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Thursday, September 5, 2019

Parents Organize Online to Pressure Schools and Get Rid of Bad Teachers | Teacher in a strange land

Parents Organize Online to Pressure Schools and Get Rid of Bad Teachers | Teacher in a strange land

Parents Organize Online to Pressure Schools and Get Rid of Bad Teachers
So there it was, right out in the Twitter open:
Public school parents et al: What if we could use a site like Blind to chat anonymously with other parents at our kids’ school, share concerns and complaints, including about bad teachers, and organize to pressure administrators to do something about it?    @MichaelPetrilli
Appropriately, the very first (polite) comment came from a teacher:
Are you being facetious? @IngridFournier
And…no, no he wasn’t. It’s really frustrating, Petrilli says, to see all the things that are wrong in his child’s public school, and not be able to do anything about it. That weak principal! Etc., etc.
There followed a long string of mostly coherent tweets, centered around salient points: You don’t need an app for that, plenty of ways to form groups. Anonymous chats tend to go sideways, sometimes direly so, and anonymous kvetching solves nothing. This kind of thing is a security/data-sharing nightmare, technologically—especially when you have no idea to whom you’re speaking, online.
That devolved into union-bashing and ‘my kid has a bad math teacher,’ precisely the CONTINUE READING: Parents Organize Online to Pressure Schools and Get Rid of Bad Teachers | Teacher in a strange land

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Seattle Schools Community Forum: Charter News - State and National

Seattle Schools Community Forum: Charter News - State and National

Charter News - State and National

 Charter schools in this country reached something of a milestone this year - it's been 25 years since the first one started in Minnesota.  But there is increasing evidence they are either sliding downward and/or stalling out. From the NY Times:

KIPP’s internal reckoning has coincided with a moment in which New York’s elected officials and Democratic presidential candidates have turned decisively away from the charter movement. Both groups are eager to please their allies in teachers unions, which have consolidated power over the last year.
It is also fascinating to watch the Democratic presidential contenders shy away from talking about K-12 public education.  They all seem to just want to talk about higher ed and student debt, a worthy topic.  Cory Booker, who had a very profound effect on Newark public education, is especially not one who wants to talk. He has very little in the way of good outcomes to talk about despite the Zuckerberg dollars poured into NPS.

Beto O'Rouke's wife started a charter school in El Paso.  His kids attend public school in El Paso but it's unclear to me if they are traditional schools or charter schools.

But Bernie Sanders is coming out swinging, calling out both the lack of CONTINUE READING: Seattle Schools Community Forum: Charter News - State and National


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Diane Ravitch Joins Nick Hanauer's Podcast, Pitchfork Economics - Network For Public Education

Diane Ravitch Joins Nick Hanauer's Podcast, Pitchfork Economics - Network For Public Education

Diane Ravitch Joins Nick Hanauer’s Podcast, Pitchfork Economics



Episode Info

Like many rich Americans, Nick used to think that focusing their philanthropic efforts in the country’s education system could heal many of our biggest problems. But in The Atlantic last month, he admitted he was wrong—better schools won’t fix America unless we fix inequality first. He’s joined this week by Diane Ravitch, a giant in the education policy world who also changed her mind about what works and what doesn’t. Can these two converts from the theory of educationism find a new way to expand educational opportunity in America while also combating runaway income inequality?
Diane Ravitch is a Research Professor of Education at New York University and a historian of education. She is the Founder and President of the Network for Public Education. From 1991 to 1993, she was Assistant Secretary of Education under President George H.W. Bush, where she led the federal effort to promote the creation of voluntary state and national academic standards. In her book ‘The Death and Life of the Great American School System: How Testing and Choice Are Undermining Education’, Ravitch examines her career in education reform and repudiates positions that she once staunchly advocated.
Further reading:
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The Back to School Episode – Have You Heard

The Back to School Episode – Have You Heard

The Back to School Episode



In the latest episode of Have You Heard we go back to school. And not to the idealized, romantic notion of school but to the harsh reality that awaits too many students and teachers. But wait! Our special guests are all intent on doing something about it. We hear from four educators who have a keen understanding of what needs to change, both inside and outside of school. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll want to do what they’re doing! Complete transcript of the episode available here. And if you’re a fan of our work, consider supporting us with a donation.

The Back to School Episode – Have You Heard
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CURMUDGUCATION: Harry Potter and Vouchers

CURMUDGUCATION: Harry Potter and Vouchers

Harry Potter and Vouchers


 The Harry Potter books were back in the news for the six zillionth instance of a ban placed on the Rowling classic novels. The books have been repeatedly banned since they were published, usually because conservative religious folks think the books will normalize wizards and warlocks and witchcraft, but Reverend Dan Reehil, a pastor at St. Edward Catholic School, cites that classic argument, but then ratchets things up a bit:

"These books present magic as both good and evil, which is not true, but in fact a clever deception,” he explained. “The curses and spells used in the books are actual curses and spells; which when read by a human being risk conjuring evil spirits into the presence of the person reading the text."



The books hit 500 million copies sold in 2018, so it's really, really remarkable that we haven't heard anything about this. With half ab billion copies of conjuring spells out there that can be activated just by reading, it's amazing that the whole world hasn't looked like the third act of Ghostbusters for the last two decades.

In the meantime, it seems unlikely that the Rev. Reehik's unilateral removal of the book from the school library (he apparently didn't consult staff) will serious affect any child's ability to get her hands on a copy.

The story is a slow news day chuckle. Except that I want to point something out.

St. Edward is located in Nashville. And Tennessee just okayed an education savings account program, a version of a school voucher. That means that parents can get a chunk of money from the state which they can then use to withdraw their child from public school and then enroll her in a private school. A private school like, say, St. Edward.

That's what vouchers get you-- a system by which your tax dollars can go to support not just a CONTINUE READING: CURMUDGUCATION: Harry Potter and Vouchers


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Texas: Public Schools Outperform Charter Schools | Diane Ravitch's blog

Texas: Public Schools Outperform Charter Schools | Diane Ravitch's blog

Texas: Public Schools Outperform Charter Schools

The original rationale for charter schools was that they would be innovative, would be accountable, and would have lessons to share with public schools. We now know that the only innovation associated with charter schools is the adoption of stern discipline, reminiscent of schools a century or more ago.
We now know that charter lobbies fight any accountability.
They no longer see themselves as collaborators but as competitors. If they have anything to share, they are not doing it.
Their biggest innovations are diverting resources from the public schools and choosing the students they want. As a sector, the charter industry has produced a plethora of frauds and scandals, which is what you would expect to happen when entrepreneurs get government money without supervision, oversight or accountability.
Charter advocates claimed they would “save poor kids from failing schools,” but in most states the poor kids are better off staying in their public school.
Texas is about to be flooded with dozens of new charter schools, thanks to recent brats by Betsy DeVos to big CONTINUE READING: Texas: Public Schools Outperform Charter Schools | Diane Ravitch's blog

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Continuing to Reduce Chronic Absenteeism Rates - Year 2019 (CA Dept of Education)

Year 2019 - News Releases (CA Dept of Education)

Continuing to Reduce Chronic Absenteeism Rates



September

August

July

Year 2019 - News Releases (CA Dept of Education) - https://www.cde.ca.gov/nr/ne/yr19/
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Wednesday, September 4, 2019

NANCY BAILEY: Poverty & Reading: The Sad and Troubling Loss of School Libraries and Real Librarians

Poverty & Reading: The Sad and Troubling Loss of School Libraries and Real Librarians

Poverty & Reading: The Sad and Troubling Loss of School Libraries and Real Librarians


My last post listed reasons why many children don’t learn to read. Poverty was behind many of the items.
Poor students attend poor schools where they miss out on the arts, a whole curriculum, even qualified, well prepared teachers. Students might end up in “no excuses” charter schools with only digital learning.
But, next to hunger and healthcare, one of the worst losses for children in poor schools is the loss of a school library with a real librarian.
Stephen Krashen, a well-known reading researcher and advocate for children, provided a study he and his co-authors did as proof why school libraries help children be better readers. He is adamant that children need access to books, and he believes good school libraries are “the cure.” We often hear that getting books into the hands of very young children is important. It’s also critical to ensure that children who are in fourth grade and beyond have access to books!
Many poor schools have closed their school libraries, citing a lack of funding. Oakland, California lost thirty percent of their school libraries. Cities from Los Angeles to New York report library closures.
Chicago has lost school libraries. Some there blame the teachers union who pushed not to replace the librarian at one elementary school with volunteers. But good CONTINUE READING: Poverty & Reading: The Sad and Troubling Loss of School Libraries and Real Librarian




