Portside

After nearly a year of deliberation, the state Supreme Court ruled late Friday afternoon that charter schools are not constitutional. Chief Justice Barbara Madsen wrote that charter schools aren't "common schools" because they're governed by appointed rather than elected boards. Therefore, "money that is dedicated to common schools is unconstitutionally diverted to charter schools,

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Common Core “results” aren’t actually test scores. In fact, the numbers tell us more about the states’ test scorers than they do about schoolchildren.

The so-called “racial discipline gap” has been documented since an influential report by the Children’s Defense Fund first identified the racial disparity of suspension rates in 1975. In the 40 years since the report’s release, national organizations, schools, educators, and other stakeholders have all shined a light on the disparity, with little demonstrative success. If anything, new data shows the problem has markedly increased since it was first identified.

Why are Chicago parents on a hunger strike to save a neighborhood school? Because after five years of fighting, they’ve run out of options...

The College Board has revised its guidelines for teaching Advanced Placement History, which has broad influence in high school history courses, to accommodate right-wing pressures. Among the changes: Manifest Destiny is given a more benign treatment and violence against Native Americans is downplayed.

For Wisconsin's schools, Scott Walker's new budget is a blueprint for abandoning public education. In Milwaukee, in addition to insufficient funding, the budget includes a "takeover" plan that increases privatization and decreases democratic control of the city's public schools.