Archives for category: Students
« Older Entries
Newer Entries »

How to Avoid Hurting Kids and Schools in Fiscal Crisis

By dianeravitch
November 15, 2012 //
3

Leonie Haimson has some excellent ideas about where to make budget cuts and how to raise revenues to protect children in the looming fiscal crisis.

Haimson is executive director of Class Size Matters in New York City and has long been the city’s leading parent activist. Her ability to analyze research and budgets is astounding. Her courage in fighting for students and parents is unmatched.

Leonie Haimson was among the first people to be placed on the honor roll as a champion of public education. She was one of the original founders of Parents Across America.

She is a tireless and effective advocate who makes a difference in improving the lives of children.

Categories Budget Cuts, Education Industry, Education Reform, Gates Foundation, Bill Gates, Merit pay, Parent Groups, Parents, Race to the Top, Students, Washington State

Sirota Exposes the Big Lie Technique

By dianeravitch
November 13, 2012 //
6

David Sirota, an author and talk-show host, here analyzes the election results and says they exposed the Big Lie of the corporate reform movement.

The public is not hankering to privatize their public schools.

The corporate leaders and rightwing establishment dropped millions of dollars to push their agenda of privatization, teacher-bashing and anti-unionism. They lost some major contests.

I will be posting more about some important local races they lost.

We have to do two things to beat them: get the word out to the public about who they are and what they want (read Sirota).

Two: never lose hope.

Those who fight to defend the commons against corporate raiders are on the right side of history.

Nothing they demand is right for children, nor does it improve education.

Categories Charter Schools, Chicago, Colorado, Corporate Reformers, Democrats for Education Reform, Education Industry, For-Profit, Idaho, Indiana, Merit pay, Parents, Privatization, Stand for Children, Students, Technology, Computers, Testing, Unions, US Education, Vouchers

A Superintendent’s Advice to President Obama

By dianeravitch
November 12, 2012 //
11

Jere Hochman runs an exemplary school district in Bedford, New York.

Before the election, he wrote an eloquent letter (which I posted though I may not have used his name) on why everyone should support President Obama.

He convinced me.

He also promised me that after the election, he would speak out about the need to change the punitive testing and accountability policies of this administration.

He is speaking out. 

The biggest problem in education today is the politicians, who are interfering in matters they do not understand, he says.

He offers excellent advice to the President, and this is only part 1.

Thank you, Jere.

Categories Administrators, superintendents, Charter Schools, Obama, Privatization, Students, Teachers and Teaching, Testing

The Real Crisis in The Cleveland Public Schools

By dianeravitch
November 12, 2012 //
18

Louis Filippelli, a teacher in the Cleveland public schools, writes that all of the most popular nostrums about school reform are wrong.

The governor, the mayor, the teachers’ union, the business community, and elected representatives are on the wrong track, he says.

More money, he writes, won’t solve the fundamental problem in the school, which is the lack of parent and student responsibility.

Filippelli maintains that the leaders are averting their eyes from the real crisis:

“The assumption that large numbers of student failures must be the fault of an incompetent, lazy, burned-out, greedy teacher is a ludicrous proposition. The paradox here is that in the real world of modern inner-city education, the teacher with the higher failure rate may indeed be the superior teacher. Challenging students with high academic standards and rigorous testing will inevitably mean low or failing grades on a grand scale for pupils either unwilling or unable to do the work.

“Standardized test scores tell little or nothing about teacher quality especially when dealing with an unprepared, unmotivated, and severely insubordinate student body.

“Teachers who complain about discipline issues are admonished by the administration as weak in classroom management skills and thus bombarded with never ending “professional development” sessions that tout group work and new “strategies.” In reality no one really knows what to do with the staggering amount of children whose sole purpose seems to be to derail the entire educational process.”

Categories Accountability, Ohio, Students, Teachers and Teaching

EduShyster Credits Stephanie Rivera for SFER Expose

By dianeravitch
November 11, 2012 //
9

Earlier, I published a post about Students for Education Reform, linking to a post by EduShyster.

SFER is a junior version of Democrats for Education Reform, the group formed by Wall Street hedge fund managers to promote privatization and high-stakes testing.

EduShyster here says that the credit for investigative reporting goes to Stephanie Rivera, a student at Rutgers, who plans to be a teacher and often engages in dialogue with her peers at SFER and TFA. Her website is called Teacher Under Construction.

EduShyster writes:

Actually all of the credit for “digging” goes to Stephanie Rivera, a student at Rutgers. She posts regular updates about SFER on her blog, Teacher Under Construction, and has done an amazing job of reaching out to SFER members and getting them to talk openly about things that don’t seem quite right about a student group.
SFER has been under the radar so far but that’s only because they haven’t done much.

