CURMUDGUCATION: ICYMI: Bloggaversary Edition (9/16)

CURMUDGUCATION: ICYMI: Bloggaversary Edition (9/16)

Bloggaversary Edition (9/16)

Back on this date in 2014, I put up my first post on this blog. I took me a month or two to figure out what I was doing, but here we are, a few years, about 3750 posts, and over 9 million hits later, still plugging away. Traditional anniversary gifts are either candy or iron, so I will eat some chocolate today in honor of the occasion.

In the meantime, here are some items to read. I'll repeat my standard request-- if it speaks to yu, share it. I have an audience not because I'm some blazing light of wisdom, but because people have over the years boosted my signal, shared my stuff, passed me along. You can do that, too. If you think something is worth reading, pass it on.

Why Bother Testing in 2021  
At Diane Ravitch's blog, David Berliner and Gene Glass lay out the reasons that this would be a good year to just skip the Big Standardized Test.

Why I'm Okay With My Kids "Falling Behind."
At Salon, Mary Elizabeth Williams lays out why she has bigger things to care about than having her kids catch up to some imaginary bunch of benchmarks.

The Covid Experiment: Facing the Sins of a Nation That Quit Caring About Public Education Long Ago
Nancy Bailey looks at how the current crisis suffers from years of neglecting public education.

Nurse Leverage
When a nurse wrote a piece castigating teachers for not getting back to work, she touched off a firestorm of replies. Here's one of the better ones, from Stone Pooch.

We Got Racism, Right Here In River City
Nancy Flanagan looks at a little outburst of racist baloney that got national attention. It's a reminder of some larger problems that are not going away easily.

Ed Tech Cashes in on the Pandemic
Gayle Greene provides a good overview of how the pandemic is pushing the replacement of live human education with screens, screens, and more screens.

Fewer Students Are Benefiting From Doing Homework  
Unless you want to fork over money for the actual paper, all you get here is the abstract of this 11 year study. It is not exactly news-- technology has made it easier to "generate" answers for homework, making the homework a big waste of time. But now there's apparently researach to back this up.

You Made Me Enforce Useless Dress Codes for Years. Don't Claim Face Masks Go Too Far
At EdWeek, a teacher points out the obvious--administrative complaints that they can't make mask wearing more than a suggestion are just baloney.

Oklahoma County Judge Fines Epic Charter  
Epic charter schools tried to shut up an Oklahoma state senator; now they've been slapped with a half million dollar fine for it.

Success Academy Settles Discrimination Suit  
Gary Rubinstein notes that Success Academy just settled a years-old lawsuit brought by some families over the treatment by the charter school powerhouse.  It's not cheap.

Learning Relationships In The New Normal  
Jose Luis Vilson with some useful insights about what really matters in the return to pandemic schools.

Cake, in the manner of Trump administration guidance for reopening schools   
Laugh and cry as Alexandra Petri at the Washington Post imagines what baking a cake would look like if the Trump administration brought the same clear leadership that they've applied to school reopening.

CURMUDGUCATION: ICYMI: Bloggaversary Edition (9/16)

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AND DON'T FORGET PETER GREENE ON FORBES CLICK HERE 

Schools Should Scrap The Big Standardized Test This Year - https://www.forbes.com/sites/petergreene/2020/08/14/schools-should-scrap-the-big-standardized-test-this-year/#a2db7cc79f59 by @palan57 on @forbes


Report: Are Charter Schools A Big Risk For Families? - https://www.forbes.com/sites/petergreene/2020/08/07/report-are-charter-schools-a-big-risk-for-families/#423dc8bc4986 by @palan57 on @forbes

TODAY

ICYMI: Bloggaversary Edition (9/16)

by Peter Greene / 4h

Back on this date in 2014, I put up my first post on this blog. I took me a month or two to figure out what I was doing, but here we are, a few years, about 3750 posts, and over 9 million hits later, still plugging away. Traditional anniversary gifts are either candy or iron, so I will eat some chocolate today in honor of the occasion. In the meantime, here are some items to read. I'll repeat my s

RI: Foxes In The Governor's Mansion

33by Peter Greene / 22h

I haven't paid much attention to Rhode Island (motto: That State Nobody Pays Much Attention To), but we should all take a look, because Rhode Island has become yet another example of the many ways that privatizers and profiteers get their hands into the cookie jar. These frickin' people We start with Gina Raimondo , a venture capitalist who decided to get into politics via the office of state trea

MI: Mobile Billboard Stalks DeVos

100+by Peter Greene / 3d

Protect Our Public Schools is a group of retired teachers and other stakeholders working out of Livonia, Michigan. While their reach may not be large nor their pockets deep, they have come up with a fun way to demand Betsy DeVos's attention. While demanding that public schools be open and full this fall, DeVos herself has been working remotely from one of the family mansions . POPS has been calli

AEI: Previewing New Reformy Rhetoric

53by Peter Greene / 4d

Over at AEI, Robert C. Enlow and Jason Bedrick have some thoughts for new, improved rhetoric for pushing school choice. It's worth a look to see where the argument is headed in the year ahead. Enlow is the president/CEO of EdChoice (formerly the Milton Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice). Bed rick is the director of policy at EdChoice , as well as a scholar the Cato Institute. Given their

James Blew: Pushing More Headscratching Arguments for USED

20by Peter Greene / 5d

These days, James Blew's official title is Assistant Secretary for Planning, Evaluation and Policy Development at the US Department of Education. He's held that job since the Senate confirmed him in July of 2018. This guy. That confirmation was a narrow 50-49 party line vote, perhaps because Blew's previous history is focused on dismantling US public education . He was director of Student Success

Why Isn't AI More Widely Used?

by Peter Greene / 6d

That's the question that Wired asked last month , and it's important to consider because even as a truckload of ed tech folks are "predicting" (aka "marketing") a future in which ed tech is awash in shiny Artificial Intelligence features that read students minds and develop instantaneous perfectly personalized instructional materials. Why is it, do you supposed, that AI is being thrust at educatio

To Teachers Contemplating Retirement

300+by Peter Greene / 6d

This fall marks the beginning of my third go round of starting the school year as a retiree. Thanks to the pandemic, it's in some ways the hardest year so far. I get that the pandemic is also giving many teachers pause to consider whether or not to go back. Here (expanded from a twitter thread) are my thoughts. One of the hard parts of retirement is managing the guilt. You're leaving your friends

ICYMI: Rising Anxiety Edition (8/9)

57by Peter Greene / 6d

Just trying to hold it together? Join the very large and ever-growing club. Here's some reading to pass the time. Kindergarten Reading Push: Still Problematic During the Pandemic Nancy Bailey with a reminder that the 

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