Archives for category: Networkfor Public Education Action Fund
Newer Entries »

Bruce Lederman: Successful Teachers Cannot Be Identified by Computer Algorithms

By dianeravitch
April 15, 2016 //
10

Bruce Lederman went to court to help his wife Sheri fight the rating she got from a flawed computer program in New York. Icky Sheri! No teacher could have paid for the legal bills required to fight the state. Bruce wrote this article in the main newspaper in Charlotte to warn North Carolinians to stop wasting time on computerized test-ASD teacher evaluations.

 

The Lederman case might turn it to be a landmark decision that puts an end to Arne Duncan’s worst idea: judging teachers by their students’ scores.

 

Why did Bruce publish this article in North Carolina? He and Sheri are appearing at the Network for Public Education annual conference in Raleigh to tell their story to activists from across the nation.

 

Wish you were here!

Categories Education Reform, Network for Public Education, Networkfor Public Education Action Fund, New York, North Carolina, Teacher Evaluations

Network for Public Education Meets This Weekend

By dianeravitch
April 14, 2016 //
1

Dr. William J. Barber, president of the North Carolina NAACP, will address the NPE conference on Saturday. He will speak to the outrage of HB2, recognizing that an attack on the rights of some people is an attack on the rights of all people. He has made clear that the NAACP will stage sit-ins if HB2 is not repealed.

 

 

 

MEDIA ADVISORY FOR
April 16 – 17, 2016
For more information contact:
Carol Burris, NPE Executive Director, 516-993-2141
cburris@networkforpubliceducation.org
Colleen Wood, NPE Conference Chair, 904-591-3207
cpdwood@gmail.com

 

The Network for Public Education’s 3rd Annual National Conference, “And Justice for All: Strengthening Public Education for Each Child,”
Convenes in Raleigh, North Carolina

 

 
Hundreds of public school teachers, parents, students and advocates will gather in Raleigh, North Carolina this weekend for The Network for Public Education’s (NPE) National Conference.

 

 

This annual event is a gathering of the nation’s educational leaders and advocates who work to ensure a high-quality, well-rounded education for each child in America’s public schools.

 

 
Conference attendees will hear keynote speeches from some of America’s most well respected educational and social justice leaders, including NPE President Diane Ravitch, Moral Mondays Leader Rev. William Barber, National Superintendent of the Year, Phil Lanoue and author and former New York Times Columnist, Bob Herbert.

 

 

The event promises to be educational, inspirational, and uplifting at a time when public education is increasingly under attack.

 

 
On Sunday, the Network will issue a major report on teacher evaluation entitled Teachers Talk Back: Educators on the Impact of Teacher Evaluation, a report authored by a team of educators from around the country. The team drew on survey responses from nearly 3000 educators from 48 states who shared their firsthand experiences with the new models of teacher evaluation that resulted from Race to the Top. What respondents reported is cause for serious concern.

 

 

The conference is sponsored by the Network for Public Education and Network for Public Education Action.

 
WHO: Public School Teachers, Parents, Students, School Board Members, and Advocates
WHAT: The Network for Public Education’s 3rd Annual National Conference
WHEN: Saturday, April 16, 2016 @ 8:30 am – Sunday, April 17, 2016 @ 2:30pm
WHERE: The Raleigh Convention Center, 500 S Salisbury St, Raleigh, NC 27601
For more information, see our conference website at events.bizzabo.com/NPEConference.

 
###
The Network for Public Education, founded by education historian Diane Ravitch and retired teacher Anthony Cody, is an advocacy group whose mission is to preserve, promote, improve and strengthen public schools for both current and future generations of students.
###

Categories Education Reform, Network for Public Education, Networkfor Public Education Action Fund

NPE Action Fund Sends a Message to Bernie

By dianeravitch
March 13, 2016 //
13

The NPE Action Fund–the political arm of the Network–sent this message to Bernie Sanders, encouraging him to continue to speak out on education issues.

Categories Networkfor Public Education Action Fund

Chicago: Jay Travis for State Representative

By dianeravitch
February 20, 2016 //
2

The best and only way to restore democracy in Chicago is to vote for people who believe in democracy. Vote!

 

Here is a candidate who rejects the billionaires’ agenda: Jay Travis. She is running for State Representative in the 26th District against an ally of Rahm Emanuel and Bruce Rauner.

 

The race is a rematch; Travis lost to Christian Mitchell two years ago by a few hundred votes. The biggest issue in the contest is education. 

 

Travis’s main thrust is to paint Mitchell as a “Rauner Democrat,” based on large donations he’s received from wealthy allies of Gov. Bruce Rauner and from groups backing charter schools and pension cuts. Indeed, Mitchell has been one of the top recipients of funds both statewide and nationally from Stand For Children, a group brought to Illinois by Rauner in an effort to undercut union influence and bargaining rights; it’s backed by a bevy of billionaires including Republican Ken Griffin.

