KEEP UP/ CATCH UP WITH DIANE RAVITCH'S BLOG A site to discuss better education for all

Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all

KEEP UP/ CATCH UP WITH DIANE RAVITCH'S BLOG 

A site to discuss better education for all

Slaying Goliath: The Passionate Resistance to Privatization and the Fight to Save America's Public Schools

CLICK HERE TO Pre-order NOW

How a Minneapolis Foundation Wasted $45 Million on a Failed Plan to Reform Teacher Education

by dianeravitch / 14min

Rob Levine, a Resistance-to-Privatization blogger in Minneapolis, reports here on the failure of the Bush Foundation’s bold “teacher effectiveness” initiative, which cost $45 million. All wasted. The foundation set bold goals. It did not meet any of them. Levine writes: Ten years ago the St Paul-based Bush Foundation embarked on what was at the time its most expensive and ambitious project ever:

Senate Republicans Want to Increase Funding for Charters, House Democrats Want to Cut it

24by dianeravitch / 1h

The federal Charter Schools Program handed out $440 Million this year. Betsy DeVos uses this money as her personal slush fund to reward corporate charter chains like KIPP ($89 million), IDEA (over $200 million in two years), and Success Academy ($10 million). Originally, it was meant to launch start-up charters, but DeVos has turned it into a free-flowing spigot for some of the nation’s richest c

YESTERDAY

Meredith Kolodner Responds to George Packer about Brooklyn New School

by dianeravitch / 20h

George Packer, who usually writes for the New Yorker, recently wrote an angry tirade about the progressive elementary school in which he enrolled his child. Readers quickly identified it as Brooklyn New School, one of the most progressive in the city. He complained, among other things, that he and his child felt pressured to “opt out” of state testing, and he seems to like the state tests. But th

Investigate Nick Melvoin! Sign This Petition if You Agree

by dianeravitch / 21h

Did Los Angeles board member Nick Melvoin share privileged information with the representatives of the charter school industry? Please sign this petition to call for an investigation.

New York Times: “The Disappearing Schools of Puerto Rico”

25by dianeravitch / 22h

The New York Times Magazine published a heart-breaking photo essay about the abandonment of schools in Puerto Rico, first because of its debt crisis, then because of federal privatization policy after hurricanes in 2017. The Island has been strangled by financiers, then raped by DeVos-style policies, and the public schools were the victims. The writer was Jonathan M. Katz. It begins: During the b

Greta Thunberg, Teen Leader of the Climate Crisis

by dianeravitch / 22h

Students are joining protests today to demand action on climate change. One teen has become the face of this movement: Greta Thunberg. She has been tireless in calling attention to the need to take action now to save the planet. https://www.cnn.com/2019/09/20/us/greta-thunberg-profile-weir/index.html In the U.S., Trump has been tireless in rolling back every environmental protection. Even his chi

Amy Frogge: How Edupreneurs Took Nashville for a Ride

52by dianeravitch / 23h

Amy Frogge was a two-term elected member of the Metro Nashville school board. She is a lawyer and a parent activist. She posted this fascinating account on her Facebook page. Amy Frogge is one of the heroes of the Resistance who is featured in my forthcoming book Slaying Goliath: The Passionate Resistance Against Privatization and the Fight to Save America’s Public Schools (January 21, 2020). She

Jeff Bryant: How Sharp Operators Fleece School Districts of Millions

27by dianeravitch / 1d

Investigative journalist Jeff Bryant has published a bombshell article about entrepreneurs who operate superintendent searches, then call on their Superintendents to buy professional development, technology, training, and other services. The conflicts of interest and self-dealing are shocking. Districts lose millions of dollars and buy services they don’t need, while the search service continues

Tom Ultican: Relay “Graduate School of Education” is a “MarketWorld” Fraud

24by dianeravitch / 1d

Tom Ultican, a former teacher of physics and advanced mathematics in California, is diligently analyzing the tentacles of the Corporate Reform Movement, which he calls the Destroy Oublic Education Movement. Relay Graduate School: a Slick “MarketWorld” Education Fraud In this post, he scrutinizes the Relay “Graduate School of Education,” a program run by the charter industry to give master’s degre

SEP 19

Teresa Hanafin of the Boston Globe on Trump’s Busy Day

by dianeravitch / 1d

Teresa Hanafin writes “Fast Forward” for the Boston Globe, where this appeared. I love her writing. Trump has no public events on his schedule today, probably clearing the decks so he and his toadies can figure out how to explain away a troubling revelation by The Washington Post: This summer, during communications with a foreign leader — one US official said it was a phone call — Trump made a pr

Note to Governor Gina Raimondo: An Offer You Can’t Refuse

37by dianeravitch / 1d

Rhode Island Governor Gina Raimondo is a true believer in corporate reform. She wants to fixlow test scores by opening charter schools and hiring TFA teachers to staff them and the public schools. Governor Raimondo was previously an investment banker. Bob Shepherd, expert teacher, curriculum writer, assessment developer, and author, has an offer for Governor Raimondo: Dear Governor Raimondo: I ca

Rhode Island: Governor Raimondo Wants to Recruit More TFA Teachers

by dianeravitch / 1d

Faced with low test scores in Providence, Central Falls, and other districts, Rhode Island Governor Gina Raimondo wants more teachers from Teach for America, who have only five weeks of training. She is a deep-dyed Corporate Reformer who believes in the magic of privatization by charter schools and inexperienced, ill-trained TFA. This will not end well for the students.

