CURMUDGUCATION: New Update From What Is No Longer The Trailing Edge of the Pandemic

CURMUDGUCATION: New Update From What Is No Longer The Trailing Edge of the Pandemic

New Update From What Is No Longer The Trailing Edge of the Pandemic

It has been just about two months since I told you that if anyone had a shot of starting school up without major Covid consequences, it would be my little corner of the world. I'm here to report that things are not going well.

Back on September 7, the number of cases for the whole county, since March, was 70. People were not panicked, but cautious, with the usual outlying groups of deniers and total freak-outers. Okay, lots of deniers--this is Trump country, and at this point locals know that there are some stores you avoid if you take masking seriously. Our four school districts went ahead and opened, with two choosing a sort of gradual "soft" opening, and the other two just going for it. 

By October 15, the number of cases had doubled. Two of the four high schools had had two cases each. One shut down to clean for 48 hours; the other sent forty students to isolation. Everyone's sports are still going on, but with limited audiences. 

Yesterday, the state said we had our highest single day total--46 confirmed cases. I'm sure that's nothing in major cities, but we've got fewer than 50K in the whole county. And our totals are probably lagging because there is no place to go get tested in this county. 

That brings our grand total to 359. As you can see, we're escalating quickly. 

In schools, things are going poorly. At my former district, somehow, they managed to expose the entire administration team, so all administrators and most of the main office staff have been in isolation. This week the district has gone to virtual school. Two weeks back, an entire fifth grade team was sent into isolation. In another district, three teachers have just tested positive. The state has met with several local superintendents, and schools are going to the hybrid model next week; one administrator has already told his people that after a week of hybrid, they'll be going virtual. 

Districts had protocols in place before the year started, but those aren't always being followed. Teachers are largely on a DIY basis for PPE. Plenty of folks, including some teachers, are pretty sure CONTINUE READING: CURMUDGUCATION: New Update From What Is No Longer The Trailing Edge of the Pandemic

Teachers Walk Off The Job After COVID-19 Outbreak - PopularResistance Org

Teachers Walk Off The Job After COVID-19 Outbreak - PopularResistance.Org

TEACHERS WALK OFF THE JOB AFTER COVID-19 OUTBREAK

Teachers and support staff at Glamorgan Junior Public School, in the Toronto borough of Scarborough, walked off the job Monday to protest school authorities’ decision to keep the school open despite a major COVID-19 outbreak. The outbreak was declared last Friday after nine teachers and two students tested positive for the potentially lethal virus. Fifty-eight students have been ordered to quarantine.

The work stoppage continued yesterday as reports emerged of a further student testing positive. The Toronto District School Board (TDSB) has flatly refused to close the school, citing an inspection carried out last week by the Ontario Ministry of Labour and the opinion of Toronto Public Health that the building is safe. The authorities have sought to justify this with claims that the coronavirus infections have been confined to one wing of the school.

These claims are nothing more than self-serving justifications for the murderous “herd immunity” policy being pursued by Ontario’s Doug Ford-led hard-right Conservative government. Ford, the federal Liberal government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, and the entire ruling elite are determined to keep schools open so that parents can be forced back to work to produce profits for big business.

Since schools reopened in Ontario in September, over 2,300 infections have been recorded among teachers, students and school support staff. In Quebec, there were 422 new COVID-19 cases among elementary and high school students and staff just on November 2, bringing the total there to 7,444.

In an anonymous statement sent by the protesting Glamorgan JPS teachers to CONTINUE READING: Teachers Walk Off The Job After COVID-19 Outbreak - PopularResistance.Org

Teacher Tom: Discovering the Meaning of Life

Teacher Tom: Discovering the Meaning of Life

Discovering the Meaning of Life

Among the founding principles of our American democracy is the ideal that we each be free to pursue "happiness." That's not a guarantee of happiness, but rather an aspirational statement, one that envisions each of us having the opportunity to choose our own course in life; whether that leads to happiness (however that is defined) or not is up to each individual. I don't think anyone believes that we have, as a society, fully achieved this particular freedom of pursuit, but it's an ideal that has the virtue of being nobel.

I think about the "pursuit of happiness" nearly every day, my own and that of the children I teach. Indeed, I consider it my highest goal on most days, to do what I can to create a bubble within which we are all free to ask and answer our own questions, which is, I think, the key aspect of anyone's pursuit of happiness. Answering other people's questions simply makes you a tool of their pursuit. It's only through finding answers to our own questions that we come a little closer to our personal truth, and as Mister Rogers sang, "The truth will make me free."

