Political theorist Danielle Allen worries that Americans aren’t being properly educated for citizenship - WSJ

In Pursuit of Political Equality - WSJ:

In Pursuit of Political Equality

Political theorist Danielle Allen worries that Americans aren’t being properly educated for citizenship

Danielle Allen PHOTO: JASON GROW FOR THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

After writing an article critical of Donald Trump a few months ago, the political theoristDanielle Allen received dozens of racist tweets and emails from his supporters, one with a picture of a noose. But it hasn’t stopped her from being heartened by one aspect of this election cycle: the increased voter turnout that helped Mr. Trump become the presumptive Republican nominee for president. She has long argued for more civic participation and engagement in the political system—and not just for people who share her own political views.

Dr. Allen responded to some of her critics directly and to others in open letters published online. She advised them to read the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and the Federalist Papers, and to think about issues like the character of public officials and the principles of constitutionalism. If Americans were better equipped to reflect on their laws and the promises of politicians, she believes, they would elect more thoughtful and less divisive leaders.

Dr. Allen, 44, a government professor at Harvard University and director of its Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics, is a big proponent of political equality—the idea that every American should play an active role in the workings of our democracy.

It is the subject of her 2014 book, “Our Declaration,” a conversational analysis of the Declaration of Independence. The book was inspired by a night class she taught to low-income adult students in Chicago from 1999 to 2009, while she was at the University of Chicago and, later, at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, N.J. Her night students made her realize, she says, that “the Declaration of Independence is the story of human agency”—that is, of how diverse individuals join together in a shared public life.

Unlike her students at the university, her night students tended to apply the Declaration—and their other readings, from Sophocles’ “Antigone” to Shakespeare’s sonnets—to their own lives. They talked about issues like policing, unemployment and education and compared them to the frustrations the colonists once had under England’s rule. Dr. Allen felt that the Declaration was inspiring them to take charge and try to change their own In Pursuit of Political Equality - WSJ:

Michigan legislature approves Detroit school bailout: What's next? - CSMonitor.com

Michigan legislature approves Detroit school bailout: What's next? (+video) - CSMonitor.com:

Michigan legislature approves Detroit school bailout: What's next? (+video)

Michigan lawmakers passed a bill that will keep Detroit's public schools from going bankrupt, but critics say it doesn't do as much as it could have for the public schools. 

Big Education Ape: Mindless Underfunding Of Schools Continues, Doing Irreparable Harm To Kids - http://go.shr.lc/1tmLxSc

After hours of emotional debate, Michigan’s Legislature approved a $617-million rescue plan for the Detroit Public Schools late last night. Yet, many say, there still is much to be done for the state's public schools.

The school rescue bill passed with the narrowest possible margin in both the House of Representatives and the state Senate, with votes of 55-54 and 19-18 respectively. The bill will now go to Michigan governor Rick Snyder for approval.

Although some say that the legislature could have done more to deal with Detroit’s structural problems, others say the bill accomplishes the most important task: eliminating Detroit’s debt.

“We’re disappointed in many aspects,” Terrence Martin, the executive vice president of the Detroit Federation of Teachers told The Christian Science Monitor, “but we remain steadfast, and we are treading forward. The good thing is that we have a school district, and that we have a school board.”

Detroit’s public school system has struggled for years, plagued by declining enrollment and poor facilities.

In January this year, Detroit’s teachers (forbidden from striking) engaged in "sickouts"to protest inadequate facilities and educational materials. More than 50 of Detroit’s schools, which serve approximately 46,000 students, were closed because of the protests.

Months later, in early May, educators again took part in sickouts to protest the city’s admission that, despite a short-term bailout, itdid not have the funds required to pay teacher salaries though the summer months.

If Governor Snyder approves the legislation, which he is expected to do, the Detroit Public Schools will receive $617 million to settle existing debt. Although many are calling this a bailout, Mr. Martin told the Monitor that as the existing debt was run up by the state of Michigan while it had control Michigan legislature approves Detroit school bailout: What's next? (+video) - CSMonitor.com:

 

Legislature should move on teacher tenure reform - San Francisco Chronicle

Legislature should move on teacher tenure reform - San Francisco Chronicle:

Legislature should move on teacher tenure reform

Assemblywoman Susan Bonilla seeks common ground on education reform.