 

The NPE Action Fund endorsed Jay Travis.

 

Our board member Jitu Brown (who led the Dyett hunger strike last fall) wrote:

 

There is a groundswell of support in this nation for candidates who reject the politics of moneyed power and put the needs of ordinary people at the heart of their work. In Chicago, we have a real opportunity to elect just such a candidate — with support from people like you.

 

The race for 26th District state representatives pits an incumbent corporate Democrat against grassroots community organizer Jay Travis. Jay has a lifelong record of commitment to the needs of ordinary people, from rank and file teachers to young students in some of our most disenfranchised communities. As the leader of the Kenwood Oakland Community Organization for twelve years, she led the battle to save our neighborhood public schools, push back against neighborhood displacement, and bring resources and equity to communities ignored by mainstream politicians and their corporate backers.

 

She’s running against corporate Democrat Christian Mitchell, a darling of the school privatization movement closely allied with Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel, who gave Mitchell more than $28,000 last April alone in two donations that bookended Mitchell’s endorsement of Emanuel.

 

Mitchell has voted dead wrong on issues of critical concern to educators and our residents. He voted for the state charter school commission’s power to overrule democratically elected school boards who reject charter school applications. He voted against parents who wanted the right to opt their kids out of controversial and deeply flawed high-stakes tests. He opposed a bill for an elected Chicago school board — and only changed his tune during this election season. For the last six months, he’s been promoting a pension cost-shift scheme that does nothing to address the structural deficits in Illinois’ schools, and would only create new losers among already cash-strapped school districts outside of Chicago.

 

None of this is surprising given the amount of money Mitchell’s received in the last for years from school privatizers — including more than $150,000 alone from Stand For Children, over four times greater than the amount they’ve donated to Senate GOP leader Christine Radogno.

 

Most recently, Mitchell stood with CPS CEO Forest Claypool and supposed “leaders”, including the minister who paid destitute Black people $25 each to advocate for the closing of Dyett High School, in betraying the brave Dyett hunger strikers. With accountable political representation in the 26th District, we would not have had to starve our bodies for 34 days.

 

We need state representatives in Springfield who aren’t beholden to opportunistic corporate elites and their raids on critically needed programs for our seniors, students and working families. We need a work ethic — and a representative — who tells the truth and puts the needs of ordinary people first.

 

You can help. Jay Travis came very close to beating Mitchell two years ago, even though he’s raised ten times as much in campaign contributions. Her volunteer field crew is large, committed, effective — and growing. But it takes money to print literature, pay for office supplies and mailers and run a competitive campaign. I’ve had the privilege of working with Jay for years — and she’s always been unflinchingly honest and supremely committed to putting our young people and their families first. Your help can put a real advocate for public education and a progressive voice for ordinary people in Springfield. Click here to learn more about supporting her campaign.

 

In solidarity,

 

Jitu Brown

 

NPE Action Board Member and Journey for Justice Alliance National Director

 

 

The BATS endorsed Jay Travis:

 

We need true progressive candidates in office! In Chicago we have a chance to begin to make the change for equity and equality. Jay Travis is running against Christian Mitchell, darling of the school privatization movement, who is funded by Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, astro-turf groups Stand for Children and Democrats for Education Reform as well as receiving a $10,000 check from hedge funder Eli Broad himself! While he has money, Jay has the solid track record and the people. Victory is there for the taking, but Jay needs your help. The election of Jay will have NATIONAL ramifications! Please join Jay on February 24th @ 8:30 PM Eastern as she talks about what real progressive movements are about. Register for the Virtual House Party here https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/2713524701147779596

 

Get involved. Vote. Send a contribution to Jay Travis to help her win. 

Categories Chicago, Education Reform, Networkfor Public Education Action Fund

Tell Your Members of Congress to Fix the New ESEA!

By dianeravitch
December 2, 2015 //
19

The Network for Public Education and the NPE Action Fund believe in transforming public education so that it works to meet the needs of all children. Both organizations oppose high-stakes testing and privatization.

 

The NPE Action Fund has watched closely as Congress works to revise the federal law called No Child Left Behind and to correct the destructive assaults on education and educators found in Race to the Top. We hope both NCLB and Race to the Top will be consigned to the dustbin of history, for historians to dissect as a classic example of why politicians should respect the work of educators and not assume that they know more than teachers and principals. We believe that the current legislative proposal can be greatly improved. We urge you to contact your Senators and members of the House of Representatives about some serious flaws in the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (aka NCLB).

