My website is dianeravitch.com. I write about two interconnected topics: education and democracy. I am a historian of education.
Diane Ravitch’s Blog by Diane Ravitch is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
Based on a work at dianeravitch.net.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
On Gates’ $10M Common Core investment: https://curmudgucation.blogspot.com/2019/01/bill-gates-is-still-pushing-common-core.html?spref=tw
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Dear Ms. Ravitch- CEC15 would like your feedback. How may we best contact you?
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Write me at my NYU address.
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I found this to be an interesting take regarding the NYT on education
NY Times Celebrates the Self-Segregation of Black Schools
Race and Ethnicity – The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/topic/subject/race-and-ethnicity
N.Y. Today: When Schools Are Designed for Black Children … While New York City schools are deeply segregated, some black families are choosing an …
Why Black Parents Are Turning to Afrocentric Schools – The New York …
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/08/…/afrocentric-schools-segregation-brooklyn.html
3 days ago – While New York City schools are deeply segregated, some black … When it was time to settle down, their teacher raised her fist in a black power salute. …
Take the headline and first little bit of this story they ran on Tuesday.
“I Love My Skin!’ Why Black Parents Are Turning to Afrocentric Schools
“I love myself!” the group of mostly black children shouted in unison. “I love my hair, I love my skin!” When it was time to settle down, their teacher raised her fist in a black power salute. The students did the same, and the room hushed. As children filed out of the cramped school auditorium on their way to class, they walked by posters of Colin Kaepernick and Harriet Tubman.
It was a typical morning at Ember Charter School in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, an Afrocentric school that sits in a squat building on a quiet block in a neighborhood long known as a center of black political power.
So, have you imagined it? Can you agree that there is no conceivable universe in which The New York Times could have published a glowing story with the headline: “I Love My Skin!” Why White Parents Are Turning to Eurocentric Schools??
It’s the same reason why they can go out an actively recruit a racist columnist like Sarah Jeong, but have to practically distance themselves from their own Bari Weiss because the latter accidentally mistook a second-generation immigrant for a first-generation immigrant (the horror!)
It’s hard to think of a worse idea than encouraging black parents in New York City or anywhere else to enthusiastically rip their children out of regular public school in search of a school that will center around “Afrocentric” education. What exactly is that going to do for them as they grow up and attempt to participate in the real world? What does it do other than exacerbate the racial tensions that have (not-so-mysteriously) popped back up into our culture over the last decade?
MAKE IT A GREAT DAY!
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That’s the problem with charter schools. They contradict the purpose of the common schools, which bring us together and teach us what unites us.
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Privately managed “public charter” is an oxymoron because most charter schools are self-segregating. Public school is required to take all students.
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Common school is open to all and all are eligible to be part of the public school family. By enrolling you become a public school student. A student enrolling in a privately managed charter school is not a public school student but a charter school student. And, as a charter school student, that student is enrolled in a much smaller family–even if management is a large corporation like KIPP.
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Right. Charters are not public schools though they like to call themselves “public.”
They are private contractors
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Yahoo News reports: “The White House has specifically asked the Army Corps of Engineers to examine what funds could be redirected to the border wall from a $13.9 billion February 2018 emergency supplemental that was designed to fund more than 50 disaster relief projects, including in California, Florida, Texas, and Puerto Rico, among other states, according to a congressional aide with knowledge of the matter.”
So, money appropriated to assist people who have been affected by natural disasters that can reasonably be linked to the climate change that ideologues deny might now go to a nonexistent crisis that willfully ignorant ideologues claim exists. Even Lewis Carroll couldn’t have imagined that one.
The song that I nominate as the anthem of the Resistance, recorded more than a year and a half ago, seems more appropriate every day:
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Yesterday Trump tweeted that if California didn’t change its way of life, he would cut off all disaster relief funding. Maybe he willlet it Fund the Wall. The people of California better start raking those leaves.
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All going according to plan in Ohio: https://www.cleveland.com/news/2019/01/lower-state-report-card-grades-open-door-for-massive-expansion-of-vouchers-charter-schools.html
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Ok, all these charter stories are bad, but this one from New Orleans is especially egregious:
https://www.wwltv.com/article/news/investigations/charter-school-hired-principal-with-criminal-past-then-fired-him-for-sexual-harassment/289-6bad4fc8-4e76-4a9c-b583-9bccac85a09a
But at the center of those claims against Green is the audio recording Garcia says she made of him when he approached her in the hallway on Sept. 12, 2016, about a month after Green started as principal at Fischer.
Green: “I want to snatch somebody.”
Garcia: “You want to snatch someone?”
Green: “Yeah, snatch someone and keep ’em for a period of time. I’m not going to hurt them, mark them up or bruise them or anything. I just want to be gentle, you know?”
Garcia: “Whoa, ho, ho, wait. You’re not supposed to put your hands on anyone.”
Green: “No, not a kid. Not a kid. It’s definitely not a kid.”
Garcia: “Who’s that?”
Green: “I don’t like kidnapping kids.”
Garcia: “You don’t like kidnapping kids? Who you trying to kidnap then?”
Green: “Somebody we both know.”
Garcia: “Somebody we both know? OK. All right. Good to know. Good to know.”
Green: “Just kind of plan it out.”
Garcia: “Plan it out? Well, you’re saying ‘snatch up’ and stuff like that, so I don’t know.”
Green: “Snatch up, kidnap, subdue.”
Garcia: “’Subdue’? Oh, Lord Jesus.”
Garcia told WWL-TV she was so flabbergasted by the exchange, which happened in front of a group of students, that she didn’t know what to do.
“I’ve been in some pretty weird situations, but that was definitely a first for me,” she said.
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I have been spoken to in ways that define egregious by Principals.
I have one tape, where the principal actually lead hands on me, and pushed me out of the open office at the school. D
Did you just push me out the door?” I asked, in order to get it on tape, and this Ph’d who wa principal at the time, shouted “Yeah, and I would do it again.”
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Two book recs for you, Susan:
“Adequate Yearly Progress”
“Up the Down Stairway”
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Meant: Up the Down Staircase
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Randy Rainbow to our (psychological) rescue!
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Anyone who looks at the faces of the children in this short video will see their beauty. As we know, intelligent people can hold two thoughts at once – love our country and criticize it. It’s a skill all good teachers transmit.
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Diane FYI: This link is to Nonprofit Quarterly re: “Teachers’ Strike Exposes Long Term Corrosive Effect of Charters.” CBK
https://nonprofitquarterly.org/2019/01/15/los-angeles-teachers-strike-exposes-long-term-corrosive-effects-of-charters/?utm_source=NPQ+Newsletters&utm_campaign=1698727bcb-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2018_01_11_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_94063a1d17-1698727bcb-12886885&mc_cid=1698727bcb&mc_eid=cc73fe1cff
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See: ‘This Model of Education is Not Sustainable’ | The Nation
https://www.thenation.com/article/la-teachers-strike-interviews-class-size/?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Daily%2001152019&utm_term=daily
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Please, please, please don’t be fooled by Kristen Gillibrand’s pandering to public education. Her position is tactically political, not a core principle. Just tweeted this in response to her’s on entering the presidential race: “Sorry, being the @NRA’s favorite Democrat until you jumped ship once elected to the Senate and kneecapping @alfranken are deal breakers for me. There are plenty of others who will fight sexual abuse and not use it to grandstand. Your “centrism” is center-rt Blue Dog pablum.”
You’ve been warned.
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Kirsten…but you knew that as did I. Spellcheck plus poor proofreading is a horrible thing.
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GregB,
As a New York voter, I have never forgiven Gillibrand for ousting Al Franken, one of our best senators, without a hearing. That was unconscionable. Like a mob thing. No thinking, no due process.
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Terrific article from The Intercept on the role of charters in the LA strike and the feckless Democrats who won’t oppose charters.
“The Intercept reached out to all 47 members of the Senate Democratic caucus to ask if they wanted to weigh in on the LA teachers strike and the demands that teachers are striking over. All Democratic senators were also asked to clarify their general views on charter school growth.
Only seven of them responded.”
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Good article…but disturbing. The phrase “I only support public charter schools” has given an out to way too many Democratic politicians. Sherrod Brown has been no friend to public education. Neither has Elizabeth Warren. It was Bernie Sanders who first alerted me to the public charter school “distinction” when debated Hillary Clinton. One of the most disappointing moments in an election filled with them. Will there be a Democratic candidate for President who will truly support public education? At least the issue is being raised. Thank you, Los Angeles teachers!
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We were able to educate Warren here in Massachusetts when we fought and won a ballot question in 2016 to prohibit expansion of charters.She stood on stage with us at the victory celebration. This success was despite the fact that TFA had paid the salary of her education staffer, something that turns out to be a common practice.
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That’s great to read, Christine. I was very happy with that electoral result. And if we can get Elizabeth Warren on our side with this, that could be very influential. Thank you for your efforts!
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Word game of politicians using phrase “public charters” needs to be stopped. Privately managed charters are out to replace public schools and politicians need to step up and join the movement to defend public schools from charter school privatization.
Don’t support any politician that won’t publicly take a stand against privatization of public schools and also commit to working to turning around the bipartisan movement for the privatization of all public services.
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Yes, Jim, you are correct. We should never allow the term public charters gain any more traction. It’s like saying fat-free lard.
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Former Ed Reform Governor apparently forced to resign from head of Michigan State University: http://www.espn.com/college-sports/story/_/id/25779016/michigan-state-university-interim-president-john-engler-resign-comments
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Diane,
An interesting take on data and teaching in Harvard Business:
Simon Rodberg, who is the founding principal of the District of Columbia International School, wrote an insightful piece in Harvard Business Review entitled “Data Was Supposed to Fix the U.S. Education System, Here’s Why It Hasn’t.”
Some excerpts:
The cure is worse than the disease:
The big numbers are necessary, but the more they proliferate, the less value they add. Data-based answers lead to further data-based questions, testing, and analysis; and the psychology of leaders and policymakers means that the hunt for data gets in the way of actual learning. The drive for data responded to a real problem in education, but bad thinking about testing and data use has made the data cure worse than the disease.
Missing the forest through the trees.
We’ve slid from a reasonable, necessary, straightforward question — are the students learning? — to the current state of education leadership: where school leaders and policy-makers expect too much of data, over-test student learning to the detriment of learning itself, and get lost in their abundance of numbers.
What we’ve really learned from “data-driven reform.”
We wanted data to help us get past the problem of too many students learning too little, but it turns out that data is an insufficient, even misleading answer. It’s possible that all we’ve learned from our hyper-focus on data is that better instruction won’t come from more detailed information, but from changing what people do. That’s what data-driven reform is meant for, of course: convincing teachers of the need to change and focusing where they need to change.
Money quote:
Don’t try to turn teachers into data analysts; try, instead, to help them be better teachers.
Read the whole piece.
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Here’s the link: https://hbr.org/2019/01/data-was-supposed-to-fix-the-u-s-education-system-heres-why-it-hasnt?deliveryName=DM23900&referral=00202
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Interestingly, the author appears to impute more value to the data than the typical critic. Notes in the article that he used to work with Michelle Rhee.
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I think a lot of the problem is that Harvard’s business school has an entirely too close relationship with its Grad school of ed. Those are not two fields where cross pollination is a good thing.
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Helping people to be better teachers means providing role models imbedded within leadership. The old system, where novice teachers were taken under the wing of more experienced colleagues and mentored and encouraged (and handed a box of kleenex for their tears), worked well. Progressing through their careers, teachers could assume more responsibilities in the administrative area as their classroom expertise blossomed. Some chose to leave the classroom for the office, but nearly all had significant knowledge of the challenges presented by daily life spent teaching kids.
That dynamic has been replaced by administrators with scarce or no time at all in teaching. It’s absurd to believe they have the knowledge base or expertise to help someone become better at teaching.
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Agreed.
Also unmentioned is the negative impact tests have on a school & classroom culture.
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I know this is all meaningless, but it’s interesting watching the propagandistic gymnastics: https://hechingerreport.org/five-years-after-common-core-a-mysterious-spike-in-failure-rate-among-ny-high-school-students/
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“It’s unclear whether New York is an anomaly or whether other states with raised standards may soon experience a similar deterioration among older students.”
Hedge funded propaganda hedging its rhetorical bets!
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Diane, you are such a powerful force in the fight for public education. I’m curious as to, when you were on the other side of Ed Reform, whether you were equally forceful. I ask this with full admiration and no disrespect intended.
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In one of the earlier posts about the UTLA strike, I posted a somewhat snarky, mostly honest, list of films substitute teachers could show classes while the strike was on. The first on the list, The Ox-Bow Incident, is one that would be a part of my class if I were ever to be given the opportunity to teach again. The climax of the film is the reading of a letter written by an innocent man who was lynched. I was trying to remember the text of the letter and found a link on the Augusta County, VA school district site that had it on a test that was likely for a high school government class. It is a wonderful example of why we need to ditch high-stakes testing and give teachers the autonomy to teach as they see fit. I hope many of you will agree:
The Ox-Bow Incident—Read Donald Martin’s letter
My Dear Wife.
Mr. Davies will tell you what’s happening here tonight. He’s a good man, and he’s done everything he can for me. I suppose there’s some other good men here, too, only they don’t seem to realize what they’re doing. They’re the ones I feel sorry for, ’cause it’ll be over for me in a little while, but they’ll have to go on rememberin’ for the rest of their lives. A man just naturally can’t take the law into his own hands and hang people without hurtin’ everybody in the world, ’cause then he’s just not breakin’ one law, but all laws. Law is a lot more than words you put in a book, or judges or lawyers or sheriffs you hire to carry it out. It’s everything people ever have found out about justice and what’s right and wrong. It’s the very conscience of humanity. There can’t be any such thing as civilization unless people have a conscience, because if people touch God anywhere, where is it except through their conscience? And what is anybody’s conscience except a little piece of the conscience of all men that ever lived? I guess that’s all I’ve got to say except – kiss the babies for me and God bless you.
Your husband,
Donald
Explain what Martin means when he writes, “I suppose there’s some other good men here, too, only they don’t seem to realize what they’re doing. They’re the ones I feel sorry for, ’cause it’ll be over for me in a little while, but they’ll have to go on rememberin’ for the rest of their lives.” What impact will the incident have on the “good men here” who did nothing? Why do you think that Martin feels sorry for them?
In the novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, the jury, the court and the entire town are also “good men (and women) here.” Explain how the jury, the court and the entire town of Maycomb, “don’t seem to realize what they’re doing” and all share in the tragedy of what happens to Tom Robinson.
“Law is a lot more than words you put in a book, or judges or lawyers or sheriffs you hire to carry it out. It’s everything people ever have found out about justice and what’s right and wrong. It’s the very conscience of humanity. There can’t be any such thing as civilization unless people have a conscience, because if people touch God anywhere, where is it except through their conscience? And what is anybody’s conscience except a little piece of the conscience of all men that ever lived.” React to this quote by applying it to the novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, and the movie. Why do you think that it is important that man have a conscience?