Vergara vs. State of California, the legal challenge to California’s highly contested teacher tenure and seniority laws, continues to wind its way through the courts. The California Supreme Court needs to make the final call about the detrimental impact of these laws on California’s most disadvantaged students. But California’s students can’t wait, which is why we’re encouraged that state Assemblywoman Susan Bonilla, D-Concord, is taking action now.

Bonilla’s bill, AB934, is a careful and comprehensive reform of the teacher tenure system. A former teacher herself, Bonilla said in a Chronicle editorial meeting that she’s “not interested in blowing up public education.”

Indeed, the centerpiece of AB934 is an innovative teacher support and coaching program that’s already been proved successful.

Called peer assistance review, it would require districts to provide struggling teachers with high-quality coaching and development programs, and AB934 would make it mandatory for every school district.

“It provides what the teacher has been begging for, which is: support me,” Bonilla said.

AB934 would give teachers who have received unsatisfactory evaluations at least a year of support from the peer assistance review program. Only after offering teachers support and training would districts be allowed to dismiss those who remain ineffective in the classroom.

“I really do feel there’s a transformational possibility here,” Bonilla said. “Fixing this mechanism will bring relief to the whole system.”

As far as the dismissal process itself, AB934 doesn’t deny teachers due process — but it does bring some much-needed clarity and transparency to a system that’s long frustrated the public.

The new dismissal process requires binding arbitration, much like the process that’s currently used for other school district employees.

It requires an arbitrator’s decision within 60 days, to avoid an exhausting and never-ending dismissal process.

It also requires school districts to balance evaluations with seniority when it comes to teacher Legislature should move on teacher tenure reform - San Francisco Chronicle:

California 'virtual' academies: Bill targets for-profit operator K12 Inc. - San Jose Mercury News

California 'virtual' academies: Bill targets for-profit operator K12 Inc. - San Jose Mercury News:

California 'virtual' academies: Bill targets for-profit operator K12 Inc.

SACRAMENTO -- Online charter schools would be prohibited from hiring for-profit firms to provide instructional services under a new bill that the author says is a direct response to this newspaper's investigation of the company behind a profitable but low-performing network of "virtual" academies.

That company is K12 Inc., a publicly traded Virginia firm that allows students who spend as little as one minute during a school day logged onto its software to be counted as "present," as it reaps tens of millions of dollars annually in state funding while graduating fewer than half of its high school students. Students who live almost anywhere south of Humboldt County may sign up for one of the company's schools.

File photo:Former California Virtual Academies student Elizabeth Novak-Galloway, 12, plays a video game on her laptop in her San Francisco home on Feb. 18, 2016. (Dai Sugano/Staff archives)

Assembly Bill 1084, authored by Assemblywoman Susan Bonilla, D-Concord, would prevent charter schools that do more than 80 percent of their teaching online from being operated by for-profit companies or hiring them to facilitate instruction. If passed and signed into law by Gov. Jerry Brown, the legislation would effectively put companies like K12 out of business in the Golden State.

"Our taxpayer dollars should be spent in the classroom to help our students, not used to enrich a company's shareholders or drive up its profits," Bonilla said in an interview.

But K12 spokesman Mike Kraft railed against the proposal, calling it "another cynical effort to take away the rights of parents to choose the way their kids are educated."

"This bill is nothing more than a PR effort designed to appease big money special interests that hide in the shadows, harming California families," Kraft wrote in an email, alluding to the support teachers unions have given to similar legislation in the past.

"Today, more than 14,000 California children attend virtual public charter schools, many in the Assemblymember's own district," Kraft added. "How many of their families has she spoken with before deciding to try to take away their choice?"

