CURMUDGUCATION: Another Free Market Lesson

CURMUDGUCATION: Another Free Market Lesson

Another Free Market Lesson

Even as Florida continues its race to become the first state to completely do away with public education and replace it with a free market free for all, lessons abound in why that's a lousy idea.

This frickin ' guy.

At Tarbell, Simon Davis-Cohen takes us on a trip to Iowa where an ALEC governor privatized Medicaid. Former governor Terry Branstad was a founding member of the American Legislative Exchange Council, a special group that brings corporate movers and shakers together with legislators to share the really cool legislative ideas the corporations have come up with. Branstad's bright idea to privatize Medicaid was sold as a cost-cutter and became reality in 2016.

It has gone badly, and how it has gone badly is instructive for folks contemplating privatization of other necessary public institutions.

“In private insurance, denial is the rule, not the exception,” says Glenn Hurst, a doctor who runs a rural health clinic in Western Iowa. Hurst is referring to the tendency of private health insurers to challenge most bills they receive. Tarbell found reports from across Iowa indicate legitimate Medicaid claims are being regularly denied by private insurance companies — wreaking havoc since Medicaid was handed to private managed care organizations (MCOs) in 2016. A few years into privatization, delayed and denied reimbursements to Medicaid providers are hurting Iowans, doctors say.

The privatization has costs millions of dollars just in person-hours spent pursuing payment. The move has also been followed by waves of reduced benefit and coverage. The delay and denial of CONTINUE READING: CURMUDGUCATION: Another Free Market Lesson

Let Us March On 'Til Victory Is Won | The Jose Vilson

Let Us March On 'Til Victory Is Won | The Jose Vilson

LET US MARCH ON ‘TIL VICTORY IS WON

Even on concrete, my shoes manage to screech at me when I’m chasing down a crosstown bus at 6:45 in the morning. My robust frame belies my uncanny ability to accelerate as the neon green sign flashes from a block away. Upon entering the bus, I’m met with less eyerolls like someone who’s holding up the bus and more with incredulity that I made it. I thank the bus driver whose coffee still hasn’t kicked in while driving dozens of passengers to their respective stops. We stop at a mosque, a church, and a Dominican bodega in succession. The screeches continue as I float down the subway steps, through the turnstiles, and between the closing doors of the C train.

By the time I’ve made it to my third floor classroom desk, I’ve clocked in 3,000 steps. I have yet to start the marathon.

Throughout this trip and the few others since last week, Beyoncé’s hitting another riff in her latest production, Homecoming (Live). She hums, chants, harrumphs, and raps through the touchstones in her discography while an HBCU-inspired band accompanies her vocals. She positions herself squarely in her identity as a Black woman artist who prefers her audience do the work of decoding should they have questions. The images she unfolds in her music accompany the visions she lays out for us in her documentary of the same name. Throughout the country, the Beyhive (Beyoncé’s fan club) has taken up a call to dance in sync and asynchronously. Even those of us who aren’t part of the conglomerate CONTINUE READING: Let Us March On 'Til Victory Is Won | The Jose Vilson

Considering School Closures as Philadelphia’s Empty Germantown High School Faces Sheriff’s Sale | janresseger

Considering School Closures as Philadelphia’s Empty Germantown High School Faces Sheriff’s Sale | janresseger

Considering School Closures as Philadelphia’s Empty Germantown High School Faces Sheriff’s Sale

In her profound and provocative book about the community impact of Chicago’s closure of 50 so-called “underutilized” public schools at the end of the 2013 school year, Eve Ewing considers the effect of school closures on the neighborhoods they once anchored.  Ewing’s book, Ghosts in the Schoolyard, is about Chicago’s Bronzeville neighborhood and a set of school closures in Chicago in which 88 percent of the affected students were African American, and 71 percent of the closed schools had majority-African American teachers. (Ghosts in the Schoolyard, p. 5)

Ewing writes: “Understanding these tropes of death and mourning as they pertain not to the people we love, but to the places where we loved them, has a particular gravity during a time when the deaths of black people at the hands of the state—through such mechanisms as police violence and mass incarceration—are receiving renewed attention. As the people of Bronzeville understand, the death of a school and the death of a person at the barrel of a gun are not the same thing, but they also are the same thing. The people of Bronzeville understand that a school is more than a school. A school is the site of a history and a pillar of black pride in a racist city. A school is a safe place to be. A school is a place where you find family. A school is a home. So when they come for your schools, they’re coming for you. And after you’re gone, they’d prefer you be forgotten.” (Ghosts in the Schoolyard, pp. 155-156)

Public school closures were one of three “school turnarounds” prescribed for so-called “failing schools” in the No Child Left Behind Act; they were also as part of Arne Duncan’s priorities in Race to the Top and School Improvement Grants. (The other two turnaround strategies were firing the principal and half the staff or privatizing school by charterizing it or turning it over to a private Educational Management Organization.)  At the end of the school year in 2013, Chicago closed 50 schools. Other big city school districts also imposed school closure as a CONTINUE READING: Considering School Closures as Philadelphia’s Empty Germantown High School Faces Sheriff’s Sale | janresseger

Mike Klonsky's Blog: Peter Cunningham's empty advice to Lori Lightfoot

Mike Klonsky's Blog: Peter Cunningham's empty advice to Lori Lightfoot

Peter Cunningham's empty advice to Lori Lightfoot

Peter Cunningham should save his advice to Mayor-elect Lori Lightfoot. In fact, after his miserable performance running Bill Daley's disastrous law-and-order campaign for mayor, one would think that he would show some contrition and either disappear for a while or maybe start asking the mayor-elect for some advice.

You may recall that despite Daley's heavily-favored (by big business) and heavily-financed ($9M) campaign, he could only muster 14% of the vote. For those who keep track of such things, that came out to a whopping $111.21 per vote.

Yet here is Cunningham with a full page in today's Sun-Times offering a package of five cliche-ridden suggestions that Lightfoot would do well to flush or stash in her circular file.

They begin with admonitions to think small and forget all those highfalutin ideas and social-justice and equality and stick to things like garbage collection. 

• No matter how bold your vision, it won’t get done if you don’t first pick up the garbage, fix the potholes and deliver basic city services.
• You can’t reach for the sky unless you first meet the floor of expectations.
• You don’t begin dinner with dessert.

Here's the worst:

...the black, gay, female agenda did not get Lori Lightfoot elected and won’t CONTINUE READING: Mike Klonsky's Blog: Peter Cunningham's empty advice to Lori Lightfoot

What’s the Goal of Education? | My Island View

What’s the Goal of Education? | My Island View

What’s the Goal of Education?

As adults we generally learn about things that we need to learn about. Of course we also have an opportunity to learn about things we would like to learn about. We do not have anyone assigning us projects, or books or exams for which to prepare. The exception to that would be the job requirements in a job that we have chosen. Theoretically, we work in a job that has some personal appeal, and the required learning for that job is something that ultimately, we have chosen to accept. When what appeals to us about that job wanes, we hold on to that job only as long as it takes to find another with a better, more appealing position. The learning and application of that learning again is a choice that we make for that new position. The learning is relevant in our new role.

If all of this is true, then it should be evident that this is the life for which we are preparing our children. As a long-time educator, I am no longer convinced that we are adequately preparing our children with the needed skills to live, survive and thrive in their future life of that real world environment.

Additionally, I also question whether we, as education professionals, have been truly prepared for our present environment. Many of us grew up in a world where information came in printed form vetted by publishers. A world where TV producers vetted information produced for the airwaves. A world where CONTINUE READING: What’s the Goal of Education? | My Island View

CURMUDGUCATION: Is AI A Game-Changer For Education (International Edition)?

CURMUDGUCATION: Is AI A Game-Changer For Education (International Edition)?

Is AI A Game-Changer For Education (International Edition)?

Sometimes it's informative to see how some of this stuff is playing out in other settings. A post on Entrepreneur India makes the claim that "Artificial Intelligence Can be a Game-Changer for Education, Here are 5 Reasons Why" and its five arguments are, well, intriguing.

The post is from Vishal Meena from the start-up MadGuy Labs, an Indian on-line test prep company that promises to prep you for the tests for all sorts of government jobs. Meena has a degree in chemical engineering, but he likes doing the start-up thing, and has previously launched companies involved with bikes and with tourism. So he comes directly from the modern tradition of "You don't need any education background to be an education entrepreneur."

Meena also seems to lack a certain level of fluency in English. I bring this up not to make fun or to get all ugly American with people who aren't from around here, but because Artificial Intelligence applications for education have to be fluent in the language. They have to be. If you're going to sell me the eleventy billionth hunk of software that can supposedly assess writing, then it had better be plenty fluent in the language and capable of telling the difference between effective writing and tortured gobbledeegook. If you are an AI entrepreneur who wants to sell to English speaking people, then your AI had better be fluent-- and if you can't even use it to check your own work, then I'm not interested.

So-- the five reasons that AI is going to change the education game. Let's see how many of these CONTINUE READING: CURMUDGUCATION: Is AI A Game-Changer For Education (International Edition)?

Have We Stolen A Generation's Independent Thought?

Have We Stolen A Generation's Independent Thought?

Have We Stolen A Generation's Independent Thought?

“Kids these days,” the complaint begins. “They cannot think for themselves.” The complaint has come across my desk three times this week, voiced by someone in the higher education world complaining about the quality of student arriving in their ivy-covered halls.

It’s worth noting that the observation itself has no particular objective, evidence-based support. There’s no college student independent thought index we can consult to check for a dip. Just the subjective judgment of some people who work at the college level. So the whole business could simply be the time-honored dismay of an older generation contemplating the younger one.

If we do accept the observation as valid, there are a variety of possible explanations. A study showing that people just stick with their team and don’t think about the ideas involved. A political climate in which truth-telling and truth-searching are not currently highly valued. The power of YouTube conspiracy videos. Helicopter parents armed with bazooka-mounted lawnmowers.

But there’s another factor to consider, a firmly school-embedded factor that has promoted CONTINUE READING: Have We Stolen A Generation's Independent Thought?

AnthonyCody: If you want to understand education "reform" read this book

If you want to understand education "reform" read this book

AnthonyCody:  If you want to understand education "reform" read this book

Diane Ravitch is a historian working in the now. She has an understanding of the history of our nation and education system that enables her to place current events in a schema that makes sense.

Part of her relevance is that Diane Ravitch is more than a historian. She is an active participant in public discourse, and the essays captured in this book are among her most important contributions over the past decade. When she joined me in launching the Network for Public Education back in 2013, she stepped even further into the arena. In January she was seen speaking in support of the Los Angeles teachers strike.

Her latest book, The Wisdom and Wit of Diane Ravitch, published by Garn Press, is an invaluable guide to the past decade of education “reform.” It is a contemporaneous history of a host of fatally flawed projects, including the Common Core standards, charter schools, vouchers, Race to the Top, and paying and/or evaluating teachers based on their students’ test scores.

Some of these issues remain hotly contested. We do not hear a lot about the Common Core these days, but the standards struggle on, often under aliases. The history of these standards is a subject where there has been an active effort to hide the machinations at work behind the scenes. How many articles have appeared in education publications and web sites purporting to “bust myths” about the Common Core– often denying basic facts about how these standards came into being. The most valuable history lessons in this book are in the middle section, where we see Ravitch systematically come to terms with what the Common Core is all about.

Ravitch does not treat her subjects lightly. When she takes on something like teacher evaluation, she goes into depth on why using test scores will damage our students. She explains the track record for the practice, and how conditions in schools make this counterproductive. Her analysis of charter schools does not simply look at test scores and graduation rates, but at deeper questions such as how these schools affect the public schools they are competing with. How do we maintain a vigorous democracy when schools CONTINUE READING: If you want to understand education "reform" read this book

To learn more about the book, open any of these links:

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 Garn Press Publishes a Collection of My Most Important Essays | Diane Ravitch's blog

Mitchell Robinson: Trump is Running the US Government Like a Charter School | Eclectablog

Trump is Running the US Government Like a Charter School | Eclectablog

Trump is Running the US Government Like a Charter School

For those of us following the news, each new day brings a bevy of unbelievable and shocking stories…

• Reports of Russian election meddling!
• A national emergency (that’s not a national emergency)!
• Cabinet secretaries wreaking havoc on the environment, education, and human rights!
• Kids in cages at the border!
• The Mueller Report!

And in the middle of each of these stories? A deeply flawed, un-Democratic, and racist president* who doesn’t value our public institutions, and is only interested in his own personal and financial well-being.

After listening to more of these stories than I care to admit, it occurs to me that Donald Trump’s behavior as president* reminds me an awful lot of how charter schools and charter management corporations function.

What do I mean?

• Lack of regulation

One of Trump’s major goals as president* has been to eliminate or weaken regulations in eight major categories: agriculture, education, environment, finances, health care, housing, labor, telecommunications, and transportation. And on this one issue, even his detractors have to admit he’s exceeded their expectations. As of 2018, the Trump administration was eliminating 22 regulations for every 1 new regulation approved, surpassing their stated goal of “2 out for every 1 CONTINUE READING: Trump is Running the US Government Like a Charter School | Eclectablog

PPIC Statewide Survey: Californians and Education - Public Policy Institute of California

PPIC Statewide Survey: Californians and Education - Public Policy Institute of California

PPIC Statewide Survey: Californians and Education

Summary

Key findings from the current survey:

• Most Californians say charter schools are an important option for parents in low-income areas—but many express concern that charters divert funding from traditional public schools.
• More than half of residents across regions say teacher salaries in their community are too low.
• Majorities support Governor Newsom’s spending plans to expand preschool and full-day kindergarten.

The PPIC Statewide Survey delivers objective, advocacy-free information on the perceptions, opinions, and public policy preferences of California residents. PPIC invites input, comments, and suggestions from policy and public opinion experts and from its own advisory committee, but survey methods, questions, and content are determined solely by the PPIC survey team. The PPIC Statewide Survey relies on a rigorous survey methodology and is a charter member of the American Association for Public Opinion Research Transparency Initiative. The survey is conducted regularly throughout the year in the key areas of government, the environment, K–12 education, and higher education.