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WordPress formatting took away the numbers of the three questions, which begin with Explain, In the novel, and “Law.
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Love it!
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And at this school the students were identified not by a PC pronoun but a red letter
Editor’s Note: This post originally appeared in The Hechinger Report; the version below has been lightly edited for style and content.
At the start of the 2018-19 school year, every student at Mingus Union High School in Cottonwood, Ariz., was issued a color-coded ID badge. In the past, red badges denoted a student’s rank as an underclassman. Juniors and seniors wore gray badges. Beyond distinguishing between older and younger students, color coding provided a sense of progression, rank, and seniority. However, last year the school decided to take a different direction in categorizing students. Mingus Union forced academically underperforming students to carry a red badge—a virtual scarlet letter—to set them apart from the rest of their peers.
Author
Andre Perry
Andre M. Perry
David M. Rubenstein Fellow – Metropolitan Policy Program
@andreperryedu
The shaming of her daughter didn’t sit well with the mom of one such upperclassman, Jordan Pickett. She had missed a lot of school due to a medical ailment and her grades suffered as a result. “It didn’t seem right,” Pickett’s mother told the Today show.
It isn’t right. Mingus Union reinforced an aspect of American culture that has educators believing they can teach students by punishing and shaming them. Shaming is the worst method of teaching, because it manipulates kids’ fear of alienation and stigma. It involves giving up on teaching students, and leaves them with only those lessons that can be learned from adult-sanctioned ridicule and mockery.
The use of negative reinforcement by marking and branding is more common in schools than you would think. Most of us know the archetypal image of a boy who has been punished, seated in a stool in a corner, wearing a cone hat with the word dunce on it or emblazoned with the letter “D.” That boy was made an example of, as the symbol of what not to be. Teachers shamed students with the dunce cap, which was used as late as the 1950s. Decades after the cap was phased out, everyone still knows what that image represents, showing just how entrenched the instinct to shame is in school.
“External shame, also referred to as stigma awareness, involves the fear of criticism and social rejection,” wrote Krystine I. Batcho in a Psychology Today article last year. Educators often leverage the fear of rejection and isolation to motivate students to change. Batcho explains that the fear of rejection is strong enough to lead to isolation, which is a powerful agent of behavioral control. Teachers know as much as anyone that social connectedness is essential to adolescents. Shaming is a manipulation of that importance in Mingus Union in an effort to improve students’ grades.
In the book “Hacking Classroom Culture,” authors Angela Stockman and Ellen Feig Gray show how ubiquitous shaming is. Feig Gray recounted how one of her teachers in high school history class shamed students in an attempt to garner greater involvement from the classroom. In front of the entire class, her teacher said, “Robert, we haven’t heard from you at all this semester. I think I’ll replace you with a potted plant!”
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In a practice that seemingly inverted the shaming principle, teacher Roni Dean-Burren reflected in a blog post how her practice of giving students extra credit for bringing school supplies ended up shaming others whose families couldn’t afford them. “I realized I’d made a grave mistake,” Dean-Burren wrote. “These students didn’t have supplies because they couldn’t afford them. And because they or their families couldn’t afford them, I’d caused their grade to suffer.”
As a former board member of a charter school in New Orleans, I witnessed students wearing “Not Yet” signs—meaning, they had not yet met expectations—taped on their backs for not following the school’s behavioral policy. I also saw one of those students being made to walk up and down stairs for going against the mandated flow of foot-traffic. Shaming is often paired with harsh disciplinary policy and corporal punishment. None of these are positive means for lifting students up academically or behaviorally.
Educators who incorporate shame in their practice should be ashamed of themselves. Shaming actually works very well, but it runs the great risk of alienating students, moving the problem underground, and away from the supports a student needs to thrive. Students can become so ashamed that they become silent and removed. Bad academic habits can fester and behavioral issues worsen in the absence of authentic teaching. Shaming something away isn’t teaching.
Authentic teaching establishes relationships that empower students with the values and norms we want students to demonstrate outside of school. Shaming isn’t empowering. We should call shaming what it really is: bullying.
Pickett’s mother, Jennifer Lansman, told The Phoenix News Times that other students sneer at the red badges, saying that the kids who wear them “must be stupid, or they’re failures.”
What Mingus Union did was also remove the layer of privacy attached to grades. When most kids do badly on a test, no one knows but them, their teacher, and their parents. That allows a badly performing student to deal with the work of improving their grade, not pile on the stress of having classmates know about it. It’s no business of the other students what a classmate’s grades are.
The shaming policy may even have put Mingus Union afoul of the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, commonly known as FERPA, and the Americans with Disabilities Act, both of which prohibit the release of personal information to the public. If students with disabilities score lower because of their disability, the red badge could have been seen as discriminating against them. The school may also have been in violation of the federal law by being “deliberately indifferent to discrimination (A.K.A. the school doesn’t care if its biased),” according the American Civil Liberties Union, which believes Mingus Union violated the ADA on both grounds. No wonder, then, that the ACLU got involved.
“The public display of student education records through the creation of ‘scarlet badges’ exemplifies the type of student privacy violation that spurred the passage of FERPA and must immediately cease,” wrote Kathleen Brody, legal director for the ACLU of Arizona, in a letter to the Mingus Union High School District superintendent on Dec. 28. Last week, Mingus Union reversed its policy, saying in a statement that “all students will now have the same color student ID’s, which is red for the school’s colors,” according to reporting by KAFF News.
Lawyers shouldn’t be the ones to teach teachers that a culture of shaming is holding back their students. And Mingus Union was not alone in abdicating responsibility for actually teaching students; the concept takes many forms in many educational institutions, and we need to eradicate it wherever it exists. If there is anything that needs to be singled out, it’s schools that bully students.
Update 1/17/19: This piece has been updated to include information that Mingus Union High School has rescinded the student ID badge policy.
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Just learned that Harris Wofford died yesterday. Fitting and poetic that the man most responsible for shifting support of the majority of African American voters from the Republican Party to the Democratic Party died on MLK Day. He was a student of Gandhi and friends with MLK and Atlanta mayor Hartsfield (whose name now adorns the world’s busiest airport). A good way to honor his memory is to pick up Taylor Branch’s Parting the Waters and read chapter 9, A Pawn of History.
On October 19, 1960, King was “the only nonstudent” arrested for a lunch counter sit-in at Rich’s Dept. Store in Atlanta and refused to post bond, choosing to “stay in jail one year, or ten years” instead. Two nights later, Nixon and Kennedy had their last televised debate as protesters in support of King of stood outside the Atlanta jail, where King and his fellow prisoners were treated very well by the black guards. The KKK was planning a counter march that threatened to escalate the situation with violence. King and his fellow students “would come out of jail only if the charges against them were dropped.” Hartsfield wanted drop them, but “had no jurisdiction…in the county jail pending trial on state charges.” As he though of ways to avoid a race riot in his city, Hartsfield came upon the idea that if candidate “Kennedy had asked him to get King out of jail” he might put pressure on the governor and also help with getting more black votes for the Democratic ticket. Hartsfield was reminded of his connection with Wofford, a mid-level staffer on JFK’s campaign, got Kennedy’s number, and asked him to intervene. Kennedy, who was trying to remain noncommittal on civil rights issues so as to not lose southern states, was angry about being drawn into a controversy he felt would be politically damaging. At the same time, prominent people like Jackie Robinson and MLK, Sr. were campaigning for Nixon.
Hartsfield moved behind the scenes to release King and the students without bail while charges were still pending, something that angered them. But county and state officials used an old case in which King did not transfer his drivers license from Alabama to Georgia as an excuse to keep him jailed and transfer him to a state prison pending resolution of both charges. Kennedy’s campaign made statements that he had “‘no authority, intention or desire’ to intervene in Georgia’s criminal processes.” As he was transferred, “King wore not only handcuffs but also leg and arm shackles.”
Wofford meanwhile continued to work within the campaign to get them to realize the importance of the symbolism of getting Kennedy to make a strong public statement. Coretta King called Wofford and “was nearly hysterical” with her fear for her husband’s life, who was now in solitary confinement in a jail run by white racists. Wofford finally got to Sergeant Shriver saying, “If the Senator would only call Mrs. King and wish her well, it would reverberate all through the Negro community in the United States. All he’s got to do is say he’s thinking about her and he hopes everything will be all right. All he’s got to do is show a little heart. He can even say he doesn’t have all the facts in the case…” Shriver relented and went to Kennedy with the plea. When Kennedy was awakened the next morning, he said, “What the hell. That’s a decent thing to do. Why not? Get her on the phone.” After a call that lasted less than two minutes, Kennedy’s campaign staff, most especially Pierre Salinger and Robert Kennedy, feared negative consequences.
But, as Branch writes, “Kennedy aides were admired for just what Salinger now feared of Wofford: daring, unorthodox maneuvers to unearth political treasure.” Word had gotten out in the press corps that Coretta King would no longer make public statements “without clearance from Wofford.” Eventually the pressure worked to get King out of the prison where his life was in real danger. His father made a public statement, “I had expected to vote against Senator Kennedy because of his religion. But now he can be my president, Catholic or whatever he is. It took courage to call my daughter-in-law at a time like this. He has the moral courage to stand up for what he knows is right. I’ve got all my votes and I’ve got a suitcase, and I’m going to take them up there and dump them on his lap.”
It is not an understatement to give credit to Wofford for one of the most significant political shifts in our nation’s history. He later was elected to the Senate in an upset that set the stage for a little known governor from Arkansas to become president. Unfortunately, he was swept out by the reactionary wave that rose in 1994. But he never compromised his principles, even if it meant defeat.
I met Wofford at an intimate labor fundraiser in 1993. I was there as a low level staffer, not a bigwig fundraiser. We started to talk, I asked him about that episode. We spent the next two hours huddled in a corner of room as he ignored the lobbyists and fellow senators in the room to tell me about his travels to India, work on the JFK campaign, and his love of being an academic committed to public service. I never met him again, but the memory of those two hours are as vivid today as they were then. We need some more Harris Woffords in this world, now more than ever.
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GregB – Thank you so much for sharing this tidbit about Wofford’s role in assuring MLK’s safety. This was an incident I knew nothing about.
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Thanks, Christine. When we rightly give credit to black women who are leading the way to giving Democratic candidates a chance to win, let’s not forget the integral role Harris Wofford played to make this possible. His legacy should never be forgotten.
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As always, your comments add interesting details that I did not know.
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I love the way we learn from each other. That’s what Diane’s blog is all about.
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saw this today, and had to post it here:
This article http://www.mymalonetelegram.com/mtg01/is-a-medicare-policy-costing-lives-20190122 made me realize that our citizens, our people are the last concern of market-based health care, or market-based education. Privatization ends civil rights and any rights to wha the Constitution considers THE COMMON GOOD. Money is all when predatory capitalism runs our nation.
Frequently, I make a comparison between teacher professionals and doctors and teachers — saying that : “Hospitals would fail and patients would die, if doctors were required to follow mandates that from the hospital directors whose concerns were financial. But, , it does not matter that our kids fail to learn if counter-productive (to learning outcomes) mandates come from school administration —and the teachers are forced to use them — or face discipline or loss of their job.”
“A few paragraphs from that article:
“This suggests that doctors are putting their hospitals’ financial interests ahead of their patients’ welfare, which I haven’t seen and which the evidence doesn’t support,” said one doctor. BUT — by contrast, Dr. Fonarow said he has indeed heard that very complaint from cardiology colleagues. “They’re getting tremendous pressure from their administrations,” he said.
“Now that additional conditions can result in readmission penalties — including joint replacements, pulmonary disease treatment and cardiac bypass surgery — he wants an independent investigation of the program.
“You want to have faith that the physicians making decisions with you don’t have, in the back of their minds, ‘Are we going to get dinged for this?’” he said.
“While nobody wants to spend more time in a hospital, some patients need to be readmitted. But it’s hard for consumers to judge whether another stay will help them recover or needlessly expose them to additional risks and expense, so a consensus on the Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program’s safety and effectiveness would be welcome.
“Perhaps the lesson is, it’s harder to reduce readmissions than we would have thought or hoped,” Dr. Ody said.”
and I say… we are seeing the callous policy driven by profits that lets patients die and the children to fail to learn.
But hospitals won’t close… as public schools will.
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Perspective from a Los Angeles charter school teacher: https://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-vaca-teacher-strike-20190123-story.html
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I nominate one more for the Honor Roll:
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You just have to listen to this Senator blast the hypocrisy of Ted Cruz re the shutdown. Everyone is talking about it. He is usually a quiet guy… and here, without the mike, he speaks his mind… almost like James Stewart in Mr Smith Goes To Washington… just wonderful.
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Susan, with all due respect as you are both a superstar on this blog and a model of great teaching, I can’t help but note the irony of Senator Bennet’s “go to Washington” moment coming as the Denver teachers vote to go on strike, and he seeks the opportunity to run for President. Senator Bennet is the Arne Duncan of the United States Senate. He’s the Education Reform “adult in the room” every time a policy issue concerning schools, teachers, and testing arises. He may not have voted for Secretary DeVos, but there’s not a millimeter of difference in their beliefs on education (despite his protestations to the contrary: https://newrepublic.com/article/142364/dont-like-betsy-devos-blame-democrats). Be very wary of this very clever man.
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Bennet hates public education as much as #BookerHatesPublicEducation. I too changed the channel on the news as soon as I saw his face. Don’t need to watch another huckster. The reaction to the shutdown is political camouflage for DFERs.
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Right with you, GregB. I’m concerned because this is the first time I’ve seen him acquire attention for himself in the Senate (actually the first time I have seen him or heard his voice). Combine that with his recent Twitter handle change (something like Bennet for Colorado to Bennet for USA) and rumblings that he’s considering a presidential run…
Hate seeing those who used Ed Reform to catapult their careers succeed. He’s obviously smarter than the likes of Rhee and Duncan.
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Like most milquetoast public officials, Bennet has been blessed with toothless opposition, something we know well in Ohio given our useless state Democratic Party.
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Whoa! So, let me get this straight…I live in NY, and I have never heard of Bennet — but I listen to MSNBC’s Larry O’Donnell RAVE — for a very long time, — about Bennet’s epic speech… delivered without a mike — comparing him to James Stewart in “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington! . Thus, impressed with the passion, I find it on YouTube — and post it here!
And VOILA — Diane emails me to inform me who Bennet really represents back home! Next, in this ‘teacher’s room’ — I am informed of exactly what Bennet has done in Colorado.Are you following me Ohio? Greg?Jim?
So, next, realizing that I gave been had, I write the piece above, nailing the hypocrisy of his tirade.
Now, at this moment as I am sitting at my computer to write a piece — called “CHOICE: ORWELL’S VERSION,” for my ‘diary’ at OEN, I check my email — and discover that this character has just CHANGED his Twitter HandleFROM Mike Bennet for COLORADO to ‘Bennet for THE USA!”
I then, REALIZE that Greg identified A ‘huckster,’– one that almost fooled me… even as I write about ‘charlatans’ (my own word for such con -men).
