The Mouth of Donald Trump | deutsch29

The Mouth of Donald Trump | deutsch29:
The Mouth of Donald Trump

Perhaps the best Republican promoter of another Clinton presidency is the mouth of Donald Trump.

He simply cannot control himself. He apparently tried, sort of, following the Democratic National Convention, when he told CNN that he wanted to “hit” some of the speakers so that “they’d never recover.” CNN’s Ashley Killough was quick to translate for Trump: “Trump often uses the term ‘hit’ to mean verbally attack, rather than physical contact.”

Trump even seemed to try to abide by the advice to refrain from attacking DNC speakers and instead focus on Clinton:

Trump said his friend, who he labeled a “very great governor,” urged him to stay focused on attacking Clinton, not other Democrats.

“He said, ‘Don’t hit there. Don’t hit down. You have one person to beat. It’s Hillary Rodham Clinton,'” Trump recalled, adding that he initially objected to the advice. “I said, ‘But I really want to. I don’t like what they’re saying because a lot of it is lies. Not all of it but a lot of it is.’ I said, ‘I just really … it makes me feel good.’ “

Ultimately, he said, he conceded and decided not to launch into verbal assaults against the Democrats.

But like a kid who cannot master his own verbiage, Trump botched an interview with George Stephanopolos in which he was asked questions about the speech given by Khizr and Ghazala Khan, the parents of an American Muslim soldier, Humayun Khan, who died while serving America in Iraq.

In a particular blunder, Trump focused The Mouth of Donald Trump | deutsch29:

CURMUDGUCATION: Common Core Defenders Still Flailing Away

CURMUDGUCATION: Common Core Defenders Still Flailing Away:

Common Core Defenders Still Flailing Away

I think of Common Core defenders as a little like Bigfoot or the Loch Ness monster-- folks kind of believe they're out there, but only a handful of folks will admit to having seen them.

After all, neither major party will admit to loving the Core any more, and lots of policy folks have adopted the more generic and less civilian-alarming "college and career ready" for describing any kind of standardy stuff we're trying to push. Charter purveyors have learned they don't have to back the Core to succeed, and most everyone else has determined that the mere use of the term raises so much squawking that it's just better to keep quiet. The Gates Foundation slowed spending on the Core way down, with just one grant awarded in 2016.

And yet, every once in a while, like dust bunnies before a vacuum cleaner on a hardwood floor, the CC supporters come running out.

This time, the vacuum cleaner was a New York Times op-ed by Diane Ravitch. The piece really had nothing all that new or novel to say-- the Common Core cost taxpayers a buttload of money, and it hasn't helped students a bit. But, perhaps predictably, some folks popped right up to defend the still-useless set of standards.

The Collaborative for Student Success went with alistsicle of nine times they thought Ravitch was wrongin the NYT piece.

These included old standards like "they aren't really national" and "they aren't really curriculum," not acknowledging that both of those ideas are out in the world because back in the day, Core supporters put them there. It is true that, as of today, the Core are not quite national standards-- but they were always supposed to be. The whole notion was that CCSS would "fix" education by ensuring that students in Iowa and Alabama would be on the same page when it came to math and CURMUDGUCATION: Common Core Defenders Still Flailing Away:

Seattle Schools Community Forum: National PTA Survey

Seattle Schools Community Forum: National PTA Survey:

National PTA Survey

The National PTA is currently conducting a survey of members.  It asks a few early questions about how members use PTA and then asks about what members know about "advocacy" work.

They then ask about interest in webinars on

• Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA)
• National PTA's Advocacy Toolkit
• Common Core standards
• Special Education Toolkit

They aren't asking members for their input on these issues but rather, do members want to hear what PTA thinks.

Then they ask about the "2016 Election" and various activities. 

It's curious because they ask if members are interested in hosting a voter registration event "if your PTA was provided a guide/planning tool on how to do it."  I find that interesting because I honestly have not heard of many/any Seattle PTAs doing this.

Then they get to "National PTA Legislation Committee Focus."  They list:

• mental health care access and early intervention 
• lead in school water systems/playgrounds
• climate change
• pre-K teacher credentials
• pre-K teacher pay scale
• pre-K funding
• kindergarten funding
• recess
• virtual charter schools
• gun safety and violence prevention

Why so many pre-K issues?  I'm baffled on that one.  And virtual charter Seattle Schools Community Forum: National PTA Survey:

A Follow-up about My Position on Presidential Election 2016 | deutsch29

A Follow-up about My Position on Presidential Election 2016 | deutsch29:

A Follow-up about My Position on Presidential Election 2016

On July 28, 2016, I published a post entitled, “I Will Vote for Hillary Clinton Because I Cannot Possibly Vote for Donald Trump.”

I received an entire spectrum of reactions to that post.

Some readers jeered and called me names (not many).

A number expressed their disappointment and even stopped following my blog. (Some added that they could not trust me anymore and included statements like “thanks for nothing” and that my work was “all for nothing.”) But the disappointment was not unified. Some were disappointed because

• I publicly expressed an opinion about whom I would support.
• I would not be voting for Trump.
• I would not be boycotting the election.
• I did not write an enthusiastic endorsement of Clinton.
• I would not be voting for Johnson or Stein.

Others did not express their disappointment with my position but did let me know of their concern; still others openly yet respectfully disagreed and said that they were taking a strong stand opposite mine (i.e., voting for Trump because they could not possibly vote for Clinton).

Some expressed that they knew early on I would endorse Clinton; others went further and added that I was only looking for some excuse to do so.

And there are those who wrote that they understood my dilemma because it was their dilemma, as well.

Among my friends, a number will vote for Trump. They have told me so. And a number will vote for Clinton. They have told me so. This election is a tough one, and I have been surprised more than once about which candidate a friend supports. But I have told none that I am disappointed; I have tried to argue none into my own position, and I have ended no relationships over a friend’s choice of Clinton or Trump (or neither).

I have had some readers ask if I have seen the movie, Hillary’s America. I have not. And a number asked if I had seen Clinton Cash.

I watched about half of Clinton Cash before writing this post. And I read from a few articles related to the Clintons’ involvement in other countries and related to their A Follow-up about My Position on Presidential Election 2016 | deutsch29:

Anonymity and Professionalism: Teacher Voice in a Time of High Anxiety | the becoming radical

Anonymity and Professionalism: Teacher Voice in a Time of High Anxiety | the becoming radical:

Anonymity and Professionalism: Teacher Voice in a Time of High Anxiety

Briefly on the National Council of Teachers of English‘s Connected Community, members could post on forums anonymously, spurring a few discussions and debates about anonymity and professionalism (as well as attribution of ideas and accountability during a thread about plagiarism).

When I first moved to higher education, my current university had an online platform that included a discussion feature, one that also allowed students (or anyone in the university community) to post anonymously with screen names.

One particular group of students connected with a powerful and controversial (also highly politicized and well funded from outside sources) student organization often posted anonymously and tended toward personal attacks of university professors—xenophobic and homophobic slurs included.

Several professors also participated in these online debates, but with their names openly displayed.

This situation was a subset of a larger campus tension between very conservative students and a much more moderate faculty. Ultimately, that forum was closed and never resurrected; however, a key element of the situation was the debate over whether or not anonymous posting was appropriate—notably in the context of an institution of higher learning.

Then and during the recent NCTE Connected Community discussion, I have always maintained that a key element of professionalism is the relationship between a professional’s name and her/his stances, claims.

In my professional scholarship and my public work, my name and even access to my email are prominent always.

As a writer and career educator, I see my scholarship and public work as extensions of teaching—and believe all teachers must be authoritative, earning the trust of those they serve as teachers. The who and whatof teaching and making claims, for me, is inextricable.

However, there is a long and powerful history of pen names/pseudonyms in traditional writing as well as the more recent world of blogging.

Anonymous voices have risen out of oppression in the name of overcoming that oppression—racism, sexism, homophobia, classism, etc.

