NEPC Review on Academic Progress of Children of Color | Diane Ravitch's blog

NEPC Review on Academic Progress of Children of Color | Diane Ravitch's blog

NEPC Review on Academic Progress of Children of Color

The National Education Policy Center publishes reviews of research and reports from think tanks and advocacy groups.

In this post, Professor Jaekyung Lee of SUNY, Buffalo, reviews a report from the Thomas B. Fordham Institute on the academic progress of children of color. To the surprise and delight of many, including me, TBF concluded that poverty reduction played a role in the academic gains in the past two decades.

Reviewed

by:

Jaekyung Lee

University at Buffalo, SUNY

November 2019

Executive Summary

A recent Fordham report highlights the historic academic progress of Black and Hispanic

groups over the past two decades at the elementary school level on the NAEP exam. From

this, the report offers the major claim, based on its author’s eyeball test, that the academic

progress of students of color is attributable “mostly” to poverty reduction. The report, how-

ever, also acknowledges that correlation is not causation and calls for systematic statistical

analysis to test the author’s proposition. This review responds to that call by examining the

validity of the report’s arguments around progress and causes, looking to expanded data

sources, including both family income and school expenditures. The review notes uneven CONTINUE READING: NEPC Review on Academic Progress of Children of Color | Diane Ravitch's blog

The Dilemma of the Xmas Tree in Mixed Marriages (Hannah Ingber) | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

The Dilemma of the Xmas Tree in Mixed Marriages (Hannah Ingber) | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

The Dilemma of the Xmas Tree in Mixed Marriages (Hannah Ingber)

Hannah Ingber works at the New York Times. This appeared December 24, 2019.

The first time I had a Christmas tree was 1987, the one year my father was married to Susan. I was 6 and remember my father having to climb a ladder to decorate it.

The second time was last year. This tree was much smaller and looked a bit sad. It tapered off at the end and didn’t stand straight. My husband bought it, loaded it into our Honda CRV and put it in the corner of the dining room when I wasn’t home because he knew I would object to it. I kept the room’s pocket doors closed as much as possible all that December, but he would come downstairs and open them. The smell of the tree would linger outside the room. I won’t lie — it was a really nice smell.

Growing up, I considered not having a Christmas tree (except in the Year of Susan), not wearing red and green in December, and not decorating our front lawn in lights as much a part of my Jewish identity as celebrating Passover and going to Hebrew school on Thursdays.

My husband and I began to fight regularly over having a tree after our children arrived. Though he was raised in California as a Hindu, he said that decorating a tree was among his happiest childhood memories, that it symbolized home and family. I countered that a tree in our living room felt so unsettling, so out of place, so unbearable.

Couldn’t we just have a shrine to Krishna instead?

You would think that such a disagreement would have been settled before we CONTINUE READING: The Dilemma of the Xmas Tree in Mixed Marriages (Hannah Ingber) | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

New Podcast Episode! All About Kwanzaa – Parenting for Liberation

New Podcast Episode! All About Kwanzaa – Parenting for Liberation

New Podcast Episode! All About Kwanzaa

Habari Gani?! Our first annual Pre-Kwanzaa Celebration, in partnership with Dior Sunset Foundation, was an amazing community gathering bringing together 150 Black families in Los Angeles. Kwanzaa is a 7-day African-American & Pan-African holiday created to celebrate our culture, heritage, & foster unity, beginning on December 26-January 1.

This episode features a snippet from our keynote presenter, Bro. David Love, sharing about the 7 Principles of Kwanzaa and the 7 Symbols of Kwanzaa.

There are a multitude of ways to celebrate Kwanzaa such as pouring libations to honor your ancestors, getting together with family with song, dance, African drums, storytelling, and poetry reading. However you celebrate, just remember to practice the 7 principles of Kwanzaa: Umoja (unity), Kujichagulia (self-determination), Ujima (collective work and responsibility), Ujamaa (cooperative economics), Nia (purpose), Kuumba (creativity), & Imani (faith).

Check out our tools online (www.parentingforliberation.org) and on our social media channels.

Please share your Kwanzaa celebrations with us using the hashtag #P4LKwanzaa

“May the light of the kinara fill your home with peace and light your new year with love!”

