Can It Be April Already Edition
Every Sunday I offer up a compendium of notable readings from the previous week, because there's just so much out there and just in case you missed something, here it is. You can make sure you don't miss this weekly digest or any other scintillating posts by subscribing via the little box over in the right column (I have no idea where it is on your phone). There's also a Facebook page where you can catch all the writing I send out into the world.
So here's some reading for this week. Remember that if you think something is valuable and worthwhile, you can amplify by sharing the post through whatever avenues you use.
Let's start the week with a little schadenfreude for everyone's favorite education profiteers. Reported by The Guardian.
Some charter operators don't care for teachers unions very much, and this one in Pittsburgh has decided to take the not-very-clever approach of firing teachers who try to talk union.
Rebecca Griesbach at Hechinger becomes one more writer to notice and lay out how the CRT panic certainly looks like plenty of other previous panics over education.
Thomas Ultican always does his homework. This time, he's looking at how several top-notch educators lost their jobs for standing up to a plan to inflict no excuses training (from a fake graduate school) on teachers in Black neighborhoods of DC.
Paul Thomas looks at how CRT panic is playing out in SC, and the truth behind calls for "no politics"
Annie Abrams at The New Republic (warning--limit to number of free articles) looks at the charters pushed by outfits like Hillsdale College and asks if there are any useful lessons in this regressive approach. Maybe.
Well, there was certainly no commie indoctrinatin' going on at this Texas high school. Play stupid games, win stupid prizes.
Rachel Cohen with an excellent, even-handed, well-sourced story about how the various anti-CRT gag laws are playing out on the ground. In teh New Republic (warning--free story limit applies).
Emily Tate, writing for Mother Jones, talked to a lot of teachers. She also had access to an eye-opening data set from the NEA, and it's worth reading this article just to get a peek at that.
Yet another reminder that your state doesn't have to have a Florida-style gag law for teachers-- they can go ahead and squelch teacher expression about "controversial" issues. This is an Ohio district that forbids political and religious topics.
Kelly Jensen at Bookriot has a story from Alaska, where conservatives are looking to cleanse the Anchorage public library.
Wenimo Okoya writing for Hechinger talks about the issues of suicide by Black youths--and what schools can do to help.
Andy Spears with this infuriating Tennessee tale. No money for schools, but half a billion for a stadium.
Fred Smith at The Daily News (warning--they want your email address to read) points out what teachers already know-- the Big Standardized Test needs to go.
Nora de la Cour at the Jacobin magazine has a well-detailed look at how ed reform has been bad news for play, and that means bad news for children.
The indispensable Mercedes Schneider did an interview for an NPR show spotlighting school choice. The links to give it a listen are here.
An op-ed from the South Bend Tribune highlights how an Indiana law allows charters to waltz in and take public real estate for $1.
This week, David Lee Finkle ended his long-running teacher comic strip Mr. Fitz. So this is the perfect time to hunker down and scroll through the archives and take a look at this great slice of education cartooning.
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The Critical Flaw Behind Teacher Evaluations - Progressive.org - https://progressive.org/public-schools-advocate/critical-flaw-behind-teacher-evaluations-greene-210203/