I Will Be Speaking at Wellesley College on Thursday at 7, LiveStreamed | Diane Ravitch's blog

I Will Be Speaking at Wellesley College on Thursday at 7, LiveStreamed | Diane Ravitch's blog:

I Will Be Speaking at Wellesley College on Thursday at 7, LiveStreamed

I owe a special debt to my alma mater, Wellesley College. The college accepted me in 1956, coming from San Jacinto High School in Houston, an unpolished, unsophisticated 17-year-old who wanted to make a difference in the world but didn’t know where to start. My four years at Wellesley changed my life. I acquired a bit of polish, a smidgeon of sophistication (my friends would say, none or very little, actually), and a great education. It took a while to figure out where and how to make a difference, but I eventually did figure it out. After marriage and children, I entered graduate school, studied with Lawrence Cremin, the nation’s most outstanding historian of education, and found my niche.

This Thursday, I will be speaking at Wellesley and inaugurating a lecture series that I endowed. Its theme is: “Education and the Public Good.” I have also endowed opportunities for student research and internships, as well as other activities that promote scholarship and understanding of current issues in education. Knowing the idealism and brilliance of the students it attracts, I am hopeful that Wellesley will become a center that produces women devoted to advancing the common good and the public interest. Wellesley graduates enter many fields, including education, government, business, law, medicine, science, engineering, philanthropy, and finance. Wherever they are, I hope that what they learn in college will imbue them with a commitment to improving the lives of all children and investing in our shared future. There is a huge reservoir of intellect, character, and wisdom at Wellesley. My hope is that this great resource will advance our common purposes, our public purposes, now and in future generations of students.

I am speaking at 7 p.m. and all are welcome. The event will be live streamed.

Here is the College’s announcement:

Watch the live webcast of the inaugural Diane Silvers Ravitch ’60 Lecture on Thursday, October 22 at 7:30 PM EST.

Wellesley College is proud to welcome Diane Ravitch ’60 for the inaugural lecture in a new series of talks on current issues in public education. Ravitch is a leading national advocate for public schools who is ranked at the top of Education Week’s 2015 listing of influential scholars. In her presentation, entitled How to Ruin or Revive Public Education, she will discuss how testing and privatization are damaging children, teachers, schools, and communities, and are threatening public education as a common good.

Author of the New York Times bestsellers The Death and Life of the Great American School System: How Testing and Choice Are Undermining Education and Reign of Error: The Hoax of the Privatization Movement, and many other books and articles on education history and policy, Ravitch also maintains a popular blog with nearly 23 million page reviews. She served as Assistant Secretary of Education and Counselor under President George H.W. Bush, and was later appointed to the National Assessment Governing Board by President Bill Clinton.

Please join us in the Diana Chapman Walsh Alumnae Hall Auditorium, Thursday, October 22 at 7:30 PM, or watch How to Ruin or Revive Public Education streamed live.

Wellesley College
106 Central Street | Wellesley, MA 02481
781.283.2373 | wellesley.edu/events

I Will Be Speaking at Wellesley College on Thursday at 7, LiveStreamed | Diane Ravitch's blog:

Chicago forum: Curriculum for Social Justice. | Fred Klonsky

Chicago forum: Curriculum for Social Justice. | Fred Klonsky:

Chicago forum: Curriculum for Social Justice

DePaul University’s College of Education Fall Forum

October 28, 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Lincoln Park Student Center, 2250 N. Sheffield, Room 314

Curriculum for Social Justice: Grounded in Our Students’ Lives and Their Communities

The curriculum examples presented at the forum come from the arts, science, social studies, history, and civics. Speakers will include both elementary and high school educators.

Moderator: Dr. Hilary Conklin, Associate Professor, Secondary Social Studies, DePaul UniversityPanelists:

-Jill Bass, Director of the Center for Action Civics, Mikva Challenge

-William Estrada, Teaching Artist, Telpochcalli Elementary School

-Nakisha Hobbs, Principal, Village Leadership Academy

-Anton Miglietta, Curriculum Director, Chicago Grassroots Curriculum Task Force

-Daniel Morales-Doyle, Social Justice High School; Director, Project SEEEC (Science Education for Excellence and Equity in Chicago), UIC

2 CPDUs are available for teachers. Resource tables with curriculum materials from a variety of organizations will be available before and after the panel.

