Covid-19 Surges Worldwide While Schools Stay Open Covid-19 Surges Worldwide While Schools Stay Open Coronavirus cases are surging in this country and worldwide, yet in many places, schools remain open. Why? Whether or not to send students to school has been a continuous balancing act. Children miss out if they stay home. Their health, education, and safety could be in jeopardy. But they can also
The week in coveducation: OKCPS bringing students back, coalition calls for mask mandate After a week dominated by election coverage , it’s likely that most people have at least a little bit of news fatigue. But whether you’re going to spend the weekend trying to avoid it all for your own sanity or continue to track updates, this post can offer you a slight break in election news. Oklahoma City
Teachers Stage Social Distance Sick Out Today 915 of the 1,000 union educators in Brookline, Massachusetts, took part in a sickout demanding a six-foot distance between people in classrooms. The district previously
Joe Biden's Election as President Tees Up Massive Shifts for K-12 Policy Democrat Joe Biden has been elected 46th president of the United States after running on an ambitious agenda for K-12 education that was later overshadowed by his plans to address the coronavirus pandemic and its ongoing effects on students and schools. The former Democratic vice president, whose victory was called by the A
John Thompson Reviews “A Modern Masterpiece” for Young People John Thompson, historian and retired teacher in Oklahoma, reviews a book for young people. The New York Times described the book as “a modern
The Latest on Kids’ Antibodies A new study might shed light on why children experience the virus differently. A study published Thursday found that children infected with the coronavirus produce fewer and weaker antibodies than adults. Although that finding sounds scary, it actually may help answer longstanding questions about why children have a different experience with the virus than adults.
Meet the contenders for Biden’s Cabinet - POLITICO Meet the contenders for Biden’s Cabinet The president-elect is expected to nominate a mix of progressives, moderates and even a few Republicans as he seeks to satisfy a broad coalition. In the next two and half months, Joe Biden needs to build a governing team to help him tackle an historic pandemic and rebuild the economy — all while winning app
Oakland: Public School Allies Win Control of School Board Jane Nylund, parent activist in Oakland, reports on the good news from that district. Oakland has been the Disrupter/Reformer playground for nearly twenty years. For most of those years, billionaire Eli Broad picked the superintendents. Jane Nylund writes: Good morning, the good news out of Oakland is that our grassroots campaigns for 4 s
Instructional Quality Commission - Commissions & Committees (CA Dept of Education) Instructional Quality Commission Information about the Instructional Quality Commission, formerly known as the Curriculum Development & Supplemental Materials Commission. The Instructional Quality Commission (IQC or Commission), formerly known as the Curriculum Development and Supplemental Materials Commission, was
BE THE CHANGE “If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more, and become more, you are a leader.” ― John Quincy Adams This week marks the beginning of the end of the election season. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic crisis, more people voted via absentee ballot than ever before, and as a by-product, we are still waiting for results in the race for the presidency. Overnight, forme
Teacher Tom This Miracle of Creating a World 61 1d Discovering the Meaning of Life 100+ 2d We've Robbed Them of Childhood 2K 3d What We Can Learn About Democracy From Children 500+ 4d A Waste of Time 500+ 5d The Disease of Productivity 1K 8d Rationality Cannot Exist Without Emotions 100+ 9d ****** Teacher Tom's Second Book is now available in Australia and New Zealand as well as the US, Canada,
Dad Gone Wild – Nobody reads it, everybody quotes it. BE THE CHANGE by TC Weber / 19h “If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more, and become more, you are a leader.” ― John Quincy Adams This week marks the beginning of the end of the election season. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic crisis, more people voted via absentee ballot than ever before, and as a by-product, we are st
California Department of Education September 2020 Instructional Quality Commission (IQC) Draft Minutes 12h Instructional Quality Commission Draft Meeting Minutes, September 16, 2020. November 2020 Instructional Quality Commission (IQC) Agenda 85 13h Instructional Quality Commission Meeting Agenda and Notice, November 18-19, 2020. SNP FAQ: Verification, Direct Certification, P2 16h This page cont
NewBlackMan (in Exile) Coffee & Books: Marc Lamont Hill talks 'Sexual Citizens' with Columbia University Professors Jennifer Hirsch and Shamus Khan by Mark Anthony Neal / 11h 'Coffee & Books host Marc Lamont Hill unpacks the groundbreaking book Sexual Citizens: A Landmark Study of Sex, Power, and Assault on Campus with Columbia University professors Jennifer Hirsch and Shamus Khan , they discuss
Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... | The latest news and resources in education since 2007 What Is The Best Thing That Has Happened In One Of Your Classes So Far This Year? by Larry Ferlazzo / 28min Please consider responding to a new question-of-the-week at my Classroom Q & A column at Education Week Teacher: What is the best thing that has happened in one of your classes so far this year?
Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all KEEP UP/ CATCH UP WITH DIANE RAVITCH'S BLOG A site to discuss better education for all Arizona: Voters Approve Tax on Rich to Fund Public Schools by dianeravitch / 31min #Red4Ed is still producing results in Arizona! Voters approved a measure t o raise the taxes of the wealthiest by 3.5% for the benefit of public schools. Propositi
In Some Ways, This is Worse than 2016 My friends remember, vividly, waking up after Election Day in 2016. The shock. Their personal emotions, from disbelief to outrage, the sense of betrayal. Who voted this racist, sexist joker in? What can we do? What was born that day, and later refined, by a vast web of progressive people, media and organizations, has been a big driver of my life for the last
Pastors for Texas Children on the Election Results The Network for Public Education is allied with Pastors for Texas Children. PTC has been a courageous leader in the fight for our public schools and against privatization. The leader of PTC wrote the following statement: Statement from Reverend Charles Foster Johnson on the 2020 Elections Pastors for Texas Children extends a hearty congratulatio
State Superintendent Tony Thurmond Announces “Education to End Hate” Grant Recipients and Dates for First Three Virtual Classrooms SACRAMENTO—State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond today announced that the California Department of Education (CDE) has selected recipients of mini grants totaling nearly $200,0000 that will fund educator trainings across the state to combat hate, b
U.S. public schools should be federally funded “The concept of ‘local control’ is grounded in and reflective of systemic racism” How good are America’s public schools? It depends on where you live. Education funding is like any other public infrastructure investment. School systems with sufficient funding tend to get better results . Schools that lack resources are less effective and resilient i
When Jesus Needs A Visitor's Badge: Church-State Issues In Public Education A “Hall of Separation” That’s a horrible title and I wish I could stop thinking it’s not. As you probably know, given that it’s pretty much all I talk about these days, I’ve been researching Supreme Court cases involving issues of church-state separation in relation to public education. My hope is to have something ready
DFER Names Its Candidates for Secretary of Education Chalkbeat reports that the privatizers at “Democrats” for Education Reform have identified their candidates for Biden’s Secretary of Education . They are three big-city superintendents who have worked harmoniously with charter schools. DFER is an organization of hedge fund managers and financiers who are supporters of charter schools, merit pa
NewBlackMan (in Exile) 'Black Diamond Queens': A Conversation Between Maureen Mahon and Ann Powers by Mark Anthony Neal / 1h 'In partnership with The National Museum of African American History and Culture , join NPR Music for an engaging conversation highlighting African American women who have played a pivotal part in the rock and roll genre. Although African American women have influenced roc
A VERY BUSY DAY Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... The latest news and resources in education since 2007 Big Education Ape: THIS WEEK IN EDUCATION Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... The latest news and resources in education since 2007 - http://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2020/10/this-week-in-education-larry-ferlazzos_31.html Three Useful Posts As We Deal With The Presidential Electio
This Miracle of Creating a World In their book The World of the Newborn , Daphne and Charles Maurer write: "His world smells to him much as our world smells to us, but he does not perceive odors (as we do) . . . His world is a melee of pungent aromas -- and pungent sounds, and bitter-smelling sounds, and sweet-smelling sights, and sour-smelling pressures against the skin. If we could visit the n
Chicago Public Schools to Reopen After Installing Air Purifiers Chicago Public Schools are ready to open, according to officials . CHICAGO — Chicago Public Schools said classrooms are ready for students and teachers to safely return Wednesday after the district installed air purifiers and took other measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Last month, the Chicago Teachers Union said neither t
