Aaron Regunberg
Phoenix on Aaron’s Law
I don’t want anyone to miss the recent piece in the Providence Phoenix on the positive organizing that has emerged out of the tragic loss of Aaron Swartz, particularly around the push to pass “Aaron’s Law” to amend the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act: There are several critiques of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. Courts have [...]
New Education Movement: High Stakes Test Boycott
In the last month we’ve seen some very exciting developments in the world of democratic education. A decision by teachers in one public high school in Seattle to boycott a standardized test lit a fire that spread to teachers and students in other schools in Seattle. And now, it appears, the fire is spreading to [...]
Students Call On Chafee To Stop High Stakes Tests
Public high school students, teachers, and other community members staged a press conference today to protest Rhode Island’s new high-stakes testing graduation requirement, calling on Governor Chafee to end a policy they described as unjust and ineffective. “We are here today to explain why we believe this graduation requirement will do nothing to improve the [...]
Protest High-Stakes Testing Wednesday At State House
Are you fed up with the standardized test-ification of our public schools? Think that high-stakes testing has distorting effects on education? Or do you just believe that it is wrong to punish individuals for larger systemic failures? If you answered “yes” to any of these question, then be sure to join the Providence Student Union [...]
Providence Student Union Is Now Online
It’s official! The Providence Student Union finally has a home on the web. You should check it out: www.providencestudentunion.org For those who haven’t heard of PSU, it is a youth-led, school-based organization that brings young people together to build the collective power of high school students across Providence to ensure youth have a real voice in [...]
Columbus Theatre Revival: This is How We Rebuild RI
Saturday night I went to the Revival! show, which reopened the Columbus Theatre on Broadway after years of vacancy, finally allowing the Theatre’s years-old ’Opening Soon’ marquee to host a far cheerier message: “Sold Out.” The Columbus was packed and the sets by Brown Bird and The Low Anthem were, unsurprisingly, excellent. And the building, [...]
Protest RIDE’s High-Stakes Testing Policy Thursday
Next Thursday youth, parents, and other advocates will be heading to the Board of Regents meeting to protest against the new high-stakes testing graduation requirements that Commission Gist and the Regents passed last year. This discriminatory policy, which is scheduled to be implemented in Rhode Island schools this October, is an absolute disaster. It uses [...]
Corporate Agenda Behind Public Charter Schools
Alright, folks. If you needed more proof of the real agenda behind the big-box charter movement; if you still weren’t sold that it’s by and large not about the kids, but rather about the looting of public treasuries for the private gain of the one percent; if you still couldn’t bring yourself to believe that [...]
Tales of the Unemployment Crisis: Elaine’s Dilemma
Elaine is a born-and-raised Rhode Islander who has been unemployed for four years now. Her story, like the stories of so many others, is a product of the housing market crash. For many years, Elaine worked at a title company doing real estate closings. Their biggest client was Countrywide, so when that corporation went under [...]
RI Teaching Fellows Program Exposed?
Just saw thisfrom Diane Ravitch’s blog and wanted to post. It’s an email sent to Ravitch from a former participant in the RI Teaching Fellows Program. And it does not paint a pretty picture of the organization. Huge kudos to Theresa Laperche, the writer, for opening up about her experiences. There has been so much debate [...]
Don’t Make It Worse for Jobless Rhode Islanders
What’s crazier than a state with 11% unemployment? How about a state with 11% unemployment laying off 57 frontline workers at the Department of Labor and Training, cutting the services the unemployed depend on every day? Yeah, that’s crazier. Yet that’s exactly what the state is doing, with mass layoffs scheduled to take effect July [...]
Tales of the Unemployment Crisis: Esther Battles On
For the past couple weeks I’ve been sharing a series of stories from unemployed Rhode Islanders engaged in the Where’s the Work? initiative, an Ocean State Action Fund project that’s trying to highlight the human side of the Great Recession, which often–crazily enough–gets ignored or marginalized. In this installment, Esther C. was kind enough to describe her experiences [...]
Tales of the Unemployment Crisis: Josie Comes to RI
In case you missed my last few pieces, (here and here and here) I’m posting a new series as part of Ocean State Action Fund’s Where’s the Work? initiative that’s trying to bring coverage of the state’s unemployment crisis back to where it needs to be–on the real Rhode Islanders facing real hardship and pain as they continue to struggle for [...]
Tales of the Unemployment Crisis: Trev Hedge
In case you missed my last two pieces, (here and here) I’m posting a new series as part of the Where’s the Work? initiative that’s trying to bring coverage of the state’s unemployment crisis back to where it needs to be–on the real Rhode Islanders facing real hardship and pain as they continue to fight their way through [...]
Stories from Rhode Island’s Unemployment Crisis II
In case you missed my last piece, I’m posting a new series as part of the Where’s the Work? initiative that’s focused on getting past the statistics that dominate coverage of the unemployment crisis and putting our attention back where it needs to be–on the real Rhode Islanders facing real challenges as they try to weather this Great Recession. [...]
Stories from Rhode Island’s Unemployment Crisis
In Rhode Island, we talk a lot about unemployment. We talk about the numbers and the rates, we talk about our awful state ranking. But what is often missing from the conversation are the voices of the actual Rhode Islanders who are going through this crisis, who are struggling each and every day to find [...]
Brown Students Take Over U. Hall, Call for Payment of Fair Share
Earlier today, students from Brown University held a rally and delivered over 600 signatures to University administrators in an effort to show student, faculty, and staff support for greater financial contributions and a deeper commitment to the city of Providence. The students took over Brown’s University Hall for a short period of time, filling the [...]
Brown Students Call on University to Pay Fair Share
A group of students attending Brown University are publicly calling on the Brown Corporation to increase its monetary contributions to the City of Providence. Tomorrow morning at 10 a.m., students will speak in front of the University’s historic Van Wickle Gates, announcing the beginning of their campaign to convince Brown to reconsider its current fiscal [...]
Meritocracy or hypocrisy?
A friend of mine just had a tragedy in the family—his grandmother passed away. It has been difficult for him, but the good news is that his grandmother lived a rich, full, and happy life and died surrounded by a large and loving family. But talking to my friend really got me thinking about some of [...]
Would I send my child to this school?
Bari Katz, the co-founder and former Director of Student Life at the Achievement First Crown Heights High School, has written an incredibly insightful and thought-provoking essay on Achievement First’s model, describing both its strengths and what she described as its fundamental flaw. If you have given any thought to the Achievement First debate, please take [...]
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