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

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The Richest People in America Pay at a Lower Rate than the Bottom 50%

by dianeravitch / 23min

Two articles were published recently about a new book that makes the point that billionaires pay at a lower tax rate than middle-class Americans. The book is The Triumph of Injustice: How the Rich Dodge Taxes and How to Make Them Pay by Emmanuel Saez and Gabriel Zucman. David Leonhardt writes in the New York Times, in a column called “ The Rich Really Do Pay Lower Taxes Than You”: For the first t

YESTERDAY

Tim Jackson: Why Little Rock Parents Cannot Trust Arkansas’ Governor or State Board

200+by dianeravitch / 15h

Tim Jackson is a parent with children in the Little Rock School District and an active member of Grassroots Arkansas, which has been fighting for the restoration of democratic control of the LRSD public schools. He is also a film-maker. He attended the state school board meeting that theoretically restored local control. He wrote this account: ARKANSAS STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION MEETING – 10.09.19

Rev/Dr. Anika Whitfield on Arkansas Decision to Crush Little Rock Teachers’ Union

300+by dianeravitch / 20h

Yesterday the Arkansas State Board of Education voted to return control of the Little Rock School District to the people of Little Rock. This followed massive demonstrations and demands by the citizenry. At the same meeting, the board voted unanimously to deny recognition to the Little Rock Educators Association, which represents 60% of the teachers in the district. Rev/Dr. Anika Whitfield, an ac

Arkansas: Inside the Shadowy World of the School “Choice” Movement, Part 2

by dianeravitch / 21h

Cathy Frye continues her revelations about her three years working as communications director for a Walton-funded organization deceptively named the Arkansas Public Schools Resource Center (APSRC). As is by now universally known, the Walton family supports charters and vouchers, not public schools. As is less well known, privatizers create organizations with misleading names to fool the suckers.

Peter Greene: Beware DFER’s Phony Poll about Democrats and Charter Schools

98by dianeravitch / 22h

Hedge fund managers decided in 2005 that the best way to advance the charter school idea was to create a faux organization called Democrats for Education Reform (DFER), then to funnel campaign cash to Democratic candidates who promised to support charter schools. This worked for a time. Senator Barack Obama spoke at the inaugural meeting of DFER at a penthouse in Manhattan filled with Wall Street

Mercedes Schneider: Tracing the Origins of an Educational MoneyMaker

by dianeravitch / 23h

A reader of Mercedes Schneider’s blog asked her to investigate a new curriculum that the state was imposing on all teachers. Schneider took the challenge, which resulted in this post . I play a role in this venture so I want to explain how I got involved. In 2007 or 2008, I was invited to co-chair a new organization whose purpose was to advocate for the liberal arts. The other co-chair was Antoni

Arkansas: State Board Votes to Restore Local Control to Little Rock But Read the Fine Print

51by dianeravitch / 1d

The Arkansas State Board of Education planned to restore local control to schools in the whitest part of Little Rock, but the community rose up in opposition and demanded the restoration of the entire district, one Little Rock. Massive crowds gathered to raise their voices in protest and the state board folded. THE ARKANSAS STATE Board of Education abandoned its previously adopted plan to relinqu

OCT 10

If You Want to Read Teresa Hanafin Every Day, Sign Up Here

by dianeravitch / 1d

My Favorite morning news summary is Fast Forward, written by Teresa Hanafin of the Boston Globe. I skip the local sports report, but love her tips from the Old Farmers’ Almanac, and her commentaries on national politics. I often quote her column. You can sign up here.

“Education Deans for Justice and Equity” Speak Out Against Market-Based Disruption

40by dianeravitch / 1d

At last! The leaders of 350 teacher education programs have issued a bold statement i n collaboration with the National Education Policy Center denouncing attacks on teacher education and market-based “remedies.” The group calls itself Education Deans for Justice and Equity. Their efforts contrast with those of a group called “ Deans for Impact,” funded in 2015 by the Charles and Lynn Schusterman

Arkansas: Inside the Shadowy World of the School “Choice” Movement, Part 1

21by dianeravitch / 1d

Cathy Frye is an experienced journalist who switched careers. Three years ago, she was hired to work for the Arkansas Public School Resource Center as communications director. Before she was hired, she was asked if she had any qualms about charter schools, and she said no. When she quit her job in June 2019, she decided to tell what she had learned, and she started to report about her experiences

Peter Greene: A Teacher’s Final Lesson

by dianeravitch / 1d

This post is a moving tribute to a teacher who died of cancer at the age of 32. Ashley Kuzma exhausted every possibility, holding on to life as long as she could. She wrote her obituary. She reminds us about what matters most. I urge you to read it.