Before the newspaper's two-part investigative series was published in April, Bonilla said, she didn't know how wide the achievement gap was between students enrolled in K12's California Virtual Academies and those who attend other public schools. But the more sheCalifornia 'virtual' academies: Bill targets for-profit operator K12 Inc. - San Jose Mercury News:

• May 31:
• K12 Inc.: Bay Area lawmakers call for audit of California Virtual Academies operator
• Apr 19:
• California Virtual Academies defend online charter schools as model of school choice
• Apr 18:
• K12 Inc. statement about investigation of California schools
• California Virtual Academy: San Mateo board's statement about investigation
• Documents: Financial, organizational ties between K12 Inc. and California Virtual Academies
• K12 Inc.: California Virtual Academies' operator exploits charter, charity laws for money, records show
• Apr 17:
• California Virtual Academies: Is online charter school network cashing in on failure?

Third-grade reading scores cast doubt on 'reforms' - Sun Sentinel

Third-grade reading scores cast doubt on 'reforms' - Sun Sentinel:

Third-grade reading scores cast doubt on 'reforms'

ns of the so-called education reform movement that began in Florida more than 15 years ago have had several major developments to celebrate recently.

A Leon County Circuit judge ruled, in a lawsuit brought by an advocacy group, that the state is in compliance with a constitutional requirement that Florida provide a uniform, high-quality public education system.

And, in one of his first high-profile acts after dropping out of the presidential contest, former Gov. Jeb Bush has reclaimed chairmanship of his Foundation for Excellence in Education. The foundation has been a cheerleader for "accountability," which in Florida has taken the form of high-stakes testing, school grades, teacher evaluations and corporate vouchers.

The court ruling and Bush's resurfacing are cause for celebration indeed if you like Jeb's high-stakes testing model. However, we interrupt this celebration to bring you a harsh dose of reality concerning third-grade reading scores:

After all this "reform," a frightening number of children are not doing well.

You might think things are OK if you just glanced at last month's headline, "Third-grade students improve slightly on state reading exam."

Improvement is good, right? A lot of kids did well, right?

In Broward County, only 55 percent of third graders passed the reading exam by scoring at three or above. In Palm Beach County, 52 percent passed. In Miami-Dade County, the passing rate was 54 percent. Those numbers were up from 52 percent, 51 percent and 53 percent respectively.

The statewide passing rate was 54 percent. Which means that statewide, barely more than half of Florida's students are reading at grade level, as measured by this high-stakes test.

It's a high-stakes test because it has real consequences. Students who can't eke out at least a level two can be retained in the third grade. Think that's just a few? Think again. That's 23 percent of Broward third-graders, 25 percent in Palm Beach County and 24 percent in Miami-Dade.

Results released Friday showed that trouble passing reading exams persists when high Third-grade reading scores cast doubt on 'reforms' - Sun Sentinel:

Billy Crystal's Muhammad Ali tribute - 15 Rounds (1979)

Billy Crystal's Muhammad Ali tribute - 15 Rounds (1979)

The Hidden History of the Privatization of Everything TPM

The History of Privatization:

The History of Privatization

How an Ideological and Political Attack on Government Became a Corporate Grab for Gold

The post-WWII era was a tough time for conservative economists, academics, intellectuals, and business leaders. Social Security, the Tennessee Valley Authority, the Securities and Exchange Act, and other New Deal programs represented a dangerous expansion of government’s role in the economy and society – nothing short of a frontal assault on freedom and the beginnings of socialism in the U.S.

Today, after 50 years of attack on government, privatization is a standard conservative response to tight public budgets, a key pillar of attacks on government, and a lucrative market opportunity for domestic and global corporations. Large corporations operate virtually every type of public service including prisons, welfare systems, infrastructure, water and sewer, trash, and schools. For example:

• Private prisons didn’t exist thirty years ago. Today, publicly traded, billion-dollar corporations are key players in prisons and immigrant detention. Privatized immigration facilities now house over two-thirds of all detained immigrants.
• In 1988 AFT president Al Shanker proposed a new idea: To create charter schools where teachers could experiment and innovate and bring new ideas to the nation’s public schools. Today, nearly 3 million children attend charters, and large corporate chains and billionaires are funding the rapid growth of privatized, publicly funded charters.
• Former defense contractors, IT corporations and publicly traded corporations are running welfare, food assistance, and other safety net systems in many states across the country.
• Today the federal government employs more than three times as many contract workers as government workers, and state and local governments spend a combined $1.5 trillion on outsourcing.
• Across the country, a well-established network of conservative think tanks, industry associations, investors and corporate lobbyists – The State Policy Network, ALEC, and others – are on the front lines developing privatization legislation and proposing privatization projects.

What follows is how that happened.

Austrian-born economist Friedrich von Hayek was the movement’s intellectual leader. His 1944 book, The Road to Serfdom, is considered to be the intellectual wellspring of anti-government, pro-market ideas and the privatization of public goods. The book was met with surprising success – with excerpts printed in Readers Digest and Look Magazine. It continues to be a significant influence on politicians, journalists, and business leaders. House Speaker Paul Ryan considers Hayek his intellectual guru.

Yet public support for government remained high throughout the postwar years as public services expanded and the economy grew. Hayek and his followers, therefore, were powerless to stem the continued growth of government activities throughout the 1950s. This began to change in 1962 with the publication of Capitalism and Freedom by economist Milton Friedman. Friedman was an effective promoter of two critical ideas: governments were just like markets and government was a public monopoly. Both of these became central arguments of privatization advocates in the 1970s and 1980s.

Friedman’s most important insight was that privatization didn’t necessarily mean cutting popular public services. The public still trusted and valued government programs; Friedman’s argument gave privatization advocates a new approach by making the distinction between government responsibility and government provision of public goods. You could put public services in the hands of private contractors while still maintaining the program. Friedman’s real agenda, though, was clearly about removing public responsibility as well. He called for the elimination of Social Security, the minimum wage, public housing and all national parks.

1970s – Turning Theory Into Action

Emanuel Savas is hardly a household name, but he’s been one of the foremost privatization advocates for four decades. He was the manager of urban systems at IBM Corporation and was a deputy city administrator from 1967 to 1972 under New York Mayor John Lindsey.

Savas published his first article on privatization in 1971, wrote a dozen books and countless articles on privatization, and is still a respected expert across the country. He serves on the editorial board of Reason Foundation’sPrivatization Watch, founded in 1976. Savas, as an on-the-ground city administrator, translated Friedman’s theory of government monopoly into a practical attack on the workings of city government.

Savas’ 1971 article, “Breaking Municipal Monopoly,” complained that the “monopoly nature of police, fire, sanitation [and transit] services has The History of Privatization:

What Are Teachers Complaining About? | The Merrow Report

What Are Teachers Complaining About? | The Merrow Report:

What Are Teachers Complaining About?

Can somebody explain to me why teachers are always complaining? Yes, it’s true that most states and the federal government want to use student test scores to fire teachers. Yes, many districts have embraced “Value Added Measurement” even though no respectable statistician supports that. And, yes, we expect teachers to overcome the effects of poverty, poor nutrition, substandard housing and medical conditions on their students. And, yes, tenure and other job protections are under attack. But, leaving those points aside, teachers in nearly every country have their own “Teachers Day.” Canadian teachers even have their very own postage stamp!

Do plumbers and electricians have a special day set aside to honor them?  Do construction workers, politicians, lobbyists, testing company executives and security guards?  Of course they don’t. Don’t you think it’s time teachers stopped whining and enjoyed all the honors coming their way on “Teachers Day”?

For example, the 193 member nations of the United Nations celebrate “World Teachers Day” every October. About 50 countries also set aside a different day every year to celebrate their teachers.

Teachers around the globe have entire months locked up!  Ten countries–Australia, Armenia, Uzbekistan, Belarus, Brazil, Poland, Chile, Sri Lanka, the Ukraine and New Zealand– have chosen an October day to celebrate their teachers, and in the Ukraine, students give their teachers chocolate!

February is a good month for teachers in the Middle East. That’s when Morocco, What Are Teachers Complaining About? | The Merrow Report:

School Reform Brought to You By The GATES Foundation

School Reform:

School Reform

There is a wonderful line in a song in “Fiddler On The Roof” as Tevye imagines himself as a rich man fielding questions from admirers “And it won’t make one bit of difference if I answer right or wrong,” he sings. “When you’re rich, they think you really know.”
Over the past 20 years or so, we have been treated to the spectacle of wealthy philanthropists, many of whom earned their wealth in digital technologies, throwing their money at the nation’s public schools in an effort to raise the quality of education. They apparently believed their vast wealth endowed them with wisdom unavailable to ordinary people. But one after another, these visionary projects have come unraveled. Vast amounts of money have been spent without rendering any detectable improvement in the public schools. 
Perhaps the most conspicuous of these well-meaning billionaires were Bill and Melinda Gates who through their Gates Foundation have pumped more than $3 billion since 1999 into school reforms. They have pursued a variety of initiatives - primarily smaller schools, better teachers, the Common Core curriculum and all of it of course predicated on the assumption that computers are the key to success. All of their clever schemes have involved commitment by politicians and the education establishment. All to no avail.
Now Bill and Melissa Gates, to their credit, have acknowledged that their efforts School Reform:



Big Education Ape: Gates' Common-Core Mea Culpa and the School Reform Divide - Rick Hess Straight Up - Education Week - http://go.shr.lc/28qBOKh 

 

CURMUDGUCATION: Common Core Standards (Still) Don't Cut It

CURMUDGUCATION: Common Core Standards (Still) Don't Cut It:

Common Core Standards (Still) Don't Cut It



Every few years the ACT folks unleash a big ole survey to find out what's actually going on Out There in the world of school stuff. This year's survey drew at least 2,000 respondents each from elementary and secondary schools, as well as college and workplace respondents. The whole package is eighty-eight pages, and I've read it, and while you don't have to, you might still want to.There are several themes that emerge, but the big one is pretty simple--

Common Core is a bust.

Not news, I know. But still always comforting to see further confirmation. Let's break this report down section by section and see what we've got.








Introduction

We're going to skip over this. The ACT folks would like you to know all the clever things they do to develop their test, and that's swell, but since we're just learning what a mess David Coleman's SAT is, the ACT can look like the top of the test biz just by saying, "We actually check to see if our test CURMUDGUCATION: Common Core Standards (Still) Don't Cut It:

Discrimination, government failure keep millions of children out of school, report shows - LA Times

Discrimination, government failure keep millions of children out of school, report shows - LA Times:

Discrimination, government failure keep millions of children out of school, report shows

Children from India's Ghasiya tribe say they are called "dirty" and are discriminated against by the teachers and other students at an elementary school in Sonbhadra district in Uttar Pradesh state. (Jayshree Bajoria / Human Rights Watch)

School doors have been slammed on millions of children worldwide because of discriminatory laws and practices and the failure of governments to make sure would-be students get an education, according to a Human Rights Watch report released Friday. 

Nearly 124 million children and adolescents, most of them between the ages of 6 and 15, are not attending school, the report concludes, citing information from the UNESCO Institute for Statistics.

“Governments have left children behind,” said Elin Martinez, a Human Rights Watch children’s rights researcher. “In many cases research has shown it comes down to the basic failure to implement and uphold provisions of the right to education.”

The report, titled “The Education Deficit: Failures to Protect and Fulfill the Right to Education in Global Development Agendas,” based its conclusions on its research in more than 40 countries over nearly 20 years. The report says many governments seem to lack the will to deliver education to children, sometimes failing to make school compulsory or even monitor school attendance.

In millions of cases, the cost to attend school and meet other requirements such as buying books stood as a barrier.

In the Democratic Republic of Congo, many children are forced to live and beg on the streets, driven there by the inability of their parents or guardians to pay for school. 

Discrimination and school violence  are also factors blocking children’s education, according to the report.

In Nepal, the report finds that teachers adhere to social or cultural traditions, such as denigrating people from lower castes, which “perpetuates discrimination in classrooms.” In some schools in India children from lower castes, once called “untouchables,” were made to sit separately in classrooms, or had to wait to eat their free school lunches until other students had eaten, according to the report. And schools predominantly catering to Palestinian Arab and Bedouin children receive less funding and are often overcrowded and understaffed.

The report also documents discrimination by government officials against children with disabilities, particularly in  China and South Africa. In Russia and Serbia, the report says, children with disabilities “are disproportionately institutionalized, often with access Discrimination, government failure keep millions of children out of school, report shows - LA Times:

Court motion to recover millions of dollars from charter schools continues to spark anger | Education | stltoday.com

Court motion to recover millions of dollars from charter schools continues to spark anger | Education | stltoday.com:

Court motion to recover millions of dollars from charter schools continues to spark anger

Seventeen years ago, a group of black parents, the school district, the U.S. Justice Department and others came to an agreement that was intended to put the funding of school desegregation programs forever in the hands of city taxpayers.

Now, they say, the state has violated the agreement by indirectly sending more than $42 million of desegregation money over 10 years to charter schools — money they say should be returned.

It’s an argument filed in an April 11 federal court motion that has touched a nerve among charter school parents and organizers, who could potentially lose their schools if the plaintiffs prevail.

Charter school supporters have begun a social media campaign urging Superintendent Kelvin Adams to “Drop the Suit.” A parody Twitter account for Adams began sending out sarcastic apologies for attempting to bankrupt the city’s 35 charter schools. District officials on Monday were working to have the account taken down.

“If they win this, it will be devastating,” said Marshall Cohen, executive director of Lift For Life Academy, a middle and high school and the oldest charter school in the city. “We wouldn’t be able to continue.”

The action is not a lawsuit against charter schools. It is a motion that seeks to enforce the terms of a 43-year-old case that involved concerned parents — known as the Liddell plaintiffs — who sued on behalf of their children seeking desegregation in St. Louis schools.

The motion involves the district’s Special Administrative Board, the NAACP, the Liddell plaintiffs, the U.S. Justice Department and others who were involved in crafting the 1999 desegregation settlement agreement that grew from that lawsuit.

That year, voters approved a 2/3-cent sales tax to pay for what had become the most expensive school desegregation plan in the nation. The agreement called for $60 million from the sales tax and resulting state aid to go to the district. The tax revenue was intended for district programs specified in the settlement agreement, such as magnet schools, full-day kindergarten, preschool and interdistrict busing for black students to predominantly white suburban schools.

The agreement, approved by then-District Judge Stephen Limbaugh, named the tax as a condition of his approval.

“Furthermore, the revenues generated by the sales tax shall be paid directly to, or assigned by the Transitional District to City Board,” Limbaugh’s memorandum says, referencing the district and the board that governs it.

Honoring voters

The litigation is “not an attack on charters,” said Adolphus Pruitt, president of the St. Louis NAACP, who is among the plaintiffs. It’s an attempt “to honor the wishes of voters when they approved the sales tax,” he added.

“The quagmire in all this is how the state funds poor school districts, and schools that have underserved populations,” Pruitt said. “Poor kids in the public schools and poor kids in the charter schools shouldn’t have to fight one another for money. If anything, we should be fighting together to get the state to step Court motion to recover millions of dollars from charter schools continues to spark anger | Education | stltoday.com:

St. Louis Public Schools says it's owed $42 million from charter schools

The district's Special Administrative Board argues that the Missouri education department is violating the 1999 Desegregation Settlement Agreement in how it funds the city's charter schools. 

Editorial: Lawsuit vow of silence doesn't help SLPS win over taxpayers

The lawsuit filed last month by St. Louis Public Schools seeking $42 million in reimbursements for desegregation funding offers a convincing and probably winnable legal argument about how the district has been short-changed for years. But that doesn’t make the lawsuit right. Officials owe an explanation to taxpayers on why this suit was necessary and how the district will deal with the extreme disruption it could cause.