So if we return to the anonymous posting on NCTE’s Connected Community and place that in the context Anonymity and Professionalism: Teacher Voice in a Time of High Anxiety | the becoming radical:

Seattle Schools Community Forum: Personalized Learning; Part Two

Seattle Schools Community Forum: Personalized Learning; Part Two:
Personalized Learning; Part Two

To start, I'm not against using computers to aid in teaching and learning.  But there are huge costs and unknowns and because of the investment of time and finances for this endeavor, parents need to ask hard, hard questions about what this will look like for their child.

I'm almost glad it took this long to get to Part Two because Data & Society put out a very good working paper about the topic: Personalized Learning: The Conversations We’re Not Having.  They start with this quote:

The Promise of Personalized Learning

“...if instead of having mass education as we now have, must have, with a curriculum, once we have outlets, computer outlets in every home, each of them hooked up to enormous libraries where anyone can ask any question and be given answers...then you ask, and you can find out, and you can follow it up, and you can do it in your own home, at your own speed, in your own direction, in your own time, then everyone will enjoy learning.

Nowadays, what people call learning is forced on you and everyone is forced to learn the same thing on the same day at the same speed in class. And everyone is different. For some it goes too fast, for some too slow, for some in the wrong direction. But give them a chance in addition to school — I don’t say we abolish school, but in addition to school — to follow up their own bent from the start...”

—Isaac Asimov, Interview with Bill Moyers, PBS, 1988

Is personalized learning really "new?"

Even without the use of new data-driven learning technologies, it 
Seattle Schools Community Forum: Personalized Learning; Part Two:

CURMUDGUCATION: ICYMI: All of July Edition

CURMUDGUCATION: ICYMI: All of July Edition:

ICYMI: All of July Edition

Big Education Ape: CURMUDGUCATION: $tand For Children: The Astroturfing of Advocacy - http://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2016/07/curmudgucation-tand-for-children.html



It's been a few weeks since I had a reading list for you, and this is certainly not the complete list of what I could recommend, but there are still only so many hours in a Sunday. 

Tea Party Charter Leader Admits Becoming a Cyber School Was Simply a Way To Get a Charter

From Eclectablog, which should be on your must-read list, one more example of how the charter sector (particularly in Ohio) is a playground for charlatans and bunko artists. This at least qualifies as a slightly new manner of fraud... 

Read Like Detective

Another excellent article from the "Why Common Core Sucks" genre. You know most of these pieces, but Johnathan Chase finds a good way to put them together and connect the dots.

Trump: Tribune of Poor White People

This interview with J.D.Vance, author of Hillbilly Elegy, is not just an excellent explanation of why Trump keeps winning, but is also a sharp look at the culture of poor, white poverty in this country.

Inequality Is for Winners

Jennifer Berkshire's interview with Tom Frank, author of Listen, Liberal, is a good companion piece to the previous article on the list.


Is Plagiarism Really a Big Deal?

This is a double-win, because it's Nancy Flanagan, and she references a piece by Paul Thomas. While the hook is recent issues with the P word, she connects this to the kind of ethical issues we deal with in any classroom where students can steal ideas or writing (aka "most of them")

Understanding KIPP Model Charter

Jim Horn here shares the entire second chapter from his book Work Hard, Be Hard, a look at the world of No Excuses teaching. It's sobering and scary and helps answer the question, "How bad can it be, really?"

Students Broken Moral Compasses

Teacher Paul Barnwell looks at what the test-driven education revolution has cost us in student moral education.

School Funding and Presidential Hypocrisy

So once again, politicians and their children are saying, "Poor kids should have the same choices rich kids do," which sounds pretty, but as Jersey Jazzman shows, it's empty noise unless we talk about what that would actually cost. Over at EdWeek, Andrew Ujifusa takes a look at the same issue-- so you can get a good hard, two-headed look at what it would really cost to actually do this. 

Have Obama's Education Policies Weakened the Democratic Party


A pretty blunt look at Obama ed policies and how they damaged the traditional Democratic Party relationship with education. 

The More Things Change, the More They Stay the Same

Bianca Tanis gives the most complete look at the new NY test result numbers-- and how big a mess the whole thing is.

Pence and ALEC 

Yes, if you read here, you undoubtedly read Diane Ravitch. But don't let this quick piece get lost in the shuffle, reminding us that ALEC has some big dogs in play in this election.

