Bipartisan, but Unfounded the Assault on Teachers’ Unions
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Threat to Public Education Now Centers on Massachusetts
THREAT TO PUBLIC EDUCATION NOW CENTERS ON MASSACHUSETTS May 2016 Preface This document updates and expands on Threat from the Right, an MTA task force report issued in May 2013. During the intervening years, the threat to public education, organized labor and social justice has grown substantially. Massachusetts is now in the crosshairs, with the forces behind charter schools, privatization and other attacks on the public good coalescing on Beacon Hill and throughout the state. That is reflected in the title of the 2016 edition, Threat to Public Education Now Centers on Massachusetts. No one should doubt the danger of the challenges outlined in these pages or the intensity of the forces behind them, which are national in scope. Nevertheless, winning the many fights we face is well within the power of the MTA and our allies — parents, students and other members of communities across Massachusetts and the nation. Understanding our opponents is an important step, and this report is intended to help us move toward meaningful victories as we continue to organize, mobilize and build the power we need to realize the goals of our Strategic Action Plan. Contents Introduction Elements of the Charter Campaign The Massachusetts Alignment ......................................................................................................7 Great Schools Massachusetts.......................................................................................................9 Families for Excellent Schools ....................................................................................................11 -
Joanne Barkan Is a Writer and a Member of the Editorial Board of Dissent Magazine. Her Recent Work Has Focused on Philanthropy A
Joanne Barkan is a writer and a member of the editorial board of Dissent magazine. Her recent work has focused on philanthropy and democracy, private foundations, and the effort to remake public education in the United States. Barkan is the author of “Visions of Emancipation: The Italian Workers Movement Since 1945” (Praeger Publishers Inc., 1984) and was a regular contributor to the Rome-based daily newspaper Il Manifesto. She has also written many books of fiction, nonfiction, and verse for young readers. Jim Blew recently became president of StudentsFirst, the political and advocacy organization founded by former District of Columbia Public Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee. For nearly 20 years before joining StudentsFirst, he advised the Walton family and the Walton Family Foundation on their K–12 reform investments. While serving as the foundation’s K–12 reform director, he helped guide more than $1 billion toward activists and educators who were striving to create high-quality school options for low- income communities across the country. At StudentsFirst, Blew is focusing more than 100 staff on policy opportunities in 12 states, combining his long-term commitment to educational choice with the pursuit of performance-based systems for teachers, administrators, and schools. From 2000 to 2005, Blew directed various campaigns for the Alliance for School Choice and its predecessor, the American Education Reform Council. Before committing himself full time to education reform, he worked at political and communications firms in New York and California. Stacey Childress is CEO at NewSchools Venture Fund. Before joining NewSchools, Childress led the K–12 Next Generation Learning team at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, investing in schools and technologies that support personalized learning for middle and high school students in the United States. -
A Tale of Two Systems: Education Reform in Washington D.C
A TALE OF TWO SYSTEMS: EDUCATION REFORM IN WASHINGTON D.C. BY DAVID OSBORNE A TALE OF TWO SYSTEMS: EDUCATION REFORM IN WASHINGTON D.C. 2 PROGRESSIVE POLICY INSTITUTE A TALE OF TWO SYSTEMS: EDUCATION REFORM IN WASHINGTON D.C. A TALE OF TWO SYSTEMS: EDUCATION REFORM IN WASHINGTON D.C. BY DAVID OSBORNE PROGRESSIVE POLICY INSTITUTE 3 A TALE OF TWO SYSTEMS: EDUCATION REFORM IN WASHINGTON D.C. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS David Osborne would like to thank the Walton Family Foundation and the Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation for their support of this work. He would also like to thank the dozens of people within D.C. Public Schools, D.C.’s charter schools, and the broader education reform community who shared their experience and wisdom with him. Thanks go also to those who generously took the time to read drafts and provide feedback. Finally, David is grateful to those at the Progressive Policy Institute who contributed to this report, including President Will Marshall, who provided editorial guidance, intern George Beatty, who assisted with research, and Steven K. Chlapecka, who shepherded the manuscript through to publication. 4 PROGRESSIVE POLICY INSTITUTE A TALE OF TWO SYSTEMS: EDUCATION REFORM IN WASHINGTON D.C. TABLE OF CONTENTS EXECUTIVE SUMMARY................................................................. ii A TALE OF TWO SYSTEMS: EDUCATION REFORM IN WASHINGTON D.C. HISTORY AND CONTEXT.............................................................. 1 MICHELLE RHEE BRINGS IN HER BROOM .................................................. 4 THE POLITICAL -
