Education

What Can Education Can Look Like Without High Stakes Testing?

December 22, 2024 Doug Selwyn, Greenfield Recorder Create! Education, Public schools, Teachers, Testing

Ballot Question 2 passed with more than 59% of the vote, ending the MCAS as a graduation requirement in Massachusetts. Students will still take the MCAS, beginning in grade 3 up through high school, and they will still be required to pass their high school classes that are aligned with the state standards, so public education will not devolve into chaos as the opponents warned in their scare ads. There will still be a focus on serving all children in all of our classrooms, children will still be assessed through multiple measures, and there is hope that freedom from the one-size-fits-all straight jacket that is a high-stakes testing regime will allow teachers to more fully respond to the diverse learners in their classrooms.

Seattle Planned To Close Up To 21 Public Schools; Here’s How We Stopped Them

December 19, 2024 Jesse Hagopian, Truthout. Organize! Education, Public schools, School closures, Seattle, Victory

From coast to coast, school districts are proposing closures, as pandemic-era funds have long since dried up and gentrification has driven families out of increasingly unaffordable neighborhoods. Yet in a time when budget cuts threaten public education nationwide, Seattle organizers have shown that communities can fight back — and win. After initially proposing in spring to close up to 21 schools — and, under immense pressure, reducing that number to four — Seattle Public Schools (SPS) announced in late November that it was canceling all plans to close schools.

How Private Schools Are Exacerbating Segregation

December 19, 2024 Jennifer Berry Hawes, ProPublica. Educate! Education, Mississippi, Private schools, Segregation

The scoreboard glowed with the promise of another Friday night football game in Liberty, Mississippi, a small town near the Louisiana border. The Trojans, in black and gold, sprinted onto the field to hollers from friends and families who filled barely half the bleachers. The fans were almost all Black, as is the student body at the county’s lone public high school. Scanning the field and the stands would give you little indication that more than half the county’s residents are white. In some swaths of the South, a big event like high school football unites people. But not in Amite County.

Groundbreaking For A Minneapolis Youth-Serving Community Staple

December 18, 2024 Niko Georgiades, Unicorn Riot. Create! Community Center, Education, Minneapolis, Youth

For nearly three decades, the educational nonprofit WE WIN Institute has been nomadic, serving youth in Minneapolis out of rented spaces. But that era is coming to a close — on November 19, 2024, WE WIN held a groundbreaking event for their new building in Minneapolis’ Bryn Mawr neighborhood. Unicorn Riot was there to document the historic occasion and interview board members, organization partners and a former student-turned-staff. Founded in 1996 by award-winning educator Titilayo Bediako, WE WIN Institute has served thousands of youth in Minneapolis with a mission of creating academic and social success for all children.

Time Is Running Out To Cancel Debt For Aging Borrowers

December 17, 2024 Lily Greenberg Call, In These Times. Resist! Debt, Debt Forgiveness, Education, Seniors

A group of student loan borrowers aged 50 and up traveled from around the country to Washington, D.C., on December 11, setting up rocking chairs outside the Department of Education. Dressed in ponchos and beanies to protect against the frigid rain, they passed out cross-stitch kits and signs reading “Knit-In for Debt Cancellation,” sharing their personal debt stories amidst chants of “Biden, don’t forget, cancel student debt.” These protesters are all members of the Debt Collective, the first union of debtors in the country, and they came to Washington with a message for President Joe Biden: Cancel student debt for borrowers over 50 years old before Donald Trump takes office in January.

Congress Revives Cold War Tactics With New Anti-Communism Curriculum

December 14, 2024 Alan MacLeod, MintPress News. Educate! China, Communism, Education, New McCarthyism, Propaganda

Congress has just passed a new bill that will see the U.S. spend huge sums of money redesigning much of the public school system around the ideology of anti-communism. The “Crucial Communism Teaching Act” is now being read in the Senate, where it is all but certain to pass. The move comes amid growing public anger at the economic system and increased public support for socialism. The Crucial Communism Teaching Act, in its own words, is designed to teach children that “certain political ideologies, including communism and totalitarianism…conflict with the principles of freedom and democracy that are essential to the founding of the United States.”

Trump Taps Linda McMahon For Secretary Of Education

December 6, 2024 Chrisley Carpio, Fight Back! News. Educate! Department of Education, Donald Trump, Education, Privatization

On November 19, Donald Trump selected multi-millionaire Linda McMahon as Secretary of the Department of Education. The former CEO of the World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), she unsuccessfully ran for the U.S. Senate in Connecticut and lost twice. She served on Trump’s cabinet once before as the head of the Small Business Administration and then resigned in 2019 to become the director of America First Action, a Trump super-PAC that kept promoting the agenda of “Make America Great Again” after he lost the 2020 election.

