Valerie Strauss: What Does the Biden Transition Team Tell Us About His Education Agenda? | Diane Ravitch's blog

Valerie Strauss: What Does the Biden Transition Team Tell Us About His Education Agenda? | Diane Ravitch's blog

Valerie Strauss: What Does the Biden Transition Team Tell Us About His Education Agenda?

We have all been guessing about what President-Elect Joe Biden will do in education. Will he keep his campaign promises and set federal policy on a new direction, away from No Child Left Behind, Race to the Top, ESSA, high-stakes testing, and school choice, or will he stick with the stale and destructive status quo?

No one knows for sure but many have tried to divine his intentions by the composition of his transition team for education. At first glance, it is worrisome that so many of its members come from the Race to the Top era. But Valerie Strauss offers a different perspective on the transition team’s purpose and significance.

She writes:

Now that President-elect Joe Biden has named a 20-person education transition team, the education world is trying to glean insight from its makeup as to what the next president will do to try to improve America’s public schools.


Some progressives are worried that the list of members is heavy with former members of the Obama administration, whose controversial education policies ultimately alienated teachers’ unions, parents and members of CONTINUE READING: Valerie Strauss: What Does the Biden Transition Team Tell Us About His Education Agenda? | Diane Ravitch's blog

An Open Letter to President Elect Biden’s Department of Education Transition Team | janresseger

An Open Letter to President Elect Biden’s Department of Education Transition Team | janresseger

An Open Letter to President Elect Biden’s Department of Education Transition Team

I encourage you, as members of President Elect Biden’s Department of Education Transition Team, to recommend the appointment of Randi Weingarten or Lily Eskelsen Garcia as our next Secretary of Education. I believe that one of these women would provide the kind of leadership in public education policy that our nation and our children desperately need.

Randi Weingarten, President of the American Federation of Teachers, and Lily Eskelsen Garcia, the outgoing President of the National Education Association, have provided extraordinary leadership of efforts by the nation’s teachers significantly to change the long narrative of standardized test-based accountability as the primary driver of federal education policy. They are both public school educators who would turn away from Betsy DeVos’s obsession with vouchers. I believe their leadership helped shape the priorities embodied in the education plan President Elect Biden released during the campaign, an agenda designed to expand opportunity within the public schools serving our nation’s most vulnerable students. Biden’s plan, if implemented, will enhance educational equity and improve children’s experiences at school.

Here are three reasons either Eskelsen Garcia or Weingarten is the right choice to lead the U.S. Department of Education.

First:     We all watched the Red4Ed strikes and walkouts during 2018 and 2019—walkouts that taught America about the devastation of state public school budgets over the decade that CONTINUE READING: An Open Letter to President Elect Biden’s Department of Education Transition Team | janresseger

Help Me Teach Your Kids in Person. Don’t Rent a Quarantine-Producing Party Bus. | deutsch29: Mercedes Schneider's Blog

Help Me Teach Your Kids in Person. Don’t Rent a Quarantine-Producing Party Bus. | deutsch29: Mercedes Schneider's Blog

Help Me Teach Your Kids in Person. Don’t Rent a Quarantine-Producing Party Bus.

My district just began our second quarter of the 2020-21 school year. For high schools, the first quarter entailed a hybrid schedule whereby approximately half of the student body attended on any given day.

We have almost finished the first week in which all students have returned to campus each day.

The first day, I had no students in quarantine.

The second day, I had one, and the third day, I had another, right at the end of the day.

Then today happened, by the end of which 16 more of my students had been assigned two weeks of quarantine.  During the second class period, the remaining students were abuzz about the situation, and it was then that I heard the first one mention a “party bus.”

From what I have been able to determine, it seems that some adults tried to create a homecoming celebration for students, which apparently included a party bus and an improvised homecoming dance. As one might expect during this pandemic, COVID also attended these festivities, the result being number of students in quarantine.

Okay. The principal argument for our returning to full attendance is that These Kids Need CONTINUE READING: Help Me Teach Your Kids in Person. Don’t Rent a Quarantine-Producing Party Bus. | deutsch29: Mercedes Schneider's Blog

New Multilingual Education Publication Announced - Year 2020 (CA Dept of Education)

New Multilingual Education Publication Announced - Year 2020 (CA Dept of Education)

State Superintendent Tony Thurmond Announces New Publication: Improving Education for Multilingual and English Learner Students

SACRAMENTO—State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond announced today the release of the new California Department of California (CDE) publication, Improving Education for Multilingual and English Learner Students: Research to Practice. The publication is designed to support local educational agencies (LEAs) to implement the English Learner Roadmap Policy in schools and improve instruction for both English learners and other students learning multiple languages.

“This publication will serve as a valuable resource for teachers, administrators, and other educators who serve California’s 2.5 million multilingual and English learner students,” said Thurmond. “It highlights research-based practices implemented by districts and schools, grounded in the English Learner Roadmap principles. This book is a needed resource for continuing to improve the education of the diverse student population we serve.”

The publication is in response to requests from educators for successful evidence-based practices that lead to enhanced learning environments, implementation of the English Learner Roadmap Policy and its principles, and the continuous improvement of systems and conditions to support prekindergarten through grade twelve English learner students and students learning other languages.

The CDE Multilingual Support Division led the development of this publication with assistance from well-known and respected experts within their fields. The publication demonstrates how LEAs have implemented research-based practices that positively impact multilingual and English learner students as it relates to social emotional learning, early learning and care, integrated and designated English language development, multilingual education, systems improvement, teacher development, and parent engagement.

The publication is available for free download on the CDE Improving Education for Multilingual and English Learner Students: Research to Practice web page. Printed copies of the publication are available for purchase on the CDE Press Online Ordering web page.

# # # #

Tony Thurmond — State Superintendent of Public Instruction
Communications Division, Room 5602, 916-319-0818, Fax 916-319-0100

New Multilingual Education Publication Announced - Year 2020 (CA Dept of Education)

CURMUDGUCATION: Schooling For Democracy (Or What Is Education For)

CURMUDGUCATION: Schooling For Democracy (Or What Is Education For)

Schooling For Democracy (Or What Is Education For)

I just read a piece that doesn't necessarily say anything new, but puts it all in a useful frame. Let me show you the first paragraph:

There’s no such thing as a “good school” in the abstract. Every school serves a particular community, in a particular time and place, with its own needs and desires. A good school in rural Montana might not be a good school in Midtown Manhattan, just as a good school in 1920 might not be a good school today. This doesn’t mean that we can’t define school quality. It does, however, mean that we can’t define quality without first considering the needs of a school’s time and place.

This is from the Phi Delta Kappan, a publication I don't always trust (hell, they give a platform to William Bennett), written by Jon Valant, a fellow at the Brooking Institution, a place that often demonstrates why economists should stay the heck away from education policy. "Good schools for a troubled democracy" has the hallmark of Brookings writings, a sort of odd atonality tied to the sensation that perhaps within Brookings they never actually read any of the mountains of prose about education policy. 

Valant's thesis is that "the school system we have today in the United States--and our conception of a good school--is mismatched to the needs of our time." This will make more sense if you don't think of yourself as included in "we" and "our." His basic framing of modern education history is what makes this piece worthwhile. 

Valant focuses on the 1983 report, A Nation at Risk, the infamous Reagan era hit job on public education. While Valant notes that the report did mention the needs for education to create better citizens, "the rhetoric of economic ruin and international competition drowned out the message." 

According to the logic of the times, the nation’s most pressing need — and, consequently, the most urgent task for our public CONTINUE READING: CURMUDGUCATION: Schooling For Democracy (Or What Is Education For)

Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... | The latest news and resources in education since 2007

A VERY BUSY DAY
Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day...
The latest news and resources in education since 2007

Big Education Ape: THIS WEEK IN EDUCATION Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... The latest news and resources in education since 2007 - http://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2020/11/this-week-in-education-larry-ferlazzos.html

Friday’s Must-Read Articles About School Reopenings

by Larry Ferlazzo / 4h

Victoria_Borodinova / Pixabay Here are new additions to THE BEST POSTS PREDICTING WHAT SCHOOLS WILL LOOK LIKE IN THE FALL : Lessons From Europe, Where Cases Are Rising But Schools Are Open is from NPR. N.Y.C. Schools May Close Again, a Grim Sign of a Global Dilemma is from The NY Times. Across the country, school districts are shutting down or canceling plans to reopen. is from The NY Times. How

‘Allow Time for Children to Read Whatever They Want’

by Larry Ferlazzo / 11h

is the headline of my latest Education Week Teacher column. Four educators share ideas for how teachers can create the conditions in which students are more intrinsically motivated to read, such as eliminating rewards and ensuring that students are represented in accessible books. Here are some excerpts:

Three Useful Resources On Creating Social Change

by Larry Ferlazzo / 12h

Alexas_Fotos / Pixabay Here are new additions to The Best Posts & Articles On Building Influence & Creating Change : 6 Black women organizers on what happened in Georgia — and what comes next is from Vox. Grassroots Organizers Flipped Georgia Blue. Here’s How They Did It. is from TruthOut. Here’s a new addition to The Best Ways To Talk With Someone Who Disagrees With You : What Conversations with

What A Surprise (Not!) – New Study Finds That Value-Added Approach To Teacher Evaluation Isn’t Accurate

by Larry Ferlazzo / 12h

To few the surprise of very few teachers, a new study questions the accuracy of Value-Added Models for evaluation purposes. Teacher quality scores change depending on students, school, PSU study finds from Eureka Alert is definitely worth checking out. I’m adding it to The Best Resources For Learning About The “Value-Added” Approach Towards Teacher Evaluation .

Ed Tech Digest

by Larry Ferlazzo / 12h

Nine years ago, in another somewhat futile attempt to reduce the backlog of resources I want to share, I began this occasional “” post where I share three or four links I think are particularly useful and related to…ed tech, including some Web 2.0 apps. You might also be interested in THE BEST ED TECH RESOURCES OF 2020 – PART TWO , as well as checking out all my edtech resources . Here are this w

A Look Back: Four Actions I’ve Taken That Seem To Have Both Helped Students In My Virtual Classrooms & Helped Me Maintain My Sanity

by Larry Ferlazzo / 12h

I thought that new – and veteran – readers might find it interesting if I began sharing my best posts from over the years. You can see the entire collection here . I’m starting with posts from earlier this year. Leunert / Pixabay As most teachers in the U.S., and many around the world, know, distance learning is 

Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... | The latest news and resources in education since 2007

Watch LIVE: Breonna Taylor’s America | Cloaking Inequity

Watch LIVE: Breonna Taylor’s America | Cloaking Inequity

WATCH LIVE: BREONNA TAYLOR’S AMERICA

The University of Kentucky College of Education is hosting an online discussion, “Navigating Your Teens in Breonna Taylor’s America,” beginning 11 a.m. Thursday, Nov. 12.

Focused on empowering students and educators, the discussion will be streamed live on the College of Education YouTube channel. Participants are encouraged to submit questions via email at CollegeofEdQA@gmail.com.

The discussion is designed to offer guidance to youth as they search for justice while balancing school, work, friendships, family and their personal well-being. Panelists will answer questions, such as:

• What is the “arc of justice” and why does it take so long to get there? Will we ever?
• How do I focus on school while trying to process racial traumas?
• Why does it feel like some people don’t see my pain and stress?
• How do I find my voice and where does it fit in?
• How can teachers and school leaders embrace students during painful events, such as the Breonna Taylor decision?

The discussion will be moderated by Gregory Vincent, executive director of the college’s Education and Civil Rights Initiative in collaboration with the NAACP. The initiative is based in the Department of Educational Policy Studies and Evaluation, where Vincent is a professor. Panelists for this program will include:

• Tiffany D. Loftin, NAACP Youth and College Division national director; 
• Candice Hargons, assistant professor, Department Educational, School, and Counseling Psychology; 
• Cheryl Matias, professor, Department of Curriculum and Instruction;
• Kenneth Tyler, professor and chair, Department of Educational, School, and Counseling Psychology; and
• Carol Taylor Shim, director, UK’s Bias Incident Support Services.

The University of Kentucky is increasingly the first choice for students, faculty and staff to pursue their passions and their professional goals. In the last two years, Forbes has named UK among the best employers for diversity, and INSIGHT into Diversity recognized us as a Diversity Champion three years running. UK is ranked among the top 30 campuses in the nation for LGBTQ* inclusion and safety. UK has been judged a “Great College to Work for” three years in a row, and UK is among only 22 universities in the country on Forbes’ list of “America’s Best Employers.” We are ranked among the top 10 percent of public institutions for research expenditures — a tangible symbol of our breadth and depth as a university focused on discovery that changes lives and communities. And our patients know and appreciate the fact that UK HealthCare has been named the state’s top hospital for four straight years. Accolades and honors are great. But they are more important for what they represent: the idea that creating a community of belonging and commitment to excellence is how we honor our mission to be not simply the University of Kentucky, but the University for Kentucky.

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Watch LIVE: Breonna Taylor’s America | Cloaking Inequity