Los Angeles: School Board Committee Rejects Plan to Give Schools a Single Grade

54by dianeravitch / 1d

The Resistance won a big victory in Los Angeles. Thanks to newly elected LAUSD board member Jackie Goldberg, a key committee of the school board rejected a plan to assign a single grade to every school. The idea of grading schools with a single letter was first hatched by Jeb Bush, in his relentless push to impose test-based accountability on every public school in Florida and to set up those wit

North Carolina: A Sad Bedtime Story about a Failed State Takeover

500+by dianeravitch / 2d

This is a story so nutty that it would be hilarious if there were no children involved. Instead, it is an outrage. When the fringe rightwingers of the Tea Party won control of the North Carolina legislature in 2010, they promptly passed laws authorizing charters and vouchers and transferring the funding from the state’s successful N.C. Teaching Fellows Program (which prepared career teachers) to

Washington Post: Trump’s Claims of Immunity from Impeachment Are Unprecedented

by dianeravitch / 2d

Article 1, Section 2 of the U.S. Constitution gives the House of Representatives the power to impeach the president. Any president who is impeached is tried by the Senate. The relevant sentence says: The House of Representatives shall chuse their Speaker and other Officers; and shall have the sole Power of Impeachment. The White House sent a letter to the House declaring that its impeachment inqu

OCT 09

Chicago Charter School Prepares to Join CTU Strike

35by dianeravitch / 2d

NEWS ADVISORY: For Immediate Release| ctulocal1.org CONTACT: Chris Geovanis, 312-329-6250 , 312-446-4939 (m) , ChrisGeovanis@ctulocal1.org 7:00 a.m., Thurs. Oct. 10: Sharkey, charter teachers to announce strike date Passages charter school, 1643 W. Bryn Mawr Ave., Chicago CTU president to join charter teachers as Passages announces strike date CEO for lone CPS-funded charter earns equal to CPS CE

Trump Hates the Government He Leads

55by dianeravitch / 2d

The deranged man in charge of the federal government despises the people who work for the federal government. If they dare to dissent from his unhinges behavior, he says they are spies or they are part of the “deep state” that is determined to thwart his self-aggrandizing policies. Yet there are some who have spoken out, most recently 90 who served as national security professionals, including so

Teresa Hanafin on Trump’s Stonewalling of Impeachment Inquiry

by dianeravitch / 2d

Teresa Hanafin writes the daily Fast Forward for the Boston Globe. As he did with the Vietnam War, Trump has decided to sit out the House impeachment inquiry, using what constitutional experts say are bone spurs spurious arguments to claim that Democratic House leaders are conducting an illegitimate inquiry. He not only is refusing to cooperate with the investigation, he also has declared war on

Have You Heard? The Koch Plan to Eliminate Public Education

200+by dianeravitch / 2d

This is an important, can’t-miss podcast about the malign plans of one of the richest men in the world. Business reporter Christopher Leonard has written a best-selling new book called Kochland: The Secret History of Koch Industries and Corporate Power in America. It’s an eye-opening account of how the Kochs built the private company that has made them richer than Bill Gates. Leonard spent seven

Wendy Lecker: Why We Should Invest More In Neediest Children

54by dianeravitch / 2d

Wendy Lecker is a civil rights lawyer who specializes in issues related to education and children. A new Education Week national survey of school districts reveals disturbing gaps between state and federal policy and the reality in American public schools. The vast majority of districts report major funding problems. Most list rising special education costs and rising levels of needy students as

Leonie Haimson: DeBlasio’s Hypocritical Embrace of Corporate Reform

by dianeravitch / 2d

Leonie Haimson, executive director of Class Size Matters, is outraged that Mayor DeBlasio is handing schools over to Laurene Powell Jobs and the charter-promoting Robin Hood Foundation. Powell Jobs has handed out $100 million to jumpstart “innovative” schools. Four of the 10 schools to which she gave $10 million each have already failed. Her closest associate is Arne Duncan, whose Race to the Top

Rhode Island: Governor Gina Raimondo’s Plan to Demolish Public Education in Providence

78by dianeravitch / 3d

Andrew Stewart recounts the alarming plans that Governor Gina Raimondo has in store for Providence public schools. She is a former venture capitalist who seems to have an instinctive suspicion of the public sector. What she has in mind, he says, is the planned demolition of the public schools. He writes: Someday, after the operatic cycle of Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo’s political career has r

OCT 08

Betsy DeVos Breaks the Law by Continuing to Collect Debt from Students After Judge Told Her Not to

100+by dianeravitch / 3d

Will billionaire Betsy DeVos go to jail for defying the direct order of a judge? In 2015, for-profit Corinthian Colleges went bankrupt after state attorney generals complained of fraud. Thousands of its former students were left in the lurch with a mountain of debt for a worthless “education.” After the company filed for bankruptcy protection, the federal department of education ruled that as man

Teresa Hanafin of the Boston Globe Updates the Dotard’s Activities

by dianeravitch / 3d

As I have mentioned more than a few times here, my favorite daily reading is Teresa Hanafin’s “Fast Forward” in the Boston Globe. She always begins with some kernel of wisdom from the Old Farmer’s Almanac. Today, she says that the Almanac has a children’s edition every other year and she includes sample pages that show kids how to whistle. Very important information. She updates Boston sports new

Mercedes Schneider: Billionaires Jim and Alice Walton Seek to Purchase Louisiana State Board

69by dianeravitch / 3d

The Walton Family is collectively worth more than $150 billion, and their hobby is undermining and disrupting public schools across the nation. Since Louisiana has an election for the state board of education in a few days, you will not be surprised to learn that Jim and Alice Walton dropped $200,000 on candidates pledged to support charter schools, vouchers, and Teach for America. Mercedes Schne

Michael Moore on Education in Finland

47by dianeravitch / 3d

Michael Moore visited Finland with a camera crew to learn about its education system . How could a nation post high test scores on international tests when its schools emphasize creativity, play, physical activity, and the arts and ignores standardized testing? Watch his video and see what you think.