As adults we tend to take a longer view, pinning our future happiness on a set of circumstances that, when achieved, will, we believe, cause us contentment and satisfaction, that CONTINUE READING: Teacher Tom: Discovering the Meaning of Life

Overstating Nothing: Why Students Often Write their Worst Sentences First (and Last) – radical eyes for equity

Overstating Nothing: Why Students Often Write their Worst Sentences First (and Last) – radical eyes for equity

Overstating Nothing: Why Students Often Write their Worst Sentences First (and Last)

I may have just read the worst essay I have ever read submitted by a student—since the beginning of time.

And that occurs in this context: I have been teaching adolescents and young adults to write for 37 years.

Of the tens of thousands of student submissions I have read, of course, this essay cannot really be the worst. But that sort of dramatic overstatement is exactly what brings me to discussing that essay and many just like it submitted recently as we near the end of the semester.

Again, as context, many of these essays have been submitted after more than two months of first-year writing seminar where I have explicitly focused on vivid and engaging openings and closings.

Here is the opening of that essay (lightly edited so readers can focus on what CONTINUE READING: Overstating Nothing: Why Students Often Write their Worst Sentences First (and Last) – radical eyes for equity

STATE OF DENIAL: People with Developmental Disabilities Were Promised Help. Instead, They Face Delays and Denials. — ProPublica

People with Developmental Disabilities Were Promised Help. Instead, They Face Delays and Denials. — ProPublica

STATE OF DENIAL

People with Developmental Disabilities Were Promised Help. Instead, They Face Delays and Denials.

Arizona is known as the best state in the nation for people with developmental challenges. But its Division of Developmental Disabilities has turned down thousands of people who seek assistance because of paperwork issues.

SERIES:STATE OF DENIAL

Inside Arizona’s Division of Developmental Disabilities

This story has been translated into different formats:

• Leer en español
• Read in plain-language English
• Listen to the original text
• Read why we translated this story

This article was produced in partnership with the Arizona Daily Star, which is a member of the ProPublica Local Reporting Network.

Illustrated section breaks by Margie Smeller/Make Studio for ProPublica.

Kyra Wade’s favorite color is pink. The 11-year-old likes road trips and the movie “Monsters, Inc.” She loves to watch people laugh. Her culinary preferences run to noodles and rice.

Beyond that, her parents don’t know much about her needs and wants.

Kyra is autistic and profoundly deaf. She was born premature at about 27 weeks, just a little over 2 pounds, which has impacted pretty much everything: eyesight, hearing, digestion, sleep patterns. A strong tremor in her hand makes it impossible for her to use American Sign Language. Her parents think she recognizes a couple dozen signs.

They know she’s frustrated. Kyra often smacks herself on the side of the head with her hand or bites her palm so hard she draws blood, said her mother, Ka Wade. The Wades assume she is doing it when she is in pain. Kyra is not potty trained, but she got her period recently. Ka couldn’t explain what was happening.

Listen to the Story

Play the audio

The Wades moved to Arizona in the summer of 2017 with the expectation that services provided by the state would help them care for Kyra. Arizona had long enjoyed a reputation as one of the best places in the country for people with developmental disabilities and their families. Thanks to a special Medicaid program created in 1988, Arizona had an innovative and generously funded system in place.

Arizona’s Division of Developmental Disabilities, or DDD, aimed to keep people with developmental disabilities at home with family, or in small group settings, rather than place them into institutions.

For many years, it worked. The division sent nurses, speech therapists and respite workers to assist families with the responsibilities of caring 24/7 for relatives with CONTINUE READING: People with Developmental Disabilities Were Promised Help. Instead, They Face Delays and Denials. — ProPublica

Ohio: The Cost of “School Choice” | Diane Ravitch's blog

Ohio: The Cost of “School Choice” | Diane Ravitch's blog

Ohio: The Cost of “School Choice”

What is the state of Ohio paying for charters and vouchers? From state data and evaluations, we know that neither sector performs as well as the state’s public schools. The legislature likes to fund failure.

Bill Phillis, who retired as deputy state superintendent and is expert about school finance, has the answer:

Current Cost of School Choice

The cost of school choice borne by the state and school districts is enormous. Public school leaders and advocates should be alarmed.
Ohio has been private school-friendly beginning a half century ago. In HB 166, the state provides private schools with $139,995,470 for administrative cost reimbursement and $309,878,268 for auxiliary services, for a total of $449,873,738. One half billion!