Nancy Bailey: 35 Ways They Dumb Down America

42by dianeravitch / 1d

Nancy Bailey posted this great piece last May, but I missed it then. It remains super-timely. 35 Ways They Dumb Down America: Still, There’s Hope! She writes. If you’ve ever worried what the future will hold without public schools, watching legislators destroy those schools in Florida and Tennessee this past week was gloomy. But there they were with smiles in Florida, and a little less jubilant i

Nevada: Vouchers and the Definition of Insanity

40by dianeravitch / 2d

The definition of insanity: funding an experimental education program, discovering that it failed, then funding it some more and expecting different results. Another definition of insanity: funding a voucher program that depresses student achievement, then demanding more voucher funds so more students can fall behind. Why fund failure? Despite Poor Academic Results Groups Sue to Grow Private Scho

Audrey Watters: The Iron Rule of Silicon Valley: Thou Shalt Not Criticize a Start-Up

by dianeravitch / 2d

Audrey Watters writes a brilliant blog about Ed-tech and its misadventures. It is called HEWN, or Hack Education Weekly Newsletter. She wrote a post recently about what happened when a tech investor tweeted that he refused to invest in AltSchool because it was a truly bad idea. AltSchool raised $174 million to demonstrate that the solutions to the problems of education were embedded in technology

SEP 18

Meet the Democrats Who Support the Betsy DeVos Agenda

300+by dianeravitch / 2d

Every year since 2014, Democrats who fervently support the privatization of public schools have gathered at a conference they pretentiously call “Camp Philos.” https://campphilos.org/ Check the agenda of meetings present and past. There you will see the lineup of Democrats who sneer at public schools and look on public school teachers with contempt. These are the Democrats who support the DeVos a

Denver: Insurgents Hope to Oust Billionaire-Backed School Board Majority

23by dianeravitch / 2d

The Denver school Board is up for grabs, and a battle looms between progressives supporting public schools and a slate controlled by Stand for Children, Democrats for Education Reform, and groups controlled by Wall Street and billionaires. The “reformers” support school closures, disruption, charter schools, and high-stakes testing. The powerful, who control the board, say that any challenge to t

Tucson: DeVos’ Aide Visits a High-Performing Public School and Insists It Must Be a Charter

100+by dianeravitch / 3d

Assistant U.S. Secretary of Education Scott Stump traveled to Arizona to celebrate the success of charter schools, and he did so at a public magnet school! This top education official insisted that Tucson’s University High is a charter school. When he was corrected by a reporter after his news conference, he continued to insist that the public high school was a charter school. Like his boss, Bets

Jan Resseger: Public Schools Are the Essence of the Common Good

68by dianeravitch / 3d

This is one of the best of Jan Resseger’s many brilliant posts. In it, she quotes a surprising source, who explains the importance, centrality, and necessity of public schools as anchors of their communities. As you may have guessed, I am a huge admirer of this insightful, wise woman. Please print this out, email it, tweet it, put it on Facebook, share it with your friends. I never quote a post i

SEP 17

Trump Blocks California’s Tough Fuel Standards

by dianeravitch / 3d

Trump took action today to prevent California from having fuel standards tougher than those of the federal government. This is a Republican who doesn’t believe in local or state control or in the Environmental Protection Agency l, created by President Nixon. Conservatives conserve. Trump destroys and despoils. https://www.latimes.com/environment/story/2019-09-17/trump-revokes-california-environme

DeVos and Her Aides Will Promote Vouchers and Charters Across the Country

500+by dianeravitch / 3d

Politico Education reports that Secretary Betsy DeVos and her political appointees are fanning out across the country to promote charters, vouchers, and educational “freedom” from public schools. She will be in Indiana and Ohio, which already have vouchers and charters, most of which are low-performing. Under DeVos, the official mission of the U.S. Department of Education is to destroy and privat

Reserve NOW for Network for Public Education Conference In Philly, 2020

by dianeravitch / 3d

Please register before it is too late! Don’t be left out! Register now and take advantage of the Early Bird reduced rate to our 6th National Conference: Neighborhood Public Schools: The Heart of Our Communities, which will take place March 28-29 in Philadelphia. Make sure you reserve your spot soon. We are limited to only 500 registrations this year, and availability will go quickly. Early Bird r

Peter Greene: Chan Zuckerberg Partners with Sesame Street and Elmo (Oh, No!)

by dianeravitch / 3d

Peter Greene demonstrates here (yet again) that there is nothing that money cannot buy (and corrupt). Now it is Sesame Street (although as he points out, HBO already bought Sesame Street). Is there anything not for sale? Open the link and read the whole sorry story. If you haven’t been paying particularly close attention, you may have missed the Chan-Zuckerberg Initiative slowly inserting its hyp

Mike Klonsky on Gentrifying (Whitening) Black Communities in Chicago

by dianeravitch / 3d

Mike Klonsky writes here about the advice of former Duncan aide Peter Cunningham to Chicago: When trying to revive devastated black communities, bring in “new people.” Klonsky begins: Just when you think we’ve heard the last from the disastrous duo of Arne Duncan and Peter Cunningham , they become media go-to guys on (of all things) gun violence and community development. Remember, this was the p

Wisconsin: Parents Outraged That DeVos Is Selling Vouchers to Them

64by dianeravitch / 4d

Patents in Wisconsin are furious that Betsy DeVos came to their state to tout vouchers while ignoring the vast majority of students, who are enrolled in public schools. Heather DuBois Bourenane, the Executive Director of the Wisconsin Public Education Network, says that the state has had vouchers for 30 years with unimpressive results. http://www.wisconsinnetwork.org/blog/devos-response?fbclid=Iw

“The Perfect Storm [Disaster] of Education Reform”

28by dianeravitch / 4d

This is an excellent article about “The Perfect Storm of Education Reform” by three scholars: Sheryl J. Croft, Mari Ann Whitehouse, and Vera Stenhouse. It begins like this: No Child left behind (NCLB), Race to the Top (rt3), and now Common Core embody over a decade of federal and state education reform purport- edly designed to address inequities for global majority and low-income students. Howev

