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Thursday, May 2, 2019

Best of the Ed Blogs National Education Policy Center

National Education Policy Center

Best of the Ed Blogs 
National Education Policy Center


Code Acts in Education: Learning from Surveillance Capitalism

by elaine / 11h
Code Acts in Education: Learning from Surveillance Capitalism ‘Surveillance capitalism’ has become a defining concept for the current era of smart machines and Silicon Valley expansionism. With educational institutions and practices increasingly focused on data collection and outsourcing to technology providers, key points from Shoshana Zuboff’s The Age of Surveillance Capitalism can help explore
Answer Sheet: How Corporate Interests are Overtaking Well-Intentioned Goals of Personalized Learning

by elaine / 11h
Answer Sheet: How Corporate Interests are Overtaking Well-Intentioned Goals of Personalized Learning It’s been years now that we’ve been hearing about how “personalized learning” is the new thing in education. Actually, it isn’t. In 2013, George Wood, then the superintendent of the Federal Hocking Local School District in Ohio and chair of the board for the Coalition of Essential Schools , wrote
Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice: Making Schools Business-Like: Google in Classrooms (Part 2)

by elaine / 11h
Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice: Making Schools Business-Like: Google in Classrooms (Part 2) Listen to Joanna Petrone, Longfellow Middle School English teacher in Berkeley (CA), describe her use of Google. On a typical day, students start class with a warm-up activity posted on Google Classroom. After we go over their answers and I teach a lesson, I might direct my students to
Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice: Making Schools Business-Like: The Longest School Reform in U.S. History? (Part 1)

by elaine / 11h
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
Curmudgucation: Using Cultural Competency to Sell Personalized [sic] Learning

by elaine / 11h
Curmudgucation: Using Cultural Competency to Sell Personalized [sic] Learning Over at EdTechTimes, a site that for a consulting group that clearly is interested in pushing personalized [sic] learning, I found a podcast by Mariel Cariker entitled " Cultural Competency: Finding Ways To Bring Equity Through Personalized Learning. " (It is accompanied by a transcript.) The podcast is sponsored by Tea
Psychology Today: The Problems with Parental Notifications and "Opt-Outs"

by elaine / 11h
Psychology Today: The Problems with Parental Notifications and "Opt-Outs" There is a controversy happening in my local school district where the superintendent has emailed all teachers a directive that they have to give one week’s notice to parents (via email) anytime they plan a lesson that will address " gender identity ." In my view, there are multiple problems with requiring parental notice t
Our Schools: Things Didn’t Go Well When Betsy DeVos was Confronted with Her Department’s Charter School Fraud

by elaine / 11h
Our Schools: Things Didn’t Go Well When Betsy DeVos was Confronted with Her Department’s Charter School Fraud During a series of recent congressional hearings in Washington, D.C., U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos had to respond to a recent report finding the U.S. Department of Education has been scammed for hundreds of millions of dollars by fraudulent or mismanaged charter schools. Her re
Diane Ravitch's Blog: Kansas: Students, Parents Rebel Against Mark Zuckerberg’s Summit Learning

by elaine / 11h
Diane Ravitch's Blog: Kansas: Students, Parents Rebel Against Mark Zuckerberg’s Summit Learning Today, the New York Times posted a story about a rebellion in Kansas against Mark Zuckerberg’s Summit Learning platform. They said NO to Facebook’s “personalized learning,” which replaces teachers with Chromebooks. Good for the students of Kansas! WELLINGTON, Kan. — The seed of rebellion was planted in
Janresseger: Low Salaries, High Rents, Poor Teaching Conditions Create Widespread Shortage of Qualified Teachers

by elaine / 11h
Janresseger: Low Salaries, High Rents, Poor Teaching Conditions Create Widespread Shortage of Qualified Teachers You’d have to be pretty out of touch to have missed that teachers, who have been striking all year from West Virginia to Kentucky to Oklahoma to California, have been showing us their pay is inadequate and their working conditions are horrible. Schools in too many places feature huge c
Nancy Bailey's Education Website: What Preschool Isn’t: Waterford UPSTART and Any Other Online Program!

by elaine / 11h
Nancy Bailey's Education Website: What Preschool Isn’t: Waterford UPSTART and Any Other Online Program! No one can deny the importance of early learning. We have years of research by developmental psychologists and early childhood education researchers built on findings to help us understand how preschoolers learn. We need to fund adequate preschools so students get a good introduction to the joy

