Betsy DeVos unveils new Title IX rules: Are they aimed at "silencing survivors"? | Salon.com

Betsy DeVos unveils new Title IX rules: Are they aimed at "silencing survivors"? | Salon.com

Betsy DeVos unveils new Title IX rules: Are they aimed at "silencing survivors"?
New federal guidelines may make it harder to report sexual assault or harassment, and reduce investigations

After three years of combative deliberations, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos released controversial new rules on Wednesday governing how schools administer allegations of sexual assault and misconduct, rules that the department, by its own admission, designed in part to suppress accusations nationwide.

The Title IX overhaul mandates that schools adopt a formal and open disciplinary process that resembles a criminal trial — including cross-examination in open hearings — and affords new protections for students accused of assault or misconduct, including a presumption of innocence and the right to review any and all evidence against them.

The guidance goes into effect in August.

Legal experts and victims' rights advocates decry the new rules, arguing they will have a chilling effect on complaints. The department effectively agrees: In what seems an instance of saying the quiet part out loud, DOE admits that the changes could reduce the number of investigations, thereby saving schools millions of dollars.

Republicans characterize the changes as enhancing victims' rights. Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., chair of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, said in a statement that the revision "respects and supports victims and preserves due process rights for both the victim and the CONTINUE READING: Betsy DeVos unveils new Title IX rules: Are they aimed at "silencing survivors"? | Salon.com

Cuomo partners with Bill Gates to ‘reimagine education’ - The Washington Post

Cuomo partners with Bill Gates to ‘reimagine education’ - The Washington Post

Cuomo questions why school buildings still exist — and says New York will work with Bill Gates to ‘reimagine education’
Teachers criticized the partnership

(Update: Comment from Gates foundation)

New York Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo (D) rocked the education world — and drew strong criticism from teachers and others — by questioning why school buildings still exist and announcing that he would work with Microsoft founder Bill Gates to “reimagine education,” with technology at the forefront.

Cuomo, who in the past has angered educators by supporting controversial Gates-funded school reforms, said Tuesday that the coronavirus pandemic offers an opportunity to change how students are educated, and he called Gates “a visionary” whose “thoughts on technology and education” should be advanced. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has spent billions of dollars on education reform projects it has conceded did not work as hoped.

“The old model of everybody goes and sits in the classroom, and the teacher is in front of that classroom and teaches that class, and you do that all across the city, all across the state, all these buildings, all these physical classrooms — why, with all the technology you have?” Cuomo said at Tuesday’s coronavirus response news conference.

He showed a slide with questions about how technology can transform education, which it has failed to do so far despite the promises of its supporters. And he said a panel of experts would be convened to find a way forward with education and other issues. On Wednesday, he tapped another billionaire, former Google chief executive Eric Schmidt, to lead his new blue-ribbon commission to “reimagine” New York state.

The coronavirus pandemic — which shut down schools around the country and put millions of students and teachers online for remote education — has, he said, shown just how unprepared the country was for such a transition.

Sign up for our Coronavirus Updates newsletter to track the outbreak. All stories linked in the newsletter are free to access.

“When does change come to a society? Because we all talk about change and advancement, but really we like control, and we like the status quo, and it’s hard to change the status quo,” he said. “But you get moments in history where people say, ‘Okay, I’m ready. I’m ready for change. I get it.’ I think this is one of those moments. And I think education, as well as other topics, is a topic where people will say, ‘Look, I’ve been reflecting, I’ve been thinking, I learned a lot.’ We all learned a lot about how vulnerable we are CONTINUE READING: Cuomo partners with Bill Gates to ‘reimagine education’ - The Washington Post

The Disappearing Social Safety Net: Public Schools | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

The Disappearing Social Safety Net: Public Schools | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

The Disappearing Social Safety Net: Public Schools

Sondra Cuban and I jointly wrote this post.

“Sondra Cuban is a Professor at Western Washington University and an educational sociologist studying the trajectories, aspirations, and struggles of women immigrants. She is the author of Deskilling Migrant Women in the Global Care Industry (2013).“

One of our greatest social safety nets has vanished in the blink of an eye. Before the pandemic, schools were societal safeguards in having legal custody of children and youth six to 12 hours a day, granting credentials, and providing meals, social and medical services.  Now with schools closed, the importance of schools to not only parents but all citizens has become obvious.

This is the first time in a century since the flu pandemic of 1918 that government has decommissioned public schools. They are ghosts standing in our communities, unused, with yellow tape around playground bars and slides. Uncertainty over re-opening dates breeds anxiety as superintendents fumble to communicate with teachers, parents and families during the crisis.

Turn on the television to see the absence of leadership at the very top. The U.S. Department of Education website only has flow charts posted in March for whether  schools should close. No one in authority knows when they will reopen other than in the fall, creating a quiet storm in every community about what to do with children and their wellbeing as well as the health of families.

Early responses came from state governors. Because the virus spreads rapidly in crowds, gatherings of 10 or more people were prohibited. Schools, sporting and entertainment events, and businesses closed. The economy ground to a halt. By mid-March, 45 governors had acted shutting down businesses and schools for CONTINUE READING: The Disappearing Social Safety Net: Public Schools | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

New York: Cuomo’s Pathetic Attempt to Pretend He is Not Really Asking Bill Gates to Reinvent Education | Diane Ravitch's blog

New York: Cuomo’s Pathetic Attempt to Pretend He is Not Really Asking Bill Gates to Reinvent Education | Diane Ravitch's blog

New York: Cuomo’s Pathetic Attempt to Pretend He is Not Really Asking Bill Gates to Reinvent Education

When Governor Cuomo got the blowback from parents and educators who were outraged at the idea that he invited Bill Gates (and now Eric Schmidt of Google) to “reinvent” education in the state, he pretended he didn’t say it.

He (or someone on his staff) wrote a message yesterday on his Facebook page:

“Teachers are heroes & nothing could ever replace in-person learning — COVID has reinforced that.

The re-imagine education task force focuses on using technology most effectively while schools are closed & to provide more opportunities to students no matter where they are.

This will be done in full partnership with educators and administrators — that’s the only way it could be successful.”

Bringing in Bill Gates only to re-imagine education during the time that schools are closed?

Wait a minute. Blogger and education activist Peter Goodman (who attends every meeting of the state CONTINUE READING: New York: Cuomo’s Pathetic Attempt to Pretend He is Not Really Asking Bill Gates to Reinvent Education | Diane Ravitch's blog

Jeff Bryant: Government Leaders Including Betsy DeVos Push Their Personal Agendas as Economic Tsunami Crashes into America’s Schools | Ed Politics

Government Leaders Including Betsy DeVos Push Their Personal Agendas as Economic Tsunami Crashes into America’s Schools | Ed Politics

GOVERNMENT LEADERS INCLUDING BETSY DEVOS PUSH THEIR PERSONAL AGENDAS AS ECONOMIC TSUNAMI CRASHES INTO AMERICA’S SCHOOLS

Due to the coronavirus pandemic, nearly all states have ordered or recommended school buildings stay closed for the rest of the academic year, according to Education Week’s most recent count, and “schools are likely to stay shut for months,” according to the New York Times. Teachers are responding to the crisis by continuing their heroic efforts to ensure students are getting fed, staying engaged, and receiving ongoing instruction via remote learning in some form. Meanwhile, economists and policy leaders are warning that public schools are headed toward a financial crater unless governments at all levels come up with emergency funds for schools.

But instead of rushing to rescue schools from financial calamity, many government leaders—including U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos—are using the pandemic to advance their personal agendas, whether it’s to privatize public education or balance budgets on the backs of school kids.

The predicted shortfalls will compound harm that’s been done to a public education system already in financial trauma.

Public schools haven’t fully recovered from the beating they took as a result of the Great Recession, argues a new report from the Albert Shanker Institute, a research center affiliated with the American Federation of Teachers. The downturn in the nation’s economy that started in 2007 hit schools hardest in 2009 to 2011, after states had slashed education budgets and aid that came from the federal stimulus package had run out. The results were “fewer teachers and support staff, larger classes, and a narrower array of academic and extracurricular programs,” the report explains.