Stephen Dyer: Charter Schools in Ohio Get Failing Grades from State

by dianeravitch / 4d

Stephen Dyer, former legislator and Senior fellow at Innovation Ohio, reviews Ohio’s school report cards here. http://10thperiod.blogspot.com/2019/09/charter-schools-overrepresentation-of.html Remember when charter schools were going to “save poor kids from failing public schools”? What happens when public schools outperform charter schools, as happened in 2019? Remember when charter schools were

SEP 16

Bill Phillis: Charters in Ohio Are Failing, State Wasted $11 Billion

400+by dianeravitch / 4d

Ohio released its school report cards. Bill Phillis summarizes the results: Charter schools report card grades dismal If there is any value in the state report card scheme, it is that it reveals the failure of the charter experiment. 71 charters or 23% received F grades compared to only seven tenths of one percent of school districts. Six charters or .3% received A grades compared to 5% of school

Mercedes Schneider on the New Orleans Effort to End Its Teacher Shortage

by dianeravitch / 4d

Mercedes Schneider writes here about a program in New Orleans to recruit new charter teachers. In the all-charter district, the teachers seem to be dropping like flies. Almost 40% of its teachers have less than three years experience. The program at Xavier University issues a certification for life, but here is the catch: the certification is valid only in New Orleans! On September 09, 2019, the

Mark Weber: The Condition of Teachers in New Jersey

by dianeravitch / 4d

Mark Weber, aka Jersey Jazzman, recently completed a study of teachers in New Jersey. As you may know, Weber teaches in the Garden State, and he recently completed his doctoral studies. When he is blogging, he is Jersey Jazzman. When he produces studies, he is Mark Weber. In Brief: New Jersey’s Teacher Workforce, 2019 Highlights: • Teachers in New Jersey make substantially less than similarly edu

How a Billionaire Bought the Right to Put His Name on the Yale Commons

by dianeravitch / 5d

Yale opened a dining hall for its students in 1901, called The Commons . It was a common meeting ground for students who lived in many different buildings. A recent history of The Commons described it like this: They say Hogwarts’s Great Hall, home to treacle tarts and pumpkin juice, was modeled after it. That’s not true — the honor belongs to the dining hall in the College of Christ Church at Ox

Jeb Bush’s Chiefs for Change Plead for End to Backlash Against School Choice

200+by dianeravitch / 5d

Feeling the backlash in a big way, Jeb Bush’s “Chiefs for Change” issued a call to end the “Toxic Rhetoric” about school choice, especially charters. Chiefs for Change are strong proponents of privatization. Here are the current members. Is your superintendent a “Chief for Change” who wants to divert money from public schools to the Betsy DeVos agenda of school choice? They say: Recent attempts t

SEP 15

Indiana: West Lafayette Public Schools Sues the State for Taking Their Property and Giving It to Charter Industry for $1

500+by dianeravitch / 5d

Rocky Killion, superintendent of the West Lafayette, Indiana, public school district, is a fighter for public schools. A few years ago, he helped to launch an outstanding film about the extremist assault on the public schools by privatizers; it is called Rise Above the Mark , and it showcases the good work done in Indiana’s public schools. Now Rocky Killion is suing the state of Indiana for permi

Carol Burris and Leonie Haimson On the Air!

by dianeravitch / 5d

Here is news you can use! Carol Burris and Leonie Haimson now have a regular one-hour radio show on WBAI In New York. The show is called TALK OUT OF SCHOOL, and it will appear weekly. WBAI is part of the progressive Pacifica Network. I n their first show, t hey discussed student privacy, a subject on which Leonie is a national advocate and expert, and they analyzed current controversies about div

The Whistle-Blower at MIT Knew That Jeffrey Epstein’s Money Was Tainted

21by dianeravitch / 5d

The Chronicle of Philanthropy published a fascinating story about a young woman who worked in the development office at MIT when the institution was seeking Jeffrey Epstein’s money. She knew it was wrong, but she was young, a newcomer, and who would care what she thought. Development support staff are rarely in the limelight, even within their own organizations. But Signe Swenson has had a whirlw

Texas Charter Schools: Don’t Believe the Boasting and Hype

100+by dianeravitch / 6d

William J. Gumbert has prepared statistical analyses of charter performance in Texas, based on state data. Charters boast of their “success,” but the reality is far different from their claims. They don’t enroll similar demographics, their attrition rate is staggering, and their “wait lists” are unverified. Their claims are a marketing tool. They are not better than public schools. They undermine

Note to Rhode Island Officials: Expanding “Achievement First” Charters Will Not Help Providence Public Schools

51by dianeravitch / 6d

Rhode Island Officials—Governor Gina Raimondo and State Commissioner Angelica Infante-Green—are looking at the expansion of the no-excuses Achievement First Charter chain as part of the “solution” to the low-scoring Providence public school district. Achievement First is a national charter chain known for high test scores, high suspension rates, and high teacher turnover. It was launched in Conne

SEP 14

The Photographs of Susan Schwartz

by dianeravitch / 6d

Regular readers of this blog have often encountered comments by Susan Schwartz. Susan was a celebrated teacher in District 2 in New York City. Now she is retired and has become a very successful photographer. She mentioned recently that her work had been accepted for an exhibit, and another reader asked whether Susan would be willing to share her work here. I asked her and she responded with this

Shawgi Tell: Are Charter Schools Public Schools?

300+by dianeravitch / 6d

Shawgi Tell, a professor of education at Nazareth College in upstate New York, has a straightforward answer to the question he raises. His answer: No. Charter schools are not public schools . He writes: Charter school advocates have always desperately sought to convince themselves and the public that privately-run nonprofit and for-profit charter schools that operate like businesses are actually

Leonie Haimson: Is New York About to Gut Its Student Privacy Law?

