How states are reinventing what it takes to get a high school diploma The coronavirus crisis is prompting difficult conversations about what it means to graduate. Governors and superintendents are scrapping requirements, undoing testing mandates and adopting emergency rules so that high school seniors can graduate this year. The coronavirus crisis cut short the school year for K-12 schools in mo
Fauci: Kids could get ‘infected’ if Florida reopens schools TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — President Donald Trump and top White House health officials on Friday said a proposal floated by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis to reopen state schools next month could help spread the coronavirus. “If you have a situation where you don’t have a real good control over an outbreak and you allow children together, they will
Teaching Without Schools: Grief, Then A 'Free-For-All' They thought they'd have more time, teachers say. Many couldn't even say goodbye. "Everything happened so quickly," remembers Hannah Klumpe, who teaches seventh grade social studies in Greenville, S.C. "Friday I was at school, talking to my students, and they're like, 'Do you think they're going to close school?' And I was like, 'Oh, not rig
When Can We Re-Open Schools? Re-Open the Nation? Has Teaching and Learning Changed (Forever)? A New Normal? Should your child start college in September? Or take a gap year? Do you want to spend tens of thousands in tuition for an online college experience from your kid’s bedroom? Will school become “alternate week” to keep distancing? Will the NFL season begin with empty stadiums? Will subway c
"What Keeps Me Up At Night:" Reflections of A Fordham Senior on COVID-19's Impact I am trying to deal with what is an incredibly difficult time for all of us. I am incredibly disappointed that we will not have a graduation ceremony (it is my sincere hope they will ACTUALLY hold the ceremony). As a first generation american and a first generation college student, that day was so much more than a
Choosing Democracy: SCUSD Fails To Consult Teachers on Learning Superintendent Threatens Legal Action Against Teacher Volunteers SCUSD Announces Unilateral Implementation of "Hybrid Model" Distance Learning Plan As Thousands of Students Are Without Chromebooks Last night at 8:48 p.m. we received a letter via email from SCUSD Superintendent Jorge Aguilar that declared “that the District will move
This Is Why You Need A Secretary of Education With Classroom Experience Betsy DeVos has been pretty much no help at all during the pandemic closing of schools. The US Department of Education has offered next to no guidance to public schools on how best to navigate the current storm. Imagine a country where, in the face of a major disruptive health crisis that cuts across all communities, the fed
Backers of “Schools and Communities First” Submit Record Breaking Number of Signatures for Inclusion on Fall Ballot. Backers of the Schools and Communities First Ballot Initiative didn’t let a little thing like a global pandemic stop them from submitting 1.7 million signatures to the California Secretary of State to earn a spot on the November ballot. The measure needs 50%+1 vote to pass. Califo
Top 10 Reasons to Vote for Joe Biden in the 2020 General Election With Bernie Sanders dropping out of the 2020 Democratic Primary, I can think of only these 10 reasons to vote for Joe Biden in the November general election: 10) He’s not Donald Trump. 9) He’s not Donald Trump. 8) He’s not Donald Trump. 7) He’s not Donald Trump. 6) He’s not Donald Trump. 5) He’s not Donald Trump. 4) He’s not Donal
State Superintendent Tony Thurmond Announces Availability of Guidance on Child Care for Essential Workers SACRAMENTO—State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond announced today that the California Department of Education (CDE) and the California Department of Social Services (CDSS) have issued new guidance that will facilitate child care for children of essential critical infrastruc
NewBlackMan (in Exile) APR 09 Prisoners Reveal Inhumane Conditions Inside Mississippi Prisons by Mark Anthony Neal / 1d ' Inmates inside Parchman State Penitentiary, Mississippi’s most infamous prison, describe the inhumane conditions that have them fearing for their lives. They’ve shared videos from inside the prison, exposing the hellish surroundings. Overflowing sewage, rats, mold, and threat
Education Research Report THIS WEEK Education Research Report YESTERDAY State Policies to Address COVID-19 School Closure by Jonathan Kantrowitz / 18h The COVID-19 crisis led to a near-nationwide closure of K-12 public schools. Many states are not planning to re-open schools for face-to-face instruction for the remainder of the 2019-20 school year. Governor Gretchen Whitmer has announced that Mic
Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... | The latest news and resources in education since 2007 SPECIAL CORONAVIRUS UPDATE Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... The latest news and resources in education since 2007 YESTERDAY SEL Weekly Update by Larry Ferlazzo / 6h I’ve recently begun this weekly post where I’ll be sharing resources I’m adding to The Best Social Emotional Learning (SEL) Resourc
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 YESTERDAY Dana Milbank: When You Drown Government in a Bathtub, People Die 100+ by dianeravitch / 11h Dana Milbank, opinion writer for the Washington Post, says that the a Republican right wing finally have the helpless federal government they ha
A Dozen Good Things that Could (Just Maybe) Happen as a Result of this Pandemic The NY Times launched a series of investigations and articles Thursday around this theme: It may not feel like it now, but out of this crisis there’s a chance to build a better America: the America we need. I look forward to reading every single one of the articles—yesterday’s were about our broken health care system
Homeschooling—the new normal On the afternoon of March 13, City College students and faculty got the news that Los Rios Community College District was suspending face-to-face classes and would go fully online due to the COVID-19 quarantine. I’m a sophomore, and spring 2020 is my last semester at City College. This news was disheartening for me. As the returning photo editor of the Express news s
Standardized tests are canceled and many kids won’t be graded. So what’s worth learning right now? For more than a decade, veteran educator Marion Brady has been writing for the Answer Sheet about fundamental problems with what and how schools in the United States teach children to become productive and active adults. His critique has not changed now that American schoolchildren are at home doin
Chaos Learning: Classroom vs Online? It is very difficult to give weight to anything these days except for the conditions that we are now living and dying under, especially as a New Yorker. Time does not stand still however, so we need to assess where we are in order to adjust and move forward. If this pandemic has taught me anything, this would be my lesson learned. When it comes to the America
World Bank Changes Policy on For-Profit Privatized Schools Until recently, the World Bank has been a vocal supporter of for-profit privatized education such as that offered by Bridge International, which had been expanding rapidly in Africa. Thanks in large part to the work of Education International , a world confederation of teachers’ unions, the World Bank has changed its policy. In a sudden
How the coronavirus shutdown will affect school district revenues Facing a pandemic-triggered economic slowdown, U.S. school districts now need to consider doing something they haven’t had to do in recent budget boom years: Draft a budget that assumes they’re headed for a financial fall. Why? More than ever, school districts rely on state money. In many states, much of the state revenue comes fr
Trees, Philosophy, and What Comes Next My wife teaches first grade; she is working via online tools with her team to create materials. Meanwhile, we are potty training the twins, even though a bit of necessary-but-minor surgery has left me a little less mobile than usual. That's our story right now. Through social media, phone calls, e-mails, etc, we all know, at this point, hundreds more. The g
For next COVID bill, NEA urges Congress to think big As a fourth coronavirus legislative package begins to take shape, NEA is urging Congress to address immediate needs like funding as well as long-festering problems ranging from the homework gap to student loan debt. On April 9, NEA sent every member of Congress a detailed list of top priorities for students and educators accompanied by a lette
What Home Schooling Could Teach Parents A lot of people, both left and right, like to condemn our educational system. Teachers don’t do a good job. Teachers don’t have sufficient resources. Class sizes are too large. School buildings are too old and unmaintained. They’re not teaching what students need to learn. They don’t teach about anything but what white corporation owners want their drones
The Census is an Education Justice Issue The 2020 Census is underway, with the first wave of forms being mailed across the country on April 1, and data collection continuing through the Fall. The COVID-19 pandemic that has disrupted all of our lives could make the Census more difficult—so it’s critical that communities mobilize to make sure all their neighbors are counted. The Impact of the Cens