1934 And Now: History Lives!

November 28, 2024 Peter Rachleff, Portside. Educate! Education, History, Minneapolis, Minnesota, Strikes, Unions

Over the first three decades of the 20th century, Minneapolis was the most notorious “open shop” city in the country. An employers’ organization (the “Citizens’ Alliance”) leveraged the power of banks, manufacturers, and local government to resist workers’ attempts to unionize. In February 1934 the city’s truck drivers and coal yard workers organized and struck their industry, winning union recognition in a week. Their success inspired other truckers and warehouse workers to organize and strike twice, in the spring and summer of 1934, facing down the power of police and private “deputies.”

Chris Hedges Report: Surveillance Education

November 24, 2024 Chris Hedges, Consortium News. Resistance Report Education, Military Industrial Complex, Privacy, Surveillance, Technology

Surveillance tools have become ubiquitous in schools and universities. Technologies, promising greater safety and enhanced academic performance, have allowed Gaggle, Securly, Bark, and others to collect detailed data on students. These technologies, however, have not only failed to deliver on their promises, but have eviscerated student privacy. This is especially true in poor communities, where there is little check on wholesale surveillance. This data is often turned against students, especially the poor and students of color, accelerating the school-to-prison pipeline. When students and teachers know they are being watched and monitored it stifles intellectual debate, any challenging of the dominant narrative and inquiry into abuses of power.

A Review Of Key 2024 Ballot Measures

November 11, 2024 Emma Cohn and Jennifer Sherer, Economic Policy Institute. Educate! 2024 US Presidential elections, Ballot Initiative, Criminal Justice and Prisons, Education, Finance and the Economy, Health Care, Reproductive Rights, Worker Rights and Jobs

In this year’s election, voters given the opportunity to weigh in directly on questions of economic justice showed policy preferences far more progressive than those reflected in many national and state election outcomes. Across the country, voters seized opportunities to approve state or local ballot measures increasing the minimum wage, expanding paid leave, strengthening workers’ rights to unionize, preserving public education, and protecting access to abortion. These ballot measure outcomes reflect a clear ongoing trend of strong voter support for policies that prioritize worker, racial, and gender justice—and illustrate how state and local governments can continue to play important roles in enacting such policies.

Want More Equality Of Opportunity And Social Justice?

November 6, 2024 Omar Ocampo, Inequality.org. Create! Education, Equality, Massachusetts, taxation, Wealth Tax

This past summer, the Governor of Massachusetts Maura Healey signed a budget bill that guaranteed universal access to in-state community colleges. No matter age or socioeconomic background, irrespective of the degree or certificate sought, the tuition and fees at these fifteen institutions of higher learning are waived. The $117 million public investment allocated to the MassEducate program was made possible two years ago when, in an exercise of direct democracy, Bay State voters defied the tenets of neoliberal ideology. They approved a landmark progressive tax bill – known as the Fair Share Amendment – that imposed a four percent surtax on annual incomes above one million dollars.

East Los Angeles Community Victory! Extera Charter Project Stopped!

November 1, 2024 Carlos Montes, Fight Back! News!. Resist! California, Charter Schools, Education, Gentrification, Los Angeles

Los Angeles, CA – On October 29, East Los Angeles (ELA) residents, led by the community group Centro CSO, scored a major win against a proposed charter school in their neighborhood. Centro CSO members and residents spoke at a meeting of the LA County Board of Supervisors to oppose Extera Charter School’s plan to build a new facility on Gage and Eastman Avenues. Angelina Chavez, a community member voiced her concerns, stating, “This project will bring constant traffic, noise, and pollution to our quiet street.” At the meeting, Extera representatives brought over 60 parents, mostly mothers in Extera T-shirts, to voice support.

Workers In Greece Mobilize Against Austerity

October 27, 2024 Ana Vračar, People's Dispatch. Resist! Austerity, Education, General Strike, Greece, New Democracy, Worker Rights and Jobs

Strikes swept through Greece in the week of October 21 as workers protested austerity measures imposed by Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis’ government. Workers demanded wage increases, strengthened collective agreements, and the reversal of public service reforms, especially in healthcare and education. Actions across sectors—including in hospitality, metalwork, transport, logistics, and education—built momentum for the November 20 general strike, anticipated to demonstrate the public’s frustration over deteriorating work and living conditions. Throughout the strikes, workers appealed to the community to support them.

Chicago Teachers Are Fighting For A Historic Contract

October 26, 2024 Kari Lydersen, In These Times. Strategize! Chicago, Education, Illinois, Teachers, Unions, Worker Rights and Jobs

In 2012, the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU), along with thousands of supporters, took to the streets in a historic battle with then-Mayor Rahm Emanuel over his corporate education reform and austerity plans for the city’s public school system. That strike helped define the increasingly popular concept of “bargaining for the common good,” an approach “where unions make demands that would benefit not just members but the larger communities,” as CTU Vice President Jackson Potter explained two years ago on the tenth anniversary of the walk out. Today, the union is in the midst of another struggle over the future of the country’s third-largest public education system.

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