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Saturday, April 27, 2019

KEEP UP/ CATCH UP WITH DIANE RAVITCH'S BLOG | A site to discuss better education for all

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



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




Teachers! Please Help Tim Slekar with His Research into the Reasons for the Teacher Shortage!
by dianeravitch / 38min
Tim Slekar, dean of Edgewood College in Wisconsin and consummate education activist, is writing a book about the teacher shortage and he needs your help if you are or were a teacher. He wrote: Attention Teachers. According to the media we are facing a teacher shortage. I disagree. We have a teacher exodus that is the result of 30 + years of “accountability.” I need your voices. Can you take a mom
Trump Runs the Federal Government Like a Charter School
by dianeravitch / 1h
Mitchell Robinson, Professor at Michigan State University, has a brilliant insight. Donald Trump runs the federal government (to the extent that he runs anything other than his Twitter feed) like a Charter School. He write: “One of Trump’s major goals as president* has been to eliminate or weaken regulations in eight major categories : agriculture, education, environment, finances, health care, h

YESTERDAY

Mercedes Schneider on the Tennessee Voucher Legislation and Public Reaction to It
by dianeravitch / 20h
Mercedes Schneider conducted a search to find the voucher legislation just passed by both houses of the Tennessee Legislature. You will not be surprised to learn that the legislation was written by ALEC (the rightwing bill mill funded by DeVos, the Koch brothers, and corporations). I had a hard time plowing through the dreary legislative language, but if you skip to the end of that section, you w
Florida Senate Endorses a Fifth Voucher Program
by dianeravitch / 21h
Spurred on by Governor Ron DeSantis, Jeb Bush, and Betsy DeVos, the Florida Senate endorsed a fifth private voucher program. “The bill would create a new Family Empowerment Scholarship — the state’s fifth voucher program — that could help up to 18,000 students pay private school tuition with state-backed scholarships. The program would target youngsters from low-income families but could be open
Matt Barnum: New Research Shows Vouchers Do Lasting Damage to Student Achievement in Math
by dianeravitch / 22h
Matt Barnum reports that new research from Louisiana shows that the negative effects of vouchers persist over time. There used to be a belief that the negative effects were temporary, but apparently the voucher students do not bounce back, as voucher proponents hoped. New research on a closely watched school voucher program finds that it hurts students’ math test scores — and that those scores do
Hillary Clinton Advisor: No Regrets About Our Support for Charter Schools!
by dianeravitch / 23h
Catherine Brown was a senior advisor to the Hillary Clinton campaign. She has long been associated with the neoliberal Center for American Progress. She also worked for former Congressman George Miller, who was a favorite of Democrats for Education Reform (DFER), the hedge fund managers’ charter-promoting organization. In this article, published fittingly enough at Campbell Brown’s website The 74
Oakland: Remember Laurene Powell Jobs’ $100 Million Giveaway Contest to Reinvent High Schools? This One Collapsed
by dianeravitch / 1d
Remember when Laurene Powell Jobs announced that she was running a competition for ideas to reinvent the high school? She was offering $10 million to each winning proposal, which she called “Super Schools.” Nearly 700 proposals were entered, but only 10 were chosen. One of the winners was in Oakland, California, a district that has been subject to nonstop disruption, charters, and and constant me
Oakland: A Must-Read Lexicon of Charter Frauds
by dianeravitch / 1d
Jane Nylund, a parent activist in Oakland, wrote this incisive overview of charter frauds in her district and submitted it to the Task Force reviewing the California charter law. Please copy and forward to the Task Force at: chartertaskforce@cde.ca.gov She writes: For fifteen years as a parent, volunteer, and employee of Oakland Unified, I’ve been witness to what is now a full blown privatization

