News: Big REIT (Real Estate Investment Trust) Exits the Charter Real Estate Sector | Diane Ravitch's blog

News: Big REIT (Real Estate Investment Trust) Exits the Charter Real Estate Sector | Diane Ravitch's blog

News: Big REIT (Real Estate Investment Trust) Exits the Charter Real Estate Sector

Carol Burris writes about the latest news from the charter industry. This is the same company that Valerie Strauss wrote about, called “Entertainment Properties Trust.” It’s CEO, Dennis Brain, told an interviewer that charter schools were a sound investment, had long waiting lists, and were guaranteed government revenues.

But that rosy picture has dimmed. The long waiting lists are fictional. Charters are likely to close down suddenly. In some states, charter enrollment is declining. The REIT lost confidence in the future of charter schools and liquidated its charter school holdings.

Burris writes:

EPR Properties (NYSE:EPR) is a  triple net lease real estate investment trust (REIT). What that means is that it buys properties and then rents them with the tenant picking up costs like insurance, improvements, and all utilities. Therefore, every dollar EPR makes off the lease is profit. 

EPR used to love the charter sector. It would buy buildings and then rent them to charter schools. In 2017 it had 66 charter schools in its portfolio. By 2018, that number dropped to 60. 

EPR had a special relationship with Imagine Charter Schools. School House Finance, Imagine’s related organization, would buy the property. It would sell it to EPR. EPR would lease it back to School House, which would then lease it to one of Imagine’s charter schools at very high rates. 

EPR also had a special relationship with the for-profit charter management firm CSMI. It would buy their charter school’s buildings and then lease them to the CONTINUE READING: News: Big REIT (Real Estate Investment Trust) Exits the Charter Real Estate Sector | Diane Ravitch's blog

NYC Billionaire Pres Candidate Michael Bloomberg Has Been Pumping $$ into La. Elections for Years. | deutsch29

NYC Billionaire Pres Candidate Michael Bloomberg Has Been Pumping $$ into La. Elections for Years. | deutsch29

NYC Billionaire Pres Candidate Michael Bloomberg Has Been Pumping $$ into La. Elections for Years.

Billionaire and former New York City mayor, Michael Bloomberg has entered the 2020 presidential race in hopes to secure the Democratic nomination.

Bloomberg, whose estimated worth is $54B and who says he will not accept campaign contributions, is a man who is used to buying what he wants, even in elections in other states.

In NYC, where schools are under mayoral control, Bloomberg promoted school choice, and he now purchases school choice around the country—including in Louisiana where Bloomberg has taken a particular interest in school board elections.

An additional layer to Bloomberg’s money-toss into Louisiana school board elections includes Bloomberg’s connection to Louisiana state superintendent, John White.

During Bloomberg’s time as NYC mayor, White was a deputy chancellor of education immediately prior to his arrival in Louisiana, and immediately prior to his rapid ascent from Recovery School District (RSD) superintendent to Louisiana state superintendent.

That rapid ascent required a favorable 2011 state ed (BESE) board– which Bloomberg helped to purchase.

Retaining White also required a favorable 2015 BESE– which Bloomberg also helped purchase.

Below is a comprehensive listing of Bloomberg’s donations to influence Louisiana elections to date, totaling over $1.6M:

• Alliance for Better Classrooms (ABC) PAC: $100K (10/18/2011)
• Russell Armstrong: $5,000 (10/24/2011) (BESE)
• Holly Boffy: $5,000 (10/19/2011) (BESE)
• Melinda Bourgeouis: $2,500 (10/28/2014) (Jefferson Parish School Board) CONTINUE READING: NYC Billionaire Pres Candidate Michael Bloomberg Has Been Pumping $$ into La. Elections for Years. | deutsch29

To Prevent Bullying of Students with Autism, Training is Key - NEA Today

To Prevent Bullying of Students with Autism, Training is Key - NEA Today

To Prevent Bullying of Students with Autism, Training is Key 

Bullying is no longer accepted as a “kids will be kids” rite of passage and educators are dedicated to stopping it in all its forms, especially when the target is a student with a disability like autism. But the battle against bullying continues.

A study by the Interactive Autism Network found that 63 percent of 1,167 children with autism aged 6-15 had been bullied at some point in their lives. “Sadly,” the report states, “one group that was frequently bullied was children with ASD who wanted to interact with other children but had a hard time making friends. The advocacy group Autism Speaks has many resources on how we can help address bullying of students with autism and make their schools lives healthier, happier and more productive.

Thomas Frazier, Autism Speaks Chief Science Officer, is a clinical psychologist and autism researcher whose son was diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder when he was two years old. NEA Today spoke with Frazier about this troubling trend and what we can do about it.

