Cloaking Inequity

I suspect P.T. Barnum would be proud of the showmanship eminating from Louisiana— an educational policy circus. The Recovery School District has been acclaimed as “a game changer for New Orleans” and very likely today be up for a vote in the Texas House in Senate Bill 1718— and perhaps soon in a Legislature near you. […]

At the recent AERA conference in San Francisco, I was having a conversation with a local San Franciscan. He we mentioning that he was disappointed that he had not been able to take financial advantage of the last two “bubbles.” He was asking aloud what other thought was going to be the next “bubble.” I […]

An infinity of good and bad things get unevenly distributed across populations for reasons that have absolutely nothing to do with the kinds of discrimination that are banned in our laws and Constitution. Chester Finn Congratulations, us Americans can officially pat ourselves on the back. From my estimation, from where I sit, women have now […]

Apologize for the CI hiatus. I have six PhD students that want to graduate, which translates to about 1,000 pages dissertation reading these past few days. I recently had a conversation with a conservative Harvard-trained attorney last Saturday in Houston. We were discussing Finland (I blogged about Finland a few weeks ago) and her point […]

Diane Ravitch just posted this. A source on one of the House staffs just sent me his assessment anonymously. He also weighs in on the relationship between vouchers and current Texas school finance case: Vouchers just basically died in the House…. The amendment basically prohibits public dollars for public education going to private schools.  So […]

Reblogged from In Ravitch’s Defense: Milwaukee Voucher Study Found Wanting: Yesterday, Dr. Patrick Wolf of the University of Arkansas’ Department of Educational Reform (which is heavily funded by an influential Arkansas family bent upon educational reform– guess who?) published a scathing attack on my colleague Diane Ravitch, accusing her of venturing academically ”beyond her element,” so to speak, in her […]

Reblogged from Diane Ravitch's blog: Yesterday, Patrick Wolf published a vitriolic attack on me and on the National Education Policy Center. This was in response to a post I had published saying that vouchers had failed in Milwaukee. They are supposed to “save minority students from failing schools,” but they do no better and sometimes […]

Today The Teat returns to discuss neoliberal education “reformers.” Reformers argue that their approach is about “students first”… parent trigger, online courses, universal charters, Teach For America, vouchers, anti-organizing, school closings etc… if you are to believe the “reformers,” all of these efforts are about the students… not about the adults… Who is paying the bills for […]

Dear Civil Rights and choice advocate, I have noticed that some Civil Rights advocates are supporting and leading the school “choice” movement. They are searching for alternatives as our nation has consistently and purposely underserved students of color. As one reformer from Los Angeles told me, Latina/os and African Americans have been forced to attend “f_cked […]

Reblogged from Diane Ravitch's blog: Professor Henry M. Levin is a distinguished economist and director of the National Center for the Study of Privatization in Education at Teachers College, Columbia University. He recently participated in a conference in Sweden convened by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences to review the evidence about the effects of […]

Reblogged from Crazy Crawfish's Blog: I’d be lying if I told you I wasn’t feeling overwhelmed by all the rapid changes happening in the education sphere. I’m positive I’m not alone in feeling this way - based on the feedback, articles and correspondence I’ve been receiving from local and national groups and individuals. As I struggled […]

In December 2012 Cloaking Inequity profiled the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). ALEC is a national organization “composed of legislators, businesses and foundations” with great influence and connections to extreme think tanks and supported by funding from corporations that are seeking to drive a public policy agenda based on privatization and profit. At the time I relayed: A […]

Jeb is in the building. Another Bush (and his junior) is in the capitol today in Austin to discuss the education miracle that Florida purportedly achieved on the cheap. As discussed yesterday, there is a cadre of politicians that believe we can get something for nothing. That we can do education cheaper and cheaper. That […]

For Cloaking Inequity’s full thread on Vouchers go here. For more information on the TLBC Legislative Summit go here. School Choice: Vouchers, A Compliment or an Assault on Public Education Monday, Feb. 25th from 1:30p to 3:30p JHR 110 (Reagan Bldg in Capitol Complex) TITLE: School Choice: Vouchers as public educational policy: As we have discussed, […]

When you think of school choice, what comes to mind? Vouchers? Charters? Intra- and Inter- district choice? Magnet schools? Today I received a forwarded email request from a senator that was gathering information in response to pressure for “school choice” bills at the Texas Legislature. I have been pondering “school choice,” and why it is […]

Is it possible to compare the AMC show Breaking Bad to the latest goings on with Neovouchers? I started watching Breaking Bad last month, and I am only 3 episodes from catching up to the rest of the world. So let’s give it a try. First. What is a Neovoucher? NEPC: Tax-credit voucher programs–dubbed “neovouchers” in […]

Choice=grow=good? is the reasoning of a top ten of “Fast Facts on School Choice” recently released by the House Education and the Workforce Committee (see list below). Let’s test their “moving in the right direction” logic. I choose to spend money=my credit card bill grows=good? I eat too many calories=I become overweight and my waist grows=good? […]

Reblogged from Crazy Crawfish's Blog: Recently we’ve seen a rash of publicity coming out of New Orleans and from Leslie Jacobs about the New Orleans turnaround miracle. According to her press releases and op-ed pieces in the Time Picayune and Baton Rouge Advocate, New Orleans leads the both the state and nation in graduation rate. […]