Jersey Jazzman: Star-Ledger Editorial Page: Still Incoherent On "Choice"

Jersey Jazzman: Star-Ledger Editorial Page: Still Incoherent On "Choice":

Star-Ledger Editorial Page: Still Incoherent On "Choice"

I know I promised to back off on Tom Moran and the Star-Ledger Editorial Board this year; they have shown that, no matter what evidence is put in front of them, they will never change their charter school lovin' ways. But I just can't let the following pass without at least a quick comment, because it shows how utterly addled their thinking about school "choice" really is:

There is a controversy brewing in New Jersey over a health insurance plan devised by Horizon Blue Cross/Blue Shield, the state's largest health insurer. Three former governors have come out against the plan, called Omnia; they give a good introduction to the controversy in this open letter to Gov. Christie:

Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey, the state's largest insurer, has rolled out a new insurance product — the OMNIA Health Alliance — that threatens to erode the bedrock of New Jersey's health care marketplace at the eventual peril, we believe, of dozens of hospitals and tens of thousands of health care consumers in New Jersey, especially the uninsured and the under-insured.

We urge you to examine OMNIA more closely and take swift and strong executive action. 

The state of New Jersey has always provided oversight of its insurance industries to protect consumers, and there is no more important and universal consumer in this state than the one who seeks health care, because everyone at every stage of life is entitled to quality health care from the provider of their choice.

Horizon's plan gives its insured members a monetary incentive to

- See more at: http://jerseyjazzman.blogspot.com/2016/02/star-ledger-editorial-page-still.html#sthash.oYij2Adp.dpuf

BustED Pencils Trending News: Episode 3; NOT PARRC; Bonds; Consultants | BustED Pencils

BustED Pencils Trending News: Episode 3; NOT PARRC; Bonds; Consultants | BustED Pencils:
Episode 3; NOT PARRC; Bonds; Consultants

BustED Pencils Radio Episode 3 – 4/10/15

#1 – The test is NOT diagnostic!! #2, #3, #4, #5, #6, #7, #8, #9, #10!  Keep BUSTING PENCILS Marie!

My testimony at the 2.10.16 NJ State BOE meeting in Trenton

https://www.facebook.com/corfieldfornjea/videos/1031885956869752/?fref=nf

Crossing into conflict of interest.

The bond between business and education

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/readersrespond/bs-ed-schools-letter-20160129-story.html

Oh NO!!  A leading force in the corporate reform movement consults a King.

John King’s Wife Hired by Bellwether Consultants

John King’s Wife Hired by Bellwether Consultants

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Enter your email under “SUBSCRIBE” on our Home or Trending News page at bustedpencils.com

BustED Pencils Trending News: Episode 3; NOT PARRC; Bonds; Consultants | BustED Pencils:

Texas School Triples Recess Time And Sees Immediate Positive Results In Kids

Texas School Triples Recess Time And Sees Immediate Positive Results In Kids:

Texas School Triples Recess Time And Sees Immediate Positive Results In Kids

More and more, parents are protesting school policies that allow teachers and administrators to withhold recess to punish student misbehavior. Common infractions include tardiness, acting out in class and failure to complete homework—everyday childhood behaviors that result in numerous children having to go without recess on any given day.

A Texas school started giving children four recess breaks a day, and teachers and parents say the results have been wonderful.

Recess is a lot more than just a free break for kids to play after lunch period. That free, unstructured play time allows kids to exercise and helps them focus better when they are in class. Now a school in Texas says it took a risk by giving students four recess periods a day, but the risk has paid off beautifully.

According to Today, the Eagle Mountain Elementary in Fort Worth, Texas, has been giving kindergarten and first-grade students two 15-minute recess breaks every morning and two 15-minute breaks every afternoon to go play outside. At first teachers were worried about losing the classroom time and being able to cover all the material they needed with what was left, but now that the experiment has been going on for about five months, teachers say the kids are actually learning more because they’re better able to focus in class and pay attention without fidgeting.