Jack Covey on Checker Finn vs. Finland

by dianeravitch / 3d

Reader Jack Covey, a teacher in Los Angeles, sent the following comment to me: First, watch this clip from Michael Moore about schools in Finland: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-DcjwzF9yc Now, read Education Next on the same topic, in the context of a book review by Cherker Finn. https://www.educationnext.org/more-play-will-save-our-schools-book-claims-review-let-the-children-play-sahlberg-doy

New York: Charter School Executives on Long Island Misused Credit Cards

52by dianeravitch / 3d

Unlike many other states, New York has a State Comptroller who audits both public schools and charter schools. The latest audit of a fast-growing charter in Hempstead, New York, found that executives were charging large expenses to the school’s credit card without documentation. The Hempstead district is about 70% free & reduced-price lunch, overwhelmingly Hispanic and African American, only 2% w

Jamie Gass: How the Common Core Dumbed Down Standards in Massachusetts

21by dianeravitch / 4d

Jamie Gass writes here about a powerful literary tradition that was honored in Massachusetts and perhaps a few other places, but was tossed aside by the state when it adopted the Common Core. Gass illogically puts the blame on “educrats” and schools of education for the decision that junked the state’s reverence for literature: the political decision by its governors to pursue Race to the Top fun

OCT 07

Trump’s Latest Narcissistic Tweet

by dianeravitch / 4d

As Republicans and top military brass recoil in shock after Trump’s decision to abandon the Kurds (which benefits Putin while betraying a faithful ally), Trump tweeted this: As I have stated strongly before, and just to reiterate, if Turkey does anything that I, in my great and unmatched wisdom, consider to be off limits, I will totally destroy and obliterate the Economy of Turkey (I’ve done befo

Arkansas: Supporters of Public Schools Demand Democracy

31by dianeravitch / 4d

Grassroots Arkansas sent out the following alert to friends of public education and democracy: Friends, It has been a long, hard five years of state control, and so much of the future of public education in Arkansas will be decided this week. We need YOU to join us, stand up, and speak out. NOW is the time. We all must choose to stand on the right side of history against a district where democrat

Andrea Gabor: To Succeed in Business, Major in the Liberal Arts

33by dianeravitch / 4d

Andrea Gabor blows up the myth that the path to success in business requires a major in business or that there is a “skills gap” in STEM subjects. If you want to succeed in business, she writes, major in the liberal arts. The combatants in the U.S. education wars don’t agree on much, but there’s at least one concern that most reformers and educators across the political spectrum seem to share: fe

Los Angeles: Michael Kohlhaas Explains How Charter Lobby Neutralized the LAUSD Inspector General

20by dianeravitch / 4d

Working with his treasure trove of emails among charter operators, which he obtained via a public records request, blogger Michael Kohlhaas explains how the Charter Lobby managed to reduce the powers of the Office of Inspector General, whose investigations into corrupt charters had been a thorn in their side. This is an important post. Read it in full. The charter lobby dedicates a lot of time an

Dallas: Charter School CEO Convicted of Taking Kickbacks on Contract

200+by dianeravitch / 4d

The Charter Industry has insisted that charter schools need no regulation, supervision, or oversight so they can have maximum flexibility. But where government money flows, accountability is imperative. The importance of accountability was demonstrated again recently in Dallas, where the CEO of a charter school was convicted of steering a contract to a friend in exchange for a kickback. Donna Hou

Nancy Flanagan: Why Are the Democratic Candidates Silent About Charter Schools?

200+by dianeravitch / 5d

Nancy Flanagan is a retired teacher in Michigan with long experience in the classroom and one of our best education bloggers. In this post, she wonders why the Democratic candidates are mostly mum about charters. At the last Democratic debate, when the question of charters was raised, Andrew Yang was the only one who openly expressed support for charters. The good news is that Andrew Yang will no

OCT 06

Politico: Trump’s Very Busy Week (Not)

by dianeravitch / 5d

Politico Playbook describes Trump’s schedule. He leaves lots of time for watching FOX News and tweeting. Now we understand what he meant when he said he could run the country and the Trump Organization at the same time. It’s a piece of cake, with plenty of time for golfing. SNEAK PEEK … THE PRESIDENT’S WEEK AHEAD: MONDAY: The president will have lunch with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. He will

Gary Rubinstein: Nevada Closes Its Failed “Achievement School District”

35by dianeravitch / 5d

Gary Rubinstein has followed the failure of the “portfolio model” more closely than anyone in the country. He watched the Tennessee “Achievement School District” as its leaders made bold promises, then departed for lucrative reformy gigs as the ASD collapsed in failure. In this post, he describes the failure of Nevada’s copycat ASD. , which was modeled on Tennessee’s ASD, which was modeled on New

New Orleans: A Charter School Finds Out That Making Bold Promises is Not Enough

27by dianeravitch / 5d

This article in The Nation by Casey Parks tells the story of Sci Academy in New Orleans and the lessons it learned over time about making bold promises. The school pledged that all its students would go to college and encouraged them to apply to four-year colleges that were outside their comfort zone (not close by and predominantly white). In 2012, almost all of its graduates were accepted to col