 

Here are some of the key issues that should be revised:

 

Unfortunately the bill continues the annual mandate for testing in grades 3-8, and a waiver will still be needed if states want to give alternative assessments to more than one percent of their students with disabilities and English Language Learners after one year. The reality is many state exams are neither valid nor diagnostically useful for many of these students.

 

The Network for Public Education has consistently opposed annual testing, a practice not found in any of the world’s high-performing nation. In earlier statements, we supported grade-span testing–once in elementary school, once in middle school, and once in high school. We would prefer that teachers control testing and decide how much is just right, with little or no use of standardized testing except for diagnostic purposes, not for ranking and rating students, teachers, principals, or schools.

 

In addition, there are some new provisions that we are very concerned about:

 

The bill appears to require that “academic standards” including proficiency rates and growth based on state test scores, must count for at least 51% of any state’s accountability system. Some observers say that the bill would allow the Secretary of Education to determine the exact percentage of each factor in a state accountability system. This is not acceptable. Every state should be allowed to decide on its own system, including what percent to give standardized tests.

 
The bill would also allow states to use Title II funds, now meant for class size reduction and teacher quality initiatives, for Social Impact bonds, which amount to another profiteering scheme for Wall Street to loot our public schools. Recently, the New York Times reported on how Goldman Sachs helped fund a preschool program in Utah with Social Impact bonds. Goldman Sachs will now make hundreds of thousands of dollars, based on a flawed study that purported to show that 99 percent of these students will not require special education services – a far higher percent than any previous study. We vehemently oppose the inclusion of this provision in ESEA. If preschool is worth funding, and we believe that it is, it should be paid for by public funds and not provide another way for Wall Street profiteers to drain resources from our public schools.

 

We would also like Congress to strengthen federal protection for student privacy, which were weakened by changes in the regulations governing the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) in 2011. Students’ personally identifiable data should not be released to third parties without the consent of his or her parents.

 

As I previously explained, the Network for Public Education has split into two separate organization: The Network for Public Education is a tax-deductible, charitable organization that will soon have its own c(3) status and is currently hosted by Voices for Education in Tucson, which does have c(3) status. Carol Burris, who recently retired as Principal of South Side High School in Rockville Center, Long Island, New York, is the executive director.

 

The other organization, the NPE Action Fund, was created to endorse candidates and engage in political activity on behalf of public education. It will be a c(4), and contributions to it will not be tax-deductible. The NPE Action Fund does not have money to give to candidates, but we vet candidates and endorse those we believe to be sincerely devoted to the improvement of public schools, not their privatization. Any candidate for state or local school board or any office should apply to its executive director, Robin Hiller, to learn how to obtain the NPE endorsement. rhiller@voicesforeducation.org.

 

Categories Accountability, Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), NCLB (No Child Left Behind), Network for Public Education, Networkfor Public Education Action Fund

NPE Action Fund Endorses Lee Barrios for State Board in Louisiana

By dianeravitch
October 21, 2015 //
0

The Network for Public Education Action Fund endorses Lee Barrios for the State Board of Elementary and Secondary Education. In the last election to this board, out-of-state billionaires captured the board for privatization measures. Help Lee (and our other candidates) restore the Board as the guardian of public education.

She is a champion for children and public schools.

Barrios retired from teaching in 2010 and became a full-time advocate, working to protect public education in her home state. Barrios has a long list of qualifications for a seat on BESE. She is a retired National Board Certified Teacher with a Masters Degree in Secondary Education; a founding member of the Coalition for Louisiana Public Education, which represents classroom teachers; the Information Coordinator for Save Our Schools – LA; and she was a founding member of the Parent Coalition for Student Privacy, which worked to expose inBloom around the country.

Her opponent is James Garvey, who is running for his third term on BESE. He is a part of the board majority that supports charter schools, high stakes testing, vouchers, Common Core, VAM, and controversial Louisiana state superintendent John White. Garvey has well over $200,000 in his campaign coffers. Garvey entered the race with almost $160,000 left over from his previous campaign, and another $40,000 has been donated to his current campaign by four Political Action Committees (PACs) formed by the Louisiana Association of Business and Industry.

Barrios is well aware that she is up against powerful, moneyed interests, and has a clear sense of how dangerous market-based education reform is to the cause of public education.

Please help elect Lee Barrios to this important post.

Categories Louisiana, Networkfor Public Education Action Fund, Politics, Resistance

NPE Action Fund Endorses Dr. Lottie Beebe for Louisiana State Board of Education

By dianeravitch
October 20, 2015 //
1

The NPE Political Action Fund endorses Dr. Lottie Beebe for election to the Louisiana Board of Elementary and Secondary Education. Zealots for privatization captured the Board at the last election. Help supporters of public education restore the Board as the protector of the state’s public schools.