Labeling Students Then and Now (Part 1) Twenty years ago, Sarah Deschenes, David Tyack and I wrote an article published in the Teachers College Record called: “Mismatch: Historical Perspectives on Schools and Students Who Don’t Fit Them.” Because of the pervasiveness of the age-graded school since the middle of the 19 th century, “normal” students were those who satisfactorily acquired the slice
Diane Ravitch in Conversation with Kevin Welner Start: Thursday, November 12, 2020 • 7:30 PM • Eastern Daylight Time (US & Canada) (GMT-04:00) End: Thursday, November 12, 2020 • 9:00 PM • Eastern Daylight Time (US & Canada) (GMT-04:00) The Network for Public Education invites you to join us for a video conference with NPE President Diane Ravitch. Diane's guest will be author and University of Co
USDA Nationwide Waiver Questions and Answers #3 Coronavirus (COVID-19) Main Web Page On November 2, 2020, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) released Policy Memorandum SP 04-2021, CACFP 03-2021, SFSP 03-2021. This Policy Memorandum includes questions and answers intended to provide clarification to State agencies and program operators of the National School Lunch Program (NSLP), School Br
New Update From What Is No Longer The Trailing Edge of the Pandemic It has been just about two months since I told you that if anyone had a shot of starting school up without major Covid consequences, it would be my little corner of the world. I'm here to report that things are not going well. Back on September 7, the number of cases for the whole county, since March, was 70. People were not pan
Teachers Walk Off The Job After COVID-19 Outbreak - PopularResistance.Org TEACHERS WALK OFF THE JOB AFTER COVID-19 OUTBREAK Teachers and support staff at Glamorgan Junior Public School, in the Toronto borough of Scarborough, walked off the job Monday to protest school authorities’ decision to keep the school open despite a major COVID-19 outbreak. The outbreak was declared last Friday after nine
Discovering the Meaning of Life Among the founding principles of our American democracy is the ideal that we each be free to pursue "happiness." That's not a guarantee of happiness, but rather an aspirational statement, one that envisions each of us having the opportunity to choose our own course in life; whether that leads to happiness (however that is defined) or not is up to each individual.
Overstating Nothing: Why Students Often Write their Worst Sentences First (and Last) I may have just read the worst essay I have ever read submitted by a student—since the beginning of time. And that occurs in this context: I have been teaching adolescents and young adults to write for 37 years. Of the tens of thousands of student submissions I have read, of course, this essay cannot really be t
People with Developmental Disabilities Were Promised Help. Instead, They Face Delays and Denials. — ProPublica STATE OF DENIAL People with Developmental Disabilities Were Promised Help. Instead, They Face Delays and Denials. Arizona is known as the best state in the nation for people with developmental challenges. But its Division of Developmental Disabilities has turned down thousands of people
Ohio: The Cost of “School Choice” What is the state of Ohio paying for charters and vouchers? From state data and evaluations, we know that neither sector performs as well as the state’s public schools. The legislature likes to fund failure. Bill Phillis, who retired as deputy state superintendent and is expert about school finance, has the answer: Current Cost of School Choice The cost of schoo
Split Decision on Board Elections Reverses School Board Alignment – EdX News from Election 2020 Seventeen hours from the close of polls in LA County (LAC) leaves a mixed set of results – from polar opposite wins, to hopeful-anticipation. While 100% of LAC’s precincts have reported partial results , VBM (Vote By Mail) ballots continue to be delivered to ballot counting facilities statewide, inclu
New Teacher Evaluation Report Released by the Network for Public Education | VAMboozled! New Teacher Evaluation Report Released by the Network for Public Education REDUX A new report on current teacher evaluation systems throughout the US was just released by the Network for Public Education. The report is titled, “ Teachers Talk Back: Educators on the Impact of Teacher Evaluation ,” and below ar
Shanker Blog: How Much Segregation Is There Within Schools? Our national discourse on school segregation, whether income- or race-/ethnicity-based, tends to focus on the separation of students between schools within districts. There are good reasons for this, including the fact that the majority of desegregation efforts have been within-district efforts. Sometimes lost in this focus, however, is
Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... | The latest news and resources in education since 2007 Big Education Ape: THIS WEEK IN EDUCATION Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... The latest news and resources in education since 2007 - http://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2020/10/this-week-in-education-larry-ferlazzos_31.html SEL Weekly Update by Larry Ferlazzo / 2h I’ve recently begun this weekly
“A Low Dishonest Decade”–W.H. Auden W.H. Auden speaks to us, about his time, about our time: September 1, 1939 W. H. Auden – 1907-1973 I sit in one of the dives On Fifty-second Street Uncertain and afraid As the clever hopes expire Of a low dishonest decade: Waves of anger and fear Circulate over the bright And darkened lands of the earth, Obsessing our private lives; The unmentionable odour of
Charter School Disinformation About "Choice" | Dissident Voice Charter School Disinformation About “Choice” Perhaps no other word is more central to charter school discourse than the word “choice.” “Choice” is not only a central concept in charter school discourse but a persistent source of disinformation. Disinformation refers to the deliberate hiding of the real context and relations of things
2020 Medley #24: No More Political Ads Issue As of this writing (11 AM ET, Nov 4, 2020), the 2020 election is not completely over. Ballots are still being counted in the swing states of Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, and Georgia. The Democrats have likely flipped two Senate seats (Colorado and Arizona), but lost one (Alabama). Other Republican Senate races are not called but
Jeff Bryant: How Bad Leadership Created a Crisis for Public Schools During the Pandemic Jeff Bryant reports here that too many school districts failed to prepare teachers how to teach remotely , leaving them to improvise. He begins: Michael Barbour, a professor at Touro University California and an expert on K-12 online learning, believes that more than half of the nation’s school superintendent
WHAT MIGHT THE RESULTS OF THIS PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION SUGGEST THAT TEACHERS (& OTHERS) SHOULD DO GOING FORWARD? It’s early Wednesday afternoon and, despite President Trump’s authoritarian declaration of victory , the final results of our Presidential election are still in doubt. Earlier this week, I published Ideas & Resources About What & How To Teach The Day After The Election – Please Share Yo
Who Are We? It's remarkable what Donald Trunp gets away with. He can say the most vulgar and offensive things and a America says, "I'm good with that." He can separate children from their parents. He can send these children back, alone, to Mexico, even if they aren't Mexican. America says, "No problem. That's what they get for being rapists and drug dealers." Trump can view a neo-nazi rally and d
National Education Policy Center Best of the Ed Blogs Shanker Blog: How Much Segregation Is There Within Schools? by elaine / 7min Our national discourse on school segregation, whether income- or race-/ethnicity-based, tends to focus on the separation of students between schools within districts. There are good reasons for this, including the fact that Ed in the Apple: Bill Gates’ Quest for the M
NonDoc - Home - NonDoc Oklahoma State Election Board - 2020-Election Results - https://www.ok.gov/elections/Election_Info/Election_Results/2020-Election_Results.html Oklahoma Senate elections: Dems gain one, lose one by Kayla Dunn / 51min You win one, you lose one. Jo Anna Dossett was the only Democratic candidate to prevail in an Oklahoma State Senate race Tuesday, narrowly defeating Republican
A Bad Night Once again, the polls misled us. We were expecting an overwhelming defeat for the incompetent racist-misogynist-xenophobic liar Trump, but it didn’t happen. As of 2:35 am, when I wrote this, the election was undecided. Trump held on to most of the states he won in 2016. Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania are not decided, although the polls showed comfortable leads for Biden in all
We've Robbed Them of Childhood As a boy, I went to school like almost everyone, then came home and played in the neighborhood, in our yards, our neighbor's yards, in the street, in vacant lots, in construction sites, and, more rarely, in one another's garages or bedrooms. We could do that because school let out in the mid-afternoon, we had stay-at-home parents, no homework to speak of, and we li
Trump's Executive Order for 1776 Commission Like many of you, I'm hoping that Trump's Executive Order establishing a 1776 Commission will be rendered moot sometime within the next 12-2,215 hours. But because, like many of you, I need something to distract me from doomscrolling (and the board of directors is napping), I'm going to go ahead and look at this damn fool executive order . The short fo
Virtual learning exacerbates racial disparities: There are better ways to guard against COVID-19 while prioritizing all kids’ education Despite society’s earnest push to confront systemic racism head on, we have actually fallen further behind in ensuring an equitable education for our nation’s children. Virtual school is widening racial disparities, as in-person learning has become yet another w
Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all CHECK IT OUT: DIANE ON A ROLL TODAY TODAY The Dog Who Thought He Was a Horse by dianeravitch / 4min Enjoy this delightful video! A Person Born in 1900 Experienced These Events… by dianeravitch / 9min This short video provides perspective on where we are today. The long view…. Trump and the Wizard of Oz by dianeravitch / 38min SomeD
‘This feels like life or death for many of us’: Student’s letter to teachers resonates, goes viral If we were ranking weeks according to our anxiety levels, this one would rank up there with the worst of them, if not at the top. The 2020-21 school year has been tough enough, starting out with classes online almost everywhere because of the coronavirus pandemic. But the arrival of Election Day —
Trump creates 1776 Commission to promote 'patriotic education' The president has attacked lessons that emphasize the role of slavery in American history and Black Americans' contributions to the U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday created a “1776 Commission” to promote "patriotic education” and counter lessons that he says divide Americans on race and slavery and teach students to “hate their
What We Can Learn About Democracy From Children Every year, right after Easter, one of the children always raises their hand to tell us about the exciting thing that happened at their house over the weekend. "The Easter Bunny came to my house and laid eggs!" Then, after a moment's pause, someone always replies, "The Easter Bunny doesn't lay eggs. Chickens lay eggs. The Easter Bunny paints them a
How Do You Spell Education Justice? G-O-T-V Education justice is on the ballot this election. Over the past several months, Schott’s grantee partners have been working closely with their communities to mobilize and get out the vote—early and on November 3. Schott grantee partner Girls for Gender Equity (GGE) hosted a webinar, Black Girls Be Voting: A Conversation on the Future of Black Girls , w
We Got the School Reopening Story Wrong (Nat Malkus) Nat Malkus is a resident scholar and deputy director for Education Policy Studies at the American Enterprise Institute . The article appeared in The Hill October 20, 2020. “It’s the politics, stupid” may be the aphorism for our times. In the age of Trump, the seductive narrative that uber-polarized identity politics can explain everything, inc
PDK Gallup Polls and The Election: The Nation Needs Great Teachers! PDK Gallup Polls and The Election: The Nation Needs Great Teachers! If V.P. Joe Biden is elected, there will be a chance for public education to survive and teachers to get the support they need to serve America’s children. Reelect President Trump, and chances are public schools may end. Teachers who have been prepared to teach m
Diversity Hiring and the White Lie of “Most Qualified Candidate” As the news has spread about my university being the latest case of white faculty claiming false diverse identities, I have seen on social media one of the negative consequences I anticipated from this situation—people criticizing diversity hiring. I expected this sort of backlash because every time the issue of needing to hire a m
MUCH ADO ABOUT SOMETHING “The dream begins, most of the time,with a teacher who believes in you, who tugs and pushes and leads you on to the next plateau sometimes poking you with a sharp stick called truth” ― Dan Rathert In the wake of last week’s Dodger’s World Series win, I’ve read a lot of analysis about Game 6. The joy of is baseball lies in its ability to emulate life. In this case, unfort
Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... | The latest news and resources in education since 2007 Big Education Ape: THIS WEEK IN EDUCATION Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... The latest news and resources in education since 2007 - http://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2020/10/this-week-in-education-larry-ferlazzos_31.html Tuesday’s Must-Read Articles & Must-Watch Videos About School Reopening b
Survey: Pandemic Effects on Early Childhood Education Defending the Early Years is an organization whose stated mission “is to work for a just, equitable, and quality early childhood education for every young child, by informing educators, administrators, and parents about how children develop and learn best and advocating for the active, playful, experiential approaches to learning informed by
Can Biden v Trump Become Bush v Gore? The election of our lifetimes is only a few hours away, oddly, everyone I know has already voted. Up early, as usual, check my phone, 42 degrees and that squiggly line – gusty winds. Pull on my cold weather clothing, balaclava, and compression pants and off on my morning bike ride. Eddies of leaves swirling across the roads, a howling wind, part of the sky b
Big Education Ape: Nov 9, 2016 WHAT WAS THE REACTION THE LAST TIME TRUMP WON AN ELECTION Big Education Ape: Nov 9, 2016 Reaction of Education Bloggers to the Election (Will Be Updated as the Shock Wears Off) Don’t Mourn, Organize | One Flew East - http://wp.me/p5IMdV-rQ TBFURMAN: The Failed State - http://www.tbfurman.us/2016/11/the-failed-state.html Hard times. | Fred Klonsky - http://wp.me/p4C3
Ds and Fs surge, attendance slips among L.A.'s poorest students amid distance learning Grades of D and F have increased in the Los Angeles Unified School District among middle and high school students in a troubling sign of the toll that distance learning — and the coronavirus crisis — is taking on the children, especially those who are members of low-income families. The district released a cha
National Teacher Union Push To Invigorate Citizens To Vote Ended In Swing State Of Florida This Weekend A multistate push to vote from the nationwide American Federation of Teachers, a celebrated bus tour, ended this weekend. From the Florida Phoenix: By Danielle J. Brown A multistate push to vote from the nationwide American Federation of Teachers ended its 14-state bus tour this weekend in Flo
A Waste of Time Our dog Stella is an urban animal. She's lived her whole life in a downtown apartment. Nearly every walk she's ever taken has been on pavement. Tree squirrels, crows, and rats are her idea of wildlife. Of course, she's been to the country, the forest, and the beach, but she still has a lot she doesn't know about the world outside the city. Lately, she's spent time in a less urban
EDUCATOR SPEAKS OUT AGAINST UNSAFE CONDITIONS, LACK OF RESOURCES Big Education Ape: I Just Want to Teach, but My District Won’t Let Me Do it Safely | gadflyonthewallblog - http://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2020/11/i-just-want-to-teach-but-my-district.html A middle school educator in Knoxville, Tennessee recently came forward to speak with the World Socialist Web Site about the unsafe condition
Is School Privatization on the Los Angeles DA Ballot? Big money for pro-charter school board candidates, picks George Gascón for DA Los Angeles’ school district used to have sleepy school board races. But those low budget, pedestrian races – like that for LA County’s District Attorney – are bygones. Between the SCOTUS Citizens United ruling codifying limitless lobbying and independent campaign s
Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... | The latest news and resources in education since 2007 Big Education Ape: THIS WEEK IN EDUCATION Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... The latest news and resources in education since 2007 - http://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2020/10/this-week-in-education-larry-ferlazzos_31.html New Resources For Teaching About The Tuesday Election by Larry Ferlazzo /
What Is at Stake for Public Education in Tomorrow’s Election? I believe a Joe Biden-Kamala Harris victory tomorrow would provide a turning point in education policy. We would, of course, be able to put behind us the failure of President Donald Trump and Education Secretary Betsy DeVos to protect the public schools. But further, I hope the new administration would turn our national conversation a
School Choice Disempowers (Almost) Everybody The standard argument for school choice is that it will empower all sorts of folks, but it's just not so. In fact, modern school choice is designed to deliberately strip power from all sorts of public education stakeholders. Unions Let's start with the most obvious--one big dream of choiceniks is to finally break the damned teachers unions. You can se
CURMUDGUCATION: ICYMI: Dear God Let It Please Be Over Soon Edition (11/1) Dear God Let It Please Be Over Soon Edition Of course, it probably won't be. This is probably going to drag out for weeks. But we can hope that we're, as they say, turning a corner this week. Hope you en joyed that extra hour. Happy All Saints Day. In the meantime, here's some stuff to read. A Voting Rights Battle In A Scho
FIRST QUARTER REPORT ON WHAT I’M DOING IN FULL-TIME DISTANCE LEARNING & HOW IT’S GOING Our first quarter of full-time distance learning ends this week, and I thought it would be interesting to some readers, and helpful to me, to take some time to reflect on what I’ve been doing and how it’s been going. I’m dividing this post into several categories: Summary, Concerns, and then specific discussio
Weighing a Transformative Model for Youth Justice Last year, Los Angeles County supervisors called on a panel of judges, prosecutors, public defenders and youth advocates to reimagine a juvenile justice system and report back. Now, the results are in, and the 150-member group is calling for an entirely new approach: Instead of surveillance and incarceration, teams of counselors, mediators and co
‘It’s science, stupid’: A school subject emerges as a hot button political issue At the top of Dr. Hiral Tipirneni’s to-do list if she wins her congressional race: work with other elected officials to encourage mask mandates and to beef up COVID-19 testing and contact tracing. Those choices are backed up by science, said Tipirneni, an emergency room physician running for Arizona’s 6th Congressio
Change Your Clocks Today and Your President on Tuesday Just a brief reminder that Donald Trump is on the ballot this year. While a thousand Americans die daily from COVID, the worst disaster in my living memory, there's still no national program or mask mandate. While Trump lies that he'll protect Americans with pre-existing conditions, a concept most developed countries don't face, the SCOTUS h
The National Review Vs. Evil Teachers Unions Upon first reading " Teachers Unions and the Myth of 'Public' Schools " at National Review, my immediate impulse was to just mutter "fatuous bullshit" and move on. But this piece is a fine distillation of a current genre of writing--the piece that blames current school closures on the self-serving teachers' unions, who see distance learning as a great
I Just Want to Teach, but My District Won’t Let Me Do it Safely I love teaching. But I can’t do it if I’m dead. Therein lies the back to school nightmare I’ve been living through for most of the summer and fall. The Coronavirus pandemic has affected people unequally. Folks like me with pre-existing conditions are at greater risk from the virus than others. I have heart disease and Crohn’s Diseas
Betsy DeVos’ Scary Story It’s Halloween, and I’d like to tell you a scary story. Actually, I’d like to allow US ed sec Betsy DeVos tell a story scary for its lack of details and ultimately intended to drive her readers toward her pet goal of school choice, particularly private school choice. I call it, “Did You Really Mean to Implicate This Parent?” Put yourself in the shoes of the father whose
SNCC: Danny Lyon's new film. https://vimeo.com/461037507 A note from Danny Lyon : This i s an open link to my new film SNCC. Anyone can see it. It is free. I welcome comments on the Vimeo site. Please share this with anyone you want. Thanks Danny https://vimeo.com/461037507 Radical artists from the movement are creating a mural of John Lewis being in Rochester New York. John was a powerful stump
Big Education Ape TOP POSTS THIS WEEK 10/31/20 ‘Slaying Goliath’: Diane Ravitch argues in new book that public education advocates have beat back efforts to privatize schools - The Washington Post The real story of New
