DeVos Flunks Her Hearing … Choice Increases Segregation … Pivotal Year For Schools … Tribal Schools In Crisis … School Choice Divide?

1/19/2017 – Does Betsy DeVos Care About Racial Equity? We Still Don’t Know.:

THIS WEEK: DeVos Flunks Her Hearing … Choice Increases Segregation … Pivotal Year For Schools … Tribal Schools In Crisis … School Choice Divide?

TOP STORY

Does Betsy DeVos Care About Racial Equity? We Still Don’t Know.

By Jeff Bryant

“What are DeVos’ views on racial equity in education? … Race has historically played a much larger role in federal education policy than disputes over standardized testing … and what else tends to occupy education debates these days. It’s also an issue where DeVos has a very controversial track record … Much of what DeVos has worked for in her state of Michigan … is taking the state’s schools back to a segregationist past.”
Read more …

NEWS AND VIEWS

Betsy DeVos Just Flunked Her Senate Test

The Nation

“There were plenty of moments in Tuesday’s hearing that betrayed DeVos’s lack of preparation for the country’s top education post, but none more than her stumble over protections for disabled students … DeVos appeared unfamiliar with (or uncommitted to) the Individuals with Disabilities in Education Act, a major civil-rights law that requires publicly funded schools to accommodate disability … DeVos either could not or chose not to answer most serious policy questions, from inquiries about reporting standards for sexual assault on campus to regulations on for-profit colleges … When DeVos did speak specifically, it was to affirm her market-based vision for the education system. She included private schools in her description of what constitutes ‘today’s public education,’ and would not agree that private and charter schools receiving taxpayer money should face the same accountability standards as traditional public schools … Committee members could not fully evaluate any potential conflicts of interest, as an ethics review has not yet been completed for DeVos. And they had little time to dig into the religious motivations for her support of voucher systems.”
Read more …

Does Greater School Choice Lead To Less Segregation?

Christian Science Monitor

“Charter schools and vouchers … perpetuate the racial segregation of US schools … While minority parents are being given more choices … Choices for families in low-income, minority-dominated school districts are often between low-performing public schools and alternatives such as charters or voucher-dependent private schools with similar student bodies … Voucher programs rarely catapult low-income students into elite private schools with upper-income whites and Asians … More commonly they funnel students into less selective religious schools and spur the creation of new minority-dominated private schools.”
Read more …

K-12 Funding, ESSA Hot Topics As State Legislatures Convene

Education Week

“2017 could be a pivotal year for school funding formulas, accountability, teacher evaluations, and testing … Conservative lawmakers in many states have long been itching to make dramatic changes to how much money they provide to school districts and how districts spend that money … The Every Student Succeeds Act … goes into full effect … and fierce political tensions in a number of states … almost half the states are expected to have less money in their budgets this year due to shortfalls in sales tax revenue.”
Read more …

The Longstanding Crisis Facing Tribal Schools

The Atlantic

“Federal law requires that the Bureau of Indian Education provide education at least as good as that offered to non-Native students, but it’s well-established that that’s rarely the case. Graduation rates on reservations are among the lowest of all student subgroups … 8 in 10 Native students are not proficient in reading … and children at BIE schools perform significantly worse than their Native peers at regular public schools … Native Americans across the country are disciplined at disproportionate rates. Unsurprisingly, they’re also incarcerated at a rate 38% higher than the national average.”
Read more …

Will Betsy DeVos Divide The School Choice Movement?

Education Week

University professor Jeffrey Henig writes, “While voucher and charter school proponents have historically been allies linked by providing greater choice, the political alliance between them might be fraying … Voucher proponents have lost national debates about school choice in the past … Because of this resistance, voucher proponents jumped on the charter school bandwagon … to make inroads for market-based ideas in education … Charter proponents… welcomed the political and philanthropic support of the pro-voucher forces … but they may turn on one another if Trump and DeVos push to expand the voucher system.”
Read more …

A Failing Charter Gets a Pass

A Failing Charter Gets a Pass:

A Failing Charter Gets a Pass

BREAKING NEWS:

NPE Action endorses Carl Petersen for LAUSD School Board

"Carl Petersen is a...strong supporter of public schools"

-Dr. Diane Ravitch

Former Asst. Secretary of Education

We cannot truly have the impact charters were intended to have – to reinvent public education – if we do not close those charters that have demonstrated an inability to meet the challenge of excellence and chronically underperform.”

