Members of Unions and Progressive Groups Back Sanders. When the Chiefs Pick, Clinton Gets the Nod. - Truthdig

Members of Unions and Progressive Groups Back Sanders. When the Chiefs Pick, Clinton Gets the Nod. - Truthdig:

Members of Unions and Progressive Groups Back Sanders. When the Chiefs Pick, Clinton Gets the Nod.

Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders debate in Charleston, S.C. (Mic Smith / AP)

Every major union or progressive group that let its members decide the organization’s endorsement in the 2016 Democratic presidential primary campaign has selected Bernie Sanders, while all of Hillary Clinton’s major endorsements have come from groups in which the leadership decides.

“It’s perhaps the clearest example yet of Clinton’s powerful appeal to the Democratic Party’s elite, even as support for Sanders explodes among the rank and file,” reports Zaid Jilani at The Intercept:

For example, Clinton got an endorsement from the Human Rights Campaign this week. That decision was made not by a vote of HRC’s membership list but instead by a 32-member executive board that includes Mike Berman, the president of a lobbying firm that works for Pfizer, Comcast, and the health insurance lobby. Northrup Grumman is among its list of major corporate sponsors.

The Sanders campaign blasted the group as “establishment” and said that Sanders has a much stronger record on LGBT equality than Clinton. Outspoken gay activist Michaelangelo Signorile wrote that HRC had clearly traded its early endorsement for “access to the White House” for its leaders. […]

The one major labor union that did allow for a vote was the Communications Workers of America. CWA followed a three-month process that included meetings with members, telephone town halls, and 

Members of Unions and Progressive Groups Back Sanders. When the Chiefs Pick, Clinton Gets the Nod. - Truthdig:

CBE Online is Neither Personalized Nor Higher-Order Thinking!

CBE Online is Neither Personalized Nor Higher-Order Thinking!:

CBE Online is Neither Personalized Nor Higher-Order Thinking!

The issue of Competency-Based Education is very much in the news, so I thought I would revive this post.

Competency-Based Education (CBE) is being promoted as the way to “personalize” education, but it is a cold impersonal method of teaching on the computer. It fails to teach to the whole child and merely provides fragmented drill. It will be coordinated with Common Core, and there are concerns about student private information being compromised.

Competency-Based Education (CBE) itself has been around for years. Teachers pretest, or figure out what a child doesn’t know or understand. They provide instruction that addresses what the student lacks. Then the teacher reassesses to see if their instruction made a difference. If the instruction works, the teacher moves on. If it doesn’t work, they rethink their teaching strategy and do something different.

Teachers might not think about CBE much because it is usually automatic. Special CBE Online is Neither Personalized Nor Higher-Order Thinking!:

Seattle Schools Community Forum: Annual Equitable Access Report

Seattle Schools Community Forum: Annual Equitable Access Report:

Annual Equitable Access Report

It's January again and therefore time for another annual report on Equitable Access.

This report is required by Board Policy 2200 which delegates authority for program placement to the Superintendent, but sets the criteria for program placement and requires an annual report to allow the Board the opportunity to confirm that the Superintendent's program placement decisions are aligned with those criteria. The Superintendent submits quarterly reports throughout the year and an annual report in January. The reports are delivered in Friday Memos to the Board. Every quarterly report and every annual report is deficient in some important way. This year is no exception.



The first thing you will notice about this report is that it contains no mention of the elimination of the Middle College site in Southwest Seattle. How this decision does not qualify as worthy of mention in this report is beyond me.

You'll notice that the report, which is supposed to include any decisions which, although not yet made, are under consideration, does not make any reference to Seattle Schools Community Forum: Annual Equitable Access Report:

Facing the Music in Flint - LA Progressive

Facing the Music in Flint - LA Progressive:

Facing the Music in Flint

The Flint water crisis and the poisoning of black children is yet another example of violence waged against African-Americans each and every day.

Sometimes, the crimes take the form of bullets (from police or otherwise) riddling innocent black bodies. Other times, the acts of torture are protracted, prolonged and gradual — like Flint, Michigan.

Someone needs to go to prison for it.

The predominantly black children of Flint are inflicted with Third World problems in the wealthiest nation on earth, in a region surrounded by water from the Great Lakes.

Instead, they were provided with swill, waste water that even GM refused to mess with because it was corroding the car parts. But it was fine for black children, because some officials may view them as thugs and animals anyway or likely to end up in jail.

Lead poisoning will haunt these girls and boys for the rest of their lives.

This disaster demonstrates that, once again, black people are sitting targets, accused of being a criminal element yet suffering as perpetual victims of crime who never find justice. A few days ago, seeking clarity on the situation and hoping to vent the outrage and frustrations of people out there, I decided to tweet about it here.

And based on the feedback I received, I’ve decided to expand on this idea.

There is no shortage of black people, particularly black men, who are in prison over nonviolent drug offenses, targeted exclusively for arrest, prosecution and prison, even as whites and blacks consume such substances, including marijuana, at similar rates. Billions of dollars are wasted on millions of race-based marijuana arrests, according to the ACLU, with blacks 3.73 times more likely Facing the Music in Flint - LA Progressive:

Anger in Michigan Over Appointing Emergency Managers - The New York Times

Anger in Michigan Over Appointing Emergency Managers - The New York Times:

Anger in Michigan Over Appointing Emergency Managers

Protesters in Detroit on Wednesday held signs depicting Gov. Rick Snyder of Michigan and Darnell Earley, the new emergency manager for the city’s public schools. Critics say the appointment of emergency managers by the state disenfranchises local voters. Credit Laura McDermott for The New York Times

LANSING, Mich. — In the spring of 2013, Detroit was groaning under the weight of its troubles. It had accumulated billions in debt, was riddled with crime and had seen much of its affluent tax base disappear. A former mayor, Kwame M. Kilpatrick, was convicted of racketeering and fraud.

Gov. Rick Snyder, a Republican, swept in with a rescue plan: the appointment of an emergency manager, Kevyn D. Orr, who was charged with saving a city in fiscal despair. Many Detroiters were furious that Mr. Orr, then a high-profile bankruptcy lawyer from Chevy Chase, Md., had been given a role with extraordinary power, usurping control from local elected officials.

That anger has been revived in Michigan this week. Public outrage over the tainted water in Flint and the decrepit schools in Detroit has led many people to question whether the state has overreached in imposing too many emergency managers in largely black jurisdictions.

In Flint, emergency managers not only oversaw the city — effectively seizing legal authority from the mayor and City Council — but also pressed to switch the source of the financially troubled city’s water supply to save money.

In Detroit, the schools are on the brink of insolvency after a series of emergency managers dating to 2009 repeatedly failed to grapple with its financial troubles, while also falling short on maintaining school buildings and addressing academic deficiencies. The current emergency manager for the schools, Darnell Earley, previously served in that role in Flint.

Under the administration of Mr. Snyder, who has held office since 2011, seven cities or school districts have been declared financial emergencies and placed under appointed management, state officials said. During the eight-year tenure of his predecessor, Jennifer M. Granholm, a Democrat, five cities or school districts were given emergency managers.

Three school districts — but no municipalities — remain under the control of emergency managers, a state official said.

Residents of majority-black cities have long cried foul over the practice. They argue that it disenfranchises voters and violates a deeply felt ethos of American democracy that allows for local representation. They also say emergency management gives influence to what is now a mostly white, Republican leadership in Lansing, the state capital. And they worry that in their decisions, emergency managers are more concerned with fiscal discipline than public health.

“Tell me what race dominates in those communities that get emergency managers?” said Hubert Yopp, the mayor of Highland Park, Mich., which is 93 percent black and in past years has had an emergency manager. “People have a very real reason to question what that’s about. It would be one thingAnger in Michigan Over Appointing Emergency Managers - The New York Times: 

Concept of Creatve Schools Taking Hold in California

Concept of Creatve Schools Taking Hold in California:

Concept of Creatve Schools Taking Hold in California

When it is becoming clear that creativity and innovation are the benchmarks of the new, global, knowledge economy, California is emerging as a leader in the effort to reinvent education.

Last year, the California Arts Council received a one-time $5 million increase in its 2014-15 budget, bringing its total support from the general fund to $6 million. This year, Governor Brown signed a state budget that included a $7.1 million permanent increase in general fund support for the Arts Council, and the Council in turn, has funded more communities throughout the state, and, together with the California Department of Education, helped craft a "Blueprint for Creative Schools," which eventually will be adopted by all California schools.

This is not just another government report to gather dust. It is a well thought-out set of recommendations and an action-oriented directive. The Blueprint has recommendations that touch on every aspect of teaching and learning in all K-12 schools. But what makes this effort most attractive is the commitment to developing a long-term agenda, insuring sustainability and creating a program of assessment and accountability.

