Yesterday the blog passed the 28 million mark. That is the number of page views, the number of times that someone opened a post.
Something important is happening. It is happening step by step, but it is happening. The tide is turning.
The key to saving our schools is collaboration among allies. The Network for Public Education has developed an awesome national website called the Grassroots Education Network. Open it, and you will see your state. Click on it and you will see the name of organizations working together to support better public schools, schools open to everyone, no lottery. If you don’t see the name of your organization, contact Carol Burris, the executive director of NPE and give her the information.
The public is waking up to the fraud perpetrated by the privatizers, the corporate reformers, the privateers, whatever you call them. They dare not say what they really want.
They have no interest whatever in “reforming the public schools.” They want to disrupt them, blow them up, shut them down, and replace them with private management.
The public is wising up.
Sometimes it takes a comedian to tell the truth, as John Oliver did recently.
Day after day, the national media tell stories of charter scams, online charter scams, real estate frauds, self-enrichment schemes, charters run by religious organizations, charters run by foreign nationals, charters destroying local communities, charters cherrypicking the kids they want. How do they never see the pattern in the rug?
After 15 years of No Child Left Behind, Race to the Top, and now ESSA, what reform victories are there? The Tennessee Achievement School District has failed to make a difference despite its bold promises. The Michigan Educational Achievement Authority has failed, utterly failed. Firing teachers and staff and closing schools is not reform: It’s disruption.
After 15 years of Reform-That-Dare-Not-Speak-Its-True-Name (Privatization), the pushback is happening, and it is real.
We will not simply preserve public education. We will stand together to make American public education better than it has ever been, for every child in every zip code.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Diane, I read that there are wait lists for certain Boston Public Schools. If that’s true, why aren’t ed reformers in Boston expanding those schools? Seems like a no-brainer. If this is about “good schools” expand some public schools. Invest in some strong public schools. Why the exclusive focus on charters from folks who claim to be “agnostics”?
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Some Boston charters have wait lists. Some have empty seats and no wait list. The wait list claim is slippery. No one audits the numbers or knows if it is true or propaganda
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Chiara…Christine has informed us here of the many upsetting situations, and the charter wars, in Boston. They hired the Broad-trained Superintendent who left LAUSD under a cloud after the Deasy debacles, and that is telling in itself. The pro charter Boston Globe has only told part of that story.
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Chiara, the waitlists are for seats for what we call K-0 and K-1, 3 & 4 year olds. We don’t have enough to go around. It’s a question of funding, of course.
We lost $120 million to charters from our budget last year and stand to lose $138 million this current year. Statewide, that number is $450 million. If ballot question # 2, which would eliminate the limit on charters, allowing 12 more to open each year ad infinitum, were to pass, the public schools in Massachusetts would be decimated, particularly in the cities which have the largest concentration of, you guessed it, poverty, as well as the highest number of ELL’s and high need SWD’s. The estimate is another $100 million each year.
The law mandates that up to 9% of a municipality’s school budget can be re-directed to charters; in the cities with so-called “failing” schools, i.e. low scores on the PARCC, that number is 18%. There is a mechanism by which the real schools are supposed to be reimbursed for their loss of funding, but it has never happened. Last year alone, the state failed to send BPS $18 million we are owed.
Here’s more: https://saveourpublicschoolsma.com
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Chris Christie is still trying to revive his failing career by attacking public schools.
Boy, ed reform sure can pick ’em. Remember when he was a superstar? Now they seem to have forgotten his name.
http://www.burlingtoncountytimes.com/news/local/christie-blasts-teachers-union-calls-for-longer-school-year-during/article_77c02966-747c-11e6-8a2d-7775ce5a9902.html?utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter&utm_campaign=user-share
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Now that Christie’s made himself the public butt of humiliating jokes with not only his bid for president, but his following and very obsequious support for Trump, he seems to be doing whatever he can to hurt and blame others for his own failure.
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YEAH! CONGRATULATIONS, DIANE.
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Yes Diane Congrats! You’re the very best! I check your blog daily and share it with staff members.
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Tough editorial on ed reform from the Cleveland paper:
“This gives DeMaria an opportunity to show that his key concern is ensuring that Ohio’s children get a top-notch education and that their parents and the public have a permanent seat at the table for any decisions. In particular, DeMaria needs to work hard to keep the Ohio Department of Education (ODE) insulated from political pressure.
His predecessors did not achieve those goals. Richard Ross, who retired last year, was sandbagged by former school choice director David Hansen’s deliberate omission of the failing grades of online charter schools. Hansen resigned from ODE soon after. He is the husband of Beth Hansen, Kasich’s chief of staff and former presidential campaign manager. ”
It doesn’t look hopeful to me. He already caved to lobbyists on the charter authorizer regulation.
I’m really pleased there’s finally some debate in this state on ed reform dogma, however. It took 15 years. It hasn’t been good for public schools. Our public schools are worse off than when these folks arrived and 93% of the kids in this state attend public schools. They’ve done damage.
http://www.cleveland.com/opinion/index.ssf/2016/09/new_ohio_schools_superintenden.html
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Millions of views. Lots of hours of work by Diane. The Reformers want to monetize education. Diane fans, let’s monetize the dollar value of all the wisdom Diane has posted each year on her website. Diane is a fair person so she would agree that some of that “cash” should go to Diane for her own part but some she would share with her frequent scholar contributors whose work she shares with her audience. But she should get “reimbursed” for her time to evaluate each contributor’s words and then post those that make the “grade.” And then there are the contributions that come from Diane detractors. Yes, she should get “paid” for sharing those as well. Now I will play the “how many pennies in a big glass jar” game and guess the cash Diane is owed per year for 28 million page views of her blog. Some of those views are seconds only. Some take 3.75 minutes to read (don’t you agree?). Diane has a PhD. I’d guess in the corporate world, she could command $100/hour. Let’s assume she works 8 hours a day. (We know Diane is a night owl and likely works at least 10 hours many days.) But let’s stick to 8 hours 7 days a week for one year. That’s 2,912 hours per year. Add 2 zeros (Right math teachers?) That’s $291,200 a year. But Diane is not paid, so that is money she is “out.” To say nothing for the cost of having a website every day. This is quite a contrast to Reformer principles and higher some who make $400K. And the hedge fund types who contributions to the charter orgs net them BIG tax deductions. Diane will forgive me for reducing her work to dollars. Likely the amount is way less than the work she puts in.
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Thank you, Gail.
I once had a chat with a reformer who asked me “how do you monetize your blog?”
I responded without thinking, “Why would I want to do that?” She looked at me as if I were nuts.
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Well earned plaudits, dear Diane. You have built a strong national movement and it is a pleasure to participate with you. I was shocked when I opened the Grassroots California section..so thanks for your confidence.
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Your answer long ago was the right answer and I am certain anyone reading my comment knew I was tweaking the wrong headed reformers.
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‘I once had a chat with a reformer who asked me “how do you monetize your blog?”
I responded without thinking, “Why would I want to do that?” She looked at me as if I were nuts.’
My visualization of that conversation drew a rich, deep chuckle from me. That must have been before the trolls started accusing you of profiting from it.
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I wish the trolls would let me know how I’m making money by blogging all day and making my work available for free
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It was understanding that charter schools in Ohio were given additional facilities funding in return for regulation. Half of public school budgets were cut. Charters were given additional funding.
Since they’re (now) blocking the regulation, can the funding be pulled back until they’re compelled to comply with applicable laws? Why did the Ohio legislature allocate additional funding to construct new charter schools prior to the regulation everyone agreed was necessary?
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Congratulations. You are an extraordinary newsmaker. On to 29 million.
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What is your average number of views per month?
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Related amazing statistic- in about a 3-month period, the Ravitch blog increased views by 2 million!
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Thank you for this forum that allows people to discuss issues in education. It provides valuable unadulterated information to concerned citizens, often unavailable elsewhere. I will continue to try to drive more traffic to this site.
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Congratulations! Your success is well-deserved. Your blog is an invaluable resource for sharing information and meeting others interested in preserving & improving public education!
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Felicitaciones.
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Well-deserved congrats, Diane, & too many thanks to print here!
Interestingly enough, I just read an Eric Zorn column in today’s Chicago Tribune, “It’s Time to End Experiment in Online Comments.” He states:
“In 2014, w/a change in our online publishing platform, I lost the ability to ban unruly commenters from threads under my column…I now cheer when media sites shut down their comment threads & hope the idea spreads. Public radio network NPR was the latest…citing the prohibitive cost of effective moderation, the comparatively small slice of web visitors who participated in the scrum (less than a 10th of 1%) & the migration of online debate to social media. Others that have discontinued online reader comment areas include CNN, The Chicago Sun-Times & The Week. Some see this as stifling free expression. I see it as extinguishing dumpster fires.”
Thank goodness we have “a site to DISCUSS better education for all,” with a blogger who–by inviting us “into her living room”–yields a thoughtful forum that helps us all through the slog of “reform,” and allowing us the opportunity to hear from others all over the world, abetting our quest to establish “a better education for all.”
I have no doubt that–in large part due to your blog– the time for that establishment will come.
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Retired,
I do moderate comments. Everyone gets to post their comments, and I read them all. When a commenter becomes abusive, I am able to put them into a special category where I can read their comments before they are posted. If they continue to be abusive, to me or others, I don’t post their comments. It takes time, but it is worth it because online comments can be vicious, racist, abusive, etc. Sometimes I am tempted to let them go, so you can see the kind of stuff people write. Somehow, when people are online, they feel free to be nasty, vicious, in ways they would never be face to face. I try to maintain civility.
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Yes, and your moderation is doubly appreciated (that you continue to keep this a civilized place for discussion, and that you do it all w/o help–an amazing feat, given the amount of comments you must receive).
We used to subscribe to hard copies of Newsweek (then Time, when Newsweek disappeared), & I noticed, sadly, that it seemed that the “Letters to the Editor” section of both had literally…vanished. Quite certain that Eric Zorn is going to receive LOTS of Tweets or Facebook posts disagreeing w/his statement. “Some see this as stifling free expression. I see it as extinguishing dumpster fires.”
And, yes, I’ve read blogs where no comment moderation is apparent, and I generally can’t get through the commentary, for all the sick ranting & name-calling posted.
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Your service on so many issues is deeply appreciated. It would be great to be able to retire this blog. Unfortunately that is a long way off.The forces we are fighting will not go down easy. So keep up the great work.
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Thank you, Joel. We will turn this mess around to benefit the many, not the few.
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I used to subscribe to the New York Times. Their venerable motto, “All the news that’s fit to print” no longer holds true, particularly for education. When I realized all the news I was interested in learning more about shows up on Diane’s blog, it was an easy choice. My old NYT monthly subscription now goes to NPE Action.
Congratulations, Diane!
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Thank you, Diane. I look forward to reading your blog each day. Your work continues to inform and inspire.
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