FULL REPORTPRESS RELEASEMETHODOLOGYSHARE

PPIC STATEWIDE SURVEY

LEARN MORE

• FUNDERS
• EVENTS
• CROSSTABS
• TIME TRENDS

This research was supported with funding from the College Futures Foundation.

Making Schools Business-Like: The Longest School Reform in U.S. History? (Part 1) | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

Making Schools Business-Like: The Longest School Reform in U.S. History? (Part 1) | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

Making Schools Business-Like: The Longest School Reform in U.S. History? (Part 1)

If A Nation at Risk is one book-end of the longest school reform. the other book end has yet to be put in place. Business-influenced school reform continues into the second decade of the 21st century stretching nearly four decades. Rivaling this long run of school reform is the Progressive era beginning in the early 1900s and lasting until the mid-1950s.

For the past four decades a cascade of school reforms borrowing heavily from the corporate sector have spilled over public schools in an effort to turnaround a “failing” system unable to keep pace with European and Asian schools as measured by international tests and strengthen a slacking economy.

Restructuring schools to become more efficient, introducing competition through giving parents more choices for their sons and daughters to attend school, raising graduation standards, installing rigorous curriculum, establishing high stakes tests and holding students, teachers, and schools responsible for higher academic performance cover just a handful of the state and federal reforms launched by both Democrat and Republican regimes eager to copy the policies followed by successful businesses since the mid-1980s.

I wrote about this business-inspired reform movement in a book called The Blackboard and the Bottom Line: Why Schools Can’t be Businesses (2004). At the recent American Educational Research Association annual meeting in Toronto (Canada), there was a symposium on business influence since B & BL was published. New York University Professor Gary Anderson organized the symposium and asked me to comment on four papers written by young and mid-career scholars (Janelle Scott and Tina Trujillo from the University of California, Berkeley; Patricia Burch, University of Southern California; and Michael Cohen,  CONTINUE READING: Making Schools Business-Like: The Longest School Reform in U.S. History? (Part 1) | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

Los Angeles: The LA Times Prefers a School Board Member with Neither Experience Nor Knowledge | Diane Ravitch's blog

Los Angeles: The LA Times Prefers a School Board Member with Neither Experience Nor Knowledge | Diane Ravitch's blog

Los Angeles: The LA Times Prefers a School Board Member with Neither Experience Nor Knowledge

The Los Angeles Times wrote an editorial endorsing Heather Repenning over Jackie Goldberg for the LAUSD seat in a special election. The editorial admitted that Jackie Goldberg has the experience and knowledge that her opponent lacks but the Times preferred a blank slate.

Repenning admittedly knows little about education issues but she previously worked as an aide to Mayor Eric Garcetti. In the primary, and she said she would not take charter money. Now that she is in a runoff with the far better qualified Jackie Goldberg, Repenning has decided that it is okay to take money from the charter billionaires. 

The Times lauded her as independent. The fact that she is now the favorite of people like billionaire Republican Bill Bloomfield is evidence that she is not independent. She will cast her vote, if elected, to support the Eli Broad privatization and Disruption agenda.

The Times posted some of the letters to the editor that it received objecting to its endorsement of an unqualified candidate, including one from me.

One letter came from a retired principal, who wrote, “The Times is repeating the mistake it made when it endorsed Ref Rodriguez in 2015 and other candidates bought and paid for by billionaire privatizers.” Rodriguez operated a charter chain at the time of his election, but was removed from the board after he was convicted on felony counts for campaign finance violations. He did not step down until the board had selected the unqualified, inexperienced Austin Beutner as superintendent of the nation’s second largest school district.

This is the Times’ description of Jackie Goldberg:

“She’s brimming with experience, smarts and humor — and connections. She’s been a teacher and served as a member of the school board, the City Council and the state Assembly, and she knows everyone involved in the world of education in California. To say that her chances of winning the May 14 runoff are high would be an understatement.

”Nor would it be a terrible thing if that happened. Goldberg’s institutional memory and her talent for digging to the heart of an issue would be of value to the board.”

So why didn’t the Times endorse her? Because the teachers already endorsed her.

Educators know and trust Jackie.

The charter billionaires know and trust her opponent.

I say to the voters of District 5: Vote for the candidate with experience and knowledge.

Don’t let the billionaires buy another seat on the school board.

Vote for Jackie Goldberg on May 14.

She will represent you, your children, and your schools, not Eli Broad and the other billionaires.

Los Angeles: The LA Times Prefers a School Board Member with Neither Experience Nor Knowledge | Diane Ravitch's blog