I REALIZE that Mr. Bennet decided to stage HIS VOICE, and do his ‘MR SMITH” act..
THUS, the playwright IN ME (who looks only at behavior, because it is the crux/action of all plays) WATCHES this little episode — at THIS MOMENT IN TIME where the charismatic Liz Warren and Kamela Harris warm up, and AOC waits in the wings! This is the moment when the people are watching the Senate. THERE ARE WOMEN in Congress, who are standing up, doing things that COUNT, The Senate is being video-taped; and soon, the Trump show -will soon move to Congress. Bennett will not be the only man who see a chance!
From what you have told me — here at this gathering-place for ‘WATCHERS’ — I deduce that the GOP is looking for charismatic white men, in the Senate. This is no accident! There is a plethora of new faces READY TO SELL SNAKE-OIL to our people —new hucksters who will use charisma and drama to fool our people into thinking that they are being offered GENUINE solutions that will actually work.
They will PROMISE “choice” once they have ensured that the ONLY choice people will make is the wrong one!
I see it all now— along comes someone I have never heard of…here in N.Y. (and I read a lot as a journalist at OEN.)
“LOOK AT ME, American fools! See how I shed tears for those people’! UNLIKE Cruz, I am a caring human being, UNLIKE ‘you-know-who!’ I am not callous like them. I got heart” … and you gotta have heart..
His little drama in the Senate was not to shame Cruz for his treachery!
It was To draw attention to himself, and MSM’s Larry O’D complied on mSMBC!But now, I also see how MSM is being USED to STAGE him: “HERE is Mike Bennet of Colorado, who is offering a ‘choice.”
Well, I am watching! So , Larry, if this punk sells charters ‘back home’, and I KNOW that CHARTERS are ‘NO CHOICE’, then Bennett needs to STAY at home, and never gain prominence!
We , you and I (and Diane) have to show Rachel Maddow and Larry, Chris and even Don Lemon —that they MUST shine a light and look at Bennet’s actual BEHAVIOR back home in Colorado, where he takes money from the rich billionaires who want to end public education.
M.r Bennet is just another liar who aspires to run our nation — into the ground ,so the rich will inherit the earth. And we edcuators activists need to get the message across: “CHARTERS ARE NO CHOICE!” and, either is Mike Bennett!
The watchers are here!
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Love it, Susan! And there are many women I would love to support in 2020.
GregB, know exactly what you’re talking about with regards to straw candidate opposition. Kasich got so much credit for winning super-majority against a guy who repeatedly self-sabotaged his own campaign to the point that even Democrats didn’t want him (and followed up by being last man standing against Trump despite losing every caucus & primary outside of home state Ohio).
There are so many politicians I do NOT want to get anywhere near the White House. Michael Bennet and John Kasich are near the top of that list for me.
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Beautiful, Susan, just flat out beautiful. So enjoyed reading your stream of building outrage.
I’ve come to the conclusion—even though the DeVoses of the world are the worst—that DFER-affiliated Dems are our real enemies. (My friends here have taught me well.) They are the kapos of our society, especially if I believe, as I do, that public education is the keystone domestic public policy issue of our or any time. Hence my disgust with Booker, Bennet, and so many others. I’m not going to give them a pass anymore. Our friend Linda has even taught me that my senator, Sherrod Brown, has to be pushed into a corner to make an unequivocal statement on where he stands. Then I’ll know if I will continue to stand with him.
I’m new to the this Twitter thing, but Bennet today tweeted, “@realDonaldTrump if you don’t like the word “medieval” to describe your wall, how about ineffective, wasteful, offensive, unpopular…” and to set me off to respond: “…’medieval’…ineffective, wasteful, offensive, unpopular…” Are you talking about your record to undermine public education at every turn? You never seemed to lose your voice doing that.
His tweet, as of now, had more than 30,000 likes, 7,000 retweets, and 1,600 comments. Mine had 6, 2, and 1. We have our work cut out for us. But we must persist to either change the Democratic Party to recognize its errors and repent or go down with the ship. Your wonderful rant gives me a lot of motivation to keep working at it.
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Greg,
You are so right. We recognize the bad guys when they are DeVos and the Koch brothers. But why do we have to fight Booker, Bennett, Cuomo, Feinstein, Hakeem Jeffries, Jared Polis to defend public schools and unions?
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So sorry to go on, but I’m not sleepy now. Any Dem who opposed Pelosi for Speaker should be Patton slapped—repeatedly.
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AH! The EQ… the essential question that leads to the answer –crux of this war on education. I think it is because the cabal that has the kind of wealth that once belonged to nations… not merely the ‘billionaires,’ but the trillionaires know that EDUCATION is the key. Children become the citizens, which why the Saudis get them young, and put them in their madrash.
These are forces that want an ignorant America, so they can rule as they please, a nation of serfs who will do their bidding, or else.
They will enlist anyone and everyone who can demolish public education, as as I have said forever… we are already divided for the conquest — 15,880 separate systems in 50 states, where the media sells total lies about the schools.
Like in NY — as you pointed out today– where they shout ‘failing schools,’ using their rubric and judgement as the metric…selling their lies to a public that has no grasp of WLLL… What Learning Looks Like.
Why do these oligarchs and charlatans cause such destruction?
Because they can and will.
But we can watch, and report… because we know what authentic learning requires,!
… and because things will change — as people wake up to how they have been hoodwinked!
Then people will seek out the NPE and the voices of genuine professionals who have watched the chaos and know how to fix the schools.
And I believe in the tooth fairy and Santa Clause.
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Good stuff, GregB.
On Brown, he has been a reliable Duncan/Obama/Gates/Jeb/W Ed Reform parrot. Every time I contact his office, I get a form letter with verbatim talking points that could just as easily come from Michael Petrilli and the Fordham Institute.
Searching for a candidate who is truly on our side.
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Absolutely. And why, Diane, did we need DeVos to expose them?
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But whadda bout my Honor Roll nomination? 🤨
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oops…here is the link to Senator Mike Bennet of Colorado.
Sen. Michael Bennet (D-CO) on Government Shutdown (C-SPAN) – YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=2&v=1LlCn-HZDuY
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Susan Lee Schwartz someone can speak for me on one issue but I would guess Democrat for Education Reform (DFER) Colorado Senator Michael Bennet does not speak for you when it comes to “choice” and the privatization of public education during National Choice Week.
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As Diane, Jim Modecal and others have pointed out to me, Senator Bennet’s passion in that moment, does not erase the reality of his hypocrisy. I did not realize that Senator Bennet was a hypocrite, who was fine with the income inequality that results when charter schools replace authentic education in public schools, and rob the local schools of money. it was late , when Lawrence O’Donnel, praised at great length, Bennet’s tirade on Cruz, which he showed. (maybe Diane, or one of you, should call Larry and ’splain the hypocrisy and the hidden destruction that this man also demonstrates. THIS is how MSM cherry picks drama, and promotes the real ‘fake’ people.
If I am, a “super-star’ here (LOL) it is because I am fiercely devoted to exposing the war on teachers as the ploy, in the plot, to end the INSTITUTION of Public Education.. which promotes the COMMON GOOD for all, and supports democracy which DEPENDS ON SHARED KNOWLEDGE https://www.aft.org/sites/default/files/periodicals/hirsch.pdf which ensures that all our people have the skills the need to do work!
I follow Diane’s blog, and the NPE, and promote the news about the demolition unfolding as the oligarchs seek to end what our children KNOW about history and…EVERYTHING– but, I am an old lady, and I cannot follow the details, in 15,880 school systems in 50 states. I do my best to post the most current battles in my series at OEN https://www.opednews.com/Series/15-880-Districts-in-50-Sta-by-Susan-Lee-Schwartz-140921-34.html?f=15-880-Districts-in-50-Sta-by-Susan-Lee-Schwartz-140921-34.html
..but there are so many actors.
Now that I know who he is, what strikes me about Bennet’s passionate speech (regarding Cruz’s callous attitude to the things that effect real people’) is how deluded are the legislators about the issues that they themselves pursue!!!
Perhaps, one of you, in Colorado, will write to Senator Bennet and tell him that his ‘rant’ got the attention of the media, and it would be a real BENEFIT to the PEOPLE OF COLORADO if he practices what he preaches — and stops protecting the business interests that are undermining democracy by selling lies about “choice’, and by creating unequal opportunities for ALL the people in his state.
Point out to him that his HYPOCRISY is a glaring trait to those who know what it is THAT HE DOES. His values embrace the predatory capitalism of those who love ‘market-driven’ models, that offer profit for the monied elite, and destruction of the middle class…. as this video demonstrates so wonderfully… (and it is not recent… so the middle class depicted in the graphs here have almost vanished this year.) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QPKKQnijnsM
And one more link for all of you who trust my voice. It is a wonderful animated (white board) video about the subject of ‘enlightenment’— something that our legislators do not grasp. Someone please ‘enlighten Mr. Bennet, and point out that he has some very serious blind spots. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AC7ANGMy0yo&feature=em-subs_digest-vrecs
“To be enlightened in the 21st century, we have to live differently than in the past centuries— we have to change our values… we need insights into human nature which have emerged from a variety of scientific disciplines — and social sciences. Most of our interactions come when we respond to the world around us, comes from and the past which has shaped our consciousness. We need a new national “psycho-therapy,’ that allows us to examine those values and explore critically whether they work for us, or meet the challenges that we now face.”
Bye now… You who read and write here carry on the authentic discourse that enlightens our people. I am honored to be here.
I am also an old lady, whose husband of 55 years is disappearing before her eyes, as Alzheimers takes its toll…and I now have taken over the chores—everything in our household, including finances, tax prep, shopping, cleaning tending to repairs, when trees fall and take out our cars and the roof. I leave it to young folks to keep up the pressure on the liars!
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You’re never too young to learn! 🙃
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Our state board of education, MA BESE, is on board with expanding charters, notwithstanding the definitive defeat the industry suffered at the ballot box in 2016.
There’s an extortion scheme playing out in New Bedford, where whether the city accepts the charter imposition or not, it’s going to happen.
https://www.southcoasttoday.com/news/20190114/new-bedford-alma-del-mar-reach-pioneering-agreement-for-former-kempton-school
https://www.southcoasttoday.com/opinion/20190119/letter-people-of-new-bedford-said-no-to-charters—did-our-leaders-not-hear-us
This article takes a look behind the scenes of the maneuvering in advance of securing a charter, in which a would-be charter operator, having been rejected 4 times, seeks to shop the same plans to a different city. Oh, and there’s a real estate deal, of course.
https://www.eagletribune.com/news/merrimack_valley/rivera-asks-state-to-reject-new-charter-school/article_abd7aa5c-4ca3-5474-9752-15280c85ecb6.html
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Good look at how the edTPA acts as a gatekeeper to keep native Spanish speakers from becoming Spanish teachers.
https://rethinkingschools.org/articles/who-is-allowed-to-teach-spanish-in-our-public-schools
These gatekeeper tests are a factor in the lack of diversity we suffer from in our public schools.
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More shennanigans in Dallas ISD. This scheme involves a for-profit online math program, SBI’s and has a Russian connection:
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/black-gold-texas-tea-education-agency-lynn-davenport
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I need this, now more than ever:
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Could there possibly be progress…IN FLORIDA?!
https://www.wptv.com/news/state/gov-desantis-to-make-policy-announcement-thursday-at-southwest-florida-high-school
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Since we’ve learned a lot about the Sacklers here, just thought this might raise some collective blood pressure. And, of course, McKinsey plays a central role.
https://www.propublica.org/article/oxycontin-purdue-pharma-massachusetts-lawsuit-anti-addiction-market
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Great thread on twitter on McKinsey:
https://twitter.com/anandwrites/status/1091690262718496768?s=12
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If you trust me, then read this!
Opinion | This General Doesn’t Mention Trump, but His Tweets Speak Volumes – The New York Times
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/01/opinion/trump-twitter-martin-dempsey.html?
I have waited for a voice to emerge from the babble– someone who knew HOW to respond to Trump — what actually needed to be said — about the behavior — and the impact of such behavior, as the as all of history demonstrates!
I am exhausted by the punditry and the politicians, by the spin and the endless controversy. I am a playwright by nature, and I listen for dialogue from those who pass on my stage.I have been listening to the things people say since 1941. These are words that vibrate with veracity… truth at last. Behavior is all!
What General Dempsy tweets, should go viral.
More important, the people — our citizens need to think about what he says to the malignant, selfish child who shouts, and rants on this amazing platform. It was never available in the past! How to use it, is being defined right now.
Here is how an authentic voice tweets.
Don’t miss this one.”Twitter can be a soul-crushing place where people leave inhibition behind as they launch invective in 280-character volleys, usually aimed at someone they don’t know and assume they will never have to face. Instead, comes the Twitter account of Martin Dempsey, the four-star Army general who was chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff for President Barack Obama. A balm in an inflamed social media universe, his account dispenses mini-sermons and sensible advice, often for an unnamed audience of one who uses Twitter as a delivery vehicle for insult and fabrication.” Finally a voice emerges, someone who knows the response, what NEEDS to be said to the Tweeter-in-Chief: authentic wisdom in response to the nonsense and lies, A leader speaks here, so that the next generations won’t run down the same highway to destruction created by the truly bad leaders of the past!
I have to respect that — in his need to speak out and speak up to end Trump’s bully-pulpit in the twitter-sphere. “the general would never take on a commander in chief directly; none of his posts mentions President Trump by name. But the daily trolling, mild by Twitter standards, is unmistakable.
Always a soldier and patriot, he says: “I never think it’s appropriate for senior military leaders to publicly and personally criticize the president, as he is the elected leader of the country.”
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We haven’t talked much at all about Brexit, but there is going to be one hell of a shock wave that will hit the world in less than two months when a hard Brexit happens. James O’Brien has been an amazing teacher to help explain it to common folk. Here is a recent commentary that I think applies perfectly to the political situation in this nation. Hope some of you will appreciate:
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An eloquent statement from the student member of LAUSD’s board on a moratorium on charters:
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Loved reading this opinion piece about the mirage of tech in schools deep in the heart of Dell country: https://www.statesman.com/opinion/20190205/commentary-dear-schools-tech-is-not-certain-pathway-to-better-learning
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“Trump Jr. attacks ‘loser teachers’ — and a massive backlash quickly blows up in his face”
https://www.rawstory.com/2019/02/trump-jr-attacks-loser-teachers-massive-backlash-quickly-blows-face/
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Numerous Democratic Party politicians speak out on behalf of Denver teachers (Colorado Senator Bennet notably excepted). No direct mention of opposition to the merit pay system but many suggesting pay and respect must increase: https://www.denverpost.com/2019/02/12/elizabeth-warren-bernie-sanders-denver-teachers-strike/
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Great response to Junior’s ignorant comment about “loser teachers”:
View at Medium.com
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“The link is great but the story there is what is crucial to GRASP!