What characteristics do students with disabilities share that make them targets for bullying?

Thomas Frazier: Many children with disability have an innocent or passive demeanor that makes them non-threatening to a bully. The last thing a bully wants is to have someone call them on their bullying. So they tend to choose people who are easier targets and who are less likely to assert or defend themselves. Also, some people with disability have trouble reading intentions, and because the person with disability may only interpret the situation as funny (in general) and not specifically as making fun of them, the bully may find it easier to make fun of them.

Do kids target other students with autism more than they would a student who is perhaps in a wheelchair or has other differing abilities?

TF: Yes. In part, because there is a social norm against making fun of or targeting CONTINUE READING: To Prevent Bullying of Students with Autism, Training is Key - NEA Today

Racial Slurs in Academic Spaces: A Reader | radical eyes for equity

Racial Slurs in Academic Spaces: A Reader | radical eyes for equity

Racial Slurs in Academic Spaces: A Reader

Four of us—three university professors and a high school English teacher—were talking enthusiastically right through the last call in an ale house across from the Baltimore Convention Center hosting the 2019 National Council of Teachers of English annual conference.

Fulfilling stereotypes of those who would attend such a convention, we were hotly debating the place of racial slurs in academic spaces. One of the university professors argued for the distinction between using a racial slur (the n-word) and voicing a racial slur included in an instructional text.

He believes voicing that word in context is not only acceptable, but necessary.

The other three of us, notably all teaching in the South, were leaning strongly toward never voicing the n-word—especially as a usage but even when reading a text aloud.

While some white people still want to argue that if Black people can say the n-word, then white people should be allowed as well. I think in schools and colleges, this flawed reasoning is fairly universally rejected, and using the n-word is not allowed by white people and possibly banned entirely across campuses (zero-tolerance policies).

However, what has increasingly become an issue is challenges to voicing of the n-word as well as referencing to the use of the n-word.

Below is a reader that highlights the current controversy along with the unintended problems with zero-tolerance polices connected to the n-word: CONTINUE READING: Racial Slurs in Academic Spaces: A Reader | radical eyes for equity

Even More Cartoons on Technology | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

Even More Cartoons on Technology | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

Even More Cartoons on Technology

Yes, I know that in the 10 years I have had this blog, I have had cartoons on technology with kids, in schools, in the workplace, and at home. For this month’s cartoons, I have selected new ones that I have not run before. Enjoy!

More Cartoons: Even More Cartoons on Technology | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

A School Board Member’s Latest Attack on Special Education

A School Board Member’s Latest Attack on Special Education

A School Board Member’s Latest Attack on Special Education

“I don’t want to move, I don’t want to move”- Agitated students at CTC — West

When the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) announced plans to make school buildings more accessible for those with disabilities, it was met with a lawsuit from the California Charter School Association (CCSA). These publicly funded private schools serve a lesser percentage of children with special education needs than their public school counterparts and, therefore, did not have a vested interest in the district spending money correcting atrocious conditions on aging campuses. Instead, they wanted to divert funds to their own organizations to benefit their various real estate schemes.

As revealed in confidential documents uncovered by Michael Kohlhaas dot org, Board Member Nick Melvoin and his senior advisor, Allison Holdoroff Pothill, held a private meeting with representatives of the charter school industry where they “passed on a great deal of privileged information about LAUSD’s legal strategy to [them]. He also agreed to intervene with LAUSD’s lawyers to further CCSA’s interests.” By assisting the CCSA as they pursued lawsuits against the District Melvoin ignored his responsibility to the 80% of students that attend public schools, the moral obligations to the most CONTINUE READING: A School Board Member’s Latest Attack on Special Education

The Charter-to-Prison Pipeline - Progressive.org

The Charter-to-Prison Pipeline - Progressive.org

The Charter-to-Prison Pipeline
The charter system that often paints itself as a better option for black parents does not acknowledge the harm rigid disciplinary policies can impose on black students.

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In late September, headlines flickered across my Twitter timeline about a six-year-old black girl who was arrested at school for a temper tantrum. In outrage and confusion, I opened up the articles to understand how such a thing could happen. 

It turns out that, actually, two six-year-olds were arrested. Their mugshots were taken. Both were charged with misdemeanors. 

Meralyn Kirkland came forward to the media to identify her granddaughter, Kaia, as one of the two children arrested. Kaia has sleep apnea and didn’t get enough rest the night prior, the grandmother explained. When she was taken to the office for being disruptive, she was grabbed by the wrist by a school staffer and began to kick. She was then arrested and charged.

