A Day Without Women action shows the importance of teachers in public schools | Seattle Education

A Day Without Women action shows the importance of teachers in public schools | Seattle Education:

A Day Without Women action shows the importance of teachers in public schools

Women have always been a valuable and integral part of the economy, and women’s paid work is becoming increasingly important to family well-being. In 2015, 42 percent of mothers in the United States were breadwinners, and an additional 22.4 percent were co-breadwinners, making between 25 percent and 49 percent of household earnings. The women’s strike offers an opportunity to reflect on how important women’s labor is to the country and remind Americans of what remains to be done to accurately value the work that women do to sustain the nation’s families and economy.

A Day in the US Economy Without Women: Center for American Progress

A Day Without Women action shows the importance of teachers in public schools

How exactly would a day without women affect the economy? According to the Center for American Progress’ calculations based on the labor share of the gross domestic product, or GDP, and women’s relative pay and hours of work, women’s labor contributes $7.6 trillion to the nation’s GDP each year. In one year, women working for pay in the United States earn more than Japan’s entire GDP of $5.2 trillion. If all paid working women in the United States took a day off, it would cost the country almost $21 billion in terms of GDP. Moreover, women contribute many millions of dollars to their state’s GDP each day, making their work crucial to the health of their local economies as well.

A Day in the US Economy Without Women: Center for American Progress

On March 8th, in cities and townships around the country, women will be doing what they can to show unity and demand equality in all areas of their lives.

Per the A Day Without a Woman website:

In the same spirit of love and liberation that inspired the Women’s March, we join together in making March 8th A Day Without a Woman, recognizing the enormous value that women of all backgrounds add to our socio-economic system–while receiving lower wages and experiencing greater inequities, vulnerability to A Day Without Women action shows the importance of teachers in public schools | Seattle Education:

Teacher: What school ‘choice’ looks like from my classroom - The Washington Post

Teacher: What school ‘choice’ looks like from my classroom - The Washington Post:

Teacher: What school ‘choice’ looks like from my classroom

School “choice” — the movement to encourage alternatives to traditional public schools — is the watchword in education today because President Trump and Education Secretary Betsy DeVos are big supporters and have said they want to see it expanded.

Those paying attention to the debate know the general outlines: Supporters say parents should be able to choose their children’s schools, and critics say that choice harms traditional public schools, which educate most of America’s children, and that the movement is aimed at privatizing public education.

Sarah Yost is a National Board-certified teacher of English language arts in her 12th year in education, and she has her own view on school choice and how it affects students like hers. Yost has taught in high-poverty schools and served in a hybrid teacher-leadership role for four years in Louisville. She currently teaches eighth grade at Oldham County Middle School in Kentucky. Here’s her piece on school choice.

By Sarah Yost

After having taught and served in leadership roles for the past 12 years in three public schools, I’ve seen my share of tough kids. There have been heartbreaking cases, like that of DeAnthony, whose mother was in prison for killing one of his friends in a drunk-driving accident. She often wrote him from prison to say that he was the only thing that kept her from killing herself. He worked through his anger in the classroom, sometimes throwing chairs, refusing to work, disrupting, and sometimes targeting students and teachers. Later he would apologize, ashamed, and recommit himself to his work with zeal and concentration. He wanted to be an entrepreneur.

He wasn’t the only student who had something to be angry about. Angela and her six younger siblings were taken from their drug-addicted mother and sent to live with a grandmother who resented having to care for them. Another student, John, hadn’t gone to school until he was 7, when the neighbors called Child Protective Services and he was put in foster care. At 14, he could barely read and struggled to write coherent sentences. Still another student, Adrienne, Teacher: What school ‘choice’ looks like from my classroom - The Washington Post:

Trump administration has a lot to learn about African American history. Here’s a reading list. - The Washington Post

Trump administration has a lot to learn about African American history. Here’s a reading list. - The Washington Post:

Trump administration has a lot to learn about African American history. Here’s a reading list. 

Trump administration has a lot to learn about African American history. Here’s a reading list.

There’s no denying that prominent members of the Trump administration are challenged when it comes to African American history. Consider these examples, with the most recent first:

* Ben Carson, the neurosurgeon turned secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development, said on Monday that Africans who were captured and transported to America and sold as slaves had the same aspirations as other immigrants:

“That’s what America is about. A land of dreams and opportunity. There were other immigrants who came here in the bottom of slave ships, worked even longer, even harder for less. But they, too, had a dream that one day their sons, daughters, grandsons, granddaughters, great grandsons, great granddaughters might pursue prosperity and happiness in this land.”