Here is the son of our President maligning teachers in order to make a political point with people whom he knows are conservative republicans…. and he actually says these worlds… and YOU need to read this, because WORDS MATTER; (that is the title of the piece that I am writing for OpEd News). Hear, among the endless words flying at us every day, comes another Donald Trump… a younger version pushing the same con:
“Keep up that fight, bring it to your schools. You don’t have to be indoctrinated by these loser teachers that are trying to sell you on socialism from birth. You don’t have to do it,” he told the audience.”
You have heard me say this before, speaking not as a teacher, but as a playwright– dialogue is the way we know the ‘character’ — of the character onstage.
No one is narrating. No one tells the audience that this character has not a shred of character as defined by integrity and honor… old virtues that have fallen by the wayside, as the new values of the media sell strength and aggression.
Verbal aggression ‘loser’ teachers, who are not there to examine history for the truth, not there to facilitate critical thought… but there to do what HE does…to sell an ideology.
The amoral, unethical son of a pathological liar, as his own words define him.
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Gates: “Nobody deserves to be this rich.” https://www.iol.co.za/news/world/nobody-deserves-to-be-this-rich-bill-gates-19277011
If only he wasn’t.
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Trust me…Everyone needs to read this Atlantic piece on how the wealth of the world has been usurped. Kleptocracy Is on the Rise : https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2019/03/how-kleptocracy-came-to-america/580471/
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Don’t miss this insightful article by Naomi Klein, as she makes all the connections on the proposed New Green Deal.
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and Christine, I am asking you to read this. Kleptocracy on the Rise in America – The Atlantic https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2019/03/how-kleptocracy-came-to-america/580471/
THIS is why Citizen United changed everything. This is the underlying reason why the middle class cannot find an apartment in NYC, where one can buy a pair of shoes or a belt for what a car one cost, and someone can buy an apartment for $238 million.
I wrote about the ParadisePapers when I first heard it on Vice news,and astonished when it never reached the people. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jicse2NcGtk
The data which the journalists released in the Paradise Papers tell the REALITY of the dark money undoing us all, as the banksters and the oligarchs and criminals who own the world’s wealth, look to stash it. https://www.icij.org/blog/2017/11/first-paradise-papers-data-added-icijs-offshore-leaks-database/
but the story DISAPPEARED.
OF COURSE IT DID…THE KLEPTOCRACY did not want its banking system exposed. it did not want anyone to know how the Patriot Act was gamed to provide a loophole for putting wealth into real estate.
Now “America’s “60 families,” whose massive wealth was documented in journalist Ferdinand Lundberg’s 1937 exposure, have been replaced by just three billionaires whose combined wealth is over $264 billion.”
*”The Institute for Policy Studies report, “Billionaire Bonanza: The Forbes 400 and the rest of us,” reveals that the richest 25 Americans are wealthier than the bottom 56 percent of the US.”
The net worth of the 400 richest is roughly equal to that of the bottom two thirds of the country, a total of 200 million people. According to the report’s authors, the US has become “a hereditary aristocracy of wealth and power.”
Read the Atlantic piece and you will know why AOC and Warren are taking aim at the those whose GRAND THEFT has bankrupted America!
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Eric Blanc
@_ericblanc
15m15 minutes ago
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The Denver teachers’ union and the district have reached a tentative agreement. It includes a 7% pay raise, but it doesn’t significantly change the controversial “merit pay” pay system. Union leaders are calling to return to class today, we’ll know soon how teachers react.
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One of Boston’s City Councilors, a former high school teacher for 13 years and parent of four boys in our public schools (including a set of triplets!) has pulled back the veil the mayor and his minions have cast over a public accounting of what schools need and deserve. Such a relief as so many elected officials have not done so.
https://www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/2019/02/14/the-long-road-ahead-for-boston-schools/kEic5d68gUeOgylfuJSNxN/story.html#comments
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A teacher pulls back the curtain on active shooter training at her school:
https://twitter.com/gilbertlisak/status/1096048357041233920?s=20
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Stranger than fiction. I want to wake up from this nightmare.
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Wouldn’t it be great if everyone that can’t stand Trump could pull a Rip Van Winkle and sleep until the Trump-Pence-GOP era of total kleptocracy and corruption was over?
I wonder how long that would be — a century or a thousand years maybe?
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Sometimes, I fell as if I am in a dream, and I want to wake up and be in the America that my mental map remembers… although after reading Gary Brumbacks book,”LIFE’S TRIANGLES AND AMERICA’S POWER ELITE, I think that the world was actually all in my imagination.
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Everyone lives in a bubble. Some bubbles offer fond memories. Some bubbles are filled with horror stories that are worse than nightmares.
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TFA and the potential Oakland strike: https://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2019/02/12/oakland-teacher-strike-teach-for-america-slammed/
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Diane,
Why Common Core’s Standards Weaken Teacher/Administrator Training
FEBRUARY 15, 2019 BY SANDRA STOTSKY
As intended, Common Core’s standards shape tests determining “college and career readiness.” But, unfortunately, they affect the preparation of teachers and administrators as well. How they do so is not well understood by most parents.
The standards adopted by the Council for Accreditation of Education Professionals (CAEP) require all preparation programs for teachers and school administrators seeking re-accreditation to address “rigorous college- and career-ready standards” and explicitly mention Common Core’s standards as an example. But they don’t require preparation programs to address all the traditional discipline-based content that parents may well assume these standards address.
In CAEP 2013 Standards for Accreditation of Educator Preparation, approved by CAEP’s Board of Directors on August 29, 2013, we find under “Standard 1: Content and Pedagogical Knowledge” the following standard as a “provider” responsibility:
1.4 Providers ensure that completers demonstrate skills and commitment that afford all P‐12 students access to rigorous college‐ and career‐ready standards (e.g., Next Generation Science Standards, National Career Readiness Certificate, Common Core State Standards).
Exactly how teachers can give students “access” to rigorous standards is not explained in the glossary for this Standard. In addition, there are two basic problems with the wording in substandard 1.4.
First, the word “rigorous” begs the question that is arousing parents across the country: Are “college- and career-ready standards” (which everyone today knows as a synonym for Common Core’s standards) rigorous? It has becoming increasingly clear to watchful parents that Common Core-based lessons are not academically rigorous.
Why did CAEP decide that Common Core’s standards were rigorous? What experts on high school mathematics, science, and literary content helped the education school deans on CAEP’s Board of Directors to arrive at that decision? Even Common Core’s own mathematics standards writers have acknowledged that they do not prepare students for STEM majors or careers. By intention, Common Core’s level of college readiness in mathematics is low.
Moreover, in requiring prospective teachers (“completers”) to demonstrate their “commitment” to give all students “access” to “rigorous” standards, the examples given do not lead knowledgeable observers to place much confidence in the outcomes. The examples include Next Generation Science Standards which were released in 2013 and have been heavily criticized by scientists for having few high school chemistry standards and unteachable physics standards because the mathematics to support high school physics coursework is not clearly specified nor integrated with the physics standards.
Why should an accreditation agency promote particular sets of standards (even if as examples) rather than expect prospective teachers and administrators to learn how to teach discipline-based content? Accrediting personnel will rely on those examples of standards, especially if they have been told they are rigorous, leaving prospective teachers and administrators underqualified for work in private schools or homeschooling cooperatives that may still want educators who can establish and teach to authentically rigorous standards.
CAEP may well be handicapping the preparation programs it has accredited. While private schools as well as some charter schools are exempt from hiring state-licensed teachers and administrators, a new accreditation agency is needed that does not impose the use of weak or academically-limited K-12 standards on all educator training programs.
Make It a Great Day!
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We don’t need no stinkin’ civic education!
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/american-citizenship-exam_n_5c6add96e4b05c889d221d43
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Besides Civics the students should have a Constitution course.
I bet if you stand in a school hallway – with permission – and ask questions immigrants have to pass to become citizens one would find the deplorables
And yet in NJ we still get PARCC, a Gov and a State Board of Ed tied to graduation requirements that no one can figure – go figure
!
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Yes, immigrants have to learn civics, more than most native born citizens.
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Interesting article here on charter self dealing: https://theconversation.com/charter-schools-exploit-lucrative-loophole-that-would-be-easy-to-close-111792?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Latest%20from%20The%20Conversation%20for%20February%2019%202019%20-%201240211429&utm_content=Latest%20from%20The%20Conversation%20for%20February%2019%202019%20-%201240211429+CID_6882706d145c3c920632b0a205edb687&utm_source=campaign_monitor_us&utm_term=Charter%20schools%20exploit%20lucrative%20loophole%20that%20would%20be%20easy%20to%20close
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Thanks for the link… I added this comment, and will post a link to it at OpEd News.
” I write at OEN (OpED News) https://www.opednews.com/author/series/author40790.html about the the assault on public education, that includes charter fraud, but also the removal of the voice of the authentic educators from the conversation about LEARNING.
“The total lack of accountability for the removal of the talented, educated , experienced professional teacher-practitioners, let the power-elite (which controls the media) to turn the conversation from one about what learning really looks like, to one about ‘teaching’ so they could use testing to destroy schools, and then, to go to the next step – market charters as ‘Choice.’ Not a shred of accountability attended the war on teachers across 15,880 separate school systems in 50 states. NO accountability is the key!”
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West Virginia strike…over?!
https://twitter.com/search?f=tweets&vertical=news&q=west%20virginia%20teachers&src=typd
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I may have spoken too soon, but the WV House legislators appear to have reacted quickly in an appeasing manner towards the striking teachers. This NPR report has more details, though it’s not clear that the strike is off: https://www.npr.org/2019/02/19/696075252/west-virginia-lawmakers-effectively-kill-legislation-just-hours-after-teachers-s
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Strike still on?
MyAllies News
@MyAlliesNews
1m1 minute ago
More
The Latest: Teachers to strike a 2nd day in West Virginia
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Strike still on despite a feeling of restored trust in the General Assembly. Strike continues tomorrow because of failure of trust with the Senate leadership.
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We recently discussed the wonderful comments of Dutch historian Rutger Bregman at Davos. Here’s an unaired interview Tucker Carlson did with him recently. It’s about 8 minutes. Get a glass of beer, wine or some other libation you like, sit back, relax and enjoy:
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Can your readers do anything to help these Lorain, OH teachers?
http://www.chroniclet.com/Local-News/2019/02/23/Lorain-School-Board-President-calls-for-CEO-to-reapply-to-keep-his-job-DOCUMENT.html
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Oakland artists are drawing the Oakland strike and pairing their art with interviews:
https://www.kqed.org/arts/13851435/drawing-the-oakland-teachers-strike
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Meanwhile: Koch Network Pushes Deceitful Textbook on Cash-Strapped Schools
https://truthout.org/articles/koch-network-pushes-deceitful-textbook-on-cash-strapped-schools/
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For some reason, I got on the Daily Kos mailing list (unsubscribed today). Got this earlier today, a fundraising pitch from Kirsten Gillibrand:
“Friend,
“When I called on Al Franken to resign, I paid a price. I made a lot of establishment Democratic donors angry, and they launched attacks in the press. We all had the same facts—there were eight credible allegations that were corroborated in real time—and I made the decision not to remain silent.
“People who are used to buying power and influence don’t like to be challenged. Wealthy mega-donors pulled money and tried to intimidate us into silence.”
So now she’s trying to cash in on her rush to judgment and tarring and feathering many rank-and-file Dems along the way whose “crime” was to call for due process, not blanket exoneration. She needs to lose big and be defeated in her state.
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No hearings or due process needed
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There was no reason for Franken to be dragged to court so no reason for due process.
Franken was not guilty of any crimes ( you know, laws on the books) when he pretended to squeeze that sleeping woman’s breasts that were covered with a flak jacket while she was sleeping. If Franken touched anything, he only touched the surface of the flak jacket and if he hadn’t been stupid enough to ask for a photo, she probably would have never known he did that stunt.
Franken eventually resigned from the Senate because other women came forward and accused him of alleged sexual misconduct, but some of those women did not identify themselves — in my book that means their complaints do not count. An unidentified source is no different than an internet troll using a sock puppet account.
Leeann Tweeden said Franken “aggressively stuck his tongue in my mouth” when the pair rehearsed a skit that featured a kiss.
Lindsay Menz says Franken grabbed her buttocks when the pair posed for a photo at the Minnesota State Fair in 2010.
Two other unidentified women told HuffPost that Franken grabbed their buttocks at separate events in 2007 and 2008.
Stephanie Kemplin, an Army veteran, says Franken put his hand on her breast during a USO tour in 2003. I have a question for Kemplin: Did Franken put his hand on your nude breast or your clothed breast? I mean, if he slipped his hand inside her shirt, jacket or blouse and inside her bra to grab her breast, that would be disgusting.\
A woman described as a “former elected official in New England” told the Jezebel website that Franken tried to give her a “wet, open-mouthed kiss” during an event in 2006.
An unnamed former Democratic congressional aide told Politico that the senator tried to forcibly kiss her after he taped a radio show in 2006.
Tina Dupuy writes in The Atlantic that Franken put his hand around her waist while the pair posed for a photo and squeezed “at least twice” during an event in 2009. Really, he put his hand around her waist — she must have a really small waist. Usually, a man would have to put his hand around the woman and his hand would be touching one side of her waist. Oh, God, and he squeezed twice with his fingers. I’m shocked.
Not one accusation that Franken attempted to rape (or raped) anyone or even run his hand up a leg and inside their panties to touch in that spot Trump bragged he did a lot with women when he was trolling night clubs.
What did Franken’s replacement in the Senate say about this?
Al Franken’s replacement in the Senate said she wishes ‘ethics process’ for him had run its course
The Minnesota senator who replaced Al Franken when he resigned after facing allegations of sexual misconduct said she believes he should have had the benefit of an ethics investigation before he stepped down.
“I would have liked for the Senate ethics process to run its course, but, you know, that didn’t happen,” Democratic Sen. Tina Smith told hosts on “The View.” “It was an extraordinary moment, and it was a really tough moment, too.” …
https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/al-frankens-replacement-senate-wishes-ethics-process-run/story?id=53798039
Here’s what the people lost when Franken decided to step down: Tiny Smith said, “Al was a champion for Minnesota, and he was a champion for progressive issues around the country,” Smith said.
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That was a long rant that completely took my remarks out of context with your first sentence. Due process in this case means that the Senate Ethics Committee should have looked into this. That’s all. I wrote nothing about being “dragged to court”. I never implied he was “guilty of any crimes”. I am fully confident, based on all the evidence I’ve read, much of which you recount, that Franken could have survived an ethics investigation and resumed his role in the Senate untainted. Not really sure why you are attacking me. Seems we’re on the same side.
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“If” I was attacking anyone, it wasn’t you. I didn’t even direct my comment to your name. But there have been others here who went after Franken with a vengeance soon after these allegations became an issue. “If” I was writing to anyone, I was writing to them. Since most if not everyone that leaves comments here does it with sock-puppet names, there is no way to know who they are.
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Sorry, Lloyd. Misinterpreted.
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Thank you but I don’t think there is anything to be sorry about.
I think most of us are all scarred. I think most of us are on edge. And I think many of us are now ready to fight back with words or more than words.
