Disability Advisory Committee Agenda for June 2017 - List of Organizations (CA Dept of Education)

DAC Agenda for June 2017 - List of Organizations (CA Dept of Education):

DAC Agenda for June 2017

Agenda for the California Department of Education Disability Advisory Committee meeting on June 7, 2017

Meeting Agenda

TIME	TOPICS/Activities
2:00	Action - Establish quorum (half of the members; currently 13, quorum 7 to vote on motions)
2:05	Action - Approve CDE DAC May 3, 2017 Meeting Minutes (Matt)
2:10	Action - Robert’s Rules of Order - Public Comment (Jonn)
2:15	Action - Determine summer meetings; cancel July meeting due to quorum issue
2:25	Action - Subcommittee: Disability Awareness Month 2017 (Jonn)
2:40	Action - CDE contracts for Accommodation Services (Jonn)
2:55	Information - Missed Meeting accountability update (Matt)
3:00	Information - 2016-17 DAC officers take office August 2017
3:10	Information - Treasurer Report (Matthew)
3:15	Information - Subcommittee: Emergency Evacuation (Jonn)
3:30	Information - Public Comment
3:40	Adjourn

Questions:   Office of the Chief Deputy | 916-319-0794

 DAC Agenda for June 2017 - List of Organizations (CA Dept of Education):

Seattle Public Schools IT Head John Krull answers our questions…well, sort of | Seattle Education

Seattle Public Schools IT Head John Krull answers our questions…well, sort of | Seattle Education:

Seattle Public Schools IT Head John Krull answers our questions…well, sort of

John Krull agreed to answer our questions about what is happening in terms of technology and software programs planned for Seattle Public Schools.

As Krull states in his letter of application for the position within Seattle Public Schools, “I implemented a blended and personal learning infrastructure for 87 urban schools improving overall student engagement”.

To put that in plain English, “blended and personalized learning” means that a student works in front of a computer the greater part of the day and the teacher is then able to manage over 40 to 50 students in a classroom, theoretically, which is a way to cut cost.

This is a popular approach for online charter schools like Summit charter school.

Computers or laptops are programmed with packaged lessons that many times have not been vetted by parents or teachers or as in Seattle, by the school board. There is also experimental software using a Social Emotional Learning (SEL) program that is integrated into the computers to determine a student’s mindset and attitude.

Then there is the concern of student privacy and the culling of personal information that can be provided to third parties with no protections by FERPA.

We raised a red flag when we discovered that John Krull had been hired by Seattle Public Schools after working in Oakland with their public school system which I wrote about in The Progressive.

The following are the ten questions we submitted to John Krull, Chief Information Officer for Seattle Public Schools, with Krull’s answers after each question.

1. Why did you decide to move to Seattle after two years in Oakland?

I thoroughly enjoyed my almost four years as Chief Technology Officer in Oakland. While there, I led a team that made numerous advancements in use of technology in students’ education.

Seattle Public Schools presents another exciting opportunity to leverage technology to provide the best educational experience for students in an area I call home. I have Seattle Public Schools IT Head John Krull answers our questions…well, sort of | Seattle Education:

CURMUDGUCATION: Charters and Open Books

CURMUDGUCATION: Charters and Open Books:

Charters and Open Books

My school district's board of directors held their regular meeting two days ago and passed a tentative budget for the coming year. I could link you to the newspaper report of the meeting, but it's behind a paywall. So let me just copy out the two important paragraphs:

Now that the tentative budget has been approved, members of the general public have an opportunity to review and/or comment on the spending plan until June 26, which is the day the board is slated to vote on the budget.

Anyone who would like to see a copy of the budget can access one either at the school district's administrative building or online at www.fasd.K12.pa.us.

Just to be clear. For a month, any citizen in the area can look at the proposed budget. They could then attend a board meeting or call a board member or stop a board member when they encounter them out and about in the community, and that citizen could express an opinion about the budget. Any citizen, parent, voter or taxpayer can both see the budget and offer feedback on it. That's a thing that can happen here in our public school district.

This is different from the charter school business world, where budgets are proposed and passed in private and where the people who create those budgets may not even live anywhere nearby at all. It's different from the charter business world, where some charter operators fight hard, all the way to court, to keep their budgets secret, and where state regulations do not require the charter operators to reveal anything at all.

