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Ted Dintersmith: Why We Must Invest in a New Vision for Education

By dianeravitch
September 13, 2019 //
45

 

Ted Dintersmith was honored by the NEA for his advocacy on behalf of public education.

In this article, which appeared in Forbes, he urges support for a national commitment to investing in education and the future of our society.

He writes:

Education is the single most important issue determining our democracy’s future.  If we continue to get it wrong, we’re headed for collapse.  But if we bring the vision and courage to get it right, we will rescue the American Dream. Now more than ever, we desperately need a compelling blueprint, an Education Imperative.

Education sits in a context. Machine intelligence (computers, software, robotics, artificial intelligence) is advancing at a blistering pace, posing profound career and citizenship challenges for our population. Within a decade or two, machines will outperform humans on almost any physical or cognitive task, eliminating almost all routine white- and blue-collar jobs. To his immense credit, presidential candidate Andrew Yang is sounding alarm bells about this economic tsunami heading our way.  And if economic upheaval isn’t enough, technology-driven social media and deep-fake videos are now weapons with the power to manipulate and disrupt civic engagement, to undermine democratic processes…

In the past, America was at its best when faced with an existential crisis. Hell, we saved the free world during World War II.  We rebuilt Europe.  We put a man on the moon.  What better cause than fighting for our children’s futures by rallying around an aspirational view of what our schools could be, by stepping up to an Education Imperative.

Our Education Imperative should start with our babies and toddlers. There’s no better economic investment, nor higher moral imperative, than ensuring that our youngest children receive high-quality early-childhood care. Too many of America’s kids grow up in desperate circumstances.  Every child, not just every rich child, deserves a decent start in life.  

The vast majority of U.S. kids attend our public K12 schools, one of our country’s most vital resources. These schools need more financial support.  We need to offset the outsized role of local property taxes in funding education, which results shortchanging the kids who need the most. If you’re looking for heroes in America, you’ll find them in our classrooms. Our teachers fight daily for their kids, even risking their lives to protect children from shooters armed with NRA-endorsed assault weapons.  They deserve a fair salary, better professional development support, and trust.

You may not agree with all his prescriptions but in general he is on the right track.

Time for a massive investment in children and teachers and education.

Testing and choice have been a wasteful and harmful distraction.

 

Categories Accountability, Creativity, Funding, Teacher Pay, Testing

Arthur Camins: Fight for First Principles

By dianeravitch
September 10, 2019 //
19

Arthur Camins insists that voters should stand by their principles in the 2020 elections.

https://www.dailykos.com/story/2019/9/6/1883805/-Fight-for-First-Principles

In 2020, let’s elect people who don’t temper and undermine first principles like high-quality universal education and health care, with a soul- and hope-crushing, “But let’s be realistic about what’s achievable.” Don’t start with the workaround. Start with the energizing principles and fight for them.

Since this is an education blog, we will keep track of where candidates stand on “high-quality universal education.”

We will listen to what they say about charters and vouchers and what they don’t say. We will assume that some will attempt to deceive us by denouncing only “for-profit” charters. Only one state allows for-profit charters—Arizona—yet many states have nonprofit charters operated by for-profit EMOs.

What about corporate charter chains that take over what were once public schools? What about Gulen charters, part of a shadowy network that imports Turkish teachers and relies on corporate boards led by Turkish men?

We will also pay close attention to whether candidates express their views about the reign of high-stakes testing imposed by No Child Left Behind, Race to the Top, and Every Student Succeeds Act. The billions expended on testing have enriched the corporations that sell them, but harm children and the quality of education.

We will be watching, and NPE Action is maintaining a score card on the candidates.

NPE Action 2020 Presidential Candidates Project

Categories Accountability, Charter Schools, Common Core, Corporate Reformers, Education Industry, Education Reform, For-Profit, Privatization, Testing, Vouchers

Ed Johnson on the Non-Renewal of the Atlanta Superintendent’s Contract

By dianeravitch
September 10, 2019 //
4

The Atlanta Board of Education announced earlier today that it was not extending the contract of its superintendent.

Ed Johnson has been an outspoken critic in Atlanta of the drive for privatization and the behaviorist methods that have been in favor in Atlanta since the arrival of the late Superintendent Be early Hall, who literally drove teachers, principals, and students to produce higher test scores with promises of rewards and threats of punishment. Hall’s tenure ended badly.

Ed Johnson warned about the fruitless pursuit of miracles and quick fixes.

This was his response to today’s news. 

It is the sound of wisdom.

Categories Accountability, Administrators, superintendents, Atlanta, Charter Schools, Corporate Reformers, Education Industry, Privatization, Testing

Tom Ultican: D.C.’s Very Expensive, Ineffective Charter Sector

By dianeravitch
September 9, 2019 //
5

Tom Ultican, retired teacher of advanced mathematics and physics, has written a series of posts about the Destroy Public Education Movement. In this comprehensive post, he reviews the unimpressive but very expensive charter sector in the District of Columbia. Many charter operators have made big salaries and the British testing corporation Pearson has been enriched, but charter performance has lagged behind that of the public schools for the past two years. The District continues to have the biggest achievement gaps between racial groups of any urban district in the nation.

The District has had an intense love affair with Broadies. Mayor Muriel Bowser, who completely controls the schools, prefers Broadies, despite their continued failures.

The Mayor has almost dictatorial control over the school system with very little input from teachers, students or parents. When Muriel Bowser was elected Mayor in 2014, she inherited school Chancellor, Kaya Henderson. Bowser appointed Jennifer Niles as her chief education advisor with the title Deputy Mayor for Education. Niles was well known in the charter school circles having founded the E. L. Haynes Charter School in 2004. Niles was forced to resign when it came to light that she had made it possible for Chancellor Antwan Wilson to secretly transfer his daughter to a preferred school against his own rules.

Bowser has an affinity for education leaders that have gone through Eli Broad’s unaccredited Superintendents Academy. She is a Democratic politician who appreciates Broad’s well documented history of spending lavishly to privatize public-schools. When Kaya Henderson resigned as chancellor in 2016, Antwan Wilson from the Broad Academy class of 2012-2014, was Bowser’s choice to replace her. Subsequent scandal forced the Mayor to replace both the Chancellor and the Deputy Mayor in 2018. For Chancellor, she chose Louis Ferebee who is not only a member of Jeb Bush’s Chiefs for Change, but is also a graduate with the Broad Academy class of 2017-2018. The new Deputy Mayor chosen was Paul Kihn Broad Academy Class of 2014-2015.