“There was a part of me that was very nervous about it,” said first-grade teacher Donna McBride. “I was trying to wrap my head around my class going outside four times a day and still being able to teach those children all the things they needed to learn.”

But now she says that not only are the students paying better attention in class, they’re following directions better, attempting to learn more independently and solve problems on their own, and there have been fewer disciplinary issues.

“We’re seeing really good results,” she said, and those results make sense. The American Academy of Pediatrics says that recess is “a crucial and necessary component of a child’s development.” Even adults have a hard time concentrating and working their best when confined to a chair all day, so it’s amazing that we expect kids to be able to focus and learn without any way to exercise and blow off steam. When kindergarten students or first-graders are forced to sit still all day and allowed only one 15-minute break to play, as the Eagle Mountain students were before this experiment began, it’s only natural that they’d start to fidget and act up in class. Giving them regular breaks to play outside is good for their minds as well as their bodies.

“You start putting 15 minutes of what I call ‘reboot’ into these kids every so often and… it gives the platform for them to be able to function at their best level,” said professor Debbie Rhea, who is working with Eagle Mountain Elementary Texas School Triples Recess Time And Sees Immediate Positive Results In Kids:

With A Brooklyn Accent: A Presidential Prediction That May Upset Many People

With A Brooklyn Accent: A Presidential Prediction That May Upset Many People:

A Presidential Prediction That May Upset Many People

I am going to make a prediction that may upset many people, but since it may force people to think outside the box, here goes
If the Republicans confirm President Obama's Supreme Court nominee during the remainder of his term in office, the Republican candidate, probably Donald Trump, will be elected president
If the Republicans obstruct his nominee, Hillary Clinton will be elected President because independent voters and those who will regard Republican obstructionism as a sign of disrespect for the President will mobilize to assure her election even though she is not their preferred candidate.
If you think this is far fetched, please consider this- Because of my teaching philosophy and approach to social media, I have friends and former students all over the country from every point of the political spectrum, who i encourage to express their viewpoints freely. Plus I talk to everyone I meet about politics- neighbors,repair people, people I meet playing tennis and golf, people I run into in stores or when travelling. Because if this, I have a pretty good sense of the mood of the country; As a a With A Brooklyn Accent: A Presidential Prediction That May Upset Many People:

Ms. Katie's Ramblings: "Trauma-Informed" Schools are more than Teacher Training

Ms. Katie's Ramblings: "Trauma-Informed" Schools are more than Teacher Training:

"Trauma-Informed" Schools are more than Teacher Training

Trauma. As educators and activists fighting for the schools our students deserve, trauma has got to be talked about. Most teachers I know get that. It's obvious in our day to day interactions with children that some of our little ones need far more help than we can provide.

Which is why I am heartened by the rumblings of "trauma-informed" schooling. The idea that we would build schools around the needs of our kids who have experienced all kinds ofadverse childhood experiences (ACEs): poverty, hunger, homelessness, violence, police brutality, the impact of mass incarceration, racism. The list goes on and on, but the basic idea is that schools could be safe spaces for kids who have experienced trauma.

In my vision, a trauma-informed school would be a school that commits to being a low-stress, stable, low-competition, highly joyful place, with ample arts, music, dance, and sports as positive outlets. Testing would be outlawed replaced by low-stress, creative projects. Young children would have ample time to play and socialize. Class sizes would be low to foster positive relationships. Curriculum would be culturally-relevant, and students would tackle subjects like racism and injustice, but there would also be plenty of silliness and laughter. There would be full-time mental health workers who spend time in classrooms weekly teaching coping skills and appropriate ways to handle strong emotions, and would be available for emergency interventions as needed. An on-site clinic with a full-time nurse practitioner would also be a staple for these schools. The staff would be trained in de-esclation techniques, educated about signs to look for and ways to intervene successfully with kids in crisis. And most importantly, staff would be given lessened workloads and time schedules as working with kids with mental illness takes a greater personal toll. Staff would need to treated with extra care in order to give the extra care that our kiddos experiencing a hard life need.

I hope we can move to this approach and center the idea ofMs. Katie's Ramblings: "Trauma-Informed" Schools are more than Teacher Training:

U.S. Senate set to confirm John King as Ed Secretary-Feb 25-Say NO – Missouri Education Watchdog

U.S. Senate set to confirm John King as Ed Secretary-Feb 25-Say NO – Missouri Education Watchdog:

U.S. Senate set to confirm John King as Ed Secretary-Feb 25-Say NO

The Washington Post reports that the Senate education committee plans to consider President Obama’s nominee, John King, for education secretary at a confirmation hearing at 2 p.m. on Feb. 25.

Now is your chance.

You have power when it comes to elections, when it comes to approving John King as Arne Duncan’s replacement…use your power to tell them why you don’t like what John King stands for.

Click to easily look up contact information for your US Senator here. (Call- it takes 2 minutes-leave a message- tell them your concerns. It does not have to be fancy- it is YOUR tax payer money, YOUR children, your power to do so. USE IT.)

If you don’t know King’s history in New York, ruthlessly pushing inBloom data mining and Common Core, read about it here:

What Arne’s successor, John King,  did to NY schools:

The disastrous rollout of the Common Core and its tests pushed the legislature to pass a moratorium on consequences for teachers resulting from the test score component of APPR—a moratorium opposed by John King. The legislature plans to reform APPR this session, although whether the system can be improved without a radical restructuring remains to be seen.

“You’ll see the rollout of a statewide data system that will give a lot more useful information to teachers and principals about student performance and a lot more useful data for policymakers.”- John King on inBloom

In the above quote, King was referring to the implementation of inBloom, funded and created by the Gates Foundation and the Carnegie U.S. Senate set to confirm John King as Ed Secretary-Feb 25-Say NO – Missouri Education Watchdog:

CURMUDGUCATION: MS To Teachers: "Shut Up!"

CURMUDGUCATION: MS To Teachers: "Shut Up!":

MS To Teachers: "Shut Up!"

So, first, to put this in context, I have to tell you about Initiative 42.

Mississippi has historically languished at the bottom of the American education barrel, notable for their unwillingness to spend money on schools. Maybe many of their leaders don't like education, or don't like spending money, or don't like spending money that might somehow help black folks. I'm sure it's all very complicated. But at the end of the day, Mississippi has systematically underfunded their school system.

They took a shot at fixing the problem in 1997 with the Mississippi Adequate Education Program. By passing the MAEP, the legislature committed to funding schools according to a formula, but mostly all MAEP has done is provide a formula for computing just how money public schools are being cheated out of. The funding requirement laid out by MAEP has only been met twice since 1997. Since 2009, Mississippi has underfunded schools by $1.5 billion-with-a-B.

So last year, some folks proposed yet another tweak to the rules. That tweak looked something like this, with strikethroughs representing the deleted language and underlining the added language:

SECTION 201. 
Educational opportunity for public school children: To protect each child's fundamental right to educational opportunity The Legislature the Stateshall, by general law, provide for the establishment, maintenance and support of an adequate and efficient system of free public schools upon such conditions and limitations as the Legislature may prescribe. The chancery courts of this State shall have the power to enforce this section with appropriate injunctive relief.
 
This was Initiative 42, and while it may look like SOP in some states, in Mississippi, it raised quite a CURMUDGUCATION: MS To Teachers: "Shut Up!":



ICYMI: Reading for a quiet Sunday

Some reading for you from this week in education. 

TN Not Ready

Tennessee was supposed to be taking its super-duper online test. Things didn't go so well.

I’m a New York City school administrator. Here’s how segregation lives on.

This piece isn't short, but it's pretty raw and thorough, from someone who taught, founded a school, and learned some hard lessons about segregation in NY.

The Promise of Integrated Schools


Integrated schools are better for everybody, and the research keeps saying so, over and over and over.

Students Aren't Coddled; They're Defeated

I referenced John Warner's article earlier in the week, but it's worth reading the whole thing. You may or may not agree with him, but I bet you'll recognize some of the students he's talking about.

McKinsey and Friends in Minneapolis 

Sarah Lahm has been writing a super series about how McKinsey helped worm reformsterism into Minneapolis. The above link takes you to part one, and you should follow up with parts two, threeand four

Leo Casey: Tracking Attrition Patterns at Eva Moskowitz’s Success Academy Charters | Diane Ravitch's blog

Leo Casey: Tracking Attrition Patterns at Eva Moskowitz’s Success Academy Charters | Diane Ravitch's blog:

Leo Casey: Tracking Attrition Patterns at Eva Moskowitz’s Success Academy Charters

 Leo Casey, director of the Albert Shanker Institute in Washington, D.C.,has pulled together New York state data on the Success Academy charter chain in New York City.

When the New York Times revealed the existence of a “Got to Go” list of students, Moskowitz replied that this was an “anomaly.”

When the New York Times published a video of a teacher chastising and humbling a first-grader for not answering a question correctly, Moskowitz said this was an “anomaly.”

Critics have often said that Moskowitz gets good test results by pushing out students who might pull down scores and by not replacing them with new students (“backfilling”). Casey reviews the data. Tables are in the link.

Casey writes:

The general pattern is unmistakable. In the early grades, student enrollment in Success Academy Charter Schools increases: Whatever losses the schools may suffer through student attrition are more than compensated for by the enrollment of new students. After Grade 2, however, the enrollment numbers begin to decline and do so continuously through the later grades. There are only small variations in this essential pattern among the different Success Academy Charter Schools.

In New York State, high stakes standardized exams begin at the end of Grade 3.

Success Academy Charter Schools has made a conscious decision to not fill seats opened up by student attrition in the upper grades of its schools. And this is a deliberate, network-wide practice, as evidenced by Success Academy’s own website. When one compares the grades in each Success Academy Charter School, as listed on its website, with the grades in each school, as listed on the website of the New York City Charter School Center, one finds that the Charter School Center lists all the grades currently being provided under the school’s charter, while Leo Casey: Tracking Attrition Patterns at Eva Moskowitz’s Success Academy Charters | Diane Ravitch's blog:

Why Have Instructional Technologies Been an Add-on to Classrooms? | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

Why Have Instructional Technologies Been an Add-on to Classrooms? | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice:

Why Have Instructional Technologies Been an Add-on to Classrooms?

My primary care doctor is an early adopter of technology. He is a believer that new hand-held computers can replace the stethoscope, record EKGs, and other functions. These are labor-saving devices that make him more efficient, he told me. They give him more time to spend with the patient (although the HMO I belong to mandates 20-minute appointments with longer visits allowed when special requests are made).

One of the few physicians in the HMO who volunteered to use Google Glass when it was being sold, my doctor asked me if it is OK for our conversation to be recorded as we talked. He does not use the video function of Google Glass when meeting with patients. When I asked him why he is using Google Glass, he said that with a scribe located elsewhere in the building taking down what we talk about and producing a transcript later, while I am with him, he does not have to constantly switch back-and-forth looking at the computer screen and then me. We converse about my health, answer questions, and discuss issues bothering me.

These visits with my doctor got me thinking about how teachers and physicians have encountered new technologies as they practice the art and science of teaching and ministering to both the healthy and ill. From what I encountered in schools over the past three decades when computers have been used by teachers for instruction and doctors for diagnosing and treating illnesses, I began to wonder why doctors so easily integrated new devices–either as early adopters or Why Have Instructional Technologies Been an Add-on to Classrooms? | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice:

RANDI WEINGARTEN: Talking 'bout our generations

Talking 'bout our generations:

Talking 'bout our generations

There comes an uneasy moment in the life of a longtime, anti-establishment agitator when one realizes that she's viewed as ... the establishment. While there's no "Question Authority" T-shirt under my blazer, I still question and push back on(and sometimes get arrested by) the authorities. Still, when younger Americans look at my generation and how we've fallen short on important issues of opportunity, equality and justice, I find myself on an unfamiliar side of a generational divide.