– California Charter School Association (CCSA)

According to the statistics provided by the CCSA, View Park Middle School (VPMS) appears to be accelerating towards failure. In 2015, the charter’s Similar Students Rank was a mediocre four out of ten. Last year, it dropped to a one out of ten. Included in a “Findings of Fact” dated January 10, 2017, the LAUSD Charter School Division (CSD) noted that, on the 2014-15 SBAC assessment, only 5% of VPMS’ students met or exceeded the performance standards in math. In 2015-2016, this dropped to 3%. In both years, 0% of students with disabilities met or exceeded these standards. These statistics are part of the reason that the CSD found that VPMS “has presented an unsound educational program” and recommended that the LAUSD Board deny its renewal petition. With a 4-3-0 vote, the Board ignored this recommendation and the charter will continue to operate.

With their votes, Mónica García, Ref Rodriguez, George McKenna and Richard Vladovic showed that they cared so little about the students of VPMS that they will allow them to continue to receive an inferior education. They also caused the LAUSD to become complicit in an organization that has demonstratively ignored the needs of our most vulnerable students. Like large charters in the valley, VPMS is another organization where cherry-picking is an A Failing Charter Gets a Pass:

Betsy DeVos Is an Unusual Pick for Education Secretary - The Atlantic

Betsy DeVos Is an Unusual Pick for Education Secretary - The Atlantic:

What Makes Betsy DeVos Such an Unusual Nominee for Education Secretary
For one thing, she’s never attended or taught at a public school.

Betsy DeVos is likely to be confirmed as the next secretary of education. There’s nothing unusual about the Senate supporting a president-elect’s choice to lead the U.S. Department of Education. But DeVos is a more controversial choice than nominees in recent memory.

At his hearing, the outgoing education secretary, John King, faced friendly questioning from the senators on the education committee in charge of moving nominations forward, including from the Republican chairman, Lamar Alexander. King’s predecessor, Arne Duncan, was confirmed in the Senate by a voice vote. It’s not just Democrats who have had easy confirmations, either. Both of George W. Bush’s education secretaries—Rod Paige and Margaret Spellings—were also confirmed by voice vote and received praise during their hearings from Republicans and Democrats alike.

There are a couple of reasons DeVos hasn’t achieved the same level of bipartisan support, chief among them her family’s vast wealth and concerns around how she will distance herself from potential conflicts of interest. DeVos is a billionaire who grew up in a wealthy family and married into another wealthy family. (The DeVos family co-founded Amway.) Some previous education secretaries, including Alexander, who served in the role under President George H.W. Bush, are worth several million dollars, but DeVos’s wealth is on another level.

She has ties to several education companies, including Social Finance, which started out as a student-loan refinancing company, as well as companies that sell textbooks and promote online education. The companies she’s invested in will be affected by the choices she makes as the head of the department, including decisions about which companies the government contracts with to handle student loans, and how it oversees different sectors, including online or virtual Betsy DeVos Is an Unusual Pick for Education Secretary - The Atlantic:

CURMUDGUCATION: The $1 Salary + Trevor Noah Covers DeVos

CURMUDGUCATION: The $1 Salary:

The $1 Salary

So apparently billionaire heiress and presumptive Head of the Department of Things She Knows Nothing About, Betsy DeVos intends to take a salary of a mere $1 when she ascends her education throne. I think that's a lousy idea.

I know it's meant to make her seem magnanimous and willing to take on the office just out of the sweet public servicey goodness of her heart. I suppose there may also be some rich person tax dodge here-- the DeVos family can now claim all school children in the US as their dependents now, or some such accounting trick. Maybe, having never really pulled down a paycheck, DeVos is unsure what to do with it. But mostly I think we're supposed to be impressed that she's not taking our tax dollars to do the job.

Well, I'm not.

First of all, I don't care for the model that says federal leadership jobs are best handed over to the wealthy. It's a kind of backwards method of barring non-wealthy people from powerful leadership positions. It's a model for a benevolent plutocracy. You folks don't need democratically elected representatives-- we rich folks will take care of you and provide what we think is best for you. Now shut up and go back to your homes to await further instructions.

