Dear Commons Community,

Chicago Public School’s CEO Barbara Byrd-Bennett has resigned amid a federal probe of a $20 million no-bid contract that the district had with a training academy where she once worked as a consultant. As reported in the Associated Press:

“Statements released by Mayor Rahm Emanuel and the president of the board of the nation’s third-largest school district confirmed that Byrd-Bennett had stepped down. Board President David Vitale said the resignation was effective Monday.

Neither Emanuel nor Vitale commented on the investigation that prompted Byrd-Bennett to go on paid leave in April, though the mayor alluded to it in his statement

“I am saddened by the circumstances that have led to Barbara’s resignation and I wish her well,” said Emanuel in two-sentence statement released by his office Monday morning.

Byrd-Bennett, who has not been accused of any wrongdoing, took her leave of absence amid reports that federal investigators were looking at the contract between CPS and SUPES Academy. A spokesman for the academy said it has turned over record to investigators, who have also asked for documents from Byrd-Bennett and three other employees. CPS has suspended its contract with SUPES.

A longtime educator, Byrd-Bennett earned a salary of $250,000 and has ties to school systems in New York, Detroit and Cleveland. Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel chose her in 2012 to lead the district.

Chicago Board of Education Vice President Jesse Ruiz has served as interim CEO since April and, according to Vitale’s statement, he will continue in that role. He’s an attorney and a former chairman of the Illinois State Board of Education.

The investigation comes at a critical time for the district, which faces a roughly $1 billion budget shortfall and a severely underfunded pension system. Contract negotiations with the powerful Chicago Teachers Union are coming up this year. During the last round in 2012, Chicago teachers went on strike for the first time in 25 years.”

A sad situation!

Tony

Dear Commons Community,

A new issue of TRAUE (Theory, Research, and Action in Urban Education) is now available at the CUNY Commons at https://traue.commons.gc.cuny.edu/. TRAUE was started by Jean Anyon and students in the Ph.D. Program in Urban Education at the CUNY Graduate Center. The current issue contains policy briefs and Notes from the Field: Voices from Youth Leadership for College Access. Joanna Yip, the editor of the issue, provided the following summary.

“When the late Jean Anyon first gathered a group of doctoral students at the CUNY Graduate Center to create Theory, Research, and Action in Urban Education, she expressed a desire for the journal to not only publish academic work by doctoral students but to also feature voices in urban education that are often unheard or even silenced – that of children and youth. The editorial board envisioned a space in which young people could speak to educational issues in their own voices in an academic journal.

This Spring, the Notes from the Field section in this issue features the voices of six New York City high school students who served as Youth Leaders at their schools through the Youth Leadership for College Access Program, created by an organization called College Access: Research and Action (CARA). These Youth Leaders are leading the way at their respective campuses in providing college planning awareness and support to high school students across the city. Their essays tell a series of powerful stories about the work that young people can do to help their peers navigate the daunting college application process, how they address inequities in post-secondary planning that impact their classmates in their school district, and their contributions to closing the college counseling “guidance gap.”

To understand the significance of the Youth Leaders’ stories, Tara Bahl provides the policy context in her policy brief, and outlines the reasons why urban schools struggle to provide the kind of college counseling support that underserved minority students often need, the challenges that educators and guidance counselors face in helping high school students with post-secondary planning, and how we can reimagine college counseling to better serve high school students. As well, this issue features a policy brief by Chet Jordan that discusses the use of online and hybrid course practices in higher education.

In sum, this new issue of TRAUE explores both the challenges and opportunities that come with providing equitable access to resources and educational experiences in college.”

Well-done, Joanna! Congratulations to you and to all who made this issue possible. Jean would have been proud of you.

Tony

Dear Commons Community,

A new survey from the Pew Research Center reveals that 61 percent of American millennials (18 – 33 years old) said that they got political or government-related news from Facebook. That’s considerably higher than the percentage of millennials who said they got news from CNN — 44 percent — and higher still than the 37 percent who said they tuned into local TV for coverage. (See chart above for top 20 sources of political news.) Far fewer baby boomers (50-68 years old) use Facebook in this way: Only 39 percent reported that they got news about politics and government from Facebook in the past week. Meanwhile, 51 percent of Generation X (34 – 49 years old) reported that they get such news from Facebook. As reported in The Huffington Post:

“The survey arrives at a time when Facebook is swiftly becoming a more influential force in the news media. Last month, it began hosting and publishing “Instant Articles” from partner organizations like National Geographic. The aim is to keep consumers within Facebook’s world — rather than clicking over to other websites for their news — while simultaneously delivering quicker article load times and interactive multimedia. Publishers who join forces with Facebook presumably have access to audience targeting tools and shared ad revenue.”

I was well aware that many young people do not read newspapers such as the New York Times or Wall Street Journal. However, I thought a greater percentage of them would be watching television for their news – political or otherwise.  This report is important for those of us in academia who work with the younger generation and make assumptions about how they gather news and other information. 

Tony

Dear Commons Community,

Frank Bruni in his New York Times column yesterday reviewed the call by some Republican presidential nominees to abolish or severely curtail the U.S. Department of Education. He tried to provide a balanced evaluation by first citing the prevailing Republican view (and one held by some Democrats) that the Department is overstepping it authority and infringing on states rights as guaranteed by the Constitution. On the other hand, the Departments is considered by many as a needed monitor to correct the disparity in school systems that relegate too many student populations especially the poor and minorities to substandard conditions. Bruni cites Senator Lamar Alexander, Republican (Rep. – Tennessee):

Alexander supports that humbling [abolish or severely reduce] it even though he once ran the department, as the first President Bush’s secretary of education.

“I believe there’s a federal role in education,” he told me recently, saying that the federal government affords an important bully pulpit for higher standards and more spending on students from poor families, to name two priorities. “But you don’t need a department. You need a president who cares about education and a Treasury Department that cuts the checks.” Much of the rest is needless red tape.”

On the other side:

And there are as many reasons to fret over the department’s disappearance — or, more plausibly, its severe curtailing — as to root for it.

“When states are left on their own, low-income kids, kids with disabilities and minority kids always come last,” said Kati Haycock, the president of the Education Trust, an advocacy group in Washington. “Always. Federal resources help to counteract this tendency, but it’s more about federal leverage.”

There’s also plenty of evidence that when states are left to gauge the success of students, they may produce suspiciously upbeat results at odds with any nationwide measurement.

“Without federal involvement, states define their own standards of proficiency,” said Joel Klein, the former chancellor for New York City public schools. “Some states will do good stuff, but there will also be laggards and a lot of happy talk.”

I generally support the latter case that there is definitely a need for the U.S. Department of Education for the reason that it can act as a balance for states that neglect the education of poor and minority students. However, what was not said in the column is that the Department  over the past fifteen years has catered to special interest groups that focus on testing obsession, teacher bashing, and the privatization of education. These do not benefit any children: rich, poor, black or white.

Tony