For more information and to R.S.V.P., contact Diane Horwitz at dhorwit1@depaul.edu.

Chicago forum: Curriculum for Social Justice. | Fred Klonsky:

CURMUDGUCATION: Top States for Special Ed Lawsuits

CURMUDGUCATION: Top States for Special Ed Lawsuits:

Top States for Special Ed Lawsuits

At Education Week, Christina Samuels reports on recent research showing which states find themselves most often in court over special education issues.

The paper, "Frequency Trends of Court Decisions Under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act," was recently published in the Journal of Special Education Leadership. And it shows that ten states are responsible for almost two thirds of the lawsuits filed.

Let's go to the chart:

Note that some of the states have high total numbers, but don't crack the top ten in suits-per-capita. In other words, California has a huge number of lawsuits because it has a huge number of people. DC, on the other hand, is apparently is apparently doing its best to make sure that every special education student has her own personal lawsuit.

It's particularly in light of my piece yesterday that Pennsylvania ranks high both ways. Pennsylvania's parents have found ample reason to sue the state on behalf of their students with special needs, and Pennsylvania is now responding with a program that will insure that SWSN get even fewer resources. I suspect that the new initiative will not help Pennsylvania with its lawsuit problem; I don't think CURMUDGUCATION: Top States for Special Ed Lawsuits:

News About the Network for Public Education | Diane Ravitch's blog

News About the Network for Public Education | Diane Ravitch's blog:
News About the Network for Public Education 

The Network for Public Education has split into two different entities.

The organization by that name will continue to support the improvement of public education and to produce studies, reports, meetings, and statements. Its new executive director is Carol Burris, who recently retired as principal of South Side High School in Rockville Center, Long Island, New York. Carol is a gifted writer; you may have read one of her many posts published by Valerie Strauss on The Answer Sheet blog at the Washington Post. She also received many honors for her leadership as a principal. In accordance with IRS rules and regulations, NPE is a 501 (c) 3 and contributions to it are tax-deductible.

The other part of NPE is called the NPE Action Fund. It will endorse candidates and produce studies and engage in other activities and public information to support public education. The NPE Action Fund is a 501 (c) 4; contributions to it are not tax-deductible. Its executive director is Robin Hiller of Tucson, Arizona. Until now, Robin was the overall executive director of NPE; when we realized we had to be two separate entities to comply with the IRS, Robin chose to lead our political action arm. Robin is the leader of Voices for Children in Tucson, which has served as NPE’s fiscal agent as we await official approval by the IRS. To be endorsed by the NPE Action Fund, candidates must contact Robin to obtain a questionnaire. Return it. It will be reviewed by a committee of NPE board members. We check out potential candidates with trusted local organizations.

Both sectors of NPE have three Board members who serve on both Boards: me, Anthony Cody, and a new board member, Cali Cole, a former business executive who shares our passion for public education and equity; Cali has the financial experience that some of us lack.

So expect more activity from a newly invigorated NPE. We will convene our third annual conference from April 15-17 in Raleigh, North Carolina. That state, now controlled by privatization zealots, needs us, all of us! We are thrilled that our major speaker will be the charismatic Rev. William Barber, the leader of the Moral Mondays movement for social justice in North Carolina and across the nation.

Meanwhile, the NPE Action Fund will be endorsing candidates in local and state elections who are true friends of public education. We can’t give them money, because we don’t the deep pockets. However, we will post a link to their website and encourage you to contribute whatever you can. District by district, city by city, state by state, we will strive to put the public back in public education and oust the out-of-state billionaires.

As we say at NPE, we are many, they are few. They have the money, we have the numbers. This is a democracy. Vote.News About the Network for Public Education | Diane Ravitch's blog:

How many corporate education reform failures must there be. Before we know the scheme is a disaster? - Wait What?

