Important: Let's Thank Those House Members Who Support Charter Reform - Network For Public Education

Important: Let's Thank Those House Members Who Support Charter Reform - Network For Public Education

Important: Let’s Thank Those House Members Who Support Charter Reform

Good news. Fifteen members of the House of Representatives led by Mark Pocan and Jamaal Bowman signed a letter to Secretary of Education, Miguel Cardona, Chairwoman of the Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies House Appropriations Committee, Rosa DeLauro, and the subcommittee’s Ranking Member, Tom Cole. 

You can read that letter here. The letter not only asks for a reduction in Charter School Program (CSP) funds in the next budget, it also asks for real CSP reform. In addition to more oversight, members ask that any charter school run by a for-profit management company be ineligible to receive CSP funds. 

Now is the time we show our thanks. Click on the four tweets below to send that message of thanks. It takes seconds to do!

Teacher Appreciation Week

It is Teacher Appreciation Week! Please be sure to thank all of the teachers you know. This year, more than ever, they deserve our appreciation for all that they do. NPE loves America’s teachers. I bet you do too!

Are you following our new NPE blog? You should be! Every day, we can deliver important blogs and news right to your email inbox. You will also receive a notice any time we put new content on our website. To subscribe, go here.

Our new Privatization Toolkit is out! Visit our updated toolkit page. Read and share what we know about charters, vouchers, micro-schools, and other forms of privatization. Each two-page fact-based sheet answers a different critical question about the attempt to privatize and commercialize public schools.

Will Staff Returning from Obama/Duncan Years Compromise Biden’s Public Education Promises? | janresseger

Will Staff Returning from Obama/Duncan Years Compromise Biden’s Public Education Promises? | janresseger

Will Staff Returning from Obama/Duncan Years Compromise Biden’s Public Education Promises?

At the end of his first hundred days, President Joe Biden deserves credit for taking important steps to help public schools serving children living in communities where family poverty is concentrated.

First, the President promised during the campaign to triple funding for Title I schools, and the federal budget he has proposed for FY22 would accomplish two-thirds of that promise by doubling the federal investment in Title I, whose funding has lagged for decades behind what is needed for equity.

Second, in the American Rescue Plan federal stimulus passed in March, the President expanded and made fully refundable the Child Tax Credit. In his new American Family Plan he has proposed to extend these urgently needed changes in the Child Tax Credit until 2025.  The expansion of the Child Tax Credit will make it possible for America’s poorest families with children to qualify for this program for the first time. We know that poverty is an overwhelming impediment for children, and ameliorating child poverty is an important step toward helping America’s poorest children thrive at school.

During the campaign, Biden also promised to move public school policy away from two decades of standardized testing.  That is a promise he has, at least until now, entirely broken.

In a letter, dated February 22, 2021, Acting Assistant Secretary of Education, Ian Rosenblum informed states they must test students this year on the mandated annual high-stakes CONTINUE READING: Will Staff Returning from Obama/Duncan Years Compromise Biden’s Public Education Promises? | janresseger

Russ on Reading: Defeating the Science of Reading Narrative, Part 1: Focus on the Child

Russ on Reading: Defeating the Science of Reading Narrative, Part 1: Focus on the Child

Defeating the Science of Reading Narrative, Part 1: Focus on the Child

Last week I wrote a post, Unsettling the Science of Reading Narrative that highlighted a new report from the Literacy Research Association, on dyslexia and the Science of Reading. The report titled An Examination of Literacy Research and Instruction, with Policy Implications,  by Peter Johnston and Donna Scanlon, posits that 1) "dyslexia" is not a useful term for guiding teachers in making literacy instructional decisions and that 2) the "Science of Reading (SOR)" narrative, which states that a heavy phonics emphasis is the best and only way to teach reading to dyslexics and everyone else, is neither accurate nor scientific. Several readers of that post responded favorably, but asked, "Given that SOR has the support of the media, powerful parent lobbying groups, and state legislatures, what can we as teachers and literacy leaders do about it?" The question is a good one and the answer is complex. I will try to respond to that question over the next CONTINUE READING: Russ on Reading: Defeating the Science of Reading Narrative, Part 1: Focus on the Child

Good News from Oakland! | Diane Ravitch's blog

Good News from Oakland! | Diane Ravitch's blog

Good News from Oakland!

Several years ago, the Walton Family Foundation and the Gates Foundation decided that it was not enough to open new charter schools. No, they had to devise mechanisms to make sure that school officials put charters on an equal footing with public schools and that the public didn’t care whether schools were run by their elected school board or a private board of directors.

The Gates Foundation created something called “the Gates Compact,” paying districts to treat public and charter schools the same.

The Waltons played a different angle. To advance their agenda of embedding charters and wiping out any differences between public schools and charter schools, they pushed for the adoption of a common enrollment form. The two sectors are intermingled, and neither students nor parents know which schools are public and which have private or corporate management.

In Oakland, where a slate of pro-public school parents won the last school board election, the board voted to eliminate the OneApp system.