24by dianeravitch / 6d

Leonie Haimson, executive director of Class Size Matters and co-founder of the national Parent Coalition for Student Privacy (and a member of the board of the Network for Public Education) writes here about the threat to student privacy in New York. The New York Board of Regents is currently considering whether to approve a radical weakening of the state student privacy law, which would allow the

Maurice Cunningham: The Waltons Create a “National Parents Union”

66by dianeravitch / 7d

Maurice Cunningham is a political science professor at the University of Massachusetts, who has a remarkable passion for tracking Dark Money. In this post , he warns that the Walton Family has funded an AstroTurf group called “the National Parents Union,” which hopes to organize parents to demand privately-managed charter schools and to fight teachers’ unions. Cunningham is very familiar with the

Bill Phillis: Will the Supreme Court Wipe Out the Ban on Public Funding of Religious Schools?

67by dianeravitch / 7d

Bill Phillis of the Adequacy and Equity Coalition of Ohio fears that the Supreme Court’s conservative majority, to which Trump added two religious zealots, is on the verge of eliminating the separation of church and state. This would be a huge victory for Betsy DeVos, ALEC, and the anti-government crusaders of the Right. Some states—such as Ohio, Indiana, and Florida— have already decided to igno

SEP 13

N.Y. Attorney General: Sackler Family Wired $1 Billion Out of U.S.

500+by dianeravitch / 7d

New York State Attorney General Leticia James stated that the Sackler Family was wiring money out of the country to protect their assets from litigation related to the opioid crisis. New York Uncovers $1 Billion in Sackler Family Wire Transfers In a court filing, the state attorney general’s office says that it has found new account transfers by members of the family that owns Purdue Pharma, the

Laura Chapman: The New Line on Private Charters as Spelled Out by the D.C. Establishment

38by dianeravitch / 7d

Laura Chapman, our loyal reader and diligent researcher, writes: If you want to get past the Dintersmith rhetoric, carefully contrived to make an appealing plausible story (with some help from Frameworks Institute.org), you need to look at the website Education 2020 (ED 2020) to see the underling incoherence (hot air) in Dintersmith’s project, and who is supporting it. About Education 2020: “We (

Peter Greene: Does Social and Emotional Learning Belong in the Classroom?

by dianeravitch / 7d

Education is always ablaze with the latest fad (think “grit,” “think “self-esteem,” think “character education,” think “growth mindset,” think a hundred other hot topics). Now it is “social and emotional learning.” You might think that SEL is simply built into the classroom experience. But no, there is now a demand from some quarters to teach it as a separate activity or even subject. Peter Green

ProPublica Exposes the Man and the Myths Behind the Trump Campaign

by dianeravitch / 7d

This is a fascinating investigation by ProPublica of the life and exaggerations of the webmaster behind the Trump campaign. Brad Parsquale is a Trumpian figure who is running Trump’s re-election campaign and is paid big bucks to market his life story of rags to riches. But it ain’t necessarily so.

Los Altos, California, Fights Elite Charter School

by dianeravitch / 7d

Los Altos has a problem. Wealthy residents opened a charter school for their children, drawing money from the public schools to support their charter. The Bullis School is a private school that calls itself a “public” school and is funded by public dollars. Vladimir Ivanovic wrote the following update on the community’s efforts to compel the Bullis School to act like a public school, not a privat

Nancy Bailey on The War Against Little Children

100+by dianeravitch / 8d

Nancy Bailey describes here the determined effort by policymakers to stamp out play and childhood, all in the name of teaching reading long before children are ready to learn to read. Because kindergarten has become more advanced, preschool is seen as the time children must have prereading skills for kindergarten. If they don’t, it’s seen as a red flag. This makes teachers and parents push childr

Ted Dintersmith: Why We Must Invest in a New Vision for Education

43by dianeravitch / 8d

Ted Dintersmith was honored by the NEA for his advocacy on behalf of public education. In this article, which appeared in Forbes, he urges support for a national commitment to investing in education and the future of our society. He writes: Education is the single most important issue determining our democracy’s future. If we continue to get it wrong, we’re headed for collapse. But if we bring th

SEP 12

How the GOP in North Carolina Pulled Off Its Sneak Attack on Medicaid Expansion for 634,000 People

75by dianeravitch / 8d

Think dirty politics, think North Carolina. Yesterday, while some Democratic legislators and Governor Roy Cooper attended a 9/11 memorial service, the Republican legislators called a snap vote to override the governor’s veto of the state budget. They had repeatedly assured the Democrats that no votes would be recorded that morning, but they lied. If the full body of representatives had been prese

Los Angeles: Parent Calls on LAUSD Board to Investigate Nick Melvoin

38by dianeravitch / 8d

Tracy Abbott Cook, a parent in District 4 represented by Nick Melvoin, testified to the LAUSD board and asked it to investigate him based on the emails leaked to Michael Kohlhaas. The emails showed that Melvoin had collaborated with opposing counsel from the California Charter School Association. Ms. Cook believes this is a violation of Melvoin’s obligation to the voters who elected him and to hi

Curriculum Company Sues Parent for Criticizing Its Program

40by dianeravitch / 8d

Sarah Sparks writes in Edweek about a curriculum company that is suing a parent in Wake County, North Carolina, for criticizing its math program. The company says the parent is defaming its product. The parent’s lawyer says the company is attacking the parent’s First Amendment rights. As the story notes, this is a SLAPP suit, a suit meant to silence public criticism. The last time I encountered t

Julian Vasquez Heilig on Our Segregated Charter Schools

by dianeravitch / 8d

This is an interview with Dr. Julian Vasquez Heilig, the scholar who was recently named dean of the University of Kentucky School of Education. JVH’s scholarship focuses on equity. He has written about charter schools and Teach for America. https://progressive.org/public-school-shakedown/segregation-worse-charter-schools-vasquez-heilig-miller-190909/ From the Progressive: Vasquez-Heilig and his c