APR 25

Harold Meyerson: Will Trump Get Away with It?
by dianeravitch / 1d
APRIL 25, 2019 Meyerson on TAP Trump Did What Nixon Did, but Today’s GOP Won’t Convict. The story is told of the 19th-century Massachusetts Senator Daniel Webster, who was also a noted trial lawyer, that he once represented a plaintiff in a patent infringement suit. His client, an inventor, was suing a would-be inventor who’d come up with a small machine that was indistinguishable from the plaint
Bill Phillis: Repeal HB 70 Now!
by dianeravitch / 1d
‌ ‌ ‌ Toledo Board of Education member : HB 70 is “possibly one of the most undemocratic, mean-spirited, cynical pieces of legislation ever passed in the state of Ohio” Several state legislators are attempting to repeal or at least put a moratorium on HB 70. Other state officials, including the State Superintendent and Governor, want to repair it. HB 70, enacted by the 131 st General Assembly in
Pastors for Florida Children Organizes to Support Public Schools
by dianeravitch / 1d
A new organization has been launched in Florida to support the principle of public schooling and speak out against the diversion of public funds to private and religious schools. Florida’s State Constitution explicitly prohibits the use of public funds for religious schools. The voters rejected an effort to change the state constitution in 2012. The Republicans who control state government contin
Los Angeles: The LA Times Prefers a School Board Member with Neither Experience Nor Knowledge
by dianeravitch / 1d
The Los Angeles Times wrote an editorial endorsing Heather Repenning over Jackie Goldberg for the LAUSD seat in a special election. The editorial admitted that Jackie Goldberg has the experience and knowledge that her opponent lacks but the Times preferred a blank slate. Repenning admittedly knows little about education issues but she previously worked as an aide to Mayor Eric Garcetti. In the pr
Eva Moskowitz Accused of Violating Student Rights, Wins $10 Million from DeVos, Will Receive an Honorary Degree from Tufts
by dianeravitch / 2d
As Leonie Haimson explains in this post , it has been a busy few weeks for Eva Moskowitz, founder and CEO of NYC’s controversial Success Academy charter chain. Once again, her chain has been accused of violating the rights of students; Betsy DeVos awarded $9.8 million to her schools, added to the $43.4 million Eva previously received from the federal Charter Schools Program; she will receive an h
Tennessee: Legal Challenge Expected if Senate Passes Voucher Bill
by dianeravitch / 2d
Chalkbeat reports the likelihood of a legal challenge to any voucher bill in Tennessee if State Senate passes one as House did yesterday in a contentious proceeding. Read the details here .

