The Network for Public Education urged Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos to waive all state testing for 2020. Chalkbeat reports that many states have requested waivers, and two—Colorado and Texas—have canceled testing without waiting for waivers. Recently the Council of Chief School Officers urged a cancellation of mandated state testing. To see the status of state testing, see this update. From
Stuart Egan, an NBCT high school teacher in North Carolina, reminds us of why teachers protested last year and how the elected officials responded (mostly with silence). Fortunately, the people of North Carolina have a chance to change the state’s direction by electing a genuine and experience advocate for public education as state superintendent: Jen Mangrum won the Democratic nomination and she
This post is a public apology to Erica Green of the New York Times. She wrote on March 13 that the Centers for Disease Control recommended that schools should close for at least eight weeks. A trusted reader of this blog said that the CDC guidance offered several options, depending on local circumstances. I read the CDC guidance and posted a correction implying that Green had offered the worst ca
Now that many thousands of schools have closed, millions of parents have suddenly become responsible for home schooling their child or children. Sam Chaltain offers some sound suggestions. He calls it “A Parent Guide to Home-Schooling During the Apocalypse.”
The National Education Policy Center issued a statement today about teaching reading. The bottom line: There is no “science of reading.” It’s time for the media and political distortions to end, and for the literacy community and policymakers to fully support the literacy needs of all children. Thursday, March 19, 2020 Joint Statement Regarding “Science of Reading” Advocacy KEY TAKEAWAY: It’s tim
The National Center for Research on Education Access and Choice (REACH), formerly known as the Education Research Alliance, released its first report after having been funded by Betsy DeVos with $10 million to study the effects of choice in schools. REACH used value-added methodology (judging teachers by the test score gains of their students to determine that those who got the highest VAM scores
NEWS RELEASE California Teachers Association 1705 Murchison Drive Burlingame, CA 94010 http://www.cta.org Contact: Claudia Briggs at 916-296-4087 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE March 18, 2020 California Educators Appreciate Gov. Newsom for Ongoing Leadership in Executive Order to Suspend State Testing SACRAMENTO — The California Teachers Association applauds Gov. Gavin Newsom’s ongoing leadership and comm
I reported yesterday that ELA tests are suspended. In this time of rumors, fake news, and disinformation,let me clarify. The distribution of the ELA tests has been suspended. The tests have not been suspended. The schools will be closed. The students and teachers will be home. But the tests will be given. By whom, it’s not clear. To whom, no one knows. The sovereign state of New York is waiting f
Teresa Hanafin of Fast Forward of the Boston Globe: The White House task force is holding another briefing at 11:30 a.m. ET, and we’ll see if Trump shows up again. It’s interesting how much he enjoys gaslighting Americans, claiming he said or did something he really didn’t as though there isn’t a written record to contradict him. A good example is his claim yesterday that he was way ahead of the
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
