According to the Trump group’s favorite news media, businessman Allen B. Hubbard is the likely choice for the #2 job in the U.S. Department of Education. He is a strong advocate for school choice and for the Common Core.
He is on the board of the Lumina Foundation, which has made large grants to support implementation of Common Core.
Like DeVos, he is very wealthy.
So pmuch for Trump’s vow to eliminate Common Core.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
No one should be surprised. Trump is a life-long con-man with a mobbed-up friends, a micro-manager (translated that means he will make a perfect dictator), a fraud, a psycho, a super narcissist with a thin skin, and even shorter attention span and absent memory, and he has a long history of lying about everything and never admitting he’s wrong.
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Telling like it is Lloyd!! No hay duda.
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Yes, but is he opposed to public schools?
That seems to be the litmus test for working at the US Department of Education these days.
We have thousands of public employees, paid by the public, who are opposed to the public schools that 90% of US children attend.
Also, people who attended or worked for or in US public schools are apparently barred from consideration for leadership positions at the US Department of Education, because why would the federal government hire THOSE losers?
Is there like a mission statement or job description for the US Department of Education written down somewhere? Does it include the word “public”? Maybe they all need to sit down and read it. They seem to have lost their way rather profoundly.
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I usually say that 85% go to public schools. About 10% are enrolled in private and religious schools. About 6% in charter schools.
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Given that only 11 members of Congress signed up for the public education caucus, and some of those are charter advocates, I’d say that we have our work cut out for us to rebuild congressional – and public – support for public schools.
I recall an editorial in the NY Times written by some Italian folks with advice for Americans on how to defeat Trump, based on their experiences with Berlusconi, whom they said was re-elected despite being every bit as despicable as Trump. Their point was that the only way to change minds was to have a positive agenda and clearly outlined values and message statements. Simply being against an incompetent and dangerous narcissist was not sufficient to turn the tide in Italy, and did not work for Hillary here. https://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/18/opinion/the-right-way-to-resist-trump.html
With that in mind, I suggest that we focus our collective energies on finding evidence of public schools that work, of discussing what we really stand for, and finding ways to share these messages with politicians and the general public. For example, in The Atlantic recently there was an article about a superintendent in Mississippi who completely reorganized his city’s school district, and turned every school into a citywide grade level school such as K-1. His goal was to increase the schools’ diversity and avoid re-segregation, and it worked. Test scores for minority children improved. Not perfect, but a creative approach to integration and making the schools work for all. Here’s the link: http://www.theatlantic.com/sponsored/allstate-2017/restoring-the-promise-of-public-education/1181/
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Excellent points.
With Trump and the U.S. Congress, money buys attention.
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Common Core is an insult and a joke to education. You can ask any teacher that is a great teacher, and get the same answer. Dumbs down the education to the lowest denominator.
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Three points:
One: Let’s suppose DeVos is denied the appointment. Who does Mr. Trump have waiting in the wings? I doubt that it will be the second coming of Horace Mann… We could end up with a “bi-partisan candidate” like Eva Moskovitz who seems to have some friends in the NYS Democrat party…. or maybe Arne Duncan could come back… his philosophy and pro-privatization ideas aren’t too far removed from Ms. DeVos and Democrats would be hard-pressed to oppose him.
Two: As this Atlantic article points out, while public education advocates are focussed primarily on DeVos there are (at least) five other cabinet posts that could have a substantial impact on children:
https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2017/01/five-cabinet-nominees-who-could-affect-education/512738/
Oh, and the Atlantic’s rogue’s gallery doesn’t even include Andrew Puzder, the nominee for secretary of labor, who opposes minimum wages, labor unions, and such “givens” as sick leave, paid vacations, and overtime. His appointment will clearly have an impact on children being raised in poverty and the collective bargaining agreements that currently provide a floor for the wages and working conditions of teachers.
Three: As indicated above, there many fronts to fight against. In Mr. Trump’s administration it appears that ALL publicly funded programs are targeted for privatization, the environment is imperiled, women’s rights are under siege, Jim Crow laws could be restored, workers are likely to see their rights eroded, and who knows what cases the new Supreme Court will overturn.
These appear to be dark times… but if progressives stick together and take on all of these simultaneously we could come out ahead of where we started. Maybe, like the only businessman-turned-President Herbert Hoover, Trump will be a one-term President who will pave the way for a reformer to emerge. That optimistic thought enables me to sleep soundly.