Following public outcry, the charges against the children were dropped and the school resource officer who arrested them was fired. Despite these developments, the fact remains: six-year-olds were arrested.

It takes some digging through all the media headlines to find out, all this happened at a charter school. 


 The public school system gets a lot of (well-deserved) heat for the school-to-prison pipeline—for pushing children through disciplinary practices into the juvenile justice system and, eventually to prison. This pipeline disproportionately impacts students of color. Often, privately operated charter schools are exempt from criticism in the unique role they play in the pipeline.

Some charter schools—lacking the mandate that traditional public schools have to provide an education for all students—implement a “no-excuses” discipline policy. These policies can result in increased suspensions and CONTINUE READING: The Charter-to-Prison Pipeline - Progressive.org

The Curious Case of The Century Foundation and Its Charter Advocacy | Diane Ravitch's blog

The Curious Case of The Century Foundation and Its Charter Advocacy | Diane Ravitch's blog

The Curious Case of The Century Foundation and Its Charter Advocacy

The Century Foundation is supposed to be a liberal foundation. I had numerous contacts with it when it was previously known as The Twentieth Century Fund. My most memorable experience involved my membership on a task force in 1983 or so, which prepared a critique of American education and the need for reform. For that era, our task force report was fairly run-of-the-mill. What was remarkable was that our staff director disagreed with the task force. He wrote a ringing defense of our public schools and took issue with the conclusions of the report. His name was Paul Petersen. He is now one of the leading critics of public schools, now one of the most widely published advocates for vouchers and charters. Well, we switched sides.

Fast forward to the present.

The Twentieth Century Fund is now the Century Fund. My ex-husband served on its board for many years. It has a reputation for its careful research and sober findings.

But last year, the Century Fund released a report about how charter schools can promote “diversity by design,” identifying 125 charter schools that promote diversity.

This raised eyebrows because charters have frequently CONTINUE READING: The Curious Case of The Century Foundation and Its Charter Advocacy | Diane Ravitch's blog

Mitchell Robinson: Impeachment witnesses say they are "demoralized"; America's teachers: "First time?" | Eclectablog

Impeachment witnesses say they are "demoralized"; America's teachers: "First time?" | Eclectablog

Impeachment witnesses say they are “demoralized”; America’s teachers: “First time?”

As a career teacher, watching the House impeachment hearings has been a sort of “out of body experience.” Like the rest of America, I’ve witnessed a parade of brilliant, highly-educated, dedicated foreign service diplomats deliver eloquent, insightful testimony under the most pressure-packed circumstances they’ve ever experienced, and do so with grace, elegance, and professionalism.

At the same time, reports have surfaced that the State Department is experiencing unprecedented levels of dysfunction and demoralization, due in large part to employees feeling a lack of support from their boss, the Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo:

Revelations that Pompeo was unwilling to defend career State Department officials under political attack have damaged his standing within the Department and devastated morale there, according to multiple people familiar with the situation.

To be sure, this phenomenon began under Sec. Pompeo’s predecessor, the supremely and almost comically unqualified Rex Tillerson, plucked from his comfy CEO’s perch at Exxon Mobil to set up shop at Foggy Bottom.

From the beginning, it was clear that Tillerson was ill-suited to the job, seemingly more focused on the perks of the position than he was qualified for the…um, responsibilities of the office (Narrator: “It did not go well.”):

But even before all that, sitting in a silk-upholstered chair in front of a fireplace in his office, CONTINUE READING: Impeachment witnesses say they are "demoralized"; America's teachers: "First time?" | Eclectablog

Are Schools Helping to Dumb Down the National Political Conversation? | Teacher in a strange land

Are Schools Helping to Dumb Down the National Political Conversation? | Teacher in a strange land

Are Schools Helping to Dumb Down the National Political Conversation?

If there ever was a time when top-notch media analysis skills were crucial for American citizens, the past two weeks were the motherlode of opportunities to sort out manipulated messaging from simple truth.

Dig into that statement a bit. Is it possible to make students better consumers, curators and adjudicators of the digital/media information firehose? Or have schools dumbed down curriculum and academic demands, leading to a heedless citizenry, amusing itself to death? (I didn’t come up with that phrase, BTW—Neil Postman did, long before Facebook, Twitter and Celebrity Apprentice, when cable news was the most dangerous thing on TV.)

The phrase ‘dumbing down’ (or—worse—’dummying down,’ putting emphasis on students’ reputedly flabby brains) has always been anathema to me. I have never—in 40 years of working in classrooms—observed a serious curricular trend toward making things less complex or challenging. In fact, since I started teaching, in the early 1970s, there has been a steady upward push toward what reformy types might call rigor.

