Mercedes has been closely following the evolution of the Congressional debate about the future of federal aid to education. She became one of the few people in the world to read every line of the Senate proposal, which she gave a “close reading.” In this post, she leans on a comment by Laura Chapman.
She know the final product won’t please everyone. Everyone has a different idea about how it should be revised.
The least desirable path is to leave the NCLB-‘Race to the Top as is. It is a harmful, toxic brew that kills education and crushes the joy of learning.
Our goal must be to fight off the intrusion of uninformed politicians who know nothing about schooling but assume it is their duty to tell teachers what and how to teach, and how to evaluate teachers. It would be useful to have a good summary of the research about charters and vouchers to demonstrate that their record of success is slender and that they damage more schools (and children) than they save.
In a perfect world, Congress would limit its education program to things that it can do–and do well:
1) distributing money to the neediest schools
2) protecting the civil rights of teachers and students
3) making sure that federal funds go to students who need them most.
How did we get into this mess of believing that the U.S. Department of Education has the knowledge, wisdom, experience, and foresight to create a single template of standards, curriculum, standards, professional development, teacher evaluation, and assessment to guide the nation’ s millions of children and teachers? It does not. That is a fantasy. Here is a fresh idea: evidence-based policy-making. Field trials. Or how about the simple recognition that teachers are not the sole cause of students test scores. Or how about the startling idea that every child does not progress at the same time and in the same way?
There is a simple axiom that our parents taught us: Stick to what you know.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
My worry is that the money will become a slush fund for charters while applications from public schools could be denied. The original intent of the funding is to supplement the budget of school districts serving the neediest students. It would be a travesty if that original intent is perverted.
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Perverted is as perverted does.
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As it stands now, the DOE cannot be thought of as a federal agency even though it is labeled as such. With the installation of Arne Dun-can’t at the behest of Rahm and DFER at the beginning of Obama’s first term, the DOE became (or continued to be) nothing more than a sock puppet for the reformsters. The fact that the DOE was infiltrated and completely co-opted by them must be spread far and wide so that all who are in this fight and all who may join us know the true nature of the enemy we face. It is the exact same enemy waging a two pronged assault in both the public and private sector. Not only do we have to continue to fight the toxic policies themselves, we have to fight to evict the usurpers from the DOE and return it to being an agency staffed by actual education professionals that puts students and teachers interests ahead of all others based on evidence and facts, not ideology and profiteering. The 3 points above are a perfect example of what a real DOE should be doing.
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Tragically i t is NOT ONLY in education.
Yesterday on C-span I watched the House Republicans defund every EPA directive on the books. Our lawmakers whether through ignorance, stupidity, or mere being bought out by the moneyed interests are decimating not only our country but the planet as well. I write letters to our senators and house members and get a form letter back.
BUT
I believe that Bernie Sanders MAY make a difference. I have not heard him speak about education and do not know his views on that but EVERY other issue, we see eye to eye and with the crowds he is drawing whether he wins the nomination and/or presidency it seems that he is forcing the most important issues of our time into the limelight.
My hope is that he also will change the mind set of these “reformers” also.
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*Hello Diane,* > > I am a curriculum director in Western MA and have been following your blog for years. I have a friend who sent me a copy of an internal memo that Eva Moscowitz sent to all Success Academy faculty and staff following the recently published revelations about her discipline policies. I editorialized – in blue – and thought you might enjoy seeing my comments,
With appreciation for all that you are doing to keep us informed. Louise Law
> *Subject:* *Kindergarten to prison pipeline* > As you may have seen, Success Academy has recently come under attack > from special-interest groups (that are not the same as our very wealthy > well funded special interest groups) that oppose charter schools (that > oppose charter schools’ taking public funding from the poorest public > schools and lining the pockets of wealthy investors). While we have seen > this before, (because you are a pig Eva)the rhetoric in these recent > attacks is incredibly offensive to our families, (and suspending children > who are six years old is offensive to most educators) who choose each and > every day to send their scholars (actually these are people’s children – > not their scholars – you are the ones who call them “scholars” which is > somewhat comical.) to our schools. It is also offensive to each of you,(because > I want to share the blame) who choose to spend your days — and often > evenings or weekends (because we demand it)— in the service of those > children, whether you are personally providing them with a rich, engaging, > and joyful (really?) learning experience (para military experience) or > supporting them indirectly from being slaves to the network yourselves. > > > In yesterday’s *Daily News*, American Federation of Teachers president > Randi Weingarten published an op-ed > comparing Success > Academy’s discipline policies to the South Carolina police officer’s > assault on a high school student. (because well…they are kinda like > that) It is no coincidence that Weingarten made this inappropriate and > inflammatory comparison at the same time > that a union-aligned special-interest group, Alliance