Monday, July 29, 2019

Hackers’ Latest Target: School Districts - The New York Times

Hackers’ Latest Target: School Districts - The New York Times

Hackers’ Latest Target: School Districts
Schools handle a lot of personal data and may not have strong technology teams, leaving them vulnerable to attacks, experts say.

Some hackers demand ransom; others sweep up personal data for sale to identity thieves. But whatever hackers’ motives, school systems around the country have been the targets of their cyberattacks.
One attack forced the Houston County School District in Dothan, Ala., to delay the first day of school for 6,400 students. Others crippled computer systems at the Syracuse City School District in upstate New York and at three school districts in Louisiana.
Many public institutions, including hospitals, local governmentsand colleges, have been hit with ransomware attacks in recent years, but school districts have proved particularly enticing to hackers because they hold troves of private data and often lack the resources to fend off intruders.
Nearly two-thirds of school districts in the United States serve fewer than 2,500 students, and many do not have a staff member dedicated solely to cybersecurity, according to Keith R. Krueger, the chief executive of the Consortium for School Networking, a group that represents technology employees at primary and secondary schools.

Cybersecurity “is a tremendously growing concern for school districts,” Mr. Krueger said, adding that members of his organization now rank it in annual surveys as their top source of anxiety.


In Louisiana, Gov. John Bel Edwards declared a state of emergency after a virus disabled computers at three school districts, including one in which the virus also knocked out the district office’s phone system.
The three Louisiana attacks — on the schools in Sabine and Morehouse parishes and the city of Monroe — had similar traits, according to Christina Stephens, a spokeswoman for the governor. She declined to discuss the attacks in detail because state and F.B.I. investigations of the incidents are still in progress.
Ms. Stephens said state authorities are working with the districts to eradicate the virus before students return to school in early CONTINUE READING: Hackers’ Latest Target: School Districts - The New York Times
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Michigan Reading law would hold back almost 5,000 third graders if took effect today | Michigan Radio

Michigan Reading law would hold back almost 5,000 third graders if took effect today | Michigan Radio

Michigan Reading law would hold back almost 5,000 third graders if took effect today


If Michigan’s Read by Grade 3 retention law went into effect for this fall, nearly 5,000 third graders would repeat the third grade, according to Michigan State University researchers.
MSU’s Education Policy Innovation Collaborative (EPIC) reviewed the 2017-2018 Michigan Student Test of Educational Progress, or M-STEP, to get their estimates of literacy. They found that between 2% and 5% of third graders are not proficient in reading. The rates of students that would need to repeat 3rd grade are higher for black students at between 7% and 11%, special education students are at about 10% and for students in Partnership Schools- the lowest performing  schools in the state, between 12% and 20%.
Katharine Strunk, co-director of EPIC and professor of education policy, says although the retention portion of the law has a lot of opposition, it may be useful for children who are very far below the cutpoint and are truly struggling, and whose challenges may impact their ability to learn in all subjects in later years.
“If you're very far below the cut point and you really can’t read or understand at grade level, it’s going to just compound over the rest of your life,”she said. “So for those kids, socially promoting them might just not be in their best interest.”
The  U.S. Department of Education ‘s Institute of Education Sciences gave the Michigan Education Research Institute- a partnership between MSU, University of Michigan, the Michigan Department of Education and the state’s Center for Educational Performance and Information, almost $5 million to evaluate the law’s effects.
Strunk says Governor Gretchen Whitmer is unsupportive of making so many students repeat the third grade.
Joshua Cowen, co-director of EPIC, said Michigan is one of 16 states CONTINUE READING: Michigan Reading law would hold back almost 5,000 third graders if took effect today | Michigan Radio

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Oklahoma Officials: Impossible To Track Epic Charter Schools' Alleged 'Ghost Students' | KOSU

Oklahoma Officials: Impossible To Track Epic Charter Schools' Alleged 'Ghost Students' | KOSU

Oklahoma Officials: Impossible To Track Epic Charter Schools' Alleged 'Ghost Students'