APR 04

Living in Dialogue: Will Oklahoma Rein In Epic Charter Failure?

by elaine / 27d
Living in Dialogue: Will Oklahoma Rein In Epic Charter Failure? As the Network for Public Education documents a billion dollars wasted on failed charter schools, the national news is full of the latest charter financial scandals stretching from New Jersey to California. We can’t forget, however, that virtual charters, like Oklahoma’s Epic for-profit charters, have the potential of producing even

APR 03

Shanker Blog: Dispatches from the Nexus of Boring and Important

by elaine / 28d
Shanker Blog: Dispatches from the Nexus of Boring and Important School finance is one of those education policy topics located at the extreme ends of the important continuum as well as the boring continuum. On the one hand, school funding is relevant to virtually all major education policy decisions at the state-, district-, and school levels - at least in the background, but usually in the foreg

APR 02

Curmudgucation: DeVos, Class Size, and the Reformistan Bubble

by elaine / 29d
Curmudgucation: DeVos, Class Size, and the Reformistan Bubble I almost feel sorry for Betsy DeVos. Her two big news breaks this week are not entirely her fault. First, there's the Special Olympics fiasco. It appears that the budget office made the hugely unpopular cut, and DeVos stood by it like a good soldier, right until Donald Trump threw her under the bus and canceled the cuts (that were neve

APR 01

Living in Dialogue: Why I Was Shaking My Head at Betsy DeVos

by elaine / 30d
Living in Dialogue: Why I Was Shaking My Head at Betsy DeVos A video of Betsy DeVos responding to questions from Lucille Roybal-Allard of the House Appropriations Committee hearing has gone viral, and has been watched now by many thousands of people. I appear in the background, shaking my head as DeVos asserts that larger class sizes might actually be beneficial since they allow students to colla


The Conversation: Tax Credits, School Choice and 'Neovouchers': What You Need to Know

by elaine / 30d
The Conversation: Tax Credits, School Choice and 'Neovouchers': What You Need to Know As Republican lawmakers craft a tax reform bill , there’s speculation on the import taxes, value-added taxes and tax cuts it may usher in. Meanwhile, it’s likely that the bill will also include a major education policy initiative from the Trump administration: a tax credit designed to fund private school voucher

National Education Policy Center

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'We Teach, We Vote!': 10,000 Teachers Rise Up Against Republican Legislature in Deep Red South Carolina

'We Teach, We Vote!': 10,000 Teachers Rise Up Against Republican Legislature in Deep Red South Carolina

'We Teach, We Vote!': 10,000 Teachers Rise Up Against Republican Legislature in Deep Red South Carolina

"For too long we have allowed our schools to go underfunded while taking the blame for the host of issues that come with that."


Demanding an end to austerity measures that have kept classrooms overcrowded and educators underpaid, about 10,000 teachers, students, and supporters staged one of the largest protests in recent years at the South Carolina Statehouse in Columbia on Wednesday.
Led by the grassroots group SC for Ed, teachers from across the traditionally deep red state took personal days to stage the walkout. The protest is aimed at forcing the Republican-controlled legislature to fund higher wages and more hiring in order to reduce class sizes and staff schools with support staff.
"For too long we have allowed our schools to go underfunded while taking the blame for the host of issues that come with that," SC for Ed said in a statement Wednesday. "We hope the state of South Carolina will commit to starting over the process of reform with current classroom teachers at the table."
Many of the teachers chanted, "We teach, we vote" as they marched to the Statehouse Wednesday morning.

Former educator Sariah McCall, who cited a chronic lack of resources when sheresigned from her job at Charleston County School District in November, was among the speakers at the rally.
McCall's resignation letter was printed in the Washington Post last month.
"The public has to demand that they receive the time, funding, and resources they require," McCall wrote. "We need to prioritize education, not just offer it lip-service. Until enough people decide that this is worth making a fuss over, those that are in CONTINUE READING: 'We Teach, We Vote!': 10,000 Teachers Rise Up Against Republican Legislature in Deep Red South Carolina
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Can We Hold onto Our Values As We Struggle to Survive in the Trump-DeVos Holding Pattern? | janresseger

Can We Hold onto Our Values As We Struggle to Survive in the Trump-DeVos Holding Pattern? | janresseger