With the control Mayor Bowser has over public education, she has made the DCPS webpage look more like a vote for Bowser publication than a school information site.

Ultican describes the high levels of segregation in the charter schools, as well as the high salaries.

Mayor Bowser has handed control of the charter board over to the charter industry, which guarantees no oversight or accountability.

In the 2018-2019 school year Washington DC had 116 charter schools reporting attendance. Of that number 92 or 82% of the schools reported more than 90% Black and Hispanic students. Thirty charter schools or 26% reported over 98% Black students. These are startlingly high rates of segregation.

Of the 15 KIPP DC charter schools, all of them reported 96% or more Black students. According to their 2017 tax filings seven KIPP DC administrators took home $1,546,494. The smallest salary was $184,310.

Along with this profiteering, the seven people Mayor Bowser appointed to lead the Public Charter School Board seem more like charter industry insiders than protectors of the public trust.

*Rick Cruz (Chair) – Chief Executive Officer of DC Prep Public Charter School; formerly at the Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship, Teach for America and America’s Promise Alliance. Currently, he is Executive Director of Strategic Partnerships at The College Board

*Saba Bireda (Vice Chair) – Attorney at Sanford Hiesler, LLP, served under John King at the U.S. Department of Education.

*Lea Crusey (Member): Teach for America, advisory board for KIPP Chicago, worked at StudentsFirst, and Democrats for Education Reform.

*Steve Bumbaugh (Treasurer) – Manager of Breakthrough Schools at CityBridge Foundation.

*Ricarda Ganjam (Secretary) – More than 15 years as Management Consultant with Accenture; consulted on KIPP DC’s Future Focus Program.

*Naomi Shelton (Member) – Director of Community Engagement at KIPP Foundation.

*Jim Sandman (Member): President of the Legal Services Corporation.

Shouldn’t it be a conflict of interest to place members of the charter industry on the board in charge of supervising them?

Categories Accountability, Broad Foundation, Charter Schools, Corporate Reformers, District of Columbia, Education Industry, Privatization, Testing, Vouchers

Michael Bennett Releases His Education Agenda, Praised by Arne Duncan

By dianeravitch
September 6, 2019 //
39

Are you longing for a return of Race to the Top and its principles of high-stakes testing, competition, and charter schools? Then Senator Michael Bennett of Colorado is your man. He released his plan today in Iowa and it won praise from Arne Duncan. Try to forget that Race to the Top and George W. Bush’s No Child Left Behind were virtually the same. Try to forget that both failed, having inflicted disruption on American schools for 20 long and fruitless years.

Warren has thus far been silent on K-12 Education. Sanders has released a thoughtful and comprehensive proposal called the Thurgood Marshall plan, which pledges tripling the funding for Title 1, dedication to desegregation, and a moratorium on new charter schools.

Bennett’s announcement:


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Friday, September 6, 2019
CONTACT:
Shannon Beckham, 602-402-8051,
press@michaelbennet.com

ICYMI: Michael Bennet Joins Iowa Teachers, Parents, and Preschoolers to Unveil
Comprehensive Education
Agenda

DES MOINES, IA — Michael Bennet on Thursday joined teachers, parents, and preschoolers
in Iowa to unveil the most comprehensive education agenda of any candidate, declaring “equal must be equal” if America’s children are to reach their full potential. The plan was welcomed by education experts, including former Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, who said Bennet “understands this work in a way few can, because he has lived it.”

Read more about Bennet’s events in Iowa and the reaction from education experts below.

Read the full plan at
MichaelBennet.com/Education.

Bennet started the day by dropping off school supplies at the Jesse Franklin Taylor Early
Childhood Education Center in Des Moines before hosting a roundtable discussion with educators and touring preschool classrooms.

Later, Bennet met with a group of Iowa teachers and school board members to hear about the challenges they are facing in their classrooms.

He then joined 2017 Iowa Teacher of the Year Shelly Vroegh to host a town hall forum at Central Campus in Des Moines, where students are receiving the career and technical training that is a core element of Bennet’s education plan. He answered questions from parents, teachers, and advocates about how his experience has informed his agenda.

WHAT EXPERTS ARE SAYING

Former Secretary of Education Arne Duncan: “I was lucky enough to lead CPS when Michael Bennet was doing the same in Denver—I learned a lot from him. Maybe more importantly, I have seen his heart for the children and communities that need the most help. He understands this work in a way few can, because he has lived it.”

Executive Director of Next100 Emma Vadehra:
“Senator Bennet understands the connection between opportunity and education from
his time successfully running a major urban school district. He knows what works and what doesn’t, and I’m glad he continues to make educational equity a major focus of his campaign, from high-quality early learning to meaningful college and career opportunities, and everything in between.”

Former Senior Policy Advisor to the Under Secretary of Education Michael Dannenberg: “Whereas
Donald Trump strives and thrives on dividing America, Bennet is campaigning on a vision where folks come together at the local level, since Washington can’t seem to, on a goal everyone can support—ensuring that every child, every young person gets a real chance at living the American Dream. He’s putting forth an agenda that strives for unity, embraces decentralized pragmatic problem solving, and is directed at progressive goals with accountability attached—it’s quintessential Michael Bennet.”

Education Research Alliance for New Orleans Director Douglas Harris:
“It’s the best education plan I’ve seen so far.”

WHAT THE PRESS IS SAYING

Education Week:
“Colorado Sen. Michael Bennet criticized his opponents for the Democratic presidential nomination Wednesday, saying they’ve focused too much on ambitious proposals to forgive student debt and not enough on yawning inequality in the nation’s K-12 education system. Bennet…imagines a ‘new American Dream’ built on regional and state-federal partnerships to ensure children meet milestones of well-being and opportunity. Among those milestones: Children should be able to read by 3rd grade, and they should be able to enter college without needing remediation.”

Des Moines Register: “When asked about the issues facing American education, U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet tends to stray from the popular college tuition discussion and instead focuses on a constituency that won’t earn him an Iowa caucus vote. Preschoolers. … ‘The burden…is carried most by the kids.’”

Associated Press:
“Besides free, universal preschool and free community college, Bennet says he wants to eventually have debt-free public colleges. In K-12 schools, Bennet wants to increase federal spending to reduce local education disparities that lead to wealthy areas getting more school dollars than poorer ones.”