Second, I think it's a fundamental principle that you pay people to do work. It is part of a system of accountability. If you accept a salary, you are accountable to the people who pay you that salary.

The corollary is clear-- if you accept no salary, you are accountable to nobody.

It's true that there are some exceptions. Lawrence Pelletier, the president of my college when I CURMUDGUCATION: The $1 Salary:

Trevor Noah Covers DeVos

I'm not always a Trevor Noah fan, and he repeats the egregious characterization of Betsy DeVos as a "businesswoman"-- really? What business, exactly, has she ever run? She's an heiress and the wife of an heir. But otherwise, this is a pretty good mainstream take on DeVos's terrible hearing performance.

MTV's set-up is problematic for embedding, but follow this link for the clip. Trevor Noah Covers DeVos

Betsy DeVos. Stupid, dangerous and a liar. | Fred Klonsky

Betsy DeVos. Stupid, dangerous and a liar. | Fred Klonsky:

Betsy DeVos. Stupid, dangerous and a liar.

Bernie was only partly right when he told Betsy DeVos that she wouldn’t be sitting before him in hearings considering her as Secretary of Education if she hadn’t donated $200 million to the Republican Party.

She is a right-wing self-proclaimed enemy of public education. She has spent her family’s money to harass public school union activists like me.

But if it wasn’t her, Trump would have found somebody else just as bad.

Eva Moskowitz was on the short list.

Her testimony should have been an embarrassment to any normal administration. For Trump and the GOP, nothing qualifies as an embarrassment.

Not even the idea of Grizzly bears in the classroom.

She is a stupid entitled woman who knows nothing about education, Betsy DeVos. Stupid, dangerous and a liar. | Fred Klonsky:

Broad's Billionaire Buzz Saw puts in $1 million to defeat school board president Zimmer - LA Times

Former Mayor Riordan puts in $1 million to defeat school board president Zimmer - LA Times:

Former Mayor Riordan puts in $1 million to defeat school board president Zimmer

Former Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan gave $1 million Wednesday to an independent campaign to defeat school board president Steve Zimmer.

The donation swamps other contributions so far in what have become the most expensive school board races in the country. 

Earlier this month, United Teachers Los Angeles, the local teachers union, put $150,000 into an independent campaign on behalf of Zimmer. In the March city elections, the two-term incumbent faces three challengers: attorney and former teacher Nick Melvoin; Gregory Martayan, who runs a communications and public relations firm; and Allison Holdorff, a parent who served on the board of Palisades Charter High School.

Among the candidates, Melvoin had raised the most money through Dec. 31, the date of the most recent reporting period. The total for his campaign was $270,031. Zimmer had raised $85,393; Holdorff, $74,791; and Gregory Martayan, $62,225.

Riordan has endorsed Melvoin and also contributed directly to his campaign. But the limit for direct contributions is $1,100 while there are no donation limits for campaigns not under the control of a candidate.  

In his previous campaign, four years ago, Zimmer and his supporters framed billionaires’ large donations to defeat him as an arguing point in favor of his reelection. The teachers union, with some assistance from other unions, spent enough on his behalf to get that message out.

The committee to defeat Zimmer is called “LA Students for Change, Opposing Steve Zimmer for School Board 2017.” The group is newly formed, and there’s some ambiguity over its purpose in state records, where it is listed as: “Zimmer for School Board 2017; LA Students for Change, Opposing Steve.” It has not yet filed spending or contribution reports with the state.

Riordan has frequently been at odds politically with the teachers union, dating back to his time as mayor, although he did enjoy a close friendship with the late Helen Bernstein, the former UTLA president who was serving as his education adviser when she died in 1997.

Riordan and philanthropist Eli Broad, who consistently oppose union-backed candidates, frequently donate big money to defeat them.

