Archives for the month of: July, 2019
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Noliwe Rooks Speaks About School Privatization and Racial Inequity

By dianeravitch
July 9, 2019 //
17

 

Please watch this six-minute presentation by Noliwe Rooks about her book Cutting School: Privatization, Segregation, and the End of Public Education. 

The video was produced by Bob Greenberg as part of his Brainwaves project.

Rooks is the Director of American Studies and Director of African-American Studies at Cornell University.

Her book is a fascinating history that examines the interest of billionaires in the education of communities of color.

Dr. Rooks will be a keynote speaker at the annual conference of the Network for Public Education in Philadelphia in March 27-28, 2020.

Categories Accountability, Billionaires, Education Industry, Education Reform, Network for Public Education, Privatization, Racism, Segregation, Teach for America

Did Jeb Bush Choose Your District’s Superintendent?

By dianeravitch
July 9, 2019 //
25

 

Jeb Bush created an organization called Chiefs for Change, whose original membership consisted of state superintendents who shared Jeb’s ideas: high-stakes testing, evaluating teachers by the test scores of their students, school grades of A-F, and school choice (charters and vouchers).

Chiefs for Change has now become a clearinghouse for district superintendents.

You can be sure that anyone recommended by Chiefs for Change is dedicated to disrupting and privatizing your district.

Here are some of the district superintendents that Chiefs for Change points to with pride.

Lewis Ferebee, the new Superintendent of the schools of the District of Columbia.

Susana Cordova, the new Superintendent of the Denver schools.

Jesus Jara, Superintendent of the Clark County (Nevada) Schools. Nevada’s State Commissioner Steve Canovera is a member of Chiefs for Change.

Donald Fennoy, Superintendent of Palm Beach County, Florida.

Deborah Gist, Superintendent of Tulsa, Oklahoma, Schools, along with Andrea Castenada, the district’s “chief innovation officer.”

There are more.

This is the Jeb Bush pipeline, the leaders committed to his vision of disruption and privatization. Of course, you won’t find those two words on Jeb’s website, but those are the results of his convictions, and the proof of those convictions can be found in Florida, the state whose education policy he has controlled for 20 years.

Categories Accountability, Bush, Jeb, Charter Schools, Corporate Reform, Disruption, Education Industry, Education Reform, School Choice, VAM, Vouchers

Carl J. Petersen: Public School Allies Retake Control of the Los Angeles School Board

By dianeravitch
July 8, 2019 //
16

Carl J. Petersen, parent advocate and blogger in Los Angeles, writes here about the long, hard struggle to wrest control of the Los Angeles Unified School District school board from the hands of the billionaires.

Eli Broad, Michael Bloomberg, Reed Hastings and other billionaires have funded the campaigns of charter advocates. The billionaires spent many  millions to gain control, only to see one member of their slim majority—Ref Rodriguez— indicted for campaign finance violations. Even after his indictment, however, he refused to step down for nearly a year until after the board had chosen businessman Austin Beutner  as superintendent.

But everything changed after the election of Jackie Goldberg, who won Rodriguez’s seat.

Read this great story.

 

Categories Billionaires, Broad Foundation, Corporate Reform, Corporate Reformers, Education Reform, Los Angeles

Mitchell Robinson: Tax Credits Are a Zombie Idea

By dianeravitch
July 8, 2019 //
5

 

Mitchell Robinson of Michigan State explains why “tax credit scholarships” are a zombie idea. They are consistently rejected by voters, they fail to educate students, yet they never die.

So even though “Tax Credit Scholarship” is just a sneaky way to “rebrand” private school vouchers–a Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad, Very Betsy DeVosian idea that’s pretty clearly unconstitutional and has been rejected overwhelmingly by voters in Betsy’s home state of Michigan twice, humiliating Ms. DeVos and her husband both times–voucher initiatives still keep popping up in state legislatures across the country, stumbling zombie-like through the educational landscape, devouring public school budgets even as they enrich their wealthy funders.

Michigan voters rejected them twice. DeVos learned a lesson. Skip the referendum. Buy the Legislature.

Categories Betsy DeVos, Education Reform, Michigan

Arthur Goldstein: New York Does Not Care About ELLs

By dianeravitch
July 8, 2019 //
49

 

Veteran teacher Arthur Goldstein writes here about New York state’s cruel indifference to educating non-English-speaking students.

He writes:

President Trump commits outrages against humanity by separating newcomers from their families, leaving them without soap, blankets or toothbrushes. New York State would never do things like that. We’re more enlightened. Instead of depriving young immigrants of physical necessities, we simply decline to them their most fundamental educational need—instruction in English…

State officials, he asserts, decided to give ELL students less direct instruction in English, expecting they would pick up English in their regular subject classes.

This way, while native English speakers take 45 minutes to learn about the Battle of Gettysburg, newcomers would somehow learn not only about the battle, but also all the necessary vocabulary and culture in the same 45 minutes. Having less direct English instruction would somehow support this.

How would they accomplish this? I spoke face to face with NY Commissioner of Education MaryEllen Elia, who told me they would use “strategies and techniques.” You could’ve knocked me down with a feather. I’ve been teaching ESL for three decades. I know strategies and techniques. However, I don’t know of any that compensate for lack of time.

State officials, he writes, have cut ESL classes by 33-100%, then they wonder why ELLs are not succeeding.

Imagine how you’d feel if you went to China tomorrow, and they sat you in classes with almost no instruction in Chinese language. That would mirror official NY State policy. It’s a disgrace, in 2019, that we can’t do better. In NY State, we may not practice outright xenophobia, but our support for newcomers is dubious at best.

Categories English Language Learners, New York

Ariel Sacks: Teach Whole Books or Excerpts?

By dianeravitch
July 8, 2019 //
63

 

Teacher Ariel Sacks notes two clashing trends in teaching literature:  teach whole books or excerpts.

The recent trend toward short texts seems to have come from the Common Core State Standards and accompanying standardized tests. As Peter Greene explains in a Forbes Magazine article, Common Core Testing and the Fracturing of Literature, “Both the standards and the tests are focused on ‘skills,’ with the idea that the business of reading a play or a story or any piece of text is not for the value of that text, but for the reading skills that one acquires and practices in the reading.” This limited focus on skills overlooks so much of what literature offers young people. But my issue with excerpts goes beyond the skills versus content debate, which has been going on many decades.

I question the choice to alter a novel’s form by excerpting it. This is partly on principle—the author didn’t intend for it to be read in bits. But more importantly, I believe reading excerpts puts students at a disadvantage in developing a love of reading and their skills in literary analysis.

The Whole Story Advantage

Literature is art. When we read a novel, we are reading an author’s artistic production, which was created intentionally in a specific form. The novel as a literary form asks readers to spend time living in a world and experiencing the story subjectively as it unfolds, detail by detail. Sure, the length can be prohibitive at times on a practical level; but fundamentally, the work of art begins at the beginning and ends at the end. Without the whole story, our experience is incomplete, and we really can’t know what the author is trying to convey with major gaps in our knowledge of the text.

I like to compare this to looking at a work of visual art—a painting, for example. Yes, we can study a corner of a painting, but we would almost never do so without first viewing the painting as a whole. Without seeing the whole, we miss out on the experience of the art as it was intended. And we are at a gross disadvantage in analyzing even the details we see in one corner, because we don’t know what purpose they serve in relation to the whole.

I agree with Sacks. A writer goes to great lengths to create a novel. Teaching only an excerpt does violence to the work and destroys love of literature.  Excerpting is butchery.

Categories Art, Common Core, Education Reform, Literature, Real Education

Benton Harbor, MI: Commissioner Ron Singleton Reviews Options for District

By dianeravitch
July 7, 2019 //
2

This statement by Benton Harbor Commissioner Ron Singleton was posted on the blog as a comment:

 

I spoke with teacher and different members of our community to put recommendations for the department of education to consider. Here is a copy of the suggestions. We have to wait and see what happens, it’s to my understanding others have sent suggestions also, hopefully we will all Make an impact. Benton Harbor Commissioner Ron Singelton.

Action Plan Committee to Save Benton Harbor School System.

Ask the governor to appoint the University Of Michigan School Of education to administrate the Benton Harbor School district with the Benton Harbor School Board in an advisory capacity. The board is to learn and over time resume control. Be it understood the University Of Michigan will hire and fire educational staff, provide resources and do what is deemed necessary to have the students in the Benton Harbor School system be able to enter the University Of Michigan or any state or private learning institution in the United States, as its current standard for the Ann Arbor school system.
Ask the governor to appoint school board Vice President Joe Taylor and current Benton Harbor School teacher Marilyn Ross-Golden, former educator Sam Hudson and a state accountant) to form an independent review board to audit the Benton Harbor School system finances for a minimum of the past 5-7 years to possibly locate missing funds and correct current wasteful practices and have a preliminary report in 5-7 business days.
Ask the governor to request Wayne county executive Mr Warren Evans and former Berrien County Commissioner and former Benton Harbor School Board President Marletta Seats to review the history, conduct, and qualifications of school board members and set standards and penalties for misconduct from the state and local school board.

Request governor order no business or real estate transactions until the University Of Michigan and Action Plan Committee recommendations are in place for 30 day of the evaluation period.

Class room recommendations

Class size maximum 20 students all schools
Keep 7,8,9 grades separated to middle school
Keep 10,11,12 grades separated to high school

Elementary school recommendations

Students needing behavioral support are separated and provided additional resources
Tutorial services for all students and those performing below 75%
Home assessment for students with behavioral issues and a collaboration with DHS
Re-establish local Benton Harbor resident paraprofessional Assistants For all K – 6 classes

High school Recommendations

1. Mandatory SAT/ACT prep course starting freshman through the senior year
2. Summer school course:

a. Study skills class. b. PSAT summer course. c. Essay writing course. d. African, African American literature reading course.

Administrative Recommendations

To have only a Superintendent for the current district size.
Each school with a principal.
Middle school has a principal and counselor.
High school has a principal and at least two counselors.
Eliminate CEO and CFO position due to management by the University Of Michigan or educational institution and the limited size of the school district.

Parent Recommendations

1. Family counseling and support to children underperforming academically 
2. Family counseling and behavioral support for students with conduct difficulties
3. Mandatory parental support or supervision in their students class for two random graded marking periods. 
4. Reestablish parental Advisory Board to represent each school. 
5. Establish local parental disciplinary advisory board for each school.

Mandatory Parental workshop to prepare parents and students for the up coming school year; without attending the workshop students can not register.

An additional option: U of M would manage the Benton Harbor School system for serval years and then transition to Western University due to proximity to Benton Harbor and after several years Western would finally transition management back to the Benton Harbor administration when the district is stabilized and independently healthy.

These recommendations humbly submitted as an effort to help

Action Committee Contributors

Chair Commissioner Ron Singleton, Co-Chair Emma Kinnard, Marilyn Ross-Golden, Rev Ed Pinkney, Cleveton Jack, Sam Hudson, Ruthie Haralson, and Rev Dr Don J Tynes MD, FACP

Chair
Benton Harbor City Commissioner Ron Singelton
+1 (269) 487-5992

My plan would be to replace the whole school board with retired teachers and or outstanding teachers based on the academic performance of their students. The president would be Marylin Ross-Golden

Categories Accountability, Michigan

Christine Langhoff Describes the Charter-Friendly Power Elite in Massachusetts

By dianeravitch
July 7, 2019 //
28

Christine Langhoff, retired teacher and education activist in Massachusetts, describes the power elite in the Bay State. After losing the charter referendum in 2016 by 68-32%, they keep pursuing ways to bypass the voters.

Massachusetts has 3 Walton-connected members of the state board of education, appointed by the governor, who was formerly the executive director of The Pioneer Institute. The Pioneers are funded by the Kochs and State Policy Network (worth checking out, as they like to fly under the radar). The Pioneers are affiliated with ALEC. The secretary of education, Jim Peyser, formerly ran Pioneer and in between serving Republican administrations in MA, he also ran Education Next, which posted this bio:

“Jim Peyser is Managing Partner for City Funds at NewSchools Venture Fund, a non-profit grant-making firm that seeks to transform public education by supporting innovative education entrepreneurs. In this role, Jim leads NewSchools investment activity in Boston, Newark and Washington, DC. From 1999 through 2006, Jim served as Chairman of the Massachusetts Board of Education. Prior to joining NewSchools, Jim was Education Advisor to two Massachusetts Governors, where he helped shape state policy regarding standards and assessments, school accountability, and charter schools. In 1995, he served as Under Secretary of Education and Special Assistant to the Governor for Charter Schools. He spent more than seven years as Executive Director of Pioneer Institute for Public Policy Research, where he helped to launch the Massachusetts Charter School Resource Center, which supported the development of the state’s first charter schools. Prior to joining Pioneer Institute, Jim held various positions at Teradyne, Inc. in Boston, an electronic test equipment manufacturer. In his role with NewSchools, Jim currently serves on the board of directors for Achievement First, New Schools for New Orleans, Success Charter Network, and Uncommon Schools. He is also chairman of the board of the National Association of Charter School Authorizers (NACSA). In June 2011, Jim was inducted into the Hall of Fame by the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools. Jim holds a Master of Arts in Law and Diplomacy from the Fletcher School (Tufts University) and a Bachelor of Arts from Colgate University.”

Of course, they all play nice guys on television.

Categories Accountability, Charter Schools, Education Industry, Privatization

Peter Greene: The Essential Foolishness of the Fordham-CAP “Moonshot”

By dianeravitch
July 7, 2019 //
17

 

Peter Greene writes here about the “moonshot” to transform American education, co-sponsored by the conservative Thomas B. Fordham Institute and the allegedly liberal Center for AMERICAN Progress. Peter points out that this collaboration demonstrates that both sides of the DC Establishment endorse corporatedceducarion reform (despite its manifest failure for the past 25 years).

He compares their competition to education’s version of the self-driving car.

He writes:

Do you mean something that’s promoted relentlessly but is still far off in the future? Or do you mean a program that faces major obstacles that tech-cheerleaders just sort of gloss over?

Perhaps you meant a tech-based solution that strips all participants of power and agency and gives it instead to a bunch of programmers? Or did you mean a new tech initiative that promises to make a bunch of people rich?

Or do you mean something that can fail with really catastrophic results?

All their goals are stated as measurable results.

And he notes:

These goals are all about changing numbers; they are an open invitation to apply Goodhart’s or Campbell’s Laws, in which focus on a measurement leads to that measurement being rendered useless. This is about coming up with ways to make better numbers. Yes, one way to improve numbers can be (though not always) to improve the underlying reality those numbers are supposed to represent. But those techniques are hard to scale, expensive and not easy to devise. There are always simpler methods.

If you want a piece of this action, the group is open to submissions of 500 words until the end of the month. But remember– this is not about coming up with a self-driving car. It’s about coming up with a marketing package that makes it look like a self-driving car has been perfected. It’s about doing a good job of using modern CGI to fake your presence on the moon without all the hard work, expense and challenge of actually getting a rocket up there.

Categories Accountability, Campbell's Law, Charter Schools, Corporate Reformers, Data, Education Industry, Education Reform, Privatization, Testing

Carol Burris: Don’t Let Democratic Candidates Get Away With: “I’m Against For-Profit Charters”

By dianeravitch
July 7, 2019 //
64

 

Carol Burris, executive director of the Network for Public Education, writes here about the efforts by most Democratic candidates to avoid confronting the dangers of privatization:

When Democratic candidates are questioned about charter schools, many typically reply, “I am against for-profit charter schools.” Everyone cheers. Politicians have created a convenient (and false) dichotomy that says nonprofit charter schools are good, and for-profit charter schools are bad.

Don’t be fooled. There are now only 2 states that allow for-profit charter schools—Arizona and Wisconsin. California changed  its laws. 

However, 35 states allow for-profit Charter Management Organizations (CMOS) to run their nonprofit charter schools. 

40% of the charter schools in Florida are run by for-profit charter management companies. While the individual charter is a nonprofit, it can turn over everything from hiring, to curriculum, to financial management to a for-profit corporation. In Michigan, 80% of the so-called nonprofit charter schools are run by for-profit companies. 

To understand how this arrangement works, read this blog I wrote for the Answer Sheet on Florida’s charter schools. You will read about the Zulueta brothers who were on the board of an Academica charter school even while their for-profit real estate companies, including one in Panama, were leasing property to the schools. 

Let me shock you a bit more. The National Alliance for (so-called) Public Charter Schools recently gave the controversial profiteer, Fernando Zulueta, an award at its national conference!

You probably know the names and reputations of the other big for-profit CMOs—BASIS, National Heritage, Academica, K12 and more.

The question candidates need to answer then are:

 “Do you support for-profit Charter Management Organizations, and if you do not, what are you going to do about them?”

The most important questions to ask, however (and don’t let them off the hook), are whether they support the NAACP moratorium on new charter schools and “Will you stop the the federal funding of new charter schools?”

There is a reason the charter lobby never complains when a candidate says that he/she is against for-profit charter schools. It means nothing will change.

Categories Accountability, Charter Schools, Corporate Reformers, Education Industry, Education Reform, For-Profit, Hoax, Privatization
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