Jane Nylund, a parent activist in Oakland, sent the CONTINUE READING: Good News from Oakland! | Diane Ravitch's blog

Democracy Prep’s Fiscal Tottering | deutsch29: Mercedes Schneider's Blog

Democracy Prep’s Fiscal Tottering | deutsch29: Mercedes Schneider's Blog

Democracy Prep’s Fiscal Tottering

In March 2019 and October 2019, Democracy Prep charter chain founder and former employee Seth Andrew stole a total of $218K from three Democracy Prep escrow accounts. He was able to do so because two years after leaving Democracy Prep (in 2017), Andrew still had access to his school email account and could falsely portray himself as still associated with the charter chain. Andrew also still had access to the escrow accounts because he remained listed on documentation related to those accounts. Finally, given that Andrew was able to steal funds from the third escrow account five months after he depleted the first two accounts, it is obvious that Democracy Prep officials failed to adequately monitor all of the chain’s bank accounts.

In my May 01, 2021, post on the situation, I surmised that Andrew may have believed that Democracy Prep would not competently monitor its finances, thereby causing him to believe that he could get away with the theft. Indeed, the complaint against Andrew details the passage of 14 months from the first thefts (March 2019) to the maturing of a six-month certificate of deposit (CD) that Andrew purchased using the stolen funds (May 2020).

To lock that stolen money up for six months and patiently wait for it to mature demonstrates a level of certaintly that no one would be coming for that stolen cash.

Examination of Democracy Prep’s tax forms from 2007 to 2018 shows that the charter chain struggled to manage its money and to keep a positive balance CONTINUE READING: Democracy Prep’s Fiscal Tottering | deutsch29: Mercedes Schneider's Blog

NewBlackMan (in Exile) TODAY #BLM #BLACKLIVESMATTER

 NewBlackMan (in Exile)

NewBlackMan (in Exile) TODAY

Big Education Ape: THIS WEEK WITH NEWBLACKMAN (IN EXILE) -

https://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2021/05/this-week-with-newblackman-in-exile-blm.html

Brené Brown and Tarana Burke on their Anthology 'You Are Your Best Thing'

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'Author, speaker and life coach Brené Brown and #MeToo co-founder Tarana Burke join us to share their experiences working together as editors of You Are Your Best Thing: An Anthology of Vulnerability, Shame, Resilience and the Black Experience. '

W. Kamau Bell Is A 'Wall-Tearer-Downer' In 'United Shades Of America'

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'Since 2016, comedian W. Kamau Bell has been traveling the country for his TV show United Shades of America . He asks serious questions, but always with a bit of humor thrown in. " United Shades of America is just Sesame Street for grown-ups," he tells All Things Considered 's Michel Martin . The goal of the show is to explore the unique challenges of communities around the United States.'

With 'Trojan Horse' Animation, 'Yasuke' Creators Honor True Story Of Black Samurai

by Mark Anthony Neal / 1h

'A new anime series on Netflix brings a little-known figure from Japanese feudal history to the small screen: Yasuke . A Black samurai portrayed as an aging, stoic loner reflecting on his past.' -- All Things Considered

John Legend: "Bring your own unique gifts to the table to engage in the real, tangible bettering of your community."

by Mark Anthony Neal / 3h

“We see [zero-sum thinking] in efforts to hoard economic opportunity, too. Today, the 26 wealthiest people on the planet own as much as the 3.5 billion poorest. And powerful people are spending lots of money lobbying to keep it that way," said Singer-Songwriter John Legend who addressed Duke University's Class of 2021 on Sunday, May 2, 2021. “And, of course, we see it in our policing and carceral

DJ Khaled - WHERE YOU COME FROM (Official Video) ft. Buju Banton, Capleton, Bounty Killer and Barrington Levy

by Mark Anthony Neal / 13h

'Official music video for DJ Khaled feat. Buju Banton, Capleton & Bounty Killer “Where You Come From”from Khaled Khaled (2021). Production by DJ Khaled , 9th Wonder , StreetRunner and Tarik Azzouz .'

Phylicia Rashad On Alpha Kappa Alpha and Howard University History

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' Phylicia Rashad on the the history of her cherished sorority and alma mater with ESSENCE Social Media Director, Charisma Deberry .'

Black Intimacy in R&B and Hip-Hop with Robert Patterson, Antonia Randolph, and Elliott Powell

by Mark Anthony Neal / 1d

"The session of PMBiP involves a conversation between Antonia Randolph and Robert J. Patterson about the representations of Black intimate life in R&B and hip-hop music during the Post-Civil Rights Era, with Elliott H. Powell serving as interlocutor. Patterson talks about his recent book Destructive Desires: Rhythm and Blues Culture and the Politics of Racial Equality (Rutgers University Press, 2

The New Conversation with Dr. Dwight A. McBride | Ep. 3 Jonathan Holloway

by Mark Anthony Neal / 2d

" Jonathan Holloway , a U.S. historian, took office as the 21st president of Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, on July 1, 2020. He also serves as a University Professor and Distinguished Professor. In this series, Dr. Dwight A. McBride , President of The New School, converses with scholars,

NewBlackMan (in Exile)