Where Have All the Children Gone? COVID-era Kindergarten Enrollment Drop Raises Deep Concerns Newly released figures from the Los Angeles Unified School District – one of the nation’s largest – show that roughly 6,000 fewer students registered for kindergarten this school year than in the previous year – a roughly 14% decrease from last year’s number of 42,912 children. At a recent public addres
Laura Chapman on the “COVID Slide” We have been warned! Students are”losing ground,” “falling behind,” and in desperate need of remediation. Laura Chapman captures the debate: The big promotion for this Covid-19 era is how to mitigate a “slide in learning.” The so-called COVID-slide is made up by bean counters who think that the be-all and end-all of education is captured in test scores for read
Honoring RBG and the Brooklyn She Grew Up In Like RBG, I grew up in Brooklyn in a time when young people like us- the children and grandchildren of once despised immigrants- had hope that the country would finally welcome us and that we could change it for the better. People like Carol King, who went to the same high school as RBG, used music as their vehicle of expression; people like Bernie Sa
Notes from Friday It’s been a hell of a day and a hell of a week and a hell of a last six months. Six months ago, today, I did not report to work. The risk was not worth the PD. Fast forward to last week and the week before, and our PD was teacher led, topics were chosen by polling teachers, and some was mandatory, but the sessions that were voluntary were still full. I wish the people in charge
THIS FALL A WINDFALL: SACRAMENTO CITY UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT REPORTS A SURPLUS OF $23 MILLION DOLLARS How is it that SCUSD is no longer insolvent ? Perhaps it is because the inappropriately took the money from the LCFF directed to English Language Learners and used it to cover their budget shortfall. As we described to the Board each year for the last 4 yearsl https://choosingdemocracy.blogspot
PROCEED AT YOUR OWN PERIL “When the whole world is crazy, it doesn’t pay to be sane.” ― Terry Goodkind, The Pillars of Creation “The best way to show that a stick is crooked is not to argue about it or to spend time denouncing it, but to lay a straight stick alongside it” ― D.L. Moody It was about 7, or a little after, as we made our way back across town from my daughter’s ballet class at Nashvi
California Department of Education August 25, 2020 Tuesday at 2 Webinar 21h The CDE NSD hosted the eighth Tuesday @ 2: School Nutrition Town Hall webinar on August 25, 2020 for school food service operators, chief business officials, and community partners. COVID 19: FFVP School Year 2020–21 Waivers 21h Effective immediately, the U.S. Department of Agriculture has granted the California Departme
NewBlackMan (in Exile) YESTERDAY MISS JUNETEENTH: A Conversation with Neil Creque Williams, Channing Godfrey Peoples and Treva Lindsey by Mark Anthony Neal / 10h 'DukeCreate & DEMAN Live are teamed up with Duke Black Alumni, Duke Cinematic Arts, Screen/Society, Duke Alumni, and Duke Department of African & African American Studies for a special virtual screening and filmmaker talkback featuring
Education Research Report THIS WEEK Education Research Report Quizzes improve academic performance by Jonathan Kantrowitz / 18h About a year ago, a conversation during a faculty meeting piqued Marcus Crede's interest. A senior faculty member in Iowa State University's Department of Psychology said that he believed frequent quizzes help students better grasp classroom material. Crede, an associate
Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... | The latest news and resources in education since 2007 THIS WEEK IN EDUCATION Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... The latest news and resources in education since 2007 Saturday’s Must-Read Articles & Must-Watch Videos About School Reopening by Larry Ferlazzo / 9h geralt / Pixabay Here are new additions to THE BEST POSTS PREDICTING WHAT SCHOOLS WILL LOO
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 Wired: Miami’s Disastrous Deal with K12 Inc. by dianeravitch / 37min Frankly, it’s hard to understand why Miami public schools chose for-profit K12 Inc. as it’s provider of remote instruction. Ten minutes or less on google would have turned up mu
Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg Has Died If President Trump succeeds in naming her replacement, it will change the court for a generation . Just days before her death, as her strength waned, Ginsburg dictated this statement to her granddaughter Clara Spera: "My most fervent wish is that I will not be replaced until a new president is installed." Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsbur
This Fall a Windfall: Sacramento City Unified School District Reports a Surplus of $23 Million Dollars - Sacramento City Teachers Association THIS FALL A WINDFALL: SACRAMENTO CITY UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT REPORTS A SURPLUS OF $23 MILLION DOLLARS The 2019-20 school year finished with huge $23 million surplus after originally projecting a $12.3 million deficit, a turnaround of $35.5 million This mar
SCHOOLS REOPEN — AND TEACHERS FIGHT FOR THEIR LIVES…Their Students, And The Future Of Public Education. As schools begin to reopen, within teacher unions around the country, teachers have been coming together to discuss the risks they’re willing to take — both to protect public health in the short term, and to protect public education in the long run. The starting place for the unions, noted Sta
August 25, 2020 Tuesday at 2 Webinar August 25, 2020 Tuesday at 2 Webinar Coronavirus (COVID-19) Main Web Page The California Department of Education (CDE) Nutrition Services Division (NSD) hosted the eighth Tuesday @ 2 : School Nutrition Town Hall webinar on August 25, 2020 for school food service operators, chief business officials, and community partners to listen to a discussion on best pract
Take it Easy on Teachers, OK? So are we tired of the back to school merry-go-round? My social media feeds are filled with hundreds—maybe thousands—of stories, most of them first-hand, about what’s happening as schools play poker with a deadly virus and human beings. There are the Never-ending Shitshow posts : School’s in session for three days before COVID makes an appearance. So school’s out, b
The Ends Do Not Justify the Means in the Lives and Education of Children 17 September 2020 turned out to be a day of disinformation about education in the U.S. The White House launched another assault on education (not a surprise), and the International Literacy Association offered (for a fee) “Making Sense of the Science of Reading.” The latter is disappointing from a powerful and influential p
What comes after the left / right paradigm, if anything? I asked this question on social media today and got quite a few very thoughtful replies. One person asked me what led me to ask the question, and this was my response: I believe we’re teetering on the brink of worldwide techo-fascism. Well, it’s pretty much blowing out in certain quarters already. The program has been wrapped in progressiv
Civics knowledge among American adults jumps in new survey — but hold your applause A new survey on U.S. civics knowledge shows a marked jump in the number of American adults who answered questions properly about their constitutional rights and the basic structure of the federal government. But even with the increase, almost half still can’t name the three branches of the government (executive,
Trump: Schools Must Teach “Patriotic” U.S. History Standing in front of the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution at the National Archives, Trump denounced the teaching of history in U.S. schools as leftist “indoctrination” and pledged to create a “1776 Commission” to restore “patriotic” American history. He is especially vitriolic about the “1619 Project,” which revised the role
Michael Kohlhass: Will these 22 Los Angeles Charter Schools Be Closed Down? Michael Kohlhaas, a super investigator of public records in California, discovered that 22 charter schools in Los Angeles were rated “low performing” this year. If they get the same rating for a second year in a row, they must close, under the terms of the recently passed charter accountability law, AB 1505. Among the lo
Framing a New Website Forced Us to Reconsider Public Education’s Core Principles This week the Northeast Ohio Friends of Public Education launched a new website . If you live in Central Ohio in Columbus or Marion or Chillicothe—or Southwest Ohio in Dayton or Cincinnati or Middletown—or Northwest Ohio in Toledo—or Southeast Ohio in Athens or along the Ohio River, you may not imagine that this web
Children Are Born Scientists. What If School Encouraged That? (Kristina Rizga) Kristina Rizga is a writer based in San Francisco, co-creator of The Atlantic ’s “On Teaching” project, and author of Mission High . This article appeared in The Atlantic Online September 11, 2020. Growing up, Gary Koppelman, now an award-winning science teacher, didn’t think he’d make it to college. In elementary sch
DeVos to State Ed Chiefs: Don’t Even Think About Testing Waivers This Year. I have many issues with contemporary American education’s dependence upon standardized testing. Testing students in order to grade teachers and schools is a misuse of student-completed standardized tests, and the high-stakes nature of this testing makes it a system begging to be gamed. High-stakes testing narrows the bro