APR 24

Tennessee: House Passes School Vouchers When Deciding Vote Gets Promise to Exempt His District
by dianeravitch / 2d
The Tennessee House of Representatives passed a hotly debated voucher bill by one vote after the deciding vote, Jason Zachary of Knoxville, was promised that his district would not get vouchers. Isn’t it a curious commentary on the appeal of vouchers that the issue was decided by pledging that the decider would NOT get them? Vouchers in this bill would be limited to Nashville and Shelby County (M
Chicago: Teachers at Unionized Charter Schools Plan to Strike
by dianeravitch / 2d
When the Waltons and Gates and Bloomberg read this, they will be very disappointed. Chagrined. The point of charters is to bust unions, they thought. NEWS RELEASE: For Immediate Release | ctulocal1.org CONTACT: Chris Geovanis, 312-329-6250 , 312-446-4939 (m) , ChrisGeovanis@ctulocal1.org Press conference/rally: 4:30 PM, Thursday, April 25 Arturo Velazquez Westside Technical Institute, 2800 S. Wes
Kentucky: Heroes of Public Education, the Student Journalists from the PLD Lamplighter
by dianeravitch / 2d
Betsy DeVos held a “roundtable” with Kentucky Governor Matt Bevin at a public community college in Lexington, Kentucky. When student journalists at Paul Laurence Dunbar High School heard that they were meeting, they went to the event, presented their press credentials, and were barred from covering it. The only student invited to speak at the roundtable attends a religious school. The other parti
Rhode Island: Governor Raimondo Takes First Steps Towards State Takeover of Providence Schools
by dianeravitch / 2d
Governor Gina Raimondo, formerly a hedge fund manager, is unhappy with the public schools of Providence. Their test scores are low. They are definitely lower than the schools of Massachusetts. She is thinking of a state takeover. Whatever might she have in mind? One assumes privatization by charter schools. Hedge funders have a bad habit of believing that privatization fixes low test scores. All
Ohio: Mark the Date! A Conversation Between Bill Phillis and Me
by dianeravitch / 2d
You are invited to a conversation between the legendary Bill Phillis, fearless fighter for equity in education, and me, at a very special event in Columbus, Ohio. https://www.eventbrite.com/e/moving-public-education-forward-tickets-59663258412 “The event will take place Thursday, May 16, 2019 from 4:30 to 8:00pm at the Sheraton Columbus Capitol Square , 75 E. State St, Columbus, OH 43215. “Experi
Tennessee: Republicans Oppose Local Control
by dianeravitch / 2d
It has become a national pattern. Republicans are on record opposing local control of public schools. In Tennessee, the State Senate voted to create a state charter school commission, appointed by the Governor, with the power to override decisions by local school boards. This is surely not because charter schools are more successful than public schools. They are not. The state’s so-called Achieve
Civil Rights Legal Groups Defend Maine Decision Not to Fund Religious Schools
by dianeravitch / 2d
Find us on About Us | More News April 16, 2019 HELP SUPPORT ELC ELC relies on the generous contributions of individuals, corporations and foundations to support our work. AMICUS BRIEF SUPPORTS MAINE’S DECISION NOT TO USE PUBLIC FUNDING ON SECTARIAN SCHOOLS Public Funds Public Schools (PFPS) has joined the National Education Association (NEA) and the Maine Education Association (MEA) in filing an
Indiana: Schools Chief Blasts Republican Plan to Eliminate Local Control of Schools
by dianeravitch / 3d
Jennifer McCormick, Indiana’s last elected state superintendent, has 20 months left in her term. She is a Republican, but she is different from the state leadership: She actually cares about students and democratic control of public education. The Governor and the Legislature have decided that in the future, all power over education will be concentrated in one office: the Governor’s. The state’s
Capitalism Is in Crisis, and Billionaires Know It
by dianeravitch / 3d
This article in the Washington Post examines the alarming increase in inequality as a small number of billionaires take control of the economy and the future. The article does not mention the billionaires’ political efforts to gain control of state and local school boards so as to destroy the public schools by replacing them with privately managed charter schools. The article mentions the deep co

APR 23

D.C. Public Schools Are Facing Budget Cuts: Here is What You Can Do
by dianeravitch / 3d
Valerie Jablow, parent activist in the District of Columbia, offers advice here about what YOU can do to stop budget cuts and demand transparency and accountability for ALL schools (including charter schools). Take Valerie’s advice. Get active.
Bernie Sanders Has a Better Statement on Education than Before
by dianeravitch / 3d
Bernie Sanders’ website has a better statement on the importance of investing public education and teachers than any other Democratic candidate so far: Today, more than 60 years after the historic Brown v. Board of Education decision ending legal segregation in our public schools, and 50 years after President Johnson signed the Elementary and Secondary Education Act into law, poor and minority st
Mercedes Schneider: Vouchers in Tennessee Moving Forward to a Worse Education
by dianeravitch / 3d
Mercedes Schneider writes that the legislature in Tennessee is coming closer to passing voucher legislation that would provide $7,300 per pupil to attend a private or religious school. Governor Bill Lee is making this happen because he found nearly $1 million in prizes that he could hand out to undecided legislators. The students eligible to get a voucher would be in Nashville or Shelby County (M
Robert Reich: Mueller Report Documents Trump’s Character
by dianeravitch / 3d
Robert Reich says that Americans usually look to their Presidents with an expectation that he is a model worthy of emulation. But the Mueller Report makes one thing clear: Trump’s vile character. https://prospect.org/article/most-devastating-all-muellers-indictment-trumps-character ”Even though Mueller apparently doesn’t believe a sitting president can be indicted, he provides a devastating indic
Harvard Attacks Single-Sex Sororities and Fraternities and Threatens Those Who Join Them
by dianeravitch / 3d
As a graduate of an excellent, life-changing women’s college, this story strikes me as bizarre. Harvard is trying to stamp out single-sex fraternities and sororities. Students who belong to them will be banned from no,ding campus leadership roles. National sororities and fraternities are suing the university for violating their freedom of association, as well they should. The university says that
Newark: Privatizers Shelling Out Money to Buy Control of Newark Schools
by dianeravitch / 3d
Patrick Wall of Chalkbeat reports here that the forces of privatization are spending big in Newark to squelch local independent candidates. Mayor Ras Baraka, who once railed against charter schools, has now joined forces with their funders, which gives him access to their money and power. Wall writes: The top spender in Newark’s school board race is a special-interest group with ties to New Jerse
Jan Resseger: The Reasons for the Teacher Shortage
by dianeravitch / 3d
JanResseger explains the reasons for the national teacher shortage here, which will not surprise readers of this blog. i encourage you to read the entire post. She begins: ”You’d have to be pretty out of touch to have missed that teachers, who have been striking all year from West Virginia to Kentucky to Oklahoma to California, have been showing us their pay is inadequate and their working condit
Capital & Main: California’s Teacher Shortage Continues
by dianeravitch / 4d
Despite a small uptick in the number of people enrolled in teacher preparation programs, the state still faces a large shortage of qualified teachers. 24,000 credentialed teachers are needed, but the pipeline produced only 8,000 last year. Bill Raden and Eunice Park write in Capital & Main: April findings by the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing noted that 23,832 prospective teachers
Laura Chapman: Ohio Believes That Education=Preparation for the Workforce
by dianeravitch / 4d
In this comment, posted not long ago, reader Laura H. Chapman describes the Ohio view of education as workforce preparation. The pioneers of education had nobler goals. Above all, they considered the purpose of education to be preparation for citizenship in our emerging democracy. That meant literacy and numeracy but also character development with the hope of cultivating a commitment to democrat

