CURMUDGUCATION: DeVos: Remote Work Bad, Remote School Good

CURMUDGUCATION: DeVos: Remote Work Bad, Remote School Good

DeVos: Remote Work Bad, Remote School Good

Betsy DeVos has long been a fan of cyber-schooling. Her husband was an investor in K-12, the cyber-charter behemoth, way back at beginning of the millennium (we can start saying that now, right?) Back when she was still running the American Federation for Children, she had this to say

Families want and deserve access to all educational options, including charter schools, private schools and virtual schools. States are well ahead of Congress on this and their efforts should be encouraged and supported. Twenty-three states plus DC have 48 publicly funded private school choice programs; 43 states have charter school laws; and virtual schools are growing across the country. Greater innovation and choice will contribute to better K-12 educational outcomes for our children.

AFC often spoke out in favor of cyber charters, and DeVos has continued to advocate as Secretary, even as the dismal results rolled in.

DeVos has been an unwavering supporter of remote schooling. But her support for remote work stops CONTINUE READING: CURMUDGUCATION: DeVos: Remote Work Bad, Remote School Good

Charter Schools: All the Ways They Are Not In the Public Interest | janresseger

Charter Schools: All the Ways They Are Not In the Public Interest | janresseger

Charter Schools: All the Ways They Are Not In the Public Interest

Donald Cohen is the executive director of In the Public Interest. In a powerful statement about his organization’s mission for 2020, Cohen proclaims:

“So much is under attack: public education, water, transit, public parks, public health, libraries, the postal service, air traffic control, and much more.  Where there’s money to be made, there are corporations positioning to take over… What worries us most is when private interests get too much control and influence over fundamental democratic decisions and our ability to provide public goods… We often hear that government is needed when markets fail. We disagree. There are market things and public things. They’re different things, like apples and oranges.  Here’s what we mean by ‘public’ (or, what’s in the public interest):

• The things we can only do if we do them together…
• The things we all benefit from regardless of whether we use the specific service or asset…
• The things that protect and support us all…
• The things that make us a better, fairer, more compassionate, and more democratic nation.

“We are pro-government because it is the only institution capable of ensuring that public things remain public.”

During the past quarter century, charter schools have come to threaten the public interest as Cohen defines it.  While their sponsors call them “public charter schools,” they are public only in the funding stream of public tax dollars. Their boards are private, and the management CONTINUE READING: Charter Schools: All the Ways They Are Not In the Public Interest | janresseger

The Tennessee ASD: Booted or Re-Booted? | Gary Rubinstein's Blog

The Tennessee ASD: Booted or Re-Booted? | Gary Rubinstein's Blog

The Tennessee ASD: Booted or Re-Booted?

Since 2011 I have been following the biggest, and most predictable, disasters of the education reform movement — the Tennessee Achievement School District (ASD).  It was formed in a perfect storm of reform theory.  First, Tennessee won Race To The Top money.  Then they hired a TFA-alum and the ex-husband of Michelle Rhee, Kevin Huffman to be their state commissioner.  Then he hired TFA-alum and charter school founder Chris Barbic to design and run the ASD.  The initial promise of the ASD was that they would take schools in the bottom 5% and convert them into charter schools in order to ‘catapult’ them into the top 25% in five years.  They started with 6 schools in 2012 and grew to over 30 schools within a few years.

They completely failed at this mission.  Chris Barbic resigned, Kevin Huffman resigned, Barbic’s replacement resigned, Barbic’s replacement’s replacement resigned.  Of the 30 schools they nearly all stayed in the bottom 5% except a few that catapulted into the bottom 10%.

The new education commissioner of Tennessee is also a TFA alum with ideas similar to Huffman.  She promised, however, to get a handle on the ASD and what to do about its CONTINUE READING: The Tennessee ASD: Booted or Re-Booted? | Gary Rubinstein's Blog

CARL J. PETERSEN: LAUSD Candidate Profile: Patricia Castellanos

LAUSD Candidate Profile: Patricia Castellanos

LAUSD Candidate Profile: Patricia Castellanos

We need more parent and community involvement with [the] LAUSD. It is an essential ingredient in creating an enriching learning environment for our students.”– Patricia Castellanos

Currently, not one of the LAUSD School Board members has a child enrolled in a district school. As the parent of a first-grader who attends an LAUSD school, Patricia Castellanos would change that omission and “ensure that parents are represented in the top decision-making that impacts our children’s lives.” She says that her status as a district parent sets her apart from the other candidates since it gives her the ability to “understand many of the hopes and concerns shared by parents across the District.”