Love Letter to My Dead Student

A guest writer at Edushyster delivers this heart-thumping piece.   

 CURMUDGUCATION: ICYMI: All of July Edition:

The Smear Campaign At The Delaware Auditor’s Office & What The News Journal Didn’t Tell You – Exceptional Delaware

The Smear Campaign At The Delaware Auditor’s Office & What The News Journal Didn’t Tell You – Exceptional Delaware:

The Smear Campaign At The Delaware Auditor’s Office & What The News Journal Didn’t Tell You

Revenge is ugly business.  When it takes place at a very high state level and the object of that revenge gets a whole article about it in the state’s biggest newspaper, it is really ugly.

Today, James Fisher and Matthew Albright published an article about the Auditor of Accounts, Kathleen Davies.  The article claims Davies was put on leave over two months ago due to not using the state procurement card for travel expenses.  According to the story, sources who would only be named as “state employees” contacted the Office of Management and Budget, then run by Ann Visalli, in November of 2015.  They alleged Davies spent over $7700 in travel expenses (over four years) and received personal reimbursements instead of using the state p-card.  She did do this.  But was it wrong?  Absolutely not.  I’m not buying any of this.  Let’s take a close look at what else was going on at the time these “sources” (as the News Journal calls them) filed this complaint.

Davies had just come out with a report on many charter schools, not just Delaware College Prep (the only school mentioned in the article).  Kuumba Academy was also named in the report on personal reimbursements as using funds against the accounting policies of the state.  Two other charters did not have any inappropriate use of state funds: Odyssey Charter School and Thomas Edison Charter School.

But there was more going on at that time.  The reports on Family Foundations Academy and Providence Creek Academy had not come out yet.  The September 30th enrollment inspection was just beginning (which was published earlier this Spring and pulled from State Auditor Tom Wagner’s website after Davies was put on leave).  Another Delaware charter school, The Delaware Met, was under formal review.  Hearings and meetings with the Charter School Accountability Committee took place in November and December of 2015.  One of the big questions surrounding Delaware Met was how they were spending their money.  And by default, their operation management company, Innovative Schools, would also be looked at.

There was also an inspection released by Davies on December 7th.  This surrounded an anonymous tip about Delaware Department of Education employees abusing travel expenses.  No wrongdoing was found in the inspection report.  But why would the News Journal not mention such an important part of this timeline in their article as well as the actual inspection?  If this accusation by sources who have now become “whistleblowers” was made to the OMB in November of 2015, this would have been the same time when Davies would have been working on the DOE travel expense report which came out on December 7th.  The timing on this is uncanny!

If it took six months for Davies to be put on leave, what was the OMB doing for six months?  Why did Davies just happen to be put on leave at the same time the DOE was pitching a conniption fit about the September 30th Inspection Report written by Davies?  The report, published by Wagner’s office on May 5th,can be found here.  Why did Wagner pull the report which had absolutely nothing to do with her supposed reasons for being put on leave?  Which other The Smear Campaign At The Delaware Auditor’s Office & What The News Journal Didn’t Tell You – Exceptional Delaware:

In Defense of the Advocates of the Teacher Caucus | okeducationtruths

In Defense of the Advocates of the Teacher Caucus | okeducationtruths:

In Defense of the Advocates of the Teacher Caucus

We’ve spent countless years and dollars in this state trying to measure educator and school effectiveness. It usually comes down to a menu of test scores. If we have more kids passing than those other guys, then we must be better at our jobs than they are.

If only it were that clean.

Unfortunately, variables such as socio-economic status, student mobility, and a district’s ability to generate funding intervene from time-to-time. The fact that our state hasn’t demonstrably shown support for public education in about 10 years doesn’t help either.

Because of these facts, and the reality that tests don’t even come close to measuring all of the things that matter in a school, Oklahoma issues horribly misleading A-F Report Cards to the public. Some who ascribe to the measure it if it matters mindset are content with this. We’re not. We see schools making an impact that their grade doesn’t showcase. We see it frequently.

Some things are easier to measure, however, like the impact of public education advocacy. We can look at the number of legislative races contested and won, bills filed and passed (or defeated), or the percentage of votes it takes for an incumbent to finish third in her own primary. Those are quantifiable.

We’re about at the point now that we can also start counting the number of editorials written by the Oklahoman attempting to discredit those of us pushing for more candidates who will promote a pro-public education agenda. (We would also count blogs opposing us, but we’ve yet to find one that is coherent.)

The Oklahoman has close ties to the former state superintendent. Their editorial board promotes candidates who favor all forms of school choice. They favor the concept of sending tax dollars to private schools and asking for no accountability in return. They favor more state testing and jeer legislative measures aimed at curbing unnecessary tests. They deride calls for adequate public school funding. They think the school report cards mean something.

To be fair, though, when I reached out to them and asked them to publish opposing thoughts on A-F Report Cards (along with another superintendent), they did.

That said, on more than one occasion, they’ve questioned the honesty and ethics of our group – A Facebook group – Oklahomans for Public Education. Yes, the Oklahoman is now writing editorials about Facebook groups.

Our group is led by a board that includes superintendents, principals, teachers, and parents. We picked candidates to support based on the information available to us. In some cases, we have disagreed. Over 2,000 people like the page, but even among the board members we have differences. Politically, we are all over the place. Democrats, Republicans, and Independents are all part of the group.

We are not single-issue voters, which is one reason that we’ve identified multiple candidates in In Defense of the Advocates of the Teacher Caucus | okeducationtruths:

Report on PAA conference | Parents Across America

Report on PAA conference | Parents Across America:

Report on PAA conference

 Summary report – PAA Leadership Conference 2016

Parents Across America held our fourth annual leadership conference in Philadelphia PA from July 18-20, with twenty great leaders from twelve states. Most were in the room and some joined us online. We had an excellent mix of new and returning leaders and of geography, cultural background, age, and gender (three men!!!).

What we discussed, experienced, and learned

We had a rich program of discussion, sharing, learning and planning over one full and two half days. The details of each session are below, along with links to the recording and slide show for most sessions.

But first, here are some key “take-aways” from our time together:

The value of the PAA annual meeting: We all agreed that it is very important and meaningful to get together at least once a year. We all bring to the table an intense passion for public education and for children which we clearly recognize in each other. This helps us trust each other enough to share the honest, deep and often painful emotions that go along with our work. It is also a good way of bringing together people from diverse backgrounds in a group that’s small enough for us to really listen to each other and feel comfortable sharing our thoughts and ideas.

ESSA changes: We had a good discussion about ESSA including reviewing the comments Julie had prepared for submission to the Department of Education on its proposed regulations for implementing the new ESSA. The proposed comments were agreed to with the addition of a statement encouraging a school curriculum that is culturally relevant to diverse communities and programs which are responsive to the real life conditions of students and their families. The group would also like to require much stronger, more inclusive steps before any school is closed, and requested that our policy paper, “What is a Quality Education,” be attached. This will be done in time for the August 1 deadline.

Ed Tech and real personalized learning: We started out this session by asking people what they think of Report on PAA conference | Parents Across America:

With A Brooklyn Accent: THE REAL OPT OUT STORY IN NEW YORK STATE!

With A Brooklyn Accent: THE REAL OPT OUT STORY IN NEW YORK STATE!:

THE REAL OPT OUT STORY IN NEW YORK STATE!

Let's keep it real. Despite a huge propoganda/misinformation campaign by NY State Education Commissioner Mary Ellen Elia, despite selective refusal on the part of NY School Chancellor Carmen Farina to release Opt-Out information to parents; and despite threats of funding cut offs coming from US Education Commissioner John King, Opt Out numbers ACTUALLY INCREASED in New York State!! That is a HUGE STORY. 

Parents in NY State cannot be bamboozled, intimidated, or confused by public officials. Until the amount of testing in the state is drastically reduced, until the stakes attached to the tests are removed, and until the specter of Common Core is put to rest once and for all, the Opt Out movement will continue to gain momentum and will move into school districts, especially high poverty districts, where it previously had limited support

This is a great example of Popular Democracy at work. Congratulations NY Parents Students and Families. You are setting a great example for the entire nation.