5/10/11 NATIONAL NEWS Digital Learning Now: Online Education's
From: Clare Crowson ([email protected]) <[email protected]> To: CC: Date: Tue, 5/10/2011 10:46:15 AM Subject: Foundation for Florida’s Future, Key Reads: 5/10/11 Foundation for Florida’s Future, Key Reads: 5/10/11 For more education news, visit The Ed Fly at www.TheEdFly.com. NATIONAL NEWS 1) Digital Learning Now: Online Education's Impact Player; Staff – Liberating Learning 2) Opinion: Scenes From the New York Education Wars; Klein – Wall Street Journal FLORIDA NEWS 3) Michelle Rhee’s group praises new FL school laws (on merit pay, charters, vouchers, transfers); Postal – Orlando Sentinel 4) Flagler's charter schools behind in FCAT; Martin – Dayton Beach News-Journal STATE NEWS 5) Wisconsin Governor Walker touts school choice as economic growth tool; Staff – Associated Press 6) 2 sides want a say in Nevada teacher firing bill; Staff – Associated Press 7) Ohio Governor Kasich outlines his view on how to judge teachers; Vardon – Columbus Dispatch 8) Pennsylvania Governor links teachers' unions to failing schools; Levy – Associated Press NATIONAL NEWS Digital Learning Now: Online Education's Impact Player Liberating Learning By: Staff May 4, 2011 http://www.liberatinglearning.org/spotlight.php In less than a year, Digital Learning Now has become an important catalyst in the virtual education policy arena. The goal of Digital Learning Now, found in August 2010 as the Digital Learning Council, is to provide a road map for lawmakers and policy shapers to follow when developing legislation and polices that encourage the growth of online learning. The group's narrow focused has worked. -
Report Card on American Education: Ranking State K-12 Performance, Progress and Reform © 2014 American Legislative Exchange Council
Report Card on American Education: Ranking State K-12 Performance, Progress and Reform © 2014 American Legislative Exchange Council All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the United States Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means or stored in a database or retrieval system without the prior permission of the publisher. Published by: American Legislative Exchange Council 2900 Crystal City Drive Suite 600 Arlington, VA 22202 Phone: (202) 725-7764 Fax: (703) 373-0927 www.alec.org For more information, contact the ALEC Public Affairs office. Dr. Matthew Ladner and David J. Myslinski Lindsay Russell, director, Task Force on Education ISBN: 978-0-9853779-5-3 Report Card on American Education: K-12 Performance, Progress and Reform is published by the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) as part of its mission to promote limited government, free markets and federalism. ALEC is the nation’s largest nonpartisan, voluntary membership organization of state legislators, industry representatives, research analysts and policy think tanks. ALEC is governed by a board of directors of state lawmakers, which is advised by the Private Enterprise Advisory Council representing business leaders and entrepreneurs. The American Legislative Exchange Council is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, public policy organization. Contributions are tax-deductible. Table of Contents About the Authors v Acknowledgements vi Foreword: Mike Pence, Governor of Indiana vii CHAPTER 1 : Education Reform: -
Roundtable Special Report - February 25, 2016
Roundtable Special Report - February 25, 2016 Greetings!, The Roundtable was fortunate to have the opportunity late last year to hear from long-time, award-winning PBS broadcaster John Merrow as he reflected on 41 years covering public schools. The Q & A from that session below was published in Valerie Strauss's "Answer Sheet" in the Washington Post on February 15. As noted below, during his session with the Roundtable, Merrow reflected on struggles John Merrow with Michelle Rhee in Washington, DC and with Eva Moskowitz, founder and CEO of Success Academies, a chain of charters in New York City. Suspension rates in Success Academies grade schools were three times the rates in New York City's K-12 schools, he noted in his final PBS report, while five-year-olds could be tossed out of school. Moskowitz minimized these issues, although Merrow reported that critics worried the suspensions were part of an effort to drive low-achieving students out of school to maintain high test scores. He predicted a scandal lay in the offing involving charter schools generally. On cue, two scandals involving Success Academies erupted. In late October, Kate Taylor reported in the New York Times that one of Moskowitz's schools in Fort Green, Brooklyn maintained a "got to go list" of 16 students, nine of whom subsequently were gone. Next, on February 12, Taylor produced a follow-up story, replete with video footage (above), about a teacher bullying and humiliating a first-grade student while classmates looked on rigid with fear. Moscowitz dismissed the incident as little more than a bad hair day. -
