In Case You Missed It – December 16, 2024

Here are links to last week's^† articles receiving the most attention on NEIFPE's social media accounts. Keep up with what's going on, what's being discussed, and what's happening with public education.

Be sure to enter your email address in the Follow Us By Email box in the right-hand column of our blog page to be informed when our blog posts are published.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

"Consider the first sentence of this San Diego Union-Tribune, typical of school reporting: Unified finds literacy gaps in kindergarten and middle school:

Many San Diego Unified kindergartners are already arriving at school behind grade level in reading, and reading scores take a hit when students reach middle school, district testing data show.

How can kindergartners be behind when they haven’t started formal schooling?" -- Nancy Bailey in How Assessment and Data are Used to Stigmatize Children as Failing

WHAT'S THE ALTERNATIVE TO TESTING

How Assessment and Data are Used to Stigmatize Children as Failing

We haven't escaped from the damage done by No Child Left Behind. We're still overusing and misusing tests.

From Nancy Bailey's Education Website

School districts continue to purchase high-cost commercialized tests that depersonalize teaching, stigmatize children and schools as failing, and build public distrust.

Assessment should inform educators and parents about where children are academically and behaviorally, but it doesn’t appear to improve learning.

Current tests appear to primarily be used to collect data, invading a child’s and family’s privacy. Such tests often stigmatize children as failing, and there are so many tests.

Aren’t there less costly methods that help teachers and parents understand how a child is doing that don’t share a child’s personal information, tests that lift children instead of disparaging them?

THE COMING ANTI-PUBLIC EDUCATION STORM

How will the Trump administration's education policies impact public education?

Will Trump Really End The Department Of Education

The plans are to leave schools alone and to micromanage them at the same time.

From Peter Greene in Forbes

The list of goals may or may not be current, but it underlines a basic contradiction at the heart of Trump’s education plans. The various goals can be boiled down to two overall objectives:

1) To end all federal involvement and oversight of local schools

2) To exert tight federal control over local schools

Trump has promised that schools will not teach “political indoctrination,” that they will teach students to be “love their country,” that there will be school prayer, that students will “have access to” project-based learning, and that schools will expel students who harm teachers or other students. He has also proposed stripping money from colleges and universities that indoctrinate students and using the money to set up a free of charge “world class education” system.

Above all, he has promised that he “will be closing up” the Department of Education. Of course, he said that in 2016 with control of both houses of Congress and it did not happen.

What Should We Be Watching For if Linda McMahon Is Confirmed as Education Secretary?

Do Republicans care about public education?

From Jan Resseger

...We ought to consider the implications when “outsiders” are appointed to manage the federal department which administers the myriad federal programs that shape opportunities for vulnerable students in public schools across the 50 states. At the center of every town and suburb and urban neighborhood, public schools are among our society’s most central and important civic and social institutions. Developed over the past two centuries, public schools are universally available and accessible, and they are institutions which, by law, must serve each child’s academic needs and must protect all students’ rights. In public schools our children come together to think, learn, and listen respectfully to others in schools served by credentialed professionals.

Trump and McMahon’s America First Agenda

Click this link to contact your legislators.

From Network for Public Education Action

Linda McMahon, Trump’s nominee for Secretary of Education, is the Board Chair of America First, which has an agenda for K-12 schools. It is filled with a subtle plan to defund public schools while exerting Soviet-style surveillance over what our teachers teach and students learn. Watch the video to learn more.

TEACHER SUES OVER LGBTQ+ BOOKS

Teacher Sues After Being Suspended for Having Books With LGBTQ+ Characters in Her Classroom

An Ohio teacher sues their school district.

From Religion Clause blog

A third-grade teacher in the southern Ohio village of New Richmond filed suit last week in an Ohio federal district court seeking damages for the 3-day suspension imposed on her for having four books in her classroom's book collection that have LGBTQ+ characters in them. The school claimed that the books violated the District's Policy 2240 on Controversial Issues in the Classroom.

GIFTS FOR TEACHER

Gifts of Christmas Past

"Teaching offers many very rewarding experiences, but it’s not and never has been about the great swag."

From Teacher in a Strange Land

In a holiday-themed archetype of legislative overreach, Alabama passed an ethics law back in 2011, forbidding K-12 school teachers from accepting expensive presents. Previous legislation set a $100 limit on individual gifts to public workers, but the 2011 law specified that gifts to teachers be limited to those of nominal value. The stated purpose: to reinforce ethical practices by state employees.

This was such a big deal that the AL Ethics Commission was receiving about 25 calls a day from parents who didn’t want to get their children’s teachers in trouble. The Ethics Commission released a detailed report, letting parents know that cookies, hand lotion and mugs are OK. What I found interesting was what was forbidden. Four examples: hams, turkeys, cash and “anything a teacher could re-sell.”

I was a classroom teacher for more than 30 years. I received hundreds of Christmas and end-of-year gifts over that time. And I never got a turkey or a ham. Maybe that’s an Alabama thing?

ALLEN COUNTY WELCOMES DOLLY PARTON'S IMAGINATION LIBRARY

ACPL launches Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library

Dolly Parton's Imagination Library comes to Allen County.

From 21 Alive News

The Allen County Public Library has officially launched Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library.

The program provides free, age-appropriate books to local children from birth to age five.

Officials from Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library of Indiana say Allen County experienced the second-highest registration numbers in the country in its first month of signing children up for the program.

Those interested in signing a child up for the program can do so here. It takes about eight to 12 weeks from enrollment for children to receive their first book, which they then receive monthly.

There is no cost to families.

^†Note: NEIFPE's In Case You Missed It is posted by the end of the day every Monday except after holiday weekends or as otherwise noted.

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In Case You Missed It – October 21, 2024

Here are links to last week's^† articles receiving the most attention on NEIFPE's social media accounts. Keep up with what's going on, what's being discussed, and what's happening with public education.

Be sure to enter your email address in the Follow Us By Email box in the right-hand column of our blog page to be informed when our blog posts are published.

2024 Candidate pledge from the Indiana Coalition for Public Education website.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

"[Candidate for Indiana Governor, Jennifer McCormick]...wants to place limits on the state’s private school voucher initiative: The program grew to encompass more than 70,000 children in 2023-24, a 31% increase from the year before. The state allocated $439 million in tuition grants to private parochial or non-religious schools last year — up from nearly $312 million the year before.

McCormick said the program, which might have been intended for lower-income children, is often utilized by white suburban families and is too expensive." -- Quoted in Diane Ravitch's blog, Indiana: Vote for Jennifer McCormick for Governor

ELECT PRO-PUBLIC EDUCATION CANDIDATES

Vic’s Statehouse Notes #389 – Candidate Pledge

Ask your local candidates to sign the Public Education Pledge from the Indiana Coaltion for Public Education.

From Vic Smith, Indiana Coalition for Public Education

This election could determine the survival of public education in Indiana. The plan to give ESAs to all parents in a “universal voucher” system has already been presented by Senator Mishler. The disastrous consequences of universal ESAs were detailed in the previous Statehouse Notes #388.

To survive, public education must have strong support from more legislators. This fact is the focus of a recent opinion piece written by ICPE board member, Dr. Tony Lux.

A “Candidate Pledge” to support public education is found on the website of the Indiana Coalition for Public Education.

JENNIFER MCCORMICK FOR GOVERNOR

Indiana: Vote for Jennifer McCormick for Governor

Jennifer McCormick wants to protect Indiana's public schools.

From Diane Ravitch

Jennifer McCormick was the last elected state superintendent of schools. She switched parties because of the Republicans’ hostility to public schools.

She is running for Governor of Indiana against Senator Mike Braun, who is a far-right Republican. Braun and his running mate, an evangelical extremist, want to get rid of public schools.

The 74 reports:

U.S. Sen. Mike Braun, a conservative Republican, is still ahead in the state’s gubernatorial race but his lead among Indiana voters over Democrat Jennifer McCormick has shrunk in recent weeks.

Polling released this week by the Democratic Governors Association shows Braun just three points in front of McCormick, 44% to 41%. That’s a dropoff from the Sept. 17 results of an Emerson College Polling/The Hill voter survey that had Braun with roughly 45% of the vote and McCormick with 34. Libertarian candidate Donald Rainwater also picked up more support but less dramatically so, going from 5.8% to 8%.

Indiana has not elected a Democratic governor since 2000 and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump holds a comfortable 14 percentage point lead, 57% to 43%, over Democrat Kamala Harris, according to an ActiVote poll released Tuesday.

PUBLIC DOLLARS GOING TO RELIGIOUS SCHOOLS

Only One True God: How Religious Schools Use Taxpayer Dollars to Promote Their Extremist Ideology

How our tax dollars are used...

From Thom Hartmann in Milwaukee Independent

Five Republican-controlled states are in the process of letting vouchers ghettoize their entire public-school systems. As The Washington Post noted:

“Billions in taxpayer dollars are being used to pay tuition at religious schools throughout the country, as state voucher programs expand dramatically and the line separating public education and religion fades.”

Meanwhile, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mike Johnson, flies an “Appeal to Heaven” flag outside his official congressional office that, since 2013, has been the semi-official logo of a militant arm of charismatic Christianity involved with January 6th. Supreme Court Justice Sam Alito flew a similar flag outside his summer home.

Another man flying that flag is outspoken Catholic evangelist Leonard Leo, who now controls over a billion dollars and helped run the process that selected Trump’s picks for the Supreme Court as well as hundreds of federal bench nominees. As ProPublica pointed out in a story about the man that remade the American judicial system:

“Leo is a major supporter of the [Catholic Information Center], and its unabashed projection of political power aligns with the central role of religion in Leo’s political project.”

LOCAL NEWS

Fort Wayne Community Schools seeks buyer for vacant southwest parcel

From the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette**

Fort Wayne Community Schools is seeking potential buyers for land it has owned for more than 20 years on the city’s southwest side.

The board agreed Monday to sell the vacant property at the northwest corner of Sandpoint Road and Ardmore Avenue to the person with the highest and best qualified offer.

The district doesn’t anticipate any future need for the site, which is smaller than an acre and requires ongoing maintenance, officials said.

Online property records indicate the district bought the land for $85,000 in March 2003. At that time, the tract was immediately north of Elmhurst High School, which closed at the end of the 2009-10 academic year. FWCS sold that site for $600,000 seven years ago to Hanson Aggregates Midwest, which operates nearby Ardmore Quarry.

Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library coming to Allen County; ACPL fundraising goal met

From WANE.com

After just a few months, a campaign to bring Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library to local kids has brought in enough funds to move forward with the reading program.

The Allen County Public Library announced Monday it has met its $100,000 fundraising goal for the campaign, which was launched in June. That means the Imagination Library could be implemented in the coming months.

The country music icon’s program provides free books to children up to age 5, encouraging literacy starting at a young age. Kids around the globe who are registered in the program get books in the mail each month.

There are already over 1,500 children on the waiting list for Allen County’s program. Families can join the list on the Imagination Library website.

Indiana marching bands are heading to the 2024 BOA Super Regional. Find out who'll compete

From IndyStar

THE LATEST: See who made finals at the Indianapolis Super Regional here.

For the next few weeks, it's marching band season at Lucas Oil Stadium (except when it's Taylor Swift season, that is).

Marching bands in Indiana competed last week for a spot in the ISSMA Semi-State competition, which takes place Oct. 26. This week, there's a two-day Bands of America Super Regional bringing high school performers from around the region (and a few from beyond) to the stadium.

More than 110 bands also will come to downtown Indy in mid-November for the 2024 Bands of America Grand National Championships.

**Note: The Fort Wayne Journal Gazette is behind a paywall. Digital access, home delivery, or both are available with a subscription. Staying informed is essential; one way to do that is to support your local newspaper. For subscription information, go to fortwayne.com/subscriptions/ [NOTE: NEIFPE has no financial ties to the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette]

^†Note: NEIFPE's In Case You Missed It is posted by the end of the day every Monday except after holiday weekends or as otherwise noted.

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In Case You Missed It – July 8, 2024

Here are links to last week's^† articles receiving the most attention on NEIFPE's social media accounts. Keep up with what's going on, what's being discussed, and what's happening with public education.

Be sure to enter your email address in the Follow Us By Email box in the right-hand column of our blog page to be informed when our blog posts are published.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

"The assault on public education has displayed the fundamental disconnect between the civic purposes of education and citizens who see education as just another private, consumer good–skills to be acquired (by those who can afford it) in order to enhance the ability of one’s children to succeed in the marketplace." -- Sheila Kennedy in The MAGA Vendetta Against Arts And Education.

PROJECT 2025

The MAGA Vendetta Against Arts And Education

Former Republican Sheila Kennedy writes about politics in Indiana. In this article, she explains an imminent threat to public education.

From Sheila Kennedy

I forget who first popularized the phrase “you ain’t seen nothin’ yet,” but if Trump should win in November, Project 2025 has outlined policies that would dramatically escalate the attack on public education.

Here are some of the elements of what I can only describe as an assault on steroids:

• Title I, the $18 billion federal fund that supports low-income students, would disappear in a decade.
• Federal special education funds would flow to school districts as block grants with no strings attached, or even to savings accounts for parents to use on private school or other education expenses.
• The U.S. Department of Education would be eliminated.
• The federal government’s ability to enforce civil rights laws in schools would be scaled back.

The proposals are contained in a comprehensive policy agenda that’s part of a Heritage Foundation-led initiative called Project 2025: Presidential Transition Project, which includes nearly 900 pages of detailed plans for virtually every corner of the federal government and a database of potential staffers for a conservative administration. It will also feature a playbook for the first 180 days of a new term.

Project 2025 was devised by several former Trump administration officials and allies, working with dozens of aligned advocacy organizations (misnamed “think tanks.”) including Moms for Liberty. You will recall that Moms for Liberty is the organization that fought school boards over COVID-19 safety protocols, advocates for censorship of books in school libraries, and endorses far-right school board candidates.

THE EDUCATION WARS

The Education Wars Provides A Guide For Supporters Of Public Education

The podcasters at Have You Heard provide a playbook to defend public education.

"If we are to preserve our schools, it must be clear that public education is for all of us. We must win the peace.

"If we fail at that, we will lose our schools. And if we lose them, they won’t come back."

From Peter Greene at Forbes

In their 2020 book, A Wolf at the Schoolhouse Door, Jack Schneider and Jennifer Berkshire sounded the alarm:

The threat to public education...is grave. A radical vision for unmaking the very idea of public schools has moved from the realm of ideological pipe dream to legitimate policy.

In their new book The Education Wars (out this week), Schneider and Berkshire update us on how that radical vision, now fueled by the culture wars, is faring.

The culture wars—roaring debates over what schools are for, what they should teach, who should decide— are not new. But the writers note that “this time it’s different.” This time, the questions under debate include the question of whether public schools should exist at all.

CHOICE

Debunking the School Choice Movement’s Top Evangelist

Corey DeAngelis is on a mission to demonize public schools—and promote voucher programs that benefit his wealthy backers.

From Peter Greene at The Progressive

Corey DeAngelis is an influential, if not the most influential, voice in the rightwing campaign to demonize public schools and privatize public education. The guy’s résumé hits all the bases in the libertarian gameplan. After earning a doctorate at the University of Arkansas’s education reform program (funded by the pro-school choice Walton family), DeAngelis helped found the Education Freedom Institute, became a senior fellow at the Reason Foundation, worked as an adjunct scholar at the CATO Institute, took up an appointment as a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, and was hired on as a senior fellow at Betsy DeVos’s American Federation for Children.

He still holds all of those jobs, but his more common title is “school choice evangelist.” As the recent school voucher wave has surged in state after state, DeAngelis has been there to spread the word. While on tour in support of his new book, he distills the current pro-voucher argument.

In a recent talk at the Heritage Foundation, DeAngelis touched on most of the main arguments for vouchers (many of them false) and revealed a few truths about the pro-voucher strategy.

1. The Evil Unions and COVID...

LOCAL NEWS

Imagine if every child has a library of their own

Dolly Parton's Imagination Library is a free children's book gifting program that she started in 1995. The program began by offering every child in Sevier County, Tennessee, the area where Dolly was born and raised, a free age-appropriate book each month in the mail until the age of five, regardless of family income. In 2000, the Imagination Library became so popular that Dolly announced that she wanted to make the program available to any community that would partner with her and support it locally. The program has expanded and is currently located in 1,800 local communities in the US, Canada, Australia, Ireland, and the United Kingdom.

Now, the Imagination Library is coming to Fort Wayne.

From the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette**

Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library is a pathway to bridging the reading gap between low-income families and their wealthier counterparts. But most of all, the library is fun for children and families.

Inspired by Parton’s favorite children’s book, “The Little Engine That Could,” Allen County Public Library staff has launched a spirited $100,000 fundraising campaign with the Allen County Public Library Foundation to bring Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library to local children. The program gives children one free book each month from birth to age 5.

The enthusiasm is palpable, with nearly 900 Allen County families eager to enroll their children — a testament to the community’s belief in the power of early literacy.

**Note: The Fort Wayne Journal Gazette is behind a paywall. Digital access, home delivery, or both are available with a subscription. Staying informed is essential; one way to do that is to support your local newspaper. For subscription information, go to fortwayne.com/subscriptions/ [NOTE: NEIFPE has no financial ties to the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette]

^†Note: NEIFPE's In Case You Missed It is posted by the end of the day every Monday except after holiday weekends or as otherwise noted.

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In Case You Missed It – June 10, 2024

Here are links to last week's^† articles receiving the most attention on NEIFPE's social media accounts. Keep up with what's going on, what's being discussed, and what's happening with public education.

Be sure to enter your email address in the Follow Us By Email box in the right-hand column of our blog page to be informed when our blog posts are published.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

"The addition of Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library is one more step we can take to have a real impact on the lives of our youngest (community members),” [said Allen County Commissioner Rich Beck]. “We are ready to engage our community in securing funds not only to launch the program but to sustain it in the long run.”

Donations can be made at acpl.info/imaginationlibrary or at any branch." -- in Allen County Public Library fundraising for Dolly Parton's Imagination Library.

LOCAL NEWS

Allen County Public Library fundraising for Dolly Parton's Imagination Library

In 1995, Dolly Parton launched the Imagination Library in Sevier County, Tennessee, where she was born and raised. She was inspired by her own father’s inability to read or write and determined that there had to be a way to help children fall in love with books. The program sends free books to children from birth to age five and helped to inspire a love of reading in the lives of the children in the mountains of her youth. Now, with your help, the same program is coming to Fort Wayne...

From Fort Wayne Journal Gazette**

The Allen County Public Library is using Dolly Parton’s favorite children’s book – “The Little Engine That Could” – as the inspiration for its next fundraiser, its executive director said.

“What did the train say? ‘I think I can,’ ” Susan Baier said during a Thursday news conference. “I think we can as well. I think Allen County can make this a reality, and we are asking all of you to get the momentum going.”

The library’s staff announced a new $100,000 fundraising campaign with the Allen County Public Library Foundation to bring Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library to local children. The program gives one free book each month to children from birth to age 5.

The library needs to raise money to fund the program’s launch and sustain the first two years.

Click to donate to the Imagination Library at ACPL.

FWCS expands Peacemaker program after success at South Side

From The Fort Wayne Journal Gazette**

Next week, more than 60 Fort Wayne high school students will begin training with a local nonprofit on how to cultivate a culture of peace at their school during the 2024-25 school year.

Alive Community Outreach’s Peacemaker Academy started as a nonviolent leadership development program at South Side High School. Since 2021, school officials say the Alive initiative has contributed to a reduction in fights, late arrivals and disruptive conduct.

In February, the Fort Wayne Community Schools board awarded Alive a $500,000 contract to expand the Peacemaker program to North Side, Northrop, Snider and Wayne high schools with money from the school district’s recent Safer FWCS referendum.

Subsequent contracts will come to the school board yearly, Matt Schiebel, FWCS’ executive director of safety and community partnerships, told The Journal Gazette’s Ashley Sloboda. He said the district will evaluate the program’s progress annually and make adjustments as needed.

A STUDENT SUCCESS STORY

Man with Sixteen College Degrees Can’t Read

Check out this fascinating article…

From Nancy Flanagan who blogs at Teacher in a Strange Land

I mostly stay out of the Reading Wars. Not because I don’t have opinions on reading instruction. I emphatically do. I avoid the controversy because—as a lifelong music teacher—expressing that opinion inevitably leads to a pack of Science of Reading enthusiasts pointing out that I am not a reading teacher, and therefore what do I know?

This is deeply ironic, as those same SOR fans also spend lots of time criticizing experienced reading specialists. Also–I have taught in the neighborhood of 4000-5000 kids, over 30+ years, to read music, relying on a wide array of pedagogical techniques. But that form of reading instruction evidently carries no water with the SOR bullies.

I was intrigued today by a story in NY Times Magazine about Benjamin Bolger

NEW ORLEANS CHARTER DISTRICT

After a 7-year experiment, New Orleans is an all-charter district no more

This excellent article summarizes how the marketplace system fails children.

After a 7-year experiment, New Orleans is an all-charter district no more.

From Route Fifty

In August, New Orleans Public Schools will open a district-operated school named for Leah Chase, a late civil rights activist and revered matriarch of a culinary dynasty. The school will eventually serve 320 students from pre-K through eighth grade, with an emphasis on the city’s culture and history. Located in a historic building, it will replace the failing Lafayette Academy Charter School

As they hire Leah Chase’s teachers, pick its uniforms and curricula and arrange for transportation and lunches, district leaders are also creating the administrative jobs other school systems rely on to oversee individual buildings. These central office departments will make it easier for NOLA Public Schools to open more “direct-run” schools, Superintendent Avis Williams says.

You read that right: New Orleans’ love-it-or-hate-it, seven-year experiment as the nation’s first all-charter school system is coming to a close. Going forward, it will act both as a charter school authorizer and an old-fashioned school district.

INDIANA DIPLOMA CHANGES

‘You are hurting the future of the state’: Educators share views on Indiana’s proposed high school diploma changes

Listen to educators!

From 21 Alive

“You are hurting the future of this state in more ways than one with these proposed changes,” a teacher said. “You pay little to no regard to those in the trenches who have to figure out the logistics and add more to their overflowing plates to carry out your ideas.”

Back in March, the Indiana Department of Education (IDOE) announced a proposal to change the number of high school diploma options from four down to two. They say the consolidation is part of an ongoing effort to rethink the high school experience making it more career-relevant and learner-centric.

In the proposal, Indiana’s future diplomas would include the Indiana GPS (Graduates Prepared to Succeed) Diploma, a more flexible version of the current Core 40 diploma, and the Indiana GPS Diploma Plus, a work-based learning approach. IDOE says the new diplomas will align with the state’s current graduation pathways and the five characteristics of the Indiana GPS model.

**Note: The Fort Wayne Journal Gazette is behind a paywall. Digital access, home delivery, or both are available with a subscription. Staying informed is essential; one way to do that is to support your local newspaper. For subscription information, go to fortwayne.com/subscriptions/ [NOTE: NEIFPE has no financial ties to the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette]

^†Note: NEIFPE's In Case You Missed It is posted by the end of the day every Monday except after holiday weekends or as otherwise noted.

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In Case You Missed It – January 8, 2024

Here are links to last week's^† articles receiving the most attention on NEIFPE's social media accounts. Keep up with what's going on, what's being discussed, and what's happening with public education.

Be sure to enter your email address in the Follow Us By Email box in the right-hand column of our blog page to be informed when our blog posts are published.

Happy New Year! and welcome back to NEIFPE's In Case You Missed It. This week we bring you more than a dozen articles that received wide attention on our social media platforms over the recent winter holidays. Note that the source for more than half the articles is the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette. To support this vital source of local news see the link at the end of this post.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

"Universal ESA vouchers threaten to accomplish in Arizona exactly what they were designed to do: dismantle public education. Arizona would be wise to follow the nation in learning from our mistakes — before it’s too late." -- Beth Lewis and Dr. Sharon Kirsch in One year in, Arizona’s universal school vouchers are a cautionary tale for the rest of the nation.

VOUCHERS

Josh Cowen: 2023 Was a Banner Year for Vouchers, Censorship, and Attacks on LGBT Kids

From Diane Ravitch

Writing in the Washington Spectator, veteran voucher researcher Josh Cowen reports that 2023 was a good year for some very bad ideas, many supported by prominent rightwingers and Dark Money, whose sources are hidden.

#SCHOOLVOUCHERSCAM$

The Network for Public Education's School Voucher Scam$ page, which began in September of 2023 in response to the recent flood of irresponsible universal voucher programs includes a sorting feature that allows you to search charter scandals by state and by 12 categories. You can also search by keyword.

From the Network for Public Education


One More Time…

From Sheila Kennedy

Arizona, like Indiana, has a legislature dominated by Republicans, and those legislators sold the concept of universal vouchers by insisting (as they did in Indiana) that it would help low-income students. They also insisted that the additional cost to the state would be negligible.

As the paper reports, just one year into what it calls “this failed experiment,” it has become apparent that universal ESA vouchers are welfare for the wealthy. They are also on a path that will “devastate the state’s budget and lead to school closures, teacher layoffs, and eventually cuts to services like firefighters, health care, roads and more.”

CHARTERS

South Carolina: Moms for Liberty Will Open Their Own Charter School in Affluent Neighborhood

From Diane Ravitch

Steve Bailey, an opinion writer for the Charleston Post and Courier, wrote recently about the new charter school that will open in an affluent neighborhood in Charleston. It will use the Hillsdale College curriculum. The Moms predict it will be the highest performing school in the area. With the freedom to choose its students and to oust the ones who are problematic, it’s sure to get high gest scores.

INDIANA NEWS

Indiana public schools' learning loss recovery slow, uneven: study

From the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette**

Indiana’s public schools continue to experience the effects of pandemic-related learning loss, with recovery happening at a slow and uneven pace, according to a new study by Ball State University researchers.

“We were surprised at the persistence of learning loss since COVID,” researcher Michael Hicks said in a statement. “Recovery in test scores has been modest across the state, with little to suggest a full recovery is on the way.”

Indiana joins new summer food program for school children

From the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette**

Last month, the Indiana Family and Social Services Administration’s Division of Family Resources notified the federal Department of Agriculture of its intent to participate in the 2024 Summer Electronic Benefits Transfer for Children program.

'23 graduation rate is a testament to resilience in youth

From the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette**

As the Indiana General Assembly seeks to remake Hoosier high schools, it would be good to listen closely to educators on what’s promoting or hindering success then work toward prompting holistic strategies rather than punitive policy.

As for the graduates of 2023 — with a nod to educators and families — here’s a belated congratulations on showing perseverance during a highly anxious time in history.

These are the major education topics Indiana lawmakers expect to focus on in 2024

Topics include improving third-grade literacy, tackling chronic absenteeism, revisiting career readiness, targeting cell phones, and cracking down on antisemitism.

From the Indiana Capital Chronicle

Although Indiana lawmakers maintain the 2024 legislative session will be quicker, quieter and “noncontroversial,” there’s no shortage of critical — even touchy — education-related topics expected to be prioritized in the coming months.

Jim Banks And The GOP War On Education…

From Sheila Kennedy

Jim Banks–aka “Focus on the Family’s Man in Washington“–wants to be the next U.S. Senator from Indiana. During his tenure in the House, he has made most of his agenda very, very clear: a federal ban on abortion with no exceptions; no recognition of, or help for, trans children; no restrictions on gun ownership; no affirmative action or other recognition of the effects of racial disparities (he wants to ban DEI programs); no funding for Ukraine, and–as this last bit of news confirms– a constant war on education.

Why aren’t Hoosier kids showing up to school — and what can Indiana lawmakers do to help?

From the Indiana Capital Chronicle

Indiana lawmakers are adamant that moving bills to help improve student literacy and bolster career readiness is high-priority in the upcoming legislative session. But their efforts could end up fruitless if the state can’t solve another issue plaguing schools: Hoosier kids aren’t showing up to the classroom.

FORT WAYNE AREA NEWS

550 Whitley County children sign up for free books through expanding program

From the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette**

More than 500 Whitley County children will receive a book every month until they turn 5 through a program that’s expanding statewide, the United Way of Whitley & Kosciusko Counties announced in a news release Wednesday.

The organization is an affiliate for Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library, a book-gifting program for children younger than 5, regardless of family income. The release said the books grow with the child, progressing from board books to picture books to full-length stories.

Fort Wayne Community Schools prepares for next major renovation

From the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette**

Fort Wayne Community Schools recently checked off an initial step toward its 25th major renovation.

SACS considers hiring speaker to advance work in creating culture of belonging, understanding

From the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette**

Southwest Allen County Schools’ relationship with the Foundation Against Intolerance and Racism might continue, pending board approval to spend $10,000 to host the nonpartisan group’s leader early next year.

Allen County school districts find remedies for bus driver shortage

From the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette**

When East Allen County Schools is short on bus drivers, Charles Ward is among the first to pick up an additional route to ensure students arrive to school and return home.

...This practice is among the solutions Allen County school districts have used when they lack bus drivers. Other remedies include asking transportation office staff to drive and shifting schools to e-learning, something Fort Wayne Community Schools used once this fall when a significant number of drivers were absent because of personal or family sickness.

Northwest Allen County Schools busing changes 'LEAD' to benefits

From the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette**

The Northwest Allen County Schools transportation department has never been busier hiring drivers.

The district, which has about 6,300 bus riders, welcomed 15 drivers this calendar year – a record high based on the documents available to Natalie Hoffman, transportation director.

**Note: The Fort Wayne Journal Gazette is behind a paywall. Digital access, home delivery, or both are available with a subscription. Staying informed is essential; one way to do that is to support your local newspaper. For subscription information, go to fortwayne.com/subscriptions/ [NOTE: NEIFPE has no financial ties to the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette]

^†Note: NEIFPE's In Case You Missed It is posted by the end of the day every Monday except after holiday weekends or as otherwise noted.

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In Case You Missed It – July 25, 2022

Here are links to last week's^† articles receiving the most attention on NEIFPE's social media accounts. Keep up with what's going on, what's being discussed, and what's happening with public education.

Be sure to enter your email address in the Follow Us By Email box in the right-hand column to be informed when our blog posts are published.

THIS WEEK

This week Peter Greene at Curmudgucation praises Dolly Parton for starting the Imagination Library and charter schools continue to take public funds without improving on public education.

THE IMAGINATION LIBRARY

Dolly Parton's Imagination Library has been giving away free books to kids from ages birth through five for more than 20 years. During that time she's given away nearly 185 million books. What started as a way to help the children in Sevier County, Tennessee, her home county, has grown to a program helping millions of kids in five countries.

[NOTE: Peter Greene's title for this post worried some people. They thought that something had happened to Dolly Parton. He later added an update to the story indicating that she is fine (as far as he knows) and that his title wasn't meant to imply that something was wrong with her...but that the subscription to her Imagination Library, which his children had been receiving for the first five years of their lives, had ended.]

Goodbye, Dolly (Note: She's Okay, Honest)

From Curmudgucation

Update: I wrote the headline to express a personal point and make a play on "Hello, Dolly," but apparent some readers have been panicking. Sorry. Everyone is fine, honest.)

After five great years, the Board of Directors has aged out of Dolly Parton's Imagination Library.

I have been plugging this program for years (my first post was in 2014, back before the Board of Directors was even a sparkle in our eyes). Parton has engineered putting a book a month into the hands of families all across the country--we're talking (currently) 184 million books in millions of households meeting no requirement other than they have a child between the ages of born and five. It costs the family nothing.

The quality of the books is great. Over the years we have received classics, newer books, books featuring every sort of family, every sort of kid. They are filled with wonder, kindness, beauty, excitement. This is one of the best examples of thoughtful, useful, not-trying-to-take-over-a-government function philanthropy you'll find.

PUSH-BACK TO TENN GOVERNOR'S CHARTER PLAN

Tennessee: Another School District Rejects a Hillsdale Charter School

Districts in Tennessee are pushing back on the Governor's plan to open charter schools around the state. Does it have to do with the fact that Hillsdale College (supported by Betsy DeVos and family) President Larry Arnn didn't hesitate to insult teacher training institutions as well as public school teachers?

Kudos to those districts who are supporting their college educated faculty members.

From Diane Ravitch

Governor Bill Lee of Tennessee invited Larry Arnn, president of Hillsdale College, to open 100 charter schools in Tennessee. Arnn scaled it back to 50, but Hillsdale’s patriotic charters are not getting a warm welcome in the state. A third district rejected an “American Classical Academy.” It seems they like their local public schools and don’t want to divert money away from them. The teachers are their neighbors, and the school board knows them and respects them.

A charter school program tied to the controversial Hillsdale College suffered a third rejection by a Tennessee school board Tuesday night as the Clarksville-Montgomery County school board said it wanted nothing to do with the school pushed by Gov. Bill Lee.

SUCCESS ACADEMY

Blogger Gary Rubinstein digs into the graduation rate of Eva Moskowitz's Success Academy Charter Schools (spoiler: the graduation rates are not very good). His post caught the attention of some Success Academy parents who reached out to him.

First, the original post about graduation rates.

Gary Rubinstein: Nearly Half of the 9th Graders at Success Academy Won’t Graduate From There

From Diane Ravitch

Gary knew that the overall attrition rate was high but was surprised to see how high it is for students who enter ninth grade.

Over the years I’ve tracked the attrition at Success Academy. They are a K-12 program and I’ve found that generally when I compare the number of kindergarteners entering the school with the number of 12th graders that graduate 13 years later, they lose approximately 75% of their students over the 13 years.

Success Academy has argued that losing 75% over 13 years isn’t actually that bad since it equates to about 10% attrition per year, which is what district schools also have. One flaw in that reasoning is that district schools fill in those 10% of seats each year while Success Academy stops ‘backfilling’ in the 4th grade. Another problem with comparing attrition rates from Success Academy to district schools is that a student can pretty easily move from one district school to another and those schools won’t be all that different. But for Success Academy which are supposedly the best schools in the country, it is a major life change to leave Success Academy for a district school so if they really are as good as they say, you would expect their attrition to be less than the 10% per year that district schools have.

Parents respond...

Gary Rubinstein: Parents at Success Academy Speak Out: “I Was Not Allowed to Attend My Son’s Graduation”

From Diane Ravitch

If they attended a public school, they could see the principal, the superintendent, or any number of officials who might be able to intervene.

So Success Academy parents have reached out to Gary to see if he can help them.

But at a charter school, if you have a complaint, they may tell you to choose another school. Leave.

This post is about a mother who was not allowed to attend her school’s graduation. It seems there were a couple of incidents. On one occasion, she failed to buy exactly the right pants for him to wear at school. On another, she went to his classroom without permission.

^†Note: NEIFPE's In Case You Missed It is posted weekly except holiday weekends or as otherwise noted.

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In Case You Missed It – Sep 16, 2019

Here are links to last week's articles receiving the most attention in NEIFPE's social media. Keep up with what's going on, what's being discussed, and what's happening with public education.

Be sure to enter your email address in the Follow Us By Email box in the right-hand column to be informed when our blog posts are published.

LET THE CHILDREN PLAY

Play v. Reading: How Flawed Thinking About Preschool Has Become Accepted Practice

Play is the way young children learn. We've all but taken play out of K-12 schools in the name of "rigor" and "accountability" and the same developmentally unsound practice is seeping into our preschools.

For further reading see:

• Let the Children Play: How More Play Will Save Our Schools and Help Children Thrive, by Pasi Sahlberg and William Doyle
• Online Pre-K Continues To Spread Like A Big Stupid Plague, blogpost by Peter Greene on Curmudgucation

From Nancy Bailey

"...DEY and the Alliance for Childhood have outlined the important role play still has for young children. The research indicates play is more likely to lead to reading than pushing children to do academic work during preschool and kindergarten.

Unfortunately, the talk is now about neurological studies and brain science. The claim is that we live in a new technologically advanced world, so this is justified. But this doesn’t justify pushing children to learn more advanced work where they become frustrated. Nor does it indicate that children need to be pushed to learn faster.

Scientists have known for years that learning happens in rich play environments where children have access to the kind of play found in the Roseville Cooperative Preschool. We know play is not a frivolous waste of time. Serious cognitive learning takes place when children have to think for themselves, and when they are given the kinds of opportunities to raise questions and wonder about the world they see around them.

It’s troubling that replacing play with reading is now the norm..."

MORE ON ILEARN

Why some students with special needs struggled with ILEARN accommodations

From Chalkbeat

In past years, Bryant said she could read the directions and questions aloud to students who had a visual impairment. But last spring her students had to go to a dropdown menu at the top right of every question and select the speaker symbol. Bryant, who teaches for a special education co-op in southern Indiana, watched as some had trouble accessing it, or gave up trying.

“It wasn’t user-friendly,” she said. “To have to do that every time is just insane.”

Chalkbeat Indiana recently surveyed parents and educators on their experiences with ILEARN. Of the more than 50 respondents, 11 shared concerns related to special education accommodations. Some said problems with appropriate accommodations — including the clunky dropdown menus, lack of American Sign Language interpreters, and the decision to disallow calculators for grades 3-5 — were, in part, responsible for the statewide drop in test scores...

AGAINST THEIR OWN BEST INTEREST

NY State Teachers Retirement Invests In K12 Inc.

One has to wonder why otherwise intelligent and educated people actively work against their own interests.

From Diane Ravitch

Why do teachers’ pension funds invest in stocks of corporations that are actively undermining public schools and their teachers?

K12 Inc. manages a chain of online charter schools that are noted for low performance, high attrition rates, and low graduation rates. Their teachers never meet students. They have large classes, no union.

HERE SHE COMES AGAIN...DOLLY PARTON IS THE BOOK LADY

Which Name Belongs On The List Of Modern Education Philanthropists? Dolly Parton.

Learn more on Dolly Parton's Imagination Library web site.

From Peter Greene (Curmudgucation) on Forbes

Parton the philanthropist has been busy ever since Parton the singer hit the big time. Much of her giving is done anonymously, but some of her projects include scholarships for high school students and a birthing unit for the local hospital. And while you may think of the Dollywood Amusement Park as a piece of country kitsch, it is also a reliable employer and economic engine in a high-poverty region.

But her crowning achievement may well be the Imagination Library.

RETIRING COLORADO TEACHER EXPLAINS. LEGISLATORS TAKE HEED

‘If you love helping kids, do it!’ This retiring Colorado teacher has advice for the next generation

Retiring Colorado teacher featured on Chalkbeat, Indiana has a message for new teachers. It should be a message to our legislators and the public as well. “They need to realize this is an 80 hour a week job...”

From Chalkbeat*

Why did you decide to retire now — and how are you feeling about leaving the classroom? I wanted to do 35 years and ended at 33 years. Part of the reason was that the demands and meetings seemed endless — hours spent writing plans, standards, and collecting data. Class sizes of 30 to 32 kids were daunting. Getting around to each child, building relationships, communicating with all parents (regardless of what language they speak), it all took its toll on me. I will definitely miss the classroom but am tutoring and planning on subbing.

*Note: Sponsers of Chalkbeat include pro-privatization foundations and individuals such as EdChoice, Gates Family Foundation, The Walton Family Foundation, and others.

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