Jack Hassard: Trump’s Outrageous War on Science

26by dianeravitch / 8d

Jack Hassard Taught science education for many years. He used to write a blog called “The Art of Teaching Science,” but became so upset about current events that he renamed his blog “Jack Hassard’s Blog.” In this post, he excoriates Trump’s war on science. He begins: Science was under assault last week by an un-educated President and his staff who believe that they can supercede the findings of s

Kentucky PTA Lawyer: The Other Side of the Story

by dianeravitch / 8d

I posted Gay Adelmann’s account of her efforts to see the financial records of the Kentucky PTA. Both sides ended up in court. https://dianeravitch.net/2019/09/09/kentucky-what-is-the-state-pta-hiding/ I heard from S. Coy Travis, whose law firm represents the Kentucky PTA. He wanted readers to know both sides. I invited him to write a commentary, and he did. He wrote: Isn’t Kentucky PTA subject t

Steven Singer: Time to Close Every Single Charter School, Every One

100+by dianeravitch / 9d

Steven Singer, a teacher in Pennsylvania, has concluded that there are no good charter schools. The problem, he says, is not implementation but the concept , which, he insists, is wrong. He writes: The problem with charter schools isn’t that they have been implemented badly. Nor is it that some are for-profit and others are not. The problem is the concept, itself. Put simply: charter schools are

Mineola, N.Y.: A Third-Grade Classroom Where Students Spend 75% of The Day on Their iPads

by dianeravitch / 9d

Four years ago, the Hechinger Report described a third-grade class in an affluent suburb of New York City where children spend 75% of the day on their iPads. Is this the future? It is not a cost-saver, since there is still one teacher 

Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all

No Pineapple left Behind – the Consolation of Satire and Video Games | gadflyonthewallblog

No Pineapple left Behind – the Consolation of Satire and Video Games | gadflyonthewallblog

No Pineapple left Behind – the Consolation of Satire and Video Games

Q: What’s the difference between a pineapple and a human child?

A: Pineapples are more profitable.

Let’s face it – kids have.. yuck … needs! Maslow even came up with a hierarchy of needs that must be met before you can get the little tykes to do anything. Physical well-being, safety, emotional… Argh! It’s just so much work!

Pineapples, however, are money-makers from the get go.

Chop them up, and you’ve got a tropical fruit salad.

Juice them, and you can make about a hundred different premium cocktails.

Heck! Just plop one in a hat and you’ve got an island-themed mascot!

But kids!? You can’t even get them to take a lucrative standardized test without… bleugh … educating them first.

Imagine if you could make pineapples take tests and get grades instead. Schooling would be like a gardening contest. Who has the best recipe for success? There would be no intangibles like the effects of poverty, home-life, special needs. It would all be CONTINUE READING: No Pineapple left Behind – the Consolation of Satire and Video Games | gadflyonthewallblog

Two paths diverge. Follow the red one. – Wrench in the Gears

Two paths diverge. Follow the red one. – Wrench in the Gears

Two paths diverge. Follow the red one.

Above taken from The Red Nation’s Principles of Unity, ratified August 2018.

I write this at the beginning of the Global Climate Strike in the hopes of raising questions, provoking conversation, and perhaps bringing some clarity to a fight that has life or death consequences for untold millions of people as well as our non-human kin. The path we take means everything. While I am encouraged to see the mass mobilization of people around the environmental devastation capitalism has wrought upon this planet, I also have grave concerns that misdirection is taking place.

It is a moment when so many are wrapped up in the fervor of participation that they do not recognize there are two paths in the environmental movement. The first path is one that has been maintained by Indigenous peoples throughout the colonization and industrialization of their lands. They have been waging the battle for right relations among people, the land, and their non-human kin for centuries. Theirs has been a fierce resistance, one where the magnitude of sacrifice is simply incalculable. Few have been on their side. It has been a terrible struggle, and yet they have persisted. Thank god. Thank for the youth who ignited the water protector CONTINUE READING: Two paths diverge. Follow the red one. – Wrench in the Gears

Shawgi Tell: Charter School Advocates Grow More Belligerent | Dissident Voice

Charter School Advocates Grow More Belligerent | Dissident Voice

Charter School Advocates Grow More Belligerent

Steadily mounting opposition to privately-operated nonprofit and for-profit charter schools is inevitable and becoming a bigger thorn in the side of nervous neoliberals, privatizers, and corporate school reformers.

Terrified of discussion, investigation, and analysis, and hell-bent on privatizing schools, no matter the cost to society, on September 11, 2019, “Chiefs for Change” issued a letter righteously and arrogantly demanding that everyone blindly submit to the destructive neoliberal agenda of privatizing schools to further enrich major owners of capital.

“Chiefs for Change” has been around since January 2015 and is comprised of dozens of aggressive privatizers and corporate school reformers (“educators”) masquerading as “bold nonpartisan innovators.”

While “Chiefs for Change” casually admits that there are many “school choice systems that have been largely unmonitored and often unaccountable, or that have increased the racial and economic isolation of students,” the organization desperately wants the public to suspend all critical thinking, blindly support school privatization, and automatically believe that “Chiefs for Change” simply wants what is best for students and is not concerned with financially enriching CONTINUE READING: Charter School Advocates Grow More Belligerent | Dissident Voice

Jeff Bryant: Another school leadership disaster: Private companies work an insider game to reap lucrative contracts – Alternet.org

Another school leadership disaster: Private companies work an insider game to reap lucrative contracts – Alternet.org

Another school leadership disaster: Private companies work an insider game to reap lucrative contracts

In July 2013, the education world was rocked when a breaking story by Chicago independent journalist Sarah Karp reported that district CEO Barbara Byrd-Bennett had pushed through a no-bid $20 million contract to provide professional development to administrators with a private, for-profit company called SUPES Academy, which she had worked for a year before the deal transpired. Byrd-Bennett was also listed as a senior associate for PROACT Search, a superintendent search firm run by the same individuals who led SUPES.