This is just one of the reasons that charter schools are not public schools. Funneling tax dollars to CURMUDGUCATION: Charters and Open Books:

DeVos Still Anti-Accountability

As she's spent time in the public eye this week, Betsy DeVos may have enraged, but she hasn't surprised. She continues to be what we always thought she was-- and that includes her attitude about accountability.

She's against it.

Here's a critical CNN clip from today's hearings:  http://curmudgucation.blogspot.com/2017/05/devos-still-anti-accountability.html

If a school wants to use federal money to discriminate on the basis of race or religion or sexual preference or gender orientation, DeVos thinks that's between the parents and the state. She literally refuses to imagine a scenario in which the federal government would hold a school accountable for the way it used federal dollars. The issue is perfectly captured in this exchange. DeVos is dodging a question about whether or not she would allow federal dollars to go to a school that was discriminating against African-American students:

DeVos: But when it comes to parents making choices on behalf of--

Clark: This isn't-- this isn't about parents making choices. This is about use of federal dollars.

At another point in the day, similarly pressed on whether or not she would require voucher schools 

DeVos Still Anti-Accountability

Looking Back (A Year Of Twitching & Twittering) | Blue Cereal Education

Looking Back (A Year Of Twitching & Twittering) | Blue Cereal Education:

Looking Back (A Year Of Twitching & Twittering)

So another year is concluded, and I'm once again doing my best to focus on things I might control, might impact, might get right from time to time. Clearly my game-changing influence on state politics didn't turn out to be very impressive. 

I thought by way of purging myself, though, I might look back and see how much carrying on I actually did on the topic of the Oklahoma Legislature this past year - and, um... well, it was a lot. 

Here are some highlights by way of a couple of Twitter searches in several different formats. I've put stars - or, some kind of odd shapes - next to a few which I'll be lording over the masses for some time to come. 

Searching Teacher "Raises":

I hadn't realized I'dLooking Back (A Year Of Twitching & Twittering) | Blue Cereal Education:

Five startling things Betsy DeVos just told Congress - The Washington Post

Five startling things Betsy DeVos just told Congress - The Washington Post:

Five startling things Betsy DeVos just told Congress

Does this sound familiar? Betsy DeVos went to Capitol Hill to testify before U.S. lawmakers. She didn’t answer a lot of direct questions and engaged in some contentious debates with some members.

That happened in January when she went before the Senate Education Committee for her confirmation hearing, during which she said schools needed guns to protect against grizzly bears. This time, though, she didn’t talk about guns, but she did say that states should have the right to decide whether private schools that accept publicly funded voucher students should be allowed to discriminate against students for whatever reason they want.

[What ‘school choice’ means in the era of Trump and DeVos]

DeVos testified before the House subcommittee on labor, health and human services, education and related agencies about the Trump administration’s 2018 budget proposal, which cuts $10.6 billion — or more than 13 percent — from education programs and re-invests $1.4 billion of the savings into promoting school choice.

Both DeVos and President Trump have said expanding alternatives to traditional public schools are their top priority, and during tough questioning from some committee members, DeVos doubled down on that as well as on giving states and local communities flexibility to do what they want with their education programs. It is worth noting, however, that she said recently that people who don’t agree with expanding school choice are “flat Earthers,” people who refuse to face the facts.

Most of the contentious conversation was between DeVos and Democratic members, but even the Republican chairman of the subcommittee, Tom Cole of Oklahoma, took gentle issue with her about cuts in a favored program of his, and another Republican questioned Five startling things Betsy DeVos just told Congress - The Washington Post:

WATCH: Betsy DeVos squirms when asked if she’d send her kids to failing charter school

WATCH: Betsy DeVos squirms when asked if she’d send her kids to failing charter school:

WATCH: Betsy DeVos squirms when asked if she’d send her kids to failing charter school

resident Donald Trump’s Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos appeared on Wednesday before a House appropriations subcommittee to testify on behalf on Trump’s new budget proposal, which makes drastic cuts to public education funding and diverts “critical resources” to for-profit and religious charter schools.

Rep. Mark Pocan (D-WI) asked DeVos if she would consider sending her own children to an underperforming charter school. Citing Wisconsin’s “failed experiment in taxpayer-funded voucher schemes and for-profit charters.”