NewBlackMan (in Exile) Prisoners Reveal Inhumane Conditions Inside Mississippi Prisons by Mark Anthony Neal / 15h ' Inmates inside Parchman State Penitentiary, Mississippi’s most infamous prison, describe the inhumane conditions that have them fearing for their lives. They’ve shared videos from inside the prison, exposing the hellish surroundings. Overflowing sewage, rats, mold, and threats of v
The Path Into the Future If you've read here for any length of time, you'll know that I'm dismissive of anyone talking about those mythological jobs of tomorrow . No one can possibly know what jobs the children we teach will be applying for when they start to enter the job market 20 years from now, but there's never a shortage of deep voiced know-it-alls who assert not only that they know what's
Are Charter Schools Public or Private? Trying to Have It Both Ways When Federal Emergency Money Is Involved One reads that a pandemic is likely to inspire greed as people struggle protect themselves and their loved ones. Right now that theory seems to be confirmed by the behavior of charter school advocates, who want to have it both ways. Such advocates call their institutions “public charter sc
PA: Another Charter PR Push The Pennsylvania Coalition of Public [sic] Charter Schools has been having a rough year, what with PA Governor Tom Wolf threatening to finally implement the charter school reforms that the heavily-lobbied legislature just can't seem to get done. So they've launched themselves another PR push to try to make their case. Meet 143K Rising . This is ostensibly a group of "
Faulty Billionaire Financed Education “Study” By Thomas Ultican 4/9/2020 This January, the new organization Brightbeam and its CEO Chris Stewart published “ The Secret Shame: How America’s Most Progressive Cities Betray Their Commitment to Educational Opportunity for All .” The name clearly indicates the paper’s political leanings and the underlying data is suspicious. The paper is a polemic rat
SOME TRUTHS ABOUT TEACHERS Last week in this space I posted an almost entirely fabricated** article about faux “research’ I claimed to have done by hitchhiking while posing as a retired teacher, CPA, doctor, et cetera. Although the piece was posted on April Fools Day, a fair number of readers took what I wrote at face value. Why would smart people take me at face value? I think it’s because my p
PA: PNC A Charter School Player We may think of the financial arm of the charter movement coming from specialized groups like the NewSchools Venture Fund or from hedge fund groups, but I've been reminded that sometimes it's regular old everyday banks in their helping to prop up the privatization of public education. PNC Financial Services is a big fat financial holding company with a long histor
Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... | The latest news and resources in education since 2007 SPECIAL CORONAVIRUS UPDATE Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... The latest news and resources in education since 2007 Six Potential Models For School Schedules During The COVID-19 Crisis by Larry Ferlazzo / 1h We’re exploring what kind of schedule we want to institute at our school while we’re close
Los Angeles: The New Reality: Overwhelmed. Isolated. Unfocused. Very Stressed. While enthusiasts for online learning predict a boom after the pandemic, as students and teachers get used to learning at home online, the reality is different on the ground. Stress, loneliness, and boredom are typical reactions. A team of reporters in Los Angeles reports on student reactions to the loss of face-to-fa
Rocked by 30 Teacher Deaths (so far), DOE Hides Data, UFT Could Poll Chapter Leaders but doesn't - so far There's one truth I learned in my 53 years about the DOE -- there's a right way, a wrong way and the DOE way - and it's most often a shit-show. DOE sent help to schools Saying what they do is wrong is wrong - they are often worse than wrong. As for the UFT - I throw up my hands and surrender
In Short, I'm Unhappy With the Democrat Result So here we are. Joe Biden is the worst possible Democratic candidate for public education; only Blomberg would have been worse. It's possible that Biden so closely resembles an establishment Republican that traditional GOP members who are appalled by Trump will vote Biden. If there are any significant number. The campaign will be awful and stupid an
Trainings: Digital Organizing in the COVID-19 Crisis The Funders Collaborative on Youth Organizing (FCYO) is holding two digital organizing trainings coming up this week and next to give advocates the tools they need to continue serving the people and fighting for change: In the midst of the COVID-19 crisis, youth organizing groups have been adapting to continue vital work in our new conditions.