Bill Phillis: New Study Shows That Students Learn No Less in Poor Urban Schools

42by dianeravitch / 5d

Bill Phillis, founder of the Ohio Coalition for Equity and Adequacy of School Funding, reports on a new study that undercuts the rationale for state takeovers. He writes: Research study: Students learn no less in poor, urban schools than other schools OSU Professor of Sociology, Dr. Douglas Downey, lead author of a recent study , found that students in urban districts with high concentrations of

Jan Resseger: The Racist, Disruptive Legacy of Arne and Rahm in Chicago

50by dianeravitch / 6d

Jan Resseger reviews fifteen years of corporate education reform led by Arne Duncan and Rahm Emanuel and finds failure, disruption, and racism. It started in 2004 when Arne launched his Renaissance 2010 initiative, pledging to close 100 “failing schools” and replace them, in large part with charter schools. Rahm continued it by closing 49 schools on a single day. Resseger relies on the brilliant

OCT 05

Politico on Mad King Donald

by dianeravitch / 6d

Politico Playbook by Anna Palmer and Jake Sherman reports on the latest sightings of Donald Trump’s mind. He seems to think that the transcript of his phone call with the Ukrainian President demonstrates his innocence, when in fact it verified the whistleblower’s statement. Note that he once again displayed his vulgarity and lack of dignity. WHAT’S ON THE PRESIDENT’S MIND THIS A.M.: @realDonaldTr

Kentucky: New School Rating System is Likely to Identify Schools with High-Poverty Enrollments

41by dianeravitch / 6d

Kentucky launched its new school rating system, based on federal law requiring states to rate schools and identify the “lowest” 5 percent. Instead of letter grades (the Jeb Bush model), Kentucky will award stars. Is this a distinction without a difference? Most of the rating will be based on test scores and growth in test scores and graduation rates and other measures. The experience of other sta

Alabama: Reconstituted Charter Commission Grills Proposed Gulen Charter School

by dianeravitch / 6d

For some reason, the Gulen charter chain thought that it would be a good idea to open a charter in a rural county in Alabama. Residents of Washington County were outraged, and the charter didn’t enroll enough students to open. The state charter commission asked no questions of Soner Tarim, the leader of Woodland Prep, and gave the school a one-year extension. But as veteran education writer Larry

Tom Ultican: The Failure of Privatization in New Orleans

24by dianeravitch / 6d

New Orleans is supposed to be the lodestar of the Corporate Reform Movement (or as I call it, the Disruption Movement), but the experiment in privatization is a costly failure, as Tom Ultican demonstrates in this post. The old, underfunded school system was corrupt and inefficient. The new one is expensive, inefficient, and ethically corrupt because of its incessant boasting about what are actual

Tennessee: Gov. Lee Packs State Charter Commission with Charter Zealots

100+by dianeravitch / 7d

Governor Bill Lee Hayes public schools, even though most children in Tennessee attend them. He packed the new State Charter School Commission with people who love to hand public money to private corporations to operate

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

Sac County Dems passed a resolution last night admonishing School Board President Jessie Ryan-Students: SCTA's Got Your Back

 Students: SCTA's Got Your Back - Posts

Sac County Dems passed a resolution last night admonishing School Board President Jessie Ryan.

RESOLUTION 2019-23 Admonishing School Board President Jessie Ryan for Misleading the Public regarding the Fiscal Status of the Sacramento City Unified School District and Leading an Anti-Union Campaign against the Sacramento City Teachers Association

http://www.sacdems.org/…/…/DPSC_CC_Resolution_2019.23-1.pdf…

READ Students: SCTA's Got Your Back STATEMENT ON FACEBOOK

Racial Disparity in Student Discipline Isn’t All About Race | gadflyonthewallblog

Racial Disparity in Student Discipline Isn’t All About Race | gadflyonthewallblog

Racial Disparity in Student Discipline Isn’t All About Race

Black students are suspended from school at substantially higher rates than white ones.

That’s indisputable.

When teachers send kids to the office, when principals issue detentions and suspensions, the faces of those students are disproportionately black or brown.

So what does that mean?

Are minority children more badly behaved than white ones?

Or is it an indication that our public schools are overrun with racist teachers and principals?

Those appear to be the only choices in Trump’s America.

There’s either something desperately wrong with children of color or the majority of white staff at public schools can’t handle them.

But the reality is far more complex, and no matter who you are, it will probably make you uncomfortable.

The problem is that there are variables the binary choice above doesn’t even begin to explain, and chief among them is child poverty.

In short, there are an awful lot of poor kids in America. And children living in poverty act out more than those living in CONTINUE READING: Racial Disparity in Student Discipline Isn’t All About Race | gadflyonthewallblog

CURMUDGUCATION: California Is Burning: One More Argument Against Privatizing Education

CURMUDGUCATION: California Is Burning: One More Argument Against Privatizing Education

California Is Burning: One More Argument Against Privatizing Education

California is burning, even as California is dark, its people trying to survive a manmade nightmare.