for Quality > Education, launched a petition calling Success a “a kindergarten to prison > pipeline.” (by treating young minority children as if they are a > “problem” that needs to be “fixed” and that they should “obey” orders or > suffer consequences)These attacks also came the same week that longtime > Success Academy and charter school opponents Hazel Dukes, of the NY NAACP, (gee > the largest organization that supports African American rights had a > problem with over disciplining black children? simply shocking) and > Bertha Lewis, formerly of special-interest group ACORN and now with The > Black Institute, used similar rhetoric (facts) in a letter to Governor > Cuomo, saying: “While we as a country try to move away from > the over-criminalization and mass incarceration of young people of > color, Eva Moskowitz has made it clear that punitive methods like > suspension will remain a part of her schools’ practices.” > > > These attacks are deeply offensive on many levels. Because they are true Our > scholars are certainly not destined for prison, and it is outrageous and > well beyond the bounds of decency to suggest that our thoughtfulharsh > demeaning discipline policies put children on a “pipeline” to prison, or > to compare a warranted suspension of a five year old who wore the wrong > colored socks to an officer’s unconscionable assault. > > At Success Academy, we believe that consequences for inappropriate > behavior are an effective deterrent,even though we are WRONG we still > *believe* it just as we believe that positive reinforcement encourages > children to do the right things. When a child hits, kicks, bites, throws > furniture, or otherwise harms him/herself or others, it may result in a > suspension. Success does not suspend children for “minor infractions,” except > the wrong color socks. as Weingarten claims, and our practices are not > the result of “inadequate staff training or the desire to push out certain > children” to improve our test scores. Except kids who look like they > will give us trouble or score poorly > > > As we tell new families months before the first day of school, we > take safety seriously. We have unrealistic, developmentally inappropriate high > expectations for scholar behavior, just as we expect all scholars to > achieve academic success. We believe our discipline policies are important > to preparing students to obey white people succeed in school and in > life. We also have an obligation to ensure that all scholars are safe, and > we don’t allow one child’s extreme behavior for which we have not > provided appropriate support or reasonable class sizes to disrupt the > well-being and learning of the rest of theoverly large numbers of > students in each class. > > > Our scholars have learned to spit back what you teach achieved tremendous > academic success with the help of your extraordinary teaching and through > their own hard work and effort — not because they were cherry-picked, and > not because of a mythical “practice of weeding out weak or difficult > students,” as the *New York Times* alleged. Such an idea reveals cynicism > and prejudice about what children, even poor children, can achieve. As you > all know well, many families in our school communities face economic > hardship, struggle with personal challenges, or may be in temporary housing > or out of work. We have scholars with special needs but we ignore that and scholars who > struggle with behavioral issues so we punish them. > > And while some families leave us — sometimes because they don’t like our policies, or their children are traumatized but more often because they move or other life circumstances intervenesuch as their children need counseling— we keep many more of our students locked up than our co-located schools who lose the best part of their buildings and have to make do with less because of our presence….do. We believe all families should have the right to choose the school environment that is best for their child and that wealthy investors should profit from the excess funding that is a result of under staffing our schools. For many families, Success Academy is that environment — something that makes us very proud. and flippin’ rich
> > I am extraordinarily proud of the work we you teachers do — of the work > you do — and it is frustrating and discouraging to read these attacks.because > my investors may become skittish about investing more Poverty is a > significant obstacle to educating children so rich white people may as > well profit from this challenge. I deserve every penny of the $475,244I > pay myself out of taxpayer money. It is far easier to educate wealthy > kids; easier for the students and easier for those who teach them except > we can’t make a profit on them because wealthy parents would not put up > with our approach.. But that is not who the vast majority of our scholars > are. Educating poorer students is exhausting and emotionally draining especially > when I make teachers work 11 hour days. It is exceptionally difficult — > yet unbelievably rewarding. All children, no matter their socioeconomic > circumstances, deserve access to educational excellence and opportunity, > and you are providing that. Because of you, because of your deep love for > children and your belief in what is possible for them, our students the > ones that we allow to stay are thriving. > > > I heard from many of you last week after I wrote in response to the *NYT* article, > and I truly appreciate your words of support for our mission. The sad truth > is that while these attacks are aimed at our schools, the real victims of > this smear campaign are the wealthy investors children. AQE and other > anti-reform groups are intent on stopping Success, on preventing us from > opening new schools andtaking more public funds for our essentially > private mission serving more children. Every year we have more families > on our wait list because the public schools are losing more funding and > falling apart more families are seeking what you provide — the > opportunities that an excellent education brings. > > > In our defense, there have been several thoughtful articles, written by > our investors and I want to share those with you: > > *Louise Law* *louise.law@frsu38.org* Director of Elementary Education Union #38 and Frontier Regional School District (413) 665-1155
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