DID YOU MISS DIANE RAVITCH'S BLOG TODAY? A site to discuss better education for all

Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all

DID YOU MISS DIANE RAVITCH'S BLOG TODAY? 

A site to discuss better education for all

The Report of the Biden-Sanders Unity Task Force: Good But Weak Pablum on Charters

by dianeravitch / 17min

The Biden and Sanders campaigns created a “Unity Task Force” to make recommendations on important issues. Here is their report with recommendations. It is 110 pages. There is much to like in the report, proposing an agenda to reverse four years of savage attacks by Trump on the environment, on the rule of law, on government itself. The education portion aPears on pp. 22-27. It contains welcome pl

Mercedes Schneider: A Parent at Success Academy Tells All

by dianeravitch / 1h

A parent of two children at the Success Academy charter chain in New York City reaches out to Mercedes Schneider in Louisiana to spill the beans about the chain’s efforts to kick her children out. The teachers and administrators made it clear that her children should find another school, but she stubbornly hung on. They weren’t problem children, but the older child was “average,” and the younger

Texas and Florida Tell Schools to Reopen Fully, Despite Surge in Virus Cases

29by dianeravitch / 2h

Two states—Texas and Florida—are moving forward to open their schools for five-day, in-person instruction, even though the rate of coronavirus infections in both states is rising. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos has demanded that schools across the nation restart and become fully operational, although she has no power to force schools to reopen when local officials believe it is unwise and uns

Ohio: Audit Finds Misspending and Conflict of Interest at Richard Allen Charter Schools

100by dianeravitch / 3h

Once again, a state audit has uncovered waste and misspent funding at a charter chain, in this case, the Richard Allen Charter Schools in Ohio. Among other findings, the head of the school leased a Maserati with public funds. A new state audit of the Richard Allen charter schools includes multiple findings of improperly spent money in 2016-17, and allegations of ethics violations and conflicts of

UTLA: It Is Not Safe to Open Schools This Fall

100+by dianeravitch / 12h

Media Contact / Anna Bakalis 213-305-9654 For immediate release / June 9, 2020 Press release: https://www.utla.net/news/utla-recommends-keeping-school-campuses-closed UTLA recommends keeping LAUSD school campuses closed; refocus on robust distance learning practices for Fall LOS ANGELES — Amid COVID-19 infections and deaths surging to record highs, Trump’s threats to open schools prematurely, and

House Democrats to Trump and DeVos: We Won’t Let You Defund Public Schools

54by dianeravitch / 14h

Leading Democrats in the House control the federal government’s appropriations. They have the power of the purse, given to the House of Representatives by the Constitution (do Donald and Betsy know that?). They have a message for Donald Trump and Betsy DeVos: Bo bullying. FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE July 9, 2020 CONTACT Katelynn Thorpe (DeLauro), 202-225-1599 Bob Schwalbach (Sablan), 202-309-5787 Chair

Reject the Trump-DeVos One-Size-Fits-All Plan

by dianeravitch / 16h

Call on Congress and Governors to supply the funding to reopen our schools safely! Don’t open schools where the pandemic is raging. Protect the lives of students and staff!

Happy Birthday, Oliver Sacks!

by dianeravitch / 22h

This appeared in Garrison Keillor’s “The Writer’s Almanac.” It’s the birthday of writer and neurologist Oliver Sacks (1933) (books by this author), best known for his lyrical explorations of the brain’s strangest mysteries in books like Awakenings (1973), The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat (1985), and Musicophilia (2007). Sacks was born in London. He was the youngest of four boys and both his

Palm Beach County: This Video Explains Why the Pandemic Is Surging in Red States

100+by dianeravitch / 23h

Want to know why Florida, Texas, and Arizona are the new hot spots for the coronavirus? Watch this video and you will see and hear why some people refuse to protect themselves and others. What would Dr.Fauci say?