The Hill: “[Bennet] unveiled a sweeping education plan that would offer ‘every child’
an opportunity to ‘flourish’ by 2028 and promises free preschool and community college. Bennet, a former superintendent of the Denver Public Schools, said he’s introducing the plan to rectify historic racial and wealth disparities in the public education system.”

Forbes:
“Bennet’s plan includes early childhood and K-12—which is notable given the silence on K-12 issues amongst most campaigns—but his higher education plan is in strong contrast to candidates like Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders…This plan could help Bennet stand out in the field with a detailed plan addressing education from early childhood all the way to higher education.”

Iowa Starting Line:
“Understanding the economic impact and problems with our education system highlight Bennet’s background, with time in the education and business sectors. It’s also what makes him not a single-issue candidate; he understands how this single, important issue interacts with other issues and circumstances.”

WHO TV:
“‘My sense traveling around Iowa is that you are suffering from the same thing we
are in Colorado which is just a complete under investment in the public education system,’
Bennet said, ‘We
are not investing the way that our parents and grandparents invested in us. It’s not even close.’”

CBS 2: “Bennet highlighted the importance of early childhood
education during his roundtable with educators in Des Moines, but he spent little time talking about about his education policy—instead insisting that he get input from those experiencing it first-hand.”

###

Categories Corporate Reformers, Duncan, Arne, Education Reform, NCLB (No Child Left Behind), Obama, Race to the Top, Teacher Evaluations, Testing

College Board Abandons “Adversity” Score

By dianeravitch
August 27, 2019 //
23

The College Board has dropped the controversial idea of giving students a score for their social-economic circumstances.

The College Board is abandoning its plan to assign an adversity score to every student who takes the SAT, after facing criticism from educators and parents.

Instead, it will try to capture a student’s social and economic background in a broad array of data points. The new tactic is called Landscape and doesn’t combine the metrics into a single score.

The original tool, called the “environmental context dashboard,” combined about 15 socio-economic metrics from a student’s high school and neighborhood to create something college admission officers called an “adversity score.”

Considering a student’s race and class in college admissions decisions is a contentious issue. Many colleges, including Harvard University, say a diverse student body is part of the educational mission of a school. A lawsuit accusing Harvard of discriminating against Asian-American applicants by holding them to a higher standard is awaiting a judge’s ruling. Lawsuits charging unfair admission practices have also been filed against the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the University of California system.

In case the WSJ article is behind a paywall, here is another.

Categories Higher Education, Testing

When I Introduced Senator Sanders At UTLA Leadership Conference

By dianeravitch
August 11, 2019 //
10

 

Senator Bernie Sanders addressed the United Teachers of Los Angeles Leadership Conference recently. I was invited to introduce him by video. I recorded a two-minute introduction on my iPhone, while in my home office.

I talked about his Thurgood Marshall plan for education. To date, it is the most far-reaching proposal that any candidate has offered. It should be a template for all Democratic candidates.

Here is Senator Sanders’ speech that day. It is worth watching to see what should be the true Democratic Party agenda for K-12 Education.

Categories Accountability, Charter Schools, Corporate Reformers, Democracy, Democrats, Education Industry, Education Reform, Los Angeles, Privatization, Testing

Yong Zhao: The Achievement Gap Mania in America

By dianeravitch
August 9, 2019 //
23

Yong Zhao is one of the scholars I admire most. He turns out book after book, each saturated with remarkable scholarship and learning. He is also a superb speaker, who fills his lectures with learning and humor.

He recently posted the introduction to a book he published last year called Reach for Greatness. 

In it, he wrote about America’s obsession with “the achievement gap,” which is based on the belief that someday the bell curve, on which all standardized tests are normed, will close. The test score gaps can be reduced, as history shows. The biggest narrowing of the gap occurred at the high point of racial integration (late 1970s, early 1980s). For the past decade, the black-white gaps on NAEP have been unchanged.

The gap may narrow but it is designed never to close because bell curves  are intended to rank people from best to worst, highest to lowest, most to least.

Here is part of Yong Zhao wrote:

 

The Achievement Gap Mania in America

For nearly two decades, since the enactment of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB) (“No Child Left Behind Act of 2001,” 2002) in 2002, America has been suffering from “achievement gap mania” (Hess, 2011). Closing the achievement gap has been the commanding, almost exclusive, goal of education in America. All educational efforts, be they in policy, research, or practice, must be justified on the grounds that they can help close the achievement gap. As a result, the nation has devoted all its educational resources to the campaign to narrow the chasm in test scores and graduation rates between students of different backgrounds, particularly in income and race.

The campaign has been a futile one. The gap between the poor and the rich has not narrowed significantly, nor has the chasm between children of color and their White counterparts (The Annie E. Casey Foundation, 2013; Curran & Kellogg, 2016; Plucker, Hardesty, & Burroughs, 2013)—in fact, it has widened (Ostashevsky, 2016; Reardon, 2011). The drastic policies put forth by NCLB, the billions of dollars, the numerous instructional innovations, and the tireless efforts of educators did not seem to have turned schools into an effective mechanism to alter the trajectory preset by children’s family background before they arrive at school. Today, factors associated with a child’s home remain much more powerful predictors of their future than do schools (The Annie E. Casey Foundation, 2010; Bailey & Dynaski, 2011; Curran & Kellogg, 2016; Duncan & Murnane, 2011; Fryer & Levitt, 2004; Reardon, 2011).

Worse, the campaign has been counterproductive (Hess, 2011). Beyond the squandered resources and opportunities, “achievement gap mania” has significantly changed American education for the worse. It

has led to education policy that has shortchanged many children. It has narrowed the scope of schooling. It has hollowed out public support for school reform. It has stifled educational innovation. It has distorted the way we approach educational choice, accountability, and reform (Hess, 2011).

It has also turned American education into test preparation, resulting in massive “collateral damages” (Nichols & Berliner, 2007). It has demoralized educators and students (Nichols & Berliner, 2008; Smith & Kovacs, 2011; Wong, Wing, & Martin, 2016), and it has deprived many children, particularly those whom the campaign was supposed to help, of the opportunities for a real education (Carter & Welner, 2013; Tienken & Zhao, 2013). Furthermore, it has reinforced the deficit mindset for minority students and concealed the real cause for educational inequality (Cross, 2007; Jones, 2013; Ladson-Billings, 2007).