During the last school board elections two years ago, the major conduit for money to Former Mayor Riordan puts in $1 million to defeat school board president Zimmer - LA Times:

Local unions plan rallies against Trump, L.A. schools announce Unity Day 2017 - LA Times

Local unions plan rallies against Trump, L.A. schools announce Unity Day 2017 - LA Times:

Local unions plan rallies against Trump, L.A. schools announce Unity Day 2017

Student protests in Los Angeles

In November, students from several high schools rallied at L.A. City Hall after walking out of classes to protest the election of Donald Trump. More protests are planned for this week (Reed Saxon / AP)

Teachers unions plan protests against President-elect Donald Trump across the Southland on Thursday, while Los Angeles school officials, concerned about student walkouts, have declared that Friday will be Unity Day 2017.

Trump will be inaugurated Friday in Washington, D.C. as the nation’s 45th president.

United Teachers Los Angeles and a parent organization, the National Education Assn., expect faculty protests at 300 to 350 campuses, mostly before school. Primary locations include Grand View Boulevard Elementary in Mar Vista and Arleta High School.

The union is not urging students or faculty to walk out of class.

“We’re not condoning leaving school,” said Anna Bakalis, director of communications. “We just want to encourage the action for our teachers to participate in tomorrow.”

Meanwhile, L.A. Unified is preaching unity, although not necessarily solidarity, behind the new president.

“Unity Day is an opportunity for students, for schools, to focus their instructional time or day on topics that are pertinent to their schools and community, and to learn about how government works, the electoral process,” said Judy Chiasson, a coordinator with the district’s Office of Human Relations, Diversity and Equity. “And learning how they’ll be able to watch the inauguration if they want to.”

The district has put together a web page with lesson plans from such organizations as the Southern Poverty Law Center and the Anti-Defamation League. Altogether, they strike a neutral tone, while recognizing that emotions and concerns among students might be high — and that not all student encounters will be Local unions plan rallies against Trump, L.A. schools announce Unity Day 2017 - LA Times:

Nominee Betsy DeVos’s Knowledge of Education Basics Is Open to Criticism - The New York Times

Nominee Betsy DeVos’s Knowledge of Education Basics Is Open to Criticism - The New York Times:

Nominee Betsy DeVos’s Knowledge of Education Basics Is Open to Criticism

WASHINGTON — Until Tuesday, the fight over Betsy DeVos’s nomination to be secretary of education revolved mostly around her support of contentious school choice programs.

But her confirmation hearing that night opened her up to new criticism: that her long battle for school choice, controversial as it has been, is the sum total of her experience and understanding of education policy. In questioning by senators, she seemed either unaware or unsupportive of the longstanding policies and functions of the department she is in line to lead, from special education rules to the policing of for-profit universities.

Ms. DeVos admitted that she might have been “confused” when she appeared not to know that the broad statute that has governed special education for more than four decades is federal law.

A billionaire investor, education philanthropist and Michigan Republican activist, Ms. DeVos acknowledged that she has no personal experience with student loans — the federal government is the largest provider — and said she would have to “review” the department’s policies that try to prevent fraud by for-profit colleges.

She appeared blank on basic education terms. Asked how school performance should be assessed, she did not know the difference between growth, which measures how much students have learned over a given period, and proficiency, which measures how many students reach a targeted score.

Ms. DeVos even became something of an internet punch line when she suggested that some school officials should be allowed to carry guns on the premises to defend against grizzly bears.

But if she was sometimes rattled on the specifics, Ms. DeVos was unshakable in her belief that education authority should devolve away from the federal government and toward state and local authorities. Whether the issue was allowing guns in schools, how to investigate sexual assault on college campuses, or how to measure learning, her answer was always that states and what she called “locales” knew best.

Those answers reflected the same instinct that has driven her advocacy of school choice, primarily vouchers, which take money from public schools to help families pay tuition at private schools, and charter schools, which are publicly funded but typically independent of school district or union rules. As she said bluntly in a 2015 education speech, “Government really sucks.”

Ms. DeVos’s supporters defended her performance at the hearing, saying Nominee Betsy DeVos’s Knowledge of Education Basics Is Open to Criticism - The New York Times:

CURMUDGUCATION: School Accountability Diet

CURMUDGUCATION: School Accountability Diet:
School Accountability Diet

One of the best things the feds ever created was the nutritional information panel for food.

When I go shopping, I can quickly and easily access information about the food I buy. There's how much fat in these power bars??!! Look-- twinkies have far fewer calories than I imagined!