With A Brooklyn Accent: THE REAL OPT OUT STORY IN NEW YORK STATE!:

Affluent Kansas City suburbs at center of political backlash

Affluent Kansas City suburbs at center of political backlash:

Affluent Kansas City suburbs at center of political backlash

 SHAWNEE, Kan. (AP) — Small-government Republican conservatives face a political backlash in Kansas because of the state's budget problems and battles over education funding, and the epicenter is in sprawling Kansas City suburbs where residents have cherished public schools for decades.

But the Democrats and GOP moderates hoping to lessen the grip Republican Gov. Sam Brownback's allies have on the Legislature must contend with a political paradox in Johnson County, home to those affluent suburbs. Its voters regularly approve bonds and property tax increases for schools while electing conservative legislators who've backed the governor's experiment in slashing state income taxes.

More than two dozen conservative Republican legislators face challengers in Tuesday's primary, including 11 in Johnson County, the state's most populous. Challengers there have made education funding a key issue.

"You could rely on one thing, and that was public education," said Gretchen Gradinger, a lawyer and Johnson County native who moved back from Missouri two years ago so her young son could attend the public schools she knew growing up. "For 60 years, you could rely on one thing."

Kansas has struggled to balance its budget since the Republican-dominated Legislature heeded Brownback's call in 2012 and 2013 to cut personal income taxes as an economic stimulus. He won a tough re-election race in 2014, but his popularity has waned with the state's ongoing budget woes.

Meanwhile, the Kansas Supreme Court could rule by the end of the year in an education funding lawsuit on whether legislators provide enough money to schools to fulfill a duty under the state constitution to finance a suitable education for every child. The State Board of Education is recommending phasing in an $893 million increase in aid over two years.

Johnson County is seeing an effort to oust conservatives because strong public schools have been crucial to the post World War II population boom that has never stopped. The population has doubled over the past generation, to about 580,000 — 20 percent of the state's total.

Yet the county also is a business-friendly Republican stronghold that's key to the right's strength statewide. Affluent communities where parents worry that their schools are slipping also have plenty of Republican-leaning residents skeptical that government runs efficiently enough.

Kim Stevermer, a contractor, lives a few minutes' drive from Shawnee Mission Northwest High School , from which he graduated in the 1970s. He said strong schools are vital — "bad schools, bad neighborhood, you know?" — but generally supports Republicans because he sees them as more entrepreneurial and closer to Thomas Jefferson's vision of limited government.

Recently, Tom Cox , running in the GOP primary against conservative state Rep. Brett Hildabrand , of Shawnee, visited Stevermer and talked about education funding. Stevermer told him, "Maybe we should look at administrative costs of running the schools."

Other voters expressed similar sentiments. Cox stressed that he would look for ways to make state government more efficient and considers himself fiscally conservative.

Hildabrand is running both on his conservative voting record and as a supporter of local schools. The state's aid to its 286 school districts exceeds $4 billion a year — more than half of the tax dollars it collects — and Hildabrand contends an infusion of hundreds of millions of dollars isn't required. He said voters don't see legislators or candidates as anti-education for holding that view.

Conservatives in Johnson County also bolster their argument that legislators adequately fund schools by pointing to their local schools.

The Shawnee Mission district , with nearly 28,000 students, provides MacBook Air laptops to all middle and high schoolers and iPads to every elementary school student starting in kindergarten. High school sophomores can enroll in a culinary arts program that has its own bistro.

Both it and the neighboring Blue Valley district , with more than 22,000 students, have advanced programs for students aspiring to careers in medicine or engineering.

Such examples prompt Dan Kirton, an ex-Marine and grandfather from Shawnee, to ask, "Is the sky falling?"

Yet Kirton acknowledged feeling that the state is on the wrong course. There's also no denying some parents' concerns about what the future holds for their children's schools amid the state's financial problems.

Amber Clark said her parent-teacher association at Prairijdhe Elementary in Overland Park raised about $60,000 during the last school year to ensure that teachers had enough aides and that speech therapy was available for students like her 7-year-old son, Oscar.

"Every year, we seem to be losing a little," she said.

___

Follow John Hanna on Twitter at https://twitter.com/apjdhanna Affluent Kansas City suburbs at center of political backlash:

At DNC, Democrats Spoke Out On A Topic That Republicans Mostly Avoided

At DNC, Democrats Spoke Out On A Topic That Republicans Mostly Avoided:

At DNC, Democrats Spoke Out On A Topic That Republicans Mostly Avoided
Still, they dodged the most controversial issues.

During the Republican and Democratic conventions, The Hechinger Report will publish a new story each day, examining what the party proposals might mean for the future of education. Our staff reporters will provide education coverage from Cleveland and Philadelphia. 

In her acceptance speech at the Democratic national convention in Philadelphia Thursday night, Hillary Clinton pledged to create new economic opportunities for all Americans by generating more and better jobs; expanding affordable childcare and preschool programs, and making higher education “debt-free for all.”

Like other convention speakers, she spoke mostly about the bookend age groups of the education spectrum – very young children at one end, young adults at the other.

“Bernie Sanders and I will work together to make college tuition-free for the middle class and debt-free for all,” she said. But she also said, “Here’s something we don’t say enough: college is crucial, but a four-year degree should not be the only path to a good job. We’re going to help more people learn a skill or practice a trade and make a good living doing it.”

In striking contrast to the Republican convention, where education got cursory mention, the Democrats talked about it every night – although mostly in platitudes. Give all children a fair start with free preschool? Check. Help struggling learners stay in class and out of jail? Check. Crack down on crooked for-profit universities? Make college tuition free for most families, and reduce crushing college-loan burdens? Check, check.

Absent were specific policy proposals about the K-12 education system. Almost no speaker, including Clinton, addressed such contentious issues as charter schools, excessive testing, the achievement gap, the technology-access gap, Common Core standards and the current racial segregation in so many of the nation’s schools.

What is her vision? How are we going to help keep education, schools moving into the right direction and not looking back?

“This is an event that is designed to bring the party together, and there are these sharp divisions between the education reform folks and traditional education people, so it makes sense that they would avoid talking about them beyond generalities,” said Michael  Petrilli, president of the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, an education policy think tank.

School choice and charter schools tend to be the divisive issues in the Democratic Party. Many unions – traditional bulwarks of Democratic get-out-the-vote efforts – At DNC, Democrats Spoke Out On A Topic That Republicans Mostly Avoided: 

How beneficial are 'one-to-one' laptop programs in schools? - CSMonitor.com

How beneficial are 'one-to-one' laptop programs in schools? - CSMonitor.com:

How beneficial are 'one-to-one' laptop programs in schools?

Drawing on 15 years of observations, two researchers find that test scores improved significantly and that students exhibited a variety of other skills when they used laptops.

 An international study by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development found no positive evidence of impact of educational technology on student performance.

It did not find any significant improvement in reading, math or science in countries that heavily invested in technology to improve student achievement. In fact, the report found that technology perhaps even widened the achievement gaps.

Does this mean we should abandon attempts to integrate technology in schools?

TAKE ACTION:

Seeking progress and innovation in education

We are researchers of technology and learning in K-12 environments, and our research suggests this would be shortsighted.

For the last 10 years, our research team has been investigating what are called “one-to-one” programs, where all the students in a classroom, grade, school or district are provided laptop computers for use throughout the school day, and often at home, in different school districts across the United States.

The largest one-to-one laptop program in the world is OLPC (One Laptop per Child), which mainly targets developing countries, with the mission “to create educational opportunities for the world’s poorest children.” In the United States, the Maine Learning Technology Initiative (MLTI) launched a one-to-one laptop initiative in fall 2002, which made Maine the first state to use technology to transform teaching and learning in classrooms statewide. Later, these programs were extended to other school districts as well.

In addition to our own extensive observations, we conducted a synthesis of the results of 96 published global studies on these programs in K-12 schools during 2001-2015. Among them, 10 rigorously designed studies, mostly from the U.S., were included, to examine the relationship between these programs and academic achievement. We found significant benefits.

We found students' test scores in science, writing, math and English How beneficial are 'one-to-one' laptop programs in schools? - CSMonitor.com: