DC SBOE & ESSA: A Step Back?

Markus Batchelor, DC State Board of Education Representative from Ward 8, and Valerie Jablow, DCPS parent and blogger, joined the Education Town Hall on April 13 to discuss the State Board’s recent action on ESSA measures. Batchelor raised questions about over-testing students, equity in reporting, and the under-weighting of factors such as climate and growth. Jablow said the Board’s action favors selective admission schools, ignores community input, and benefits corporations rather than students. Both guests note that the State Board appeared to ignore recommendations from its own community process (EducationDC is currently seeking this material under FOIA request.)

Listen to the conversation here —

Full April 13, 2017 program
Batchelor/Jablow segment begins at 8:30
also available on MixCloud

For more information and to be involved, contact Markus Batchelor via his website, visit the State Board’s website, and subscribe to EducationDC to follow the work of Valerie Jablow etal. Listen and #dosomething.

Also on this week’s program —
Feature: James Baldwin Archives and National Library Week
Segment 2: Ballou SHS and “The Contract Song”

The Education Town Hall broadcasts
from Historic Anacostia in DC
on We Act Radio, Thursdays at 11:00 a.m. Eastern
Listen live via TuneIn.
Shows are archived for convenient listening shortly after broadcast.

After years of weekly broadcasts, the program now focuses one show each month on local issues and one on “the BUS,” organized by BadAss Teachers, United Opt Out, and SOS March.