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Supreme Court Rejects FTC lawsuit

Posted on January 19, 2017January 19, 2017 by Sue Legg

What did Florida’s Supreme Court decide? It only decided not to decide. The issue brought forward related to legal standing for the case. The Supreme Court agreed with the Appeal and Circuit Court decisions that taxes owed by corporations could be diverted to private school scholarships. In a way it is like saying that charitable contributions are tax deductible.

What the Court did not decide was whether or not the education these children receive is high quality. The Court decided not to decide.

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DeVos: Single Issue Candidate?

Posted on January 19, 2017January 19, 2017 by Sue Legg

By now most people who care realize that Betsy DeVos has one issue: parental choice. To achieve that end, she supports state control over education policy. In the New York Times analysis of her confirmation hearing, her knowledge of the law and education policy was non existent. This is not surprising. She has been a one horse pony in the private sector for vouchers and charter expansion.

The NY Times piece cites DeVos’ ignorance about special education law, regulation of for-profit universities, or even the difference between achievement gains and proficiency levels. The answer to every question was: leave it to the states. Will Congress bow out?

Suppose the federal government did close down the Department of Education. The federal government was not always involved in K12 education. Its history is interesting. Where would that lead? State after state is cutting funding. School districts and the private sector are supposed to find the money locally to manage the schools.

My grandmother taught in a country school. So did my husband’s mother. A few people got together, built a one room school and hired a teacher. Will this approach raise our PISA scores? It reminds me of an old time saying: Watch out what you wish for.

The Suspension Gap

Posted on January 18, 2017January 18, 2017 by Sue Legg

“Fixing” struggling schools with a load of good intentions only goes so far. Strong leaders have to figure out ways to get children to show up for school and find time, teachers, and learning strategies to help them. School success is measured by student learning gains. Achievement gaps between white and black, rich and poor students must be narrowed. This is only one of the gaps leaders must close.

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Talk to Little Children: Don’t dehumanize them

Posted on January 18, 2017January 18, 2017 by Sue Legg

by Susan Bowles

This article was written in response to a Gainesville Sun commentary about pushing math skills on preschoolers to raise U.S. PISA scores. Bowles is a kindergarten teacher who calls attention to the need for age appropriate teaching and learning strategies. Simply pushing the mastery of high level skills on younger and younger children is ineffective and unfair.