Catch up with CURMUDGUCATION
TX: Education Savings Accounts & Vouchers 2.0
63by Peter Greene / 1d
Yesterday the Dallas News gave Mack Morris "Special Contributor" some space to plug Education Savings Accounts. ESAs are often called another way to do vouchers, but they are actually worse. Still, folks can be excused for misunderstanding-- the Dallas News includes headline art of a cap-and-gowned woman holding a giant $100 bill, suggesting that even the Dallas News has confused vouchery ESAs wit
DEC 29
Reading Reformsters
13by Peter Greene / 1d
Earlier this week I created a big ol' reading list of edubloggers . Today, I'm going to offer a supplement-- a list of recommendations to read from the Other Side. Not all reformsters can be taken seriously. Some are simply PR hacks, doing their best to sell a product and doing it badly. Some are blindly attached to their product, either because they have limited vision, because they don't bother
Life Is Too Short
100+by Peter Greene / 1d
2016 is not winning any kind of popularity contest lately. The list of celebrity deaths is staggering; I thought maybe we were all just over-reacting so I looked at lists from previous years and, no, this year really does carry an extra celebrity death punch. But of course, people die every day. This week, while we were reeling form the loss of Carrie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds, two of my old frie
Just Say It
100+by Peter Greene / 1d
Fox News suggests that we might want to get rid of the food stamp program because fraud is at an " all time high ." Never mind that this amounts to 0.09% of the food stamp program , that there are far greater money-wasters in DC, or that this isn't even close to an all-time high (or actually fraud). It's at moments like this that I just want to holler at my screen, "For the love of God, just say i
DEC 28
Dear Doug1943
70by Peter Greene / 2d
A commenter at Diane Ravitch's asked a question which I think, if nothing else, probably represents the thinking of a lot of folks out there. Ravitch who is "taking a break" (which generally means she's only posting a dozen times a day instead of a hundred) asked for replies, so here's mine. First, Doug1943's question: I think the problem is this: the people opposing allowing people to escape from
Summit- Zuckerberg's Bad CBE Idea
24by Peter Greene / 2d
Mark Zuckerberg was still stinging from his experience wasting $100 million on Newark's bad reform ideas, but three years ago he decided to throw some more money at education-- only this time he would supposedly pick something that was already working. So for three years, Zuckerberg has been using his mountain of money to pump up Summit Public [sic] Schools [sic] . When Zuckerberg toured the Bay-a
Understanding or Winning?
24by Peter Greene / 3d
You've had that student in class. You're going over the answers to some simple quiz, and the hand goes up, and you hear something like, "But what could have happened is that Della actually hit her head and had temporary amnesia, so she didn't know that she was a girl and she got her hair cut short because she thought she was a man and she actually bought the watch strap for herself because she tho
DEC 27
Read These Writers
100+by Peter Greene / 3d
There are a lot of good people in the edublogosphere, and if you've made it to this blog, you probably know many of them already. But for those of you just getting into the business, here's a quick reference list of some of my favorites with a capsule over-simplified explanation. Do sample and read and share-- amplifying voices is one way to make your point in the world. I could try to organize th
Vouchers-- The Religious School Windfall
100+by Peter Greene / 3d
School vouchers are one of the great zombie ideas of education, a shambling mess that simply won't die. Some attempts have even been ruled unconstitutional (see the privatizing heaven of Florida and North Carolina, America's Armpit), but that does not stop some folks from dreaming of more voucher programs, and we should probably pay attention, because one of those folks is Education Secretary-in-W
DEC 26
Is Common Core Gaining Ground with Teachers?
28by Peter Greene / 4d
In October, a bit over 500 registered readers of the EdWeek website took a survey about the Core . The results from these elementary, middle and high school teachers are not earth-shattering, but we might tease a few conclusions out. You want me to do what??!! First, it's worth noting that using EdWeek registered readers means a certain amount of self-selected bias. While I'm not particularly put
Privatized Freedom
53by Peter Greene / 5d
Joseph Natoli has a piece at Truth-Out has a piece that's well worth reading, but for all the explication and coverage of the deliberate destruction of Detroit school " The Great Unwinding of Public Education: Detroit and DeVos " has some keen insights into the underlying pathologies fueling the privatization movement. Here's the line that reached out and whacked me right between the eyes: We have
DEC 25
ICYMI: Christmas Digestion Edition
6by Peter Greene / 5d
Yes, it's Christmas day, but I am a creature of habit, so for those of you who, for whatever reason, have some time on your hands, here's this week's list of read-worthy writing. Have an excellent day! When It Comes to Charter Schools, Facts Matter Wendy Lecker's interview with Robert Cotto, Jr. about some of the claims being made by charters in Connecticut (and elsewhere) Anatomy of a Failure: Ho
For Your Christmas Listening
6by Peter Greene / 6d
Here's hoping today is a great day for you and yours. For your listening pleasure, here's an assortment of traditional and not-so-traditional holiday music. May today be an excellent day!
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