Catch up with CURMUDGUCATION

CURMUDGUCATION:

Catch up with CURMUDGUCATION

The Lost Years

100by Peter Greene / 6h

After years of hearing how kindergarten has been turned into the new first grade, you'd think at the other end of the K-12 pipeline we would find highly advanced students. And yet-- not so much. I am not going to report a ton of research on this, because the available research is bogus and part of the actual test-centric problem. What I can tell you is what I, as an actual real live classroom teac

YESTERDAY

Food Is Overrated

100+by Peter Greene / 1d

Well, we've all seen it by now: Mulvaney on after-school programs: They're supposed to help kids get fed so they do better in school, but no evidence they're helping. pic.twitter.com/3h81NOhA9S — BuzzFeed News (@BuzzFeedNews) March 16, 2017 There is no evidence that food helps raise test scores. One more snowflake wants to eat. Mind you, this is from the administration that wants us to believe tha

MAR 16

The Basic Unit of Writing

25by Peter Greene / 2d

If you are of a Certain Age, this how you were taught writing-- 1) Learn the parts of speech, sentence parts, and the rest of grammar. 2) Learn how to construct a sentence. 3) Learn how to write several sentences to make a paragraph. 4) Learn how to write several paragraphs to make an essay. That's how we were taught to write. Mind you, it is not how anybody actually learned to write-- okay, I can

MAR 15

Littles-- More Than a Score (A Film You Should See)

22by Peter Greene / 2d

Of all the issues swirling around education, this is the one that keeps me up nights. What about the littles? There are plenty of terrible things happening in the world of education, but nothing is more heartbreaking than the transformation of kindergarten into first grade, the sudden "need" for four year olds to start learning letters and numbers and colors because now these children "need" to ge

MAR 14

Alternative Pathways

20by Peter Greene / 3d

You will not find me among the staunch defenders of traditional teacher education programs. I'm not the product of one myself ( you can read more about that here ), but I have sent many students into such programs, as well as hosting a bevy of student teachers from such places. There can be no doubt-- some teacher preparation programs should be completely overhauled. Slavish attention to unimporta

MAR 13

MI: A Blueprint for Education?

100+by Peter Greene / 4d

First announced in Governor Rick Snyder's January 2016 State of the State address, the 21st Century Commission has been working diligently at an educational blueprint for Michigan. The final report on charting the edu-journey for Betsy Devos's home state is a hefty 146 pages. I've read it so that you don't have to. Buckle up, boys and girls. Who Created This Thing? The commission was headed up by

MAR 12

FL: Court Rules in Favor of Stupid

100+by Peter Greene / 5d

Florida, land of more stupid education rules than you can shake a dead alligator at, embarked on a new level of stupid last year when it fought to keep some third graders from moving on to fourth grade. As you may recall, Florida is one of the states with a third grader retention law, declaring that third graders cannot move on unless they pass the Big Standardized Test for reading. This is a dumb

Frontline: Your Large Brotherly Data Service

10by Peter Greene / 6d

I recently covered the launching of The Line , a new website helmed by Disgraced LAUSD Superintendent John Deasy and dedicated to the proposition that Chiefs for Change should have an avenue to keep pumping out warmed-over education reform baloney. As soon as I started digging, I realized I already knew about Frontline, the company behind the website. That familiar logo had started popping up on o

ICYMI: Endless Winter Edition (3/12)

7by Peter Greene / 6d

As always, I encourage you to share and boost the signal of anything you read here. It's Testing Season. Ethics, Anyone? Sarah Lahm highlights just two of the jaw-dropping abuses done in the name of the Big Standardized Test this year (so far). Out There Annie Tan with a short, simple, powerful meditation on putting yourself out there. Dismantling Public Education: Turning Ideology into Gold Alex

MAR 11

Can You Afford To Become a Teacher?

54by Peter Greene / 6d

For the past few years, there's been regular conversation about the sad discovery that many professions are only accessible to the wealthy. If you want to enter the world of Hollywood, Wall Street or many writing gigs, the path is through an unpaid internship which is, you know, unpaid. Other areas may 

 CURMUDGUCATION:

Keeping retirement weird. Escalating the war on the poor families, kids and the elderly. | Fred Klonsky

Keeping retirement weird. Escalating the war on the poor families, kids and the elderly. | Fred Klonsky:
Keeping retirement weird. Escalating the war on the poor families, kids and the elderly.

Budget director Mick Mulvaney parsing words after cutting grants for food for the hungry.

David Brooks wants Trump to unleash Steve Bannon.

As I read Brooks (so you don’t have to and throw up your breakfast) I kept visualizing unleashing Ulysses.

He would more than likely crap in a neighbor’s yard.

Maybe that’s what Brooks means.

The Trib’s Mary Schmich thinks we’re making too big a deal about the cuts to Meals on Wheels and parrots the Mulvaney line.

See. Technically they are not cutting Meals on Wheels. It is not a federal program. They are cutting the block grants to states that may or may not already fund food to the homebound and elderly and hungry kids. So, it is not fair to say we are cutting that particular program.

Mulvaney defends cutting breakfast programs for kids because there is no evidence that they do better in school as a result.  Our society’s responsibility Keeping retirement weird. Escalating the war on the poor families, kids and the elderly. | Fred Klonsky:

Trump’s Budget Slashes Funding For Public Schools | PopularResistance.Org

Trump’s Budget Slashes Funding For Public Schools | PopularResistance.Org:

Trump’s Budget Slashes Funding For Public Schools While Giving 1.4 Billion For Privatization

Donald Trump’s education budget is a declaration of war on public education and our nation’s neediest children. It was surely designed by Betsy DeVos.

Trump’s budget would axe after-school programs known as the 21st Century Community Learning Centers which help school districts, churches and nonprofit groups serve more than 1.6 million American children, most of whom are poor. In defending the cuts to such programs, White House Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney said after-school programs don’t “show results.” He went on to say that feeding children after-school has never been proven to get them better jobs, so we cannot afford to do it anymore. A full stomach for a hungry child is not good enough–but there is 1.4 billion to send them to voucher schools and for for-profit online learning.

The budget also slashes programs that prepare disadvantaged middle and high school students for college. College assistance for first-generation students is also reduced. And if disadvantaged students are still able to get to college, it will be harder for them to stay–Trump’s budget cuts funding for federal work study programs.

Our public schools would be hurt. The biggest proposed Trump cut to education is the total elimination of Title IIA funds at about $2.4 billion. A significant share of those funds is used to keep teachers on staff since the recession. That means increases in taxes or in class sizes.

And yet there is ample funding for the school privatization agenda–$1.4 billion in all.

Trump’s budget contains:

· a 50% increase for charter school funding.

· a $250 million private school “choice” program.

· $1 billion for a fund portability program–which is nothing more than a disguised voucher system. Portability could bankrupt some public schools and slash funding for the rest.

The Network for Public Education will not stand by and allow Trump to break our public school system and crush the dreams of millions of children. We believe in the promise and hope of an equitable education for every children. A shot-gun system of segregated private schools, charters, virtual and home-schools is a recipe for disaster.

But we cannot fight without your help.

Send your email to your senators and representative today.

Let’s barrage Congress with our emails and let our representatives know where we stand.

Click here.

This is our first step. In the coming weeks we will provide you with one page informational sheets to help you teach others about the threats that charters, vouchers, and tax credits for private schools pose. We will begin call campaigns, flooding the White House and Congress. We will give you tools for social media.

Commit to the fight today.

Send your email, then post it on Facebook, tweet it and send it to friends.

Join the Network for Public Education in stopping the privatization agenda of Trump, Pence and DeVos. If our public education system is dismantled, we will never get it back. And that is a tragedy that our nation truly cannot afford.

Thank you for all you do,

Carol Burris, Executive Director

Trump’s Budget Slashes Funding For Public Schools | PopularResistance.Org:

Despite “photo op” Trump budget slashes $85M from Historically Black Colleges & Universities | The Edvocate Blog

Despite “photo op” Trump budget slashes $85M from Historically Black Colleges & Universities | The Edvocate Blog:

Despite “photo op” Trump budget slashes $85M from Historically Black Colleges & Universities

By now everyone knows that President Trump and ED Secretary DeVos staged a grossly insincere photo-op with the leaders of the nation’s Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU). That’s where DeVos displayed her unforgivable ignorance to the suffering of African Americans at the bigoted hands of the Jim Crow South by making a glib self-serving comparison of HBCUs as “pioneers” of school “choice.”

HBCU leaders attended the meeting with the reasonable expectation that President Trump planned to budget some much needed Federal dollars for these chronically underfunded institutions. Instead, DeVos proceeded to speak these unsettling obtuse words, “rather than focus solely on funding, we must be willing to make the tangible, structural reforms that will allow students to reach their full potential.”  

It didn’t take long to find out what that meant.

President Trump’s budget slashes $85 million dollars from Historically Black Colleges and Universities and cuts $4 billion dollars from Pell Grants, which serve financially-needy students. Seventy percent of students attending HBCUs receive Pell Grants. 

The Washington Post reports:

“Less than three weeks ago, this administration claimed it is a priority to advocate for HBCUs but, after viewing this budget proposal, those calls ring hollow,” Rep. Alma Adams (D-N.C.), a graduate of the largest HBCU, North Carolina A&T State University, said in a statement.

At the time, United Negro College Fund President Michael L. Lomax, who attended the ceremonial signing, lamented the lack of financial support in the order, noting that none of the funding recommendations were included… “President Trump pledged to do more for HBCUs than any other president has done before. However, this budget is not reflective of that sentiment. Without strong federal investments, President Trump’s commitment to HBCUs and the rebuilding of African American communities will be promises unfulfilled,” Lomax said.

Historically black schools educated nearly 300,000 students in 2014, the latest figure available from the National Center for Education Statistics. Education Department data shows that three-quarters of all doctorates awarded to Despite “photo op” Trump budget slashes $85M from Historically Black Colleges & Universities | The Edvocate Blog:

Many of My Most Difficult Students End Up Loving Me | deutsch29

Many of My Most Difficult Students End Up Loving Me | deutsch29:

Many of My Most Difficult Students End Up Loving Me

I began teaching in 1991-92. Most of my years in the classroom are full time, though a few have been part time. Most have been in the Louisiana public high school setting. Some have been in the Georgia alternative school setting, one in which every new student had been expelled from a public high school. And still some have been at the post-secondary level in both Colorado and Indiana.

When I moved back to southern Louisiana following Hurricane Katrina, I began teaching English at the public high school where I have been for the past 10 years.

Just thought I’d share one lesson I have learned from my public school students:

The ones who tend to push me the most and require the toughest discipline usually end up loving me the most.

They also learn to respect authority in the process– an indispensable life lesson.

I have seen this reality come to pass numerous times over the years. The student challenges me, pushes the limits and is disciplined, pushes again and again and is disciplined–

–and expects me to retaliate, to hate, to criticize, to refuse to help when assistance with classwork is needed.

But no hate comes. No grudge. No refusal to help.

Then one day, breakthrough.

It might be sooner than later. Sometimes it is later than sooner.

What happens is that a trust is established and a relationship is forged. That doesn’t mean there is no longer a need for discipline. What it means is that the student trusts me and understands (and even comes to value) the discipline when it must come.

These moments I consider the gems of teaching and learning.

These moments defy capture on any standardized test or school grading rubric.

___________________________________________________________

Want to read about the history of charter schools and vouchers?

School Choice: The End of Public Education? 

  (Click image to enlarge)

Schneider is a southern Louisiana native, career teacher, trained researcher, and author of two other books: A Chronicle of Echoes: Who’s Who In the Implosion of American Public Education and Common Core Dilemma: Who Owns Our Schools?.

Don’t care to buy from Amazon? Purchase my books from Powell’s City of Books instead.

 Many of My Most Difficult Students End Up Loving Me | deutsch29:

IRTA: These 80 Programs Would Lose Federal Funding Under Trump’s Proposed Budget | Reclaim Reform

IRTA: These 80 Programs Would Lose Federal Funding Under Trump’s Proposed Budget | Reclaim Reform:

IRTA: These 80 Programs Would Lose Federal Funding Under Trump’s Proposed Budget

The Illinois Retired Teachers Association (IRTA*) has researched and listed the cumulative assaults on America’s responsibilities to its citizens by President Trump’s White House. These are obvious attempts to dismantle the social programs that people need to live full, productive and healthy lives of respectability and personal dignity.

Below is the message sent to its members.

These 80 Programs Would Lose Federal Funding Under Trump’s Proposed Budget

By David Ingold, Chloe Whiteaker, Michael Keller and Hannah Recht

March 16, 2017

U.S. President Donald Trump’s first budget proposal includes massive cuts across most of the federal government. The Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Agriculture face unprecedented discretionary funding cuts in excess of 25 percent, as Trump attempts to boost the military and national security.

Proposed changes to agency discretionary budgets in 2018*

Source: Office of Management and Budget
*Some percentages differ from administration figures because change is calculated against fiscal 2016 levels, the last year for which the government was fully funded. The current fiscal 2017 stopgap spending measure runs through April 28.

Trump’s budget also proposes eliminating discretionary funding altogether for at least 19 agencies and 61 other programs. Plans for new NASA missions, climate change research, aid for low-income families and funding for commercial flights to rural airports would all be on the chopping block. Trump says many of these programs are inefficient or duplicative. All this could change; Trump will deliver a final budget in May and Congress would have to IRTA: These 80 Programs Would Lose Federal Funding Under Trump’s Proposed Budget | Reclaim Reform: