If true, he will not be missed. Jindal will find another reactionary ideologue to take White’s place and pursue the governor’s radical privatization agenda.

Why would Duncan want White? When Jindal chose White, Duncan called him “a visionary leader.” White would help Duncan prepare the nation for mass privatization. Sad to say, White and Duncan are on the same page. ALEC beams, as d all the other rightwing extremists to see this Democratic administration advancing its agenda–or doing nothing to impede it.

John White made excuses. He blamed the schools they attended the previous year.

No excuses, John!

“LEAP scores for third- through eighth-graders show only 40 percent of voucher students scored at or above grade level this past spring. The state average for all students was 69 percent.
For accountability purposes, students attending private schools at taxpayer expense take the same standardized tests as their peers in public schools. In 2011, when the voucher program operated only in New Orleans, students averaged 33 percent proficiency.

“Now seven schools in Jefferson and Orleans parishes have results so low — less than 25 percent of voucher students proficient for three years running — that they have been barred from accepting new voucher students in the fall, as per state policy. In Orleans, the schools are Life of Christ Academy, the Upperroom Bible Church Academy, Bishop McManus, Conquering Word Christian Academy Eastbank and Holy Rosary Academy. In Jefferson, they are Faith Christian Academy and Conquering Word Christian Academy.”

When children fare poorly in a voucher school three years in a row, is it still the fault of their public school?

How do you think they score them now?

How do you think they have been scored for many years?

By temps. By people earning $10-12 an hour with no particular skills and minimal training.

Not long ago, I posted a story that said that Pearson was advertising on CraigsList in Texas for people to score essays.

Just think.

Children’s lives; teachers’ careers and reputations; and the fate of the school hinge on snap judgment made by people reading these essays, scoring as many as possible in an hour.

It is a multibillion dollar business, and the name of the game is cutting costs.

So having the essays scored by machine if your goal is to maximize profit.

Education? Don’t start talking about that. That’s an abstraction.

Most moving were the scenes at schools listed for clisure.

The board voted enmasse. It didn’t even take time to name the schools it killed.

The decision was rendered unless time than it takes to boil an egg.

And there was this:

“One of the speakers lugged out of board chambers by CPS security was Erica Clark, a CPS parent and member Parents 4 Teachers. She used her two minutes time to recite, alphabetically, a litany of the schools on the chopping block: “Altgeld is my school, Armstrong is my school, Attucks is my school.”

“Her microphone was cut off as she reached “Pope”. She sat on the floor and continued: “Songhai is my school”. As security guards picked her up and carried her out, protesters called out with her: “Every school is my school.”

The Chicago Teachers Union plans a voter registration drive to sign up new voters in the communities damaged by Rahm’s schoo closings.

Read this article and watch the video and you will see why.

She teaches math at P.D. Jackson-Olin High School in Birmingham.

She is a National Board Certified Teacher.

Her school did not make AYP.

The punitive, no-brain law called No Child Left Behind claims another victim.

NCLB is the Death Star of American education.

The sooner this killer law dies, the sooner our schools will be free to educate again.

And when it dies of its massive flaws, its insatiable desire to crush schools, Race to the Top should go too.

Julian Vasquez Heilig here explains that the myth is a lie.

The Louisiana Department of Education controls the data and they are not releasing it. When they do, it can’t be trusted. Bobby Jindal purged the Department to make sure he can keep the tale intact.

And this lie is being used to destroy public education and teacher professionalism across the country.

Read this important post!

More charters

More vouchers

Lower standards for entry into teaching

Did he ask the voters if they want to get rid of public education? No.