Race, Family Income, and Test Scores: A New Study | from Diane Ravitch’s blog

The New York Times features a new study of the intersection of race, family income, and test scores by Sean Reardon, Demetra Kalogrides, and Kenneth Shores.

It shows beyond doubt that family income and test scores are tightly correlated.

A chart of educational attainment in school districts, arrayed by family income, shows that: “Sixth graders in the richest school districts are four grade levels ahead of children in the poorest districts.”

That is a huge test score gap.

Read more here: Race, Family Income, and Test Scores: A New Study | Diane Ravitch’s blog

Take your kids to work at the FEC, and let them dis the place! | OpenSecrets Blog

Thursday was “take your kids to work” day. Apparently at the Federal Election Commission it was “take your kids to work and have them bash your employer” day.

In keeping with what’s known officially as Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work Day, millions of employers around the country invited their workers’ offspring to see firsthand exactly what their parents do all day. Because in many cases desperate boredom …

Read more here: Take your kids to work at the FEC, and let them dis the place! | OpenSecrets Blog

Pennsylvania company caught in a straw donor scheme; Toomey donates money to charity | OpenSecrets Blog

Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.), who’s locked in one of the Senate’s closest races this cycle, and one other current lawmaker were among politicians on the receiving end of donations from players charged with making illegal campaign contributions by the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s office.

Businessman David Stewart, the head of a Pennsylvania construction conglomerate, pleaded guilty last … read more here >  Pennsylvania company caught in a straw donor scheme; Toomey donates money to charity | OpenSecrets Blog

Financing the conventions — even more cash from some usual suspects | OpenSecrets Blog

 The last time the Democratic and Republican parties had to stage the quadrennial spectacles that serve as their presidential nominating conventions, they got a big assist from the taxpayers: The Federal Election Commission cut checks to each of the two parties for $18.2 million to pay for construction and other basic services required for the 2012 events. Coming from the same pot of money that also provided public grants for … read more here > http://www.opensecrets.org/news/2016/04/financing-the-conventions-even-more-cash-from-some-usual-suspects/

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Bringing dark money out of the shadows: DarkMoney.org | OpenSecrets Blog

This was originally posted on the Knight Blog

Today we’re officially launching our newly redesigned Dark Money section, DarkMoney.org, tracking the activities of politically active nonprofits that don’t disclose their wealthy corporate and individual donors to the voters they seek to influence.

Source: Bringing dark money out of the shadows: DarkMoney.org | OpenSecrets Blog

CURMUDGUCATION reblog: North Carolina charter schools shenanigans

NC: More Charter Shenanigans Posted by Peter Greene: 29 Apr 2016 08:14 PM PDT North Carolina’s Attorney General Roy Cooper has decide to try to recover money lost to a failed and possibly fraudulent charter school. The lawsuit has been filed  against the managers of the long-troubled Kinston Charter Academy. In August of 2013, Kinston collected $666,000 from the state. That sum was based on a projected enrollment of 366 students, and was supposed to keep the school flush through October. The school only had 189 students (K-8). And it closed its doors for good at the beginning of September, leaving the state out two-thirds of a million dollars AND having to fund the education for those students– again… Full blog post here :   http://curmudgucation.blogspot.com/2016/04/nc-more-charter-shenanigans.html

US Aid to Israel Jumps to $11 Million Dollars Per Day

The strength of the Jewish Lobby in Washington DC has been demonstrated once again with US President Barack Obama’s approval of a new congressional bill which boosts US taxpayer donations to $11 million every day.

Source: Whatsupic – US Aid to Israel Jumps to $11 Million Dollars Per Day

CEO Pay Has Increased $8 Million Since 2009, While Employee Pay Has Gone up 0%

Tell me again why we can’t afford a $15 minimum wage?

By Sahid Fawaz

Remember when conservatives preached trickle down economics as if it was proven science? Well, corporate profits and productivity have skyrocketed in the economic recovery over the last six years. But there was no trickle down to employees.

Source: CEO Pay Has Increased $8 Million Since 2009, While Employee Pay Has Gone up 0%

Democrats: Stop Bullying Sanders Supporters into Backing Clinton

Democrats are setting themselves up for a crushing loss in November unless Clinton backers stop bullying Bernie Sanders supporters. Here’s why.

Source: Democrats: Stop Bullying Sanders Supporters into Backing Clinton

This is What Will Happen at the Democratic Convention | the writing of john laurits

https://johnlaurits.com/2016/04/28/this-is-what-will-happen-at-the-democratic-convention/

Bernie Sanders has vowed to fight relentlessly for the 2016 Democratic Party’s nomination up to the convention and, despite the apparent consensus of the media’s talking heads that the campaign is a lost cause, he has held fast to his claim that there is a “narrow path to victory.” I am reminded of Galadriel’s ominous words of advice, in the Fellowship of the Ring: The quest stands upon the edge of a knife — stray but a little, and it will fail… ÷

It has even become something of a weekly occurrence for Hillary Clinton and her Wallstreet-backed campaign to imply, insinuate, or flat-out demand that Sanders withdraw his bid for the nomination — they are growing increasingly indignant about the fact that Sanders is trying to win. Which brings us to the heart of the issue — can Bernie Sanders–can we–win the delegates needed for the nomination?

The answer to this question is as simple as it is misleading — No. No, my friends, we cannot. And yet–! And yet, neither can Hillary Clinton — and I am going to show you what the media is willfully hiding from you. I am going to show you why, using the one thing that even the media can’t hide: Math.