Significant, also, is the creation of CREATE CA, a new non-profit coalition charged with ongoing convening of the California arts education community, coordinating action among the members of the coalition, and broadly marketing arts education advocacy to the greater public."

With a permanent staff, and a management structure, it is bringing all the major organizations together including the California Alliance for Arts Education (CAAE), the California Department of Education (CDE), the California Arts Council (CAC), the California County Superintendents Educational Services Association (CCSESA), the California Parent Teacher Association (PTA), and representatives of other significant arts organizations and initiatives.

While the Blueprint and CREATE CA have not been the diving force in all of the schools, the idea of a well-rounded curriculum using arts and arts integrated techniques is taking hold and a movement is taking shape in education throughout the state.

Public broadcast station KQED, reported, "in a first-grade classroom at Peralta Elementary School in Oakland, children concentrate on detailed pencil drawings of scenes from the underground railroad. Safehouses and trap doors appear on paper... (But) at Peralta, art is never just about art. These first-graders are learning about history, but they're also practicing math, measuring with their fingers to figure out where to draw horizon lines."

At Twin Rivers Unified in Northern Sacramento, Jacqueline White, Director, Arts and Career Education, says her district started to deploy arts integration with the Concept of Creatve Schools Taking Hold in California:

NYSAPE Common Survey Results - 2015 Public Survey for ​Standards, Curriculum, and Testing- NYS Allies for Public Education

NYS ALLIES for Public Education - NYS Allies for Public Education:

NYSAPE Common Survey Results - 2015

Public Survey for 

​Standards, Curriculum, and Testing

NYS Test Refusal Letter

NYSAPE Response to USDOE Funding Threats

Sit & Stare & Verbal Refusal Advisory

Rebuttals to Misinformation from School Districts

Public service announcement ON CBS RADIO

We are supporters of Public Education who believe excessive testing and inappropriate sharing of private student data without parental consent threatens the futures of our students, our schools and our state.   For more see About Us

​ Latest Press Releases & Action Alerts:
Groups Supporting:
Regent Betty Rosa for Chancellor &
Regent Beverly Ouderkirk for Vice Chancellor

Strong, Collaborative Leadership
A Must for the Board of Regents 
to Steer NY Education on the Right Path

Put a Stop to New NYSED Student Data Project
​Take Action Here

Two Vacant Seats on the NYS Board of
Regents - Candidates Needed

Parents Will Continue to Opt Out Until Ed Law Repealed & 
Real Change Seen in the Classrooms

​
Lisa Rudley's Testimony to the Governor Common Core Task Fore on Thursday, October 29, 2015 at the College of New Rochelle.  

lisarudleygovtaskforcepres102915.pptx

Download File

- See more at: http://www.nysape.org/#sthash.xFEoWzPT.dpuf

HOOSIER VOICES FOR PUBLIC EDUCATION: "TWITTER STORM" SUPPORTING PUBLIC EDUCATION

HOOSIER VOICES FOR PUBLIC EDUCATION: "TWITTER STORM" SUPPORTING PUBLIC EDUCATION:

"TWITTER STORM" SUPPORTING PUBLIC EDUCATION

Its time for a PUBLIC ED support "Twitter Storm" in light of the Institute for Quality Education's upcoming Quality Education Celebration, celebrating National School Choice Week by celebrating school choice options in Indiana, being held in the Indiana Statehouse Atrium on Monday, January 25.

The "Storm" will run from 4:00pm Sunday, January 24 until 5:00pm Monday, January 25.  During this storm we ask that PUBLIC ED advocates post tweets that include links to great public schools data, the effects of vouchers on public schools, and any highlights of positives of Indiana's PUBLIC schools.

Recently The Institute for Quality Education took a quote from a Chalkbeat article and published it on their twitter account claiming that ISTA President Teresa Meredith "supports" vouchers.  

Here is the actual full quote from the article.

"Clearly the public is unhappy with direction our state has gone and wants to get back to common sense support for students and public schools,” said Indiana State Teachers Association President Teresa Meredith in a statement. “Students’ chances for success should not depend on winning a charter lottery or living in the right zip code.”

Hoosier Voices For Public Education founder, Philip D. Arnold, states that he believes the intention of the quote was to say Public Schools are being robbed by the use of vouchers and "scholarships" being handed out based on geography or affluent status. 

