CURMUDGUCATION: ICYMI: Scary Time of Year Edition (10/28)

CURMUDGUCATION: ICYMI: Scary Time of Year Edition (10/28)

ICYMI: Scary Time of Year Edition (10/28)

Just a few things to catch up on. Remember, sharing is caring.

Documenting Maine's Failure To Implement Proficiency Based Education

Maine tried to turn the whole state into proof of concept for PBL/CBE. Things didn't work out. Here are some of the details.

Maine Went All in on Proficiency Based Learning The Rolled It Back

Matt Barnum at Chalkbeat also took a look at Maine's failure. Just in case you want to see the same disaster from a different angle

Putting Public Back Into Public Accountability

An answer to the question, "Well, if we don't grade schools on test scores, how will we know if they're any good?"

Kentucky Pension Crisis

How those wacky hedge fund guys took a state's pension program to the cleaners.

Puerto Rico Recovery

More disaster capitalism on parade.

Georgetown Law Students Objects To Exam Software

So what if your school said that in order to take exams, you had to load some of their software on your own computer.

Hack Education Weekly News

Audrey Watters does a weekly roundup of education news, just in case you don't get enough to do from me.

A Buttload of YouTube Education Money

YouTube has decided to sink a ton of money into educational videos. Please, may some go to the Honest Trailers people.

PA Keystone Exam: The Monster We Refuse To Let Die

Steven Singer looks at the latest development in Big Standardized Test.

Here's Hoping That The Myth of the Bad Teacher Is Finally Laid To Rest

Could we have finally reached the end of the search for the fabled Bad Teacher? It's pretty to think so.

How High Schools Shaped American Cities 

Amy Lueck has an interesting look at how schools are tied to community, and how school choice threatens both.

Will the Save Our Schools Movement Propel a Change Election

Ruth Coniff at The Progressive takes a look at what's going on in the resistance and how it might affect the election

DeBlasio School Renewal

In what should come as a surprise to nobody, NYC's Renewal School turnaround plan flopped-- and some students were left to experience the flopping first hand.

Snake Oil, Charter Schools, and Disingenuous Debates 

A local op-ed in the Johnson City Press is a blunt response to charter supporters.

The Digital Gap Between Rich and Poor Kids Is Not What We Expected 

Nellie Bowles in the NYT says that one group will be taught by humans, and one by screens. Take a wild guess at which is which.

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Dahlia Lithwick: Who Is Responsible for the Epidemic of Hate Crimes? | Diane Ravitch's blog

Dahlia Lithwick: Who Is Responsible for the Epidemic of Hate Crimes? | Diane Ravitch's blog

Dahlia Lithwick: Who Is Responsible for the Epidemic of Hate Crimes?

Dahlia Lithwick writes in Slate about where the responsibility lies for the horrendous hate crimes of the past week.

We have been told over and over that we are not to take this President literally, or seriously, or jokingly, or truthfully, even though he daily shows his supporters who he is, and they not only believe in him, they quite literally believe him. For too long we have been trapped in a cycle of figuring out how to talk about a president who is neither truthful nor presidential, who cheerfully labels Democrats as “evil” and gleefully leads chants about locking up the very people who were the recipients of bombs at their homes. How does one even begin to explain to one’s children what it means that the president denounces violence and division as he foments both, on an hourly basis? Perhaps we can look to Florida for a tip. Last week the state’s gubernatorial candidate Andrew Gillum said that because Neo Nazis and white supremacists were supporting and campaigning for and contributing to his opponent Ron DeSantis, perhaps it was time to stop talking about causation entirely. “I’m not calling Mr. DeSantis a racist,” he said. “I’m simply saying the racists believe he’s a racist.”

The formulation is useful because it reframes a pointless debate about what leaders’ dog whistles really mean into a debate about what their followers end up believing. If what is said no longer matters, we can perhaps still evaluate what is heard. In the current ontological meltdown, there is no point in debating what leaders actually mean—they are affirmatively telling us that they lie constantly—but what we can and should focus on is what kind of people they ask their followers to be. Do they ask their adherents and admirers to see the best in others? Do they ask them to find common ground?

In the last week we have encountered two actual killers and one aspiring killer who believed their president when he said that caravans of murderous foreigners are approaching, and who believed that what their president wants is to have those caravans halted by force. They believed their president when he said that the media is hurting America and they believe their president wants to stop the media from doing that journalism by physical force. In the last week, we have seen that when the president Continue reading: Dahlia Lithwick: Who Is Responsible for the Epidemic of Hate Crimes? | Diane Ravitch's blog

The names. – Fred Klonsky

The names. – Fred Klonsky

Pittsburgh Synagogue Shooting Victims Identified 

Fundraiser by Shay Khatiri : Tree of Life Shooting’s Victims - https://www.gofundme.com/tree-of-life-synagogue-shooting on @gofundme

The names. – Fred Klonsky

Despite US Fixation on Testing, ACT Results Slip; ACT Board Doing Just Fine | deutsch29

Despite US Fixation on Testing, ACT Results Slip; ACT Board Doing Just Fine | deutsch29

Despite US Fixation on Testing, ACT Results Slip; ACT Board Doing Just Fine

On October 17, 2018, ACT released a report, “Condition of College and Career Readiness 2018.”

Beginning with the passage of No Child Left Behind (NCLB) in January 2002, standardized testing has increasingly been the central focus of public education, with nationally-normed tests such as the ACT becoming the raison d’etre for secondary schools.

ACT acknowledges as much:

Over the past decade, ACT has experienced unprecedented growth in the number of students tested as well as growth in partnerships with states, districts, and high schools.

The test scores are supposed to be forever rising. However, that is not how it works; despite the ever-narrowing of public education to both covert and overt test prep, testing, and retesting, those scores will plateau, and all of that test-centrism will yield diminishing returns.

Consider this summary info ACT’s 2018 report:

Performance of 2018 Graduates

• Slightly fewer ACT-tested graduates were ready for college coursework this year than last year. The percentage of students meeting at least three of the ACT College Readiness Benchmarks in the four core subject areas was 38% for the 2018 US high school graduating class, down from 39% last year but the same as in 2016.
• A higher percentage of students this year than in recent years fell to the bottom of the preparedness scale, showing little or no readiness for Continue reading: 
Despite US Fixation on Testing, ACT Results Slip; ACT Board Doing Just Fine | deutsch29