Archives for the month of: August, 2019
« Older Entries
Newer Entries »

My Talk with Nicholas Hanauer, a Defector from the Rich Reformer Club

By dianeravitch
August 7, 2019 //
66

 

I was thrilled to read the recent article by Nick Hanauer in The Atlantic, where he publicly announced his defection from the blame-public-Schools-first club. He realized that schools alone can’t “fix” poverty and that the biggest problem in our society is income inequality and wage stagnation.

I know of Nick Hanauer as someone who has given millions of dollars to promote charter schools, and now he said he had changed his mind. I know what it’s like to stun your friends and enemies alike by admitting error.

I messaged him on Twitter, and he responded by inviting me to chat on his podcast called “Pitchfork  Economics.” Here is the result. 

Categories Accountability, Billionaires, Charter Schools, Education Industry, Education Reform, Privatization

Network for Public Education: Report of the Grassroots Education Network

By dianeravitch
August 7, 2019 //
4

The Network for Public Education is fortunate to have Marla Kilfoyle as director of its Grassroots Education Network. Marla previously was national executive director of the Badass Teachers Association and a full-time teacher.

Would your group like to join the Grassroots Education Network? Contact Marla Kilfoyle at marlakilfoyle@networkforpubliceducation.org.

Here is her report on current activities:

 

Grassroots Education Network- July 2019 Newsletter

The NPE Grassroots Education Network is a network of over 130 grassroots organizations nationwide who have joined together to preserve, promote, improve, and strengthen our public schools. If you know of a group that would like to join this powerful network, please go here to sign up.

If you have any questions about the NPE Grassroots Education Network please contact Marla Kilfoyle, NPE Grassroots Education Network Liaison at marlakilfoyle@networkforpubliceducation.org

Notes from Marla

I have now been in my position as the NPE Grassroots Education Network liaison for six months. Each time I do this newsletter I become more inspired, and informed about what is happening across the nation to strengthen public education and to save it from privatizers! This month there were some great ideas for organizing and getting the message out. Many of the organizations in the NPE Grassroots Education Network marched in 4th of July parades with signs asking the community to support public education, they walked neighborhoods with pamphlets outlining the power of public education, and they held summer education summits to engage their communities. The organizing ideas in this newsletter are a great way to get the message out, have conversations with people about the promise of public education, as well as the attempt to privatize public education. Again, I am humbled by the amazing work being done for our children, our families, and our communities!

National Organizing

Defending the Early Years held their Early Childhood Summer Organizing Leadership Institute in the beginning of the month. Check out all their amazing pictures on their twitter hashtag #DEYInstitute2019. In the Public Interest presented at Netroots Nation in July. They covered the topic of privatization of public service. The Journey for Justice Alliance went to Washington D.C. on July 10th to speak with U.S. Representatives about the school funding crisis. Also check out the podcast On The Ground hosted by Jitu Brown. The podcast airs every Monday at 6 PM CST.

Fairtest publishes an amazing newsletter each week covering both the flaws of relying on standardized exams to make high-stakes educational decisions as well as successful campaigns to roll back testing misuse and overuse. Rethinking Schools editor and Zinn Education Project teacher leader, Adam Sanchez, presented the Poetry of Defiance lesson on celebrating the resistance of the enslaved at the 2nd annual Teaching Black History conference for K-12 educators. Rethinking Schools also launched their NEW Planning to Change the World social justice plan book. You can order it here. The Parent Coalition for Student Privacy and The Badass Teachers Association distributed their Educator Toolkit for Teacher and Student Privacy at the AFT TEACH Conference in Washington D.C. July 10-13th. Parents for Public Schools National has been selected to present at the Institute for Educational Leadership’s 2019 National Family and Community Engagement Conference in Reno, NV! Their session, ‘Re-Imagining Evaluation: How Parent-Led Evaluation is Getting to What Matters in Parent Leadership’, took place on Wednesday, July 10. They also published Brown v. Board of Education: A Divided Legacy? An Interview w/ former Mississippi Supreme Court Justice Fred Banks, Jr. 

Parents Across America shared the response of Parent Power, Indianapolis Parents Across America affiliate, to the election of Teach for America alum and interim superintendent Alessia Johnson as Indianapolis Public School (IPS) superintendent. Congratulations to Breanna Hall who won the The Schott Foundation #PublicSchoolGrad scholarship. The Badass Teachers Association was in Houston July 2-8 to attend the National Education Association Representative Assembly. Check out all the great work the NEA BAT Caucus did for children, families, and communities! The Trinational Coalition to Defend Public Education (USA) exists in a network with many other organizations in Canada and Mexico. Check out their network here. Ontario (Canada) Secondary School Teachers Federation President Harvey Bischof delivered the OSSTF affiliate report to the members of the Canadian Teachers Federation. The report focused on no cuts to education funding and the economic benefits of investing in education. Wear Red for Ed tracks the Red for Ed movement nationwide. Check out their open Facebook page for the latest on the Red for Ed movement. Find out what Save our Schools March is up to by following their open Facebook page. First Focus Campaign for Children continue to share the latest on the fight to end the detention of migrant children. The Network for Public Education continues to update their Asleep at the Wheel Report. See their state-by-state reports here (scroll to the bottom of the page) and make sure you check back for more additions.

NPE Grassroots Education Network – State Organizations Support Public Education

Please use this clearinghouse of information to inform people in the various states about the NPE Grassroots Education Network organizations. Please encourage people to join them and support their work! Call on family, friends, and colleagues to join the fight to save public education! This section is also a place to get great ideas on organizing and actions.

Alabama

SOS (Support Our Students) is asking Alabama residents to take a poll on a Constitutional Amendment to switch from the present elected state board of education to one appointed by the governor.

Arizona

Voices for Education Smart Talk Radio: Robin Hiller sat down with Tucson Unified School District (TUSD) Superintendent Gabriel Trujillo. Listen as Superintendent Trujillo talks about his strategy for middle school reform — an important issue for TUSD. Arizonans for Charter School Accountability is dedicated to exposing the waste and corruption in Arizona’s largely unregulated charter school sector and increase public oversight of the industry. Save Our Schools Arizona had a successful fundraiser at the end of June. Party With A Purpose for SOSAZ had the community come out to support public education in Arizona and the work of Save our Schools Arizona. Arizona Educators United is a grassroots movement by people who are concerned about education in Arizona. AEU is not a union and is not aligned with any political party or candidate. Check out their informative video about their organization.

California

California Educators Rising are now California Educators United. Follow their coalition work in California here. Public Core is an organizationof West Contra Costa County parents, teachers, community members, and school staff who fight for public control and accountability in our schools. They believe that public schools, open to all, are essential to the health of a democratic society.

Colorado

Pueblo Education Coalition will be holding a forum on August 6th to discuss the Community Schools model. Find out how this concept can help communities collaboratively problem solve through the challenges they face in public education today. They encourage everyone and anyone to attend and please bring any questions! Child and translation services can be available if notified in advance.

Connecticut

More Than a Score member Jesse Turner wrote a powerful essay titled What If, Policymakers and Legislators Listened to Teachers? Re:public Ed work with Connecticut communities to inform residents about state, local and federal education policies that harm kids – mobilizing them to effect change. New London Parent Advocates are a group of parents and community members who care about their students’ success and want to improve their schools. They are focused on increasing parent involvement and creating positive change in the New London Public Schools.

Florida

Fund Education NOW held a rally in July to demand the Board of Education fund education. The rally was held outside the Board of Education building in Lakeland. Broward BATs twitter feed continues to update the work of State Education Commissioner Richard Corcoran. Corcoran was dubbed a “charter” champion by the National Alliance for Charter Schools. Opt Out Florida Network provide comprehensive opt out resources for the beginning of school. Pastors for Florida Children shared a powerful letter written to the Tampa Times regarding the fact that letter grades for schools are about income not children. The Florida Council of Churches has an active website that documents their concerns, advocacy, and activity. Florida BATs have an open Facebook page that you can follow to keep up with what is happening all over the state. Pinellas Parents Advocating for School Improvements is a parent-driven initiative that is not associated with any one school and is open to all parents. Pinellas Parents Advocating for School Improvements is parents coming together to offer support and solutions to the problems children face in Pinellas County.

Georgia

Public Education Matters Georgia has a website of great resources and a list of ways that citizens in Georgia can get engaged and connect. Moms and Dads Now Enduring Surrealistic Stupidity (MADNESS) Georgia seeks to build the parent led opt out movement, to defeat the Opportunity School District (OSD), and to build awareness and support for actual school improvement strategies like community schools and more broadly for the very real and meaningful benefits of an equitable and viable public education system that strives for good schools for all children.

Hawaii

Parents for Public Schools Hawaii published a powerful resource on their website – Envision Hawai‘i Schools: The Department of Education’s Ambitious “2030 Promise Plan.” Parents for Public Schools Hawaii is registering residents to join in strategic planning sessions and workshops. Go to this link for more information.

Illinois

Illinois Raise Your Hand joined Blocks Together 1 in July to learn more about best practices in planning for school facilities and programming with national expert on school facility use, Mary Filardo. Here are some resourcesfrom that event.

Indiana

Indiana Coalition for Public Schools – Monroe County participated in the 4th of July parade with signs that urged community members to support public education. A great idea for organizations to copy next year! Indiana Coalition for Public Education will be holding their annual meeting on August 24th. For more information go here. The Northeast Indiana Friends of Public Education published their most popular links on social media. A great idea for organizing and drawing interest from the public. Northwest Indiana Coalition for Public Education marched in the Hebron 4th of July parade with their signs and asked the community to support public education. They also hosted a Sip Red for Ed event to educate the public about supporting public education and sold amazing yard signs. This is a great organizing idea for the start of school!

Iowa

Iowans for Public Education is a grassroots movement to protect and support Iowa’s tradition of quality public schools. Check out their movements on their open Facebook page.

Kansas

Game On for Kansas Schools provides the big picture and resources on what citizens need to know about the fight for public education in Kansas. Visit their website for more information.

Kentucky

Gay Adelmann and Tiffany Dunn from Dear JCPS and Kentucky SOS gave powerful quotes about charter scams in the Lexington Herald and Leader. Kentucky SOS research director Ivonne Rovira had a powerful op ed in the Courier-Journal about teacher summer protests in Kentucky. Dear JCPSwas featured as one of the small groups in Kentucky pushing for change and moving the needle in this article published in the LEO Weekly! Congratulations Dear JCPS! Pastors for Kentucky Children shared a powerful prayer for a teacher on their Facebook page. Read it and share it out!

Maryland

The Baltimore Algebra Project is a youth led organization with the goal to ensure that all students have access to quality education. Keep up with their movements by visiting their website. They will host a school supply give-away on August 3rd. See information here.

Massachusetts

Citizens for Public Schools held a leafleting action in July to demand education be funded properly. Another great organizing idea! The New Bedford Coalition to Save our Schools Ricardo Rosa presented at the National Council for Teachers of English (NCTE) on Community Based Action in July.

Michigan

The Michigan Network for Equity in Education continues to expose the latest in the Benton Harbor state takeover plan. Save Michigan’s Public Schools is a grassroots network of concerned citizens. Their goal is to connect parents, students, educators and communities across Michigan and raise awareness of threats to public education. Michigan Parents for Schools also continues to expose the latest in the Benton Harbor state takeover crisis. Check out this detailed post about the issues that Benton Harbor community members must face.

Mississippi

Parents for Public Schools – Moss Point keep the Moss Point community up-to-date with all the latest events in their community. In July they shared such events as a Pre-K Color Day, 200 Man Stand, and a Uniform Closet. Parents For Public Schools of Greenwood and Leflore County were at the B.B. King Museum in late June with Nancy Loome, Executive Director of Parents’ Campaign, Jackson, MS. They shared their BLUEPRINT 2019 Top 3 priorities for local/state public schools and how they plan to make change happen. Parents For Public Schools of Philadelphia exists to EDUCATE parents, ENGAGE parents, and MOBILIZE parents in the Philadelphia Public School District. Make sure you give them a follow on Facebook. Parents For Public Schools of Starkville created a powerful pledge to the children and schools of their community. Check it out here.

Missouri

Keep up with the actions of the Missouri BATs on their twitterfeed. Columbia Parents for Public Schools promote real parent engagement with educators and the educational system in order to continually improve education and sustain and build public support for public schools. Columbia Parents for Public Schools works with other organizations and community groups, such as the Parent Teacher Associations, to promote, support and strengthen the Columbia Public Schools.

Nebraska

Stand for Schools has an excellent FAQ section on their website. If you know anyone in Nebraska who has a question about school choice, charters, vouchers, or tax credits in the state, send them here. Nebraska Loves Public Schools promoted a summer food program to keep kids healthy and engaged. They also launched an amazing short film, Ready to Work.

Nevada

Make sure to check out Educate Nevada NOW initiatives on their website.

New Jersey

Save our Schools NJ was one of the many organizations that signed onto the Healthy Schools NOW initiative. Make sure that you give The Newark Students Union a follow on Instagram. Keep up with all their actions and movements. Delran Education Association is gearing up for Back to School by sharing deals for students and teachers. Elizabeth Parents And Students Care is an educational advocacy group that provides a platform for stakeholders to address concerns, share ideas, and establish capacity to support needed change in Elizabeth, New Jersey. If you are a resident of Elizabeth join their closed Facebook group to connect. Montclair Cares About Schools alerted all Montclair parents about their chance to voice concerns about the new MHS schedule. Give Our Children Our Schools a follow on twitter to keep up with their movements and actions. South Orange-Maplewood Cares About Schools joined the NPE Grassroots Education Network in July. If you live in the South Orange-Maplewood section of New Jersey please ask to join their closed Facebook group and connect with organizers in your area.

New York

Class Size Matters Executive Director Leonie Haimson gave powerful comments on the NYC Citizen Budget Commission on alleviating school overcrowding. Class Size Matters was also featured in an article on class size in the Gotham Gazette. The Alliance for Quality Education presentedabout Just Schools and the development of a culturally responsive curriculum scorecard at the Free Minds, Free People Conference in July. NYSAPE, LI Opt Out, NYC Opt Out, Change the Stakes, and NY BATs issued a press release upon the resignation of their state education commissioner. FUSE (New Rochelle Federation of United School Employees) teachers are heading into a new school year very soon. Give their Presidents News and Views a read. ECE Policy Works’ Creating Citizens for the World video series examines the work of nine early educators and is a must view and share. MORE-UFT has many meetingscoming up this summer. They are holding a book read, UFT workshop, and contract training. Jackson Heights People for Public Schools is mobilizing the community to help migrant children and their families. Parents for Public Schools- Syracuse supported the Syracuse School District Summer Parent Book Club in July. Yet another great organizing idea to get parents out and start conversations about all the amazing things our public schools do. Public School Watchdogs is a group of NY parents who came together to oppose the DeVos appointment. Find out what they have been up to on their Facebook page. Croton Advocates for Public Education (CAPE) is a group of residents that wants restoration of funds that were promised to their schools, fair assessments, and enrichment opportunities for every student. Port Washington Advocates for Public Education is a community group dedicated to providing information on education issues that are relevant to the Port Washington community, including the negative impact of high-stakes standardized tests, the Common Core, student data sharing, decreased funding, and other education-related topics. If you live in the Port Washington community please join their closed group to connect and organize. North Country Alliance For Public Education is a dedicated group of parents and citizens who want to bring about positive change in their schools, particularly as it pertains to the over-abundance of high stakes testing and privatization that is taking over schools and harming their most precious resource, CHILDREN! If you live in the North Country of New York consider joiningtheir closed Facebook group to connect and organize.

North Carolina

Public Schools First NC and Great Schools in Wake will be holding a conference, Impact of Privatizing Public Schools: A Crisis in the Making, on October 12th. For details and registration go here. Parents for Public Schools of Pitt County supported United Way of Pitt County in their kick off on July 22nd. North Carolina Families for School Testing Reforminvited co-signers to a letter supporting the delay of IStation and continuing to use mClass for the 2019-20 School year. In the News and Observer, Suzanne Miller, organizer of N.C. Families For School Testing Reform, saidthat “the group appreciates the legislature’s efforts to reduce testing. But she said that any legislative efforts short of a full repeal of the Read To Achieve legislation will have minimal impact on the testing of the state’s youngest students.” North Carolina Families for School Testing Reform also held a press conference on Friday, July 19th to address the use of Istation in Kindergarten to Third Grade. Neighbors for Better Neighborhoods held a Neighborhood Network event on July 25th. We will update this in our next newsletter.

Ohio

Ohio BATs, Public Education Partners (PEP) and It Takes A Village To Tackle HB70 conducted a week of action to stop state takeovers. Ohio BATs also took part in a march for migrant children and families at the NEA RA in Houston this month. Public Education Partners (PEP) continues to expose the damage that ECOT has done to the state. PEP was one of many grassroots groups in Ohio that facilitated action plans from June into July to get the school takeover law repealed. Their efforts resulted in a 1-year moratorium on new takeovers, so they will be back next year to fight this awful policy. Northwest Ohio Friends of Public Education provides up-to-date information on what is happening in their region of the state. Take a look at their open Facebook page for the latest news. Parents For Public Schools of Greater Cincinnati believes that parents need to be strong advocates and partners in their child’s education. What they believe is based on research that is concise, consistent and strong: Parent involvement positively impacts student achievement. Where there is parent involvement, kids do better and their schools do better. If you live in the Greater Cincinnati area please join them in working to be a voice for children in public schools.

Oklahoma

Pastors for Oklahoma Kids has up-to-date information on the EPIC Charter Schools fraud investigation. Go to their open Facebook page for all the updates. Oklahoma Parent Legislative Action Committee held their Summer Advocacy Summit on July 27th. We are excited to report the results in our next newsletter! Oklahoma Parents and Educators for Public Education & Oklahomans for Public Education focused last month on childhood trauma and its impact on education.  

Oregon

The Community Alliance for Public Education (CAPE) latest “Democracy and Education” column in the Eugene Weekly was written by CAPE member, Deanna Belcher. The column is a mother’s honest look at the power of the dominant “competition and standardized test” narrative on her own daughter. Oregon Save our Schools published a powerful essay by co-founder Steve Buel called Input Versus Output. Give it a read and share! Finally, if you know anyone who lives in Oregon make sure you tell them to join up with Oregon BATs on Facebook.

Pennsylvania

The Keystone State Education Coalition continues to produce informative weekly newsletters about all that is going on in PA education. The Pittsburgh Task Force on the Right to Education is alerting the Pittsburgh community that provisions at the Office of Vocational Rehabilitation are changing due to funding. Susan Spicka, President of Education Voters PA was a guest on Smart Talk WITF in July. She chatted about cyber charter schools. Pennsylvania School Board Association is gearing up for their Leadership Conference in October. To learn more go here.

Rhode Island

Providence Student Union members, and recent Providence schools graduates, Aleita Cook and Ahmed Sesay held back laughs as The Daily Show correspondent Jaboukie Young-White wheeled into their interview on a hoverboard. Aleita and Ahmed made their case for guaranteeing education as a constitutional right. Parents Across Rhode Islandcontinues to inform the state about what is happening in a variety of communities on education, organizing, and events.

South Carolina

The Quality Education Project shares events and actions around public education in South Carolina. Head over to their Facebook page to see the latest events, actions, and news in South Carolina education.

Tennessee

Make sure that you follow the The Momma Bears on Facebook. They update their feed weekly with the latest in the fight for public education in Tennessee. Pastors for Tennessee Children co-founder Brad Fiscus has decided to run for the House in Tennessee.

Texas

Pastors for Texas Children presented about the power of  public education to doctoral students at Dallas Baptist University about the power of public education. Pastors for Texas Children and 36 organizations dedicated to supporting Texas children and families wrote to state leaders to express “deep concern over the reported treatment of parents and children held in immigration detention facilities on Texas soil.” CFSID Community Leadership Committee updates their open Facebook page about what is happening in and around Houston. If you have a friend or family in the area invite them to follow them on Facebook. The Coalition for Public Schools Texas is a large coalition that represents over 3 million Texans statewide. Take a look at their coalition and encourage anyone you know in Texas to connect with a coalition partner in their area. Texas Kids Can’t Wait updated their community on the 2019 Texas Legislative Session and what happened with pre-K policy and funding at the state Capitol. RootEd joined the network this month. We are so happy to have them. To read about their work check out their website and social media platforms.Parents For Public Schools of Houston co-sponsored a health and wellness fair, job market, and backpack giveaway on July 27th. Another great organizing idea that this network provides. Community Voices For Public Education updates the Houston community, daily, on what is happening in public education and events concerning the Houston Independent School District.

Virginia

Virginia Educators United and Virginia BATs have active open Facebook pages with updates daily on what is happening in Virginia. Give them follow if you live, or teach, in Virginia and get connected. Support Our Schools-Shenandoah County started in Augusta County, but it represents a community coming together to show that education is important! Join this coalition if you live in the Shenandoah area and if you think that educating children should be a top priority of federal, state and local lawmakers.

Washington State

In July the WA BATs met with their state Superintendent of Public Instruction. Washington Paramount Duty provides detailed resources on how the state falls short of funding for education.

Wisconsin

Wisconsin Education Network continues to press lawmakers and Gov. Evers to fund education. “Heather DuBois Bourenane of the Wisconsin Public Education Network, which led an 11th-hour march to Madison last month in hopes of securing more funding for schools, acknowledged those improvements. But she called it a status quo budget that leaves schools below their 2009 state funding levels after inflation.” Also the network will be holding their 5th Annual Summer Summit on August 5th. To sign up and for more information go here. Schools and Communities United use their social media platform to inform the community about events such as Head Start enrollment and community cooling spots to beat the heat. Parents for Public Schools Milwaukee shared the amazing achievements of MPS graduates in July. Check it out! #MPSProud

NPE Grassroots Education Network – Resources and Graphics

Here is a link to our resources page. It will help you navigate resources covering a variety of topics. This is a live document and will be updated so check back for new resources.

Here is a link to our graphics page. It will provide powerful visuals for you to share on social media. This is a live document and will be updated so check back for new graphics.

 

 

Categories Accountability, Charter Schools, Corporate Reformers, Education Industry, Education Reform, Network for Public Education, Privatization, Testing

Joe Biden: Where Does He Stand on Race to the Top?

By dianeravitch
August 7, 2019 //
38

I have not endorsed a candidate, and I will vote for anyone nominated by the Democratic party to run against Trump. He is the worst, most ignorant, most unqualified president in our history, and we cannot have four more years of his vile policies.

I am expressing my views about the candidates in the Democratic primaries and will continue to do so.

I am not a one-issue voter but I sincerely hope that Democrats have a candidate who will reverse the ruinous education policies of the past four decades. Our nation has invested in standards, testing, accountability, and choice with nothing to show for it.

Many states today spend less on education than they did eleven years ago, and millions of teachers are not paid or respected as professionals. Many states cut taxes and cut their education budgets yet expanded privatization by charters and vouchers, diverting even more money away from the public schools that most students attend.

At the present moment, the leading candidate is Joe Biden.

Biden is a very likable guy, to be sure, who knows how to connect with regular people.

NPE Action has found nothing problematic in his donors or affiliations, no evidence that the billionaires or DFER are pulling the strings.

He has been in public life for many decades and has made some bad decisions and cast some bad votes in his past. He should come right out and say so.

Joe Biden is very proud that Barack Obama selected him as his Vice-President, and that the Obama-Biden ticket won twice, in 2008 and 2012.

I voted for them both times.

But I loathed Race to the Top, Obama’s education policy. Does Joe Biden?

Race to the Top failed by every measure.

States collectively spent billions of dollars to comply with its directives while failing to invest in students and teachers.

Because of RTTT, we got more privately managed charter schools; more high-stakes testing of students; evaluating teachers by test scores of their students; closing hundreds or even thousands of public schools because their test scores were low (almost all—maybe all—of them in impoverished communities of color); and Common Core standards.

None of these policies has been successful unless you are a believer in disruption for its own sake. The states that adopted Common Core spent billions of dollars on new tests, new textbooks, new computers, new teacher training, new everything. The charter schools open and close with regularity, introducing instability and scandal. Some of the few states that resisted Race to the Top and Common Core (like Nebraska) actually outperformed those that followed Duncan’s agenda.

The national upshot: NAEP scores have been flat from 2007-2017. If we were “racing to the Top,” we didn’t get there.

The very idea of a “race” implies a few winners and a lot of losers. This is the wrong concept to apply to K-12 education, where our goal should be to enable every student to find a path to a successful life.

I want to hear Joe Biden talk about Race to the Top.

I want to know how he feels about spending $440 million this year to fund corporate charter chains.

I know he has said that he opposes for-profit charters, but every candidate says that.

I want to hear him state clearly whether he embraces the Obama education policies or renounces them.

I want to hear what he will do to rebuild America’s public schools and restore their prestige as the gateways to opportunity.

He announced his plan at an AFT event in Houston. He has always been a friend of organized labor.

He is opposed to vouchers. He opposes DeVos and  Trump, like every other Democratic candidate. He wants to invest in pre-K and in low-income schools, all to the good.

But where does he stand on the central tenets of Race to the Top?

is he ready to lead us out of the maze in which federal education policy has been stuck since the Reagan years?

 

 

Categories Accountability, Billionaires, Charter Schools, Common Core, Corporate Reformers, Democrats, Education Industry, Education Reform, Privatization, Testing

Harold Meyerson on Walmart and Guns

By dianeravitch
August 6, 2019 //
10

Did you know that Walmart is the single biggest seller of guns in America? Did you know that Walmart allows customers who are carrying guns to walk through the stores without hindrance? Of course you know that Walmart does not allow unions. See how all these issues converge in this short article by Harold Meyerson of The American Prospect.

The Walton Family, which owns Walmart, is the richest family in the world. Their family foundation is the single biggest supporter of charter schools. They say they funded one of every four charters in the nation.

ON TAP Today from the American Prospect
AUGUST 6, 2019

Meyerson on TAP

Walmart and Guns. In the wake of the assault-weapon murders at El Paso’s mega Walmart, America’s number-one gun seller and largest private-sector employer has come under justifiable criticism for its gun policies. Roughly half of Walmart’s 4,750 stores sell guns, and the company announced on Monday that that policy would not change. It also announced that it wouldn’t adopt a no-open-carry policy for its stores, which means that anyone in a state that permits the open carry of firearms—like Texas—can sashay through a Walmart brandishing a gun.

 

Not surprisingly, some Walmart employees have voiced apprehensions about that policy in the aftermath of Monday’s mass murders. “I’m looking around the store, thinking, where can I hide if something happens,” a customer-service employee at a Los Angeles-area Walmart toldThe Washington Post. “We’re all afraid we’re going to die.”

 

Getting their employer to prohibit open carry in its stores would be just the sort of proposal Walmart workers could present to their bosses if they had a union. But Walmart’s position on unions was made clear when the butchers in one Texas store endeavored to form a union some years back. The company responded by shuttering its meat department in that store, in every store in Texas, and in every store in the states surrounding Texas.

The grievances that lead workers to seek a union have never been only economic; sometimes, they’re about their concern for life and limb. Such would likely be the case at Walmart today if our labor law actually allowed workers to organize. A timely reminder that American business’s rabid opposition to worker power not only has given us four decades of wage stagnation but that sometimes, it kills. ~ HAROLD MEYERSON

Follow Harold Meyerson on Twitter

Potential Nominee for Democratic Slot on the SEC Troubles Advocates
Urska Velikonja, a law professor, has a scant public record on securities policy matters. BY DAVID DAYEN
Beto or Not, Here Democrats Come in Texas
Talk has increased that Beto O’Rourke should end his presidential campaign to take on John Cornyn in a Senate race. Even if he doesn’t, Democrats have a shot to make gains in the Lone Star State. BY ALEXANDER SAMMON
Kansas and Missouri Call a Truce in Corporate-Welfare Border War
Governments in both states have wooed Kansas City–area businesses with tax breaks to relocate across state lines. Now they’re partnering to stop the giveaways. BY MARCIA BROWN
Where Your Tax Dollars Really Go
Contrary to Republican talking points, programs like welfare and food stamps make up a tiny fraction of the federal budget. BY ROBERT REICH
White Nationalist Does Massacre. Now the Gaslighting Begins.
The president of the United States stokes the right-wing disinformation machine. BY ADELE M. STAN

 

The American Prospect: Liberal Intelligence
Your Tax-Deductible Donation Supports Independent Journalism!

 

Copyright (C) 2019 The American Prospect. All rights reserved.

THE AMERICAN PROSPECT | 1225 I Street NW, Suite 600 | Washington, D.C. 20005 | U.S.A.

 

Categories Guns, Walton Foundation

California: Charter Industry Furious At State Superintendent Tony Thurmond for Trying to Reform Charter Law

By dianeravitch
August 6, 2019 //
5

 

Bill Raden of Capital & Main reports that the charter industry and its lobby are steaming mad at State Superintendent  of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond, who actually wants to increase charter accountability.

The California Charter Schools Association has consistently fought accountability and transparency. No matter how many scandals and outright embezzlement, the charter lobby wants no regulation or oversight.

The fact that charter law reform has dominated this summer’s Sacramento legislative session can be chalked up to Reclaim Our Schools Los Angeles (ROSLA), the undersung coalition that laid the foundation for the wide-ranging political victories scored by United Teachers Los Angeles in January’s L.A. teachers strike. The charter task force itself came out of a concession won by UTLA’s strategy of bargaining for the “common good” that went far beyond the scope of a typical labor agreement. Which makes Building the Power to Reclaim Our Schools, ROSLA’s just-released, blow-by-blow case study of its community-based organizing effort, this week’s must-read for activists across the progressive spectrum as they gird for coming battles over reforms necessary to turn back the ultimate threat to public education — California’s manufactured, post-Proposition 13 austerity.

The case study’s most important takeaway? That there’s strength in numbers. “Labor groups are very powerful,” said Cesar Castrejon, a lead parent organizer with coalition member Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment. “And they have a lot of resources. So when they use those resources to create spaces where they can amplify and lift up community voices, it creates this sense of unity that gives the community the ability to flex its power. That’s why we were so successful.”

Categories Accountability, California, Charter Schools, Education Industry, Education Reform, Privatization

Texas: Don’t Take Over Houston’s Public Schools

By dianeravitch
August 6, 2019 //
10

 

State takeovers of struggling school districts have a very poor track record. Two education leaders in Houston call on state officials to support the Houston Independent School District,  not to dissolve local control.

Ruth Kravetz is co-founder of Community Voices for Public Education and Zeph Capo is President of the Texas AFT. They speak out for democracy.

I have a stake in HISD. I attended public school there from kindergarten through high school graduation. The Houston public schools prepared me to enter a selective college. My mother, fresh off the boat in 1919, having fled war-torn Europe, enrolled in Houston public schools and learned to speak English. Her high school diploma was one of her proudest possessions.

They write:

The Texas Education Agency should heed evidence from around the country that state takeovers of schools harm students and communities. The public needs to know that the rules for assessing school performance, and rating them by letter grade, are capricious and biased, and are archetypal examples of grandfathering at their worst.

They give numerous examples of failed state takeovers. In Tennessee, Ohio, and elsewhere. They could have added Michigan, where state takeovers have been a disaster.

Categories Houston, Texas

Note to the National NAACP: Ignore Michael Bloomberg

By dianeravitch
August 6, 2019 //
25

Billionaire Michael Bloomberg spoke to the national convention of the NAACP about why they should believe in the saving power of privately managed charter schools. He tried to persuade them to rescind their brave 2016 resolution calling for a moratorium on new charters.

This thoughtful report explains why the NAACP called for a moratorium. 

The NAACP deserves our thanks for its resolution and should not back down from its principles, which represent the views of its members, based on hearings in seven cities and long, careful deliberations.

The major conclusions of its resolution:

We are calling for a moratorium on the expansion of the charter schools at least until such time as:

(1) Charter schools are subject to the same transparency and accountability standards as public schools
(2) Public funds are not diverted to charter schools at the expense of the public school system
(3) Charter schools cease expelling students that public schools have a duty to educate and
(4) Charter schools cease to perpetuate de facto segregation of the highest performing children from those whose aspirations may be high but whose talents are not yet as obvious.

Historically the NAACP has been in strong support of public education and has denounced movements toward privatization that divert public funds to support non-public school choices.

“We are moving forward to require that charter schools receive the same level of oversight, civil rights protections and provide the same level of transparency, and we require the same of traditional public schools,” Chairman Brock said. “Our decision today is driven by a long held principle and policy of the NAACP that high quality, free, public education should be afforded to all children.”

Unlike the NAACP, Bloomberg believes in charter schools, along with other billionaires, including the Waltons, the Koch brothers, and the DeVos family. He has funded rightwing candidates across the nation to promote charters; he has also funded candidates who favor vouchers, such as a hard-right school board in Douglas County, Colorado, and in Louisiana, where one of his protégés, State Superintendent John White, is a strong voucher supporter.

Speaking recently to the NAACP, Bloomberg boasted about dramatic gains for black and Hispanic students during his 12 years in office. While he was in office, he boasted that he had cut the achievement gap between black and whites students in half. At his recent speech to the NAACP, he said he reduced it by 20 percent. Neither claim is true. On the National Assessment of Educational Progress, the gap between blacks and whites on eighth grade mathematics was 36 points in 2003 (when he began his education policies) and 38 points in 2013 (the end of his mayoralty). On the NAEP test of eighth grade reading, the gap was 25 points in 2003, 22 points in 2013, but jumped to 29 points in 2015. If he succeeded in reducing the gap, it should have been on a steady downward trajectory. It was not, and it was certainly not cut by 50 percent or 20 percent.

Bloomberg did not mention to the NAACP the many selective high schools he opened whose admission requirements narrowed opportunities for black and brown students (an article in Chalkbeat in 2016 referred to “staggering academic segregation” in the city’s high schools, noting that “over half the students who took and passed the eighth-grade state math exam in 2015 wound up clustered in less than 8 percent of city high schools. The same was true for those who passed the English exam.”

Nor did he did mention the ongoing decline in the number of black and Hispanic students who qualified for the city’s most selective high schools on his watch. The city’s most selective high school, Stuyvesant, has 3,300 students; only 29 are black. Of the 895 offered admission to Stuyvesant this fall, only 7 are black. The decline did not start with Bloomberg, but his policies accelerated the trend of declining enrollment of black and Hispanic students in the elite high schools. He even added more elite high schools. Worse, he raised the entry standards for the gifted programs in the elementary schools that prepare students to apply for the selective high schools, a move that was devastating to black and Hispanic students.

In 2007, Bloomberg’s Department of Education decided to raise the score needed to get into a gifted program, a decision that dramatically reduced the number of black and Hispanic students qualified to enter these programs. Chancellor Joel Klein announced that the city intended to standardize admissions to gifted and talented programs across the city. In the future, Klein said, only those who scored in the top 5% on a standardized test would be admitted. Up until that time, local districts made their own decisions about admissions to gifted programs. Local districts objected to Klein’s new policy, and educators and parents warned that the high cut score would disadvantage black and Hispanic children.

Klein and Bloomberg didn’t listen.

They were wrong.

By 2008, before the program launched, Klein eased the 95% cutoff, lowering it to 90%. Nonetheless, the proportion of minority students who enrolled in gifted and talented programs plummeted.

When New York City set a uniform threshold for admission to public school gifted programs last fall, it was a crucial step in a prolonged effort to equalize access to programs that critics complained were dominated by white middle-class children whose parents knew how to navigate the system.

The move was controversial, with experts warning that standardized tests given to young children were heavily influenced by their upbringing and preschool education, and therefore biased toward the affluent.

Now, an analysis by The New York Times shows that under the new policy, children from the city’s poorest districts were offered a smaller percentage than last year of the entry-grade gifted slots in elementary schools. Children in the city’s wealthiest districts captured a greater share of the slots.

The disparity is so stark that some gifted programs opened by Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg in an effort to increase opportunities in poor and predominantly minority districts will not fill new classes next year. In three districts, there were too few qualifiers to fill a single class.

The new policy relied on a blunt cutoff score on two standardized tests. According to the analysis, 39.2 percent of the students who made the cutoff live in the four wealthiest districts, covering the Upper East Side, the Upper West Side, Staten Island and northeast Queens. That is up from 24.9 percent last year, even though those districts make up 14.2 percent of citywide enrollment in the entry-level grades: kindergarten or first grade, depending on the district.

The total enrollment in gifted classes was not only whiter and more Asian, but the total enrollment was cut in half.

The number of children entering New York City public school gifted programs dropped by half this year from last under a new policy intended to equalize access, with 28 schools lacking enough students to open planned gifted classes, and 13 others proceeding with fewer than a dozen children.

The policy, which based admission on a citywide cutoff score on two standardized tests, also failed to diversify the historically coveted classes, according to a New York Times analysis of new Education Department data.

In a school system in which 17 percent of kindergartners and first graders are white, 48 percent of this year’s new gifted students are white, compared with 33 percent of elementary students admitted to the programs under previous entrance policies. The percentage of Asians is also higher, while those of blacks and Hispanics are lower.

Faced with the fact that the standardized test with a high cut score was excluding black and brown children and shuttering G&T programs in poor communities, the Bloomberg administration did not change the policy.

The policies that Bloomberg put in place continue to determine entrance to gifted and talented programs. For savvy white parents, a place in a G&T program is highly coveted because it promises small classes, smart peers, and special treatment. Getting into one of those programs is very difficult, even for savvy white and Asian parents. Many parents invest in tutoring and test prep to get their four-year-olds and five-year-olds ready for the crucial entry test.

At present, the citywide gifted programs are accepting only students who score at the 99th percentile or higher! The more demand, the fewer places and the higher the cutoff score.

Black and brown students are nearly 70 percent of the public school enrollment, but win only 27 percent of the seats in gifted programs. So much for Bloomberg’s plan to expand opportunities!

To understand the nightmare that Bloomberg and Klein foisted on the city’s children, read Josh Greenman’s recent account of his family’s experience. Josh is on the editorial board of The New York Daily News, which is very pro-charter and pro-testing.

He writes:

How does the process work? Four-year-olds take a nationally normed standardized test (actually, two tests, the NNAT and the OLSAT, which are supposed to measure reasoning ability and general intellectual aptitude). No bubble sheets: It’s administered in person by an adult. Those above 90th percentile qualify for district programs. Those above 97th percentile qualify for citywide programs.

Those are the technical qualification thresholds. In practice, you need a 99 to qualify for a citywide school and usually something like a 95 to qualify for a districtwide program, though it depends on the district.

Once you get in the door as a kindergartener, you stay in the school or program through fifth grade (in the case of district programs) or eighth or 12th (in the case of citywide schools).

If this strikes you as kind of nuts, well, that’s because it is: A test taken on one day as a 4-year-old, a test for which your parents can prepare you, can put you on one track, separate and apart from your peers, for your whole K-12 education.

The citywide schools are coveted. They have excellent reputations and are by most objective measures very good schools. Of course they’d be, as the kids only get in through an intense filter, essentially ensuring engaged parents and high test scores.

They also, surprise surprise, have few black and Latino students and fewer low-income kids than the citywide average…

Why the hell should kindergarteners, first graders, second graders and so on have separate programs in district schools, much less separate citywide schools? Isn’t this part of a big underlying problem, letting (mostly) whites opt out of the common public system?

It’s a very fair question…

Would we consider it a victory if eliminating those programs resulted in a public school system that’s now 70% black and Latino 80% or 90% black and Latino?

Of course, that outcome depends upon what individual parents do, including how they respond to having their kids, who they often consider advanced, taught in general education classrooms.

But my head hurts when I start to think through how unfair the process is, at least in New York City, for plucking young kids out of general-ed classrooms. I’m also cognizant of how doing that intensifies racial and ethnic and income segregation, and related resentments. And of the negative effect of draining a small number of “chosen” kids, who tend to have intensely engaged parents with extra time and money on their hands from those classrooms.

Josh’s daughter made it into a local G&T program. He recognizes the trade offs. He understands that the G&T programs keep white and Asian families in the city and the public schools.

But that was not the rationale in 2007. The rationale was that having a standardized test with a citywide cut score, the same in every district, would expand opportunities for black and Hispanic students. Bloomberg and Klein said that tightening the admissions requirements would increase diversity! Anyone familiar with education policy and practice could have told Bloomberg and Klein that a single high standard on standardized tests would have a dramatically negative effect on children of color. At the time, they tried to tell them. But they were arrogant and they never listened to anyone outside their corporate MBA (masters of business administration) circle.

Here is a parent who warned them in 2007 that basing admissions to the gifted programs would be a disaster and would increase segregation and decrease opportunity for the children who need it most.

Bloomberg was a great mayor on matters involving public health and the environment.

But on education, he surrounded himself with businessmen and corporate types, and he took their bad advice about the virtues of high-stakes testing, standardization, privatization, letter grades for schools, and “creative disruption.” Bloomberg should not be boasting to the NAACP now about his non-existent accomplishments. And the NAACP should not listen to Bloomberg, no matter how much money he offers them.

Categories Accountability, Bloomberg, Michael, Charter Schools, Corporate Reformers, Education Reform, Klein, Joel, New York City, Privatization

Why Michael Bennett Should NOT Be the Democratic Candidate

By dianeravitch
August 6, 2019 //
15

Mitchell Robinson, professor of music education at Michigan State University, sends out a warning that Michael Bennett is pure Corporate Reformer. 

Robinson reminds us that Bennett has more in common with Secretary Betsy DeVos than he wants you to know.

Michael Bennet, US Senator from Colorado and presidential candidate, had what the pundits this morning are calling “a moment” at [the second] Democratic Debate on CNN. Let’s hope that moment ends immediately.

Ironically enough, Bennet’s big moment came as he waxed poetic about “America’s public schools”, a topic that has received a depressingly minuscule amount of attention. Because while Bennet can point to his experience as Superintendent of the Denver school system for 4 years, his record in that position could well serve as the trailer for a dystopian movie of the disastrous impact of the corporate education reform agenda on the public schools of one of America’s most vibrant urban centers.

In case you don’t know much about Bennet–and really, how could you?–here’s a little primer…

  • Like our current Secretary of Education, Sen. Bennet never attended a public school himself. He attended the posh St. Alban’s school as a child; “the kind of go-to prep program that serves a lot of DC’s political elite.”
  • Although he had no educational background in teaching, or experience in public schools, Bennet was appointed Superintendent of Denver’s schools from 2005-09, the position that launched his bid for US Senator. While in that position, Bennet was a huge charter school cheerleader
  • He was a proponent of “school co-location,” a practice in which charter schools are “located” in space within an existing public school building–and a practice that often creates damaging tensions in school communities.
  • Bennet also forced through a contentious teacher merit pay system that left veteran teachers feeling demeaned and devalued. This punishing strategy was drawn directly from the venture capitalist/investment manager playbook–which should come as no surprise given Bennet’s background as…you guessed it: a lawyer and investment manager. Bennet’s merit pay ploy also contributed to the lingering discontentment among Denver’s teaching force, leading to this year’s teacher strike in Denver.
  • Bennet also pursued an aggressive school closing campaign, with devastating results:

No decision was more controversial or fraught than the one to close Manual High School, a northeast Denver institution with a storied legacy that had struggled immensely in the preceding decade. Bennet was attacked for ignoring the community’s wishes and inadequately planning for what would happen to hundreds of displaced students, many of whom would never finish high school.

Bennet seems to have realized that his record as a pro-charter, anti-teacher corporate reformer may prove to become a drag on his candidacy for president, and has attempted to distance himself from the Trump/DeVos education agenda–such as it is–with a public statement criticizing the Secretary, calling her nomination “an insult to schoolchildren and their families, to teachers and principals, and to communities fighting to improve their public schools all across this country”.

Given the alignment of Bennet’s education policy positions with those of Ms. DeVos, this is an exceedingly narrow needle to try to thread:

  • both Bennet and DeVos are big supporters of charter schools, and enemies of teachers unions–Bennet was a disciple of hedge fund guru Phillip Anschutz, the founder of a billion dollar anti-education foundation and owner of the publishing company “behind the anti-teachers’ union movies ‘Won’t Back Down’ and ‘Waiting for ‘Superman’”–as a result, Denver now has more charter and “innovation” schools than traditional public schools
  • both Bennet and DeVos favor “school choice”, a policy that has been toxic in both DeVos’ home state of Michigan, and Bennet’s adopted state of Colorado
  • both Bennet and DeVos are ardent supporters of alternative certification programs, like Teach for America, that provide a “fast track” to the classroom for uncertified and unqualified applicants, and replace veteran teachers with short-term “edutourists”
  • both Bennet and DeVos are proponents of “portfolio school districts,” an approach to school organization and governance that’s proven to be a disaster in New Orleans and many other communities
  • both Bennet and DeVos have targeted teachers’ pension funds as a means of destabilizing school systems and hastening the glide path to privatization

Former Denver Board member Jeanne Kaplan started her own blog with a warning that Bennett and his successor Tom Boasberg had made minuscule progress academically, but had succeeded in inflicting maximum disruption on the children and public schools of Denver. Worse, Bennett engaged in risky financial investments that were damaging to the district’s finances.

She wrote:

Fifty seven charter schools (57), seventy five percent (75%) housed in taxpayer owned or leased facilities. Fifty two percent (52%) of taxpayer approved new schools money going to two Charter Management Organizations (CMOs). Forty percent (40%) of schools non-union. These are the outcomes Denver Public Schools Superintendent Tom Boasberg must be looking at when he repeatedly declares education reform is a success in Denver. He certainly can’t be looking at the academic outcomes.

My name is Jeannie Kaplan. I had the honor and privilege of serving on the Denver Public Schools Board of Education for 8 years, from 2005 through November 2013. Michael Bennet was superintendent, having been selected in June of 2005. Mr. Bennet served until January 2009 when he was selected to be the junior Senator from Colorado. His replacement was and continues to be Tom Boasberg, Michael’s childhood friend and former DPS Chief Operating Officer.

I believe today as I did when I first ran for the school board that public education is a fundamental cornerstone of our democracy. I am starting a blog to explore and hopefully shed some light on the complicated issues challenging public education today. I am going to be writing about my passion, public education, with a focus on Denver Public Schools. I will try to provide a voice for a side of this debate that is often overlooked by the main stream media.

Let us hope that Michael Bennett stays below 1% in the polls and fades away. He is not a spokesman for public schools. He is a spokesman for the corporate reformers who want to privatize public education.

 

Categories Accountability, Charter Schools, Corporate Reformers, Democrats for Education Reform, Denver, Education Industry, Privatization

Trump Calls on Nation to Condemn “Racism, Bigotry, and White Supremacy.” I Therefore Condemn Donald Trump.

By dianeravitch
August 5, 2019 //
134

What an irony to hear Donald J. Trump calling on the nation to condemn “racism, bigotry, and white supremacy.”

No one has done more to inflame racism, to encourage bigots, and to bring White Supremacists into the mainstream than Trump.

No need to recite the evidence. We have all seen it, beginning in Charlottesville when he praised the “very fine people” among the White Supremacists.

Or to remember only days ago when he told four Congresswomen of color to “go back where they came from.”

Or when he referred to Mexicans as rapists and murderers.

Or, or, or.

We can add dozens more times when he let the racists and bigots know that it was safe to come out into the open.

I condemn racism, bigotry, and White Supremacy.

I condemn Donald Trump.

Trump has turned the American Dream into the American Nightmare, bringing all the swamp creatures to sun on the front lawn of the White House and to enjoy his hospitality in the West Wing.

With all my breath, with all my might, I condemn what he has done to our nation, how he has a made a mockery of our ideals, how he has allowed hatred and racism to become the face we present to the world.

World, I apologize. This is not America. We are better than this. This too shall pass, the sooner the better.

 

Categories Education Reform

In the Public Interest: Inside the LA Teachers’ Strike

By dianeravitch
August 5, 2019 //
16

 

The photograph below was taken during the UTLA strike last January. The guy in the center is famous rocker Stevie Van Zandt, who loves teachers and public schools and unions. Stevie is a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. He played in Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band.

Stevie is constantly giving back, and he gave back in Los Angeles, where he picketed in the rain. Stevie will be a featured speaker at the Network for Public Education national conference in Philadelphia, March 28-29, 2020. Be there!

Stevie made a great video to celebrate International Teachers Day. 

Jeremy Mohler of “In the Public Interest” writes:

 

 

 

Like many districts nationwide, Los Angeles’s public school system was “broke on purpose.”

It’s suffered through decades of underfunding and anti-government rhetoric—”bad teachers.” Despite being the world’s fifth largest economy, California is 41st in the nation in per pupil funding.

It’s also bore the brunt of the charter school industry’s rapid growth. Los Angeles Unified School District has more charter schools than any other district in the country and now spends nearly $600 million annually to prop up a competing, parallel sector of privately managed schools.

That’s why what the city’s teachers did earlier this year was so powerful.

As a new report from Reclaim Our Schools LA outlines, “The Los Angeles strike resulted in a stunning array of substantive victories well beyond the scope of a typical labor agreement.”

Not only did teachers win pay increases, but they also won more nurses, counselors, and librarians in schools; smaller class sizes; reductions in standardized testing; an end to random searches of students in some schools; and more.

If you’re wondering what democracy looks like in the age of Citizens United, voter suppression, and Trump, what’s being dubbed “bargaining for the common good” is a glimpse.

Read Building the Power to Reclaim Our Schools for the story of how teachers and the community organized and worked together to use government for the common good.

Thanks for reading,

Jeremy Mohler
Communications Director
In the Public Interest
Categories California, Funding, Los Angeles, Unions
« Older Entries
Newer Entries »