tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-169358572024-02-20T20:16:59.463-08:00Mike Klonsky...EDUCATION, POLITICS, LIFE & TIMESMike Klonskyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02017021676773731024noreply@blogger.comBlogger49125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16935857.post-91357327882375412952018-08-29T11:07:00.005-07:002018-08-29T11:07:56.243-07:00New York Times piece on '68 Democratic Convention Protest<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span class="balancedHeadline" style="border: 0px; display: inline-block; font: inherit; margin: 0px; max-width: 619.422px; padding: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; vertical-align: baseline;">‘The Whole World Is Watching’: The 1968 Democratic Convention, 50 Years Later</span></h1>
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On Aug. 28, 1968, violent clashes in Chicago between demonstrators and the police produced one of the most polarizing showdowns of the 1960s. People are still debating what it all meant.</div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: nyt-cheltenham, georgia, times new roman, times, serif;"><span style="font-size: 18.6px; letter-spacing: 0.093px;"><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/28/us/politics/chicago-1968-democratic-convention-.html">https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/28/us/politics/chicago-1968-democratic-convention-.html</a></span></span></div>
Mike Klonskyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02017021676773731024noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16935857.post-16867839142135395722017-01-31T13:40:00.002-08:002017-04-24T09:24:52.599-07:00Hitting Left: The Klonsky Brothers on Lumpen Radio in Chicago<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Tune in every Friday at 11 a.m. (CDT) for the Klonsky Bros. Hitting Left, live on <a href="http://www.lumpenradio.com/">Lumpen Radio. </a><br />
The show is also available on<a href="https://www.mixcloud.com/lumpenradio/hitting-left-with-the-klonsky-brothers-4-21-2017/"> MixCloud</a> and <a href="http://linkis.com/libsyn.com/d8KKr">via podcast</a>.Mike Klonskyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02017021676773731024noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16935857.post-68474195781327568462016-06-03T03:41:00.003-07:002016-06-03T03:41:33.985-07:00My webinar with Jonathan Kozol<br />
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<a class="imgCaptionAnchor" href="http://empathyeducates.org/portfolio-items/journey-for-justice-our-children-are-not-collateral-damage/" rel="nofollow" shape="rect" target="_blank" track="on"><img align="right" border="0" height="270" hspace="5" name="ACCOUNT.IMAGE.32" src="http://files.ctctcdn.com/5a2c27fb301/fcfcea8a-60f6-4e88-97ad-a97aa5db1be5.jpg?a=1124833304527" vspace="5" width="360" /></a>Mr. Kozol has not lost his passion for progressive education in America, On our June 1st SOS Webinar, Mr. Kozol will discuss topics he has devoted his life to, including the damage done to children by testing mania, the damage done to teachers by a regiment of punitive accountability built on test scores, and the shameful inequality between rich schools and poor, the latter resulting in the near total segregation within our schools. For Black and Hispanic children, separate and unequal education is an everyday phenomenon.<br /></div>
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A portion of the virtual fundraiser tied to Mr. Kozol's SOS Webinar will go to scholarships for the students he's been working for all his life: those in need, and those who want to be part of the solution....to change an education system that fosters segregation and inequality while actively ignoring if not crushing creativity, curiosity and originality, as critical capacities of children.<br /></div>
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Please click <a href="http://saveourschoolsmarch.org/support-the-march/" linktype="1" rel="nofollow" shape="rect" style="color: #a7dd43; font-weight: bold;" target="_blank" track="on">here</a> to make a generous donation to the <a href="http://saveourschoolsmarch.org/support-the-march/" linktype="1" rel="nofollow" shape="rect" style="color: #a7dd43; font-weight: bold;" target="_blank" track="on">SOS Convention fund. </a></div>
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We suggest a $25 contribution, but any and all amounts will be gratefully appreciated! <br /></div>
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<span style="color: #a7dd43; font-size: 12pt;"><strong><a href="https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/7245044229553562114" linktype="1" rel="nofollow" shape="rect" style="color: #a7dd43;" target="_blank" track="on">Join Us on June 1 </a></strong></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 13.3333px;">
Save Our Schools Coalition Webinar and Fundraiser </div>
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Moderated by Mike Klonsky </div>
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Wednesday, June 1st, 8 PM [EDT] </div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif;">https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/7245044229553562114</span> </div>
Mike Klonskyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02017021676773731024noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16935857.post-51174806645446117682015-09-30T18:13:00.000-07:002015-09-30T18:13:03.048-07:00A brief appearance in the Black Panther documentary<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXdX4aqqzPAmuhbNIzC3f8lim6Bbx_pEn9aYkahZab6ogXRSOo4Yg3YnixhYqDn_4CxK6NDxyC-AZpSVnEUhC2yyODPWRPgGLiWszl5JNrpSfEEzHqxnmWdiDcrYfQ1zUe1XKm/s1600/Panthers.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="267" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXdX4aqqzPAmuhbNIzC3f8lim6Bbx_pEn9aYkahZab6ogXRSOo4Yg3YnixhYqDn_4CxK6NDxyC-AZpSVnEUhC2yyODPWRPgGLiWszl5JNrpSfEEzHqxnmWdiDcrYfQ1zUe1XKm/s320/Panthers.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption">1969 press conference: From left: Fred Hampton and Bobby Rush (Black Panthers); Cha Cha Jiminez (Young Lords Organization); Mike Klonsky (SDS)</td></tr>
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I have a small part in Stanley Nelson's new documentary "The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution." I am also doing post-performance Q&As at several of the showings.<br />
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<i>Nelson goes on to chronicle many of the Black Panthers’ achievements, such as their trailblazing breakfast program for children, and the indisputable effect of the party to inspire pride in black Americans, and respect from the radical Left. As Mike Klonsky of the Students for a Democratic Society remarks, the Black Panthers were viewed as “the vanguard of the revolution.” -- </i><a href="http://www.filmjournal.com/reviews/film-review-black-panthers-vanguard-revolution">Film Journal International </a></blockquote>
Mike Klonskyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02017021676773731024noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16935857.post-67189168296536371152014-09-10T11:29:00.001-07:002014-09-10T11:29:08.783-07:00AT KENYON COLLEGE<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhT3bQiq2juISHFgJ3SoEnAoIHinQPxU_ocdisYj-pfzOngfNxxiGImzHrGT7CsMKg0lrshmfU3JF-Jb31BLWtO8R0HfNvtyYgSn8qd85ewdRl_zYX1zozCtQCRnFSWL4_GhmWA/s1600/Kenyon+college+Kozol.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhT3bQiq2juISHFgJ3SoEnAoIHinQPxU_ocdisYj-pfzOngfNxxiGImzHrGT7CsMKg0lrshmfU3JF-Jb31BLWtO8R0HfNvtyYgSn8qd85ewdRl_zYX1zozCtQCRnFSWL4_GhmWA/s1600/Kenyon+college+Kozol.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
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Spoke in this class of undergrads at Kenyon College, Monday evening. They are reading Jonathan Kozol's "Savage Inequalities". After class, students and their great prof, Peter Rutkoff, posed for this group pic to send to Jonathan as a birthday greeting.<br />
<br />Mike Klonskyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02017021676773731024noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16935857.post-9637873507953635742014-09-10T11:23:00.001-07:002014-09-10T11:23:23.280-07:00I'VE BECOME A REGULAR ON THE PATTI VASQUEZ SHOW ON WGN<div class="ProfileTweet-header u-cf" style="-webkit-transition: color 0.15s; color: #8899a6; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.25px; margin: 0px; transition: color 0.15s;">
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<a class="ProfileTweet-originalAuthorLink u-linkComplex js-nav js-user-profile-link" data-user-id="81596673" href="https://twitter.com/PattiVasquezCHI" style="color: #140607; text-decoration: none !important;"><img alt="" class="ProfileTweet-avatar js-action-profile-avatar" src="https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/1931524746/linkedinpic1_normal.jpg" style="border-bottom-left-radius: 4px; border-bottom-right-radius: 4px; border-top-left-radius: 4px; border-top-right-radius: 4px; border: 0px; float: left; height: 24px; margin: 0px 6px 0px 0px; width: 24px;" /><span class="ProfileTweet-originalAuthor u-floatLeft u-textTruncate js-action-profile-name" style="float: left !important; max-width: 60%; overflow: hidden !important; text-overflow: ellipsis !important; white-space: nowrap !important; word-wrap: normal !important;"><b class="ProfileTweet-fullname u-linkComplex-target" style="color: #292f33;">Patti Vasquez</b> <span class="ProfileTweet-screenname u-inlineBlock u-dir" dir="ltr" style="color: #8899a6; direction: ltr !important; display: inline-block !important; font-size: 13px; max-width: 100%; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span class="at">@</span>PattiVasquezCHI</span></span></a><span class="u-floatLeft" style="float: left !important;"> · </span><span class="u-floatLeft" style="float: left !important;"><a class="ProfileTweet-timestamp js-permalink js-nav js-tooltip u-textUserColor" href="https://twitter.com/PattiVasquezCHI/status/505268620961013760" style="-webkit-transition: color 0.15s; color: rgb(20, 6, 7) !important; display: inline-block; font-size: 13px; text-decoration: none; transition: color 0.15s; white-space: nowrap;" title="3:20 AM - 29 Aug 2014"><span class="js-short-timestamp " data-long-form="true" data-time="1409300401">Aug 29</span></a></span></div>