That will soon change though. Students from SFER’s chapter at Whitworth University in Washington state, a private, virtually all white school, lobbied ardently for the state’s new charter law, including going door to door. I suspect that here in Massachusetts, where the charter lobby will file a bill in the coming months to eliminate the cap on charters in our poorest cities, it will be students from Smith and Harvard who provide the ground troops…

I can’t help but admire the evil genius that came up with this concept. Students across the country, who are utterly sincere in their passion and zeal, are being lined up behind the privatizers’ policy agenda. Ask questions and you’re accused of “attacking students.” Yet the students who make up the bulk of SFER’s membership don’t seem to know anything about their national organization’s funders, its positions or of the implications of those positions.

Categories Charter Schools, Corporate Reformers, Democrats for Education Reform, Education Industry, For-Profit, Privatization, Students

The Lowdown on $tudents for Educational Reform

By dianeravitch
November 11, 2012 //
17

EduShyster has done the research and digging on Students for Educational Reform that has thus far eluded mainstream journalists.

(This should not be surprising since few journalists have paid much attention to Democrats for Education Reform, the Wall Street hedge fund managers group, which is able to direct millions of dollars to state and local political elections from a small number of very rich donors. Typically DFER is described in news stories as just another Democratic advocacy group interested in education reform rather than as a small group of billionaires who want to promote privatization of public education.)

EduShyster gives us insight into their $uccess, their board, their ties to the financial elites, and the current focus of their activities (demanding tougher teacher evaluations, a curious preoccupation for university students).

She invites readers to offer a slogan for them. One suggestion she offers: “Pawns of billionaires.”

Maybe you can think of others.

Categories Charter Schools, Corporate Reformers, Democrats for Education Reform, Education Industry, For-Profit, NYC, Students, Teacher Evaluations, Testing

See “Brooklyn Castle,” an Inspiring Documentary About Real Kids in a Real School

By dianeravitch
November 8, 2012 //
7

Tonight the director/producer of “Brooklyn Castle”–Katie Dellamaggiore–will be a guest on the Daily Show with Jon Stewart on Comedy Central. One of the stars of the film, Pobo Efekoro will join her.

The documentary is about an amazing middle-school chess team in an inner-city school in Brooklyn that wins one title after another in national championships.

If “Waiting for Superman” and “Won’t Back Down” left a bad taste, see this film. It will remind you of how wonderful our students, our teachers, and our public schools can be.

And it shows dedicated parents and the pain of budget cuts to a fine program.

This is a feel-good film, and nothing in it is make-believe.

Find a hedge-fund manager or a high-tech executive or a foundation leader and insist that they watch with you.

See the trailer at the website here:

 http://www.brooklyncastle.com/

 
 

BROOKLYN CASTLE is now playing at the following theaters:

• New York, NY (Elinor Bunin Film Center – Lincoln Center)

• New York, NY (Landmark Sunshine)

• Los Angeles, CA (The Landmark)

• Pasadena, CA (Pasadena Playhouse)

• Encino, CA (Laemmle Playhouse)

• Irvine, CA (University Town Center)

• Chicago, IL (Landmark Century)

• Washington, DC (Landmark E Street)

• Portland, OR (Fox Tower)

• Atlanta, GA (Tara 4)

• Minneapolis, MN (Landmark Edina)

• Cleveland, OH (Cedar Lee Theatre)

• Austin, TX (Arbor 8)

• Charlotte, NC (Park Terrace)

• Denver, CO (Chez Artiste)

(check local theaters as today is the last day in a few of them)

BROOKLYN CASTLE opens tomorrow at the following theaters:

• Hollywood, CA (Chinese Theatre)

• Claremont, CA (Laemmle Claremont 5)

• Santa Monica, CA (Laemmle Monica 4)
• Las Vegas, NV (Regal Village Square)
• Knoxville, TN (Downtown West Cinema 8)

• Charlottesville, VA (Regal Downtown Mall 6)

• Seattle, WA (Harvard Exit Theatre)

 
Next week the film is scheduled to open in Boston, Philadelphia and more cities.
 
Updates on the theatrical release schedule will be posted here:
 
 
Categories NYC, Parents, Students, Teachers and Teaching

A Good School in North Carolina

By dianeravitch
October 31, 2012 //
7

This parent is very happy with the public schools her children attend. She says the teachers are dedicated and terrific.

My kids attend NC public schools. I hate the standardized test prep every year and the stress it puts my kids under, but I love their school. They have fantastic teachers, take eight or nine field trips every year, and begin dissection in science in third grade. They have opportunities I couldn’t offer them if I homeschooled. I volunteer in their classrooms and I know what the teachers put into their work and what they do without due to budget cuts. I know there’s a lot of junk and politics for teachers to deal with, but it doesn’t go unnoticed. There are good schools out there.

Categories Students, Teachers and Teaching

New Orleans Students Demand True Reform

By dianeravitch
October 29, 2012 //
22

In all the hype and spin about the privatization of education in New Orleans, no one has heard from students. Various special-interest claim to speak for them, say “it’s all about the kids.” Some raise millions of dollars from corporations and ideologues by claiming to be student advocates. It turns out that students have their own views and need no surrogates.