Students in Ohio, Indiana and Washington, D.C. received charter school vouchers only to see their test scores drop, Pocan said. He cited a number of Milwaukee Journal articles that showed charter school and voucher students performed the same or lower than public school students in math and reading proficiency.

He pointed to one military-style charter school run by Right Step, Inc. in which only 7 percent of students demonstrated English language proficiency and zero percent in math.

“I just want to ask you,” Pocan said to DeVos, “would you send your kids to a school where they have 93 percent of the students aren’t English proficient and zero percent are math proficient?”

DeVos thanked the congressman for his question and mused for a moment on how nice it was that he’s from Wisconsin.

“I only have five minutes,” Pocan prompted DeVos.

She deflected, saying the charter schools experiment was begun by Democratic Milwaukee city councilwoman Polly Williams. Pocan replied that yes it was and the councilwoman is no longer living, but before she passed away, she declared the voucher program a failure that “failed to live up to its promises.”

This set off a tense back-and-forth before he gave up, saying, “I can see you’re not going to answer my question.”

Watch the video, embedded below:

WATCH: Betsy DeVos squirms when asked if she’d send her kids to failing charter school:

FULL Video: Betsy DeVos Testifies About Trump's Education Budget at Congressional Hearing

FULL Video: Betsy DeVos Testifies About Trump's Education Budget at Congressional Hearing

Julie Larrea Borst: Why is NJ Senate President Steve Sweeney throwing New Jersey’s students and our public schools under the bus to help Governor Christie? | Blue Jersey

Why is NJ Senate President Steve Sweeney throwing New Jersey’s students and our public schools under the bus to help Governor Christie? | Blue Jersey:

Why is NJ Senate President Steve Sweeney throwing New Jersey’s students and our public schools under the bus to help Governor Christie?

This Thursday, the Senate Judiciary Committee is scheduled to vote on two new appointments to the State Board of Education, the entity that has final approval over many key education policies in our state.

Until recently, Christie’s appointees constituted a majority of the Board and they consistently towed the Administration’s line, approving terrible ideas like using the PARCC standardized tests as a graduation requirement. In the last few months, however, a couple of Christie’s appointees have shown some independence. In combination with attrition of some hard line Board members, this has resulted in the State Board no longer being a predictable rubber stamp for the Governor’s education agenda.

In an effort to regain control of the State Board, Governor Christie has nominated a slate of new Board Members to six year terms. However, he needs approval by the Democratically controlled Senate Judiciary Committee in order to place those nominees on the Board. That is where Senate President Sweeney comes into the picture. The Senate President has the power to move Christie’s nominations through the committee or to ignore them.

There are five empty seats on the State Board of Education, three of which have been open for years. There is no requirement that any of those seats be filled before the next Governor takes office.

With a Democratic Governor very likely to be elected next fall, it is difficult to understand why Senator Sweeney has decided to advance two of the State Board nominees put forth by a Republican Governor with a 17% approval rating, whose education policies are opposed by the majority of our state.

Could Sweeney be using the State Board appointments as a bargaining chip in some broader negotiations with Governor Christie? Or perhaps stacking the State Board with Christie appointees, who are likely to be antagonistic to the teacher’s unions, is a tactic in Sweeney’s ongoing war with the NJEA?

Whatever his true motivations, it is clear that the Senate President is not being guided by the welfare of our children, who are just collateral damage in Sweeney’s broader political calculations.Why is NJ Senate President Steve Sweeney throwing New Jersey’s students and our public schools under the bus to help Governor Christie? | Blue Jersey:

I Am Done – I Hope Public Education is Not | tultican

I Am Done – I Hope Public Education is Not | tultican:

I Am Done – I Hope Public Education is Not

June 2nd will be my last day as a classroom teacher. For the past 15 years, I have been teaching mathematics and physics. It has been exhilarating, it has been heart breaking. It reminds me of the way Charles Dicken’s opened A Tale of Two Cities,

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, ….”

During my tenure in education, costly efforts were made to improve schools. However, the welfare of country and children were too often ignored in pursuit of new markets. Vast fortunes were spent by philanthropists mostly on foolish and destructive agendas which often appeared self-serving.

