CURMUDGUCATION:
For White Guys
We Need Fewer Nice Teachers
Curmudgucation Week
For White Guys
A few days back, I reported on a study that noted seven trends in the teacher workforce. Two of those trends noted were 1) the teacher workforce is getting more female and 2) the teacher workforce is getting less white. Whether it is synchronicity, or just heightened awareness, I've seen both of those topics flare up in various discussions about the interwebs.While very aware of these topics, I ha
We Need Fewer Nice Teachers
A colleague tells the story of taking an on-line graduate course and being chastised for calling out fellow students for some fairly low-information posts on the topic. Could my colleague please be more polite, reword the posts so they were less "offensive." So he did, and the original posts were erased. The punchline, of course, is that the topic was censorship.For some reason, it is of
The Attack on Colleges Continues in the NYT
In the battle for American education, new fronts (aka new profit and growth opportunities) have been opening up steadily from Pre-K and Pre-Pre-K all the way up to colleges and universities. Today's New York Times includes a peek at what the attack on colleges and universities will look like.Kevin Carey says not only do American public schools suck, but so do American colleges and universities.Kev
YESTERDAY
CAP Releases New CCSS Baloney Sandwich
For a couple of days I have had CAP's new "report" open on my desktop, trying to slowly drag myself through it. From its odd cover image (uniformed school children, grasping gigantic pencils; one tries to nonchalantly look at the other's paper, while the cheatee looks bag with an expression of "Oh, no, you didn't") to its final pages of "endnotes" cataloging reference
NEA Gives Unencouraging Assembly Preview
The NEA issued an open letter on behalf of itself and "the educators of America." It says something about my tortured relationship with my national union that when they speak, I become anxious. Are they going to say something useful, or are they going to embarrass me again? Let's see how things go this time.We start with a history lesson. NCLB was a thing. It involved testing. The testin
Buy Mercedes Schneider's Book
Mercedes Schneider is pissed.There are many things that come through in her book A Chronicle of Echoes, but what's most immediately palpable is her anger at what has been done to public education in this country. And as each chapter unrolls, it's impossible not to see why she is so angry.Schneider is one of the most important bloggers in the edublogosphere. She is a tireless researcher, with a car
JUN 26
Why Do Feds Love Scalability?
It's time once again for the DOE's Charter Schools Program Grants for Replication and Expansion of High-Quality Charter Schools competition. This program nominally supports the administrations love affair with scalability. The scenario that has been alluded to time after time is this: 1) Many charters experiment with many educational thingies 2) One of the educational
Seven Trends in the Teacher Work Force
In April, the Consortium for Policy Research in Education released a paper entitled "Seven Trends: the Transformation of the Teaching Force." What the title lacks in sass and flash it makes up for in accuracy, and although the most recent data are from 2012, it still makes for interesting reading. Let's look at the seven trends.LargerBetween the late 80s and 2008, the teaching force grew
How To Buy Support
Because the entire reformster universe runs on money (rather than conviction or proof or widespread grassroots support), it's useful to understand how buying support works.It's perhaps most useful to understand how it doesn't work. Sometimes people get the impression that some shadowy figure delivers a bag of money to Representative Burgwarble or the Big Fat Ideas Thinky Tank and the recipient say
JUN 25
What Should Arne Have Said
There's been a pig-pile on Arne today over his ill-considered announcement of the DOE's new get-tough-on-states policy regarding students with disabilities (I know, because I was one of the first pigs on the pile).However. The answer that Arne came up with is stupid, but the question it addresses-- are all students with disabilities getting the educational service they deserve-- is not a stupid qu
JUN 24
Quite Possibly the Stupidest Thing To Come Out of the US DOE
In announcing a new emphasis and "major shift," the US Department of Education will now demand that states show educational progress for students with disabilities.Arne Duncan announced that, shockingly, students with disabilities do poorly in school. They perform below level in both English and math. No, there aren't any qualifiers attached to that. Arne is bothered that students with v
GOP and Dems Once Again United by Disdain for Teachers
Well, we knew it was coming. We just didn't know it would be quite so bald-faced.As reported by Politico, the coming push to trash teacher job protections will bring together players from both the Obama and Bush administration.Campbell Bown, former journalist and current-- well, I hesitate to call her a teacher-hater, but it's hard to find any evidence to the contrary, will be launching a lawsuit
Arne Blows Some Smoke at the PTA
Monday the US DOE put up the full prepared text of Secretary Arne Duncan's speech to the National Convention of the PTA. As always, Duncan presents a compelling pastiche of baloney, things that aren't technically "true," and fine rhetoric that bears no relation to the actual behavior of the administration. Let me take you through the highlights. It won't be pretty, but it's useful to see
JUN 23
Feds Bail Out College
Yup. According to a Monday, June 23 press release from the USDOE, the DOE has signed an agreement with Corinthian Colleges, Inc, to keep the large for-profit college chain open long enough to finish the year.Corinthian has a somewhat checkered past. Okay, checkered might be generous. They have grown prodigiously since being founded in 1995, acquiring around twenty other post-secondary institutions
Learning Made Visible
"Thank you for putting into words what I felt, but couldn't say."I've been writing for a long time, though it took the current education situation to make me really prolific (311 posts so far in 2014). But if I had a nickle for every time I've heard the above sentiment, I'd be writing on really fancy, expensive equipment. If I have any writing gifts, one of them seems to be finding a way
Behaving As Expected
"You just didn't react the way you were supposed to."This is another thread that runs through support of the CCSS complex. There's nothing wrong with the policy or program; people just didn't react the way they were supposed to.For instance, Anne Hyslop over at Real Clear Education, called concern over test-and-punish a "state of mind, not state of reality." Policy is not respo
JUN 22
Dancing into the Apocalypse
I'm writing this now so that I can read it to myself when the first day of school rolls around. Sometimes you have to be your own motivational speaker at the start of the new year.Why the World of Public Education Has Never Been Worse, and Why I'm Excited To Be a Teacher AnywayHow Bad Is It? It is almost breathtaking to step back and try to take in the wide array of forces lined up against the gre
Whole Brain Teaching
I had put this out of my whole brain until Diane Ravitch posted a clip this morning from Nashville Prep. Here's the clip:This looks to be an application of Whole Brain Teaching, sometimes called Power Teaching, a techniques that seems to be the brain child of Chris Biffle Biffle is no slacker; he's published an assortment of books with legit publishers, and his Whole Brain empire boasts a pretty w
JUN 21
John Thompson's Response to My Response to John Thompson's Post
I recently (oh, good lord, it was this morning-- am I still sitting here at the computer) wrote a piece in response to historian John Thompson's guest post on Living in Dialogue. That piece is here. John attempted to post a very thoughtful response in the comments section, but apparently it was so thoughtful that it broke the internet. He asked for my help in posting it, and I asked if I could in
Talking about Tenure and Trust
Rick Hess (one of my favorite bloggers that I frequently disagree with) recently reflected on his conversation with Randi Weingarten about tenure.He had several smart observations, but I think one of the most useful ones was an acknowledgement throughout that the reform battles in general and the tenure conversation in particular are hampered by distrust on both sides. In a companion post to this
What Happened To the Trust?
Rick Hess (one of my favorite bloggers that I frequently disagree with) recently reflected on his conversation with Randi Weingarten about tenure.He had several smart observations, but I think one of the most useful ones was an acknowledgement throughout that the reform battles in general and the tenure conversation in particular are hampered by distrust on both sides. In a companion post to this
UPenn Offers Degree in Soulless Profiteering
The University of Pennsylvania has decided that the only thing the world needs more than educational profiteers looking to make a buck in the ed biz is educational profiteers with a Masters degree.At EdTech Times, Michelle Harven reports, "Education and entrepreneurship is the modern match, and the evidence of a new thriving industry is pilling up." I think she meant "piling,"
Is It Time for a Truce
As guest blogger over at Anthony Cody's Living in Dialogue, John Thompson asks the question, "Is it time for a truce." He's responding specifically to the Gates Foundation call for a two-year testing moratorium. Now that they've put down that particular club, do we point down our pointy sticks and try to have a chat?It is odd to watch the moratorium idea play out. Since it's a recommenda