Two dedicated pro-public education advocates, Chuck Pascal and Troy LaRaviere, wrote important amendments that were adopted and incorporated into the Democratic platform.
Because of them, with important support by Randi Weingarten, the platform now takes a stand against the high-stakes testing regime, opposes school closing shift based on test scores, opposes evaluating teachers by test scores, and emphasizes the importance of democratically-controlled public schools. The platform continues to support “high quality charter schools,” without defining what that means: high test scores? Or something else?
Ironically, the transcripts cited here were made by Education Reform Now, an affiliate of Democrats for Education Now, the organization created by hedge fund managers to promote charter schools.
The updated text can be found here.
An unofficial transcript of the session can be found here.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Ed reformers should thank them for dumping VAM.
It was a dumb idea. There’s nothing wrong with admitting that. It’s a shame the Obama Administration blew a billion dollars on it but it’s too late for regrets now.
You may be ready to shrug off the negative effects of VAM, but I doubt the teachers in Florida who have not received a raise and/or have been fired are ready to shrug it off.
You know who else isn’t ready to shrug it off? The legislatures of many states. Florida Republicans will not be dumping their Obama funded VAM program. They don’t give a rip what is in the DNC platform, and the truth is that HRC and her corporate sponsors really don’t give a rip either.
YES. This is the true danger behind the ESSA mandate: Giving more “discretion” to the states does little to help those kids and parents in red states/cities; it will more likely begin to feel like NCLB/R2T on steroids.
We should all be happy that at least a beginning is being made to remove the fallacies of the past in education by the Democrats. [What about the Republicans? Were they, are they any better?]
For me it is distressing to see that the Democratic platform has omitted so many of the imperative issues. Dr. Cornell West enumerates them. My personal biggest issue is climate change which without being adequately addressed will leave our posterity in a planet that may well be intolerable in which to live but the TPP and others omitted are vitally important also.
This transitions into this. I have been distressed to see so many bloggers here become one issue voters. I believe that our country is falling apart because so very many people have become one issue voters. NO politician could possibly satisfy everyone and their one issue ideal. There are way too many “one issues”. Our country has stagnated because of one issue demands by people of all stripes.
Obviously we should fight for the things decimating our educational system. I know all too well the effects of political interference in quality education.
However, in my view the best educators in history were ones who looked for truth in the totality of the problems facing society. The great minds looked to expand the parameters of perception, not stricture them to just or primarily on one issue.
True educators in the past were leaders in leading society, in thinking and in promoting the best ideas of the search for truth. I would wish that more of that were seen in these blogs.
After reviewing the Democratic platform for 2008, I think it is safe to say that the platform represents an ideal. What we actually get, remains to be seen. In 2008 Democrats promised free college for those that enter teaching. Is that TFA? The platform promised high standards and a remedy for NCLB. Is that the Common Core? The platform promoted “innovation” in public schools. Are these charters? The platform also pledged additional support for ELLs and students with disabilities. Really? Above all, there is no mention of the test and sanction policy that was the hallmark of the Obama administration, and no specific mention of charter proliferation, or charters at all under the K-12 subheading. We know all politicians on both sides of the aisle speak with “forked tongues.” .
I rest my case.
Diane asked what is a “high quality” charter school.
Well, here is one definition from USDE. It is noteworthy because it is recent and because the stipulations are so frequently ignored when USDE doles out grants.
On the other hand, it is not hard to see why charters are so test-driven and eager to boot out students that might threaten their status as “high-quality.”
Definitions:
A high-quality charter school is a school that shows evidence of strong academic results for the past three years (or over the life of the school, if the school has been open for fewer than three years), based on the following factors:
(1) Increasing student academic achievement and attainment for all students, including, as applicable, educationally disadvantaged students (as defined in this notice) served by the charter schools operated or managed by the applicant.
(2) Either (i) Demonstrated success in closing historic achievement gaps for the subgroups of students described in section 1111(b)(2)(C)(v)(II) of the ESEA at the charter schools operated or managed by the applicant, or
(ii) No significant achievement gaps between any of the subgroups of students described in section 1111(b)(2)(C)(v)(II) of the ESEA at the charter schools operated or managed by the applicant and significant gains in student academic achievement with all populations of students served by the charter schools operated or managed by the applicant.
(3) Achieved results (including performance on statewide tests, annual student attendance and retention rates, high school graduation rates, college attendance rates, and college persistence rates where applicable and available) for low-income and other educationally disadvantaged students (as defined in this notice) served by the charter schools operated or managed by the applicant that are above the average academic achievement results for such students in the State.
(4) No significant compliance issues (as defined in this notice), particularly in the areas of student safety and financial management. Significant compliance issue means a violation that did, will, or could lead to the revocation of a school’s charter.
Note that this is a recent federal register post, not referenced to ESSA but an earlier version of the Elementary and Secondary Act.
Source https://www.federalregister.gov/articles/2016/05/10/2016-10925/application-for-new-awards-charter-schools-program-csp–grants-for-replication-and-expansion-of
As long as the Democrats continue using the industry-supplied term “public charter schools” they are being either naive or misleading.
At this late date, which are we to think it is?
To the extent that the Democrats’ education platform incorporates some ideas and language from the resistance to so-called reform, that’s a good thing, an opening in the discourse.
But I still expect the corner offices at the Department of Education to be filled by Broad Institute types come next January, with John Podesta and other technocratic functionaries as vectors in their transmission. The Clinton’s entire career is based on strategically sacrificing their political base for their own advancement; why should things be different now?
USE OF FOUNTAIN PENS BY ELEMENTARY STUDENTS
I am a public education administrator in the United States – New Jersey – and the father of an 8 year old. Presently I am in Germany and my son attends a German elementary school. I see great merit in using fountain pens for students. In my opinion, one of the reasons Germany produces some of the greatest products in the world is the emphasis the German school system places on “Basteln” or tinkering and other traditional activities that require care, like the use of a fountain pen. To many Americans this may seem quaint – but there is a rock solid place for “the quaint” in the earliest grades – again, in my opinion. Forming letters with a traditional tool like a fountain pen will give the young individual an intimate experience with reality – one which requires precision and care – much more than with a swipe or a push of a button. I strongly feel that this (and other “quaint” experiences had by students in German elementary schools translates into a more thoroughly educated student – one that will be much more creative as technology is introduced. I think American education needs to re-evaluate how we educate our youngest and see the merit in what many Americans and American educators may perceive as impractical. In Germany, I once thought it totally impractical to take 7 minutes to draw a “Pils” beer – until I tasted how delicious it was From then on I saw the wisdom in what may be seen as impractical or quaint – and saw how rich with tradition and innovation German society is – and American educators would be well advised to take a good look.
David Di Gregorio, Father of an 8 year old
Supervisor of Library Media Services