[Carson compares slaves to immigrants coming to ‘a land of dreams and opportunity’]

Before he became HUD secretary, Carson said at a Values Voter Summit in October 2013:

“Obamacare is really I think the worst thing that has happened in this nation since slavery. And it is in a way, it is slavery in a way, because it is making all of us subservient to the government, and it was never about health care. It was about control.”

And in October 2015, Carson told a conservative radio host that while he agrees there is racism in the United States, it isn’t what many think it to be:

“There is, but it’s not where you would expect it to be. It is mostly with the progressive movement who will look at someone like me, and because of the color of my pigment, they decide that there’s a certain way that I’m supposed to think. And if I don’t think that way, I’m an Uncle Tom and they heap all kinds of hatred on you. That, to me, is racism.”

* Education Secretary Betsy DeVos on Feb. 26 called historically black colleges and universities — which were founded because blacks weren’t permitted to attend white institutions — “pioneers” of school choice. Here’s what she said in a statement about HBCUs after meeting with presidents from many of the institutions:

They started from the fact that there were too many students in America who did not have equal access to education. They saw that the system wasn’t 

Trump administration has a lot to learn about African American history. Here’s a reading list. - The Washington Post:

No, Betsy DeVos, faculty aren’t telling students what to think, Ivy League professor says - The Washington Post

No, Betsy DeVos, faculty aren’t telling students what to think, Ivy League professor says - The Washington Post:

No, Betsy DeVos, faculty aren’t telling students what to think, Ivy League professor says

Marybeth Gasman is a professor of higher education in the Graduate School of Education at the University of Pennsylvania, where she directs the Penn Center for Minority Serving Institutions and holds secondary appointments in history, Africana studies, and the School of Social Policy and Practice. Here, she offers her opinions on Education Secretary Betsy DeVos’s recent comments about university faculty. — Susan Svrluga

[‘The system is failing too many kids': Full text of education secretary’s remarks at CPAC]

Dear Betsy DeVos,

In a speech to the Conservative Political Action Conference recently, you decided to criticize college and university faculty for using their position to indoctrinate students and turn them against the Trump administration without any evidence.

More specifically, you told the audience, “The fight against the education establishment extends to you, too. The faculty, from adjunct professors to deans, tell you what to do, what to say, and more ominously, what to think. They say that if you voted for Donald Trump, you’re a threat to the university community. But the real threat is silencing the First Amendment rights of people with whom you disagree.”

There are multiple problems with your statement.

Marybeth Gasman (Courtesy of Marybeth Gasman)

First, faculty members in higher education have very diverse ideas and are often arguing about these ideas among themselves.  I personally disagree with my faculty colleagues weekly and often speak out publicly about my differences in perspective.

Second, the overwhelming majority of faculty members do not tell students what to think, we teach students how to think critically.  We give students the tools to think and urge them to question what they read and see and to avoid accepting ideas at face value.

Third, faculty members don’t tell students whom to vote for, but we often encourage students to vote in general as it is part of every citizen’s duty as a contributing member of society.

Fourth, there are times when faculty members express their opinion in classes, and the vast majority of us make sure that students know when we are expressing our opinion. Anytime I No, Betsy DeVos, faculty aren’t telling students what to think, Ivy League professor says - The Washington Post:

Dems push back against Kasich teacher 'externship' proposal | WKYC.com

Dems push back against Kasich teacher 'externship' proposal | WKYC.com:

Dems push back against Kasich teacher 'externship' proposal

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) - Two Democratic state lawmakers are reacting to Republican Gov. John Kasich's proposal to require Ohio teachers to complete externships with a local business with a counter proposal.

State Reps. Brigid Kelly, of Cincinnati, and Kent Smith, of Euclid, call it the GET REALS Act. Their mostly tongue-in-cheek idea, announced Tuesday, would require Ohio's governor to annually complete 40 hours of on-site work experience in a public-education setting.

The legislation pushes back publicly against Kasich's widely criticized externship idea, which lacks support even among fellow Republicans in the Legislature.

