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New Report Underscores Serious “Equity Gaps” in Public Education

Emma Brown The Washington Post
Last Tuesday, the U.S. Education Department published its biennial civil rights report on public schools, representing the actual experiences of more than 50 million students in nearly every one of the nation’s 95,000 public schools. The report highlighted rampant absenteeism and stark racial disparities in not only how Black, Latino, and Native American students are disciplined but also in their access to experienced teachers and advanced math and science courses.

School Solutions and Turnarounds

Bobbi Murray & Bill Raden Capital and Main
California has become ground zero for the national battle over charter school expansion. Some of America’s richest individuals and largest foundations are pouring resources into what critics view as the privatization of public education. Based on six months of reporting and interviews with experts, elected officials, educators and advocates on both sides of the debate, “Failing the Test” is a comprehensive portrait of how charter schools are changing public education.

Professor: Why I Am `Incredibly Pessimistic' About the Future of Public Education

Mark Naison The Washington Post
Public schools in recent years have sustained assaults from believers in the privatization of the public education system. The powers that be plan a data-based reinvention of teacher education that will require the closing, or reinvention of colleges of teacher education. If these plans go through, a majority of the nation's teachers and teacher educators could lose their jobs in the next 10 years, replaced by people who will largely be temp workers-making minimum wages

Task Force: Replace Junior College Accreditation Commission

Debra Varnado Capital and Main
Thanks to a sophisticated strategy and tenacious rank-and-file leadership from City College of San Francisco faculty, students and staff as well as their allies, the accreditation system is being challenged to protect public education, teachers, students and workers in California.

Tidbits - October 1, 2015 - Reader Comments: Sanders, Labor Endorsements, GOP Attacks Hillary; Slavery; Syrian Refugees; Unions, Contracts and NLRB; Public Education for Sale; and more...

Portside
Reader Comments: Sanders and African American support, Labor endorsements divides union ranks, GOP attacks on Hillary;; Slavery, a national institution; Syrian Refugees and growing movement to welcome refugees; Unions, Contracts and the NLRB; Public Education for Sale; Puerto Rico's new party; Support for UE resolution on BDS; Julian Bond honored; Announcements: The Art of Peggy Lipschutz; more...

Washington State Supreme Court: Charter Schools Are Unconstitutional - A Landmark Ruling

John Higgins; Steven Rosenfeld
After nearly a year of deliberation, the state Supreme Court ruled late Friday afternoon that charter schools are not constitutional. Chief Justice Barbara Madsen wrote that charter schools aren't "common schools" because they're governed by appointed rather than elected boards. Therefore, "money that is dedicated to common schools is unconstitutionally diverted to charter schools,

The Politics of the NCAA Sweet Sixteen

David Morris Common Dreams
For the next week, we can concentrate on basketball and marvel at the remarkable athletes playing their hearts out and set politics aside. But perhaps, maybe during the commercials, we can reflect on the fact that the vast majority of these games are being played by teams from public universities in states whose governments are hostile to public universities and whose policies increase the already considerable financial burden on the students at these universities.

What Would Martin Say?

Yohuru Williams The Progressive
King saw the goal of education as more than performance on high-stakes tests or the acquisition of job skills or career competencies. “To save man from the morass of propaganda,” King opined, “is one of the chief aims of education. Education must enable one to sift and weigh evidence, to discern the true from the false, the real from the unreal, and the facts from the fiction.” The notion that privatization can foster equality is fiction.
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