How many corporate education reform failures must there be. Before we know the scheme is a disaster? - Wait What?:

How many corporate education reform failures must there be. Before we know the scheme is a disaster?

Yes, How many corporate education reform failures must there be. Before we know the scheme is a disaster?

Or to borrow from the great poet and songwriter Bob Dylan

The answer, my friend, is blowin’ in the wind
The answer is blowin’ in the wind.

Sarah Darer Littman, fellow public education advocate and commentator, uses her most recent CT Newsjunkie column to ask the quintessential question about education reform by pointing readers to Dale Russakoff’s new book entitled, The Prize: Who’s in Charge of America’s Schools.

Sara Darer Littman writes,

Although no Connecticut city is as high profile in the education reform battle as Newark, which received a $100 million donation from Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, there are interesting parallels to observe and lessons to be learned.

The reform movement has been characterized by jargon and combative rhetoric in New Jersey, where Gov. Chris Christie described plans for Newark by saying the state needed to “grab the system by the roots, pull it 

How many corporate education reform failures must there be. Before we know the scheme is a disaster? - Wait What?:

Cami Anderson was right | Bob Braun's Ledger

Cami Anderson was right | Bob Braun's Ledger:

Cami Anderson was right

Cami Anderson, Newark’s now disgraced superintendent, was many things. Arrogant. Mendacious. Insensitive. Too willing to use Newark schools as a hiring hall for inept cronies from New York and New Orleans. But she was right about one thing–and that one thing may turn out to be the most important thing facing Newark’s neighborhood public schools. Her successor, she said, would be worse for Newark’s public schools than she was–and that’s before she even knew who her successor would be. Of course, it turned out to be her old boss and enabler, Christopher Cerf.

She wrote that in an email to the late Joseph Del Grosso, then the president of Newark Teachers Union (NTU).  Del Grosso told me Anderson warned him about trying to drive her out of office back in the spring 2014.

“She said she wasn’t the problem–that whoever came after her would be much more eager to expand charter schools and close public schools,” I remember Del Grosso telling me.

Cerf is a nationally known champion of charter schools. In New York, as an aide to Cami Anderson was right | Bob Braun's Ledger:

Jersey Jazzman: Charter Schools, An Exchange: Part II

Jersey Jazzman: Charter Schools, An Exchange: Part II:

Charter Schools, An Exchange: Part II

In Part I of this series, I invited Dmitri Mehlhorn, a well-known advocate for charter schools and other education "reforms," to comment on charter schools and make the case for his point of view. What follows is my reply; I'd urge you to read Dmitri's essay first to get the full context of my reply.


First of all, Dmitri, thank you for agreeing to this exchange. I'm going to try to keep the tone civil here -- but I'm afraid I'm also going to be rather blunt.

Your essay is, in many ways, a perfect example of "reform" thinking. Almost everything you say is factually correct; however, you are so selective in your citations, and so lacking in context when discussing them, that you arrive at conclusions that simply are not warranted.

These are the points I'm going to address from your essay:

• The CREDO studies provide little evidence of a practical positive effect of charter schools on student learning in the aggregate. They also provide little evidence that the charter sector as a whole has been improving over the last six years.
• There is little evidence to support any contention that the limited econometric research into a few charter school chains can be generalized to the entire sector.
• The lottery study you cite (I assume Angrist, Cohodes, Dynarski, Pathak, & Walters, 2013), like all charter lottery studies, is limited to the population of students who enter the lottery. Further, "being a charter school" is NOT the only treatment.
• The research I assume you cite from Mathematica on Achievement First and Uncommon shows they serve different student populations than their feeder schools, with fewer students with special needs (SWSN) and fewer Limited

- See more at: http://jerseyjazzman.blogspot.com/2015/10/charter-schools-exchange-part-ii.html#sthash.1g8wSKgF.dpuf

Two Myths Are Part of Shaky Foundation of School “Reform” | janresseger

Two Myths Are Part of Shaky Foundation of School “Reform” | janresseger:

Two Myths Are Part of Shaky Foundation of School “Reform”

Here are two of the myths that underpin the school “reform” movement.  First, there’s the myth that the real problem with American schools is that teachers hold low expectations.  You’ll remember that the No Child Left Behind Act was supposed to address “the soft bigotry of low expectations.” And the second myth: schools and especially high schools fail because they are modeled after factories. For seven years, U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan has insisted that public schools are trapped in the dated industrial model and stuck in the 20th, not the 21st century. These ideas are rarely questioned. What do they mean?  Here are recent articles that examine some of their implications.

