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Arun Ramanathan

Arun Ramanathan Sign up here for a no-cost online subscription to EdSource Today for reports from the largest education reporting team in California.

All posts by Arun Ramanathan

Accountability plans should start with focus on Common Core

By Arun Ramanathan

| Nov 12, 2014

A couple of years ago, I began getting calls from my daughter’s school asking me to pick her up from the office. She would tell her teacher that she had a tummy ache, get sent to the office and ask the school secretary to call her daddy to come pick her up before she threw up. When the call came, I was usually in…

Baseball can teach education a real lesson about making better decisions

By Arun Ramanathan

| Apr 1, 2014

With baseball season starting, I’ve been reading scouting reports on my favorite team. Because my immigration journey started in Philadelphia, I am cursed to spend my life as a Phillies fan. The scouting reports all say that the Phillies will be terrible. But after spending countless hours scanning baseball stats for a glimmer of hope, I gave up and started thinking about the future…

Credibility gap would erode long-term promise of new funding system

By Arun Ramanathan

| Nov 27, 2013

Commentary

English is my second language. I spent the early part of my life in India speaking my native tongue. When we immigrated to the West, I went to school to learn English. After some early struggles, I have reached a fair degree of proficiency in the English language. I can now write blogs for EdSource Today, reports on educational inequities and letters to the…

For kids' sake, let's not distract attention from Common Core

By Arun Ramanathan

| Apr 12, 2013

Remember the reading and math wars? Whole language vs. phonics. New math vs. old math. In the context of today’s education wars, it seems quaint to think about people arguing over curriculum and instruction. What seems even quainter is that these battles were based on the premise that all children can learn to read at grade level. As a young teacher, I didn’t fully…

Vast inequality lurks behind mind-numbing data on school spending

By Arun Ramanathan

| Nov 4, 2012

Commentary

School finance has the power to bring tears to my eyes. Sometimes, when I am reading the latest School Services of California bulletin, I start squinting. Then I start yawning. Then, before I know it, I’m squinting and yawning simultaneously, causing my eyes to water. When I see the words “revenue limit,” I begin looking for a pillow. The explanation of the difference between…

Failing to guard students from predators violates public trust

By Arun Ramanathan

| Jul 1, 2012

As a former counselor in a facility for teenagers who had been physically and sexually abused, I witnessed the indelible impact of this abuse on young men and women. As I read the stories about the sexual abuse scandal at Miramonte Elementary School in Los Angeles Unified, I remembered these young people and the destruction that twisted adults had wrought on their lives. Then…

Persuade, not threaten, me to vote for your initiative, Governor

By Arun Ramanathan

| May 16, 2012

(This commentary first appeared in TOP-Ed.) A few Saturdays ago, my kids and I walked through a crowd of signature gatherers for ballot initiatives outside Trader Joe’s. Some of them all but tackled me as they pitched their proposals. All of them promised more money for education and a better future for my children. Unfortunately for the signature gatherers’ bottom line, I didn’t have…

San Francisco Unified blazes civil rights path for California districts to follow

By Arun Ramanathan

| Mar 9, 2012

(This commentary first appeared in TOP-Ed.) As an education civil rights organization, we are far more accustomed to seeing school districts violate the rights of underserved students to a quality education than protect them from harm. But sometimes a school district’s leadership takes such a strong and courageous stance on behalf of their most vulnerable students that it takes your breath away. This was…

A blank check to Sacramento would be a Dickens of a bad deal

By Arun Ramanathan

| Jan 3, 2012

(This commentary first appeared in TOP-Ed.) Back when I was working in schools in New England, we had snow days. In California, our kids have “budget cut days.” Unlike the snow days, there’s no surprise or joy to them and they never get made up. Once they’re gone, they’re gone forever. For those kids who need them the most, like the hundreds of thousands…

We should never waver from an opportunity to do what’s best for kids

By Arun Ramanathan

| Nov 18, 2011

(This commentary first appeared in TOP-Ed.) It’s become pretty commonplace to bash the federal government’s role in education. Barely a day goes by without someone taking a jab at the Feds, attacking federal education policy and calling for more local control. When I hear those attacks, I remember Lynn. I met Lynn in the hills of Western Pennsylvania. I’d come to her community to…

California’s Greek tragedy: New lows in mortgaging our children’s future

By Arun Ramanathan

| Jul 8, 2011

(This commentary first appeared in TOP-Ed.) World events sometimes display an odd connection. On June 30th, in a closely watched vote, the Greek Parliament approved a package of financial stability measures while angry protestors clashed with police in the streets. The vote stabilized Greece’s finances, reassured its creditors and calmed nervous investors worldwide. For years, the Greeks rang up outrageous debts. Their tax system…

Legislature should follow gutsy districts challenging seniority-based layoffs

By Arun Ramanathan

| Jun 12, 2011

(This commentary first appeared in TOP-Ed.) When the Governor waved his May Revise wand, a lot people who were holding their breath expecting a “doomsday budget” exhaled in relief and breathed in the magic budget dust. With a sudden influx in revenue, Jerry Brown lopped $6.5 billion off the budget deficit and convinced Californians that education would be spared. Of course, school districts and…

Districts will lay off some of their best and brightest today; that must change

By Arun Ramanathan

| Mar 15, 2011

(This commentary first appeared in TOP-Ed.) Kaitlin Donovan, Nicholas Melvoin, Emilie Smith, and Tyler Hester didn’t expect to get a layoff notice. They were the kind of teachers typically romanticized in Hollywood movies. Young, energetic, and idealistic, they sought out the challenge of teaching in high-poverty urban schools and set high expectations for their students. Yet, each of them went to their teacher mailbox…

Low science scores should shock state at the center of technology universe

By Arun Ramanathan

| Feb 4, 2011

(This commentary first appeared in TOP-Ed.) Remember the old song “The Sound of Silence” by Simon & Garfunkel from the ’60s? I thought about the song last week after the results of the NAEP science tests showed that California students were at or near the bottom in our nation in nearly every measure of performance in science. The lack of outrage from our leaders…

CTA and Quality Education Investment Act: selling the same old snake oil

By Arun Ramanathan

| Dec 8, 2010

(This commentary first appeared in TOP-Ed.) Drug companies often hire researchers to evaluate the prescription medicines they’ve designed. Without fail, the studies reveal – surprise! – that the drugs work. Then, when they want the public to pay top dollar for a product, the drug companies dig up wise-looking doctors in lab coats who tout the “research-based” benefits in television commercials. Last week, we learned that the…

Bring in new faces and voices to Sacramento for real change

By Arun Ramanathan

| Oct 31, 2010

(This commentary first appeared in TOP-Ed.) Our electorate occasionally acts schizophrenic. Take the call for change. In the midst of one of our country’s longest running economic downturns, there’s a palpable anger against politicians and the political system. According to the rhetoric, they got us into this mess, and the answer is to boot them out. On Tuesday, this anger is likely to force…

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