States have adopted ‘merit’ curricula, demanding four years of HS math and other course sequences that used to be reserved for the college bound. All public-school students in the nation submit to high-stakes standardized tests annually, beginning when they’re barely eight years old. Seventh graders solve single-variable equations CONTINUE READING: Are Schools Helping to Dumb Down the National Political Conversation? | Teacher in a strange land

“Grit” and “Resilience” Are Buzzwords that Blame the Victim for Not Pulling Him/Herself by Bootstraps | Diane Ravitch's blog

“Grit” and “Resilience” Are Buzzwords that Blame the Victim for Not Pulling Him/Herself by Bootstraps | Diane Ravitch's blog

“Grit” and “Resilience” Are Buzzwords that Blame the Victim for Not Pulling Him/Herself by Bootstraps

The Boston Globe published this opinion piece questioning the validity of concepts like grit and resilience. 

Author Alissa Quart interviews Christine White, a woman who grew up in extreme poverty yet managed to build a successful career helping people who struggled as she did. But not by coaching them to have more “grit” and “resilience.”

Christine White, writes Quart, has written

a number of posts on on her nonprofit’s blog questioning this resilience refrain. She believes that when “we are obsessing about resilience it obscures the fundamental issues that people have, like a lack of privilege or a history of trauma.” When “resilience” is applied to at-risk kids, says White, it implies “the solutions reside within an individual and not their context: ‘resilience’ skews conversations away from equity.” The assumption is that having “character” will help traumatized people flourish — and if they don’t flourish, there is an implied lack of character.

“Ninety percent of resilience conversations would be better if the focus was, instead, on racial and economic inequities,” she wrote in correspondence with me.

But “resilience” and “grittiness” have become ubiquitous CONTINUE READING: “Grit” and “Resilience” Are Buzzwords that Blame the Victim for Not Pulling Him/Herself by Bootstraps | Diane Ravitch's blog

How Does the Education in Your State Compare to the Rest of the World? - GOOD

How Does the Education in Your State Compare to the Rest of the World? - GOOD

How Does the Education in Your State Compare to the Rest of the World?
A fascinating map of each state’s educational level and its equivalent to a country in the World

It's no secret that our country's education system is in chaos. The rise and fall of Common Core is just one example. But while the debate rages on over national standards, the level of education in our country can vary widely, state by state, district by district, school by school.

The website Home Snacks created a map of each state's educational level and its equivalent to a country. Using the U.S. Census, they factored in each state's high school graduation rate, and then compared those numbers to the education index of each country in the world, according to the United Nations Development Programme.

It's an interesting experiment. California equals Chile, Texas equals Turkey, and, in a strange twist, Connecticut's education level is the equivalent of that of the USA.

The map not only illuminates the spectrum of educational levels across the United States, but it also provides understanding of how education may look in other countries. Who knew that Ireland would give you a Maryland-level schooling?

Courtesy of HomeSnacks.net

Want to share this article on Facebook? Just copy and paste this link:

http://good-mag.co/EducatedMap

How Does the Education in Your State Compare to the Rest of the World? - GOOD

In praise of Michael Bloomberg | JD2718

In praise of Michael Bloomberg | JD2718

In praise of Michael Bloomberg

Nah, I’m not nuts. I’m not voting for the guy. Neither should you. I don’t support him. Never have, never will.

The worst thing about him? So many choices. But I focus on education. His legacy in education is disorganisation and destruction, and we are still suffering the consequences.

So, actually, this praise is very short. There’s just two things I will mention.

In 2012, while mayor, Bloomberg came to my high school’s graduation, and delivered an address.

Before I go further, you might be wondering, did I just sit back when Bloomberg invited himself to our graduation? Some days before graduation a Unity stalwart discussed the matter with me, and afraid I might disrupt the ceremony said “But Jonathan, you have to be reasonable” “No,” I replied “no I do not.” And that’s important. But I did not disrupt the ceremony, as good as that might have made me feel, because it would not have made the kids feel very good, and because it would have been an individualistic act. Teachers in my chapter proposed and produced UFT colored lapel stickers saying “Respect Teachers” which most of us wore (I know the two who did not), and which were clearly anti-Bloomberg, and which students and parents remarked on after the ceremony.

Back to Bloomberg’s address. Our valedictorian in 2012 was headed to Johns Hopkins. Bloomberg is an alumnus. He said something nice about our student, and about the institution, and then remarked “I won’t say how I did at Johns Hopkins, beyond mentioning that the top half of the class would not exist without students like me.”

