NV: Should Charter Schools Hire Licensed Teachers?Nevada is one of the country's leading states for privatizers; in 2015, they went all in on education savings accounts aka super-vouchers. Well, not so super- -they were not large enough to benefit the poor families that were the excuse for passing the bill. But they've got tax credit scholarships so that donors can get out of paying school taxes and support private schools at the same time. And,
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Does The Nation's Report Card Have A New Reading ProblemChester "Checker" Finn has concerns about the National Assessment Governing Board (NAGB), the folks who bring us the National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP) , aka The Nation's Report Card, aka that Big Standardized Test that periodically fuels massive freak outs about the Youths and their Learnings. Finn recently expressed concern over a "gag order" placed on the group by the chair, Hale
More Koch Ed PrivatizationThe Koch Network is getting with the times and launching an edu-reform substack. Yay. The substack is co-hosted by Lisa Snell , director of K-12 education policy for Stand Together , aka the Charles Koch Institute . Previously she spent 23 years as Director of Education at the Reason Foundation . Her co-host is Adam Peshek , who is part of the same Kochtopus, having arrived Jeb Bush's ExcelinEd (
Elon Musk Buddy Ready To Fix Education And The WorldYou may recall that Elon Musk started a school a few years ago, because of course he did. It was sort of a private school, sort of the most expensive homeschool project ever launched (Musk has five kids--one set of twins, and one set of triplets, so God bless him and his wife). He was single-handedly funding the thing (almost a cool half-mill a year ). And now one of his buds is ready to spin it
Let's Cut Bill And Melinda Some SlackWarning: this is not really about education, and the title is not ironic snark. There are some things in life that you just don't get unless you've been there. Divorce is one of them. I've been through divorce school (Motto: You'll learn a lot, but the tuition is really high) and I'm getting that feeling I have every time I see famous people having their marital meltdowns plastered all over the n
Do Americans Overwhelmingly Hate "Woke" Policies?You may recall that Parents Defending Education recently burst on the scene as the latest education astroturf, this time tilted hard right . Their battle against "indoctrination" in schools now includes a new weapon--a poll, which they're touting under the headline "Americans Overwhelmingly Reject 'Woke' Race and Gender Policies in K-12 Education." (Have we reached the point yet where "woke" is u
The Anti-Education EconomyA recent article in the Chronicle of Higher Education asks "Our blind faith in the transformative power of higher ed is slipping. What now?" The article looks at the long-time US love affair with higher education, an affair that is one part long-standing respect (of some folks) for more and more education and one part the relentless drumbeat of articles pointing out that college graduates make mo
ICYMI: Mother's Day Edition (5/9)Honestly, it has been kind of a rough week here, and it's not getting better any time soon. So whatever else you do today, make sure you hug a loved one and let them know you care. Time is relentless and remorseless. Humans do not have to be. Here's some reading from the week. Teacher Evaluations (Hammers and Nails) Blue Cereal Education with a story of what teacher evaluation looks like in the f
Accountability WhiplashIt's one of the little inconsistencies in the reformster movement. Some will point at charts showing that spending on public education has increased steadily (in constant dollars) and ask, "What have we gotten for it?" There are
