This is an excellent summary of what’s wrong with the Obama education policies. Please read. Send it to the White House.
Archives for the month of: November, 2012
Andy Rotherham writes a regular column on education for TIME.
This is his take on the election.
He supports the testing, accountability, charter agenda that Beltway insiders refer to as “the bipartisan consensus.”
I think of it as the Democratic embrace of the Republican agenda. Andy worked in the Clinton White House during the time of “triangulation” and the “third way,” when Democrats learned to love high-stakes testing and charters.
This path, I believe, now converges with the privatization movement, ALEC, the Waltons and the Koch brothers.
Are there Democrats who still remember the traditional Democratic agenda of equity and professionalism?
A reader sends news about the school board election in Minneapolis:
“Don’t know if you got Minneapolis school board results. TFAer Josh Reimnitz narrowly defeated Patty Wycoff. Margin was just 650 some votes out of over 21,000.This was a sad one. Dems were divided as normally intelligent Mpls Mayor R.T. Ryback gave his support to Josh, a 26-yr-old that only moved to Mpls last May, and influenced many others to follow. Keith Eliison and other major Dems supported Wycoff, long-time resident, involved activist and trained treacher. We need a major educational effort to Democrats so that more aren’t duped by these corporatist frauds.”
Only a TFA alum could move to a major city in May and have the money and political connections to win a school board election six months later.
The recent elections contained powerful messages to supporters of public schools and real education:
Do not give up hope.
When the public is informed, it supports its public schools.
It does not want to outsource its public schools to entrepreneurs.
Money cannot buy the voters when they are informed about what is at stake.
Parents and teachers can win any election, no matter how much money is thrown into it by the privatizers if the public is informed.
Consider this:
*Tony Bennett, the superstar of the corporate privatization movement, was beaten even though he outspent Glenda Ritz by 10-1.
Glenda Ritz got more votes than the Republican who won the governorship in Indiana.
*The punitive Luna Laws in Idaho, the reddest of red states, were repealed overwhelmingly. They were anti-teacher, anti-union, anti-child, pro-testing, pro-merit pay, and pro-privatization.
And they lost.
*The emergency manager law in Michigan was defeated.
*California voters passed a proposition to raise taxes to support education, while defeating a proposition to curb the political influence of unions.
*Voters in Bridgeport, Connecticut, rejected a proposal to abandon their right to elect their school board and turn control of the schools over to the mayor.
There were other victories and some losses as well.
But the main lesson is that parents, teachers, and citizens can defeat the monied interests.
They can do it if they organize a strong grassroots effort, if they communicate effectively in person and by social media and with whatever tools they have.
The 1% have millions of dollars to deploy to state and local races, and they will try to overwhelm the race with their money, but this election proved an important point:
They are not invincible. They can be beaten.
They wield power with their money by giving to politicians and hiring lobbyists.
But they can’t buy elections unless we let them.
Do not be afraid.
Do not agonize. Organize.
Be ready next time.
Tonight the director/producer of “Brooklyn Castle”–Katie Dellamaggiore–will be a guest on the Daily Show with Jon Stewart on Comedy Central. One of the stars of the film, Pobo Efekoro will join her.
The documentary is about an amazing middle-school chess team in an inner-city school in Brooklyn that wins one title after another in national championships.
If “Waiting for Superman” and “Won’t Back Down” left a bad taste, see this film. It will remind you of how wonderful our students, our teachers, and our public schools can be.
And it shows dedicated parents and the pain of budget cuts to a fine program.
This is a feel-good film, and nothing in it is make-believe.
Find a hedge-fund manager or a high-tech executive or a foundation leader and insist that they watch with you.