We live in the Trump era where it seems we can be trolled and bullies at any time from anyone and most of those “attacks” come from sock puppets hiding behind anonymous fake names who might be working for the Russians or the Machevialian billionaire oligarchs and autocrats from DeVos to Koch and all the vampire vultures in between those two corrupt crooks that are doing all they can to destroy the US Constitutional Republic and turn it into a living hell, a nightmare for everyone but the 0.1 percent.
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Thanks, Lloyd. I too will admit to having thoughts these days I could not have conceived just a few years ago.
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Hasan Minhaj explains student loans:
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Please consider signing on behalf of all Michigan students but especially or most vulnerable.
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Diane Talk about tone-deaf: This just in from “Inside Higher Education”:
Study of American Democracy on Cal State Chopping Block
“Faculty proposal would split a U.S. history and ideals required sequence across the CSU system. Historians aren’t happy with the idea. »” CBK
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2019/02/27/faculty-proposal-would-split-us-history-and-ideals-gen-ed-sequence-across-cal-state?utm_source=Inside+Higher+Ed&utm_campaign=3afe8fb6e8-DNU_2019_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_1fcbc04421-3afe8fb6e8-198488425&mc_cid=3afe8fb6e8&mc_eid=f743ca9d07
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Shameful.
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Diane,
Would you consider sharing this with your readers?
URGENT: TAMSA needs your voice!
The Texas Monthly article got the attention of the House Public Education Committee. The committee is meeting Tuesday, March 5, 2019 on issues related to STAAR. Several assessment bills are on the agenda.
If you have a child that has been adversely affected by the STAAR test and are willing to testify in Austin, please email boardmember@tamsatx.org.
Thank you!
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Rocky Hanna, superintendent of Leon County Schools in Florida, has this to say about Florida’s teacher bonus scheme. He’s not in favor.
“My second pillar as superintendent, after school safety, is teacher morale. From my experience as a former classroom teacher and school principal, this Best & Brightest Program is a morale buster as it is currently proposed. Imagine one out of every four teachers being rewarded with a $9,000 bonus while three other teachers receive nothing. This will divide school faculties and tear apart the very bedrock of school culture. Quite honestly, I would rather not even have the money if this is the way it has to be distributed.”
https://www.tallahassee.com/story/opinion/2019/03/03/best-brightest-teacher-bonus-money-badly-allocated-opinion/3026844002/
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On the money. Foolish and shortsighted idea.
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This lengthy article on Andrew Cuomo goes to great lengths to paint him as a pragmatic progressive. Don’t think I saw a single word connected to his education policies.
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2019/03/andrew-cuomo-thinks-hes-best-democrat-beat-trump/583642/
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From the NYC affiliate of the ACLU on facial recognition in our schools:
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Here’s the amazing 18 year old Destiny Harris calling out Rahm Emanuel’s disasterous closing of Chicago schools at yesterday’s Sanders rally.
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Do you think Bernie learned from Destiny? He’s on the Senate Committee that oversees education yet seems to know nothing about the issues we discuss here daily. He voted for more testing and accountability. He thinks there is a difference between “public charter schools” and “private charter schools”
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Also very disappointing to see a pic from Selma march with Rev. Barber flanked by Booker and Gillibrand. I hope he understands why they wedged their way forward to be in the frame. Horrible.
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I don’t know, Diane. He seems to be on a learning tour of sorts, fixing up what didn’t go well the last time.
Vermont has strange rules about its public schools, due mostly to its geography. Students can choose to attend schools out of their district, even in Canada, for those in border communities. I recall reading about one kid who changed districts so he could spend more time skiing, in quest of a shot at the Olympics.
Maybe he’d be willing to meet you? Plenty of us could put the pressure on via social media.
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Vermont and Maine allow students to go outside their district when their own district does not have, for example, a high school.
This is not the same as the choice programs offered by DeVos.
Bernie is a graduate of the NYC public schools. He was a classmate of Susan Schwartz, who often posts here.
I would be glad to meet with him.
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No, it’s no way like the DeVosian nonsense.
Vermont, I think, allows a student to even attend a private school with public funds. As another example, some 25 years ago, my nieces lived in Derry, NH and there was no public high school. The town paid tuiton for them to attend a private academy.
I think it’s more likely Sanders just hasn’t focused on charter schools. Endorsing them would certainly be at odds with the rest of his positions. He needs to be enlightened like Sen. Warren has.
I don’t know anyone in the campaign, but I’d be happy to do what I can on twitter to promote a meeting with you!
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He has been on the Senate Health and Education Committee for years. They have discussed charter schools. Does he has a TFA intern advising him? When asked whether he supports charter schools in 2016, he seemed not to know what they were. He endorsed the 2016 campaign on Question 2 in Mass, to block the expansion of charter schools. Did he know what they were then?
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I’m baffled.
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Diane,
found this article and I wonder what they are taught in the history classes…
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/ncna978921
Southern California community
The Newport-Mesa Unified School District wants to know if its students were drinking and honoring the swastika.
March 4, 2019, 11:22 AM ET
An affluent Southern California community was rocked by social media images of teenagers apparently giving the Nazi salute while gathered around red plastic cups arranged in the shape of a swastika.
Newport-Mesa Unified School District pledged to cooperate with law enforcement in trying to identify any of its students who might have been in the offending picture and were drinking underage. The images appeared on social media over the weekend, according to schools spokeswoman Adriana Angulo.
Newport-Mesa Unified students salute over a swastika made from red plastic cups. Faces obscured by NBC News. Twitter
“We were recently made aware of social media postings involving some students who created inappropriate anti-Semitic symbols, and possible underage drinking,” Angulo said in a statement. “While these actions did not occur on any school campus or school function, we condemn all acts of anti-Semitism and hate in all their forms.”
She added, “We continue to gather information regarding the conduct of these students and work with law enforcement.”
But Costa Mesa Mayor Katrina Foley, in a statement on Monday, stopped short of putting all blame on the people in the images.
“While we take seriously and object to this hateful activity, I discourage vilification of these teens,” Foley said. “Instead, we need to seriously address why teens in our community might think these types of hateful symbols are acceptable or funny and worthy of selfies.”
Newport-Mesa students toast over a swastika made from red plastic cups. The “ultimate rage” banner on the image was added by the social media user. Twitter
“I was simply devastated to see that,” school board president Charlene Metoyer told The Orange County Register. “As a school board, we’re not only concerned by the underage drinking, but also the mental health of the students who participated in this horrendous act and all their fellow students who will be affected by it. This is appalling to not just our Jewish student community, but to all of us who care about human rights.”
The Anti-Defamation League and the Council on American-Islamic Relations both condemned the Nazi imagery.
“When such actions are considered jokes, hate and bigotry become normalized. And then we open the door for escalating acts of bias,” according to an ADL statement.
Hussam Ayloush, executive directory of CAIR’s Los Angeles branch, said the youngsters in these photos probably learned this behavior from their parents.
“We stand in solidarity with the Jewish community and all other targeted minorities and against the actions of bigots who violate our nation’s long-standing principles of religious tolerance and inclusion,” Ayloush said in a statement.
“These young adults are expressing hatred that has been handed down from an older generation. The current trend of normalizing hate speech has emboldened bigots in their speech, as well as their actions,” he said.
David K. Li is a breaking news reporter for NBC News.
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Maybe they heard Trump praise the guys wearing Swastikas in Charlottesville when he said there are “fine people on both sides.”
Remember “The Jews will not replace us.”
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Until recently, Orange County California has always been heavily conservative. Orange County was also a hotbed for the John Birch Society and the Koch brothers’ father was one of the founders of the John Birch Society. If you look at the 2016 electoral map for the county, you will discover that the majority of voters in Newport Beach (found in CA-48) voted for Donald Trump. However, in 2018, most of Orange County changed its mind about the Kremlin’s Agent Orange.
https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/11/16/18098944/orange-county-blue-wave-2018
https://www.latimes.com/politics/la-me-orange-county-politics-20181105-story.html
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Another possible “sickout” in Kentucky tomorrow: https://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/education/2019/03/04/kentucky-teacher-strike-what-to-know/3060558002/
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Diane The below is about repairing schools from “The Conversation.”
America’s schools are crumbling – what will it take to fix them?
March 5, 2019 6.37am EST
When I was asked to support a federal lawsuit that says Detroit’s deteriorating schools were having a negative impact on students’ ability to learn, the decision was a no-brainer.
Detroit’s schools are so old and raggedy that last year the city’s schools chief, Nikolai Vitti, ordered the water shut off across the district due to lead and copper risks from antiquated plumbing. By mid-September, elevated levels of copper and lead were confirmed in 57 of 86 schools tested.
Safe water isn’t the only problem in Detroit schools. A 2018 assessment found that it would cost about US$500 million to bring Detroit’s schools into a state of repair – a figure that could grow to $1.4 billion if the school district waits another five years to address the problems. A school board official concluded that the district would have to “pick and choose” which repairs to make because there isn’t enough money to make them all.
Even though a federal judge tossed out the lawsuit that I supported, the judge recognized how the deteriorating state of Detroit’s schools impact student learning. The central argument of the lawsuit is that children have a constitutional right to literacy, and that the state was violating that right by failing to provide enough resources for Detroit’s school system.
“The conditions and outcomes of Plaintiffs’ schools, as alleged, are nothing short of devastating,” U.S. District Court Judge Stephen J. Murphy III wrote. “When a child who could be taught to read goes untaught, the child suffers a lasting injury – and so does society.”
But Judge Murphy found that the “deplorable and unsafe conditions” that deny children access to literacy were not shown to stem from “irrational” decisions of the State. The case has been appealed to the U.S. 6th Circuit.
A nationwide problem/Detroit’s dilemma is not unique.
Water coolers were brought in to dozens of Detroit public schools in 2018 after the discovery of elevated levels of lead or copper in school drinking fountains. Paul Sancya/AP
Before I became a professor of educational leadership and policy, I served as assistant state superintendent for research and policy in the Michigan Department of Education. I know a thing or two about how poor school facilities can have an effect on student learning. One recent study, for instance, found that in schools without air conditioning, for every one Fahrenheit degree increase in school year temperature, the amount learned that year goes down by 1 percent.
Crumbling schools can be found throughout the nation. These schools are disproportionately attended by low-income children of color. And it’s been that way for a while. For instance, a 1996 report by the General Accounting Office found that schools in “unsatisfactory physical and environmental condition” were “concentrated in central cities and serve large populations of poor or minority students.”
A 2014 Department of Education study found that it would cost about $197 billion to bring the nation’s deteriorating public schools into good condition.
The harshness of the conditions that have plagued the nation’s schools was captured in a case known as Williams v. California, a class action lawsuit that the ACLU filed in 2000 on behalf of California’s low-income students of color.
“The school has no air conditioning. On hot days classroom temperatures climb into the 90s,” the lawsuit stated in reference to the grim conditions at Luther Burbank middle school in San Francisco. “The school heating system does not work well. In winter, children often wear coats, hats, and gloves during class to keep warm.”
A similar situation happened in Baltimore’s public schools in January 2018, when the city’s schools were closed after parents and educators complained that students were being exposed to frigid conditions that the local teachers union described as “inhumane.”
A few years ago in the Yazoo County School District in Mississippi, the lights were so old at the high school that maintenance workers couldn’t find replacement bulbs when the lights went out.
In Philadelphia, the head of the teachers union recently described the current state of the city’s schools as “untenable.”
“From flaking lead paint, asbestos exposure, persistent rodent issues, the presence of mold, and even the lack of heat on bitterly cold days, educators and children in Philadelphia are learning and working in environmentally toxic facilities every day,” Jerry Jordan, president of the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers, wrote in a January op-ed.
Costs and consequences: Indeed, miserable conditions like these are not only hard on the children. They seriously impair school districts’ ability to retain their most valuable asset – their teachers. Teachers leave their jobs for a variety of reasons, but facility quality is a key factor.
Addressing the infrastructure needs of America’s public schools will be costly. However, continuing to ignore them would be even more costly. The educational impact of substandard facilities on students cannot be overstated. For example, at one elementary school in the Detroit “right to literacy” case that I supported, not a single sixth-grade student could read at a minimally proficient level. Perhaps poor facilities can’t be blamed entirely for the low reading ability at this particular school – but those conditions are still a potential factor.
Who should pay for it?: Funding for public education, including school facilities, is primarily a state and local matter. But while most states have tried to help poor local districts with basic operating expenses – such as paying teachers and buying supplies and materials – state support for school infrastructure has been much less reliable.
Local districts vary widely – usually along lines of race – in their ability to build or renovate schools. Property-poor districts, including most big city districts, are left behind.
Congress now has an opportunity to address this problem. The House has begun hearings on the Rebuild America’s School Act of 2019. Introduced by U.S. Rep. Bobby Scott, a Democrat from Virginia, the bill would invest $100 billion over 10 years in fixing America’s public schools.
Even for people who aren’t convinced that federal money should be spent on fixing America’s schools, there are other factors to consider when weighing the merits of the bill. For instance, the bill would create nearly 1.9 million jobs. This figure is based on an analysis that found 17,785 jobs are created for each $1 billion spent on construction. The estimate factors in an overall $107 billion investment when state and local resources are taken into account.
The $100 billion investment would also stimulate property values in communities where schools would be fixed. For all those reasons and more, passage of this bill should be a no-brainer.
https://theconversation.com/americas-schools-are-crumbling-what-will-it-take-to-fix-them-111720?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Latest%20from%20The%20Conversation%20for%20March%205%202019%20-%201251011559&utm_content=Latest%20from%20The%20Conversation%20for%20March%205%202019%20-%201251011559+CID_ffb77c1eea441cf0d9eae7cfb9354b45&utm_source=campaign_monitor_us&utm_term=Americas%20schools%20are%20crumbling%20%20what%20will%20it%20take%20to%20fix%20them
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Diane – The Globe on the Boston superintendent search:
https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2019/03/04/search-for-new-bps-superintendent-proceeding-slowly/kCAK1cMM3EMbEUgDtEJHAN/story.html?event=event25#comments
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Diane,
There are now those in the Boston area looking into the idea of the 13th year for weak students seeking college to increase grad rates by 6th year. But in NJ we might see a new definition – INMHO part of the structure should include a course on civics and one on the Constitution – both on the HS as well as the college levels. Below is an article from Spotlight on the issue –
DEFINING THE DIPLOMA: NJ’S 21ST-CENTURY HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATE
JOHN MOONEY | MARCH 7, 2019
What should high school in New Jersey accomplish for students and communities? Education Commissioner Lamont Repollet joins the first of a four-part series of roundtables on the state of our education
Commissioner of Education Lamont Repollet
What should a New Jersey high school diploma stand for in these modern and complicated times? And how do we get there?
These will be the central questions when NJ Spotlight this morning hosts a conversation with state Education Commissioner Lamont Repollet and three prominent high school principals. The title: “Defining the Diploma.” It’s the first in a four-part NJ Spotlight roundtable series, Defining the New Jersey High School Diploma.
