teacherken: One down, three to go . . .

One down, three to go . . .

One down, three to go . . .

Friday was the final day of 1st quarter.  It was also the penultimate game for our freshman soccer team.  Both of those events are occasions for another reflection on teaching and related.  If interested in my observations, which will use those as a starting point for broader reflection, please keep reading.  If not, my feelings will not be hurt if you move on without leaving any evidence of having stopped by.

I will start with soccer.  IF my memory is correct, after our 4-2 win over the Junior Varsity of Sidwell Friends (meaning some of the opposing players were sophomores and bigger and faster than many of ours) our record is now 4 wins, 4 losses, and two ties.  That record is somewhat disappointing, and with just a few breaks could have been 7-2-1.  The two goals we gave up, one on a PK and the other on the only corner kick we conceded, were both the ultimate result of 2 of our four defensive lapses in the game.  Regardless of the score, we dominated the game because for only the 2nd time this year we got our players to do what we wanted —  play with your heads up, move the ball on one or two touch passes, move to open spaces, follow shots for rebounds, etc.  The first time we had done that, we had won 8-4, all four goals against coming as the result of defensive mistakes.  Friday we well could have scored ten and should have scored 7, but perhaps the best player on the other team was their goalie.  Four different players scored, the players showed more maturity and with one exception more team spirit that we have seen.  What was most satisfying as coaches was to see them mature —  as players, teammates, and young men.  That was something nice to have at the end of the quarter.

I have a couple of students who are allowed to turn in missing work on Monday before I post my grades.  At DeMatha we require a 65 in order to pass.  I have 130 students.  I have 3 who will fail the first quarter, in each case because of not turning in work, even CONTINUE READING: One down, three to go . . .

Founder and CEO of embattled Inspire charter schools resigns - Los Angeles Times

Founder and CEO of embattled Inspire charter schools resigns - Los Angeles Times

Founder and CEO of embattled Inspire charter schools resigns

By Kristen Taketa
SAN DIEGO — 

The founder and Chief Executive of the embattled Inspire charter school network has resigned, Inspire officials have announced.

The resignation of Herbert “Nick” Nichols on Friday comes after seven county superintendents, including those from Los Angeles and San Diego counties, officially requested a state fiscal agency to audit the Inspire network for potential fraud.

Nichols’ resignation is effective immediately, said Chris Bertelli, a spokesman for Inspire. No reason was given for his resignation.

Nichols could not be reached for comment Friday.

“We acknowledge and express our gratitude to him as one of the founders of the Inspire organization,” officials said in emails to Inspire staff and families Friday. “We at the Inspire District Office and the Inspire Family of Schools are dedicated to seeing the true Inspire model and the philosophy behind it continue to impact the children, families, and communities we serve. The schools have a strong group of leaders and teachers that are dedicated to meeting the educational and social needs of our students.”

Nichols has been on an unexplained leave of absence since late September. Inspire announced his leave of absence days after the California Charter Schools Assn., which advocates for and supports charter schools, announced that it had expelled Inspire from its membership.

Steven Lawrence, who has been serving as Inspire’s interim leader while Nichols was on leave, will continue as executive director for the rest of the school year.

Nichols was serving as the executive director of Inspire District Office, a nonprofit corporation that he helped to found that has been collecting 15% of Inspire schools’ revenue and was providing many services to Inspire schools. He was making a $380,000 annual salary, according to Inspire.

Education officials have raised questions about Inspire District Office for its various financial transactions with Inspire schools and corporations affiliated with Inspire.

Since the first Inspire school opened in 2014, the charter network has grown rapidly to include an estimated 35,000-plus students across the state, alarming education officials who question the rapid growth, the San Diego Union-Tribune found in an investigation of Inspire.

Meanwhile, Inspire schools have engaged in heavy cash borrowing with an outside charter school capital firm and with related Inspire corporations.

The superintendents said in their audit request they have reason to believe Inspire engaged in fiscal malfeasance, conflicts of interest, manipulation of enrollment and revenue and other improper activity.

“The concerns regarding Inspire are pervasive across the state, and require immediate attention to prevent further waste of public education dollars and profiting off state apportionment not used to provide a complete and quality education to the students enrolled in the school,” six county superintendents wrote in their letter earlier this month to the Fiscal Crisis Management and Assistance Team, the state agency that audits schools for fraud.

In addition to San Diego, El Dorado, Sutter and Kern counties have authorized Inspire schools in their area. Ventura and Placer counties said Inspire was operating unauthorized resource centers in their areas.

Los Angeles County joined in the request for the audit because Inspire is CONTINUE READING:  Founder and CEO of embattled Inspire charter schools resigns - Los Angeles Times

CURMUDGUCATION: Shame

CURMUDGUCATION: Shame

Shame

The most shocking and disturbing thing that I saw on line this week had nothing to do with politics. It was a post by a teacher explaining her school's disciplinary system. As with many systems, students have a color-coded behavior level monitored and adjusted throughout the day. Unlike any school I'd ever heard of before, students at this school receive a colored card for their behavior level that they must wear on a lanyard around their neck all day.

When it comes to accounts of disciplinary systems in school, I try to tread lightly, because the context and human touch of implementation matter. But this is patently dumb.

What is it about human beings that makes so many of us believe in the magical power of shame. Shame inflictors tend to share a common narrative-- if we shame this person, that will motivate them to do better. Shame will push them to rise above their shameful failings, somehow.

This is bunk. It is not how human beings work. It is especially not how tiny humans work.

You do not get people to stand up by knocking them down. You do not get people to be bigger by making them feel small. That is not how this work. That is not how any of this works.

People do better because they feel strong enough to do better. When you shame someone, you tell them that they are weak, that they can't stand up, that they have fallen and failed because who they are is just not good enough. Adult humans with a strong sense of self have the power to beat that back, to say, "No, I know who I am, and it's not the person you're describing." But children-- young humans who don't yet have a clear sense of who they are? That's a different matter. That is part of what they come to school to find out-- what their best self is, and how that self can best be in the world. Telling them that some large part of them sucks is just wrong.

I know the impulse. Somebody has done something stupid or wrong or bad, and you are really really CONTINUE READING: CURMUDGUCATION: Shame

Can algorithms really teach kids to write better? Algorithms are grading student essays are trying. - Vox

Can algorithms really teach kids to write better? Algorithms are grading student essays are trying. - Vox

Algorithms are grading student essays across the country. Can it really teach kids how to write better?
The AI algorithms grading student essays are a black box.

Algorithms are grading student essays across the country. So can artificial intelligence really teach us to write better?

Todd Feathers, who wrote about AI essay grading for Motherboard, called up every state in the country and found that at least 21 states use some form of automated scoring.

“The algorithms are prone to a couple of flaws. One is that they can be fooled by any kind of nonsense gibberish sophisticated words. It looks good from afar but it doesn’t actually mean anything. And the other problem is that some of the algorithms have been proven by the testing vendors themselves to be biased against people from certain language backgrounds.”

Feathers wasn’t able to pin down exactly how many students are affected by this. But here’s what we do know: These programs are being used to grade students of all ages and levels, from high school students to students applying to grad school, from middle school students even down to those in elementary school.

The reason it’s so hard to figure out who’s affected by AI grading is because there’s no one program that’s being used. There are a bunch of different algorithms, made by a bunch of different companies. But they’re all made in basically the same way: First, an automated scoring company looks at how human graders behave. Then, the company trains an algorithm to make predictions as to how a human grader might score an essay based on that data. Depending on the program, those predictions can be consistently wrong in the same way. In other words, they can be biased. And once those algorithms are built, explains Reset host Arielle Duhaime-Ross, they can reproduce those biases at a huge scale.

And the worst part? You can’t cross-examine an algorithm and get to the bottom of why it CONTINUE READING: Can algorithms really teach kids to write better? Algorithms are grading student essays are trying. - Vox

Rebuilding the village: A West Virginia school system strives to lift up its children by tackling poverty - The Washington Post

Rebuilding the village: A West Virginia school system strives to lift up its children by tackling poverty - The Washington Post

Rebuilding the village: A West Virginia school system strives to lift up its children by tackling poverty

WELCH, W.Va. — The ceremony had the feel of a church service.

Standing at the end of a block lined mostly with empty storefronts, officials wielded a crackly PA system, their voices carrying over the din of coal trucks that rumbled through the town. They stood in the shadow of a half-constructed building whose workers paused to take in the spectacle.

“That is our belief: that small towns can thrive again, that all children regardless of demography or geography can thrive,” said Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, a national teachers union, last month. She grew louder, her voice rising with each word: “From this day forward, we commit that not one more school, not one more hospital, not one more post office, not one more grocery store — should close on our watch!”

Dignitaries from across West Virginia — and union leaders from across the country — had arrived at the end of this block to celebrate the construction of Renaissance Village, a mixed-use complex that officials hope will spark a revitalization of this dying town. And more than that, they’re pinning their hopes on it attracting more teachers to the McDowell County school system, whose ills are exacerbated by a revolving door of novice instructors and substitutes.

Slated to be completed in the spring, the building will have 16 apartments and two floors of commercial and retail space. The $8.5 million project is being funded by the teachers union, tax credits and a capital campaign and is the first multistory building to be constructed in McDowell County in 50 years, according to the union.

Inside West Virginia’s child welfare crisis

The building represents the latest in the county’s ambitious efforts to boost academic achievement by CONTINUE READING: Rebuilding the village: A West Virginia school system strives to lift up its children by tackling poverty - The Washington Post

Education Insider for October 20, 1019 - Education Votes

Education Insider for October 20, 1019 - Education Votes

Education Insider for October 20, 1019

House rewrite of Higher Education Act fulfills key NEA goals

The College Affordability Act (H.R. 4674), introduced Oct. 15 by the House Education and Labor Committee chaired by Rep. Bobby Scott (D-VA), fulfills key NEA goals for reauthorization of the Higher Education Act (HEA) that governs federal student-aid programs, federal aid to colleges, oversight of teacher preparation programs, and more. “On behalf of our country’s educators and students, NEA is proud to strongly support Chairman Scott’s College Affordability Act and looks forward to the legislation moving swiftly through the House,” NEA President Lily Eskelsen García said. The bill would help ensure that teachers have the right skills and tools to prepare students for the future; substantially improve the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program; prioritize the needs and conditions of students and borrowers, as opposed to lenders; and provide permanent, mandatory funding for HBCUs and minority-serving institutions. Tell your representative to support the bill and your senators that students and educators need a comprehensive HEA reauthorization. TAKE ACTION

Vote coming on DeVos ally nominated to serve as appellate judge

The Senate Judiciary Committee could vote as soon as this week on Steven Menashi’s nomination to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. An architect of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos’ disastrous policies, Menashi could do even more harm as an appellate judge. He has failed to protect students from predatory online institutions, failed to ensure student loans are forgiven for public service, weakened protections against sexual assault and harassment, and is openly hostile to education and civil rights—to give just two examples, he lamented that our education system promotes “egalitarianism” and opposed student financial aid because it “punishes” affluent families. Menashi also worked with presidential adviser Stephen Miller on immigration policies that have terrified and traumatized our students, their families, and entire communities. Tell your senators to VOTE NO on Menashi. TAKE ACTION

Tell senators to push to repeal tax on middle class health benefits

Unless the Senate acts, working families’ health benefits will be taxed. Three months ago, the House voted 419-6 to repeal the tax on middle class health benefits scheduled to take effect in 2022. Now, it’s up to the Senate. According to an analysis published in Health Affairs, educators would be among those hit hardest. Already, employers are pushing to scale back health benefits. Over the last decade, the Kaiser Family Foundation reports, family premiums have gone up 55 percent and deductibles 212 percent—far more than the 26 percent increase in workers’ earnings over the same period. Workers can’t afford a new tax on their benefits. The Middle Class Health Benefits Tax Repeal Act (S. 684) has 62 cosponsors—more than enough for passage if leadership allows a vote. Tell your senators to cosponsor S. 684, if they haven’t already, and urge Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) to bring it to the floor. TAKE ACTION

Elijah Cummings will be missed

Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD) died this week after 23 years in the U.S. House of Representatives. The son of sharecroppers from South Carolina, he grew up in a three-room house in Baltimore with six siblings and graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Howard University after a childhood in special education classes. “When I became a lawyer, no one asked me if I had spent some time in special ed,” he said. “All they wanted was a good lawyer. The same little boys that bullied me, the same ones that beat me up, they became my clients.”

NEA President Lily Eskelsen García summed up the feelings of educators all across America in her tweet: “Deeply saddened to hear that Rep. Elijah Cummings has passed away. He was tenacious, remarkable, and kind. A champion for civil rights, for students, for public education, and for Baltimore. Rest in Peace. Rest in Power.”

Cheers and Jeers

Rep. Suzanne Bonamici (D-OR) held a hearing on Oct. 16, “Examining the USDA’s Proposed Cuts to Free School Meals.” The proposed cuts could endanger automatic eligibility for school meals for more than 500,000 students. At the hearing, Reps. Marcia Fudge (D-OH), Jahana Hayes (D-CT), Raúl Grijalva (D-AZ), Barbara Lee (D-TX), David Trone (D-MD), Kim Schrier (D-WA), Marty Wilde (D-OR), Bobby Scott (D-VA), Pramila Jayapal (D-WA), and Alma Adams (D-NC) spoke out against the SNAP cuts proposed by the administration.

Rep. Alma Adams (D-NC) submitted NEA’s comments for the record in connection with the hearing on the administration’s proposed cuts in school meals.

Education Insider for October 20, 1019 - Education Votes

CHECK IT OUT NEWBLACKMAN (IN EXILE) WITH MARK ANTHONY NEAL

NewBlackMan (in Exile)

CHECK IT OUT NEWBLACKMAN (IN EXILE) 

WITH MARK ANTHONY NEAL

'Free Cyntoia': A Memoir

by Mark Anthony Neal / 11h

'NPR's Michel Martin speaks with Cyntoia Brown-Long about her memoir, Free Cyntoia: My Search for Redemption in the American Prison System .' -- All Things Considered

Living at the Intersection of Domestic Violence and Immigration

by Mark Anthony Neal / 12h

' It’s Domestic Violence Awareness Month, and The Takeaway is looking at the challenges unique to immigrant women facing gender-based violence in the United States. Some of these challenges include poor education, financial limitations, cultural taboos, language barriers, familial isolation, and lack of documentation. And existing institutional structures set up to provide domestic violence survi

Poet Reginald Dwayne Betts Talks New Collection 'Felon'

by Mark Anthony Neal / 12h

' Reginald Dwayne Betts , a poet, author, and lawyer who was also formerly incarcerated, joins All Of It to discuss his new book of poetry , Felon .'

Tiny Desk Concert: Brittany Howard

by Mark Anthony Neal / 12h

'All the songs performed at the Tiny Desk come from Jaime, an album Brittany Howard dedicated to her sister who died at the age of 13 from a rare form of eye cancer, the same disease that has left Brittany Howard partially blind in one eye.' -- NPR Music

A Dream Deferred –The Broken Promise of New York City Public Housing: Politics and Promises (Episode 4)

by Mark Anthony Neal / 12h

'Politicians at the local, state, and federal level have made promises to the NYCHA community, but what is actually being done? This episode of “A Dream Deferred” follows the politics of NYCHA and the response from residents seeking improved conditions.' -- PBS

Sophia Chang Is Not Here To Play

by Mark Anthony Neal / 17h

' Sophia Chang ’s new audiobook, The Baddest Bitch in the Room , details her life experiences, but unlike a traditional audiobook narrated by a single voice, it features two dozen guests, including Wu-Tang ’s Method Man , RZA , and GZA , along with original musical scores. The title comes from Chang’s realization that as a woman of color in her 50s—one who raised two teenagers as a single mother,

Mogul: The Life and Times of Reggie Ossé

by Mark Anthony Neal / 18h

'This episode of Mogul is a tribute to the life and career of Reggie Ossé , who hosted the first season of Mogul . A couple of months after completing the show Reggie was diagnosed with colon cancer and he passed away in December of 2017. We’re going to tell you Reggie’s story — His early days growing up a hip-hop head in Brooklyn, his time as a lawyer representing legendary artists like Jay-Z an

OCT 18

Left of Black S10:E4: Higher Education Policy and the Changing Gender Dynamics of American Citizenship with Professor Deondra Rose

61by Mark Anthony Neal / 2d

Left of Black host Mark Anthony Neal (@NewBlackMan) is joined in the studio by Dr. Deondra Rose (@DeondraRose), an assistant profesoe in the Sanford School of Public Policy with a secondary appointment in the Department of Political Science. Her research focuses on the feedback effects of landmark social policies on the American political landscape. She is the author of Citizens by Degree: Highe

OCT 17

Black Girls' Guide to Surviving Menopause S1E4: Gifts From The Oracle – The Muse and The Medicine with Jaki Shelton Green

by Mark Anthony Neal / 2d

'North Carolina Poet Laureate Jaki Shelton Green drops blessings like ripe mango into our laps. Walls breathe a heavy sighs of relief as she shreds the puny narratives we have about who we are and our power to reanimate and reclaim our medicine... our magic. She calls forth specters who resemble our own shadows and reminds us that we can, that we have no choice but to reknit ourselves back togeth

Why The Wicker Chair is On So Many Album Covers

by Mark Anthony Neal / 2d

'The golden age of album cover design doesn’t have a specific start and end date, but many regard the late 1960s to 1970s as one of the field's most exciting times. From the psychedelic rock covers of the '60s to glistening airbrush covers of the '70s, the era was a kaleidoscope of colors worthy of placement in modern art museums. But there’s one genre of cover so ubiquitous it almost flew under

What Happens To Abandoned Golf Courses

by Mark Anthony Neal / 2d

'As golf declines in popularity, communities across the country are struggling with how to best redevelop the land that’s left behind. WSJ visited the Tucson suburb of Oro Valley where the town is trying to figure out what to do with its municipal course.' -- Wall Street Journal

Glitter & Doom: A Conversation with Walter Mosley

29by Mark Anthony Neal / 2d

'Author Walter Mosley talks with host Mackenzie Fegan about his writers' room controversy and the absurdity of race and freedom of speech.'-- BRIC TV

Trailer: Kerry Washington in 'American Son'

by Mark Anthony Neal / 2d

'It's 3am on a rainy night in South Florida, and mother Kendra Ellis-Connor ( Kerry Washington ) paces anxiously in a police station waiting room as she tries to piece together what may have happened to her missing son. Faced with 

NewBlackMan (in Exile)