Monthly Archives: May 2019

Comments April 18th-May 13th,2019

Build and Support Issues

Hundreds of public with low-income minority students beat the odds in Los Angeles county. https://reports.innovateschools.org/top-la-public-schools/

An excellent education book by Andrea Gabor. Part 2.https://dianeravitch.net/2019/04/18/john-thompson-what-andrea-gabor-teaches-us-part-2/

Good communities produce good schools. https://dianeravitch.net/2019/04/21/steve-nelson-excellent-communities-produce-excellent-schools/

North Carolina’s former governor Jim Hunt speaks in favor of public schools. https://dianeravitch.net/2019/05/02/north-carolina-former-governor-jim-hunt-speaks-in-praise-of-public-schools/

Parents of dyslexic children win battle to make reading instruction consistent with best practice. https://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/curriculum/2019/05/Parents_of_children_with_dyslexia_wage_reading_battle.html

Wait list of 155,000 students for popular selective public high schools in NY City is much larger than the wait lists for charter schools.. https://insideschools.org/news-&-views/top-20-selective-manhattan-high-schools-are-among-the-most-popular; https://dianeravitch.net/2019/04/22/popular-new-york-city-public-schools-have-a-wait-list-of-155000-students/

Fordham: You might be surprised at which states prioritize teacher salaries. https://fordhaminstitute.org/national/commentary/you-might-be-surprised-which-states-prioritize-higher-teacher-salaries?utm_source=National+Education+Gadfly+Weekly&utm_campaign=cc20b00c95-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2019_04_24_01_50&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_ef00e8f50e-cc20b00c95-71635837&mc_cid=cc20b00c95&mc_eid=ebbe04a807

Teachers’ wage penalty with other college grads reaches a record high of 21% according to a report from the Economic Policy Institute. https://www.epi.org/publication/the-teacher-weekly-wage-penalty-hit-21-4-percent-in-2018-a-record-high-trends-in-the-teacher-wage-and-compensation-penalties-through-2018/ and https://edsource.org/2019/wage-gap-between-teachers-and-other-college-graduates-exacerbates-teacher-shortages/611728

Ohio democrats pass resolution supporting public schools. https://dianeravitch.net/2019/05/01/ohio-democratic-party-passes-resolution-opposing-school-privatization-supporting-public-scgools/ and in Florida https://dianeravitch.net/2019/04/25/pastors-for-florida-children-organizes-to-support-public-schools/

Learning Policy Institute’s article on the national teacher shortage and what to do about it. https://epaa.asu.edu/ojs/article/view/3696/2228

NPR: Re-imagining how to teach geography. https://www.npr.org/2019/05/03/719103958/classes-take-trips-around-the-world-through-this-game?utm_source=npr_newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_content=20190512&utm_campaign=ed&utm_term=nprnews

High quality materials and embedded educator support. https://learningforward.org/2019/04/commit-to-high-quality-materials-and-embedded-educator-support/

Charters, Vouchers, and Privatization

Less than 50% of charter school high school students graduate. https://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2019/04/18/many-online-charter-schools-fail-to-graduate.html?cmp=eml-enl-eu-news1&M=58809252&U=56558&UUID=963b3ee1b30e99b18f611b1fbc9d893e  

Jeff Bryant: Why charter school proponents have lost many Democratic supporters. https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2019/05/why-charter-school-proponents-have-lost-many-of-the-democrats-who-once-supported-them.html

No excuse schools: Parents actually want strong academics AND respect for their children. https://haveyouheardblog.com/different-strokes-for-different-folks/