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Gov. Newsom, legislative leaders agree on certification for all charter school teachers | EdSource

Gov. Newsom, legislative leaders agree on certification for all charter school teachers | EdSource

Gov. Newsom, legislative leaders agree on certification for all charter school teachers
Teachers would also need background check in form "Certificate of Clearance" by next July 


As a result of an agreement reached last week between Gov. Gavin Newsom and legislative leaders, California charter school teachers will have to get the same background checks and the same credentials, certificates or permits as teachers in regular public schools. 
The agreement, which addresses a major point of contention in the push to reform California’s nearly three decades old charter school law, would eliminate at least one of the many disparities in how charter schools and regular public schools operate, with ramifications for the over 600,000 students attending charter schools in California. These students comprise just over 10 percent of California’s public school enrollment of 6.2 million students.
But if Assembly Bill 1505 is approved by the full Legislature, the changes will happen in phases.  By July 1, 2020, all teachers in charter schools, whether credentialed or not, would have to obtain a “Certificate of Clearance” from the state before they would be allowed to teach.
Currently, all California public school teachers, whether in charter schools or regular public schools, are required to undergo a background check. But only those with a teaching credential or permit issued by the California Commission on Teacher CONTINUE READING: Gov. Newsom, legislative leaders agree on certification for all charter school teachers | EdSource

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The Walton Plot to Privatize the Public Schools of Arkansas | Diane Ravitch's blog

The Walton Plot to Privatize the Public Schools of Arkansas | Diane Ravitch's blog

The Walton Plot to Privatize the Public Schools of Arkansas

The headquarters of the Walton/Walmart billionaires is in Bentonville, Arkansas, so it is not surprising that the Walton Family Foundation and the members of the family (net worth: $100 billion) have decided to privatize the public schools of Arkansas.
Arkansas is a poor state. It doesn’t have an abundance of private schools that are as good as its underfunded public schools but the Waltons want every child to have a voucher or a charter school to attend.
Legislators are easy to buy in a poor state. The Waltons own quite a few.
The Alabama Education Association did the research and described the empire that the Waltons have constructed in service to their goal of owning and privatizing the public schools of Arkansas. In the Walton plan, there will be no “public schools,” only privately managed charter schools and vouchers for religious schools.
The AEA report lays out the Walton Empire of Privatization in detail, with their bought and paid for think tanks and academics.
Although this report includes a lot of names, it is just one slice of the nationwide effort to plunder our public schools. These organizations have a vast infrastructure and deep pockets that can seem daunting, but our CONTINUE READING: The Walton Plot to Privatize the Public Schools of Arkansas | Diane Ravitch's blog


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#CleartheList How a viral campaign is helping U.S. teachers buy supplies and raise political pressure | CBC News

How a viral campaign is helping U.S. teachers buy supplies and raise political pressure | CBC News

How a viral campaign is helping U.S. teachers buy supplies and raise political pressure
Union hopes #CleartheList puts education funding on the 2020 election agenda

Jodi Haque, a Brooklyn public high school teacher, opened her door recently and found a delivery of more than 50 books, everything she would need for her special education classes for the coming school year — all donated by Canadians.
A few days earlier, Haque received an email saying a Canadian couple she'd never met had bought close to $500 US worth of reading material for her classroom. They found a wish list Haque posted on social media using the hashtag #CleartheList, a campaign to help teachers find donations of much-needed school supplies.


"I was honestly so, so blessed," said Haque, who helps students aged 14 to 16 with a wide range of learning disabilities. The moment, however, was bittersweet as she reflected on the need to rely on the generosity of strangers to provide for her students. 
"It's sad that strangers are helping out more than the people that are elected to help us," Haque said.
A sixth-year teacher, she estimates she spends $500 to $700 a year of her own money purchasing everything from bookshelves, pencils and paper to cleaning items like hand sanitizer, tissues and paper towels. Her school provides $250 for supplies, though that number can vary.
"It frustrates me to no end knowing that my kids who need the most are constantly lacking the basic materials in order to be successful," Haque said.

Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, speaks during a 2018 news conference in New York. Weingarten says a wave of teacher strikes and walkouts in 2018 helped change the conversation CONTINUE READING: How a viral campaign is helping U.S. teachers buy supplies and raise political pressure | CBC News

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CURMUDGUCATION: Please, No Learning Engineers

CURMUDGUCATION: Please, No Learning Engineers

Please, No Learning Engineers

 If Ben Johnson is as good as his word, right now, out in Utah, a bunch of teachers are having to put up with being called "learning engineers."

Johnson is the executive director at Treeside Charter School (K-6) in Provo, Utah. This is actually Year 2 in that job; previously, he's been a world languages department chair in Tyler, the president of his own consulting group, a principal, a learning coach, and , from 1990-1997, a Spanish teacher. He got his teacher education at Brigham Young and a Doctor of Education from the University of Phoenix. When he took this job, he walked right into the middle of a scandal involving naughty legislator Lincoln Filmore, who was putting his legislator hat on along with his head-of-a-charter-management-company hat and ending up with a pocketful of taxpayer loot. The feds were involved and Johnson did some housecleaning.

Treeside Charter (motto: Nurturing the leaders, lifelong learners, innovators, and artisans of tomorrow) was "inspired" by Waldorf schools, and their "head, heart and hands" approach appeals to me (perhaps because I was in 4-H growing up). You can see a very earnest ad  for them here. On the other hand, Johnson says he's known as "the Big Hearted Genius," which, like "whacky  " or "wise" or "beloved" seems like one of those things you should never, ever call yourself.

Johnson regularly posts for Edutopia, the George Lucas Educational Foundation site, and back in June he caused a minor stir by deciding that he wanted to rethink the teacher's role. It does not get CONTINUE READING: CURMUDGUCATION: Please, No Learning Engineers


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Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards: A champion for public education - Education Votes

Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards: A champion for public education - Education Votes

Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards: A champion for public education

By Amanda Litvinov and Amanda Menas
Since his election in 2016, Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards has championed a pro-public education agenda with policies that support students, educators, and local communities.
Edwards made education funding, including pay increases for teachers and school support staff, a top priority. He has pledged to protect public employee pensions such as the Teachers’ Retirement System of Louisiana. He’s a vocal critic of unaccountable charter schools, voucher programs, and school letter grades.
Here are three (of many) times that Gov. Edwards went to bat for public education:
Boosting Teacher Salaries and Supporting Professional Pay
The Louisiana Association of Educators (LAE) supported Gov. Edwards’ multi-year plan to increase teacher salaries to the Southern regional average. This year, they successfully advocated for and received the first round of increases.
The governor said that increasing teacher pay was his number one priority for the 2019 legislative session, acknowledging that many teachers struggle to provide for their own children even as they play a critical role in preparing all of our children for the future.
At the start of the 2019-2020 fiscal year, teacher salaries increased by $1,000 and support professionals received a salary boost of $500. And this is only the beginning.
The governor said the school employee pay raises were his number one priority for the 2019 legislative session. By prioritizing these raises, he showed educators from all walks of the profession that their work is valued. 
“The fact that this was just a first step in a multi-year plan proves Gov. Edwards’ commitment to championing our public schools and students, because, after all, recruiting CONTINUE READING: Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards: A champion for public education - Education Votes

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Schools Matter: KIPP vs. Feinberg: Battle of the Moral Sewer Dwellers

Schools Matter: KIPP vs. Feinberg: Battle of the Moral Sewer Dwellers

KIPP vs. Feinberg: Battle of the Moral Sewer Dwellers


For almost 25 years, Mike Feinberg broke enough rules to bull his up to the top of a morally-compromised heap of paternalistic charter hell school operators. 

In the early days of KIPP, Feinberg is remembered as the hothead without boundaries who threw a TV through a plate glass window at KIPP Houston--the same reckless wild man who would load KIPP students into an unventilated U-Haul trailer for a "field lesson" across town. 

"Whatever it takes" was "Cage-Buster" Feinberg's mantra, and he and David Levin believed that, as KIPP's top leaders, they should model the aggressive, hyper-macho, and abusive "let the stallions run" style of leadership for their growing and clueless regiment of "school leaders."  No holds barred, take no prisoners, let the rules be damned.

Who knows if their schooling "philosophy" of reckless abandon contributed to Feinberg's eventual bust for sexual harassment of two KIPP employees, sexual abuse of a middle school student, and another charge vaguely referred to as “repeatedly violat[ing] KIPP’s technology usage policies.”  

Sexting? Porno? Who knows what the "cage-buster" was up to?

When it became obvious to KIPP in 2017 that Feinberg's behavior could be the source of a major scandal that could damage the brand and, thus, jeopardize the flow of hundreds of millions of federal and private dollars to KIPP, KIPP launched its own very hush-hush investigation into allegations that Feinberg had sexually assaulted a middle student some years before.  That was in April 2017. See documents here.

On September 7, 2017, KIPP noticed Feinberg that he was off the hook, while entirely downplayed the CONTINUE READING: Schools Matter: KIPP vs. Feinberg: Battle of the Moral Sewer Dwellers


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How big a mess is Pennsylvania’s charter school sector? This big. - The Washington Post

How big a mess is Pennsylvania’s charter school sector? This big. - The Washington Post

How big a mess is Pennsylvania’s charter school sector? This big.
The governor is vowing to restructure it.

Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf (D) has been making charter-school supporters in his state mighty unhappy.
The charter sector in Pennsylvania has long been beset by fraud and a lack of transparency and accountability. In fact, in 2016, the state’s auditor general called the state charter law the “worst” in the nation.
Now Wolf has raised the ire of supporters of charter schools — which are publicly funded but privately operated — referring to the “growing cost of privatization of our public schools” while discussing cyber charters.
Meanwhile, a recent news release issued by the governor’s office said he wanted to stop the drain of public resources from traditional public school districts that instead are going to these schools: “Pennsylvania must help school districts struggling with the problem of increasing amounts of school funding siphoned by private cyber and charter schools.” Calling these schools “private” angered charter supporters, who say they are public because they are publicly funded (though not accountable to the public in the same way school districts are).

Now Wolf is moving ahead to try to change the charter sector in his state in the absence of movement from the Republican-led legislature. In August, he said he would, among other things, use executive power to make sure charters are held to the same “ethical and transparency standards of public schools,” and allow school districts to cap the number of charters.
This post looks at the state of the charter sector in Pennsylvania, the reality that Wolf is trying to change. It was written by Carol Burris, a former New York high school principal who serves as executive director of the Network for Public Education, a nonprofit advocacy group for public schools.
Burris was named the 2010 Outstanding Educator by the School Administrators Association of New York State, and the National Association of Secondary School Principals named her the New York State High School Principal of the Year in 2013. Burris has been chronicling problems with CONTINUE READING: How big a mess is Pennsylvania’s charter school sector? This big. - The Washington Post

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Shawgi Tell: Join Growing Resistance to Charter Schools | Dissident Voice

Join Growing Resistance to Charter Schools | Dissident Voice

Join Growing Resistance to Charter Schools
It has taken some time, but finally, even though they have been pillaged for decades by privately-operated unaccountable charter schools, more public school districts across the country are fighting back with greater vigor against nonprofit and for-profit charter schools. Gone are the days of silent toleration and looking the other way while charter schools wreak havoc on public education.
It is affirming and refreshing to see more public school districts filing lawsuits, passing resolutions, producing exposés, and taking other actions against privately-operated charter schools to stop the “legal” theft of public funds and property by these non-transparent contract schools that typically under-enroll certain student populations and have high teacher turnover rates.
While segregated nonprofit and for-profit charter schools have rapidly enriched many owners of capital and their cheerleaders, they have not solved any major problems. The increase in privately-operated charter schools nationwide has deepened the crisis in education and society. It has made things qualitatively worse.
Nearly 30 years after they came into being, there is no compelling evidence that charter schools do better than under-funded, over-tested, and relentlessly scapegoated-and-shamed public schools confronted with immense tasks and CONTINUE READING: Join Growing Resistance to Charter Schools | Dissident Voice

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