Who can blame younger Americans, millennials in particular? They're the most educated generation to date, but they're drowning in student debt. Many entered the workforce during the Great Recession and its long hangover--and economists say they, as a group, may never fully recover. No wonder they're anxious and angry--this generation may be the first in recent history to do worse than their parents. It's now about freelancing and the sharing economy--not home ownership and job security. No wonder only 8 percent of millennials have much confidence in Congress--type "do-nothing" and "Congress" into a Google search, and you'll get 51 million hits.

Randi Weingarten at rally to reduce student debtWeingarten and fellow activists outside a 2013 Sallie Mae shareholders' meeting, where they called on executives to meet with students about college debt. Photo by Michael C. Campbell

That number may rise after last week, when congressional Republicans and Republican presidential candidates put politics above principle and laced their "condolences" upon Justice Antonin Scalia's death with defiant refusals to consider any candidate President Obama would nominate to fill the vacancy on the Supreme Court. How ironic for so-called strict constructionists to decide that, in an election year, they can flout Article II of the Constitution, which requires the president to nominate and the Senate to confirm Supreme Court justices.

It's a reminder that for progressives' fights against injustice and intentional polarization to be effective, they must transcend generations. Take the civil rights movement, which at the height of its strength was a cross-generational movement. Ministers and rabbinical students, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters--young and old, of many races and backgrounds, pushed toward justice.

We must keep pushing toward justice together. Standing up against unequal and inadequate education is all our fight. Eliminating crushing college debt is all our fight. Confronting discrimination, and making the economy work for everyone, is all our fight.

America's labor unions wage these fights. Millennials understand that--a strong majority of people aged 18 to 29 surveyed by the Pew Research Center holds afavorable view of labor unions. Rightly so--union members earn better wages and benefits than nonunion workers. Unions allow workers to have a say in the Talking 'bout our generations:

Oregon Save Our Schools: Humans of Oregon Save Our Schools

Oregon Save Our Schools: Humans of Oregon Save Our Schools:

Humans of Oregon Save Our Schools

Those of us on the Oregon Save Our Schools Communications committee really enjoy the "Humans of New York" blog.  We thought it would be great to play off the idea of that blog and create a few blog posts about the "Humans of Oregon Save Our Schools" to introduce our followers to some of the many people who also follow us!

It's been said that the most revolutionary thing we can do is introduce people to each other. With that in mind, we would like to introduce you to the Humans of Oregon Save Our Schools!

If you would like your story about why you joined or follow Oregon Save Our Schools, what OSOS means to you, or why you think OSOS is important featured in a series of blog entries, send a short paragraph with your bio and tell us how and why you are involved!

Send your entries to: oregonsosinfo@gmail.com

Thanks, and we hope you enjoy our first entry.

Rex Hagans – My Story

At 78, I have spent just over a half century doing the best I can to help improve learning and life for kids and other folks who have little “voice” to speak for themselves.  It continues to be a rewarding but weird journey.

I hold a B.A with dual majors in Political Science and Education, an M.A. in counseling, and a PhD in School Administration. I am a lifetime Honorary Member of NEA and have received a Career Oregon Save Our Schools: Humans of Oregon Save Our Schools:

Court's move to give two nonprofits access to students' personal data ignites privacy debate - LA Times

Court's move to give two nonprofits access to students' personal data ignites privacy debate - LA Times:
Court's move to give two nonprofits access to students' personal data ignites privacy debate

School districts throughout the state are warning that students' personal data will soon be accessed by two nonprofit organizations as part of a federal court case involving special education services, sparking an outcry from parents and lawmakers over privacy rights.

The data — including Social Security numbers, mental health records and home addresses — has been sought by the California Concerned Parents Assn. and the Morgan Hill Concerned Parents Assn., which is suing the state Department of Education.

The groups allege that the state is not providing a free and appropriate public education to children with disabilities, as is required by law.

School districts began notifying parents this week that the data would be provided to comply with a recent court ruling in the case.

"I was literally out of my mind," said Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez, a Democrat who serves the 80th District in southern San Diego. She learned of the court ruling over the weekend.

"They don't need all of this information."

Parents can object to the data dump by April 1 via the Education Department's website, cde.ca.gov, or the California Concerned Parents Assn.'s website atcaliforniaconcernedparents.org.

Peter Tira, an Education Department spokesman, said it's unclear whether objecting would prevent a student's data from being released.

"It's up to the court to make that determination," he said. "Nothing has been turned over."

Representatives of the California Concerned Parents Assn. could not be reached for comment, but a statement on the group's website said the nonprofit is "very concerned about the privacy of all students in the state."

"We would like parents to understand that we had offered to mediate a settlement with the California Department of Education many times and have offered to receive the information" with fake names, the statement said. "The attorneys for the CDE refused, which forced the judge to make this ruling."

In her ruling, U.S. District Judge Kimberly Mueller in Sacramento imposed several measures designed to protect the information, including that fewer than 10 people be allowed to search student records and that attorneys and consultants will have access only to records through judicial overseers.

Still, parents, administrators and state officials said that's not enough.

Gonzalez joined Assemblywoman Melissa Melendez (R-Lake Elsinore) and AssemblymanMike Gatto (D-Glendale) to introduce legislation designed to ensure that personal information such as Social Security numbers are protected at the school district level.

"It's time to clean up some of this stuff," she said.

The San Diego Unified School District has posted information on its website about the order and how it might affect the district's 128,000 students, spokeswoman Linda Zintz said.

"At this point, we're asking schools to let parents know about the ruling," she said. "We'll look at other strategies to make sure all parents are informed."

Sue Kroncke, director of special education with the Escondido Union High School District, Court's move to give two nonprofits access to students' personal data ignites privacy debate - LA Times:

Students, black leaders question scope of Latin School inquiry - The Boston Globe

Students, black leaders question scope of Latin School inquiry - The Boston Globe:

Students, black leaders question scope of Boston Latin probe

The investigation’s focus on administrative action ignored wider issues with the school’s racial climate, said Kylie Webster-Cazeau (left) and Meggie Noel, Latin School seniors who launched a social media campaign about race issues at the school that led to the investigation.

Boston Latin School students and leaders of the city’s African-American community say a School Department investigation into racial conflicts at the elite exam school was too limited in scope and left many questions unanswered.

Investigators found that school administrators responded appropriately to several racially charged incidents and insensitive social media messages sent by students, according to an executive summary of the report released Thursday.

But that summary said Boston Latin leaders failed to notify parents of students involved in a 2014 incident when a “non-black” male student used a racial slur and references to lynching in an exchange with a female African-American student.

The School Department has not released the full report. Superintendent Tommy Chang said the document could not be made public because it contains confidential information about students and staff.

The investigation’s focus on administrative action ignored wider issues with the school’s racial climate, said Meggie Noel and Kylie Webster-Cazeau, Latin School seniors who launched a social media campaign about race issues at the school that led to the investigation.

“We didn’t feel like the findings represented the whole story,” Noel said.

The investigation’s relatively small number of interviews — 14 — left many issues unexplored, the teenagers said.

“There’s like 2,400 kids and 118 faculty,” Webster-Cazeau said. “There’s a whole lot of people in the building that they could have interviewed. . . . Fourteen isn’t enough to reflect what is really going on.”

The girls expressed dissatisfaction with the investigation’s findings regarding racially insensitive messages posted on Twitter amid a November 2014 student discussion of a Missouri grand jury’s decision not to indict the white police officer who shot and killed an unarmed black Students, black leaders question scope of Latin School inquiry - The Boston Globe:

Why DeRay Mckesson's Baltimore Campaign Looks Like It Comes Right Out of Teach for America's Playbook | Alternet

Why DeRay Mckesson's Baltimore Campaign Looks Like It Comes Right Out of Teach for America's Playbook | Alternet:

Why DeRay Mckesson's Baltimore Campaign Looks Like It Comes Right Out of Teach for America's Playbook

As Mckesson launches his outsider candidacy for mayor of Baltimore, many worry his roots in the education privatization movement put the city’s public schools in peril.

 For those who’ve never paid much attention, Teach For America sounds like a benevolent and benign idea: recruit bright college grads, give them some teacher-training and place them in some of the nation’s neediest schools for a two-year commitment to teach kids.

The reality behind TFA’s sunny exterior is somewhat more sinister. Education policy experts today consider the nonprofit founded by Wendy Kopp in 1990 to be at the vanguard of the school privatization movement. TFA is also a media juggernaut in its own right, known for deploying a sophisticated public relations arsenal to advance an agenda focused on crushing teachers’ unions and privatizing public school systems. TFA's funders, including the Waltons, Bill and Melinda Gates and top Fortune 500 corporations, all have plenty to gain from the commodification of public goods and the destruction of public service unions, and its 11,000 corps members provide a valuable service to that end.

Teach for America’s peculiar brand of social justice was on bold display at its 25th Anniversary Summit the weekend of February 5. The confab drew 15,000 corps members, alumni and supporters to Washington for three days of seminars on lofty issues like, “Allies, Co-Conspirators and Coalition Building: Showing Up for Justice Across Lines of Power.” But one of the biggest draws was the discussion on “The New Civil Rights Agenda and Education,” co-headlined by DeRay Mckesson, the TFA alum and 30-year-old Black Lives Matter activist who received a $10,000 award from TFA last year.  

When Mckesson announced his campaign for mayor of Baltimore this month, his name topped the list of trending topics on Twitter for several hours. Even without outlining a strategy to defeat better-known, more entrenched candidates, Mckesson received nearly $130,000 in online donations, met with President Barack Obama (who said Mckesson and associates “were better Why DeRay Mckesson's Baltimore Campaign Looks Like It Comes Right Out of Teach for America's Playbook | Alternet:

Charter schools effectively segregate | Payson Roundup - Payson, AZ

Charter schools effectively segregate | Payson Roundup - Payson, AZ:

Charter Schools Effectively Segregate

Statistics show sorting by race in school enrollment

Demonstrators at a school choice rally held at the Arizona Capitol displayed various signs supporting both charter and district public schools in Arizona on Friday, Jan. 29, 2016.

Two decades after Arizona helped pioneer the charter school movement, enrollment data show the schools don’t match the school age demographics of the state and, in many cases, their neighborhoods. White — and especially Asian — students attend charter schools at a higher rate than Hispanics, who now make up the the greatest portion of Arizona’s school age population.

#Hispanic students account for 44 percent of all students in Arizona, but they make up just 36 percent of charter school students. White students, who make up 40 percent of the school age population, account for 48 percent of all charter students.

#“The mission of public education is to give every child in our state the equal opportunity to excel to the maximum of their capabilities,” said Tim Ogle, executive director of the Arizona School Boards Association. “When you have disparities of opportunity, you are systemically inhibiting some groups over other groups through public policy, and that’s just inherently wrong.”

#The Arizona Department of Education hasn’t conducted a formal analysis of the school enrollment demographics, but the agency’s spokesman, Charles Tack, said they’re anecdotally aware of the disparity, and that the data “confirms that there is work to be done.”

#Researchers, education policy experts and school administrators say the disparity could be explained by a number of factors. The lack of transportation at some charter schools can provide a barrier, or an “information gap” about the charter school system may affect how minorities choose to participate in it. Parents might simply choose schools where the ethnic profile more closely matches their family.

#Arizona lawmakers established charter schools in the 1990s so that parents could send their children to schools specializing in rigor, the arts or Montessori teaching methods, to provide an education more tailored than what was traditionally available in public schools.

#Today, roughly 17 percent of all students in Arizona’s public schools attend a charter — about triple the national average of 5 percent. Only the District of Columbia has a greater portion of charter school students.

#Charter schools here receive state funding based on enrollment, and operate independent of school Charter schools effectively segregate | Payson Roundup - Payson, AZ: