Archives for the month of: June, 2020
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My Advice to Joe Biden: Run a “Front-Porch Campaign”

By dianeravitch
June 25, 2020 //
28

I have been watching the polls, and Joe Biden is ahead in all of them. He is ahead in all of the battleground states, except North Carolina. Biden leads in Wisconsin, Florida, Michigan, and Pennsylvania.

Trump went berserk when CNN reported that Biden had a 14-point lead on June 5, and he assailed CNN reporters as fakes and frauds, etc. But then FOX News reported that Biden has a 12-point lead, and Trump was briefly silent.

Biden has taken a decisive lead without campaigning. My advice to him is that he should run what used to be called a “front-porch campaign.” That’s a campaign where the candidate basically stays home, sits on his front porch, and gives interviews.

This is not a good time for Biden to hold rallies, as Trump does, spreading the coronavirus wherever he goes.

Biden is doing just fine without going into crowds.

He should give an occasional speech, describing his policies and priorities.

And he should stay home.

Trump shoots himself in the foot on a daily basis. His dictatorial instincts are on display daily. His racism and megalomania will drive voter turnout.

Biden should spend his time planning an FDR-style recovery, priming the pump, reviving the public sector, figuring out a massive infrastructure program that puts people back to work, devising ways to extend medical insurance to the entire population, coming up with a creative plan to cancel billions of dollars of student debt that burdens millions of young people, and of course, honing plans to re-envision K-12 education with new investments in Title I, special education, and a rescue plan for schools that must meet the needs of children in the post-pandemic era with small classes and safe environments for teaching and learning. He must attend to rebuild the civil service and restore the departments and agencies that Trump has endeavored to destroy. And, of course, he must be ready immediately to repair our relationships with our allies, to rejoin the Paris Climate Accord, and to reassure the other nations of the world that the Trump era was an aberration and it is over.

Stay home, Joe. You are doing just fine by presenting yourself to the American people as a man of intelligence, experience, judgment, wisdom, and a readiness to step into the job on day one and replace the nation’s most incompetent and corrupt administration in history.

Categories Biden, Trump

New York: Jamaal Bowman Scores Upset Victory

By dianeravitch
June 24, 2020 //
23

While many primary races are too close to call, due to large numbers of uncounted absentee ballots, Jamaal Bowman scored a decisive upset in his race to replace veteran Cingresman Elliot Engel, chair of the House Foreigh affairs Committee.

Jamaal is/was a middle school principal who was active in the opt out movement. He received the endorsement of AOC, Sanders, Warren, and many others, including me.

Here is the speech he gave when his victory appeared certain.

Jamaal will be a strong, clear, and informed voice for the voiceless in Congress.

Categories Democracy, Democrats, Education Reform, Equity, Justice, Racism, Resistance

Tulsa School Board Extends Gist Contract One Week Before School Board Election

By dianeravitch
June 24, 2020 //
14

The Tulsa school board went into executive session and talked until 1 am, then voted to extend Deborah Gist’s contract for two years. Two board members voted no.

The vote occurred one week before an election runoff for two board seats.

Gist is a member of Jeb Bush’s Chiefs for Change, which supports charters, vouchers, and high-stakes testing. As State Superintendent in Rhode Island a decade ago, she achieved fame and notoriety for firing the entire staff of Central Falls High School due to low test scores. Central Falls is the poorest district in the state. It still has the lowest scores in the state.

Categories Administrators, superintendents, Bush, Jeb, Chiefs for Change, Oklahoma, Tulsa

Providence: State Releases Plan to Make Schools High-Performing in Five Years

By dianeravitch
June 24, 2020 //
22

After Johns Hopkins University wrote a scathing critique of the Providence public schools, Governor Gina Raimondo and her new Commissioner of Education took control of the city’s schools. They just announced their turnaround plan and predicted that the low-performing schools of Providence would be on par with the top 25% of schools in the state in five years.

Among the major points of the plan:

It places enhanced focus on the performance of multilingual learners, who represent 34% of Providence students but have been shown to be missing out on an adequate education. Going forward, the district will place more attention on the recruitment of qualified English-as-a-second-language teachers, prioritize meeting the expectations laid out in a Department of Justice settlement over the district’s handling of multilingual learners and double the number of students served by bilingual programs over five years.

The district will renegotiate the collective bargaining agreement with the Providence Teachers Union to make it easier to fire low-performing teachers, hire the best candidates and require additional professional development days, according to the plan.

In order to better engage families, the district will implement a central phone number or text-messaging system for information-sharing that will be accessible 24/7, create a parent and students bill of rights and start a “parent academy” that will train families in how to best advocate for their children. Peters already announced this spring that he plans to completely restructure central office.

The plan also prioritizes hiring more teachers of color, who are underrepresented in Providence schools compared with the student population, in part by partnering with local colleges and universities to attract more diverse candidates to the profession.

The turnaround plan includes an extensive series of metrics that the district aims to hit within five years of implementation, such as increasing the percentage of students who are present for nearly the entire school year to 90% from its current baseline of 62.7%.

To ensure accountability, the district will post updates on the plan’s implementation on 4PVDKids.com and publish a yearly report on its progress.

Nothing was said about additional funding.

Categories Accountability, English Language Learners, Providence, Rhode Island

New York City: Mayor De Blasio Inexplicably Invites Pitbull to Speak to 2020 Graduates

By dianeravitch
June 24, 2020 //
7

Mayor De Blasio—or someone in his Department of Education—invited the foul-mouthed, misogynistic rapper Pitbull to join luminaries who will speak to the graduating class of 2020.

Here is the city’s announcement:

Dear Students and Families,

To celebrate the end of a school year like none before, please join us for a graduation celebration like none before the evening of Tuesday, June 30! We will be honoring the resilient, inspiring Class of 2020 with festivities that will be livestreamed across social media and broadcast on PIX 11 beginning at 7:00 p.m.

The event will feature the accomplishments of our graduating seniors, family messages, and congratulations from celebrities like Lin-Manuel Miranda, Kenan Thompson, Nick Kroll, Nia Long, Pitbull, Angela Yee, and more. Mayor de Blasio and the First Lady, Chancellor Carranza, and other public officials and educators will also convey their words of appreciation to the largest graduating class in the nation who will be the changemakers in our nation’s future.

We hope you all will join us for a joyful occasion to conclude a difficult year on June 30. Please save the date and learn more at https://www.nycclassof2020.com.

Pitbull founded a mediocre charter school in Miami called Slam Academy. It operates as part of a for-profit chain. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos joined him there to show her delight that the rapper joined her crusade for school choice.

Jersey Jazzman wrote about the origins of Pitbull’s charter school in 2013.

Darcie Cimarusti wrote about a signal event when Pitbull was honored by the National Alliance of Public Charter Schools in 2013, which was thrilled to have a celebrity on its dais.

Categories Accountability, Betsy DeVos, Bill de Blasio, Charter Schools, Education Industry, Florida, For-Profit

New Orleans: Most Charters Are Double-Dipping into Federal Funds

By dianeravitch
June 24, 2020 //
5

Della Hasselle of the New Orleans Times-Picayune describes how charter schools in New Orleans have collected coronavirus relief funds from money meant for public schools as well as federal funds meant for small private businesses. Most received money from the Payroll Protection Program, up to $5.1 million for a single school, even though they have suffered no loss of revenues.


More than two-thirds of New Orleans’ charter school organizations have applied for federal loans through the congressional act to help keep businesses afloat during the coronavirus pandemic, garnering criticism from some groups for tapping into a program that hasn’t been available to traditional public schools.

Dozens of New Orleans schools have applied for Payroll Protection Program loans, aimed at shielding small businesses from closure due to COVID-19, according to interviews and a review of documents from over 40 boards operating schools in New Orleans.

At least a third of the charters had received loans, with officials from those organizations saying they got anywhere from about $97,000 to more than $5.1 million in funds, based on their payroll.

“The COVID-19 pandemic has severely impacted the city of New Orleans and created great economic uncertainty for our schools about how we can continue to operate, employ all of our employees, and not dramatically cut services for students, many of whom will return to school with learning gaps and needing additional social and emotional supports,” said Kate Mehok, CEO of Crescent City Schools, which received $3 million.

The money, which comes from a $349 billion stimulus established by the $2 trillion federal CARES Act, can be forgiven if all employees are kept on the payroll for eight weeks and if the money is used for salary, rent, mortgage interest, or utilities, according to the U.S. Small Business Administration, which along with the Treasury Department is implementing the program.

Critics had already lambasted charter schools around the country for the applications, accusing the non-profits of abusing their status and double-dipping, and were miffed to learn about the dozens of applications to come out of New Orleans, which this year became the first major American city to have no traditional schools.

Like traditional schools, local charters have already received some CARES Act funding through the Louisiana Department of Education. But unlike the charters, district-run schools weren’t eligible for the extra payroll loans.

The charter organizations each got hundreds of thousands of dollars from the $260 million doled out to districts and charters in late April as part of the Elementary and Secondary School Relief Fund, another part of the CARES Act, mostly for technology and distance learning.

Categories Accountability, Charter Schools, Education Industry, Funding, Privatization

Nancy Bailey: Reimagine Education by Prioritizing the Arts in School

By dianeravitch
June 24, 2020 //
22

We have heard many ideas for what schools should look like after the pandemic, or if they reopen while the pandemic is still around. Most of those ideas are centered on distance learning. Nancy Bailey has a different concept: Bring back the arts education that was sacrificed to high-stakes testing.

She writes:

Teachers teach remotely, and parents are helping students at home. Hopefully, children and teens are doing art. Self-expression is important, and art calms and leads to self-discovery. When public schools reopen, when it’s safe to do so, parents and teachers must demand a return of art education with qualified art teachers! Music and drama are critical too, but this post focuses on art classes.

Due to high stakes testing and the no excuses agenda, teaching art became obsolete especially in poor schools. Underfunded school districts removed art classes from the curriculum years ago. They pushed more reading and test preparation.

Nina Rees is President and CEO of the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools. Rees was once a senior education policy analyst for the Heritage Foundation and helped develop NCLB. Once asked “Do you consider art and music ‘frills,’ or would you say they are necessary to good elementary education?” she answered:

It depends. If a student is attending an affluent school that has the budget to invest in such things, then I see many benefits to adding art and music courses. What I object to is focusing the attention of poor school systems on these activities. Schools should be in the business of teaching students the basics. If they fail to teach students how to read and write, it makes no sense to ask them to offer music! In a perfect world, these are decisions that I wish parents could make and pay for.

Rees implies that the arts are only for children in wealthy schools! Educators know that the arts and academics complement one another. It’s detrimental to get rid of the arts in poor schools. Children in underfunded schools deserve art as much as students in rich schools.

All children deserve access to art classes. Dedicated public school art classes bring children together. Art is important for children with disabilities, gifted, twice exceptional students, and children and teens who have anxiety or depression.

Bailey goes on to describe the many ways that art helps students, the lessons and values they impart.

Yes, the arts are for everyone.

Categories Arts Education, Creativity, Real Education

What Trump Said About COVID-19 in Arizona

By dianeravitch
June 24, 2020 //
39

Trump spoke in Phoenix yesterday to some 3,000 Students for Trump in a megachurch. Most of the students, packed in close quarters, were maskless, like Trump.

The Arizona Republic noted that most recent polls have shown Biden leading Trump.

Trump arrived as hospitalizations and deaths from the coronavirus were spiking.

Some local physicians were unhappy about the rally:

Two Arizona doctors told The Republic they were concerned about the large, indoor event and what it could mean for the disease here.

“We’re already seeing a tremendous surge in infections here in Arizona. This is not the time to be taking chances on spreading the disease further,” Dr. Christine Severance, a family physician in Phoenix, said.

Dr. Sheetal Chhaya, a rheumatologist in Phoenix, said she appreciates rallies as part of the democratic process, but said an event at this time in Phoenix is not the most “socially responsible.”

“We are, with one event, virtually knocking out, almost nullifying, some of the efforts that we’ve made as a group of physicians, but also as a community, to be able to help mitigate this virus,” Chhaya said.

Anyone expecting Trump to express sadness about the 120,000 Americans who have died of the virus were disappointed. Trump is not one to express regret or empathy, nor did he refer to the CDC guidelines.

This is what he said about the pandemic:

The president didn’t dwell on the coronavirus or offer condolences or messages about precautionary steps the public can take. Instead, he often referred to it as the “plague” and insisted it would be gone soon.

Trump took shots at the media for what he views as overblowing the pandemic and detailed how he believed his administration had taken all the right steps to mitigate the spread of the disease, test people at high numbers and make sure equipment like ventilators were available.

Trump blamed the increase in cases on more testing, though health officials in Arizona have said the growing number of hospitalizations and cases are due to more than just an increase in testing.

“When you have all those tests, you have more cases,” the president said.

He added: “Then they’ll say, ‘We have more cases.’ We want to do testing. We want to do everything. But they use it to make us look bad.”

Trump also called the coronavirus the “Kung Flu,” embracing for at least a second time a racist phrase that has proven an applause line at his speeches, but which has prompted condemnation from Asian American members of Congress.

Trump continues to spread the dangerous message that wearing a mask is a culture war issue. Real men and strong women don’t wear masks, he suggests by his own reckless behavior. No wonder that the EU is considering banning travelers from the U.S.

Categories Accountability, Arizona, Health, Trump

Success Academy Spokesperson Resigns to Protest “Racist and Abusive” Practices

By dianeravitch
June 23, 2020 //
29

Alex Zimmerman of Chalkbeat wrote today that a spokesperson for Success Academy, New Tork City’s largest charter chain, resigned to protest “abusive” practices at the schools.

A spokesperson for New York City’s largest charter network resigned in protest, stating she can no longer defend Success Academy’s “racist and abusive practices” that are “detrimental to the emotional well being” of its students.

“I am resigning because I can no longer continue working for an organization that allows and rewards the systemic abuse of students, parents, and employees,” wrote Liz Baker, a Success spokesperson, in a resignation letter Tuesday.

“As the organization’s press associate, I no longer wish to defend Success Academy in response to any media inquiries,” she continued in the letter, which was obtained by Chalkbeat. “I do not believe that Success Academy has scholars’ best interests at heart, and I strongly believe that attending any Success Academy school is detrimental to the emotional wellbeing of children.”

The stunning resignation letter comes as the network has been besieged by complaints from employees, parents, and students about a culture that some argue is racist. Baker, who has worked at Success for about a year and four months, is one of the network’s most visible employees and was responsible for responding to reporters’ questions about the network.

Categories Accountability, Harlem Success Academy, New York City, Racism

Today: The Introduction of the SAT in 1926 as an Experiment

By dianeravitch
June 23, 2020 //
10

Garrison Keillor’s “The Writers’ Almanac” reports that today the very first SAT was administered on a trial basis. It was created by Professor Carl C. Brigham of Princeton, one of the founding psychologists of the IQ test. Brigham wrote one of the most notoriously racist, anti-immigrant books of the 1920s. Brigham asserted that wide scale IQ testing demonstrated that whites from Northern Europe were superior to immigrants from southern and Eastern Europe and to American blacks. His book, “A Study of American Intelligence,” helped the movement to restrict immigration and reinforced virulent racism.

TWA noted the day:

It was on this day in 1926 that 8,040 college applicants, in 353 locations around the U.S., were administered an experimental college admissions test. The test was the brainchild of Carl Brigham, a professor of psychology at Princeton. Brigham had been an assistant during World War I for the U.S. Army’s IQ testing movement, the “Army Alpha,” which assessed the intelligence of new recruits. After the war, he tinkered with the test, mainly making it more difficult, but also looking for a measurement of pure intelligence, regardless of the test-taker’s educational background. Just 4 years later, however, Brigham came to believe that the test scores represented not “pure intelligence,” but rather “a composite including schooling, family background, familiarity with English and everything else, relevant and irrelevant.” The Scholastic Aptitude Test, now known as the SAT, was formally adopted in 1942. Today’s test takes three hours to complete.

The College Board decided to make the switch on December 7, 1941, because of the Japanese attack on the American base at Pearl Harbor. The college presidents were meeting at Princeton that day and realized the US would soon be at war. There would be no time for essay-based exams. In 1942, machine-scored, multiple-choice tests replaced the old College Boards, which had been created, written and scored by teams of teachers and professors.

Categories History, Racism, Standardized Testing
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