Big Education Ape

Tuesday, March 14, 2017

Isn’t desegregation a measure of educational quality? - The Hechinger Report

Isn’t desegregation a measure of educational quality? - The Hechinger Report:

Isn’t desegregation a measure of educational quality?
Real reform begins early and accounts for racial and economic diversity

Admit it. Many middle-class families are scared to send their children to schools with low-income children of color.

More than 60 years after the landmark Supreme Court decision, Brown v. Board of Education, that mandated desegregation in schools, and after 25 years of education reform, white families aren’t flocking to neighborhood schools or charters with black children. In my view, faith-based schools are filled with people who are afraid of poor folk as much as they are God-fearing.

If we’re honest, the racial bias associated with high concentrations of low-income black and brown students is the main reason why people whisper, “I’m not going to experiment with my kid.”

There are some people who aren’t afraid. Teachers and school personnel who work with low-income students are more likely to trust their own work and don’t see students as liabilities or risks. If teachers commit to sending their own children to public schools maybe people who pay tuition to alleviate their fears will follow.

Join the conversation later on Andre Perry’s radio show, “Free College,” hosted Tuesdays on WBOK1230 in New Orleans at 3pm Central/4pm Eastern 504.260.9265.

A coalition of seven charter school management organizations (CMOs) in New Orleans and the Kingsley House, a non-profit that serves low-income and vulnerable populations, have partnered to offer a “diverse by design” early childhood center. Diverse by design is the latest jargon that describes a concerted effort to create racial and Isn’t desegregation a measure of educational quality? - The Hechinger Report:

Ed Notes Online: Jersey Jazzman: Republicans Must Own Trump; "Reformers" Must Own DeVos

Ed Notes Online: Jersey Jazzman: Republicans Must Own Trump; "Reformers" Must Own DeVos:

Jersey Jazzman: Republicans Must Own Trump; "Reformers" Must Own DeVos

Some of the center-right is disavowing Trump, even though they were instrumental in creating him -- just like some of the neoliberal school "reformers" are disavowing Betsy DeVos, even though they were instrumental in creating her... Jersey Jazzman

On this snowy day I'm clearing out some archives I've been saving. I continue the exploration of the Democrats and their support for ed deform with this Jersey Jazzman Feb. 12 piece I've had on my desktop over the past month because he makes so many important points. And once again let me point out that our teacher unions have been fairly lockstep with elements of ed deform from its earliest days even though you may hear some sqwauking now and them. The proof in the pudding is their consistent support for Dem candidates who are avid ed deformers.

JJ's thesis is summed up in the title: Republicans Must Own Trump; "Reformers" Must Own DeVos

Donald Trump was inevitable. That he is a product of a political and media system in which Sullivan and Frum have held positions of influence for years. That the conservative/neo-liberal framing of the issues (what Atrios calls the "Free Republic to New Republic" range of acceptable discourse) set up the rise of a nationalist like Trump.

He goes on to quote neo-liberal Dems (New Republic and DFER's Shavar Jeffries) who try to distinguish between their brand of school choice and DeVos'. But JJ is not having any of that.

what's remarkable here is the attempt to separate DeVos from the entire "reform" project -- just like the center-right is trying to separate itself from Trump. Sorry, my reformy friends, but you don't get away that easily. In the same way "moderate conservatives" have set up Trump, you've set up DeVos.

He then lists the essentials of how the deform movement has prepped us for a DeVos type:
1) The "reform" movement has repeatedly -- and with very little evidence -- sold America on the idea that its schools are "failures."

2) The "reform" movement has refused to acknowledge that the primary causes of the "opportunity gap" are the inequitable lives of children outside of school.

3) The "reform" movement has repeatedly blamed teachers and their unions for the "failure" of America's schools, ignoring the lack of adequate educational resources, especially for schools serving at-risk children.

4) The "reform" movement has worked to de-professionalize education by repeatedly suggesting experience is an impediment, and not a virtue.

Read the full piece to get an effective explanation of each of the above and use these arguments the next time you are at a family dinner or end up in a debate with people about "choice."

http://jerseyjazzman.blogspot.com/2017/02/republicans-must-own-trump-reformers.html

Ed Notes Online: Jersey Jazzman: Republicans Must Own Trump; "Reformers" Must Own DeVos:

Did Betsy DeVos just ask states to ignore part of federal education law? - The Washington Post

Did Betsy DeVos just ask states to ignore part of federal education law? - The Washington Post:

Did Betsy DeVos just ask states to ignore part of federal education law?