Kasich wanted the business externships to be part of teachers' license renewal process, generally occurring every five years. He contended teachers gaining "on-site work experience" with businesses or local chambers of commerce would assist students In preparing for more 21st-century careers.Dems push back against Kasich teacher 'externship' proposal | WKYC.com:

How Many Transgender Children Are There? - Education Week

How Many Transgender Children Are There? - Education Week:

How Many Transgender Children Are There?

Texas high school wrestler Mack Beggs is announced as the winner of a semifinal match of a wrestling tournament at Allen High School in Allen, Texas. Beggs, a transgender boy, has been undergoing hormone therapy as he transitions from female to male. The governing body that oversees Texas high school sports requires Beggs to wrestle in the girls' division because of its rule that restricts sports participation based on the sex listed on an athlete's birth certificate.

—Nathan Hunsinger/The Dallas Morning News via AP

As policymakers and educators debate the rights of transgender children in schools, they have no federal data to answer even the most basic question: How many transgender children are there?

That's because publicly collected data on transgender individuals—part of a U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention survey—is not collected in every state, and participating states only survey adults.

Although it's generally believed that transgender children make up a relatively small share of the population, advocates surmise some are now more likely to "come out" and transition at younger ages than in years past because of greater public awareness of the issue.

About 0.7 percent of 13- to 17-year-olds living in the United States identify as transgender, some 150,000 teenagers, according to an estimate released in January by the Williams Institute at the University of California, Los Angeles, School of Law. The think tank, which researches issues related to sexual orientation and gender identity, based its estimates on statistical modeling rather than direct surveys of children.

More work is needed to gather more representative and demographic data about How Many Transgender Children Are There? - Education Week:

Women, STEM and public schools - Lily's Blackboard

Women, STEM and public schools - Lily's Blackboard:

Women, STEM and public schools 

I didn’t know the story of Katherine Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan and Mary Jackson until the movie “Hidden Figures.” These three African American women—whose work at NASA’s Langley Research Center helped land the first man on the moon in 1969—truly were hidden.

They, along with the other women who worked for NASA and its predecessor beginning in the 1930s, did their important work behind the scenes. That’s one of the best reasons I can think of to observe National Women’s History Month as well as International Women’s Day, which is on March 8: to celebrate the women in every era whose accomplishments, adventures and courage have gotten us where we are today, whether we know their names or not. 

The fascinating careers of Johnson, Vaughan and Jackson also tell us that behind-the-scenes roles are critical in every segment of our lives and society, and essential to every advance we make.

The movie “Hidden Figures” and National Women’s History Month are also good reasons for ramping-up our efforts to interest girls in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

The pathway to STEM careers was forged by women like Vaughn, Jackson and Johnson, a physicist who calculated trajectories for Alan Shepard’s 1961. She also verified the calculations for John Glenn’s first orbit of Earth and computed the trajectory for the Apollo 11 flight to the moon.

In the 1930s, the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, forerunner to NASA, hired women as “computers” to make sure engineers’ calculations worked. The program was expanded in the ‘50s to include African-American Women, STEM and public schools - Lily's Blackboard:

Rate My Teacher – Have You Heard

Rate My Teacher – Have You Heard:

Rate My Teacher

In the latest episode of Have You Heard, Jack Schneider and I have a spirited back-and-forth with none other than Michelle Rhee. Jack asks her if she’s ready to admit that evaluating teachers on the basis of their student test scores has been a bad idea. I channel Gary Rubinstein and ask Rhee if the teaching profession has suffered as a result of the policies she and her advocacy group, Students First, pushed across the country. And we talk about what’s next for education reform in the time of Trump. So what does Rhee have to say to our questions? Well, you’ll have to listen to find out! Or you can skip ahead and read the transcript.

Jennifer Berkshire:	Welcome to another edition of Have You Heard? I’m Jennifer Berkshire.
Jack Schneider:	I’m Jack Schneider.
Berkshire:	Jack, I think speak for America in asking the question, how exactly did you convince Michelle Rhee to be a guest on our podcast?
Schneider:	That’s a really good question. I promised that you and I would both agree to be evaluated in an objective way, and that we would look at the data at the Rate My Teacher – Have You Heard:

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Two-tier school system reproducing segregation and inequality

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Two-tier school system reproducing segregation and inequality:

Two-tier school system reproducing segregation and inequality

Modern school reform has become nearly synonymous with racial re-segregation and two-tier education. There's one tier for the elite and one big tier for the rest of us. Sociologists call it social-reproduction, wherein school systems become institutions that transmit social inequality from one generation to the next.