Betsy DeVos travails: https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2019/04/17/an-open-letter-betsy-devos-two-leading-public-education-advocates/?utm_term=.66cf02fd748d and Jeff Bryant https://www.salon.com/2019/04/23/things-didnt-go-well-when-betsy-devos-was-confronted-with-her-departments-charter-school-fraud_partner/ and Peter Greene: Why DeVos doesn’t care about charter closings. http://curmudgucation.blogspot.com/2019/04/why-devos-doesnt-care-about-charter.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+blogspot%2FORjvzd+%28CURMUDGUCATION%29 and https://dianeravitch.net/2019/04/22/devos-funnels-116-million-to-open-20-charter-schools-in-el-paso-which-will-devastate-public-schools/ and Federal charter school program wasted $36 million on schools in Ohio that never opened or soon closed. https://janresseger.wordpress.com/2019/04/23/19629/ and https://dianeravitch.net/2019/04/29/betsy-devos-gave-this-charter-chain-225-million-it-doesnt-pass-the-smell-test/  and http://curmudgucation.blogspot.com/2019/04/ky-devos-bevin-loving-vouchers-hating.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+blogspot%2FORjvzd+%28CURMUDGUCATION%29 and, https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2019/05/07/betsy-devos-there-is-no-such-thing-public-money-other-revealing-things-she-just-said-or-wouldnt-say/?utm_term=.0fdeee2463af and, finally, DeVos loves charters but speaks against more funding for public schools. https://dianeravitch.net/2019/05/02/new-york-city-betsy-devos-praises-charters-condemns-spending-more-on-public-schools/

Democrats in the House seek to cut charter school funding saying the DOE is not a responsible steward of federal spending. https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2019/05/07/house-democrats-seek-cut-federal-charter-school-funding-saying-education-department-isnt-responsible-steward-taxpayer-dollars/?utm_term=.e857295c8f4b

Jan Resseger: Congress should shut down the charter school program and invest the money in Title 1 and IDEA. https://janresseger.wordpress.com/2019/04/16/19550/ and Lack of Oversight of Federal Charter Schools Program Cheats Taxpayers, Students, Families, and Local Public Schools  https://janresseger.wordpress.com/2019/04/25/19671/

Peter Greene: Who killed charter schools?  http://curmudgucation.blogspot.com/2019/05/jeanne-allens-charter-murder-mystery.html

Tom Ultican: Sketchy charter on-line chain goes national. https://tultican.com/2019/05/04/sketchy-epic-cyber-charter-has-gone-national/

Indiana: https://dianeravitch.net/2019/04/24/indiana-schools-chief-blasts-republican-plan-to-eliminate-local-control-of-schools/

Jim Scheurich, a professor at Indiana University, argues that the purpose of the Indianapolis charter proposals is to destroy communities. https://dianeravitch.net/2019/04/20/indianapolis-the-purpose-of-school-choice-is-to-destroy-communities-which-endangers-us-all/

Florida. NEP’s report on 20 years of reform failure in Florida https://npeaction.org/twenty-years-later-the-jeb-bush-a-plan-fails-floridas-students/?link_id=1&can_id=cea050dcef20333abf235c3ba9bc6d51&source=email-the-destruction-of-public-education-in-florida-our-2020-conference-and-more&email_referrer=email_540941&email_subject=the-dangers-to-public-education-in-florida-our-2020-conference-and-more; Peter Greene: Florida is the worst state in the nation for public education. http://curmudgucation.blogspot.com/2019/05/florida-really-is-worst.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+blogspot%2FORjvzd+%28CURMUDGUCATION%29; Carol Burris: Florida charters are a swamp of waste, fraud, and profiteering. https://dianeravitch.net/2019/05/05/carol-burris-florida-charters-are-a-swamp-of-waste-fraud-and-profiteering/ ; Tampa Bay Times critique of new Florida legislation calling it a death sentence for public schools. http://www.tampabay.com/opinion/editorials/editorials-the-death-sentence-for-floridas-public-schools-20190430/; https://dianeravitch.net/2019/05/04/tampa-bay-times-legislature-imposes-death-sentence-on-florida-public-schools/; conflicts of interest of an influential Florida legislator concerning charters go neglected. https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/news-columns-blogs/fred-grimm/article60512891.html; the Southern Poverty Law Center statement on the harm caused by vouchers in the state https://www.splcenter.org/news/2019/03/06/splc-statement-florida-senate-bill-would-fund-private-school-vouchers-public-school-money; https://dianeravitch.net/2019/04/27/florida-education-association-to-legislature-stop-robbing-public-schools-to-benefit-charter-schools/ and https://dianeravitch.net/2019/05/01/florida-house-passes-another-voucher-program/ ;  and https://dianeravitch.net/2019/05/06/gainesville-sun-slams-florida-voucher-plan-to-steal-money-from-public-schools-for-religious-schools/

Ohio: https://dianeravitch.net/2019/05/05/ohio-repeal-hb-70-the-disastrous-state-takeover-bill/

Tennessee passes dreaded voucher bill. https://dianeravitch.net/2019/05/03/tennessee-voucher-plan-passes-a-win-for-devos-and-trump/  Mercedes Schneider https://deutsch29.wordpress.com/2019/04/26/tn-voucher-legislation-bill-details-and-public-reaction/; and https://chalkbeat.org/posts/tn/2019/04/15/tennessee-governors-voucher-proposal-is-step-backwards-says-civil-rights-education-coalition/  and https://dianeravitch.net/2019/05/10/tennessee-billions-for-testing-but-nothing-to-alleviate-student-poverty/

Oklahoma. https://dianeravitch.net/2019/05/01/oklahoma-for-profit-online-charter-chain-gobbles-up-rural-districts/

California. Carl Cohn: California must reform its charter law. https://dianeravitch.net/2019/05/05/carl-cohn-california-must-reform-its-charter-law/ ; California School Board’s recommendations on charter reform. https://www.csba.org/-/media/CSBA/Files/GovernanceResources/Reports/201809CharterSchoolTFReport.ashx Only one out of three charter schools outperforms the public schools in the district in which the charter is located; and another charter closes before the school year ends stranding students; https://dianeravitch.net/2019/05/02/breaking-news-california-charter-school-will-close-its-doors-tomorrow-not-waiting-for-end-of-school-year/ and https://dianeravitch.net/2019/05/03/california-parents-fight-to-save-their-school-from-charter-invasion/

Alabama: https://dianeravitch.net/2019/05/05/valerie-strauss-on-the-strange-case-of-the-charter-school-that-plans-to-open-in-rural-alabama/;  https://dianeravitch.net/2019/05/08/larry-lee-what-happened-in-alabama-when-regular-people-stood-up-for-their-communityschools/  and https://www.al.com/news/2019/05/rules-those-are-for-public-schools-not-charters.html

Oregon. https://dianeravitch.net/2019/05/10/oregon-while-teachers-strike-corporate-reformers-kill-bills-to-stop-testing-pre-k-2-and-to-expand-opt-out/

Pennsylvania. https://dianeravitch.net/2019/05/10/pennsylvania-alert-phony-voucher-reform-bills-in-legislature/  

North Carolina. https://dianeravitch.net/2019/05/13/north-carolina-voucher-program-is-unaccountable-nontransparent/

Oakland. https://edsource.org/2019/oakland-unified-offers-critical-view-of-charter-schools-to-state-task-force/611795 and  https://dianeravitch.net/2019/04/26/oakland-a-must-read-lexicon-of-charter-frauds/  

Milwaukee. Jeff Bryant: https://www.salon.com/2019/04/29/progressives-take-a-bold-stance-at-an-epicenter-of-the-charter-school-movement-for-public-education_partner/ and https://dianeravitch.net/2019/05/08/jeff-bryant-how-progressives-are-fighting-the-plot-to-gut-public-education/

Chicago. Teacher strikes at three charter schools. https://deutsch29.wordpress.com/2019/05/02/three-chicago-charter-schools-on-strike-three/

Louisiana voucher program shows disappointing results. https://k-12daily.org/curriculum-instruction/state-voucher-program-produces-disappointing-results and https://dianeravitch.net/2019/04/26/matt-barnum-new-research-shows-vouchers-do-lasting-damage-to-student-achievement-in-math/

New Orleans. Mercedes Schneider, https://deutsch29.wordpress.com/2019/05/08/louisianas-voucher-program-featured-on-new-orleans-public-radio-for-the-failure-it-is/

Big bucks charter advocacy. https://dianeravitch.net/2019/04/30/california-charter-lobby-spent-at-least-91-million-to-buy-political-influence/ and https://dianeravitch.net/2019/04/22/waltons-fund-national-parents-union-to-advocate-for-privatization/

The charter chain Democracy Prep has a lot to learn from public schools. http://curmudgucation.blogspot.com/2019/04/charter-lessons-from-democracy-prep.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+blogspot%2FORjvzd+%28CURMUDGUCATION%29 and https://dianeravitch.net/2019/04/29/peter-greene-democracy-prep-has-a-lot-to-learn-from-public-schools/

Gary Rubenstein spills the beans on Success Academy https://dianeravitch.net/2019/05/06/gary-rubinstein-episode-5-spills-the-beans-about-the-success-of-success-academy/; https://dianeravitch.net/2019/05/06/gary-rubenstein-episode-4-and-the-infamous-got-to-go-list/  ; and https://dianeravitch.net/2019/05/06/gary-rubinstein-episode-6-on-success-academy-its-political-campaign-to-get-free-space-and-its-teaching-strategy-of-rip-and-redo/

Technology and proficiency based learning pros and cons

Teachers blow the whistle on ed-tech. https://www.edweek.org/ew/collections/technology-counts-2019/index.html?cmp=eml-eb-sr-tc19-04242019&M=58812908&U=56558&UUID=963b3ee1b30e99b18f611b1fbc9d893e

NYTimes: Kansas students rebel against Summit Learning web-based learning program. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/21/technology/silicon-valley-kansas-schools.html

Hechinger report: Disastrous rollout of proficiency based learning in Maine. https://mailchi.mp/hechingerreport.org/inside-maines-disastrous-rollout-of-proficiency-based-learning?e=4701278295

Knewton, a big name in ed tech, bits the dust. http://curmudgucation.blogspot.com/2019/05/knewton-big-name-in-ed-tech-bites-dust.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+blogspot%2FORjvzd+%28CURMUDGUCATION%29

Misplaced reforms

Personalized learning—the promise and the reality. https://nepc.colorado.edu/publication/personalized-learning; and

Peter Greene’s hard-hitting attack on personalized learning in Forbes magazine. https://www.forbes.com/sites/petergreene/2019/05/02/report-can-personalized-learning-actually-deliver/#f4dd5942020c

Diane Ravitch: education reform is dead but zombie ideas persist. https://dianeravitch.net/2019/05/12/peter-greene-van-schoales-education-reform-is-dead-but-zombie-ideas-persist/

Larry Cuban: https://larrycuban.wordpress.com/2019/04/25/making-schools-business-like-the-longest-school-reform-in-u-s-history-part-1/; https://larrycuban.wordpress.com/2019/04/27/making-schools-business-like-google-in-classrooms-part-2/; https://larrycuban.wordpress.com/2019/04/30/making-schools-business-like-the-case-of-summit-charters-part-3/; https://larrycuban.wordpress.com/2019/05/11/we-need-many-grammars-of-schooling-part-4/   

Teach For America kicked out of Houston. https://cloakinginequity.com/2019/05/09/breaking-news-tfa-kicked-out-of-houston/

Texas pays Teach for America $5.5 million a year for 400 recruits. Only 85% show up for a second year. https://garyrubinstein.wordpress.com/2019/05/11/texas-pays-tfa-5-5-million-a-year-for-400-recruits/ and also, https://dianeravitch.net/2019/05/11/houston-why-the-hisd-did-not-renew-tfas-contract/ and https://deutsch29.wordpress.com/2019/05/12/texas-taxpayers-pay-teach-for-america-22m-from-2018-2021-none-of-which-is-for-tfa-teacher-salaries/

Larry Cuban: https://larrycuban.wordpress.com/2019/05/03/challenging-the-grammar-of-instruction-part-1/ and https://larrycuban.wordpress.com/2019/05/06/challenging-the-grammar-of-schooling-part-2/; https://larrycuban.wordpress.com/2019/05/11/we-need-many-grammars-of-schooling-part-4/

Warning: Atlanta’s portfolio plan is not a model. https://dianeravitch.net/2019/04/28/warning-to-charleston-county-s-c-atlanta-is-not-a-model/

Peter Greene: In Ohio, the ongoing fight to end school-takeovers. http://curmudgucation.blogspot.com/2019/04/oh-ongoing-fight-to-end-school-takeovers.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+blogspot%2FORjvzd+%28CURMUDGUCATION%29

Diane Ravitch: A book on the inside story of the Atlanta cheating scandal. https://dianeravitch.net/2019/04/30/the-inside-story-of-the-atlanta-cheating-scandal-a-book-you-should-read/

Michigan, don’t scrap the arts requirement! https://dianeravitch.net/2019/05/11/michigan-dont-scrap-the-arts-requirement-for-high-school-graduation/

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