Did Education Secretary Betsy DeVos just ask states to ignore a part of the K-12 federal education law, the Every Student Succeeds Act?

Let’s look at what she said — and what the law says — about whom state officials should consult as they draw up ESSA accountability plans to be submitted to the Education Department for approval. These plans are supposed to show how states will establish student performance goals and create a system to hold schools “accountable” for student progress.

The ESSA says that state education agencies (SEAs), when developing their accountability plans, must consult with outside stakeholders, including teachers, principals, parents, administrators and others. Language in the law says:

That language makes clear that outside stakeholders are to be included in the process, a requirement outlined in regulations released by former president Barack Obama’s Education Department in November. Congress recently voted to throw out all of the Obama administration’s ESSA regulations.

[House overturns two Obama-era education regulations]

On Monday, the Education Department issued different language in a new “template” that states can use to create their ESSA accountability plans. It has far fewer requirements than the Obama administration’s template by design; DeVos has said power should be with the states to decide how to run their schools. The new template says states must consult only with one party: the governor.

The new template says:

In its consolidated State plan, each SEA may, but is not required to, include supplemental information such as its overall vision for improving outcomes for all students and its efforts to consult with and engage stakeholders when developing its consolidated State plan.

The department also released a list of frequently asked questions and answers about the new Did Betsy DeVos just ask states to ignore part of federal education law? - The Washington Post:

Marshall Tuck running again for state superintendent | EdSource

Marshall Tuck running again for state superintendent | EdSource:

Marshall *uck running again for state superintendent

Marshall Tuck, who narrowly lost to incumbent State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson in 2014, became the first candidate Monday to announce he’s running to succeed Torlakson, whose final term is up next year.

A former charter school executive and administrator of independently run schools in Los Angeles Unified, Tuck said in an interview that he’s pursuing the job for the same reason he ran the first time: to challenge the nation’s wealthiest state to commit its innovation and attention to improving education for the state’s highest-poverty students.

In 2014, Tuck, Torlakson and independent campaign committees spent $30 million – three times the spending in the governor’s race – in the most expensive statewide campaign that year. The California Teachers Association and other unions backed Torlakson, and wealthy donors, many of whom were heavy contributors to charter schools, supported Tuck in what became a referendum on workplace protections for teachers. Torlakson won with 52 percent of the vote. (For some of EdSource’s articles on the campaign, go here, here and here.)

Tuck, 43, said he continues to favor revising the state’s tenure law, granting due process rights in less than two years, and revising the state’s teacher evaluation system. But the issues of overriding importance, he said, are the need to establish “phenomenal” training and mentoring programs for principals and new teachers and “for more support for students with the greatest needs.”

There was an overemphasis in the last campaign on the 10 percent of the issues that were divisive and less on the other 90 percent, he said. The critical shortage of special education teachers “has a greater level of importance than a better tenure policy,” he said.

The nonpartisan office of state superintendent runs the California Department of Education, but the State Board of Education, appointed by the governor, sets education policy. Still, Tuck said, the state superintendent has influence, and the department’s primary challenge, in an era of local control, should be to identify and spread best instructional practices.

Tuck praised changes in school financing and governance under Gov. Jerry Brown: the Local Control Funding Formula, which channels significant money to low-income children and English learners, and the state’s new school accountability system, which incorporates multiple ways of measuring school performance. But, he said, there needs to be a closer examination to see that the neediest students areMarshall Tuck running again for state superintendent | EdSource:

Flint Water Crisis: Judge Orders Apology From Former Health Official - Detroit, MI Patch

Flint Water Crisis: Judge Orders Apology From Former Health Official - Detroit, MI Patch:

Flint Water Crisis: Judge Orders Apology From Former Health Official

Corrine Miller, who avoided felony charges in a plea deal, knew of the deadly Legionnaire’s epidemic but said nothing, a prosecutor said.

FLINT, MI — Corrine Miller, formerly the top epidemiologist for Michigan’s public health department, was ordered by a judge Monday to apologize to residents of Flint for failing to disclose evidence that linked a deadly outbreak of Legionnaire’s disease to the city’s improperly treated water supply. A dozen people have died of Legionnaire’s disease, and nearly 100 have been sickened since 2014.