My Transition to Emergency Remote Teaching Across my undergraduate and graduate courses in education, I stress the importance that all educators have a detailed understanding of the educational philosophies and theories that they claim to embrace as well as if their practices match those claims. Teachers, however, are a practical lot, and most pre-service and in-service teachers resist my argume
Bill Gates and the 10 other tech titans with the power to shape how the US fights the coronavirus The billionaires’ response has been called “lackluster.” Here’s who can change that. What Silicon Valley billionaires decide to do with their money and power from now on in the Covid-19 crisis matters. It could affect the amount of suffering the US experiences in a recession and the amount of time b
A proposal for what post-coronavirus schools should do (instead of what they used to do) What will schooling look like when the buildings finally reopen (whenever that may be) and authorities have determined it is safe for children and adults to resume their lives beyond their own homes? Will things simply pick up, relatively unchanged, from where they left off before the crisis, or will there b
Will Covid-19 certificates trigger biometric digital identity roll out? It is week four of the Covid-19 pandemic lock-down. People have been told to get busy fashioning masks out of bits of cloth, hair bands, and filters they have around the house. The initial shock has worn off, and apparently we are supposed to gear up for the long haul as the global economy collapses around us. Unless you hav
You’ve Got Questions. We’ve Got Answers What do you want to know about education in a time of pandemic? We put that question to Have You Heard listeners, then rounded up an all-star cast of experts with answers. Should I tell my son that the online assignments he’s been doing won’t count? What do we want kids to remember about this time? And now that we’ve all seen for ourselves that edtech is N
Listen to this – 2020 #1 – Wearing a Mask Edition Meaningful quotes… KIDS LIVING IN POVERTY DON’T HAVE ANY LOBBYISTS Schools have closed for the coronavirus pandemic and most will likely not open again this school year. Many school systems have gone to online learning, but because a significant percentage of students have little or no access to the internet, some students are not being served. H
John Prine: Poet from Paradise This blog dedicated to literacy education and teaching may seem like a strange place to be discussing the contributions of a singer-songwriter like John Prine. But Prine, who died on April 7 of Corvid 19 complications, was a true American poet in the grand tradition of Walt Whitman, Mark Twain, and Carl Sandburg. No less an eminence than Bob Dylan recognized him fo
Land of the Free I've never seen our country quite in the condition it's in. How can it be, in the richest country in the world, that we have no masks for doctors and nurses? How can it be that hospitals are dressing employees in plastic bags because they haven't got protective gowns? How can it be that we have a President hyping unproven treatments in which he owns stock? How, after all this ti
When Teaching and Parenting Collide: As Schools Shift Online, Many Educators Manage Two Roles (Matt Barnum) Matt Barnum is a journalist. This article appeared on Chalkbeat , March 31,2020 School buildings are closed, but it’s still been a busy couple of weeks for Noriko Nakada, a Los Angeles middle school teacher. She’s been attending virtual faculty meetings, receiving district training for rem
Republicans seeking broad authority to cut aid to schools and state programs as part of coronavirus response https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/politics/2020/04/08/wisconsin-gop-wants-power-cut-spending-response-coronavirus/2970764001/ Patrick Marley and Molly Beck , Milwaukee Journal Sentinel MADISON – Seeking to further curb Democratic Gov. Tony Evers’ power, Republican lawmakers are developi
NC Teacher Suspended for Blowing Whistle on Forced Return to School During COVID Closure A teacher at a North Carolina charter school has been placed on paid leave pending an investigation for his telling a local news outlet about his concerns at being required to attend school despite the governor’s order that NC schools remain closed until May 15, 2020. According to WRAL.com , on April 07, 202
LA Unified, teachers’ union reach agreement over distance learning guidelines Agreement allows teachers to create their own schedules and doesn’t require them to use live video. Los Angeles teachers will be able to create their own work schedules and won’t be required to teach classes using live video platforms as part of a tentative agreement reached late Wednesday with the Los Angeles Unified
Charter Schools: We Are Businesses Charter schools have always been chameleons of convenience. "Public school" sounds good for marketing, but "private business" is what comes up in court when the issue of transparency appears. Like Schroedinger's cat's training school, they can be both or neither depending on what is most financially advantageous for them. It may be the financial advantage that
4 In 10 U.S. Teens Say They Haven't Done Online Learning Since Schools Closed With most schools closed nationwide because of the coronavirus pandemic, a national poll of young people ages 13 to 17 suggests distance learning has been far from a universal substitute. The poll of 849 teenagers, by Common Sense Media, conducted with SurveyMonkey, found that as schools across the country transition t
Distance learning from home and in the park I wake up each morning feeling great and reminding myself of the only thing on my “to-do” list — enjoy life. But anxiety keeps seeping in. I find solace walking the dog at nearby Edgemere Park in Oklahoma City, where I see young families demonstrating so many of the values that will get us through the COVID-19 crisis. Children in that outdoor classroom
THE LESSONS SOME PARENTS HOPE THEIR CHILDREN LEARN DURING THIS PANDEMIC HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH ACADEMICS I’ve always wanted to be a mom. As a teenager, I imagined I would have three kids: one girl and two boys—who would of course be fiercely protective of their sister—and they would share an unbreakable bond. I would be a working mom—even then I knew that I was not cut out to be a homeschooling
Two Views on After The Pandemic: What Happens in Schools? Here are two contrasting views about what happens when (if?) children return to school in the fall. In an article in the Washington Post , Mike Petrilli, president of the rightwing Thomas B. Fordham Institute, proposes that all students be held back a grade to make up for the ground they lost when schools closed in March. He also suggests
A WEEK LATE…. HITCHING AND LEARNING I began hitch-hiking out of necessity, but before long it became an obsession, and then a serious research project. It all began last fall when I took a job as an unpaid Media Advisor (really a PR person) for “ No Nails Left Behind ,” a small non-profit in the upper reaches of the Bronx that provides jobs for formerly incarcerated residents of the Borough. (Th
"Parenting is About Growing" One evening, before we were parents, my wife and I were invited to a dear friend's house for dinner. We hadn't seen her in years, nor met her husband or child, who was at the time about 12 months old. Jennifer must have been pregnant at the time, but it was still new enough that we hadn't yet turned our attentions to our future as parents in any meaningful way. There
Coronavirus School Closures Will Force Us to Examine Failure of Standards-Based School Accountability How will students make up the work they are missing now that schools are closed during the coronavirus pandemic? I am dismayed by some of what I’m reading about people’s strategies for catching kids up once schools open. There are people who actually believe that standards-based, accountability-
How Innovative Educators Are Engaging Students Online When governors and state superintendents closed schools because of the coronavirus, it took teachers and faculty a matter of days—and in many cases a few hours—to move their classes online. Despite the differences between online learning and face-to-face learning, the level of commitment and creativity from educators is stronger than ever. Ce
Education in the Age of Globalization » Blog Archive » Tofu is not Cheese: Reimagine Education without Schools During Covid19 (1) Tofu is not Cheese: Reimagine Education without Schools During Covid19 (1) Introduction “Tofu is not cheese” is what I said to a group of educators of ESF Quarry Bay Primary School (QBS), a school in Hong Kong that is determined to turn the Covid-19 crisis into an oppo
Coronavirus Triggers Ed Tech Free Sample-Palooza. Be careful. Imagine that you have a great new food product to sell, and you suddenly catch wind of a neighborhood where all the restaurants and grocery stores have been shut down. How quickly could you get on a street corner there with a big tray of free samples? As schools are shut down across the country, ed tech companies, from old faithfuls t
TogetherApart: Co-location And Collaboration Constrained By Pandemic In the wake of pandemic, priorities are rearranged. Prior to schools’ closing in March, 2020, several LAUSD school sites were facing the prospect of sharing their campus with a charter school next year. These forced “colocations” are directed by the District when a “public charter school” requests public space for its operation
“Quarantined”: Announcing the release of the new single for the COVID-19 generation—Diary of a Teacher During the Coronavirus Crisis, Entry #5 The new single “ Quarantined ” by Triple S is now live. Check it out at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Am2KMLGxu1c Yesterday, Washington State Governor Jay Inslee announced that all of the schools in the state would be closed for in-person learning for
Important update on Regents exams, state budget, the cancellation of Zoom, and more! Dear Friends, 1.First, some good news to report ! The Board of Regents announced yesterday that the Regents exams due to take place this spring are cancelled. Today they put out guidance that any student who would have needed to pass any Regents exams to graduate in June can be issued a diploma without taking th
A complete list of what to do — and not do — for everyone teaching kids at home during the coronavirus crisis With most of the world’s schools shut because of the coronavirus crisis, you can now find a lot of advice on the Internet about the best ways to carry out distance learning at home, where more than 1.5 billion students are now supposed to be getting their lessons. I’ve even published som
Story Time Success P4L-storytime-deck DOWNLOAD We are filled with joy at all the families who joined us from across the globe for our virtual Story Time with Jamia Wilson ! Thanks for reading both “ Young, Gifted and Black ” & “ Big Ideas for Young Thinkers ,” and for chanting, dancing, and visioning a new world with us! It warms our hearts to bear witness to your imaginations! For those who cou
A Crisis In Education: Schools Can’t Reach Thousands Of Children Some school districts have tried to reach out since closing, but thousands of families have not responded, leaving leaders to wonder if they’re hungry or safe. After three weeks of remote learning, Atlanta special education teacher Patrick Hawkins still has not heard from two of his elementary students. He’s texted their families,
Launching online learning at L.A. schools during coronavirus is ‘akin to landing on the moon’ In a sign that the digital divide may be narrowing among Los Angeles public high school students who have lacked computer or internet access, teachers have connected with 96% of their pupils, leaving about 5,000 still unaccounted for, L.A. schools Supt. Austin Beutner said Monday. The school district al
Epistemic Trespassing in Real Time: Peter Navarro, Economist White House trade adviser Peter Navarro has an impressive academic background : Navarro went to Tufts University on a full academic scholarship, [9] graduating in 1972 with a Bachelor of Arts degree. He then spent three years in the U.S. Peace Corps , serving in Thailand. [7] [13] He earned a Master of Public Administration from Harvar
Fluency Practice: Poems for Repeated Reading Over the years, I have written quite often about fluency instruction in reading. Fluency, the smooth, rapid processing of print when reading, is central to skilled reading. It is often what keeps young readers from advancing in their reading and it is often noticeably missing from many struggling readers efforts. Here are some of the posts I have writ
Wendy Lecker: What We Learned About Public Schools During the Pandemic Civil rights attorney Wendy Lecker writes a regular column in the Stamford (CT) Advocate. In this post , she points out that the pandemic has demonstrated how important public schools are in their communities. As states closed public school systems, the nation at large saw the wide range of necessary services schools provide
Proud to Be a New Yorker As I woke up this morning, at a time when New York is experiencing the worst tragedy of the 21st Century, I want to express my gratitude to all the people risking their lives and safety to get us through this crisis; our doctors, nurses, and lab technicians; our EMT's and ambulance drivers, our police officers and fire fighters; our MTA workers who keep the buses and sub
Plans Over the last four weeks, New York City teachers have been asked to plan a lot. Extraordinary Planning I March 17 – 19 we were supposed to plan for “remote learning” or “remote teaching.” Moving our existing curricula onto remote platforms really made this curriculum replanning. And most of us had to learn something about the software as well. Even those who had some knowledge were going t
Schools Ditch Zoom Amid Concerns Over Online Learning Security School leaders in New York City , Washington, D.C., and Las Vegas have announced they're discontinuing their use of the Zoom videoconferencing service for distance learning because of security, privacy, harassment and other concerns. And individual schools in Los Angeles and elsewhere are also switching to alternatives, like Microsof
Tell Congress Charters Should Not Line Their Pockets During the COVID Crisis Small businesses that employ our students' parents are devastated by COVID-19. And we are glad that the Small Business Administration is giving those businesses low-interest loans to keep their employees on the payroll. It is shocking, therefore, that the National Alliance of Public Charter Schools is actively encouragi
More Pandemic Prompted Reformster Baloney I had put off reading Kevin Huffman's slice of baloney in the Washington Post because I knew it would tax my blood pressure medications. But as disruptors and refornsters and privatizers rush to adjust their various sales pitches and policy arguments to fit the new realities, we have to pay attention. Huffman's disruptor credentials are solid. He ran Ten
As School Moves Online, Many Students Stay Logged Out Teachers at some schools across the country report that less than half of their students are participating in online learning. Chronic absenteeism is a problem in American education during the best of times, but now, with the vast majority of the nation’s school buildings closed and lessons being conducted remotely, more students than ever ar
Betsy DeVos and The Quest to End Public School Disability Services There will be beautiful tulips next spring in 2021, if we correctly and lovingly plant the bulbs this coming fall. Betsy DeVos During this unprecedented and perilous time, The New York Times report “DeVos Weighs Waivers for Special Education. Parents Are Worried.” The $2 trillion coronavirus law gives the Queen of School Privatiz
If Technology Can’t Save Us, What Will? All the ed bloggers during this pandemic are consumed with whatever we’re calling our frantic attempts to reach out to our students–to ‘keep them on track’—or (more realistically) provide whatever educational succor can be squeezed out of phone calls, emails and glitchy electronic platforms . Or, God forbid, packets. The academic show, it seems, must go on
Shame in the Time of Covid-19 Almost immediately, I noticed some disturbing patterns on social media when the U.S. began directly responding to the Covid-19 pandemic several weeks ago. The “Covid-19 is a hoax” and “Covid-19 is no worse than the flu” posts on Facebook immediately appeared (and have mostly disappeared), but what is more concerning is that very garbled and oversimplified posts also
Schools of more than 90 percent of the world’s students closed during this pandemic. This graphic shows how fast it happened. The schools of more than 90 percent of the world’s enrolled students have closed because of the coronavirus pandemic — and it happened over the space of only a few weeks, a United Nations agency said. Schools in 188 countries had shuttered by March 4, affecting 91.3 perce
Intelligence is More than Mere Knowing It's in the nature of living to wake up each morning into the unknown. There is nothing like a world wide pandemic lockdown to bring that truth into stark relief. Oh sure, there are things we already know — my spouse takes cream in her coffee, my kids won't each cold oatmeal, E=mc² — but when it comes to applying our brains, to thinking, it is upon the unkn
“The Prom Will Not Be Webcast” Eighteen years ago, a far-sighted teacher in Los Angeles presciently warned that distance learning would never be an adequate substitute for human interaction between teachers and students. Alan Warhaftig retired as a teacher in 2017. Education Week gave him permission to repost this article ,and he in turn gave me permission to post it. Educators may be pillars of
Pandemic Exposes the Limitations of Online Education Schools are closed for the rest of the school year in most places, and despite herculean efforts of school teachers to transform school activities online, there are widespread problems. What are the challenges for the nation’s over 90,000 public schools and 50 million public school students? Schools everywhere are trying to adapt but are handi
A Conversation Between Diane Ravitch and Rev. Charles Foster Johnson Start: Tuesday, April 07, 2020 • 7:30 PM • Eastern Time (US & Canada) (GMT-05:00) End: Tuesday, April 07, 2020 • 9:00 PM • Eastern Time (US & Canada) (GMT-05:00) The Network for Public Education invites you to join us for a video conference with NPE President Diane Ravitch. Diane's guest will be the Reverend Charles Foster John
A Conspiracy Theory that turned out to be Real On July 4, 1776, The Declaration of Independence said, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” Read Slaying Goliath , and learn that some of the wealthiest and most powerful Ameri
ON DISASTER DISTANCE LEARNING IN NEW YORK CITY The New York Times recently did a study on confirmed coronavirus cases across the city and found that COVID-19 cases are hitting lower-income neighborhoods the hardest. Some people have taken it to mean that we need to make more concerted efforts to keep these neighborhoods at home. (In some cases, by martial force.) Others have taken it as a sign o
Why is the Milwaukee county executive race so important to Betsy DeVos? By Marva Herndon -April 4, 2020 Wisconsin Examiner U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos speaking at the 2018 Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in National Harbor, Maryland U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos speaking at the 2018 Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in National Harbor, Maryland
CURMUDGUCATION: ICYMI: I'm Pretty Sure It's Palm Sunday Edition (4/5) I'm Pretty Sure It's Palm Sunday Edition (4/5) So here we all are, sitting at home and nervously watching the numbers, while a whole lot of folks pretend that all they have to do is wave their hands and teachers will somehow fix the school part of this. Here's the reading. I've tried to include some things to brighten your day
Privilege and the Pandemic The pandemic-powered slide into crisis schooling is highlighting many aspects of how our public education system works (or doesn't). In particular, the push for some version of distance learning is underlining the huge gap between haves and have-nots. We see the gap on the district level, between districts that can quickly muster the hardware and resources to maintain
"Have To" History: Stone v. Graham (1980) The following is a first draft for what I hope will become the follow-up to "Have To" History: Landmark Supreme Court Cases . I'm sharing some of the chapters as they're written, partly to share with you, my Eleven Faithful Followers, and partly because nothing brings out the typos, grammar errors, and other shortcomings like publishing something online.
EdAction in Congress April 5, 2020 DeVos revives failed push to privatize education Education Secretary Betsy DeVos is using the coronavirus crisis to revive her failed push to privatize education. This time, she’s calling for “microgrants” instead of vouchers. But the impact would be the same: robbing the public schools that educate 9 out of 10 students of funding, robbing the public of account
Better Call Saul: On the High Art of Centering Whiteness Among the pantheon of white-man art, including the Coen brothers and David Lynch for me, the creators of Better Call Saul offer a finely crafted and deeply flawed series that is really hard not to look at and enjoy. This prequel to Breaking Bad shares many of the strengths (beautifully and finely filmed, nuanced and morally ambiguous chara
Can NJ Afford To Continue Subsidizing Private Schools? Regardless of what happens next with Covid-19, it's clear that the budgets of states like New Jersey are in for a very, very tough time over the next few years. Governors and legislatures are going to have to make some hard choices about what states can and cannot afford in the days ahead. Given this reality, New Jersey has to ask itself: Ca
School from home is the new coronavirus reality. What will the next three months look like? A senior at John C. Fremont High School in South L.A., Emilio Hernandez’s class load is about as rigorous as it gets: AP calculus, physics, design, English, engineering and government. He loves talking to his peers in English class, who make all the readings thought-provoking. He often turns to his math t
Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... | The latest news and resources in education since 2007 TODAY’S UPDATE On New Resources To Help Educators Figuring Out How To Support Students During School Closures Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... Expansion Of “Smart Compose” To Google Docs Is Great Learning Tool For ELLs, But Not Available To School Users by Larry Ferlazzo / 1h 377053 / Pixabay Mo
Jeanette Deutermann: A Message to Parents and Teachers: EMPATHY! Jeanette Deutermann is the parent on Long Island in New York who launched “Long Island Opt Out.” It is now part of NYSAPE, New York State Parents and Educators, which has led the successful opt out movement. She read some angry posts on Facebook, with blame as the common factor. And she wrote this plea on her Facebook page, which h
NewBlackMan (in Exile) Kandace Springs Pays Tribute To 'The Women Who Raised' Her by Mark Anthony Neal / 6min ' Kandace Springs ' third record is a source of familiarity in uncertain times. Titled The Women Who Raised Me , it's full of beloved and recognizable songs associated with jazz artists who inspired and influenced Springs as an artist: Nina Simone, Billie Holiday, Lauryn Hill and Norah J
My 10 Strategies for Getting Through This Pandemic 1. Get plenty of sleep every night and nap during the day 2. Take vitamins and supplements every morning to build up my immune system 3. Exercise every day, but never to the point of exhaustion 4. Never leave the house except to sit on the stoop or go for a walk in the park, and wear a mask whenever I am outside 5. Respond to every request for h
Hula Dancing, Singing and a Teacher's Impact Recently, I had a former student reach out to me recently on Facebook Messenger. Back in the early 1980s, all middle school students were required to take a developmental reading course. This former student had been wracking his brain to come up with the title of a book he had read in my class 40 years ago. He described the basic plot, mentioned that
De Blasio Kills Multiple Birds With One Stone, Sabotaging Teachers, Students, and Organized Religion Let's be clear. Though we may have been a little rough on the mayor this week, the epidemic is not his fault. All he did was neglect it and allow it to spread like wildfire. And it's not his fault there are issues with Zoom. All he did was withdraw it with no notice whatsoever, leaving tens of th
Parents and Teachers Are Asking: Should We Be Grading Students? Regents Examinations? Graduation Requirements? School leaders and teachers in New York City and across the state have been struggling to set up routines for remote learning; finding schedules that can be replicated and bring continuity to lessons, coordinating with teachers on their grade, conferencing with the school leader; it s b
The Unregulated World of Online Charter Schools A scandal in Oklahoma reveals why we should be wary of outsourcing education to the private sector. As schools remain closed due to COVID-19, parents and policy leaders may be tempted to think of online charter schools as a solution. But an ongoing scandal in Oklahoma focused on the academic and regulatory problems posed by these schools presents a
Strange Days Indeed Pt. 1 Some reflections on life in these strange new times from someone who's lived through a few of her own Note: These are my thoughts and feelings; this is my experience. Take what you like and leave the rest. I mean no judgment on you or your religious or spiritual beliefs. This is just what works for me. Everything old is new again. In 1929, my grandmother was a 25-year-o
Big Education Ape TOP POSTS THIS WEEK 4/4/20 ‘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