Nevertheless, the campaign continues. The well-evidenced failure and damaging consequences of efforts summoned by NCLB to narrow the achievement gaps have apparently not caused American policymakers to change course. Although NCLB was replaced by the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) in 2015 (“Every Student Succeeds Act,” 2015), closing the achievement gaps remains the commanding goal of education. Despite the mechanical changes, the purpose of the new education law “is to provide all children significant opportunity to receive a fair, equitable, and high-quality education, and to close educational achievement gaps” (“Every Student Succeeds Act,” 2015, Section 1001). Barring any significant changes, achievement gap mania will continue to reign over American education for the foreseeable future.

Rudolph and Me

Rudolph had a red nose. It is a deficit because the standard nose color is supposed to be black in reindeer country. So all efforts were applied to fix his nose color. And of course, the poor red-nosed reindeer was not normal and did not meet the standard. The other reindeers with black noses were the good ones and did not want to mix with the bad kid. But all the children around the world should be grateful that no one fixed Rudolph’s red nose because his red nose was the very thing Santa Claus needed for his sleigh on a foggy Christmas Eve.

I am grateful that no one tried to fix my deficits either. I am able to write this book not because I had planned to be a professor in the United States, but because I was not forced to fix my lack of ability and interest in becoming a farmer in China. I was born in a Chinese village and thus destined to become a farmer like everyone else in the village. But from a very early age, I discovered that I was not cut out to be a successful farmer. I was physically smaller and weaker than other boys. I could not drive water buffalos or climb trees or manipulate the hoe nearly as well as other boys. I tried to learn, and my father was a good teacher, but I was unable to master the farming skills. By any standard, I was way below the average of all the boys in terms of farming knowledge and abilities. There was a clear achievement gap in farming capabilities between me and the other boys in the village.

Luckily, my father did not try too hard to close my achievement gap. He gave up on me early. Instead of pushing me to become a better farmer, he sent me to school. In school, I discovered what I could be good at. My ability to handle reading was much better than my ability to deal with a water buffalo. After all, I could be good at something. And I liked that feeling. However, no one, including my father and myself, knew how I could make a living without farming at the time, when China was in the midst of a disastrous political campaign called the Great Cultural Revolution. The campaign dismantled the formal education system and sent the educated elite to remote rural areas to be “reeducated” by farmers. Education was thus not a way to get out of the village for a better life, like it is today. In other words, it was not the remote chance that education would bring a better life that motivated me to go to school. Instead, it was the feeling that I could be good at something, and the desire to avoid doing something I was not good at, that sustained my motivation to walk barefoot to school every day, in burning summers and freezing winters.

I am a big fan of the “growth mindset” (Dweck, 2008). I strongly believe that anyone can learn anything. But I have tried not to apply the idea to everything in life. I have avoided applying a growth mindset in football, for example, although I know if I indeed put 10,000 hours into it, as Malcolm Gladwell (2008) suggests in his book Outliers: The Story of Success, I could become better. But I also know very well that even if I put 100,000 hours into it, I will not be playing for the NFL because my 5’6” height and 150 lb. weight are way below the average height and weight of NFL players. No matter how hard I try, I probably won’t get there.

I have also avoided applying it in other undertakings. I gave up on putting 10,000 hours into painting quickly after I discovered that I could barely draw a straight line and the Chinese characters I produced always looked like the footprints of a chicken. I gave up studying math in high school because I did not enjoy math and I was not good at it. I received 3 points out of 120 in the College Entrance Exam in 1982.

I was able to go to college without studying math because of a policy that forgave my poor math performance. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, when Chinese education was recovering from the damages of the Cultural Revolution, it allowed students to major in foreign languages without being good at math. Math was not counted toward the total score of the College Entrance Exam for those applying to study foreign languages. To run away from my poor math, I chose to major in English in college. I was lucky because the policy ended in 1982. Math has since become a required core subject in the College Entrance Exam, which means Chinese students can no longer run away from math if they want to go to college.

I have been fortunate to be able to avoid virtually everything that I have no potential for being good at or I am not interested in. More important, I have been fortunate to have had the space to explore my passions and experiment with different undertakings to discover my weaknesses and strengths. Most people are not born knowing what they are interested in and can be good at. They can only find out through experiences.

But experiences have costs and risks. Every experience requires time, and some require money and extra effort. Thus, adults want every activity their children experience to be positive, to lead to some desirable outcome. They don’t want their children to waste their time, energy, or money, or worse, to have experiences that may have a negative impact. Responsible adults naturally have a tendency to prescribe experiences for children. The result is that many children are allowed to have only experiences deemed to be beneficial and safe by adults.

I was fortunate to have broader and more diverse experiences than most children. Although my experiences were severely constrained by the lack of resources and remoteness of my village, I enjoyed more freedom. As soon as I started school, my illiterate parents did not feel they could guide me anymore and thus allowed me to pursue whatever I thought appropriate throughout my life. My teachers in the village school were not well trained to make me follow a prescribed reading curriculum, so I was able to read anything I could find instead of a series of carefully selected graded reading materials. The assortment of used books, magazines, and newspapers my father collected for wrapping noodles in the village noodle factory not only taught me to read but also, more importantly, exposed me to a broad range of topics, way beyond what a very carefully designed curriculum can offer.

Neither my parents nor my teachers attempted to force me to do things they wanted or forbid me from doing things they did not like. I was free of external judgment and never feared it. So I got to have many different experiences, some more beneficial than others, but all were necessary for me to find my passion and strengths. In college, instead of devoting my energy to studying the English textbooks in the classroom, I spent more time reading English books and magazines on psychology, linguistics, and education. Rather than spending time memorizing English literature as required, I took on computer programming. Instead of worrying about my grades, I spent a tremendous amount of time programming a piece of statistics software for a research project. In the end, I developed great proficiency in English by not following the prescribed program.

I have learned to be very open to new experiences. I have always been willing to explore new opportunities. When opportunities present themselves, I jump right in as long as they look interesting, but I am not one who would keep at it at any cost when I realize that it is not something I can be great at or enjoy doing. For example, I tried making fish tanks after college but gave it up when I discovered I have no talent in engineering. I quit being a college teacher to join a translation business, but gave it up despite its success because I did not find it interesting. I returned to be a college teacher afterwards because I found that that was ultimately what interested me.

I was lucky on two fronts. First, I was lucky that my parents and schools did not force me to fix my weaknesses according to whatever their definitions of strengths or weaknesses were. They were very forgiving of my weaknesses and appreciative of my various adventures. Second, I was lucky that the massive societal transformations in China and the world over the past few decades made it possible for me to use my strengths and interests, just as the fog on Christmas Eve made it possible for Rudolph to change his fate. If China had not restored its education system after the Cultural Revolution, it would not have been possible for me to go to college. If China had not opened to the outside world, it would not have been possible for me to migrate to the United States. If I had not come to the United States, my passions and strengths would not have found as much value.