PG&E, never America's most favorite utility behemoth, has made a hash of things. To save a buck here and there, the power company cut back on some necessary maintenance, but that-- plus a dry season-- has led to almost a dozen catastrophic fires, which have been followed by some hefty lawsuits, which has now been followed by the company shutting off the power for millions of residents (including folks dependent on medical equipment).

2017: This image always gets me because I was once right there
on that exact piece of road.

This is, to repeat, not some kind of unforeseeable disaster, but a systematic program by corporate chiefs to do less maintenance so that they could make more money.

And it's not like this is an isolated incident.

Let me pause for a moment to say that I don't hate capitalism. There are some things that it's very good at, and I'm not ready to throw it out. But if left unattended in the hand so of scruple-impaired men, it can start to do some Very Bad Things.

Take the Boeing 737 Max. The plane crashed multiple times dues to features that were par of a  concentrated effort to cut corners. It was a management problem, not an engineering problem. But it is now looking like it will be a hard one to come back from (not unlike the difficulty in coming back for the people the planes killed).

But if nobody's careful, the engineers will ultimately lose. 

Steve Jobs is just one of the people to have laid out how this happens. The basic sequence looks like this. Acme Widget Company starts with a new idea for how to make a better widget. It enters the market, and through excellence in design, it captures a hefty market share. The widget engineers CONTINUE READING: CURMUDGUCATION: California Is Burning: One More Argument Against Privatizing Education

“Education Deans for Justice and Equity” Speak Out Against Market-Based Disruption | Diane Ravitch's blog

“Education Deans for Justice and Equity” Speak Out Against Market-Based Disruption | Diane Ravitch's blog

“Education Deans for Justice and Equity” Speak Out Against Market-Based Disruption

At last! The leaders of 350 teacher education programs have issued a bold statement in collaboration with the National Education Policy Center denouncing attacks on teacher education and market-based “remedies.”

The group calls itself Education Deans for Justice and Equity.

Their efforts contrast with those of a group called “Deans for Impact,” funded in 2015 by the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation, which supports charter schools (such as KIPP, Achievement First, and Uncommon Schools), Teach for America, Educators for Excellence, New Leaders, TNTP, Conservative Leaders for Education, Teach Plus, Stand for Children, and a long list of other Corporate Reform ventures. Deans for Impact has 24 members. The founder and executive director of Deans for Impact is Benjamin Riley, former director of policy and advocacy at the NewSchools Venture Fund, which is heavily endowed by billionaire foundations to launch charter schools and promote education technology.

The statement of Education Deans for Justice and Equity criticizes such disruption agents as Teach for America (which places inexperienced, unprepared college CONTINUE READING: “Education Deans for Justice and Equity” Speak Out Against Market-Based Disruption | Diane Ravitch's blog

NYC Public School Parents: Warning to parents whose children are taking College Board or ACT exams and do NOT want their data sold

NYC Public School Parents: Warning to parents whose children are taking College Board or ACT exams and do NOT want their data sold

Warning to parents whose children are taking College Board or ACT exams and do NOT want their data sold
This one-pager fact sheet and backgrounder is cross-posted on the Parent Coalition for Student Privacy website.  Feel free to post the one-pager or distribute it in your school.

Both ACT and College Board sell personal student data to colleges and universities, as well as to other non-profit and for-profit organizations to help them recruit students and/or market their products and services.

The College Board makes an approximate $100 million per year from its “Student Search” program, for which it charges organizations 47 cents per student name. [1] Last year, ACT was sued via a class action lawsuit, because they allegedly included student disability information in the data they sold to customers.[2]

If your child is taking a College Board exam, and you don’t want any of their personal data sold, which may include their race, ethnicity, self-reported grades, religion and/or test scores within a certain range, as well as other confidential information, urge them NOT to fill out any of the optional questions that are included online or in the Student Questionnaire given before the administration of the exam. They should also be sure not to check the box that indicates they want to participate in the College Board “Student Search” program.

If your child is taking the ACT, you and your child should also refrain from filling out any of the extraneous information asked for in the ACT Student Profile Section, unless you want that data also sold and/or used for marketing purposes.

In May 2018, the US Department of Education’s Privacy Technical Assistance Center warned schools and districts that have agreements with these companies to administer their exams during the school day that their practice of allowing these companies to gather confidential information directly from students and sell it without parental consent may be illegal under several federal laws.[3]

In addition, New York as well as Illinois and 21 other states prohibit school vendors from selling student data under any circumstances. [4] Illinois legislators have now asked the State Attorney General to investigate the College Board’s practices for that reason. [5] NY Times has reported that this data often ends up in the hands of unscrupulous for-profit companies that use the information to market dubious products and services to families; in some cases, the information may end up in the hands of data brokers. [6]

Some districts now refrain from giving these voluntary surveys to their students or tell them not to answer any of its questions, because this takes considerable time and can add stress to an already pressure-filled situation.

Districts also should be aware that these companies disclose personal data that may be illegal.

Here are some questions parents should ask their children’s school or district ahead of time:

1. Is any survey or voluntary list of questions going to be asked of their children before the administration of these exams?

2. If so, can they give you a copy of these questions? Prior parental notification of any such survey is required under the Protection of Pupil Rights Amendment (PPRA), passed by Congress in 1978.[7]

3. If any highly sensitive questions are included, such as those involving religious preferences or affiliations, will the school notify parents of their right to opt their children out of the survey ahead of time, as is required under PPRA?

