Dear Colleague,
The past month has not been kind to the California education
establishment. A Public Policy of California report finds that just 30
percent of all California 9th graders are expected to earn a
bachelor’s degree. Also, only 45 percent of the graduating class of 2016
completed college preparatory courses, which are required to be
considered for admission to any state school. The report analyzes when
students leave the path to college, which students leave, and the major
impediments to success. It is based on a large longitudinal sample of
high school students, as well as statewide data.
In San Francisco, the statistics for black students are especially grim.
In fact, SF NAACP President Amos Brown told the local school board that
it should declare a state of emergency, because just 19 percent of
black students are proficient in English, compared to 31 percent of
black students statewide. San Francisco has the worst black student
achievement of any county in California.
Then, in an attempt to force California to address its education
failings, a group of lawyers representing teachers and students from
poor performing schools is suing the state, arguing that it “has done
nothing about a high number of schoolchildren who do not know how to
read.”
The advocacy law firm, Public Counsel, filed the lawsuit in Los
Angeles Superior Court to demand the California Department of Education
address its "literacy crisis." The state has not followed suggestions
from its own report on the problem five years ago, the lawsuit said.
"When it comes to literacy and the delivery of basic education,
California is dragging down the nation," said Public Counsel lawyer Mark
Rosenbaum, who sued along with the law firm Morrison & Foerster.
Of the 26 lowest-performing districts in the nation, 11 are in
California, according to the lawsuit. Texas, the largest state after
California, has only one district among the 26.
To access the PPIC report, go to http://www.ppic.org/press-release/less-than-a-third-of-states-9th-graders-likely-to-earn-a-bachelors-degree/ To learn more about San Francisco’s problems, go to http://www.sacbee.com/news/local/education/article181525146.html For more on the lawsuit, go here - http://www.sacbee.com/news/state/california/article188153344.html
And the bad news is not limited to California. The results of an international reading test reveal that U.S. 4th-Graders lag behind other countries in reading.
When it comes to the standing of U.S. students, fourth grade reading
comprehension has slipped since 2011 – though not statistically
significantly – lowering its position in the international ranking to
16th place. In 2011, four education systems scored higher than the
average reading score of U.S. students, while in 2016, 12 education
systems scored higher.
"We seem to be declining as other education systems make larger
gains on assessments," Peggy Carr, acting commissioner for the National
Center for Education Statistics, the research arm of the U.S. Department
of Education, said in a press call last week. "Countries that were our
peers have surpassed us while some that used to do worse than us are now
our peers."
To read more about the results, go to https://www.usnews.com/news/best-countries/articles/2017-12-05/other-countries-surpass-us-students-in-international-reading-comprehension-test
The yearly EdChoice “Schooling in America” report has been released and,
as usual, the pro-choice outfit has done a thorough job of digging into
various education crevices. From the executive summary:
The national nomenclature surrounding education has shifted
dramatically in the past year. Terms like “vouchers,” “charter schools,”
and “tax-credit scholarships”—all educational options—have entered the
mainstream dialogue as a result of a political embrace by the executive
administration. This emergence has fueled the ongoing debate on what is
and should be considered public education in the United States.
Often in this political climate, the loudest voices garner the most
attention. That has certainly been true in education, where distinct
stakeholders of parents, teachers, administrators, boards, and
governments often struggle to align their goals. Yet the voices of
everyday citizens as a whole also should be examined for this most
important public good.
To access the report, go to https://www.edchoice.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/2017-Schooling-In-America-by-Paul-DiPerna-Michael-Shaw-and-Andrew-D-Catt-1.pdf
Also, on the school choice front, the Associated Press has just issued a
report that claims that “US charter schools put growing numbers in
racial isolation.”
Just one of the many of the report’s odd assertions is that charters are
“segregated.” which is patently untrue. Segregation is forced
separation. No charter in the country has adopted an apartheid policy.
Parents of all races send their kids to these schools voluntarily. The
more popular ones hold a colorblind lottery to determine admission.
Education reformers’ responses to the AP analysis were quick and
pointed. Democrats for Education Reform President Shavar Jeffries wrote
that AP “ignores the blatantly obvious fact that charter schools are
concentrated in neighborhoods with high proportions of students of color
to provide them an alternative to the low-performing traditional public
schools they previously had no choice but to attend.”
Howard Fuller, civil rights activist and veteran education reform
advocate, tweeted, “The issue for low income Black children is how to
get an effective education. I don’t oppose integration. I support
excellent education for poor Black children wherever they can find it.
Blaming charter schools for the lack of integration is bogus.”
To read more about the AP report and reactions to it, go here - https://www.the74million.org/education-reform-groups-decry-associated-press-analysis-of-charter-school-segregation/
Mike Antonucci has written “Five Common Teachers Union Arguments – That
Rely on Half-Truths.” This valuable post provides excellent rejoinders
to several union arguments. So for example, when your strident Uncle
Don, a union organizer, is chomping away at his Christmas goose and
spitting out things like, “Union dues are not used for politics,” you
can quote Antonucci:
The problem is that most people broadly define politics to include
lobbying, independent expenditures, issue advertising, ballot initiative
campaigns, rallies, protests, and endorsements. All of those things are
paid for with dues money, which every union member, regardless of his
or her political views, contributes. Virtually every other type of
political spending other than direct contributions to candidates and
parties is made with dues money.
If you are a Republican union member, you have paid, do pay, and will pay to help elect Democrats to office.
To read all of Antonucci’s valuable rejoinders, go here - https://www.the74million.org/article/analysis-five-common-teacher-union-arguments-that-rely-on-half-truths/
If you have any questions about where your dues dollars are going, the
latest NEA U.S. Department of Labor report will answer many of them. As
reported by RiShawn Biddle, “…it is clear that the nation’s largest
teachers’ union is spending even more to maintain its influence in
education policy. Whether or not it benefits the teachers who are often
forced to pay into its coffers is a different story.”
He adds that the union “spent $151 million on lobbying and contributions
to supposedly likeminded organizations during its last fiscal year.
That’s a 9.4 increase over influence-buying levels in 2015-2016. This,
by the way, doesn’t include another $43.7 million in spending on
so-called representational activities in 2016-2017, which almost always
tend to be political in nature; that’s six percent less than in the
previous period.”
To access the spending report, go to http://dropoutnation.net/2017/11/30/neas-151-million-influence-spree/
And just how do teachers, collectively, lean politically? A new poll by Education Week
provides some answers. Not surprisingly, teachers are quite mixed. When
asked to describe their political orientation, teachers responded:
5% - very liberal
4% - very conservative
24% - liberal
23% conservative
43% moderate
Just about as even a breakdown as you can get, but obviously the unions
don’t spend their members’ dues money accordingly. Also importantly, Ed Week stresses that, en masse, teachers do their best to keep their political views to themselves when dealing with their students.
To read more about teachers’ political leanings, go here - https://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2017/12/13/survey-paints-political-portrait-of-americas-k-12.html
Anyone wishing to make a year-end donation to CTEN can do so very simply through a personal check or PayPal - http://www.ctenhome.org/donate.html
As a non-profit, we exist and operate only through the generosity and
support of people like you. (And to those of you who already regularly
donate – our heartfelt thanks!)
It has been another exciting year for CTEN - www.ctenhome.org/
and we look forward to an even more vigorous 2018. We are grateful for
your interest and involvement, and wish you and your families the
happiest of holidays. See you next year!
Sincerely,
Larry Sand
CTEN President