Join us, as NJ Spotlight in its new partnership with NJTV News will be livestreaming the event, which takes place at Union County Vo-Tech’s Academy of the Performing Arts, starting at 8:20 a.m. Watch the event live, or the archived content later.
NJ Spotlight’s education writer John Mooney will moderate the discussion which, in addition to Repollet, will include the following principals:
Karen Bingert, Hillsborough High School;
Akbar Cook, Newark’s West Side High School;
Michael Parent, Passaic County Technical Institute in Wayne.
The timing is good, with New Jersey in an ongoing debate about standards for high school graduation and questions about what it should take to graduate and how to measure whether the standards are being met.
Click to expand/close
Yesterday, the administration of Gov. Phil Murphy announced at the State Board of Education that New Jersey’s four-year graduation rate — already one of the highest in the country — crept up a little more to 90.9 percent for the class of 2018.
But arguments persist over whether all these graduates are leaving high school with the needed skills and knowledge for either college or career. The arguments have been especially rancorous around how to test for that graduation competency, with the state’s PARCC testing ever a hot topic.
Click to expand/close
In its presentation yesterday, the Murphy administration said just 44 percent of those graduates achieved their diplomas by passing both of the state’s language arts and math exit tests. Not far behind, 36 percent needed alternative assessments in both subjects to prove their mastery.
But are these tests a good measure in the first place — and what should the state be thinking about future testing? Repollet, himself a former high school principal in Carteret, has said he wants to explore a new generation of testing. But what exactly does that mean?
We hope this morning’s discussion will provide some insight. And that’s just the start, as NJ Spotlight plans to dive deeper in subsequent public discussions on aspects of education in New Jersey, such as testing, seat-time requirements, and best and innovative practices.
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Deleted your MAGA crap. Once more and you are banned for life.
Did you think I wouldn’t notice? Your brain is coal-fired.
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“There are now those in the Boston area looking into the idea of the 13th year for weak students seeking college to increase grad rates by 6th year.”
Huh!?! This makes no sense.
On the west coast in California, students that are not on track to graduate on time because they do not qualify for a number of reasons are encouraged to take night classes at the local community colleges to catch up. In fact, students that start falling behind are counseled to take summer school classes the high school offers to make up for classes that might have been failed. California’s schools also offer tutoring services after school and students that fall behind also end up being counseled to take those classes.
I taught for thirty years in one school district south of Los Angeles, and these opportunities were always there.
In addition, California had Alternative High schools in most districts. The small district I taught in had one alternative high school. It was there when I started teaching in 1975, and it is still there. Students had to be referred to the alternative high school by their regular public school teachers, and the students had to agree. That alternative high school offered flexible schedules and no cut off age for high school graduation. Since the majority of these districts students lived in poverty, many of those teens ended up working to help their families survive financially and this put a burden on them to complete their high school education.
That alternative high school worked with these young adults so they could hold down full-time jobs and eventually graduate from high school, but they had to want it. No one forced them to do it.
I was told the oldest student to graduate from this Alternative High School was 24 and he went on to take classes from the local community college so he would one day be able to earn more money in a better job and escape working for poverty wages.
But there is one factor that no one seems to acknowledge or talk about. These students that stick it out no matter how difficult it becomes for them, want to do it. None of them get a free ride where they make no effort and learn nothing and do nothing to graduate from high school. Once they are sixteen, they are legally eligible to drop out and no one can stop them if their parents support what they want. And when they turn 18, not even their parents can stop them from dropping out.
The reality is that everyone does not have the same opportunities through life and some of us have to work harder, longer to achieve our dreams as long as we are willing to do it.
That’s why the number of Americans with high school degrees by the age of 25 is about 10 percent higher than the number that graduate on time at 17 or 18. Because the other ten percent took longer to earn that HS degree but they didn’t have to keep at it. They could have walked away as early as 16 and never earned that HS degree.
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Lloyd, the chat about a 13th year in Boston is at the moment just chat in response to a series of articles in the Boston Globe about the city’s valedictorians who did not achieve the goals they set for themselves, including for some, becoming medical doctors. Mayor Walsh, who continues on the destabilize, defund, destroy pathway to privatization has thrown this out as a sop to this bit of publicity.
What’s being discussed (not funded!) is creating a mechanism to allow graduates to receive support from the school system as they negotiate life after graduation. I believe none of it will come to fruition, as the mayor has taken the lead in creating chaos and churn across the school system. We lack an elected school committee, and members are appointed by the mayor. The current interim supernintendo’s last position was CEO of an outfit called EdVestors, which is just what its name implies, a bunch of hedge funders vested in privatization. Lacking any credentials whatsoever, she was granted a waiver by the complict reformsters at the state board of education.
Also, this winter the supernintendo initiated a policy of booting overaged students out of the alternative programs in which they were enrolled upon reaching their 22 birthday. It was only after really loud pushback that the proposal was amended to allow students to continue until the end of the semester during which their brthdays fell. Many of these are kids categorized as SLIFE – students with little or interrupted formal education – many of them refugees, young people learning English, some of them parenting. With fewer than 100 of them and the programs housed in alternate, supportive settings – not with 14 year olds in regular high schools – there was no justification for this policy, so it was finally walked back after outrage.
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Resurrecting the term “a necessary evil”:
https://www.cnn.com/2019/03/08/us/north-carolina-armed-teachers-pay-raise-trnd/index.html
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This article made me think about our education policy (especially those who champion The Common Core): https://fs.blog/2019/03/stormtrooper-problem/
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Hasan Minhaj on civil rights in the ear of Individual-1:
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era
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Betsy DeVos’ mercenary brother Erik Prince was interviewed on Al Jazeera by Mehdi Hasan. It didn’t go well for Prince:
https://youtu.be/m_34ZPxCxMw
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Sorry, wrong link!
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Michael Bennet has the nerve to run as a thoughtful public education supporter: https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/elections/presidential/caucus/2019/02/22/michael-bennet-colorado-education-experience-iowa-caucuses-2020-election-president-hickenlooper-dem/2919439002/
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“I love that he spoke so much about children,” she said.
To quote that great philosopher Popeye, “That’s all I can stands, I can’t stands no more!”
Booker/Bennet/Gillibrand: with friends like these, we don’t need any enemies.
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I thought you might find this of interest (see below). EPS early childhood education model the gold standard and has set the district on its course for student achievement success – in my opinion. Congrats to all on the continued support of early childhood education on the Prairie.
Regards,
Rich
—– Forwarded Message —–
From: Richard Evonitz ricevo@d219.org
To: Steven Shadel stesha@d219.org; Teri Madl tmadl@eps73.net; Margaret Clauson clausonm@skokie69.net; Beth Flores bflores@golf67.net; Steven Isoye steiso@d219.org
Cc: “chaom@skokie69.net” chaom@skokie69.net; Mary Kaiser mkaiser@eps73.net; “rtoth@golf67.net” rtoth@golf67.net; Rich Evonitz revonitz@yahoo.com
Sent: Monday, March 11, 2019, 10:39:51 PM CDT
Subject: New Multi-year Study of 6 Early Education Systems.
As reported in the American School Board Journal, December 2018:
A new multiyear study of six early education systems that outpace the US on money spent per child, percentage of children enrolled, and math achievement at age 15 offers thought-provoking ideas about ways to improve early child care and education.
The study, entitled “The Early Advantage: Early Childhood Systems that Lead by Example” examines services for young children in UK, Australia, Finland, Hong Kong, Korea and Singapore.
Some quotes:
“While all countries studied have low-income populations in need of extra assistance to provide their young ones with quality child care and education, none of them make income level a requirement for services.”
“These countries offer near-universal systems that guarantee some level of education for children age 3 and older.”
Regards,
Rich
—
Richard W. Evonitz
Board Secretary, Niles Township High School District 219 Board of Education
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Bad news on Beto, via Mitchell Robinson:
Teaching experience: “Amy spent a few months teaching kindergarten in Guatemala City after graduating from Williams College in Massachusetts.”
Ms. O’Rourke was the former principal of La Fe Preparatory School in El Paso, and is now running a non-profit that’s trying to attract more big charter school chains, like IDEA and Harmony Charter Schools, to the El Paso area.
That she has done this with a bachelors in psychology, a few months of kindergarten teaching in Guatemala, and no formal training in education or teaching certification just shows you what it really takes to succeed in charter schools these days: being the child of a billionaire real estate investor, and the spouse of a millionaire businessman and political candidate.
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Make no mistake about it. The power-elite are going to work hard to put a forth new face, a ‘forward-looking’ young man… who just happens to be a wealthy businessman who is married to wealth from the wonderful world of real estate. Perfect people who represent us, and who know WLLL… what learning looks like….NOT!
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O’Rourke, like Joe Biden, poses as a “sleeves-rolled-up” populist (see Vanity Fair) and “progressive”, but do not be fooled.
See:
Biden and Beto’s Aid to GOP Candidates Is Disqualifying
http://nymag.com/intelligencer/2019/01/2020-primary-biden-and-betos-aid-to-gop-candidates-in-2018-is-disqualifying.html
Beto O’Rourke was the #2 recipient of $$$ from the Oil & Gas industry in 2018, after Ted Cruz:
Oil & Gas: Top Recipients | OpenSecrets
http://nymag.com/intelligencer/2019/01/2020-primary-biden-and-betos-aid-to-gop-candidates-in-2018-is-disqualifying.html
Beto O’Rourke frequently voted for Republican legislation, analysis reveals | US news | The Guardian
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/dec/20/beto-orourke-congressional-votes-analysis-capital-and-main
Democrats Deserve Better Than Beto O’Rourke – Truthdig
https://www.truthdig.com/articles/democrats-deserve-better-than-beto-orourke/
He was one of 78 Democrats to weaken a key Wall St. regulation:78 Democrats Vote to Weaken a Key Wall Street Regulation
https://splinternews.com/78-democrats-vote-to-weaken-a-key-wall-street-regulatio-1825249063
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I refused to get worked up about any candidate this far out. I get promos from friends like this one by someone who loves Tusli https://youtu.be/4VOUuylYHIc
As for Biden, and Bernie (who I went to school with) I am married to an old man, and there is an old man in the WH, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=urB5Vsl176M
I think it is time for someone to represent the needs of the working class, the people with children, and our retired folks as well… but it is time for the power elite to get out of governing. Beto is too rich. His wife is real estate rich. He is young but he aint ever gonna grasp what our teachers need. In fact, he is big on charters.
Wondering about an election 20 months from now??? I am exhausted by the daily circus of ‘news’ and terrified by the real news, of nuclear weapons proliferation, weather event connected to climate change, and the inability to get military style guns out of the hands o f people, even as as the New Zealand rampage is live streamed..as if it is some kind of video game.
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You might also appreciate this:
https://harpers.org/archive/2019/03/joe-biden-record/
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Was anyone else creeped out by they way she was used and agreed to being a prop in the recent “introduction” video as I was?
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There is very little discussion of these topics. see
https://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2019/03/13/why-lunch-exercise-sleep-and-air-quality.html?cmp=eml-enl-cm-mostpop&M=58777085&U=2306083&UUID=c1a94eac9c56535ae3317f0d8229d295
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Good editorial from south Florida’s Sun Sentinel:
https://www.sun-sentinel.com/opinion/editorials/fl-op-edit-charter-schools-20190314-story.html
In the Summer 2015 edition of the conservative magazine National Affairs, two of America’s leading charter school proponents made a striking confession.
“We wanted the infusions of capital and entrepreneurialism that accompany the profit motive, but we didn’t take seriously enough the risk of profiteering,” wrote Chester Finn Jr., and Bruno Manno, both former assistant U.S. secretaries of education. They also warned against letting the charter sector “ossify into a conventional interest group.”
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Don’t ask what another believes, ask them why. Ever since I was made aware of this distinction, the results have amazed me in the few times I’be been able to do it. James O’Brien provides some great ideas:
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Diane Here is an article from Nonprofit Quarterly with an interesting Koch quote (see bold below) about how they think of their “donations”:
“A prime example of giving with political intent is Charles Koch, who, along with his brother David, has donated to colleges across the country, providing ‘$200 million to support 800 faculty positions on 300 campuses throughout the US.’ Their giving supports their objective—to strengthen support for their free-market, Randian political philosophy. Other donors might have different goals, but their philosophy of giving is close to the approach David Koch describes: ‘If we’re going to give a lot of money, we’ll make darn sure they spend it in a way that goes along with our intent. And if they make a wrong turn and start doing things we don’t agree with, we withdraw funding.’”
“Lest we see Koch as a special villain, he may simply be stating honestly the position and expectation of many high-dollar donors. In the face of great wealth and clear intent, NPQ has observed that university leaders face the challenge to ‘reconcile their responsibility to be publicly accountable with the demands of the philanthropic marketplace where they need to succeed.’ According to a report issued by UnKoch My Campus, donors seek to influence areas traditionally the sole purview of boards and leadership staff, including ‘hiring, scholarly activities…the creation of curriculum and academic programs…and student activities, from student groups to graduate fellowships.’” . . .
https://nonprofitquarterly.org/2019/03/12/saying-no-to-donor-demands-should-be-a-core-competency/?utm_source=NPQ+Newsletters&utm_campaign=cc9f5fc97d-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2018_01_11_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_94063a1d17-cc9f5fc97d-12886885&mc_cid=cc9f5fc97d&mc_eid=cc73fe1cff
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Wires are crossed at (the typically pro-Reform) realcleareducation.com. The following two articles are posted there:
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/red-alert-politics/education-should-focus-on-who-students-are-not-what-they-are
https://thefederalist.com/2019/03/14/todays-schools-emulate-education-produced-abraham-lincoln/ (this one is written by what seems to be a charter school administrator, but the message strikes me as contra-Reform
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Another one bites the dust:
https://www.yahoo.com/finance/news/apos-unfair-understatement-apos-students-215321031.html
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I hate it when we’re ahead of the curve in knowing about horrible trends and realities. Segregation in NY school:
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Are you familiar with this:
The American writer Bill Bryson writes in his book “The Lost Continent: Travels in Small Town America” about a study by the National Endowment for the Humanities…
“It had recently tested 8,000 high school seniors and found that they were as stupid as pig dribble. More than two-thirds of them did not know when the US Civil War took place, couldn’t identify Stalin or Churchill, and didn’t know who wrote the Canterbury Tales. Almost half thought that World War I started before 1900. A third thought that Roosevelt was president during the Vietnam War and that Columbus sailed to America after 1750. Forty-two percent – this is my favorite – couldn’t name a single country in Asia”.
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I wrote the study in 1987. That was over 30 years ago. What is your point?
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Charles, I’d be willing to bet $100 that if someone researched each of these children and the classes they took K-12 and talked to the teachers, they’d discover most if not all of those children were taught most if not all of the facts on that test.
Testing is a memory game and most of the time, the memory is going to lose because of the way it works. In fact, poverty creates obstacles for a child’s memory. It’s not easy to remember what a teacher taught when you are hungry and/or you live in a dysfunctional home. On top of that, there is the natural developmental dysfunction of the adolescent mind.