The Network for Public Education enthusiastically encourages voters in Louisiana’s District 3 to return incumbent Dr. Lottie Beebe to her seat on the Louisiana Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE).

Louisiana author, teacher, researcher and blogger Mercedes Schneider agrees, stating, “She has consistently stood against the privatizing BESE majority. Be sure to re-elect her.”

Dr. Beebe has worked in and around education for 32 years. She has been an elementary and special education teacher, assistant principal, principal, supervisor, director, and currently serves as the superintendent of the St. Martin Parish Schools.

Back in 2012, Dr. Beebe demonstrated courage and bravery when she spoke out against the state spending nearly $1 million on ill trained Teach For America recruits. Lottie Beebe believes in public education; she believes that children should have well-prepared professional teachers.

Fast forward to 2015, and Dr. Beebe has a clear understanding of the teacher shortage states across the nation are now facing. She has vowed that she “will make every effort to address teacher attrition concerns in Louisiana.” Dr. Beebe continued that, “without quality teachers in the classroom, we can’t expect improvements in student outcomes. The education profession has been vilified and I hope to change the negative public perception of those who go above and beyond the call of duty”

Dr. Beebe has stated that during her term on BESE, Louisiana has been in a state of “educational chaos.” She attributes this chaos to a lack of leadership.

The next BESE board will evaluate the contract of current Louisiana State Superintendent, the controversial reformer John White. When White was hired, Dr. Beebe fought for a fair and transparent hiring process. Instead, the BESE majority hired White, who did not meet state requirements for the position. Dr. Beebe will continue to fight for a state superintendent who is a true educational leader.

Louisiana educator Bridget Bergeron said Dr. Beebe, “speaks out loudly and with conviction against the faux reforms and hidden agendas led by the state superintendent and fellow board members. She has proven that she has what it takes to move us forward in improving outcomes for our public school children in Louisiana.”

Dr. Beebe’s work on BESE must continue, but she is facing a well-financed reform candidate who is a self-described “fierce advocate for school choice.” It has recently been reported that hundreds of thousands of dollars, including money from the Waltons and Eli Broad, have been flowing into Louisiana PACs in order to keep the current reform majority and Superintendent White in place for another four years.

We all must do what we can to keep Dr. Beebe’s courageous voice on BESE. Please spread the word about Dr. Beebe’s campaign, and donate or volunteer your time to keep this committed, experienced educator in the District 3 seat.

Categories Louisiana, Networkfor Public Education Action Fund, Politics, Resistance

News About the Network for Public Education

By dianeravitch
October 19, 2015 //
9

The Network for Public Education has split into two different entities.

The organization by that name will continue to support the improvement of public education and to produce studies, reports, meetings, and statements. Its new executive director is Carol Burris, who recently retired as principal of South Side High School in Rockville Center, Long Island, New York. Carol is a gifted writer; you may have read one of her many posts published by Valerie Strauss on The Answer Sheet blog at the Washington Post. She also received many honors for her leadership as a principal. In accordance with IRS rules and regulations, NPE is a 501 (c) 3 and contributions to it are tax-deductible.

The other part of NPE is called the NPE Action Fund. It will endorse candidates and produce studies and engage in other activities and public information to support public education. The NPE Action Fund is a 501 (c) 4; contributions to it are not tax-deductible. Its executive director is Robin Hiller of Tucson, Arizona. Until now, Robin was the overall executive director of NPE; when we realized we had to be two separate entities to comply with the IRS, Robin chose to lead our political action arm. Robin is the leader of Voices for Children in Tucson, which has served as NPE’s fiscal agent as we await official approval by the IRS. To be endorsed by the NPE Action Fund, candidates must contact Robin to obtain a questionnaire. Return it. It will be reviewed by a committee of NPE board members. We check out potential candidates with trusted local organizations.

Both sectors of NPE have three Board members who serve on both Boards: me, Anthony Cody, and a new board member, Cali Cole, a former business executive who shares our passion for public education and equity; Cali has the financial experience that some of us lack.

So expect more activity from a newly invigorated NPE. We will convene our third annual conference from April 15-17 in Raleigh, North Carolina. That state, now controlled by privatization zealots, needs us, all of us! We are thrilled that our major speaker will be the charismatic Rev. William Barber, the leader of the Moral Mondays movement for social justice in North Carolina and across the nation.

Meanwhile, the NPE Action Fund will be endorsing candidates in local and state elections who are true friends of public education. We can’t give them money, because we don’t the deep pockets. However, we will post a link to their website and encourage you to contribute whatever you can. District by district, city by city, state by state, we will strive to put the public back in public education and oust the out-of-state billionaires.

As we say at NPE, we are many, they are few. They have the money, we have the numbers. This is a democracy. Vote.

Categories Network for Public Education, Networkfor Public Education Action Fund
Newer Entries »