Kevin Welner on Trump’s Failure to Make It Safe to Open Schools

44by dianeravitch / 1d

Kevin Welner is the director of the National Education Policy Center and a Professor at the University of Colorado in Boulder. He writes: The definition of chutzpah, according to the old joke, is the kid who kills his parents and then asks the judge for mercy because he’s an orphan. President Trump has added a twist on the joke: the kid who kills his parents and then complains that they don’t dri

Arizona: School Leaders Worry About Reopening as Virus Spreads

52by dianeravitch / 1d

Arizona Governor Doug Ducey—a zealot for charters and vouchers whose election was funded by Charles Koch and Betsy DeVos—has ordered the state’s public schools to reopen on August 17 as the disease rages out of control in his state. School leaders are not so sure this is a good idea . Common sense suggests it is a very bad idea. The Arizona Republic reports: The school year hasn’t begun, but an A

BREAKING NEWS: Supreme Court Rules That Trump Must Release Tax Returns to NY Prosecutors!

21by dianeravitch / 1d

No one is above the law! We are still a nation of laws. Separation of powers exists still. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Trump must release his tax returns to prosecutors in New York who are investigating him. David Savage of the Los Angeles Times writes: The Supreme Court dealt President Trump a major defeat Thursday by rejecting his claims of presidential immunity and upholding subpoenas fr

Tom Ultican: Don’t Reopen the Schools. It’s Not Safe.

100+by dianeravitch / 1d

Tom Ultican says that we have to face facts. It is not safe to reopen schools. Ultican recites the politicians and pundits demanding that the schools open on-time, in-person, no excuses, no new funding. He writes: These neoliberal forces are promoting the idea that teachers and children must be thrust into an unsafe environment so the world’s economic engines can continue providing decent return

Say NO to Trump-DeVos Pressure to Reopen without Resources for Health and Safety

400+by dianeravitch / 1d

Trump and DeVos demand that schools reopen in full, in-person, on time in a few weeks, even as they block the resources needed by schools to protect students and staff from the pandemic that is raging across the nation. Districts 

Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all

CURMUDGUCATION: Trump and DeVos Can't Make Up Their Damned Minds About Schools

CURMUDGUCATION: Trump and DeVos Can't Make Up Their Damned Minds About Schools

Trump and DeVos Can't Make Up Their Damned Minds About Schools

It doesn't seem all that hard to figure out how Donald Trump and Betsy DeVos feel about public schools in this country. And yet, they seem oddly conflicted.

DeVos famously called public schools a "dead end." Just last week, reflecting on the SCOTUS decision, she opined that the history of American education is "sad and static" and "too many students have been discriminated against based on their faith and have been forced to stay in schools that don't match their values."

Trump is admittedly a tougher read, since he's mostly ignored the topic, at least until he worked out that being pro-voucher would be good for some Catholic votes. Just last Friday he was standing in front of Mount Rushmore declaring--

Against every law of society and nature, our children are taught in school to hate their own country and to believe that the men and women who built it were not heroes but that were villains.

So schools are awful, terrible things that ought to be shut-- wait! What's that?

Trump tweet-hollers "SCHOOLS MUST BE OPEN IN THE FALL" and DeVos tweeters back, "American education must be fully open and operational this fall.”

And they really, really mean it because they promise to get schools the resources to safely--ha! No, just kidding. But Trump does threaten to cut school funding for any schools that don't open, and DeVos backs him up, slamming adults who are just too chicken and insist on making excuses. And CONTINUE READING: CURMUDGUCATION: Trump and DeVos Can't Make Up Their Damned Minds About Schools

Is it Time to Cancel Teach Like a Champion? – Have You Heard

Is it Time to Cancel Teach Like a Champion? – Have You Heard

Is it Time to Cancel Teach Like a Champion?

Teach Like a Champion, the best-selling guide to effective teaching by Doug Lemov, has sold millions of copies. But a growing group of critics charge that Lemov’s approach is racist and embodies “carceral” pedagogy. And because we have a thing about education history, we go all the way back to 1895 to explore another controversial teacher training model: The Hampton Institute, founded at the end of the Civil War with the express purpose of maintaining racial hierarchy. Special guests: Ilana Horn, Joe Truss and Layla Treuhaft-Ali.  Complete transcript available here. The financial support of listeners like you keeps this podcast going. Subscribe on Patreon or donate on PayPal.