4. Does the district have a contract with the testing company that prohibits them from selling any of this personal student data, as is required by NY state law as well as student privacy laws in 21 other states?

5. If not, why not? And can they share a copy of this contract?

Sources

[1] https://collegeboardsearch.collegeboard.org/pastudentsrch/support/licensing/pricing-payment-policies

[2] https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180807005834/en/Students-Disabilities-File-Class-Action-ACT-Test

[3] https://studentprivacy.ed.gov/sites/default/files/resource_document/file/TA%20College%20Admissions%20Examinations.pdf

[4] https://www.studentprivacymatters.org/state-privacy-laws-re-selling-student-data-_act-sat-exceptions/

[5] https://news.wttw.com/2019/10/10/lawmakers-urge-ag-raoul-investigate-college-board-selling-student-data

[6] https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/29/business/for-sale-survey-data-on-millions-of-high-school-students.html

[7] https://www2.ed.gov/policy/gen/guid/fpco/ppra/parents.html


For more information, please email us at info@studentprivacymatters.org

Big Education Ape: Privacy warning to parents whose kids will be taking the ACT or College Board (PSAT, SAT, AP) exams | Parent Coalition for Student Privacy - http://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2019/10/privacy-warning-to-parents-whose-kids.html

NYC Public School Parents: Warning to parents whose children are taking College Board or ACT exams and do NOT want their data sold

U.S. Census Bureau Releases K–12 Lessons on Data -- THE Journal

U.S. Census Bureau Releases K–12 Lessons on Data -- THE Journal
U.S. Census Bureau Releases K–12 Lessons on Data

The United States Census Bureau has released free resources for K-12 classrooms. The focus is on encouraging students to make sure their families participate in the upcoming Census, which influences the federal funding given to states and communities for classroom technology, teacher training, special education, after-school programs and school lunch assistance, among other programs. Materials include teacher and student content.

"Statistics in Schools," the K-12 curriculum, features 20 lessons, including these:

• "Let's Get the Count Right," a 40-minute activity for K-12 that helps student learn how to count up to 100, make number comparisons and understand the concept of populations;
• "Population Change over Time," a 35-minute unit for grades 3-4 that helps students identify trends in data and make predictions based on data;
• "Diversity: Languages Spoken in the United States," a 45-minute lesson for grades 5-6 to help students learn how to calculate percentages based on data and understand the concept of "diversity";
• "Apportionment," a 35-minute study for grades 7-8 on the use of data and how to analyze and interpret it; and
• "Make Data Speak," a 40-minute unit for grades 9-12 on how to research and interpret data and display it in a "visually creative way."

Nearly every lesson concludes with objectives that help students connect the Census count to distribution of resources within communities and understand why it's important to be counted in 2020.

U.S. Census Bureau Releases K–12 Lessons on Data -- THE Journal

CURMUDGUCATION: The Secular Schools + Freedom: You Keep Using That Word...

CURMUDGUCATION: The Secular Schools

The Secular Schools

This is going to be kind of rambly and personal and religious; you've been warned. I've been trying to sort through my thoughts about the use of tax dollars to support private religious schools. I started here, then picked the thread up here. I have problems with the idea of vouchers as a tool for religious freedom, and it has taken me some discussion and thought to zero in on part  of my issue.

It's not just separation of church and state. I believe in it, and not just for the state's sake, but for religion's as well. I've oft-quoted (but have trouble finding the original author for) "When you mix religion and politics, you get politics," and we seem to be living through a fairly stark demonstration of that.

But the mixing continues apace. I have some religious conservative friends who have long thought, as does, apparently, Betsy DeVos, that there are certain functions that rightfully belong to the church that have been usurped by the state, and it's high time they were taken back. Schools are on that list. I think that's a huge mistake, both for state and church.

I am trying to side step a larger discussion of religion here. My own relationship with the church is... complicated. I have been a C&E guy, and I've been in leadership positions. My faith in God remains far stronger than my faith in all the tiny little humans who purport to speak for God. And as a teacher of American literature, I talked to students about religion every year while staying carefully neutral (my standard preamble was "I am going to talk about what these people believed. I am not here to tell you whether they were right or wrong-- just what they thought"). I'm rambling a bit now, but my point is that I've spent a lot of time thinking about how personal faith intersects with life and work in a country that was not, sorry, ever set up to be anything like a Christian nation.

I got to discussing this with Neal McCluskey, the CATO education guy with whom I disagree about CONTINUE READING: CURMUDGUCATION: The Secular Schools

Freedom: You Keep Using That Word...

Freedom is a great thing. I'm a huge fan. But because it has so many positive associations, some folks just can't resist the urge to twist it.

Take the frequent efforts to "free" teachers from their unions. Oppressive unions rob teachers of the freedom to work extra long hours, the freedom to be paid whatever their bosses feel like paying them, the freedom to be fired for any reason at any time. Folks like Jeanne Allen at the Center for Education Reform talk about "the freedom from constraining work rules and contracts" and the idea that teachers should be "entrepreneurs," another word that has been hijacked because "struggling worker in the gig economy who has no safety net, health insurance, or prospects for future security" is too wordy.