Castellanos is a long-time community leader who was included on billmoyers.com’s 2013 list of Activists to Watch. She was formerly a deputy director at the LA Alliance for a New Economy (LAANE) and was a co-founder of  Reclaim Our Schools L.A. (ROSLA). These were CONTINUE READING: LAUSD Candidate Profile: Patricia Castellanos

NYC Public School Parents: Our class size lawsuit argued in the Appellate Court yesterday!

NYC Public School Parents: Our class size lawsuit argued in the Appellate Court yesterday!

Our class size lawsuit argued in the Appellate Court yesterday!

Yesterday, the class size lawsuit against the city and the state that we filed more than a year ago, along with nine NYC parents from every borough and the Alliance for Quality Education, was heard in the Appellate court in Albany.

Our pro bono attorney, Wendy Lecker of the Education Law Center, did a fabulous job, those of us in the courtroom agreed, which included two of the parent plaintiffs in the lawsuit, Litza Stark of Queens and Johanna Garcia of Manhattan, along with Johanna’s daughter Hailey, back from her first semester in college. NY Senator Robert Jackson, who spearheaded the Campaign for Fiscal Equity case, was also there to support us, as well as retired teacher Norm Scott.

A panel of five judges listened intently as Wendy related how the NYC Department of Education had violated the state Contracts for Excellence law passed in 2007, which specifically mandates that the city lower average class sizes in all grades over five years – but instead, class sizes had sharply increased so that they are now far larger than they were when the law was first passed.  In response, the attorneys for the city and state tried to argue that since the five years outlined in the original law had lapsed, there was no longer any requirement for the DOE to lower class size.

Yet as Wendy pointed out,  the state legislature renews and reauthorizes the C4E law every year, including its class size mandate, with no specific end point for when the city’s CONTINUE READING: NYC Public School Parents: Our class size lawsuit argued in the Appellate Court yesterday!

Few Conversations About Race and Identity Are Happening at Home or in the Classroom

Few Conversations About Race and Identity Are Happening at Home or in the Classroom

Few Conversations About Race and Identity Are Happening at Home. Can Educators Help?

Since 1969, the Sesame Workshop, creators of “Sesame Street,” has made concerted efforts through its programming to create a positive sense of self by celebrating differences and exploring social identities like race, gender, religion, social class, and more to help grow smarter, stronger, and kinder kids. However, based on the findings from a major national study by Sesame Workshop and NORC at the University of Chicago, parents today are not having frequent conversations around key social identities with their children.

NEA Today spoke with Rosemarie Truglio, senior vice president of curriculum and content at Sesame Workshop and Derrick Gay, a former classroom teacher, an expert on issues of diversity, inclusion, and global citizenship, and a research advisor for the “Identity Matters” study, to learn how educators and parents can work together to have these important conversations.

The study reveals that parents are comfortable talking about identity, but don’t do it—particularly parents who come from dominant groups (white, Christian, straight, middle class, highly educated). Why aren’t they talking about it?

Derrick Gay: There are a number of reasons. First is a lack of awareness. If someone belongs to a dominant group, they just may be unaware that individuals CONTINUE READING: Few Conversations About Race and Identity Are Happening at Home or in the Classroom

ENRIQUE BALORA At the #FundOurFutureFL rally in Tallahassee + Three bills to watch this Fla. legislative session - YouTube

At the #FundOurFutureFL rally in Tallahassee - YouTube

ENRIQUE BALORA At the #FundOurFutureFL rally in Tallahassee 

Three bills to watch this Fla. legislative session - YouTube - 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q_sb5-ZFYzs&feature=push-u-sub&attr_tag=oUSz9xyB6_F-ctei%3A6

At the #FundOurFutureFL rally in Tallahassee - YouTube

California: County Board of Education Denies Renewal of Troubled Charter School | Diane Ravitch's blog

California: County Board of Education Denies Renewal of Troubled Charter School | Diane Ravitch's blog
California: County Board of Education Denies Renewal of Troubled Charter School

The Los Angeles County Board of Education has denied renewal to a troubled charter school in the Inglewood school district.

The school has a long history of self-dealing, conflicts of interest, and a mixed academic record. This charter demonstrates that even “non-profits” can be very profitable to its owners.

The California Charter Schools Association is on high alert because of a change in state  law that allows local districts to weigh in on the future of charter schools, especially their fiscal impact on public schools and whether they duplicate what the public schools are already doing.

The Los Angeles County Board of Education voted Tuesday to close an Inglewood charter school with a lengthy history of financial problems and mixed academic performance that illustrated flaws in California’s oversight system.

The board’s unanimous decision marks the third time it has attempted to shut down a charter school run by Today’s Fresh Start, a nonprofit started by a wealthy CONTINUE READING: California: County Board of Education Denies Renewal of Troubled Charter School | Diane Ravitch's blog

Education Research Report TODAY

Education Research Report

Education Research Report

TODAY

Restorative Justice in Education

by Jonathan Kantrowitz / 18min

Schools are implementing (RJE) initiatives across the United States, often to reduce the use of out-of-school suspension, which is known to increase the risk for dropout and arrest. Many RJE initiatives also aim to strengthen social and emotional competencies, reduce gender and racial disparities in discipline, and increase access to equitable and supportive environments for students from margin

State Financial Aid Barriers for Students Impacted by the Justice System

by Jonathan Kantrowitz / 20min

Last week, New Jersey became one of 17 states — plus the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico — that give people who are in prison access to state financial aid for college coursework. In many cases, though, individuals in prison or with prior criminal convictions are not eligible for state aid. This new Policy Outline provides a high-level overview of state financial aid eligibility for anyone i

The return on investment of the 210 US liberal arts colleges

by Jonathan Kantrowitz / 22min

A new report that ranks the return on investment of the 210 US liberal arts colleges. ROI of Liberal Arts Colleges: Value Adds Up Over Time finds that financial returns from liberal arts colleges start low but rise quickly. Forty years after enrollment, the median ROI for liberal arts colleges is $918,000, nearly $200,000 higher than the median ROI for all colleges. The most selective liberal art

Overall mastery can be improved through engaged science learning

by Jonathan Kantrowitz / 24min

Complete repor t Science consists of a body of knowledge and a set of processes by which the knowledge is produced. Although these have traditionally been treated separately in science instruction, there has been a shift to an integration of knowledge and processes, or set of practices, in how science should be taught and assessed. This study explores whether a general overall mastery of the proc

High School Dropout and Completion Rates

by Jonathan Kantrowitz / 36min

For the first time in 40 years, the status completion rate for Black 18- to 24-year-olds was not measurably different from White 18- to 24-year-olds. From 1977 to 2016 the status completion rate for White 18- to 24-year-olds was consistently higher than the rate for Black 18- to 24-year-olds. The National Center for Education Statistics report, Trends in in the United States: 2019 , presents sta

YESTERDAY

College and University Basic Needs Insecurity

by Jonathan Kantrowitz / 18h

Complete report The #RealCollege survey is the nation’s largest annual assessment of basic needs security among college students. The survey, created by the Hope Center for College, Community, and Justice (Hope Center), specifically evaluates access to affordable food and housing. This report describes the results of the #RealCollege survey administered in the fall of 2018 at 123 two- and four-ye

Program proves effective in preventing dating violence with middle school students

by Jonathan Kantrowitz / 18h

Coaching Boys Into Men, a program that seeks to prevent dating violence and sexual assault, reduces abusive behaviors among middle school male athletes toward their female peers, according to clinical trial results published today in JAMA Pediatrics . The trial, led by Elizabeth Miller, M.D., Ph.D., director of the Division of Adolescent and Young Adult Medicine at UPMC Children's Hospital of Pit

Mis/Alignment Between High School and Community College Standards

by Jonathan Kantrowitz / 1d

This study explores the extent to which “college-ready” students, by high school standards, are assigned to remedial courses in college. The results confirm that ISMM was prevalent and substantial with respect to high school grades, moderate to substantial based on different measures of math course-taking, and minor to moderate based on standardized test results. Each of these cases is problemati

Some Re-Enrollment Campaigns Help Dropouts Return to College

by Jonathan Kantrowitz / 1d

Most students who begin at a community college leave without earning a degree. Given the growing emphasis on student success, many colleges have implemented re-enrollment campaigns designed to foster re-engagement and 

Education Research Report