Resources for the discussion:
Handout (link)
Breakout session activity (link)
Facilitator guide (link)
READINGS and GUIDING QUESTIONS For February 12, 2018 (as a handout)
Network for Public Education’s Charters and Consequences, p. 41, on the NAACP’s Resolution for a Moratorium on New Charter Schools (especially the 4 bullets)
Network for Public Education’s Charters and Consequences, pp. 47-48, the Network for Public Education’s 2017 Statement on Charters
Further background reading if you like:
Charters and Consequences, 2017 resource from the Network for Public Education
School Privatization Explained, the Network for Public Education’s toolkit on privatization
Consider the problems posed by privatization in charter schools—the issues raised by the NAACP and NPE. Which complaints worry you? Do you have additional concerns? Are there any conditions in which you believe there is a place for privatized education?
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Jan Resseger’s blog post, What Can Betsy DeVos Be Thinking?
Jan Resseger’s blog post, John Dewey, Paul Wellstone… and Betsy DeVos?
Consider the ways in which Betsy DeVos’s values contradict the core values of public education. How do Betsy DeVos’s beliefs about public education contrast with your own values?
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My Pedagogic Creed, John Dewey, January 1897
Think about how the ideas of John Dewey, one of our nation’s most respected education philosophers, would uphold or condemn today’s test-based, corporate-accountability-driven school reform.
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Jan Resseger’s blog post, Beware Puff Piece in The Atlantic about Eva Moskowitz and Success Academy Charters
In what ways do Eva Moskowitz’s Success Academy Charter Schools in New York City conform to or contrast with John Dewey’s ideas about progressive education?
Many people like to think of school choice as something new, harmless, and liberating. What does this analysis show about the negative consequences of school choice, especially in the context of growing inequality across our society?