Last September, Miller cut a deal with prosecutors to avoid felony charges in exchange for cooperation in the investigation and a plea of no contest to misdemeanor charge of willful neglect of duty by a public official. Pronouncing the sentence Monday, Genesee County District Judge Jennifer Manley also placed Miller on probation for one year and ordered her to perform 300 hours of community service.

Miller’s lawyer, Kristen Guinn, balked at the surprise requirement of a letter of apology, saying the public mea culpa could hurt her client in civil lawsuits.

However, Manley wasn’t swayed and said the letter was “perfectly appropriate in this case,” the Associated Press reported.

Flint’s water emergency began when tests showed dangerously high levels of lead after the city switched its water supply from Lake Huron to the Flint River in 2014. The water was highly corrosive, causing the lead in the city’s water pipes to leach, and was not properly treated.

Experts have linked the improperly treated water to the spike in Legionnaire’s disease.

See Also: Systemic Racism Played Role In Flint Water Crisis: Report

Legionella is a type of bacterium found naturally in freshwater environments, like lakes and streams. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found a genetic link between the water and patients who had contracted the disease, and a widely published expert on Legionnaire’s disease, Dr. Janet Stout, wrote in an affidavit filed with state regulators earlier this month that the Flint water system was the likely source of the Legionnaire’s disease outbreak, The Flint Journal reported.

Special Prosecutor Todd Flood, who put together Miller’s plea agreement last fall, said that as early as January 2015, the former director of the Bureau of Disease Control, Prevention and Epidemiology was aware that 42 cases of Legionnaire’s disease had occurred in Genesee County in the months following the water source switch.

Miller, who retired in June from the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, knew the outbreak had Flint Water Crisis: Judge Orders Apology From Former Health Official - Detroit, MI Patch:

BATs Legislative Briefing on Education and Equity = Badass Teachers Association

Badass Teachers Association:

BATs Legislative Briefing on Education and Equity

This document was originally titled White House Conference on Education and Equity. It has since been changed. Betsy DeVos has also been added as someone we will not invite to our legislative briefing on education and equity. BATs involvement with the #WeChoose national coalition has also been added to this document.

The Badass Teachers Association, representing a network of over 200,000 teachers and education activists throughout the United States, formally request a Legislative Briefing on Education and Equity.

Our organization stands firmly against the serious harm being perpetrated to public education by both corporate privatization and right wing fiscal starvation policies. The current political rhetoric strengthens our resolve to reclaim the rights of all children to a free public education.

We focus on the many reasons poverty is claiming the lives and health of our children, and we focus on keeping our K-12 schools from privatization and the target of under-funding.

Our organization proposes that a Legislative Briefing be initiated. Like much of the American landscape, Public K-12 Education requires infrastructure overhaul that have been installed to insert barriers that inhibit authentic learning. We do not accept the mendacity that racial and ethnic minorities must fail due to a manufactured system that sets them up to do so.

We witness what happens when social justice safeguards are removed by forces that hide inside school choice and free market de-regulation. Public school teachers are this country’s first responders against the effects of poverty.

School privatization profits from systemic racism and use their profits to build higher barriers and deeper inequities. Testing monopolies and “business” style management practices now glean millions exploiting our children and disregard our students with special needs and English Language Learners. These efforts must not go unchecked.

Some of these barriers we’ve revealed as part of the Reform/privatization agenda include:

Monopoly control over ill-suited testing; over-testing;denied access to special needs and ELL services;deterioration of facilities that threaten teacher and student health; targeting teachers for speaking out about inequity;placement of the unqualified and inexperienced TFA personnel into districts;school closings/turnovers/receiverships in districts with high minority enrollment for the purpose of gentrification; funds digressed from public education into charter programs with no accountability; ‘test and punish’ replacing humane classroom management practices we believe is child abuse and feeds the school to prison pipeline; monopoly control over our state licensing, certification and professional development; teacher bullying; micromanagement of teacher Badass Teachers Association:

If you don’t like it when teachers work to the clock, why do you have us punch in and punch out? | Fred Klonsky

If you don’t like it when teachers work to the clock, why do you have us punch in and punch out? | Fred Klonsky:

If you don’t like it when teachers work to the clock, why do you have us punch in and punch out?

Governor Rauner vetoed a $215 million payment to CPS earmarked for earned pensions.

The Mayor through his surrogate CPS CEO Forrest Claypool has threatened to close schools two weeks early and called four furlough days costing students valuable instructional time and a ten percent cut in pay for teachers.