In 2010, Rupert Murdock stated, “When it comes to K through 12 education, we see a $500 billion sector in the US alone ….” From one point of view, of our commitment to children is laudable, but this huge amount of money has engendered darkness. Integrity and community too often succumbed to greed. Corporate and political leaders regularly bowed to dark human tendencies.

Difficult Time for a New Teacher

In 1998, Prince rereleased “Party like its 1999.” In 1999, I didn’t feel it. I was driving around Silicon Valley ready to move on. The party seemed over. Hearing co-workers drone on about stock options or being regaled by stories of new startups creating instant millionaires got stale. I enjoyed my work but hated the I Am Done – I Hope Public Education is Not | tultican:

Happy Graduation! Cheers to Those Who Win Awards and Those Who Don’t

Happy Graduation! Cheers to Those Who Win Awards and Those Who Don’t:

Happy Graduation! Cheers to Those Who Win Awards and Those Who Don’t

Graduation! It’s that bittersweet time when our children transition closer to adulthood. As students walk across the stage at the end of high school, college, and middle school it’s time to sum up awards. Who won them? Who didn’t?

Awards talk has been running rampant on social media this year. Since school reformers have pushed obsession with college-career-ready hype, winning awards is serious business. And all is not right in the world of medals and trophies.

An Award for Not Paying Attention                

There’s the Georgia middle school eighth grader with attention difficulties who received an award stating she was the “Most Likely to NOT Pay Attention.” Perhaps there was nothing interesting for her to pay attention to!

But think of the humiliation. Eighth grade is no picnic to begin with. Most students this age are already anxious about high school. One can only hope this young woman will be able to put this aside and find pride in her abilities. These teachers made a costly mistake and they paid with the loss of their jobs.

A Great Award from a Great Teacher for a Great Student!

On the other side of the humanity coin, also in Georgia, Kimberly Wimbish is a teacher we can hold up as a model. She wouldn’t give up on Jamias Howard, 19, a student atHappy Graduation! Cheers to Those Who Win Awards and Those Who Don’t: 

Jeff Bryant: What Betsy DeVos Calls Education Transformation Is Actually Public Theft

What Betsy DeVos Calls Education Transformation Is Actually Public Theft:

What Betsy DeVos Calls Education Transformation Is Actually Public Theft

Betsy DeVos wants to give your tax dollars to private schools and businesses and tell you it’s an education “transformation.”

That’s the main theme of an address she gave this week to a conference held by the organization she helped found and lead, the American Federation for Children.

Declaring “the time has expired for ‘reform,'” she called instead for a “transformation… that will open up America’s closed and antiquated education system.” Her plan also opens your wallet to new moochers of taxpayer dollars.

By the way, AFC, according to SourceWatch, is a “conservative 501(c)(4) dark money group that promotes the school privatization agenda via the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) and other avenues.” It also grew out of a defunct PAC connected to DeVos called “All Children Matter” that ran afoul legally in Ohio and Wisconsin and still owes Ohio $5.3 million for breaking election laws.

So DeVos had a supportive crowd for her speech, but what should the rest of us think of it?

The transformation she calls for seems to rest on the premise that, “It shouldn’t matter where a student learns so long as they are actually learning.” But what does she mean by “learning”? And what should the public expect about how its funds are being spent?

In kicking off her address (transcript here), DeVos thanked Denisha Merriweather for introducing her. Merriweather, as I’ve previously reported, often appears with DeVos at events extolling school vouchers that allow parents to send their children to private schools at taxpayer expense.

In Merriweather’s case, exercising school choice meant using Florida’s education tax credit program to attend a fundamentalist Christian academy that presents the Bible as literal history and science, teaches young earth creationism, and demeans other religions.

DeVos then quickly moved to the story of a recent graduate of a Catholic private school, What Betsy DeVos Calls Education Transformation Is Actually Public Theft:

Closing schools gives mixed results on performance, savings :: SI&A Cabinet Report

Closing schools gives mixed results on performance, savings :: SI&A Cabinet Report :: The Essential Resource for Superintendents and the Cabinet:

Closing schools gives mixed results on performance, savings

(Colo.) About 2 percent of the nation’s schools are closed every year either because of declining enrollment or the result of lingering academic problems.

But a new study out from the National Education Policy Center suggests that district leaders looking to either save money or improve student performance need to carefully evaluate the action because outcomes on both options are mixed.

