If you have never read the poetry of Wilfred Owen, do it now. Today is his birthday. This bio comes from Garrison Keillor’s “Writer’s Almanac.” “It’s the birthday of poet Wilfred Owen (books by this author), born in Shropshire, England (1893). When he was young, his family was well-off, living in a house owned by his grandfather, a prominent citizen. But then his grandpa died, and it turned out t
We live in a new age of authoritarianism. Russian sycophants have cleared the way for Putin to remain in power for at least 16 more years. This from CNN: Vladimir Putin’s path to an extended presidency is almost clear after lawmakers voted to change term limit rules in the Russian constitution. Under current Russian law, Putin would have to step down as president in 2024, but the proposed amendme
The parents and educators who created SOS Arizona blocked the last expansion plan for vouchers by getting a referendum on the state ballot in 2018. They had to fight the governor, the legislature, the Republican party, the Koch brothers, the DeVos family, and other monied interests, who wanted to keep expanding vouchers until every student in the state was eligible for a voucher. The all-voluntee
Nancy Bailey wisely explains the lesson of the current emergency and boils it down to this fact: Online learning can never replace human teachers and support staff. Parents who are staying home with their children have taken to Twitter to express their admiration for teachers. “How do teachers do this all day with 30 children,” they wonder. Be sure to open her post and check out the links as well
A principal shared with me a letter he received, with the following information: New York State Education Department is canceling the English language arts tests, grades 3-8. No word yet on math tests, but they seem sure to be suspended too. The virus is spreading, not contained.
In the fog of the pandemic, it’s hard to keep track of school closings and cancellation of state testing. In Kansas, Governor Laura Kelly ordered closure of school buildings but schooling will continue. CLARIFICATION: Governor Kelly didn’t cancel school for the remainder of the 2019-2020 school year. She closed school buildings. Schools will be working to implement Continuous Learning plans for a
Governor Gavin Newsom said that schools in California are likely to close for what remains of the school year. https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-03-17/schools-closures-mobilize-meals “California public schools are likely to be closed for the remainder of the school year in response to the escalating spread of coronavirus, Gov. Gavin Newsom said Thursday afternoon. “I don’t want to mis
Governor Laura Kelly of Kansas announced that all schools are closed for the rest of the school year. Governor closes Kansas schools, puts most state employees on administrative leave Be prepared to hear about more states doing the same. No one knows how long the global pandemic will continue, but there’s no end in sight.
Chalkbeat reports that Colorado has canceled state academic tests for 2020. Colorado will cancel state tests in light of coronavirus school closures, officials say Any state that insists on giving the federally-mandated tests should be prepared to answer how they expect to test children who have been out of school for several weeks without instruction. Under the best of circumstances, the scores
Garrison Keillor writes in The Daily Writers’s Almanac about St. Patrick: “Today is St. Patrick’s Day, the annual feast day celebrating a patron saint of Ireland. “St. Patrick was born around the year 385, in a village in Wales. When he was 16, a group of Irish pirates raided his village and took many of the young men back to Ireland to work as slaves. Patrick worked for six years as a herdsman i
James Hohmann writes today in Washington Post that Ohio Governor DeWine should pay attention to history: Abraham Lincoln did not cancel the elections of 1864. https://s2.washingtonpost.com/23f6e3b/5e70db23fe1ff6038cdcb2ae/Z2FyZGVuZHJAZ21haWwuY29t/10/114/2160de31454b787c80a706dd1b1faf11 ”Abraham Lincoln rejected calls to postpone the 1864 election amid the Civil War, even though his reelection rem
Angelica Infante-Green, the Commissioner of Education in Rhode Island, selected Harrison Peters as the takeover superintendent of Providence. Peters announced his initial plans, which sound sensible, like implementing restorative justice in schools and assessing which schools need emergency repairs. However, the article suggests that the big reform plan will be rolled out in April. Keep an eye on
Fareed Zakaria is a regular commentator on world affairs for CNN. This article appeared in the Washington Post on March 12: The outbreak of an epidemic is something like a natural disaster — a spontaneous, accidental eruption that is no one’s fault. But that does not mean we can do little about it and just wait for it to run its deadly course. The evidence is now clear: The spread of the virus ca
Peter Greene writes here about the forgotten role of the principal and superintendent . It is not to promote misguided and harmful policies such as those that were central to No Child Left Behind and Race to the Top, but to fight against them and to protect their staff as best they can against misguided mandates. For most of the past two decades, however, the folks at the top blew with the wind a
This review from the National Education Policy Center by William Mathis demolishes an absurd claim about the hypothetical economic benefits of expanding Wisconsin’s voucher program. The review is actually hilarious.