Can We Hold onto Our Values As We Struggle to Survive in the Trump-DeVos Holding Pattern?
I was dismayed recently when I sat down to read some excellent proposals for addressing child poverty in the United States.
Here are two alternative proposals from the National Academy of Sciences. Both are prescriptions for cutting our national child poverty rate in half within a decade. Each proposal would combine a different set of policy strategies; each combination of ingredients would achieve the same very laudable result:
  1. “Increase the Earned Income Tax Credit along the phase-in and flat portions; convert the Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit to a fully refundable tax credit and concentrate its benefits to families with children with the lowest incomes; increase the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) by 35 percent…; and expand the supply of Section 8 Housing… Vouchers to supply affordable housing for 70 percent of eligible families.””
  2. “Increase the Earned Income Tax Credit by 40 percent; convert the Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit to a fully refundable tax credit and concentrate its benefits to families with children with the lowest incomes; replace the Child Tax Credit with a monthly child allowance of $225 per month…; establish a new child support assurance program that provides a minimum payment of $100 per month per child; increase the federal minimum wage to $10.25 per hour… and index it to inflation; and restore program eligibility for non-qualified legal immigrants for Medicaid, SNAP… TANF…, SSI, and other benefits.”
I am sure that, if the people at the National Academy of Sciences who wrote the report say so, either of these prescriptions on its own would cut child poverty in half within the decade. My despair when I look at these plans, however, is that today there is an utter absence of national political will to ensure that Congress would move on any one of the specifics, let alone any combination of them.
Nor do I have any hope that even well-informed people on the street could possibly get a CONTINUE READING: Can We Hold onto Our Values As We Struggle to Survive in the Trump-DeVos Holding Pattern? | janresseger

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Grassroots Education Network- April 2019 Newsletter - Network For Public Education

Grassroots Education Network- April 2019 Newsletter - Network For Public Education

Grassroots Education Network- April 2019 Newsletter

The NPE Grassroots Education Network is a network of over 125 grassroots organizations nationwide who have joined together to preserve, promote, improve, and strengthen our public schools.  If you know of a group that would like to join this powerful network, please go here to sign up.
If you have any questions about the NPE Grassroots Education Network please contact Marla Kilfoyle, NPE Grassroots Education Network Liaison at marlakilfoyle@networkforpubliceducation.org

General Announcement from Marla

I was honored to begin my position as the NPE Grassroots Education Network Liaison on February 1.  Since that time we have had the pleasure of adding some amazing organizations to The Network for Public Education’s Grassroots Education Network.  As we continue to grow and adapt, I would like to formally welcome our new network members: Oregon BATs, North Carolina Families for Testing Reform, Support our Students Alabama, Oklahoma Parents and Educators for Public Education, Oklahoma Parent Legislative Action Committee (OKPLAC), California Educators Rising, Virginia Educators United, Ohio BATs, Broward BATs, Schools and Communities United Wisconsin, New Bedford Coalition to Save our Schools, Badass Teachers Association, Washington BATs, NYS BATs, Missouri BATs, Kentucky Pastors for Children, Northwest Indiana Coalition for Public Education, CFISD Community Leadership Committee (Texas), Arizona Educators United, Washington Paramount Duty, Virginia BATs, FUSE (New Rochelle Federation of United School Employees), Pueblo Education Coalition Colorado, Trinational Coalition to Defend Public Education (USA), and Ontario Secondary School Teachers Federation (Ontario, Canada).