When asked about the quote, President Meredith told Mr. Arnold, "Our government is selling off Public schools with vouchers and 'scholarships'.  No kid should have to have a voucher to get a good education"

Philip Arnold points out information from reviews critical of the Friedman research cited in the Chalkbeat article. An article posted by The National Education Policy Center states, " A recent report from the Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice purports .... But a new review of that report finds it is based on weak underlying research and that it misrepresents findings."  Read full article.

To show our continued support and advocacy for our PUBLIC SCHOOLS, let's flood twitter feeds with our PRO-PUBLIC ED information leading up to, and during, the big I4QED "choice" celebration.  When you tweet or post pro-public education please use #INpublicED along with any other of your "hashtags" and please tweet @i4qed @h4qed and @HoosierVoices along with others you wish to tweet to.  

In recent days Indiana's Public Education Advocates have pushed for positive moves in the current legislative session.  We need to continue our push of support and continue to show that our PUBLIC schools are worth the fight as we take on the volatile and poisonous "reform" minded legislators and the benefactors of their legislative agenda (benefactors like Institute for Quality Education, The Mind Trust, Hoosiers for Quality Education, Charter school operators , Private School financial officers, ALEC, Koch brothers, Friedman Foundation)HOOSIER VOICES FOR PUBLIC EDUCATION: "TWITTER STORM" SUPPORTING PUBLIC EDUCATION:

Wendy Lecker: The lies in the new SAT - StamfordAdvocate

Wendy Lecker: The lies in the new SAT - StamfordAdvocate:

Wendy Lecker: The lies in the new SAT

Connecticut’s political and educational leaders have sold us a bill of goods with the new SAT. Last spring the legislature and the State Board of Education hastily decided to replace the 11th-grade SBAC with the newly designed SAT. The move was in response to outcry about the invalidity of the SBAC and about the addition of another standardized test for juniors.

As I wrote previously (http://bit.ly/1Kv8TXk), our leaders did not wait for the SAT to be validated, nor did they validate any accommodations that English Language Learners (ELL) or students with disabilities would need.

Instead, they misrepresented the facts to parents and students.

In December, the State Department of Education (SDE) sent districts a sample letter intended for parents. In it, SDE claimed that “(b)y adopting the SAT, we are eliminating duplicate testing.”

That assertion is false for many Connecticut students and SDE knew that when it wrote this letter. In a separate document sent at the same time but addressed to district leaders, not parents, SDE acknowledged that the vast majority of ELL students taking the SAT with accommodations will be unable to report their scores to colleges, because the College Board does not accept ELL accommodations. Similarly, many students with disabilities using accommodations will not be able to report scores either, as the College Board has more stringent criteria for disability accommodations. For those students, the SAT will only count for state accountability purposes.

In other words, for thousands of students, the state-mandated SAT will not count for college applications and they will have to take another test — either the SAT or ACT without accommodations.

Our state leaders also misled us by claiming that the new SAT is appropriate as an accountability exam aligned with Wendy Lecker: The lies in the new SAT - StamfordAdvocate:

CURMUDGUCATION: The Non-White Teacher Problem

CURMUDGUCATION: The Non-White Teacher Problem:

The Non-White Teacher Problem

And here comes yet an other piece of research to add to the stack.

New research from Jason A. Grissom and Christopher Redding looked for new information to explain the underrepresentation of students of color in gifted programs. It's complicated problem, but the researchers came up with one answer-- white teachers are far less likely than teachers of color to identify students of color as gifted. (Consider this the second cousin of the finding that police view young Black men as older and less innocent than whites). 

Research from last spring suggests that students do better in classes taught by same-race teachers.

Common sense that says students need to see an adult in school who is like them.

And yet, the trend in education has worked the other way since the days of Brown vs. Board of Education. At a moment when the student population in the US is less than 50% white, the teacher pool is overwhelmingly white and female. 

In some cases, Black educators have been pushed out of the classroom (post Katrina New Orleans went from a 71% Black teaching pool to less than 50%). But research keeps repeating the same basic finding on a larger scale-- we are failing to hold onto men and non-white teachers.

Why? Articles keep asking the question, but nobody seems to have an answer.