Fortunately, the changes I experienced in China are now widespread for everyone. In other words, the foggy Christmas has arrived for all due to technological changes. But unfortunately, the accidental great educational experiences I had are not widespread. To enable every child to be able to explore, experiment with, and enhance his or her strengths, education must change.

Categories Accountability, Education Reform, Testing

Network for Public Education: Report of the Grassroots Education Network

By dianeravitch
August 7, 2019 //
4

The Network for Public Education is fortunate to have Marla Kilfoyle as director of its Grassroots Education Network. Marla previously was national executive director of the Badass Teachers Association and a full-time teacher.

Would your group like to join the Grassroots Education Network? Contact Marla Kilfoyle at marlakilfoyle@networkforpubliceducation.org.

Here is her report on current activities:

 

Grassroots Education Network- July 2019 Newsletter

The NPE Grassroots Education Network is a network of over 130 grassroots organizations nationwide who have joined together to preserve, promote, improve, and strengthen our public schools. If you know of a group that would like to join this powerful network, please go here to sign up.

If you have any questions about the NPE Grassroots Education Network please contact Marla Kilfoyle, NPE Grassroots Education Network Liaison at marlakilfoyle@networkforpubliceducation.org

Notes from Marla

I have now been in my position as the NPE Grassroots Education Network liaison for six months. Each time I do this newsletter I become more inspired, and informed about what is happening across the nation to strengthen public education and to save it from privatizers! This month there were some great ideas for organizing and getting the message out. Many of the organizations in the NPE Grassroots Education Network marched in 4th of July parades with signs asking the community to support public education, they walked neighborhoods with pamphlets outlining the power of public education, and they held summer education summits to engage their communities. The organizing ideas in this newsletter are a great way to get the message out, have conversations with people about the promise of public education, as well as the attempt to privatize public education. Again, I am humbled by the amazing work being done for our children, our families, and our communities!

National Organizing

Defending the Early Years held their Early Childhood Summer Organizing Leadership Institute in the beginning of the month. Check out all their amazing pictures on their twitter hashtag #DEYInstitute2019. In the Public Interest presented at Netroots Nation in July. They covered the topic of privatization of public service. The Journey for Justice Alliance went to Washington D.C. on July 10th to speak with U.S. Representatives about the school funding crisis. Also check out the podcast On The Ground hosted by Jitu Brown. The podcast airs every Monday at 6 PM CST.

Fairtest publishes an amazing newsletter each week covering both the flaws of relying on standardized exams to make high-stakes educational decisions as well as successful campaigns to roll back testing misuse and overuse. Rethinking Schools editor and Zinn Education Project teacher leader, Adam Sanchez, presented the Poetry of Defiance lesson on celebrating the resistance of the enslaved at the 2nd annual Teaching Black History conference for K-12 educators. Rethinking Schools also launched their NEW Planning to Change the World social justice plan book. You can order it here. The Parent Coalition for Student Privacy and The Badass Teachers Association distributed their Educator Toolkit for Teacher and Student Privacy at the AFT TEACH Conference in Washington D.C. July 10-13th. Parents for Public Schools National has been selected to present at the Institute for Educational Leadership’s 2019 National Family and Community Engagement Conference in Reno, NV! Their session, ‘Re-Imagining Evaluation: How Parent-Led Evaluation is Getting to What Matters in Parent Leadership’, took place on Wednesday, July 10. They also published Brown v. Board of Education: A Divided Legacy? An Interview w/ former Mississippi Supreme Court Justice Fred Banks, Jr. 

Parents Across America shared the response of Parent Power, Indianapolis Parents Across America affiliate, to the election of Teach for America alum and interim superintendent Alessia Johnson as Indianapolis Public School (IPS) superintendent. Congratulations to Breanna Hall who won the The Schott Foundation #PublicSchoolGrad scholarship. The Badass Teachers Association was in Houston July 2-8 to attend the National Education Association Representative Assembly. Check out all the great work the NEA BAT Caucus did for children, families, and communities! The Trinational Coalition to Defend Public Education (USA) exists in a network with many other organizations in Canada and Mexico. Check out their network here. Ontario (Canada) Secondary School Teachers Federation President Harvey Bischof delivered the OSSTF affiliate report to the members of the Canadian Teachers Federation. The report focused on no cuts to education funding and the economic benefits of investing in education. Wear Red for Ed tracks the Red for Ed movement nationwide. Check out their open Facebook page for the latest on the Red for Ed movement. Find out what Save our Schools March is up to by following their open Facebook page. First Focus Campaign for Children continue to share the latest on the fight to end the detention of migrant children. The Network for Public Education continues to update their Asleep at the Wheel Report. See their state-by-state reports here (scroll to the bottom of the page) and make sure you check back for more additions.

NPE Grassroots Education Network – State Organizations Support Public Education

Please use this clearinghouse of information to inform people in the various states about the NPE Grassroots Education Network organizations. Please encourage people to join them and support their work! Call on family, friends, and colleagues to join the fight to save public education! This section is also a place to get great ideas on organizing and actions.

Alabama

SOS (Support Our Students) is asking Alabama residents to take a poll on a Constitutional Amendment to switch from the present elected state board of education to one appointed by the governor.

Arizona

Voices for Education Smart Talk Radio: Robin Hiller sat down with Tucson Unified School District (TUSD) Superintendent Gabriel Trujillo. Listen as Superintendent Trujillo talks about his strategy for middle school reform — an important issue for TUSD. Arizonans for Charter School Accountability is dedicated to exposing the waste and corruption in Arizona’s largely unregulated charter school sector and increase public oversight of the industry. Save Our Schools Arizona had a successful fundraiser at the end of June. Party With A Purpose for SOSAZ had the community come out to support public education in Arizona and the work of Save our Schools Arizona. Arizona Educators United is a grassroots movement by people who are concerned about education in Arizona. AEU is not a union and is not aligned with any political party or candidate. Check out their informative video about their organization.

California

California Educators Rising are now California Educators United. Follow their coalition work in California here. Public Core is an organizationof West Contra Costa County parents, teachers, community members, and school staff who fight for public control and accountability in our schools. They believe that public schools, open to all, are essential to the health of a democratic society.