Myth 1: Children are falling behind because their teachers hold low expectations.

Gary Rubinstein is a math teacher at New York City’s Stuyvesant High School, and a former teacher with Teach for America (TFA), the two-year alternative teacher preparation and recruitment program. Rubinstein publishes a thoughtful blog that critiques TFA and more generally the school “reform” movement.  In a recent post about TFA, Rubinstein digresses into a fascinating reflection on teaching itself and the role of teachers’ expectations:  “How I wish that low expectations were the main difficulty in education. It would be so easy to improve. Teachers would just raise their expectations: Teach a little faster, assign a little more homework, make the tests a little longer, a little more difficult—more ‘rigorous’ if you will.  While I’m certainly not an advocate for low expectations, I think it is definitely naive, and even a bit dangerous, to too blindly believe that the act of just having high expectations will cause students to learn more.”

Rubinstein describes the teacher’s job from the point of view of the practitioner.  And he Two Myths Are Part of Shaky Foundation of School “Reform” | janresseger:

What are Bill and Melinda Gates talking about? - The Washington Post

What are Bill and Melinda Gates talking about? - The Washington Post:

What are Bill and Melinda Gates talking about?

Bill Gates is the leader of education philanthropy in the United States, pouring a few billion dollars over more than a decade to promote school reforms that he has championed. They include the Common Core State Standards, a small-schools initiative in New York City that he abandoned after deciding it wasn’t working, and controversial new teacher evaluation systems that use student standardized test scores to determine the “effectiveness” of educators. Such philanthropy has sparked a debate about whether American democracy is well-served by wealthy people who pour part of their fortunes into their pet projects — regardless of whether they are grounded in research — to such a degree that public policy and funding follow.

Bill and his wife Melinda Gates recently sat down with PBS journalist Gwen Ifill at the U.S. Education Learning Forum to discuss the reforms they support. This post, by Carol Burris, the executive director of the nonprofit Network for Public Education Fund, looks at what they said and explains what it actually means.  Burris retired in June as an award-winning principal at a New York high school, and she is the author of numerous articles, books and blog posts (including on The Answer Sheet) about the botched school reform efforts in her state.

By Carol Burris

In 2012, Rick Hess, the director of Education Policy Studies at the American Enterprise Institute, wrote a brutally honest account of the how the true believers of the Common Core think.  Hess called the piece “The Common Core Kool-Aid” and it ran in his Ed Week blog, Straight Up.

The blog post recounted Hess’ experience at the 2012 education summit sponsored by Jeb Bush. At that summit, Rick spoke with those pushing Common Core reforms and they bluntly explained their strategy to him. He summed up what they said:

First, politicians will actually embrace the Common Core assessments and then will use them to set cut scores that suggest huge numbers of suburban schools are failing. Then, parents and community members who previously liked their schools are going to believe the assessment results rather than their own lying eyes. Finally, newly convinced that their schools stink, parents and voters will embrace reform.

[Gates pours millions more into Common Core]

Hess continued:

Common Core advocates evince an eerie confidence that they can scare these voters into embracing the “reform” agenda. And this conviction has become the happy Kool-Aid that allows would-

What are Bill and Melinda Gates talking about? - The Washington Post:

 

LCAP reviews continue without evaluation tool :: SI&A Cabinet Report :: The Essential Resource for Superintendents and the Cabinet

LCAP reviews continue without evaluation tool :: SI&A Cabinet Report :: The Essential Resource for Superintendents and the Cabinet:

LCAP reviews continue without evaluation tool

(Calif.) This month, county superintendents throughout the state are completing their reviews of accountability plans submitted by local districts – a process that lacks for a second year a key evaluation tool.