The election of Donald Trump and his selection of Betsy DeVos, with her single-minded emphasis on "school choice", as education secretary, promises to make the gap between the tiers even wider. But the use of charters, vouchers and selective-enrollment schools as competitive forces vis-a-vis traditional public schools predates Trump/DeVos by decades.

Ironically, selective-enrollment schools and charters originally were envisioned as tools for desegregation. Selective enrollment and magnet high schools in particular were created in the 1970s after consent decrees forced school districts to desegregate.

The news out of Chicago, where Mayor Rahm Emanuel has autocratic power over the public schools, is that the city's selective-enrollment high schools have become even more exclusive. In 2009 the Chicago deseg consent decree was liquidated by a federal judge with support from Arne Duncan and selective-enrollment and charters have dropped all pretense of being about racial equality. 

DNAinfo reports:

Getting into a selective enrollment high school got even harder this year — so much Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Two-tier school system reproducing segregation and inequality:

CURMUDGUCATION: Choice: The New Argument

CURMUDGUCATION: Choice: The New Argument:

The New Argument

The argument in favor of school choice continues to evolve, and post-DeVos, the conservative version is taking on its most honest form to date. It has been peeking its head out here and there for a while, but this week emerges full-blown in a US News piece from Robert Pondiscio (Fordham Institute).

In "Asking the Wrong Questions on School Choice," Pondiscio looks at the argument prompted by news that three major studies have shown that voucher programs show results somewhere between none and negative. Choice fans struck back by arguing the research. Pondiscio's argument is that choice fans have let themselves get sucked into the wrong argument. And in making his case, Pondiscio has flipped a long-standing piece of the school choice debate on its head.

His argument has two parts, two assumptions that he wants to question.

First, he questions the assumption "that district schools have a place of privilege against which all other models must justify themselves." This, as Andy Smarick has suggested in the past, is a rather non-conservative argument for conservatives to make, dismissing as it does a traditional institution.

Second, he questions "that the sole purpose of schooling is to raise test scores." Which, well, yes. I agree. Using the Big Standardized Test scores to measure the effectiveness of schools is baloney. I'm pretty sure I've been saying so for years. Why are the people I've been arguing against on this issue suddenly agreeing with me?

But this is the head-flippy part. "Deciding whether or not to permit parents to choose based on test-based evidence is presumptuous," says Pondiscio, skipping over how we ever arrived at this point in the first place.

We arrived here because, years ago, reformsters said, "Look, we must allow school choice because public schools are failing? Don't believe us? Well, then-- let's make some standardized tests based on a set of standards that are supposedly linked to college and career success-- let's make those tests mandatory for everybody, and we will use those test results to prove that choice is needed."

And so reformsters embraced the BS Test, pushed the BS Test, used the BS Test as a crowbar for CURMUDGUCATION: Choice: The New Argument:

ANDRE PERRY: A new test that no student would dread — one that leads to citizenship - The Hechinger Report

A new test that no student would dread — one that leads to citizenship - The Hechinger Report:

A new test that no student would dread — one that leads to citizenship

Why we should honor undocumented students’ hard work with a pathway to citizenship

n you imagine how much louder the families of undocumented students would cheer if their graduates became citizens at their graduation ceremonies? With a diploma and shiny new passport in hand, they could declare that not only could they apply for college, they had also earned the right to stay in the country of their schooling.

For an estimated 65,000 undocumented students who graduate from high school each year, though, it’s hard to be that enthusiastic. Those who cannot show proof of citizenship or an active visa are not eligible for federal financial aid, which many undocumented students need in order to afford college. And without citizenship, the threat of deportation looms.

“It would be wonderful to get a diploma and citizenship,” said Cleveland Cordova, 16, in his native Spanish, responding to a growing movement to increase the routes to citizenship. He is a member of the Latino education advocacy group Nuestra Voz and a student at Cohen College Prep in New Orleans. Students need access to quality high schools, citizenship and real pathways to gainful employment, he added.

If President Donald Trump is serious about strengthening the country from within as his “America first” rhetoric conveys, he should grant citizenship to members of our communities who by graduating high school have substantively fulfilled U.S. naturalization requirements. This rite of passage is also a natural path to citizenship and Trump would do well to recognize that.