Colorado

Pueblo Education Coalition will be holding a forum on August 6th to discuss the Community Schools model. Find out how this concept can help communities collaboratively problem solve through the challenges they face in public education today. They encourage everyone and anyone to attend and please bring any questions! Child and translation services can be available if notified in advance.

Connecticut

More Than a Score member Jesse Turner wrote a powerful essay titled What If, Policymakers and Legislators Listened to Teachers? Re:public Ed work with Connecticut communities to inform residents about state, local and federal education policies that harm kids – mobilizing them to effect change. New London Parent Advocates are a group of parents and community members who care about their students’ success and want to improve their schools. They are focused on increasing parent involvement and creating positive change in the New London Public Schools.

Florida

Fund Education NOW held a rally in July to demand the Board of Education fund education. The rally was held outside the Board of Education building in Lakeland. Broward BATs twitter feed continues to update the work of State Education Commissioner Richard Corcoran. Corcoran was dubbed a “charter” champion by the National Alliance for Charter Schools. Opt Out Florida Network provide comprehensive opt out resources for the beginning of school. Pastors for Florida Children shared a powerful letter written to the Tampa Times regarding the fact that letter grades for schools are about income not children. The Florida Council of Churches has an active website that documents their concerns, advocacy, and activity. Florida BATs have an open Facebook page that you can follow to keep up with what is happening all over the state. Pinellas Parents Advocating for School Improvements is a parent-driven initiative that is not associated with any one school and is open to all parents. Pinellas Parents Advocating for School Improvements is parents coming together to offer support and solutions to the problems children face in Pinellas County.

Georgia

Public Education Matters Georgia has a website of great resources and a list of ways that citizens in Georgia can get engaged and connect. Moms and Dads Now Enduring Surrealistic Stupidity (MADNESS) Georgia seeks to build the parent led opt out movement, to defeat the Opportunity School District (OSD), and to build awareness and support for actual school improvement strategies like community schools and more broadly for the very real and meaningful benefits of an equitable and viable public education system that strives for good schools for all children.

Hawaii

Parents for Public Schools Hawaii published a powerful resource on their website – Envision Hawai‘i Schools: The Department of Education’s Ambitious “2030 Promise Plan.” Parents for Public Schools Hawaii is registering residents to join in strategic planning sessions and workshops. Go to this link for more information.

Illinois

Illinois Raise Your Hand joined Blocks Together 1 in July to learn more about best practices in planning for school facilities and programming with national expert on school facility use, Mary Filardo. Here are some resourcesfrom that event.

Indiana

Indiana Coalition for Public Schools – Monroe County participated in the 4th of July parade with signs that urged community members to support public education. A great idea for organizations to copy next year! Indiana Coalition for Public Education will be holding their annual meeting on August 24th. For more information go here. The Northeast Indiana Friends of Public Education published their most popular links on social media. A great idea for organizing and drawing interest from the public. Northwest Indiana Coalition for Public Education marched in the Hebron 4th of July parade with their signs and asked the community to support public education. They also hosted a Sip Red for Ed event to educate the public about supporting public education and sold amazing yard signs. This is a great organizing idea for the start of school!

Iowa

Iowans for Public Education is a grassroots movement to protect and support Iowa’s tradition of quality public schools. Check out their movements on their open Facebook page.

Kansas

Game On for Kansas Schools provides the big picture and resources on what citizens need to know about the fight for public education in Kansas. Visit their website for more information.

Kentucky

Gay Adelmann and Tiffany Dunn from Dear JCPS and Kentucky SOS gave powerful quotes about charter scams in the Lexington Herald and Leader. Kentucky SOS research director Ivonne Rovira had a powerful op ed in the Courier-Journal about teacher summer protests in Kentucky. Dear JCPSwas featured as one of the small groups in Kentucky pushing for change and moving the needle in this article published in the LEO Weekly! Congratulations Dear JCPS! Pastors for Kentucky Children shared a powerful prayer for a teacher on their Facebook page. Read it and share it out!

Maryland

The Baltimore Algebra Project is a youth led organization with the goal to ensure that all students have access to quality education. Keep up with their movements by visiting their website. They will host a school supply give-away on August 3rd. See information here.

Massachusetts

Citizens for Public Schools held a leafleting action in July to demand education be funded properly. Another great organizing idea! The New Bedford Coalition to Save our Schools Ricardo Rosa presented at the National Council for Teachers of English (NCTE) on Community Based Action in July.

Michigan

The Michigan Network for Equity in Education continues to expose the latest in the Benton Harbor state takeover plan. Save Michigan’s Public Schools is a grassroots network of concerned citizens. Their goal is to connect parents, students, educators and communities across Michigan and raise awareness of threats to public education. Michigan Parents for Schools also continues to expose the latest in the Benton Harbor state takeover crisis. Check out this detailed post about the issues that Benton Harbor community members must face.

Mississippi

Parents for Public Schools – Moss Point keep the Moss Point community up-to-date with all the latest events in their community. In July they shared such events as a Pre-K Color Day, 200 Man Stand, and a Uniform Closet. Parents For Public Schools of Greenwood and Leflore County were at the B.B. King Museum in late June with Nancy Loome, Executive Director of Parents’ Campaign, Jackson, MS. They shared their BLUEPRINT 2019 Top 3 priorities for local/state public schools and how they plan to make change happen. Parents For Public Schools of Philadelphia exists to EDUCATE parents, ENGAGE parents, and MOBILIZE parents in the Philadelphia Public School District. Make sure you give them a follow on Facebook. Parents For Public Schools of Starkville created a powerful pledge to the children and schools of their community. Check it out here.

Missouri

Keep up with the actions of the Missouri BATs on their twitterfeed. Columbia Parents for Public Schools promote real parent engagement with educators and the educational system in order to continually improve education and sustain and build public support for public schools. Columbia Parents for Public Schools works with other organizations and community groups, such as the Parent Teacher Associations, to promote, support and strengthen the Columbia Public Schools.

Nebraska

Stand for Schools has an excellent FAQ section on their website. If you know anyone in Nebraska who has a question about school choice, charters, vouchers, or tax credits in the state, send them here. Nebraska Loves Public Schools promoted a summer food program to keep kids healthy and engaged. They also launched an amazing short film, Ready to Work.

Nevada

Make sure to check out Educate Nevada NOW initiatives on their website.