Limited to using a simple, three-question criteria to determine adequacy of the Local Control Accountability Plans, county offices of education are expected once again to reject only a handful, similar to the number held back last year.

Still, reports from the field suggest county superintendents remain optimistic about the direction that California is taking in redefining student performance and accountability of schools – even though most acknowledge the system will need several more years to become fully operational.

“It’s evolving,” said Peter Birdsall, executive director of the California County Superintendents Educational Services Association. “It’s evolving very rapidly when you consider that it took us over 20 years to develop the current fiscal accountability system. We obviously need to get this up and running sooner – but I think there’s a broad consensus that we’ve accomplished a lot in just two years.” 

Adopted as part of Gov. Jerry Brown’s sweeping restructuring of the state’s role in both funding and overseeing K-12 education, the LCAPs were initially envisioned as a reporting vehicle to explain how districts spent new resources for low-income students, English learners and foster youth.

But increasingly, as state officials struggled in another arena to construct a school accountability system not exclusively reliant on test scores, the LCAPs have emerged as the focal point for articulating academic success as well.

As a result, the process that counties and the state will use to evaluate the LCAP is critical as are all LCAP reviews continue without evaluation tool :: SI&A Cabinet Report :: The Essential Resource for Superintendents and the Cabinet:

A Special Report on Student-Data Privacy - Education Week

A Special Report on Student-Data Privacy - Education Week:

A SPECIAL REPORT ON STUDENT-DATA PRIVACY

Intelligent and creative use of data in K-12 education is a driving force behind efforts to use digital curricula and assessments to personalize learning. Data use can be the difference maker in understanding individual students’ strengths and weaknesses. But the expanded, more sophisticated use of data has opened the doors wider for potential problems, especially regarding the privacy of student information. That rising tension between advocates for greater use of data to improve schools and people who are worried about protecting student privacy is one of the most contentious issues in education. This special report aims to give district leaders, policymakers, researchers, and education company executives a better sense of what it takes to find areas of agreement.

---

Schools, Government Agencies Move to Share Student Data

Amid an ongoing debate over the use of student data, K-12 systems have quietly begun linking children's educational records with information from other government agencies.

October 19, 2015 - Education Week

Educators Hope Congress Provides Clarity, Support on Privacy Issues

Eight federal bills, amendments, or provisions related to student-data privacy have been introduced in 2015.

October 19, 2015 - Education Week

Lessons Learned From Security Breaches

The problem is school systems often lack specific plans for dealing with data breaches once they occur, creating logistical and public relations challenges.

October 19, 2015 - Education Week

Threat of Data-Privacy Litigation Fuels District Insurance Purchases

As more and more large, well-known companies—such as Home Depot and Target—fall victim to cyberattacks, school districts are realizing they could be next.

October 19, 2015 - Education Week

Why K-12 Data-Privacy Training Needs to Improve

Education experts are lamenting the lack of training opportunities for educators that they say must happen for true student-data-privacy protection.

October 19, 2015 - Education WeekA Special Report on Student-Data Privacy - Education Week:

The Evidence That White Children Benefit From Integrated Schools : NPR Ed : NPR

The Evidence That White Children Benefit From Integrated Schools : NPR Ed : NPR:

The Evidence That White Children Benefit From Integrated Schools

Recently a neighborhood in Brooklyn made national headlines for a fight over public schools. Lots of affluent, mainly white families have been moving into new condos in the waterfront area called DUMBO, and the local elementary school is getting overcrowded.

The city wants to redraw the zones in a way that would send kids from this predominantly white school to a nearby school where enrollment is over 90 percent black and Hispanic and which draws many of its students from a public housing project. Some parents on both sides of the line balked.

"Liberal hypocrisy," was the headline in the conservative National Review.

The tacit assumption was that sending children to a majority-minority school would entail a sacrifice, one that pits their own children against their (presumably) progressive ideals.