There are theories. The low pay, which can have impact on men who feel the need to support a 

EXCLUSIVE: ESSA and Special Education: Part 5 | Diane Ravitch's blog

EXCLUSIVE: ESSA and Special Education: Part 5 | Diane Ravitch's blog:

EXCLUSIVE: ESSA and Special Education: Part 5

EXCLUSIVE: Lamar Alexander’s Staff Explains ESSA: PART 1 | Diane Ravitch's blog http://bit.ly/1QlmO8K

EXCLUSIVE: Senator Alexander’s Staff: ESSA and Teacher Evaluation, Part 2 | Diane Ravitch's blog http://bit.ly/1RzT9Kj

EXCLUSIVE: What Does ESSA Say About Bottom 5% of Schools: Part 3 | Diane Ravitch's blog http://bit.ly/1SzGMOp

Big Education Ape: EXCLUSIVE: How Does ESSA Affect Opt Outs? Part 4 | Diane Ravitch's blog http://bit.ly/23jA1V1

 This is the fifth installment in a series of exchanges about the Every Student Succeeds Act. I asked the questions, and David P. Cleary, chief of staff to Senator Lamar Alexander, answered them.

*********

My question:

How does the law affect the testing of students with disabilities? I have heard that there is a limit of 1% of students who may be given alternative assessments due to their disabilities, but far more than 1% of students have IEPs. What does the law say?

*******************

The response:

The law allows students with the most significant cognitive disabilities to take alternate assessments aligned with alternate academic achievement standards.

The new law includes a cap on the total number of students that can take an alternate assessment aligned with alternate achievement standards. The cap is set at one percent of all students in the state, which equates to roughly 10 percent of students with disabilities. This is the same as the regulation under NCLB that has been in effect since January 8, 2004.

It’s important to remember that the overwhelming majority of students with Individualized Education Plans (IEP) take regular assessments, and do not take an alternate assessment aligned to alternate academic achievement standards.

The new law reaffirms and makes clear that the Individuals with EXCLUSIVE: ESSA and Special Education: Part 5 | Diane Ravitch's blog:

With A Brooklyn Accent: Why Why Need Betty Rosa As Regents Chair in New York State

With A Brooklyn Accent: Why Why Need Betty Rosa As Regents Chair in New York State:

Why Why Need Betty Rosa As Regents Chair in New York State

One of the reasons we need to have Betty Rosa as the next Regents Chair in New York State is because she can help shine a light on the damage the whole "Receivership Schools" program is doing to education in the state. The damage is not only being inflicted on teachers and students in the schools already in the program, which number well over 100, but on all those which fear being placed in the program if their test scores go down. Basically, the threat of state mandated school take overs is a source of constant pressure on schools in low and moderate income districts or communities to emphasize test scores above all, and to apply their limited resources to test prep. This means sacrificing art music, gym, recess, school trips-- but it also means creating an atmosphere of near panic among teachers, students and families,a panic you can see most expressed by principals and superintendents when parents With A Brooklyn Accent: Why Why Need Betty Rosa As Regents Chair in New York State:

Detroit teacher: ‘Why is separate and unequal okay in 2016?’ - The Washington Post

Detroit teacher: ‘Why is separate and unequal okay in 2016?’ - The Washington Post:

Detroit teacher: ‘Why is separate and unequal okay in 2016?’

Burton International Academy computer advanced teacher Denice McGee, bottom left, holds a sign as she and other protesters wait to cross the street Wednesday, Jan. 20, 2016, in Detroit. Most of Detroit’s public schools closed for the day on Wednesday due to teacher absences, as disgruntled educators stepped up efforts to protest the governor’s plans for the district, its ramshackle finances and dilapidated buildings. (Todd McInturf/Detroit News via AP)

Detroit teachers, prevented by law from striking, have been staging a series of “sick outs” in recent weeks to call attention to the miserable conditions in which they work and students are forced to come and supposedly learn. As my colleague Emma Brown wrote in this story:

Teachers say they are fed up with working in schools that aren’t fit for them or their students. Classrooms are plagued by rats, roaches, mold, ceilings full of holes and unreliable heat. Teachers don’t have textbooks or other supplies they need to teach, they say, and they haven’t had a raise in 10 years.

Most of the city’s public schools have been forced to close on days of the sickouts, and the Detroit public school system filed a legal injunction asking that the teachers be prohibited from continuing these actions. On Jan. 21, an injunction was denied by the Michigan Court of Claims, but district officials plan to push again for one next week.