New Jersey

Save our Schools NJ was one of the many organizations that signed onto the Healthy Schools NOW initiative. Make sure that you give The Newark Students Union a follow on Instagram. Keep up with all their actions and movements. Delran Education Association is gearing up for Back to School by sharing deals for students and teachers. Elizabeth Parents And Students Care is an educational advocacy group that provides a platform for stakeholders to address concerns, share ideas, and establish capacity to support needed change in Elizabeth, New Jersey. If you are a resident of Elizabeth join their closed Facebook group to connect. Montclair Cares About Schools alerted all Montclair parents about their chance to voice concerns about the new MHS schedule. Give Our Children Our Schools a follow on twitter to keep up with their movements and actions. South Orange-Maplewood Cares About Schools joined the NPE Grassroots Education Network in July. If you live in the South Orange-Maplewood section of New Jersey please ask to join their closed Facebook group and connect with organizers in your area.

New York

Class Size Matters Executive Director Leonie Haimson gave powerful comments on the NYC Citizen Budget Commission on alleviating school overcrowding. Class Size Matters was also featured in an article on class size in the Gotham Gazette. The Alliance for Quality Education presentedabout Just Schools and the development of a culturally responsive curriculum scorecard at the Free Minds, Free People Conference in July. NYSAPE, LI Opt Out, NYC Opt Out, Change the Stakes, and NY BATs issued a press release upon the resignation of their state education commissioner. FUSE (New Rochelle Federation of United School Employees) teachers are heading into a new school year very soon. Give their Presidents News and Views a read. ECE Policy Works’ Creating Citizens for the World video series examines the work of nine early educators and is a must view and share. MORE-UFT has many meetingscoming up this summer. They are holding a book read, UFT workshop, and contract training. Jackson Heights People for Public Schools is mobilizing the community to help migrant children and their families. Parents for Public Schools- Syracuse supported the Syracuse School District Summer Parent Book Club in July. Yet another great organizing idea to get parents out and start conversations about all the amazing things our public schools do. Public School Watchdogs is a group of NY parents who came together to oppose the DeVos appointment. Find out what they have been up to on their Facebook page. Croton Advocates for Public Education (CAPE) is a group of residents that wants restoration of funds that were promised to their schools, fair assessments, and enrichment opportunities for every student. Port Washington Advocates for Public Education is a community group dedicated to providing information on education issues that are relevant to the Port Washington community, including the negative impact of high-stakes standardized tests, the Common Core, student data sharing, decreased funding, and other education-related topics. If you live in the Port Washington community please join their closed group to connect and organize. North Country Alliance For Public Education is a dedicated group of parents and citizens who want to bring about positive change in their schools, particularly as it pertains to the over-abundance of high stakes testing and privatization that is taking over schools and harming their most precious resource, CHILDREN! If you live in the North Country of New York consider joiningtheir closed Facebook group to connect and organize.

North Carolina

Public Schools First NC and Great Schools in Wake will be holding a conference, Impact of Privatizing Public Schools: A Crisis in the Making, on October 12th. For details and registration go here. Parents for Public Schools of Pitt County supported United Way of Pitt County in their kick off on July 22nd. North Carolina Families for School Testing Reforminvited co-signers to a letter supporting the delay of IStation and continuing to use mClass for the 2019-20 School year. In the News and Observer, Suzanne Miller, organizer of N.C. Families For School Testing Reform, saidthat “the group appreciates the legislature’s efforts to reduce testing. But she said that any legislative efforts short of a full repeal of the Read To Achieve legislation will have minimal impact on the testing of the state’s youngest students.” North Carolina Families for School Testing Reform also held a press conference on Friday, July 19th to address the use of Istation in Kindergarten to Third Grade. Neighbors for Better Neighborhoods held a Neighborhood Network event on July 25th. We will update this in our next newsletter.

Ohio

Ohio BATs, Public Education Partners (PEP) and It Takes A Village To Tackle HB70 conducted a week of action to stop state takeovers. Ohio BATs also took part in a march for migrant children and families at the NEA RA in Houston this month. Public Education Partners (PEP) continues to expose the damage that ECOT has done to the state. PEP was one of many grassroots groups in Ohio that facilitated action plans from June into July to get the school takeover law repealed. Their efforts resulted in a 1-year moratorium on new takeovers, so they will be back next year to fight this awful policy. Northwest Ohio Friends of Public Education provides up-to-date information on what is happening in their region of the state. Take a look at their open Facebook page for the latest news. Parents For Public Schools of Greater Cincinnati believes that parents need to be strong advocates and partners in their child’s education. What they believe is based on research that is concise, consistent and strong: Parent involvement positively impacts student achievement. Where there is parent involvement, kids do better and their schools do better. If you live in the Greater Cincinnati area please join them in working to be a voice for children in public schools.

Oklahoma

Pastors for Oklahoma Kids has up-to-date information on the EPIC Charter Schools fraud investigation. Go to their open Facebook page for all the updates. Oklahoma Parent Legislative Action Committee held their Summer Advocacy Summit on July 27th. We are excited to report the results in our next newsletter! Oklahoma Parents and Educators for Public Education & Oklahomans for Public Education focused last month on childhood trauma and its impact on education.  

Oregon

The Community Alliance for Public Education (CAPE) latest “Democracy and Education” column in the Eugene Weekly was written by CAPE member, Deanna Belcher. The column is a mother’s honest look at the power of the dominant “competition and standardized test” narrative on her own daughter. Oregon Save our Schools published a powerful essay by co-founder Steve Buel called Input Versus Output. Give it a read and share! Finally, if you know anyone who lives in Oregon make sure you tell them to join up with Oregon BATs on Facebook.

Pennsylvania

The Keystone State Education Coalition continues to produce informative weekly newsletters about all that is going on in PA education. The Pittsburgh Task Force on the Right to Education is alerting the Pittsburgh community that provisions at the Office of Vocational Rehabilitation are changing due to funding. Susan Spicka, President of Education Voters PA was a guest on Smart Talk WITF in July. She chatted about cyber charter schools. Pennsylvania School Board Association is gearing up for their Leadership Conference in October. To learn more go here.

Rhode Island

Providence Student Union members, and recent Providence schools graduates, Aleita Cook and Ahmed Sesay held back laughs as The Daily Show correspondent Jaboukie Young-White wheeled into their interview on a hoverboard. Aleita and Ahmed made their case for guaranteeing education as a constitutional right. Parents Across Rhode Islandcontinues to inform the state about what is happening in a variety of communities on education, organizing, and events.