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en">
Great talk <a href="https://twitter.com/WGNRadio">@wgnradio</a> w/<a href="https://twitter.com/mikeklonsky">@mikeklonsky</a>, Che Rhymefest, Mike Taylor & <a href="https://twitter.com/mammothomammoth">@mammothomammoth</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NormalizedTrauma?src=hash">#NormalizedTrauma</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/AfterJRW?src=hash">#AfterJRW</a> <a href="http://t.co/ZsyrgtPQ5y">pic.twitter.com/ZsyrgtPQ5y</a><br />
— Patti Vasquez (@PattiVasquezCHI) <a href="https://twitter.com/PattiVasquezCHI/status/505268620961013760">August 29, 2014</a></blockquote>
<script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>Mike Klonskyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02017021676773731024noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16935857.post-3688342066142358032014-03-28T11:44:00.002-07:002014-03-28T11:44:31.978-07:00ON RAG RADIO IN AUSTIN TEXAS WITH PROF. JULIAN VASQUEZ HEILIG<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMYIlWVA_Jlk05-_b3vASxUxXvdBwBwBUU_LMvyeElV_3ENE8SZslfJV5QHo6f0mPVqf0etsDtJ5GPiwrn4wsSd-wf9GQz7XIhVYiah9p2AJtAWQWf-bUN_BWKYiHgJ6SgDSB8/s1600/rag.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMYIlWVA_Jlk05-_b3vASxUxXvdBwBwBUU_LMvyeElV_3ENE8SZslfJV5QHo6f0mPVqf0etsDtJ5GPiwrn4wsSd-wf9GQz7XIhVYiah9p2AJtAWQWf-bUN_BWKYiHgJ6SgDSB8/s1600/rag.jpg" height="150" width="200" /></a></div>
<h1 style="font-size: 20px;">
<span class="x-archive-meta-title" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 25px; font-weight: normal;">Rag Radio: Fighting for Public Education with Julian Vasquez Heilig & Mike Klonsky</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 25px; font-weight: normal;"> (February 28, 2014)</span></h1>
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Julian Vasquez Heilig and Mike Klonsky join Thorne Dreyer in discussing our endangered public education system, the nature and genesis of the flawed "educational reform" movement, and ideas about how public schools can be improved and can be saved from privatization.<br />
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Vasquez Heilig hosted the Network for Public Education's first National Conference, held March 1- 2, 2014, on the campus of the University of Texas at Austin. Mike Klonsky moderated a panel on "Movement Building" at the gathering of leading public education activists. The group was founded by noted author and educational policy analyst Diane Ravitch in 2013, and has become a prominent voice in the education reform debate.<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="30" mozallowfullscreen="true" src="https://archive.org/embed/RagRadio2014-02-28-JulianVasquezHeiligMichaelKlonsky" webkitallowfullscreen="true" width="500"></iframe>Mike Klonskyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02017021676773731024noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16935857.post-63949176517031466542013-08-20T18:23:00.000-07:002015-09-30T18:24:13.495-07:00On Rag Radio in Austin, TX -- Aug. 20, 2013<h1 class="entry-title" style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; clear: both; font-family: 'times new roman', Helvetica, 'Nimbus Sans L', sans-serif; font-size: 21px; line-height: 1.3em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: top;">
RAG RADIO / Thorne Dreyer : Chicago’s Mike Klonsky Fights for Public Education, ‘Small Schools’</h1>
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<span class="meta-prep meta-prep-author" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: top;">Posted on</span> <a href="http://www.theragblog.com/rag-radio-thorne-dreyer-chicagos-mike-klonsky-fights-for-public-education-small-schools/" rel="bookmark" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; color: purple; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: top;" title="11:25 pm"><span class="entry-date" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: top;">September 4, 2013</span></a> <span class="meta-sep" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: top;">by</span> <span class="author vcard" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: top;"><a class="url fn n" href="http://www.theragblog.com/author/thorne-dreyer/" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; color: purple; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: top;" title="View all posts by Thorne Dreyer">Thorne Dreyer</a></span></div>
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<tr style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: top;"><td style="background: transparent; border-top-color: rgb(231, 231, 231); border-top-style: solid; border-width: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 6px 24px; vertical-align: top;"><i style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: top;">Chicago education activist Mike Klonsky in the studios of KOOP Radio, Austin, Texas, Friday, August 20, 2013. Photo by Roger Baker /</i> The Rag Blog.</td></tr>
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Rag Radio podcast:<br />Former SDS leader Mike Klonsky is fighter<br />for ‘Small Schools’ and democratic education</h4>
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A veteran of the Civil Rights Movement and the struggle against the War in Vietnam, Mike has been involved in community and labor organizing as well as the fight for democratic education.</h3>
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By Rag Radio | <em style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: top;"><a href="http://theragblog.com/" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; color: purple; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: top;">The Rag Blog</a></em> | September 4, 2013</div>
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Former SDS leader Mike Klonsky, now a Chicago-based public education activist and advocate for “Small Schools,” joined us on <a href="http://www.koop.org/schedule/detail.php?ext=info&oa_id=33" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; color: purple; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: top;" target="_blank">Rag Radio</a>, Friday, August 30, 2013.<br /><span id="more-48" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: top;"></span><br />Rag Radio is a weekly syndicated radio program produced and hosted by long-time alternative journalist Thorne Dreyer, and recorded at the studios of KOOP 91.7-FM, a cooperatively-run all-volunteer community radio station in Austin, Texas.</div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 11pt;">A veteran of the Civil Rights Movement and the struggle against the War in Vietnam, Klonsky was a leader in Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), serving as SDS National Secretary in 1968, and has been involved in community and labor organizing as well as the fight for democratic education. A “red diaper baby,” his father was a life-long activist and a veteran of the Spanish Civil War.</span></div>
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Mike Klonsky teaches in the College of Education at DePaul University. One of the founders of the <a href="http://smallschoolsworkshop.wordpress.com/about/" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; color: purple; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: top;" target="_blank">Small Schools Workshop</a>, Mike serves as its national director. He also coaches basketball at a Chicago high school. Klonsky is the author of <i style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: top;">Small Schools: The Numbers Tell a Story</i> (University of Illinois Small Schools Workshop) and co-author, along with Bill Ayers and Gabe Lyon, of <i style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: top;">A Simple Justice: The Challenge for Teachers in Small Schools</i> (Teachers College Press).</div>
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<tr style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: top;"><td style="background: transparent; border-top-color: rgb(231, 231, 231); border-top-style: solid; border-width: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 6px 24px; vertical-align: top;"><a href="http://www.theragblog.com/wp-content/uploads/blogger/-wgtqNNvIOlU/Uid7MapSdXI/AAAAAAAAc9s/-kSGLT3vFrY/s1600/klonsky%2Bradio%2B1small%2Bcrop.JPG" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; color: purple; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: top;"><img alt="" border="0" height="199" src="http://www.theragblog.com/wp-content/uploads/blogger/-wgtqNNvIOlU/Uid7MapSdXI/AAAAAAAAc9s/-kSGLT3vFrY/s320/klonsky%2Bradio%2B1small%2Bcrop.JPG" style="background: transparent; border: none; display: block; margin: 0px auto; padding: 0px; vertical-align: top;" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: top;"><td style="background: transparent; border-top-color: rgb(231, 231, 231); border-top-style: solid; border-width: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 6px 24px; vertical-align: top;"><i style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: top;">Mike Klonsky on Rag Radio. Photo by Roger Baker </i>/ The Rag Blog.</td></tr>
