Latest News and Comment from Education

Friday, September 25, 2015

Schools Matter: NY Charter Movement Calls Mayor de Blasio Racist for Not Supporting Apartheid Charters

Schools Matter: NY Charter Movement Calls Mayor de Blasio Racist for Not Supporting Apartheid Charters:

NY Charter Movement Calls Mayor de Blasio Racist for Not Supporting Apartheid Charters






from the Observer:


“The rhetoric of this ad, and the people and money behind it, are part of the problem,” she said.
Luis Garden Acosta, the founder of El Puente Academy for Peace and Justice and the father of a child who attended a charter school, said FES was “race-baiting.”
“‘Race baiting’ like ‘red baiting’, exploiting the values and legitimate concerns of our city’s communities of color, for whatever political purpose, is abhorrent and posits a dangerous and expanding wedge in a city all to segregated by class, color and community,” Mr. Acosta stated, noting that Roberto Perez, a City Hall staffer, encouraged him to speak out. “It is abhorrent that a movement that emerged as a demand to tell the truth is used to obfuscate, divide and attempt to denigrate New York City’s progressive agenda”.
While Mr. de Blasio is enlisting surrogates to fight back on his behalf, his office was a bit less hostile, though it called the ad “crass.” “Our students and our families need solutions, not another crass political ad. That’s why Schools Matter: NY Charter Movement Calls Mayor de Blasio Racist for Not Supporting Apartheid Charters:

Special Nite Cap: Catch Up on Today's Post 9/25/15




CORPORATE ED REFORM




Thompson: Jack Jennings & the Insider's View of School Reform - This Week In Education:
This Week In Education: Thompson: Jack Jennings & the Insider's View of School Reform: Thompson: Jack Jennings & the Insider's View of School ReformOne reason why I loved Jack Jennings's Presidents, Congress, and the Public Schools is that it helped me grasp something that always perplexed me. NCLB, unlike Arne Duncan's test and punish agenda, had very little in terms of real sanctions for
Juvenile Court Student Work Group Members - Juvenile Court Schools (CA Dept of Education)
Juvenile Court Student Work Group Members - Juvenile Court Schools (CA Dept of Education): Juvenile Court Student Work Group MembersThe State Superintendent of Public Instruction (SSPI) has convened the Juvenile Court Student Transition Statewide Work Group pursuant to California Education Code Section 48648.This all-volunteer, unpaid work group is composed of representatives from education and pr
Weaponized Generosity: How Los Angeles’ 1% Use Philanthrocapitalism to Disrupt Democracy and Dismantle the City’s Public School System | The Progressive
Weaponized Generosity: How Los Angeles’ 1% Use Philanthrocapitalism to Disrupt Democracy and Dismantle the City’s Public School System | The Progressive: Weaponized Generosity: How Los Angeles’ 1% Use Philanthrocapitalism to Disrupt Democracy and Dismantle the City’s Public School System On Sunday, September 20, 2015, the new Eli Broad museum opened in Los Angeles -- and nearly a thousand parents,
Banned Books Week: Protecting diversity in YA literature - NEA Today
Banned Books Week: Protecting diversity in YA literature - NEA Today: Banned Books Week: Protecting diversity in YA literatureHundreds of books are either removed or challenged in U.S. schools and libraries each year, and a disproportionate number of them involve diverse characters or issues, according to an analysis by young-adult author Malinda Lo.While only about one in 10 children’s books are
No Child Left Behind waiver extended for CORE districts | EdSource
No Child Left Behind waiver extended for CORE districts | EdSource: No Child Left Behind waiver extended for CORE districtsThe U.S. Department of Education has granted six California districts affiliated with the California Office to Reform Education, or CORE, a waiver from the No Child Left Behind law for another school year. The U.S. Department of Education announced the waiver extension in a le
The Boehner effect and No Child Left Behind - The Washington Post
The Boehner effect and No Child Left Behind - The Washington Post: The Boehner effect and No Child Left BehindAfter 13 years in office, House Speaker John A. Boehner is set to resign.The politics of rewriting No Child Left Behind, the main K-12 federal education law that seemingly everyone has grown to hate but no one has been able to fix, just got more muddled.House Speaker John Boehner’s decisio
Why You Cannot Trust Common Core Advocacy | the becoming radical
Why You Cannot Trust Common Core Advocacy | the becoming radical: Why You Cannot Trust Common Core AdvocacyI used to show my high school students a passage from Aristotle that was essentially a “kids today” rant, noting he wrote in the 300s BC. So I generally have little patience with anyone damning contemporary youth as if this generation is somehow quantifiably worse than the ones before. That i
Danny Glover And Steve Zeltzer On Charters & School Privatization 9 - 24 - 15 by WorkWeek Radio
Danny Glover And Steve Zeltzer On Charters & School Privatization9 - 24 - 15 by WorkWeek Radio: Danny Glover And Steve Zeltzer On Charters & School PrivatizationDanny Glover and Steve Zeltzer discuss school charters and privatization on San Francisco KPOO Judy Drummond's show "Connecting the Dots" on September 24, 2015.Zeltzer and Glover talk about the affects of charters, privat
The latest undemocratic effort to dismantle public education | NC Policy Watch
The latest undemocratic effort to dismantle public education | NC Policy Watch: The latest undemocratic effort to dismantle public educationThe formal budget fight may be over in the General Assembly but the battle over education funding and the crusade to dismantle traditional public schools continue in the session’s waning days.Senate leaders unveiled a proposal in the Senate Finance Committee M
OMG "I'm A Grown-Up Now": The Teen Who Accused Kevin Johnson Of Sexual Abuse Speaks Out
"I'm A Grown-Up Now": The Teen Who Accused Kevin Johnson Of Sexual Abuse Speaks Out: "I'm A Grown-Up Now": The Teen Who Accused Kevin Johnson Of Sexual Abuse Speaks OutThere is a photograph of a pile of pink and white paper hearts atop Mandi Koba’s Facebook page. She cut the hearts out of hard copies of a 1996 police report from Phoenix, Ariz. The cops, according to the vintage
WTF? Principal for new Dyett High School reprimanded in previous job - Chicago Tribune
Principal for new Dyett High School reprimanded in previous job - Chicago Tribune: Principal for new Dyett High School reprimanded in previous jobHunger striker Jitu Brown, shown Sept. 4, 2015, says Chicago Public Schools’ proposal for reopening Dyett High School shows the district doesn’t respect the community’s voice. “Bronzeville is not satisfied,” he said. “We did not ask for an arts center.”
Join us at the Northwest Teaching for Social Justice Conference (NWTSJ) | Seattle Education
Join us at the Northwest Teaching for Social Justice Conference (NWTSJ) | Seattle Education: Join us at the Northwest Teaching for Social Justice Conference (NWTSJ)Educators, students and parents are invited to attend the Northwest Teaching for Social Justice ConferenceOctober 17, 2015“We Still Need to Trouble the Water: Race, Revolution and the Struggle for Quality Education”8AM to 4:30PMChief Se
Seattle - What happens when teacher union leaders step up to support teachers, students, parents and public schools - Wait What?
Seattle - What happens when teacher union leaders step up to support teachers, students, parents and public schools - Wait What?: Seattle – What happens when teacher union leaders step up to support teachers, students, parents and public schoolsFor those union members, education advocates and parents who are consistently frustrated by the fact that some union leaders spend more time maintaining th
Do the Rights Thing | EduShyster
Do the Rights Thing | EduShyster: Do the Rights ThingThese Boston students are at the forefront of a movement to give students more voice. So help them speak up!It’s time for something a little different, reader: a happy good news story! I’m shouting out to my fave Boston student activists, who are doing some of the best work in the country around student rights and voice. And best of all, this st
The surprising things Seattle teachers won for students by striking - The Washington Post
The surprising things Seattle teachers won for students by striking - The Washington Post: The surprising things Seattle teachers won for students by strikingStriking Seattle School District teachers and other educators walk a picket line, Thursday, Sept. 10, 2015, near Franklin High School in Seattle. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)Seattle teachers went on strike for a week this month with a list of goa
Elia: We Are Sticking with Common Core, No Matter What the Public Thinks | Diane Ravitch's blog
Elia: We Are Sticking with Common Core, No Matter What the Public Thinks | Diane Ravitch's blog: Elia: We Are Sticking with Common Core, No Matter What the Public Thinks State Superintendent MaryEllen Elia said NĂ©w York would stick with Common Core, no matter that public opinion does not support it.A Siena College poll found that 64% of NĂ©w York voters either oppose Common Core or thinks it has ma
CURMUDGUCATION: Grove City & The College Scoreboard
CURMUDGUCATION: Grove City & The College Scoreboard: Grove City & The College ScoreboardFirst, let me confess that I like the idea of the new USED College Scorecard. It is the right sort of approach-- providing information without making judgment. I compare it to the nutritional facts panel now included with all our food. Don't give me some government rating of "Good" or "Aw
Miss Ruby and Her Pretty Pink Pastel Library - Lily's Blackboard
Miss Ruby and Her Pretty Pink Pastel Library - Lily's Blackboard: Miss Ruby and Her Pretty Pink Pastel Library The irony is that there is nothing, and I mean absolutely nothing “brown” about Brown Elementary. It sparkles.The principal, Serenity Luckett, shines when she shows off her school. The students beam when they greet you. The new PTA officers glow when they explain how they are putting in n
CURMUDGUCATION: The Big Map O' Charter Failure
CURMUDGUCATION: The Big Map O' Charter Failure: The Big Map O' Charter FailureThe Center for Media and Democracy has done a great public service, collecting and sorting a big pile of charter school failure data that the USED somehow just wasn't interested in pursuing all that much.They have taken the NCES data from 2000-2013 and pulled out a state-by-state list of failed charter schools. This give
Hunger strike ends; Dyett protesters want elected school board - Chicago Tribune
Hunger strike ends; Dyett protesters want elected school board - Chicago Tribune: Hunger strike ends; Dyett protesters want elected school boardParticipants in a hunger strike pray Sept. 4, 2015, after responding to the city's proposal for Dyett High School in Chicago. (Zbigniew Bzdak / Chicago Tribune)Activists on Monday formally declared an end to a weekslong hunger strike mounted in an effort t
Charter Sector Sucks Public Funds Out of Underfunded Public Schools | janresseger
Charter Sector Sucks Public Funds Out of Underfunded Public Schools | janresseger: Charter Sector Sucks Public Funds Out of Underfunded Public SchoolsNow that charter schools have been operating for two decades, our collective experience with these publicly funded and privately managed schools is increasingly raising questions about their impact on the traditional public school districts of which
Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Chicago aldermen finally say 'no' to charter expansion
Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Chicago aldermen finally say 'no' to charter expansion: Chicago aldermen finally say 'no' to charter expansion"The vast majority of aldermen oppose the opening of new charters this year, while we face a massive budget crisis and no path to adequately funding our neighborhood schools... The current system pits charters against neighborhood schools in a "zero
Jersey Jazzman: Common Core Testing: Who's The Real "Liar"?
Jersey Jazzman: Common Core Testing: Who's The Real "Liar"?: Common Core Testing: Who's The Real "Liar"?By way of Peter Greene, it looks like our SecEd is back on his crusade against all that awful "lying" going on in our schools:U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said Pennsylvania won’t be alone in seeing lower standardized test scores after aligning its tests w
Richest and Poorest School Districts - 24/7 Wall St.
Richest and Poorest School Districts - 24/7 Wall St.: Richest and Poorest School DistrictsMany factors determine the quality of education in a particular state, including federal, state, and local funding levels, the curriculum, and teacher and staff quality. A district’s wealth, however, is often a very good indicator of how well the area’s students are likely to perform.In San Perlita, Texas, th
2 political superstars might have dropped the ball on Zuckerberg's plan to remake Newark schools - Yahoo Finance
2 political superstars might have dropped the ball on Zuckerberg's plan to remake Newark schools - Yahoo Finance: 2 political superstars might have dropped the ball on Zuckerberg's plan to remake Newark schoolsIn 2010, Mark Zuckerberg donated $100 million to Newark, New Jersey's failing public-school system with the intention of turning around the schools in five years.The goals Zuckerberg set out
Experts predict the opt-out movement will get some of what it wants - The Hechinger Report
Experts predict the opt-out movement will get some of what it wants - The Hechinger Report: Experts predict the opt-out movement will get some of what it wantsNew survey suggests education “insiders” are listening to the opt-out movementDolores Ramos, 16, right, joins dozens of Highland High School students in Albuquerque, N.M., as students staged a walkout Monday March 2, 2015, to protest a new s
Facebook Money and School Reform in Newark - The Brian Lehrer Show - WNYC
Facebook Money and School Reform in Newark - The Brian Lehrer Show - WNYC: Facebook Money and School Reform in NewarkFacebook's Mark Zuckerberg donated $100 million dollars to Newark schools in 2010. So where did it all go?Dale Russakoff, journalist and author of The Prize: Who's In Charge of America's Schools?(Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2015), traces how the money was spent, the problems Mayor Bo
Baylor education speaker bemoans emphasis on standardized tests - WacoTrib.com: Education
Baylor education speaker bemoans emphasis on standardized tests - WacoTrib.com: Education: Baylor education speaker bemoans emphasis on standardized testsAn overemphasis on standardized tests feeds a false narrative about failing public schools, and that leaves room for ineffective privatization and breaking up of neighborhood schools, according to Diane Ravitch, a former assistant secretary of ed

YESTERDAY

Some Concerned Union Too Involved In Pittsburgh Public Schools As Crucial Decisions Looming « CBS Pittsburgh
Some Concerned Union Too Involved In Pittsburgh Public Schools As Crucial Decisions Looming « CBS Pittsburgh: Some Concerned Union Too Involved In Pittsburgh Public Schools As Crucial Decisions LoomingPITTSBURGH (KDKA) – Crucial decisions lie ahead in the area’s largest school district.The Pittsburgh Public School Board must choose a new superintendent and negotiate a new contract with teachers —
In Puerto Rico, Students Go On Strike to Stop Teacher Relocations | gadflyonthewallblog
In Puerto Rico, Students Go On Strike to Stop Teacher Relocations | gadflyonthewallblog: In Puerto Rico, Students Go On Strike to Stop Teacher RelocationsStudents streamed out of their classrooms chanting in unison in the mountainousUtuado region of Puerto Rico earlier this month.They took over the halls and doorways of Luis Muñoz Rivera High School on Thursday, Sept. 10, locking their arms togeth
Memo to Scott Walker From Milwaukee: “We’re Not Going To Let Our Public Schools Die”
Memo to Scott Walker From Milwaukee: “We’re Not Going To Let Our Public Schools Die”: Memo to Scott Walker From Milwaukee: “We’re Not Going To Let Our Public Schools Die”If Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker thought running for President of the United States was a big challenge, he may be facing an even more imposing contest back in his home stateLast week, all across the community of greater Milwauk
Will School District Bankruptcy Lead to “the Next Education Revolution”? | deutsch29
Will School District Bankruptcy Lead to “the Next Education Revolution”? | deutsch29: Will School District Bankruptcy Lead to “the Next Education Revolution”?On September 23, 2015, I wrote a post about the Hillsborough County (Florida) Public Schools and some of its fiscal issues, one of which involves former superintendent MaryEllen Elia’s spending over half of the district’s financial reserves w
Camden Protesters Warn of Privatization Looming for City's 'Public' Schools - NJTV News
Camden Protesters Warn of Privatization Looming for City's 'Public' Schools - NJTV News: Camden Protesters Warn of Privatization Looming for City’s ‘Public’ SchoolsProtestors — about 50 in all — met outside a conference downtown in the hopes of confronting Superintendent Paymon Rouhanifard, the symbol of what they say is an effort to privatize the city’s schools.“Where’s Mr. Rouhanifard,” barked d
How my time at a “failing” high school blew me away - Salon.com
How my time at a “failing” high school blew me away - Salon.com: How my time at a “failing” high school blew me awayJournalist Kristina Rizga spent 4 years at SF's Mission High and learned there was more to success than test scores(Credit: fernandogarciaesteban via iStock/Salon)With the implementation of state standards and assessments to measure student and school performance under the 2001 No Ch
Special Nite Cap: Catch Up on Today's Post 9/24/15
CORPORATE ED REFORMSchool uniforms? | Parents Across AmericaSchool uniforms? | Parents Across America: School uniforms? Kimberly Brooks, leader of PAA chapter PAA-Atlanta Public Schools, wrote the following article challenging the district’s school uniform policy.Atlanta Public Schools Uniform Policies: What Can We Infer From Them?A few weeks ago I spent over a hundred dollars in attire for my two