Have You Heard · #92: Is it Time to Cancel Teach Like a Champion?

Is it Time to Cancel Teach Like a Champion? – Have You Heard

What Happens When They Don't? - Teacher Habits

What Happens When They Don't? - Teacher Habits

What Happens When They Don’t?

States have finally started to release guidance to school districts for the “safe” reopening of buildings for in-person instruction. My state’s Return to School Roadmap takes a phased approach, with each phase providing guidelines that are either “required,” “strongly recommended” or “recommended.” In Phase 4, some of the requirements are:

“Facial coverings must be worn in classrooms by all students grades 6-12 ” and that “Facial coverings must always be worn by staff except for meals.”

Schools “must cooperate with the local public health department regarding implementing protocols for screening students and staff.”

Schools are also required to “provide adequate supplies to support healthy hygiene behaviors (including soap, hand sanitizer with at least 60% alcohol for safe use by staff and students, paper towels, tissues, and signs reinforcing proper handwashing techniques).”

The American Academy of Pediatrics’ letter advocating the reopening of in-person learning provides similarly authoritative guidance. It says that,

Bus drivers “should be a minimum of 6 feet from students; drivers CONTINUE READING: What Happens When They Don't? - Teacher Habits

What it could cost to reopen schools - The Washington Post

What it could cost to reopen schools - The Washington Post

What it could cost to reopen schools with covid-19 safety measures

The San Diego Unified School District has come up with a plan for the fall: It will reopen school buildings for all students who want to come, full time, five days a week. But, its leaders say, the district needs more emergency funding from Congress to promise this for the entire 2020-21 academic year.

If that money doesn’t come — and soon — in-school learning would last for only half of the school year, said John Evans, president of the San Diego school board. Then all students would return home for remote learning for the second part of the year. To stay open for the whole year and employ protective measures against the spread of the novel coronavirus, the district needs about $50 million from Congress, he said in an interview.

President Trump is now saying that he may cut funding for districts that don’t do what he wants: reopen schools full time, five days a week. He tweeted as much on Wednesday, saying: “In Germany, Denmark, Norway, Sweden and many other countries, SCHOOLS ARE OPEN WITH NO PROBLEMS. The Dems think it would be bad for them politically if U.S. schools open before the November Election, but is important for the children & families. May cut off funding if not open!”

If he were to favor with funding districts that reopen full time, that could help San Diego, which is planning to do just that. But many — if not most districts — are planning a hybrid model for the fall, which would entail students learning for a few days in school and a few days remotely at home each week.

Education Secretary Betsy DeVos made clear on Wednesday she is not impressed with hybrid models and wants students in school full time. “They must be open, and they must be fully operational,” she said Wednesday at the Education Department.

On Tuesday, she said at the White House: “It’s clear our nation’s schools must fully reopen and fully operate this school year. Anything short of that robs the students, not to mention taxpayers, of their futures.”

School districts around the country have been saying for months that if Congress doesn’t provide much more funding, they will not be able to reopen safely this fall. The money hasn’t come yet — and there’s no sign it will anytime soon.

Congress included more than $13.5 billion for K-12 schools in legislation that passed in March, but education leaders say that doesn’t come close to covering the cost of reopening schools with the added CONTINUE READING: What it could cost to reopen schools - The Washington Post

NEA President: No One Should Listen to Trump, DeVos on Reopening Schools

NEA President: No One Should Listen to Trump, DeVos on Reopening Schools

NEA President: No One Should Listen to Trump, DeVos on Reopening Schools

In a flurry of tweets, President Trump condemned CDC guidance on reopening schools and threatened to withhold funding to schools that don’t reopen for fall, creating more panic for stressed families seeking leadership and assurances that their children can return to school safely during a deadly pandemic. Then he politicized reopening of schools, tying it to the November presidential election.

“They think it’s going to be good for them politically, so they keep the schools closed. No way,” Trump said of congressional Democrats during a roundtable discussion at the White House Wednesday. “So we’re very much going to put pressure on governors and everybody else to open the schools…It’s very important for the well-being of the student and the parents.”

NEA’s president Lily Eskelsen García says what’s good for students and school staff has nothing to do with politics and the safety and well-being of the student and parents is exactly what is at stake.

After Trump tweeted, “SCHOOLS MUST OPEN IN THE FALL!!!,” Eskelsen García fired back, “You forgot to add the word ‘SAFELY.’”

Safety does not appear to be a top concern of the Trump administration, who claimed the CDC guidance was too “restrictive” and too “expensive.” The CDC refused to modify what its health experts recommend, and education organizations like NEA are committed to following the science behind their advice.

“There’s no one that wants our kids back more than teachers … but we want to open it safely,” Eskelsen Garíca said on CNN’s “New Day.”

“I had 39 sixth graders one year in my class. I double-dog dare Donald Trump to sit CONTINUE READING: NEA President: No One Should Listen to Trump, DeVos on Reopening Schools

For Teachers Who Are Parents, Schools Reopening In The Fall Is Bad News | HuffPost Life

For Teachers Who Are Parents, Schools Reopening In The Fall Is Bad News | HuffPost Life

For Teachers Who Are Parents, Schools Reopening In The Fall Is Bad News
Educators share the thoughts and questions racing through their minds right now.

Thanks to the coronavirus pandemic, many parents have already faced a major challenge: homeschooling their children while working full-time.

As back-to-school season starts gearing up, many parents are getting updates from their school districts on what classes may look like this fall. But what if you’re a parent who also teaches in a classroom? Those individuals are being faced with impossible decisions and very uncertain outcomes.

HuffPost Parenting asked parents in our Facebook community who are also teachers for their honest thoughts on the matter. Get into the mind of a teacher/parent below.

---

“Teachers are just as desperate to return to the classroom as parents are to send their children back. But I’m fearful of the rush to get them back to school as normally scheduled. The state education agencies are finally giving guidance, but don’t include answers to the questions many of us have. What happens to me if I get sick from a student? Do I have to use my sick days to stay home? What happens if my children get sick and have to quarantine? Why are the state education agencies still working remotely when they expect me to return with a class full of students? Why aren’t teachers being consulted just like the parents on our preferences? Who is responsible for online learning when I CONTINUE READING: For Teachers Who Are Parents, Schools Reopening In The Fall Is Bad News | HuffPost Life

Rating the NYC Dept of Ed’s Reopening Plan (scheduling) | JD2718

Rating the NYC Dept of Ed’s Reopening Plan (scheduling) | JD2718

Rating the NYC Dept of Ed’s Reopening Plan (scheduling)

Yesterday Carranza released the plan. Let’s start by comparing it to my “What to Look for” guide.

Variety of levels –  Look not just for multiple models, but for multiple models at each level. They have separate D75 models, but not models tailored to HS, MS, ES (they really are all ES models) 2/5

Details –  lack of details would be a tell that these will not work. Rotation details, but no actual scheduling details (what might a day look like). 1/5

Useable “out of the box” – we should see an option at each level that can be used with virtually no modification. If there is not, we may have a recipe for chaos in September. Absolutely not. 0/5

Physical Education – If the models fail to address PE, that’s a very bad sign. Nope. 0/5

Lunch –  If the models fail to address lunch, it probably cannot work. The words “cafeteria” and “lunch” are absent from the document. 0/5

Some students fully remote –  If the DoE models leave groups of kids (not just volunteers) remote, that’s a sign that they are thinking seriously about this. The DoE models leave remote as a family choice. 1/5

Some classes fully remote –  if the DoE models suggest leaving whole classes/subjects remote, that’s a sign that they have done some actual thinking. Nope. 0/5

Social-Emotional Learning –  if they attempt to roll SEL into the schedule models, in a specific way, CONTINUE READING: Rating the NYC Dept of Ed’s Reopening Plan (scheduling) | JD2718

Thoughts on "opening" schools

Thoughts on "opening" schools

Thoughts on "opening" schools

From the perspective of someone who has taught every grade from 7 through 12, in public, charter, and private (both religious and secular) schools.

 CLASSROOMS —  It is impossible in most schools to have 6 foot between students. Last year I had up to 30 seniors in a room at a time, with a social distance rarely even 2 feet between them. To get to 6 feet I would have to limit the number of students to around 10-12.  To even get to a 3 foot distance in between would probably require a doubling of the number of classrooms, even maximizing use (teachers floating into rooms where a teacher has a period off). Very few buildings have that kind of excess space. And even if you could get to 6 foot distance, how do students maintain that coming in and going out of the room without creating problems in the hallways?

HALLWAYS — in most schools, even if you limit when students transition between classes, how do you maintain proper social distance when you have hundreds of students in hallway? what about going to lockers, which are cheek to jowl?

CAFETERIAS —  most schools use just about every seat.  You have students in line to get food.  They are close together.  They sit very close with one another, and they will NOT be masked while they are eating.  How do you minimize those risks for students? What about for the cafeteria workers? Those restaurants that have opened have in general closed salad bars, buffets, precisely because of the risk of spread.  In theory everything could be bagged lunches but then there are dietary restrictions for health and religious reasons even beyond preference issues. And then where would students eat? 

BUSES — a large portion of students go to/from school by bus. Many of those buses are crowded, and do multiple routes. To maintain social distance on those buses would require at least doubling the number of buses for most school systems, an expense they cannot afford. And they would have real trouble getting the additional drivers. CONTINUE READING: Thoughts on "opening" schools

NYC Educator: The Chancellor Writes Us Again

NYC Educator: The Chancellor Writes Us Again

The Chancellor Writes Us Again

Dear Colleagues, 

I hope you and your families are staying healthy and safe as we transition to the 2020-2021 school year. Earlier today, Mayor de Blasio and I announced our latest planning for bringing students back to school buildings in September—a plan that was informed by an internet survey with no controls whatsoever. I want to make sure you hear my rationale, however feeble it may be—understanding that it is very possible that pieces of this will change, given that COVID is exploding all over the country, and that it's likely to happen here too once we rashly open buildings. 

With all the ups and downs, one thing has remained constant: our utter indifference to your health and safety. It’s why we put off the closure of school buildings earlier this year — which was essential to the explosion of COVID-19 infection across New York City. Of course, we also closed our office buildings and work sites, meaning our gala luncheons are now largely take-out, but still from restaurants you could never afford on a teacher salary.

Now, as we look ahead to September, we see the big picture: the continuing rise in cases across the country; which we have ignored utterly in our premature opening plans; and the knowledge that as the trajectory of the coronavirus continues to evolve, we must focus on ways to resurrect Mayor de Blasio's political career, which alas, appears deader than a doornail.

In addition to rejecting guidance from health authorities, we have also ignored the input and perspectives of thousands of our colleagues, and hundreds of thousands more from our CONTINUE READING: NYC Educator: The Chancellor Writes Us Again

Teacher Tom: No Force on Earth Can Stand Before Us

Teacher Tom: No Force on Earth Can Stand Before Us

No Force on Earth Can Stand Before Us

Yesterday, I awoke to learn that the President of the United States and his education secretary are talking about punishing public schools that don't open in the fall by withholding federal funding. They've walked that back a little in the intervening 24 hours, but the message is clear: they are willing to sacrifice children and their families in the name of the economy.

This Covid-19 pandemic is far from over and while there are places in the US where we have slowed it through common sense sacrifices, other states seem to think that if they close their eyes and pretend hard enough it will simply go away. The result reminds me of when I was a boy and there were smoking sections in restaurants and airplanes: smoke doesn't recognize boundaries any more than a virus. When I shared this metaphor with a friend he crudely, yet to my mind more accurately, replied, "No, it's more like we're all in a big swimming pool and they've designated their states as the peeing area."

While much of the rest of the world has quelled the pandemic to the point that they've opened up a legitimate window for children to safely return to school, it doesn't seem likely that US schools can safely reopen before the end of the year. Yet the message from the highest office in the land is "Do it, or else."

This is far from the first time that elected representatives and policymakers have placed children on the alter of their CONTINUE READING: Teacher Tom: No Force on Earth Can Stand Before Us

CURMUDGUCATION: Betsy DeVos Is Failing Hard

CURMUDGUCATION: Betsy DeVos Is Failing Hard

Betsy DeVos Is Failing Hard

In the midst of all this chaos and confusion, it's perhaps easy to miss how thoroughly Betsy DeVos is doing a terrible job as Secretary of Education. And by so many measures.

There's the business of managing college loans. DeVos, you may recall, has been pointedly spanked by the courts for going after students who owe money on their college loans even in those cases where the law clearly states she's supposed to lay off. She doesn't like loan forgiveness for people who enter public service or for folks who were ripped off by predatory for-profit colleges, despite being repeatedly told that the rules don't care how she feels about them.

Now she's doing it again by directly violating the CARES act. The CARES act mandates a full stop on garnishing wages for unpaid student loans, but the department has told the courts that they continued to do so (and blamed it on employers).

Meanwhile, after months of standing around offering zero guidance to schools navigating the coronavirus crisis, she has joined Trump in demanding that schools open in the fall. As in, regular bricks and mortar style opening. In the spring, she was all about opening virtually, which was at least consistent, since DeVos has long been an advocate for virtual schooling. Now, suddenly, virtual schooling isn't good enough. This is going to make it hard for her to return to advocating for cyber-school, but then consistency isn't turning out to be her strong suit.

Take her spirited belief in keeping the feds out of state business. That was her north star for a few years, and the heart of her criticism of the previous administration. Now she has decided that using CONTINUE READING: CURMUDGUCATION: Betsy DeVos Is Failing Hard

Mike Klonsky's Blog: The AAP's school guidance principles don't align with Trump/DeVos mandated reopening.

Mike Klonsky's Blog: The AAP's school guidance principles don't align with Trump/DeVos mandated reopening.

The AAP's school guidance principles don't align with Trump/DeVos mandated reopening.

President Trump and Education Secretary Betsy DeVos are threatening to cut federal funding if schools don't fully physically reopen in the fall, regardless of the state of the pandemic and with or without required CDC safety measures being in place.

They may think they think their reckless mandate is supported by the highly respected American Academy of Pediatrics. But it isn't. At least not if I'm reading the AAP's planning recommendations for school reopening correctly.

The AAP, the professional organization of pediatricians, would like to see schools reopen safely in the fall, as would most of us, especially most working families. But the timing of this report left some wondering if these experts on pediatric care were fronting for Trump and the mainly Republican early-openers who have driven up the deadly coronavirus caseload numbers across the country.

The organization “strongly advocates that all policy considerations for the coming school year should start with the goal of having students physically present in school” -- and the reasons are not just about academics.

The importance of in-person learning is well-documented, and there is already evidence of the negative impacts on children because of school closures in the spring of 2020. Lengthy time away from school and associated interruption of supportive services often results in social isolation, making it difficult for schools to identify and address important learning deficits as well as child and adolescent physical or sexual abuse, substance use, depression, and suicidal ideation. This, in turn, places children and adolescents at considerable risk of morbidity and, in CONTINUE READING: Mike Klonsky's Blog: The AAP's school guidance principles don't align with Trump/DeVos mandated reopening.

When It Comes To Reopening Schools, 'The Devil's In The Details,' Educators Say | 89.3 KPCC

When It Comes To Reopening Schools, 'The Devil's In The Details,' Educators Say | 89.3 KPCC

When It Comes To Reopening Schools, 'The Devil's In The Details,' Educators Say

Jeanne Norris is a teacher, the wife of a teacher and the mother of an 8-year-old in St. Louis. She'd love to send her son back to school in August. But, she says, "I feel like my government and my fellow citizens have put me in a position where it's not really in the best interests of our family."

Norris has a long list of reasons why. She says she has personally taught in buildings where ventilation systems are outdated and malfunctioning, and even soap for handwashing is in short supply.

In June, Missouri cut K-12 education funding by more than $100 million, amid the pandemic-induced recession. The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities anticipates state budget shortfalls of 25% this fiscal year as a result of that recession. Education leaders have said schools may need more than $200 billion in new federal education funding to stop these gaps and meet the new need. The House passed a bill in May with $58 billion for school districts, and the Republican-controlled Senate has not yet acted on it, though the president has recently weighed in heavily in favor of reopening schools.

Jeanne Norris says she's disappointed by her state's response to the virus, and she's worried about the risk to her son's teachers too.

"You know, a third of teachers are over the age of 50, I believe. ... You want to talk about social-emotional impacts? Thinking about my child experiencing somebody die because of coronavirus? Sounds like a pretty heavy burden to bear."

Dozens of teachers, parents and district leaders around the country told NPR that the back-to-school season — that beloved annual ritual-- has fogged over with CONTINUE READING: When It Comes To Reopening Schools, 'The Devil's In The Details,' Educators Say | 89.3 KPCC

Intro to Next Book (Part 1) | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

Intro to Next Book (Part 1) | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

Intro to Next Book (Part 1)

I have been writing posts for this blog over a decade. One of the purposes for it is to take drafts of a forthcoming book that I am working on and use them as posts to try out new ideas (or renovated old ones) and see how readers respond. I am now working on a book about the three major reform movements over the past century that have swept over schools and what I experienced in each of those movements beginning in 1939 as a student, then a teacher between the mid-1950s and early 1970s, an administrator in the 1970s and early 1980s and since then as a researcher. The next few posts will become the Introduction to the book. Comments welcomed.

INTRODUCTION*

Just see wherever we peer into the first tiny springs of the national life, how this true panacea for all of the ills of the body politic bubbles forth—education, education, education.

                        Andrew Carnegie, 1886

School houses do not teach themselves – piles of brick and mortar and machinery do not send out men. It is the trained, living human soul, cultivated and strengthened by long study and thought, that breathes the real breath of life into boys and girls and makes them human, whether they be black or white, CONTINUE READING: Intro to Next Book (Part 1) | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

Chutzpah and the Push for In-Person Instruction | National Education Policy Center

Chutzpah and the Push for In-Person Instruction | National Education Policy Center

Chutzpah and the Push for In-Person Instruction

The definition of chutzpah, according to the old joke, is the kid who kills his parents and then asks the judge for mercy because he’s an orphan. President Trump has added a twist on the joke: the kid who kills his parents and then complains that they don’t drive him to school.

When the European Union was hit early and hard by the COVID-19 pandemic, its member countries took the necessary steps to drive down their infection numbers. Through the now commonly understood mitigation steps such as social distancing, masks, and testing plus isolation, once-devastated countries like Italy, Spain, France, Ireland and Belgium now regularly report daily deaths in the single digits. In contrast, the death rates in the US have doggedly remained around 500 per day, with infection rates again climbing upward. While EU countries urgently buckled down, our corresponding urgency was to reopen bars, tattoo parlors, and hair salons. And we bizarrely managed to turn mask-refusal into a political statement. That difference between the EU and the US is one reason why they can now take cautious steps to return to normal-ish life while we drunkenly stagger toward an uncertain future.

President Trump can’t be exclusively blamed for all of the US failures, but his policies, public statements, and actions set us apart from countries that responded with greater urgency and wisdom. Now he’s threatening to cut off federal funding to schools if they don’t return to in-person instruction this fall. His framing is overtly political: “In Germany, Denmark, Norway, Sweden and many other countries, SCHOOLS ARE OPEN WITH NO PROBLEMS. The Dems think it would be bad for them politically if U.S. schools open before the November Election, but is important for the children & families. May cut off funding if not open!” he tweeted on Wednesday morning.

Interestingly, the timing of this tweet corresponded with the publication of a front-page article in Wednesday’s New York Times about how Sweden’s decision to not impose social distancing has been a misadventure, costing thousands of lives and doing little to sustain the economy. The other three countries name-checked in the Trump tweet are similarly instructive. Denmark and Norway responded strongly even before the virus attacked there; the two countries together account for fewer than 900 deaths total, and the current infection rates are negligible. Germany was hit hard around April, with CONTINUE READING: Chutzpah and the Push for In-Person Instruction | National Education Policy Center