Archives for the month of: February, 2017
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Trump Lies…About Everything!

By dianeravitch
February 19, 2017 //
128

At his rally in Florida yesterday, he told the crowd about a terrorist incident in Sweden, but there was no terrorist incident in Sweden.

There were however terrorist attacks in Iraq, directed against Muslims, but these attacks do not appear on Trump’s radar because he is only concerned about white people.

Trump has repeatedly claimed that he is of Swedish descent, but that isn’t true either. His father and grandfather were German. That’s nothing to be ashamed of. Why does he lie about everything?

Want to know how often Trump lies? Politifact says that 50% of his statements are either “false” or “pants on fire.” Another 20% are rated “mostly false.” Only 16% of his statements are rated either “true” or “mostly true.” 14% are “half true.”

The default position for any thinking citizen is to assume that whatever he says, other than his name, is not true. Check the facts before believing anything he says.

Categories Lies, Trump

Trump Administration Plans to Eliminate Government Support for Arts, Humanities, Public Television

By dianeravitch
February 19, 2017 //
45

The Trump administration proves what some of us long feared and suspected: the crackpot fringe of the right wants to dumb down the populace by eliminating funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the National Endowment for the Humanities.

These Yahoos hate education. They want the public to be raised in ignorance of science, history, and art. They want to eliminate funding for programs that educate the public. As long as you have a Bible, what more do you need?

Arts organizations across the country are rallying to save the meager amounts of federal funds that is available to supports the arts, humanities, and culture.

“As the news spread that the White House budget office had included the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and the National Endowments for the Arts and the Humanities on a list of programs it was considering trying to eliminate, arts leaders at large and small organizations around the nation reacted with alarm — and began making plans to fight for their survival.

“The federal government plays a very small role in funding the arts, especially compared with other affluent countries. Together, the three programs that may be targeted account for less than one-tenth of 1 percent of annual federal spending. But even if the arts get only crumbs, administrators said, they are crumbs worth fighting for: much-needed money that supports community projects, new works and making the arts accessible to people in different parts of the country and to those who are not wealthy.

“And after years of culture-war debates in which conservatives took aim at the programs, questioning the value of some of the art that was publicly funded, arts groups are pressing the case that the federal money they receive supports organizations — and jobs — in all 50 states, both red and blue.

“The N.E.A. has a big impact in the middle of country — even more so, I suspect, than in urban areas where funding is more diversified,” said Martin Miller, the executive director of TheatreSquared, a regional theater in Fayetteville, Ark., that bills itself as the northwest part of the state’s only year-round professional theater.

“Losing the N.E.A. would mean that many smaller, mid-American arts companies couldn’t weather a recession,” he said, noting that the endowment supports both state and regional arts councils. “Losing these companies would mean fewer jobs, a lower quality of life and less local spending in the small towns that need it most.”

“Many arts officials said they were gravely concerned that the programs were back on the chopping block.
“It’s another example of our democracy being threatened,” the actor Robert Redford, the president and founder of the Sundance Institute, which helps filmmakers, said in a telephone interview. “Arts are essential. They describe and critique our society.”

“President Trump is already facing pressure from some of his allies to preserve the programs. Daryl Roth, a prominent Broadway producer (“Kinky Boots,” “Indecent”) whose husband, Steven Roth, is a Trump adviser, said that she opposed eliminating the programs and that she had expressed her view to the Trump administration and would continue to do so.
“The concept of ending federal funding to the N.E.A. and to the many nonprofit arts organizations, artists, writers, cultural institutions, museums and all recipients that would be affected is of course of grave concern to me,” Ms. Roth wrote in an email. “Arts education in the schools, theater groups, music and dance programs help revitalize local communities, both spiritually and economically, across the country.”

“The fate of the three organizations is still far from clear: An internal memo that circulated within the Office of Management and Budget last week, which was obtained by The New York Times, noted that the list of programs targeted for elimination could still change. Officials at both of the endowments said they had not received any official word from the White House. But the programs have long been in the cross-hairs of conservatives.

“Romina Boccia, a fellow at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, said Congress should eliminate federal arts grants altogether. “The minuscule portion of art funding that comes from the federal government does not support the arts in any meaningful way; rather, it distorts the art market toward what is politically acceptable,” she said. She also questioned the need for the federal government to support public broadcasting.