The Chicago Teachers Union has responded by considering a one-day strike on May 1st and calling on teachers to work to their contract time and not a minute more.

Teachers work an average of 58 hours per week during the school year, according to a 2012 study conducted by Professor Robert Bruno of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign,
That includes nine hours per day at school on average — even though students are in session for no more than seven hours — and two hours at home during the evening, according to the study.
On weekends, teachers spend an average of 3 hours and 45 minutes on work, and 12 days during schools’ summer break, according to the study.

American schools are funded in large part by the free time of teachers working off the clock and by our out of pocket spending for books and supplies.

Who is the real enemy Peter? Rauner or Rahm? It is a Hobson’s Choice.

A personal memory: When our Park Ridge teachers union was engaged in difficult bargaining we too asked our members to work their contractual hours. It was the If you don’t like it when teachers work to the clock, why do you have us punch in and punch out? | Fred Klonsky:

Learn about NEA 360 - an exciting new way to connect with members and share ideas with your EdCommunities.- YouTube

NEA 360 - An Introduction - YouTube:
Learn about NEA 360 - an exciting new way to connect with members and share ideas with your EdCommunities.

NEA 360 - An Introduction - YouTube:

DeVos Says the Real Problem in Education Is the Federal Government - Education Law Prof Blog

Education Law Prof Blog:

DeVos Says the Real Problem in Education Is the Federal Government

The structure the Every Student Succeeds Act creates for supporting, monitoring, and improving public schools is, in the collective, incoherent. The Every Student Succeeds Act is the popular title of the most recent reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. The Every Student Succeeds Act, however, stands apart from its predecessors. All prior versions have been premised on improving educational opportunities for disadvantaged students by promoting equality in inputs, equality in outputs, or both. The Every Student Succeeds Act proceeds as though we can improve educational opportunities for disadvantaged students without equality in inputs or outputs. This would be quite a novel, if not incoherent, thesis.

In a lecture last week, I remarked that the more forgiving thesis I might ascribe to the Act is that if the federal government would get out of the way of states states would devise their own new theories by which to achieve equality or would simply achieve input and/or output equality of their own volition. Yesterday, Betsy DeVos confirmed my speculation was correct. At the annual legislative conference of the Council of the Great City Schools, a coalition of 68 big-city school system, DeVos remarked “When Washington gets out of your way, you should be able to unleash new and creative thinking to set children up for success.”

I knew it. Washington is the problem and the Every Student Succeeds Act has cured it. States did not really need the couple hundred billion dollars that the federal government gave to states during the recession to keep their education budgets from falling off a cliff and teachers being wholesale dismissed. It was really the federal government that made states cut education by 20 or so percent once they exhausted federal stimulus funds. It was really the federal government that forced some states to slash taxes rather than fund education. It was really the federal government that has insisted that over half of the states continue to fund education at levels below the pre-recession years, even though their tax revenues exceed pre-recession levels. It was really the federal government that insisted that states spend more money in schools that do not serve low-income students than in those that do.

If only President Obama had appointed Betsy Devos eight years ago, we could have avoided this mess.

Or maybe the flawed logic of the Every Student Succeeds Act and Betsy DeVos are just window dressing for the fact that many no longer believe equality is possible or a virtue worth pursuing. This is an idea that would likely cause many educators and families to revolt, just as they did in opposition to DeVos, which is why the window dressing is necessary.

For more on the federal role in education and the Every Student Succeeds Act, see here.

Education Law Prof Blog:

Here's What You Should Know About That Voucher Bill From Rep. Steve King | Crooks and Liars

Whoops Steve King's 'Abolish The Education Department' Bill May Be DOA | Crooks and Liars:

Whoops Steve King's 'Abolish The Education Department' Bill May Be DOA

Image result for U.S. Rep. Steve King is a racist

While we're distracted by Trump's insanity, Congressman Steve "thighs the size of cantaloupes" King of Iowa has introduced HR 610:

This bill repeals the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 and limits the authority of the Department of Education (ED) such that ED is authorized only to award block grants to qualified states.
The bill establishes an education voucher program, through which each state shall distribute block grant funds among local educational agencies (LEAs) based on the number of eligible children within each LEA's geographical area. From these amounts, each LEA shall: (1) distribute a portion of funds to parents who elect to enroll their child in a private school or to home-school their child, and (2) do so in a manner that ensures that such payments will be used for appropriate educational expenses.

And while I still want you to be hair-on-fire mad about this bill, it's likely dead in the water because whoops right-wing homeschool advocates hate it too.

Turns out The Home School Legal Defense Association, which claims 84,000 members and like a lot of right-wing organizations outweighs its membership numbers on the Republican Hill, has come out strongly against King's bill because it "would be a slippery slope toward more federal involvement and control in homeschooling."

And as if this bill didn't have that going for it, Breitbart (no link because...no) noticed this too. As I said, dead in the water.

Like healthcare, messing with education can make all sorts of people mad, and if making only one set of people (teachers unions and public education advocates) mad is your goal, you are likely to fail.

I don't expect them to stop trying and neither should you. Vigilance is as important as resistance.

PS this lovely bill also removes nutrition requirements from the school lunch program. Special!

Whoops Steve King's 'Abolish The Education Department' Bill May Be DOA | Crooks and Liars:

The Trump/DeVos Privatization Agenda Begins to Take Shape - Network For Public Education - https://wp.me/s3bR9v-8851

Rep. Steve King Introduces Bill To Begin De-funding of Public Education - http://www.dailykos.com/story/2017/2/23/1636961/-Rep-Steve-King-Introduces-Bill-To-Begin-De-funding-of-Public-Education

Here's What You Should Know About That Voucher Bill From Rep. Steve King - Politics K-12 - Education Week - http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/campaign-k-12/2017/03/voucher_bill_steve_king_few_things_to_know.html

U.S. Rep. Steve King is a racist. But he keeps getting re-elected | Arkansas Blog - http://www.arktimes.com/ArkansasBlog/archives/2017/03/14/us-rep-steve-king-is-a-racist-but-he-keeps-getting-re-elected

H.R.610 - 115th Congress (2017-2018): To distribute Federal funds for elementary and secondary education in the form of vouchers for eligible students and to repeal a certain rule relating to nutrition standards in schools. | Congress.gov | Library of Congress - https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/house-bill/610

Steve King, Hurling Insults at Immigrants, Is Rebuked by His Own Party - The New York Times - https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/13/us/politics/steve-king-babies-civilization.html

Betsy DeVos: Religion, Money, and School Choice | janresseger

Betsy DeVos: Religion, Money, and School Choice | janresseger:

Betsy DeVos: Religion, Money, and School Choice

When we think about public schools and religion, there are some clear boundaries, and it is important to recognize them and understand how various churches and Christian denominations understand them, because there are distinctions. These issues are relevant today because some people who are part of Donald Trump’s administration want to bend the boundaries.

Protecting freedom of religion, the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution says: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” The first clause (the Establishment Clause) protects against the government’s endorsing any one religion as the religion of our society, and the second clause (the Free Exercise Clause) guarantees citizens of the United States the right to practice whatever religion they choose or not to practice a religion. Our Constitution protects religious diversity, which has historically been understood to mean that public schools, defined by their acceptance of public tax dollars, may not force children to practice any particular religion.

It is also essential to understand these issues with some nuance. Betsy DeVos was brought up in what is known as one of the Reformed denominations, and she is known to want to bend the boundaries on protection of religious freedom, but this does not mean that all members of Reformed Protestant denominations share her views about bending the First Amendment rules in publicly funded schools. The Presbyterian Church USA and the United Church of Christ, for example, are well known Reformed communions that strenuously defend the separation of church and state in public schools.

Neither should it be assumed that all charitable partnerships of churches with public schools cross the boundary and abuse the principle of religious liberty. It is perfectly appropriate for churches to donate backpacks filled with school supplies, tutor children in public schools, help set up and staff after-school programs, and set up and help staff computer labs near schools that lack such facilities as long as the work is charitable and lacks the goal and practice of evangelism. Many such programs across the country assist children and teachers, and their sponsors adhere to principles declared by the First Amendment Center and endorsed by Jewish, Islamic, Catholic, and Protestant communities of faith.

In a very important article in Rolling Stone, Betsy DeVos’ Holy War, Janet Reitman, the reporter, has provided a very important profile of Betsy DeVos and her circle of Christian extremists. But in some subtle ways, Reitman makes assumptions about Reformed church denominations and assumptions about church partnerships with public schools that call into question the commitment of those involved with public school support programs. All Betsy DeVos: Religion, Money, and School Choice | janresseger:

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