Silent no more. High school students are speaking out. They are holding a rally on October 30 at 5:30 pm to insist that they be heard. See the details below.
***********************

New Orleans students host first ever youth-led election forum for Orleans Parish School Board

Using their voices rather than a Super PAC, impacted students attempt to re-shape direction of a school system that has become a prime target of out-of-state political contributions and influence.

What: The Vietnamese American Young Leaders Association, in partnership with Kids Rethink New Orleans Schools and Orleans Public Education Network, will be mobilizing students and families from all across the city to engage candidates on issues that passionately concern them. A candidate forum of this scale, placing student voices at the center of the discussion, has not taken place in New Orleans since Hurricane Katrina. From food access, discipline policies, and transportation services, to charter governance, school closures, and resource inequality, student leaders will share testimony and ask the candidates to lay our their plans for improving academic achievement, democratic participation, and resource equity.

When: October 30th at 5:30 pm

Where: Ashe Cultural Arts Center, 1712 Oretha Castle Haley Bldv., New Orleans, LA 70113

Who: The Vietnamese American Young Leaders Association, Kids Rethink New Orleans Schools, Orleans Public Education Network, Fyre Youth Squad, Young Adults Striving for Success, Puentes New Orleans, and students from McMain Secondary, Warren Easton, Benjamin Franklin, and Sarah T. Reed

Why: In recent state school board elections, billionaires Michael Bloomberg, Eli Broad, and Alice and Jim Walton gave $500,000 in political contributions to cement New Orleans’ status as the nation’s preeminent education reform test-tube. Yet, New Orleans students inside this national experiment have not been given meaningful opportunities to provide feedback on these reforms or vocalize their own visions for educational equity. Despite being the stakeholder group with the greatest first-hand experience of present schooling conditions and the most at stake in school board elections, student voices have been consistently drowned out by a well-financed, national education reform agenda.

Media Visuals: Students speaking at a lectern to present issues and questions; students moderating the event; students submitting comment cards; a room with 100-150 community members and youth from all over the city representing over a dozen organizations and schools.
***********************************************************

Here are the articles generated by the activist youth groups of New Orleans:

Press on our youth organizing work and campaigns:

EdWeek: http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2011/11/02/10tran.h31.html? (tkn=PNPF+K6Ugps%2F6AuN60lliB8PhatGJThqZFXs&cmp=ENL-EU-VIEWS (Student opinion piece based on survey of conditions in six schools)

The Lens: http://thelensnola.org/2011/09/07/vayla-surveys-high-schools/

Colorlines: http://colorlines.com/archives/2011/11/new_orleans_students_who_raised_concerns_about_city_schools_win_accountability.html

Times Picayune: http://www.nola.com/education/index.ssf/2011/09/vietnamese-american_group_rate.html

Good Magazine: http://www.good.is/post/students-say-new-orleans-schools-are-no-education-miracle/

Louisiana Weekly: http://www.louisianaweekly.com/reed-students-present-turnaround-plan/

Louisiana Weekly: http://www.louisianaweekly.com/removing-the-mask-of-chartered-schools/
/www.louisianaweekly.com/n-o-east-residents-picket-outside-ben-franklin-high-school/

Times Picayune: http://www.nola.com/education/index.ssf/2012/05/eastern_new_orleans_residents.html

The Lens: thelensnola.org/charters/eastern-new-orleans-students-want-more-reliable-faster-bus-service/

###

Categories Charter Schools, Louisiana, New Orleans, Students

Stop Disclosing Confidential Student Data

By dianeravitch
October 29, 2012 //
16

Please consider signing this petition.

Several states plan to share confidential student data with a corporation funded by the Gates Foundation. This information may be shared with other entities, for purposes that are not clear.

As parents, grandparents and educators, we must protect our children’s rights to privacy.

We expect schools to understand the needs of children. We do not expect them to share this information with corporations, marketers, or other government agencies, except in the aggregate–not with individual identification– for informational purposes only.

It is understandable that government needs to collect data about enrollment and attendance and special education and trends.

There is no reason to release the names of individual students to outside entities.

Please protect our children and our students against commercial and governmental intrusion into their lives.

The petition begins as follows:

“New York State, along with Colorado, Illinois and Massachusetts, intends to provide confidential student information to a private corporation called the Shared Learning Collaborative, funded by the Gates Foundation, which in turn will make this data available to for-profit companies to develop and market their commercial learning products. 

This confidential data will include student names, addresses, test scores, grades, attendance, economic and special education status, IEPs, and disciplinary records. All this is being done without parents’ knowledge or consent, and represents a shocking violation of our children’s right to privacy.

Four more states have said they will soon follow in phase II: Delaware, Georgia, Kentucky and Louisiana, and the Gates Foundation is soliciting even more states to join in.” 

Categories Gates Foundation, Bill Gates, Parents, Students
« Older Entries
Newer Entries »