But there's plenty of evidence that suggests the opposite: White students might actually benefit from a more diverse environment.



Here are three reasons why.



1. Their test scores won't be any lower.

The federal government just released a report looking at the black-white achievement gap. It found something remarkable: "White student achievement in schools with the highest Black student density did not differ from White student achievement in schools with the lowest density."

Translation: After controlling for socioeconomic status, white students essentially had the same test scores whether they went to a school that was overwhelmingly white or one that was overwhelmingly black.

This finding "confirms decades of research that white students' achievement is not harmed" by the color of their classmates' skin, says Genevieve Siegel-Hawley, an education professor at Virginia Commonwealth University, who researches race, stratification and inequality in American schools.



2. They may work harder and smarter.

Katherine Phillips is a professor at Columbia Business School who studies the benefits of diversity — a growing field. For example, there's evidence that corporations with better gender and racial representation make more money and are more innovative. And many higher education groups have collected large amounts of evidence on the educational benefits of diversity in support of affirmative action policies.

In one set of studies, Phillips gave small groups of three people a murder mystery to solve. Some of the groups were all white and others had a nonwhite member. The diverse groups were significantly more likely to find the right answer.

"What the work tells us is that when you have people from the social majority in a diverse environment they work harder and focus on the task more," Phillips explains. "They think about problems more broadly."

And, she adds, they are more likely to back up their own opinions and consider The Evidence That White Children Benefit From Integrated Schools : NPR Ed : NPR:

Schools exacerbate the growing achievement gap between rich and poor, a 33-country study finds - The Hechinger Report

Schools exacerbate the growing achievement gap between rich and poor, a 33-country study finds - The Hechinger Report:

Schools exacerbate the growing achievement gap between rich and poor, a 33-country study finds

Rich kids get steered into more demanding math classes while poor kids get less challenging content

The dark blue bars show how much differences in educational content in schools are adding to the achievement gap between rich and poor students. The light blue bars quantify how much of the achievement gap is explained by family background. (Source: PowerPoint Slide from William H. Schmidt. SES = Socioeconomic status. OTL = Opportunity To Learn, a measure of math content differences)

ntral to the American dream is the notion that any kid, even one from the poorest of backgrounds, can study hard, do well in school and make it in our society. But many of us fear that the schoolhouse is no longer a path to the middle class. That fear grows with the rising number of U.S. schoolchildren in poverty, and the growing achievement gap in school between them and their wealthier peers.

A recent study examined how much of the achievement gap in math between rich and poor 15-year-old students can be attributed to what material the kids are learning in school, and it found, across 33 countries, that schools are teaching rich kids vastly different math content than poor kids. The researchers calculated that this educational content difference accounts for a third of the achievement gap, on average. (The remainder of the achievement gap is explained by socio-economic factors at home, such as family income and parental education.)

“In every society, we want school to be the great equalizer, to help students overcome poverty,” said William H. Schmidt of Michigan State University, the lead author of the study. “In effect, this study says that schooling is making things worse.”

Schooling, or differences in what different children are taught, exacerbates the achievement gap in some countries more than in others. For example, in the Netherlands, schooling accounts for 58 percent of the achievement gap between rich and poor. Korea, Australia and the United Kingdom are also among the “top” nations in which access or exposure to educational content is worsening the achievement gap. In many of these countries, top students, who tend to come from richer families, get steered to elite schools with more rigorous curriculums.

The United States is above the middle of the pack, with 37 percent of the achievement gap between rich and poor explained by differences in curriculum.

Some systems, such as Iceland and Greece, are better at educating poor kids, with less than 20 percent of the rich-poor gap attributable to schooling.