The report’s authors, Rutgers professor Bruce Baker and Shanker Institute senior fellow Matthew Di Carlo, call on the federal CONTINUE READING: Government Leaders Including Betsy DeVos Push Their Personal Agendas as Economic Tsunami Crashes into America’s Schools | Ed Politics

Teacher Tom: A Valuable Thing Children Can Learn From Their Parents Who are Working at Home

Teacher Tom: A Valuable Thing Children Can Learn From Their Parents Who are Working at Home

A Valuable Thing Children Can Learn From Their Parents Who are Working at Home

My father is a civil engineer. For most of my childhood he would leave home in the morning and return in the evening. What he did, why he did it, and who he did it with were largely mysteries to us kids who were left at home with mom. Today, it's not just dad, but mom as well who heads off to work. As we got older, we were packed off to our schools. That's the way it's supposed to work, right? Everyone in their place, surrounded by colleagues, clients, and classmates, doing our work, whatever that is. The evenings are usually too short for much social time, either within the family or with neighbors. That's what weekends are for, yet another compartment in our increasingly compartmentalized lives.

Of course, this isn't the way it's always been and, from at least one perspective, there is nothing natural about it. For most of the experience of Homo sapiens, work, family, and play were inseparable, an aspect of the human survival strategy that allowed our species to thrive. For ninety-five percent of our existence we've been evolving brains that function best in the context of communities that include the whole family, many families, young and old, work and play. And one of the results of living in these communities is what we could have called, had we the word for it, education. But we didn't need a word because what we today call education was, as John Dewey wrote, "life itself."

I hope there are a lot of kids right now who are helping their parents with their work. I hope that those working from home these days aren't just shutting themselves up in a basement CONTINUE READING: Teacher Tom: A Valuable Thing Children Can Learn From Their Parents Who are Working at Home

The Right to Read – Have You Heard

The Right to Read – Have You Heard

The Right to Read

In the latest episode of Have You Heard we dig into the recent – and surprising – decision by a federal court declaring that there is in fact a constitutional right to education. One catch: the court defined that right very narrowly as a “basic minimum education.” Jennifer and Jack explore what the ruling does, and doesn’t mean, with the help of an all star cast, including Noliwe Rooks, author of Cutting School; Michael Rebell, executive director of the Center for Educational Equity; and former Detroit teacher Stephanie Griffin.

Full transcript of the episode is here. And if you enjoy Have You Heard, please consider supporting us on Patreon.

The Right to Read – Have You Heard

No Need to “Imagine”: Bill Gates Interferes with Education. | deutsch29

No Need to “Imagine”: Bill Gates Interferes with Education. | deutsch29

No Need to “Imagine”: Bill Gates Interferes with Education.

On May 05, 2020, New York governor, Andrew Cuomo, announced vague plans to work with billionaire education interference, Bill Gates, to “reimagine” education. From the Daily Gazette:

“It’s not just about reopening schools,” Cuomo said Tuesday. “When we are reopening schools, let’s open a better school and let’s open a smarter education system.”

Cuomo said the state would work with the Gates Foundation “to convene experts and develop a blueprint to reimagine education in the new normal,” but didn’t specify how that process would work or who would be involved.

Cuomo decided not to turn to his own state ed department, which is doing what a state ed department should in the face of this crisis, forming its own task force to be comprised of local stakeholders.

Bill Gates is no local stakeholder. Bill Gates is a an unaffected purse who is able to shrug off as unpleasant and disappointing any and all highly disruptive and destructive outcomes of his funded whims.

Bill Gates

Let us consider a few of those billionaire, money-toss whims.

In 2013, I wrote about Gates’ “small schools” initiative in the early 2000s. By 2006, the thrill was gone– which means Gates pulled out and left districts in a lurch. CONTINUE READING: No Need to “Imagine”: Bill Gates Interferes with Education. | deutsch29

TFA Will Train New Recruits Virtually | Gary Rubinstein's Blog

TFA Will Train New Recruits Virtually | Gary Rubinstein's Blog

TFA Will Train New Recruits Virtually

For the past thirty summers, Teach For America has trained their new recruits in a five-week crash course known as ‘the institute.’  The first institute trained 500 corps members in Los Angeles.  As TFA grew, more institutes were added and last summer they trained around 3,000 corps members spread out among four different sites.

At the institute, corps members are split into groups of about 12 where they have a TFA alum as their Corps Member Advisor.  This group is further split into teams of 4 who will work together to teach a class of students in summer school.  The first week is an orientation period where corps members get to learn the basic principles of teaching and also to have discussions about race and society.  The next four weeks are centered on student teaching.  Since summer school is about 4 hours a day, each teacher gets to teach, on average, one hour a day for the remaining 20 days.  The Corps Member Advisor will observe the student teaching and in the afternoon each day there will be a group meeting with that advisor and also some kind of lesson taught by another alum called the content specialist.