Join the conversation later on Andre Perry’s radio show, “Free College,” hosted Tuesdays on WBOK1230 in New Orleans at 3pm Central/4pm Eastern 504.260.9265.

The 1982 U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Plyler v. Doe that public elementary and secondary schools couldn’t consider immigration status when a student seeks to enroll. The court believed that denying undocumented children access to education punished them for their parents’ behavior and that the children of undocumented A new test that no student would dread — one that leads to citizenship - The Hechinger Report:

OPINION: Why diversity in schools is critical to our democracy

1by Mark Anderson / 12h

I had a pretty hard time relating to my students eight years ago, when I began teaching fifth-grade special education in a “self-contained” classroom in the East Tremont neighborhood of the Bronx. These students had a hard time 

The game is over for Illinois Democrats for Education Reform. | Fred Klonsky

The game is over for Illinois Democrats for Education Reform. | Fred Klonsky:

The game is over for Illinois Democrats for Education Reform

In December of 2014 Greg Hinz reported in Crain’s:

A group that hopes to counterbalance the financial weight of the Chicago Teachers Union in upcoming aldermanic races has received its first big campaign donation.

Democrats for Education Reform-Illinois on Dec. 4 reported receipt of a $100,000 check from a unit of its New York-based parent.The donation ends a dry spell for the group, which last spring had talked about pulling in up to $1 million to put donate to candidates for aldermen who agree with the group’s pro-reform, pro-charter school views.

Still, $100,000 buys something in Chicago, and if the group reaches the “mid-to-high six figures” that spokesman Owen Kilmer expects, it will have an impact.

Look for the group to make its first endorsements—and donations—in about a week.

“One of our goals is to make sure the CTU does not have a monopoly on the schools debate,” Kilmer says. “We already have a couple of races we’re looking at,” including contests in the 16th, 37th and 45th Wards, he notes.

Meanwhile, CTU has begun to make its endorsements, so it looks like the fight is on.

But on March 6th, DFER reported to the Illinois Board of elections that they are shutting down their PAC.

As for their focus in the last election on defeating Tony Foulkes in the 16th The game is over for Illinois Democrats for Education Reform. | Fred Klonsky:

Karen Lewis: If Takiya, Kanari and Lavontay are to be more than just names on an endless list, then we will need to do much more. | Fred Klonsky - http://wp.me/p4C3g-jMf 

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

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

Full House On Diane Ravitch's blog 

Russ Walsh: Vouchers Are for the Rich, the Racists, and the Religious Right

by dianeravitch / 19min

Russ Walsh, literacy expert, describes the Three are of vouchers: They are for the Rich, the Racists, and the Religious Right. http://russonreading.blogspot.com/2017/03/school-vouchers-welfare-for-rich-racist.html Russ writes: “Our new Secretary of Education, Betsy DeVos, is rich, white, and a proselytizing supporter of the Christian religious right. DeVos is also an outspoken champion of school

Red Queen in LA: Why Can’t Public Schools and Charter Schools Get Along?

2by dianeravitch / 1h

Sara Roos, aka the Red Queen in LA, explains here why public schools and charter schools are bound to clash. To begin with, they are competing for a finite amount of public dollars and a finite number of students. It is a zero-sum competition. To make matters worse, the needs of both entities is not reciprocal, nor is the distribution of these commodities without impact on the other entity. That

The Florida Corporate Tax Credit Program: A Statewide Scam

15by dianeravitch / 2h

A nonprofit parent-led group called Fund Education Now created a fact sheet about Florida’s Corporate Tax Credit plan , which was designed to evade the state constitution’s explicit ban on using public money to fund religious or private education. In 2006, as governor, Jeb Bush pushed through a universal voucher plan, which was subsequently ruled unconstitutional by the Florida Supreme Court. In

Paul Thomas: Unpacking the Lies Behind the “Failing Schools” Narrative

24by dianeravitch / 3h

Paul Thomas of Furman University taught high school in rural South Carolina for 18 years before becoming a college professor. He happens to be one of the nation’s leading authorities on the effects of poverty on children and schooling. Recently, he has been writing about the flaws of education journalism. In this post , he unpacks the claim that public schools are “failing,” that (some) charter s

Mother Jones: Why Did Trump and DeVos Choose Florida as Their National Model for School Reform?