Governance and Urban School Improvement: Lessons for New
Governance and Urban School Improvement: Lessons for New Jersey From Nine Cities THE INSTITUTE ON EDUCATION LAW AND POLICY RUTGERS - NEWARK Ruth Moscovitch Alan R. Sadovnik Jason M. Barr Tara Davidson Teresa L. Moore Roslyn Powell Paul L.Tractenberg Eric Wagman Peijia Zha i TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF TABLES .............................................................................................................. v LIST OF FIGURES ........................................................................................................... vi ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ................................................................................................ vii EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ................................................................................................ 1 I. BACKGROUND: SCHOOL GOVERNANCE SYSTEMS IN THE UNITED STATES ............................................................................................................................................. 3 FORMS OF GOVERNACE OF SCHOOL DISTRICTS ............................................... 3 BRIEF HISTORY OF MAYORAL INVOLVEMENT IN PUBLIC EDUCATION ..... 4 CONTEMPORARY FORMS OF MAYORAL INVOLVEMENT IN SCHOOL GOVERNANCE AND “CONTROL” ............................................................................ 5 ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT OF AND AGAINST STRONG MAYORAL INVOLVEMENT ........................................................................................................... 6 Arguments in Support of Strong Mayoral Involvement ............................................ -
NCTQ Teacher Prep Review EMBARGOED COPY 12:01
NCTQ Teacher Prep Review EMBARGOED COPY 12:01 AM Tuesday June 18th, 2013 A REVIEW OF THE NATION’S TEACHER PREPARATION PROGRAMS 2013 2013 EMBARGOED — UNTIL 12:01 AM, TUESDAY, JUNE 18, 2013 AUTHORS: Julie Greenberg, Arthur McKee and Kate Walsh OUR THANKS TO: NCTQ Teacher Preparation Studies department, with adroit oversight from Robert Rickenbrode: Graham Drake, Marisa Goldstein, Katie Moyer, Chase Nordengren, Ruth Oyeyemi, Laura Pomerance, Hannah Putman and Stephanie Zoz Expert consultants: Richard Askey, Andrew Chen, Marcia Davidson, Deborah Glaser, Mikhail Goldenberg, Roger Howe, R. James Milgram, Yoram Sagher and Anne Whitney Subject specialists: Heidi Abraham, Mary Alibrandi, Melissa Brock, Sarah Carlson, Susan Clarke, Aileen Corso, Gordon Gibb, Robert P. Marino, Nancy Nelson-Walker, Felicity Ross, Julie Shirer, Jamie Snyder, Jessica Turtura and Shirley Zongker Analysts: Katherine Abib, Andrew Abruzzese, Paul Aguilar, Cheryl Anderson, Naomi Anisman, Gail Arinzeh, Alex Au, Christian Bentley, Kate Bradley-Ferrall, Tara Canada, Erin Carson, Justin Castle, Alicia Chambers, Theodora Chang, Kimberly Charis, Bridget Choudhary, Hester Darcy, Melissa Donovan, Zachary Elkin, Amy Elledge, Michelle Crawford-Gleeson, Nikee Gof!gan, Samantha Greenwald, Whitney Groves, Catherine Guthrie, Sumner Handy, Bess Hanley, Chelsea Harrison, Stephanie Hausladen, Heather Hoffman, Sean Hutson, Anne Kaiser, Kate Kelliher, Maria Khalid, Rebekah King, Susan Klauda, Michael Krenicky, Jay Laughlin, Alicia Lee, Christine Lincke, Michelle Linett, Karen Loeschner, Leslie -
'Reform': Creating Opportunities to Profit from a Quiet Word: Lobbying
‘Reform’: Creating Opportunities to Profit from A Quiet Word: Lobbying, Crony Capitalism and Broken Politics in Britain Tamasin Cave, Andy Rowell ‘When we try to understand the world most of us have to rely on information that is profoundly unsafe.’ Dan Hind, Return of the Public1 ‘We sort of quote that there’s a wealth of evidence out there.’ Elizabeth Sidwell, schools commissioner, Department for Education 2 ‘THIS IS GREAT Britain’ shone from the enormous screen. In front stood the speaker at the government business conference held to coincide with the London Olympics . The UK’s Trade Minister, Stephen Green, introduced ‘One of the world’s leading authorities on educational reform, Michael Barber.’ 3 While the rest of us were gripped by the Olympic triumphs of Mo Farah and Team GB, and were surprised by an opening show that celebrated the youthful, creative and slightly bonkers spirit of these islands, as well as our public-spirited inventions like the NHS and the world wide web, Barber and the British government were promoting a very different set of values to their international business audience. Barber is a ‘visionary’ according to the man currently in charge of schools, the Education Secretary, Michael Gove. 4 But the vision he is promoting is far from the idiosyncratic world portrayed in Danny Boyle’s opening ceremony. Barber prescribes turning whole education systems upside-down, in part, through the introduction of market competition and the greater use of technology. The test bed for some of Barber’s experiments in schools in the UK was nearly two decades earlier in Tony Blair’s government. -