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Mike served as a member of the National Advisory Council on Youth Violence and is past president of the editorial board of Catalyst, Chicago’s school-reform journal. He has also written extensively on the history and progress of Chicago’s dynamic struggles to save and transform public schools. His <a href="http://michaelklonsky.blogspot.com/" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; color: purple; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: top;" target="_blank">SmallTalk Blog</a> is read by thousands of educators and activists.</div>
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Read Mike Klonsky’s August 27, 2013, article, “<a href="http://theragblog.com/mike-klonsky-drive-by-teachers-and-the-great-charter-school-scam/" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; color: purple; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: top;">Drive-By Teachers and the Great Charter School Scam</a>,” on <i style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: top;">The Rag Blog</i>.</div>
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Mike Klonskyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02017021676773731024noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16935857.post-18727890237275959602013-06-27T08:35:00.000-07:002013-06-27T08:35:20.732-07:00All Male Youth Summit, Calumet City, IL <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">On Monday, March 25, 2013 we had over 500 male students from third through eighth grade and well over 20 presenters from various professions attend this phenomenal event.</td></tr>
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Distinguished Presenters<br />
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Dr. Michael Klonsky, DePaul University Professor & Educational Consultant<br />
Marc Augustave, Assistant Corporate Counsel<br />
Don Murphy, American Family Insurance<br />
Honorable Judge Orville E. Hambright,Jr., Circuit Court<br />
Honorable Judge William Boyd, Circuit Court<br />
Dr. James Cunneen, Retired Superintendent & Educational Consultant<br />
Chief Mark Davis, Chief of Police Calumet Park, IL &Retired Chicago Police Commander 32 years<br />
Gerald Jones, Educator at Rich Township District 227 & Chairman and Coordinator of the Guide Right Program for Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc., Evergreen Park, Illinois<br />
Percy Colvin, Entrepreneur Colvin Printing and Graphics<br />
Honorable State Representative William Davis, 29th District<br />
Frank Dixon, CTA and Minister, New Evangelical Bible Church<br />
Dr. Ron Garner, Architect<br />
Terrence Lyles, Insurance Consultant for American Family<br />
Khomeini Khan, AXA Equitable Financial<br />
Anthony Brown, AXA Equitable Financial<br />
Pastor Dr. Michael Reynolds, New Life Celebration<br />
Michael Rogers, Architect for McDonald’s Corporation<br />
Oscar Scott, College Recruiter<br />
Michael Steele, Educational Administration<br />
Honorable State Representative Thaddeus Jones, 27th District<br />
Dr. Johnny Thomas, Superintendent District 155 Crystal Lake, IL<br />
Dr. Creg Williams, Superintendent District 215 Calumet City, IL<br />
John Ross, Lieutenant for Chicago Fire Department<br />
Elmer Winters, Staff Sergeant for U.S. Army<br />
Joseph Jemison Jr., Comedian and Actor<br />
Richard Wills, Cook County Probation Officer<br />
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Mike Klonskyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02017021676773731024noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16935857.post-29782817179054201662013-03-27T11:12:00.003-07:002013-03-27T11:12:52.882-07:00Al Jazeera, Inside Story on Chicago School Closings<object width="560" height="315"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/Lm26bplpSuU?version=3&hl=en_US&rel=0"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/Lm26bplpSuU?version=3&hl=en_US&rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="560" height="315" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object>
March 26, 2013Mike Klonskyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02017021676773731024noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16935857.post-83452448660957754162012-09-28T10:21:00.001-07:002013-03-29T13:17:18.902-07:00Live From the Heartland, Sept. 22, 2012<iframe allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/OuneuhHB4dc?list=UUdS0glKdGeDSaDVQfwuL6FA&hl=en_US" width="560"></iframe>Mike Klonskyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02017021676773731024noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16935857.post-56655548152234578252012-09-21T07:49:00.003-07:002012-09-21T07:51:46.396-07:00WTTW, Chicago Tonight, September 10, 2012<iframe scrolling="no" src="http://chicagotonight.wttw.com/sites/all/modules/coveapi/cove_cache.php?filter_tp_media_object_id=2277568007" style="height: 360px; width: 540px;"></iframe><br />
SENATE BILL 7<br />
Springfield passed ambitious education reform last year, intending to transform the system and make it harder for unions to strike. One year later, what’s changed? How did Chicago end up with a historic strike on its hands?<br />
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<a href="http://chicagotonight.wttw.com/2012/09/10/attempts-education-reform-illinois">http://chicagotonight.wttw.com/2012/09/10/attempts-education-reform-illinois</a>
Mike Klonskyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02017021676773731024noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16935857.post-88635408641277079152012-04-30T13:04:00.000-07:002014-03-28T11:48:13.772-07:00 From pineapples to small schools, alum Mike Klonsky's work is no small talk<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVYXyyP9Ev_isn6Qc3niE_YolenGnrQaEBd5G119hEWI0qO29Oli1pb-SsgaFzrDTFaaZ6ZzG84zNI7lHWNk9gcerkUiGUIteEbcFL8KuxYG9pakqGsEcTF1WCsoZikou7vnaR/s1600/Mike.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVYXyyP9Ev_isn6Qc3niE_YolenGnrQaEBd5G119hEWI0qO29Oli1pb-SsgaFzrDTFaaZ6ZzG84zNI7lHWNk9gcerkUiGUIteEbcFL8KuxYG9pakqGsEcTF1WCsoZikou7vnaR/s1600/Mike.jpg" height="173" width="200" /></a></div>
<a href="http://education.uic.edu/news-alumni/620-from-pineapples-to-small-schools-alum-mike-klonskys-work-is-no-small-talk" style="color: #d31e23; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17px; margin: 0px auto; padding-bottom: 16px; text-decoration: none;">F</a><span style="color: #d31e23; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17px;">rom UIC Alumni Magazine, UIC College of Education</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">April 30, 2012</span></div>
<br />Professor Michael Klonsky teaches in the College of Education at DePaul University in Chicago. He also serves as the national director of the Small Schools Workshop, and on the national steering committee of Save Our Schools, a national movement dedicated to supporting public schools. Klonsky has blogged, spoken and written extensively on school reform issues with a focus on urban school restructuring. Klonsky received his MA in Education Studies in 1992 and his PhD in Curriculum & Instruction from UIC in 1996. He talks with Communications Director Eva Moon.<br /><br /> Can you talk about how your UIC education laid the groundwork for your future work?<br /><br />The college, under both of our deans, Larry Braskamp and then Vicki Chou, was a wonderful place to learn and develop as an educator. My personal interaction with some of the leading lights in the curriculum field exposed me to a broad range of theoretical and practical approaches to public education. It was Dr. [William] Schubert who first and most creatively raised these three fundamental questions to his graduate students: "What knowledge is most worthwhile? Why is it worthwhile? And how is it acquired or created?" <br /><br />Can you tell me how you got your start on the small schools road?<br /><br />The early school reform movement engaged hundreds of mostly young teachers in transformation efforts within their own schools. Many began approaching those of us within the COE who had been influenced by educators like Deborah Meier and Michelle Fine, who were small schools pioneers in New York and Philadelphia. Among the most influential scholars and prolific writers on small and alternative schools was the late, Mary Anne Raywid who became a mentor to me.<br /><br />In 1991, Professors Bill Ayers and the late Bruce McPherson created the Small Schools Workshop, and they invited me to become involved in this project that was focused on the ideas of democratic education, personalization, reflective teaching practices, and professional community. My dissertation documented our collaborative work with hundreds of Chicago Public School teachers and principals engaged in transforming large, traditional high schools into smaller learning communities.<br /><br />What is the current state of the small schools movement?<br /><br />Susan Klonsky [his wife] and I wrote a book in 2007, Small Schools: Public School Reform Meets the Ownership Society, whose title pretty well sums up the status of the current small-schools movement and the co-opting of the language of school reform by business-type school reformers. While there are still dozens of wonderful, teacher-led, public small schools around, most have been swallowed up in the drive toward privatization and over-emphasis on standardization and testing.<br /><br />Tell me about your blog. How widely is it read? What is the impact of the issues you raise and the subsequent discussion?<br /><br />I have been blogging for nearly a decade on my <a href="http://michaelklonsky.blogspot.com/">SmallTalk blog,</a> and am also active on <a href="https://twitter.com/#!/mikeklonsky">Twitter.</a> My blog gets about 30,000 hits a month and I have close to 3,000 followers on Twitter – not nearly as many as Lady Gaga's 7 million, but enough to make it worthwhile for me. I usually blog early in the morning, while I am reading through the daily media. I write about things that catch my attention, like the recent mass turnover of Philadelphia's public schools to private management groups, or the crazy standardized test questions in New York around Daniel Pinkwater's children's story, The Hare and the Pineapple. Bloggers and tweeters played a big role in that story going viral, and in forcing some inane test questions to be pulled from the tests.<br /><br />As you reflect on your time at UIC, what lasting impressions do you have?<br /><br />I still look back on my days in the College of Ed with great fondness. The COE faculty instilled within me a love of learning and of teaching that I still embrace. Even though I'm semi-retired, I still enjoy my life as an educator, now teaching graduate students Philosophy and Sociology of Education at DePaul.Mike Klonskyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02017021676773731024noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16935857.post-87727807189819330292012-03-27T07:22:00.001-07:002012-03-27T07:23:34.277-07:00At CReATE Press Conference, March 26, 2012<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="225" mozallowfullscreen="" src="http://player.vimeo.com/video/39242096?title=0&byline=0&portrait=0" webkitallowfullscreen="" width="400"></iframe><br />
<a href="http://vimeo.com/39242096">Mike Klonsky, DePaul University, CReATE</a> from <a href="http://vimeo.com/user4314493">Tim Furman</a> on <a href="http://vimeo.com/">Vimeo</a>.<br />
<br />Mike Klonskyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02017021676773731024noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16935857.post-49904375225892845032012-03-25T03:35:00.001-07:002012-03-25T03:35:07.267-07:00Keynoter at Bowling Green<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 22px;">The third annual Urban Education Conference is where BGSU undergraduates presented alongside University faculty, graduate students, professional teachers, and administrators to learn from each other about the complexities of the urban education experience.</span><br />
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<br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>The Keynote speaker was Dr. Michael Klonsky, Small Schools Workshop, Chicago, "Public Schools-An Endangered Species" at 6:30 p.m. on Friday, March 23, in 101 Olscamp Hall.</b></span></div>
<br class="Apple-interchange-newline" />Mike Klonskyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02017021676773731024noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16935857.post-57969377942691480992011-05-23T08:47:00.000-07:002012-01-04T18:04:40.171-08:00Mike Klonsky at Huffington Post<div class="clply_clip" style="clear: both; margin: 5px auto 0 auto; width: 450px;"><a href="http://s.tt/12pi5"><img src="http://i.curate.us/img/c17301ca15c649cfe05541c4bd3a0ebc?offset=0&size=450&stamp=1305139912&bg=ffffff" style="background: none; border: none;" /></a><br />
<span class="clply_caption" style="display: block; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 10px; text-align: center;">Clipped from: <a href="http://s.tt/12pi5">www.huffingtonpost.com</a> (<a class="clply_share_link" href="http://curate.us/12pi5+">share this clip</a>)</span></div>Mike Klonskyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02017021676773731024noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16935857.post-65284605059015751332011-05-06T10:49:00.001-07:002011-05-06T10:49:52.549-07:00From Huffington Post<h2 class="DL-headline"> Mike Klonsky: Chicago Schools CEO Choice Shows Problem With Mayoral Control </h2><div class="DL-content-wrapper"> <div class="DL-excerpt">"He received a resolution of no-confidence from the Community Education Task Force and a 94.6 percent vote of no confidence from Rochester Teachers. That speaks for itself.'' "In introducing Jean-Claude Brizard this week as his <a class="DL-analyze" href="http://iplextra.indiatimes.com/topic/Chicago">Chicago</a> schools chief,... <a class="DL-external" href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-klonsky-phd/chicago-schools-ceo-appoi_b_852082.html" title="Read the full text of Mike Klonsky: Chicago Schools CEO Choice Shows Problem With Mayoral Control from Huffington Post">Full Article at Huffington Post</a> </div></div>Mike Klonskyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02017021676773731024noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16935857.post-65180369860157130262011-02-21T09:29:00.000-08:002011-06-04T09:37:47.746-07:00Mike Klonsky interviewed about Chicago's new mayorThis extensive interview I did with on Labor Express begins<a href="http://ia600405.us.archive.org/1/items/LaborExpressFor2-21-11/LE2-21-11.ogg"> here at 28.30</a> and runs until the end of the show. <br />
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<br />
<img alt="[audio]" src="http://www.archive.org/images/mediatype_audio.gif" /><a class="titleLink" href="http://www.archive.org/details/LaborExpressFor2-21-11">Labor Express For 2-21-11</a> - Jerry Mead-Lucero<br />
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This is the full 2-21-11 episode of the Labor Express Radio program. The past week has been one of those weeks in which I wished Labor Express aired 2 or 3 times every week. There is no way we can do justice on today’s program to all the important developments of the past week. Of course tomorrow is election day in Chicago and, as promised I will bring you my interview with <b>Mike <span class="searchTerm">Klonsky</span></b> on <b>Rahm Emmanuel’s</b> policy positions on public education...Mike Klonskyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02017021676773731024noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16935857.post-77499923633696280822010-10-29T13:07:00.000-07:002010-10-29T13:07:43.285-07:00New book takes critical look at the Gates Foundation<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">The Gates Foundation and the Future of </span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">US “Public” Schools </span></span></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilBGrLoLufVqWcT0rVV43XiRzc_6ijoiscmQRK-0-jZ2T2VtgElng1IFyKQ5zBF0jX9IbHhTK1vhV5aaYJhjdKoXUf38pnj9foJj__GxUsz_1PCP1-lw9G4bbs6Y4xYanHA0XV/s1600/GATES+FOUNDATION+BOOK.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilBGrLoLufVqWcT0rVV43XiRzc_6ijoiscmQRK-0-jZ2T2VtgElng1IFyKQ5zBF0jX9IbHhTK1vhV5aaYJhjdKoXUf38pnj9foJj__GxUsz_1PCP1-lw9G4bbs6Y4xYanHA0XV/s1600/GATES+FOUNDATION+BOOK.jpg" /></a></div>Edited by <a href="http://www.taylorandfrancis.com/books/search/author/philip_e_kovacs/">Philip E. Kovacs</a><br />
Price: $95.00<br />
Binding/Format: Hardback<br />
ISBN: 978-0-415-87334-5<br />
Publish Date: October 21st 2010<br />
Imprint: Routledge<br />
Pages: 232 pages<br />
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A critical look at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation that includes a chapter by <b>Michael Klonsky</b>, <i>"Power Philanthropy: Taking the Public Out of Public Education." </i><br />
<br />
Foreword <em>Deron Boyles</em>. Acknowledgments. 1. From Carnegie to Gates: The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Venture Philanthropy Agenda for Public Education <em>Kenneth J. Saltman</em> 2. Power Philanthropy: Taking the Public Out of Public Education <em>Michael Klonsky</em> 3. The Gates Foundation’s Interventions into Education, Health, and Food Policies: Technology, Power, and the Privatization of Political Problems <em> David Hursh</em> 4. Marketing New Schools for a New Century: An Examination of Neoliberal School Reform in New York City <em>Jessica Shiller</em> 5. Corporatism, KIPP, and Cultural Eugenics <em>Jim Horn</em> 6. Disabusing Small-Schools Reformism: An Alternative Outlook on Scaling Up and Down <em>Aimee Howley and Craig B. Howley</em> 7. Governing Identity Through Neoliberal Education Initiatives: "Get[ting] Schooled" in the Marketplace <em>Leslee Grey </em> 8. The Gates’ Foundation and the Future of U.S. Public Education: A Call for Scholars to Counter Misinformation Campaigns <em> Philip E. Kovacs and H.K. Christie</em> 9. The Giving Business: Venture Philanthropy and the NewSchools Venture Fund <em>Jim Horn and Ken Libby</em> 10. Dear Bill: "Grokking’ Education <em>Patti Lather</em> 11. An Open Letter to Bill Gates, Jr. (With a Message to My Colleagues) <em>David Gabbard</em> 12. Why Current Education Reform Efforts Will Fail <em>Marion Brady</em><blockquote>There has been much public praise for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation’s efforts to reform public education. However, few scholars have engaged substantively and critically with the organization’s work. While the Gates Foundation is the single largest supporter by far of "choice" initiatives particularly with regard to charter school formation, it is pushing public school privatization through a wide array of initiatives and in conjunction with a number of other foundations. What are the implications for a public system as control over educational policy and priority is concentrated under one of the richest people on the planet in ways that foster de-unionization and teacher de-skilling while homogenizing school models and curriculum? <em>The Gates Foundation and the Future of U.S. "Public" Schools</em> addresses this crucial, unanswered question while investigating the relationships between the Gates Foundation and other think tanks, government, and corporate institutions.</blockquote>Mike Klonskyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02017021676773731024noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16935857.post-62452397212972696992010-07-07T19:07:00.000-07:002011-12-08T04:18:28.422-08:00Reviewed in "Improving Schools"<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuxhgTe3s7Bo9glj7TntBEKH_mlSgZdC_Jw7iYWHx3t8Murimb_qJvrGls24ieOakf2PzHFtl4O0cEZSDZSUoH2Zof9PMM50931On_m466pm4N_-Iu1kLNFtJgEQNvVCr7AYdW/s1600/book.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuxhgTe3s7Bo9glj7TntBEKH_mlSgZdC_Jw7iYWHx3t8Murimb_qJvrGls24ieOakf2PzHFtl4O0cEZSDZSUoH2Zof9PMM50931On_m466pm4N_-Iu1kLNFtJgEQNvVCr7AYdW/s200/book.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Michael and Susan Klonsky (2008) Small Schools: Public School Reform Meets the Ownership Society<br />
Routledge ISBN 0 415 96123 8 £14.99 208 pages</div><br />
Mark Berends, Matthew Springer and Herbert Walberg, eds (2008)<br />
Charter School Outcomes Lawrence Erlbaum ISBN 0 8058 6222 6 £21.99 300 pages<br />
<br />
<b>Reviewed by Terry Wrigley, University of Edinburgh</b><br />
<br />
One of the key differences between secondary education in the UK and USA concerns school size. Across Britain, the common assumption is that secondary schools below about 800 students aren’t really viable. The average secondary school size in England grew from 820 to 1000 between 1992 and 2002 (Newman et al., 2006), though at the end of this period 29 per cent of secondary schools still had fewer than 800. There has been little policy interest in small schools, though small size is often used as the pretext for closure and (increasingly) privatization. Ironically, those who make this argument seem unaware that in PISA-prizewinning Finland there are few secondary schools with more than 500 students, and half are below 300.<br />
<br />
The few UK-based research studies point to some attainment disadvantages of smaller but also of larger than average schools, but this is slight and sometimes incestuous in its citation. Spielhofer et al. (2002) in their empirical study acknowledge that this may be due to the quasi-market system of English schools, especially in urban areas, which seems plausible: the publication of league tables and their impact on parental choice<br />
systematically leads towards school rolls declining in schools that have lower attainment than their neighbours, even if this is caused by socio-economic factors. Thus, it is probably relatively lower attainment which leads to smaller schools rather than the reverse.<br />
<br />
This is in contrast to the many US-based studies that associate smaller size with higher attainment, particularly for poorer and ethnic minority students, and that point to an improved ethos and social development for all kinds of students in smaller schools. There are clear parallels to school-within-school or year-group structures in (already quite small) Norwegian and Swedish schools.<br />
<br />
The USA has seen a remarkable movement towards small schools. Some of these replace existing schools, while others are the result of restructuring large high schools to make several schools-within-schools. It is surprising that England’s policy-makers, who have borrowed so much from the USA, have such little interest in the small-school movement.<br />
<br />
For an outsider it is difficult to disentangle the question of small schools from the Charter School reform, and there is substantial overlap. In brief, Charter Schools are publicly funded but privately managed schools. There are already 4000 in 40 states, with heavy concentrations in some politically conservative areas and states. Many are small but others aren’t. They vary from community-run schools with progressive teaching teams and curricula to chains of schools run by edu-businesses. It is important for English educators to understand this, since they seem identical to England’s City Academies, which are also publicly funded but privately run. This controversial programme has hit many obstacles and much resistance. Significantly, the English government set a price tag on these by requiring academy ‘sponsors’ (i.e. the private management) to contribute £2,000,000, thus precluding more progressive community based initiatives.<br />
<br />
Michael and Susan Klonsky’s book helps enormously in understanding the relationship between the small school reform and Charter Schools. They present a revealing account of ‘two trains running’, the drive towards smaller secondary schools on the one hand, and a business takeover of schooling on the other. They are committed advocates of small schools, tracing the origins of this movement to the Freedom Schools and Citizenship Schools of the 1960s civil rights campaign. They see them as a re-invention of Deweyan progressivism in the Information Age. They emphasize the need for community among students and closer student–teacher relationships, as well as the professional learning community of staff. Staff were empowered to rethink education and respond to the challenge of ‘savage inequalities’ (Kozol, 1991). There is currently<br />
enormous diversity of small schools, often as small as 200 or 300, supported by such networks as the Coalition of Essential Schools.<br />
<br />
The drive towards small schools has attracted extensive support, from the libertarian left to big city councils and global businesses. Though some of the business support has been benign and hands-off, the Klonskys describe an accelerating process of privatization, in terms of both control and a redirection of educational aims. The Klonskys tell a powerful story of the corporate takeover of public schooling, involving some of the world’s biggest corporations. These include the gigantic Wal-Mart, through its Walton Foundation. The earlier progressive orientation has been undermined by the Neo-Cons, though often sheltering behind a pseudo-progressive rhetoric. Thus the KIPP (Knowledge is Power Program) schools, sponsored byWalton,<br />
are singled out as an example of ‘the most mind-numbing and cultish’ charter schools. Particularly widespread in low-income neighbourhoods, such schools seem bent on disciplining and exhorting the poor rather than developing human potential (much likeWal-Mart as a workplace with its relentless company cheers and deadend jobs). (Liza Featherstone, writing in The Nation, quoted on page 110)<br />
<br />
The authors also raise questions about a recent change in direction of the Gates charitable foundation, which originally gave hands-off support to a range of models of small school and schools-within-schools, but appears now to be committed to the closure and replacement (privatization) rather than restructuring of existing schools. Good examples are given of supposedly not-for-profit organizations sub-contracting<br />
schools to for-profit management companies to overcome the terms of the charter. Many of the Charter Schools, far from empowering staff, have forbidden union organization.<br />
<br />
The school reform has simultaneously been distorted and undermined by the so-called No Child Left Behind policy. Under duress from the NCLB, the district (Chicago) pulled the rug out from under this first wave of school reform, and all traditional schools were put on a strict testprep regimen. Across the city, principals were told to discontinue small-schools initiatives and to focus instead on test preparation. However, the small-<br />
movement had gone too far and attracted too much investment and popular support to turn back… Surviving small schools were pressured to give up many of their innovations and conform to standardized, and even scripted, modes of instruction and assessment. (pages 39–40)<br />
<br />
The situation is also complicated because some city councils are strongly backing small school reforms in order to retain schools within the public sector and keep Corporate America at bay. There have been contradictions between city bureaucracies and the dynamics of small-school foundation. The book includes a case study of a large high school whose staff were simply informed by letter that their school was to be broken up into smaller schools, causing massive resentment and the failure of the restructuring. The Klonskys call for a return to the original aims and direction of small-school reform. They remind us that the reform was never just about size, but was about rethinking the nature of education and strengthening professional initiative and control. According to Professor Michelle Fine of City University New York, many of the new small schools have become ‘big schools in drag’.<br />
<br />
All too many small schools have the same authoritarian principals, disempowered and uninspired educators, dubious high-stakes tests, and Eurocentric curricula as the large schools they were designed to replace. (Fine, quoted on page 92) The other book reviewed here (Berends et al.) is a less exciting read but important in<br />
its own way. It examines some of the claims that Charter Schools are more successful than public schools, and advises caution. The earlier chapters consider carefully the flaws in some school effectiveness research which doesn’t take important factors into account. For example, it looks at the various reasons why pupils may be transferred by their parents to a Charter School, leading to differences in prior attainment or progress,<br />
and involving different degrees of parental and pupil engagement. It also reviews quantitative research on a range of issues such as engagement, personnel policy, wage setting and management.<br />
<br />
The case studies in the final section focus on areas with high concentrations of Charter Schools, and conclude that overall the experiment has not succeeded. They also show that they have tended to lead to greater racial segregation. For example: <br />
<blockquote><i>Our results from California show that charter schools generally perform on par with or slightly below the achievement levels of traditional public schools, they have not closed the achievement gaps for minorities, and they have not had the expected competitive effects on traditional public schools. (page 190)</i></blockquote><br />
<div style="text-align: center;">* * *</div>It is useful to read these books in conjunction with Small Schools and Urban Youth (Conchas and Rodriguez, 2008), which illustrates some of the tensions and differences between school ‘designs’. Their book, based on three case studies, shows how internal divisions can, in the worse cases, lead to inequality rather than overcoming it (for example, when one ‘academy’ or internal division has higher status and requires good<br />
skills levels for admission). This book, like the earlier High Schools on a Human Scale (Toch, 2003), also contains many inspiring accounts of innovative and successful small schools.<br />
<br />
Book Reviews 281<a href="http://imp.sagepub.com/content/11/3/279.full.pdf+html"> Improving Schools</a><br />
Downloaded from imp.sagepub.com by guest on July 7, 2010<br />
ReferencesMike Klonskyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02017021676773731024noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16935857.post-85445562040812784822010-02-02T03:03:00.000-08:002010-02-02T03:08:56.673-08:00A SIMPLE JUSTICE<div id="prod_detail" style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);"> <div id="prod_detail1"><a onmousedown="return enc(this,'http://books.rediff.com/book/ayers-william;lyon-gabrielle-h.;klonsky-michael/a-simple-justice:-the-challenge-for-small-schools/ISBN:9780807739624/84668237','ayers william;lyon gabrielle h.;klonsky michael',1,'books','click','search')" href="http://cif.rediff.com/track?url=___http://books.rediff.com/book/ayers-william;lyon-gabrielle-h.;klonsky-michael/a-simple-justice:-the-challenge-for-small-schools/ISBN:9780807739624/84668237___&q=ayers%20william;lyon%20gabrielle%20h.;klonsky%20michael&pos=1&app=books&action=click&resulttype=search"><img src="http://imshopping.rediff.com/imgchkbooks/75-100/books/pixs/24/9780807739624.jpg" style="border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-width: 0pt; width: 89px; height: 134px;" alt="A Simple Justice: The Challenge For Small Schools" title="A Simple Justice: The Challenge For Small Schools" border="0" hspace="12" /></a><br /> </div> <div id="prod_detail3"><a onmousedown="return enc(this,'http://shop.rediff.com/shop/bookaddcart.jsp?prrfnbr=83173828&pvrfnbr=84668237&flnm=/commerce/v2/displaybag.jsp','ayers william;lyon gabrielle h.;klonsky michael',1,'books','click','search')" href="http://shop.rediff.com/shop/bookaddcart.jsp?prrfnbr=83173828&pvrfnbr=84668237&flnm=/commerce/v2/displaybag.jsp" class="srchLink"><br /></a></div> <div id="prod_detail2"><span style="font-size:130%;"><b style="font-family: arial;"><a onmousedown="return enc(this,'http://books.rediff.com/book/ayers-william;lyon-gabrielle-h.;klonsky-michael/a-simple-justice:-the-challenge-for-small-schools/ISBN:9780807739624/84668237','ayers william;lyon gabrielle h.;klonsky michael',1,'books','click','search')" href="http://books.rediff.com/book/ayers-william;lyon-gabrielle-h.;klonsky-michael/a-simple-justice:-the-challenge-for-small-schools/ISBN:9780807739624/84668237"><span id="book-titl"><b>A Simple Justice: The Challenge For Small Schools</b></span></a></b><span style="font-family:arial;"> by </span></span><span style=";font-family:arial;font-size:130%;" > <a href="http://books.rediff.com/book/author-ayers-william;lyon-gabrielle-h.;klonsky-michael" style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span id="book-auth"> <u>Ayers, William;lyon, Gabrielle H.;klonsky, Michael</u></span></a></span><br /><br /> <div style="margin-bottom: 0.5em;"><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tbody><tr><td valign="top">By </td><td><a name="A2CUBLJPU5KHYT|oDo|1" onmouseover="if (jQuery.CustomerPopover) jQuery.CustomerPopover.bind(this);" href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/pdp/profile/A2CUBLJPU5KHYT/ref=cm_cr_dp_pdp"><span style="font-weight: bold;">David <span style="white-space: nowrap;">Roth<span class="swSprite s_chevron custPopRight"></span></span></span></a> (Oakland, CA United States) -<br /></td></tr></tbody></table> </div> I emphatically agree with the book's central message: Small schools are greatly preferable to large. (I went through public school in L.A.; I should know.)<p>The book gives many wonderful examples of how small schools have revolutionized education in a number of places where public schools had been failing their students. The authors were among those dedicated enough to see through the building, running, and nurturing of such places of learning.</p><p>The book also gave a glimpse of what education is meant to be-- intense investigation, asking endless series of questions addressing issues of student interest, a process of learning for teacher as well as student--and contrasted this with what goes on in a typical factory-model school. Hurrah!</p><p>Unfortunately, the book made two glaring omissions (thus the four stars, not five). First, there was extremely little discussion of the resources needed to make this happen, and the corresponding lack of political will. It is easy to point out that wealthy school districts think $12,000 a student-year is an appropriate amount to spend for top-flight education, and that the special needs of poor districts suggest that even more is needed there. (And this is still mostly using the factory- model school for middle and high school.) But it is another thing altogether to develop a political strategy to deal with the discrepancies. </p><p>Second, I believe that the factory-model school is actually failing almost everyone, not just the poor in the city. Ideals of education are met no better in Novato, CA, than in Oakland. School is an impersonal waste of time in Novato, too. Issues of social justice are nowhere on the radar screen there, either. Kids go to "civics" class, biology, etc. Curriculum never changes, kids do not get to develop major educational programs based on their interests.</p><p>We need to find ways of encouraging everyone to engage in a discussion of social justice. Reagan and his welfare queen, Bush and Willie Horton, and years of perverse race-based criminal justice approaches (most notably the war on drugs), have set us back immeasurably. Milton Friedman has won; all the progressive tax systems are being whittled back; social services--from health care to welfare to, you guessed it, public education--are on the out.</p><p>Everyone should be in on this mission. I think the book speaks far too narrowly to the inner city and not broadly enough. (An important question here is whether we are asking city schools to perform wildly different functions from suburban schools, and if so, whether this is serving either of these populations.) </p><br /> </div> </div>Mike Klonskyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02017021676773731024noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16935857.post-12219025941000359722009-11-10T03:02:00.000-08:002009-11-10T03:04:45.073-08:00Keynote panelist at San Diego EWA meeting<h3 class="post-title entry-title"> <a href="http://michaelklonsky.blogspot.com/2009/11/small-schools-and-high-school-reform.html">Small Schools and High School Reform: Shrinking Size, Diminishing Returns?</a> </h3> <div style="text-align: center; font-family: verdana;"><a href="http://www.ewa.org/site/Calendar/1263685621?view=Detail&id=100501">Education Writers Association National Meeting in San Diego</a><br /></div><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tbody><tr><td><br /></td><td align="right"><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><span class="Explicit"><h4 align="center">Nov. 8-10, 2009<br />San Diego, California</h4> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Join the Education Writers Association for a three-day seminar exploring issues and story ideas related to small schools and high school reform. Participants will visit schools and take an in-depth look at programs in the <st1:place st="on"><st1:placename st="on">San Diego</st1:placename> <st1:placename st="on">Unified</st1:placename> <st1:placetype st="on">School District</st1:placetype></st1:place>, hearing firsthand from teachers, principals, students and parents about their experiences. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Sessions include:</span></p> <ul style="font-family: verdana;"><li> <div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><em>Left Behind: The Big High School </em></span></div></li><li> <div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><em>Small in Size, but Not in Feel? </em></span></div></li><li> <div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><em>Reporters' Experiences Covering Small Schools</em></span></div></li><li> <div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><em>What Big Districts Can Learn from Small Schools</em></span></div></li></ul> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Featured speakers include <strong>Michael Klonsky</strong>, Small Schools Workshop and Center for Innovative Schools; <strong>Libia Gil</strong>, American Institutes for Research; <strong>Ash Vasudeva</strong>, Stanford University School Redesign Network; <strong>Karin Chenoweth</strong>, The Education Trust; and <strong>Clara Hemphill</strong>, New School Center for New York City Affairs.</span></p></span>Mike Klonskyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02017021676773731024noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16935857.post-18859061943869093492009-10-15T04:14:00.000-07:002009-10-15T04:28:59.743-07:00Article in the Loyola Public Interest Law Reporter<span style="font-style: italic;font-family:verdana;" >The Terms of Chicago's Consent Decree: There Are No 'Miracles' Here </span><br /><br />Public Interest Law Reporter (No.4, Summer, 2009) pp. 255-266.<br />Loyola College of Law<br /><a href="http://www.luc.edu/law/activities/publications/public.html">http://www.luc.edu/law/activities/publications/public.html</a><br /><blockquote>Michael Klonsky, the Director of the Small Schools Workshop, questions the efficacy of various efforts to "reform" the Chicago Public Schools. In "The Terms of Chicago's Consent Decree: There Are No 'Miracles' Here," Mr. Klonsky analyzes the small schools movement and Chicago's proposed "solutions" to an inadequate school system, including selective enrollment schools, charter schools, and Renaissance 2010. Mr. Klonsky argues that none of these proposed solutions have substantially narrowed the dramatic gap in achievement that persists along racial and socioeconomic lines. --Dean Michael Kaufman<br /><br /><br /></blockquote>Mike Klonskyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02017021676773731024noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16935857.post-80958428202343189642009-07-13T12:08:00.000-07:002010-08-09T07:24:54.004-07:00In the next issue of In These Times<div class="entry"><h5>Features » July 31, 2009</h5><h1>We’re Public … No, We’re Private</h1><h2>Charter school corporations take on public school teacher unions.</h2><h3>By <a href="http://www.inthesetimes.com/community/profile/11381">Michael Klonsky</a></h3><div class="inset"> <div id="imagebox"><img alt="" src="http://www.inthesetimes.com/global/phpthumb/phpThumb.php?src=/images/33/08/feat_klonsky.jpg&w=310" width="310" />On April 23, parents learn whether their children have been admitted to the Harlem Success Academy charter school system in New York. (Photo by Chris Hondros/Getty Images) </div><div id="pq"><blockquote>Under the Bush administration, charter management organizations with deep pockets and powerful supporters overpowered the small, independent teacher-run charter schools. </blockquote></div></div><div id="inset_share"> <div class="addthis_toolbox addthis_default_style"> <a class="addthis_button_compact at300m" href="http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=250&username=xa-4b732e316a86f2a0"><span class="at300bs at15t_compact"></span>SHARE THIS ARTICLE</a> <span class="addthis_separator">|</span> <a class="addthis_button_facebook at300b" href="http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=250&winname=addthis&pub=xa-4b732e316a86f2a0&source=tbx-250&lng=en-US&s=facebook&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.inthesetimes.com%2Farticle%2F4555%2Fwere_public_..._no_were_private%2F&title=We%E2%80%99re%20Public%20...%20No%2C%20We%E2%80%99re%20Private%20--%20In%20These%20Times&ate=AT-xa-4b732e316a86f2a0/-/-/4c600f17bc5c3238/1&CXNID=2000001.5215456080540439074NXC&pre=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2Fsearch%3Fhl%3D%26q%3DWe%25E2%2580%2599re%2BPublic%2B...%2BNo%252C%2BWe%25E2%2580%2599re%2BPrivate%26sourceid%3Dnavclient-ff%26rlz%3D1B3MOZA_enUS371US371%26ie%3DUTF-8&tt=0" target="_blank" title="Send to Facebook"><span class="at300bs at15t_facebook"></span></a> <a class="addthis_button_myspace at300b" href="http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=250&winname=addthis&pub=xa-4b732e316a86f2a0&source=tbx-250&lng=en-US&s=myspace&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.inthesetimes.com%2Farticle%2F4555%2Fwere_public_..._no_were_private%2F&title=We%E2%80%99re%20Public%20...%20No%2C%20We%E2%80%99re%20Private%20--%20In%20These%20Times&ate=AT-xa-4b732e316a86f2a0/-/-/4c600f17bc5c3238/2&CXNID=2000001.5215456080540439074NXC&pre=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2Fsearch%3Fhl%3D%26q%3DWe%25E2%2580%2599re%2BPublic%2B...%2BNo%252C%2BWe%25E2%2580%2599re%2BPrivate%26sourceid%3Dnavclient-ff%26rlz%3D1B3MOZA_enUS371US371%26ie%3DUTF-8&tt=0" target="_blank" title="Send to MySpace"><span class="at300bs at15t_myspace"></span></a> <a class="addthis_button_google at300b" href="http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=250&winname=addthis&pub=xa-4b732e316a86f2a0&source=tbx-250&lng=en-US&s=google&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.inthesetimes.com%2Farticle%2F4555%2Fwere_public_..._no_were_private%2F&title=We%E2%80%99re%20Public%20...%20No%2C%20We%E2%80%99re%20Private%20--%20In%20These%20Times&ate=AT-xa-4b732e316a86f2a0/-/-/4c600f17bc5c3238/3&CXNID=2000001.5215456080540439074NXC&pre=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2Fsearch%3Fhl%3D%26q%3DWe%25E2%2580%2599re%2BPublic%2B...%2BNo%252C%2BWe%25E2%2580%2599re%2BPrivate%26sourceid%3Dnavclient-ff%26rlz%3D1B3MOZA_enUS371US371%26ie%3DUTF-8&tt=0" target="_blank" title="Send to Google"><span class="at300bs at15t_google"></span></a> <a class="addthis_button_twitter at300b" href="http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=250&winname=addthis&pub=xa-4b732e316a86f2a0&source=tbx-250&lng=en-US&s=twitter&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.inthesetimes.com%2Farticle%2F4555%2Fwere_public_..._no_were_private%2F&title=We%E2%80%99re%20Public%20...%20No%2C%20We%E2%80%99re%20Private%20--%20In%20These%20Times&ate=AT-xa-4b732e316a86f2a0/-/-/4c600f17bc5c3238/4&CXNID=2000001.5215456080540439074NXC&pre=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2Fsearch%3Fhl%3D%26q%3DWe%25E2%2580%2599re%2BPublic%2B...%2BNo%252C%2BWe%25E2%2580%2599re%2BPrivate%26sourceid%3Dnavclient-ff%26rlz%3D1B3MOZA_enUS371US371%26ie%3DUTF-8&tt=0" target="_blank" title="Tweet ThisTwitter"><span class="at300bs at15t_twitter"></span></a> </div><script src="http://s7.addthis.com/js/250/addthis_widget.js#username=xa-4b732e316a86f2a0" type="text/javascript">
</script> </div>What began as an attempt by small groups of urban charter school teachers in Chicago and New York to win collective bargaining rights has exploded into a national battle between teachers’ unions and operators of large charter “chain schools.”<br />
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In Chicago, a successful drive to organize three schools run by the city’s largest operator, Chicago International Charter Schools (CICS), and its for-profit subcontractor, Civitas, was temporarily stalled when Civitas management argued that as a private employer it is not covered under rules set down by the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Board (IELRB).<br />
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Since its founding in 2004—with a $4-million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation—Civitas has touted itself as a “public school,” especially when asking for state funding. But in April 2009, when a majority of Civitas teachers at the three Chicago schools signed union cards and the IELRB approved the Chicago Alliance of Charter School Teachers (ACTS) as their representative, Civitas changed its tune. Now the corporation claims that charters are essentially private schools and, as such, the IELRB has no power to recognize any union as the official bargaining unit for charter school teachers. Rather, Civitas insists the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) should decide whether or not to recognize union representation only after a secret-ballot vote. On June 2, the NLRB issued a narrow ruling upholding Civitas’ claim that it is a private entity and that its teachers are private employees.<br />
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“What the decision demonstrates is that charter management organizations are private,” Simon Hess, chief executive officer of Civitas, told the <i>Chi-Town Daily News</i>. “That’s part of the entrepreneurial spirit that has come to the public school system.”<br />
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The union views it differently, according to ACTS spokeswoman Gail Purkey: “We accepted the ruling as a tactical compromise, only so we could quickly proceed with the election process, which we knew we could win.”<br />
<h6>Union meets charter</h6>Charter schools have grown exponentially in the past decade. Today, more than 4,600 charters employ more than 50,000 teachers nationally, and simmering discontent (and even open revolt among a significant group of young, activist teachers) has opened the field to new organizing campaigns by the teachers’ unions.<br />
Union leaders have begun organizing more aggressively, recognizing that charter schools are not going away and keeping a wary eye on potentially competing unions like Service Employees International Union. They’ve also been nudged into this expanding field by recently elected American Federation of Teachers (<acronym title="American Federation of Teachers">AFT</acronym>) President Randi Weingarten. As leader of New York’s United Federation of Teachers (UFT), Weingarten partnered with Green Dot Charter Schools operator Steve Barr to create two of New York City’s new unionized charter schools.<br />
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Barr, considered a maverick among charter management organizations (CMOs), started his original Green Dot schools in Los Angeles, taking over several large, dysfunctional inner-city high schools and converting them into smaller and, by some accounts, more successful charters. Green Dot accommodates union teachers with a short and concise contract to protect them from arbitrary firings and untenable working conditions. Its schools are intentionally smaller than L.A.’s traditional high schools, which are among the largest in the nation, with many exceeding 4,000 students. All Green Dot schools are locally managed and rely heavily on teacher autonomy, heavy parent participation and infusions of foundation dollars for their success.<br />
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When Barr met resistance from both the L.A. School Board and teachers’ union chief John Duffy, a majority of tenured teachers at Locke High School in Watts voted to leave United Teachers of Los Angeles and signed on with the California Teachers Association, the largest union in the state.<br />
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Weingarten and Barr’s current partnership in New York is at least partially responsible for encouraging recent organizing efforts at two New York City charters run by Knowledge Is Power Program (KIPP), the largest chain of CMO-run schools in the nation with 66 schools in 19 states and the District of Columbia.<br />
In Brooklyn, the KIPP-AMP (Always Mentally Prepared) School has pushed back frantically, targeting pro-union teachers for firing and harassment, according to Leo Casey, the UFT’s vice president in charge of charter schools. The final outcome isn’t assured, as the union and KIPP negotiators struggle over a proposed 25-page contract modeled on Green Dot’s. According to Casey, the KIPP-AMP contract will place a limit on class size and teacher loads. It will give teachers greater say and put them on decision-making committees. There is also a strong “just cause” standard, making it difficult to fire teachers without due process.<br />
<h6>The charter school vision</h6>Early school reformers and visionaries who created the first charter schools nearly 20 years ago saw charters as incubators of public school innovation, experimental pilot schools and teacher-led learning communities. These were progressives and education activists—hardly the hard-line, anti-union types who dominate charter school associations today. One of the most outspoken charter advocates at the time was none other than then <acronym title="American Federation of Teachers">AFT</acronym> President Albert Shanker. The goal of early charter school advocates was school autonomy.<br />
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In 1991, Joe Nathan, director of the Center for School Change at the University of Minnesota and a critic of the charter operators’ union-busting tactics, helped write the nation’s first state charter law. “In the Minnesota charter law,” Nathan says, “it is explicit that charter schools are public … there’s nothing inconsistent with our teachers being union teachers.” Nathan adds that moves to declare charters as private or efforts to block unionization are “inconsistent with the charter ideal or good public policy.”<br />
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He points out that unionization wasn’t an issue back then because most charter teachers were already union members and felt ownership of the schools they had helped create. Often they constituted their own small boards along with parents and community members.<br />
The idea was to create a decentralized space within the big, bureaucratic system. The trade-off was autonomy for accountability, meaning that if the new, small schools weren’t meeting the expectations laid out in the charter, the schools could lose their charters and be closed.<br />
All of that began to change under the Bush administration’s ownership society and “No Child Left Behind” policies. CMOs with deep pockets and support from conservative think tanks and foundations—as well as from Bush’s Department of Education—overpowered the small, teacher-run charters, not unlike the way large food chains have replaced mom-and-pop grocery stores.<br />
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The rise of the CMOs brought with it a top-down efficiency model and an aggressive management style. It also brought at-will firings of unprotected teachers and principals, 16-hour work days, pre-packaged curricula and abnormally high teacher attrition rates. In this new vision, charters were seen as business-model schools, complete with quotas for rapid Starbucks-like economies of scale.<br />
President Barack Obama has broken with much of the ownership society legacy—especially in terms of support for school vouchers—though he and Secretary of Education Arne Duncan are both big fans of charter schools. Duncan has used his bully pulpit to pump the charter cause and has even threatened states with loss of stimulus funds if they fail to increase the numbers of charter schools in their districts. One big difference from the previous eight years is that the <acronym title="American Federation of Teachers">AFT</acronym> and the National Education Association (NEA) are now at the table pushing for collective bargaining rights for charter school teachers and other accountability measures for charter operators.<br />
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At a recent gathering of the nation’s governors, Duncan called on them to “break through the dynamic that positions charters against unions.” After invoking Shanker’s name, he pointed out that “the <acronym title="American Federation of Teachers">AFT</acronym> represents something like 70 charters and the NEA represents another 40. So we should stop fighting over charter caps and unite behind charter accountability.”<br />
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Only in the past two years has the leadership of the <acronym title="American Federation of Teachers">AFT</acronym> and NEA come to accept charter schools as a permanent reality. The questions of whether they indeed are public or private and whether their teachers can win the same collective bargaining rights are now being hotly debated, negotiated and litigated.<br />
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“Charter teachers are saying they want a voice in their workplace,” UTF’s Casey says. Meanwhile, labor movement and public education eyes would do well to keep a close watch on the coming charter school battles, especially in large urban districts like New York and Chicago.<br />
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<b>UPDATE, 8/3/09</b>: Teachers at the three Civitas schools voted 73-49 to unionize in late June, joining the <a href="http://www.chicagoacts.org/">Chicago Alliance of Charter Teachers & Staff</a> (Chicago ACTS), an affiliate of the Illinois Federation of Teachers (IFT) and <acronym title="American Federation of Teachers">AFT</acronym>. They are currently negotiating their contracts with Civitas Schools.<br />
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> Mike Klonsky</span></span></div>Mike Klonskyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02017021676773731024noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16935857.post-50733472203865759042009-06-26T03:33:00.000-07:002010-03-26T03:38:17.661-07:00Educating children in a "fireball" ??<em>This is an archived blog post of mine following my visit to Israel in June, 2008.--M.Kl</em><br />
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6.23.08<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">The Bat-Yam Conference</span><br />
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I’m normally a cautiously optimistic and hopeful guy, especially now that the Obama campaign is gaining strength and Bush’s Ownership Society regime appears to be on its last legs. <br />
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My trip to Israel to keynote the International Education Conference in Bat-Yam was enlightening and inspiring. I went there looking to learn, looking for for some hope—a sign that peace was somehow possible and that Jerusalem, where three of the worlds great religions were born, wouldn’t soon become the epicenter of a nuclear winter. <br />
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Meeting hundreds of democratic spirited educators and visiting some of their schools gave me that hope. More good news followed the conference. Israel negotiated a ceasefire with the Hamas-led Palestinians in Gaza (are you listening McCain & Obama?) and relented on allowing Palestinian students to study abroad.<br />
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But now, returning home, it’s become clear that the two corrupt, crumbling governments of Bush/Olmert are preparing the unthinkable--another preemptive shock & awe strike, this time against Iran, as their regimes’ final legacies. <br />
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The question facing educators is, where does school reform, democratic education and small schools fit into this picture?Mike Klonskyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02017021676773731024noreply@blogger.com0