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Wayne Gersen,
It is true that Trump will choose someone as atrocious as Betsy if she doesn’t get approved. But you have to fight them one at a time and push hard against someone who is unfit, and determined to dismantle and privatize public education. We will fight the next one if she goes down. And the next one. Since she has funded 10 of the 12 Republicans on the committee, it is hard to imagine they will say no, but we fight anyway because our ideals and values are under assault. Giving up in advance is not an option.
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Yes, exactly! We will fight every one!
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Good points all Wayne, but what is the NYS Democrat Party? It doesn’t exist.
I’m a committee member of the local Democratic Party, duly named, incorporated, and chartered.
A minor point, but important nonetheless. It was KKKonservatives and Rethuglicans who started calling our political party by that name several years ago, mostly because it annoyed them that we use the word “democratic” in our name when, from their point of view, we were communists.
You’ll notice I did the same thing up there, calling those other groups less accurate names too.
It’s the same thing. I don’t ordinarily do that, except to make a point.
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“So much for Trump’s vow to eliminate Common Core.”
Things come into much sharper focus when one realizes THETrumpster is being used by the xtian fundamentalist dominionists to instill their version of an xtian caliphate in this country. And that Pence is the one calling the shots, just like The Dickster Cheney called the shots in Georgie the Least’s administration.
The CCSS is just one of the tools used in dismantling that damn godless public school gubmint monopoly system. All hail the god Mammon!!!
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Duane,
Important point. Pence is picking the cabinet. Does anyone think that Trump ever heard of TOM Price, who will run HHS, or Mick Mulvaney, who will be in charge of the federal budget. Pence knew them as members of the House. Hard-Core fundamentalists.
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My spouse calls Trump the PINO, president in name only. He gets to play with the toys and perks and nukes while Pence brings in an extreme right crew.
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I think I’ve lost my taste for my favorite red wine.
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Common Core in NYS can officially be declared “irrelevant”.
Normalization is the current state of most schools as Cumo’s witch hunt has quietly faded away, APPR has lost any credibility as a valid teacher evaluation system, the 3 to 8 CC moratorium and use of distributed/shared HS Regents test scores, and a general realization by even the most gung-ho CC cheerleaders that none of these test-centric efforts have accomplished anything close to college and career readiness or improved higher order, critical thinking skills. In fact we have been left with a pool of 3 million students statewide with the biggest knowledge deficit imaginable.
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Most importantly, ed rephorm is, in no way related to better paying jobs because the richest 0.1% don’t want better paying jobs for the 99%.
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The real irony of RTTT/CC was that the narrow focus on math and ELA, to the exclusion of all else, inhibited “career readiness” by closing the doors of opportunity – instead of expanding and opening them. As teachers, we were forced into worst practices and instead of providing multiple pathways for success, we provided students with the most constricted and constrained keyhole through which they could pass.
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Linda,
You nailed it. The 1% are not looking out for anyone but themselves and their heirs. Trump is a perfect example.
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How do you say it is irrelevant? Unfortunately, it’s still my kids’ curriculum, and the kids are now taking extra tests for evaluation of teachers, and teachers and schools are still worried about the results. I am still fighting it, because it is still hurting my kids!
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It is irrelevant outside of NYC. You can blame the UFT/Mulgrew.
The fight is over up here. Sorry.
Best to “fight” your kids building principal and teachers if you feel they are being negatively impacted by over-testing and test-prep. Ask why teachers are not being rated using distributed scores. Demand teachers that teach for your kids. Or you can move up here.
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Common Core is alive and well in NJ.
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“well”
Do you mean it is working as advertised?
Are NJ students better critical thinkers?
Do they understand math on a deeper level?
Are they better prepared for college? careers?
HA!
Ask your administrators why you are sticking with a proven failure.
DeVos will have no control over continued use of CC.
The ESSA has handed the ball back to the states.
Is NJEA still supporting this snake oil?
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The religious right was an obstacle to Common Core. The Gates Foundation has made inroads with the evangelical colleges. Opposition to C.C.$.$.will cave, because congregants like to follow authoritarian pastors and, the Christian right never saw a dollar it didn’t like.
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According to her revamped website (changed drastically in the last 2 days although the material looks the same) she is Anti-Common Core.
“THERE’S BEEN A LOT OF TALK ABOUT COMMON CORE. CAN YOU PROVIDE SOME STRAIGHT TALK ON THIS TOPIC?
Certainly. I am not a supporter—period.”
Then she goes on to admonish anyone who thinks otherwise.
“Have organizations that I have been a part of supported Common Core? Of course. But that’s not my position. Sometimes it’s not just students who need to do their homework.”
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Sorry – Website is
http://www.betsydevos.com/q-a/
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