Here’s a piece by a Detroit teacher explaining just how hard it is to work and study in the conditions that exist now in Detroit public schools. She is Shalon Miller, who has taught in Detroit schools for 15 years and is now teaching at the Medicine and Community Health Academy at Cody.

By Shalon Miller

I love being a teacher in Detroit Public Schools, challenges and all. But when those who control the schools allow them to deteriorate to the point where the conditions are a distraction to learning, it really makes you question how much they really care about the kids.

[How bad are conditions in Detroit schools? This appalling.]

I’ve taught in Detroit for 15 years and have been at Medicine and Community Health @ Cody for four years. Teaching at Cody is bittersweet. I see the potential that Medicine and Community Health @ Cody has to become a great school and give students a great foundation for jobs in the health field. But the reality is, the building is 61 years old, dilapidated and under-resourced. For the kids’ sake, I wish Michigan and the school district would invest the funds necessary to make Cody — and every other Detroit public school — a truly great neighborhood school.

Since I have been at Cody, I have taught in horrible conditions. Classrooms Detroit teacher: ‘Why is separate and unequal okay in 2016?’ - The Washington Post:

Common Core: 5 Teachers Open Up, And They Don't Hold Back

Common Core: 5 Teachers Open Up, And They Don't Hold Back:

Common Core: 5 Teachers Open Up, And They Don't Hold Back

Education in America is an evolving thing: After 14 years of No Child Left Behind, President Obama replaced the much-loathed, standardized, test-heavy law with one that allows states to set their own benchmarks and standards. Now it looks like Common Core will soon follow NCLB into the dustbin.

But is this something to cheer?

We already know what most parents think about Common Core. Whether from genuine frustration or simply because it’s trendy, you’d be hard-pressed to find a nice word about the curriculum from parents. But one group of people we don’t get to hear from as much are teachers — despite the fact that they are so often invoked by parents and politicians as being just as fed up — so naturally we were very curious to hear what they had to say on the matter.

More From SheKnows: 25 Hilariously wrong homework answers from kids

SheKnows spoke to five educators from multiple states, who offered to give us their unfiltered thoughts on the subject.

The good

Melissa, an educator who lives in Colorado, says she barely noticed a difference when the new standards were implemented:

“I hardly noticed any changes in my curriculum (eight-grade language arts) after Common Core was put in place in my district. Mostly it felt like, yeah, I’m already doing all this. The length of the standardized tests has increased, but the number of times per year students are tested in my content area has remained basically the same.”

David, a 10-year teaching veteran in New York, says the problem lies in a misunderstanding of what Common Core actually is:

“Common Core is a term that is often misunderstood. Common Core is a set of standards or topics that should be covered at each grade level. We had these same standards when we were in school.”

One seasoned educator with over 20 years of experience who wishes to remain anonymous says the problem lies not in the standards Common Core: 5 Teachers Open Up, And They Don't Hold Back:

How Gifted Education Fuels Injustices - Higher Education

How Gifted Education Fuels Injustices - Higher Education:

How Gifted Education Fuels Injustices

After the Supreme Court’s second hearing with the Fisher vs. UT-Austin case almost two weeks ago, debates about affirmative action and nature vs. nurture were revived.

“There are those who contend that it does not benefit African-Americans to get them into the University of Texas where they do not do well, as opposed to having them go to a less-advanced school, a slower-track school, where they do well,” Justice Scalia stated. Scalia’s assertion that Blacks would be better off if they did not gain admissions to higher ranking and White elite schools fueled what should be passe assertions and retired debates as we enter 2016.

This specific course case has strong connections to what is taking place in gifted education and Advanced Placement classes nationally. In their report on College and Career Readiness, the Office for Civil Rights indicated that White students are 49% of public schools yet 62% of gifted programs.

I have devoted some 25 years to ensuring that Black students have access to gifted education throughout the approximately 16,000 school districts. It is a national crisis, as told by these numbers. Black students represent 19% of the public schools population but only 10% of gifted programs. This discrepancy means that over 250,000 Black students have been denied access to gifted education annually. Such access and opportunity gaps contribute to the lack of racial diversity at elite colleges.

The Fisher vs. UT-Austin case interests me professionally and personally.

