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Sunday, June 7, 2020

CATCH UP WITH CURMUDGUCATION + ICYMI: Just One Thing After Another Edition (6/7)

CURMUDGUCATION: ICYMI: Just One Thing After Another Edition (6/7)



Just One Thing After Another Edition 

So things have been a little quieter than usual on this page (and I'm late today) in part because what the current conversation about Black Lives Matter needs is not more input from middle aged white guys, and partly because things have been a bit upheaved here at the Institute (not all bad-- the twins turned 3 since last Sunday's edition). But I still have a few things for you to read:

Weathering The Storm: School Funding in the Covid-19 Er
The Kappan offers some useful economic ideas for the post-pandemic era, courtesy of Bruce Baker, Mark Weber, and Dean Acheson-- all folks who really know this stuff. Four specific proposals (including the squawk-inducing recommendation to cancel aid programs that favor affluent districts).

Dept of Ed Discloses Illegal Seizure of $2.2 Billion
Man, I would hate to have this news lost in the shuffle this week. Remember how USED was supposed grabbing money from folks during the pandemic pause-- yeah, they didn't stop. To the tune of billions of dollars. Billion, with a B.

The Broken Promise That Broke Jacksonville 
Florida, that is. The Florida Times-Union has the historical perspective on how the city cemented racist structures and kept its poor poor.

Gay HS Senior Barred from Walking At Graduation Because Pants 
From the "News That Sucks" file, this reminder that some public school administrators need to remove their heads from their rectums.

Betsy DeVos Is Looting Public Schools 
There's no news here, except that this opinion piece is not from some cranky blogger, but from Newsweek. Specifically, we're talking about her attempt to grab CARES money for private schools.

Changing What We Teach
Nancy Flanagan takes a look at what schools need to do better.

Amy Coopers Are Everywhere   
Rann Miller at The Progressive reminds us that schools have an Amy Cooper problem, too.

PA Charter Leader Blasts George Floyd Protestors, Then Backpedals Like Crazy.
Ana Meyers got a little heated about the protests and became one more person who was not well-served by how quick and easy it is to fire off a stupid and inadvertently revealing Tweet.

It's Time To Fix Standardized Testing 
Akil Bello takes a look at the wonky nuts and bolts of standardized testing and how it needs to be rebuilt, and he's just the guy for the job.

Public Funds Public Schools Website Provides Compendium of Research on School Vouchers
Jan Resseger looks at a trove of useful info, particularly if you are looking at the charter onslaught in Ohio, where the recent shift in law has really gutted public school finance.


CATCH UP WITH CURMUDGUCATION


CATCH UP WITH CURMUDGUCATION


Big Education Ape: Peter Greene: A Call For The College Board To Oust David Coleman -
http://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2020/06/peter-greene-call-for-college-board-to.html


Do Exit Exams Reduce Crime
Of all the claims made about high school exit exams, this has to be one of the most unlikely, but here comes Matthew Larsen in the ever reformy Education Next to argue that exit exams--tests that are required to get a diploma--reduce crime . Larsen is an assistant professo r at Lafayette College in Pennsylvania. He's in the economics department, because of course he is. He set out to look at wheth
Graduation in the Age of Covid-19
There are three bridges that run in and out of my small town. Currently, each bridge is flying a batch of banners that collectively list the entire 2020 graduating class at our high school. When the banners went up, a photo of some seniors looking for their names on the banners ran on the front page of the local paper. High school graduation is a big deal in small town USA. My old high school (the
Successful School Reopening Plans Will Have One Thing In Common
Plenty of folks have thoughts about the conditions under which schools should be opened. The CDC thinks desks should be six feet apart. The American Enterprise Institute suggests that districts might want to get all staff members over fifty-five to take early retirement. Senator Bill Cassidy has called for aggressive testing and contact tracing. Over the next few months, we’ll see many plans floa
Toxic Ideas
Here are two views of the word that are loose in this country: The way the world works is (or is supposed to be) that you get what you deserve. Make bad choices? You get bad consequences. Your success or failure is completely up to you-- it's the result of the choices that you make. And this: It's not about high ideals or honor or empathy or care for your fellow human. It's about power, and the pe
FL: Philanthropy Backs Testing
Has there ever been a time when it was more obvious that the Big Standardized Test is waste of time and money? Do you hear anybody out on the street over the last week declaring, "What we need is some standardized testing to show systemic racism, because otherwise, how will we know?" But education amateurs still believe in testing's magic power, and nowhere is the Cult of Testing more firmly entre
ICYMI: Hellacious Week Edition (5/31)
Well, this has been a bunch of big ugly crap, on top of the One Damn Thing After Another sundae that is 2020. Let's read. All About the Mask Nancy Flanagan looks at the politics and symbolism of the ongoing mask wars. Chalkbeat Discovers Teachers on Front Lines Chalkbeat lets a brand new charter leader lay out some obvious obviousness about teachers and pandemic response. NYC Educator breaks it do
Teaching And The Social Contract (TL;DR)
I didn't write anything yesterday, which is an unusual day for me, but I've just been trying to take it all in. I have family in Seattle, friends in Pittsburgh. There's a lot of mess out there tonight. It's nothing new for our country, but it's never been laid out so starkly. The woman in Central Park deliberately