Additional direct state subsidies for charter schools and vouchers in HB 166 for FY 21 and FY 22 include:   
Charter facilities                                                $40,000,000 
 Quality charter schools                                  $60,000,000               
Public charter schools                                     $14,000,000               
EdChoice expansion                                      $178,240,758              
Choice programs                                                $9,780,309                               Total                                                $302,021,067

Hence, the direct state appropriations for private schools, charters and vouchers in FY 21 and FY 22 total $751,894,805.
If the deductions from school districts in FY 22 are equal to the deductions in FY 21 for vouchers and charters, the total will be $2,352,881,306. Therefore, the grand total of tax dollars going to private schools and charters in FY 21 and FY 22 is $3,104,776,111.
Charter school deductions from school districts started with $10,784,924 in FY 99 and escalated each year to $929,884,915 in FY 15. Since FY 15, the total charter deduction has reduced slowly to $827,136,047 in the current school CONTINUE READING: Ohio: The Cost of “School Choice” | Diane Ravitch's blog

Split Decision on Board Elections Reverses School Board Alignment – EdX News from Election 2020 – Los Angeles Education Examiner

Split Decision on Board Elections Reverses School Board Alignment – EdX News from Election 2020 – Los Angeles Education Examiner

Split Decision on Board Elections Reverses School Board Alignment – EdX News from Election 2020

Seventeen hours from the close of polls in LA County (LAC) leaves a mixed set of results – from polar opposite wins, to hopeful-anticipation.

While 100% of LAC’s precincts have reported partial results, VBM (Vote By Mail) ballots continue to be delivered to ballot counting facilities statewide, including LAC’s Norwalk, where the count is on-going. Updates to LAC counts will not come before the close of day and starting next week, only twice per week.

When registration for delivery of VBM ballots closed last month, 5,709,853 were registered to vote in LAC. Registrations at Vote Centers since that time, including right up through the close of election day, remain unreported.

Of the 5.7K (minimum) registered voters reported, 55.8% (3.2K of 5.7K) have currently been tallied. Approximately ¾ of those were VBM (74%; 2.4K of 3.2K) and ¼ (26%; 0.83K of 3.2K) were VCB (Vote Center Ballots).

In LAUSD’s school board races, board district 3 (west Valley) incumbent, former District principal Scott Schmerelson is winning with 54% of the currently tallied vote. In board district 7 (southern reaches), former PLAS (Partnership for LA Schools; a public-private partnership operating a CONTINUE READING: Split Decision on Board Elections Reverses School Board Alignment – EdX News from Election 2020 – Los Angeles Education Examiner

New Teacher Evaluation Report Released by the Network for Public Education REDUX | VAMboozled!

New Teacher Evaluation Report Released by the Network for Public Education | VAMboozled!

New Teacher Evaluation Report Released by the Network for Public Education REDUX

A new report on current teacher evaluation systems throughout the US was just released by the Network for Public Education. The report is titled, “Teachers Talk Back: Educators on the Impact of Teacher Evaluation,” and below are their findings, followed by a condensed version of their six recommendations (as taken from the Executive Summary, although you can read the full 17-page report, again, here):

FINDINGS

• Teachers and principals believe that evaluations based on student test scores, especially Value Added Measures (VAMs), are neither valid nor reliable measures of their work. They believe that VAM scores punish teachers who work with the
  most vulnerable students. Of the respondents, 83% indicated that the use of test scores in evaluations has had a negative impact on instruction, and 88% said that more time is spent on test prep than ever before. Evaluations based on frameworks and rubrics, such as those created by Danielson and Marzano, have resulted in wasting far too much time. This is damaging the very work evaluation is supposed to improve, as valuable time is diverted to engage in related compliance exercises and paperwork. Of the respondents, 84% reported a significant increase in teacher time spent on evaluations.
• The emphasis on improving test scores has overwhelmed every aspect of teachers’ work, forcing them to spend precious collaborative time poring over student data rather than having conversations about students and instruction. CONTINUE READING: New Teacher Evaluation Report Released by the Network for Public Education | VAMboozled!

Shanker Blog: How Much Segregation Is There Within Schools? | National Education Policy Center

Shanker Blog: How Much Segregation Is There Within Schools? | National Education Policy Center

Shanker Blog: How Much Segregation Is There Within Schools?

Our national discourse on school segregation, whether income- or race-/ethnicity-based, tends to focus on the separation of students between schools within districts. There are good reasons for this, including the fact that the majority of desegregation efforts have been within-district efforts. Sometimes lost in this focus, however, is the importance of segregation between districts.

This distinction can be confusing, so consider a large metro area with a central city district surrounded by a group of suburban districts. There may be extensive racial/ethnic segregation of students between schools within those districts, with students of color concentrated in some schools and their White peers concentrated in others. But total segregation across the entire metro area is also a function of segregation between districts - i.e., the degree to which students of certain races or ethnicities are concentrated in some districts and not others (e.g., students of color in the city, white students in the suburbs). In a sense, if we view diversity as a resource, there are multiple "chokepoints" at which that resource is distributed down to the next level—from states to metro areas to districts to schools—and this can exacerbate segregation.

A recent working paper provides one of relatively few pieces of recent evidence suggesting that, in addition to racial and ethnic segregation between districts and between schools within districts, there may be an additional important "layer": segregation within schools.

The paper, written by Charles Clotfelter, Helen Ladd, Calen Clifton, and Mavzuna Turaeva, and published by CALDER, uses detailed administrative data from (no surprise) North Carolina. These data allow the researchers to determine the racial and ethnic composition not only of schools and counties (which in North Carolina mostly define districts), but of individual CONTINUE READING: Shanker Blog: How Much Segregation Is There Within Schools? | National Education Policy Center

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

A VERY BUSY DAY
Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day...
The latest news and resources in education since 2007

Big Education Ape: THIS WEEK IN EDUCATION Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... The latest news and resources in education since 2007 - http://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2020/10/this-week-in-education-larry-ferlazzos_31.html

SEL Weekly Update

by Larry Ferlazzo / 2h

I’ve recently begun this weekly post where I’ll be sharing resources I’m adding to The Best Social Emotional Learning (SEL) Resources or other related “Best” lists. You might also be interested in THE BEST SOCIAL EMOTIONAL LEARNING RESOURCES OF 2020 – PART ONE. Finally, check out “Best” Lists Of The Week: Social Emotional Learning Resources . Here are this week’s picks: 3 Steps to Developing an A

My Two VERY Popular Gratitude Lessons – One For ELLs, Another For More English-Proficient Students

by Larry Ferlazzo / 3h

NOTE: I’m republishing this post from 2017 since both of these lessons are always VERY popular in November leading up to Thanksgiving, and thought new readers might want to hear about them. (Editor’s Note: I originally published this post in 2015) I’ve previously posted about A Simple & Effective Classroom Lesson On Gratitude , one that I’ve done with my mainstream and Advanced ELL classes. I’m m

Around The Web In ESL/EFL/ELL

by Larry Ferlazzo / 10h

BiljaST / Pixabay Six years ago I began this regular feature where I share a few posts and resources from around the Web related to ESL/EFL or to language in general that have caught my attention. You might also be interested in THE BEST RESOURCES, ARTICLES & BLOG POSTS FOR TEACHERS OF ELLS IN 2019 – PART ONE and THE BEST RESOURCES, ARTICLES & BLOG POSTS FOR TEACHERS OF ELLS IN 2019 – PART TWO. A

Everything You Wanted To Know About Theory Of Knowledge Classes But Were Afraid To Ask

by Larry Ferlazzo / 10h

geralt / Pixabay I have over 2,100 frequently revised and updated “Best” lists on just about every subject imaginable, and you can find them listed three different ways in three different places (see Three Accessible Ways To Search For & Find My “Best” Lists ). I’m starting to publish a series where each day I will highlight the “Best” lists in a separate category. Today, it’s on IB Theory of Kno

Thanksgiving Is In A Few Weeks – Here Are Teaching & Learning Resources

by Larry Ferlazzo / 11h

PublicDomainPictures / Pixabay Thanksgiving is coming up here in the United States. You might be interested in The Best Sites To Teach and Learn About Thanksgiving (I just went through it and cleaned up a few dead links).

Everything You Wanted To Know About Teaching English Language Learners But Were Afraid To Ask

by Larry Ferlazzo / 13h

Tumisu / Pixabay I have over 2,100 frequently revised and updated “Best” lists on just about every subject imaginable, and you can find them listed three different ways in three different places (see Three Accessible Ways To Search For & Find My “Best” Lists ). I’m starting to publish a series where each day I will highlight the “Best” lists in a separate category. Today, it’s on Teaching ELLs: A

What Might The Results Of This Presidential Election Suggest That Teachers (& Others) Should Do Going Forward?

by Larry Ferlazzo / 1d

geralt / Pixabay It’s early Wednesday afternoon and, despite President Trump’s authoritarian declaration of victory , the final results of our Presidential election are still in doubt. Earlier this week, I published Ideas & Resources About What & How To Teach The Day After The Election – Please 

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