National Organizing

NPE Grassroots Education Network national organizations are on the move for public education. Defending the Early Years is calling all early childhood educators! Registration is now open for DEY’s first Early Childhood Summer Organizing Leadership Institute July 7-10, 2019 at the Eaton Hotel in Washington, DC. Check it out!
In the Public Interest offers their weekly privatization report.  This is a must follow and share. The Journey for Justice Alliance made a trip to Washington, D.C. on April 9th for a Senate briefing over their report Failing Brown v. Board of Ed.  You can view their briefing here. Fairtest assessment reform advocate Lisa Guisbond and SOS NJ Executive Director Julie Borst wrote a powerful op ed in the NJ Spotlight over why New Jersey should seize the opportunity to step away from graduation tests.
The Parent Coalition for Student Privacy continues to expose Summit in this powerful blog post entitled – McPherson KS Students Join the Rebellion vs. Summit and Depersonalized Learning and Win the Right to Opt Out. PCSP co-chair Leonie Haimson also participated in a press conference in NYC to  tell the Mayor to stop stalling and cease violating student privacy by giving charter schools access to student information to help them market their schools.
Parents for Public Schools National wrote an informative article supporting the work of their Hawaii branch. The article highlighted equitable funding and how the Hawaii school district is unlike any other in the United States. Read that piece here. The Schott Foundation  will be hosting a webinar on Tuesday May 7th, 2019 2:00 – 3:00pm ET – Investing in Safe, Supportive and Police-Free Schools. You can register here. The Badass Teachers Association is listing and following teacher actions across the country.  To keep up with BATS nationwide go to their open Facebook page. Trinational Coalition to Defend Public Education (USA) joined the NPE Grassroots Education Network this month. Trinational Coalition to Defend Public Education (USA) is an organization created by people in the educational systems of the countries of Mexico, Canada, and the US. The NPE Grassroots Education Network is also excited to welcome the Ontario (Canada) Secondary School Teachers Federation. Currently the Federation is battling cuts to education. To learn more about their work visit their open Facebook page.
The Network for Public Education released our Asleep at the Wheel report which describes the U.S. Department of Education Charter Schools Program’s waste and fraud. The report estimates that waste to total one  billion dollars since the program’s beginning. Several members of the House quoted from that report when questioning Betsy De Vos. For example, Michigan representative Haley Stevens (See Rep. Stevens at 5:18) of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education referenced the report when questioning DeVos. DeVos subsequently dismissed  the report during her testimony. Carol Burris, Executive Director for NPE and Diane Ravitch, President of NPE responded to the Secretary in the Washington Post. You can read their response here. CONTINUE READING: Grassroots Education Network- April 2019 Newsletter - Network For Public Education


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Mishandling Data to Create Failing Schools

Mishandling Data to Create Failing Schools

Mishandling Data to Create Failing Schools
LAUSD Career and Transition Center programs provide employment preparation, independent living skills, and social skills instruction to students ages 18-22 years who are on the Alternate Curriculum.”
– LAUSD
While the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) likes to pretendthat all students will graduate high school and advance to college, this is an impossible goal for students with severe special education needs. Fortunately, under California law, school districts must continue serving these students until they reach the age of 22 so that they are given the opportunity to reach their full potential. One of the options for young adults who have finished the high school alternative curriculum is the Career and Transition Centers (CTC) that are located throughout the District.
Joaquin Miller Career and Transition Center CTC in Reseda offers students (who they refer to as “interns”) both classroom and on-the-job training in jobs such as auto detailing, landscaping and retail. The culinary arts program supplies customers with baked goods that were prepared by the students on campus. Private companies also work with the school to provide actual work experience. Since their main focus is to have their students achieve as much independence as CONTINUE READING: Mishandling Data to Create Failing Schools

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Revealing Podcast About Success Academy — Part VI | Gary Rubinstein's Blog

Revealing Podcast About Success Academy — Part VI | Gary Rubinstein's Blog

Revealing Podcast About Success Academy — Part VI

Part 6 of Startup’s seven part podcast about Success Academy (available here) is titled ‘Fights.’
The first of the fights that it tells about is the fight for space to grow that Eva Moskowitz has had with Mayor de Blasio.  Some charter schools have their own buildings or they pay rent for spaces though in New York City they often move into existing schools, taking a floor or two at first.  This arrangement is called co-location.  They play a tape of De Blasio on the campaign trail in 2013 saying “Time for Eva Moskowitz to stop having the run of the place. She has to stop being tolerated, enabled, supported.”
About a month after de Blasio became mayor at the end of 2014, a high level DOE administrator called Moskowitz to tell her that three new spaces that she had been counting on, two to open new schools and one to add new grades at an existing school, were no longer going to be available to them.
About this news, they run tape of Eva saying:
EVA: I thought I must have misheard her. I cried. I mean I was crying on the phone with her… I was like ‘Kathleen, how could you do this? This is an existing school, you’re just throwing the kids out on the street? Where are they gonna go?’
The podcast then recounts the 5 million dollar PR campaign and the rally in Albany CONTINUE READING: Revealing Podcast About Success Academy — Part VI | Gary Rubinstein's Blog



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Wednesday, May 1, 2019

Who Is Gifted? Why Does It Matter? | Teacher in a strange land

Who Is Gifted? Why Does It Matter? | Teacher in a strange land

Who Is Gifted? Why Does It Matter?
Having authored a dozen or more columns on gifted education, it’s easy to predict reader response. It’s unfailing, in fact. There is a well-organized parent advocacy army associated with educating our brightest kids, always at the ready to respond to published commentary, claiming anything less than a full-bore endorsement of extra resources and programming for gifted kids is Not Enough. Because they deserve it.
Essentially, I agree with them. In fact, I got a Masters degree in Gifted Studies, back in the day (way back), because I thought I wasn’t challenging my most accomplished students and wanted new ways to deepen their musical learning. I actually thought I represented the ‘talented’ part of ‘Gifted and Talented.’
Stepping into Gifted World was revelation, however. Educators in the field were mostly interested in whether curriculum for the gifted should focus on acceleration or enrichment. (Acceleration won.) And, of course, the core disciplinary question was just who was entitled to such enhanced curriculum. I learned about the range of testing tools to identify giftedness and creativity. There were cutoffs and variables and labels. There was a fair amount of dissent, even hostility. And nobody was talking about kids with exceptional talents in the arts.
My thesis involved surveying music teachers around the state, who were very kind and willing to respond (in the days where that involved paper and the US Postal service). Most of them offered excellent ideas on strengthening and expanding musical excellence in their own classrooms, as well as special instruction, camps, honors ensembles and other challenges.
Although musical talent is overlooked in the ‘gifted’ discourse, I remain interested in gifted programming in public and private schools. I have taught any number of  CONTINUE READING: Who Is Gifted? Why Does It Matter? | Teacher in a strange land

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Ben Chavis, Controversial Charter Leader, Beats the Rap | Diane Ravitch's blog

Ben Chavis, Controversial Charter Leader, Beats the Rap | Diane Ravitch's blog

Ben Chavis, Controversial Charter Leader, Beats the Rap
Ben Chavis was leader of the American Indian Model Schools, a group of three small charter schools in Oakland that captured headlines and the hearts of conservatives. He stepped down after being charged with multiple federal felony charges involving federal money used to lease space from buildings Chavis owned and a state audit claiming that $3.8 million of the schools’ funding had been transferred to his and his wife’s business accounts.
After a six-year investigation, all charges have been dropped, and Chavis will pay a fine of $100. 
“A former Oakland charter school director known for boosting student test scores through humiliation and harsh discipline has avoided jail time following a six-year federal investigation into allegations of fraud.
“Ben Chavis, who ran the American Indian Model Schools, will spend one year on probation and pay a $100 fine in a plea deal with federal investigators, according to court documents.
“Chavis had faced the prospect of decades in prison in connection with six felony charges of mail fraud and money laundering filed in 2017 following an IRS and FBI investigation into his financial dealings related to the schools.
“Those charges were dropped and Chavis pleaded guilty to one count of submitting false information on federal documents….
”He was known for his frequent belittling and humiliation CONTINUE READING: Ben Chavis, Controversial Charter Leader, Beats the Rap | Diane Ravitch's blog

Big Education Ape: THE PERIMETER PRIMATE: A trip down memory lane with Oakland’s “American Indian” charter schools & Ben Chavis - https://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2013/01/the-perimeter-primate-trip-down-memory.html

 Big Education Ape: Trustees try to save Oakland's embattled American Indian Model Schools from losing charter - Inside Bay Area - https://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2013/02/trustees-try-to-save-oaklands-embattled.html

 Big Education Ape: Will Ben Chavis be subjected to unorthodox and harsh methods of discipline like his students at the Gulag, ‘The Ameriican Indian Charter School’? | Dailycensored.com - https://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2012/06/will-ben-chavis-be-subjected-to.html

 Big Education Ape: THE PERIMETER PRIMATE: The Ben Chavis / American Indian Public Charter School saga continues - https://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2012/04/perimeter-primate-ben-chavis-american.html

 Big Education Ape: Jersey Jazzman: Bye-Bye Ben Chavis - https://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2013/03/jersey-jazzman-bye-bye-ben-chavis.html

 Big Education Ape: Jersey Jazzman: Reformy Maniac Ben Chavis Update - https://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2012/12/jersey-jazzman-reformy-maniac-ben.html

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Jeff Bryant: Progressives Take a Bold Stance at an Epicenter of the Charter School Movement to Score a Major Win for Public Education - LA Progressive