By 2015, federal investigators looked into the deal and found reason to charge Byrd-Bennett for accepting bribes and kickbacks from the company that ran SUPES and PROACT. A year-and-a-half later, the story made national headlines when Byrd-Bennett was convicted and sentenced to prison for those charges. But anyone who thought this story was an anomaly would be mistaken. Similar conflicts of interest among private superintendent search firms, their associated consulting companies, and their handpicked school leaders have plagued multiple school districts across the country.

In an extensive examination, Our Schools has discovered an intricate web of businesses that reap lucrative school contracts funded by public tax dollars. These businesses are often able to place their handpicked candidates in school leadership positions who then help make the purchasing decision for the same businesses’ other products and services, which often include professional development, strategic planning, computer-based services, or data analytics. The deals are often brokered in secrecy or presented to local school boards in ways that make insider schemes appear legitimate.

As in the Byrd-Bennett scandal, school officials who get caught in this web risk public humiliation, criminal investigation, and potential jail time, while the businesses that perpetuate this hidden arrangement continue to flourish and grow.

The results of these scandals are often disastrous. School policies and personnel are CONTINUE READING: Another school leadership disaster: Private companies work an insider game to reap lucrative contracts – Alternet.org

Edgar Villanueva: Investing in Native Communities | Schott Foundation for Public Education

Investing in Native Communities | Schott Foundation for Public Education

Investing in Native Communities

Schott Vice President of Programs and Advocacy Edgar Villanueva is a board member of Native Americans in Philanthropy (NAP), and wrote the foreword below for the pathbreaking new report "Investing in Native Communities," produced by NAP and Candid. Read the report and explore the new website.

It’s been said that “whoever holds the data tells the story.” Our story is a difficult one, due to the history of colonization and genocide in the United States and around the world. Because of this, Indigenous peoples have historically not been authors of our own narratives. But thanks to the work of Native Americans in Philanthropy, other Native-led organizations, and Indigenous leaders inside philanthropic institutions, many donors are becoming aware of this history and the resulting trauma that continues to plague our communities.

Still, too much of our story remains invisible—to policymakers, to mainstream culture, and to philanthropy. This has resulted in historical underfunding from the philanthropic sector (Native Americans receive 0.4 percent of grant dollars, on average, although we represent 2 percent of the population) as well as instability in year-over-year funding levels. With only 20 percent of large foundations giving to Native communities and causes—many of these intermittently—long-term relationship building between Native communities and the philanthropic sector becomes incredibly challenging.

Nonetheless, our current story is also one of resilience and opportunity—and powerful Native-led work that is building community, increasing power and leadership, and preserving our cultures. The world is now looking to our communities for solutions and leadership across sectors—from environmental conservation to innovative CONTINUE READING: Investing in Native Communities | Schott Foundation for Public Education

Symposium: Stripping church-state separation to the bone? The Supreme Court considers mandatory government funding of religious education - SCOTUSblog

Symposium: Stripping church-state separation to the bone? The Supreme Court considers mandatory government funding of religious education - SCOTUSblog

Symposium: Stripping church-state separation to the bone? The Supreme Court considers mandatory government funding of religious education
Daniel Mach is Director of the ACLU Program on Freedom of Religion and Belief.

In Espinoza v. Montana Department of Revenue, the Supreme Court will address a question that would have been unthinkable even to ask until quite recently: Can a state be forced to underwrite religious education with taxpayer dollars? Although the court has previously allowed the government to adopt school-voucher programs that provide indirect government aid to religious schools, it has never suggested that the U.S. Constitution somehow requires doing so ― and certainly not in the face of state constitutional rules barring taxpayer funding of religious education. Yet that is essentially what the petitioners are seeking in Espinoza, the latest in a disturbing line of cases attacking the very foundations of the separation of church and state.

At issue in Espinoza is a voucher-type program in Montana designed to divert millions in government dollars to private schools, the overwhelming majority of which are religiously affiliated. The program, enacted in 2015, allows taxpayers to receive dollar-for-dollar tax credits for donations to Student Scholarship Organizations, which then award scholarships to students attending private elementary and secondary schools. In other words, if a taxpayer owes the state, say, $100 in taxes, she can decide instead to send that money directly to an SSO, which will then spend it on private-school scholarships. In practice, the tax-credit program has served its unmistakable goal of funneling government dollars to religious education: The only SSO operating in the state supports 13 private schools, 12 of which are religiously affiliated, and over 94 percent of program scholarships have gone to finance religious education.

Such religious funding, even though indirect, violates the Montana constitution, which includes heightened protections against government-funded religion. The state constitution’s “no-aid provision,” adopted to promote the separation of church and state and to ensure continued taxpayer support for public schools in Montana, expressly prohibits the government from providing “direct or indirect” aid for religious education. In light of the no-aid provision, the Montana Department of CONTINUE READING: Symposium: Stripping church-state separation to the bone? The Supreme Court considers mandatory government funding of religious education - SCOTUSblog

Why Teachers Need to Incorporate More Physical Activity Into Their Lesson Plans - Teacher Habits

Why Teachers Need to Incorporate More Physical Activity Into Their Lesson Plans - Teacher Habits

Why Teachers Need to Incorporate More Physical Activity Into Their Lesson Plans

Finding a balance in the classroom can be difficult. Incorporating time for grammar, nutrition, mathematics, science, technology, and a plethora of other subjects is already hard all on its own. As if that wasn’t challenging enough, though, covering so many subjects without turning your class into a horde of zombie-children in the process can feel impossible. The lack of focus and increased levels of pent up energy that come with hours of trying to sit still and listen can be difficult to contain.

That’s where good old physical activity comes into play. It may be a simple concept, but the idea of incorporating exercise into the classroom is a critical ingredient for education success. 

Why Physical Activity Matters

Physical activity is a necessary part of life. The act of moving around, stretching your legs and getting your heart pumping faster should be intimately integrated into a long day in the classroom. 