UFT Executive Board September 17, 2020--We Will Keep Kids Safe and Take Care of One Another 5:50 roll call Minutes --approved UFT President Michael Mulgrew --We were prepared for different tactics, but we knew we could not open Monday. We weren't ready. It wasn't safe. We need better quality for safety. This is due to advocacy of members in all boroughs. That's what union does. DOE didn't unders
We Must All Be Civics Teachers – Constitution Day, 2020 CONSTITUTION DAY CIVICS SURVEY A few days ago, the Annenberg Public Policy Center released its annual Constitution Day Civics Survey . The results of the survey suggest that the recent upheavals in the United States…racial protests, a pandemic-based health crisis, and increased political polarization…have provided Americans with the excuse
The Mighty Storm: Multiple Texts Help Synthesize Thought Three things I read this morning came together in what might be considered a perfect storm of insight. First, I read for one hour the book I'm currently reading, Isaac's Storm , by Erik Larson. Isaac's Storm tells the tragic story of the deadliest natural disaster in U. S. history, the Galveston, Texas hurricane of 1900. The second thing I
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/2020/09/this-week-in-education-larry-ferlazzos_12.html Two New Very Good Resources For Teaching About Women’s Suffrage by Larry
What Does a “Safe Return” to School Look Like? Ask Teacher Unions. Powerful elites are willing to sacrifice the lives and futures of millions to feed their own profits. Teachers are fighting back . Demands for students and educators to return to in-person schooling during the pandemic are coming from Democrats and Republicans, both claiming the return is necessary not just to pro
Online Charter Schools No Solution in a Pandemic Instead of going to school every morning, what if school could come to you?” an ad asks enticingly, promising students “online personalized learning” tailored to their specific needs. It’s one of hundreds of active Facebook ads run by K12 Inc., the largest for-profit virtual charter school provider in the United States. As public schools rose to t
Today's "Talk out of School" on PreK reopening and how to improve online learning This morning, on my “ Talk out of School ” podcast, I spoke to Alice Mulligan, director of a preschool in Brooklyn and head of CBOs for Equity , whose school reopened last week. She described the changes and renovations she had to make to ensure proper safety precautions, without help or reimbursement from the DOE.
Betsy DeVos and the Separation of Church and State During Covid-19 Betsy DeVos and the Separation of Church and State During Covid-19 Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, who is supposed to represent public schools, recently visited a Catholic school in Grand Rapids. She used this school to irresponsibly drive home the idea that it’s safe to have in-person classes. She said All schools in MI need an
All the Options for Schooling Are Bad—But We Have to Choose Safety On parents’ impossible decision I am among the millions of parents around the country (and more around the world) wondering whether to send our children back to school. The mere question evokes conflicting thoughts that usually end in confusion and exasperation. It’s a big decision, one that most parents feel il
PRINCIPALS, I AM NOT YOUR MAGICAL NEGRO For many schools, having a Black man in their buildings often means having a disciplinarian in their school to supervise Black students, particularly Black male students. Sometimes, schools specifically hire Black men to dole out discipline and other times schools make Black men the de-facto disciplinarian. I’ve seen this happen to Black men in schools. It
Mozert v. Hawkins County Public Schools (The Tale of the Troubling Textbook) - Part One It's An Elephant, Dammit! I’ve been researching and drafting what I hope will be the next “Have To” History book. The focus is on the tricky balance between “free exercise” and “establishment” in relation to public education – how to allow students (and to a lesser extent, educators) to express their sincerel
New CDC Guidance for Reopening Schools Creates Color-Coded Risk Scale | US News New CDC Guidance for Reopening Schools Creates Color-Coded Risk Scale One early analysis of the CDC guidance suggests nearly 90% of people in the U.S. live in counties that fall into the two highest of five risk categories for reopening schools. THE CENTERS FOR DISEASE Control and Prevention issued new guidance Wednes
Private and Charter Schools Received Six Times as Much COVID Funding As Public Schools A new study of the federal CARES act funding found that private and charter schools received SIX TIMES the amount of funding as public schools from the federal coronavirus program. This may actually, as the report states, be an underestimate. Mellissa Chang wrote: A new analysis of Paycheck Protection Program
What Are We Going to Do? A couple days ago, I had a conversation with the father of a six-year-old, a first grader who is gamely trying to engage in online first grade for two hours a day. He told me she is struggling: restless and distracted. She is zoned out much of the time. When those two hours are over, she is irritable and exhausted, taking herself to bed for a long nap. He is in despair b
Is Betsy DeVos Flip-Flopping? Betsy DeVos visited a private school in Grand Rapids that is currently open for face-to-face school, and she observed that not re-opening school buildings is a "tragedy." This seems like a radical shift of direction for the secretary of education. For one thing, one of her mantras has been that we should fund students, not institutions or, presumably, the buildings
Florida Teacher: The State Lied to Me A Florida teacher posted this comment. It raises the question of whether it is fair to attract people to become teachers with promises that are later canceled by a nasty, brutish legislature. The legislature passed a law called “the Best and Brightest” that awarded bonuses to new teachers based on the SAT scores they recorded years earlier. It constantly thi
How Centrist Democrats Paved the Way for Betsy DeVos A consensus between Republicans and centrist Democrats around charter schools has been at the very center of education policy for the past three decades. Guest David Menefee-Libey joins us to talk about the formation of the charter school “treaty,” why it unraveled and what happens next. Complete transcript of the episode is here . The financi
Day One I've spent hours, days, weeks and months dreading September. There were so many issues. As chapter leader, I don't feel like I've had a day off since June. How in the hell were we going to open the schools? No one really knew. De Blasio's ridiculous plan fell apart , as anyone who gave it a cursory examination could have predicted. I remain amazed that he and Carranza could have stood be
Set Up to Fail I was so mad I was on the brink of tears. Yesterday I could use a curriculum that I had for years and where not perfect, gave me lots of material to work with, then like a light switch turning off, it was gone. The district didn't even think teachers were worthy of a heads up. I felt set up to fail, and sadly, I am not the only one, and the district's only response seemed to be, c
Yet another last minute DOE revision of their school reopening plan & even less live teaching for NYC kids Today was the first day of remote orientation for NYC students. Next week, part-time, in-person instruction will begin for those students that have opted into blended learning. Meanwhile, last week, 55 NYC teachers tested positive for COVID, raising some alarm, though as the Mayor pointed o
Tens of thousands of L.A. area students still need computers or Wi-Fi 6 months into pandemic Six months after schools closed amid the coronavirus crisis and with online learning in full swing, tens of thousand of students remain without adequate digital access and school districts in Los Angeles County report they still need nearly 50,000 computers and Wi-Fi hot spots. The numbers are a stark re
EDUCATION DEANS FOR JUSTICE AND EQUITY (EDJE) STEERING COMMITTEE HAS A NEW MEMBER Honored to join the Education Deans for Justice and Equity (EDJE) Steering Committee . A nationwide alliance that aims to speak and act collectively regarding current policies, reforms, and public debates in order to advance equity and justice in education I discussed here in an earlier post about the organization
What Is Good Teaching? Over the past two years, I talked with veteran educators across the country as I tried to answer this question. Editor’s Note: In 1988, a teacher most commonly had 15 years of experience. In recent years, that number is closer to just three years leading a classroom. The “On Teaching” series focuses on the wisdom of veteran teachers. R enee moore still remembers the young
Exclusive survey: Teens dislike online learning Most American teens think online school is worse than going in person, but less than a fifth of them think that it makes sense to be in person full-time while COVID is still circulating, according to results of a new survey shared first with Axios. The big picture : Parents badly want their kids back in school, and students want to be there, too. B