Progressives Take a Bold Stance at an Epicenter of the Charter School Movement to Score a Major Win for Public Education - LA Progressive

Progressives Take a Bold Stance at an Epicenter of the Charter School Movement to Score a Major Win for Public Education


hen President Trump appointed Betsy DeVos to be U.S. Secretary of Education and made charter schools, vouchers, and other forms of “school choice” practically the sole emphasis for his K-12 education policy—other than slashing funding and programs for public schools—he brought national attention to a decades-long battle over privatizing public education that was already raging in communities across the nation.
The community that’s been on the frontline of the fight for the longest has been Milwaukee, where the city’s public schools have been undermined by a nearly 30-year-old voucher program—the nation’s oldest—and an invasion of charter schools going back to 1993, when the state passed its first charter school law just a year after the very first charter school law in the nation passed in Minnesota.

Despite the decades-long effort to privatize Milwaukee’s local school, recent events in that community have revealed how public school advocates can successfully fight back against the forces of privatization.

Despite the decades-long effort to privatize Milwaukee’s local school, recent events in that community have revealed how public school advocates can successfully fight back against the forces of privatization.
In Milwaukee’s recent school board election, a slate of five candidates swept into office under a banner of turning back years of efforts to privatize the district’s schools. The win for public schools was noteworthy not only because it took place in a long-standing bastion of school choice, but also because the winning candidates were backed by an emerging coalition that adopted a bold, new politics that demands candidates take up a full-throated opposition to school privatization rather than cater to the middle.
Unsurprisingly, the coalition includes the local teachers’ union, who’ve long been skeptical of charters, vouchers, and other privatization ideas, but joining the teachers in their win are progressive activists, including the Wisconsin chapter of the Working Families Party, and local civil rights advocacy groups, including CONTINUE READING: Progressives Take a Bold Stance at an Epicenter of the Charter School Movement to Score a Major Win for Public Education - LA Progressive

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Is Teach For America’s training problematic? Even racist? | Cloaking Inequity

Is Teach For America’s training problematic? Even racist? | Cloaking Inequity

IS TEACH FOR AMERICA’S TRAINING PROBLEMATIC? EVEN RACIST?

Big Education Ape: Teach For America in Charlotte: Making Segregated Schools Work | The Charlotte Observer - http://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2016/12/teach-for-america-in-charlotte-making.html