Praise point #1 – Michael Bloomberg told a self-deprecating joke that was genuinely funny.

While mayor of New York City Michael Bloomberg presided over a disgusting police program of CONTINUE READING: In praise of Michael Bloomberg | JD2718

I stuttered. I stutter. – Fred Klonsky

I stuttered. I stutter. – Fred Klonsky

I STUTTERED. I STUTTER.

An article in The Atlantic about Joe Biden’s stutter provoked some interesting conversations this past weekend.

Needless to say, I am no supporter of Joe Biden. The fact that he has a stutter doesn’t change that at all.

But Atlantic’s senior editor, who has a stutter himself, has written an article that is about way more than Biden.

It is about how we treat differences.

And it is about me, since I had a severe stutter as a child and I still stutter when I am tired or stressed.

I posted about it on my Facebook page.

Stuttering is serious business. I have a stutter. As a child I could barely put two sentences together. Public speaking terrified me. Words that started with a hard C or K were killers for me. It was humiliating and embarrassing for me as a child. Even answering a teacher’s question in class was traumatic. I have it still and it shows up when I am tired or stressed. Most can’t hear it, but I know.

It no longer is humiliating or embarrassing.

Nobody should make fun of Joe Biden for his stutter. It has CONTINUE READING: I stuttered. I stutter. – Fred Klonsky

Beware: Opponents of Elizabeth Warren’s Education Plan Have a Vested Interest in Expanding School Privatization | janresseger

Beware: Opponents of Elizabeth Warren’s Education Plan Have a Vested Interest in Expanding School Privatization | janresseger

Beware: Opponents of Elizabeth Warren’s Education Plan Have a Vested Interest in Expanding School Privatization

In October, Elizabeth Warren released an exemplary plan for public education. As she campaigns across the country to be chosen as the Democratic candidate for President in 2020, I hope she will continue to advocate for the important principles in her public education plan.

In the past decade public schools in many places have been beleaguered by dropping state revenue in the 2008 recession and politicians further cutting taxes. And over several decades, a new philosophy of education has been acted into law by ideologues who promote corporate accountability driven by evaluating schools and teachers by students’ standardized test scores and punishing schools that fall behind in a system based on competition. Because aggregate test scores in any school have been shown by a half century of research to correlate with the family income of the students in the school, and because our society has become highly segregated by income, this system has shut down public schools in the poorest neighborhoods, produced state takeover of struggling big city schools and school districts, and prescribed school privatization—more charter schools and vouchers—as though it is a solution.

Warren’s plan turns away from corporate, test-and-punish school reform and calls for strengthening America’s public schools.  The plan demands that Congress quadruple the federal investment in Title I, the 1965 Great Society program to support public schools serving concentrations of children in poverty. Warren’s plan calls on Congress fully to fund the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, a federal program which mandates that schools provide specialized services for disabled students. In 1975, Congress promised to fund 40 percent of IDEA’s cost, but last year Congress continued years of underfunding when it chose to fund only 15 percent of the IDEA’s mandated programming.  Warren calls for adding 25,000 Community Schools, making these public schools into neighborhood centers for families in impoverished neighborhoods—with schools housing wraparound health, social service, and after school and summer programs right in the school building.  Warren calls for CONTINUE READING: Beware: Opponents of Elizabeth Warren’s Education Plan Have a Vested Interest in Expanding School Privatization | janresseger

Seattle Schools Community Forum: Sped and the Superintendent

Seattle Schools Community Forum: Sped and the Superintendent

Sped and the Superintendent

Editor's note; I took out the reference to a "swarm" of people, forgetting that swarm actually implies a large group and that was not my intent.  As well, I had one unpleasant comment saying I was comparing people to insects. Not the case because there are many words used to describe a group. Swarm is one of them.  You can look it up.

end up Editor's note

The Superintendent visited the Special Education SCPTSA last week.

Just broadly, the Superintendent was given a lengthy intro - not by PTA folks but by Nicole Fitch, SpEd Director, then Juneau stated some platitudes and then had one interesting statement about leaving the "technical" knowledge/work to Sped staff.  I would certainly not expect the Superintendent to know all Sped issues inside out but I certainly wouldn't expect her to deflect a question in that manner.
Per the Strategic Plan, there are some basic questions from Sped parents:

• What is SPS doing to ensure equitable access for students with disabilities?
• How are they ensuring that students with disabilities have equitable access to their neighborhood schools? 
• Or what are they doing to ensure students with disabilities being included in extracurricular activities?

It can't be stated enough that, for many Sped families, just trying to get their CONTINUE READING: Seattle Schools Community Forum: Sped and the Superintendent