APR 22

DeVos Funnels $116 Million to Open 20 Charter Schools in El Paso, Which Will Devastate Public Schools
by dianeravitch / 4d
Should Amy O’Rourke, Beto’s wife, send a thank-you note to Betsy DeVos? Betsy DeVos has awarded a huge grant of $116,755,848 to the IDEA charter chain to open 20 new schools in El Paso. IDEA opened its first El Paso charter last fall. In 2017, DeVos gave $67 million to IDEA. IDEA has received a grand total of $225 million from the federal Charter Schools Program. The size of this grant is unprece
Betsy DeVos Gives Multi-Millions to KIPP and IDEA Corporate Charter Chains
by dianeravitch / 4d
In the latest round of awards from the federal slush fund for charter schools, Betsy DeVo s handed out plums to the corporate chains KIPP and IDEA. KIPP, the largest nonprofit charter network in the country, is slated to receive $86 million over five years to create 52 new schools across 20 states and D.C. IDEA, a Texas-based charter network , won an expected $116 million over five years. The net
Julian Vasquez Heilig: Did the Waltons Steal the “Parents Union” from Black Parents?
by dianeravitch / 5d
Julian Vasquez Heilig got wind of the Walton-funded “National Parents Union,” and discovered that a grassroots activist already had created an organization with the same name. Mona Davidson New York City excoriated the AstroTurf group that the Waltons assembled. Read what she thinks of this professional “parents” group funded by the Waltons., and advised by former Secretary of Education John King
Popular New York City Public Schools Have a Wait List of 155,000 Students
by dianeravitch / 5d
One of our daily readers, who signs as “New York City Public School Parent,” pointed out recently that the wait list for popular public high schools in New York City is far larger than the alleged wait list for charter schools. I checked the sources, and by golly, NYC PSP is correct. More than 155,000 students applied for but did not win admission to the high school of their choice. Of course, NY
Waltons Fund “National Parents Union” to Advocate for Privatization
by dianeravitch / 5d
Maurice Cunningham, a dogged investigator of Dark Money, has discovered a shell operation funded by the multibillionaire Walton family. It is called the “National Patents Union,” and its goal is to defund public schools and transfer public money to private hands. Its leader Keri Rodriguez led the effort in Massachusetts to raise the cap on charter schools in 2016. The referendum would have allowe

APR 21

Kentucky: High School Journalists Not Allowed to Cover Bevin DeVos Roundtable
by dianeravitch / 5d
The editorial board of the PLD Lamplighter (Paul Laurence Dunbar High School) in Lexington, Kentucky, wanted to confer the “Roundtable” that featured Governor Matt Bevin and Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos. They were turned away. What does their opinion matter? They are “only” students. Only one student was invited to join the Roundtable discussion about education in Kentucky. She attends a Ro
New York Times Editorial: The Mueller Report and the Danger to Democracy
by dianeravitch / 5d
This editorial appeared on April 19 in the New York Times. It leaves no doubt that Russia interfered in the 2016 election to benefit Donald Trump, the most unqualified president in our nation’s history. It begins like this: The report of the special counsel Robert Mueller leaves considerable space for partisan warfare over the role of President Trump and his political campaign in Russia’s interfe
Kansas: Students, Parents Rebel Against Mark Zuckerberg’s Summit Learning
by dianeravitch / 5d
Today, the New York Times posted a story about a rebellion in Kansas against Mark Zuckerberg’s Summit Learning platform. They said NO to Facebook’s “personalized learning,” which replaces teachers with Chromebooks. Good for the students of Kansas! WELLINGTON, Kan. — The seed of rebellion was planted in classrooms. It grew in kitchens and living rooms, in conversations between students and their p
Johannes Stotter’s Amazing Art: A Treat for You!
by dianeravitch / 5d
This is an amazing and eye-popping form of art, one I never saw before. I think you will like it too. Hey, we all need a break!
Kathryn Berger: A Teacher in Wonderland
by dianeravitch / 5d
Kathryn Berger knows something that legislators don’t know. Students are hungry for real literature and art but we feed them standardized tests. They crave authenticity, but our policymakers impose standardization, which is inauthentic. See this video she made .
Florida: The State That Welcomes Conflicts of Interest
by dianeravitch / 6d
In most states and in the federal government, conflicts of interest are prohibited and even illegal. But not in Florida! State legislators regularly vote on legislation that enriches themselves and family members, and NO ONE CARES! Conflicts of interest are peachy keen. Doesn’t everyone line their pockets at the public trough? This article in the Miami Herald describes a master at the game of doi
Steve Nelson: Excellent Communities Produce “Excellent” Schools
by dianeravitch / 6d
We have lived through more than two decades of shaming schools with low test scores, blaming and shaming their teachers and principals for scores that are primarily the result of poverty, poor housing, poor health, poor nutrition. One reader asserted that excellent schools attract wealthy families. He was corrected by Steve Nelson, who wrote First Do No Harm: Progressive Education in a Time of Ex

APR 20

Jan Resseger: Time to Close Down the Federal Charter Schools Program
by dianeravitch / 6d
Jan Resseger is a voice of moral clarity in a time of moral turpitude.she reflected on the NPE report “Asleep At the Wheel,” about the slipshod, failed federal program to pump money into the charter industry and concluded the program should be terminated, with the money transferred to high-needs schools. She writes: “The Network for Public Education published its scathing report on the federal Ch
Andre Perry: Betsy DeVos’s Support for Charters Makes Democratic Charter Supporters Uncomfortable
by dianeravitch / 6d
I have said it before and I will say it again. Betsy DeVos is the most effective weapon against corporate reform, because she activates resistance and personifies noblesse oblige. Former New Orleans charter leader Andre Perry has become a thoughtful critic of charters, and he points out that DeVos has become a major cause of a widespread charter backlash. As Perry puts it, Betsy Devos’s support o
Indianapolis: The Purpose of School Choice is to Destroy Communities, Which Endangers Us All
by dianeravitch / 7d
Jim Scheurich is a professor at Indiana University and a public education activist. He writes here about how School Choice is intended to destroy community. Folks, the philosophy that charter and innovation schools are built on is that your children’s school should be individualized parental choice. This means parents individually search across the Indy area as to where to send their children, wh
What is the Point of PISA and the Race for Higher Scores It Inspires?
by dianeravitch / 7d
PISA—the international test, the Program in International Student Assessment—has set off an insane competition among nations to lift their ranking. Only one country can be #1, and the rankings have political consequences. Rich 



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