Education reform

Denver Teachers’ Strike Was A Rejection Of Education ‘Reform’

March 15, 2019 Jeff Bryant, Blackagendareport.com Resist! Class Struggle, Colorado, Denver, Education, Education reform, Reform, Strikes, Teachers

Former superintendent of Denver Public Schools Michael Bennet pushed privatization measures as well as changes to the ProComp teacher pay program. “I definitely drank the education reform kool-aid,” recalls Alex Nelson, a Denver teacher who, along with over 5,300 fellow teachers and school support staff, walked off the job earlier this month in a four-day strike that resulted in the teachers having most of their demands met. Now in his sixth year at Denver Public Schools, Nelson is at Bryant-Webster Elementary where he teaches Math, Science, and Spanish to third- and fourth-grade students.

If You Think Education Is Expensive, Try Ignorance

September 22, 2018 Vijay Prashad, Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research. Educate! Education reform, Food and Agriculture, health, Youth

Such important news from the Korean peninsula. The heads of government of North and South Korea have agreed not only that ‘the era of no war has started’, but they have come up with a series of proposals to strengthen ties across the peninsula. Military drills will end, missile sites will close down, mines will be dug up, road and rail lines will link the two halves of Korea, and North and South Korea will put in a joint bid to host the 2032 Summer Olympic Games. No-one could have anticipated the speed of these developments.

Campaign To Prevent A ‘Brave New World’ Privacy-Invading Education Profiteering

July 18, 2018 Morna McDermott, Popular Resistance Organize! Education, Education reform

We are entering a very dangerous time in US public education that threatens the role of teachers, public schools and the privacy of students. The history of education reform is long and complicated but most people are now catching on, as bad policy follows bad policy, decade after decade. They realize that the politicians and corporate CEO's deciding what happens in schools have their own agenda and it is not one that benefits children or communities. First, it was high stakes standardized testing, then it the charter school takeover...and now its mass data mining of children throughout their educational career through technology. This is creating a massive profit center for corporate interests and destroying the privacy of children.

Entering The ‘Brave New World’ Of Corporatized Education

May 15, 2018 Margaret Flowers and Kevin Zeese, Clearing the FOG Radio. Podcast Corporatism, Education reform, Schools, Teachers

First there were charter schools and high stakes testing, and now we are entering a whole new realm of corporate education that treats students as commodities and views schools and teachers as obstacles to profits. Education corporations are pushing computer-based learning on students and crowding out classroom-based instruction, even though studies show online learning is less effective. On top of that, new education tech also monitors students' eye movements, vital signs and emotional state. It is mining data on students from preschool on up that can be sold to marketers and used to determine a student's future. We speak with Morna McDermott, an educator and mom who co-founded the Opt Out Movement and has launched a new campaign, "Classrooms, Not Computers."

Newsletter: Privatization vs. The People

February 25, 2017 Kevin Zeese and Margaret Flowers, www.PopularResistance.org Newsletter Capitalism, Commons, Education, Education reform, Healthcare, Keystone XL, National Improved Medicare for All, No DAPL, Private Prisons, Privatization, Public-Private Partnerships, TISA, TTIP, TTP

By Kevin Zeese and Margaret Flowers for Popular Resistance. The essence of privatization today is to turn a public good into a profit center for Wall Street. US economic policy has created a wealth class that is grotesquely wealthy and under-taxed so that it has the money government needs to provide public services. This forces the government to borrow money from or sell a public service to the privateers or to create a public-private partnership (disguised corporate welfare and crony capitalism) in order to provide essential services. There is another way. We’ve reached a tipping point, as evidenced by the worldwide revolt through Occupy, the Arab Spring, the Indignados and other movements. We can reverse the trend toward privatization and inequality by claiming the commons for our mutual prosperity. If we believe in a more just, sustainable and democratic world, a world based on the common good, we will build the foundation for a world in which people work together to solve common problems and create an equitable economy that betters the lives for all.

The Long Game: Where Art Thou Public Education?

February 19, 2017 Morna McDermott, www.educationalchemy.com Create! Education, Education reform, Public Education

By Morna McDermott for Education Alchemy. The privatizers are busy at work. Unless you live under a rock (a tempting thought lately…) you probably feel like I do every time you turn on the news; the sensation of riding the Tilt a Whirl while taking ‘shrooms. It’s exhausting at best, and terrifying at worst; trying to untangle what is happening around us. Take Devos and her anti-Grizzly platform as the prime example of current insanity.We're all made here The most recent effort toward destroying public ed comes in the form of the Choices in Education Act of 2017. I live in Maryland along with Andy Harris (R) who is co-sponsor of this bill. (lucky me). Many activists fighting against education reform are already on top of pushing back and calling for action against this bill, as well they (and we) should be. Like many of my friends and colleagues I am also strongly opposed to a voucher system for school funding and this bill.

Newsletter – Time To Ask Who We Are

November 27, 2016 Margaret Flower and Kevin Zeese, www.PopularResistance.org Newsletter #NoDAPL, Bayer, Climate Change, Climate Justice, Coal, Donald Trump, Education reform, Human Rights, Immigration, Indigenous Rights, Labor, militarism, Monsanto, Neo-Nazis, Oil and Gas, Torture, Trumpism, weapons, Workers

By Margaret Flower and Kevin Zeese for Popular Resistance. The United States has reached a turning point. Where we turn is dependent on what we do as people to determine our future. Neither of the major political parties are going to adequately solve the crises we face. This is a time to examine and discuss some fundamental issues: who we are and who we want to be. Out of crises come opportunities to put bold solutions in place. We are calling for a People's Agenda. We have the power to make changes in this country that completely alter the course of our nation and the world. We can say no to genocide against Native Americans. We can end systemic racism. We can demand respect for the human rights of all people. We can promote peace and prosperity for all. We can solve the climate crisis. It is up to us and how we organize in our communities. At the heart of the success of popular movements is what we have advocated - the building of a broad and diverse unified movement that is active and has built national consensus for the changes we wish to see.

Frustrated Parents Rally Nationwide To ‘Reclaim Our Schools’

October 9, 2016 Rebecca Klein, www.huffingtonpost.com Educate! Education, Education Funding, Education reform

By Rebecca Klein for Huffington Post. More than 100,000 people took part in a nationwide “walk-in” at more than 2,000 schools in 238 cities, according to the event organizer Alliance to Reclaim Our Schools (AROS). They were joined by some high-profile guests, including Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Kaine. At her Brooklyn school, Joseph and other community members protested the state funding system, which advocates say disadvantages needy schools. People in other cities rallied over issues like the expansion of charter schools and high-stakes student testing. Thursday’s walk-ins were the third time AROS said it had set up such an event and represented its largest effort so far. The alliance, which includes the nation’s two largest teachers unions and the Annenberg Institute for School Reform, advocates for equal educational opportunities, especially for low-income students of color.

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