Prior to adoption of the No Child Left Behind Act, fewer than 1,000 schools were closed in the U.S. annually. But because NCLB introduced new goals for states and local officials to “turn-around” the lowest performing schools, the option of simply closing the doors and transferring the students to another site became a lot more common.

Researchers from NEPC found that after NCLB was on the books, the number of school closed jumped to as many as 2,000 in a single year.

To gain a perspective on the issue, the team—Gail L. Sunderman of the University of Maryland; Erin Coghlan and Rick Mintrop both from UC Berkeley—looked at four studies that investigated why schools were closed and how transferred students did after their original school shutdown.

“Closure decisions were based on a mix of factors, such as the overall condition of the school buildings, location and enrollment,” the study authors said. “But district officials often chose to make student achievement a major factor in determining which schools to close.”

One study of more than 200 elementary and middle schools in Michigan found that student performance in math fell during the last year the site was open compared to the prior three years. Implicit with the findings was that “school closures caused significant stress in the lives of students and teachers, with negative effects on both math and reading scores during the last year of school operations.”

Transferred students tended to experience a drop in performance the first year at a new school, but scores improved in years two and three. Those gains, however, were “not significantly different from their expected level of learning had those students not transferred.”

While the intention is to transfer students to higher preforming schools, the research showed that doesn’t always happen. A study of 18 elementary school closures in Chicago found that only 6 Closing schools gives mixed results on performance, savings :: SI&A Cabinet Report :: The Essential Resource for Superintendents and the Cabinet:

Torlakson Gives Trump’s Education Budget an "F" - Year 2017 (CA Dept of Education)

Torlakson Gives Trump’s Education Budget an "F" - Year 2017 (CA Dept of Education):

State Schools Chief Tom Torlakson Gives President Trump’s Federal Education Budget Proposal an “F” Grade

SACRAMENTO—State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson on Tuesday urged Congress to reject President Trump’s federal education budget proposal, which includes deep cuts to teacher training, after school programs, mental health services, advanced coursework, and many other important programs.

“I give this budget an ‘F’ grade for failing public school students in California and across the nation,” said Torlakson, who leads the country’s largest public school system with more than 6.2 million total students. “We need to invest more in our public schools, not slash away at programs that help students succeed.”

Torlakson noted that the proposed Trump budget heads in a completely different direction than the California approach to education funding.

“In California, we are providing more resources to students with the greatest needs,” he said. “The proposed Trump budget takes money away from federal programs that benefit our most vulnerable students, including after school programs that engage our students, help them stay in school, and make communities safer by reducing crime.”

The President’s budget would cut federal education programs across the board and use the money to spend about $500 million to expand charter schools and vouchers for private and religious schools, and offer another $1 billion to push public schools to favor charter and private schools.

Torlakson noted that California already has nearly 1,000 public charter schools out of more than 10,000 total schools. And students and their families can use several existing methods to transfer between public schools.

In addition, California voters have resoundingly rejected school voucher proposals, which allow students to use public funding to attend private and religious schools. Voters in 2000 cast a 71 percent “No” vote on Proposition 38, which would have created a California voucher program. A similar effort, Proposition 174, received a 70 percent “No” vote in 1993.

“Vouchers are unpopular in California,” Torlakson said. “They take critical resources away from our public schools.”

The Trump budget proposes eliminating at least 22 programs nationwide. Gone, for example, would be $1.2 billion for after school programs that serve 1.6 million children, most of whom are poor, and $2.1 billion for teacher training and class-size reduction.

California, with the most public school students and schools of any state, would suffer, Torlakson said. For example, the federal cuts would decimate federally funded before-, after- and summer school programs that serve nearly 500,000 California’s students at nearly 5,000 sites statewide.

Other federal programs would suffer significant cuts, including grants to states for career and technical education, which would lose $166 million, down 15 percent compared to current funding. Basic adult literacy instruction would lose $95 million.

No money at all would go to a fund for student support and academic enrichment that help schools pay for mental health services, anti-bullying initiatives, physical education, Advanced Placement courses, and science and engineering instruction. Congress created the fund, which totals $400 million this fiscal year, by rolling together several smaller programs. The administration’s budget for it would be zero in the next fiscal year.

