept. Rule Limits How Schools Can Spend Vital Aid Money | 89.3 KPCC

SSPI to Explore Data on School Police PLUS 2020 Model SARB Winners Announced - Year 2020 (CA Dept of Education)

SSPI to Explore Data on School Police - Year 2020 (CA Dept of Education)

State Superintendent Tony Thurmond Outlines Efforts to Explore Data on School Police, Expand Understanding of Ethnic Studies

SACRAMENTO—State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond on Wednesday outlined two upcoming efforts the California Department of Education (CDE) will lead in the coming weeks as schools tackle questions surrounding educational equity and racial justice.  

The first effort will accelerate research into the impacts of the presence of law enforcement on school campuses, the findings of which will inform specific policy recommendations.

The second will be the launch of a series of Ethnic Studies webinars for students, families, and educators to familiarize themselves with the histories and contributions of oppressed populations.

“As our state and nation confronts difficult conversations about racial justice, it’s evident that schools are uniquely positioned to tackle some of these issues head-on,” said Thurmond. “Like our communities, our schools are also reckoning with the best ways to navigate police reform and an honest accounting with our nation’s complex history.”

An archived broadcast of the full media check-in can be viewed on the CDE’s Facebook page.

Here is a brief recap of the State Superintendent’s announcements:

School Safety and Equity: Superintendent Thurmond will hold a public hearing Tuesday, June 30 at 10 a.m., which will be streamed live on Facebook, that will examine the data and research that exists regarding the impacts of police programs on school campuses. This will be designed as a discussion between researchers, police organizations, advocacy groups, and legislators. CDE will utilize an existing partnership with nonprofit education organization WestEd to compile and review existing research on school police programs to inform future policy recommendations.

Groups and individuals that study issues of school policing are also invited to submit their research to reimaginesafeschools@cde.ca.gov .   

Ethnic Studies Webinars: As the CDE prepares to submit a revised Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum for public review, the State Superintendent announced he will be launching a series of virtual webinars and lessons for students, educators, and families. These lessons will feature Ethnic Studies professors in the following areas: Africana Studies; Asian American Studies; Chicano Latino Studies; and Native American Studies. More details will be announced this week.

# # # #

Tony Thurmond — State Superintendent of Public Instruction
Communications Division, Room 5602, 916-319-0818, Fax 916-319-0100

SSPI to Explore Data on School Police - Year 2020 (CA Dept of Education)

USDA Child Nutrition Responses 33 through 37 - Nutrition (CA Dept of Education) - https://www.cde.ca.gov/ls/nu/cnpresponse33-37.asp

2020 Model SARB Winners Announced - Year 2020 (CA Dept of Education) - https://www.cde.ca.gov/nr/ne/yr20/yr20rel49.asp

“Parents Need to Go to Work” Does Not Stop COVID at the School Door. | deutsch29

“Parents Need to Go to Work” Does Not Stop COVID at the School Door. | deutsch29

“Parents Need to Go to Work” Does Not Stop COVID at the School Door.

When I hear discussions about schools reopening in the fall, I already know what two chief reasons will be offered.

One is that students need to be educated. Of course they do, and as a career teacher, I desire to educate. I have dedicated my professional life to educating generations of children, and I miss being at school, in my classroom, with my students.

The second reason, which seems to follow quickly on the heels of the first, is that “parents need to get back to work”– the implication being that schools need to open so that parents once again have the built-in child care that the K12 school day (and its auxiliary programs) offers.

That “parents need to get back to work” reason never seems to include the reality that in this time of international health crisis, expecting schools to offer uninterrupted, on-site education defies reality.

Schools and school systems nationwide (indeed, worldwide) are trying to navigate providing education to students despite the COVID pandemic.

That navigation almost certainly includes a remote learning component.

Thus, not only might students be receiving instruction at home, but also, parents, guardians, and/or other caregivers will need to be available to both care for children during the school day and to assist them with their remote learning.

In other words, it is completely unrealistic to expect schools to open and to stay CONTINUE READING: “Parents Need to Go to Work” Does Not Stop COVID at the School Door. | deutsch29