This week seemed.... long, somehow. It's a big list this week. Remember to share, and take a minute to hug someone you love, too.
Stop calling this generation 'lost.'
Selena Carrion has written a really great piece about students and remote learning and the rhetoric surrounding our current flap. I wrote about this and shared it, but if you still somehow haven't seen it, now's your chance.
The Fiscal Impact of Charter Schools on School Districts
A long but important read, in which Jersey Jazzman discovers that the effects are not what many of us expect, but also require some more careful consideration as well. Mark Weber is awfully good at making data comprehensible to ordinary mortals, and this data is worth chewing over.
With all that robust progress monitoring, who needs a test
Accountabaloney asks the question--if Florida already has all that data on student progress, why can't they ask for a waiver for the Big Standardized Test, already. Oh, Florida.
NH Bumps Voucher Bill Till Next Year
When you're nifty new voucher bill is so unpopular that thousands of people show up to testify against it, what do you do? Let it sit on the shelf for a year and hope people have a short attention span.
Leave it to Jan Resseger to take a reasoned, well-researched approach to the question of opening school buildings. A good explainer for where we are right now.
Parents are getting the kind of instruction they want
There are soooo many pols right now, but Matt Barnum at Chalkbeat has the results of one that finally asked the right question--are parents getting the kind of schooling they want? Mostly, yes.
Tens of thousands of community college students still taking unnecessary remedial classes
In 2017, a California law aimed to phase out unnecessary (but lucrative) remedial classes for some college students. How's that going? Wellll.......
Bill lavishes more money on favored private schools
In Indiana, the Journal Gazette editorial pushes back against the state's proposed voucher expansion.
Three former Indiana superintendents of public instruction speak out against GOP proposals.
Call for summer of play to help English pupils recover from Covid-19 stress
Sally Weale in the Guardian argues against any sort of academics-intensive catch-up summer. Let the children play. Different continent, but the point still applies.
Post-pandemic child care options will be scarce
At Hechinger Report, Lillian Mongeau lays out the bad news--one of the pandemic casualties is likely to be child care businesses.
Want to fix the chronic absentee problem in Detroit schools? Start with transportation.
Lori Higgins at Chalkbeat looks at one of the underlying issues behind Detroit's attendance problem (both public and charter). I'm betting they aren't the only ones.
If teachers think standardized tests stink, maybe we should listen
A Michigan state rep points out that there's good reason to think that the Big Standardized Test is a waste of time this year.
Black teachers improve education outcomes for Black students
In Pennsylvania, more support for what we already know. Plus an appearance by Erie, which always makes me happy.
Building a community for Black male teachers
At EdWeek, a profile of Baron R. Davis, a superintendent in South Carolina looking to build support for Black men in the classroom.
The Weird Plot To Privatize Education in Minnesota
Sarah Lahm at the Progressive peeling back the layers on Minnesota's push to privatize public ed, courtesy of a guy from California.
Postmate drivers have become easy prey for scammers.
Nothing at all to do with education, but a look at one of the ways that gig workers are vulnerable to scams. One more thing to add to the list of reasons that gig work is not a welcome model for education.
Edgenuity's software wasn't meant for a pandemic. That didn't stop some school districts.
NBC news catches on the mess that is Edgenuity school-in-a-box software.
Tennessee Education Report has an update on another dark money PAC hiding behind students.
You're gonna miss us when we're gone
Steven Singer imagines a bleak version of the post-covid ed techified world
Reflections on Apocalypse Teaching
NYC Educator takes a look at where we are, and what might stand in the way of where we want to be.
Jose Luis Vilson offers some personal reflection on Chicago's amazing teacher and labor leader
Nancy Flanagan on maintaining during the vaccine rollout. Just a damn fine piece of writing.
As a superhero teacher, I can't wait to sacrifice my unvaccinated life for your child.
Sommer Koester at McSweeney's.
