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Wednesday, March 27, 2013

Diane in the Evening 3-27-13 Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all

Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all:






Photos from Chicago Protests

Fred Klonsky has an excellent assortment of photos from the Chicago protest today against school closings.
Parents, students, and teachers will not go quietly.
And they should not.


Bad Bill Alert in Texas!

Raise Your Hand Texas ACTION ALERT
Bad Bill Alert!
Your Action Is Needed TODAY!
March 27, 2013
Let the Senate Education Committee Know You Oppose SB 1263!
SB 1263 by Senator Larry Taylor is the “Parent Trigger” bill.
The “Parent Trigger” Is About Destroying Public Schools, Not Saving Them
SB 1263 radically undermines efforts to turn around a struggling school and may be voted out of committee Thursday (tomorrow) if we don’t act now.
We already have a parent trigger.
Texas’ current parent trigger law operates only after the Commissioner has reconstituted the campus, developed an intervention plan, and the campus has remained academically unacceptable for three years. SB 1263 blows up a campus for two years of academically unacceptable performance before any of the proven methods of 


Breaking News: A Desperate Message from Memphis

I received this email from a high school teacher in Memphis. Please read it and understand that we must organize against the destruction of public education in America. This, plus the court approval of vouchers in Indiana yesterday sends an ominous message: the radical reactionaries are determined to destroy public education. We must fight back. We must awaken parents and civic leaders.
This comes from Memphis:
“Diane,
“Public education in Memphis/Shelby County is on the verge of collapse.
“Gates gave $90 million to Memphis City Schools, and now he’s calling the shots: increased class sizes, no 



Indiana Voucher Decision Allows Public Funding to Schools That Discriminate

This is a thoughtful analysis of the dreadful voucher decision in Indiana yesterday.
It says, “The plaintiffs in the voucher case alleged the program violates three sections of the Indiana Constitution: Article 8, Section 1, which requires a “general and uniform system of Common Schools”; Article 1, Section 4, which says citizens can’t be forced to support a place of worship or ministry; and Article 1, Section 6, which forbids spending state money to support a “religious or theological institution.”
In a 5-0 decision, the state court rejected their case.
The schools getting the vouchers may require students to participate in religious exercise, and they typically do.
The schools getting vouchers may not discriminate on the basis of race, color, or national origin, “But they are 


Will Florida Republicans Block Parent Trigger Again?

Coach Bob Sikes wonders if Florida Republicans will learn a lesson from Georgia Republicans.
In Georgia, the Republicans pulled back on a so-called Parent Trigger bill, which would enable a vote of parents to convert their community school into a privately managed charter school.
In Florida, the Jeb Bush foundation and the Chamber of Commerce are beating the drums for the “parent trigger” 


LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH 3-27-13 Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 2 hours ago
Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all: [image: Click on picture to Listen to Diane Ravitch] TeacherEd: Blaming Schools Instead of Taxing Corporations by dianerav We have had a lively conversation on this blog about whether poverty matters in relation to test scores, whether it is a cause or merely correlated with low scores, and whether schools alone (as some “reformers”) claim, cn end poverty. TeacherEd weighs in here: This is just a red herring. It’s been over 45 years since the “War on Poverty” started, which first aimed the focus on “fixing” poo... more »