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Nov 30 • 6 tweets • 7 min read
🚨A new front has opened up in the push to privatize #schools.🚨

At Fox News Jeb Bush explicitly cited #soldastory as a reason we need #AZEd #schoolvouchers. @edvoters @BadassTeachersA @Network4pubEd @PV4PS 👇

1/
 foxnews.com/opinion/our-ch…
#Reading is going to be the new wedge issue to pitch #schoolvouchers /ESAs to parents understandably frustrated at #scienceofreading issues but who were turned off by the voucher culture war pitch.

2/
Just days before writing this Fox column and citing #reading as a reason states need #azed style #schoolvouchers Bush was honoring voucher hero @DougDucey at the annual ExcelInEd meeting

3/
The speed at which these talking points and tactics are distributed through the edu-Right network would astonish outsiders. #Reading is already the new weapon for supposed moderate Right wing edu-advocates to push for more #schoolchoice.

4/
It’s a two-step:

1) use legit #reading shortcomings in some #publicschools to outrage parents unmoved by woke wars
2) point to “parent empowerment” as the familiar cure-all for this latest affliction

Their answer always back to #schoolvouchers

5/5
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More from @joshcowenMSU

Josh Cowen Profile picture
Nov 30
The #schoolvouchers crowd loves to site my decade old PSJ paper using matched Milwaukee data to show small positive effects on attainment.

But they ignore my 3 other studies in far better journals that look awful for vouchers and are more informative to policy today

1/
First up in @EEPAjournal: in “Life After Vouchers” we show low-income and Black students exit #schoolvouchers at higher rates and DO BETTER once returning to Milwaukee Public Schools @DianeRavitch

2/
 journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.31…
Next up in @aerj_journal in “Going Public” we deep dive into those kids who give up #schoolvouchers and show they are historically underserved and come from “pop up” voucher schools founded to take tax $

3/
 journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.31…
Read 6 tweets
Josh Cowen Profile picture
Nov 30
The folks I mention here are already pushing back on this piece @DianeRavitch so in lieu of direct social media battles I’m going to just “reply all” with a new point:

Let’s talk “peer review.” The #schoolvouchers crowd has made use of this fuzzy term for years.

1/
“Peer review” can mean a lot of things. For example this paper by Corey DeAngelis in something called the “Journal of Free Enterprise” is “peer reviewed.”

Sorry but that’s just not JPAM or AEJ: Policy or EEPA and anyone credible knows that. 🤦‍♂️

2/ Image
And a number of “peer reviewed” studies come from the working paper series at UArk that Jay Greene founded, which—at least when I reviewed for them years ago—paid $250-500 a pop.

3/ Image
Read 11 tweets
Josh Cowen Profile picture
Nov 25
And #schoolvouchers activists exploit parent frustration over what’s often real inadequacy of some public districts to meet special needs.

But vouchers as a fix are based on a theory of action assuming district neglect—when really districts themselves are under-resourced.

1/
#schoolvouchers advocacy organizations stand up parents of these kids like other Right-wing groups go plaintiff-shopping in legal cases. Promising them vouchers as a cure-all.

2/
The name of the game for political #schoolvouchers activism is to build coalitions of support based on false promises, when the reality delivered will be a narrow constituency of families already in private school.

3/ Image
Read 6 tweets
Josh Cowen Profile picture
Nov 22
🧵🪡🧶
Hey 👋 #educators and defenders of #publicschools:

Got an angry #MAGA family relative at your #Thanksgiving 🦃 table who likes to yell at you about #publiceducation?

Here’s a short “well actually” sheet to 👏 back:
@Network4pubEd @NPEaction @PV4PS
1/
“I’m sick of just throwing money at #schools that just waste it!”

Well, actually, Aunt Betsy, investing in #publiceducation is one of the best things taxpayers can do—more $$, better outcomes. @KiraboJackson
chalkbeat.org/2018/12/17/211…

2/
“And all this crime you damn liberals have going around too!”

Well, actually, spending more $$ on #schools helps reduce long term #crime rates too! @fordschool @BrittanyEdPol @JasonBaron4

3/
 fordschool.umich.edu/news/2022/inve…
Read 12 tweets
Josh Cowen Profile picture
Nov 21
I always go back to @matt_barnum on this, who said we need to take seriously the alarm from school leaders even as we explore the mismatch with admin data.

1/
It’s silly to argue that admin data show anything like a crisis on teacher exits. Those data don’t.

But I’m surprised that with advent of mixed methods in policy research more folks aren’t looking for ways to join both #educators perspectives and admin data.

2/
I suspect some of this comes down to the same old difference in the way economists study data without always interrogating sources.

3/
Read 9 tweets
Josh Cowen Profile picture
Nov 21
🧵
Before he was peddling #schoolchoice as a “solution” to woke:

Jay Greene/Heritage less than a year ago explicitly argued the Right should fuel culture wars to advance a fringe agenda—mainly #schoolvouchers
@Network4pubEd @NPEaction @PV4PS @pastors4txkids @BadassTeachersA

1/5
Greene also pushed pseudo-science arguing against health care for #LGBTQ+ kids.

Using as a flimsy an evidence base as the #schoolvouchers data he’s flooded the zone with for 20+ years

2/5
It’s critically important to understand the links between shoddy #schoolvouchers research showing positive impacts, and these pseudo-studies.

Two sides of the same @BetsyDeVos -based agenda.

3/5
Read 6 tweets

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