New Haven, Connecticut: Students Protest Teacher Layoffs

Diane Ravitch's blog

Students at Hill Regional Career High School conducted a peaceful protest because of layoffs of some of their teachers. 

During their last period, Career students stepped out onto the grassy field behind the school. They carried a wide pink banner with the names of four teachers who received notice last week that they would be involuntarily transferred out of the school. Others held up signs that said, “WTF: Where’s the funding?” “HISTORY has its EYES on YOU,” and “We need our AP classes.”

“Save our teachers!” they chanted. “Save our teachers!”

Many of the students said they wanted to stand up for the educators who had always stood up for them — sometimes in situations that were literally “between life and death,” said Nidia Luis-Moreno, a junior. They said that, so far, they had collected close to 1,000 signatures opposing the involuntary transfers…

After they walked onto the field, students confronted…

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What does Racial Equity mean in Grand Rapids: Positive Rhetoric, mild reformism, but a failure to address system racism and White Supremacy

Grand Rapids Institute for Information Democracy

Beginning in 2016, the Kellogg Foundation provided $300,000 to Grand Rapids for its 3 year Racial Equity Initiative.

Two of the goals of this initiative are: 

Creating more jobs and employment of residents in Grand Rapids neighborhoods in 17 census tracts that have 48 percent of residents living in poverty that have the highest racial and ethnic diversity.

Create group and individual action steps that will have both immediate and long-term impacts.

While the Kellogg Foundation has provided the funding for this project, Grand Rapids is working with the Government Alliance on Race & Equity. 

Last Friday, an article was circulating on social media, that was written by someone who works for the National League of Cities. The article was headlined, In Grand Rapids, Neighborhoods Are the Cornerstone of Racial Equity.

The brief article talks about when Grand Rapids began their Racial Equity Initiative and what it has…

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Pearson Embraces a Digital Knock-Off of Authentic Education

tultican

By T. Ultican 7/6/2019

The world’s largest publishing company is betting on cyber education. Great Britain’s Pearson Corporation took a financial beating when common core state testing did not turn into a planned for cash cow and concurrently the market for text books slowed. With its world-wide reach, Pearson’s new play is for digital education to open up global markets. The corporation envisions creating life-long relationships with its customers to provide virtual schooling, professional certifications, assessments, and other services.

In April, Education International Research published “Pearson 2025 Transforming teaching and privatising education data.” Authors Sam Sellar and Anna Hogan report,

“Pearson aims to lead the ‘next generation’ of teaching and learning by developing digital learning platforms, including Artificial Intelligence in education (AIEd). It is piloting new AI technologies that it hopes will enable virtual tutors to provide personalised learning to students, much like Siri or Alexa. This technology…

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West Virginia Teachers Keep On Fighting As Legislature Debates Charter Schools and Education Savings Accounts

janresseger

In February of 2018, school teachers across the entire state of West Virginia walked out over the conditions in their public schools and their low pay, which has been driving fine teachers out of the profession and away from the state. West Virginia’s public school teachers thereby launched the #RedforEd movement that swept across Oklahoma, Kentucky, Arizona, Denver, Los Angeles and Oakland.

The 2018, West Virginia teachers’ strike ended when Governor Jim Justice and both houses of the state legislature agreed to a 5 percent raise for the state’s teachers, support staff, bus drivers and West Virginia state troopers.  Last October, Governor Jim Justice promised West Virginia’s teachers an additional raise, but an omnibus education reform bill that included the raise stalled in February 2019, when West Virginia Republicans in the state senate insisted on combining the raise with the introduction of charter schools into the state for the first…

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