Kentucky has spent a bunch of time in charter limbo --there is a charter law on the books, but the legislature wouldn't fund it and l ocal districts are (shocker) unwilling to share their aready-meager funding. So Kentucky remains a fresh market, and charter advocates are still trying to gin up some public support, which lends itself to a sort of Greatest Hits tour of failed charter school argumen
California is burning, even as California is dark, its people trying to survive a manmade nightmare. PG&E, never America's most favorite utility behemoth, has made a hash of things . To save a buck here and there, the power company cut back on some necessary maintenance, but that-- plus a dry season-- has led to almost a dozen catastrophic fires, which have been followed by some hefty lawsuits, wh
It's been over a year since Florida passed and signed the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Act . That act included a massive data grab that was intended to serve as a feeder for some secret algorithmic future crime unit, through, of course, the Florida School Safety Portal -- because the state wants to capture and record your every move only in your best interests. Researchers fr
This is going to be kind of rambly and personal and religious; you've been warned. I've been trying to sort through my thoughts about the use of tax dollars to support private religious schools. I started here , then picked the thread up her e. I have problems with the idea of vouchers as a tool for religious freedom, and it has taken me some discussion and thought to zero in on part of my issue.
Freedom is a great thing. I'm a huge fan. But because it has so many positive associations, some folks just can't resist the urge to twist it. Take the frequent efforts to "free" teachers from their unions. Oppressive unions rob teachers of the freedom to work extra long hours, the freedom to be paid whatever their bosses feel like paying them, the freedom to be fired for any reason at any time. F
The stories were supposed to capture a new step forward in artificial intelligence. A “ Breakthrough for A.I. Technology: Passing an 8th-Grade Science Test ,” said the New York Times . “ AI Aristo takes science test, emerges multiple-choice superstar ,” said TechXPlore . Both stories were talking about Aristo (indicating a child version of Aristotle), a project of Paul Allen’s Allen Institute for
Yesterday the Democrats for Education Reform dropped a hot new pile of steaming poll results, and some media outlets, like US News, jumped right on it. The take was that Democrat voters are hollering for charters and choice, and the candidates are acting foolishly by running in the other direction. Here's why you (and the candidates) don't need to be excitedly about any of this. First, it's DFER.
My college job was in the private sector, working in the education and communication department of an industrial manufacturing company. In ways that my college education could never hope to, my time there drove home how there are plenty of folks making a good living using language to obscure rather than reveal, the there's a whole art of using language to try to convey importance and weight while
Applefest is a thing in my small town, like the most giant tchotchke/food/car/etc festival a small town could hope to put on. So for three days we have walked till we dropped, only instead of dropping I'm going to sit here and pass along some worthwhile reading from the last week. The Unmet Promises of a New Orleans Charter School From The Nation, one more example of how charters in NOLA never qui
We think we're seeing the worst side effects of our national preoccupation with school shooters. We aren't. The problems with active shooter drills have already been widely documented. In the best of circumstances, active shooter
