I am re-posting this article because I neglected to insert the correct link on the first go-round.
It is an excellent job of reporting by Kristina Rizga, who has been writing about education for several years and spent four years embedded in a high school in San Francisco, which became an excellent book titled “Mission High.”
The purpose of the NPE report card is to change the conversation about how to rate schools. The important point is to hold states and districts accountable for making sure schools have the resources they need to be successful with their students. If they underfund the schools, if they focus too much on high-stakes testing, if they divert precious resources to privatization via charters and vouchers, they are not valuing public education.
And that is the point: Which states value public education? Which have resisted the fads and terrible policies pushed by the federal government?
The NPE report stands in sharp contrast to reports by ALEC, StudentsFirst, and the recent Brookings report giving stars to states that embrace privatization. We value public education. We think it is a pillar of our democracy. We expect states to prioritize public education, not to cut the budget of public schools or lower their standards for teachers and treat them poorly.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
For a first rate, accurate & thoughtful article on good quality public education, please read “Long Beach Miracle” in The Atlantic. I graduated from Long Beach schools many years ago & received an excellent education but I am thrilled to see wonderful things happening right now in this district, including a collaboration with the local community college & state university. The article shows how good management, excellent teaching & local control payoff for students in a very diverse city of Long Beach CA. My granddaughter attends transitional kindergarten in Long Beach right now.
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For the 99%, there is no contest between magazines that serve up corporate propaganda and, a Mother Jones subscription.
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I shared this at the current affairs forum of the Post Dispatch, (st. louis is excited about getting a soccer franchise to replace the Rams, so it is appropriate to have a soccer forum, while education remains too boring to have a forum of its own).
I did receive one reply in this supposedly ultra liberal newspaper’s forum for current affairs:
“MOTHER JONES DOUCHE LIB LAMESTREAM MEDIA L1BTARD
BENGHAZI!!!11”
One of the reasons Gilbert Bailon was hired by Lee Enterprises seems to have been to keep the charter school people happy with an absolute minimum of discussion of education issues, as they continue their stealthy “reforms”.
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