Bob Moses died on July 25 at the age of 86. He was noted for his intellect and courage. He was a leader of SNCC (the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee), leading a voter registration drive in Mississippi at a time when violence against Black civil rights activists were at risk of being murdered, and no jury would convict their killers. In 1964, he led the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party, which tried unsuccessfully to replace the all-white Democratic delegation to the Democratic National Convention. In 1982, he founded the Algebra Project, to teach algebra to underprepared Black youth. He received multiple honors for his work. He graduated from the elite Stuyvesant High School in New York City, Hamilton College (where he majored in philosophy and French), and earned a master’s degree at Harvard in philosophy.
One of his friends and admirers forwarded the following story:
It might be of interest that Bob’s first stop on his way South from the Bronx was the SDS [Students for a Democratic Society] office on east 19th street He said it was his first stop and affirmation of friendship and sncc sds solidarity
He was always a friend
He spoke at a University of Michigan commencement ceremony
He said “people don’t like long speeches and that are hard to remember. Mine will be short.
I want everyone here to accept as a common mission to guarantee quality public education to everyone in America as a matter of right guaranteed by the federal constitution” then he paused and then said “So you remember I will repeat: I want everyone here to accept as a common mission to guarantee quality public education to everyone in America as a matter of right guaranteed by the federal constitution.” Then he sat down.
It was stunning. The University president expecting a long something didn’t know what to say… having previously mis-introduced him as. author of “Racial Equations”
I found the address memorable and it might be well in memory of our friend to rededicate ourselves to the common mission to guarantee quality public education to everyone in America as a matter of right guaranteed by the federal constitution. Bob Moses, Presente!
Diane Ravitch's blog 
This Pennsylvania school funding lawsuit could be really important for low income districts:
http://educationvoterspa.org/blog/look-supports-school-funding-lawsuit-learn-can-support/
I can’t find any ed reform orgs on the list of backers- odd that such passionate public education advocates would sit out what could be a huge win for lower income public school students.
If it were a charter or voucher initiative the entire ed reform echo chamber would be backing it. Because it’s public schools they don’t seem interested.
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Charter schools, especially cyber charters, have been fleecing Pennsylvania’s taxpayers for years. The handouts of public cash have been far too generous, and the result is permanent austerity for legitimate public schools. I hope the courts will tackle this injustice.
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New study from the Council of Great City schools:
https://www.cgcs.org/
Some urban districts do better than others in mitigating the effects of poverty with public schools.
Read the list- a lot of the urban districts who are succeeding did NOT follow the ed reform echo chamber recipe of privatization.
We don’t have to follow the echo chamber and privatize our schools. Many places are declning to follow ed reform directives and improving their public schools using different approaches. There are choices public school districts can make- you won’t hear about them in ed reform but they exist. No one needs to ask the Walton or Gates families (or their employees) for permission to go in a different direction and strengthen their public schools rather than replacing them with private contractors. Public schools can break free of this 20 year long lock-step privatization path. That’s allowed.
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In the 1990s, pre-NCLB, The Algebra Project was the guiding curriculum in 6th & 7th grade math classes across Bob Moses’ then home of Cambridge, MA. I was lucky enough to have been trained in it and to teach it in both Spanish and English in my bilingual classrooms. To this day it was the best PD I ever experienced, profoundly affecting my teaching long after the AP was pushed aside.
The core philosophy to develop understanding is a 5-step sequence:
Physical experience
Pictorial representation/modeling
People (i.e. student) talk
Structured (shared) language
Symbolic representation (where traditional math instruction begins rather than ends)
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Requiescat in pace to a truly great man.
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Reblogged this on Mark's Text Terminal.
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The death of several notable figures from that period begs a good collective biography of those involved in the “second reconstruction.” From John Lewis to Henry Aaron, the generation of people now making their exit makes it time to celebrate this great generation .
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Over 30 years “The Algebra Project” changed the lives of untold numbers of children of color
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What I find so impressive about Moses is that he lived a consistent life of authenticity and never wavered from trying to make some part of the world better. He sacrificed to work in the trenches in Mississippi when his life was truly in the balance, he was hounded out of the country by his government, and he responded by doing what he could in an area where he would have an impact. Truly one of the most consequential Americans of our time.
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One cannot emphasize strongly enough how dangerous it was to be a civil rights worker in the South. Some ended up in a shallow grave. Others got a bullet in the head. The perpetrators were never convicted.
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