Oklahoma investigators believe Epic Charter Schools embezzled money by inflating its enrollment with homeschool and private school students. Because of the state’s dedication to privacy, State Superintendent of Public Instruction Joy Hofmeister says the alleged abuse would not have been preventable under current state law.
The Enrollment Loophole
Virtual charter schools are taxpayer-funded public schools. Like traditional public schools, they are free to families and receive funding from the state based on student enrollment. Unlike traditional public schools, they are run by private companies or non-profits, and student instruction and coursework happen online instead of in-person.  
With over 20,000 students on the books last year, Epic is the largest virtual charter school in Oklahoma, and it appears to be exploiting a loophole in state law. 
All virtual charters are under the purview of a separate agency, the Statewide Virtual Charter School Board, but verifying enrollment falls to the State Dept. of Education.
The education department has the data to easily keeps tabs on kids enrolled in public schools, including Epic, but it cannot track private or homeschooled students because they aren’t required to register with the state government. That makes it nearly impossible to weed out these so-called “ghost students” who are dually or falsely enrolled in homeschool or private school as well as a virtual charter school during routine audits. 
“We do not have at the state level a list of homeschool students or private school CONTINUE READING: Oklahoma Officials: Impossible To Track Epic Charter Schools' Alleged 'Ghost Students' | KOSU

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CURMUDGUCATION: Mayor Pete Doesn't Get It (And If He Does, That's Even Worse)

CURMUDGUCATION: Mayor Pete Doesn't Get It (And If He Does, That's Even Worse)

Mayor Pete Doesn't Get It (And If He Does, That's Even Worse)

 In 2016, Hillary Clinton staked out what was supposed to be the safe territory on the charter school issue-- to be against for-profit charters, but in favor of non-profits. That qualified as enough of a break with the corporate Democrat orthodoxy that DFER felt the need to reassure wealthy donorsthat the Clinton's could be counted on to betray unions.

But a position that depends on distinguishing non-profits from for-profits at best shows some cynical poli-gamesmanship, and at worst reveals a lack of understanding of the issues. In 2016, a candidate might be excused for ignorance, but there's been plenty of education on the subjectsince, and no excuses left for candidates.

That's why it's a bit discouraging to find high-profile candidates like Mayor Pete Buttigieg resorting to this dodge.

The signs up until this point have not been good. Buttigieg has some time with McKinsey on his resume, and that consulting giant … well...McKinsey is one of the biggest management consulting firms in the world, and long intertwined with the education reform movement; Sir Michael Barber was a partner there before he went to run Pearson, and David Coleman worked as a consultant at McKinsey before he spearheaded the Common Core. McKinsey has also plucked some employees from the world of Eli Broad-- a McKinsey manager was in the first class of the Broad Academy. McKinsey actually pre-dated Broad in the practice of embedding their own people in the Los Angeles school district. They're fans of data-driven analytics baloney, and they are generally a good example of what Anand Giridharadas is talking about inWinner Take All-- the ways rich folks try to fix problems without actually inconveniencing themselves while still managing to profit from the "solution."

Reed "Elected School Boards Should Be Abolished" Hastings held a great fund raiser for Mayor Pete. And as she reported this morning, when Diane Ravitch reached sat down with the campaign to try to share a more balanced view of ed reform, she found herself facing a bunch of folks who came up CONTINUE READING: CURMUDGUCATION: Mayor Pete Doesn't Get It (And If He Does, That's Even Worse)


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SomeDamPoet: What Happens to a Dream DFERed? (With Apologies to Langston Hughes) | Diane Ravitch's blog

SomeDamPoet: What Happens to a Dream DFERed? (With Apologies to Langston Hughes) | Diane Ravitch's blog

SomeDamPoet: What Happens to a Dream DFERed? (With Apologies to Langston Hughes)

Our blog poet wrote a poem about DFER (Democrats for Education Reform). DFER is a group of wealthy hedge fund managers who may or may not be Democrats, but who are committed to charter schools, test-based evaluation of teachers, high-stakes testing, merit pay, and Teach for America.
The Dream DFERed (with apologies o Langston Hughes)
What happens to a dream DFERed?
Does it disrupt
Like a test in a school?
Or fester like a Common Core–
Or techy tool?
Does it stink like stale pee?
Or rust and fade away-
like Michelle Rhee?
Maybe it just doubles down
like a billionaire
Or does it drown?


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Chicago’s school choice system is tracking kids into different high schools

Chicago’s school choice system is tracking kids into different high schools

The Big Sort: How Chicago’s school choice system is tracking kids into different high schools based on achievement


 This spring, at grammar schools all across Chicago, thousands of eighth graders donned caps and gowns and walked across auditorium stages to receive their elementary school diplomas. This fall, the graduates from each of those schools will scatter—to more than 130 different Chicago public high schools, and counting.

But who goes where?
Over the past decade, Chicago has opened dozens of new high schools, and will open more this fall. The school district is trying to expand the number of “quality school options” and offer students a choice of where to go to school. And in many ways, Chicago high schools seem to be improving. Graduation rates are inching up. The city now boasts five of the top ten high schools in the state.
But a new WBEZ analysis shows an unintended consequence of the choice system: students of different ability levels are being sorted into separate high schools.
WBEZ analyzed incoming test scores for freshmen from the fall of 2012, the most recent year data is available. That year, the district mandated that every high school give students an “EXPLORE” exam about a month into the school year.
The 26,340 scores range from painfully low to perfect.
But WBEZ found few schools in the city enroll the full span of students. Instead, low-scoring students and high-scoring students in particular are attending completely different high schools. Other schools enroll a glut of average kids.
Think of it as academic tracking—not within schools, but between them.
The findings raise some of the same long-running questions educators have debated about the academic and social implications of in-school tracking. But they also raise questions about whether the city’s school choice system is actually creating better schools, or whether it’s simply sorting certain students out and leaving the weakest learners in separate, struggling schools.

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Why I Do Not Support Mayor Pete | Diane Ravitch's blog

Why I Do Not Support Mayor Pete | Diane Ravitch's blog

Why I Do Not Support Mayor Pete

There are many reasons why I would like to support Mayor Pete Buttigieg. He’s young, he is well-educated, he is smart, he has an admirable record of service to his country, he’s brimming with ideas. I find him very attractive on many levels.
But on education, he is a stealth corporate reformer.
I had an inkling of this when I read a review of his autobiography, which described his formative years at McKinsey and his data-driven, technocratic approach to solving problems. But I didn’t reach a judgment.
Then I learned more when a friend sent me an invitation to a fundraiser for Mayor Pete, hosted by Reed Hastings. Hastings is the billionaire founder of Netflix who is a charter school zealot. He served on the California State Board of Education where he used his influence to minimize any regulation of charters. Since then, he has given many millions to charters as well as to the charter lobby, The California Charter Schools Association. He created a fund of $100 million to promote privatization of public schools by charter expansion. Hastings has said he looks forward to the day when all schools are run by corporations, not elected school boards.
I tweeted the invitation and it got a lot of attention. Carol Burris heard from Pete’s National Political Director, Stephen Brokaw. He wanted to correct any misperception we at the Network for Public Education had about where Mayor Pete stands on education. He is against vouchers. He is against for-profit charters. He (or his team) visited Roxbury Prep in Massachusetts and was very impressed with their high test scores. Brokaw cited Roxbury Prep as the kind of nonprofit charter that offered lessons to public schools.
Carol responded that the issue is not whether charters CONTINUE READING: Why I Do Not Support Mayor Pete | Diane Ravitch's blog

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As public funding dipped, student loan debt soared

As public funding dipped, student loan debt soared

As public funding dipped, student loan debt soared

 and 
“I HOPE I DIE BEFORE I PAY OFF MY STUDENT LOANS BECAUSE I DON’T THINK I CAN PAY THEM OFF IN MY LIFETIME.  MY GREATEST FEAR IS THAT MY HEALTH WILL FAIL, I WON’T BE ABLE TO WORK, AND THEY WILL COME AFTER ME FOR THE MONEY.”— GARY SIMS, DOCTOR OF OSTEOPATHIC MEDICINE.
Dr. Gary Sims’ story is one of dozens we have heard about student loan debt. Most of the stories come from public education teachers, social workers and other professionals who will never earn a physician’s salary.
While researching the topic of student loan debt, we have heard from people whose Social Security checks, disability checks and paychecks are being garnished. In response to stories like these and quantitative data, financial experts, economists and politicians are labeling student loan debt as a “crisis,” one that can no longer be ignored.
In this article, we begin by examining the impacts of student loan debt on society, then explore the downward trajectory of public education funding, and end with what can be done at the individual, state and local levels.

Currently affecting families and economy

Student loans lead to crushing financial debt for many students and/or their parents. Today, there is nearly $1.5 trillion in student loan debt in the U.S., more than double that of 10 years ago. The debt load of people age 50 and older alone is $292 billion. As of December 31, 2018, Oklahomans had $13.5 billion in student loan debt.
When students and their families are paying down student loan debt, they are unable to save for retirement or other purposes. They are not paying down other debt nor buying homes or cars. Some are even delaying marriage and having children.

How did we get here?

In the late 1960s, state and federal dollars funding public higher education started trickling off. Then the “big bang” of funding reversals began in the 1970s in response to the politically active student generation. Governors and state legislators often perceived universities as failing to keep a “campus house in order” ultimately led to a loss of public and government confidence in colleges and universities.
But universities have also played a role in student loan debt by applying the “business/market” model to higher education. Destructive policies “have led them to destabilize their finances, raise tuition, overbuild facilities, create a national student debt crisis, and lower educational quality,” according to U.C. Santa Barbara professor Christopher Newfield in his book The Great Mistake.
The total burden of financing much of higher education has fallen to its lowest common denominator — the student and his or her family. As legislatures have reduced their funding of higher education, students are now paying 63 percent of higher education costs.
Some argue this is a partisan effort by the Republican Party, “that increasingly relies on CONTINUE READING: As public funding dipped, student loan debt soared

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Lead-Based Paint Found In Half Of All Inspected Schools | PopularResistance.Org

Lead-Based Paint Found In Half Of All Inspected Schools | PopularResistance.Org

LEAD-BASED PAINT FOUND IN HALF OF ALL INSPECTED SCHOOLS

With all the emphasis that has been placed on making sure children are safe from the hazards of lead-based paint at home, similar efforts would seem just as important for America’s schools.
After all, outside of the home, young children spend the majority of their day – 6.8 hours a day – at school.
Yet a new federal report found that an estimated 15.2 million children in the U.S. go to schools in school districts that found lead-based paint. This is happening more than 40 years after the United States’ 1978 ban on the use of lead-based paint in housing.
For years, as a nursing professor and parent educator who specializes in treating children with elevated lead levels, I have worked to identify children with lead poisoning and to help parents make their homes lead-safe.
Lead, breathed in or ingested, can affect children’s brain development and result in reduced “intelligence quotient,” or IQ.

Failure To Inspect

The report, released June 24 by the U.S. Government Accountability Office, highlighted how many school districts – 72% – are not even inspecting their buildings for lead-based paint hazards. The Government Accountability Office restricted its analysis to school districts that had at least one school built before 1978, and those that obtained drinking water from a public water system.
Among the 12% that do inspect for lead hazards, more than half found them. That raises questions about what amount could be found in the remaining 88% of schools that aren’t looking.
Lead was more frequently found in large school districts – 51% of the time versus 8% for other districts, according to the report. There could be a number of reasons for these results. These larger districts may have older school buildings, or they may be in larger cities that lack the money to keep schools in a good state of repair.

Parents Unaware

The report also reveals that school districts often don’t notify parents or school board members about lead inspection results.
Specifically, 58% of school districts did not notify parents of their findings and 46% CONTINUE READING: Lead-Based Paint Found In Half Of All Inspected Schools | PopularResistance.Org

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It's Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... A VERY BUSY DAY | The latest news and resources in education since 2007

Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... | The latest news and resources in education since 2007

It's Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... A VERY BUSY DAY 

The latest news and resources in education since 2007



Infographic: “Earth Overshoot Day”
by Larry Ferlazzo / 1h
WikiImages / Pixabay This infographic came from Statista : Earth Overshoot Day came on July 29 this year. This is the second time the day, which marks the time at which humanity has used up its allotment of natural planetary resources for the year, occurred in the month. It had occurred in August between 2010 and 2017. I’m adding it to The Best Interactives Showing How Long Our Non-Renewables Wil
This Week’s “Round-Up” Of Useful Posts & Articles On Ed Policy Issues
by Larry Ferlazzo / 1h
Here are some recent useful posts and articles on educational policy issues (You might also be interested in THE BEST ARTICLES, VIDEOS & POSTS ON EDUCATION POLICY IN 2019 – PART ONE ): WHY ARE MORE SCHOOLS GOING AFTER FAMILIES FOR LUNCH DEBT? is from PS Magazine. How segregation keeps poor students of color out of whiter, richer nearby districts is from Vox. I’m adding it to The Best Resources Fo
The Best Fun and/or Interesting Resources On Venn Diagrams
by Larry Ferlazzo / 3h
Clker-Free-Vector-Images / Pixabay The Guardian published a fun article on Venn Diagrams today , and I thought it would be a good excuse to publish a related “Best” list. Of course, I’ve published a bunch of post s explaining different ways I use Venn Diagrams in lessons. This eclectic collection, though, is more on the humorous or unique side, along with a couple of particularly useful ones thro
“Show Me the Money! Ways Teachers Can Raise Funds for Their Classrooms”
by Larry Ferlazzo / 3h
Show Me the Money! Ways Teachers Can Raise Funds for Their Classrooms is the headline of my latest Education Week Teacher column. Suggestions on how teachers can raise private monies to support their classroom are offered by Alfonso Gonzalez, Holly Spinelli, Susan Lafond, Amanda Koonlaba, and Barbara Gottschalk. Here are some excerpts: I’m adding it to my other resources on education funding .

YESTERDAY

A Look Back: Ducklings Video Demonstrates Great “Differentiated Instruction”
by Larry Ferlazzo / 10h
I thought the summer might be a good time to re-share posts from My All-Time Favorite Posts! list… mcpdigital / Pixabay In this video, some ducklings were able to get over the curb on their own. However, several found that it was just too high. Look at how someone provides assistance to those having trouble, and how he doesn’t tell them what to do. Instead, he offers it as an option, as a choice
Quote Of The Day: Another Reason To Be “Data-Informed” & Not “Data-Driven”
by Larry Ferlazzo / 16h
I’m a data scientist who is skeptical about data is an interesting article at Quartz by Andrea Jones-Rooy. She goes on to say: When you encounter a study or dataset, I urge you to ask: What might be missing from this picture? What’s another way to consider what happened? And what does this particular measure rule in, rule out, or incentivize? I’m adding it to The Best Resources Showing Why We Nee
Wow! Wordwall Looks Like A Great – & Free – Site For Creating Online Learning Games
by Larry Ferlazzo / 19h
I have just learned about Wordwall from ELT Planning, which has a great post about it In fact, I think the post provides a better explanation of Wordwall than the actual site does! The screenshot above shows all the different templates you can use for creating games, and you can assign them to students (you’re given an url address to share) and get their results. There are also a zillion other ga
“Author Interview: ‘The Right Tools'”
by Larry Ferlazzo / 20h
Author Interview: ‘The Right Tools’ is the headline of my latest Education Week Teacher column. In it, Towanda Harris answers a few questions about her new book, “The Right Tools: A Guide to Selecting, Evaluating, and Implementing Classroom Resources and Practices.” Here are some excerpts:
Visual Histories Of World Wars I & II
by Larry Ferlazzo / 23h
janeb13 / Pixabay The American Battle Monuments Commission has tons of interactives related to both World War I and World War II. The best ones are: The Great War: A Visual History World War II: A Visual History I’m adding them 


Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... | The latest news and resources in education since 2007



Big Education Ape: This Week With Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... The latest news and resources in education since 2007 - https://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2019/07/this-week-with-larry-ferlazzos-websites_27.html
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