Twenty hours is not a lot of student teaching.  I’ve been complaining for years that they could increase this to eighty hours if they would just get more students for the summer schools so that each teacher could teach four hours a day instead of just one.  Though they only get twenty hours of teaching actual children, all corps members — like all student teachers — would agree that this were the most valuable hours in their entire training.  You can talk about students in the abstract all you want and what sorts of things they will CONTINUE READING: TFA Will Train New Recruits Virtually | Gary Rubinstein's Blog

Diane Ravitch in Conversation with Randi Weingarten - Network For Public Education

Diane Ravitch in Conversation with Randi Weingarten - Network For Public Education

Diane Ravitch in Conversation with Randi Weingarten

Start: Wednesday, May 13, 2020 • 8:00 PM • Eastern Daylight Time (US & Canada) (GMT-04:00)

End: Wednesday, May 13, 2020 • 9:30 AM • 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 this week will be American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten. Join Diane and Randi for a conversation about how to safely reopen school buildings. Participants will have the opportunity to ask questions.

Diane Ravitch in Conversation with Randi Weingarten - Network For Public Education

Andrew Cuomo’s School Skepticism | Daniel Katz, Ph.D.

Andrew Cuomo’s School Skepticism | Daniel Katz, Ph.D.

Andrew Cuomo’s School Skepticism

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has gotten a large boost in public approval both locally and nationally during the pandemic. That should not be a real surprise to observers. Contrasting his calm and technocratic approach to epidemiology with incompetence and chaos coming from Washington, D.C. was always going to play to his strengths and, oddly, turn some of his deficits into assets. In a time of crisis, people generally like a leader who is able to run roughshod over others who are not stepping up to the tasks given to them and who has a firm hand on the situation. Andrew Cuomo’s default setting is to crash through others and to slap away other hands from what he sees as his territory. The fact that New York, after a very rough start, is making real progress in decreasing cases and deaths is attributable to Cuomo’s governance.

Of course, overreach is also a part of Cuomo’s governance toolbox, so it really should not have surprised anyone that he chose Teacher Appreciation Week to announce that New York would partner with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to “reimagine education” as we move forward.

The next sound you heard was the panic reflexes of 1000s of public education advocates and New York’s professional teachers. It brings back memories of Governor Cuomo’s first term and early second term attacks on the state’s education system and its teachers, and his efforts to tie teacher evaluation to test scores to dismiss 1000s of teachers.  While largely abandoned in the second year of his second term, Governor Cuomo’s education priorities in 2014-2015 were an aggressive move to shake up what he had referred to as “one of the only CONTINUE READING: Andrew Cuomo’s School Skepticism | Daniel Katz, Ph.D.

CURMUDGUCATION: High Stakes Testing Is A Huge Threat To Post-Covid Education

CURMUDGUCATION: High Stakes Testing Is A Huge Threat To Post-Covid Education

High Stakes Testing Is A Huge Threat To Post-Covid Education

High stakes testing and the relentless use of Big Standardized Test score as a proxy for everything we want from an education system--well, it has always caused problems.

It has led to a terrible narrowing of education (if that class isn't On The Test, then why bother supporting it or even offering it). It has provided a large-scale demonstration of Campbell's Law, in which a measurement is mistaken for the thing itself, thereby distorting the thing itself and the measurement. It has allowed all manner of education amateur to speak with authority about education because, after all, they have "hard data" and a bunch of numbers . And so important people have been able to act as if they really know things, when in fact they haven't had a clue. It has allowed folks to pretend they Know Things, when in fact they don't know anything at all. And for certain folks intent on privatizing education, high stakes testing has provided a way to "prove" that public schools are failing and should be replaced with privately owned and operated education flavored businesses.

Yeah, gonna need a better foundation than that

The widespread test fetish has drawn time and attention and resources from aspects of education that actually matter. Journalists and fonts of education wisdom keep talking about "student achievement" and "teacher effectiveness" and what they actually mean is "the scores on a single not-very-well-designed math and reading test." The disruptors and edu-wonks and self-appointed edu-leaders have honed an educational focus that is all hat, while ignoring the cattle completely.

The focus on high stakes testing has done considerable damage to education in this country. It is poised to do even more.

Andrew Cuomo is assembling a panel of well-connected education amateurs like Bill Gates and Eric CONTINUE READING: CURMUDGUCATION: High Stakes Testing Is A Huge Threat To Post-Covid Education

SPECIAL CORONAVIRUS UPDATE Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... The latest news and resources in education since 2007

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

Ed Tech Digest

by Larry Ferlazzo / 2h

Eight years ago, in another somewhat futile attempt to reduce the backlog of resources I want to share, I began this occasional “” post where I share three or four links I think are particularly useful and related to…ed tech, including some Web 2.0 apps. You might also be interested in THE BEST ED TECH RESOURCES OF 2019 – PART TWO , as well as checking out all my edtech resources . Here are this

Now THIS Is a Useful Resources: A Guide To Doing Project-Based Learning Remotely

by Larry Ferlazzo / 3h

Not many new resources are making it onto The “Best Of The Best” Resources To Support Teachers Dealing With School Closures , but PBLWorks’ new PBL For Remote Learning is going there right now. It’s full of useful and practical information, including lots of examples.

“TIME For Kids” Now Offers Materials In Multiple Languages, Same Article In Different Lexile Levels

by Larry Ferlazzo / 3h

TIME For Kids has announced they are starting to make their materials available in different language. They’ve begun in Spanish, and plan to expand to other languages in the next few weeks. While I was checking it out, I discovered that it also offers the same articles in three different lexile levels. Like many companies, they’re making their site free through the end of the year. I’m adding thi

Video: “Former President Obama Obama Surprises Teachers for National Teacher Appreciation Week”

by Larry Ferlazzo / 3h

janeb13 / Pixabay I’m adding this video to The Best Resources To Learn About World Teachers Day :

YESTERDAY

This Week’s Resources To Support Teachers Coping With School Closures

by Larry Ferlazzo / 10h

Wokandapix / Pixabay I have a number of regular weekly features (see HERE IS A LIST (WITH LINKS) OF ALL MY REGULAR WEEKLY FEATURES ). This is a relatively new addition to that list. Some of these resources will be added to The Best Advice On Teaching K-12 Online (If We Have To Because Of The Coronavirus) – Please Make More Suggestions ! and the best will go to The “Best Of The Best” Resources To

“Students Reflect on Their Distance Learning Experiences”

by Larry Ferlazzo / 11h

Students Reflect on Their Distance Learning Experiences is the headline of my latest Education Week Teacher column. Six students, from the ages of 7 to 17, share their thoughts about online learning – both the good and the bad. Here are some excerpts:

The 75th Anniversary Of World War Two’s End In Europe Will Be Celebrated On Friday – Here Are Teaching & Learning Resources

by Larry Ferlazzo / 11h

janeb13 / Pixabay The 75th anniversary of the defeat of Nazi Germany will be celebrated in Europe on Friday. You might be interested in: The Best Online Resources For Teaching & Learning About World War II (Part One) The Best Online Resources For Teaching & Learning About World War II (Part Two)

This Week’s “Round-Up” Of Useful Posts & Articles On Ed Policy Issues

by Larry Ferlazzo / 11h

Here are some recent useful posts and articles on educational policy issues (You might also be interested in THE BEST ARTICLES, VIDEOS & POSTS ON EDUCATION POLICY IN 2019 – PART TWO ): A School Experiment to Remember is from Larry Cuban, and is pretty interesting. School Reform Metaphors: The Pendulum and Hurricane is also from Larry Cuban. The Coronavirus Pandemic and K-12 Education Funding is f

Video: Jimmy Fallon Performs “Teachers’ Day Song”

by Larry Ferlazzo / 1d

OpenClipart-Vectors / Pixabay I’m adding this video to The Best Resources To Learn About World Teachers Day :

You Won’t Find A Better Growth Mindset Quote Than This One From A Rugby Star

by Larry Ferlazzo / 1d

Today’s Guardian article, ‘A year to be better’: Abby Gustaitis on lockdown and the lure of Olympic rugby gold , included that wonderful quote in the text box above. I’m adding it to: A Beginning List For Learning About The 2020 

Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... | The latest news and resources in education since 2007