Betsy DeVos’ 6 Worst Moves of 2019 - Education Votes

Betsy DeVos’ 6 Worst Moves of 2019 - Education Votes

Betsy DeVos’ 6 Worst Moves of 2019

By Amanda Menas

In 2019, educators across the country stood up for their students, their schools, and their communities, to call out the funding cuts and harmful legislation proposed by Education Secretary Betsy DeVos. 

Betsy DeVos has a long history of turning her back on public schools. As secretary of education with the backing of President Trump, DeVos has proposed schemes to privatize public schools through vouchers, called for deep cuts to federal education funding, rolled back protections for vulnerable children, and shilled for the for-profit college industry that has defrauded countless students. 

Throughout 2019, she continued to prove that she was a disastrous choice for education secretary, just as public school supporters knew she would be.

Educators and allies will continue to speak out against Sec. DeVos and her anti-public education agenda. Here are the worst moves she made in 2019:

1. Secretary DeVos failed to enforce the civil rights of all students

Nearly half of all LGBTQ+ students live in states where they are not protected from discrimination or bullying. They could turn to federal legislation, but Betsy DeVos stripped their Title IX protections, and refused to discuss the high rates of suicide among transgender students.

DeVos’s changes to Title IX protections have a chilling effect on students’ interests in filing complaints, which are already underreported, and harms the capacity of those students to have a healthy learning environment. Only 1.8 percent of students who file complaints today see any action. Prior to 2016, 15.6 percent of students could expect a change to occur if they sought to report harassment or discrimination. NEA President Lily Eskelsen García says Secretary DeVos’ changes “deny schools the flexibility and incentives to prevent and address harassment early in age-appropriate ways.”

2. DeVos swipes at public school educators

At the 72nd Education Writers Association Conference in Baltimore, DeVos took pot shots at educators while she talked up her anti-public education agenda. She also accused educators of “hurting kids” when they marched for investments to improve schools and admonished educators for rallying behind the #RedforEd banner around the country, saying they should have “adult disagreements on adult time.”

Later in the year, during a visit to a South Carolina pharmaceuticals plant, to promote workforce development, DeVos fails to acknowledge that the 650 educators employed there had taken on a second job to make ends meet. South Carolina ranks 40th in the nation in educator pay and the many educators who take on second and even third jobs to stay afloat helped fuel the #RedforEd protests in Columbia in May.

3. DeVos proposed massive cuts to the Dept. of Ed

The Trump Administration budget, with the full support of education secretary Betsy DeVos, zeroed out the community schools program for FY20, while requesting more than $40 million for charter schools. It proposed to cut $5 billion from public schools, eliminate the Unified CONTINUE READING: Betsy DeVos’ 6 Worst Moves of 2019 - Education Votes

Mercedes Schneider Discusses Richard Phelps’ Critical History of the Thomas B. Fordham Institute | Diane Ravitch's blog

Mercedes Schneider Discusses Richard Phelps’ Critical History of the Thomas B. Fordham Institute | Diane Ravitch's blog

Mercedes Schneider Discusses Richard Phelps’ Critical History of the Thomas B. Fordham Institute

Among rightwing think tanks, none has more intellectual firepower than the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, due to its leading thinker Chester E. Finn Jr., who has an Ed.D. from Harvard Graduate School of Education and worked in the administrations of Reagan and Nixon, as well as working for Daniel Patrick Moynihan and Lamar Alexander.

The Institute, formerly a foundation, is based in Washington, D.C., where it has a large voice in Republican politics, but its actual (if not physical) home is Ohio, because the money came from a Mr. Thomas B. Fordham, who lived in Ohio.

TBF is very influential in Ohio, where it recently wrote the state’s academic standards. TBF has been a loud cheerleader for the Common Core standards, having received millions from the Gates Foundation both to evaluate them and advocate for them.

Fordham looms large as an advocate for charters, vouchers, high-stakes testing, and punitive policies towards teachers and principals. I was an original member of the TBF board, when it was launched, and resigned in 2009, when I realized that my views were no longer aligned with those of TBF. One of the projects I CONTINUE READING: Mercedes Schneider Discusses Richard Phelps’ Critical History of the Thomas B. Fordham Institute | Diane Ravitch's blog

Excused Absences for Protests? Virginia School District Says It's Worth A Try : NPR

Excused Absences for Protests? Virginia School District Says It's Worth A Try : NPR

Virginia School District To Give Students One Day Off Per Year For 'Civic Engagement'

One of the largest school districts in the country is trying something new: Starting next month, students in Fairfax County, Va., can take one day off per school year to engage in political activism.

The plan has its roots in the 2018 shooting at a Parkland, Fla. high school that left 17 dead. In its aftermath came a rise in student activism unlike anything the Fairfax school district had ever seen, Fairfax School Board member Ryan McElveen tells NPR.

"We saw students wanting to take time out of the school day to lead protests and do things of that nature," says McElveen, who proposed the policy to the school board. "We and other school systems around the nation kind of scrambled to figure out how to handle those protests."

The result is a policy that McElveen says is a first in the nation. Students between 7th and 12th grades will get one excused absence per year for a "civic engagement activity." That might consist of attending a protest, or lobbying legislators in Washington or Richmond — anything that could make the students' voices heard. After submitting the form in advance, and checking in at school on the day of the absence, they can be on their way.

"Public education in the United States was founded on the belief that we need to raise our young people to be productive citizens and give back to society," McElveen says. "This is just one way that they can learn the skills that they will need to use later in life, CONTINUE READING: Excused Absences for Protests? Virginia School District Says It's Worth A Try : NPR

DeVos, kids, tests: What readers clicked on the most in the last decade - The Washington Post

DeVos, kids, tests: What readers clicked on the most in the last decade - The Washington Post

DeVos, kids, tests: What readers clicked on the most in the last decade

Betsy DeVos. Early-childhood education. Kids. Equity. Standardized tests. Teachers. Did I mention DeVos?

These are some of the topics that drew the most readers to The Answer Sheet over the past decade.

I’ve been authoring The Answer Sheet as a continuing experiment in telling stories about education, of which I take an expansive view. Regular readers know that I write some of the posts — sometimes news, sometimes analysis — and I publish the work of other people, often teachers who have revelatory observations about school and how America treats its children. I don’t always agree with the authors I publish, but I do respect their work and believe that what I present reflects important realities in today’s education world.

When this project started, it was called a blog; now it is known at The Washington Post as a “vertical.” I’ve always looked at it as something more of an online magazine that publishes different forms of storytelling. Here are the most popular posts on The Answer Sheet for the last decade. Following that list are the most popular posts of 2019

The most-read may surprise you. It surprised me.

Note: There are several ties because the numbers were remarkably close. When there were ties, I did not jump over any numbers in the list, as in listing a tie between two posts for the top spot and then jumping to 3. This gave me the opportunity to include more great pieces.

The most read posts in the last decade:

1) When a first-grader’s wrong answer was better than the right one — Jan. 3, 2018

When a first-grader’s wrong answer was better than the right one

These are a few tweets that stand all on their own for entertainment value from a teacher of young children.

2) Six astonishing things Betsy DeVos said — and refused to say — at her confirmation hearing — Jan 18, 2017

Six astonishing things Betsy DeVos said — and refused to say — at her confirmation hearing

At her contentious confirmation hearing as President Trump’s nominee to be education secretary, DeVos was asked by Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) about an important education debate involving how student progress should be measured. The query essentially rendered her speechless as she appeared CONTINUE READING: DeVos, kids, tests: What readers clicked on the most in the last decade - The Washington Post

CURMUDGUCATION: VA: Ideas About How To Recruit and Retain Teachers

CURMUDGUCATION: VA: Ideas About How To Recruit and Retain Teachers

VA: Ideas About How To Recruit and Retain Teachers

As squawking about the teacher "shortage" many states have developed methods to either take advantage of the situation ("Now we can finally break the teachers union and public education by letting any warm body stand in front of a classroom because, hey, there's a shortage") or try to figure out a way to actually solve the problem.

In Virginia, a coalition appears to be taking a shot at the latter approach. The Virginia Public Education Coalition is a group of a dozen Virginia organizations encompassing public school professional groups, school boards, principals, superintendents and even the ASCD and PTA. Collectively, they've come up with some ideas about how to attract and retain folks in Virginia teaching positions.

Is their plan a good one? It makes a nifty flyer. And can other states learn from it? Welll…..

The plan ignores some of the bigger reasons to avoid taking a job there. For instance, Virginia is a right-to-work state, meaning that a teacher in Virginia may, if she teaches in one of the areas where CONTINUE READING: CURMUDGUCATION: VA: Ideas About How To Recruit and Retain Teachers

Letter from 23 organizations to the FTC about the need to strengthen rather than weaken COPPA | Parent Coalition for Student Privacy

Letter from 23 organizations to the FTC about the need to strengthen rather than weaken COPPA | Parent Coalition for Student Privacy

LETTER FROM 23 ORGANIZATIONS TO THE FTC ABOUT THE NEED TO STRENGTHEN RATHER THAN WEAKEN COPPA

Submitted in response to the FTC request for Public Comment on the Implementation of the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Rule

Dec. 11, 2019

https://www.regulations.gov/comment?D=FTC-2019-0054-0001

Federal Trade Commission
Washington, DC 20580

Re: COPPA Rule Review, 16 CFR part 312, Project No. P195404

To the FTC:

The twenty-three organizations we represent, consisting primarily of parents, educators and education advocates in states and districts throughout the country, are very concerned that the FTC is prepared to weaken the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA)  by allowing for the expanded collection of personal data directly from children under thirteen, without prior parental notification or consent including in schools.

This would not only contradict the original intent and language of the law, in our view, but would be extremely unwise.  As parents, educators, and advocates, we believe that the expansion of digital technologies in schools, especially those that collect data directly from children, serve neither their instructional needs nor their emotional and social well-being.

We also believe that these practices seriously risk children’s privacy, given the increased number of breaches reported by schools and districts throughout the country. Since COPPA was passed in 1998, the use of technology has expanded in schools with insufficient oversight and inadequate security protections. The number of breaches and attacks by criminal hackers has increased, so that now schools are the second-largest victims of ransomware. [1] We are also concerned about the potential monetization of this personal data for marketing and advertising purposes.

In September 2018, the FBI issued a Public Service Announcement, warning that the increased collection of children’s personally identifiable data in schools “could result in social engineering, bullying, tracking, identity theft, or other means for targeting children.”[2]

And despite the protestations of the industry, there is little or no evidence to support the instructional utility of ed tech programs. As John Pane of the RAND Corporation, who has led several studies of schools using online technologies, has said, “the evidence base is very weak at this point.”[3]

Moreover, according to the nationwide surveys of teachers as reported in the Educator Toolkit for Student Privacy, released last year by the Parent Coalition for Student Privacy and the Badass Teachers Organization,[4] more than half of teachers believe that current laws do not sufficiently protect student privacy.  Among their top concerns are that too much personal student data is collected and shared with vendors with the risk that it may be monetized, and that as the use of ed tech grows, human interaction and individualism is undermined.

These findings were reinforced by recent surveys undertaken by Education Week, which show that teachers are increasingly doubtful about the use of these educational apps and programs. [5] According to the most recent Ed Week survey, only 33% of teachers said they believe that digital technologies can improve student learning either “quite a lot” or “a great deal.”

At the same time, 72% express strong concerns that “students are spending too much time on screens,”  47% say that the “technology industry is gaining too much influence over public education”, and 38% worry that companies are “collecting too much sensitive student information.”[6]

As Education Week reporter Ben Herold concludes, “Despite continued hype, K-12 educators remain skeptical that new technologies will transform public schooling or dramatically improve teaching and learning. “ [7]  Perhaps as a result, according to an earlier Ed Week survey,  33% of teachers have abandoned the classroom use of computers, and 32% have abandoned the use of online games, apps and programs.[8]

A bipartisan group of Senators recently sent a letter to the FTC, urging the Commission not to weaken the privacy protections embedded in COPPA, and to refrain from allowing “exceptions to parental consent requirements around educational technology …. Now is not the time to pull back.”[9]

We wholeheartedly agree.  We  urge you to continue to uphold the original intent of and meaning of the law and to retain the critical parental consent requirements for the direct online collection of data from children under 13.  In fact, we believe that Congress should consider raising the age of consent for the direct online collection of student personal data to age eighteen.

Yours sincerely,

Network for Public Education
Parent Coalition for Student Privacy
Pastors for Children
The Opt Out Florida Network
Public Education Partners (Ohio)
Pueblo Education Coalition
Badass Teachers Association
Arizona Educators United
Texas Kids Can’t Wait
Northwest Ohio Friends of Public Education
New Bedford Coalition to Save Our Schools (NBCSOS)
Indiana Coalition for Public Education – Monroe County
Return To Parental Rights
Gathering Families
Stand For Schools
Northeast Indiana Friends of Public Education
Parents Across America
Ohio BATs
NYS Allies for Public Education
NYC Opt Out
Raise Your Hand for Illinois Public Education
Save Our Schools Arizona
Wisconsin Alliance for Excellent Schools

CONTINUE READING: Letter from 23 organizations to the FTC about the need to strengthen rather than weaken COPPA | Parent Coalition for Student Privacy

NYC Public School Parents: Please remember Class Size Matters in your year-end gift-giving!

NYC Public School Parents: Please remember Class Size Matters in your year-end gift-giving!

Please remember Class Size Matters in your year-end gift-giving!

Dear all--

I hope you had a wonderful holiday break with friends and family. Please consider making a year-end, tax-deductible donation to Class Size Matters so that we can continue our passionate advocacy for the smaller classes that all kids need for a quality education. We also promote the parent voice in education decision-making and the data privacy that students deserve.

Among our achievements this year - beating back the College Board which was pushing the NY State Education Department to allow their practice of selling of student data to continue. We also released a report showing that NYC is spending over a hundred million dollars annually on helping charters rent private space - including in some cases, in buildings that their charter management company owns.

Via a lawsuit last spring, we kept PS 25 open, an excellent public school in Brooklyn that the DOE wanted to close despite its excellent results and the small classes it provides for its students, 100% of them from low-income families.

We launched a new talk show and podcast on WBAI radio, called "Talk out of School." Our class size lawsuit vs DOE will be heard in the state appellate court in January.  Keep your fingers crossed for a positive outcome in that case.

But in addition to your good wishes, we need your financial support to keep going. If you appreciate our work, please do so now by clicking here.

Grateful for your help, Leonie

NYC Public School Parents: Please remember Class Size Matters in your year-end gift-giving!

Using Students with Severe Special Education Needs As Lab Rats In An Education “Reform” Experiment

Using Students with Severe Special Education Needs As Lab Rats In An Education “Reform” Experiment

Using Students with Severe Special Education Needs As Lab Rats In An Education “Reform” Experiment

Outcome 7 – Part 1: Reduce the number of students with moderate to severe disabilities ages 6-18 at special education centers by a total of 33% over three years.”– Chanda Smith Modified Consent Decree

Nick Melvoin justifies his plans to force a school serving students with severe special education needs from the Fairfax High School campus by claiming that these students “had already been displaced from their home school which is on the west side of LA.”  With this argument, the Los Angeles Unified School District Board Member is either making another attempt to rewrite reality or is ignorant of the function of Career and Transition Centers (CTCs). These schools serve young adults who have already culminated from high school and do not have a “home school.” Instead, they attend regionalized schools like CTC West that were established to fulfill the District’s legal obligation to provide vocational and life skills training until students with severe disabilities reach the age of 22.

Whether in an attempt to purposefully deceive or due to a lack of understanding of the subject, Melvoin seems to be confusing CTCs with the Special Education Centers that education “reformers” have been attacking for years. These specially designed centers serve CONTINUE READING: Using Students with Severe Special Education Needs As Lab Rats In An Education “Reform” Experiment

Congratulations! | The Merrow Report

Congratulations! | The Merrow Report

Congratulations!

I recently hired a high tech data-crunching firm to analyze my 5,000 person mailing list. Their task was to divide my list into three groups based on their disposable income: “Significant,” “Reasonable,” and “Negligible.”

Lucky you!  You are in the “Significant” category!  Happily for all concerned, this news comes during ‘The Giving Season,’ meaning that you can help others while helping yourself (because charitable donations are tax-deductible).

To cut to the chase: Below are links to some worthy organizations.  (Not surprisingly, many have a connection to education.)

1.  If you want to help education reporters do a better job: CONTINUE READING: Congratulations! | The Merrow Report

CATCH UP WITH NEWBLACKMAN (IN EXILE)

NewBlackMan (in Exile)

CATCH UP WITH NEWBLACKMAN (IN EXILE)

New Film, 'Clemency', Looks at Death Row From a Warden's Eyes

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' A new death row drama called Clemency premiered at Sundance Film Festival in January this year where it won the U.S. Dramatic Grand Jury Prize, making director and writer Chinonye Chukwu the first Black woman to win the festival’s biggest prize. The film stars Oscar-nominee Alfre Woodard as a prison warden faced with the psychological challenges of being tasked with the job of executing prisone

Michael Kiwanuka On Embracing His Name And How 'Big Little Lies' Changed His Life

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Smartphone Surveillance in the Digital Age Download

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Former Major League Baseball MVPs Mo Vaughn and Frank Thomas discuss their post-career business ventures with Black Enterprise .

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Chef Kwame Williams Prepares Zero-waste Broccoli Coleslaw

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Debra Martin Chase on Avoiding "Slave Fatigue" in 'Harriet'

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Jason Moran: This Mondrian Painting is Actually a Jazz Score

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DEC 22

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Knowing your Enemy & Building Unity: A Conversation with Marian Kramer & Maureen Taylor

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NewBlackMan (in Exile)