We live in an era where the general lack of physical health isn’t just a concern, it’s an epidemic. Over a third of American adults are obese at CONTINUE READING: Why Teachers Need to Incorporate More Physical Activity Into Their Lesson Plans - Teacher Habits

No more waiting - Sacramento News & Review

Sacramento News & Review - No more waiting - News - Local Stories - September 19, 2019

No more waiting
More than two years after an independent audit raised alarm bells about special-ed classes, youth advocacy groups don’t see change coming without legal action

“How much data do you need to take action?” the frustrated parent of an autistic student asked in January, after the Sacramento City Unified School District had spent 19 months mulling over a damning independent report on its handling of students with disabilities, while failing to act on most of its recommendations.

Eight months later, it’s not just parents exasperated by the lack of action: A coalition of nonprofits and youth advocacy groups just filed a federal lawsuit against the district, one that seeks to force fundamental change in its special education program.

Some parents had long suspected the district has potentially illegal polices for educating disabled students, though their concerns became impossible to ignore after May 2017. That’s when the independent audit by Council of the Great City Schools determined disabled students at SCUSD had abnormally low graduation rates, weren’t getting adequate mental health services and were experiencing alarmingly high suspension rates. The audit singled out the district’s handling of African-American students, many of whom suffered from emotional disturbances and had nearly twice the suspension rate as non-disabled students. The analysis was soon bolstered by another independent study, this one by San Diego State University. It found that black male students with disabilities in the district were the group with the highest suspension rates.

A year after the audit’s release, all 11 members of the district’s Community Advisory Committee for Special Education resigned in protest, specifically because SCUSD officials had failed to implement recommendations from both them and the audit.

On Sept. 6, Disability Rights California, Equal Justice Society, Western Center on Law & Poverty, the National Center for Youth Law and the Black Parallel School Board jointly filed suit against the district and school board in federal district court.

“Sacramento City Unified School District has created and perpetuates an unlawful school system that results in modern-day segregation and mistreatment of students with disabilities, particularly Black CONTINUE READING: Sacramento News & Review - No more waiting - News - Local Stories - September 19, 2019

Sacramento teacher shortage means students taught by substitutes | The Sacramento Bee

Sacramento teacher shortage means students taught by substitutes | The Sacramento Bee

Sacramento City Unified teacher vacancies mean hundreds of students are taught by substitutes

More than three weeks into the school year, several hundred Sacramento City Unified School District students are being taught by substitutes as school officials continue to look for teachers to staff classrooms.

The district estimates that about 46 classrooms have teaching vacancies, which officials said is normal for this time of year. But the Sacramento City Teachers Association said that there are about 100 certificated vacancies, including counselors and nurses. More than 1,000 students are being affected, sometimes being taught electives and required courses by substitutes who are not experienced in subjects like Spanish and art.

Math, science and special education positions are the hardest to fill, according to the district, both in Sacramento and statewide. Sacramento City Unified vacancies include six math teachers and five science teachers. Special Education has 14 vacancies.

Some Sacramento schools are seeing a high concentration of teacher vacancies, amid a nationwide teacher shortage.

Rosa Parks Elementary School held the highest concentration of vacancies. Six positions were still open in science, social science, and English classrooms.

C.K. McClatchy High School had three vacancies in English, biology and social science classrooms.

The Sacramento City Teachers Association estimated hundreds of students at McClatchy High are affected by the teacher shortage, and will be instructed by at least one substitute during their school day.

Lori Jablonski, a government teacher at McClatchy High, surveyed one class of 32 students during the first week of school.

“I asked [students] how many subs they had for three periods a day; 16 raised their hands. I asked how many had subs for four periods a day; four raised their hands,” she said. “Because these classes did not start with permanent teachers, no one at the school site has been leaving lesson plans either, as a permanent teacher would do when calling a sub.”

Since then, the high school has filled three math positions and an art class position. Jablonski said several Spanish classes are being taught by a substitute, but the position is not posted as a vacancy.

Substitutes take positions for a maximum of 30 days, and if a teacher isn’t hired, a new substitute is CONTINUE READING: Sacramento teacher shortage means students taught by substitutes | The Sacramento Bee

CURMUDGUCATION: Why Directing Community Theater Is Like Teaching

CURMUDGUCATION: Why Directing Community Theater Is Like Teaching

Why Directing Community Theater Is Like Teaching

Readers of this blog generally get a dose of whatever is on my mind, and what's on my mind at the moment is theater. I'm coming down to the wire on one more community theater production; The Music Man opens one week from tomorrow (by all means, feel free to stop by). I've been doing this and school theater for thirty-some years, and yes, it's an awful lot like teaching. Let me count the ways.

You Work With What You Get

Big time Broadway directors have it easy. If you decide you want to cast someone who's  5'3" with blue eyes and blond hair with a cleft chin and a baritone voice, plus juggling and tap skills-- for the  chorus--  you can have your pick of twenty such guys. In the community theater world, you tend to get what you get, and your challenge is to figure out how you  make a show out of that. Not that I don't get plenty of great performers, and not that I haven't had the opportunity to pick and choose from several prospects for a part. But there's a tricky line to tread; on the one hand, you have to have a vision going into auditions, but on the other hand, you cant hold so tightly to it that you can't get the show cast at all.

It's like a classroom. You can curse your fate every day that you don't have a room full of enthusiastic readers with a good grasp of writing basics, or you can just accept that your students are who they are. You may have your favorite Ron Swanson quote, and at my house, we do, too. There's an episode  in which Ron is telling a story about a getting shot in the foot with a nail gun. Leslie's exclaims, "You only have nine toes?!" And Ron replies, "I have the toes I have." That's pretty much it.