Betsy DeVos is also trying to get some mileage out of "freedom" as she tries to sell her school voucher program as "freedom scholarships."

DeVos's choices as Secretary of Education is best understood through this lens: businesses and churches (well, the right ones, anyway) should be free of all government oversight, free to do as they wish. Any rule that requires them to something they don't want to do, or that keeps them from doing something they want to do, should be removed (this puts her in tune with her boss, except that instead of "removed" he leans toward "ignored").

So education "freedom" means that any company that wants to take a shot at scoring some of those sweet, sweet public tax dollars should be able to. And any religious organization (well, not "any," exactly) should be able do the same-- and without having to CONTINUE READING: Freedom: You Keep Using That Word...

NANCY BAILEY: Discount Teachers: Students, Teachers, and America Deserve Better!

Discount Teachers: Students, Teachers, and America Deserve Better!

Discount Teachers: Students, Teachers, and America Deserve Better!

Like most people, I like a sale, but there are some things that don’t pan out at bargain prices, like America’s public school teachers.

Most teachers are paid by a career ladder. This means they receive a salary step increase with every year of experience. Some don’t like this protocol, but it is simple and direct. Teachers don’t have to compete for bonuses. But it leaves veteran teachers vulnerable.

For years, corporate reformers and policymakers have tried to cheapen and destroy the teaching profession. They don’t want to pay teachers what they’re worth. It seems vindictive since most teachers don’t make huge salaries compared to some professions with equal education.

These same reformers have attempted to replace teachers with cheaper alternatives at discount prices, relying on individual and corporate funding through donations, or they’ve used tax dollars to fund alternative teaching programs.

Many believe the goal is to replace teachers with online instruction. This is easy to believe. We see little effort to save the teaching profession.

Here’s how we’ve become a nation of discount teachers.

Diminished License Requirements

Since 1989, corporate reformers have invested in Teach for America, where college graduates are permitted to enter the classroom as real teachers with only five weeks of training.

This defies logic. Any teacher that enters a classroom should be able to prove they are CONTINUE READING: Discount Teachers: Students, Teachers, and America Deserve Better!

Bruce Lesley: The Trump Cabinet’s War on Children: Sessions Goes Above and Beyond (Part III)

The Trump Cabinet’s War on Children: Sessions Goes Above and Beyond (Part III)

The Trump Cabinet’s War on Children: Sessions Goes Above and Beyond (Part III)

In Part I and Part II of this series on the “War on Children,” I highlighted many of the ways that Trump’s Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos and Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney have, through their policies and action in the Cabinet, imposed harm on children.

Yet, as bad as those two (and others in the Trump Cabinet, such as former Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt, who recently resigned) have been to children, Attorney General Jeff Sessions has been the worst Cabinet member of all for children in the Trump Administration.

To begin, while the entire nation was grieving and coping with the school shooting and death of 17 students and teachers at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, on Valentine’s Day, the Attorney General did everything possible to avoid the issue of gun safety and, instead, pointed the blame at children themselves:

When parents once again go to sleep fearful that their kids will not be safe, even when they go to school — parents have told me in gang-infested neighborhoods that children can no longer stand at CONTINUE READING: The Trump Cabinet’s War on Children: Sessions Goes Above and Beyond (Part III)

Even Though ESSA Dropped the Requirement, 34 States Still Evaluate Schoolteachers by Students’ Test Scores | janresseger

Even Though ESSA Dropped the Requirement, 34 States Still Evaluate Schoolteachers by Students’ Test Scores | janresseger

Even Though ESSA Dropped the Requirement, 34 States Still Evaluate Schoolteachers by Students’ Test Scores

Chalkbeat‘s Matt Barnum reports this week that 9 of the 43 school districts which adopted the use of students’ standardized test scores to evaluate teachers have stopped using students’ scores for teacher evaluation. This is an important development because all sorts of research has shown that students’ scores are unreliable as a measure of the quality of a teacher.  But too many states are still evaluating their teachers with unreliable algorithms based on students’ test scores.

Barnum reminds us about the history of using students’ standardized test scores to evaluate teachers: “The push to remake teacher evaluations was jump-started by the Obama administration’s Race to the Top competition, which offered a chance at federal dollars to states that enacted favored policies—including linking teacher evaluation to student test scores… Philanthropies—most notably the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation—provided support for a constellation of groups pushing these ideas.”

Evaluating teachers by their students’ standardized test scores also became a condition for states to qualify for a No Child Left Behind Waiver. After it became apparent that No Child Left Behind was going to declare a majority of schools “failures” because they were not going to be able to meet the law’s rigid schedule, in 2011, the federal government offered to relax some of the law’s most punitive consequences by offering states waivers from No Child Left Behind. But to qualify for a waiver, states had to promise to enact some of Arne Duncan’s pet policies. Using students’ standardized test scores for evaluating schoolteachers was one of the requirements for states to qualify for No Child Left Behind Waivers.  Education Week explained: “In exchange, states had to agree to set standards aimed at preparing students for higher education and the workforce. Waiver states could either choose the Common Core State Standards, or get their higher education institutions to certify that their standards are rigorous enough. They also must put in place assessments aligned to those standards. And they have to institute teacher-evaluation systems that take into account student CONTINUE READING: Even Though ESSA Dropped the Requirement, 34 States Still Evaluate Schoolteachers by Students’ Test Scores | janresseger

Special Education and DC Public Schools – Education Town Hall Forum

Special Education and DC Public Schools – Education Town Hall Forum

SPECIAL EDUCATION AND DC PUBLIC SCHOOLS

DC has a long history of troubled and inequitable special education services. Our October 10 show, on the state of special education in DC’s publicly funded schools, featured two local experts:

–Chioma Oruh, DCPS parent and parent advocate with Advocates for Justice and Education, a DC nonprofit helping families with special needs children receive appropriate education services.