I am a product of low-income and urban schools, having grown up in Cleveland, Ohio. Unlike many of my Black classmates, teachers recognized my potential. I will never forget being in junior high school where administers and teachers spoke with me and my mother about how they needed to ‘save me’ from this specific school system by sending me to a private high school. I have always wondered why I was worth saving.How Gifted Education Fuels Injustices - Higher Education:

Three questions to ask about the business to-do list for Sacramento mayoral candidates - Sacramento Business Journal

Three questions to ask about the business to-do list for Sacramento mayoral candidates - Sacramento Business Journal:

Three big questions about the mayoral to-do list

Several leaders of Sacramento’s business community released a pro-growth manifesto this week to the candidates running for Sacramento mayor. The document, spelling out goals for making the city more prosperous and business-friendly, raises some interesting questions.

Is this an attempt to turn Darrell Steinberg into Kevin Johnson?

The document started with developer Mark Friedman and attorney Stan Van Vleck, who originally set out to give Darrell Steinberg a sense of what a pro-business city agenda could look like. But the fundamentals of the platform — pro-development, fiscal conservatism, easing regulations, elevating the brand — could have been penned by Mayor Kevin Johnson.

Many business owners consider Johnson their champion, both for his pro-business politics and his talent for using celebrity power to lure new investment. The two leading candidates for the job — City Councilwoman Angelique Ashby and former Senate leader Darrell Steinberg — are each making the case that they would carry that torch for the business community.

Steinberg's case is particularly interesting, however. While he has a weak legislative record for supporting pro-business causes, he enjoys close relationships with political power brokers in California and Washington D.C.

“When Kevin Johnson became mayor, people weren’t sure what his politics were, but with his national stature he could achieve things that no previous mayor could,” said David Townsend, founder and president of Townsend Raimundo Besler & Usher.

“The community has learned that a mayor of statewide stature is exceedingly important,” he said.

In an interview, Steinberg acknowledged that some expect him to continue Johnson’s economic policies. Steinberg said he approves of Johnson’s basic outlook on economic growth, but that he will soon be giving voters a sense of how he is different.

“I have my own record of effective service and my own style and my own way. I will obviously be my own person,” he said.

Why was the priorities paper released now?

The most obvious answer is that the Sacramento Metro Chamber’s political action committee could soon make its endorsement. But chamber CEO Peter Tateishi says the statement of business priorities is not tied to that decision.

A big-picture answer is that Sacramento executives have recently taken a more Three questions to ask about the business to-do list for Sacramento mayoral candidates - Sacramento Business Journal:

NSEA poll shows support for public schools over charter schools : Lincoln, NE Journal Star

NSEA poll shows support for public schools over charter schools : Lincoln, NE Journal Star:

NSEA poll shows support for public schools over charter schools

A majority of Nebraskans don’t think public tax dollars should pay for charter schools, a Nebraska State Education Association poll shows.

The poll, conducted by Research Associates for the NSEA, asked 900 Nebraskans equally divided among the three congressional districts their feelings about charter schools, vouchers, teacher quality and other school issues.

Of those polled, 65 percent did not think charter schools should be funded with public tax dollars and 55 percent opposed using tax dollars to pay for school vouchers in Nebraska.

“In the face of considerable national negativity surrounding our public schools, the poll ... shows Nebraska really does like their public schools and they love their public schoolteachers,” NSEA President Nancy Fulton said at a news conference Friday. “It found Nebraskans have a uniquely Nebraska view of school choice.”

Katie Linehan, executive director of Educate Nebraska, a new organization created to advance the school-choice agenda, discounted the poll as being biased, saying the only valid information was that nearly three quarters of Nebraskans support public school choice.

"Unfortunately, this survey does not give us any insight into additional education options that should be available to children and families in Nebraska," she said. "Charter schools are public schools and are held accountable for results. They are not randomly created by individuals or organizations without oversight."

More than 70 percent of poll respondents said they knew about the state’s public school choice law that allows parents to send students to any Nebraska school.

Although a Legislative bill that would have authorized charter schools in Omaha failed last year, the school choice movement has gained traction in Nebraska in recent years and is supported by Gov. Pete Ricketts.

Several charter school opponents, including state Sens. Patty Pansing Brooks of Lincoln and Tanya Cook of Omaha, spoke at the news conference. 

Pansing Brooks said education is the best way to combat poverty and anything that diverts the Legislature from funding public schools -- which accepts all students regardless of the challenges they face -- is a mistake.

The NSEA’s Fulton said charter schools nationally have had mixed results with student achievement. The success of Nebraska’s public school system, she said, is evident in NSEA poll shows support for public schools over charter schools : Lincoln, NE Journal Star: