Sunday, January 12, 2020

CATCH UP WITH CURMUDGUCATION + ICYMI: Unexpected Spring Edition (1/12)

CURMUDGUCATION: ICYMI: Unexpected Spring Edition (1/12)


Unexpected Spring Edition (1/12)

It is unseasonably warm here, even as some parts of the country deal with a fresh helping of winter. Either way, we've got things to read. Remember-- if the piece strikes you as an important one, go to the original location for the post or article and share it through your social media. It's all about the amplification.

Putting a Price Tag on Public Schools  
Wendy Lecker doesn't write enough, so this piece from the Stamford Advocate is a welcome look at the legacy and future of Eli Broad's do-it-yourself superintendent school.

3D TV Tells You Everything You Need To Know About This Decade's Tech
This Wired piece isn't about education, except that it is. Tag line: "You don't need special glasses to see what it looks like when smart people run out of ideas." Tech that's all about what you want to make, while steadfastly ignoring what the users actually want.

Bad Tech-- Pearson Wants Teacher's Jobs
Alan Singer at the Daily Kos about the problems with AI replacements for actual humans.

Laziness Does Not Exist
Yup. A psychology professor explains why not.

Bernie Sanders: End High Stakes Testing 
This was the week that Sanders plugged that one hole in his education platform And USA Today let him write an op-ed to do it.

Hoboken NJ Charter Schools 
Nobody is better than Jersey Jazzman for breaking down actual facts and data and rendering it all intelligible. This look at Hoboken tells us a lot about much of the charter universe.

Top Reads of 2019
I can resist a good reading list, and Nancy Flanagan has an excellent one.

John White Resigns 
And the indispensable Mercedes Schneider is here to tell him goodbye, and good riddance.

Pressuring Parents To Teach Their Kindergartners To Read
Nancy Bailey and another disturbing trend among parents of the littles.

Mike Feinberg's New Home
Feinberg was booted from KIPP over allegations of harassment and abuse, but that didn't end his career in the ed reform biz. Matt Barnum at Chalkbeat has the story.

Bugs In Teachers Ears? What We Should Be Doing Instead.
Yes, Nancy Flanagan again. When EdWeek trotted out bug-in-ear coaching again, lots of shade was thrown, but Flanagan is smart enough to take it a step further and ask what the answer to ear-bugging should be.

Homeowners Fed Up
Up in Wisconsin, Up North News reports that taxpayers are getting tired of paying for two school systems, only one of which has any accountability.

The Rural Conundrum
Coincidentally, Jennifer Berkshire was just in rural Wisconsin, where even the red parts are still voting to raise their own taxes for schools. What's going on?


CATCH UP WITH CURMUDGUCATION



NH: No, Again, To Federal Charter Money

35by Peter Greene / 1d
A month ago, the Granite State's Joint Legislative Fiscal Committee said, "No, thanks" to an offer of $46 million from the feds to be used in doubling the number of New Hampshire charter schools from 28 to 55. The money was to come from the federal Charter School Program, a grant program that has come under fire due to a recent pair of studies showing massive waste and fraud by recipients of CSP m
To A Teacher At The End Of A Discouraging Week

500+by Peter Greene / 1d
It just sucks. You spend the time and effort (and maybe money) to create a lesson that you hope will be engaging and provide your students an exciting, maybe even fun, break from routine. And it bombs. More than once. Not only do your students not appreciate it, but they bitch about it. Sure, these are students who generally bitch and moan about everything (that's partly why you went an extra mile

JAN 10

The Foundation of Real Writing

54by Peter Greene / 1d
As I've mentioned before, we have the poor fortune to live in a golden age of bad writing instruction. There are a variety of reasons for this, ranging from the rise of high-stakes testing to some less-than-wonderful traditions to the widespread discomfort with writing instruction of many classroom teachers. The last is probably the worst issue facing writing instruction. It's a curious thing; you

JAN 08

DeVos and Department May Face Increased Fine

200+by Peter Greene / 3d
Back in October, Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos and her department were fined $100,000 for contempt of court regarding their non-compliance with a court order to stop collecting loans from students bilked by a chain of fraudulent for-profit colleges. Turns out that price tag could get a little steeper. In October, the department said that, oopsies, they had continued to collect from about 16,0

JAN 07

How Tech Killed Tractors, And Why Teachers Should Care

100+by Peter Greene / 5d
If you don't spend a lot of time around farms and farmers, you might have missed this story, which just made its way into legit journalistic coverage via the Star Tribune of Minnesota-- there is an exploding market for forty-year-old tractors . Adam Belz reports on auction bidding wars over old tractors. Is it because of tractor nostalgia? Nope-- and if you think about your car or music system or

JAN 06

NC: Whitewashing The Charter Report

81by Peter Greene / 6d
North Carolin's 2020 Annual Charter Schools Report has caused some consternation among members of the state's Charter Schools Advisory Board (CSAB). They've seen the first draft and requested a rewrite, because, well, members of the public might become confused by the information that suggests Bad Things about North Carolina's charter industry. This is not the first time the issue has come up. Bac

JAN 05



ICYMI: Off A Great New Year's Start Edition (1/5)

by Peter Greene / 7d
Marking the new year always strikes me as a bit odd-- we draw an arbitrary line in the chronological sand, then get all excited about examining it. Humans are fun. In the meantime, this week's list is loaded with some exceptionally good readings. Remember to share the ons that speak to you. Amplifying voices i
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