CATCH UP WITH CURMUDGUCATION: ICYMI: May Day Edition (5/5)

CURMUDGUCATION: ICYMI: May Day Edition (5/5)

May Day Edition

Read, read, read. Share, share, share.

It's Not Like You Weren't Warned 

Dad Gone Wild gives us a look on the ground at the messes in Tennessee and Memphis

Betsy DeVos Has No Idea Who Alexander Hamilton Is 

A lesson for DeVos on Hamilton's place in US history and why he is not her BFF

The F-Bomb in Texas    

A new problem on the STAAR test.

Charter School Controversy in Rural Alabama

So many of the problems with the charter biz are right here in this tale of an Alabama charter.

Zuck turned American Classrooms into Nonconsensual Laboratories

Cory Doctorrow's brutal take on Summit Learning

Lawmaker's Role in Unusual Charter Arrangement  

One more wretched story from Florida, where apparently nothing qualifies as conflict of interest.

The Best School Innovation Would Be More People 

Steven Singer has some thoughts about what would actually help.

Newark Charter Schools Complaint     

The complaint is that the system didn't send them as many students as they asked for. Who does the choosing in school choice?

Why Teens Don't Talk To Us

Good insights and practical advice about how to connect personally a bit better with the teens in your classroom.

Florida's Charter Sector Is a Real Mess 

Carol Burris takes a look a just how much of a mess (spoiler alert: a huge one).


CURMUDGUCATION: ICYMI: May Day Edition (5/5)

PersonAOLized Learning

by Peter Greene / 14h

If you are of a Certain Age, you have fond memories of America OnLine . You grabbed one of those magical discs that arrived in the mail like Harry Potter's unthwartable Hogwarts invitations. You stuck it in your computer, listened to the modem beep and boop and finally hissssss like R2D2 had just fatally assaulted a snake. Then a portal opened up, promising a variety of channels with a dizzying as

MAY 02

Is Your School Year Over Already?

100+by Peter Greene / 2d

Depending on which state you live in, your schools are now, or are about to be, entering testing season. It's the magical time of year when your schools must subject students to the annual Big Standardized Test, a narrow slice of testing aimed at reading and math skills. In most states, the stakes are high, including the rating of the school itself as well as the professional ratings for the teac

MAY 01

Florida Really Is The Worst

1Kby Peter Greene / 4d

There are plenty of states in the country that are not very friendly to public education, but Florida under its new governor has established itself as the very worst state for public education. The worst. Its hatred of public school teachers and its absolute determination to dismantle public education so that it can sell off the pieces to privatizers and profiteers puts the sunshine state in the

APR 30

Why It's Important To Say There Is No Teacher Shortage

22Kby Peter Greene / 5d

I've been saying it . Tim Slekar has been saying it . Other people who aren't even directly tied to teaching have been saying it . There is no teacher shortage. There's a slow-motion walkout, a one-by-one exodus, a piecemeal rejection of the terms of employment for educators in 2019. Why is it important to keep saying this? Why keep harping on this point? Because if you don't correctly identify t

APR 29

OH: The Ongoing Fight To End School Takeovers

500+by Peter Greene / 6d

I have been watching events unfold in Lorain, Ohio, site of both my first job and an absolute clusterfrick of epic proportions It's time for an update. You can find the complete story so far starting here , but the short form is that Ohio has a bone stupid law known as HB 70, passed using underhanded legislative shenanigans in order to get it run through quickly and without public discussion. The

APR 28

Have We Stolen a Generation's Independent Thought?

300+by Peter Greene / 6d

"Kids these days," the complaint begins. "They cannot think for themselves." The complaint has come across my desk three times this week, voiced by someone in the higher education world complaining about the quality of student arriving in their ivy-covered halls. It's worth noting that the observation itself has no particular objective, evidence-based support. There's no college student independe

ICYMI: Post-Easter Chill Edition (4/28)

73by Peter Greene / 6d

In my neck of the woods, we figure that spring can't arrive until there has been a post-Easter snow. We appear to be working on tht today. So while we sip our hot chocolate of shivery bitterness, here are some current readings to absorb and-- please-- share! Choice As A Substitute For Adequacy Did states deal with the Great Recession by expanding choice to cover their cuts to public education? Sch

APR 27

Charter Lessons From Democracy Prep

100+by Peter Greene / 8d

I was as unimpressed as anyone when education privatization fan Campbell Brown launched the 74 site as a platform for the same old "Charters schools rule, public schools drool" song and dance. But since that launch, and particularly since Brown stepped away from the site, the straight journalism side of the operation has done some commendable work (though the propaganda side is still frying up its

APR 26

Another Free Market Lesson

100+by Peter Greene / 9d

Even as Florida continues its race to become the first state to completely do away with public education and replace it with a free market free for all, lessons abound in why that's a lousy idea. This frickin ' guy. At Tarbell, Simon Davis-Cohen takes us on a trip to I owa where an ALEC governor privatized Medicaid. Former governor Terry Branstad was a founding member of the American Legislative E

APR 25

Is AI A Game-Changer For Education (International Edition)?

76by Peter Greene / 10d

Sometimes it's informative to see how some of this stuff is playing out in other settings. A post on Entrepreneur India makes the claim that " Artificial Intelligence Can be a Game-Changer for Education, Here are 5 Reasons Why " and its five arguments are, well, intriguing. The post is from Vishal Meena from the start-up MadGuy Labs , an Indian on-line test prep company that promises to prep you f

APR 24

Using Cultural Competency To Sell Personalized [sic] Learning

76by Peter Greene / 10d

Over at EdTechTimes, a site that for a consulting group that clearly is interested in pushing personalized [sic] learning, I found a podcast by Mariel Cariker entitled " Cultural Competency: Finding Ways To Bring Equity Through Personalized Learning. " (It is accompanied by a transcript.) The podcast is sponsored by TeachPlus. Like many of the arguments being used to push PL, it's an odd little mi

APR 22

Guest Post: The True Cost of College

200+by Peter Greene / 13d

I've known Beth Pfohl for years. She was a top student in my Honors English class, and years before that I cast her as Annie in our community theater production. When she was a senior, I installed her as editor of the yearbook. She's an exceptional human being. Beth is currently finishing up her college education at Miami of Ohio, and it is from that vantage point that she wrote the following pos

APR 21

ICYMI: Easter Edition (4/21)

77by Peter Greene / 14d

One of my favorite holidays is today, but whether you celebrate or not, here's some reading from the past week to feed your brain. Against Metrics: How measuring performance by numbers backfires . Not directly tied to education (though the subject comes up), this piece takes a look at the problems of people who think numbers are magical. If we don't work on pedagogy, nothing else matters . One of

APR 20

When Local Control Turns Toxic

100+by Peter Greene / 15d

I am a fan of local control for school districts, but I'm not going to pretend that under the wrong circumstances it won't produce some terrible results. EdBuild has just issued a report on a troubling phenomenon-- the secession of wealthy