“But arts administrators around the nation said in interviews that culture had enjoyed bipartisan support in recent years, and that they were hopeful their elected officials could be persuaded to keep the programs. They began making plans last month to make the case for the arts to their audiences, their well-connected board members and Congress.”

Categories Art, Ignorance, Real Education, Resistance, Trump

Julian Vasquez Heilig: Are Charters the Answer?

By dianeravitch
February 19, 2017 //
24

The short answer: No.

Julian Vasquez Heilig explains why charters are not the answer to inequity. They deepen inequity.

Here is an excerpt:

My Confession is that I am a former charter Volunteer (MN), Educator (CA), Parent (TX) and Donor (CA) I’ve also publish peer reviewed research on charters.

I am a scholar. We are in pursuit and convinced by evidence. So I’d like to talk about evidence today.

Here are 10 things to consider about the market-based charter schools debate:

Where did market-based school choice come from? Writing in the 1960s, academics such as the libertarian economist Milton Friedman, followed by John Chubb and Terry Moe in the 1990s, argued for a profit-based education system where resources are controlled by private entities rather than by democratically elected governments. They recommended a system of public education built around parent-student choice, school competition, and school autonomy as a solution to what they saw as the problem of direct democratic control of public schools.

School “choice” does not cure the inequality created by markets. Not surprisingly, the academics neglected to mention that market-based mechanisms are the very system that created the inequities in American public schools today. Along with other public policies, including redlining, market forces created racial and economic segregation. Instead of making this situation better, school choice made this situation worse. Research by the UCLA Civil Rights project has demonstrated this fact. I have included this report and other resources in your green folders. I have a few extra packets that I can give to folks after my presentation.

What does the research tell us that happens when everyone has choice? Also known as Universal choice? A group of economists mentored by Friedman, the Chicago Boys, took Friedman’s theories about education back to their home country and to push an education system with universal choice and relaxed regulation and oversight. Over the past several decades, Chile simultaneously became one of the richest countries in South America and the most unequal developed country in the world. In markets there are winners and losers.s I also recommend you check out Linda Darling-Hammond’s, a Stanford Professor, new book Global Education Reform Movement. This book examines countries around the world and finds that market-based reforms have failed spectacularly when compared with equity-based reforms.

The position of the NAACP and Black Lives Matter on privatization is consistent with the views of past civil rights leaders.NAACP co-founder E.B. Du Bois, in his essay Negroes and the Crisis of Capitalism in the U.S., extolled the virtues of collaborative social and government action. He railed against the role of businesses and capitalistic control that “usurp government” and made the “throttling of democracy and distortion of education and failure of justice widespread.” Malcolm X characterized market-based public policy as “vulturistic” and “bloodsucking.” He advocated for collaborative social systems to solve problems. Martin Luther King Jr. argued that we often have socialism in public policy for the rich and rugged free market capitalism for the poor. White academics pressing for market-based school choice in the name of “civil rights” ignore this history of African American civil rights leaders advocating for collaborative systems of social support and distrusting “free market” policies.

Is the NAACP and Black Lives Matter position on schools out of touch with civil rights? A barrage of criticism has come from market-based school choice proponents and charter operators about the NAACP and Black Lives Matter resolutions. However, the NAACP has for years been consistent in its critique of charters schools. At the 2010 convention, the NAACP national board and members supported a resolution saying that state charter schools create “separate and unequal conditions.” A review of ten years of research supports their statement. I have included the review of research in your packets. More recently, in 2014, the NAACP connected school choice with the private control of public education. More recently, the 2016 resolution includes a variety of civil rights-based critiques such as a lack of accountability, increased segregation, and disparate punitive and exclusionary discipline for African Americans.

Categories Charter Schools, Corporate Reformers, Education Industry, Inequity, Privatization

Mercedes Schneider: Bill Gates Goes Strangely Silent About His Education Agenda

By dianeravitch
February 19, 2017 //
40

For more than the past decade, Bill Gates has dabbled in education. He launches initiative after initiative, with slim or no research, and all of them flop. While he dabbles–whether it is the Common Core or evaluating teachers by test scores–he messes up other people’s lives with no accountability for his screw-ups. He just moves on to his Next Big Idea.

Mercedes Schneider points out that the Gates Foundation spends more money “reforming education” in the U.S., but has nothing to show for it.

Curiously, the Gates Foundation’s annual letter doesn’t even mention education! (Correction: Leonie Haimson pointed out that education was not mentioned in the Foundation’s annual letter; its annual report is not published yet. So maybe we will hear some Trump-style claims about the successes of VAM and charters, and other DeVos strategies for privatization.)

Will he butt out? Will he admit error?

I saw him on TV Saturday night warning about the dangers of bio-terrorism. A few weeks ago, he met with Donald Trump in his golden penthouse and came away expressing admiration, prophesying that Trump had the chance to be transformative, like John F. Kennedy, by driving education innovation with new technologies. What’s on his mind? Saving humanity or market share?

Categories Accountability, Common Core, Gates Foundation, Bill Gates, Privatization, Teacher Evaluations, Trump

Michigan, Under DeVos Influence, Declines Sharply on NAEP

By dianeravitch
February 19, 2017 //
30

The Detroit Free Press published this article last May about the state’s academic decline since 2003. That covers the DeVos era.

http://www.freep.com/story/news/education/2016/05/18/michigan-students-sliding-toward-bottom/84535876/

“In 2003, Michigan ranked 28th in fourth-grade reading. In 2015, the state was ranked 41st.
“We’re certainly not on track to become a top 10 state any time soon,” said Amber Arellano, executive director of the organization. “It’s totally unacceptable for the economy, for business and especially for kids themselves.”

Among the 2015 NAEP results highlighted in the report:

• Michigan ranked 41st in fourth-grade reading, down from 28th in 2003.

• The state ranked 42nd in fourth-grade math, down from 27 in 2003.

• It ranked 31st in eighth-grade reading, down from 27th in 2003.

• It ranked 38th in eight-grade math, down from 34th.

The report is focused on the fourth-grade reading results because of how crucial it is for students to be able to read well by the end of third grade. But students have also struggled in math.

The achievement problem crosses demographic lines. Consider how various demographic groups in Michigan compared with similar demographic groups nationwide in fourth-grade reading in 2015: White students in Michigan ranked 49th, higher-income students in Michigan ranked 48th, and black students ranked 41st.

The problem? Many other states are outpacing Michigan, which has posted mostly stagnant — and in some cases declining — results.”

Will DeVos inflict her failed methods on the nation?

Categories Betsy DeVos, Michigan, NAEP, Privatization, School Choice

Kenyan Court Blocks For-Profit Bridge International Academies

By dianeravitch
February 19, 2017 //
4

For those of us who find for-profit schooling offensive, this is good news:

If you cannot read this email, follow http://bit.ly/2lT2vHG

Dear Diane,

A judgement delivered yesterday by a Kenyan Court upholds the action taken by Busia County Government to close down ten Bridge International Academies – the largest and most contested chain of low-cost private schools – for violating education norms and standards. It marks a turning point and must signal a move towards fulfilling the right to education in Kenya and other countries, say five organisations. This could be a landmark case as the legality of Bridge Academies’ operations is increasingly contested in Kenya and Uganda.

Nairobi, Kenya, 17 February 2017

Just over a month after the High Court of Kampala, in Uganda, allowed the Ugandan Government to close all schools run by Bridge International Academies (BIA) in the country, the High Court of Kenya in Busia County announced yesterday in a similar case that the Busia County Education Board could proceed in closing ten Bridge schools operating in the Busia county for failing to meet education standards.

Hon. Justice Korir ruled yesterday that it dismissed a complaint from Bridge, which sought to contest a decision by the Busia County Education Board to close their schools. The judge allowed Busia County to close 10 of the schools for which there were school inspection reports recommending closure, out of the 12 in the County. He ordered that the Bridge schools remain open until the end of the current school term (in April), for the County to secure placement in a public school for the affected children. The Busia County has 45 days from the date of the judgement to show evidence that another school has been found for the children.

The County Education Board had decided in November 2014 to close Bridge schools in Busia for not complying with the minimum education standards, including failure to employ trained and registered teachers and managers, inappropriate facilities, and lack of an environmental impact assessment. After the Board moved to enforce its decision in March 2016, Bridge International responded by suing it and its director on the ground that they did not follow the adequate process.

“Beyond just the case of Busia, the Kenyan Ministry of Education has held various meetings with BIA to ask the company to comply with regulations. They wrote to the company at least twice on 17th November 2014 and 17th February 2016, based on internal reports raising concerns about BIA’s compliance with the law, apparently without success. The Kenya Ministry of Education wrote again to BIA on 31st August 2016 with a 90-day deadline until 30th November last year to comply with guidelines and standards. It seems that rather than complying with Kenyan laws, which they’ve had ample time to follow since they opened in Kenya in 2009, BIA keeps on using delaying tactics. The decision shows that the County of Busia was right in demanding standards to be enforced. It is time for the rule of law to be respected. Children’s rights are not negotiable, even by powerful international companies,” reacted Abraham Ochieng, from the Kenyan organisation East African Centre for Human Rights (EACHRights).

The judgement confirms that, contrary to what the company has claimed, BIA had been duly informed by the local and national authorities of the legal requirements it had to follow, but failed to take appropriate action to meet those standards.

Boaz Waruku, from the Africa Network Campaign on Education For All (ANCEFA), commented: “This judgement adds to the similar one in Uganda and is a strong affirmation that Bridge schools do not comply with the minimum education standards in the region. We’re extremely concerned that Bridge Academies, an international profit-driven company with investments that are counted in several billions of Kenya shillings, can come to African countries and charge fees from poor children in our communities without respecting basic laws and education standards of the country.”

Sylvain Aubry, of the Global Initiative for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (GI-ESCR) added: “Put simply, together with the Ugandan case, this judgement shows that a multi-million dollars American company, which has the means and resources to comply with regulations, is not fulfilling basic educational standards of two African countries in which it operates. Two UN human rights committee have already raised concerns about this situation. The Government and County authorities are therefore right in taking steps to fulfil their human rights obligations by engaging in dialogue with operators that do not respect standards, and eventually closing them if necessary. It will now be important for the Government to ensure all children affected have access to public schools, as requested by the Judge.”

The decision comes shortly after the Kenya education Cabinet Secretary, Dr Fred Matiang’i, declared that he agreed with a report from the Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT) and Education International (EI) which highlighted the low standards of Bridge schools and the contravention with national law. The report, titled Bridge vs. Reality: a study of Bridge International Academies for-profit schooling in Kenya, also emphasised the lack of training and difficult working conditions of the teachers, as well as the high hidden fees charged by the company. During the launch of the report on 5 December 2016, Dr Fred Matiang’i, indicated that he would take a decision soon as to the course of action, as reported in the local and international media.

In line with the civil society statements for the case in Uganda, the five organisations signing this statement call on the Kenyan Government to ensure timely and orderly transition of affected students to nearby government schools to ensure the uninterrupted full realisation of the right to education of all children. The signatory organisations also remain highly concerned that BIA’s shareholders, among them high profile investors such as Mark Zuckerberg, Omidyar, Novastar, the World Bank Group, the British development agency and the U.S. Government’s development finance institution could be failing on their due diligence obligations and responsibilities, which might have legal implications.

The organisations supporting this statement are ready to work with the County of Busia, the Government of Kenya, and other interested authorities to support the development of a quality public education system in which all schools comply with human rights norms and standards.

*************************
Background on Bridge International Academies
Bridge International Academies Ltd (BIA) is an American based company registered in Delaware. Operating for-profit the company runs a commercial, private chain of nursery and primary schools. With over 400 institutions and 100,000 children in enrolled BIA schools, it is the largest chain of commercial private schools worldwide.

BIA is one of the most controversial chains of private schools. The use of standardised curriculum developed abroad, the poor working conditions of teachers and the robotization of their work, profit-making by charging poor families in informal settlements, and questions about its respect for some national education and health and safety standards are some of the most debated aspects of Bridge’s operations.

BIA has received funding from several large corporations, investors and development partners including the Omidyar Network founded by the billionaire creator of eBay, Pearson (the world’s largest educational business), Novastar Ventures, Kholsa Ventures, philanthropist Bill Gates, Facebook founder’s Zuckerberg Education Ventures, the International Finance Corporation (a branch of the World Bank Group), the UK’s Commonwealth Development Corporation (with funds from the Department for International Development – DFID) and the US Government Overseas Private Investment Corporation.

The company opened its first school in Mukuru kwa Njenga slum in Kenya in 2009, by 2015 the company had 405 schools in Kenya, as well as other schools in Uganda, Nigeria, Liberia, and India. BIA seeks to grow further with the aim of reaching 10 million students by 2025.

Key Documents
· Court judgement: http://bit.ly/2kRzxnG
· Information statement on ongoing cases involving Bridge International Academies in Kenya and Uganda: http://bit.ly/2eFckEp
· Human rights bodies statements related to States’ obligations with regards to Bridge International Academies: http://bit.ly/2fXvM11
· Human rights analysis of data on Bridge Academies in Kenya http://bit.ly/2h66Br3 and related blog post http://bit.ly/2kngeEW
· Kenya National Union of Techers (KNUT) and Education International (EI) report (December 2016) on BIA in Kenya: Bridge vs. Reality: a study of Bridge International Academies for-profit schooling in Kenya: https://download.ei-ie.org/Docs/WebDepot/Bridge%20vs%20Reality_GR%20Report.pdf
· Education International report (sept 2016) on BIA in Uganda: Schooling the Poor profitably: the innovations and deprivations of Bridge International Academies in Uganda: http://bit.ly/2cSQidq
· August 2016 statement by civil society on the closure of BIA in Uganda: http://bit.ly/2fTQM8Q
· May 2015 statement signed by 120 organisations related to the World Bank’s support to BIA: http://bit.ly/statementWBprivatisation
· July 2016 UN Resolution urging States to regulate education providers and support public education: http://bit.ly/PRHRC2016eng

Key Contacts
· EACHRights: Abraham Ochieng’, info@eachrights.or.ke; abraham@eachrights.or.ke; +254701670090
· ANCEFA: Boaz Waruku, +254 722 663290⁠, boaz.waruku@gmail.com
· GI-ESCR: Sylvain Aubry, sylvain@globalinitative-escr.org, +254 7 88 28 96 34

Signatories
· Africa Network Campaign on Education For All (ANCEFA)
· East African Centre for Human Rights (EACHRights)
· Global Initiative for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
· Hakijamii
· Right to Education Project

Categories For-Profit, International

Trump Says, The Press is the Enemy of the American People: NO! NO! NO!

By dianeravitch
February 19, 2017 //
43

Donald Trump is a demagogue. He is a danger to our democracy. If you doubt this, read his remarks at a “campaign rally” in Melbourne, Florida. (He has already filed for his 2020 re-election campaign, meaning that his tenure in office will be an endless campaign).

Trump said that the press is not just his enemy, they are the enemy of the American people.

This is a direct attack on the First Amendment. This is an attack on freedom of the press. This is Trump’s attempt to intimidate the free press. These are the unhinged rants of a demagogue. This is a direct attack on our democracy.

Fortunately, not every Republican grovels at Trump’s feet. Senator John McCain said it: this is how authoritarianism begins.

John McCain is one of 52 Republican senators. Where are the other 51? Do they agree that a free press is the enemy of the American people? Do they applaud as Trump calls a press conference and demands “friendly” questions? Do they smirk when he falsely claims to have won the greatest electoral college victory since Ronald Reagan? Do they care that he was corrected in public and all he could say was that “someone gave him that information,” without acknowledging that it was not true? Were they concerned when he repeated this outright lie at his campaign rally the very next day? Is there any other Republican senator willing to stand up to this pathological liar and con man?

If the Republican Party swallows this self-degradation without a murmur, they disgrace themselves and their party.

If they watch in silence as Trump keeps up his calculated and demented attacks on the free press, this we know: This is how democracy begins to die.

We can’t let this happen. We must organize, join forces, work together to save our democracy from this egomaniac.

Join with your allies. Go to your Congressman’s town halls. Call his or her district office. Join demonstrations. Protest. Resist. Do not rest until this ignorant narcissist is returned to private life, free once again to cheat his fellow citizens.

It is time to take back our country and restore our democracy.

Start here, with The Indivisibles Guide, written by former Congressional staff members, who know how the system works.

Join the American Civil Rights Union.

Join People for the American Way.

Here is a list of groups fighting against Trump’s attacks on civil rights and civil liberties.

If you want to fight for public education, join the Network for Public Education.

Whatever you do, get involved.

Categories Democracy, Freedom of the Press, Resistance, Trump

Kellyanne’s University Criticizes Her

By dianeravitch
February 18, 2017 //
9

Universities usually brag about their famous alumnae.

Trinity Washington University, however, is ashamed that one of its graduates–Kellyanne Conway–defends Trump’s immigration ban and lies openly.

Trinity Washington University is a small Roman Catholic University in D.C.

Read the university’s tweets here:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/grade-point/wp/2017/02/17/a-university-takes-on-one-of-its-own-alumna-kellyanne-conway/?utm_term=.db6bac420b2e&wpisrc=nl_most-draw7&wpmm=1

Let’s hear it for integrity!

Thank you, Trinity Washington University! Telling truth in a time of lies.

Categories Lies, Trump

Betsy DeVos Insults DC School That Welcomed Her

By dianeravitch
February 18, 2017 //
79

Betsy DeVos, the new Secretary of Education, visited Jefferson Middle School in D.C. At first, she was blocked by protestors, but she eventually slipped into a side door. The staff tried to show her what a public school looks like, since she has probably never been in a public school before.

Despite the graciousness of the staff, DeVos insulted them after she left. She has never been a teacher, yet she complained about what she saw. She said the teachers were in a “receive” mode, waiting to be told what to do.

Emma Brown of the Washington Post writes:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/education/wp/2017/02/18/devos-criticized-teachers-at-d-c-school-she-visited-and-they-are-not-having-it/

“Newly minted Education Secretary Betsy DeVos had a hard time getting inside the District’s Jefferson Middle School Academy last week when protesters briefly blocked her from entering. But at the end of her visit — her first to a public school since taking office — she stood on Jefferson’s front steps and pronounced it “awesome.”

“A few days later, she seemed less enamored. The teachers at Jefferson were sincere, genuine and dedicated, she said, they seemed to be in “receive mode.”

“They’re waiting to be told what they have to do, and that’s not going to bring success to an individual child,” DeVos told a columnist for the conservative online publication Townhall. “You have to have teachers who are empowered to facilitate great teaching.”

After hearing her remarks, the staff was justifiably outraged.

Jefferson educators found her comments about their work hard to take: On Friday evening, the school responded to DeVos via its Twitter account, taking exception to the education secretary’s characterization of Jefferson teachers.
“We’re about to take her to school,” the first of 11 rapid-fire tweets said.

“
The tweetstorm singled out teachers like Jessica Harris, who built Jefferson’s band program “from the ground up,” and Ashley Shepherd and Britany Locher, who not only teach students ranging from a first- to eighth-grade reading level, but also “maintain a positive classroom environment focused on rigorous content, humor, and love. They aren’t waiting to be told what to do.”




“JA teachers are not in a ‘receive mode,’” the tweets concluded. “Unless you mean we ‘receive’ students at a 2nd grade level and move them to an 8th grade level.”


Betsy DeVos has only contempt for public schools. The very best teachers, in her narrow mind, teach in religious schools and charters.

Please, Secretary DeVos, teach a class and show us how it is done. Teach all day. Just one day.

She can’t speak without betraying her hostility to our nation’s democratically governed public schools and her ignorance about them.

If you welcome her to your school, she will ridicule you too.

Categories Betsy DeVos, Education Reform

John Kasich is a Nitwit

By dianeravitch
February 18, 2017 //
91

During the Republican primaries last year, many friends of mine considered John Kasich the adult in the GIP field. When I explained his demonstrated hostility to public education, they thought I must be exaggerating.

But now the proof is there for all who are willing to learn about it.

Kasich wants all teachers to spend some time visiting businesses so they know how to prepare their students.

http://www.ohio.com/news/local/kasich-wants-teachers-to-learn-another-job-or-lose-theirs-1.747817

“Ohio Gov. John Kasich wants public school teachers to see what it’s like to work outside the classroom so they can better match their students to the needs of local employers.

“Tucked a third of the way through Kasich’s 3,512-page 2018-19 state budget is a new education mandate. If the Ohio House and Senate accepts the proposal, educators looking to get or renew a teaching license this fall would have to work at or, more likely, tour a local business.

“The plan, which prioritizes industry over pedagogy, is part of the governor’s broader plan to drive career education and marry schooling to the needs of the economy.

“It could be as simple as teachers touring local business and having those conversations … to just get a better sense of what those in-demand jobs are,” said Ryan Burgess, director of the Governor’s Office of Workforce Transformation, which put together the group that developed the “on-site work experience” externships and about 20 other proposals in Kasich’s budget.

“Asked how kindergarten teachers might benefit from touring a local business, Burgess said it’s never too young to explore a career.”

So five-year-olds will “explore a career.”

Here is a better idea: How about if business leaders commit to teach for one full day in the public schools? Think of what they might learn by doing so.

Categories Ohio, Teachers and Teaching
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