Sweden was the only country studied where schooling wasn’t compounding the achievement gap between rich and poor. There’s still a large achievement gap in Sweden, however, with students in the top quarter of the socioeconomic ladder scoring Schools exacerbate the growing achievement gap between rich and poor, a 33-country study finds - The Hechinger Report:

Countries ranked by how much differences in curriculum are worsening the achievement gap between rich and poor. (Source: AERA Press Release, Sept. 30, 2015)

Campbell Brown’s insidious new lie: Charter schools, dark money and the war on teachers’ unions — and your kids - Salon.com

Campbell Brown’s insidious new lie: Charter schools, dark money and the war on teachers’ unions — and your kids - Salon.com:

Campbell Brown’s insidious new lie: Charter schools, dark money and the war on teachers’ unions — and your kids

Charter school proponents -- and their wealthy friends -- have opened a new front on their war on public education

Before Democratic Party presidential candidates readied for their first debate on CNN, they turned down an opportunity to meet at another forum.

That meeting was to be hosted by ex-CNN anchorwoman Campbell Brown, who now operates a media outlet, The Seventy Four, that promotes charter schools and other public education policies favored by wealthy foundations and individuals. Brown’sfinancial backers include the philanthropic organization of former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and the foundation of the family that owns Wal-Mart.

As Politico reports, Brown’s group and another charter advocacy organization had already brought six Republican candidates together in New Hampshire in August to talk about education policy. Next, in conjunction with the Des Moines Register, the two organizations wanted Democratic candidates to gather in Iowa. None of the candidates would commit to attend even in principle.

Politico reporter Michael Grunwald was quick to frame the candidates’ snub, with obvious help from Brown herself, as proof of the political might of teachers’ unions.

For sure, Brown’s history of fighting with teachers’ unions. As an article in The Washington Post last year reported, she led an effort to cast the New York City teachers’ union as a protector of sexual predators.

After that venture, Brown launched a group that filed a lawsuit in New York State to dilute teachers’ job protections, commonly called “tenure.”

So she is clearly at it again. Grunwald quotes her, “The teachers’ unions have gotten to these candidates.”

“It’s shameful how my party is being held hostage by the unions,” Grunwald quotes Kevin Chavous the head of American Federation for Children, the other organization sponsoring the event. “I see no difference between their strong-arm tactics on the Campbell Brown’s insidious new lie: Charter schools, dark money and the war on teachers’ unions — and your kids - Salon.com:

A Comprehensive Audit of John White’s La. Ethics Admin. Filings | deutsch29

A Comprehensive Audit of John White’s La. Ethics Admin. Filings | deutsch29:

A Comprehensive Audit of John White’s La. Ethics Admin. Filings

On October 15, 2015, I read all of the documents that Louisiana superintendent John White has on file with the Louisiana Ethics Administration since January 11, 2012 to date, using the Ethics Admin search engine.

In this post, I would like to share what I learned. Specifically, White has filed 60 documents with the Louisiana Ethics Administration since his arrival in Louisiana in 2011; four are annual “personal financial disclosure” reports for 2011-2014; four are amendments to the personal financial disclosure reports, and the remaining 52 are “affidavits regarding compensation for attending an educational or professional development seminar or conference by a public servant”– statements of his whereabouts in the name of “public service” and the cost to Louisiana taxpayers for reimbursing White for such travels.

In this post, I briefly examine each document and group like documents. Links to all 60 documents are included, as well. Think of this post as a digest/audit of John White’s mandated ethics filings.

Here we go.

Let’s start with White’s annual personal financial disclosures (2011-14), both original A Comprehensive Audit of John White’s La. Ethics Admin. Filings | deutsch29:

The Washington Teacher: Five Years and Counting, And No WTU Contract For YOU!

The Washington Teacher: Five Years and Counting, And No WTU Contract For YOU!:

Five Years and Counting, And No WTU Contract For YOU!

By Candi Peterson, WTU Gen. Vice President

Statements or expressions of opinions herein 'do not' represent the views or official positions of DCPS, AFT, Washington Teachers' Union (WTU) or its members. Views are my own. 

Mass emails were sent out to many DC Public Schools teachers on the Columbus day holiday to their DC government email accounts and some personal email accounts from a relatively unknown teacher who refers to himself as Coach Spinner.  You may recall Coach Spinner as he ran against me for WTU General Vice President position on the Saunders slate in 2013 and lost.

The subject of the email sent to members was titled the “New WTU” and introduced readers to a blog which harshly criticizes current WTU President Elizabeth “Liz” Davis for failing to address Impact-teacher evaluation system, financial malfeasance and failure to get a union contract which is the union president’s primary responsibility as the “Chief Negotiator.”

Based on a little digging, I have learned that Coach Spinner is a campaign surrogate for former WTU President Nathan A. Saunders who lost his bid for presidency in 2013. So it seems according to a former WTU staffer now working for him, Saunders wants another shot at the WTU presidential seat. No surprise here.

When I asked union members if they knew who Coach Spinner was their typical response was they did not know him. One of the current WTU Executive Board members who requested anonymity agreed that she didn’t know The Washington Teacher: Five Years and Counting, And No WTU Contract For YOU!:

Another Out-of-State $1.4 Million Pumped into Louisiana BESE Election | deutsch29

Another Out-of-State $1.4 Million Pumped into Louisiana BESE Election | deutsch29:

Another Out-of-State $1.4 Million Pumped into Louisiana BESE Election

According to an October 14, 2015, campaign finance filing of Louisiana businessman Lane Grigsby’s Empower Louisiana PAC, billionaires John and Laura Arnold contributed $625,000 on September 18, 2015, to Grigsby’s PAC via the Arnold 501(c)4 lobbying nonprofit, Action Now Initiative.

Former New York mayor, billionaire Michael Bloomberg, contributed an additional $800,000 on October 02, 2015.

According to Empower Louisiana PAC, the additional $1.4 million will go toward promoting four candidates in the October 24, 2015, Louisiana Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE) election. Two of the candidates, Jim Garvey (District 1) and Holly Boffy (District 7), already hold BESE seats and have been faithful supporters of the corporate reform agenda.

Retired teacher Lee Barrios is running against Garvey for District 1. Barrios is known for her constant presence at BESE meetings and her frequent public records requests.

As for Boffy’s opponent, career educator Mike Kreamer of District 7 does not share Another Out-of-State $1.4 Million Pumped into Louisiana BESE Election | deutsch29:

EduShyster and I Tag Team On A Microphone | The Jose Vilson

EduShyster and I Tag Team On A Microphone | The Jose Vilson:

EduShyster and I Tag Team On A Microphone

A couple of weeks ago, EduShyster visited my classroom because she’s my cousin, not in a biological way, but in the Dominican way where, when you think you’ve run out of cousins, out comes another one. Or, in this case, she’s an almost-kin.

Such is the case for one of the few people outside of my school building who’ve visited my classroom more than once. As she’s grown into a new role of provocateur, challenging her own notions about education reform, she’s caught serious heat from reformers and traditionalists alike. The former wonders what she’s up to and the latter thinks she’s lost her way. Instead, she defies both through her usual wit and candor, and gives us glimpses of people we might not otherwise get if we stuck with EduShyster and I Tag Team On A Microphone | The Jose Vilson:

An Ode to Public Education Privateers in Contemporary Times | msvigeljsmith

An Ode to Public Education Privateers in Contemporary Times | msvigeljsmith:

An Ode to Public Education Privateers in Contemporary Times 

What’s scarier than ghouls and goblins this Halloween?

“Privateers (during the American Revolution) achieved the best results if they could bluff an opponent into believing opposition was futile. When this failed the result was often vicious combat with unpredictable results. Many privateers were captured or sunk when the odds were against them. In spite of all the risks and hazards, the overall effort to cripple Britain’s commercial fleet was highly effective, and fortunes destined to finance the new republic were made. It is estimated that the total damage to British shipping by American privateers was about $18 million by the end of the war, or just over $302 million in today’s dollars.”  ~The National Park Service

An Ode to Education Privateers in Contemporary Times

To you so bold and brazen

So Walton, so Gates, so BroadAn Ode to Public Education Privateers in Contemporary Times | msvigeljsmith:

Big Education Ape: The New American Privateers http://bit.ly/1Mcg2OK