–Latisha Chisholm, social worker and manager of the Connected Schools initiative at DCPS’s Anacostia high school.

show starts at 4:45 mark on this recording —

In DC, 16% of public education students have disabilities, slightly higher than US average, which is 13%. Yet, test scores for DC’s students with disabilities are very low (7.9% proficient in English CONTINUE READING: Special Education and DC Public Schools – Education Town Hall Forum

CURMUDGUCATION: FL: Surveillance State Update

CURMUDGUCATION: FL: Surveillance State Update

FL: Surveillance State Update

It's been over a year since Florida passed and signed the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Act. That act included a massive data grab that was intended to serve as a feeder for some secret algorithmic future crime unit, through, of course, the Florida School Safety Portal-- because the state wants to capture and record your every move only in your best interests.

Researchers from the Aspen Institute took a look at the situation, and were not impressed.

For one thing, there isn't a lick of evidence that such a thing works. Which-- I mean, how could there be? "We've arrested twelve people for future crime and they never committed a crime, so it must be working"??! The researchers were unimpressed across the board.

"No evidence-based research has demonstrated that a data-driven surveillance system such as the FSSP will be effective in preventing school violence. In addition, no information is publicly available about how the database was designed, developed, or tested,” according to preliminary findings by researchers.

The breadth of "data" mandated for collection is mind-boggling. In addition to every single record that the school keeps and everything from social and legal programs run by the state, the program is also creeping students' social media accounts and "thousands of hours of video footage." All on the CONTINUE READING: CURMUDGUCATION: FL: Surveillance State Update

Professor Quits Teaching Because of Students’ Use of Technology in Class | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

Professor Quits Teaching Because of Students’ Use of Technology in Class | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

Professor Quits Teaching Because of Students’ Use of Technology in Class

The combination of computer use, Internet, and smart phone, I would argue, has changed the cognitive skills required of individuals…. The student can rapidly check on his or her smartphone whether the professor is right, or indeed whether there isn’t some other authority offering an entirely different approach. With the erosion of that relationship [between professor and students] goes the environment that nurtured it: the segregated space of the classroom where, for an hour or so, all attention was focused on a single person who brought all of his or her experience to the service of the group.

Tim Parks, 2019

In the above epigraph taken from “Dying Art of Instruction in the Digital Classroom,” Novelist, literary scholar, and translator Tim Parks gives the reasons why he is leaving his professorship at the University Institute for Modern Languages in Milan, Italy.  Parks describes his experience with students using devices in his class teaching translation:

In the late 1990s, I had my first experience of students bringing laptops into the classroom. At that time, there was no question of their having wifi connections. Since these were translation lessons, students argued that their computers were useful for the fifteen or twenty minutes when I invited them to translate a short paragraph. They translated better on their computers, they said; they could make corrections more easily.

Nevertheless, I noticed at once the tendency to hide behind the screen. Who could know whether a student was really taking notes or doing something else? The tippety-tapping of keyboards while one was speaking was distracting. I insisted laptops be kept closed except for the brief period of our translation exercise.

When the University renovated classrooms with laptops at each desk, Parks CONTINUE READING: Professor Quits Teaching Because of Students’ Use of Technology in Class | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

The DC Voucher Story Finds Its Way to the Silver Screen, Sort Of. | deutsch29

The DC Voucher Story Finds Its Way to the Silver Screen, Sort Of. | deutsch29

The DC Voucher Story Finds Its Way to the Silver Screen, Sort Of.

There’s a movie about the DC school voucher program scheduled for release on October 18, 2019: Miss Virginia, produced by the nonprofit, Moving Picture Institute.

See a 2-minute trailer below:

The the individual who is the focus of the film, Virginia Walden Ford, was among the first students chosen to desegregate Little Rock, Arkansas, schools in the 1960s. Ford was a high school student at the time. She later advocated for the DC school voucher program, the only federally-funded school voucher program, created in 2004. From Ford’s website:

While she was raising her three children in Washington, D.C., Virginia was shocked that so many children were forced to attend failing, crumbling schools simply because they lived in the “wrong” ZIP codes. In fact, she worried that her own son, William, was falling through the cracks of a system that wasn’t focused on the best interests of children.

In 1998, she took action, forming a grassroots organization, D.C. Parents for School Choice. Along with a group of dedicated parents, Virginia went door-to-door, neighborhood-to-neighborhood, recruiting and training thousands of other parents to stand up for their children’s futures.

In 2003, with the support of national education organizations and CONTINUE READING: The DC Voucher Story Finds Its Way to the Silver Screen, Sort Of. | deutsch29