CATCH UP WITH CURMUDGUCATION + ICYMI: Another Week That Lasted Ten Years Edition (10/4)

CURMUDGUCATION: ICYMI: Another Week That Lasted Ten Years Edition (10/4)

Another Week That Lasted Ten Years Edition

Holy crap. Let's take a moment to wax nostalgic about last weekend, those happy times when a story like the First Lady talking about how we should [expletive] Christmas would have gotten at least fifteen minutes of attention instead of being completely wiped out by a raging news cycle. Those happy times when the national news seen was merely a dumpster fire and not a dumpster fire dragged across a wasted landscape by the four horsemen of the apocalypse. The best we can say is that there was a lot of worthwhile writing that appeared, and here's some of it--

How The School Choice Debate Is Failing Our Public Schools 

I am not always a Samantha Bee/Full Frontal fan; on a bad day she just feels like the Lefty version of Ann Coulter. But she does a really nice job of covering the school choice issue in less than seven and a half minutes. Worth watching and sharing with your non-education policy friends.

Epic Owes Oklahoma $8.9 Million
Tulsa World has the story of Epic schools, one more charter business that managed to rip off the state by making off with millions and millions of dollars.

Significant Lack of Equity in K-12 Education
Michigan Civil Rights Commission took a hard look at equity in Michigan schools, and it found many, many problems. Covered here by Michigan Live

New Jersey Spent 35 Years and $100 Billion Trying To Fix School Inequity 
Speaking of states that have failed to straighten equity issues out, here's Politico taking a look at New Jersey. And wonder of wonders, rather than talking to Mike Petrilli, they talked to Bruce Baker (School Finance 101) instead.

Public Schools and School Libraries: The Hubs of Democracy Face Crises
Nancy Bailey takes a look at how the current crisis is eroding some pretty important institutions

Battling for the Soul of Black Girls
Erica Green (along with Eliza Shapiro and Mark Walker) has put together a serious and moving look at the problems growing for what is ":arguably the most at-risk student group" in the country. This is a hell of a piece.

How the SAT Failed America 
And speaking of in-depth reporting, here's Susan Adams at Forbes covering both the broad swath and important details of the College Board's business woes under David Coleman (who, shockingly, does not come off looking good, once again).

The Wealth Gap 
Matt Barnum at Chalkbeat explains how measuring income rather than wealth leaves many families in financial straits unseen.

Student Absences and Juvenile Justice 
Yes, I know you may not read the reformy Bellwhether blog often, but this piece about how the involvement of juvenile justice system in student lives tends to make things worse--well, this is some research worth knowing about. One more piece of the school-to-prison pipeline

In Internet Dead Zones, Rural Schools Struggle With Distance Learning   \
True that. This is NPR reporting about an issue that some of us are far too familiar with.

The Rich and The Rest 
Nothing about this Have You Heard podcast will likely surprise you, but still listen/read as Jennifer and Jack explain just how the rich and the rest of us do not have the same priorities when it comes to public education.

My Way 
Grumpy Old Teacher gives a picture of a real teacher dealing with the real issues of this miserable pandemess in the classroom.

Weird Al Yankovic: We're All Doomed
Just in case you missed it-- Weird Al + Autotuned Candidates = verion of this week's debate that is actually tolerable.

CURMUDGUCATION: ICYMI: Another Week That Lasted Ten Years Edition (10/4)

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AND DON'T FORGET PETER GREENE ON FORBES CLICK HERE 

Pennsylvania Poised To Turn CARES Money Into School Vouchers - https://www.forbes.com/sites/petergreene/2020/09/30/pennsylvania-poised-to-turn-cares-money-into-school-vouchers/#7a3b1e7c6910 by @palan57 on @forbes

What You Don’t See: Confidentiality And The Distance Classroom - https://www.forbes.com/sites/petergreene/2020/09/29/what-you-dont-see-confidentiality-and-the-distance-classroom/#64eb2ff0602c by @palan57 on @forbes

Survey: How Pandemic Schooling Affects Early Childhood Education - https://www.forbes.com/sites/petergreene/2020/09/25/survey-how-pandemic-schooling-effects-early-childhood-education/#62ab677716ef by @palan57 on @forbes

DeVos Awards Another $131 Mill From Failed Federal Charter Fund

80by Peter Greene / 21h

Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos announced Friday that the department will pump yet another $131 million into the charter school industry (you may have missed the news; a few other things have happened in the last 48 hours). The grants go to 19 different organizations, primarily charter school "developers." Amounts range from a tiny $299,988 to Acadia Academy in Maine up to $18 mill to Florida's

Covid Slide Panic Is Still Baloney

45by Peter Greene / 1d

Back in April, NWEA (the MAP test folks) issued a "report" about what we've taken to calling the Covid Slide , which is sadly not a cool new line dance, but is instead an important tool for people in education-flavored businesses who want to try to panic school districts and bureaucrats. Now Stanford University's Center for Research on Education Outcomes (CREDO) yesterday threw their weight behind

No, The Next Debate Moderator Should Not Be A Teacher

50by Peter Greene / 3d

Within ten minutes, the comments started, and they haven’t stopped since. This is why kindergarten teachers should be paid a million dollars. Next time, pick a middle school teacher—they know how to handle this. It was like watching squabbling children. Referring to Trump as “President Manbaby.” The comparisons are unfair to teachers and children both, and while I know we’ve all got a few things

DeVos Wants To Revisit Failed Merit Pay

300+by Peter Greene / 3d

Seriously. Yesterday's announcement of education department grants came packed in a lot of air-stuffed puffery from some alternate universe where we're expected to believe that these programs announced by Betsy DeVos "build on her commitment to elevating the teaching profession and empowering teachers." Because if there's anybody who's known for having teachers' backs, it's the DeVosinator. "Great

DeVos and the Problem of the "Right Fit"

by Peter Greene / 3d

Betsy DeVos has been talking about the “right fit” for a while now. In 2017 : “It shouldn’t matter what type of school a student attends, so long as the school is the right fit for that student.” During Charter Schools Week this year : “... to celebrate the millions of students who have found the right fit for their education...” In her recent letter to parents : “...we believe families need more

Dear Joe Biden:

74by Peter Greene / 4d

If someone has a pipeline to the campaign, please feel to send this along. Dear VP Biden: I know that this evening, you have your hands full with the Great Orange Loon in Cleveland. But you've got an education flavored fundraiser tomorrow night, and we really need to talk. Here's the event: It might have been of interest to educators, except, of course, the price of admission is, well-- a "champi

AI: Still Not Ready for Prime Time

by Peter Greene / 5d

You may recall that Betsy DeVos sued to say, often, that education should be like hailing a Uber (by which she presumably didn't intend to say "available to only a small portion of the population at large). You may also recall that when the awesomeness of Artificial Intelligence is brought up, sometimes in conjunction with how great an AI computer would be at educating children. Yes, this much sal

ICYMI: Hanging In There Edition (9/27)

26by Peter Greene / 7d

Well, that was another week. Just keep trying to avoid being crushed by what feels like a physical increase in the air pressure over the entire country. Here's the list. And I'll remind you-- share the stuff that speaks to you. Everyone is an amplifier. Give Teachers Stat

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