The Hazards of a Police State Education During COVID-19 Virtual School Dangers There was of course no way of knowing whether you were being watched at any given moment. How often, or on what system, the Thought Police plugged in on any individual wire was guesswork. It was even conceivable that they watched everybody all the time. But at any rate they could plug in your wire whenever they wanted
AFT Poll on Reopening: Public Wants Safety First The American Federation of Teachers released a new poll about reopening the schools during the pandemic: New Poll Shows America’s Parents, Teachers Want ‘Safety First’ on School Reopenings Trump and DeVos’ Ruinous Agenda Rejected, Comfort with Return to Brick-and-Mortar Schools Significantly Higher when Protections, Funding in Place WASHINGTON—The
Distance Learning Impasse Could Plunge Sacramento City Schools Further Into Fiscal Crisis, County Superintendent Says Almost all of Sacramento County’s thirteen school districts have a distance learning plan in place during the pandemic — agreed to by both teachers and administrators — and are in solid financial shape. But there is one outlier: the Sacramento City Unified School District. That’s
The Most Rigorous Curriculum Our outdoor classroom is one big slope and within that slope there are many ups and downs, reflecting our city which is built on hills. We're forever experimenting with gravity out there, rolling and flowing things downhill or dragging and pushing things up. There are parts of the space that are so steep one needs a running start to get to the top and there is very l
De Blasio and Carranza Abandon the Hybrid Fantasy For weeks I've been marveling that the two grown men who ran education in the country's largest school district accepted a plan that relied on teachers who simply do not exist. If you break a class into two to five sections, who teaches the students who aren't in the building on any given day? Yet Chancellor Carranza would get up in front of news
Senate Republicans Once Again Refuse to Help States and Their Local School Districts Last week, the Republican dominated U.S. Senate once again failed to pass its latest version of a second stimulus bill to help alleviate the recession that is undermining the economy, the lives of individuals, and institutions like public schools. The Republicans called their bill a skinny (minimal) bill, and ev
Scrap the Big Standardized Test This Year When schools pushed the pandemic pause button last spring, one of the casualties was the annual ritual of taking the Big Standardized Test. There were many reasons to skip the test , but in the end, students simply weren’t in school during the usual testing time. Secretary of Education issued waivers so that states could cancel their test (which is manda
Clouds Must Be Free I like the idea of being "free," whatever that means, and I like the idea of empowering others to be free. It is, one could say, the driving force behind both my personal and professional life. I don't know if I've ever achieved it, but I've always, to the best of my ability strived toward it. I will not obey is one of my mantras, commandeered from Utah Phillips and made my o
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/2020/09/this-week-in-education-larry-ferlazzos_12.html Ed Tech Digest by Larry Ferlazzo / 2h Nine years ago, in another somewhat
In Two Phone Calls, I Learned Just Who Counts in New York My TV show is a very safe place to work. My son’s school — well, it might check air circulation with a yardstick and toilet paper. This summer, I participated in two back-to-back phone calls about resuming some semblance of normal life in New York City — which for me means resuming work on a television show and sending my 9-year-old son,
The ‘logistical madness’ of hybrid school schedules — by nearly 50 frustrated teachers The 2020-21 school year is set to start next week in New York City, the country’s largest school system, and the plan at the moment is for students to follow a hybrid model in which they would spend some days in classrooms and other days learning remotely at home. The plan put forth by Mayor Bill de Blasio has
‘Put up or shut up’ — a $1 trillion investment to help American kids in poverty - The Washington Post ‘Put up or shut up’ — a $1 trillion investment to help kids in poverty Pedro Noguera is dean of the Rossier School of Education at the University of Southern California and Robert Boyd is president of the School-Based Health Alliance , a nonprofit organization that works to improve the health of
Black schools aren’t failing. They’ve been starved of needed resources. COLUMN: When poorly veiled bigotry masquerades as choice Trump loves ‘choice’ because it’s always been a term racists can love Credit: Twitter President Trump regularly sows racial division and fear, invoking age-old stereotypes through his words and policy. It was clear he was promising to protect suburban whites from an inc
NewBlackMan (in Exile) Big Education Ape: THIS WEEK WITH NEWBLACKMAN (IN EXILE) - http://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2020/09/this-week-with-newblackman-in-exile_12.html Cite Black Women: Race, Technology and Abolition -- A Conversation with Ruha Benjamin by Mark Anthony Neal / 14h 'Race is coded into every aspect of our technological lives, from automatic soap dispensers to Zoom calls. In this
Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all DID YOU MISS DIANE RAVITCH'S BLOG TODAY? A site to discuss better education for all Big Education Ape: KEEP UP/ CATCH UP WITH DIANE RAVITCH'S BLOG A site to discuss better education for all - http://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2020/09/keep-up-catch-up-with-diane-ravitchs_12.html A Conversation Between Joe Biden and Ady Barkan by d
When Algorithms Give Real Students Imaginary Grades (Meredith Broussard) “ Meredith Broussard ( @merbroussard ) is a data journalism professor at New York University and the author of “ Artificial Unintelligence: How Computers Misunderstand the World .” She is working on a book about race and technology. ” This op-ed piece appeared in the New York Times on September 9, 2020. Isabel Castañeda’s f
DeVos vows to require standardized tests again: 4 questions answered Education Secretary Betsy DeVos announced on Sept. 3 that the government intended to enforce federal rules that require all states to administer standardized tests at K-12 public schools during the 2020-2021 school year. Nicholas Tampio , a Fordham University political scientist who researches education policy , puts this decla
Overturning Austerity 101: California’s Prop 15 Will Tax the Rich “We’ve got to be able to pass Schools and Communities First, as one measure, and then come back with another measure, and another, so that we make the rich pay their fair share.” California’s November ballot will feature a challenge to the notorious Proposition 13 , which in 1978 helped to inaugurate the decades-long neoliberal as
COVID-19: CNP Response 47 and Q&A - Nutrition (CA Dept of Education) COVID-19: CNP Response 47 and Q&A Coronavirus (COVID-19) Main Web Page The California Department of Education Nutrition Services Division is pleased to announce that on September 11, 2020, the U.S. Department of Agriculture released a new Nationwide Waiver and Questions and Answers (Q&A) related to the Nationwide Waiver to allow
Where did all the, planning, time go. Let me tell you my story first. I didn't lose my planning period, I still have the 90 minutes I had last year. I did however since we are self-contained go from two preps to five. Now I have been sharing with my department and them with me, but it's still a lot more work. I did lose my lunch however as the kids eat in the room. Now I guess technically I coul
COVID DAZE “John, Wake up!” “Why?” I am not going to work.” “It’s just going to be another bullshit day spent with you, and the dog, and the computer screen, and the TV, and more bullshit. I am so sick of this. Leave me alone, I don’t have a Zoom call until 9 o’clock. Then they are non-stop until 6 o’clock.” How many people start the day that way? How many people are afraid to go out to stores,
Time To Deal With The Substitute Shortage This is not the biggest issue facing schools right now-- but it's not nothing. And in some districts, it's about to become a critical issue. The state regional education office for our area announced a special opportunity to get quick and easy training to become an emergency certified substitute teacher. And it only costs $25! And that sound you hear is
SEE YOU IN WESTERN EUROPE, I’M SURE YOU”LL FIND YOUR OWN WAY “The radio was on and that was the first time I heard that song, the one I hate. Whenever I hear it all I can think of is that very day riding in the front seat with Lucy leaning against me and the smell of Juicy Fruit making me want to throw up. How can a song do that? Be like a net that catches a whole entire day, even a day whose gu
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/2020/09/this-week-in-education-larry-ferlazzos_12.html Nice Graphic Illustrating Elements Of The New IB TOK Curriculum by Larry
Diane Ravitch in Conversation with Derek Black Start: Wednesday, September 23, 2020 • 7:00 PM • Eastern Daylight Time (US & Canada) (GMT-04:00) End: Wednesday, September 23, 2020 • 8:30 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
Bobson Wong, HS teacher, on why before reopening schools, NYC needs time and resources to get it right. Bobson Wong is a math teacher at a NYC public high school and author of " The Math Teacher's Toolbox ." Here is what he wrote after I asked him how he would design a school reopening plan for NYC. If others would like to offer their school reopening ideas to this blog, please send them to info
Teacher Deaths Raise Alarms at Start of New School Year Teachers in at least three American states have died since the start of the new school year after getting the coronavirus. AshLee DeMarinis was just 34 years old when she died this month after three weeks in a Missouri hospital. A third-grade teacher died Monday in South Carolina, and two other educators died recently in Mississippi. It is
Hack Education: 'Luddite Sensibilities' and the Future of Education | National Education Policy Center Hack Education: 'Luddite Sensibilities' and the Future of Education This is the transcript of my keynote at the Digital Pedagogy Lab this morning. Except not really. It was a "flipped" keynote, so this is more like the pre-reading for what I actually talked about. Sort of. I have really struggle
L.A. school parents will be able to learn if anyone has coronavirus in their child’s class Los Angeles Unified Launches COVID-19 Testing and Tracing Program At Schools To Include Research on Impact and Effect of Reopening - https://achieve.lausd.net/covidtesting Although students and parents will not be returning to their Los Angeles public school anytime soon, when campuses do reopen, L.A. Unif
China Crushes Freedom to Teach in Hong Kong Hong Kong was a British colony for a century and a half. Under British rule, the people of Hong Kong enjoyed democratic freedoms. On July 1, 1997, the British relinquished control and Hong Kong became part of China as a special administrative region. The Chinese government promised to maintain “one country, two systems.” Over the years the Chinese gove
Ohio: Charters and Vouchers Sucked Half a Billion from Public Schools Last Year Bill Phillis, founder of the Ohio Coalition for Adequacy and Equity, reports on the cost of school choice, relying on the data compiled by former legislator Steve Dyer. This is interesting because polls regularly show that the public is fine with choice if the money does not get subtracted from local public schools.
Wrangling Kids’ Distance Learning While Working From Home Is A Hellscape “I am screaming in my car, sobbing in my shower, staring into the darkness when it’s time to sleep. And I know that you are too.” It’s 6:08 a.m. and my 7-year-old is in my bed. “Mom!” he whisper-screams. “MOM! Can I play Roblox?” It’s 6:12 a.m. and my 7-year-old is playing Roblox, and he’s hungry. He stands next to the bed
A LOVE LETTER TO BLACK PARENTS IN AMERICAN SCHOOLS Shortly after I proposed to my wife, our parents threw us an engagement party. There were a few standout moments from that day; my wife in her beautiful yellow sundress, it was the hottest day of the year, and a conversation my wife and I had with a family friend, who happened to be a school business administrator. When asked if we were purchasi
The Fourteenth: We all do better when we all do better. Today marks the fourteenth blogoversary of this blog . When I began it on September 14, 2006, I was in my late 50s and teaching Reading Recovery in a small public school in northeast Indiana (which has since closed), the US was at war in Iraq, there had just been a mass shooting at Dawson College in Montreal, and George W. Bush was the US P
American Plutocracy and The So-Called Obje ctive Media For ten years Jacob Hacker, the Yale political scientist, and Paul Pierson, the Berkeley political scientist, have been tracking exploding economic inequality in the United States. In this summer’s book, Let Them Eat Tweets , Hacker and Pierson explicitly identify our government as a plutocracy. And they track how politicians (with the help
The Everyday Exhaustion of Teaching During a Global Pandemic Teaching is one of the few things in life that is not concerned with now. It is essentially about the future . We put all this time and energy into helping kids learn. Why? Not so that they’ll be able to do anything today . But so that they’ll be able to do things tomorrow. Sure they may be able to read better or solve math problems, b
No Way To Treat A Scholar Success Academy is the largest and most controversial charter network in New York City. With over 15,000 students, Success Academy is known for their high state test scores. Though Success Academy has been in existence for about 14 years already, it has only been the last few years that people have begun to question whether the strategies that Success Academy uses to ac
Teachers are Cautious, Fearful and Anxious to Teach in a Safe Environment: Will NYC Schools Open on September 21st? You toss and turn, can’t fall asleep, why is the clock moving so slowly, tomorrow is the first day of school. No matter whether you’re a first year, a fifth year, tenth year or a seasoned veteran that first day brings apprehension. You go over classroom procedures, be welcoming, ge
CURMUDGUCATION: ICYMI: Rainy Sunday Edition (9/13) Rainy Sunday Edition A quiet rainy morning here in PA. And can't we all use a little peace and quiet. I've got a few things for you to read this week. FLVS Frustrations A lot of money has ben pumped into the Florida Virtual School, but nobody seems to be in charge. How's that working out? Accountabaloney takes a look (and you should pay attention
Can Covid-19 Take School Reform in a New and Different Direction? Covid-19 offers the opportunity to think anew and differently about the direction of schooling in America. Chances are it won’t happen. Consider mandated state tests. U.S. Secretary of Education, Betsy DeVos said states could waive the spring tests which occurred at the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic. As to whether the Secreta
About Those Digital Natives Now that so many schools are leaping back into the ed tech abyss with both feet and a few other limbs as well, the term "digital native" is turning up again, and it's just as silly as ever. Everyone who is scared about facing off against the digital native tribe in the digitized computerized distance learning world needs to take a deep breath. The term was coined by M
EdAction in Congress September 13, 2020 McConnell fails students and educators yet again After coming back from a month-long vacation, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) failed last week to advance a “skinny” coronavirus relief package, leaving little time to regroup before the Senate adjourns until after the November elections. S. 178, the defeated bill , was an insult to the familie
The week in coveducation: School employee dies, two teachers resign, site hacked School districts throughout Oklahoma are back in session while adjusting to and dealing with the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic. Ongoing tracking has confirmed COVID-19 cases at 200 school districts around the state, including the death of a staff member at Mustang Public Schools. The following is a brief recap
School Choice Is Not For Those People Choice fans promote the idea as one the provides each family with the school of their dreams. Everyone, declares Betsy DeVos, should have a school that provides the right fit. Well, almost everybody. Two recent stories underline that what families can choose is what the folks in charge of the marketplace decide they can choose. In Indiana, a lawsuit has emer
How Is Distance Learning Going At Sac City Schools? Depends Who You Ask Children in the Sacramento City Unified School District started the school year with no clear plan for distance learning during the pandemic, following an impasse between the teachers union and administrators over a contract. As a result, schooling got off to a rocky start for many of the district’s 42,000 students and their
Richard Phelps Reviews Michelle Rhee’s “Reforms,” Ten Years Later, Part 1 | Diane Ravitch's blog Richard Phelps Reviews Michelle Rhee’s “Reforms,” Ten Years Later, Part 1 A decade ago, Richard Phelps was assessment director of the District of Columbia Public Schools. His time in that position coincided with the last ten months of Michelle Rhee’s tenure in office. When her patron Adrian Fenty lost
Impact of President Trump’s Covid-19 Deception on Public Schools The chief function of a President is to make responsible decisions and to keep Americans safe, especially children and society’s most vulnerable. Bob Woodward, in his new book Rage tells of a president who was publicly playing down the coronavirus threat without acknowledging the severity of the virus, which has now claimed over 19
Silver Lining: My Students Are Okay with Wearing Masks. This past week was my first with students since the pandemic hit. So much is in flux, including whether my district will continue with the hybrid model for middle and high school given that Louisiana governor, John Bel Edwards, announced Louisiana’s shift into Phase 3 (“with restrictions”) just as we are getting accustomed to the Phase 2 hy
Week 1 in Distance Learning 2020 I used to do a weekly review of my week in the classroom and before that, the computer lab. I thought it might be a good time to revive that practice. First, some background. I am teaching a fourth grade classroom that is largely comprised of students I had last year in third grade. This is my first time teaching fourth grade in a long time, but it’s after two ye
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/2020/09/this-week-in-education-larry-ferlazzos_12.html “Rank Country” Is A Great Site For Comparing Demographic Data Among Count
Big Education Ape TOP POSTS THIS WEEK 9/12/20 ‘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