“Teen Brain: Behavior, Problem Solving, and Decision Making.”
https://www.aacap.org/aacap/families_and_youth/facts_for_families/fff-guide/the-teen-brain-behavior-problem-solving-and-decision-making-095.aspx
“Poverty and academic achievement. Poverty has a particularly adverse effect on the academic outcomes of children, especially during early childhood. Chronic stress associated with living in poverty has been shown to adversely affect children’s concentration and memory which may impact their ability to learn.”
https://www.apa.org/pi/families/poverty
And these factors are not unique to the United States.
“There is an achievement gap between more and less disadvantaged students in every country; surprisingly, that gap is smaller in the United States than in similar post-industrial countries, and not much larger than in the very highest scoring countries.
“Achievement of U.S. disadvantaged students has been rising rapidly over time, while achievement of disadvantaged students in countries to which the United States is frequently unfavorably compared – Canada, Finland and Korea, for example – has been falling rapidly.”
https://news.stanford.edu/news/2013/january/test-scores-ranking-011513.html
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This twitter thread from the Indiana State Teachers Association on active shooter drills is quite appalling.
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Yes.
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Here’s more: https://www.indystar.com/story/news/politics/2019/03/21/active-shooter-training-for-schools-teachers-shot-with-plastic-pellets/3231103002/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter
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Everything about this story is uplifting. Check out the hyperlinks as well. Perhaps a future speaker for the annual NPE meeting?
https://sports.yahoo.com/donovan-mitchell-pays-back-fourthgrade-teacher-by-giving-her-daughter-25000-scholarship-045608316.html
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Good post in Dissent on the rise of the “charitable” billionaire:
“If democratic taxation endangers oligarchy, charity is fundamentally aristocratic. Charity fosters hierarchy, empowers the wealthy, and undermines democracy. However benevolent a philanthropist’s intentions, to donate money to others is to exert control over their lives. And because these decisions are necessarily made by those with the money to give, charity is an avenue by which the rich in particular assert their power. It is, by definition, arbitrary, determined by a donor’s whims. Charity can provide personal warmth, but not systemic fairness; it can be kind, but it cannot be just.”
https://www.dissentmagazine.org/article/the-philanthropy-con
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Thank you for all you do for public education. In California right now are 4 assembly Bills – AB-1505 – AB-1508. AB-1508 in particular to enable local school districts to consider financial, program and facilities impacts when approving/denying new charter petitions. This leaves a huge gap for districts to have a say in renewing charters that were imposed on the districts by the California State Board of Education despite denial at the local and county levels. Would you be able to alert your readers in California to contact the bill authors before it goes to the floor for a vote to add language AB-1508 to apply to charter renewals as well as new petitions? If enough Californians can respond, we may be able to make this proposed law even stronger to bring back local control over the 1323 charter schools in operation in the state.
AB-1508 sponsors are CA Assembly Members Kalra (author), Bonta, McCarty, O’Donnell, Smith and CA Senators Beall and Skinner
Thanks again for all you do!
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I have long advocated that we quit using the terms white nationalism, white supremacy, and alt-right because they imply a certain legitimacy to those who don’t pay attention to linguistics of intolerance. The correct term—the only term we should be using because it is accurate—is fascism. Yesterday the White House sent a memo to television producers encouraging them to ban individuals and silence voices on their broadcasts: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-mueller-russia-report-investigation-cnn-msnbc-a8839951.html
Foreign commentators are also taking notice: https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/fintan-o-toole-trial-runs-for-fascism-are-in-full-flow-1.3543375
What was theoretical in the 2016 campaign has become unavoidably real. Large numbers of Americans crave American fascism. It goes far beyond white, nationalism, supremacy, or some point on an imaginary political spectrum.
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I am writing an essay called Word Matter. In this ERA OF TRANSFORMATION, –the result of the information revolution that accompanied the newest information technology –the internet/cyberspace — words that identify big ideas, have never been more important. https://medium.com/s/story/we-cant-combat-fake-news-if-we-don-t-really-understand-it-caed33dbea09
The word ‘propaganda has been replaced with ‘fake news’, so that ordinary folks can be bamboozled by the flood of lies that are sent forth in a daily barrage. But, propaganda IS the word that applies to so much the ‘news’ disseminated today.
Bad behavior goes viral:”The internet’s reward system favors anger, and it’s catching up with us. https://medium.com/s/story/what-happens-to-the-children-of-tomorrow-when-we-make-our-sociopaths-the-aspirational-high-point-3c951cd9fad6
Look at this, today: : https://www.huffpost.com/entry/mo-brooks-adolf-hitler-democrats-press-big-lie_n_5c994c91e4b0743555497620?ncid=newsltushpmgnews__TheMorningEmail__032618 from the Huffington Post: CONGRESSMAN QUOTES HITLER IN HOUSE Rep. Mo Brooks (R-Ala.) quoted an attack by Adolf Hitler on Jews on the House floor Monday to chide Democrats and the media. Brooks read from Hitler’s autobiography, Mein Kampf, about the Nazi leader’s characterization of “big lie” propaganda that he said was used by his Jewish opponents. In Brooks’ scenario, it applies to Democrats and the media.
“Because every news cycle these days has to be Extraordinarily Stupid, now the most crackpottian of Republican ex-governor crackpots also has to weigh in.
If there was anyone who could wedge an anti-Semitic trope about Jewish money into their hand-wringing about anti-Semitism, it would be Paul LePage, who trails behind him a long history of racist statements, took to a radio program to explain that Jewish Americans are the financiers of the Democratic Party. He gets to say: “The Jewish people in America have been great supporters of the Democratic Party,” In fact, that’s where their money comes from for the most part. “
And then there is all the confusion being spread about the economic system of socialism, as ignorant people associate it with the political system of ‘communism.’ t’s not socialism to give the people what they need for the COMMON GOOD: https://www.commondreams.org/views/2019/03/13/its-not-socialism-its-what-people-want?cd-origin=rss&utm_term=It%27s%20Not%20Socialism%3B%20It%27s%20What%20the%20People%20Want&utm_campaign=Progress%3A%20%27It%27s%20What%20the%20People%20Want%27%20%7C%20Your%20Week%20in%20Review&utm_content=email&utm_source=Weekly%20Newsletter&utm_medium=Email&cm_mmc=Act-On%20Software--email--Progress%3A%20%27It%27s%20What%20the%20People%20Want%27%20%7C%20Your%20Week%20in%20Review-_-It%27s%20Not%20Socialism%3B%20It%27s%20What%20the%20People%20Want
Look at how words are used to derail energy bills: Something very unusual occurred yesterday in the Colorado state legislature. As they were well on their way to passing a comprehensive bill that would overhaul gas and oil industry regulations within the state, Colorado state senate Democrats found themselves temporarily stymied by ranking Republican state senator John Cooke. Cooke invoked an arcane rule that forced a verbal reading of a wholly unrelated 2000-page bill, involving an obscure state statute, prior to resuming any hearings, debates or votes on the energy bill. This 2000-page tome enjoyed bipartisan support, so there was never any issue about its passage. Cooke’s goal was to delay passage of the oil and gas bill, because Republicans—and more importantly, the oil and gas . https://www.denverpost.com/2019/03/11/colorado-senate-republicans-halt-work-bill-reading/
I could go n forever, withthe links I collect that show why WORDS MATTER!
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Words do matter. I think we need to educate and remind people everywhere about the consequences, especially when fascist governments are elected in diverse places like Austria, Brazil, Hungary, Israel, and many of the former Soviet republics. And strong minorities of voters for them in Germany, Poland, Sweden, the United Kingdom and, of course, the United States. Dictators aren’t the only fascists.
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I agree. just read this: For millennia, humans have had rivals or opponents, but a new category of foe is emerging: the digital nemesis. On social-media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram, users are prone to braggadocio, and that has led to the rise of online rivalry, in which people relish the schadenfreude of their adversary’s slipups, even minute ones. While those who already struggle with self-esteem issues can find a nemesis unproductive, in other cases, having a nemesis can provide a healthy dose of competition to push people to work harder, aim higher.
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GregB Perhaps “fascism in the form of white nationalism” or of “white supremacy?” That usage would be more true to Hannah Arendt’s observations of fascism . . . that it disguises itself and takes on the “cloak” of whatever is out there that they can build a power-base from. (From her “Origins of Totalitarianism.) CBK
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While I respect your argument, I disagree with it. If we are going to use extra words after “fascism,” then they should be used to explain what it is.
When I worked against David Duke in the early 90s, the coalition understood that there were white supremacists who would have nothing to do with Naziism. We ran ads of good ole boys from north Louisiana who fought in WWII, who had sympathy for white supremacy—who well might have been white supremacists—who understood the difference. They said things to the of: “I went to Europe to fight Nazis and fascists and I’ll be damned if I’m going to have one elected to the Senate.” I think our use of the term alt-right is the most egregious self-inflicted wound. It is a term invented and test marketed by fascists to create a false legitimacy. Much like they use use the term far left to create a false illegitimacy.
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GregB Okay . . . your note reminds me of how we can fail to see the same meaning crop up in totally different words (as you seem to be saying, and Orwell was oh-so-right). I also have wondered recently if this new generation has much of an idea about what “fascism” means. But there, again, is the critical need for teaching history in K-12. Sigh . . . . CBK
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CBK, you are the last person in the world I worry about when it comes to this. You understand. My fear is about the people who don’t.
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I watched the great Frank Capra movie “Meet John Doe” a few days ago. A good introduction to the meaning of fascism.
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Diane I think I saw “Meet John Doe” a long time ago, but it needs another viewing. Also, two of my favorite movies about the press and slick corporate power-grabbers and degenerates are (1) The Insider (the tobacco debacle) and (2) Spotlight (the Catholic priest abuse of children and its coverup). Then of course there’s “All the Presidents’ Men.” Thanks, CBK
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Secretary DeVos back in front of Congress:
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In the past week, Three(3) people with ties to school shootings have committed (apparent) suicide. see
https://www.the74million.org/amid-latest-suicides-with-school-shooting-ties-columbine-families-share-lessons-on-addressing-lasting-trauma/?utm_source=The+74+Million+Newsletter&utm_campaign=61ddb36552-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2019_03_26_09_42&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_077b986842-61ddb36552-176145421
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Charles, you provided a link to “The 74”, Campbell Brown’s FAKE education propaganda website that was funded by:
Bloomberg Philanthropies
the WALTON Family Foundation
the Carnegie Corporation
and the Dick & Besty DeVos Family Foundation.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_74
The 74 was launched in July 2015.
Find a better source that isn’t an Altr-Right conservative propaganda machine.
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Diane, Why are not more American (and western) feminists speaking up about how brutally women are treated in Islamic nations? see
https://www.city-journal.org/html/why-feminism-awol-islam-12395.html
I am reminded of Niemuller.
“And when they came for me, there was no one left to speak up”
Where is the outrage about FGM, and the stoning of women?
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More educational philosophy from Secretary DeVos: https://educationpost.org/betsy-devos-wants-larger-class-sizes-and-fewer-teachers/
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“More educational philosophy from Secretary DeVos”
Is there a philosophy for greed, corruption, abuse of power, ignorance, and stupidity?
Wait, I forgot. It’s called Koch brothers libertarianism and anything to do with Trump or being Trump.
BD is a member of ALEC.
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I’m always concerned about Ed Reformers who are persistent in their pursuits of higher office. Colorado is one of the biggest areas to keep an eye on:
https://www.westword.com/news/mike-johnston-on-challenging-cory-gardner-in-nations-hottest-senate-race-11210818
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The Colorado Democratic Party passed a resolution opposing DFER’s use of the word “Democrats,” as did the California Democratic Party, saying that DFER (the hedge fund managers’ charter lobby) represents corporate interests, not Democrats.
Yet Colorado has three major neoliberal Democrats who support charters and privatization: Senator Michael Bennett, Governor Jared Polis, and former State Senator Michael Johnston (ex-TFA).
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An interesting take on Franken (since we’ve discussed the sins of Gillibrand a lot here):
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/03/democrats-shouldnt-have-pressured-al-franken-resign/585739/
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See Barbara Lee Trash Betsy DeVos For Cutting Special Olympics
https://splinternews.com/please-enjoy-barbara-lee-trashing-betsy-devos-to-her-fa-1833587552
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Having had the privilege of dining at Noma once, it’s great to see a former chef from there doing something about school lunches in this country. I sure hope the reality and future of this story is as good as it seems to be:
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Teach for America was discussed at our state Capitol recently (yesterday?) and an article for the Sac Bee about it was in today’s on line news paper. (April 3, 2019). Kevin Kiley, reputed to be a TFA “teacher” rudely and arrogantly (white land owner to Hispanic servant) tone Cristina Garcia who introduced a bill to limit TFA placement of teachers in low income schools in California. Video clip of his rudeness leads the article. https://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article228735189.html
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The hired guns for the billionaires have already attacked the California State legislature about censuring the rude and arrogant Kevin Kiley’s attack on Cristina Garcia who introduced a bill to limit Teach For America teachers in California classrooms. https://cloakinginequity.com/category/teach-for-america-2/
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New Mexico Governor making changes: https://www.santafenewmexican.com/news/legislature/lujan-grisham-repeals-a-f-school-grading-system/article_aba5a383-e891-52f7-9cb5-92f4ef6d6982.html
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So, over in our colony of Puerto Rico, things have been popping in education circles.
Julia Keleher, the woman appointed by Gov. Rosselló to turn the island’s schools into charters in a New Orleans redux, stepped down from her $250,000 gig (about 10 times the average teacher’s salary), but said she would continue to work as a consultant. The first response of the president of the Federation of Puerto Rican Teachers was one of joy. Then on Thursday, Keleher announced she would not take the consultant position.
http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/campaign-k-12/2019/04/puerto-rico-education-secretary-julia-keleher-stepping-down.html
It was also revealed that the contact person in the law firm which is helping charter operators establish schools is the son of Gov. Roselló, Jay Rosselló.
https://www.hmbr.com/news-insight/charter-schools-in-puerto-rico/
And yesterday, at the Yale Education Leadership (sic) Conference, a student group protested Keleher’s status as a keynote speaker. The letter neatly sums up all that is wrong with the charter industry, exacerbated by the lack of political self-determination in the colony.
Oh, and it appears there’s a federal investigation into Keleher’s time as head of education.
https://caribbeanbusiness.com/former-puerto-rico-education-secretary-terminates-contract-with-fiscal-agency/
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I’m a little fish in a very large pond, but sometimes you want to hear more voices. Lately, this one has gotten a lot of notice: http://grumpyoldteacher.com/2019/04/06/gunfire/
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A non-too-flattering look at Mayor Pete Buttigieg. The author seems a bit inflammed about his time at McKinsey.
“Knowing I would head back to America meant that there was less at stake for me in the grade, but I took pride in it even while sensing that the time had come to learn what wasn’t on the page and get an education in the real world.
Which is why I went to McKinsey.
Okay, pause for a moment. If you are Pete Buttigieg, at this point in your life you have the ability to take almost any job you want. These schools open doors, and you pick which one you go through. (Ask yourself: If I could do anything I wanted for a living, what would I do?) Pete Buttigieg looked inside himself and decided he belonged at… the world’s most sinister and amoral management consulting company.”
https://www.currentaffairs.org/2019/03/all-about-pete
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https://freedomoutpost.com/prison-sentence-upheld-for-mother-of-four-who-privately-said-her-neighborhood-mosques-call-to-prayer-was-too-loud/
A woman is going to jail, for complaining about the noise of a mosque.
Where is the feminist outrage? Why have feminists gone AWOL on Islam?
https://www.city-journal.org/html/why-feminism-awol-islam-12395.html
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The US is now officially a banana republic:
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/apr/09/dojs-new-stance-on-foreign-payments-or-gifts-to-trump-blurs-lines-experts
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Greg,
Ignoring the emoluments clause in the Constitution is disgraceful.
If MBS pays Trump by renting out his hotels, Trump “likes” him.
And as we saw with the murderous dictator Kim, if Trump likes him, his human rights policy doesn’t matter.
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Agggggh!
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Slap back at DeVos, whose budget cuts literacy programs:
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Ohio school districts sue Facebook over ECOT. Sadly, mine is not one of them and I intend to ask why at the next board meeting:
https://www.ohio.com/news/20190411/summit-county-other-ohio-school-districts-sue-facebook-over-ecot-scandal
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In case you missed John Oliver on his commentary on opioids last night:
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Of all the videos that nail what is up in this nation, it is this one.. you skip the opening that freak Avenotti… because Seth sums up where we are..the utter contempt and the insanity. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AcrYY-5PdgE
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Don’t miss this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AcrYY-5PdgE
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Mexico’s new president, Andrés Manuel Lopez Obrador, has signed an executive order rescinding the “education reforms” put in place by his predecessor.
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Here is a new book about home schooling
, Unschooled: Raising Curious, Well-Educated Children Outside the Conventional Classroom.
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It will be interesting to see how our sneering commentator will grasp at straws now to throw temper tantrums like Individual-1. The first sentence of the second paragraph of page 1 of the Mueller Report: “The Russian government interfered in the 2016 presidential election in sweeping and systematic fashion.”
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Pete Buttigieg’s time at McKinsey seems to inform his views on education, and of course it’s not a positive look.
“We are developing the South Bend Lifelong Learning System to serve all of the city’s 100,000 residents, with an emphasis on ensuring that learning is relevant and accessible for the most economically vulnerable.
We aim to have 20,000 people sign up in Year 1 (2020), reach 35,000 sign-ups by the end of Year 2 and 50,000 by the end of Year 3.
As fleshed out below, we will design the system in a way that it is scalable nationally.
Part digital and part physical, the system will take what is currently a highly fragmented set of learning resources, identify those that have proven to be most effective, integrate them more efficiently and make them accessible and inviting for the entire South Bend community.
Our digital portal will allow every citizen of South Bend to:
Understand what skills are in demand (based on timely employer input).
Connect people to learning opportunities to develop those skills (hard or soft) via local institutions or through curricula available directly on the platform from national providers.
Keep a record of what has been learned (with credentialing and badging recognized by local employers).
Present, for those who have the knowledge and skills, volunteer opportunities to teach others.
Continually develop professional and technical skills (for those already with “good” jobs), as well as stay intellectually engaged once retired (which can help stave off the symptoms of Alzheimer’s).
Learn beyond the workplace—e.g., how to prepare healthy meals, gain financial literacy or simply engage with a topic that is a personal passion.
Designated physical spaces—at library branches, neighborhood tech centers and other locations—will provide wireless connectivity, house face-to-face study sessions and learning circles, and serve as a conduit to other support services (such as child care).
The hallmarks of the system are as follows:
First, we will aggregate, market and distribute the best curricula and other resources out there. We intend to curate, not create, content.
Second, we envision a true lifelong learning system—one that begins with early childhood education and carries through someone’s entire working life and into their senior years. Through this ‘pre-K to gray’ orientation, we aim to cultivate in people a habit of lifelong learning.”
https://www.drucker.institute/programs/city-of-lifelong-learning/
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A bit of good news:
Katie Meyler, a clueless wonder who founded a girls’school in Liberia has resigned. You’ll remember that her organization failed to report – or prevent – rapes of students by a staff member, Macintosh Johnson, with whom Meyler had had a personal, intimate relationship.
https://www.propublica.org/article/more-than-me-founder-and-ceo-katie-meyler-resigns?utm_source=pardot&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=dailynewsletter
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Diane,
I’m not aware of the protocol for suggesting blog topics. However, given this story has already hit Strauss’ desk at The Post, it behooves us all to read it and consider its present and future implications. As it so eloquently articulates the reality of every teacher, it is the same for me even now at the end of my 26th year.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2019/04/16/why-this-south-carolina-teacher-quit-mid-year-the-unrealistic-demands-all-consuming-nature-profession-are-not-sustainable/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.4bce7633951a
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This editorial cartoon is called Crushing Student Debt
https://www.sltrib.com/opinion/bagley/2019/04/22/bagley-cartoon-crushing/
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I was made aware of this story through the Harper’s Magazine Weekly Review. Not sure if it’s funny or not, but it shows that striking teachers should be wary of strangers bearing gifts:
https://www.newsweek.com/cookies-laxatives-ohio-strike-school-workers-1394247
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Here is a fascinating story about what keeps minority females out of STEM careers. I am a telecom engineer, and it is primarily white and Asian males. There are very few females, and even fewer minority females in my field. see
https://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2019/04/24/what-really-keeps-girls-of-color-out.html?r=1338934507&cmp=eml-enl-eu-news2-rm&M=58813314&U=2306083&UUID=c1a94eac9c56535ae3317f0d8229d295
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Maybe they don’t want to go into a STEM major. Why should they?
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It depends on whether they wish to have a career or not. There are many people with degrees in recreation, Italian literature, and other liberal arts.
Engineering jobs in the USA are going begging, and the salaries in many STEM fields are very good.
Personally, I think that more females should go into STEM fields, and more women of color, as well.
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Last week I received the course listing for several of the local community colleges in the San Francisco Bay area and there was one full page about the STEM courses they were all offering that would lead to a job in that field.
But the bottom line is that after a young adult turns 18 and becomes legal, they have the freedom to decide what field they want to go into.
It’s called freedom of choice for those who are legally allowed to have freedom of choice as long as their choices are legal.
Maybe this will help explain why so many young women are not interested in STEM courses.
“Why I Hated Computer Science at Stanford”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dHJslFthQAk
“Why Female Students Leave STEM”
“In a new working paper, Georgetown University researchers explored what drives women who entered a STEM major to switch to something else. Their findings, published by the National Bureau of Economic Research, show that the answer is a complex combination of factors, including the environment, perception of the major and grades. It also showed that previous theories don’t always hold up.”
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2017/08/29/study-says-multiple-factors-work-together-drive-women-away-stem
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I am not saying that anyone should be “forced” into any field, including a field with high salaries and excellent career prospects. Not at all. I am just observing that there are factors at play, which tend to discourage females (and minorities) from going into STEM careers.
If someone wants to go to college, and study recreation, and Italian literature, and social work, and philosophy,etc. And then have to live in their parent’s basement, that is fine by me.
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Nothing surprised me, but this one made me sick… https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/23/magazine/kay-jewelry-sexual-harassment.html
…even In this day where we are finally hearing women talk out about how they are still been treated as wage earners in the male dominated society — where a critter like Trump’s pick for the Fed, is Moore–who believes that Women should go back to taking care of the family, and not even be allowed to announce a sports event (unless they \’re pretty) .
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Charles, I think you have been listening/watching too many Alt-Right talking heads like these liars: Rush Limbaugh, Hannity, Alex Jones, et al. The extreme right conservative misinformation machine is great at making an issue they don’t like seem much worse than it is.
This link will take you the 10 college graduate fields with the highest unemployment rate. Here are the first five:
Number One: Mass Media
How many of these graduates end up unemployed in their field? 4,574
The other 57,244 found jobs in their field.
Number Two: Fine Arts
How many of these graduates end up unemployed in their field? 4,912
The other 71,833 found jobs in their field.
Number Three: English Language
How many of these graduates end up unemployed in their field? 12,225
The other 178,788 found jobs in their field.
Number Four: Liberal Arts (this is the degree the far right hates the most – I think that is because it has the word “liberal” in the titles and also teaches them how to think logically for themselves without letting numbers be their god)
How many of these graduates end up unemployed in their field? 4,967
The other 73,871 found jobs in their field
Number Five: Philosophy
How many of these graduates end up unemployed in their field? 3,284
The other 49,213 found jobs in their field
https://www.creditsesame.com/blog/education/college-majors-with-highest-unemployment/
“The share of college graduates in their twenties who live with their parents increased from 19 percent in 2005 to 28 percent in 2016.”
That does not mean the college graduates that live with their parents do NOT have a job and are unemployed.
https://www.realtrends.com/blog/live-with-parents/
“The real reason college grads move home with their parents may surprise you”
“Overall, young adults who move back in with their parents actually have less student debt than those who don’t, according to a study published this month in the journal, Sociology of Education”
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/the-real-reason-college-grads-move-home-with-their-parents-may-surprise-you-2017-01-06
“This isn’t because college graduates aren’t getting jobs: In fact, Zillow points out that the average college graduate earns about $36,000 per year, per the median salary data of 2016—higher than the average median salary of all adults in the United States, which is $34,000. It’s just that the current housing market doesn’t afford them the luxury of buying a home—which is why they bunk up with dear ol’ mom and dad.”
https://www.domino.com/content/zillow-college-graduates-live-with-parents-2018/
I think it is safe to say that the number of unemployed college graduates that end up living in their parent’s basement is a lot smaller than the (real) FAKE media (like Fox) wants its ignorant and gullible followers to know.
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President Trump too busy:
https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/440916-trump-wont-attend-national-teacher-of-the-year-award-ceremony
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Profile in Cowardice.
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A look at the multitude of challenges Puerto Rican students face in pursuing college opportunities.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2019/04/26/puerto-rico-odds-are-against-high-school-graduates-who-want-go-college/?utm_term=.3c3ffc916954
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Did not watch WH correspondents dinner last night, but Chernow was actually quite good:
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Progressives Take a Bold Stance at an Epicenter of the Charter School Movement to Score a Major Win for Public Education | naked capitalismhttps://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2019/04/progressives-take-a-bold-stance-at-an-epicenter-of-the-charter-school-movement-to-score-a-major-win-for-public-education.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+NakedCapitalism+%28naked+capitalism%29
Scroll down to the article.
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Diane, I let most of the derogatory comments against me, slide. But, do you really want to be a party to someone calling me a “whore”? I am proud of my career. I worked in nuclear weapons control during the cold war. I spent two years at a front line combat base in Germany. I was in the Mozambican civil war. I spent ten(10) years on projects during the Iraq/Afghanistan conflicts. I was in the first gulf war.
I serve the public as an engineer. I do not make policy. I worked on a project examining the triggering circuits for IEDs (the biggest killer of our people in Afghanistan). I saved lives.
I am now working on the telecom systems for customs and border patrol.
Why do you publish comments calling me a “whore”?
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Charles,
I apologize for that comment. I missed it. That was very inappropriate.
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Apology accepted. He also called me a “mother-f*****r”.
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I would not let that pass either, Charles. This blog is dedicated to civil discourse and accepts vigorous disagreement, not vilification.
I have blocked many a comment that crossed the line.
I also block incessant duplication of the same comment.
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Diane,
I wonder why – noting your response to Charles – when I vigorously disagree with comments made here regarding anything related to our President you do not accept them or me, and block them.
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Jscheidell,
I will not post anything positive about a man whom I consider to be a liar, a grifter, a con man, a racist, a misogynist, and a xenophobe. He incites hatred and division.
I am sick of your MAGA garbage and sick of him.
He disgraces our country in the eyes of the world.
I have asked you not to post here anymore.
He is a disgrace to our nation.
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Diane,
As expected – you don’t always follow your own comment – “This blog is dedicated to civil discourse and accepts vigorous disagreement,”
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Jscheidell,
The blog accepts “vigorous disagreement” within the bounds of “civil discourse.”
Defending a liar and racist who has incited violence and disgraced the presidency is not within the bounds of civil discourse.
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It is sad to say this, but JS, as bright as he is, does not grasp the reality of the division that is being sown https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2019/4/29/1853869/-The-new-age-of-chain-terrorism-White-far-right-killers-are-inspiring-each-other-sequentially?detail=emaildkre
He does not see, or does not care how the internet, the media, and Trump & company divides us. https://mailchi.mp/38521b8804b1/white-supremacist-terrorists-operate-like-isis-trump-shrugs.
Moreover, he believes completely in his ‘ freedom’ of opinion, and cannot differentiate his ‘perspective’ from reality, nor does he ‘get it,’ that THIS SITE is yours, and the CONVERSATION here ,is yours to keep civil and rooted in OBSERVABLE REALITY.
Having much experience with bullies and trolls at the news site where I write, I can tell you that folks like him, actually know full well what they aredoing, and ENJOY plaguing those who write here about civil society. He does not have much more to do with his life, if he has one.
I for one, would be happy to see him blocked for good. At OEN, the publisher’s ( whose mantra for his site) is TRUTH, blocks ad hominem attacks, but allows some virulent opinions, choosing to point to them and explain the mendacity and danger implicit in the comment.
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jscheidell Just take it that Trump is ANATHEMA to anything resembling CIVIL DISCOURSE. He is walking-talking LIE.
It has become so bad that just mentioning his name is like vomiting on civil discourse and so those who support him become suspect of wearing very thick bags over their heads and muffs over their ears.
At some point, if you want civil discourse (as Diane does), you have to get rid of the ones who USE IT to destroy its presence among us. When you defend such a person as Trump here, YOU are using civil discourse to make way for (arguably) the most powerful person in the world who, in fact, seeks to destroy the very foundations of that discourse.
On that score, I see NO CONFLICT between Diane’s rules and her asking you to go away. CBK
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For the record: I am not a “fan” of our current president. I did NOT vote for him. I support some (NOT ALL) of the current president’s policies. (regardless of my personal contempt for him)
BTW- My “dream” president is retired Gen. Colin Powell. A man of sterling integrity, intelligence, and brilliant record of service to our nation. The “anti-Trump”.
I think that he could have had the presidency for the asking. He could have garnered support from Republicans and Dems. He just did not want to put his family through the “meat grinder”.
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It’s Randy Rainbow!
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Have a vomit bag handy before reading this profile of Individual-1’s higher ed advisor:
https://www.yahoo.com/news/if-god-existed-id-have-gotten-into-penn-meet-the-trump-appointee-working-on-higher-education-policy-090000704.html
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A good look at the multi-tentacled empire of the Kochs. For many folks, I’ll bet State Policy Network flies under their radar.
https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2018/10/the-koch-networks-integrated-strategy-for-social-transformation/
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