South Carolina

The Quality Education Project shares events and actions around public education in South Carolina. Head over to their Facebook page to see the latest events, actions, and news in South Carolina education.

Tennessee

Make sure that you follow the The Momma Bears on Facebook. They update their feed weekly with the latest in the fight for public education in Tennessee. Pastors for Tennessee Children co-founder Brad Fiscus has decided to run for the House in Tennessee.

Texas

Pastors for Texas Children presented about the power of  public education to doctoral students at Dallas Baptist University about the power of public education. Pastors for Texas Children and 36 organizations dedicated to supporting Texas children and families wrote to state leaders to express “deep concern over the reported treatment of parents and children held in immigration detention facilities on Texas soil.” CFSID Community Leadership Committee updates their open Facebook page about what is happening in and around Houston. If you have a friend or family in the area invite them to follow them on Facebook. The Coalition for Public Schools Texas is a large coalition that represents over 3 million Texans statewide. Take a look at their coalition and encourage anyone you know in Texas to connect with a coalition partner in their area. Texas Kids Can’t Wait updated their community on the 2019 Texas Legislative Session and what happened with pre-K policy and funding at the state Capitol. RootEd joined the network this month. We are so happy to have them. To read about their work check out their website and social media platforms.Parents For Public Schools of Houston co-sponsored a health and wellness fair, job market, and backpack giveaway on July 27th. Another great organizing idea that this network provides. Community Voices For Public Education updates the Houston community, daily, on what is happening in public education and events concerning the Houston Independent School District.

Virginia

Virginia Educators United and Virginia BATs have active open Facebook pages with updates daily on what is happening in Virginia. Give them follow if you live, or teach, in Virginia and get connected. Support Our Schools-Shenandoah County started in Augusta County, but it represents a community coming together to show that education is important! Join this coalition if you live in the Shenandoah area and if you think that educating children should be a top priority of federal, state and local lawmakers.

Washington State

In July the WA BATs met with their state Superintendent of Public Instruction. Washington Paramount Duty provides detailed resources on how the state falls short of funding for education.

Wisconsin

Wisconsin Education Network continues to press lawmakers and Gov. Evers to fund education. “Heather DuBois Bourenane of the Wisconsin Public Education Network, which led an 11th-hour march to Madison last month in hopes of securing more funding for schools, acknowledged those improvements. But she called it a status quo budget that leaves schools below their 2009 state funding levels after inflation.” Also the network will be holding their 5th Annual Summer Summit on August 5th. To sign up and for more information go here. Schools and Communities United use their social media platform to inform the community about events such as Head Start enrollment and community cooling spots to beat the heat. Parents for Public Schools Milwaukee shared the amazing achievements of MPS graduates in July. Check it out! #MPSProud

NPE Grassroots Education Network – Resources and Graphics

Here is a link to our resources page. It will help you navigate resources covering a variety of topics. This is a live document and will be updated so check back for new resources.

Here is a link to our graphics page. It will provide powerful visuals for you to share on social media. This is a live document and will be updated so check back for new graphics.

 

 

Categories Accountability, Charter Schools, Corporate Reformers, Education Industry, Education Reform, Network for Public Education, Privatization, Testing

Joe Biden: Where Does He Stand on Race to the Top?

By dianeravitch
August 7, 2019 //
38

I have not endorsed a candidate, and I will vote for anyone nominated by the Democratic party to run against Trump. He is the worst, most ignorant, most unqualified president in our history, and we cannot have four more years of his vile policies.

I am expressing my views about the candidates in the Democratic primaries and will continue to do so.

I am not a one-issue voter but I sincerely hope that Democrats have a candidate who will reverse the ruinous education policies of the past four decades. Our nation has invested in standards, testing, accountability, and choice with nothing to show for it.

Many states today spend less on education than they did eleven years ago, and millions of teachers are not paid or respected as professionals. Many states cut taxes and cut their education budgets yet expanded privatization by charters and vouchers, diverting even more money away from the public schools that most students attend.

At the present moment, the leading candidate is Joe Biden.

Biden is a very likable guy, to be sure, who knows how to connect with regular people.

NPE Action has found nothing problematic in his donors or affiliations, no evidence that the billionaires or DFER are pulling the strings.

He has been in public life for many decades and has made some bad decisions and cast some bad votes in his past. He should come right out and say so.

Joe Biden is very proud that Barack Obama selected him as his Vice-President, and that the Obama-Biden ticket won twice, in 2008 and 2012.

I voted for them both times.

But I loathed Race to the Top, Obama’s education policy. Does Joe Biden?

Race to the Top failed by every measure.

States collectively spent billions of dollars to comply with its directives while failing to invest in students and teachers.

Because of RTTT, we got more privately managed charter schools; more high-stakes testing of students; evaluating teachers by test scores of their students; closing hundreds or even thousands of public schools because their test scores were low (almost all—maybe all—of them in impoverished communities of color); and Common Core standards.

None of these policies has been successful unless you are a believer in disruption for its own sake. The states that adopted Common Core spent billions of dollars on new tests, new textbooks, new computers, new teacher training, new everything. The charter schools open and close with regularity, introducing instability and scandal. Some of the few states that resisted Race to the Top and Common Core (like Nebraska) actually outperformed those that followed Duncan’s agenda.

The national upshot: NAEP scores have been flat from 2007-2017. If we were “racing to the Top,” we didn’t get there.

The very idea of a “race” implies a few winners and a lot of losers. This is the wrong concept to apply to K-12 education, where our goal should be to enable every student to find a path to a successful life.

I want to hear Joe Biden talk about Race to the Top.

I want to know how he feels about spending $440 million this year to fund corporate charter chains.

I know he has said that he opposes for-profit charters, but every candidate says that.

I want to hear him state clearly whether he embraces the Obama education policies or renounces them.

I want to hear what he will do to rebuild America’s public schools and restore their prestige as the gateways to opportunity.

He announced his plan at an AFT event in Houston. He has always been a friend of organized labor.

He is opposed to vouchers. He opposes DeVos and  Trump, like every other Democratic candidate. He wants to invest in pre-K and in low-income schools, all to the good.

But where does he stand on the central tenets of Race to the Top?

is he ready to lead us out of the maze in which federal education policy has been stuck since the Reagan years?

 

 

Categories Accountability, Billionaires, Charter Schools, Common Core, Corporate Reformers, Democrats, Education Industry, Education Reform, Privatization, Testing
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