“We need the federal government to help support all California students as they learn on their way to success in 21st century careers and college,” Torlakson said. “This budget fails. I urge Congress to correct these errors and make our nation stronger by preparing our students to succeed in a fiercely competitive global economy."

Congress is scheduled to adopt a budget that would start with the new federal fiscal year on Oct. 1, 2017.

# # # #

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

Torlakson Gives Trump’s Education Budget an "F" - Year 2017 (CA Dept of Education):

Online Credit Recovery The New Diploma Mills

online credit recovery:

Online Credit Recovery The New Diploma Mills

 online credit recovery:

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

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

On Display Diane Ravitch's blog 

A site to discuss better education for all

DeVos: Supporters of Public Education Have “Chilled Creativity”

3by dianeravitch / 2h

When Betsy DeVos spoke in Indianapolis, she took aim at critics of her desire to turn public dollars over to a free market of private and religious schools. The critics, she said, have “chilled creativity.” Education secretary: School choice opponents have ‘chilled creativity’ – CNN https://apple.news/A834kMwEdTieEqmzkXofF1Q If anyone knows of any creativity that has emanated from religious schoo

Betsy DeVos Poses in Ad for Christian School that Does Not Accept Students with Disabilities

28by dianeravitch / 3h

Our 2018 budget makes a historic investment in America's students. pic.twitter.com/FrTi1zNDFg — Betsy DeVos (@BetsyDeVosED) May 23, 2017 Christian school @ BetsyDeVosED is visiting in her #trumpbudget ad doesn't 

Jennifer Berkshire: The Massachusetts Charter School That Banned Black Hair Braids Backs Down

1by dianeravitch / 22min

Jennifer Berkshire reviews here the recent uproar created by Mystic Valley Regional Charter School’s policy of banning certain black hair styles. This is known as #braidgate. The charter has many problems. It does not listen to its 

Arthur Camins: Trump’s Education Budget is “Cruel and Unusual Punishment”

5by dianeravitch / 30min

Arthur Camins, writing at the Huffington Post,analyzes the Trump-DeVos education budget and declares it to be “cruel and unusual punishment,” targeted to harm the nation’s neediest children. http://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/us_59243736e4b07617ae4cbf7f He writes: “President Trump’s budget proposal violates the Eighth Amendment to the Constitution’s ban on cruel and unusual punishment. The crime it p

Esquire: “Is There a Point to All This Cruelty?”

5by dianeravitch / 1h

Charles P. Pierce blogs regularly for Esquire, and he is one of the few mainstream writers who understands the creeping (now galloping) privatization of public education and knows that it is a very bad thing for our society. You will enjoy reading this post, unless you are Betsy DeVos. With the proposed budget cuts to the federal budget for education, he writes, DeVos is finding ways to fulfill h

Betsy DeVos Will Testify Today on Capitol Hill, Extolling Charters and Choice

5by dianeravitch / 1h

Politico Morning Education has an advance copy of DeVos’ testimony. She will defend the administration’s draconian budget cuts by asserting that choice is the only “reform” that matters. EDUCATION SECRETARY BETSY DEVOS TO FACE LAWMAKERS: DeVos is back on Capitol Hill today to testify for the first time since her contentious confirmation hearing. She could take some hostile questions before a Hous

Arizona: Vouchers Used by Students from Good Schools in Affluent Districts, Not Low-Income Students from Bad Schools

14by dianeravitch / 2h

The Arizona Republic conducted an analysis to learn which students were using vouchers. Remember that vouchers are supposed to “save poor kids from failing schools.” But that is not what is happening in Arizona! As Arizona’s school-voucher program has expanded rapidly in the past year, students using taxpayer aid to transfer from public to private schools are abandoning higher-performing district

Message to Trump: Christine Pellegrino Won Seat by 56-44% in Pro-Trump District

300+by dianeravitch / 2h

Winning an Assembly seat in one state is not the biggest deal in the nation. There are key Congressional races in Montana and Georgia in the next few days. Rob Quist is running for Montana’s only House seat, and Jon Ossoff is running to capture the seat once held by Newt Gingrich and Tom Price. I have sent money to both. Flipping the House in 2018 is crucial to stopping Trump’s cruel and counterp

South Carolina: New Charters Built with EB-5 Visa Boondoggles

15by dianeravitch / 3h

You may recall reading a story recently about Jared Kushner’s sister soliciting investments in Kushner real estate deals at a meeting in Beijing, where she promised that investors of at least $500,000 would get a green card in exchange. Investing in charter school construction is another way in which the EB-5 visas are up for grabs. This story from South Carolina demonstrates how foreign investor

YESTERDAY

Christine Pellegrino Wins Assembly Seat in New York!

17by dianeravitch / 13h

Christine Pellegrino, teacher and opt out leader, won a seat tonight in the New York State Assembly. She flipped a seat that had been held by a Republican in a district on Long Island that went for Trump. Congratulations, Christine!

Watch Newark Student Protest Live Now!

34by dianeravitch / 14h

Bob Braun Reports: Student Sit-In in Newark

18by dianeravitch / 15h

Bob Braun, veteran New Jersey reporter, just tweeted: “BREAKING NEWS–Newark public school students have seized the offices of the Newark School Charter Fund and are staging a sit-in.” Newark students are amazing. Eight of them staged a sit-in in Superintendent Cami Anderson’s office for four days in February 2015, vowing to stay until she quit. People from across the nation sent pizzas to them. I

New York Times: Jared Kushner, Slumlord

33by dianeravitch / 15h

This story about Jared Kushner’s real estate empire will appear on Sunday in the New York Times Magazine. It is a very disturbing narrative about Jared’s vast number of rental apartments in suburban Baltimore and New Jersey. His company is relentless in pursuing tenants who move out before their lease expires. They take them to court, clean out their bank accounts, garnish their wages. Meanwhile,

Plan to Attend the BATs Annual Conference in Seattle in July!

63by dianeravitch / 22h

If you are a BadAss Teacher, or if you want to be one, or if you want to learn about their activities, you will not want their fourth annual conference in Seattle this summer. BATs will be heading into summer with their 4th Annual Education Conference in Seattle, Washington at The Seattle Labor Temple. Titled Back to School With BATs the conference, to be held on 7/22, will focus on Whole Child E

Louisiana: Charter Schools Are the New Vehicle for Racial Segregation

35by dianeravitch / 23h

The Washington Post reports from a town in the Louisiana Delta. VACHERIE, La. — At the new public charter school in this Mississippi River town, nearly all the students are African American. Parents seem unconcerned about that. They just hope their children will get a better education. “I wanted my girls to soar higher,” said Alfreda Cooper, who is black and has two daughters at Greater Grace Cha

“Don’t Like Betsy DeVos? Blame the Democrats”

58by dianeravitch / 1d

I wrote this article for The New Republic. https://newrepublic.com/article/142364/dont-like-betsy-devos-blame-democrats It explains how Democrats set the stage for DeVos’ anything-goes approach to school choice by their advocacy of charter schools. Charters are the gateway to vouchers. We have seen many groups like Democrats for Education Reform try to draw a sharp distinction between charters an

Ohio: Major Newspaper Calls for Charter School Accountability and Transparency

14by dianeravitch / 1d

One of the most heartening developments in recent years is the awakening of major newspapers in Ohio to the massive scandals surrounding their state’s charter industry. These scandals have come about because of the money nexus that connects charter operators and politicians. Charters in Ohio have a dismal academic record, and also a dismal financial record. This happens because the laws were writ

News Flash! Bill Gates Discovers Multiple Intelligences

28by dianeravitch / 1d

To those of us who have been around education for a while, we know that Howard Gardner of Harvard University was first to write about the idea of multiple intelligences. This has been the guiding idea of much of his work, recognizing that some young people are gifted in one area, but not in all areas. All of these intelligences are worthy and should be cultivated. His seminal book, Frames of Mind

Bruce Baker: The Relationship Between States’ Charter Schools and Fiscal Effort

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Bruce Baker at Rutgers University created a valuable graph that shows the relationship between every states’ number of charter schools and its fiscal effort. Some states appear to think that opening charters relieves them of their responsibility to fund public schools. They choose to “reform” by handing schools off to private entrepreneurs, thus relieving the state of the duty to provide adequate

Texas: The Fight Over Vouchers Shifts to the House

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Pastors for Texas Children reports on the voucher battle in Texas. Vouchers were defeated overwhelmingly in the Republican-controlled House a few weeks back, but like a zombie, they have risen from the dead at the insistence of voucher 

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