Schott Foundation’s New “Loving Cities Index” Rejects Decades-Long, Test-and-Punish School Policy

“What’s wrong with America’s public schools?”
Nothing and Everything.
All at once.
They act as a mirror into which we peer and see the reflection of all that is wrong with America.
“U.S. childhood poverty rates have grown by more than 50% since the 1970s and are now by far the highest among OECD nations, reaching 22% in the latest published statistics.”
“In most major American cities, a majority of African American and Latino students attend public schools where at least 75% of students are from low-income families… For example, in Chicago and New York City, more than 95% of both Black and Latino students attend majority-poverty schools….”
“Today, about half as many Black students attend majority White schools (just over 20%) as did so in 1988, when about 44% did so.”
“In most states, the wealthiest (school) districts spend at least two to three times what the poorest districts can spend per pupil…. Furthermore, the wealthiest states spend about three times what the poorer states spend.”
Thanks for this post Jan.

janresseger

Here is Dr. John Jackson, President & CEO of the Schott Foundation for Public Education, announcing the Foundation’s new Loving Cities Index: “Considering the social and political moment, the public, private and philanthropic sectors must go beyond the normal separate silos approach to shift from a standards-based agenda where we only analyze shortcomings to a supports-based agenda where we focus on the resources needed for all students to overcome obstacles created by inequity and achieve high outcomes.”

What is our social and political moment that makes Schott’s new initiative so important?

Last month in Parkland, Florida, there was a tragedy—a school shooting in which 17 adolescents and adults were killed by a former student with a semi-automatic rifle. An outpouring of grief has turned the attention of the nation, as it should, to the insanity of the absence of restrictions on the possession of guns.

One cannot compare tragedies…

View original post 1,123 more words

Financial Documents used to entice Amazon to come to Grand Rapids finally released, but 103 pages still missing

Grand Rapids Institute for Information Democracy

On Wednesday, the Right Place Inc. held a press conference and released 5 pages of financial information about the plan to attract the online sales company, Amazon, to open another headquarters in Grand Rapids.

The 5 pages of financial incentives are linked here, with a summary of the various options and the price tag in the graphic on the right.

It is clear that the financial incentives that the Right Place Inc, Grand Rapids, the Ford International Airport and Wyoming were offering was substantial.

News coverage of the newly released documents was covered by most commercial media outlets, like MLive and WOODTV8, but these news sources primarily focused on the dollar amounts of the proposals pitched to Amazon.

However, an article in MiBiz, does a much better job of asking important questions from the Right Place Inc executive Birgit Klohs. 

The MiBiz story states:

Klohs said the organization’s…

View original post 416 more words