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New Podcast Episode! All About Kwanzaa – Parenting for Liberation

 Pre-Kwanzaa Celebration – Parenting for Liberation 

Download Our Kwanzaa Toolkit

kwanzaa-handoutDOWNLOAD

CONTINUE READING: Pre-Kwanzaa Celebration – Parenting for Liberation

Do You Hear What I Hear? | Teacher in a strange land

Do You Hear What I Hear? | Teacher in a strange land

Do You Hear What I Hear?

Many years ago, in December, we were having burgers and beer in a local pub, with friends. The sound system was pumping out Burl Ives, Bing Crosby and Mariah Carey, all the ‘classic’ Christmas tunes. One of our dinner companions remarked that I must be happy, surrounded by the Christmas music he was sure I loved.

But no.

I do have a thing for Christmas music—always have, dating way back to the LPs my parents got for ‘free’ when they had their snow tires put on. (In super-snowy western Michigan, it’s either snow tires or a winter spent digging yourself out of those scary, two -story snowbanks.) The LPs featured the likes of Eugene Ormandy, Dinah Shore, Steve and Edie, maybe Elvis. A little drummer boy, a little Jesus, a little rock and roll.

My affection for seasonal music has less to do with ‘getting in the spirit’ than seeing what artists and arrangers do with familiar tunes. Over five decades, I’ve performed in or conducted hundreds of Christmas concerts and programs, and there’s always something delicious to sing or play–and just as often, something really banal or obnoxious (lookin’ at you, Frosty the Snowman).

When I finally had my own collection of Christmas LPs and tapes, in the 1970s, I began making Christmas mix cassettes for friends, an excuse to buy more tasty holiday tunes CONTINUE READING: Do You Hear What I Hear? | Teacher in a strange land

Garrison Keillor: Harper Lee’s Best Christmas Present Ever | Diane Ravitch's blog

Garrison Keillor: Harper Lee’s Best Christmas Present Ever | Diane Ravitch's blog

Garrison Keillor: Harper Lee’s Best Christmas Present Ever

I recently subscribed to Garrison Keillor’s free website called”A Writer’s Almanac.”

He told this wonderful Christmas story today:

It was on this day in 1956 that novelist Harper Lee (books by this author) spent Christmas in New York City with friends, and received a gift that changed her life. In 1949, Lee had dropped out of a law program at the University of Alabama and moved to New York City, the home of her childhood friend Truman Capote. Capote had just published his first novel, Other Voices, Other Rooms (1948) — which featured a character based on Lee, and he was a literary star. In New York, Lee found a job as a ticket agent at an airline. For seven years, she wrote on the weekends, but she never published anything.

She rarely got time off from work, so she wasn’t able to get home to Alabama for Christmas. That Christmas of 1956, she was homesick. Lee wrote: “What I really missed was a memory, an old memory of people long since gone, of my grandparents’ house bursting with CONTINUE READING: Garrison Keillor: Harper Lee’s Best Christmas Present Ever | Diane Ravitch's blog

NYC Educator: On Academic Language

NYC Educator: On Academic Language

On Academic Language

When I was a grad student, there weren't enough courses for me to complete my MA in Applied Linguistics. I'd been offered a choice between that and an MS in Education in TESOL.

Most people went for the latter, because it led to certification in teaching. However, I already had a certification in English. I didn't need the MS, and I thought Applied Linguistics sounded marginally more impressive. Essentially it made me a language teacher, but I liked the title.

I was missing two courses. For one, my grade advisor said he'd let me take student teaching. This was convenient for me. I already had a full-time job teaching ESL at John Adams High School. All I had to do was go to work, be observed by some guy at Queens College, and my supervisor would get a free college course. It was a WIN-WIN for sure. My classmates told me the magical observation formula--you show a picture, you use five vocabulary words, and do other things I've since forgotten. I only used it when the guy observed me, but he thought I was a genius for following directions.

For my other course, I had to find something. One of my professors approached me about editing the opening chapters of a textbook she'd prepared. It was essentially a life manual for ELLs. What do you do at interviews? How do you get a job? How do you get into college? I read the book and didn't see great commercial potential. I told her I would do it only if she got me credit for independent study.

This professor was great at academic English. She was so good at it, in fact, that most people who picked up the book would likely put it down very quickly. I know that was my inclination. I sat and translated the chapters into comprehensible and accessible English. It was a lot easier to follow, and I hadn't diluted the ideas. The thing is, though, that if you happened to be up on rudimentary culture in your native language, you didn't need this guide. I didn't know anyone who needed this guide. I needed the credits though. I got an A and it was worth my time.

So here's my take on academic English--it likely as not entails language no one wants to read. It might mean you use big words whether or not they are necessary. It might mean you make ideas more complicated than they need be. It might not, of course. There's always the possibility that you need to use big words. Maybe you need to express ideas with such absolute precision that this is the only way to do it. Diane Ravitch writes books full of facts that are compelling as novels. That's not simply because she knows a lot of CONTINUE READING: NYC Educator: On Academic Language

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

CLICK HERE TO Pre-order NOW

Transcending “College and Career Ready” on Christmas | deutsch29

Transcending “College and Career Ready” on Christmas | deutsch29

Transcending “College and Career Ready” on Christmas

I had a wonderful Christmas.

One of the events that I treasure is the errand I needed to make to one of the few open stores in order to buy hamburger buns. (My brother grilled burgers, and what? No buns!)

I invited one of my young relatives to take the ride with me. It gave us a chance to talk.

Three years ago, this young man graduated from high school by ed-reform accounts “college and career ready.” His test scores and grades were top notch. He even graduated a year early and was accepted into multiple universities.

The only problem (and a huge one, at that) was that he was rebellious and sported an entitlement complex. He longed for the day when he would be free of his parents– free of their rules and restrictions– free to completely call the shots in his life.

In fact, he was not willing to wait until 18. He pushed for emancipation at 17, which his parents reluctantly granted.

He did attend the university but dropped out before completing a semester. He had freedom but lacked discipline or direction.

For the next three years, this young man received an education that no school could teach him.

He learned the very hard way that freedom must be coupled with responsibility.

His arrogance landed him in seedy, scary, unsafe, unstable situations. Nothing in CONTINUE READING: Transcending “College and Career Ready” on Christmas | deutsch29

Merry Christmas Happy Holidays from the Big Education Ape

Big Education Ape

Merry Christmas Happy Holidays from the Big Education Ape 

Big Education Ape

Merry Christmas! | Diane Ravitch's blog

Merry Christmas! | Diane Ravitch's blog

Merry Christmas! 

Merry Christmas, Happy Chanakuh, Happy Kwanzaa.

Whatever you celebrate, have a great day!

Make it a great day by doing something kind for someone else. 

Diane

Merry Christmas! | Diane Ravitch's blog

How to Talk to Your Family About Charter Schools During the Holidays | Diane Ravitch's blog

How to Talk to Your Family About Charter Schools During the Holidays | Diane Ravitch's blog

How to Talk to Your Family About Charter Schools During the Holidays

Jeremy Mohler of the nonpartisan “In the Public Interest” wrote a clear summary of the reasons to be concerned about charter schools:

The holidays are a time of joy and relaxation but also uncomfortable conversations with family. Will Uncle Tommy go on another rant about windmills causing cancer? Does grandma still think Russia is the only reason Trump won?

So, what should you say when someone starts dissing traditional, neighborhood public schools and hyping up charter schools?

Charter schools generally perform academically about the same as neighborhood public schools.

Study after study show that, just like there are high and low performing neighborhood public schools, there are high and low performing charter schools.

In fact, because some charter schools effectively exclude special education students or expel students with perceived disciplinary issues, charter school academic success often can be overstated.

Charter schools can drain school district budgets, taking resources from neighborhood public school students.

Research is revealing that, in many states, school districts and the students they serve are undermined by CONTINUE READING: How to Talk to Your Family About Charter Schools During the Holidays | Diane Ravitch's blog

Pre-Kwanzaa Celebration – Parenting for Liberation

Pre-Kwanzaa Celebration – Parenting for Liberation

Pre-Kwanzaa Celebration

Habari Gani?! Our first annual Pre-Kwanzaa Celebration, in partnership with Dior Sunset Foundation, was an amazing community gathering bringing together 150 Black families in Los Angeles. Kwanzaa is a 7-day African-American & Pan-African holiday created to celebrate our culture, heritage, & foster unity, beginning on December 26-January 1.

While, there are a multitude of ways to celebrate Kwanzaa which involves showing respect for ancestors and coming together through song, dance, African drums, storytelling, and poetry reading, Parenting for Liberation encourage families to be creative and celebrate Kwanzaa in their own  way with an intention on practicing the 7 principles of Kwanzaa: Umoja (unity), Kujichagulia (self-determination), Ujima (collective work and responsibility), Ujamaa (cooperative economics), Nia (purpose), Kuumba (creativity), & Imani (faith). 

Please share your Kwanzaa celebrations with us using the hashtag #P4LKwanzaa  

“May the light of the kinara fill your home with peace and light your new year with love!”

Download Our Kwanzaa Toolkit

kwanzaa-handoutDOWNLOAD

CONTINUE READING: Pre-Kwanzaa Celebration – Parenting for Liberation

Celebrating Kwanzaa in Four Easy Steps

Celebrating Kwanzaa in Four Easy Steps

Kwanzaa 101 for the Uninitiated, Self-Conscious, or Confused

Y’all, Kwanzaa is LIT. Seriously. What other uniquely African-American holiday invites you to spend seven days talking about the realest shit?

People get so caught up in how it’s a made-up holiday, but come on—a holiday is a group decision. Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday as a federal holiday is younger than Kwanzaa. I’m not saying it’s right, but thems the facts.

So how do you, a Kwanzaa skeptic, get on board without feeling silly? I got you.

Step One: Get your stuff.

The visuals of Kwanzaa are pretty simple. You can get a kit, go to an African market, or get creative. Candles in a Kinara are the traditional way of doing Kwanzaa, but if you don’t have the time or energy to pull that together, don’t. I find having a Kwanzaa table set up is a reminder to stop and think about the Kwanzaa principles, but know that if you’re reflecting on the principles you’re doing Kwanzaa. It’s just like you don’t need a tree to celebrate Christmas; but if you like a tree, it’s nice to have. For Kwanzaa, the main elements are:

• Mkeka: Mat
  The Mkeka is the base of your Kwanzaa table. The foundation. Historically, it is a raffia or straw woven mat with an earthy vibe.
• Kinara: Candleholder
  The centerpiece of your Kwanzaa table is your kinara, candleholder.
• Mishumaa Saba: The Seven Candles (three red, one black, and three green)
  Growing up, it was surprisingly difficult to find black candles in December, but capitalism has caught up with Kwanzaa and my mom called me last CONTINUE READING: Celebrating Kwanzaa in Four Easy Steps
• 

A Plea to Arkansas Officials to Keep Hands Off Little Rock Public Schools | Diane Ravitch's blog

A Plea to Arkansas Officials to Keep Hands Off Little Rock Public Schools | Diane Ravitch's blog

A Plea to Arkansas Officials to Keep Hands Off Little Rock Public Schools

Dr. Anika Whitfield is a leader of Grassroots Arkansas.

She recently posted an open letter to key state officials, including Governor Asa Hutchinson and State Commissioner Johnny Key.

She wrote:

Open Letter: State Oppression Denying Independence

The State of Arkansas continues to strong arm the LRSD with unwelcomed and unsolicited changes that continue to be forced upon us.

As three persons who have some authority and have taken an oath of responsibility to represent the entire state, yet you seem to not feel the need to respectfully and justly represent your Little Rock School District constituency.

Four years and 11 months into state control of the LRSD, you still have not established clear exit criteria and a plan for the LRSD to exit state control.

Four years and 11 months into state control of the LRSD, you continue to deny the LRSD community of our inalienable rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness as you are murdering our schools and destroying the lives of students, teachers and CONTINUE READING: A Plea to Arkansas Officials to Keep Hands Off Little Rock Public Schools | Diane Ravitch's blog

Discussing Excellent Outliers and Power of Purpose in Education on 93.1 | Cloaking Inequity

Discussing Excellent Outliers and Power of Purpose in Education on 93.1 | Cloaking Inequity

DISCUSSING EXCELLENT OUTLIERS AND POWER OF PURPOSE IN EDUCATION ON 93.1

Julian Vasquez Heilig became Dean of the University of Kentucky College of Education in July 2019. Just before the annual holiday break Dean Heilig agreed to 93.1 at the WUKY studios to share his vision leading a College of Education, which hosts nearly 2,500 students in over 70 graduate and undergraduate programs. He discusses teacher education, charter schools, excellent outliers, the power of purpose, and much more…

Please Facebook Like, Tweet, etc below and/or reblog to share this discussion with others.

Check out and follow my YouTube channel here.

Twitter: @ProfessorJVH

Click here for Vitae.

Discussing Excellent Outliers and Power of Purpose in Education on 93.1 | Cloaking Inequity