6by dianeravitch / 3h

Kristina Rizga, the veteran education journalist at Mother Jones, explains why Trump and DeVos love Florida. Although the state has a constitutional ban on the use of public money for private and religious schools, although the state’s voters rejected Jeb Bush’s effort to change the state constitution in 2012, Florida has figured out numerous DeVious ways to circumvent the state constitution and

YESTERDAY

Trump is the “Distractor-in-Chief”

29by dianeravitch / 13h

Jane McAlevey writes in Alternet that there is method to Trump’s seeming madness. Whenever things get rough, he changes the subject. This past week, as the media was roasting Jeff Sessions for lying to Congress under oath, Trump changed the subject by tweeting that Obama was wiretapping his phones at Trump Tower. The Sessions matter was dropped, and all the weekend talk shows were obsessed with T

Mike Klonsky: While Trump Tweets, the GOP is Dismantling Our Social Safety Net

48by dianeravitch / 13h

Mike Klonsky wants us to stop talking about the Russians and pay attention to what the Republicans are doing while we are not looking. While we’re consumed 24/7 with the Trump/Russia psychodrama, Republicans are quietly, under the cover of darkness and diversion, introducing these new bills in the House: HR 610 Vouchers for Public Education — (The bill also repeals basic nutrition standards for t

Norm Scott: The Battle to Save JHS 145 from Eva Tonight

6by dianeravitch / 18h

Retired teacher Norm Scott writes: While closing schools is not as widespread as it was under former Mayor Michael Bloomberg, it is still occurring and it is very troubling. The Department of Education still fails to provide proper resources for schools and then calls them failures… James Eterno, ICE blog I’m taking the subway up to Yankee Stadium tonight, not for a Yankee game, but to take the l

Carl Petersen: Employees of Scandal-Ridden Celerity Charter Chain Donated to Monica Garcia, Their Cheerleader on LAUSD Board

24by dianeravitch / 21h

Carl Petersen is running against Monica Garcia for the LAUSD seat in District 2. Garcia has long been one of the most vociferous and aggressive proponents of charter schools expansion in the district. So it is not surprising that she has received campaign contributions from the owner and employees of the Celerity Educational Group, the charter chain currently under investigation by the district a

Los Angeles Rocked by Another Charter School Scandal: State Awards Two New Schools to Ethically Challenged Charter Chain

24by dianeravitch / 22h

The Los Angeles Times ran a first-page story about the latest charter school scandal , only a day before the school board election that will decide whether charter advocates will take control of the Los Angeles school board. There will likely be a low voter turnout for this special election, and the question is turnout: Will enough parents vote to save their public schools, or will the profligate

Mercedes Schneider on the State Blaine Amendments That Block Vouchers

35by dianeravitch / 23h

Mercedes Schneider offers a history lesson on the Blaine amendments found in most state constitutions, which require that public money go only to public schools. Some states–like Indiana–have found creative ways to interpret the Blaine amendment, by saying that the public money goes to parents, not to religious schools, but most states continue to interpret the amendments as they were written in

Peter Greene: Corporate Reformers Launch Three New Websites

15by dianeravitch / 1d

Are you missing Arne Duncan and John King? There are some nostalgia websites created just for you. Just in case you don’t have enough to do, Peter Greene tells us about three new education-related websites launched by corporate reformers. Remember the good old days of Race to the Top, VAM, teacher-bashing, Central Falls, and lectures about bad teachers? They are preserved on these websites. One i

Should We Protect the Environment?

16by dianeravitch / 1d

This post is about pollution and the environment. Please don’t say it is unrelated to education or children. Many children have asthma or other illnesses that are caused or aggravated by pollution. This damages their health, their well-being, even their performance in school. It wasn’t so long ago that the idea of protecting the environment was considered absurd or too expensive. Smoke came pouri

Lousiana Voucher School Program Graded D by the State

60by dianeravitch / 1d

Students who wanted to sign up for the Louisiana Voucher Program had to make their decision by February 24. But that was before the state released the grades for the participating schools. Overall, the voucher schools performed very poorly, as reported by Danielle Dreilinger writing in the New Orleans Times-Picayune. Please open the story for the links and for the data charts. Louisiana parents i

Psychiatrists: How Should Trump Be Assessed?

25by dianeravitch / 1d

Every day brings new surprises and new tweets from the president. Most recently, he tweeted that President Obama was tapping his phone lines during the campaign without offering any evidence. Then he tweeted that Arnold 

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