What Conservatives Could Learn from Betsy Devos
What Conservatives Could Learn from Betsy DeVos By Jim Blew May 2021 Key Points • Conservative education reformers have not had much success shaping federal education policy, largely because our opposition is playing to win the long game—and we are not. • We can win the contest over federal education policy if we prepare for inevitable attacks, persuasively communicate, and effectively manage our assets, especially human talent. • We can learn from our experiences and succeed in our efforts to empower families, unfet- ter teachers, and keep education decisions local. But, we must stay in the game and start playing to win. As Betsy DeVos’ assistant secretary for policy, I improve education. The people closest to problems— witnessed the messy business of making and imple- namely, educators, families, and students—will have menting federal education policy during the cha- even less power to fix those problems. That, in turn, otic Donald Trump administration. From that could easily accelerate the declines in student out- front-row seat, I learned more than I expected comes, especially for our most vulnerable children. about what conservatives and education reformers All this should cause concerns about our growing do right and what we do that’s self-defeating and educational inequities and their implications for counterproductive. our national prosperity. Conservative education reformers have not had Given the stakes, conservatives should raise our much success shaping federal education policy, game. Someday, perhaps as early as 2025, conserva- largely because our opposition is playing to win the tives will return to the US Department of Education long game—and we are not. -
Betty De Vos, Trumps New Education Secretary
AUSTRALIAN COUNCIL FOR THE DEFENCE OF GOVERNMENT SCHOOLS PRESS RELEASE 682# BETSY De VOS; TRUMP’S EDUCATION SECRETARY: PRO-VOUCHER, PRO-CHARTER ANTI-PUBLIC EDUCATION On Wednesday 23 November 2016, President-elect Donald Trump of the USA announced the appointment of Betsy DeVos, as his Education secretary. This lady has a very public record of her advocacy in the K-12 education space. The former chairwoman of the Michigan Republican Party, DeVos, has worked through her advocacy group to advance an agenda promoting so-called school choice: Programs that provide free alternatives to public elementary and high school education either through public charter schools — which are typically privately managed, but publicly funded — or by providing families with public funds to pay for private schools. Who is she? Here are five things to know about Besty DeVos, whom President-elect Donald Trump picked for education secretary on Wednesday: She is 1. A top Michigan GOP fundraiser As a member of the DeVos clan of west Michigan, she is one of the top Republican fundraisers in the state. The family has given millions over the years – including about $10 million in the most recent political cycle – to elect Republicans, including to the campaign efforts of two other presidential candidates, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla. During the presidential campaign, Betsy and Dick DeVos never publicly supported Trump, although other members of DeVos clan donated $245,000 to a fund to help elect Trump and other Republican candidates. She has 2. A husband who ran (unsuccessfully) for governor.. -
Excellent Educators
EXCELLENT EDUCATORS EXCELLENT Excellent Educators A Wise Giver’s Guide to Cultivating Great Teachers and Principals The strongest influence on whether a student learns (and how much) is the teacher. Never mind fancy facilities, new technology, top curricula, or more school spending—research shows that the intelligence, skill, and dedication of the instructor is two to three times as important as any other contribution to student outcomes. If we want to improve schools, we must raise the quality of teachers. Yet credentials, degrees, years on the job have little to do with classroom excellence. Fascinating investigations have recently given us clearer pictures of what a successful teacher looks like. Now leading schools are beginning to hire and mentor teachers differently, with a clear-eyed focus on their demonstrated ability to transfer knowledge to their students. New techniques for measuring and enhancing the teacher’s capacity to add value in the classroom are the VANDERKAM VANDERKAM most promising elements in school reform today. Putting them into effect, though, requires wise and brave school leaders. Without bold, sober, demanding principals, few schools will build a truly excellent set of instructors. This book is for public-spirited donors who want to foster educational excellence by elevating teachers and principals. It reviews the latest academic Excellent research and on-the-ground experience of reformers and offers practical advice on multiple fronts. It is written for philanthropists and allies active in the field who want to make a positive difference. Educators A Wise Giver’s Guide to Cultivating Great Teachers and Principals Laura Vanderkam PhilanthropyRoundtable.org (202) 822-8333 Free copies of this guidebook are available to qualified donors.