Adaptability Is Not Only Necessary But Rewarding

Broadways shows are mostly written for lots of men. Community (and high school) theater tends to CONTINUE READING: CURMUDGUCATION: Why Directing Community Theater Is Like Teaching

New Reports Confirm Persistent Child Poverty While Policymakers Blame Educators and Fail to Address Core Problem | janresseger

New Reports Confirm Persistent Child Poverty While Policymakers Blame Educators and Fail to Address Core Problem | janresseger

New Reports Confirm Persistent Child Poverty While Policymakers Blame Educators and Fail to Address Core Problem

On Tuesday, the Cleveland Plain Dealer published a stunning analysis, by the newspaper’s data analyst Rich Exner, of the school district grades awarded by the state of Ohio on the state report cards released last week.  The new report cards are based on data from the 2018-2019 school year.  I encourage you to follow the link to look at Exner’s series of bar graphs, which, like this one, present a series of almost perfect downward staircases, with “A” grades for school districts in communities with high median income and “F” grades for the school districts in Ohio’s poorest communities.

The correlation of academic achievement with family income has been demonstrated now for half a century, but policymakers, like those in the Ohio legislature who are debating punitive school district takeovers, prefer to blame public school teachers and administrators instead of using the resources of government to assist struggling families who need better access to healthcare, quality childcare, better jobs, and food assistance.

Ohio’s school district grades arrived this week. At the same time, and with less fanfare, arrived a series of reports on the level of federal spending on children, reports documenting that, as Education Week‘s Andrew Uifusa explains: “The share of the federal budget that goes toward children, including education spending, dipped to just below 2 percent of the nation’s gross domestic product in 2018—the lowest level in the decade.”

On Tuesday of this week, the Urban Institute released a new report detailing trends in federal CONTINUE READING: New Reports Confirm Persistent Child Poverty While Policymakers Blame Educators and Fail to Address Core Problem | janresseger

How My Thinking about School Reform Has Changed Over the Decades (Part 2) | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

How My Thinking about School Reform Has Changed Over the Decades (Part 2) | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

How My Thinking about School Reform Has Changed Over the Decades (Part 2)

A few years ago, Richard Elmore asked me to write a piece about how my ideas have changed over the years. Daily experience in schools as a teacher, administrator, and researcher (and the reflections and writing that I did about those experiences)  altered key ideas I had about the nature of reform and how reform worked its way into districts, schools, and classrooms. He included my piece in a book called I Used to Think… And Now I Think (Harvard Education Press, 2011).  Both posts appeared originally in 2013. There is light editing in Part 2. Part 1 appeared a few days ago.

I used to think that structural reforms (e.g., creating non-graded schools; new district and school site governance structures; novel technologies; small high schools with block schedules, advisories, and student learning communities) would lead to better classroom instruction. And now I think that, at best, such structural reforms may be necessary first steps toward improving instruction but are (and have been) seldom sufficient to alter traditional teaching practices.

In teaching nearly 15 years, I had concluded that policies creating new structures (see above examples) would alter common teaching practices which, in turn, would get students to learn more, faster, and better.

I revised that conclusion, albeit in slow motion, as I looked around at how my fellow teachers taught and began to examine my own classroom practices. I reconsidered the supposed power of structures in changing teaching practices CONTINUE READING: How My Thinking about School Reform Has Changed Over the Decades (Part 2) | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

Louisiana’s “Education PAC”: A Bit About Nancy Landry, Eddie Rispone, and Lane Grigsby, and More. | deutsch29

Louisiana’s “Education PAC”: A Bit About Nancy Landry, Eddie Rispone, and Lane Grigsby, and More. | deutsch29

Louisiana’s “Education PAC”: A Bit About Nancy Landry, Eddie Rispone, and Lane Grigsby, and More.

n my perusal of Louisiana campaign finance reports, I discovered the PAC featured in this post.

On January 31, 2017, Louisiana lawyer and former La. House rep Nancy Landry started a Louisiana PAC called the Education PAC.

Investigating the political connections among ed-reform associates is very much spider-webby-entangling. I will purposely keep this one brief.

Landry was the House education chair who publicly demeaned Louisiana teachers in 2012; Landry proposed a motion (which passed) requiring teachers who came before the House ed committee to state what kind of leave they took to be present to speak during a school day.

Nancy Landry

The first donors to Landry’s Education PAC were Louisiana businessmen Lane Grigsby and Edward Rispone. Each donated $25,000 in 2016.

Both Grigsby and Rispone are associated with Lousiana Business and Industry (LABI), which is a major promoter of education reform in Lousiana. LABI loves Nancy Landry.

Grigsby’s own Empower Louisiana PAC was a funnel for six out-of-state billionaires from four families to contribute a combined $3M to influence the outcome of Louisiana’s 2015 Board of Elementary and Secondary Education CONTINUE READING: Louisiana’s “Education PAC”: A Bit About Nancy Landry, Eddie Rispone, and Lane Grigsby, and More. | deutsch29

Charter School’s Two Dads – How a Hatred for Public School Gave Us School Privatization | gadflyonthewallblog

Charter School’s Two Dads – How a Hatred for Public School Gave Us School Privatization | gadflyonthewallblog

Charter School’s Two Dads – How a Hatred for Public School Gave Us School Privatization

If bad ideas can be said to have fathers, then charter schools have two.

And I’m not talking about greed and racism.

No, I mean two flesh and blood men who did more than any others to give this terrible idea life – Minnesota ideologues Ted Kolderie, 89, and Joe Nathan, 71.

In my article “Charter Schools Were Never a Good Idea. They Were a Corporate Plot All Along,” I wrote about Kolderie’s role but neglected to mention Nathan’s.

And of the two men, Nathan has actually commented on this blog.

He flamed on your humble narrator when I dared to say that charter schools and voucher schools are virtually identical.

I guess he didn’t like me connecting “liberal” charters with “conservative” vouchers. CONTINUE READING: Charter School’s Two Dads – How a Hatred for Public School Gave Us School Privatization | gadflyonthewallblog