2 Teach For America Alums Say TFA Has Big Problems When It Comes To Race : Code Switch : NPR - https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2015/10/14/447217749/two-teach-for-america-alums-say-the-program-has-big-problems-when-it-comes-to-ra on @NPR
WGBH reports that,
TFA training draws in part on Doug Lemov’s Teach Like a Champion method, featured in the recent bookBuilding a Better Teacher. Teach Like a Champion emphasizes carefully and consistently controlling students’ words, postures and reactions from moment to moment. At Ranson Middle School, I saw posters of SLANT. That’s a Teach Like a Champion acronym for Sit up, Listen, Ask and answer questions, Nod your head, and Track the speaker.
Does Teach Like a Champion (TLAC) pedagogy perpetuate a racial hierarchy?
TLAC claims it is a “proven” pedagogy that is rooted in education equity because it puts marginalized students on a “path to college,” but is it, instead, racist? All pedagogies have Explicit, Hidden, and Null teachings that either threaten injustice or perpetuate it; there is never a neutral. In using seemingly innocuous strategies such as “cold calling” or “SLANT,” TLAC author Lemov believes that students are learning how to succeed in the academic world which, to him and supporters, is education justice. Embedded in TLAC pedagogy, though, are many oppressive messages that need to be examined no matter how effective they are at raising test scores. And frankly, higher test scores may lead to college, but do they truly result in college and life success in a racist and classist world?
Employed in segregated schools across the country, Lemov’s simple strategies often come with punitive consequences, unquestionable compliance, required assimilation and feelings of shame for marginalized students and those with learning differences. Learning to play the dominant culture game is imperative for marginalized students, but one can teach students how to play the game without making them become the game. Assimilation may lead to academic success, but it is dehumanizing. Dr. Maria Salazar once wrote,
“My teachers taught me the essentials: reading, writing, and math. However, I never saw myself reflected in the content or context of my schooling . . . I was overwhelmed with feelings of shame over the most essential elements of my humanity: my culture, my heritage, my language, and my parents.  I learned to read, write, and do math … it came at a heavy cost.”
It is true that rigorous education is not, by definition, a White, male, straight, affluent thing, but a rigorous education that forces compliance and teaches certain behaviors as the one right way to be is oppressive. For example. SLANT is not the only right way to learn; it is uncomfortable, inauthentic, and distracting for many learners (especially those with sensory processing disorders or ADHD for example).  Unsuccessful answering in cold calling does not mean one has not mastered content. Making every second count (Give 100% 100% of the time) is not how most successful people learn and live in this world. It is an unrealistic expectation that is not healthy and should not be expected of marginalized students (or anyone for that matter) for their success. These ways of being and doing in education may seemingly work to provide order and achievement. They may be said to provide structure for learning and look “scholarly,” but what are the lived results of this pedagogy beyond test scores and college entrance? Essentially, what is the cost and is it worth the benefits? Says who?
Questioning TLAC can result in one being called a racist, classist educator who wants to subvert black academic excellence and keep people poor.  But that is simply false; no critical educator questioning TLAC wants to revert back to a traditional racist pedagogy that inspired education reform. They also, however, do not want to replace one racist/classist pedagogy for another. TLAC sincerely tries to eliminate the achievement gap and give all students a chance to go to college, but it pedals a pedagogy that, in the end, maintains White supremacy.  J. Berkshire talks about this in her post, Teach Like It’s 1895:
“As I was reading Teach Like A Champion, I observed something that shocked me. The pedagogical model espoused by Lemov is disturbingly similar to one that was established almost a century ago for the express purpose of maintaining racial hierarchy.”
Consider the following and then read more by J. Berkshire to see if you agree.
1. TLAC strategies are not proven using empirical methodology and published in peer reviewed journals. If there are studies, what are the variables? n? p value?
2. TLAC is for “Other people’s children” (L. Delpit). Of course some TLAC strategies are effective and even fun, but the strict adherence to TLAC as a bible for teaching is reserved for students of color and low SES.
3. Putting marginalized students on a “path to college” is different then educating them to have the critical consciousness, positive socio-cultural identity, and academic skills/knowledge to successfully COMPLETE college. (G. Ladson Billings)
4. Many TLAC strategies do not often work for students with learning differences. Example: cold calling does not maintain the dignity of nor the learning needs for ELLs or students with processing/language disorders. (A Kohn)
Screen Shot 2018-04-10 at 1.12.51 PM
See all of Cloaking Inequity’s posts about Teach For America here.
Please Facebook Like, Tweet, etc below and/or reblog to share this discussion with others.


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Oklahoma: For-Profit Online Charter Chain Gobbles Up Rural Districts | Diane Ravitch's blog

Oklahoma: For-Profit Online Charter Chain Gobbles Up Rural Districts | Diane Ravitch's blog

Oklahoma: For-Profit Online Charter Chain Gobbles Up Rural Districts




Oklahoma has underfunded its public schools over the past decade. Many districts have switched to a four-day week to save money.
Some rural districts, facing insolvency, are turning their schools over to Epic, a for-profit online charter chain, which can balance the books by putting kids online and cutting teachers’ jobs.
Like all online charter schools, EPIC overstates its “gains” while its actual results are less than mediocre.
“To save his financially imperiled school district, Panola Superintendent Brad Corcoran in 2017 pitched a plan to convert the traditional public district into a charter school. 
“In becoming a charter, Panola Public Schools would turn over its management to a company affiliated with Epic Charter Schools, the largest online school in the state. The school board agreed. 
“The Epic-related firm contributed $100,000 toward Panola’s debt as part of the agreement. That company manages the small district for a more than 10 percent cut of its funding.  Panola’s high school students now have the option to attend most classes online from home.
“The deal was unprecedented. Not only was it one of the first conversions-to-charter in the state, it allowed Epic’s company to operate a school and gain many benefits denied other charter schools: It could tap into and spend local property tax revenue to cover costs of student transportation, school buildings and sports facilities, like traditional school districts.
“And Epic didn’t stop at Panola….”
Epic has 23,000 in Oklahoma and it is growing in California as well.
”Trice Butler, superintendent of Wilburton Public Schools, which neighbors Panola, said she is concerned that Epic CONTINUE READING: Oklahoma: For-Profit Online Charter Chain Gobbles Up Rural Districts | Diane Ravitch's blog

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