See the trailer at the website here:
http://www.brooklyncastle.com/
BROOKLYN CASTLE is now playing at the following theaters:
• New York, NY (Elinor Bunin Film Center – Lincoln Center)
• New York, NY (Landmark Sunshine)
• Los Angeles, CA (The Landmark)
• Pasadena, CA (Pasadena Playhouse)
• Encino, CA (Laemmle Playhouse)
• Irvine, CA (University Town Center)
• Chicago, IL (Landmark Century)
• Washington, DC (Landmark E Street)
• Portland, OR (Fox Tower)
• Atlanta, GA (Tara 4)
• Minneapolis, MN (Landmark Edina)
• Cleveland, OH (Cedar Lee Theatre)
• Austin, TX (Arbor 8)
• Charlotte, NC (Park Terrace)
• Denver, CO (Chez Artiste)
(check local theaters as today is the last day in a few of them)
BROOKLYN CASTLE opens tomorrow at the following theaters:
• Hollywood, CA (Chinese Theatre)
• Claremont, CA (Laemmle Claremont 5)
• Santa Monica, CA (Laemmle Monica 4)
• Las Vegas, NV (Regal Village Square)
• Knoxville, TN (Downtown West Cinema 8)
• Charlottesville, VA (Regal Downtown Mall 6)
• Seattle, WA (Harvard Exit Theatre)
Next week the film is scheduled to open in Boston, Philadelphia and more cities.
Updates on the theatrical release schedule will be posted here:
Dr. Camika Royal explains here that the term “achievement gap” is offensive. She says that the comparison between whites and African Americans is inherently demeaning to the latter and ignores the reasons for what it claims to address.
Use the term “opportunity gap” or “wealth gap.” But, please, she says, stop using the term “achievement gap.”
My thoughts, Dr. Royal: This phrase (“the achievement gap”) is used cynically by self-proclaimed “reformers” who have no genuine interest in closing the opportunity gap or the wealth gap. In fact, if you mention the causes of test score differences, they will accuse you of making excuses. They don’t want to talk about poverty or segregation. They don’t want to hear anything about causes, only about test scores gaps. They will point to schools that get high test scores by operating as boot camps. They say that black children need a “different” kind of education, an education where they are taught to obey, to conform, to listen in silence, and to do as they are told without question.
They think that days on end of test prep is the right kind of education for black children, but not for their own.
Until the Wall Street guys, the high-tech titans, and the foundation moguls demand that poor children get the same quality of education that they want for their own children, with experienced teachers, small classes, excellent facilities, ample resources, and a rich curriculum, I can’t take seriously their talk about “closing the gap,” no matter which adjective it takes.
The national election took center stage this week.
But we should not forget the suffering of tho were in the path of Hurricane Sandy.
These are graphic photos of the hurricane’s destructive force. Well worth viewing, as many people still lack power, heat, gasoline, and are now homeless.
Do what you can to help.
The best place to give to victims of the hurricane is here.
Florida law requires schools to offer online courses to children in every grade, even as young as kindergarten.
There is no evidence or research to support this mandate.
None.
Wonder if this has anything to do with the political power of Jeb Bush, now the nation’s leading enthusiast for online learning? Wonder if it has anything to do with the fact that his Foundation for Excellence in Education is heavily funded by technology corporations?
Remember how he and his lobbyist facilitated the introduction of virtual schooling into Maine? If you forgot, please read the link. It was a heckuva job.
In Nashville, two new members of the school board debate whether the Metro Nashville school board should sue the state for withholding $3.4 million to punish the board.
TFA Commissioner of Education Kevin Huffman, who is devoted to charter schools and privatization, withheld the $3.4 million from Nashville to punish the board because it rejected an application from the Great Hearts charter corporation of Arizona. The board did not like the fact that Great Hearts had a defective plan for diversity, would locate in an affluent neighborhood, and has a reputation for requiring an upfront “contribution” of $1200-1500 from families.
Great Hearts looks like, smells like, sounds like a publicly funded school for affluent families. The board didn’t like that. It rejected Great Hearts four times.
Huffman, who once was a teacher for two years but has no other relevant experience to be a state commissioner, was furious. He held back $3.4 million from the district.
Amy Frogge, a new board member, provided the key vote to reject the charter. Frogge is a public school parent and a lawyer. She beat a corporate funded candidate who far outspent her. She wants to sue to get the money that rightly belongs to the school district. She is a member of our honor roll for her courage and dedication to public education and the right of all children to a good education.
We are proud of Amy Frogge. She will not be bullied. She is standing up for the children. She deserves her place on the honor roll.
The Austin Independent School Board has recently been divided by the hard-driving actions of its Broad-trained superintendent.
Angered by the superintendent’s decision to hand a public school over to the IDEA charter chain earlier this year, community groups organized and elected four new members to the board.
The new members are pledged to listen to parents and communities before initiating new policies.
Diane Ravitch's blog 