This is a really fun interview with Chris Saldana of NEPC, in which we talk about the important education issues of our time.
I think you will enjoy it.
Tuesday, June 16, 2020
Publication Announcement
NEPC’s June Education Interview of the Month: Teacher Strikes, Philanthropy, and Public Education
KEY TAKEAWAY:
NEPC Education Interview of the Month is a great teaching resource; engaging drive-time listening; and 30 minutes of high-quality policy information for educators, community members, policymakers, and anyone interested in education.
NEPC Publication
NEPC Resources on Privatization
CONTACT:
William J. Mathis:
(802) 383-0058
wmathis@sover.net
Christopher Saldaña:
(303) 492-2566
christopher.saldana@colorado.edu
TwitterEmail Address
BOULDER, CO (June 16, 2020) – In this month’s NEPC Education Interview of the Month, NEPC Researcher Christopher Saldaña interviews Diane Ravitch, research professor of education at New York University and the co-founder of the Network for Public Education, about her new book, Slaying Goliath: The Passionate Resistance to Privatization and the Fight to Save America’s Public Schools.
In Slaying Goliath, Ravitch argues that the effect of the most recent teacher strikes was to change the narrative about K-12 public education in the United States. She explains that where educational policy had become fixed on the idea of high-stakes accountability and school choice, teacher strikes shifted the policy conversation toward reforms such as smaller classes that center on the needs of children.
Ravitch believes the teacher strikes, along with the COVID-19 pandemic, have highlighted the importance of K-12 public schools and the need for adequate school funding. The importance of schools, Ravitch argues, is evidenced in the role schools and teachers have played both historically and during the pandemic, from supporting parents during distance learning to ensuring that children have adequate food and shelter during the crisis. Ravitch does caution, however, that the pandemic will open policy opportunities for advocates of privatizing public schools, particularly those interested in expanding the role of technology in classrooms.
Nevertheless, Ravitch remains hopeful that K-12 public schools will come out stronger in the aftermath of the pandemic. She encourages philanthropists to shift their priorities away from funding their agendas to funding the agenda of communities – for instance, returning the arts to schools, reducing class size, eradicating the school-to-prison pipeline, and expanding mental health resources. She also encourages federal policymakers to return educational policymaking to the principles of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, whose purpose was to provide additional resources for America’s most vulnerable children.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
“Privatization is irrational.” Truer words were never spoken. We have nothing to show for decades of disruption. The only reason “reform” stumbles on is because they wealthy keep weaponizing their wealth to undermine democratic public schools. In the president’s big civil rights speech, Trump announces that “school choice is the civil rights issue of our time.” Gee, he is only about a decade too late with this same old, hackneyed lie!
Technology should be a tool that teachers can decide to use or not. Teachers are the practitioners, and they should have the right to determine when and how technology is used. Wealthy tech oligarchs should not be given free access to public schools. Teachers should be determining how and when technology is used. The use of software should not be a top down decision. It should not be the result of governors or administration colluding with tech moguls.
As always, I appreciate your attention to an education that includes the arts.
On a lark I looked at the NEPC website for any discussion on arts education.
One report, dating back to 2010 was retrieved, and with the only point that Obama’s nice talk about a complete education did not help arts education.
So, in addition to thanking NEPC for arranging this interview with you, a consistent advocate for arts education, I hope that organization will give some attention to the status of arts education in the nation’s public elementary, middle, and secondary schools.
There is some promise for more reporting from the Education Commission of the States, but that is only preliminary and may be complicated by the agenda of the National Endowment of the Arts, employment of artists in schools (as gig workers).
NAEP assessments in the arts, last I heard, are still scheduled about once every decade and have recently only been funded for the eight grade, and only in music and the visual arts. I am not advocating for NAPE assessments so much as I am, again and again, struck by how few voices are placing studies and experiences in the arts into conversations about education. So thank you for doing that, again and again.