The panels are a model of transparency, because the information is there for me to do with as I will. Years ago I didn't care at all about dietary fiber; nowadays, it's something I can stand to pay attention to. Protein was never a big deal, but since my wife is currently constructing a pair of twins, we pay attention to how much protein there is in the food we bring home. And we can shift our attention as new information becomes available-- different types of fat or cholesterol used to be non-issues, but now informed consumers know there are distinctions that matter.

Think of how much better this system works than one in which food was rated or ranked. If the feds slapped on labels that said "These bagels get a B+" or "These frozen waffles are the 215th-ranked food in this grocery store." I would have virtually no information on which to base my judgment, with the whole complex issue of the many characteristics of food and how it balances against what I need and want in my diet-- that would all be reduced to a piece of data so narrow and limited and opaque as to be meaningless, useless for me in making a decision.

This is how I know that many reformsters who advocate for school grades and rankings "so that parents can make an informed choice" are lying-- they are neither supporting parents nor choice.

To support a grade or ranking, rather than a simple transparent data system like the nutritional information labels, you would have to believe one of the following

1) Parents aren't capable of understanding and processing the information, so we'll have to process it CURMUDGUCATION: School Accountability Diet:

Karma: Student PII Data Mining Concerns Coming Home to Roost for Dept of Ed Bureaucrats – Missouri Education Watchdog

Karma: Student PII Data Mining Concerns Coming Home to Roost for Dept of Ed Bureaucrats – Missouri Education Watchdog:

Karma: Student PII Data Mining Concerns Coming Home to Roost for Dept of Ed Bureaucrats

The Federal bureaucrats in the US Department of Education are worried about the data mining via the structure (student longitudinal data systems) they supported which captures student/family Personally Identifiable Information (PII).  The bureaucrats endorsed the use of PII which was mandated via The State Stabilization Fund and ESSA.  Now that a new administration will be setting policy direction, data mining and use of that data by the Federal Government should be questioned and withheld by educational institutions according to some in the USDOEd and other bureaucrats:

The argument against The Common Core State Standards Initiative over the years has been consistent: it’s an initiative that coerced states (governors and Boards of Education) into accepting Federal dollars and agreeing to expand state longitudinal data systems and it’s never been ‘it’s just standards’ and ‘show me a standard you Karma: Student PII Data Mining Concerns Coming Home to Roost for Dept of Ed Bureaucrats – Missouri Education Watchdog:

Deplorable Showing by DeVos at Contentious Senate HELP Committee Hearing | janresseger

Deplorable Showing by DeVos at Contentious Senate HELP Committee Hearing | janresseger:

Deplorable Showing by DeVos at Contentious Senate HELP Committee Hearing

If I were a Senator on the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, I’d vote against recommending the nomination of Betsy DeVos as Secretary of Education for a vote by the full Senate. And if I were one of my own two Senators, I’d vote no when the vote came to the Senate floor.  I hope they listened to Ms. DeVos at her hearing on Tuesday evening.  And I hope they were as distressed as I was by her evident lack of knowledge and experience and her ideological bent.

An excellent public servant is supposed to make government work for people. That is what good school principals strive to do all day every day. To make a huge federal department work, you need to respect its history and its mission. If you watched outgoing Secretary of State, John Kerry in his recent PBS NewsHour interview with Judy Woodruff, for example, you saw someone who understands all the international players, what they bring to the table, what can be negotiated and what is non-negotiable, and the role of compromise. In addition to having mastered the nuances of policy, an administrator of a huge federal department needs to grasp the department’s central functions, intimately know the laws the department is responsible for carrying out and enforcing, and understand the history that created the need for those laws and for the existence of the department to administer them.

In Tuesday night’s hearing, DeVos did not demonstrate any realization that the most central mission of the U.S. Department of Education is to do everything possible to protect the rights of groups of children who have been historically marginalized. The Department was created following the Civil Rights Movement and the Great Society. It has an Office of Civil Rights because there are still myriad complaints by parents who believe their children have been Deplorable Showing by DeVos at Contentious Senate HELP Committee Hearing | janresseger:

Judging Reform “Success” and “Failure”: The Gary, Indiana Case | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

Judging Reform “Success” and “Failure”: The Gary, Indiana Case | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice:

Judging Reform “Success” and “Failure”: The Gary, Indiana Case

In previous posts about the label “failure” attached to school reform, I laid out an argument that making such a judgment is tricky. Who makes the judgment and what clock they listen to matters in judging “failure” or “success.” In this post I look at a K-8 school reform from a century ago and ask you whether it was a “failure.”

In 1906 in a town built by U.S. Steel on the shores of Lake Michigan, a new superintendent introduced an educational innovation that hundreds of school districts adopted in the next decade. Visitors traveled thousands of miles to meet Superintendent William Wirt, sit in classrooms of cheerfully decorated schools, and marvel at how children of immigrants learned during the day while their non-English speaking parents attended classes at night. Even though U.S. Steel owned the property and employees largely ran the town, the educational experiment converged with company interests in providing what observers called a productive education for both white-collar and blue-collar employees.

Progressives of the day, imbued with the revolutionary ideas of John Dewey and Frederick Taylor’s scientific management, wrote articles and books praising the combination of work and play, of school and community, of efficiency and civic-mindedness, that put the name of Gary, Indiana on the early twentieth century map of school reform.

The Platoon School (or Gary Plan) was introduced in a remodeled elementary school holding children from kindergarten through the twelfth grade. Administrators divided the student body into two groups or “platoons.” One platoon would be in the classrooms or auditorium while the other would be in theJudging Reform “Success” and “Failure”: The Gary, Indiana Case | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice: 

 

Hoosier School Heist TV is Doug Martin's channel featuring videos of his book tour across Indiana speaking on the corporate takeover of public education. Order Hoosier School Heist at http://hoosierschoolheist.com/.

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Pearson Stock Falls 30 Percent; Worst Day Since 1986 | deutsch29

Pearson Stock Falls 30 Percent; Worst Day Since 1986 | deutsch29:

Pearson Stock Falls 30 Percent; Worst Day Since 1986

Three years ago, in 2014, education and publishing mammoth Pearson expected to make a killing on the Common Core State Standards (CCSS).

I wrote about Pearson’s CCSS profit expectations in this post based upon Pearson’s February 2014 earnings call.

I noted that when one market analyst pressed for an alternative plan of action in case CCSS did not work, Pearson CEO John Fallon had nothing to offer.

Fallon seemed to believe that Pearson’s profits from CCSS were a sure thing.

Cut to the Financial Times on Wednesday, January 18, 2017, which stated that Pearson’s shares dropped “as much as 30 percent” on that day– hitting their lowest since 1986.

The market price per share at the close of 01-18-17 was $7.13.

The next lowest price for Pearson stock was $7.72 per share in February 2003– 14 years ago.

Fallon described the Pearson drop (plunge?) in stock as “deterioration.”

But wait– there’s more:

Fallon apparently told investors that he expected US profits “to fall by a further 6 to 7 percent” in 2017.

There is no mention of CCSS in the January 18, 2017, Financial Times article; instead, the focus is on unexpected drops in student enrollment in college coupled with “a surge in the textbook rental market.” The January 18, 2017, Telegraph notes that Pearson’s unanticipated profit loss to textbook rentals is to textbook rentals to Amazon.

One year ago, in January 2016, Pearson announced it would be cutting 4,000 jobs.

The Financial Times reports that Fallon says that he is not yet ready to resign as Pearson’s CEO. I wonder how long Pearson’s board will allow him to call the shots on his own employment.

Not long, perhaps: According to the January 18, 2017, Telegraph, stockholders are pressuring the board to cut Fallon loose.

Fallon has been CEO since 2014– the same year of the earnings call in which he Pearson Stock Falls 30 Percent; Worst Day Since 1986 | deutsch29:

DeVos, Grizzly Bears and Public Policy: Can Parents and Teachers Create a “#PublicSchoolProud” Movement? | Ed In The Apple

DeVos, Grizzly Bears and Public Policy: Can Parents and Teachers Create a “#PublicSchoolProud” Movement? | Ed In The Apple:

DeVos, Grizzly Bears and Public Policy: Can Parents and Teachers Create a “#PublicSchoolProud” Movement?

Secretary of Education nominee Betsy DeVos tussled with the committee Democrats for three hours last night, and, the answers to the committee questions ranged from vague, to inaccurate to bizarre.

The fivethirtyeight blog gives a good summary of the major issues at the hearing and Aaron Pallas, a little “tongue in cheek,” recounts what he heard at the hearing.

DeVos stumbled through the three plus hours, glowing as the Republican members of the committee reaped praise and squirmed uncomfortably as the Democrats asked pointed questions. Her handlers trained her, although her performance left a lot to be desired. She refused to commit to upholding the law, waffled on Title IX and the role of the office of civil rights, was vague about supporting transparency for all schools, public and charter, sort of favored accountability in all schools. She supported guns in schools (I believe she is anti-grizzly bear in schools); she has no idea on the debate over proficiency versus growth and steadfastly refused to answer “yes” or “no.” to question after question. She was more than willing to “meet with and discuss policy issues” in her role as secretary, not willing to commit to anything specific. The handlers undoubtedly advised her to commit to nothing, be as vague as possible, charming, and try to eat up as much of the five minutes allotted to each questioner as possible.

Kudos to the Democrats on the committee, they were persistent, fair and asked the right questions.

Barring some catastrophic event, the Republican President’s Republican Senate will confirm all of the nominees. The rules of the Senate require a majority vote; DeVos, Grizzly Bears and Public Policy: Can Parents and Teachers Create a “#PublicSchoolProud” Movement? | Ed In The Apple:

Tell Senators: Say "no" to DeVos and "yes" to students - Network For Public Education

Tell Senators: Say "no" to DeVos and "yes" to students - Network For Public Education:

Tell Senators: Say "no" to DeVos and "yes" to students 

I am sure that you were as appalled as I was by yesterday’s HELP committee hearing on the appointment of Betsy DeVos.

– DeVos had no understanding of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA).

–She would not promise to defend the rights of students with disabilities in all schools that receive federal funds.

–She refused to commit to keeping our schools free of guns, using “grizzly bear attacks” as the excuse.

–She refused to agree that voucher private schools, online schools and charter schools should have the same accountability to students as public schools.

–She had no idea of the differences between proficiency scores and growth scores.

–She refused to discuss the failings of the charter schools of Detroit.

She is woefully unprepared, and apparently made no attempt to familiarize herself with the obligations of a US Secretary of Education.

We are asking you to write your senators and ask them to commit to voting against her appointment. They should make that commitment known to members of the HELP committee today.

We make it simple. Click here​ and you will find a letter that you can send to your senators. Post the link to this message on your Facebook Page.

http://wp.me/p3bR9v-2ek

Thanks for all you do.

Carol Burris Executive Director

Tell Senators: Say "no" to DeVos and "yes" to students - Network For Public Education:

Does Betsy DeVos Care About Racial Equity? We Still Don’t Know.

Does Betsy DeVos Care About Racial Equity? We Still Don’t Know.:
Does Betsy DeVos Care About Racial Equity? We Still Don’t Know.

So Betsy DeVos doesn’t know much about education policy. Didn’t we already know that?

Nevertheless, the hot takes coming after her rocky confirmation hearing for the US Secretary of Education nominee read as if people are genuinely surprised that someone who has never been a teacher, never run a school, never served as a public official overseeing education, and never been engaged in scholarly work on education is not terribly well versed in education policy.

When peppered with questions about complicated policy issues like assessment methodology and federal enforcement of the Individuals with Disabilities in Education Act, “DeVos’s inexperience in the realm of public education appeared at times to be a liability,” observes Emma Brown for the Washington Post.

Libby Nelson at Vox finds DeVos’ reaction to “questions about the basics of federal education policy suggested she knows little about what the department she hopes to lead actually does.”

Valerie Strauss, the education blogger for the Post, writes, “DeVos either displayed a lack of knowledge about education fundamentals or refused to answer questions that Democratic members of the Senate Education Committee believe are critical to her fitness for the job”

The senators’ questions were indeed about important matters and should have been asked, and certainly the queries from the Democratic side of the committee were more worthy than the softball questions and vapid compliments from the Republican side. (Memo to Republican senators: Saying someone really, really “cares about kids” doesn’t qualify her for office.)

But there were bigger, more philosophical education issues DeVos could have likely been more able to expound on had she ever been asked. One of Does Betsy DeVos Care About Racial Equity? We Still Don’t Know.: