With A Brooklyn Accent: "Political Correctness" or Common Sense: The Racialized Rhetoric of Donald Trump.

With A Brooklyn Accent: "Political Correctness" or Common Sense: The Racialized Rhetoric of Donald Trump.:

"Political Correctness" or Common Sense: The Racialized Rhetoric of Donald Trump.

I am not coming to the ‪#‎StopTrump‬ movement from an "Ivy Tower" perspective. My coaching experiences in Brooklyn actually have a lot more to do with my opposition to him than my academic training.

During the 80's and early 90's when Brooklyn was a racial tinderbox, I was coaching CYO basketball and sandlot baseball. I took racially mixed teams from my neighborhood into all white neighborhoods like Bensonhurst, Bay Ridge, and Howard Beach and into all Black and Latino neighborhoods like Red Hook, East Flatbush and the neighborhoods near the Farragut houses.

Everyone in these neighborhoods knew how dangerous a time we lived in. And they practiced incredible self restraint. No matter how angry coaches, parents and players got, they NEVER were allowed to refer to the race of an opposing players, much less use a racial slur. This discipline was universally practiced whether the neighborhood was white or Black and Latino. At literaly hundreds of games, some of which involved fierce arguments. The one time that discipline was broken, by parents from a team in Flatbush, I had to break up a near riot at our local gym

THIS is the kind of self-discipline and common sense that Donald Trump refused to follow when attacking a Mexican judge by natioality, or singling out Mexican immigrants as sources of With A Brooklyn Accent: "Political Correctness" or Common Sense: The Racialized Rhetoric of Donald Trump.:

Little Rock schools desegregated 59 years old. Now ‘we are retreating to 1957.’ - The Washington Post

Little Rock schools desegregated 59 years old. Now ‘we are retreating to 1957.’ - The Washington Post:

Little Rock schools desegregated 59 years old. Now ‘we are retreating to 1957.’

The face of the boy in the background reflects his feelings as he looks at two of the six black students who attempted to enter North Little Rock High School on Sept. 9, 1957. The boy and other white students are not identified. The black youths are, Richard Richardson, 17, and Harold Smith, 17, right. (William P. Straeter/AP)

Anyone familiar with efforts to desegregate public schools in this country knows about Central High School in Little Rock, Ark., where, in 1957,  nine black students enrolled at the then all-white school to test the landmark 1954 Supreme Court ruling in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka that declared public school segregation unconstitutional. The students were barred from entering the school on Sept. 4, 1957, by National Guard called in by then-Gov. Orval Faubus, but on Sept. 25, federal troops ordered by then-President Dwight D. Eisenhower, escorted them into the school and they started their first full day.

But there is a new story of Central High — and school segregation — that needs to be told, and in this post, Jeff Bryant does just that. Bryant, director of the Education Opportunity Network, a partnership effort of the Institute for America’s Future and the Opportunity to Learn Campaign. He has written extensively about public education policy. This first appeared on Alternet.org, and I have permission to republish it.

By Jeff Bryant

Stories about historic efforts to address racial segregation in American public education often start with Central High School in Little Rock, Ark., in 1957. But the story of Little Rock and segregation badly needs updating.

Central High became one of the first practical tests of principles established in Brown v. Board of Education, the Supreme Court ruling that overturned racially separate public schools. When nine black students showed up for opening day of the historically all-white school, Arkansas Gov. Orval Faubus called in the National Guard to prevent them from entering. President Dwight D. Eisenhower responded by calling in federal troops to escort the students into the school, and Faubus eventually backed down.

But the story of racial integration in Little Rock shouldn’t be confined to Central High. The same year Central was integrated, another school, Hall High, opened in the all-white part of town with an all white student body. Hall would not integrate until 1959 (Faubus closed all Little Rock high schools in school year 1958-59 to protest federal intervention), when threeLittle Rock schools desegregated 59 years old. Now ‘we are retreating to 1957.’ - The Washington Post: 

CURMUDGUCATION: NV: Vouchers Go To Court

CURMUDGUCATION: NV: Vouchers Go To Court:

NV: Vouchers Go To Court

Last year, Nevada passed a voucher law that was a big wet kiss to reformsters and everyone else who wants to dismantle public education.

It's about the simplest voucher law we've ever seen. The state of Nevada will pay you $5,100 to take your kid out of public school. You can spend your $5,100 on a charter school, a private school, a religious school, or on supplies to home school (does a new roof for my home school building count, I wonder). Unlike other voucher laws which are specifically aimed at poor students or students with disabilities, this law has no limits-- it's for everybody.

There are any number of problems with this approach. We can talk about the philosophical issues with abandoning the whole idea of public education and switching to a system in which we just give parents a tax-funded check to spend on whatever. We can talk about the practical issues of such a system in Nevada, where Clark County (Las Vegas) has one of the biggest school systems in the country, while Esmerelda County has a total population of 783. We can talk about the challenge of extensive state oversight of how these tax dollars are spent (or the irresponsibility of having no such oversight). We can talk about the legal issues (already visited in other voucher cases) of funneling public tax dollars into private religious schools.

The economics are weak as well. Poor kids get a full $5,700 for their vouchers, which is enough money to get into pretty much none of the private schools available (and of course those schools don't have to accept them even if they can make up the difference). Why is it that voucher  and faux voucher choicey programs, the ones that say "All students deserve the same school choices as rich kids" never propose that taxes be raised so that students can receive the kind of money that really goes with those choices?

Instead, we get the usual weak bromides, like the law's sponsor, Senator Scott Hammond, telling CURMUDGUCATION: NV: Vouchers Go To Court:

Are Dems abandoning corporate reform? Some are giddy over Kaine pick #DNC #DemsInPhilly

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Are Dems abandoning corporate reform? Some are giddy over Kaine pick.:

Are Dems abandoning corporate reform? Some are giddy over Kaine pick.

Kaine never mentioned education reform in his DNC speech. 

Lots of ed activists are sending me this piece by Jeff Bryant at Campaign for America's Future. Jeff is a good education writer and usually knows what he's talking about.

Here he says that by adding Tim Kaine (no, Donald, he's not the governor of NJ) to the Clinton ticket, Dems may be abandoning current corporate-style school reform policies, which have plagued public education for the past few decades.

I'm for keeping hope alive, but not convinced.

If true, this would really piss off the likes of DFER, Gates/Broad/Walton power philanthropists, Arne Duncan, John King, Peter Cunningham and Wall St. hedge-fund reformers.

It could also pull opt-out parents and anti-Common Core folks closer to Clinton and  away from Trump.

AFT and NEA leaders are likely gleeful over this supposed shift and see it as redemption (payback) for their premature Clinton endorsement. We'll see.

Bryant writes:

The policy outline for K-12 education coming from the Hillary Clinton presidential campaign remains vague, but supporters of Vermont U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders have substantially altered how public education is framed in the Democratic Party platform, and Clinton has become more strident in her attacks on “for-profit” charter schools and vouchers that allow parents to transfer their children to private schools at taxpayer expense.

Vague indeed.

He refers to a recent piece by Lauren Camera for U.S. News and World Report on Kaine's "hefty education resume." Camera points to the significance of the Kaine choice over New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker, who is "someone who would have been more favorable to big supporters of the high-stakes testing and charter school expansionsMike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Are Dems abandoning corporate reform? Some are giddy over Kaine pick.:

How will history remember the @NAACP on charters? – Cloaking Inequity

How will history remember the @NAACP on charters? – Cloaking Inequity:

How will history remember the @NAACP on charters?

I have written extensively over the years here at Cloaking Inequity about the political framing of school choice as being about civil rights and parental choice. I previously disputed this framing in the post Reframing the Refrain: Choice as a Civil Rights Issue.

Yesterday on Facebook, I posted the article Charter schools reason for Mayor Kevin Johnson’s bad behavior? in a Sacramento Facebook group. A member of the Facebook group commented that charter schools are not a movement and solely about parent choice. I responded by disagreeing and posting the following articles. First, I talked about what appears to be the neoliberal end game for charters that became readily apparent in the Puerto Rico financial crisis.

 Follow

JulianVasquezHeilig @ProfessorJVH

What is the end game for charters and public ed? I think Puerto Rico gave us a preview. https://cloakinginequity.com/2015/11/22/the-progressive-magazine-a-school-crisis/ …

10:33 PM - 27 Jul 2016

The Progressive Magazine: A School Crisis

Politicians in Puerto Rico are seeking to solve decades of fiscal mismanagement by adopting the same education reforms that are hurting children and starving school districts in the mainland United…

cloakinginequity.com

 
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With a few lines of legislative language, Puerto Rican politicians sought the privatization of their schools and the teacher labor force— they legislated an alternative system of private control of education in one fell swoop of a pen. Folks, this is the end game.

Second, school choice is a very WELL funded movement behind the scenes. For example, the Koch Brothers have spent millions and millions of dollars trying to convince Latina/os that school choice is for them via their How will history remember the @NAACP on charters? – Cloaking Inequity:

Koch Brother’s American Legislative Exchange Council pushing for more charter schools - Wait What?

Koch Brother’s American Legislative Exchange Council pushing for more charter schools - Wait What?:

Koch Brother’s American Legislative Exchange Council pushing for more charter schools

Thanks in no small part to Donald Trump’s running mate, Indiana Governor Mike Pence, the right-wing, corporate-funded, pro-privatization, anti-public education, American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) is meeting this week in Indianapolis.

At the top of their privatization agenda — More unaccountable charter schools.

The Center for Media and Democracy reports that at the meeting, “where corporate lobbyists sit side-by-side with state legislators in luxury hotels to vote as equals on ‘model bills’ that then get pushed to become law in states across the country,” a key issue will be the continued expansion of charter schools.  CMD explains;

The for-profit education companies that help fund ALEC, like K12, Inc., have a track record of poor results that tends to result in a high rate of school closures. K12, which was founded in part by junk bond fraudster felon Michael Milken, has a seat and a vote on ALEC’s corporate board.

Two new bills being considered by what ALEC now dubs its “Education and 

Koch Brother’s American Legislative Exchange Council pushing for more charter schools - Wait What?:

Russ on Reading: Getting What We Pay For in Our Schools

Russ on Reading: Getting What We Pay For in Our Schools:

Getting What We Pay For in Our Schools

In September of 1971, I was a 24 year-old third year teacher sitting in the auditorium of  Bristol Junior-Senior High School with my teacher colleagues. Our new superintendent, Dr. Michael Zotos, was up on the stage with transparencies and an overhead projector showing our school district's ranking, based on test scores, against the 12 other school districts in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. Bristol, a small, working class school district with considerable poverty, ranked in the middle of the pack. The superintendent found this concerning.

As a newly minted member of the Bristol Borough Education Association's negotiation team, I had some data, too. I raised my hand.

"Dr. Zotos, I see that the test scores show that we are about average in achievement across the county. Is that correct."

"Yes. As I have shown here."

"Isn't it also true that Bristol Borough teachers are the lowest paid teachers in the county?"

"Yes, from what I saw reported in the papers, that is also true?"

"Well then, Dr. Zotos, couldn't we say that the taxpayers of Bristol are getting a very good bang for their buck?"

"Why, yes, I suppose that is true."

I tell this story today, because forty-five years later research shows that this "bang for the buck" is still true. A report from the Brookings Instituteyesterday cites a recent study by Erik Hanushek and others on teacher cognitive ability in literacy and math around the world. Now normally I am very suspect of research on education done by economists and especially research on education done by economist Erik Hanushek, who is the father of value added measures (VAMs) and fire your way to excellence. While I am circumspect, however, I think their is information of value in this study.

The findings of the study can be summarized as follows. As measured on the Program for International Assessment of Adult Competencies, American teachers are about in the middle of the pack relative to other college Russ on Reading: Getting What We Pay For in Our Schools:

Impact of Racist Stereotypes, Distortions in Textbooks Can't Be Denied, Say Educators

Impact of Racist Stereotypes, Distortions in Textbooks Can't Be Denied, Say Educators:

Educators Call Attention to Racist Stereotypes in Textbooks, Impact on Students

In May, the Texas State Board of Education (SBOE) invited feedback on a new textbook it had commissioned for a Mexican-American Studies elective offered to the state’s schools. Augustin Loredo, a social studies teacher in Pasadena, TX, downloaded the pdf from the state education web site and paged through the 500 + page document.

If formally approved, “Mexican American Heritage” by Valerie Angle and Jaime Riddle, it is safe to say, won’t be a fixture in Loredo’s classroom.

“I’m not touching it. That book will never be used with my students,” he states categorically. Loredo then catches himself and backtracks – just a bit.

“No, wait. Maybe I’ll introduce it to my students as how not to teach Mexican American studies.”

Loredo, who has been teaching the subject for 11 years at South Houston High School, says the book is a travesty. He’s not alone. Educators and activists across the state have mobilized this summer to call attention to the racial stereotypes and historical inaccuracies that are littered throughout the book and demand that the SBOE reject it and start over.

For example, in a section on foreign business investment in Mexico in the late 1800s, the authors wallow in gratuitous stereotyping:

“[Industrialists] were used to their workers putting in a full day’s work, quietly and obediently, and respecting rules, authority, and property. In contrast, Mexican laborers were not reared to put in a full day’s work so vigorously. …There was a cultural attitude of ‘mañana,’ or ‘tomorrow,’ when it came to high-gear production. It was also traditional to skip work on Mondays, and drinking on the job could be a problem.”

Then there’s this passage on assimilation:

“Cubans seemed to fit into Miami well, for example, and find their niche in the business community. Mexicans, on the other hand, seemed more ambivalent about assimilating into the American system and accepting American values…The concern that many Mexican-Americans feel disconnected from American cultures and values is still present.”

The book also claims the 1960s-era Chicano Movement “adopted a revolutionary narrative that opposed Western civilization and wanted to destroy this society.”

The text really isn’t about Mexican American heritage, says Ovidia Molina, vice-president of the Texas State Teachers Association.

“It’s more concerned with how White people have to deal with people coming from Mexico. It portrays Mexicans as not wanting to assimilate – just looking to take over and grab whatever they can get.”

Video: “Offensive Stereotypes, Distorts History”

What Happens in Texas Doesn’t Stay in Texas

What is exasperating for educators and activists is that the proposed book materialized out of a modest but genuine victory for educators and students in Impact of Racist Stereotypes, Distortions in Textbooks Can't Be Denied, Say Educators:

Schedule & Speakers | Thursday, July 28th | 2016 Democratic National Convention #DNC #DemsInPhilly

Schedule & Speakers | Thursday, July 28th | 2016 Democratic National Convention:

Schedule & Speakers | Thursday, July 28th | 2016 Democratic National Convention

Hillary Clinton Breaks The Glass Ceiling

THURSDAY JULY 28 | 10:00 AM - 12:00 PM ET - PENNYSLVANIA CONVENTION CENTER, TERRRACE I-IV

Women’s Caucus

The Pennsylvania Convention Center is home to many important official party events, including caucus and council meetings. These caucus and council meetings are open to the general public.

THURSDAY JULY 28 | 12:00 PM - 2:00 PM ET - PENNSYLVANIA CONVENTION CENTER, 118ABC

LGBT Caucus

The Pennsylvania Convention Center is home to many important official party events, including caucus and council meetings. These caucus and council meetings are open to the general public.

THURSDAY JULY 28 | 12:00 PM - 2:00 PM ET - PENNSYLVANIA CONVENTION CENTER, 121BC

Senior Council

The Pennsylvania Convention Center is home to many important official party events, including caucus and council meetings. These caucus and council meetings are open to the general public.

THURSDAY JULY 28 | 2:00 PM - 4:00 PM ET - PENNSYLVANIA CONVENTION CENTER, 122AB

Rural Council

The Pennsylvania Convention Center is home to many important official party events, including caucus and council meetings. These caucus and council meetings are open to the general public.

THURSDAY JULY 28 | 4:30 PM ET - WELLS FARGO CENTER

Gavel In

THURSDAY JULY 28 | WELLS FARGO CENTER

Henrietta Ivey

Henrietta is a home care worker Hillary met while campaigning in Michigan who is helping to lead the Fight for $15.

THURSDAY JULY 28 | WELLS FARGO CENTER

Beth Mathias

Beth works two jobs and her husband works the nightshift at a factory in Ohio. Hillary met Beth at a roundtable in Marion.

THURSDAY JULY 28 | WELLS FARGO CENTER

Jensen Walcott & Jake Reed

Jensen was fired from her job at a pizza restaurant in Bonner Springs, KS for asking her boss why she was paid 25 cents less than her male co-worker and friend, Jake. After Jensen and Jake’s story came to light, Hillary tweeted “Good for you, Jensen. Every woman deserves equal pay, no matter what her age. Keep up the hard work—and courage!”

THURSDAY JULY 28 | WELLS FARGO CENTER

Khizr Khan

Khizr Khan’s son, Humayun S. M. Khan was a University of Virginia graduate and enlisted in the U.S. Army. Khan was one of 14 American Muslims who died serving the United States in the ten years after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. Clinton spoke extensively about Kahn during a speech in Minneapolis.

THURSDAY JULY 28 | WELLS FARGO CENTER

Chelsea Clinton

 SPEAKER: Chelsea Clinton

THURSDAY JULY 28 | WELLS FARGO CENTER

Hillary Clinton

 SPEAKER: Secretary Hillary Clinton

THURSDAY JULY 28 | WELLS FARGO CENTER

Gavel Out

Schedule & Speakers | Thursday, July 28th | 2016 Democratic National Convention:

Coup-attempting Gülenist group operates near 140 charter schools in US - Daily Sabah

Coup-attempting Gülenist group operates near 140 charter schools in US - Daily Sabah:

Coup-attempting Gülenist group operates near 140 charter schools in US

The mastermind of the July 15 failed coup in Turkey, Gülenist Terror Organization (FETÖ) owns one of the largest charter schools networks in the U.S., with about 140 schools across the U.S.

Residing in Pennsylvania since 1999, FETÖ's ringleader, Fethullah Gülen, is known as the man who controls these schools and the $500 million annual income he gets for these from the U.S. government, according to some U.S. media reports.

The schools in the U.S., some of which have changed names over time, were opened in the late 1990's and beginning of 2000's. Around 60,000 students attend the schools annually.

Both the documentary "Killing Ed" about FETÖ schools, directed by American Mark Hall and an article in the Huffington Post written by Anna Clark, say that the U.S. government makes payment per student to these charter schools and that FETÖ's economic pool grows even bigger with the newly opened schools.

According to another recent article written by Valerie Straus at the Washington Post, FETÖ's 46 schools only in Texas, get $250 million from the U.S. government.

Having huge resources already from the charter schools, FETÖ's economic volume is even bigger when its other functioning structures -- such as companies, firms -- in the U.S. are considered.

While the administrators of FETÖ schools reject that they are connected to FETÖ's leader Gülen, the financial relationships between the schools and other FETÖ institutions reveal that they are.

FETÖ's schools in the U.S. are usually gathered under some umbrella organizations and are managed through foundations. As an example, there are 46 schools -- all under the name "Harmony" in Texas, 30 schools under the name "Concept" in and around Ohio and 11 campuses of schools in California under the name "Magnolia".

Some of FETÖ's schools are currently under the FBI investigation for irregularity, unlawful profit, corruption, fraudulent tender and forgery of documents.

The investigations first began on Dec. 11, 2013, after an FBI raid on the Kenilworth Science and Technology Academy in Louisiana's Baton Rouge city and spread to other FETÖ schools afterwards.

The first leg of the FBI investigation was over the irregularity of the 30 Chicago-based "Concept" Schools for transferring more than $5 million U.S. governmental support for the schools to its members. The investigation continues.

Investigations are also going on in 19 schools in Ohio, Indiana and Illinois over white-collar crimes. As part of the ongoing investigations, several documents of the Concept schools -- to which the investigated schools belong -- are retained by the police.

The investigation over Concept schools is conducted through the suspicion of violation of rules on competition for using U.S. government's E-Rate program that makes telecommunications and information services more affordable for schools and libraries in the U.S.

The first complaint applications to investigate FETÖ's charter schools in California last February and Pennsylvania were made by the Amsterdam&Partners LLP law firm. Then, the firm made the third investigation application in Texas.

In California's case, the firm made its application to the California Education Ministry to investigate financial flows of FETÖ's 11 Magnolia Schools.

According to the head of the firm, Robert Amsterdam, one senior manager who was hired in 2009 at Magnolia Schools, signed a contract with a firm for the 2011-2012 education term worth of $700,000. The same person became the head of that firm in a short period.

On April 4, 2016, Amsterdam&Partners LLP law firm submitted a lawsuit petition over another FETÖ related firm, Solidarity. According to Amsterdam, one of FETO's Harmony Schools' directors, who became head of Solidarity, was provided a construction business worth $22 million in only two years.

While the judicial processes continue over FETÖ's schools in the U.S., the American public has also started to express more inconvenience about the schools, according to U.S. media reports.

Last year, Congressman Raul Grijalva sent a letter to the Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, demanding a report over investigations on FETÖ's schools.

Also parents, whose children attend those schools, complain that these schools' teachers who come from Turkey "can't speak English" and have no "scientific qualifications", according to media reports.Coup-attempting Gülenist group operates near 140 charter schools in US - Daily Sabah:

 How Erdogan United Turkey Against Fethullah Gulen | TIME - http://ti.me/2aesi36 on TIME

Big Education Ape: Reclusive Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen, who lives in Pennsylvania, blamed for failed coup in Turkey - LA Times -http://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2016/07/reclusive-muslim-cleric-fethullah-gulen.html

Big Education Ape: US would consider extradition request for exiled cleric -http://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2016/07/us-would-consider-extradition-request.html


 Big Education Ape: Fethullah Gulen: The Islamic scholar Turkey blames for the failed coup - The Washington Post - http://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2016/07/fethullah-gulen-islamic-scholar-turkey.html

Big Education Ape: Jersey Jazzman: What We Don't Know About Gulen-Linked Charter Schools, And Why That's a Problem - http://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2016/07/jersey-jazzman-what-we-dont-know-about.html

Big Education Ape: Coup in Turkey: Is Fetullah Gulen Behind It? | Diane Ravitch's blog - http://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2016/07/coup-in-turkey-is-fetullah-gulen-behind.html

Big Education Ape: KILLING ED: 120 American Charter Schools and One Secretive Turkish Cleric -http://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2016/01/killing-ed-120-american-charter-schools.html

 Big Education Ape: Update: Gulen Harmony charter school network accused of bias and self-dealing Dallas Morning News - http://go.shr.lc/1qV85Hm

Big Education Ape: Turkey Links Texas Charter Schools to Dissident - WSJ - http://go.shr.lc/1OW1ZfV

Big Education Ape: Magnolia Science Academy - A Gulen Charter School: Gulen Magnolia Science Academy links discussed at LAUSD board meeting -http://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2016/06/magnolia-science-academy-gulen-charter.html

AFT President: Under ESSA, Teaching, Not Accountability, Poised to Take the Lead #DNC #DemsInPhilly - EdWeek

AFT President: Under ESSA, Teaching, Not Accountability, Poised to Take the Lead - Politics K-12 - Education Week:

AFT President: Under ESSA, Teaching, Not Accountability, Poised to Take the Lead

Philadelphia

She's doing a fair bit of walking as she makes the rounds during the Democratic National Convention here on Wednesday, but American Federation of Teachers President Rand Weingarten actually has a car on her mind.

This year represents a reset, in Weingarten's view, thanks to the Every Student Succeeds Act. Itsemphasis on a greater range of academic subjects, de-emphasis of testing in accountability, and greater policy flexibility for states and districts offer schools a new "engine" in ESSA, she said.

And she wants her union to be the "vehicle" for those changes, after nearly eight years of President Barack Obama's administration that often left the AFT on the outs and very frustrated with Democrats in Washington.

"I love President Obama," Weingarten said between a DNC convocation being led by her partner, Sharon Kleinbaum, and a meeting of the DNC's Labor Council downtown. But under Obama , she added, "We had an environment where we led with accountability instead of where we led with teaching."

Many educators here at the DNC have standardized testing on their minds. But ESSA doesn't change the basic required state testing regimen of the No Child Left Behind Act. We asked Weingarten how Clinton, given ESSA, could substantively address some teachers' ongoing criticisms about the volume of tests.

She didn't directly offer possible policy routes for Clinton, but did highlight the need to create a "pro-public-education environment" and for the next president to use the bully pulpit to do so.

"We trust that this is going to change," Weingarten said of the pre-ESSA environment in classrooms, "but it hasn't changed" yet.

Unions: We 'Kind of Did' Write the DNC Platform

Both Weingarten and her counterpart, National Education Association President Lily Eskelsen García, are in the City of Brotherly Love supporting the Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, whom their unions endorsed early in the Democratic primary. They both spoke briefly on Monday night at the DNC. But not everyone on the convention floor was pleased with the unions' decision to quickly jump on board with Clinton. (More on that below.)

The conventions are both energizing and exhausting, Weingarten said. However, switch the subject to the GOP's nominee, Donald Trump, and she shows anger and exasperation, albeit in different forms.

When Trump is brought up during a panel discussion about K-12 hosted by the Atlantic, Weingarten and National Education President Lily Eskelsen García, seated next to each other, seem to sag, then they lean in close to each other and share something between a groan and a grin. Then Weingarten weighs in with her support for Clinton: "She listens to people all the time."

Their enthusiasm for Clinton, and the party's overall direction, is clear. During the Atlantic panel, Eskelsen García proudly points to the Democratic Party platform on education that opposes using tests to evaluate and trigger consequences for students, teachers, and schools. She adds that the union might have written the key elements of the platform and then adds, "I think we actually kind of did." (We chronicled some of Eskelen García's time at the convention yesterday.)

However, when we pointed out later that Trump doesn't talk about education much, and asked Weingarten whether she thought a President Trump might treat K-12 issues with a sort of benign neglect, she bristled, saying that the AFT President: Under ESSA, Teaching, Not Accountability, Poised to Take the Lead - Politics K-12 - Education Week: